JACOBITE POLITICAL ARGUMENT IN ENGLAND, 1714-1766 by Paul Chapman Gonville and Caius College November 1983 A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in the University of Cambridge Paul Michael CHAPMAN Copyright © Paul Michael Chapman 1983 Second edition London: The Jacobite Studies Trust, 2013 [Please note that the pagination of this work differs slightly from the original of 1983, and reference should therefore be made to the second edition of 2013 in quotations giving page numbers. The original text has otherwise been preserved.] 1 Jacobite Political Argument in England, 1714-1766 By Paul Michael Chapman By the production of political propaganda Jacobites were able to reach Englishmen more directly than by plots and parliamentary opposition. The thesis demonstrates the need to reappraise assessments of the balance of political ideas current in England in the years immediately after the 1715 rebellion. Disproportionate attention has been accorded the small group of whig “Commonwealthsmen” or republicans, and the new “Country” opposition created by Lord Bolingbroke, with its famous literary coterie including pope, Swift, and Gay. The publications of these groups were outnumbered by Jacobite works. The Jacobite printer Nathaniel Mist produced a newspaper which, at least throughout the 1720s, was as popular as the most successful organs of these other opposition groups; neither could rival the flood of cheap Jacobite broadsheets and ballads which came onto the market between 1714 and 1724. Study of the arguments put forward to justify a Stuart restoration reveals the diversity of Jacobite support. A majority used the traditional tory tenets of non-resistance and hereditary right of succession in order to condemn the revolution of 1688. But perhaps most interesting is the hitherto unrecognized existence of a number of Jacobites who accepted the revolution and adopted whig contract arguments (even citing the whig John Locke and the “Commonwealthsmen”) to justify resistance to the Hanoverian monarch. Most important of all, the thesis shows that the bulk of Jacobite propaganda was produced independently of political patronage. Despite determined government efforts to suppress them, printers and publishers strove to satisfy a public demand for scandalous and seditious political works. The presence of a Jacobite press dependent upon the market indicates a level of popular support which was never exploited. The failure of Jacobite politicians to utilize 2 either the press or potential popular support highlights the failure of Jacobitism as a movement to fuse together diverse social groups into an effective political force in England. In part this can be explained by reference to views of the ordering of society to be found in Jacobite printed work. 3 DECLARATIONS This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. The footnotes indicate the sources from which my information is derived and at which points I have drawn upon the work of other scholars. This dissertation is not the same as any I have submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at any other university. No part of it has already been or is being currently submitted for any such degree, diploma, or qualification. This dissertation, including the appendices but excluding the footnotes and bibliography, is 79,450 words in length. Paul Chapman 18th November 1983 4 CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Notes on style Abbreviations PART ONE 1. Introduction 2. Jacobite Publishing and its Political Context in England, 1714-24 3. Jacobite Publishing and its Political Context in England, 1724-66 PART TWO 4. The Old Pretender and the Propaganda War in England 5. The Organisation of Jacobite Publishing in England 6. The Mechanics of Jacobite Publishing in England, 1714-24 7. The Distribution and Diffusion of Jacobite Propaganda PART THREE 8. The Nature of Legitimate Government and the Right of Resistance 9. The Hanoverian Tyranny 10. Rhetoric, Imagery, and Language: Jacobites and the Political Role of the People Conclusion Appendixes: 1. Jacobite Newspapers, Pamphlets and Broadsheets, 1714-66 2. Jacobite Broadsheet Ballads 3. Works Printed by Francis and Katherine Clifton 4. Jacobite Declarations, Pamphlets, and Broadsheets in the County Records Offices Bibliography 5 PREFACE The term “Jacobite” is directly derived from the Latin for James. Following the enforced flight of the King from England in 1688 supporters of James II, and then of his son James Francis Stuart (1688-1766), continually advanced arguments for a Stuart restoration. This thesis is a study of Jacobite argument and of how that argument was put into print and distributed to an audience in England during the reigns of the first two Hanoverian monarchs. It is based primarily on a study of the correspondence of the exiled Stuart court, the papers of the Secretaries of State in England, and several hundred contemporary pamphlets, broadsheets, and newspapers. During the first decade of George I’s reign the threat of a Jacobite invasion or rebellion loomed large in the minds of government ministers. In this period Jacobite publications circulated on the streets of London in numbers hitherto unrecognized by historians. I shall maintain that in these early years Jacobite political works were at least as significant and popular as other forms of opposition propaganda, and that Jacobites were heterogeneous in their political argument and anticipated the supposedly new line of attack on the ministry initiated by Lord Bolingbroke in the late 1720s. I have used the term “argument” in the title of this dissertation to suggest a study both of Jacobite ideas and of the means by which they were advanced. I have avoided the word “propaganda” because it implies a greater degree of organization and direction than was actually the case. I shall show that the Jacobite court attached little importance to putting its views to a wide audience other than when an attempt to seize the throne was in progress, and that other potential Jacobite leaders did not take the initiative in this sphere. The impetus behind the not inconsiderable Jacobite publishing industry in the period 1714-1724 came from relatively 6 humble authors, printers, and publishers who were motivated both from political conviction and by the prospect of commercial gain. The vitality of the market for cheap Jacobite ballads and newspapers indicates a level of involvement in Jacobitism in social groups rarely considered by historians of the movement. Without significant political support from above the Jacobite publishing industry collapsed in the 1720s; it never really revived. The failure of Jacobite politicians to utilize either the press or potential popular support highlights the failure of Jacobitism as a movement to fuse together diverse elements into an effective political force in England. The thesis falls into three parts. The first gives a chronological account of Jacobite publishing between 1714 an 1766, establishing its importance in the earlier years, and relating its development and decline to the changes in political fortune of the movement. The second discusses those responsible for writing, printing and publishing Jacobite argument, and looks at its production and distribution. The third examines in more detail the arguments advanced in favour of a Stuart restoration, and the language, imagery, and symbolism, in which they were drawn. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the research for this dissertation I have been extremely fortunate in my two supervisors, Linda Colley and Mark Goldie, who have been generous and patient in their encouragement, guidance and criticism. I am most grateful. I have been assisted by the staffs of the Cambridge University Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and the Public Record Office. I would also like to thank the staffs of the City and county Record Offices who conscientiously answered my enquiries and supplied photocopies when requested. Mrs. L E Humphreys typed most of the dissertation with speed and accuracy. My friends David and Vanessa helped overcome my own eighteenth century attitude to spelling and punctuation. I have been sustained in my research by a Department of Education and Science Studentship, and received support from Gonville and Caius College. 8 NOTES ON STYLE All works cited were published in London unless otherwise stated. Anonymity or uncertainty of date of publication is recorded in the footnotes but not in the bibliography. The original spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been retained in the text and footnotes, but capitalization has been standardized in the bibliography. The eighteenth century habit of frequent italicization has been suppressed. Old style dates are used except that the year is taken to begin on 1 January. 9 ABBREVIATIONS Add Mss Additional manuscripts Ballard Mss Ballard collection of manuscripts, Bodleian Library B L British Library B M British Museum Bodl. Bodleian Library, Oxford C (H) Cholmondeley (Houghton) manuscripts Corresp. Correspondence C R O County Record Office Coxe, Pelham William Coxe, Memoirs of the Administration of the Rt Hon. Henry Pelham (1829) C U L Cambridge University Library D N B Dictionary of National Biography E C Francis Atterbury, The Epistolary Correspondence, Visitation Charges, Speeches and Miscellanies, of the Right Reverend Francis Atterbury, D.D. Lord Bishop of Rochester. With Historical Notes (4 vols., 1783-7) ed. Editor