Chapter VII: Part 7

The Whig Junto was even more angry than the ministers themselves at this conduct. They suspected Harley's design, and determined to drive him from the ministry. Both parties felt that the crisis had arrived. One or other of them must become predominant. They both determined to make their power felt, and by a strange manœuvre the extremes of both sides joined to attack the ministry. The chief points of attack were the naval administration,--which, as it implicated her husband, was always a tender point with the Queen,--and the determination of Marlborough to pursue the course William had marked out, and to carry on the war chiefly in Flanders. It was in this session of Parliament, which began on October 23, 1707, that the joint assault upon the Government was made. The maladministration of the navy was the chief topic, but the Tories also introduced a motion in the House of Lords, recommending a change of the seat of war from Flanders to Spain, where the battle of Almanza had lately proved disastrous to the allied armies. Marlborough pointed out in vain that this would produce an immediate peace with the Dutch, who would feel their country open to invasion from France; and although the Whigs, pledged as they were to support the policy of William, could not join in such a motion, Somers drew up a declaration, embodying both the disapprobation felt for the management of the fleet, and as much of the Tory feeling in favour of a change in the seat of war as was possible for his party to accept. The declaration stated that "it is the opinion of this Committee that no peace can be honourable or safe to her Majesty or her allies, if Spain and the West Indies be suffered to continue in the power of the house of Bourbon." But the manœuvre of the Whigs in joining in the assault against Government had been successful; it was not necessary to press the hostile resolution. Godolphin had been thoroughly frightened, and recognized the necessity of breaking up the unnatural friendship and of allying himself with one or other of the great parties. With the war still continuing he could not but choose the Whigs. At once entering into negotiations with the chief of that party, he induced Somers, as President of the Committee charged with the duty of throwing the late resolutions into the form of an address, to change the resolutions, by a slight alteration in the words, from an attack upon Government into a pledge for the continuation of the war till the French had been entirely broken. The suggested resolutions mentioned the West Indies, reflecting on the comparative weakness of our naval efforts, and Spain, implying a change of the scene of war. The introduction of the words "or any other part of the Spanish monarchy," entirely destroyed these hostile allusions. The Whigs had shown their power, it was no longer possible to refuse them their reward. It became necessary to break with Harley and the moderate Tories. The discovery that a man of the name of Gregg, a clerk in Harley's office, was in treasonable correspondence with France, threw some suspicions on his master's fidelity, and Marlborough and Godolphin agreed on Harley's dismissal. The Queen was more difficult to move. It required a threat of resignation on the part of the ministers to induce her to give up one who, as she believed, thought entirely with her on Church matters, but she was not yet free from the influence of the Churchills, and she yielded. With him retired St. John, Harcourt, and Mansell, whose places were taken by Boyle, a zealous Whig, as Secretary of State, John Smith as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Robert Walpole as Secretary of War. Marlborough and Godolphin had apparently triumphed by means of the Whigs, but their victory was won at the price of the Queen's favour and of submission to the dictation of the Whig party, who at once set to work to secure office for themselves; nor were they scrupulous in the means they used, the threat that they would turn their assault on the naval administration directly and by name upon her husband, then on his deathbed, induced the Queen to remove Pembroke and give the Presidency of the Council to Somers. Sunderland, though himself a minister, intrigued with the Scotch Jacobites to throw out the ministerial candidates at the election of Peers held in accordance with the Union. To all this the General and Treasurer had to submit. The administration was completed upon a Whig basis, when Orford was forced upon the Queen as head of the Admiralty.

[Sidenote: Insecurity of Marlborough's position.]

Marlborough was fully alive to the insecurity of his position. It is often attributed, though perhaps without sufficient reason, to the desire to keep up his personal ascendancy, that he refused the terms offered by Louis; and in the following year the disastrous victory of Malplaquet has also been considered a political battle. A truer view of the case seems to be that, afraid of taking any decided steps, he chose to occupy merely the position of an agent of Government, and obey even against his own convictions the dictation of the Whig party. At the same time, he made two desperate efforts to obtain a position independent of home politics--he applied to the Archduke Charles for the office of Governor of the Low Countries, which would have produced about £60,000 a year, and he also demanded from Queen Anne the position of Captain General for life. In both cases his efforts failed. As far as England was concerned, he probably owed his disappointment chiefly to the conduct of his wife. Finding herself supplanted by Mrs. Masham, she lost all command of her temper, and perpetually outraged the feelings of the Queen by her violent complaints.

[Sidenote: Fall of the Whigs. 1710.]

[Sidenote: Dr. Sacheverell.]

[Sidenote: Dismissal of Sunderland and Godolphin. Aug. 8.]

[Sidenote: Harley's Tory ministry. Nov.]

The triumph of the Whigs, which had seemed so complete, was of very short duration. Their fall was caused by a fault which had been too prevalent among them since the Revolution--whenever they had the upper hand, they became dictatorial and overbearing. Already they had made themselves distasteful to the Queen by the eagerness with which they had forced themselves into power, and an unnecessary exhibition of that power rendered them distasteful to the people. A certain Dr. Henry Sacheverell, a strong upholder of the doctrine of non-resistance, had preached two sermons, one at the Assizes of Derby, one before the mayor and aldermen at St. Paul's. The mayor, who sympathized with his views, suggested that he should print the sermons, and though the common council, when consulted, declined to authorize this step, the preacher acted on the mayor's suggestion and published both. They became a sort of political manifesto, which was largely circulated through the country. The Whigs were naturally angry at this semi-official production of doctrines subversive of all the principles of the Revolution. They determined to take notice of the sermons, and, foolishly disregarding the advice of Somers, they proceeded by the extraordinary method of impeachment instead of the common process of law. This naturally raised the foolish utterances of a clergyman to the dignity of a party question; and when they further insisted upon a ceremonious hearing in Westminster Hall, the trial became the fashionable topic of the day. The excitement throughout England was very great. All other public business came to a standstill, and when the Lords, though they found Sacheverell guilty, took a very moderate view of his guilt, and punished him only with three years' suspension, the verdict was regarded as a virtual acquittal, and celebrated as a party triumph. The exhibition of feeling called forth by this trial proved both to the Queen and to her secret advisers how great a hold the Tory party had upon the country. Encouraged by Harley, who loved an underhand intrigue, and by his creature Mrs. Masham, she proceeded to act upon her new-found knowledge, and it became evident how formidable the power of the Crown still was. Without consulting Godolphin, she made the Duke of Shrewsbury Lord Chamberlain. Godolphin, instead of resigning at this marked act of distrust, put up with the affront. Still further emboldened by this weakness, the Queen dismissed Lord Sunderland, whom she had always disliked, and followed up the blow by the dismissal of Godolphin himself. The office of Lord Treasurer was for the time kept in abeyance, but Harley was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was virtually Prime Minister. For a little while Harley attempted negotiations with the Whigs, who still retained office, but finding them impracticable, he determined to rest upon the Tories only, induced the Queen to dissolve Parliament, and formed an entirely Tory ministry, the most important members of which were Harcourt, who became Lord Chancellor, Rochester, Lord President, and St. John, who succeeded Boyle as Secretary of State.

[Sidenote: Conference at Gertruydenberg. 1710.]

It was with this ministry that Louis attempted to renew the interrupted negotiations of 1709. The battle of Malplaquet and the fall of Mons had forced him to this course, and to consent that a congress should be held at Gertruydenberg. At first Holland refused to treat except upon the preliminaries of the preceding year, and they still demanded the assistance of Louis in ejecting his grandson the King of Spain. Finally, both English and Dutch seemed to have waived this point, but the opposition of Austria and Savoy rendered any general negotiation impossible, and the war was resumed.

[Sidenote: The war in Spain.]

In Flanders it produced nothing beyond the capture of Douay, but in Spain it was of more importance. There Stanhope succeeded with some difficulty in inducing his colleague Staremberg and the Archduke Charles to advance towards Madrid. They defeated the Spaniards, from whom French assistance was withdrawn during the negotiations, at Almenara and Saragossa. They pushed on into Castile, and again occupied Madrid. Thus, inasmuch as the war had been fairly successful, it was in favour of the Whigs, although the successes having been chiefly in Spain (the pursuance of the war in which country was a part of the Tory programme), they were less important politically than they would have been had they taken place in Flanders. But whatever advantage the Whigs might have obtained from the war was neutralized when, before the end of the year, events occurred in Spain which entirely altered the complexion of affairs in that country. Stanhope's hopes for a successful issue of his enterprise were based on the active co-operation of the army of Portugal. Philip, with his Spanish army, having retired northwards, there was nothing to prevent the junction of the two armies. But, in spite of the entreaties of the English general, the Portuguese would not move, and as the hope of any successful issue to the negotiations dwindled, Louis again allowed assistance to be sent to Spain, and a considerable army, which the national spirit of the Castilians had formed round Philip, was placed under the able command of Vendome. He at once saw the necessity for preventing the proposed union; and his advance to the Bridge of Almaraz rendered it henceforward impossible. Stanhope was for wintering in Castile, and the army withdrawing from the capital amidst the joyful shouts of the inhabitants, took up a position in accordance with Stanhope's wishes. But the Archduke Charles, who was as uxorious as his rival, could not bear separation from his wife, and hurried home with upwards of 2000 cavalry, the arm in which the allied troops were already overmatched. When it became evident that no hope was to be expected from Portugal, the general saw that to winter in Castile was impossible, and withdrew towards Aragon. But Vendome, smarting under the disgrace he had suffered at Oudenarde, outdid himself. With extreme rapidity, he pressed upon his enemy, who was retreating in two parallel armies, one under Staremberg, the other under Stanhope. With vastly superior forces he came upon the latter general, as he was resting his troops at Brihuega, without the least notion of the close approach of Vendome. Stanhope made a most gallant defence, expecting to be relieved by Staremberg, but hours passed by, and for some unexplained reason, Staremberg did not appear; thus having continued his defence till ammunition failed, Stanhope was compelled to capitulate. The surrender was already completed before Staremberg appeared. His slowness had ruined his cause, but he did what he could to re-establish it; and at Villa Viciosa a great battle was fought, in which both parties claimed the victory. But no fresh victory could have given Vendome more perfect success. Staremberg was obliged to fall back, and reached Barcelona with 7000 men only, the relics of the army which had been so triumphant in the earlier part of the year.

[Sidenote: Harley's policy for peace]

[Sidenote: and restoration of the Stuarts.]

The elections, made while the ferment of the trial of Sacheverell was still unsubdued, produced a strong Tory majority. And it was thus, strong at home and assisted by disaster abroad, that Harley and his Government were able to set on foot their change of policy, and in spite of the failure of the preliminaries at Gertruydenberg, to enter into negotiations for a final peace. It seems probable that from the first Harley's policy was directed to the restoration of the Stuarts, as well as to a return to the main feature of their foreign policy, friendship with France. It is of course possible that his intercourse with the Jacobites was merely intended to secure his parliamentary position, but certainly his conduct was quite in accordance with the belief that he was in earnest. The tortuous and underhand manner in which the peace was first set on foot points in this direction, still more so do the letters of the Abbé Gaultier, written in the year 1710, which declare that the new ministry had a great consideration for the Pretender, and that some members of it were working for him only. The restoration of the Stuarts would be rendered easier by three things. In the first place it was scarcely possible without the assistance of France. This seems to explain, better than the mere wish to follow the traditional Tory policy of peace, the immediate steps taken to put an end to the war, and the very favourable terms granted to Louis after his disasters. Secondly, it could not be undertaken without the support of the High Church party, which was very strong. This explains the constant support given by the Government to that party. And thirdly, the success of such a scheme would have been best secured by the assistance of Marlborough, who was known to have already frequently intrigued with the Court of St. Germains. On the other hand the Duke would be the most formidable opponent. Steps were therefore taken to secure his assistance, and when that was found impossible, his complete ruin became the object to be sought.

[Sidenote: Marlborough only anxious to keep his place.]

On his return from his somewhat unfruitful campaign, Marlborough seemed inclined, with his usual selfishness, to submit to anything for the continuation of his personal position. We are told by St. John that he expressed his sorrow for his former wrong step in joining the Whigs. He even attempted to soften the angry vehemence of his wife, but her fate was in fact determined by the personal feelings of the Queen. No entreaties of the Duke, who even threw himself on his knees before her, could induce the Queen to go back from her wish to deprive the Duchess of all her offices. She was compelled to surrender her gold key, and left her apartments at St. James's, having first gratified her spite by carrying off the brass locks and marble chimney-pieces. The Duke himself, though he had suffered many indignities, was permitted to continue the conduct of the war, being assured that he should be well supported.

[Sidenote: Secret peace negotiations.]

Having thus for the time secured themselves from his opposition, the Government proceeded to open secret negotiations with the Court of Versailles. The agent employed was a priest named Gaultier, who had been Tallard's chaplain, and was a warm friend of the Pretender's cause. This sudden idea of peace was most unexpected and welcome to the French. "Asking us whether we wished for peace," says Torcy, "was like asking a sick man whether he wishes to recover." Gaultier returned with the message that Louis could not, so soon after the failure of the late treaty, suggest peace to the Dutch, but he would gladly listen to the mediation of England; a shrewd answer, which at once tended towards separating England from her allies. The knowledge that a peace with France was likely, and that all further help from England was hopeless, induced a French refugee of the name of Guiscard, who had been prominent in arranging attacks upon France and assistance to the rebels in the Cevennes, to turn traitor. His correspondence was discovered, and in despair, upon being examined in the Council, he determined to revenge himself upon the authors of his misfortune, and stabbed Harley with a penknife. Harley's popularity was raised still higher by this attack on him; he was made Earl of Oxford, and shortly after, on the supposed success of his financial scheme for incorporating the public creditors into a company to trade in the South Seas, was made Lord Treasurer. The High Church temper of the time was further illustrated by the passage of a Bill for erecting fifty new churches in London, and of the Occasional Conformity Act, now proposed in the House of Lords which had always previously obstructed it.

[Sidenote: Marlborough's plans for the campaign of 1712.]

The negotiations opened by Gaultier were also continued, Prior was sent to Paris, and a more specific scheme was set on foot than had been produced by the verbal negotiations of the spring, although, unmoved or ignorant of the action of the Government, Marlborough was attempting to continue his great career. He had planned a combined movement with Eugene against Villars, who had constructed lines near Arras and Cambrai so strong that he boastfully said he had brought Marlborough to the "non plus ultra." The vigour of the campaign was checked by the withdrawal of Eugene, who was required to superintend and guard the Electoral Diet at Frankfort, which had been summoned to elect the successor to the Emperor Joseph, who had died on the 17th of April. It was Marlborough's intention to reduce Bouchain and Le Quesnoy, to winter in France, and in the spring press forward towards Paris. His schemes were only partially successful, owing principally to the slowness of the Imperialists. By some skilful manœuvres he succeeded in passing the formidable lines, and besieged and took Bouchain, but was unable to carry his great project further.

[Sidenote: Proposed terms of peace.]

On his arrival in Paris, Prior found that Louis had authority to treat for Spain as well as for himself, and proceeded to explain the conditions demanded. England no longer insisted upon the surrender of the Spanish crown, but would be satisfied with the pledge that the two crowns should never be united; Gibraltar, Minorca, and Newfoundland must be secured to England; Dunkirk demolished, and four towns granted for trade in South America. Great commercial advantages must be granted both to the English and Dutch, and fortified towns given as barriers for the Dutch in the Low Countries, and for Austria on the Rhine. All this was as yet kept profoundly secret. The negotiation was subsequently transferred to London, and there, in September, eight preliminary articles were drawn up. Louis was to acknowledge Anne and the Protestant succession; a new treaty of commerce was to be made; Dunkirk was to be demolished, some fair equivalent being given; Gibraltar, Minorca, and Newfoundland, with the exception of some fishing rights, were to be secured to the English. In addition to this, the Assiento, or grant of the slave trade with America, was withdrawn by Spain from France and given to England. A second set of preliminaries was prepared for Holland, omitting the chief advantages gained by England, but introducing stipulations to secure a barrier and to prevent the junction of the crowns of France and Spain. The Dutch, though much dissatisfied with the desertion of the English, were compelled to give in their adhesion, and Utrecht was appointed as the place where the conference was to be held. Austria was even more outspoken in its anger, and the Imperial minister in London, who was rash enough to express the indignation of his Court in a published appeal to the people, was compelled to leave the country.

[Sidenote: Attack on Marlborough on his return.]

[Sidenote: Parliament, Dec. 7.]

Affairs had reached this point when Marlborough returned from his campaign. Entering into communication with his old friends the Whigs, he found that they had formed a coalition with a section of the Tories under Nottingham, who was much displeased at having been excluded from all the late ministerial arrangements. Marlborough's object was no doubt to join the strongest side. The present position of the Whig party seemed to him so promising that he gave it his adhesion. Nor was he mistaken as things then stood. On the opening of Parliament, Nottingham moved, as an amendment to the Address, the old Tory resolution that no peace could be safe or honourable to Great Britain or Europe if Spain or the West Indies were allotted to any branch of the Bourbons, and after a hot discussion succeeded in beating the Government by a majority of eight. In the House of Commons, on the other hand, the Government commanded a large majority. Harley and St. John had now to consider what steps to take against this hostile coalition in the Lords. They determined, in the first place, to strike a heavy blow at Marlborough, and the report of a Commission which had been issued to examine into the public accounts afforded them an opportunity of doing so. Basing its assertion on the deposition of Sir Solomon Medina, who had contracted to supply the army in Flanders with bread, the Commission reported that the Duke had received on those contracts large sums of money, amounting on the whole to £63,000, while his secretary, Cardonnel, had also received large douceurs. It also declared that Marlborough had received 2½ per cent. on all subsidies to foreign troops, amounting on the whole to £177,000. Acting on this report, the ministry stripped Marlborough of all his offices. Marlborough was so notoriously avaricious, and his character was so mean, that these charges seemed to the public probable; but, in fact, his reply was tolerably complete. The bread money had habitually been received by every commander-in-chief in Flanders, and had been expended chiefly in obtaining information as to the enemies' plans. The percentage on the subsidies was a free gift from the princes to whom they were paid, and Marlborough had not accepted them without the royal warrant. In the state of feeling at the time these excuses were not much regarded. Having got rid of their most powerful enemy, the ministry made use of the royal prerogative to neutralize the influence of the Lords. Twelve new Peers were created, which gave them a permanent majority.

[Sidenote: Command of the army given to Ormond. 1712.]

[Sidenote: The Queen announces the treaty. June 6.]

Having by these strong measures secured their position in Parliament, Harley and St. John proceeded with their negotiations. There was some difficulty with regard to the prosecution of the war while the Congress was sitting. The command had been given to the Duke of Ormond, a man of strong Jacobite principles; he was privately instructed not to undertake any offensive operations against the French, and he consequently informed Villars that he need not be afraid of attacks from the English, although the pressure which Eugene put upon him was so strong that he could not refuse to join in the siege of Quesnoy. His strange lukewarm prosecution of the war, which seemed rather like friendship than hostility, did not pass unnoticed in England. But all complaints were answered by the assertion that the Queen would shortly lay before Parliament the conditions of a peace. In fact, she was only waiting till Philip of Spain should have made up his mind whether to accept an equivalent for the Spanish crown, and retain his rights on France, or remain where he was and renounce those claims. When the answer arrived, preferring the latter alternative, the Queen went down to the House and explained the proposed treaty. Though violently opposed, addresses of confidence were carried.

[Sidenote: Peace of Utrecht. 1713.]

An armistice was at once declared, and the English troops ordered to separate from Eugene. It was not without a considerable feeling of disgrace that 12,000 English troops withdrew from their old comrades in arms; the English stipendiaries refused to obey the command, and remained with the Prince. A visit of St. John, now Lord Bolingbroke, to Paris, put the finishing stroke to the negotiation, and peace was virtually declared. The campaign, completed by Eugene alone, was unsuccessful. His defeat at Denain, and further successes won over the allies by Villars, inclined the new Emperor to look more favourably upon the peace. The treaties were ultimately signed at Utrecht on the 31st of March 1713. The Emperor's peace, by which the Electors of Cologne and Bavaria were reinstated, was postponed for a year, and was finally completed at Rastadt in the following March. It is certain that the terms gained were infinitely less advantageous than the lengthened and victorious war might have justified, or than those which could have been obtained at the negotiations of Gertruydenberg. The desertion of the Catalans, who had risen in insurrection chiefly at the instigation of the English, was undoubtedly an act of selfishness; and Government would even have sacrificed the advantages of the Methuen Treaty, and granted commercial terms far more in favour of France, had not the moneyed interest proved too strong for it. At the same time, though the Peace of Utrecht was not a glorious one, there is much to be said in its favour; the changed position of Europe, by the accession of Charles to the Imperial crown, had in truth put the questions at issue upon a totally new footing; it would have been quite as disadvantageous to the general European balance that Spain and Austria should have been joined in the hands of the Imperial house as that Spain and France should have been in the hands of the Bourbon Princes.

[Sidenote: The succession.]

[Sidenote: Harley's conduct.]

[Sidenote: Bolingbroke's views.]

After the close of the great war, the question of succession, rendered more pressing by the failing health of the Queen, came prominently forward. In the midst of the negotiations the Pretender had written a letter to Queen Anne, and Bolingbroke had been throughout in correspondence with him. It is difficult to determine how far Harley was really mixed up in the plot of changing the succession. That he had frequently expressed himself as friendly to the Pretender is certain; but his indolence in business, his constant difficulty in making up his mind, and his love of intrigue, prevented him from taking any strong or definite line in the scheme for the Stuart restoration. With Bolingbroke the case was different. He was unaffected by any Church views, for he did not believe in Christianity; he knew that the part he had already played had rendered him obnoxious to the Elector of Hanover, he had therefore little hope of office after the Queen's death. On the other hand, he was certain of being a trusted minister of the new Stuart king. To help him in the Cabinet he had Brumley, Ormond, and probably Harcourt. But for the success of his plan extreme care was necessary; for the general feeling of the country, though Tory and High Church, was nevertheless Protestant and Hanoverian. An over-hasty declaration of Jacobitism would probably destroy his ministry.

[Sidenote: New Tory Parliament. 1714.]

[Sidenote: Ormond reorganizes the army.]

A new Parliament assembled in February. It was again Tory in its views; and it shows the real object of Bolingbroke's tactics, that the Pretender during the elections wrote to his friends to use their best efforts in favour of the Government. The new appointments also, which were made on the occurrence of vacancies by deaths, show the same Jacobite tendencies. Wyndam became Chancellor of the Exchequer, Athol and Mar two of the chief officials in Scotland. Nor was the Jacobite scheme confined to the appointment of ministers, more immediate practical measures for securing the change of Government were taken. The Cinque Ports were placed in the hands of Ormond, and the entrance of a foreign force into England thus rendered easy; the army was remodelled, and the greater part of those troops which William had organized disbanded; while a plan was set on foot for obliging officers in the army known to be friendly to Marlborough to sell their commissions, which only failed because Harley, either through indolence, or because he really shrunk from supporting the Jacobites, neglected to have the funds ready for the purchase. The Whigs, on their side, also organized themselves for the coming crisis. General Stanhope was regarded as their leader. They seem to have been ready for all emergencies, intending even to employ force, if necessary, to secure the throne for the Hanoverian Elector. In spite of the caution of Bolingbroke, the scope of his plans began to be discovered, and it became necessary still further to blind the nation. Pretending to treat as libels all suggestions that he was aiming at the restoration of the Stuarts, he introduced a resolution that the Protestant succession was in no danger, but his credit was too far shaken to allow of a complete victory. The motion was indeed passed, but the small majority proved how large a section of the Tories were attached to the Hanoverian house, and were willing on that point to make common cause with the Whigs. That party were encouraged to take a further step. Thinking it of the last importance that the Electoral Prince should be in England to take possession of the inheritance of his house on Anne's death, they induced the Hanoverian minister to demand his writ of summons to the House of Lords as an English Peer in virtue of his title of Duke of Cambridge. The Government was thrown into great perplexity; to refuse it seemed to confess their Jacobite tendencies, to grant it was certain to enrage the Queen, who, like other childless sovereigns, was morbidly touchy about the succession, and it would moreover deal a heavy blow at their own plans. The writ was given, but accompanied by a letter from the Queen to the Electress Sophia, couched in such angry language that it is said to have caused the death of that princess, now far advanced in years.

But a schism within its own body was gradually undermining the ministry. Harley, undecided upon all points, and strongly bound by old ties to the Low Church and dissenting interest, could not throw himself heartily into the vigorous policy of Bolingbroke; he was, moreover, jealous of the ever-increasing importance of his energetic colleague. The Schism Act, a measure conceived in the most exclusive High Church spirit, brought their rivalry to a crisis. It enacted that no person should keep a public or private school, or act as tutor, unless a member of the Church of England, and licensed by his Bishop, thus in fact throwing the whole education of the country into the hands of the Church. Harley, bred a dissenter, and always relying much on the support of the Nonconformist bodies, could not give it his hearty support. With his usual indecision, he played fast and loose with the Bill. But he had lost the ear of the Queen, Bolingbroke and Mrs. Masham had supplanted him, and the favourite so played upon the Queen's High Church propensities, that, after a hot altercation in the Council before the eyes of the Queen, she was induced to dismiss the Lord Treasurer.

[Sidenote: The Queen's death.]

In the dismissal of his dilatory rival Bolingbroke saw the removal of the last obstacle to the completion of his schemes, and he was preparing to form a ministry wholly in the Jacobite interest, when the Queen's sudden illness upset all his plans. Had the matter come to the decision of arms, Marlborough, who had just returned from abroad, might, after the treatment he had received at the hand of the Tories, have been trusted to do his best for the Whigs. But, fortunately, the question was destined to meet with a peaceful solution. The Duke of Shrewsbury, in his time the leader of the Whigs of the Revolution, and subsequently guilty of treacherous correspondence with the Stuarts, continued his vacillating policy. The part he had taken in 1708, in persuading the Queen to rid herself of the Whigs, had given him the confidence of the Tory party. But he had never ceased to regret the one false step of his life, and was firmly attached to the Hanoverian succession. His position in the ministry enabled him for the time to become really master of the situation, and to thwart all the schemes of Bolingbroke. With this end in view he arranged a plan with the Dukes of Argyle and Somerset. As the Council was sitting to consider what steps to take in consequence of the Queen's illness, the two Dukes suddenly made their appearance, claimed their right as Privy Councillors, were by Shrewsbury's advice admitted, and at once proposed that the Queen, who had for the moment recovered consciousness, should be requested, in view of the coming crisis, to make the Duke of Shrewsbury Lord Treasurer. A deputation, of which the Duke was himself a member, went to her bedside, and persuaded her to give him the White Staff. Vigorous measures were at once taken. Troops were collected, the Elector summoned over, and everything was ready to withstand armed invasion, and to hasten the peaceful acceptance of the legal heir, when the Queen died on the 1st of August.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: The Union.]

For several sessions the Parliament had been acting under the new title of the Parliament of Great Britain, the Union with Scotland having been completed in 1707. Quite at the beginning of the reign, in 1702, leave having been given both by the Scotch and English Parliaments, Commissioners had met to make arrangements for the Union, which had always been a favourite project of William's. Neither party were, however, much in earnest, and the members of the Commission were lax in their attendance. There was no difficulty in agreeing upon the main points, but upon trade and finance the claims advanced by the Scotch, who seemed to wish on the one hand for equality of duties, and on the other for exemption from liabilities, were regarded as untenable, and in February 1703 the Commissioners ceased to meet.

[Sidenote: Scotch Parliament. 1703.]

On the 6th of May in that year the Scotch Parliament met, under the Presidency of the Duke of Queensberry as Lord Commissioner. Its temper was anything but conciliatory. The ill feeling excited by the Darien Scheme had by no means subsided. The late futile efforts of the joint Commission had still further roused the angry feelings of the people, and there was an idea afloat, by no means without foundation, that the High Church Tories, who were just coming into power, would seize the opportunity for an assault upon the National Church. All these causes influenced the temper of the Parliament, and instead of taking measures tending towards the Union, it seemed bent upon doing all that was possible to render the kingdoms quite separate. The Queen's letter, in which she recommended toleration, was contemptuously neglected, and a strong declaration passed, confirming the Presbyterian Church, "as the only Church of Christ in the Kingdom." Politically, the conduct of the Parliament was even less conciliatory. Resolutions were passed declaring that, after the death of the Queen, no King of England should make peace or war without consent of the Scotch Parliament; though the nation was in the midst of a great war with France, restrictions on the trade in French wine were removed; Fletcher of Saltoun introduced what were known as the Limitations, by which the authority of the Crown was seriously compromised; its power of appointing to the great offices of Government was transferred to the Parliament; and finally, a Bill of Security with regard to the succession was introduced, authorizing Parliament to name a successor from among the Protestant descendants of the royal line, but asserting that whoever that successor might be he was not to be the same as the successor to the Crown of England, unless proper security was given for the freedom of religion and trade. The nomination of the Princess Sophia, hazarded by the Earl of Marchmont, was received with derision and anger. All these Bills, except the last, received the royal assent. But the refusal to pass the Bill of Security was so unpopular, that it was found necessary to adjourn the House without securing any subsidy.

[Sidenote: Scotch Parliament. July 1704.]

In the following year the Parliament again met. It was hoped that a new Commissioner would manage it more successfully, and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed to succeed Queensberry. The policy of conciliation was carried to an extreme, and Godolphin, always a timid minister, allowed Tweeddale to give the royal assent even to the Act of Security.

[Sidenote: English Parliament. Oct. 1704.]

[Sidenote: Scotch Parliament. June 1705.]

The hostile feeling exhibited by the Scotch Parliament only went still further to prove what the Darien Scheme had made evident, that the Union was imperatively necessary. Whigs and Tories therefore combined, when the English Parliament met, in attacking Godolphin for his weakness; and in December, Somers brought forward, and succeeded in passing through both Houses, a law which seemed to threaten war between the countries. After Christmas 1705, all Scotchmen were to be regarded as aliens, the importation into England of the chief Scotch products--cattle, coal, and linen--was prohibited; and as a still stronger threat, it was ordered that the Border towns should be fortified and put into a state of security, and the militia in the northern counties called out. This severe threat was not without its effect. But the anger of the Scotch at the time only grew more vehement. In April of the following year, 1705, Thomas Green, a captain of a ship belonging to the new East India Company, had been seized by the agents of the Darien Company, charged with piracy in the East, and with the murder of a Darien captain. It was afterwards proved that the captain was alive; nevertheless, in spite of orders from the English Council, the Scotch ministers were overawed by the popular feeling, and the unfortunate man, with some others of his crew, was hanged. But England was now determined that the Union should be effected. Tweeddale was removed from his commissionership, and Argyle, assisted by Queensberry, put in his place. This gave Tweeddale an opportunity of forming a third party in the Parliament, which attempted to hold the balance between those who were for the Union and those who opposed it, and was known by the name of the Squadrone Volante. On the whole, however, this party acted with the Government. The Queen had instructed the Parliament to consider the question of the settlement of the succession, and the appointment of Commissioners to treat. With regard to the first point it proved obstinate, it insisted on first discussing the condition of trade, and could not be induced to name any successor. With some slight alterations, it passed again the Limitations suggested by Fletcher of Saltoun, and added further, that a Scotch ambassador should be present at all treaties involving the two nations. But upon the second point, by the aid of the Squadrone Volante, the Government was successful. The threatened Alien Bill indeed began to have its effect; and it was ordered that the Commissioners should not begin to act till that Bill was repealed. As it seemed to have done its work, this suggestion was attended to, and in November the English Parliament repealed the Act.

[Sidenote: The Commissioners meet. 1706.]

Thus then, the chief obstacles being removed, in April 1706, the Commissioners, thirty-one on each side, met. The English Commissioners at once suggested as the prime object of negotiation, that there should be one Kingdom, one Parliament, and one Successor. The Scotch seemed first to desire a Federative Union, but yielded, on condition that their religion should be free, and that their trade should enjoy a general equality of advantage. It was the details, especially of taxation and trade, which gave the greatest trouble. The Scotch insisted on discussing them in detail. It was finally agreed that they should be exempt from terminable taxes, and receive an equivalent for any present loss they might sustain, by taking their share in the public debt of England, which was larger than their own. The revenue of England was about £5,700,000, that of Scotland about £160,000. The debts of England amounted to £17,700,000, those of Scotland, taken roughly, to £160,000; that is, England owed three and a half, Scotland only one year's revenue. The equivalent fixed was £398,000, which was employed to pay off the whole Scotch debt, to dissolve the Darien Company and indemnify its shareholders, and for other Scotch purposes. The other questions were easily settled. The title of the United Kingdom was to be Great Britain, the national flags were to be incorporated in one. The Scotch taxes amounted to little more than a fortieth of the English. Had this been observed as a basis of representation, they would have had but thirteen members of Parliament. But this being held too few, they were granted forty-five members, which was about a twelfth of the whole House of Commons. The same proportion was taken for the basis of the arrangement of the Upper House, and thus of the whole Scottish Peerage sixteen were to be elected to sit in the united House of Lords.

[Sidenote: Scotch Parliament. Oct. 1706.]

When the Treaty had been settled by the Commissioners, it was brought before the Scotch Parliament, where it met with violent opposition. In one way or another it was objectionable to many classes. The Jacobites saw in it the final destruction of all their hopes of a change of dynasty. The extreme Presbyterians did not believe in a Union which would leave their Church untrammelled. The views of the Revolution had gone further in Scotland than in England, and a considerable body of active spirits had adopted republican views; to them the establishment of a monarchy backed by the strength of England was distasteful, as rendering any fulfilment of their hopes impossible. And the Edinburgh tradesmen recognized to the full the loss they would sustain by the removal of Parliament to London. The discussion on the various points went on throughout the whole of the year. The final effort of the Opposition was to be a great protest, to be produced at the debate upon the share Scotland was to have in the national legislature. This protest was to be presented by Hamilton, as premier Peer, and to be followed by a secession of the minority. But Hamilton's heart failed him at the appointed moment, the protest was not presented, and on the 16th of January 1707 the measure was finally carried by 110 votes to 69.

Having been successfully passed through the Scotch House, the Bill had now to be ratified by the English Parliament. So many changes had been made that it was possible there might be much difficulty in securing the easy passage of the Bill. But as the Whigs and the Government were determined that at all hazards it should become law, they accepted without question all the Scotch amendments. When the articles of the Treaty had thus been carried through the House, there yet remained the Act of Ratification to complete it. It was still possible for the opponents of the Bill to reopen discussion upon each article in detail. The skill of Sir Simon Harcourt, the Attorney-General, thwarted this disastrous intention, by so wording the Bill that the articles themselves were not called in question, but their ratification alone demanded. He induced all parties, who were on the whole agreed that in some shape or other the Bill had better pass, to accept it. With little opposition therefore it was carried through both Houses, and became law, and the succeeding Parliament took the name of the Parliament of Great Britain. Party feeling was at the time very high, and accusations of bribery were lavishly flung abroad, but a closer examination appears to prove that these charges were unfounded.

GEORGE I.

1714-1727.

Born 1660 = Sophia of Brunswick.
____________________|_________________
| |
George II. Sophia = Frederick William.

CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.

_France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._ | _Prussia._
| | |
Louis XIV., 1643.| Charles VI., 1711.| Philip V., 1700.| Frederick
Louis XV., 1715. | | | William, 1713.

_Russia._ | _Denmark._ | _Sweden._
| |
Peter the Great, 1689. | Frederick IV., 1699. | Charles XII., 1697.
Catherine I., 1724. | | Frederick I., 1720.

POPES.--Clement XI., 1700. Innocent XIII., 1721. Benedict XIII., 1724.

_Archbishops._ | _Chancellors._
|
T. Tenison, 1694. | William Cowper, 1714.
W. Wake, 1715. | Lord Macclesfield, 1718.
| Lord King, 1725.

_First Lords of the | _Chancellors of the | _Secretaries of State._
Treasury._ | Exchequer._ |
| |
1714. Halifax. | 1714. R. Walpole. | 1714 { Stanhope.
1715. Carlisle. | 1717. Stanhope. | { Townshend.
1715. R. Walpole. | 1718. Aislabie. | 1716 { Stanhope.
1717. Stanhope. | 1721. R. Walpole. | { Methuen.
1718. Sunderland. | | 1717 { Sunderland.
1721. R. Walpole. | | { Addison.
| 1718 { Stanhope.
| { Craggs.
| 1721 { Townshend.
| { Carteret.
| 1724 { Townshend.
| { Newcastle.

[Sidenote: Probability of a restoration of the Stuarts.]

[Sidenote: Council of Regency.]

England had been slow to accept the principle of succession by parliamentary instead of hereditary right; since 1688 the struggle had been continuous, it had reached a crisis in the closing years of Queen Anne. The triumph of the Whigs, secured to them by the constant successes of the War of Succession, had rendered them over-confident, and an act of foolish severity had been followed by their complete overthrow. The natural inclinations of the Queen, and the weakness of her character, which rendered her constantly liable to be subjugated by the influence of those around her; the talents and intriguing ambition of St. John, and the energy and compactness of the Jacobite body resting upon the general Conservative feeling of the nation, had rendered the return of the Stuarts to the throne a very probable event. A few weeks only were wanting for the completion of the plot, and James Edward would probably have been received as heir to the throne, and the work of the Revolution have been undone. The unexpected illness of the Queen, the rapidity and energy with which the Hanoverian Lords of the Council had carried out what was virtually a _coup d'état_, had destroyed these hopes. When the Lord Treasurer's staff was placed in the hands of the Duke of Shrewsbury, all hope of carrying out this counter-revolution with the aid of the executive was at an end. Although he had more than once faltered in his allegiance to the Whig party, it was now well understood that he was endowed with something not far short of a dictatorship, for the express purpose of carrying out the enactments of the Act of Succession. Everything was done as arranged by that Act. There was no difficulty with regard to the regency; sealed packets containing the names of those who were to act as the Council of Regency, chosen by the Protestant successor, were in his hands. On their being opened, the names of eighteen Lords, almost exclusively of the Whig party, were found, who, together with the seven great officers named in the Statute, were to act, under the title of Lords Justices, as an interim Government until the arrival of the new King. It is to be observed that the name of the Duke of Marlborough was not among them.

[Sidenote: Peaceful accession of the King.]

[Sidenote: New Whig ministry.]

Parliament was to continue for six months before dissolution, and everything for the present passed off quietly; the Civil List was voted as in the preceding reign; and on the 18th of September the King and his eldest son arrived in England. He was not a man to excite enthusiasm. An unostentatious man, used to a Court where his will was law, but where the manners were singularly primitive and plain, he was little suited to the peculiar position of an English Parliamentary sovereign, from whom, along with the possession of but little real power, much dignity and some magnificence were required. Unable therefore to comprehend the working of that constitution over which he had come to preside, and without ability sufficient to carry on a policy of his own, he naturally threw himself into the arms of that party to which he owed his Crown. The great offices, several of which had been for the last month united in the hands of Shrewsbury, were therefore distributed among the Whigs. Townshend was put at the head of the Government, and with him were Halifax, General Stanhope, Lord Cowper, Nottingham, and Lord Townshend's brother-in-law, Sir Robert Walpole; while Sunderland was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and the Duke of Marlborough (though the King had already shown his well-founded mistrust of him) reassumed the offices of Commander-in-chief and Master of the Ordnance. His power, however, was gone.

[Sidenote: Triumph of the Whigs.]

The establishment of the Hanoverian house had thus very much the appearance of a triumph of a faction. There were no attempts at conciliation, such as had been made after the Revolution, no efforts to give a general and national character to the Government. The King came forward as the head of the triumphant Whig party. This attitude naturally at the time excited much ill-feeling, yet on the whole it was wise. George was not the man to carry out a scheme of comprehensive government which had already twice failed in the abler hands of William and of Marlborough. The questions at issue were too vital to admit of compromise, and the Whig party were wise in their view of the crisis. A crushing victory was necessary to teach both their conscientious and factious opponents a lesson,--the one must yield to the force of circumstances, the other must discover that their only road to office lay in concession to principles which they were too weak to shake. Conscientious upholders of the Stuarts must be taught that their choice lay between submission and the resignation of their claim to be regarded as Englishmen; those who used the Stuarts as a road to power must be led to see that they must henceforward limit their opposition to points of minor importance, that the main principles of government were fixed for ever.

[Sidenote: Riots in the country.]

But the conduct of the King and of the Whigs, though wise, was such as to drive the Jacobites to extremities, and to render an appeal to arms sooner or later almost certain. The irritation of the high Tories at once showed itself. In January, as the six months had elapsed, the House was dissolved, and on the meeting of the new House in March, it was found, as was at that time usually the case, that the party in power commanded a large majority. This however had not been secured without serious riots. In Manchester and the midland counties the riots assumed the form of an attack upon the dissenters, and were so serious as to necessitate the passing of a Riot Act. By this Act, which is still in force, it is enacted, that "If any twelve persons are unlawfully assembled to the disturbance of the peace, and any justice of the peace, sheriff, &c., shall think proper to command them by proclamation to disperse, if they contemn his orders, and continue together for one hour afterwards, such contempt shall be felony, without benefit of clergy."

[Sidenote: Impeachment of the late ministers. March.]