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CHAPTER XVIII

The Affairs of Europe, from the Establishment of the Hanoverian Succession in England, to the year 1740.

Arrived at a period of comparative repose, we may now take a retrospective glance at the affairs of Great Britain. In 1707, Scotland and England had been united under this appellation and the act of union introduced equal rights, liberties, commercial arrangements, and a parliament common to both nations. During the life of William III. the protestant succession had been decided, by act of parliament, in favor of the countess palatine Sophia, duchess of Hanover, wife of the first elec- , duchess of Hanover, wife of the first electoral sovereign of that territory and mother of George I. This princess died a short time before queen Anne; and George I., upon that event, took the oath of succession, by which he engaged to observe and maintain the laws and liberties of Britain; not to engage that kingdom even in defensive wars, on account of his electorate and to employ no other than British ministers and privy counsellors in the administration of the government.

As George I. in a great measure owed his succession to the crown to the Whig party, he openly avowed himself their friend and patron; and they were no sooner in office than they used their power to crush their political adversaries, the Tories. One of the first acts of his reign was the impeachment of the duke of Ormond and the lords Oxford and Bolingbroke. Oxford was committed to the Tower, but Bolingbroke and Ormond made their escape to the continent. The evident partiality of the monarch for the Whigs and their vindictive proceedings gave great umbrage to many persons and roused the anger of all who were favorable to the Stuart dynasty. These feelings more especially prevailed in the Highlands of Scotland, and a plan was formed for a general insurrection in favor of the Pretender, whom they proclaimed, under the title of James III. By the authority of the prince the earl of Mar had raised his standard, and the clans quickly crowded to it, so that he was soon at the head of 9,000 men, including several noblemen and other persons of distinction. But their plans were prematurely formed and their want of unanimity in conducting the necessary operaunanimity in conducting the necessary operations proved fatal to the cause in which they were embarked. They were attacked and completely routed by the royal forces at Preston Pans, A.D. 1716. The Pretender and the earl of Mar effected their escape, but most of the insurgent chiefs and officers 4 escape, but most of the insurgent chiefs and officers were doomed to suffer death as traitors. The rebellion being thus suppressed, an act was passed for making parliaments septennial instead of triennial.

We now return to the affairs of Spain and other continental states. We have seen that the death of the emperor and the accession of the archduke Charles to the imperial throne left Philip V. undisputed master of Spain and of its colonies. His first queen being dead, he married Elizabeth Farnese, heiress of Parma, Tuscany and Plahaving a powerful influence over the mind of her husband and being herself directed by the daring cardinal Alberoni, his prime minister, indulged in the prospect of recovering those possessions which had been wrested from Spain and confirmed by the peace of Utrecht. The schemes of Alberoni, in fact, went much farther. By the aid of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter I. of Russia, he designed to change the political condition of Europe; he desired to restore the Stuarts to the throne of England; to store the Stuarts to the throne of England; to deprive the duke of Orleans of the reinterference of the emperor by engaging the Turks to assail his dominions. These ambitious projects were defeated by what was termed the "quadruple alliance" (A. D. 1716 ) between Austria, France, England and Holland. The court of Spain for a time resisted this powerful confederacy, but its disasters by land and sea compelled Philip to accede to the terms which were offered to him, and Alberoni was dismissed A. D. 1720. cluded between the king of Spain and the emperor; and another, for the express pur- A private treaty was afterwards conpose of counteracting it, was concluded between England, France, Holland, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden. This led to a short war between England and Spain: the English sent a fleet to the West Indies to block up the galleons in Porto Bello, and the Spaniards made an unsuccessful attack on Gibraltar. Neither party having gained by the rupture, the meditation of France was accepted, and a treaty was concluded at Seville, by which all the conditions of the quadruple alliance were ratified and confirmed. One of its articles providing that Don Carlos, son of the queen of Spain, should succeed to Parma and Placentia, the Spanish troops now took formal possesion of those territories. It was also agreed that the "pragmatic sanction," or law by which the emperor secured the succession of the Austrian dominions to his female heirs, in failure of male issue, should be guaranteed by the contracting powers.