The Comprehensive History of England, civil, military, religious, intellectual, and social, from the earliest period to the suppression of the Sepoy Revolt. ... Revised and edited by T. Thomson

Front matter

:£Eo THE COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF ENGLAND; CIVIL AND MILITARY RELIGIOUS, INTELLECTUAL, AND SOCIAL. FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SEPOY REVOLT BY CHARLES MACFARLANE, AUTHOR OF "OUR INDIAN EMPIRE," ETC. and Rev. THOMAS THOMSON, AUTHOR OF *'A HISTORY OF SCOTLAND," ETC. THE WHOLE REVISED AND EDITED BY THE REV. THOMAS THOMSON. CONTINUED TO SIGNING OF THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. ILLUSTRATED BY ABOVE ELEVEN HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. VOL. III. William III to George III., a.d. 1792. LONDON: BLACKIE & SON: PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS; GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH. GLASGOW : W. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PRINTERS, VILLAFIELD. CONTENTS. VOLUME III.

BOOK IX. PAGE

Chap. XVIII.— Civiland Military History. Reign of George Second. a.d. 1742-1745, . . .257 From the Revolution to the Death of George II.— a.d. 1688-1760. Chap. XIX. — Civil and Military History. Reign of George Second. a.d. 1745, . . . .271 PAGE Chap. I. — Civil and Military History. Interregnum, a.d. 1688-1689, 1 Chap. XX. — Civil and Military History. Reign of George Second. A.D. 1745-1746, . . .286 Chap. II. — Civil and Military History. Reigu of William and Mary. a.d. 1689-1691, . . 3 Chap. XXI. — Civil and Military History. Reign of George Second. A.D. 1746-1747, . . .304 Chap. III. — Civil and Military History. Reign of William and Mary. A.D. 1691-1694, . . 17 Chap. XXII. — Civil and Military History. Reign of George Second, a.d. 1746-1755, . . . 320 Chap. IV. — Civil and Military History.

Chapter I

— CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.— a.d. 1688—1689. INTERREGNUM. — A.D. 1688—1689. Question about the succession to the crown — A convention assembled — Their decree that James had abdicated — They declare the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of England. Y the flight of James, the work of the Revolution was not completed ; the crown was in a state of abeyance for nearly two months, or from the 23d of December, 1688, to the 13th of February, 1689, during which time the Whigs were by the stated rules of the English government and laws, but by the general rights of mankind.1 The Prince of Orange, who had taken up his residence, not at Whitehall, but at St. James's, seemed to leave the nation to settle the business in their own way, most scrupulously avoiding any assumption of right and any symptom of eagerness.

On the 25th of December, the lords spiritual and temporal, to the number of about ninety, who had taken their places in the House of Lords, requested William to take upon him the administration of affairs and the disposal of the public revenue, and to issue writs for a "Con vention," to meet on the 22d of January ; and on brought to the enunciation or admission < of principles bold and wise, which were equally 1 new to the people. Up to a certain point all parties seemed to agree (the Papists were too in considerable to merit the name of a party); but the Tories and high churchmen soon hung back, and left the danger and the honour of settling the problem to the Whigs, who proceeded, not 1 Hallam, Constitutional History. Vol. III. 207 fa tf/c r>i [Civil and Military. 2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. "My lords and gentlemen, I am glad that what I have done hath pleased you ; and since you desire me to continue the administration of affairs, I am willing to accept it."

The two houses then adjourned to the 28th, on which day the commons, having re-assembled, resolved them selves into a committee of the whole house to take into consideration the state of the nation. Mr. Hampden was in the chair. Dolben, son of the late Archbishop of York, " was the bold man who first broke the ice, and made a loDg speech tending to prove that the king's deserting his kingdom without appointing any person to ad minister the government, amounted, in reason and judgment of law, to a demise." This opinion was taken up and defended by several other members. The Tories, including Sir Edward Seymour, who had been one of the first to join the Prince of Orange, made a vain effort to pro cure an adjournment ; and the committee, after a stormy debate of many hours, voted the resolution — "That King James II., having endeavoured to subvert the constitution by breaking the ori ginal contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and with drawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby become vacant."

Mr. Hampden was ordered to carry up this resolution to the lords, and to re quest their concurrence. On the morrow, the commons, still in committee, voted, "That it hath been found, by experience, to be inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a Popish prince.* The Whigs, in their anxiety to settle the Protestant William upon the throne, were too much disposed to over look the restrictions proper to be put upon his power ; and the Tories, in their eagerness to keep the question open, stood forward in the new light of champions for the liberties of the people. When Mr. Hampden carried the resolution to the upper house, their lordships subjected it to a long and critical examination. Lord Clarendon, uncle to the Princess of Orange, led the opposition, and proposed that the fugitive king should be nominally left on the throne, and a Protestant regent appointed during his life.2 In the end the project of a regency was rejected, but only by a majority of two — fifty-one to forty-nine.

A motion was made for an inquiry into the birth of the pretended Prince of Wales. It was re jected ; but it seems to have been tacitly under stood by both sides that that child was to be prethe following day an assembly of such persons as had sat in parliament in the reign of Charles II., to the number of about 150, together with the aldermen of London, and fifty of the common council, having met at St. James's pursuant to the desire of the prince, immediately proceeded to the commons' house, and there agreed upon an address similar to that of the lords. The prince despatched circular letters, accordingly, to the several counties, universities, cities, and boroughs ; and in the meantime the country, the fleet, and all that remained of James's army, sub mitted quietly to his authority. Iu Ireland it was very different ; but in Scotland men were as prompt in their obedience as in England.

On the appointed day — the 22d ' of January — the English convention, or parliament, as it was afterwards declared to be, assembled in the Houses of Parliament, and proceeded vigorously to their important business. The Marquis of Halifax was elected to the presidency in the lords, and Mr. Poole, one of the patriots of Charles II.'s parliaments who had taken bribes from France, was chosen speaker in the commons. A letter from Wil liam was read in both houses. His highness told them that he had endeavoured to the utmost of his power to perform what had been desired of him, in order to the maintenance of the public peace and safety ; that it now rested with them selves to lay the foundation of a firm security for their religion, their laws, and their liberties.' In the commons, Poole, the speaker, embraced all the prince's views with a most ardent zeal.

His speech threw the house into a sort of transport ; the old walls rang with warlike shouts, and everything was agreed to that William or his party desired. Nor was the upper house either cold or critical. In a very full meeting, from which scarcely any were absent even among the bishops, except Sancroft, the primate, they appointed a day of public thanksgiving to Al mighty God for having made his highness the glorious instrument of the great deliverance ot the kingdom from Popery and arbitrary power; and they joined the commons in an address of thanks to the prince, to whom, " next under God," this happy deliverance was owing. The lords and commons in a united body presented the address. They said — " And we do most humbly desire your highness to take upon you the ad ministration of public affairs, and the disposal of the public revenue, for the preservation of our religion, lights, laws, liberties, and properties, and of the peace of the nation."

The phlegmatic William delayed giving any answer till the next day, and then he coldly and laconically said, 2 "Some," says Burnet, "intended to bring King James back; and went into this as tbe most probable way for laying the nation asleep, and for overcoming the present aversion that all people had to him. That being once done, they reckoned it would be no hard thing, with the help of some time, to compass the other." 1 Ralph; Roger Coke; Narcissus Luttrell, Diary. a.d. 1689—1691] WILLIAM AND MARY. 3 sumed spurious ;' and, without that deep-rooted belief in the minds of the people, this revolution would certainly not have been so easy of accomplishment. After long arguments about the pro priety of substituting the word deserted for abdicated, and upholding the hereditary character of the succession, which would allow of no vacancy, the lords took time to debate among themselves, aud the commons adjourned.

The capital was in a ferment. Yielding to the force of circumstances, and the steadiness of the commons, the lords gave up their amendments ; and then, by a majority of sixty-two to forty-seven, they re solved that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared King and Queen of England and all the dominions thereunto belonging. This vote, passed on the 6th of February, was sent down to the commons on the 7th. The final resolution to which both houses, after several conferences, came, on the 12th of February, was — " That William and Mary, Priuce and Princess of Orange, be, and be declared King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them, the said prince and princess, during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them ; and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange, iu the names of the priuce and prin cess, during their joint lives ; and, after their decease, the said crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said princess ; for default of such issue, to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body ; and for default of such issue, to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange."

Chapter II

— CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.— a.d. 1689—1691. WILLIAM AND MARY. ACCESSION, A.D. 1689 — DEATH OF MARY, A.D. 1694 — DEATH OF WILLIAM, 1702. Arrival of Mary in England — Proclamation of the reign of William and Mary— Meeting of the Scottish Convention of Estates — Viscount Dundee attempts to interrupt its proceedings — Difficulties at the commencement of William's reign — New oath of allegiance administered — It produces the schism of the Nonjurors — Revenue settled on William by parliament — He proposes a repeal of the test act — His tolerant views in church government thwarted — -Measures iu Ireland for the restoration of King James — He lands in Ireland — Decrees passed by his Irish parliament — Viscount Dundee's efforts in the cause of James in Scotland — Battle of Killiecrankie — Death of Dundee — Siege of Londonderry — Its brave resistance — The town relieved — Treachery of William's ministers — Quarrels in the royal family — Parliamentary proceedings — Contentions of the Whigs and Tories — Controversy on the abjuration bill — William repairs to Ireland — Necessity of his arrival — State of James's affairs in Ireland — Battle of the Boyne — Defeat of James — His flight from Ireland — Attempts of his partizans to rally — Progress of the war — Naval engagements with the French — Battle at sea off Beachy Head — The French fleet retires — Irish war continued — Miseries of the country — Proceedings for the entire reduction of Ireland, and for the war with France — William repairs to Holland to prosecute the French war — Members of the confederacy who meet him in the neighbourhood of the Hague — His triumphal entry into the Hague.

N the same busy day, Mary, the new queen, arrived from Holland at Whitehall ; and, on the morrow, the prince and she being seated in the Banqueting House, both houses of the convention waited upon King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, "with great acclamation and general good reception, with bonfires, bells, great guns, &c."2 The Scottish Convention of Estates met ou the 14th of March ; and, through the ingenious man agement of Sir James Dalrymple (afterwards Lord Stair), hardly any were returned to it ex cept Whigs and Presbyterians. The Duke of Hamilton was appointed president : the waverers were fixed by the success of the Revolution in England, and everything proceeded with rapidity and spirit. The sheriffs were ordered to seize all persons found in arms without the authority them in a body, when the clerk of the crown read the declaration and resolution of the two houses, and the Marquis of Halifax, in their name, made a solemn tender of the crown to their highnesses.

On the same day, being Ash Wednesday, William and Man' were proclaimed 1 "This, at least," says Mr. Hallam, "was a necessary sup position for the Tories, who sought in the idle rumours of the time an excuse for abandoning his right. As to the Whigs, though they were active in discrediting the unfortunate boy's legitimacy, their own broad principle of changing the line of succession rendered it, in point of argument, a superfluous in quiry." — Const. Hist. 2 "She seems," says Evelyn, "to be of a good nature, and that she takes nothing to heart ; whilst her husband has a thoughtful countenance, is wonderful serious and silent, and seems to treat all persons alike gravely, aud to be very intent on aifairs: Holland, Ireland, and France calling for his care." HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Civil and Military. all Protestants found in office on the 1st of De cember last should continue in their places until further notice.

On the 17th of February he published a list of the privy counsellors, at the head of whom was Est-il possible, who was con siderable in nothing except in being the husband of the Princess Anne.' The number of disinterested patriots was exceedingly small: every man of any consequence that had assisted in making the Revolution put in his claim for re ward; and there was a general scramble for pen sions and places and court distinctions. If Eng land had been El Dorado, and William the most giving and liberal of princes, there would have been no satisfying all those claimants ; and, of the dissatisfied, too many were prone to extend their dissatisfaction to the whole Revolution, with the principles it established, and were soon ready to undo what they had done. Under almost any other sovereign the effect would soon have been seen in the worst of all revolutions — a restoration ; but William, whose vices no less than his virtues — whose strange imperturbable, cold man ners, no less than his extraordinary abilities — fitted him for the crisis, conjured the worst part of the stoim, and turned some of its conflicting elements to the advantage of himself and of the nation, which, perhaps, never more than at this moment depended upon the character and talent of a single individual.

On the 18th of February he made his first speech from the throne to the two houses. It was short and cogent. The com mons returned a solemn vote of thanks, which passed nemine contradicente ; but on the next day the lords brought in a bill to remove and prevent all questions and disputes concerning the legality of the assembling aud sitting of this present par liament. There was hot debatiug, for the Tories and the Jacobites were eager for a new election ; but, in the end, a bill was passed declaring the convention to be to all intents and purposes a legal parliament. On the 1st of March the new oath of allegiance was tendered. It was con ceived in the simplest form : the words " rightful and lawful sovereigns" being, upon mature de liberation, omitted. Rut, notwithstanding this modification, several lords and several members of the House of Commons withdrew without of the convention, and the Duke of Hamilton was invested with a dictatorial power of securing all suspected persons.

The fiery Duudee did what he could to dissolve the convention by cannon-balls. He urged the Duke of Gordon, who held out in Edinburgh Castle, to fire upon the city. Gordon refused, or hesitated, and then Dundee attempted to get up a counter-con vention at Stirling; but he was ill seconded by his friends, the Marquis of Athole and the Lords Balcarras and Mar. Dundee was eager to be in the field; but James had instructed him to remain quiet until assistance should be sent over from Ireland, where he had landed on the 12th of March, two days before the opening of the Scottish convention. Urged on, however, by his natural impetuosity, or fearing for his life, which he said was threatened by some of the Covenanters, upon whom he had practised infamous severities " aforetime," he mounted his horse, and galloped through Edin burgh with a troop of cavalry, consisting of some fifty men, who had deserted to him from his regiment in England.

In passing under the outer walls of the castle, on the road that leads to Dalkeith, he dismounted, scrambled up the precipice at a place where it is almost perpendi cular, and held a conference with the Duke of Gordon, whom he vainly pressed to retire with him into the Highlands. While the conference lasted, a crowd collected at the foot of the pre cipice. A rumour reached the convention, which was then sitting, that Dundee was at the gates with an army, and that Gordon was going to bombard the town. The Duke of Hamilton, who was better informed, turned the panic to the advantage of his party. He ordered the doors of the house to be shut, and the keys to be laid on the table — exclaiming, that there was danger within as well as without doors — that traitors must be held in confinement until the danger was over — but that the friends of liberty had nothing to fear, as thousands were ready to start up in their defence at the stamp of his foot.

At his order drums beat and trumpets sounded, and swarms of west-country Covenanters, who had been brought into Edinburgh by Hamilton and Sir John Dalrymple, started from their hiding places in garrets aud cellars, and showed them selves in the streets with arms in their hands. When the doors of the convention were thrown open for the members to retire, the few Tories present were assailed with threats and curses ; which had such an effect, that some of the ad herents of James fled at once into the country, and still more adapted themselves to circumstances and changed sides. The Revolution over both England and Scotland was now complete. 1 This is the list :— The Prince of Denmark, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquises of Halifax and Winchester ; the Earls of Danby, Lindisay, Devonshire, Dorset and Middlesex, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Bedford, Bath, Macclesfield, and Nottingham ; the Viscounts Falconberg, Mordaunt, Newport, and Lumley ; the Bishop of London ; the Lords Wharton, Mon tagu, Delamere, and Churchill; Mr. Beutinck, Mr. Sidney, Sir Robert Howard, Sir Henry Capel, Mr. Poole, Mr. Russell', Mr. Hampden, and Mr. Boscawen.

The majority were men who had ventured farthest in the revolution : and as for the archbishop and that sturdy Tory Nottingham, they were named " by way of sweetener to the church," it being thought advisable to do something to conciliate that great body.— Rurnet; Ralph. William's first measure was to announce that a.d 1689—1691.] 5 WILLIAM AND MARY. permission, and the Earls of Clarendon, Lichfield, and Exeter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and seven of the bishops, refused the oath. Among these spiritual lords were five of the seven who had been sent to the Tower for refusing obedience to the mandates of James. Above 400 of the clergy, including some of the highest distinction, followed the example set by the primate and these seven bishops; and thus began the schism of the A'oujurors — a term which now becomes as prominent as that of Nonconformists had been under the two last Stuarts.1 vote.

Upon a careful examination of accounts, they had discovered that the real value of the late king's revenue was far above its nominal amount; that James had been in the receipt, altogether, of £2,000,000 per annum; and that in the expenditure nearly £90,000 per annum was set down under the suspicious head of secret ser vice money.2 They now voted £1,200,000 for the current year, only one-half to be appropriated to the civil list, the other half to the public defence, &c; but they soon improved upon their original scheme of a definite revenue by taking a close and constant superintendence of the navy, army, and ordnance, having estimates regularly laid before them, and seeing, as far as was possible, that the supply granted was appropriated to the services to which it was voted. This great and fundamental principle became henceforward au invariable usage, and by means of it the House The first parliament of Charles II., in the heat of their loyalty, had settled upon him a revenue for life of £1,200,000; and this precedent was followed on the accession of James.

William, it appears, expected to have the same kind of grant for life ; but the commons had learned a good lesson, and both Whigs and Tories opposed the William III. and Mary, his Queen — From portraits by Kneller. of Commons acquired that controlling position which it now maintains; and this alone will make Englishmen grateful for the Revolution of 1689. For the current year, the commons fixed the allowance for the navy at £700,000 instead of at £1,100,000, as proposed by ministers; and they made only provision for six months for the army which was to defend, or, rather, recover Ireland. They voted £600,000 as compensation to the Dutch for the services rendered, in ships and men, at the Revolution. William had only de manded £700,000, but the reduction displeased him much ; and generally he complained of par simony and a want of confidence. stance which did not endear him to the Church of England ; but iu Holland he had witnessed the agreeable prospect of all sects and religions living peaceably together, and he was, both by heart and head, disposed to toleration.

He pro posed a repeal of the test act, trusting that the great dread of the Papists would be removed with the removal of a Roman Catholic king, and that the professions of good-will which had passed be tween the Established church and the dissenters, when threatened by James, would lead to some amicable and lasting agreement. But the lords rejected the repeal by a great majority, and took no notice of a petition from the city of Lon don, praying that the king might be at liberty to use indiscriminately the services of all his Pro- William had been bred a Calvinist, a circum- 1 Coke;' Ralph; Burnet; Luttrull a Diary: Evelyn; Life of ' ± Kino Janus II. ; Hallam. I ~ Hallam, Pad. Hist. [Civil and Military. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. testant subjects without any imposition of the sacramental oath, which offended the consciences of so many.

At the same time, the church party in the House of Lords eagerly grasped at a clause — also recommended by the tolerant king — which went to dispense with the oaths of the bishops and established clergy to the new government. But the dissenters in the House of Commons resolved to show as little regard to the con sciences of churchmen as the churchmen had shown to theirs ; and they moved for an amend ment, to oblige the established clergy to take the oaths of allegiance before the 1st of August, with out any excuse, and under the pain of suspension, to be followed in six months by deprivation. The lords, in their turn, rejected the amendment. Con ferences ensued; but all that the commons would allow was that the king should have power to grant, during his pleasure, a third of their bene fices to any twelve clergymen who should incur de privation by refusing to take the oath.

AVilliam was never easily turned from any serious project. Though surprised at the religious animosities of his new subjects, he attempted to carry a bill of comprehension, by which he flattered himself that the Established church, the kirk, and the conven ticle might, by degrees, be amalgamated. The commons united with the lords in oversetting the project ; but, iu the end, they agreed upon a free toleration to all Christian sects except the Roman Catholic. William, who had no notion of being merely the king of one party, recommeuded an act of indemnity, which should include the Tories who had made such an abuse of power iu the two preceding reigns. The Whigs, who certainly aimed at monopolizing all favour, all power and trust, represented that all kings were fond of prerogative, and that William wanted a pardon for the ministers of the late reigns only with a view to employ servants who would be as obsequious to him as they had been to James and Charles.

In both houses numerous exceptions were proposed, which would have changed the in demnity into something very like a sweeping pro clamation of treason and misdemeanour against the Tory chiefs; and that liberal project also fell to the ground. The Declaration of Rights was embodied in a bill, which, however, was not passed until the following year, when it became an in valuable portion of the law of the land. After a pretty full examination of witnesses, and of written evidence, parliament reversed the attainders of Lord Russell aud Algernon Sidney, declaring their sentence to be iniquitous, their execution murder.' at the court of Versailles ; for Louis, who was menaced by a vast coalition, was sensible of the great use that might be made of him ; and the "grand monarque," though exceedingly little in many essentials, had a kingly bearing, and a disposition which sometimes looked like magnanimity.

It was universally known that Ireland was our vulnerable part. Tyrconnel informed his proscribed master that all the Roman Catho lics there would take up arms for him ; and it was forthwith resolved that James should be landed in Ireland with a French army.' Louis drove on the preparations for the expedition with uncommon earnestness, and appointed D'Avaux to accompany "his Britannic majesty," with the title of ambassador extraordinary. Tyrconnel had played his part with rare vigour and success. He amused the friends of the English Revolution with half promises and delusive assurances, and seems to have made even the cautious and in credulous William believe that he would submit quietly to his government. In the course of two months he had 40,000 or 50,000 men under arms, all Papists, and all eager to establish their religion and recover their ancient possessions.

James arrived at Brest on the 5th of February. There he found a crowd of English and Irish exiles, about 2500 soldiers, and a fleet of fifteen sail, manned and commanded by some of the best sailors and marine officers of France. On the 12th of March he landed at Kinsale, where he was received with enthusiasm by the native Irish. From Kinsale he proceeded to Cork, and from Cork to Dublin. The English fleet, under Ad miral Herbert, having missed the enemy on the French coast, found them, greatly reinforced, in Bantry Bay. The engagement which took place lasted the whole day ; but in the evening the English, who were far inferior in numbers, steered off for the Scilly Islands. James summoned an Irish parliament, to meet at Dublin on the 7th of May. Of the Irish Protestants who had not fled, the far greater part were in arms against him.

Only six Protestants were returned to the House of Commons, and only five lords and four bishops of that faith attended in the upper house. There was no reconciling the rival interests aud antagonist feelings : what gratified the Irish and Papists was worse than a declaration of war to the knife to the English and Protestants. This strange parliament passed a bill of attainder against all who abetted or assisted the Prince of Orange ; they voted £20,000 a-year as a proper reward for Tyrconnel, to be taken out of the estates forfeited by the Protestants; and they voted £20,000 per month for King James. They The fugitive James had met with a very kind, and what was called a very honourable, reception 2 Life of James, &c„ collected out of memoirs writ of his own hand. Published from the original Stuart MSS. in Carlton House, by the Rev. J. S. Clarke. 1 Subsequently the same resolutions were passed concerning Armstrong and Cornish. a.d. 1089—1691.]