XV. 1727. CHAP. while Horace Walpole arriving from Paris, artfully magnified to him the difficulties of foreign negotiations in new hands. Compton himself was now beginning to see the shoals and rocks before him. He could scarcely hope to contend at once with the Tories and with Walpole and his friends, in opposition; and to join the Tories at that juncture seemed a hazardous experiment. Thus his own sense of danger combining with the rising doubts of the King, he was induced to relinquish his commission, and the King to re-appoint the old ministers. No change took place in the Cabinet, except that Lord Berkeley, who had been leagued with Carteret and Roxburgh, was replaced at the Admiralty by Lord Torrington, a more devoted friend of Walpole. As for Compton, he was gratified with the title of Wilmington and the Presidency of the Council; and it might be said of him, as afterwards of Pulteney, that he shrunk at once into insignificance and an earldom. The opposition, who had expected any thing rather than the re-appointment of Walpole, were stunned with the blow, and unfitted for resistance in Parliament. When Walpole proposed that the entire revenue of the Civil List producing, as he said, 93,000l., but in fact about 130,000l. beyond the sum of 700,000l. granted to George the First, should be settled on His Majesty, no voice but Shippen's was raised against it; and to the proposal of 100,000l. for Her Majesty's jointure, there was no dissent at all. This unanimous Parliament was soon prorogued, and then, as the law requires, dis- CHA P. solved. The Jacobites had always hoped that the death of George the First would be the signal of confusion, and the dawning of triumph to themselves. They were confounded at finding, on the contrary, a new spirit of loyalty displayed, a new expectation of prosperity excited, not only in the Parliament but amongst the people. The letter of the Earl of Strafford to James at that crisis is now before me.* He observes, that "the alteration here was so "sudden and surprising, that no man knew at "first what would be the consequence. The "people in the streets ran backwards and forwards. 66 only asking news, and inquiring of one another "what was to be done. The sudden coming of "the Prince and Princess to town, and calling of "the Council, immediately turned the expectation "of the mob, on seeing the ceremony of a procla"mation that night; who are always fond of any "show or new thing. They waited till midnight, "and were then told it was put off till next day, "when all things were performed without the least "disorder. The torrent is too strong for your "friends to resist, so they thought it their best way to join with the rest to hinder distinctions, "that their party may be the stronger whenever "dissatisfaction breaks out again, which it is gene * Dated June 21. 1727. See Appendix. XV. 1727. СНАР. XV. 1727. rally thought will not be long. ...... I am con"vinced the same violent and corrupt measures "taken by the father will be pursued by the son, who is passionate, proud, and peevish; and though he talks of ruling by himself, will just "be governed as his father was. But his decla"rations that he will make no distinction of parties, "and turning off the Germans, make him popular "at present....... I find ...... I find your friends already desponding and complaining that they have "ruined their fortunes, and are not able to resist "this last effort of the Whigs." With still more bitterness does Lord Orrery, a few weeks later, inveigh against the "incapacity, stubbornness, and 66 haughtiness of the present King: "—"the uni"versal corruption of our Parliament,"-" the servility, ignorance, and poor spirit of our nobility and gentry, striving who shall sell them"selves at the best price to this Court, but resolved "to sell themselves at any!" Yet, with all this, he is obliged to own that, "there do not yet 66 appear many discontented people!" * When the Pretender received the news of the King's death, he was residing at Bologna. He had for a long time obstinately refused to conciliate his consort, by dismissing the titular Earl of Inverness, and turned a deaf ear to the unanimous representations of his friends, both at home and abroad. But his stubbornness being at length * Lord Orrery to James, August, 1727. Appendix. XV. 1727. partly vanquished, he accepted Inverness's resig- CHAP. nation, though with such marks and declarations of high regard*, as made it plain that his favour was fixed, and that he would ere long recal him. Nevertheless Clementina agreed to quit her convent at Rome, and to join her husband; and she was already on her road, when the tidings of the great event in Germany arrived. Perceiving the value of time, and the necessity of being near his friends at such a crisis, James the very next day set out from Bologna on pretence of meeting his Queen on her journey, and thus in concealment of his object; but turning short, at a little distance, he posted with all speed to Lorraine. On arriving near Nancy, James despatched a messenger to Bishop Atterbury at Paris, and one also to Lord Orrery in London, while another of his most trusty servants, Allan Cameron, was sent to confer with Mr. Lockhart, who had been obliged to leave Scotland from some discoveries, and who was then at Liege. "Cameron told me," says Lockhart, that the King, notwithstanding the certainty he had of no foreign aid, and that "there was no scheme nor preparations at home, 66 "You know the great and good opinion I have long had of "that Lord, and it is now, with reason, augmented by the sacri"fice he will make of himself for the good of my family in this "conjuncture, which ought to increase his merit with all honest men, and I hope to have yet soon occasion to show in his per“son that I am incapable of abandoning my faithful servants." Circular Letter of James; Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 347. XV. 1727. 66 66 66 66 CHAP. "inclined, and seemed resolved to repair to the Highlands, and make the best stand he could "with such as repaired to him; and this measure was approved by Lord Inverness, and his other subjects attending him, with whom he advised. Upon my inquiring if that Lord was with the King, he shifted giving a direct answer; but being put to it, he said he was not actually present "with him, but kept at a little distance, so as His Majesty could send often to him, and have him "when he pleased."* When asked for his opinion in this momentous affair, Lockhart desired to consult Colonel Clephane, a zealous Jacobite, who had taken an active part in the Rebellion of 1715.t and was now living in exile. The answer of Cameron is another strong proof how rife were cabals and jealousies even at so small a Court as James's. He declined to send for Clephane, who he said was "of the Marrian faction;" and he did not yield till Lockhart had pledged himself for Clephane's honour and fidelity, and had inveighed against the folly of keeping up divisions at a crisis when all hands were necessary. Both Clephane and Lockhart agreed, that the project of going over to Scotland, without either a settled scheme or foreign succour, was utterly hopeless, and could serve only to lose the cause and ruin its adherents altogether. It appeared that Inverness and Dunbar, who ad * Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 359. See the first volume of this history, p. 233. |