served, reprimanded by the House for some CHAP. strong and indiscreet things that I said."*

Meanwhile, riots and outrages were increasing in several parts of the country. Staffordshire, above all, a county long remarkable for its Tory politics †, was the scene of disturbance. "High Church, and "Ormond for ever!" was the cry. The mob, inflamed with zeal for their ecclesiastical establishment, and persuaded that its security would be very much promoted by pulling down Dissenters' meeting-houses, assembled in great numbers for that object. Many buildings were destroyed, and many sectarians insulted. Against such proceedings it was thought requisite to point a sharper law; and recourse was had to the Riot Act - a statute passed in the reign of Mary, and limited to the Queen's life; and, in like manner, enacted by

a

* Letter to his son, March 15. 1754. Dr. Maty says in his Life," As soon as he had done speaking, one of the opposite "party took him aside, and having complimented him upon his coup d'essai, observed that he was exactly acquainted with the "date of his birth, and could prove that when he was chosen member of the House he was not come of age, and that he "was not so now; at the same time he assured him that he "wished to take no advantage of this, unless his own friends "were pushed, in which case, if he offered to vote, he would im"mediately acquaint the House with it. Lord Stanhope, who "knew the consequences of this discovery, answered nothing; "but making a low bow, quitted the House directly, and went "to Paris!"

+ Boswell observes in 1778: "I drank chocolate this morning “with Mr. Eld, and, to my no small surprise, found him to be a "Staffordshire Whig - a being which I did not believe had ex"isted!" Life of Johnson, Croker's ed. vol. iv. p. 185.

IV.

1715.

IV.

1715.

CHAP. Elizabeth, but never since revived. It was now made perpetual, and with increased powers. It provides, that if any twelve persons are unlawfully assembled to the disturbance of the peace, and any one justice shall think proper to command them, by proclamation, to disperse; if they contemn his orders, and continue together for one hour afterwards, such contempt shall be felony without benefit of clergy. By a subsequent clause, the pulling down of chapels or houses even before the proclamation, is made subject to the same penalty.* This act, which still continues, though bearing a harsh and arbitrary aspect, has, I believe, in practice, never given rise to any deeds of oppression, nor well grounded causes of complaint.

---

From the great amount of public business, the Houses sat this year till the 21st of September. Even then the rebellion, which I shall detail in the next chapter, being on the point of rising Parliament was not prorogued, but only adjourned at short intervals, till it met again next year; so that what is called its first session extends from March, 1715, till June, 1716.

This spring died two of the Ministers; first, the Marquis of Wharton, Privy Seal, a man of great talents but profligate character, and succeeded by a son still more able, and still more abandoned than himself; secondly, Lord Halifax. No one had basked more largely in the sunshine of the

* Blackstone's Comment. vol. iv. p. 142. ed. 1825.

IV.

1715.

new Court: he had received from its bounty an CHAP. earldom, the Garter, and the office of First Lord of the Treasury. Other men murmured at this rapid accumulation of favours. To himself, on the contrary, they all seemed inferior to his merit. He aimed at the great post of Lord Treasurer- a post never revived under the Georges; and, finding this withheld from him, did not scruple to enter into negotiations with his political opponents, and plot with them against his party and his principles. Happily for his reputation, these cabals were interrupted by his death. Halifax was justly renowned for the literary talents which he possessed himself and patronised in others; for his skill in finance ; for his eloquence in debate; for his activity in business. He was, however, better fitted in his later years, at least― to adorn than to lead a party. Marlborough, in his private letters, has, with his usual admirable discrimination of characters, touched upon the weak point of this: "I agree "with you that Lord Halifax has no other prin

ciple but his ambition; so that he would put all "in distraction rather than not gain his point." And again: "If he had no other fault but his unreasonable vanity, that alone would be capable "of making him guilty of any fault.” *

On the demise of Wharton and Halifax, the Privy Seal was put into commission; and the Earl of Carlisle, a respectable nobleman, with some

* To the Duchess, February 7. 1709, and Nov. 28. 1708.

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1715.

CHAP. taste but no talent for poetry*, was made First Lord of the Treasury. He was soon found, however, wholly unequal to that high office; and it was, in October, 1715, transferred to Walpole as a just reward for the talents he had displayed during the last session, and especially in the impeachments.

* His Lordship continued rhyming till a few hours before his death, in 1738; and, "it is a pity," says Horace Walpole, "that such wholesome precepts were not couched in more har"monious numbers." Royal and Noble Authors.; Works, vol. i. p. 534.

CHAPTER V.

V.

1715.

To those who attentively consider the state of par- CHAP. ties at the accession of George the First, it will, I think, appear indisputable that the friends of the Pretender would, sooner or later, with more or with less resources, have attempted an insurrection in his cause. On the other hand, however, I am far from denying that this insurrection gathered strength from the vindictive measures of the Whig administration measures which tended to exalt the hopes, and increase the numbers, of the disaffected.

To their success, however, three things seemed essential first, that the rising in England should take place conjointly with that in Scotland; secondly, the personal presence of the Pretender whenever his standard was first raised; and, thirdly, some assistance from France. It will be my task to explain how, partly from misfortune, but more from mismanagement, not one of these objects, though reasonably expected, was attained.

Lord Bolingbroke on arriving at Paris, had by no means openly and at once attached himself to the Jacobite party. Still hoping for a favourable