f-war,
twenty-one frigates, and only two transports, to land James in Scotland
(March 1708). The equinoctial gales and the severe illness of James, who
insisted on sailing, delayed the start; the men on the outlook for the
fleet were intoxicated, and Forbin, the French commander, observing
English ships of war coming towards the Firth of Forth, fled, refusing
James's urgent entreaties to be landed anywhere on the coast (March 24).
It was believed that had he landed only with a valet the discontented
country would have risen for their native king.

In Parliament (1710-1711) the Cavalier Scottish members, by Tory support,
secured the release from prison of a Rev. Mr Greenshields, an
Episcopalian who prayed for Queen Anne, indeed, but had used the liturgy.
The preachers were also galled by the imposition on them of an abjuration
oath, compelling them to pray for prelatical Queen Anne. Lay patronage
of livings was also restored (1712) after many vicissitudes, and this
thorn rankled in the Kirk, causing ever-widening strife for more than a
century.

The imposition of a malt tax produced so much discontent that even
Argyll, with all the Scottish members of Parliament, was eager for the
repeal of the Act of Union, and proposed it in the House of Peers, when
it was defeated by a small majority. In 1712, when about to start on a
mission to France, Hamilton was slain in a duel by Lord Mohun. According
to a statement of Lockhart's, "Cavaliers were to look for the best" from
Hamilton's mission: it is fairly clear that he was to bring over James in
disguise to England, as in Thackeray's novel, 'Esmond.' But the sword of
Mohun broke the Jacobite plans. Other hopes expired when Bolingbroke and
Harley quarrelled, and Queen Anne died (August 1, 1714). "The best cause
in Europe was lost," cried Bishop Atterbury, "for want of spirit." He
would have proclaimed James as king, but no man supported him, and the
Elector of Hanover, George I., peacefully accepted the throne.

CHAPTER XXX. GEORGE I.

For a year the Scottish Jacobites, and Bolingbroke, who fled to France
and became James's Minister, mismanaged the affairs of that most
unfortunate of princes. By February 1715 the Earl of Mar, who had been
distrusted and disgraced by George I., was arranging with the clans for a
rising, while aid from Charles XII. of Sweden was expected from March to
August 1715. It is notable that Charles had invited Dean Swift to visit
his