. Among the latter the chief were the Duke of Ormond, the Earl of Oxford, and the Viscount Bolingbroke, who were deemed to be firmly attached to the interest of the Pretender. In 1715 a plot was supposed to be brooding in the West, where several gentlemen were suspected of having a design to bring in the Pretender, and to place him on the throne of his ancestors. He had already been proclaimed King of Scotland, by the Earl of Mar, against whom the Duke of Argyle marched. On the 13th of November they came to a decisive battle near Dumblain, where the rebels were defeated, and put to flight. At the same time a body of 5000 rebels assembled at Preston in Lancashire, headed by the Earl of Derwentwater, of whom General Wills, who commanded some of his Majesty's troops on the borders of Scotland, being informed, he marched directly against them, and obliged them to surrender prisoners of war. They were afterwards sent up to London, and many of the ringleaders tried and condemned. Among these were the Earls of Derwentwater and Kenmure, who were beheaded on Tower-Hill; several others were executed at Tyburn, and the remainder pardoned. Some other conspiracies were formed against the King's person; but, by timely discovery, prevented from being carried into execution. Aug. 2, 1718, the quadruple alliance was signed between their Imperial, Christian, and Britannic Majesties; and the Spanish fleet was destroyed in the Mediterranean by the English. In 1720 Spain acceded to the quadruple alliance, and a fleet was sent into the Baltic in favour of Sweden. This year was also remarkable for the South-Sea scheme, by which many families were deluded and entirely ruined; and the government was obliged to interpose, to prevent the ill consequences of the people's despair. On enquiry into the affair it appeared, that besides stock-jobbers and directors some persons of distinction were concerned in it. This fatal stroke to the British trade was in some measure remedied by the assiento contract, concluded at Madrid in 1722. In the same year, the funeral of the Duke of Marlborough, who, since the accession of King George, had been restored to the honours he so justly deserved, was solemnized with great pomp. In 1723, a conspiracy for raising an insurrection was discovered; hereupon the Duke of Norfolk, Lord North and Grey, the Bishop of Rochester, and Counsellor Layer, were taken into custody; after a long trial the Bishop was banished, and Layer was hanged. In 1724, the Ostend East-India Company was established. In 1725 the Hanover treaty was agreed to, between France, Great-Britain, and Prussia. June 11, 1727, George I. died at Osnaburgh, in the very chamber where he was born, in the 67th year of his age, and the 13th year of his reign.
GEORGE II. was proclaimed as soon as as the news of his father's death came to London, and his coronation was solemnized in October following. The new Parliament met on the 2d of January, and chose for their Speaker Arthur Onslow, Esq. and loyal and affectionate addresses were presented to the King by both houses. The land forces were fixed at 22,950 men, and the number of seamen at 15,000. An enquiry was made into the state of the public gaols, and from this it appeared that great cruelties and oppressions had been exercised on the prisoners, particularly on Sir William Rich, Baronet, who was found in the fleet prison loaded with irons, by order of the Warden. For these and the like barbarities, Thomas Bambridge, the Warden, and several of his accomplices, were committed to Newgate. In May, 1729, his Majesty declared his intentions of visiting his German dominions, and leaving the Queen as Regent. His design in going to Germany was to compromise some differences that had lately arisen between the Regency of Hanover and the King of Prussia; and about this time the Duke of Mecklenburgh was deposed by the Emperor, for his cruelty, tyranny, and oppression. By the fall of Emperors and Kings it is that we learn the Omnipotence of the Almighty, whose arm strengthens and supports the crown of the righteous and takes away the kingdom from unjust Princes. About this time great licentiousness prevailed among all ranks of people, particularly among those of the lower class, who indulged themselves in every kind of wickedness; and among other methods of injuring their fellow subjects, circulated incendiary letters, demanding sums of money of certain individuals, on pain of reducing their houses to ashes; this species of villainy had never been known before in England. In the course of the summer seven Indian Chiefs were brought over to England. In 1731 a duel was fought in the Green Park, between Sir William Pulteney and Lord Hervey, on account of a remarkable political pamphlet
. Lord Hervey was wounded, and narrowly escaped with his life. The Latin tongue was abolished in all law proceedings, which were ordered for the future to be in English. Rich. Norton, Esq. of Southwick, in Hampshire, left his estate of 600l.
per annum, and a personal estate of 60,000l.
to be disposed of in charitable uses by the Parliament. One Smith, a book-binder, and his wife, being reduced to extreme poverty, hanged themselves at the same time, and by common consent, after having made away with their only child.
On the 27th of April, 1736, his Royal Highness Frederic, Prince of Wales, espoused Augusta, sister to the Duke of Saxe Gotha. In the course of this year a remarkable riot happened at Edinburgh, occasioned by the execution of one Wilson, a smuggler. Porteus, captain of the city guard, a man of a brutal disposition, and abandoned morals, being provoked by the insults of the mob, commanded his soldiers to fire upon the crowd, by which precipitate orders several innocent persons were killed; Porteus was tried and condemned to die, but obtained a reprieve from the Queen, who was then Regent. The mob, however, were
[sic]
determined to execute the sentence; they accordingly rose in a tumultuous manner, forced open the prison doors, dragged forth Porteus, and hanged him on a dyer's pole; after which they quietly dispersed. On the 24th of May, 1738, the Princess of Wales was delivered of a Prince, who was christened by the name of George, now our most gracious Sovereign. One Buchanan, a sailor, who had been condemned for murder, was cut down from the gallows by his companions, who actually brought him to life, and carried him off in triumph.
War was declared in form against Spain, at London and Westminster, Oct. 23, 1739. The same year Admiral Vernon destroyed Porto Bello, and the March following demolished Fort Chagre. In 1740 there was a severe and lasting frost, which extended all over Europe, and occasioned a fair to be kept on the River Thames. In 1741 Admiral Vernon, with a strong fleet, joined with General Wentworth, who had a considerable number of forces under his command, made an unsuccessful attempt on Carthagena
[sic]