circumstance that could affect his health or fortune."

In the following month of March the Conclave at
length registered its final decision in favour of Cardinal
Gregorio Chiaramonti, a Benedictine monk. He was
elected Pope with all due formality on March 13th, after
the Papal chair had been left vacant for over six months,
and disdaining the evil fate of his predecessor, the new
Pontiff at once assumed the official title of Pius the
Seventh. A fortnight later, the Cardinal Duke received
a long communication from Sir John Hippisley, acknow-
ledging his letter " sent from the bosom of the Conclave,"
and assuring him of the pleasure His Majesty had felt in
bestowing " this gracious attention to his royal relation " : —

" Severe as has been your Eminence's sufferings, they
will nevertheless find some alleviation in the general
sympathy of the British nation : with all distinctions of
parties, with all differences of communion, among all
conditions of men, but one voice is heard : all breathe
one applauding sentiment : all bless the gracious act of
the Sovereign in favour of his illustrious but unfortunate
relation. . . ."

To this letter the Cardinal Duke replies: —

" Dear Sir John, — I have not words to explain the
deep impression your very obliging favour of March 31
made on me. You and Mr. Andrew Stuart's most friendly
16



242 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

and warm exertions in my behalf, the humane and
benevolent conduct of your Ministers, your gracious
Sovereign's noble and spontaneous generosity, the con-
tinuance of which you certify me depends on my need of
it, were all ideas which crowded together on my mind, and
filled me with most lively sensations of tenderness and
heartfelt gratitude. What return can I make to so many
and so signal proofs of disinterested benevolence ? Dear
Sir John ! I confess I am at a loss how to express my
feelings. I am sure however and very happy that your
good heart will make you fully conceive the sentiments of
mine, and induce you to make known, in an adequate and
convenient manner, to all such as you shall think proper
my most sincere acknowledgments.

" With pleasure I have presented your compliments to
the Cardinals and other persons you mention who all
return you their sincere thanks ; the Canon [Angelo
Cesarini] in particular, now Monsignore, being also a
domestic prelate of His Holiness, begs you be persuaded
of his constant respect and attachment to you.

" My wishes would be completely gratified, should I
have the pleasure, as I most earnestly desire, to see you
again at Frascati, and be able to assure you, by word of
mouth, of my most sincere esteem, and affectionate, in-
delible gratitude. — Your best of friends,

" Henry Cardinal.

"Venice, 7th May, 1800.

"To Sir J. C. HiPPlSLEY, Bart,

" Grosvenor Street, London." x

■ -•••• • •

1 Copies of Letters of Sir J, C. Hippisley.






THE ROYAL PENSION 243

Nobody can deny that George Ill's warm-hearted and
generous offer of assistance to his hereditary rival, and
the Cardinal Duke's grateful acceptance of this pension
from the Privy Purse, forms not only an interesting and
picturesque episode in our national history, but also makes
a satisfactory conclusion to the century-old feud between
the fortunate reigning House of Guelph and the dis-
possessed, unlucky Stuarts. Yet at the very time that he
was living in such a state of destitution as to render the
granting of King George's pension most welcome, Henry
Stuart, as the only living descendant and sole heir of his
grandmother, Queen Mary of Modena, possessed a claim
— a claim that was genuine alike in its legal and moral
aspects — against the British Government for no less a sum
than a million and a half pounds sterling. The story of
this obligation may here be rapidly sketched. At his
accession to the throne in 1685 James II had hastened to
settle by means of an Act of Parliament a life annuity of
^50,000, "to be disposed of at her pleasure," upon his
Queen-Consort, Maria-Beatrice d'Este of Modena, in the
event of his decease ; and through the King's withdrawal
from his dominions in 1688 this provision for dower should
naturally have come into operation, especially since that
most constitutional of monarchs, William of Orange, had
from the first no intention of disputing the validity of any
Act of Parliament previously passed. Nevertheless, no
income was paid to the Queen, although at the Peace of
Ryswick Lillienroote, the Swedish Ambassador, notes a
promise on the part of the English plenipotentiaries
henceforward to pay this recognised annuity regularly,
whilst William of Orange himself assured Marshal
BoufBers, in reply to a direct request from Louis XIV,



244 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

that this matter of the jointure had never once been under
dispute, and that it would be punctually attended to. Yet
neither during William's reign, nor (what is still more
strange) during that of Queen Anne, who might reason-
ably have been expected to consider the welfare of her
father's widow, was one penny of her rightful dower ever
paid to the pious, unhappy, and almost destitute Maria
d'Este, whose solitary crime, even in British eyes, was
that she had borne a son and heir to the dethroned King ;
and thus a Queen Dowager of England, although in the
clear legal possession of a large income that had been
duly granted by Parliament, was allowed to exist upon
the bounty of the French Court for nearly thirty years.
At length, in September 171 8, the widow of James II
died in great poverty at St. Germains, leaving as her
representative her only son, James Stuart, at that time
unmarried, who was debarred from claiming (if he had
ever dreamed of so doing) the arrears of his mother's
jointure by the Act of Attainder passed against him in
1 70 1. Moreover, even had there been no such Act in
existence to form a convenient and perfectly valid excuse
for refusing payment of this sum to the only child of the
dead Queen Dowager, it seems incredible that the British
Government would ever have been inclined to surrender a
million and a half of its own money to a personage who,
though its natural and rightful owner, would without
doubt have used this large sum as a means of political
intrigue against its own existence. In the strict eye of
the British Law, therefore, Queen Mary's only recognised
heirs were her relations in Italy, and it is hard to conceive
what pretext the Government could have found for deny-
ing the Duke of Modena's claim to the unpaid dowry, had



THE ROYAL PENSION 245

he chosen to apply for it officially ; but, either through
indifference or through delicacy of feeling, the Este family
never moved in the matter.

From the death of James Il's widow nearly seventy
years elapsed before we hear of any idea being mooted
for the recovery of this outstanding debt from the
British Treasury to the representatives of Queen Mary
of Modena. The first attempt of the Royal Stuarts
to obtain acknowledgment and payment of their claim
occurs in the spring of 1785, and as this date happens
to fall within a few months of the arrival of Charlotte
Stuart at her father's palace in Florence, it is fairly safe
to conclude that the entire scheme must have originated
in that lady's fertile brain. As a matter of fact it was
by no means an inopportune moment for the Chevalier
to apply for this discharge of a debt which the English
Statute of Limitations did not affect, and which imposed
a true moral obligation on the part of the British Govern-
ment towards the heirs of an exiled British king. Money
that it would have been sheer folly to grant during the
times of the long-past Jacobite danger, could with safety
be bestowed upon its real owners, now that the House
of Stuart was represented by two old men, one an invalid
and the other a priest. Charlotte Stuart's quick mind
seems to have grasped the possibilities of success, and it
was without doubt at her eager suggestion that Charles
now commissioned his faithful friend and chamberlain,
the Jacobite peer, Lord Caryll, to seek the French King's
good offices in obtaining a full recognition of this debt
from the British Ministry. At the same time the Prince
wrote to his brother at Frascati, acquainting him with
this newly-conceived project, and requesting his assent



246 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

to the scheme as co-heir with himself of the vast sum
of money at stake: —

" My lord Caryll, on whose zeal and devotion we
can count absolutely, has for some time past been charged
by me with a commission to re-claim the debt which is
due to us in England concerning the dowry of the late
Queen, widow of James II. He has just written to me
that it is necessary for him to show Monsieur le Comte
de Vergennes a similar commission on your part, since
the moment is favourable for negociating this matter,
and the Minister is disposed to serve us to the best of
his power, without touching the honour of our family,
my own position and my own rights. ... As the matter
is pressing, and we are awaiting your consent, you will,
my very dear Brother, forgive my importunity,

"Charles R}

"June 1th, 1785."

A certain Christopher Stonor, whom the Cardinal
Duke asked for further particulars on receiving his
brother's brief demand for immediate co-operation in
his latest scheme, was not inclined to take a very hope-
ful view of the attempt.

"It is doubtless," he writes on June 12th to Henry
Stuart, " an affair of the greatest importance, but I fear
of very dubious success, to say no more. The warmth
of Lord Caryll's zeal is apt to raise his hopes beyond
what there is reason to expect. However, a tentative,
though fruitless, can do no harm. . . ." 2

It was, therefore, without any enthusiasm that the

1 Stuart Papers. - Ibid.



THE ROYAL PENSION 247

Cardinal Duke gave his consent to a plan in which he
never appears to have been much interested, and which
he probably regarded as undignified.

Although the French Court seems to have taken
little active interest in Charles' efforts to recover this
debt, yet Louis XVI gave instructions to the Comte de
Vergennes to lay this curious appeal before the British
Ministers, at the same time observing (so the story runs),
" the Stuarts are an unlucky family, and I wish to hear
no more of them : " a remark that within a very few years
was to prove strangely applicable to his own unfortunate
House. Nevertheless, on the whole, this unique, long-
delayed claim for so enormous a sum of public money
was not ill-received in London. The Earl of Pembroke,
it is true, had an unsatisfactory interview in regard to
the matter with Pitt, who curtly refused to acquaint
George III with the nature of the demand, declaring that
"it was a thing not to be mentioned to the King"; but
in legal circles a more favourable view of the Stuart
claim was entertained. It was thereupon decided, prob-
ably by Caryll's advice, to take the highest English
legal opinion on the question, and accordingly the cele-
brated lawyer, Francis Plowden, was approached by the
joint claimants. A better choice of counsel could not
have been made ; for Plowden, though an ardent Roman
Catholic and a former pupil of the Jesuits at St. Omer,
was at the same time a staunch Whig, and consequently
free from all suspicion of Jacobite leanings, whilst he
had a strong natural sympathy for all distressed clients
of his own faith. The original draught of Plowden's
professional opinion, which is dated November 8th, 1787,
contains a most encouraging view of the success of the



248 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

proposed action. The learned lawyer first declares that,
as the claim arises out of an unrepealed Act of Parlia-
ment, " the length of time which hath elapsed since the
death of her late Majesty is no bar to the recovery of
the arrears of her Jointure which was due to her at the
time of her death." He next proceeds to state that,
since the late Stuart King had lived and died under
attainder (civiliter mortuus), and since his sons and co-
heirs as the issue of an attainted individual were unable
to sue in person, he strongly advises that the late
Queen's Este relatives be asked to assist in the matter.
He further adds that he believes the British Government
neither dares nor desires to deny such a claim coming
direct from the Este family, who, on obtaining part or
whole of the sum, can then pay over the money received
to the two grandsons of James n's widow. And it
may be remarked here that an expedient, somewhat similar
to that suggested by Plowden, had some fifty years ago
been resorted to on behalf of the two young Stuart Princes
with regard to the fortune bequeathed them by their
uncle, Prince James Louis Sobieski, when the Pope had
demanded from the Court of Vienna a sum of 400,000
florins in Austrian securities, which Charles and Henry
Stuart had transferred by a nominal deed of gift to the
Apostolic See on account of political difficulties that
might have arisen from an open use of their own names. 1
Plowden also strongly recommends a compromise be-
tween the two Governments of Great Britain and Modena
over the total amount to be disbursed, since he foresaw
an unwillingness amongst English Ministers to pay over
the sum claimed in its entirety. As to the Government

1 Historical MSS. Commission Report.



THE ROYAL PENSION 249

sheltering itself behind William Ill's ancient Act of
Attainder, Plowden indignantly declares that " it is looked
upon as dishonourable, base and unjust to take advant-
age of any of the penal Laws which now subsist against
the Catholics ; or otherwise there could not be any
property in the actual possession of a Catholic in this
country."

Finally, for a " matter of such great importance and
delicacy as the introduction of this business to the Court
of Modena," the great lawyer admits that the most
suitable person to apply to the reigning Duke is the
Jacobite peer, Lord Caryll, as " the only person I know
who ought to be entrusted with it from his knowledge
of the Business, his Zeal in the Cause, and the personal
respectability of his Character." 1

In spite, however, of the exertions of Caryll, of de
Vergennes and other agents both in London and Paris,
and the eager expectations of Charlotte Stuart in Italy,
this attempt to obtain Queen Mary's rightful dower
utterly failed. Plowden's suggestion of a compromise
over the total sum claimed, and his plan of petitioning
the Court of Modena, appeared distasteful to the two
brothers, and especially to the Cardinal Duke ; so that
after the Chevalier's death, which occurred within three
months of the receipt of Plowden's opinion, it is not
surprising to learn that the efforts to obtain this million
and a half of money were quickly relaxed and before
long ceased. Charles had, nevertheless, in his will
bequeathed his moiety of this unsubstantial fortune to
his daughter, who in her turn devised her share of it
to her uncle ; consequently, at the time of the granting

1 Stuart Papers.



250 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

of a royal pension to meet his pressing needs, Henry
Stuart had become sole claimant to the immense dowry
which had been legally voted to his grandmother by
Act of Parliament, but of the enjoyment of which four
English sovereigns — William III, Mary II, Anne, and
George I — had most ungenerously deprived the un-
fortunate Queen Dowager of James II.



CHAPTER XI

DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE. LAST
YEARS AND DEATH. J 803-1807

" His life was innocence ; his end was peace."

BY the time of the election of Cardinal Chiaramonti
as Pius VII, the political horizon in Italy had
sufficiently cleared to allow of the Pope's return to his
capital, which had been retaken from the French during
the past winter and was now being held by Neapol-
itan troops in the name of the new Pontiff. The re-
capture of Rome was chiefly due to the combined firmness
and capacity of Admiral Troubridge, then commanding
the British squadron off the Italian coast, who soon made
the French garrisons at Civita Vecchia and in the
castle of Sant' Angelo perceive the wisdom of a speedy
capitulation to superior forces. The formalities of
conquest having taken place, Admiral (then Captain)
Thomas Louis was rowed up the Tiber in a state-barge
in order to hoist the British flag for the first and only
time on the Roman Capitol, and to act temporarily
as Governor of the city : thereby fulfilling a quaint
and apparently impossible prediction of an Irish priest,
Father McCormick, who to Nelson's intense amuse-
ment had foretold the surrender of Rome to the victorious

251



252 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

British Fleet in a complimentary ode addressed to the
English admiral on his arrival at Naples. 1 And it is
of interest to note that Nelson, "who was struck with
the oddity of the circumstance and not a little pleased
with it," subsequently recommended the lucky Father
McCormick for preferment both to the Pope and to
the King of Naples. 2

After Louis' departure a provisional Government
formed of members of the leading Papal families was
set up, and these persons at once began to take every
possible measure of revenge upon the late masters of
the city, which, finding itself equally oppressed under
this new form of tyranny, ardently longed for the
election and return of a new Pope. But many months
elapsed before the new Sovereign Pontiff deemed it
advisable to return, although the Cardinals began singly
and at intervals to arrive in Rome. Meanwhile the
Cardinal Duke was again directing the affairs of his
diocese from a distance, and amongst the various in-
structions received by his Chancellor at Frascati was
the order for a strict enquiry into the conduct of such
of his clergy as had during his absence sympathised
with the late revolution ; whilst Professor Arini, their
ringleader, who prudently remained in close hiding,
was deprived of all his offices, and threatened with
further punishment if caught. Whilst the Chancellor
and other priests were thus engaged in setting to rights
the disturbed condition of the see, secretaries and
stewards were busily employed in making fitting prep-

1 Both Admiral Troubridge and Admiral Louis were subsequently
created baronets for their services.

2 R. Southey, Life of Nelson.






DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 253

arations for their royal Patron's return ; consequently
the voluminous Diary is full of details of workpeople,
of furnishing, and of buying every sort of necessity
and luxury, for despite his low financial state (which
he was ever deploring at this time) the Cardinal
Duke seems to have had no intention of practising
economy.

" Preparations are being made at Frascati, where nine
new beds (besides that of His Royal Highness) have
been placed. The episcopal house is being practically
refurnished without any regard to expense. ... In the
palace of the Cancellaria they are working ceaselessly,
and are now refurnishing the second floor. They are
making arrangements for the kitchens, the store room
and the stables. Five new carriages have been ordered
and twelve horses and two mules bought. They are
also working at the Casino near St. Peter's, which had
lately been stripped of all its belongings. . . . Giuseppe
Valadier is still employed in making a new pastoral
staff of silver-gilt and also two silver-gilt vessels for
the Holy Oils, etc. etc." 1

At last the Cardinal Duke, who had been resting for
some little time at Siena, announces his definite intention
of returning, together with Monsignore Cesarini. " On
Wednesday, June 25th," records with deep satisfaction
the writer of the Diary, "according to arrangements
made, at lj\ o'clock there arrived at the Palace of the
Cancellaria His Royal Highness and Eminence, safe and
sound, coming from Siena, where he had stopped for

1 Diario del Cardinalc Duca.



254 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

some days after leaving Venice in order to await news
of the safe return of the Holy Father."

The Corso and the other streets leading from the
Porta del Popolo to the Cancellaria were lined with
welcoming citizens, and in the courtyard of the palace
itself were collected all the members of the Cardinal
Duke's household, who greeted their beloved master's
return in the true emotional manner of Italians, weeping
like children and vying with each other to kiss his hand.
To add to the general confusion both inside and without
the palace a large military band that had been sent by
the Government to greet the safe arrival of the Vice-
Chancellor of the Apostolic See continued to play the
liveliest and noisiest of complimentary music. To the
joyful surprise of his friends the Cardinal Duke appeared
to be in better health than they had dared to expect ;
for they found him of good colour and grown somewhat
stouter. But they noticed with regret his injured leg,
which had now become so sore and swollen that it had
always to be kept encased in oil-cloth. After dining and
taking some repose, the Cardinal Duke left two hours
before sunset for Frascati, where his reception was even
more enthusiastic than it had been in Rome : —

" His entry into Frascati was a true triumph for His
Royal Highness, since the joy and show of affection that
every class of person manifested proved to him how
distasteful to his people had been the long absence of
their loving Father, whom this day they saw with delight
returning to their midst. Illuminations, brass bands,
ringing of all the bells and shoutings were the tributes of
homage that they pressed upon him until he reached the



DEAN OF THE SACRED COLLEGE 255

episcopal palace, where his clergy and the leading citizens
were standing ready to receive him." l

On the following Saturday, which happened to be
the vigil of the great festival of SS. Peter and Paul, the
Cardinal Duke left his Tusculan villa in order to make
arrangements for the Pope's expected state-entry into
Rome. He was present at the High Mass in St. Peter's
next day, upon which occasion the Diary records the fact
that the famous antique bronze statue of the Apostle that
stands in the nave had been attired according to custom
in its own special set of gorgeous vestments, " an honour
of which the Saint's effigy had been deprived during
the last two years by order of the infamous infidel
republicans."

After the Pope had entered his capital and the
festivities in honour of his return had at last drawn to a
close, the Cardinal Duke retired once more to Frascati,
with the intention of quitting his favourite place of
residence as seldom as possible ; nor was it long before
the old life of splendour and charity, of sumptuous enter-
tainment and of administrative zeal, was once more
resumed, as if no interruption had happened. Such British
visitors as now chanced to be in Rome were readily
admitted to partake of the hospitality of the villa and
palace at Frascati, and from some of these travellers we
get interesting glimpses of the appearance and mode of life
of the Cardinal Duke during these last few years of his
long life. Noticeable amongst these foreign residents in
Rome at this period were the Irish patriot-peer, Valentine
Lawless, Lord Cloncurry, who has left a most amusing

1 Diario del Cardinalc Duca.



256 HENRY STUART CARDINAL YORK

description of Roman society at the time of his visit, and
the eccentric Frederick Augustus Hervey, Earl of Bristol
and Bishop of Derry, who used habitually to ride about
the streets of the city dressed in red-plush breeches and
a broad-brimmed white hat, a striking costume that the
Romans came to believe were the usual vestments of an
Anglican prelate. Another distinguished Englishman,
then residing constantly in or near Rome, was Prince
Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, whose marriage with
Lady Augusta Murray had recently been declared null
and void by the Prerogative Court. This Prince, the sixth
son of King George III, whose warm recommendation
of the Cardinal Duke's claims to his father had not a little
helped to secure the royal pension, now became a
frequent guest at the palace of La Rocca, on which
occasions the royal Guelph duke and the last of the
Stuarts were in the habit of " Royal-Highnessing each
other incessantly." Lord Cloncurry (who did not scruple
to address the Cardinal Duke as " Majesty," not from
conviction but merely in order to ingratiate himself with
his host), gives us several anecdotes, telling us that Henry
Stuart was especially fond of private theatricals, which
were usually performed in the saloons of the palace by
the young professors and students of the Seminary,