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IN the meantime, December 28,
1694, had died Queen Mary, to the great grief of her husband and the sincere
regret of the nation generally.
We are not required to enter
here into a history of the Darien scheme, which originated in 1695, and was
so mismanaged as to involve in ruin thousands of families formerly in
comparative opulence. It appears to have had little influence on the
Highlands, for although a few natives took part in the expedition out of
dissatisfaction with William’s government, the great mass of the
Highlanders were too far behind the age to resort to such a roundabout means
of aggrandizing a fortune.
The attitude assumed by King
William and the government to the Darien expedition exasperated the Scottish
nation so much that there seemed to be some danger of a counter-revolution.
To the bitterness of disappointment succeeded an implacable hostility to the
king, who was denounced, in pamphlets of the most violent and inflammatory
tendency, as a hypocrite, and as the deceiver of those who had shed their
best blood in his cause, and as the author of all the misfortunes which had
befallen Scotland. One of these pamphlets was voted by the House of Commons
a false, scandalous, and seditious libel, and ordered to he burned by the
common executioner, and an address was voted to his majesty to issue a
proclamation for apprehending the author, printer, and publisher of the
obnoxious publication. The king was so chagrined at the conduct of the
Scotch that he refused to see Lord Basil Hamilton, who had an address to
present to his majesty from the company, praying for his interference on
behalf of their servants who were kept in captivity by the Spaniards.
In direct contradiction to
the House of Lords, the Scottish parliament voted that the colony of Darien
was a lawful and rightful settlement which they would support; a resolution
which induced the Duke of Queensberry, the commissioner, to prorogue the
session. But this step only tended to increase the discontents of the
nation; and, to show the king that the people would be no longer trifled
with, an address to his majesty, containing a detail of national grievances,
and representing the necessity of calling an immediate meeting of
parliament, was drawn up and signed by a considerable number of the members;
and a deputation, with Lord Ross at its head, was appointed to present the
address to the king. His majesty, however, evaded the address, by informing
the deputation that they would be made acquainted in Scotland with his
intentions; and, as if to show his displeasure, he ordered the parliament to
be adjourned by proclamation.
The Scottish nation was now
fully ripe for a rebellion, but neither James nor his advisers had the
capacity to avail themselves of passing events, to snatch the tottering
crown from the head of the illustrious foreigner, who was destined to be the
happy instrument of placing the liberties of the nation upon a more sure and
permanent footing than they had hitherto been. The hopes of the Jacobites
were, however, greatly raised by the jarrings between the king and his
Scottish subjects, and an event occurred, about this time, which tended
still farther to strengthen them. This was the death of the young Duke of
Gloucester, the only surviving child of the Princess Anne, on the 29th of
July, 1700, in the eleventh year of his age. As the Jacobites considered
that the duke was the chief obstacle in the way of the accession of the
Prince of Wales to the crown, they could not conceal their pleasure at an
occurrence which seemed to pave the way for the restoration of the exiled
family, and they privately despatched a trusty adherent to France to assure
King James that they would settle the succession upon the Prince of Wales.
Such a proposition had indeed been made by William himself at an interview
he had with Louis XIV. in 1697, when a prospect opened of James being
elected king of Poland on the death of John Sobieski; but this proposal was
rejected by James, who told the king of France, that though he could bear
with patience the usurpation of his nephew and son-in-law, he would not
allow his own son to commit such an act of injustice; that by permitting his
son to reign while he (James) was alive, he would, in fact, be held as
having renounced his crown, and that the Prince of Wales would also be held
as having resigned his own right, if he accepted the crown as successor to
the Prince of Orange. As James had now given up all idea of a crown, and was
wholly engrossed with the more important concerns of a future life, it is
probable that he received the proposal of his friends in a very different
spirit from that he evinced when made by William.
The designs of the Jacobites,
however, were frustrated by the intrigues of the Princess Sophia, Electress
and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, grand-daughter of King James I., who had for
several years contemplated the plan of getting the succession to the English
crown settled upon herself and her heirs. An act was accordingly passed by
the English parliament in June, 1701, at the desire of the king, whom the
princess had prevailed upon to espouse her cause, declaring her to be the
next in succession to the crown of England, after his majesty and the
Princess Anne, in default of issue of their bodies respectively, and that
after the decease of William and Anne respectively without issue, the crown
and government of England should remain and continue to the Princess Sophia
and the heirs of her body, being Protestants. This act, which, by one swoop,
cut off the whole Catholic descendants of James I., of whom there were
fifty-three alive, all nearer heirs to the crown than the princess, gave
great offence to all the Catholic princes concerned in the succession.
The act of settlement in
favour of the Princess Sophia and her heirs, was a deathblow to the Jacobite
interest, but still the hopes of the party were not extinguished. As James
had given up all idea of dispossessing William, and even discountenanced any
attempt to disturb the peace of the kingdom during his own life-time, the
partisans of his family had given up every expectation of his restoration.
But the death of King James, which took place at St. Germains on the 16th of
September, 1701, and the recognition of his son by Louis XIV. as king, were
events which opened up brighter prospects than they had yet enjoyed. The
unfortunate monarch had, for several years, taken farewell of worldly
objects, and had turned his whole attention to the concerns of eternity,
dying ardently attacked to the creed which, from principle, he had embraced.
Of the arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct of James, at the period
preceding the revolution, it is impossible for any lover of genuine liberty
to speak without feelings of indignation; but it must not be forgotten that
in his time the prerogatives of the crown were not clearly defined, and that
he was misled by evil counsellors, who advised him to violate the existing
constitution.
Nothing but the prospect of
an immediate war with England could, it is believed, have induced Louis to
recognise, as he did, the Prince of Wales as king of England, Ireland, and
Scotland. William remonstrated against this act of the French king, as a
violation of the treaty of Ryswick, and appealed to the King of Sweden, as
the guarantee for its observance; but Louis was inflexible, and maintained
in the face of all Europe, that he was not debarred by the treaty from
acknowledging the title of the Prince of Wales, to which he had right by
birth. He admitted that by the fourth article of the treaty he was bound not
to disturb William in the possession of his dominions, and he declared his
intention to adhere to that stipulation; but this explanation was considered
quite unsatisfactory by William, who recalled his ambassador from Paris. The
conduct of the French king excited general indignation in England, and
addresses were sent up from all parts of the kingdom, expressive of
attachment to the government. The English parliament passed two separate
acts of attainder against the pretended Prince of Wales, as the son of James
was termed, and the queen, his mother, who acted as regent. Great
preparations were made for entering into a war with France, and William had
concerted with his allies the plan of a campaign, but he did not live to see
the gigantic schemes which he had devised for humbling the pride of France
put into execution. He expired at Kensington on the 8th of March, 1702, in
consequence of a fall from his horse about a fortnight before, which
fractured his collar-bone. He had reigned thirteen years, and was in the
fifty-second year of his age.
The accession of the Princess
Anne gave satisfaction to all parties, particularly to the Jacobites, who
imagined, that as she had no heirs of her own body, she would be induced to
concur with them in getting the succession act repealed, so as to make way
for her brother, the Prince of Wales. At first the queen seemed disposed to
throw herself into the hands of the Tory faction, at the head of which was
the Earl of Rochester, first cousin to the queen, who was averse to a war
with France; but the Earl, (afterwards the celebrated Duke) of Marlborough,
his rival, succeeded, through the intrigues of his countess, in altering the
mind of her majesty, and war was accordingly declared against France on the
4th of May.
The Scottish parliament, to
which the Duke of Queensberry was appointed commissioner, met on the 9th of
June; but before his commission was read, the Duke of Hamilton objected to
the legality of the meeting, the parliament having been virtually dissolved,
as he maintained, by not having met within the statutory period; and having
taken a formal protest against its proceedings, he withdrew from the house,
followed by seventy-nine members of the first rank in the kingdom, amidst
the acclamations of the people. The seceding members, thereupon, sent up
Lord Blantyre to London with an address to the queen, but she refused to see
him. This refusal highly displeased the people, whose resentment was still
farther increased by a prosecution raised by the lord advocate against the
faculty of advocates, for having, by a vote, approved of the secession and
address. Several acts were passed by the parliament, one of the most
important of which was that authorizing the queen to name commissioners for
negotiating a treaty of union with England. An attempt was made by the Earl
of Marchmont, the lord-chancellor, (better known as Sir Patrick Home of
Polwarth) without any instructions from his colleagues, and even contrary to
the advice of the commissioner, to alter the succession, by bringing in a
bill similar to that which had passed in England for abjuring the Prince of
Wales, and settling the succession on the Princess Sophia and her heirs; but
as the ministry had no instructions from the queen, the bill was not
supported. It is not improbable that Marchmont intended, by the introduction
of this measure, to sound the disposition of the queen in regard of her
brother.
The queen, by virtue of the
powers conferred on her by the parliaments of England and Scotland, named
commissioners to treat about a union, who met at the Cockpit, near
Whitehall, on the 22d of October; but after some of the preliminaries had
been adjusted, the conference broke off, in consequence of the Scottish
commissioners insisting that all the rights and privileges of the Darien
company should be preserved and maintained.
A partial change in the
Scottish ministry having taken place, the queen resolved upon calling a new
parliament, in the spring of 1703, previous to which she issued an act of
indemnity in favour of every person who had taken any part against the
government since the revolution, and allowed such of them as were abroad to
return home. Under the protection of this amnesty many of the Jacobites
returned to Scotland, and took the oaths to the government, in the hope of
forwarding the interest of the Prince of Wales. At this time Scotland was
divided into three parties. The first consisted of the revolutionists, who
were headed by the Duke of Argyle. The second of what was called the country
party, who were opposed to the union, and who insisted on indemnification
for the losses sustained in the Darien speculation, and satisfaction for the
massacre of Glencoe and other grievances suffered in the late reign. The
Duke of Hamilton and the Marquis of Tweeddale took the direction of this
party. The last, called Mitchell’s club, from the house they met in, was
composed entirely of the Jacobites or Cavaliers. These were headed by the
Earl of Home. The two latter parties, by coalescing at the elections, might
have returned a majority favourable to their views; but the Earl of Seafield,
who had succeeded the Earl of Marchmont as chancellor, had the address to
separate the Jacobites from the country party, and, by making them believe
that he was their friend, prevailed upon them to throw their interest at the
elections into the scale of the government. The parliament, however, which
met on the 6th of May, was not so pliable to ministerial dictation as might
have been expected, for although the royal assent was refused to what was
called the act of security for limiting the power of the crown, "this
session of parliament," to use the words of Lockhart, "did more
for redressing the grievances and restoring the liberties of the nation than
all the parliaments since the year 1660." It was in this parliament
that the celebrated patriot, Fletcher of Saltoun, first distinguished
himself. The Earl of Marchmont again brought in his bill for settling the
crown of Scotland upon the house of Hanover; but such was the indignation
with which it was received by the house, that some of the members proposed
that the bill should be burnt, while others moved that the proposer of the
measure should be committed to the castle of Edinburgh. On a division the
bill was thrown out by a very large majority.
After the prorogation of the
parliament, the courtiers and the heads of the cavaliers repaired to London
to pay court to the queen, who received them kindly, and conferred marks of
her favour upon some of them. The Marquis of Athole, in particular, who
aspired to be leader of the Jacobites, was made a duke, and invested with
the dignity of a knight of the order of the Thistle, which she had just
revived to enable her to extend the royal favour. Her policy seems to have
been to gain over all parties to her interest; but she was soon made to
believe that a conspiracy existed against her among the cavaliers to
supersede her, and to place her brother upon the throne. The moving spirit
in this plot, known as the Scotch Plot, was the now notorious Lovat.
"An indemnity having
been granted to those who had left the country with the exiled court, on
condition of their returning within a time limited, and taking the oaths, it
was observed with alarm, that many persons were taking advantage of this
opportunity to return, who were among the most formidable of the Jacobite
leaders, and who could not be supposed to be sincerely disposed to support
the Protestant line of succession. Among these ominous apparitions were
Lovat himself, the two Murrays, Sir John Maclean, Robertson of Struan the
poet chieftain,—’ a little black man, about thirty years old,’ as he
was described by those who kept their eyes on him; and David Lindsay,
secretary to the Pretender’s prime minister, Middleton. The fiery Lord
Belhaven had just paid a visit to France. He was an opponent of English
ascendency, and a cadet of the house of Hamilton; and his mission could, of
course, have no other object but to offer the allegiance of that house to
the young prince. Political intriguers, such as the renowned Ferguson,
looked busy and mysterious. Mrs. Fox, whose name was connected with the plot
for which Sir John Fenwick suffered, had ventured over to Britain, under a
feigned name; and sundry young men of good birth, whose avowed mission to
France had been to study medicine, had, either in vanity or carelessness,
allowed it to transpire that they had been at the court of St. Germains, and
had seen those royal personages who created so dangerous an interest
throughout the country. The general movement of these parties was
northwards, and was accompanied by incidents such as those which happened to
Lovat. Captain Hamilton, an officer stationed at Inverness, wrote to
Brigadier-general Maitland, governor of Fort William, on the 23d of July,
that a great hunting match had been planned for the 2d of the month, at
which many of the Highland chiefs were to assemble their vassals.
"‘The Duke of Hamilton
is to be there, the Marquis of Athol: and our neighbour the Laird of Grant,
who has ordered 600 of his men in arms, in good order, with tartane coats,
all of one colour and fashion. This is his order to his people in Strathspey.
If it be a match of hunting only, I know not, but I think it my duty to
acquaint you, whatever may fall out of any such body of men in arms,
particularly in our northern parts.’
"It will be remembered
that this was exactly the form in which the Earl of Mar raised the standard
of rebellion at Braemar, in 1715; and we appear to owe the suggestion to the
inventive genius of Lovat. At the same time, the British ambassador at the
Hague received some mysterious intimations about large suing forwarded in
gold, through a Dutch commercial house, to persons of importance in
Scotland."
Lovat had the address before
leaving France, by imposing upon Louis, to whom he was introduced by the
pope’s nuncio, to obtain from the widow of King James, acting as regent
for her son, a commission of Major-general, with power to raise and command
forces in his behalf. As the court of St. Germains had some suspicion of
Fraser’s integrity, Captain John Murray, brother of Mr. Murray of
Abercairney, and Captain James Murray, brother of Sir David Murray of
Stanhope, were sent over to Scotland, under the protection of Queen Anne’s
indemnity, as a check upon him, and to sound the dispositions of the people.
On arriving in Scotland, he
set off for the Highlands, introduced himself into the society of the
adherents of the exiled family, and, by producing his commission of
major-general, induced some of them to give him assurances that they would
rise in arms when required, though they regretted that such a character
should have been intrusted with so important a command. Others, however,
apprehensive of his real designs, refused to hold any intercourse with him
on the subject of his mission.
On Lovat’s return to
Edinburgh, late in September, he contrived to obtain an interview with the
Duke of Queensberry, High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland, and
revealed to him the whole affair, drawing considerably on his own fertile
fancy for startling facts. He also produced a letter, purporting to be from
the ex-queen, signed with the initial M., addressed to the Duke of Athole.
Its words were, "You may be sure that when my concerns require the help
of my friends, you are one of the first I have in my view. I am satisfied
you will not be wanting for any thing that may be in your power according to
your promise, and you may be assured of all such returns as you can expect
from me and mine. The bearer, who is known to you, will tell you more of my
friendship to you, and how I rely on yours for me, and those I am concerned
for." Queensberry was delighted with this apparent discovery, and
immediately sent the letter unopened to the queen. Lovat, however, by his
plotting had made the country too hot to hold him, and a day or two after
his letter had been sent to the queen, letters of fire and sword were issued
against him, so that he now set himself to get safely back to France. He
managed to obtain from Queensberry a pass to London, to which place the duke
himself was bound, and after a few more secret interviews in London, with
another pass which he contrived to obtain, he safely quitted England about
the middle of October.
When this so-called
conspiracy became publicly known it excited considerable sensation, and the
House of Lords immediately resolved that a committee should be appointed to
inquire into the matter; but the queen, who was already well acquainted with
the circumstances, sent them a message, intimating, that as the affair was
already under investigation, she was desirous that the house should not
interfere, and she promised in a short time to inform them of the result.
Accordingly, on the 17th of December, she went to the House of Peers, and
made a speech to both houses, informing them that she had complete evidence
of evil practices and designs against her government, carried on by the
emissaries of France in Scotland. The peers, however, proceeded in the
inquiry, and after considerable investigation they agreed to the following
resolution, "that there had been a dangerous conspiracy in Scotland
toward the invading that kingdom with a French power, in order to subvert
her majesty’s government, and the bringing in the pretended Prince of
Wales; that it was their opinion nothing had given so much encouragement to
these designs as the succession of the crown of Scotland not being declared
in favour of the Princess Sophia and her heirs; that the queen should be
addressed to use such methods as she thought convenient, for having the
succession of the crown of that kingdom settled after that manner; and that
being once done, then they would do all in their power to promote an entire
union of the two kingdoms." Mr. Lockhart asserts that the lords thus
interfered at the instance of the Duke of Queensberry, as he knew that the
Whigs would bring him off, and although they were so clear as to the
existence of a plot, he maintains that "it was all trick and villany."
Meanwhile Fraser, for his imposition upon the French king, was committed a
prisoner to the Bastile, in which he remained several years.
It was discovered that the
address on the letter from the ex-queen was forged by Lovat himself, she
having addressed it to no one, although it is supposed to have been meant
for the Duke of Gordon. Lovat had also to implicate the Duke of Hamilton,
and as he regarded both these noblemen as "impostors" and enemies
of the exiled family, he considered that his conduct, in thus attempting to
ruin them, "far from being a real crime, ought to be regarded as a good
and essential service to the king (James III.), and the sincere, political,
and ingenious fruit of his zeal, for his project, and the interests of his
sovereign." Such is a specimen of the morality of this extraordinary
personage, who, in his correspondence with the revolution party, always
pretended to be a friend to the revolution settlement.
According to Lockhart, the
Duke of Queensberry was at the bottom of this sham plot, but he appears
really to have been entirely innocent, and to have acted all along for what
he thought the best interests of the government. "He was, to use a
common but clear expression, made a fool of." Although he had managed
to clear himself of all blame, still as the affair had rendered him very
unpopular in Scotland, he was dismissed from his situation as one of the
Scottish secretaries of state, and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed to
succeed him as lord high-commissioner to the Scottish parliament, which met
on the 6th of July, 1704.
From the temper displayed in
the Scottish parliament, it was obvious that without entering into a treaty
with Scotland, it would be utterly impossible for the English ministry to
carry the question of the succession in Scotland. To accomplish this the
English parliament authorised the queen to nominate commissioners to treat
with commissioners from Scotland; but the conduct of the parliament was by
no means calculated to allay the jealousy entertained by the Scotch, of the
interference of England in imposing a foreign sovereign upon them. Instead
of simply empowering the queen to appoint commissioners, the English
parliament, instigated by the Scottish ministry, directed the Scottish
parliament in the choice of its commissioners, and they even prohibited
their own commissioners to meet and treat with those of Scotland unless the
parliament of Scotland allowed the queen to name these commissioners
herself. Moreover all Scotsmen not settled in England, or in its service,
were declared aliens, until the succession to the crown of Scotland should
be settled on the Princess Sophia and her Protestant heirs. Several
prohibitory clauses against the trade of Scotland were also inserted in the
act, which were to take effect about eight months thereafter if the Scottish
parliament did not, before the appointed time, yield to the instructions of
that of England.
To strengthen the government
party the Scottish ministry was changed, and the Duke of Queensberry was
recalled to office, being appointed to the privy seal. The Cavaliers, thus
deprived of the aid of the duke and his friends, applied to the Marquis of
Tweeddale - who, with his displaced friends, had formed a party called the squad
one volante, or "flying squadron" - to unite with them against
the court; but he declined the proposal, as being inconsistent with the
object for which it was said to be formed, namely, to keep the contending
parties in parliament in check, and to vote only for such measures, by
whatever party introduced, which should appear most beneficial to the
country.
Notwithstanding the exertions
of the court party, the Scottish ministry soon found themselves in a
minority in the parliament, which was opened on the 28th of June, 1705, by
the Duke of Argyle as commissioner. The motion of Sir James Falconer, which
had hitherto remained a dead letter, was again renewed; but although the
ministry was supported by the "squadron" in opposition to the
motion, the Cavaliers carried it by a great majority. The Dukes of Hamilton
and Athole were now desirous of pushing on the inquiry into the alleged
plot, but by advice of the Cavaliers, who insisted that such a proceeding
would be a violation of the agreement entered into between them and the Duke
of Queensberry’s friends, they desisted for a time. But the duke having
prevailed upon such of his friends as had voted with the Cavaliers in the
beginning of the session, to join the court party, the subject was
introduced before the house in the shape of a motion, to know what answer
the queen had sent to an address which had been voted to her in the
preceding session, to send down to Scotland against the next session such
persons as had been examined respecting the plot, and the papers connected
therewith. The Dukes of Hamilton and Athole vindicated themselves against
the charge of being accessory to Fraser’s proceedings, and the latter
particularly, in a long speech, reprobated the conduct of the Duke of
Queensberry, whom he openly accused of a design to ruin him. Neither the
duke nor his friends made any answer to the charge, and Athole and Hamilton
conceiving that they had cleared themselves sufficiently, allowed the
subject to drop. The most important business of the session was the measure
of the proposed union with England, an act for effecting which was passed,
though not without considerable opposition.
Before the state of the vote
upon this measure was announced, the Duke of Athole, "in regard that by
an English act of parliament made in the last sessions thereof, entitled an
act for the effectual securing England from the dangers that may arise from
several acts passed lately in Scotland, the subjects of this kingdom were
adjudged aliens, born out of the allegiance of the queen, as queen of
England, after the 25th of December 1705," protested that, for saving
the honour and interest of her majesty as queen of Scotland, and maintaining
and preserving the undoubted rights and privileges of her subjects, no act
for a treaty with England ought to pass without a clause being added
thereto, prohibiting and discharging the commissioners that might be
appointed for carrying on the treaty from departing from Scotland until the
English parliament should repeal and rescind the obnoxious act alluded to.
To this protest twenty-four peers, thirty-seven barons, and eighteen of the
burgh representatives adhered. When the state of the vote was announced, the
Duke of Hamilton, to the surprise of the cavaliers and the country party,
moved that the nomination of the commissioners should be left wholly to the
queen. From twelve to fifteen members immediately exclaimed that the duke
had deserted and basely betrayed his friends, and ran out of the house in
rage and despair. A warm debate then ensued, in which Hamilton was roughly
handled, and the inconsistency of his conflict exposed; but he persisted in
his motion, which was carried by a majority of eight votes. Had the other
members remained he would have found himself in a minority. The Duke of
Athole protested a second time for the reasons contained in his first
protest, and twenty-one peers, thirty-three barons, and eighteen burgh
representatives adhered to his second protest. The protesters consisted of
most of the cavaliers and the country party, and the whole of the
"Squadron." The protesters, however, were not discouraged, and
they succeeded so far as to obtain an order of the house prohibiting the
Scottish commissioners from treating until the clause in the English act,
declaring the subjects of Scotland aliens, should be repealed, a resolution
which had the desired effect, the English parliament rescinding the clause
before the time fixed for its operation arrived.
In terms of the powers vested
in her by the parliaments of England and Scotland, the queen nominated commissioners,
who met in the council chamber of the Cockpit, near Whitehall, on the 16th
of April, 1706. During their sittings they were twice visited by the queen,
who urged them to complete with as little delay as possible, a treaty which,
she anticipated, would be advantageous to both kingdoms. By the second
article of the treaty, it was declared that the succession to the monarchy
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, in default of issue of the queen,
should remain and continue to the Princess Sophia and her heirs, being
Protestants.
When the terms of the treaty
became publicly known in Scotland, a shout of indignation was set up in
every part of the kingdom, at a measure which, it was supposed, would
destroy the independence of the nation; and when the Scottish parliament met
for the purpose of ratifying the treaty, considerable rioting took place in
different parts of the country, and large bodies of armed men threatened to
march upon the capital, and disperse the assembly. Numerous addresses were
sent to the parliament from every part of the kingdom against the Union, and
considerable opposition was made by the Dukes of Hamilton and Athole, Lord
Belhaven, Fletcher of Saltoun, and others, but the court party, having
obtained the support of the "Squadron," carried the measure by a
great majority. The treaty was, however, after strenuous opposition,
ratified by the Scotch as well as the English parliament, and ultimately
completed on May 1st, 1707.
As the restoration of the son
of James II. now appeared to the Scottish nation necessary to preserve its
independence, various combinations were entered into among the people to
effect it. The inhabitants of the western shires, chiefly Cameronians,
formerly the most determined supporters of the Protestant government, all at
once became the most zealous partisans of the exiled family, whose
Catholicity they showed themselves disposed altogether to overlook.
Preparatory to more active measures for accomplishing their object, the
ringleaders among them held several meetings, divided themselves into
regiments, chose their officers, provided themselves with horses and arms,
and, notwithstanding the religious asperity which had long existed between
them and the inhabitants of the northern shires, offered to unite with them
in any measure which might be devised for accomplishing the restoration of
the young prince, who had now assumed the title of the Chevalier de St.
George. The court of St. Germains, fully aware of the strong national
feeling which existed in favour of the prince, sent, in concert with the
French king, one Hooke into Scotland to obtain intelligence, and to treat
with the people for his restoration. This gentleman had been one of the Duke
of Monmouth’s chaplains when he invaded England; but after the execution
of that unfortunate nobleman, Hooke went to France, where he became a
Catholic, and entered into the French service, in which he rose to the rank
of Colonel. He had been in Scotland in 1705 on a mission to the heads of the
Jacobite chiefs and the country party; but though a man of sense, he
conducted himself with such indiscretion, that he could only obtain general
promises, from the parties he consulted, of their readiness to advance the
prince’s interest. The cavaliers, however, sent Captain Henry Straton, a
gentleman in whom they placed great confidence, to France, in July the
following year, to ascertain the extent of the aid they might expect from
Louis.
Hooke, on this occasion,
landed in the north of Scotland,. about the end of February or beginning of
March, 1707, and took up a temporary abode in Slams Castle, the seat of the
Earl of Errol, high-constable of Scotland, where he was waited upon by the
countess-dowager, the mother of the earl, her son being then absent from
home. Instead of consulting, as he should have done, the principal chiefs
upon the subject of his mission, Hooke at first confined himself to
interviews with some gentlemen in the counties of Perth and Angus, by whom
he was received with great favour and hospitality, and looked upon as a
person of no ordinary importance. The attention thus paid him, flattered his
vanity, in return for which he made them his confidents, and proceeded, in
concert with them, to deliberate upon the mode of accomplishing a
restoration. This party, however, had not the wisdom to conceal the
negotiation with Hooke, whose presence in the country became consequently
generally known. The result was, that the Duke of Hamilton and others,
conceiving themselves slighted, and alarmed at the imprudence of Hooke’s
friends, declined to correspond with him, and entered into direct
communication with the court of St. Germains itself.
As the French king was
desirous of ascertaining the exact situation of the affairs in Scotland, M.
de Chamillard, his minister of war, had furnished Hooke with a paper of
instructions, in the shape of questions, to which he was desired to obtain
distinct answers, to enable his majesty to judge of the extent of the
assistance required from him, and the probability of success. In answer to
these questions, a memorial, addressed to the king of France, was drawn up,
and signed by several noblemen and gentlemen, in which they stated that the
greater part of the Scottish nation had always been disposed for the service
of "its lawful king" ever since the. revolution; but that this
disposition had now become universal, and that the shires of the west, which
used to be the most disaffected, were now zealous to serve him. That to reap
the benefit of so favourable a disposition, and of so happy a conjuncture,
the presence of the king (the Chevalier) would be absolutely necessary, the
people being unwilling to take arms without being sure of having him at
their head—that the whole nation would rise upon his arrival—that he
would become master of Scotland without opposition,. and that the existing
government would be entirely abolished— that of the numbers that they
would raise, the memorialists would immediately despatch 25,000 foot, and
5,000 horse and dragoons into England, while the other peers and chiefs
would assemble all their men in their respective counties, and that the
general rendezvous of the troops on the north of the river Tay should be at
Perth, those of the western counties at Stirling, and those of the south and
east at Dumfries and Dunse. As to the subsistence of the troops, they
informed his majesty that they would require nothing from him, as the
harvests of two years were to be found in the granaries, and that so great
was its abundance, that a crown would purchase as much flour as would
maintain a man two months—that there was also great plenty of meat, beer
and brandy in the kingdom, and cloth, linen, shoes and bonnets, sufficient
to clothe a considerable number of troops. The principal articles they stood
in most need of were arms and money. Of the former, the memorialists begged
his majesty to send them as many as would equip 25,000 foot, and 5,000 horse
or dragoons, together with a proportionate quantity of ammunition, and also
some pieces of artillery, bombs, &c. Of money, of which the country had
been almost drained by the Darien speculation, by five years of famine, and
by the constant residence of the nobility at London, they required a
remittance of 100,000 pistoles, to enable them to march into England, and
also a regular monthly subsidy during the war. In addition to these demands,
they required that the Chevalier should be accompanied to Scotland by a body
of 8,000 troops, to protect his person against any sudden attempt by the
government forces. The memorialists concluded, by assuring his most
Christian Majesty of their resolution to bind themselves by the strictest
and most sacred ties, to assist one another in what they deemed a common
cause, to forget all family differences, and to concur sincerely, and with
all their hearts "without jealousy or distrust, like men of honour in
so just and glorious an enterprise."
Having finished his
negotiation, Hooke returned to France in the month of May, after assuring
his friends that "the Pretender" would land in Scotland about
August following. On arriving at the court of St. Germains, Hooke gave the
most flattering account of his reception, and of the zeal of the people in
behalf of the Chevalier, and accused the Duke of Hamilton and the other
persons who had refused openly to commit themselves, of lukewarmness in the
cause. The armament, promised by the king of France, should have been ready
in August; but the court of Versailles contrived to put it off, from time to
time, under various pretences. The fact appears to be, that Louis was
indifferent about the matter, and, although he pretended that his object was
to place the Chevalier upon the throne of his ancestors, his real object was
to create a diversion in his own favour by embroiling Great Britain in a
civil war. His reverses at Ramillies and Turin had induced him to send Hooke
into Scotland to obtain information but, having afterwards defeated the
allies at Almanza, he was in hopes that he would be able to retrieve his
affairs without the aid of the intended descent on Scotland.
To hasten the enterprise, the
cavaliers sent the Honourable Charles Fleming, brother of the Earl of Wigton,
over to France with letters to his most Christian Majesty and the Chevalier,
in consequence of which, preparations for the expedition were commenced at
Dunkirk, where a squadron was collected under the command of the Chevalier
de Forbin. When the news of these preparations reached England, the greatest
exertions were made to meet the threatened danger. Both houses of parliament
joined in an address to the queen, in which they pledged themselves to
defend her with their lives and fortunes against the "pretended Prince
of Wales," and all her other enemies. They suspended the habeas corpus
act, and passed a bill enacting, that all persons should take the oath of
abjuration under the pain of being held as convicted recusants. They also
passed another bill, releasing the Scottish clans from all vassalage to
those chiefs who should appear in arms against her majesty; and "the
Pretender" and his adherents were declared traitors and rebels. A large
fleet was equipped and assembled at Deal with extraordinary promptitude, and
despatched towards Dunkirk under the command of Sir John Leake, Sir George
Byng, and Lord Dursley, and transports were engaged to bring over ten
British battalions from Ostend. When this fleet, which the French had
supposed to be destined for Lisbon, appeared off Mardyke, they were greatly
surprised; and the embarkation of their troops, which had commenced, was
immediately countermanded. The French admiral represented to his court the
danger of proceeding with the expedition; but he received positive orders to
finish the embarkation,. and to sail with the first favourable wind. The
Chevalier de St. George, at taking farewell, was presented by Louis with a
sword studded with costly diamonds, and sumptuous services of gold and
silver plate, rich dresses, and other necessaries becoming his high station.
While the embarkation was
going on, Mr. Fleming and a gentleman of the name of Arnott were separately
despatched for Scotland from Dunkirk, on the evening of the 6th of March,
1708, in two frigates, with instructions from the Chevalier to the Jacobite
chiefs. Fleming arrived on the northern coast on the 13th, and, when about
two leagues off the land, entered a fishing boat which landed him at Slams
castle, where he met the Earl of Errol, who received the intelligence of the
expedition with great pleasure. On perusing the Chevalier’s instructions,
he immediately despatched a messenger to Mr. Malcolm of Grange, in Fife,
with orders to have a boat and pilots in readiness at the mouth of the Frith
of Forth to go on board the first vessel that should give the signal agreed
on.
In the mean time, the English
fleet having been forced, by stress of weather, off their station on the
14th of March, the expedition sailed on the 17th from the road of Dunkirk;
but it was detained in Newport-pits in consequence of a change in the wind,
till the 19th, when it again set sail with a fair breeze for Scotland. The
expedition consisted of seven men-of-war, two of which were fitted up as
transports, and twenty-one frigates, having on board 5,100 troops, under the
command of Monsieur le Comte de Gass, who, on the last-mentioned day,
received from the French king the patent of a Marshal of France, and assumed
the name of Mantignon. While at Newport, three of the frigates, which had
received some damage, returned to Dunkirk; but, at a council of war, held in
the apartment of the Chevalier, it was resolved, at his desire, to proceed
without them, although these vessels had 800 troops on board, and a
considerable quantity of arms and provisions. At the same council it was
also determined to sail directly to the Frith of Forth, and to disembark the
troops at Burntisland, whence it was proposed to send a detachment to take
possession of Stirling.
The French fleet having been
observed in Newport-pits from the steeples of Ostend, a vessel was
immediately despatched thence by Major-general Cadogan to inform Sir George
Byng of their having left Dunkirk: Sir George went immediately in quest of
the enemy. The French fleet, favoured by a strong and fair wind, reached the
Frith on the evening of the 23d, without seeing any of the English squadron,
and anchored off Crail, the commander intending to proceed up the Frith the
following morning; but he had been anticipated by the Proteus, one of the
three vessels which had returned to Dunkirk, and which, being a superior
sailer, had reached the Frith before him, and had given notice of the
approach of the French fleet to the friends of the Chevalier, who lived on
the coast, by firing five guns, the concerted signal by which the friends of
the prince along that coast were to be apprized of his arrival Malcolm of
Grange, who bad been for some days anxiously looking out for the fleet, went
immediately on board this vessel with a pilot.
The resolution of M. de
Forbin to proceed up the Frith next morning, was, however, put an end to, by
the appearance, at day-break, of the English fleet, consisting of 28 sail,
standing in for the Frith. Alarmed for the safety of his ships, the French
commander immediately cut his cables, and by favour of a strong land breeze
which fortunately sprung up, stood out to sea under full sail, having
previously given orders to the different ships, in case of separation, to
rendezvous at Cromarty or Inverness. The French vessels being lighter and
cleaner, outstripped the English in sailing, and all of them escaped, with
the exception of the Salisbury, a ship formerly captured from the English,
which was taken. On board of this vessel were Lord Griffin, the Earl of
Middleton’s two sons, M. La Vie, a Major-general, Colonel Francis Wauchope,
some other officers, and between 300 and 400 soldiers. On the following day,
the French commander finding himself out of sight of the enemy, and all his
vessels together, with the exception of the Salisbury, consulted with the
Marshal de Mantignon, on the expediency of landing at some place in the
north of Scotland, and proposed Inverness. The Chevalier, who was so
desirous of landing, that he had, though in vain, entreated M. de Forbin,
the preceding day, to put him ashore, though his domestics alone should
accompany him, received this proposal with great satisfaction. The fleet
accordingly, aided by a favourable wind, steered to the north during the
whole of the 25th; but at ten o’clock at night, the wind suddenly changed
to the north, and blew directly in their teeth with considerable violence.
As the storm continued the whole of the following day, and as M. de Forbin
was afraid that the fleet would be dispersed, and might, when separated,
fall into the hands of the enemy, a council was held, at which it was
unanimously resolved, with the entire concurrence of the Chevalier, to
return to Dunkirk, where the expedition arrived on the 7th of April.
Such was the result of an
enterprise, which, but for the merest accidental circumstance, might have
been crowned with the most cornplete success; for had the expedition arrived
only a few hours earlier in the Frith of Forth, the whole troops, arms and
ammunition, would have been landed without opposition. Such were the
dispositions of the people of Scotland in favour of "the
Pretender," and so disaffected had they become towards the government,
that a universal rising would undoubtedly have taken place in his support
had he set his foot in Scotland. No effectual resistance could have been
offered to him by the regular troops, which did not exceed 2,500 men; and as
little reliance could be placed in them, from their participating generally
in the national feeling, the Earl of Leven, the commander-in-chief, had
determined to retire to Carlisle or Berwick, with such forces as would
accompany him.
[Alluding to the appearance
of the French fleet in the Frith, Lockhart says, "It is impossible to
describe the different appearance of people’s sentiments; all this day
(23d March) generally speaking, in every persons face was to be observed an
air of jollity and satisfaction, excepting the general (Leven), those
concerned in the government, and such as were deeply dipt in the revolution.
These indeed were in the greatest terror and confusion. And it was no great
wonder that the Earl of Leven did afterwards, in one of his letters to the
secretaries of state, complain that the Jacobites were so uppish he durst
hardly look them in the face as they walked in the streets of Edinburgh; for
uppish they were indeed, expecting soon to have an occasion of repaying him
and his fellow-rebels in the same coin he and they had treated them for
these twenty years past. But next day advice was sent from Sir George Byng,
that he had come up with and was then in pursuit of the French fleet, and
then it was that every body was in the greatest pain and anxiety imaginable;
some fearing it would, and others that it would not, determine as it did. In
this perplexity were people when, on the next day, being Sunday, a great
number of tall ships were seen sailing up the Frith. This put our general in
such a terror and confusion as can scarcely be well expressed: he drew up
his army in battle array on the sands of Leith, as if he’d oppose a
landing, and in this posture did he remain for several hours, when at last
his fears, which truly had almost distracted him, vanished by the landing of
a boat, which acquainted him that it was the English fleet returning from
chasing the French. For Sir George Byng, after a day’s pursuit, finding
the French out-sailed him, tackt about for the Frith, which was the place he
designed chiefly to guard; besides, he had sailed so unprovided that most of
his ships wanted water and provisions. Here he lay several weeks, and for
the most part the wind was easterly, so that he could not well have sailed
down the Frith, and the French might, and every body believed would, have
landed in the north, or sailed round and landed in the west; but instead of
that they went sneakingly home, without doing any good, but on the contrary
much harm, to the king, his country, and themselves.]
The news of the sailing of
the expedition created a panic in England, was followed by a run upon the
bank, which would have been obliged to suspend its payments had not the most
extraordinary exertions been made to support its credit.
The principal friends of the
Chevalier de St. George, and every person of any distinction in Scotland,
suspected of favouring his pretensions, were, upon the failure of the
expedition, immediately seized and comrnitted to the castles of Edinburgh
and Stirling, and the common jails, whence many of them were transmitted to
England, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, or in Newgate. Among those
who were carried to London, was the Duke of Hamilton, who, taking advantage
of a quarrel between the Lord-treasurer Godolphin and the Whigs, obtained,
by offering his support to the latter in the election of the Scottish
representative peers, not only his own liberation, but also that of all the
other prisoners, with the exception of Stirling of Kier, Seaton of Touch,
Stirling of Carden, and other gentlemen of Stirlingshire, who, on receiving
intelligence that the Chevalier had landed, had mounted their horses and
advanced in a body towards Edinburgh, to support him. These last were
brought to trial for high treason, as having appeared in arms against the
government; but as no proof was brought against them, they were acquitted.
The fact is, that the queen’s advisers, fully aware of the great danger
which the government had escaped, and the risks to which it was still
exposed, were disposed to act a very lenient part, and were afraid, under
existing circumstances, to commit themselves by sacrificing any of the
disaffected to a doubtful, and, as it must have appeared to them, a
precarious expediency.
For a time, the idea of a
restoration seems to have been abandoned; but the systematic attacks made by
the High Church party in England, upon the principles of the revolution, and
the popular excitement raised against the Whig ministry in consequence of
Dr. Sacheverel’s trial, raised anew the expectations of the Jacobites,
which were still farther elevated by the expulsion of the Whigs from office
in 1710, by the intrigues of the Tories. Although the queen on opening the
new parliament, which met on the 25th of November, declared to both houses
that she would employ such persons only as were warmly attached to the
Protestant succession in the House of Hanover; yet it was generally
understood that she was inclined to favour the pretensions of her brother,
the Chevalier de St. George. As his religion was, in fact, the only bar in
the way of his succession, she endeavoured, but without success, to induce
him to abandon it. "You see," she observed to the Duke of
Buckingham, when speaking of her brother, "he does not take the least
step to oblige me. I have no reason to think he values me or my kingdom,
therefore I shall give it to the Elector of Hanover." On another
occasion, when warmly pressed by the duke, she replied, "What would you
have me to do? You know, as the law stands, a Papist cannot inherit the
crown, and, therefore, any will I may make will be to no purpose; the law
gives all to Hanover; and therefore I had better do that with a good grace
which I cannot help. He may thank himself for it. He knows I always loved
him better than the Elector." The Tories were by no means averse to her
majesty’s views of a successor, but afraid of a reaction in public opinion
in favour of the Whigs, who were endeavouring to excite the fears of the
nation by raising a no-popery cry, they not only carefully abstained from
any act which might be considered as favouring the claims of "the
Pretender ;" but even appeared as if hostile to them. Indeed, so
desirous were some of the Tory members of the House of Commons to settle the
crown upon his head, that they required a mere profession of Protestantism
from him, till he should be firmly seated on the throne, after which he
might, they said, again resume the exercise and profession of his religion.
But the prince refused to comply.
In Scotland, however, little
reserve was shown, a remarkable instance of which occurred in the Faculty of
Advocates, which body accepted from the Duchess of Gordon a silver medal,
having on one side an impression of the head of the Chevalier de St. George,
and on the reverse a representation of the British islands, with the motto, "Reddite."
At the presentation of this treasonable device, a motion thanking her
grace for her gift was carried, after a warm debate, by a majority of
sixty-three voices against twelve. Dundas of Arniston, to whom the task of
conveying the vote was intrusted, thanked her grace for having presented the
Faculty with a medal of their sovereign, and stated a hope that she would
very soon be enabled to present them with a second medal struck upon the
restoration of the king and royal family, and the finishing of usurpation,
rebellion, and whiggery. This proceeding created an extraordinary sensation,
and Sir David Dalrymple, the Lord Advocate, was directed by the ministry to
inquire into the matter. The Faculty grew alarmed, disclaimed the conduct of
Dundas and of Home, another member with whom they alleged the transaction
originated, and by a solemn resolution declared their attachment to the
queen and the Protestant succession. To satisfy, in some measure, the court
of Hanover, the resident of which at the British court had presented a
memorial to the queen desiring that Dundas and his party might be
prosecuted, the Lord Advocate was dismissed from office because he had been
remiss in bringing the delinquents to justice; but no instructions were
given to his successor to prosecute them.
The remaining years of Queen
Anne’s reign were chiefly occupied with party struggles, which embittered
her existence and impaired her constitution. The Tories disunited among
themselves, split latterly into two factions, which were respectively headed
by Harley, Earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke.
The Whigs, on the other hand, united, active and vigorous, pressed hard upon
them, and employed every art to inflame the people against the authors of
their disgrace. Popery and the Pretender were the never-ceasing topics with
which they endeavoured to enlist the feelings of the nation in their favour,
and the Duke of Argyle, in a warm debate which took place in the House of
Peers on a question proposed by the Earl of Wharton, "Whether the
Protestant succession was in danger under the present administration"
offered to prove that the lord-treasurer had remitted a sum of money
annually to the Highland Jacobite chiefs. Oxford did not deny the charge,
but defended himself by saying, that he had only adopted the policy of King
William, who had granted yearly pensions to the heads of the clans, the
better to secure their obedience to the government. The fate of the Tory
ministry was at length sealed by the removal of Oxford and the death of the
queen, who survived that event only a few days. Fatigued by a long
attendance at a cabinet council held immediately after the disrnissal of the
lord-treasurer, she was thrown into a lethargic disorder, which terminated
her existence on the morning of the 1st of August, 1714, in the fiftieth
year of her age, and in the thirteenth of her reign. With the exception of
her dereliction of duty towards her father, which, from the circumstances in
which she was placed, may admit of considerable palliation, she left behind
her an unblemished reputation; and though not possessed of much genius or
vigour of mind, she wielded the sceptre with greater skill than is usually
to be found in sovereigns, who, like her, have allowed themselves to be
controlled by favourites. |
