The parliament having assembled pursuant to the act which regulated the succession, the lord chancellor, on the fifth day of August, made a speech to both houses in the name of the regency. He told them that the privy-council appointed by the elector of Brunswick had proclaimed that prince under the name of king George, as the lawful and rightful sovereign of these kingdoms; and that they had taken the necessary care to maintain the public peace. He observed, that the several branches of the public revenue were expired by the demise of her late majesty; and recommended to the commons the making such provision, in that respect, as might be requisite to support the honour and dignity of the crown. He likewise expressed his hope that they would not be wanting in anything that might conduce to the establishing and advancing of the public credit. Both houses immediately agreed to addresses, containing the warmest expressions of duty and affection to their new sovereign, who did not fail to return such answers as were very agreeable to the parliament of Great Britain. In the meantime the lower house prepared and passed a bill, granting to his majesty the same civil list which the queen had enjoyed, with additional clauses for the payment of arrears due to the troops of Hanover which had been in the service of Great Britain; and for a reward of one hundred thousand pounds, to be paid by the treasury to any person who should apprehend the pretender in landing, or attempting to land, in any part of the British dominions. Mr. Craggs, who had been despatched to Hanover before the queen died, returning on the thirteenth day of August with letters from the king to the regency, they went to the house of peers; then the chancellor, in another speech to both houses, intimated his majesty’s great satisfaction in the loyalty and affection which his people had universally expressed at his accession. Other addresses were voted on this occasion. The commons finished the bill for the civil list, and one for making some alterations in an act for a state-lottery, which received the royal assent from the lords-justices. Then the parliament was prorogued.
THE ELECTORAL PRINCE CREATED PRINCE OF WALES.
Mr. Prior having notified the queen’s death to the court of Versailles, Louis declared that he would inviolably maintain the treaty of peace concluded at Utrecht, particularly with relation to the settlement of the British crown in the house of Hanover. The earl of Strafford having signified the same event to the states of Holland, and the resident of Hanover having presented them with a letter, in which his master claimed the performance of their guarantee, they resolved to perform their engagements, and congratulated his electoral highness on his succession to the throne of Great Britain. They invited him to pass through their dominions, and assured him that his interests were as dear to them as their own. The chevalier de St. George no sooner received the news of the queen’s death, than he posted to Versailles, where he was given to understand that the king of France expected he should quit his territories immediately; and he was accordingly obliged to return to Lorraine. By this time Mr. Murray had arrived in England from Hanover, with notice that the king had deferred his departure for some days. He brought orders to the regency to prepare a patent for creating the prince-royal prince of Wales; and for removing lord Bolingbroke from his post of secretary. The seals were taken from this minister by the dukes of Shrewsbury and Somerset, and lord Cowper, who at the same time sealed up all the doors of his office.
THE KING ARRIVES IN ENGLAND.
King George having vested the government of his German dominions in a council, headed by his brother prince Ernest, set out with the electoral prince from Herenhausen on the thirty-first day of August; and in fire days arrived at the Hague, where he conferred with the states-general. On the sixteenth day of September he embarked at Orange Polder, under convoy of an English and Dutch squadron, commanded by the earl of Berkeley, and next day arrived at the Hope. In the afternoon the yacht sailed up the river; and his majesty, with the prince, were landed from a barge at Greenwich about six in the evening. There he was received by the duke of Northumberland, captain of the life-guards, and the lords of the regency. From the landing place he walked to his house in the park, accompanied by a great number of the nobility and other persons of distinction, who had the honour to kiss his hand as they approached. When he retired to his bed-chamber, he sent for those of the nobility who had distinguished themselves by their zeal for his succession; but the duke of Ormond, the lord-chancellor, and lord Trevor, were not of the number. Next morning the earl of Oxford presented himself with an air of confidence, as if he had expected to receive some particular mark of his majesty’s favour; but he had the mortification to remain a considerable time undistinguished among the crowd, and then was permitted to kiss the king’s hand without being honoured with any other notice. On the other hand, his majesty expressed uncommon regard for the duke of Marlborough, who had lately arrived in England, as well as for all the leaders of the whig party.
GEORGE I, 1714—1727