CHAPTER II.

THE REIGN OF GEORGE I.

Peaceful Accession of George I.--His Arrival--Triumph of the Whigs--Dissolution and General Election--The Address--Determination to impeach the late Ministers--Flight of Bolingbroke and Ormonde--Impeachment of Oxford--The Riot Act--The Rebellion of 1715--Policy of the Regent Orleans--Surrender of the Pretender's Ships--The Adventures of Ormonde and Mar--The Highlands declare for the Pretender--Mar and Argyll--Advance of Mackintosh's Detachment--Its Surrender at Preston--Battle of Sheriffmuir--Arrival of the Pretender--Mutual Disappointment--Advance of Argyll--Flight of the Pretender to France--Punishment of the Rebels--Impeachment of the Rebel Lords--The Septennial Act--The King goes to Hanover--Impossibility of Reconstructing the Grand Alliance--Negotiations with France--Danger of Hanover from Charles XII.--And from Russia--Alarm from Townshend--Termination of the Dispute--Fresh Differences between Stanhope and Townshend--Dismissal of the Latter--The Triple Alliance--Project for the Invasion of Scotland--Detection of the Plot--Dismissal of Townshend and Walpole--They go into Opposition--Walpole's Financial Scheme--Attack on Cadogan--Trial of Oxford--Cardinal Alberoni--Outbreak of Hostilities between Austria and Spain--Occupation of Sardinia--Alberoni's Diplomacy--The Quadruple Alliance--Byng in the Mediterranean--Alberoni deserted by Savoy--Death of Charles XII.--Declaration of War with Spain--Repeal of the Schism Act--Rejection of the Peerage Bill--Attempted Invasion of Britain--Dismissal of Alberoni--Spain makes Peace--Pacification of Northern Europe--Final Rejection of the Peerage Bill--The South Sea Company--The South Sea Bill--Opposition of Walpole--Rise of South Sea Stock--Rival Companies--Death of Stanhope--Punishment of Ministry and Directors--Supremacy of Walpole--Atterbury's Plot--His Banishment and the Return of Bolingbroke--Rejection of Bolingbroke's Services--A Palace Intrigue--Fall of Carteret--Wood's Halfpence--Disturbances in Scotland--Punishment of the Lord Chancellor Macclesfield--The Patriot Party--Complications Abroad--Treaty of Vienna--Treaty of Hanover--Activity of the Jacobites--Falls of Ripperda and of Bourbon--English Preparations--Folly of the Emperor--Attack on Gibraltar--Preliminaries of Peace--Intrigues against Walpole--Death of George I. 24