As the act of union did not take place till the first of May, a great number of traders in both kingdoms resolved to make advantage of this interval. The English proposed to export into Scotland such commodities as entitled them to a drawback, with a view to bring them back after the first of May. The Scots, on the other hand, as their duties were much lower than those in England, intended to import great quantities of wine, brandy, and other merchandise, which they could sell at a greater advantage in England after the union, when there would be a free intercourse between the two nations. Some of the ministers had embarked in this fraudulent design, which alarmed the merchants of England to such a degree, that they presented a remonstrance to the commons. Resolutions were immediately taken in the house against these practices, and a bill was prepared; but the lords apprehending that it in some measure infringed the articles of the union, and that it might give umbrage to the Scottish nation, it was dropped. The frauds had been in a good measure prevented by the previous resolutions of the house; and the first day of May was now at hand; so that the bill was thought unnecessary. On the twenty-fourth day of April the queen prorogued the parliament, after having given them to understand that she would continue by proclamation the lords and commons already assembled, as members in the first British parliament on the part of England, pursuant to the powers vested in her by the acts of parliament of both kingdoms, ratifying the treaty of union. The parliament was accordingly revived by proclamation, and another issued to convoke the first parliament of Great Britain for the twenty-third day of October. The Scots repaired to London, where they were well received by the queen, who bestowed the title of duke on the earls of Roxburgh and Montrose. She likewise granted a commission for a new privy-council in that kingdom, to be in force till the next session of parliament, that the nation might not be disgusted by too sudden an alteration of outward appearances. The first of May was appointed as a day of public thanksgiving; and congratulatory addresses were sent up from all parts of England; but the university of Oxford prepared no compliment; and the Scots were wholly silent on this occasion.
In the course of this session the commons, in an address to the queen, desired she would resettle the islands of St. Christopher’s and Nevis in the West Indies, which had been ravaged by the enemy. They likewise resolved, that an humble address should be presented to her majesty, praying she would concert measures for suppressing a body of pirates who had made a settlement on the island of Madagascar, as also for recovering and preserving the ancient possessions, trade, and fishery in Newfoundland. The French refugees likewise delivered a remonstrance to the queen, recapitulating the benefits which the persecuted protestants in France had reaped from the assistance of her royal progenitors, acknowledging their own happiness in living under her gentle government, among a people by whom they had been so kindly entertained when driven from their native country; and imploring her majesty’s interposition and good offices in favour of their distressed and persecuted brethren abroad. She graciously received this address, declaring she had always great compassion for the unhappy circumstances of the protestants in France; that she would communicate her thoughts on this subject to her allies; and she expressed her hope that such measures might be taken as should effectually answer the intent of their petition. In the month of May she granted an audience to an ambassador-extraordinary from the czar of Muscovy, who delivered a letter from his master, containing complaints of king Augusts, who had maltreated the Russian troops sent to his assistance, concluded a dishonourable peace with Charles king of Sweden, without the knowledge of his allies, and surrendered count Patkul, the Muscovite minister, as a deserter, to the Swedish monarch, contrary to the law of nations, and even to the practice of barbarians. He therefore desired her Britannic majesty would use her good offices for the enlargement of the count, and the other Russian prisoners detained at Stockholm; and that she would take into her protection the remains of the Russian auxiliaries upon the Rhine, that they might either enter into the service of the allies, or be at liberty to return in safety to their own country. The queen actually interposed in behalf of Patkul; but her intercession proved ineffectual, and that unhappy minister was put to death with all the circumstances of wanton barbarity. As many severe and sarcastic writings had lately appeared in which the whigs and ministry were reviled, and reflections hinted to the prejudice of the queen’s person, the government resolved to make examples of the authors and publishers of these licentious productions. Dr. Joseph Browne was twice pilloried for a copy of verses, intituled “The Country Parson’s Advice to the Lord-Keeper,” and a letter which he afterwards wrote to Mr. Secretary Hailey. William Stevens, rector of Sutton in Surrey, underwent the same sentence, as author of a pamphlet called “A Letter to the Author of the Memorial of the Church of England.” Edward Ward was fined and set in the pillory, for having written a burlesque poem on the times, under the title of “Hudibras Redivivus;” and the same punishment was inflicted upon William Pittes, author of a performance, intituled “The Case of the Church of England’s Memorial fairly stated.”
The lower house of convocation still continued to wrangle with their superiors; and though they joined the upper house in a congratulatory address to the queen on the success of her arms, they resolved to make application to the commons against the union. The queen being apprised of their design, desired the archbishop to prorogue them for three weeks, before the expiration of which the act of union had passed in parliament. The lower house delivered a representation to the bishops, in which they affirmed no such prorogation had ever been ordered during the session of parliament. The bishops found in their records seven or eight precedents of such prorogations, and above thirty instances of the convocation having sat sometimes before, and sometimes after, a session of parliament; nay, sometimes even when the parliament was dissolved. The queen, informed of these proceedings, wrote a letter to the archbishop, intimating that she looked upon the lower house as guilty of an invasion of her royal supremacy; and that if any thing of the same nature should be attempted for the future, she would use such means for punishing offenders as the law warranted. The prolocutor absenting himself from the convocation, the archbishop pronounced sentence of contumacy against him. The lower house, in a protestation, declared this sentence unlawful and altogether null. Nevertheless the prolocutor made a full submission, with which the archbishop was satisfied, and the sentence was repealed. About this period the earl of Sunderland was appointed one of the secretaries of state, in the room of sir Charles Hedges. This change was not effected without great opposition from Harley, who was in his heart an enemy to the duke of Marlborough and all his adherents; and had already, by his secret intrigues, made considerable progress in a scheme for superseding the influence of the duchess.
The French king at this juncture seemed to be entirely abandoned by his former good fortune. He had sustained such a number of successive defeats as had drained his kingdom of people, and his treasury was almost exhausted. He endeavoured to support the credit of his government by issuing mint-bills, in imitation of the bank-notes of England; but, notwithstanding all his precautions, they passed at a discount of three-and-fifty per cent. The lands lay uncultivated; the manufactures could be no longer carried on; and the subjects perished with famine. The allies, on the other hand, seemed to prosper in every quarter. They had become masters of the greatest part of the Netherlands, in consequence of the victory at Ramillies; the army of king Charles was considerably reinforced; a scheme was formed for the conquest of Toulon, by the troops of the emperor and the duke of Savoy, supplied with a large sum of money by queen Anne, and assisted by the combined fleets of England and Holland, under the command of sir Cloudesley Shovel. In a word, France seemed to be reduced to the verge of destruction, from which nothing in all probability could have saved her but the jealousy and misconduct of the confederates. Louis, by virtue of his capitulation with the emperor in Italy, was enabled to send such reinforcements into Spain as turned the fortune of the war in that country; while the distractions in the council of king Charles prevented that unanimity and concurrence without which no success can be expected. The earl of Peterborough declared against an offensive war, on account of the difficulty of finding subsistence in Castile; and advised Charles to trust to the expedition against Toulon. This opinion he sent from Italy, to which he had withdrawn.
Charles, however, was persuaded to penetrate once more to Madrid, and give battle to the enemy wherever they should appear. On the thirteenth day of March the army was assembled at Caudela, to the number of sixteen thousand men; under the auspices of the marquis das Minas, to whom the earl of Galway was second in command. They marched towards Yecla, and undertook the siege of Vilena; but having received intelligence that the duke of Berwick was in the neighbourhood, they advanced on the fourteenth day of April in four columns towards the town of Almanza, where the enemy were drawn up in order of battle, their number being considerably superior to that of the confederates. The battle began about two in the afternoon, and the whole front of each army was fully engaged. The English and Dutch squadrons on the left, sustained by the Portuguese horse of the second line, were overpowered after a gallant resistance. The centre, consisting chiefly of battalions from Great Britain and Holland, obliged the enemy to give way, and drove their first upon their second line; but the Portuguese cavalry on the right being broken at the first charge, the foot betook themselves to flight; so that the English and Dutch troops being left naked on the flanks, were surrounded and attacked on every side. In this dreadful emergency they formed themselves into a square, and retired from the field of battle. By this time the men were quite spent with fatigue, and all their ammunition exhausted: they were ignorant of the country, abandoned by their horse, destitute of provisions, and cut off from all hope of supply. Moved by these dismal considerations, they capitulated and surrendered themselves prisoners of war, to the amount of thirteen battalions. The Portuguese, and part of the English horse, with the infantry that guarded the baggage, retreated to Alcira, where they were joined by the earl of Galway, with about five and twenty hundred dragoons which he had brought from the field of battle. About three thousand men of the allied army were killed upon the spot, and among that number brigadier Killegrew, with many officers of distinction. The earl of Galway, who charged in person at the head of Guiscard’s dragoons, received two deep cuts in the face. The marquis das Minas was run through the arm, and saw his concubine, who fought in the habit of an Amazon, killed by his side: the lords Tyrawley, Mark Ker, and colonel Glayton, were wounded: all their artillery, together with an hundred and twenty colours and standards, and about ten thousand men, were taken; so that no victory could be more complete; yet it was not purchased without the loss of two thousand men slain in the action, including some officers of eminence. The duke of Berwick, who commanded the troops of king Philip, acquired a great addition of fame by his conduct and behaviour before and during the engagement; but his authority was superseded by the duke of Orleans, who arrived in the army immediately after the battle. This prince seemed to entertain some private views of his own; for he took no effectual step to improve the victory. He began a private negotiation with the earl of Galway, during which the two armies lay inactive on the banks of the Cinca; and he concluded the campaign with the siege of Lerida, which was surrendered by capitulation on the second day of November: then the troops on both sides went into winter quarters. The earl of Galway and the Marquis das Minas embarked at Barcelona for Lisbon, and general Carpenter remained commander of the English forces quartered in Catalonia, which was now the only part of Spain that remained to king Charles.
The attempt upon Toulon by the duke of Savoy and prince Eugene might have succeeded, if the emperor, notwithstanding the repeated remonstrances of the maritime powers, had not divided his army in Italy, by detaching a considerable body through the ecclesiastical state towards Naples, of which he took possession without any difficulty. Besides, ten thousand recruits destined for the Imperial forces in Italy were detained in Germany, from an apprehension of the king of Sweden, who remained in Saxony, and seemed to be upon very indifferent terms with the emperor. With the assistance of the English and Dutch fleets, the duke of Savoy and prince Eugene passed the Var149[See note 2 B, at the end of this Vol.]on the eleventh day of July, at the head of an army of thirty thousand men, and marched directly towards Toulon, whither the artillery and ammunition were conveyed on board of the combined squadrons. The French king was extremely alarmed at this attempt, as five thousand pieces of cannon, vast magazines, and the best part of his fleet, were in the harbour of Toulon, and ran the greatest risk of being entirely taken or destroyed. The whole kingdom of France was filled with consternation when they found their enemies were in the bosom of their country. The monarch resolved to leave no stone unturned for the relief of the place, and his subjects exerted themselves in a very extraordinary manner for its preservation. The nobility of the adjacent provinces armed their servants and tenants, at the head of whom they marched into the city: they coined their plate, and pawned their jewels for money to pay the workmen employed upon the fortifications; and such industry was used, that in a few days the town and harbour, which had been greatly neglected, were put in a good posture of defence. The allies took possession of the eminences that commanded the city, and the ordnance being landed, erected batteries. From these they began to cannonade and bombard the city, while the fleet attacked and reduced two forts at the entrance of the Mole, and co-operated in the siege with their great guns and bomb-ketches. The garrison was numerous, and defended the place with great vigour. They sunk ships in the entrance to the Mole: they kept up a prodigious fire from the ramparts: they made desperate sallies, and even drove the besiegers from one of their posts with great slaughter. The French king, alarmed at this design of his enemies, ordered troops to march towards Toulon from all parts of his dominions. He countermanded the forces that were on their route to improve the victory of Almanza: a great part of the army under Villars on the Bhine was detached to Provence, and the court of Versailles declared, that the duke of Burgundy should march at the head of a strong army to the relief of Toulon. The duke of Savoy being apprized of these preparations, seeing no hope of reducing the place, and being apprehensive that his passage would be intercepted, resolved to abandon his enterprise. The artillery being re-embarked, with the sick and wounded, he decamped in the night, under favour of a terrible bombardment and cannonading from the English fleet, and retreated to his own country without molestation.* Then he undertook the reduction of Susa, the garrison of which surrendered at discretion. By this conquest he not only secured the key to his own dominions, but also opened to himself a free passage into Dauphiné.
* Had the duke of Savoy marched with expedition from the Var, he would have found Toulon defenceless; but he lingered in such a manner as gives reason to believe he was not hearty in the enterprise; and his operations were retarded by a difference between him and his kinsman prince Eugene.
Sir Cloudesley Shovel having left a squadron with sir Thomas Dilkes for the Mediterranean service, set sail for England with the rest of the fleet, and was in soundings on the twenty-second day of October. About eight o’clock at night his own ship, the Association, struck upon the rocks of Scilly, and perished with every person on board. This was likewise the fate of the Eagle and the Romney: the Firebrand was dashed in pieces on the rocks; but the captain and four-and-twenty men saved themselves in the boat: the Phoenix was driven on shore: the Royal Anne was saved by the presence of mind and uncommon dexterity of sir George Byng and his officers: the St. George, commanded by lord Dursley, struck upon the rocks, but a wave set her afloat again. The admiral’s body being cast ashore, was stripped and buried in the sand; but afterwards discovered and brought into Plymouth, from whence it was conveyed to London, and interred in Westminster-abbey. Sir Cloudesley Shovel was born of mean parentage in the county of Suffolk; but raised himself to the chief command at sea, by his industry, valour, skill, and integrity. On the upper Rhine the allies were unprosperous.150[See note C, at the end of this Vol.]The prince of Baden was dead, and the German army so inconsiderable, that it could not defend the lines of Buhl against the mareschal de Villars, who broke through this work, esteemed the rampart of Germany, reduced Rastadt, defeated a body of horse, laid the duchy of Wirtemberg under contribution, took Stutgard and Schorndorf; and routed three thousand Germans intrenched at Lorch, under the command of general Janus, who was made prisoner. In all probability, this active officer would have made great progress towards the restoration of the elector of Bavaria, had not he been obliged to stop in the middle of his career, in consequence of his army’s being diminished by sending off detachments to Provence. The Imperial army retired towards Hailbron, and the command of it was, at the request of the emperor and allies, assumed by the elector of Hanover, who restored military discipline, and acted with uncommon prudence and circumspection; but he had not force sufficient to undertake any enterprise of importance.
ANNE, 1701—1714
In the month of April, the duke of Marlborough set out from the Hague for Leipsic, with a letter from the queen to Charles XII. of Sweden, whose designs were still so mysterious, that the confederates could not help being alarmed at his being in the heart of Germany. The duke was pitched upon as the most proper ambassador, to soothe his vanity and penetrate into his real intention.*
* When the duke arrived in his coach at the quarters of count Piper, of whom he had demanded an audience, he was given to understand that the count was busy, and obliged to wait half an hour before the Swedish minister came down to receive him. When he appeared at last, the duke alighted from his coach, put on his hat, passed the count without saluting him, and went aside to the wall, where having staid some time, he returned and accosted him with the most polite address.
He found this original character not simple, but sordid in his appearance and economy, savage in his deportment, ferocious, illiterate, stubborn, implacable, and reserved. The English general assailed him on the side of his vanity, the only part by which he was accessible. “Sire,” said he, “I present to your majesty a letter, not from the chancery, but from the heart of the queen my mistress, and written with her own hand. Had not her sex prevented her from taking so long a journey, she would have crossed the sea to see a prince admired by the whole universe. I esteem myself happy in having the honour of assuring your majesty of my regard; and I should think it a great happiness, if my affairs would allow me, to learn under so great a general as your majesty, what I want to know in the art of war.” Charles was pleased with this overstrained compliment, which seems to have been calculated for a raw unintelligent barbarian, unacquainted with the characters of mankind. He professed particular veneration for queen Anne, as well as for the person of her ambassador, and declared he would take no steps to the prejudice of the grand alliance. Nevertheless, the sincerity of this declaration has been questioned. The French court is said to have gained over his minister, count Piper, to their interest. Certain it is, he industriously sought occasion to quarrel with the emperor, and treated him with great insolence, until he submitted to all his demands. The treaty being concluded upon the terms he thought proper to impose, he had no longer the least shadow of pretence to continue his disputes with the court of Vienna; and therefore began his march for Poland, which was by this time overrun by the czar of Muscovy.
The duke of Marlborough returning from Saxony, assembled the allied army at Anderlach near Brussels, about the middle of May; and, understanding that the elector of Bavaria and the duke de Vendôme, who commanded the French forces, had quitted their lines, he advanced to Soignies with a design to engage them in the plain of Fleuras. But receiving certain intelligence that the enemy were greatly superior to the allies in number, by the help of drafts from all the garrisons, he retreated towards Brussels, and took post at Mildert; while the French advanced to Gemblours. Both armies lay inactive until the enemy sent off a large detachment towards Provence. Then the duke of Marlborough and general D’Auverquerque resolved to attack them in their fortified camp at Gemblours. But they retreated with such celerity from one post to another, that the confederates could not come up with them until they were safely encamped with their right at Pont-a-Tresin, and their left under the cannon of Lisle, covered with the river Schelde, and secured by intrenchments. The allies chose their camp at Helchin, and foraged under the cannon of Tournay, within a league of the enemy; but nothing could induce them to hazard an engagement; and both armies went into winter quarters in the latter end of October. The duke of Marlborough set out for Franckfort, where he conferred with the electors of Mentz, Hanover, and Palatine, about the operations of the next campaign: then he returned to the Hague, and having concerted the necessary measures with the deputies of the states-general, embarked for England in the beginning of November.
The queen’s private favour was now shifted to a new object. The duchess of Marlborough was supplanted by Mrs. Masham, her own kinswoman, whom she had rescued from indigence and obscurity. This favourite succeeded to that ascendancy over the mind of her sovereign which the duchess had formerly possessed. She was more humble, pliable, and obliging than her first patroness, who had played the tyrant, and thwarted the queen in some of her most respected maxims. Her majesty’s prepossession in favour of the tories and high-churchmen was no longer insolently condemned and violently opposed. The new confidant conformed to all her prejudices, and encouraged all her designs with assent and approbation. In political intrigues she acted as associate, or rather auxiliary, to Mr. Secretary Harley, who had insinuated himself into the queen’s good graces, and determined to sap the credit of the duke of Marlborough and the earl of Godolphin. His aim was to unite the tory interest under his own auspices, and expel the whigs from the advantages they possessed under the government. His chief coadjutor in this scheme was Henry St. John, afterwards lord Bolingbroke, a man of warm imagination and elegant taste, penetrating, eloquent, ambitious, and enterprising, whose talents were rather specious than solid, and whose principles were loose and fluctuating. He was at first contented to act in an inferior capacity, subservient to the designs of the secretary; but, when he understood the full extent of his own parts and influence, he was fired with the ambition of eclipsing his principal, and from the sphere of his minister raised himself to the character of his rival These politicians, with the assistance of sir Simon Har court, a colleague of uncommon ability and credit, exerted their endeavours to rally and reconcile the disunited tories, who were given to understand that the queen could no longer bear the tyranny of the whigs: that she had been always a friend in her heart to the tory and high-church party; and that she would now exhibit manifest proof of her inclination. She accordingly bestowed the bishoprics of Chester and Exeter upon sir William Dawes and Dr. Blackall, who though otherwise of unblemished characters, had openly condemned the revolution.
The people in general began to be sick of the whig ministry, whom they had formerly caressed. To them they imputed the burdens under which they groaned; burdens which they had hitherto been animated to bear by the pomp of triumph and uninterrupted success. At present they were discouraged by the battle of Almanza, the miscarriage of the expedition against Toulon, the loss of sir Cloudesley Shovel, and the fate of four ships of the line, destroyed or taken by a squadron under the command of messieurs Forbin and Du Guai Trouin, two of the most enterprising sea-officers in the French service. No new advantage had been obtained in the Netherlands: France, instead of sinking under the weight of the confederacy, seemed to rise with fresh vigour from every overthrow: the English traders had lately sustained repeated losses for want of proper convoys; the coin of the nation was visibly diminished, and the public credit began to decline. The tories did not fail to inculcate and exaggerate these causes of discontent, and the ministry were too remiss in taking proper steps for the satisfaction of the nation. Instead of soothing, by gentle measures and equal administration, the Scots, who had expressed such aversion to the union, they treated them in such a manner as served to exasperate the spirits of that people. A stop was put to their whole commerce for two months before it was diverted into the new channel. Three months elapsed before the equivalent was remitted to that kingdom, and it was afterwards applied with the most shameful partiality. Seizures of wines and other merchandise imported from thence into England, were made in all the northern parts with an affectation of severity and disdain: so that the generality of the Scottish nation loudly exclaimed against the union and the government. The Jacobites were again in commotion. They held conferences: they maintained a correspondence with the court of St. Germains: a great number of the most rigid whigs entered so far into their measures as to think a revolution was absolutely necessary to preserve the liberties, independence, and commerce of their country: the pretender’s birth-day was publicly celebrated in many different parts of the kingdom, and everything seemed to portend an universal revolt. Ireland continued quiet under the administration of the earl of Pembroke, whom the queen had appointed lord-lieutenant of that kingdom. A parliament having met at Dublin in the month of July, presented addresses of congratulation to her majesty on the late union of the two kingdoms. The commons having inspected the public accounts, resolved, that the kingdom had been put to excessive charge, by means of great arrears of rent returned by the late trustees, as due out of the forfeited estates, which returns were false and unjust; and that an humble representation should be laid before her majesty on this subject. They passed another laudable resolution in favour of their own manufactures. They granted the necessary supplies, and having finished several bills for the royal assent, were prorogued on the twenty-ninth day of October.
It was on the twenty-third of the same month that the first parliament of Great Britain assembled at Westminster, when the queen in her speech to both houses palliated the miscarriages in Provence and in Spain: represented the necessity of making further efforts against the common enemy; and exhorted them to be upon their guard against those who endeavoured to sow jealousies in the commonwealth. The commons in their address expressed the continuance of their former zeal and devotion to her majesty’s government; but, in the house of lords, the earl of Wharton expatiated upon the scarcity of money, the decay of trade, and the mismanagement of the navy. He was seconded by lord Somers and the leaders of the tory party, who proposed that, previous to every measure, they should consider the state of the nation. The design of Wharton and Somers was to raise the earl of Orford once more to the head of the admiralty; and the tories, who did not perceive their drift, hoped, in the course of the inquiry, to fix the blame of all mismanagement upon the whig ministers. A day being fixed for this examination, the house received a petition from the sheriffs and merchants of London, complaining of great losses by sea for want of cruisers and convoys, and the complaints were proved by witnesses. The report was sent to the lord-admiral, who answered all the articles separately: then the tories moved for an address, in which the blame of the miscarriages might be laid upon the ministry and cabinet-council; but the motion was overruled: the queen was presented with a bare representation of the facts, and desired that she would take the proper measures for preventing such evils for the future. The commons made some progress in an inquiry of the same nature, and brought in a bill for the better securing the trade of the kingdom. They cheerfully granted the supplies for the service of the ensuing year. They prepared another bill for repealing the Scottish act of security, and that about peace and war, which had excited such jealousy in the English nation. They resolved that there should be but one privy-council in the kingdom of Great Britain: that the militia of Scotland should be put on the same footing with that of England: that the powers of the justices of the peace should be the same through the whole island: that the lords of justiciary in Scotland should go circuits twice in the year; that the writs for electing Scottish members to serve in the house of commons should be directed, and returns made, in the same manner as practised in England. An act being formed on these resolutions, they brought in a bill for preserving the trade with Portugal: then they considered the state of the war in Spain.
When the queen passed these bills, she recommended an augmentation in the aids and auxiliaries granted to the king of Spain and the duke of Savoy. This intimation produced a debate in the house of lords on the affairs of Spain. The services of the earl of Peterborough were extolled by the earl of Rochester and lord Haver-sham, who levelled some oblique reflections on the earl of Galway. Several lords enlarged upon the necessity of carrying on the war until king Charles should be fully established upon the throne of Spain. The earl of Peterborough said they ought to contribute nine shillings in the pound rather than make peace on any other terms: he declared himself ready to return to Spain, and serve even under the earl of Galway. The earl of Rochester repeated a maxim of the old duke of Schom-berg, that attacking France in the Netherlands was like taking a bull by the horns. He therefore proposed that the allies should stand on the defensive in Flanders, and detach from thence fifteen or twenty thousand men into Catalonia. He was seconded by the earl of Nottingham; but warmly opposed by the duke of Marlborough, who urged that the great towns in Brabant which he had conquered could not be preserved without a considerable number of men; and that if the French should gain any advantage in Flanders from their superiority in point of number, the discontented party in Holland, which was very numerous, and bore with impatience the burden of the war, would not fail crying aloud for peace. Being challenged by Rochester to show how troops could be procured for the service of Italy and Spain, he assured the house that measures had been already concerted with the emperor for forming an army of forty thousand men under the duke of Savoy, for sending powerful succours to king Charles. This declaration finished the debate, which issued in an affectionate address to her majesty. The lords resolved, that no peace could be safe and honourable for her majesty and her allies, if Spain and the Spanish West Indies were suffered to continue in the power of the house of Bourbon. They presented an address, in which they desired she would press the emperor to send powerful succours to Spain under the command of prince Eugene, with all possible expedition, to make good his contract with the duke of Savoy, and strengthen the army on the Rhine, which was now happily put under the conduct of that wise and valiant prince, the elector of Hanover. The commons concurred in this remonstrance, in consequence of which the queen desired the emperor to bestow the command in Spain upon prince Eugene. The court of Vienna, however, did not comply with this request, but sent thither count Staremberg, who, of all the German generals, was next to the prince in military reputation. The commons now proceeded to consider of ways and means, and actually established funds for raising the supply, which amounted to the enormous sum of six millions.
At this period Mr. Harley’s character incurred suspicion, from the treachery of William Gregg, an inferior clerk in his office, who was detected in a correspondence with monsieur Chamillard, the French king’s minister. When his practices were detected he made an ample confession, and pleading guilty to his indictment at the Old Bailey, was condemned to death for high-treason. At the same time, John Bara and Alexander Valiere were committed to Newgate for corresponding with the enemy; and Claude Baud, secretary to the duke of Savoy’s minister, was, at the request of his master, apprehended for traitorous practices against her majesty and her government. A committee of seven lords being appointed to examine these delinquents, made a report to the house, which was communicated to the queen, in an address, importing, that Gregg had discovered secrets of state to the French minister: that Alexander Valiere and John Bara had managed a correspondence with the governors and commissaries of Calais and Boulogn; and, in all probability, discovered to the enemy the stations of the British cruisers, the strength of their convoys, and the times at which the merchant ships proceeded on their voyages; that all the papers in the office of Mr. Secretary Harley had been for a considerable time exposed to the view of the meanest clerks, and that the perusal of all the letters to and from the French prisoners had been chiefly trusted to Gregg, a person of a very suspicious character, and known to be extremely indigent. The queen granted a reprieve to this man, in hope of his making some important discovery, but he really knew nothing of consequence to the nation. He was an indigent Scot, who had been employed as a spy in his own country, and now offered his services to Chamillard, with a view of being rewarded for his treachery; but he was discovered before he had reaped any fruits from his correspondence. As he had no secrets of importance to impart, he was executed at Tyburn, where he delivered a paper to the sheriff, in which he declared Mr. Harley entirely ignorant of all his treasonable connexions, notwithstanding some endeavours that were made to engage him in an accusation of that minister.
The queen had refused to admit the earl of Peterborough into her presence until he should have vindicated his conduct, of which king Charles had complained in divers letters. He was eagerly desirous of a parliamentary inquiry. His military proceedings, his negotiations, his disposal of the remittances, were taken into consideration by both houses; but he produced such a number of witnesses and original papers to justify every transaction, that his character triumphed in the inquiry, which was dropped before it produced any resolution in parliament. Then they took cognizance of the state of affairs in Spain, and found there had been a great deficiency in the English troops at the battle of Almanza. This, however, was explained so much to their satisfaction, that they voted an address to the queen, thanking her for having taken measures to restore the affairs in Spain, and provide foreign troops for that service. The bill for rendering the union more complete, met with a vigorous opposition in the house of lords from the court-party, on account of the clause enacting, that, after the first of May, there should be but one privy-council in the kingdom of Great Britain. The ministry, finding it was strenuously supported by all the tories and a considerable number of the other faction, would have compromised the difference, by proposing that the privy-council of Scotland should continue to the first day of October. They hinted this expedient, in hope of being able to influence the ensuing elections; but their design being palpable, the motion was overruled, and the bill received the royal assent: a court of exchequer, however, was erected in Scotland upon the model of that in England. The execution of Gregg, and the examination of Valiere and Bara, who had acted as smugglers to the coast of France, under the protection of Harley, to whom they engaged for intelligence, affected the credit of that minister, who was reviled and traduced by the emissaries of the whig party. The duke of Marlborough and the earl of Godolphin, being apprised of his secret practices with Mrs. Masham, wrote to the queen that they could serve her no longer, should Mr. Harley continue in the post of secretary. Being summoned to the cabinet-council, they waited on her in person, and expostulated on the same subject. She endeavoured to appease their resentment with soft persuasion, which had no effect; and when they retired from court, to the astonishment of all the spectators, she repaired in person to the council. There Mr. Secretary Harley began to explain the cause of their meeting, which was some circumstance relating to foreign affairs. The duke of Somerset said, he did not see how they could deliberate on such matters while the general and treasurer were absent: the other members observed a sullen silence; so that the council broke up, and the queen found herself in danger of being abandoned by her ministers. Next day her majesty sent for the duke of Marlborough, and told him that Harley should immediately resign his office, which was conferred upon Mr. Henry Boyle, chancellor of the exchequer; but she deeply resented the deportment of the duke and the earl of Godolphin, from whom she entirely withdrew her confidence. Sir Simon Harcourt, attorney-general, sir Thomas Mansel, comptroller of the household, and Mr. St. John, relinquished their several posts upon the disgrace of Harley.
The kingdom was at this period alarmed with a threatened invasion from France. The court of St. Germain’s had sent over one colonel Hook with credentials to Scotland, to learn the situation, number, and ability of the pretender’s friends in that country. This minister, by his misconduct, produced a division among the Scottish Jacobites. Being a creature of the duke of Perth, he attached himself wholly to the duke of Athol, and those other zealous partisans who were bent upon receiving the pretender without conditions; and he neglected the duke of Hamilton, the earl-marshal, and other adherents of that house, who adopted the more moderate principles avowed by the earl of Middleton, At his return to France, he made such a favourable report of the disposition and power of the Scottish nation, that Louis resolved to equip an armament, and send over the pretender to that kingdom. His pretence was to establish that prince on the throne of his ancestors; but his real aim was to make a diversion from the Netherlands, and excite a revolt in Great Britain, which should hinder queen Anne from exerting herself against France on the continent. He began to make preparations for this expedition at Dunkirk, where a squadron was assembled under the command of the chevalier de Fourbin; and a body of land forces were embarked with monsieur de Gace, afterwards known by the appellation of the mareschal de Matignon. The pretender, who had assumed the name of the chevalier de St. George, was furnished with services of gold and silver plate, sumptuous tents, rich clothes for his life-guards, splendid liveries, and all sorts of necessaries even to profusion. Louis at parting presented him with a sword studded with valuable diamonds, and repeated what he had formerly said to this adventurer’s father: “He hoped he should never see him again.” The pope contributed to the expense of this expedition, and accommodated him with divers religious inscriptions, which were wrought upon his colours and standards. Queen Anne being informed of these preparations, and the design of the French monarch, communicated to the commons the advices which she had received from Holland and the Netherlands, touching the destination of the Dunkirk armament; both houses concurred in an address, assuring her they would assist her majesty with their lives and fortunes against the pretended prince of Wales, and all her other enemies. Then they passed a bill, enacting, that the oath of abjuration should be tendered to all persons, and such as refused to take it should be in the condition of convicted recusants. By another, they suspended thehabeas-corpusact till October, with relation to persons apprehended by the government on suspicion of treasonable practices. The pretender and his adherents were proclaimed traitors and rebels; and a bill was passed, discharging the clans of Scotland from all vassalage to those chiefs who should take up arms against her majesty.
Transports were hired to bring over ten British battalions from Ostend; a large fleet being equipped with incredible diligence, sailed from Deal towards Dunkirk, under the conduct of sir John Leake, sir George Byng, and lord Dursley. The French imagined that Leake had sailed to Lisbon, and that Britain was unprovided of ships of war; so that they were amazed and confounded when this fleet appeared off Mardyke: a stop was immediately put to the embarkation of their troops; frequent expresses were despatched to Paris; the count de Fourbin represented to the French king the little probability of succeeding in this enterprise, and the danger that would attend the attempt; but he received positive orders to embark the forces, and set sail with the first favourable wind.
The British fleet being forced from their station by severe weather on the fourteenth day of March, the French squadron sailed on the seventeenth from the road of Dunkirk; but the wind shifting, it anchored in Newport-pits till the nineteenth in the evening, when they set sail again with a fair breeze, steering their course to Scotland. Sir George Byng having received advice of their departure, from an Ostend vessel sent out for that purpose by major-general Cadogan, gave chase to the enemy, after having detached a squadron, under admiral Baker, to convoy the troops that were embarked at Ostend for England. On the tenth day of March the queen went to the house of peers, where, in a speech to both houses, she told them that the French fleet had sailed; that sir George Byng was in pursuit of them; and that ten battalions of her troops were expected every day in England. This intimation was followed by two very warm addresses from the lords and commons, in which they repeated their assurances of standing by her against all her enemies. They exhorted her to persevere in supporting the common cause, notwithstanding this petty attempt to disturb her dominions; and levelled some severe insinuations against those who endeavoured to foment jealousies between her majesty and her most faithful servants. Addresses on the same occasion were sent up from different parts of the kingdom; so that the queen seemed to look with contempt upon the designs of the enemy. Several regiments of foot, with some squadrons of cavalry, began their march for Scotland; the earl of Leven, commander-in-chief of the forces in that country, and governor of the castle of Edinburgh, hastened thither to put that fortress in a posture of defence, and to make the proper dispositions to oppose the pretender at his landing. But the vigilance of sir George Byng rendered all these precautions unnecessary. He sailed directly to the Frith of Edinburgh, where he arrived almost as soon as the enemy, who immediately took the advantage of a land breeze, and bore away with all the sail they could carry. The English admiral gave chase; and the Salisbury, one of their ships, was boarded and taken. At night monsieur de Fourbin altered his course, so that next day they were out of reach of the English squadron. The pretender desired they would proceed to the northward, and land him at Inverness, and Fourbin seemed willing to gratify his request; but the wind changing, and blowing in their teeth with great violence, he represented the danger of attempting to prosecute the voyage; and, with the consent of the chevalier de St. George and his general, returned to Dunkirk, after having been tossed about a whole month in very tempestuous weather. In the meantime sir George Byng sailed up to Leith road, where he received the freedom of the city of Edinburgh in a golden box, as a testimony of gratitude for his having delivered them from the dreadful apprehensions under which they laboured.