King Charles’s dynasty. We have seen how Lord Galway drove the Duke of Berwick’s forces before him, and how also the concentration of the French forces, for their siege of Barcelona, had cleared Lord Galway’s road to Madrid. But even if we accept Lord Peterborough’s statement[1] that it was he himself who had cleared the way to Madrid for Lord Galway, what was the use of his clearing the way to the rendezvous, if he did not himself hasten to join the allies there? What happened at last was a consequence of this cruel trifling; we lost the whole of Spain except Catalonia, and for that corner of land Lord Peterborough’s political friends did not care. Those politicians made use of an after-thought as an apology, namely, that King Charles III. having become the Emperor Charles VI. of Germany, it was impolitic for them to continue to support his claim to the throne of Spain. But they had abandoned him, before the unexpected death of his brother took place. Queen Anne, in reply to the lately mentioned appeal on behalf of the Catalans, was instructed by her ministers to insinuate that the new Emperor should relieve them. But those ministers had left him in a helpless condition in Spain. In order to take possession of his German dominions, he had to steal away from Spain like a poor hunted refugee.[2]
To return to John Fontaine. He staid in Dublin for some time after leaving the army. The result of some grave family consulations was, that it would be desirable to obtain a settlement for the clan in Virginia. And John, having a love of travel and adventure, was sent across the ocean to make enquiries and to buy an estate. He landed in the new country on the 28th May 1715; and, acting on the best advice, he made his way to Williamsburg. Though industrious in his negotiations, he reports himself as still a visitor there in April 1716, not having made a purchase. He obtained the friendship of Governor Spottiswood, and accompanied him in his famous expedition for the discovery of the Passage over the Mountains, when Mount George and Mount Alexander received their names. On the second day they came to Christanna Fort. As to the fourth day we find the following satisfactory entry in John Fontaine’s Journal:— “In the morning I rid out with the Governor and some of the people of the fort to view the lands which were not yet taken up. We saw several fine tracts of land, well watered, and good places to make mills on. I had a mind to take some of it up, so I asked the Governor if he would permit me to take up 3000 acres, and he gave me his promise for it.”
We have now before us John Fontaine, as an owner of landed property in Spottsylvania (so named after the Governor Alexander Spottiswood), in King William County, Virginia, the father and founder of a plantation, at which, however, he was not himself to reside.
The first of his brothers who arrived was the Rev. Peter Fontaine and family; they came in December 1716. The singular circumstances of the marriage of Peter while a student at Trinity College, Dublin, are thus related in old Fontaine’s Memoirs. “In the month of November 1713 Captain Boulay, a French gentleman, a half-pay cavalry officer, with whom I had not the slightest acquaintance, called upon me to offer his granddaughter in marriage to one of my sons. Her name was Elizabeth Fourreau. He was upwards of eighty years of age; she was his sole descendant, her father and mother were both dead, and she was to inherit all his property. He told me he had heard an excellent report of my sons . . . . he said he preferred in the husband of his child virtue without fortune, above the largest property, accompanied with piety and discretion.” On the 29th March 1714 Peter was married to the Huguenot girl, whose grandfather died in March 1715, leaving £1000. John wrote to him that he had found a parish for him in Virginia. “He had taken his degree, and was ready to be ordained at the time he received John’s letter. He accordingly went to London, and received ordination from the hands of the Bishop of London, who is also Bishop of all the British colonics.” Peter obtained the parish of Roanoke near Williamsburg, and took up his abode there.
John set about building houses in his Spottsylvanian plantation; and before they were quite finished his eldest brother James arrived to occupy the first lot; this was in October 1717. In the following March their brother-in-law Maury arrived, and secured his lot. “On the 17th of July 1718 (says John), I made over the deeds of the land to my brother James in order to go to England.”
- ↑ Lord Peterborough’s case is faithfully reported in “Collins’ Peerage,” though in the ambiguous language which such a case required :— "The possession he gained of Catalonia, of the Kingdom of Valencia, &c, gave opportunity to the Earl of Galway to advance to Madrid without a blow. . . . That war being looked on as likely to be concluded, he received Her Majesty’s commission for Ambassador Extraordinary, with powers and instructions for treating and adjusting all matters of state and traffic between the two kingdoms. Whatever were the causes of his being recalled from Spain, they are not publicly known; but ’tis certain that our affairs there were soon alter in a very ill condition by the loss of the Battle of Almanza.”
- ↑ “Charles hastened home from .Spain to take possession of the throne which had been unexpectedly vacated. The Capuchin Monks of Mount St. Jerome helped him to escape. That act cost the guardian and reader of the cloister their lives.” — “History of the Protestant Church of Hungary,” translated by Craig (London, 1854). page 205.
