1714.

great part of the nation had to his being called to succeed his sister. Circumstanced however as the Pretender was, his cause was abetted by many in England,

However, the lords advised the baron to keep his orders strictly secret, and to appear at court the r.ext day, when the lords were to wait on and present to the Queen their address about the proclamation, and the removing the Pretender out of Lorrain ; and 10 apply himself to the lord-chancellor, (as in private) and inforın him, that he (the baron) had a message to his lordship from Hanover, and desired an hour, when he should wait on and deli. ver it to him.

The lord-chancellor told the baron, he should be proud to receive any message from his court; and appointed that very af

. ternoon, between five and six, at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

When the baron came, and (after some compliments) told his lordship, that by order of his highness the Duke of Cambridge, he requested his lordship to make out and deliver to him the writ for the duke; the lord-chancellor was at first mucb surprised ; but after a short pause, asked the baron, whether the matter had been opened to the Queen? To which the baron answering, no; his lordship said, this demand is of such importance, that I can do nothing in it, till I have the Queen's directions, and I will forthwith acquaint her Majesty with it: but laying his hand on the baron's shoulder, desired him to remember he did not refuse the writ: to which the baron smarily replied, aud desired his lordship to remember, he had requested of him the writ for the Duke of Cambridge.

A cabinet council was instantly called, and sat that evening fron nine o'clock till after eleven ; where she Queen being present had the disappointment to find her ministers so little firin to their former professions, as to endeavour 10 persuade her Ma. jesty, that the writ could not be denied (they may have hinted that the promises of France did not yet justify the refusal). This defection had such an accidental and unexpected inttuence upon Her Majesty's person, as subjected her to an infirmity, that could

:

1714. and a recruiting for his service had become so public

and general, that Lord Bolingbroke brought in a bill, which afterwards passed into a law, that made it high

not be removed, for at the end of three months and nineteen days she demised. Upon the minister's shrinking, the writ was ordered to be made out, and was delivered to Baron Schutz on Saturday the 17th of April, 1714.

This demand being the next day (Tuesday) whispered in the court of requests, cast a damp on the court-party, which they could not dissemble.

The ministers had the vexation to see, on the four last days, viz. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the street called Pall-Mall crowded with a vast concourse of coaches, and multitudes of people to congratulate Baron Schutz and Mons. Koninberg (at whose house the baron lodged) upon the demand of the writ, and to express their hopes of the speedy arrival of the Duke of Cambridge. Although the writ were at the end of five days, viz. on Saturday, the 17th of June, 1714, delivered to Baron Schutz, yet the Queen in her anger to see the people so generally run to worship the rising sun, caused Baron Schutz, on the next day, being Sunday, the 19th of April, 1714, to be forbidden the court, and injunctions to be laid on all her ministers not to have any intercourse or correspondence with him and the ministers alleged as an excuse for this outrage, that the baron had demanded the writ of the lord-chancellor, without having first acquainted her Majesty with his orders, or applied to her for

it..

It appears probable, that the ministers applied at this time to France for assistance, and received an agreeable answer; but at that time the French King was engaged in the arduous negotiations at Rastadt, for concluding peace with the Emperor. The urgency of the case was, that if the Duke of Cambridge should forthwith land, as he might, and as the people expected, the ministers' measures would be first entirely disconcerted, and then the French assistance would come unseasonably. The ministers, in order to remove their fears, and to obviate the disappointment,

treason to be enlisted for any foreign prince: a caution 1714. which was not at this time found necessary to be had. in Ireland, notwithstanding the inordinate propensity

on the 19th of May, 1714, being within one month after Baron Schutz was forbidden the court, in the Queen's name, sent three letters to Hanover, all signed with her Majesty's own band.

One of these letters was directed to her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia, in which the Queen declared, "that disaffected persons had entered into measures to fix a prince of her highness's blood in her Majesty's dominions, even whilst she was living, that she (the Queen) for her part, never thought such a project could have entered into her highness's mind; but now she perceived her electoral highness was come into that sentiment; and therefore she (the Queen) declared, that such a proceeding would infallibly endanger the succession itself."

Another of these letters was directed to his Highness the Elector of Brunswick; declaring," that if his electoral highness's son (the Duke of Cambridge) presumed to come within the Queen's estate (i. e. her dominions); she would oppose him with all her power."

The third letter was directed to the Electoral Prince (then Duke of Cambridge), and declared, "that his design of coming into her Majesty's kingdom ought to be first opened to her, and to have had her permission; and that therefore nothing could be more dangerous to the right of succession in his line than such a proceeding." From the complexion of these transactions it will be readily admitted, that the Queen must have been disgusted with the indelicate and compulsory means used by the Whigs of that day, to ensure the Hanover succession during her life. The workings of nature on behalf of her brother, upon whose head they had forced her to proclaim a reward, together with the many thwarting and humiliating instances of opposition to her will from the Whig party, render it more than probable, that she either originally was, or that she became at last insincere in her professions, promises, and exertions to promote the establishment.

1714. of the Irish parliament to harass and oppress the ca

tholics with penal statutes. Now, for the first time,
their loyalty was above suspicion : and a Stuart passed
by an opportunity of punishing them. The queen
died on the 1st of August, 1714.

a

E

CHAPTER İİİ.

The Reign of George 1.

Upon the demise of Queen Ann, the Tory party 1714. preponderated in the landed interest of England; the Accession Whigs possessed a majority in the privy-council

. The of Goorge la Tories were without a head, dispirited, distracted, and consequently irresolute. The Whigs acted in concert and with energy. They brought into action the principles they had always avowed, and seated the Elector of Hanover on the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland. He was proclaimed and acknowledged King without opposition *. The Tories, as