CHAP. was a jealousy of great party leaders, an impression IV. derived from Tory insniuations that they had 1714. attempted to dictate to Queen Anne, and a resolution to avoid a second" Junta." It may easily be supposed what just resentment swelled in the bosom of Marlborough at the news of his unexpected exclusion. He had landed at Dover on the very day of the Queen's death. Proceeding to London, his public entry drew forth so warm a welcome from the people as more than atoned for the insult of his sovereign. It might truly be called a triumph whether we consider the hero thus restored to his country, or the joyful festivities which greeted his return. Two hundred gentlemen on horseback, headed by Sir Charles Cox, member for Southwark, met him on the road; the procession was joined by a long train of carriages; and, though his own broke down at Temple Bar, and he was obliged to enter another, the accident only gave fresh delight to the spectators, as serving to display his person to their view. He appeared in the House of Lords on their meeting, and took the oaths; but then, deeply chagrined at his exclusion, retired into the country until the arrival of the King. The Lords Justices having met, chose Addison their secretary, and ordered all despatches addressed to the Secretary of State to be brought to him. Thus Lord Bolingbroke, so lately supreme, found himself obliged to wait like some humble suitor at the door of the Council Chamber with his IV. 1714. bag and papers, and to receive commands instead CHAP. of giving them. One principal object of anxiety was Ireland, where it was feared that the Catholics. might attempt a rising; and the Lords Justices at first had it in contemplation to send thither immediately, and without waiting for the King's sanction, Sunderland as Lord Lieutenant, and Stanhope as Commander-in-Chief.* But the unanimity and quiet which they saw around them allayed their apprehensions; and, in fact, the Lords Justices of Ireland (the Archbishop of Armagh, and Sir Constantine Phipps) peaceably proclaimed the King on the 6th of August; nay, more, in vindication of their suspected zeal, issued a proclamation for disarming Papists and seizing their horses. At Edinburgh, also, the same ceremony took place without opposition. According to the provisions of the Act of Regency, Parliament met on Sunday, the day of the Queen's demise. Secretary Bromley moved, That the Commons should adjourn to the Wednesday following, the Speaker being in Wales; but Sir Richard Onslow replied that the occasion was too critical, and time too precious for any to be wasted; and it was carried that the House should adjourn only to the next day. The three following days were occupied in taking the oaths. On the 5th the Lords Justices came down to the House of * Despatch from Bothmar to Robethon, Aug. 3. 1714. Macpherson's State Papers. 1714. CHAP. Peers; and the Lord Chancellor, in their name, deIV. livered a speech, announcing their authority; observing, that as several branches of the revenue had expired with the Queen, they recommended to the Commons to provide anew for the dignity and honour of the Crown; and concluding: "We for"bear laying before you any thing that does not "require your immediate consideration, not having "received his Majesty's pleasure. We shall only " exhort you, with the greatest earnestness, to a 66 perfect unanimity, and a firm adherence to our "Sovereign's interest, as being the only means to "continue among us our present happy tranquillity." In pursuance of this intimation, loyal and dutiful addresses to his Majesty were unanimously carried in both Houses, expressing, according to the motley combination of feelings which it is thought proper to profess on such occasions, their deep grief at "the death of our late sovereign lady "Queen Anne, of blessed memory," and their lively pleasure at the accession of a monarch of such "princely virtues," and "undoubted right to "the crown."* Their next business was the settlement of his Civil List. The Tories, by rather too glaring a manoeuvre for favour at Court, proposed one million, which was more by 300,0007. "We are as full in the House of Commons as at any time. "We are gaping and staring to see who is to rule us. The Whigs think they shall engross all. We think we shall have our share." Erasmus Lewis to Swift, Aug. 7. 1714. IV. 1714. than had been granted to Queen Anne. But CHAP. the wisest of the King's friends perceived that such an augmentation would furnish grounds for future complaints of Royal rapacity, proceeding, perhaps, from the very same party which had urged it. The proposal, therefore, though not openly opposed, was discouraged and dropped; and the sum of 700,000l. was voted. During the progress of the bill, Horace Walpole, brother of Robert, moved, That the committee should be instructed to insert a clause for the payment of the arrears due to the Hanover troops in the pay of England. These arrears, amounting to 65,0221.*, had been withheld ever since July, 1712, when the troops in question, and several other regiments in English pay, had protested against the shameful secession of the Duke of Ormond, and indignantly left the English standards. To the Whigs this conduct appeared most public-spirited and praiseworthy, while the Tories held it forth as something hardly short of military desertion. The payment of the arrears had therefore long been a point of contention between the two parties, and only a very few weeks before had been negatived by a large majority in this same House of Commons. † But the accession of the sovereign of these troops to the throne of England proved to be a most conclusive argument, and effected many strange conversions; the motion * See the items in the Commons' Journals, vol. xvii. p. 577. + See Lockhart's Comment., p. 469. IV. 1714. CHAP. of Horace Walpole was seconded by Sir William Wyndham, and was carried without opposition. Another clause, moved by Horace Walpole, for a reward of 100,000l. to be paid by the Treasury to any person apprehending the Pretender if he should attempt to land, passed also. Several other money bills having been carried received the Royal assent by commission, and this short session was closed by prorogation. Nor was the Regency less prosperous and undisturbed in the foreign relations of the kingdom. The Court of France, confounded by the Queen's sudden death, and dreading any pretext for another war whilst their wounds from the last were still green, determined peaceably to acknowledge King George. A verbal assurance to this effect was first brought over by Lord Peterborough, who, with his usual activity, had hastened from France on the first news of the great event in England * ; and this was speedily followed and confirmed by a letter from Louis himself to the Lords Justices. The recognition of the Hanover succession by this haughty monarch was considered, as it proved, an earnest that it would likewise be acknowledged by the other European powers. The first use made by the Lords Justices of the peaceable disposition of Louis is one that does them high honour, as tending to retrieve that of the country. They in * See Lord Stair's Diary in the Hardwicke State Papers, vol. ii. p. 528. |