Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/323

A.D. 1714.] themselves overrun with French troops, which deluged the country with blood, and compelled them to submit. Amid all the disgraceful circumstances which attended the peace of Utrecht, none reflected more infamy on England than its treatment of the people of Catalonia.

During these transactions the activity of the pretender and his agents was encouraged by the growing influence of Bolingbroke in the English court. Bolingbroke proposed to Oxford that they should pay the dowry of the pretender's mother, the widow of James II.; but to this Oxford objected, saying, that the widow of James had not contented herself with the title of queen-dowager of England, but had assumed that of queen-mother, which, observed Oxford, could not be lawfully admitted after the attainder of her son. This strengthened the hands of Bolingbroke with lady Masham, who was violently in favour of the pretender, which was the same as doing it with the queen. Lady Masham's disgust with Oxford was wonderfully increased. In writing to Mesnager she did not hesitate to say that, if the court of St. Germains trusted to Oxford, they would be deceived; that he was famous for loving a secret, and making intricacies where there needed none, and no less renowned for causing everything of such a nature to miscarry. The pretender, having every day increased encouragement from lady Masham and Bolingbroke, demanded of the emperor of Germany one of his nieces in marriage, and it was reported that the emperor was agreeable to it, and ready to espouse his cause. It was well known that distinct propositions had been made to the pretender through the duke of Berwick, at the instance of lady Masham, before her breach with Oxford, by which his restoration on the demise of Anne was agreed to on condition that he should guarantee the security of the church and constitution of England, and that not even his mother should be admitted to the knowledge of this agreement. At the last point, however, Oxford failed to conclude this secret treaty. The duke of Berwick, in his memoirs, says that, in consequence of this conduct of Oxford's, the friends of the pretender turned their attention to other parties about the court—to lord Ormonde, the duke of Buckingham, and many other persons. Buckingham—who was married to the lady Catherine Darnley, a daughter of James II. by Catherine Sedley, and was, therefore, brother-in-law to the pretender—wrote the earl of Middleton, the pretender's minister, how earnestly he desired to see the king back on the English throne; that nothing but his religion stood in the way; that this was the only thing which prevented the queen acknowledging him; and he strongly urged him to follow the example of Henry IV. of France, who gave up the protestant religion when he saw that he could not securely hold the crown without doing so. But the pretender was, much to his credit—being firmly persuaded of the truth of his religion—much too honest to renounce it, even for the crown of such a kingdom as Great Britain; and he argued that the English people ought to see in his sincerity a guarantee for his faithful dealing with them in all other matters. But, unfortunately, the example of his father had barred the way to any such plea. No man was more positive in the adherence to his religion, or in his sacrifices on its account; but no man had at the same time so thoroughly demonstrated that he had no such honourable feeling as to breaking his word where any political matter was concerned.

In the midst of these secret correspondences the queen was seized at Windsor with a serious illness, and considering the general state of her health, it was most threatening. The hopes of the Jacobites rose wonderfully; the funds went rapidly down; there was a great run upon the bank, and the directors were filled with consternation by a report of an armament being ready in the ports of France to bring over the pretender at the first news of the queen's decease. They sent to the lord treasurer to inform him of the danger which menaced the public credit. The whole of London was in excitement, from a report that the queen was actually dead. The whigs did not conceal their joy, but were hurrying to and fro, and meeting in large numbers at the earl of Wharton's. The lord treasurer, to keep down the public alarm, remained in town, and contented himself with sending expresses to obtain constant news of the queen's state, for his hurrying to Windsor would have had an inconceivable effect. He, therefore, let himself be seen publicly where he could be questioned regarding the condition of the queen, and gave assurances that she was better. To allay the public panic, Anne was induced to sign a letter prepared for her, announcing to Sir Samuel Stancer, the lord mayor, that she was now recovering, and would be in town and open parliament on the 16th of February. This news being confirmed, those who had been too hasty in pulling off their masks, found some awkwardness in fitting them on again. The press was active. Steele published a pamphlet called the "Crisis," in advocacy of the revolution, and on the danger of a popish succession, whilst on the other hand came out a reply, supposed to be written by Swift, not without a few touches from Bolingbroke; it was styled, "The Public Spirit of the Whigs," and was distinguished by all the savage sarcasm and scurrility of the authors. The Scotch peers were shamefully attacked in it. The queen's recovery, and the perception that the French armament was a fiction, quieted the storm and again restored the funds.

The parliament was punctually opened on the 16th of February, 1711, by the queen, as she had promised at Windsor, though she was obliged to be carried there; for during this autumn she had been obliged, by her gout and obesity, to be raised into her chamber by pullies, and so let down again, like Henry VIII. After congratulating the two houses on the peace with Spain, she turned to the subject of the press, and the rumours spread by it regarding the danger of the protestant succession. "I wish," she said, "that effectual care had been taken, as I have often desired, to suppress those seditious papers and factious rumours, by which designing men have been able to sink credit, and the innocent have suffered. There are some also arrived to that pitch of malice, as to insinuate that the protestant succession in the house of Hanover is in danger under my government. Those who go about thus to distract the minds of men with imaginary dangers, can only mean to disturb the present tranquillity, and to bring real mischief upon us. After all I have done to secure our religion and your liberties, and to transmit both safe to posterity, I cannot mention these proceedings without some degree of