XII. 1722. CHAP. letters were intercepted abroad, that at length some conspirators perceiving it, wrote letters on purpose to be opened, and with false news, to mislead and distract the Government; but this artifice could not impose on the sagacity of Walpole.* Prudent measures were now adopted with prudent speed. The King was persuaded to relinquish his journey to Hanover for this year; and troops were immediately drawn to London, and a camp formed in Hyde Park. An order was also obtained from the Court of Madrid to restrain Ormond from embarking. This would no doubt have been sufficient to make the conspirators postpone their scheme, but the object was to crush it altogether; and with this view warrants were issued for the apprehension of all the subaltern agents above named, and of several others. On the 21st of May, accordingly, Mr. Kelly was seized at his lodgings in Bury Street by two messengers. They came upon him by surprise, and took his sword and papers, which they placed in a window while they proceeded with their search. But their negligence gave Kelly an opportunity of recovering his weapon, and of threatening to run through the first man that came near him; and so *Letter to Horace Walpole, May 29. 1722. Even where no trap was intended, the Report of the Select Committee observes of their cant names and allegories, that "several of "these disguises are so gross and obvious, that they only serve "to betray themselves." This I have remarked in many of the Stuart M.S. Papers. XII. 1722. saying he burnt his papers in a candle with his CHAP. left hand, while he held his drawn sword in the other. When the papers were burnt, and not till then, he surrendered. Neynoe, on his arrest, showed equal spirit, but he did not meet with the same success. He escaped from a window two stories high by tying the blankets and sheets together, and came down upon a garden-wall near the Thames, from whence he leaped into the water, but as he could not swim was drowned. An attempt to escape was also made by Layer; but being brought back, he was examined at great length, and with some success. Much information was also gained from the papers, none from the answers, of Plunkett. As for Carte, the same whose historical writings have since gained him a high and deserved reputation, he fled betimes to France. At the news of the arrest of Layer, Lord North, who had been principally in communication with that person, fearing the consequences, passed over under a feigned name to the Isle of Wight, intending from thence to make his way to the Continent; but he was discovered, seized, and brought back to London. Some time afterwards Lord Orrery was sent to the Tower; at a later period still, the Duke of Norfolk. But the evidence against these noblemen being insufficient, or the Government less eager to press it, they were, after some confinement, released. The Bishop of Rochester was less fortunate. The proofs against him might also have CHAP. been thought too scanty, had it not been for a very XII. 1722. trifling and ridiculous but most convincing incident. The case was as follows: There was no doubt that the letters to and from Jones and Illington were of a treasonable nature; the point was to prove that these names were designed for the Bishop. Now it so happened that Mrs. Atterbury, who died early this year, had a little before received a present from Lord Mar in France of a small spotted dog called Harlequin; and this animal having broken its leg, and being left with one Mrs. Barnes to be cured, was more than once mentioned in the correspondence of Jones and Illington. Mrs. Barnes and some other persons were examined before the Council on this subject, and they, supposing that at all events there could be no treason in a lap-dog, readily owned that Harlequin was intended for the Bishop of Rochester. There were many other collateral proofs; but it was the throwing up of this little straw which decisively showed from what quarter blew the wind. Had the proofs against Atterbury been less strong, or his abilities less dangerous, the Ministers would probably have shrunk from the unpopularity of touching him. As it was, they hesitated during three months; but at length, on the 24th of August, a warrant being issued, the Bishop was arrested at the Deanery, and brought before the Council. Though taken by surprise, his answers to their questions showed his usual coolness and self-possession; and he is said to have concluded with the words of the Saviour: "If I tell 66 you, ye will not believe; and if I also ask you, ye will "not answer me, nor let me go.' After three quarters of an hour's examination he was sent to the Tower privately in his own coach, without any public notice or disturbance. The arrest of a Bishop, for the first time since the ill-omened precedent of James the Second, was, however, no sooner known than it produced a general clamour. The High Churchmen had always inveighed against the Government as neglecting the Establishment and favouring the Dissenters, and this new incident was of course urged in confirmation of the charge. They called it an outrage upon the Church and the Episcopal Order; and they boldly affirmed that the plot had no real existence, and was a mere ministerial device for the ruin of a political opponent. Atterbury had also great influence among the parochial clergy, not only from the weight of his abilities, but from his having so long stood at the head of their party in Convocation. Under the pretence of his being afflicted with the gout, he was publicly prayed for in most of the churches of London and Westminster; and there was spread among the people a pathetic print of the Bishop looking through the bars of a prison, and holding in his hand a portrait of Archbishop Laud. The public ferment was still further increased by rumours (I * St. Luke, xxii. 67, 68. СНАР. XII. 1722. CHAP, fear too truly founded) of the great harshness with which Atterbury was treated in the Tower. "Such XII. 1722. 66 * usage, such hardships, such insults as I have "undergone," said the Bishop himself on his trial, might have broke a more resolute spirit, and a "much stronger constitution than fall to my share. "I have been treated with such severity, and so great indignity, as I believe no prisoner in the "Tower of my age, infirmities, function, and rank "ever underwent." He was encouraged, or permitted, to write private letters which were afterwards pried into, and made use of to support the accusation against him. He was restricted in his only consolation - the visits of his beloved daughter +; nor was he at first allowed to prepare freely for his defence with his son-in-law, Mr. Morice.+ Every thing sent to him was narrowly searched; even some pigeon-pies were opened: "it "is the first time," says Pope, "dead pigeons have "been suspected of carrying intelligence!" § It was amidst great and general excitement that the new Parliament met on the 9th of October. The King's Speech gave a short account of the *Speech, May 11. 1723. He writes to Lord Townshend, April 10. 1723,-"I am "thankful for the favour of seeing my daughter any way; but "was in hopes the restraint of an officer's presence in respect "to her might have been judged needless." Preface to his Correspondence, p. vi. Mr. Morice used to stand in an open area, and the Bishop to look out of a two-pair of stairs window, and thus only were they allowed to converse! § Pope to Gay, Sept. 11. 1722. |