George I | Privy Council, document signed, 1722

George I--Privy Council

Letter signed by eight councillors, to Richard, Earl of Scarborough, as Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland,

warning of "a wicked Conspiracy in Concert with Trators [sic] abroad, for raising a Rebellion in this Kingdom, in favour of a Popish pretender" and ordering him to confiscate all arms in the county belonging to Roman Catholics and Nonjurors, signed by the Duke of Dorset, the Duke of Montrose, Henry Lord Carleton, John Lord Carteret, Thomas Earl of Westmorland, Charles Wills, and two others, 2 pages, folio, integral address leaf with remains of red wax seal impression, St James's Palace, 9 May 1722, later biographical notes on blanks

A LETTER WARNING OF POSSIBLE INSURRECTION. The government was on high alert following the discovery of a Jacobite plot. Just prior to this letter the French Regent, the Duc d'Orleans, had warned the British government that the Jacobites had requested 3000 troops for a coup d'état set for May 1722. Investigations and arrests followed, and the mastermind of the plot was eventually discovered to be Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester.