PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.
The duke of Shrewsbury being nominated lord-lieutenant of Ireland, assembled the parliament of that kingdom on the twenty-fifth day of November, and found the two houses still at variance, on the opposite principles of whig and tory. Allan Broderick being chosen speaker of the commons, they ordered a bill to be brought in to attaint the pretender and all his adherents. They prosecuted Edward Lloyd for publishing a book entitled, “Memoirs of the chevalier de St. George;” and they agreed upon an address to the queen, to remove from the chancellorship sir Constantine Phipps, who had countenanced the tories of that kingdom. The lords, however, resolved that chancellor Phipps had, in his several stations, acquitted himself with honour and integrity. The two houses of convocation presented an address to the same purpose. They likewise complained of Mr. Molesworth for having insulted them, by saying, when they appeared in the castle of Dublin, “They that have turned the world upside down are come hither also:” and he was removed from the privy-council. The duke of Shrewsbury received orders to prorogue this parliament, which was divided against itself, and portended nothing but domestic broils. Then he obtained leave to return to England, leaving chancellor Phipps, with the archbishop of Armagh and Tuam, justices of the kingdom.
ANNE, 1701—1714
NEW PARLIAMENT IN ENGLAND.
The parliament of England had been dissolved; and the elections were managed in such a manner as to retain the legislative power in the hands of the tories; but the meeting of the new parliament was delayed by repeated prorogations to the tenth day of December; a delay partly owing to the queen’s indisposition; and partly to the contests among her ministers. Oxford and Bolingbroke were competitors for power, and rivals in reputation for ability. The treasurer’s parts were deemed the more solid; the secretary’s more shining; but both ministers were aspiring and ambitious. The first was bent upon maintaining the first rank in the administration, which he had possessed since the revolution in the ministry; the other disdained to act as a subaltern to the man whom he thought he excelled in genius, and equalled in importance. They began to form separate cabals, and adopt different principles. Bolingbroke insinuated himself into the confidence of lady Masham, to whom Oxford had given some cause of disgust. By this communication he gained ground in the good opinion of his sovereign, while the treasurer lost it in the same proportion. Thus she who had been the author of his elevation, was now used as the instrument of his disgrace. The queen was sensibly affected with these dissensions, which she interposed her advice and authority, by turns, to appease; but their mutual animosity continued to rankle under an exterior accommodation. The interest of Bolingbroke was powerfully supported by sir Simon Harcourt, the chancellor, sir William Wyndham, and Mr. Secretary Bromley. Oxford perceived his own influence was on the wane, and began to think of retirement. Meanwhile the earl of Peterborough was appointed ambassador to the king of Sicily, and set out for Turin. The queen retired to Windsor, where she was seized with a very dangerous inflammatory fever. The hopes of the Jacobites visibly rose; the public funds immediately fell; a great run was made upon the bank, the directors of which were overwhelmed with consternation, which was not a little increased by the reports of an armament equipped in the ports of France. They sent one of their members to represent to the treasurer the danger that threatened the public credit. The queen being made acquainted with these occurrences, signed a letter to sir Samuel Stancer, lord-mayor of London, declaring, that now she was recovered of her late indisposition, she would return to the place of her usual residence, and open the parliament on the sixteenth day of February. This intimation she sent to her loving subjects of the city of London, to the intent that all of them, in their several stations, might discountenance those malicious rumours, spread by evil-minded persons, to the prejudice of credit, and the eminent hazard of the public peace and tranquillity. The queen’s recovery, together with certain intelligence that the armament was a phantom, and the pretender still in Lorraine, helped to assuage the ferment of the nation, which had been industriously raised by party-writings. Mr. Richard Steele published a performance, intituled, “The Crisis,” in defence of the revolution and the protestant establishment, and enlarging upon the danger of a popish successor. On the other hand, the hereditary right to the crown of England was asserted in a large volume, supposed to be written with a view to pave the way for the pretender’s accession. One Bedford was apprehended, tried, convicted, and severely punished, as the publisher of this treatise.
TREATY OF RASTADT BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND FRANCE.
While England was harrassed by these intestine commotions, the emperor, rejecting the terms of peace proposed by France, resolved to maintain the war at his own expense, with the assistance of the empire. His forces on the Rhine commanded by prince Eugene, were so much out-numbered by the French under Villars, that they could not prevent the enemy from reducing the two important fortresses of Landau and Fribourg. His imperial majesty hoped that the death of Queen Anne, or that of Louis XIV. would produce an alteration in Europe that might be favourable to his interest; and he depended on the conduct and fortune of prince Eugene for some lucky event in war. But finding himself disappointed in all these expectations, and absolutely unable to support the expense of another campaign, he hearkened to overtures of peace that were made by the electors of Cologn and Palatine; and conferences were opened at the castle of Al-Rastadt, between prince Eugene and mareschal de Villars, on the twenty-sixth day of November. In the beginning of February these ministers separated, without seeming to have come to any conclusion; but all the articles being settled between the two courts of Vienna and Versailles, they met again in the latter end of the month: the treaty was signed on the third day of March, and orders were sent to the governors and commanders on both sides to desist from all hostilities. By this treaty, the French king yielded to the emperor old Brisac, with all its dependencies, Fribourg, the forts in the Brisgau and Black Forest, together with Fort Khel. He engaged to demolish the fortifications opposite to Huningen, the fort of Sellingen, and all between that and Fort Louis. The town and fortress of Landau were ceded to the king of France, who acknowledged the elector of Hanover. The electors of Bavaria and Cologn were restored to all their dignities and dominions. The emperor was put in immediate possession of the Spanish Netherlands; and the king of Prussia was permitted to retain the high quarters of Guelders. Finally, the contracting parties agreed that a congress should be opened on the first of May, at Baden in Switzerland, for terminating all differences; and prince Eugene and mareschal de Villars were appointed their first plenipotentiaries.
The ratifications of the treaty between Great Britain and Spain being exchanged, the peace was proclaimed on the first day of March, in London; and the articles were not disagreeable to the English nation. The kingdoms of France and Spain were separated for ever. Philip acknowledged the protestant succession, and renounced the pretender. He agreed to a renewal of the treaty of navigation and commerce concluded in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty seven. He granted an exclusive privilege to the English for furnishing the Spanish West Indies with negroes, according to the assiento contract.*