+----------------------------------------------+
| Note: |
| |
| _ around word indicated italics _concluded_ |
+----------------------------------------------+
CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
CASSELL'S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM THE FALL OF MARLBOROUGH
TO THE PENINSULAR WAR
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS,
INCLUDING COLOURED
AND REMBRANDT PLATES
VOL IV
_THE KING'S EDITION_
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED
LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
MCMIX
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE (_concluded_). PAGE
Meeting of Parliament--Eugene's Visit to England--Ministerial
Attacks on the Dutch--Meeting of the Negotiators at Utrecht--The
Question of the Spanish Throne--Sham Fighting against the
French--Debates on the Peace in Parliament--Withdrawal of the
English Troops--Consequent Triumph of the French--Bolingbroke's
Visit to Paris--Break-up of the Grand Alliance--More Negotiations
with the Pretender--Death of Godolphin--Marlborough retires
to the Continent--Signature of the Peace--The Treaty of
Commerce--Its Rejection by the Commons--The Whereabouts
of the Pretender--Dissolution of Parliament--The General
Election--Intrigues with St. Germains--Bolingbroke's Activity--His
Friends in Office--The Empire and Spain make Peace--The Pretender
declines Overtures to Change his Religion--Illness of the
Queen--Tax on Newspapers--Attack upon the "Public Spirit of the
Whigs"--Steele expelled the House--Proposals against the Pretender
and for bringing over the Electoral Prince--Counter-scheme for
bringing over the Pretender--Obstacles to the Scheme--The Queen's
Letter to the Elector--Death of the Electress Sophia--The Schism
Bill--Its Progress through the Houses--Reward for the Apprehension
of the Pretender--Fall of Oxford--Bolingbroke's Jacobite
Cabinet--Illness of the Queen--The Whig _Coup d'État_--Ruin and
Desperation of the Jacobites--Death of Anne--Proclamation of George
I. 1
CHAPTER II.
THE REIGN OF GEORGE I.
Peaceful Accession of George I.--His Arrival--Triumph of the
Whigs--Dissolution and General Election--The Address--Determination
to impeach the late Ministers--Flight of Bolingbroke and
Ormonde--Impeachment of Oxford--The Riot Act--The Rebellion
of 1715--Policy of the Regent Orleans--Surrender of the
Pretender's Ships--The Adventures of Ormonde and Mar--The
Highlands declare for the Pretender--Mar and Argyll--Advance
of Mackintosh's Detachment--Its Surrender at Preston--Battle
of Sheriffmuir--Arrival of the Pretender--Mutual
Disappointment--Advance of Argyll--Flight of the Pretender to
France--Punishment of the Rebels--Impeachment of the Rebel
Lords--The Septennial Act--The King goes to Hanover--Impossibility
of Reconstructing the Grand Alliance--Negotiations with
France--Danger of Hanover from Charles XII.--And from Russia--Alarm
from Townshend--Termination of the Dispute--Fresh Differences
between Stanhope and Townshend--Dismissal of the Latter--The
Triple Alliance--Project for the Invasion of Scotland--Detection
of the Plot--Dismissal of Townshend and Walpole--They go into
Opposition--Walpole's Financial Scheme--Attack on Cadogan--Trial of
Oxford--Cardinal Alberoni--Outbreak of Hostilities between Austria
and Spain--Occupation of Sardinia--Alberoni's Diplomacy--The
Quadruple Alliance--Byng in the Mediterranean--Alberoni deserted by
Savoy--Death of Charles XII.--Declaration of War with Spain--Repeal
of the Schism Act--Rejection of the Peerage Bill--Attempted
Invasion of Britain--Dismissal of Alberoni--Spain makes
Peace--Pacification of Northern Europe--Final Rejection of the
Peerage Bill--The South Sea Company--The South Sea Bill--Opposition
of Walpole--Rise of South Sea Stock--Rival Companies--Death
of Stanhope--Punishment of Ministry and Directors--Supremacy
of Walpole--Atterbury's Plot--His Banishment and the Return
of Bolingbroke--Rejection of Bolingbroke's Services--A Palace
Intrigue--Fall of Carteret--Wood's Halfpence--Disturbances in
Scotland--Punishment of the Lord Chancellor Macclesfield--The
Patriot Party--Complications Abroad--Treaty of Vienna--Treaty
of Hanover--Activity of the Jacobites--Falls of Ripperda and of
Bourbon--English Preparations--Folly of the Emperor--Attack on
Gibraltar--Preliminaries of Peace--Intrigues against Walpole--Death
of George I. 24
CHAPTER III.
THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.
Accession of George II.--Characters of the King and Queen--Adroit
Tactics of Walpole--Rise and Fall of Compton--Attitude of
the Opposition--Congress of Soissons--Causes of Dispute
with Spain--Stanhope's successful Negotiations with King
Philip--Retirement of Townshend--Walpole Supreme--Peace
Abroad and at Home--Walpole's System of Wholesale Bribery
and Corruption--The Public Prisons--Duel between Pulteney
and Lord Hervey--The Excise Scheme--Great Outcry--Withdrawal
of the Bill--Walpole's Vengeance--Attack on the Septennial
Act--Wyndham's Speech--Depression of the Opposition--Definitive
Peace of Vienna--Gin Act--The Porteous Riots--The Prince of
Wales and the Opposition--Application for an Increase of his
Allowance--Birth of George III.--Death of Queen Caroline--Attempt
to Reduce the Army--Disputes with Spain--"Jenkins' Ear"--Walpole's
Negotiations--Secession of the Opposition--Further
Difficulties with Spain--Declaration of War--Privateers and
Reprisals--Vernon's Victory--Frederick invades Silesia--Assistance
of England--Parliament meets--Sandys' Motion--Walpole's
Defence--Disasters of Maria Theresa--She throws herself on the
Magyars--Misfortunes of the English Fleets--Vernon repulsed from
Carthagena--Power slips from the Hands of Walpole--His last
Battles--The Chippenham Election Petition--His Fall 57
CHAPTER IV.
REIGN OF GEORGE II. (_continued_).
Effects of Walpole's Administration--Formation of the new
Ministry--Attitude of the Malcontents--Committee of Inquiry into
Walpole's Administration--Walpole's Protectors--Ministerial
Measures--Prorogation of Parliament--Disasters of the
French--British Diversion in the Netherlands--Opening of
Parliament--The German Mercenaries--Amendment of the Gin
Act--George goes to Germany--Stair and De Noailles in
Franconia--Stair in a Trap--Bold Resolution of King George--The
Battle of Dettingen--Resignation of Stair--Retreat of the
French--Negotiations for Peace--Treaty of Worms--Pelham becomes
Prime Minister--The Attacks of Pitt on Carteret--Attempted
Invasion of England--Its Failure--Progress of the French
Arms--Frederick II. invades Bohemia--His Retirement--Resignation
of Carteret--Pelham strengthens his Ministry--Death of the
Emperor--Campaign in Flanders--Battle of Fontenoy--Campaign of
Frederick II.--The Young Pretender's Preparations--Loss of the
_Elizabeth_--Landing in the Hebrides--The Highland Clans join
him--The first Brush--Raising of the Standard--Cope's Mistake--He
turns aside at Dalwhinnie--Charles makes a Dash for Edinburgh--The
March to Stirling--Flight of the Dragoons--The "Canter of
Coltbridge"--Edinburgh surprised by the Highlanders--Charles
marching against Cope--Battle of Prestonpans--Delay in marching
South--Discontent of the Highland Chiefs--The Start--Preparations
in England--Apathy of the Aristocracy--Arrival of the Duke of
Cumberland--Charles crosses the Border--Capture of Carlisle--The
March to Derby--Resolution to retreat--"Black Friday"--The
Retreat--Recapture of Carlisle--Siege of Stirling--Battle of
Falkirk--Retreat to the Highlands--Cumberland's Pursuit--Gradual
Collapse of the Highlanders--Battle of Culloden--Termination of the
Rebellion--Cruelty of the Duke of Cumberland--Adventures of the
Young Pretender--Trials and Executions--Ministerial Crisis 79
CHAPTER V.
REIGN OF GEORGE II. (_concluded_).
Progress of the War on the Continent--Lethargic Condition of
Politics--Battle of Laufeldt--Capture of Bergen-op-Zoom--Disasters
of the French on the Sea and in Italy--Negotiations for
Peace--Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle--Conditions of Peace--Peace
at Home--Commercial Treaty with Spain--Death of the Prince
of Wales--Popular feeling against the Bill for Naturalising
the Jews--Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act--Foundation
of the British Museum--Death of Pelham--Newcastle's
Difficulties--Failure of Robinson--Approaching Danger from
America--A State of Undeclared War--The Battles of Boscawen
and Braddock--George's Anxiety for Hanover--Subsidiary
Treaties against Prussia--Pitt's Opposition--Debate in the
House of Commons--Danger of England--French Expedition against
Minorca--The Failure of Byng--Newcastle resigns--Attempts
to form a Ministry--Devonshire succeeds--Weakness of
the Ministry--Coalition against Prussia--Alliance with
England--Commencement of the Seven Years' War--Frederick
conquers Saxony--Gloominess of Affairs--Court-Martial on Byng,
and his Death--Dismissal of Pitt--The Pitt and Newcastle
Coalition--Failure of the Attack on Rochefort and of that on
Louisburg--Convention of Closter-Seven--Frederick's Campaign;
Kolin, Rossbach, and Lissa--Successes elsewhere--Wolfe and
Clive--Battle of Plassey--Capture of Louisburg--Ticonderoga
and Fort Duquesne--Attacks on St. Malo and Cherbourg--Victory
of Crefeld--Frederick's Campaign--Commencement of 1759;
Blockade of the French Coast--Pitt's Plans for the Conquest
of Canada--Amherst's and Prideaux's Columns--Wolfe before
Quebec--Position of the City--Wolfe fails to draw Montcalm from his
Position--Apparent Hopelessness of the Expedition--Wolfe scales
the Heights of Abraham--The Battle--Successes in India--Battle
of Quibéron--Frederick's Fortunes--Campaign of Ferdinand of
Brunswick--Battle of Minden--Glorious Termination of the
Year--French Descent on Carrickfergus--Attempt of the French to
Recover Quebec--Their Expulsion from North America--Frederick's
Fourth Campaign--Successes of Ferdinand of Brunswick--Death of
George II. 111
CHAPTER VI.
PROGRESS OF THE NATION FROM THE REVOLUTION TO 1760.
The Church after the Revolution--The Non-Jurors--The Act of
Toleration--Comprehension Bill--Laxity of Religion--The Wesleys
and Whitefield--Foundation of Methodism--Extension of the
Movement--Literature--Survivors of the Stuart Period--Prose
Writers: Bishop Burnet--Philosophers: Locke--Bishop
Berkeley, etc.--Novelists: Fielding, Richardson, Smollett,
and Sterne--Dr. Davenant--Bentley--Swift--Addison--Addison
and Steele--Bolingbroke--Daniel Defoe--Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu--Poets: Pope--His Prose Writings--Gay,
Prior, Young, etc.--James Thomson, Allan Ramsay,
Gray, and Minor Lights--Dramatists--Physical Science:
Astronomers--Mathematicians--Electricians--Chemists--Medical
Discoverers--Music: Purcell--Italian Music--Handel--Church
Music--The Academy of Ancient Music and other
Societies--Architecture--Wren and his Buildings--St. Paul's--His
Churches and Palaces--Vanbrugh--Gibbs--Hawksmoor--Minor
Architects--Painting and Sculpture: Lely and Kneller--Other Foreign
Painters and Decorators--Thornhill--Other English Artists--Hogarth
and his Works--Exhibition of British Artists--Sculptors--Shipping,
Colonies, Commerce, and Manufactures--Increase of Canals--Woollen
and Silk Trades--Irish Linens--Lace--Iron, Copper, and other
Industries--Increase of the large Towns 141
CHAPTER VII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
Accession of George III.--His Conduct--Ascendency of Bute--Meeting
of Parliament--Enthusiastic Reception of the King's Speech--Bute's
Cabals--Hostility to Pitt--Ministerial Changes--Marriage of the
King--Queen Charlotte--Misfortunes of Frederick--Ferdinand of
Brunswick's Campaign--Defeat of the French in the East and West
Indies--Negotiations for Peace--Pitt's large Demands--Obstinacy of
Choiseul--The Family Compact suspected--Resignation of Pitt--Bute's
Ministry--War with Spain--Abandonment of Frederick--Policy of
the new Czar--Resignation of Newcastle--Bute at the Head of the
Treasury--Successes in the West Indies--Capture of Manila--Bute's
Eagerness for Peace--The Terms--Bute's Unpopularity--Close of
the Seven Years' War--Successes of Clive--Defeat of the Dutch in
India--Final Overthrow of the French in India--Fate of the Count
de Lally--Bute and the Princess of Wales--The Cider Tax--Bute's
Vengeance--His Resignation--George Grenville in Office--No. 45 of
the _North Briton_--Arrest of Wilkes--His Acquittal--Vengeance
against him--The King negotiates with Pitt--Wilkes's Affairs in
Parliament--The Wilkes Riots--The Question of Privilege--The
Illegality of General Warrants declared--Wilkes expelled the
House--Debates on General Warrants--Rejoicing in the City of London
168
CHAPTER VIII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
The American Colonies and their Trade--Growing Irritation in
America--The Stamp Act--The American Protest--The Stamp Act
passed--Its Reception in America--The King's Illness--The
Regency Bill--The Princess Dowager omitted--Her Name inserted
in the Commons--Negotiations for a Change of Ministry--The
old Ministry returns--Fresh Negotiations with Pitt--The first
Rockingham Ministry--Riots in America--The Stamped Paper
destroyed--Pitt's Speech--The Stamp Act repealed--Weakness
of the Government--Pitt and Temple disagree--Pitt forms
a Ministry--And becomes Lord Chatham--His Comprehensive
Policy--The Embargo on Wheat--Illness of Chatham--Townshend's
Financial Schemes--Corruption of Parliament--Wilkes elected for
Middlesex--Arrest of Wilkes--Dangerous Riots--Dissolution of
the Boston Assembly--Seizure of the _Liberty_ Sloop--Debates in
Parliament--Continued Persecution of Wilkes--His Letter to Lord
Weymouth--Again expelled the House--His Re-election--The Letters
of Junius--Luttrell declared elected for Middlesex--Incapacity of
the Ministry--Partial Concessions to the Americans--Bernard leaves
Boston--He is made a Baronet--"The Horned Cattle Session"--Lord
Chatham attacks the Ministry--Resignations of Granby and
Camden--Yorke's Suicide--Dissolution of the Ministry 183
CHAPTER IX.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Lord North--He forms a Ministry--Chatham declaims against
Secret Influence--Grenville's Election Committee--Lord North's
Conciliatory Measures--Determination of the Bostonians--The
Boston Massacre--Trial of the Soldiers--Apparent Success of
North's Measures--Affair of the Falkland Islands--Promptitude
of the Ministry--The Quarrel composed--Trials of Woodfall and
Almon--The Right of Parliamentary Reporting--Strengthening of the
Ministry--Quarrels in the City--The Royal Marriage Act--Fate of
the Queen of Denmark--Anarchical Condition of Poland--Interference
of Russia--Deposition of Poniatowski--Frederick's Scheme of
Partition--It is ratified--Inquiry into Indian Affairs--Lord
North's Tea Bill--Lord Dartmouth and Hutchinson--The Hutchinson
Letters--Dishonourable Conduct of Franklin--Establishment of
Corresponding Committees--Burning of the _Gaspee_--Destruction
of the Tea--Franklin avows the Publication of the
Letters--Wedderburn's Speech--The Boston Port Bill--The
Massachusetts Government Bill--The Coils of Coercion--Virginia
joins Massachusetts--Gage dissolves the Boston Assembly--He
fortifies Boston Neck--The General Congress--A Declaration of
Rights--The Assembly at Concord--They enrol Militia--Seizure of
Ammunition and Arms--Meeting of Parliament--Chatham's conciliatory
Speech--His Bill for the Pacification of the Colonies--Its
Fate--Lord North's Proposal--Burke's Resolutions--Prorogation of
Parliament--Beginning of the War 199
CHAPTER X.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Gage attempts to seize American Arms--Skirmish at
Lexington--Blockade of Boston--The Second Congress at
Philadelphia--Washington chosen Commander-in-Chief--Fall of
Ticonderoga and Crown Point--Washington at Boston--Battle
of Bunker's Hill--The Olive Branch Petition--Condition
of the American Army--Expedition against Canada--Capture
of Montreal--Arnold's Expedition--His Junction with
Montgomery--Failure of the Attack on Quebec--The Employment
of German Mercenaries--Washington seizes Dorchester
Heights--Evacuation of Boston--Howe retires to Halifax--The War
in Canada--Thomas's Retreat--Sullivan evacuates Canada--The War
in the South--Attack on Charleston--Paine's Pamphlet, "Common
Sense"--New York and Virginia decide for Independence--Debate in
Congress--Report of the Committee--Arbitrary Proceedings--The
Declaration--Overtures to France--Arrival of Lord Howe--Position
of Washington--Howe's Overtures--Battle of Brooklyn--Washington's
Retreat--His Desperate Position--Howe receives a Deputation
from Congress--Washington retires Step by Step--Cornwallis's
Pursuit--Close of the Campaign--The Articles of Confederation
published by Congress--Fresh Overtures to France--Parliament
votes large Sums of Money--John the Painter--Chatham
demands a Cessation of Hostilities--Washington's Change
of Tactics--Surprise of Trenton--Washington outmanœuvres
Cornwallis--He recovers New Jersey--Difficulties of Congress--Howe
advances against Washington--Alteration of Howe's Plans--Battle
of the Brandywine--Howe crosses the Schuylkill--Cornwallis
enters Philadelphia--Battle of Germantown--Washington at
Valley Forge--Burgoyne's Plan of Campaign--His Advance--St.
Clair's Defeat--Burgoyne on the Hudson--The Beginning of his
Misfortunes--Battle of Bemus's Heights--Burgoyne's Message to
Clinton--He is surrounded--He attempts to cut his Way through--The
Surrender of Saratoga--Clinton's Failure to relieve Burgoyne--Close
of the Campaign 217
CHAPTER XI.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Meeting of Parliament--Lord Chatham's Amendment to the Address--The
News of Saratoga--Treaty between France and America--Washington
in Valley Forge--Intrigues against him--Violation of Burgoyne's
Convention--Debates in Parliament--Attempt to bring Chatham
into the Ministry--Lord North's Conciliation Bills--The French
Note--Patriotism of the Nation--The King refuses to send for
Chatham--His last Speech and Death--Honours to his Memory--Burke's
Measure of Irish Relief--Repeal of Laws against Roman
Catholics--Explosion of Scottish Bigotry--Turgot's Warnings--Naval
Engagement off Ushant--Failure of Lafayette's Canadian
Expedition--Clinton compelled to evacuate Philadelphia--Failure
of Lord North's Commissioners--D'Estaing and Sullivan attempt to
take Rhode Island--Subsequent Proceedings of D'Estaing--Courts
martial of Keppel and Palliser--The Irish Volunteers--Spain
declares War--Military Preparations--Junction of the French
and Spanish Fleets--They retire from the Channel--D'Estaing
in the West Indies--His Attempt on Savannah--Weakness of Lord
North's Ministry--Meeting of Parliament--Lord North's Irish
Bill--Richmond, Shelburne, and Burke attempt Economic Reforms--The
Meeting at York petitions for Reform of Parliament--Burke's
Economic Scheme--North's Manœuvre--Further Attempts at Reform--The
Westminster Meeting--Dunning's Motion--Defeat of his later
Resolutions--"No Popery" in Scotland--Lord George Gordon's
Agitation--The Riots and their Progress--Their Suppression--Trial
of the Prisoners--Rodney relieves Gibraltar--Destruction of English
Merchantmen--Disputes with Holland--The Armed Neutrality of the
North--Capture of Charleston--Declaration of South Carolina--Battle
of Camden--Expedition into North Carolina--Arrival of the French
Squadron--Rodney in the West Indies--Arnold's Treachery--Trial
and Death of André--Breach with Holland--Attacks on Jersey and
Gibraltar--Mutiny in the Army of Washington--Arnold's Raids
in Virginia--Cornwallis in North Canada--His Engagements with
Greene--His March into Virginia--Rawdon and Greene--Battle of
Eutaw Springs--Siege of York Town--The American Armies close round
him--Cornwallis compelled to Surrender 246
CHAPTER XII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Rodney takes St. Eustatia--Destruction of Dutch Commerce--Loss
of Minorca--Naval Actions--Meeting of Parliament--Vehemence
of the Opposition--Losses in the West Indies--Breaking up of
the Ministry--Their Defeat on Conway's Motion--Lord North's
Resignation--Shelburne refuses the Premiership--New Whig
Government--Agitation in Ireland--Grattan's Motion for Legislative
Independence--The Volunteer Meeting at Dungannon--Grattan's Motion
carried--Demands of the Irish Parliament conceded--Flood's
Agitation--Economic Reforms--Pitt's Motion for Parliamentary
Reform--Unsuccessful Negotiations for Peace--Rodney's Victory
over De Grasse--Lord Howe's Exploits--The Siege and Relief of
Gibraltar--Negotiations for Peace--Folly of Oswald and Duplicity
of Shelburne--The Negotiations continued--Franklin throws over
Vergennes--Conclusion of a Secret Treaty between England and
America--Fate of the American Royalists--Announcement of the
Peace in Parliament--Terms of Peace with France, Spain, and
Holland--Opposition to the Peace--Coalition of Fox and North--Fall
of Shelburne--Pitt's Attempt to form a Ministry--The Coalition
in Office--Reform and the Prince of Wales--Fox's India Bill--Its
Introduction--Progress of the Measure--The King's Letter to
Temple--Reception of the News in the Commons--Dismissal of the
Ministry--Pitt forms a Cabinet--Factious Opposition of Fox--Pitt's
India Bill--He refuses to divulge his Intentions--The Tide
begins to Turn--Attempt at a Coalition--Increasing Popularity of
Pitt--Fox's Resolution--The Dissolution--"Fox's Martyrs" 284
CHAPTER XIII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Victory of Pitt--The King's delight--Pitt's Finance--The India
Bill--Pitt's Budget--The Westminster Election--The Scrutiny--Fox
is returned--The Volunteers in Ireland--Flood's Reform Bill--Riots
in Ireland--Pitt's Commercial Policy for Ireland--Opposition
of the English Merchants--Abandonment of the Measure--Pitt's
Reform Bill--His Administrative Reforms--Bill for fortifying
Portsmouth and Plymouth--Pitt's Sinking Fund--Favourable
Reception of the Bill--Pitt's Excise Bill--Commercial Treaty
with France--Impeachment of Warren Hastings--Retrospect of
Indian Affairs: Deposition of Meer Jaffier--Resistance of Meer
Cossim--Massacre of Patna--Battle of Buxar and Capture of
Allahabad--Clive's Return to India--Settlement of Bengal and
Oude--Domestic Reforms--Rise of Hyder Ali--His Treaty with the
English--He is defeated by the Mahrattas--Deposition of the
Rajah of Tanjore--Failure of Lord Pigot to reinstate him--Lord
North's Regulating Bill--Death of Clive--Warren Hastings becomes
Governor-General--His dealings with the Famine--Treatment of
Reza Khan and the Nabob of Bengal--Resumption of Allahabad and
Corah--Massacre of the Rohillas--Arrival of the New Members of
Council--Struggle for Supremacy--Robbery of Cheyte Sing--Nuncomar's
Charges--His Trial and Execution--Hastings' Constitutional
Resignation--His Final Victory--Wars against the Mahrattas--Hyder
Ali's Advance--Defeat of Baillie--Energy of Hastings--Victories of
Sir Eyre Coote--Capture of Dutch Settlements--Naval Engagements
between the British and French--Death of Hyder Ali--Tippoo
continues the War--He invokes Peace--Hastings' Extortions
from Cheyte Sing--Hastings' visit to Benares--Rising of the
People--Rescue of Hastings and Deposition of Cheyte Sing--Extortion
from the Begums of Oude--Parliamentary Inquiries--Hastings'
Reception in England--Burke's Motion of Impeachment--Pitt's
Change of Front--The Prince of Wales and the Whigs--Inquiry into
his Debts--Alderman Newnham's Motion--Denial of the Marriage
with Mrs. Fitzherbert--Sheridan's Begum Speech--Impeachment of
Hastings--Growth of the Opposition to the Slave Trade--The Question
brought before Parliament--Evidence produced--Sir W. Dolben's
Bill--Trial of Warren Hastings--Speeches of Burke, Fox, and
Sheridan--Illness of the King--Debates on the Regency Bill--The
King's Recovery--Address of the Irish Parliament to the Prince of
Wales 307
CHAPTER XIV.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Unsettled Condition of Europe--Machinations of Russia and
Austria against Turkey--Disasters of the Austrians--Capture
of Oczakoff--Further Designs of Catherine--Intervention
of Pitt--Gustavus of Sweden invades Russia--His temporary
Check--He remodels the Diet and pursues the War--Joseph renews
the War--Disaffection in Hungary--Revolution in the Austrian
Netherlands--Abolition of the _Joyeuse Entrée_--The Emperor
declared to have forfeited the Crown--The Austrian Troops
retired to Luxembourg--Death of Joseph--Outbreak of the French
Revolution--Efforts of Turgot and his Successors to introduce
Reforms--Loménie de Brienne--Recall of Necker--Assembly of the
States General--The Third Estate becomes the National Assembly--The
Meeting in the Tennis Court--Contemplated _Coup d'État_--Project
of a City Guard--Dismissal of Necker--Insurrection in Paris--The
City Guard--Capture of the Bastille--The Noblesse renounce their
Privileges--Bankruptcy and Famine--"_O Richard, O Mon Roi!_"--The
Women and the National Guard march on Versailles--The King brought
to Paris--Effect of the Revolution in England--Different Views
of Burke and Fox--Rejection of Flood's Reform Bill--The Nootka
Sound Affair--Satisfaction obtained from Spain--Motions of Reform
in the Irish Parliament--Convention of Reichenbach--Continuance
of the War between Sweden and Russia--Renewal of the War with
Tippoo Sahib--Debates in Parliament--Discussions on the Eastern
Question--The Canada Bill--It is made the occasion of Speeches
on the French Revolution--Breach between Fox and Burke--Abuse
of Burke by the Whigs--Wilberforce's Notice for immediate
Emancipation--Colonisation of Sierra Leone--Bill for the Relief
of Roman Catholics--Fox's Libel Bill--Burke's "Reflections on the
French Revolution"--Replies of Mackintosh and Paine--Dr. Price--Dr.
Priestley--The Anniversary of the taking of the Bastille--The
Birmingham Riots--Destruction of Priestley's Library--Suppression
of the Riots--Mildness of the Sentences 349
CHAPTER XV.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Progress of the French Revolution--Death of Mirabeau--Attempted
Flight of the King from Paris--Attitude of the Sovereigns
of Europe--The Parties of the Right and of the Left--The
Girondists--Decrees against the Emigrants--Negotiations
between Marie Antoinette and Pitt--Condition of the French
Army--Session of 1792; Debates on Foreign Affairs--Marriage
of the Duke of York--The Prince of Wales's Allowance--The
Budget--The Anti-Slavery Movement--Magistracy Bill--Attempts at
Reform--The Society of the Friends of the People--Proclamation
against Seditious Writings--Fox's Nonconformist Relief
Bill--Prorogation of Parliament--Associations and
Counter-Associations--Lord Cornwallis's War against Tippoo
Sahib--Capture of Seringapatam--Peace with Tippoo--Embassy to
China--Designs of the Powers against Poland--Catherine resolves
to strike--Invasion of Poland--Neutrality of England--Conquest
of Poland--Imminence of War between France and Austria--It is
declared--Failure of the French Troops--The Duke of Brunswick's
Proclamation--Insurrection of the 10th of August--Massacre of the
Swiss--Suspension of the King--Ascendency of Jacobinism--Dumouriez
in the Passes of the Argonne--Battle of Valmy--Retreat of
the Prussians--Occupation of the Netherlands by the French
Troops--Custine in Germany--Occupation of Nice and Savoy--Edict
of Fraternity--Abolition of Royalty--Trial and Death of the
King--Effect of the Deed on the Continent--The Militia called
out in England--Debates in Parliament on War with France--The
Alien Bill--Rupture of Diplomatic Relations with France--War
declared against Britain--Efforts to preserve the Peace--They are
Ineffectual 386
CHAPTER XVI.
THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Invasion of Holland by Dumouriez--He is defeated at Neerwinden
and goes over to the Enemy--Second Partition of Poland--The
Campaign in the Netherlands--And on the Rhine--The English
Fleets in the Channel and West Indies--Siege of Toulon--First
appearance of Napoleon Buonaparte--Fall of Lyons--The Reign of
Terror--Insurrection in La Vendée--Its brutal Suppression--Worship
of the Goddess of Reason--Opposition to the War in
England--Prosecutions for Sedition--Trials in Scotland--Discussions
on the subject in Parliament--Arrests of Horne Tooke, Thelwall,
Hardy, and others--Battle of the First of June--The War in the
West Indies--Annexation of Corsica--The Campaign of 1794--The
Prussian Subsidy--Successes of Pichegru against the Austrians--The
Struggle for the Sambre--Loss of Belgium--Danger of Holland--The
War in the South--The Reign of Terror continues--The Festival of
the Supreme Being--Death of Robespierre and his Associates--The
Thermidorians--Final extinction of Poland--The Portland Whigs
join the Ministry--Trials of Hardy, Horne Tooke, and their
Associates--Opening of Parliament--The Budget--Attempts at
Reform--Marriage of the Prince of Wales--His Allowance--The
French occupy Holland--It becomes a Republic--Prussia and Spain
leave the Coalition, but the War continues--Campaigns on the
Rhine and in Italy--The War in La Vendée and in Brittany--The
Expedition from England planned--Destruction of the Expedition
at Quibéron--Extinction of the War in La Vendée--Establishment
of the Directory--Attack on George the Third--The Budget--Pitt's
first Negotiations for Peace--Failure of Lord Malmesbury's
Mission--Successes in the West Indies and Africa--Expedition to
Bantry Bay--The Campaign of 1796--Retreat of the French--Napoleon's
Italian Campaign--The Battles of Arcole--A new British
Loan--Suspension of Cash Payments--Grievances of the Seamen--Mutiny
at Portsmouth--Its Pacification--Mutiny at the Nore--Descent on the
Welsh Coast--Campaign of 1797--Preliminaries of Leoben--Treaty of
Campo Formio--Lord Malmesbury's Mission to Lille 418
CHAPTER XVII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Sympathy in Ireland for the French Revolution--Intrigues with the
French--Attitude of the Roman Catholics--Failure of Fitzwilliam's
Efforts at Reform--Open Rebellion begins--The Mission of Fitzgerald
and O'Connor to France--Disclosure of the Conspiracy--Arrest of
Fitzgerald and his Confederates--Outbreak of the Rebellion--Battle
of Vinegar Hill--Arrival of Humbert's Expedition--Its brief Success
and Surrender--Suicide of Wolfe Tone--Desire of France to invade
England--Napoleon advises the Expedition to Egypt--He gives Nelson
the slip--His gigantic Projects--Surrender of Malta--Nelson's
Pursuit--Napoleon's Campaign--Battle of the Pyramids--Surrender
of Cairo--Battle of the Nile (or Aboukir Bay)--Pitt's second
Coalition--The Income Tax--Projected Union of Great Britain and
Ireland--Proclamation of the Parthenopean Republic--Italy regained
by the Coalition--Suppression of the Revolution in Naples--The
Allies in Holland--Napoleon's March into Syria--His Defeat at
Acre--Battle of Aboukir--Napoleon returns to France--_Coup
d'État_ of the 18th Brumaire--Death of Tippoo Sahib--Napoleon's
Letter to the King--The Union with Ireland--Means by which it
was carried--Its Reception in England--Napoleon crosses the
Alps--Battle of Marengo--The French recover Lombardy--Battle
of Hohenlinden--Treaty of Lunéville--Corn Riots--Breach
with Russia--Pitt's Resignation--The King's Illness--The
Addington Ministry--Revival of the Armed Neutrality--Battle of
Copenhagen--Peace between Britain and the Northern Powers--The
Expedition to Egypt--Battle of Alexandria--Evacuation of Egypt by
the French--Negotiations for Peace--Treaty of Amiens 460
CHAPTER XVIII.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Napoleon's Plans of Conquest--Sebastiani's Report--Napoleon's
Complaints against the British Press--Espionage and
Confiscation--He continues his Continental Aggressions--Napoleon's
Interview with Lord Whitworth--Imminence of War--Negotiations for
Pitt's Return to Office--War Declared--Napoleon arrests British
Subjects in France--Seizure of Hanover--Emmett's Rebellion--Naval
Attacks on the French Coast--The Mahratta War--Battle of
Assaye--Successes of General Lake--Battle of Laswaree--Battle
of Argaum--Conclusion of the War--Renewed Illness of George
III.--Increasing Opposition of Pitt--He offers to undertake the
Government--He forms a Tory Ministry--Wilberforce's Abolition
Motion--The Additional Force Bill--Scheme for blowing up the
French Fleet--War with Spain--The Georges Conspiracy--Murder
of the Duke D'Enghien--Napoleon becomes Emperor--His
Letter to the British King--The Condition of Europe--Lord
Mulgrave's Reply to the Letter--Ministerial Changes--Weakness
of the Ministry--Attack on Lord Melville--Whitbread's
Motion--Melville's Defence--His Impeachment voted--Secession of
Lord Sidmouth--The European Coalition--Hastened by Napoleon's
Aggressions--Rashness of Austria--Invasion of Bavaria--Napoleon
marches on the Rhine--Capitulation of the Austrian Army at
Ulm--Occupation of Vienna--Battle of Austerlitz--Treaties of
Schönbrunn and Pressburg--The Baltic Expedition--Expedition to
Naples--Naval Affairs--Nelson's Pursuit of Villeneuve--Calder's
Engagement--Battle of Trafalgar--Death of Nelson--Continuation
of the Mahratta War--Lord Lake's Engagements with Holkar--Siege
of Bhurtpore--Defeat of Meer Khan--The Rajah of Bhurtpore makes
Peace--Treaties with Scindiah and Holkar--Death of Pitt--Payment of
his Debts by the Nation 485
CHAPTER XIX.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
The Ministry of "All the Talents"--Fox informs Napoleon of a
supposed Scheme for his Assassination--Futile Negotiations for
Peace--Windham's Army Bills--Resolutions against the Slave Trade
passed--Inquiry into the Conduct of the Princess of Wales--British
Expeditions: Stuart in Calabria--Battle of Maida--Continued
Resistance of the Neapolitans--Recapture of the Cape of Good
Hope--Expedition to Buenos Ayres--Naval Successes: Victories of
Duckworth, Warren, and Hood--Cochrane's Daredevilry--Napoleon's
subject Kingdoms--Prussia makes Complaints--Napoleon prepares
for War--Murder of Palm--Isolation of Prussia--Imbecility of
their Plan of Campaign--Battle of Jena--Napoleon in Berlin--He
seizes Brunswick--Complete Subjugation of Germany--Settlement of
Germany--The Berlin Decrees--Napoleon rouses the Poles--Campaign
against Benningsen--Death of Fox--Ministerial Changes--Votes
in Supply--An Administrative Scandal--Abolition of the Slave
Trade--Measures of Roman Catholic Relief--Dismissal of the
Grenville Ministry--The Duke of Portland's Cabinet--Hostile Motions
in Parliament--The General Election--Irish Coercion Bills--Failure
of the Expeditions planned by the late Ministry: Buenos Ayres--The
Expedition to the Dardanelles--Expedition to Alexandria--Attack
on Rosetta--Withdrawal of the Expedition--War between Russia
and Turkey--Secret Articles of the Treaty of Tilsit--Bombardment
of Copenhagen and Capture of the Danish Fleet--Seizure of
Heligoland--The Campaign in Europe--Battle of Eylau--Benningsen's
Retreat--Napoleon on the Vistula--Fall of Dantzic--Battle of
Friedland--Alexander resolves to make Peace--The Meeting on the
Niemen--Treaty of Tilsit. 516
CHAPTER XX.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Napoleon's Designs on Spain--The Continental System--Treaty
of Fontainebleau--Junot marches on Portugal--Flight of the
Royal Family--The Milan Decree--The Pope imprisoned in the
Quirinal--Imbecility of the Spanish Government--Quarrels of the
Spanish Royal Family--Occupation of the Spanish Fortresses--The
King's Preparations for Flight--Rests at Madrid--Abdication of
Charles IV.--Murat occupies Madrid--The Meeting at Bayonne--Joseph
becomes King of Spain--Insurrection in Spain--The Junta
communicates with England--Ferocity of the War--Operations
of Bessières, Duchesne, and Moncey--Dupont surrenders to
Castanos--Joseph evacuates Madrid--Siege of Saragossa--Napoleon's
Designs on Portugal--Insurrection throughout the Country--Sir
A. Wellesley touches at Corunna--He lands at Figueras--Battle
of Roliça--Wellesley is superseded by Burrard--Battle of
Vimiera--Arrival of Dalrymple--Convention of Cintra--Inquiry into
the Convention--Occupation of Lisbon--Napoleon's preparations
against Spain--Wellington is passed over in Favour of
Moore--Moore's Advance--Difficulties of the March--Incompetency
of Hookham Frere--Napoleon's Position in Europe--The Meeting
at Erfurth--Napoleon at Vittoria--Destruction of the Spanish
Armies--Napoleon enters Madrid--Moore is at last undeceived--The
Retreat--Napoleon leaves Spain--Moore retires before Soult--Arrival
at Corunna--The Battle--Death of Sir John Moore--The Ministry
determine to continue the War--Scandal of the Duke of York--His
Resignation--Charges against Lord Castlereagh--Wellesley arrives in
Portugal--He drives Soult from Portugal into Spain--His Junction
with Cuesta--Position of the French Armies--Folly of Cuesta--Battle
of Talavera--State of the Commissariat--Wellesley's Retreat--French
Victories--The Lines of Torres Vedras--The Walcheren
Expedition--Flushing taken--The Troops die from Malaria--Disastrous
Termination of the Expedition--Sir John Stuart in Italy and the
Ionian Islands--War between Russia and Turkey--Collingwood's last
Exploits--Attempt of Gambier and Cochrane on La Rochelle. 546
CHAPTER XXI.
REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Austria gets ready for War--Napoleon's Preparations--Invasion
of Bavaria by Austria--The Archduke Charles driven from
Bavaria--Occupation of Vienna--Battle of Aspern--The Spirit
of Revolt in Germany: Schill and Brunswick--Battle of
Wagram--Peace of Vienna--Victories of the Tyrolese--Death
of Hofer--The Betrayal of Poland and Italy--Deposition of
the Pope--Ministerial Dissensions--Death of Portland, and
Reconstruction of the Ministry--Inquiry into the Walcheren
Expedition--Imprisonment of Gale Jones--Burdett committed to the
Tower--The Piccadilly Riots--Arrest of Burdett--Debates in the
House of Commons--Agitation for Parliamentary Reform--Liberation
of Burdett--Remaining Events of the Session--Condition of
Spain--Soult's victorious Progress--He fails at Cadiz--The
Guerilla War--Massena sent against Wellington--Capture of
Ciudad Rodrigo--Capitulation of Almeida--Battle of Busaco--The
Lines of Torres Vedras--Massena baffled--Condition of the rival
Armies--Victories in the East and West Indies--The War in Sicily.
586
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
St. James's Palace, in the Time of Anne 1
Dean Swift 5
The English Plenipotentiaries insulted in the Streets of Utrecht 9
Sir Richard Steele 13
Welfen Castle, Hanover 17
Anne making the Duke of Shrewsbury Lord Treasurer 21
Great Seal of George I. 25
The Earl of Mar raising the Pretender's Standard 29
Retreat of the Highlanders from Perth 33
James Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender" 37
Sea Fight off Cape Passaro 41
The South Sea Bubble 45
George I. 49
Bartholomew Fair, London, in 1721 53
Five-Shilling Piece of the South Sea Company 56
Five-Guinea Piece of George II. 56
Walpole's Quarrel with Townshend 61
Sir Robert Walpole 65
The Porteous Mob 69
Great Seal of George II. 73
Maria Theresa and the Hungarian Parliament 77
George II. 85
Interior of the House of Commons in 1742 89
The Landing of Prince Charlie 93
Prince Charles Edward Stuart (the "Young Pretender") 97
Prince Charlie's Vanguard at Manchester 101
Culloden House 105
The Standard of Prince Charlie's Bodyguard, taken at Culloden 108
The End of the '45 109
Flora Macdonald 113
Wedding in the Fleet 117
Defeat of General Braddock in the Indian Ambush 121
London Bridge in 1760 125
Lord Clive 129
Surprise of Frederick at Hochkirch 132
Admiral Rodney bombarding Le Hâvre 133
Death of Wolfe 137
Martello Tower on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec 140
George Whitefield preaching 141
John Wesley 144
Interior of the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey 145
Henry Fielding 149
Costumes of the Period of George II. 153
Mrs. Arabella Hunt singing to Queen Mary 156
Handel 157
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and Ludgate Hill, as it was 161
William Hogarth 165
Great Seal of George III. 169
George III. 173
Temple Bar in 1800 176
Lord Bute and the Londoners 177
John Wilkes 181
Revenue Cutters capturing an American Smuggling Vessel 185
Troops escorting the Stamped Paper to the City Hall, New York 189
The Mob releasing Mr. Wilkes on his Way to Prison 193
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 197
Affray at Boston between the Soldiers and Rope-Makers 201
Spade Guinea of George III. 204
Five-Shilling Piece of George III. 204
Twopenny Piece of George III. 204
Press-Gang at Work 205
Boston "Boys" disguised as Indians throwing the Tea Chests
into the Harbour 209
Benjamin Franklin 213
American Twenty Dollars Bill (1775) 216
Montgomery's Assault on the Lower Town, Quebec 221
Signatures to the Declaration of Independence 225
Washington crossing the Delaware 229
American Bill of Credit (1775) 233
Washington and his Men at Valley Forge 237
George Washington 241
Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga 245
Washington at Valley Forge: By the Camp Fire 249
Death of the Earl of Chatham 253
The Saucy "Arethusa" and the "Belle Poule" 257
Lord North 261
"No Popery" Rioters assaulting Lord Mansfield 265
Dr. Johnson viewing the Scene of some of the "No Popery" Riots 269
Old Newgate 273
Arrest of Major André 277
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, York Town 281
Edmund Burke 285
Henry Grattan 289
The Attack on the "Ville de Paris" 293
Map of the United States at the Time when they gained
their Independence 297
The Mansion House, London, in 1760 301
Charles James Fox 305
General Election of 1784: Master Billy's Procession to
Grocer's Hall--Pitt presented with the Freedom of
the City of London 308
General Election of 1784: The Hustings, Covent Garden;
The Westminster Deserter drummed out of the
Regiment--Defeat of Sir Cecil Wray 309
View of London from the Tower to London Bridge in the
latter Part of the 18th Century 313
Deposition of Meer Jaffier 317
The Great Mogul entering the English Camp 320
Warren Hastings 321
Benares 325
Surrender of Baillie to Hyder Ali 329
Arrest of the Rajah of Benares 333
Richard Brinsley Sheridan 337
The Trial of Warren Hastings 341
Carlton House, London (1780) 345
William Pitt 348
Expulsion of the Professors from the University of Antwerp 353
Notre Dame, Paris 357
The French Revolution: Costume of Lady of the Period 360
The French Revolution: Costume of 1790 360
The French Revolution: Costume "à la Robespierre" 361
Tricoteuse, or knitting Woman, of the National Convention 361
The Conquerors of the Bastille 365
The Bastille 369
Captain Cook 373
Scene in the House of Commons: Breach between Burke and Fox 377
William Wilberforce 381
The Priestley Riots at Birmingham 385
The Count de Mirabeau 389
Government House, Calcutta 393
View in Old Paris: Rue de Pirouette, North Side of Les Halles 397
The Royal Family of France on their Way to the Assembly 401
Marie Antoinette (1783) 405
View in Old Paris: The Porte au Blé, from the End of
the Old Cattle Market to the Pont Notre Dame 409
Trial of Louis XVI. 413
Robespierre 417
View in the Old Town, Warsaw 420
Retreat of the Royalists from Toulon 421
Napoleon Buonaparte, Lieutenant of Artillery 425
The Tolbooth, Edinburgh 429
Calvi, Corsica 432
St. Just 433
Paris under the Reign of Terror: a Vain Appeal 437
The Palace of the Tuileries, Paris 441
La Roche-Jaquelein and the Republican Soldiers 445
Attack on the Royal Carriage 449
The Cathedral of Milan 453
The Mutiny at Spithead: Hauling down the Red Flag on
the "Royal George" 457
The Doge's Palace, Venice 459
Dublin Castle 461
Capture of Wolfe Tone 465
Lord Nelson 469
Napoleon's Coup de Main: Scene in the Hall of the Ancients 473
Genoa 477
Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen 480
Copenhagen 481
Sir Ralph Abercromby 484
Napoleon and his Suite at Boulogne 489
The Jumma Musjid, Delhi 492
The Chase at Argaum 493
Kidnapping of the Duke d'Enghien 497
The Coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame 501
Herrenhausen Castle, Hanover 505
Lord Collingwood 509
Sailing into Action at Trafalgar 512
The "Victory" at Portsmouth 513
Talleyrand 517
The Queen of Prussia reviewing the Army 525
Napoleon at Rossbach 528
Murat (King of Naples) 529
Charing Cross, London, in 1795 533
The British Fleet passing through the Dardanelles 537
Departure of the British Troops from Alexandria 540
Heligoland 541
The Treaty of Tilsit 545
Flight of the Royal Family of Portugal 548
Capture of Godoy 552
Heroism of the Maid of Saragossa 557
Sir John Moore 561
The Royal Palace, Madrid 564
Burial of Sir John Moore 569
Sir David Baird 573
Map of Spain and Portugal to illustrate the Peninsular War 576
The Bayonet Charge at Talavera 577
The Duke of Wellington 581
The "Mediator" breaking the Boom at La Rochelle 585
Marshal Lannes at Ratisbon 588
The Duke of Brunswick and his Hussars (the Black Brunswickers) 592
Andrew Hofer appointed Governor of the Tyrol 593
George Canning 597
Cadiz 600
Arrest of Sir Francis Burdett 601
Wellington's Retreat from Coimbra 605
LIST OF PLATES.
PRINCE CHARLIE'S FAREWELL TO FLORA MACDONALD, 1746. (_By
George W. Joy_) _Frontispiece_
GREENWICH HOSPITAL. (_By T. B. Hardy_) _To face p._ 65
GEORGE II. AT DETTINGEN, 1743. (_By Robert Hillingford_) " 82
"GOD SAVE KING JAMES." (_By Andrew C. Gow, R.A._) " 94
MAP OF ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR, 1642-1649 " 100
AFTER CULLODEN: REBEL HUNTING. (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._) " 107
DR. JOHNSON IN THE ANTE-ROOM OF LORD CHESTERFIELD, WAITING
FOR AN AUDIENCE, 1748. (_By E. M. Ward, R.A._) " 145
MAP OF THE AMERICAN PROVINCES IN 1763 " 184
"THE POLLING." (_By W. Hogarth_) " 192
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, JULY 4TH, 1776. (_By J. Trumbull_) " 226
GIBRALTAR. (_By Birket Foster, R.W.S._) " 257
THE GORDON RIOTS. (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._) " 266
THE DEFENCE OF GIBRALTAR BY LORD HEATHFIELD, 1782.
(_By J. S. Copley, R.A._) " 294
LOUIS XVI. AND MARIE ANTOINETTE IN THE PRISON OF THE
TEMPLE. (_By E. M. Ward, R.A._) " 404
LADY HAMILTON WELCOMING THE VICTORS OF THE NILE. (_By R.
Hillingford_) " 468
NELSON'S CHASE AFTER THE FRENCH FLEET, 1805. (_By Thomas
Davidson_) " 497
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR AND THE VICTORY OF LORD NELSON
OVER THE COMBINED FRENCH AND SPANISH FLEETS, OCTOBER
21ST, 1805. (_By Clarkson Stanfield, R.A._) " 505
THE "VICTORY" TOWED INTO GIBRALTAR AFTER TRAFALGAR. (_By
Clarkson Stanfield, R.A._) " 510
THE DEATH OF NELSON. (_By Daniel Maclise, R.A._) " 521
"CRIPPLED BUT UNCONQUERED." (_By W. L. Wyllie, R.A._) " 529
NAPLES, FROM THE MERGELLINA. (_By Birket Foster, R.W.S._) " 550
[Illustration: PRINCE CHARLIE'S FAREWELL TO FLORA MACDONALD, 1746
FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE W. JOY.]
[Illustration: ST. JAMES'S PALACE, IN THE TIME OF ANNE.]
CASSELL'S
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER I.
THE REIGN OF ANNE (_concluded_).
Meeting of Parliament--Eugene's Visit to England--Ministerial
Attacks on the Dutch--Meeting of the Negotiators at Utrecht--The
Question of the Spanish Throne--Sham Fighting against the
French--Debates on the Peace in Parliament--Withdrawal of the
English Troops--Consequent Triumph of the French--Bolingbroke's
Visit to Paris--Break-up of the Grand Alliance--More Negotiations
with the Pretender--Death of Godolphin--Marlborough retires
to the Continent--Signature of the Peace--The Treaty of
Commerce--Its Rejection by the Commons--The Whereabouts
of the Pretender--Dissolution of Parliament--The General
Election--Intrigues with St. Germains--Bolingbroke's Activity--His
Friends in Office--The Empire and Spain make Peace--The Pretender
declines Overtures to Change his Religion--Illness of the
Queen--Tax on Newspapers--Attack upon the "Public Spirit of the
Whigs"--Steele expelled the House--Proposals against the Pretender
and for bringing over the Electoral Prince--Counter-scheme for
bringing over the Pretender--Obstacles to the Scheme--The Queen's
Letter to the Elector--Death of the Electress Sophia--The Schism
Bill--Its Progress through the Houses--Reward for the Apprehension
of the Pretender--Fall of Oxford--Bolingbroke's Jacobite
Cabinet--Illness of the Queen--The Whig _Coup d'État_--Ruin and
Desperation of the Jacobites--Death of Anne--Proclamation of George
I.
The Houses of Parliament reassembled on the 17th of January, 1712, and
Anne sent word that she was not able to attend in person, not having
recovered sufficiently from her attack of the gout. She announced that
the plenipotentiaries were now assembled at Utrecht, and were already
engaged in endeavouring to procure just satisfaction to all the Allies
according to their several treaties, and especially with relation to
Spain and the Indies. This was a delusion, for, by our treaty with the
Emperor, we had engaged to secure Spain and the Indies for his son;
and it was now, notwithstanding the assurance in her message regarding
them, fully determined to give them up to Philip. There was a strong
protest in the message against the evil declarations that there had
been an intention to make a separate peace, though nothing was more
notorious than that the Ministers were resolved, if the Allies did
not come to their terms, to go on without them. The message ended by
recommending a measure for the restriction of the liberty of the press.
Much alarm was expressed at the great licence in the publishing of
false and scandalous libels, though the Ministers themselves did not
scruple to employ the terrible pen of Swift.
On the 6th of January there landed at Greenwich an illustrious visitor
to the Court on an unwelcome errand--namely, Prince Eugene. The Allies,
justly alarmed at the Ministerial revolution which had taken place in
England, and at the obvious design of the Tories to render abortive
all the efforts of the Whigs and the Allies through the war, from mere
party envy and malice, sent over Eugene to convince the queen and
the Government of the fatal consequences of such policy. Harley paid
obsequious court to the prince as long as he hoped to win him over. He
gave a magnificent dinner in his honour, and declared that he looked on
that day as the happiest of his life, since he had the honour to see in
his house the greatest captain of the age. The prince, who felt that
this was a mean blow at Marlborough, replied with a polite but cutting
sarcasm, which must have sunk deep in the bosom of the Lord Treasurer,
"My lord, if I am the greatest captain of the age, I owe it to your
lordship." That was to say, because he had deprived the really greatest
captain of his command. The queen, though she was compelled to treat
Eugene graciously, and to order the preparation of costly gifts to him
as the representative of the Allies, regarded him as a most unwelcome
guest, and in her private circle took no pains to conceal it. The whole
Tory party soon found that he was not a man to be seduced from his
integrity, or brought to acquiesce in a course of policy which he felt
and knew to be most disgraceful and disastrous to the peace of Europe;
and being fully convinced of this, they let loose on the illustrious
stranger all the virulence of the press. Eugene returned to the
Continent, his mission being unaccomplished, on the 13th of March.
Whilst Prince Eugene had been labouring in vain to recall the English
Government from its fatal determination to make a disgraceful peace,
the Dutch envoy Van Buys had been equally active, and with as little
success. The Ministers incited the House of Commons to pass some severe
censures on the Dutch. They alleged that the States General had not
furnished their stipulated number of troops both for the campaigns
in the Netherlands and in Spain; that the queen had paid above three
millions of crowns more than her contingent. They attacked the Barrier
Treaty, concluded by Lord Townshend with them in 1709, and declared
that it contained several Articles destructive to the trade and
interests of Great Britain; that Lord Townshend was not authorised to
make that treaty; and that both he and all those who advised it were
enemies to the queen and kingdom. They addressed a memorial to the
queen, averring that England, during the war, had been overcharged
nineteen millions sterling--which was an awful charge of mismanagement
or fraud on the part of the Whig Ministers. They further asserted that
the Dutch had made great acquisitions; had extended their trade as well
as their dominion, whilst England had only suffered loss. Anne gave
her sanction to this address by telling the House that she regarded
their address as an additional proof of their affection for her person
and their attention to the interests of the nation; and she ordered
her ambassador at the Hague, the new Earl of Strafford, to inform the
States of these complaints of her Parliament, and to assure them that
they must increase their forces in Flanders, or she must decrease hers.
This naturally roused the States, who made a very different statement;
contending that, by the treaties, every ally was bound to do all in
its power to bring the common enemy to terms; that England, being more
powerful than Holland, ought to bear a larger share of the burden of
the war; yet that the forces of Holland had been in the Netherlands
often upwards of a hundred thousand, whilst those of England had not
amounted to seventy thousand; that this had prevented the Dutch from
sending more soldiers to Spain; and that, whilst England had been at
peace in her own territory, they (the Dutch) had suffered severely in
the struggle. To this a sharp answer was drawn up by St. John, and
despatched on the 8th of March, of which the real gist was that,
according to the Dutch, England could never give too much, or the
United Provinces too little. Nothing could exceed the bitterness of
tone which existed between England and the Allies, with whom it had
so long manfully contended against encroaching France; for the whole
world felt how unworthily the English generally were acting under the
Tory Ministry, and this did not tend to forward the negotiations,
which had been going on at Utrecht since the 29th of January. To this
conference had been appointed as the British plenipotentiaries, the new
Earl of Strafford--whom Swift, a great partisan of the Tory Ministry,
pronounced a poor creature--and Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, Lord Privy
Seal. On the part of France appeared the Marshal d'Uxelles, the Abbé
de Polignac, and Mesnager, who had lately been in England settling the
preliminaries. On the part of the Dutch were Buys and Vanderdussen;
and, besides these, the Emperor, the Duke of Savoy, and the lesser
German princes had their representatives.
France and England being already agreed, independently of the consent
of the rest of the Allies, the conference began on a basis which
was sure to lead to immediate confusion and contention. The Dutch
plenipotentiaries were astonished to see the different tone displayed
by the French ambassadors. They were no longer the humble personages
that they had been at Gertruydenberg. The Abbé Polignac, who was the
chief speaker, assumed a high and confident manner. The French envoys,
therefore, when the Dutch deputies demanded that the treaty should
be carried out on the basis of the terms offered at Gertruydenberg,
told them plainly that matters were now quite altered, and that the
conditions offered at Gertruydenberg could not be entertained by France
at all, but those to which the Queen of England had agreed in London;
that unless the Dutch were willing to treat on these conditions,
they would find their allies concluding peace without them, and that
on the spot. The chief article to which the Allies objected was the
concession of Spain to Philip; and they were the more resolute because
it had become imminently necessary from changes that had now taken
place in France. The Dauphin had died of the smallpox during the last
year. The title had been conferred on his son, the Duke of Burgundy;
but the Duke of Burgundy had just expired, too, in the sixth year of
his age; and of the Dauphin's children there only now remained the
Duke of Anjou, a sickly child of two years old. This child was the
only remaining obstacle to Philip, the King of Spain, mounting the
throne of France. The danger was so obvious of the union of France and
Spain in a very few years--to prevent which had been the object of the
war--that the English Government was compelled to demand from Philip
a distinct renunciation of all claims on the French Crown, and from
France as distinct a one in the treaty that any such claim should be
resisted. St. John entered into a correspondence with De Torcy, the
French minister, on this point; and the answers of De Torcy must have
shown the English Government how useless it was to attempt to bind
Frenchmen on such matters. He replied that any renunciation on the part
of Philip or any French prince would be utterly null and void according
to the laws; that on the king's death the next heir male of the royal
blood succeeded, independently of any disposition or restriction of
the late king, or any will of the people, or of himself, even; that
he was, by the laws of France, sovereign by right of succession, and
must be so, in spite of any circumstances to the contrary; that neither
himself, the throne, nor the people had anything to do with it, but
to obey the constitution. Therefore, even if Philip did bind himself
to renounce the Crown of France, should the present Dauphin die, he
would be king, independently of any circumstances whatever. Another
expedient, however, was proposed by the English ministry, who must have
seen clearly enough the folly of their treating on such hollow ground.
That was, if Philip did not like to renounce the Crown of France, he
should at once quit the throne of Spain, and agree that the Duke of
Savoy should take it and the Indies, surrendering his own territories
to Philip, to which should be added Naples, Sicily, Montserrat, and
Mantua, all of which, whenever Philip succeeded to the French Crown,
should be annexed to France, with the exception of Sicily, which should
be made over to Austria. Louis XIV. professed to be delighted with this
arrangement, but Philip would not listen to it, showing plainly that he
meant, notwithstanding any renunciation, to retain his claim to both
France and Spain.
On such utterly unsubstantial ground did the English ministers continue
this negotiation. They assured De Torcy that the Queen of England
insisted on Philip's renunciation of one throne or the other, and he
at length renounced that of France, everybody seeing that the sense in
which he renounced it was no renunciation at all, but a pretence to
get the peace effected; and thus the English ministers, with their
eyes open to the fraud, went on urging the Allies to come into these
most delusive and unsatisfactory terms. But as the renunciation of
Philip did not arrive till after midsummer, the negotiators at Utrecht
continued to talk without advancing, and the armies in the field
continued to look at each other without fighting.
Marshal Villars, like the French plenipotentiaries, had made a great
display of forces, pretty certain, from private information, that
there was little fear of being attacked. The Allies had a fine army of
one hundred and twenty thousand men opposed to him; but so far as the
English were concerned, their commander had his hands tied. The Duke
of Ormonde was sent to take the place of the Duke of Marlborough--a
certain indication that he was meant only for a mere show general. He
was a staunch Jacobite, but no general of talents or experience fit to
succeed a man like Marlborough. On arriving at the Hague he assured the
States General that his instructions were to act zealously with the
Allies, and especially the Dutch, and from his letters it would appear
that such were his orders. But before his arrival, Mr. Thomas Harley, a
relative of Oxford's, and the Abbé Gualtier, had reached the Hague, and
had assured the plenipotentiaries that the Government had determined on
peace, and would not allow the army to fight. They also brought over
with them the scheme of the Treaty, which was not yet to be made known
to the Dutch. But the States General were too well aware of the hollow
proceedings of the English Court, and, disgusted at the withdrawal of
Marlborough and the substitution of Ormonde, they would not entrust
their troops to him, but appointed Eugene as their own general. Thus,
instead of one generalissimo of consummate genius, the army was divided
under two chiefs, the abler chief, the Prince Eugene, having the
utmost contempt for the martial talents of his colleague. All on the
part of England, both in the conference and in the army, was hollow,
treacherous, and disgraceful. Yet, though there was to be no fighting,
the pretence of it was kept up. The Earl of Albemarle marched with a
detachment of the army to Arras, where he burnt and destroyed some
magazines of the French. Ormonde, too, joined Prince Eugene on the 26th
of May, and the united army passed the Scheldt, and encamped between
Haspres and Solennes. Eugene proposed to attack Villars in his lines,
and Ormonde consented to it, but he immediately received a peremptory
order from Mr. Secretary St. John against engaging in any siege or
battle, and he was directed to keep this order profoundly secret from
the Allies. Ormonde was also instructed that if Villars should intimate
that he was aware of these secret proceedings, he was to take no notice
of them; nor was Villars long in letting him know that they might now
consider each other as friends. The situation of Ormonde thus became
one of extreme embarrassment. On the one hand, Eugene urged him to
prepare for an engagement; on the other, the Dutch were impatient to
see some stroke which should humble the French and make negotiation
more easy; but Ormonde was as unable to move, notwithstanding previous
assurances, as if he had been a mere image of wood. He wrote to St.
John, expressing in strong terms the embarrassing nature of his
situation, assuring him that the Dutch were exclaiming that they were
betrayed; but St. John encouraged him to hold out as well as he could,
and Ormonde condescended to play this false and degrading part, equally
disgraceful to him as a general and a man of any pretences to honour.
The prince urged forward the necessity of laying siege to Quesnoy,
and Ormonde was allowed, for the sake of keeping up appearances, to
furnish a considerable detachment for the purpose. But there was so
evident a backwardness in the duke's movements, that the Dutch deputies
complained vehemently to the English plenipotentiaries at Utrecht of
his refusal to act in earnest against the enemy. Thereupon Robinson,
the bishop, took high ground, and retorted that the States General had
met the queen's proposals for peace so strangely, that her Majesty
now felt herself released from any further obligation to maintain the
treaties and engagements between herself and them. This roused the
States to great and indignant activity. They entered into communication
with the Electors of Hanover, of Hesse-Cassel, and other princes of
the Empire, regarding the effective service of their troops in the
pay of Great Britain. They sent off warm remonstrances to the Queen
of England, and Anne was obliged to summon a council, in which it was
agreed that Ormonde should appear as much as possible to concur with
Eugene in the siege.
Accordingly, on the 5th of June, the queen proceeded to the House
of Lords, and stated in a long speech the terms on which it was
proposed to make the peace with France--namely, that Louis XIV. should
acknowledge the Protestant succession and remove the Pretender out of
France; that Philip should renounce the Crown of Spain, should that
of France devolve on him; and that the kings of both France and Spain
should make solemn engagements for themselves and their heirs that the
two kingdoms should never be united under one crown; that Newfoundland,
with Placentia, Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia, or Acadia, as it was then
termed by the French, as well as Gibraltar, Port Mahon, and the whole
island of Minorca, should be ceded to England; that the Spanish
Netherlands, Naples, Sardinia, the Duchy of Milan, and the places on
the Tuscan coast, formerly belonging to Spain, should be yielded to
Austria, the appropriation of Sicily being not so far determined;
that France would make the Rhine the barrier of the Empire, yielding
up all places beyond it, and razing the fortresses on the German side
as well as in the river; that the barriers of Savoy, the Netherlands,
and Prussia, should be made satisfactory to the Allies. The Electoral
dignity was to be acknowledged in the House of Hanover.
[Illustration: DEAN SWIFT.]
The House of Commons received the speech with enthusiasm, and carried
up an address of thanks in a body. Very different, however, was the
reception of the speech in the House of Lords. Lord Wharton proposed
that in the address they should declare themselves against a separate
peace, and the Duke of Marlborough supported that view. He said that
for a year past the measures pursued were directly opposed to her
Majesty's engagement with the Allies, had sullied the glories of her
reign, and would render our name odious to all nations. Lord Strafford,
who had come over from the Hague purposely to defend the Government
policy, and his own share in it at Utrecht, asserted that the
opposition of the Allies would not have been so obstinate had they not
been encouraged by a certain member of that House who corresponded with
them, and stimulated them by assurances that they would be supported
by a large party in England. This blow aimed at Marlborough called up
Lord Cowper, who directed his sarcasm against Strafford on the ground
of his well-known illiterate character, observing that the noble lord
had been so long abroad that he had forgotten not only the language but
the constitution of his country; that according to our laws it could
never be a crime in an individual to correspond with its allies, but
that it was a crime to correspond, as certain persons did, with the
common enemy, unknown to the allies, and to their manifest prejudice.
The amendment of Lord Wharton, however, was rejected, and the protest,
entered against its rejection by twenty peers and bishops, was voted
violent and indecorous, and erased from the journal.
Notwithstanding these addresses and the confident tone of the Queen's
Speech, the Funds fell, and there was general dissatisfaction at the
conditions of the proposed pacification. In order to stimulate the
proceedings and excite a jealousy of the Dutch, St. John professed to
discover that they were themselves secretly negotiating with France,
and urged that, if we did not take care, they would have the management
of the negotiations and not her Majesty. Lord Strafford hastened back
to the Hague, and from thence to Utrecht, where he proposed a cessation
of arms, which was rejected by the Allies. He then went on to the army,
where the Duke of Ormonde was in a situation of the utmost difficulty.
He had received orders from Government, in consequence of the clamour
in Parliament, to support Prince Eugene at the siege of Quesnoy, which
he had invested on the 8th of June, and accordingly he had appeared
before the place with such forces as threatened speedily to reduce it.
At the same time he had received from the Marquis de Torcy a copy of
the articles of peace signed by him, and from the Marquis of Villars
the most bitter remonstrances on his conduct, which he did not hesitate
to declare most perfidious and disgraceful. On the other hand, Prince
Eugene, who did not find the English forces, notwithstanding their
presence, rendering any active service, was equally irritated by his
proceedings. Ormonde could but reply to each party that such were
his orders, and leave the Government to bear the ignominy of it. To
extricate themselves from the just censures on this dishonourable
policy, St. John instructed Ormonde to demand from Villars the
surrender of Dunkirk, which, it was asserted, must be put into the
hands of the queen's troops, as a pledge that France would perform all
that she had promised, before there could be a cessation of hostilities.
The French hastened to comply with this condition, on the understanding
that Ormonde would immediately draw off his troops from Quesnoy; and
the duke was obliged to announce to Prince Eugene that he was under
this necessity, in consequence of the terms agreed upon between France
and England; in fact, that he must cease all opposition to the French.
Ormonde, therefore, not only gave the command for the retirement of
the English troops, but also of all those belonging to the German
princes which were in British pay. Eugene and the Dutch field deputies
protested most indignantly against this proceeding, and the mercenary
troops themselves refused to follow Ormonde. In vain did he endeavour
to move the officers of those troops; they despised the conduct of
England in abandoning the advantageous position at which they had
arrived for terminating the war gloriously, and releasing the common
enemy of Europe from his just punishment to gratify party spirit in
England.
When the French saw that Ormonde could not induce the mercenary
troops to move, they refused to surrender Dunkirk, and an English
detachment which arrived there to take possession found the gates
shut in their faces. At this insult the British troops burst out into
a fury of indignation. The officers as well as the men were beside
themselves with shame, and shed tears of mortification, remembering
the glorious times under Marlborough. Ormonde himself, thus disgraced,
thus helpless--for he had not the satisfaction, even, of being able to
avenge himself on the French,--thus deserted by the auxiliaries, and
made a laughing-stock to all Europe by the crooked and base policy of
his Government, retired from before the walls of Dunkirk, and directed
his course towards Douay. The Dutch shut their gates against him, and
he finally retired in ignominy to England.
Eugene, during these affairs, had been actively prosecuting the
fortunes of the Allies with his remnant of an army. He pushed on the
siege of Quesnoy, and took it. He sent a flying detachment of one
thousand five hundred cavalry, under Major-General Grovestein, to make
an incursion into France. This force made a rapid raid in Champagne,
passed the Noire, the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Saar, ravaged the
country, reduced a great number of villages and towns to ashes, rode
up to the very gate of Metz, and then retired to Traerbach with a
load of rich booty. This was a proof of what might have been done in
France at this period with the whole army united under a commander like
Marlborough, in place of miserably giving up everything to that country
in the moment of power. As it was, it created the utmost consternation
in Paris, the people of which already saw the English at their gate;
whilst Louis did not think himself safe at Versailles, but gathered
all the troops in the neighbourhood of the capital around his palace,
leaving the city to take care of itself.
But Harley and St. John had deprived the nation of its triumph, and
left the way open to fresh insults and humiliations. No sooner did
Villars see the English forces withdrawn from the Allies, than he
seized the opportunity to snatch fresh advantages for France, and thus
make all their demands on the Allies certain. He crossed the Scheldt on
the 24th of July, and, with an overwhelming force, attacked the Earl
of Albemarle, who commanded a division of the Allied army at Denain.
Eugene, who, from the reduction of Quesnoy, had proceeded to lay siege
to Landrey, instantly hastened to the support of Albemarle; but, to his
grief, found himself, when in sight of him, cut off from rendering him
any assistance by the breaking down of the bridge over the Scheldt; and
he had the pain to see Albemarle beaten under his very eyes. Seventeen
battalions of Albemarle's force were killed or taken. He himself and
all the surviving officers were made prisoners. Five hundred wagons
loaded with bread, twelve pieces of brass cannon, a large quantity of
ammunition and provisions, horses and baggage, fell into the hands of
the French. Villars then marched on to Marchiennes, where the stores
of the Allies were deposited, and took it on the 31st of July, the
garrison of five thousand being sent to Valenciennes prisoners. He next
advanced to Douay, where Eugene would have given him battle, but was
forbidden to do so by the States, and thus Douay fell into Villars'
hands. Then came the fall of Quesnoy and Bouchain, which had cost
Marlborough and Eugene so much to win.
It was now the turn of the French to triumph, and of the Allies to
suffer consternation. Louis, once more elate, ordered _Te Deum_ to be
sung in Notre Dame, and all Paris was full of rejoicing. He declared
that God had given a direct and striking proof of the justice of his
cause and of the guilty obstinacy of the Allies. His plenipotentiaries
assumed at Utrecht such arrogance that their very lacqueys imitated
them; and those of Mesnager insulted one of the plenipotentiaries,
Count von Richteren, and Louis justified them against all complaints.
In such circumstances, all rational hope of obtaining peace except on
the disgraceful terms accepted by England vanished.
In fact, though the Allies still held out, it was useless.
Bolingbroke--for St. John had been called in this year to the Upper
House as Viscount Bolingbroke--accompanied by Matthew Prior, had been
in Paris since the beginning of August, where they were assisted also
by the Abbé Gualtier, determined to close the negotiations for England,
whether the Allies objected or not. To make this result obvious to the
whole world, the troops which Ormonde had brought home were disbanded
with all practicable speed. The ostensible cause of Bolingbroke's and
Prior's visit to Paris was to settle the interests of the Duke of
Savoy and the Elector of Bavaria; but the real one was to remove any
remaining impediment to the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace. France
and England were quite agreed; Bolingbroke returned to London, and
Prior remained as resident at the Court of France, as if the Articles
of Peace were, in fact, already signed. A truce, indeed, for four
months longer by land and sea was proclaimed in Paris. It was agreed
that the Pretender should return to Lorraine; that all hostilities
should cease in Italy in consequence of the arrangement of the affairs
of the Duke of Savoy; and that the Austrian troops should be allowed to
quit Spain and return to Naples.
The secession of the Duke of Savoy only the more roused the indignation
of the Allies. The Dutch breathed a hotter spirit of war just as their
power of carrying it on failed; and even the experienced Heinsius
made an energetic oration in the States General, declaring that
all the fruits of the war would be lost if they consented to the
peace proposed. But to avoid it was no longer possible. The English
plenipotentiaries pressed the Allies more and more zealously to come
in, so much so that they were scarcely safe from the fury of the Dutch
populace, who insulted the Earl of Strafford and the Marquis del
Borgo, the Minister of the Duke of Savoy, when the news came that the
duke had consented to the peace. Every endeavour was made to detach
the different Allies one by one. Mr. Thomas Harley was sent to the
Elector of Hanover to persuade him to co-operate with her Majesty; but,
notwithstanding all risk of injuring his succession to the English
Crown, he declined. Similar attempts were made on the King of Prussia
and other princes, and with similar results. The English Ministers
now began to see the obstacles they had created to the conclusion of
a general peace by their base desertion of the Allies. The French,
rendered more than ever haughty in their demands by the successes of
Villars, raised their terms as fast as any of the Allies appeared
disposed to close with those already offered. The Dutch, convinced at
length that England would make peace without them, and was bending
every energy to draw away their confederates, in October expressed
themselves ready to treat, and to yield all pretensions to Douay,
Valenciennes, and Mauberg, on condition that Condé and Tournay were
included in their barrier; that the commercial tariffs with France
should be restored to what they were in 1664; that Sicily should be
yielded to Austria, and Strasburg to the Empire. But the French treated
these concessions with contempt, and Bolingbroke was forced to admit
to Prior that they treated like pedlars, or, what was worse, like
attorneys. He conjured Prior "to hide the nakedness of his country" in
his intercourse with the French Ministers, and to make the best of the
blunders of his countrymen, admitting that they were not much better
politicians than the French were poets. But the fault of Bolingbroke
and his colleagues was not want of talent, it was want of honesty; and,
by their selfish desire to damage their political rivals, they had
brought their country into this deplorable dilemma of sacrificing all
faith with their allies, of encouraging the unprincipled disposition of
the French, who were certain to profit by the division of the Allies,
and of abandoning the glory and position of England, or confessing that
the Whigs, however much they had erred in entering on such enormous
wars, had in truth brought them to the near prospect of a far more
satisfactory conclusion than what they were taking up with.
Whilst matters were in this discouraging condition, Lord Lexington
was sent to Spain to receive the solemn renunciation of the Crown of
France for Philip and his successors, in the presence of the Cortes,
which accordingly took place on the 5th of November. Portugal, also,
on the 7th of November, signed, at Utrecht, the suspension of arms, at
the same time admitting to the Allies that she did it only as a matter
of absolute necessity. The Portuguese had held out firmly till the
English refused to give them any assistance, when the Marquis de Bay
invaded the kingdom at the head of twenty thousand men, and laid siege
to Campo-Major. The English troops in Spain were ordered to separate
from those of the Allies under Count Stahremberg, and were marched into
Catalonia to embark at Barcelona. The people of that province beheld
the English depart with sentiments of indignant contempt. England had
first incited them to take up arms and declare for King Charles under
the most solemn engagements never to make peace without them. But now
they had broken their faith in the most shameless manner, and left them
to the vengeance of the French triumphant in Spain. Such on all sides
were the facts which forced on the world the conviction of the perfidy
of England, which had hitherto borne so fair a reputation.
Another dishonourable characteristic of the Ministers of Queen Anne
at this period was that they were in secret zealous partisans of the
Pretender, and whilst openly professing a sacred maintenance of the
Protestant succession, were doing all in their power to undermine
it. They had given mortal offence to the Elector George of Hanover,
the heir to the Throne, by their treachery to the Allies; and, as
the health of the queen was most precarious from her excessive
corpulence and gout, which was continually menacing a retreat to her
stomach, this was equally a cause for their hastening the peace,
however disgracefully, and for paving the way, if possible, for the
return of the Pretender at the queen's death. Bolingbroke was the
great correspondent with St. Germains, as his letters in the Stuart
Papers abundantly show. But Oxford, although always more cunning and
mysterious, was equally concerned in it; nor was the queen, if we
may believe these remarkable papers, by any means averse from the
succession of the Pretender, in spite of his stubborn adhesion to
Popery. The Jacobite party was numerous, powerful, and indefatigable.
They were in the Ministry and in both Houses of Parliament. At this
moment a public appointment was made which filled the Whigs with
consternation and rage. This was no other than that of the Duke of
Hamilton--a supposed partisan of the Pretender--to be Ambassador to the
Court of Versailles. Prior was still there, and had all the requisites
of a clever and painstaking Envoy; but, being only a commoner and a
poet, it did not suit the aristocratic notions of England that he
should be accredited Ambassador. Hamilton was appointed, and would
thus have had the amplest opportunity of concerting the return of the
Stuarts with the base ministers at home. But he was not destined to see
Versailles, for, as readers of Thackeray's "Esmond" will remember, he
was killed in a duel by Lord Mohun.
[Illustration: THE ENGLISH PLENIPOTENTIARIES INSULTED IN THE STREETS OF
UTRECHT. (_See p._ 7.)]
Instead of Hamilton, the Duke of Shrewsbury was sent to Versailles,
where Matthew Prior remained to lend his superior knowledge of French
affairs and superior address to the negotiations. The weight of Tory
vengeance now fell on the Duke of Marlborough, whom the ministers
justly regarded as the most dangerous man amongst the Whigs by his
abilities and the splendour of his renown. The Earl of Godolphin died
in September of this year. He had always been a staunch friend of the
Marlboroughs. His son, Lord Rialton, was married to Marlborough's
eldest daughter, and during Godolphin's later years he was nearly
a constant resident with the Marlboroughs, and died at their lodge
in Windsor Park. Godolphin was one of the best of the Whigs; of a
clear, strong judgment, and calm temper. He had rendered the most
essential services during the conflict against France, by ably and
faithfully conducting affairs at home, whilst Marlborough was winning
his victories abroad; and that great general knew that he should be
supported against all his enemies and detractors so long as Godolphin
remained in power. The highest eulogium on Godolphin's honesty lies in
the fact that he died poor. But at Godolphin's death Marlborough stood
a more exposed object to the malice of his foes. They did not hesitate
to assert that he had had a deep concern in the plot for Hamilton's
death. He was also harassed by debt. He therefore resolved to retire
to the Continent, where he continued to keep up a correspondence with
the Elector of Hanover and the Pretender to the last, so that whichever
came in he might stand well with him. He wrote to St. Germains, showing
that though he had appeared to fight against the King of England, as he
styled the Pretender, it was not so. He had fought to reduce the power
of France, which would be as much to the advantage of the king when he
came to the throne as it was to the present queen. He gave his advice
to the Pretender for his security and success. "The French king and his
ministers," he says, "will sacrifice everything to their own views of
peace. The Earl of Oxford and his associates in office will probably
insist upon the king's retiring to Italy; but he must never consent.
He must neither yield to the French king, nor to the fallacious
insinuations of the British Ministry, on a point which must inevitably
ruin his cause. To retire to Italy, by the living God! is the same
thing as to stab himself to the heart. Let him take refuge in Germany,
or in some country on this side of the Alps. He wants no security for
his person; no one will touch a hair of his head. I perceive such
a change in his favour, that I think it is impossible but that he
must succeed. But when he shall succeed, let there be no retrospect
towards the past. All that has been done since the Revolution must be
confirmed." He added that Queen Anne had no real aversion from her
brother's interests, but that she must not be alarmed, as she was very
timid.
At length it was announced that peace was signed with France at
Utrecht, and it was laid before the Council (March 31, 1713).
Bolingbroke had made another journey to the Continent to hasten the
event, but it did not receive the adhesion of the Emperor at last.
Holland, Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy had signed, but the Emperor, both
as king of Austria and head of the Empire, stood out, and he was to be
allowed till the 1st of June to accept or finally reject participation
in it. This conclusion had not been come to except after two years'
negotiation, and the most obstinate resistance on the part of all the
others except England. Even in the English Cabinet it did not receive
its ratification without some dissent. The Lord Cholmondeley refused
to sign it, and was dismissed from his office of Treasurer of the
Household. On the 9th of April the queen opened Parliament, though she
was obliged to be carried thither and back in a chair in consequence of
her corpulence and gout. She congratulated the country on this great
treaty, declared her firm adherence to the Protestant succession,
advised them to take measures to reduce the scandalous licentiousness
of the Press, and to prevent duelling, in allusion to the tragic
issue of that between Hamilton and Mohun. She finally exhorted them
to cultivate peace amongst themselves, to endeavour to allay party
rage; and as to what forces should be necessary by land and the sea,
she added, "Make yourselves safe; I shall be satisfied. Next to the
protection of Divine Providence, I depend on the loyalty and affection
of my people; I want no other guarantee." On the 4th of May the
proclamation of peace took place. It was exactly eleven years since the
commencement of the war. The conditions finally arrived at were those
that have been stated, except that it was concluded to confer Sicily
on the Duke of Savoy for his services in the war; on the Elector of
Bavaria, as some equivalent for the loss of Bavaria itself, Sardinia,
with the title of king; and that, should Philip of Spain leave no
issue, the Crown of Spain should also pass to him.
The Treaty of Peace received the sanction of the Parliament; not so the
Treaty of Commerce. By this treaty it was provided that a free trade
should be established according to the tariff of 1664, except as it
related to certain commodities which were subjected to new regulations
in 1669. This went to abolish all the restrictions on the importation
of goods from France since that period, and within two months a law
was also to be passed that no higher duties should be levied on goods
brought from France than on the like goods from any other country in
Europe. Commissioners were appointed to meet in London to carry these
propositions into effect; but there immediately appeared a violent
opposition to these regulations, which were contained in the eighth and
ninth articles of the Treaty of Commerce. It was declared that these
articles violated the Treaty of Methuen, according to which the duties
on Portuguese wines were always to be lower by one-third than the
duties on the French wines.
On the 9th of June, when the House of Commons went into committee on
the Bill, a large number of merchants desired to be heard against
it. For several days their statements were heard, and the Portuguese
Ambassador also presented a memorial declaring that should the duties
on French wines be lowered to those of Portugal, his master would
renew the woollen and other duties on the products of Great Britain.
This seemed to enforce the mercantile opinions; the sense of the
whole country was against the treaty, and the speech of Sir Thomas
Hanmer, a Tory, made a deep impression. There was, however, a growing
rumour, during the latter days of the debate, that Oxford had given
the treaty up--a rumour probably not without foundation, for Oxford
and Bolingbroke were no longer in unity. The latter, ambitious and
unprincipled, was intriguing to oust his more slow and dilatory
colleague; and, as the Bill was ostensibly the work of Bolingbroke,
probably Oxford was by no means unwilling that it should be thrown
out to damage him. When the question, therefore, was put on the 18th
of June, that the Bill be engrossed, it was negatived by a majority
of one hundred and ninety-four to one hundred and eighty-five. Thus
the commercial treaty was lost, much to the joy of the nation, and
certainly to its immediate benefit.
The defeated party, however, did not give up the idea of the Treaty of
Commerce. Another Bill was introduced to modify, or, as it was called,
to render the commercial treaty more effectual; but such a host of
petitions was presented against it, that it was abandoned. Sir Thomas
Hanmer, however, proposed and carried an address to the queen, which
was intended to cover, in some degree, the defeat of the Ministers;
and, as he had got rid of the Bill itself, he did not hesitate to
move for what appeared inconsistent with his proceedings, namely,
thanks to her Majesty for the care she had taken of the security and
honour of the kingdom by the Treaty of Peace, and also by her anxiety
for a Treaty of Commerce; and, further, recommending her to appoint
Commissioners to meet those of France, and endeavour to arrange such
terms of commerce as should be for the good and welfare of her people.
This was laid hold of, as was no doubt intended, in the queen's reply,
which assumed this to be a declaration of a full approbation of the
Treaty of Commerce, as well as that of Peace; and she thanked them in
the warmest terms for their address.
Encouraged by their success against the commercial treaty, the Whigs
demanded that the Pretender, according to the Treaty of Peace, should
be requested to quit France. It had been proposed by the French Court,
and privately acceded to by Anne, that he should take up his residence
at Bar-le-duc or Lorraine. The Duke of Lorraine had taken care to
inquire whether this would be agreeable to the queen, and was assured
by her Minister that it would be quite so. As his territory--though
really a portion of France--was nominally an independent territory, it
seemed to comply with the terms of the Treaty; but the Whigs knew that
this was a weak point, and on the 29th of June Lord Wharton, without
any previous notice, moved in the Peers that the Pretender should
remove from the Duke of Lorraine's dominions. The Court party was
completely taken by surprise, and there was an awkward pause. At length
Lord North ventured to suggest that such a request would show distrust
of her Majesty; and he asked where was the Pretender to retire to,
seeing that most, if not all, the Powers of Europe were on as friendly
terms with the king as the Duke of Lorraine. Lord Peterborough
sarcastically remarked that as the Pretender had begun his studies at
Paris, he might very fitly go and finish them at Rome. No one, however,
dared to oppose the motion, which was accordingly carried unanimously.
On the 1st of July, only two days afterwards, General Stanhope made a
similar motion in the House of Commons, which was equally afraid to
oppose it, seeing that the House was still under the Triennial Act, and
this was its last session. The slightest expression in favour of the
Pretender would have to be answered on the hustings, and there was a
long silence. Sir William Whitelock, however, was bold enough to throw
out a significant remark, that he remembered the like address being
formerly made to the Protector to have King Charles Stuart removed out
of France, "leaving to every member's mind to suggest how soon after
he returned to the throne of England notwithstanding." The addresses
carried up from both Houses were received by the queen with an air of
acquiescence, and with promises to do her best to have the Pretender
removed. Prior, in Paris, was directed to make the wishes of the public
known to the French Government. But this was merely _pro formâ_; it
was understood that there was no real earnestness on the part of the
English queen or ministry. Prior, writing to Bolingbroke, said that De
Torcy asked him questions, which for the best reason in the world he
did not answer; as, for instance, "How can we oblige a man to go from
one place when we forbid all others to receive him?" In fact, the Abbé
Gualtier, in his private correspondence, assures us that Bolingbroke
himself suggested to the Duke of Lorraine the pretexts for eluding the
very commands that he publicly sent him.
Anne prorogued Parliament on the 16th of July in a speech, in which she
felicitated herself on having closed a long and bloody war, which she
had inherited, and not occasioned. She trusted also that before the
meeting of the next Parliament the commercial interests of France and
England would be better understood, so that there would be no longer
any obstacle to a good commercial treaty. She said not a word regarding
the Pretender, so that it was felt by the Whigs that she had followed
the dictates of nature rather than of party in regard to him. On the
8th of August she dissolved Parliament by proclamation, its triennial
term having expired. Burnet says it had acquired the name of the
Pacific Parliament; and he winds up his own history with the remark
that "no assembly but one composed as this was could have sat quiet
under such a peace." There was every effort made, however, to impress
on the constituencies the high merit of the Parliament in making an
advantageous and glorious peace, medals being cast for that purpose
bearing the effigy of the queen and a Latin motto laudatory of peace.
The elections were now carried on with all the fire and zeal of the
two parties. The Tories boasted of their successful efforts to stem
the tide of expenditure for the war, to staunch the flow of blood, and
restore all the blessings of peace. The Whigs, on the contrary, made
the most of their opposition to the Treaty of Commerce, which they
represented as designed to sacrifice our trade to the insane regard now
shown to the French. To show their interest in trade, they wore locks
of wool in their hats; and the Tories, to show their attachment to the
Restoration and the Crown, wore green twigs of oak. Never was shown
more completely the want of logical reason in the populace, for whilst
they were declaring their zeal for the Protestant succession, and
whilst burning in effigy on the 18th of November--Queen Bess's day--the
Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender, they sent up a powerful majority
of the men who were secretly growing more and more favourable to the
Pretender's return. Never, indeed, had the chances of his restoration
appeared so great. General Stanhope, on the close of the elections,
told the Hanoverian minister that the majority was against them, and
that if things continued ever so short a time on the present footing,
the Elector would not come to the Crown unless he came with an army.
In the Macpherson and Lockhart Papers we have now the fullest evidence
of what was going on to this end. The agents of both Hanover and St.
Germains were active; but those of Hanover were depressed, those of St.
Germains never in such hope. The Jesuit Plunkett wrote: "The changes go
on by degrees to the king's advantage; none but his friends advanced or
employed in order to serve the great project. Bolingbroke and Oxford do
not set their horses together, because Oxford is so dilatory, and dozes
over things, which is the occasion there are so many Whigs chosen this
Parliament. Though there are four Tories to one, they think it little.
The ministry must now swim or sink with France." In fact, Oxford's
over-caution, and his laziness, at the same time that he was impatient
to allow any power out of his own hands, and yet did not exert it when
he had it, had disgusted the Tories, and favoured the ambitious views
which Bolingbroke was cherishing. The latter had now managed to win
the confidence of Lady Masham from the Lord Treasurer to himself; and,
aware that he had made a mortal enemy of the Elector of Hanover by his
conduct in compelling a peace and deserting the Allies, he determined
to make a bold effort to bring in the Pretender on the queen's decease,
which every one, from the nature of her complaint, felt could not be
far off. To such a pitch of openness did the queen carry her dislike,
that she seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in the most derogatory
terms of both the old Electress Sophia and her son. Oxford's close and
mysterious conduct disgusted the agents of Hanover, without assuring
those of the Pretender, and threw the advantage with the latter
party more and more into the hands of Bolingbroke. Baron Schutz, the
Hanoverian agent, wrote home that he could make nothing of Oxford, but
that there was a design against his master; and when Lord Newcastle
observed to the agent of the Pretender that, the queen's life being so
precarious, it would be good policy in Harley to strike up with the
king and make a fair bargain, the agent replied, "If the king were
master of his three kingdoms to-morrow, he would not be able to do for
Mr. Harley what the Elector of Hanover had done for him already." Thus
Oxford's closeness made him suspected of being secured by the Elector
at the very moment that the Elector deemed that he was leaning towards
the Pretender.
Meanwhile the changes made in the Government offices betrayed the
rising influence of Bolingbroke. The Duke of Shrewsbury was made Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland; the Duke of Ormonde, a noted Jacobite, was
appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports and Governor of Dover Castle, as
if for the avowed purpose of facilitating the landing of the Pretender;
Lord Lansdowne was made Treasurer of the Household; Lord Dartmouth,
Privy Seal; Mr. Bromley, the Tory leader of the Commons, joint
secretary with Bolingbroke; Benson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was
created Lord Bingley, and sent as ambassador to Spain; and Sir William
Wyndham, till now a friend of Bolingbroke's, succeeded Benson as
Chancellor. Thus Bolingbroke was surrounded by his friends in office,
and became more daring in his rivalry with Oxford, and in his schemes
to supplant the House of Hanover and introduce the Pretender to the
British throne.
[Illustration: SIR RICHARD STEELE.]
Whilst the English Court was distracted by these dissensions, the
Emperor was endeavouring to carry on the war against France by himself.
He trusted that the death of Queen Anne would throw out the Tories, and
that the Whigs coming in would again support his claims, or that the
death of Louis himself might produce a change as favourable to him in
France; he trusted to the genius of Eugene to at least enable him to
maintain the war till some such change took place. But he was deceived.
The French, having him alone to deal with, made very light of it.
They knew that he could neither bring into the field soldiers enough
to cope with their arms, nor find means to maintain them. They soon
overpowered Eugene on the Rhine, and the Emperor being glad to make
peace, Eugene and Villars met at Rastadt to concert terms. They did not
succeed, and separated till February; but met again at the latter end
of the month, and, on the 3rd of March, 1714, the treaty was signed.
By it the Emperor retained Freiburg, Old Briesach, Kehl, and the forts
in the Breisgau and Black Forest; but the King of France kept Landau,
Strasburg, and all Alsace. The Electors of Bavaria and Cologne were
readmitted to their territories and dignities as princes of the Empire.
The Emperor was put in possession of the Spanish Netherlands, and the
King of Prussia was permitted to retain the high quarters of Guelders.
The peace with Spain was also ratified in London on the 1st of March.
By this, Spain, so far as diplomatic contracts could effect it, was
for ever separated from France. Philip acknowledged the Protestant
succession, and renounced the Pretender. He confirmed the Assiento, or
exclusive privilege of the English supplying the Spanish West Indies
and South American colonies with slaves, one-fourth of the profit of
which the queen reserved to herself--a strange proof of the small
idea of the infamy of this traffic which prevailed then in England,
whilst so truly benevolent a woman could calmly appropriate money
so earned to her own use. Gibraltar and Minorca were also confirmed
to England, on condition that the Spanish inhabitants should enjoy
their own property and their religion. There was a guarantee given by
Philip for the pardon and security of the Catalans. They were to be
left in possession of their lives, estates, and honours, with certain
exceptions, and even these were at liberty to quit the country and
remove to Italy with their effects. But the Catalans, who had taken up
arms for Charles of Austria at our suggestion, were greatly incensed
at the dishonourable manner in which we had abandoned them and the
cause, and, putting no faith in the word of Philip, they still remained
in arms, and soon found themselves overrun with French troops, which
deluged their country with blood, and compelled them to submit. Amid
all the disgraceful circumstances which attended the peace of Utrecht,
none reflected more infamy on England than its treatment of the people
of Catalonia.
During these transactions the activity of the Pretender and his agents
was encouraged by the growing influence of Bolingbroke in the English
Court. Bolingbroke proposed to Oxford that they should pay the dowry
of the Pretender's mother, the widow of James II.; but to this Oxford
objected, saying that the widow of James had not contented herself
with the title of queen-dowager of England, but had assumed that of
queen mother, which, he observed, could not be lawfully admitted after
the attainder of her son. This strengthened the hands of Bolingbroke
with Lady Masham, who was violently in favour of the Pretender. Lady
Masham's disgust with Oxford was wonderfully increased. In writing to
Mesnager, she did not hesitate to say that if the Court of St. Germains
trusted to Oxford, they would be deceived; that he was "famous for
loving a secret, and making intricacies where there needed none, and
no less renowned for causing everything of such a nature to miscarry."
The Pretender, having every day increased encouragement from Lady
Masham and Bolingbroke, demanded of the Emperor of Germany one of
his nieces in marriage; and it was reported that the Emperor was
agreeable to it, and ready to espouse his cause. It was well known
that distinct propositions had been made to the Pretender through the
Duke of Berwick, at the instance of Lady Masham, before her breach
with Oxford, by which his restoration on the demise of Anne was agreed
to on condition that he should guarantee the security of the Church
and Constitution of England, and that not even his mother should
be admitted to the knowledge of this agreement. At the last point,
however, Oxford failed to conclude this secret treaty. The Duke of
Berwick, in his Memoirs, says that, in consequence of this conduct of
Oxford's, the friends of the Pretender turned their attention to other
parties about the Court--to Lord Ormonde, the Duke of Buckingham,
and many other persons. Buckingham--who was married to the Lady
Catherine Darnley, a daughter of James II. by Catherine Sedley, and
was, therefore, brother-in-law to the Pretender--wrote to the Earl of
Middleton, the Pretender's Minister, how earnestly he desired to see
the king back on the English throne; that nothing but his religion
stood in the way; that this was the only thing which prevented the
queen from acknowledging him; and he urged him to follow the example of
Henry IV. of France, who gave up the Protestant religion when he saw
that he could not securely hold the Crown without doing so. But the
Pretender was, much to his credit--being firmly persuaded of the truth
of his religion--much too honest to renounce it, even for the Crown of
such a kingdom as Great Britain; and he argued that the English people
ought to see in his sincerity a guarantee for his faithful dealing
with them in all other matters. But, unfortunately, the example of his
father had barred the way to any such plea. No man was more positive
in the adherence to his religion, or in his sacrifices on its account;
but no man had at the same time so thoroughly demonstrated that he had
no such honourable feeling as to breaking his word where any political
matter was concerned.
In the midst of these secret correspondences the queen was seized at
Windsor with a serious illness, and, considering the general state
of her health, it was most threatening. The hopes of the Jacobites
rose wonderfully; the Funds went rapidly down; there was a great run
upon the Bank, and the Directors were filled with consternation by
a report of an armament being ready in the ports of France to bring
over the Pretender at the first news of Anne's decease. They sent
to the Lord Treasurer to inform him of the danger which menaced the
public credit. The whole of London was in excitement, from a report
that the queen was actually dead. The Whigs did not conceal their joy,
but were hurrying to and fro, and meeting in large numbers at the
Earl of Wharton's. The Lord Treasurer, to keep down the public alarm,
remained in town, and contented himself with sending expresses to
obtain constant news of the queen's state, for his hurrying to Windsor
would have had an inconceivable effect. He, therefore, let himself be
seen publicly where he could be questioned regarding the condition
of the queen, and gave assurances that she was better. To allay the
panic, Anne was induced to sign a letter prepared for her, announcing
to Sir Samuel Stancer, the Lord Mayor, that she was now recovering,
and would be in town and open Parliament on the 16th of February. This
news being confirmed, those who had been too hasty in pulling off their
masks found some awkwardness in fitting them on again. The Press was
active. Steele published a pamphlet called "The Crisis," in advocacy
of the Revolution, and on the danger of a Popish succession; whilst
on the other hand came out a reply, supposed to be written by Swift,
not without a few touches from Bolingbroke; it was styled "The Public
Spirit of the Whigs," and was distinguished by all the sarcasm of the
authors. The queen's recovery, and the fact that the French armament
was a fiction, quieted the storm and again restored the Funds.
The Parliament was punctually opened on the 16th of February, 1714, by
the queen, as she had promised at Windsor, though she was obliged to
be carried there; for during last autumn she had been obliged, by her
gout and obesity, to be raised into her chamber by pulleys, and so let
down again, like Henry VIII. After congratulating the two Houses on
the peace with Spain, she turned to the subject of the Press, and the
rumours spread by it regarding the danger of the Protestant succession.
Bolingbroke had been active enough in prosecuting the Press because it
was dangerous to the designs which he was cherishing, notwithstanding
the affected warmth which he and Oxford had put into the queen's
mouth. They had taxed the penny sheets and pamphlets which agitated
these questions; but this, according to Swift, had only done their own
side mischief. Bolingbroke had, further, arrested eleven printers and
publishers in one day. But now the war was opened in Parliament, Lord
Wharton, in the House of Peers, called for the prosecution of "The
Public Spirit of the Whigs," and the printer and publisher were brought
to the bar. These were John Morphew, the publisher, and one John Bache,
the printer. But Lord Wharton, who was aiming at higher quarry, said,
"We have nothing to do with the printer and publisher, but it highly
concerns the honour of this august assembly to find out the villain who
is the author of that false and scandalous libel." Oxford denied all
knowledge of the author, yet, on retiring from the debate, he sent one
hundred pounds to Swift, and promised to do more. Lord Wharton then
turned upon the printer, whom he had first affected to disregard, and
demanded that he should be closely examined; but the next day the Earl
of Mar, one of the secretaries of State, declared that her Majesty had
ordered his prosecution. This was to shield him from the Parliamentary
inquiry. Here the matter dropped, for Swift was too well screened by
his patrons, who had lately rewarded him by Church preferment, and
shortly afterwards made him Dean of St. Patrick's, in Dublin.
The attempt of the Whigs in the Lords to unearth the vituperative
dean, though it had failed, stimulated the Tories in the Commons to
retaliation. Richard Steele, author of "The Tatler," an eloquent and
able writer, had not sought to screen himself from the responsibility
of the honest truths in "The Crisis," as Swift had screened himself
from the consequences of his untruths, and a whole host of Tories
assailed him in the Commons, of which he was a member. Amongst these
were Thomas Harley, the brother of Oxford, Foley, the auditor, a
relative of Oxford's, and Sir William Wyndham, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. They flattered themselves with an easy triumph over him, for
Steele, though popular as a writer, was new to the House of Commons,
and had broken down in his first essay at speaking there; but he now
astonished them by the vigour, wit, and sarcasm of his defence. He was
ably supported, too, by Robert Walpole, who had obtained a seat in
this new Parliament. Nothing, however, could shield Steele, as Swift's
being anonymous had shielded him. Steele was pronounced by the votes of
a majority of two hundred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty-two
to be guilty of a scandalous libel, and was expelled the House. During
the debate Addison had sat by the side of Steele, and, though he was
no orator to champion him in person, had suggested continual telling
arguments.
The war of faction still went on furiously. In the Lords there was a
violent debate on an address, recommended by Wharton, Cowper, Halifax,
and others, on the old subject of removing the Pretender from Lorraine;
and they went so far as to recommend that a reward should be offered
to any person who should bring the Pretender, dead or alive, to her
Majesty. This was so atrocious, considering the relation of the
Pretender to the queen, that it was negatived, and another clause,
substituting a reward for bringing him to justice should he attempt
to land in Great Britain or Ireland. Though in the Commons, as well
as in the Lords, it was decided that the Protestant succession was in
no danger, an address insisting on the removal of the Pretender from
Lorraine was carried. Anne received these addresses in anything but
a gratified humour. She observed, in reply, that "it really would be
a strengthening to the succession of the House of Hanover, if an end
were put to these groundless fears and jealousies which had been so
industriously promoted. I do not," she said, "at this time see any
necessity for such a proclamation. Whenever I judge it necessary, I
shall give my orders to have it issued."
The Whigs were as active to bring over the Electoral Prince of Hanover
as they were to drive the Pretender farther off. With the Prince in
England, a great party would be gathered about him; and all those who
did not pay court to him and promote the interests of his House would
be marked men in the next reign. Nothing could be more hateful than
such a movement to both the queen and her ministers. Anne had a perfect
horror of the House of Hanover; and of the Ministers, Bolingbroke, at
least, was staking his whole future on paving the way of the Pretender
to the throne. When the Whigs, therefore, instigated Baron Schutz, the
Hanoverian envoy, to apply to the Lord Chancellor Harcourt for a writ
of summons for the Electoral Prince, who had been created a British
peer by the title of the Duke of Cambridge, Harcourt was thrown into
the utmost embarrassment. He pleaded that he must first consult the
queen, who, on her part, was seized with similar consternation. The
Court was equally afraid of granting the writ and of refusing it. If it
granted it, the prince would soon be in England, and the queen would
see her courtiers running to salute the rising sun; the Jacobites, with
Bolingbroke at their head, would commit suicide on their own plans now
in active agitation for bringing in the Pretender. If they refused it,
it would rouse the whole Whig party, and the cry that the Protestant
succession was betrayed would spread like lightning through the nation.
Schutz was counselled by the leading Whigs--Devonshire, Somerset,
Nottingham, Somers, Argyll, Cowper, Halifax, Wharton, and Townshend--to
press the Lord Chancellor for the writ. He did so, and was answered
that the writ was ready sealed, and was lying for him whenever he chose
to call for it; but at the same time he was informed that her Majesty
was greatly incensed at the manner in which the writ had been asked
for; that she conceived that it should have first been mentioned to
her, and that she would have given the necessary orders. But every one
knew that it was not the manner, but the fact of desiring the delivery
of the writ which was the offence.
Every engine of the English Court was put in motion to prevent the
Electoral Prince from coming. Oxford had an interview with Schutz, in
which he repeated that it was his applying for the writ to the Lord
Chancellor instead of to the queen that had done all the mischief;
that her Majesty, had it not been for this untoward incident,
would have invited the Prince to come over and spend the summer in
England--forgetting, as Schutz observed, that the minute before he had
assured him that the queen was too much afraid of seeing any of that
family here. He advised Schutz--who could not be convinced that he had
done anything irregular in his application, quoting numerous proofs to
show that it was the accustomed mode of applying for writs--to avoid
appearing again at Court; but Schutz, not seeming disposed to follow
that advice, immediately received a positive order to the same effect
from the queen through another channel. Schutz, therefore, lost no
time in returning to Hanover to justify himself. At the same time,
Lord Strafford was instructed to write from the Hague, blaming the
conduct of Schutz in applying for the writ in the manner he did, as
disrespectful to the queen; for, though strictly legal for an absent
peer to make such application, the etiquette was that he should defer
it till he could do it personally. Strafford ridiculed the idea of any
movement being afoot in favour of the Pretender, and observed that,
as to sending him out of the Duke of Lorraine's territory, it was not
practicable, because the French king maintained that he had fulfilled
the treaty, Lorraine not being any part of France. On the other hand,
there were striking signs that the cause of Hanover was in the
ascendant. Men who watched the course of events decided accordingly.
Marlborough, who so lately had been making court to the Pretender, now
wrote from Antwerp, urging the House of Hanover to send over the prince
without delay to England; that the state of the queen's health made
prompt action necessary; and that the presence of the prince in London
would secure the succession without risk, without expense, and without
war, and was the likeliest measure of inducing France to abandon its
design of assisting the Pretender.
[Illustration: WELFEN CASTLE, HANOVER.]
The real fact was, that exertions equally strenuous were all this time
being made on the part of the Pretender. As the state of Anne's health
became more and more precarious, both parties increased their efforts
to secure their ground, and there was a most active and incessant
struggle going on round the throne to enable the head of either
party to step into it the moment it became vacant. It was considered
essential for the claimant to be on the spot, and, therefore, every
means was used to induce the queen to admit the Pretender as well as
a member of the Electoral House to Court. It was a scheme of the Duke
of Berwick, which he communicated to Oxford through the Abbé Gualtier,
that the queen should be induced to consent to do her brother justice;
that he should go to St. James's, and that on the understanding that he
consented to allow liberty of the subject and of religion, the queen
should pass such Acts as were necessary for the public security on
these heads, and that then she should suddenly introduce him in full
Parliament.
But there was a circumstance taken for granted in such a scheme which
would never have been realised--the consent of the queen. Anne, like
most other sovereigns, abhorred the idea of a successor. She never
liked the contemplation of the occupation of her throne after death,
much less did she relish the presence of a competitor during her
lifetime. Besides in her days of disease and weakness she had enough to
do to manage her Ministry, without adding to her anxieties by a rival
authority either from Hanover or St. Germains. There was still another
obstacle--the unsatisfactory conduct of Oxford, who had professed
great zeal for the Pretender till he got the Peace of Utrecht signed,
because this secured him the vote of the Jacobites, but who since then
had trifled with them, and never could be brought to any positive
decision. Berwick had sent over the Abbé Gualtier to endeavour to bring
Oxford to a point. Gualtier soon informed his employer that Oxford was
actively corresponding with the House of Hanover and therefore Berwick
and De Torcy wrote a joint letter to him, putting the plain question,
what measures he had taken to secure the interests of the Pretender in
case of the death of the queen, which no one could now suppose to be
far off. Oxford, with unwonted candour this time, replied that, if the
queen died soon, the affairs of the Prince and of the Cabinet too were
ruined without resource. This satisfied them that he had never really
been in earnest in the Pretender's cause, or he would long ago have
taken measures for his advantage, or would have told them that he found
it impossible. They determined, therefore, to throw the interests of
the Jacobites into the party of Bolingbroke; and this was another step
in Oxford's fall. They managed to set Lady Masham warmly against him,
and this undermined him more than ever with the queen.
The scene grew every day more busy as the queen became more obviously
failing. Harley, at Hanover, was plying the Elector and his family
with reasons why the prince ought not to go to England. The Elector
himself appeared quite of the same opinion; but not so the Electress
or her son. The Electress, who was now nearly eighty-four, and who
was undoubtedly a woman of a very superior character, still had that
trace of earthly ambition in her, that she used frequently to say
she should die contented if she could only once for a little while
feel the crown of England on her head. She was the youngest daughter
of Elizabeth of Bohemia, who had ruined her husband by a similar
longing after a far less resplendent diadem. When pressed by Harley,
the Electress and her son presented him with a memorial, which he was
desired to forward to the queen. Anne, in indignation, addressed a
letter to the Electress, but without effect; and on the 30th of May
she indited a more determined epistle to the Elector himself:--"As the
rumour increases that my cousin, the Electoral Prince, has resolved to
come over to settle in my lifetime in my dominions, I do not choose to
delay a moment to write to you about this, and to communicate to you
my sentiments upon a subject of this importance. I then freely own to
you that I cannot imagine that a prince who possesses the knowledge
and penetration of your Electoral Highness can ever contribute to such
an attempt, and that I believe you are too just to allow that any
infringement shall be made on my sovereignty which you would not choose
should be made on your own. I am firmly persuaded that you would not
suffer the smallest diminution of your authority. I am no less delicate
in that respect; and I am determined to oppose a project so contrary to
my royal authority, however fatal the consequences may be."
This put matters beyond all chance of mistake. The menace had such an
effect on the aged Electress that she was taken ill and died suddenly
in the arms of the Electoral Princess, afterwards Queen Caroline (May
28, 1714). Sophia was a very accomplished as well as amiable woman. She
was perfect mistress of the German, Dutch, French, English, and Italian
languages; and, notwithstanding the endeavours of the Jacobite party in
England to render her ridiculous, had always maintained an elevated and
honourable character. She was more of an Englishwoman than a German,
and, had she lived a few weeks longer, would have had--according to her
often avowed wish--"Here lies Sophia, Queen of England," engraven on
her coffin. The journey of the prince was wholly abandoned; not that
the inclination of the prince for the journey was abated, nor that the
Whigs ceased to urge it. Townshend, Sunderland, Halifax, and others
pressed it as of the utmost importance; and both the Elector and his
son wrote to the queen, assuring her that, had the prince been allowed
to come, he would soon have convinced her Majesty of his desire to
increase the peace and strength of her reign rather than to diminish
them.
The two rival Ministers of England became every day more embittered
against each other; and Bolingbroke grew more daring in his advances
towards the Pretender, and towards measures only befitting a Stuart's
reign. In order to please the High Church, whilst he was taking the
surest measures to ruin it by introducing a popish prince, he consulted
with Atterbury, and they agreed to bring in a Bill which should prevent
Dissenters from educating their own children. This measure was sure to
please the Hanoverian Tories, who were as averse from the Dissenters as
the Whigs. Thus it would conciliate them and obtain their support at
the very moment that the chief authors of it were planning the ruin of
their party. This Bill was called the Schism Bill, and enjoined that
no person in Great Britain should keep any school, or act as tutor,
who had not first subscribed the declaration to conform to the Church
of England, and obtained a licence of the diocesan. Upon failure of
so doing, the party might be committed to prison without bail; and no
such licence was to be granted before the party produced a certificate
of his having received the Sacrament according to the communion of the
English Church within the last year, and of his having also subscribed
the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy.
This Act, as disgraceful as any which ever dishonoured the statute-book
in the reigns of the Tudors or Stuarts, was introduced into the
Commons, on the 12th of May, by Sir William Wyndham, and was resolutely
opposed by the Whigs, amongst whom Sir Peter King, Sir Joseph Jekyll,
Mr. Hampden, Robert Walpole, and General Stanhope distinguished
themselves. They did not convince the majority, which amounted to no
less than two hundred and thirty-seven to one hundred and twenty-six.
In the Lords, Bolingbroke himself moved the second reading, and it
was ably opposed by the Lords Cowper, Wharton, Halifax, Townshend,
Nottingham, and others. The greatest curiosity was displayed regarding
the part which Oxford would take, as it was known that in the Council
he had endeavoured to soften the rigorous clauses; but in the House
he followed his usual shuffling habit, declaring that he had not yet
considered the question; and, having induced the Opposition to let the
second reading pass without a division, he absented himself from the
final voting, and thus disgusted both parties and hastened his own fall.
In committee the Opposition endeavoured to introduce some modifying
clause. They proposed that the Dissenters should have schools for their
own persuasion; and, had the object of the Bill been to prevent them
from endangering the Church by educating the children of Churchmen,
this would have served the purpose. But this was not the real object;
the motive of the Bill was the old tyrannic spirit of the Church, and
this most reasonable clause was rejected. They allowed, however, dames
or schoolmistresses to teach the children to read; and they removed
the conviction of offenders from the justices of peace to the courts
of law, and granted a right of appeal to a higher court. Finally,
they exempted tutors in noblemen's families, noblemen being supposed
incapable of countenancing any other than teachers of Court principles.
Stanhope seized on this to extend the privilege to the members of the
House of Commons, arguing that, as many members of the Commons were
connected with noble families, they must have an equal claim for the
education of their children in sound principles. This was an exquisite
bit of satire, but it was unavailing. The Hanoverian Tories, headed
by Lord Anglesey, moved that the Act should extend to Ireland, where,
as the native population was almost wholly Catholic, and therefore
schismatic in the eye of the Established Church, the Bill would have
almost entirely extinguished education. The Bill was carried on the
10th of June by a majority only of seventy-seven against seventy-two,
and would not have been carried at all except for the late creation of
Tory peers.
The Hanoverian Tories now again joined the Whigs, and their demands
compelled the Government to issue a proclamation offering a reward of
five thousand pounds for the apprehension of the Pretender should he
attempt to land anywhere in Great Britain. Wharton proposed that the
words "Alive or Dead" should be inserted in the proclamation, but the
queen rejected them with horror. The House of Lords passed a resolution
increasing the reward to one hundred thousand pounds. It was made high
treason, too, to enlist or be enlisted for the Pretender. Bolingbroke,
however, assured Iberville, a French agent, that "it would make no
difference;" and that the queen regarded the whole as a mere sop to
the public was evinced by her immediately afterwards receiving the
Earl of Mar, a most determined Jacobite, at Court on his marriage with
Lady Francis Pierrepoint, sister of the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, and soon after making this man one of her Ministers of State,
who, in the very next year, headed the Jacobite rebellion.
The queen closed the session on the 9th of July, assuring the
Parliament that her chief concern was for the preservation of our holy
religion and the liberty of the subject--this liberty having been most
grievously invaded by her through the Schism Bill. But the dissolution
of her Ministry was also fast approaching. The hostility of Oxford and
Bolingbroke was becoming intolerable, and paralysed all the proceedings
of Government. As for Oxford, he felt himself going, and had not the
boldness and resolution to do what would ruin his rival. He coquetted
with the Whigs--Cowper, Halifax, and others; he wrote to Marlborough,
and did all but throw himself into the arms of the Opposition. Had he
had the spirit to do that he might have been saved; but it was not in
his nature. He might then have uncovered to the day the whole monstrous
treason of Bolingbroke; but he had himself so far and so often, though
never heartily or boldly, tampered with treason, that he dreaded
Bolingbroke's retaliation. Bothmar, the Hanoverian envoy, saw clearly
that Oxford was lost. He wrote home that there were numbers who would
have assisted him to bring down his rival, but that he could not be
assisted, because, according to the English maxim, he did not choose to
assist himself. Swift endeavoured, but in vain, to reconcile his two
jarring friends; and Oxford finally utterly lost himself by offending
the great favourite, Lady Masham. He had been imprudent enough to
oppose her wishes, and refuse her some matter of interest. He now was
treated by her with such marked indignity, that Dr. Arbuthnot declared
that he would no more have suffered what he had done than he would have
sold himself to the galleys. Still, with his singular insensibility to
insult, he used to dine at the same table with her frequently, and also
in company with Bolingbroke, too.
Anne demanded Oxford's resignation. The "dragon," as Arbuthnot styled
him, held the White Staff with a deadly grip; but, on the 27th of July,
he was compelled to relinquish it, and that afternoon her Majesty
stated to the Council her reasons for dismissing him. His confidant and
creature, Erasmus Lewis, himself thus records them:--"The queen has
told all the Lords the reasons of her parting with him, namely, that
he neglected all business; that he was seldom to be understood; that
when he did explain himself she could not depend upon the truth of what
he said; that he never came to her at the time she appointed; that he
often came drunk; lastly, to crown all, that he behaved himself towards
her with bad manners, indecency, and disrespect."
Bolingbroke was now Prime Minister, and he hastened to arrange his
Cabinet entirely on Jacobite principles. So far as he was concerned,
the country was to be handed over to the Pretender and popery on the
queen's death. He would not run the risk of a new antagonist in the
shape of a Lord Treasurer, but put the Treasury in commission, with Sir
William Wyndham at its head. The Privy Seal was given to Atterbury;
Bromley was continued as the other Secretary of State; and the Earl
of Mar, the rankest of Jacobites, was made Secretary of State for
Scotland. Ormonde, long engaged in the Pretender's plot, was made
Commander-in-Chief--a most significant appointment; Buckingham was
made Lord President, and Harcourt Lord Chancellor. As for the inferior
posts, he found great difficulty in filling them up. "The sterility
of good men," wrote Erasmus Lewis to Swift, "is incredible." Good
men, according to the unprincipled Bolingbroke's notions, were not to
be found in a hurry. There were plenty of candidates ready, but it
may give an impressive notion of the state of that party, that there
was scarcely a man beyond those already appointed whom Bolingbroke
could trust. The Cabinet never was completed. What his own notions of
moral or political honesty were, may be imagined from the fact that
he did not hesitate to attempt a coalition with the Whigs. He gave
a dinner-party at his house in Golden Square to Stanhope, Walpole,
Craggs, General Cadogan, and other leaders; but though Walpole, when
Minister himself, boasted that every man had his price, Bolingbroke had
not yet discovered Walpole's price nor that of his colleagues. They
to a man demanded, as a _sine quâ non_, that the Pretender should be
compelled to remove to Rome, or to some place much farther off than
Lorraine, and Bolingbroke assured them that the queen would never
consent to such a banishment of her brother. Nothing but the lowest
opinion of men's principles could have led Bolingbroke to expect any
other result from these Whig leaders. Perhaps he only meant to sound
their real views; perhaps only to divert public attention from his
real designs, which the very names of his coadjutors in the Ministry
must have made patent enough to all men of any penetration. The very
same day that he thus gave this Whig dinner he assured Gualtier that
his sentiments towards "the king" were just the same as ever, provided
his Majesty took such measures as would suit the people of England.
Time only was wanting for this traitor-Minister to betray the country
to its old despotisms and troubles; but such time was not in the
plans of Providence. The end of Anne was approaching faster than was
visible to human eyes; but the shrewd and selfish Marlborough had a
pretty strong instinct of it, and was drawing nearer and nearer to the
scene of action, ready to secure himself whichever way the balance
inclined. He was at Ostend, prepared to pass over at an hour's notice,
and to the last moment keeping up his correspondence with the two
Courts of Hanover and Bar-le-duc. Both despised and suspected him, but
feared him at the same time. Such was still his influence, especially
with the army, that whichever party he adopted was considered pretty
sure to succeed. That it was likely to succeed was equally certain
before Marlborough did adopt it. Lockhart of Carnwath, one of the most
active and sagacious Jacobites, and likely to be in the secrets of
the Jacobite party, says that the Pretender, to test the sincerity of
Marlborough, asked the loan of one hundred thousand pounds from him, as
a proof of his fidelity. He did not abide the test, but soon afterwards
offered twenty thousand pounds to the Electoral Prince, to enable him
to come over to England. The moment that Marlborough was prepared,
with his deep-rooted love of money, to do that, it might be certainly
pronounced that he was confident of the success of the Hanoverians.
[Illustration: ANNE MAKING THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY LORD TREASURER. (_See
p._ 22)]
The agitation which the queen underwent on the night of the 27th, when
she dismissed Oxford after a long and fierce altercation, produced a
marked change in her health. The Council was only terminated, having
sat to consider who should be admitted into the new Ministry, by the
queen falling into a swoon. Being got to bed, she passed the night,
not in sleep, but in weeping. The next day another Council was held,
but was again broken up by the illness of the queen, and was prorogued
to the 29th of July. To Dr. Arbuthnot, her physician, Anne declared
that the disputes of her Ministers had killed her; that she should
never survive it. Lady Masham, struck by the queen's heavy and silent
manner, apprehended the worst. Bolingbroke and his Jacobite colleagues
were thunderstruck by this sudden crisis. They assembled in council at
Kensington, in a room not far from that of the dying queen, but they
were so stupefied by the blow that they could do nothing. On the other
hand, the Whigs had been quite alert. Stanhope had made preparations
to seize the Tower; to secure the persons of the Ministers and the
leading Jacobites, if necessary, on the demise of the queen; to obtain
possession of the outports, and proclaim the king. A proof of this
concert was immediately given by the Dukes of Argyll and Somerset, who
belonged to the Privy Council, but, of course, had not been summoned,
suddenly entering the Council chamber, stating that, hearing of the
queen's critical position, they had hastened, though not summoned, to
offer their assistance. No sooner had they said this, than the Duke of
Shrewsbury rose and thanked them for their courtesy. The Whig dukes
immediately demanded that the queen's physicians should be called and
examined as to her probable continuance. The physicians in general
were of opinion that her Majesty might linger some time; but Dr. Mead
declared that she could not live many days, perhaps not many hours;
from the apoplectic symptoms she might be gone in one. Argyll and
Somerset thereupon declared it absolutely necessary that the post of
Lord Treasurer should be filled up, as it was requisite that, at such a
moment, there should be a recognised Prime Minister, and proposed that
the Duke of Shrewsbury should be nominated to that office. Bolingbroke
felt that his power and his plans were at an end, and sat like one
in a dream. The members of the Council then proceeded to the queen's
apartment, and Bolingbroke followed them, as it were, mechanically.
The queen was sensible enough to be made aware of their errand, and
expressed her approval of it. Shrewsbury, however, with that singular
hesitation which always characterised him, refused to take the White
Staff, except from her Majesty's own hand. It was, therefore, handed to
her, and she extended it towards Shrewsbury, saying, "For God's sake,
use it for the good of my people!" Shrewsbury was already Chamberlain,
and he presented the staff of that office in resignation of it; but the
queen bade him retain both; and thus he was at once Lord Treasurer,
Lord Chamberlain, and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
Oxford had sent round a circular to every Whig lord in or near London
who had ever belonged to the Privy Council, warning them to come and
make a struggle for the Protestant succession. This was one of the
most decided actions of that vibratory statesman, and was, no doubt,
prompted by his desire to avenge his recent defeat by Bolingbroke,
and to stand well at the last moment with the House of Hanover. In
consequence of this, the Jacobite Ministers found themselves completely
prostrate and helpless in the midst of the strong muster of Whigs. Even
the aged and infirm Somers made his appearance, and threw the weight
of his great name into the scale. Prompt measures were taken to secure
the advent of the new king. Four regiments were ordered to London;
seven battalions were sent for from Ostend, where Marlborough was said
to have secured their zealous fidelity to the Elector; a fleet was
ordered to put to sea to prevent any interruption of his transit, and
to receive him in Holland. An embargo was laid on all ports, and Anne
the next morning having sunk again into lethargy, the Council ordered
the Heralds-at-Arms and a troop of the Life Guards to be in readiness
to proclaim her successor. Mr. Craggs was sent express to Hanover to
desire the Elector to hasten to Holland, where the fleet would be
ready to receive him. The Council also sent a dispatch to the States
General, to remind them of the fact--which for a long time and to this
moment the English Government appeared itself to have forgotten--that
there was such a thing as a treaty, and that by it they were bound to
guarantee the Protestant succession. Lord Berkeley was appointed to the
command of the fleet, and a reinforcement was ordered for Portsmouth.
A general officer was hastened to Scotland, where much apprehension
of a movement in favour of the Pretender existed; and, in short,
every conceivable arrangement was made for the safe accession of the
Protestant king.
Still, during all this time, though the Tory Ministers in the Council
appeared paralysed, the Jacobite lords assembled in secret junto in the
very palace where the Council was sitting and the queen dying. Lady
Masham's apartments were the scene of the last convulsive agitation of
Jacobitism. From her the distracted leaders of that faction received
the accounts of the progress of the queen's illness. Amongst these
were Buckingham, Ormonde, Atterbury, and, when he was not at Anne's
bedside, Robinson, Bishop of London. This prelate, when he attended
to administer the Sacrament to the dying woman, received a message
from her, which he was bound by the Duchess of Ormonde to promise
to deliver, though it cost him his head. Probably it was some last
remembrance to her brother, the Pretender; though it was supposed by
some to be an order to the Duke of Ormonde, the Commander-in-Chief,
to hold the army for the Stuart. Nothing, however, of the nature of
this message ever transpired; but the Duke of Buckingham, on the
separation of the Council, which had just obtained the affixing of the
Great Seal to a patent providing for the government of the country by
four-and-twenty regents till the arrival of the successor, clapped his
hand on Ormonde's shoulder, saying, "My lord, you have four-and-twenty
hours to do our business in, and make yourself master of the country."
It was a forlorn hope. That evening Lady Masham entered her apartments
in great agitation, saying, "Oh, my lords, we are all undone--entirely
ruined! The queen is a dead woman; all the world cannot save her!"
Upon which one of the lords asked if the queen had her senses, and if
Lady Masham thought she could speak to them. She replied, "Impossible;
her pain deprives her of all sense, and in the interval she dozes and
speaks to nobody." "That is hard indeed," said one of the lords. "If
she could but speak to us, and give us orders, and sign them, we might
do the business for all that." "Alas!" replied another lord, "who would
act on such orders? We are all undone!" "Then we cannot be worse,"
said a third. "I assure you," remarked another of these conspirators,
probably Ormonde, "that if her Majesty would give orders to proclaim
her successor in her lifetime, I would do it at the head of the
army. I'll answer for the soldiers." "Do it, then!" swore the Bishop
Atterbury, for he did not stick at an oath. "Let us go out and proclaim
the Chevalier at Charing Cross. Do you not see that we have no time to
lose?" Lady Masham told them they might waive debate; there was nothing
to be done; her Majesty was no longer capable of directing anything. On
which the Duke of Ormonde exclaimed, "Lord, what an unhappy thing this
is! What a cause is here lost at one blow!"
The queen expired at seven o'clock on Sunday morning, the 1st of
August, 1714, not having recovered sufficient consciousness to receive
the Sacrament, or to sign her will. During her intervals of sense she
is reported to have repeatedly exclaimed, "Oh, my brother, my dear
brother, what will become of you!" She was still only in her fiftieth
year, and the thirteenth of her reign. Bolingbroke wrote to Swift--"The
Earl of Oxford was removed on Tuesday, and the queen died on Sunday.
What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us!"
Bolingbroke had assured Iberville, the French agent, that, had the
queen only lived six weeks longer, his measures were so well taken that
he should have brought in the Pretender in spite of everything. On the
very day of the queen's death Marlborough landed at Dover, so exactly
had he timed his return. He found George I. proclaimed in London, in
York, and in other large towns, not only without disorder, but with an
acclamation of joy from the populace which plainly showed where the
heart lay.