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.
The calculations of no political party had ever been more completely
falsified than those of the Jacobites and their congeners the Tories
on the death of the queen. They had relied on the fact that the House
of Hanover was regarded with dislike as successors to the throne of
England by all the Catholic Powers of Europe, on account of their
Protestantism, and many of the Protestant Powers from jealousy; and
reckoned that, whilst France would be disposed to support the claims of
the Pretender, there were no Continental countries which would support
those of Hanover, except Holland and the new kingdom of Prussia,
neither of which gave them much alarm. Prussia was but a minor Power,
not capable of furnishing much aid to a contest in England. Holland
had been too much exhausted by a long war to be willing to engage
in another, except for a cause which vitally concerned itself. In
England, the Tories being in power, and Bolingbroke earnest in the
interest of the Pretender, the Duke of Ormonde at the head of the
army, there appeared to the minds of the Jacobites nothing to fear but
the too early demise of the queen, which might find their plans yet
unmatured. To this they, in fact, attributed their failure; but we
may very confidently assert that, even had Anne lived as long as they
desired her, there was one element omitted in their calculations which
would have overthrown all their attempts--the invincible antipathy
to Popery in the heart of the nation, which the steadfast temper of
the Pretender showed must inevitably come back with him to renew all
the old struggles. The event of the queen's death discovered, too, the
comparative weakness of the Tory faction, the strength and activity of
the Whigs. The king showing no haste to arrive, gave ample opportunity
to the Jacobites--had they been in any degree prepared, as they ought
to have been, after so many years, for this great crisis--to introduce
the Pretender and rally round his standard. But whilst George I.
lingered, no Stuart appeared; and the Whigs had taken such careful and
energetic precautions, that without him every attempt must only have
brought destruction on the movers. The measures of Shrewsbury were
complete. The way by sea was secured for the Protestant king, and the
Regency Act provided for the security of every department of Government
at home.
Before the proclamation of the new king the Council had met, and,
according to the Regency Act, and an instrument signed by the king and
produced by Herr Kreyenberg, the Hanoverian resident, nominated the
persons who were to act till the king's arrival. They consisted of the
seven great officers of State and a number of the peers. The whole was
found to include eighteen of the principal noblemen, nearly all of the
Whig party, as the Dukes of Shrewsbury, Somerset, and Argyll; the Lords
Cowper, Halifax, and Townshend. It was noticed, however, that neither
Marlborough, Sunderland, nor Somers was of the number; nor ought this
to have excited any surprise, when it was recollected that the list was
drawn out in 1705, though only signed just before the queen's death.
These noblemen belonged to that junto under whose thraldom Anne had so
long groaned. The omission, however, greatly incensed Marlborough and
Sunderland.
[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF GEORGE I.]
Marlborough landed at Dover on the day of the queen's death, where he
was received with the warmest acclamations and tokens of the highest
popularity. He was met on his approach to London by a procession of two
hundred gentlemen, headed by Sir Charles Coxe, member for Southwark. As
he drew nearer this procession was joined by a long train of carriages.
It was like a triumph; and Bothmar, the Hanoverian Minister, wrote home
that it was as if he had gained another battle at Höchstädt (Blenheim)
that he would be of great service in case the Pretender should make any
attempt, but that he was displeased that he was not in the regency, or
that any man except the king should be higher in the country than he.
He went straight to the House of Lords to take the oaths to the king;
but at Temple Bar his carriage broke down, to the great delight of the
people, because it compelled him to come out and enter another, by
which they got a good view of him. Having taken the oaths, he retired
into the country till the arrival of the king, disgusted at his not
being in the regency.
The Lords Justices having met, appointed Joseph Addison, afterwards so
celebrated as a writer, and even now very popular, as their secretary,
and ordered all despatches addressed to Bolingbroke to be brought to
him. This was an intimation that Bolingbroke would be dismissed; and
that proud Minister, instead of giving orders, was obliged to receive
them, and to wait at the door of the Council-chamber with his bags and
papers. As the Lords Justices were apprehending that there might be
some disturbances in Ireland, they were about to send over Sunderland
as Lord-Lieutenant, and General Stanhope as Commander-in-Chief; but
they were speedily relieved of their fears by the intelligence that
all had passed off quietly there; that the Lords Justices of Ireland,
the Archbishop of Armagh, and Sir Constantine Phipps, who had been
more than suspected of Jacobitism, had proclaimed the king on the
6th of August, and, to give evidence of their new zeal, had issued
a proclamation for disarming Papists and seizing their horses. The
proclamation of George passed with the same quietness in Scotland, and
no king, had he been born a native, in the quietest times, could have
succeeded to the throne more smoothly. Eighteen lords, chiefly Whigs,
were nominated by the new king to act as a Council of Regency, pending
his arrival, and the Civil List was voted by Parliament.
During these transactions there was naturally an earnestly-inquiring
eye kept open towards Hanover, whence the king appeared in no hurry
to issue forth and assume the throne of these three fair kingdoms.
The coolness with which George of Hanover appeared to contemplate the
splendid prize which had fallen to him, seemed to the English little
less than unnatural. Thrones and crowns are generally seized upon
with avidity; but the new king seemed to feel more regret in quitting
his petty Electorate than eagerness to enter on his splendid kingdom.
But George was a man of phlegmatic disposition, and of the most exact
habits, and went through his duties like an automaton or a piece of
machinery. He took, therefore, much time in settling his affairs in
Hanover before he turned his face towards England, and it was not till
the 18th of September, or nearly seven weeks after the decease of the
late queen, that he landed at Greenwich with his son George. "His views
and affections were," as Lord Chesterfield properly observed, "singly
confined to the narrow compass of his Electorate. England was too big
for him."
The triumph of the Whigs was complete. Whilst Oxford, who had been
making great efforts at the last to retrieve himself with his party
by assisting them to seize the reins of power on the queen's illness,
was admitted in absolute silence to kiss the king's hand, and that not
without many difficulties, Marlborough, Somers, Halifax, and the rest
were received with the most cordial welcome. Yet, on appointing the
new cabinet, the king showed that he did not forget the double-dealing
of Marlborough. He smiled on him, but did not place him where he hoped
to be, at the head of affairs. He made Lord Townshend Secretary of
State and Prime Minister; Stanhope, the second Secretary; the Earl of
Mar was removed from the Secretaryship of Scotland to make way for
the Duke of Montrose; Lord Halifax was made First Lord Commissioner
of the Treasury, and was raised to an earldom, and was allowed to
confer on his nephew the sinecure of Auditor of the Exchequer; Lord
Cowper became Lord Chancellor; Lord Wharton was made Privy Seal,
and created a marquis; the Earl of Nottingham became President
of the Council; Mr. Pulteney was appointed Secretary-at-War; the
Duke of Argyll, Commander-in-Chief for Scotland; Shrewsbury, Lord
Chamberlain and Groom of the Stole; the Duke of Devonshire became Lord
Steward of the Household; the Duke of Somerset, Master of the Horse;
Sunderland, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland; Walpole was at first made
simply Paymaster of the Forces, without a place in the cabinet, but
his ability in debate and as a financier soon raised him to higher
employment; Lord Orford was made First Lord of the Admiralty; and
Marlborough, Commander-in-Chief and Master of the Ordnance. His power,
however, was gone. In the whole new cabinet Nottingham was the only
member who belonged to the Tory party, and of late he had been acting
more in common with the Whigs. The Tories complained vehemently of
their exclusion, as if their dealings with the Pretender had been a
recommendation to the House of Hanover. They contended that the king
should have shown himself the king of the whole people, and aimed at a
junction of the two parties.
The Ministerial arrangements being completed, the coronation took place
on the 31st of October, and was fully attended by the chief nobles and
statesmen, even by Oxford and Bolingbroke, and was celebrated in most
parts of the kingdom with many demonstrations of joy. Parliament was
then dissolved, and the elections went vastly in favour of the Whigs,
though there were serious riots at Manchester, and throughout the
Midlands. The hopes of advantage from a new monarch made their usual
conversions. In the House of Commons of 1710 there was a very large
majority of Whigs; in that of 1713 as great a one of Tories; and now
again there was as large a one of Whigs. In the Lords the spectacle was
the same. Bolingbroke says, "I saw several Lords concur to condemn, in
one general vote, all that they had approved of in a former Parliament
by many particular resolutions."
In the Commons, Mr. Spencer Compton, the Ministerial nominee, was
elected Speaker. The king opened his first Parliament in person, but,
being unable to speak English, he handed his speech to Lord Chancellor
Cowper to read. In the Commons the Address condemned in strong language
the shameful peace which had been made after a war carried on at such
vast expense, and attended with such unparalleled successes; but
expressed a hope that, as this dishonour could not with justice be
imputed to the nation, through his Majesty's wisdom and the faithful
endeavours of the Commons the reputation of the kingdom might in due
time be vindicated and restored. This was the first announcement
of the Ministers' intention to call their predecessors to account,
and Secretary Stanhope, in the course of the debate, confirmed it,
observing that it had been industriously circulated that the present
Ministers never designed to bring the late Ministers to trial, but
only to pass a general censure on them; but he assured the House that,
though active efforts had been used to prevent a discovery of the late
treasonable proceedings, by conveying away papers from the Secretaries'
offices, yet Government had sufficient evidence to enable them to bring
to justice the most corrupt Ministry that ever sat at the helm. Before
three weeks were over a secret committee was appointed to consider the
Treaty of Utrecht.
Bolingbroke promptly fled and took service with the Pretender; Ormonde,
after putting himself ostentatiously forward as leader of the Jacobite
Opposition, followed his example. Both were proceeded against by Act of
Attainder.
The impeachment of Oxford followed. On the 9th of July, 1715, Lord
Coningsby, attended by many of the Commons, carried up to the Lords
the articles against him, sixteen in number, to which afterwards six
more were added. The first fifteen related to the Peace of Utrecht;
the sixteenth to the sudden creation of twelve peers in 1711, in order
to create a Tory majority, by which it charged him with highly abusing
the constitution of Parliament and the laws of the kingdom. When the
Articles had been read, it was doubted whether any of the charges
amounted to high treason. To decide this as a legal point, it was moved
that the judges should be consulted; but this motion was rejected, and
another was made to commit Oxford to the Tower; and, though reprieved a
few days on account of an indisposition, he was committed accordingly,
having made a very solemn plea of his innocence, and of having only
obeyed the orders of the queen, without at all convincing the House.
He continued to lie in the Tower for two years before he was brought
to trial, matters of higher public interest intervening. Eventually
the impeachment was dropped, the documentary evidence being considered
insufficient.
Whilst these proceedings were in agitation, the Tory and Jacobite
party, which had at the king's accession appeared stunned, now
recovering spirit, began to foment discontent and sedition in the
public mind. They got the pulpits to work, and the High Church clergy
lent themselves heartily to it. The mobs were soon set to pull down the
meeting-houses of the Dissenters. Many buildings were destroyed, and
many Dissenters insulted. They did not pause there, but they blackened
the character of the king, and denied his right to the Crown, whilst
the most fascinating pictures were drawn of the youth, and grace, and
graciousness of the rightful English prince, who was wandering in
exile to make way for the usurper. To such a length did matters go,
that the Riot Act, which had been passed in the reign of Mary, and
limited to her own reign, which was again revived by Elizabeth, and
had never since been called into action, was now made perpetual, and
armed with increased power. It provided that if twelve persons should
unlawfully assemble to disturb the peace, and any one Justice should
think proper to command them by proclamation to disperse, and should
they, in contempt of his orders, continue together for one hour, their
assembling should be felony without benefit of clergy. A subsequent
clause was added, by which pulling down chapels or houses, even before
proclamation, was made subject to the same penalties. Such is the Act
in force at this day.
We come now to the rebellion of 1715. The succession of the House of
Hanover had raised the Pretender and his Jacobite faction in England
to a pitch of excitement which made them ready to rush upon the most
desperate measures. In England the destruction of the Tory Ministry,
the welcome given to the new Protestant king, and the vigour with which
the Whigs and all the supporters of the principles of the Revolution
had shown the majority which they were able to return to the new
Parliament, were all indications that the spirit of the nation was more
firmly than ever rooted in Protestantism and the love of constitutional
liberty, and that any endeavours to overturn the new dynasty must be
supported by an overwhelming power from without. Without such force
the event was certain failure; yet, under existing auspices, it was
determined to try the venture. Bolingbroke, on his arrival in France,
saw that all was rashness, impatience, and want of preparation in the
party on both sides of the Channel. The Highlanders were all eagerness
for the Chevalier's arrival, lest he should land in England, and the
English should snatch the glory of the restoration from them. From
England came the letters of Ormonde, who was down in the West, and sent
most glowing representations of the spirit of the people there; that
out of every ten persons nine were against King George, and that he
had distributed money amongst the disbanded officers, to engage them
in the cause of King James. But all these fine words terminated with
the damping intelligence that nobody would stir until they saw the
Chevalier with a good army at his back. Such an army there was not the
smallest hope of obtaining from France. All that Louis would or could
do, without engaging in a new war with England, was to prevail on his
grandson, Philip of Spain, to advance four hundred thousand crowns for
the expedition, and besides this, the Pretender had been able privately
to borrow another hundred thousand, and purchase ten thousand stand of
arms. At this juncture came two fatal events--the flight of Ormonde and
the death of Louis XIV. on September 1st.
Louis was succeeded for the time by the Duke of Orleans as Regent, who
had other views, and was surrounded by other influences than the old
king. He had secured the Regency in opposition to Madame Maintenon and
the royal bastards. He changed all the ministers, and was not inclined
to risk his government by making enemies of the English abroad, having
sufficient of these at home. He had been for some time cultivating the
good offices of the present English Government, which had offered to
assist him with troops and money, if necessary, to secure the Regency.
He had seen a good deal of the new Secretary of State, Stanhope, in
Spain, and still maintained a correspondence with him. Lord Stair,
the British Ambassador, therefore, was placed in a more influential
position with the Regent, and the Pretender and his ministers were but
coldly looked on.
Vigilant Stair had discovered the ships that had been prepared at
Havre, by the connivance and aid of the late king, and he insisted that
they should be stopped. Admiral Byng also appeared off Havre with a
squadron, and Lord Stair demanded that the ships should be given up to
him. With this the Regent declined to comply, but he ordered them to be
unloaded, and the arms to be deposited in the royal arsenal. One ship,
however, escaped the search, containing, according to Bolingbroke, one
thousand three hundred arms, and four thousand pounds of powder, which
he proposed to send to Lord Mar, in Scotland.
This succession of adverse circumstances induced Bolingbroke to
dispatch a messenger to London to inform the Earl of Mar of them,
and to state that, as the English Jacobites would not stir without
assistance from abroad, and as no such help could be had, he would see
that nothing as yet could be attempted. But when the messenger arrived
in London, he learnt from Erasmus Lewis, Oxford's late secretary, and
a very active partisan of the Jacobites, that Mar was already gone to
raise the Highlands, if we are to believe the Duke of Berwick, at the
especial suggestion of the Pretender himself, though he had, on the
23rd of September, in writing to Bolingbroke, expressed the necessity
of the Scots waiting till they heard further from him. If that was so,
it was at once traitorous towards his supporters and very ill-advised,
and was another proof to Bolingbroke of the unsafe parties with whom he
was embarked in this hopeless enterprise.
As soon as this news reached France the Pretender hastened to St.
Malo in order to embark for Scotland, and Ormonde hastened over from
Normandy to Devonshire to join the insurgents, whom he now expected
to meet in arms. He took with him only twenty officers and as many
troopers from Nugent's regiment. This was the force with which Ormonde
landed in England to conquer it for the Pretender. There was, however,
no need of even these forty men. The English Government had been
beforehand with him; they had arrested all his chief coadjutors, and
when he reached the appointed rendezvous there was not a man to meet
him. On reaching St. Malo, Ormonde there found the Pretender not yet
embarked. After some conference together, Ormonde once more went on
board ship to reach the English coast and make one more attempt in
the hopeless expedition, but he was soon driven back by a tempest. By
this time the port of St. Malo was blockaded by the English, and the
Pretender was compelled to travel on land to Dunkirk, where, in the
middle of December, he sailed with only a single ship for the conquest
of Scotland, and attended only by half a dozen gentlemen, disguised,
like himself, as French naval officers.
Mar had left London on the 2nd of August to raise the Highlands. In
order to blind the agents of Government he ordered a royal levée on
the 1st, and on the following night got on board a collier bound for
Newcastle, attended by Major-General Hamilton and Colonel Hay. From
Newcastle they got to the coast of Fife in another vessel. On the 6th
of September he raised the standard of the Chevalier at Kirkmichael,
a village of Braemar. He was then attended by only sixty men, and the
Highland chiefs, extremely alive to omens, were startled by the gilt
ball falling from the summit of the pole as it was planted in the
ground. The standard was consecrated by prayers, and he was in a few
days joined by about five hundred of his own vassals. The gentlemen
who came on horseback, only about twenty at first, soon became several
hundreds, and were named the Royal Squadron. The white cockade was
assumed as the badge of the insurgent army, and clan after clan came
in; first the Mackintoshes, five hundred in number, who seized on
Inverness. James was proclaimed by Panmure at Brechin, by the Earl
Marshal at Aberdeen, by Lord Huntly at Gordon, and by Graham, the
brother of Claverhouse, at Dundee. Colonel Hay, brother of the Earl of
Kinnaird, seized Perth, and in a very short time the country north of
the Tay was in the hands of the insurgents.
[Illustration: THE EARL OF MAR RAISING THE PRETENDER'S STANDARD.] (_See
p._ 28.)
By the 28th of September Mar had mustered at Perth about five thousand
men. He was cheered by the arrival of one or two ships from France
with stores, arms, and ammunition. He had also managed to surprise a
Government ship driven to take shelter at Burntisland, on its way to
carry arms to the Earl of Sutherland, who was raising his clan for King
George in the north. The arms were seized by Mar's party, and carried
off to the army. Argyll, commander of the king's forces, arrived about
the same time in Scotland, and marched to Stirling, where he encamped
with only about one thousand foot and five hundred cavalry. This was
the time for Mar to advance and surround him, or drive him before him;
but Mar was a most incompetent general, and remained inactive at Perth,
awaiting the movement of the Jacobites in England. Thanks, however, to
the energy of the Government, that movement never took place.
At length Mar, who was kept back by the absence of the Pretender,
determined to outwit Argyll by sending a detachment under Brigadier
Mackintosh across the Firth of Forth below Stirling, whilst another
body, under General Gordon, was despatched to seize on Inverary, and
keep the clan Campbell in check. Mackintosh had about two thousand
men under his command, chiefly from his own clans, but supported by
the regiments of the Lords Nairn, Strathmore, and Charles Murray. To
prevent these forces from crossing, three English ships of war ascended
the Forth to near Burntisland; but whilst a detachment of five hundred
men held the attention of the ships at that point, the main body were
embarking on the right in small boats lower down, and the greater part
of them got across the Firth, and landed at Aberlady and North Berwick.
The city of Edinburgh was in consternation at this daring manœuvre,
and at the proximity of such a force; and Mackintosh, hearing of this
panic, and of the miserable state of defence there, determined to
attempt to surprise it. He stayed one night at Haddington to rest
his men, and on the 14th appeared at Jock's Lodge, within a mile of
Edinburgh. But on the very first appearance of Mackintosh's troops, Sir
George Warrender, the Provost of Edinburgh, had despatched a messenger
to summon the Duke of Argyll from Stirling to the aid of the capital.
The duke was already approaching Edinburgh, and therefore Mackintosh,
perceiving that he had no chance of surprising the town, turned aside
to Leith.
Continuing southwards, Mackintosh joined the English insurgents at
Kelso on the 22nd. This united force now amounted altogether to
about two thousand men--one thousand four hundred foot commanded by
Mackintosh, and six hundred horse under Lord Kenmure and Mr. Forster.
This force might, in the paucity of troops in the service of the king,
have produced a great effect had they marched unitedly southward and
engaged General Carpenter, who was advancing from Newcastle, with
only about nine hundred cavalry, to attack them; or had they gone at
once north, taken Argyll in the rear, and then combined with Mar. But
after marching to Jedburgh and then to Hawick, the Scots and English
formed two different opinions. The Scots would not enter England, being
persuaded by the Earl of Wintoun that, if they went into England, they
would be all cut to pieces, or be sold for slaves. Mackintosh was
willing to enter England, but they would listen to no one but Wintoun.
Several hundred Highlanders deserted, and the remainder of the army,
under the inefficient command of Forster, marched into England and
reached Preston without molestation.
But here their career was doomed to end. Preston had witnessed the
rout of the Royalists by Cromwell, and it was now to witness the
rout of the rebels by the Royalists. Carpenter, on finding that the
insurgents had taken the way through Cumberland, also hastened back
to Newcastle and Durham, where he was joined by General Wills. Wills
was in advance with six regiments of cavalry, mostly newly-raised
troops, but full of spirit, and well-officered. He came near Preston
on the 12th of November, whilst Carpenter was approaching in another
direction, so as to take the enemy in the flank. Forster quickly showed
that he was an incompetent commander. He was at first greatly elated
by the junction of the Lancashire men, but, on hearing that the royal
troops were upon them, he was instantly panic-stricken, and, instead
of issuing orders, or summoning a council, he betook himself to bed.
Lord Kenmure roused him from his ignominious repose, but it was too
late; no means were taken to secure the natural advantages of the
place. The bridge over the Ribble, which might have kept the enemy
at bay, was left undefended; so that when Wills rode up to it on the
morning of the 13th, he imagined that the rebels had evacuated the
place. Besides the bridge over the river, there was a deep and hollow
way of half a mile from the bridge to the town, with high and steep
banks, from which an army might have been annihilated; but all was
left undefended. It was only when Wills advanced into the town that
he became aware that the rebels were still there, and found his path
obstructed by barricades raised in the streets. His soldiers gallantly
attacked these barricades, but were met by a murderous fire both from
behind them and from the houses on each side. But luckily for the
royal forces the least ability was wanting in the rebel commander.
With all the advantages on his side, Forster secretly sent Colonel
Oxburgh to propose a capitulation. Wills at first refused to listen
to it, declaring that he could not treat with rebels who had murdered
many of the king's subjects; but at length he said, if they would lay
down their arms, he would defend them from being cut to pieces by the
soldiers till he received further orders from Government. One thousand
five hundred men surrendered, including eight noblemen, but a good many
escaped.
This branch of the rebel force was thus completely removed from the
field, and on the same day a far more sanguinary conflict had taken
place between the chief commanders on the two sides, Argyll and Mar, at
Sheriffmuir.
It was the 10th of November when Mar, aware that Argyll was advancing
against him, at length marched out of Perth with all his baggage and
provisions for twelve days. On the 12th, when they arrived at Ardoch,
Argyll was posted at Dunblane, and he advanced to give them battle.
The wild, uneven ground of Sheriffmuir lay between them, and it was on
this spot that Argyll on quitting Stirling had hoped to meet them. He
therefore drew up his men on this moorland in battle array, and did
not wait long for the coming of the Highland army. It was on a Sunday
morning, the 13th of November, that the battle of Sheriffmuir was
fought. Argyll commanded the right wing of his army, General Whitham
the left, and General Wightman the centre. He calculated much on this
open ground for the operations of his cavalry. On the other hand, Mar
took the right wing of his army, and was thus opposed, not to Argyll,
but to Whitham. The Highlanders, though called on to form in a moment,
as it were, did so with a rapidity which astonished the enemy. They
opened fire on Argyll so instantly and well, that it took the duke's
forces by surprise. The left army retired on Stirling pursued by Mar.
Argyll was compelled to be on the alert. He observed that Mar had drawn
out his forces so as to outflank him; but, casting his eye on a morass
on his right, he discovered that the frost had made it passable, and
he ordered Major Cathcart to lead a squadron of horse across it, while
with the rest of his cavalry he galloped round, and thus attacked
the left wing of Mar both in front and flank. The Highlanders, thus
taken by surprise, were thrown into confusion, but still fought with
their wonted bravery. They were driven, however, by the momentum of
the English horse, backwards; and between the spot whence the attack
commenced and the river Allan, three miles distant, they rallied ten
times, and fairly contested the field. Argyll, however, bore down upon
them with all the force of his right wing, offering quarter to all who
would surrender, and even parrying blows from his own dragoons which
went to exterminate those already wounded. After an obstinate fight of
three hours, he drove the Highlanders over the Allan, a great number of
them being drowned in it. Mar at this crisis returned to learn the fate
of the rest of his army. He found that he had been taking the office
of a General of Division instead of that of the Commander-in-Chief,
whose duty is to watch the movements of the whole field, and send aid
to quarters which are giving way. Like Prince Rupert, in his ardour for
victory over his enemies in front of him, he had totally forgotten the
centre and left wing, and discovered now that the left wing was totally
defeated. He was contented to draw off, and yet boast of victory.
At this juncture, while daily desertions thinned Mar's army at Perth,
arrived the Pretender. He landed at Peterhead on the 22nd of December.
On the 6th of January, 1716, he made his public entry into Dundee, at
the head of his cavalcade, the Earl of Mar riding on his right hand,
and the Earl Marshal on his left, and about three hundred gentlemen
following. His reception was enthusiastic. The people flocked round him
to kiss his hands; and to gratify this loyal desire he remained an
hour in the market-place. On the 8th he arrived at Scone, and took up
his residence in the ancient palace of his ancestors. There he was only
two miles from the army, and having established a council, and issued
six proclamations, ordering a public thanksgiving for the "miraculous
providence" of his safe arrival, for prayers in the church, for the
currency of foreign coin, for a meeting of the Convention of Estates,
for all fencible men from sixteen to sixty to repair to his standard,
and for his coronation on the 23rd of January, he presented himself
before the army. But here the scene was changed. Instead of enthusiasm
there was disappointment--disappointment on both sides. The soldiers,
who expected to see a royal-looking, active-looking man, likely to
encourage them and lead them on their career, beheld a tall, thin,
pale, and dejected sort of person, who evidently took no great interest
in them. That the Pretender should not exhibit much vivacity was no
wonder. He had been assured by Mar that his army had swelled to sixteen
thousand men; that the whole North was in his favour; and that he had
only to appear to carry everything before him. On inquiring into the
force, it turned out to be so miserably small, that the only desire was
to keep it out of sight. The spirits of the Pretender fell, and though
not destitute of ability, as is manifest by his letters, he had by no
means that strength of resolution demanded by such an enterprise.
At length Argyll, whose movements had been hastened by the arrival
of General Cadogan, prepared to march northwards through deep snow
and villages burnt by the Pretender's order. On the 30th of January
the rebel army retreated from Perth, the Highland soldiers, some
in sullen silence, others in loud curses, expressing their anger
and mortification at this proceeding. The inhabitants looked on in
terror, and bade adieu to the troops in tears, expecting only a heavy
visitation for having so long harboured them. Early the next morning
they crossed the deep and rapid Tay, now, however, a sheet of solid
ice, and directed their march along the Carse of Gowrie towards Dundee.
Argyll, who received the news of the retreat about four in the
afternoon of that day, occupied Perth with Dutch and English troops by
ten o'clock the next morning. They had quitted Stirling on the 29th,
and that night they encamped on the snow amid the burnt remains of
the village of Auchterarder. Argyll and Cadogan followed the advanced
guard and entered Perth on the evening of the 1st of February; but the
remainder of the troops did not arrive till late at night, owing to the
state of the roads and the weather. Some few of the rebels, who had
got drunk and were left behind, were secured. The next day Argyll and
Cadogan, with eight hundred light foot and six squadrons of dragoons,
followed along the Carse of Gowrie to Dundee. Cadogan, in a letter to
Marlborough, complained of the evident reluctance of Argyll to press on
the rebels. When he arrived at Dundee on the 3rd, the rebel army was
already gone. He and Cadogan then separated, taking different routes
towards Montrose. Cadogan, whose heart was in the business, pushed on
ahead, and on the 5th, at noon, reached Arbroath, where he received the
news that the Pretender had embarked at Montrose and gone to France. In
this manner did the descendant of a race of kings and the claimant of
the Crown of Great Britain steal away and leave his unhappy followers
to a sense of his perfidious and cruel desertion. His flight, no doubt,
was necessary, but the manner of it was at once most humiliating and
unfeeling. The consternation and wrath of the army on the discovery
were indescribable. They were wholly broken up when Argyll reached
Aberdeen on the 8th of February.
Gloomy as was the Pretender's fortune, it was, nevertheless, infinitely
better than that of thousands who had ventured their lives and fortunes
in his cause. There were not many prisoners in Scotland, but the clans
which had sided with the English Government were hounded on to hunt
down those who had been out with the Pretender amongst their hills,
and they were hunted about by the English troops under the guidance of
these hostile clans; and where they themselves were not to be found,
their estates suffered by troops being quartered in their houses and
on their lands. In England the prisons of Chester, Liverpool, and
other northern towns were crowded by the inferior class of prisoners
from the surrender of Preston. Some half-pay officers were singled out
as deserters, and shot by order of a court-martial; but the common
soldiers were eventually acquitted or let off with light sentences.
On the 9th of January, a month after their arrival, Lord Derwentwater
was impeached of high treason by Mr. Lechmere in a bitter speech in the
Commons. Other members, with equal acrimony, followed with impeachments
against the Lords Widdrington, Nithsdale, Wintoun, Carnwath, Kenmure,
and Nairn. The impeachments were carried up to the House of Lords on
the same day, and on the 19th the accused noblemen were brought before
the Peers, where they knelt at the bar until they were desired to rise
by the Lord Chancellor, when, with the exception of Lord Wintoun, they
confessed their guilt, and threw themselves on the mercy of the king.
Sentence of death was immediately pronounced on those who had pleaded
guilty; and Lord Wintoun was condemned after trial, but several months
later he effected his escape from the Tower. Every effort was made to
save the prisoners, and they were all reprieved, with the exception
of Derwentwater, Kenmure, and Nithsdale. The first two were executed;
but the Countess of Nithsdale, being about to take her leave of her
husband, contrived, by introducing some friends, to secure his escape
in female attire.
In April the inferior prisoners were tried in the Common Pleas.
Forster, brigadier Mackintosh, and twenty of their accomplices were
condemned; but Forster, Mackintosh, and some of the others, managed,
like Wintoun, to escape; so that, of all the crowds of prisoners, only
twenty-two in Lancashire and four in London were hanged. Bills of
attainder were passed against the Lords Tullibardine, Mar, and many
others who were at large. Above a thousand submitted to the king's
mercy, and petitioned to be transported to America.
Meanwhile the Whigs were anxious to add fresh security to their own
lease of office. At the last election they had procured the return
of a powerful majority; but two years out of the triennial term had
expired, and they looked with apprehension to the end of the next year,
when a dissolution must take place. They were aware that there were
still strong plottings and secret agitations for the restoration of the
banished dynasty. By both the king and his Ministers all Tories were
regarded as Jacobites, and it was resolved to keep them out of office,
and, as much as possible, out of Parliament. They had the power in
their own hands in this Parliament, and, in order to keep it, they did
not hesitate to destroy that Triennial Act for which their own party
had claimed so much credit in 1694, and substitute a Septennial Act in
its place. They would thereby give to their own party in Parliament
more than a double term of the present legal possession of their seats.
Instead of one year, they would be able to look forward four years
without any fear of Tory increase of power through a new election. On
the 10th of April, Devonshire, Lord Steward of the Household, moved
the repeal of the Triennial Act, long lauded as one of the bulwarks
of our liberties, under the now convenient plea that it had been
"found very grievous and burthensome, by occasioning much greater and
more continued expenses in order to elections of members to serve in
Parliament, and more lasting heats and animosities amongst the subjects
of this realm than ever were known before the said clause was enacted."
In the preamble to the new Bill the object of that extended Bill was
candidly avowed, namely, that when "a restless and popish faction are
designing and endeavouring to renew the rebellion in this kingdom and
an invasion from abroad, it might be destructive to the peace and
security of the Government." The Septennial Bill was, in fact, intended
as a purely temporary measure, and, though originated by party spirit,
it was really of great advantage in days when every general election
meant a fresh exercise of the influence of the Crown and the Lords.
[Illustration: RETREAT OF THE HIGHLANDERS FROM PERTH. (_See p._ 31.)]
Whilst Parliament was busy with the Septennial Bill, George I. was
very impatient to get away to Hanover. Like William III., he was but a
foreigner in England; a dull, well-meaning man, whose heart was in his
native country, and who had been transplanted too late ever to take
to the alien earth. The Act of Settlement provided that, after the
Hanoverian accession, no reigning sovereign should quit the kingdom
without permission of Parliament. George was not content to ask this
permission, but insisted that the restraining clause itself should be
repealed, and it was accordingly repealed without any opposition. There
was one difficulty connected with George's absence from his kingdom
which Council or Parliament could not so easily deal with: this was his
excessive jealousy of his son. The king could not take his departure
in peace if the Prince of Wales was to be made regent, according to
custom, in his absence. He proposed, therefore, through his favourite,
Bothmar, that the powers of the prince should be limited by rigorous
provisions, and that some other persons should be joined with him in
commission. Lord Townshend did not hesitate to express his sense of the
impolicy of the king's leaving his dominions at all at such a crisis;
but he also added that to put any other persons in commission with
the Prince of Wales was contrary to the whole practice and spirit of
England. Driven from this, the king insisted that, instead of regent,
the prince should be named "Guardian and Lieutenant of the Realm"--an
office which had never existed since the time of the Black Prince.
The retreat of George to Hanover was not merely to enjoy his native
scenes and old associations; he felt himself insecure even on the
throne of England, and the rebellion for the present quelled; he was
anxious to form or renew alliances on the Continent to give strength to
his position. The part which England had taken at the end of the war
seemed to have alienated all her confederates of the Grand Alliance,
and transferred their resentment to himself with his accession to the
British Crown. Holland was, perhaps, the least sensible of the past
discords; she had kept the treaty, and lent her aid on the landing of
the Pretender; but she was at daggers drawn with Austria, who was much
irritated by the Barrier Treaty, by which the Dutch secured a line of
fortresses on the Austrian Netherlands. As for the Emperor, he was
more feeble and sluggish than he had shown himself as the aspirant to
the throne of Spain. He was a bigoted Catholic, little disposed to
trouble himself for securing a Protestant succession, although it had
expended much money and blood in defence of his own. On the contrary,
he felt a strong jealousy of George, the Elector of Hanover, as King of
England, and therefore capable of introducing, through his augmented
resources, aggressive disturbances in Germany. The King of Prussia, his
son-in-law, was rather a troublesome and wrangling ally than one to be
depended upon.
Taking this view of his Continental neighbours, George was driven to
the conclusion that his only safety lay in firmly engaging France to
relinquish the Pretender. The means of the attainment of this desirable
object lay in the peculiar position of the Regent, who was intent on
his personal aims. So long as the chances of the Pretender appeared
tolerable, the Regent had avoided the overtures on this subject; but
the failure of the expedition to the Highlands had inclined him to give
up the Pretender, and he now sent the Abbé Dubois to Hanover to treat
upon the subject. He was willing also to destroy the works at Mardyk
as the price of peace with England. The preliminaries were concluded,
and the Dutch included in them; but the Treaty was not ratified till
January, 1717.
But though this difficulty was tided over, there remained a still
greater one with Sweden. Charles XII., overthrown by the Czar Peter at
the battle of Pultowa, had fled into Turkey, and obstinately remained
at Bender, though the Czar and his allies were all the time overrunning
and taking possession of the Swedish territories on the eastern side
of the Baltic. Russians, Norwegians, Danes, Saxons, and Prussians were
all busy gorging the spoil. The King of Denmark, amongst the invasions
of Swedish territory, had seized on the rich bishoprics of Bremen and
Verden, which had been ceded to Sweden at the Peace of Westphalia.
These bishoprics, which lay contiguous to Hanover, had always been an
object of desire to that State. And now Charles of Sweden, suddenly
ruined by the proceedings of his neighbours, who thus rent his kingdom
limb from limb, galloped away from Bender, and in November, 1714,
startled all his enemies by appearing at Stralsund. The Danish king,
seeing a tempest about to burst over his head, immediately tempted
the English king to enter into alliance with him, by offering him the
stolen bishoprics of Bremen and Verden on condition that he should
pay a hundred and fifty thousand pounds and join the alliance against
Sweden. Without waiting for any consent of Parliament, Sir John Norris
was sent with a fleet to the Baltic, under the pretence of protecting
our trade there, but with the real object of compelling Sweden to cede
the bishoprics, and to accept a compensation in money for them.
At the same time that we were thus dragged into hostilities with
Sweden, we were brought into hostilities with the Czar too in defence
of Hanover. Peter had married his niece to the Duke of Mecklenburg,
who was on bad terms with his subjects, and the Czar was only too glad
to get a footing in Germany by sending a large body of troops into
the Duchy. Denmark became immediately alarmed at such a dangerous and
unscrupulous neighbour, and remonstrated; whereupon the Czar informed
the Danish king that if he murmured he would enter Denmark with his
army too. Of course the King of Denmark called on his ally, George
of Hanover, for the stipulated aid; and George, who hated the Czar
mortally, and was hated by the Czar as intensely in return, at once
sent his favourite, Bernsdorff, to Stanhope, who had accompanied him to
Hanover, with a demand that "the Czar should be instantly crushed, his
ships secured, his person seized, and kept till he should have caused
his troops to evacuate both Denmark and Germany."
The receipt of such proposals in England produced the utmost
consternation in the Cabinet. Townshend, in an "absolutely secret"
answer to Stanhope, expressed the concern both of himself and the
Prince of Wales at the prospect of a rupture with the Czar, who would
seize the British ships and subjects in Russia, and prohibit the supply
of naval stores from his kingdom, and that especially at a crisis when
England was threatened with an invasion from Sweden and a rising of the
Jacobites. He did not deny that there was a great risk of both these
kingdoms and the German empire being exposed to imminent danger by the
designs of the Czar on the whole coast of the Baltic, a danger which
he might, had he dared, truly have attributed to George's own deeds
by offending Sweden, instead of uniting with it to counterbalance the
Czar's plan of aggrandisement. Fortunately, the Czar was induced, by
the combined remonstrances of Austria, Denmark, and Sir John Norris,
to abandon his projects for the moment, at least in Germany, and to
withdraw his troops from Mecklenburg.
The fear of the Russians being removed, the king was impatient to get
the Treaty with France ratified both by England and Holland. As there
was some delay on the part of Holland, Stanhope proposed to comply with
the king's desire, that the Treaty should be signed, without further
waiting for the Dutch, but with the agreement on both sides that they
should be admitted to sign as soon as they were ready. Dubois was
to proceed to the Hague, and there sign the Treaty in form with our
plenipotentiaries at that place, Lord Cadogan and Horace Walpole. But
these ministers had repeatedly assured the States that England would
never sign without them, and Horace Walpole now refused to consent to
any such breach of faith. He declared he would rather starve, die, do
anything than thus wound his honour and conscience; that he should
regard it as declaring himself villain under his own hand. He said he
would rather lay his patent of reversion in the West Indies, or even
his life, at his Majesty's feet, than be guilty of such an action,
and he begged leave to be allowed to return home. Townshend, for a
moment, gave in to the proposition for not waiting for the Dutch,
but immediately recalled that opinion; and he drew the powers of the
plenipotentiaries for signing so loosely, that Dubois declined signing
upon them. As we have said, the ratification did not take place till
January, 1717, and after great causes of difference had arisen between
Townshend and Stanhope. So greatly did Stanhope resent the difference
of opinion in Townshend, that he offered his resignation to the king,
who refused to accept it, being himself by this time much out of humour
with both Townshend and Robert Walpole, the Paymaster of the Forces.
Various causes, in fact, were operating to produce a great schism
in the Ministry of George I. Townshend, as we have seen, had very
unguardedly expressed his disgust with the measures of the king at and
concerning Hanover. George's dislike was, of course, fomented by his
courtiers and mistresses, and they found a powerful ally in Sunderland,
who, tired of his subordinate position in the Ministry, had joined
the king in Hanover. A letter from Townshend, in which, in order to
allow the longer absence of the king, he recommended that additional
powers should be conferred on the Prince of Wales, brought George's
indignation to a head. This letter, which arrived about the middle of
December, seemed to cause his anger to burst all bounds, and he vowed
that he would dismiss Townshend at once from his service.
Stanhope appears to have done his best to break Townshend's fall. He
represented to the king the high character of that minister, his real
services, and the injustice and impolicy of disgracing him; that he
might remove him to another office, and thus answer every purpose.
He could take the chief direction of affairs out of his hands, even
while appearing to promote him. He therefore advised that Townshend
should, without a word of dismissal or disapprobation, be offered the
Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, instead of the Secretaryship of State,
and to this the king consented. Accordingly Stanhope was directed to
write to Townshend, and also to Secretary Methuen, and he did so on
the 14th of December, conveying in most courteous terms the king's
desire that he should accept the Lord-Lieutenancy, and this without
a syllable of discontent on the part of his Majesty. Townshend at
first refused, but on the arrival of George in London he received
Townshend very cordially, and so softened him as to induce him to
accept the Lord-Lieutenancy, and to do the very thing he had declared
it was not common honesty to do--accept the post and still remain in
London, acting with the rest of the Cabinet. His political adherents,
including Methuen, Pulteney, the Walpoles, Lord Orford, and the Duke
of Devonshire, were contented to remain in office. The only change was
that Methuen was made one of the two Secretaries along with Stanhope.
It was thus imagined that the great schism in the Whig party was
closed; but this was far from being the case: the healing was only on
the surface. It was during this brief reconciliation that the great
Triple Alliance between England, France, and Holland, was concluded.
Thus entered the year 1717. It had been intended to open Parliament
immediately on the king's return, but the discovery of a new and
singular phase of the Jacobite conspiracy compelled its postponement.
We have seen that the trafficking of George with Denmark for the
bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, reft in the king of Sweden's absence
from his possession, had incensed that monarch, and made him vow that
he would support the Pretender and march into Scotland with twelve
thousand men. Such a menace on the part of a general like Charles XII.
was not likely to pass unnoticed by the Jacobites. The Duke of Berwick
had taken up the idea very eagerly. He had held several conferences
upon it with Baron Spaar, the Swedish Minister at Paris, and he had
sent a trusty minister to Charles at Stralsund, with the proposal
that a body of seven or eight thousand Swedes, then encamped near
Gothenburg, should embark at that port, whence, with a favourable wind,
they could land in Scotland in eight-and-forty hours. The Pretender
agreed to furnish one hundred and fifty thousand livres for their
expenses. At that time, however, Charles was closely besieged by the
Danes, Prussians, and their new ally, George of Hanover, purchased by
the bribe of Bremen and Verden. Charles was compelled by this coalition
to retire from Stralsund, but only in a mood of deeper indignation
against the King of England, and therefore more favourable to his
enemies.
The invasion of Scotland was again brought under his notice, and
strongly recommended by his chief confidant and minister, Baron Gortz.
Charles now listened with all his native spirit of resentment, and
Gortz immediately set out on a tour of instigation and arrangement of
the invasion. He hastened to Holland, where he corresponded with Count
Gyllenborg, the Swedish Ambassador at London, and Baron Spaar, the
Swedish Minister at Paris. He put himself also into communication with
the Pretender and the Duke of Ormonde. The scheme of Gortz was able
and comprehensive. A peace was to be established between Charles and
his great enemy and rival, Peter of Russia. They both hated George
of Hanover and England, and by this union might inflict the severest
injuries on him. Next a conspiracy was to be excited against the
Regent of France, so as to prevent him aiding England according to the
recent Treaty, and all being thus prepared, Charles XII. was himself
to conduct the army of twelve thousand veterans destined to invade
Scotland, and, if supported by the Jacobites, England.
The Jacobites were in ecstasies at this new phase of their old
enterprise. By Charles's adhesion, their scheme was stripped of all
those prejudices which had insured its ruin with the English. It had
no longer the unpopular aspect of a French invasion; it was no longer
headed by a Popish but a Protestant leader; it was no longer consigned
to an untried or doubtful general, but to one of the most victorious
monarchs living, who came as a Protestant to call on a Protestant
nation to receive their rightful king. Money was not wanting. Spain
remitted to Baron Spaar a million of livres for the expedition, and the
Court of the Pretender offered sixty thousand pounds.
But unfortunately for the Pretender, at the moment that the Swedish
hero should prepare his armament for the earliest spring, the
conspiracy exploded. Whilst the leaders of it had been flattering
themselves that it was conducted with the profoundest secrecy, the
English Ministry were in possession of its clue. As early as October
they had found reason to induce them to intercept the correspondence
of Gyllenborg, and had come at once on the letters of Gortz. The
matter was kept close, and as nothing was apprehended in winter,
Ministers used the time to improve their knowledge of the scheme from
the inspected letters passing between Gortz and Gyllenborg. On the
king's return it was resolved to act, and accordingly Stanhope laid the
information regarding this formidable conspiracy before the Council,
and proposed that the Swedish Minister, who had clearly, by conspiring
against the Government to which he was accredited, violated the law of
nations, and deprived himself of its protection, should be arrested.
The Cabinet at once assented to the proposal, and General Wade, a man
of firm and resolute military habits, was ordered to make the arrest of
the Ambassador. The general found Count Gyllenborg busy making up his
despatches, which, after announcing laconically his errand, Wade took
possession of, and then demanded the contents of his escritoire. The
Dutch Government acted in the same manner to Gortz, and the evidence
thus obtained was most conclusive.
[Illustration: JAMES EDWARD STUART, THE "OLD PRETENDER."]
When Parliament met on the 20th of February, this conspiracy was laid
before it and excited great indignation. The two Houses voted cordial
addresses to his Majesty, and for a while there was an air of harmony.
But the fires of discontent were smouldering beneath the surface, and,
on a motion being made in April, in consequence of a royal message, to
grant the king an extraordinary Supply in order to enable his Majesty
to contract alliances with foreign powers, that he might be prepared
to meet any attempts at invasion which the Swedes might, after all,
be disposed to make, the heat broke forth. The Supply moved for was
fixed at two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. It was expected that
Walpole, having had his name suspiciously mentioned in Gyllenborg's
correspondence, would take this opportunity to wipe off all doubt
by his zeal and co-operation. On the contrary, he never appeared so
lukewarm. Both he and his brother Horace, indeed, spoke in favour of
the Supply, but coldly; and Townshend and all their common friends
openly joined the Tories and Jacobites in voting against it; so that
it was carried only by a majority of four. This could not pass; and
the same evening Stanhope, by the king's order, wrote to Townshend,
acknowledging his past services, but informing him that he was no
longer Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
Walpole did not wait for a like humiliation. The next morning he
waited on the king, and tendered his resignation of his places as
First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The king,
if he could be judged by his conduct, had formed no resolution of
parting with Walpole. He handed again to him the seals, cordially
entreating him to take them back, speaking to him in the kindest
manner, and appearing as though he would take no refusal. But Walpole
remained steady to his purpose, and, accordingly, his friends Methuen,
Pulteney, Lord Orford, and the Duke of Devonshire, resigned a few days
afterwards. Stanhope was then appointed First Lord of the Treasury and
Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sunderland and Joseph Addison were made
Secretaries of State; Craggs, Secretary at War; Lord Berkeley, First
Lord of the Admiralty; the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Chamberlain; the
Duke of Bolton, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Lord Cowper and the Duke of
Kingston retaining their old places.
The retired Ministers showed for the most part a very hostile attitude,
and Pulteney denounced the new Ministry as a "German Ministry."
Walpole, for a little time, affected a liberal conduct, declaring,
when the Supply of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds was voted,
that, as he had before spoken in its favour, he should now vote in its
favour, and would show by his proceedings that he had never intended
to make the king uneasy, or to embarrass his affairs. But it was not
in Walpole's nature to maintain this air of temperance long. He was as
violent in opposition as he was able and zealous in office. Whether in
or out of office, he was, in fact, equally unscrupulous. He very soon
joined himself to Shippen, Wyndham, Bromley, and the other violent
opponents of the reigning family; so that Shippen himself ere long said
exultingly that he was glad to see that Walpole was no longer afraid of
being styled a Jacobite.
Before Walpole thus threw off the mask of moderation--indeed, on the
very day of his resignation--he introduced a well-matured scheme for
the reduction of the National Debt, which was, in fact, the earliest
germ of the National Sinking Fund. Though the ordinary rate of interest
had been reduced, by the statute of the 12th of Queen Anne, to five per
cent., the interest on the funded debt remained upwards of seven. The
Long and Short Annuities were unredeemable, and could not be touched
without the consent of the proprietors; but Walpole proposed to borrow
six hundred thousand pounds at only four per cent., and to apply all
savings to the discharge of the debts contracted before December, 1716.
He proposed, also, to make some arrangement with the Bank and the South
Sea Company, by which the Bank should lend two millions and a half, and
the Company two millions, at five per cent., to pay off such holders of
redeemable debts as should refuse to accept an equal reduction.
The new Administration took measures to render themselves popular.
They advised the king to go down to the House on the 6th of May, and
propose a reduction of the army to the extent of ten thousand men, as
well as an Act of Grace to include many persons concerned in the late
rebellion. Walpole and his friends, on the contrary, did all in their
power to embarrass the Government. Lord Oxford was not included in
the Act of Indemnity, and it was resolved now by his friends to have
his trial brought on. Before this was effected, however, a violent
attack was made on Lord Cadogan. As Ambassador at the Hague, he had
superintended the embarkation of the Dutch troops sent to aid in
putting down the rebellion. He was now charged with having committed
gross peculations on that occasion. Shippen led the way in this
attack, but Walpole and Pulteney pursued their former colleague with
the greatest rancour, and Walpole declaimed against him so furiously
that, after a speech of nearly two hours in length, he was compelled
to stop by a sudden bleeding at the nose. Stanhope, Craggs, Lechmere,
and others defended him; but such was the combination of enemies
against him, or rather, against the Ministers, that the motion was only
negatived by a majority of ten.
Lord Oxford's case was brought at length to a termination also in his
favour. His friends having complained of the hardship of keeping him
without a hearing for nearly two years, the 24th of June was appointed
for the trial to take place in Westminster Hall. The Commons again met
in committee to complete the evidence against him; but it was now found
that Walpole, who was the chairman, and who had formerly pursued the
inquiry with all eagerness, had suddenly cooled, and seldom came near
the Committee; and they therefore appointed a new one. In fact, he and
Townshend, out of opposition, were doing that secretly which they could
not do openly without loss of character--they were exerting themselves
in favour of their old antagonist, and they soon hit on a scheme for
bringing him off without any trial at all. The Lords were persuaded
to listen to any evidence in support of the charge of misdemeanour
before they heard that on the grave charge of treason, and the result
foreseen by the Opposition took place when the resolution was reported
to the Commons. They immediately determined that it was an infringement
of their privileges, and declined compliance with it. This was what
Walpole and the then partisans, secret or open, of Lord Oxford, had
foreseen. The Commons refusing to attend in Westminster Hall on the day
fixed, the Lords returned to their own House, and passed a resolution
declaring the Earl of Oxford acquitted, an announcement received by
the people with acclamation. The Commons then demanded that Oxford
should be excepted from the Act of Grace; but, notwithstanding, he was
released from the Tower, and the Commons never renewed the impeachment.
It might have been supposed that Europe, or at least the southern
portion of it, was likely to enjoy a considerable term of peace.
France, under a minor and a Regent, appeared to require rest to recruit
its population and finances more than any part of the Continent. The
King of Spain was too imbecile to have any martial ambition; and though
his wife was anxious to secure the succession to the French throne in
case of the death of the infant Louis XV., yet Alberoni, the Prime
Minister, was desirous to remain at peace. This able Churchman, who had
risen from the lowest position, being the son of a working gardener,
and had made his way to his present eminence partly by his abilities
and partly by his readiness to forget the gravity of the clerical
character for the pleasure of his patrons, was now zealously exerting
himself to restore the condition of Spain. He was thus brought into
collision with Austria and France, and eventually with this country
to which at first he was well disposed. England was under engagement
both to France and the Empire, which must, on the first rupture with
either of those Powers and Spain, precipitate her into war. The treaty
with the Emperor--as it guaranteed the retention of the Italian
provinces, which Spain beheld with unappeasable jealousy, in Austrian
hands--was the first thing to change the policy of Alberoni towards
Britain. This change was still further accelerated by the news of the
Triple Alliance, which equally guaranteed the _status quo_ of France.
The Spanish Minister displayed his anger by suspending the Treaty of
Commerce, and by conniving at the petty vexations practised by the
Spaniards on the English merchants in Spain, and by decidedly rejecting
a proposal of the King of England to bring about an accommodation
between the Emperor and the Court of Spain.
In this uneasy state of things Austria very unnecessarily put the match
to the political train, and threw the whole of the south of Europe
again into war. Don Joseph Molina, the Spanish Ambassador at Rome,
being appointed Inquisitor-General at Spain, commenced his journey
homewards, furnished with a passport from the Pope, and an assurance of
safety from the Imperial Minister. Yet, notwithstanding this, he was
perfidiously arrested by the Austrian authorities and secured in the
citadel of Milan. The gross insult to Spain, and equally gross breach
of faith, so exasperated the King and Queen of Spain that they would
listen to nothing but war. The earnest expostulations of Alberoni,
delivered in the form of a powerful memorial, were rejected, and he was
compelled to abandon the cherished hopes of peaceful improvement and
make the most active preparations for war.