The references to modern Jacobites in the Parliament at Westminster began, however, now to be fewer and far between. There was not, on the other hand, much additional respect expressed for ‘the happy establishment.’ On an occasion in 1752, when 22,000l. were about to be voted as a subsidy to the Elector of Saxony, some of ‘the electoral family’ seem to have been present in the House. Beckford, as outspoken as Shippen of old, saw his opportunity and remarked: ‘I am here as an English gentleman; as such, I have the right to talk freely of the greatest subject of the King, and much more of the greatest subject of any foreign state. If there be any persons in the House, belonging to any Princes of Germany, they ought not to be here; and, if they are, they must take it for their pains;—for, their presence, I hope, will not keep any member in such an awe as to prevent him from freely speaking.’ The subsidy, however, was granted.
The principles of the men who surrounded the young Prince of Wales became of absorbing interest,—for pure, as well as party, reasons. Bubb Dodington, in December, 1752, speaks in his Diary of an anonymous manifesto, which was in fact a remonstrance to the king from the Whig nobility and gentry, against the method according to which the heir to the throne was being educated; and also against the arbitrary principles of the men then in power; but especially that ‘there was a permanency of power placed in three men whom they looked upon as dangerous; and that these three men entirely trusted and were governed by two others, one of whom had the absolute direction of the Prince, and was of a Tory family, and bred in arbitrary principles; and the other, who was bred a professed Jacobite, of a declared Jacobite family, and whose brother, now at Rome, was a favourite of the Pretender, and even his Secretary of State. In short, the corollary was, that Murray, Solicitor-General, and Stone, governed the country.’ A copy of this anti-Jacobite declaration reached the king’s hands. ‘What was the effect,’ says the diarist, ‘I can’t tell; but I know they were very much intrigued to find out whence it came, and who was the author.’
LORD EGMONT ON JACOBITES.
In 1753, in the debate in the Commons on the number of land forces to be raised and paid for during that year, Lord Egmont made a speech, the immediate report of which must have raised surprise and anger in St. James’s Street and Pall Mall. That Lord Egmont should denounce increase in the number of men was to be expected, but the Jacobites hardly expected from him such a blow as was dealt in the following words:—‘I am sure the old pretence of Jacobitism can now furnish no argument for keeping up a numerous army in time of peace, for they met with such a rebuff in their last attempt that I am convinced they will never make another, whatever sovereign possesses, as his Majesty does, the hearts and affections of all the rest of his subjects, especially as they must now be convinced, however much France may encourage them to rebel, she will never give them any effectual assistance.’
IN BOTH HOUSES.
It is observable that the Jacobites began to be spoken of in less unworthy tones by their antagonists than before. The Pope and ‘Papists’ were referred to in no unbecoming phrases. Indeed, the English ‘Catholics’ were never rancorously assailed. The popular spirit was (and is) against that Ultramontanism which would stop at no crime to secure its own triumph; which recognises no law, no king, no country, but Roman, and which, asserting licence for itself, is the bitter and treacherous enemy of every civil and religious liberty. The Earl of Bath reflected the better spirit that prevailed when, in 1753, in the debate on the Bill for annexing the forfeited estates in Scotland to the Crown (which ultimately passed), he said, ‘I wish national prejudices were utterly extinguished. We ought to live like brothers, for we have long lived under the same sovereign, and are now firmly united not only into one kingdom, but into one and the same general interest; therefore, the question ought never to be, who are English? or, who are Scots? but, who are most capable and most diligent in the service of their King and Country.’
One reference to the rebellion was made in the House of Commons, in 1754, in the debate on the propriety of extending the action of the Mutiny Bill to the East Indies. Murray, the Solicitor- (soon after the Attorney-) General, observed, ‘His present Majesty will not attempt it’ (proclaim martial law, under any circumstance, independently of parliament), ‘as no such thing was thought of during the late Rebellion, notwithstanding the immense danger we should have been in, had His Royal Highness and troops from Flanders been detained but a few weeks by contrary winds.’
JACOBITE HEALTHS.
Although there was plotting in 1753, and mischief was a-foot, and Government spies were far from having an idle time of it, the royal family lived in comparative quiet, save one passing episode connected with a charge laid, in the month of March, against Bishop Johnson, of Gloucester, Murray (Solicitor-General), and Stone (one of the sub-preceptors to the Princes George and Edward)—as Jacobites—of having had, as Walpole puts it, ‘an odd custom of toasting the Chevalier and my Lord Dunbar (Murray’s brother and one of the Chevalier’s peers) at one Vernon’s, a merchant, about twenty years ago. The Pretender’s counterpart (the King) ordered the Council to examine into it.’ The accuser, Fawcett, a lawyer, prevaricated. ‘Stone and Murray,’ says Walpole, ‘took the Bible, on their innocence. Bishop Johnson scrambled out of the scrape at the very beginning; and the Council have reported to the King that the accusation was false and malicious.’
Vernon was in reality a linen-draper. Few people doubted the alleged drinking of Jacobite healths at his house. The dowager Princess of Wales told Bubb Dodington that her late husband had told her that Stone was a Jacobite,—the prince was convinced of it, and when affairs went ill abroad, he used to say to her in a passion: How could better be expected when such a Jacobite as Stone could be trusted?