meeting assembled this day extraordinarily, did unanimously agree to the narration of the matter of fact as above. And for vindication of their duty and loyalty to her majesty's person and government, and the protestant succession, as by law established in the illustrious house of HANOVER, do declare their utter detestation of all practices that directly or indirectly may contain the least insinuation to the contrary, or any encouragement for the pretender or his abettors; and for publishing these their sincere and stedfast resolutions, do ordain these presents to be signed in their name," &c. The faculty also published an advertisement in the Edinburgh Gazette, against the author of the Flying Post, who published the transactions of the first meeting, which saved appearances, and the government took no notice of the matter further than to dismiss, upon the representation of the Hanoverian resident, Sir David Dalrymple from the office of lord advocate, on pretence of remissness in the affair. His successor, Sir James Stuart of Goodtrees, however, took as little cognizance of the matter as he had done; and there cannot be a doubt but that it was the desire of her majesty's ministers, that the whole affair should be overlooked; but the friends of the protestant succession, had still sufficient influence to procure, in the next session of parliament, an act, compelling all practitioners of law in North Britain, to subscribe a declaration against the pretender.*

This perpetual bustling and rage for display, on the part of the Jacobites, was certainly in the highest degree impolitic, and tended materially to defeat their designs. Having gained over the queen and surrounded her with their own creatures, it should have been their study to create no alarm, but to work their way silently and surely, concealing their strength and their intentions as much as possible till they were ready to be put in execution. Such, in all probability, were the views of those, who, having got into situations of trust and influence, were best able to forward these intentions; but the mad enthusiastic devotion of some, the avarice of others, who were anxious to be profitably employed, and the childish

* North British Memoirs, p. 253–263.

impatience of all, disconcerted the combinations of deliberate prudence, and drove, however reluctantly, the most cautious of their leaders into a precipitancy of action, which, alarming the fears of the nation, uniting the views and concentrating the efforts of all who were friendly to the constitution as settled at the revolution, tended in no small degree to the final ruin of all their projects. Many of the party, indeed, still contemplated no other than a forcible restoration of James to the free and unfettered exercise of his, as they believed, unalienable prerogatives, through the assistance of France; and to encourage Louis to make another attempt in his behalf, much of their absurd rant was intended. In pursuance of the same end, we find them repeating, with additions and improvements, all the misrepresentations of Hooke, and magnifying every little circumstance to the utmost. "Since the revolution," says the famous nonjuror Lesley, in a memorial presented by him, this year, to the court of St. Germains, but evidently intended for that of Versailles, "there has not been so great a confusion of counsels and of measures in England as there has been since the last change in the ministry; and the affair of Greenshields, a minister of the church of England, whom the parliament has lately protected against the presbyterians of Scotland, has irritated the latter to that degree, that they would concur in whatever might deliver them from the Union with England, which is universally detested in Scotland, where they are all persuaded, that nothing can deliver them from it but the return of their sovereign.

There is at present a concurrence of circumstances more favourable for an enterprise than there has been since his majesty came out of England. But all this will change in time, and for the future they will attend only to the means of supporting, as easily as they can, the chains from which they see no further hopes of being delivered. There is not a man in Great Britain who is not convinced, that if the king of England had landed the last time in Scotland, he would have infallibly succeeded, and the conjuncture appears at present still more favourable. The inclination of the Scots towards their king appears visible, in their sending, as members to parliament, the same men who had been brought prisoners

to London on account of the invasion, and I can assure, that these men have not changed their sentiments." This memorialist goes on to inform his master, how nearly the bank of England was ruined by the last, and how certainly it would be so, by a present invasion, from which he deduces this consoling conclusion. "If the bank of England fails, I believe there is no doubt, that the confederates will not be able to carry on the war, and then his most christian majesty will have a safe game to play, without running any risk. Troops" he adds, "are daily draughted, to be sent out of the kingdom, so that few will be left to make opposition, and there are severals in the army, who have discovered their dispositions, of returning to their duty towards their king, if they found the opportunity. They are preparing fleets to be sent to the Mediterranean and elsewhere, so that the few ships which will remain to guard the channel, cannot hinder the passage from Brest to Kircudbright, especially if an alarm is given from Dunkirk and other parts. All the fleet of England, can never hinder a squadron to pass from Brest to Ireland, and Scotland is only a little more distant in the same line." After alluding to the hazard, which, even the king's friends might be unwilling to run, and stating the necessity of ten thousand men to accompany him, if success was to be ensured before hand, he proceeds to assure him, of the favourable sentiments of the queen :-" It is generally thought, that the princess of Denmark," so he denominates the queen, "is favourably inclined to the king her brother, and that she would choose rather to have him for her successor, than the prince of Hanover. But she is timid, and does not know to whom she can give her confidence. The duke of Leeds told me, that he had endeavoured to sound her as much as he could upon the subject, and he is in her confidence, and has free access to her; but though she never chose to explain herself upon this point, she says nothing against him. It is thought, that if the king of England was in Scotland, a treaty with him would be immediately proposed, and then the members of parliament would be at liberty to declare their sentiments, whereas they are now constrained by an act of parliament, which declares, all those guilty of high treason, who shall oppose the Hanoverian succession, by word or writing. But the king of England being

in Scotland, and all the kingdom acknowledging him, which could not fail to happen soon after his arrival in that country, then the present necessity, and the common good of the nation, would authorise the liberty, which each might take, of proposing whatever could prevent the fatal effects of a civil war." What is meant here by the fatal effects of a civil war, is not easily comprehended, for from what follows, a civil war seems to be the object which the memorialist is pursuing, and from which, he evidently hopes for the most favourable results:-"The smallest advantage which an expedition of the king of England into Scotland could produce, would be a civil war, which might be supported from time to time by France, even though none of his majesty's subjects should join him. But that is not to be supposed, for in the division of parties, there are now malecontents enough in Great Britain, who would rejoice at that opportunity of joining him, besides so many in distressed circumstances, or on bad terms with the government, whom fear, resentment, or hope would influence; and there are men of that character in every country, but no where so many as in Great Britain."

Louis and his ministers had been so long accustomed to these representations, that they probably paid no great attention to this, the statements of which must have appeared, even to them, doubtful, if not contradictory; they had, at the same time, their hands more than full, and had already begun in good earnest to attempt relieving themselves, not by enlarging, but by narrowing the field of their warlike operations; and, however much it suited formerly with their interests, or their general policy, to promote a civil war in Britain, it was neces

* Memorial of the Sieur Lamb [Lesley] to the court of St. Germains, Stuart Papers, 1711. Lesley was a coadjutor with Sage in fabricating that mass of ribaldry which we have already mentioned as inundating the country on the back of the revolution, and he exemplified the candour of his character by the following account of presbytery and of presbyterians :-" It has been an old observation, that wherever presbytery was established, there witchcraft and adultery have been particularly rampant. As one said of Scotland, in the days of presbytery, they burn all the old women for witches, and keep the young ones for w-s. The records of the stools of repentance in Scotland would astonish you, where such multitudes of men and women come daily to make their show for adultery and fornication, that it has almost ceased to be a shame!" The Rehearsals, published in 1704, 1705, &c. &c,

sary for the present, as they were just entering upon negotiations for a separate peace, to seem, at least, to pursue a different line of conduct.

Fortunately for the interests of religion and liberty, breathless anxiety seems at this period, so favourable to their views, to have superseded every other feeling, and to have paralyzed generally, every thing like well directed exertion on the part of the Jacobites; yet there were among them, men, subtle and sanguine, whose conceptions were bold, their address plausible, and their plans, had they been seconded by unanimity and prudence, on the part of their followers, not a little dangerous. Pretending to be a friend to the church of England, the advocate of national independence, and a lover of liberty, we find one of them, the same year, thus stating his opinions:-" I need not go about to prove, that the house of Hanover, and the states of Holland, are united with the whigs and discontented party of England, against the queen, her present ministry, and the church of England. Their late proceedings, have sufficiently shown their inclinations that way, and nothing is more obvious, than that the church and court party, can expect no quarter from these three united powers, if ever they come to have the superiority. The duke of Hanover, has, in conjunction with the states, declared himself so openly for the whig party, in opposition to the queen herself, as well as her ministry, that it is visible, he is inseparably united to that party, and will always be influenced by it; and that if ever he comes to have the power in his hands, the church and present ministry must fall a sacrifice to the whigs' revenge, the breach being too wide to expect they can ever be thoroughly reconciled. I am of opinion, therefore, that as matters stand now, there remains only one expedient, that can possibly secure at once, both the church. and state, against any attempt that may be made to their prejudice, either during the queen's life, or after her death, by a powerful, absolute prince, supported by a jealous, interested nation abroad, and animated by an exasperated, factious party at home; and that is to call home the queen's brother, whose just right gains ground daily in the hearts of his subjects, in order to which, I think it not only advisable,