When James died in 1701, Louis XIV sent heralds to the Jacobite court at Sainte Germaine to proclaim his 13 year old son King James VIII of Scotland and III of England. The boy would grow up to be known to history as the "Old Pretender" or claimant; his son, the "Young Pretender", was Prince Charles Edward Stuart or "Bonnie Prince Charlie."

William III died in the following year from injuries sustained while falling off his horse. The horse had stumbled over a mole hill, prompting Jacobite wags to toast the "little gentleman in black velvet". Another version of the toast was to pass one's wineglass over a glass of water to indicate that the toast was in honor of the "King across the water" (in France).

James VIII and III, the Old Pretender, made three attempts to reclaim his rightful throne: in 1708; 1715 (The Great Rising) and 1719 (The Little Rising). Each of these attempts were doomed to failure for the principle reasons that

(1) James refused to convert to Protestantism for political expediency;

(2) the Jacobites' reliance on foreign assistance rather than popular support; and

(3) relying on the Highlands of Scotland as the epicenter of rebellion rather than taking the revolt to the center of power in London.

King William died childiess and the crown passed to the only surviving Protestant Stuart, James II's daughter Anne. Anne, too, died without offspring in 17l4, even though she suffered through eighteen pregnancies-all resulting in stillborns or premature infant deaths. It was recognized that Queen Anne would not have a natural heir and so the English Parliament took steps to ensure that there would be a Protestant Succession.

Union

Accordingly, since Prince James was being raised as a Catholic in France, the Act of Settlement was passed in 1701, declaring that Queen Anne would be succeeded by the nearest Protestant heiress, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, the great-grand-daughter of James VI and I, and her descendants. The Scottish Parliament did not automatically follow England's example. In fact it repudiated the Hanoverian Succession until coerced by English economic leverage. Scotland opted for the economic advantages of a union of crowns with England, and the Act of Union was approved by both Parliaments in 1707, and firmly cementing the Hanoverian Succession in place throughout the entire island of Britain.

Initially there was widespread opposition to the Union in Scotland, and the time was ripe for another rebellion in Scotland. The plan called for an armed insurrection in Scotland to coincide with the arrival of the Old Pretender and a French invasion force.

In March 1708, nearly 6,000 French troops were ready to set sail from Dunkirk. The expeditionary force of five warships and twenty-five smaller transport vessels was commanded by the Count de Forbin. His orders were to land the 19-year old James on the south bank of the Firth of Forth. There, they would be joined by Jacobite supporters in a march on Edinburgh, where James would be crowned King of Scotland. Then James would lead his army to London and victory.

Bad luck would plague the Old Pretender throughout his life and this time would be no exception. No sooner had James arrived in Dunkirk, when he contracted a case of the measles from his younger sister Louise Marie. This delayed the departure of the fleet by eight days and provided the English Royal Navy with ample warning. Nevertheless, the French fleet managed to find its way to the Firth of Forth and dropped anchor on the night of March 12th.

The next morning, de Forbin awoke to find that Admiral Byng's squadron of 28 battle ships was blocking the French fleet's escape route to the open sea. De Forbin was under orders from Louis XIV that no harm was to come to James, so the French captain declined to land James and his troops on the shores of Scotland. De Forbin managed to elude Byng's fleet and return to Dunkirk with minimal losses. This would probably have been the Jacobites' best chance for success, given the relative weakness of the Government garrison in Scotland.

In 1713, Anglo-French hostilities were ended by the Treaty of Utrecht and Louis XIV was obliged to recognize the Hanoverian Succession and to abandon his patronage of the Old Pretender. James and his entourage were forced to move to the independent Duchy of Lorraine. Louis died a year later and the Jacobites lost their most influential and powerful foreign supporter. Things looked bleak indeed.

More Origins of the Jacobite Rebellion 1745

Introduction
Dundee's Rising In 1689
The Old Pretender
The Great Rising of 1715
The Little Rising of 1719
The "Forty Five" (1745)