Cylchgronau Cymru

of Chirk Castle and Margam carried the Stuart banner in the eighteenth century, nor did the influential Tory family of Mostyn in Flintshire: indeed, in 1727 it was Thomas Mostyn, heir to the title and estate, who compelled the reluctant sheriff of Flintshire to order the proclamation of the new king, George II.1 And if many Tories were loyal to the Revolution Settlement, the Whig families of Wales grew ever more powerful, especially when they received the full weight of government support after 1714. Houses of old Whig lineage, like the Vaughans of Trawscoed in Cardiganshire and the Owens of Orielton in Pembrokeshire, greatly extended their influence. New Whig families rose to prominence, such as the Wynns of Glynllifon in Caernarvonshire. The political balance of power in Wales therefore tilted increasingly against the supporters of the Stuarts. A more accurate guide to the political state of Wales than the optimistic claims of Jacobite agents was the parliamentary representation of the country: and here all the efforts of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Sir John Philipps, and the dukes of Beaufort could secure a mere handful of Tory M.P.s, few of whom were overt Jacobites. Emissaries from the Pretender attributed considerable importance to the Welsh Jacobites. By 1730 Wynn was already regarded as one of the Jacobite leaders in the north and west.2 In 1735 an assurance of his whole-hearted support was conveyed to the Pretender through an intermediary, Colonel Cecil: 'Watkin Williams presents his duty to you, and desires I would lett you know that you may command him in everything and that he will be allways ready to serve you, both with his life and fortune'.3 Wynn gave generous financial assistance to George Kelly, the chief suspect in the Atterbury Plot, during his imprisonment in the Tower from 1722 until his escape in 1736. After Kelly arrived in France he urged that Wynn's wealth and his devotion to the Stuart cause made him the first man to contact in any negotiations with the Jacobites in Britain.4 Perhaps a sense of obligation to Wynn may have led Kelly to overemphasize his importance, but there can be no doubt of his zeal. When Lord Sempill was despatched in 1740 to sound the Jacobites in Britain on their attitude to a project for a rising combined with a French invasion, he reported that, unlike such other friends as William 1 The Cheshire Sheaf, New Series. I (1891-96), 18-19. 2 Stuart MSS. 133/151. 8 Stuart MSS. 178/6. 4 Stuart MSS. 194/10.