Chapter IV: Part 4

(_a_) After the battle of Preston Pans,--when one of the Prince's followers congratulated him on the victory which he had obtained, and, pointing to the field of battle, exclaimed, "Sir, there are your enemies at your feet!"--Charles is said not only to have refrained from joining in the exultation of the moment, but to have warmly expressed the sincerest compassion for those whom he termed "his father's deluded subjects." Previous to the battle, he had strongly exhorted his followers to adopt the side of mercy; and when the victory was gained, his first thoughts were for the unhappy sufferers, and his first hours employed in providing for the comfort of his wounded adversaries as well as his friends. His exhortations and example produced the happiest effects. In the words of one of his gallant followers,--"Not only did I often hear our common clansmen ask the soldiers if they wanted quarter, and not only did we, the officers, exert our utmost pains to save those who were stubborn or who could not make themselves understood, but I saw some of our private men, after the battle, run to Port Seton for ale and other liquors to support the wounded. As one proof for all, of my own particular observation, I saw a Highlander, carefully and with patient kindness, carry a poor wounded soldier on his back into a house, where he left him with a sixpence to pay his charges. In all this we followed not only the dictates of humanity, but also the orders of our Prince, who acted in everything as the true father of his country."

+Source.+--_The MS. of Lord George Murray, Commander-in-Chief._ Printed by Bishop Forbes in his _Jacobite Memoirs_, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 29.

(_b_) His Royal Highness caused take the same care of their wounded as of his own.... In the evening I went with the officer prisoners to a house in Musselburgh, that was allotted for them. Those who were worst wounded, were left at Colonel Gardner's house, where surgeons attended them; the others walked, as I did alongst with them, without a guard, (as they had given me their parole;) and to some, who were not well able to walk, I gave my own horses. It was a new finished house that was got for them, where there was neither table, bed, chair, or chimney grate. I caused buy some new thrashed straw, and had, by good fortune, as much cold provisions and liquor of my own, as made a tolerable meal to them all; and when I was going to retire, they entreated me not to leave them, for, as they had no guard, they were afraid that some of the Highlanders who had got liquor, might come in upon them, and insult or plunder them. I lay on a floor by them all night. Some of them, who were valetudinary, went to the minister's house, and I sent an officer with them, and they got beds: this was the quarter designed for myself. Next morning, after his Royal Highness went for Edinburgh, I carried these gentlemen to the house of Pinkey, where they were tolerably well accommodated. After I had returned to the field of battle, and given directions about the cannon, and seen about the wounded prisoners, to get all the care possible taken of them, and given other necessary orders, I returned to Pinkey, where I stayed all night. I got what provisions could possibly be had to the common men prisoners, who were that night in the gardens of Pinkey; and the night before, I had got some of their own biscuit carried from Cokenny to Colonel Gardner's courts and gardens, for their use.

2. _After Culloden._

+Source.+--Forbes: _Jacobite Memoirs_. Pp. 232, 233, 251, 252, 296-298.

It is a fact undeniable, and known to almost everybody, that upon Friday the 18th of April, which was the second day after the battle, a party was regularly detached to put to death all the wounded men that were found in and about the field of battle. That such men were accordingly put to death is also undeniable, for it is declared by creditable people, who were eye-witnesses to that most miserable and bloody scene. I myself was told by William Ross, who was then grieve[20] to my Lord President, that twelve wounded men were carried out of his house, and shot in a hollow, which is within very short distance of the place of action.... Orders were given, on the Friday, to an officer, Hobbie, or such a name, that he should go to the field of battle, and cause carry there all the wounded in the neighbouring houses, at a mile's distance, some more, some less, and kill them upon the field, which orders were obeyed accordingly. When these orders were given at the knee, an officer who was well pleased told it to his comrades; one of them replied, "D----n him who had taken that order! He could not do an inhuman thing; though no mercy should be shewn to the rebels."

An officer was heard more than once say, that he saw seventy-two killed, and, as he termed it, knocked on the head. He was a young captain.... A little house into which a good many of the wounded had been carried, was set on fire about their ears, and every soul in it burnt alive, of which number was Colonel Orelli, a brave old gentleman, who was either in the French or Spanish service.... The Presbyterian minister at Petty, Mr. Laughlan Shaw, being a cousin of this Kinrara's,[21] had obtained leave of the Duke of Cumberland to carry off his friend, in return for the good services the said Mr. Laughlan had done the government; for he had been very active in dissuading his parishioners and clan from joining the Prince, and had likewise, as I am told, sent the Duke very pointed intelligence of all the Prince's motions. In consequence of this, on the Saturday after the battle, he went to the place where his friend was, designing to carry him to his own house. But as he came near, he saw an officer's Command, with the officer at their head, fire a platoon at fourteen of the wounded Highlanders, whom they had taken all out of that house, and bring them all down at once; and when he came up, he found his cousin and his servant were two of that unfortunate number. I questioned Mr. Shaw himself about this story, who plainly acknowledged the fact, and was indeed the person who informed me of the precise number; and when I asked him if he knew of any more that were murdered in that manner on the same day, he told me that he believed there were in all two-and-twenty.

* * * * *

[The next extract is one of the less sickening accounts of the treatment of the prisoners whose lives were spared:]

+Source.+--A paper read by Mr. James Bradshaw, and delivered by him to the Sheriff of Surrey, just before his execution on Friday, November 28, 1746. Quoted by Jesse, _Memoirs of the Pretenders_. Pp. 270, 274, 275. Bohn's edition.

I was put into one of the Scotch kirks, together with a great number of wounded prisoners, who were stripped naked, and then left to die of their wounds without the least assistance; and though we had a surgeon of our own, a prisoner in the same place, yet he was not permitted to dress their wounds, but his instruments were taken from him on purpose to prevent it, and in consequence of this many expired in the utmost agonies. Several of the wounded were put on board the "Jean" of Leith, and there died in lingering tortures. Our general allowance, while we were prisoners there, was half a pound of meal a-day, which was sometimes increased to a pound, but never exceeded it; and I myself was an eyewitness, that great numbers were starved to death. Their barbarity extended so far as not to suffer the men who were put on board the "Jean" to lie down even on planks, but they were obliged to sit on large stones, by which means their legs swelled as big almost as their bodies. These are some few of the cruelties exercised, which being almost incredible in a Christian country, I am obliged to add an asseveration to the truth of them; and I do assure you, upon the word of a dying man, as I hope for mercy at the day of judgment, I assert nothing but what I know to be true.

III.

_ODE WRITTEN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1746._

+Source.+--_The Poetical Works of William Collins; with the Commentary of Langhorne._ London. Printed by Charles Whittingham for John Sharpe, 1804.

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall a while repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there!

IV.

AN ADVENTURE OF CHARLES EDWARD.

+Source.+--_The Young Chevalier; or a General Narrative of all that befel that Unfortunate Adventurer, from his Fatal Defeat to His final Escape._ By a gentleman (1746). Pp. 75-78.

Here it was [upon the coast of Glenelg] that the _Chevalier_ went through one of the oddest Adventures, that perhaps ever happened to any Man; for at this place a Company of Militia (the _Monroe's_, if I mistake not) were waiting, in hopes the unhappy Fugitive might fall into their Hands: To make the more sure of their Prize, they had with them a Blood-hound, to trace him out. The Dog was within a Stone's throw of them, and the Man not much farther off, when _McKinnon_ observed them, and particularly suspected the Animal. Whereupon he advised his Passenger instantly to pull off all his Cloaths, and enter the Water up to the Neck: "For," said he, "if you go in with your Cloaths on, you may catch your Death. In the mean time I will divert the smell of the Dog, with these Fishes," he having some on a string in his hand. The affrighted _Chevalier_ instantly did as he was directed, and _McKinnon_ having hid the _Chevalier's_ Cloaths in a Clift of a Rock, began to amuse the Dog with his Fish. The Artifice succeeded so well, as effectually to secure the _Chevalier_; but the Animal would not quit the Fisherman till he was secured by the Militia-Men, who kept him all Night, and Part of the next Day. They examined him, but to no Purpose; and upon his telling his true Name, _viz._ McLeod, they became indifferent about him; and he representing that his Family was starving, having nothing to subsist on but the Product of his Industry as a Fisherman, they dismissed him. When he left them, he set out, as if he intended a very different Course to that he really intended, and afterwards struck into; for when he judged himself out of their Reach, he turned into the Road leading to the Place where he supposed the _Chevalier_ yet was. He found him there indeed, and employ'd in such a Manner, as could not but strike even the rough Heart of the hardy Fisherman, innur'd to all the Extremities of Wind and Weather, Hunger and Cold. He found him seeking out Muscles and other small Shell-Fish, upon the Craigs, and breaking them between two Stones, eating the Fish as he opened them, to satisfy the Cravings of an Appetite, never in all Probability so Keen before. He told _McKinnon_ "that he had continued in the Water for several Hours, after he left him; but at last ventured out, and put on his Cloaths; but durst not offer to remove from that desert spot, judging it too hazardous to go up into the Country, to which he was an utter Stranger."... As soon as he set Eyes on _M'Kinnon_, he fell down on his Knees, and with up-lifted Hands, thank'd Heaven for returning him his Friend; which he did in these Words, as near as could possibly be remember'd by the Fisherman, who heard him, and who repeated them to the Person from whom I had my Information. "O God," said he, "I thank thee that I have not fallen into the Hands of my Enemies; and _surely thou hast still something for me to do_, since in this strange Place thou hast sent me back my Guide."

[18] Superstition.

[19] A turf seat.

[20] Bailiff.

[21] A wounded Jacobite whose servant had refused to abandon him, and had therefore been taken prisoner along with his master.

TRIAL OF THE REBEL LORDS, 1746.

+Source.+--Walpole's _Letters_. Vol. i., p. 133. Bohn's edition.

_Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 1, 1746._

ARLINGTON STREET, _Aug. 1, 1746_.

I am this moment come from the conclusion of the greatest and most melancholy scene I ever yet saw. You will easily guess it was the trials of the rebel Lords. As it was the most interesting sight, it was the most solemn and fine: a coronation is a puppet-show, and all the splendour of it idle; but this sight at once feasted one's eyes, and engaged all one's passions. It began last Monday; three-quarters of Westminster Hall were enclosed with galleries, and hung with scarlet; and the whole ceremony was concluded with the most awful solemnity and decency, except in the one point of leaving the prisoners at the bar, amidst the idle curiosity of some crowd, and even with the witnesses who had sworn against them, while the Lords adjourned to their own House to consult. No part of the royal family was there, which was a proper regard to the unhappy men, who were become their victims. One hundred and thirty-nine Lords were present, and made a noble sight on their benches _frequent and full_! The Chancellor [Hardwicke] was Lord High Steward; but though a most comely personage, with a fine voice, his behaviour was mean, curiously searching for occasion to bow to the Minister that is no peer [Pelham], and consequently applying to the other Ministers, in a manner, for their orders; and not even ready at the ceremonial. To the prisoners he was peevish; and instead of keeping up the humane dignity of the law of England, whose character is to point out favour to the criminal, he crossed them, and almost scolded at any offer they made towards defence. I had armed myself with all the resolution I could, with the thought of their crimes and of the danger past, and was assisted by the sight of the Marquis of Lothian, in weepers for his son, who fell at Culloden; but the first appearance of the prisoners shocked me!--their behaviour melted me! Lord Kilmarnock and Lord Cromartie are both past forty, but look younger. Lord Kilmarnock is tall and slender, with an extreme fine person: his behaviour a most just mixture between dispute and submission; if in anything to be reprehended, a little affected, and his hair too exactly dressed for a man in his situation; but when I say this, it is not to find fault with him, but to show how little fault there was to be found. Lord Cromartie is an indifferent figure, appeared much dejected and rather sullen: he dropped a few tears the first day, and swooned as soon as he got back to his cell.

For Lord Balmerino, he is the most natural brave old fellow I ever saw; the highest intrepidity, even to indifference. At the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man; in the intervals of form, with carelessness and humour. He pressed extremely to have his wife--his pretty Peggy--with him in the Tower. Lady Cromartie only sees her husband through the grate, not choosing to be shut up with him, as she thinks she can serve him better by her intercession without; she is big with child, and very handsome; so are her daughters. When they were to be brought from the Tower in separate coaches, there was some dispute in which the axe must go. Old Balmerino cried, "Come, come, put it with me." At the bar, he plays with his fingers upon the axe, while he talks to the gentleman-gaoler; and one day, somebody coming up to listen, he took the blade and held it like a fan between their faces. During the trial a little boy was near him, but not tall enough to see; he made room for the child, and placed him near himself. When the trial begun, the two Earls pleaded guilty; Balmerino not guilty, saying he would prove his not being at the taking of the castle of Carlisle, as laid in the indictment. Then the King's counsel opened, and Sergeant Skinner pronounced the most absurd speech imaginable; and mentioned the Duke of Perth, _who_, said he, _I see by the papers is dead_. Then some witnesses were examined, whom afterwards the old hero shook cordially by the hand. The Lords withdrew to their House, and returning, demanded of the Judges, whether, one point not being proved, though all the rest were, the indictment was false? to which they unanimously answered in the negative. Then the Lord High Steward asked the Peers severally, whether Lord Balmerino was guilty! All said, _Guilty upon honour_, and then adjourned, the prisoner having begged pardon for giving them so much trouble. While the Lords were withdrawn, the Solicitor-General Murray [afterwards Lord Mansfield] (brother of the Pretender's minister) officiously and insolently went up to Lord Balmerino, and asked him, how he could give the Lords so much trouble, when his Solicitor had informed him, that his plea could be of no use to him? Balmerino asked the bystanders, who this person was? and being told, he said, "Oh, Mr. Murray! I am extremely glad to see you; I have been with several of your relations; the good lady, your mother, was of great use to us at Perth." Are you not charmed with this speech? how just it was! As he went away, he said, "They call me Jacobite; I am no more a Jacobite than any that tried me; but if the Great Mogul had set up his standard, I should have followed it, for I could not starve."

[Gray, in a letter to Wharton, gives the last sentence as follows: "My Lord (says he) for the two Kings and their Rights I cared not a Farthing which prevailed; but I was starving; and by God if Mahomet had set up his Standard in the Highlands, I had been a good Musselman for Bread, and stuck close to the Party, for I must eat."]

TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1748).

I.

LORD BOLINGBROKE ON THE PRELIMINARIES.

+Source.+--_The Marchmont Papers_, 1831. Vol. ii., pp. 314-319.

Our true interests require, that we should take few engagements on the Continent, and never those of making a land war, unless the conjuncture be such, that nothing less than the weight of Britain can prevent the scales of power from being quite overturned. This was the case surely, when we arrived in the Netherlands (1743) and when we marched into Germany. The first did some good, and as it was managed, some hurt. It divided the attention of France, and became a reason the more for recalling the army of Maillebois. But the fierce memorials, with which it was accompanied, and which breathed an immediate and direct war against France, frightened those, whom our arriving should have encouraged, and gave much advantage to the French in the Seven Provinces. The last, I mean our march to the Mayn [where the English encamped in May, 1744] and vast diversion we made by it, has had a full effect. The Bavarians are reduced to a neutrality, and the French, who threatened Vienna, to the defence of their own provinces. The defensive war the Queen of Hungary made on that side, is therefore at an end, strictly speaking; and your Lordship may think perhaps, that, this being so the case, wherein alone Great Britain ought to make war on the Continent, exists, no longer. It is, I own, very provoking to see, that the French are able at any time to invade their neighbours, to give law if they succeed, and not to receive it if they fail, but to retire behind their barrier, and defy from thence the just resentment of the enemies they have made; and yet we ought to consider very coolly, how far we suffer this provocation to have any share in determining our conduct in the present circumstances. I have seen the time, when the French would have given up the very barrier, that secures them now. We would not take it then. Can we force it now? I said once, that Bouchain had cost our nation above six millions; and they who were angry at the assertion [the Whigs] could not contradict it, since Bouchain was the sole conquest of 1711, and since the expence of that year's war amounted to little less. Are we able to purchase at such a rate? or do we hope to purchase at a cheaper, when my Lord Marlborough and Prince Eugene are no more?... We shall have a very nice game to play, for if our friends, the Austrians, would take advantage of too much facility to continue the war, our enemies, the Spaniards and the French, would certainly take advantage of too much haste to conclude it. This reflection becomes the more important, because the war we have with Spain, seems more likely to be determined in Italy than in America; and somewhere or other it must be determined to our advantage.... In all events, my dear Lord, and whatever peace we make, it will become an indispensable point of policy to be on our guard, after what has happened, against the joint ambition of the two branches of Bourbon, whom no acquisitions can satisfy, nor any treaties bind, and who have begun to act in late instances, as the two branches of Austria did in the last century. The treaty of quadruple alliance, and a long course of timid unmeaning negociations, unmeaning relatively to the interest of Great Britain, have encouraged this spirit. A contrary conduct must check it; and I will venture to say, that, the peace once made on terms less exorbitant, than some sanguine persons would expect, this may be done; and that vigor sufficient for this purpose will be found on the whole less expensive, with prudent management abroad, and honest economy at home, than the pusillanimity of that administration, which has made us despised by some of our neighbours, and distrusted by others, till France had a fair chance for giving the law to all Europe. But it is more than time that I should put an end to this political ramble. I mean it for you alone, and I am used to your indulgence. It is hardly possible, that you should write in answer to this letter, that is to come to me in France. It seemed to me, by the little conversation I had with some of your ministers when I was at London, that their way of thinking was not very distant from mine, about foreign affairs at least. Great Britain must have a peace, my Lord. Her ability to carry on this war, as little as it is, is greater, in my opinion, than that of France. But there are other invincible reasons against it. I repeat, therefore, we must have a peace as soon as possible. To have a good one, vigor in your measures, and moderation in your views, are, I suppose, equally necessary.

II.

THE ARTICLES OF PEACE.

+Source.+--Coxe's _Pelham Administration_. Vol. ii., p. 41, 42. The Treaty is to be found at length in Tindal's Continuation of Rapin's _History of England_. Vol. xxi., pp. 357-366.

The following is an abstract of the articles of the definitive treaty, in which the reader will recognize a general conformity with the preliminaries.

ARTICLE I. Renewal of peace between all the contracting powers.

ART. II. Restitution of all conquests, and the _status quo ante bellum_, with the exceptions herein mentioned.

ART. III. Renewal of the treaties of Westphalia, 1648; of Madrid, between England and Spain, 1667, 1678 and 1679; of Ryswick, 1697; of Utrecht, 1713; of Baden, 1714; of the triple alliance, 1717; of the quadruple alliance, 1718; and of the treaty of Vienna, 1738.

ART. IV. Mutual restoration of prisoners, six weeks after the ratification.

ART. V. Mutual restitution of conquests, and specification of the cessions assigned by Austria, to Don Philip, according to the preliminaries.

ART. VI. All the restitutions in Europe, specified in this treaty, to be made within the term of six weeks after the ratifications, and in particular all the Low Countries to be restored to the Empress Queen, and likewise those Barrier Towns, the sovereignty of which belonged to the House of Austria, to be evacuated, for the admission of the troops of the States-General.

ART. VII. Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, to be delivered to Don Philip, at the time that Nice and Savoy are restored to the King of Sardinia.

ART. VIII. Measures to be adopted for insuring the restitutions, within the period appointed.

ART. IX. The King of England engages to send two hostages of rank to Paris, until Cape Breton, and all his conquests in the West and East Indies, shall be restored.

ART. X. The revenues and taxes of the conquered countries, to belong to the powers in possession, until the day of the ratification.

ART. XI. All archives to be restored within two months, or as soon afterwards as possible.

ART. XII. The king of Sardinia to retain possession of all the territories, conceded to him by the treaty of Worms, excepting Finalé and Placentia; namely, the Vigevenasco, part of the Pavesaeno, and the county of Anghiera.

ART. XIII. The Duke of Modena to be restored to all his dominions.

ART. XIV. Genoa to be reinstated in all her possessions and rights, and her subjects in the enjoyment of all the funds belonging to them, in the Austrian and Sardinian banks.

ART. XV. All things in Italy to remain as before the war, with the exceptions contained in the preceding articles.

ART. XVI. The Assiento Treaty, and the privilege of sending the annual ship to the Spanish colonies, confirmed for four years, according to the right possessed before the war.

ART. XVII. Dunkirk to remain fortified on the side of the land, in its existing condition; and, on that of the sea, to be left on the footing of antient treaties.

ART. XVIII. Certain claims of money, by the King of England, as elector of Hanover, on the crown of Spain; the differences concerning the abbey of St. Hubert, and the boundaries of Hainault; and the courts of justice recently established in the Low Countries, as also the pretensions of the elector-palatine, to be amicably adjusted by commissaries.

ART. XIX. Confirmation of the guaranty of the Protestant Succession of the House of Brunswick, in all its descendants, as fully stipulated in the fifth article of the quadruple alliance.

ART. XX. All the German territories of the King of England, as elector of Brunswick-Lunenberg guarantied.

ART. XXI. All the contracting powers, who guarantied the Pragmatic Sanction of the 19th of April, 1713, now guaranty the entire inheritance of Charles the Sixth, in favour of his daughter, Maria Theresa, and her descendants, excepting those cessions previously made by Charles the Sixth or by Maria Theresa herself, and those included in the present treaty.

ART. XXII. Silesia and Glataz guarantied to the King of Prussia.

ART. XXIII. All the powers interested in this treaty jointly guaranty its execution.

ART. XXIV. Exchange of the ratifications to be made at Aix la Chapelle, by all the contracting powers within a month after the signatures.

III.

A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF THE PEACE.

+Source.+--_Letters of Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey_, 1821, p. 126.

_May 31st, 1748._

... I am as glad of the peace, sir, as you can be, for without it we were certainly undone; for which reason I am, I confess, astonished that the French, who had the whole in their hands, should give it us. There are four people who have certainly had a narrow escape by it; for one campaign more, and the Duke of Cumberland, with his little army, would have been cut to pieces; the Prince of Orange would have been deposed, and the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Sandwich would, or should have been called to an account, which I fancy they could not have made up and balanced to their advantage.

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ACT FOR THE REFORM OF THE CALENDAR (1751).

I.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BILL.

+Source.+--Anderson's _Origin of Commerce_, 1751. Vol. ii., pp. 283, 284-286.

On Wednesday the twenty-second of May 1751, the ever-famous Act of the British legislature, of the twenty-fourth year of King George the Second, received the royal assent, For regulating the Commencement of the Year, and for correcting the Calendar now in Use,--_i.e._ For abolishing the old stile, and establishing the new stile, already in use in most parts of Christendom.

Its preamble sets forth, "That the legal supputation of the year in England, which begins on the twenty-fifth of March, hath been attended with divers inconveniences," (strange that this was not rectified long ago!) "as it differs from other nations, and the legal method of computation in Scotland, and the common usage throughout the whole kingdom; and that thereby frequent mistakes in the dates of deeds and other writings are occasioned, and disputes arise therefrom and that the Julian Calendar, now in use throughout the British dominions, hath been discovered to be erroneous, by means whereof, the vernal equinox, which at the time of the Council of Nice, in the year 325, happened on or about the twenty-first of March, now happens on the ninth or tenth of the same month: and the error still increasing, and, if not remedied, would, in time, occasion the several equinoxes and solstices to fall at very different times in the civil year from what they formerly did, which might tend to mislead persons ignorant of such alteration. And as a method of correcting the calendar, so as that the equinoxes and solstices may for the future fall on the same nominal days on which they happened at the time of the said General Council, hath been established, and is now generally practised by almost all other nations of Europe: and, as it will be of general convenience to merchants, and other persons corresponding with other nations and countries and will tend to prevent mistakes and disputes concerning the dates of letters and accounts, if the like correction be received and established in his Majesty's dominions."

"That, throughout all his Majesty's dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, the said old supputation shall not be used after the last day of December 1751, and that the first of January following shall be accounted the first day of the year 1752, and so on, in every year after: and after the said first of January 1752, the days of the month shall go on and be reckoned in the same order, and the feast of Easter, and other moveable feasts depending thereon, shall be ascertained according to the same method they now are, until the second of September in 1752, inclusive, and the next day shall be accounted the fourteenth of September, omitting, for that time only, the eleven intermediate nominal days: and the following days shall be numbered forward in numerical order from the said fourteenth of September, as now used in the present calendar: and all acts and writings which shall be made or executed upon or after the said first of January 1752, shall bear date according to the new method of supputation; and the two fixed terms of St. Hilary and St. Michael in England, and the courts of the great sessions in the counties palatine and in Wales, and the courts of general quarter sessions, and general sessions of the peace, and all other courts and meetings and assemblies of any bodies politic or corporate, for the election of officers or members, or for officers entering upon the execution of their respective offices, or for any other purpose, which by law or usage, &c., are to be held on any fixed day of any month, or on any day depending on the beginning, or any certain day of any month, (excepting courts usually holden with fairs or marts) shall, after the said second of September, be held on the same nominal days and times whereon they are now to be holden, but computed according to the new method of numbering, that is, eleven days sooner than the respective days whereon the same are now kept.

"The years 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, or any other hundredth year, except every fourth hundredth, whereof the year 2000 shall be the first, shall be deemed common years, consisting of three hundred and sixty-five days; and the years 2000, 2400, 2800 and every other fourth hundredth years from the year 2000, inclusive, and all other years which by the present supputation are esteemed to be Bissextile, or leap-years, shall for the future be esteemed to be Bissextile, or leap-years, consisting of three hundred and sixty-six days, as is now used with respect to every fourth year.

"The feast of Easter, and the moveable feasts thereon depending, shall be no longer observed according to the method of supputation now used, or the table prefixed to the book of Common Prayer: and the said table, and also the column of golden numbers, as they are now prefixed to the respective days of the month in the calendar, shall be left out in all future editions of the said book: and the new calendar, tables, and rules, annexed to the act, are to be prefixed in the stead thereof: and, from and after the said second of September, the fixed feasts, holy-days, and fasts, of the church of England, and also the several solemn days of thanksgiving and of fasting and humiliation, enjoined to be observed by Parliament, shall be observed on the respective nominal days marked for the celebration of the same in the new calendar; that is to say, on the respective nominal days, and the feast of Easter, and other moveable feasts thereon depending, shall be celebrated according to the said annexed calendar; and the two moveable terms of Easter and Trinity, and all courts, meetings and assemblies, of any bodies, politic or corporate, and all markets, fairs, and marts, and courts thereunto belonging, which, by any law, statute, charter or usage, are to be held and kept at any moveable time depending upon Easter, or other moveable feast, shall, after the said second of September, be held and kept on the same days and times whereon the same shall happen, according to the falling of Easter by the new calendar.

"The meetings of the Court of Sessions, and terms fixed for the Court of Exchequer in Scotland; the April meeting of the conservators of the great Level of the Fens, and the holding and keeping of markets, fairs, and marts, for the sale of goods or cattle, or for hiring of servants, or for other purposes, which are fixed to certain nominal days of the month, or depending on the beginning, or any certain day of any month, and all courts kept with such fairs or marts; shall, after the said second of September, be kept upon the same natural days upon which the same would have been held if this act had not been made; i.e. eleven days later than the same would happen according to the nominal days of the new supputation of time, by which the commencement of each month, and the nominal days thereof, are brought forward eleven days.

"But this act shall not accelerate or anticipate the days for the opening, inclosing or shutting up of grounds, common or pasture, or the days and times on which a temporary and distinct property and right in any such lands or grounds is to commence: but they shall be respectively opened, and inclosed, or shut up, and shall commence on the same natural days and times, after the said second of September, as before the making of this Act: that is, eleven days later than the same would happen according to the new supputation of time.

"Neither shall this act accelerate or anticipate the times of payment of rents, annuities, or other monies, which shall become payable in consequence of any custom, usage, lease, deed, writing, or other contract or agreement, now subsisting, or which shall be entered into before the said fourteenth of September, or which shall become payable by virtue of any act of Parliament. Not to accelerate the payment, or increase the interest of any money which shall become payable as aforesaid, or at the time of the delivery of any goods or other things whatsoever, or the commencement, or determination of any leases or demises of lands, &c., or other contracts or agreements, annuity, or rent, or of any grant for a term of years, &c., or the time of attaining the age of twenty-one years, or any other age requisite by law, usage, or writing, for the doing any act, or for any other purpose, by any persons now born, or who shall be born before the said fourteenth of September; or the time of the determination of any apprenticeship or other service by indenture, or by articles under seal, or by reason of any simple contract or hiring; but all these shall commence, cease, and determine, at and upon the said natural days and times on which they would have happened if this act had not been made."

II.

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S OWN ACCOUNT.

+Source.+--_Letters of the Earl of Chesterfield._ Edited by Lord Mahon, 1845-53. Vol. ii., pp. 115, 116.

LONDON, _March 18_, O.S. 1751.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I acquainted you in a former letter that I had brought in a bill into the House of Lords, for correcting and reforming our present calendar, which is the Julian, and for adopting the Gregorian. I will now give you a more particular account of that affair, from which reflections will naturally occur to you that I hope may be useful, and which I fear you have not made. It was notorious, that the Julian calendar was erroneous, and had overcharged the solar year with eleven days. Pope Gregory XIII. corrected this error [in 1582]; his reformed calendar was immediately received by all the Catholic Powers of Europe, and afterwards adopted by all the Protestant ones, except Russia [which still (1912) adheres to the old style.--ED.], Sweden and England. It was not, in my opinion, very honourable for England to remain in a gross and avowed error, especially in such company; the inconvenience of it was likewise felt by all those who had foreign correspondences whether political or mercantile. I determined, therefore, to attempt the reformation; I consulted the best lawyers, and the most skilful astronomers, and we cooked up a bill for that purpose. But then my difficulty began; I was to bring in this bill, which was necessarily composed of law jargon and astronomical calculations, to both of which I am an utter stranger. However, it was absolutely necessary to make the House of Lords think that I knew something of the matter, and also to make them believe that they knew something of it themselves, which they do not. For my own part, I could just as soon have talked Celtic or Sclavonian to them as astronomy, and they would have understood me full as well; so I resolved to do better than speak to the purpose, and to please instead of informing them. I gave them, therefore, only an historical account of calendars, from the Egyptian down to the Gregorian, amusing them now and then with little episodes; but I was particularly attentive to the choice of my words, to the harmony and roundness of my periods, to my eloquence, to my action. This succeeded, and ever will succeed; they thought I informed, because I pleased them; and many of them said, that I had made the whole very clear to them, when, God knows, I had not even attempted it. Lord Macclesfield, who had the greatest share in forming the bill and who is one of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers in Europe, spoke afterwards with infinite knowledge, and all the clearness that so intricate a matter would admit of; but as his words, his periods and his utterance were not near so good as mine, the preference was most unanimously, though most unjustly, given to me....

SMOLLETT'S CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.[22]

+Source.+--T. Smollett: _Humphrey Clinker_, 1831. Pp. 110, 124, 126.

His eulogium was interrupted by the arrival of the old duke of N----, who, squeezing into the circle, with a busy face of importance, thrust his head into every countenance, as if he had been in search of somebody, to whom he wanted to impart something of great consequence. My uncle, who had been formerly known to him, bowed as he passed: and the duke, seeing himself saluted so respectfully by a well-dressed person, was not slow in returning the courtesy. He even came up, and, taking him cordially by the hand,--"My dear friend, Mr. A----," said he, "I am rejoiced to see you. How long have you come from abroad? How did you leave our good friends the Dutch? The king of Prussia don't think of another war, ah? He's a great king, a great conqueror--a very great conqueror! Your Alexanders and Hannibals were nothing at all to him, Sir! corporals, drummers! dross! mere trash--damn'd trash, heh?" His grace, being by this time out of breath, my uncle took the opportunity to tell him he had not been out of England, that his name was Bramble, and that he had the honour to sit in the last parliament but one of the late king, as representative for the borough of Dymkymraig. "Odso!" cried the duke, "I remember you perfectly well, my dear Mr. Bramble. You was always a good and loyal subject--a staunch friend to administration. I made your brother an Irish bishop." "Pardon me, my lord," said the squire, "I once had a brother, but he was a captain in the army."--"Ha!" said his grace, "he was so--he was indeed! But who was the bishop then? Bishop Blackberry--sure it was bishop Blackberry. Perhaps some relation of yours?"--"Very likely, my lord!" replied my uncle; "the blackberry is the fruit of the bramble: but I believe the bishop is not a berry of our bush."--"No more he is, no more he is, ha, ha, ha!" exclaimed the duke; "there you give me a scratch, good Mr. Bramble, ha, ha, ha! Well, I shall be glad to see you at Lincoln's Inn Fields. You know the way; times are altered. Though I have lost the power, I retain the inclination; your very humble servant, good Mr. Blackberry." So saying, he shoved to another corner of the room. "What a fine old gentleman!" cried Mr. Barton, "what spirits! what a memory! he never forgets an old friend."--"He does me too much honour to rank me among the number. Whilst I sat in parliament I never voted with the ministry but three times, when my conscience told me they were in the right: however, if he still keeps levee, I will carry my nephew thither, that he may see, and learn to avoid the scene; for I think an English gentleman never appears to such disadvantage as at the levee of a minister. Of his grace I shall say nothing at present, but that for thirty years he was the constant and common butt of ridicule and execration. He was generally laughed at as an ape in politics, whose office and influence served only to render his folly the more notorious; and the opposition cursed him as the indefatigable drudge of a first mover, who was justly styled and stigmatized as the father of corruption: but this ridiculous ape, this venal drudge, no sooner lost the places he was so ill qualified to fill, and unfurled the banners of faction, than he was metamorphosed into a pattern of public virtue; the very people, who reviled him before, now extolled him to the skies, as a wise experienced statesman, chief pillar of the protestant succession, and corner-stone of English liberty...."

[Another day] Captain C---- entered into conversation with us in the most familiar manner, and treated the duke's character without any ceremony. "This wiseacre," said he, "is still a-bed; and, I think, the best thing he can do is to sleep on till Christmas; for when he gets up, he does nothing but expose his own folly. Since Grenville was turned out, there has been no minister in this nation worth the meal that whitened his periwig. They are so ignorant they scarce know a crab from a cauliflower; and then they are such dunces, that there's no making them comprehend the plainest proposition. In the beginning of the war, this poor half-witted creature told me, in a great fright, that thirty thousand French had marched from Acadia to Cape Breton. "Where did they find transports?" said I. "Transports!" cried he, "I tell you they marched by land."--"By land, to the island of Cape Breton?"--"What! is Cape Breton an island?"--"Certainly."--"Hah! are you sure of that?" When I pointed it out on the map, he examined it earnestly with his spectacles; then taking me in his arms, "My dear C----," cried he, "you always bring us good news. Egad, I'll go directly, and tell the king that Cape Breton is an island."

[22] This scene is, of course, fiction, but it was published only three years after Newcastle's death, and that it is absolutely true to life every student of the period admits.

THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG.

I.

HORACE WALPOLE TO SIR HORACE MANN.

ARLINGTON STREET, _January 30, 1757_.

... All England is again occupied with Admiral Byng; he and his friends were quite persuaded of his acquittal. The court-martial, after the trial was finished, kept the whole world in suspense for a week; after great debates and divisions amongst themselves, and despatching messengers hither to consult lawyers whether they could not mitigate the article of war, to which a negative was returned, they pronounced this extraordinary sentence on Thursday: they condemn him to death for _negligence_, but acquit him of _disaffection_ and _cowardice_ (the other heads of the article) specifying the testimony of Lord Robert Bertie in his favour, and unanimously recommending him to mercy; and accompanying their sentence with a most earnest letter to the Lords of the Admiralty to intercede for his pardon, saying, that finding themselves tied up from moderating the article of war, and not being able in conscience to pronounce that he had done all he could, they had been forced to bring him in guilty, but beg he may be spared. The discussions, and difference of opinions on this sentence is incredible. The Cabinet Council, I believe, will be to determine whether the King shall pardon him or not: some who wish to make him the scapegoat for their own neglects, I fear, will try to complete his fate, but I should think the new Administration will not be biassed to blood by such interested attempts. He bore well his unexpected sentence, as he has all the outrageous indignities and cruelties heaped upon him. Last week happened an odd event, I can scarce say in his favour, as the World seems to think it the effect of the arts of some of his friends: Voltaire sent him from Switzerland an accidental letter of the Duc de Richelieu, bearing witness to the Admiral's good behaviour in the engagement.

STRAWBERRY HILL, _February 13, 1757_.

... After a fortnight of the greatest variety of opinions, Byng's fate is still in suspense. The court and the late ministry have been most bitter against him; the new Admiralty most good-natured; the King would not pardon him. They would not execute the sentence, as many lawyers are clear that it is not a legal one. At last the council has referred it to the twelve judges to give their opinion: if not a favourable one, he dies! He has had many fortunate chances; had the late Admiralty continued, one knows how little any would have availed him. Their bitterness will always be recorded against themselves: it will be difficult to persuade posterity that all the same of last summer was the fault of Byng! Exact evidence of whose fault it was I believe posterity will never have: the long-expected inquiries are begun, that is, some papers have been moved for, but so coldly that it is plain George Townshend and the Tories are unwilling to push researches that must necessarily re-unite Newcastle and Fox.

ARLINGTON STREET, _March 3, 1757_.