I. GEORGE I…

I. GEORGE I

State of Parties in Great Britain..... King George proclaimed..... The Civil List presennted to his Majesty by the Parliament..... The Electoral Prince created Prince of Wales..... The King arrives in England..... The Tories totally excluded from the Royal Favour..... Pretender’s Manifesto..... New Parliament..... Substance of the King’s first Speech..... Lord Bolingbroke withdraws himself to France..... Sir William Wyndham reprimanded by the Speaker..... Committee of Secrecy..... Sir John Norris sent with a Fleet to the Baltic..... Discontent of the Nation..... Report of the Secret Committee..... Resolutions to impeach Lord Bolingbroke, the Earl of Oxford, the Duke of Or-mond, and the Earl of Strafford..... The Earl of Oxford sent to the Tower..... The Proclamation Act..... The King declares to both Houses that a Rebellion is begun..... The Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke attainted..... Intrigues of the Jacobites..... Death of Louis XIV..... The Earl of Marsets up the Pretender’s Standard in Scotland..... Divers Members of the Lower House taken into custody..... The Pretender proclaimed in the North of England by the Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster..... Mackintosh crosses the Frith of Forth into Lothian and joins the English Insurgents..... who are attacked at Preston, and surrender at Discretion..... Battle at Dunblane..... The Pretender arrives in Scotland..... He retires again to France..... Proceedings of the Irish Parliament..... The Rebel Lords are impeached, and plead Guilty..... The Earl of Derwentwater and Lord Kenmuir are beheaded..... Trials of Rebels..... Act for Septennial Parliaments..... Duke of Argyle disgraced..... Triple Alliance between England, France, and Holland..... Count Gyllenburgh, the Swedish Minister in London, arrested..... Account of the Oxford Riot..... The King demands an extraordinary Supply off the Commons..... Division in the Ministry..... The Commons pass the South Sea Act, the Bank Act, and the General Fund Act..... Trial of the Earl of Oxford..... Act of Indemnity..... Proceedings in the Convocation with regard to Dr. Hoadley, Bishop of Bangor.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

STATE OF PARTIES.

It may be necessary to remind the reader of the state of parties at this important juncture. The Jacobites had been fed with hopes of seeing the succession altered by the earl of Oxford. These hopes he had conveyed to them in a distant, undeterminate, and mysterious manner, without any other view than that of preventing them from taking violent measures to embarrass his administration. At least, if he actually entertained at one time any other design, he had, long before his disgrace, laid it wholly aside, probably from an apprehension of the danger with which it must have been attended, and seemed bent upon making a merit of his zeal for the house of Hanover; but his conduct was so equivocal and unsteady, that he ruined himself in the opinion of one party without acquiring the confidence of the other. The friends of the pretender derived fresh hopes from the ministry of Bolingbroke. Though he had never explained himself on this subject, he was supposed to favour the heir of blood, and known to be an implacable enemy to the whigs, who were the most zealous advocates for the protestant succession. The Jacobites promised themselves much from his affection, but more from his resentment; and they believed the majority of the tories would join them on the same maxims. All Bolingbroke’s schemes of power were defeated by the promotion of the duke of Shrewsbury to the office of treasurer; and all his hopes blasted by the death of the queen, on whose personal favour he depended. The resolute behaviour of the dukes of Somerset and Argyle, together with the diligence and activity of a council in which the whig interest had gained the ascendancy, completed the confusion of the tories, who found themselves without a head, divided, distracted, and irresolute. Upon recollection, they saw nothing so eligible as silence and submission to those measures which they could not oppose with any prospect of success. They had no other objection to the succession in the house of Hanover but the fear of seeing the whig faction once more predominant; yet they were not without hope that their new sovereign, who was reputed a prince of sagacity and experience, would cultivate and conciliate the affection of the tories, who were the landholders and proprietors of the kingdom, rather than declare himself the head of a faction which leaned for support on those who were enemies to the church and monarchy, on the bank and the monied interest, raised upon usury and maintained by corruption. In a word, the whigs were elated and overbearing; the tories abashed and humble; the Jacobites eager, impatient, and alarmed at a juncture which, with respect to them, was truly critical.

KING GEORGE PROCLAIMED.

The queen had no sooner resigned her last breath than the privy-council met, and the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord-chancellor, and the Hanoverian resident, Kreyenburgh, produced the three instruments in which the elector of Brunswick had nominated the persons * to be added as lords-justices to the seven great officers of the realm.

* These were the dukes of Shrewsbury, Somerset, Bolton, Devonshire, Kent, Argyle, Montrose, and Roxburgh; the earls of Pomfret, Anglesea, Carlisle, Nottingham, Abingdon, Scarborough, and Or-ford; lord viscount Townshend, and lords Halifax and Cowper.

Orders were immediately issued for proclaiming king George in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The regency appointed the earl of Dorset to carry to Hanover the intimation of his majesty’s accession, and attend him in his journey to England. They sent the general officers in whom they could confide to their respective posts; they reinforced the garrison of Portsmouth; they appointed Mr. Addison their secretary; while Bolingbroke was obliged to stand at the door of the council-chamber with his bag and papers, and underwent every species of mortification. On the whole, king George ascended the throne of Great Britain in the fifty-fifth year of his age, without the least opposition, tumult, or sign of popular discontent; and the unprejudiced part of the nation was now fully persuaded that no design had ever been concerted by Queen Anne and her ministry in favour of the pretender. The mayor of Oxford received a letter, requiring him to proclaim the pretender. This being communicated to the vice-chancellor, a copy of it was immediately transmitted to Mr. secretary Bromley, member of Parliament for the university; and the vice-chancellor offered a reward of one hundred pounds to any person who should discover the author. It was either the production of some lunatic, or a weak contrivance to fix an odium on that venerable body.

THE CIVIL LIST GRANTED TO THE KING.

The parliament having assembled pursuant to the act which regulated the succession, the lord chancellor, on the fifth day of August, made a speech to both houses in the name of the regency. He told them that the privy-council appointed by the elector of Brunswick had proclaimed that prince under the name of king George, as the lawful and rightful sovereign of these kingdoms; and that they had taken the necessary care to maintain the public peace. He observed, that the several branches of the public revenue were expired by the demise of her late majesty; and recommended to the commons the making such provision, in that respect, as might be requisite to support the honour and dignity of the crown. He likewise expressed his hope that they would not be wanting in anything that might conduce to the establishing and advancing of the public credit. Both houses immediately agreed to addresses, containing the warmest expressions of duty and affection to their new sovereign, who did not fail to return such answers as were very agreeable to the parliament of Great Britain. In the meantime the lower house prepared and passed a bill, granting to his majesty the same civil list which the queen had enjoyed, with additional clauses for the payment of arrears due to the troops of Hanover which had been in the service of Great Britain; and for a reward of one hundred thousand pounds, to be paid by the treasury to any person who should apprehend the pretender in landing, or attempting to land, in any part of the British dominions. Mr. Craggs, who had been despatched to Hanover before the queen died, returning on the thirteenth day of August with letters from the king to the regency, they went to the house of peers; then the chancellor, in another speech to both houses, intimated his majesty’s great satisfaction in the loyalty and affection which his people had universally expressed at his accession. Other addresses were voted on this occasion. The commons finished the bill for the civil list, and one for making some alterations in an act for a state-lottery, which received the royal assent from the lords-justices. Then the parliament was prorogued.

THE ELECTORAL PRINCE CREATED PRINCE OF WALES.

Mr. Prior having notified the queen’s death to the court of Versailles, Louis declared that he would inviolably maintain the treaty of peace concluded at Utrecht, particularly with relation to the settlement of the British crown in the house of Hanover. The earl of Strafford having signified the same event to the states of Holland, and the resident of Hanover having presented them with a letter, in which his master claimed the performance of their guarantee, they resolved to perform their engagements, and congratulated his electoral highness on his succession to the throne of Great Britain. They invited him to pass through their dominions, and assured him that his interests were as dear to them as their own. The chevalier de St. George no sooner received the news of the queen’s death, than he posted to Versailles, where he was given to understand that the king of France expected he should quit his territories immediately; and he was accordingly obliged to return to Lorraine. By this time Mr. Murray had arrived in England from Hanover, with notice that the king had deferred his departure for some days. He brought orders to the regency to prepare a patent for creating the prince-royal prince of Wales; and for removing lord Bolingbroke from his post of secretary. The seals were taken from this minister by the dukes of Shrewsbury and Somerset, and lord Cowper, who at the same time sealed up all the doors of his office.

THE KING ARRIVES IN ENGLAND.

King George having vested the government of his German dominions in a council, headed by his brother prince Ernest, set out with the electoral prince from Herenhausen on the thirty-first day of August; and in fire days arrived at the Hague, where he conferred with the states-general. On the sixteenth day of September he embarked at Orange Polder, under convoy of an English and Dutch squadron, commanded by the earl of Berkeley, and next day arrived at the Hope. In the afternoon the yacht sailed up the river; and his majesty, with the prince, were landed from a barge at Greenwich about six in the evening. There he was received by the duke of Northumberland, captain of the life-guards, and the lords of the regency. From the landing place he walked to his house in the park, accompanied by a great number of the nobility and other persons of distinction, who had the honour to kiss his hand as they approached. When he retired to his bed-chamber, he sent for those of the nobility who had distinguished themselves by their zeal for his succession; but the duke of Ormond, the lord-chancellor, and lord Trevor, were not of the number. Next morning the earl of Oxford presented himself with an air of confidence, as if he had expected to receive some particular mark of his majesty’s favour; but he had the mortification to remain a considerable time undistinguished among the crowd, and then was permitted to kiss the king’s hand without being honoured with any other notice. On the other hand, his majesty expressed uncommon regard for the duke of Marlborough, who had lately arrived in England, as well as for all the leaders of the whig party.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

THE TORIES TOTALLY EXCLUDED FROM THE ROYAL FAVOUR.

It was the misfortune of this prince, as well as a very great prejudice to the nation, that he had been misled into strong prepossessions against the tories, who constituted such a considerable part of his subjects. They were now excluded from all share of the royal favour, which was wholly engrossed by their enemies; these early marks of aversion, which he was at no pains to conceal, alienated the minds of many from his person and government, who would otherwise have served him with fidelity and affection. An instantaneous and total change was effected in all offices of honour and advantage. The duke of Ormond was dismissed from his command, which the king restored to the duke of Marlborough, whom he likewise appointed colonel of the first regiment of foot guards, and master of the ordnance. The great seal was given to lord Cowper; the privy seal to the earl of Wharton; the government of Ireland to the earl of Sunderland. The duke of Devonshire was made steward of the household; lord Townshend and Mr. Stanhope were appointed secretaries of state; the post of secretary for Scotland was bestowed upon the duke of Montrose. The duke of Somerset was constituted master of the horse; the duke of St. Alban’s captain of the band of pensioners; and the duke of Argyle commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland. Mr. Pulteney became secretary at war; and Mr. Walpole, who had already undertaken to manage the house of commons, was gratified with the double place of paymaster to the army and to Chelsea-hospital. A new privy-council was appointed, and the earl of Nottingham declared president; but all affairs of consequence were concerted by a cabinet-council, or junto, composed of the duke of Marlborough, the earls of Nottingham and Sunderland, the lords Halifax, Townshend, and Somers, and general Stanhope. The regency had already removed sir Constantine Phipps and the archbishop of Armagh from the office of lords-justices in Ireland, and filled their places in the regency of that kingdom with the archbishop of Dublin and tire earl of Kildare. Allan Broderick was appointed chancellor; another privy-council was formed, and the duke of Ormond was named as one of the members. The treasury and admiralty were put into commission; all the governments were changed; and, in a word, the whole nation was delivered into the hands of the whigs. At the same time the prince-royal was declared prince of Wales, and took his place in council. The king was congratulated on his accession in addresses from the two universities, and from all the cities and corporations in the kingdom. He expressed particular satisfaction at these expressions of loyalty and affection. He declared in council his firm purpose to support and maintain the churches of England and Scotland as they were by law established; an aim which he imagined might be effectually accomplished, without impairing the toleration allowed by law to protestant dissenters, and so necessary to the trade and riches of the kingdom; he, moreover, assured them he would earnestly endeavour to render property secure; the good effects of which were no where so clearly seen as in this happy nation. Before the coronation he created some new peers, and others were promoted to higher titles.* On the twentieth day of October he was crowned in Westminster with the usual solemnity, at which the earl of Oxford and lord Bolingbroke assisted.**

* James lord Chandos, was created earl of Carnarvon; Lewis lord Kockingham, earl of that name; Charles lord Ossulton, earl of Tankerville; Charles lord Halifax, earl of Halifax; Heneage lord Guernsey, earl of Aylesford; John lord Hervey, earl of Bristol; Thomas lord Pelham, earl of Clare; Henry earl of Thommond, in Ireland, viscount Tadcaster; James viscount Castleton, in Ireland, baron Sanderson; Bennet lord Sherrard, in Ireland, baron of Har-borough; Gervase lord Pierrepont, in Ireland, baron Pierrepont in the county of Bucks; Henry Boyle, baron of Carleton in the county of York; sir Richard Temple, baron of Cobham; Henry lord Paget, earl of Uxbridge.

** In the month of October the princess of Wales arrived in England with her two eldest daughters, the princesses Anne and Amelia.

On that very day the university of Oxford, in full convocation, unanimously conferred the degree of doctor of civil law on sir Constantine Phipps, with particular marks of honour and esteem. As the French king was said to protract the demolition of Dunkirk, Mr. Prior received orders to present a memorial to hasten this work, and to prevent the canal of Mardyke from being finished. The answer which he received being deemed equivocal, this minister was recalled, and the earl of Stair appointed ambassador to the court of France, where he prosecuted this affair with uncommon vigour. About the same time general Cadogan was sent as plenipotentiary to Antwerp, to assist at the barrier-treaty, negotiated there between the emperor and the states-general.

PRETENDER’S MANIFESTO.

Meanwhile the number of malcontents in England was considerably increased by the king’s attachment to the whig faction. The clamour of the church’s being in danger was revived; jealousies were excited; seditious libels dispersed; and dangerous tumults raised in different parts of the kingdom. Birmingham, Bristol, Chippenham, Norwich, and Reading, were filled with licentious riot. The party cry was, “Down with the whigs! Sacheverel for ever!” Many gentlemen of the whig faction were abused; magistrates in towns, and justices in the country, were reviled and insulted by the populace in the execution of their office. The pretender took this opportunity to transmit, by the French mail, copies of a printed manifesto to the dukes of Shrewsbury, Marlborough, Argyle, and other noblemen of the first distinction. In this declaration he mentioned the good intentions of his sister towards him, which were prevented by her deplorable death. He observed that his people, instead of doing him and themselves justice, had proclaimed for their king a foreign prince, contrary to the fundamental and incontestable laws of hereditary right, which their pretended acts of settlement could never abrogate. These papers being delivered to the secretaries of state, the king refused an audience to the marquis de Lamberti, minister from the duke of Lorraine, on the supposition that this manifesto could not have been prepared or transmitted without the knowledge and countenance of his master. The marquis having communicated this circumstance to the duke, that prince absolutely denied his having been privy to the transaction, and declared that the chevalier de St. George came into Lorraine by the directions of the French king, whom the duke could not disoblige without exposing his territories to invasion. Notwithstanding this apology, the marquis was given to understand that he could not be admitted to an audience until the pretender should be removed from the dominions of his master; he therefore quitted the kingdom without further hesitation. Religion was still mingled in all political disputes. The high churchmen complained that impiety and heresy daily gained ground from the connivance, or at least the supine negligence, of the whig prelates. The lower house of convocation had, before the queen’s death, declared that a book published by Dr. Samuel Clarke, under the title of “The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity,” contained assertions contrary to the catholic faith. They sent up extracts from this performance to the bishops, and the doctor wrote an answer to their objections. He was prevailed upon to write an apology, which he presented to the upper house; but apprehending it might be published separately, and misunderstood, he afterwards delivered an explanation to the bishop of London. This was satisfactory to the bishops; but the lower house resolved that it was no recantation of his heretical assertions. The disputes about the Trinity increasing, the archbishops and bishops received directions, which were published, for preserving unity in the church, the purity of the christian faith concerning the holy Trinity, and for maintaining the peace and quiet of the state. By these every preacher was restricted from delivering any other doctrine than what is contained in the holy scriptures with respect to the Trinity, and from intermeddling in any affairs of state or government. The like prohibition was extended to those who should write, harangue, or dispute on the same subjects.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

NEW PARLIAMENT.

The parliament being dissolved, another was called by a very extraordinary proclamation, in which the king complained of the evil designs of men disaffected to his succession; and of their having misrepresented his conduct and principles. He mentioned the perplexity of public affairs, the interruption of commerce, and the heavy debts of the nation. He expressed his hope that his loving subjects would send up to parliament the fittest persons to redress the present disorders; and that in the elections, they would have a particular regard to such as had expressed a firm attachment to the protestant succession when it was in danger. It does not appear that the protestant succession was ever in danger. How then was this declaration to be interpreted? People in general construed it into a design to maintain party distinctions, and encourage the whigs to the full exertion of their influence in the elections; into a renunciation of the tories; and as the first flash of that vengeance which afterwards was seen to burst upon the heads of the late ministry. When the earl of Strafford returned from Holland, all his papers were seized by an order from the secretary’s office. Mr. Prior was recalled from France, and promised to discover all he knew relating to the conduct of Oxford’s administration. Uncommon vigour was exerted on both sides in the elections; but, by dint of the monied interest, which prevailed in most of the corporations through the kingdom, and the countenance of the ministry, which will always have weight with needy and venal electors, a great majority of whigs was returned both in England and Scotland.

THE KING’S FIRST SPEECH.

When this new parliament assembled on the seventeenth day of March, at Westminster, Mr. Spencer Compton was chosen speaker of the commons. On the twenty-first day of the month, the king appeared in the house of lords and delivered to the chancellor a written speech, which was read in presence of both houses. His majesty thanked his faithful and loving subjects for that zeal and firmness they had shown in defence of the protestant succession, against all the open and secret practices which had been used to defeat it. He told them that some conditions of the peace, essential to the security and trade of Great Britain, were not yet duly executed; and that the performance of the whole might be looked upon as precarious, until defensive alliances should be formed to guarantee the present treaties. He observed, that the pretender boasted of the assistance he expected in England, to repair his former disappointment; that great part of the national trade was rendered impracticable; and that the public debts were surprisingly increased ever since the fatal cessation of arms. He gave the commons to understand that the branches of the revenue, formerly granted for the support of the civil government, were so far encumbered and alienated, that the produce of the funds which remained, and had been granted to him, would fall short of what was at first designed for maintaining the honour and dignity of the crown; that as it was his and their happiness to see a prince of Wales who might in due time succeed him on the throne, and to see him blessed with many children, these circumstances would naturally occasion an expense to which the nation had not been for many years accustomed; and, therefore, he did not doubt but they would think of it with that affection which he had reason to hope from his commons. He desired that no unhappy divisions of parties might divert them from pursuing the common interests of their country. He declared that the established constitution in church and state should be the rule of his government; and that the happiness, ease, and prosperity of his people should be the chief care of his life. He concluded with expressing his confidence, that with their assistance he should disappoint the designs of those who wanted to deprive him of that blessing which he most valued--the affection of his people.

Speeches suggested by a vindictive ministry better became the leader of an incensed party, than the father and sovereign of a divided people. This declaration portended measures which it was the interest of the crown to avoid, and suited the temper of the majority in both houses, which breathed nothing but destruction to their political adversaries. The lords, in their address of thanks, professed their hope that his majesty, assisted by the parliament, would be able to recover the reputation of the kingdom in foreign parts, the loss of which they hoped to convince the world by their actions was by no means to be imputed to the nation in general. The tories said this was an invidious reflection, calculated to mislead and inflame the people, for the reputation of the kingdom had never been so high as at this very juncture. The commons pretended astonishment to find that any conditions of the late peace should not yet be duly executed; and that care was not taken to form such alliances as might have rendered the peace not precarious. They declared their resolution to inquire into these fatal miscarriages; to trace out those measures whereon the pretender placed his hopes, and bring the authors of them to condign punishment. These addresses were not voted without opposition. In the house of lords, the dukes of Buckingham and Shrewsbury, the earl of Anglesea, the archbishop of York, and other peers both secular and ecclesiastical, observed, that their address was injurious to the late queen’s memory, and would serve only to increase those unhappy divisions that distracted the kingdom. In the lower house, sir William Wyndham, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Ship-pen, general Ross, sir William Whitelock, and other members, took exceptions to passages of the same nature in the address which the commons had prepared. They were answered by Mr. Walpole, Mr. Pulteney, and Mr. secretary Stanhope. These gentlemen took occasion to declare, that notwithstanding the endeavours which had been used to prevent a discovery of the late mismanagements, by conveying away several papers from the secretary’s office, yet the government had sufficient evidence left to prove the late ministry the most corrupt that ever sat at the helm; that those matters would soon be laid before the house, when it would appear that a certain English general had acted in concert with, if not received orders from, mareschal de Villars. Lord Bolingbroke, who had hitherto appeared in public, as usual, with remarkable serenity, and spoke in the house of lords with great freedom and confidence, thought it was now high time to consult his personal safety. He accordingly withdrew to the continent, leaving a letter which was afterwards printed in his justification. In this paper, he declared he had received certain and repeated informations, that a resolution was taken to pursue him to the scaffold; that if there had been the least reason to hope for a fair and open trial, after having been already prejudged, unheard, by the two houses of parliament, he should not have declined the strictest examination. He challenged the most inveterate of his enemies to produce any one instance of criminal correspondence, or the least corruption in any part of the administration in which he was concerned. He said, if his zeal for the honour and dignity of his royal mistress, and the true interest of his country, had any where transported him to let slip a warm and unguarded expression, he hoped the most favourable interpretation would be put upon it. He affirmed that he had served her majesty faithfully and dutifully in that especially which she had most at heart, relieving her people from a bloody and expensive war; and that he had always been too much an Englishman to sacrifice the interest of his country to any foreign ally whatsoever.

{1715}

In the midst of all this violence against the late ministers, friends were not wanting to espouse their cause in the face of opposition; and even in some addresses to the king their conduct was justified. Nay, some individuals had courage enough to attack the present administration. When a motion was made in the house of commons to consider the king’s proclamation for calling a new parliament, sir William Whitelock, member for the university of Oxford, boldly declared it was unprecedented and unwarrantable. Being called upon to explain himself, he made an apology. Nevertheless, sir William Wyndham rising up said, the proclamation was not only unprecedented and unwarrantable, but even of dangerous consequence to the very being of parliaments. When challenged to justify his charge, he observed, that every member was free to speak his thoughts. Some exclaimed, “The Tower! the Tower!” A warm debate ensued; sir William being ordered to withdraw, was accompanied by one hundred and twenty-nine members; and those who remained in the house resolved, that he should be reprimanded by the speaker. He was accordingly rebuked, for having presumed to reflect on his majesty’s proclamation, and having made an unwarrantable use of the freedom of speech granted by his majesty. Sir William said he was not conscious of having offered any indignity to his majesty, or of having been guilty of a breach of privilege; that he acquiesced in the determination of the house; but had no thanks to give to those gentlemen who, under pretence of lenity, had subjected him to this censure.

COMMITTEE OF SECRECY.

On the ninth day of April, general Stanhope delivered to the house of commons fourteen volumes, consisting of all the papers relating to the late negotiations of peace and commerce, as well as to the cessation of arms; and moved that they might be referred to a select committee of twenty persons, who should digest the substance of them under proper heads, and report them, with their observations, to the house. One more was added to the number of this secret committee, which was chosen by ballot, and met that same evening. Mr. Eobert Wal-pole, original chairman, being taken ill, was succeeded in that place by Mr. Stanhope. The whole number was subdivided into three committees. To each a certain number of books was allotted; and they carried on the inquiry with great eagerness and expedition. Before this measure was taken, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Sarum, died of a pleuritic fever, in the seventy-second year of his age. Immediately after the committee had begun to act, the whig party lost one of their warmest champions, by the death of the marquis of Wharton, a nobleman possessed of happy talents for the cabinet, the senate, and the common scenes of life; talents which a life of pleasure and libertinism did not prevent him from employing with surprising vigour and application. The committee of the lower house taking the civil list into consideration, examined several papers relating to that revenue. The tories observed, that from the seven hundred thousand pounds granted annually to king William, fifty thousand pounds were allotted to the late queen, when princess of Denmark; twenty thousand pounds to the duke of Gloucester; and twice that sum, as a dowry, to James’ queen; that nearly two hundred thousand pounds had been yearly deducted from the revenues of the late queen’s civil list, and applied to other uses; notwithstanding which deduction, she had honourably maintained her family, and supported the dignity of the crown. In the course of the debate, some warm altercation passed between lord Guernsey and one of the members, who affirmed that the late ministry had used the whigs, and indeed the whole nation, in such a manner, that nothing they should suffer could be deemed a hardship. At length the house agreed that the sum of seven hundred thousand pounds clear should be granted for the civil list during his majesty’s life. A motion being made for an address against pensions, it was opposed by Mr. Walpole, and over-ruled by the majority. The lords passed the bill for regulating the land forces, with some amendments.

SIR JOHN NORRIS SENT WITH A FLEET TO THE BALTIC.

On the eighteenth day of May, sir John Norris sailed with a strong squadron to the Baltic, in order to protect the commerce of the nation, which had suffered from the king of Sweden, who caused all ships trading to those parts to be seized and confiscated. That prince had rejected the treaty of neutrality concerted by the allies for the security of the empire; and considered the English and Dutch as his enemies. The ministers of England and the states-general had presented memorials to the regency of Sweden; but finding no redress, they resolved to protect their trade by force of arms. After the Swedish general, Steenbock, and his army were made prisoners, count Wellen concluded a treaty with the administrator of Holstein-Gottorp, by which the towns of Stetin and Wisma were sequestered into the hands of the king of Prussia; the administrator engaged to secure them, and all the rest of Swedish Pomerania, from the Poles and Muscovites; but as the governor of Pomerania refused to comply with this treaty, those allies marched into the province, subdued the island of Eugen, and obliged Stetin to surrender. Then the governor consented to the sequestration, and paid to the Poles and Muscovites four hundred thousand rix dollars, to indemnify them for the expense of the siege. The king of Sweden returning from Turkey, rejected the treaty of sequestration, and insisted upon Stetin’s being restored, without his repaying the money. As this monarch likewise threatened to invade the electorate of Saxony, and chastise his false friend; king George, for the security of his German dominions, concluded a treaty with the king of Denmark, by which the duchies of Bremen and Verden, which had been taken from the Swedes in his absence, were made over to his Britannic majesty, on condition that he should immediately declare war against Sweden. Accordingly he took possession of the duchies in October, published a declaration of war against Charles in his German dominions; and detached six thousand Hanoverians to join the Danes and Prussians in Pomerania. These allies reduced the islands of Rugen and Uledon, and attacked the towns of Wismar and Stralsund, from which last place Charles was obliged to retire in a vessel to Schohen. He assembled a body of troops with which he proposed to pass the Sound upon the ice, and attack Copenhagen; but was disappointed by a sudden thaw. Nevertheless he refused to return to Stockholm, which he had not seen for sixteen years; but remained at Carlscroon, in order to hasten his fleet for the relief of Wismar.

DISCONTENT OF THE NATION.

The spirit of discontent and disaffection seemed to gain ground every day in England. Notwithstanding proclamations against riots, and orders of the justices for maintaining the peace, repeated tumults were raised by the malcontents in the cities of London and Westminster. Those who celebrated the anniversary of the king’s birth-day with the usual marks of joy and festivity, were insulted by the populace; but next day, which was the anniversary of the restoration, the whole city was lighted up with bonfires and illuminations, and echoed with the sound of mirth and tumultuous rejoicing. The people even obliged the life-guards, who patroled through the streets, to join in the cry of “High-church and Ormond!” and in Smithfield they burned the picture of king William. Thirty persons were imprisoned for being concerned in these riots. One Bournois, a schoolmaster, who affirmed that king George had no right to the crown, was tried and scourged through the city, with such severity that in a few days he expired in the utmost torture. A frivolous incident served to increase the popular ferment. The shirts allowed to the first regiment of guards, commanded by the duke of Marlborough, were so coarse that the soldiers could hardly be persuaded to wear them. Some were thrown into the garden of the king’s palace, and into that which belonged to the duke of Marlborough. A detachment, in marching through the city, produced them to the view of the shop-keepers and passengers, exclaiming, “These are the Hanover shirts.” The court being informed of this clamour, ordered those new shirts to be burned immediately; but even this sacrifice, and an advertisement published by the duke of Marlborough in his own vindication, did not acquit that general of suspicion that he was concerned in this mean species of peculation. A reward of fifty pounds was offered by the government to any person that would discover one captain Wight, who, by an intercepted letter, appeared to be disaffected to king George; and Mr. George Jefferies was seized at Dublin with a packet directed to Dr. Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick’s. Several treasonable papers being found in this packet, were transmitted to England; Jefferies was obliged to give bail for his appearance; and Swift thought proper to abscond.

REPORT OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE.

The house of lords, to demonstrate their abhorrence of all who should engage in conspiracies against their sovereign, rejected with indignation a petition presented to them in behalf of Blackburne, Casils, Barnarde, Meldrum, and Chambers, who had hitherto continued prisoners, for having conspired against the life of king William. On the ninth day of June, Mr. Walpole, as chairman of the secret committee, declared to the house of commons that the report was ready; and in the meantime moved, that a warrant might be issued by Mr. Speaker, for apprehending several persons, particularly Mr. Matthew Prior and Mr. Thomas Harley, who being in the house, were immediately taken into custody. Then he recited the report, ranged under these different heads: the clandestine negotiation with monsieur Ménager; the extraordinary measures pursued to form the congress at Utrecht; the trifling of the French plenipotentiaries, by the connivance of the British ministers; the negotiation about the renunciation of the Spanish monarchy; the fatal suspension of arms; the seizure of Ghent and Bruges, in order to distress the allies and favour the French; the duke of Ormond’s acting in concert with the French general; the lord Bolingbroke’s journey to France to negotiate a separate peace; Mr. Prior’s and the duke of Shrewsbury’s negotiation in France; the precipitate conclusion of the peace at Utrecht. The report being read, sir Thomas Hanmer moved that the consideration of it should be adjourned to a certain day; and that in the meantime the report should be printed for the perusal of the members: he was seconded by the tories: a debate ensued; and the motion was rejected by a great majority.

This point being gained, Mr. Walpole impeached Henry lord viscount Bolingbroke of high treason, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Mr. Hungerford declared his opinion, that nothing mentioned in the report, in relation to lord Bolingbroke, amounted to high treason; and general Eoss expressed the same sentiment. Then lord Coningsby standing up, “The worthy chairman,” said he, “has impeached the hand, but I impeach the head: he has impeached the clerk, and I the justice; he has impeached the scholar, and I the master. I impeach Eobert earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer of high treason, and other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Mr. Auditor Harley, the earl’s brother, spoke in vindication of that minister. He affirmed he had done nothing but by the immediate command of his sovereign; that the peace was a good peace, and approved as such by two parliaments; and that the facts charged to him in the report amounted only to misdemeanors; if the sanction of a parliament, which is the representative and legislature of the nation, be not sufficient to protect a minister from the vengeance of his enemies, he can have no security. Mr. Atiditor Foley, the earl’s brother-in-law, made a speech to the same purpose; sir Joseph Jekyll, a staunch whig, and member of the secret committee, expressed his doubt whether they had sufficient matter or evidence to impeach the earl of high treason. Nevertheless the house resolved to impeach him without a division. When he appeared in the house of lords next day, he found himself deserted by his brother peers as infectious; and retired with signs of confusion. Prior and Harley having been examined by such of the committee as were justices of the peace for Middlesex, Mr. Walpole informed the house that matters of such importance appeared in Prior’s examination, that he was directed to move them for that member’s being closely confined. Prior was accordingly imprisoned, and cut off from all communication. On the twenty-first day of June, Mr. Secretary Stanhope impeached James duke of Ormond of high treason, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Mr. Archibald Hutchinson, one of the commissioners of trade, spoke in favour of the duke. He expatiated on his noble birth and qualifications; he enumerated the great services performed to the crown and nation by his grace and his ancestors; he observed, that in the whole course of his late conduct, he had only obeyed the queen’s commands; and he affirmed that all allegations against him could not in the rigour of the law be construed into high treason. Mr. Hutchinson was seconded by general Lumley, who urged that the duke of Ormond had on all occasions given signal proofs of his affection for his country, as well as of personal courage; and that he had generously expended the best part of his estate, by living abroad in a most noble and splendid manner, for the honour of his sovereign. Sir Joseph Jekyll said, if there was room for mercy, he hoped it would be shown to that noble, generous, and courageous peer, who had in a course of many years exerted those great accomplishments for the good and honour of his country; that, as the statute of Edward III., on which the charge of high treason against him was to be grounded, had been mitigated by subsequent acts, the house ought not, in his opinion, to take advantage of that act against the duke, but only impeach him of high crimes and misdemeanors. General Ross, sir William Wyndham, and the speakers of that party, did not abandon the duke in this emergency; but all their arguments and eloquence were lost upon the other faction, by which they were greatly out-numbered The question being put, was carried for the impeachment of the duke of Ormond, who perceiving every thing conducted by a furious spirit of revenge, and that he could not expect the benefit of an impartial trial, consulted his own safety by withdrawing himself from the kingdom. On the twenty-second day of June, the earl of Strafford was likewise impeached by Mr. Aislaby, for having advised the fatal suspension of arms, and the seizing of Ghent and Bruges; as well as for having treated the most serene house of Hanover with insolence and contempt. He was also defended by his friends, but overpowered by his enemies.

EARL OF OXFORD SENT TO THE TOWER.

When the articles against the earl of Oxford were read in the house, a warm debate arose upon the eleventh, by which he was charged with having advised the French king in what manner Tournay might be gained from the states-general. The question being put, whether this article amounted to high-treason; sir Robert Raymond, formerly solicitor-general, maintained the negative, and was supported not only by sir William Wyndham and the tories, but also by sir Joseph Jekyll. This honest patriot said it was ever his principle to do justice to every body, from the highest to the lowest; and that it was the duty of an honest man never to act by a spirit of party; that he hoped he might pretend to have some knowledge of the laws of the kingdom; and would not scruple to declare, that in his judgment the charge in question did not amount to high-treason. Mr. Walpole answered with great warmth, that there were several persons both in and out of the committee, who did not in the least yield to that member in point of honesty, and who were superior to him in the knowledge of the laws, yet were satisfied that the charge specified in the eleventh article amounted to high-treason. This point being decided against the earl, and the other articles approved by the house, lord Conningsby, attended by the whig members, impeached the earl of Oxford at the bar of the house of lords, demanding at the same time that he might be sequestered from parliament, and committed to safe custody. A motion was made, that the consideration of the articles might be adjourned. After a short debate the articles were read; then the tory lords moved that the judges might be consulted. The motion being rejected, another was made, that the earl should be committed to safe custody. This occasioned another debate, in which he himself spoke to the following purpose: that the whole charge might be reduced to the negotiations and conclusions of the peace; that the nation wanted a peace, he said, nobody would deny; that the conditions of the peace were as good as could be expected, considering the backwardness and reluctancy which some of the allies showed to come into the queen’s measures; that the peace was approved by two successive parliaments; that he had no share in the affair of Tournay, which was wholly transacted by that unfortunate nobleman who has thought fit to step aside; that for his own part, he always acted by the immediate directions and commands of the late queen, without offending against any known law; and, being justified by his own conscience, was unconcerned for the life of an insignificant old man; that, if ministers of state, acting by the immediate commands of their sovereign, are afterwards to be made accountable for their proceedings, it might one day or other be the case with all the members of that august assembly; that he did not doubt their lordships, out of regard to themselves, would give him an equitable hearing; and that in the prosecution of the inquiry it would appear he had merited not only the indulgence, but even the favour of his government. “My lords,” said he, “I am now to take my leave of your lordships, and of this honourable house, perhaps for ever; I shall lay down my life with pleasure in a cause favoured by my late dear royal mistress. When I consider that I am to be judged by the justice, honour, and virtue of my peers, I shall acquiesce, and retire with great content; and, my lords, God’s will be done.” The duke of Shrewsbury having acquainted the house that the earl was very much indisposed with the gravel, he was suffered to remain at his own house in custody of the black-rod; in his way thither he was attended by a great multitude of people crying, “High-church, Ormond and Oxford for ever!” Next day he was brought to the bar; where he received a copy of the articles, and was allowed a month to prepare his answer. Though Dr. Mead declared that if the earl should be sent to the Tower his life would be in danger, it was carried, on a division, that he should be conveyed thither on the sixteenth day of July. During the debate, the earl of Anglesea observed, that these impeachments were disagreeable to the nation, and that it was to be feared such violent measures would make the sceptre shake in the king’s hands. This expression kindled the whole house into a flame. Some members cried, “To the Tower!” some, “To order!” The earl of Sunderland declared, that if these words had been spoken in another place, he would have called the person that had spoken them to an account; in the meantime he moved that the noble lord should explain himself. Anglesea, dreading the resentment of the house, was glad to make an apology; which was accepted. The earl of Oxford was attended to the Tower by a prodigious concourse of people, who did not scruple to exclaim against his persecutors. Tumults were raised in Staffordshire, and other parts of the kingdom, against the whig party, which had depressed the friends of the church and embroiled the nation. The house of commons presented an address to the king, desiring that the laws might be vigorously executed against the rioters. They prepared the proclamation-act, decreeing, that if any persons to the number of twelve, unlawfully assembled, should continue together one hour after having been required to disperse by a justice of peace or other officer, and heard the proclamation against riots read in public, they should be deemed guilty of felony without benefit of clergy.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

THE KING DECLARES TO BOTH HOUSES THAT A REBELLION IS BEGUN.

When the king went to the house of peers on the twentieth day of July, to give the royal assent to this and some other bills, he told both houses that a rebellion was actually begun at home; and that the nation was threatened with an invasion from abroad. He therefore expected that the commons would not leave the kingdom in a defenceless condition, but enable him to take such measures as should be necessary for the public safety. Addresses in the usual style were immediately presented by the parliament, the convocation, the common-council and lieutenancy of London, and the two universities; but that of Oxford was received in the most contemptuous manner; and the deputies were charged with disloyalty, on account of a fray which had happened between some recruiting officers and the scholars of the university. The addresses from the kirk of Scotland, and the dissenting ministers of London and Westminster, met with a much more gracious reception. The parliament forthwith passed a bill, empowering the king to secure suspected persons, and to suspend the habeas-corpus act in that time of danger. A clause was added to a money-bill, offering the reward of one hundred thousand pounds to such as should seize the pretender dead or alive. Sir George Byng was sent to take the command of the fleet. General Earle repaired to his government of Portsmouth; the guards were encamped in Hyde-park; lord Irwin was appointed governor of Hull, in the room of brigadier Sutton, who, together with lord Windsor, the generals Ross, Webb, and Stuart, were dismissed from the service. Orders were given for raising thirteen regiments of dragoons, and eight of infantry; and the trained bands were kept in readiness to suppress tumults. In the midst of these transactions, the commons added six articles to those exhibited against the earl of Oxford. Lord Bolingbroke was impeached at the bar of the house of lords by Mr. Walpole. Bills being brought in to summon him and the duke of Ormond to surrender themselves by the tenth of September, or, in default thereof, to attaint them of high treason, they passed both houses and received the royal assent. On the last day of August, the commons agreed to the articles against the earl of Strafford, which being presented to the house of lords, the earl made a speech in his own vindication. He complained that his papers had been seized in an unprecedented manner. He said, if he had in his letters or discourse dropped any unguarded expressions against some foreign ministers, while he had the honour to represent the crown of Great Britain, he hoped they would not be accounted criminal by a British house of peers; he desired he might be allowed a competent time to answer the articles brought against him, and have duplicates of all the papers which had either been laid before the committee of secrecy, or remained in the hands of government, to be used occasionally in his justification. This request was vehemently opposed by the leaders of the other party, until the earl of Hay represented that, in all civilized nations, all courts of judicature, except the inquisition, allowed the persons arraigned all that was necessary for their justification; and that the house of peers of Great Britain ought not, in this case, to do any thing contrary to that honour and equity for which they were so justly renowned throughout all Europe. This observation made an impression on the house, which resolved that the earl should be indulged with copies of such papers as he might have occasion to use in his defence.

DUKE OF ORMOND AND LORD BOLINGBROKE ATTAINTED.

On the third day of September, Oxford’s answer was delivered to the house of lords, who transmitted it to the commons. Mr. Walpole, having heard it read, said it contained little more than a repetition of what had been suggested in some pamphlets and papers which had been published in vindication of the late ministry; that it was a false and malicious libel, laying upon his royal mistress the blame of all the pernicious measures he had led her into, against her own honour, and the good of his country; that it was likewise a libel on the proceedings of the commons, since he endeavoured to clear those persons who had already confessed their guilt by flight. After some debate, the house resolved, that the answer of Robert earl of Oxford should be referred to the committee appointed to draw up articles of impeachment, and prepare evidence against the impeached lords; and that the committee should prepare a replication to the answer. This was accordingly prepared and sent up to the lords. Then the committee reported, that Mr. Prior had grossly prevaricated on his examination, and behaved with great contempt of their authority. The duke of Ormond and lord viscount Bolingbroke having omitted to surrender themselves within the limited time, the house of lords ordered the earl-marshal to raze out of the list of peers their names and armorial bearings. Inventories were taken of their personal estates; and the duke’s achievements, as knight of the garter, were taken down from St. George’s chapel at Windsor. A man of candour cannot, without an emotion of grief and indignation, reflect upon the ruin of the noble family of Ormond, in the person of a brave, generous, and humane nobleman, to whom no crime was imputed but that of having obeyed the commands of his sovereign. About this period the royal assent was given to an act for encouraging loyalty in Scotland. By this law the tenant who continued peaceable while his lord took arms in favour of the pretender, was invested with the property of the lands he rented; on the other hand, it was decreed that the lands possessed by any person guilty of high treason should revert to the superior of whom they were held, and be consolidated with the superiority; and that all entails and settlements of estates, since the first day of August, in favour of children, with a fraudulent intent to avoid the punishment of the law due to the offence of high treason, should be null and void. It likewise contained a clause for summoning suspected persons to find bail for their good behaviour, on pain of being denounced rebels. By virtue of this clause all the heads of the jacobite clans, and other suspected persons, were summoned to Edinburgh; and those who did not appear were declared rebels.

INTRIGUES OF THE JACOBITES.

By this time the rebellion was actually begun in Scotland. The dissensions occasioned in that country by the union had never been wholly appeased. Ever since the queen’s death, addresses were prepared in different parts of Scotland against the union, which was deemed a national grievance; and the Jacobites did not fail to encourage this aversion. Though the hopes of dissolving that treaty were baffled by the industry and other arts of the revolutioners, who secured a majority of whigs in parliament, they did not lay aside their designs of attempting something of consequence in favour of the pretender; but maintained a correspondence with the malcontents of England, a great number of whom were driven by apprehension, hard usage, and resentment, into a system of politics which otherwise they would not have espoused. The tories finding themselves totally excluded from any share in the government and legislature, and exposed to the insolence and fury of a faction which they despised, began to wish in earnest for a revolution. Some of them held private consultations, and communicated with the Jacobites, who conveyed their sentiments to the chevalier de St. George, with such exaggerations as were dictated by their own eagerness and extravagance. They assured the pretender that the nation was wholly disaffected to the new government; and indeed the clamours, tumults, and conversation of the people in general countenanced this assertion. They promised to take arms, without further delay, in his favour; and engaged that the tories should join them at his first landing in Great Britain. They therefore besought him to come over with all possible expedition, declaring that his appearance would produce an immediate revolution. The chevalier resolved to take the advantage of this favourable disposition. He had recourse to the French king, who had always been the refuge of his family. Louis favoured him in secret; and, notwithstanding his late engagements with England, cherished the ambition of raising him to the throne of Great Britain. He supplied him privately with sums of money to prepare a small armament in the port of Havre, which was equipped in the name of Depine d’Anicaut; and, without all doubt, his design was to assist him more effectually in proportion as the English should manifest their attachment to the house of Stuart. The duke of Ormond and lord Bolingbroke, who had retired to France, finding themselves condemned unheard, and attainted, engaged in the service of the chevalier, and corresponded with the tories of England.

DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.

All these intrigues and machinations were discovered and communicated to the court of London by the earl of Stair, who then resided as English ambassador at Paris. He was a nobleman of unquestioned honour and integrity, generous, humane, discerning, and resolute. He had signalized himself by his valour, intrepidity, and other military talents, during the war in the Netherlands; and he now acted in another sphere with uncommon vigour, vigilance, and address. He detected the chevalier’s scheme while it was yet in embryo, and gave such early notice of it as enabled the king of Great Britain to take effectual measures for defeating the design. All the pretender’s interest in France expired with Louis XIV., that ostentatious tyrant, who had for above half a century sacrificed the repose of Christendom to his insatiate vanity and ambition. At his death, which happened on the first day of September, the regency of the kingdom devolved to the duke of Orleans, who adopted a new system of politics, and had already entered into engagements with the king of Great Britain. Instead of assisting the pretender, he amused his agents with mysterious and equivocal expressions, calculated to frustrate the design of the expedition. Nevertheless, the more violent part of the Jacobites in Great Britain believed he was at bottom a friend to their cause, and depended upon him for succour. They even extorted from him a sum of money by dint of importunities, and some arms; but the vessel was shipwrecked, and the cargo lost upon the coast of Scotland.

THE EARL OF MAR SETS UP THE PRETENDER’S STANDARD.

The partisans of the pretender had proceeded too far to retreat with safety, and therefore resolved to try their fortune in the field. The earl of Mar repaired to the Highlands, where he held consultations with the marquasses of Huntley and Tullibardine, the earls Marischal and Southesk, the generals Hamilton and Gordon, with the chiefs of the Jacobite clans. Then he assembled three hundred of his own vassals, proclaimed the pretender at Castletown, and set up his standard at Brae-Mar, on the sixth day of September. By this time the earls of Home, Winton, and Kinnoul, lord Deskford, and Lockhart of Carnwath, with other persons suspected of disaffection to the present government, were committed prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh; and major-general Whetham marched with the regular troops which were in that kingdom to secure the bridge at Stirling. Before these precautions were taken, two vessels had arrived at Arbroath from Havre, with arms, ammunition, and a great number of officers, who assured the earl of Mar that the pretender would soon be with them in person. The death of Louis the XIV. struck a general damp upon their spirits; but they laid their account with being joined by a powerful body in England. The earl of Mar, by letters and messages, pressed the chevalier to come over without further delay. He, in the meantime, assumed the title of lieutenant-general of the pretender’s forces, and published a declaration, exhorting the people to take arms for their lawful sovereign. This was followed by a shrewd manifesto, explaining the national grievances, and assuring the people of redress. Some of his partisans attempted to surprise the castle of Edinburgh; but were prevented by the vigilance and activity of colonel Stuart, lieutenant-governor of that fortress. The duke of Argyle set out for Scotland, as commander-in-chief of the forces in North Britain: the earl of Sutherland set sail in the Queen-borough ship-of-war for the North, where he proposed to raise his vassals for the service of government; and many other Scottish peers returned to their own country in order to signalize their loyalty to king George.

In England the practices of the Jacobites did not escape the notice of the ministry. Lieutenant-colonel Paul was imprisoned in the gate-house for enlisting men in the service of the pretender. The titular duke of Powis was committed to the Tower; lords Lansdown-e and Duplin were taken into custody; and a warrant was issued for apprehending the earl of Jersey. The king desired the consent of the lower house to seize and detain sir William Wyndham, sir John Packington, Mr. Edward Harvey of Combe, Mr. Thos. Forster, Mr. John Anstis, and Mr. Corbet Kynaston, who were members of the house, and suspected of favouring the invasion. The commons unanimously agreed to the proposal, and presented an address signifying their approbation. Harvey and Anstis were immediately secured. Forster, with the assistance of some popish lords, assembled a body of men in Northumberland’ sir John Packington being examined before the council, was dismissed for want of evidence: Mr. Kynaston absconded; sir William Wyndham was seized at his own house in Somersetshire, by colonel Huske and a messenger, who secured his papers: he found means, however, to escape from them; but afterwards surrendered himself: and, having been examined at the council-board, was committed to the Tower. His father-in-law, the duke of Somerset, offered to become bound for his appearance; and being rejected as bail, expressed his resentment so warmly that the king thought proper to remove him from the office of master of the horse. On the twenty-first day of September, the king went to the house of lords and passed the bills that were ready for the royal assent. Then the chancellor read his majesty’s speech, expressing his acknowledgment and satisfaction, in consequence of the uncommon marks of their affection he had received; and the parliament adjourned to the sixth day of October.

The friends of the house of Stuart were very numerous in the western counties, and began to make preparations for an insurrection. They had concealed some arms and artillery at Bath, and formed a design to surprise Bristol; but they were betrayed and discovered by the emissaries of the government, which baffled all their schemes, and apprehended every person of consequence suspected of attachment to that cause. The university of Oxford felt the rod of power on that occasion. Major-general Pepper, with a strong detachment of dragoons, took possession of the city at day-break, declaring he would use military execution on all students who should presume to appear without the limits of their respective colleges. He seized tenor eleven persons, among whom was one Lloyd, a coffee-man; and made prize of some horses and furniture belonging to colonel Owen and other gentlemen. With this booty he retreated to Abingdon; and Handasyde’s regiment of foot was afterwards quartered in Oxford to overawe the university. The ministry found it more difficult to suppress the insurgents in the northern counties. In the month of October the earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster took the field with a body of horse, and being joined by some gentlemen from the borders of Scotland, proclaimed the pretender in Warkworth, Morpeth, and Alnwick. The first design was to seize the town of Newcastle, in which they had many friends; but they found the gates shut upon them, and retired to Hexham; while general Carpenter having assembled a body of dragoons, resolved to march from Newcastle and attack them before they should be reinforced. The rebels retiring northward to Woller, were joined by two hundred Scottish horse under the lord viscount Kenmuir, and the earls of Carnwath and Winton, who had set up the pretender’s standard at Moffat, and proclaimed him in different parts of Scotland. The rebels thus reinforced advanced to Kelso, having received advice that they would be joined by Mackintosh, who had crossed the Forth with a body of Highlanders.

MACKINTOSH JOINS THE ENGLISH INSURGENTS.

By this time the earl of Mar was at the head of ten thousand men well armed. He had secured the pass of the Tay at Perth, where his head-quarters were established, and made himself master of the whole fruitful province of Fife, and all the sea-coast on that side of the Frith of Edinburgh. He selected two thousand five hundred men, commanded by brigadier Mackintosh, to make a descent upon the Lothian side, and join the Jacobites in that county, or such as should take arms on the borders of England. Boats were assembled for this purpose; and notwithstanding all the precautions that could be taken by the king’s ships in the Frith to prevent the design, about fifteen hundred chosen men made good their passage in the night, and landed on the coast of Lothian, having crossed an arm of the sea about sixteen miles broad, in open boats that passed through the midst of the king’s cruisers. Nothing could be better concerted, or executed with more conduct and courage, than was this hazardous enterprise. They amused the king’s ships with marches and counter-marches along the coast, in such a manner that they could not possibly know where they intended to embark. The earl of Mar, in the meantime, marched from Perth to Dumblane as if he had intended to cross the Forth at Stirling bridge; but his real design was to divert the duke of Argyle from attacking his detachment which had landed in Lothian. So far the scheme succeeded. The duke, who had assembled some troops in Lothian, returned to Stirling with the utmost expedition, after having secured Edinburgh and obliged Mackintosh to abandon his design on that city. This partisan had actually taken possession of Leith, from whence he retired to Seaton-house, near Prestonpans, which he fortified in such a manner that he could not be forced without artillery. Here he remained until he received an order across the Frith from the earl of Mar to join lord Kenmuir and the English at Kelso, for which place he immediately began his march, and reached it on the twenty-second day of October, though a good number of his men had deserted on the route.

The lord Kenmuir, with the earls of Winton, Nithsdale, and Carnwath, the earl of Derwentwater, and Mr. Forster with the English insurgents, arriving at the same time, a council of war was immediately called. Winton proposed that they should march immediately into the western parts of Scotland and join general Gordon, who commanded a strong body of Highlanders in Argyleshire. The English insisted upon crossing the Tweed and attacking general Carpenter, whose troops did not exceed nine hundred dragoons. Neither scheme was executed. They took the route to Jedburgh, where they resolved to leave Carpenter on one side and penetrate into England by the western border. The Highlanders declared they would not quit their own country, but were ready to execute the scheme proposed by the earl of Winton. Means however were found to prevail upon one half of them to advance, while the rest returned to the Highlands. At Brampton, Forster opened his commission of general, which had been sent to him by the earl of Mar, and proclaimed the pretender. They continued their march to Penrith, where the sheriff, assisted by lord Lonsdale and the bishop of Carlisle, had assembled the whole posse-comitatus of Cumberland, amounting to twelve thousand men, who dispersed with the utmost precipitation at the approach of the rebels. From Penrith, Forster proceeded by way of Kendal and Lancaster to Preston, from whence Stanhope’s regiment of dragoons and another of militia immediately retired, so that he took possession of the place without resistance. General Willis marched against the enemy with six regiments of horse and dragoons, and one battalion of foot commanded by colonel Preston. They had advanced to the bridge of Ribble before Forster received intelligence of their approach. He forthwith began to raise barricadoes, and put the place in a posture of defence. On the twelfth day of November the town was briskly attacked in two different places; but the king’s troops met with a very warm reception, and were repulsed with considerable loss. Next day general Carpenter arrived with a reinforcement of three regiments of dragoons, and the rebels were invested on all sides. The Highlanders declared they would make a sally sword in hand, and either cut their way through the king’s troops or perish in the attempt, but they were over-ruled. Forster sent colonel Oxburgh with a trumpet to general Willis, to propose a capitulation. He was given to understand that the general would not treat with rebels; but in case of their surrendering at discretion, he would prevent his soldiers from putting them to the sword until he should receive further orders. He granted them time to consider till next morning, upon their delivering the earl of Derwentwater and Mackintosh as hostages. When Forster submitted, this Highlander declared he could not promise the Scots would surrender in that manner. The general desired him to return to his people, and he would forthwith attack the town, in which case every man of them should be cut to pieces. The Scottish noblemen did not choose to run the risk, and persuaded the Highlanders to accept the terms that were offered. They accordingly laid down their arms, and were put under a strong guard. All the noblemen and leaders were secured. Major Nairn, captain Lockhart, captain Shaftoe, and ensign Erskine, were tried by a court-martial as deserters, and executed. Lord Charles Murray, son of the duke of Athol, was likewise condemned for the same crime, but reprieved. The common men were imprisoned at Chester and Liverpool, the noblemen and considerable officers were sent to London, conveyed through the streets pinioned like malefactors, and committed to the Tower and to Newgate.

BATTLE AT DUMBLANE.

The day on which the rebels surrendered at Preston was remarkable for the battle of Dumblane, fought between the duke of Argyle and the earl of Mar, who commanded the pretender’s forces. This nobleman had retreated to his camp at Perth, when he understood the duke was returned from Lothian to Stirling. But being now joined by the northern clans under the earl of Seaforth, and those of the west commanded by general Gordon, who had signalized himself in the service of the czar of Muscovy, he resolved to pass the Forth in order to join his southern friends, that they might march together into England. With this view he advanced to Auchterarder, where he reviewed his army, and rested on the eleventh day of November. The duke of Argyle, apprised of his intention, and being joined by some regiments of dragoons from Ireland, determined to give him battle in the neighbourhood of Dumblane. On the twelfth day of the month, Argyle passed the Forth at Stirling, and encamped with his left at the village of Dumblane, and his right towards Sheriffmuir. The earl of Mar advanced within two miles of his camp, and remained till day-break in order of battle; his army consisted of nine thousand effective men, cavalry as well as infantry. In the morning the duke, understanding they were in motion, drew up his forces, which did not exceed three thousand five hundred men, on the heights to the north-east of Dumblane; but he was outflanked both on the right and left. The clans that formed part of the centre and right wing of the enemy, with Glengary and Clanronald at their head, charged the left of the king’s army sword in hand, with such impetuosity that in seven minutes both horse and foot were totally routed with great slaughter; and general Whetham, who commanded them, fled at full gallop to Stirling, where he declared that the royal army was totally defeated. In the meantime the duke of Argyle, who commanded in person on the right, attacked the left of the enemy, at the head of Stair’s and Evan’s dragoons, and drove them two miles before him, as far as the water of Allan; yet in that space they wheeled about and attempted to rally ten times; so that he was obliged to press them hard that they might not recover from their confusion. Brigadier Wightman followed in order to sustain him with three battalions of infantry; while the victorious right wing of the rebels having pursued Whetham a considerable way, returned to the field and formed in the rear of Wightman to the amount of five thousand men. The duke of Argyle returning from the pursuit, joined Wightman, who had faced about and taken possession of some enclosures and mud wails in expectation of being attacked. In this posture both armies fronted each other till the evening, when the duke drew off towards Dumblane, and the rebels retired to Ardoch, without mutual molestation. Next day the duke marching back to the field of battle, carried off the wounded, with four pieces of cannon left by the army, and retreated to Stirling. Few prisoners were taken on either side: the number of the slain might be about five hundred of each army, and both generals claimed the victory. This battle was not so fatal to the Highlanders as the loss of Inverness, from which sir John Mackenzie was driven by Simon Fraser, lord Lovat, who, contrary to the principles he hitherto professed, secured this important post for the government; by which means a free communication was opened with the north of Scotland, where the earl of Sutherland had raised a considerable body of vassals. The marquis of Huntley and the earl of Seaforth were obliged to quit the rebel army, in order to defend their own territories; and in a little time submitted to king George: a good number of the Frasers declared with their chief against the pretender: the marquis of Tullibardine withdrew from the army to cover his own country; and the clans, seeing no likelihood of another action, began to disperse according to custom.

THE PRETENDER ARRIVES IN SCOTLAND.

The government was now in a condition to send strong reinforcements to Scotland. Six thousand men that were claimed of the states-general, by virtue of the treaty, landed in England, and began their march for Edinburgh: general Cadogan set out for the same place, together with brigadier Petit, and six other engineers; and a train of artillery was shipped at the Tower for that country, the duke of Argyle resolving to drive the earl of Mar out of Perth, to which town he retired with the remains of his forces. The pretender having been amused with the hope of seeing the whole kingdom of England rise up as one man in his behalf; and the duke of Ormond having made a fruitless voyage to the western coast, to try the disposition of the people, he was now convinced of the vanity of his expectation in that quarter; and, as he knew not what other course to take, he resolved to hazard his person among his friends in Scotland, at a time when his affairs in that kingdom were absolutely desperate. From Bretagne he posted through part of France in disguise, and embarking in a small vessel at Dunkirk, hired for that purpose, arrived on the twenty-second day of December at Peterhead with six gentlemen in his retinue, one of whom was the marquis of Tynemouth, son to the duke of Berwick. He passed through Aberdeen incognito, to Fetterosse, where he was met by the earls of Mar and Marischal, and about thirty noblemen and gentlemen of the first quality. Here he was solemnly proclaimed: his declaration, dated at Com-mercy, was printed and circulated through all the parts in that neighbourhood; and he received addresses from the episcopal clergy, and the laity of that communion in the diocese of Aberdeen. On the fifth day of January he made his public entry into Dundee; and on the seventh arrived at Scone, where he seemed determined to stay until the ceremony of his coronation should be performed. From thence he made an excursion to Perth, where he reviewed his forces. Then he formed a regular council; and published six proclamations: one for a general thanksgiving on account of his safe arrival; another enjoining the ministers to pray for him in the churches; a third establishing the currency of foreign coins; a fourth summoning the meeting of the convention of estates; a fifth ordering all sensible men to repair to his standard; and a sixth, fixing the twenty-third day of January for his coronation. He made a pathetic speech in a grand council, at which all the chiefs of his party assisted. They determined, however, to abandon the enterprise, as the king’s army was reinforced by the Dutch auxiliaries, and they themselves were not only reduced to a small number, but likewise destitute of money, arms, ammunition, forage, and provision; for the duke of Argyle had taken possession of Burntisland, and transported a detachment to Fife, so as to cut off Mar’s communication with that fertile country.

Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, and a prodigious fall of snow which rendered the roads almost impassable, the duke, on the twenty-ninth of January began his march for Dumblane, and next day reached Tullibardine, where he received intelligence that the pretender and his forces had, on the preceding day, retired towards Dundee. He forthwith took possession of Perth; and then began his march to Aberbrothick, in pursuit of the enemy. The chevalier de St. George being thus hotly pursued, was prevailed upon to embark on board a small French ship that lay in the harbour of Montrose. He was accompanied by the earls of Mar and Melfort, the lord Drummond, lieutenant-general Bulkley, and other persons of distinction, to the number of seventeen. In order to avoid the English cruisers, they stretched over to Norway, and coasting along the German and Dutch shores, arrived in five days at Grave-line. General Gordon, whom the pretender had left commander-in-chief of the forces, assisted by the earl Marischal, proceeded with them to Aberdeen, where he secured three vessels to sail northward, and take on board the persons who intended to make their escape to the continent. Then they continued their march through Strathspey and Strathdown, to the hills of Badenoch, where the common people were quietly dismissed. This retreat was made with such expedition, that the duke of Argyle, with all his activity, could never overtake their rear-guard, which consisted of a thousand horse commanded by the earl Marischal. Such was the issue of a rebellion that proved fatal to many noble families; a rebellion which in all probability would never have happened, had not the violent measures of a whig ministry kindled such a flame of discontent in the nation, as encouraged the partisans of the pretender to hazard a revolt.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

The parliament of Ireland, which met at Dublin on the twelfth day of November, seemed even more zealous, if possible, than that of England, for the present administration. They passed bills for recognizing the king’s title; for the security of his person and government; for setting a price on the pretender’s head; and for attainting the duke of Ormond. They granted the supplies without opposition. All those who had addressed the late queen in favour of sir Constantine Phipps, then lord chancellor of Ireland, were now brought upon their knees, and censured as guilty of a breach of privilege. They desired the lords-justices would issue a proclamation against the popish inhabitants of Limerick and Gal-way, who, presuming upon the capitulation signed by king William, claimed an exemption from the penalties imposed upon other papists. They engaged in an association against the pretender, and all his abettors. They voted the earl of Anglesea an enemy to the king and kingdom, because he advised the queen to break the army, and prorogue the late parliament; and they addressed the king to remove him from his council and service. The lords-justices granted orders for apprehending the earls of Antrim and Westmeath, the lords Natterville, Cahir, and Dillon, as persons suspected of disaffection to the government. Then they adjourned the two houses.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

THE REBEL LORDS ARE IMPEACHED.

The king in his speech to the English parliament, which met on the ninth of January, told them he had reason to believe the pretender was landed in Scotland; he congratulated them on the success of his arms in suppressing the rebellion; on the conclusion of the barrier-treaty between the emperor and the states-general, under his guarantee; on a convention with Spain that would deliver the trade of England to that kingdom, from the new impositions and hardships to which it was subjected in consequence of the late treaties. He likewise gave them to understand, that a treaty for renewing all former alliances between the crown of Great Britain and the states-general was almost concluded; and he assured the commons he would freely give up all the estates that should become forfeited to the crown by this rebellion, to be applied towards defraying the extraordinary expense incurred on this occasion. The commons, in their address of thanks, declared that they would prosecute, in the most vigorous and impartial manner, the authors of those destructive councils which had drawn down such miseries upon the nation. Their resolutions were speedy, and exactly conformable to this declaration. They expelled Mr. Forster from the house. They forthwith impeached the earls of Derwentwater, Nithsdale, Carnwath, and Winton; lords Widdrington, Kenmuir, and Nairn. These noblemen being brought to the bar of the house of lords, heard the articles of impeachment read on the tenth day of January, and were ordered to put in their answers on the sixteenth. The impeachments being lodged, the lower house ordered a bill to be brought in for continuing the suspension of the habeas-corpus act; then they prepared another to attaint the marquis of Tullibardine, the earls of Mar and Linlithgow, and lord John Drummond. On the twenty-first day of January, the king gave the royal assent to the bill for continuing the suspension of the habeas-corpus act. He told the parliament that the pretender was actually in Scotland heading the rebellion, and assuming the style and title of king of these realms; he demanded of the commons such supply as might discourage any foreign power from assisting the rebels. On Thursday the nineteenth day of January, all the impeached lords pleaded guilty to the articles exhibited against them, except the earl of Winton, who petitioned for a longer time on various pretences. The rest received sentence of death on the ninth day of February, in the court erected in Westminster-hall, where the lord-chancellor Cowper presided as lord high-steward on that occasion. The countess of Nithsdale and lady Nairn threw themselves at the king’s feet, as he passed through the apartments of the palace, and implored his mercy in behalf of their husbands; but their tears and entreaties produced no effect. The council resolved that the sentence should be executed, and orders were given for that purpose to the lieutenant of the Tower, and the sheriffs of London and Middlesex.

EARL OF DEEWENTWATER AND LORD KENMUIR ARE BEHEADED.

The countess of Derwentwater, with her sister, accompanied by the duchesses of Cleveland and Bolton, and several other ladies of the first distinction, was introduced by the dukes of Richmond and St. Alban’s into the king’s bed-chamber, where she invoked his majesty’s clemency for her unfortunate consort. She afterwards repaired to the lobby of the house of peers, attended by the ladies of the other condemned lords, and above twenty others of the same quality, and begged the intercession of the house; but no regard was paid to their petition. Next day they petitioned both houses of parliament. The commons rejected their suit. In the upper house, the duke of Richmond delivered a petition from the earl of Derwentwater, to whom he was nearly related, at the same time declaring that he himself should oppose his solicitation. The earl of Derby expressed some compassion for the numerous family of lord Nairn. Petitions from the rest were presented by other lords, moved with pity and humanity. Lord Town-shend and others vehemently opposed their being read. The earl of Nottingham thought this indulgence might be granted; the house assented to his opinion, and agreed to an address, praying his majesty would reprieve such of the condemned lords as should seem to deserve his mercy. To this petition the king answered, that on this and all other occasions, he would do what he thought most consistent with the dignity of his crown and the safety of his people. The earl of Nottingham, president of the council, his brother the earl of Aylesbury, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, his son lord Finch, one of the lords of the treasury, his kinsman lord Guernsey, master of the jewel-office, were altogether dismissed from his majesty’s service. Orders were despatched for executing the earls of Derwentwater and Nithsdale, and the viscount of Kennruir, immediately; the others were respited to the seventh day of March. Nithsdale made his escape in woman’s apparel, furnished and conveyed to him by his own mother. On the twenty-fourth day of February, Derwentwater and Kenmuir were beheaded on Tower-hill. The former was an amiable youth, brave, open, generous, hospitable, and humane. His fate drew tears from the spectators, and was a great misfortune to the country in which he lived. He gave bread to multitudes of people whom he employed on his estate; the poor, the widow, and the orphan rejoiced in his bounty. Kenmuir was a virtuous nobleman, calm, sensible, resolute, and resigned. He was a devout member of the English church; but the other died in the faith of Rome: both adhered to their political principles. On the fifteenth day of March, Winton was brought to trial, and being convicted, received sentence of death.

{1716}

TRIALS OF REBELS.

When the king passed the land-tax bill, which was ushered in with a very extraordinary preamble, he informed both houses of the pretender’s flight from Scotland. In the beginning of April a commission for trying the rebels met in the court of common-pleas, when bills of high treason were found against Mr. Forster, Mackintosh, and twenty of their confederates. Forster escaped from Newgate, and reached the continent in safety; the rest pleaded not guilty, and were indulged with time to prepare for their trials. The judges appointed to try the rebels at Liverpool, found a considerable number guilty of high treason. Two-and-twenty were executed at Preston and Manchester; about a thousand prisoners submitted to the king’s mercy, and petitioned for transportation. Pitts, the keeper of Newgate, being suspected of having connived at Forster’s escape, was tried for his life at the Old-Bailey, and acquitted. Notwithstanding this prosecution, which ought to have redoubled the vigilance of the jailors, brigadier Mackintosh, and several other prisoners, broke from Newgate, after having mastered the keeper and turnkey, and disarmed the sentinel. The court proceeded with the trials of those that remained, and a great number were found guilty; four or five were hanged, drawn, and quartered, at Tyburn; and among these was one William Paul, a clergyman, who, in his last speech, professed himself a true and sincere member of the church of England, but not of the revolution schismatical church, whose bishops had abandoned the king, and shamefully given up their ecclesiastical rights, by submitting to the unlawful, invalid, lay-deprivations authorized by the prince of Orange.

ACT FOR SEPTENNIAL PARLIAMENTS.

Though the rebellion was extinguished, the flame of national dissatisfaction still continued to rage: the severities exercised against the rebels increased the general discontent; for now the danger was blown over, their humane passions began to prevail. The courage and fortitude with which the condemned persons encountered the pains of death in its most dreadful force, prepossessed many spectators in favour of the cause by which those unhappy victims were animated. In a word, persecution, as usual, extended the heresy. The ministry, perceiving this universal dissatisfaction, and dreading the revolution of a new parliament, which might wrest the power from their faction, and retort upon them the violence of their own measures, formed a resolution equally odious and effectual to establish their administration. This was no other than a scheme to repeal the triennial act, and by a new law to extend the term of parliaments to seven years. On the tenth day of April, the duke of Devonshire represented, in the house of lords, that triennial elections served to keep up party divisions; to raise and foment feuds in private families; to produce ruinous expenses, and give occasion to the cabals and intrigues of foreign princes; that it became the wisdom of such an august assembly to apply proper remedies to an evil that might be attended with the most dangerous consequences, especially in the present temper of the nation, as the spirit of rebellion still remained unconquered. He therefore proposed a bill for enlarging the continuance of parliaments. He was seconded by the earls of Dorset and Rockingham, the duke of Argyle, Lord Townshend, and the other chiefs of that party. The motion was opposed by the earls of Nottingham, Abingdon, and Paulet. They observed, that frequent parliaments were required by the fundamental constitution of the kingdom, ascertained in the practice of many ages; that the members of the lower house were chosen by the body of the nation, for a certain term of years, at the expiration of which they could be no longer representatives of the people, who, by the parliament’s protracting its own authority, would be deprived of the only remedy which they have against those who, through ignorance or corruption, betrayed the trust reposed in them; that the reasons in favour of such a bill were weak and frivolous; that, with respect to foreign alliances, no prince or state could reasonably depend upon a people to defend their liberties and interests, who should be thought to have given up so great a part of their own; nor would it be prudent in them to wish for a change in that constitution under which Europe had of late been so powerfully supported; on the contrary, they might be deterred from entering into any engagements with Great Britain, when informed by the preamble of the bill, that the popish faction was so dangerous as to threaten destruction to the government; they would apprehend that the administration was so weak as to want so extraordinary a provision for its safety; that the gentlemen of Britain were not to be trusted; and that the good affections of the people were restrained within the limits of the house of commons. They affirmed that this bill, far from preventing the expense of elections, would rather increase it, and encourage every species of corruption; for the value of a seat would always be in proportion to the duration of a parliament, and the purchase would rise accordingly; that a long parliament would yield a greater temptation, as well as a better opportunity to a vicious ministry, to corrupt the members, than they could possibly have when the parliaments were short and frequent; that the same reasons urged for passing the bill to continue this parliament for seven years, would be at least as strong, and, by the conduct of the ministry, might be made much stronger before the end of that term, for continuing and even perpetuating their legislative power, to the absolute subversion of the third estate of the realm. These arguments served only to form a decent debate, after which the bill for septennial parliaments passed by a great majority, though twenty peers entered a protest. It met with the same fate in the lower house, where many strong objections were stated to no purpose. They were represented as the effects of party spleen; and, indeed, this was the great spring of action on both sides. The question for the bill was carried in the affirmative; and in a little time it received the royal sanction.

DUKE OF ARGYLE DISGRACED.

The rebellion being utterly quelled, and all the suspected persons of consequence detained in safe custody, the king resolved to visit his German dominions, where he foresaw a storm gathering from the quarter of Sweden. Charles XII. was extremely exasperated against the elector of Hanover, for having entered into the confederacy against him in his absence, particularly for his having purchased the duchies of Bremen and Verden, which constituted part of his dominions; and he breathed nothing but revenge against the king of Great Britain. It was with a view to avert this danger, or prepare against it, that the king now determined upon a voyage to the continent. But as he was restricted from leaving his British dominions by the act for the further limitation of the crown, this clause was repealed in a new bill that passed through both houses without the least difficulty. On the twenty-sixth day of June, the king closed the session with a speech upon the usual tonics, in which, however, he observed, that the numerous instances of mercy he had shown served only to encourage the faction of the pretender, whose partisans acted with such insolence and folly, as if they intended to convince the world that they were not to be reclaimed by gentle methods. He intimated his purpose of visiting his dominions in Germany; and gave them to understand, that he had constituted his beloved son, the prince of Wales, guardian of the kingdom in his absence. About this period general Macartney, who had returned to England at the accession of king George, presented himself to trial for the murder of the duke of Hamilton. The deposition of colonel Hamilton was contradicted by two park-keepers; the general was acquitted of the charge, restored to his rank in the army, and gratified with the command of a regiment. The king’s brother, prince Ernest, bishop of Osnabruck, was created duke of York and Albany, and earl of Ulster. The duke of Argyle, and his brother the earl of Hay, to whom his majesty owed, in a great measure, his peaceable accession to the throne, as well as the extinction of the rebellion in Scotland, were now dismissed from all their employments. General Carpenter succeeded the duke in the chief command of the forces in North Britain, and in the government of Port Mahon; and the duke of Montrose was appointed lord-register of Scotland in the room of the earl of Hay.

THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE.

On the seventh day of July, the king embarked at Gravesend, landed on the ninth in Holland, through which he passed incognito to Hanover, and from thence set out for Pyrmont. His aim was to secure his German dominions from the Swede, and Great Britain from the pretender. These two princes had already begun to form a design, in conjunction, of invading his kingdom. He knew the duke of Orleans was resolved to ascend the throne of France, in case the young king, who was a sickly child, should die without male issue. The regent was not ignorant that Philip of Spain would powerfully contest that succession, notwithstanding his renunciation; and he was glad of an opportunity to strengthen his interest by an alliance with the maritime powers of England and Holland. The king of England sounded him on this subject, and found him eager to engage in such an association. The negotiation was carried on by general Cadogan for England, the abbé du Bois for France, and the pensionary Heinsius for the states-general. The regent readily complied with all their demands. He engaged that the pretender should immediately depart from Wignon to the other side of the Alps, and never return to Lorraine or France on any pretence whatsoever; that no rebellious subjects of Great Britain should be allowed to reside in that kingdom; and that the treaty of Utrecht, with respect to the demolition of Dunkirk, should be fully executed to the satisfaction of his Britannic majesty. The treaty contained a mutual guarantee of all the places possessed by the contracting powers; of the protestant succession on the throne of England, as well as of that of the duke of Orleans to the crown of France, and a defensive alliance, stipulating the proportion of ships and forces to be furnished to that power which should be disturbed at home or invaded from abroad. The English people murmured at this treaty. They said an unnecessary umbrage was given to Spain, with which the nation had great commercial connexions; and that on pretence of an invasion, a body of foreign troops might be introduced to enslave the kingdom.

COUNT GYLLENBURGH ARRESTED.

His majesty was not so successful in his endeavours to appease the king of Sweden, who refused to listen to any overtures until Bremen and Verden should be restored. These the elector of Hanover resolved to keep as a fair purchase; and he engaged in a confederacy with the enemies of Charles, for the maintenance of this acquisition. Meanwhile his rupture with Sweden was extremely prejudicial to the commerce of England, and had well nigh entailed upon the kingdom another invasion, much more formidable than that which had so lately miscarried. The ministers of Sweden resident at London, Paris, and the Hague, maintained a correspondence with the disaffected subjects of Great Britain. A scheme was formed for the Swedish king’s landing on this island with a considerable body of forces, where he should be joined by the malcontents of the united kingdom. Charles relished the enterprise, which flattered his ambition and revenge; nor was it disagreeable to the czar of Muscovy, who resented the elector’s offer of joining the Swede against the Russians, provided he would ratify the cession of Bremen and Verden. King George having received intimation of these intrigues, returned to England towards the end of January, and ordered a detachment of foot-guards to secure count Gyllenburgh, the Swedish minister, with all his papers. At the same time, sir Jacob Bancks and Mr. Charles Caesar were apprehended. The other foreign ministers took the alarm, and remonstrated to the ministry upon this outrage committed against the law of nations. The two secretaries, Stanhope and Methuen, wrote circular letters to them, assuring them that in a day or two they should be acquainted with the reasons that induced the king to take such an extraordinary step. They were generally satisfied with this intimation; but the marquis de Monteleone, ambassador from Spain, expressed his concern that no other way could be found to preserve the peace of the kingdom, without arresting the person of a public minister, and seizing all his papers, which were the sacred repositories of his masters’s secrets; he observed, that in whatever manner these two facts might seem to be understood, they very sensibly wounded the law of nations. About the same time baron Gortz, the Swedish residentiary in Holland, was seized with his papers at Arnheim, at the desire of king George, communicated to the states by Mr. Loathes, his minister at the Hague. The baron owned he had projected the invasion, a design that was justified by the conduct of king George, who had joined the princes in confederacy against the king of Sweden, without having received the least provocation; who had assisted the king of Denmark in subduing the duchies of Bremen and Verden, and then purchased them of the usurper; and who had, in the course of this very summer, sent a strong squadron of ships to the Baltic, where it joined the Danes and Russians against the Swedish fleet.

ACCOUNT OF THE OXFORD RIOT.

When the parliament of Great Britain met on the twentieth day of February, the king informed them of the triple alliance he had concluded with France and Holland. He mentioned the projected invasion; told them he had given orders for laying before them copies of the letters which had passed between the Scottish ministers on that subject; and he demanded of the commons such supplies as should be found necessary for the defence of the kingdom. By those papers it appeared that the scheme projected by baron Gortz was very plausible, and even ripe for execution; which, however, was postponed until the army should be reduced, and the Dutch auxiliaries sent back to their own country. The letters being read in parliament, both houses presented addresses, in which they extolled the king’s prudence in establishing such conventions with foreign potentates as might repair the gross defects, and prevent the pernicious consequences, of the treaty of Utrecht, which they termed a treacherous and dishonourable peace; and they expressed their horror and indignation at the malice and ingratitude of those who had encouraged an invasion of their country. He likewise received an address of the same kind from the convention; another from the dissenting ministers; a third from the university of Cambridge; but Oxford was not so lavish of her compliments. At a meeting of the vice-chancellor and heads of that university, a motion was made for an address to the king, on the suppression of the late unnatural rebellion, his majesty’s safe return, and the favour lately shown to the university, in omitting, at their request, the ceremony of burning in effigy the devil, the pope, the pretender, the duke of Ormond, and the earl of Mar, on the anniversary of his majesty’s accession. Dr. Smallridge, bishop of Bristol, observed, that the rebellion had been long suppressed; that there would be no end of addresses should one be presented every time that his majesty returned from his German dominions; that the late favour they had received was overbalanced by a whole regiment now quartered upon them; and that there was no precedent for addressing a king upon his return from his German dominions. The university thought they had reason to complain of the little regard paid to their remonstrances, touching a riot raised in that city by the soldiers there quartered, on pretence that the anniversary of the prince’s birthday had not been celebrated with the usual rejoicings. Affidavits had been sent up to the council, which seemed to favour the officers of the regiment. When the house of lords deliberated upon the mutiny-bill, by which the soldiers were exempted from arrests for debts, complaint was made of their licentious behaviour at Oxford; and a motion was made that they should inquire into the riot. The lords presented an address to the king, desiring that the papers relating to that affair might be laid before the house. These being perused, were found to be recriminations between the Oxonians and the officers of the regiment. A warm debate ensued, during which the earl of Abingdon offered a petition from the vice-chancellor of the university, the mayor and magistrates of Oxford, praying to be heard. One of the court members observing that it would be irregular to receive a petition while the house was in a grand committee, a motion was made that the chairman should leave the chair; but this being carried in the negative, the debate was resumed, and the majority agreed to the following resolutions:--That the heads of the university, and mayor of the city, neglected to make public rejoicings on the prince’s birth-day; that the officers having met to celebrate that day, the house in which they had assembled was assaulted, and the windows were broken by the rabble; that this assault was the beginning and occasion of the riots that ensued. That the conduct of the mayor seemed well justified by the affidavits produced on his part; that the printing and publishing the depositions upon which the complaints relating to the riots at Oxford were founded, while that matter was under the examination of the lords of the committee of the council, before they had time to come to any resolution touching the same, was irregular, disrespectful to his royal highness, and tending to sedition. An inquiry of this nature, so managed, did not much redound to the honour of such an august assembly.

{1717}

The commons passed a bill prohibiting all commerce with Sweden, a branch of trade which was of the utmost consequence to the English merchants. They voted ten thousand seamen for the ensuing year; granted about a million for the maintenance of guards, garrisons, and land-forces; and passed the bill relating to mutiny and desertion. The house likewise voted four-and-twenty thousand pounds for the payment of four battalions of Munster, and two of Saxe-Gotha, which the king had taken into his service, to supply the place of such as might be, during the rebellion, drawn from the garrisons of the states-general to the assistance of England. This vote, however, was not carried without a violent debate. The demand was inveighed against as an imposition, seeing no troops had ever served. A motion was made for an address, desiring that the instructions of those who concluded the treaties might be laid before the house; but this was over-ruled by the majority. The supplies were raised by a land-tax of three shillings in the pound, and a malt-tax. What the commons had given was not thought sufficient for the expense of the year; therefore Mr. secretary Stanhope brought a message from his majesty, demanding an extraordinary supply, that he might be the better enabled to secure his kingdoms against the danger with which they were threatened from Sweden; and he moved that a supply should be granted to his majesty for this purpose. Mr. Shippen observed it was a great misfortune that the king was as little acquainted with the parliamentary proceedings as with the language of the country: that the message was unparliamentary and unprecedented; and, in his opinion, penned by some foreign minister: he said he had been often told that his majesty had retrieved the honour and reputation of the nation; a truth which appeared in the flourishing condition of trade; but that the supply demanded seemed to be inconsistent with the glorious advantages which his majesty had obtained for the people. He was seconded by Mr. Hungerford, who declared that for his part he could not understand what occasion there was for new alliances; much less that they should be purchased with money. He expressed his surprise that a nation so lately the terror of France and Spain should now seem to fear so inconsiderable an enemy as the king of Sweden. The motion was supported by Mr. Boscawen, sir Gilbert Heathcote, and others; but some of the whigs spoke against it; and Mr. Robert Walpole was silent. The speaker, and Mr. Smith, one of the tellers of the exchequer, opposed this unparliamentary way of demanding the supply: the former proposed that part of the army should be disbanded, and the money applied towards the making good such new engagements as were deemed necessary. After several successive debates, the resolution for a supply was carried by a majority of four voices.

* This year was rendered famous by a complete victory which, prince Eugene obtained over the Turks at Peterwaradin upon the Danube. The battle was fought upon the fifth day of August. The Imperial army did not exceed sixty thousand men; that of the infidels amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand, commanded by the grand vizier, who was mortally wounded in the engagement. The infidels were totally defeated, with the loss of all their tents, artillery, and baggage, so that the victors obtained an immense booty.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

DIVISION IN THE MINISTRY.

The ministry was now divided within itself. Lord Townshend had been removed from the office of secretary of state, by the intrigues of the earl of Sunderland; and he was now likewise dismissed from the place of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Mr. Robert Walpole resigned his posts of first commissioner of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer: his example was followed by Mr. Pulteney, secretary at war, and Mr. Methuen, secretary of state. When the affair of the supply was resumed in the house of commons, Mr. Stanhope made a motion for granting two hundred and fifty thousand pounds for that purpose. Mr. Pulteney observed, that having resigned his place, he might no w act with the freedom becoming an Englishman: he declared against the manner of granting the supply, as unparliamentary and unprecedented. He said he could not persuade himself that any Englishman advised his majesty to send such a message; but he doubted not the resolution of a British parliament would make a German ministry tremble. Mr. Stanhope having harangued the house in vindication of the ministry, Mr. Smith answered every article of his speech: he affirmed, that if an estimate of the conduct of the ministry in relation to affairs abroad was to be made from a comparison of their conduct at home, they would not appear altogether so faultless as they were represented. “Was it not a mistake,” said he, “not to preserve the peace at home, after the king had ascended the throne with the universal applause and joyful acclamations of all his subjects? Was it not a mistake, upon the breaking out of the rebellion, not to issue a proclamation, to offer pardon to such as should return home peaceably, according to the custom on former occasions of the same nature? Was it not a mistake, after the suppression of the rebellion and the trial and execution of the principal authors of it, to keep up animosities, and drive people to despair, by not passing an act of indemnity, by keeping so many persons under hard and tedious confinement; and by granting pardons to some, without leaving them any means to subsist? Is it not a mistake, not to trust a vote of parliament for making good such engagements as his majesty should think proper to enter into; and instead of that, to insist on the granting this supply in such an extraordinary manner? Is it not a mistake, to take this opportunity to create divisions, and render some of the king’s best friends suspected and obnoxious? Is it not a mistake, in short, to form parties and cabals in order to bring in a bill to repeal the act of occasional conformity?” A great number of members had agreed to this measure in private, though at this period it was not brought into the house of commons. After a long debate the sum was granted. These were the first-fruits of Britain’s being wedded to the interests of the continent. The elector of Hanover quarrelled with the king of Sweden; and England was not only deprived of a necessary branch of commerce, but even obliged to support him in the prosecution of the war. The ministry now underwent a new revolution. The earl of Sunderland and Mr. Addison were appointed secretaries of state; Mr. Stanhope became first commission of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer.

THE COMMONS PASS THE SOUTH-SEA ACT, &c.

On the sixth day of May, the king, going to the house of peers, gave the parliament to understand that the fleet under sir George Byng, which had sailed to the Baltic to observe the motions of the Swedes, was safely arrived in the Sound. He said he had given orders for the immediate reduction of ten thousand soldiers, as well as directions to prepare an act of indemnity. He desired they would take proper measures for reducing the public debts with a just regard to parliamentary credit; and that they would go through the public business with all possible despatch and unanimity. Some progress had already been made in deliberations upon the debt of the nation, which was comprehended under the two heads of redeemable and irredeemable incumbrances. The first had been contracted with a redeemable interest; and these the public had a right to discharge: the others consisted of long and short annuities granted for a greater or less number of years, which could not be altered without the consent of the proprietors. Mr. Robert Walpole had projected a scheme for lessening the interest and paying the capital of those debts, before he resigned his place in the exchequer. He proposed, in the house of commons, to reduce the interest of redeemable funds, and offer an alternative to the proprietors of annuities. His plan was approved; but, when he resigned his places, the ministers made some small alterations in it, which furnished him with a pretence for opposing the execution of the scheme. In the course of the debate, some warm altercation passed between him and Mr. Stanhope, by which it appeared they had made a practice of selling places and reversions. Mr. Hungerford, standing up, said he was sorry to see two such great men running foul of one another; that, however, they ought to be looked upon as patriots and fathers of their country; and since they had by mischance discovered their nakedness, the other members ought, according to the custom of the East, to turn their backs upon them, that they might not be seen in such a shameful condition. Mr. Boscawen moved that the house would lay their commands upon them, that no further notice should be taken of what had passed. He was seconded by Mr. Methuen: tha house approved of the motion; and the speaker took their word and honour that they should not prosecute their resentment. The money corporations having agreed to provide cash for such creditors as should be willing to receive their principal, the house came to certain resolutions, on which were founded the three bills that passed into laws, under the names of “The South-Sea act, the Bank act, and the General Fund act.” The original stock of the South-Sea company did not exceed nine millions four hundred and seventy-one thousand three hundred and twenty-five pounds; but the funds granted being sufficient to answer the interest of ten millions at six per cent., the company made up that sum to the government, for which they received six hundred thousand pounds yearly, and eight thousand pounds a-year for management. By this act they declared themselves willing to receive five hundred thousand pounds, and the eight thousand for management. It was enacted, that the company should continue a corporation until the redemption of their annuity, towards which not less than a million should be paid at a time. They were likewise required to advance a sum not exceeding two millions, towards discharging the principal and interest due on the four lottery funds of the ninth and tenth years of queen Anne. By the Bank act the governors and company declared themselves willing to accept an annuity of eighty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty-one pounds, seven shillings and tenpence halfpenny, or the principal of one million seven hundred and seventy-five thousand and twenty-seven pounds, seventeen shillings and tenpence halfpenny, in lieu of the present annuity, amounting to one hundred and six thousand five hundred and one pounds, thirteen shillings and fivepence. They also declared themselves willing to discharge, and deliver up to be cancelled, as many exchequer-bills as amounted to two millions, and to accept of an annuity of one hundred thousand pounds, being after the rate of five per cent, redeemable after one year’s notice; to circulate the remaining exchequer-bills at three per cent, and one penny per day. It was enacted, that the former allowances should be continued to Christmas, and then the bank should have for circulating the two millions five hundred and sixty-one thousand and twenty-five pounds remaining exchequer-bills, an annuity of seventy-six thousand eight hundred and thirty pounds, fifteen shillings, at the rate of three pounds per cent, till redeemed, over and above the one penny a-day for interest. By the same acts the bank was required to advance a sum not exceeding two millions five hundred thousand pounds, towards discharging the national debt, if wanted, on condition that they should have five pounds per cent, for as much as they might advance, redeemable by parliament. The General Fund act recited several acts of parliament, for establishing the four lotteries in the ninth and tenth years of the late queen, and stated the annual produce of the several funds, amounting in all to seven hundred and twenty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-nine pounds, six shillings and tenpence one-fifth. This was the General Fund; the deficiency of which was to be made good annually out of the first aids granted by parliament. For the regular payment of all such annuities as should be made payable by this act, it was enacted, that all the duties and revenues mentioned therein should continue for ever, with the proviso, however, that the revenues rendered by this act perpetual should be subject to redemption. This act contained a clause by which the sinking fund was established. The reduction of interest to five per cent, producing a surplus or excess upon the appropriated funds, it was enacted, that all the monies arising from time to time, as well for the surplus, by virtue of the acts for redeeming the funds of the hank and of the South-Sea Company, as also for the surplus of the duties and revenues by this act appropriated to make good the general fund, should be appropriated and employed for the discharging the principal and interest of such national debt as was incurred before the twenty-fifth of December of the preceding year, in such a manner as should be directed and appointed by any future act of parliament, to be discharged out of the game, and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever.

TRIAL OF THE EARL OF OXFORD.

The earl of Oxford, who had now remained almost two years a prisoner in the Tower, presented a petition to the house of lords, praying that his imprisonment might not be indefinite. Some of the tory lords affirmed that the impeachment was destroyed and determined by the prorogation of parliament, which superseded the whole proceedings; but the contrary was voted by a considerable majority. The thirteenth day of June was fixed for the trial; and the house of commons made acquainted with this determination. The commons appointed a committee to inquire into the state of the earl’s impeachment; and, in consequence of their report, sent a message to the lords demanding longer time to prepare for trial. Accordingly the day was prolonged to the twenty-fourth of June; and the commons appointed the committee, with four other members, to be managers for making good the articles of impeachment. At the appointed time the peers repaired to the court in Westminster-hall, where lord Cowper presided as lord steward. The commons were assembled as a committee of the whole house; the king, the rest of the royal family, and the foreign ministers, assisted at the solemnity; the earl of Oxford was brought from the Tower; the articles of impeachment were read, with his answers, and the replication of the commons. Sir Joseph Jekyll standing up to make good the first article, lord Har-court signified to their lordships that he had a motion to make, and they adjourned to their own house. There he represented that a great deal of time would be unnecessarily consumed in going through all the articles of the impeachment; that if the commons would make good the two articles for high treason, the earl of Oxford would forfeit both life and estate, and there would be an end of the matter; whereas to proceed on the method proposed by the commons, would draw the trial on to a prodigious length. He therefore moved that the commons might not be permitted to proceed until judgment should be first given upon the articles of high treason. He was supported by the earls of Anglesea and Nottingham, the lord Trevor, and a considerable number of both parties; and though opposed by the earl of Sunderland, the lords Coningsby and Parker, the motion was carried in the affirmative. It produced a dispute between the two houses. The commons, at a conference, delivered a paper containing their reasons for asserting it as their undoubted right to impeach a peer either for treason, or for high crimes and misdemeanors; or, should they see occasion, to mix both in the same accusation. The house of lords insisted on their former resolution; and, in another conference, delivered a paper wherein they asserted it to be a right inherent in every court of justice, to order and direct such methods of proceeding as it should think fit to be observed in all causes that fell under its cognizance. The commons demanded a free conference, which was refused. The dispute grew more and more warm. The lords sent a message to the lower house, importing that they intended presently to proceed on the trial of the earl of Oxford. The commons paid no regard to this intimation; but adjourned to the third day of July. The lords, repairing to Westminster-hall, took their places, ordered the earl to be brought to the bar, and made proclamation for his accusers to appear. Having waited a quarter of an hour, they adjourned to their own house, where, after some debate, the earl was acquitted upon a division; then returning to the hall, they voted that he should be set at liberty. Oxford owed his safety to the dissensions among the ministers, and to the late change in the administration. In consequence of this, he was delivered from the persecution of Walpole; and numbered among his friends the dukes of Devonshire and Argyle, the earls of Nottingham and Hay, and lord Townshend. The commons, in order to express their sense of his demerit, presented an address to the king, desiring he might be excepted out of the intended act of grace. The king promised to comply with their request; and in the meantime forbade the earl to appear at court. On the fifteenth day of July, the earl of Sunderland delivered in the house of peers the act of grace, which passed through both houses with great expedition. From this indulgence were excepted the earl of Oxford, Mr. Prior, Mr. Thomas Harley, Mr. Arthur Moore; Crisp, Nodes, O’Bryan, Redmarne the printer, and Thompson; as also the assassinators in Newgate, and the clan of Macgregor in Scotland. By virtue of this act, the earl of Carnwath, the lords Widrington and Nairn, were immediately discharged; together with all the gentlemen under sentence of death in Newgate, and those that were confined on account of the rebellion in the Fleet, the Marshalsea, and other prisons of the kingdom. The act of grace being prepared for the royal assent, the king went to the house of peers on the fifteenth day of July, and having given his sanction to all the bills that were ready, closed the session with a speech on the usual topics.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONVOCATION WITH REGARD TO DR. HOADLEY.

The proceedings in the convocation turned chiefly upon two performances of Dr. Hoadley, bishop of Bangor. One was intituled, “A Preservative against the Principles and Practices of the Nonjurors;” the other was a sermon preached before the king, under the title of “The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ.” An answer to this discourse was published by Dr. Snape, master of Eton college, and this convocation appointed a committee to examine the bishop’s two performances. They drew up a representation in which the Preservative and the Sermon were censured, as tending to subvert all government and discipline in the church of Christ; to reduce his kingdom to a state of anarchy and confusion; to impugn and impeach the royal supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, and the authority of the legislature to enforce obedience in matters of religion by civil sanctions. The government thought proper to put a stop to these proceedings by a prorogation; which, however, inflamed the controversy. A great number of pens were drawn against the bishop, but his chief antagonists were Dr. Snape and Dr. Sherlock, whom the king removed from the office of his chaplains; and the convocation has not been permitted to sit and do business since that period.

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Chapter II

Difference between King George and the Czar of Muscovy..... The King of Sweden is killed at Frederickstadt..... Negotiation for a Quadruple Alliance..... Proceedings in Parliament..... James Shepherd executed for a Design against the King’s Life..... Parliament prorogued..... Nature of the quadruple Alliance..... Admiral Byng sails to the Mediterranean..... He destroys the Spanish Fleet off Cape Passaro..... Remonstrances of the Spanish Ministry..... Disputes in Parliament touching the Admiral’s attacking the Spanish Fleet..... Act for strengthening the Protestant Interest----War declared against Spain..... Conspiracy against the Regent of France..... Intended Invasion by the Duke of Ormond..... Three hundred Spaniards land and are taken in Scotland..... Account of the Peerage Bill..... Count Merci assumes the Command of the Imperial Army in Sicily..... Activity of Admiral Byng..... The Spanish Troops evacuate Sicily..... Philip obliged to accede to the quadruple Alliance..... Bill for securing the Dependency of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain..... South Sea Act..... Charters granted to the Royal and London Assurance Offices..... Treaty of Alliance with Sweden..... The Prince of Hesse elected King of Sweden..... Effects of the South Sea Scheme..... The Bubble breaks..... A Secret Committee appointed by the House of Commons..... Inquiry carried on by both Houses..... Death of Earl Stanhope and Mr. Craggs, both Secretaries of State..... The Estates of the Directors of the South Sea Company are confiscated..... Proceedings of the Commons with respect to the Stock of the South Sea Company.

{1717}

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE KING AND THE CZAR OF MUSCOVY.

During these transactions, the negotiations of the north were continued against the king of Sweden, who had penetrated into Norway, and advanced towards Christianstadt, the capital of that kingdom. The czar had sent five-and-twenty thousand Russians to assist the allies in the reduction of Wismar, which he intended to bestow upon his niece, lately married to the duke of Mecklenburgh-Schwerin: but before his troops arrived the place had surrendered, and the Russians were not admitted into the garrison; a circumstance which increased the misunderstanding between him and the king of Great Britain. Nevertheless, he consented to a project for making a descent upon Schonen, and actually took upon him the command of the allied fleet; though he was not at all pleased to see sir John Norris in the Baltic, because he had formed designs against Denmark, which he knew the English squadron would protect. He suddenly desisted from the expedition against Schonen, on pretence that the season was too far advanced; and the king of Denmark published a manifesto, remonstrating against his conduct on this occasion. By this time baron Gortz had planned a pacification between his master and the czar, who was discontented with all his German allies, because they opposed his having any footing in the empire. This monarch arrived at Amsterdam in December, whether he was followed by the czarina; and he actually resided at the Hague when king George passed through it, in returning to his British dominions, but he declined an interview with the king of England. When Gyllenburgh’s letters were published in London, some passages seemed to favour the supposition of the czar’s being privy to the conspiracy. His minister at the English court presented a long memorial, complaining that the king had caused to be printed the malicious insinuations of his enemies. He denied his having the least concern in the design of the Swedish king. He charged the court of England with having privately treated of a separate peace with Charles, and even with having promised to assist him against the czar, on condition that he would relinquish his pretensions to Bremen and Verden. Nevertheless, he expressed an inclination to re-establish the ancient good understanding, and to engage in vigorous measures for prosecuting the war against the common enemy. The memorial was answered by the king of Great Britain, who assured the czar he should have reason to be fully satisfied, if he would remove the only obstacle to their mutual good understanding; in other words, withdraw the Russian troops from the empire. Notwithstanding these professions, the two monarchs were never perfectly reconciled.

THE KING OF SWEDEN IS KILLED.

The czar made an excursion to the court of France, where he concluded a treaty of friendship with the regent, at whose earnest desire he promised to recall his troops from Mecklenburgh. At his return to Amsterdam, he had a private interview with Gortz, who, as well as Gyllenburgh, had been set at liberty. Gortz undertook to adjust all difference between the czar and the king of Sweden within three months; and Peter engaged to suspend all operations against Sweden until that term should be expired. A congress was opened at Abo, between the Swedish and Russian ministers, but the conferences were afterwards removed to Aland. By this convention, the czar obliged himself to assist Charles in the conquest of Norway; and they promised to unite all their forces against the king of Great Britain should he presume to interpose. Both were incensed against that prince; and one part of their design was to raise the pretender to the throne of England. Baron Gortz set out from Aland for Frederickstadt in Norway, with the plan of peace: but, before he arrived, Charles was killed by a cannon ball from the town, as he visited the trenches, on the thirtieth of November. Baron Gortz was immediately arrested, and brought to the scaffold by the nobles of Sweden, whose hatred he had incurred by his insolence of behaviour. The death of Charles was fortunate for king George. Sweden was now obliged to submit; while the czar, the king of Denmark, and the elector of Hanover, kept possession of what they had acquired in the course of the war.

NEGOTIATION FOR A QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE.

Thus Bremen and Verden were secured in the house of Hanover; an acquisition towards which the English nation contributed by her money, as well as by her arms; an acquisition made in contradiction to the engagements into which England entered when king William became guarantee for the treaty of Travendahl; an acquisition that may be considered as the first link of a political chain by which the English nation were dragged back into expensive connexions with the continent. The king had not yet received the investiture of the duchies; and, until that should be procured, it was necessary to espouse with warmth the interests of the emperor. This was another source of misunderstanding between Great Britain and Spain. Prince Eugene gained another complete victory over a prodigious army of the Turks at Belgrade, which was surrendered to him after the battle. The emperor had engaged in this war as an ally of the Venetians, whom the Turks had attacked and driven from the Morea. The pope considered it as a religious war against the infidels, and obtained repeated assurances from the king of Spain that he would not undertake any thing against the emperor while he was engaged in such a laudable quarrel. Philip had even sent a squadron of ships and galleys to the assistance of the Venetians. In the course of this year, however, he equipped a strong armament, the command of which was bestowed on the marquis de Lede, who sailed from Barcelona in July, and landing at Cagliari in Sardinia, which belonged to the emperor, made a conquest of the whole island. At the same time, the king of Spain endeavoured to justify these proceedings by a manifesto, in which he alleged that the archduke, contrary to the faith of treaties, encouraged and supported the rebellion of his subjects in Catalonia, by frequent succours from Naples and other places; and that the great inquisitor of Spain had been seized, though furnished with a passport from his holiness. He promised however to proceed no further, and suspend all operations, that the powers of Europe might have time and opportunity to contrive expedients for reconciling all differences, and securing the peace and balance of power in Italy; nay, he consented that this important affair should be left to the arbitration of king George and the states-general. These powers undertook the office. Conferences were begun between the ministers of the emperor, France, England, and Holland; and these produced, in the course of the following year, the famous quadruple alliance. In this treaty it was stipulated, that the emperor should renounce all pretensions to the crown of Spain, and exchange Sardinia for Sicily with the duke of Savoy; that the succession to the duchies of Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia, which the queen of Spain claimed by inheritance as princess of the house of Farnese, should be settled on her eldest son, in case the present possessors should die without male issue. Philip, dissatisfied with this partition, continued to make formidable preparations by sea and land. The king of England and the regent of France interposed their admonitions to no purpose. At length his Britannic majesty had recourse to more substantial arguments, and ordered a strong squadron to be equipped with all possible expedition. [206] [See note 2 H, at the end of this Vol.]

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

On the third day of November, the princess of Wales was delivered of a prince, the ceremony of whose baptism was productive of a difference between the grandfather and the father. The prince of Wales intended that his uncle, the duke of York, should stand godfather. The king ordered the duke of Newcastle to stand for himself. After the ceremony, the prince expressed his resentment against this nobleman in very warm terms. The king ordered the prince to confine himself within his own apartment; and afterwards signified his pleasure that he should quit the palace of St. James’. He retired with the princess to a house belonging to the earl of Grantham; but the children were detained at the palace. All peers and peeresses, and all privy-counsellors and their wives, were given to understand, that in case they visited the prince and princess they should have no access to his majesty’s presence; and all who enjoyed posts and places under both king and prince, were obliged to quit the service of one or other at their option. When the parliament met on the twenty-first day of November, the king, in his speech, told both houses that he had reduced the army to very near one half, since the beginning of the last session: he expressed his desire that all those who were friends to the present happy establishment, might unanimously concur in some proper method for the greater strengthening the protestant interest, of which, as the church of England was unquestionably the main support and bulwark, so would she reap the principal benefit of every advantage accruing from the union and mutual charity of all protestants. After the addresses of thanks, which were couched in the usual style, the commons proceeded to take into consideration the estimates and accounts, in order to settle the establishment of the army, navy, and ordnance. Ten thousand men were voted for the sea service. When the supply for the army fell under deliberation, a very warm debate ensued upon the number of troops necessary to be maintained. Sir William Wyndham, Mr. Shippen, and Mr. Walpole, in a long elaborate harangue, insisted upon its being reduced to twelve thousand. They were answered by Mr. Craggs, secretary at war, and sir David Dalrymple. Mr. Shippen, in the course of the debate, said the second paragraph of the king’s speech seemed rather to be calculated for the meridian of Germany than for Great Britain; and it was a great misfortune that the king was a stranger to our language and constitution. Mr. Lechmere affirmed this was a scandalous invective against the king’s person and government; and moved that he who uttered it should be sent to the Tower. Mr. Shippen, refusing to retract or excuse what he had said, was voted to the Tower by a great majority; and the number of standing forces was fixed at sixteen thousand three hundred and forty-seven effective men.

On account of the great scarcity of silver coin, occasioned by the exportation of silver and the importation of gold, a motion was made to put a stop to this growing evil, by lowering the value of gold specie. The commons examined a representation which had been made to the treasury by sir Isaac Newton, master of the mint, on this subject. Mr. Caswel explained the nature of a clandestine trade carried on by the Dutch and Ham-burghers, in concert with the Jews of England and other traders, for exporting the silver coin and importing gold, which being coined at the mint yielded a profit of fifteen pence upon every guinea. The house, in an address to the king, desired that a proclamation might be issued, forbidding all persons to utter or receive guineas at a higher rate than one-and-twenty shillings each. His majesty complied with that request: but people hoarding up their silver in hopes that the price of it would be raised, or in apprehension that the gold would be lowered still farther, the two houses resolved that the standard of the gold and silver coins of the kingdom should not be altered in fineness, weight, or denomination, and they ordered a bill to be brought in to prevent the melting down of the silver coin. At this period, one James Shepherd, a youth of eighteen, apprentice to a coachmaker, and an enthusiast in jacobitism, sent a letter to a nonjuring clergyman, proposing a scheme for assassinating king George. He was immediately apprehended, owned the design, was tried, condemned, and executed at Tyburn. This was likewise the fate of the marquis de Palleotti, an Italian nobleman, brother to the duchess of Shrewsbury. He had, in a transport of passion, killed his own servant; and seemed indeed to be disordered in his brain. After he had received sentence of death, the king’s pardon was earnestly solicited by his sister the duchess, and many other persons of the first distinction; but the common people became so clamorous, that it was thought dangerous to rescue him from the penalties of the law, which he accordingly underwent in the most ignominious manner. No subject produced so much heat and altercation in parliament during this session, as did the bill for regulating the land-forces, and punishing mutiny and desertion: a bill which was looked upon as an encroachment upon the liberties and constitution of England, inasmuch as it established martial law, which wrested from the civil magistrate the cognizance of crimes and misdemeanors committed by the soldiers and officers of the army; a jurisdiction inconsistent with the genius and disposition of the people. The dangers that might accrue from such a power were explained in the lower house by Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Harley, and Mr. Robert Walpole, which last, however, voted afterwards for the bill. In the house of lords, it was strenuously opposed by the earls of Oxford, Strafford, and lord Harcourt. Their objections were answered by lord Carteret. The bill passed by a great majority; but divers lords entered a protest. This affair being discussed, a bill was brought in for vesting in trustees the forfeited estates in Britain and Ireland, to be sold for the use of the public; for giving relief to lawful creditors by determining the claims, and for the more effectual bringing into the respective exchequers the rents and profits of the estates till sold. The time of claiming was prolonged; the sum of twenty thousand pounds was reserved out of the sale of the estates in Scotland, for erecting schools; and eight thousand pounds for building barracks in that kingdom. The king having signified, by a message to the house of commons, that he had lately received such information from abroad, as gave reason to believe that a naval force employed where it should be necessary, would give weight to his endeavours; he therefore thought fit to acquaint the house with this circumstance, not doubting but that in case he should be obliged, at this critical juncture, to exceed the number of men granted this year for the sea-service, the house would provide for such exceeding. The commons immediately drew up and presented an address, assuring his majesty that they would make good such exceedings of seamen as he should find necessary to preserve the tranquillity of Europe. On the twenty-first day of March, the king went to the house of peers, and having passed the bills that were ready for the royal assent, ordered the parliament to be prorogued.*

* Earl Cowper, lord chancellor, resigned the great seal, which was at first put in commission, but afterwards given to lord Parker, as high chancellor. The earl of Sunderland was made president of the council, and first commissioner of the treasury. Lord Stanhope and Mr. Craggs were appointed secretaries of state. Lord Stanhope and lord Cadogan were afterwards created earls.

{1718}

NATURE OF THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE.

The king of Spain, by the care and indefatigable diligence of his prime minister, cardinal Alberoni, equipped a very formidable armament, which, in the beginning of June, set sail from Barcelona towards Italy; but the destination of it was not known. A strong squadron having been fitted out in England, the marquis de Monteleone, ambassador from Spain, presented a memorial to the British ministry, importing that so powerful an armament in time of peace could not but give umbrage to the king his master, and alter the good intelligence that subsisted between the two crowns. In answer to this representation, the ministers declared that the king intended to send admiral Byng with a powerful squadron into the Mediterranean, to maintain the neutrality in Italy. Meanwhile, the negotiations between the English and French ministers produced the quadruple alliance, by which king George and the regent prescribed a peace between the emperor, the king of Spain, and the king of Sicily, and undertook to compel Philip and the Savoyard to submit to such conditions as they had concerted with his Imperial majesty. These powers were allowed only three months to consider the articles, and declare whether they would reject them, or acquiesce in the partition. Nothing could be more contradictory to the true interests of Great Britain than this treaty, which destroyed the balance in Italy, by throwing such an accession of power into the hands of the house of Austria. It interrupted the commerce with Spain; involved the kingdom in an immediate war with that monarchy; and gave rise to all the quarrels and disputes which have arisen between England and Spain in the sequel. The states-general did not approve of such violent measures, and for some time kept aloof; but at length they acceded to the quadruple alliance, which indeed was no other than a very expensive compliment to the emperor, who was desirous of adding Sicily to his other Italian dominions.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

ADMIRAL BYNG SAILS.

The king of England had used some endeavours to compromise the difference between his Imperial majesty and the Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon. Lord Stanhope had been sent to Madrid with a plan of pacification, which being rejected by Philip as partial and iniquitous, the king determined to support his mediation by force of arms. Sir George Byng sailed from Spithead on the fourth day of June, with twenty ships of the line, two fire-ships, two bomb-vessels, and ample instructions how to act on all emergencies. He arrived off Cape St. Vincent on the thirtieth day of the month, and despatched his secretary to Cadiz, with a letter to colonel Stanhope, the British minister at Madrid, desiring him to inform his most catholic majesty of the admiral’s arrival in those parts, and lay before him this article of his instructions: “You are to make instances with both parties to cease from using any further acts of hostility: but in case the Spaniards do still insist, with their ships of war and forces, to attack the kingdom of Naples, or other the territories of the emperor in Italy, or to land in any part of Italy, which can only be with a design to invade the emperor’s dominions, against whom only they have declared war by invading Sardinia; or, if they should endeavour to make themselves masters of the kingdom of Sicily, which must be with a design to invade the kingdom of Naples; in which case you are, with all your power, to hinder and obstruct the same. If it should so happen that at your arrival with our fleet under your command, in the Mediterranean, the Spaniards should already have landed any troops in Italy in order to invade the emperor’s territories, you shall endeavour amicably to dissuade them from persevering in such an attempt, and offer them your assistance to help them to withdraw their troops, and put an end to all further acts of hostility. But in case these your friendly endeavours should prove ineffectual, you shall, by keeping company with, or intercepting their ships or convoy; or if it be necessary, by openly opposing them, defend the emperor’s territories from any further attempt.” When cardinal Alberoni perused these instructions, he told colonel Stanhope, with some warmth, that his master would run all hazards, and even suffer himself to be driven out of Spain, rather than recall his troops, or consent to a suspension of arms. He said the Spaniards were not to be frightened; and he was so well convinced that the fleet would do their duty, that in case of their being attacked by Admiral Byng, he should be in no pain for the success. Mr. Stanhope presenting him with a list of the British squadron, he threw it upon the ground with great emotion. He promised, however, to lay the admiral’s letter before the king, and to let the envoy know his majesty’s resolution. Such an interposition could not but be very provoking to the Spanish minister, who had laid his account with the conquest of Sicily, and for that purpose prepared an armament which was altogether surprising, considering the late shattered condition of the Spanish affairs. But he seems to have put too much confidence in the strength of the Spanish fleet. In a few days he sent back the admiral’s letter to Mr. Stanhope, with a note under it, importing that the chevalier Byng might execute the orders he had received from the king his master.

HE DESTROYS THE SPANISH FLEET.

The admiral, in passing by Gibraltar, was joined by vice-admiral Cornwall with two ships. He proceeded to Minorca, where he relieved the garrison of Port-Mahon. Then he sailed for Naples, where he arrived on the first day of August, and was received as a deliverer; for the Neapolitans had been under the utmost terror of an invasion from the Spaniards. Sir George Byng received intelligence from the viceroy, count Daun, who treated him with the most distinguishing marks of respect, that the Spanish army, amounting to thirty thousand men, commanded by the marquis de Lede, had landed in Sicily, reduced Palermo and Messina, and were then employed in the siege of the citadel belonging to this last city; that the Piedmontese garrison would be obliged to surrender if not speedily relieved; that an alliance was upon the carpet between the emperor and the king of Sicily, which last had desired the assistance of the Imperial troops, and agreed to receive them into the citadel of Messina. The admiral immediately resolved to sail thither, and took under his convoy a reinforcement of two thousand Germans for the citadel, under the command of general Wetzel. He forthwith sailed from Naples, and on the ninth day of August was in sight of the Faro of Messina. He despatched his own captain with a polite message to the marquis de Lede, proposing a cessation of arms in Sicily for two months, that the powers of Europe might have time to concert measures for restoring a lasting peace; and declaring, that should this proposal be rejected, he would, in pursuance of his instructions, use all his force to prevent further attempts to disturb the dominions his master had engaged to defend. The Spanish general answered, that he had no powers to treat, and consequently could not agree to an armistice, but should obey his orders, which directed him to reduce Sicily for his master the king of Spain. The Spanish fleet had sailed from the harbour of Messina on the day before the English squadron appeared. Admiral Byng supposed they had retired to Malta, and directed his course towards Messina, in order to encourage and support the garrison in the citadel. But in doubling the point of Faro, he descried two Spanish scouts, and learned from the people of a felucca from the Calabrian shore, that they had seen from the hills the Spanish fleet lying to in order of battle. The admiral immediately detached the German troops to Reggio, under the convoy of two ships of war. Then he stood through the Faro after the Spanish scouts that led him to their main fleet, which before noon he descried in line of battle, amounting to seven-and-twenty sail large and small, besides two fire-ships, four bomb-vessels, and seven galleys. They were commanded in chief by don Antonio de Castanita, under whom were the four rear-admirals Chacon, Mari, Guevara, and Cammock. At sight of the English squadron they stood away large, and Byng gave chase all the rest of the day. In the morning, which was the eleventh of August, rear-admiral de Mari, with six ships of war, the galleys, fire-ships, and bomb-ketches, separated from the main fleet, and stood in for the Sicilian shore. The English admiral detached captain Walton with five ships in pursuit of them; and they were soon engaged. He himself continued to chase their main fleet; and about ten o’clock the battle began. The Spaniards seemed to be distracted in their councils, and acted in confusion. They made a running fight; yet the admirals behaved with courage and activity, in spite of which they were all taken, except Cammock, who made his escape with three ships of war and three frigates. In this engagement, which happened off Cape Passaro, captain Haddock of the Grafton signalized his courage in an extraordinary manner. On the eighteenth the admiral received a letter* from captain Walton, dated off Syracuse, intimating that he had taken four Spanish ships of war, together with a bomb-ketch, and a vessel laden with arms: and that he had burned four ships of the line, a fire-ship, and a bomb vessel.

* This letter is justly deemed a curious specimen of the laconic style. “Sir,--We have taken and destroyed all the Spanish ships and vessels which were upon the coast; the number as per margin. I am, &c. G. WALTON.”

Had the Spaniards followed the advice of rear-admiral Cammock, who was a native of Ireland, sir George Byng would not have obtained such an easy victory. That officer proposed that they should remain at anchor in the road of Paradise, with their broadsides to the sea; in which case the English admiral would have found it a very difficult task to attack them; for the coast is so bold, that the largest ships could ride with a cable ashore; whereas farther out the currents are so various and rapid, that the English squadron could not have come to anchor, or lie near them in order of battle; besides the Spaniards might have been reinforced from the army on shore, which would have raised batteries to annoy the assailants. Before king George had received an account of this engagement from the admiral, he wrote him a letter with his own hand, approving his conduct. When sir George’s eldest son arrived in England with a circumstantial account of the action, he was graciously received, and sent back with plenipotentiary powers to his father, that he might negotiate with the several princes and states of Italy, as he should see occasion. The son likewise carried the king’s royal grant to the officers and seamen, of all the prizes they had taken from the Spaniards. Notwithstanding this victory, the Spanish army carried on the siege of the citadel of Messina with such vigour, that the governor surrendered the place by capitulation on the twenty-ninth day of September. A treaty was now concluded at Vienna between the emperor and the duke of Savoy. They agreed to form an army for the conquest of Sardinia in behalf of the duke; and in the meantime this prince engaged to evacuate Sicily; but until his troops could be conveyed from that island, he consented that they should co-operate with the Germans against the common enemy. Admiral Byng continued to assist the Imperialists in Sicily during the best part of the winter, by scouring the seas of the Spaniards, and keeping the communication open between the German forces and the Calabrian shore, from whence they were supplied with provisions. He acted in this service with equal conduct, courage, resolution, and activity. He conferred with the viceroy of Naples and the other Imperial generals, about the operations of the ensuing campaign, and count Hamilton was despatched to Vienna to lay before the emperor the result of their deliberations; then the admiral set sail for Mahon, where the ships might be refitted and put in a condition to take the sea in the spring.

REMONSTRANCES OF THE SPANISH MINISTRY.

The destruction of the Spanish fleet was a subject that employed the deliberations and conjectures of all the politicians in Europe. Spain exclaimed against the conduct of England, as inconsistent with the rules of good faith, for the observation of which she had always been so famous. The marquis de Monteleone wrote a letter to Mr. secretary Craggs, in which he expostulated with him upon such an unprecedented outrage. Cardinal Alberoni, in a letter to that minister, inveighed against it as a base unworthy action. He said the neutrality of Italy was a weak pretence, since every body knew that neutrality had long been at an end; and that the prince’s guarantees of the treaty of Utrecht were entirely discharged from their engagements, not only by the scandalous infringements committed by the Austrians in the evacuation of Catalonia and Majorca; but also because the guarantee was no longer binding than till a peace was concluded with France. He taxed the British ministry with having revived and supported this neutrality, not by an amicable mediation, but by open violence, and artfully abusing the confidence and security of the Spaniards. This was the language of disappointed ambition. Nevertheless it must be owned that the conduct of England, on this occasion, was irregular, partial, and precipitate.

The parliament meeting on the eleventh day of November, the king in his speech declared that the court of Spain had rejected all his amicable proposals, and broke through their most solemn engagements for the security of the British commerce. To vindicate, therefore, the faith of his former treaties, as well as to maintain those he had lately made, and to protect and defend the trade of his subjects, which had in every branch been violently and unjustly oppressed, it became necessary for his naval forces to check their progress; that notwithstanding the success of his arms, that court had lately given orders at all the ports of Spain and of the West Indies to fit out privateers against the English. He said he was persuaded that a British parliament would enable him to resent such treatment; and he assured them that his good brother, the regent of France, was ready to concur with him in the most vigorous measures. A strong opposition was made in both houses to the motion for an address of thanks and congratulation proposed by lord Carteret. Several peers observed that such an address was, in effect, to approve a sea-fight, which might be attended with dangerous consequences, and to give the sanction of that august assembly to measures which, upon examination, might appear either to clash with the law of nations or former treaties, or to be prejudicial to the trade of Great Britain; that they ought to proceed with the utmost caution and maturest deliberation, in an affair wherein the honour as well as the interest of the nation were so highly concerned. Lord Strafford moved for an address, that sir George Byng’s instructions might be laid before the house. Earl Stanhope replied, that there was no occasion for such an address, since by his majesty’s command he had already laid before the house the treaties of which the late sea-fight was a consequence; particularly the treaty for a defensive alliance between the emperor and his majesty, concluded at Westminster on the twenty-fifth day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen; and the treaty of alliance for restoring and settling the public peace, signed at London on the twenty-second day of July. He affirmed that the court of Spain had violated the treaty of Utrecht, and acted against the public faith in attacking the emperor’s dominions, while he was engaged in a war against the enemies of Christendom; that they had rejected his majesty’s friendly offices and offers for mediating an accommodation. He explained the cause of his own journey to Spain, and his negotiations at Madrid. He added, it was high time to check the growth of the naval power of Spain, in order to protect and secure the trade of the British subjects which had been violently oppressed by the Spaniards. After a long debate, the motion was carried by a considerable majority. The same subject excited disputes of the same nature in the house of commons, where lord Hinchinbroke moved that, in their address of thanks, they should declare their entire satisfaction in those measures which the king had already taken for strengthening the protestant succession, and establishing a lasting tranquillity in Europe. The members in the opposition urged that it was unparliamentary and unprecedented, on the first day of the session, to enter upon particulars; that the business in question was of the highest importance, and deserved the most mature deliberation; that, before they approved the measures which had been taken, they ought to examine the reasons on which those measures were founded. Mr. Robert Walpole affirmed that the giving sanction, in the manner proposed, to the late measures, could have no other view than that of screening ministers, who were conscious of having begun a war against Spain, and now wanted to make it the parliament’s war. He observed, that instead of an entire satisfaction, they ought to express their entire dissatisfaction with such conduct as was contrary to the law of nations, and a breach of the most solemn treaties. Mr. secretary Craggs, in a long speech, explained the nature of the quadruple alliance, and justified all the measures which had been taken. The address, as moved by lord Hinchinbroke, was at length carried, and presented to his majesty. Then the commons proceeded to consider the supply. They voted thirteen thousand five hundred sailors; and twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-five men for the land service. The whole estimate amounted to two millions two hundred and fifty-seven thousand five hundred eighty-one pounds, nineteen shillings. The money was raised by a land-tax, malt-tax, and lottery.

ACT FOR STRENGTHENING THE PROTESTANT INTEREST.

On the thirteenth day of December, earl Stanhope declared, in the house of lords, that in order to unite the hearts of the well affected to the present establishment, he had a bill to offer under the title of “An act for strengthening the protestant interest in these kingdoms.” It was accordingly read, and appeared to be a bill repealing the acts against occasional conformity, the growth of schism, and some clauses in the corporation and test acts. This had been concerted by the ministry in private meetings with the most eminent dissenters. The tory lords were astonished at this motion, for which they were altogether unprepared. Nevertheless they were strenuous in their opposition. They alleged that the bill, instead of strengthening, would certainly weaken the church of England, by plucking off her best feathers, investing her enemies with power, and sharing with churchmen the civil and military employments of which they were then wholly possessed. Earl Cowper declared himself against that part of the bill by which some clauses of the test and corporation acts were repealed; because he looked upon those acts as the main bulwark of our excellent constitution in church and state, which ought to be inviolably preserved. The earl of Hay opposed the bill, because, in his opinion, it infringed the pacta conventa of the treaty of union, by which the bonds both of the church of England and of the church of Scotland were fixed and settled; and he was apprehensive, if the articles of the union were broke with respect to one church, it might afterwards be a precedent to break them with respect to the other. The archbishop of Canterbury said the acts which by this bill would be repealed, were the main bulwark and supporters of the English church; he expressed all imaginable tenderness for well-meaning conscientious dissenters; but he could not forbear saying, some among that sect made a wrong use of the favour and indulgence shown to them at the revolution, though they had the least share in that happy event; it was therefore thought necessary for the legislature to interpose, and put a stop to the scandalous practice of occasional conformity. He added, that it would be needless to repeal the act against schism, since no advantage had been taken of it to the prejudice of the dissenters. Dr. Hoadley, bishop of Bangor, endeavoured to prove that the occasional and schism acts were in effect persecuting laws; and that by admitting the principle of self-defence and self-preservation in matters of religion, all the persecutions maintained by the heathens against the professors of Christianity, and even the popish inquisition, might be justified. With respect to the power of which many clergymen appeared so fond and so zealous, he owned the desire of power and riches was natural to all men; but that he had learned both from reason and from the gospel, that this desire must be kept within due bounds, and not intrench upon the rights and liberties of their fellow-creatures and countrymen. After a long debate, the house agreed to leave out some clauses concerning the test and corporation acts: then the bill was committed, and afterwards passed. In the lower house it met with violent opposition, in spite of which it was carried by the majority.

WAR DECLARED AGAINST SPAIN.

The king on the seventeenth day of December, sent a message to the commons, importing that all his endeavours to procure redress for the injuries done to his subjects by the king of Spain having proved ineffectual, he had found it necessary to declare war against that monarch. When a motion was made for an address, to assure the king they would cheerfully support him in the prosecution of the war, Mr. Shippen and some other members said, they did not see the necessity of involving the nation in a war on account of some grievances of which the merchants complained, as these might be amicably redressed. Mr. Stanhope assured the house that he had presented five-and-twenty memorials to the ministry of Spain on that subject without success. Mr. Methuen accounted for the dilatory proceeds of the Spanish court in commercial affairs, by explaining the great variety of regulations in the several provinces and ports of that kingdom. It was suggested that the ministry paid very little regard to the trade and interest of the nation, inasmuch as it appeared by the answer from the secretary of state to the letter of the marquis de Monteleone, that they would have overlooked the violation of the treaties of commerce, provided Spain had accepted the conditions stipulated in the quadruple alliance; for it was there expressly said, that his majesty the king of Great Britain did not seek to aggrandize himself by any new acquisitions, but was rather inclined to sacrifice something of his own to procure the general quiet and tranquillity of Europe. A member observed, that nobody could tell how far that sacrifice would have extended, but certainly it was a very uncommon stretch of condescension. This sacrifice was said to be the cession of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, which the regent of France had offered to the king of Spain, provided he would accede to the quadruple alliance. Horatio Walpole observed, that the disposition of Sicily in favour of the emperor was an infraction of the treaty of Utrecht; and his brother exclaimed against the injustice of attacking the Spanish fleet before a declaration of war. Notwithstanding all these arguments and objections, the majority agreed to the address; and such another was carried in the upper house without a division. The declaration of war against Spain was published with the usual solemnities; but this war was not a favourite of the people, and therefore did not produce those acclamations that were usual on such occasions.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE REGENT OF FRANCE.

Meanwhile cardinal Alberoni employed all his intrigues, power, and industry, for the gratification of his revenge. He caused new ships to be built, the sea ports to be put in a posture of defence, succours to be sent to Sicily, and the proper measures to be taken for the security of Sardinia. He, by means of the prince de Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador at Paris, caballed with the malcontents of that kingdom, who were numerous and powerful. A scheme was actually formed for seizing the regent, and securing the person of the king. The duke of Orleans owed the first intimation of this plot to king George, who gave him to understand that a conspiracy was formed against his person and government. The regent immediately took measures for watching the conduct of all suspected persons; but the whole intrigue was discovered by accident. The prince de Cellamare intrusted his despatches to the abbé Portocarrero, and to a son of the marquis de Monteleone. These emissaries set out from Paris in a post-chaise, and were overturned. The postillion overheard Portocarrero say, he would not have lost his portmanteau for a hundred thousand pistoles. The man, at his return to Paris, gave notice to the government of what he had observed. The Spaniards, being pursued, were overtaken and seized at Poictiers, with the portmanteau, in which the regent found two letters that made him acquainted with the particulars of the conspiracy. The prince de Cellamare was immediately conducted to the frontiers: the duke of Maine, the marquis de Pompadore, the cardinal de Polignac, and many other persons of distinction, were committed to different prisons. The regent declared war against Spain on the twenty-ninth day of December; and an army of six-and-thirty thousand men began its march towards that kingdom in January, under the command of the duke of Berwick.

INTENDED INVASION BY ORMOND.

Cardinal Alberoni had likewise formed a scheme in favour of the pretender. The duke of Ormond repairing to Madrid, held conferences with his eminence; and measures were concerted for exciting another insurrection in Great Britain. The chevalier de St. George quitted Urbino by stealth; and embarking at Netteno, landed at Cagliari in March. From thence he took his passage to Roses in Catalonia, and proceeded to Madrid, where he was received with great cordiality, and treated as king of Great Britain. An armament had been equipped of ten ships of war and transports, having on board six thousand regular troops, with arms for twelve thousand men. The command of this fleet was bestowed on the duke of Ormond, with the title of captain-general of his most catholic majesty. He was provided with declarations in the name of that king, importing, that for many good reasons he had sent part of his land and sea forces into England and Scotland, to act as auxiliaries to king James. His Britannic majesty, having received from the regent of France timely notice of this intended invasion, offered, by proclamations, rewards to those that should apprehend the duke of Ormond, or any gentleman embarked in that expedition. Troops were ordered to assemble in the north, and in the west of England: two thousand men were demanded of the states-general: a strong squadron was equipped to oppose the Spanish armament; and the duke of Orleans made a proffer to king George of twenty battalions for his service.

THREE HUNDRED SPANIARDS LAND AND ARE TAKEN IN SCOTLAND.

His majesty having communicated to both houses of parliament the repeated advices he had received touching this projected descent, they promised to support him against all his enemies. They desired he would augment his forces by sea and land, and assured him they would make good the extraordinary expense. Two thousand men were landed from Holland, and six battalions of Imperialists from the Austrian Netherlands. The duke of Ormond sailed from Cadiz, and proceeded as far as Cape Finisterre, where his fleet was dispersed and disabled by a violent storm, which entirely defeated the purposed expedition. Two frigates, however, arrived in Scotland, with the earls Marischal and Seaforth, the marquis of Tullibardine, some field-officers, three hundred Spaniards, and arms for two thousand men. They were joined by a small body of Highlanders, and possessed themselves of Donan castle. Against these adventurers general Wightman marched with a body of regular troops from Inverness. They had taken possession of the pass at Glenshiel; but, at the approach of the king’s forces, retired to the pass at Strachell, which they resolved to defend. They were attacked and driven from one eminence to another till night, when the Highlanders dispersed; and next day the Spaniards surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Marischal, Seaforth, and Tullibardine, with some officers, retired to one of the western isles, in order to wait an opportunity of being conveyed to the continent.

ACCOUNT OF THE PEERAGE BILL.

On the last day of February the duke of Somerset represented, in the house of lords, that the number of peers being very much increased, especially since the union of the two kingdoms, it seemed absolutely necessary to take effectual measures for preventing the inconveniences that might attend the creation of a great number of peers to serve a present purpose; an expedient which had been actually taken in the late reign. He therefore moved that a bill should be brought in to settle and limit the peerage, in such a manner that the number of English peers should not be enlarged beyond six above the present number, which, upon failure of male issue, might be supplied by new creations: that instead of the sixteen elective peers from Scotland, twenty-five should be made hereditary on the part of that kingdom; and that this number, upon failure of heirs-male, should be supplied from the other members of the Scottish peerage. This bill was intended as a restraint upon the prince of Wales, who happened to be at variance with the present ministry. The motion was supported by the duke of Argyle, now lord-steward of the household, the earls of Sunderland and Carlisle. It was opposed by the earl of Oxford, who said, that although he expected nothing from the crown, he would never give his vote for lopping off so valuable a branch of the prerogative, which enabled the king to reward merit and virtuous actions. The debate was adjourned to the second day of March, when earl Stanhope delivered a message from the king, intimating, that as they had under consideration the state of the British peerage, he had so much at heart the settling it upon such a foundation as might secure the freedom and constitution of parliaments in till future ages, that he was willing his prerogative should not stand in the way of so great and necessary a work. Another violent debate ensued between the two factions. The question here, as in almost every other dispute, was not whether the measure proposed was advantageous to the nation? but, whether the tory or the whig interest should predominate in parliament? Earl Cowper affirmed, that the part of the bill relating to the Scottish peerage, was a manifest violation of the treaty of union, as well as a flagrant piece of injustice, as it would deprive persons of their right, without being heard, and without any pretence or forfeiture on their part. He observed, that the Scottish peers excluded from the number of the twenty-five, would be in a worse condition than any other subjects in the kingdom; for they would be neither electing nor elected, neither representing nor represented. These objections were overruled; several resolutions were taken agreeably to the motion, and the judges were ordered to prepare and bring in the bill. This measure alarmed the generality of Scottish peers, as well as many English commoners, who saw in the bill the avenues of dignity and title shut up against them; and they did not fail to exclaim against it as an encroachment upon the fundamental maxims of the constitution. Treaties were written and published on both sides of the question; and a national clamour began to arise, when earl Stanhope observed, in the house, that as the bill had raised strange apprehensions, he thought it advisable to postpone the further consideration of it till a more proper opportunity. It was accordingly dropped, and the parliament prorogued on the eighteenth day of April, on which occasion his majesty told both houses that the Spanish king had acknowledged the pretender.

{1719}

COUNT MERCI ASSUMES THE COMMAND OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY

The king having appointed lords-justices to rule the kingdom in his absence, embarked in May for Holland, from whence he proceeded to Hanover, where he concluded a peace with Ulrica, the new queen of Sweden. By this treaty Sweden yielded for ever to the royal and electoral house of Brunswick the duchies of Bremen and Verden, with all their dependencies; king George obliged himself to pay a million of rix-dollars to the queen of Sweden; and to renew, as king of Great Britain and elector of Hanover, the alliances formerly subsisting between his predecessors and that kingdom. He likewise mediated a peace between Sweden and his former allies, the Danes, the Prussians, and the Poles. The czar, however, refused to give up his schemes of conquest. He sent his fleet to the Scheuron, or Bates of Sweden, where his troops landing to the number of fifteen thousand, committed dreadful outrages: but sir John Norris, who commanded an English squadron in those seas, having orders to support the negotiations, and oppose any hostilities that might be committed, the czar, dreading the fate of the Spanish navy, thought proper to recall his fleet. In the Mediterranean, admiral Byng acted with unwearied vigour in assisting the Imperialists to finish the conquest of Sicily. The court of Vienna had agreed to send a strong body of forces to finish the reduction of that island; and the command in this expedition was bestowed upon the count de Merci, with whom sir George Byng conferred at Naples. This admiral supplied them with ammunition and artillery from the Spanish prizes. He took the whole reinforcement under his convoy, and saw them safely landed in the bay of Patti, to the number of three thousand five hundred horse, and ten thousand infantry. Count Merci thinking himself more than a match for the Spanish forces commanded by the marquis de Lede, attacked him in a strong camp at Franca-Villa, and was repulsed with the loss of five thousand men, himself being dangerously wounded in the action. Here his army must have perished for want of provisions, had they not been supplied by the English navy.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

ACTIVITY OF ADMIRAL BYNG.

Admiral Byng no sooner learned the bad success of the attack at Franca-Villa, than he embarked two battalions from the garrison of Melazzo, and about a thousand recruits, whom he sent under a convoy through the Baro to Scheso-bay, in order to reinforce the Imperial army. He afterwards assisted at the council ol war with the German generals, who, in consequence of his advice, undertook the siege of Messina. Then he repaired to Naples, where he proposed to count Gallas, the new viceroy, that the troops destined for the conquest of Sardinia should be first landed in Sicily, and co-operate towards the conquest of that island. The proposal was immediately despatched to the court of Vienna. In the meantime, the admiral returned to Sicily, and assisted at the siege of Messina. The town surrendered; the garrison retired into the citadel; and the remains of the Spanish navy, which had escaped at Passaro, were now destroyed in the Mole. The emperor approved of the scheme proposed by the English admiral, to whom he wrote a very gracious letter, intimating that he had despatched orders to the governor of Milan to detach the troops designed for Sardinia to Vado, in order to be transported into Italy. The admiral charged himself with the performance of this service. Having furnished the Imperial army before Messina with another supply of cannon, powder, and shot, upon his own credit, he set sail for Vado, where he surmounted numberless difficulties started by the jealousy of count Bonneval, who was unwilling to see his troops, destined for Sardinia, now diverted to another expedition, in which he could not enjoy the chief command. At length admiral Byng saw the forces embarked, and convoyed them to Messina, the citadel of which surrendered in a few days after their arrival. By this time the marquis de Lede had fortified a strong post at Castro-Giovanne, in the centre of the island; and cantoned his troops about Aderno, Palermo, and Catenea. The Imperialists could not pretend to attack him in this situation, nor could they remain in the neighbourhood of Messina on account of the scarcity of provisions. They would, therefore, have been obliged to quit the island during the winter, had not the admiral undertaken to transport them by sea to Trapani, where they could extend themselves in a plentiful country. He not only executed this enterprise, but even supplied them with corn from Tunis, as the harvests of Sicily had been gathered into the Spanish magazines. It was the second day of March before the last embarkation of the Imperial troops were landed at Trapani.

THE SPANISH TROOPS EVACUATE SICILY.

The marquis de Lede immediately retired with his army to Alcamo, from whence he sent his mareschal de camp to count Merci and the English admiral, with overtures for evacuating Sicily. The proposals were not disagreeable to the Germans: but sir George Byng declared that the Spaniards should not quit the island while the war continued, as he foresaw that these troops would be employed against France or England. He agreed however with count Merci, in proposing that if the marquis would surrender Palermo and retire into the middle part of the island, they would consent to an armistice for six weeks, until the sentiments of their different courts should be known. The marquis offered to surrender Palermo, in consideration of a suspension of arms for three months; but, while this negotiation was depending, he received advice from Madrid that a general peace was concluded. Nevertheless, he broke off the treaty in obedience to a secret order for that purpose. The king of Spain hoped to obtain the restitution of St. Sebastian’s, Fontarabia, and other places taken in the course of the war, in exchange for the evacuation of Sicily, Hostilities were continued until the admiral received advice from the earl of Stair, at Paris, that the Spanish ambassador at the Hague had signed the quadruple alliance. By the same courier packets were delivered to the count de Merci and the marquis de Lede, which last gave the admiral and Imperial general to understand that he looked upon the peace as a thing concluded, and was ready to treat for a cessation of hostilities. They insisted on his delivering up Palermo; on the other hand he urged, that, as their masters were in treaty for settling the terms of evacuating Sicily and Sardinia, he did not think himself authorised to agree to a cessation, except on condition that each party should remain on the ground they occupied, and expect further orders from their principals. After a fruitless interview between the three chiefs at the Cassine de Rossignola, the Imperial general resolved to undertake the siege of Palermo; with this view he decamped from Alcamo on the eighteenth day of April, and followed the marquis de Lede, who retreated before him and took possession of the advantageous posts that commanded the passes into the plain of Palermo; but count Merci, with indefatigable diligence, marched over the mountains, while the admiral coasted along shore, attending the motions of the army. The Spanish general perceiving the Germans advancing into the plain, retired under the cannon of Palermo, and fortified his camp with strong entrenchments. On the second day of May the Germans took one of the enemy’s redoubts by surprise, and the marquis de Lede ordered all his forces to be drawn out to retake this fortification: both armies were on the point of engaging, when a courier arrived in a felucca with a packet for the marquis, containing full powers to treat and agree about the evacuation of the island, and the transportation of the army to Spain. He forthwith drew off his army; and sent a trumpet to the general and admiral, with letters, informing them of the orders he had received: commissioners were appointed on each side, the negotiations begun, and the convention signed in a very few days. The Germans were put in possession of Palermo, and the Spanish army marched to Tauromini, from whence they were transported to Barcelona.

PHILIP OBLIGED TO ACCEDE TO THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE.

The admiral continued in the Mediterranean until he had seen the islands of Sicily and Sardinia evacuated by the Spaniards, and the mutual cessions executed between the emperor and the duke of Savoy, in consequence of which four battalions of Piedmontese troops were transported from Palermo to Sardinia, and took possession of Cagliari in the name of their master. In a word, admiral Byng bore such a considerable share in this war of Sicily, that the fate of the island depended wholly on his courage, vigilance, and conduct. When he waited on his majesty at Hanover, he met with a very gracious reception. The king told him he had found out the secret of obliging his enemies as well as his friends; for the court of Spain had mentioned him in the most honourable terms, with respect to his candid and friendly deportment in providing transports and other necessaries for the embarkation of their troops, and in protecting them from oppression. He was appointed treasurer of the navy, and rear-admiral of Great Britain: in a little time the king ennobled him, by the title of viscount Torrington: he was declared a privy-counsellor, and afterwards made knight of the bath at the revival of that order. During these occurrences in the Mediterranean, the duke of Berwick advanced with the French army to the frontiers of Spain, where he took Port-Passage and destroyed six ships of war that were on the stocks; then he reduced Fontarabia and St. Sebastian’s, together with Port Antonio in the bottom of the bay of Biscay. In this last exploit the French were assisted by a detachment of English seamen, who burned two large ships unfinished, and a great quantity of naval stores. The king of England, with a view to indemnify himself for the expense of the war, projected the conquest of Corunna in Biscay, and of Peru in South America. Four thousand men, commanded by lord Cobham, were embarked at the Isle of Wight, and sailed on the twenty-first day of September, under convoy of five ships of war conducted by admiral Mighels. Instead of making an attempt upon Corunna, they reduced Vigo with very little difficulty; and Point-a-Vedra submitted without resistance: here they found some brass artillery, small arms, and military stores, with which they returned to England. In the meantime captain Johnson, with two English ships of war, destroyed the same number of Spanish ships in the port of Ribadeo, to the eastward of Cape Ortegas, so that the naval power of Spain was totally ruined. The expedition to the West Indies was prevented by the peace. Spain being oppressed on all sides, and utterly exhausted, Philip saw the necessity of a speedy pacification. He now perceived the madness of Alberoni’s ambitious projects. That minister was personally disagreeable to the emperor, the king of England, and the regent of France, who had declared they would hearken to no proposals while he should continue in office: the Spanish monarch, therefore, divested him of his employment, and ordered him to quit the kingdom in three weeks. The marquis de Beretti Landi, minister from the court of Madrid at the Hague, delivered a plan of pacification to the states; hat it was rejected by the allies; and Philip was obliged at last to accede to the quadruple alliance.

BILL FOR SECURING THE DEPENDENCY OF IRELAND UPON THE CROWN.

On the fourteenth day of November, king George returned to England, and on the twenty-third opened the session of parliament with a speech, in which he told them that all Europe, as well as Great Britain, was on the point of being delivered from the calamities of war by the influence of British arms and councils. He exhorted the commons to concert proper means for lessening the debts of the nation, and concluded with a panegyric upon his own government. It must be owned he had acted with equal vigour and deliberation in all the troubles he had encountered since his accession to the throne. The addresses of both houses were as warm as he could desire. They in particular extolled him for having interposed in behalf of the protestants of Hungary, Poland, and Germany, who had been oppressed by the practices of the popish clergy, and presented to him memorials containing a detail of their grievances. He and all the other protestant powers warmly interceded in their favour, but the grievances were not redressed. The peerage bill was now revived by the duke of Buckingham; and, in spite of all opposition, passed through the house of lords. It had been projected by earl Stanhope, and eagerly supported by the earl of Sunderland; therefore, Mr. Robert Walpole attacked it in the house of commons with extraordinary vehemence. Here too it was opposed by a considerable number of whig members; and, after warm debates, rejected by a large majority. The next object that engrossed the attention of the parliament was a bill for better securing the dependency of Ireland upon the crown of Great Britain. Maurice Annesley had appealed to the house of peers in England, from a decree of the house of peers in Ireland, which was reversed. The British peers ordered the barons of the exchequer in Ireland to put Mr. Annesley in possession of the lands he had lost by the decree in that kingdom. The barons obeyed this order; and the Irish house of peers passed a vote against them, as having acted in derogation to the king’s prerogative in his high court of parliament in Ireland, as also of the rights and privileges of that kingdom, and of the parliament thereof; they likewise ordered them to be taken into custody of the usher of the black rod: they transmitted a long representation to the king, demonstrating their right to the final judicature of causes: and the duke of Leeds, in the upper house, urged fifteen reasons to support the claim of the Irish peers. Notwithstanding these arguments, the house of lords in England resolved that the barons of the exchequer in Ireland had acted with courage, according to law, in support of his majesty’s prerogative, and with fidelity to the crown of Great Britain. They addressed the king to confer on them some marks of his royal favour, as a recompence for the ill usage they had undergone. Finally, they prepared the bill, by which the Irish house of lords was deprived of all right to pass sentence, affirm, or reverse any judgment or decree, given or made in any court within that kingdom. In the house of commons it was opposed by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Hungerford, lords Molesworth and Tyr-connel; but was carried by the majority, and received the royal assent.

SOUTH-SEA ACT

The king having recommended to the commons the consideration of proper means for lessening the national debt, was a prelude to the famous South-Sea act, which became productive of so much mischief and infatuation The scheme was projected by sir John Blunt, who had been bred a scrivener, and was possessed of all the cunning, plausibility, and boldness requisite for such an undertaking. He communicated his plan to Mr. Aislaby, the chancellor of the exchequer, as well as to one of the secretaries of state. He answered all their objections; and the project was adopted. They foresaw their own private advantage in the execution of their design, which was imparted in the name of the South-Sea company, of which Blunt was a director, who influenced all their proceedings. The pretence for the scheme was to discharge the national debt, by reducing all the funds into one. The bank and South-Sea company outbid each other. The South-Sea company altered their original plan, and offered such high terms to government, that the proposals of the bank were rejected; and a bill was ordered to be brought into the house of commons, formed on the plan presented by the South-Sea company. While this affair was in agitation, the stock of that company rose from one hundred and thirty to near four hundred, in consequence of the conduct of the commons, who had rejected a motion for a clause in the bill, to fix what share in the capital stock of the company should be vested in those proprietors of the annuities who might voluntarily subscribe; or how many year’s purchase in money they should receive in subscribing, at the choice of the proprietors.

{1720}

In the house of lords, the bill was opposed by lord North and Grey, earl Cowper, the dukes of Wharton, Buckingham, and other peers; they affirmed it was calculated for enriching a few and impoverishing a great number: that it countenanced the fraudulent and pernicious practice of stock-jobbing, which diverted the genius of the people from trade and industry: that it would give foreigners the opportunity to double and treble the vast sums they had in the public funds; and they would be tempted to realize and withdraw their capital and immense gains to other countries; so that Great Britain would be drained of all its gold and silver; that the artificial and prodigious rise of the South-Sea stock was a dangerous bait, which might decoy many unwary people to their ruin, alluring them by a false prospect of gain to part with the fruits of their industry, to purchase imaginary riches; that the addition of above thirty millions capital would give such power to the South-Sea company, as might endanger the liberties of the nation; for by their extensive interest they would be able to influence most, if not all the elections of the members; and, consequently, over-rule the resolutions of the house of commons. Earl Cowper urged, that in all public bargains the individuals of the administration ought to take care, that thay shall be more advantageous to the state than to private persons; but that a contrary method had been followed in the contract made with the South-Sea company; for, should the stocks be kept at the advanced price to which they had been raised by the oblique arts of stock-jobbing, either that company or its principal members would gain above thirty millions, of which no more than one-fourth part would be given towards the discharge of the national debts. He apprehended that the re-purchase of annuities would meet with insuperable difficulties; and, in such case, none but a few persons who were in the secret, who had bought stocks at a low rate, and afterwards sold them at a high price, would in the end be gainers by the project. The earl of Sunderland answered their objections. He declared that those who countenanced the scheme of the South-Sea company, had nothing in view but the advantage of the nation. He owned that the managers for that company had undoubtedly a prospect of private gain, either to themselves or to their corporation; but, he said, when the scheme was accepted, neither the one nor the other could foresee that the stocks would have risen to such a height; that if they had continued as they were, the public would have had the far greater share of the advantage accruing from the scheme; and should they be kept up to the present high price, it was but reasonable that the South-Sea company should enjoy the profits procured to it by the wise management and industry of the directors, which would enable it to make large dividends, and thereby accomplish the purpose of the scheme. The bill passed without amendment or division; and on the seventh day of April received the royal assent. By this act the South-Sea company was authorised to take in, by purchase or subscription, the irredeemable debts of the nation, stated at sixteen millions five hundred forty-six thousand four hundred and eighty-two pounds, seven shillings and one penny farthing, at such times as they should find convenient before the first day of March of the ensuing year, and without any compulsion on any of the proprietors, at such rates and prices as should be agreed upon between the company and the respective proprietors. They were likewise authorised to take in all the redeemable debts, amounting to the same sum as that of the irredeemables, either by purchase, by taking subscriptions, or by paying off the creditors. For the liberty of taking in the national debts, and increasing their capital stock accordingly, the company consented that their present, and to be increased annuity, should be continued at five per cent, till Midsummer, in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven; from thence to be reduced to four per cent, and be redeemable by parliament. In consideration of this, and other advantages expressed in the act, the company declared themselves willing to make such payments into the receipt of the exchequer as were specified for the use of the public, to be applied to the discharge of the public debts incurred before Christmas, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen. The sums they were obliged to pay for the liberty of taking in the redeemable debts, four years and a half’s purchase for all long and short annuities that should be subscribed, and one year’s purchase for such long annuities as should not be subscribed, amounted on the execution of the act to about seven millions. For enabling the company to raise this sum, they were empowered to make calls for money from their members; to open books of subscription; to grant annuities redeemable by the company; to borrow money upon any contract or bill under their common seal, or on the credit of their capital stock; to convert the money demanded of their members into additional stock, without, however, making any addition to the company’s annuities, payable out of the public duties. It was enacted, that out of the first monies arising from the sums paid by the company into the exchequer, such public debts, carrying interest at five per cent, incurred before the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, founded upon any former act of parliament, as were now redeemable, or might be redeemed by the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two, should be discharged in the first place: that then all the remainder should be applied towards paying off so much of the capital stock of the company as should then carry an interest of five per cent. It was likewise provided, that, after Midsummer in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven, the company should not be paid off in any sums being less than one million at a time.

CHARTERS GRANTED TO THE ROYAL AND LONDON ASSURANCE OFFICES.

The heads of the Royal-Assurance and London-Assurance companies, understanding that the civil-list was considerably in arrears, offered to the ministry six hundred thousand pounds towards the discharge of that debt, on condition of their obtaining the king’s charter, with a parliamentary sanction, for the establishment of their respective companies. The proposal was embraced; and the king communicated it in a message to the house of commons, desiring their concurrence. A bill was immediately passed, enabling his majesty to grant letters of incorporation to the two companies. It soon obtained the royal assent; and, on the eleventh day of June, an end was put to the session. This was the age of interested projects, inspired by a venal spirit of adventure, the natural consequence of that avarice, fraud, and profligacy, which the monied corporations had introduced. This of all others is the most unfavourable era for an historian. A reader of sentiment and imagination cannot be entertained or interested by a dry detail of such transactions as admit of no warmth, no colouring, no embellishment, a detail which serves only to exhibit an inanimate picture of tasteless vice and mean degeneracy.

TREATY OF ALLIANCE WITH SWEDEN.

By this time an alliance offensive and defensive was concluded at Stockholm between king George and the queen of Sweden, by which his majesty engaged to send a fleet into the Baltic to act against the czar of Muscovy, in case that monarch should reject reasonable proposals of peace. Peter loudly complained of the insolent interposition of king George, alleging that he had failed in his engagements, both as elector of Hanover and king of Great Britain. His resident at London presented a long memorial on this subject, which was answered by the British and Hanoverian ministry. These recriminations served only to inflame the difference. The czar continued to prosecute the war, and at length concluded a peace without a mediator. At the instances, however of king George and the regent of France, a treaty of peace was signed between the queen of Sweden and the king of Prussia, to whom that princess ceded the city of Stetin, the district between the rivers Oder and Pehnne, with the isles of Wollin and Usedom. On the other hand, he engaged to join the king of Great Britain in his endeavours to effect a peace between Sweden and Denmark, on condition that the Danish king should restore to queen Ulrica that part of Pomerania which he had seized; he likewise promised to pay to that queen two millions of rix-dollars in consideration of the cessions she had made. The treaty between Sweden and Denmark was signed at Frederickstadt in the month of June, through the mediation of the king of Great Britain, who became guarantee for the Dane’s keeping possession of Sleswick. He consented, however, to restore the Upper Pomerania, the isle of Rugen, the city of Wismar, and whatever he had taken from Sweden during the war, in consideration of Sweden’s renouncing the exemption from toll in the Sound and the two Belts, and paying to Denmark six hundred thousand rix-dollars.

THE PRINCE OF HESSE ELECTED KING OF SWEDEN.

Sir John Norris had again sailed to the Baltic with a strong squadron to give weight to the king’s mediation. When he arrived at Copenhagen he wrote a letter to prince Dolgorouki, the czar’s ambassador at the court of Denmark, signifying that he and the king’s envoy at Stockholm were vested with full powers to act jointly or separately in quality of plenipotentiaries, in order to effect a peace between Sweden and Muscovy, in the way of mediation. The prince answered that the czar had nothing more at heart than peace and tranquillity; and in case his Britannic majesty had any proposals to make to that prince, he hoped the admiral would excuse him from receiving them, as they might be delivered in a much more compendious way. The English fleet immediately joined that of Sweden as auxiliaries; but they had no opportunity of acting against the Russian squadron, which secured itself in Revel. Ulrica, queen of Sweden, and sister to Charles XII., had married the prince of Hesse, and was extremely desirous that he should be joined with her in the administration of the regal power. She wrote a separate letter to each of the four States, desiring they would confer on him the sovereignty; and after some opposition from the nobles, he was actually elected king of Sweden. He sent one of his general officers to notify his elevation to the czar, who congratulated him upon his accession to the throne: this was the beginning of a negotiation which ended in peace, and established the tranquillity of the North. In the midst of these transactions, king George set out from England for his Hanoverian dominions; but before he departed from Great Britain, he was reconciled to the prince of Wales, through the endeavours of the duke of Devonshire and Mr. Walpole, who, with earl Cowper, lord Townshend, Mr. Methuen, and Mr. Pulteney, were received into favour, and re-united with the ministry. The earls of Dorset and Bridgewater were promoted to the title of dukes; lord viscount Castleton was made an earl; Hugh Boscawen was created a baron, and viscount Falmouth; and John Wallop baron, and viscount Lymington.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

EFFECTS OF THE SOUTH-SEA SCHEME.

While the king was involved at Hanover in a labyrinth of negotiations, the South-Sea scheme produced a kind of national delirium in his English dominions. Blunt, the projector, had taken the hint of his plan from the famous Mississippi scheme formed by Law, which in the preceding year had raised such a ferment in France, and entailed rain upon many thousand families of that kingdom. In the scheme of Law there was something substantial. An exclusive trade to Louisiana promised some advantage; though the design was defeated by the frantic eagerness of the people. Law himself became the dupe of the regent, who transferred the burden of fifteen hundred millions of the king’s debts to the shoulders of the subjects, while the projector was sacrificed as the scape-goat of the political iniquity. The South-Sea scheme promised no commercial advantage of any consequence. It was buoyed up by nothing but the folly and rapaciousness of individuals, which became so blind and extravagant, that Blunt, with moderate talents, was able to impose upon the whole nation, and make tools of the other directors, to serve his own purposes and those of a few associates. When this projector found that the South-Sea stock did not rise according to his expectation upon the bill’s being passed, he circulated a report that Gibraltar and Port-Mahon would be exchanged for some places in Teru; by which means the English trade to the South-Sea would be protected and enlarged. This rumour, diffused by his emissaries, acted like a contagion. In five days the directors opened their books for a subscription of one million, at the rate of three hundred pounds for every hundred pounds capital. Persons of all ranks crowded to the house in such a manner that the first subscription exceeded two millions of original stock. In a few days this stock advanced to three hundred and forty pounds; and the subscriptions were sold for double the price of the first payment. Without entering into a detail of the proceedings, or explaining the scandalous arts that were practised to enhance the value of the stock, and decoy the unwary, we shall only observe, that by the promise of prodigious dividends and other infamous arts, the stock was raised to one thousand; and the whole nation infected with the spirit of stock-jobbing to an astonishing degree. All distinction of party, religion, sex, character, and circumstances, were swallowed up in this universal concern, or in some such pecuniary project. Exchange-Alley was filled with a strange concourse of statesmen and clergymen, churchmen and dissenters, whigs and tories, physicians, lawyers, tradesmen, and even with multitudes of females. All other professions and employments were utterly neglected; and the people’s attention wholly engrossed by this and other chimerical schemes, which were known by the denomination of bubbles. New companies started up every day under the countenance of the prime nobility. The prince of Wales was constituted governor of the Welsh copper company; the duke of Chandos appeared at the head of the York-buildings company; the duke of Bridgewater formed a third, for building houses in London and Westminster. About an hundred such schemes were projected and put in execution, to the ruin of many thousands. The sums proposed to be raised by these expedients amounted to three hundred millions sterling, which exceeded the value of all the lands in England. The nation was so intoxicated with the spirit of adventure, that people became a prey to the grossest delusion. An obscure projector, pretending to have formed a very advantageous scheme, which, however, he did not explain, published proposals for a subscription, in which he promised that in one month the particulars of his project should be disclosed. In the meantime he declared that every person paying two guineas should be entitled to a subscription for one hundred pounds, which would produce that sum yearly. In one forenoon this adventurer received a thousand of these subscriptions; and in the evening set out for another kingdom. The king, before his departure, had issued a proclamation against these unlawful projects; the lords-justices afterwards dismissed all the petitions that had been presented for charters and patents; and the prince of Wales renounced the company of which he had been elected governor. The South-Sea scheme raised such a flood of eager avidity and extravagant hope, that the majority of the directors were swept along with it, even contrary to their own sense and inclination; but Blunt and his accomplices still directed the stream.

The infatuation prevailed till the eighth day of September, when the stock began to fall. Then did some of the adventurers awake from their delirium. The number of the sellers daily increased. On the twenty-ninth day of the month the stock had sunk to one hundred and fifty; several eminent goldsmiths and bankers, who had lent great sums upon it, were obliged to stop payment and abscond. The ebb of this portentous tide was so violent, that it bore down everything in its way; and an infinite number of families were overwhelmed with ruin. Public credit sustained a terrible shock; the nation was thrown into a dangerous ferment; and nothing was heard but the ravings of grief, disappointment, and despair. Some principal members of the ministry were deeply concerned in these fradulent transactions; when they saw the price of stock sinking daily, they employed all their influence with the bank to support the credit of the South-Sea company. That corporation agreed, though with reluctance, to subscribe into the stock of the South-Sea company, valued at four hundred per cent., three millions five hundred thousand pounds, which the company was to repay to the bank on Lady-day and Michaelmas of the ensuing year. This transaction was managed by Mr. Robert Walpole, who, with his own hand, wrote the minute of agreement, afterwards known by the name of the bank contract. Books were opened at the bank to take in a subscription for the support of public credit; and considerable sums of money were brought in. By this expedient the stock was raised at first, and those who contrived it seized the opportunity to realize. But the bankruptcy of goldsmiths and the sword-blade company, from the fall of South-Sea stock, occasioned such a run upon the bank, that the money was paid away faster than it could be received from the subscription. Then the South-Sea stock sunk again; and the directors of the bank, finding themselves in danger of being involved in that company’s ruin, renounced the agreement; which indeed they were under no obligation to perform, for it was drawn up in such a manner as to be no more than the rough draft of a subsequent agreement, without due form, penalty, or clause of obligation. All expedients having failed, and the clamours of the people daily increasing, expresses were despatched to Hanover, representing the state of the nation, and pressing the king to return. He accordingly shortened his intended stay in Germany, and arrived in England on the eleventh day of November.

A SECRET COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The parliament being assembled on the eighth day of December, his majesty expressed his concern for the unhappy turn of affairs, which had so deeply affected the public credit at home: he earnestly desired the commons to consider of the most effectual and speedy methods to restore the national credit, and fix it upon a lasting establishment. The lower house was too much interested in the calamity to postpone the consideration of that subject. The members seemed to lay aside all party distinctions, and vie with each other in promoting an inquiry, by which justice might be done to the injured nation. They ordered the directors to produce an account of all their proceedings. Sir Joseph Jekyll moved that a select committee might be appointed to examine the particulars of this transaction. Mr. Walpole, now paymaster of the forces, observed, that such a method would protract the inquiry, while the public credit lay in a bleeding condition. He told the house he had formed a scheme for restoring public credit; but, before he would communicate this plan, desired to know whether the subscriptions of public debts and incumbrances, money-subscriptions and other contracts made with the South-Sea company, should remain in the present state. After a warm debate, the question was carried in the affirmative, with this addition, “Unless altered for the ease and relief of the proprietors, by a general court of the South-Sea company, or set aside in due course of law.” Next day Walpole produced his scheme,--to ingraft nine millions of South-Sea stock into the bank of England, and the like sum into the East India company, on certain conditions. The house voted, that proposals should be received from the bank, and those two companies on this subject. These being delivered the commons resolved, that an engrossment of nine millions of the capital stock of the South-Sea company into the capital stock of the bank and East-India company, as proposed by these companies, would contribute very much to the restoring public credit. A bill upon this resolution was brought in, passed through both houses, and received the royal assent. Another bill was enacted into a law, for restraining the sub-governor, deputy-governor, directors, treasurer, under-treasurer, cashier, secretary, and accountants, of the South-Sea company, from quitting the kingdom till the end of the next session of parliament; and for discovering their estates and effects, so as to prevent them from being transported or alienated. A committee of secrecy was chosen by ballot, to examine all the books, papers, and proceedings relating to the execution of the South-Sea act.

The lords were not less eager than the commons to prosecute this inquiry, though divers members in both houses were deeply involved in the guilt and infamy of the transaction. Earl Stanhope said the estates of the criminals, whether directors or not directors, ought to be confiscated, to repair the public losses. He was seconded by lord Carteret, and even by the earl of Sunderland. The duke of Wharton declared he would give up the best friend he had should he be found guilty. He observed, that the nation had been plundered in a most flagrant and notorious manner; therefore, they ought to find out and punish the offenders severely, without respect to persons. The sub and deputy-governors, the directors and officers of the South-Sea company, were examined at the bar of the house. Then a bill was brought in, disabling them to enjoy any office in that company, or in the East-India company, or in the bank of England. Three brokers were likewise examined, and made great discoveries. Knight, the treasurer of the South-Sea company, who had been entrusted with the secrets of the whole affair, thought proper to withdraw himself from the kingdom. A proclamation was issued to apprehend him; and another for preventing any of the directors from escaping out of the kingdom. At this period, the secret committee informed the house of commons that they had already discovered a train of the deepest villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation, which in due time they would lay before the house; in the meanwhile, they thought it highly necessary to secure the persons of some of the directors and principal officers of the South-Sea company, as well as to seize their papers. An order was made to secure the books and papers of Knight, Surman, and Turner. The persons of sir George Caswell, sir John Blunt, sir John Lambert, sir John Fellows, and Mr. Grigsby, were taken into custody; sir Theodore Janssen, Mr. Sawbridge, sir Robert Chaplain, and Mr. Eyles, were expelled the house and apprehended. Mr. Aislaby resigned his employments of chancellor of the exchequer and lord of the treasury; and orders were given to remove all directors of the South-Sea company from the places they possessed under the government.

The lords, in the course of their examination, discovered that large portions of South-Sea stock had been given to several persons in the administration and house of commons, for promoting the passing of the South-Sea act. The house immediately resolved, that this practice was a notorious and most dangerous species of corruption: that the directors of the South-Sea company having ordered great quantities of their stock to be bought for the service of the company, when it was at a very high price, and on pretence of keeping up the price of stock; and at the same time several of the directors, and other officers belonging to the company, having, in a clandestine manner, sold their own stock to the company, such directors and officers were guilty of a notorious fraud and breach of trust, and their so doing was one great cause of the unhappy turn of affairs that had so much affected public credit. Many other resolutions were taken against that infamous confederacy, in which, however, the innocent were confounded with the guilty. Sir John Blunt refusing to answer certain interrogations, a violent debate arose about the manner in which he should be treated. The duke of Wharton observed, that the government of the best princes was sometimes rendered intolerable to their subjects by bad ministers: he mentioned the example of Sejanus, who had made a division in the imperial family, and rendered the reign of Cladius hateful to the Romans. Earl Stanhope conceiving this reflection was aimed at him, was seized with a transport of anger. He undertook to vindicate the ministry; and spoke with such vehemence as produced a violent headache, which obliged him to retire. He underwent proper evacuations, and seemed to recover; but next day, in the evening, became lethargic, and being seized with a suffocation, instantly expired. The king deeply regretted the death of this favourite minister, which was the more unfortunate as it happened at such a critical conjuncture; and he appointed lord Town-shend to fill his place of secretary. Earl Stanhope was survived but a few days by the other secretary Mr. Craggs, who died of the small-pox on the sixteenth day of February. Knight, the cashier of the South-Sea company, being seized at Tirlemont by the vigilance of Mr. Gandot, secretary to Mr. Loathes the British resident at Brussels, was confined in the citadel of Antwerp. Application was made to the court of Vienna, that he should be delivered to such persons as might be appointed to receive him; but he had found means to interest the states of Brabant in his behalf. They insisted upon their privilege granted by charter, that no person apprehended for any crime in Brabant should be tried in any other country. The house of commons expressed their indignation at this frivolous pretence; instances were renewed to the emperor; and in the meantime Knight escaped from the citadel of Antwerp.

SEVERE RESOLUTIONS AGAINST THE SOUTH-SEA COMPANY.

The committee of secrecy found, that, before any subscription could be made, a fictitious stock of five hundred and seventy-four thousand pounds had been disposed of by the directors, to facilitate the passing the bill. Great part of this was distributed among the earl of Sunderland, Mr. Craggs, senior, the duchess of Kendal, the countess of Platen and her two nieces, Mr. Secretary Craggs, and Mr. Aislaby chancellor of the exchequer. In consequence of the committee’s report, the house came to several severe, though just, resolutions against the directors and officers of the South-Sea company; and a bill was prepared for the relief of the unhappy sufferers. Mr. Stanhope, one of the secretaries of the treasury, charged in the report with having large quantities of stock and subscriptions, desired that he might have an opportunity to clear himself. His request was granted; and the affair being discussed, he was cleared by a majority of three voices. Fifty thousand pounds in stock had been taken by Knight for the use of the earl of Sunderland. Great part of the house entered eagerly into this inquiry; and a violent dispute ensued. The whole strength of the ministry was mustered in his defence. The majority declared him innocent: the nation in general was of another opinion. He resigned his place of first commissioner in the treasury, which was bestowed upon Mr. Robert Walpole; but he still retained the confidence of his master. With respect to Mr. Aislaby, the evidence appeared so strong against him, that the commons resolved, he had promoted the distinctive execution of the South-Sea scheme, with a view to his own exorbitant profit, and combined with the directors in their pernicious practices to the ruin of public credit. He was expelled the house, and committed to the Tower. Mr. Craggs, senior, died of a lethargy, before he underwent the censure of the house. Nevertheless they resolved that he was a notorious accomplice with Robert Knight, and some of the directors, in carrying on their scandalous practices; and therefore, that all the estate of which he was possessed, from the first day of December in the preceding year, should be applied towards the relief of the unhappy sufferers in the South-Sea company. The directors, in obedience to the orders of the house, delivered in inventories of their estates, which were confiscated by act of parliament, towards making good the damages sustained by the company, after a certain allowance was deducted for each according to his conduct and circumstances.

{1721}

The delinquents being thus punished by the forfeiture of their fortunes, the house converted their attention to means for repairing the mischiefs which the scheme had produced. This was a very difficult task, on account of the contending interests of those engaged in the South-Sea company, which rendered it impossible to relieve some but at the expense of others. Several wholesome resolutions were taken, and presented with an address to the king, explaining the motives of their proceedings. On the twenty-ninth day of July, the parliament was prorogued for two days only. Then his majesty going to the house of peers, declared that he had called them together again so suddenly, that they might resume the consideration of the state of public credit. The commons immediately prepared a bill upon the resolutions they had taken. The whole capital stock, at the end of the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty, amounted to about thirty-seven millions eight hundred thousand pounds. The stock allotted to all the proprietors did not exceed twenty-four millions five hundred thousand pounds; the remaining capital stock belonged to the company in their corporate capacity. It was the profit arising from the execution of the South-Sea scheme; and out of this the bill enacted, that seven millions should be paid to the public. The present act likewise directed several additions to be made to the stock of the proprietors, out of that possessed by the company in their own right; it made a particular distribution of stock, amounting to two millions two hun dred thousand pounds; and upon remitting five millions of the seven to be paid to the public, annihilated two millions of their capital. It was enacted, that, after these distributions, the remaining capital stock should be divided among all the proprietors. This dividend amounted to thirty-three pounds six shillings and eight-pence per cent, and deprived the company of eight millions nine hundred thousand pounds. They had lent above eleven millions on stock unredeemed; of which the parliament discharged all the debtors, upon their paying ten per cent. Upon this article the company’s loss exceeded six millions nine hundred thousand pounds, for many debtors refused to make any payment. The proprietors of the stock loudly complained of their being deprived of two millions; and the parliament in the sequel revived that sum which had been annihilated. While this affair was in agitation, petitions from counties, cities, and boroughs, in all parts of the kingdom, were presented to the house, crying for justice against the villany of the directors. Pamphlets and papers were daily published on the same subject; so that the whole nation was exasperated to the highest pitch of resentment. Nevertheless, by the wise and vigorous resolutions of the parliament, the South-Sea company was soon in a condition to fulfil their engagements with the public; the ferment of the people subsided; and the credit of the nation was restored.

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