Class Book. BEQUEST OF ALBERT ADSIT CLEMONS (Not available for exchange) ^ J? '==' Epochs of Modern History EDITED BY EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A., J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. AN'D C. COLBECK, M.A. THE EARLY HANOVERIANS EDWARD E. MORRIS Blpoclis of Modern History THE EARLY HANOVERIANS BY EDWARD eMiORRIS PKOFESSOK OF ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE WITH MAPS AND PLANS I BOSTON I I ESTES AND LAURIAT iS86 JMrtdav: Zongmans & Co, cj(.^ Bequest Albert Adsit Clemona Aug. 24, 1938 (Not available for exchange) X PREFACE. This book did not form one of the Epochs of History as I originally designed the series. Many of the subjects treated in it were intended to find a place in other volumes. But in the course of writing such other volumes room was not spared for them, and those who managed the series after my departure from England thought that this volume was needed to supply a gap. It is a continuation of my Epoch called ' The Age of x\nne.' In compiling this little book I have done my best to remember the cardinal principles of the series, to make the division of history horizontal rather than vertical, to omit superfluous names, and to make the treatment interesting. Though the name of the Epoch is taken from English history, some of the subjects — the Turkish Wars, the Polish Succession War, Anson's A^oyage — are not usually treated in our school histories ; and of many minor matters the same can, I think, be said. Biography has always a charm for the young, and I have tried to make use of its vi Preface. attraction in lives of Leibnitz, Newton, Walpole, Queen Caroline, Maria Theresa, Atterbury, Ogle thorpe, Berkeley, and the chief literary men of the time in France as well as in England. My account of the romantic attempt known as the Forty-five has been made very full. Melbourne University; July I, 1885. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1713- BOOK I. THE LONG PEACE. CPIAPTER 1. EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT, PACE Peace of Utrecht. A general peace . I Important as closing a period of wars 2 Survey of Europe — France .... 3 Spain ..... 4 Italy 5 The Netherlands. Austrian. 5 Holland 6 Germany— much divided 7 The Emperor. Austria . 7 Saxony . . . , . . 8 Prussia .... 8 The electors .... 8 Poland . . . . . 9 Russia and Sweden . . . . 9 The Turks . . . . . 10 CHAPTER II. GEORGE THE FIRST. 1714. Aug. I. Death of Queen Anne . . . . 10 George, the new king, not in haste to come to England . . . . . lo. vlii Contents. His father, Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover first elector of Brunswick-Liineburg His mother, the Electress Sophia Her mother, Ehzabeth of Bohemia, daughter of James I. . . Her father, Frederick, Elector Palatine (Winter) King of Bohemia 1714. June 8. Death of Electress Sophia . The family — House of Brunswick or of Han over ..... Its origin ..... Description of the court of Hanover . King George I. once a suitor for hand of Queen Anne ..... Table of the familv CHAPTER HI. THE ELECTORATE. The Electorate compared with England — In area as one to nine In population as one to twelve . In army nearly equal . In revenue as one to twenty Extreme unpopularity of union with Hanover Proposed separation Later history of Hanover The two greatest men, Newton and Leibnitz Life of Leibnitz CHAPTER IV. FIRST MEASURES. Arrival of George I. at Greenwich . . . 26 Gracious to Whigs, rude to Tories . . 26 Bolingbroke's removal from office . . . 26 Cabinet entirely Whig . . . -27 Contents. ix PAGE King ignorant of English . . -27 A constitutional king : interfering only in foreign affairs . . . . .28 Bremen and Verden acquired for Hanover . 28 Parliament votes liberal civil list and arrears of pay for Hanoverian troops . . -29 General election : a large Whig majority . . 30 Revenge on Tory ministers . . -So Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond to be im- peached . . . . . . 31 The two latter escape. Two years later Oxford's impeachment dropped . . -31 Bolingbroke becomes Secretary of State to the Pretender . . . . . q2 CHAPTER V. THE FIFTEEN. Attempts to restore the Stuarts. 17 15. That generally known as ' the Fifteen ' Bolingbroke urged Lewis XIV. to make war Lewis died .... John, Earl of Mar, leader of the Jacobites Sept. 6. The rising in Scotland. Standard raised Edinburgh Castle. ' Powdering the hair' . No serious rising in England. Arrests of Jaco bites ..... Ormond lands in Devonshire, returns to France Earl of Dervventwater and Mr. Forster head z rising in the north . . . , Nov. 17. Battle of Preston, easy victory for royal troops, Nov. 17. Battle of Sheriffmuir, doubtful victory in Scot land ...... After the battle the Jacobite army melted . Arrival of James too late Punishment of the rebels . Roads made in the Highlands . 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 37 37 39 39 40 41 Contents. CHAPTER VI. SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. PAGE Septennial Act to alter the period that a Par- liament might continue from three years to seven . . . . . . 42 Peerage Bill, attempt to limit royal prerogative in creation of peers. Its effect. . . 43 Passed by the Lords, rejected by tlie Com- mons . . . . . . 45 Pamphlet war. Addison and Steele . . 45 Addison as a minister . . . . 46 CHAPTER VII. FRANCE AND SPAIN. 1715. Sept. I. Death of Lewis XIV. . . . -47 Lewis XV. , only five years old . . . 47 Distressed condition of France . . 47 Regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans . . 48 Strongly in favour of a peace policy and friend- ship with England . . . -49 1717. Triple alliance — France, England, and Holland. Object to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht . 49 1718. Quadruple alliance. Emperor Charles VI. joins 49 Kingdom of Sardinia established . . . 49 Philip of Spain married Elizabeth Farnese of Parma . . . . -49 Cardinal Alberoni . . . . . 50 Excellent minister for Spain . . ' 50 In Europe, a disturber of the public peace . 51 His various schemes . . . '52 A little war ensued. Admiral Byng at Messina. 52 1718. Dec. II. Death of Charles XII. . . . .52 1719. Spanish attempt on behalf of Pretender — abor- tive . . . . . . 53 The French took Fontarabia, the English Vigo. 53 Spain then yielded, and Alberoni was dis- missed . . . . • • 53 Contents. XI CHAPTER VIII. LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 1718. In France. Law's proposal to help the finance. Mississippi scheme . . . . 1720. In England, the South Sea Bubble Many minor Bubbles . . , . General crash. Walpole called to office Ccmparison between French and English bubbles . . . . . . Low state of morality .... 1720. Plague at Marseilles. Heroic conduct of the bishop . . . . . . 'AGE 54 54 55 5& CHAPTER IX. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 1723. His parentage, education and earlier history 5B Character and policy— love of peace 59 Corruption . 61 Very strong as financier 62 Treatment of national debt . 62 Interest of the same . 64 Sinking fund . 64 Free trade . 64 Wood's Pence . . 6=; Tritimph of Dean Swift 65 CHAPTER X. ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. Bishop Atterbury, able man, strong Jacobite Proof found of his correspondence with Pre tender , . . . Deprived of bishopric and sent into exile Bolingbroke returned, ' two-thirds restored ' His writings .... 66 67 67 68 69 xii Contents. 70 CHAPTER XI. NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. Queen of Spain anxious to secure appanage for her son . . . . , . New minister of Spain — Ripperda . . 70 Infanta sent back to Spain and another wife chosen for Lewis, daughter of Stanislaus Leczynski, former King of Poland . . 70 The Ostend Company of the Emperor irritates English and Dutch . . . -71 Proposed that Don Carlos should marry Maria Theresa . . . . . . 71 Fear of preponderating power of Spain and Austria leads to a general league (Treaty of Hanover) . . , . • 71 Admiral Hosier sent against Porto Belle, but war never broke out . . . . 72 Siege of Gibraltar . . . • 7- Treaty of Seville . . . . . 73 CHAPTER XII. DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC NEWTOX, Wife of George I., Sophia Dorothea of Zell, shut up for thirty- two years . . -73 Her summons to the king . . . 74 1727. June II. Death of George I. on the road to Hanover, near Osnabriick . . . -74 Death of Sir Isaac Newton . . . 74 Some account of his life . . -75 CHAPTER XIII. GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. George II. succeeds, aged 44 . . . 76 His appearance and character . . .76 Contents. xIII Proposed duel with Frederick William of Prussia . . . . • • 77 His avarice . . . . .78 He spoke English, but bad English . . 78 Queen Caroline. Her character . . 79 George H. founder of the University of Got- tingen . . « . . . 81 CHAPTER XIV. THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. 1736. The cause. Captain Porteous firing on Edin- burgh mob . . . . .81 Found guilty of murder and reprieved , . 82 Rioters seized him and hanged him . . 83 CHAPTER XV. walpole's fall. His love of power . . . . Opposition had four elements — ^Jacobites Tories, friends of Prince of Wales, discon tented Whigs . . . , '^733- Opposition first won in Excise Bill William Pitt. His appearance and eloquence Frederick, Prince of Wales 1737- Death of Queen Caroline 1742. Jan. Resignation of Walpole He became Earl of Orford 84 xiv Contents. BOOK II. THE WARS. CHAPTER I. THE TUKKS. Section I. — The First War. I' AGE Turks in Europe up to' seventeenth century advancing . . , . . 88 1683. Culminating point — siege of Vienna, when John Sobieski drove them off . . .88 In his army Prince Eugene was an officer . . 88 Eugene's war, ending with . . .89 1699. Jan. Peace of Carlowitz . . . . . 89 Venice and the Turks . . . .89 After Utrecht, war renewed against Turks . 90 17 1 6. Aug. 5. Battle of Petenvaradin'. . . .90 1717. Siege of Belgrade. Complete victory of Eugene 91 17 18. Treaty of Passarowitz . . . .92 Section II. — The Second War. 1736. Death of Prince Eugene After Eugene, Seckendorf commander-in-chief General failure in the campaign 1737- Then Francis, Duke of Lorraine, commander in-chief .... Disgraceful loss of Belgrade . 1739. Peace of Belgrade CHAPTER n. POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. 1733. The war broke out . . . • • 95 Poland an Elective Monarchy . . -95 Death of Augustus the Strong . . . 96 93 93 94 94 94 0=; Contents. xv Two candidates .... Stanislaus Leczynski, former king, supported by France .... Augustus, son of the late king, supported by Russia and Austria . Sides taken in the war Arrangements made at the end of it Incidents of the war Eugene's last campaign 1735. Oct. Peace of Vienna .... 733. Oct. 5. Death of Augustus, King of Poland . 1766. Death of Stanislaus, Duke of Lorraine CHAPTER HI. JENKINS* EAR. W'ar with Spain. Story of Jenkins' ear Question whether the story is true . Real cause of the war. Expansion of Englan in the New World . The Assiento .... '39. Oct. 19. War declared amid general joy . War became much larger, being merged i Austrian Succession War Events of year .... Capture of Porto Bello Attack on Cartagena. Failure . Rest of Spanish war, —Privateering CHAPTER IV. anson's voyage. Its object — to co-operate with Vernon His fleet scattered Capture of Spanish galleons At Tinian. At Macao Return home. Anson made a peer xvi Contents. CHAPTER V. AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. PAGE 1740. Oct. 20. Death of Emperor Charles VI. . . . no The Pragmatic Sanction . . .111 Maria Theresa, Her appearance and character 112 Matches suggested for her — Frederick the Great 112 Don Carlos . . . . . 71 Electoral Prince of Bavaria . . .112 Her marriage with Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany . .113 Various claimants for whole or part of Austrian dominions . . . . • 113 Frederick of Prussia — Silesia . ..113 Spain wanting appanage for Don Philip . 114 Elector of Saxony . . . . . 114 Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria , .114 Policy of France, shaped by Marshal Belleisle to keep Germany divided . . . 116 Alliance against Austria. Treaty of Nymphen- burg — France, Bavaria, Spain, Saxony, Russia . . . . .117 Treaty of Hanover. George H. promises neutrality for one year . . . . 117 Invasion of Austrian dominions by a French army . . . . . .118 Maria Thei-esa crowned at Presburg . .119 Making appeal to her Hungarian subjects, rouses their enthusiasm . . .119 Elector of Bavaria elected Emperor Charles VII. 120 Cause of Maria Theresa gains, that of Charles VII. loses ground . . . . 121 Retreat of French army from Prague . . 121 Maria Theresa crowned at Prague . .122 War in Italy ..... 122 PAGE 123 123 124 124 126 T27 127 Contents. xvii CHAPTER VI. BATTLE OF DETTINGEX. England and France only allies of combatants Earl Stair commanding the English French under Marshal Noailles Situation that led to the battle . 1743. June 27. The battle itself .... Conduct of King George 11. . Results of battle .... CHAPTER Vn. DETTINGEN TO FOXTEXOV. Maria Theresa prospering, but obstinate in con- tinuing the war .... 128 Results of this — 1. France becomes a principal . . . 129 2. Frederick again joins enemies of Austria . 129 Second Silesian war . . . 129 Union of Frankfort . . . . 129 Invasion of Saxony . . . 130 Peace of Dresden Lewis XV. His illness and popularity ; the ' Well-beloved "... Sea-fight near Toulon Death of Charles VII. ' the bold Bavarian ' Election of Francis, Maria Theresa's husband 130 130 131 131 CHAPTER VIII. CAMPAIGN OF FONTENOY. Marshal Saxe. Life and character ". .132 Campaign in Flanders. French besieging Tournay . . . . . . 133 Cumberland marches to relief of it . . 133 Battle of Fontenoy . . . . . 133 Advance of English infantry . . .135 ^^. II. a xviii Contents. I'AGK ' Gentlemen, we never fire first ' . . . 135 How the advance of the column was met . 137 Account by an eye-witness . . . . 137 The Irish Brigade .... 138 CHAPTER IX. THE FORTY -FIVE. Walpole anxious for peace, lest war should lead to rebellion . . . . . 139 Charles Edward, the Young Pretender. His pedigree, character and education . . 139 Contrast between Old and Young Pretenders . 142 Account of ancestor of Young Pretender, Jolin Sobieski . . . . 143 Army collected under Marshal Saxe . . 143 Transports scattered by a storm . . 1^4 Without help from France, Charles Edward starts . . . . . . 144 1745. July 25. Landing at Moidart .... 144 Poor prospects. Interview with Lochiel . . 145 Aug. 19. Raising of standard .... 145 Prospects improve . . . . . 146 Sir John Cope, instead of facing his enemy, marches off to Inverness . . . 146 And Charles Edward marches into Edinburgh . 147 Cope returns to Dunbar . . . 148 Battle of Prestonpans . . . . 148 Reasons of English defeat — 1. They were badly led . . -150 2. Strangeness of Highlanders . . . 150 Oct. 31. Scotland secured, Charles Edward starts for London , . » . . 151 By the Carlisle route . . . . 152 Preparations in England — 1. Wade's army in Northumberland . 154 2. Cumberland's army at Lichfield . . 154 3. King George and the Guards at Finchley . 154 Dec. 6. Charles Edward begins retreat from Derby . 154 Contents. xix I'ACE Feelings in England. Relief, Curiosity Skirmish at Clifton .... No French force came .... Command in Scotland given to General Hawley Battle of Falkirk . . . . '. But after the battle the Highlanders began to separate ..... 158 Further retreat northwards . . . . 159 Command given to Cumberland . . 159 1746. April 16. Battle of CuUoden . . . . . 160 After the battle rebellion put down with severity 163 And measures taken to prevent future rebellion 164 Charles Edward after the battle. His adven- tures and escapes : flight to France . 166 1748. Expulsion from France . . . .167 His later history and that of his brother . 168 CHAPTER X. REMAINDER OF CONTINENTAL WAR, Marshal Saxe prepares to invade Holland. . 169 He takes Brussels, Antwerp, Namur . . 170 Battle of Roucoux, Victory of Saxe . . 171 Invasion of Holland . . . -171 Revival by Dutch of Stadtholdership . . 171 Battle of Lauffeld, Victory of Saxe over Cum- berland .... Siege of Bergen op Zoom and Maestricht . Campaign in Netherlands and Italy Siege of Genoa CHAPTER XL PEACE OF AIX-LA-C HAPELLE. State of things that led to the peace . . 174 Dutch saw their cities taken . . , 174 English were gaining nothing at heavy cost . 174 French also anxious for peace . . . 174 Spain lukewarm in the war , .175 xx Contents. I' AGE Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle . . . 175 Terms of the peace. Status quo auie helium . 175 Austria, discontented and the questions not really settled . . . . . 176 State of England, according to Lord Chester- field, very bad . . . • ^17 She soon recovered from the exhaustion . . 178 Emigration of soldiers to Nova Scotia . . 178 Later history of Marshal Saxe . . . 178 BOOK III. RELIGION AND LETTERS, CHAPTER L WESLEY AND BUTLER. Low state of religion in England 180 Authorities quoted. Archbishop of Canter- bury . . . . . . 180 Preface to Butler's ' Analogy ' . 181 1703-91. John Wesley . . . . . 181 1708-88. Charles Wesley ..... 1S3 1714-70. George Whitefield . . . . . 183 692-1752. Joseph Butler. Bishop of Bristol, afterwards Durham ..... 185 The ' Analogy ' . . . . . 187 CHAPTER n. BERKELEY AND OGLETHORPE. { Two eminent philanthropists.) 1684-1753. Bishop Berkeley. Bishop of Cloyne . . 187 His scheme for a Christian University in Ber- muda . . , . . . 1S8 Contents. xxi |'ac;e 1689-1785. James Oglethorpe. His history . . 191 The ijrisons . . , . . 192 The colony of Georgia . . .192 His later life . , . . . 194 CHAPTER III. ENGLISH LITERATURE. Section I. — The Pods. State of letters. Well rewarded . . 194 1700-48. James Thomson. ' The Seasons ' . . 196 16S4-1765. Dr. Young. ' Night Thoughts ' . . 198 1716-71. Thomas Gray . . . . . 198 Section IL—The Xovelists. A Time of Prose . . . -199 Beginning of novels . . . . 199 1689-1761. Samuel Richardson .... 199 1707-54. Henry Fielding . . . . . 200 1721-77. Tobias Smollett ..... 202 1713-68. Laurence Sterne . . . . . 204 Section III. — Dr. Johnson and his Circle 1709-84. Dr. Johnson The Club . 1728-74. Oliver Goldsmith 1729-97. Edmund Burke 1716-79. David Garrick . 1723-92. Sir Joshua Reynolds 1737-94- Edward Gibbon • CHAPTER IV. FRENCH LITERATURE 204 207 208 208 2g8 1694-1778. Voltaire, real name Francois Arouet . . 209 Early life ..... 209 Visit to England . . , . . 210 'Henriade' . . . . .211 xxii Contents. i'ACiK His plays . . . . . . 212 Histories . . , . . 213 Tales . . . . . . 213 Earthquake at Lisbon . . .214 Intercourse with Frederick the Great . . 215 His influence ..... 216 Johnson's opinion of Voltaire and Rousseau. 217 1712-78. Jean Jacques Rousseau . . . 217 His early life . . . . . 217 His prize essay .... 218 Three great books — 1. ' New Hdloise ' . . . . 218 2. ' Social Contract ' .... 219 3. ' Emile on Education ' . . . 220 Philosophical and religious views . .221 Later life. ' Confessions ' . . . . 221 luiglish influence on French thinkers . . 222 1689-1755. Montesquieu . . . . . 222 ' Les Lettres Persanes' . . . 222 ' L' Esprit des Lois ' . . . . 223 LXDEX XXlll MAPS. Wkstern Europe after Peace of Utrecht . To f^ice Tiilc I'AGK The Electorate ..... To face 20 Turkish Wars and Treaties . . . ..93 Anson's Voyage . . . . . ,, loSt- Upper Danube . . . . . . 118 ' Dettingen ...... 125'. Netherlands, 1745-S . . . . . ., 129 ' FONTENOY ...... 134 I- The FoRTY-nvE Bctti'ecu pages 146 and 147 TABLES. Descent of the Georges House of Austria The later Stuarts . 140 THE EARLY HANOVERIANS. BOOK I. THE LONG PEACE. CHAPTER I. EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT. In the year 1713 the quaint Dutch city of Utrecht was the scene of an important ceremony. It took place in a house which has been since pulled down to p^^^^^j- make room for a barrack, then the residence Utrecht, of the Bishop of Bristol, probably the last '^i^- English bishop ever employed upon such an errand. Yet the ceremony was one in which a bishop might well take an interest, for it was the ceremony of signing a treaty of peace, which put an end to a long, wearisome, and bloody war. A great many treaties claim notice in history, each professing to be a general pacification of Europe ; but many seem really to be little more than truces. ^ general Very few years elapse from the date of their p<=^<^^- signature, and the nations are found at war again. A treaty of peace settles boundaries until another war be ended with another peace. The attention, however, of the student must be claimed for the more important M. //. ^ 2 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 13 treaties, and such importance must mainly be decided by the permanence of the arrangements which they make. The peace of Utrecht closes a period of fighting which may nearly be described as coinciding with the Utrecht iip- '^^^Z^ ^^ Lewis XIV., King of France. Little portant. alteration was made in the boundaries of Western Europe from the signing of the peace of Utrecht to the time when the French Revolution, filling the people of France with a new spirit, began to excite the neigh- bouring nations. In this period of eighty years there was only one great European war at all to be compared in scale or intensity with the wars of the preceding century— that, namely, which is called the Seven Years' War. Dur- ing the first half of the period, the part which forms the subject of this little volume, of the two great rivals, France and England, neither was disposed to fight. France was exhausted by her efforts, crippled by debt, and badly governed ; England was under the rule of an enlightened minister who saw that peace was the best gift he could give his country — not exhausted, indeed, but somewhat dissatisfied with fighting other people's battles. During the second half of the period England was consolidating her dominion in India, and then became engaged in an unfortunate struggle with her colonies in America. France, which had suffered great losses both in India and in America, latterly helped the colonies of England to free themselves and to become the United States. Neither the Seven Years' War nor the smaller wars of these eighty years made much difference in the map of Europe. The date of the treaty of Utrecht may then be taken Surve ' of ^^ ^ Suitable point for a survey of the political Europe. geography of Europe in the eighteenth century. Without doubt France was the most important coun- try. It required coalitions of other nations with long A.D. 17 13 Europe after Utrecht. 3 and united efforts to check her career of conquest ; and though she was now exhausted by the struggle, and was no longer what she had been before Marl- borough's victories, yet she could still hold her own against any single nation. The treaty of Utrecht came most opportunely for France. The Grand Alliance had beaten her, and was preparing to follow up its series of victories by actual invasion of her territory. Had the movements of the allied armies been governed by a single mind, terms of peace might have been dictated to her under the walls of Paris ; but diversity of counsel is the weakness of an alliance, and France profited by the vacillation and discord amongst her enemies. On the south, west, and north-west there are distinct natural boundaries for France. Her eastern and north-eastern boundary line has frequently changed according as in her numerous wars this warrior nation has succeeded or failed. It is not now, and was not at the time of the treaty of Utrecht, marked throughout by natural features : but the following differences must be noted between the frontier of that time and the frontier marked in maps of our day. Alsace, the province between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine, was then under French rule, though since the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-I it has belonged again to Germany ; and some parts of the duchy of Lorraine are now French, though then the whole duchy was independent, except that ' the three bishop- rics,' Metz, Toul, and Verdun, in the duchy, yet not of it, formed outposts of France, Without Lorraine, Alsace seems to have no right to belong to France ; it juts into Germany like a long, narrow peninsula, with the nar- rowest isthmus of junction near Belfort. Before Utrecht the French had held a few towns across the Rhine, but at the peace these were ceded. The Rhine was the French boundary from the town of Basle to the little 4 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1713 town of Rastadt, where the treaty was signed between France and the Emperor in the year after Utrecht. Avignon was the territory of the Pope. Dotted about France there were still duchies with rights more or less independent of the French Crown. Although the greater French kings and their ministers had uniformly pursued a policy of consolidation, there remained in France a great deal of political independence arising out of feudalism and a great variety of provincial Jaws and customs with the force of law. These distinctions were not swept away until the Revolution. In reckoning the power of France account must be taken of Spain, for on the throne of Spain there sat a French prince, and although the strongest ^pain. pie(3ges had been given that the crowns of the two countries should never be united, similar pledges had been disregarded, and princes of the same house might be expected to co-operate for its common advan- tage. But Spain had lost much of her power ; she had been shorn of almost all her outlying possessions. The Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, Naples, and Sardinia ; Sicily to the Duke of Savoy. Later, an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily : the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the king- dom of the Two Sicilies, i.e. Sicily and Naples, was made an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria. The only European possession outside the peninsula re- maining to Spain was the Balearic Islands; and even of these England held Minorca. On the mainland also England kept tight hold of Gibraltar, which she had won during the recent war. It must be remembered, however, that of late years the various provinces which Spain held in different parts of Europe had not proved a source of strength to her, but of weakness; some have maintained that she was in a stronger position without them. A.D. 1713 Europe after Utrecht. 5 The neighbouring country Portugal, moreover, may be described as a perpetual blister in the side of Spain — always inclined to be in favour of England because of Spain's natural alliance with France. Spain's position may be summed up in the remark that her ancient renown gave her still an importance in Europe which her present power hardly justified. In Italy, Austria had succeeded to the position formerly held by Spain — the pre-eminence amongst the secular princes. The States of the Church occupied all the central part of the peninsula from the '^ ^' borders of the duchy of Naples as far as the mouth of the Po. Besides Austria, the Pope, and Savoy, there were four duchies — Tuscany, Parma, Piacenza, Modena — and three republics, sole representatives of the republican spirit which had distinguished the Italian cities in earlier history, Lucca, Genoa, Venice, not to mention the tiny commonwealth of San IMarino. Tuscany, which had risen out of the mediiEval republic of Florence, took the lead among the duchies, and was called a grand duchy. Venice was far the strongest of the cities, having recently recovered from the Turks her dominion in the Morea (though she was soon again to lose it), and still holding some of the Ionian Isles and part of the mainland across the Adriatic. Italy, with ten governments, was 'a house divided against itself,' and helped to make Austria strong without being strong herself. The most important item in the treaty of Utrecht was the transfer from Spain to Austria of the govern- ment of the Low Countries, or Netherlands, ^^j^^ Nether- henceforth known as the Austrian Netherlands, lands. The Dutch certainly engaged in the War of the Spanish Succession in order that they might themselves be secure against the attacks of France. Their country had within memory of the living suffered terribly from unjustifiable 6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 13 invasions of the French. The Enghsh also in that war were swayed by considerations for the Dutch, as well as by other motives. All Marlborough's campaigns, with the single exception of that of Blenheim, were directed to the clearing of the French out of the Low Countries prior to making an attack upon France itself. In all probability, if the cession of the Low Countries could have l^een made by Spain at once, the war would have been altogether avoided. The Dutch regarded it as essential to their safety that between their country and France there should be a tract of land belonging to a government not under the dominion of France. To obtain this barrier they had lavishly expended treasure and blood, and their finances were nov\- heavily crippled by debt. Having obtained it they practically retired from the field of European politics, and took little part in future European wars. Frederick the Great said that from the accession of William IIL Holland was following the policy of England — ' nothing more than a little boat sailing in the wake of a powerful ship.' It might fairly be answered that the captain was seated in the little boat giving his commands how the ship should steer ; for imtil the Dutch cut themselves adrift after the treaty of Utrecht England may be said to have followed a Dutch cjuite as much as Holland an English policy. It is truer still to say that both pursued a European policy, and no praise can be too strong for the heroic stand made by this little country in the cause of freedom. Outside the immediate circle of European politics Holland had an importance of her own in the possession of many colonies. Her colonial empire was not even then so large as that of England, but it was of consider- able extent. Ceylon then belonged to Holland. Germany was a most divided country. It contained A.D. 17 13 Europe after UtrecJit. 7 the enormous number of between five and six hundred independent or ahnost independent states, for they owed a nominal allegiance to the Emperor. This large number of course included not ^^"^^'^"3- only electorates and duchies, but also prince-bishoprics and free cities. It is only in our own day that unity has come to Germany, and it has not come in any way through the action of Austria. The various German princes, keeping up each i. little court, as far as possible in imitation of the French Court at Versailles, ground down their unfortunate subjects with heavy taxation. If now and then there w^as a kindly and good prince, he was the exception rather than the rule. The Emperor was still called Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. There was still a nominal election to the office, but practically the Emperor elected was always the head of the family of Hapsburg, the House of Austria. Aiistfzcs est Impcrar'e Orbi Universo was still the proud boast of this proud family (' Austria should rule the world '), but even those who made the boast must have felt how false it was. Once the head of this House was not Emperor only, but King of Spain, ruler of the Nether- lands and of large portions of Italy, Then came a separation between the two branches of the House. The Netherlands had gone with Spain, but the Spanish Hapsburgs had ended, and now the treaty of Utrecht gave the Netherlands back to Austria. The hereditary dominions of the House of Austria formed the nucleus of her power, and very various these dominions were. It was curious that the chief power in Germany should be in the hands of a sovereign the chief part of whose own dominions was not really German at all. The extent of the Austrian dominions was nearly the same as that of the Austrian empire to-day, in which the German element is proportionately small. In the course of this history it 8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1713 will be seen how Hungary, a non-German possession^ proveditself of great importance to the House of Austria. Of the other German States Saxony was very much divided. The princely family had first split into two lines, one of which established primogeniturey ' ^"^o'^y- |.]^g other did not. The representative of the first line was called the Elector of Saxony. His name was Augustus the Strong, a name earned by physical, not moral qualities, and he was at this time also the elected King of Poland. The Elector of Saxony later became a king. The other line divided and subdivided itself till it had become a heap of small separate states, all those,. namely, that begin with the prefix Saxe, such as Saxe- Weimar, Saxe-Coburg. Another Elector, the Elector of Brunswick, was just about to become King of England, and the Elector of Brandenburg was King of Prussia, having re- ceived the title from the Emperor in order that the Prussian troops might be secured to the side of the Emperor and the Grand Alliance in the Spanish Suc- cession War. It cannot be too often impressed upon learners that by the German title Elector (Kurfiirst) is meant one who has a right to vote at the election of the Emperor of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Until the middle of the seventeenth century there were seven Electors, three archbishops, and four secular princes. The prelates were those of Mainz or Mayence, Treves, and Cologne ; the secular princes were the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Elector of Saxony,, the King of Bohemia, and the Elector Palatine. Any title less than King was gladly merged in the proud title of Elector. To these seven the Duke of Bavaria was added at the peace of Westphalia. For years he had held the dominions, and therefore claimed the vote of the A.D. 1 7 13 Europe after UtrecJit. 9 Elector Palatine. Lastly the Duke of Brunsvvick-Liine- burg was made the ninth Elector, because he joined the Grand Alliance. Poland was in a very unsatisfactor>' condition, always in danger of setting her neighbours' houses on fire. The causes were the elective monarchy and the turbulence of the nobility. The danger of an elective monarchy is that the faction which is defeated at the election may resent its defeat, and take up arms on behalf of its candidate. Such armed intervention occurred more than once in Poland. The elections were always more or less riotous, neighbouring nations often trying to profit by the confusion. Some forty years before the treaty of Utrecht, Poland had, in the person of John Sobieski, a hero for a king — the hero who drove back the Turks from Vienna. But Poland needed a states- man rather than a hero. The Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, was elected to succeed Sobieski, and reigned until he was defeated by Charles XII. of Sweden, who told the Poles to elect another king ; whereupon they elected one of their own nobles, whose name was Stanis- laus Leczynski. He, however, was only able to reign as long as Charles XII. was able to maintain him. On the fall of Charles, Leczynski retired to France, of which country his daughter afterwards became Queen Consort. These characters reappear in the course of this history. Behind Western Europe lay a ring of states less advanced in civilisation. In the north-east there was still continuing rivalry, if not actual contest, Russia and between those two remarkable men Charles Sweden. XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. The latter had the more persevering nature, the greater desire for material progress, as well as the greater resources. Russia was becoming in every way a greater nation than. 10 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 Sweden ; and from this time forward, in great European Avars, the part that Russia would play had always care- fully to be considered. Sweden, after the time of Charles XII., practically retired from interference in the affairs of Europe, and pursued henceforth the same policy as Holland, and for the same reason. Moreover a new power, the Turks, had by this time secured a place in Europe, much to the disgust of many, who thought that no efforts would have been too great to keep them out of Christendom. CHAPTER II. GEORGE I. On the death of Queen Anne, on an eventful Sunday morning, August i, 17 14, both the Privy Council and the House of Commons met. Messengers The new , ^ ^ ^, KingofEng- wcre at once sent to convey the news to land. H^anover ; fast travelling brought them there in less than five days. But George, who was heir to the crown, did not hasten to take up the great inheritance that had fallen to him. He was not young, and he was never an impulsive man. The weight of his fifty-four years and the natural slowness of his German character co-operated perhaps with a certain measure of policy that dictated looking before leaping. The new King took time to consider how he should act with respect to English ministers and English parties before plunging into their midst. Meanwhile in his name all steps were being taken to ensure a quiet accession, and the hopes and fears which the anticipation of the Queen's death had excited were alike calmed. A Jacobite bishop offered in his lawn sleeves to proclaim King James 1 11^ A.D. 1714 George I. 11 at Charing Cross, and when his friends refused to act with him declared that the finest possible opportunity had been lost for want of spirit. George I., whom circumstances and the Act of Settlement had thus called to be King of Great Britain and Ireland, had been a sovereign prince for sixteen years, during which time he had been Elector of Brunswick-Liineburg. He was the second who ever bore that title. By right of his father he was Elector ; it was by right of his mother that he now became ruler of the United Kingdom. The father was Ernest Augustus, Sovereign Bishop of Osnaburg, who, by the death of his elder brothers, had become Duke of Hanover, and then Duke of Brunswick and Liineburg. In 1692 he was raised by the Emperor to the dignity of Elector. The other Electors were indignant at the Em- peror's claim in such arbitrary manner to add to their number, and for nearly sixteen years, during which period one election to the empire had taken place, the Electors refused any recognition of the new voice. Then they yielded. Whether the Emperor acted strictly legally is disputed amongst those who are learned in that intricate subject the law of the Holy Roman Empire, but that he acted in accordance with sound motives of policy admits of no dispute. Lewis XIV. was dangerous to Europe, and the grand alliance against him wanted all the help that could be obtained. It was feared that Hanover was wavering and that her troops might be on the side of France. The promotion of the Duke to be Elector was the price paid to keep Hanover upon the right side. Doubtless King William III., the very soul of the earlier Grand Alliance, approved of the price paid, though at that time so many stood nearer in the English succession than the princes of the House of Hanover that there seemed no probability that the electorate would 12 TJie Early Hanovei'ians. a.d. 1714 prove for that family only a step to the higher dignity — the throne of England. The mother of George I. was Sophia, usually known as the Electress Sophia. The title was merely one of honour, and only meant wife of an Elector. IS mot er. ^j^.^ princess was twenty-seven when she mar- ried Ernest Augustus,afterwards first Elector of Brunswick- LiAneburg, and she was as famous for her beauty and for her wit as he was for his courtly manner. The marriage took place a couple of years before the restoration of the Stuarts to England, and, amid the general joy with which that event was hailed in England, no notice was there taken of the birth of a little prince, great-grandson of one English king, son of the first cousin of the restored monarch. The Electress Sophia was the daughter of Elizabeth, daughter of King James I., and Frederick, the Elector Palatine. The Princess Elizabeth was one of the most beautiful of women. She inspired enthusiasm in the breasts of Elizabeth of English pocts and of German princes. Wit- Bohemia, ness the beautiful and well-known verses by Sir Henry Wotton ' to Elizabeth of Bohemia ' ; witness the enthusiasm with which, wearing her glove. Christian of Brunswick, in the spirit of a crusading knight, engaged in that most unchivalrous of wars called, from its weary length, the Thirty Years' War, in which he won for himself the title 'God's friend and parsons' foe.' Her husband Frederick, the Elector Palatine, was elected by the Protestants of Bohemia to be their king. The Kin- of ^^^ House of Austria claimed that the right Bohemia. of election was merely nominal, and that the Bohemians were bound, as of course, to elect the head of that House. This they probably would have done had he not been a prominent Roman Catholic prince, sus- A.D. 1 7 14 George L 13 pected of intending a policy of persecution in his heredi- tary dominions and in Bohemia if he gained it, as well as in his position of Emperor, to which he was now elected. Frederick on election went to Prague, but his reign in Bohemia was very short. He is known in history as the Winter King, because one winter was the duration of his reign. In the battle of the White Mountain, outside his capital, Prague, the Austrians defeated him. They drove him not only from the kingdom of Bohemia, but from his electorate also, and gave the Palatinate to a staunch adherent of the Emperor's cause, the Duke of Bavaria. This may be described as the first act in that terrible re- ligious war — the Thirty Years' War. The animosity felt throughout Germany between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants had prepared the train for an explosion : this dispute in Bohemia fired it. Whilst the war con- tinued Frederick, with his beautiful queen Elizabeth, remained landless and homeless ; but at the peace of W^estphalia, which closed it, he was not forgotten. In the spirit of conciliation and compromise that then pre- vailed, it was felt that the electorate could not be taken from Bavaria. It was decided, therefore, that part of the Palatinate should be restored to Frederick and an eighth electorate created. Forty-four years later a ninth elec- torate was established in favour of his son-in-law, the Duke of Hanover. During almost the whole of Queen Anne's reign the Electress Sophia was her legal heir. Naturally she took the keenest interest in English politics, and is said to have declared that she would die happy Electress if she could know that ' Queen of England ' ^^p^'""- would be engraven on her coffin. Two months, however, before the English throne became vacant the Princess Sophia was taking exercise in the trim gardens of Herren- hausen. Agitated, it is said, by a letter which she had 14 The Early Hanoverians, a.d. 17 14 just received from Queen Anne, resenting the proposal that Prince George, the electoral prince, should go to England, she was walking too quickly, and fell down dead of heart disease. The new royal house in England is sometimes called the House of Hanover, sometimes the House of Bruns- House of wick. It will be found that the latter nam.e is Brunswick, yvlox^ generally used in histories written during the last century, the former in books written in the pre- sent day. If the names were equally applicable, the modern use is the more convenient, because there is another, and in some respects well known, branch of the House of Brunswick ; but no other has a right to the name of Hanover. It is, however, quite certain that, whatever the English use may be, Hanover is properly the name of a town and of a duchy, but that the electorate was Brunswick-Liineburg. During the last few weeks of Queen Anne's reign the heir was prayed for in the Liturgy of the Church of England as 'the Duke of Brunswick,' a petition substituted for that for the ' Prin- cess Sophia.' The House of Brunswick was of noble origin, tracing itself back to a certain Guelph d'Este, nicknamed ' the . . Robust,' son of an Italian nobleman, who had Its origin. '.,.- • r^ /^ii been seeknig his fortunes m Germany. Guelph married Judith, widow of the English King, Harold, who fell on the hill of Senlac, pierced in the eye, when the English were routed in the battle of Hastings. One of Guelph's descendants, later, married Maud, the daughter of King Henry II., probably the most powerful king in Europe of his day, at whose persuasion the Emperor conferred on the Guelphs the duchy of Brunswick. The son of this marriage became, for a short period. Emperor at a time when the Guelphs gained the upper hand in Germany ; and fourteenth in descent from this same mar- A.D. 1714 George I. 15 riage is Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Brunswick- Liineburg. More than once the territories of the House of Brunswick were divided, and sometimes into several frag- ments, but by failure of heirs the parts were reunited. The story is told that the grandfather of Ernest Augustus, by name Duke William the Pious, had seven sons, who, seeing that if the territories Avere subdivided their influence Avould vanish, agreed that one only of them should marry, and that the dice selected his son George. He, in turn, had four sons, who divided their territories, though they made a compact somewhat similar to that of the pre- vious generation. The whole was joined together once more under the youngest brother, Ernest Augustus. Ernest Augustus, the first Elector, was nineteen at the date when the peace of Westphalia put an end to the Thirty Years' War, and fifty-nine when Description William of Orange landed at Torbay. A ^f^J^^^^. Scotch gentleman, much given to travelling, Hanover. who was English consul at Amsterdam, and who pub- lished in that city in the year of the English Revolution (1688) an account of his travels, gives us some insight into the Court of Hanover. ' Here,' he says, ' I had the honour to kiss the hands of the Princess Royal, Sophia, youngest sister to the late Prince Rupert. Her Highness has the character of the Merry Debonaire, Princess of Germany, a lady of extraordinary virtue and accomplish- ments : she is mistress of the Italian, French, High and Low Dutch, and English languages, which she speaks to perfection. Her husband has the title of the Gentleman of Germany, a graceful and comely prince, both on foot and on horseback, civil to strangers beyond compare, infinitely kind and beneficent to people in distress, and known in the world for a valiant and experienced soldier. I had the honour to see his troops, which, without controversy, are as good men, and commanded i6 TJic Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 by as expert officers, as any are in Europe. . . . God hath blest the prince with a numerous offspring, having six sons — all gallant princes— of whom the two eldest signalised themselves so bravely at the raising of the siege of Vienna that as an undoubted proof of their valour they brought three Turks home to this court prisoners. . . . He is a gracious prince to his people, and keeps a very splendid court, having in his stables, for the use of himself and children, fifty-two sets of coach-horses. He himself is Lutheran, but as his sub- jects are Christians of different persuasions — nay, and some of them are Jews too — so both in his court and army he entertains gentlemen of various opinions and countries, as Italian abbots and gentlemen that serve him, and many Calvinist French officers ; neither is he so bigoted in his religion but that he and his children go many times to church with the Princess, who is a Calvinist, and join with her in her devotion. His country is good, having gold and silver mines in it, and his subjects live well under him.' Mr. Consul Ker, when he penned these remarks, did not think that some twenty-six years later he would himself be in Hanover, congratulating the Duke of that place, then an Elector, on his accession to the crown of the United Kingdom. The portrait of Ernest Augustus can be seen in contemporary prints, looking majestic and dig- nified, with a very formidable wig and anything but a mild expression of countenance. The Elector died ten years after Mr. Ker published this account, and was succeeded in 1698 by his son, George Lewis, afterwards George L of England. There was no division of territories between the six ' gallant princes,' because Ernest Augustus, seeing that his newly-won electoral dignity must be suitably maintained, had established the right of prim.ogeniture. In the language of an old writer, a councillor of Hanover, A.D. 1714 ■ George I. 17 he 'gave a remarkable proof of his superior judgment, as well as of his concern for the welfare of his family, by effectually putting a stop to the pernicious custom that had hitherto prevailed in his house of dividing and cantling out the dominions belonging to it.' At the death of Queen Anne, King George was fifty-four years of age, and had been Elector sixteen years. His son, afterwards King George II., was nearly . ^ ,. _-. 1 T-1-1 IT! King George thirty-one. His grandson Frederick, who died and Queen as Prince of Wales, the father of George III., -'^""^• and great-grandfather of Queen Victoria, was then within ten days of seven. The new King was five years older than the Queen who had just died. It is a fact not generally known that he had once been a suitor for her hand. In the winter of 1680 he paid a visit to England, an account of which he wrote to his mother in Germany. * I saw the Princess of York (the Lady Anne), and I saluted her by kissing her, with the consent of the King ' (Charles II.) Notwithstanding this salute, he was not very cordially received by his English cousins, nor did the Lady Anne, not yet sixteen, look with favour on his suit. During his stay he received an honorary doctor's degree from the University of Cambridge, but he was soon recalled by a letter from his father, who for family reasons wished him to marry a cousin nearer home. Two and a half years after his departure the Lady Anne married Prince George of Denmark, and was very fond of her dull husband, who died some six years before her. M. H. TJlc Early Hanovcriaiis, a.d. 1714 W o o o a II — u o 0*0 C/3Q o "§■1 I "<2 fi U s Ef _o G 1 11- h4 fa C^ II a ' t/i 1; - _fci3 — < 1 rt ^ a ." i X •X rt IT. u cl II 1 t— 1 < p ,= A.D, I714 19 CHAPTER III. THE ELECTORATE. It may be as well to give here some account of the size and importance of King George's continental dominions. It has always been the custom to speak con- -p^^,, Electo- temptuously of them, as if they gave no addition rate. to the strength of England, but were in every way an incumbrance. Assertions to this effect are constantly made, but it is difficult to find any accurate estimate of the size of the electorate. Neither contemporary nor recent historians furnish facts. There are various points of view from which the comparison can be made — area, population, army, revenue. With respect to area it would seem as if King George's continental dominions amounted to between one-fourth and one-fifth of the area of England and Wales. The electorate was smaller than Scot- land, much larger than Wales. If we compare it with the United Kingdom, then, as the area of Scotland and Ireland together is about equal to that of England and Wales, we may say that it was one-ninth — in itself no despicable territorial addition. It is always difficult to discover the population of a country in the days before it was usual to take a census. The population of England at the accession of King George I. is variously estimated between five and seven millions. It is still more difficult to guess the population of the electorate. Mr. Consul Ker took some trouble to obtain information about the chief towns a few years earlier. He gives the number of ^P" ^"°"- the houses ' as they were given to me not only from the 20 TJlc Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 surveyors and city carpenters, but from the Books of the Hearth Aloney, and the Books of the Verpounding, where such taxes are paid.' The capital is not at the head of the Hst. The three largest towns, as given by Mr. Consul Ker, are : — Houses. Lunenburgh 3,ioa Osnaburgh 2,200 Hanover 15850 Now Osnaburgh was not, strictly speaking, in Han- over at all, as the map will show. It was the capital of the Bishopric of Osnaburgh, which, by a curious ar- rangement of the Treaty of Westphalia, was to be governed alternately by a Roman Catholic and Pro- testant Bishop. In 1688, the year when these facts were collected, a Protestant ruled ; then, from 1692 to 17 16, a Catholic, who was succeeded by Augustus, brother of George I., who died in 172S. Nor was it until 1803 that Osnabriick, as it ought to be called, was secularised and embodied in Hanover. We have, therefore, only two towns in the electorate of any considerable size. Next to these were Stade, Verden, Zell, Clausthal, and Gottingen, Avhere at a later date George I. founded a famous university. The Bishopric of Bremen contained no very large town, for the city of Bremen was an independent Free Town and did not go with the Bishopric; but Stade, from its neigh- bourhood to the mouth of the Elbe, was of considerable importance. Harburg also, near Hamburg, was a centre of trade, and there was in the south the very ancient town of Hamlin, but its population was not large. In the mining districts no doubt the numbers to the square mile would be large, but elsewhere, with few towns and not many villages and an agricultural population ELECTORATE OK HAN OVER Englisli Miles LoncLon,,hoyigrnj]jxs &. Co- A.D. I7I4 The Electorate, 21 it cannot have been great. The largest town, Lunenburgh, would be a little more than half the size of Bristol. The estimate hardly rises above guesswork, but we may infer that the whole population of the electorate did not exceed half a million, less than one-tenth of the population of England and Wales, less than the population of London, which had, however, already began to be disproportionate in its growth. The army of the electorate was very large in proportion to the population. Again we have a statement made by Mr. Consul Ker. We find that ' the Houses of Wolfenbiittel and Liineburg kept on foot in ™^' the years 1683-4 an army of i8,oco foot and 9,000 horse, whereof Ernest Augustus at his own expense entertained 10,000 foot and 5,000 horse in his dominions. These he considerably augmented afterwards.' In this respect the electorate comes nearest to the United Kingdom. The peace footing of the English army after the peace of Utrecht was fixed at 8,oco men in Great Britain and J 1,000 more in the plantations (i.e. colonies) and abroad. There was still in England a strong dislike of a standing army, such as was not felt, or at any rate not expressed, on the continent. In proportion to the size and import- ance of states, the armies of continental powers have always been much in excess of the English army, chiefly for the reason that England's first line of defence is the navy. But, according to the old proverb, money is the sinews of war, and w^e may ask, ' How did the two stand as regards revenue?' In a speech delivered in the House of Lords in January 1739 Lord Ches- terfield spoke with bitter irony of England, 'so happily annexed to his Majesty's German dominions,' and made this statement about the national resources : ' The whole revenues of the electorate at the time of his late Majesty's 22 The Early Hajioverians. a.d. 1714 accession to the throne of these reahns did not amount to more than 300,000/. a year.' The annual revenue of England at the same time (17 14) was under 5 millions. A year or two before it had reached the figure of 5| millions. The expenditure on the debt alone took more than half the revenue. Even then, it may be seen,. England was richer than her neighbours. At the union with Scotland the share of the latter in the land-tax was fixed at one-fortieth. To sum up, therefore, the electorate stood to the United Kingdom in the follov\ing proportions. As far Thepropor- ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ concemed, about one-ninth; in tions. population, about one-twelfth ; in military strength, much nearer an equality to the English army on its peace footing, and not counting the navy ; in national revenue, about one-twentieth. The wealth of the two nations may perhaps have borne the same proportion as the revenue. England was already rising to prominence as a trading community, and London was certainly the chief commercial city of the world. No doubt the Hanoverians when they saw London first thought what the Prussian general^ Bliicher, is reported to have expressed a century later — * What plunder ! ' It was a wealthy inheritance that George, Elector of Brunswick- Liineburg, was about to take up. The union with Hanover was always unpopular in England, more unpopular even than the first two sove- Union un- rcigns themsclves, who, although not of a cha- popular. racter to win their subjects' love, yet repre- sented a principle. ' If you wish the Pretender never to be King of England,' said a witty lord, ' have him made Elector of Hanover. It is quite certain the English people will never take another king from there.' The belief was general that poor Germans had come to A.D. 1 7 14 The Electorate. 23 plunder the richer English. This belief is expressed in the humorous story of the Hanoverian Court lady whose carriage was mobbed in London. Putting her head out of the carriage window, she said, in broken English, ' Peace, good people ; are we not come for all of your goods ? ' meaning ' for the good of all of you.' ' Yes,' promptly replied one in the mob, ' and for our chattels too.' The same thought is involved in Lord Chester- field's complaint, when, after estimating the paltry revenue of the electorate, he adds, ' And yet, soon after- wards, the considerable purchases of Bremen and Verden were made for above 500,000/. sterling. ... At least a million sterling has been laid out over and above in new acquisitions.' It may be asked why English ministers acquiesced in these purchases with English money ; and answer must be made that they looked upon the electorate and the United Kingdom as permanently joined, so that additions to the one were acquisitions for the whole. During our Hanoverian period there is a constant com- plaint that England is steered by a Hanoverian rudder, just as in William III.'s reign the charge was that our rudder was Dutch. William used England gladly to forward projects dear to his heart, but they were projects for the good of Europe, and not only of Holland. The policy of the first two Georges cannot be described as European. There is no doubt that they preferred their continental home to their English kingdom, that they always left the latter with pleasure and returned to it with regret, and that they favoured Hanoverians. Many Englishmen disliked this strongly, but felt that it was not an unreasonable price to pay for the exclusion of the Stuarts. It is, however, a little curious that relief was not sought in a method suggested by Sir Robert Walpole shortly before his fall. 'One day,' reports Speaker Onslow, 'he 24 TJie Early Hanovcidans. a.d. 1714 took me aside and said, "What will you say, Speaker, if this hand of mine shall bring a message from the Proposed King to the House of Commons declaring his separation, consent to having any of his family after his own death to be made by Act of Parliament incapa- ble of inheriting and enjoying the crown and possessing the electoral dominions at the same time ? " My answer was, "Sir, it will be as a message from Heaven.'" The message, however, never came. Exactly a century after the accession of King George I. the electorate, which, with the fall of the Holy Roman L^jgj. Empire in 1806, had ceased to be an electo- history. rate, was at the Congress of Vienna converted into the kingdom of Hanover. Then for the first time Hanover, properly only the name of the city, though often popularly used for the electorate of Brunswick- Liineburg, became the name of the state. On the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 the long-desired separation took place, because the Salic law prevented the kingdom of Hanover passing into female hands. The wisdom of Walpole's suggestion in the previous century has been shown by the avoidance of the very serious complications that would have arisen in 1866 if Hanover and England had possessed the same ruler In that year Hanover took the side of Austria against Prussia, and the latter, victorious in the Seven Weeks' W^ar, absorbed all the pov/ers of North Germany that were opposed to her. Had England then been united with Hanover, the war would have attained much larger proportions, and must have been much more serious. The union of Germany might have been indefinitely retarded. It would be invidious to make comparisons between the culture and civilisation of Hanover and England ; but it is pleasant to call to mind the names and careers of A. D. 1 7 14 TJie Electoi'ate. 25 their greatest men. A story runs that once George I. was complimented on having two such possessions as England and his electorate, and that he replied Newton and that he considered it a far greater honour to Leibmtz. have amongst his subjects two such men as Sir Isaac Newton and Leibnitz. Whether this stor>' be true or not, certainly of all the subjects in his continental dominions none was so famous as the latter philosopher, some little account of whom may be of interest. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz was born in 1646 at Leipzig, where his father was a university professor. When he was only six he lost his father, in- heriting from him a large library of books, which he eagerly read. As a boy he learnt many things, and as a young man studied in turn at three different universities. Classics, philosophy, m.athematics, and law all claimed his attention ; nor did he even disdain to concern himself with alchemy. In childhood a boy prodigy, throughout life Leibnitz was regarded as a kind of universal genius. He wrote on philosophical questions, on theological, on legal, and historical. On one occasion George I. called him a living dictionary. When Leibnitz was about thirty he was invited by the Duke of Brunswick-Liineburg, whose successors after- wards became electors, to take up his residence at the Court of Hanover, where he was treated with great kind- ness and most highly valued, especially by the Electress Sophia. The original design was that Leibnitz should write the history of the House of Brunswick. It reads like a satire on German thoroughness to hear that the preparations which Leibnitz thought necessary for so important a work carried him back as a preliminaiy to a study of geology, so as to know the state of the world before the creation. Probably his most famous book is his * Theodicea ' — a treatise on theology and philosophy — 26 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 written to 'justify the ways of God to man.' In his later years Leibnitz had an unfortunate controversy with Newton, each claiming to have first discovered the doctrine of the differential calculus. The truth was that both had made the same discovery independently and nearly simultaneously. Some two years after the suc- cession of King George to the throne Leibnitz died. He had been suffering badly from the gout, and possessing some knowledge of medicine — of what subject, indeed, did he not know something .? — he treated himself with a new remedy, and the cure proved fatal to him within the space of an hour. CHAPTER IV. FIRST MEASURES. Just seven weeks after the death of Queen Anne, King George landed at Greenwich. It was on a Sunday Arrival of evening, and there was a large concourse to George I. welcomc the new King, including the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Marlborough, and all the more prominent peers of both parties. The King, however, made a marked distinction in the way in which he received them. To the Whigs he was very gracious, on the Tories he turned his back. From this time forward it became quite evident that all his support would be given to the former party. A few days before the King's arrival he had sent orders that Bolingbroke should be deprived of office, and the orders had been carried out almost with rudeness, certainly v.'ithout the respect that should have been shown to the fallen statesman. This is Bolins^broke's own comment A.D. 1 7 14 First Measures. 27 on his treatment : ' To be removed was neither matter of surprise nor of concern to me, but the manner of my removal shocked me for at least two minutes. I am not in the least intimidated from any consideration of the Whig malice and power, but the grief of my soul is this — I see plainly that the Tory party is gone.' The succession of King George to the throne was a critical jooint in the history of party government. It is possible that, if King George had known how to hold the balance between the two parties, the system of government by a cabinet entirely drawn from one party might never have prevailed. The ablest man in his former dominions, though he had shown his ability in other matters rather than in politics, the philosopher Leibnitz, strongly advised George not to recognise parties in ^g^°"J- England, but to choose his ministers from Whigs or Tories indiscriminately ; to choose the best man for each particular office irrespective of his political views. Other counsels, however, prevailed ; and the behaviour of the King on his landing, his turning his back upon the Tory peers, and refusal even to be civil to them, were merely external signs that the Tories were to be excluded from office. The sympathies of the first two Georges were entirely with the Whigs. The third George made an attempt to be rid of party domination ; an attempt which proved unsuccessful and, it may almost be said, disastrous. George I. was not a remarkably intelligent man, but he knew perfectly clearly the limits of his power. It seems strange that he should have been ,,. , . n 1 • 1 • /• -1 Kings igno- allowed to grow up entirely ignorant of the ranee of English language, especially w4ien we con- ^"siish. sider that his mother was an accomplished linguist. But not until the death of Queen Anne's son, the young 28 The Early Hanoverians'. a.d. 1714 Duke of Gloucester, did there seem to be any prospect that the English throne would pass to the House of Hanover ; and when the Duke of Gloucester died George was well over forty, and at that age most men do not take kindly to grammars and exercise books. In consequence of King George's ignorance of English it was futile for him to preside at meetings of the Cabinet, and exceedingly difficult for him to understand the character of bills to be proposed or measures to be taken. The result was that the position of the Sovereign was changed, and, according to the French epigram, henceforth the Eng- lish King was a constitutional king who reigns, but does not govern. As King George could not hold the balance between the two parties he leant wholly to one, and from this Constitu- time forward government by one party at tionai king, a time bccamc the rule in English politics. In the reign of William III. and Anne there had been an approximation to this state of things, but the change was now complete. In one department only of public affairs did the King still keep and exercise influence — the relations with foreign governments. In the foreign policy of the nation King George had a considerable and not in all respects a salutary power. Naturally, but unfortunately, England became involved in quarrels which concerned Hanover rather than England. This was shown in a matter that took place ver}' shortly after the beginning of the reign. Bremen and Bremen and Verdcn are two districts upon the river Weser, Verdcn. lying between Hanover and the sea. They had been independent bishoprics, but at the end of the Thirty Years' War had fallen to Sweden as part of her share of the spoils. For over sixty years they continued outlying possessions of Sweden ; at the end of that time they had been conquered by Denmark, whilst Charles A.D. 1 7 14 First Measures, 29 XII. King of Sweden, defeated by Russia at the battle of Pultowa, remained in voluntary exile in Turkey. The King of Denmark offered to sell them to George for the sum of 150,000/., on condition that Hanover would join Denmark against Sweden. The purchase Avas made, no one thinking of taking into account the feelings of the unfortunate inhabitants, who, as Germans, would very likely have preferred Hanover ; and an English fleet was sent into the Baltic, but luckily never came to fighting. Nevertheless it was evident that England was risking the chance of a war wdth Sweden for the sake of Hanover ; and there was little reason for wonder when Charles XII., having in a manner worthy of a hero of romance returned from Turkey, declared that he would help the Pretender. According to old English law the death of a king or queen involved the dissolution of Parliament. The lawyers argued that the reigning Sovereign in Parlla- was the head of the Parliament, and the "^^"'• head failing, the \vhole body was extinct. But shortly before the accession of George I., in the reigns of William III. and of Anne, the fear of a dispute as to the succession was so strong that practical needs overcame the arguments of the lawyers, and new statutes were passed, allowing the Parliament in being to continue for a period of six months after the death of the Sovereign. On the very day that Queen Anne died, albeit a Sunday, Parliament met. The members took the oaths to King George, and proceeded to vote dutiful addresses. The civil list, or income allowed to the Sovereign, was fixed at 700,000/. —the same amount as under Queen Anne — though the Tories, anxious to win the favour of the new King, wished to raise the amount to a million. There chanced to be some arrears of pay due to the Hanoverian troops. When in 17 12 the English 30 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1714 troops under the Duke of Ormond had been withdrawn from the army of the grand alHes, the Hanoverian troops in English pay refused to obey orders, counting the with- drawal as a desertion in the face of the enemy. A great dispute arose as to their pay. The Tories, who wished the war closed and admired the withdrawal of the English troops, had voted resolutely against the payment of the Hanoverians. The Whigs, who were all for Marlborough and the war, admired the conduct of the Hanoverians, and wished to pay them. But circumstances alter cases, and, the ruler of Hanover having become King of England, the motion to pay the troops was carried with- out opposition. A reward of no less than 100,000/. was offered to anyone who should seize the Pretender in case of his landing. The Parliament was then prorogued. After the King's arrival, and within the six months allowed by the law, the Parliament was dissolved by pro- General clamation, and a new Parliament called. In election. ^^ proclamation by which the new Parliament was summoned, the ministers most improperly invited the electors in their choice of candidates ' to have a par- ticular regard to such as showed a firmness to the Pro- testant succession when it was in danger.' The result of the general election was a large Whig majority, and during the remainder of this reign and through all the next the Whigs had exclusive possession of power. With a new reign and a new House of Commons, it would have been wise to have made a fresh start ; but the T? „o-«^n Whig ministers were unwilling to forego an Revenge on t> o o Tory minis- opportunity for rcvcnge. At the beginning of the first session a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider all the circumstances relating to the treaty of Utrecht. This committee did its work elaborately, for the reading of its report occupied five hours, and on conclusion of the reading A. D. 1 7 14 First Measures. 31 it was determined that Bolingbroke and Oxford should be impeached for their share in the treaty, A few days later it was likewise determined to impeach the Duke of Ormond, the general who had withdrawn the troops from the allied army. Impeachment means prosecution by the House of Commons before the House of Lords. Bolingbroke had apparently gauged the temper of the House, for he fled the country even before the report of the committee was made. The Duke of Ormond fled also, but Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, the late Prime Minister, stood his ground, and was committed to the Tower. The story goes that Ormond before flying urged Oxford also to escape, and being unable to per- suade him took his leave with the words, ' Farewell, Oxford without a head,' to which the reply came at once, ' Farewell, Duke without a duchy.' Oxford preserved his head, but Ormond lost his duchy, for the trial of the former before his peers was delayed over a space of two 3^ears, during which the Jacobite rising was entirely sup- pressed and a change in the direction of clemency had come over the minds of the ministers. At the end of the two years the charges were dropped and Oxford released. Against Bolingbroke and Ormond in their absence bills of attainder were passed. These proceedings were highly impolitic, if, indeed, they were not absolutely unjust. The treaty of Utrecht was made because the English people were tired of the war with France. The manner of bringing about the treaty was in the highest degree unsatisfactory: the treatment of the allies was dishonour- able. The Duke of Ormond, when appointed to succeed Marlborough as Commander-in-Chief, received definite orders, known as the ' restraining orders,' by which he still appeared to be fighting on the side of the allies whilst in reality he was to carry on no operations against 32 TJie Early Hanoverians, a.d. 1714 the French. But Ormond as a soldier had to obey orders ; and the conduct of the two ministers, Harley and Bohngbroke, however disgraceful, had been known to and approved by two distinct Parliaments. These con- siderations should have saved them from prosecution : but the violence of the Whigs helped to drive the Tories into more violent opposition. Bolingbroke, it is beheved, was quite willing to let bygones be bygones, and would have accepted office under King George. Within twelve months of his accession he received the seals as Secre- tary of State to the Pretender, joining himself to the mock court which the latter maintained at Paris. CHAPTER V. THE FIFTEEN. There can be little doubt that the confirmed Jacobites Avere ready, at any time after the death of Queen Anne, to make an attempt to restore the Stuarts. re"tore^ the° What may be doubted is whether their numbers Stuarts. \\Q,x^ sufficient to justify such an attempt by giving it any chance of success. During the first year of the new King's reign his decided and manifest inclination towards the Whig party and the vindictive treatment of the Tory leaders had, by swelling the ranks of the dis- contented, given the attempt a much better, and indeed its only, chance. From the date of the revolution, known, from its bloodless character, as the Glorious Revolution, to the time when the hopes of the Jacobites were crushed in the defeat of Culloden, and by the cruel punishment which followed it— a period of fifty-eight years— constant were the efforts made to restore the exiled family. Such efforts may be classed under two heads. For the first A.D. 17 1 5 Tiie Fifteen. 33 twenty-five years of this period England was for the most part at war with France, and the hope of the Jacobites lay in the defeat of their country. At the begin- ning of the first war, which lacks a recognised name, but may be known as the War of the First Grand Alliance, Ireland held out vigorously for James II. until the battle of the Boyne and the pacification of Limerick destroyed his power there. The Highlands of Scotland held out under the heroic Dundee until the victory of Killiecrankie proved through his death worse than a defeat. The re- mainder of that war was a sort of drawn combat. Though William often lost battles his antagonists gained little by their victories. In the second war, the War of the Spanish Succession, which Lewis' recognition of James' son as King of England contributed no little to bring about, the military genius and splendid successes of Marlborough gave no hope for final victory to France or restoration by the French of the Stuart dynasty. When the treaty of Utrecht closed that war James, the old Pretender, had to retire from France and take refuge in Lorraine. Baffled in the hope of help from abroad, more attention was given to rebellion at home. Once in Queen Anne's reign, when the unpopularity of the Union still made the Scotchmen sore, an attempt was made, which failed, first, because, when his adherents were ready, the Pretender, then nearly twenty, had the measles ; when he had recovered from the measles, and came to Scotland, the adherents on shore were not ready. But after all Anne was a Stuart, half-sister of the Pretender ; whilst her successor, though great- grandson of a Stuart king, can hardly be called a Stuart Stronger attempts, therefore, might fairly be expected. In this volume accounts of two will be found, neither of them despicable, either of which with a little more effort, a little more well-directed energy, might have M. H. D 34 The Early Hanovcriaiis. a.d. 1715 succeeded. They are called after their dates — the Fifteen and the Forty-five. The Fifteen was the rising of the old Pretender, James Francis Edward, against George I. ; the Forty-five was the rising of his son, Charles Edward, the young Pretender, against George II. It will be shown that the latter was the more formidable of the two. Bolingbroke, after his flight from England, had been made chief adviser of him whom his friends called James III., his enemies the Pretender, and whom jo mg ro e. ^i^^^^ ^^j^^ \\Qx^ neither called by the neutral name of the Chevalier de St. George. Bolingbroke knew a good deal about the discontent in England, and believed that with a French force of moderate strength as a nucleus a rising might be made simultaneously in Scotland and in several parts of England. By representations made to King Lewis XIV., he very nearly succeeded in bringing about a war between France and England. Bolingbroke himself afterwards declared that had Lewis lived such a war would have broken out within six months. But Lewis' life was an insecure foundation upon which to build, and his death destroyed any hopes of assistance from France. The Regent, his successor, was determined to be friendly with England. In the United Kingdom the head of the Jacobite party was John, Earl of Mar, a nobleman whose nickname, John Earl ' Bobbing John,' tells us his character. He of Mar. had changed his side several times, and if he could have obtained office from King George would have remained, apparently at least, a loyal subject. But King George received the Earl with insult, and even turned his back upon him as he oftered homage on the occa- sion of the King's landing. Mar, though once a Whig^ had been manager for Scotland as Secretary of State in the time of Tory sway at the end of the late reign. Sore A.D. 171 5 The Fifteen. 35 at the deprivation of office, he joined the Jacobites, by whom he was thought to have great weight in Scotland, IJut though a cunning poHtician, and skilled in intrigue, he was too selfish as well as too unskilful in matters of war to be the leader of a successful rebellion. One day he attended a levee held by King George ; next day he left London, in disguise, on board a collier bound for the north. Having reached his home in Aberdeenshire, he issued invitations to a ^"^"^s- great hunt. After a stirring speech from their inviter, those who were assembled took an oath of allegiance to Mar as general for King James. A few days later, on September 6, the standard was raised for the Chevalier. It was noticed as an evil omen that the gilt ball fell down from the top of the pole. The insurrection soon spread, almost all the Highlanders being for the descendant of their ancient kings. A great success nearly fell to the share of the rebels within the first three days. A plot had been set on foot by some friends of the cause in Edinburgh to Edinburgh seize Edinburgh Castle. A sergeant and two Castle. privates of the garrison were bribed or cajoled to admit Jacobite soldiers within, and a time was fixed for scaling the walls when one of these three would be the sentinel. The cause of failure should be told in the words of a contemporary, it being premised that for a conspiracy to succeed secrecy and punctuality are absolutely necessary. ' They were so far from carrying on their affairs privately that a gentleman, who was not concerned, told me that he was in a house that evening where eighteen of them were drinking, and heard the hostess say that they were powdering their hair for an attack on the castle.' The result of the ' powdering ' was that the attacking party arrived too late : the sentinels were being changed, and news of the attempt had meanwhile been conveyed to 36 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 5 the garrison through the sister-in-law of one of the con- spirators. BoHngbroke had given his opinion that Scotland must not rise without England ; England would not rise with- out aid from France ; and aid from France "^^ ' was not at present to be expected. There can, however, be no doubt that the Earl of Mar expected, when he began the rebellion in Scotland, that risings would take place in England at the same time or follow very soon. This opinion was shared by the English ministers, who promptly arrested all noblemen, promi- nent men, and gentlemen, and sent soldiers to all towns suspected of being on the Jacobite side. This was the occasion when ' the King to Oxford sent a troop of horse.' in Bristol and in Plymouth arms were seized, and horses which the Jacobites had got ready ; active Jacobites were arrested. In November the Duke of Ormond, unwisely driven into exile, came across the rmon . Q\^2iViXi€i with a following of less than forty, ex- pecting that James' friends would rally round him. He landed in Devonshire, but, finding no one to join him, was obliged to return. A little later the Duke started again, but this time he was driven back by a storm. But though Ormond's attempt at an insurrection in the west of England was thus defeated by the vigilance North of ^^ ^^^ ministers, there was one part of Eng- Engiand. land, not at that time as influential as Oxford or Devonshire, though not far behind them in import- ance — the north — in which the Jacobites had a much better chance. Their natural leader there was James Ratcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, a young Roman Catholic noble- man, with large estates and great influence in the north. He was at this time only twenty-four, had been brought up in France, and had family sympathy with the Stuarts, •for his mother was an illegitimate daughter of Charles II. A.D. 17 1 5 TJie Fifteen. 37 Mr. Forster, member for Northumberland, and this young nobleman determined to raise their part of the country for James. They headed a small force — 'a handful of Northumberland foxhunters' — as Sir Walter Scott calls it. Shortly afterwards they were joined by some Scotch Jacobites from over the Border, and after a httle hesitation marched down into Lancashire, Mr. Forster being elected general. The Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord- Lieutenant of Westmoreland tried resistance, called out the militia, but the militia were frightened at the insurgents and ran away in a panic. Southwards the little Jacobite army marched as far as Battle of Preston, gathering numbers, if not strength, Preston, as they went ; but being shut into the town of Preston by the royal troops they were compelled ignominiously to surrender. It is even said that Mr. Forster, the general, when he heard of the approach of the royal troops had so little idea what to do that he went to bed ! On the same day as the surrender of Preston (it was Sunday, November 17) took place the battle of Dunblane, or Sheriffmuir. The Duke of Argyle was the Battle of general whom the ministers in London had ^henffmuir. chosen to command the King's men in Scotland. It was a good choice. Head of one of the most powerful Scotch clans, the Campbells, and believed to be true to the cause of King George, he was a good and experienced general as well as an able statesman. The Duke, however, had not at first large forces at his disposal, and when the battle was fought the rebels were at least three to one. The smaller force amounted to about 3,300, of whom a third were cavalry; but the smaller force was the better discipHned as well as the better commanded. On the previous night the Royalists occupied the town of Dunblane. The battle was fought on a moor to the east of the town, where the sheriff used to exercise his militia. 38 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 15 Both sides were anxious to engage. Each commander- in-chief took the right wing of his own army. On Argyle's right lay a morass, which usually could not be crossed ; as, however, there had been a recent hard frost, he ventured to send a squadron of horse over it, and thus outflanked the enemy. Although the Jacobites fought bravely, they were beaten back. Meanwhile, upon the other wing, Mar was meeting with a success like that of his opponent. A fierce charge of the High- landers, maddened by the sight of the fall of a much- loved leader from the first fire of the Royalists, drove all before them. Target for defence and broadsword for slaughter soon did the work ; in a few minutes the Royalists on the left wing were routed. Never, perhaps, was a stranger battle : each right wing was triumphant, each left defeated. It was said of the Duke of Argyle that he was not letting his left hand know what his right hand was doing. The truth was that his aide-de-camp was killed galloping across. When the victorious right wings found that the success was theirs alone, they faced about and returned to the battle-field. Mar had larger numbers and the better position, but not having the courage to recognise this truth, nor to act upon it, he gave the order to retreat, one of his own followers exclaiming, ' Oh for one hour of Dundee ! ' The following lines are from a ballad written upon the battle : — There's some say that we wan, Some say that they wan ; And some say that none wan at a', man ; There's but ae (one) thing, I'm sure, That at Sheriffmuir A battle there was that I saw, man : And we ran, and they ran, And they ran, and we ran. And we ran, and they ran av/a', man. A.D. 17 1 5 The Fifteen. 39 It is usual to call this a drawn battle, but the Royalists gained more than the Jacobites. They had fewer slain, fewer prisoners ; they took cannon and stand- ards, and on the day after- the battle the Scotch Duke was upon the field ready to engage "smg. again. But the Highlanders were not ready, and soon melted away. In this campaign, as well as in the rebellion of the Forty-five, it must be remembered that Highlanders are glorious soldiers to fight a battle with, but, until they come under the discipline of a regular army, the worst soldiers in the world for a whole cam- paign. Their undoubted bravery and their personal strength, as well, perhaps, as their quaint appearance and wild shouts, made them formidable fighters. But their jealousy of other clans, even if they had not bitter feuds with them, was certain to produce disunion, and, too proud to yield for the common good, the formidable Highland army would vanish away. In their onslaught they may be compared to a resistless snow storm in their own mountains ; but if their enemies could wait, the Highland clans became like the same snow under the genial influence of the midday sun. Whilst Mar was doing his ineffectual best to keep the Highlanders together, whilst many of those who re- mained were becoming anxious to treat, and Late arrival the King's ministers, successful in stamping of James, out rebellion in England, were in a position to send strong reinforcements, including some Dutch regiments, to the north, the Chevalier landed. Mar's raising of the standard w^as on September 6 ; the Prince did not arrive until Decemiber 22. It was not his fault that he was late. He had hoped more from Ormond's attempt in the west of England, and when on its failure he wanted to sail to Scotland, English cruisers and contraiy weather had prevented him. But it certainly was a 40 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 5 misfortune for his cause. Expecting to lind a large High- land force, he found a small one. The spirit was gone out of the attempt, and he was not the man> to bring it back again. All the princes of the House of Stuart from the time of James I. maybe described as obstinate in ac- tion and unwise in selection of advisers; but many of them were genial, witty, lively, and could inspire enthusiasm. This prince, however, was grave, even gloomy ; and his presence added nothing to the success of his cause. Bitterly disappointed, he had not the good sense to hide his disappointment, and on one occasion even shed tears. His speeches were full of complaints that he had been deceived. ' For him it was no new thing to be unfortu- nate, since his whole life, from his cradle, had been a constant series of misfortunes.' As the Royalists ad- vanced, the Highlanders, much to their disgust, received orders to retreat, and James was induced by his own friends, after a sojourn in Scotland of little more than six weeks, to return to France. When their prince was gone the insurgents dispersed. Five months had not passed since the beginning of the insurrection. When the rebellion was over the rebels who were prisoners were certainly treated with clemency. Seven peers were tried, were found or pleaded guilty ment. ^^ treason, and condemned to death ; but of these only two were beheaded, the Earl of Derwent- water being one. The vast estates of the former were confiscated and bestowed on Greenwich hospital, a place for broken-down seamen, and the revenues of the Derwentwater estates are still used for pensions to sailors. Of the others three were pardoned and two escaped from the Tower. The story of the escape of one nobleman is romantic. His wife came to visit him, and he escaped in her clothes. Of the inferior offenders it may be noted that Mr. A.D. 1 7 15 The Fifteen. 41 Forster escaped from prison. Of the soldiers twenty-two were hanged in Lancashire and four in London. Many of the others were transported to the colonies in America, and it is said that when the War of Independence broke out their descendants took the King's side ; so far were they, at least, from any feeling that after ' the Fifteen ' ' the violence of the Whigs dyed the royal ermine with blood.' Probably unsuccessful rebels were never so leniently treated. After the suppression of the insurrection the attention of the Government was naturally turned to measures that would prevent the recurrence of a rising ro^^s in the in the Highlands. The best of all the mea- Highlands. sures was exceedingly simple — the providing good roads throughout the Highlands. The advantage of these excellent roads was that they enabled troops to be speedily conveyed from point to point upon the first news of a rising. Hitherto it had been almost impos- sible for any but trained mountaineers to travel, much less to travel quickly. But it will at once be evident that the roads would be used not only by troops : other good results followed, the promotion of trade and the spread of commercial intercourse. The roads were chiefly made by soldiers under the command of Marshal Wade. They gave rise to a famous couplet : If you had seen these roads before they were made You would hold up your hands and bless General Wade. This, however, is not to be regarded as a bull, for a road may be a road before it is a ' made ' road. 42 The Early Hanoverians. a.d, 17 15 CHAPTER VI. SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. In the April of the year that followed ' the Fifteen ' the ministers brought in and carried a bill extending the Septennial duration of Parliaments. Originally the sove- Act. reign could call and dissolve a Parliament at his pleasure. The surviving members of the Long Parliament met in the year of the Restoration, twenty chequered years after their eventful election. Charles II. kept one Parliament together for seventeen years. Such a power is evidently greatly in favour of the sovereign, who, by selecting a moment of popularity, might secure a Parliament to his liking, and keep it at a time wdien it would no longer represent the feeling of the nation. To prevent such a course the Triennial Bill was passed a few years after the accession of William and Mary, by which it was made compulsory that the House of Commons should be re-elected every three years. William's title was too insecure for him to resist even if he wished. But the Parliaments elected under the Triennial Act had not been especially good Parlia- ments, not less corrupt than others nor more zealous for popular rights ; and now, wdth a rebellion just quelled and with a sovereign personally unpopular, it was felt that there w^ould be no little danger in holding a general election. The Septennial Bill, increasing the length of life of a Parliament to seven years, was brought in to the House of Lords, and carried through all its stages in both Houses in a little over a fortnight. In each House there was opposition to the measure, especially on the very fair ground that this particular Parliament had no right to extend its own duration, to which argument there was A.D. 17 1 5 Septennial Act and Peerage Bill. 43 no reply except the unanswerable pfea of the public good. A decided majority, however, passed the bill, and there was no strong feeling on either side amongst the people at large. The Septennial Act is still the law of England, though custom has reduced the limit for a Parliament's duration from seven years to a period never exceeding six ; even this limit a Parliament is generally not permitted to reach. Though annual Parliaments formed one of the points of the people's charter, there is at present no considerable party that wishes to repeal the Septennial Act. Under it the House of Commons has increased in strength, and the period of six or seven years, with power in the hands of the sovereign to abridge the time, though not to lengthen it, may be regarded as a middle course between subserviency to the Crown which a long-lived parliament might exhibit, and the frequent shiftings of power through annual parliaments. Some three years later an endeavour was made to alter the constitution of the House of Lords. The Peerage Bill was a proposal of the ministry to limit the King's prerogative in the matter of the creation of peers. On the occasion of the treaty of Utrecht, though there was a majority in the ^^''^seBiil. Commons in its favour, the majority in the House of Lords was hostile to the treaty, for in that House the majority was Whig. In the present day this would pro- bably not endanger a treaty, but at the time it was thought so important to secure a majority in each House that Harley— or, to give him his title, Lord Oxford — as the Prime Minister, advised the Queen to make twelve new peers to vote for the treaty, thus securing the desired majority. A witty lord, in allusion to their number being the same as that of a common jury, asked if the new lords ' voted separately or through their foreman.' The advice which Harley gave in this matter, as straining the 44 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 5 royal prerogative, was one of the charges upon which stress was laid in the attack made upon him at the beginning of the reign. The ministers now proposed that the King should surrender the prerogative of making an unlimited number of peers, and they persuaded King George to give his assent to their proposal. The Peerage Bill pro- vided that beyond the royal family the sovereign should have power only to add six to the existing number, though a new peer might be created whenever a peerage became extinct. The bill further provided that the system of electing sixteen representative peers of Scotland should cease, twenty-five being called up at once to the House of Lords, and the remaining Scotch peers being summoned to take seats whenever one of these twenty-five peerages became extinct. This latter proposal, though nowadays it would absorb almost all the Scotch peers, who are not also peers of the United Kingdom, and might therefore be held to be judicious, was shown to be hard on the Scotch peers who would not be within the magic twenty-five. Such peers have this peculiar disadvantage, that they cannot sit in the House of Commons. But the greater part of the opposition was directed against the limitation of the peerage. If this principle had become law it would have changed the character of the English House of Lords, and converted it into a caste. It is the glory of that House that by merit any one may rise to it, and that the son of a peer is a commoner ; whilst a younger son, except of his own merit, will never be anything else. Moreover, the creation of peers is a safety-valve to the political machine. If the sovereign and the Commons be at one in favour of any measure, and the Lords differ from them, this power, not necessarily used, but held in reserve, would prevent a deadlock. On one famous occasion it had this effect. The difficulty in carrying the great Reform Bill would have been much A. D. 171 5 Septennial Act and Peerage Dill. 45 greater if this unwise Peerage Bill had been law. Natu- rally the Lords liked it, for it increased the power of each one of them individually, as well as of their House collectively. It was equally natural that the Commons rejected the measure. Their action seems to have been almost entirely due to Walpole, who insisted that the Whigs in the Commons ought to oppose the measure, and who led the opposition with a most eloquent speech. His influence on this occasion may be said to have fore- shadowed the fact that he was the coming leader. It is interesting to remember, in connection with the conflict which raged over the Peerage Bill, that in the w^ar of pamphlets which all political measures Addison and produced, answering to modern leading articles, Steele. a sort of literary duel was fought between Addison and Steele. Once they had been close friends, but on this occasion they wrote very bitterly of each other. Addison, under the name of ' Old Whig,' took the side of the Lords, chiefly basing his support of the Bill on the creation of the twelve peers. Steele called himself ' Plebeian,' and urged arguments similar to those of Walpole. It was only a few weeks after this that Addison died. Addison's fame belongs to the world of letters, and rests on the purity and delicacy of his writings, and on ,, . „ , . , , r , ,, Addison. the excellent mfluence which they enjoyed. He was a remarkable instance of the way in which, in that day, success in literature drew political position with it. On the accession of King George, Addison was appointed secretary to the Lords Justices who acted as a Council of Regency until the King's arrival. One of the common- places of essayists is a story how, in drawing up the address to the King, Addison hesitated so long in his choice of words that at length the Lords Justices sent for an ordinary clerk, who at once did what was wanted. The obvious answer has been given that a clerk would be 46 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 5 likely to know the forms better than a minister ; and, curiously enough, on the accession of George II. a similar difficulty in drawing up an address was felt by no less an official than the Speaker of the House of Com- mons. It is probably true that Addison, though so re- nowned a writer, was not a good minister, and a striking remark of a modern historian ^ may here be quoted : ' What a good exchange of stations might have been made by Swift and Addison ! Addison would have made an excellent dean, and Swift an admirable secretary of state.' This, at any rate, will not hurt the feelings of those jealous for literature, because Swift is as famous an author as Addison. A serious drawback to usefulness upon the Treasury bench in Parliament would have arisen from Addison's shy and retiring manner, if the traditions be true that he is himself the silent ' Spectator ' of his famous book. Strange irony of fate, that the man who described himself ' living in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species,' making himself 'a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and artisan, without ever meddling with any practical part in life,' ' resolved to observe an exact neutrality between the Whigs and Tories,' should within seven years of penning these words be made a secretary of state ! Yet Addi- son's colleagues, no incompetent judges, must have thought well of his business faculties and valued his assistance, for he continually rose in place ; and three years from the beginning of the reign we find Addison made one of the two secretaries of state. This office answers to what we now call the Home Department. In this position Addison did not distinguish himself except for modesty and leniency ; but he had been re- luctant to accept office, was in bad health all the while that he held it, and resigned as soon as he could. Fifteen 1 Sir James Mackintosh. A.D. 1715 France and Spain. 47 months after his resignation, and a few weeks after the controversy with Steele, Addison died. The story is well known how, on his death-bed, he summoned his step- son and former pupil, a wild young lord, that he might see in what peace a Christian could die. CHAPTER VII. FRANCE AND SPAIN. On September i, 171 5, Lewis XIV., generally called le Grand Monarqiie^ died, and a cry of relief ran through all France. The reign of repression was over ; peath of men felt that nothing which might follow could Lewis xiv. be worse than that which had been. The public re- joicing went even to indecent lengths. The Jesuits could with difficulty be protected from the public rage. Lewis XIV. was seventy-seven when he died. He had begun to reign when he was only five years old, and now a little boy of the same age, his great-grandson, l^^^j^ ^v. also a Lewis, was his successor. During the 1715- last four and a half years of the reign of the old king, numerous deaths in the royal family had followed on the public calamities and distress of the kingdom. Five years previously the king's son, the Dauphin, was living, and his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy. France was in a condition that required a strong and wise govern- ment rather than a minor for a king, together with all the perils and cabals which mark a regency. At the beginning of the century the great engineer, Vauban, declared that nearly a tenth of the country was reduced to beggary, and that of the rest only another tenth was in any position to give to beggars. Since the beginning 48 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 17 of the century the distress had become much worse. On the death of Lewis XIV. the public debt amounted to 2,400,000,000 francs, or about 100 milHon pounds sterHng, a sum at that day unheard of for a national debt. The credit of the French Government was so bad that it had to give four times the value in notes for any cash that it raised. Throughout France commerce was para- lysed, the nobles were crippled by debt, the officials could not obtain their salaries. In many parts the peasants were starving. The condition of the country Avas a terrible comment on the glories of the reign of Lewis XIV. The late king had made an elaborate testament with arrangements for the regency, and for the education of his little successor, but he did not himself expect ^" that attention would be paid to it. 'As soon as I am dead,' he remarked, ' it will be disregarded. I know well enough what was done with the will of the king, my father.' Philip, Duke of Orleans, brother's son of the late king, was the nearest prince of the blood ; and in spite of the late king's will the Parliament of Paris de- creed that the Duke of Orleans should have the regency without a council — that is, that he should have supreme power. It may be as well here to remark that the Parlia- ment of Paris was a court of law, not a legislative assembly like an English Parliament. The Duke of Orleans, father of this Philip, and brother to Lewis XIV., may be regarded as the founder Duke of °^ ^^ House of Orleans. The great-grandson Orleans, of the Regent was the Duke, known as ' Egalite ' during the French Revolution. His son was Lewis Philip, King of the French from 1830 to 1848, whose grandson in turn is the Count of Paris, the present representative of the old royal family of France. With the new reis^n and new recent came a new A.D. 1 718 France and Spain. 49 policy. The Duke of Orleans, knowing the exhausted state of the country, was determined on a policy of peace, especially of peace, and if possible ^^*^^P°'i- of friendship, wath England, although he knew full well that this was a complete reversal of the traditions of his country. Early in 1717 a formal alliance was made between France, England, and the Dutch, to w^hich the name of the Triple Ahiance was given. The French entirely abandoned the cause of the Pretender, and recognised the House of Brunswick. The basis of the Triple Alliance was the complete carrying out of the terms of the treaty of Utrecht, or, to put it in other words, the maintenance of existing arrangements in Europe. In 1 7 18 the Emperor also joined the alliance, which then received the name of the Quadruple Alliance. But there w^as little difference beyond the name. Emperor The object was the same. The only proposal Charles vi. of alterations in the conditions of the treaty of Utrecht was the exchange of Sicily for Sardinia, the Emperor taking Sicily, and the Duke of Savoy Sardinia. Herein the Emperor gained a manifest advantage. Sardinia was by no means as valuable as Sicily, though more handy for the Duke of Savoy. Therefore it was agreed that the latter should assume the title of ' King of Sardinia.' The great war in the reign of Queen Anne was called the War of the Spanish Succession. Of the two claimants to the crown of Spain, the Archduke Charles pj^jj; ^^ was now the Emperor Charles VI., and his Spain. rival, Philip, was recognised as King of Spain. This King Philip of Spain lost his wife just after the accession t)f George I. in England,'and had married again. En^^beth His new wife was Elizabeth Farnese, Princess Famese. of Parma, niece of the reigning Duke of Parma, a strong- M. H. E 50 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1718 minded and ver}^ ambitious woman. As the Duke of Parma had no children, she claimed to be recognised as his heiress. When, later, a son was born to her, she was still more anxious to obtain this inheritance for him. For some time forward this claim was a constant source of danger to the peace of Europe. For though the triple or quadruple alliance tended to produce peace, there was one power in Europe which would not acquiesce in these arrangements. Spain was the power which had suffered most from the treaty of Utrecht, and Spain, at this time, was under an ambitious, bold, and able minister. Cardinal Alberoni was a man of remarkable talent, which, together with unscrupulousness, had raised him, in spite of natural disadvantages, from the humblest origin. He is described, though certainly not by a friendly hand, as a dwarf with broad shoulders, a thick head, with a face marked with small- pox, and with hardly any nose at all. His father was a poor gardener in a small town in Italy, but the son, having received from charity the rudiments of education, entered the service of the Church and gradually rose therein. Diplomacy lured him from the proper work of the Church, and he made himself useful first in the small Italian court of, Parma ; then, especially through the means of flattery and assumed jocularity, to a French general in Italy, who in turn introduced him to Lewis XIV. When the King of Spain married Elizabeth of Parma, Alberoni passed into the service of Spain, where he resolutely set himself to the task of raising the country from the terrible condition into which she had fallen. Internal ^^ France was in bad plight, Spain was in policy. worse. Spain was then very much in the state that France was afterwards at the time of the Revolution, after another seventy years of misery, mis- A.D. i7i8 France and Spain. 51 rule, and war ; and the distress of Spain proceeded from somewhat similar causes. The finances were embarrassed, the administration was bad. The growth of trade was fettered by the division of the land into provinces, each with its own ring of custom-houses. The nobility and clergy claimed exemption from taxation. Luckily for Alberoni the Crown was very strong. By its power alone he deprived the nobility and clergy of their immu- nity, and abolished the internal custom-houses. The public administration was greatly improved. One cir- cumstance helped Alberoni's efforts. Spain had lost all her foreign possessions, which though, doubtless, at one time a source of revenue, had lately been merely an encumbrance and an expense. ' Let your Majesty remain but five years at peace,' said Alberoni to the King, ' and I will make you the most powerful monarch in Europe.' Had all these changes been made solely to increase the happiness of Spain and its inhabitants, no praise would be too great. By them, perhaps, he saved Spain from the catastrophe which awaited France. But they were made only as a means to an end, that Spain might embark on a war of aggression in order to win back her former greatness. Alberoni was as am- bitious as any of the proud Spaniards who wei'e offended at his reforms, but he saw more clearly than they that only through an increase of internal resources and careful husbandry of finances would Spain have power abroad. Within five years after the treaty of Utrecht, Alberoni had so husbanded the internal resources of Spain that he considered her in a position to strive after , , / , . , . , Alberoni s wmnmg back some of the possessions which foreign she had lost in the last war. Against different p°'^''^'- members of the alliance he set different schemes on foot. Against Austria there is no doubt he was secretly 52 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171S encouraging the Turks, strange though it may seem that a cardinal should urge ^Mohammedans against a Christian power. In order to occupy the attention of England, Alberoni was working in order to induce Charles XII. of Sweden, angry about the cession of Bremen and Verden, to attempt an invasion on behalf of the Pretender. The Swedish hero would have proved a formidable opponent for any English general except Marlborough. For Fi-ance, Alberoni's design was' to ferment conspiracies against the Regent, and to lend a helping hand to all who were discontented with his government. The King of Spain himself entertained a strong feeling of hatred towards his relative, the Regent, and was only too ready in every way to oppose him. One formidable conspiracy against the Regent was dis- covered, and crushed, by way of example, with great severity. Without any formal declaration of war,'a power- ful Spanish fleet was equipped. Its destination was not known until Europe heard that this Spanish force had wrested the island of Sardinia from Austria, for the cession to Savoy was not yet carried out. When, a little later, a Spanish fleet was sent to attempt to regain Sicily, an English fleet was found there ready to resist them. This fleet was under the command of Admiral Byng, the father of that Admiral Byng who was shot for not fighting the enemy at the outset of the Seven Years' War. Palermo fell an easy prey to the Spaniards, but the citadel of Messina held out against them. A naval action ensued, in which Byng entirely destroyed the Spanish fleet. Charles XII., however, had other enemies besides George I., and in attacking Norway he fell at the siege of Fredericshall. His fall was destined to a barren strand, A petty fortress and a dubious hand. A. D. 1 7 19 France and Spain. 53 But, in spite of the death of Charles XII., Alberoni still determined to persevere with his attempt to help the Pretender. At Cadiz a small fleet was col- De^th of lected of men-of-war and transports, together Charles xii. . , J ^ . . Abortive at- with 5,000 men and arms for six times as tempt for many Jacobites in Scotland. The Duke of Pretender. Ormond was to assume the command. But the English Government received news of the attempt, and, as on many another occasion, the elements seemed to fight for England. A storm scattered the fleet when crossing the Bay of Biscay. Two ships reached Scotland with 300 Spanish soldiers ; they were joined by some 2,000 High- landers. But this little force could do nothing, and was easily annihilated in the valley of Glenshiel. Shortly afterwards war was declared against Spain both by France and England. The Pretender, fancy- ing that this was his opportunity, hastened gj^^^.^ g to Madrid, where he was received with royal ish war. honours. The French sent a force across the Spanish frontier under the Duke of Berwick, and seized the town of Fontarabia. A short while previously this same duke had been commanding French troops fighting on the side of the King of Spain. An English fleet took the town of Vigo, not for the first time that it was taken by England. An Austrian army turned the Spaniards out of Sicily. By the end of the year peace was made, the chief condi- tion of peace being the dismissal of Alberoni as a general troubler of the public quiet. CHAPTER VIII. LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. The finances of France were in so bad a state that it is not wonderful that statesmen should have seized on 54 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 19 almost any proposals for improving them. A Scotch- man, named John Law, exiled from his country because T . of his share in a duel, who had made a fortune L,aw s pro- ' posais. by gambling, proposed to the Regent to relieve the pressure by means of paper money. The principles of political economy were not understood, and it was not seen that paper money is only of value where it represents wealth, and that wealth consists of the sum of things necessary, useful, and agreeable, possessing an exchange value. Though convertible paper money may , usefully be made to represent wealth, an inconvertible paper currency is not wealth ; yet the idea that it is seems to have a fascination of its own, and to be reproduced from time to time in each succeeding generation. Law's bank was established as a private bank, but was so successful that in a couple of years it was converted by the Regent into a royal bank. Had no further steps been taken, it is possible that little mischief might have accrued, but the bank began to speculate. There was joined to it a company called the Mississippi company, for trading with the French colony of Louisiana, now one of the United States. It was believed that the profits of this trade would be enormous, and Law repre- sented that, if the countiy obtained a monopoly, the profits should be used to wipe out the whole national debt of France. A rush was made for the shares of the company, which consequently rose in value until they are said to have reached forty times their original value. The shares were only to be purchased with the paper money of the bank. This created for a time a demand for the bank's notes. It seemed as if an era of general prosperity had dawned, and the street in which the office of the bank stood was crowded from morning until night. The wildest excitement prevailed in all ranks of society. Money easily won was quickly and A.D. 1719 Lazv and the South Sea Bubble. 55 lavishly spent, often in gross debauchery. The gambling spirit pervaded the whole nation for a couple of years, at the end of which time the inevitable reaction followed upon the splendid vision of prosperity. Law, it is said, had issued bank notes for eighty times the value of all the coin in France. But from the Mississippi company no profits accrued. At length a panic set in. The nominal value of its shares came down almost as quickly as it had gone up. Within a fev/ months from the time when all or almost all were satisfied with the new prosperity, Law fled from the country. Had he not first concealed himself and then escaped, he would have been torn in pieces. He died a few years afterwards in Venice in the utmost poverty. The greatest distress was felt throughout the whole of France, for almost everyone had joined in the general mania for speculation. The example of France was infectious. England caught the infection in what is known as the South Sea Bubble. We can see, however, that the inter- south Sea course between the two nations must then ^^^^le. have been slow, for Law's scheme was already discredited and the French bubble had broken before the English bubble had reached its full dimensions. The mischief in England ran its course in a much shorter time, altogether about six months. The South Sea Company had been established some time previously; it had not as yet done much of its legitimate business, trading with the Spanish coasts of America — indeed, it may be added that to this it never did attend. But it was a powerful corporation, and was considered the rival of the Bank of England. A proposal came from the company that it should buy up the National Debt. It was universally thought that the South Sea Company would be very successful in its trading ventures, and that the profits would enable it in some strange way to extinguish the debt. In the month 56 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 19 of April a bill was passed through both Houses of Parlia- ment, giving all the powers required. There was more opposition in the Lords than in the Commons ; in the latter the bill had been proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the passing of the act South Sea stock rose from 130 to 1,000. This example proved very contagious, and a great Minor many companies were started, some for the bubbles, niost ludicrous objects. Historians have given lists of these objects, and it is worth while to mention some in order to show the lengths to which human folly will sometimes go. Companies were to be established with the following objects : — Wrecks to be fished for on the Irish coast. To make salt water fresh. For extracting silver from lead. For transmuting quicksilver into a malleable metal. For importing a number of large jackasses from Spain. For trading in human hair. A wheel for perpetual motion. The most extravagant proposal of all was for an ' under- taking which hereafter shall be revealed.' Each subscriber was to pay two guineas. It is said that 1,000 subscribed in a single morning, and then the projector decamped. This last story, inconceivable at any ordinary time, shows the excited state of mind of the many gamblers. The fall was even more prompt in London than in Paris. A great many families were reduced to beggary. General Walpole, who had not been in office when the crash. South Sea Act was passed, but as a member had opposed it, and who had already earned a reputation as a financier, was called to office. He became prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer, and by the measures that he took restored public confidence. The difference between the English and the French A.D. 1720 Laiv and the Soiilh Sea Bubble. 57 crash may be shortly summed up. In France there was only one vortex; the bank and the Mississippi company had united. In England the Bank °™p^"''°"- of England always remained a rival and hostile company, so that there was an established corporation to which to turn when the crash came. Moreover, in England, there were a great many little bubbles round about the big bubble. Though many individuals lost largely in their speculations, the nation, as a nation, did not suffer to the same extent as in France. Periods of rash and wild speculation are not uncommon in modern history, but the time of Law and of the South Sea Bubble is the worst on record. The shock to public morality which this period ot speculation produced was greater in France than in England. In the condition of the latter there Low state of \\as no ground for boasting. Religion was '"0''aiity. never at a lower ebb ; the political world was almost hopelessly corrupt. But in France it seemed as if all decency was lost. It was a time of shameless and open profligacy, the Regent himself setting the example. It is pleasant, however, to be able to mention a conspicuous instance of goodness. In the year 1720, a plague broke out in the town of Marseilles and throughout Provence, which carried off no fewer than 85,000 persons. The horror piague at with which the news was received throughout ^i^'^rseiiies. France was to some extent mitigated by the admirable devotion of the Bishop of Marseilles, and of certain others who followed his example. A thousand times did he risk his life in helping the smitten, and yet he escaped unhurt. The account of this suggested the problem pro- pounded in the famous couplet of Pope — Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath, When nature sickened, and each gale was death ? 58 T lie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1721 CHAPTER IX. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. Robert Walpole, thus called to high office in the nation's need, was the third son of a country gentleman, born at his father's place, Houghton, in Norfolk. He was educated at Eton and afterwards at King's College, Cambridge, but beyond a few quotations from Horace not much of his learning clung to him. Both his brothers died before he was twenty-two, and his father when he was twenty-four, at which age, in the year 1700, he was returned to Parliament for a small family borough. From the first a zealous Whig, Walpole soon showed his value to his party and was rewarded with office. He was made secretary of war, and later treasurer of the navy. When, after Sacheverell's trial, the Whigs went out of office, Wal- pole, who had been one of the managers in that trial, though he felt the policy of it to be mistaken, retired with his party, and the victorious Tories carried a resolution that he had been ' guilty of breach of trust and notorious corrup- tion.' Walpole was even sent to the Tower and kept there for a few months. But such manifest party action only helped him, and when the Whigs were restored to power, on the accession of the new king, Walpole was made paymaster of the forces, and afterwards chancellor of the exchequer. Differing, however, from his colleagues, he resigned, and remained in opposition until just before the bursting of the South Sea Bubble, when he returned to office. Fortunately he had no more share in the South Sea scheme than to have speculated for himself, and with wise prescience to have sold out in time. The public, therefore, looked to him, and his success in devising healing measures after the disaster, together with his A.D. 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 59 great skill in finance, made him first lord of the treasury as well as chancellor of the exchequer. Sir Robert Walpole was chief minister of England for no less than twenty-one years. A knowledge of his character would hardly have led anyone gjj. Robert beforehand to expect that he would have en- Waipoie. joyed so long a tenure of power. He seemed to be a hearty, goodnatured, country squire, very fond of country pursuits, especially of all kinds of sport. The House of Commons very rarely does any work upon a Saturday, and a former Speaker of the House attributed this Satur- day holiday to Walpole's love of hunting. Walpole was not a leader of the people calculated to rouse enthusiasm for himself. Indeed, he did not believe in enthusiasm, and did not covet popularity. He did not want people's love ; he wanted the votes of members. In order to excite enthusiasm and love amongst the people at large, a states- man must have some of the qualities that dazzle, such as the gifts of oratory, or he must initiate and carry out great changes and reforms, or must bring a nation suc- cessfully through a great war. Walpole was no orator, but a common-sense business speaker ; he hated change, and he hated the very idea of war. But history is bound to do justice to a statesman, even if his contemporaries did not love him, and to remember both what is seen and what is not seen. Walpole deserves every credit for steering England clear from dangers which threatened, and for giving to an exhausted country a period of much needed rest. A reforming minister, eager for great changes, would not have been of advantage to the country at that particular time. The succession was disputed, the new dynasty was in itself unpopular, and great politi- cal dissensions might have given a handle to the Jacobites and have plunged the country into the horrors of civil war. (yiiieta non movei^e^ Walpole's favourite maxim, 6o TJic Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1721 which may be translated by the equivalent maxim of a modern statesman, ' Why can you not let it alone ? ' is not a high-souled motto, but there are times when it is wise. Even when Walpole agreed with a reform, he pre- ferred to let it alone. He was in favour of toleration of dissenters, and the dissenters were supporters of his policy. Whenever measures of toleration were pressed upon him, he would declare his sympathy, but urge that the time had not arrived. The time, it may be added, never did arrive. Walpole was a goodhumoured, easy-going man, though, doubtless, too fond of making things smooth. The love of peace, mentioned by his bio- grapher as the uniform principle of his ad- ministration, was shown in the determination to keep England free from Continental wars, as well as in the desire for political peace at home. ' Fifty thousand men slain in Europe this year and not one Englishman ' was once his proud boast, and a nation weary of fighting other people's battles was glad of the rest. When, later, the nation was ready for war and drove Walpole into it, he felt himself out of place, and was unhappy accordingly. It would have been better for his reputation had he re- signed office rather than declare war. Walpole's own character and personal inclinations to a remarkable extent decided the policy of England. It is noteworthy how in them he differed both from the past and from the future of the Whig party to which he belonged. From the Revo- lution onwards — that is, almost since the formation of the party — the Whigs had been in favour of a vigorous Con- tinental policy of war with France. This was partly to a blind following of William III., partly to the fact that France was regarded as the main friend of the Stuarts. Amongst modern politicians the party of reform traces its traditional descent from the Whigs, so that Walpole, A.D. I72I Sir Robert Walpole. 6r as a party leader, ranks as a predecessor of Lord John Russell. As a peace minister he would receive the ad- miration of many modern Liberals. Walpole's constant goodnature was shown in his cle- mency and moderation towards opponents. The need of making an example would have driven many ministers into severer measures against the Jacobites, constantly engaged in small plots, which might develop into danger. Walpole studiously avoided severity, and winked at their plottings rather than punish them. No minister was ever more attacked by libels ; none was more slow to prosecute. The gravest charge against Walpole is that he made systematic use of corruption and bribery. ' Every man has his price,' is the saying usually attributed , . T , , 11 1 • • Corruption. to hmi. It has been proved that this is not exactly what he said. Speaking of a group of members, he once said, ' Each of these men has his price.' There is no doubt whatever that Walpole systematically bought the votes of members, using what is known as the secret service money for the purpose. Modern writers have defended Walpole upon different grounds. For instance, it is more honest and not morally worse to buy political support with money than with promises of appointments. Corruption was the fault of the age, and it is unfair to judge any man without regarding the morality of his time. There is no doubt that the secrecy with which parlia- mentary proceedings were conducted was very helpful to this corruption. Bribery has many forms. In Wal- pole's time it took the form of buying the votes of members, in a later time of buying the votes of constitu- ents. In either shape it is equally wrong, equally hurtful to the best interests of the nation. In so far as Walpole fostered this vice, he did harm to the morals of the country. Had he desired, he might have led public 62 The Early Hanoverians, a.d, 1722 opinion to greater political purity, but probably such a thought never even entered his head. Walpole's attitude towards purity an»l political en- thusiasm was almost more hurtful of public morality. He was always sneering at the enthusiasm of young members, deliberately setting himself to laugh at tl^eir standard, if higher than his own. A young man would be elected to the House, full of patriotism, full of desire to do good, untainted by corruption. Walpole would call him an ancient Roman, and assure him that he would soon ' come oft" that.' It was he who gave the nickname of ' the boys ' to a small cluster of these young enthusiasts, one of whom, William Pitt, a young cornet of horse, never ' came off that,' remained untouched by the bribery and corruption, and, in the generation after Walpole, raised the morality of the whole English nation by the example he set of disinterestedness in politics and of earnest patriotism. W^alpole's strongest point as a statesman was his finance. In this respect he was not only far superior to his contemporaries, but it is necessary to go for- ward a century to find his equal. The financial measures that Walpole took to restore public confidence after the South Sea Bubble formed the firm basis of his long tenure of power. It will be remembered that one of the chief inducements for Parliament to accept the bill was that the South Sea Company meant to reduce, if not extinguish, the National Debt. When first the nation incurred a large debt, shrewd financiers, as well as people who knew nothing of finance, were alarmed at its existence, and still more alarmed as the amount of it grew. In our own time the debt is so much larger, and has lasted so long without disastrous results, that we are more inclined to commit the opposite fault, and think too little of the debt. The cfrowth or diminution of the A.i). 1723 Sir Robert Walpolc. 63 National Debt is a sure indication of the history of the nation. If a table were made showing the state of the Debt in each year during the eighteenth cen- National tury, it would be easy to infer from the table u^^'^t. whether England was in any given year at war or peace. Increasing debt meant war, and during the latter part of the century the increase in some years was enormous. Decreasing debt meant peace. Under Walpole — let it be remembered to his honour— the debt decreased. It is true that the decrease is never on so rapid a scale as the increase. It has been pointed out that it is the peculiar honour of the reign of George I. that in it the National Debt grew smaller ; whereas, in the reigns of his imme- diate predecessors and successors, the debt increased, and even in an increasing ratio. It must be added that the decrease is due to the policy of Walpole, and that he deserves the credit of it. Nothing more clearly marks the true character of his policy than the statement that in seventeen years, dating from January i, 1723, 8 mil- lions of the debt were paid off. Millions At accession of George 1 54^ When the South Sea trouble was over . 55 1 At end of 1739, practical close of W^alpole's financial policy . ... 47 In 1748, peace of Aix-la-Chapelle . . 'j'] In 1755, reduced to T2\ In 1763, end of Seven Years' War . . 139 Neither a nation nor an individual should be guided in the choice of a course to be pursued solely by money considerations ; but as we blame an individual who rashly incurs debt, we may, to some extent, estimate the policy of a minister by his care of the public purse. Although this amount of debt was paid off during the peace, and though we praise Walpole for having done so much, 64 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1723 complaint has been made that he did not effect more. At least two eminent men have complained that the debt was not paid off altogether, — Adam Smith, in the ' Wealth of Nations,' and the younger Pitt. Not only did Walpole look after the principal, but, by skilful management, he reduced the burden of the charges, and this in a much greater proportion. Interest. ^, ^ ' . •. r t- i j ^ The growmg prosperity of England made money more abundant, and when an article is more abundant it becomes cheaper. Walpole took advantage of this to reduce the rate of interest on the National Debt. This he effected before he had done much with the principal. A few figures will make his success clear. In round numbers, the debt at the accession of George I. was 54 millions, and cost 3,350,000/. ; at his death it was 52 millions, and cost 2,220,000/. With respect to the reduction of the Debt, Walpole was in favour of what is known as a sinking fund. SinkiiT^ This meant that a sum of money should be set Fund. aside every year, so that a fund would grow, by compound interest and by annual increments, until it was large enough to extinguish the debt. The objections to this plan, though it afterwards received the support of the younger Pitt, are twofold. It is cumbrous and indirect, for there is no reason why the money should not be applied directly each year to the reduction of debt. Also this fund would present each year a temptation to the chan- cellor of the exchequer if he had any difficulty in pro- viding money from other sources. This sinking fund Walpole established, but he himself was not proof against the temptation indicated. It seems to be using the language of a different period to speak of Walpole as in favour of free trade, but he abolished a great many duties both on imports and exports. Above everything he was very A. D. 1724 Sir Role rt Walpole. 65 careful of the public money, except in the single matter of payment for parliamentary support. In secret-service money he was lavish. Whilst Walpole was in power the wealth of the country increased to a very marked extent, wise financial measures co-operating with peace to pro- duce this result. In connection with a financial question, a very curious disturbance arose in Ireland towards the close of the reign of George I. There had been a scarcity Wood's of copper money, and in the exercise of the Pence, king's prerogative a patent was granted to a Birmingham ironmaster of the name of Wood to coin a large quantity of such money. The patent was correctly drawn, the granting of it undoubtedly lay within the prerogative of the King. The officers of the Mint had tested the coin, and the Master of the Mint was no less a man than Sir Isaac Newton. For some reasons never clearly explained, a feeling at once arose in Ireland against the new money. Probably it was because Wood, a Birmingham speculator, and in himself a man of unpleasant, swaggering man- ners, was an Englishman. This feeling was shared and expressed by the Irish Parliament, which had never been consulted in the matter ; but then it must be remembered that had a similar patent been granted in England, it would not have been submitted to the Parliament at Westminster. The feeling would in all probability have died away had it not been for the part played by Dean Swift, who had been living almost in retirement in Dublin since the death of Queen Anne and the ejec- tion of the Tories had destroyed his hopes of promotion. He wrote a series of seven letters, signed M. B. Drapier, in which he pretended to be an unlettered tradesman, abusing the money and all who were concerned in the patent, saving the King's Majesty. The Lord-Lieutenant strongly advised the ministers J/. //. F 66 TJie Early Hanovej'ians. a.d, 1724 to yield, and Walpole knew how to yield with grace. The patent was withdrawn, and Swift became the idol of the Irish people. Never had a literary man such a triumph, for through the power of his pen the worse cause prevailed. CHAPTER X. ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. The ablest man amongst the Jacobites who remained in England was Bishop Atterbury. He was born shortly after the Restoration, and the spirit of that er ur}- pg^-jQ^j seemed to have entered into his blood. Educated at Westminster under the famous Dr. Busby and then at Christ Church, Oxford, he became a High Churchman and a Jacobite at a time when Oxford was the centre of the most extreme Jacobitism. Atterbury was one of the chief of a band of Christ Church scholars who were very thoroughly worsted in the famous Boyle and Bentley controversy, which, beginning with the ques- tion whether the ancients were superior to the moderns, branched off into a dispute about a book which Boyle edited as a classical work and Bentley proved to be a modern forgery. The Hon. Mr. Boyle was put forward as the nominal champion upon the Oxford side, but his weapons were believed to have been prepared chiefly by Atterbury, then Dean of Christ Church. The reign of Queen Anne was a pleasant time for a High Church Tory like Atterbury, and he rose rapidly^ held several deaneries in succession, until near the end of the reign he was made Bishop of Rochester, whilst he still held the office of Dean of Westminster. More of a wit than a divine, Atterbury was an eloquent A. D. 1724 Attci'bury and Bolinghrokc. 6j and graceful preacher, and he made a great impression on the House of Lords by his powerful speeches. Always ready for controversy, he was too much of a partisan, too much of a politician, to be a good bishop. Had he not been in orders, his talents would ha^■c brought him to the front rank of statesmen. But he would have been more distinguished for his zeal and courage than for his wisdom. Atterbuiy was the bishop who on the death of Queen Anne offered, if he could procure a sufficient guard, himself in his lawn-sleeves at Charing Cross, to proclaim her brother as King. When the ministers, though friendly, declined his offer, he is reported to have exclaimed with an uncpiscopal oath that the finest cause in Europe had been lost through want of spirit. When George I, came, Atterbury took the oaths to him, but all the while re- mained Jacobite at heart. No oaths could prevent him from engaging in correspondence with the Pretender. In 1722 proof was discovered of this, and he was com- mitted to the Tower, where he was treated to great severity. In spite of a very eloquent defence, a bill of pains and penalties was passed against him. He was deprived of his bishopric and sent into exile. A bill of pains and penalties is not a just measure, for it makes Parliament into a law court instead of a legislature. If Atterbury had broken the laws, and there was sufficient evidence to con- vict him, he should have been tried in an ordinary court. Many thought that the evidence was insufficient, but it has since been fully proved by the publication of Jacobite letters that Atterbury was all the while engaged in treasonable correspondence. Bishop Atterbury was one of the poet Pope's most intimate friends. Indeed in the world of letters he may be said only to have a place on account of the literary counsel that he gave to the poet. Curiously enough, while Atterbury was in Calais on 68 Th: Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1724 his way to exile, another even more brilHant sharer of his views chanced to be in the same town, broke's re- returning from exile to England. Both of ^^"'"- them were friends of literature, notably, both of them intimate with the poet Pope, who remarked, ' This nation cannot regain one great genius but at the expense of another.' But Atterbury had yet to taste the bitterness of the cup of the ingratitude of princes ; Bolingbrokc had drunk it to the full. After the failure of the attempt in the Fifteen, which was undertaken contrary to Bolingbroke's advice, James had dismissed Bolingbroke from his service without assigning a reason and with a certain amount of contumely. From the time of that dismissal, filled with a bitter contempt for the Prince, Bolingbroke worked hard to bring about his own restoration to England ; but for seven long years his efforts were unavailing. At length, it is said, through bribing the King's mistress, Bolingbroke obtained a pardon, which enabled him to return to England with his person secure. Two years later his estates were restored to him by an Act of Parliament reversing to that extent the act of attainder. He was then, according to his own expression, ' two-thirds restored, my person safe, and my estate with all the other property I have acquired secured to me ; ' but his seat in the House of Lords he was never able to regain. He professed to have retired in disgust from public life, but his pen was always at the disposal of the Tory party, which he con- stantly strove to rescue from the imputation of being entirely Jacobite. Bolingbroke would most gladly have taken office under the House of Hanover if he could have returned to politics, and been accepted as the leader of the disorganised Tories. During his en- forced retirement from political life, Bolingbroke lived on terms of the greatest intimacy with Pope, who calls him A. D. 1724 Atterbiiry and Bolingbroke. 6g his 'guide, philosopher, and friend.' It is even said that Bolingbroke supplied the ideas of the ' Essay on Man.' The fallen statesman took a house near Pope's villa at Twickenham. Little wonder that the poet proudly boasts — There my retreat the best companions grace, Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place : There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl The feast of reason and the flow of soul. When Lord Bolingbroke found that he could not obtain the reversal of his attainder, literature gained the energ}' that would otherwise have been de- j^j, voted to politics. Pamphlets he could always writings, write, and those that he published were bitter against Walpole. Bolingbroke's most important writings are the * Idea of a Patriot King ' and ' Letters on the Study and Use of History.' Of his compositions it may be said that the language is always beautiful, whilst through the matter there often appears an air of insincerity. His idea of a patriot king is opposed to the idea of constitutional monarchy. He maintained that the king should himself govern, and not the ministers. A king ought to set him- self entirely above party, and be at liberty to choose his ministers, irrespective of the party to which they belonged. It was easy for Bolingbroke to rail against party spirit ; he had tried it, and knew its hollowness. The book, however, may be considered as having done some mischief because of the influence which it exercised on the mind of George III. Imbued with Bolingbroke's ideas, he made the attempt to be a king and above party, and the results of his interference with constitutional principles were not of such a character as to lead to its repetition. 70 The Early Hajwverians. a.d. 1725 CHAPTER XI NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. In the last two years of the reign of George I., in spite of the King's and Walpole's pacific wishes, there was an Spain imminent prospect of a great European war. Ripperda. In the tirst place, the ambitious Queen of Spain was still trying to secure the duchies of Parma and Piacenza for her son, Don Carlos. Alberoni had helped her in this project ; but Alberoni was gone, and the duchies not secured. Her new minister was Rip- perda, a Dutch adventurer, who had been secretary to a Dutch embassy in Spain, but had left it to obtain advancement at the Spanish Court. He represented to the Queen (it is characteristic that it is the Queen, and not the King of Spain who seems to have all the power) that if he were sent on a secret mission to Vienna he could induce the Emperor to come into close relations with Spain. Whilst Ripperda's mission was still incomplete, the French Court insulted the Spanish. Some four years The Spanish ^^I'^icr it had been agreed that the young princess. French King, Lewis XV., should marry a Spanish princess. The Infanta was then only four years old, and she was sent to France in order that she might receive French education and training. The Regent, the Duke of Orleans, stood next in succession to the throne, and he was not unwilling that the King's mar- riage should be postponed until the young princess grew up. But the Duke of Orleans died of an illness brought on by his debauchery, and his successors in power thought it much better that the King should marry at once. The Spanish Infanta was therefore sent back to A.D. 1725 Nearly a European IVar. 71 Spain with very scant courtesy. The greatest indigna- tion was very naturally felt amongst the proud Spaniards, and the Queen is reported to have said to the French ambassador, ' All these Bourbons are a race of devils — except your Majesty,' she added, turning to the King, reflecting that he was himself a Bourbon. In such a state of feeling Ripperda's plan was carried out, and an alliance formed between the two old opponents, the King of Spain and the Emperor. Both the English and the Dutch were very angry, because the Emperor had given a charter to an Ostend East India Company to trade with India, and Ostend try to wrest some of the trade from those two Company, nations. The English and Dutch Governments pleaded that the establishment of this company was contrary to treaty, and threatened to seize the company's ships. Spain, united by Ripperda to the Emperor, recognised the Ostend Company, It may be here added that the trade of this company never rose to importance. But there was a further understanding between Spain and the Emperor. It was proposed that Don Carlos should marry jNIaria Theresa, the Emperor's , •^ ' ^ Appanage elder daughter, and have the Italian duchies for Don Parma and Piacenza so that Austria's power should be strengthened in Italy. Russia also joined the alliance of Spain and the Emperor. Against this, therefore, it was held necessary to establish a counter league. England, France, and Prussia made together an alliance called th^ Treaty of Hanover. Holland, Sweden, and Denmark afterwards joined. Prussia, under Frederick William, however, was shortly afterwards won over to the side of the Emperor. Troops were prepared on either side, and it seemed as if war was imminent. Meanwhile the French ministers found a wife for 72 TJic Early Haiiovenaiis. a.d. 1725 Lewis in the person of the daughter of Stanislaus Marriage of Lcczynski, the dethroned King of Poland. Lewis XV. She is described as very amiable and gracious. The royal wedding was celebrated at Fontainebleau. The treaty of Hanover was signed, and this royal marriage took place in the same month, September 1725. It is said that the French ministers had at first wished that the bride should be an English princess. The King, it should be mentioned, was only fifteen. The expected war never came to much. On the part of England a fleet was sent, under Admiral Hosier, to blockade Porto Bello. But the admiral had strict orders from Walpole not to attack the place nor the Spanish ships unless they came out. It was generally thought in England that it would have been easy for Hosier's fleet to have captured Porto Bello, but the place was very unhealthy, and some three thousand English sailors died of fever. It was said that Hosier himself died of a broken heart. When in after years there was a desire to excite the English against Walpole and against Spain, a spirited ballad called ' Hosier's Ghost ' was written by the poet Glover, of which the following is one verse : — 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 thein with disdain, And obeyed my heart's warm motion To have quelled the pride of Spain. The only other incident of the war, which may be Sieee of Compared to a smouldering fire that never Gibraltar, quite breaks into flame, for war was never de- clared, was an attack by the Spaniards on Gibraltar ; but A. D. 1727 Death of George I. 73 they utterly failed in their attempt to retake the place. Whilst the siege was continuing the Emperor deserted Spain, and Spain confessed a readiness to Treaty of come to terms. The treaty of Seville was the Seville. consequence, in which the English and French agreed that the two Italian duchies should pass to Don Carlos. The chief minister of France, Cardinal Fleury, was a man as earnest on behalf of peace as Walpole. Though he was over seventy when made minister, he held power for a long time — seventeen years — and secured for France a tranquillity and time of rest which she much needed CHAPTER XII. DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. George I., long before he became King of England^ married his cousin Sophia Dorothea of Zell, who is de- scribed as a young princess of great beauty. It Qe-,rcre i 's was a marriage of policy, made in order to join wife.^ her possessions to his. The wife was not kindly treated by her husband or her husband's family, so that she was tempted to receive the attentions of a Swedish nobleman, Count Konigsmark, who was staying in Hanover. One day, when he was leaving her apartment, he was attacked and killed. George was absent with the army, and not privy to the attack, but he was convinced of his wife's guilt, and after obtaining a divorce caused her to be shut up in the Castle of Ahlden, a castle in the midst of a desolate heath. The unhappy princess was never allowed to go out even for air and exercise without a guard of horse soldiers with drawn swords. She never ceased to assert her innocence, especially in a most solemn manner 74 The Early Hanovei'ians. a.d. 1727 every time that she was about to receive the holy commu- nion ; and many have been found to beheve her assertion, but whether she was really guilty or innocent cannot be proved. For no less than thirty-two years the wretched woman lived in her desolate confinement, and died only a short time before her husband. Indeed, the story runs that just before she died she wrote a letter to the King, to be delivered after her death by a trusty hand, once more declaring her innocence, and citing him to appear within a year and a day before the throne of God. This letter could not safely be delivered in England, but was, so the story continues, given to the King on the next occasion that he came to Germany. Whether this summons had any effect on the King's mind or not, or whether, indeed, the whole story is not Death of ^^ invention, the King's death followed that of George I. his wife within seven months, and took place immediately after his next return to Germany. Ap- parently in his usual health, King George was, according to his custom, travelling from England to his beloved Hanover. He had entered Germany, and was posting in his travelling carriage, when he was suddenly seized with a fit of apoplexy. The attendants proposed to stop and obtain medical assistance ; but the only remark that the dying King could utter was ' Osnabriick, Osna- briick ! ' so with all speed the horses galloped on. The Prince-Bishop of Osnabriick was the King's brother, and the King seemed to be anxious to see him once more. But before the carriage reached the town of Osnabriick, King George was dead. Earlier in the same year (1727) died Sir Isaac New- ton, the most eminent Englishman of his day, the most Sir Isaac distinguished mathematician and natural philo- Newton. sopher that the world has yet seen. He had attained a great age (eighty-four), for he was born near A.D. 1727 Death of Sir Isaac Nczuton. 75 Grantham, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day 1642. He was educated at the grammar school at Grantham and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which college he became a fellow. A remarkable genius for mathematics led him at the early age of twenty-three to make important discoveries about the movements of planets. Subsequently, and while tilling the chair of Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, he discovered the prismatic colours of light, and esta- blished the law of gravitation, which accounts for the fall of an apple to the ground as well as for the equilibrium of the universe. The story that this law was suggested to Newton by the fall of an apple does not rest on good authority. Pope wrote an intended epitaph on Newton : — Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night : God said, ' Let Newton be, ' and all was light. Sir Isaac Newton was a member of the Convention Parliament, which seated William III. on the throne, and was afterwards Master of the Mint. He was made President of the Royal Society, and a couple of years later was knighted by Queen Anne. Newton's most famous works are the 'Treatise on Optics' and the ' Principia ' (more fully ' Philosophias Naturalis Principia Mathematica'), the doctrines of which were very quickly accepted by the learned. The character of Sir Isaac Newton is almost faultless. The worst charge brought against him is that at times he was querulous, and at others suspicious. His modesty, patience, benevolence, earnest patriotism, genuine simple piety are features far more easily recognised. ^6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1727 CHAPTER XIII. GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. Both the first Georges were men ot mature age when they came to the throne. George I. was fifty-four, George II. forty-four. The latter had been born in Hanover in 1683, had been brought up and educated, as any other German prince might have been, for he had no expectation of the crown of England as his inheritance, as he was nearly a man when the Act of Settlement was passed. Of course he was trained to be a soldier — all the German princes were. He had the special advantage of serving under the great Duke of Marlborough, and had distinguished himself for personal bravery at the battle of Oudenarde, where, perhaps, some English officers, with a thought for the future, turned their eyes towards the conduct of the Electoral Prince of Hanover. Some four years before the death of Queen Anne the Electoral Prince was made Duke of Cambridge, but the honour was titular only. The Queen, afraid lest in any way the spirit of worshipping the rising sun should spread, was very much opposed to the new duke's taking his seat in the House of Lords. On the accession of George I. his eldest son became Prince of Wales ; and by a strange fate, which seemed to affect the early Hano- verian kings, the son was always at variance with the father. The new King was in person short, and, like many short men, proud and touchy. The public called him 'dapper,' a word which fits the description of aiffcharac- him SO wcll that one historian (Carlyle) always ^*^''- speaks of ' Dapper George.' He was also very precise, his notion of soldiering requiring a strict atten- A.D. 1729 George II. a)id Queen Caroline. yj tion to small details of drill and uniforms ; whilst his mind always found room for minute questions of etiquette, for which he seems to have had the taste of a gentleman- usher. The Jacobite nickname for him was 'the Captain,' and he would certainly have made a better captain than general. There is no doubt about his bravery, nor about his love of justice and desire to do what was best for his kingdom and subjects. Though, as a matter of fact, during his reign the English were left to govern them- selves, and did not require much governing, George thought himself a heaven-born ruler. This feeling led him often to give free rein to the dictates of a violent temper, and sometimes to make himself very ridiculous. It is recorded that when he was a little boy he had a fight with his cousin Frederick William, afterwards his brother-in-law, the second King of Prussia, t-> 1 -.u ' ^ ' Duel wuh and father of Frederick the Great. The future King of King of Prussia was also of arbitrary and violent temper, but with more capacity, and, as an abso- lute monarch, w ith greater opportunities of using it. The two cousins had many instincts in common, such as the taste for trifles and details, especially when connected with soldiers ; but perhaps just on account of their simi- larity in tempers and tastes they hated each other savagely; and the boyish battle, in which Frederick William gave his cousin George a bloody nose, was in after life followed by a definite challenge to fight a duel. This was some two years after George II.'s accession, and the reason some mere trifle that diplomacy could not at once settle. Inflamed by long previous resentment, the King of Prussia was the challenger ; and the ministers on either side had difficulty in preventing the ridiculous spectacle of the two Kings fencing with each other. They had nicknames for each other, which Carlyle thus translates : ' My brother, the Play Actor' was the name 78 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1727 for the King- of England in the month of his brother of Prussia; 'Arch-Sandbox- Beadle of the Holy Roman Empire' was the retaliation. The one appeared all form and ceremony, the other a pedantic insister upon trifles. One curiously unkingly failing his Majesty had — -- avarice, and avarice not on the large scale such as might be worthier of a king. Henry VII. was said to suffer from avarice, but his was a careful husbanding of the kingdom's resources, espe- cially of treasure in its coffers, from the conviction that a kingdom with its coffers full is stronger than a kingdom with an empty treasury. But George's avarice was rather that of a petty tradesman shown in a desire to handle and count money. ' If,' said a bold lady of the court once to him, ' if you count your money once more, I will leave the room.' George I. could not speak English at all, and had ta transact business with his English ministers, except with He spoke One who. Contrary to the usual custom, had bad English, x^^^^^x. German, through the medium of in- different Latin. George II. had an advantage over his father in that he could speak English fluently, though, as courtiers remarked behind his back, not very gram- matically, and with a strong German accent. According to an eminent Lord Chamberlain of the period, the language of the court, of which he gives numerous speci- mens, consisted of French and broken English, helped out with an occasional word of German. The news of his father's death in Germany was brought to the new King by Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime jMinister, whom the King hated, if for I* irst Act. - , ,,1,1- no other reason because he had been his fathers Prime Minister. ' Dat is one big lie,' is re- ported to have been the new King's answer to the news. A.D. 1728 George II. and Queen Caroline. 79 The death of a sovereign nowadays would not of neces- sity cause the change of a ministry, but George I J. practically dismissed Walpole by naming another to draw up the declaration which is made on his accession by a new king. The politician selected, who was the Speaker of the House of Commons, was so incompetent that he asked assistance from the very man whom he was superseding. Walpole courteously rendered the assistance, and in a few days he was reinstated in office. In truth Walpole had a very powerful ally in the new Queen, who, far rather than the King, helped Walpole to govern England during the next ten years, q^^^^ q^^.^. Caroline of Anspach was probably the most line. remarkable queen consort in English history. Left an orphan and a portionless princess at an early age, she was brought up at the Court of Prussia ; but her beauty, her grace, and her mental gifts were such that many princes sought her hand in marriage. The Emperor himself was amongst her suitors, and it must be remem- bered to Caroline's credit, that she declined the honour solely because it would be necessary for her to change her religion. Possibly the suggestion would not even be made in the present day ; but then it was not every princess who would entertain so decided a religious scruple, for the wife that the Emperor succeeded in winning was a Protestant princess who went through the form of being converted in order to accept his offer. Caroline was both clever and wise. She could display sweet temper and be pleasant and agreeable to all around ; but also her tongue could give utter- ance to the sharpest sarcasms and bitterest invectives. Her father-in-law, the late king, had latterly no name for her but ' she-devil.' There was not full scope for Caroline to show wisdom until she became Queen Con- sort. Though before hostile to Walpole, she saw at once 8o TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 172S that he alone was then suited to be Prime Minister, and, suppressing all feeling of personal resentment, hence- forward she became his friend and ally. The Queen combined a statesman's grasp of public questions with a woman's tact. By skilfully choosing opportunities and arguments she instilled notions into the King's mind in such a subtle way that he thought they were his own, and thus she was wont to govern the King without his knowing that he was being governed. So completely did the Queen possess the highest art — that of concealing art — that George would even boast that other kings had been ruled by their wives or favourites, whereas he was every inch a king. Yet the public had formed a truer estimate of the position. A ballad of the day runs : — You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain ; We know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign — You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain. Then if you would have us fall down and adore you. Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you. Against Queen Caroline's good qualities we must put the fact that her language, if witty, was often coarse and indelicate ; and, though it is some little excuse to say that the time was coarse, we should have expected Caroline, with her real superiority of mind, to have been better, not worse, than her age. So determined was she to govern the King that she displayed no jealousy whatever, even when he made love to other women. So invariable was her rule that no request made by the King was ever to be refused by her, that when she was suffering terrible agonies from gout in her feet she would dip her whole \^^ into cold water in order to go out and walk with him. This had the effect of driving the gout in, but at a great cost to her system ; and there is no doubt that the practice hastened her death. In such conduct there is some- A. D. 1 736 George II. and Queen Caroline. 8 1 thing heroic. Queen Caroline was a student of philo- sophy, and delighted in theological controversy. The ecclesiastical patronage in England was considerably influenced by her ; the promotion of Bishop Butler, the author of the ' Analogy,' stands to her credit. It is usual to speak contemptuously of George II., and especially of his indifference to literature and culture. It is only fair to remember that, acting upon universlt'of the advice of his Hanoverian ministers, he was Gsttingen. the founder of the University of Gottingen, which is pro- perly called after him ' Georgia Augusta.' For a long time Gottingen held the highest rank among the univer- sities of Germany, and though not now the first is still of considerable importance. The university was founded in order to prevent the Hanoverians going elsewhere for university education ; but to prevent the deadening in- fluence of the clergy those who drew up the scheme of the foundation determined to keep the appointment of all the professors in the hands of the Government. Abso- lute freedom was granted to professors in their lectures, and to students in their selection of courses. The ministers made it their pride to secure the very best men for the chairs, and during the eighteenth century some of the most eminent writers in Germany, in each depart- ment of knowledge, were amongst the Gottingen pro- fessors. CHAPTER XIV. THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. In April 1736 there came an unexpected trouble in Scot- land, the story of which is well known, as it has been illuminated by the genius of Sir Walter Scott in his interesting novel, the ' Heart of Midlothian,' M, //. G 82 TJic Early Hanovei'ians. a.d. 1736 Two smugglers in Fife named Wilson and Robertson com- mitted robbery with violence on the collector of customs, and were in consequence sentenced to death. They nearly effected their escape from their prison in Edinburgh, but Wilson, who was a fat man, stuck fast in the hole that had been made between the bars. Sorry that he had not allowed his thinner friend to escape first, Wilson deter- mined to give him another chance, and when on the Sunday before the execution the prisoners were being escorted to church by four soldiers, Wilson seized three of them, whilst Robertson shook off the fourth and escaped. For this act Wilson was much admired, and a fear was entertained that an attempt would be made to rescue him on the day of execution. To prevent this the city magistrates therefore ordered the City Guard to attend the execution. Now the City Guard, a sort of military police, was under the command of a violent and unpopular officer, Captain Porteous. The execution was not disturbed, but when it was over there was some stone- throwing on the part of the mob at the hangman and at the soldiers. The soldiers became angry, and fired, with such effect that they wounded or killed a good many per- sons in the crowd and in the surrounding houses, many of whom were quite innocent of ofience. For this Porteous was tried for murder. He denied having given the order to fire, but some witnesses swore that they had seen him take a musket from a private, and himself fire. An Edin- burgh jury found him guilty of murder. It happened that at the time King George II. was on the continent, and Queen Caroline was acting as regent. To the Queen and her ministers it did not seem that Captain Porteous was deserving of death, even though he had been mis- taken and exceeded the needs of legitimate defence. He was therefore reprieved. But the Edinburgh folk were made very angry at A.D. 1736 TJie Par icons Riots. 83 this reprieve, and they determined to take the law into their own hands. On the evening of the day before that which had been appointed for his execution, Porteous was entertaining his friends in the Tolbooth, the Edinburgh prison. Meanwhile a mob was collecting. It attacked the guard-house and secured arms, then marched upon the Tolbooth. The magistrates tried to disperse them, but were unable ; the magistrates, however, received no harm. When the rioters reached the prison they battered the gate, and not breaking it down, at length set fire to it, until at last the gaoler flung them the keys. Whilst the other prisoners escaped, the rioters made solely for Porteous, whom they found hidden in the chimney of his room. They carried him to the usual place of execution, and there, having procured a rope from a shop (and left a guinea to pay for it), they hanged him from a barber's pole. Then they quietly dispersed. Though the strictest inc{uiry was made no one was ever convicted of a share in this riot. It was generally believed that those concerned as leaders in the act of vengeance were not of so humble a class in society as they appeared to be. But history knows no- thing of them. Queen Caroline was especially angry at the insult to her authority. The story goes that she said to a Scotch nobleman (Duke of Argyle) that rather than submit to such an insult she would make Scotland a 'hunting-field.' ' In that case,' he replied with a low bow, * I will take my leave of your Majesty, and go down to my own country to get my hounds ready.' A bill was brought into Parliament to punish the city of Edinburgh jn various ways, but the punishment was ultimately reduced to a fine to be paid to the widow of Captain Porteous. 84 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1736 CHAPTER XV. walpole's fall. Sir Robert Walpole's son wrote of his father that he ' loved power so much that he would not endure a rival.' It may be said that it was this very quality love of which led to his downfall. Those who might power. have been admitted into his ministry, and who would have brought strength to it, were refused admit- tance, and joined the opposition. Those who joined Walpole for a while were driven from him because he did not consult his colleagues, and even interfered with their work. Thus gradually the opposition grew strong. At the beginning of Walpole's long rule there was hardly any opposition at all. The enemies of the King's ministers were few, discredited, disorganised. The majority of the people in England were either in favour of Walpole's policy of peace abroad and doing nothing {qideta no7i inovere) at home, or indifferent to politics altogether. This state of the public mind may be said to have continued about two-thirds of Walpole's time. Then a formidable opposition began to gather, in which we can discern four separate elements — Jacobites and Tories, who may be regarded as the legitimate part of it, together with adherents of the Prince of Wales, and dis- contented Whigs for whom Walpole would find no room. The first battle which this opposition won was on the Excise Bill in 1733. Walpole was perfectly in the Excise Bill ^^&^^ ^^ ^^^ proposal, which was to readjust the 1733- duties upon tobacco and wine. This excise had been introduced into England by the Long Parliament just ninety years earlier, and it was borrowed by theiat from the Dutch. This origin of the scheme made it doubly hateful, and it certainly was very unpopular A.D. 1736 Walpoles Fall, 85 throughout England. Dr. Johnson, who published his ' Dictionary' some twenty years after this struggle, gave the following definition of excise : ' A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.' Every financier who has written upon the subject since has approved of Walpole's scheme ; but the feeling throughout England, especially in London and the large towns, was so strong that Walpole bowed before the storm. Some think that the irritation might have led to a successful rebellion against the House of Bruns- wick. Though Walpole had a majority in the House he told his supporters that ' in the present inflamed temper of the people the act could not be carried into execution without an armed force,' and that ' he would not be the minister to enforce taxes at the expense of blood.' In 1735 there appeared in Parliament, amidst the party at which Walpole scoffed as the Boy Patriots, a new member named William Pitt, who was then winiam twenty-seven, and held a commission in the ?'". Horseguard Blues. His grandfather had been Governor of Madras, and had acquired fame of a certain kind, because in India he had purchased the largest diamond then known, which he had afterwards sold at an enor- mous profit to the Regent for the King of France. Young Pitt had been educated at Eton, thence had gone to Oxford, but had to leave Oxford suffering from the gout, which plagued him at intervals all his life through. For the good of his health Pitt travelled through France and Italy, and on his return to England took his commis- sion in the Blues, and shortly afterwards entered Parlia- ment as one of the members for Old Sarum. This was one of the ' pocket boroughs ' abolished by the Great Reform Bill, and may indeed be described as the one most frequently attacked, and the greatest scandal of the S6 The Early Hanoverians, a.d. 1737 old system ; for at the time of the Reform Bill there was not a single resident in Old Sarum, and the two members were elected by a single property holder. This property had been bought by Pitt's grandfather. Pitt is described as tall and manly, very dignified, with a keen eye, and a wonderful voice. This was full , and clear, audible in a whisper, and when pearanceand raised filling the House wdth the volume of eloquence, j^^ sound. All accounts of liis oratory agree that it was marvellous and carried away all hearers. No doubt he was much stronger in invective and sarcasm than in reasoning. His studied speeches were not con- sidered equal to his spontaneous efforts. After Pitt's maiden speech Walpole is said to have remarked, ' We must muzzle that terrible cornet of horse." The first muzzle tried was an offer to help Pitt to pro- motion if he would retire from Parliament ; the second was his dismissal from the army. But Walpole had at last found a man neither to be bribed nor daunted. Some years afterwards the old Duchess of Marlborough, in admiration of his political conduct, left Pitt a legacy of 10,000/. It is characteristic that his dismissal by the King and his minister was the signal for Pitt's appointment to a place in the household of the Prince of Whales. PrfncTof ' Until our own day it has been said that each Wales. Prince of Wales in turn has been in opposi- tion. George II. opposed his father, and perhaps it was but natural that his son should oppose him. Frederick, Prince of Wales, hated his parents as much as they hated him. Nothing could be stronger than the language employed about him by his mother. 'My dear Lord,'" wrote Queen Caroline, in no measured terms, ' I will give it you under my hand if you are in any fear of my re- lapsing, that my dear first-born is the greatest ass, and the greatest liar, and the greatest canaille^ and the greatest A.D. 1742 Waipoles Fall. ^7 beast in the whole world, and that I heartily wish he was out of it.' This is violent language, especially from a mother. But the spirit of it was perhaps justified. It was merely to irritate the King, and not from any political views, that the Prince of Wales made his court the centre of opposition to Walpole as the King's minister. At the end of 1737 Walpole lost his best friend by the death of this very Queen Caroline. On her death-bed, amidst much good advice that she gave her Death of the husband, she strongly recommended him to Q^een. support Walpole. She had herself been a friend to Walpole's administration from the beginning of the reign. In her faults as well as in her virtues there was a simi- larity between the minister and the Queen— an element of coarseness, a cynical contempt for others, together with a resolute determination to maintain peace and to govern wisely and humanely. In the years that were coming King George had reason to regret his wife. Walpole at length succumbed to the united attacks of the opposition. The particular question was the war with Spain, the causes of which and of the wider con- ^y^,p^,^,^ tinentalwar are described in detail a little later resignation, in this volume. The greatest mistake of Wal- -''"'• '^"^^ pole's life was yielding to the clamour, and declaring war. It is doubtful if this yielding even postponed his down- fall. He fought gallantly to the last, his love of power inspiring him ; but when a general election placed him in a minority in the House of Commons, and his friends urged him to retire, he tendered his resignation to the King. It is said that the King was so much moved on accepting the resignation that he fell on Walpole's neck, wxpt, and kissed him. This was in January 1742. Walpole accepted a pension of 4,000/. a year and a peerage. As Earl of Orford he lived yet three years amid the country pleasures that he loved so well. 88 The Early Hanoverians. 1699 BOOK II. THE WARS. CHAPTER I. THE TURKS. Section I. — Fi7'st War. The period of which this volume treats may be said almost to open with a war, though little notice of it is taken Turks in ^^ ^^'' historics as a war in which England Europe, had no part. Not only in our own day has there been an Eastern Question. The Turks were always regarded by our ancestors as intruders in Europe. It is a little more than 500 years since they first appeared, and we now seem reconciled to their presence. During this long period there have been great fluctuations in their power. But on the whole we may say that, up to the seventeenth centuiy, their power was advancing ; from that period it has been receding. We may select as the culminating point of their power their famous siege of Vienna in 1683. Their boundary line was then not more than a hundred miles from Vienna, the imperial city. John Sobieski, the King of Poland, an old opponent of the Turks, came to the rescue of the Emperor. With . a tremendous charge he overthrew the Turks and put them to headlong flight. All their belongings fell into his hands. It is no wonder that the people of Vienna were prepared almost to worship their Prince deliverer. In the imperial army, which under Eugene. Sobieski thus won the day, was a young officer of the age of twenty, a cadet of the House of Savoy, who -i7i8 The Turks. 89 in that war was serving his first campaign. Prince Eugene was amongst the first to carve his way through the serried ranks of the Turks. A great part of a hfe spent in fighting was to be devoted to fighting against them. During the fourteen years that followed the deliverance of Vienna the war with Turkey continued, until Eugene himself, finally defeating them in the great battle of Zenta, was able to put an end to the war by the treaty of Carlo witz, which freed Hungary entirely from the Turks with the exception of the Bannat of Temeswar. It is said that Lewis XIV. had instigated the Turks to invade Austria. At any rate, by the cessa- tion of the war the Emperor was free to take his part in the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Eugene, who in the Turkish War had made himself the first general of the empire, continued to win laurels. No sooner had the peace of Utrecht finished that war than the Turkish War broke out again. Whilst the Turks were still staggering under the blow dealt them at Vienna, it was promptly followed by another from the republic of Venice. Venice Venice and once had such dominion over the lands be- the Turks. yond the Adriatic and in the Levant that it seems hardly exaggeration in the poet Wordsworth to say that she had ' held the gorgeous East in fee.' In the year that followed the deliverance of Vienna the Venetians con- quered the Morea from the Turks. For the Greek inhabitants this was not freedom, but a change of masters ; it was, however, a change from Turk to Christian. The treaty of Carlowitz was made under the media- tion of England and Holland, these two powers ^ f , , r ■, • 1 r Peace of wantmg the hands of the empire to be free. Cariowitz, By their law the Turks were not allowed to ^^^- '^^'* make peace with any Christian power; they could only 90 The Early Hanoverians. 1699 make truces, and this truce was for twenty-five years But, peace or truce, the Turks had to acknowledge that Hungary belonged to Austria and the Morea to Venice. Meanwhile the Turks had also been at war with Russia, but had not been successful, so that a year or two later on, making truce with Russia, they left her Azof^now, indeed, an unimportant town, with its harbour silted up, but valued by Peter the Great for Russia as giving her access to the Black Sea. It is necessary to remember these earlier facts in order to understand the war that broke out immediately after the peace of Utrecht. Fifteen years War against . , , . , . „ , . , Turks after had passed smce the treaty of Carlowitz ; the Utrecht. Turks had been gathering strength, and were prepared to renew the conflict. They began with Russia, and succeeded in winning back Azof. This success they followed up with the reconquest of the Morea from Venice, whereupon the Emperor determined to join Venice in resisting their further advance ; and the sword of Eugene, which the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt had set free, was employed once more against the Turks. The first great battle took place at Peterwaradin. Eugene's troops were mostly veteran soldiers with long Battle of Pe- experience in fighting in the Netherlands and terwaradin. elsewhere. In his earlier wars against the Turks he had reason to complain of the bad treatment of his troops by the Government, the lack of money, the lack of provisions ; but now his army was splendidly appointed. As compared with the force of the Turks it was small— not in larger proportion than one to three. Eugene was advised by his officers to make up for his small numbers by putting his men behind fortifications ; but he had too much confidence in his soldiers, and they in him, to waste time in that w^ay, Eugene has been described as like a fury in the day of battle. With -i7i8 The Turks. 91 zealous enthusiasm he dashed upon the enemy, and in much less than half a day had routed them, Au^-ust - taken their standards, their artillery, and an 1716. enormous quantity of booty. The Grand Vizier, who was himself commanding the Turkish troops, fell in the battle. The immediate result of this battle was that the liannat of Temeswar, the only part of Hungary yet under the Turks, was freed from their rule. A more wide- reaching result was that the victorious career of the Turks was checked. Princes and noble volunteers flocked to Eugene's camp. The liveliest interest was everywhere felt in his victories, and the hope was enter- tained that he might drive the Turks out of Europe. The Greek inhabitants of the countries held in sub- jection by the Turks held eager hands out to him as to a deliverer. In June 17 17 Prince Eugene invested Belgrade, that unfortunate border city which from its position seemed to invite contest between Turks and Chris- ^j^^g ^^ tians ; it may be called the key of Hungary, Belgrade, and from one side or the other has stood seven sieges. The Imperialists had not carried on the siege more than six weeks when an enormous Turkish army, under the ]iew Grand Vizier, came up to relieve the city. Strong in numbers, the Turks advanced close to Eugene's lines, and his army was indeed in a critical position. His besieging force was weakened by sickness occasioned by the damp ground on which they had been encamped, and he had not more than 40,000 to oppose to some 200,000 fresh Turkish troops ; yet he saw that boldness was the best policy, and he determined without delay to attack the new army. It was about fifteen days after it had taken up its position. At midnight Eugene's troops started, but the attack in the early morning was partly helped and partly hindered by a mist which concealed 92 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1718 the whole battlefield. There was help on the one hand in that for some time the advance was hidden from the enemy until the Imperialists were close to them ; there was hindrance on the other evident when, as the mist cleared at about eight o'clock, Eugene saw that, though his wings were conquering, there was a great gap in the centre of his line, and through this gap the Turks were preparing to press. Eugene ordered up his re- serve and himself charged at the head of it ; then, whilst a fearful infantry fight ensued between his re- serve and the Janissaries, he sent orders to his nearest cavalry regiments to charge on the flank of the latter. This gave him the victory, together with trophies of every kind— prisoners, cannon, standards, booty ; more- over within a week Belgrade capitulated. It seems almost a pity that Eugene did not follow up his great successes and drive the Turks out of Europe, Peace of ^"^ ^^ least, by wresting more from them, Passarowitz. confine them within narrower limits. It might have been possible to have won for Austria the whole Danube valley down to the river mouth ; but Austria was weakened by the strain of her long wars, and Eugene had perforce to be content with his achievements. The peace of Passarowitz, which ended the war, secured to Austria such portion of Hungary as was not already hers, the Bannat of Temeswar, together with the town of Belgrade and portions of Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. The Turks, however, retained the Morea, and Venice, their old enemy, was unable ever again to make head against them. This treaty of Passarowitz (17 18) was also only a truce for twenty-five years, and peace lasted less than twenty ; but when the war broke out again the gallant Eugene was no longer alive to defeat his old opponents. Austria had reason to lament his loss. A.D. 1736 The Turks 93 Section II. — The Second War. The English Ambassador at Vienna wrote to England shortly after the death of Prince Eugene : ' During the two last years of his life even the remainder j^^^^j^ ^j of what he had been kept things in some Eugene. order, as his very Yes or No, during his sounder age, had kept them in the best.' The Prince died in 1736, and it was very soon seen that in him the only general of the Austrians was lost, whilst the War Office at Vienna had re- turned to its old and shameful condition, gene, The influence of the Jesuits was too strong ^^ckendorf. at the court ; but still greater harm was done by the incompetence of the ministers, who allowed capable and unscrupulous underlings to manage the departments for their own interests. Yet the Emperor, believing that everything was going on well, and that his war machine was in perfect order, rashly determined on joining Russia in a war against the Turks. To this the priests encouraged him ; but the chief command of the army in spite of them was given to a Protestant general — Seckendorf — whom Eugene had himself selected. Had Seckendorf found an army well provided, it is more than probable that he would have justified Eugene's con- fidence. He reported that all the frontier fortresses were ' dilapidated and incapable of the smallest resist- ance ; ' he described his men as ' miserable and half- starved wretches.' There were not as many troops as represented ; the right amount for their pay was not sent. In consequence of Eugene's easy victories the people at Vienna despised their enemy ; but Eugene had an army of veterans, and had influence to see that they were adequately provided. Just as Seckendorf had 94 ^J^^i-c Early Hanoverians, a.d. 1737 made preparations to open the campaign he received an order from the Emperor to commence it in a different part ; this involved a march of twenty-eight days under a July sun. Nor was this the only interference of which he had to complain. The unfortunate man was only in appearance commander-in-chief ; operations were really being managed from Vienna and by thoroughly incom- petent men. The result was that after a series of disasters Seckendorf was recalled and the whole blame cast upon him. The Jesuits said that the failure was natural because Seckendorf was a Protestant. He was put under arrest and kept in imprisonment. On the renewal of hostilities at the beginning of the next year (1737) the command was given to the Emperor's Duke of son-in-law, the Duke of Lorraine, a young man Lorraine. of thirty ; but he was to do nothing without the advice of a majority in a council of war. The Duke gained a slight success at first, which was hailed with great joy in Vienna, but this was very soon turned into mourning by the defeat of the Duke. The Turks attacked with great spirit and drove the Imperialists back. The Imperialist army also suffered a great deal from sickness. The victory of the Turks was followed up, and the Imperialists were shut up in Belgrade, The Emperor was in great distress about this retreat of his troops upon Belgrade, and used to exclaim, ' Is the fortune of my empire departed with Eugene ?' In the next year Belgrade w^as ceded to the Turks under circumstances disgraceful to the Emperor, to his T OSS of ministers, and to the generals whom he Belgrade. employed. The soldiers were anxious to fight and were indignant at the surrender, but the Emperor was convinced by the defeats which he had suffered that he had no hope of prevailing against the Turks. He abandoned his ally Russia, who only ob- A.D. 1739 Polish Succession War. 95 tained a condition that Azof should be demoHshed and occupied neither by Russians nor Turks, whilst the Russians gave up all claim to the navigation of the Black Sea. By the peace of Belgrade (1739) the Emperor practically ceded all that had been gained at p^^^^ ^j- the peace of Passarowitz. The fortune of the Belgrade, empire had departed with the great Eugene. CHAPTER II. POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. In 1733 began a war, which raged for about two years, involving most of the nations of Europe ; not perhaps im- portant in its details, but in several respects • u V ' -u i\ /^ • XTT 1 1 , Polish Suc- miportant m Its results. Owmg toWalpole's cession War, pacific policy England kept aloof from it. It ^''^^^ is called the War of the Polish Succession, and stands between two wars with a similar name, that of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the century, and that of the Austrian Succession which was to come in another seven years. A difference, however, may be noted be- tween the Polish difficulty and the causes of the other two wars : Spain and Austria were countries in which the usual law of succession was to follow the hereditary rule. Trouble only came because of the failure in the two lines of Hapsburg princes. But Poland was an elective monarchy. Now an elective monarchy is in Ejective theory the best of all forms of monarchy, if monarchy, not of government, by the side of which hereditary mon- archy seems ridiculous. Opponents of the latter laugh at the idea of transferring a people like a flock of sheep or goats ; by contrast they maintain that elective 96 TJic Early Haiioi'jrlaiis. a.d. 1733 monarchy allows a nation to choose its fittest man and entrust the reins of government to him. As a matter of fact, hereditary monarchy has been found to work smoothly, elective monarchy to be always fruitful in dis- cord. In Poland not only v.-cre the elections themsehes scenes of the grossest disorder, but the defeated candi- dates used to raise up factions. Civil war was the com- mon sequel of an election to the crown. Foreign powers interfered, doing their utmost to influence an election. The trouble in 1733 was perhaps the worst of the disturb- ances that arose out of a Aacancy in the throne of Poland ; it was by no means the only trouble of the kind. Early in the year died Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. In view of his death Election to Austria and Russia had been previously making Poland. agreement to act in concord. They were will- ing to take a candidate from a distant nation as least dangerous, and they had chosen the Infant of Portugal — a title used in Spain and Portugal to mean any son of the king except the eldest. But when the King died it scenicd that France also was determined to have a voice in the election. Now there was living in France, or rather in Alsace, which at this time belonged to France, a former King of Poland. Stanislaus Leczynski was a Polish nobleman who had been elected King of Poland nearly thirty years earlier, through the influence of Charles XII. of Sweden. Stanislaus was only twenty-seven, and an objection was taken that he was too young ; but Charles silenced it with the remark, * He is as old as I am.' Put after this election came the battle of Pultowa, and the defeat of Charles by Peter the Great. When his supporter's fortune was no longer in the ascendent, Stanis- laus was driven from his kingdom. Whilst he was living in retirement, the F'rench ministers fixed upon his daughter lo be the consort of the French Kinq, after the dismissal A.I). 1733 J\)iish Succession War. 97 of the Spanish Infanta. ]\oyal blood was necessary, and the five years during which Stanislaus had been kinj; were sufficient to make his blood royal. Doubtless, Jiowcver, his insignificance weighed with the ministers, who thought he would not give trouble. This daughter had been Queen Consort of France some eight years now, and either the French ministers had become less pacific or the King threw his weight into his father-in-law's scale, as France determined to press for the election of Stanislaus Leczynski as successor to Augustus the Strong. When the election was held the influence of France and the popularity of the idea of electing a native Pole prevailed. .Stanislaus was elected. Within ten days of his election a large Russian army appeared at the gates of Warsaw, and Stanislaus had to take to flight. The Russians maintained that they had come to support freedom of election ; in reality Austria and Russia had by this time agreed to support Augustus, Elector of Saxony, the son of the last king. Of the two candidates there is no doubt which the Poles preferred ; but Augustus, elected by a minority under the auspices of the Russian army, remained King of Poland for a space of thirty years. This was the cause of the War of the Polish Succession, Russia and the Emperor were on the side of Augustus of Saxony. Russia confined herself to the Polish sides taken side of the war — secured Poland, the nominal in the war. bone of contention, and besieged Stanislaus in Dantzig, from which town he was with difficulty able to escape. Various princes of the empire supported the Emperor, but very lukewarmly. Frederick William of Prussia was one, but he did not send more than the contingent pre- scribed by the law of the empire. Had he taken up the war vigorously, the result might have been different. On the other side were France, Spain and Savoy. It is advisable to consider the motive of each of these : M. II. H 98 The Early Hanovej'ians. a.d. 1733 France was anxious for Lorraine. If we look at the map of France it is evident there is a curious hollow between Alsace and France. The duchy of Lorraine separates them. Whether France had this duchy from the first in view, or whether, finding that the maintenance of Stanislaus on the Polish throne was impossible, she made the best bargain for herself, is uncertain. But as the war went on France made it her condition of memslu end assent to the election of Augustus — that the of war. duchy of Lorraine should be given to Stanis- laus, and upon his death be incorporated with France. This condition was finally accepted, and Lorraine re- mained joined to France until the greater part was with Alsace taken away again after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. This demand of France came specially hard upon the Emperor because the Duke of Lorraine was the betrothed husband of his elder daughter, Maria Theresa. In order that Francis might not remain a 'duke without a duchy ' it was determined at the conclusion of the war that he should have the Grand Duchy of Tus- cany, which opportunely fell vacant (July 1737). Spain and Savoy joined in the war with a view to spoils that could be wrested from the Emperor in Italy. To the Oueen-mother of Spain the war proved the crowning stroke of her favourite policy. She had dis- turbed the peace of Europe in order to procure an appan- age for her son Don Carlos. In taking part with the French she chose her side wisely ; and the result was that her son became King of the Two Sicilies, in which posi- tion his descendants continued until in 1859 the heroic Garibaldi swept the dynasty away, joining the south to the kingdom of the north, making a great advance towards a united Italy. The King of Sardinia, formerly Duke of Savoy, who also gained by joining France in this war, was the ancestor of King Victor Emmanuel, who in our own time became King of a united Italy. A.D. 1735 Polls Jc Succession War. 99 The war, the results of which have thus been indicated, lasted two years, during which there was fighting in Italy, which formed the more important part of the incidents of war, and in Germany. In the Italian campaigns ^^e war. the Emperor had very much the worst of it. The war came upon Austria in a very unprepared condition. The German campaigns in the Rhine valley are memorable chiefly because Prince Eugene was for part of the time commander-in-chiefof the imperial forces, and Frederick, the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterwards Frederick the Great, served in his camp. Eugene was growing old, being over seventy, but probably that would not have prevented his former great qualities as a general showing forth ; but he was abominably provided, receiving recruits instead of veteran soldiers, and no supplies. Frederick in after days wrote that Eugene's inaction of this time was as honourable to him as his earlier victories. This war may be said to have ended with the signing at Vienna of the preliminaries of peace in October 1735. It took some years before the definitive treaties p^^^^ ^^ were arranged and signed. By the last of Vienna. these treaties, signed three years later, France agreed to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction ; and within two years more had, on the Emperor's death, incontinently broken the said guarantee. Augustus remained King of Poland for thirty years. He was elected October 5, 1733, and died on the same day in the year which ended the Seven Years' War. In less than nine years from his death took place the first partition of Poland. Stanislaus lived quietly as Duke of Lorraine, and met with his death at a great age (eighty-nine) in 1766, when he was burnt to death through an accident. At his death Lorraine was united to France. 100 TJi: Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1739 CHAPTER III. JENKINS' EAR. In spite of Walpole's love of peace, and determined efforts to preserve it, in the year 1739 a war broke out with Spain, which is an ilkistration of the say- ing that the occasion of a war may be tnflmg, though its real cause be very serious. The war is often called the War of Jenkins' Ear. The stor)' ran that eight years before (1731) a certain Captain Jenkins, skipper of the ship ' Rebecca,' of London, had been maltreated by the Spaniards. His ship was sailing from Jamaica, and hanging about the entrance of the Gulf of Florida, when it was boarded by the Spanish coastguard. The Spaniards could find no proof that Jenkins was smuggling, though they searched narrowly, and being angry at their ill- success they hanged him to the yardarm, lowering him just in time to save his life. At length they pulled off his ear and told him to take it to his king. To this Pope alludes in the couplet — And own the Spaniard did a waggish thing Wlio cropped our ears and sent them to the King. Much discredit has been thrown on this story. No less a man than Burke described it as ' a fable,' and Is this story I'laturally the peace party wished that it should truev be so regarded. One writer says that when Jenkins died it was found that his ear had never been cut off at all. Another says that it was in the pillory that Jenkins lost the ear, which he carried about with him wrapped in cotton wool. But it is quite certain that the story was given in the London newspapers of the day on the return of the A.D. 1739 Jenkins' Ear, lOi 'Rebecca' to that port. What is more extraordinary is that the story when first told made but little stir. Seven years later Captain Jenkins was examined by the House of Commons, on which occasion some member asked him how he felt when being maltreated, and Jenkins answered, ' I recommended my soul to God and my cause to my country.' The answer, whether made at the time or prepared for use in the House of Commons, touched a chord of sympathy, and soon was circulated through the country. ' No need of allies now,' said one poli- tician ; ' the story of Jenkins will raise us volunteers.' The truth of the matter is that this story from its somewhat ridiculous aspect has remained in the minds of men, but that it is only a specimen of many :„ , • 1 n ^^ ■ ■ • 1 ^^^al CaUSC stones then afloat, all pomtmg to msolence of the of Spaniards in insisting upon what was after Sp^^ishUar. all strictly within their rights. But the legal treaty rights of Spain were growing intolerable to Englishmen, though not necessarily to the English Government ; and traders and sailors were breaking the international laws which practically stopped the expansion of England in the New World. The war arose out of a question of trade, in this as in so many other cases the English being prepared to fight in order to force an entrance for their trade, which the Spaniards wished to shut out from Spanish America. This question found a place amongst the other matters arranged by the treaty of Utrecht, when the English obtained almost as their sole return for their victories what was known as the Assiento. This is a ^j^^ Spanish word meaning contract, but its use Assiento . had been for some time confined to the disgraceful privilege of providing Spanish America with negroes kidnapped from their homes in Africa. The Flemings, the Genoese, the Portuguese, and the French Guinea 102 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1739 Company received in turn from \ Spanish kings the monopoly in this shameful traffic, which at the treaty of Utrecht was passed on for a period of thirty years to England, now becoming mistress of the seas, and with her numerous merchant ships better able than others to carry on the business. The English Government com- mitted the contract to the South Sea Company, and the number of negroes to be supplied annually was no less than 4,800 ' sound, healthy, merchantable negroes, two- thirds to be male, none under ten or over forty years old.' In the Assiento Treaty there was also a provision for the trading of one English ship each year with Spanish America ; but in order to prevent too great advantage therefrom it was carefully stipulated that the ship should not exceed 600 tons burden. There is no doubt that this stipulation was regularly violated by the English sending a ship of the required number of tons, but with it nume- rous tenders and smaller craft. Moreover smuggling, being very profitable, became common ; it was of this smuggling that Captain Jenkins was accused. The Spaniards to stop the smuggling exercised their un- doubted right of search, and put all whom they could prove to have smuggled into loathsome dungeons. There is little doubt that the Spanish sailors were often guilty of undue violence. By 1738, the year when Jenkins was examined in the House of Commons, all England was ringing with stories of atrocities. In various public places sailors re- turned from captivity took up their station with speci- mens of the nasty food given to them in Spanish prisons. Doubtless the politicians that opposed Walpole, and favoured the idea of war, aggravated the stories, in them- ,„ , selves bad, and not without foundation. Wal- War de- ' Glared Octo- pole, always anxious for peace, by argument, ^^ ^^^^' by negotiation, by delays, resisted the growing desire for war : at length he could resist no longer. For A.D. 1739 Jenkins' Ear. 103 the sake of his reputation he should have resigned office, but he had enjoyed power too long to be ready to yield it, and most unwisely he allowed himself to be forced into a declaration of war October 19, 1739. The news was received throughout England with a perfect frenzy of delight. The church bells were ringing joyful peals — a strange use for church bells ! — and Walpole is said to have remarked, ' They may ring the bells now — before long they will be wringing their hands ! ' A year and a day after this declaration of war an event occurred — the death of the Emperor — which helped to swell the volume of this war until it was rp. , 1 he war De- merged into the European war, called the War comes much of the Austrian Succession, which includes ^^^^'^' within itself the First and Second Silesian Wars, between Austria and Frederick the Great of Prussia. The Euro- pean war went on until the general pacification in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. Within another ten years war broke out again on somewhat similar grounds, but on a much wider scale and with the combatants dif- ferently arranged, under the title ' Seven Years' War.' The events of this year, whilst the war was only be- tween Spain and England, were the attacks on Spanish settlements in America, the capture of Porto Bello, and the failure before Cartagena, which led to Anson's famous voyage. War being declared with Spain, the question remained in what way Spain should be attacked. There were two strongholds belonging to Spain between North and South America — Cartagena, the stronger, which Capture of is at the north of South America, and Porto P°"° ^^"°- Bello, on the Isthmus of Panama. It was determined to make an attempt on each of these. Unfortunately, during the long peace, all the fighting machinery had 1 34- The Early Hanoverians. a i\ 174a been allowed to rust. Walpole had not acted on the principle, ' If you wish for peace prepare for war,' but in his zeal for economy had permitted the naval dockyards to fall into disorder, whilst all army arrangements were yet worse. One of these two places was not difficult to take. Admiral \^ernon appeared before it with six ships, made assault, and the place was surrendered on the second day. This victory was very popular in England. There arc still places in Great Britain called Porto Bello which were named in the midst of the public joy ; and the joy was increased by the following circumstance. In the heat of debate in Parliament, Vernon, a bluff and trouble- some member sitting on the opposition side, had said, ' Give me six ships, and I will take the place,' Many had thought this force insufficient, and that he ought not to have been taken at his word ; and it was supposed that the ministers wanted to be rid of him, and rather hoped he would fail. But the far more important enterprise was the attempt on Cartagena, for which Vernon found that it would be Attack on ncccsssary to have soldiers as well as ships. Cartasena. ,^ ^gj-y j^j-ge forcc was therefore prepared — twenty-five ships of the line and eighty transports, carry- ing about 7,000 soldiers and marines. But owing to the backwardness of preparations this force was at least four months too late, and instead of leaving England at mid- summer, as had been designed, did not sail for the tropics until November. In addition a small fleet was sent, under Commodore Anson, with instructions to sail round Cape Horn and to make attack on the Spanish possessions in Central America from the Pacific side at the same time as \>rnon from the Atlantic. Such a scheme required punctuality in its performance. Anson's voyage became famous in other ways, but it did not in any way coincide with the attack on Cartagena. The A.D. 174c Jenkins' Ear, 105 whole expedition was as unfortunate in its later issues as it was unpunctual in its commencement. The original commander-in-chief died on the voyage out, and the general who took his place was not only utterly unfit for the command, but did not agree with Vernon. Far from co-operating, the general and Admiral \^ernon were soon in open quarrel. In a spirit of pique the latter main- tained that his business was only to bring the soldiers to the place, theirs to take it. Meanwhile the very climate was fighting against the English in the shape of drenching tropical rains, for the delays had brought them to the tropics at a wrong season. Within ten days from the disembarkation of the troops, and after one most des- perate but perfectly hopeless attempt, the men were taken back to their transports. The mortality is some- thing terrible to consider. In three days from the land- ing the numbers were reduced from 6,645 to 3,200 effective men. To this must be added that the sick and wounded were most abominably tended. It happens that one who became in after days a famous English author, Tobias Smollett, was a surgeon's mate on board one of these ships. He has left an account of the whole expedi- tion, but especially of this part which concerned his own business : and he adds that, because of the rancour between the chiefs, surgeons from the men-of-war were not permitted to attend the sick soldiers in the transports. It is certainly difficult to imagine such a desperate pass, or that if matters really reached such a state no punishment whatever should ensue. The Cartagena expedition was not only a complete but a shameful failure. This war between England and Spain did not end until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), but for the remainder of the time it was carried on in a very desul- tory manner. There was no more fitting out of great io6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 expeditions : it almost seemed as if the Government Rest of on either side had no further concern in the Wan 'pHva- ^'^^^ter. It became a war of privateers on eers. both sides, at first with varying success, then with success inchning wholly to the English, who in one year took no less than 600 prizes. A privateer is a ship fitted out by private individuals at their own expense, to which Government gives permission to prey upon the commerce of the enemy. Such permission is called letters of marque. Without them a privateer would be a pirate. In conduct many privateers were uncommonly like pirates. It may be permitted here to add that a privateer's war is the very worst kind of war. There is no patriotism in it, merely an individual desire for gain. The horrors of such a war fall chiefly upon non-combatants — upon merchant ships, not men-of-war. In modern times it has been proposed in future wars to consider neutral all private property upon the sea. Per- haps the world is not ripe for such a measure of lustice ; but it is more and more felt that the distinction between combatants and non-combatants should be strictly pre- served. CHAPTER IV. ANSON'S VOYAGE. The small fleet which was placed under the orders of Commodore Anson to operate against the Spanish settle- ments in the Pacific through unpunctuality Anson's fleet: . ., . _ , . . _ ^ -^. , . -^ object of failed altogether m its first purpose of attacking voyage. Panama, and across the isthmus offering a helping hand to Vernon in his attack on Cartagena. But the voyage becam.e famous for the perils surmounted and A.D. 1740 Ansoiis Voyage 107 for the damage of various kinds done to Spain. The little squadron at first consisted of six ships : — Guns INIen Centurion , . 60 400 Gloucester 50 300 Severn 50 300 Pearl 40 Wager 28 Trial ........ 8 Owing to the unpunctuality in equipment already mentioned these ships arrived at Cape Horn at the worst time of the year, at the March equinox. Whilst rounding the Cape, and afterwards, they encountered the most violent weather — fearful storms and most bitter cold. The ships were unable to keep together, and the island of Juan Fernandez was appointed for a gathering place. When the storms were over the sailors were affected by the scurvy. So serious was this illness that hardly sufficient men were left alive to navigate the ships. The island of Juan Fernandez is Robinson Crusoe's island; that is to say, it is the island in which Alexander Selkirk lived, the narrative of whose sojourn gave to Daniel Defoe the idea of Robinson Crusoe and his sojourn on an uninhabited island. To Anson's sailors it appeared like a paradise, containing plenty of fresh water and plenty of fresh herbs ; also goats, descendants of Selkirk's flock. Only three ships met at this island, the ' Centurion,' the ' Gloucester,' and the ' Trial.' The ' Severn ' and the ' Pearl' had suffered so badly that they were Y\e.^t compelled to turn and go home. The ' Wager ' scattered, was wrecked on a small desert island, when the crew mutinied against the captain, and putting to sea in the longboat actually passed the Straits of Magellan, and about thirty of them even reached Rio Grande, in Brazil. io8 The Early Hauorcriaus. a.d. 1740 Four out of the ot^ccrs, whom the men had left behind, escaped to the Spanish settlements in Chili, where they were treated generously, and ultimately, being exchanged for Spanish prisoners, returned home. One of these, then a midshipman, afterwards became Admiral Byron, and was grandfather to Lord Byron, the poet, who says himself that in describing a wreck in his poems he made use of accounts that' he had 'heard of scenes from the Avreck of the ' Whger.'' From Juan Fernandez, Anson's three ships set forth in search of prizes. The little 'Trial' captured a large merchant ship, and as the ' Trial ' was very leaky and unfit for further sailing, her crew was transferred to her prize. Then Anson determined to attack the Spanish town of Paita. Sixty sailors landing in boats were sufticient to take it ; and the English obtained large quantities of plunder. The treasure was taken on board the ' Centurion,' and then Anson most unjustifiably gave orders that the town should be burnt. INIeanwhile the ' Gloucester ' also had taken valuable prizes. Anson's next scheme was to intercept one of the galleons that traded between Manilla and Mexico. These 0\ tureof hi-^gc vessels brought merchandise from Ma- guUeons. nilla and carried back the precious metals from the port of Acapulco, in Mexico. But before he could carry out his design Anson was obliged to destroy his prizes, and concentrate on board the two ships ' Centurion ' and ' Gloucester.' Having done this he put to sea, but the ships were caught in a storm, and it was found necessary to transfer the ' Gloucester's ' men to his own ship, the ' Centurion,' which was now left alone. Lest the ' Glou- cester's ' hull should fall into the hands of the Spaniards she was set on fire. Now again the scurvy began doing great mischief to Anson's force, and reduced it until at one time there A.D. 1740 Anson's Voyage, 109 were not seventy men fit for duty. They stayed at the island of Tinian, one of the Ladrones Anson at Islands, and there recruited their strength. Tinian. Whilst many, including the commodore, were ashore a violent storm arose and drove the ' Centurion ' from her moorings, and quite away from the island. So few sailors had been left on board that it was doubtful whether the ship could be worked back again to her position. Anson proposed that they should lengthen a small Spanish ship which they had seized at the island, but which was in its present condition too small to hold them all, and so escape. Heartened by the example of their chief, they were all working vigorously at ship- building when from the top of a hill, to the great joy of all, the ' Centurion ' was espied returning. In the ' Centurion' Anson sailed to Macao to refit and to supply himself with stores. Though Macao was a Portuguese settlement the governor would . ,^ ,^ , . . , , * ^ , At Macao. give hmi nothmg without the consent of the Chinese Government at Canton. As the mandarins made difficulties even about his purchasing provisions, Anson pointed out that the ' Centurion ' could destroy all the ships in Canton harbour; that his men, being hungry, could not be restrained much longer ; and that if they turned cannibals they would probably begin with the plump, well-fed Chinese ! The mandarins yielded with- out further parley. Anson had not given up his designs on the Spanish galleons, and in about a month he fell in with one off the Philippine Islands, The Spanish ship did not try to avoid an engagement, but strangely postponed clearing decks until the fight had begun. Anson abandoned the system of broadsides, keeping up instead a constant but irregular fire. Moreover he stationed his best marks- to fire at the Spanish officers. The no The Eai'ly Hanovei'ians. a. d. 1740 result of his tactics was that though the Spaniards fought bravely they were beaten by the English, who had not half their number. The Spaniards lost in the fight 151, the English 29. This prize had on board a million and a half of dollars. Anson took his prisoners to Canton, where he released them and sold his prize. At length he sailed for England round the Cape of Good Hope. When the ' Centurion ' reached home she had been absent three years and nine months. She brought home no little booty ; but the gain to Anson and his men was as nothing compared to the damage that had been done to Spain. Great was the glory gained. Proof had been given that England's seamen had not degenerated since the days of Elizabeth. Anson himself was made a peer. CHAPTER V. AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. The Emperor Charles VI. was unfortunate enough twice to set a general European war on foot : once when Death of ^^ '^^'^^ ^'^^^ ^ ^^^5 being one of the claimants Emperor, for the Spanish crown, one of the 'pair of louts,' as Lord Peterborough called them, on whose account the long War of the Spanish Succession was fought. The second occasion was when, after his death, the arrangements which he had made with care to pre- vent a war of Austrian Succession proved quite inadequate for that purpose. The Emperor's death was unexpected, taking place after a short illness. The death itself is said to have been caused by the Emperor's eating a dish of mushrooms at a time when he was already ill. Exactly forty years before the death of a Charles with- A.D. 1740 Austrian Succession. iii out male heir had ended the line of the Spanish Haps- burg family ; now the death of a Charles ended the other branch, the Austrian Hapsburgs, for the Emperor left no male heir ; but he had two daughters, the elder of whom was the beautiful and famous Maria Theresa. For many years the whole object of his policy had Pragmatk been to secure that she should succeed him in Sanction, his hereditary dominions, whilst latterly he had also hoped that her husband would be elected Emperor. Charles had therefore prepared an elaborate and formal document, long known as the Pragmatic Sanction, where- in it was decreed that, failing male issue, Maria Theresa should succeed him. For fifteen years he had done his best to induce the chief powers of Europe to give their assent to the Pragmatic Sanction, and their formal pro- mises that it should be carried out. No sacrifice seemed too great if this object could be attained. As far as diplomacy could serve, Charles might have died happy, for he had obtained all the guarantees which he had sought. It has been said that he left Maria Theresa an ample collection of parchments. Prince Eugene had warned the Emperor that it would hav6 been far wiser to strengthen the army and fill the treasury than to trust in promises however sacred. Frederick the Great cyni- cally remarked that it would have been of more use if Charles had left his daughter an army of 100,000 men. Such was the nature of the legacy which Frederick's father, who also died in this memorable year (1740), had left to him ; and the first use to which he put his ad- mirably drilled army was, in disregard of Prussia's promise to support the Pragmatic Sanction, to invade the Austrian territory in order to put in force an old and obsolete claim of his family to the province of Silesia. Maria Theresa, who now became, and for a long 112 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 time remained, one of the chief actors in the drama of INI aria European history, was not twenty-four at her Theresa, father's death. She is described as very beautiful, 'her person formed to wear a crown,' with a winning and animated face, a noble figure, and fascinating manners. By nature she was very high-spirited, even proud, never willing to abate a jot from her claims. She was most sincerely desirous of the good of her people, which, however, must be compassed in her way, for she was despotic as well as benevolent. Her will was strong, her understanding vigorous. Generous, chivalrous, earn- est, she had religious principle as the mainspring of her life, but it was oftentimes a religious principle hardly to be distinguished from bigotry. The story goes that Frederick of Prussia wished once to marry her, and those who have the fancy to picture what Marrl-'-e of ^""^^S^'^t liave been can see how the whole his- Maria " tory of Europe would have been altered by the union of Prussia and Austria. This marriage is said to have been Prince Eugene's strong and earnest wish. But the difference of religion would have been an insur- mountable barrier. For no marriage in the world would Maria Theresa, any more than Queen Caroline of England, have changed her faith. Some have thought that an earlier unity of Germany might have been secured with Austria as nucleus, but in those days of ^balance of power' would the other nations have per- mitted such a disturbance of it.'' Another match proposed for Maria Theresa was the Electoral Prince of Bavaria. When the War of the Polish Succession was turning out badly for the Emperor, Prince Eugene, in the last great state paper that he wrote, supported the idea of this marriage in order to strengthen the position of Austria in Germany and the German element in Austria. This p;iper of Eugene's, being exactly contrary to the A. D. 1740 Aitstrian Succession. 113 Emperor's wishes for his daughter, seems to have decided the Emperor at once to make peace. It is pleasant to add that it was no marriage of pohcy which Maria Theresa made, but as genuine a love-match as any village maiden's. Four years before her father's death, after a mutual attachment of at least four years, she had married her cousin Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was this Duke of Lorraine who had been commander-in-chief in the m.iddle year of the disastrous war against the Turks. Amongst the children of Francis and Maria Theresa must be mentioned Joseph, who succeeded Francis as Emperor, and the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. The Emperor hoped that upon his death this son-in- law would be elected Emperor; but as he would not give up the hope of a male heir, he did not like to secure this result by causing Francis to be elected King of the Romans. Ultimately Charles' wish was gratified. With- in five years Francis was elected Emperor, but the inter- val was full of wars and battles, and before him Charles VII., 'the bold Bavarian,' occupied the imperial throne, though on a precarious and uncomfortable tenure. Considering the solemn promises that had been made to the Emperor Charles VI., it is wonderful how soon the Pragmatic Sanction was set aside. Those Various who had promised began to make excuses, to claimants. quote saving clauses and conditions in their deeds of promise. George II. of England alone remained firm in the resolve to keep his kingly word. In a speech to Parliament he announced that he meant to support Maria Theresa, and Parliament never thought of urging that England had nothing to do with the quarrel. The first to attack the dominions of Austria was Frederick, afterwards called the Great, in his invasion of Silesia. His plan was to seize Silesia first and to treat with J/. //. I 114 TJlc Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 Maria Theresa afterwards. She never forgave Frederick for this, and three Silesian wars were the result of his in- vasion. In the last, the Seven Years' War, Frederick was nearly overwhelmed, but Avhen he emerged from it he still retained his hold of Silesia. But though Frederick was the first, he was not the only enemy raised up against the Archduchess Maria Theresa ; the Elector of Bavaria, the King of Spain, and the Elector of Saxony claimed the whole or part of her dominions. The claim of Spain was based on an elaborate genea- logy and on a compact made by Charles V. when he abdicated his throne. It is very evident, how- ^'^'"' ever, that this baseless claim to the Avhole monarchy was put forward in order that in any division some part might be secured. The Queen of Spain her- self confessed that she shared in the war in order ' that her second son, Don Philip, might gain a morsel of bread.' The Elector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland, claimed on the ground that his wife was the eldest daughter of the previous emperor, Joseph. But the claim of the Elector of Bavaria was considered the most formidable. Charles Albert was the son of Elector of the Elector who was defeated at Blenheim, Bavana. ^^^ Qf Cunigunda, daughter of the famous John Sobiesky, King of Poland. He himself had married the younger daughter of the previous emperor, Joseph. It is true that if there was any Salic law forbidding a female to succeed, it would operate not only against ]\Iaria Theresa, but against all the claimants ; for it would seem just that if a female cannot inherit she should not be able to transmit a claim. For 300 years of the House of Austria there had been no claim through a female. Yet it is manifest that the rules of succession in Austria must have been peculiar, for in England the daughters of Joseph would have succeeded before Charles A ustrian Succession. 115 5 ?< c> '-Ti ::::) .r:. •^ ss T a^ ^ 3 !^— •Is 3 a ^ '* a >) w J= o -I '^ C rt = Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany, Emperor i745-( 1 II. RIari or Antoine 7. executed ■li^M Leopolc Empei 1790-C s C rt ii rt o tX ^ X bD • ^ j3 4J I _>,.2 ^1 I! w '-'t^X*^ w S Iw .~ O H So-^ O !- « 5 Ii6 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 himself, the late emperor. This must have been the reason why Charles took so much trouble about the Pragmatic Sanction. His daughter's claim was not clearly recognisable. He therefore did his utmost to secure promises that it should be recognised. The Elector of Bavaria claimed that by the will of a former emperor, Ferdinand I., females were excluded ; but when the original will at Vienna was examined, the word ' male ' on which he relied was not found. The important question was, what side would France take ? When Frederick started for Silesia he is reported to have said to the French Ambassador, ' I believe that I am going to play your game (French hostility to Austria). If the aces fall to me, we will share the proceeds.' Yet on France's part there was a slight hesitation. Cardinal Fleury, the old Chief Minister, was in favour of accepting the Pragmatic Sanction. Like Walpole, he was a peace minister ; like Walpole, he was at this time forced into war ; like Wal- pole, he soon retired, and did not live long. Marshal Belleisle was at the head of a war party, chiefly consisting of young nobles, who desired to seize the opportunity to dismember France's old enem}^, Austria. This Count Belleisle, who was the chief adviser of the French King in opposition to the policy of Fleury, was a notable man. He had conceived very de- finite plans with respect to Germany, such as were in accordance with the traditional lines of French ambition, but not of a kind to make Germans love his memory. His idea was divide ct impera — keep Germany as disunited as possible, in order that France might prevail over her. A balance of power should be maintained ; but in Germany, not in Europe. French interference in the Thirty Years' War had helped the disunion of Germany and to mark more strongly the A. D. 1740 Austrian Succession. 117 multiplicity of her independent little states. Belleisle had a fancy for four German kingdoms of something like equal power : Austria, Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria. As Austria had hitherto been much more powerful than the others, the influence of France was to be thrown into the scale with the enemies of Austria, and on the spoils of Austria the other three kingdoms were to grow fat. Thus Frederick's seizure of Silesia would be supported by France. Count Belleisle obtained from the King the appointment of Ambassador Extraordinary to the courts of Germany, and proceeded to make a kind of semi-royal progress from one court to another. He had thirty young French lords in his suite, and no less than no servants in livery. To add to his importance, the King made him a Marshal of France. One of the first things to be done was to defeat the election of Maria Theresa's husband as Emperor. Belleisle conducted negotiations which ultimately led to the election of Charles Albert, Duke and Elector of Bavaria. He took the title Charles VII. The full design of Austria's enemies was to reduce Maria Theresa to Hungary, Lower Austria and the Aus- trian Netherlands, and to share the rest of her dominions amongst the various claimants. A againsr French historian claims that this conduct on -^^stna. the part of France was 'too generous,' because she was to keep no portion of the shared dominions for herself, as if the weakening of her ancient enemy was not reward enough for her. An alliance to this effect was made between France, Bavaria, and Spain, by the treaty of Nymphenburg. It was joined later by Saxony, and later still by Frederick of Prussia. France, however, did not declare war. Her cue was to appear only as Bavaria's ally, and her first act was to hold George II. in check by marching an army upon Hanover. George, who was just preparing to take the field, agreed by the treaty of ii8 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 Hanover to neutrality for a year, on condition that there should be no French invasion of the Netherlands. The second act of France was to send an army towards Upper Austria. On crossing the frontier of A French their country the French soldiers put on white army. and bluc cockadcs, the badge of Bavaria, as if they were Bavarian soldiers. This Franco-Bavarian army soon seized the whole of Upper Austria, and the Elector of Bavaria was proclaimed at Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, hereditary Grand Duke. From Linz the victors might easily have marched on Vienna. Frederick, indeed, advised that they should ; but for some reason the Elector preferred to turn aside against Bohemia. The general belief is that the French did not wish to make him too strong. The capture of Prague soon followed, and in that capital, in November, the Elector was crowned King of Bohemia. A.D, 1 741 Atistrian Succession. 119 On June 25, 1741, Maria Theresa was crowned at Presburg, Queen of Hungary'. This was her highest title until, in after days, her husband was Maria elected Emperor. Then she was known as crowned at the Empress Queen. The English ambassa- Presburg. dor, an eye-witness, gave the following description of the scene :— ' The Queen was all charm ; she rode gallantly up the royal mount, and defied the four corners of the world with drawn sabre, in a manner to show she had no occasion for that weapon to conquer all who saw her. The antiquated crown received new graces from her head, and the old tattered robe of St. Stephen became her as well as her own rich habit, if diamonds, pearls, and all sorts of precious stones can be called clothes.' Even in June Maria Theresa must have needed all her high spirit to make this defiance. In the next three months her fortunes were fast ebbing, till at ^ , Appeal to what seemed the lowest ebb she determmed Hungarian to make a great effort to rouse the loyalty of ^^^J^*^'^- her Hungarian subjects. In September she made pa- thetic and earnest appeal to the Diet, evoking their enthusiasm. The scene has been somewhat touched up by later writers, especially by Voltaire. The Queen is usually represented as carrying her little baby in her arms, making a Latin speech to the effect that she was forsaken by all, and invoking their ancient Hungarian valour to save her. The story runs that the members of the Diet sprang to their feet, drew their sabres, and shouted, ' Moriamur pro rege nostro, Maria Theresia ! ' The evidence, however, for the degree of excitement which made her a king instead of a queen is not very strong. But there is no doubt whatever of the great enthusiasm with which she was received. The House of Austria had not hitherto made much of their Hungarian 120 The Early Hanoverians, a. d. 1742 dominions, and the Hungarians were especially pleased to be called upon for assistance. They secured advantages also. The Queen pledged herself to restore to them their ancient constitution, and a large Hungarian army was soon ready to defend right loyally the beautiful young queen. The Diet voted an iiisiLrrectio or general rising of the whole country in arms. These Hungarians were no ordinary soldiers, but enjoyed a special reputation for ferocity. Charles Albert had proceeded from Prague to Frank- fort, where the Diet of the Empire had been summoned, Elector and, influenced by France, it elected him Emperor Empcror with the title of Charles \l\. Charles VII. (January 24, 1742). On February 12 he was crowned. The poor man is himself described by one who was present as ' very ill, dying of gout and gravel.' But the most famous description of him occurs in Johnson's ' Vanity of Human Wishes,' which was published within five years of his death. The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour, Tries the dread summits of Caesarean power, With unexpected legions bursts away, And sees defenceless realms receive his sway : Short sway ! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms, The Queen, the Beauty, sets the world in arms ; From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise ; The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar, With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war ; The baffled prince, in Honour's flattering bloom Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom. His foes' derision, and his subjects' blame. And steals to death from anguish and from shame. It is quite with a right instinct that history has attached importance to the scene or scenes in the Diet A.D. 1742 Austrian Succession, 121 at Presburg. Here was the turning point in the fortune of ' fair Austria.' The change from September to the following February was indeed complete. In September the Elector of Bavaria, with the army that was at least ^, ' , , , T T A • 1 • The cause of nommally his, took Upper Austria, and, in Maria The- October, Bohemia. Maria Theresa's fortunes ''esa gains. seemed at the lowest pitch. In October she appealed to her Hungarians, the English sent her large subsidies in money, and Frederick, by a private convention, offered her a break in the war against him. This gave her for a while a breathing space, and after a little further struggle the First Silesian War ended in the Peace of Breslau. Frederick had gained Silesia. The French were very angry that he had made peace. The general result was that the French were hard pressed in Bohemia, whilst Maria Theresa's troops advanced into Austria, and, by a curious coincidence, regained Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, on the very day that Charles Albert was elected Emperor. Then, following up their victory, they took Munich, the capital of his own dominions, on the very day that he was crowned, so that Charles VII. was a Lackland Emperor as soon as ever he was Emperor at all. The French had gone to Prague in very victorious fashion. But now that the Austrian cause was gaining the recapture of Upper Austria cut the French ^ rr r -r. • t T • • , 1- RctrCatof army off from Bavaria. It was so diminished m French numbers, and in such sore need of reinforce- ^™^'' ments, that the Austrians were able to besiege it in this very town of Prague. A second army was sent by France, which was nicknamed the ' army of redemption,' but it was not able to fight its way as far as Prague. The utmost that it could accomplish was to seize the town of Eger, on the Bohemian frontier, and by holding it to secure a line of retreat for Belleisle and his army towards 122 TJie Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1743 the Main Valley, Belleisle determined to make a sortie from Prague and convey his troops as quickly as possible to Eger. The December weather was most bitter : Christmas Day fell in the middle of the retreat. There was a hard frost, and snow lay on the ground, so that this retreat has been compared to the famous retreat from Moscow. The distance was only a hundred miles, but an enormous proportion of the men fell victims to the hardships of the march. The invalids and wounded had been left under a general at Prague, When summoned to surrender at discretion he made reply, 'Tell your general that unless he grants me the honours of war, I shall set fire to the four corners of Prague and bury myself in its ruins.' His heroism met with its fitting reward. Prague once cleared of its wrongful occupants, Maria Theresa quickly seized the opportunity to be crowned, A Riarla sccond coronation scene took place in Prague downed ^^^y ^2, 1743, On her father's death she was at Prague, proclaimed in Vienna, and she had now been crowned Queen of Hungary at Presburg, and Queen of Bohemia at Prague, She did her best to clear all rebel- lion out of Bohemia, and meanwhile her armies invaded Bavaria, very legitimately carrying the war into the country of the prince whose actions brought it on. He, poor man, was little more than a fugitive on the face of the earth. By September he gave up the struggle com- pletely, and for the remaining sixteen months of his life the titular Emperor lived at Frankfort entirely reft of power. Parallel with the war in Germany there was war also going on in Italy. Spanish troops had been landed in War in Italy Under Don Philip, the second son of the Italy. Queen of Spain, The object of this force was to attack Milan as part of the Austrian possessions, and A. D. 1743 Battle of Dcttingen. 123 it was thought that Don PhiHp's elder brother Charles, King of Naples, would render assistance. But the king- dom of Naples, or of the Two Sicilies as it was often called, was forced into neutrality by an English fleet, which appeared in the Bay of Naples, and threatened to bom- bard the city if the King did not sign a treaty of neutrality. Deprived of this expected assistance, Don Philip was not able to do much. CHAPTER VL BATTLE OF DETTINGEX. Dettingen is a very well remembered battle, because it was the last in which an English sovereign fought in person. But it is this single fact which has England and given it importance, not any display of military fnfe"'^" com- genius, nor any great results achieved by batants. either side. Curiously enough, France and England, the two principal combatants in the battle, were supposed not to be at war with each other. England was an ally of Austria ; France was an ally of the Emperor ; and it was not until a later date that these allies of two belligerents declared war against each other. The English army was under the command of the Earl of Stair, who, though a pupil of Marlborough, was never a great general, and now was growing old and infirm. With very slow steps the army advanced from Flanders to a position near Frank- fort-on-the Main. It seems doubtful whether Lord Stair had any definite policy at all, except to wait for reinforce- ments. But what would be the use of the reinforcements unless there was something determined upon for them to do .^ Stair gave no explanation of his intentions nor any defence of himself afterwards. But the most 124 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d, 1743 probable solution is that he meant to march from Frank- fort some way up the valley of the Main, and then cross over to the Danube, there to co-operate with the Austrian army. Stair's force, when the reinforcements had joined him, consisted of some 44,000 men — 16,000 English, 16,000 Hanoverians, and the rest Austrians, Hessians, and a few Dutch ; but the whole was an English army in the sense that England paid for all, except the Dutch. The arrangements for the commissariat were, one may almost say as usual, very bad. Frederick the Great once said that an army was ' like a serpent, and advanced upon its belly.' And it is true that the bravest soldiers can do but little unless sufficient arrangements are made for their feeding. In consequence of the different elements of which the army was composed, quarrels and jealousies were rife ; and Stair was a good deal hampered. The French army with which Stair had first to deal was under the command of Marshal Noailles, and was , numerically stronger than Stair's. In spite of The French. , . , , x- -i, ^^ this advantage, however, J\oaillcs would not risk a battle, but pursued a Fabian policy, cutting off supplies and harassing the English army generally. Stair rather wished to tight at once, but his colleagues outvoted him. The English army advanced up the valley of the iMain as far as the town of Aschaftenburg. There it was joined The skua- ^^ ^^^i^g George himself, who soon saw that it tion. would be impossible for the army to advance further. Of food for the army there was so little that the men were almost in a state of starvation : of fodder for the horses the supply was so scant, that it was said that if the troops had remained in the same position two days longer, it vrould have been necessary to have put all the horses to death. Noailles' army had effectively cut off" supplies, of which the English had none nearer than A.D. '43 Battle of Dettingcn. -D Ilanaii, upon which place it was therefore determined to retreat. But Noailles did not intend to let the English retreat. He said he had caught them in a mouse-trap, and having once caught them he was not going to let them escape. The wooded hills of Spessart run parallel with the Main, and between Aschafifenburg and Dettingen As"eBLafieVibiu:'^'^''^^,VK A March of the Alh^d AmiY ■ tj J^isaiA^iv of tJu AUit:-a Ai-niy before zlve Battle ■ C Two hiicigec at SfhjjerusCajtlc . £ I'raxfJt^Torcc^ ujtAjcr GraJTunofU.. F Noailles' Main. Amvy. G FreruJi. Giutrci ift/2r^czn/y It O.T'' H Pninf, •wh./^r. thjywerm ^//M-e/e- irttv iheRiyrj^. \ FuitrexiZ oft}Le French. at some points draw very near to the river. Noailles seized Aschaffenburg as soon as the English had evacu- ated it. On the west bank of the river he had drawn up batteries of artillery to fire upon the English as they re- treated on the opposite bank; and in the village of Dettingen he stationed some picked troops under his 126 The Emdy Hanoverians. a.d. 1743 nephew, the Duke of Gramont. At Dettingen a brook pours into the Main, and as the EngHsh would have to cross it, Noailles chose that as the point for the complete destruction of the English troops. It certainly seemed as if Noailles really had caught the English army in a trap. As the English marched from Aschaffenburg to Dettingen, they suffered terribly from the fire of the French artillery on the opposite bank. The river could not be crossed, and there was no way to silence the artillery. As the advanced guards reach Dettingen, they find that the way is blocked. For some six hours the troops were being drawn up in as good order as possible, considering the cramped space. At length Gramont became impatient of awaiting the English assault, and instead of obeying orders and maintaining his ground he advanced with his best cavalry, the French regiment called Maison du Roi, no doubt expecting an easy and a rapid victory. The charge came with such force that it broke, at least in parts, the three front lines of the English, but could not iDreak the fourth. The result now was that Gramont's cavalry and the English infantry were so mixed together that the fierce cannonade from the opposite bank was obliged to cease, lest it should do as much harm to the French as to the English. Some of the French infantry advanced to the attack and were driven back with complete defeat into the river, many throwing themselves in, and being drowned in the attempt to swim across. The English who had steadily resisted these shocks were now in turn able to advance, the French hastily retreating out of their way. When once the French were routed. Stair wished to send the English cavalry to follow up the fugitives ; but in so doing he ignored the fact that many of the French soldiers had not been in the battle at all. Indeed, if Gramont had obeyed orders and waited, it is very A. D. 1743 Battle of Dettingen. 127 doubtful whether the English would have forced their way through. The King at any rate was convinced that the wisest use for the English to make of their victory was to escape from their perilous position ; and through pouring rain the troops marched to Hanau. He even sent a polite message to Noailles asking him to bury the dead and take care of the wounded : it is to the honour of Noailles that he did. Perhaps he felt that such a re- quest took off much from the sting of defeat. Frederick the Great used to delight in giving a comic account of the attitude of his uncle King George during this battle. He describes him as constantly Klno-Ceor-e in the attitude of a fencing-master at the lunge. H- But Frederick did not love his uncle and was fond of ridiculing him. There is no doubt, from other sources, that once King George's horse ran away with him, and that when once it was stopped, the King, being firmly on the ground, said, ' No more running away now ' : that the King placed himself at the head of the troops and en- couraged them by saying, ' Steady, my boys ; fire, my brave boys, give them fire, the French will soon run.' In fact there cannot be any doubt that the King showed the same personal bravery in the field, as much earlier in his life he had shown at the battle of Oudenarde. If Noailles had succeeded in capturing the King it would have been a serious matter. Perhaps the price of his redemption would have been the withdrawal of England from the alliance with Maria Theresa. It has been felt that such a risk as the capture of the Sovereign ought not to be run ; hence the reputation that Dettingen enjoys as the last battle in which an English sovereign fought in person. The results of the battle were that the English had fought their way back to their supplies at Results of Hanau, and apparently not much more, ex- battles. cept that it gained for King George some glory, which at 12$ T/ic Early Hanover ia US. a. d. 1743 this time fell against the interests of peace. The cause of Maria Theresa had for some time been gaining ground, and now that her ally had also gained a victory, though apparently a useless victory, it was more dimcult than ever to persuade her to be moderate. The war had changed its nature. It began as the war of Austrian succession, and was then intended to prevent the dominions of Maria Theresa from being broken up. It had now become on her part a war of vengeance against France — and at this point England ought to have left off assisting her. This at any rate was the opinion of a very eminent Englishman, who had been keen for the war at first, — William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham. In a speech made in Parliament in the December after Dettingen he noticed the change in the nature of the war, and declared that peace ought to have been made. In England as at Vienna there was a great deal of rejoicing over the battle, one sign of which remains to this day in the well-known ' Dettingen Te Deum,' com- posed by Handel, then at the height of his fame. CHAPTER VII. DEITIN'GEN TO FONTEXOV The two years of which the battle of Dettingen formed the centre were years of great success for Maria Theresa. Bohemia and Upper Austria reconquered, Theresa and the French invaders thus driven back prosper;n-. e\-er}-^vhere from her territory. The Em- peror, nominally her chief enemy, had lost his own countr)*, Bavaria, and was dependent for his ver\- sub- sistence on the bounty of France. England was upon Texel THE I^fETHERLANDS 1"?^^'^'^ 1745-8 Eiiglisk ]Mi:if. O 5 lO 20 30 40 SO 60 uY O -R T H Zuyder f^ jpj. ,„ 1^ Zee / Xondon. Xottjpnans o Is 1 t> T '^ •^ u i Battle of FONTEl>5rOT Scale of Miles Oil 2 3 ^ E.Weller O O Fiyrt.! . "iA- Tower and 'A'cndTrvlL wh^re FrerwfhJSing <£ Dcoiphin. were. A Fmu:h tr>><>}>s - Infanxry vrv fronz , Gxvalry iLx rexxr . B DuiJ-}i ii Austrtxin. „ C English „ D English in. Z"^jinsrdjon. ,whjcre Oiey hrolzf. the. Un^ . E PcauJimeTrC ofSi'/j}Jxjtdcr^, S.c.sc/u.'^o^iy ut oc.tilc to cJUxck, Fort d.'Evu-' returned to the Duke of Cumberland to ask for artillery, and thus lost the favourable time for attack. For this he was afterwards tried by court-martial and expelled the service. The Dutch and Austrian troops on the left of the line advanced against Antoine, but finding them- selves exposed to a galling fire retreated and relincjuished A.D. 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 135 the attempt. It was said that one Dutch colonel drew his men off, took them to Ath, some dozen miles, whence he wrote to his superiors that the whole allied army- had been cut to pieces, except the part which he had prudently brought off safe. Three times did the Duke of Cumberland attack Fontenoy in the centre of the line, but each time he was repulsed, so that none of the attacks on the forts succeeded. Then hastily modifying his ofthein- plan, Cumberland determined to break through ^^"^"^y- the French line between Fontenoy and the wood. This was a most desperate enterprise. The ground was very irregular, and sloped downwards towards the French position. All the way, except when they could secure a momentary cover, the English troops were exposed tc a galHng cross-fire from the batteries on either side of them. Into this space, which, like Balaclava, might be described as ' the jaws of hell,' the English troops upon order given bravely advanced in three columns, dragging some cannon with them. Marshal Saxe afterwards said that he never could have believed it possible that any army would attempt such a feat ; otherwise he would have placed additional fortifications in the gap. At this stage an incident occurred which has been often discussed. Voltaire gives a story that the ofificers of the regiment of the English Guards at the head of the advancing column saluted the French by pulling of^" their hats ; that the French officers returned the salute ; that the Enghsh commanding officer cried out, ' Gentlemen of the French Guards, fire ! ' whereupon the French officer replied, ' Gentlemen, we never fire first ; fire yourselves ! ' Unfortunately for this pretty story a letter has been pre- served written only three weeks later by this very com- manding officer in which he says, ' It was our regiment that attacked the French Guards, and when we came 136 TJie Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 within twenty or thirty paces of them I advanced before our regiment, drank to them, and told them that we were the English Guards, and hoped that they would stand till we came quite up to them, and not swim the Scheldt, as they did the Mayn at Dettingen. Upon which I im- mediately turned about to our own regiment, speeched them, and made them huzzah. An officer came out of the ranks and tried to make his men huzzah ; however, there were not above three or four in their brigade that did.' Whichever fired first, the English had much the best of the shooting. Their firing was so good that ac- cording to a French officer's report one volley fired against some charging cavalry brought down 460 men from their saddles. The English columns advanced steadily in every encounter, defeating those opposed to them. The result was that the French army was cut in two. In a battle the breaking of the enemy's line is always a great point gained. It may be remembered especially how it was a favourite movement with Marl- borough, and how it proved the turning-point at Blen- heim and at Ramillies. But the movement requires support and does not necessarily give the victory. When Cumberland halted his men 300 yards beyond Fontenoy an onlooker might have thought that he would surely win. Such an onlooker would have thought this still more had he known, what was a fact, that Marshal Saxe had sent to beg the King and the Dauphin to retire from the battlefield. The King, however, courageously re- fused. ' If the Dutch,' says Voltaire, ' had given proper assistance to the English no resource had been left, not even a retreat for the French army, nor probably for the King and the Dauphin.' Had either of the flank attacks succeeded the English chances would have been excellent. But the strength of the French position lay in their forts, and not one of the A.D. 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 0/ forts fell into the hands of the allies. In spite of their success the English column was driven back and the battle lost. A column was the best vance was formation for this famous advance because '"^^" the artillery were on each side of it, and it was necessary that the smallest surface should be presented as a mark to the guns. Now the French brought artillery full ahead of the column, and able to play along its whole length ; the destruction became terrible. Then followed a general rally of the whole of the French troops and a simul- taneous charge on the column from all quarters. The following is the account of an eye-witness : — ' The Marshal had commanded that the cavalry should touch the English with their horses' breasts ; he was obeyed. Officers of the King's chamber charged pell-mell with guards and musketeers ; the \vuness's King's pages were there sword in hand. So ^^-0""^. perfect was the time observed, so perfect the courage, so unanimous was the indignation against the repulses they had suffered, so exact the concert— the cavalry with drawn swords, the infantry with fixed bayonets — that the English column was shattered and disap- peared.' As the English retreated from the field their rear was protected by their cavalry. The total English loss was 9,000 — 7,000 killed and wounded, 2,000 prisoners. The column had consisted of 16,000 men. Voltaire gives an account how the suggestion was made to the Marshal of these movements which brought victory to the French ; but other and later writers, jealous for the honour of the general, deny that he was taken aback or accepted sug- gestions from others. Some even think that he allowed the English colum.n to adA-ance as into a trap in order that the defeat might be the more complete. It was a repetition of an old story. The English fought bravely, but were not well led. The youthful Cumberland (he was 138 TJic Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 only twenty-four) could not make the allies work, and the brave advance was thrown away because it was not supported. It must, however, be remembered that the ground between Antoine and Fontenoy was fortified, whilst there Avas no fort between Fontenoy and the wood. One point remains to be mentioned. Amongst the most gallant troops of the French army was the Irish Irish at Brigade. This force, consisting of some five Fontenoy. regiments, was composed of Irish exiles, Jacobites to a man, and full of deadly hostility against England and the English Government. A portion of this brigade had in the earlier part of the battle helped to defend Antoine against the Dutch. The remainder had been comparatively inactive, and on account of their freshness were chosen to head the final charge on the English and Hanoverian column. The Irish Brigade is said to have advanced to the tune of ' The White Cockade.' This is the badge at the same time of the House of Stuart and of the House of Bourbon, which befriended the Stuarts. Shouting in their own language, '- Remember Limerick and Saxon treachery,' the exiles rushed upon the English column, which contained many of their own kin. There was all the fury of civil war in this deadly struggle on foreign soil. This was the charge which decided the fortune of the day, and it is with truth that in later days a great Irish orator (Grattan) remarked, ' We met our own laws at Fontenoy. The victorious troops of England were stopped in their career of triumph by the Irish Brigade, wdiich the folly of the penal laws had shut out from the ranks of the British army.' King George is said on hearing of the Irish bravery to have exclaimed, ' Cursed be the laws which deprive me of such subjects I ' A. D. 1745 The Forty -five. 139 CHAPTER IX. THE FORTY-FIVE. One of the strongest reasons that Sir Robert Walpole gave for his urgent wish that England should remain at peace was the security of the crown in the ,y , . House of Brunswick. He maintained that if prophesies the nation was at war a good opportunity would be offered to the supporters of the House of Stuart, who, ever on the look-out for an advantage, would not fail to use it. Walpole did not live to see his prophecy fulfilled, although he died only a few months before its fulfilment. In 1745 Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, died in March ; in May came the defeat at Fontenoy ; before July was ended the young Pretender had landed m Scotland. Had Walpole lived a little more than four months longer he would have seen a rebellion begin which seemed to be about to shatter his life's work. Had he lived two years longer he would have seen in its defeat that his labours had not been in vain. In order to embarrass the English Government the French ministers summoned the Young Pretender from Rome in order that they might concert with The Vouns him measures for an invasion of England. It Pretender, may be as well to give some account of this hero of romance, who, like his father, was known by different names according to the views of those who spoke of him. Supporters of the established government in England called him the ' Young Pretender ' ; his friends gave him the title ' Prince of Wales ' ; and those who wished to be perfectly neutral knew him by the name of the ' Young Chevalier.' Charles Edward Louis Casimir was the eldest son of I40 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1745 •i^4 s -S H-^ ►^ II i5 r^ (L> .2 S >. -Td.^ o o HI O ^ " o c ■" o o c t:-:: « ^c S SQ A.D. 1745 ^■^^^' Forty-fice. 141 the Old Pretender, or Chevalier do St. George, the James Francis Edward whose birth in the year of the English Revolution had so marked an effect in bringing that revolution about, and who made the unsuccessful attempt to obtain the crown of Great Britain in 171 5. The advisers of this defeated prince urged him to marry in order that the House of Stuart might not become extinct with him. The lady that they selected for his hand was Princess Mary Clementina Sobieski, granddaughter of the heroic warrior-king of Poland, one of the wealthiest , . . T-, T 1 His mother. heiresses m Europe. It was necessary that this young princess, who at the time of her marriage could not have been more than seventeen and a half, should pass through the Austrian territory to Italy in order that the marriage might there take place. Whilst she was on the road the Government of the Emperor, being anxious to do the English a pleasure, because the support of England to his policy was of the utmost im- portance to him, caused the lady to be stopped on her journey and kept in a convent at Innsbruck, in the Tyrol. But the young princess, evidently a brave and spirited woman worthy of her origin, managed to escape. On arrival at Bologna, in Italy, the marriage ceremony was performed, the husband being represented, as princes often are, by proxy, for James was in Spain helping for- ward the abortive Alberoni attempt. When that had completely failed he returned to Italy. The young Chevalier was born in Rome on the last day of the year 1720, whilst England was in great distress after the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. Hiseduca- He was thus under twenty-fiv^e at the time of '^'°"- his famous attempt, called after the year, 'the Forty-five.' His father had been very little older at the time of his equally unsuccessful effort thirty years previous. The 142 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 young man was in many ways well suited for the part he was about to play ; for he was vigorous and athletic, having deliberately trained himself to bear fatigue, whilst his manners were courteous and winning. His features were handsome and he had blue eyes. Unfortunately he was badly educated ; for instance, his spelling was atro- cious. Less importance was attached to spelling in former days than now, but ' sord ' for sword, and ' gems ' for his father's name, James, pass any fair allowance. Though he was of a frank, generous disposition, he had, as a matter of course, been brought up in the absurd pre- dilection for arbitrary government, which had brought his family to ruin. Of course, also, like his father and grandfather, he was a Roman Catholic. As the father was still under sixty, and was looked upon by the Jacobites as king, it is curious that he should not have placed himself at the head of his followers on the occasion of this last attempt which they made to recover for him the throne of his ancestors ; but continued failure chills the blood more than age, and it was thought better that the new effort should be made entirely by one whom no failure had discredited. Moreover there was a marked contrast between the Old and the Young Pretenders in spirit and in fitness to Contrast be- inspire an enterprise. There has been much anrYomfg disputing about the characters of each of these Pretenders, claimants to the crown. Probably neither was deficient in personal courage, but the father lacked resolution, and had, except with reference to his own claims, a vacillating mind as well as a melancholy dis- position ; whereas the son showed the dashing bravery of a true Highlander, happier in attack than in defence, and had an elastic gaiety of spirit ever brighter when clouds Avere darkest. Both had been brought up in exile, constantly cherishing hopes doomed to disappoint- A.D. T745 The Forty-five. 143 ment. If we seek for an explanation of the difference between them perhaps we may find it in the Sobieski descent of the younger. It is important to notice this strain in him. John Sobieski was a Polish noble elected to the crown of Poland because of his prowess as a general. With 20,000 men he had fought an army of Cossacks and Tartars five times as large. The fight- ing was said to have lasted seventeen days, but at the end of it Sobieski had beaten back the invaders and saved his country. His greatest achievement was against the Turks. The Emperor had refused to acknowledge him as King of Poland, but when the Turks came in hordes against the empire the humbled Emperor sued to Poland, as to the other Christian powers, for help. At first Sobieski declined, but he was too chivalrous to see a Christian nation overwhelmed by the enemy of their common Christianity. The Turkish host had reached and was besieging Vienna when Sobieski ap- peared, mastered the Turkish camp, and drove the army back to the frontiers. A most magnanimous, high-souled king, full of desire for his people's good, Sobieski was yet unable to bring order out of anarchy in Poland and the Polish Government. This king was great-grandfather of Charles Edward, in whom the ancestor's heroism reappears. The Jacobites naturally selected for their attempt the time when there was war between Great Britain and France. The young prince was summoned , , •' <=> r Army under from Rome, which he left secretly as if he Marshal were starting to hunt, and by travelling swiftly escaped any attempt at capture, although it is said that the ship in which he sailed ran through the English fleet • in the Mediterranean. The French were prepared to throw upon the English coast a force of 15,000 men, and an army of that number was being got ready upon the 144 ^/^^' Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 opposite shore under the celebrated Marshal Saxe. Such a force required a considerable number of trans- ports, but the appearance of the English fleet, and the opportune occurrence of a storm with the wind blowing straight on the French coast, put a complete stop to the expedition. Many of the transports were driven ashore. It seemed as if the elements were fighting on behalf of England, as the winds had helped to dissipate the Invin- cible Armada. ' Decidedly,' wrote Marshal Saxe to a friend, 'the winds are not Jacobite.' It is fortunate that they V. ere not, for Marshal Saxe was a great general, and had under him trained and war-tried soldiers, whilst England had no commander to set against him, and her best troops were on the continent. After this mishap the French ministers were reluc- tant to give any further help ; but with or without French help Charles Edward was determined to make Without , . ^ . , , r -r- help from his attempt. After the defeat at Fontenoy, as Cha"rfes England seemed to have need of her soldiers Edward on the Continent, the opportunity seemed to offer itself. The Prince embarked in the Doutelle,' a small sloop that had been fitted out as a privateer, whilst there went as convoy a French man-of- war, apparently procured without the direct sanction of the French ministers. An English ship of war met the pair, and engaging the French vessel wrought it so much harm that it was compelled to put back to a French har- bour to refit. The other vessel slipped away and reached the Hebrides. On July 25, at Moidart, the south-western corner of Inverness-shire, the Prince landed^ accompanied by seven devoted followers, afterwards known as the •' seven men of Moidart.' At the time of this famous landing everyone would have predicted speedy discomfiture. To those who had eyes to see it seemed doubtful if even the Highlanders A.D. 1745 The Forty -five. 145 could be induced to rise in so hopeless an attempt, and certain that, if the Highlanders hazarded their Poor pro- lives through zeal for the House of Stuart, spects. no one else would join them ; whilst it was also clear that the Highlanders, unsupported, could avail nought against the strength of England. The ablest and most influential of the Highland chiefs themselves saw this clearly, but enthusiasm and loyalty prevailed over their good judgment. Cameron of Lochiel endeavoured to dissuade the Prince. His brother advised him to write his opinion, and not to trust himself within the fascination of the Prince's presence ; but unluckily for him the ad- vice was not followed. The end of the interview is thus described : ' In a few days,' said the Prince, ' with the few friends that I have, I will erect the royal standard, and pro- claim to the people of Britain that Charles Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his ances- tors, to win it or to perish in the attempt. Lochiel, who, my father has often told me, was our firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of his prince.' ' No ! ' said Lochiel, ' I will share the fate of my prince ; and so shall every man over whom nature or fortune hath given me any power.' Thus Lochiel cast in his lot with what he called ' this rash undertaking,' and it was generally believed that if he had kept aloof from it the other chiefs would not have joined. On August 19, in a romantic narrow valley called Glenfinnin, took place the ceremony of raising the stand- ard. An old marquis, who had been exiled Raisinc^ of for his part in the Fifteen, one of the seven standard, men of Moidart, performed the ceremony. So infinn was he from age that, whilst handling the big banner of red silk with a white centre, he had to be supported by a man on each side. Loud cheers, loud music of the M, H. L 146 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 bagpipes greeted the flag. Bonnets were thrown into the air. Then was read the manifesto of the Prince's father, and the commission of regency which entitled the Prince to represent him ; and the scene concluded with a stirring speech from the young man himself. ' He had come for the happiness of his people, chose Scotland as his starting-point because he knew he should find brave gentlemen zealous for their own honour and the rights of their sovereign, and as willing to live and die with him as he was willing at their head to shed the last drop ot his blood.' All this was calculated to rouse enthusiasm. INIore and more joined his camp, and in a few days the seven Pros ects ^"^^ bccome 1,600, all animated with the same improve, feeling of love and loyalty for their chivalrous young prince, and of zeal for his cause. No hope of gain lay before them, and any selfish reasoning would have made them stay at home. ^Meanwhile the English Government seemed to be hardly aware of the importance of the insurrection, and ^,. T \. ^vere slow in taking measures against it. The Sir John "^ •-* Cope. general commanding the forces in Scotland was Sir John Cope, not by any means a coward in the sense of having any personal fear of danger, but afraid of responsibility ; fit to be a subordinate, quite unfit to be in command. On the very day of the raising of the standard Sir John Cope marched to meet the rebels. Heedless that this involved a march into the mountains, the English general started with two regiments of dragoons, about 1,500 infantry, and a large number of spare muskets, intended for loyal volunteers who, he expected, would apply for arms ; but the volunteers did not appear, and the muskets were soon sent back. It became manifest also that the cavalry would be of no use in the hill country, and they were left behind at X A.D. 1745 llic Forty-fivc. 147 Stirling. All this betrays want of information ; but even without the expected volunteers and the cavalry Cope had as many men as the Chevalier. Finding", however, that the latter had the better position on a steep and almost impregnable mountain pass called the Devil's Staircase, Cope determined, after consulting a council of war, to march off to Inverness. The genefal's great mistake had been made earlier. He ought never to have advanced into the mountains at all, for to do so was to meet the Highlanders on their own ground. To the council of w^ar three courses lay open : to remain and fight, to retreat, or to turn off to the right and march to Inverness. Had the first course been adopted, the defeat at Prestonpans would have been anticipated. Either of the two latter courses would give hope to the insurgents ; but it may fairly be accepted that it was policy, not cowardice, that made Cope march to Inver- ness. Believing that many of the Scotch clans in the Pretender's rear were loyal, he wished to reach and arm them ; but it escaped his notice that, excepting the two regiments of dragoons, he had left no troops to guard Edinburgh. These dragoons retreated before the Pretender's advance, and when they were within a mile or two of the city, at sight of an advanced guard of Charles the Highlanders, were seized with a disgrace- ^^^JJ-h'elon ful panic, and galloped through Edinburgh. Edinburgh. This gallop was nicknamed the ' Canter of Coltbrigg,' the Colt Bridge over the Leith water being the starting- point of their race ; its goal was many miles on the further side of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh volunteers were called out and gathered in considerable numbers, but on the order being given to march out of the gates, the companies were found to have melted away. When the defenders were of such a character, there is no cause 148 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 for wonder that Prince Charles was able to enter Edin- burgh, solemnly to take possession of Holyrood Palace, give a splendid ball, and cause his father to be pro- claimed as king at the City Cross. Though Edinburgh was taken, the castle, which was strongly defended, remained in the hands of King George's men. The soldiers proposed to fire into the streets of the city, but such a course would only have done mischief and no good. Prince Charles found in Edinburgh a thousand muskets which the volunteers, having no further use for them, had returned to store, and he made a requisition on the magistrates for tents and other mihtary appli- ances, including 6,000 pairs of shoes. These men who had taken the capital of Scotland were many of them unshod, all badly armed, some only with a scythe or a pitchfork. Their discipline was admirable : there was no plundering, no drunkenness. Meanwhile General Cope was anxious again to place himself and his troops between Prince Charles and England. He embarked at Aberdeen and, turns. Pies- having brought them by ship to Dunbar, tonpans. marched towards Edinburgh. The Prince, ever ready for the fight, moved his army forward from the city, and was with difficulty prevented from leading the van himself. Then followed the battle of Preston- pans. Cope drew up his men awkwardly ; the cavalry, being the dragoons that had already run away, were divided, one regiment on each wing ; the artillery also was divided ; the infantry were in the centre, imme- diately in front of a stone park-wall twelve feet high. All along the front lay a morass which seemed impossib^ to cross, and for one night the two armies lay separated in this way, the Highlanders eager to attack, fretting at the obstacle, Cope anxious only for defence and glad to have the morass in front of him. During the night, A.D. 1745 The Forty -five. 149 however, a gentleman of the neighbourhood who had joined the Pretender thought of a path by which his army might be led round. In the early morning, a mist still covering the whole battle-field, the Highlanders followed this path, and when the rising sun drove away the mist. Sir John Cope's troops saw to their surprise the Highlanders over against them to the east. Leaving time only for the saying of a short prayer, the High- landers rapidly advanced, the bagpipes playing and the men yelling. The sudden attack, the strange appear- ance of the foe, the loud pipes, the discordant yells, were enough to frighten the English troops, who turned and fled. In about seven minutes all the English soldiers, with a very few exceptions, were in full flight and in different directions. Sir John Cope tried to rally them, but was obliged to lead their hasty retreat, or, in other words, their flight. On arriving at Berwick he was told that he was the first general who had come with the news of his own defeat. ' Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waking yet .^ ' is the refrain of a ballad very popular m Scotland for many years to come. Amongst the exceptions should be mentioned Colonel Gardiner, the commander of a regiment of dragoons, who on the previous day had urged General Qq\q^^\ Cope to take more vigorous steps. Gardiner Gardiner, had first gallantly, though fruitlessly, tried to lead his own men to the charge, and in so doing was wounded. After the flight of the cavalry, seeing a cluster of infantry making a stand, with the words ' Those brave fellows will be cut to pieces for want of a commander,' he -jrode up to them, and cried out loud, ' Fire on, my lads, and fear nothing.' 'But just as the words were out of his mouth,' says his biographer, 'a Highlander advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a long pole, with which he gave him such a deep wound on his right arm 150 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 that his sword dropped from his hand ; and others coming about him, while he w^as thus dreadfully en- tangled with that cruel weapon, he was dragged off from his horse.' He received another wound, from which in the course of the morning he died. Curiously enough, the encounter took place at the gate of Gardiner's own park. The biography of this brave soldier was famous because, having lived a gay and licentious life, he suddenly changed, becoming serious and pious. He asserted that the sudden conversion was produced by a vision of our Lord upon the cross. It is evident that Cope was not a great general ; but how are we to account for the conduct of the men, for the English troops were reckoned amongst English de- the bravcst in Europc? They had been badly ^^'* led. The men remembered that Cope, march- ing northwards, had avoided the Chevalier ; they could see from the disposition which he made that Cope was not eager for the fight. The troops were too much cooped up, and there was no room for the cavalry. But the more real reason was the entire strangeness of the Highlanders. Their appearance and strange equipment, the bagpipes, the yells, their unusual way of fighting. caused a complete panic. Highlanders make the best soldiers in the world for a battle, though unless under very thorough discipline they are not good for a campaign. A Highland charge is well nigh irresistible. Now-a-days English and Scotch know each other well : but then the Highlander was but little known, and his English fellow subjects and even the Lowland Scotch regarded him as a savage or barbarian. Children were concealed at the Highlander's approach for fear he should eat them ! No doubt the appearance of the ' wild petticoat men,' as the wearers of the kilt were called, was very terrible and startling to a Southron. Poor, and in consequence badly A. D. 1745 The Forty -five. 151 clad and badly equipped, they had not the look of regular soldiers. But the men were better than they looked, and throughout this trying time kept good discipline, especi- ally as long as they were victorious. The Highlanders were very ignorant of many things which Southrons enjoyed. One Highlander sold a watch cheap because, not being wound up, it had ceased to go : he called it ' a dead beast.' Others sold chocolate found in the general's baggage as ' Johnnie Cope's salve.' The story was told how some Highlanders had forgotten themselves so far as to threaten respectable citizens, levelling weapons at them, and had then only made the moderate demand for a penny. After the battle of Preston, or Prestonpans, as, in order to distinguish it from the battle in the Fifteen, it is more commonly called, though the fight was nearer to the former than the latter village, the Prince marched back to Edinburgh, where he was received with acclama- tion. One distinguished exception was an old Presby- terian clergyman, who not only continued to pray for King George, but added this petition to his prayer : ' As to this young person who has come among us seeking an earthly crown, do Thou, in Thy merciful favour, give him a heavenly one.' It is to Charles's credit that the septuagenarian minister was left unmolested. Nothing succeeds like success, and almost all Scot- land now appeared to be on his side. The castles of Edinburgh and Stirling and the forts in the Scotland north garrisoned with English troops seemed secured, all that remained true to King -George. Those ward starts who were not Jacobites held their peace. For ^""^ London, forty days the Prince was in Edinburgh consolidating his power, organising the new troops that joined him, levying money, and generally ordering his affairs ; and on October 31 he left Edinburgh on march for London. 152 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 There are many who think that the Prince should ha\e proceeded straight from the battle-field towards England, as there are many who think Hannibal should have marched upon Rome immediately after Cannae. This delay certainly helped the Chevalier. Had he marched at once, it would have been with a much smaller army. Whenever he held a council he found that the opinions were in favour of delay. His councillors pointed out that one defeat meant ruin to the cause. Wait for more to join, wait for help from France, was the burden of their advice, which was wormwood to the young Prince, ' I see, gentlemen,' at length he said, ' you are determined to stay in Scotland and defend your country ; but I am not less resolved to try my fate in England, though I should go alone.' An English army under Marshal Wade was awaiting him in Northumberland, and the Prince, trusting in the dash of his Highlanders, Avas most anxious for a battle. It was well known that Wade, once an officer of great vigour and judgment, was grow- ing old, and had lost much of his energy. As a compro- mise between the Prince's wish to march forward to instant battle, and the councillors' desire to avoid a battle, it was determined to invade England on the West. In marching from Edmburgh into England the Prince had a choice of two main routes, by the east or Carlisle ^^ \\'^s\ coast, through Berwick or through route. Carlisle. Had the invasion been made by Berwick and Northumberland, an early battle with Wade's army would have been inevitable. Between the two routes there is the formidable mountain range called the Pennine chain, which forms the backbone or dividing range of England. The northern part of the other route was comparatively undefended, and it would have been difficult for even a more vicrorous general than Wade to A. D. 1 745 The Forty -five. 1 5 3 Carlisle was the first English town to see the High- land army, and Carlisle, having a specially valiant mayor, determined to resist ; but after two days, at Southward sight of trenches and siege operations, Carlisle march, capitulated. Though perpetually met with advice to re- treat into Scotland, the Prince advanced to Lancaster, and to Preston. Many of the Highlanders did not relish the march into England, and the army had already begun to display that v.ant of cohesion which marks a High- land army. Many deserters had already dropped off; indeed it was reckoned that the force had diminished from 5,500 to 4,500 before Carlisle was reached. As Preston, in Lancashire, had been the scene of the defeat thirty years previously, the town was approached with an almost superstitious feeling that it would be the limit of the advance southwards. Hitherto hardly anyone in England had joined the Prince. At Preston cheers were raised for him ; at the Lancashire towns, that were just beginning to be the seat of the cotton trade, the enthusiasm seemed to increase, until at Manchester a small regiment was raised on the Prince's behalf From Manchester the army marched on to Derby. A second English army had its head-quarters at Lichfield, under the Duke of Cumberland. Wade had been marching southwards upon the other side Preparations of the hills, and was perhaps two days' march "'i England. to the rear. At Derby the hills cease to be any obstacle, and there the small Highland force lay between two English armies, each of which was numerically stronger. ^Meanwhile, there was no sign of any rising in England to help the invaders. The English Jacobites looked on in amazement, and waited to see the result of this bold venture. The Prince was now as ever for boldness, still in favour of continuing the march on London, and at tabic at Derby he discussed the question how he should 154 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 enter London, on horseback or on foot, in Highland or in Lowland garb. Derby is only 127 miles from London, and by quick marches he could have kept ahead both of Wade and Cumberland. George IL was gathering upon Finchley Common a third army, with the Guards for a nucleus, and this he was to command in person ; this army, however, was not ready, but in course of formation. The Prince hoped that a victory won, perhaps on Finchley Common, might have the same effect on the metropolis of England that the victory at Prestonpans had on Edinburgh ; but he would have found George a very different antagonist from Cope, and London much less disposed to be friendly than Edinburgh, whilst behind him he would have had two powerful armies close at his heels. Those who like to conjecture what might have been are of opinion that, had the Chevalier's wish been granted, and the march continued to Derby, he would Retreat have recovered for his father the throne of his ancestors ; but they are also of opinion that neither his father nor he could have maintained it. This is, however, nothing more than conjecture. Charles Edward never marched to London, because his officers, more cautious than himself, and understanding better the dangers of the position, insisted upon retreat from Derby. Long and strenuously did he contend against their advice : * Rather than go back, I would wish to be twenty feet underground ! ' But neither the Prince's warmth in the council of war nor his most earnest private entreaties could persuade the leading officers, and at length he was compelled to give a sullen consent to the retreat. Little wonder that the young man felt the blow ; the com- mencement of the retreat on December 6 was the turning point of his fortunes. In the southward march the Prince is described as surrendering his private carriage A. D. 1745 The Forty-five. 155 to a follower in feeble health, and himself gaily march- ing on foot at the head of the clans, talking and laughing with the men, venturing on a few words of Gaelic. On the retreat he was always in the rear, riding dejectedly, all his gay spirits gone, often delaying the column, which would wait for him to come up. The feeling of the men was in harmony with that of the Prince. They were distressed and indignant at the idea of retreat, for they had counted upon certain victory. Subsequent history shows us that the Prince and the men were right, the chief officers wrong. Whatever chance of ultimate suc- cess the insurgents of the Forty-five ever had, that chance was lost. The whole expedition has been compared to the act of a gambler staking all on one throw ; but the gambler who hesitates is lost. The news of the retreat was an intense relief to England, or rather to the English Government. In London there had been a panic. The day on ReHef feit in which the news of the Highland army's arrival England. at Derby was known in the city was long remembered as Black Friday. A run was made on the Bank of England, but the directors, by the expedient of paying their own clerks and paying in sixpences, procured delay for themselves, and avoided any fatal results. Indiffer- ence was, hovi^ever, a commoner feeling than fear. The people generally seemed to regard ^i ^ 3 . the contest for the crown as one in which they had no part. Mr. Gray, a travelled man of letters, soon to be known as a poet, wrote two months later to a friend from Cambridge, where doubtless there were Jacobites, though there would be more at Oxford : — ' The common people, in town at least, know how to be afraid, but we are such uncommon people here as to have no more sense of danger than if the battle (Falkirk) had been fought where and when the battle of Cannse 156 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 was. I heard three sensible, middle-aged men, when the Scotch were said to be at Stamford, and actually were at Derby, talking of hiring a chaise to go to Caxton (a place on the high-road) to see the Pretender and Highlanders as they passed.' In times of widespread and earnest loyalty, and under a popular sovereign, it is a httle difficult for us to con- ceive the utter indifference of many people in England on the subject of the rebellion. Their feeling was doubtless well expressed in the witty epigram : God bless (no harm in blessing !) the Pretender. Which the Pretender is, and which the King, God bless us all, that's quite another thing. The Duke of Cumberland followed with his dragoons after the retreating Highlanders. At the village of Clif- Skirmlshat ^°^'^' ^^^^ Penrith, a skirmish took place in Clifton. which the English were repulsed with con- siderable loss. This skirmish has the honour of being the last battle fought on the soil of England. On December 20 the Prince, leaving a small garrison in Car- lisle, withdrew the main body of his troops, who re-entered their own country just six weeks after they had left it. The distance marched from the Scotch border to Derby is about 185 miles. If the French ministers had seized the opportunity to make an invasion of England in force, whilst Charles No French Edward was still advancing, the situation of force cam.j. the English Government would have been even more critical. But when the turn came and the retreat took place, the French armament was still in preparation at Dunkirk. Indeed, the news of the retreat caused the stage of preparation never to be passed, though Cumberland and his troops were sum- moned to the south coast of England to face the French force. A.D, 1746 The Forty -five. i :/ The command against the rebels was taken from the aged Wade and entrusted to General Hawley, a rough and brutal soldier, violent of temper, cruel, Hawley In hated by his own men, and trained in the Scotland. worst traditions of the continental war. Hawley was full of sneers against Cope, and of boasts that with two regiments of dragoons he could ride over the Highland army. The first care of the general was to erect gibbets in Edinburgh for rebels who should fall into his hands. Whilst the Prince had gained nothing by the advance into England, his cause had through his absence lost ground in Scotland ; the complete ascendency of his friends which prevailed after Prestonpans now disap- peared. The Prince encamped his army on the held of Bannockburn ; he said it would be a good omen to the Scotch cause to fight the battle there. Two Y,M\.\ 1 1 > 1-1 Berkeley. not the place to discuss Berkeley's philoso- phical doctrines, but it is right to give some account of the man to whom Pope assigned ' every virtue under heaven.' He was of good family, born and educated in Ireland, being 1 88 The Early Hanoverians. entered at Trinity College, Dublin, early in 1700, when he was only fifteen. He became a scholar, afterwards fellow, junior dean, and finally tutor. At this period he acquired his reputation as a philosopher. In the last year of Queen Anne's reign Swift took Berkeley to court. In London he seems to have met most of the leading people. Swift introduced him to Lord Peterborough, who had just been appointed ambassador extraordinary to the King of Sicily. On Swift's recommendation Berkeley went with Peterborough as chaplain and secretarj'. On the death of the Queen Peterborough returned. But the travelling fit was on Berkeley, and he continued for some years travelling in different parts of Europe. In 1723 we find Berkeley strangely mixed up with the history of Swift. When Swift broke Vanessa's loving heart by the fierce look with which he flung down her letter of inquiry to Stella, Vanessa, Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, revoked a will by which she had left all her property to Swift, and in a new will left her property to Berkeley and another. It is to the credit of both that no quarrel arose between Swift and Berkeley. Berkeley tried to suppress the publication of Swift's letters to Vanessa. Shortly afterwards Berkeley was appointed Dean of Derry. Vanessa's bequest and the income of the deanery, however, inspired Berkeley to carry out a project over Berkeley's '^vhich he had for some three years been brood- scheme, ing. It is said that the misery which Berkeley saw in England upon his return from the Continent, the result of the failure of the South Sea scheme, set his mind working to seek some way of benefiting and im- proving mankind. Berkeley's scheme was to found a Christian University in Bermuda, with the object of civilising and converting America. The project seems to us wild, and so it seemed to his contemporaries, but their Berkeley and OghtJiorpe. 1S9 coldness melted before the fascinating enthusiasm of Berkeley. Here is one familiar story. ' All the members of the Scriblerus Club (chief literary men of the day) being met at dinner, they agreed to rally Berkeley, who was a guest, on his scheme at the Bermudas. Berkeley, having listened to all the lively things they had to say, begged to be heard in his turn ; and displayed his plan with such an astonishing and animating force of eloquence and enthusiasm, that they were struck dumb, and, after some pause, rose up all together with earnestness, ex- claiming, " Let us all set out with him immediately."' ' A still more extraordinary result of his zeal was that he per- suaded Walpole to subscribe 200/. and to promise 20,000/. from the Exchequer if a bill passed. The bill did pass with on y two dissentient voices. Walpole was quite astonished, and said that he had ' taken it for granted the very preamble of the Bill would have secured its re- jection.' The following verses on the subject are the only verses preserved amongst the writings of Berkeley. They give us some idea of the enthusiasm that has been described. Ox THE Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning. IN America. The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime Barren of every glorious theme, In distant lands now waits a better time Producing subjects worthy fame : In happy climes where from the genial sun And virgin earth such scenes ensue, The force of art by nature seems outdone, And fancied beauties by the true : In happy climes the seat of innocence, Where nature guides and virtue rules, Where men shall not impose for truth and sense The pedantry of courts and schools : 190 The Ea7dy Banoverzans. There shall be sung another golden age, The rise of empires and of arts, The good and great inspiring epic rage. The wisest heads and noblest hearts. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay ; Such as she bred when fresh and young, When heavenly flame did animate her clay. By future poets shall be sung. Westward the course of Empire takes its way : The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day : Time's noblest offspring is its last. It is sad to add that all this enthusiasm was in vain. Berkeley never went to the romantic Bermudas, though Failure of ^^ went as far as America and sojourned at scheme. Newport, in Rhode Island. Whilst there, some five years after the parliamentary vote, this answer was given by Sir Robert Walpole, to one who on Berkeley's be- half asked for the money : ' If you put this question to me as a minister, I must and can assure you that the money shall most undoubtedly be paid, as soon as suits with public convenience ; but if you ask me as a friend whether Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the payment of 20,000/., I advise him by all means to return home to Europe, and to give up his present expectations. Shortly after Berkeley's return he was made Bishop of Cloyne. Though he had been an absentee as a dean, Bishop ^'^ ^^'^^ ^ model bishop, even according to our Berkeley, modem views of bishops' duties, for when once appointed bishop, he did not visit England again for about eighteen years, and seldom was present even in the Irish House of Lords. In the last year of his life, being in infirm health, he wished to live quietly at Oxford, and with that object he proposed to resign his bishopric. Berkeley and OgletJiorpe. 191 This proposal almost seems to have amused George II., who declared that ' Berkeley should die a bishop in spite of himself, but that he might live where he pleased.' At Oxford after a few months Berkeley died. The story of his life gives the best idea of the sweetness of his charac- ter, and the earnestness of his benevolence. Sufficient honour is not paid in history to the name of James Oglethorpe, who in the former half of the centuiy anticipated the work which in the latter half made Howard famous, and who, from philan- ^ ^ °'^^^" thropic motives, founded the colony of Georgia. Ogle- thorpe is perhaps best remembered by the couplet of Pope : — One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole. The family of Oglethorpe was of good social position ; his father was a baronet. James Oglethorpe was born in the middle of 1689 : and in the times of . , . T , . . . , . , , His history. Jacobite excitement m the eighteenth centurj^, when the ridiculous warming-pan stor>^ was believed, one version of it ran that a brother of Oglethorpe, born in the previous year, was, by the connivance of Lady Oglethorpe with the Queen, the child passed off to a credulous world as the Prince of Wales. During the great war that ended with the treaty of Utrecht, Oglethorpe held a commission in the English army, though he was only an ensign when peace was pro- claimed. Shortly afterwards, indeed in the month pre- vious to the death of Queen Anne, he matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford ; but he could not have regularly continued his course, for in another two years he was acting as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene in the war against the Turks, being present in that capacity at Peterwaradin and at the capture of Belgrade. We next find him occupying a family seat in Parliament, and 192 The Early Hanoverians. making his maiden speech on Atterbury's behalf, against the Bill of pains and penalties. Oglethorpe had, through family connections, strong Jacobite sympathies, which were sometimes cast in his teeth, but he does not seem to have ever been actively disloyal. Early in the reign of George II. Oglethorpe came prominently before the House, demanding inquiry into the condition of the prisons. He was ap- pointed Chairman of a Committee of Inquiry. Many horrible revelations were made as to the state of the prisons, and especially of the Fleet. Bribery was found to be common, and the prisoners who could not bribe were shamefully maltreated. As the result of the in- cjuiry, prison officials were brought to trial for the murder of prisoners entrusted to their charge ; but they managed to escape. New regulations for a while improved the condition of the prisons, but before many years they be- came again a disgrace to English civilisation, and plenty of work was left for Howard. As another result of Oglethorpe's inquiry, many unfortunate prisoners for debt were released, but Oglethorpe's mind was much occupied with the consideration how the circumstances of these poverty-stricken debtors and of others like them could be improved. The remedy that came was emigration to a new colony with special, philanthropic laws ; and the colony Colony of of Georgia was founded, a charter being Georgia. obtained from George II., whose name was given to the colony. The colony was in the first place to be a refuge for the needy ; in the second it was to be a centre of missionary influence upon the Indians ; and it soon became the scene of the early missionary labours of the Wesleys and of Whitefield. The natives long re- mained upon very friendly terms with this settlement. A party of German Protestants, also, persecuted on account Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 193 of their religion by the Emperor, and driven from their home at Salzburg, took refuge in Georgia. The intro- duction of spirits was forbidden ; and Oglethorpe caused a clause to be inserted in the charter, absolutely prohibit- ing slavery. Oglethorpe himself, though holding a good position in England, being wealthy, sitting in Parliament, and on very friendly terms with the chief literary men, was appointed governor without salary. He went out with the first party of emigrants, and chose Savannah as the capital of the colony. For twenty years Oglethorpe continued to hold the office of governor, though he re- tained his seat in Parliament, made two intermediate voyages to England, and, for the last ten years of his nominal governorship, never went back to Georgia at all. It must be to the three double voyages that Pope, with some exaggeration, alludes in the words ' from pole to pole.' During the later part of Oglethorpe's stay in Georgia there was war with Spain, and at that time Florida, the neighbouring province to Georgia, belonged to Spain. Oglethorpe conducted the local part of the war with skill, success and moderation, the latter being specially dis- played in diminishing the horrors connected with the employment of Indians as combatants. At the time of 'the Forty-five' Oglethorpe, who in the early part of that year was made a general, had a body of recruits for a colonial regiment, the ' Georgia Qgiethorpe Rangers,' ready for departure to the colony, in the Forty- The Government gave orders that the ship on board of \vhich they were should proceed to Hull, and that Oglethorpe and his men should march against Prince Charles Edward. This corps formed part of the force that marched to cut off the retreat of the Pretender, and failing that, followed him northwards. Oglethorpe was in command at the skirmish at Clifton (p. 156), and was afterwards tried by court-martial for the offence of M. //. O 194 ^^^^ Early Hanoverians. * lingering on the road.' If it had not been for the gene- ral's known Jacobite sympathy, probably this insult would not have been put upon him. He was honourably ac- quitted, though, strong anti-Jacobites maintained, that he was not cleared from the charge. General Oglethorpe lived forty years longer to an honoured old age. Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith were His later amongst his friends and admirers. Edmund life. Burke paid him the remarkable compliment of calling him ' a more extraordinary person than any he had ever read of; for he had called a province into ex- istence, and lived to see it become an independent state.^ Oglethorpe lived to see American independence estab- lished, and his own Georgia one of the triumphant thirteen ; but alas ! Georgia, after his rule, rapidly back- sliding from its virtues, allowed the importation of spirits, and, with the acquiescence of Whitefield, the introduc- tion of slavery. Oglethorpe also lived to see the prison reforms of John Howard. It is exactly a century this year (1885) since the old general died. He is reported by Macaulay to have said that when he was a boy he had shot birds where Regent Street now stands. CHAPTER III. ENGLISH LITERATURE. Section I. — The Poets, In describing any short period of history, we are always met with the difficulty that no period stands alone. It State of has had its roots in the past ; it leaves influ- letters. enccs that will w^ork upon the future. Like the second volume of a three-volume novel, it is unin- English Literature. 195 telligible without the other volumes. The age that pre- ceded the accession of George I. is famous in Hterature and has the special name of the Augustan Age. We are sometimes, however, apt to forget that not only did not all the poets and writers who flourished in the reign of Queen Anne die with the Queen, but that some of their most famous works were written after her death. Pope was at work on the 'Translation of Homer,' and had not yet written the 'Dunciad' or the 'Essay on Man.' Swift had not written 'Drapier's Letters' nor ' Gulliver's Travels.' Defoe had not published ' Robinson Crusoe.' Addison's official career had begun and the ' Spectator ' Avas at an end. Addison was already giving up to office what was meant for mankind, and instead of writing more papers like those in the ' Spectator,' was secretary to the Lords Justices who ruled England until King George arrived, and three years afterwards was for a short time Secretary of State. The power and influence of literary men during the first half of the eighteenth century were very remarkable. Perhaps never at any other time was patron- Rewards of age so discriminating or so liberal. Not only '^"^^s. did literary men live on terms of intimacy with politicians, who liked playing the part of Msecenas, but as writings, and especially political pamphlets, or allusive prologues to plays, were having great weight with the people, the politicians who were helped paid for the help with ap- pointments. In modern days patronage is dead, except that of the general public, and literary men do not look to places in the public service as a wage for their writings. The sale of their books is the legitimate reward of their influence. The reign of George IL may be described as lying between the days of patronage by the great, and the creation of a genuine interest in literature on the part of the public. 196 The Early Hanoverians. The poetical career of James Thomson falls wholly within the reigns of the first two Georges. This ' sweet Tames P°^^ °^ ^^ year,' as Burns describes him, was Thomson, bom in 1700, the year that Dryden died. It may be mentioned that his birthplace was near the source of the Tweed, so that he was a native of the charmed border countr}^ which a century later produced the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. Thomson's father was a minister, and it was intended that the boy should follow in his father's footsteps ; but whilst he was attending divinity lectures at Edinburgh University, the Professor set his class a paraphrase of a psalm. Thomson's exercise was so poetical that the Professor, after com- plimenting him on it, told him that if he wished to be of use in the ministry he must keep a tight rein on his imagination. This remark seems to have turned the young poet against a profession in which his favourite occupation would only do him harm. He made up his mind to follow the vocation of a poet, and in order that he might have a wider field, he determined to leave Edinburgh for London. The poem on which Thomson's fame as a poet de- pends is the ' Seasons.' The different parts of this poem .p^g were written and published separately in the 'Seasons.' following Order — Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn. The metre is blank verse. Both in the metre and in the character of the poetry Thomson was original enough not to follow the poetry then in vogue, not to be of the school of Pope. As the poet of rural nature, he is the predecessor of Cowper. His verse has faults that are easily apparent, an exuberant and sometimes inhar- monious diction, prosaic commonplaces in bombastic language ; but we may agree with Wordsworth that Thomson was a true poet, for he had an insight into nature and a power of so painting it as to make his English Literature, igy readers marvel when he shows them its wonders that they had never seen them for themselves before. Besides the 'Seasons' Thomson wrote several plays which cannot be described as successful or as deserving of success. A masque called ' Alfred,' in the q^^^^ writing of which he was joined with a friend, poems. a minor poet named Mallet, has the advantage of con- taining the well-known song ' Rule Britannia,' but it is not quite certain to which of the two friends the credit of it belongs. Perhaps the only other poem of Thom- son's worth remembering is the ' Castle of Indolence,' written in the Spenserian stanza, and a very good imita- tion of the manner of Spenser. The good things that were then so liberally bestowed on men of letters were not lacking to Thomson, who obtained a sinecure office in the Court of Thomson's Chancery as well as a pension from Frederick, rewards. Prince of Wales. When his first appointment lapsed on the death of a friendly lord chancellor, Thomson was made surveyor-general of the Leeward Islands, but he never went near them. Thomson died in 1748, the year of the peace of Aix- la-Chapelle. In the later years of his life he had lived chiefly at Richmond, in Surrey, where he is j^e^^th of buried. After his death Lord Lyttelton, a Thomson. friend, brought out one of Thomson's plays with a pro- logue that contained the following warm eulogy on his character and writings : — Oft in this crowded house, with just applause, You heard him teach fair virtue's purest laws ; For his chaste muse employed her heaven-taught lyre None but the noblest passions to inspire : Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, One line which, dying, he could wish to blot. Young's ' Night Thoughts,' or, according to its full 198 The Early Hanoverians. title, ' The Complaint ; or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality,' published near the ' Night'' middle of the century, for a long time held a ihoughts. ^.g^y high place amongst English poems. During this century its reputation has dwindled. The poem is written in blank verse, in imitation of Milton, and is said to have been inspired by the melancholy caused by the deaths of Young's wife and two children following each other within a very short period. It consists of reflections on the serious subjects named in the title, interspersed with short tales by way of episodes. A reader feels that throughout the poem there is a con- stant straining after effect. Antithesis is too frequently employed. Now and then the poem seems to creep along the ground of prose. But noble thoughts and beautiful passages occur, and some lines have become the constant quotation of common speech : Procrastination is the tliief of time. All men think all men mortal but themselves. The greatest poet living at the middle of the centuiy was Thomas Gray. The only reason why the epithet ' great ' seems incongruous as applied to Gray, ^^^' is the very small bulk which his poems occupy. Less than forty-five small pages contain the whole of them. He was a most fastidious writer. It was said of Virgil that he wrote many verses in the morning, but reduced them to a few before night. Most assuredly quality is of the first importance in poetry, and Gray's few pages bear marks of polish in every line. Perhaps it is true that Gray thought too much of the form and not enough of the matter. The ' Elegy written in a Country Churchyard ' is probably the best known. What pains the poet has manifestly taken ! It may be true that the thoughts are obvious ; but on account of English Lite7'atiLre. 199 the grace of its language the poem will be read, remem- bered, and loved when longer poems with more original thoughts are forgotten. Gray's Odes, such as ' The Bard ' and ' The Progress of Poesy,' well deserve the admiration which they have received from every critic except Dr. Johnson. One charm of the poetry of Gray is that almost every line reminds us of something either in an ancient or in a modern poet. It is not a plagiarism, but a suggestion. Want of originality, however, keeps Gray out of the first rank of poets. Section II. — The Novelists. The middle of the eighteenth century was not a great time for poets, but it has hardly ever been surpassed as a creative period of English prose. There is ^j^^^ ^j- a cluster of great novelists, followed later by prose. a cluster of great historians, besides the unique figure of Dr. Johnson and, a little later, the equally remarkable Edmund Burke. The reign of George II. is the time when the modern novel may be said to have been born ; and in our days novels are numerous enough and influential Beo-innlncr enough to make us interested in their first of novels, beginnings. Perhaps ' Robinson Crusoe ' and the nu- merous shorter tales which Defoe gave somewhat earlier to the world may from one side dispute the claim ; but these are too deficient in sentiment and in variety of human interests to be rightly classed as novels. Samuel Richardson was the first novelist. His three novels, ' Pamela,' ' Clarissa Harlowe,' and ' Sir Charles Grandison ' differ from novels of our day chiefly in their length and in being written in a series of letters. Richardson was not the man who would have been expected beforehand to turn novelist. He was a London printer's apprentice, whose diligence 200 TJie Early Hanoverians. was rewarded by a partnership and later by a fortune. He was the first printer of the journals of the House of Commons. In character he was kind and benevolent, but very vain ; fonder of the society of ladies than of men, and especially greedy of the flattery of women. Accident, it is said, first made Richardson a novelist. He had been engaged to write a series of letters as His three "^odels of epistolary style and at the same novels. time to serve as a sort of manual of morality, and the thought occurred to him that more interest would attach to the letters if they were made continuous. Hence came ' Pamela ; or, Virtue Rewarded,' which at once acquired an extraordinary popularity. It is a story of a young country girl of the humbler class resisting manifold temptations and ultimately triumphing. The success of this led him to write ' Clarissa Harlowe,' the best of his books. There is plenty of pathos m ' Pamela,' but much more in ' Clarissa Harlowe,' which has been described as a novel ' not of action and enterprise, but of character and sentiment.' ' Sir Charles Grandison ' is intended to portray the perfect gentleman, but with his eternal bows and constant formalities he is a very weari- some personage. The three novels represent three classes of society — ' Pamela ' the lower, ' Clarissa Harlowe ' the middle, and ' Sir Charles Grandison ' the upper ranks. Now, of the third Richardson knew nothing, so that he had to evolve his notion of it out of his inner consciousness. Sir Charles is the sort of aristocrat that Richardson himself, the retired tradesman, would have been. A greater novelist than Richardson was created by a spirit of opposition to the preaching, namby-pamby tone of ' Pamela.' Henry Fielding was as different as "' possiblefrom Richardson both in character and circumstances. Fielding was of good family, educated at English Literature. 201 Eton, and trained for the law ; but his father being of extravagant habits, and dying before Fielding came of age, the young man was forced to live by his wits. To make a living he wrote for the stage, but his plays did not live. Fielding was a thorough man of the world, lived a fast life, and spent money as readily as his father had. A not unnatural inclination to ridicule ' Pamela ' suggested that he should write a parody. To this he gave the name of ' Joseph Andrews.' The book was published the year after 'Pamela.' Joseph Andrews is a young footman, Pamela's brother, to whom his mistress makes love, and who is turned out of his masters house, and then wanders about England together with a friend named Parson Adams, one of the best remembered of Fielding's characters, a strange com- pound of learning and simplicity. This book seemed to reveal to Fielding his true vocation in literature, and was followed by other novels, of which 'Tom Jones' is the most famous. Fielding's novels maybe said to ' hold the mirror up to nature.' Of poor human nature, indeed, he does not take an exalted view, but he paints the world as he found it. Complaint is commonly made of Fielding's coarseness. The truth is, that he found coarseness in society around him. Of this he tones down nought, neither will he put a veil over it as Richardson did. In humour it may be questioned whether Fielding has ever been surpassed, but his chief merit lies in the lifelike fidelity with which in endless variety he photographed what he saw. Circumstances placed in Fielding's way the oppor- tunity to become well acquainted with a baser side of human nature, for he was appointed a stipen- ,. . ^ . ^ . ^Xr ^ ^^ Later life. diary magistrate in London. Very honourably and thoroughly he is said to have done this work ; and his position gave him an insight into the life and 202 The Early Hanoverians. temptations of the poor, as well as of the criminal classes, of which he certainly made use in his writings. But the double labour of judicial and literary work proved too much for a constitution which his earlier fast life had undermined. Doctors ordered a warmer climate, and he went to Lisbon, where he died at the early age of forty-seven, about a year before the famous earthquake in that city.^ The third of the great novelists is Tobias Smollett, who was surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war engaged ^ „ in the expedition to Cartagena (see p. 104). He Smollett. , - f. , ^, %^ . • .^ ^\ had studied at Glasgow University, and was apprenticed to a medical man in that tov/n, but his medical training must have been over at an early age, for before he was nineteen he travelled up to London with the manuscript of a tragedy in his pocket, more ambitious of fame in literature than anxious for work as a doctor. He had, however, to take the position in the navy, which he held for only a few years, disliking it all the while. No one can think such dislike unnatural who reads of the horrible condition of the men-of-war. On leaving the service Smollett settled for a short time in the West Indies, but the old literary ambition brought him back to London. All forms of literature seem to have occupied him, political pamphlets, in poetry a few occasional pieces with both pathos and power, in history a con- tinuation of Hume's History of England. He translated ' Don Quixote,' edited a magazine, wrote plays, medical works, and a book of travels that shows a curious want of appreciation. But his chief books are his novels, ' Rode- rick Random,' ' Peregrine Pickle,' ' Humphrey Clinker.' Smollett v/as not one of the men who take life easily. At the best he had a testy temper ; his circumstances were never good, and worry made his temper worse. • November i, 1755. English Literahwe. 203 The violence of his attack upon the admiral who did not take Cartagena procured him imprison- ment for three months. He was always at war with brother doctors or with other literary men. Nothing appeared to him good in the countries through which he travelled. At the same time it must be re- membered that Smollett was to a rare degree patriotic and high-minded. After Culloden, when the country was full of the stories of the ferocity with which the Rebellion was being suppressed, Smollett wrote a short poem called ' Scotland's Tears.' He was advised to sup- press the poem, as noxious to the Government. His only answer was to add another and more indignant verse. There is a pretty story about Smollett's return to his home. Having been long absent, he introduced himself to his mother as a stranger. Though he tried to frown, his mother's steady gaze at length made him smile, and she put her arms round his neck, saying, ' Ah, my son, I have found you at last. Your old roguish smile has betrayed you.' There is no doubt about Smollett's humour, typified in this roguish smile, but he took the world hardly, and was generally in conflict. He suffered from bad health, and latterly was obliged to live in Italy. He died at Leghorn, when only a little over fifty. Smollett's novels depend for success not on skilful arrangement of plot, but on amusing characters. His books are like a picture in which there are sea-cha- admirable likenesses and striking figures, but racters. in which the different elements are not well blended. Of his characters, as might be expected from his history, the most successful are his sailors. Smollett may be re- garded as the ancestor of all the sea novels in which English literature is rich. One other novel, rather than novelist, must be added to those already mentioned, ' Tristram Shandy,' by the 204 ^'-^^^ Early Hanoverians. Rev. Laurence Sterne, a clergyman as little fitted for ' Tristram ^^^ profession as Dean Swift. Sterne was not Shandy.' a good clergyman, nor a good man. He has been convicted of using other people's learning and of making love to other people's wives. But he has written •a book of admirable humour and pathos, a strangely compounded romance, with characters in it worthy of Shakspeare. Sterne is also the author of the ' Sentimental Journey,' a book which presents a remarkable contrast to Smollett' book of travels, for the author betrays no feeling of hatred to all that is not English, but is generous towards foreigners and appreciative of all the good that he sees. It may be added that poor Sterne died friendless and alone in London lodgings. Section III. — Dr. Johiison and his Circle. In 1760 when George III. succeeded his grandfather the leading figure amongst the literary men was Dr. John- son. That date may be taken for a break in Dr. o nson. jj^j^j^gQj^'g ijfg^ |.j^g early part of which was one long struggle against want. During the latter part Dr. Johnson reigned acknowledged king in the English world of letters. It has been remarked that Johnson's age lay intermediate between the days of patronage by the great and the days of appreciation by the public. Like all intermediate things, it had not the full advantages of either extreme ; yet Dr. Johnson's comfort in the later portion of his life was partly due to a pension given to him early in the reign of George III.; and though the purchasers of his books were not in number like the clients of a modern popular author, yet Dr. Johnson had an outside public for audience as well as an inner circle of admirers. Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller at Ell His J I Literature, 205 -i> Lichfield. His personal appearance was most ungainly. He was of great size, and scrofulous. One of His early his earliest recollections was being taken to life. London to be touched by Queen Anne for the ' king's evil,' as scrofula was then called. His manners were strange and excited amusement. But there was in Johnson a native worth, a noble independence of thought and speech, maintained often in the extremity of distress, which made and still make him honoured in spite of his peculiarities. Educated first in his native town, Johnson was, through the kindness of a patron, able to enter upon a student's career at Pembroke College, Oxford ; but his life at the University was a long struggle against poverty. He was too proud to accept the new pair of shoes which some one in pity had placed at his door. Unable to take a degree— for the title of Doctor, by which he is always called, was an honorary degree conferred later in life — Samuel Johnson became an usher at various provincial schools. Afterwards he tried a school of his own and was unsuccessful. Johnson had not the patience that is required for a teacher, and at length found the servitude of school work so intolerable to his proud spirit that he exchanged one set of chains for another, and, going to London, became a booksellers' hack. A ' hack ' earns a scanty living by doing various jobs for booksellers, writes a preface, makes an index, edits some republication of an old book. During this time Johnson was often miserably poor. In his own dignified and sonorous verse Johnson has told us, Slow rises worth by poverty depressed. Painful experience had taught him this truth, which indeed is not difficult to apprehend, but through all the pain of his experience no want and no distress ever touched the honesty of his purpose or the inhe- rent dignity of his mind. From adversity Johnson learned 2o6 The Early Hanoverians. self-control, while it strengthened his tender feeling for the suffering of others. When happier days arrived and Johnson was in comparative prosperity, w^as recognised and honoured, he always exhibited a gentle and true charity to all who needed it. His dwelling was even described as ' a sort of asylum for helpless indigence.' Johnson was engaged on the early numbers of the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' contributing to it accounts of Various debates in Parliament. It was not then legal works. to publish reports of the proceedings of Parlia- ment, and Johnson used to veil the identity of the speakers under false names. Being a man of strong political pre- judices, he afterwards allowed that he always took care that ' the Whig dogs should always get the worst of it.' A still more important contribution to periodical litera- ture were two journals that he published, somewhat in the style of Addison's ' Spectator,' — the ' Idler,' and the ' Rambler.' The great work, however, of Johnson's life was the ' Dictionary of the English Language,' which has served as the basis of all English dictionaries since pub- lished, until the last year or two. Its chief value consists not in the definitions, which are sometimes ludicrously prejudiced, nor in the etymology, which often reads like guesswork, but in its quotations from standard English authors. Herein Dr. Johnson's wide knowledge of our literature was of great service. By resolute and unflinch- ing industry he accomplished in seven years a work which in other countries has occupied learned societies a much longer time. 'Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia' is a tale that illustrates Johnson's views of human life. It was written by Johnson in a very short space of time in order to defray the expenses of his mother's funeral. Though chiefly a writer of prose, Johnson is the author of two poems, imitations of the satires of Juvenal, * London ' and ' The Vanity of Human Wishes.' No one English Litci'aUire. 207 can call him a poet, yet each of these satires contains dignified and sonorous lines of remarkable power. Dr. Johnson's last work was the ' Lives of the Poets,' in which he is often unfair, or at least unappreciative, but always suggestive. Dr. Johnson's style is one by no means to be imitated. There is a frequent employment of antithesis and balance. The sentences are heavy and laboured, and t , ■' ' Johnsons very full of words derived from the Latin, style. The style may be compared to Ulysses' bow, which none but he could bend. Johnson used the style with effect ; but his imitators are well-nigh unreadable. Nay more : one can almost say that the reason why the sterling worth of many of Johnson's writings is now so little appreciated is that, scorning the English elements in our language, he made almost exclusive use of the learned and really foreign vocabulary. The style has already done damage to his fame. Yet if Johnson's own works are not studied as they should be, the character and personality of Johnson is well known. Hardly anyone in our literary history is so familiar. This curious fact is due to the fulness and excellence of the g^^^, ,,.. biography by his faithful friend, James Boswell. Life. Boswell was what is now termed a 'hero-worshipper.' So profound was the reverence that he entertained for Dr. Johnson, that he chronicled the smallest details of his life and the fragments of his conversation, so that readers seem to know Johnson and the society in which he lived as well as they know the circle of their own friends. Round about Dr. Johnson in the later part of his life all the great men in literature and in art seem to cluster. Not on one evening only, but on many, a visitor might have found, grouped round Dr. Johnson ^ " ' at meetings of the Literary Club, besides other men whose names, though known to fame, are, perhaps, less worth 2o8 The Early Hanoverians. remembering, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Garrick, Gibbon, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. All of these were younger than Johnson, and belong to the coming time rather than to the reigns of the first two Georges, with which this little volume is concerned. Of the five the oldest was David Garrick, the greatest of English actors. He was a fellow-townsman, and had been a pupil of Johnson's. The next was Sir Joshua Reynolds, greatest of English portrait painters, first President of the Royal Academy. Goldsmith and Burke were about the same age, a little over thirty on the accession of George III. At that date Goldsmith was in the middle of that period of his life when he was working for the booksellers, writing the most beautiful English about subjects as to which he knew either nothing or very little. The eloquent voice of Edmund Burke had not yet been heard in Parliament : his writings, too, belong to the future. At the accession of George III. Edward Gibbon was serving his country as a captain in the Hampshire militia. He had found Oxford barren of intellectual life ^ °"' and the future sceptic had there only been converted to Roman Catholicism. To be reclaimed to Protestantism he had been sent abroad to Lausanne, where he had learnt French so perfectly that his first essay already written, ' On the Study of Literature,' was written in French. At Lausanne he had fallen in love with the beautiful and virtuous lady, afterwards the wife of the French minister, Necker. ' After a painful struggle ' Gibbon had ' yielded to fate,' his father's opposition, had * sighed as a lover,' ' obeyed as a son.' Already the young officer had made up his mind to be a historian, but four years were yet to elapse before he ' sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,' and the idea of writing ' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' started to his mind. French Literature, 209 CHAPTER IV. FRENCH LITERATURE. VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU. The last years of the reign of Lewis XIV. were simply a period of repression. The glory of the reign was over ; a great dulness held the court, and its influence was widely felt. It was not unnatural, therefore, that the news of the old King's death should have been received everywhere with joy, though the exuberance and open- ness W'ith which this joy was displayed are somewhat surprising. At the death of the King Voltaire was just of age, and perhaps in no one was the spirit of revolt more strong. The real name of this remarkable Voltaire's man was Frangois Marie Arouet. The name early life. Voltaire is now believed to be an anagram of Arouet 1. j. (le jeune), j being regarded as identical with i, and u with V. His father was a prosperous notary in Paris, who had two sons. The younger Arouet, afterwards Voltaire, was educated in Paris at the famous college Louis le Grand, then under the Jesuits. In after life he railed at the education that he received there. Naturally the notary wished his clever son to succeed him, and destined him for the law. But Voltaire had no taste for the law or advocacy, and like so many other men of letters, in spite of his father's strong disapproval, he deserted the legal profession for the freedom of a literary life. That which distinguished Voltaire was a spirit of lively yet bitter mockery. At a very early age it brought him to the Bastille. It is characteristic of the injustice of the day that the particular satire for which he was first M. H. P 2 1 o The Early Hanoverians. lodged there did not proceed from his pen. Release came after a year's imprisonment, which Voltaire bore with light-hearted philosophy, composing poetry, making a commencement of the poem which afterwards took shape as the ' Henriade.' The first was not, however, Voltaire's only experience of the Bastille. A nobleman said of him insultingly, 'Who is this young man that talks so loud?' 'He is one,' replied Voltaire promptly, ' who does not drag a big name about with him, but who secures respect for the name that he has.' For this biting speech a brutal revenge was prepared. A week later Voltaire was summoned to leave the table on the plea that he was wanted for an act of kindness, was seized and beaten by bullies. Voltaire practised sword exer- cise, and challenged his noble adversary to a duel. The latter accepted, but let the secret be known, and Voltaire was again imprisoned in the Bastille. Released after six months on condition that he would go into exile, he chose England, where he lived some ,, , . • two years — the last year of George I. and first Voltaire in '^ -^ ^ * England, of Gcorge II. It happened that Voltaire had in France made the acquaintance of Bolingbroke, and through him he was now introduced to the people best worth knowing— to Pope, for instance. Newton, whom he regarded as 'the greatest genius that ever existed,' he saw once shortly before Newton died. Voltaire's opinion of England and the English was afterwards conveyed to the world. His feeling is by no means one of unmixed admiration, but may perhaps be best described as admiration tempered with mockery. It would have been impossible for a Frenchman who had recently sufi"ered as Voltaire had not to have admired the freedom that he found in England — freedom of speech and freedom before the law — equally impossible for him not to have scoffed at the many anomalies which accom- Fi'encJi Literatiwe. Voltahe and Rousseau. 211 panied freedom in our country. He seems to have had no faith in parHamentary government. In the raillery about the different religious sects in England there is an evident mixture of admiration for the toleration that pro- duced the variety. Imprisonment in the Bastille made Voltaire very care- ful in his criticisms of political affairs, rendered him cautious in publication, and anxious to live Voltaire's elsewhere than in France. During his sojourn caution. in England Voltaire studied the great English writers, and their influence upon his writings and his thought is very marked ; this is seen even in his religious views. Vol- taire is often described as an atheist, but no description could be more false. In the days of the excesses of the French Revolution, when men had passed far beyond the teaching of Voltaire, the saying ran, ' Voltaire is a bigot ; he believes in a God.' In later days, at his Genevan re- treat, he built a church with the inscription, ' Deo erexit Voltaire.' It was during his sojourn in England that Voltaire published his great epic, the ' Henriade,' which he had begun during his first imprisonment in the Bastille. The publication was by subscrip- ^""^ ^* tion — Queen Caroline's name being first in the list — and no less than 2,000/. was collected, which is said to have formed the nucleus of the large fortune that he afterwards amassed. The ' Henriade ' became at once popular, and in spite of changes of taste is still regarded as a great French classic. The poem is written in praise of Hemy of Navarre, of all French kings the best adapted for a national hero. The author thought that he would achieve greatness for his poem by avoiding what he thought the mistakes of his predecessors in epic poetry, yet he borrowed largely from Virgil. Voltaire certainly lacked the first requisite for success — viz. the poetical spirit. 2 1 2 The Early Hanoverians. His poem stands as an instance of the degree of success that can be attained by a very acute mind exercised in the criticism of poetry, and possessing great powers of versification, but without real poetical gifts. In shorter poems, what are known as occasional verses, Voltaire is far more successful. Epigram is his forte. Many of these lighter poems are written with remarkable grace as well as epigrammatic force. As a dramatist, again, Voltaire is more successful than as a poet. It is natural that his first attempts Voltaire's should belong to the reigning school of taste. plays. His first play, ' CEdipe,' is in the style of Racine, a good imitation. It is classical in subject, and strictly obeys the laws of the unities. But a change came over his dramas after his visit to England, where Voltaire read Shakspeare and became acquainted with the Eng- lish drama and its freedom. Though he described Shakspeare as an inspired barbarian, and objected to many things in his plays as in bad taste, yet it is very evident that he had learnt much from him. The very name of one of the best of his plays, the ' Death of Caesar,' and still more its plot, shows how deeply he was indebted to the study of Shakspeare. Another of his dramas has a Roman subject — the story of the consul Brutus, whom a sense of duty compelled to put his traitor sons to death. Probably the best of all his plays is ' Zaire.' The scene of this tender tragedy is laid in Palestine. A young Christian girl loves and is loved by the sultan. Turning Mohammedan she is about to marry him, when her father, many years a captive, is suddenly revealed to her, implores her to be true to the Christian faith, and dies. The sultan, in jealousy, thinks her new hesitation to marry is due to her loss of love for him, and stabs her in a frenzy. The play has splendid stage effect, and is French Literature. Voltaire and Roiisseati. 2 1 3 written in dignified language ; but it is not fair to com- pare it with plays of the great English dramatist. A'oltaire is also well known as an historian. His largest history is the * Age of Lewis XIV.,' though probably the shorter histories of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great are more famous. Vol- taire cannot be described as an historian of the modern type, a sifter of records, a diligent seeker after fact. As an historian he has been compared to Livy, and the com- parison is just. The object of both is to give a brillian picture of an epoch, and to write an interesting book. Provided that an anecdote will be an ornament to the writmg, it matters little whether it be true. Nor can it be said that we are expecting from Voltaire a treatment of history, the conception of which did not belong to his time. Gibbon was his contemporary, and for some years lived at Lausanne, which is not far from Ferney, on the banks of the Lake of Geneva. Gibbon had prejudices, and in some respects his mind was not unlike Voltaire's. He also was a ' Lord of irony, that master- spell,' but there is no comparison between Gibbon's industry and Voltaire's. Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' remains one of the great histories of the world. No one now studies Voltaire's books for historical knowledge, though the smaller histories may still be read as models of style. For perspicuous clearness of language and excellence of arrangement Voltaire cannot be surpassed. Amongst the best of Voltaire's writings, which are distinguished by their extraordinaiy variety, the palm must be given to the tales ' Zadig ' and ' Can- dide.' The former is an Eastern tale. Zadig, the hero, is a sort of eastern Voltaire, who at first suffers many persecutions on account of his desire to do good to his fellow-creatures, but lives through them, and having just escaped hanging is promoted to be Grand 214 The Early Hanoverians. Vizier of Babylon. Under his wise rule the kingdom rapidly prospers, but the king grows jealous of the queen's liking for the new vizier, and his misfortunes recommence. Zadig has to escape as a slave, and goes through new adventures ; but he was born under a lucky star, and ultimately became himself King of Babylon. The story is full of satirical allusions to France, and Voltaire's enemies are introduced into it under disguised names. The book is very wittily and gracefully written. The tale of ' Candide ' was the fruit of the earth- quake at Lisbon (1755) ; a frightful calamity which sud- Earthquake ^cnly Overwhelmed more than 50,000 people, at Lisbon. and sct men everywhere a-thinking. The popular philosophy of the day was what is known as optimism, shortly expressed in the phrase of Pope, ^ Whatever is, is right.' Voltaire had never accepted this doctrine, and when the earthquake took place he put the question seriously in a philosophical poem on the 'Earth- quake of Lisbon ' ; he put it once more with mockery and ridicule in his liveliest and brightest tale, ' Candide.' Is, then, this earthquake right .^ In the poem Voltaire seriously discusses ' the riddle of the painful earth,' and a translation of two lines may be quoted as its final ' teaching : — One day all will be well, such is our hope. All is well here below : — this is illusion. On the principle that a jest may hit him who a sermon flies, ' Candide' is intended to give a grotesque view of the same argument. The best of all possible worlds is held up to ridicule. The simple-minded Candide and his pre- ceptor Pangloss in their travels reach Lisbon just before the earthquake, from which they suffer. The latter, who is always asserting the excellence of the world, is shortly afterwards hanged by order of the Inquisition. Candide French Literature. Voltaire and Roussemi. 215 also sees the execution of Admiral Byng in Portsmouth harbour, the account of which is famous for the phrase potcr ejicourager les aiiires. Sneers are freely distributed through the pages of ' Candide ' ; its moral, if it has one, has been well described as ' Be tolerant and cultivate your garden,' that is, do diligently the work that comes to your hand. No account of Voltaire would be complete without some reference to his intercourse with Frederick the Great of Prussia. That monarch had a great „ , . ,.. ^^^,., .. .^ Voltaire and admiration for Voltaire s writings, and soon Frederick after his accession to the throne invited ^^^ Great. Voltaire to come to see him. Afterwards he wished him to take up his residence at the Court of Berlin. French was the diplomatic language of Europe, and cultivated people in Germany — Frederick amongst the number — despised their own language. The King amused himself by writing poems in French, and he thought Voltaire could assist him in his amusement. At first the two enjoyed each other's society, but quarrels came, and the first feeling was replaced by one less cordial. In the capacity of men of letters, Frederick always regarded the poet as supreme, but from other points of view he seemed a less desirable companion. The later part of his life Voltaire, who, by careful investments, had amassed a large fortune, spent in almost patriarchal splendour at Ferney. End of He lived till he was eighty-four, and shortly his life. before his death paid a visit to Paris, when going to the theatre to hear his last tragedy he was received with much enthusiasm, and was attended to his hotel by a great crowd. His last words in public were from the doorstep of the hotel, •' You wish to stifle me with roses.' A few days later he died. The influence of Voltaire on his own and succeeding 2 1 6 The Early Hanoverians. times was so various that it is a little difficult to estimate. Influence of Carlyle says that there is not one great Voltaire, thought in all his writings. There are cer- tainly many thoughts on the right side — for beneficence against cruelty, for freedom against tyranny, for common sense against superstition, a passionate love of justice. The strongest element in the composition of Voltaire is wit. Wit may be harmless and may do good, but it may also be a deadly solvent. From its very nature it cannot be constructive, but it may be, and in Voltaire's case it was, destructive. He is not discriminating in his irony and sarcasms. In the France in which Voltaire found himself there was much that required reform or removal : a pro- fligate court, a superstitious, careless, or even immoral priesthood ; the people had no liberty, the administration of justice was partial and often cruel. Many of these evils were attacked by Voltaire, and many were after- wards swept away by the French Revolution. We may sum up his influence thus. The French Revolution did evil as well as good. One would have been glad if the changes which it brought could have come more smoothly ; but on the whole the world is the better for it, and Voltaire's attacks upon the old order helped to train men's minds for the revolution. We might prefer that Voltaire had been other than what he was, but the good in him counter- balances the evil. There are still, however, many who look upon him as a sort of incarnation of evil. An epi- gram by Dr. Young, who wrote the ' Night Thoughts,' gives the orthodox view of his contemporaries about Voltaire. The latter was complaining of the bad taste of Milton's description of Sin in the ' Paradise Lost,' and Dr. Young wrote : — You are so witty, profligate, and thin, At once we think thee Milton, Death, and Sin. French Literature, Voltaire and Rousseau. 217 Victor Hugo, who has the same sympathy for freedom that Voltaire had, yet speaks of him as a missionary of the devil, and Dr. Johnson's view is still the current view in England. This was Dr. Johnson's opinion of his two eminent contemporaries. Speaking of Rousseau he said : ' I think him one of the worst of men, a rascal who ought to be hunted out of society as he has been. Three or four nations have expelled him, and it is a shame that he VoitTi?" and is protected in this country. . . . Rousseau, ^o^-seau. sir, is a very bad man. I would sooner sign a sentence for his transportation than that of any felon who has gone from the Old Bailey these many years. Yes, I should like to have him work in the plantations.' Hereupon Boswell asked, ' Sir, do you think him as bad a man as Voltaire ?' and Dr. Johnson replied, 'Why, sir, it is diffi- cult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.' Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose name is thus coupled with that of Voltaire, died within five weeks of Voltaire's death. But he was a much younger man. -^^^^ nfe of Voltaire was eighty-four, Rousseau only sixty- Rousseau, six when he died. In 17 12 Rousseau was born at Geneva, where his father was a watchmaker, and for a while a dancing-master. His mother died shortly after his birth, and the boy had a very strange bringing up. When he was only ten his father ran away from Geneva to escape the consequences of an assault upon an officer. An uncle took the neglected boy, and after a couple of years' education, which Rousseau never valued, apprenticed him first to a notary, who regarded him as hopelessly stupid, and then to an engraver, who treated him with such cruelty that at length the boy ran away. From this time forward for many years he was a vagabond on the face of the earth, always moving from place to place, from employ- ment to employment. Now he pretended to be a convert 2 1 8 The Early Hanoverians. to Catholicism, then he became a servant, next he gave lessons in music — of which he knew but little : then he turned tutor, but for this occupation he lacked patience : he acted as a secretary, as a surveyor's clerk, a copier of music. He gained his livelihood in various ways, but was constant to nothing long. His nature was undis- ciplined, and his own confession ran : ' When my duty and my heart were at variance the former seldom got the victory. To act from duty in opposition to inclination I found impossible.' Rousseau was nearly forty before he became an author. The Academy of Dijon had offered a prize for The prize ^^ cssay ou the qucstion, Has the progress of essay. the arts and sciences helped to corrupt or to purify morals ? Rousseau determined at once to com- pete, and to take the line that progress had corrupted morals. The result was that Rousseau won the prize, and that his essay, when published, brought him great fame. He had attacked literature, this attack made him a man of letters ; he had attacked society, and this attack made him the darling of society. Ten years of wandering, but in better circumstances, passed after this essay, which made Rousseau famous in Three great ^"^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^'^ ^^ published the firSt of books, the three books on which his later reputation rests ; and within another eighteen months the last. They are called the ' New Heloise,' the ' Social Contract,' and ' Emile.' The ' New Heloise, or Julie ' may be described as a sentimental novel written in the form of letters. The original Heloise was a young woman of rank, who in the twelfth century was taught by the famous schoolman Abelard. Their love and their mis- fortunes became famous. So in this story a fierce passion of love arose between a tutor and his pupil, a French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 219 baron's daughter. Of course the father indignantly re- fused the tutor. This gave Rousseau an opportunity to express his sentiments, hostile to rank. These views had then the charm of novelty, but have now become almost commonplace. The lady afterwards marries, and after a while renews a pure friendship for her former tutor. The chief notes of the book are the description of passionate love on both sides, traced through many phases, the numerous attacks on existing customs and social relations, in which Rousseau speaks his own sentiments in the person of the tutor, and the praises of simple, especially of country, life. It has been observed that Rousseau was the first to awaken that love for the picturesque in nature which has distinguished so many writers since his time, but which is conspicuously absent from literature before his time. The second of Rousseau's triad of books was the ' Social Contract.' The main doctrine of this political treatise was not new, and came from English . g^^^j^j ^^j^. writers, especially from Locke. Inquirers tract.' had been asking what was the origin and what the basis of government. This some found in the ' divine right of kings ' ; that is to say, they believed that God appointed kings to govern. Those who did not like this doctrine held that government depended on the mutual agree- ment of the governed. This agreement was the social contract implied if not actually made. But it follows that, if one party break the contract, the other party is absolved from it. As the king promises good govern- ment, the people promise obedience ; but if the govern- men be bad, then the people need no longer obey. One can easily see how this little book had a potent influence amidst the various forces which produced the French Revolution. The second title of ' Emile ' is ' Education.' The 220 The Early Hanoverimis. book is a protest against the prevailing methods of ,^ ., , education, and in favour of greater simplicity Emile. , , r 1 -1 1 -I-. and more natural treatment of children. Be- ginning at the very beginning, Rousseau protests against swaddling clothes, and wishes mothers to nurse their own children. Emile is a boy brought up on the methods of which Rousseau approves ; his training is to serve as a model. It need hardly be said that the child has no luxuries, goes barefoot, has to learn to bear pain, especially pain which is the consequence of his own acts. There is to be no other punishment than this natural consequence of acts. The child is to be en- couraged to ask questions of every kind, and should receive practical answers — not merely in words. Not until twelve is the boy to be taught to read, and he is to be taught a handicraft as soon as he is able to acquire it. All knowledge of religion is to be kept from him whilst he is young ; and Rousseau's own views on that subject are given in a famous episode of the book called the ' Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar.' His tutor follows Emile into society in Paris, where he remains pure amidst its corruptions. Afterwards a wife, Sophie, is found for him amid country surroundings, and of course the linding of Sophie involves a discourse on the educa- tion of girls. The manifest fault of the book is that the education, which at first began with such remarkable freedom, ends in constant leading strings. One begins to wonder what Emile would be like without his tutor constantly at his elbow. Few books, however, have ever had so strong an influence, and many improvements in education may be traced back to the publication of * Emile.' Rousseau's great work was to summon mankind back to greater simplicity of life, and to the study of first prin- ciples. The effects of his teaching were often very valu- French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 221 able, and it is a question how far he can be held respon- sible for the excesses into which men claiming < Follow to be his followers were led. If his doctrine be nature.' summarised in the two words, ' Follow nature,' it is essen- tial that we should understand what is meant by 'nature.' We have a habit of describing a man without his clothes as ' in a state of nature ' ; but if man has within him instincts and feelings that teach him it is better to clothe himself, a man is more truly following his nature when he has dressed himself. The savage life is not of neces- sity more natural than the civilised, because it is his higher, and not his lower nature that man must follow. In the ' Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar ' Rousseau's teaching may be said to have been equally removed from the orthodox dogmas of the Church, Catholic Religious or Protestant, and from the sceptical teaching ^^^^'^• of the philosophers of his day. The vicar believes earnestly in the existence and in the goodness of God, but he does not accept revealed religion, although he allows himself always outwardly to conform. The result of this teaching was that the author was persecuted, and was only feebly defended by the philosophers. When a young man, Rousseau had gone through the form of con- version to Catholicism. In the first blush of his literary fame he wished to be a citizen of Geneva, and went through the form of conversion to Protestantism. The book ' Emile ' was burnt by order of the Parliament of Paris ; it was burnt by order of the Council of Gene\a. Rousseau was driven from France, he was driven from Switzerland, and took refuge in Neuchatel, which then belonged to Prussia. King Frederick, ^ 1 111-1 1-1 -r^ -ii- Later hfe. though he did not like Rousseau, was willing to protect him ; but the inhabitants of the place where he w^as living, being stirred up by the orthodox, used violence against him. At length he determined to go to England, 222 The Early Hanoverians. Here he was treated with the greatest kindness, espe- cially by David Hume, the historian and philosopher, who procured him a pension from the government of George ni. ; but a suspicious spirit from which Rousseau was always suffering, and more and more in his later years, embittered his relations even with Hume. After a sojourn of sixteen months he fled from England. The later years of his life were very unhappy : he was almost out of his mind ; over his death there hangs a suspicion of suicide. It was during this sad last period that he wrote his autobiography under the title of ' Confessions.' It is tolerably certain that, so written, they contain as much of imagination as of truth. It is curious that both Voltaire and Rousseau paid a long visit to England, the former deriving more advan- „ y ,. tage therefrom than the latter. Englishmen English in- •» , ^ fluence on do not look upon the reign of the first two renc . Gcorgcs as a glorious time ; yet at that very time leading thinkers of the continent were inclined to look upon England as a kind of promised land — a land of liberty and progress. This was especially the case with Montesquieu. Charles Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, was bom near Bordeaux in 1689 — exactly a century before the Monies- French Revolution, and just as the English quieu. Revolution, the effects of which he afterwards admired so much, was being completed. He was a French country gentleman, trained to the law, who at an early age became President of the Parliament of Bor- deaux, a provincial law-court of considerable importance. 'Persian A book which he wrote, called ' Les Lettres Letters.' Persancs,' a lively and very witty book, brought him great fame. This book was one of the first to make a farcical correspondence between foreigners a vehicle for satire on the country in which the book is published. French Litei'atiire. Voltaire and Rousseau. 223 The foreigner is astonished at many things that he sees — customs, institutions, rehgion — and the explanations that he receives can easily be made an opportunity for biting satire. The success of this book determined Montesquieu to devote himself to literature, but before writing more he travelled through various countries — Austria, Hungary, Italy, Holland, England. In the last country he stayed two years. He was full of admiration for all that he saw. Probably no foreigner ever felt a heartier appreciation of the English constitution, and of the toleration, the civil and religious liberty enjoyed in England ; and perhaps few Englishmen. On returning to France, Montesquieu retired from society, and lived a studious life amid quiet country sur- roundings. Many years later, in 1748, the 'L'Esprit year of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Montes- ^^^ ^°'^-' quieu published his great work, ' L'Esprit des Lois.' The levity of tone which marked his earlier book is gone, and has been replaced by a dignity worthy of a judge. This book is written with calmness and moderation ; if when it first appeared it was unheeded, if in the revolution its moderate reforms were left far behind — after the oscilla- tions of the pendulum had ceased then men appreciated the balanced judgment of Montesquieu. Nowhere was his book more admired than by the best English thinkers. Edmund Burke was warm in its praise. INDEX, ACA A CAD IE, former name of Nova Scotia, 178 Addison for the Peerage Bill, 45 ; as a minister, 46 ; his death, 47 ; mentioned, 195 Ai.\-la-Chapelle, Congress at and peace of (1748), 175 Albany, Count of, title of Young Pre- tender, 168 Alberoni, his rise, 50 ; good internal policy for Spain, 51 ; foreign schemes, 52 ; dismissed, 53 Alliance, triple and quadruple, 49 Alsace, 3 ' Analogy,' by Bishop Butler, 187 Anne, Queen, death of, 10; George I. once a suitor for her hand, 17 Anson, Commodore ; voyage, 104, 106- iio ; made a peer, 110 Antwerp, captured by Saxe, 170 Argyle, Duke of, commands royal troops at Sheriffmuir, 37 ; brave answer to the Queen, 83 Assiento, 101-2 Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, guilty of treason, sent into exile, 67 ; 11 Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, 9 ; his death, 96 ; Marshal Saxe, his natural son, 132 Augustus, son of above. Elector of Saxony, also King of Poland, 97 ; his death, 98 Austria, House of, 7 Austrian Succession War, 103 Azof, 90, 95 BELGRADE, taken by Eugene, 91, 92 ; lost by Imperialists, 94 ; peace of, ps Belleisle, Marshal, his plans for dividing Ciermany, 116 CAR Bentley, controversy with Boyk, 66 Bergen-op-Zoom, capture of, 172 Berkelej-, Bishop, 187-191 Bermuda, Christian University in, 1S8 Black Friday, 155 Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Lord, dis- missed from office, 26 ; to be impeached, fled, 31 : Secretary of State to Preten- der, 32 ; urges Lewis XIV. to help Pretender, 34 ; ' the Fifteen ' contrary to his advice, 36 ; dismissed by Pre- tender, 68 ; restored to England, at- tainder reverted, property restored, 63; his writings, 69 Bcswell, James, biographer of Johnson, 207 Bremen and Verden acquired, 28 Brunswick, House of, origin, 14 Brussels captured by Saxe, 170 Burke, Edmund, 208 ; says story of Jen- kins' ear a fable, 100 ; remark about Oglethorpe, 194 ; quoted about Mon- tesquieu, 223 Burns quoted, 196 Butler, Joseph, Bishop, 184-6 ; promo- tion due to Queen Caroline, 81 Byng, Admiral, his action off Messina, 52 Byron, Lord ; wreck taken from Anson's voj-age, io3 CANOVA, sculptor of Stuart monu- ment at Rome, 169 Canterbury, Archbishop of; State of religion in England, 180 Cape Breton, 176 Carlisle thinks of resisting Charles Edward, 153 Carlyle, ' Dapper George,' 76 ; on Vol- taire, 216 Caroline of Anspach, Queen Consort M. H. Index, CAR character, 79 : Regent at time of Por- teous riots, 82 ; her opinion of her son, 86 ; death, 87 Cartagena expedition, 104 Chambord, 178 Charles, brother of Emperor Francis, defeated at Roucoux, 171 Charles Albert, Elector of IJavaria, 114; elected Emperor Charles VII., 120 ; a genuine emperor, 131 ; his death, 131 Charles Edward, see Pretender, Young Charles VI., Emperor, his death, no Charles VII., see Charles Albert Charles XII. of Sweden, 9 ; in Turkey, | returns, 29 ; intends to help Pretender, 52 ; death before Fredericshall, 52 | Chesterfield, Lord, quoted about Hano- ver, 23 ; again as to state of England at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 177 Clifton, skirmish at, last battle fought in England, 156 Cope, Sir John, opposed to Pretender, 146 : at Prestonpans, 148 ; hears news of Falkirk, 159 Cowper, 196 Culloden, battle of, 160 Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of, son of George II. (born 1721, died 1765), commands allies at Fontenoy, 133 ; at Lichfield, 153 ; at Clifton, 156 ; in command against Charles Edward, 159 ; puts down rebellion with great severity, called ' butcher,' 163 DEFOE, 195 Derby, Charles Edward at, 153 Derwentwater, Earl of, joins in ' the Fifteen,* 36 ; executed, 40 Dettingen, battle of, 126 Don Carlos, appanage wanted for, by his mother, 70 ; proposal that he should marry Maria Theresa, 71 ; King of Two Sicilies, 98 Don Philip, desire to procure him an appanage led Spain into Austrian Suc- cession War, 114 Dresden, Peace of, 130 Dryden, 196 EDINBURGH Castle, nearly taken in 'the Fifteen,' 35 Election, General, of 1714, large Whig majority, 30 Elective monarchyj 95, 96 Elector, title explained, 8 PRE Electorate (P.runswick-Luneburg, or Hanover) compared with United King- dom, 17 ; map, 20 ; unpopularity of union with, 22 Elcho, Lord, at Culloden, 162 Elizabeth of Bohemia, 12 Elizabeth Farnese, Princess of Parma, second wife of Philip of Spain, 49 Episcopal Church of Scotland, 165 Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick- Lunebiirg, father of George I., 11 : description of, 16 Eugene, Prince, at relief of Vienna, 88 : in command against Turks in war that ended at Peace of Carlowitz, 89 ; also in war that ended at Peace of Passaro- witz ; battle of Peterwaradin ; siege of Belgrade, 90-2 ; death. 92, 93 ; his last campaign, 99 ; view of Pragmatic Sanc- tion, III ; Oglethorpe, his A.D.C., 119. Europe, survey of, 2 Expansion of England, loi FALKIRK, battle of, 157 Fielding, Henry, novelist, 201 Fleury, Cardinal, French minister, in favour of peace, 73, 116 Fontarabia, 53 Fontenoy, battle of, 133-138 Forster, Mr., M.P., general in the Fif- teen,' 37 France, frontiers of, 3 Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany, commander- in-chief of Imperialists, 94 ; made Grand Duke, 98 ; marries Maria Theresa, 113 ; elected Emperor, 131 Frankfort, union of, 129 Franklin, Benjamin, testimony to White- field's power, 185 _ Frederick, Elector Palatine and (Winter) King of Bohemia, 13 Frederick the Great, remark about Pragmatic Sanction, no ; seizes Silesia, III ; remark to French ambassador, 116; said 'army was like a serpent,' 124; laughs at George II. at Dettin- gen, 127 ; intercourse with Voltaire. 215 ; dealings with Rousseau, 221 ; opinion about Eugene, 99 ; about Saxe, 170 ; saying about Holland, 6 Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II. (born 1707, died 1751), i" opposition, 84 ; his mother's opinion of him, 86 ; gives pension to Thomson, 197 Index --/ CAll /^ARDINER, Colonel, killed at VJT Prestonpans, 149 Garibaldi, 98 Garrick, David, 20S Genoa, siege of, 173 George I., accession of, 10; makes Cabinet wholly Whig, 27 ; ignorant of English, 27 ; constitutional king, 28 ; his death, 74 George 11., Electoral Prince of Hanover, 14 ; accession to throne, 76 ; appear- ance and character, 76, 77 ; proposed duelwith King of Prussia, 77; his | a\arice, 78 ; he spoke bad English, I 78 ; dismisses WalpoJe, 78 ; takes him Imck again, 79 ; remark about Irish at Fontenoy, 138 ; with army on Finchley Common ; bravery at news of Falkirk, 159 ; remark about Bishop Berkeley, ,^91 . Georgia, colony founded, 192, 193 ; Wesley in, 182 ( .ermany, divided, 7 Gibbon, Edward, 208 ; compared with Voltaire, 217 Gibraltar, siege of, 72 Glenfinnin, 145 Glenshiel, Jacobite rising, 300 Spanish soldiers land, 53 Gloucester, Duke of (son of Queen Anne), death (1700), 28 Goldsmith, Oliver, 208 ; friend of Ogle- thorpe, 194 Gottingen University, founded by George II., 81 Grammont, Duke of, commanding a divi- sion at Dettingen, 125 Grand Alliance, 3 Grattan quoted, 138 Gray, Thomas, 198 ; quoted to show state of feeling in i7'45, 155 HANDEL, Dettingen TcDeinn, 128 Hanover, town and duchy, not electorate, 14 ; court described, 15 ; kingdom, 24 Hawley, General, in Scotland, 157 Henry, Cardinal York, 16S, 169 Herrnhut. 182 Hessians in Edinburgh, 160 Highland army, nature of, 39 ; roads, 41 ; feeling about, 1.30 ; regiments, 165 Holland, position in Europe, 6 Holyrood, Charles Edward at, 148 Hosier, Admiral, before Porto Bello, 72 Howard, John, prison reformer, 191-4 Hume, his history continued, 202 ; and Rousseau, 222 INVERNESS, 147, 161 JL Irish at Fontenoy, 13S Italy, state of, 5 JENKINS, Captain, lost his ear, 100-2 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 199, 204-8 ; definition of excise, 85 ; friend of Oglethorpe, 194 ; opinion on Voltaire and Rousseau, 217 Juan Fernandez, 107 K ER of Kersland, quoted, 15, 19 T AUFFELD, battle of, 172 1^ Law, John, his financial proposals, 54 ; dies in poverty at Venice, 55 Leczynski, Stanislaus, King of Poland, 9 ; his daughter marries Lewis XV., 72 ; election to throne of Poland, 96 ; re-election, 97; made Duke of Lorraine, 98 ; death, 99 Leibnitz, account of, 25 ; advice to George I., 27 Letters well rewarded, 195 Lewis XIV., his long wars, 2 ; death, 47, 209 Lewis XV., accession, five years old, 47 ; marriage, 70, 72; the 'well-beloved,' his illness, 130 ; at Fontenoy, 136 Lichfield, Cumberland at, 153 ; birth- place of Johnson, 205 Lisbon, earthquake at (Nov, i, 1755), 214 Livy, compared with Voltaire, 213 Lochiel, interview with Charles Edward 145 Locke, 219 Lorraine, see Francis, Duke of — its position, coveted by France, 98 Lyttelton, Lord, friend of Ihomson, 197 MACAO, Anson at, 109 Macaulay quoted, 194 Macdonald clan at Culloden, 162 ; Flora heroism of, 166 IMaestricht, capture of, 172 Mallet, 197 28 Index. MAN Manchester, Charles Edward at, 153 I\Iar, John, Earl of, 'bobbing John,' heads 'the Fifteen,' 34 Maria Theresa, description and charac- ter, 112; marriage, 112, 113; at her father's death, archduchess, 113 ; crowned at Presburg (1741) Queen of Hungary, 119 ; at Prague Queen of Bohemia, 122; her cause prospering, 128 IVIarlborough's campaigns, 6 ; compared with Saxe, 169 Marseilles, plague at, heroic conduct of bishop, 57 Methodists, origin of name, 1S2 Moidart, 144 Montesquieu, 222-3 Morea, delivered from Turks, 89 ; re- conquered by them, 90 ; retained by them at peace, 92 NAlNIUR, captured bj' Saxe, 170 Necker, 208 Netherlands, Austrian, 7; 'cockpit of Europe,' 129 Newton, Sir Isaac, 25, 74, 75 ; consulted as to Wood's pence, 65 Noailles, Marshal, commanded Fi-ench at Dettingen, 124 Nova Scotia, formerly Acadie, large emigration to, 178 o GLETHORPE, James, General, 191-4 Onslow, Speaker, story of proposed separation from Hanover, 24 ; quoted about Saturday holiday in House of Commons, 59 Orleans, Duke of. Regent, 48 ; death, 70 Ormond Duke of, under restraining orders, withdrew troops, 30 ; to be im- peached, flies, 31 ; his att-emptsin ' the Fifteen,' 36 Ostend Company, 71 Oxford, Jacobites in, 36 — Robert Harley, Earl of, to be im- peached, imprisoned, prosecution dropped, 31 PASSAROWITZ, Peace of, 92 Peerage Bill proposed, 43 ; its effects, 44 ; rejected by Commons, 45 Peter the Great, 9 Peterborough. Lord, Berkeley his chap- Iain, 188 SAR Peterwaradin, battle of, 90 Pitt, William, afterwards Lord Chatham, enters Parliament (1735), 85 ; his edu- cation, 85 ; appearance and eloquence, 86 ; ' terrible cornet of horse,' 86 ; opinion that after Dettingen war should have ceased, 128 ; enrols High- land regiments, 165 Poland, its condition, 9, 95 Polish Succession War, 95 Pope, 195-6 ; quoted about Jenkins' ear, 100 ; friend of Atterbury, 67 ; of Bolingbroke, 68-9 ; quoted about Rlar- seilles' good bishop, 57 ; about Ogle- thorpe, 191-3 Porteous, Capt., 82 ; riot about his reprieve, he is hanged, 83 Porto Bello, capture of, 103-4 Portugal, a blister to Spain, 5 Pragmatic Sanction, 99, 113 ; finally ac- cepted, 176 Prague, French retreat from, 121-2 ; Maria Theresa crowned at, 122 Presburg, Maria Theresa crowned at, 119 Preston, battle of, 37 ; Charles Edward at, 150 Prestonpans, battle of, 148 Pretender, James the Old, 34, 141 ; arrives in Scotland too late, 39 ; con- trast with his son, 142 — Charles Edward, the Young, account of, 140 ; his education, 141 ; history of his attempt to gain crown of England for his father, 144-162 ; later history, 166-8 Privateering, 106 Prussia, 8 RASTADT, Treaty of, 4 " Regent, Philip Duke of Orleans, 48 ; his peace policj', 49 Religion in England, 180 Revenge on I'ory ministers, 30 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 208 Richardson, Samuel, novelist, 199 Ripperda, Minister of Spain, 70 Robinson Crusoe, 107 Roucoux, battle of, 171 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 217-222 SAND, George, granddaughter of Saxe, 179 Sardinia, King of, 49 ; in Polish Succes- sion War, 98 Index. 229 SAX Saxe, Marshal, 130 : account of, 132 ; ready to cross to England, 143 ; cam- paign ending in invasion of Holland, 169 ; later life, 178-9 Saxonj^ divided, 8 ; Elector's claim in Austrian Succession War, 114 Scott, ig6 ; ' Heart of Midlothian,' 81 Scckendorf, Eugene's successor, 93 Selkirk, Alexander, 107 Septennial Bill, 42 Seven Weeks' War, 24 Seville, Treaty of, 73 Shakspeare compared with Voltaire, 212 Sheriffmuir, battle of, 37 Silesia, iii, 113, 116, 129 ; ceded to Frederick at Peace of Dresden, 176 Smollett, Tobias, novelist, 202 ; surgeon's mate in Cartagena expedition, 105 Sobieski, John, Kingof Poland, 9, 88, 143 — Mary Clementina, mother of Charles Edward, 141 Sophia Dorothea, of Zell, wife of George l.,73 Sophia, Electress, 13 South Sea Bubble, 55 Spain, state of, 4, 51 Spanish Infanta, sent back to Spain, 70 Stadtholdership revived, 171 Stair, Earl of, English commander at Dettingen, 123 Steel, opposed to Peerage Bill, 45 Sterne, Rew Laurence, 204 Stuarts, accounts of various attempts to restore, 32 Swift, iJean, 195 ; and Vanessa, 188 ; writes as M. B. Drapier against Wood's Pence, 65 THIRTY Years' War, 13, 2S Thomson, James, 195-7 Tinian, Anson at, 109 Toulon, sea-fight near, 130 Tournay, siege of, leads to battle of Fontenoy, 133 Turks in Europe, 10, 88 ; in Venice, 89 u TRECHT, Peace of, i ZIX VAUBAN, testimony as to condition of France, 47 Venice and Turks, 89 Verden, Bremen and, 28 Vernon, Admiral, takes Porto Bello, 104 ; commands navy before Carta- gena, 105 Victor Emmanuel, 98 Victoria, Queen, iS ; her accession separates Hanover, 24 Vienna, siege of, 88, 143 ; Peace of ,^(1735), 99 Vigo, the Eng'.ish take, 53 Voltaire, 209-17 ; quoted 132, 135-6 WADE, jNIarshal, makes roads in Scotland, 41 ; opposed to Charles Edward, 152 Walpole, Sir Robert, opposes Peerage Bill, 45 ; called to office after South Sea Bubble, 56 ; earlier career, 58 : policy, peace abroad and quiet at home, 59 ; character, to ; corruption, 61 ; Finance Minister, 62 ; through love of power does not strengthen his ministry', 84 ; faced by Pitt, 86 ; loses Queen Caroline's support, S7 ; forced into war with Spain, 103 ; resigna- tion. 87 ; made Earl of Orford, 87 : his prophecy that rebellion would be result of war, 140 ; his death, 140 : his answer about Berkeley, 190 Wesley, Charles, 183 — John, 181-3 Whitefield, George, 183-5 William III., 171 Wood's Pence, 65 Wordsworth, quoted about \'enice, oo : about Thomson, 196 Wotton, Sir Henry, poem to Elizabeth of Bohemia, 12 YOUNG, 'Night Thoughts,' 198; quoted about Voltaire, 216-7 VINZENDORF, Count,