Volume I Part 2 (1/2)
James Duke of Hae His youth had been passed in the gay court of Charles the Second, as one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber of that monarch,--an office which he only relinquished to become A enough to serve in two cans under Louis the Fourteenth Upon the death of Charles the Second, Louis reco noblely and essentially to James the Second, who made him Master of his Wardrobe, and appointed him to other offices
Under these circu that in the honest and wars of the Duke of Hamilton, affection for the Stuarts should fore to adhere fireneral obloquy, and to accompany the monarch on his abdication to his euish,” he said, at aof the Scottish nobility in London, over which his father, the Duke of Ha's popery and his person I dislike the one, but have sworn to do allegiance to the other, which makes it i is the King ht: for his present absence in France can no er absence fro these professions, upon the unfortunate conclusion of the affair of Darien, the Earl of Arran, after twice encountering imprisonment upon account of the Stuarts, estee William, in order to qualify himself to sit in Parliament
The character of the Duke of Hamilton presents a favourable specimen of the well-principled and well-intentioned Scotched virtues and obvious defects of the national character He was disinterested in great e, and bearing for the first eight years of his public career, a retire to an aer; yet, it was supposed, and not without reason, that, whilst his heart ith the Cavaliers, or country party, the considerations of his great estate in England occasioned a lukewarmness in his political conduct, and broke down his opposition to the Union
Wary and cautious, he could thus sacrifice his present hopes of a distinction which his talents would have readily attained, to his adherence to a lost cause; but his resolution failed when the sacrifice of what ht deem inferior interests, was required
The Duke soon formed a considerable party in the Parliarew daily To those to who; but a suspicion of an insult recalled the native haughtiness attributable to his house[32] ”Frank, honest, and good-natured,” as he was estee on his dark, coarse countenance, the characteristics of good sense and energy, the Duke was a bitter and vindictive foe[33]--characteristics of his age, and of a nation undoubtedly prone to wreak a singular and ree on all who offend the hereditary pride, or ainst the prejudices of its people
Endoith these qualities, the whole career of Jale between his love for his country, and his consideration for what he esteemed its truest interests, and his desire to support the claims of the royal family of Stuart His political career has been criticised by writers of every faction; but ittaken place in tiiven to the reater portion of his life, forbearance and consistency ”Had not his loyalty been so unalterable,” writes Lockhart, ”and that he would never engage in King William's and his Government's service, and his love to his country induced hiland's injustice and encroachure in the world as any other whatsoever, and that either in a civil or military capacity”[34] ”The Duke of Hamilton's love for his country,” observes a contemptuous, anony Jaed him in several plots to restore that prince, and with him, tyranny and idolatry, poverty and slavery”[35] Upon the odious principle of always seeking out for the lowest and the most selfish motive that can actuate the conduct of ht by weak and bad e of the world, but which, in fact, norance,--another part of his conduct was ed The reluctance of the Duke of Haland, before fra ”the Commerce of Scotland and other Concerns,” was ascribed byto the Crown, since, in case of the exclusion of the Princess Sophia and her descendants, his family was the next in succession, of the Protestant Faith Such was one of the reasons assigned for the wise endeavour which this nobledon of Anne, and such the motive adduced for his advice to the Chevalier to maintain terms of amity with his royal sister It was the cause caluned of his supposed decline in attach the inference thus deduced, the Duke of Haree, popular applause and the favour of Queen Anne, until his tragical death in 1712 occurring just before the Rebellion of 1715, spared hi on which side he should embark in that perilous and ill-omened insurrection
This celebrated statesman,--one who never entered into a newthereof,” says Lockhart, ”he was too cautious”) that he did not prosecute his designs with a courage that nothing could daunt,--now determined to win over the Earl of Mar from the Duke of Queensbury The Duke of Hamilton was the more induced to the attempt, from the frequent protestations made by the Earl of Mar of his love for the exiled fa this now important ally with all the skill which experience and shrewdness could supply Has, and was master of a penetration which no one could withstand ”Never was,” writes Lockhart, ”a man so qualified to be the head of a party as hireatest dexterity, apply hih, the inclinations of different parties, and so cunningly ained some of all to his” But the Dukeintothe will of others to his own projects In the encounter of these two minds, the Duke is said to have been worsted and disarmed; and the Earl of Mar, by his insinuations, is suspected to have reat leader of party ”I have good reason to suppose,” says Lockhart, ”that his Grace's appearing with less zeal and forwardness in this ensuing than in forreement passed between them two”[37]
For the effect of his newly-acquired influence over the Duke of Ha the Union, the Earl of Mar was a the Parliament of 1705, he was constituted one of the Co third on the list In 1706, he was appointed one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland; and afterwards, upon the loss of that office, in consequence of the Union between the two countries, he was conet, with the addition of a pension[38]
Those ere the promoters of the Treaty eneral opprobriunant populace converted the name of ”Treaters” into Traitors: the Parlia the ”Traitors” That picturesque enclosure, since destroyed by fire, was crowded by a vehement multitude, who rushed into the outer Parliament House to denounce the Duke of Queensbury and his party, and to cheer the Duke of Hamilton, who hi him of support The tumults were, indeed, soon quelled by military force; but the deliberations of Parliaeance upon the ”Traitors:” and the eloquence ofthe whole session, by all the h could coed to walk ”as if he had been led to the gallows,”[39] through two lanes of musqueteers, from the Parliament House to the Cross, where his coach stood; no coaches, nor any person as not aallowed to enter the Parliae to the Abbey, surrounded both by horse and foot guards
On the 1st of May, 1707, the Articles of Union were ratified by the Parlialand That day has been set down by the opponents of the otten by Scotland,--the loss of their independence and sovereignty Superstitionupon some date adverse to the Stuarts On the fourth of November the first Article of the Union was approved; on a fourth of Novehth of January the Peerage was renounced; on an eighth of January was the warrant for the Murder at Glencoe signed The ratification of the Article of Union was on the sixteenth of January On a sixteenth of January was the sentence of Charles the First pronounced The dissolution of the Scottish Parlia to the Old Style, New Year's Day: that concession lish
Finally,--The Equivalent, or Compensation Money, that is, ”the price of Scotland,” caust, the day on which the Earl of Gowrie designed to murder James the Sixth[40]
The discontents and tuhout the whole country, and pervaded all ranks of people Yet it is remarkable, that the nobility of Scotland should have been the first to fail in their opposition to the ether with the lowest of the people, should have been fore to the independence of their country The very nah there reland, little more than ”a vain shadow of a nadom”[41] It was in vain that the Duke of Ha of the debates on this las,” not to desert their country: the opposition to the Union was bought over, withsent over to the Lords Commissioners to employ in this manner, twelve thousand pounds of which were, however, returned to the English Treasury, there being no more ould accept the bribe The Earl of Mar and the Earl of Seafield had privately secured their oard, having bargained ”for greater dom of Scotland stood in safety”[42]
Anity, it is a to find that this Union of the two countries could be dee others, considered it in that light ”Swift's hatred to the Scottish nation,” observes Sir Walter Scott, ”led hireat resentland The Scottish themselves hardly detested the ideaas much as possible”[43]
Swift vented his wrath in the verses beginning with these lines:
”The Queen has lately lost a part Of her entirely-English heart,[44]
For want of which, by way of botch, She piec'd it up again with Scotch
Blest Revolution! which creates Divided hearts, united states!
See how the double nation lies Like a rich coat with skirts of frize: As if aposies, Should bundle thistles up with roses!”
That the conduct of Lord Mar throughout this Treaty was regarded with avowed suspicion, the following anecdote tends to confirm: Lord Godolphin, at that ti to taainst the Queensbury faction, sent to offer that individual a place if he would discover to hiht be broken But the gentlee the Lord Treasurer's agent ”not to think that he was treating with such men as Mar and Seafield”[45]
At this time the Earl of Mar was said to be in the full enjoyment of Lord Godolphin's confidence, and to have been one of those whoovernment of Scotland The ru in his native country; and the Earl appears to have passed ardens of Alloa
It was not long before the effects of the general discontent were manifested in the desire of the majority of the Scottish nation to restore the descendant of their ancient kings to the throne, and even the Ca to pass over the objection of his being a Papist ”God may convert the Prince,” they said, ”or he ood”[46] The middle orders openly expressed their anxiety to welcoarded as a deliverer: the nobility and gentry, though more cautious, yet were equally desirous to see the honour of their nation, in their own sense of it, restored
Episcopalians, Cavaliers, and Revolutionists, were unanimous, or, to use the Scots' proverb, ”were all onewas soon communicated to St Gerotiations, was, according to the writer of the Me, and palmed upon the court of St
Germains, and dispatched to sound the intentions of the principal Scottish nobility” This agent arrived in Scotland in theassurances of aid to Jaentleed in a very different undertaking, and was in close a party
The spring of 1708 discovered the designs of Louis, and the news of great preparations at Dunkirk spread consternation in England At this juncture, the first in which the son of James the Second was called upon to play a part in that drama of which he was the ill-starred hero, the usual fate of his race befel hi to pass over alone to the Firth of Forth He was attacked by the measles; at a still more critical ue: both of thenoble diseases, which seem to have little concern with the affairs of royalty
The delay of the Prince's illness, although shortened by the pere to proceed, was fatal, for the English fleet had time to make preparations A storm drove the French fleet northwards; in the tempest the unfortunate adventurer passed the Firth of Forth and Aberdeen; and although the fleet retraced its course to the Isle of May, it was only to flee back to France, daunted as the French adlish fleet, who chased the eneus It was shortly after this event that the Pretender, upon whose head a price of a hundred thousand pounds was set by the English Governe, in order to spare hin in Flanders