happiest of all women!"* This effusion, be it CHAP. observed, was written only six months after her husband's decease. But both to Coningsby and Somerset the Duchess replied with a noble and becoming spirit. She declared that if she were only thirty instead of sixty she would not allow even the Emperor of the world to succeed in that heart which had been devoted to John, Duke of Marlborough. The deaths in such rapid succession of Stanhope, Craggs, and Sunderland, and the expulsion of Aislabie, left Walpole entirely master of the field. The late schism between rival statesmen was closed up, as it were, with coffins; and although, as will be seen, there were still some dissensions in the Cabinet, these found no echo either in Parliament or in the country. No longer was the Whig party divided, no longer the House of Commons nearly balanced. The late elections had confirmed the Ministerial majority, and the Jacobites and Tories despairing of victories in Parliament rather turned their minds to projects of conspiracy or hopes of invasion. In the session of 1724, for example, there was only one single public division in the House of Commons. From this time forward, therefore, and during a considerable period, the proceedings of Parliament seem no longer to require or admit the same minute detail To the Duchess of Marlborough, November 20. 1722. Blenheim Papers and Coxe's Copies, vol. xliii. XI. 1722. XI. 1722. CHAP. as I have hitherto given them, nor shall I have tò record either rebellion at home or great wars abroad. The twenty years of Walpole's administration (to their high honour be it spoken) afford comparatively few incidents to History. Of these years I shall therefore have much less to say than of the tumultuous periods both before and after them, nor let the reader imagine that my flow of narrative is altered because it glides more swiftly on smooth ground. CHAP. XII. XII. THE Confusion and disaffection which followed the CHAP. South Sea Scheme were of course highly favourable to the views of the Jacobites and revived their 1722. drooping hopes, and still more were they cheered at the birth of an heir even though at a time when there was nothing to inherit. The prospect of this event was first communicated to them in the spring. of 1720:-" it is the most acceptable news," "it writes Bishop Atterbury, "which can reach the "ears of a good Englishman."* Lord Oxford also was consulted as to the number and rank of the persons who should be invited as witnesses on this solemn occasion. + At length on the last day of the year the titular Queen of England, then residing at Rome, was delivered of a Prince, who received the names of Charles Edward Lewis Casimir, and became the hero of the enterprise of 1745. According to the fond fancy of the Jacobites, there appeared a Letter to James, May 6. 1720. Appendix. † James to Lord Oxford, May 26. 1720. Appendix. XII. CHAP. star in the heavens at the moment of his birth*; and, what is rather more certain, seven Cardinals were present by order of the Pope.† The Pretender's second son, Henry Benedict, Duke of York, and afterwards Cardinal, was not born till 1725. 1722. 66 66 At this period the Jacobites seem really to have deluded themselves so far as to believe that the hearts of nearly the whole nation, even down to the rabble, were with them. Thus James is told by Lord Lansdowne :-" There were great re'joicings in London upon the Lord Mayor's day, "whose name happening to be Stuart, the people "made the streets ring with no other cry but A "Stuart! A Stuart! A Stuart! High Church and Stuart! Every day produces some new evidence of their "inclination." To promote the favour of the multitude the Jacobites often made use of reasonings suited only to its capacity. Thus when the King's German mistresses were inveighed against, as they might justly be, it is gravely stated, amongst other grounds of complaint, that they are not sufficiently young and handsome! For instance, the letter of Decius in Mist's Journal, May 27. 1721, laments, that "we are ruined by trulls, nay, what "is more vexatious, by old ugly trulls, such as "could not find entertainment in the most hospit * See the Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 568., and the Medals of the Stuarts in exile, No. 53., in Sir H. Ellis' Catalogue. + St. Simon, Mem. vol. xviii. p. 338. A Te Deum was afterwards sung in the Pope's chapel, and in his presence. Lord Lansdowne to James, Nov. 17. 1721. Stuart Papers. XII. 1722. "able hundreds of Old Drury!" This letter was CHAP. warmly resented by the House of Commons on the motion of Lechmere, and Mr. Mist the printer was sentenced to fine and imprisonment; but his journal continued many years afterwards under the new and punning title of Fog's. The affairs of James in England were at this time managed by a Junta, or Council of five persons, namely, as it would seem, the Earls of Arran and Orrery, Lords North and Gower, and the Bishop of Rochester. Between them and James an active correspondence was carried on, for the most part in cipher or with cant names, and generally by the hands of non-jurors, Roman Catholic priests, and other trusty persons that were constantly passing to and fro. There were also communications with Lord Oxford, probably through Erasmus Lewis, his former Secretary, a man of fidelity and talent, but not much courage ; at least I find his excessive caution a subject of good-humoured jest among his friends.* It appears that the Council of Five was often discordant and wrangling in its deliberations, and this in the opinion of James showed the necessity of a single head, by which means, he says, his business would certainly be done with much more harmony "Lewis is in the country with Lord Bathurst, and has writ "me a most dreadful story of a mad dog that bit their hunts"man; since which accident, I am told he has shortened his "stirrups three bores; they were not long before!" Dr. Arbuthnot to Swift, December 11. 1718. |