30. The Scheme to “Bubble the Government“
Chaloner added a new scheme to his repertoire in 1693, and became an anti-Jacobite agent provocateur. The Jacobites – supporters of the recently dethroned King James II – were trying to restore James. Chaloner feigned sympathy for their cause, drew them out into treasonous activity, then snitched on them to the authorities for a generous reward. In one instance, he collected 1000 pounds – a small fortune – for setting up two Jacobite patsies, who were executed.
Then Chaloner figured that instead of wasting time trying to find Jacobite conspiracies and conspirators, it was easier to simply invent them. In 1693, he informed the authorities that he had discovered a Jacobite plot to seize Dover Castle, and offered to infiltrate the network. He told an accomplice that if he followed his lead: “they would bubble the government, who were the easiest to be cheated of any men in the world“. The Dover Castle scheme did not pan out, so Chaloner came up with another: he gave the authorities with a fake list of Jacobites, and got them to hire him to investigate them.
