Series 2 > Origins of the 'Forty-five

ORIGINS OF THE ’FORTY-FIVE xvii
chase from the King of Denmark two secular bishoprics
which had been taken from Sweden by the Danes, and
which had been incorporated in the electorate of Hanover.
As early as 1715 Charles listened to a project of the Duke
of Berwick, by which he should send a force of Swedish
troops to Scotland, but he was then too busy fighting the
Danes to engage in the scheme. In 1717 the Jacobites
renewed negotiations with Sweden, and a plan was formed
for a general rising in England simultaneously with an
invasion of Scotland by the Swedish king in person at
the head of an army of 12,000 Swedes. The plot came
to the knowledge of the British Government in time; the
Swedish ambassador in London was arrested ; the project
came to nothing; but in the following year a more pro¬
mising scheme for a Stuart restoration was formed.
Spain, smarting under the loss of her Italian possessions, The Spanish
ceded to Austria by the Peace of Utrecht, had declared
war on the Emperor and had actually landed an army in
Sicily. In compliance with treaty obligations, Great
Britain had to defend the Emperor, and in August 1718 a
British squadron engaged and destroyed a Spanish fleet
off Cape Passaro. Alberoni, the Spanish minister, was
furious and determined on reprisals. He entered into
an alliance with the Swedish king; a plan for invading
Great Britain was formed, and negotiations were opened
with the Jacobite Court. The death of Charles xn. in
December detached Sweden from the scheme, but Alberoni
went on with his preparations. A great armada under
Ormonde was to carry a Spanish army to the west of
England, and a subsidiary expedition under the Earl
Marischal was to land in north-western Scotland. The
1 The best account of this expedition is in Mr. W. K. Dickson’s exceedingly
clear and exhaustive introduction to The Jacobite Attempt, Scottish History
Society, vol. xix.: Edinburgh, 1895. All the original authorities for this incident
and the preceding Swedish plot are indicated in the Notes.