should be reduced, and the Dutch auxiliaries sent back to their own country-demanded of the commons such supplies as should be found necessary for the defence of the kingdom. Both houses in return addressed his majesty in terms highly complimentary. They praised his prudence "in attempting to repair, by new conventions with foreign potentates, the gross defects of the treacherous and dishonourable treaty of Utrecht; and they expressed the utmost horror and indignation at the malice and ingratitude of those who still continued to encourage the invasion of the country by a foreign enemy." Addresses of the same tenor were presented from the dissenting ministers, and from the university of Cambridge. The commons passed a bill, prohibiting all commerce with Sweden; they voted ten thousand seamen for the ensuing year, and about a million of money for the maintenance of guards, garrisons, and land forces. They likewise voted four and twenty thousand pounds for the payment of four battalions of Munster, and two of Saxe-Gotha, which the king had taken into his service, to supply the place of such as might be, during the rebellion, withdrawn from the garrisons of the States General to the assistance of England. All this, however, was supposed to be insufficient, and his majesty sent a message for an extraordinary supply, that he might be the better able to meet the dangers with which his kingdoms were threatened from Sweden, which was also complied with, though not without many severe remarks from the opposition. Among other sarcastic questions, it was pertinently asked by a member, How this nation, so lately the terror of France and Spain, came to be in so much alarm for an adversary so inconsiderable as the king of Sweden? The king of Sweden was not now, indeed, in a condition for any such extensive undertaking. By the extravagance of his measures, he had dissipated his armies, and reduced his kingdom to the very brink of ruin. An exhausted exchequer, decaying commerce, and a starving population, must have repressed, even in the bosom of Charles himself, however romantic his views, or however generous his feelings, an idea so extravagant and so hopeless. It is not at all improbable, however, that Charles and his advisers-if he ever listened to advice-intended to profit by the credulity of James and his friends, in order to raise those supplies that were wanted much nearer home, and would have been applied to a very different purpose, than that of overturning the throne of England. This view of the matter is strongly countenanced by Lockhart, who says, "there was a surmise that the king [James] had some hopes of gaining the king of Sweden to espouse his cause, and the first notice to be depended on was a letter from the earl of Marr, to captain Straiton, which he directed to be communicated to the bishop of Edinburgh, the lord Balmarino, and myself; wherein he signified, that if five or six thousand bolls of meal could be purchased by the king's friends, and sent to Sweden, where there was a great scarcity, it would be of great service to the king. But we foresaw so many difficulties in raising a sum of money sufficient for it, -most of those who formerly would have contributed to the king, being exiles, or forfeited; and such as were not so, nevertheless in great straits, by the losses they sustained, and the depredations of their estates during the war, and by the great charges they were at in supporting their distressed friends abroad and at home,—and withal so impracticable to collect and embark such a quantity of meal, without being discovered, and creating some suspicion in the government, that we could not think of undertaking it with any hopes of success."* This scheme having failed, as any person of common understanding, in the least acquainted with the state of Scotland at the time, would have anticipated, an attempt was made, not much more hopeful, to raise a sum of money. A letter from Marr, directed to the same persons, in the same manner as the former, and not long after it, assured them that "there was a design to restore his majesty by the assistance of a certain pious prince, and as the want of ready money to be employed when the king's service required it, had hitherto been a great impediment to his affairs, he wished we could fall on ways to persuade his friends to have in readiness what sums they severally could afford, and would venture in his cause when a fair opportunity offered. This, for the reasons above narrated, was a matter of the greatest difficulty, and, as the other three persons [captain * Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 7, 8. Straiton, bishop Fullarton, and lord Balmarino] were, either by the bad state of their healths, or other circumstances no ways fit to go about as agents in such an affair, the burden,” says Lockhart, 66 was laid upon me, and I had much better success than I expected, having got assurances in the most solemn manner, from several persons of honour, that they would take care to be in a condition to answer his majesty's call. The earl of Eglinton offered three thousand guineas, and signified so much by a letter to the king, and the others would amongst them have advanced a good round sum." This was all well, but there was a notice at the same time sent both to the king and the earl of Marr, that probably rendered it as good as nothing for their purpose. The notice was this, "That as this country, did not abound in riches, and that the loyal party were less now than ever in a condition to raise money, they were humbly of opinion, that nothing of this kind should be demanded from them, but when matters were so well concerted, and so far advanced, that the main stroke was to be struck." The above seems to have concluded the negotiations in Scotland with regard to the king of Sweden, who was shortly after killed by a cannon ball, or, as some say, shot from his own trenches, at the siege of Frederickstadt, in Norway. "The Scots tories were obliged at this time", as Lockhart remarks, "to keep themselves very quiet, and lived in the most retired manner, for many who were not actually in arms, had by other ways been assistant to the royal cause as their circumstances allowed, and occasions offered, and none of that complexion," he adds, with a virulency, that in a partizan of his temper and standing is perhaps excuseable, could tell how far even innocence was sufficient to protect them against a set of vindictive and blood-thirsty men." Of course the historian of Scotland finds almost nothing at this period to record. The trial of Oxford, who had been a prisoner in the Tower for nearly two years, came on on the twenty-fourth day of June, and in consequence of dissensions between the two houses of parliament, he was acquitted. The commons, however, presented an address to the king, praying that he might be excepted from the Act of Grace that was about to be passed, which his majesty promised • Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 7, 8. them should be done. By virtue of this said act, which was passed on the fifteenth of July, the earl of Carnwath, and the lords Widdrington and Nairn were discharged, together with all the gentlemen under sentence of death in Newgate, and also all, who, on account of the rebellion, were confined in the Fleet, the Marshalsea, and other prisons in the kingdom. From this indulgence were excepted the earl of Oxford, Mr. Prior, Mr. Thomas Harley, Mr. Arthur Moore, Crisp, Nodes, Obryan, Redmarne the printer, Thompson, the assassinators in Newgate, and the clan Macgregor in Scotland. In the next session of parliament, which met in November, a bill was passed for vesting the forfeited estates in Britain and Ireland in the hands of trustees, to be sold for the benefit of the public, for giving relief to the creditors upon these estates by determining their claims, and for bringing more effectually into the respective exchequers, the rents and profits of the estates till sold. Longer time was also allowed for the different claims to be given in, and out of the sale of the estates in Scotland, twenty thousand pounds were reserved for the erection of schools, and eight thousand for building barracks in that kingdom.* * Annals of George I. Smollett's History, &c. &c. The following is an Abstract of the Rental of the greater part of the Forfeited Estates Real, lying in Scotland, taken by the Surveyor, and his Deputy, upon the oaths of the several Tenants, Possessors, &c. by order of the Commissioners of Enquiry, in the years 1716, and 1717. The General Assembly was convened at Edinburgh the second of May, 1717, John, earl of Rothes, commissioner, Mr. William Mitchell, moderator. After exchanging the usual compliments with his majesty, which was done in the usual form, Money, Rent payable in money, L.702 12 2 87 7 4 L.864 19 6 9.-Estate of Sir Hugh Paterson, late of Bannockburn. Money, Rent payable in money, Barley, 78 bolls, 2 firlots, at 10s. 6d. per boll, 41 4 2 Malt, 20 bells, at do. per boll, 10 10 0 ... Oats, 27 bolls, 3 firlots, at do. per 14 11 3 48 0 8 The principal part of the Tenants of this Estate pay the tenth lamb, and tenth fleece of wool. 13.-Estate of Major-General Gordon, late of duchintowl. Money, Rent payable in money, L.147 18 6 L.281 17 7 Barley 25 bolls, at 6s. 11d. per boll, 8 12 11 Oatmeal, 501 bolls, 1 firlot, 3 pecks, at do. 173 8 2 Wethers, 24, at 3s. 4d per wether, Lambs, 15, at 1s. 1d. per lamb, Capons, 152, at 4d. each.-Hens, 282, at Sd. each, Chickens, 120, at 1d. each, 2 5 5 14 3 6 L.412 12 7 9 leats, at 4s. per leat, Peats, 36 foot, 1d. per foot, 12 loads, at 2d per foot 116 0 0 S 0 020 |