XII. 1722. CHAP. ought least to have forgotten - in religion; I am not pleading for Jacobitism; but I am pleading for the honest delusion and pardonable frailty of many who espoused that cause; I am anxious to show that the large section of our countrymen which sighed for the restoration of James, were not all the base and besotted wretches we have been accustomed to consider them. The great object of Atterbury, and of the other Jacobite leaders, was to obtain a foreign force of 5000 foreign troops to land under Ormond. Failing in this, from the engagements of the English Government with almost every Continental Court, they determined, nevertheless, to proceed with only such assistance in arms, money, and disbanded officers or soldiers, as could be privately procured abroad. For this purpose their manager in Spain was Ormond; in France, General Dillon, an Irish Roman Catholic, who had left Ireland after the capitulation of Limerick, and had since risen in the French service. The project was to have made themselves masters of the Tower; to have seized the Bank, the Exchequer, and other places where the public money was lodged, and to have proclaimed the Pretender at the same time in different parts of the kingdom. The best time for this explosion was thought to be during the tumults and confusion of the General Election; but the chiefs not being able to agree among themselves, it was deferred till the King's journey to Hanover, which was expected to take place in the summer. XII. 1722. James himself was to embark at Porte Longone, CHAP. where three vessels were ready for him, and to sail secretly to Spain, and from thence to England, as soon as he should hear of the King's departure. Already had he left Rome for a villa, the better to cover his absence when it should take place; and with a similar view had Ormond also gone from Madrid to a country seat half-way to Bilbao.* But the eye of the Government was already upon them. One of their applications for 5000 troops had been made to the Regent of France, who, as they might have foreseen, so far from granting their request, immediately revealed it to Sir Luke Schaub, the English Minister †; on the condition, it is said, that no one should die for it. ‡ Other intelligence and discoveries completed the information of the Government, and they became apprised, not merely of the intended schemes and of the contriving heads, but also of the subaltern agents, especially Thomas Carte and Kelly, two nonjuring clergymen; Plunkett, the same Jesuit whose active intrigues in 1713 have been mentioned at that period; Neynoe, another Irish priest, and Layer, a * Robert Walpole to Horace, May 29. 1722. Reports of Select Committee, 1723. W. Stanhope to Lord Carteret, June 8. 1722. Appendix. † Schaub had been knighted at Stanhope's recommendation in October, 1720; and next year was appointed Minister at Paris. (Boyer's Polit. State, vol. xx. p. 379, &c.) Speaker Onslow's Remarks. Coxe's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 554. XII. CHAP. young barrister of the Temple. So many of their letters were intercepted abroad, that at length some 1722. conspirators perceiving it, wro e 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 conspirarors 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 dis"guises are so gross and obvious, that they only serve to be66 tray themselves." This I have remarked in many of the Stuart Papers. same success. 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 did not meet with the 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 XII. 1722. CHAP. been thought too scanty, had it not been for a very 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 |