resolved, nevertheless, that Mr. Craggs, senior, was a "notorious accomplice with Robert Knight, treasurer to "the South-Sea company, and some of the directors, in "carrying on their scandalous practices: and, therefore, "that all the estate of which he was possessed at the time "of his death, should be applied toward the relief of "the unhappy sufferers by the South-Sea scheme"." The estates of the directors were also confiscated by act of parliament, and directed to be applied to the same purpose, after a certain allowance was deducted for each director, according to his conduct and circumstances.

The commons having thus punished the chief promoters of this iniquitous scheme, by stripping them of their ill-got wealth, proceeded to repair, as far as possible, the mischiefs it had occasioned. They accordingly prepared a bill for that purpose. On the inquiries relative to the framing of this bill, it appeared, that the whole capital stock of the South-Sea company, at the end of the year 1720, amounted to thirty-seven millions eight hundred thousand pounds; that the stock allotted to all the proprietors did not exceed twenty-four millions five hundred thousand pounds; that the remaining capital stock belonging to the company in their corporate capacity, being the profit arising from the execution of the fraudulent stockjobbing scheme. Out of this it was enacted, that seven millions should be paid to the public sufferers. likewise enacted, that several additions should be made to the stock of the proprietors, out of that possessed by the company in their own right; and that, after such distributions, the remaining capital stock should be divided among the proprietors. By these wise and equitable regulations, public credit was restored, and the ferment of the nation gradually subsided.

It was

The discontents and disorders occasioned by the South-Sea scheme encouraged the English jacobites to

11. Journals of the commons, 1721.

think

think of making a new attempt to change the line of suc cession. But the same want of concert, secrecy, and success, attended this, as every other plan for the restoration of the unfortunate family of Stuart. George I. who had spies in every popish court, and who had, by alliances, made almost every European potentate his friend, was informed by the regent of France of the conspiracy hatching against his government. In consequence of this information, Christopher Layer, a young gentleA. D. 1722. man of the Middle-Temple, was taken into custody, condemned, and executed, for having enlisted men for the service of the Pretender. The duke of Norfolk, the earl of Orrery, Dr. Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, lord North and Grey, with many other suspected persons of less note, were committed to the Tower. But they were all acquitted for want of evidence, except the bishop of Rochester, who was degraded, deprived of his benefice, and banished the kingdom for life12.

As Dr. Atterbury was a man of distinguished talents, and intimately connected with the heads of the tory party, his cause was warmly pleaded in the house of peers. Lord Bathurst, turning towards the bench of bishops, who had discovered peculiar animosity against the prisoner, said he could hardly account for the inveterate malice and rancour with which some men pursued the learned and ingenious prelate, unless they were infatuated with the superstition of certain savages, who fondly believe that they inherit, not only the spoils, but the abilities of any great man whom they destroy'3. When the bishop of Rochester arrived at Calais, he met lord Bolingbroke on his return from exile, and had the spirit to observe, smiling, that they were exchanged!

A. D. 1723.

Soon after this conspiracy was defeated, died Philip duke of Orleans, regent of France, one of the most elegant, accomplished, and dissipated men of his time. As a prince, he possessed great talents for

12. Tindal. Smollett. 13. Parl. Debates, 1722.

government,

government, which he did not fail to exert during his administration. Notwithstanding his precarious situation, he governed France with more absolute authority than any minister since cardinal Richelieu, and took many important steps for the benefit of the kingdom; but his own libertine example, and the necessity of making the oppressed people forget their miseries in a perpetual round of amusements, introduced an universal corruption of manners, which spread itself even to foreign nations'. He was succeeded

in the administration, but not in the regency, the king being come of age, by the duke of Bourbon. This minister was soon supplanted by cardinal Fleury, a man of a mild and pacific disposition, who had been preceptor to Lewis XV. and who, at the advanced age of seventy-three, took upon him the cares of government.

Fortunately for the happiness of mankind, șir Robert Walpole, who began about the same time to acquire an ascendant in the councils of Great-Britain, and who soon after became prime minister, possessed a disposition no less pacific than that of Fleury. In consequence of this coinciding mildness of temper, the repose of Europe was continued, with little interruption for almost twenty years. Meanwhile several treaties were negociated between its different kingdoms and states, for securing more effectually, as was pretended, the objects of the quadruple alliance, and the balance of power. One of these treaties, concluded privately at Vienna, between the emperor and the Spanish monarch, excited the jealousy of George I. who was under apprehensions for the safety of his German dominions, as well as of some secret article in favour of the

A. D. 1724.

14. The death of the duke of Orleans was distinguished by a very sin gular circumstance. Having neglected his usual time of bleeding, he was seized with an apoplexy, in the arms of the duchess de Talaris, and instantly expired. Augustus II. king of Poland, when informed of this circumstance, wantonly exclaimed, in the words of scripture, O may I die the death of this just man!" alluding to his paying at once the debt of nature and the debt of love. Mem. de Brandenburgh, tom. ii.

Pretender,

Pretender, many of whose adherents were then entertained at the court of Madrid. It also gave umbrage to the French and Dutch, as it granted to the subjects of the house of Austria greater advantages, in their trade with Spain, than those enjoyed by any other nation': and it guaranteed a new East-India company, lately established at Ostend, which France, England, and Holland, were equally desirous of suppressing.

In order to counteract the treaty of Vienna, another was concluded at Hanover, between the three offended powers, and the kings of Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden. Overawed by this formidable confederacy, the emperor and the king of Spain remained quiet. The king A. D. 1726. of Great-Britain, however, fitted out three stout squadrons, one of which he sent to the West-Indies, under admiral Hosier, who had orders to block up the Spanish galleons in the harbour of Porto-Bello, and to seize them, if they attempted to come out. In cruising off that unhealthy coast, where he was restrained from obeying the dictates of his courage, the greater part of his officers and men were 'A. D. 1727. swept away by the diseases of the climate; his ships were ruined by the worms, and he himself is supposed to have died of a broken heart.

The Spaniards, in resentment of this insult, laid siege to Gibraltar, but without success; and a reconciliation was soon after brought about through the mediation of France. It was agreed, that the charter of the Ostend East-India company should be suspended for seven years; that the stipulations of the quadruple alliance, but particularly those relative to the succession of Don Carlos to the duchies of

15. Count Konigseck, the Imperial ambassador at the court of Madrid, had procured these advantageous conditions for his master, Charles VI. by flattering the queen of Spain with a prospect of a match between her son, don Carlos, and the archduchess Maria Theresa, heiress to all the extensive dominions of the house of Austria. Mem. de Brandenburgb, tom. ii.

Parma,

Parma, Placentia, and Tuscany, should be fulfilled; and that all differences should be adjusted by a congress. This congress, which was held at Soissons, produced the treaty of Seville, by which all grounds of dispute were finally removed.

During these negociations died George I. a prudent and virtuous prince, whose attachment to his German domini. ons, which has been much magnified, was made use of by the tories to render him odious to the English nation. He was succeeded by his son George II. whose accession made no alteration in the system of British politics. The administration was wisely continued in the hands of the whigs, the only true friends to the protestant succession, or to the principles of the revolution: and the same tory faction, which had so frequently attempted to thwart the measures, and overturn the throne of the first George, continued their violent opposition in parliament, during the more early part of the reign of George II. The heads of this faction, namely, sir William Wyndham, Mr. Shippen, Mr. Hungerford, and others, being men of great abilities, were soon joined by certain disgusted courtiers, of equal, if not superior talents, who hoped, by such a coalition, to humble their successful rivals, and get into their own hands the highest employments of the state. Mr. Pulteney, the finest speaker of the house of commons, and lately a member of administration, already made one of their number. Lord Carteret and the earl of Chesterfield, the most distinguished orators in the house of peers, afterwards joined the phalanx.

This powerful body, by continually opposing the measures of government, and passionately railing against continental connections, soon acquired great popularity, and at last became formidable to the throne. The patriotic, or country party, as the members in the opposition affected to call themselves, were always predicting beggary and ruin in the midst of the most profound peace, and the highest national prosperity; and a small standing army, which it was thought prudent to keep up, was represented as an engine of despotism. The liberties of the people were be