t land, while he gave
Scotland in charge to the Jacobite Earl of Mar. The appointments were
probably only to secure Jacobite support, for Bolingbroke had in fact no
immediate apprehensions of the Queen's death, and his aim was to trim
between the Court of Hanover and the Court of James while building up a
strong Tory party which would enable him to meet the accession of either
with a certainty of retaining power both for himself and the principles
he represented. With this view he was preparing to attack both the Bank
and the East India Company, the two great strongholds of the Whigs, as
well as to tax the bondholders at higher rates than the rest of the
community by way of conciliating the country gentry, who hated the
moneyed interest which was rising into greatness beside them. But events
moved faster than his plans. On the 30th of July, three days after
Harley's dismissal, Anne was suddenly struck with apoplexy. The Privy
Council at once assembled, and at the news the Whig Dukes of Argyle and
Somerset entered the Council Chamber without summons and took their
places at the board. The step had been taken in secret concert with the
Duke of Shrewsbury, who was President of the Council in the Tory
Ministry, but a rival of Bolingbroke and an adherent of the Hanoverian
succession. The act was a decisive one. The right of the House of
Hanover was at once acknowledged, Shrewsbury was nominated as Lord
Treasurer by the Council, and the nomination was accepted by the dying
Queen. Bolingbroke, though he remained Secretary of State, suddenly
found himself powerless and neglected while the Council took steps to
provide for the emergency. Four regiments were summoned to the capital
in the expectation of a civil war. But the Jacobites were hopeless and
unprepared; and on the death of Anne on the evening of the 10th of
August, the Elector George of Hanover, who had become heir to the throne
by his mother's death, was proclaimed as king of England without a show
of opposition.

CHAPTER IV

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER

1714-1760

[Sidenote: England's European position.]

The accession of George the First marked a change in the position of
England as a member of the European Commonwealth. From the age of the
Plantagenets to the age of the Revolution the country had stood apart
from more than passing contact with the fortunes of the Continent; for
if Wolsey had striven to make it an arbiter between France and the House
of Austr