1717.

desperate project of an invasion of Great Britain. The treaty with France, reluctantly acceded to by the StatesGeneral, was simply a measure of precaution against any possible demonstration of this nature. The injury inflicted upon Sweden was to be defended by some means, and England was convulsed to her centre in order to secure to Hanover a petty accession of territory obtained by violence and annexed by fraud.

Information of this conspiracy having reached his majesty*, his first precaution on his arrival in London in January was to seize the person of count Gyllenburg, the Swedish minister. General Wade, who was entrusted with this honourable enterprise, found the ambassador, when he entered his house at midnight, making up despatches, which he seized; and breaking open a scrutoire, sealed up all the papers he found, and put a guard upon the residence. In vain the count expostulated about the law of nations and the honour of kings. Bremen and Verdun were more valuable than either.

The foreign ministers, not knowing whose turn might come next, expressed their indignation at this outrage; but they were appeased by a plausible circular from the secretaries of state. The Spanish ambassador alone ventured to reiterate his dissatisfaction. He replied to the excuses of the court, that "he was sorry no other way could be found out for preserving the peace of his majesty's dominions, without arresting the person of a public minister, and seizing all his papers, which are the sacred repositories of the secrets of his master; and, in whatever manner these two facts may seem to be understood, they seem very sensibly to wound the law of nations."

This proceeding was rapidly followed by the arrest of

"There were several conjectures," says Tindal, " of the means of this important discovery. Some affirmed that the king had notice long before of the design from France; others, that the discovery was owing to an intercepted letter from count Gyllenburg to the lord Duffus, prisoner in the Tower; and others, that lord Duffus revealed the conspiracy to a fellow prisoner, who betrayed the secret to government to obtain his pardon."

1717.

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

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baron Görtz, the Swedish resident in Holland, who was known to be at the head of the conspiracy, and who, so far from disowning his share in the design, gloried in it, declaring that he was the projector of it; that he had provided ten thousand arms, and other necessaries, for the invasion of England; and that he considered himself to be amply justified by the conduct of the king, who had joined the confederacy against Sweden without having received the least provocationwho had assisted Denmark in subduing the duchies of Bremen and Verdun, and then purchased them of the usurper—and who had further sent a squadron of ships to the Baltic to assist the Danes and Russians against the Swedes. The papers seized on this occasion — in open violation of the respect due to the confidential character of the diplomatic service - consisting of an extensive correspondence between Gyllenburg, Görtz, Sparr, and others, revealed the whole conspiracy, and proved that the activity of the English government, whatever might be said of the manner in which it was exercised, had interfered just in time between the plotters and the consummation of the plot. Görtz was actually on his way to England when an intimation of the fate of his confederate reached him, and induced him to change his route; but he was closely tracked by the agents of king George, and at last fell into their hands at Arnheim.

On the 20th of February, the king opened the parliament in person; announced the alliance he had concluded with France and the States- General; lamented that the obstinate and inveterate rancour of a faction prevented him from following his own inclination by beginning the session with an act of grace; and then, suggesting the necessity of increasing the supplies to meet the exigency of a threatened invasion, laid before the house the correspondence he had captured in the strong box of Görtz's secretary.

The correspondence afforded a curious exposition of the sentiments, views, and projects of the enemies of

England and its dual-crowned sovereign, or rather of those who had become enemies of England through their just resentment towards the elector of Hanover. Of the actual peril in which the country was placed at the moment when the conspirators were seized, a general notion may be formed from a few striking passages in the letters. Towards the close of the preceding September we find Gyllenburg informing his friend Görtz that every body in England was of opinion that the regent of France aimed at the throne, and was desirous of purchasing it from king George, at any rate. "People go so far here," he says, as to lay wagers that the young king of France will be despatched before a certain time to make room for his uncle." He then refers to a pamphlet he had written to "open the eyes". of the public; and adds, that he intends to "have several pieces ready against the meeting of the parliament, and to publish them by a little at a time, the impatience of the populace not suffering them to read long deductions." He goes on to say, that the intimations which had been made to him terminate in the bringing in of the Pretender; but that, as he could not enter upon that affair without express orders from his master, he had avoided coming to the particulars. Sanguine, however, of the result, he adds, "Ten thousand men, transported hither from Sweden, would do all the business; and, I believe, we shall not be at a loss for money." To all this Görtz answers by cautioning him not to allude to the intimations concerning the Pretender in his letters to the king or his Swedish correspondents; and requesting to be informed clearly how ten thousand men might do the business. Gyllenburg replies in detail, giving, amongst other statements, the following circumstantial explanations:-"There is no medium; either Bremen, or the Hanoverians, must be sacrificed. The latter is not so difficult, considering the general discontent. Ten thousand men would be sufficient. The malecontents require but a body of regular troops to which they may join themselves. That body, being transported in the

1717.

SECRET CORRESPONDENCE.

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month of March, when the easterly winds reign, and when it will not in the least be dreamt on, will cause a general revolt. We must also have arms for between 15,000 and 20,000 men, and as many accoutrements as can be got; for, as to horses, we shall have them here. *** Our men once landed, I will answer for the rest.” In the next letter, he says, "I have since spoken with two of the principals, who have assured me that there shall be 60,000l. sterling ready as soon as I shall show them a line from the king, with assurances, under his own hand, that he will assist them."

On the 4th of November, he enters upon an examination of the policy, apparently suggested by Görtz, of endeavouring by the sacrifice of Bremen to induce the English ministry to assist Sweden in taking an equivalent from the czar. This method of balancing the loss he thinks the ministry would be well inclined to approve of, and that they might even be brought to an agreement as to what the Swedes ought to take from the czar by way of reprisal for their losses in Germany. But, notwithstanding these hopes of prevailing over the corruption of the administration, he still distrusts them, and fears that the power they possess over "the mercenary parliament" may render them stubborn. "The English ministers," he says, "do not mince the matter; and they have already made it appear that they will stick at nothing: they are all furious persons. Sunderland, who is in a manner at the head of affairs, and who has got all the interest he has with the king of England by having consented to what has been done against us (being besides our enemy), is at present at Hanover, to take his instructions from the Germans, and your excellency may depend upon it he will execute them with all the boldness imaginable." The wary ambassador, therefore, concludes that the best course is to enter into measures against a "people who certainly will do nothing by halves: we must either ruin them, or be undone ourselves; that is, if it be in their power to bring it to pass." In the course of the subsequent corre

spondence, Görtz details the progress of his intrigues with the court of Avignon for a loan to enable him to carry his design into effect, and urges upon Gyllenburg the imperative necessity of raising a further supply amongst the disaffected in England. It appears, however, that the friends of the Pretender would not engage in the affair upon any ground of restitution to Sweden, lest it might weaken their own cause; and that the only object by which they would allow themselves to be interested was the establishment of the rights of the Pretender. A difficulty seems to have arisen out of this stipulation. The English malecontents were desirous to engage the assistance of Sweden, and ready to advance money to promote the invasion, on condition that it should be employed for no other purpose than that for which they designed it. "If you act otherwise," observed one of their leaders to Gyllenburg, "you will destroy the credit of the chevalier de St. George here, which perhaps will be of necessary use to you, and you will make his adherents your implacable enemies; for if their design fail, they will be regardless whether Sweden perishes or not." But Görtz met all these cautious preliminaries by showing that it was quite as much the interest of Sweden to destroy the power of king George, as it was of the adherents of the Pretender, and that, in fact, their ultimate views were identical. "I cannot reconcile the opinion," he says, on the 11th of December to Gyllenburg, "which your friend seems to have of the good faith of the king, and his interest, with the fear, which is nevertheless shown, that we have no other end than to procure to ourselves the restitution of the duchy of Bremen. Pray, sir, which way can the king of Sweden better secure himself the recovery and possession of his said duchy, than by reducing king George to be nothing more than an elector of the empire?" This argument evidently succeeded. A sum of 20,000l. was remitted into France. The friends of the cause in Paris were so charmed with the whole design, that they advanced Görtz 100,000