IV.

find, thirdly, that in the ensuing session, the King's CHAP. messages were brought down by Stanhope, and not by Walpole.

I believe, therefore, that Stanhope was the Government leader at first. There is no doubt, however, that as time went on Walpole showed himself the more able debater; and, accordingly, as will be seen in the sequel, he was promoted to be First Lord of the Treasury in October, 1715.

It may be observed that, with the exception of Nottingham, who of late had always acted with the Whigs, not a single Tory was comprised in the new administration. Some modern writers have severely arraigned the policy of George in that respect. They have argued that he ought to have shown himself the King of the whole people, promoted the junction of both parties, instead of the triumph of one, and formed his government on broad and comprehensive principles. But was such an union really possible? Had not the Whigs and Tories too fiercely and too recently waged war to be so suddenly combined? If even an experienced native monarch might have shrunk from this attempt, would it not have overwhelmed a stranger to our language and manners? How ill had that experiment succeeded with William the Third, a prince so far more able and energetic than George! Would it have been prudent, while the storm of a Jacobite rebellion was gathering, to place at the helm any statesman of doubtful or wavering loyalty? For though, on the one hand,

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IV.

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CHA P. it would be most unjust to accuse the whole Tory party of Jacobite principles, it can as little be denied that many of its leaders secretly held them. Let us not, then, consider as the fault of George what was rather the misfortune of his times, nor fall into the common error of judging past events by the standard of present facts and present feelings.

Meanwhile a great number of loyal addresses from the various cities and counties continued to pour in. The Ministerial arrangements were all completed before the Coronation, which took place on the 20th of October, and which, according to custom, was signalised by several promotions both in and to the Peerage. Few of the principal statesmen of the time, whether in or out of power, failed to attend the solemnity; both Oxford and Bolingbroke were present; and there were great demonstrations of joy throughout most parts of the kingdom. The day was, however, painfully marked in some places by riot and outrage, and other such tokens of public disapprobation, especially at Norwich, Bristol*, and Birmingham, the latter being then remarkable for its high-church and monarchical principles.

The University of Ox

The cry of the Bristol rioters was, "Sacheverell and Or"mond! Damn all foreign governments!" One house was plundered, and one man murdered. In November, seven of the ringleaders were brought to trial, and sentenced to fine and imprisonment; "but it was thought surprising," says a contemporary," that not one of them suffered capitally." (Tindal, vol. vi. p. 341.) A curious contrast to the scenes of 1831.

ford also chose that day to confer unanimously, CHA P. in full convocation, an honorary degree upon Sir IV. Constantine Phipps, the late Jacobite Chancellor of Ireland.

Meanwhile the innocent cause of these unhappy divisions - the Pretender, or, as he was frequently called, the Chevalier de St. George - was still residing in Lorraine. On the first tidings that his sister was either dead or dying, he had immediately posted towards the Court of Versailles; but found it so fearful of allowing England any pretext for a rupture that it would not afford him the least countenance. M. de Torcy gave him a civil but positive injunction to quit the French dominions; and, finding his partisans in England benumbed and confounded, and making no effort in his favour, he returned whence he came, after one melancholy visit to the Queen Dowager at Chaillot. From Bar-le-Duc he soon afterwards proceeded to drink the waters of Plombieres. There, on the 29th of August, N. S., he issued a manifesto, asserting his right to the crown, and explaining the cause of his inactivity till "the death of the Prin"cess, our sister, of whose good intention towards "us we could not for some time past well doubt." When published in England, this incautious declaration produced an impression most unfavourable to the late administration, as unveiling their secret and disavowed, because defeated, designs in favour of the Jacobites. Their adherents at first insisted upon this document being a base contrivance of the Whigs to reflect upon the memory of the

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CHAP. Queen and of her Tory government, but were much disconcerted at finding its authenticity ac1714. knowledged. However, they soon rallied sufficiently to be able to pour forth with some effect a host of libels, whose tendency we may easily discover from their titles: "Stand fast to the Church! "Where are the Bishops now? The Religion of "King George. No Presbyterian Government. "The State Gamester, or the Church of England's "Sorrowful Lamentation. Esop in Mourning. "The Duke of Ormond's Vindication. The Lord 'Bolingbroke's Vindication. No Lord Protector, " or the Duke of Marlborough's Design defeated!" The hawkers who cried these and other such pamphlets were sent to the house of correction by the Lord Mayor, with the approbation of Lord Townshend; and some antidotes to the poison were put forth on the other side.*

66

*Addison in one short piece (Freeholder, No. 14., Works, vol. iv. p. 384. ed. 1761) very humorously exposes the inconsistencies of the High Church Jacobites, by drawing out the articles of what he calls A Tory's Creed. The three first are as follows:

I.

That the Church of England will be always in danger till it has a Popish King for its defender.

II.

That for the safety of the Church no subject should be tolerated in any religion different from the Established, but that the head of our Church may be of that religion which is most repugnant to it.

III.

That the Protestant interest in this nation, and in all Europe, could not but flourish under the protection of one who thinks

IV.

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On the day after the Coronation, Secretary CHAP. Stanhope, and Sir Richard Temple, just created Lord Cobham, set out together on a secret mission to Vienna. It was of great importance to remove the jealousy and coldness with which the Emperor Charles the Sixth had seen the accession of the House of Hanover, and to allay his apprehensions as to any encroachments in Germany. Nor was it of less moment to induce the Imperial and the Dutch Governments to conclude the Barrier Treaty which was still under discussion, and presenting an obstacle to any renewed alliance or cordial co-operation between them. Lord Cobham was intended as the permanent ambassador; but the personal appearance of Stanhope, in the first instance, was considered most desirable, from his having formerly been so closely linked with the Emperor in Spain · obtained so large a share of his regard and confidence - and, since that period, continued in correspondence with his Majesty. Stanhope went first to the Hague, where he had a conference with Pensionary Slingeland, Fagel, Hop, and other leading Dutch statesmen. He found them not unreasonable as to the articles of the Barrier Treaty, nor averse to the idea of a defensive alliance with the Emperor for their mutual security, but timidly shrinking from any public declaration or immediate measures. On the whole, they seemed much more afraid of

himself obliged, on pain of damnation, to do all that lies in his power for the extirpation of it.