l
of their charter, twelve hundred thousand pounds by annuities, one
million from the sinking fund, six-and-thirty thousand pounds from the
coinage, and six hundred thousand pounds by a lottery--an expedient
which for some time had been annually repeated; and which, in a great
measure, contributed to debauch the morals of the public, by introducing
a spirit of gaming, destructive of all industry and virtue.

PROJECTED INVASION OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The dissensions of the British parliament were suddenly suspended by an
event that seemed to unite both parties in the prosecution of the same
measures. This was the intelligence of an intended invasion. By
the parliamentary disputes, the loud clamours, and the general
dissatisfaction of the people in Great Britain, the French ministry
were persuaded that the nation was ripe for a revolt. This belief was
corroborated by the assertions of their emissaries in different parts
of Great Britain and Ireland. These were papists and Jacobites of strong
prejudices and warm imaginations, who saw things through the medium
of passion and party, and spoke rather from extravagant zeal than from
sober conviction. They gave the court of Versailles to understand, that
if the chevalier de St. George, or his eldest son Charles Edward, should
appear at the head of a French army in Great Britain, a revolution
would instantly follow in his favour. This intimation was agreeable to
cardinal de Tencin, who, since the death of Fleury, had borne a share in
the administration of France. He was of a violent enterprising temper.
He had been recommended to the purple by the chevalier de St. George,
and was seemingly attached to the Stuart family. His ambition was
flattered with the prospect of giving a king to Great Britain; of
performing such eminent service to his benefactor, and of restoring to
the throne of their ancestors a family connected by the ties of blood
with all the greatest princes of Europe. The ministry of France foresaw,
that even if this aim should miscarry, a descent upon Great Britain
would make a considerable diversion from the continent in favour of
France, and embroil and embarrass his Britannic majesty, who was the
chief support of the house of Austria, and all its allies. Actuated by
these motives, he concerted measures with the chevalier de St. George at
Rome, who being too much advanced in years to engage personally in such
an expedition, agreed to delegate his pretensions an