The Jacobite Risings

THE JACOBITE RISINGS "The Fifteen."—The first General Election for the British parliament (1708) gave something like national sanction for the Union, possibly because of the alarm caused by an attempted French invasion in the beginning of the year. But the process of carrying out the financial provisions of the Union caused con siderable friction; the Scots resented the introduction into Scot land of the English law of treason, and the Presbyterians disliked a grant of toleration to Scottish Episcopalians and had more rea sonable ground for indignation at the restoration of lay patronage in the Church. It had been abolished in 169o, and the patrons had been compensated, and the act of 1712 was a breach of the agreement made at the Union. Thus, by Anne's death in the party which had brought about the Union seemed to have suffered most from its effects. It was the strength of Protestant feeling among the Scottish Whigs that prevented these disap pointments from bringing large reinforcements to the Jacobites on the accession of George I. The Tory ministers of the end of Anne's reign had been suspected of an intention of restoring the Stuarts in the person of the Old Chevalier, then a man of 26, and the Whig ministry of George I. was supported, in the election held at the beginning of 1715, by a large proportion of Scottish Whigs. In the same summer the earl of Mar raised the first Jacobite rebellion, but failed to win Lowland support, except in the north-east, which had always been a stronghold of episcopacy. "James III. and VIII." was proclaimed at Aberdeen, and Mar led his army to Perth. But the death of Louis XIV. led to the withdrawal of French support which had been promised, and Mar, instead of marching at once upon Edinburgh, remained at Perth till Nov. io. On Nov. 13 his march upon Edinburgh was intercepted by Government troops under John, duke of Argyll, at Sherifmuir, near Dunblane, and, though the battle was tech nically a drawn one, it compelled Mar to retire to Perth. A rising in the north of England was defeated on Nov. 14, the day after Sherifmuir. James, who had been prevented by the change of policy in France from joining his troops, landed near Peterhead on Dec. 22, spent three weeks in Perth, and then fled with Mar to France.

Argyll proved a merciful victor and the number of executions was only about 3o, but some hundreds of prisoners were trans ported to the American colonies, and many of them were tried, under an act of parliament passed for the purpose, at Carlisle, Scottish juries, even in the lowlands, being unwilling to find them guilty. The sale of confiscated Jacobite estates involved injustice

to innocent sufferers, but an Act of Indemnity was passed in 1717. In order to provide for future emergencies, Gen. Wade was entrusted with the task of constructing roads in the High lands, the military purpose of which did not diminish their eco nomic value. A new Jacobite attempt was planned for 1719, and aid was promised by Sweden, but the death of Charles XII. pre vented the fulfilment of the promise. An outbreak of war between Great Britain and Spain in 1718 raised hopes of Spanish help, but the Spaniards sent only a small raiding force. The Spaniards were joined by a few Highlanders and were defeated at Glenshiel (June 1719).

The Porteous

Riots.—During the long rule of Walpole (1721 42), the gradual growth of trade and commerce began to recon cile Scotland to the Union, but the period was marked by two outbreaks of violence. A tax upon malt roused so much Scottish opposition that it was only after some years that the authorities, in 1725, attempted to enforce it. There were fierce riots in Glas gow when excise-officers tried to enter the malt houses, and the Edinburgh brewers, encouraged by the mob, announced their in tention of refusing to brew with taxed malt. This remarkable form of "strike" lasted for a week, and, in the end, Scotland paid the tax and enjoyed its beer. A more famous Edinburgh riot has been immortalized in The Heart of Midlothian. Two smugglers under sentence of death made an effort to escape, and one of them succeeded in doing so with the help of the other, a man named Wilson. The sympathy generally felt for smugglers was increased by the circumstances, and the City Guard, under Cap tain Porteous, was warned to expect an attempt to rescue Wilson at his execution. There was no attempt at rescue, but, after the execution, the mob attacked the guard, who fired and killed a small number of onlookers. Porteous was sentenced to death for murder, but Queen Caroline, who was regent during an absence of George II. in Hanover, granted a reprieve for six weeks and was believed to intend to follow the reprieve by a pardon. On the night of the day originally fixed for the execution (Sept. 7, 1736), a mob broke into the Tolbooth prison, seized Porteous and hanged him on a dyer's pole. There was no riot in the ordinary sense of the word, and the murderers of Porteous were never detected.