About Prince William and the Cumberland Diamond in 1746

THE CUMBERLAND.

Days of Trouble in England--The Battle of Culloden--The City of London presents a Great Diamond to the Conqueror--The "Cumberland" restored to Hanover on a claim sent in to the English Court.

This stone was originally purchased by the City of London, for pound 10,000, and presented to Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, immediately on his return from Culloden in 1746.

The preceding year had been characterised by serious disaffection towards the throne and ministry. Anson had arrived from his circumnavigation of the globe. The broad-bottomed Ministry consisted of the Pelhams, aided by Lords Harrington, Gower, and Lyttelton. Lord Orford had come up from Houghton to advise the king, returned to Norfolk, and died. This year was one of danger to England. A Ministry distracted by internal jealousies and dissensions; the old Tories raising up the smouldering spirit of Jacobitism; France, Spain, and Italy, in its family compact, joined by Holland; Scotland in open rebellion; Prince Charles Edward landing; the clans in arms; Sir John Cope vanquished and routed, and "Preston Pans" rousing the enthusiasm of English chivalry to its zenith; the times were exciting in the extreme. At this juncture, the Duke of Cumberland, a strong Whig, upon whose support he verily believed the stability of the throne, in the line of Hanover, depended, proceeded to the North, and vigorously prosecuted the work entrusted to him of driving Charles Edward out of the realm, and striking a death blow to rebellion in Scotland. No short campaign was ever more passionately popular than this, which ended in the battle of Culloden. The "Duke's Head" was the tavern sign on every English country tavern, and the common garden flower known as the Sweet William was appropriated to him.

"The pride of France is lily white,

The rose in June is Jacobite;

The prickly thistle of the Scot

Is Northern knighthood's badge and lot;

But since the Duke's victorious blows,

The lily, thistle, and the rose,

All droop and fade and die away--

Sweet William only rules the day.

No plant with brighter lustre grows,

Except the laurel on his brows."

Alas, the hero of Culloden soon fell from his popularity. His habits had became gross, and his self-indulgence, acting on his weakened constitution, made him ungainly; whilst the enmity and jealously of his elder brother, who envied his popularity and feared for his succession, succeeded in blackening his character. Within a few months (1747), the Allied Army under the Duke of Cumberland was entirely defeated at the battle of Lauffeld, and, whilst this raised the spirit of France, it was fatal to the reputation of our warrior-prince. The attempt to sow dissension between the two royal brothers, greatly scandalized the middle classes, but in 1751 the end of the jealously, which, the mother, Queen Caroline, had so injudiciously encouraged, terminated in the death of the Prince of Wales.