THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. BOOK VII. 1727-1733. Accession of George II.-Proceedings of Parliament-Address of the Church of Scotland-Movements of the Chevalier-Leaves Lorrain for Avignon-His wife refuses to join him there-Meeting of Parliament—General Assembly-Prince of Wales arrives in England-Parliamentary proceedings-Professor Simpson-Treaty of Seville-Indian chiefs-General Assembly-Law proceedings ordered to be conducted in the vulgar tongue-Complaints of the conduct of Spain-Treaty of Vienna - General Assembly-Parliamentary proceedings-Disputes in the General Assembly -Violence of the ruling party-Comparison of the acts of Assembly 1732 and 1690———— Ebenezer Erskine and the synod of Perth-General Assembly-Commission of the General Assembly, &c. &c. On the fifteenth of June, 1727, the day after the express arrived with the news of the death of his father, George II. was, with the usual formalities, proclaimed king of Great Britain. His accession was hailed with the warmest demonstrations of joy by all parties, each of whom allowed themselves to hope that they would attain to his peculiar favour. No change, however, followed in the general policy of the country, nor in the state of parties, except that they changed their appellations, the Hanoverians assuming the name of the court, and the Jacobites that of the country party. George II., with much less ability, had all the prejudices and partialities that had distinguished his father, and negotiations were carried on, and subsidiary alliances pursued with all the ardour, and cherished with all the affection of the former reign. The favourites during the former reign continued to be the same under this. Lord Townshend had the foreign department, for which, by his general knowledge, he was remarkably well qualified. For his special assistant he had the duke of Newcastle, a man of very slender acquirements, but possessed of great parliamentary interest, and zealous for the protestant succession in the house of Hanover, and as an auxiliary the famous lord Chesterfield, who, with little head and still less heart, from the polish of his manners and the plausibility of his address, though he was employed only in a subordinate character, was considered as worthy of filling the highest situation; but the individual who infused spirit into and ruled the whole mass, was Sir Robert Walpole, a man of unquestionable talents, possessed of singular penetration, and capable of bending almost every man to his own purposes. He had been in the latter end of the reign of Anne an object of great jealousy to the tories, and, amid much opposition, had, from very small beginnings, risen into great consideration. Insensible to reproach, he could reason dispassionately upon any subject in the face of the most obstinate opposition, and, without appearing to attempt being eloquent, possessed the powers of persuasion in a very high degree. With the nature of the public funds he was peculiarly well acquainted, and the mysteries of stockjobbing were all his own. By these means he formed a connexion with the money corporations, which greatly extended his influence, and gained him a superiority in the house of commons, which, by the same means, every succeeding minister has been ambitious to possess. Sir Robert Walpole, indeed, seems to have been the first minister who comprehended the necessary consequences of the great and increasing national debt, and of course was prepared to take advantage of these consequences, and to turn them into the means of enlarging and confirming his own power, which, for a number of years, was superior to that of both king and parliament. Corruption was the almost openly avowed principle of his management, the venality of mankind that to which he trusted for the accomplishment of his purposes, and his general success showed that his estimate of human nature, harsh as it might be thought, was but too well founded. The high court of parliament assembled on the twentyseventh of June, when his majesty professed his fixed resolution to maintain the country in the full possession of all its privileges civil and religious. The public expense he promised to lessen as soon as circumstances would permit, and while it would be necessary to make provision for his royal household, he recom mended to them despatch in the business of the session, that they might be at liberty to return to their proper duties in the country before the season for doing so was expired. Both houses addressed him in the warmest style of panegyric. To the settlement of the civil list, Mr. Shippen, made a most violent opposition, in which he took occasion to pass high encomiums upon the frugality and the pious liberality of Anne, though the civil list in her time amounted to no more than five hundred and fifty thousand pounds-he also animadverted with great severity upon the many expensive and needless journies to Hanover undertaken in the last reign, which he trusted were to be now for ever at an end, and he noticed with peculiar severity the excessive sums that had been time after time sunk in the bottomless gulf of secret services, and concluded by proposing to restrict the civil list to the same sum that had been granted to his late majesty, viz. seven hundred thousand pounds per annum. That there was much truth in many of these remarks has never been denied, and they were probably felt as appalling matters of fact at the time, but they were uttered with no good intention. Shippen was a Jacobite, the panegyrist of the Stuarts, and the advocate for restoring them to that power which they had so grossly abused, though he concealed it by an outrageous patriotism, and he had little support but from men of the same stamp, and of course was little regarded. Every thing was carried according to the wish of the minister, and, on the seventeenth of July, the session was closed by a speech from the throne, wherein his majesty declared his entire satisfaction with their conduct, and congratulated them upon the wealth and glory of the nation, by which they were enabled to hold the balance of Europe. The house was prorogued to the twenty-ninth of August, but on the seventh day of that month was dissolved, and writs issued for convoking another in its place. In the interim, several changes were made in the members of administration, but all relating to England, and none of them of any material consequence. Previously to his being proclaimed king, George II. took and subscribed the oath for the security of the church of Scotland, as required by the act of Union; and the commission of the General Assembly, on their first meeting, presented him with an humble address, expressive of the most ardent loyalty and affection, and anticipating the happiest results from his undisturbed accession to, and peaceable enjoyment of the throne;* * The following is the address agreed to by the commission on this occasion. May it please your Majesty, We lay hold of this first opportunity that our meeting together affords us, to express our just sorrow and concern for the unspeakable loss which we, together with all the protestant churches, have sustained, in the unexpected death of his late majesty, your royal father, our most indulgent sovereign; and, at the same time, to declare the hearty joy, and complete satisfaction that possess us on your majesty's quiet and peaceable accession to the throne. When we revolve in our thoughts, how melancholy our situation appeared to be by the sudden removal of our late most gracious and wise king, at a season when the critical juncture of publick affairs in Europe seemed to call for the most steady hand to conduct them; and when we reflect how momentary our fears were, how quickly they were dispelled upon your majesty's ascending the throne of your ancestors, with the universal and joyful consent and congratulation of your people; and when we see the weight of British councils in supporting the protestant interest abroad, and preserving the balance of Europe, prevail as formerly, we cannot but admire and adore the kind providence of Almighty God, who hath turned our sorrow into gladness, and under these gloomy circumstances, which threatened us with danger, hath opened to us the prospect of lasting happiness and security. It has been the unhappiness of Britain for more than a century past, that it never saw the throne filled, at the same time, with a protestant king and queen, blessed and supported by a hopeful progeny; whence grew that weakness in the state, and uncertainty in the settlement in matters of religion, that has frequently threatened the protestant churches with ruin. But now, thanks be to our most gracious God, we see joined to our king, whose wisdom, justice, and magnanimity, secures the church and state from all apprehensions, a queen, whose virtue and piety are a fit pattern for your people; and whose generous contempt of diadems, when standing in competition with the protestant religion, is rewarded, even in this life, with one of the most considerable crowns in Europe; and assures religion in this island of finding in her a tender nursing mother, as it gives a solid expectation, that the growing royal family, the hope and glory of this kingdom, will be brought up in the same principles. Under these happy circumstances we can have no apprehensions of what we formerly dreaded; but may reasonably hope, that the abjured pretender will soon have no friend in Britain, who is not likewise a friend to his absurd religion; and our faithful endeavours must, with the blessing of God, have the same success against him, as against the errors that lead captive his blinded abettors into his interest against their own. That the profession we make of affection to your majesty is unfeigned and genuine, no enemy we have can pretend to doubt. Early upon your accession which seems, at the same time, to have been the general feeling of the Scotish people. The pretender, however, appears to have thought very differently, and no sooner heard of the death of George I. than he set out with the utmost haste from Bologna to Lorrain, without so much as waiting for his queen, who, as he had dismissed Inverness, had withdrawn from the convent, and was on her way to join him at the former of these places. The following letter written by him at this time, and addressed to Lockhart, who was now like himself a wanderer on the continent at the same time that it is a narrative of his feelings, gives a pretty full view of the policy he was pursuing, and of the means he possessed for that great undertaking which lay nearest his heart, the liberation of Great Britain. It is dated Nancy, July twenty-second, 1727. to the crown, we received the strongest security, that your majesty will maintain inviolably the rights and privileges of the church of Scotland; and its main support, under God, is from the present happy establishment of the crown on your majesty and your royal family. Our preservation depends so evidently upon your undoubted title to the imperial crown of the realm, that tho' the popish pretender to your majesty's throne, in publick papers and declarations, has often attempted to delude others with the vain hopes of protection, should his arbitrary and tyrannical government take place over this island, yet not the remotest insinuation either was or could with any colour be made in favour of our church; so inseparably are our duty to your majesty, and our interest connected together. And therefore we humbly presume to hope, that your majesty will graciously accept of this first declaration, and tender of our unalterable love, duty, and loyalty. That God may long preserve your majesty, the great pattern and promoter of religion, and the defender of the true faith; that your reign may be happy and undisturbed; that you may always possess the hearts and affections of all your subjects; that you may be the guardian of the liberties of Europe, the support of the protestant interest, and the blessed instrument of relief to our suffering brethren abroad; that all divine blessings in Christ Jesus may be plentifully dispensed to your majesty, to our most gracious queen, to the prince, and all your royal family; and that it may ever be the happiness of Britain to have a prince of your royal line to sway the sceptre, are the ardent prayers of, May it please your majesty, Your majesty's most faithful, most obedient, and most loyal subjects, The ministers and elders met in the commission of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Signed in our name, at our appointment, and in our presence, by Acts of Assembly, 1728. |