On the return of peace, as concluded by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the corps of Marines, which had been formed in the reign of Queen Anne, were ordered to be disbanded; they were considered to be part of a war establishment, and a spirit of public economy, as well as of jealousy against a standing army, particularly in the early periods after the Revolution of 1688, afforded to the leaders of parliamentary debates, and of popular prejudices, grounds of objection to the maintaining of such corps after the termination of hostilities. The arrangements consequent on the general peace having been made, a great reduction in the forces took place. These arrangements had scarcely been decided, when the decease of Her Majesty Queen Anne took place on the 1st of August, 1714, and King George the First ascended the throne. Soon after His Majesty’s accession, the peace of the kingdom was disturbed by the hostile designs of King Louis XV. of France, who had supported and encouraged James Francis Edward Stuart, son of His late Majesty King James II., in his endeavours to obtain the throne of Great Britain; but the loyalty of the people, and the courage of the troops, defeated the attempts for the restoration of the Stuart family. King George I., being supported by the parliament, adopted active measures for increasing his army, and resisting the plans of his enemies. Six additional regiments of cavalry, from ninth to fourteenth dragoons, were raised. The establishments of the regiments of infantry were increased, and in consideration of the gallant and extensive services of the Marine corps during the late war, Wills’s, now _thirtieth_, Goring’s, now _thirty-first_, and Borr’s, now _thirty-second_, were incorporated with the regiments of infantry of the line, and ranked according to the dates of their original formation in 1702. [Sidenote: 1739] From the year 1714 to 1739 no corps of Marines, except four invalid companies, were kept on the establishment of the army. For several years Spain had beheld with great jealousy the growing commerce and increasing naval consequence of Great Britain, particularly in the neighbourhood of her possessions in South America, where Spain had endeavoured to monopolize the whole commerce and wealth of Mexico and Peru; the vessels of foreign powers were forbidden, under severe penalties, to approach within a certain distance of her American possessions; and to enforce this, the American seas were filled with Spanish cruisers, whose enormities at length attracted the attention of the British parliament. After fruitless representations to the court of Madrid for redress, the British ministry at length determined on hostilities; and, with the acclamations of the nation, war was formally declared against Spain on the 23rd of October, 1739.