DUKE OF ARGYLE DISGRACED.

The rebellion being utterly quelled, and all the suspected persons of consequence detained in safe custody, the king resolved to visit his German dominions, where he foresaw a storm gathering from the quarter of Sweden. Charles XII. was extremely exasperated against the elector of Hanover, for having entered into the confederacy against him in his absence, particularly for his having purchased the duchies of Bremen and Verden, which constituted part of his dominions; and he breathed nothing but revenge against the king of Great Britain. It was with a view to avert this danger, or prepare against it, that the king now determined upon a voyage to the continent. But as he was restricted from leaving his British dominions by the act for the further limitation of the crown, this clause was repealed in a new bill that passed through both houses without the least difficulty. On the twenty-sixth day of June, the king closed the session with a speech upon the usual tonics, in which, however, he observed, that the numerous instances of mercy he had shown served only to encourage the faction of the pretender, whose partisans acted with such insolence and folly, as if they intended to convince the world that they were not to be reclaimed by gentle methods. He intimated his purpose of visiting his dominions in Germany; and gave them to understand, that he had constituted his beloved son, the prince of Wales, guardian of the kingdom in his absence. About this period general Macartney, who had returned to England at the accession of king George, presented himself to trial for the murder of the duke of Hamilton. The deposition of colonel Hamilton was contradicted by two park-keepers; the general was acquitted of the charge, restored to his rank in the army, and gratified with the command of a regiment. The king’s brother, prince Ernest, bishop of Osnabruck, was created duke of York and Albany, and earl of Ulster. The duke of Argyle, and his brother the earl of Hay, to whom his majesty owed, in a great measure, his peaceable accession to the throne, as well as the extinction of the rebellion in Scotland, were now dismissed from all their employments. General Carpenter succeeded the duke in the chief command of the forces in North Britain, and in the government of Port Mahon; and the duke of Montrose was appointed lord-register of Scotland in the room of the earl of Hay.