CHAPTER III.
Bill against Atheism and Immorality postponed..... Session closed..... Alliances between Great Britain, France, and Spain..... Plague at Marseilles..... Debates in the House of Lords about Mr. Law the Projector..... Sentiments of some Lords touching the War with Spain..... Petition of the Quakers..... The Parliament dissolved..... Rumours of a Conspiracy..... The Bishop of Rochester is committed to the Tower..... New Parliament..... Declaration of the Pretender..... Report of the Secret Committee..... Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Bishop of Rochester..... Who is deprived and driven into perpetual Exile..... Proceedings against those concerned in the Lottery at Hamburgh..... Affairs of the Continent..... Clamour in Ireland on account of Wood’s Coinage..... Death of the Duke of Orleans..... An Act for lessening the Public Debts..... Philip King of Spain abdicates the Throne..... Abuses in Chancery..... Trial of the Earl of Macclesfield..... Debates about the Debts of the Civil List..... A Bill in favour of the late Lord Bolingbroke..... Treaty of Alliance between the Courts of Vienna and Madrid..... Treaty of Hanover..... Approved in Parliament..... Riots in Scotland on account of the Malt- tax..... A small Squadron sent to the Baltic..... Admiral Hosier’s Expedition to the West Indies..... Disgrace of the Duke de Ripperda..... Substance of the King’s Speech to Parliament..... Debate in the House of Lords upon the approaching Rupture with the Emperor and Spain..... Memorial of Mr. Palms, the Imperial Resident at London..... Conventions with Sweden and Hesse-Cassel..... Vote of Credit..... Siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards..... Preliminaries of Peace..... Death and Character of George I. King of Great Britain.
GEORGE I., 1714-1727
BILL AGAINST ATHEISM.
During the infatuation produced by this infamous scheme, luxury, vice, and profligacy, increased to a shocking degree of extravagance. The adventurers, intoxicated by their imaginary wealth, pampered themselves with the rarest dainties, and the most expensive wines that could be imported; they purchased the most sumptuous furniture, equipage, and apparel, though without taste or discernment; they indulged their criminal passions to the most scandalous excess; their discourse was the language of pride, insolence, and the most ridiculous ostentation; they affected to scoff at religion and morality, and even to set heaven at defiance. The earl of Nottingham complained in the house of lords of the growth of atheism, profaneness, and immorality; and a bill was brought in for suppressing blasphemy and profaneness. It contained several articles seemingly calculated to restrain the liberty granted to nonconformists by the laws of the last session: for that reason it met with violent opposition. It was supported by the archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Nottingham, lords Bathurst and Trevor, the bishops of London, Winchester, and Litchfield and Coventry. One of these said, he verily believed the present calamity occasioned by the South-Sea project, was a judgment of God on the blasphemy and profaneness of the nation. Lord Onslow replied, “That noble peer must then be a great sinner, for he has lost considerably by the South-Sea scheme.” The duke of Wharton, who had rendered himself famous by his wit and profligacy, said he was not insensible of the common opinion of the town concerning himself, and gladly seized this opportunity of vindicating his character, by declaring he was far from being a patron of blasphemy, or an enemy to religion. On the other hand, he could not but oppose the bill, because he conceived it to be repugnant to the holy scripture. Then pulling an old family bible from his pocket, he quoted several passages from the epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul; concluding with a desire that the bill might be thrown out. The earl of Peterborough declared, that though he was for a parliamentary king, yet he did not desire to have a parliamentary God, or a parliamentary religion; and, should the house declare for one of this kind, he would go to Rome and endeavour to be chosen a cardinal; for he had rather sit in a conclave than with their lordships upon those terms. After a vehement debate, the bill was postponed to a long day, by a considerable majority. The season was far advanced before the supplies were granted; and at length they were not voted with that cheerfulness and good humour which the majority had hitherto manifested on such occasions. On the sixteenth day of June, the king sent a message to the house of commons, importing, that he had agreed to pay a subsidy to the crown of Sweden, and he hoped they would enable him to make good his engagements. The leaders of the opposition took fire at this intimation. They desired to know whether this subsidy, amounting to seventy-two thousand pounds, was to be paid to Sweden over and above the expense of maintaining a strong squadron in the Baltic? Lord Molesworth observed, that, by our late conduct, we were become the allies of the whole world, and the bubbles of all our allies: for we were obliged to pay them well for their assistance. He affirmed that the treaties which had been made with Sweden at different times, were inconsistent and contradictory; that our late engagements with that crown were contrary to the treaties subsisting with Denmark, and directly opposite to the measures formerly concerted with the czar of Muscovy. He said, that in order to engage the czar to yield what he had gained in the course of the war, the king of Prussia ought to give up Stetin, and the elector of Hanover restore Bremen and Verden; that, after all, England had no business to intermeddle with the affairs of the empire; that we reaped little or no advantage by our trade to the Baltic, but that of procuring naval stores; he owned that hemp was a very necessary commodity, particularly at this juncture; but he insisted that if due encouragement were given to some of our plantations in America, we might be supplied from thence at a much cheaper rate than from Sweden and Norway. Notwithstanding these arguments, the Swedish supply was granted; and, in about three weeks, their complaisance was put to another proof. They were given to understand, by a second message, that the debts of the civil list amounted to five hundred and fifty thousand pounds; and his majesty hoped they would empower him to raise that sum upon the revenue, as he proposed it should be replaced in the civil list, and reimbursed by a deduction from the salaries and wages of all officers, as well as from the pensions and other payments from the crown. A bill was prepared for this purpose, though not without warm opposition; and, at the same time, an act passed for a general pardon. On the tenth day of August, the king closed the session with a speech, in which he expressed his concern for the sufferings of the innocent, and a just indignation against the guilty, with respect to the South-Sea scheme. These professions were judged necessary to clear his own character, which had incurred the suspicion of some people, who whispered that he was not altogether free from connexions with the projectors of that design; that the emperor had, at his desire, refused to deliver up Knight; and that he favoured the directors and their accomplices.
ALLIANCE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND SPAIN.
Lords Townshend and Carteret were now appointed Secretaries of state; and the earl of Hay was vested with the office of lord privy-seal of Scotland. In June the treaty of peace between Great Britain and Spain was signed at Madrid. The contracting parties engaged to restore mutually all the effects seized and confiscated on both sides. In particular, the king of England promised to restore all the ships of the Spanish fleet which had been taken in the Mediterranean, or the value of them, if they were sold. He likewise promised, in a secret article, that he would no longer interfere in the affairs of Italy: and the king of Spain made an absolute cession of Gibraltar and Port Mahon. At the same time a defensive alliance was concluded between Great Britain, France, and Spain. All remaining difficulties were referred to a congress at Cambray, where they hoped to consolidate a general peace, by determining all differences between the emperor and his catholic majesty. In the meantime the powers of Great Britain, France, and Spain, engaged, by virtue of the present treaty, to grant to the duke of Parma a particular protection for the preservation of his territories and rights, and for the support of his dignity. It was also stipulated that the states-general should be invited to accede to this alliance. The congress at Cambray was opened; but the demands on both sides were so high, that it proved ineffectual. In the meantime, the peace between Russia and Sweden was concluded, on condition that the czar should retain Livonia, Ingria, Estonia, part of Carelia, and of the territory of Wyburg, Riga, Revel, and Nerva, in consideration of his restoring part of Finland, and paying two millions of rix-dollars to the king of Sweden. The personal animosity subsisting between king George and the czar seemed to increase. Bastagif, the Russian resident at London, having presented a memorial that contained some unguarded expressions, was ordered to quit the kingdom in a fortnight. The czar published a declaration at Petersburgh, complaining of this outrage, which, he said, ought naturally to have engaged him to use reprisals; but as he perceived it was done without any regard to the concerns of England, and only in favour of the Hanoverian interest, he was unwilling that the English nation should suffer for a piece of injustice in which they had no share. He, therefore, granted to them all manner of security, and free liberty to trade in all his dominions. To finish this strange tissue of negotiations, king George concluded a treaty with the Moors of Africa, against which the Spaniards loudly exclaimed.