Walpole and Chatham (1714-1760)
Author: Unknown
Date: 2016-09-07T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Pitt; William; Earl of Chatham; 1708-1778; Walpole; Robert; Earl of Orford; 1676-1745; Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Sources

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Title: Walpole and Chatham (1714-1760)

Compiler: Katharine Ada Esdaile

Editor: Kenneth Bell

S. E. Winbolt

Release date: September 7, 2016 [eBook #53005]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Credits: E-text prepared by Chris Pinfield and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)

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BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS

General Editors: S. E. Winbolt, M.A., and Kenneth Bell, M.A.

WALPOLE AND
CHATHAM
(1714-1760)

COMPILED BY
KATHARINE A. ESDAILE
SOME TIME SCHOLAR OF LADY MARGARET HALL, OXFORD

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1912

INTRODUCTION

This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable—nay, an indispensable—adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a History of England for Schools, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.

Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities. What differentiates students at one extreme from those at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.

In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style—that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan—and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.

The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each being numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text is modernised, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no difficulties in reading.

We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who may send us suggestions for improvement.

S. E. WINBOLT.
KENNETH BELL.

NOTE TO THIS VOLUME

I have to thank the Editors of the English Historical Review for permission to reprint the passages dealing with the War of Jenkins' Ear, published by Sir John Laughton in the fourth volume of the Review, and the Scottish History Society for a similar permission with regard to the Proclamation of James III. and the Landing of the Young Pretender. The Letters of Horace Walpole are quoted throughout under the dates and names of correspondents, not from any particular edition, as this enables a letter to be found without difficulty in any edition; otherwise the sources are given in full.

The lover of the eighteenth century is born, but he is also made. It is the aim of this little book to help in the making.

K. A. E.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| PAGE
STATE OF PARTIES AT THE QUEEN'S DEATH (1714) | 1
PROCLAMATION OF GEORGE I. (1714) | 4
CHARACTER AND PERSON OF GEORGE I. (1660-1727) | 5
PUBLIC FEELING AS TO THE NEW DYNASTY (1714) | 6
THE '15: |
I.  THE PRETENDER'S DECLARATION | 9
II.  THE PROCLAMATION OF JAMES III. | 14
III.  FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION EXPLAINED | 16
THE SEPTENNIAL ACT (1716) | 18
DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH FLEET OFF SICILY BY ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE BYNG, JULY 31, 1718 | 19
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE (1720): |
I.  THE PROPOSALS: THE SECOND SCHEME OF THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY | 21
II.  THE BUBBLE BURST | 25
SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AS PRIME MINISTER (1721-1741) | 27
WOOD'S HALFPENCE: THE FIRST DRAPIER's LETTER (1724) | 29
CHARACTER OF GEORGE II. (1683-1760) | 36
THE CONDITION OF THE FLEET PRISON, AS REVEALED BY A PARLIAMENTARY ENQUIRY (1729): |
(a)  DESCRIPTION OF THE WARDEN, THOMAS BAMBRIDGE | 38
(b)  HIS CRUELTY | 39
(c)  FINDINGS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE | 40
THE EXCISE BILL (1733) | 42
THE PORTEOUS RIOTS (1736) | 45
LORD CHESTERFIELD'S SPEECH ON THE BILL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENSORSHIP OF STAGE PLAYS (1737) | 47
DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE (1737): HER CHARACTER DESCRIBED BY GEORGE II. | 49
THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR (1739) | 51
THE OPPOSITION SUSPECTS WALPOLE OF DOUBLE-DEALING (1739) | 53
ADMIRAL VERNON'S VICTORY AT PORTOBELLO (1740): |
I.  "ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST" | 55
II.  "GREAT BRITAIN'S GLORY; OR, THE STAY-AT-HOME FLEET" | 58
THE NEW MINISTERS (1742): |
I.  HERVEY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MINISTRY | 58
II.  EPIGRAM ON THE MINISTRY | 60
III.  EPIGRAM ON PULTENEY'S ACCEPTANCE OF A PEERAGE | 60
THE ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR (1741-1748) | 61
THE '45: |
I.  LANDING OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER; THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD; SURRENDER OF EDINBURGH | 65
II.  TREATMENT OF THE VANQUISHED— |
(a)  AFTER PRESTON PANS | 74
(b)  AFTER CULLODEN | 76
III.  COLLINS'S "ODE WRITTEN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1746" | 79
IV.  AN ADVENTURE OF CHARLES EDWARD | 79
TRIAL OF THE REBEL LORDS (1746) | 81
TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1748): |
I.  LORD BOLINGBROKE ON THE PRELIMINARIES | 84
II.  THE ARTICLES OF PEACE | 86
III.  A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF THE PEACE | 88
LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ACT FOR THE REFORM OF THE CALENDAR (1751): |
I.  HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BILL | 89
II.  LORD CHESTERFIELD'S OWN ACCOUNT | 93
SMOLLETT'S CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE | 94
THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG (1759): |
I.  HORACE WALPOLE TO SIR HORACE MANN | 97
II.  THOMAS POTTER TO MR. GRENVILLE | 101
THE COALITION GOVERNMENT OF 1757 | 102
THE ENGLISH IN INDIA (1757-1759): |
I.  THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA DESCRIBED BY A SURVIVOR | 103
II.  CLIVE TO PITT ON ENGLAND'S OPPORTUNITY | 105
THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, SEPTEMBER 13, 1759: |
I.  THE NIGHT ATTACK | 109
II.  THE BATTLE | 110
"THE HEAVEN-BORN MINISTER": HORACE WALPOLE's HOMAGE TO PITT: |
I.  IN THE GREAT YEAR (1759) | 113
II.  CHARACTER OF WILLIAM PITT DESCRIBED IN THE LIGHT OF SUBSEQUENT HISTORY | 114
DEATH OF GEORGE II. (1760) | 115
APPENDIX: LONDON IN 1725-1736: |
(a)  DEFOE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON IN 1725 | 117
(b)  PRESENTMENT OF THE MIDDLESEX GRAND JURY (1736) | 119

WALPOLE AND CHATHAM

1714-1760

STATE OF PARTIES AT THE QUEEN'S DEATH (1714).

Source.—Letter to Sir William Windham, Bolingbroke's Works, 1754. Vol. i., pp. 28-31.

The thunder had long grumbled in the air, and yet when the bolt [the Queen's death] fell, most of our party appeared as much surprised as if they had had no reason to expect it. There was a perfect calm and universal submission throughout the whole kingdom. The Chevalier indeed set out as if his design had been to gain the coast and to embark for Great Britain, and the Court of France made a merit to themselves of stopping him and obliging him to return. But this, to my certain knowledge, was a farce acted by concert, to keep up an opinion of his character, when all opinion of his cause seemed to be at an end. He owned this concert to me at Bar, on the occasion of my telling him that he would have found no party ready to receive him, and that the enterprise would have been to the last degree extravagant. He was at this time far from having any encouragement: no party, numerous enough to make the least disturbance, was formed in his favour. On the King's arrival the storm arose. The menaces of the Whigs, backed by some very rash declarations, by little circumstances of humor which frequently offend more than real injuries, and by the entire change of all the persons in employment, blew up the coals.

At first many of the tories had been made to entertain some faint hopes that they would be permitted to live in quiet. I have been assured that the King left Hanover in that resolution. Happy had it been for him and for us if he had continued in it; if the moderation of his temper had not been overborne by the violence of party, and his and the national interest sacrificed to the passions of a few. Others there were among the tories who had flattered themselves with much greater expectations than these, and who had depended, not on such imaginary favor and dangerous advancement as was offered them afterwards, but on real credit and substantial power under the new government. Such impressions on the minds of men had rendered the two houses of parliament, which were then sitting, as good courtiers to King George, as ever they had been to queen Anne. But all these hopes being at once and with violence extinguished, despair succeeded in their room.

Our party began soon to act like men delivered over to their passions, and unguided by any other principle; not like men fired by a just resentment and a reasonable ambition to a bold undertaking. They treated the government like men who were resolved not to live under it, and yet they took no one measure to support themselves against it. They expressed, without reserve or circumspection, an eagerness to join in any attempt against the establishment which they had received and confirmed, and which many of them had courted but a few weeks before: and yet in the midst of all this bravery, when the election of the new parliament came on, some of these very men acted with the coolness of those who are much better disposed to compound than to take arms.

The body of the tories being in this temper, it is not to be wondered at, if they heated one another and began apace to turn their eyes towards the pretender: and if those few, who had already engaged with him, applied themselves to improve the conjuncture and endeavour to lift a party for him.

I went, about a month after the queen's death, as soon as the seals were taken from me, into the country, and whilst I continued there, I felt the general disposition to jacobitism encrease daily among people of all ranks; among several who had been constantly distinguished by their aversion to that cause. But at my return to London in the month of February or March one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, a few weeks before I left England, I began for the first time in my whole life to perceive these general dispositions ripen into resolutions, and to observe some regular workings among many of our principal friends, which denoted a scheme of this kind. These workings, indeed, were very faint, for the persons concerned in carrying them on did not think it safe to speak too plainly to men who were, in truth, ill disposed to the government, because they neither found their account at present under it, nor had been managed with art enough to leave them hopes of finding it hereafter: but who at the same time had not the least affection for the pretender's person, nor any principle favorable to his interest.

This was the state of things when the new parliament, which his majesty had called, assembled. A great majority of the elections had gone in favour of the Whigs, to which the want of concert among the tories had contributed as much as the vigor of that party, and the influence of the new government. The whigs came to the opening of this parliament full of as much violence as could possess men who expected to make their court, to confirm themselves in power, and to gratify their resentments by the same measures. I have heard that it was a dispute among the ministers how far this spirit should be indulged, and that the king was determined, or confirmed in determination, to consent to the prosecutions, and to give the reins to the party by the representations that were made to him, that great difficulties would arise in the conduct of the session, if the court should appear inclined to check this spirit, and by Mr. W[alpole]'s undertaking to carry all the business successfully through the house of commons if they were at liberty. Such has often been the unhappy fate of our princes; a real necessity sometimes, and sometimes a seeming one, has forced them to compound with a part of the nation at the expense of the whole; and the success of their business for one year has been purchased at the price of public disorder for many.

The conjecture I am speaking of forms a memorable instance of this truth. If milder measures had been pursued, certain it is, that the tories had never universally embraced jacobitism. The violence of the whigs forced them into the arms of the pretender. The court and the party seemed to vie with one another which should go the greatest lengths in severity: and the ministers, whose true interest it must at all times be to calm the minds of men, and who ought never to set the examples of extraordinary inquiries or extraordinary accusations, were upon this occasion the tribunes of the people.

PROCLAMATION OF GEORGE I. (1714).

Source.—Oldmixon's History of England, George I., 1735. P. 564.

Whereas it hath pleas'd Almighty God to call to his Mercy our late Soveraign Lady Queen Anne, of blessed Memory; by whose Decease, the Imperial Crowns of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, are solely, and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Prince George, elector of Brunswick-Lunenburg: We therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the Realm, being here assisted with those of her late Majesty's Privy Council, with Numbers of other principal gentlemen of Quality, with the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London, do now hereby, with one full Voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart, publish and proclaim, That the high and mighty Prince George, Elector of Brunswick-Lunenburg, is now, by the Death of our late Soveraign of happy Memory, become our lawful and rightful Liege Lord, George, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To whom we do acknowledge all Faith and constant Obedience, with all hearty and humble Affection, beseeching God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless the Royal King George with long and happy years to reign over us.

Given at the Palace of St. James's,
the First Day of August, 1714.

God Save the King.

[Then follow the signatures of 127 peers and commoners, "Lords and Gentlemen who signed the Proclamation," including Lords Buckingham, Shrewsbury, Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Sir Christopher Wren.]

CHARACTER AND PERSON OF GEORGE I. (1660-1727).

A. By Lord Chesterfield.

Source.—Lord Chesterfield (1694-1774), Characters of Eminent Persons of His own Time, 1777. P. 9.

George the First was an honest and dull German gentleman, as unfit as unwilling to act the part of a King, which is, to shine and oppress. Lazy and inactive even in his pleasures; which were therefore lowly and sensual: He was coolly intrepid, and indolently benevolent. He was diffident of his own parts, which made him speak little in public[1] and prefer in his social, which were his favourite, hours, the company of waggs and buffoons.... His views and affections were singly confined to the narrow compass of his electorate.—England was too big for him.—If he had nothing great as a King, he had nothing bad as a Man—and if he does not adorn, at least he will not stain the annals of this country. In private life, he would have been loved and esteemed as a good citizen, a good friend, and a good neighbour.—Happy were it for Europe, happy for the world, if there were not greater Kings in it!

B. By Horace Walpole.

Source.—Reminiscences, in Works of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford, 1798. Vol. iv., p. 275; Letter to Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 25, 1782.

"At ten years old [i.e., in 1727] I had set my heart on seeing George I., and being a favourite child, my mother asked leave for me to be presented to him; which to the First Minister's wife was granted, and I was carried by the late Lady Chesterfield to kiss his hand as he went to supper in the Duchess of Kendal's apartment. This was the night but one before he left England the last time."

"The person of the King is as perfect in my memory as if I saw him but yesterday. It was that of an elderly man, rather pale, and exactly like his pictures and coins, not tall, of an aspect rather good than august, with a dark tie wig, a plain coat, waistcoat and breeches of snuff-coloured cloth, with stockings of the same colour and a blue riband over all."

[1]   Lord Chesterfield does not mention that George I. spoke no English.—Ed.

PUBLIC FEELING AS TO THE NEW DYNASTY (1714).

A. Whig.

Source.—Letters of Lady M. W. Montagu. Vol. 1., p. 86. Bohn's edition.

Aug. 9, 1714.

The Archbishop of York has been come to Bishopsthorpe but three days. I went with my cousin to see the King proclaimed, which was done, the archbishop walking next the Lord Mayor, all the country gentry following, with greater crowds of people than I believed to be in York, vast acclamations, and the appearance of a general satisfaction. The Pretender afterwards dragged about the streets and burned. Ringing of bells, bonfires, and illuminations, the mob crying Liberty and Property! and Long live King George! This morning all the principal men of any figure took port for London, and we are alarmed with the fear of attempts from Scotland, though all Protestants here seem unanimous for the Hanover succession.

B. Tory.

Source.—Thomas Hearne [1678-1735], Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, 1869. Vol. i., pp. 303, 309.

Aug. 4.—This day, at two o'clock, the said elector of Brunswick (who is in the fifty-fifth year of his age, being born May 28th, 1660) was proclaimed in Oxford. The vice-chancellor, and doctors, and masters met in the convocation house, and from thence went to St. Mary's, to attend at the solemnity. There was but a small appearance of doctors and masters that went from the convocation house. I stood in the Bodleian gallery where I observed them. Dr. Hudson was amongst them, and all the heads of houses in town. But there were a great many more doctors and masters at St. Marie's, where a scaffold was erected for them.

Aug. 5.—The illumination and rejoicing in Oxford was very little last night. The proclamation was published at Abingdon also yesterday, but there was little appearance.

A letter having been put into the mayor of Oxford's hands before he published the proclamation, cautioning him against proclaiming King George, and advising him to proclaim the pretender by the name of King James III., the said Mayor, notwithstanding, proclaimed King George, and yesterday our vice-chancellor, and heads, and proctors, agreed to a reward of an hundred pounds to be paid to anyone that should discover the author or authors of the letter; and the order for the same being printed I have inserted a copy of it here.

"At a general meeting of the vice-chancellor, heads of houses, and proctors of the university of Oxford, at the Apodyterium of the Convocation House, on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1714.

"Whereas a letter directed to Mr. Mayor of the city of Oxford, containing treasonable matters, was delivered at his house on Monday night last, betwixt nine and ten of the clock, by a person in an open-sleeved gown, and in a cinnamon-coloured coat, as yet unknown: which letter has been communicated to Mr. Vice-Chancellor by the said Mayor: if any one will discover the author or authors of the said letter, or the person who delivered it, so as he or they may be brought to justice, he shall have a reward of one hundred pounds, to be paid him forthwith by Mr. Vice-Chancellor.

"Bernard Gardiner, Vice-Chancellor."

The letter to which the vice-chancellor's programme refers:

Oxon, August 2nd, 1714.

Mr. Mayor,

If you are so honest a man as to prefer your duty and allegiance to your lawfull sovereign before the fear of danger, you will not need this caution, which comes from your friends to warn you, if you should receive an order to proclaim Hannover, not to comply with it. For the hand of God is now at work to set things upon a right foot, and in a few days you will find wonderfull changes, which if you are wise enough to foresee, you will obtain grace and favour from the hands of his sacred majestie king James, by proclaiming him voluntarily, which otherwise you will be forced to do with disgrace. If you have not the courage to do this, at least for your own safety delay proclaiming Hannover as long as you can under pretense of sickness or some other reason. For you cannot do it without certain hazard of your life, be you ever so well guarded. I, who am but secretary to the rest, having a particular friendship for you, and an opinion of your honesty and good inclinations to his majestie's service, have prevailed with them to let me give you this warning. If you would know who the rest are, our name is

Legion, and we are many.

This note shall be your sufficient warrant in times to come for proclaiming his majestie King James, and if this does not satisfie you, upon your first publick notice we will do it in person.

For Mr. Broadwater, mayor of the City of Oxford, these.

Sept. 25.—On Monday last (Sept. 20th) King George (as he is styled) with his son (who is in the 31st year of his age, and is called prince of Wales, he having been so created), entered London, and came to the palace of St. James's, attended with several thousands. It was observed that the Duke of Marlborough was more huzza'd, upon this occasion, than King George, and that the acclamation, God save the Duke of Marlborough! was more frequently repeated than God save the king! In the evening the illuminations and bonfires were not many. King George hath begun to change all the ministers, and to put in the whiggs, every post bringing us news of this alteration, to the grievous mortification of that party called tories. The duke of Marlborough is made captain general of all the forces in room of the duke of Ormond, not to mention the other great changes. But the tories must thank themselves for all this, they having acted whilst in power very unworthily, and instead of preferring worthy scholars and truly honest men, they put in the quite contrary, and indeed behaved themselves with very little courage or integrity. I am sorry to write this; but 'tis too notorious, and they therefore very deservedly suffer now. They have acted contrary to their principles, and must therefore expect to smart. But the whiggs, as they have professed bad principles, so they have acted accordingly, not in the least receding from what they have laid down as principles. 'Tis to be hoped the tories may now at last see their folly, and may resolve to act steadily and uniformly, and to provide for, and take care of, one another, and with true courage and resolution endeavour to retrieve credit and reputation by practising those doctrines which will make for the service of the king, and of the whole nation, and not suffer those enemies the whiggs utterly to ruin their country, as they have done almost already.

THE '15.

I.
The Pretender's Declaration (1715).

Source.—A. Boyer's Political State of Great Britain, 1720. Vol. x., pp. 626-630.

His Majesty's Most Gracious Declaration.

James R.

James VIII. by the Grace of God, of Scotland, England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith &c. To all Our Loving Subjects of What Degree or Quality soever. Greeting. As we are firmly resolved never to lose any Opportunity of asserting Our undoubted Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms, and of endeavouring to get the Possession of that Right which is devolv'd upon Us by the Laws of God and Man: so we must in Justice to the Sentiments of our Heart declare, That nothing in the World can give Us so great satisfaction, as to owe to the Endeavours of Our Loyal Subjects both our own and their Restoration to that happy Settlement which can alone deliver this Church and Nation from the Calamities which they lie at present under, and from those future Miseries which must be the Consequences of the present usurpation. During the Life of Our dear Sister, of Glorious Memory, the Happiness which Our People enjoy'd softened in some Degree the Hardship of our own Fate; and we must further confess, That when we reflected on the Goodness of her Nature, and her Inclination to Justice, we could not but persuade Our Self, that she intended to establish and perpetuate the Peace which she had given to these Kingdoms by destroying for ever all Competition to the Succession of the Crown, and by securing to us, at last, the Enjoyment of the Inheritance out of which We had been so long kept, which her Conscience must inform her was our Due, and which her Principles must bend her to desire that We might obtain.

But since the Time that it pleased Almighty God to put a Period to her Life, and not to suffer Us to throw Our Self, as We then fully purposed to have done, upon Our People, We have not been able to look upon the Present Condition of Our Kingdoms, or to consider their Future Prospect, without all the Horror and Indignation which ought to fill the Breast of every Scotsman.

We have beheld a Foreign Family, Aliens to our Country, distant in Blood, and Strangers even to our Language, ascend the Throne.

We have seen the Reins of Government put into the Hands of a Faction, and that Authority which was design'd for the Protection of All, exercis'd by a Few of the Worst, to the oppression of the Best and Greatest number of our Subjects. Our Sister has not been left at Rest in her Grave; her name has been scurrilously abused, her Glory, as far as in these People lay, insolently defaced, and her faithful Servants inhumanely persecuted. A Parliament has been procur'd by the most Unwarrantable Influences, and by the Grossest Corruptions, to serve the Vilest Ends, and they who ought to be the Guardians of the Liberties of the People, are become the Instruments of Tyranny. Whilst the Principal Powers, engaged in the Late Wars, enjoy the Blessings of Peace, and are attentive to discharge their Debts, and ease their People, Great Britain, in the Midst of Peace, feels all the Load of a War. New Debts are contracted, New Armies are raised at Home, Dutch Forces are brought into these Kingdoms, and, by taking Possession of the Dutchy of Bremen, in Violation of the Public Faith, a Door is opened by the Usurper to let in an Inundation of Foreigners from Abroad and to reduce these Nations to the State of a Province, to one of the most inconsiderable Provinces of the Empire.

These are some few of the many real Evils into which these Kingdoms have been betrayed, under Pretence of being rescued and secured from Dangers purely imaginary, and these are such Consequences of abandoning the Old constitution, as we persuade Our Selves very many of those who promoted the present unjust and illegal Settlement, never intended.

We observe, with the utmost Satisfaction, that the Generality of Our Subjects are awaken'd with a just Sense of their Danger, and that they shew themselves disposed to take such Measures as may effectually rescue them from that Bondage which has, by the Artifice of a few designing Men, and by the Concurrence of many unhappy Causes, been brought upon them.

We adore the Wisdom of the Divine Providence, which has opened a Way to our Restoration, by the Success of those very Measures that were laid to disappoint us for ever: And we must earnestly conjure all Our Loving Subjects, not to suffer that Spirit to faint or die away, which has been so miraculously raised in all Parts of the Kingdom, but to pursue with all the Vigour and Hopes of Success, which so just and righteous a Cause ought to inspire, those methods, which The Finger of God seems to point out to them.

We are come to take Our Part in all the Dangers and Difficulties to which any of Our Subjects, from the Greatest down to the Meanest, may be exposed on this important Occasion, to relieve Our Subjects of Scotland from the Hardships they groan under on account of the late unhappy Union; and to restore the Kingdom in its ancient, free, and independent State.

We have before Our Eyes the Example of Our Royal Grandfather, who fell a Sacrifice to Rebellion, and of Our Royal Uncle, who, by a Train of Miracles, escaped the Rage of the barbarous and blood-thirsty Rebels, and lived to exercise his Clemency towards those who had waged war against his Father and himself; who had driven him to seek Shelter in Foreign Lands, and who had even set a Price upon his Head. We see the same Instances of Cruelty renewed against Us, by Men of the same Principles, without any other Reason than the Consciousness of their own Guilt, and the implacable Malice of their own Hearts: For in the Account of such Men, it's a Crime sufficient to be born their King; but God forbid, that we should tread in those Steps, or that the Cause of a Lawful Prince, and an Injur'd People, should be carried on like that of Usurpation and Tyranny, and owe its Support to Assassins. We shall copy after the Patterns above mentioned, and be ready, with the Former of Our Royal Ancestors, to seal the Cause of Our Country, if such be the Will of Heaven, with Our Blood. But we hope for Better Things; we hope, with the Latter, to see Our just Rights, and those of the Church and People of Scotland, once more settled in a Free and Independent Scots Parliament, on their Antient Foundation. To such a Parliament, which we will immediately call, shall we intirely refer both Our and Their Interests, being sensible that these Interests, rightly understood, are always the same. Let the Civil, as well as Religious Rights of all our Subjects, receive their Confirmation in such a Parliament; let Consciences truly tender be indulged; let Property of every Kind be better than ever secured; let an Act of General Grace and Amnesty extinguish the Fears even of the most Guilty; if possible, let the very Remembrance of all which have preceded this happy Moment be utterly blotted out, that Our Subjects may be united to Us, and to Each Other, on the strictest Bonds of Affection, as well as Interest.

And that nothing may be omitted which is in Our Power to contribute to this desirable End, we do, by these Presents, absolutely and effectually, for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, pardon, remit and discharge all Crimes of High Treason, Misprision of Treason, and all other Crimes and Offences whatsoever, done or committed against Us or Our Royal Father of Blessed Memory, by any of Our Subjects of what Degree or Quality soever, who shall, at or after Our Landing, and before they engage in any Action against Us, or Our Forces, from that Time, lay hold on Mercy, and return to that Duty and Allegiance which they owe to Us, their only rightful and lawful Sovereign.

By the joint Endeavours of Us and Our Parliament, urged by these Motives, and directed by these Views, we may hope to see the Peace and flourishing Estate of this Kingdom, in a short Time, restored: and We shall be equally forward to concert with our Parliament such further Measures as may be thought necessary for leaving the same to future Generations.

And We hereby require all Sheriffs of Shires, Stewarts of Stewartries, or their Deputies, and Magistrates of Burghs, to publish this Our Declaration immediately after it shall come to their Hands in the Usual Places and Manner, under the Pain of being proceeded against for Failure thereof, and forfeiting the Benefit of Our general Pardon.

Given under Our Sign Manual and Privy Signet, at Our Court at Commercy, the 25th Day of Octob. in the 15th Year of Our Reign.

II.
The Proclamation of James III. (1715).

Source.—Peter Clarke's Journal, in Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, 1893. Vol. i., p. 513.

Sir,—On Wednesday the second day of November one thousand seaven hundred and fifteen, the then high sherriff of Cumberland assembled the posse comitatus on Penrith Fell, Viscount Loynsdale being there as commander of the militia of Westmoreland, Cumberland and Northumberland, who were assembled at the place aforesaid for prevention of rebellion and riots. The Lord Bishop of Carlisle and his daughter were there. By the strictest observation the numbers were twenty-five thousand men, but very few of them had any regular armes. At 11 o'clock in the forenoon of the same day the high sherriff and the two lords received a true account that the Earl of Derwentwater, together with his army, were within 6 miles of Penrith. Upon the receipt of this news the said high sherriff and the said 2 lords, the posse comitatus and the militia fled, leaving most of their arms vpon the said fell. There is no doubt had the men stood their ground the said Earl and his men (as it hath since beene acknowledged by divers of them) wood have retreated. About 3 aclock in the afternoon on the same day the said Earl, together with his army, in number about one thousand seaven hundred, entred the said towne of Penrith, where they proclaimed their king by the name and title of James the 3d. of England and Ireland, and 8th of Scotland. In this towne they received what excise was due to the crowne and gave receipts for the same. A small party were sent to Lowther Hall to search for Lord Loynsdale, but not finding him there (for he was gone into Yorkshire), they made bold to take provision for themselves and their horses, such as the Hall aforded. There were only at that time two old woomen in the said Hall who received no bodily damage. But provision being scarce in the said towne, Penrith, they marched betimes next morning for Apleby. The gentlemen paid their quarters of for what they called for in both these townes, but the commonality paid little or nothing, neither was there any person that received any bodily damage in either of the said townes. If they found any armes they tooke them without paying the owners for them. Only one man joyned them in their march from Penrith to Apleby. In this towne they made the same proclamation as they had done in the former, and received the excise. The weather at this time for some days before was rainey. They marched out of this towne betimes on Saturday morning, being the 5th of November, in order for Kendall. In this day's march none joyned them (excepting one, Mr. Francis Thornburrow), son of Mr. William Thornburrow of Selfet Hall neare Kendall. His father sent one of his servant men to wait upon his son because he was in scarlet cloathes, and stile of Captain Thornburrow.

About 12 aclock of the same day 6 quartermasters came into the towne of Kendall, and about 2 aclock in the afternoone Brigadeer Mackintoss and his men came both a horseback, having both plads on their targets hanging on their backs, either of them a sord by his side, as also either a gun and a case of pistols. The said Brigadeer looked with a grim countenance. He and his man lodged at Alderman Lowrys, a private house in Highgate Street in this towne. About one houre after came in the horsemen, and the footmen at the latter end. It rained very hard here this day, and had for several days before, so that the horse and the footmen did not draw their swords, nor show their collours, neither did any drums beat. Onely six highlands bagpipes played. They marched to the cold-stone or the cross, and read the same proclamation twice over in English without any mixture of Scotish tongue. I had for about one month lived and was clerke to Mr. Craikenthorp, attorney at Law, and as a spectator I went to heare the proclamation read, which I believe was in print, and began after this manner, viz., Whereas George Elector of Brunswick has usurped and taken upon him the stile of the king of these realms, etc. Another clause in it I took particular notice of was this, viz.—Did immediately after his said fathers decease become our only and lawful leige. At the end of the proclamation they gave a great shout. A quaker who stood next to me not puting of his hat at the end of the said ceremony, a highlander thrust a halbert at him, but it fortunately went between me and him, so that it did neither of us any damage. So they dispersed.

III.
Failure of the Expedition Explained.

(a) Absence of Foreign Aid.

Source.—Letter to Sir William Windham, Bolingbroke's Works, 1754. Vol. i, pp. 79, 80.

The true cause of all the misfortunes which happened to the Scotch and those who took arms in the north of England, lies here: that they rose without any previous certainty of foreign help, in direct contradiction to the scheme which their leaders themselves had formed. The excuse which I have heard made for this, is that the act of parliament for curbing the highlanders was near to be put in execution: that they would have been disarmed and entirely disabled from rising at any other time, if they had not rose at this. You can judge better than I of the validity of this excuse. It seems to me that by management they might have gained time, and that even when they had been reduced to the dilemma supposed, they ought to have got together under pretence of resisting the infractions of the union without any mention of the pretender, and have treated with the government on this foot. By these means they might probably have preserved themselves in a condition of avowing their design when they should be sure of being backed from abroad; at the worst they might have declared for the Chevalier when all other expedients failed them. In a word I take this excuse not to be very good, and the true reason of this conduct to have been the rashness of the people, and the inconsistent measures of their head.

(b) The Pretender no Leader of Men.

Source.—A true Account of the Proceedings at Perth, Written by a Rebel, 1716, p. 20.

I must not conceal that when we saw the man whom they called our King, we found ourselves not at all animated by his presence, and if he was disappointed in us, we were tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. He never appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us. His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to come abroad among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or do our exercises. Some said, the circumstances he found us in dejected him; I am sure the figure he made dejected us; and had he sent us but 3.000 men of good hopes, and never himself come among us, we had done other things than we have now.

(c) The Nation's Dread of Popery.

[Just as in 1745 the Curse of Ernulphus was reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine for September "to shew what is to be expected from the Pope, if he come to be supreme head of the church in this nation," so in 1715 the same fears were worked upon in innumerable pamphlets. The first Article of Impeachment of High Treason against Lord Derwentwater is the charge of re-establishing popery, and is taken from A Faithful Register of the Late Rebellion, 1718, p. 41; the second extract is from A Caveat against the Pretender, 1725, p. 5.]

(1) ... For many Years past, a most wicked Design and Contrivance has been formed and carried on, to subvert the ancient and established Government, and the good Laws of these Kingdoms; to extirpate the true Protestant Religion therein established, and to destroy its Professors; and, instead thereof, to introduce and settle Popery and arbitrary Power; in which unnatural and horrid Conspiracy, great Numbers of Persons, of different Degrees and Qualities, have concerned themselves, and acted; and many Protestants, pretending an uncommon Zeal for the Church of England, have join'd themselves with professed Papists, uniting their Endeavours to accomplish and execute the aforesaid and traitorous designs.

(2) The Pretender return! What Flames will this kindle? What burning of Towns, and ransacking of Cities? What Plunder and Rapine? And what Blindness, Superstition; Ruin of all Religion, and utter Waste of Conscience, would be the Issue of his Success!...

That this is not mere Declamation, and design'd for Amusement, a little Inspection into that Mystery of Iniquity, we call Popery, wou'd convince the Reader, even to Amazement: But these Papers must be confin'd to a narrower compass, and shall only fix upon one single Point of Popery, that of Persecution and Cruelty, so natural, and even essential to it: I shall make it appear that Popery is a Religion set on fire of Hell, the true Molock and Tophet that devours and consumes all Protestants thro'out the Earth, that are not by interposing Providence rescu'd from its Jaws.

THE SEPTENNIAL ACT (1716).

Source.—Danby Pickering, The Statutes at Large, 1764. Vol. xiii., pp. 1713-1717. Cambridge.

Whereas in and by act of parliament made in the sixth year of the reign of their late Majesties King William and Queen Mary (of ever blessed memory) intituled, An Act for the frequent meeting and calling of parliaments: IT WAS among other things enacted, That from henceforth no parliament whatsoever, that should at any time then after be called, assembled or held, should have any continuance longer than for three years only at the farthest, to be accounted from the day on which by the writ of summons the said parliament should be appointed to meet: whereas it has been found by experience, that the said clause hath proved very grievous and burthensome, by occasioning much greater and more continued expences in order to elections of members to serve in parliament, and more violent and lasting heat and animosities among the subjects of this realm, than were ever known before the said clause was enacted; and the said provision, if it should continue, may probably at this juncture, when a restless and popish faction are designing and endeavouring to renew the rebellion within this Kingdom, and an invasion from abroad, be destructive to the peace and security of the government: be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That this present parliament, and all parliaments that shall at any time hereafter be called, assembled or held, shall and may respectively have continuance for seven years, and no longer, to be accounted from the day on which by the writ of summons this present parliament hath been, or any future parliament shall be, appointed to meet, unless this present, or any future parliament hereafter to be summoned shall be sooner dissolved by his Majesty, his heirs or successors.

DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH FLEET OFF SICILY BY ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE BYNG, JULY 31, 1718.

Source.—Byng's original despatch in Oldmixon's History of England: George I., 1735. P. 663.

August 6, O.S.—Early in the Morning, on the 30th of July, as we were standing in for Messina, we saw two Scouts of the Spanish fleet in the Faro, very near us; and at the same time a Felucca coming off from the Calabrian shore, assur'd us they saw from the Hills the Spanish Fleet lying by; upon which the Admiral stood thro' the Faro after the scouts, judging they would lead us to their Fleet, which they did, for before Noon we had a fair sight of all their Ships.... Their Fleet consisted of 26 Men of War, great and small, two Fireships, four Bomb Vessels, seven Galleys, and several Ships with Stores and Provisions. The Admiral order'd the Kent, Superbe, Grafton and Oxford, the best Sailors in the Fleet, to make what Sail they could to come up with the Spaniards; and that the Ship that could get nearest to them should carry the Lights usually worn by the Admiral, that he might not lose sight of them in the Night, and he made what sail he could with the rest of the Fleet to keep up with them. It being little Wind the Spanish Galleys tow'd their heaviest Sailors all Night. The 31st in the Morning, as soon as it was day, they finding us pretty near up with their Fleet, the Galleys and smaller Ships, with the Fireships, Bomb-Vessels, and Store-Ships separated from their Admiral and bigger Ships, and stood in for the Shore. After whom the Admiral sent Captain Walton in the Canterbury, with the Argyle and six Ships more. As those Ships were coming up with them, one of the Spaniards fir'd a Broadside at the Argyle. The Admiral seeing those Ships engag'd with the Spanish which were making towards the Shore, sent orders to Captain Walton to rendezvous after the Action at Syracuse.... We held our Chace after the Spanish Admiral with three of his Rear Admirals and the biggest Ships, which staid by their Flags, till we came near them. The Captains of the Kent, Superbe, Grafton and Orford having Orders to make all the Sail they could to place themselves by the four Headmost Ships, were the first that came up with them. The Spaniards began by firing their Stern Chace at them. But they having Orders not to fire unless the Spanish Ships repeated their firing, made no return at first, but the Spaniards firing again, the Orford attack'd the Santa Rosa, the St. Charles struck without much Opposition, and the Kent took Possession of her. The Grafton attack'd the Prince of Asturias, formerly call'd the Cumberland, in which was Rear Admiral Chacon, but the Breda and Captain coming up, she left that Ship for them to take, which they soon did, and stretched ahead after another 60 Gun Ship, which was at her Starboard Bow while she was engaging the Prince of Asturias, and kept firing her Stern-Chace into the Grafton. About One o'clock the Kent and Superbe engaged the Spanish Admiral, which with two more Ships fir'd on them, and made a running Fight till about Three, when the Kent bearing down upon her and under her Stern gave her a Broadside, and went away to Leeward of her; then the Superbe put for it and laid the Spanish Admiral on Board, falling on her Weather-Quarter, but the Spanish Admiral shifting her Helm and avoiding her, the Superbe rang'd under her Lee-Quarter, on which she struck to her. At the same time the Barfleur being within Shot of the said Spanish Admiral, one of their Rear Admirals, and another 60 Gun Ship, which were to Windward of the Barfleur, bore down and gave her three Broadsides, and then clapt upon a Wind, standing in for the land; the Admiral in the Barfleur stood after them till it was almost Night, but it being little Wind ... he left pursuing them and stood away to the Fleet again, which he found two Hours after Night. The Essex took the Juno, the Montague and Rupert took the Volante; Vice Admiral Cornwall followed the Grafton to support her ... Rear Admiral Delaval with the Royal Oak chas'd two Ships that went away more Leewardly than the rest, one of them said to be Rear Admiral Crammock, a Scotch or Irish Renegade, who had serv'd several years in the English Fleet; but we not having seen them since, know not the Success.[2]

[2]   The result of the battle, in which the English had 1,360 guns, the Spanish 1,310, was that fifteen Spanish ships of war, 744 guns in all, one fireship, and one store-ship were taken, and two smaller vessels burnt, and Byng goes on to say that, "as is usual on such Occasions, their Mortification after their Defeat was equal to their Presumption before."

THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE (1720).

I.
The Proposals: The Second Scheme of the South Sea Company.

Source.—The Schemes of the South Sea Company and the Bank of England as Propos'd to the Parliament for the Reducing of the National Debts. London, 1720.

To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament Assembled.

The Corporation of the Governors and Company of Merchants, Trading to the South Seas and other Parts of America, and for Encouraging the Fishery, having on the 27th January last presented their Humble Proposal to this Honourable House, for Enlarging the Capital Stock of the said Company, by taking thereinto the several Annuities and Publick Debts therein Mentioned, on the Terms and Conditions in the said Proposal also Mentioned, in which Proposal such Advantages were offer'd to the Publick, as the said Corporation did humbly hope would have been to the entire Satisfaction of this Honourable House, and most conducive to the certain Discharging and Paying off the whole Debt of the Nation, and to which Proposal they humbly crave Leave to refer. But the Governors and Company of the Bank of England having the same day also delivered a Proposal to this Honourable House, for enlarging their Capital Stock, by taking in the same Annuities and Debts on the Terms and Conditions in their Proposal also mentioned.

This Corporation therefore further, to manifest their Zeal and Earnest desire to Contribute their utmost to the reducing and paying off the Publick Debts, crave leave to offer the following Explanations and Amendments to their said Proposal.

I. As to the sixth Article of their said former Proposal, wherein they have humbly desir'd to be Allowed for Charges of Management, for their to be increased Capital, so much as it now costs the Government for the Charges of Paying, Assigning and Accounting for the said Debts, or such Proportion thereof, as the Sum which shall be taken in by the Company, shall bear to the whole of those Debts.

They now offer by way of Explanation of that Article, that the Allowances therein Mentioned, are not to exceed a Proportion to the Allowance they now have by Act of Parliament on their present Capital for that purpose.

II. That whereas, in their seventh Article of their said Proposal it is Mentioned that the Annuities for the Company's present, and to be increased Capital, be continued at the Rates therein Mentioned till Midsummer, 1727. And that from and after that time their then Annuity on their whole Capital, shall be actually reduced to £4 per Cent. per Ann. and likewise be from thenceforth redeemable by Parliament.

They do humbly offer that if this Honourable House do think it more for the Interest of the Publick, that in lieu of the said seventh Article, all the Sums to be taken into the Company's Capital, in pursuance of their proposal, shall be redeemable by Parliament, from and after Midsummer 1724, in Sums not less than £500,000 at a time they do consent thereto.

III. And whereas by the tenth Article of their said former Proposal, they offer'd for the Liberty of Increasing their Capital Stock, as is therein aforesaid; that they would give and pay into his Majesty's Exchequer, for the Service of the Publick, the sum of £3,500,000.

They now humbly Offer, that over and above the said £3,500,000, They will farther give and pay into his Majesty's Exchequer, for the use of the Publick, by four Equal Quarterly Payments on the days Mention'd in their said former Proposal, £500,000 more certain, and also upon all the said Annuities for certain Terms of Years which this Company shall take into their Capital Stock, before the first day of March, 1721, after the rate of four Year and half purchase, by four Quarterly Payments which if all the said Annuities be taken into the said Company, will amount to the Sum of £3,567,503 or thereabouts, to which being added the said £3,500,000 and the said further Sum of £500,000 will amount in the whole to the Sum of £7,567,500 or thereabouts.

IV. That whereas in the eleventh Article of their former Proposal, they did submit that so much as shall arise by the sinking Fund before Midsummer 1727 may from and after paying Off such Part of the Publick Debts, as may be Redeemed within that time, and which shall not be taken into this Company, be applied at the end of every Year towards paying off, in even One Hundred Thousand Pounds, that part of the Company's Capital, which carries £5 per Cent. per Ann.

They do humbly offer in lieu thereof, that if this Honourable House think fit to make their to be Increased Capital, Redeemable at Midsummer 1724, That the said sinking Fund may till that time be applied half Yearly, to the paying off that part of the Company's which is to carry £5 per Cent. per Ann.

V. As to the twelfth Article of this Company's former Proposal, Relating to the Circulating of £1,000,000 in Exchequer Bills Gratis, and likewise pay the Interest for that Million, so as no other Exchequer Bills be issued than what shall be Circulated by the Credit of the Exchequer, without the aid of Subscription or Contract.

VI. And Lastly, that this Honourable House may be fully satisfied of the sincere Intentions of this Company to use their best Endeavours to take in all the said Annuities for ninety-nine, and ninety-six Years, which amount to £667,705 8s. 1d. per Ann. This Company do further Humbly offer to give and pay into his Majesty's Exchequer, for the Service of the Publick, by four Equal Quarterly Payments, one Years Purchase upon all such of those Annuities as shall happen not to come into the Company's Capital within the time aforesaid.

And whereas this Company is very Sensible, that the Prosperity of the Nation doth greatly depend upon the discharging the Publick Debts (a Motive which Induced them to make the first Propositions of this Publick and beneficial nature) They do Humbly submit these Explanations and Amendments to this Honourable House, flattering themselves that Readiness and Cheerfulness that Ingaged them so much earlier than any other Society, to endeavour to reduce that great Debt under which this Nation is Oppressed, will Intitle them to the favour and preference of this House, since they are willing and do hereby declare they are ready to undertake this great work upon whatever Terms may be offered by any other Company.

By Order of the General Court.

John Fellows, Sub-Governour.

Charles Joye, Dep. Governour.

Feb. 1, 1719

II.
The Bubble Burst.

Source.—The Case of the Borrowers on the South Sea Loans Stated. Pp. 1-7. London, 1721.

Since the Parliament has thought it of service to the Publick, that the unhappy sufferers by the South Sea should have Relief: and are at present considering how to give it them: I am persuaded, no one will think it either improper or unreasonable, that the case of the Borrowers on the Loans (who in my opinion are the most unhappy of them all) should be truly stated and made publick.

For my part, I will endeavour it, as far as I am able, with Justice to the Company who are their Creditors, and with no more Compassion to these unfortunate People, than their Circumstances honestly deserve: And I have this Satisfaction in what I undertake, that as I believe it is not the Intent of the Members of either of the Honourable Houses to administer Relief with Partiality, or to neglect any set of Men who really want it, should I so far succeed, as to show that these Borrowers do, I can't but hope that they will be esteemed at least worthy their Care and Protection.

To what purpose these Loans were opened by the late Directors, I need not mention: Every one knows, that without them they could never have perfected their Scheme, as they used to term their Villainy. It was not enough for them to have raised their Stock to such a Price, as to have been only able to have discharged their Agreement with the Government; they had larger Views, they were to satisfy their own Avarice, and could not therefore give too great an imaginary Value to their Stock. These Managers (unhappily for us) set out with the good opinion of Mankind: they were esteemed too wise to be deceived themselves, and too honest to deceive their Friends. Thus qualified for Mischief, they soon began it: they soon intoxicated the Brains of all they talked with, gave them wild Notions of the rising Value of their Stock, and persuaded them at any rate to put themselves in Fortune's way: Having with great Art and Industry gained a Credit to their Stock, they immediately upon it took in the first Subscriptions; but these Subscriptions having drawn a great Quantity of Money into their hands, they apprehended the rising Spirit of the Stock might soon be checked for want of Money, and their Project by it injured: For even then the Species of our Nation was not infinite, it was therefore necessary to contrive some Means to carry on quick Circulations of it: and the Means contrived was to issue Money on these Loans. The Success they had we all remember; the Price increased prodigiously, and, if I am not mistaken, above £100 per Cent. in a Day. And indeed this Success was very probable: for these Loans served two Ends at once of the greatest moment to their Schemes: While they furnished the unhappy Borrowers with Money to purchase Stock with, they gave fresh Credit to the Stock, and raised the Price: For when the Directors, who must be supposed to know what they were doing, had put so great a confidence in their Stock, as to lend such Sums upon the Security of that alone, others might with good reason take courage, and trust it too. And their Cunning upon this occasion was very extraordinary, for they were not contented with the Credit they gave to their Stock by this Act, which was a tacit Declaration that they knew it to be intrinsically worth as much or more than what they ventured to lend on it; but they were diligent in private Companies to confirm Men in such Opinion of it, by a constant Ridicule of the Bank for their pitiful and cautious Loan of £100 per Cent. To this Step are greatly owing all our Misfortunes: The most Prudent now began to blame themselves for the most unjust Suspicions they had entertain'd of so good a Project. A Man of moderate Fortune now seem'd poor by the Vast Riches all about him had so suddenly acquired. All grew impatient and uneasy, who were not in this Stock, the Managers were idolised, and only they were happy, who had Directors for their Friends. The Merchant, who thro' a long Diligence and great Variety of Hazard had gained a small Estate, grew mad to see so many idle Fellows enrich themselves within a day or two. The honest Country Gentleman, who by good Management and wise economy had been an Age in paying off a Mortgage, or saving a few small Portions for his younger Children, could not bear the big Discourse and Insults of this New Race. Both laid aside their Prudence, and at last became unhappy Converts to South Sea: Both were persuaded now to use their Diligence, and recover that time their Disbelief had lost them. The one despised his Trade, and sold his Effects, at any rate, to try his Fortune: The other mortgaged what he could, or sold it for a little stock or Third Subscription: And now both are undone, both Beggars. I should think Cases of such Distress as these could not be reflected on without even Humanity itself becoming painful; and yet, whether it proceeds from such Cases being frequent and daily seen, or from an Hardness of Heart, which Providence for a Judgment has suffered to fall on us, I know not; but such Cases are scarce pitied by us: Every one still pursues his own Interest, and seems to grudge the Expense even of a few Shillings, to save thousands from Destruction.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AS PRIME MINISTER (1721-1741).

I.
By Lord Hervey.

Source.—John, Baron Hervey (1696-1743), Memoirs, 1848. Vol. i., pp. 23-25.

No man ever was blessed with a clearer head, a truer or quicker judgment, or a deeper insight into mankind; he knew the strength and weakness of everybody he had to deal with, and how to make his advantage of both; he had more warmth of affection and friendship for some particular people than one could have believed it possible for any one who had been so long raking in the dirt of mankind to be capable of feeling for so worthless a species of animals. One should naturally have imagined that the contempt and distrust he must have had for the species in gross, would have given him at least an indifference and distrust towards every particular. Whether his negligence of his enemies, and never stretching his power to gratify his resentment of the sharpest injury, was policy or constitution, I shall not determine: but I do not believe anybody who knows these times will deny that no minister ever was more outraged, or less apparently revengeful. Some of his friends, who were not unforgiving themselves, nor very apt to see imaginary faults in him, have condemned this easiness in his temper as a weakness that has often exposed him to new injuries, and given encouragement to his adversaries to insult him with impunity. Brigadier Churchill, a worthy and good-natured, friendly, and honourable man, who had lived Sir Robert's intimate friend for many years, and through all the different stages of his power and retirement, prosperity and disgrace, has often said that Sir Robert Walpole was so little able to resist the show of repentance in those from whom he had received the worst usage, that a few tears and promises of amendment have often washed out the stains even of ingratitude.

In all occurrences, and at all times, and in all difficulties, he was constantly present and cheerful; he had very little of what is generally called insinuation, and with which people are apt to be taken for the present, without being gained; but no man ever knew better among those he had to deal with who was to be had, on what terms, by what methods, and how the acquisitions would answer. He was not one of those projecting systematical great geniuses who are always thinking in theory, and are above common practice: he had been too long conversant in business not to know that in the fluctuation of human affairs and variety of accidents to which the best concerted schemes are liable, they must often be disappointed who build on the certainty of the most probable events; and therefore seldom turned his thoughts to the provisional warding off future evils which might or might not happen; or the scheming of remote advantages, subject to so many intervening crosses; but always applied himself to the present occurrence, studying and generally hitting upon the properest method to improve what was favourable, and the best expedient to extricate himself out of what was difficult. There never was any minister to whom access was so easy and so frequent, nor whose answers were more explicit. He knew how to oblige when he bestowed, and not to shock when he denied: to govern without oppression, and conquer without triumph. He pursued his ambition without curbing his pleasures, and his pleasures without neglecting his business; he did the latter with ease, and indulged himself in the other without giving scandal or offence. In private life, and to all who had any dependence upon him, he was kind and indulgent; he was generous without ostentation, and an economist without penuriousness; not insolent in success, nor irresolute in distress; faithful to his friends, and not inveterate to his foes.

II.
By Horace Walpole.

Source.—Horace Walpole's Reminiscences, Works, 1798. Vol. iv., p. 271.

It was an instance of Sir Robert's singular good fortune, or evidence of his talents, that he not only preserved his power under two successive monarchs, but in spite of the efforts of both their mistresses to remove him. It was perhaps still more remarkable, and an instance unparalleled, that Sir Robert governed George the first in Latin, the King not speaking English, and his minister not German, nor even French. It was much talked of, that Sir Robert, detecting one of the Hanoverian ministers in some trick or falsehood before the King's face, had the firmness to say to the German, "Mentiris, impudentissime!"

WOOD'S HALFPENCE: THE FIRST DRAPIER'S LETTER (1724).

Source.—Works of Jonathan Swift. Pp. 13 seqq. Bohn's edition, 1903.

To the Tradesmen, Shop-Keepers, Farmers, and Common People in General of Ireland.

Brethren, Friends, Countrymen and Fellow-Subjects,

What I intend now to say to you, is, next to your duty to God and the care of your salvation, of the greatest concern to yourselves, and your children, your bread and clothing, and every common necessary of life entirely depend upon it. Therefore I do most earnestly exhort you as men, as Christians, as parents, and as lovers of our country, to read this paper with the utmost attention, or get it read to you by others; which that you may do at the less expense, I have ordered the printer to sell it at the lowest rate.

It is a great fault among you, that when a person writes with no other intention than to do you good, you will not be at the pains to read his advice: One copy of this paper may serve a dozen of you, which will be less than a farthing a-piece. It is your folly that you have no common or general interest in your view, not even the wisest among you, neither do you know or enquire, or care who are your friends, or who are your enemies.

About three years ago a little book[3] was written to advise all people to wear the manufactures of this our own dear country: It had no other design, said nothing against the King or Parliament, or any man, yet the POOR PRINTER was prosecuted two years, with the utmost violence, and even some WEAVERS themselves, for whose sake it was written, being upon the JURY, FOUND HIM GUILTY. This would be enough to discourage any man from endeavouring to do you good, when you will either neglect him or fly in his face for his pains, and when he must expect only danger to himself and loss of money, perhaps to his ruin.

However I cannot but warn you once more of the manifest destruction before your eyes, if you do not behave yourselves as you ought.

I will therefore first tell you the plain story of the fact; and then I will lay before you how you ought to act in common prudence, and according to the laws of your country.

The fact is thus: It having been many years since COPPER HALFPENCE OR FARTHINGS were last coined in this kingdom, they have been for some time very scarce, and many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps, several applications were made to England, that we might have liberty to coin new ones, as in former times we did; but they did not succeed. At last one Mr. Wood, a mean ordinary man, a hardware dealer, procured a patent under his Majesty's broad seal to coin fourscore and ten thousand pounds in copper for this kingdom, which patent however did not oblige any one here to take them, unless they pleased. Now you must know, that the halfpence and farthings in England pass for very little more than they are worth. And if you should beat them to pieces, and sell them to the brazier you would not lose above a penny in a shilling. But Mr. Wood made his halfpence of such base metal, and so much smaller than the English ones, that the brazier would not give you above a penny of good money for a shilling of his; so that this sum of fourscore and ten thousand pounds in good gold and silver, must be given for trash that will not be worth above eight or nine thousand pounds real value. But this is not the worst, for Mr. Wood, when he pleases, may by stealth send over another and another fourscore and ten thousand pounds, and buy all our goods for eleven parts in twelve, under the value. For example, if a hatter sells a dozen of hats for five shillings a-piece, which amounts to three pounds, and receives the payment in Mr. Wood's coin, he really receives only the value of five shillings.

Perhaps you will wonder how such an ordinary fellow as this Mr. Wood could have so much interest as to get His Majesty's broad seal for so great a sum of bad money, to be sent to this poor country, and that all the nobility and gentry here could not obtain the same favour, and let us make our own halfpence, as we used to do. Now I will make that matter very plain. We are at a great distance from the King's court, and have nobody there to solicit for us, although a great number of lords and squires, whose estates are here, and are our countrymen, spending all their lives and fortunes there. But this same Mr. Wood was able to attend constantly for his own interest; he is an Englishman and had great friends, and it seems knew very well where to give money, and those that would speak to others that could speak to the King and could tell a fair story. And his Majesty, and perhaps the great lord or lords who advised him, might think it was for our country's good; and so, as the lawyers express it, "the King was deceived in his grant," which often happens in all reigns. And I am sure if his Majesty knew that such a patent, if it should take effect according to the desire of Mr. Wood, would utterly ruin this kingdom, which hath given such great proof of its loyalty, he would immediately recall it, and perhaps show his displeasure to some one or other. But "a word to the wise is enough." Most of you must have heard, with what anger our honourable House of Commons received an account of this Wood's patent. There were several fine speeches made upon it, and plain proof that it was all A WICKED CHEAT from the bottom to the top, and several smart notes were printed, which that same Wood had the assurance to answer likewise in print, and in so confident a way, as if he were a better man than our whole Parliament put together....

The common weight of this halfpence is between four and five to an ounce, suppose five, then three shillings and four-pence will weigh a pound, and consequently twenty shillings will weigh six pound butter weight. Now there are many hundred farmers who pay two hundred pound a year rent. Therefore when one of these farmers comes with his half-year's rent, which is one hundred pound, it will be at least six hundred pound weight, which is three horse load.

If a 'squire has a mind to come to town to buy clothes and wine and spices for himself and family, or perhaps to pass the winter here; he must bring with him five or six horses loaden with sacks as the farmers bring their corn; and when his lady comes in her coach to our shops, it must be followed by a car loaden with Mr. Wood's money. And I hope we shall have the grace to take it for no more than it is worth.

They say 'Squire Conolly [Speaker of the Irish House of Commons] has sixteen thousand pounds a year. Now if he sends for his rent to town, as it is likely he does, he must have two hundred and forty horses to bring up his half-year's rent, and two or three great cellars in his house for stowage. But what the bankers will do I cannot tell. For I am assured, that some great bankers keep by them forty thousand pounds in ready cash to answer all payments, which sum, in Mr. Wood's money, would require twelve hundred horses to carry it.

For my own part, I am already resolved what to do; I have a pretty good shop of Irish stuffs and silks, and instead of taking Mr. Wood's bad copper. I intend to truck with my neighbours the butchers, and bakers, and brewers, and the rest, goods for goods, and the little gold and silver I have, I will keep by me like my heart's blood till better times, or till I am just ready to starve, and then I will buy as my father did the brass money, in K. James's time,[4] I who could buy ten pound of it with a guinea....

When once the kingdom is reduced to such a condition, I will tell you what must be the end: The gentlemen of estates will all turn off their tenants for want of payment, because as I told you before, the tenants are obliged by their leases to pay sterling which is lawful current money of England; then they will turn their own farmers, as too many of them do already, run all into sheep where they can, keeping only such other cattle as are necessary, then they will be their own merchants and send their wool and butter and hides and linen beyond sea for ready money and wine and spices and silks. They will keep only a few miserable cottiers. The farmers must rob or beg, or leave their country. The shopkeepers in this and every other town, must break and starve: for it is the landed man that maintains the merchant, and shopkeeper, and handicraftsman.

But when the 'squire turns farmer and merchant himself, all the good money he gets from abroad, he will hoard up or send for England, and keep some poor tailor or weaver and the like in his own house, who will be glad to get bread at any rate.

I should never have done if I were to tell you all the miseries that we shall undergo if we be so foolish and wicked as to take this CURSED COIN. It would be very hard if all Ireland should be put into one scale, and this sorry fellow Wood into the other, that Mr. Wood should weigh down this whole kingdom, by which England gets above a million of good money every year clear into their pockets, and that is more than the English do by all the world besides.

But your great comfort is, that as His Majesty's patent does not oblige you to take this money, so the laws have not given the crown a power of forcing the subjects to take what money the King pleases. For then by the same reason we might be bound to take pebble-stones or cockle-shells or stamped leather for current coin, if ever we should happen to live under an ill prince, who might likewise by the same power make a guinea pass for ten pounds, a shilling for twenty shillings, and so on, by which he would in a short time get all the silver and gold of the kingdom into his own hands, and leave us nothing but brass or leather or what he pleased. Neither is anything reckoned more cruel or oppressive in the French government than their common practice of calling in all their money after they have sunk it very low, and then coining it anew at a much higher value, which however is not the thousandth part so wicked as this abominable project of Mr. Wood. For the French give their subjects silver for silver and gold for gold, but this fellow will not so much as give us good brass or copper for our gold and silver, nor even a twelfth part of their worth.

Having said thus much, I will now go on to tell you the judgments of some great lawyers in this matter, whom I fee'd on purpose for your sakes, and got their opinions under their hands, that I might be sure I went upon good grounds....

I will now, my dear friends, to save you the trouble, set before you in short, what the law obliges you to do, and what it does not oblige you to.

First, You are obliged to take all money in payments which is coined by the King and is of the English standard or weight, provided it be of gold or silver.

Secondly, You are not obliged to take any money which is not of gold or silver, no not the halfpence, or farthings of England, or of any other country, and it is only for convenience, or ease, that you are content to take them, because the custom of coining silver halfpence and farthings hath long been left off, I will suppose on account of their being subject to be lost.

Thirdly, Much less are you obliged to take those vile halfpence of that same Wood, by which you must lose almost eleven-pence in every shilling.

Therefore my friends, stand to it one and all, refuse this filthy trash. It is no treason to rebel against Mr. Wood. His Majesty in his patent obliges nobody to take these halfpence,[5] our gracious prince hath no so ill advisers about him; or if he had, yet you see the laws have not left it in the King's power, to force us to take any coin but what is lawful, of right standard gold and silver; therefore you have nothing to fear.

And let me in the next place apply myself particularly to you who are the poor sort of tradesmen. Perhaps you may think you will not be so great losers as the rich, if these halfpence should pass, because you seldom see any silver, and your customers come to your shops or stalls with nothing but brass, which you likewise find hard to be got. But you may take my word, whenever this money gains footing among you, you will be utterly undone; if you carry these halfpence to a shop for tobacco or brandy, or any other thing you want, the shopkeeper will advance his goods accordingly, or else he must break, and leave the key under the door. Do you think I will sell you a yard of tenpenny stuff for twenty of Mr. Wood's halfpence? No, not under two hundred at least, neither will I be at the trouble of counting, but weigh them in a lump. I will tell you one thing further, that if Mr. Wood's project should take, it will ruin even our beggars; for when I give a beggar an halfpenny, it will quench his thirst, or go a good way to fill his belly, but the twelfth part of a halfpenny will do him no more service than if I should give him three pins out of my sleeve.

In short these halfpence are like "the accursed thing, which," as the Scripture tells us, "the children of Israel were forbidden to touch": they will run about like the plague and destroy every one who lays his hands upon them. I have heard scholars talk of a man who told a king that he invented a way to torment people by putting them into a bull of brass with fire under it, but the prince put the projector first into his own brazen bull to make the experiment;[6] this very much resembles the project of Mr. Wood, and the like of this may possibly be Mr. Wood's fate, that the brass he contrived to torment this kingdom with, may prove his own torment, and his destruction at last.

N.B. The author of this paper is informed by persons who have made it their business to be exact in their observations on the true value of these halfpence, that any person may expect to get a quart of twopenny ale for thirty-six of them.

I desire all persons may keep this paper carefully by them to refresh their memories when ever they shall have farther notice of Mr. Wood's halfpence, or any other the like imposture.

[3]   Swift's own Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufactures.

[4]   The famous "gun-money," coined to meet the exigencies of the Stuart army in Ireland, a crown piece of which was by a proclamation of William III. of July 10, 1690, to pass current as a penny.

[5]   The words of the patent are "to pass and to be received as current money, by such as shall or will, voluntarily and wittingly, and not otherwise, receive the same" (the halfpence and farthings). [T. S.]

[6]   Phalaris, the genuineness of whose Letters had occasioned the famous controversy which brought about Swift's first venture into literature with the Battle of the Books.

CHARACTER OF GEORGE II. (1683-1760).

A. By Lord Hervey.

Source.—Memoirs. Vol. i., pp. 145, 146.

His faults were more the blemishes of a private man than of a King. The affection and tenderness he invariably showed to a people over whom he had unbounded rule [in Hanover] forbid our wondering that he used circumscribed power with moderation [in England]. Often situated in humiliating circumstances, his resentments seldom operated when the power of revenge returned. He bore the ascendant of his Ministers, who seldom were his favourites, with more patience than he suffered any encroachment on his will from his mistresses. Content to bargain for the gratification of his two predominant passions, Hanover and money, he was almost indifferent to the rest of his royal authority, provided exterior observance was not wanting; for he comforted himself if he did not perceive the diminution of Majesty, though it was notorious to all the rest of the world. Yet he was not so totally careless of the affection and interests of his country as his father had been. George the First possessed a sounder understanding and a better temper: yet George the Second gained more by being compared with his eldest son, than he lost if paralleled with his father.

B. By Horace Walpole.

Source.—Memoirs of the Reign of George II. (2nd ed.), 1848. Vol. i., pp. 175, 176; vol. iii., pp. 303, 304.

The King had fewer sensations of revenge, or at least knew how to hoard them better, than any man who ever sat upon a Throne. The insults he experienced from his own and those obliged servants, never provoked him enough to make him venture the repose of his people, or his own. If any object of his hate fell in his way, he did not pique himself upon heroic forgiveness, but would indulge it at the expense of his integrity, though not of his safety. He was reckoned strictly honest; but the burning his father's will must be reckoned an indelible blot upon his memory; as a much later instance [1749] of his refusing to pardon a young man who had been condemned at Oxford for a most trifling forgery, contrary to all example when recommended to mercy by the Judge, merely because Welles, who was attached to the Prince of Wales, had tried him and assured him his pardon, will stamp his name with cruelty, though in general his disposition was merciful if the offence was not murder. His avarice was much less equivocal than his courage; he had distinguished the latter early [at Oudenarde]; it grew more doubtful afterwards[7]: the former he distinguished very near as soon, and never deviated from it. His understanding was not near so deficient, as it was imagined; but though his character changed extremely in the world, it was without foundation; for [whether] he deserved to be so much ridiculed as he had been in the former part of his reign, or so respected as in the latter, he was consistent in himself, and uniformly meritorious or absurd.

[7]   This is unjust—George II. displayed conspicuous courage at Dettingen.

THE CONDITION OF THE FLEET PRISON, AS REVEALED BY A PARLIAMENTARY ENQUIRY (1729).

A. Description of the Warden, Thomas Bambridge.

Source.—Horace Walpole: Anecdotes of Painting in England, 1771. Vol. iv., p. 71.

I have a sketch in oil that Hogarth gave me, which he intended to engrave.[8] It was done at the time when the house of commons appointed a committee to enquire into the cruelties exercised on prisoners in the Fleet to extort money from them. The scene is the committee; on the table are the instruments of torture. A prisoner in rags, half starved, appears before them; the poor man has a good countenance that adds to the interest. On the other hand is the inhuman gaoler. It is the very figure that Salvator Rosa would have drawn of Iago in the moment of detection. Villainy, fear, and conscience are mixed in yellow and livid on his countenance, his lips are contracted by tremor, his face advances as eager to lie, his legs step back as thinking to make his escape; one hand is thrust precipitately into his bosom, the fingers of the other are catching uncertainly at his button-holes.

B. His Cruelty.

Source.—Lieutenant Bird's Letter from the Shades to T——s B-m-dge, 1729. Pp. 37, 38.

As soon as he had introduced his Marmadons,[9] he began to treat the Prisoners in a Manner little different from that Dragooning, which, upon another Account the Protestants some time ago, suffer'd in France; some he clapp'd into Irons, and others he flung into dungeons; so that it may be said without much Impropriety, that the poor Prisoners underwent a perfect Persecution from their New Warden. The Effect of Persecution is always the same, tho' the Pretence may be Religion, or something else, yet Interest is the true Cause. It soon appear'd that all this Cruelty of B-mb-ge, was only to make the Prisoners more ready to comply with his Demands, by striking a previous Terror into their Minds, and they found out that the only Way to lay that spirit of Cruelty, which possess'd the New Warden, was to give up to his Avarice all the Little which was left them, or cou'd be procured from their Friends to support Life, which every one knows is as much as the generality of Men in those unfortunate Circumstances can hope or desire to do, so helpless they are of themselves, and so cold and scanty is the Charity and Allowance of Friends and Relations; many of those distress'd People, in order to satisfy his avaricious Demands, and to avoid his rigorous Treatment, which grew as terrible to them as an Inquisition, have been obliged to sell their Cloathes off their Backs and give up every Penny of their little Subsistence, by which Means they have been ready to perish with cold and hunger, passing many miserable Days together without eating a Morsel of Victuals.

C. Findings of the Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry.

Source.—T. B. Howell: State Trials. Vol. xvii., pp. 300-302.

The Committee of enquiry found amongst other things. That the said Thomas Bambridge ... caused one Jacob Mendez Solas[10] ... to be seized, fettered, and carried to Corbett's, the spunging-house, and there kept for upwards of a week, and when brought back into the prison, Bambridge caused him to be turned into the dungeon, called the Strong Room of the Master's side.

This place is a vault like those in which the dead are interred, and wherein the bodies of persons dying in the said prison are usually deposited, till the coroner's inquest hath passed upon them; it has no chimney nor fire-place, nor any light but what comes over the door, or through a hole of about eight inches square. It is neither paved nor boarded; and the rough bricks appear both on the sides and top, being neither wainscotted nor plastered: what adds to the dampness and stench of the place is, its being built over the common sewer.... In this miserable place the poor wretch was kept by the said Bambridge, manacled and shackled, for near two months. At length, on receiving five guineas from Mr. Kemp, a friend of Solas's, Bambridge released the prisoner from his cruel confinement. But though his chains were taken off, his terror still remained, and the unhappy man was prevailed upon by that terror, not only to labour gratis, for the said Bambridge, but to swear also at random all that he hath required of him; and the Committee themselves saw an instance of the deep impression his sufferings had made upon him; for on his surmising, from something said, that Bambridge was to return again, as Warden of the Fleet, he fainted, and the blood started out of his mouth and nose.

[The sufferings of Captain John Mackpheadnis, who was ruined by being surety for a man in the South Sea Bubble, are then narrated. He was forced to pay double fees, his room, which he duly rented and had himself furnished, was wrecked, and he was forced "to lie in the open yard called the Bare," where the little hut he built was pulled down, and he was exposed to the rain all night. Finally Bambridge used actual torture.]

Next morning the said Bambridge entered the prison with a detachment of soldiers, and ordered the prisoner to be dragged to the lodge, and ironed with great irons, on which he desired to know for what cause, and by what authority he was to be so cruelly used? Bambridge replied, "It was by his own authority, and damm him he would do it, and have his life." The prisoner desired that he might be carried before a magistrate, that he might know his crime before he was punished; but Bambridge refused, and put irons upon his legs which were too little, so that in forcing them on, his legs were like to have been broken; and the torture was impossible to be endured. Upon which the prisoner complaining of the grievous pain and the straitness of the irons, Bambridge answered, "That he did it on purpose to torture him;" on which the prisoner replying "That by the law of England no man ought to be tortured"; Bambridge declared, "That he would do it first and answer for it afterwards;" and caused him to be dragged away to the dungeon, where he lay without a bed, loaded with irons so close-rivetted that they kept him in continued torture, and mortified his legs. After long application[11] his irons were changed, and a surgeon directed to dress his legs, but his lameness is not, nor ever can be cured. He was kept in this miserable condition for three weeks, by which his sight is greatly prejudiced, and in danger of being lost.

[8]   This picture is now in the National Portrait Gallery.

[9]   Myrmidons—i.e., the band of soldiers whom Bambridge had procured under false pretences.

[10]   A Portuguese prisoner for debt.

[11]   I.e., after he had made many applications.

THE EXCISE BILL (1733).

Source.—Hervey's Memoirs. Vol. i., pp. 159-163, 175, 176.

But this flame[12] was no sooner extinguished in the nation than another was kindled, and one that was much more epidemical, and raged with much greater fury. Faction was never more busy on any occasion; terrors were never more industriously scattered, and clamour never more universally raised.

That which gave rise to these commotions was a project of Sir Robert Walpole's to ease the land-tax of one shilling in the pound, by turning the duty on tobacco and wine, then payable on importation, into inland duties; that is, changing the Customs on those two commodities into Excises; by which scheme, joined to the continuation of the salt-duty, he proposed to improve the public revenue £500,000 per annum, in order to supply the abatement of one shilling in the pound on land, which raises about that sum.

The landed men had long complained that they had ever since the Revolution borne the heat and burden of the day for the support of the Revolution Government; and as the great pressure of the last war had chiefly lain on them (the land having for many years been taxed to four shillings in the pound), they now began to say, that since the public tranquility both at home and abroad was firmly and universally established, if ease was not at this time thought of for them, it was a declaration from the Government that they were never to expect any; and that two shillings in the pound on land was the least that they or their posterity, in the most profound peace and fullest tranquility, were ever to hope to pay.

This having been the cry of the country gentlemen and landowners for some time, Sir Robert Walpole thought he could not do a more popular thing than to form a scheme by which the land-tax should be reduced to one shilling in the pound, and yet no new tax be substituted in the lieu thereof, no new duty laid on any commodity whatsoever, and the public revenue improved £500,000 per annum, merely by this alteration in the method of management.

The salt-duty, which had been revised the year before, could raise only in three years what one shilling in the pound on land raised in one year; consequently, as that tax was an equivalent only to one-third of a shilling on land, if the remission of that shilling on land was further and annually continued, some other fund must be found to supply the other two-thirds.

This of Excising tobacco and wine was the equivalent projected by Sir Robert Walpole, but this scheme, instead of procuring him the popularity he thought it would, caused more clamour and made him even, whilst the project was only talked of and in embryo, more vilified and abused by the universal outcries of the people, than any one Act of his whole administration.

The art, vigilance, and industry of his enemies had so contrived to represent this scheme to the people, and had so generally in every county and great town throughout all England prejudiced their minds against it; they had shown it in so formidable a shape and painted it in such hideous colours, that everybody talked of the scheme as a general Excise: they believed that food and raiment, and all the necessaries of life, were to be taxed; that armies of Excise officers were to come into any house and at any time they pleased; that our liberties were at an end, trade going to be ruined, Magna Charta overturned, all property destroyed, the Crown made absolute, and Parliaments themselves no longer necessary to be called.

This was the epidemic madness of the nation on this occasion; whilst most of the boroughs in England, and the city of London itself, sent formal instructions by way of memorials to their Representatives, absolutely to oppose all new Excises and all extensions of Excise laws, if proposed in Parliament, though introduced or modelled in any manner whatsoever.

It is easy to imagine that this reception of a scheme by which Sir Robert Walpole proposed to ingratiate himself so much with the people, must give him great disquiet. Some of his friends, whose timidity passed afterwards for judgment, advised him to relinquish it, and said, though it was in itself so beneficial a scheme to the public, yet since the public did not see it in that light, that the best part he could take was to lay it aside.

Sir Robert Walpole thought, since he was so far embarked, that there was no listening to such advice without quitting the King's service, for as it was once known that he designed to execute this scheme, had he given it up, everything that had been said of its tendency, would have been taken for granted; and the same men who had prepossessed the minds of the people, so far as to have these things credited, would very naturally and easily have persuaded them that their rescue from ruin, and the stop that had been put to this impending blow, were entirely owing to their patriotism; that it was the stand they had made had prevented the universal destruction that had been threatened to the liberties and fortunes of the people.

Sir Robert Walpole, therefore (who, if he could have foreseen the difficulties in which this scheme involved him, would certainly never have embarked in it at all), in this disagreeable dilemma chose what he thought the least dangerous path, and resolved, since he had undertaken it, to try to carry it through. His manner of reasoning was, that if he had given way to popular clamour on this occasion, it would be raised, right or wrong, on every future occasion to thwart and check any measure that could be taken by the Government whilst he should have the direction of affairs, and that the consequence of that must be, his resignation of his employment or his dismissal from the King's service....

At the same time, many pamphlets were written and dispersed in the country, setting forth the dangerous consequences of extending the Excise Laws, and increasing the number of Excise-officers; showing the infringement of the one upon liberty, and the influence the other must necessarily give the Crown in elections. And so universally were these terrors scattered through the nation, and so artfully were they instilled into the minds of the people, that this project, which in reality was nothing more than a mutation of two taxes from Customs to Excises, with an addition of only one hundred and twenty-six officers in all England for the collection of it, was so represented to the country, and so understood by the multitude, that there was hardly a town in England, great or small, where nine parts in ten of the inhabitants did not believe that this project was to establish a general Excise, and that everything they ate or wore was to be taxed; that a colony of Excise-officers was to be settled in every village in the Kingdom, and that they were to have a power to enter all houses at all hours;[13] that every place and every person was to be liable to their search, and that such immense sums of monies were to be raised by this project, that the Crown would no longer be under the necessity of calling Parliament for annual grants to support the Government, but be able to provide for itself, for the most part; and whenever it wanted any extraordinary supplies, that the Excise officers, by their power, would be able at any time to choose just such a Parliament as the Crown should nominate and direct.

[12]   The attempted repeal of the Test Act.

[13]   This feeling found expression in various scurrilous ballads. The following verse may serve as a specimen:

Who would think it a hardship that men so polite

Should enter their houses by day or by night,

To poke in each hole, and examine their stock,

From the cask of right Nantz to their wives' Holland smock?

He's as cross as the devil
Who censures as evil
A visit so courteous, so kind, and so civil;

For to sleep in our beds without their permit,

Were in a free country a thing most unfit.

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS (1736).

Source.—Gentleman's Magazine, 1736, p. 230.

One Wilson was hang'd at Edinburgh for robbing Collector Stark. He having made an Attempt to break Prison, and his Comrade having actually got off, the Magistrates had the City Guards and the Welsh Fusiliers under Arms during the execution, which was perform'd without Disturbance; but on the Hangman's cutting down the Corpse (the Magistrates being withdrawn) the Boys threw, as usual, some Dust and Stones, which falling among the City Guard, Capt. Porteous fired, and order'd his Men to fire; whereupon above 20 Persons were wounded, 6 or 7 kill'd, one shot thro' the Head at a Window up two Pair of Stairs. The Capt. and several of his Men were after committed to Prison.

[Captain Porteous was thereupon tried and condemned for murder, but he was reprieved, to the fury of the populace. A contemporary account of the sequel is to be found in the same volume of the Gentleman's Magazine, p. 549.]

Tuesday, 7 September. Betwixt 9 and 10 at Night, a Body of Men enter'd the West Port of Edinburgh, seiz'd the Drum, beat to Arms, and calling out, Here! All those who dare avenge innocent Blood! were instantly attended by a numerous Crowd. Then they seized and shut up the City Gates, and posted Guards at each to prevent Surprise by the King's Forces, while another Detachment disarm'd the City Guards, and advanced immediately to the Tolbooth or Prison, where not being able to break the Door with hammers &c. they set it on Fire, but at the same Time provided Water to keep the Flame within the Bounds. Before the outer Door was near burnt down several rush'd thro' the Flames and oblig'd the Keeper to open the inner Door and going into Capt. Porteous' Apartment, call'd, Where is the Villain Porteous? who said I'm here, what is it you are to do with me? To which he was answered, We are to carry you to the Place where you shed so much innocent Blood and Hang you. He made some Resistance, but was soon overcome, for while some set the whole Prisoners at Liberty, others caught him by the Legs and dragged him down Stairs, and then led him to the Grass Market, where they agreed to Hang him without further Ceremony.... After he had hung till suppos'd to be dead, they nail'd the Rope to the Post, then formally saluting one another, grounded their Arms, and on t'other Rapp of the Drum retir'd out of Town."

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S SPEECH ON THE BILL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENSORSHIP OF STAGE PLAYS (1737).

Source.—Parliamentary History, 1812. Vol. x., pp. 327-331, 338, 339.

My Lords; the Bill now before you I apprehend to be of a very extraordinary, a very dangerous nature. It seems designed not only as a restraint on the licentiousness of the stage, but it will prove a most arbitrary restraint on the liberty of the stage; and I fear it looks yet farther. I fear it tends towards a restraint on the liberty of the press, which will be a long stride towards the destruction of liberty itself....

... I am as much for restraining the licentiousness of the stage, and every other sort of licentiousness, as any of your lordships can be; but, my Lords, I am, I shall always be extremely cautious and fearful of making the least incroachment upon liberty; and therefore, when a new law is proposed against licentiousness, I shall always be for considering it deliberately and maturely, before I venture to give my consent to its being passed. This is a sufficient reason for my being against passing this Bill at so unseasonable a time, and in so extraordinary a manner[14]; but I have many reasons against passing the Bill itself, some of which I shall beg leave to explain to your lordships.... By this Bill you prevent a play's being acted, but you do not prevent its being printed; therefore, if a licence should be refused for its being acted, we may depend upon it, the play will be printed. It will be printed and published, my Lords, with the refusal in capital letters on the title page. People are always fond of what is forbidden. Libri prohibiti are in all countries diligently and generally sought after. It will be much easier to procure a refusal, than ever it was to procure a good house, or a good sale; therefore we may expect, that plays will be wrote on purpose to have a refusal; this will certainly procure a good house, or a good sale. Thus will satires be spread and dispersed through the whole nation, and thus every man in the Kingdom may, and probably will, read for sixpence, what a few only could have seen acted, and that not under the expense of half-a-crown. We shall then be told, What! will you allow an infamous libel to be printed and dispersed, which you would not allow to be acted? You have agreed to a law for preventing its being acted, can you refuse your assent to a law forbidding its being printed and published? I should really, my Lords, be glad to hear what excuse, what reason one could give for being against the latter, after having agreed to the former; for, I protest, I cannot suggest to myself the least shadow of an excuse. If we agree to the Bill now before us, we must, perhaps next session, agree to a Bill for preventing any plays being printed without a licence. Then satires will be wrote by way of novels, secret histories, dialogues, or under some such title; and thereupon we shall be told, What! will you allow an infamous libel to be printed and dispersed, only because it does not bear the title of a play?...

If poets and players are to be restrained, let them be restrained as other subjects are, by the known laws of their country; if they offend, let them be tried, as every Englishman ought to be, by God and their country. Do not let us subject them to the arbitrary will and pleasure of any one man. A power lodged in the hands of one single man, to judge and determine, without any limitation, without any control or appeal, is a sort of power unknown to our laws, inconsistent with our constitution. It is a higher, a more absolute power than we trust even to the King himself; and, therefore, I must think, we ought not to vest any such power in his Majesty's lord chamberlain....

... The Bill now before us cannot so properly be called a Bill for restraining licentiousness, as it may be called a Bill for restraining the liberty of the stage, and for restraining it too in that branch which in all countries has been the most useful; therefore I must look upon the Bill as a most dangerous encroachment upon liberty in general. Nay, farther, my Lords, it is not only an encroachment upon liberty, but it is likewise an encroachment upon property. Wit, my Lords, is a sort of property: it is the property of those that have it, and too often the only property they have to depend on. It is, indeed, but a precarious dependence. Thank God! we, my Lords, have a dependence of another kind; we have a much less precarious support, and therefore cannot feel the inconveniences of the Bill now before us; but it is our duty to encourage and protect wit, whosoever's property it may be. Those gentlemen who have any such property, are all, I hope, our friends: do not let us subject them to any unnecessary and arbitrary restraint. I must own, I cannot easily agree to the laying of any tax upon wit; but by this Bill it is to be heavily taxed, it is to be excised;[15] for if this Bill passes, it cannot be retailed in a proper way without a permit; and the lord chamberlain is to have the honour of being chief gauger, supervisor, commissioner, judge and jury: but what is still more hard, though the poor author, the proprietor I should say, cannot perhaps dine till he has found out and agreed with a purchaser: yet before he can propose to seek for a purchaser, he must patiently submit to have his goods rummaged at this new excise-office, where they may be detained for fourteen days, and even then he may find them returned as prohibited goods, by which his chief and best market will be for ever shut against him; and that without any cause, without the least shadow of reason, either from the laws of his country, or the laws of the stage....

[14]   It had been rushed through the House of Commons at the very end of the session.

[15]   Walpole's Excise Bill had been withdrawn under strong pressure four years earlier (see p. 22). Hence the cogency of this allusion here.

DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE (1737).

Her Character described by George II.

Source.—Hervey's Memoirs. Vol. ii., pp. 531-533.

During this time [of the Queen's fatal illness in 1737] the King talked perpetually to Lord Hervey, the physicians and surgeons, and his children, who were the only people he ever saw out of the Queen's room, of the Queen's good qualities, his fondness for her, his anxiety for her welfare, and the irreparable loss her death would be to him; and repeated every day, and many times in the day, all her merits in every capacity with regard to him and every other body she had to do with. He said she was the best wife, the best mother, the best companion, the best friend, the best woman that ever was born; that she was the wisest, the most agreeable, and the most useful body, man or woman, that he had ever been acquainted with; that he firmly believed she never, since he first knew her, ever thought of anything she was to do or say, but with the view of doing or saying it in what manner it would be most agreeable to his pleasure or most serviceable for his interest; that he had never seen her out of humour in his life; that he had passed more hours with her than he believed any other two people in the world had ever passed together, and that he had never been tired in her company one minute; and that he was sure he could have been happy with no other woman upon earth for a wife, and that if she had not been his wife, he had rather have had her for his mistress than any woman he had ever been acquainted with; that he believed she never had had a thought of people or things which she had not communicated to him; that she had the best head, the best heart, and the best temper that God Almighty had ever given to any human creature, man or woman; and that she had not only softened all his leisure hours, but been of more use to him as a minister than any other body had ever been to him or to any other prince; that with a patience which he knew he was not master of, she had listened to the nonsense of all the impertinent fools that wanted to talk to him, and had taken all that trouble off his hands, reporting nothing to him that was unnecessary or that would have been tedious for him to hear, and never forgetting anything that was material, useful, or entertaining for him to know. He said that, joined to all the softness and delicacy of her own sex, she had all the personal as well as political courage of the finest and bravest man; that not only he and her family, but the whole nation, would feel the loss of her if she died, and that, as to all the brillant and enjouement of the Court, there would be an end of it when she was gone; and that there would be no bearing a drawing-room when the only body that ever enlivened it, and one that always enlivened it, was no longer there. "Poor woman, how she always found something obliging, agreeable, and pleasing to say to somebody, and always sent people away from her better satisfied than they came! Comme elle soutenoit sa dignité avec grace, avec politesse, avec douceur!"

THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR (1739).

I.
Rear-Admiral Charles Stewart's Letter to the Governor of the Havana and the Duke of Newcastle.

Source.—English Historical Review. Vol. iv., pp. 743, 742.

12 Sept., 1731.

... I have repeated assurances that you allow vessels to be fitted out of your harbour, particularly one Fandino and others, who have committed the most cruel piratical outrages on several ships and vessels of the King my master's subjects, particularly about the 20th April last [N.S.] sailed out of your harbour in one of those Guarda Costas [Spanish revenue cutters], and met a ship of this island [Jamaica] bound for England; and after using the captain in a most barbarous inhuman manner, taking all his money, cutting off one of his ears, plundering him of those necessaries which were to carry the ship safe home, without doubt with the intent that she should perish in her passage; but as she has providentially got safe home, and likewise several others that have met with no better usage off the Havana, and the King my master having so much reason to believe that these repeated insults on his subjects could never be continued but by the connivance of several Spanish governors in these parts, is determined for his own honour as well as for the honour of his Catholic Majesty who he is now in the strictest friendship with, to endeavour to put a stop to these piratical proceedings.

12 Oct., 1731.

... It is without doubt irksome to every honest man to hear such cruelties are committed in these seas; but give me leave to say that you only hear one side of the question; and I can assure you the sloops that sail from this island, manned and armed on that illicit trade, has (sic) more than once bragged to me of their having murdered 7 or 8 Spaniards on their own shore.... It is, I think, a little unreasonable for us to do injuries and not know how to bear them. But villainy is inherent to this climate, and I should be partial if I was to judge whether the trading part of the Island [Jamaica] or those we complain of among the Spaniards are most exquisite in that trade....

I was a little surprised to hear of the usage Captain Jenkins met with off the Havana, as I know the Governor there has the character of being an honest good man, and don't find anybody thinks he would connive or countenance such villainies.

II.
Account of the Examination of Jenkins before the House of Commons (1738).

Source.—Samuel Boyse: An Historical Review of the Transactions of Europe. Vol. i., p. 29. Reading, 1747.

There was amongst the rest, one Instance that made so much Noise at this time, it cannot well be omitted. One Capt. Jenkins, Commander of a Scotch Vessel, was in his Passage home boarded by a Guarda Costa, the Captain of which was an Irishman. The Spaniards, after rummaging, finding their Hopes disappointed, tearing off part of his ear, and bidding him carry it to the English King, and tell him they would serve him in the same manner if they had him in their Power: This Villainy was attended with other Circumstances of Cruelty too shocking to mention. The Captain, on his Return, was examined at the Bar of the House of Commons; and being ask'd what his Sentiments were, when threaten'd with Death? nobly reply'd, That he recommended his Soul to God, and his Cause to his Country;—which Words, and the Sight of his Ear, made a visible Impression on that great Assembly.

THE OPPOSITION SUSPECTS WALPOLE OF DOUBLE-DEALING.

Source.—Memorial from the Earl of Stair to Alexander Earl of Marchmont, December, 1739. Printed in Papers of the Earls of Marchmont, 1831. Vol. ii., pp. 170-172.

I shall take it for granted, that Great Britain has it in her power to make a prosperous war against Spain, spite of all the opposition that can possibly be made, even though France should meddle in the quarrel, by taking the Havannah, which can be done by raising troops in our colonies of America, headed by a very few regular troops sent from Britain. I mention the Havannah only, because cela décide la guerre. The Havannah once taken, the body of troops can be employed in several other expeditions, which may be very useful and very practicable. I say nothing of the method of raising these troops in America; that is a consideration of another time and place. I shall only say, that by the means of our colonies in America Britain should get the better of any nation in a war in America. By a proper use made of our colonies, I do not know what we are not able to do in America.

This proposition is demonstrably true; but, I believe, it is no less true, that Sir Robert has no such intention. The disposition of raising men in America would appear; but as no such disposition appears, we may conclude, that Sir Robert's scheme is different. I am afraid, that it is to make a treaty with Spain by the mediation of France. If that treaty should be apparently good, Great Britain will find herself in the state of the horse in Horace's fable:

"Sed postquam victor violens discessit at hoste,

Non equitem dorso, non frenum depulit ore."

This being the case, as I am afraid it is, that we can neither secure our constitution at home, nor make a prosperous war abroad, whilst Sir Robert has the sole direction of our affairs, foreign and domestic, there is a preliminary absolutely necessary to the saving of the nation, and that is, the removing of Sir Robert. The question is, How can that be done? I shall freely tell my opinion, with great submission to better judgments. In the first place, there must be a perfect union amongst the leaders of the country party; they must make one common cause of preserving their country, which indeed stands in the utmost danger; all the operations must be directed by one common council. Though there are many great and able men on the side of their country, yet in my opinion the great strength of the party is the people, who are well-disposed to follow their leaders, to save themselves and their country from impending slavery. If the leaders will advise the communities to declare their sentiments on a very few public points, and instruct their representatives in Parliament accordingly, the strength of the country party will very soon appear so very great, that it will very soon put Sir Robert's gang out of countenance, and occasion a great many of them to think of changing their side. At the same time, it will be impossible for Sir Robert to continue to deceive his Majesty, by pretending that either the nation is of his side, or that by means of the Houses of Parliament, which are with him, he can govern the nation as he pleases. This method of proceeding appears to me a certain one, which the leaders of the opposition have entirely in their own power; I can see no objection to the using of it. Does it hinder anything else? If there is any good to be done by negociations, or other ways, does it hinder? On the contrary, must not everybody feel, that the credit of the strength of the people must be very favourable to negociations in either House of Parliament?

I need say no more. In my opinion at this critical moment Britain may not only be saved, but she may come out of this war with safety and honour, nay, with great glory to her deliverers. But if the opportunity of this session of Parliament is neglected, to-morrow will be Sir Robert's and France's, without any possibility of relief.

ADMIRAL VERNON'S VICTORY AT PORTOBELLO (1740).

I. ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST.

To the Tune of, "Come and Listen to my Ditty."

Source.—Original broadside of 1740 in the British Museum.

[This ballad, by the Opposition poet and pamphleteer Richard Glover, implies that Walpole would willingly have let Vernon and his fleet perish in 1740 as Hosier and his fleet had perished in 1726.]

I.
As, near Porto-Bello lying,
On the Gently swelling Flood,
At Midnight, with Streamers flying,
Our triumphant Navy rode,
There, while Vernon sate all Glorious
From the Spaniards late Defeat,
And his Crew with Shouts victorious
Drank Success to England's Fleet;

II.
On a sudden, shrilly sounding,
Hideous Yells and Shrieks were heard;
Then, each Heart with fear confounding,
A sad Troop of Ghosts appear'd;
All in dreary Hammocks shrouded,
Which for winding Sheets they wore;
And with Looks by Sorrow clouded,
Frowning on that hostile Shore.

III.
On them gleam'd the Moon's wan Lustre,
When the Shade of Hosier brave
His Pale Bands was seen to muster,
Rising from their wat'ry Grave;
O'er the glimmering Wave he hy'd him,
Where the Burford[16] rear'd her Sail,
With three thousand Ghosts beside him,
And in Groans did Vernon hail.

IV.
"Heed, oh heed our fatal Story!
"I am Hosier's injur'd Ghost;
"You, who now have purchas'd Glory
"At this Place, where I was lost;
"Tho' in Porto-Bello's ruin
"You now triumph, free from fears,
"When you think on our undoing,
"You will mix your Joy with Tears,

V.
"See these mournful Spectres sweeping,
"Ghastly, o'er this hated wave,
"Whose wan Cheeks are stain'd with weeping,
"These were English Captains brave;
"Mark those Numbers pale and horrid,
"Who were once my Sailors bold;
"Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead,
"While his dismal Fate is told.

VI.
"I by twenty Sail attended,
"Did this Spanish Town affright,
"Nothing then its wealth defended,
"But my Orders not to fight;

"Oh that in this rolling Ocean
"I had cast them with disdain,
"And obey'd my heart's warm motion
"To reduce the Pride of Spain.

VII.
"For resistance I could fear none.
"But with twenty Ships had done,
"What thou, brave and happy Vernon,
"Hast achiev'd with Six alone.
"Then the Bastimentos never
"Had our foul Dishonour seen,
"Nor the Sea the sad Receiver
"Of this gallant train had been.

VIII.
"Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying,
"And her Galleons leading home,
"Tho' condemn'd for disobeying,
"I had met a Traytor's Doom:
"To have fall'n, my Country crying
"He has play'd an English part,
"Had been better far than Dying,
"Of a griev'd and broken Heart.

IX.
"Unrepining at thy Glory,
"Thy successful Arms we hail,
"But remember our sad Story
"And let Hosier's wrongs prevail;
"After this proud Foe subduing,
"When your Patriot Friends you see,
"Think of Vengeance for my ruin,
"And for England sham'd in me."

II. GREAT BRITAIN'S GLORY; OR, THE STAY-AT-HOME FLEET.

A NEW BALLAD.

Tune of, "Packington's Pound."

Source.—First verse of original broadside in the British Museum.

Come, ye Lovers of Peace, who are said to have sold

Your Votes, that the War of Queen ANNE it might cease;

Come, ye lovers of war, who 'tis certain, of old,

Would have hang'd, if ye could, all the lovers of peace;

Come, you Whigg and you Tory,

Attend to my Story,

For you ne'er heard the like, nor your Fathers before ye;

How Britain, Great Britain! is Queen of the main,

And her Navies in Port are the terror of Spain.

[16]   Admiral Vernon's ship.

THE NEW MINISTERS (1742).

I.
Hervey's Account of the Ministry

Source.—Hervey's Memoirs. Vol. ii., p. 581.

Their sanctum sanctorum is composed of my Lord Carteret, Lord Winchilsea his adherent, the Duke of Newcastle and his quibbling friend my Lord Chancellor [Hardwicke], Mr. Pulteney, and Harry Pelham. Lord Carteret, Duke of Newcastle, and Mr. Pulteney, while they act seemingly in concert at this juncture, having distinct views and different interests of their own to pursue, are all striving to deceive and overreach one another; and each separately relating to their own private friends what passes at these conferences conducive to their own points, the whole of the conference, through different channels, flows into the world. Lord Carteret, feeling he has the strength of the closet and the confidence and favour of the King, whilst he is making his court by foreign politics,[17] hates and detests Mr. Pulteney for all the trouble he gives him in pursuing his points at home; and knowing that the moment Mr. Pulteney goes into the House of Lords, he will become an absolute nullity, he is ready to feed the exorbitant appetite of his demands with any morsels it craves for at present, provided in return he can gain that one point of Mr. Pulteney's going into the House of Lords. On the other hand, Mr. Pulteney, knowing he has at present the House of Commons in his hands, and seeing too plainly that though he has the power of the closet, he has none of the favour, and that every point he carries there is extorted, not granted—carried by force, not by persuasion—hates my Lord Carteret for engrossing that favour which he proposed at least to share, if not to engross himself; and whilst he is forcing seven or eight of his followers into employment, proposes to remain himself in the House of Commons in order to retain the same power, in order to force a new batch of his friends, three or four months hence, in the same manner upon the King, which reduces the struggle between Lord Carteret and him to this short point, that if Mr. Pulteney goes into the House of Lords, Lord Carteret dupes him; if he does not, he dupes my Lord Carteret. The Duke of Newcastle, whose envy is so strong that he is jealous of everybody, and whose understanding is so weak that nobody is jealous of him, is reciprocally made use of by these two men to promote their different ends; and being jealous of Lord Carteret from feeling his superior interest with the King, and jealous of Mr. Pulteney from his superior interest to his brother [Mr. Pelham] in the House of Commons, is like the hungry ass in the fable between the two bundles of hay, and allured by both without knowing which to go to, tastes neither, and will starve between them. He wants Mr. Pulteney's power in the House of Commons to be kept as a check and bridle upon Lord Carteret, who has outrun him so far in the palace, and yet wants Mr. Pulteney out of the House of Commons to strengthen his own power there by the proxy medium of his brother. Thus stands the private contest and seeming union among these present rulers, or rather combatants for rule.

II.
On the Ministry of Lord Carteret, Feb., 1742.

Source.—Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, quoted by Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 11, 1742; and also to be found in Williams' Collected Poems.

O my poor country! is this all

You've gain'd by the long-labour'd fall

Of Walpole and his tools?

He was a knave indeed,—what then?

He'd parts,—but this new set of men

A'n't only knaves, but fools.

III.
On Pulteney's Acceptance of a Peerage, July, 1742.

Source.—A Collection of Poems, principally consisting of the most celebrated pieces of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, 1763, p. 36. The names in the British Museum copy, from which this and the following are transcribed, are filled in by Horace Walpole, to whom this copy belonged.

I'm not the man you knew before,

For I am P[ultene]y now no more,

My titles hide my name.

(Oh how I blush to own my case!)

My dignity was my disgrace,

And I was rais'd to shame.

[17]   I.e., by advancing the King's views in favour of Hanover and encouraging the passion for war which Walpole had so long repressed. Carteret attended George II. throughout the campaign of 1743, and was even present—the last prime minister to take part in an action—at the Battle of Dettingen. He spoke German well, which greatly endeared him to the King.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR (1741-1748).

Source.—Samuel Boyse: Historical Review of the Transactions of Europe, 1739-45, pp. 69-73.

The late Emperor, in order to preserve the Succession of his hereditary Dominions entire, had obtain'd from the chief Powers in Europe, the Guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction of which it is therefore necessary to give the Reader some Account. Leopold, his Father, apprehensive of the Troubles which the Failure of the Male Line in his Family might excite not only in Germany, but in Europe, form'd the Design of settling the Succession in the Female Line, as the only way to prevent all Disputes, and keep his Dominions entire. He communicated his Intentions to his Sons Joseph and Charles (who both succeeded him) by whom this Regulation was approved; and afterwards by his Ministers he had it ratify'd in the Imperial Dyet. Joseph, his Successor, made no Alteration in it, and died without Male Issue. Charles VI. seven Years after his Accession, having no Male Heir, and seeing that if the Male Line should end in him, the right of Succession would remain in his Nieces, and not his Daughters, in order to secure the Succession to his own Posterity, by confining the Entail, had a new Instrument drawn up, which in 1720, after being approved by his Council, was sworn to by all the Estates of his hereditary Dominions. But foreign Courts, foreseeing the Difficulties that might attend it, were averse to intermeddle with it. In 1724 Great Britain and France refused to guarantee it, tho' then Mediators between the Emperor and Spain. This occasion'd the first Treaty of Vienna in 1725, in which this Prince threw himself into the Hands of Spain, and gave up Naples and Sicily on the sole Condition of that Crown's guaranteeing the Pragmatic Sanction. In 1726 he obtain'd the Guarantee of Russia, and some Months after the Imperial Dyet confirmed it as a Publick irrevocable Law. In 1731, by the second Treaty of Vienna, we consented to give it our Sanction; and in 1732, the King of Denmark, and the States General follow'd our Example. The Elector of Saxony in 1733 acquiesced in it, on account of the Emperor's contributing to raise him to the Throne of Poland, and by the last Treaty of Vienna in 1738, France also confirm'd it, in Consideration of the Cession of Lorrain. Yet both the Courts of Paris and Madrid, who had obtain'd large Accessions of Territory for their Guarantees, were the first to violate their Engagements; whereas Great Britain, Holland and Russia, who got nothing by theirs, continued firm to what they had promis'd.

The only Princes who refus'd to acknowledge it at the Emperor's Death, were the Electors of Bavaria, Cologne, and Palatine. As to the two first, their Interests were too nearly concern'd not to oppose a measure that defeated the Claim of their House to so rich and powerful a Succession: As to the latter, it is not well known what his Motives were, unless a Disinclination to the Austrian Interests, which he discover'd all his Life.

The Emperor in 1736, had married the Archduchess Mary Teresa, his eldest Daughter, to the Duke of Lorrain, for whom, by the succeeding Treaty of Vienna, he obtain'd the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The eminent Services his august House had received from this Prince and his Ancestors, very well entitled him to this illustrious Alliance. Had this monarch liv'd a little longer, it is thought he would have procured his Son-in-Law the Dignity of King of the Romans, a Step that would, in a great measure, have prevented the Confusions that follow'd, and which almost brought his Family to the Brink of Ruin. This fatal Neglect was owing to the Empress's Youth, and the Hopes conceived she might still have a Male Heir.

The Emperor was no sooner dead, than pursuant to his will, Mary Teresa, his eldest Daughter, was declared Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and peaceably invested in the Sovereignty of all his hereditary Dominions. This Princess immediately took care to notify her Accession to the different Courts of Europe, by whom she was acknowledged, and especially by that of France, who on this occasion renew'd its Assurance, in the strongest Terms, of performing its Guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction. But her Letters of Notification to the Court of Munich were returned unopen'd, the Elector declaring he could not acknowledge the Princess's Titles, without Prejudice to his own Claim, as founded on the Will of Ferdinand I., which imported, "That the eldest Archduchess, Daughter of the said Ferdinand, who should be alive when the said Succession should be open, should succeed to the two Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, in case there be no Male Heir of any of the three Brothers of that Emperor." Now the Male Line of that House being extinct by the Death of Charles VI., the Elector being descended from Anne, second daughter to Ferdinand I. (the eldest dying issueless) claimed the Succession as now open by the Terms of the Will. On the other hand, the Court of Vienna maintain'd that the Succession was not open, the last Words of the Will, according to the original Copy in the Austrian Archives being "in case there shall be no lawful Heir living of any of the Emperor's three Brothers."

It is easy to see, the Elector's Claim was to no less than the Whole of the late Emperor's succession. The King of Spain also publish'd his Pretensions to all the late Emperor's Dominions, and made Preparations for invading Italy. In short the new Queen beheld that Storm gathering, which quickly overspread Germany, and which gave her but too much Occasion for exerting that Magnanimity and Constancy of Mind, which heighten her eminent Virtues, and have render'd her justly the Admiration of her Enemies themselves.

To these Claimants, whose Pretensions might have been foreseen, appear'd a third no way expected, but whose Title seem'd to be as well founded, as his Power to support it was unquestionable. This was the young King of Prussia, who claim'd the Principality of Silesia, as antiently belonging to the Brandenburgh Family, from whom the House of Austria had gain'd it by unjust means. As this Prince assembled a numerous Army on the Emperor's Death, every one imagined it was to support the Pragmatic Sanction. But, instead of this, in November he enter'd Silesia, at the head of 30,000 Men, and soon made himself master of Breslaw, the Capital, and the greatest Part of the Country, the Austrians being in no Condition to oppose him. His Behaviour to the vanquish'd was so generous, as easily won their Affections; the rather, as the major Part of that People were of the reform'd Communion, and had suffer'd on that Account much Persecution from the House of Austria; whereas the Court of Berlin had always declared and often interposed in their Favour.

As soon as the King of Prussia had struck his Blow, he caused, by his Ministers, the following verbal Proposals to be laid before the Court of Vienna:

I. That he would guarantee the Queen's Dominions in Germany with his whole Force. And for that End

II. He would enter into a close Alliance with the Courts of Vienna, Petersburgh, and the Maritime Powers.

III. That he would use his utmost Endeavours to get the D. of Lorrain raised to the Imperial Throne.

IV. That he would advance the Queen in ready Money two Millions of Florins.

V. In Consideration of all which, he only desired the absolute cession of Silesia.

The Queen's Answer was strong and peremptory: She thank'd the King for his Offers with regard to the D. of Lorrain; but as the Election, by the Golden Rule, should be free, she thought raising a War in Germany was no likely means of contributing to that End. That as to the Offer of two Millions, the contributions his Army had raised in Silesia amounted to more: And, as to the cession of that Province, her Majesty being resolved to maintain the Pragmatic Sanction, could never consent to the Dismembring any Province belonging to the Succession handed down to her, without violating her Honour and her Conscience....

THE '45.

I.
Landing of the Young Pretender; the Raising of the Standard; Surrender of Edinburgh.

Source.—Robert Forbes: The Lyon in Mourning. Edited by H. Paton for the Scottish History Society 1895. Vol. xx., pp. 201-210.

Journal of the Prince's imbarkation and arrival, etc., the greatest part of which was taken from Duncan Cameron at several different conversations I had with him.

After the battle of Fontenoy and taking of Tournay, among other regiments the one commanded by Lord John Drummond was garrisoned in Tournay, in which corps Duncan Cameron (some time servant to old Lochiel at Boulogne in France) served. When Duncan was in Tournay he received a letter from Mr. Æneas MacDonald, banker in Paris, desiring him forthwith to repair to Amiens, and if possible to post it without sleeping, where he should receive orders about what he was to do. Accordingly Duncan set out, and in a very short time posted to Amiens, from whence Æneas, etc., had set out, but had left a letter for Duncan, ordering him to follow them to Nantes, to which place he set out without taking any rest, where he found the Prince and his small retinue, consisting of seven only, besides servants.

The seven were the Duke of Athol, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Sir John Macdonald, Colonel Strickland, Captain O'Sullivan, Mr. George Kelly (a nonjurant clergyman), and Æneas MacDonald, banker at Paris, brother to Kinlochmoidart.

As Duncan Cameron had been brought up in the island of Barra, and knew the coast of the Long Isle well, in some part of which the Prince intended to land first, so Duncan's business was to descry to them the Long Isle.

At Nantes the Prince and his few attendants waited about fifteen days before the Elizabeth ship of war came, which was to be their convoy in the expedition. To cover the design the better, Sir Thomas Sheridan passed for the father, and the Prince for the son, for none knew the Prince to be in company but the seven, some few others, and Mr. Welch (an Irishman, a very rich merchant in Nantes) who was to command the frigate of sixteen guns, on board of which the Prince and the few faithful friends with the servants were to imbark.

After the Prince was on board he dispatched letters to his father, and the King of France, and the King of Spain, advising them of his design, and no doubt desiring assistance.

The Prince when in Scotland, used to say that the 10th of June was the day on which he stole off, and that he did not mind it to be his father's birth-day till night was far spent. From whence some have affirmed that to have been the day of the embarkation, and others to have been the day when he left Paris and began to be incog.

They had not been above five or six days at sea till one evening the Lyon ship of war appeared, and came pretty near them and then disappeared. Next morning she came again in view and disappeared. She continued to do so three or four times, and the last time of her appearing she came within a mile or so of them: when the captain of the Elizabeth (a Frenchman) came on board the frigate, and told Mr. Welch if he would assist him by keeping one side of the Lyon in play at a distance, he would immediately put all things in order for the attack. Mr. Welch, well knowing the trust he had on board, answered him civilly, and told him it was what he could not think of doing, and withal remarked to him it was his humble opinion that he should not think of fighting unless he should happen to be attacked, because his business was to be convoy to the frigate in the voyage. However, he said, as he pretended not to any command over him, he might do as he thought proper.

The French captain to all this replied, that from the Lion's appearing and disappearing so often, it seemed as if she were looking out for another ship to assist her, and if she should happen to be joined by any other, they no doubt would instantly fall upon the Elizabeth and the frigate, and devour them both: and therefore he behoved to think it the wisest course to fight the Lion when single, because the Elizabeth in that case was fit enough for the engagement, and would bid fair enough to give a good account of the Lion. Upon this the French captain drew his sword, took leave of Mr. Welch and his company, went on board the Elizabeth with his sword still drawn in his hand, and gave the necessary orders for the attack.

Immediately the Elizabeth bore down upon the Lion (each of them consisting of about sixty guns, and therefore equally matched), and begun the attack with great briskness. The fight continued for five or six hours, when the Lion was obliged to sheer off like a tub upon the water.

About the time when the captain came on board the frigate, the Prince was making ready to go on board the Elizabeth for more air and greater conveniency every way, the frigate being crowded with the gentlemen, the servants, and the crew. His friends reckoned it very lucky that he had not gone on board.

The frigate all the time of the engagement lay at such a small distance, that (as the Prince observed to several friends in Scotland) the Lion might have sunk her with the greatest ease. But he said it was their good fortune that the Lion had despised them, and thought not the frigate worth the while. Besides the Lion found enough of employment for all her hands in playing her part against the Elizabeth.

During the time of the fight the Prince several times observed to Mr. Welch what a small assistance would serve to give the Elizabeth the possession of the Lion, and importuned him to engage in the quarrel. But Mr. Welch positively refused, and at last behoved to desire the Prince not to insist any more, otherwise he would order him down to the cabin.

After the fight was all over, Mr. Welch sailed round the Elizabeth, and enquired particularly how matters stood with the captain and the crew. A lieutenant came upon deck from the captain, who was wounded in his cabin, and told Mr. Welch that between thirty and forty officers and gentlemen (besides common men) were killed and wounded, and that if Mr. Welch could supply him with a mainmast and some rigging, he would still make out the voyage with him.

Mr. Welch replied that he could not furnish him with either mainmast or rigging, and that although he should have happened to be capable to serve him in these things, yet he would not have made it his choice to lose so much time as it would require to put the Elizabeth in some better order. He desired to tell the captain it was his opinion he should without loss of time return to France, and that he himself would do his best to make out the intended voyage. The Elizabeth accordingly returned to France, and the frigate continued her course to the coast of Scotland. She had not been long parted from the Elizabeth till the crew descried two ships of war at some distance, which they could not have well got off from, but that a mist luckily intervened, and brought them out of sight.

Two or three hours before landing, an eagle came hovering over the frigate, and continued so to do until they were all safe on shore. Before dinner the Duke of Athol had spied the eagle: but (as he told several friends in Scotland) he did not chuse then to take any notice of it, lest they should have called it a Highland freit[18] in him. When he came upon deck after dinner, he saw the eagle still hovering about in the same manner, and following the frigate in her course, and then he could not help remarking it to the Prince and his small retinue, which they looked upon with pleasure. His grace, turning to the prince, said, "Sir, I hope this is an excellent omen, and promises good things to us. The King of birds is come to welcome your royal highness upon your arrival in Scotland."

When they were near the shore of the Long Isle, Duncan Cameron was sent out in the long boat to fetch them a proper pilot. When he landed he accidentally met with Barra's piper, who was his old acquaintance, and brought him on board. The piper piloted them safely into Eriska (about July 21st), a small island lying between Barra and South Uist. "At this time," said Duncan Cameron, "there was a devil of a minister that happened to be in the island of Barra, who did us a' the mischief that lay in his power. For when he had got any inkling about us, he dispatched away expresses with information against us. But as the good luck was, he was not well believed, or else we would have been a' tane by the neck."

When Duncan spoke these words, "a devil of a minister," he bowed low and said to me, "Sir, I ask you ten thousand pardons for saying so in your presence. But, good faith, I can assure you, sir (asking your pardon), he was nothing else but the devil of a minister."

When they landed in Eriska, they could not find a grain of meal or one inch of bread. But they catched some flounders, which they roasted upon the bare coals in a mean low hut they had gone into near the shore, and Duncan Cameron stood cook. The Prince sat at the cheek of the little ingle, upon a fail[19] sunk, and laughed heartily at Duncan's cookery, for he himself owned he played his part awkwardly enough.

Next day the Prince sent for young Clanranald's uncle (Alexander MacDonald of Boisdale), who lived in South Uist, and discovered himself to him. This gentleman spoke in a very discouraging manner to the Prince, and advised him to return home. To which it is said the Prince replied, "I am come home, sir, and I will entertain no notion at all of returning to that place from whence I came; for that I am persuaded my faithful Highlanders will stand by me." Mr. MacDonald told him he was afraid he would find the contrary. The Prince condescended upon Sir Alexander MacDonald and the Laird of MacLeod as persons he might confide in. Mr. MacDonald begged leave to tell him that he had pitched upon the wrong persons; for from his own certain knowledge he could assure him these gentlemen would not adhere in his interest; on the contrary, they might chance to act an opposite part. And seeing the Prince had been pleased to mention Sir Alexander MacDonald's name, Boisdale desired he might run off an express to him, and let his return be the test of what he had advanced. He added withal, that if Sir Alexander MacDonald and the Laird of MacLeod declared for him, it was his opinion he might then land on the continent, for that he doubted not but he would succeed in the attempt. But if they should happen to refuse their assistance (which he still insisted would be the case) then their example would prove of bad consequence, and would tend only to make others backward and to keep at home. And in that event he still thought it advisable to suggest his returning back to where he came from.

According to this advice the Prince did send a message to Sir Alexander MacDonald, intimating his arrival, and demanding assistance. Before the messenger could return, Æneas MacDonald (anxious to have the honour of seeing the Prince in the house of his brother, the Laird of Kinlochmoidart) prevailed upon the Prince to set out for the continent, and they arrived at Boradale in Moidart, or rather Arisaig, upon July 25th, St. James's day, 1745. When the messenger returned to the Prince he brought no answer with him, for Sir Alexander refused to give any.

It is worth remarking here that though MacDonald of Boisdale had played the game of the government by doing all he could to dissuade the Prince from making the attempt: and after the standard was set up, by keeping back all Clanranald's men (to the number of four or five hundred good stout fellows) that lived in South Uist and the other isles, yet his conduct could not screen him from rough and severe treatment. For after the battle of Culloden he suffered in his effects as well as others, and had the misfortune to be made a prisoner and to be carried to London by sea, in which expedition he had the additional affliction of having his brother, the Laird of Clanranald, senior (who had never stirred from his own fireside), and his lady to bear him company, and none of them were released till the 4th July, 1747. However, to do Boisdale justice, he was of very great use to the Prince (as Donald MacLeod and Malcolm have both declared) when wandering up and down through South Uist, Benbicula, and other parts of the Long Isle, and exerted his utmost power to keep him out of the hands of his enemies.

After the Prince's arrival upon the continent [mainland] some friends met to consult what was to be done, and I have heard it affirmed by good authority the Keppoch honestly and bravely gave it as his opinion that since the Prince had risqued his person and generously thrown himself into the hands of his friends, therefore it was their duty to raise their men instantly merely for the protection of his person, let the consequence be what it would. Certain it is that if Keppoch, Lochiel, young Clanranald, etc., had not joined him, he would either have fallen into the hands of his enemies or been forced immediately to cross the seas again.

The royal standard was set up at Glenfinnan (August 19th), the property of Clanranald, at the head of Lochshiel, which marches with Lochiel's ground, and lies about ten miles west from Fort William. The Prince had been a full week before this, viz. from Sunday the 11th at Kinlochmoydart's house, and Lochiel had been raising his men who came up with them just as the standard was setting up.

The Prince stayed where the standard was set up two days, and I have heard Major MacDonell frequently say in the Castle of Edinburgh, that, he had never seen the Prince more cheerful at any time, and in higher spirits than when he had got together four or five hundred men about the standard. Major MacDonell presented the Prince with the first good horse he mounted in Scotland, which the Major had taken from Captain Scott, son of Scotstarvet.

On Friday, August 23d, the Prince lodged in Fassafern, three miles down the Loch Eil, and about five miles from Fort William. On sight of a warship which lay opposite to the garrison, the Prince crossed a hill, and went to Moy or Moidh, a village on the river Lochy belonging to Lochiel. There he stayed till Monday, August 26th, waiting intelligence about General Cope; and that day he crossed the river Lochy, and lodged in a village called Leterfinla, on the side of Loch Lochy. At 12 o'clock at night, being very stormy and boisterous, he learned that General Cope was at Garvaimor, whereupon the men stood to arms all night. But the General had altered his route, and by forced marches was making the best of his way to Inverness, which (as was given out) happened by an express from President Forbes advising the General not to attempt going up the country to attack the Highlanders at the Pass of Corierag (very strong ground) where they had posted themselves, but to make all the haste he could to Inverness, where he might expect the Monroes, etc., to join him, whereby he would be considerably reinforced.

Upon notice that the General was marching towards Inverness, about six hundred of the Highlanders urged the being allowed to follow him under cloud of night and promised to come up with him, and to give a good account of him and his command. But the Prince would not hear of such an attempt, and desired them to wait for a more favourable opportunity. It was with much difficulty that they could be prevailed upon to lay aside the thoughts of any such enterprise. This I had from the brave Major MacDonell.

When the Prince was coming down the Highlands to meet General Cope (as was supposed) he walked sixteen miles in boots, and one of the heels happening to come off, the Highlanders said they were unco glad to hear it, for they hoped the want of the heel would make him march at more leisure. So speedily he marched that he was like to fatigue them all.

August 27th. The Prince slept at Glengary's house, and next night lay at Aberchallader, a village belonging to Glengary.

August 30th. The Prince and his army were at Dalnacardoch, a publick house in Wade's Road, as appears from a letter writ by the Duke of Athol to a lady desiring her to repair to Blair Castle to put it in some order, and to do the honours of that house when the Prince should happen to come there, which he did the day following, August 31st. I saw the letter and took the date of it.

When the Prince was at Blair he went into the garden, and taking a walk upon the bowling-green, he said he had never seen a bowling-green before. Upon which the above lady called for some bowls that he might see them; but he told her that he had got a present of some bowls sent him as a curiosity to Rome from England.

September 2d. He left Blair and went to the house of Lude, where he was very cheerful and took his share in several dances, such as minuets, Highland reels (the first reel the Prince called for was, "This is not mine ain house," etc.), and a Strathspey minuet.

September 3d. He was at Dunkeld, and next day he dined at Nairn House where some of the Company happening to observe what a thoughtful state his father would now be in from the consideration of those dangers and difficulties he had to encounter with, and that upon this account he was much to be pitied, because his mind behoved to be much upon the rack—the Prince replied that he did not half so much pity his father as his brother. "For," said he, "the king has been inured to disappointments and distresses and has learnt to bear up easily under the misfortunes of life. But poor Harry! his young and tender years make him much to be pitied, for few brothers love as we do!"

September 4th. In the evening he made his entrance into Perth upon the horse that Major MacDonell had presented him with.

September 11th. Early in the morning he went on foot attended by few and took a view of the house of Scoon; and leaving Perth that day, he took a second breakfast at Gask, dined at Tullibardine, and that night went towards Dumblain and next day to Down.

September 14th. In the morning the Prince after refreshing himself and his army at the Laird of Leckie's house, marched by Stirling Castle and through St. Ninians. From Stirling Castle a six-pounder was discharged four times at him, which determined Lord Nairn, who was bringing up the second division of the army, to go farther up the country in order to be out of the reach of the canon of the Castle. When the Prince was in St. Ninians with the first division, Mr. Christie, provost of Stirling, sent out to them from Stirling a quantity of bread, cheese, and ale in abundance, an order having come before by little Andrew Symmer desiring such a refreshment. Colonel Gardiner and his dragoons had galloped off towards Edinburgh from their camp near Stirling Castle the night before, or rather the same morning, when it was dark, September 14th, without beat of drum.

September 16th. The Prince and his army were at Gray's Mill upon the Water of Leith, when he sent a summons to the Provost and Town Council of Edinburgh to receive him quietly and peacably into the city. Two several deputations were sent from Edinburgh to the Prince begging a delay till they should deliberate upon what was fittest to be done. Meantime eight or nine hundred Highlanders under the command of Keppoch, young Lochiel, and O'Sullivan, marched in between the Long Dykes without a hush of noise, under the favour of a dark night, and lurked at the head of the Canongate about the Nether Bow Port till they should find a favourable opportunity for their design, which soon happened. The hackney coach, which brought back the second deputation, entered at the West Port, and after setting down the deputies at their proper place upon the street, drove down the street towards the Canongate, and when the Nether Bow Port was made open to let out the coach, the lurking Highlanders rushed in (it being then peep of day) and made themselves masters of the city without any opposition, or the smallest noise.

II.
Treatment of the Vanquished.

1. After Preston Pans.

Source.—Lockhart Papers. Quoted in Jesse, Memoirs of the Pretenders, p. 187.

(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 wch 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.

I have deferred writing to you, till I could tell you something certain of the fate of Admiral Byng: no history was ever so extraordinary, or produced such variety of surprising turns. In my last I told you that his sentence was referred to the twelve judges. They have made law of that, of which no one else would make sense. The Admiralty immediately signed the warrant for his execution on the last of February—that is, three signed: Admiral Forbes positively refused, and would have resigned sooner. The Speaker would have had Byng expelled the House, but his tigers were pitiful. Sir Francis Dashwood tried to call for the Court-martial's letter; but the tigers were not so tender as that came to. Some of the Court-martial grew to feel, as the execution advanced: the City grew impatient for it. Mr. Fox tried to represent the new ministry as compassionate, and has damaged their popularity. Three of the Court-martial applied on Wednesday last to Lord Temple to renew their solicitation for mercy. Sir Francis Dashwood moved a repeal of the bloody twelfth article [of Byng's indictment:] the House was savage enough; yet Mr. Doddington softened them, and not one man spoke directly against mercy. They had nothing to fear: the man who, of all defects, hates cowardice and avarice most and who has some little objection to a mob in St. James's-street, has magnanimously forgot all the services of the great Lord Torrington [the victor of Cape Passano, 1718]. On Thursday seven of the Court-martial applied for mercy: they were rejected. On Friday a most strange event happened. I was told at the House that Captain Keppel and Admiral Norris desired a bill to absolve them from their Oath of Secrecy, [as members of the Court-martial on Byng] that they might unfold something very material towards the saving the prisoner's life. I was out of Parliament myself during my re-election, but I ran to Keppel; he said he had never spoken in public, and could not, but would give authority to anybody else. The Speaker was putting the question for the orders of the day, after which no motion could be made; it was Friday. The House would not sit on Saturday, the execution was fixed for Monday. I felt all this in an instant, dragged Mr. Keppel to Sir Francis Dashwood, and he on the floor before he had taken his place, called out to the Speaker, and though the orders were passed, Sir Francis was suffered to speak. The House was wondrously softened: pains were taken to prove to Mr. Keppel that he might speak, notwithstanding his oath; but he adhering to it, he had time given him till next morning to consider and consult some of his brethren who had commissioned him to desire the bill. The next day the King sent a message to our House, that he had respited Mr. Byng for a fortnight, till the bill could be passed, and he should know whether the Admiral was unjustly condemned. The bill was read twice in our House that day, and went through the Committee; Mr. Keppel affirming that he had something, in his opinion, of weight to tell, and which it was material his Majesty should know, and naming four of his associates, who desired to be empowered to speak. On Sunday all was confusion again, on news that the four disclaimed what Mr. Keppel had said for them. On Monday, he told the House that in one he had been mistaken; that another did not declare off, but wished all were to be compelled to speak; and from the two others he produced a letter upholding him in what he had said. The bill passed by 153 to 23. On Tuesday it was treated very differently by the Lords. The new Chief Justice [Mansfield] and the late Chancellor [Hardwicke] pleaded against Byng like little attorneys, and did all they could to stifle truth. That all was a good deal. They prevailed to have the whole Court-martial at their bar. Lord Hardwicke urged for the intervention of a day, on the pretence of a trifling cause of an Irish bankruptcy then depending before the Lords, though Lord Temple showed them that some of the Captains and Admirals were under sailing orders for America. But Lord Hardwicke and Lord Anson were expeditious enough to do what they wanted in one night's time; and for the next day, yesterday, every one of the Court-martial defended their sentence, and even the three conscientious said not one syllable of their desire of the bill, which was accordingly unanimously rejected, and with great marks of contempt for the House of Commons.

This is as brief and as clear an abstract as I can give you of a most complicated affair, in which I have been a most unfortunate actor, having to my infinite grief, which I shall feel till the man is at peace, been instrumental in protracting his misery a fortnight, by what I meant as the kindest thing I could do. I never knew poor Byng enough to bow to—but the great doubtfulness of his crime, and the extraordinariness of his sentence, the persecution of his enemies, who sacrifice him for their own guilt, and the rage of a blinded nation, have called forth all my pity for him. His enemies triumph, but who can envy the triumph of murder?

II.
Thomas Potter to Mr. Grenville, September 11, 1756.

Source.—Grenville Papers, 1852. Vol. i., p. 173.

This morning I heard the whole city of Westminster disturbed by the song of a hundred ballad-singers, the burthen of which was, "To the block with Newcastle, and the yard arm with Byng."

[This ballad is to be found as a single sheet broadside in the British Museum in a volume lettered Ballads and Broadsides; the first verse is as follows:—]

THE BLOCK AND YARD ARM,

A NEW BALLAD ON THE LOSS OF "MINORCA," AND THE DANGER OF OUR "AMERICAN" RIGHTS AND POSSESSIONS.

To Tune of the "Whose e'er been at Baldock," &c.

Draw nigh my good Folks whilst to you I Sing

Great Blak'ney[23] betray'd by N[ewcastle] and B[yng],

Before such a Story ne'er has been told

We're bought all, my Friends, by shining French gold.

Chorus.

To the Block with N[ewcastle] and Yard Arm with B[yng].

Terra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ring.

[23]   The Governor of Minorca, then eighty-five, "that gallant old man," as Lady Hervey (Letters, p. 219) justly calls him, "who had behaved like a hero of antiquity," had held out in Fort St. Philip for five weeks after Byng's retreat.

THE COALITION GOVERNMENT OF 1757.

Source.—Baron FitzMaurice's Life of William Earl of Shelburne, 1875-76. Vol. i., pp. 85-87.

[By the new Coalition] there was produced a strong Council and a strong Government. The Cabinet Council was composed of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Pitt, Secretary of State, Lord Keeper Henley, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Mansfield, Lord Granville, Lord Holdernesse, Lord Anson, and Lord Ligonier. There were no party politics, and consequently no difference of opinion. I have heard Lord Chatham say they were the most agreeable conversations he ever experienced. The Duke of Newcastle, a very good-humoured man, was abundantly content with the whole patronage being left to him.... Lord Hardwicke ... was kept in order by Lord Granville's wit, who took advantage of the meeting of the balance of all parties to pay off old scores, and to return all he owed to the Pelhams and the Yorkes. He had a rooted aversion to Lord Hardwicke and to all his family. I don't know precisely for what reason, but he got the secret of cowing Lord Hardwicke, whose pretensions to classical learning gave Lord Granville, who really was a very fine classical scholar, a great opportunity. To this was added his knowledge of civil law,[24] in which Lord Hardwicke was deficient, and above all, his wit; but whatever way he got the key, he used it on all occasions unmercifully. In one of the short-lived administrations at the commencement of the war, Lord Granville, who had generally dined, turned round to say, "I am thinking that all over Europe they are waiting our determination and canvassing our characters. The Duke of Newcastle, they'll say, is a man of great fortune, who has spent a great deal of it in support of the present family."[25] "Fox, they'll say, is an impudent fellow who has fought his war through the House of Commons; as for me, they know me throughout Europe, they know my talents and my character; but I am thinking they will all be asking, Qui est ce diable de Chancelier? How came he here?"

[24]   In illustration of this, and as a great statesman's verdict on a great period, it seems not inappropriate to quote here the famous story of Carteret's death, as told by Robert Wood in his Essay on the Original Genius of Homer, 1776, pp. v.-vi.: "Being directed to call upon his Lordship, a few days before he died, with the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris, I found him so languid that I proposed postponing my business for another time; but he insisted that I should stay, saying it could not prolong his life to neglect his duty; and, repeating the following passage out of Sarpedon's speech, dwelled with particular emphasis on the third line, which recalled the distinguishing part he had taken in public affairs—Ὦ πέπον, etc. His Lordship repeated the last word [ἴομεν] several times with a calm and determined resignation; and, after a serious pause of some minutes, he desired to hear the Treaty read, to which he listened with great attention, and recovered spirits enough to declare the approbation of a dying statesman (I use his own words) on the most glorious War, and most honourable Peace, this nation ever saw."

[25]   This was so true that Newcastle, after a public life of five and forty years, died £300,000 the poorer for it.—Ed.

THE ENGLISH IN INDIA (1757-1759).

I.
The Black Hole of Calcutta described by a Survivor.

Source.—A Complete History of the War in India, from the Year 1749 to the Taking of Pondicherry in 1761. Pp. 18-21.

[The nabob of Bengal marched on Calcutta, which was abandoned by the commanding officer and the principal inhabitants.] Mr. Holwell, with a few gallant friends, and the remains of a feeble garrison, bravely defended the fort to the last extremity; but it was insufficient to protect an untenable place, or to affect an ungenerous enemy. The fort was taken on the twentieth day of June, 1756, and the whole garrison, consisting of 146 persons, being made prisoners, were thrust into a dungeon, called the Black-hole, from whence Mr. Holwell, with twenty-one others, came out alive, to paint a scene of the most cruel distress, which perhaps human nature ever suffered or survived.

When he came to England, in the year 1757, he published, in a letter, an account of this shocking barbarity, in terms so pathetic and moving as cannot fail drawing pity from the most obdurate and savage breast. "Figure to yourself, says he, if possible, the situation of one hundred and forty-six wretches, exhausted by continual fatigue and action, thus crammed together, in a cube of eighteen feet, in a close sultry night in Bengal; shut up to the eastward and southward, the only quarters from whence air could come to us, by dead walls, and a door open only to the westward by two windows strongly barred within; from whence we could receive scarce any the least circulation of fresh air.

"Such was the residence of those unhappy victims for the space of twelve hours. When they had been in but a little while, a profuse sweat broke out on every individual; and this was attended with an insatiable thirst, which became the more intolerable as the body was drained of its moisture. In vain these miserable objects stripped themselves of their cloaths, squatted down on their hams, and fanned the air with their hats, to produce a refreshing undulation. Many were unable to rise again from this posture, but falling down, were trod to death or suffocated. The dreadful symptom of thirst was now accompanied with a difficulty of respiration, and every individual gasped for breath. Their despair became outrageous. The cry of water! water! issued from every mouth; even the jemmadar [the serjeant of the Indian guard] was moved to compassion, at their distress. He ordered his soldiers to bring some skins of water, which served only to enrage their appetite and increase the general agitation. There was no other way of conveying it through the windows but by hats, and this was rendered ineffectual by the eagerness and transports of the wretched prisoners; who, at sight of it, struggled and raved even into fits of delirium. In consequence of these contests, very little reached those that stood nearest the windows; while the rest, at the farther end of the prison, were totally excluded from all relief, and continued calling on their friends for assistance, and conjuring them by all the tender ties of pity and affection. To those who were indulged it proved pernicious; for, instead of allaying their thirst, it enraged their impatience for more. The confusion became general and horrid, all was clamour and contest; those who were at a distance endeavoured to force their passage to the windows, and the weak were pressed down to the ground, never to rise again. The inhuman ruffians without derived entertainment, from their misery; they supplied the prisoners with more water, and held up lights to the bars, that they might enjoy the inhuman pleasure of seeing them fight for the baneful indulgence. The miserable prisoners perceiving that water rather aggravated than relieved their distress, grew clamorous for air; they insulted the guard, in order to provoke them to fire upon them; and loaded the Suba [the nabob of Bengal] with the most virulent reproach; from railing they had recourse to prayers, beseeching Heaven to put an end to their misery.

"They now began to drop on all hands, but a steam arose from the living and the dead as pungent and volatile as spirit of hartshorn; so that all who could not approach the window were suffocated. Mr. Holwell, being weary of life, retired, as he had done once before, from the window, and went and stretched himself by the reverend Mr. Jervas Bellamy, who, together with his son, a lieutenant, lay dead in each other's embrace. In this situation he was soon deprived of sense, and lay, to all appearance, dead, till day broke, when his body was discovered and removed by his surviving friends to one of the windows, where the fresh air revived him, and he was restored to his sight and senses."

II.
Clive to Pitt on England's Opportunity.

Source.—Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Edition of 1838-1840. Vol. i., pp. 387-392.

Calcutta,
January 7, 1759.
Sir,

Suffer an admirer of yours at this distance to congratulate himself on the glory and advantage which are likely to accrue to the nation by your being at its head, and at the same time to return his most grateful thanks for the distinguished manner you have been pleased to speak of his successes in these parts, far indeed beyond his deservings.[26]

The close attention you bestow on the affairs of the British nation in general has induced me to trouble you with a few particulars relative to India, and to lay before you an exact account of the revenues of this country; the genuineness whereof you may depend upon, as it has been faithfully copied from the minister's books.

The great revolution that has been effected here by the success of the English arms, and the vast advantages gained to the Company by a treaty concluded in consequence thereof, have, I observe, in some measure engaged the public attention; but much more may yet in time be done, if the Company will exert themselves in the manner the importance of their present possessions and future prospects deserves. I have represented to them in the strongest terms the expediency of sending out and keeping up constantly such a force as will enable them to embrace the first opportunity of further aggrandizing themselves; and I dare pronounce, from a thorough knowledge of this country government and of the genius of the people, acquired by two years' application and experience, that such an opportunity will soon offer. The reigning Subah, whom the victory at Plassey invested with the sovereignty of these provinces, still, it is true, retains his attachment to us, and probably, while he has no other support, will continue to do so; but Mussulmans are so little influenced by gratitude, that should he ever think it his interest to break with us, the obligations he owes us would prove no restraint: and this is very evident from his having very lately removed his prime minister, and cut off two or three of his principal officers, all attached to our interest, and who had a share in his elevation. Moreover, he is advanced in years; and his son is so cruel and worthless a young fellow, and so apparently an enemy to the English, that it will be almost useless trusting him with the succession. So small a body as two thousand Europeans will secure us against any apprehensions from either the one or the other, and in case of their daring to be troublesome, enable the company to take the sovereignty upon themselves.

There will be the less difficulty in bringing about such an event, as the natives themselves have no attachment whatever to particular princes; and as, under the present government, they have no security for their lives or properties, they would rejoice in so happy an exchange as that of a mild for a despotic government; and there is little room to doubt our easily obtaining the mogul's sannud (or grant) in confirmation thereof, provided we agree to pay him the stipulated allotment out of the revenues. That this would be agreeable to him can hardly be questioned, as it would be so much to his interest to have these countries under the dominion of a nation famed for their good faith, rather than in the hands of people who, a long experience has convinced him, never will pay him his proportion of the revenues, unless awed into it by the fear of the imperial army marching to force them thereto.

But so large a sovereignty may possibly be an object too extensive for a mercantile company; and it is to be feared they are not of themselves able, without the nation's assistance, to maintain so wide a dominion. I have, therefore, presumed, Sir, to represent this matter to you, and submit it to your consideration, whether the execution of a design, that may hereafter be still carried to greater lengths, be worthy of the government's taking it in hand.

I flatter myself I have made it pretty clear to you, that there will be little or no difficulty in obtaining the absolute possession of these rich kingdoms; and that with the mogul's own consent, on condition of paying him less than a fifth of the revenues thereof. Now I leave you to judge whether an income yearly of upwards of two millions sterling, with the possession of three provinces abounding in the most valuable productions of nature and art, be an object deserving the public attention; and whether it be worth the nation's while to take the proper measures to secure such an acquisition,—an acquisition which, under the management of so able and disinterested a minister, would prove a source of immense wealth to the kingdom, and might in time be appropriated in part as a fund towards diminishing the heavy load of debt under which we at present labour.

Add to these advantages the influence we shall thereby acquire over the several European nations engaged in the commerce here, which these could no longer carry on but through our indulgence, and under such limitations as we should think fit to prescribe. It is well worthy consideration, that this project may be brought about without draining the mother country, as has been too much the case with our possessions in America. A small force from home will be sufficient, as we always make sure of any number we please of black troops, who being much better paid and treated by us than by the country powers, will very readily enter into our service.

Mr. Walsh, who will have the honour of delivering you this, having been my secretary during the late fortunate expedition, is a thorough master of the subject, and will be able to explain to you the whole design, and the facility with which it may be executed, much more to your satisfaction, and with greater perspicuity, than can possibly be done in a letter. I shall therefore only further remark, that I have communicated it to no other person but yourself; nor should I have troubled you, Sir, but from a conviction that you will give a favourable reception to any proposal intended for the public good.

The greatest part of the troops belonging to this establishment are now employed in an expedition against the French in the Deccan: and, by the accounts lately received from thence, I have great hopes we shall succeed in extirpating them from the province of Golconda, where they have reigned lords paramount so long, and from whence they have drawn their principal resources during the troubles upon the coast.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary efforts made by the French for sending out M. Lally with a considerable force the last year, I am confident, before the end of this, they will be near their last gasp in the Carnatic, unless some very unforeseen event interpose in their favour. The superiority of our squadron, and the plenty of money and supplies of all kinds which our friends on the coast will be furnished with from this province, while the enemy are in total want of everything, without any visible means of redress, are such advantages as, if properly attended to, cannot fail of wholly effecting their ruin in that as well as in every part of India.

May your zeal, and the vigorous measures projected for the service of the nation, which have so eminently distinguished your ministry, be crowned with all the success they deserve, is the most fervent wish of him, who is with the greatest respect, Sir,

Your most devoted humble servant,

Rob. Clive.

[26]   Mr. Pitt, in his speech on the Mutiny Bill, in December, 1757, after adverting to the recent disgraces which had attended the British arms, said, "We have lost our glory, honour, and reputation everywhere but in India: there the country had a heaven-born general, who had never learned the art of war, nor was his name enrolled among the great officers who had for many years received their country's pay; yet was he not afraid to attack a numerous army with a handful of men."

THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

September 13, 1759.

I.
The Night Attack.

Source.—The following passages rest on the same authority, that of Professor Robison, who, as a youth, served as midshipman in the same boat with Wolfe—or, according to another account, commanded the boat next to his—on the eventful night. The first quotation is taken from W. W. Currie's Life of James Currie, 1831, vol. ii., p. 248; the second from Dr. James Graham's History of North America, 1836, vol. iv., p. 51.

(a) "General Wolfe kept his intention of attacking Quebec a most profound secret, not even disclosing it to the Second in Command, and the night before the attack nothing was known. The boats were ordered to drop down the St. Lawrence." (b) "Silence was commanded under pain of death, which was indeed doubly menaced: and a death-like stillness was observed in every boat, except the one which conveyed the commander-in-chief, where, in accents barely audible to the profound attention of his listening officers, Wolfe repeated that noble effusion of solemn thought and poetic genius, Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, which had been recently published in London, and of which a copy had been brought to him, by the last packet from England. When he had finished his recitation, he added in a tone still guardedly low, but earnest and emphatic,—'Now, gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec.'"

II.
The Battle.

Source.—An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America, by Captain John Knox, 1769. Vol. ii., pp. 66-71, 77-79.

Before day-break this morning we made a descent upon the north shore [of the St. Lawrence], about half a quarter of a mile to the eastward of Sillez; and the light troops were fortunately, by the rapidity of the current, carried lower down, between us and Cape Diamond; we had in this debarkation, thirty flat-bottomed boats, containing about sixteen hundred men. This was a great surprise on the enemy, who, from the natural strength of the place, did not suspect, and consequently were not prepared against, so bold an attempt. The chain of sentries, which they had posted along the summit of the heights, galled us a little, and picked off several men, and some Officers, before our light infantry got up to dislodge them. This grand enterprise was conducted and executed with great good order and discretion; as fast as we landed, the boats put off for reinforcements, and the troops formed with much regularity: the General, with Brigadiers Monckton and Murray, were a-shore with the first division. We lost nothing here, but clambered up one of the steepest precipices that can be conceived, being almost a perpendicular, and of an incredible height. As soon as we gained the summit, all was quiet, and not a shot was heard, owing to the excellent conduct of the light infantry under Colonel Howe; it was by this time clear daylight. Here we formed again, the river and the south country in our rear, our right extending to the town, and our left to Sillez, and halted a few minutes. The general then detached the light troops to our left to route the enemy from their battery, and to disable their guns, except they could be rendered serviceable to the party who were to remain there: and this service was soon performed. We then faced to the right, and marched towards the town by files, till we came to the plains of Abraham, which Mr. Wolfe had made choice of, while we stood forming upon the hill. Weather showery; about six o'clock the enemy first made their appearance upon the heights, between us and the town; whereupon we halted, and wheeled to the right, thereby forming the line of battle.... General Wolfe, Brigadiers Monckton and Murray, to our front line; and the second was composed of the fifteenth, and two battalions of the sixtieth regiment, under Colonel Burton, drawn up in four grand divisions, with large intervals. The enemy had now likewise formed the line of battle, and got some cannon to play on us, with round and canister shot: but what galled us most was a body of Indians and other marksmen they had concealed in the corn opposite to the front of our right wing, and a coppice that stood opposite to our center, inclining towards our left: but the Colonel Hale, by Brigadier Monckton's orders, advanced some platoons, alternately, from the forty-seventh regiment, which, after a few rounds, obliged these sculkers to retire.... About ten o'clock the enemy began to advance briskly in three columns, with loud shouts and recovered arms, two of them inclining to the left of our army, and the third towards our right, firing obliquely at the two extremities of our line, from the distance of one hundred and thirty—until they came within forty yards; which our troops withstood with the greatest intrepidity and firmness, still reserving their fire, and paying the strictest obedience to their officers: this uncommon steadiness, together with the havoc which the grape-shot from our field-pieces made among them, threw them into some disorder, and was most critically maintained by a well-timed, regular, and heavy discharge of our small arms, such as they could no longer oppose; hereupon they gave way, and fled with precipitation, so that, by the time the cloud of smoke was vanished, our men were again loaded, and, profiting by the advantage we had over them, pursued them almost to the gates of the town, and the bridge over the little river, redoubling our fire with great eagerness, making many Officers and men prisoners. The weather cleared up, with a comfortably warm sunshine: the Highlanders chased them vigorously towards Charles's river, and the fifty-eighth to the suburb close to John's gate, until they were checked by the cannon from the two hulks; at the same time a gun, which the town had brought to bear upon us with grape-shot, galled the progress of the regiments to the right, who were likewise pursuing with equal ardour, while Colonel Hunt Walsh, by a very judicious movement, wheeled the battalions of Bragg and Kennedy to the left, and flanked the coppice where a body of the enemy made a stand, as if willing to renew the action; but a few platoons from these corps completed our victory. Our joy at this success is irrepressibly damped by the loss we sustained of one of the greatest heroes which this or any other age can boast of,—GENERAL JAMES WOLFE, who received his mortal wound, as he was exerting himself at the head of the grenadiers of Louisbourg.... After our late worthy General, of renowned memory, was carried off wounded, to the rear of the front line, he desired those who were about him to lay him down; being asked if he would have a surgeon? he replied, "it is needless; it is all over with me." One of them then cried out, "they run, see how they run." "Who runs!" demanded our hero, with great earnestness, like a person roused from sleep. The Officer answered, "The enemy, Sir; Egad, they give way every-where." Thereupon the General rejoined, "Go one of you, my lads, to Colonel Burton;—tell him to march Webb's regiment with all speed down to Charles's river, to cut off the retreat of the fugitives from the bridge." Then, turning on his side, he added, "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace": and thus expired....

The Sieur de Montcalm died late last night when his wound was dressed, and he settled in bed, the Surgeons who attended him were desired to acquaint him ingenuously with their sentiments of him, and, being answered that his wound was mortal, he calmly replied, "he was glad of it"; his Excellency then demanded,—"whether he could survive it long, and how long?" He was told, "about a dozen hours, perhaps more, peradventure less." "So much the better," rejoined this eminent warrior; "I am happy I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec."... Some time before this great man departed, we are assured he paid us this compliment,—"Since it was my misfortune to be discomfited, and mortally wounded, it is a great consolation to me to be vanquished by so brave and generous an enemy: If I could survive this wound, I would engage to beat three times the number of such forces as I commanded this morning with a third of their number of British troops."

"THE HEAVEN-BORN MINISTER": HORACE WALPOLE'S HOMAGE TO PITT.

I.
In the Great Year.

Source.—Works of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford, 1798. Vol. ii., P. 375.

To the Rt. Hon. William Pitt.

November 19, 1759.

Sir,

On my coming to the town I did myself the honour of waiting on you and lady Hesther Pitt, and though I think myself extremely distinguished by your obliging note, I should be sorry for having given you the trouble of writing it, if it did not lend me a very pardonable opportunity of saying what I much wished to express, but thought myself too private a person, and of too little consequence to take the liberty to say. In short, sir, I was eager to congratulate you on the lustre you have thrown on this country; I wished to thank you for the security you have fixed to me of enjoying the happiness I do enjoy. You have placed England in a situation in which it never saw itself—a task the more difficult, as you had not to improve, but recover. In a trifling book written two or three years ago, I said (speaking of the name in the world the most venerable to me), "Sixteen unfortunate and inglorious years since his removal have already written his eulogium" [in the account of Sir Robert Walpole in the Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors]. It is but justice to you, sir, to add that that period ended when your administration began.

II.
Character of William Pitt, described by Walpole in the Light of Subsequent History.

Source.—Memoirs of the Reign of George II., 1847. Vol. iii., pp. 84, 85, 86, 176.

Pitt was now arrived at undisturbed possession of that influence in affairs at which his ambition had aimed, and which his presumption had made him flatter himself he could exert like those men of superior genius, whose talents have been called forth by some crisis to retrieve a sinking nation. He had said the last year to the Duke of Devonshire. "My Lord, I am sure I can save this country, and no one else can." It were ingratitude to him to say that he did not give such a reverberation to our stagnating Councils, as exceedingly altered the appearance of our fortune. He warded off the evil hour that seemed approaching; he infused vigour into our arms; he taught the nation to speak again as England used to speak to Foreign Powers; and so far from dreading invasions from France, he affected to turn us into invaders. Indeed, these efforts were so puny, so ill-concerted, so ineffectual to any essential purpose, that France looked down with scorn on such boyish flippancies, which Pitt deemed heroic, which Europe thought ridiculous, and which humanity saw were only wasteful of lives, and precedents of a more barbarous warfare than France had hitherto been authorized to carry on. In fact, Pitt had neither all the talents he supposed in himself, nor which he seemed to possess from the vacancy of great men around him....

Pitt's was an unfinished greatness: considering how much of it depended on his words, one may almost call his an artificial greatness; but his passion for fame and the grandeur of his ideas compensated for his defects. He aspired to redeem the honour of his country, and to place it in a point of giving law to nations. His ambition was to be the most illustrious man of the first country in Europe; and he thought that the eminence of glory could not be sullied by the steps to it being passed irregularly. He wished to aggrandize Britain in general, but thought not of obliging or benefiting individuals....

Posterity, this is an impartial picture. I am neither dazzled by the blaze of the times in which I have lived, nor, if there are spots in the sun, do I deny that I see them. It is a man I am describing, and one whose greatness will bear to have his blemishes fairly delivered to you—not from a love of censure in me, but of truth; and because it is history I am writing, not romance.

DEATH OF GEORGE II. (1760).

Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington St.,

October 28, 1760.

... This is Tuesday; on Friday night the King went to bed in perfect health, and rose so the next morning at his usual hour of six; he called for and drank his chocolate. At seven, for everything with him was exact and periodic, he went into the closet.... Coming from thence, his valet de chambre heard a noise; waited a moment, and heard something like a groan. He ran in, and in a small room between the closet and bedchamber he found the King on the floor, who had cut the right side of his face against the edge of a bureau, and who after a gasp expired. Lady Yarmouth was called, and sent for Princess Amelia; but they only told the latter that the King was ill and wanted her. She had been confined some days with a rheumatism, but hurried down, and saw her father extended on the bed. She is very purblind and more than a little deaf. They had not closed his eyes; she bent down close to his face, and concluded he spoke to her, though she could not hear him—guess what a shock when she found the truth. She wrote to the Prince of Wales, but so had one of the valets de chambre first. He came to town, and saw the Duke [of Cumberland] and the Privy Council. He was extremely kind at the first—and in general has behaved with the greatest propriety, dignity, and decency. He read his speech to the Council with much grace, and dismissed the guards on himself to wait on his grandfather's body. It is intimated that he means to employ the same ministers, but with reserve to himself of more authority than has lately been in fashion. The Duke of York and Lord Bute are named of the cabinet council. The late King's will is not yet opened. To-day everybody kissed hands at Leicester House, and this week, I believe, the King will go to St. James's. The body has been opened; the great ventricle of the heart had burst. What an enviable death! In the greatest period of the glory of this country, and of his reign, in perfect tranquillity at home, at seventy-seven, growing blind and deaf, to die without a pang, before any reverse of fortune, or any distasted peace, nay, but two days before a ship-load of bad news: could he have chosen such another moment?

APPENDIX
LONDON IN 1725-1736.

DEFOE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON IN 1725.

Source.—A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, 1724-7. Vol. ii., pp. 94-97.

London, as a City only, and as its Walls and Liberties live it out, might, indeed, be viewed in a small Compass; but, when I speak of London, now in the Modern Acceptation, you expect I shall take in all that vast Mass of Buildings, reaching from Black Wall in the East to Tothill Fields in the West; and extended in an unequal Breadth, from the Bridge, or River, on the South, to Islington North; and from Peterburgh House on the Bank Side in Westminster, to Cavendish Square, and all the new Buildings by, and beyond Hanover Square, by which the City of London, for so it is still to be called, is extended to Hyde Park Corner in the Brentford Road, and almost to Maribone in the Acton Road, and how much farther may it spread, who knows? New Squares, and new Streets rising up every Day to such a Prodigy of Buildings, that nothing in the world does, or ever did, equal it, except old Rome in Trajan's time, when the walls were Fifty Miles in Compass, and the Number of Inhabitants Six Millions Eight Hundred Thousand Souls.

It is the Disaster of London, as to the Beauty of its Figure, that it is thus stretched out in Buildings, just at the pleasure of every Builder, or Undertaker of Buildings, and as the Convenience of the People directs, whether for Trade, or otherwise; and this has spread the Face of it in a most straggling, confus'd Manner, out of all Shape, uncompact, and unequal; neither long nor broad, round or square; whereas the City of Rome, though a monster for its Greatness, yet was, in a manner, round, with very few Irregularities in its Shape.

At London, including the Buildings on both Sides the Water, one sees it, in some Places, Three Miles broad, as from St. George's in Southwark, to Shoreditch in Middlesex; or Two Miles, as from Peterburgh House to Montague House; and in some Places, not half a Mile, as in Wapping; and much less, as in Redriff [Rotherhithe].

We see several Villages, formerly standing, as it were, in the County and at a great Distance, now joyn'd to the Streets by continued Buildings, and more making haste to meet in the like Manner; for Example, 1. Deptford, This Town was formerly reckoned at least Two Miles off from Redriff, and that over the Marshes too, a Place unlikely ever to be inhabited; and yet now, by the Encrease of Buildings in that Town itself, and by the Docks and Buildings-Yard on the River Side, which stand between both the Town of Deptford, and the Streets of Redriff (or Rotherhith as they write it) are effectually joyn'd, and the Buildings daily increasing; so that Deptford is now more a separated Town, but is become a Part of the great Mass, and infinitely full of People also; Here they have, within the last Two or Three Years, built a fine new Church, and were the Town of Deptford now separated, and rated by itself. I believe it contains more People, and stands upon more Ground, than the City of Wells.

The Town of Islington on the North side of the City, is in like Manner joyn'd to the Streets of London, excepting one small Field, and which is in itself so small, that there is no Doubt, but in a very few years, they will be intirely joyn'd, and the same may be said of Mile-End, on the East End of the Town.

Newington, called Newington Butts, in Surrey, reaches out her Hand North, and is so near joining to Southwark, that it cannot now be properly called a Town by itself, but a Suburb to the Burrough, and if, as they now tell us is undertaken, St. George's Fields should be built with Squares and Streets, a very little Time will shew us Newington, Lambeth, and the Burrough, all making but one Southwark.

The Westminster is in a fair Way to shake Hands with Chelsea, as St. Gyles's is with Marybone; and Great Russel Street by Montague House, with Tottenham Court: all this is very evident, and yet all these put together are still to be called London: Whither will this monstrous City then extend? and where must a Circumvallation or Communication Line of it be placed?

THE PRESENTMENT OF THE MIDDLESEX GRAND JURY, JANUARY SESSION (1735-1736).

Source.—Distilled Spirituous Liquors the Bane of the Nation, 1736.

We the Grand Jury for the County of Middlesex taking notice of the vast number of Brandy and Geneva-Shops, Sheds, and Cellars, of late set up and opened, for the retailing of Gin and other Spirituous Liquors, which being sold at a very low Rate, the Meaner, though Useful, Part of the Nation, as Day-Labourers, Men and Women Servants, and common Soldiers, nay even Children, are enticed and seduced to taste, like, and approve of those pernicious Liquors sold for such small Sums of Money, whereby they are daily intoxicated and get drunk, and are frequently seen in our streets in a Condition abhorrent to reasonable Creatures.

It is visible, that by this destructive Practice, the strength and Constitution of Numbers is greatly weakened and destroyed, and many are thereby rendered useless to themselves as well as to the Community, many die suddenly by drinking it to Excess, and infinite Numbers lay the Foundation of Distempers which shorten their Lives, or make them miserable, weak, feeble, unable and unwilling to Work, a Scandal and Burthen to their Country.

But it does not stop here; the unhappy Influence reaches to the Posterity of those poor unhappy Wretches, to the Children yet unborn, who come half burnt and shrivelled into the World, who as soon as born, suck in this deadly spirituous Poison with their Nurse's Milk; the barbarous Mothers also often giving the detestable spirits to poor Infants in their Arms; so that, if the Infection spreads, as it lately has done, it must needs make a general Havock, especially among the laborious Part of Mankind, who are seen manifestly to degenerate from the more manly and robust Constitutions of preceding Generations.

The natural Consequences of which will be, that his Majesty will lose Numbers of his Subjects, the Publick the Labour and Industry of her People, the Soldiery will be greatly weakened and enfeebled, and Masters will every Day have greater Reason to complain of bad and dishonest Servants, especially whilst that scandalous Custom prevails amongst Chandlers and other lower Trades, of giving Drams, making them uncapable of doing their Business, saucy to their Superiors, and in the End tempts them to cheat and rob their Masters, to supply themselves with large quantities of this destructive Liquor.

We therefore the Grand Jury aforesaid, do present all such Brandy and Geneva-Shops, Sheds and Cellars, where Gin and other Spirituous Liquors are sold and vended by Retail, as publick Nuisances, which harbour, entertain and shelter the indolent, dissolute, and incorrigibly Wicked, that they are a high Grievance, and of the greatest ill Consequence to all our Fellow Subjects, as most plainly appear by the daily Meetings and Associations of Numbers of loose and disorderly Persons of both Sexes in these Places, where after they have drank of this most pernicious Liquor, they are ready for, and actually do spirit up each other to perpetrate and execute the most bold, daring, and mischievous Enterprizes, and shaking off all Fear and Sham, become audaciously impudent in all manner of Vice, Lewdness, Immorality, and Profaneness, in Defiance of all Laws, Human and Divine.

We therefore earnestly hope, that the Magistrates will unanimously and vigorously put the Laws already made, and which have any relation to the rooting out this pernicious Custom, in full Execution: That they will punish severely all Transgressors of them, and use their utmost Endeavours to put some stop to the bold Encroachments of this terrible Destroyer of our Fellow-Creatures, which we apprehend will greatly conduce to the Honour and Glory of God, to the Safety, Happiness, Welfare, and Benefit of the Nation in general, and of every Family in particular, and will be a Means to secure the Health and Strength of our Posterity.

If the Laws already made should not be found sufficient to put a stop to a Custom so universal, and yet plainly, so destructive; As it is now become a National Concern, and the ill Consequences arising therefrom universally felt and confessed, we do not doubt but it will be thought worthy the most serious Consideration of the Legislature, and of his most gracious Majesty, the most tender Father of his People.

[Here follow the signatures of the Grand Jury.]

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS

Scope of the Series and Arrangement of Volumes.

1. Roman Britain to 449.

2. 449-1066.

3. 1066-1154.

4. 1154-1216.

5. 1216-1307.

6. 1307-1399.

7. 1399-1485.

8. 1485-1547.  Ready Immediately.

9. 1547-1603.  Now Ready.

10. 1603-1660."

11. 1660-1714."

12. 1714-1760."

13. 1760-1801."

14. 1801-1815."

15. 1815-1837.

16. 1837-1856.

17. 1856-1876.

18. 1876-1887.

19. 1887-1901.

20. 1901-1912.

The volumes are issued in uniform style.
Price 1s. net each.

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD

Transcriber's Note.

Apparent typographical errors have been corrected.

Two occurrences of unpaired doublel quotation marks were left unchanged.

Notices of other books in the series have been moved to the end of the text.

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Table of Contents

WALPOLE AND CHATHAM (1714-1760)

INTRODUCTION

- NOTE TO THIS VOLUME

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATE OF PARTIES AT THE QUEEN'S DEATH (1714).

PROCLAMATION OF GEORGE I. (1714).

CHARACTER AND PERSON OF GEORGE I. (1660-1727).

- A. By Lord Chesterfield.

- B. By Horace Walpole.

PUBLIC FEELING AS TO THE NEW DYNASTY (1714).

- A. Whig.

- B. Tory.

THE '15.

- I. The Pretender's Declaration (1715).

- II. The Proclamation of James III. (1715).

- III. Failure of the Expedition Explained.

- (a) Absence of Foreign Aid.

- (b) The Pretender no Leader of Men.

- (c) The Nation's Dread of Popery.

THE SEPTENNIAL ACT (1716).

DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH FLEET OFF SICILY BY ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE BYNG, JULY 31, 1718.

THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE (1720).

- I. The Proposals: The Second Scheme of the South Sea Company.

- II. The Bubble Burst.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AS PRIME MINISTER (1721-1741).

- I. By Lord Hervey.

- II. By Horace Walpole.

WOOD'S HALFPENCE: THE FIRST DRAPIER'S LETTER (1724).

CHARACTER OF GEORGE II. (1683-1760).

- A. By Lord Hervey.

- B. By Horace Walpole.

THE CONDITION OF THE FLEET PRISON, AS REVEALED BY A PARLIAMENTARY ENQUIRY (1729).

- A. Description of the Warden, Thomas Bambridge.

- B. His Cruelty.

- C. Findings of the Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry.

THE EXCISE BILL (1733).

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS (1736).

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S SPEECH ON THE BILL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENSORSHIP OF STAGE PLAYS (1737).

DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE (1737).

THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR (1739).

- I. Rear-Admiral Charles Stewart's Letter to the Governor of the Havana and the Duke of Newcastle.

- II. Account of the Examination of Jenkins before the House of Commons (1738).

THE OPPOSITION SUSPECTS WALPOLE OF DOUBLE-DEALING.

ADMIRAL VERNON'S VICTORY AT PORTOBELLO (1740).

- I. ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST.

- II. GREAT BRITAIN'S GLORY; OR, THE STAY-AT-HOME FLEET.

THE NEW MINISTERS (1742).

- I. Hervey's Account of the Ministry

- II. On the Ministry of Lord Carteret, Feb., 1742.

- III. On Pulteney's Acceptance of a Peerage, July, 1742.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR (1741-1748).

THE '45.

- I. Landing of the Young Pretender; the Raising of the Standard; Surrender of Edinburgh.

- II. Treatment of the Vanquished.

- 1. After Preston Pans.

- 2. After Culloden.

- III. ODE WRITTEN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1746.

- IV. An Adventure of Charles Edward.

TRIAL OF THE REBEL LORDS, 1746.

TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1748).

- I. Lord Bolingbroke on the Preliminaries.

- II. The Articles of Peace.

- III. A Contemporary View of the Peace.

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

- I. Historical Account of the Bill.

- II. Lord Chesterfield's own Account.

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

THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG.

- I. Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann.

- II. Thomas Potter to Mr. Grenville, September 11, 1756.

THE COALITION GOVERNMENT OF 1757.

THE ENGLISH IN INDIA (1757-1759).

- I. The Black Hole of Calcutta described by a Survivor.

- II. Clive to Pitt on England's Opportunity.

THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

- I. The Night Attack.

- II. The Battle.

"THE HEAVEN-BORN MINISTER": HORACE WALPOLE'S HOMAGE TO PITT.

- I. In the Great Year.

- II. Character of William Pitt, described by Walpole in the Light of Subsequent History.

DEATH OF GEORGE II. (1760).

APPENDIX LONDON IN 1725-1736.

- DEFOE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON IN 1725.

- THE PRESENTMENT OF THE MIDDLESEX GRAND JURY, JANUARY SESSION (1735-1736).

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS

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