1719.

At this distance of time, with all the changes that have taken place in the relations of parties, this species of resistance to the claims of dissenters is hardly intelligible. But it was conformable to the then existing condition of things; and, acting under the influences which in that age coerced the judgment of the ablest men, it was not regarded as an anomaly that the merits of the catholics should be held up as a fair subject of panegyric, while protestant dissenters were rigidly excluded from admission within the civil pale of a protestant government. The tories have since abundantly expiated their error, by directing all their wrath against the catholics, as the most implacable enemies of the constitution: but it has also been reserved for a later period to exhibit the noble example of a perfect toleration that extends equal freedom to both.

The bill was carried in the upper house, with the omission of the clauses respecting the test and corporation act and in that form it passed the commons. The obligations of the opposition forced some of the members, including Walpole and Shippen, to vote against a measure which, under other circumstances, must have received their hearty concurrence. Walpole admitted that he opposed the bill purely to embarrass the court, and in after years he did not hesitate to express his regret at having joined so inconsiderately in the clamours of the high-church party.

The Irish parliament passed a similar measure in the following July, but could not be prevailed upon to extend it to the repeal of the sacramental test. Nothing further was attempted on the subject during the present reign; and the king declared to lord Barrington that his ministers had assured him there was no hope of carrying the point, and that he was persuaded the dissenters were too much his friends to insist upon a thing which might be infinitely prejudicial to him, without doing them any essential good. The dissenters were too grateful for the wise and liberal policy that had already been extended to them to press their demands farther.

1719.

THE PEERAGE BILL.

85

Parliament was prorogued on the 18th of April; but just before the recess, a bill was brought in by government, without any previous notice of such an intention, to restrain the crown from enlarging the peerage by more than six new creations, and to prevent any further introductions into the house, except in cases of extinct titles. His majesty sent a message to the house to declare that he had so much at heart the security and constitution of parliaments in all future ages, as to be willing that his prerogative should not stand in the way of so great and necessary a work. This message excited considerable surprise and speculation; and the measure was suspected to be a mere stroke of resentment against the prince of Wales, whose political importance it was calculated, and no doubt designed, to abridge. The feeling of the nation was against it, and the current of opinion ran so strong, that lord Stanhope, after a brief struggle, thought it prudent to postpone it to a more favourable opportunity.*

* The day this bill was introduced, a list of the peers existing at the time of king James I.'s accession to the crown, and of those who had been subsequently advanced to the peerage, was printed and delivered to the lords. It exhibited the following particulars :

At the time of debating the bill, the state of the peers was as follows:The prince of Wales and duke of York

Dukes

2

a2⌘།⌘ཋ།ཧྥེ།

220

CHAP. V.

1719-1721.

THE KING PAYS A SECOND VISIT TO HANOVER. ALBERONI ASSISTS THE PRETENDER IN AN ATTEMPT ON ENGLAND.-FAILURE OF THE ENTERPRISE. SPAIN SUBMITS TO THE ALLIES, ENGLISH INTRIGUES TO DETACH SWEDEN FROM RUSSIA. PROVISIONAL TREATY TO SECURE BREMEN AND VERDUN. OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. THE PEERAGE BILL RESUMED AND LOST. THE DEPENDENCY OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT ON THE APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF THE LORDS ESTABLISHED BY A BILL, PROPOSALS OF THE SOUTH-SEA COMPANY. THEIR PRIVILEGES INCREASED. WALPOLE PREDICTS THE CONSEQUENCES. THE KING RETURNS TO GERMANY.-WALPOLE AND METHUEN JOIN THE ADMINISTRATION. DISMISSAL OF LORD STAIR. -TREATY OF ALLIANCE WITH SWEDEN.-A BRITISH FLEET APPEARS IN THE BALTIC. PROGRESS OF THE SOUTH-SEA SCHEME. THE STOCK ARTIFICIALLY RAISED TO ONE THOUSAND PER CENT. UNIVERSAL MANIA FOR BUBBLES. EXCITEMENT OF THE PUBLIC MIND. THE KING IS SUMMONED HOME. WALPOLE BRINGS IN A BILL TO RESTORE THE PUBLIC CREDIT. SECRET COMMITTEE APPOINTED. DETECTION OF THE INIQUITOUS FRAUDS OF THE SOUTH-SEA DIRECTORS AND SOME OF HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTERS. -SUNDERLAND IS DISGRACED. AISLABIE IS EXPELLED. CRAGGS DIES SUDDENLY. DEATH OF STANHOPE. KNIGHT, THE CASHIER OF THE COMPANY, FLIES IS ARRESTED, AND ULTIMATELY PARDONED. HEAVY PENALTIES LEVIED ON THE DIRECTORS.

SHORTLY after the prorogation, the king, accompanied by lord Stanhope and other ministers, paid a second visit to his dominions in Hanover, appointing lords justices in his absence, the prince of Wales still labouring under his majesty's displeasure. The humiliation of his royal highness was so overwhelming, that he retired into the country, while the young princesses held levees at St. James's, and received the compli

1719.

INVASION OF ENGLAND.

87

ments of the lords justices, and the foreign ministers, upon the occasion of his majesty's birth-day, who had now attained his sixtieth year.*

In the meanwhile, Alberoni was busy in Madrid, concerting the means of taking summary vengeance upon England, for her share in the injuries that had been inflicted upon Spain. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, this indefatigable minister still exhibited the most indomitable resolution; and, failing in other projects, he now determined upon making a desperate attempt to restore the pretender. That unfortunate person had, during the previous autumn, married the princess Sobieski, grand-daughter of the king of Poland, and the confidence inspired amongst his adherents by this circumstance was so great, that the duke of Ormond, for whose apprehension a reward of 5000l. was offered by government, undertook the conduct of an expedition on his behalf against England. Preparations were made upon a large scale for this hazardous enterprise. The pretender was received with extraordinary pomp at Madrid, where the honours due only to royalty were ostentatiously lavished upon him. An armament was equipped at Cadiz, consisting of 6000 regular troops, and arms for a much larger number; and the duke of Ormond, with the title of captain-general of the king of Spain, took the command, setting sail for England towards the end of March. But the fate of this expedition only afforded another illustration of the good fortune which was superstitiously attributed to king George. The squadron had scarcely reached Cape Finisterre when it was dispersed by a violent storm. The elements warred on the side of the Hanoverian succession. Two frigates alone escaped. They reached the northern coast of Scotland on the 4th of April, where three or four hundred Spanish soldiers landed, and were speedily, joined by reinforcements of Highlanders. Gathered into the mountain pass of Glenshiel, this shattered remnant made an heroic resistance to the

* Tindal,

king's 's troops, but were at last routed, and the Spaniards surrendered at discretion.

Disasters now came thickly and heavily upon Spain, doomed to sink under external oppression and domestic impolicy. The lord Cobham, making a vigorous descent upon the coast, took possession of Vigo; Messina was recovered from the marquis de Lede ; — Palermo was invested on the one side by the British fleet, and on the other by the imperial army, under the command of the count de Merci ; - Port Antonio, in the bay of Biscay, was dismantled by a detachment of French soldiers and English sailors ;- arrangements were in progress for an expedition against Spanish America; and the duke of Berwick, at the head of a powerful force, had already penetrated the interior, and reduced Fontarabia and St. Sebastian. The last hope of Spain was extinguished. Submission alone remained; and the king agreed to a convention, by which Sicily was relinquished, and the terms dictated by the allies were fully ratified. Alberoni, like Gortz, paid the penalty of his rash and evil councils. His master, writhing under the accumulated disgraces his fatal intrigues had brought upon the kingdom, dismissed him from his presence, and, by a letter under his own hand, ordered him to leave the country within three days.

The professed object of the journey to the continent this year, was to bring about a peace in the North, between Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, and Russia. In the first three his majesty succeeded, more by a fortuitous concurrence of circumstances than by skill or influence ; in the last he failed.

The sudden death of the hair-brained hero of Sweden cut the Gordian knot of these perplexed and intricate policies. Previously to his decease, a congress had taken place in the island of Aland, between the Swedish and Prussian plenipotentiaries, which had nearly brought to a close certain terms which would have been highly dangerous to the interests of Geerge I. The death of Charles XII. interrupted the progress of the negotia