Jacobites in the British Isles 1700-1715

The Jacobite cause has always been, and continues to be a very popular topic. Historians have often complained that their subject of research has been prey to authors in search of romantic uprisings and princes in exile, secret agents and intrigue. One must always wonder how much of the Jacobite cause we can truly know. Jacobitism has to be investigated in a very specific way: unlike other movements, it cannot be investigated in the light of an institutional existence, because it did not exist, except in the exiled Stuart court, which held minimal control over its supporters. To understand the movement, one must therefore look at patterns of behaviour. Every example of treason made a statement about the perpetrators and was linked to a broader political framework.[1] Jacobitism appears to be the major issue in British politics in the early eighteenth-century. [2] The question that will be centralised in this essay is: “How great a threat was the Jacobite movement to the existing political order in the British Isles from 1700 until 1715?”

In order to properly answer this question, one must first look at Jacobitism itself. It existed in numerous ways, albeit not an institutional one. Then, one must consider if it was ever truly capable of realising its aims of a Stuart restauration.

The Jacobites were the main focus of English public opinion in this time. During the last four years of Queen Anne’s reign the question of succession grew into a national crisis, and in the spring of 1714, most Whigs and many Tories considered there to be a well-organised support for the Pretender’s cause, and that even members of court and government were part to it.[3]       England, Ireland and Scotland all had their own groups of Jacobites, all of which organised themselves in different manners. Then there is also the Jacobites in Europe, either in exile or at the Pretender’s court in St. Germain.

In England, most prominently there was a series of Jacobite Underworlds. These are various communities, consisting of ex-army officers, Irish immigrants, Nonjurors, and English recusants. These groups formed a widespread clandestine network with the main goal of propagandising the Jacobite cause. The term underworld is applicable to these communities, as there was also a professional criminal element to be found amongst those calling themselves Jacobites.[4]

            Most of the scheming seems to be done in taverns and places of such like: treasonable offences reign from drunkenly singing to the Stuart’s return in the streets to plotting to kill the king.[5] Because of the lack of institutional existence, the movement appears unfocused: a group of firm believers grasping whatever opportunity they see in furthering their cause. The government seized every opportunity to publicise about these treasonous offences, in the hopes of dissuading supporters from this movement. This was mostly done by the Whig party, who were fiercely anti-Jacobite.[6] Ironically, instead of killing the movement by attacking it defensively, they promoted the movement. All the negative publicity ensured that there grew a belief that the Jacobite cause was closer than it really was to achieving its aims.[7] The ‘Jacobite Underworlds’ handled the everyday business of the cause. They were constantly frustrated in their attempts to infiltrate the English institutions, but the Jacobites were masters of publicity,[8] and even though they hardly used pamphlets, they were able to make great use of symbols, songs verses and events.[9] The Jacobites were very conservative when it came to using pamphlets. While anti-Jacobite pamphleteers were rewarded for their services, Jacobite pamphleteers were liable to imprisonment.[10]

            In Ireland there were also many supporters for the cause. The largest part of the population of Ireland was Catholic, and seriously hated the British government. Since the failed Jacobite rebellion of 1689-1691, the English suppressed the Irish mercilessly.[11] The Catholics were treated in a horrible manner: thus they widely supported the Jacobite cause from the hopes that a Catholic king would restore them to their rightful place in society.[12] The Irish based Jacobites provided intelligence to France and to the Jacobite court in St. Germain, and recruited soldiers to serve in the Jacobite army in France.^[13]

Scotland had a much more vivid Jacobite support than England. This was in part due to a traditional loyalty to the Pretender, and in part because of a desire for Scottish independence. Unlike Ireland, Scotland still enjoyed its separate parliament.[14] While the Scottish Parliament blocked the Act of Succession, which had been passed in bot England and Ireland in 1701, a Stuart Restauration in Scotland remained a real possibility.[15]

The Jacobite cause captured the English public attention. The movement seemed viable and very much alive. It even seemed capable of achieving its goals. From the Pretender’s court, things looked entirely different. The world looked much more meagre and complex to the Pretender, who was, if nothing else, realistic. He knew that if his movement were to have any chance at all, he would have to create some level of structure, and bring everyone together for the same purpose. Protestant and Catholic; English, Scots and Irish; the exiles and the secret followers at home, all these had to come together under a common goal.[16]

Besides this basic structure, the Pretender also needed the support of some members of the Government at home, as well as the king of France. From 1700 onwards, France was eager for peace, and they were not going to let the Jacobites spoil their negotiations. The French kept the Pretender closely informed, but at crucial times of the peace negotiations, the Jacobites where completely in the dark.[17]

The biggest problem for the Jacobite cause was a lack of an effective system of communication between the home front and the exiled court. Elaborate precautions had to be taken to ensure that the information and the agents would not be intercepted by the English government. Because of this, and the state of infrastructure of the early eighteenth century, the Pretender was always chasing after the facts. By the time news of an opportunity in England, Scotland or Ireland had reached him, and he had managed to make up his mind, the opportunity had passed.[18] The real failure of the system of the Jacobites is the failure to establish a body of followers at the centre of political and military power in England. James III & VIII contacted several high nobleman in the government in order to establish a body of supporters in the centre of power: Marlborough, the Earl of Oxford and Bolingbroke. All of these gentlemen never gave the pretender anything but promises and empty blandishments.[19]

To keep an eye on what the government considered to be a vast conspiracy of support for the pretender, they created a large scale spy network, which stretched all across Europe. Although this practise was not unusual, the scale was unusual for the 18^th century.[20] Was the Jacobite movement actually a threat? Was it between 1710 and 1715 at all capable of realising its aims?

The Jacobite cause has been portrayed by the anti-Jacobite pamphleteers as an enormous, viable threat to the existing political order in the British Isles. This is also the way the common Jacobites liked to see themselves; at the brink of a successful Stuart restauration. In reality however, this was not the case. James VIII & III realised this all along, and he knew he would have to create some level of structure, and he would have to bring all of his followers together: Protestant and Catholic; English, Scots and Irish; the exiles and the secret followers at home.

            There were several instances in which the Jacobites could have succeeded, if they had the right resources and had acted in time. As it was, the communications between the exiled court and the Jacobites at home were tremendously slow, and thus the Jacobite court was constantly chasing after the facts. Thus, by the time the indecisive Pretender had made a decision, the opportunity had passed.

            Was the Jacobite cause a real threat from 1700 until 1715? I do not believe it was, because of the various reasons stated above. The pretender was incapable of making quick decisions, in part because of fear of making a fool of himself, and in part because he was always running after the fact. Also, the Jacobites completely lacked any form of organisation: most was organised by the people within the villages, the normal people. There was no institution, no centralised focus for the movement. Thus it didn’t take the British government much effort to take down the Jacobite movement in this early part of the eighteenth century. The British government created its own fear: by pamphleteering so vividly against the Jacobites, they created an enemy which in fact barely existed. What we fear we create, well, this was definitely the case in the early eighteenth century.

Bibliography

Bennett, G.V., ‘English Jacobitism, 1710-1715; Myth and Reality’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 32, (1982), pp. 137-151.

Ciardha, Éamonn Ó, Ireland and the Jacobite Cause, 1685-1766 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002), pp. 112-8.

Gregg, Edward, Queen Anne, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001).

Monod, Paul, Jacobitism and the English People, 1688-1788, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Steele, Margaret, ‘Anti-Jacobite pamphleteering, 1701-1720’,The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 60 No. 1720, Part 2 (1981), 140-155.