The Jacobite Cause, 1730-1740: The International Dimension

Abstract

The purpose 9f this thesis is to examine the Jacobite effort to secure support for an enterprise to restore the Stuart line in Britain and the effect which this had on relations between France and England from 1730 to 1740. Following a general account of the diplomatic pattern during this decade and the state of the Jacobite movement in 1730, the thesis examines in detail the Jacobite endeavor to win support at three critical junctures: first, the period from the Second Treaty of Vienna (1731) to the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession (1733); second, the period of settlement after the Polish War, from 1735 to 1737; third, the time of crisis which ended with the outbreak of war between Spain and England in 1740. Although the Jacobites received a show of encouragement from the French government throughout these ten years, Cardinal Fleury constantly evaded fulfilling the promises of help he gave them, alleging as excuse circumstances the Jacobites themselves could not contest: the weakness of the party in Britain and the lack of co-operation between France and Spain despite their common causes of enmity against England. Fleury consistently avoided any policy which would involve France in a general European war; and this, in fact, precluded giving active help to the Jacobites; but he encouraged them to continue their efforts because they supplied him with useful information, because they were considered as a potential threat by the Hanoverian government in England whose fears of a renewed Jacobite enterprise increased with the increasing hostility between Britain and the Bourbon powers, and because supporting the Jacobite cause could strengthen Fleury's own position within the administrative power-structure of the French Court. By 1730 the lack of effective political support in Britain for the Jacobite Cause made it unlikely that an enterprise could have been successful; but, so long as the Hanoverians feared a potential change and so long as the Jacobites themselves hoped and worked for success, they remained a significant factor in the diplomatic history of Europe.