The fact that George I exclusively favored the Whigs exasperated the
opposite, or Tory, party. The Jacobites or extreme members of that
party (S495), in Scotland, with the secret aid of many in England, now
rose, in the hope of placing on the throne James Edward Stuart, the
son of James II. He was called the "Chevalier"[1] by his friends, but
the "Pretender" by his enemies (SS490, 491, 512). The insurrection
was led by John, Earl of Mar, who, from his frequent change of
politics, had got the nickname of "Bobbing John." Mar encountered the
royal forces at Sheriffmuir, in Perthsire, Scotland (1715), where an
indecisive battle was fought, which the old ballad thus describes:
"There's some say that we won, and some say that they won,
And some say that none won at a', man;
But one thing is sure, that at Sheriffmuir
A battle there was, which I saw, man."
[1] The Chevalier de St. George: After the birth of the "Chevalier's"
son Charles in 1720, the father was known by the nickname of the "Old
Pretender," and the son as the "Young Pretender." So far as birth
could entitle them to the crown, they held the legal right of
succession; but the Revolution of 1688 and the Act of Settlement
barred them out (S497).
On the same day of the fight at Sheriffmuir, the English Jacobites
(S495), with a body of Scotch allies, marched into Preston,
Lancashire, and there surrendered, almost without striking a blow.
The leaders of the movement, except the Earl of Mar, who, with one or
two others, escaped to the Continent, were beheaded or hanged, and
about a thousand of the rank and file were sold as slaves to the West
India and Virginia plantations (S487). The "Pretender" himself landed
in Scotland a few weeks after the defeat of his friends; but finding
no encouragement, he hurried back to the Continent again. Thus ended
the rebellion known from the year of its outbreak (1715) as "The
Fifteen."
One result of this was the passage of the septennial Act (1716),
extending the duration of Parliament from three years, which was the
longest time that body could sit (SS439, 517), to seven years (since
reduced to five years).[2] The object of this change was to do away
with the excitement and tendency to rebellion at that time, resulting
from frequent elections, in which party feeling ran to dangerous
extremes.
[2] The Triennial Act (SS439, 517) provided that at the end of three
years Parliament must be dissolved and a new election held. This was
to prevent the sovereign from keeping that body in power indefinitely,
contrary, perhaps, to the political feeling of the country, which
might prefer a different set of representatives. Under the Septennial
Act the time was extended four years, making seven in all, but the
sovereign may, of course, dissolve Parliament at any time. In 1911
the Parliament Act (S631) limited the duration of Parliament to five
years.