till such time as he could make it appear, that the chevalier was dismissed from the territories of his master. This order, Lamberti transmitted to Lorrain, and in the meantime, retired to his residence among the tories of Oxford, till he should receive an answer. An answer was speedily returned, but it was not such as to satisfy the British ministry, and the marquis, shortly after, left the country.

To counteract this flood of disloyalty and disorder, the government exerted the most laudable and praiseworthy activity. A proclamation was issued on the second of November, requiring all civil officers to use their utmost diligence

posed to stand by us, and defend us and themselves, from all foreign invasion; but in our passing thro' France, to the sea coast, we were there, not only refused all succour and assistance, upon account of the engagements, that king is under, by the late treaty of peace; but we were even debarred passage, and obliged to turn back to Lorrain.

After meeting with such sensible disappointments on all sides, the only comfort left us, is, that we have done our part at least, to attain our just ends, and have nothing upon that score to reproach ourself with; and as our cause is just, we doubt not but God will, in his own due time, furnish us with new means to support it; and that he will at last touch the hearts of our subjects, with a true sense of the crying injury that they have done us and themselves, and move them effectually to return to their duty.

We likewise hope, that all christian princes and potentates, who are now in peace together, will reflect upon the dangerous example here given them, and ye formidable effects they are threatened with, from such an united force, as that of England and Hanover; and that they seriously consider, whether the exorbitant power that now accrews to the house of Brunswick, be consistent with the balance of power, they have been fighting for all this last war. And therefore, we call on them for their assistance, for the recovery of our dominions, which their interest, as well as honour, engages them to grant us, as far as they are able. In the meantime, in the circumstances we are in, wee have nothing left in our power to do at present, but to declare to the world, that as our right is indefeasible, so we are resolved, with the help of God, never to depart from it, but with our life. And therefore, we do here solemnly protest again, in the strongest manner we are capable of, against all injustices, that have been, or shall hereafter be done, to the prejudice of us, our lawful heirs and successors, reserving and asserting, by these presents, under our great seall, all our rights, claims, and pretensions whatsoever, which do, and shall remain, in their full force and vigour, declaring, that after this, we shall not think ourselves answerable, before God or man, for the pernicious consequences, which the new usurpation of our crowns may draw upon our subjects, and upon all christendom.

Given at our court at Plombiers, ye 29th August, 1714.

to bring the violaters of the public peace, to merited punishment; and commanding that, for the suppression of tumults, all existing statutes, from that of Henry IV., should be strictly enforced. The acts of the thirteenth of Charles II., and the first of William and Mary, were also ordered to be fully executed against all papists, nonjurors, &c., "by tendering to them the declaration and oaths therein mentioned, and taking from the refusers thereof, their horses, arms, and ammunition, and using their endeavours to confine them to their houses, as appointed by an act in the sixth of the late queen. All popish recusants, natives, or denizens, above the age of sixteen, were commanded to repair to their respective places of abode, and not to remove thence, or pass above the distance of five miles, unless thereunto licensed according to law." And to check the impertinence of the clergy, "his majesty, by the advice of his privy council, issued directions to the archbishops and bishops, for preserving unity in the church, purity of the christian faith, and the peace and quiet of the state, charging them strictly to publish them, and to see that they be accordingly observed in their several diocesses." The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, a book written and published by Dr. Samuel Clarke, had been, by the lower house of convocation, condemned, as containing assertions contrary to the Catholic faith, and his majesty in these directions, requires his bishops to take care, "that no preacher whatsoever, in his sermon, lecture, or writing, do presume to deliver any other doctrine concerning the blessed trinity, than what is contained in the holy Scriptures, nor to intermeddle in any affairs of state or government, or the constitution of this realm, excepting only at such times, and in such manner as is more particularly expressed in these directions."* All this, though springing directly from the royal supremacy, for which they professed the most profound veneration, was, by the high part of the church, regarded as an officious intermeddling in her affairs, alike hurtful to her liberties as a public body, and to the feelings of her members as indi'viduals.

The parliament being dissolved, and a proclamation issued

* London Gazette, December 14th, 1714.

for calling a new one in the month of January 1715, nothing was to be seen in England but the bustle of electioneering, heightened at this time by the violence of party feeling, so as to render many places scenes of the most shameful disorder. The measures adopted by the ministry, who had already sealed up the papers of the earl of Strafford, on his return from the Hague, and recalled Prior from France, showed plainly that they had a design to make a judicial inquiry into the conduct of the late ministry, so soon as the new parliament should be convened, and the proclamation issued by his majesty for calling this parliament, left no room for any to question but it was the hope and the desire of the ministry to have a parliament exactly to their own mind. "It having pleased Almighty God," said his majesty, "by most remarkable steps of his providence, to bring us in safety to the crown of this kingdom, notwithstanding the designs of evil men, who showed themselves disaffected to our succession, and who have since, with the utmost degree of malice, misrepresented our firm resolution and uniform endeavour, to preserve and defend our most excellent constitution, both in church and state, and attempted, by many false suggestions, to render us suspected to our people, we cannot omit, on this occasion, of first summoning our parliament of Great Britain, (in justice to ourselves, and that the miscarriages of others may not be imputed to us, at a time when false impressions may do the greatest and irrecoverable hurt before they can be cleared up,) to signify to our whole kingdom, that we were very much concerned, on our accession to the crown, to find the public affairs of our kingdom under the greatest difficulties, as well in respect of our trade, and the interruption of our navigation, as of the great debts of the nation, which, we are surprised to observe, have been very much increased since the conclusion of the last war. We do not, therefore, doubt, that if the ensuing elections shall be made by our loving subjects, with that safety and freedom, which by law they are entitled to, and we are firmly resolved to maintain to them, they will send up to parliament the fittest persons to redress the present disorders, and to provide for the peace and happiness of our kingdoms, and the ease of our

people for the future, and therein will have a particular regard to such as showed a firmness to the protestant succession when it was most in danger. We have, therefore, found it necessary, as well for the causes aforesaid, as for other weighty considerations concerning us and our kingdoms, to call a new parliament; and we do, accordingly, declare, that, with the advice of our privy council, we have this day given orders," &c. &c. This was plain speaking, and too true to be flatly denied; but it awakened the utmost indignation in the whole body of the tories, and they met it by a charge of undue interference with the freedom of elections, which they themselves immediately violated in every instance where it was in their power. Sheriffs, in many places, they forcibly prevented from doing their duty, and many false returns were made, by which means a number of the ministerial tories were returned, and among others Thomas Forster of Bamborough, whom we shall soon meet at the head of an army, arrayed against his lawful sovereign, to whom he had sworn fealty, and in behalf of the chevalier, whom he had solemnly abjured.

From the limited nature of the elective franchise in Scotland, it was impossible to carry on elections there with the same mischievous effect as in England, but nothing that could be thought upon, as tending to promote sedition, or forward rebellion, was neglected. The weight of taxation, occasioned by the Union, was strongly insisted upon as calling for the united exertions of all who wished well to their country, for having that ruinous treaty, as it was still denominated, speedily dissolved; and it was proposed that no one should be chosen as a representative, either for peers or commons, who was not known to be determined on the immediate prosecution of that measure; and, for a moment, this seemed to be an almost universal feeling. It was soon, however, discovered that the Jacobites were every where exerting themselves with uncommon zeal, and the more moderate party, rightly suspecting that the ruin of the Scotish church, and the setting aside the protestant succession, so auspiciously established in the person of George I., were objects which they had more at heart than the delivering of the country from any of its miseries, either real or pretended, wisely refused

to concur with them. The elections of course went on for the most part smoothly, and the members returned were almost to a man firm friends to the succession as now established, though some of them were very desirous, could they have been certain of a proper time and a fair opportunity, to have seen a dissolution of the Union, which, it must be confessed, had not as yet realized the sanguine expectations either of its projectors or supporters.

Inverness was, perhaps, the only place in Scotland where the Jacobites attempted to carry their purpose into effect by force, and they were utterly unsuccessful, from one of these singular combinations, which, we have already seen, and shall often have occasion again to see, attended the unfortunate pretender at almost every step of his progress. The government candidate was the honourable John Forbes of Culloden, a person of known loyalty, and universally beloved. He was opposed by Mackenzie of Prestonhall, who, to compel the Frazers to vote for him, brought Glengary and a great assemblage of papists in his train. Culloden, however, carried the day through the influence of his neighbour, brigadier general Grant, and Simon Frazer of Beaufort, the famous lord Lovat, who had just escaped from France, and was doing his utmost to obtain the countenance of the British government,* and by that means the estate of Lovat, and the chieftainship of the Frazers. Of the estate of Lovat, Prestonhall was at this time in possession, and he laid claim to be head of the Frazers also, having married the baroness of Lovat, eldest daughter of Hugh, late lord Lovat, in whose person, it was decreed by the court of session in 1702, were the honours and dignity of Lovat. Prestonhall, in consequence, assumed the name of Frazer, and the title of Frazerdale;+ but the greater part of the Frazers refusing to submit to him, signed an address to the king, and made a full resignation of their clan to the duke of Argyle as their chief, at the very time when all the other clans were signing the address to his majesty in favour of high church and the

* Memoirs of the Life of Lord Lovat, written by himself, pp. 452, 453. + Douglas' Peerage of Scotland, by Wood, vol. ii. p. 159.