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 BY 
 
 Goldwin Smith, M. A. Oxon., 
 
 Regius Profeffor of Hiltoiy in the 
 Univerlity ot Oxford. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 DA 501.B68M15 
 
 Life of Henry St. John viscount Bolingb 
 
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 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028094302 
 
LIFE 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 HENEY ST. JOHN, 
 
 VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE, 
 
 SECRETARY OP STATE IN THE REIGN 
 OF QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 THOMAS MACKNIG-HT, 
 
 AUTHOR OP " THE HISTORY OP THE LIFE AND TIMES OF EDMUND BURKE," ETC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. 
 
 1863. 
 
 [The right of Translation is resecced.] 
 
LONDON ; PnlNTJED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHAHING CROSS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The lives of Lord Bolingbroke and Edmund Burke 
 illustrate each other. They may be said to embrace the 
 whole political history of the eighteenth century; and 
 from the very different characters of the two men, the 
 very different principles they announced, and the very 
 different causes they advocated, form a curious con- 
 trast, and a most instructive study. The biography 
 of the one statesman may rightly be considered a 
 companion to the biography of the other. 
 
 A Life of Bolingbroke, presenting in one continuous 
 view all the vicissitudes of his ambitious and chequered 
 life, has long been a favourite design of the author. 
 Without wishing to depreciate what has been written 
 by others, he can ask no greater favour than that his 
 volume may be fairly compared with anything which 
 has as yet appeared professing to contain a delineation 
 of Lord Bolingbroke's career. The narrative, as will 
 
Yl PREFACE. 
 
 easily be seen, has not been based on any former 
 work. It will be found, to differ materially from every 
 other publication of the kind in the estimate of Boling- 
 broke himself, in the representation of the most im- 
 portant facts pf his life and the motives of his actions, 
 as well as in the view of his contemporaries in relation 
 to himself. 
 
 Beginning, as the author does, with a political narra- 
 tive almost from the very year in which the great histo- 
 rical work of Lord Macaulay abruptly terminates, it was 
 necessary to make some observations on the characters 
 of the different persons who figured most prominently 
 on the political scene when the young St. John first 
 entered public life. While tracing his earlier career in 
 the House of Commons, as Secretary-at-War, and during 
 the two years of his retirement, it has been sought to 
 exhibit clearly the nature of his connection with the 
 Duke of Marlborough, which in some degree gave a 
 colour to the whole of Bolingbroke's future career, and 
 which has been far too little understood. Again, 
 his obligations to Harley, his labours on the peace of 
 Utrecht, and his real intentions with regard to carry- 
 ing out the Act of Settlement on the death of Queen 
 Anne, all afford matter of the highest biographical and 
 historical interest, and present problems which have 
 never yet been solved. 
 
 Side by side with his struggles as a party leader and 
 a statesman, it has been endeavoured to illustrate his 
 private life. The author cannot charge himself with 
 having neglected anything which might throw light 
 on Bolingbroke's career. All that has been written on 
 
PREFACE. VIJ 
 
 the subject in the Library of the British Museum, the 
 Lord Advocate's Library in Edinburgh, and the Library 
 of Trinity College at Dublin, has been sifted ; nor have 
 the materials in the Manuscript department of the 
 Museum, and in the State Paper Office, been neglected. 
 It would not have been difficult to have printed 
 for the first time many more documents than will 
 be found quoted in the course of the narrative ; 
 but it was not desirable to make the book a mere 
 collection of papers. The author would particularly 
 call attention to the interesting Letter of the Dowager 
 Countess of Rochester to the Lady Johanna St. John 
 on the death of the repentant Wilmot. On this 
 subject there are several other letters, with which 
 pages might have been filled. The despatch from 
 Lord Stanhope to Lord Stair, of the 30th of March, 
 1716, will be found to confirm Bolingbroke's repeated 
 statements of the unconditional offer of a pardon made 
 to him even at so early a period ; and it is of the 
 utmost importance in showing the justice or injustice 
 with which he was afterwards treated. His retire- 
 ment in France, and in England, at Marcilly, La 
 Source, Dawley, Chanteloup, and Battersea, all offer 
 interesting scenes for contemplation ; and the history 
 of these closing years will be found very instructive 
 and suggestive. The Lettres de Lord Vicomte Bo- 
 lingbroke, published with notes at Paris in 1808, 
 afford the most authentic materials for depicting his 
 life in France. But the dates of these letters, particu- 
 larly those to the Abbe Alari, are untrustworthy, and 
 can only be used when corrected by other authorities. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 such as the letters to Sir William Windham. The 
 epistles Bolingbroke received on the death of his friend 
 Windham from Pope, Lyttelton, and Marchmont, show 
 in a very interesting light the characters of the dif- 
 ferent writers. The author, while presenting a brief 
 analysis of Bolingbroke's writings as they were 
 produced, has not thought it necessary to enter very 
 fully into the controversial questions about philo- 
 sophy and religion which occupied so much of the 
 later period of his life. Neither has he quoted at any 
 length the correspondence of Swift, Pope, and Boling 
 broke, which is in the hands of every reader ; nor 
 made any long extracts from Bolingbroke's pubKshed 
 writings. Throughout the work the aim has been 
 to subordinate the general history of the period, in 
 order to present fully the details of Bolingbroke's 
 personal history. 
 
 Of the result it is not for the author to speak. He 
 has endeavoured to present an impartial view of the 
 subject. Bolingbroke's life abounds in vicissitudes; 
 there are great changes of scene and of fortune ; he 
 was born with great intellectual endowments, and also 
 with the strongest passions ; and it is assuredly a 
 curious and interesting study to observe their effects 
 through the eventful times in which his lot was cast. 
 His character assumes by turns many varying and 
 apparently contradictory phases; and yet, when care- 
 fully analysed, it appears peculiarly consistent and 
 uniform as a whole, working towards a definite if not 
 a very satisfactory end. Why was it that, in action 
 as well as in speculation, a man so gifted as Boling- 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 broke was so completely unsuccessful ? Why was it 
 that his life was but a series of defeats ? If the author 
 has performed in aoy satisfactory manner his biogra- 
 phical duty, the answer will be evident and require 
 no commentary of his own. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1678-1700 (Pp. 1-27). 
 
 Eakly Years — The St. Jolins and tlie Tudors — Sir Walter St. John — Boling- 
 broke's Father — Daniel Bnrgess — The Countess Dowager of Rochester' — The 
 Household at Battersea — St. John's Dissipation — Verses to Dryden — Dryden 
 and St. John — Ode to Ahnahide — St. John and the Orange Girl — Marriage 
 — Memher of Parliament. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1688-1701 (Pp. 28-47). 
 
 England and her Statesmen when St. John entered Parhament — King William 
 — Feelings of the People — Somers and Montague — Marlhorough — Marl- 
 borough's Intrigues — Marlborough and the Foreign Generals — The Peace of 
 Ryswick — The Partition Treaties — Unpopularity of the Whigs — ^Would the 
 Revolution triumph ? 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 1701-1704 (Pp. 48-86). 
 
 The Young Member — Harley — Harley's Lieutenant — St. John in the House of 
 Commons — St. John and the Act of Settlement — Impeachment of the Whig 
 Statesmen' — Bolingbroke on the Partition Treaties — The Kentish Petition — 
 Character of St. John's Toryism — Effect of St. John's Speeches — Shows the 
 Tories Game — St. John's Oratory — Walpole's First Speech — The Accession 
 of Queen Anne — The Kentish Petition — Ministerial Changes — Occasional 
 Conformity — St. John a Commissioner of Accounts — Disputes with the 
 Lords — The Case of Ashby and White. 
 
xu CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER rV. 
 
 1704-1708 (Pp. 87-121). 
 
 The Secretary-at-War — Wlio appointed St. John? — St. John's Duties as 
 Secretary-at-War — Marlhorongh and the Tories — St. John and the Godol- 
 phin Ministry — ^More Dissension — St. John and Marlborough — St. John 
 and the Estimates — An OfiScial Letter — Mrs. Masham — Marlborough's 
 Favourites — Harley's Intrigues — The Union with Scotland — Barley's Du- 
 plicity — St. John's Poundage — The Whigs and Marlborough — Harley's 
 Expulsion from OfBce — Follows Harley out of OfBce. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1708-1710 (Pp. 122-149). 
 
 In Retirement — ^Why St. John went into Retirement — St. John congratulates 
 Marlborough— An Epigram — The Happiest Portion of St. John's Life — 
 St. John's Reading — The Conferences at the Hagne — ^Marlborough as a 
 Diplomatist — Marlborough as a Man — Malplaquet — Harley's Intrigues — 
 Prosecution of SachevereU — The Conferences at Gertruydenberg — Dismissal 
 of the Whigs — Harley and St. John's First Quarrel. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1710-1711 (Pp. 150-201). 
 
 The Secretary of State— Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs— St. John's 
 Politics— Dissolution of the Parhament— The Official Style— Mr. St. John's 
 Letter— England and her Allies— Peace a Necessity of the Mmistry-^ohn 
 Drummond— Marlborough— St. John and Marlborough — Swift— No Over- 
 tures to be made to France— The Abbe Gaultier- Gfaultier and Torcy— 
 Reception of the Overtures for Peace — The Animosity of the Tories— Faction 
 
 — St. John and the October Club — Guiscard — A Terrible Scene Mrs. St. 
 
 John— Mrs. Mauley's Diplomacy— Harley's Reserve— St. John and Harley 
 Quarrel— Harley created Earl of Oxford— St. John to the Earl of Orrery. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 1711 (Pp. 202-227). 
 
 The Secretary's OfBcial and Private Life— Return of Gaultier— The Expedition 
 to Quebec— St 'John's 'Ofaeial Habits— Hard Drinking— St. John's IVeat- 
 ment of Swift— Sunday Conversation at St. John's Table— St. John's Drives 
 to Windsor— The Club of Brothers— St. John at his Country Seat— St. John 
 as a Country Gentleman— St. John still friendly to Marlborough— St. John 
 congratulates Marlborough— Rupture between Marlborough and St. John. 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER vrn. 
 
 1711-1712 (Pp. 228-281). 
 
 Negotiating the Peace of Utreoht^-Preliminaries of the Treaty — Reasons for 
 allowing Philip to reign — Mesnager sent to England — St. John and the 
 French Envoy — Shrewshury's Hesitation — Considering the French Pro- 
 posals — St. John takes Mesnager to the Queen — Pensionary Buys — St. 
 John's Persecution of the Printers — Brigadier Breton — Defeat of the Grovem- 
 meut — The Creation of Twelve Peers — St. John leading the House of 
 Commons — St. John and Walpole — -Violent Proceedings — False Accusations 
 of Assassination — Threatens to commit Hampden to the Tower — Peter- 
 borough and the Resumption Bill — The Negotiators of the Peace — The 
 Spanish Succession — The Renunciations — ^St. John's Counter Proposal — 
 St. John's Letter to Ormond — The Tables Turned — England against Holland 
 — Parliamentary Condemnation — St. John leaves the House of Commons. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 1712-1713 (Pp. 282-353). 
 
 The New Peer — Abandons the Field to Walpole — St. John dissatisfied — 
 Renounces his Friendship for Oxford — Admiral Sir John Leake — Jack Hill — 
 Jack Hill and Bolingbroke — Messengers' Bills — Oxford's Scruples — Journey 
 to Paris — Madame de Tencin — Interview with the King — Bolingbroke and 
 the Pretender — Bolingbroke at Dunkirk — Prior left in Paris — Matt and 
 Henry — Bolingbroke wanting Money — French Diplomacy — Pursuit of Mac- 
 artney — The Allies — George St. John — Drummond — Prior and Shrewsbury 
 — The Treaty at last signed — The Play of Cato — Addison and Bolingbroke — 
 Trade between England and France — The Whimsical Tories — Arthur 
 Moore — BoUngbroke's Vexation — Enlightened Views of Bolingbroke — The 
 Negotiations — The Renunciations — The Assiento Contract — The Catalans — 
 The Princess de Ursini. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1713-1714 (Pp. 354-422). 
 
 The Crisis — After the Peace — A Prime Minister in DifBculties — Oxford and 
 Bolir^broke — Shrewsbury — Lady Bolingbroke — The Jersey Family — BoUng- 
 broke's Friends in Paris — The Duchess of Portsmouth — Bolingbroke in high 
 favour — Bolingbroke and the Queen — Parliament — Oxford's strange conduct 
 — Sir Patrick Lawless — The Pretender in Lorraine — The Ministers and the 
 Succession — Oxford and the Jacobites — Mesnager and Lady Masham — 
 Bolingbroke suspected of Jacobitism — BoUngbroke's real Sentiments — The 
 Queen's Hesitation — Bolingbroke inclines to the Pretender — Dismissal of the 
 Hanoverian Envoy — Lord Clarendon — The Schism Act — Wharton's Taunts 
 — Lady Masham— Oxford's last Struggle — Swift dissatisfied with Bolingbroke 
 — Bolingbroke and the two Favourites — The Attitude of Shrewsbuiy — 
 Bolingbroke s Designs — Death of Queen Anne — BoUngbroke's Grief — Atter- 
 bury's Advice. 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1714-1716 (Pp. 423-448). 
 
 A Pall— Bolingbioke's dismissal— At Bucklersbury— The Pretender's Procla- 
 mation— Bolingbroke and George the First— The Regret of Somers— Wal- 
 pole's Bitterness— BoUngbroke's Flight— Marlborough frightens Bolingbroke 
 —The Secret Committee— The Report of the Committee— Impeachment of 
 Bolingbroke — Bolingbroke attainted. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 1715-1716 (Pp. 449-490). 
 
 Secretary of State to the Pretender— Bolingbroke's Letter to Stair— Boling- 
 broke and Berwick— A Discrepancy— Becomes Secretary to James— Boling- 
 broke and the Irish Jacobites— Earl of Bolingbroke— Memorial to Torcy— 
 The French Comi^-An-ival of Ormond— Madame de Tencin again — Boling- 
 broke and James— Death of Louis the Fourteenth — Hopes and Fears— The 
 Pretender's Proclamation — Mademoiselle de Chaussery — Character of Ormond 
 —James in Scotland— The Pretender's Return— Bolingbroke's Dismissal- 
 Berwick's Testimony. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1716—1725 (Pp. 491-560). 
 
 Exile and Isolation — The Cry of Obloquy — Offer of Pardon — Bolingbroke a 
 Supplicant — Lady Bolingbroke — The Ladies Bolingbroke and Ormond — 
 Bolingbroke's Conduct — Reflections on Exile — Love of Country — Another 
 Burst of Obloquy — Sir WiUiam Windham's Character — Bolingbroke's Ad- 
 missions — The Letter not published — Oxford's Acquittal — Letter to Swift — 
 The Marquise de ViUette — The Beautiful Circassian — Second Maniage — 
 La Source — Philosophical Studies— Chronological Investigations — Voltaire 
 at La Source — Pardon — Bolingbroke's Professions — BoUngbroke dissatisfied 
 — At Aix-la-Chapelle — France and England — Bolingbroke and the Walpoles 
 — Lady BoUngbroke's " Daughter " — The second Lady Bohngbroke — 
 Bolingbroke alone — ^Dogs and Field Sports — Bolingbroke and Pulteney — 
 The Bill introduced — The Nature and Extent of Bolingbroke's ObUgations 
 to Walpole. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1725-1735 (Pp. 561-619). 
 
 At Dawley— Pope and Bolingbroke — Swift in England j^ain— Pope nearly 
 drowned — Voltaire at Dawley — Organization of the Opposition — Pulteney's 
 
 Character — Establishment of the Craftsman — Walpole's Rejoinders Death 
 
 of George the Fii-st — Voltaire — EmbaiTassments^— Dr. Hoadly — At Aix-la- 
 Chapelle — A Spy — Remarks on English History — Walpole's Moderation 
 
 Bolingbroke's two Lives — Human Knowledge — Natural Religion^Bolins- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 broke's Philosophy characterized — Philosophical Toryism — The Essay on 
 Man — Pope's Sentiments — The Excise Scheme — Bolingbroke's Opinions — 
 Parties — Bolingbroke and Walpole — A "Supposition" — Bolingbroke 
 again leaves England. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1735—1742 (Pp. 620-661). 
 
 In France again — Lady Bolingbroke's Daughter — CoiTespondence with Charles 
 Windham — Use of HistorJ^Habits of Composition — The Dowager Duchess 
 of Marlborough — Essay on Patriotism — In England — The Patriot King — A 
 Visionary Idea — At Twickenham — Secession — Death of Sir W. Windham 
 — Pope to Bolingbroke — Lyttelton to Bolingbroke — -The Earl of March- 
 mont — Marchmont to Bolingbroke — CoiTespondence with Marchmont — 
 Studies at Argeville — Warburton — Bolingbroke and Warburton — Eeturns 
 home at last. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 1743—1751 (Pp. 662-702). 
 
 Battersea — Pope's Death — Feelings at Battersea — Pope's Treachery — Pitt and 
 Bolingbroke — The Rebellion of 1745 ^ Retirement — A Cripple — State 
 of the Nation — Gloomy Views of Ei^land — David Mallet — ^A Letter to 
 Warburton — Death of Lady Bolingbroke — Bolingbroke's Will — Death of 
 Bolingbroke — The Lawsuit at Paris — Sir Walter St. John's School — Lord 
 Combury's Letter to Mallet — A French Club — Innate Moral Principles — 
 Reception of his Philosophy — Conclusion. ^ 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1678—1700. 
 EARLY YEAES. 
 
 BoLiNGBROKE "was accustomed, in exile, to boast of the 
 nobleness of his ancestry. Some of the proud and 
 supercilious French nobles listened to the details of 
 his family origin with politeness, but also with scep- 
 ticism. He has himself depicted Harley as indulging 
 in similar pride ; and has taken care to let us know 
 that, in his opinion, it was only in his vain discourses 
 over claret that the splendour of Harley's origin could 
 be found. But the antiquity and magnificence of the 
 house of St. John might excusably dazzle one who 
 wished indeed to be regarded as a philosopher, but 
 who never affected to be indifferent to the honours 
 of an illustrious pedigree. Bolingbroke used to say 
 exultingly, that his ancestors on one side were of the 
 highest Norman, and on the other, of the noblest 
 Saxon origin of which the records of England could 
 boast ; and that he thus united in his person the 
 blood of both the conquering and the conquered race. 
 
2 EAELY YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 In a similar spirit lie would declare that, during tte 
 civil wars, Ms ancestors were distinguished on both 
 sides, and that on both sides they rendered eminent 
 services to the causes they separately upheld. 
 
 The glories of the family of St. John are matters of 
 written record, William de St. John was a knight 
 who came over with the Conqueror. He held an 
 important post in the Norman army at the battle of 
 Hastings, and has by some been called the quarter- 
 master-general, and by others, grand-master of the 
 artillery, and supervisor of the waggons and carriages ; 
 though what the artillery was in a Norman army, some 
 of the present distinguished officers of that arm of the 
 British service would perhaps find it difficult to affirm. 
 One of his sons, a person of great distinction in the 
 reign of Rufiis, inherited all his English estates, and 
 acquired a considerable addition to his wealth and 
 honours by his warlike services in Wales. This 
 knight's granddaughter, marrying Adam de Port, a 
 great baron, whose ancestors had for centuries been 
 men of renown long before the Saxons were defeated 
 at Hastings, took his mother's name, and styled 
 himself "William de St. John, Lord of Basing, and 
 son and heir of Adam de Port.* 
 
 The family of St. John thus, as the learned in such 
 genealogies say, derives through the female line. In 
 the middle ages, the scions of this house extended 
 their power and influence, winning barony after 
 barony, and shooting out far and wide into county 
 after county. The lordship of Bletsoe was acquired 
 by the union of Sir Oliver de St. John with the 
 sister of Lord Beauchamp, in the reign of Henry VI. 
 This lady, after the death of her husband, married the 
 
 * ' Filius et haeres Ada de Port.' 
 
1678—1700.] THE ST. JOHNS AND THE TUDOES. o 
 
 Duke of Somerset, and had a daughter, who was after- 
 wards united to Edmund Tudor, Duke of Richmond, 
 and became the mother of Henry YII., and the pro- 
 genitor of the great Hne of Tudor sovereigns. 
 
 This connection with the Tudors was never forgotten 
 by the family of St. John. A painted glass window at 
 the east end of the church of Battersea had portraits of 
 this Margaret Beauchamp, Henry YII., and Queen 
 Elizabeth. In the centre were the royal arms, 
 supported on each side by the heraldic emblazonry of 
 the St. Johns, and of the families with whom they were 
 allied. When the old church was rebuilt in the last 
 century, the eastern window, with all its embellish- 
 ments, was completely restored, as indeed it well de- 
 served to be. 
 
 Under the Tudor dynasty, the St. Johns continued to 
 flourish. But a member of the family, who was study- 
 ing law in the reign of Elizabeth, unfortunately slew in 
 a duel one of her Majesty's guards, and was obliged in 
 another country to take to the profession of arms. 
 Fortune, however, was his friend still; and the Irish 
 wars in the times of Elizabeth and the first James, were 
 as advantageous to him as the Welsh wars had been to 
 his remote ancestor in the time of Rufus. He became 
 an Irish peer, with the title of Yiscount Grrandison, and 
 an English peer, with the title of Baron Tregoze, and 
 had grants of the manors of Battersea and Wandsworth. 
 He died, however, childless, and with him the Enghsh 
 barony expired.* But the manors of Battersea and 
 
 * A monument in the north wall of the church at Battersea has busts of 
 this peer and his wife in white marble, with a Latin inscription of historical 
 as well as family interest : — 
 
 "Deo trio et uno sacrum. — Olivero Nioholai Set. John de Lydeard filio 
 secundo eq. aurato antiquissimus et illustribus de Bellocampo de Bletsoe, 
 Grandisonis et Tregozias familiis oriundo terra marique domi forisque belli 
 
 B 2 
 
4 EARLY YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 Wandsworth were left by him to his brother's only 
 son, John St. John, who was an eminent royalist, 
 and had three sons all slain in the service of Charles I., 
 during the civil wars. 
 
 But while one branch of the St. Johns was giving 
 such decided proofs of loyalty to the Crown, there were 
 others giving not less equivocal signs of attachment to 
 the liberties of the people. The first Earl of Boling- 
 broke, one of James I.'s peers, was a prosperous 
 member of the elder branch of the St. Johns. His 
 son was elevated by Charles I. to the House of Peers, 
 as St. John of Bletsoe ; but both the father and the son 
 violently espoused the side of the Parliament. " They 
 were," said Clarendon, " a mutinous family."* The 
 son, whose life was extremely hcentious, was killed at 
 the battle of EdgehiU. 
 
 As the troubles between Charles and his Parliament 
 grew apace, they were sternly watched by a lawyer of 
 the same famUy in Lincoln's Inn, over whose origin 
 there was the bar sinister, but who was to eclipse in 
 renown ah the legitimate members of the house. He first 
 rose into eminence by arguing, in defence of Hampden, 
 the case of ship-money in the Exchequer Chamber. His 
 dark and melancholy features were seldom lit up with a 
 smile ; it was only when the king committed one of those 
 imprudent steps which precipitated the civil war, and 
 
 pacisque artibus egregio, divae Elizabethse e nobilissima pensionariorum 
 cohorte suis inde mentis et singulari diri Jacobi gratia in Hibernia instru- 
 mentis bellicis pisefecto, ConaciEE Pro-prseside et, Questori summo, et Regis 
 vicario, Procomiti de Grandisonis et Tregozi^ de Hyworth, in Anglia, Baroni, 
 eidem -divo Jacbbo et filio ejus piissimo a secretioribus et sanctioribus con- 
 ciliis ; Postqiiam is annos honoribus sequaverat et tTanquilissime senuerat 
 somnienti similiter extinctos Johann de Sanct. John Eques et Baronettus ac 
 fratre nepos et hares avtmculo moerentissimo mcetissimus p. in ecclesia de 
 Battersey. Vixit annos 70 ; mor. 29 Decembris, 1630." 
 * History of the Great Rebellion. 
 
1678—1700.] SIR WALTER ST. JOHN. 5 
 
 from which there was no retreat, that any joyous 
 emotion could be traced on the sombre visage of Ohver 
 St. John, who became one of the leading parliamentaiy 
 statesmen, and was afterwards made by Cromwell a chief- 
 justice of England. The John St. John of Battersea, 
 who lost his three sons in the royal cause, left his estate 
 to a grandson ; but this young man died before he came 
 of age ; and the family honours and possessions then 
 reverted to his uncle, Walter St. John. "Walter St. 
 John was both heir and executor. He buried his 
 nephew of whom he inherited the estates with such 
 magnificence that he subjected himself to a prosecution 
 for offending against the laws of heraldry. It appears, 
 from a manuscript deposition of the herald Wilham Ryley 
 in the British Museum, that at Sir John St. John's 
 funeral there were more escutcheons than were used at 
 the burial of a duke, and more pennons than at the 
 burial of a member of the royal family ; and that the 
 precedent which the grateful Walter St. John had set in 
 burying his kinsman in such a manner was looked upon 
 as dangerously revolutionary.* He married Johanna, 
 the daughter of the Chief-justice, and thus blended in a 
 kind of family alliance the blood of the stern statesman 
 of the Parliament with that of the devoted royalist, 
 whose three sons died in the cause of Charles I. 
 
 From this union, in the second generation, sprung 
 Henry St. John, afterwards Viscount BoHngbroke, 
 whose troubled and eventful life I have undertaken 
 to sketch briefly in these pages. 
 
 Sir Walter St. John's son Henry was Bolingbroke's 
 father, by his first wife, the Lady Mary, second daughter 
 and joint heiress of Eobert Eich, Earl of Warwick. 
 After her death. Sir Walter contracted a second union 
 
 * Harleian MSS., 5176, A, 15. 
 
6 EARLY TEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 with a French lady, whose descendants were to inherit 
 the honours which Bolingbroke obtained. 
 
 The members of the family seem to have been a long- 
 lived race. Sir "Walter St. John saw his grand- 
 son attain eminence as an orator and statesman. Boling- 
 broke coidd not, like Byron, deplore the circumstances 
 which left hiTin early without a friend, protector, and 
 guide. So far from being " lord of himself, that heritage 
 of woe," he was, as a quaint biographer assures us, 
 blessed with two fathers. Sir Walter, his grandfather, 
 and Henry, his father, appear to have generally resided 
 together at Battersea. 
 
 Sir Walter and his wife Johanna were, however, 
 the dominant spirits in the household. But the 
 husband was not, whatever his wife may have been, 
 bred a Presbyterian ; the parish records of Battersea 
 still testify to Sir Walter St. John's care of the Church. 
 He raised a new gallery to the old edifice ; repaired the 
 structure thoroughly at his own expense ; and endowed 
 a charity-school for the instruction of the poor children 
 in the neighbourhood. He seems to have been a 
 country gentleman of much pubhc spirit; moderate 
 both in his pohtical and rehgious opinions; and ear- 
 nestly desirous of doing his duty as a landed pro- 
 prietor and knight of the shire. He lived to the age of 
 eighty-seven.* 
 
 His son Henry, Bolingbroke's father, was, in' com- 
 parison, a man of pleasure, in days when pleasure meant 
 something a great deal worse. He lived, however, still 
 longer than Sir Walter, dying at ninety. He troubled 
 himself very little either with political or religious 
 affairs, sauntering, during the London season, from the 
 
 * " Sir Walter St. John, Bart., ajtat. 87 ; buried July 9, 1708."— Extract 
 from the Parish Register, 
 
1678—1700.] BOLINGBEOKB'S FATHEE. 7 
 
 Chocolate House to the St. James's Coffee House, and, 
 as his son became an eminent politician, looking like a 
 dissipated old beau of the time of Charles II., or, with 
 some differences, resembling the old fogies who still 
 totter about Pall Mall, regretting the halcyon days of the 
 Regency. He did not escape the effects of that tumul- 
 tuous carnival which began with the Restoration and 
 continued throughout the reign of Charles II. He was 
 the Mr. St. John, who, in a brawl, killed Sir William 
 Estcourt, Bart., and was persuaded to plead guilty of 
 murder, though at the most the crime could be nothing 
 more than manslaughter. This conviction gave rise to 
 a very interesting controversy. Though Henry St. 
 John had only pleaded guilty on the confident assur- 
 ance of a pardon, even in those days of high prerogative 
 it was doubted whether the king had the power to save 
 from the gallows one who had been found guilty of mur- 
 der ; and Dr. Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, set 
 himself gravely to solve the doubt by texts of Scripture 
 from the days of Noah,* 
 
 This unfortunate event to the family at Battersea 
 occurred in the year 1684. At that time, when his 
 father was lying under sentence of death, little Henry 
 St. John, the future Viscount Bolingbroke, was a child 
 of about six years of age. He has, however, been 
 generally represented as much older. In the article 
 St. John, written for the Biographica Britannica, it is 
 stated that he was born in 1662 ; in the anonymous 
 biography, published in 1754, the same year is given 
 
 * See Barlow's Cases of Conscience, ] 692. Burnet, in his Memoirs of his 
 Own Time, states that Henry St. John only obtained his pardon by paying 
 sixteen thousand pounds to Charles II. and two of his mistresses ; the money 
 may have been paid for the restitution of the forfeited estates, though there 
 is no trace of such a bargain in the Patent Roll on this forfeiture, which I have 
 carefully examined in the Eecord Office. Pat. EoU. 36, Ch. ii., Part 8, No. 15. 
 
8 EAELY YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 as that of his birth : Groldsmith in this, as in most other 
 questions relating to Bolingbroke, closely followed these 
 occounts; but in a letter in the Egremont Papers, 
 Bolingbroke, writing on New Year's Day, 1738^ says, 
 "Some months hence I shall be threescore;" and this 
 corresponds with the statement of his age on his monu- 
 mental tablet in the church at Battersea. The point is 
 also finally settled by the parish register, in which it is 
 recorded that he was baptized on the 10th of October, 
 1678.* 
 
 Of Bolingbroke's early years Httle is known, and 
 that little has been much misrepresented. It was the 
 common taunt of the Whigs against the ministry of 
 Harley and St. John, that though they professed to be 
 such zealous champions of the Church of England, and 
 wished to be regarded as the idols of the October Club, 
 that they had both, in fact, been brought up among the 
 Presbyterians. Bolingbroke's educatioij was directed 
 by his grandfather and grandmother ; but Sir Walter St. 
 John was certainly after the Restoration a member of 
 the Church of England ; and, though Oliver St. John was 
 connected with the Puritan party, there is no evidence 
 that he adopted their extreme religious tenets, or that 
 he had any fanatical prejudices against the Established 
 Church. His daughter Johanna co-operated with her 
 husband in his efforts to promote the welfare of the 
 church at Battersea, and she was the kind patroness of 
 a distinguished clergyman, the Rev. Simon Patrick. 
 For some years he resided with the family as chaplain, 
 was afterwards preacher at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 
 rose, after the Revolution, to be Bishop of Chichester, and 
 
 * The following extracts from the Parish Register set this question beyond 
 dispute :— 
 
 " Henry, son of Henry St. John, Esq., baptized Oct. 10, 1Ij78." 
 
 " Henry St. John, late Viscouat Bolingbroke, buried Dec. 18, 1751." 
 
1678—1700.] DANIEL BURGESS. 9 
 
 was thence transferred to the see of Ely, He was, 
 though an affected and prolix writer, one of the most 
 distinguished of the London divines, and one of the two 
 English clergymen who had the celebrated conference 
 with the Eoman Catholic priests, in the presence of 
 James II., about the disputed points of their respective 
 creeds. He always spoke of Sir Walter St. John and 
 his wife with gratitude, and testified his respect to them 
 in the prefatory dedication of his Mensa Mystica. 
 
 These facts are somewhat opposed to the notion that 
 the household at Battersea was a gloomy sanctuary of 
 Presbyterianism in the reign of Charles II. and his 
 brother James. But it has been said that the favourite 
 guide of Bolingbroke's grandmother was an eccentric 
 Presbyterian divine, Daniel Burgess, and that this Bur- 
 gess was a mere fanatic. Daniel Burgess was not a Pres- 
 byterian, though he was a dissenter from the Establish- 
 ment ; and so far from being a fanatic, was a man of real 
 piety and pointed humour. He was the son of a clergy- 
 man in Wiltshire, and was probably thus known to Sir 
 Walter St. John by local associations. He was born 
 if not on, at least near, one of the family estates. 
 He was for some time a schoolmaster in Ireland, 
 under the protection of Lord Orrery ; but after the Re- 
 storation he established himself in England, and became 
 a Nonconformist. A Puritan he certainly never was: 
 indeed the Puritans looked upon him as a profane 
 joker. His good sayings were keenly relished by the 
 plain citizens of London : he might be properly regarded 
 as a kind of dissenting Hugh Latimer in the days of 
 the last Stuarts. A lawsuit was defined by Burgess to 
 be a suit for life. After the Revolution he gave a 
 singular reason for the Hebrews being called Israelites. 
 " It was," he said, "because God ever hated Jacobites, 
 
10 EAELY YEAES. [Chap. I. 
 
 and therefore Jacob's sons were not so called, but 
 Israelites." He was obnoxious to the Higb Church 
 mob, and his chapel in Lincoln's-Inn Fields was 
 destroyed during the Sacheverell riots, which had so 
 much influence in bringing the grandson of his old 
 patron into office.* 
 
 The definition Burgess was heard giving of thorough- 
 paced doctrine, as that which comes in at one ear, 
 passes straight through the head, and goes out of the 
 other ear, certainly says nothing for his fanaticism, 
 whatever it does for his wit.f 
 
 But a sentence of a letter which Bolingbroke nominally 
 wrote to Pope has been made the text for an indignant 
 commentary on the stern Presbyterianism of the family 
 at Battersea. In ridiculing Chrysostom's Commentaries 
 upon St. Matthew and St, John, BoHngbroke wrote, 
 " It puts me' in mind of a Puritanical parson. Dr. Man- 
 ton, who, if I mistake not, for I have never looked into 
 the foHo since I was a boy, and condemned sometimes 
 to read in it, made a hundred and nineteen sermons 
 on the hundred and nineteenth psahn.{ From this 
 single allusion, a harrowing picture has been drawn of 
 the little St. John poring day after day and year after 
 year in Dr. Manton's ponderous foho of sermons, 
 his strength wasting, his eyes growing dim, in 
 obedience to the rigid Presbyterian commands of his 
 grandfather and grandmother. Bohngbroke's remark 
 is somewhat playfully made, and scarcely bears out the 
 
 * See Hobbs's Continuation of Grainger, 2. 159 ; and the History of John 
 Bull, book xii. Swift, in his pretended letter of thanks in the name of the Kit- 
 Cat Club to the Bishop of St. Asaph, says, " Oh, exquisite ! How patheticaUy 
 does your Lordship complain of the downfall of Whigism and Daniel Burcess' 
 meeting-house !" 
 
 t See Biographia Britannica, article Talden. 
 
 t Introduction to the Essay addressed to Pope. 
 
1678—1700.] THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF ROCHESTEB. H 
 
 notion of his vision " being haunted by substantial per- 
 secutions." " Condemned sometimes to read in Dr. 
 Manton's Mio," does not mean every day, and every 
 hour in the day, as though it had been made his sole 
 text-book. When this is the only instance that is given 
 of the hardships the boy underwent from his Presby- 
 terian guardians, the persecutions he suffered were not, 
 perhaps, quite intolerable. From the style he adopted 
 when speaking of all divinity, even his language about 
 Dr. Manton's folio may possibly have been a httle 
 exaggerated. It would be difEcult to say where a 
 child could have had a better home or wiser guardian- 
 ship than in the household of Sir Walter and Johanna 
 St. John at Battersea during those years of wild licence 
 which set in with the Eestoration, and were not termi- 
 nated as the boy was growing up, when James II. lost his 
 crown and the Revolution was slowly establishing itself. 
 We are not altogether left without evidence of what 
 kind of persons the household of Battersea really 
 were. In the Manuscript Department of the British 
 Museum there are five interesting letters from Anne, 
 the Countess Dowager of Rochester, daughter of 
 Sir John St. John, when she was eighty years of 
 age, to her kinswoman Johanna, the Lady St. John. 
 They give an account of the last illness and con- 
 version of her son, the celebrated rake, John Wil- 
 mot. Earl of Rochester. The character of Johanna 
 the grandmother of Bolingbroke, may easily be esti- 
 mated from that of her friend and correspondent. The 
 first letter begins, " Sweet sister ;" and they all exhibit 
 a charming picture of sincere piety and maternal love 
 watching over the death-bed of a repentant son in the 
 wild and profligate days of Charles II. and his cour- 
 tiers. " Truly, sister," writes the aged Countess Dow- 
 
12 EARLY TEAES. [Chap. I. 
 
 ager of the dying Wilmot, " I think I may say, without 
 partiality, that he has never been heard to say, when 
 he speaks of religion, an unintelligible word, nor of 
 anything else ; but one night, of which I writ you 
 word, he was disordered in his head, but then he said 
 no hurt, only, a little ribble-rabble, which had no hurt 
 in it ; but it was observed by his wife and I particu- 
 larly, that whenever he spoke of God that night, he 
 spoke very well, and with great sense, which we won- 
 dered at. Since that night he has never had a minute 
 of disorder in his head ; though last night, if you had 
 heard him pray, I am sure you would not have took 
 his words for the words of a madman, but such as come 
 from a better spirit than the mind of a mere man. 
 But let the wicked of the world say what they please 
 of him, the reproach of them are an honour to him. 
 And I take comfort that the devil rages against my 
 son : it shows his power over him is subdued in him, 
 and that he has no share in him. Many messages and 
 compliments his old acquaintances send him, but he is 
 so far from receiving them that still his answer is, 
 ' Let me see none of them ; and I would to God that 
 I had never conversed with some of them.' One of his 
 physicians, thinking to please him, told him the king 
 drank his health the other day. He looked earnestly 
 upon him, and said never a word, but turned his face 
 from him. I thank God his thoughts are wholly taken 
 off from the world, and I hope, whether he lives or 
 dies, will ever be so. But they are fine people at 
 Windsor; God forgive them. Sure there never was 
 so great a malice performed as to entitle my son to a 
 lampoon at this time, when, for aught they know, he is 
 upon his death."* 
 
 * Additional MSS. 6269, f. 31. 
 
1678—1700.] THE HOUSEHOLD AT BATTERSEA. 13 
 
 This letter is addressed, " For the Lady St. John, at 
 Sir Walter St. John's house at Battersay." It brings 
 back the life of the old time vividly before us. As we 
 read it, we see the venerable dowager bending over 
 her writing-table, the brilliant Wilmot, with the 
 hectic flush and the hacking cough, on his death-bed, 
 praying to Him whose laws he had so long set at 
 defiance, his gay companions calling at the door, or 
 sending half-railing messages, the giddy Charles and 
 his courtiers making lampoons on the repentant sinner, 
 laughing at the reports about his piety, and declaring 
 that Wilmot was mad. The Lady Johanna, "at Sir 
 Walter St. John's house at Battersea," sharing the 
 dowager's indignation at the lies that had been put 
 into circulation about her nephew's sanity, and re- 
 joicing at his conversion, rises not less visibly before 
 the mind. That Battersea household, away from the 
 smoke and impurities of London, with the green lawn 
 before the door sloping down to the river, the church 
 on the left, with a wicket-gate only separating the 
 lawn of the house from the churchyard, and the gabled 
 cottages of what was then a pleasant httle country 
 village on the Thames, was, on the whole, very envi- 
 able ; and it would have been better for the future 
 Viscount Bolingbroke if his father and himself had been 
 more impressed with the virtues of Sir Walter St. John, 
 and the good, serious Lady Johanna. 
 
 The school and college selected for their grandson 
 to complete his education scarcely show that the old 
 couple were inclined to carry out any theory of harsh 
 Presbyterian discipline. He was sent to Eton, and 
 remained in that illustrious school for several years. 
 He is said to have been there at the same time with 
 young Eobert Walpole, and it has been added, that 
 
14 EARLY YBAES. [Chap. I. 
 
 the seeds of that deadly enmity which they afterwards 
 displayed against each other were sown in the school- 
 room and cricke1>ground at Eton. But Walpole was 
 at least two years St. John's senior, and between boys 
 of such different ages, though there may sometimes 
 be much friendship, there is seldom any very keen 
 rivalry. The real struggle between them was yet to 
 begin. ♦ 
 
 From Eton, the young St. John was sent to the col- 
 lege of all others least likely to be chosen by a family 
 very strongly tinctured with Presbyterian prejudices. 
 He -became an undergraduate of that stronghold of 
 monarchy and of the Church of England, Christ Church, 
 Oxford. "With Montague, Dr. Friend, Atterbury, Cole- 
 man, and Harcourt, he always delighted to call himself 
 a Christ Church man ; and considered that a Christ 
 Church man had always an especial claim to his patron- 
 age.* 
 
 At Christ Church he remained some years; but of 
 those college days little is recorded. It has never been 
 pretended that he studied hard, or that he acquired 
 any academical distinction. Christ Church was in 
 those days, as the Phalaris controversy proved, more 
 conspicuous for loyalty than for learning. But the 
 absence of University honours at that time cannot be 
 considered evidence of the want of abihties, or even of 
 the attainments of the student. St. John was a young 
 patrician, of a good family, and of great expectations. A 
 course of hard study would have been considered almost 
 derogatory to the dignity of a fine gentleman ; and it 
 is to this character that St. John in his youth chiefly 
 
 * See Swift's Journal to Stella, and Bolingbroke's CoiTespondence, ii. 557. 
 " As to Dr. Friend, I have known Wm long, and cannot be without some 
 partiality for him, since he was of Christ Church." BoUngbroke to Shrews- 
 bury, December 3, 1713. 
 
1678—1700.] ST. JOHN'S DISSIPATION. 1^ 
 
 aspired. That the powers of his memory were great, 
 that his talents were hvely, and that he could easily 
 acquire whatever he set himself to learn, all this can 
 readily be beheved. But he had very little inchnation 
 to learn anything ; and he soon plunged headlong into 
 the vortex of dissipation. 
 
 On this point there is no dispute. Many things 
 were then pardoned in young men of fashion ; but the 
 recklessness of St. John's pursuit of pleasure shocked 
 even those who were the most indulgent to the hcense 
 of the age. Groldsmith, however, endeavoured to per- 
 suade himself and his readers, that his hcentiousness 
 was only the wild outbreak of genius, and a proof of 
 the briUiancy of St. John's intellect. " This period," 
 the Doctor wrote, " might have been compared to that 
 of fermentation in liquors, which grow muddy before 
 they brighten ; but it must also be confessed that those 
 liquors which never ferment are seldom clear."* This 
 simile was not original when Goldsmith used it in 
 his Inquiry into the State of PoHte Learning; and 
 it is employed almost in the same words in his Life 
 of BoUngbroke, as the most profound and beautiful 
 of aphorisms. Never was there an illustration of more 
 questionable truth. If licentiousness be a proof of bril- 
 liant parts, the world wiU certainly never want men 
 of genius. Unfortunately, St. John's dissipation was 
 character : in one form or another it accompanied him 
 through life. 
 
 From Christ Church he removed to London. He 
 was still more wild and reckless in the metropohs 
 than he had been at Oxford. At that time the tide of 
 national immorality which had distinguished the reign 
 of Charles 11. was on the ebb. The cold manners of 
 
 * Goldsmitli's Works, Coningham's edition, iv. 150. 
 
16 EARLY TEABS. [Chap. I. 
 
 King William, the pure and religious life of Mary, 
 who had lately died, the reaction against all that was 
 fashionable in the time of the Stuarts, had all done 
 something to withstand the torrent of vice and licen- 
 tiousness. There were young men of the higher classes 
 not ashamed of being virtuous. But whatever was 
 most profligate in the preceding reigns, was thought 
 by St. John worthy of his imitation. He avowedly 
 made his relative, Rochester, his model ; and endea- 
 voured in every kind of debauchery to surpass his 
 original. He was notorious for drinking extraordinary 
 quantities of wine, and for keeping Miss Grumley, the 
 most expensive woman of the town. Even in the 
 middle of • the last century the wild conduct of his 
 youth was talked about ; and one old man mentioned 
 to Dr. Goldsmith the fact. of his having seen St. John 
 and some of his boon companions running, in a drunken 
 fit, naked through the Park.* 
 
 But as Rochester, however dissipated, was a poet, 
 so St. John, amid all his shameless hcentiousness and 
 thoughtless riot, wished also to put in a claim to poetical 
 honours. Dryden, deprived of his laureatship, covered 
 with obloquy for his alleged apostasy from the Pro- 
 testant faith, and drudging for Tonson, had for years been 
 engaged on his translation of Virgil. All who studied 
 literature felt themselves interested in the completion 
 of this great work. The subscription hst contained 
 the names of the most distinguished people in the king- 
 dom. Young Mr. Joseph Addison, of Magdalen Col- 
 lege, Oxford, had already distinguished himself highly 
 by his Latin poems, and he now gave evidence of his 
 matchless powers for Enghsh prose composition by a 
 graceful Essay on the Georgics, which was prefixed 
 
 * Goldsmith's Works, iv. 150. 
 
1678—1700.] VERSES TO DRYDEN". 17 
 
 to Dryden's translation. Some complimentaiy verses, 
 among others, bore the signature, H. St. John, when 
 the Dryden version of the Eoman poet was first given 
 to the world in the July of 1697, This poetical effu- 
 sion is, on the whole, the best of St. John's metrical 
 compositions, and showed that the young, dissipated 
 man of fashion, at least respected and admired Dryden, 
 as he was struggling with poverty, in his uncheered 
 old age. Independent, therefore, of any literary merit, 
 these verses are not without interest : — 
 
 "No undisputed Hionarch govem'd yet 
 With universal sway the reahns of wit. 
 Nature could never such expense afford ; 
 Each several province owned a several lord. 
 A poet then had his poetic wife, 
 One Muse embraced, and married for his life : 
 By the stale thing his poetry was cloy'd, 
 His fancy lessen'd, and his fire destroy'd. 
 But Nature, grown extravagantly kind, 
 With all her fairest gifts adorned your mind. 
 The different powers were then united found, 
 And you the imiversal monarch crown'd. 
 Your mighty sway your great desert secures, 
 And every Muse and every Grace is yours. 
 To none confined, by tmns you all enjoy ! 
 Sated with these, you to another fly ; 
 So, sultan-like, in your seraglio stand. 
 While wishing Misses wait for your command : 
 Thus no decay, no want of vigour find ; 
 Such is your fancy, boundless as your mind ! 
 Not all the blasts of time can do you wrong ; 
 Yoimg spite of age — in spite of weakness strong. 
 Time, like Alcides, strikes you to the ground ; 
 Y'ou, like Antaeus, from each fall rebound." * 
 
 In 1714, when Bolingbroke was at the height of 
 his fame, these lines^ with a few alterations and some 
 additions, made their appearance again in a French 
 work, published in Holland, entitled, Le Chef-d'oeuvre 
 d'un Inconnu, avec des Remarques. The unknown 
 
 * Dryden's Works : Scott's second edition, xiii. 293. 
 
18 EARLY YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 work was a whimsical and satirical ballad with ironical 
 remarks, in ridicule of the abuses of learning, by the 
 Chevalier de The'meseuil, otherwise known as St. Hya- 
 cinthe. There were in the Preface complimentary odes 
 and addresses in abundance, and the Chevalier has been 
 gravely reprehended for appropriating St, John's pane- 
 gyric on Dryden and addressing it to himself. It does 
 not, however, appear to be at all certain whether 
 Bohngbroke himself did not actually send these verses 
 to Themeseuil, and whether, in the midst of other 
 occupations, having no time to devote to the Muses, 
 he did not of his own accord thus make them do duty a 
 second time. The lines which begin the address, and 
 which were not in the panegyric as it was originally 
 printed by Dryden, undoubtedly were written by the 
 same author as the other verses : — 
 
 " Great Mathanase, in quest of this ricli ore, 
 TouVe Isoldly launched out new worlds to explore ; 
 TouVe found a fruitful soil by none yet trod, 
 Reserved for heroes or some demi-god ; 
 The product here youVe hrarely made your own, 
 And by just title you deserved a crown." 
 
 Had Themeseuil been ever so audacious, it is scarcely 
 likely that he could always afterwards, without St. 
 John's own authority, have indicated him to be their 
 author, and had printed under them the acknowledg- 
 ment in the words, " Henricus de Bolingbroke : AnnS, 
 a Secretis." The compliment consisted in its having 
 been paid by so eminent a person as the English 
 Secretary of State. The verses were not so brilliant, 
 nor the panegyric so striking, that they should have 
 been purloined solely for their merits. 
 
 To Dryden they were very properly applied. 
 Time had struck the great poet to the ground, but he 
 had indeed rebounded from it like another Antgeus. 
 
1678—1700.] DEYDEN AND ST. JOHN. 19 
 
 Old as te was, his genius in these last years grew 
 brighter and brighter. About three months after the 
 publication of the translation of Yirgil, St. John one 
 morning, called upon the veteran poet, and foimd him 
 trembling with nervous excitement. The young man 
 inquired the cause, and he received in reply from the 
 hands of Dryden the manuscript of the noble Ode to 
 St. Csecilia's Day, the most sublime production of the 
 kind in the language. It had been written at a sitting 
 during the preceding night. It was, of course, afterwards 
 patiently revised and rewritten, but the first rough 
 draught sufficiently evinced that the work was a master- 
 piece. St. John, with all his wild recklessness, at this, 
 the most giddy and licentious portion of his career, 
 really seems, as Pope declared, to have been Dryden's 
 friend and protector. It is creditable to him to find 
 that, from the first, whatever may have been his fail- 
 ings, indifference to the claims of literature, or want of 
 sympathy with literary men, was never one. 
 
 Another day he was at Dryden's when a knock was 
 heard at the door. " This," said Dryden, " is Tonson : 
 you will take care not to depart before he goes away, 
 for I have not completed the sheet which I promised 
 him : if you leave me unprotected I must suffer all 
 the rudeness to which his resentment can prompt his 
 tongue." This story curiously shows Dryden's aver- 
 sion to meet his publisher alone ; but he was not quite 
 in such a state of abject dependence as it would seem 
 to imply. A stinging epigram, and the threat of 
 another, could always bring the publisher to terms. 
 No threats or cajolery that Jacob Tonson, who was 
 secretary to the Kit Cat, and, of course, a zealous 
 "Whig, could employ, would prevail on the struggling 
 poet to' dedicate his Virgil to King William, and it is 
 
 C2* 
 
20 EAELY TEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 well known that Tonson was at last compelled to 
 resort to the acute device of having the nose of Eneas 
 lengthened in the engraving in imitation of that of the 
 deliverer of glorious memory,* 
 
 While Dryden struggled on for the brief period 
 after the composition of the immortal ode, Alexander's 
 Feast, biographer and historians almost lose sight of 
 young St. John altogether. He spent, however, about 
 two years on the Continent. There can be little doubt 
 his foreign tour begun shortly after the September of 
 1697. He was some time at Milan, which he afterwards 
 pleasantly remembered, and recalled to the remembrance 
 of the Austrian minister. Baron de Seckingen.f He 
 was probably absent from England during the greater 
 portion of the year 1698 and 1699. The Earl of 
 Jersey, who went to Paris as the English ambassador 
 after the peace of Eyswick, at this period, was a relative 
 of St. John, both being descended from the Viscount 
 Grandison of the reigns of Elizabeth and the first James ; 
 and I have little doubt that it was in Lord Jersey's 
 train St. John acquired his first experience of Parisian 
 life, and made the acquaintance of Prior, the Secretary 
 -to the Embassy. One accomplishment St. John cer- 
 tainly acquired at this time, which was of the highest 
 importance to the future Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs. He attained a thorough mastery of the French 
 language, so that he was enabled to speak it and write 
 it with ease and correctness. This appears to have 
 been nearly all the advantage he derived from his 
 
 * See Dryden's Letter to Ms Son, September, 1697. 
 
 t " C'est line gi-ande justice que le Baron de Eorstrier m'a rendu quand il 
 vous a assnri!, que je ne discontinuois pas k avoir dans ces sentiments d'amiti^ 
 dont j'ai toujours fait profession, depuis la connoissance que nous fimes h 
 Milan." — Bolingbroke k Monsieur le Baron de Seckingen, 22 d'Aout 
 1711. ' • 
 
1678—1700.] ODE TO ALMAHIDE. 21 
 
 residence in Paris. The infidelity which was slowly 
 gathering strength among the people of rank in France 
 was not without its influence on his mind. Dissipated 
 men of fashion in England had, after the example of 
 Charles II., adopted a languid kind of Hobbism, as the 
 most convenient form of scepticism which their indif- 
 ference to aU religion could assume. St. John readily 
 imbibed the same doctrines, which, in contact with 
 the irreligion that was clumsily veiled under an ap- 
 pearance of sanctity in the court of Louis XIV., was 
 shortly to ripen in the young Englishman's mind into 
 a dogmatic hatred of priests and divines, all the more 
 nerce and intolerant because he was obliged to display 
 an outward conformity with the religious prejudices of 
 a party professing implicit belief in the Church of 
 England. 
 
 In the year 1700 St. John was again at home. He 
 had not yet abandoned his poetical aspirations, but, on 
 the contrary, wrote an elaborate ode, Almahide, which 
 is about the dullest and most iminteresting composi- 
 tion of the kind ever written by a person of real 
 ability. The young man intimates that he had been 
 seeking the gloomy abode of Wisdom and Philosophy ; 
 that he was, however, tired of the search ; and had at 
 length returned to his native home, the home of the 
 Muses. But fair Almahide refused to smile upon 
 him ; she was reserved for a more fortunate lover. 
 Poor, however, as St. John's invocation was, it was 
 not all original ; the last line and the last thought, as 
 he honestly confesses, was borrowed from his friend 
 George Grranville, afterwards Lord Lansdowne, whom 
 he evidently regarded as the successful rival to Alma- 
 hide's favours. He concludes : — 
 
22 EARLY YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 " But Virtue with her magic wand 
 Encircles round the happy pair : 
 Thus when the moon on Larian I<atmus lay. 
 And rapt in pleasure laughed her hours away ; 
 Her beauty and her light to all mankind 
 Without distinction shined ; 
 But to Endymion was her love confined." 
 
 St. Jolm's niuse was not a very refined goddess. 
 Both in the verses to Dryden and Almahide, the pre- 
 vaiHng imagery is such as would most naturally occur 
 to the mind of a young rake about town, writing on 
 the charms of the lady he professed for the time to 
 adore. It is coarse and sensual, without being either 
 brilliant or poetical. Poetry was not his province: 
 his numbers were harsh, his imagination cold, his 
 diction commonplace. A prologue to a tragedy of the 
 Earl of Orrery, a few verses to Swift, and some lines in 
 imitation of Horace, written in a post-chaise, were about 
 all the poetical effusions his muse ever indulged in, after 
 he had once become immersed in pohtics and business. 
 Even these exceptional rhymes were sufficiently tame. 
 Swift sometimes spoke of them with contempt ; and 
 Pope, ready as he was to admit BoHngbroke's highest 
 claims as a statesman and philosopher, resolutely main- 
 tained a blank silence on his poetical pretensions.* 
 
 "While writing Almahide and still hoping to be 
 regarded as a poet, St. John was as dissipated as 
 ever. Foreign travel had in no degree checked his 
 hot pursuit of what he considered pleasure. His life 
 was spent between taverns, and houses more dis- 
 reputable than taverns. Miss Clara A , a nymph 
 
 who sold oranges in what was then a fashionable 
 lounging-place, the lobby of the Court of Requests, 
 was for some time the object of his idolatry. She 
 
 * See Bolingbroke to Swift, Sept. 12, 1724. 
 
1678—1700.] ST. JOHN AND THE OEANGB GIRL. 23 
 
 had been a common woman of the town, the mistress 
 of low profligates, when St. John wished her to 
 become exclusively his own. But the lady had many 
 lovers; and her infidelity was not to be restrained. 
 St. John thought of trying what a poetical remon- 
 strance would do. He wrote some verses to his 
 unfaithful mistress, which depict his own habits and 
 state of mind quite as much as those of the frail but 
 lovely Clara. 
 
 The verses begin with the invocation — 
 
 " Dear, thoughtless Clara, to my verse attend. 
 Believe for once thy lover and thy fiiend." 
 
 St. John points out, that while strength is the attri- 
 bute of " man's imperial race," so beauty is that of 
 woman ; but that there was nothing worse than for the 
 one to be misapplied, and the other to become the prey 
 of the most dissolute of mankind. He particularly 
 asks whether Clara's angelic face and delicious charms 
 were intended for low ruffians in their vilest haunts ; 
 and he answers — 
 
 " No, Clara, no ; that person and that mind 
 Were formed by Nature, and by Heaven designed 
 For nobler ends : to these return, though late ; 
 Return to these, and so avert thy fate. 
 Think, Clara, think ; nor will that thought be vain ; 
 Thy slave, thy Harry, doom'd to drag his chain 
 Of love ill-treated and abused, that he 
 From more inglorious chains might rescue thee : 
 Thy drooping health restored by his fond care. 
 Once more thy beauty its full lustre wear ; 
 Moved by his love, by his example taught, 
 Soon shall thy soul, once more with virtue fraught, 
 With kind and generous truth thy bosom warm. 
 And thy fair mind, like thy fair person, charm. 
 To virtue thus and to thyself restored. 
 By all admired, by one alone adored. 
 Be to thy Harry ever kind and tme, 
 And live for him who more than dies for you." 
 
24 EAELT YEARS. [Chap. I. 
 
 His earnest remonstrance was unavailing. Clara 
 was not moved by his love, nor taught by his example. 
 She soon again stood by her orange-stall in the Court 
 of Requests.* 
 
 St. John was now twenty-two years of age. His 
 friends thought that marriage might rescue him from 
 the career of profligacy in which he seemed to run 
 riot; and an advantageous alliance was soon settled. 
 The lady was the daughter and one of the coheiresses of 
 Sir Henry Winchescomb, Bart., a country gentleman, of 
 an ancient family, and considerable landed property in 
 the county of Berkshire. He was a descendant from 
 a celebrated clothier in the reign of Henry YIII,, 
 known familiarly as Jack of Newbury, who was one 
 of the first of our merchant princes, and, in the time of 
 Henry VIIL, showed a public spirit worthy of the 
 most eminent of his successors. At Newbury he kept 
 a hundred looms going ; his interests were essentially 
 pacific; but Jack of Newbury, the hero of many an 
 old ballad, had very decided patriotic and warlike 
 propensities. When England was threatened with 
 invasion by the Scots, he equipped a hundred of his 
 workmen at his own expense, marched at their head 
 to the Borders, and commanded them at the battle 
 of Flodden Field. Jack returned in triumph to his 
 town, and there settling down once more in quiet, 
 showed himself as anxious to promote the welfare of 
 his fellow-townsmen of Newbury as he had been to 
 stake his wealth and life on a cast for the honour of 
 his country. He repaired the church, and in the last 
 century, the pulpit and tower, built at his own cost, 
 were still pointed out by the grateful people of New- 
 
 * These verses were published in Dodsley's Miscellanies. Horace Walpole 
 has also maliciously preserved them in his Memoirs of the Eeign of George II. 
 
1678—1700.] MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 bury, as they formerly did the house of the high- 
 minded clothier and public benefactor. 
 
 St. John's marriage promised every worldly advan- 
 tage. The lady was of good family, and brought with 
 her considerable wealth, and the prospect of more. 
 His father and grandfather were both alive at the 
 time, and settled their family estates upon him in 
 the counties of AVilts, Surrey, and Middlesex ; and 
 prosecuted and attainted as he afterwards was, the 
 good effects of the prudent arrangements they made 
 for him, he experienced at the more advanced periods 
 of his life.* But, unfortunately, marriage had not 
 the results they had hoped for on St. John's head- 
 strong nature. He had ^:„a a rake as a bachelor ; he 
 was a rake as a married m: . , This conduct naturally 
 produced great domestic ii ihappiness. Scenes oc- 
 curred of the most violent ^nature between the young 
 couple, who, it has been said, soon formally separated ; 
 he complaining openly of his wife's violent temper, 
 and she of his shameless infidelities. But though 
 their quarrels may have been numerous, their separa- 
 tion was certainly not of that decided and permanent 
 nature it has been generally represented. I shall 
 afterwards bring forward evidence to show, that while 
 St. John was Secretary of State, his wife was, up to 
 1713, still the mistress of his house; and that their 
 separation, if a final separation there ever was, could 
 have occurred only in the year before the close of his 
 ministerial career in England by the death of Queen 
 Anne. On this point there seems to have been con- 
 siderable error. 
 
 Immediately after his marriage a field of ambition 
 
 * See the Proceedings of the House of Lords on the Reversal of Boling- 
 broke's Attainder, 20th April, 1725. — Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 460. 
 
26 EARLY TBAES. [Chap. I, 
 
 was opened before him, in itself sufficient, as might 
 have been expected, to subdue his wild extravagances, 
 and to call forth all the higher and better energies 
 of his nature. 
 
 An understanding was come to at the time of this 
 marriage, that he should succeed his father in the 
 representation of the borough of Wootton Bassett. For 
 many years this constituency, and that of the county of 
 Wilts, had been proud to select their members from 
 the family of the St. Johns ; and the manner in which 
 the representation descended from the grandfather, 
 through the father to the son, as the records of those 
 times still enable us to trace, form one of the most 
 instructive and pleasing characteristics of the old 
 rural and national life of England. In Cromwell's 
 reformed parliament of 1656, Sir Walter St. John 
 first took his seat for Wiltshire, In the parliament of 
 Richard OromweU he represented the same county, 
 while his son Henry, who had evidently just come of 
 age, was chosen for Wootton Bassett. Through the 
 whole of the reign of Charles II,, James II., and 
 William III., one of these St. Johns appears almost to 
 have monopolized a seat for the borough and the other for 
 the county. Sometimes the son appears to have changed 
 constituencies with the father, and when very rarely 
 the names of one or both of them are not found in the 
 lists of representatives, as the father is omitted in the 
 third parliament of Charles II., and in the first and 
 only parliament of James II., they soon both make 
 their appearance on the roll of the Commons again, 
 and must in their parliamentary experience, and the 
 length of their parliamentary career, have been con- 
 sidered among the oldest members of the House. In 
 the convention and the second parliament of King 
 
1678—1700.] MEMBER OP PAELIAMENT. 27 
 
 "William, Henry St. Jolin continued to represent "Woot- 
 ton Bassett ; but in the third he sat for Wiltshire, in 
 the place of Sir Walter St. John, who appears then to 
 have retired from public life altogether. 
 
 The parliament in which the young Henry St. John 
 succeeded his father Henry, in the borough of Wootton 
 Bassett, was the fifth of William's reign. The old par- 
 liament, after a prorogation from the previous May, 
 was dissolved on the 19th of December, 1700, and 
 the new parliament was summoned for the 6th of 
 February, 1701. A strange and eventful session was 
 expected. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1688—1701. 
 
 ENGLAND AND HEE STATESMEN WHEN ST. JOHN 
 ENTERED PARLIAMENT. 
 
 A REVOLUTION like that which England had begim 
 in 1688, and was then slowly endeavouring to establish 
 in full security, excites more admiration and enthusiasm 
 when contemplated in the distance than when examined 
 closely in detail. The nearer it is looked upon, the 
 more we are struck with the pettiness of the means 
 in comparison with the greatness of the end. The 
 leading actors in the great national drama, instead of 
 being elevated by the important parts they played, 
 seem to become dwarfed into insignijBcance. Patriotism 
 was at a low ebb ; party spirit was at its height ; and 
 the stern moralist, disgusted at all that he saw, might, 
 as in the times of old, have been compelled mournfully 
 to adm i t that there were not ten honest men to be 
 found. A few general observations on the character 
 of the leading pubhc men may render the subsequent 
 narrative more inteUigible. 
 
 The first figure that strikes the eye is, of course, King 
 William himself. The greatness of his character may 
 be enthusiastically acknowledged ; and yet it is im- 
 possible to deny that many of the evils which followed 
 
1688—1701.] KINa WILLIAM. 29 
 
 from that Revolution, and brought the new monarchy 
 into the greatest danger, were frequently the result of 
 his own conduct. There have been princes, of whom 
 the greatest claim to the gratitude of the people whose 
 destinies had been intrusted to their care has consisted 
 in the fact that, while foreigners themselves, they had 
 identified themselves with the people they undertook 
 to rule, and have governed pre-eminently as native 
 sovereigns. With all her faults, this glory has been 
 justly attributed to Catherine of Russia. A similar 
 tribute can never be given to "William. His mother 
 was an English princess ; he was himself married to 
 an English princess ; from his early manhood he had 
 been closely connected with English affairs, and yet he 
 never appears to have taken the slightest pains to 
 really understand or humour the English character. 
 A foreigner he came to England, and a foreigner he 
 remained. His attachment to his native Holland has 
 been represented as a very amiable feature iii his 
 character ; but as a great man, called upon to play 
 a great paV-t in the history of the world, it by no 
 means increases our estimate of his wisdom and mag- 
 nanimity. Far-sighted and sagacious as he has been 
 considered, and as in some respects he undoubtedly 
 was, he seems never to have rightly comprehended 
 the immense importance to the whole combined world 
 of that great Revolution which had placed the English 
 crown upon his head. After the landing of the Prince 
 of Orange at Torbay, the work of the Dutch Republic 
 was done. Notwithstanding all the wars of "Wilham, 
 Holland, in the eighteenth century, gradually sunk 
 into comparative insignificance, from which there was 
 no prospect of her ever again emerging to play the 
 part of a state of the first rank. This, however, the 
 
30 ENGLAND AND HEE STATESMEN. [Chap. II. 
 
 Prince of Orange seems never to have foreseen. He 
 never understood that, had it not been for the English 
 Eevolution, his renown would have been but transient 
 in the world's history. He disclaimed to admit that 
 he owed anything to England, even glory; and yet 
 it was England that established his glory in undying 
 lustre. The King of England was, in his estimation, 
 always second to that of the Stadtholder of Holland. 
 After the death of Mary, when he felt himself, year by 
 year, more nearly approaching the tomb, it may well be 
 doubted whether he cared very much for the perma- 
 nence of the Eevolution, or was very anxious that the 
 Act of Settlement should be carried out. It is certain 
 that in the Treaty of Ryswick, he contented himself 
 with having his own title to the crown acknowledged, 
 but said nothing at all about his successors, and es- 
 pecially about the rights of the Princess Anne; and 
 so great was his dislike of this lady, that, could the 
 Parliament have been induced to consent to it, and 
 proper guarantees have been given by the French for 
 the security and independence of Holland, he would 
 have troubled himself very little at the prospect of the 
 ultimate succession of her brother. Had such a result 
 been brought about, the great lesson which the Revo- 
 lution had taught to nations and sovereigns, and the 
 mighty principle of popular government it had as- 
 serted, must have been gradually effaced. But the 
 supineness, if not absolute indifference, which WilUam 
 showed on this vital matter, indicates clearly how 
 little the cause of the Revolution, as a cause, and 
 the interests of England, where they seemed not to 
 affect the interests of Holland, entered into his con- 
 sideration. 
 
 When William was himself so lukewarm on the 
 
1688—1701.] PEELINGS OF THE PEOPLE. 31 
 
 subject, it is not surprising if Englishmen of tigh 
 rank, even among those who sat at his council board, 
 administered the public- offices, and commanded his 
 fleet, desponded as to the permanent victory of freedom, 
 and endeavoured to provide for' future contingencies. 
 In extenuation of the baseness, ingratitude, and false- 
 hood, of some of these men, little indeed can be said ; 
 but there were others not without some excuse for their 
 time-serving and double-dealing. On the coronation of 
 William and Mary in "Westminster Abbey, the most 
 zealous Whigs were surprised at the success of their 
 own work. The Tories, anxious for the safety of the 
 church, had for the moment co-operated with their 
 opponents : but they had throughout been the reluc- 
 tant agents of the Eevolution ; and few of them, until 
 it was out of their power to prevent it, had contem- 
 plated the possibility of William being, in direct con- 
 tradiction to all their political principles, seated on the 
 British throne. Even then the great majority felt 
 sure, that whatever might be the temporary success 
 of the Revolution, the triumph would be but transient. 
 They called to mind the restoration of Charles II. by 
 the free consent of the people, notwithstanding all the 
 victories of Cromwell, and the long years of deadly 
 hostility between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. 
 What had occurred before within the memory of one 
 generation might surely occur again. The Whigs, too, 
 had many misgivings, not as to the soundness of their 
 political principles, or to the justice of their cause, but 
 as to the permanency of the new establishment. They 
 knew that they were a minority in the nation ; that the 
 populace, ignorant, brutal, and besotted, were little 
 inclined to regulate their lives by the precepts of the 
 Church of England, but were always ready, under the 
 
32 ENGLAND AND HEB STATESMEN. [Chap. H, 
 
 influence of a factious clergy, to shout and riot in favour 
 of the establishment. The king studiously neglected all 
 the arts of popularity, and seemed desirous, by his cold, 
 dry, and unprepossessing manners, to make the people 
 repent of the choice they had made. The Revolution 
 had not been, done in a corner. All Europe had re- 
 garded it with surprise and astonishment. To expel a 
 king and to' set up another in his place were events 
 which had not yet entered into the calculation of poli- 
 ticians on the Continent. The whole affair was looked 
 upon, even by those who found^ their advantage in it, 
 and possibly even by William himself, as a novelty ,^ 
 something very abnormal, extravagantly out of rule. 
 No wonder, then, that the statesmen of the Revolution 
 were disheartened, and that some of those who' had 
 staked the most deeply on its success felt inclined to 
 play a cautious game. They served William, in 
 generalj zealously, and they certainly were far from 
 desirous of the return of the Stuarts ; but they were 
 drawn into correspondence with the Court of St. Grer- 
 mains, that they might be safe in any event. In most 
 of tliem the crime arose from mere faint-heartedness ; 
 and this weakness they shared with the nation during 
 some of the trying years of William's reign. 
 
 In the Whig party, there was, however, one man 
 who had gradually risen to imquestioned supremacy, 
 and who, after having for some time been the object of 
 the keenest attacks of those who disliked William and 
 the Revolution, had just been dismissed from oflBce, but 
 who, as a statesman, stood almost alone as the repre- 
 sentative of pure, inflexible patriotism, amid the time- 
 serving lukewarmness and treachery which encom- 
 passed William's throne. The obligations we owe to 
 Somers render us anxious to enter into the spirit of 
 
1688—1701.] SOMBES AND MONTAGUE. , 33 
 
 his life ; but after reading the panegyrics of his friends, 
 and the invectives of his foes, we still find the informa- 
 tion we have about him to be very scanty. The great 
 statesman and jurist remains to us a mythical personage. 
 He was unquestionably the founder of the Whig party 
 as it existed for the first half of the last century ; his 
 successors of the next generation, including Walpole, 
 were proud of being regarded as his pupils. His fine 
 temper, always under control, his attachment to the 
 constitution, his habitual moderation, his wisdom, his 
 foresight, rendered him the noblest counsellor ever 
 possessed by any party. His political enemies men- 
 tioned him at once with fear and .respect. Other men 
 might make louder professions ; other men might stand 
 more prominently before the pubhc ; but no man knew 
 so well the political requirements of his age, or acted 
 more steadily up to that knowledge. The plans which 
 brought the Whigs into power were always of his 
 contriving. His blows at their enemies, if delayed, 
 were unerring. 
 
 Charles Montague, the late Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, was only second to Somers in the councils 
 of the Whigs. His nature was more worldly ; his 
 principles less decided ; his statesmanship less pro- 
 found. He, too, had taken no inconsiderable part in 
 permanently establishing the new government, by his 
 successful schemes to call into existence that vast ma- 
 chine of public credit, which, after being for two 
 generations derided by the discontented Jacobites and 
 ignorant Tories, grew to be the wonder and admira- 
 tion of the world. He was the great master of modern 
 finance. The national debt was considered his work ; 
 and was long regarded by Bolingbroke and those whom 
 he taught, as pregnant with inevitable ruin, and as 
 
34 ENGLAND AND HEE STATESMEN. [Chap. n. 
 
 the special opprobrium of the "Whig party, until the 
 American war, and the French Revolutionary war, 
 when the Tories were in power, increased the debt 
 to its present gigantic proportions, at which those 
 "Whigs who were accused of introducing the system, 
 would have stood aghast. Other two politicians, with 
 Somers and Montague, composed the celebrated "Whig 
 junto. One of these was the Earl of "Wharton, an 
 immoral man, indeed, but no hypocrite, and, therefore, 
 not so immoral as men professing to be champions of 
 the church, and leading lives quite as profligate. The 
 other was Lord Orford, the Admiral Russell of the 
 battle of La Hogue. If Wharton was, as Swift called 
 him, the defiler of altars, he at least never declared that 
 he respected them, and even he appears to have been scan- 
 dalized at the reverend author of The Tale of a Tub. 
 Forgetting the name he bore, and the political prin- 
 ciples in which he almost fanatically beheved, Russell 
 had condescended to the meanest intrigues with St. 
 Germains. In many respects this man was one of the 
 most hateful characters of that age. 
 
 But the hatred of both the admirers of "William and 
 the sympathizers with the Stuarts has been concen- 
 trated on a fe,r greater Englishman. That Marl- 
 borough, when candidly judged by the standard of his 
 contemporaries, was really a worse man than the great 
 majority of the eminent men of that age, it would be 
 somewhat difficult to prove. It would be a much easier 
 task to show that he was, in fact, superior to nearly aU 
 who then acted on the public stage. It is not every 
 day that we can expect to find the virtues of Somers ; 
 but it does not seem absolutely necessary, in order 
 that King "William's character may stand out in heroic 
 magnitude, that Marlborough should be studiously 
 
1688—1701.] MAELBOEOUGH. 3-5 
 
 depreciated and blackened. "William was jealous, and 
 even, as Ms eloquent panegyrist, Macaulay, acknow- 
 ledges, afraid of Marlborough ; and the historian 
 assiduously cultivates the same prejudices, feeling 
 ludicrously that, unless every time the great English 
 general was mentioned, some shameful epithet were 
 not coupled with his name, King William's reputation 
 might lose something. Invectives such as Swift shrunk 
 from indulging in, when it was the object of his em- 
 ployers, Harley and St. John, to assail Marlborough in 
 every possible way, as they were meditating to with- 
 draw him from the command of his victorious army, 
 are deliberately employed against the illustrious English- 
 man by the great modern historian, and considered by 
 him to be impartial history. 
 
 Now what, after all, is the good and evil we know 
 of Marlborough ? He was an uneducated youth, 
 brought up in the court of Charles II. The indul- 
 gence which we are called upon to make for all who in 
 their early years breathed such a tainted atmosphere, 
 requires justly to be made in an especial degree for one 
 who was so poor, who was the dependent of his sister's 
 paramour, and who could only hope to rise through the 
 means of the court. Yet from many of the vices of 
 that age and that place Churchill was singularly free. 
 He was not a debauchee ; he was not a gambler ; he 
 was not a drunkard. His intrigue with the profligate 
 Duchess of Cleveland, however disgraceful to her, was 
 one for which a youth exposed to such temptation could 
 scarcely be severely blamed. It has been scorn- 
 fully said that he had hoarded the money which the 
 Duchess bestowed upon him : had he spent it in every 
 sort of wild prodigality and dissipation he would not 
 have been considered censurable. His prudence 
 
 D 2 
 
36 ENGLAND AND HER STATESMEN. [Chap; II. 
 
 has been regarded as his crime. The fact is that 
 he had felt the curse of poverty ; the early chill had 
 curdled his blood ; he could never get . the sensation 
 from out of his veins, or the horror of it from out of 
 his mind. Yet, avaricious and interested as he has 
 been called, he married early, and he married a woman 
 with scarcely a penny for her forttme. It has been said 
 that he must have been enamoured indeed. But this is 
 no explanation. With the theory of absolute selfishness 
 and black-hearted villany a purely love-match is totally 
 incompatible : such a being as Marlborough has been 
 painted never could have loved disinterestedly, and 
 devotedly. When Queen EUzabeth wished Shaks- 
 peare to delineate Falstaff in love, the great dramatist 
 knew it would have been absurd to have made him 
 profess a really ardent passion, since it would have been 
 contrary to the utter selfishness of the knight's cha- 
 racter ; he therefore depicted Falstaff as making love 
 to Mistress Page and Mistress Ford with the object of 
 acquiring some of their husbands' money-bags. It is 
 not too much to expect from those who write history 
 some degree of that consistency in the delineation of 
 human character that is imperative in a dramatist. 
 Men are not at once Tartuffes and Romeos, scheming 
 egotists and romantic lovers. 
 
 But this is not the only inconsistency in which those 
 who have represented Marlborough as an embodiment 
 of the principle of all evil find themselves involved. 
 When James was on the throne, and those who sought 
 his favour, including Sunderland, were eager to abjure 
 their Protestantism and profess themselves Roman 
 Catholics, ]\Iarlborough steadily refused to apostasise 
 from his religion, and declared his firm attachment to 
 the Church of England. How strange, it has been 
 
1688—1701.] MAELBOEOUGH'S INTRIGUES. 37 
 
 remarked, that there was this one point on which 
 the most callous of mankind was scrupulous ! Very- 
 strange indeed on the theory which would make Marl- 
 borough synonymous with Satan ; but not at all strange 
 on another : on the supposition that Marlborough was 
 not a personified abstraction of guilt and infamy, but a 
 man of some decided convictions, with some generous 
 impulses, exposed to strong temptations, and frequently 
 acting wrong where it was hard for any one to act 
 right. Even his treachery to James II., however 
 indefensible, acted most beneficially for England. Had 
 he stood firm by the cause of the unfortunate Catbolic 
 sovereign, there must have been bloodshed ; and a colli- 
 sion between the Dutch and English armies would, 
 though William had been victorious, have been most 
 disastrous to the cause of the Revolution. But would 
 William have been victorious ? Nothing is more 
 certain than that William, with all his great qualities, 
 was, as a general, immeasurably inferior to Marl- 
 borough. Most ungrateful it is in those who admire 
 William so highly to blame Marlborough for that act 
 of military desertion which alone rendered the course of 
 the Revolution prosperous. We might almost imagine 
 the English general conscious of the services he had 
 rendered England at that critical hour, turning to the 
 Dutch deliverer, and saying proudly, " To me the oblo- 
 quy, and to you the glory !" 
 
 But, observes Hume, it demanded ever afterwards 
 conduct of the most unswerving rectitude to justify so 
 extreme and questionable a step as this desertion of 
 James. Now Marlborough is soon afterwards, with 
 other public men, found in correspondence with St. 
 Germains, and even appears to have drawn the Princess 
 Anne into the same intrigues. But when nearly all 
 
38 ENGLAND AND HEE STATESMEN. [Ceap. II. 
 
 the rest of the world began to despair of the Revolu- 
 tion, and to think a restoration not only probable, but 
 imminent, it is not so very wonderful that Marlborough 
 should also have desponded and been desirous of secur- 
 ing himself against an event which seemed so likely to 
 occur. That he really wished to see such a restoration, 
 or that, if the mere lifting of his finger could have put 
 his old master back on the British throne, he would 
 have raised that finger, there is not the slightest reason 
 to believe ; but he really ran a greater risk in the pos- 
 sibility of the return of the exiled sovereign than any 
 other Englishman. He alone had been marked out for 
 retributive vengeance by the unhappy monarch. For 
 others there might be pardon, but not for Churchill, 
 whom James had raised so high, and who, with an 
 unseen hand, had struck so fatal a blow. As he thus, 
 without sharing in any corresponding degree in the 
 glory, had a greater stake depending on the success of 
 the Revolution than any other Englishman, he was 
 naturally most desirous to provide for his security if 
 James should be restored. 
 
 To provide for his own safety, whatever might occur, 
 was therefore the great inducement to Marlborough in 
 endeavouring to re-establish friendly relations with 
 James. The exiled court knowing well that this 
 was mere precautionary temporising, demanded some 
 decided and unequivocal proof of Marlborough's adhe- 
 sion to their cause. Hence he was compelled to give 
 information about the secret expedition to Brest, which 
 cost the lives of General Mackay and many brave 
 English soldiers. This has been considered the 
 greatest of all ^Marlborough's crimes. There is, indeed, 
 little to be said for it but this : that had the expedition 
 sailed at the time expected, Marlborough's intelligence 
 
1688—1701.] MARLBOROUGH AND THE FOREIGN GENERALS. 39 
 
 would have arrived too late ; that lie could not have 
 foreseen this delay ; and that therefore half the special 
 pleading hy which it has been, sought to show that 
 King William signed the despatch giving up the 
 M'lans to wholesale slaughter without having read it ; 
 and that to extirpate a gang of thieves was justifiable 
 language as applied to a Highland chieftain and his 
 followers, who only did what their fathers for genera- 
 tions had done before them, and which had never 
 before ranked them with the offscourings of the crea- 
 tioUj either in their o^v^l or the public estimation, might 
 easily prove that Marlborough, when sore pressed, gave 
 as little information to the exiled king as he really 
 could ; that he gave it in such a manner that, had it 
 not been for purely accidental causes, it would have 
 been of no use at all ; and that his sole object was, 
 while endeavouring to do as little harm as possible, to 
 keep up appearances with James. 
 
 That Marlborough was for many years on bad terms 
 with William, and that he considered Portland a 
 wooden-headed fellow, cannot be denied. Here was an 
 Englishman conscious of supreme talent for military 
 command, seeing the military forces of England 
 entirely subjected to a knot of foreigners, battle after 
 battle lost by the king on the Continent, torrents of 
 blood shed in the field, and no adequate result obtained. 
 Marlborough himself might have risen by favouritism, 
 but his was not the mere favouritism of a Carr or 
 Yilliers. His genius for war had been observed even 
 in the very glance of his eye. In the subordinate 
 commands, such as at the reduction of Cork and 
 Kinsale, he had amply justified the confidence of those 
 who expected that he would one day do something 
 great. When at last he was made the captain-general 
 
40 ENGLAND AND HER STATESMEN. [Chap. U. 
 
 of a joint confederacy, tiiougli royal favour may have 
 contributed to place tim in the position he at last 
 tardily occupied, he was the one EngHshman qualified 
 at that time to perform those arduous duties with 
 success ; by his unrivalled talents both as a diplomatist 
 and a general he was emphatically the man of the 
 situation. 
 
 Bolingbroke, though for years engaged in such deep 
 political hostility against Marlborough, whenever his 
 party requirements were not concerned, took every 
 opportunity of expressing his admiration of the great 
 general. In his later writings he has spoken of him 
 with more enthusiasm than of any of his contempo- 
 raries. " He, a new, a private man, a subject, acquired 
 by merit and management, a more deciding influence 
 than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the 
 crown of Great Britain, had given to King "William. 
 Not only all the parts of that vast machine, the grand 
 alhance, were kept more compact and entire, but a 
 more rapid and vigorous motion was given to the 
 whole : and instead of languishing or disastrous 
 campaigns, we saw every scene of the war full of 
 'action. All those wherein he appeared, and many of 
 those wherein he was not then an actor, but abettor, 
 however, of their action, were crowned with the most 
 triumphant success. I take with pleasure this oppor- 
 tunity of doing justice to that great man, whose faults 
 I knew, whose virtues I admired, and whose memory, 
 as the greatest general and as the greatest minister 
 that our country, or perhaps any other, has produced, 
 I honour."* 
 
 On the Continent, while William was in command, 
 we lost every battle we fought. Under Marlborough 
 
 * Eighth Letter on the Study of History. 
 
1688—1701.] THE PEACE OP EYSWICK. 41 
 
 every battle was a victory to the English arms. Allow- 
 ing MarlboroTigti to have had human feelings, when 
 during so much of the reign of William he was allowed 
 to remain in disgrace, his conduct is sufficiently 
 accounted for ; and the plot to expel the foreigners by 
 the aid of the Parliament, which Macaulay, on the most 
 slender materials, or on no real materials at all, so 
 laboriously endeavours to construct, in order that the 
 conduct of the king to Marlborough may be vindicated, 
 was, even if a fact, really nothing so very monstrous. 
 The Englishman only sought, at the most, to do what 
 he had a perfect right to do ; he, of all men, with his 
 great powers, had the best right to resent the dominion 
 of a foreign favourite like Portland, and the foreign 
 generals who during the war were intrusted with such 
 high commands. 
 
 This war terminated with the peace of Ryswick, 
 which the brilliant historian, anxious for dramatic 
 effect, labours hard to represent as a great triumph for 
 William. And yet what was there in the peace of 
 which an Englishman could by any possibility be 
 proud? After so much English treasure had been 
 expended, and so much English blood shed on the field 
 of battle, all that England acquired was the barren 
 acknowledgment of William's title to the crown by the 
 French king. Surely no such wonderful achievement. 
 To represent all Englishmen as rejoicing in the ac- 
 knowledgment of William as the sovereign by Louis, 
 is to make his right to the throne almost dependent on 
 the consent of a King of France ; and of how little 
 importance Louis considered the mere verbal phrases 
 in the treaty of Ryswick, he soon afterwards signally 
 proved when, even while William was yet living, he 
 acknowledged, on the death of James II,, his eldest son 
 
42 ENGLAND AND HER STATESMEN. [Chap. II. 
 
 as King of England. The peace of Eyswick was, 
 in fact, no peace. It was a mere suspension of 
 hostilities ; a temporary truce, during which the fire 
 burst only the more keenly under the ashes by which it 
 had been covered. Not one element of discord between 
 nations did ,th,e peace of Ryswick remove. A formi- 
 dable confederacy was leagued against France : this 
 league Louis XIV., by his seeming moderation at 
 Ryswick, successfully dissolved ; while the great object 
 he had before his eyes, the inheritance of the Spanish 
 monarchy, then daily growing more imminent, seemed 
 only more certainly to become his destined prize. 
 Nothing was done, nothing was said at Ryswick for 
 the great and inevitable contingency of the Spanish 
 succession. 
 
 How well the French king had calculated soon be- 
 came evident. The political dissensions in England 
 increased : as Lord Somers said, a deadness of public 
 spirit seemed to affect the whole nation. With the 
 King of Spain evidently on the verge of the tomb, and 
 a great disturbance in the balance of power impending 
 throughout Europe, William was obliged to disband 
 that noble army which, even amid defeat and disaster, 
 had at Landen and at Namur learnt to endure with 
 heroic constancy. In this great crisis seven thousand 
 men formed all the military force which the provident 
 legislators of England deemed necessary to defend her 
 shores from foreign invasion, and to protect her in- 
 terests throughout the world. 
 
 Since the King of England found himself in no con- 
 dition to make war, he tried to avert the evils impend- 
 ing over Europe by the celebrated Partition Treaties. 
 Their best defence consists in the King's situation ; 
 incapable, through the perversity of the English par- 
 
1688—1701.] THE PAETITION TREATIES. 43 
 
 liament, of providing any other manner against the 
 troubles that were coming upon Europe ; deprived in 
 that supreme moment of the means to assert his legiti- 
 mate influence as a British sovereign, at the head of a 
 high-spirited and devoted people. In every other 
 respect it must be confessed that those stipulations were 
 totally indefensible. 
 
 Little indeed can be said for a treaty which, being 
 drawn up to prevent a particular contingency, in fact 
 produced the very result against which it was intended 
 to guard. "Whether Louis XIV. ever was sincere in 
 the negotiations is a question open to the gravest 
 doubt; it is certain that, knowing that those en- 
 gagements would be perfectly binding on England 
 and Holland, and prevent William from forming a 
 further alliance against France, the French monarch 
 was fully conscious they left himself free, to act upon 
 them or repudiate them as circumstances might arise. 
 Feeling the weight of this consideration, and seeing 
 the event clearly before us, it is difficult to believe that 
 William acted with his usual judgment. We might 
 almost suspect that, though vanity was certainly not 
 one of his ruling passions, he was dazzled by nego- 
 tiating, apparently on equal terms, with his inveterate 
 enemy, that august sovereign who had long affected to 
 despise him, and aspired to give the law to every court 
 in Europe, Ostentation may sometimes be a virtue, 
 but as Portland resolutely kept silent on the subject of 
 the Spanish succession until he was first spoken to by 
 the French minister, and as he carried with him no 
 particular instructions on the matter, it is hard to 
 understand the object of this Dutch favourite's ex- 
 pensive mission to France, with his pompous retinue of 
 English noblemen ; though it was during this embassy 
 
44 ENGLAND AND HER STATESMEN. [Chap. n. 
 
 that the negotiations about the Partition Treaties were 
 begun. 
 
 Portland and Heinsius were, in fact, the only two 
 persons whom WiUiam can be said to have consulted at 
 all during the progress of this important business, and 
 imtil it was alj but concluded. Both were foreigners. It 
 is easy to say that they possessed the King's confidence 
 in a measure which he could not bestow on any of his 
 Enghsh subjects ; but surely there were in the govern- 
 ment at that time one or two Englishmen who had a 
 right to be consulted on a question in which the 
 interests and honour of England were so deeply 
 concerned. 
 
 The utter indifference which WilKam showed to the 
 sentiments of the English people on this great question 
 accounts for much of the unpopularity with which the 
 treaties were received. Graver objections were cer- 
 tainly never made to any compacts than can be urged 
 against the Partition Treaties. Even though it be 
 granted that the difference between the partition of 
 Poland and the projected partition of the Spanish 
 monarchy consisted in the fact that Poland was a 
 nation, while the empire which obeyed the nominal 
 rule of the imbecile Charles II. of Spain, was an 
 agglomeration of the most discordant elements, still 
 the secret confederacy of three powers to divide the 
 dominion of another, without either the consent or 
 knowledge of the people immediately concerned, formed 
 a precedent which ambitious kings and courtly diplo- 
 matists were only too ready to follow. They might 
 begin with partitioning a heterogeneous empire, but 
 they would surely not end there. Imperial ambition is 
 not like to be stopped by the consideration whether the 
 spoils on which its heart is set are part of a torpid 
 
1688—1701.] UNPOPULARITY OP THE WHIGS. 4:5 
 
 monarchy without a pohtical cohesion, or part of a 
 homogeneous nation full of heart and soul. This 
 metaphysical question of nationality is one on which 
 the masters of a thousand legions will certainly decline 
 to enter. With them, when the principle of spoliation 
 is once set up by a partition treaty, a nation will be 
 considered merely a territorial phrase, and the Kving 
 and the dead be equally the objects of their un- 
 scrupulous rapacity. 
 
 The indignation of the great majority of the English 
 people, when they learnt to what documents the Great 
 Seal of their country had been affixed, was a right 
 feeling ; but their rage was most unfairly directed. 
 The effect was to destroy what Httle authority remained 
 to Lord Somers and his colleagues, who formed the 
 first Whig ministry. Parliament was now divided into 
 the court and country party. The great statesman of 
 the Revolution struggled vainly against a hostile ma- 
 jority composed of Jacobite Tories, discontented Whigs, 
 and patriots whose love of freedom and aversion to 
 authority, both in political and ecclesiastical matters, 
 tended to the verge of republicanism. The House of 
 Commons daily became more impracticable. In the 
 year 1700, the Whig junto, bearing the blame of the 
 Partition Treaties, on which they had not been really 
 consulted, and of which they in their hearts disap- 
 proved, had lost all control over the legislature. In 
 the House of Commons the Tories and their allies had 
 a decided majority, which they were prepared to use 
 for the most factious purposes. The great object of 
 their attack was the Chancellor, John Lord Somers, 
 who was, in fact, the personal representative of the 
 principles of the Revolution, whose genius could not 
 but be admired, and his virtues respected, but whose 
 
46 ENGLAND AND HER STATESMEN. [Chap. II. 
 
 mildness of temper, steadiness of purpose, and sagacity 
 of view were at once dreaded and hated by all the 
 enemies of William, and the government he had esta- 
 blished. To avoid receiving an address from the dis- 
 contented Commons, requesting him to remove Lord 
 Somers from his councils for ever, the King, on the 
 23 rd of May, prorogued the Parliament. 
 
 There was, however, but one alternative. If there 
 was to be any harmony between the sovereign and the 
 House of Commons, it was at length obvious to every- 
 bodybody that a change must be made. Lord Somers 
 was dismissed, and in the course of the summer and 
 autumn a Tory ministry was gradually formed. Go- 
 dolphin was made first commissioner to the Treasury, 
 Lord Tankerville the Privy Seal, Sir Charles Hedges 
 a Secretary of State. These appointments were all 
 made in opposition to the interests of the "Whigs, who 
 were heart and soul in favour of the Revolution prin- 
 ciples, and the Protestant succession. 
 
 It soon appeared that this succession was, however, 
 threatened • by still greater danger than the establish- 
 ment in office of a government supposed to be luke- 
 warm if not averse to the disinheritance of the son of 
 the exiled Catholic king. By the death of the young 
 Duke of Grloucester, the only surviving child of the 
 Princess Anne, the provisions of the Act of Settlement 
 were nullified, and England was without an heir. One 
 danger pressed fast upon another. The great obstacle 
 to the succession of the Prince of Wales, as the Jaco- 
 bites considered, had scarcely been removed by the 
 hand of Providence, when Charles II. of Spain at last 
 died, and Louis XIY. accepted the will which had 
 been made in favour of his grandson, the Duke of 
 Anjou. Without scruple or shame, the French 
 
1688—1701.] WOULD THE EEVOLUTION TRIUMPH? 47 
 
 monarcli repudiated the second Partition Treaty, whicli 
 by everything that his conscience held sacred he had 
 sworn to carry out. A prince of the House of Bourbon 
 succeeded to the Spanish throne, with as Httle trouble 
 as though no solemn renunciations had been made, no 
 treaties been signed, no engagement undertaken, and 
 with neither enemies nor rivals ready to dispute with 
 him the possession of so rich a prize. 
 
 King William's statesmanship was at fault. He felt 
 himself powerless. The parliament was dissolved on 
 the 19th of December, and the new parliament sum- 
 moned for the 6th of February, 1701. The Tories still 
 possessed an unquestionable majority. St. John, on 
 this occasion, as member for Wootton Bassett, first 
 entered the House of Commons. The good ship was 
 struggling for port. "Would the Protestant dynasty 
 be at last firmly seated on the throne, and the liberties 
 of England be securely established ? Or would there 
 be another Eestoration, to be followed by another 
 tyranny, and the struggles and aspirations of so many 
 patriotic Englishmen found, after all, to have been in 
 vain? 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 1701—1704. 
 TBTE YOUNG MEMBEE. 
 
 This parliament, which first saw St. John a mernher 
 of the House of Commons, after meeting accordingly 
 to the royal proclamation on the 6th of February, was 
 prorogued to the 10th. It was said that the Whigs 
 were decidedly outnumbered, and that, according to 
 every probability, the Tories would have it all their 
 own way. Nor were these expectations deceived. Sir 
 Thomas Lyttelton, the Speaker in former parliaments, 
 now, by the desire of the king, even declined a con- 
 test, and Robert Harley was for the first time chosen 
 to occupy the chair. He had been previously, when 
 Grodolphin was again appointed to the head of the 
 Treasury, fixed upon to manage the House of Com- 
 mons ; and he was thus selected to perform what in our 
 days appear to be the two very incompatible duties of 
 the Speaker of the House of Commons and leader of the 
 ministry. 
 
 The choice was, on the whole, the best that the 
 circumstances admitted. Harley combined in his person 
 all the incongruous elements of which the country 
 party had long been composed, and under the com- 
 
] 701— 1704.] HAELEY. 49 
 
 bined attacks of wHcli tlie Whigs had at length been 
 driven from ofiSce. He was descended from a Pres- 
 byterian family of the strictest kind, and at the Eevo- 
 lution both his father and himself had evinced the 
 most uncompromising devotion to the extreme tenets 
 of their party. According to their views, courts, 
 governments, and kings only existed to be opposed. 
 It was the duty of a good patriot to take a side con- 
 trary to that of the sovereign. This was the spirit 
 into which the old Puritanism of the Commonwealth 
 had merged ; and of this spirit the Harleys were, per- 
 haps, the most striking examples. It seems a paradox 
 to say that Robert Harley became a Tory and a High 
 Churchman because he had been almost a Puritan and 
 a Republican, and yet such was the fact. Always 
 voting in opposition to William and his government, 
 Harley naturally found himself in divisions allied with 
 Tories and Jacobites, while he secured to himself the 
 confidence of the Dissenters, and to the last, on some 
 occasions, affected a kind of scriptural phraseology, 
 familiar enough to the members who composed Bare- 
 bones' parliament, but somewhat obsolete in the days 
 of Somers and Addison. To knit together such 
 opposite sections as the Tories and the Presbyterians, 
 to make them, while agreeing in so little else, join in 
 a common admiration of himself, and to win the con- 
 fidence of their political leaders, seemed a rare and 
 masterly achievement for a politician. At this time 
 Harley therefore naturally obtained great credit for 
 the depths of his depgns. He looked wise. There 
 was a mystery and reserve in his manner which made 
 the superficial observer think that much lay beneath 
 the surface. He loved to talk over claret with wits 
 and poets, and his daily potations were not moderate. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE YOUKG MEMBER. [Chap. in. 
 
 But in business, though he might be hesitating, dila- 
 tory, and vacillating, he was all solemnity. It seemed 
 impossible to doubt the wisdom and foresight of that 
 grave exterior ; and especially, when, as St. John, in 
 taking his seat for "Wootton Bassett, first saw it equipped 
 in the speaker's wig and gown. 
 
 St. John's father and grandfather, if not as they 
 have been represented, strongly imbued with the 
 spirit of the Presbyterians, had at least been on the 
 popular side. Through three reigns they had been 
 the consistent supporters of the friends of constitu- 
 tional government, and might fairly be considered 
 Whigs, though they leant to the independent sec- 
 tion of the party. Some of the enemies of St. John after- 
 wards reproached him with beginning his pubKc life 
 as a Whig, and afterwards deserting to the Tories. 
 But this charge cannot be sustained, A kind of party 
 consistency during the reigns of William and Anne 
 cannot be denied to St. John. There is nothing known 
 of him inconsistent with his own allegation : " In 
 the first essays I made in pubHc affairs, I acted the part 
 of a Tory."* 
 
 From the first he attached himself to Harley. For 
 this aUiance there may have been family reasons, suffi- 
 cient at least to excuse the step to St. John's father and 
 grandfather, who, perhaps, remembered that Harley 
 was once a kind of model independent member, the 
 oracle of the Dissenters, and, hke themselves, a here- 
 ditary representative of the Presbyterians. It was 
 only during the last two parliaments that Harley's 
 championship of the Church of England had been 
 strongly displayed, and wishing, as his poHcy was, to 
 stand well both with his new allies and his old friends, 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham. 
 
1701— 1704. J HAELEY'S LIEUTENANT. 51 
 
 he could scarcely as yet be pronounced a decided 
 Tory. 
 
 To St. John this union probably had other recom- 
 mendations. The Whigs, led by chiefs who had risen 
 to the highest eminence, and who ruled their party 
 with absolute authority, were little disposed to look 
 favourably on a young m-ember, for whom, whatever 
 might be his abihties, they had no vacancy in their 
 upper ranks. Besides, they were in a minority, and 
 so strong were the prejudices against their leaders, that 
 it seemed they might be for many years hopelessly 
 excluded from power. Harley had acquired the 
 influence which they had lost. He was at the head 
 of a large majority in the House of Commons ; he was 
 surrounded with no proud and haughty colleagues, 
 who, conscious of their great services to the State, 
 looked down almost superciliously on the rising talents 
 of their party. It was a great satisfaction to a young 
 and ambitious man, who looked with St. John's eyes, 
 that there was at least no Tory junto. What could 
 such a man, who wished to rise speedily and to rise 
 highly, do better than to become Harley's lieutenant ? 
 Harley's lieutenant St. John soon eagerly aspired 
 to be. 
 
 It was not altogether so easy a task to accomplish 
 as might at first be supposed. Harley, in a dissolute 
 age, was considered a moral man : he attended neither 
 races nor cock-fights, kept no race-horses, neither 
 laid wagers, nor dissipated his fortune at cards or 
 with the dice-box. If he did after dinner sit too 
 long over his bottle, and was, when he had lost 
 his sovereign's favour, accused of going drunk into 
 her presence,* this failing was common with nearly all 
 
 * Erasmus Lewis to Swift, July 27, 1714. 
 
 e2 
 
52 THE TOUNa MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 his generation, including, in some measure, the refined 
 and virtuous Addison, and could then scarcely be thought 
 very blamable. But on the glaring vices of the 
 yoimg patricians of his time, Harley looked down 
 with absolute disgust ; and of all the young patricians 
 who either sought his favour or laughed at his prig- 
 gishness, St. John had "won -for himself the reputation 
 of being the most shameless and abandoned profli- 
 gate.* 
 
 To throw himself heartily into the ranks of the pre- 
 vailing party, and to go all lengths with them in their . 
 furious championship of the Church and their violent 
 persecution of all who dissented from their political 
 and religious prejudices, seemed the sure and easy 
 road to acquire the favour of Harley and the con- 
 fidence of his supporters. St. John pursued no middle 
 path. The descendant of the moderate Sir "Walter 
 St. John and the pious Johanna became at once a 
 Tory of the Tories : licentious as was his life, and tainted 
 as his mind was with the fashionable Hobbism which 
 was then openly professed by all the dissipated people of 
 fashion as an excuse for their Hcentiousness, he became 
 a High Churchman, and on every division swelled the 
 ranks of the country squires, who regarded all Dis- 
 senters as unworthy to enjoy the privileges of English 
 citizens. 
 
 Party-spirit ran high, and young St. John, eager, 
 ambitious, unscrupulous, became at once one of the 
 most violent of partisans. The new parliament, which 
 proceeded to business after the short prorogation from 
 the 6th to the 10th of February, afforded abundant 
 
 * For the favourable side of Barley's character, see particularly the 
 Examiner, No. 26, written by Swift ; his History of the Last Four Years 
 of the Queen ; and The Enquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's Last 
 Ministry. 
 
1701—1704.] ST. JOHN IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 53 
 
 opportunities to indiscriminate party zeal. It was, on the 
 whole, the very worst of William's parliaments, and 
 perhaps the most factious, the most arbitrary, and the 
 least patriotic that has ever legislated for England 
 since the Revolution. The national honour, the rights 
 of their constituents, the liberties of individuals, all 
 that is upright and august in the proceedings of great 
 representative bodies were flagrantly disregarded by 
 the popular assembly in which St. John first won for 
 himself a name ; and in the least defensible acts of 
 . this disgraceful House of Commons he was a zealous 
 participator. He had chosen his side, and he was not 
 a man to hesitate, to reflect, to be lukewarm, or to do 
 anything by halves. 
 
 On the first sight of the House it was evident to 
 the most inexperienced that the Tories possessed a 
 great majority ; their benches were crowded with 
 rubicund fox-hunters, while the Whig ranks were per- 
 ceptibly thinned. A great many louis-d'ors were 
 passing from hand to hand, and it was strongly sus- 
 pected that many members had actually received 
 bribes from the French ambassador.* Had Louis 
 himself nominated the majority they could not on 
 many occasions have acted with more entire devotion 
 to his interests than in some of the votes of this 
 stormy session. 
 
 On the disputed elections, of course, there was no 
 pretence of impartiality : every question was decided 
 against the Whigs by the prevailing majority. During 
 the recent contest the old East India Company and 
 the new East India Company had lavishly bribed 
 against each other ; but the patrons of the old Com- 
 pany were now in power, while the supporters of 
 
 * Burnet, 462. Ed. Oxford, 1823. 
 
54 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. m. 
 
 Montague's recent creation were almost helpless. 
 Every question was carried against the directors of 
 the new establishment. Even Sir Edward Seymour, 
 whose life had been one long corruption, and who was 
 known to have received bribes from the old corpora- 
 tion, had the ehameless effrontery to take the lead in 
 condemning the corrupt practices of the rival institu- 
 tion. While these election battles were being fought, 
 the very words of an address to the throne were 
 settled, requesting William to acknowledge Philip as 
 King of Spain ; and the question would certainly have . 
 been brought forward had not a sturdy member openly 
 declared tbat if such a proposition were carried, he 
 expected that the next vote would be to acknowledge 
 the pretended Prince of Wales as the heir to the 
 crown. 
 
 Though many of Harley's supporters were in their 
 hearts averse to any settlement of the succession, 
 excluding the direct heir of James II., decency 
 compelled the majority to undertake the business 
 which William had recommended from the throne. 
 To frame the Act of Settlement on the Princess Sophia 
 and the heirs of her body, being Protestants, was the 
 first and imperative duty which demanded the atten- 
 tion of the legislature. To the very reluctance with 
 which the majority set about their task we owe some 
 of the most popular provisions of this great constitu- 
 tional measure. Men who would have stubbornly 
 resisted any attempt to limit the freedom of action in 
 the direct Stuart line, cared not what Hmitations they 
 introduced against the House of Hanover. Hence the 
 resolutions which bound up the liberties of the people 
 and the Protestant succession to the Crown breathe a 
 spirit of the most sturdy patriotism. The Jacobites 
 
1701—1704.] ST. JOHN AND THE ACT OP SETTLEMENT. 55 
 
 themselves were not unwillirg, as against the German 
 dynasty, to establish another Magna Oharta and another 
 Bill of Eights. Eesolution after resolution was pro- 
 posed and carried with acclamation, limiting the pre- 
 rogative in the most essential particulars, prohibiting 
 the future monarch from ever leaving the kingdom 
 without the consent of parliament, excluding all 
 except natural-born subjects from the privy council, 
 from both Houses of Parliament, and from holding 
 any offices under the crown, or accepting any grants 
 from the royal bounty. Any person receiving a 
 pension from the crown was declared to be incapable 
 of sitting in the House of Commons. The judges were 
 to hold their oiEces during their good behaviour, and 
 to be only removable by the address of both Houses 
 of Parliament. No pardon under the Great Seal was 
 to be pleadable to an impeachment by the House 
 of Commons. Some of the provisions, so jealously 
 made, were cancelled ; others were found to be totally 
 impracticable, and were subsequently either virtually 
 or directly repealed. Bolingbroke himself confessed 
 how reluctantly his party were prevailed upon, 
 to agree to the great principle of the measure, 
 that of settling the crown in the succession of the House 
 of Hanover,* and every patriotic resolution was greedily 
 seized upon as a pretext for delay. 
 
 The voice of the young senator was frequently and 
 powerfully exerted in the debates upon this important 
 measure. Whatever Harley and his majority pro- 
 posed, St. John was ready to support. Young and 
 inexperienced as he was, so well did he vindicate his 
 pretensions to be regarded as one of the rising spirits 
 of the party, that when, in accordance with the resolu- 
 
 * state of Parties at the Accession of George tbe First. 
 
56 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. HI. 
 
 tions wbicli had been passed, the Bill for the Further 
 Security of the Protestant Succession was to be intro- 
 duced in the month of May, he was the member who, 
 by order of the House, was appointed, with the 
 Secretary of State, Sir Charles Hedges, to prepare and 
 bring in the measure. Many years afterwards he was 
 accused of having, with the disaffected Tories, at- 
 tempted to throw out this very bill ; but he tri- 
 umphantly appealed to the journals of the Commons, 
 and this allegation respecting his conduct with regard 
 to the Act of Settlement in 1701 was certainly without 
 any real foundation.* 
 
 Unfortunately, there were made against his conduct 
 during this his first session in parliament other accusa- 
 tions which were not so easy to answer. It was not 
 thought suflScient by the Tories to secure the triumph 
 of their party ; they were resolved to trample on their 
 vanquished adversaries. The Duke of Portland, Lord 
 Somers, Charles Montague, who had recently been 
 created Lord Halifax, and the Earl of Orford, who had 
 been the idol of the nation, and as Admiral Russell, the 
 hero of La Hogue, were successively impeached. The 
 principal article of charge was tbeir negotiation 
 of the Partition Treaties, though nothing was more 
 certain than that if misconduct there had been in 
 carrying on these important negotiations without con- 
 sulting parhament, the king, who was known to be his 
 own foreign minister, had been the main offender. 
 According to the sound constitutional doctrine, the 
 ministers were indeed to be held responsible, while the 
 king was not ; but there is no rule without an ex- 
 
 * See Journals of tlie House of Commons of May, 1701. See also the 
 Remarks on the Craftsman's Vindication, with Bolingbroke's Final Answer 
 to the Remarks. 
 
1701—1704.] IMPEACHMENT OP THE WHIG STATESMEN. 57 
 
 ception, and the reign of William, with his peculiar 
 character and his masterly knowledge of foreign affairs, 
 was altogether exceptional. Somers and one or two of 
 his colleagues had, indeed, at the last moment, when 
 everything was arranged, been called upon to give their 
 ministerial sanction to stipulations of which they had 
 previously known nothing ; but the great Whig states- 
 man most unanswerably urged, that in the critical state 
 of Europe, with the king of Spain's life hanging by a 
 thread, he could not take upon himself the serious task 
 of thwarting arrangements which William, the mortal 
 foe of Louis and of France, thought best for the 
 interests of England and of Europe. Somers was 
 heard at the bar of the House of Commons, and so 
 complete was his defence, that had the decision been 
 immediately taken, it was generally acknowledged he 
 would have been acquitted. But the malice and 
 rancour of his accusers were allowed time to recover • 
 themselves ; and the resolution for his impeachment 
 was carried. This was easy. It was not, however, 
 so easy, after voting Somers and the other Whig 
 lords guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, to frame 
 articles of impeachment which could give even a 
 colourable pretence to justify such grave accusations. 
 Week after week passed away, and at last the factious 
 majority endeavoured most scandalously to supply by 
 authority what they wanted all evidence to support. 
 They sent up an address to the king, requesting him to 
 dismiss the impeached statesmen from his counsels for 
 ever, though they had as yet been found guilty of no 
 crime ; and the proceeding was, as the counter-address 
 of the House of Lords most properly asserted, an 
 unprecedented attempt to brand the accused persons 
 previous to their trial. The Lords called upon the 
 
58 THE YOUNG MEMBEE. [Chap. HI. 
 
 Commons on five different occasions to bring forward 
 their articles. Still they could not be produced. At 
 length the Peers fixed a day for the trial of Somers. 
 The majority in the other House blustered and 
 threatened, but did not appear at "Westminster Hall to 
 make good their charges, and the great patriot was 
 most righteously absolved. The impeachments against 
 the other Whig Peers were dismissed, and the Commons 
 had the mortification of suffering a deserved rebuke 
 from the Upper House for attempting to use most 
 unjustly and oppressively those high privileges which 
 had been allotted to them for the punishment of injus- 
 tice and oppression. 
 
 Of those disgraceful measures which were calculated 
 to subvert all justice, and to bring a scandal on the 
 very name of the House of Commons, tradition asserted 
 that young St. John was one of the most decided and 
 intemperate advocates. "When he was himself suffer- 
 ing under what he called oppression from a triumphant 
 Whig majority, his violent councils and language 
 against Somers and his friends in this year were re- 
 called to his mind with malignant satisfaction. " You 
 fled from trial, and then complained of being con- 
 demned in your absence. You saw nothing unjust in 
 condemning without any trial at all men who had 
 committed no crimes, who had, as their worst enemies 
 confessed, rendered great public services, who were 
 allowed to be as wise and upright as had ever ruled in 
 any age or country. It was nothing for them to plead 
 in their defence the name of King William. You con- 
 sider it being in excuse of blunders in negotiation, the 
 desertion of allies, and renunciations which were of no 
 value, to plead the name of Queen Anne. You con- 
 demned your enemies for acting like a political inqui- 
 
1701—1704.] BOLINGBROKE ON THE PAETITION TREATIES. 59 
 
 sition ; were you not one of the first to recommend a poli- 
 tical inquisition ? You cried out against strong measures ; 
 did you ever recommend mild measures ? Is it then 
 only when you feel the smart of a bill of attainder in 
 your own person that you become scrupulous ? and 
 were others whose innocence you cannot now dispute 
 to be by you pronounced guilty and pimished without 
 scruple or shame ?" 
 
 Bolingbroke had little to say in reply to these bitter 
 taunts. In his later years he gave up all defence, 
 pleaded his ignorance of the pohtical state of Europe, 
 and acknowledged that himself and the majority, in 
 censuring the Partition Treaties, and those whom they 
 most untruly alleged to have been the authors of them, 
 were entirely wrong. " But, my Lord," he said to 
 Lord Cornbury, " I own it with some shame ; because, 
 in truth, nothing could be more absurd than the conduct 
 we held." He became an eloquent defender of those 
 Partition Treaties which have been so long and so 
 loudly condemned. " What !" he wrote, " because we 
 had not reduced the power of France by the war, 
 nor excluded the house of Bourbon from the Spanish 
 succession, nor compounded with her upon it by the 
 peace ; and because the house of Austria had not helped 
 herself, nor put it in our power to help her with more 
 advantage and better prospect of success, were we 
 to leave the whole succession open to the invasions of 
 Prance, and to suiSfer even the contingency to subsist 
 of seeing those monarchies united ? What ! because 
 it was become extravagant, after the trials so lately 
 made, to think ourselves any longer engaged by treaty, 
 or obhged by good policy to put the house of Austria 
 in possession of the whole Spanish monarchy, and to 
 defend her in the possession by force of arms, were we 
 
60 THE YOUNG MEMBEB. ' [Chaf. m. 
 
 to leave the wliole at tlie mercy of France ? If we 
 were not to do so, if we were not to do one of the 
 three things that I before said remained to be done, 
 and if the emperor put it out of our power to do 
 another of them with advantage, were we to put it still 
 more out of, our power, and to wait unarmed for the 
 death of the king of Spain ? In fine, if we had not 
 the prospect of disputing with France so successfully 
 as we might have had it, the Spanish succession, when- 
 ever it should be open ; were we not only to show by 
 disarming that we would not dispute it at all, but to 
 censure likewise the second of the three things men- 
 tioned above, and which King WilHam put in practice, 
 the compounding with France, to prevent if possible 
 a war in which we were averse to engage ?"* These 
 arguments must be taken for what they are worth. 
 If not a conclusive defence of the Partition Treaties, 
 and the manner in which they were negotiated, they 
 are at least a complete censure of the course pursued 
 by Mr. St. John, the young member for TTootton 
 Bassett, in reprobating those political arrangements, 
 and attempting to inflict an ignominious punishment 
 on Somers and his colleagues. 
 
 Though the Tory majority was so decided at the 
 beginning of the session, the violence of the House of 
 Commons disgusted the whole nation. Months were 
 spent in angry debates and personal attacks, while the 
 bills of supply were not voted, and the business of the 
 government stood still. The alarm became general 
 throughout the City ; even the old East India Com- 
 pany, with the rest of the great civic corporations, saw 
 an immediate prospect of the total ruin of public credit. 
 
 • The Eighth Letter on the Study of History, containing the Sketch and 
 State of Europe from the Year 1688. 
 
1701—1704.] THE KENTISH PETITION. 61 
 
 It was clear that France and Spain were united ; that 
 a general war was at hand ; and yet that nothing was 
 done to put the country in a state of defence. The 
 grand jury of Kent, and the freeholders of the country 
 assembled at Maidstone, sent up a petition to the 
 House of Commons, in which, after declaring that King 
 William's great actions were written in the hearts of 
 his subjects, and could never without the blackest 
 ingratitude be forgotten, they besought the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, in the dangerous state of 
 Europe, to turn their loyal addresses into bills of supply, 
 that his Majesty might be enabled to provide for the 
 public safety before it should be too late. The majority 
 of the House was driven to fury at this remonstrance 
 in the form of a petition. It was voted scandalous, 
 insolent, and seditious, and in direct breach of every 
 constitutional principle, the gentlemen who presented 
 it were ordered into custody. This was the famous 
 Kentish Petition, and its results with which, as with^the 
 impeachment of the "Whig Lords, Bolingbroke was 
 afterwards keenly reproached. In this unjust proceed- 
 ing on the side of the tyrannical majority, the voice of 
 the young orator was one of the loudest, his councils 
 the heartiest, and his contempt for the liberties of 
 individuals, in opposition to what he considered the 
 privileges of the House of Commons, most defiant. 
 Unhappily this question was only the first of a long series 
 of similar contentions, in which, while St. John sat in 
 the House of Commons, he was found invariably taking 
 the same violent course ; stimulating to the utmost his 
 heated partizans, and on every occasion opposed to the 
 side which is now generally admitted by the greatest 
 authorities to have been that of the English constitution.* 
 
 * See in the State Tracts, the able pamphlet entitled Jura Populi Anglicani ; 
 or, The Subject Right of Petitioning set Forth. See also, in the Somers' 
 
62 THE YOUNG MEMBEB. [Chap. m. 
 
 The violation of all justice in the person of those 
 who had taken the leading part in presenting the 
 Kentish petition did not abate the violence of the Com- 
 mons. The angry disputes with the Lords on the 
 impeachment continued into the summer, and gradually 
 became more acrimonious than ever. At length, how- 
 ever, the King, wearied and disgusted, put an end to 
 those incessant altercations by a prorogation : and he 
 privately made up his mind to get rid, at the first 
 opportunity, of a House of Commons which was, beyond 
 all precedent, factious, and reckless of consequences, 
 and which, while bringing into collision the different 
 estates of the realm, supinely neglected to provide 
 against the perils that threatened the world. 
 
 Nothing can be said for this House of Commons ; but 
 St. John, who had through the session almost succeeded 
 in becoming one of its leading spirits, had at least the 
 excuse of youth and inexperience. He went into 
 parliament, as many young men even in our days go 
 into parliament, without any acquired political know- 
 ledge, and without any decided views except to make a 
 speech and to become distingiiished. As he confessed, 
 he knew nothing of the state of Europe when he so 
 strongly prosecuted those who had been made responsi- 
 ble for the Partition Treaties, so when he committed to 
 prison those who had presumed to present a petition 
 to the House of Commons, he knew nothing of the 
 British constitution. 
 
 Between him and the coimtry squires and the country 
 clergymen with whom he acted, however cordial the 
 alliance might be, there was a wide difference. Many 
 of the Tory gentlemen really cared nothing about what 
 
 Tracts, ii. 242, The History of the Kentish Petition. In the same volume, 
 p. 276, there is, on the other side of the question, a piece, supposed to he 
 written by Harley, called The Vindication of the Eight of the Commons. 
 
1701—1704.]. CHAEACTEE OF ST. JOHN'S TOEYISM. 
 
 63 
 
 they did against the principles which the Revolution 
 had established, and the men who had risen to eminence 
 in asserting them, because in their hearts they totally 
 disapproved of those principles, and while attacking the 
 Whig statesmen, really beHeved that they were attack- 
 ing the Whig king. They at least had definite opinions, 
 strong prejudices, and positive convictions. They were 
 ready either to drink, fight, or die for the Church of 
 England. James II.'s conduct, if it had not extin- 
 guished, had certainly confused their notions of loyalty ; 
 but this political comphcation had only intensified their 
 zeal for the religious establishment. But what St. John 
 wanted in attachment to the Church he could not supply 
 by devotion to the monarchy ; for, in fact, though he 
 called himself a Tory, and professed to hate the Whigs, 
 when he came to reason on political affairs, his senti- 
 ments were entirely Whiggish. Neither Milton, nor 
 Locke, nor Addison, could have written more strongly 
 against the doctrines of Divine right and passive 
 obedience than Bolingbroke did whenever he glanced 
 over history and examined the principles of English 
 parties.* Even Oliver St. John himself could not have 
 spoken more disrespectfully of the pecuHar religion and 
 political tenets which were so highly favoured by 
 Charles I. St. John might abandon the politics of the 
 Puritans and of his family, but do what he would he 
 never could become a Cavalier. Faith was altogether 
 wanting ; and what he wanted in faith he strove to 
 make up by blind and intemperate party zeal. 
 
 In this endeavour, for the time, he most effectually 
 succeeded. His animal spirits were high ; his imagina- 
 tion was active ; impulsive by nature, he troubled him- 
 self very little with reflections on the future. It was 
 
 * See the Letters on History and the Dissertation on Parties, passim. 
 
64 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 enougli to be victorious in the present. He had 
 abandoned himself without a scruple or hesitation to 
 the sweeping stream of licentious passion ; and with 
 the same thoughtlessness he was led into the heady 
 current of party politics, careless wheresoever it might 
 carry him, if he was at length to be borne upon it to 
 power. 
 
 Few men have begun their political career with 
 more natural advantages. His appearance was emi- 
 nently in his favour. Tall and graceful in his person, 
 his features were elevated, handsome, and refined ; with 
 an aquiline nose, a keen piercing eye, rich brown hair 
 clustering round his brow; a smile singularly sweet 
 and winning ; a voice clear and harmonious ; a com- 
 manding presence and a pleasing address : he seemed 
 the model of a young Enghsh patrician, dissolute it 
 might be, but full of intelligence and spirit. 
 
 These physical advantages were aided by correspond- 
 ing intellectual endowments. Nature appeared to have 
 set her heart on making St. John a finished orator ; 
 and on hearing him it might be asked in what ora- 
 torical qualification he could be pronounced deficient l- 
 His elocution was easy and natural ; his perception 
 was quick, his language ready ; the words flowed from 
 his lips as in a silver stream. Then the charm of his 
 diction was manifold. Picturesque and forcible, with- 
 out being in the slightest degree stilted, he never 
 indulged in metaphor merely for the sake of metaphor ; 
 his illustration rose naturally out of the subject, and 
 instead of merely making his hearers admire his 
 ingenuity, always helped forward his argument. 
 Though florid, he could scarcely be considered arti- 
 ficial ; when his diction assumed all the hues of the 
 rainbow, the politician and the man of business were 
 
1701—1704.] EFFECT OF ST. JOHN'S SPEECHES. 65 
 
 never altogetlier forgotten in the rhetorician. As a 
 declaimer, he never perhaps had an equal ; and strong 
 declamations being exactly suited to the heated temper 
 of his friends, he indulged this faculty to its utmost 
 extent. He was also a great master of sarcasm. None 
 knew better what to insinuate and what to express ; he 
 inflicted wounds which were more than skin deep ; and 
 being utterly destitute of self-control, on the excitement 
 of the moment, and amid the rapturous cheers of the 
 Tories, he sometimes said a great deal more than was 
 either necessary or wise. He made many personal 
 enemies whom he inspired with the most deadly 
 animosity : few orators were more feared, and none 
 was more hated. 
 
 The account of St. John's oratory has, of course, 
 come down only by tradition. Not a single speech 
 exists which can be said to be anything Hke a correct 
 report of what he delivered, or to exhibit any fair 
 specimen of his eloquence. That, however, he was a 
 great orator, the universal testimony of his contem- 
 poraries, of foes as well as friends, gives us no reason 
 to doubt. It was indeed to his oratory, and indeed to 
 his oratory alone, that he owed his early ascendancy 
 in the senate ; for he had none of Harley's management, 
 and no weight but what his brilHant qualities supplied. 
 Paradoxical, however, as it may seem, perhaps Boling- 
 broke's reputation as an orator is greater because his 
 speeches have perished, than if they had been reported 
 with all the skill and diligence which is now employed 
 in taking down every important word that is spoken in ' 
 Parliament. Sheridan rightly judged, that the fame of 
 his great Begum speech could not be increased by the 
 most elaborate report, and, therefore, refused, even for 
 a thousand guineas, to prepare a correct cojay of it for 
 
 P 
 
6,6 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 the press, Sheridan's eloquence was not of that 
 pure gold which will stand the severest test ; it 
 may be well for his fame that we have not the means of 
 judging whether the intrinsic excellence of that cele- 
 brated oration, deserved the encomium of the friends 
 who were present when it was delivered ^in the House 
 of Commons.* And Bolingbroke may have gained 
 something with posterity, even from the very absence 
 of the means of estimating the real excellence of his 
 oratory. The greatest judges have been most enthu- 
 siastic on the subject ; Lord Brougham, in the Edin- 
 burgh Review, and his Sketches of Statesmen, putting 
 him on a niche with the few renowned speakers of all 
 time ; and Mr. Pitt, when talking of which of the lost 
 great intellectual treasures he would wish to see re- 
 covered, placed before the most renowned compositions 
 of antiquity a speech of Bolingbroke. 
 
 It is great presumption on my part to doubt on an 
 oratorical question the correctness of the ideas enter- 
 tained by such high authorities, I must confess, how- 
 ever, with all due deference to Mr. Pitt, that a speech 
 of Bolingbroke would seem to me but a poor exchange 
 for those lost decades of Livy to which they have been 
 preferred ; and that there are many other lost produc- 
 tions, which I should be inclined to regret more highly 
 than St, John's unreported orations in the reign of 
 William and Anne. Had the manuscripts of Boling- 
 broke's philosophical works been given to the flames, 
 there would have been great expressions of regret from 
 the intellectual world ; and yet, although they were 
 
 * It may be observed that Sberidau delivered two great speeches on the 
 Begum charge, which are not unfrequently confounded. The oration which 
 created so much admiration was delivered in the House of Commons in 1787 • 
 the other was delivered in Westminster Hall, and may now be read accurately 
 reported. 
 
1707—1704.] SHOWS THE TOEIES GAME. 67 
 
 looked for witli so mucli impatience, had they never 
 been published at all, his reputation either as a writer 
 or a philosopher would have lost nothing. 
 
 Perhaps if his oratory could be revived, its fate might 
 not be so very dissimilar. Were the brilliant words 
 which St. John was uttering during those years the 
 words of wisdom ? would they bear critical investiga- 
 tion ? was he proclaiming truths which, though his own 
 age might neglect, future generations would recognize 
 and applaud ? By no artifices of diction could the 
 conduct of the majority be justified in the impeachment 
 of Somers, or the imprisonment of those who brought 
 forward the Kentish petition ; and yet these and similar 
 proceedings, during much of the time he sat in Parlia- 
 ment, the speeches of St. John, if they could be reco- 
 vered, would be found frequently defending. 
 
 He has himself informed the world, in a celebrated 
 simile, what the office of a great orator was in the 
 House of Commons, and by this illustration we may 
 in some measure estimate the value of his spoken 
 eloquence. " You know the nature of that assembly," 
 he wrote to a friend : " they grow like hounds, fond of 
 the man who shows them game." * This, then, by his 
 own showing, was the manner in which St. John ac- 
 quired his ascendancy over the majority in the House 
 of Commons ; and this was the office which he sat 
 himself to fill. He was a kind of huntsman encourag- 
 ing a pack of hoimds. He had to show them game. 
 He had by his halloo to incite the Tories, to chase and 
 worry Whigs and Dissenters, the directors of the Bank 
 of England, and all who presumed to question the in- 
 fallibility of the High Church party, and the supremacy 
 of the country squires. This simile, though it has been 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 selected for special panegyric, may be a just representa- 
 tion of the business of a leading politician in the time of 
 Queen Anne 5 but it certainly does not at all give a 
 just idea of the functions of a great statesman in the 
 happier days of Queen Victoria. It is not the busi- 
 ness of a minister of state in our time to encourage his 
 supporters to worry his enemies. He has other duties 
 to perform than that of showing his partizans game. 
 From the moment that he attains power, his object 
 is to conciliate and to convince ; to provoke as little 
 opposition as he can ; and as far as possible to. approach 
 that neutral frontier which separates him from the more 
 moderate of his opponents. A vote of his followers may 
 open to him the doors of office, but from the moment 
 that he crosses the threshhold he is obliged to recognise 
 that, as the responsible servant of his sovereign, he is 
 the minister of the whole nation. The time of St. John 
 was a time of heat and violence ; and the rule was to 
 give no quarter to an adversary. St. John's object in 
 an especial degree was to divide rather than to unite, 
 to dwell on what the parties differed rather than on 
 what they agreed, and to blow into a fierce flame all 
 the burning embers of poUtical controversy. But the 
 oratory, however brilHant, which is apphed to such a 
 purpose, will gain by being spoken about rather than 
 by being calmly read after the fires of contention have 
 burnt themselves out, and their effects can be calmly 
 contemplated under the peaceful influences of a more 
 settled and tranquil time. It is not such oratory that 
 the wise would prefer to the lost books of Livy, or any 
 other great work, which records facts and contains 
 pictures of real human life and actions, that with its 
 pages must be irretrievably lost for ever. 
 
 Neither, though his speeches have not been pre 
 
1701—1704.] ST. JOHN'S OEATORY. 69 
 
 served, are we altogether without the means of judg- 
 ing, even from his own works, what St. John's oratory 
 really was. His published writings on the political 
 controversies of his time still remain ; and they will 
 assist us to form a very correct, and even a favour- 
 able estimate of what we have lost. For, more than 
 almost those of any other man who ever wrote, 
 St. John's literary works resemble spoken eloquence. 
 They are clearly the compositions of an orator, who, 
 being prevented from addressing an audience by word 
 of mouthy uses the pen as his instrument, and writes 
 what he would have spoken. To make this resem- 
 blance, or rather identity, more complete, we know that 
 Bolingbroke was decidedly averse to the mechanical 
 employment of writing ; that he could not bear to sit 
 down, with the paper before him and the pen in his 
 hand, to develop his ideas ; that it was his custom 
 to employ an amanuensis, and to dictate many of 
 his literary productions. This habit was evidently 
 formed in the House of Commons ; and having learnt 
 to make speeches before he was obliged to confine 
 himself to writing essays, the author was merely a 
 transcrijjt of the orator. His comj^ositions, when exa- 
 mined, fully confirm this idea. Their style is, both 
 in its excellencies and defects, thoroughly oratorical ; 
 glowing, animated, vehement, and if never bombas- 
 tic, frequently declamatory, tautological, and diffuse. 
 Graceful and flowing as Bolingbroke in the best of 
 his writings is, he not unfrequently tires the reader 
 with repetitions and amplifications, to which, when set 
 off by his fine person and pleasing intonations, an 
 audience might always Hsten with interest and delight. 
 Any one who will sit down and give himself up to the 
 spirit of the Letter to Sir William Windham, a,nd the 
 
70 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 Dissertation on Parties, can scarcely fail to form a 
 vivid idea of what St. John's oratory was in the House 
 of Commons. When he wrote, he was addressing an 
 imaginary audience, exciting imaginary cheers, and 
 frequently defying and assailing a hated rival who 
 was not at all imaginary: but whether in youth or 
 age, while St. John was speaking in the House of 
 Commons, or, as Yiscount Bolingbroke, composing the 
 letters to the Craftsman, still the same unconquered and 
 unconquerable foe. 
 
 A few months before St. John took his. seat for 
 Wootton Bassett, his Eton schoolfellow, Robert Wal- 
 pole, had also entered the House of Commons. Young 
 Robert, like St. John, could boast of being a descendant 
 from an old county family, for the Walpoles had been 
 for centuries well known in Norfolk. Robert's grand- 
 father had been member for Lyme Regis, and his father 
 had sat for Castle Rising as St. John's father had sat 
 for Wootton Bassett. The third son of nineteen chil- 
 dren, Robert was, hke St. John, but lately married; 
 and having lost his father, he had first succeeded to 
 the family estates, and to the family borough of Castle 
 Rising, which his father had represented for many 
 years. Robert, with his usual prudence, had deter- 
 mined not to open his lips in the House imtil he had 
 thoroughly grown accustomed to all its ways. But 
 the rapid and brilliant success, as an orator, of St. John, 
 who, as some years younger than himself, he had been 
 inclined to look down upon at Eton, stimulated Walpole's 
 ambition. Political differences had also their share in 
 calling forth this rivalry. While St. John was win- 
 ning the applause and admiration of the Tories, Wal- 
 pole was sitting silent and unregarded among the 
 Whigs. To the Whig party, however disastrous as 
 
1701-1704.] WALPOLE'S FIEST SPEECH. 71 
 
 might apparently be their fortunes at the moment, 
 Robert was determined steadily to adhere. He at- 
 tempted to address the House; but his manner was 
 ungraceful, he paused for want of words, and could 
 only stutter and stammer. St. John might well tri- 
 umph : young Mr. Walpole, of Norfolk, at the onset, 
 was considered to have made a failure. Another first 
 speech was made on the same evening with great suc- 
 cess and loud applause, and poor "Walpole's attempt 
 only appeared the worse by contrast. But the accom- 
 plished Arthur Mainwaring thought differently : — 
 " You may," he said, " applaud the one and ridicule the 
 other as much as you please ; but the spruce gentle- 
 man who made the set speech will never Improve, 
 while Mr. Walpole will, in time, become an excellent 
 speaker."* 
 
 Mainwaring's opinion was not, however, shared by 
 the majority. What future promise was there in that 
 sturdy, bull-necked, red-faced young member for Castle 
 Rising, who looked like the son of a small farmer, and 
 seemed by his gait as though he had been brought up 
 to follow the plough ? Who thought much of Honest 
 Robin, as he became in those days to be famiharly 
 called by his friends, and who blushed when he was 
 spoken to by the great chief of his party, and with his 
 uncouth manners seemed all smiles, rusticity, health, 
 and good-nature ?| Who could for a moment con- 
 sider him a political rival to the brilliant, fanciful, and 
 eloquent Mr. Henry St. John ? In the first heyday 
 of youthful success, and even for long afterwards, 
 St. John laughed at the idea of his old schoolfellow 
 from Norfolk ever becoming his competitor. In the 
 
 * See Coxe, Walpole, i. 14. 
 
 t See the Poems of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 
 
72 THE YOUNG MEMBEB. [Chap. HI. 
 
 almost incredible event of a race for power between 
 tbem, it seemed that the unpolished member for Castle 
 Rising would be nowhere. 
 
 It was the happiness of Walpole to belong to a 
 party that, amid the stormy conflicts of those days, 
 and all the uncertainties of the future, had fixed prin- 
 ciples and decided views. Hence himself and his 
 friends were never placed in a false position. What- 
 ever occurred amid the political exigencies of that 
 time, they always saw their way clearly; when the 
 moment of action came, they never found themselves 
 pausing, perplexed, hesitating, and unresolved. Their 
 watchwords were, the Act of Settlement and the Pro- 
 testant Succession, which in their most excited moments 
 acted as charms to animate themselves, and to dismay 
 their enemies. Far different was it with St. John and 
 the Tories. They had to invent new devices ; to 
 travel in untrodden ways ; and at every sudden event, 
 however long it might have been expected, they were 
 brought abruptly to a stand. 
 
 During the autumn of 1701, James II. died. Moved 
 by compassion at the death of the exiled king, whom 
 he had visited in his dying hour, and at the urgent 
 inportunities of Madame de Maintenon, who had pro- 
 mised all her influence to the widowed Mary of Modena, 
 Louis XIV., in direct violation of the treaty of 
 Ryswick, acknowledged the eldest son of James as 
 Bang of England. It was the greatest mistake of the 
 French king's whole reign. The news set all England 
 on fire.- The Tories might declaim against foreign 
 wars, national debts, heavy taxes, and standing armies ; 
 but their clamour was for the moment drowned in the 
 cry of indignation which rose throughout the kingdom 
 against receiving a sovereign on the nomination of 
 
1701—1704.] THE ACCESSION OF QUEEN ANNE. 73 
 
 France. Patriotic addressess were generally sent up to 
 the tlirone. William saw that Louis had afforded him 
 the opportunity he wanted. He was on the Continent ; 
 he rushed to England ; he dissolved the parliament ; 
 the elections were in general favourable to his policy, 
 and opposed to that which the Tories had advocated. 
 In the new parliament, which met on the 30th of 
 December, their majority was perceptibly diminished. 
 
 Still it could not be said, except in the obstacles 
 being removed from the war of the Spanish succes- 
 sion, that the Whigs had gained any party triumph. 
 St. John, evidently with the approbation of his family, 
 was again elected for Wootton Bassett. Though all the 
 influence of the court was employed to procure the 
 appointment of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Harley was 
 again chosen Speaker. William, in his speech from 
 the throne, expressed his confidence that the mem- 
 bers of the new parhament had met together full of 
 the sense of the common danger,' and of resentment 
 at the proceedings of the king of France, which had 
 been so loudly expressed in the loyal and seasonable 
 addresses sent up from every part of England. 
 The Tories had no choice but to bend before the 
 storm. The addresses in reply to the royal speech 
 passed unanimously. A Bill was brought in, attainting 
 the Pretender of high treason ; a measure which, how- 
 ever, in some respects objectionable, had, in the eyes 
 of the Whigs, the merit of putting on the statute-book 
 a declaration of irreconcilable hostility to the House 
 of Stuart. All the Jacobites, and most of the Tories, 
 disliked the bill ; but to resist it was impossible. A 
 still more determined measure was that of imposing 
 the oath of abjuration, and acknowledging William 
 both as the rightful and lawful king. The scruples of 
 
74 THE YOUNG MEMBEE. [Chap. IE; 
 
 Nottingham and the refining Tories had hitherto heen 
 respected ; but, by a majority of a single vote, it was 
 now carried that the oath should be imposed on all, 
 and it was declared high treason for any one to attempt 
 to hinder the next heir, according to the Act of Settle- 
 ment, from sTjcceeding to the crown. 
 
 From his conduct on one of the close divisions, on 
 a clause of this bill, St. John, even so early as 1710, 
 and repeatedly during his later Life, was accused of 
 really voting against the Protestant succession, and 
 of thus early showing decided Jacobite inclinations. 
 He retorted on his accusers, and attempted to prove 
 that the clause against which he was represented as 
 voting, had not the meaning ascribed to it, and only 
 provided, that in the event of any person who had 
 forfeited an office taking the oath during the time 
 appointed, his successor should not, on this account, 
 lose his place. But Bolingbroke's enemies were not 
 silenced. Technically they admitted that the clause 
 bore his interpretation ; but they replied that the 
 real objection of the Tories applied to the second 
 clause, making it high treason to attempt to deprive 
 the successor to the crown of his inheritance ; and 
 that though, according to parliamentary rule, the 
 divisions were taken on the clause which stood first 
 in order, it was only after St. John and his friends 
 had been defeated on the previous question they 
 gave up the attempt to divide on the other.* 
 Although this controversy assumed great proportions 
 at one time of Bolingbroke's life, so that he thought it 
 worthy of a direct reply, it has for us little interest. 
 During the whole of his parliamentary career, it 
 
 * See the Answer to the London Journal in reference to this accusation and 
 Memoirs of Bolingbroke, 1754, p. So. 
 
1701—1704.] THK KENTISH PETITION. 75 
 
 cannot be justly said of St. John, that he showed any- 
 decided devotion either to the House of Hanover or 
 the House of Stuart. Some persons would, perhaps, 
 find his character rise in their estimation, if it could 
 be shown that he was at any time in his heart a 
 Jacobite. His greatest reproach as a public-spirited 
 statesman is, that neither for the one cause nor the 
 other does he appear to have had the slightest pre- 
 ference ; but that on every occasion he regulated his 
 attachment to both, by momentary considerations of 
 what he thought to be his personal and party interests. 
 To recompense themselves in some measure for 
 their defeats on those great national questions, St. 
 John and his friends continued their vengeance against 
 Thomas Colepepper, the undertaker, as he was called, of 
 the Kentish Petition. The controversy of the last session 
 was renewed, and the persecution of an unimportant 
 individual exhibited the same painful features. But 
 the great state machine, under the impulse which it 
 had received from the popular indignation at the 
 acknowledgment of the Pretender as King of England, 
 and under the resolute hand of William, although he 
 knew himself to be dying, was moving nobly amid 
 all the party altercations, petty persecutions, and 
 political intrigues of the hour. The Grrand Alhance, 
 the special work of the king, had been formed during 
 the preceding year ; as the early spring returned, the 
 forces were being organized on the Continent ; and 
 Marlborough, at last in favour with William, was sent 
 over to the Netherlands to prepare for the approach- 
 ing campaign. This great general, now in his 
 proper element, saw that his hour was come, and with 
 the noble instinct of genius, he felt assured of triumph. 
 In the presence of St. John, who afterwards recorded 
 
76 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 the circumstance, Marlborough, before Betting out for 
 the Continent, said to the friends of whom he was 
 taking leave, that the French would greatly miscal- 
 culate if they made the same comparison between their 
 troops and those of their enemies, as they had done in 
 former wars^ England and their allies had become 
 disciplined even by their defeats. Their forces, though 
 nominally disbanded, had been speedily called together 
 again ; they had to begin the contest with an army of 
 veterans ; and Marlborough declared himself confident 
 that England had the materials of victory in her hands.* 
 The truth of his prophecy he was himself abundantly 
 to ! demonstrate in many a bloody field, wherever his 
 eagle eye and serene countenance were seen directing 
 the storm of war. 
 
 But while the new scene was opening, the king, to 
 whom battles had long been life, was sinking into 
 the arm of death. The work of the statesman William 
 had done in forming the Grrand Alhance ; another hand 
 was to do more successfully than the heroic Dutchman 
 ever could have accomplished it, the work of the 
 soldier. He gasped his last at Kensington, and Anne 
 became Queen of England. 
 
 Marlborough was made captain-general of all the 
 Queen's forces by land and sea. Godolphin, who 
 had recently resigned his commissionership of the 
 Treasury, because he disapproved of the approach- 
 ing struggle, yielded to the importunities of Marl- 
 borough, with whom he was now connected by family 
 ties, and became Lord High Treasurer. In the course 
 of the spring and summer, the foundation of the cele- 
 brated Grodolphin administration was laid, though 
 years were to elapse before it was firmly and efficiently 
 
 * See Boliugbioke's Sketch of the History and State of Europe from 1688. 
 
1701—1704.] MINISTERIAL CHANGES. 77 
 
 organized. At this time most of the changes were made 
 in favour of the Tories ; but the Whigs were not, owing 
 to the moderation of Marlborough and Godolphin, 
 violently driven from ofiSce. Prince Greorge was made 
 Lord High Admiral ; the Duke of Devonshire was con- 
 tinued Lord Steward ; the Earl of Jersey became Lord 
 Chamberlain ; the Earl of Bradford, Treasurer ; Pere- 
 grine Bertie, Vice-Chamberlain ; and Sir Edward 
 Seymour, Comptroller of the Household, and a Privy 
 Councillor. The most violent opponents of the court 
 during the late reign, Abingdon, "Weymouth, Dart- 
 mouth, Musgrave, Grrenville, Harcourt, Grower, and 
 Howe, were also chosen Privy Councillors ; while, 
 when the list appeared, the great names of Halifax 
 and Somers, with others who were known to be 
 devoted to the cause of the Revolution, were found 
 to be left out. The two Secretaries-of-State were 
 Sir Charles Hedges and the Earl of Nottingham, both 
 Tories, and Nottingham, indeed, was looked upon as a 
 kind of model Tory, in whom the country gentlemen 
 and the country clergymen had the most implicit con- 
 fidence. 
 
 St. John as yet received no offer of employment. 
 As he had been little more than a year in the House 
 of Commons, and was still very young, he could 
 scarcely expect at once to reap the rewards of official 
 life. But he had no reason to be dissatisfied with his 
 position. Few public men in so few months had done so 
 much ; few seemed to have a brighter career before them. 
 
 It had been provided that the parliament which 
 might be sitting on the death of the king should 
 continue to exist six months after the accession of 
 the next heir to the Crown. But Queen Anne and 
 her advisers thought fit to anticipate the period of 
 
78 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. III. 
 
 mortality. This parliament was prorogued on tte 
 25tli of May, and dissolved on the 2nd of July. 
 Again was St. John chosen member for "Wootton 
 Bassett ; and during the recess he had a still further 
 mark of the esteem in which he was held by the 
 Tories, who, indeed, at that time regarded him pre- 
 eminently as the rising man. As the Queen went from 
 Windsor to Bath, she stopped at Oxford, and received 
 from the University the most unbounded expressions 
 of devotion and loyalty. The Tories being once more in 
 the ascendant, the Tory dons gladly conferred their 
 academical honours on the Tory chiefs. St. John 
 received the degree of Doctor, with other eminent 
 members of his party, including Mr. Bromley and Sir 
 Simon Harcourt. 
 
 The new parliament met for business on the 20th of 
 October.* Harley was, for the third time, chosen 
 Speaker, and the Tories appeared stronger than ever. 
 They were as triumphant as usual in the House of 
 Commons on any disputed election; and in the 
 address in answer to the speech from the throne, with 
 a majority of a hundred they indirectly reflected on 
 the preceding reign by complimenting the Queen as 
 having, through the auspices of her favourite general, 
 " retrieved " the honour of the English arms. But 
 when her Majesty proposed, in a royal message, to 
 reward the general with a dukedom, and a pension of 
 5,000/. a year for life out of the Post Office, the 
 Commons showed themselves far from so eager to 
 prematurely reward Marlborough, as invidiously to 
 asperse the reign and memory of William. 
 
 * As a matter of convenience, where it is not otherwise indicated, I 
 generally follow the old style in giving dates, as it was during Bolinghroke's 
 public life the style of England. 
 
1701—1704.] OCCASIONAL CONFORMITy. 79 
 
 But the great struggle of the Tories, with St. John 
 at their head, was, this session, for a measure which, 
 under the title of the Occasional Conformity Bill, was 
 to be reintroduced in many subsequent years, maintain- 
 ing fierce controversies with the House of Lords, and 
 inflaming the animosities of the High Churchmen 
 against the Dissenters from one end of the kingdom 
 to the other. The Dissenters, by once taking the 
 Sacrament, had been allowed to qualify themselves for 
 temporal oflSces. But such indulgence was obnoxious 
 to the zealous Tories, and to the party which was now 
 in unquestioned supremacy both in the government 
 and the House of Commons. Shortly after the meet- 
 ing of parliament, the Bill against Occasional Con- 
 formity was brought in. It was powerfully supported 
 in all its stages by St. John, whose bold and dashing 
 oratory was received with enthusiastic cheers by the 
 intolerant High Churchmen. The resistance of the 
 Whigs was in vain. Walpole could only stammer out a 
 few ungraceful sentences in favour of toleration. The 
 Bill, supported by the ministers and the majority of 
 the Commons, was, on the 2nd of December, sent up to 
 the House of Lords. There all the strength of the 
 court was put forth to carry the measure, in which the 
 Queen, whose ruling political principle was a kind of 
 blind and feeble devotion to what she called the 
 Church party, fully concurred. Prince Greorge, though 
 he had taken the Sacrament as Lord High Admiral, 
 and was himself an occasional Conformist, voted 
 for the Bill ; and on dividing against the Whig peers 
 said, apologetically, to Lord Wharton, " My heart is 
 vid you." Marlborough and Godolphin, still pro- 
 fessed Tories, and sons of the Church, little dreaming 
 how soon they would require other allies, also sup- 
 
80 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Ohap. III. 
 
 ported the measure. But the majority of the peers 
 were still steady to the principles of the Revolution 
 and of King William. The Bill, much to the indigna- 
 tion of the Tories, was thrown out. At a free con- 
 ference on the subject between the Lords and the 
 other House^ which was held in the Painted Chamber 
 on the 16th of January, 1703, young St. John was one 
 of the managers for the Commons, and, among veteran 
 statesmen and lawyers of great eminence, his abilities 
 made themselves conspicuous.* The Lords, however, 
 being unconvinced by reasoning, however spirited and 
 eloquent in the cause of intolerance, the Bill was lost. 
 
 To revenge themselves for this repulse, Mr. St. John, 
 and those who were associated with him in the con- 
 ference, and who with himself were called the 
 greatest sticklers for the High Church party, not 
 satisfied with putting De Foe into the pillory for a 
 pamphlet against their cause,f hit upon another 
 device. According to the maxims of that age, it 
 was not thought sufficient to drive a statesman from 
 office : his poUtical opponents were not satisfied unless 
 they could punish him as a criminal. HaKfax, the 
 great Whig financier, the champion of the monied 
 interest, the founder of the Bank of England, had long 
 been most obnoxious to the Tories. They had voted 
 his impeachment : they had all but declared him guilty 
 of peculation. They now appointed seven commis- 
 sioners to examine the public accounts for the avowed 
 purpose of finding materials for criminal accusation 
 against Halifax. These commissioners, of whom St. 
 
 * Cunningham, book 5, p. 317 ; Journal of the House of Commons, 
 16th January, 1703. 
 
 t See a small pamphlet, called the Life and History of Henry St. John 
 Viscoxmt Bohngbroke. It was published in 1754 ; but the author asserts that 
 it was written before the Memoirs, which made their appearance in 1752. 
 
1701—1704.] ST. JOHN A COMMISSIONER OP ACCOUNTS. 81 
 
 John was one, published a strong Report, called A 
 Narrative in Relation to the Earl of Ranelagh, a 
 veteran official, who had been paymaster of the army 
 in the reign of James II., and had been kept in his 
 office throughout the reign of William. Acting on the 
 Report, to which St. John's name is signed the second 
 of the commissioners, though really there was not much 
 to find fault with in the conduct of the old earl during 
 his long tenure of office, the Commons voted that he 
 had misapplied several sums of public money. But 
 HaHfax was the real object of attack. On the eighteenth 
 of January, St. John, in the name of the commissioners, 
 read to the House a general statement of the receipts 
 and expenditure of the revenue from the Michaelmas of 
 1700 to the year 1702, with observations designed to 
 inflame the majority against their enemy.* Halifax 
 was voted guilty of a breach of trust and of gross 
 mismanagement. An address was presented to the 
 Queen, requesting her to order the Attorney-Greneral 
 to prosecute him for misconduct in office ; but the 
 Lords again came to his rescue, and absolved the 
 accused Baron. 
 
 This led to the most serious differences between the 
 two Houses. St. John and the Tories affected to resent 
 the conduct of the Lords in respect to one of their own 
 body, as an interference with the financial privileges of 
 the Commons. They moved a strong representation to 
 the Queen. Again they brought forward that subject 
 which had in the last year of the former reign been 
 so fertile in altercations, and continued so during all 
 the reign of Anne, the resumption of King William's 
 grants of land. They introduced a Bill disqualifying 
 placemen from sitting in parliament. In the debate on 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 127. 
 
82 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. IH. 
 
 these measures the two young members, Walpole and 
 St. John, came forward in fierce personal antagonism ; 
 and though the member for Castle Rising was still rude 
 and unpolished in his address, he, somehow or other, to 
 St. John's surprise and disdain, appeared to be acquiring 
 the ear of the House, and was loudly applauded by the 
 Whigs. The Lords still more enraged the factious 
 majority in the other House by throwing out the Dis- 
 qualification Bill. Between the two branches of the 
 Legislature the animosity had at length risen to such a 
 height, that every friend of the constitution became 
 alarmed. The Queen at length, on the 27th of Feb- 
 ruary, put an end to the disputes by putting an end 
 to the session. 
 
 Parliament met again on the 9th November. The 
 Occasional Conformity Bill was again brought in, and 
 powerfully supported in aU its stages by St. John. It 
 was again carried triumphantly through the House of 
 Commons ; but the Whig Lords, with Bishop Burnet 
 and Lord Halifax at their head, were still resolute in 
 upholding the principles of toleration and of their 
 party. The Bill was again lost in the Upper House. 
 
 St. John was a principal actor in other business, 
 which stUl more set the Commons at variance with the 
 Lords. This was called the Scottish Plot, which origi- 
 nated in the unsettled and alarming state of Scotland ; 
 Jacobites and Cameronians uniting together through 
 national prejudices to bring about a counter-revolution 
 in the Northern kingdom. The Lords, anxious for the 
 Revolution, chose to examine the accused persons them- 
 selves; but the Tory minority, some of whom were 
 influenced by the Jacobite inclinations, and others by 
 violent hostility to the majority of Whig peers, fiercely 
 resented this exercise of authority. Mr. St. John 
 
1701—1704.] DISPUTES WITH THE LOEDS. 83 
 
 was one of the members appointed to search the 
 Lords' Journals on the subject. On the 20th of De- 
 cember he read the results of the investigation to the 
 House, and laid the Paper on the table. Strong 
 resolutions were passed against the Lords, and a com- 
 mittee, whose leading member was St. John, was 
 appointed to draw up an address to her Majesty in 
 accordance with the declarations of the Commons. He 
 read the Eeport on the 23rd ; it was laid upon the table, 
 and agreed to by the House.* But the Lords passed 
 counter-resolutions, and voted a counter address decla- 
 ratory of their right to examine persons and order 
 them into custody ; and they affirmed, not without 
 much reason, that the address of the Commons was 
 unparliamentary. The paper war between the two 
 estates was vigorously waged. But whoever reads 
 attentively the documents which emanated from the 
 Lords on the question in dispute, will be struck by the 
 immense superiority in strength of argument, modera- 
 tion of tone, and knowledge of the constitution, over 
 those which came from the angry Commons. And no 
 wonder. The papers in which the peers asserted their 
 privileges were drawn up by Somers : and though Mr. 
 St. John could give something of vivacity and fluency 
 of style to the compositions of the Commons, it was 
 not on questions of this kind that himself and all his 
 friends united could fairly be considered a match for 
 the great constitutional lawyer and statesman. The 
 addresses of the Lords were published, and produced a 
 great effect on the pubHc mind, while the papers of the 
 Commons were read with indifference.! 
 
 Another constitutional question of great import- 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 179. 
 
 t See Burnet's Memoii-s of his Own Times, v. 116. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE YOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. IH. 
 
 ance was immediately afterwards agitated between 
 the two Houses. In the contention, too, St. John 
 took a leading part on the side of the majority of the 
 Commons : though, unfortunately, as in the case of the 
 Kentish petition, it was also the side which the highest 
 authorities have pronounced to be totally wrong. 
 This dispute, known in our constitutional history as the 
 case of Ashby and White, gave rise to long debates, 
 and has been widely celebrated. The manner in 
 which disputed elections were determined had become 
 the scandal of the legislature. Even the returning 
 officers, influenced by the prevailing spirit, began to 
 show a similar indifference to law and justice, and 
 sought to prevent electors who were obnoxious to 
 their party from recording their votes. Ashby, an 
 elector of Aylesbury, sued the returning officer for 
 this conduct ; but three of the judges, in opposition to 
 Holt, the great oracle of the Revolution, decided that 
 a right of action did not lie. A writ of error was 
 brought into the House of Lords, and the judgment 
 was reversed. The majority of the Commons were 
 thrown into a fever of indignation. It was assumed, 
 as an axiom of the constitution, by St. John and his 
 friends, that, because the Commons were the judges 
 of all disputed returns, they also had alone the right 
 to determine who could or could not vote at elections. 
 According to the spirit in which these electioneering 
 disputes were then decided, this doctrine, strictly car- 
 ried out, really put the right to vote of every elector 
 in the kingdom at the will of the prevaihng majority, 
 whose avowed principle it was in such matters to give 
 no quarter to their political adversaries. Had the 
 elector then no protection in the exercise of his privi- 
 leges? Holt declared that the right of voting at 
 
1701—1704.] THE CASE OF ASHBY AND WHITE. 85 
 
 elections was original, according as it was held from 
 a freeliold or burgage tenure in a county, or from 
 cliarter or prescription in a borough : and that this 
 right might be duly taken cognizance of by courts 
 of law. 
 
 So thought the Lords : but in opposition to the 
 majority of the Commons. The first reported speech 
 of St. John was made on the 26th of January, 1704, 
 on the resolution that according to the known law 
 and usage of parliament, neither the qualification of 
 any elector, nor the right of any person elected, is 
 cognizable or determinable elsewhere than before the 
 Commons of England in parliament assembled. He 
 spoke in reply to the Whig Marquis of Hartington, 
 who argued that, if such a maxim had formerly been 
 allowed, it would not have been necessary to take 
 away charters, or have anything to do with quo 
 warranfos. Could not the Court by its eflScient in- 
 fluence have filled the House with what members 
 it pleased? 'and could they not have declared 
 themselves duly elected ? St. John thought diifer- 
 ently. He declared that he would be as tender as 
 any man alive of the liberties of the people ; and that 
 he voted for the resolution because he considered it 
 the greatest security for their liberties. • " I cannot 
 think," said he, " that the hberties of the people are 
 safer in any hands than our own, or that the influence 
 of the crown will be stronger here than in the courts 
 below."* 
 
 In the same debate Walpole spoke with more effect 
 than he had ever previously done against the doctrine 
 enunciated by St. John, and in defence of the legal 
 rights of the electors. But the resistance of the 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 301. 
 
86 THE TOUNG MEMBER. [Chap. HI. 
 
 Whigs was in vain, and tte two Houses of Parlia- 
 ment were more than ever brought into unseemly 
 collision. The Commons had their resolutions pla- 
 carded on the gate at Westminster ; the Lords sent 
 theirs to all the sheriffs of the kingdom, to be made 
 known to th.e electors whose rights they asserted. 
 The people took the side of the peers, and the repre- 
 sentatives of the people found their actions disavowed 
 by their constituents.* Their rage was increased. On 
 the 3rd of April the queen, regretting that her advice 
 for moderation and union had not been taken, was 
 obliged precipitately to prorogue the parliament. But 
 a great change, in which the political fortunes of St. 
 John were deeply interested, • had just been decided 
 upon by the all-powerful Marlborough, and the phant 
 treasurer, Godolphin. 
 
 * See the Legion's Humble Address to the Lords. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 1704—1708. 
 THE SECEBTARY-AT-WAE. 
 
 While the party battles were being fought with so 
 much acrimony in parliament, Marlborough was 
 achieving triumph after triumph on the Continent. 
 But the war had never been embraced with enthu- 
 siasm by the Tories. The Grand Alliance had been 
 framed by William ; the victories of Marlborough 
 had given it stability ; but the war was essentially 
 a Whig war. As the struggle proceeded, the great 
 general found himself more enthusiastically supported 
 by his political enemies than by many of the Tory 
 leaders and their followers, with whom he had long 
 been closely connected. Every day Godolphin, and 
 those of his colleagues who were devoted to Marl- 
 borough and his policy, found themselves drawing 
 closer to the Whigs, and separating from the more 
 decided Tories. The last time the Occasional Con- 
 formity Bill had been brought in, though it was still 
 ostensibly supported by Godolphin and Marlborough, 
 they saw it introduced with regret, and rejoiced at 
 its defeat. The more they needed the Whigs, the 
 more they were compelled to adopt Whig principles. 
 
88 THE SECRBTAEY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 The Earl of Eochester had in disgust, some time 
 before, resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland ; but 
 just as the session ended in the April of 1704, the 
 opportunity presented itself for far more important 
 alterations in the Grodolphin ministry. 
 
 The Earl of Nottingham had long been considered 
 the most honest pohtician among the Tories. He 
 was a man of principle, conscientiously a Tory without 
 being a Jacobite. Many of his contemporaries laughed 
 at scruples which at least expressed Nottingham's con- 
 viction. He wore a rusty brown coat with small 
 sleeves and long pockets ; he was tall and gaunt, 
 without grace or proportions ; and his swarthy face 
 always looked so serious, even to sadness, that he was 
 nicknamed Dismal. In gravity and deportment he 
 had the appearance of a solemn, but somewhat im- 
 gainly Spanish nobleman, and was afterwards, in the 
 History of John Bull, called Don Diego.* 
 
 As Grodolphin and Marlborough gradually ap- 
 proached to an alhance with the Whigs, the Earl of 
 Nottingham, whom they had appointed Secretary-of- 
 State at the Queen's accession, grew extremely discon- 
 tented. At length, under the instigation of his Tory 
 friends, he went to her Majesty to endeavour to per- 
 suade her to dismiss the Dukes of Devonshire and 
 Somerset from her councils, as a proof that the supre- 
 macy of the Tories had been re-established in the 
 cabinet. But the Queen's powerful advisers had exactly 
 opposite intentions, and Nottingham's importunities 
 were unavailing. The Earl then placed his seals of 
 office in his sovereign's hands. Anne advised him to 
 reconsider his determination. But he found that, so far 
 
 * See Swift's Journal to Stella, Dec. 5, 1711, and passim; Post Boy, Dec. 6, 
 1711 ; The History of John Bull, chaps, xiii. and xiv. 
 
1704—1708.] WHO APPOINTED ST. ,rOHN? 89 
 
 from his remonstrances producing the effect he had 
 intended, that the Tory Earl of Jersey, the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, and the Tory, Sir Edward Seymour, Comp- 
 troller of the Household, had both been called upon to 
 resign their staves of office. Nottingham relinquished the 
 seals, which were subsequently given, on the 20th of 
 April, to Harley, and his friend St. John was made 
 Secretary-a1>War. He, indeed, united two appoint- 
 ments in his person. It was officially announced that 
 Mr. St. John had become Secretary-at-War and of the 
 Marines.* 
 
 The appointment of Harley as Secretary of State 
 was sufficient evidence of his skill, if not in statesman- 
 ship, at least in state-craft. Always voting with the 
 Tories, he had still retained so much of his former 
 political associations as to be on good terms with the 
 Dissenters, and not to have become positively ob- 
 noxious to the Whigs; and though neither Marl- 
 borough nor Godolphin regarded him with any es- 
 pecial favour, his nomination to office was considered 
 a proof of their tact and moderation. St. John had 
 however gone all length with the Tories ; and had 
 already incurred the hatred of the Whigs. How was it 
 then that in this season of compromise he was made 
 Secretary at War? Did he owe the appointment to 
 Hurley's determination not to accept office without his 
 friend ? Or was it owing independently of Harley to 
 the abihties which St. John had displayed in the House 
 of Commons? Or did he owe his elevation to the 
 personal friendship and favour of Marlborough alone ? 
 
 It is certain that between St. John and Harley, from 
 the first, there had been an intimate political alliance. 
 
 * See Memoirs of Bolingbroke, 1752, p. 102. 
 
90 THE SECRETARY-AT-WAR. [Chap. IV. 
 
 No stronger testimony can be given to the closeness of 
 the union of statesmen than the fact of their entering 
 office together and retiring together ; of being joined 
 in the same friendships, and of incurring the same 
 hatreds. All this can be said with truth of the connec- 
 tion between those two statesmen who were, unknown 
 to their colleagues, aspiring so high. Neither did Boling- 
 broke, though ready enough to disavow his obligations 
 to his former friend, ever deny that Harley did assist 
 him to climb to power. But then it must be also ad- 
 mitted, that in seeking to promote St. John, Harley 
 was doing what he thought best for his own interests ; 
 and that the position which the younger statesman 
 had already acquired in the House of Commons fully 
 justified his promotion. 
 
 Tet after all there can be little doubt that it was 
 mainly to Marlborough St. John owed his appointment 
 as Secretary-at-War. Those who are acquainted with 
 the intimate personal relations which existed in a time 
 of war between the Commander-in-Chief and the Secre- 
 tary of that department, and who know how great was 
 the influence of the Duke in the Godolphin administra- 
 tion, cannot fail to be convinced, that no person who 
 was at all objectionable to Marlborough, and indeed no 
 person whom he did not in an especial degree favour, 
 would be chosen to fulfil the duties of that particular 
 post. It was an office of the highest responsibility. 
 On the efficiency with which the business was per- 
 formed depended in no small degree the success of a 
 campaign. The Secretary-air War had to be in con- 
 stant correspondence with the general abroad, and was 
 his official organ of communication on military details 
 with her Majesty, with whom it was necessary for this 
 
1704—1708.] ST. JOHN'S DUTIES AS SEOEETAEY-AT-WAR. 91 
 
 purpose to have very frequent interviews. He had at 
 that time even more delicate duties to discharge. He 
 had to conciliate and manage Marlborough's haughty 
 and flighty duchess, who domineered over the ministers 
 and interfered in all the details of the administration.* 
 St. John was represented at the time of his appointment 
 as a particular favourite of Marlborough. This general 
 impression was doubtless correct. Nor did he ever 
 deny that such was the fact. On the contrary, in 
 all his pubHshed writings after his fall from power, 
 Bolingbroke expressed himself in regard to Marl- 
 borough with a tenderness and delicacy which showed 
 a consciousness of the deepest obligation ; and I shall 
 presently show, that, while he was even Secretary-at- 
 War, he expressed himself in the most explicit manner 
 as bound to the great general by every honourable tie. 
 He was looked upon as a creature of the Duke ; and a 
 creature of the Duke, he for a time appears to have 
 considered himself. Marlborough, on the other hand 
 was ready to answer for St. John's fidelity to his em- 
 ployers in the manner of a patron who was conscious 
 that his influence had obtained the young man his first 
 appointment to oflSce. " I am glad," the duke wrote 
 to Godolphin " that you are well pleased with Mr. St. 
 John's diligence, and I am very confident he will never 
 deceive you." f 
 
 There has also been preserved a letter of Marl- 
 borough to St. John from Maastricht at this period. It 
 is an answer to the notification that the new Secretary- 
 at-War had entered upon the duties of his oflSce, and, 
 as the beginning of their official correspondence, may 
 here deserve quotation : 
 
 • See Coxe's Walpole, i. 23, edit. 1798, and the Walpole Correspondence, 
 t Letter to Godolphin, July 13, 1704. 
 
92 THE SECEBTARY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 " To Mr. St. John. 
 
 " Maestricht, May 11, 1704. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I have received the favour of your letter, and 
 by the last post had one from Mr. Blathwayt, by which 
 I find you, were entered upon the execution of your 
 office, so that I may hope to hear frequently from you. 
 " We have been very much disappointed by the 
 retardment of the last convoy, for, besides recruits, 
 it was to have brought over several necessaries for the 
 troops, who have been obliged to march without them, 
 and it will be a difficult matter now for anything to 
 join us. On Wednesday next they pass the Mouse at 
 Euremond, on their march to the Moselle, and I may 
 venture to tell you (though I would not have it pubhc 
 as yet), I design to march a great deal higher into 
 Germany. 
 
 " I came hither yesterday, in the afternoon, and 
 shall stay four or five days more with the army, and 
 then join our troops in the country of Juliers ; but, 
 wherever I am, you may be assured I shall be always 
 ready to give you fresh assurances of my being, 
 " With great truth and sincerity, 
 " Sir, 
 " Your most faithful humble servant, 
 
 " M." 
 
 The intention which Marlborough in this letter 
 avows of marching " a great deal higher into Ger- 
 many," he soon carried into effect. The consequence 
 was the battle of Blenheim, fought in Bavaria on the 
 13th of August, which raised the general's glory to the 
 highest point, and set all England wild with joy and 
 pride. Englishmen had good reason for reioicing and 
 
1704—1708.] MAELBOROUGH AND THE TORIES. 93 
 
 thanksgiving. It would be a poor philosophy which 
 would ignore the ■ fact, that, after a period of apparent 
 degeneracy, this great victory, in rivalling in modem 
 times the glories of Cressy and Agincourt, stimulated 
 the patriotic spirit of the people, and in stimulating 
 their patriotic spirit added both politically and com- 
 mercially to the power of. the nation. Even the trade 
 of England, with all due deference to the utilitarian 
 theories of political economists, never would, in the 
 early portion of the last century, have begun to put forth 
 such gigantic shoots, had it not been for the victories 
 of Marlborough. It was the good fortune of St. John 
 to have just been appointed to office before this great 
 continental battle was won ; and the triumphs of the 
 general appeared to be shared by the Secretary at 
 War. 
 
 When the queen opened parliament on the 29th of 
 October, she might well indeed express her joy and 
 the joy of her subjects at the great and remarkable 
 success with which Providence had blessed her arms 
 during the summer. But the Tories were by no means 
 so enthusiastic. They felt that the ministry and the 
 general were no longer their own. After his first 
 campaign they had not been satisfied without declaring 
 that Marlborough had retrieved the honour of the 
 English arms, in order to cast a slur upon King Wil- 
 liam and the Whigs ; but now they grudged to the 
 hero of Blenheim, since he was becoming connected 
 with the Whigs, acknowledgments which they had 
 previously lavished upon him when he was regarded 
 as the patron of the high church party; and in the 
 address in answer to the royal speech they coupled 
 congratulations on his great achievements with similar 
 expressions of approbation to Admiral Sir George 
 
94 THE SECRETARY- AT- WAR. [Chap. IV. 
 
 Eooke for a drawn battle with the French in the 
 Mediterranean.* 
 
 Yery different, however, was the feeling of St. John. 
 He wrote, himself, a most enthusiastic letter of con- 
 gratulation to the victorious general, from his country 
 seat of Bijcklersbury. John Phillips, whom he kept 
 supplied with tobacco and wine, thus concluded his 
 Blenheim, which was intended to be a Tory rival to 
 Addison's Whig poem on the same glorious subject : — 
 
 " Thus from the noisy crowd exempt, with ease 
 And plenty blest, amid the mazy groves, 
 Sweet solitude ! where warbling birds provoke 
 The silent muse, delicious rural seat 
 Of St. John, English Memmius, I presumed 
 To sing Britannic trophies, inexpert 
 Of war, with mean attempt ; while he, intent 
 (So Anna's will ordains) to expedite 
 His military charge, no leisure finds 
 To string his charming shell. But when returned. 
 Consummate Peace shall rear her cheerful head, 
 Then shall his Churchill, in sublimer muse, 
 For ever triumph ; latest times shall learn 
 From such a chief to fight, and bard to sing." 
 
 The verses are not striking, but they recall pleasant 
 thoughts to the mind. We see St. John's pleasant 
 country-house at Bucklersbury, with the rich foliage of 
 the trees becoming darker as autumn approached, his 
 horses standing idle in the stables, and his dogs vainly 
 listening for their master's approach, while the Secre- 
 tary-at-War was bending over his official desk in 
 smoky London, vainly longing for a holiday. Phil- 
 lips, however, was a worse prophet than poet. The 
 writings which St. John afterwards as Secretary at 
 War patronised about Marlborough were in a very 
 different style from these verses. Already the party 
 
 * See the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, p. 146. Pari Hist, 
 vi. 357. 
 t See John Phillips' Blenheim, &c. 
 
1704—1708.] ST. JOHN AND THE GODOLPHIN MINISTRY. 95 
 
 spirit was at work wkich was to pluck the feather from 
 the soaring eagle's wing. 
 
 Notwithstanding her Majesty's earnest exhortations 
 to union, the prejudices of the Tories were found to 
 be still as strong as ever. Again they introduced the 
 Bill against occasional conformity ; and they prepared 
 to take the most unconstitutional means to force it 
 through the House of Lords by tacking it to the Land- 
 Tax Bill. This disgraceful expedient was proposed by 
 Bromley at the second reading of the BiU on the 28th 
 of November ; the motion occasioned a long debate ; but 
 it was defeated by a majority of 117. The discussion 
 caused great excitement. A list of those who voted 
 for and against the tack was circulated throughout the 
 country ; and, as if to show that office was already 
 producing its usual sedative effects, among those who 
 voted against the proposal was found the new Secre- 
 tary at War, Mr. Henry St. John.* 
 
 Shortly afterwards the Bill settling the manor of 
 Woodstock on the Duke of Marlborough was brought 
 in. But St. John was not, as he has been represented, 
 the author of the measure, nor was he the principal in- 
 strument in passing it through the House of Commons. 
 It was introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 to whose department indeed it belonged. But it does 
 not appear to have provoked much opposition, or 
 required St. John's ready and graceful eloquence to 
 be called forth in its support.t 
 
 From this time his history for a period merges into 
 the general history of the Godolphin administration, 
 and his poHtical life loses something of its individual 
 character. He was unquestionably able, active, and 
 industrious, showing himself on every occasion ready 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 366. f Ibid., p. 375. 
 
96 THE SECRETART-AT-WAE. [Chap. W. 
 
 to put himself forward, and render efficient service to 
 his colleagues.* Office was to him a school of disci- 
 pline and a school of improvement; to master tho- 
 roughly the intricacies of finance and military details 
 relating to his department required application; and 
 St. John came forth from his secretaryship a thorough 
 man of business. 
 
 But in becoming a man of business he did not cease 
 to be a man of pleasure. His time was spent alter- 
 nately at the Secretary's desk and at the supper-table, 
 among those who were then called the bottle men, 
 gentlemen who did not consider they had been fairly 
 dealt with unless they had been allowed their four 
 bottles at a sitting. St. John was one of these bottle 
 men ; and even in office, just as much as when he 
 was a mere rake about town, was notorious for the 
 quantity of wine he could drink without becoming 
 intoxicated. Claret he could swallow in any quan- 
 tities ; but his favourite beverage was champagne, 
 which he not unfreqiiently spent the whole night in 
 drinking. Then he was also just as much a rake as 
 when he wrote verses to the orange-girl in the Court 
 of Requests; and his licentious gallantries were just 
 as indiscriminate. All was fish that came into his net : 
 a frail beauty of fashion, a servant-maid, a common 
 woman of the town. Office was no restraint on these 
 scandalous irregularities, which were the talk and jest 
 of the political world. St. John was, however, though 
 an eminent politician, still a very young man; and 
 even grave and pious persons might not unreasonably 
 hope that as he grew older ambition itself might 
 subdue those more glaring and vulgar vices which 
 
 * Burnet speaks of him as active in tlie semce of the administration : 
 see also Boli-ngbroke's Memoirs, 1754. 
 
1704:— 1708.] MORE DISSENSION. 97 
 
 sought their gratification in the tavern and in the 
 stews. 
 
 He could not be insensible to the fact that the field 
 of ambition was day by day widening gloriously before 
 him, and that there was within the reach of an English 
 statesman nothing to which he might not reasonably 
 aspire. 
 
 The session ended like so many former sessions. 
 Her Majesty's gracious advice to the two estates was 
 disregarded, and the Lords and Commons were just as 
 much at variance as ever. The case of the Aylesbury 
 men was more or less before Parliament nearly all the 
 time the Houses were sitting. On both sides there 
 were more resolutions, more committees of privilege, 
 more addresses to the Crown, and more conferences. 
 St. John did not take so prominent a part in this 
 controversy as he had done in the previous year ; but 
 the result was exactly the same. The majority in the 
 House of Commons boldly requested her Majesty to 
 interfere with the regular course of law by refusing to 
 grant writs of error. Another representation was 
 drawn up by Somers and his friends in the House of 
 Lords, still more admirable, as a constitutional docu- 
 ■ment, than that which had emanated from the same 
 source the year before ; and the Commons, as was gene- 
 rally acknowledged, were again signally defeated in the 
 encounter of precedent with precedent, and argument 
 with argument.* The violence of their representatives 
 disgusted the people more than ever. Happily the 
 people at length were about to have the remedy in 
 their own power, as the time was at hand when, accord- 
 ing to the provisions of the Triennial Bill, the existence 
 of the Parliament must expire. It was prorogued on 
 
 * This remarkable document will be found in the Pari. Hist, vi. 420. 
 
 H 
 
98 THE SBCRETAEY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV 
 
 the 14tli of March, 1705, and dissolved on the 5tli of 
 April. 
 
 The elections for tlie new Parliament, the second of 
 Queen Anne, were contested with the cry that the 
 Church, was in danger. Supported by the clergy, the 
 Jacobites^ and even the Roman Catholics, the Tories 
 exerted themselves most strenuously ; and the court, 
 doubtful which side would prevail, remained apparently 
 neutral between the contending factions. Neverthe- 
 less, it soon became clear that the position of parties 
 was altered ; and that the Whigs had such a majority as 
 they had not possessed for many years. Encouraged 
 by the result, Grodolphin and Marlborough showed still 
 more decidedly their preference by the dismissal of Sir 
 Nathan Wright, an old Tory lawyer and high Church- 
 man, who had for some years with manifest inca- 
 pacity held the Great Seal, and the appointment in his 
 place of William Cowper, the pride and ornament of 
 the Whigs, and their most accomplished orator in the 
 House of Commons.* 
 
 St. John perhaps scarcely approved of this change iu 
 the relations of parties. But he still sat for Wootton 
 Bassett, and during the year seemed fully satisfied with 
 his office, and anxious to conciliate the great chiefs of the* 
 Godolphin administration. He omitted no opportunity 
 of showing his devotion to Marlborough. The cam- 
 paign was not so successful as some sanguine persons 
 had anticipated. A battle of Blenheim could not be 
 won every year : but people, encouraged by success, 
 expected nothing but victories and triumphs on the 
 grandest scale. Marlborough's operations on the Mo- 
 selle and Saur were frustrated by the characteristic 
 dilatoriness of his G-erman allies. He was obliged to 
 
 * See the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, p. 159. 
 
1704—1708.] ST. JOHN AND MARLBOROUGH. 99 
 
 fall back on the Maese ; and afterwards, through the 
 conduct of the Dutch, could, during the summer, do 
 little more than raise the siege of Liege, in the most 
 masterly manner pass the French lines, and advance 
 victoriously to Tirlemont. 
 
 The Secretary at War dutifully sympathized w^ith 
 the annoyances of the great commander. St. John, 
 above all things, was anxious that no temporary mis- 
 carriages should precipitate an unsatisfactory peace, 
 which he thought would be ruin to England. Writing 
 to Marlborough this August, St. John observed : — 
 
 " It was very melancholy to find the malice of 
 Schlangenberg, the fears of Dopf, and the ignorance 
 of the deputies, to mention no more, prevail so to dis- 
 appoint your Grrace, to their prejudice as well as ours. 
 We hope the Dutch have agreed to what your Grace 
 desires of them, without which the war becomes a jest 
 to our enemies, and can end in nothing but an ill 
 peace, which is certain to ruin us."* 
 
 Marlborough was equally friendly. St. John had 
 been down to Woodstock, and informed his Grrace how 
 matters were going on there. The general answers 
 from the camp at Tirlemont in the middle of Septem- 
 ber : — ■ 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I am now only to thank you for the favour 
 of your letter of the 28th of last month, this quarter 
 at present being in so perfect a calm that it affords not 
 the least matter for your information. I am obliged to 
 you for what you intimate to me from Woodstock, and 
 should be glad of a more particular account of that affair, 
 if it be not disposed of before I get to England, where 
 
 * St. John to Marlborough, August 28, 1705. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THE SECRETABY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 I had never more reason to wish myself than now. 
 I shall flatter myself with'the hopes that the conduct 
 of our friends will prevent the ill impression our dis- 
 appointments here might giyie, at home, and that the 
 public service will be carriwi on without obstacle : 
 this is, I am. sure, the only means of repairing what is 
 past, and am therefore confident of your hearty concur- 
 rence in it. 
 
 " I am, truly. Sir, 
 
 " Yours, &c., 
 
 " M."* 
 
 This letter was written in anticipation of the meet- 
 ing of the new parliament. His Grace was naturally 
 anxious to know whether harmony would be restored 
 between the two branches of the legislature, and 
 whether the Grovernment could count on a decided 
 majority, in order that he might be vigorously sup- 
 ported in carrying on the war. 
 
 On the 25th of October, when the new parliament 
 met for business, there was a greater attendance of 
 members in the House of Commons than had ever 
 before been known. The Tories, conscious that they 
 had lost strength in the late elections, came up to a 
 man from the country to support their party in the 
 great contest for the Speakership. Walpole, who, not- 
 withstanding all obstacles, was gradually becoming re- 
 cognized as the Whig leader in the House of Commons, 
 himself seconded the nomination of John Smith, a 
 sound Whig and plain man of business ; St. John's 
 old ally, WilHam Bromley, member for the University 
 of Oxford, was put up by the Tories. On the division, 
 the Tories were defeated by a majority of forty-five, 
 
 * Marlborough to St. John, Sept. 14, 1705. 
 
1704—1708.] ST. JOHN AND THE ESTIMATES. 101 
 
 in a House where four liundred and fifty-three mem- 
 bers voted. The ascendancy of the Whigs, emulously 
 supporting the Grodolphin administration, was esta- 
 blished. 
 
 As the session began so it continued and ended, to the 
 great delight of all patriots and friends of the Pro- 
 testant succession. An insidious motion of the Tories 
 for bringing over the Princess Sophia, in order to put 
 their opponents on bad terms with the Queen, was 
 defeated. In both Houses resolutions were passed, and 
 addresses framed, declaring that the Church was in no 
 danger. The bills of supply for proceeding steadily 
 with the war were enthusiastically voted ; and St. John, 
 as the organ of the Government in conducting the 
 military estimates through the House of Commons, 
 showed a clearness of head for mastering and explain- 
 ing details which excited the admiration of all men. 
 The noble design of the union between England and 
 Scotland, which had been recommended in the last 
 speech of William to his parliament, and which had, to 
 frustrate the Scottish plots of France and the Pre- 
 tender, been taken up by the ministry, was vigorously 
 pressed forward ; and when the parliament was pro- 
 rogued on the 19th of March, 1706, it seemed that this 
 blessed and happy project would soon be satisfactorily 
 accomplished. There was joy everywhere that after 
 so many years of faction and animosity the country 
 at last had such a legislature. The city of London 
 took the lead, and it was followed by the nation and 
 our aUies throughout Europe, in affirming that this 
 was the best session and the best parliament England 
 had ever seen.* 
 
 With brighter auspices at home, the Duke of Marl- 
 
 * See Burnet's Memoirs of his Own Times, v. 238. 
 
102 THE SECEETAEY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 borougli could look more cheerfully at t£e prospect of the 
 campaign which began in May 1706. Renouncing his 
 intention of going personally to the assistance of Prince 
 Eugene in Italy, he appeared at the head of the allied 
 troops in Flanders. The French were superior in 
 numbers, and,, relying on this superiority, came out of 
 their lines, and encamped near Tirlemont. The con- 
 sequence was the famous battle of Ramillies, in which 
 the duke again displayed all the genius of a consum- 
 mate commander, and all the bravery of the common 
 soldier. He was thrown from his horse, and in danger 
 of being overpowered. A cannon ball struck off the 
 head of an officer who was assisting him to remount. 
 But still that serene courage never faltered. The 
 French were driven out of the village of Eamillies, at 
 the point of the bayonet, and completely routed ; the 
 King of France's own regiment surrendering their 
 colours and laying down their arms. 
 
 The soul of the Secretary-at-War was all on fire at 
 the news. He sent immediately his congratulation 
 to the general. Faction was to be put down in 
 England, France was to be put down on the Continent : 
 such was the song of triumph St. John hastend to sing. 
 " This vast addition of renown which," he wrote to 
 Marlborough, "your grace has acquired, and the 
 wonderful preservation of your life, are subjects upon 
 which 1 can never express a thousandth part of what I 
 feel. France and faction are the only enemies England 
 has to fear, and your grace will conquer both ; at least 
 while you beat the French you - give a strength to 
 government which the other dares not contend with." * 
 
 St. John in this busy season worked zealously in his 
 ofBce. While Marlborough was beating the Elector of 
 
 * St. John to Marlborough, May 28, 1706. 
 
1704—1708.] AN OPPICIAL LETTER. 103 
 
 Bavaria and the Marquis de Yilleroy in Flanders, 
 Prince Eugene was also, during the summer, victorious 
 over the Duke of Orleans in Italy, and in Spain Lord 
 Peterborough and Sir John Leake gallantly relieved 
 Barcelona. With the war raging on all sides, the 
 secretary had enough to do. St. John was equal to his 
 various duties. In July he was busy on the details of 
 an expedition under Lord Rivers ; and there is extant, 
 in manuscript, a letter which, as a specimen of the 
 ofScial style of the Secretary-at-War, may deserve 
 quotation. 
 
 " Sir, " WhitehaU, July 6, 1706. 
 
 " j\Iy Lord Rivers having settled the list of 
 such officers who, having been taken off from the 
 French pension in Ireland, in order to serve in the 
 present expedition, are incapable or do not wilfully 
 decline going upon service ; and the same having been 
 laid before the queen, her Majesty does think fit that 
 they should be restored to their pensions in Ireland, and 
 to that end I transmit the said list to you that you may 
 acquaint his grace the Duke of Ormond with her 
 Majesty's pleasiire therein. 
 
 "I am, Sir, 
 
 " Yr most obedient 
 
 " Humble servant, 
 
 '^H. St. John.* 
 
 " Mr. Southwell." 
 
 The signature is in St. John's large, bold, and 
 characteristic hand. On the other side of the letter 
 there is a list appended of the officers to be restored, all 
 having unmistakable French names, and some of which 
 have become famous, and others infamous, in French 
 
 * Additional MSS., 12,099. 
 
104 THE SECBETARY-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 history : " Cabrol, Moncal, Laforteles, Yaury, Labei- 
 sade, Yigneul, Bordaneive, G-arrison, Girard, Bignoux, 
 Labaume, Laval, Coulon, Dubomet, Lamote Cercler, 
 Bonabel, Dagos, Lafitte." 
 
 But while the Secretary at "War was busy at bis 
 desk, wbile victory seemed everywhere to attend the 
 allies, while England and Scotland were being happily 
 united into one kingdom, while the court, parliament, 
 and the people appeared on the best of terms, and 
 everything was so prosperous both at home and abroad, 
 the seeds of other discords, misfortunes and hatreds, 
 were gradually being sown. It is not easy to fix the 
 exact time of this germination ; but the crop rapidly 
 sprung up, and the harvest bade fair to be abundant. 
 
 The Whigs were wild with joy. Every success of 
 the general abroad they felt a triumph for themselves 
 at home. The war was their war ; the pohcy was their 
 policy ; they felt that the spirit of King WilHam still 
 gave life to the grand alliance. They became more 
 and^ more impatient of the presence of any of their 
 political opponents in the ministry, and supported by 
 the Duchess of Marlborough insisted on their right to 
 exclusive administration. Their pertinacity was in- 
 creased by a suspicion that some sinister influence was 
 at work ; and that while their power seemed outwardly 
 so strongly estabhshed in the government and parlia- 
 ment, they were being secretly imdermined at court. 
 
 They had very good reason indeed for this suspicion, 
 which soon became a certainty. The biographer of 
 St. John may be excused from entering into a full 
 detail of the intrigues of which Harley was then the 
 mover, and Abigail Hill, whom he made Mrs. Masham, 
 the instrument ; and of the influence which was thus 
 set to work to counteract all the politic schemes of 
 
1704—1708.] MRS. MASHAM. 105 
 
 GodolpHn, and all the victories of Marlborough. But 
 with respect" to this Mrs. Masham, flattery itself 
 cannot produce a portrait that is even tolerable, 
 much less favourable. This demure Abigail, coming 
 stealthily out of the queen's closet, with her red nose 
 and downcast eyes,* and cautiously supplanting her 
 relative and patroness, who, whatever may have been 
 her conduct to others, had acted most generously and 
 kindly to her, is about the poorest and most con- 
 temptible character that was ever made the heroine of 
 a great party, to confound all the calculations of great 
 warriors and astute statesmen. The most convincing 
 proof of the necessity of a constitutional government, 
 acting through a strictly responsible ministry to a 
 parliament whose representatives in the House of Com- 
 mons should be strictly responsible to the intelligent 
 and educated portion of the people, is to point to this 
 Mrs. Masham, whispering in the ear of the dull, 
 portly, passive Queen the suggestions of Harley, who 
 is waiting for his confederate on the backstairs. 
 
 Some persons, whilst admitting that Harley's conduct 
 was inexcusable, have doubted whether St. John had 
 anything to do with the miserable intrigue from which 
 he afterwards so greatly profited. That he had nothing 
 to do with it at the beginning, may easily be believed ; 
 but that he was soon acquainted with Harley's pro- 
 ceedings, fully approved of them, and was anxious to 
 co-operate in them, cannot admit of a reasonable doubt. 
 Indeed it appears, from a letter to Marlborough, that so 
 early as the October of this year, 1706, Grodolphin 
 and the Duchess had already begun to suspect St. John 
 as well as his friend and colleague, Harley.f 
 
 * Swift's Journal to Stella. 
 
 t Godolphin to Marlborough, Oct. 18, 1706. 
 
106 THE SECEETAET-AT-WAE. [Chap. IV. 
 
 St. John, however, still professed himself under the 
 deepest obhgations to Marlborough. Nor is there 
 much reason to suspect his sincerity : perhaps he hoped 
 the duke would not entirely give up the Tories, and 
 allow their leaders who were yet in office to be all driven 
 out. "With her own hand, the duchess afterwards wrote 
 on a letter of St. John, that the Duke of Marlborough 
 had never acted so kindly to any one as to him ; and 
 that Godolphin said in his presence, he never 
 reproached himself so much with anything while he 
 was in office under Queen Anne, as in granting 
 unreasonable sums of money to St. John, at the request 
 of Marlborough. The insinuation was, that the Secre- 
 tary-at-War, notwithstanding his private fortune and 
 his official income, was always needy, and was always 
 soliciting the Treasury for money, which he obtained 
 through Marlborough's recommendation.* 
 
 It is certain that language could not contain stronger 
 terms of gratitude than those with which' St. John 
 expressed his obligations to Marlborough. One of 
 these may be quoted, in order to set the question, as to 
 whether he did or did not owe anything to the duke, 
 at rest for ever. " There are some restless spirits 
 who," wrote the Secretary-at-War, to Marlborough on 
 the Continent, " are foolishly imagined to be the heads 
 of a party, who make much noise and have no real 
 strength, that expect the queen, crowned with success 
 abroad, and governing without blemish at home, 
 should court them at the expense of her own authority, 
 and support her administration by the same shifts that 
 a vile and profligate one can only be kept with. We 
 have had some instances of late how they would use 
 their power ; and your grace cannot but know that in 
 
 * Private CoiTespondence of the Duchess of Marlborough, ii. 292. 
 
1704-1708.] MARLBOROUGH'S FAVOURITES. 107 
 
 the distribution of employment, they have insisted on the 
 scum of their own party. I am too well acquainted 
 with your grace's goodness to suspect you will not 
 pardon me saying so much, since I have no interest in 
 view but the queen's service, and my gratitude and duty 
 to you who have tied me, to be for ever, 
 "My Lord, 
 
 " Your grace's most devoted, 
 
 " Faithful, humble friend, 
 " H. St. John."* 
 
 The tenor of this letter is not to be mistaken. The 
 general impression then of St. John's contemporaries 
 was correct. To Marlborough the Secretary-at-War 
 principally owed his early eminence in the state ; and 
 the newspapers, pamphleteers and Jacobite corre- 
 spondents, were right when they spoke of St. John as 
 the duke's favourite.f 
 
 It would be wrong, however, to suppose that when 
 he penned this letter, the Secretary-at-War was already 
 contemplating to repay the duke's kindness by perfidy. 
 Harley, it is true, was writing fawning letters to Marl- 
 borough, while he was deeply engaged in an intrigue 
 to undermine the general's influence in the closet ; but 
 St. John, and even perhaps Harley himself, had yet 
 reason to hope that the duke would not abandon him- 
 self fully to a close alliance with the "Whigs. 
 
 The political situation as the autumn of 1706 drew 
 to a close, may be very briefly defined. Doubting the 
 fidehty both of Godolphin and Marlborough, the 
 Whigs were bent on carrying their point in having the 
 restless and vehement Earl of Sunderland Secretary of 
 
 • St. Jolm to Marlborough, ISTov. M, 1706. 
 
 t See Anecdotes and Letters in the Stuart Papers, particularly Maopherson, 
 ii. 532. 
 
108 THE SECEETAET-AT-WAH. [Ghap. IV. 
 
 State, in the place of the Tory, Sir Charles Hedges. The 
 Duchess of Marlborough, both for family and political 
 reasons, earnestly co-operated with them in order to 
 attain this object. The Earl of Sunderland was her 
 son-in-law ; she felt that her influence over the queen 
 ■was gradually declining ; Mrs, Morley and Mrs. 
 Freeman now saw each other but seldom ; Mrs. Free- 
 man kept haughtily away, and her letters to her royal 
 mistress were full of reproaches. With temper and 
 management, she might yet have preserved, at least in 
 appearance, and for all worldly objects, much of her 
 ascendancy over Anne's feeble mind. But the duchess 
 would be Mrs. Freeman still ; and the freedom of her 
 epistolary style was anything but agreeable. The more 
 she found that she could not at once prevail to have. 
 Sunderland appointed to the secretaryship, the more 
 her haughtiness and impetuosity increased. Godolphin 
 and Marlborough would gladly have temporised. They 
 did not love Sunderland ; they did not love the Whigs ; 
 but Sunderland and the duchess would hear of no delay, 
 and the Whigs, unaware of the difficulties which Godol- 
 phin and Marlborough had to contend against at court, 
 insisted on the appointment as a pledge of their 
 sincerity. The struggle was long. The backstair 
 interviews were frequent ; the royal puppet moved as 
 Harley, through the hands of Mrs. Maslaam, pulled the 
 strings ; the duchess stormed and threatened ; Godol- 
 phin sent off letter after letter full of fears and forebod- 
 ings to Marlborough. The Lord Treasurer still alludes 
 to Harley and St. John, especially, as the duke's parti- 
 cular friends, though he shows himself fully sensible of 
 their intrigues with the Tory members. 
 
 " Lady Marlborough," wrote Godolphin, " told me 
 this morning, and promised to write to you, that Mr. 
 
1704—1708.] HAELEY'S INTRIGUES. 109 
 
 Harley, Mr. St. John, and one or two more of your 
 particular friends, were underhand endeavouring to 
 bring all the difficulties they could think of upon the 
 public business in the next session, and spoke of it to 
 me, as taking it for granted it was what I could not 
 
 have heard of before I have had a long letter 
 
 this very day, full of professions of being guided in 
 these measures as in all others, by you and me : but at 
 the same time I doubt so much smoke could not come 
 without some fire." * Marlborough, in reply, showed 
 how much he considered St. John really to be acting 
 under the instructions of his friend Harley. " By 
 gaining Harley," said the duke, " you will govern the 
 others without taking any pains with them." 
 
 But Harley was not so easily to be gained. Neither 
 the duke nor Godolphin were yet aware of all the 
 danger with which they were both threatened. Prom 
 the time that Harley had entered office as Secretary of 
 State, he had professed to act as Grodolphin's humble 
 servant ; he had scarcely pretended to have a will of his 
 own : even up to the time his letters were full of pro- 
 fessions of devotion and gratitude, perhaps all the more 
 deceptive, because they were very solemn, sometimes 
 confused, and frequently couched in scriptural phraseo- 
 logy. But now confident of the influence he had esta- 
 blished over the royal mind, through Mrs. Masham, he 
 gradually began to stand on a separate and independent 
 interest. He became scrupulous ; he raised objections. 
 Sensible, perhaps, that if one Tory Secretary of State 
 were dismissed, he, whom the Whigs at last regarded 
 as their enemy, would soon follow the other out of 
 office, he spared no pains to inculcate on the Queen's 
 
 * Godolphin to Marlborough, Oct. ^, 1706. 
 
110 THE SBCRETAET-AT-WAR. [Chap. IV. 
 
 mind all the prejudices against dictators and dictator- 
 ships and jealousies of any interference with the royal 
 authority, which her Majesty, after they had been sug- 
 gested to her, was not slow to entertain. 
 
 The contest was prolonged until Marlborough, in 
 November, arrived in England from the wars. His 
 influence, however, prevailed. In December, the Whigs 
 accomplished their party object, and Sunderland received 
 the seals as Secretary of State. Other promotions fol- 
 lowed. Though Harley succeeded in making his friend. 
 Sir Simon Harcourt, Attorney-Greneral, it was clear that 
 the Whigs were now steadily advancing to supremacy 
 in the government. The breach between the two sec- 
 tions of the ministry became wider than ever ; and 
 Harley and St. John were evidently preparing for the 
 worst. 
 
 To all outward appearances nothing conld seem more 
 prosperous than the nation at the beginning of the year 
 1707. The English arms were triumphant on the Con- 
 tinent. Great victories, such as the imagination could 
 hardly have dared to picture, had been won by the 
 English general. He was everywhere followed 
 by the applause and admiration of his countrymen. 
 The standards taken from our enemies were conveyed 
 in triumph from Westminster Hall to St. Paul's. There 
 were illuminations ; there were thanksgivings. Ad- 
 dresses from both Houses of Parliament testified to the 
 national obligations. More honours, more emoluments, 
 were showered upon the illustrious soldier's head ; and 
 it was expressly provided that the dukedom of Marl- 
 borough, the manor of Woodstock, and the house of 
 Blenheim, should go down to posterity together. But 
 as Marlborough himself already felt some symptoms of 
 
1704—1708.] THE UNION WITH SCOTLAND. HI 
 
 premature old age, as his hair was becoming grey, 
 and his memory failing,* so was his power, and the 
 power of the Godolphin administration, being secretly 
 undermined : intrigue was at work in the closet, 
 faction in the senate, and the materials were being 
 prepared for setting all England in a flame. 
 
 In the parliament during this session everything 
 seemed quiet. The work of the union was at last 
 accomplished. Whatever may have been their secret 
 discontents, and whatever may have been their covert 
 machinations, Harley and St. John co-operated zealously 
 with their colleagues in carrying the business through 
 the legislature ; and the bill of ratification, which 
 was so artfully framed as to prevent its opponents 
 from debating it clause by clause, was drawn up 
 by their friend and political ally, the new Attorney- 
 General, Sir Simon Harcourt. On the 6th of March 
 the queen gave her assent to this great measure ; 
 and it was to take effect on the first of the follow- 
 ing May. Unfortunately, before that day arrived 
 Harley introduced into a bill, intended to provide 
 against the evasion of the import duties in Scotland, a 
 clause which the Whig peers and the Scots regarded as 
 a breach of the Union before it had been actually con- 
 summated. The two Houses were again on the point 
 of collision. But the dexterous intriguer still per- 
 severed with his resolution ; and showed, perhaps a 
 little imprudently, his influence over the queen. Her 
 
 * In the correspondence between Marlborough and his duchess during tliis 
 autumn, there is the following significant passage : — " If it were not for my 
 duty to the Queen and friendship to the Lord Treasurer, I should beg that 
 somebody else might execute my ofBoe ; not that I take anything ill, but that 
 the weight is too great for me, and I find a decay in my memory. Whatever 
 may be told you of my looks, the greatest part of my hair is grey ; but I think 
 I am not quite so lean as I was." 
 
112 THE SECBETAEY-AT-WAR. [Chap. IV. 
 
 Majesty, to the surprise of all London, adjourned the 
 parliament for a few days ; but when the two Houses 
 again met, the Commons again sent up to the Lords the 
 same bill, and the harmony of months was in danger of 
 being completely destroyed. The dispute was, how- 
 ever, terminated by the close of the session.* 
 
 Before this difference arose Marlborough had again 
 returned to the Continent to open the campaign of the 
 year. Letter after letter followed him from the minis- 
 ters with their different accounts of the dissension. 
 St. John did not venture openly to defend his friend ; 
 but he gave a narrative of the facts strongly in 
 Harley's favour. Grodolphin showed some reserve, 
 imputing the dispute only to private animosities. 
 But the fierce and acrimonious Sunderland, burning 
 with party zeal, stated the full truth, and, while in- 
 veighing most bitterly against Harley, whom the 
 Whigs called the Trickster, really showed a sagacious 
 sense of that to which the eyes of his colleagues were 
 not yet fully opened. " I believe," Sunderland wrote 
 to Marlborough, " you will be surprised at this short 
 prorogation. It is entirely occasioned by him who 
 
 is the author of all the tricks played here I 
 
 wish those for whom he had acted were ever incapable 
 of thinking him in the wrong, for I fear it may be 
 some time or other too late."t 
 
 There was another question on which Harley ven- 
 tured to show a decided disagreement with his col- 
 leagues, and on which St. John must be supposed 
 to have taken his friend's side. The parliament was 
 to be revived by proclamation ; and, without any 
 general dissolution, the next session was to be called 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 579-81. 
 
 t Sunderland to Marlborough, June 1707. 
 
iro4-1708.] HARLET'S DUPLICITY. 113 
 
 the first of tlie first parliament of Great Britain. 
 Harley, whose mental vision was none of the clearest, 
 and who was, in many respects, a thorough formalist, 
 did not know what to make of such a method of pro- 
 ceeding. His perplexities were of course increased 
 by his political rivalry and court intrigues ; and he 
 doubtless involved the mind of the Queen in the same 
 maze of confusion in which his own was thrown. How, 
 he asked, could an old parliament be a new one ? How 
 could the last session of one parliament be called the first 
 session of another ? All this, as it has been quaintly 
 and sympathisingly observed, " surpassed Mr. Harley's 
 understanding." * Marlborough was again appealed 
 to, and Marlborough alone had influence enough to over- 
 come the dead-weight of resistance which Harley, who 
 was growing more daily obnoxious to his Whig col- 
 leagues, made to the course they proposed to take. 
 
 But the more his influence over the Queen became 
 apparent, the more Harley renewed his protestations of 
 devotion to Grodolphin and Marlborough, They found 
 that her Majesty had promised vacant bishoprics to 
 High Churchmen and Tories, and that even great 
 resistance was made to their disposal of the Regius 
 ProfessoEship at Oxford. But still Harley fawned, and 
 protested. He wrote to Marlborough in the April of 
 1707, " Your grace is born to do those great things 
 for your country which no man else ever did or can 
 do ; and therefore to your greater share of glory there 
 falls out a greater share of fatigue." f Still later, when 
 his intrigues were notorious, he did not desist from 
 the most solemn professions of gratitude and attach- 
 ment to Marlborough that any man could possibly 
 
 * Menioirs of Bolingbroke, edit. 1752, 105. 
 t Harley to Marlborough, April ^, 1707. 
 
114 THE SEORETABT-AT-WAB. [Chap. IV. 
 
 make to another. Such conduct speaks for itself. If 
 perfidy and falsehood be dishonourable in statesmen, it 
 is impossible to acquit Harley of the most dishonourable 
 breach of faith and the most dishonourable lying.* 
 
 Assuredly few men had seen more of treachery and 
 baseness than Marlborough ; no man had had a larger 
 experience of the world. He was however for a time 
 fairly deceived by the consummate duplicity of Harley, 
 who, whatever may have been his deficiencies as a 
 statesman, certainly proved himself a thorough pro- 
 ficient in underhand intrigue. He who could beat 
 Marlborough at such a trial of skill must have been no 
 ordinary master of the craft. So, however, it was. Even 
 so late as the summer of 1707, when the letters of 
 Grodolphin and the duchess became at last full of their 
 suspicions and fears of the influence at work in the 
 royal closet, Marlborough thought that a few words 
 of strong remonstrance to Harley in her Majesty's 
 presence would be enough to put everything right. 
 He was equally deceived in his estimate of the cunning 
 Abigail, who had, through Harley 's manoeuvring, been 
 privately married to the page Masham in the presence 
 of the queen. It is strange to find this great statesman 
 and warrior, whose life had been spent in the most cor- 
 rupt atmosphere of corrupt courts, and whose artful 
 machinations had long been the dread of ministers and 
 sovereigns, so completely deceived by this bedchamber 
 woman. " I should think," he wrote to the duchess in 
 June, "you might speak to her with some caution, 
 which might do good ; for she is certainly grateful and 
 will mind what you say." f 
 
 * See, in particular, Harley's Letter to Marlborough, of Sept. 16-27, in the 
 Hardwicke State Papers ; and Somerville's Queen Anne, p. 268, «o<e. 
 t Marlborough to the Duchess, June 2, 1707. 
 
1704—1708.] ST. JOHN'S POUNDAGE. 115 
 
 As the Slimmer of 1707 advanced, the duke at length 
 grew sensible of the danger impending over the Go- 
 dolphin ministry. But even while he became conscious 
 of Harley's perfidy he still spoke well of St, John, and 
 was ready to intercede with the Lord Treasurer Go- 
 dolphin to grant St. John more money. Perhaps he 
 thought that, by acting so bountifully to him, the 
 Secretary-at-Tyar was likely to give up his friend 
 Harley, and remain attached to the fortunes of the 
 Godolphin administration. In confirmation of the 
 Duchess's statement about St. John's pecuniary obliga- 
 tions to Marlborough, there is a letter of the duke's from 
 the camp at Meldert, requesting Godolphin, on the 
 11th of July, to increaset he poundage of the Secretary- 
 at-War, and the expression shows that the request was 
 made by Marlborough not for the first time. " You 
 have so much business," he observed to Godolphin, 
 " that I am afraid you have forgotten to settle with 
 Mr. Bridges the allowance out of the poundage, which 
 I desired for Mr. St. John. 1 beg the favour of your 
 doing it." 
 
 The Secretary-at-War spent an anxious and busy 
 summer ; both St. John in his office and Marlborough 
 in the field had enough to do. The campaign was 
 nearly everywhere during this year unsuccessful to 
 England and the allies. The first and greatest mis- 
 fortune, which to the nation that had been so lately 
 rejoicing at such victories as Blenheim and Bamillies 
 came like a thunder-stroke, was the loss in Spain of 
 the battle of Almanza; the unparalleled successes of 
 the adventurous Peterborough were thrown away by 
 his martinet successor the Earl of Gal way, and the cause 
 of the Austrian King Charles, for whom we were nomi- 
 nally fighting, appeared utterly hopeless. Some letters 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THE SECRETAET-AT-WAB. [Chap. IV. 
 
 from the unfortunate general to St, John and his col- 
 leagues will be found in the manuscript department of 
 the British Museum ; and though to us those long 
 details about horse and foot, and all the necessities of 
 the Spanish army, may have little interest, they 
 show how much application was required to master 
 them in the Secretary-at-War.* 
 
 The defeat at Almanza, as well as other calamities, 
 were, in a great measure, attributable to the selfish- 
 ness and stupidity of the imperial court at Vienna. 
 When Bolingbroke in his later years sought to justify 
 the policy of the peace of Utrecht,f he declaimed with 
 much energy and truth against the ingratitude, blind- 
 ness, and harshness of the Emperor and his ministers. 
 In all ages Austria has been Austria still. At this 
 time, as in our day, the discontents of the Hungarians, 
 were menacing : but neither knew how to conciliate 
 nor subdue, and acted with wanton tyranny and arro- 
 gance. Although England and Holland were fighting 
 to put an Austrian prince on the Spanish throne, 
 the imperial advisers persisted in regarding the war 
 in Spain as a mere diversion, and had all their, 
 men in Italy. They capitulated without the know- 
 ledge of the allies for the evacuation of the Milanese, 
 and released a great body of veteran troops, that were 
 immediately sent by France to reinforce her army in 
 Spain, and thus outnumbered the allies, and greatly 
 contributed to their defeat. Then, while England and 
 Holland had determined to attack Toulon, Austria 
 resolved to conquer Naples, and again the combined 
 forces were weakened, and the siege of Toulon was 
 raised, not without disgrace, 
 
 Marlborough, though he could not be defeated, was 
 
 * Egerton MSS., 891. t Letters ou History. 
 
1704—1708.] THE WHIGS AND MARLBOROUGH. 117 
 
 equally frustrated in his plans by tlie Dutch deputies, 
 who, frightened by the battle of Almanza, prevented him 
 from attempting anything of importance. The French, 
 too, led by Vendome, adopted a cautious and dilatory 
 policy, and would not hazard a battle, but retreated 
 from camp to camp until they were within the shelter 
 of their great fortresses, and the campaign came to an 
 end. As if all this were not enough, a few weeks 
 before the session began a great disaster happened at 
 sea. A convoy to Lisbon was defeated and scattered 
 by two French squadrons from Dunkirk and Brest 
 joining unexpectedly together, and attacking the Eng- 
 lish ships off the Lizard. A loud cry from the com- 
 mercial world, with the discontents of the Whigs at 
 Anne's evident inclination to the Tories by her appoint- 
 ments to the bishoprics of Exeter and Chester, and the 
 assurances which were now almost openly given by 
 Harley and St. John to the Tory members that the 
 Queen was with them, and that all they had to do was 
 to bide their time, all united to throw gloom and 
 uncertainty over that session of Parliament which met 
 on the 23rd of October, 1707, and which, though the 
 reason could never be made clear to Mr. Harley's 
 understanding, was called the First Session of the First 
 Parliament of Grreat Britain."* 
 
 The Whigs were determined to drive matters to 
 extremity. In the House of Lords there was a com- 
 mittee on the state of the nation ; and Prince Greorge 
 as Lord High Admiral, and his board, including 
 Admiral Churchill, the brother of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, were strongly attacked. Strangely enough 
 it must again appear to those who have adopted the 
 Satanic theory about Marlborough to find that he had 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 589. 
 
118 THE SECEETAET-AT-WAR. [Chap. IV. 
 
 strong family affections, and that, though he disap-^ 
 proved of his brother's conduct, he was observed in the 
 House of Lords to remonstrate warmly with the Earl 
 of Wharton about the manner in which the Admiral 
 liad been assailed.* 
 
 In both Hojises the' affairs of Spain were amply dis- 
 cussed ; Peterborough, in the Upper House, defending 
 himself, and the Whigs trying to excuse the Earl of 
 Galway ; and a memorable resolution was passed just 
 before Christmas declaring that no peace ought to 
 be made while either Spain or the West Indies re- 
 mained in the power of the House of Bourbon. In the 
 address which was to be sent up to the throne on this 
 subject both Houses concurred ; but Bolingbroke was 
 certainly right when he long afterwards affirmed that 
 this was extending the area of the war, instead of 
 showing any desire to bring about a peace, and that 
 a basis was then laid down for hostilities far beyond 
 any that even King William contemplated when he 
 formed the Grand Alliance. "f 
 
 But to this resolution St. John himself at this time 
 assented. As Secretary-at-War he was still very busy, 
 and the affairs of Spain gave him no little trouble. 
 He was constantly before the House. It was stated 
 that when the battle of Almanza was fought there 
 were only eight thousand British troops under Galway 's 
 command. St. John had to produce the muster-rolls ; 
 he had to make elaborate calculations ; he had to bring 
 forward accounts; and to undergo long and tedious 
 examinations.^ 
 
 But his labours as Secretary-at-War were fast draw- 
 ing to a close. A treasonable correspondence was dis- 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 600. f Letters on History, 
 
 t Pari. Hist., vi. 611. 
 
1704—1708.] HAELEY'S EXPULSION FROM OFFICE. 119 
 
 covered in a packet sent over to Holland, and supposed 
 only to contain authorized letters to the French minister 
 from Marshal Tallard, who had been taken prisoner at 
 the battle of Blenheim. These letters were sent open 
 to Harley's office. A clerk of the name of Gregg^ 
 took the opportunity, before they were sealed up, of 
 enclosing the copy of an epistle to be written by the 
 Queen to the Emperor with those passages marked 
 which had been drawn up by the Secretary of State, 
 and the additions of the Lord Treasurer. It appeared 
 that other information had been by the same means 
 conveyed to the enemy. An inquiry was set on foot, 
 and the traitor was discovered. He had been intro- 
 duced into the office by Harley ; and the "Whigs at 
 once greedily fastened on the discovery to prove that 
 Harley himself was secretly corresponding with France 
 and St. Grermains. A committee of lords went to 
 Newgate to examine Grregg; and a long report and 
 address were published. Other men whom Harley 
 had employed as spies between France and England 
 were found to have requited his confidence with equal 
 treachery. It was clearly shown that Harley had 
 acted with the grossest negligence ; that the business 
 of his office was transacted at the most unseasonable 
 hours ; that documents containing the most important 
 secrets of State were left open for the inspection of the 
 lowest clerks : but still nothing that could directly or 
 indirectly connect him with any secret complicity with 
 the French Government or the Pretender was or could 
 be discovered. His real crime was his intrigue at 
 Court. Marlborough and Godolphin, at last throwing 
 themselves entirely into the hands of the Whigs, in- 
 sisted on his dismissal. For a time it seemed that he 
 
120 THE SECRBTAKT-AT-WAB. [Chap. IV. 
 
 would prevail ; but on the refusal of the Lord Trea- 
 surer and the Commander-in-chief to sit with him in 
 council the queen was obliged to yield ; and on the 
 11th of February, 1708, Harley resigned the seals. 
 
 St. John had never been a Whig ; and the ascend- 
 ancy of that ^ party in the cabinet was complete. "We 
 may not ascribe to him any high notions of po- 
 litical fidelity. He knew himself obnoxious to the 
 Whigs. His name had been coupled with Harley 's in 
 those dealings with the Tory laembers which had given 
 so much annoyance to Grodolphin and the Grovemment. 
 When the Queen thought that she might save Harley 
 and sacrifice Grodolphin, St. John was even employed 
 by her Majesty to communicate her wishes to the Grene- 
 ral. It has been said that she wrote a letter, which she 
 permitted the Secretary-at-War to read, before convey- 
 ing it to the duke, and that she allowed him to state 
 its contents about the town, and especially among the 
 Tories. St. John therefore saw that his own dismissal 
 was virtually involved in the dismissal of Harley ; and, 
 indeed, Swift, in afterwards alluding to the circum- 
 stance, expressly says that St. John was turned out.* 
 But this does not appear to have been literally the 
 case. He felt that to trust exclusively to the Duke of 
 Marlborough's friendship was to stand upon a very 
 slippery pedestal. He knew that the influence Harley 
 had established over the royal mind would be all the 
 more lasting and secure from this enforced resignation, 
 and that his return to office would, according to all 
 human probabihty, be merely a question of time. It 
 is evident that he had thoroughly identified himself 
 with Harley's interests, and fully approved of all his 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Jan. 13, 1711, 
 
1704—1708.] FOJ^LOWS HAELEY OUT OF OFFICE. 1'^^ 
 
 underliand intrigues with his relative, the cunning and 
 demure Abigail Masham, and their royal puppet her 
 gracious Majesty Queen Anne ; for St, John and Sir 
 Simon Harcourt, the Attorney-General, immediately 
 followed Harley out of office. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 1708—1710. 
 ISr EETIREMENT. 
 
 The appointment of St. Jolin's successor, as Secretary- 
 at-War, thougli not to liis place as Secretary of the 
 Marines, showed sufl&ciently the influences at work to 
 drive him from the Grovernment. He was succeeded, 
 with the Duke of Marlborough's approbation, by that 
 rising Whig, that old schoolfellow, that hated enemy, 
 the late member for Castle Rising, and then member 
 for Lynn, the stolid, the ungraceful, the unconquerable 
 Robert Walpole. Walpole had overcome his diffi- 
 culties of elocution ; and though he was never a 
 polished, was already an effective speaker. During 
 the years during which St. John had held office, the 
 rivalry between them had not abated ; and, however 
 strange and unaccountable it might seem to the 
 brilliant Mr. St. John, the contest between them 
 seemed no longer unequal. Walpole was running 
 him hard in the political race. He had the fullest 
 confidence of the Whigs. Though not called, as St. 
 John had been, the personal favourite of Marlborough, 
 he was trusted by the General, and became his con- 
 fidential correspondent ; he managed to please the 
 
1708—1710.] WHY ST. JOHN WENT INTO RETIREMENT. 123 
 
 duchess, and had, what St. John never appears to 
 have done, acquired her favour ; above all, he was 
 the friend and pupil of Grodolphin, was by him ini- 
 tiated into the business of office and all the mysteries 
 of the Treasury, and, young as he was, soon became 
 with the support of the Prime Minister, a kind of 
 ministerial leader in the House of Commons.* 
 
 No wonder that St. John saw this rapid ascent to 
 eminence with internal rage and bitter disappoint- 
 ment. It could not be pleasant to see his rival step 
 into his shoes ; still less to see him, under ministerial 
 favour, rise higher than he had ever been able to do. 
 Thoughts of vengeance occupied his mind ; but for 
 vengeance the time had not yet come. He took a 
 step which surprised his contemporaries, and has per- 
 plexed his biographers ; but for which it is not, per- 
 haps, so very difficult to account as at first sight it 
 has appeared. 
 
 Shortly after his resignation of the office of Secre- 
 tary-at-War the Parliament was dissolved, and St. 
 John did not offer himself to his constituents for re- 
 election. There could of course have been no diffi- 
 culty about the matter, The borough of Wootton 
 Bassett, for which he had sat ever since he entered 
 the House of Commons, was still the family borough ; 
 and their influence in the counties of Berkshire and 
 Wiltshire rendered his election for a shire at any 
 time a matter of choice. 
 
 Why, then, did he retire from Parliament? He 
 knew well that though the Whigs had triumphed 
 in the government, their position in the Court was 
 in no lespect improved, Harley had no sooner been 
 dismissed than other pretensions were put forward; 
 
 * Coxe'a WaJpole, i. 23. 
 
124 IN EETIREMENT. [Chap. T. 
 
 and the Queen was again engaged in a struggle against 
 Godolphin and Marlborough. They wished her to 
 make Lord Somers President of the Council, and, find- 
 ing that at first they could not carry this point, sought 
 to place him in the cabinet without any official 
 appointment.^ But under the encouragement of 
 her secret advisers Anne opposed that stoHd and 
 passive obstinacy so characteristic of her father 
 and other members of her family. The disputes 
 between her Majesty and Godolphin became more 
 frequent than ever, and on one occasion threatened 
 to last till midnight, had not Prince George come in 
 at three o'clock in the afternoon, " Looking," G-odol- 
 phin wrote to Marlborough, " as if it were dinner- 
 time."* Of these constant altercations St. John was 
 kept well informed, and he could easily afford to 
 stand quietly by, and see what would be their natural 
 result. In Parliament it was hopeless to struggle, for 
 the nation, alarmed at an attempted invasion, had, 
 at the new elections^ declared itself strongly on the 
 side of the Whigs. But there can be no doubt that 
 the principal inducement to St. John in thus going 
 voluntarily into a temporary retirement was his deep 
 obligations to Marlborough. How could he all at once 
 declare himself against the illustrious patron by whom 
 he had been so long favoured and protected ? St. 
 John was placed in a position of peculiar delicacy ; 
 and, though perhaps not inclined to be very scrupu- 
 lous, he felt the difficulties of his situation. The late 
 Secretary-at-War could not immediately tuT-n round, 
 and attack the ministry which the great General sup- 
 ported, and of which, indeed, he was the most im- 
 portant member. It was, besides, uncertain how long 
 
 .t Letter of Godolphin to Marlborough, June i^, 1708. 
 
1703—1710.] ST. JOHN CONGEATULATES MAELBOEOUGH. 125 
 
 the alliance between the Whigs and Marlborougli 
 might last ; and it would not be prudent, without 
 knowing what new political combinations might take 
 place, to make the duke an enemy. Ambitious, there- 
 fore, and restless as St. John was, this was clearly a 
 time when the best thing he could do was to do nothing. 
 
 He still, however, was ready to admit his debt of 
 gratitude to Marlborough ; and it does not appear 
 that he considered the General as in any way to blame 
 for his inevitable resignation of the place of Secretary- 
 at- War. St. John retired into the country to Bucklers- 
 bury, the seat of his wife and his father-in-law, who 
 had died in the previous year. He was, however, 
 again summoned to Battersea by the death of his grand- 
 father. Sir Walter St. John. While engaged in the 
 necessary duties which this event entailed upon him, 
 there came the news of the battle of Oudenarde, won 
 in July by Marlborough over Marshal Vendome and 
 the Duke of Burgundy. Again, as after Ramillies, 
 St. John sent off a congratulatory epistle to the vic- 
 torious Greneral, and the letter contained a full acknow- 
 ledgment of his obligations. He was still the same 
 man, he professed the same opinions, as when he had 
 been Secretary-at-War. " Your Grace," he wrote from 
 London to Marlborough, " will give me leave to express 
 in this manner a joy which is too great and too sincere 
 to be silent. 
 
 " I must heartily congratulate this new addition to 
 all the other glories of your life, which will be crowned, 
 no doubt, by entirely reducing that power against 
 which we have so long contended, and by giving to 
 your own country and to all Europe that peace and 
 security which no arm but yours could procure for 
 them. 
 
126 IN RETIEBMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 " The death of a grandfather brought me to this 
 place, from whence I am preparing to return again 
 to the country, in the midst of which retreat I shall 
 inviolably preserve in my heart that gratitude for all 
 your favours, that zeal for your service, and that true, 
 unaffected lave for your person which I have never 
 knowingly departed from. 
 
 " I am, with the greatest respect, my Lord, &c. 
 
 " H. St. John." * 
 
 There is no hint in the letter about the war being 
 carried on too long. France was to be entirely re- 
 duced. The arm of Marlborough could alone give 
 peace and security to Europe. St. John breathes 
 nothing but zeal for the general's service, and love 
 for the general's person. These expressions will be 
 worth remembering amid the events which are to 
 come. 
 
 St. John returned into the country, telling all his 
 acquaintances and friends that he had done with 
 politics and ambition. He declared himself sick of 
 the world, said that everything below was vanity and 
 vexation of spirit, and that study in retirement should 
 henceforth become the object of his devotion. The dis-^ 
 appearance from the pubhc stage of one who, by the 
 brilliancy of his oratory in the House of Commons^ 
 and the profligacy of his private hfe, had been the 
 talk, jest, and scandal of all men, excited general 
 amazement and some ridicule. The Alcibiades of the 
 senate now out-Timoned Timon. He spoke of him- 
 self as another Socrates, who had, amid the fierce con- 
 flicts of parties and the allurements of pleasure, too 
 long neglected the whispering of his better genius; 
 
 * St. John to Marlborough, Coxe MSS., July f,, 1708. 
 
1708— 1710.J AN EHGRAM. 127 
 
 but it had at length made itself heard; and hence- 
 forth, philosophy, divine philosophy, should he the 
 sole mistress of his heart. 
 
 Much of this, especially in a young, worldly, and 
 ambitious man of thirty, was pure affectation. 
 But, as we shall see, it was thoroughly charac- 
 teristic of St. John at all periods of his life. His 
 boon companions knew not at first what to make of 
 such extraordinary professions after such extraordinary 
 conduct. They laughed heartily at finding their gay, 
 riotous Harry among the philosophers. The wine- 
 bibber and the sinner turned round upon them, and 
 with some sententious maxim upon his lips, desired 
 them henceforth to consider him as a philosopher and 
 a saint. So far did St. John carry these philosophical 
 professions, and so ready was he to bring them forth 
 to all who sought his society, that, lively and enter- 
 taining as his conversation was, he began to be con- 
 sidered a bore. Just before he left town for Bucklers- 
 bury, a man of wit and fashion, whose ears had been 
 fatigued by listening to one of his grave homilies about 
 having done with the world, and specially about a 
 noble motto that he was going to have written over 
 the door of his summer-house, put into his hands some 
 verses, which he assured him would be quite appro- 
 priate. St. John found the following lines, which, as 
 be afterwards confessed, nearly drove him frantic : — 
 
 " From business and the noisy world retired, 
 Nor vexed by love, nor by ambition fired. 
 Gently I wait the call of Charon's boat. 
 Still drinking like a fish, and like a goat." 
 
 It was necessary for the purposes of biography to 
 quote this choice effusion, St. John felt the satire 
 keenly : the justice of it was acknowledged both by 
 
128 IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 himself and his friends. " I believe," said one, "the 
 thing was true, for he had been a thorough rake." 
 
 It is remarkable that these lines, which I have hardly- 
 dared to quote, and thought of altering that their in- 
 delicacy might be somewhat veiled, were gravely 
 written down hj a clergyman of the church of Eng- 
 land and sent in a kind of diary or journal to a young 
 lady whom he professed to love, and whom biographers 
 and poets have represented of singular modesty and 
 virtue. They are preserved just as they stand in 
 Swift's Journal to Stella; and that their point might 
 not be lost to her, the divine adds, " I think the grave 
 lines do introduce the last well enough."* 
 
 Never, surely,, was there a stranger picture of human 
 character than Swift's daily record of his hopes and 
 fears, his love and his ambition, his small miseries, 
 strange affectations, and tender communings. But 
 it is not an elevating picture as we look upon it ; neither 
 the reverend doctor nor the young lady to whom this 
 journal is really addressed rises in our estimation. We 
 are almost inclined to apologize even for the licentious- 
 ness of St. John, when we find it plainly recorded for 
 the instruction and amusement of this young lady by 
 her middle-aged companion. The explanation that the 
 manners of Queen Anne's reign were grosser than 
 ours, and that people were much more accustomed to 
 plain speaking, is not at all satisfactory. There are 
 indelicate allusions enough in the Spectator, and in 
 Lady Montague's letters; but nothing like what we 
 find in this journal, written in confidence to a young 
 lady for whom Swift professed the most platonic afiec- 
 tion. Coarse jokes and coarse oaths, the plainest 
 allusions and double meanings of the broadest kind, 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Jan. 13, 1711. 
 
1708-1710.] THE HAPPIEST PORTION OF ST. JOHN'S LIFE. 129 
 
 are all mingled together in this strange medley of wit, 
 vanity, affection, and secret history. Nor is Stella at 
 all behind the divine in similar allusions : she does not 
 hesitate to perpetrate a nasty jest on the name of a lady 
 with whom the doctor occasionally dined, and is gaily 
 reproved by her correspondent, who observes in reply, 
 " I was thinking about it all day and it quite spoiled 
 my imagination." In fact. Swift and Stella evidently 
 indulged habitually in such talk, and spoke to each 
 other familiarly about those natural offices which "Wil- 
 heim Meister represented it as the perfection of happi- 
 ness for his mistress to perform in his presence.* 
 
 But though Swift and Stella, as well as the danglers 
 about the chocolate-houses, and the dissipated politicians 
 in the House of Commons, might laugh at the verses 
 which were made on St. John's retirement, there can be 
 little doubt that most of the time the young statesman 
 spent at Bucklersbury was well employed. He was fully 
 conscious of his own powers ; and he was determined to 
 assist them by all the advantages of study and reflec- 
 tion. He had formerly been too giddy, and latterly too 
 busy, for any consistent literary pursuits ; but he now 
 eagerly devoured volume after volume, and, with his 
 retentive memory, keen intelligence, and knowledge of 
 the world, two years of steady reading was worth more 
 to him than a much longer period would be to the ma- 
 jority of mankind. He always looked back to this time 
 with satisfaction. It was the quietest, the most inno- 
 cent, and perhaps the happiest portion of his life. Hope 
 was as yet before him. Defeat, disappointment, dis- 
 grace, impeachment, exile, exclusion from the legisla- 
 ture, the hatred of foes, and the distrust of frienSs, had 
 not yet come to teach him the lesson, that mere genius 
 
 * See Groethe's Wilheim Meister. 
 
130 . IN EETIRBMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 without some higher and ennobling principle, without 
 some strong conviction, and some steady line of con- 
 duct, might only, in the stirring times in which his lot 
 was cast, involve its possessor, and those who followed 
 him, in a most disastrous shipwreck. 
 
 In his later years we occasionally find him alluding 
 to his avocations at this tranquil season ; and there is a 
 mixture of sadness and regret in the manner in which 
 he recalled these hours of retirement not without a 
 kind of beauty and pathos. " Not only," he wrote 
 to Lord Bathurst, " a love of study and a desire of 
 knowledge must have grown up with us, but such an 
 industrious application likewise, as requires the whole 
 vigour of the mind to be exerted in the pursuit of truth, 
 through long trains of ideas, and all those dark recesses 
 wherein man, not God, has hid it. This love and this 
 desire I have felt all my life, and I am not quite a 
 stranger to this industry and application. There has 
 been something always ready to whisper in my ear, 
 whilst I ran the course of pleasure and of business, 
 
 ' Solve senescentem mature sanus equum.' 
 
 But my genius, unlike the demon of Socrates, whis- 
 pered so softly, that very often I heard him not, in the 
 hurry of those passions by which I was transported. 
 Some calmer hours there were ; in them I hearkened to 
 him. Eeflection had often its turn, and the love of 
 study and the desire of knowledge have never quite 
 abandoned me." * 
 
 But it is not necessary to overrate St. John's attain- 
 ments. The desultory manner in which his studies 
 were pursued sufficiently accounts for the unsatisfactory 
 character of many of his works. We may not be dis- 
 
 * Letter on the True Use of Retirement and Study. 
 
1708—1710.] ST. JOHN'S READING. 131 
 
 posed entirely to agree witli Lady Montague in the 
 insinuation that lie had not read half the volumes he 
 delighted to allude to ;* but the manner in which he 
 frequently refers to Latin and Greek authorities is not 
 that of an accomplished scholar. The quotations have 
 frequently a suspicious smack of French translations 
 rather than of the original versions. Indeed, though 
 his memory was so tenacious, that he seldom forgot 
 what he wished to remember, and allusions to the great 
 authors of antiquity are prodigally scattered through- 
 out his works, he never was a learned man. His in- 
 formation was, in many instances, obviously acquired 
 at second hand ; nor did he always make a judicious 
 use of what he indirectly obtained. In his age it was 
 customary to refer much more frequently than in ours to 
 the ancient writers ; and quotations and remarks which 
 were then thought extremely clever are now considered 
 only worthy of schoolboys. None of the writers of 
 Queen Anne's reign abound more in such pedantry than 
 Bolingbroke ; and it is more surprising to meet with it 
 in his pages than in those of most of his contemporaries, 
 because he was not so much a professed author as a 
 statesman and a man of business. But still, with all 
 due deference to a very trite maxim, a superficial and 
 commonplace knowledge of history and philosophy is 
 better than no knowledge at all. St. John was much 
 better employed with Plutarch and Seneca in the 
 country retirement during the last two years of Godol- 
 phin's administration, than in lounging all day at the 
 coffee-houses and chocolate-houses, and drinking all 
 night at the taverns. Bucklersbury was but twenty- 
 five miles from Windsor : he was near enough to the 
 Court and the metropolis to be kept well acquainted 
 
 * Letter to the Countess of Bute. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 IN EETIEEMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 with the varying aspect of pubh'c affairs ; and as the 
 game of intrigue was being played, letters and mes- 
 sages from his friend Harley followed rapidly upon 
 each other, informing him, in his retreat, that the veil 
 would soon be pulled aside, and show the Tories and 
 themselves once more in power. 
 
 Prince George, by whom the dinner-hour had very 
 recently been so anxiously expected, died on one of the 
 last days of October. The pressure put on the Queen 
 by the Whigs and Godolphin increased, and she was at 
 last obliged to yield. Wharton was appointed Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, and Somers, Lord President of 
 the Council. The moderate Sir Richard Onslow was 
 chosen Speaker of the House of Commons ; but the 
 Whigs, now an indisputable majority, were quite as 
 unjust in determining the disputed elections as the Tories 
 had been. Everything appeared to go smoothly for the 
 Government ; and before the session terminated in the 
 April of 1709, a celebrated Act of Grace was proposed 
 by Lord Sunderland, and passed in the usual manner. 
 
 The last campaign which was rendered famous by 
 the battle of Oudenarde, had continued till after Christ- 
 mas. It was one of the most scientific recorded in 
 military history, and each event illustrated still more 
 signally the genius and enterprise of Marlborough. 
 After an arduous siege the important town and fortress 
 of Lille was taken ; Ghent was soon afterwards evacu- 
 ated ; and Bruges then immediately abandoned. All 
 this, as Marlborough said, was according to his heart's 
 desire. He told Godolphin that he hoped such suc- 
 cesses would bring about peace by the summer ; but he 
 began, at the same time, to make frequent allusions to 
 the next campaign. 
 
 • The King of France was as sensible as Marlborough 
 
1T08-1710.J THE COXPERENCES AT THE HAGUE. 133 
 
 of the successes of the alHes. He at once set on foot 
 an indirect negotiation with the Dutch, in the hope 
 that by offering them enormous advantages, they would 
 either induce the confederates to make peace or desert 
 the alhance. Marlborough remained at the Hague 
 almost to the close of the session of Parliament, watch- 
 ing keenly the manner in which the diplomatic over- 
 tures were received. This, indeed, was the period to 
 which Bolingbroke always referred as that when the 
 war entirely changed its aspect. Hitherto he main- 
 tained it had been just and necessary ; but after this 
 time it became unjust and unnecessary ; and in the best 
 because the most practical of his letters on history, he 
 many years afterwards reviewed this question with 
 much statesmanlike ability.* It would not be easy to 
 refute his arguments or to dissent from his conclusions. 
 Louis was unquestionably desirous of terminating 
 the war. His offers were everything that the allies 
 could fairly expect, or that a reasonable enemy could 
 demand. On looking at the subject without passion or 
 prejudice, it is impossible to deny that a peace, a satis- 
 factory peace both to England and her allies, could in 
 the spring of 1709 very easily have been concluded, 
 had there been any disposition in Marlborough and his 
 colleagues to bring those long hostilities to a close. 
 But there was no such disposition. The close alliance 
 with the Whigs had increased the inveteracy of the 
 Cabinet. Marlborough was really the chief of the 
 Grand Alliance ; and to be at the head of so many states 
 and potentates was flattering to his pride, as the immense 
 gains he was receiving were tempting to his more 
 sordid inchnations. An enormous bribe was directly 
 offered him by the French minister, Torcy, who had 
 
 * See his Sketch of the History and State of Europe. 
 
134 IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 at length been himself sent to the Hague, in order 
 that no chance of peace might be lost. 
 
 The best narrative of this, as well as of other im- 
 portant negotiations in which St. John was more 
 immediately concerned, will be found in the Memoirs 
 and Despatches of this Frenchman. Little Torcy, as 
 Prior and BoHngbroke called him, was an admirable 
 specimen of the French minister of the old school. In 
 his eyes, Louis XIV. was something superhuman ; he 
 was a model of justice ; he was a model of good faith. 
 It had pleased Grod to chastise France with defeats 
 and reverses ; she was compelled to sohcit peace from 
 eight powers combined in strict alliance against her ; 
 but her illustrious monarch appeared only more vene- 
 rable amid the disasters of his country. Torcy had 
 had opportunities of becoming acquainted with Eng- 
 land, where his father, having once been ambassador, 
 and himself spent some of his earlier years, he was 
 personally known to many of our leading public men. 
 The Memoirs which he afterwards drew up in his 
 retirement are invaluable to those who would enter 
 into the diplomatic history of the great war, which 
 was terminated by the peace of Utrecht. They are 
 admirable for grace and even dignity of style ; as well 
 as for the abnegation of self which they display. 
 Although written decidedly from the French point 
 of view, they are in every respect the composition of 
 a statesman and a gentleman.* 
 
 His account of his first interview with Marlborough, 
 on the great general's return to the Hague in the May 
 of this year, is singularly characteristic. In the 
 yictorious Englishman's hands were the great issues of 
 
 * These Memoirs were first published in 1756. They were reprinted in 
 1828 by Petitot et Monmerque in their Collection des Memoires Relatiis k 
 I'Histoire de France. It is to this edition that I shall so frequently refer. 
 
1708—1710.] MARLBOROUGH AS A DIPLOMATIST. 135 
 
 peace or war. The French minister, almost a suppli^ 
 cant, was most courteous and complimentary ; but he 
 was fairly outdone by the humility of Marlborough. 
 He was all protestations. He had indeed been the 
 instrument of gaining important battles, but they were 
 to be ascribed to Providence ; for himself, he had no 
 merit whatever. He was eloquent and even florid, 
 declaring that he was heartily sick of the war^ that he 
 would give anything for peace. But England had gone 
 mad ; she would not hear reason ; she believed she 
 could ruin France ; and all that he and her best advisers 
 could do would not persuade her that it was then her 
 interest to make a good peace. Eeferring to the son 
 of James II., whom Torcy and he agreed to speak of as 
 that subject of Queen Anne called the Prince of Wales, 
 Marlborough declared that he would be glad to serve 
 him, and that for his father he would readily have shed 
 his life's blood. When the question was put, how the 
 Prince of Wales was to be provided for, if he were 
 expelled from France, "Ah!" said Marlborough, "you 
 had better speak of that to Lord Townshend, whom 'I 
 have brought with me. He is a very honest man, but 
 he is a Whig ; and he watches me closely ; and don't 
 be surprised if in his presence I express myself as an 
 obstinate and prejudiced Englishman." But still Marl- 
 borough was most anxious to do all he could for the 
 Prince of Wales. He was ready to do all he could even 
 for Louis XIV. In the event of peace being concluded 
 would his gracious Majesty, the most Christian king, 
 grant him his protection ? For Louis he had a personal 
 affection. He could never forget that his first military 
 experiences had been gained under Turenne, and he 
 would be ready at any time to show his gratitude for 
 so great an obligation. He pledged his honour ; he 
 
136 IN EETIEBMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 called heaven to witness the sincerity of his intentions. 
 But notwithstanding his solemn protestations, notwith- 
 standing the fervour of his pious vows, notwithstanding 
 even the offer of the bribe of one million French livres, 
 two millions, three millions, even four millions, which 
 he passed off with a blush, and by at once changing the 
 conversation, Louis XIY. and his faithful Secretary 
 of State soon found that Marlborough was secretly 
 thwarting their pacific proposals, and instigating the 
 ministers of the allies in bringing forward all their 
 unreasonable demands. Torcy was almost frightened 
 at the sight of Marlborough making such earnest pro- 
 fessions of peace, backed with such solemn appeals to 
 Grod to witness his sincerity, while, in fact, he was doing 
 everything he could do to continue the war ; and the 
 French minister, beaten at every point, could not but 
 confess that in diplomacy, as in arms, the renowned 
 Englishman had no equal. There was no getting hold 
 of him. He was, in fact, the devil himself, quoting 
 Scripture and outwitting his enemies.* 
 
 But the picture of Marlborough as a diplomatist 
 would not be complete without a few touches being 
 added which prove him to have been, after all, a mere 
 mortal. The letters of this hard, worldly, fearless, 
 unscrupulous man to his duchess are not only full of 
 pious reflections, which show incontestably that Marl- 
 borough in his strange way did actually believe in the 
 superintendence of Providence, but also, though he 
 was now in his sixtieth year, are written with all the 
 romantic affection of a youth of eighteen to the object 
 of his idolatry. His love for the duchess was, after all, 
 Marlborough's ruling passion, even when at the head 
 
 * See Torcy's Letter to Louis, May f?, 1709, Mdmoircs, i. 262. See also 
 the observations at page 281 of the same volume. 
 
1708—1710.] MAELBOROUG-H AS A MAN. 137 
 
 of the armies of Europe, or surrounded by ministers 
 and sovereigns wlio were proud of his smile. He had 
 other kindly feelings. In the midst of the bustle of a 
 campaign, in the presence of the enemy, and while his 
 mind was deeply agitated by the imminent danger of 
 Grodolphin and himself from the success of Harley's 
 intrigues, the death of his fat coachman who had lived 
 with him many years, the danger of his favourite cook, 
 and the loss of his poor dog Turhar, called forth from 
 him the most tender expressions of regret. As the 
 emissaries of the King of France were striving so hard 
 for peace, Marlborough, while secretly confounding all 
 their politics, had also, as usual, an eye to the main 
 chance. Peace might or might not be made ; but he 
 might at least make something out of the expectation. 
 Before the treaty could be signed he would require an 
 ambassador's canopy, or chair of state, as the plenipo- 
 tentiary of his sovereign ; and his friend the Lord 
 Treasurer might give orders to the officer of the royal 
 wardrobe to have it made in such a manner that it 
 would serve for part of a bed at Woodstock when no 
 longer required for diplomatic purposes. The expres- 
 sions in the letter in which he instructs the duchess to 
 look to this arrangement are inimitable. " You must," 
 he wrote, " have in readiness the sideboard of plate, 
 and you must let the Lord Treasurer know that, since 
 the queen came to the crown,- I have not had either 
 a canopy or chair of state, which now of necessity I 
 must have, so the wardrobe should have immediate 
 orders ; and I beg you will take care to have it made 
 so that it may serve for part of a bed when I have 
 done with it here, which I hope will be by the end of 
 the summer, so that I may enjoy your dear company 
 in quiet, which is the greatest satisfaction I am capable 
 
I'SS IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 of having."* The genius which had humbled the 
 pride of Louis XIV. to the very dust, had, while these 
 conferences at the Hague proceeded, insincere accents 
 of peace on his lips, a sword in one hand, a,nd the other 
 in his breeches pocket. 
 
 It would have been well for Marlborough's reputation 
 had these negotiations for peace succeeded. A Nemesis 
 was attending on all his insidious rejections of every 
 practical proposal ; for that the English general could 
 have made peace no impartial observer can entertain 
 any reasonable doubt. Had Philip been allowed to 
 enjoy peaceably the Spanish throne, of which it was 
 clear that nothing but another long war could dispossess 
 him, a sure basis would have been laid for every con- 
 cession which the allies could have demanded. By 
 giving up this point they could, with more justice, have 
 been pertinacious on every other. But to insist on 
 Louis putting his frontier fortresses into the hands of 
 enemies who refused to guarantee him more than a sus- 
 pension of arms for two months, and who, through the 
 very places he would have placed in their power, must 
 have renewed the war with more advantage than they 
 could have obtained by its uninterrupted prosecution, 
 clearly rendered all prospects of peace impossible. It 
 is true that Louis XIY. in his misfortunes deserved 
 little pity. The arrogant style in which he had 
 professed to dictate the law to Europe, and especially 
 the manner in which he had so long treated the Dutch, 
 from whom he was at last obliged to solicit peace, 
 deprived him of any right to sympathy or considera- 
 tion. But in the position Marlborough was placed, 
 with his power at Court undermined, and enemies 
 watching greedily to take advantage of every error, or 
 
1708—1710.] MALPLAQUET. 139 
 
 pretence of error, generosity would have been good 
 policy. But instead of this, all he thought of was to 
 protect himself by seeking to obtain an unconstitutional 
 patent of general for life ; and thus, sagacious and pru- 
 dent as he believed himself, he was putting into the 
 hands of his enemies weapons which they were only too 
 ready to use.* 
 
 The failure of the negotiations for peace was itself 
 employed to increase the prejudices which were so in- 
 dustriously instilled against Marlborough into Queen 
 Anne's feeble mind. He was represented as a man of 
 insatiable ambition, who would be content with nothing 
 but the first place in the kingdom ; and it was insinuated, 
 most absurdly and falsely, that he was even aspiring 
 to the crown. Louis XIV. having rejected the pre- 
 liminaries containing such unreasonable propositions, 
 and having appealed to his people, by making them 
 acquainted with the extent of his offers for peace, the 
 campaign was begun. In the course of the summer 
 Tournay was besieged and taken. Mons was after- 
 wards invested, and the siege of this town brought 
 on the battle of Malplaquet, fought in September by 
 Marlborough and Eugene against Marshal Villars, 
 whom Louis had called the Invincible. The allies were 
 victorious ; but their success was dearly purchased. 
 Marlborough wrote to the duchess that it was a very 
 bloody battle, and to Godolphin that it was a very 
 murdering battle. By this tremendous storming of 
 Malplaquet the Dutch infantry were nearly destroyed, 
 
 * That Marlborough really did desire this patent of general for life, and 
 made efforts to obtain it, can be shown by undeniable evidence. A letter from 
 Mr. Craggs, of May 20th, and another from the Lord Chancellor Cowper, 
 of June 23rd, in the Coxe MSS., establish the truth of this allegation, which 
 might otherwise have been perhaps properly regarded as the invention of the 
 general's unscrupulous assailants. 
 
140 IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 and many English homes were filled with mourning. 
 The Whigs, of course, rejoiced at the victory ; but the 
 queen's secret advisers dwelt upon the enormous cost of 
 life by which it had been obtained ; and her Majesty 
 refrained from writing her thanks to Marlborough, 
 
 But though the Queen was silent, St. John was not. 
 It is evident that he had not yet abandoned all hopes 
 of union with Marlborough ; for once more he neglected 
 not, from his retirement at BucHersbury, to send forth 
 his congratulations. He even intimated that his season 
 of misanthropy was past, and that he was inclined to 
 look more hopefully than when he wrote last on the 
 world and its affairs. From the camp at Havres, where 
 Marlborough, with his army, was covering the siege of 
 Mons, the great general replied to St. John in a grace- 
 ful and friendly epistle. " I am favoured," wrote 
 Marlborough on the 14th of October, " with your letter 
 of the 8th past, and am very much obliged to you for 
 your congratulations and kind expressions on the late 
 victory, the importance of which will, I hope, appear by 
 its consequences, and that we shall enjoy the advan- 
 tages of it. In the mean time I am very glad if that, 
 or anything else I can do, may prove the means of 
 adding to your satisfaction, and particularly that you 
 begin agaia to entertain more favourable thoughts of the 
 world, in which you are qualified to do so much good." 
 
 " Congratulations and kind expressions " then were, 
 according to this undeniable testimony, the terms on 
 which St. John and Marlborough were personally upon 
 in tlie autumn of 1709. Yet nothing, however, is more 
 certain than that the enemies of the Duke were then 
 busily employed in working his overthrow, that they 
 had all but succeeded in their endeavours, and that St. 
 John was not only perfectly informed of all their pro- 
 
1708-1710.] HARLBY'S INTRIGUES. 141 
 
 ceedings, but was himself considered to be leagued with 
 them in the closest alliance. In one of the last of those 
 strange, unbecoming, and impolitic letters which the 
 Duchess of Marlborough thought fit to write to the 
 Queen we meet with the following taunting sentences, 
 which show us St. John fully in the confidence, and 
 partaking in all the schemes of Harley and Mrs. 
 Masham : — " And who are those that you told me you 
 had somewhere, but a few inconsiderable men, that have 
 undertaken to carry Mrs. Masham up to a pitch of 
 greatness from which she would be thrown down with 
 infamy in a fortnight ? What did some people in your 
 service ride lately about from her to Mr. Harley at 
 London, and thence to Mr. St. John's in the country, 
 and then back again to her, and so again to London, as 
 if they rid post all the while, but about some notable 
 scheme, which, I dare swear, would make the world 
 very merry if it were known ?" 
 
 How reconcile the two contradictory letters ? Why 
 should St. John, while so fully involved in the intrigues 
 against Marlborough, still desire to make the Duke 
 believe that he was his friend ? It would perhaps be 
 wrong to impute such conduct to deliberate treachery. 
 If St. John had any sincere admiration for any man, he 
 most certainly had for Marlborough. He had long 
 been fascinated by the valour, the genius, the success, 
 and the accomplishments of the renowned warrior, 
 whom he had regarded as his friend and protector. 
 Court intrigues were proverbially uncertain in their 
 results. That protection might still be needed, those 
 professions of friendship might still be continued. It is 
 evident that the opinions he subsequently expressed as 
 to the ill policy of the war from the time when the 
 negotiators for peace at the Hague were frustrated in 
 
142 IN RETrREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 their object, had not yet been formed, or he could 
 scarcely, with the Duke's friends, have exulted so 
 highly at the victory of Malplaquet. France was 
 still the enemy to be combated and subdued. The 
 Whigs might be dismissed from the Cabinet, and 
 even Grodolphin driven from the Treasury, and yet 
 Marlborough might, under their successors, still have the 
 conduct of the war. This is evidently what St. John 
 desired, not only at this time, but for long afterwards. 
 He did not, however, foresee that, though the Duke 
 was placable by nature, and would probably have 
 entered into terms of accommodation, the enmity 
 between the Duchess and Mrs. Masham admitted of no 
 compromise, and that it was much easier to reconcile 
 intriguing and ambitious statesmen than angry and 
 jealous women. 
 
 After taking Mons the allied armies retired into 
 winter quarters, and the Duke returned to England. 
 The prospect gave him but little pleasure. On the 
 afternoon of his arrival another contention between the 
 Queen and her responsible advisers was scarcely termi- 
 nated by another Whiggish appointment to the Board 
 of Admiralty. A few days afterwards, on the 15th of 
 November, Parliament met for the session. Marl- 
 borough was thanked by the two Houses ; her Majesty, 
 in the royal speech, dwelt on the glories of the cam- 
 paign ; six millions were readily voted for the service 
 of the coming year ; the number of troops was 
 increased. The Court, Cabinet, and Parliament seemed 
 united and resolved to carry on the war vigorously 
 against the foreign enemy. But these flattering 
 appearances were most deceptive ; the ground was 
 imdermined, the mine was laid, a spark was applied ; 
 and a tremendous explosion followed. 
 
1708—1710.] PBOSECUTTON OP SACHEVERBLL. 143 
 
 It was resolved to prosecute Dr. Sacheverell, a high 
 diurch clergyman of St. Saviour's, Southwark. In a 
 sermon preached at St. Paul's Cathedral on the 5th 
 of November, he had reflected strongly on the Revolu- 
 tion, maintained the doctrine of passive obedience, 
 declaimed loudly on the dangers of the Church from 
 false brethren, and of the false brethren it was strongly 
 urged that some of the members of the Grovernment 
 were the chief. The sermon was itself a wretched 
 performance ; the divine who preached was neither 
 eminent for his learning nor piety ; but nothing less 
 than a great state trial would satisfy the wounded 
 feelings of Godolphin, whom the doctor had nick- 
 named Volpone, and of Sunderland, who was bent 
 on vindicating what he considered to be Whig prin- 
 ciples. This became the great work of the session. 
 While the complaint was being made, resolutions were 
 being passed, and the articles of impeachment prepared 
 in the December of 1709, and the January of 1710, 
 the cry that the church was in danger rose louder 
 and louder from hundreds of pulpits, the oak-leaf, the 
 badge of hereditary right, was everywhere seen in the 
 hats of the multitude, and the current of feeling set 
 in strongly in favour of the Tories and the High 
 Churchmen. Emboldened by this display of popular 
 passion, Queen Anne's secret advisers instigated her 
 to take every opportunity of humiliating Marlborough. 
 Against his wish, as Commander-in-chief, Lord Rivers 
 was made Lieutenant of the Tower, and the Duke was 
 ordered by her Majesty to confer a regiment that had 
 become vacant on Mrs. Masham's brother, who was 
 to be promoted over the heads of several older officers. 
 Great changes were made in the Cabinet, and the Duke 
 was hurried out of England as general plenipotentiary, 
 
144 IN EETIEEMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 nominally that he might watch over the conferences 
 for peace which had again been opened by the desire 
 of the French king, but really that his presence might 
 be no impediment to the further designs which Harley 
 and his confederates had formed, and which they were 
 impatiently waiting the opportunity to carry into exe- 
 cution. 
 
 It seems strange that with his influence over the 
 Queen entirely gone, and with every incident pro- 
 claiming the increasing power of his enemies, he did 
 not himself see the wisdom of concluding a peace. He 
 startled the other plenipotentiaries by announcing his 
 wife's disgrace at court ; but no steps were taken by him 
 to smooth the difficulties in the way of a successful 
 negotiation. Knowing, indeed, that the failure of the 
 last attempt had been laid to his charge, he did not 
 openly interfere in these conferences, which were held 
 at the little fishing village of G-ertruydenberg, to 
 explain the fourth and thirty-seventh of the preli- 
 minary articles, which, by the strong and utterly 
 unreasonable conditions they sought to impose, were 
 the great obstacles to peace. Even Torcy does not 
 lay the principal blame on Marlborough for the 
 rupture of this negotiation, but attributes the fault 
 to Count Sinzendorf, the Austrian minister, and to 
 the stolid determination of the Dutch deputies.* But 
 with regard to these conferences at Gcertruyden- 
 berg in the spring and summer of 1710, as with 
 regard to the negotiations at the Hague in the 
 spring and summer of 1709, there can be little 
 question that Bolingbroke was right in his subsequent 
 observations.! Had Marlborough and the English 
 
 * Torcy's IMmoires. 
 
 t Sketcli of the History and State of Europe. 
 
1708—1710.] THE CONFERENCES AT aEETRUYDENBEEG. 145 
 
 ministers really desired peace, peace might tten 
 have been made. But, to the disgrace of their 
 diplomacy and foresight, all hopes of a successful ne- 
 gotiation seemed further off than ever. Louis's great 
 objection was to the proposal that, if his grandson did 
 not give up the Spanish throne in two months, the 
 war should recommence, while all the places he had 
 given up as a security, should still be held by his 
 enemies, and turned against himself. Such a peace 
 could, in fact, have been no peace. It was now, how- 
 ever, pretended to attain the desirable object by still 
 more unreasonable conditions. During the previous 
 year, when it was hinted that, in the event of Philip 
 refusing to vacate the Spanish throne, Louis should 
 unite his arms with the allies, and make war upon 
 his own grandson, both Marlborough and Eugene 
 disclaimed any intention of making so strange a pro- 
 posal. Strange, however, as it was, the explicit 
 acceptance of this condition, as a preliminary, was 
 now insisted upon, as the only one on which a peace 
 could be signed. The King of France even offered 
 at last to contribute his share to the expenses of the 
 war to drive Philip from Spain ; but the plenipo- 
 tentiaries, on the part of the allies, would listen to 
 nothing but his full assent to this new preliminary, 
 and also declared, as if this were not enough, that 
 they reserved to themselves the power of bringing 
 forward any ulterior propositions they might think 
 necessary for their own security and to carry out 
 the object of the alliance. With so many powers 
 combined against France, each eager to obtain every 
 possible demand, this was, in fact, to render all terms 
 impossible, since^ as soon as one was conceded, another 
 could be brought forward. The acute statesmen and 
 
146 IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 warriors of the allies, with Marlborough and Eugene 
 at their head, must have been perfectly aware of this 
 result ; but they appear scarcely to have expected the 
 indignation which the thirty-seventh preliminary, as 
 it was at last explained, produced in France, and 
 wherever the party opposed to the war in England 
 or on the Continent was making itself heard. Louis 
 XrV. appeared in the character of a venerable 
 monarch, ready to concede everything for the sake of 
 peace, except the turning his sword against his own 
 grandchild. No sovereign could be expected to agree 
 to such a proposal ; it outraged humanity more even 
 than good policy. " If I am to continue the war," 
 said Louis, " it is better to contend with my enemies 
 than with my own people ;" and everywhere, except 
 in the camps and antechambers of the allied powers, 
 the world applauded this resolution. 
 
 Before the final rupture of the conferences, Marl- 
 borough and Eugene were again in the field. They 
 had concerted a plan of operations, which, if they 
 could have been properly carried out, would have 
 made the allies master of all the country from Arras 
 to the sea, and have caused the English flag once 
 more to float over the citadels of Calais and Boulogne. 
 But the spectacle of misery which everywhere met 
 the eyes of Marlborough in the French provinces, 
 even appealed to his sympathies, steeled as they might 
 be supposed to all the hardships of a war for the 
 continuance of which he was mainly responsible. In 
 villages he had left last year to go into winter quarters, 
 he found, on his return, half the inhabitants dead of 
 famine and fever ; and the survivors looked as though 
 they had just come forth from their graves. "It is 
 so mortifying," he wrote to Godolphin, "that no 
 
1708—1710.] DISMISSAL OF THE WHIGS. 147 
 
 Christian can see it, but must with all his heart, wish 
 for a peace." * 
 
 While the Duke was proceeding with the siege of 
 Douay, every post from England brought him news 
 of the disgrace of his friends and the triumph of his 
 enemies. The Duchess's last interview with the Queen 
 had been held on Good Friday ; reproaches, protesta- 
 tions, tears, supplications, all were in vain ; the dis- 
 carded favourite, who had almost from girlhood shared 
 in all Anne's joys and sorrows, parted with her for 
 ever. At the same time, Marlborough learnt the 
 appointment of the Duke of Shrewsbury to be Lord 
 Chamberlain. A little later, the general was sought 
 to be made the instrument of his own disgrace by 
 being told by his sovereign to nominate Colonel 
 Masham and Colonel Hill to be generals. But the 
 dismissal, in June, from his post of Secretary of State, 
 of Marlborough's son-in-law, the fierce and rancorous 
 Whig Earl of Sunderland, and the appointment of 
 the Tory Lord Dartmouth as his successor, was the 
 most decisive blow struck at the power of the ministry, 
 the ascendancy of the Whigs, and the influence of the 
 duke. Dignity, propriety, prudence, all counselled 
 Marlborough and Grodolphin to resign offices which they 
 held only in name, and to cease at once to be nomi- 
 nally responsible for the direction of affairs, all power 
 over which had obviously passed into other hands. 
 St. John and Harley, afterwards, used to boast over 
 their wine, that while Grodolphin, at this period was 
 still in office, and seemed to the outward world to hold 
 the reins of government, at their private assemblies 
 in Mrs. Masham's apartments everything of import- 
 
 * Coxe's Marlborough, iii. 195. 
 
148 IN RETIREMENT. [Chap. V. 
 
 ance was really decided. They often roared with 
 laughter at the manner in which the Queen, by show- 
 ing him attentions, and hinting that she might possibly 
 require his services to form an administration, made 
 a dupe of Lord Somers, and thus, through his influence, 
 prevented the Whigs from acting decisively until the 
 moment for action had passed away.* Such tactics 
 were, indeed, little honourable either to the Sovereign 
 or to those who counselled her to play so insidious 
 a part. But they had their effect. Marlborough was 
 advised not to give up his command, and the 
 Whigs were prevented from resigning in a body. 
 This was a fatal error. Every day the Lord Trea- 
 surer's position became more uncomfortable ; his friends 
 were one after another driven from oflSce, and Harley's 
 Tory adherents substituted in their places ; and Godol- 
 phin was at last unceremoniously dismissed by a letter 
 from the Queen, commanding him to break his staff, 
 delivered by a lackey in the royal livery to his hall 
 porter. 
 
 Even then, however, Harley did not cease his ma- 
 noeuvres. He professed his anxiety to form a moderate 
 administration, in which some of the principal Whigs 
 should be included. He declared that if the Lord 
 Chancellor Cowper and Mr. Walpole, the Secretary- 
 a1>War, would only remain in the government with 
 him, such inveterate Tories, as St. John and Har- 
 court, should only be admitted to subordinate offices. 
 St. John undoubtedly heard of this offer ; and, if 
 sincerely made, it was not likely, even in this season 
 of their common prosperity, to increase his gratitude to 
 
 * See Swift's Memoir on the Change of Queen Anne's Last Ministry, which 
 corresponds with the remarks of the Duchess of Marlborough in an endorse- 
 ment of a letter from Lord Somers. 
 
1708—1710.] HAELEY AND ST. JOHN'S FIEST QUAEBBL. 149 
 
 Harley. In fact, during this summer, already Harley,* 
 by his reserved ways, gave St. John reason to com- 
 plain. Though everything seemed so prosperous, the 
 two confederates were for some time not on the best of 
 terms, and St. John, being the subordinate, was obliged 
 to put up with Harley's fits of coldness. But his temper 
 was little suited for bearing meekly such annoyances. 
 Walpole and Cowper adhered firmly to their party. 
 Finding that all overtures were unavailing, and that 
 his enemies were not to be divided among themselves, 
 Harley threw off the mask, the Queen treated Somers 
 with rudeness, and on the 19th of September, this Whig 
 chief, with the Duke of Devonshire and Henry Boyle, 
 was dismissed. The Earl of Rochester succeeded 
 Somers as President of the Council, the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham was appointed Lord Steward instead of the 
 Duke of Devonshire ; and in place of Mr. Boyle, Mr. 
 St. John at last received the seals as Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 * The Stuart Papers fully confiiin the rumour that Harley was reluctant to 
 appoint Bolingbroke to a higher ofBoe than he had formerly occupied. — See 
 also Letter to Lord Orrery, May 18, 1711.— Bol. Corr., i. 132. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1710—1711. 
 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 The appointment excited little surprise. Thongli the 
 new Secretary of State had been out of Parliament 
 for more than two years, though, according to Mr. 
 Canning's sayings even the most eminent politician, 
 when once he disappears from the public scene, is 
 never missed, and though St. John, when he gave 
 up the representation of Wootton Bassett, was scarcely 
 thirty years of age, and was but thirty-two when he 
 was placed as Secretary of State in one of the highest 
 and most responsible oflBces in the service of the 
 Crown, yet so great had been the impression pro- 
 duced by his genius, activity, and party zeal, during the 
 eight years he had sat in parliament and the four years 
 he had been Secretary-at-War, his pretensions to fill 
 the great post he was at last placed in were generally 
 admitted. Admiration more than astonishment, was 
 the sentiment generally raised by his sudden elevation. 
 The impression made upon Swift, on his first acquaint- 
 ance with the Secretary, very shortly after he had 
 entered office, is remarkable. " I am thinking," the 
 doctor wrote to Stella, " what a veneration we used 
 to have for Sir William Temple because he might have 
 
1710—1711.] SECRETART OF STATE FOE FOREIGN AFFAIES. "151 
 
 been Secretary of State at fifty ; and here is a yonng 
 fellow hardly thirty in that employment." * 
 
 But St. John was not only an eminent member 
 of a cabinet composed of leading politicians : he 
 was one out of the two principal ministers who 
 were understood to be in fact the government. 
 His name was coupled with that of Harley ; the 
 administration was called theirs; according to Wal- 
 pole's characteristic simile, the name of the ministerial 
 firm was Harley and St. John. Abroad or at home 
 their colleagues were seldom mentioned. The two 
 chiefs were everything ; they dictated the measures, 
 they guided the deliberations, of the cabinet. 
 
 At that time there were but two Secretaries of State, 
 one having charge of what was called the Northern, and 
 the other of the Southern department. But St. John 
 was considered the Secretary of State ; he was sjooken 
 of everywhere as Mr. Secretary St. John ; the other 
 Secretary, Lord Dartmouth, a plain honest n^an, was 
 scarcely ever thought of. Lord Dartmouth was not 
 a party leader ; Lord Dartmouth was not an orator ; 
 besides, Lord Dartmouth could neither express himself 
 fluently nor intelligibly in French. Even Harley's 
 French was bad. But St. John could speak this lan- 
 guage of diplomacy and fashion with much facility and 
 correctness ; he alone could communicate readily and 
 properly with the foreign ministers ; he became, there- 
 fore, with the charge of the Northern department, what 
 is now called Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.f 
 
 A position of greater eminence and trust than the 
 young man of thirty-two, suddenly found himself placed 
 in, a British subject has seldom occupied. This was a 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Nov. 11, 1710. 
 
 t Respecting the French of Lord Dartmouth, Harley, and St. John, see 
 Torcy's Memoires, ii. 47 ; and the Stuart Papers : Macpherson, ii. 530 and 532. 
 
152 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 time of war ; it was a time when tlie English arms had 
 been by fortune and genius raised to the zenith of glory 
 and success ; eight allied powers were at the command 
 of the victorious Captain-Gleneral ; another campaign 
 threatened to lay the road open directly to the capital 
 of the old enemy. England was in a position to dictate 
 a peaoe almost on any terms ; and her Foreign Secre-- 
 tary must necessarily be the principal person to super- 
 intend and carry on those great negotiations involving 
 the most important interests of so many states and em- 
 pires. But this was not only a time of war ; it was 
 also the time of a disputed succession. Queen Anne's 
 health was shaken ; she became stouter every day, and 
 every day she became less fitted for taking active ex- 
 ercise ; the utmost extent of physical exertion of which 
 she was capable was to drive rapidly in a one-horse 
 chaise, with large wheels, after the staghounds at 
 Windsor,* Subject as she was to attacks of gout, and 
 habitually indulgent as she was in all the pleasures of 
 the table, her body became most gross, and, as there 
 was no restraining her Majesty's propensity to gour- 
 mandise, it was certain that at best she could last but a 
 veiy few years. Any day the throne might suddenly 
 become vacant, and on such an event, the minis- 
 ters in office must have almost the fate of England in 
 their hands. On them it would all but depend whether 
 the provisions of the Act of Settlement should be 
 carried out, and the Brunswick dynasty seated on the 
 British throne. They might almost make their own 
 terms either with the House of Hanover or the House 
 of Stuart ; and the Foreign Secretary especially, through 
 all the means of communication he possessed with the 
 
 * See Swift's description of Her Majesty, driving like another Jehu, in his 
 Journal to Stella. 
 
1710—1711.] ST. JOHN'S POLITICS. 153 
 
 continental courts, and as the ablest and most ambitious 
 man of his party, must stand in the most commanding 
 of all situations. It was in his power to do much good, 
 or much evil. By acting in a noble, patriotic, and states- 
 manlike manner, he might draw even his adversaries 
 towards him, lay the foundations broad and deep of 
 his own power, and secure the gratitude of all future 
 generations. 
 
 But if we inquire closely as to the spirit in which 
 the new Secretary of State and his friends, who were 
 called upon to act such a part at such a time, came into 
 office, we shall be not a little disappointed. We at once 
 sink from the poetry of politics into very plain prose. 
 On this subject, St. John, the most unexceptionable of 
 authorities, has been more than usually explicit, and his 
 candour, at least, is .praiseworthy. " I am afraid," he 
 afterwards wrote, " that we came to court in the same 
 disposition as all parties have done ; that the principal 
 spring of our actions was to have the government of the 
 State in our hands ; that our principal views were the 
 preservation of this power, great employments to our- 
 selves, and great opportunities of rewarding those who 
 had helped to raise us, and of hurting those who stood 
 in opposition to us. It is however true, that with 
 these considerations of private and party interest there 
 were others intermingled, which had, for their object, 
 the public good of the nation — at least what we took to 
 be such." * In other words, St. John and his friends, 
 by his own confession, came to power at this great 
 crisis, in the first place to serve themselves and their 
 party, and then, if they could without injury to their 
 own selfish interests, serve their country. Without 
 entering into the question whether this is the rule of 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham. 
 
154 THE SECEETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 conduct adopted by all parties, as he leaves it to be 
 understood, the admission is at least conclusive against 
 himself. Perhaps the sequel may show that the com- 
 plete defeat and ruin which overtook Bolingbroke and 
 his party, proceeded mainly from this utterly secondary 
 view of the public interests, in comparison with that 
 of their own, which he dehberately avows to have been 
 their guiding principle. 
 
 The fact was, that disguise it as they might endeavour 
 to do from themselves, this celebrated ministry was 
 established on no sohd foundation. The means by 
 which Harley and St. John had entered oflSce were fatal 
 to independence of mind, or to any enlarged and gene- 
 rous regard for the public interests. Female intrigue, 
 and the cry that the Church was in danger, had made 
 Harley Chancellor of the Exchequer, and St. John 
 Secretary of State ; and they found that on these 
 influences they were still obliged to depend. It was 
 never pretended that Mrs. Masham had any public 
 object in view in outwitting the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough, and supplanting her in the sovereign's favour; 
 and Harley, when he found himself chief minister, 
 appeared to know as Httle what to do with the power 
 he had so insidiously acquired as his feminine accom- 
 phce. Of Sacheverell, the other wretched instrument, 
 by which the ministers had obtained office, they were 
 themselves positively ashamed ;* and though it suited 
 their purpose to tauut their pohtical opponents with 
 designs to destroy the Church, both Harley and 
 St. John could not but confess that they were themselves 
 scarcely the most fitting champions of the estabhsh- 
 ment. Nothing disgusts a discriminating student of 
 those times more than the aspersions which Swift, the 
 
 • See Journal to Stella. 
 
1710—1711.] DISSOLUTION OF THE PAELIAMBNT. 155 
 
 greatest literary advocate of this ministry, constantly 
 casts upon Somers and the Whigs for their tolerant 
 principles. "It was the practice," wrote the doctor, 
 ' ' of those politicians to introduce such naen as were 
 perfectly indifferent to any or no religion, and who 
 were not likely to inherit much loyalty from those to 
 whom they owed their birth ;"* as if Harley's ances- 
 tors had been remarkable for their loyalty, and as if 
 the author of The Tale of a Tub, and his friend 
 St. John, were most earnest, pious, and exemplary 
 members of the Church of England. All this was 
 miserable cant; the men who used it knew it to be 
 miserable cant ; and they expected that their readers 
 would be as insincere and shameless as themselves. 
 
 The first question which Harley and St. John had to 
 determine, while the new Secretary of State was yet on 
 the threshold of office, was whether they should or 
 should not continue the existing parliament ? To pre- 
 vent the premature dissolution of the House of Com- 
 mons, in which their party predominated, had been the 
 principal reason why Somers and the Whig leaders 
 had to the last clung to office, and advised Marl- 
 borough not to throw up his command.^ Their mode- 
 ration was useless. By the retirement of Cowper and 
 Walpole, and the appointment of St. John to high 
 office, it became clear that Harley had broken entirely 
 with the Whigs, and that a new Parliament was inevit- 
 able. The enthusiasm with which Sacheverell was every- 
 where received, as he made a more than royal pro- 
 gress into Wales to a benefice that the new ministers 
 had given him, left no doubt in the state of the public 
 mind what the result of the elections would be. Late 
 in September the old Parliament was dissolved by pro- 
 
 * History of the Four Last Years of the Queen. 
 
156 THE SECEETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 clamation, and a new one summoned. The Whigs were 
 nearly everywhere heaten ; the only member of the 
 party whose popularity seemed uninjured in the storm, 
 being the gentle and humane Addison, whose election 
 passed undisputed for Malmesbury. Their majority 
 entirely disappeared. Some said the Whigs would have 
 only a third, others only a sixth of the new House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The great party contest occupied much of the month 
 of October. St. John had two elections on his hands, 
 that of his borough, which, of course, gave him no 
 trouble, and that for his county, to which it was 
 necessary he should personally attend. He obtained 
 the Queen's leave of absence from court. For a time 
 both business and correspondence were suspended, that 
 he might go ifito the country to secure his own election, 
 and assist those of his friends. With so deep a stake on 
 the game, he, of course, threw himself into the thickest 
 of the fight. He returned to London member for 
 Berkshire.* 
 
 Resuming his official duties, he wrote eagerly to 
 different correspondents whom he was establishing 
 throughout Europe. One of St. John's characteristics 
 as a statesman was, indeed, the immense mass of corre- 
 spondence, both official and private, that he managed to 
 carry on. A.n unpublished letter to Mr. DayroUes, 
 then Secretary at the Hague, but who was thence 
 expected to go to Geneva, was written from White- 
 hall shortly after the Secretary's return from his elec- 
 tion for Berkshire. This Mr. Dayrolles, or more 
 correctly D'Ayrolles, having been obliged by the 
 other party, was not a favourite of St. John, who was 
 for months afterwards in no haste to send him on his 
 
 * See the Bolingbroke Con-., i. 3-5. 
 
1710—1711.] THE OFFICIAL STYLE. 157 
 
 mission to Geneva, calling him, with an appointment 
 of twelve hundred a year, an old woman, whose 
 talents no time and no opportunities of improvement 
 could raise above the level of a domestic servant. The 
 letter is as follows : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Since my last to you, I have received your 
 letters of the 7th, 11th, and 14th inst., N.S. ; but having 
 no commands from her Majesty, nor any returns to 
 make but my thanks for the news you are pleased to 
 send me, I hope you will more easily excuse my not 
 troubling you with an answer to every particular 
 letter. 
 
 " I am glad that what I wrote in mine of the 27th 
 of October was to your satisfaction. When I receive 
 any orders from her Majesty relating to your commis- 
 sion to Geneva, I shall not fail to signify them to you. 
 " I am. Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " H. St. John."* 
 
 This was terse and polite, but not very satisfactory 
 to an anxious diplomatist waiting for orders to depart. 
 
 Four days after this letter was despatched from 
 Whitehall the new Parliament assembled. Some of 
 the Whigs still retained a hope of seeing their old 
 speaker. Smith, re-elected. But the time of the rival 
 whom he once defeated was now come ; William 
 Bromley, the grave and respectable member of the 
 University of Oxford, a friend of St. John, and, like 
 him, numbered among the principal members of the 
 
 * Additional MSS., 12,099. 
 
158 THE SECBETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 Tory party, was chosen without opposition. The 
 queen, in her royal speech, alluded to her desire to con- 
 tinue the war vigorously, particularly in Spain ; and 
 this was looked upon as a slight to the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, whose great mihtary genius had been so long 
 engaged in Flanders. The address to her Majesty from 
 the Lords was a curious composition, and had evidently 
 been drawn up by some Tory novices in that particular 
 department of hterature : the last sentence needlessly 
 began by informing the queen that her loyal peers had 
 nothing more to add. The address from the Com- 
 mons was also remarkable ; but the style was much 
 superior, and in some of its oratorical reiterations, and 
 eloquent amplifications, bore unmistakable evidence of 
 St. John's pen.* 
 
 Another production during this eventful period 
 excited much more attention. A few weeks before 
 Grodolphin's fall, a weekly political paper, entitled 
 The Examiner, had been started by the chiefs of the 
 Tory party, to justify the impending changes, and to 
 increase the popular clamour against the Whigs. 
 The first twelve papers, extending over the months 
 of August, September, and October, were written 
 with considerable but unequal abihly by the literary 
 champions of the Tories, principaHv Dr. Friend, 
 Atterbury, Prior, and St. John himself. It would, at 
 this time, be impossible to ascribe each publication to 
 the respective authors ; and, indeed, many of them were 
 evidently joiut contributions of all the wit and sarcasm 
 at the command of these friendly associates. One 
 paper, however, the tenth of the series, stood out pro- 
 minently from the rest, and became widely celebrated 
 
 * See this address in the Pari. Hist., ri. 930. The address of the Lords 
 will be foTind at page 928 of the same Tolnme. 
 
1710—1711.1 MR. ST. JOHN'S LETTER. 159 
 
 as Mr, St. John's Letter. It was a vehement but 
 anonymous attack on the conduct of the war and the 
 Duke of Marlborough, with some very fierce observa- 
 tions on the Duchess, who is not very gallantly 
 reviled in language worse even than her own style 
 of coarse invective. Of the authorship of this 
 letter there can be no doubt ; whether, however, it 
 deserves all the praises lavished upon it by some of 
 Bolingbroke's admirers, is questionable ; those who 
 read it with impartial attention, will probably think 
 with Walter Scott, who had certainly no prejudices 
 against St. John, or the poHtical cause he supported, 
 that this famous letter has been " the object of much 
 exaggerated encomium." 
 
 One of the leading arguments which St. John first 
 produced in this paper, and repeatedly used in writing 
 on the same question in his subsequent retirement, was, 
 that while the interests of England were merely secon- 
 dary in the war, and, according to the terms of the grand 
 alliance, she engaged in it only as one of a confederacy, 
 she no sooner became embarked in the contest than she 
 threw herself heartily into it as a principal whose 
 existence was staked on the issue. It is difficult to 
 understand how a great nation can, when it embarks 
 in a war, refrain from embarking in it as a principal. 
 Surely, if England fights at all, one of the recognised 
 principles of political wisdom is, that she ought to fight 
 with her whole strength. Nothing is so cruel, bloody, 
 inefiicient, and inglorious, as a Httle war. When a great 
 power is once involved in a contest of such a nature, it is 
 idle to talk about a secondary interest : this may be a 
 reason for keeping out of the struggle altogether ; it is 
 none for carrying it on with only a part of the means at 
 the command of the government. Looser language than 
 
160 THE SECRETAEY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 St. John used on this subject was never employed by 
 any statesman. 
 
 But had England then only a secondary interest in 
 the war of the Spanish succession ? or could there 
 ever be a great contest .for the balance of power, 
 and for the inheritance of a great empire, extending 
 over not only some of the fairest parts of Europe, 
 but of some of the noblest provinces of America, 
 in which England, by any reasoning, might be 
 shown to have only a secondary interest ? She was, 
 in fact, the life and soul of the great confede- 
 racy : to keep it together she had made great sacri- 
 fices both to the repubhc of Holland and the Emperor ; 
 and there seemed something much more statesmanlike 
 in thus magnanimously bearing, in a season of victory, 
 with some of the shortcomings of the allies, than in 
 jealously carping at their efforts, and railing at their 
 selfishness. She had at least the gratification of having 
 brought down to her feet the power and pride of 
 her great rival; of having throughout the Continent 
 raised the renown of the English arms to a height 
 which it had never reached for many centuries ; of 
 having made the name of an Englishman respected 
 and feared throughout every country in the world. 
 A more injudicious proceeding than for the Secre- 
 tary of State for Foreign Afi'airs to begin his duties 
 at such an important crisis, by anonymous attacks 
 in a published letter, on each and all of the allies of 
 England, could scarcely be imagined. If the letter 
 became known to be his composition, what would be the 
 consequence ? That distrust must be sown where there 
 had formerly been union and confidence, and that 
 France, instead of being ready to accept peace on any 
 terms, must again raise her head, and under every 
 
1710—1711.] ENGLAND AND HER ALLIES. 161 
 
 advantage once more begin the insidious game of her 
 diplomacy. The authorship of the letter did indeed 
 become known ; and it certainly did not make the 
 astute French sovereign offer conditions of peace again, 
 as St. John hoped, at all resembling those which had been 
 rejected at the conferences of Gertruydenberg. Every 
 power engaged with others in a war, naturally thinks 
 its own part more burdensome than those of the rest of 
 the allies. It is not surprising to find that the same 
 kind of arguments which St. John employs to per- 
 suade England that she was hardly treated by the other 
 members of the great confederacy, were employed by 
 the French minister at the Hague in 1709, to induce 
 Holland to desert the alliance and make a separate 
 peace with France.* Torcy said to the Dutch deputies 
 on the part played by their republic, very much though 
 not quite so eloquently what St. John said in this letter 
 on the part of England. " We engaged as confederates, 
 but we have been made to proceed as principals ; prin- ' 
 cipals in expense of blood and treasure, whilst hardly a 
 second place in respect and dignity is allowed us. . . . 
 Britain is expected to remain exhausted of men and 
 money, to see her trade divided among her neighbours, 
 her revenues anticipated to future generations, and to 
 have this only glory left her, that she has proved a 
 farm to the bank, a province to Holland, and a jest to 
 the whole world." St. John, hesitating not, however 
 to descend from these great political questions to assail 
 
 * "Et veritablement," wrote the Frencli minister of Hollajid in 1709 
 " cette rdpublique tenoit depuis longtemps une conduite direotement contraire 
 k ces anciennes maximes. La plus inviolable pour elle ^toit autrefois, de faire 
 en sorte que la balance fiit ^gale entre les principales puissances de I'Burope : 
 elle s'en Stoit tellement &art^e, qu'elle employoit maintenant ses richesses et 
 les ^puisoit, pour faire penoher cette balance, ou plutot I'entrainer, en faveur 
 de la maison d'Autriche." — Torqy's M^moires, i. 121. 
 
 M 
 
162 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 the Duchess of Marlborough, openly calls her an inso- 
 lent woman, the worst of her sex, a fary, a plague. 
 " Now, thanks be to Grod," he exclaims, " that fury 
 who broke loose to execute the vengeance of heaven 
 on a sinful people is restrained, and the royal hand is 
 reached out to chain up that plague." 
 
 Earl Cowper, the great Whig lawyer, who was not to 
 be seduced from his allegiance to his party by all the dis- 
 ingenuous arts of Harley, repHed to his Tory manifesto. 
 His defence was addressed to the editor of the Tatler, 
 Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., a name which Swift had made 
 famous in his ludicrous assaults on Partridge, the alma- 
 nack maker, and which Steele had adopted to give 
 greater distinction to this the first series of those peri- 
 odical essays then in course of publication. It was 
 impossible to answer completely all that St. John 
 had urged against neglecting to bring about a peace, 
 when it might have been so easily obtained at the 
 Hague in 1709, or at Grertruydenberg in the last 
 summer ; but in reply to the injudicious taunts about 
 the Whigs depending at court on feminine intrigue 
 for support, when their adversaries had risen to 
 power by the most despicable feminine intrigue ever 
 known in British history, there was much to be said, 
 which the Earl did not neglect to say with keenness 
 and spirit. Had he read the congratulatory letters 
 which St. John had written to Marlborough after the 
 victories of Ramilies and Oudenarde, and that respecting 
 the battle of ^lalplaquet, even so recently as during 
 the preceding year, he might have personally retorted 
 on his brilliant adversary with still more damaging 
 effect. St. John, it appeared, now thought that our 
 great victories over France had long been great mis- 
 fortunes, and that peace ought to have been made in 
 
1710—1711.] PEACE A NECESSITY OP THE MINISTRY. lf)3 
 
 1706, when both himself and Harley were in office, and 
 therefore responsible for the continuance of the war.* 
 
 Peace, however, was the great necessity of the new 
 administration. The ministers, as Bolingbroke after- 
 wards candidly declared, thought that to put an end to 
 hostilities was for the interest of their country, and that 
 at least both to themselves as well as to all mankind, 
 the termination of the contest appeared to be the 
 interest of their party.f It was the only means by 
 which the Duke of Marlborough could be reduced to 
 the rank of a subject. It was the only means by which 
 the ministers could be rendered independent of the 
 monied interest, including the Bank and the East 
 India Company, which were principally in the hands of 
 the Whigs, and the growing importance of which was 
 watched with so much dislike and indignation by the 
 country gentlemen. From the first moment of their 
 accession to office, to bring about a peace as soon as ever 
 the opportunity offered, and to make an opportunity if 
 it did not of itself speedily present one, was the fixed 
 determination of Harley and St. John. 
 
 But when the vessel has long been steadily sailing 
 with a full impetus in one direction, it is not so easy 
 whatever may be the desire of the pilot, all at once to 
 bring it about, and sail on quite an opposite track. For 
 a short while it seemed that everything would go on as 
 usual. One of St. John's earliest letters as Secretary 
 of State was to Buys, the Pensionary of Amsterdam. 
 With the exception of the President, or Grand Pen- 
 sionary, Heinsius, the devoted friend and servant of 
 King William, and still firmly attached to Marlborough 
 
 * St. John's Letter and Earl Oowper's Reply are both printed in Scott's 
 edition of the Somers' Tracts, xiii. 71 and 75. 
 t Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE SECRETARY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 and Eugene, Buys was the leading statesman of the 
 Dutch. Republic. He had been several times on 
 missions to England, was well acquainted with all our 
 pubhc men, and, with thoroughly Dutch pertinacity, 
 steadily adhered to the interests of Holland. A very 
 grave, and somewhat pompous official, through his 
 solemn exterior the little outpourings of human vanity 
 were frequently seen to make their way. He prided 
 himself on his eloquence, had, much to Torcy's annoy- 
 ance, made long speeches at the late conferences at the 
 Hague, and in his stolid Flemish style was quite a 
 match for the graceful, com-teous, and refined French 
 minister. St. John, anxious to gain the confidence of 
 Buys, indulged in professions of fidelity to the cause 
 of the allies, and of love for Holland, very different 
 from what he expressed in his letter to The Examiner. 
 " I have always," he wrote to Buys in French, 
 " looked upon the interests of our countries as insepa- 
 rable. It is a principle which has never been con- 
 tradicted since your Republic was founded, that when 
 our sovereigns have pursued the true interests of the 
 kingdom, they have been the friends of Holland ; and 
 that we have never been your enemies but when our 
 Court had designs as pernicious to us as to the Lords, 
 the States General. These are the maxims which 
 shall govern my conduct, and I hope that with your 
 good advice I shall be able to render these dispositions 
 in some manner useful to the interests of both na- 
 tions."* Admirable words ! How comforting to the 
 alarmed Pensionary of Amsterdam, trembhng at what 
 he had heard to be the designs of Harley and St. 
 John ! Could the "Whig Somers, or his pupil the Whig 
 Walpole, say more ? 
 
 * TLis is the first letter in the Bolingbroke Correspondence. 
 
1710—1711.] JOHN DEUMMOND. 165 
 
 There was at that time a merchant of Amsterdam by- 
 name John Drnmmond. He was a native of Scotland, 
 a Tory, and had had intimate relations with the leaders 
 of the Tory party in the time of the Godolphin admi- 
 nistration, when to the outer world St. John and his 
 friends had but little prospect of power. This gen- 
 tleman entered into an intimate correspondence with 
 St. John from the moment of his accession to ofiSce, and 
 began to be considered as an unavowed but most con- 
 fidential agent of the ministry. St. John frequently 
 told him that he was of more use than any of the 
 British ambassadors abroad ; and, indeed, the Secre- 
 tary wrote more freely to him than to any of the 
 recognized servants of the British Crown. But even 
 to this trusted agent St. John at first thought fit to 
 declare his determination to remain true to Holland 
 and to the Grand Alliance. It seemed that whatever 
 change there might be in the domestic policy, there was 
 to be none in the foreign policy of the new administra- 
 tion. " Tou may venture to assure everybody," St. 
 John wrote to this Mr. Drummond, " that credit will 
 be supported, the war prosecuted, the confederacy im- 
 proved, and the principle in which we engaged, pur- 
 sued as far as possible. Our friends and enemies both 
 will learn the same lesson, that however we differ about 
 things purely domestic, yet we are unanimous in those 
 great points which concern the present and future hap- 
 piness of Europe."* 
 
 To M. Eoberthon, the private secretary of the Elector 
 of Hanover, and to Lieutenant-General Cadogan, the 
 favourite of Marlborough, the Secretary's early corre- 
 spondence was in similar terms. " I commend you 
 extremely," he said to Cadogan, " for your firm resolu- 
 
 * Corr., i. 4. 
 
166 THE SECRETARY OP STATE. [Chap. VI, 
 
 tion of adhering to tliat great man, to whom you have 
 so many obligations ; and I dare say you will serve 
 him with sober and solid marks of your gratitude — not 
 with that empty impotent noise by which some people 
 have rendered themselves, if possible, more despicable 
 than they were before." St. John and Cadogan had 
 been old friends. They had been rivals for Marl- 
 borough's protection ; to him they had both been under 
 great obligations ; they had both been especially called 
 his favourites ; but, notwithstanding St. John's kindly 
 expressions, their paths were now separate, and they 
 were to become very like enemies. 
 
 In a very few months afterwards St. John's con- 
 duct formed a sad comment on these other words in 
 the same letter of the Secretary : " Whatever effects 
 the revolutions of parties have on others, they have 
 none on me with respect to personal friendship. 
 Though measures are to be kept with party, yet 
 friendship may be preserved too ; and there is no need 
 of sacrificing to political schemes all the duties of 
 private life." 
 
 On the course in which St. John was embarked, it 
 was not easy to act up to these professions. It cannot 
 be too plainly inculcated that, notwithstanding the high 
 professions of devotion to their country and the Church, 
 in which the ministers indulged, the whole politics of 
 that time begun and ended in a ladies' quarrel. To 
 the outward world the Secretary and his friends might 
 seem directing the politics of Europe, by giving the law 
 to the Court and Parliament, to generals and sovereigns ; 
 but, in many respects, they were the helpless instru- 
 ments of feminine caprice. The Queen was not so 
 easily governed as she had been. Harley and Mrs. 
 Masham had so long advised her to have a will of her 
 
1710—1711.] MARLBOROUGH. 167 
 
 own, when she spoke against the manner in which she 
 had been enslaved by Godolphin and Marlborough, 
 that when she had become, as they told her, Queen 
 indeed, she began to act with a kind of unreasoning 
 obstinacy that was very peculiar. Many things Mrs. 
 Masham and the ministers could get her to do, but 
 there were some with which no arguments they used, 
 and neither coaxing nor flattery, conld induce her to 
 comply. She grew jealous, suspicious, and sullen, and 
 would have her own way.* 
 
 In his heart, there is no doubt that St. John really 
 would, at this time, have been glad to come to terms 
 of accommodation with Marlborough. But it was im- 
 possible to reconcile the Duchess and Mrs. Masham, 
 or the Duchess and Queen Anne. The letter in 
 The Examiner was not the only evidence of hostility 
 the new ministers showed to the great Greneral who 
 had so long dictated the policy of England. Much 
 meanness was displayed in the manner in which the 
 grants from the Treasury for paying the workmen at 
 Woodstock were suspended ; so that the building which 
 was to be a monument of national gratitude to the hero 
 of Blenheim, was very nearly becoming a national dis- 
 grace. Some time afterwards three of his most devoted 
 officers. Macartney,^ Meredith, and Honeywood, were 
 dismissed from the service for drinking confusion to the 
 new ministry ; and the example, as St. John himself 
 declared, was intended to be a warning to the whole 
 army. At the same time the enmity between the 
 Queen and the Duchess became more bitter than ever, 
 and the Duchess, much to the Secretary's indignation, 
 
 * This is veiy plainly confessed by Swift in his Memoirs relating to the 
 change in Queen Anne's ministry : and he was himself a living instance of 
 her Majesty's infleiibility. It is well known that all the influence of Harley, 
 St. John, and Mrs. Masham could not make him a bishop. 
 
168 THE SECRET AEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 threatened to publish the letters which her sovereigB, 
 under the name of Mrs. Morley, had formerly written to 
 her beloved Mrs. Freeman, when neither of them foresaw 
 the unfortunate termination of this strange intimacy. 
 " I had almost forgot to mention to you," wrote St. 
 John to his fi-iend Drummond, " an instance of the 
 admirable temper in which the great man is likely, at 
 his return, to find his wife. Among other extra- 
 vagances she now declares that she will print the 
 queen's letters to her — letters written while her Majesty 
 had the good opinion of her, and the fondness for her, 
 which her insolent behaviour, since that time, has abso- 
 lutely eradicated."* 
 
 It is obvious that this state of things could not last. 
 As the Duke's return to England, from Flanders, was 
 daily expected, the Duchess's final dismissal from all 
 her employments at Court was decided upon. How 
 Marlborough would conduct himself under these altered 
 circumstances was the object of much speculation 
 between St. John and his confidential correspondent, 
 the Amsterdam merchant. The Secretary had, how- 
 ever, made up his mind how to act, and his determina- 
 tion was characteristic. ISTothing but the Duke's 
 absolute submission to his enemies would satisfy St. 
 John. He must give up the Whigs altogether ; he 
 must submit himself in everything to the queen ; he 
 must implicitly obey her ministers ; he must not pre- 
 sume to have a will of his own in any thing. Neutrality 
 between the two parties was not enough. His grace 
 must enter into distinct and positive engagements to 
 co-operate heartily in all the policy of the Tories ; and 
 not only to put up with his wife's disgrace, but himself 
 to get rid of her. Such were the terms which the Secre- 
 
 * Letter from Whitehall, Nov. 18, 1710. 
 
1710—1711.] ST. JOHN AND MARLBOROUGH. 
 
 169 
 
 tary, througli his agent, Drummond, presumed to dictate 
 to Marlborough, whom a few short months before he 
 had enthusiastically professed to all but worship. 
 
 Marlborough's career had been tortuous enough. 
 He might have reason to dread an investigation into 
 all his pecuniary transactions with the allies ; he might 
 fear that his former correspondence with the court of 
 St. Germains might be revealed to the world ; he could 
 not, perhaps, afford summarily to reject with indigna- 
 tion such insulting proposals : but he was not quite 
 such a fool as to agree to them. To abandon the Whigs 
 utterly,- and to submit in all things to the Queen 
 and her ministers : what did this really mean but to 
 throw himself not only at the feet of Harley and St. 
 John, but to submit in all things to two women, 
 that weak sovereign, whose mind, as the duke, who 
 knew her well, said, was white paper, ready to receive 
 any idea which those whom she trusted thought fit to 
 impress upon it ; and that wretched Abigail of the 
 bedchamber, whom the duchess had herself introduced 
 to court, and who hated her former patrons and rela- 
 tions, the Marlboroughs, with the rancorous hatred of 
 one who had repaid her benefactors with the blackest 
 treachery and ingratitude ? Surely this was a Kttle too 
 much to ask. Whatever might be his failings, the 
 greatest general who had ever led the British troops to 
 victory, and who had filled the world with his renown, 
 had not fallen quite so low as to receive on bended 
 knees, and obey without any dispute, all the insolent 
 caprices of this Mrs. Masham and her confederates. 
 The Duke replied, quietly and courteously, that though 
 he would not make himself a centre of opposition to the 
 government, he could scarcely be expected altogether 
 to give up his old friends. 
 
170 THE SECBETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 When St. John was informed of his grace's answer 
 he became very angry. Indignation quite ran away 
 with his pen as he commented on the words, old 
 friends, which the Duke had used. Were not the Tories 
 his old friends ? Who stood by him when he was dis- 
 graced by King William ? Who put him and Grodol- 
 phin in power during the first years of the Queen's 
 reign? Who allowed themselves to be most shame- 
 fully betrayed and driven from Court by the two 
 chiefs they had so much trusted ? Talk about aban- 
 doning his old friends indeed ! Let the duke give up 
 his new friends, and return to his old friends ; not that 
 they needed his protection : they could do him more 
 harm than he could do them good.* 
 
 It is obvious from the tone which St. John adopted, 
 that he felt the position of the government secure. 
 Marlborough could not have followed such advice, or 
 St. John have given it, except on the supposition that 
 the return of the Whigs to power was impossible. 
 Such appears to have been the deliberate opinion of 
 the Secretary. He had no fear of a day of reckoning. 
 Nemesis was not the divinity which he thought of 
 worshipping. He was securing himself no retreat; 
 he was providing for no evil day. The Whigs had 
 fallen in such a storm of popular fury, that it seemed 
 they never could rise again. Yet the whole history 
 of England, from the reign of Charles II., when the 
 two parties first began to be decidedly established as 
 candidates for office, might have taught a prudent 
 statesman the wisdom of not trusting to these sudden 
 ebullitions of popular passion, and of not thinking 
 that his adversaries were destroyed because they were 
 
 * See the Letters to Mr. Dmminoiid, of Nov. 28 and Dec. 22, 1710. 
 
 CJorr., i. 17 and 30. 
 
1710—1711.] SWIFT 171 
 
 for tlie moment beaten. Even St. John's own experience, 
 and that of his friend Harley, might have taught him 
 this lesson ; but it was all in vain . 
 
 It is remarkable that another of the greatest politi- 
 cal writers, and one of the shrewdest observers of that 
 age, had formed the same erroneous conclusion from 
 those events, in which he was also deeply interested. 
 Swift had come from Ireland while the ministerial 
 changes were in progress, to press the granting of the 
 first fruits to the Irish Church, in a similar manner 
 to that in which they had been conferred on the 
 English establishment. His old friends the Whigs, 
 for whom he had written the somewhat pedantic 
 History of the Dissensions in Athens and Rome, had 
 not promoted him ; the Lord Lieutenant Wharton had 
 neglected a letter of recommendation from Somers ; 
 the Yicar of Laracor had been received very coldly 
 by Godolphin. Burning with vengeance, on some 
 civilities which had been shown him by Harley, who 
 introduced him to St. John, and saw the literary ser 
 vices which the author of the Tale of a Tub could 
 render in this time of fierce party strife. Swift had 
 cast in his lot with the Tories, and had at the thirteenth 
 number begun to write regularly the Thursday weekly 
 paper, The Examiner, which had hitherto depended 
 on the desultory contributions of the chiefs of the 
 party, some of whom, like St. John, had no leisure 
 for regular periodical composition. Forgetting that 
 he once defended the Whig statesmen, when they 
 had been impeached, Swift undertook to libel them 
 all round, and appeared ready to recommend another 
 impeachment. The passions of the moment blinded 
 his judgment and subdued his reason as much as they 
 had done the mind of St. John. He, too, believed that 
 
172 THE SECEETAEY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 tte day of the Whig domination had ceased for ever. 
 He wrote confidentially to Stella, " They are done with 
 this kingdom, I think, at least for onr time." * 
 
 And all the overweening confidence of both Swift 
 and St. John, depended on the life of a valetudinarian 
 queen, whom, from her love of good eating, an over- 
 burdened stomach and a fit of indigestion might any 
 day send into the grave. 
 
 It was late in December before Marlborough arrived 
 in England. He had two interviews with the Secre- 
 tary. St. John renewed in person the strong repre- 
 sentations, or rather the system of bidlying, which 
 he intimated in his private letters to Mr. Drummond, 
 and other communications, of course intended to be 
 shown to the duke. He undertook to act, as far as 
 Marlborough was concerned, the part of a candid 
 friend. This young Secretary of thirty-two gave his 
 illustrious friend and patron, the victorious general 
 of sixty, a long political lecture on the difference 
 between the Whigs and the Tories, and rated him 
 soundly on the mistake he had made in abandoning 
 the party which was so zealous for the church and 
 the monarchy, and connecting himself with the Whigs, 
 who, St. John assured him, never could, except^ under 
 very peculiar circumstances, be so strong as their 
 opponents, and were obliged to depend for support 
 on the dissenters and the new-fangled monied interest.* 
 To all this, Marlborough, who was politeness itself, 
 hstened with an outward show of complacence. But 
 
 * Journal to Stella. 
 
 t See Coxe's Marlborough, iii. 350, and St. John's Letter to Drummond, of 
 Jan. 5-16, 1711. St. John's own account of what he said is, " It would he 
 tedious to recapitulate all that passed ; in general, I spoke my mind with all 
 imaginable frankness to him, and could not forbear showing him the difference 
 between those friends he once had and those whom he had abandoned them 
 for."— Con-., i. 38. 
 
1710—1711.] NO OVERTURES TO BE MADE TO FRANCE. 173 
 
 he could not but feel the humiliation of being com- 
 pelled to listen patiently to such a homily and remon- 
 strance from one who had professed to look up to 
 him as a son, and whom he had introduced to office. 
 Notwithstanding St. John's confidence, the day came 
 when he was again, in dismay, to seek the advice and 
 ask for . the protection of Marlborough, and to find 
 that the friends of whose power he boasted, were not 
 strong enough to save himself from prosecution and ruin. 
 But no vision of such a possible contingency at this 
 time appeared before the mind of the sanguine and 
 impetuous Secretary of State, who saw nothing but 
 the triumph of the Tories, and the defeat and even 
 punishment of their enemies. 
 
 To the Pensionary Buys, St. John still wrote with appa- 
 rent friendship and confidence. He assured the Dutch 
 statesman that Marlborough had dutifully submitted 
 himself in all things to the Queen and her advisers, 
 and that he would henceforth be governed entirely 
 by their counsels. St. John was quite ravished (Je 
 suis ravi de voir) at finding that the Pensionary was 
 pleased with the moderation Parliament had displayed 
 since the session began. It did, indeed, deserve his 
 approbation. The efforts of a vile faction would be 
 frustrated. The Secretary concluded by assuring his 
 anxious correspondent that no bad peace should ever 
 be made ; and that to obtain a good one, two maxims 
 ought to be strictly observed : the first, never to make 
 any advances, and the second, if such advances were 
 made by the enemy, they were not to be disdainfully re- 
 pulsed, or reasonable propositions summarily rejected.* 
 
 » " A regard de la paix, je crois comme vous, qu'il ne faut jamais consentir 
 k une qui soit ru&hante ; il me semble que pour obtenir une bonne, il faut 
 observer inviolablement ces deux maximes : en premier lieu, de ne pas faire 
 
174 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 These assurances were intended to be very satis- 
 factory to Buys. They would not, however, have 
 been so satisfactory, had the Pensionary of Amsterdam 
 really known that at the very time when the English 
 Secretary of State laid it down as a fundamental pro- 
 position that no advances towards peace should be 
 made by England or her allies, secret advances were 
 actually being made to France, and made, with St. 
 John's sanction, by England herself. 
 
 There had been for some years residing here an 
 obscure French priest, the Abbe Graultier, He had 
 come over with the embassy of Marshal Tallard, 
 after the peace of Ryswick, had said mass in the 
 Marshal's chapel, and had become acquainted with 
 the Earl of Jersey, who had been our ambassador in 
 France, had married a Roman Catholic lady, was 
 himself believed to be a Jacobite, and was con- 
 nected by family ties with St. John. The French am- 
 bassador was peremptorily sent out of the country 
 after Louis's recognition of the son of James II. as 
 King of England. Graultier, by Tallard's orders, 
 remained to watch events, and to communicate as 
 discreetly as possible any information he considered 
 important to the French Secretary of State. He 
 was, in fact, a French spy, with instructions, however, 
 to write no letter, which, by exciting the suspicions of 
 the English government, might either bring his own 
 head into danger, or cause him to be sent away. His 
 residence in London attracted no attention. After 
 Tallard left, his chapel was of course shut up ; but the 
 wary Gaultier managed to get himself connected with 
 the Count de GaUas, the minister of the Archduke 
 
 les advances ; et en second lieu, de ne pas trop se roidir, et rejetter des propo- 
 sitions raisonnables." — Corr., i. 41. 
 
1710—1711.] THE ABB6 GAULTIEE. 175 
 
 Charles, whom England had acknowledged as King of 
 Spain ; and the Abbe continued to say mass in the 
 Count's chapel, as though he had been the most devoted 
 agent of the imperial court. The time at length arrived 
 when this priest, who was very fat, and very unscrupu- 
 lous, not hesitating to take a false oath to serve his 
 patrons, or to enrich himself by stockjobbing, was to 
 render his country important services, for which he 
 was also to be duly paid in money and abbeys. 
 
 One day, about the Christmas of 1710, when the 
 means of bringing about a peace were discussed in the 
 cabinet, the Earl of Jersey told Harley and St. John 
 that he could bring them the very man whom they 
 wanted to send privately to France. The choice was 
 approved, and Jersey was authorized to instruct the 
 priest as to the message he was to take. No written 
 communication was given. Graultier was told to in- 
 form the French government that the English ministry 
 desired peace ; but that for their own sakes they 
 were obliged to use much management ; that they 
 could not themselves enter into a direct negotiation 
 with the court of France, but if the French king 
 would propose a renewal of the conferences to the 
 Dutch, the British cabinet would take care to give 
 such particular orders to their plenipotentiaries as 
 would effectually prevent Holland from again breaking 
 off the negotiations.* 
 
 Early in January, 1711, Graultier landed on the 
 Continent. He received all facilities for his ' journey 
 by the French authorities at Nieuport, and wrote 
 to Torcy that he might be expected without delay 
 
 * For the personal history of Gaultier, and the most authentic account 
 of the circumstances relating to his first secret mission to France, see the 
 Mdmoires du Marquis de Torcy, ii. 16, and the Bol. Corr. passim. 
 
176 THE SECRETARY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 at Paris, where he would take up his abode under 
 the name of M. Delorlme, with the fathers of the 
 Oratory, in the Rue Saint Honore. He arrived 
 almost as soon as his letter ; and on the same evening 
 waited upon the minister. His address was abrupt 
 and startling. " Do you want a peace ?" said he. 
 " I bring you the means of treating independently of 
 the Dutch, who are unworthy of his Majesty's kind- 
 ness, and the honour he has done them in addressing 
 himself to them so many times to restore peace to 
 Europe." The minister was quite taken aback. To 
 ask if France wanted peace, was, he candidly confessed, 
 to ask a sick man, sinking under an attack of disease, 
 whether he wished to be cured. But it was necessary 
 to be certain whether Gaultier could perform what he 
 so confidently promised. Public life abounded with 
 impostors ; of this priest Torcy knew nothing, but that 
 he had occasionally, and at rare intervals, received 
 letters from him ; prudence, therefore, compelled the 
 French minister to hesitate before abandoning himself to 
 the pleasing vision Graultier displayed before his eyes.* 
 
 * Swift, in the party pamphlet which he drew up at Windsor on the peace 
 of Utrecht in 1712, and which was posthumously puhlished as the History 
 of the Last Four Tears of the Queen, says that the French Secretary of State 
 had previously written to Gaultier, asking him to sound the new ministers 
 ahout a peace. This statement was evidently made to excuse his friends, 
 Harley and St. John, in heing the first to make the advances to the French 
 government. Torcy's own words show, however, that there was not the 
 slightest foundation in fact for Swift's assertion. I have followed the account 
 the minister has himself given of these first overtures ; he had no motive to 
 conceal the truth; and his accuracy cannot be questioned. He says of 
 Gaultier, " II se rendit le soir a Versailles a I'appartement du ministre, qui ne 
 le connoissoit que par les letires qu'il en avoit regues assez rarement. . . Comme 
 il a des charlatans de toute espece, il etoit de la prudence de suspendi'e une 
 esp^rance trop flatteuse, et d'apprendre, avant que de la former, quelle ^toit la 
 mission de I'abhe Gtaultier, et quels moyens il pr^tendoit employer pour y 
 rdussir." — Mtooires, ii. 18. This is utterly inconsistent with any idea of 
 Gaultier himself having been first commissioned by Torcy to speak about 
 opening a negotiation to the English ministers. This discrepancy shows, as do 
 
1710—1711.] GAULTIEE AND TOROY. 177 
 
 Graultier spoke long of the state of England and the 
 position of the ministry. All he asked in return from 
 the French statesman was a few complimentary lines to 
 Jersey, who, as having been the English ambassador at 
 the Court of Versailles, was of course a personal ac- 
 quaintance of Torcy. This private letter would be a 
 kind of passport ; it would be the priest's credentials, 
 and empower him to listen to any propositions the 
 ministers might make. The request was a sHght one. 
 It committed France to nothing. But it was not granted 
 without hesitation and delay. Some of the French 
 ministers affected to be indignant at the manner in 
 which their illustrious sovereign had been treated by 
 the Dutch, and advised him to decline to enter into any 
 further negotiations. The prudent Torcy proposed 
 a compromise. The letter to Lord Jersey might of 
 course be given; and Graultier be told to inform the 
 British ministers, that his most Christian Majesty, in- 
 dignant at the manner in which the Hollanders had 
 rejected his former offers, would not treat with them, 
 but was ready to enter into a direct negotiation with 
 
 many other passages of the work, with how little confidence Swift's statements 
 can be received. I can scarcely believe that he deliberately wrote a falsehood ; 
 but he was only half in the confidence of Harley and St. John, who just told 
 him what they wished the pnblic to accept as the truth. Swift considered this 
 History of the Four Last Years of the Queen as his best political work. To 
 me it seems veiy inferior in force of argument to the Conduct of the Allies, and 
 in wit to his papers in The Examiner. As a history it is simply ridiculous. 
 "What can be said of the boasted impaitiahty of a writer who keeps a manuscript 
 more than a quarter of a century by him, carefully revises it at intervals, and 
 always intends pubUshing it ; and yet allows, even so late as 1736, passages to 
 stand unaltered in which Sir Robert Walpole is called an "obscure" person, 
 the Duke of Marlborough's personal courage declared to be " doubtful," and 
 his military talents "problematical?" The force of party prejudice, so as 
 totally to unfit the mind for forming any accurate estimate of men or things, 
 could not go further. Or we may perhaps consider it a cynical defiance of 
 public opinion. 
 
178 THE SECRET AEY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 England. The eifect of such a proposal was of course 
 foreseen and calculated. If the British ministers were, 
 as there was reason to suspect even from the very words 
 in which Graultier had announced his mission, no friends 
 of the Dutch, it might not he difficult to sow dissensions 
 between England and her allies. 
 
 Gaultier hastened back to London and delivered his 
 message. Had St. John and his colleagues firmly re- 
 solved not to treat except through Holland, Louis XIV. 
 would, doubtless, have given way, and all the fierce 
 accusations, and disputes about their desertion of the 
 allies might have been avoided. But they fell into the 
 snare laid for them. St, John, notwithstanding his epis- 
 tolary professions, had no particular liking for Holland 
 or any of the allies, and for Austria he always enter- 
 tained a positive detestation. " That house of Austria," 
 he said at this time, " has been the evil genius of Britain. 
 I never think of the conduct of that family without 
 recollecting the image of a man braiding a rope of hay 
 whilst his ass bites it off at the other end." With such 
 opinions dehberately avowed by the Secretary of 
 State, it was not difficult to foresee, how would end 
 negotiations for peace of which he had the direction. 
 Gaultier wrote back to Torcy, that the English minis- 
 ters admitted the reasons which the king had for 
 not treating with Holland to be just ; and that they 
 requested him to send to them any propositions which 
 he was disposed to make, that they might communicate 
 them to the allies. It was also intimated, that they 
 hoped, for the honour of England, the proposals which 
 his Majesty might make would not be less advantageous 
 than those he had declared himself ready to agree to at 
 the conferences at Grertruydenberg. 
 
 But Louis XI Y. was by no means disposed to ofi'er 
 
1710—1711.] RECEPTION OF THE OVERTUEBS FOR PEACE. 179 
 
 such terms as he would have gladly accepted at the late 
 conferences. The British ministers had shown him 
 their hands ; he knew that they really wanted peace 
 as much as himself. To offer the same conditions as at 
 Gertruydenherg, was to offer conditions which would 
 probably have been satisfactory to all the allies ; but 
 Louis by no means wished that all the allies should be 
 satisfied. He wanted the alliance to be dissolved ; and 
 the result could only be attained by negotiating with 
 one power at the expense of the rest. The more the 
 allies became jealous and suspicious of each other, 
 the better it was for his purpose. The French king, 
 therefore, refusing to treat with Holland, also re- 
 fused to pledge himself to offer his former propo- 
 sitions ; but proposed a Congress of all the powers to 
 discuss the terms of a peace before the opening of the 
 campaign. 
 
 This proposal was considered too general. St. John 
 and his colleagues found it necessary again to send 
 off the Abbe G-aultier to Yersailles to induce the French 
 government to offer more specific terms. The secret 
 negotiation had therefore but begun, and already the 
 English ministers seemed to stand in an inferior 
 position to France. Instead of dictating to a bafiled 
 and beaten despot, they were more like suppli- 
 cants to this enemy, who had but a few months ago 
 been ready to agree almost to any terms. The manner 
 in which their first advances towards peace had been 
 received, already confirmed the truth of a prophecy 
 which Marlborough had made to Godolphin at the 
 moment of his fall. " Our extravagant behaviour has 
 so encouraged the French, that they take measures as 
 if the war was just beginning, so that our new ministers 
 will be extremely deceived, for the greater desire they 
 
 * N 2 
 
180 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VL 
 
 eiiall express for peace, the less they will have it in 
 their power to obtain it.* 
 
 The pretence which Louis made use of to excuse his 
 refusal to offer terms of peace, similar to those he had 
 been ready to agree to at the Hague and Gertruyden- 
 berg, was the brilliant aspect of his grandson's affairs 
 in Spain. In August the Archduke Charles had once 
 more found himself in possession of the Spanish capital. 
 But later in. the year, Vendome obliged Greneral Stan- 
 hope and ten thousand British troops to surrender 
 prisoners of war; and the next day fought with 
 Staremberg, the bloody and indecisive battle of Yilla- 
 viciosa. The ostensible object of the war, the conquest 
 of Spain for the Archduke Charles, appeared, when 
 England made the first advances towards peace, further 
 off than ever. But the French king was driven at 
 home to such straits, that had England remained steady 
 to the Grrand Alliance, the success of Vendome in the 
 Spanish Peninsula could, in no respect, have induced 
 Louis to prolong the war with the prospect of the 
 march of Marlborough and Eugene on Paris. 
 
 The news of the virtual defeat of Staremberg and the 
 surrender of Stanhope, stimulated the passions of the 
 Tories against the Whigs. In the House of Lords, 
 under the direction of Harley and St. John, all the 
 old disputes about the loss of the battle of Almanza, 
 the conduct of the Earl of Gralway, and the griev- 
 ances of Lord Peterborough were revived. It is true, 
 that, to impartial persons, it seemed strange for the 
 ministerial chiefs to go back so far as 1707, to stigma- 
 tize their opponents, especially considering that Harley 
 was at that time a Secretary of State, and St. John the 
 Secretary-at-War ; and therefore must have shared the 
 
 * Marlboruugb to GodulpLiu, Aug. 16, 1710. 
 
1710—1711.] THE ANIMOSITY OF THE TOBIES. 181 
 
 responsibility with their colleagues in the Government. 
 But this consideration was held to be no restraint. As 
 the Tory Duke of Buckingham, then Lord Steward, 
 said, his party had now the majority and were deter- 
 mined to use it. It was supposed that the war in 
 Spain had been designedly neglected to give more 
 effect to the triumphs of Marlborough in Flanders ; 
 and the Queen was brought down to the House to listen 
 to debates and resolutions, which were understood to 
 reflect on the victorious general. Peterborough was 
 thanked ; Galway censured ; and the Whigs completely 
 overborne.* 
 
 But it was in the House of Commons where St. 
 John himself gave, according to his metaphor, the 
 view-halloo, and showed the Tories game, that the 
 adherents of the late administration found least for- 
 bearance. In the House of Lords there was still a 
 strong minority of Whig peers whom any day the 
 merest accident might change into a majority ; but in 
 the House of Commons the Whigs were almost at 
 the mercy of their adversaries, who in their own 
 justification were resolved to use their power to the 
 utmost. In general, dismissal from office is considered 
 a suflScient punishment for any minister ; and their 
 successors are seldom inclined to press hard upon 
 adversaries, whose management of affairs has even been 
 unfortunate and blameable. The Godolphin adminis- 
 tration has been considered one of the ablest that ever 
 conducted the affairs of this country, successful at 
 home, triumphant abroad. The real reasons for the dis- 
 missal of the late ministers had however been so frivolous 
 and unworthy, that in mere self-defence, the Secretary 
 and his friends felt bound to declare them guilty of 
 
 * See Pari. Hist., vi. 981-993. 
 
182 THE SBCEETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 enormous crimes. Alluding to what he intended to do 
 after the Christmas recess, St. John had asked his 
 friend Drummond, what he should think of a Secretary 
 of State who would himself move for a committee of 
 inquiry into the state of the nation ? His conduct was 
 in keeping with this intention. The official knowledge 
 he had acquired as Secretary-at-War, was applied to 
 the discovery of misconduct in the administration of 
 his adversaries : irregularities in the victualling depart- 
 ment of the navy, such as during the administration of 
 a great war it was scarcely possible to avoid, and which 
 were afterwards foimd susceptible of the clearest expla- 
 nation, were voted great frauds and abuses. An eminent 
 brewer, the member for Portsmouth, was expelled, in 
 order to be prosecuted, though the prosecution was after- 
 wards, out of mere shame, abandoned, since it was found 
 he had advanced money to supply wine to ships in the 
 Mediterranean, where beer, which according to his con- 
 tract should have been sent, could not have been drunk. 
 Obscure servants were one after another voted guilty 
 of great crimes, of great misdemeanors, of very great 
 misdemeanors. A bill repealing the Naturalisation Act, 
 was passed through the Commons, but thrown out by 
 the Lords. Another bill, which Swift called that noble 
 bill of qualification, and which had St. John's warmest 
 advocacy, was openly directed against the monied 
 interest, and avowedly for the security of that of the 
 country gentlemen. It enacted that all members 
 before taking their seat should declare themselves, on 
 oath, the possessors of a certain income from landed 
 property ; and this measure having passed through 
 both Houses, became a law which, though its pro- 
 visions had been long disregarded, has only been 
 repealed in our time, and with the sanction of another 
 
1710—1711.] FACTION. 183 
 
 Tory administration. The work which St. John, in his 
 letter to The Examiner, recommended the editor of that 
 paper to pursue of unveiHng, what he called the 
 mysteries of iniquity, and covering their adversaries 
 with confusion, he himself pressed vigorously forward. 
 During the months of January and February, 1711, 
 party resolutions, party addresses, and party legislation, 
 made up the whole business of the House of Commons. 
 The Tory majority seemed but the obedient instrument 
 of the brilliant Secretary's passion and vengeance.* 
 
 The inevitable consequence of this course of proceed- 
 ing was to keep alive the strongest party antagonism. 
 Never before or since, did the two great political 
 sections into which the country has been for six 
 generations divided, regard each other with such deter- 
 mined hostility. The nation was thoroughly divided 
 against itself, and the division extended even into the 
 inmost recesses of private life, where party animosities 
 seldom reach. Addison and Swift had been intimate 
 friends in Ireland, when Addison had been chief 
 secretary during the Earl of Wharton's Lieutenancy, 
 and Swift professed as much regard for Addison as 
 he ever acknowledged for any human being. But 
 they now met coldly at coffee-houses, and spoke to 
 each other as ordinary acquaintances. The women 
 were as decided in their partisanship as the men the 
 
 * Of St. John and his conduct at this time his friend and enlcist Swift 
 says : " He was one of those who shared in the present Treasurer's fortune 
 resigning up his employment at the same time ; and upon that minister "being 
 talien again into favour this gentleman was some time after made Secretary of 
 State. Then he began aii-esh by the opportunities of his station to look into 
 past miscarriages ; and by the force of an extraordinary genius and appUcation 
 to public affairs, joined vnth an invincible eloquence, laid open the scene of 
 miscarriages and corruptions through the whole course of the war in so evident 
 a manner, that the House of Commons seemed principally directed in their 
 resolutions upon this mquiry by his information and advice."— Histoiy of the 
 Four Last Years of the Queen, book iii. 
 
184 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 Whig ladies patching on different sides of the faces 
 from, the Tory ladies, wearing different kinds of muffs 
 and fans, sitting at different sides of the opera, and 
 glancing at each other from opposite rows of boxes at 
 the theatre. Before a young man of fashion could pay 
 his addresses to a young beauty, it became necessary 
 for him to inquire what party she had espoused.* 
 
 But these devoted feminine partisans did not give 
 Harley and St. John so much trouble as the country 
 gentlemen. The zeal which St. John had displayed in the 
 House of Commons, and the language which had been 
 held by the publications under the control of the ministry, 
 stimulated the prejudices of the squires to the utmost. 
 They were told that the greatest crimes had been com- 
 mitted ; that enormities such as had been never heard 
 of in any other country nor at any other time should be 
 brought to light : and they took the ministers at their 
 word. Nothing would satisfy them but the bringing of 
 the leading Whigs to the block. Why were not the 
 murders, the treasons, and the robberies, all pro- 
 claimed to the world ? These abuses in the victual- 
 ling department seemed to the patriotic squires the 
 merest peccadilloes. They wanted impeachments, 
 sentences of death, executions on Tower Hill. Never 
 suspecting that the Crimes which would justify such 
 punishments, could not be discovered for that best of all 
 reasons, because they had never been committed, they 
 became discontented with the ministers, suspected them 
 of lukewarmness, and formed themselves into a club, 
 which took its name from the October ale they drank ; 
 and, after the House of Commons was up, more than a 
 hundred of these enlightened country members held 
 nightly meetings at the Bell Tavern, in King Street, 
 
 * See The Examiner, Xo. 31. 
 
1710—1711.] ST. JOHN AND THE OCTOBER CLUB. 185 
 
 Westminster. Of the two ministerial cliiefs St. John 
 was becoming the favourite. He was eloquent, he was 
 passionate, he was zealous ; and as the squires smoked 
 their pipes, and compared notes over their October ale, 
 they thought that the Secretary was restrained by the 
 colder, more temporising, less earnest chief of the 
 Treasury. They railed bitterly at Harley, cunning 
 intriguer that he was, always smirking, bowing, and 
 rolling his head about. Was he not a wolf in sheep's 
 clotliing ? Had not he and his father declared for the 
 Prince of Orange ? Had he not frequented con- 
 venticles, and did he not still sometimes speak like a 
 snivelling old Puritan preacher ?* 
 
 The discontent of the October Club reacted upon the 
 ministry. To outward appearances, Harley and St. 
 John could not be more friendly and united. They 
 dined together, they drank together, they seemed both 
 to unburden themselves to their literary confidants. 
 Swift and Prior, whom they each condescended to 
 flatter, caress, and call by their Christian names. Prior 
 was Matt, Swift Jonathan, and St. John himself, gay, 
 jovial, and careless, was then and long afterwards 
 familiarly called Harry, both by his boon companions 
 in the ministry, and his enemies who sat round the 
 Whig Walpole on the opposition benches. Never 
 before did great ministers unbend themselves more 
 frankly and jocularly among their dependents. St. 
 John, with the destinies of Europe in his keeping, was 
 merry and boisterous, and Harley, always promising, 
 disappointing, and procrastinating, sipping his claret, 
 laughing at a squib from Swift, or reading a copy of 
 verses from Prior, appeared never to have a care. 
 
 * See Swift's first account of the October Club in his Journal to Stella 
 Feb. 18, 1711. 
 
186 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 The Secretary and the Treasurer dined together every 
 Saturday afternoon, when the Lord Keeper Harcourt, 
 Lord Rivers, and at last Swift, were permitted to join 
 the party ; and they then talked over the business of 
 the week, settled their plans, and entered into the most 
 familiar confidences. But over the heads of this 
 pleasant society a cloud was already gathering. An 
 intriguer is ever apt to suspect intrigue in others. As 
 the grumblings of the October Club were reported to 
 Harley, and as he observed the country members who 
 composed it cheering to the echo St. John's violent de- 
 clamations against the corruptions of their adversaries, 
 he began to feel jealous of his brilliant colleague. Did 
 the Secretary really mean fair play ? Having taken a 
 decided lead in the House of Commons, might not 
 St. John next attempt to take a decided lead in the 
 ministry ; and do unto his friend Harley, what Harley 
 had himself done to his former friend Godolphin ? 
 Puzzled and hesitating, the Treasurer, as Harley was 
 called, began to watch closely the movements of the 
 sanguine, wayward, and impetuous Secretary. 
 
 This jealousy had just begun to be entertained by 
 Harley when a tragical incident occurred which sud- 
 denly restored his popularity with the coimtry gentle- 
 men, but also unfortunately increased the distrust which 
 the two colleagues soon showed of each other.* 
 
 For the last six years a Frenchman had been 
 known about town under the name of the Marquis 
 de Guiscard. He had originally been an abbe, 
 
 * Harley distinctly indicates the Febraary of 1711 as the time when he first 
 began to suspect St. John of endeavouiing to form a party for himself out of 
 the discontented Tories. — See the Secret History of the AThite Staff, a book 
 written after Oxford's disgrace, under his own direction, by De Foe in 1714. 
 See also The Examiner of March 1, No. 30, in which the dissensions in the 
 party are delicately rebuked ; and Oxford's Brief Account of Public Affairs. 
 
1710—1711.] GUISOARD. 187 
 
 was of a noble family, and had established relations 
 with a rebellions sect of French Protestants in the 
 Oevennes, called the Cami sards. Thinking that he 
 might be of use in Lord Rivers' intended descent 
 on the southern coast of France, the English Gro- 
 vernment had made him a lieutenant-general, and 
 colonel of a regiment of horse, and gave him an 
 important command. The expedition miscarried. 
 Gruiscard lost his regiment though he had still a 
 pension, which was, however, very irregularly paid. 
 He managed to maintain himself principally by gam- 
 bling. His vices were notorious ; and his fre- 
 quent companion in those vices was the rising states- 
 man, Henry St. John, then Secretary at War. They 
 played together at the same tables ; they drank together 
 at the same taverns ; they frequented together the 
 same disreputable houses ; and they even made love to 
 the same mistress, who was equally condescending and 
 kind to them both. But though they shared the favours 
 of the lady, they were not prepared to share the credit 
 of their natural consequences. She gave birth to a 
 child which Guiscard said was St. John's, and St. John 
 declared to be Gruiscard's. This produced a quarrel ; 
 the intimacy ceased ; St. John, retiring from office, 
 went into the country, and saw his dissipated associate 
 no more. Profuse, careless, licentious, a stranger to all 
 self-restraint, Gruiscard's wants pressed him hard. He 
 sold his plate ; he was dependent on his housekeeper 
 for a dinner; he lived by contributions from his 
 friends. His distress had become almost intolerable 
 when he learnt that his old boon companion Harry had 
 been appointed a Secretary of State. After being first 
 patronised by the late ministers, Gruiscard had been neg- 
 lected by them ; he had, therefore, a claim on the new 
 
188 THE SECRETAEY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 government ; and he entreated St. John not to throw 
 him over. The Secretary seems to have done his best 
 for his former associate. A pension was granted to 
 him of five hundred a year, which, however, Harley, 
 to whom Gruiscard's vices were especially hateful, mo- 
 rosely reduced to four hundred, and declined putting on 
 the permanent establishment. Such a precarious allow- 
 ance Gruiscard thought no provision at all. Harassed, 
 wretched, of a dark and melancholy complexion, fierce 
 and impulsive^ with the blood of the south in his veins, 
 he began to form wild and dangerous schemes. He 
 resolved to make his peace with France by entering 
 into a treasonable correspondence. His first communi- 
 cations, reviling the English ministers, were sent to 
 the Countess of Dorchester, who transmitted them to 
 her husband, the Earl of Portmore, then ambassador at 
 the Court of Lisbon. The letter was addressed to a 
 French banker, M. Moreau ; but the earl, suspecting 
 something wrong, had them opened, made himself 
 acquainted with their treasonable contents, and returned 
 them to Harley. Guiscard was watched ; his steps 
 were dogged wherever he went ; and more letters were 
 discovered which he had sought to send to France 
 through similar sources. On the afternoon of the 8th 
 of March, the anniversary of the queen's accession to 
 the throne, as he was walking moodily in the Mall 
 between two and three o'clock, he was arrested by a 
 messenger from the Secretary of State's Office ; and at- 
 tached to the warrant was the bold, scrawling signa- 
 ture of one whom he knew well, H. St. John. 
 
 Gruiscard, in a fury, besought the messenger to kill 
 him on the spot. He was taken at once to the 
 Cockpit, where St. John's office was then situated, and 
 the site of which is now occupied by the Treasury. 
 
1710—1711.] A TERRIBLE SCENE. 189 
 
 In the clerk's room, where he was kept waiting for some 
 time, Grui scar d asked for a glass of water and some bread 
 and butter, which were brought to him from a neigh- 
 bouring coffee-house. A knife for which he asked at 
 the same time was forgotten. But his head was full of 
 plans of vengeance against his old friend the Secretary 
 of State. On the desk a penknife was lying which 
 Guiscard, while he was kept waiting until the members 
 of the Cabinet were brought together, managed to conceal 
 in his shirt sleeves. His pockets were searched ; but 
 nothing dangerous was found upon him ; and he was 
 at length led into the inner room. There was the Se- 
 cretary of State, ready to examine him, and sur- 
 rounded by all the ministers. Just before Guiscard 
 was brought in St. John had taken Harley's seat, in 
 order that he might be in a better light for watching 
 the countenance of the prisoner ; a desk was then 
 between him and Guiscard, and to this change of 
 places at the last moment the Secretary probably owed 
 the preservation of his life. " Have you written any 
 letters to France lately ?" asked St. John. Guis- 
 card replied stoutly, " No !" His colour came and 
 went : but he moved jauntily from one foot to the 
 other, and fumbled with his hands in his pockets, 
 affecting an air of genteel indifference. " Do you know 
 M. Moreau, the banker at Paris ?" continued the Secre- 
 tary. "Well," said Guiscard, " what of that?" His 
 own letters were produced, and he saw at once that 
 all was discovered. The Secretary frequently exhorted 
 him to tell the truth. " You have betrayed," said St. 
 John, "the Queen, your benefactress, and Britain, the 
 country which has been your support and refuge, 
 where you have been appointed to a military command, 
 and treated with such noble confidence that it makes it 
 
190 THE SECRETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 a double villany in you to be a villain !" " May I 
 speak a word witb you in private ?" said Guiscard. 
 " No," replied St. John ; " tbat is quite impracti- 
 cable. You are before the whole committee as a 
 criminal, and what you bave to say must be said to all." 
 " Only let me see you alone for a few moments," still 
 urged Gruiscard. " Not at all !" was tbe answer, and 
 tbe prisoner's entreaties were cut short by some of the 
 lords rising to ring the bell for the messengers to 
 conduct him out of the room. " That is hard," he 
 exclaimed, " not one word !" and bending over Harley 
 who sat near him, he shouted, '" Then have at thee," 
 and stabbed the Treasurer furiously twice in the breast 
 with the penknife. " The villain has killed Mr. 
 Harley," said St. John, and drawing his sword, he 
 thrust it into Gruiscard's body. Ormond and New- 
 castle followed St. John's example ; but some of the 
 other ministers were frightened, and jumped upon 
 tables, anxious to get out of the way. St.' John, full 
 of passion, seemed anxious to kill Guiscard on the spot, 
 and repeated his thrust. " Do not kill him," said Lord 
 Poulet. Strugghng hard, Guiscard was at last pulled 
 down by the throat, and secured by the messengers, 
 one of whom was a man of enormous strength, and 
 yet had seemed unequal to grapple with the desperate 
 assassin. 
 
 Harley, who had displayed much serene courage at 
 this trying time, was carried home. The news soon 
 spread throughout the town. Swift was playing cards 
 at the house of a lady of rank when he was told of 
 Harley 's danger, and he at once- rushed to St. John's 
 residence, which was but a few doors off, to learn more 
 of the matter. Neither the Secretary nor his wife was 
 at home ; but Swift met Mrs. St. John coming down 
 
1710—1711.] MRS. ST. JOHN. 191 
 
 the street in her chair in the greatest anxiety, not for 
 Harley bnt for her own husband, who, she had been 
 informed, had killed Griiiscard, as indeed he had been 
 very nearly doing. St. John might be a very indif- 
 ferent husband ; his wife and he might have frequent 
 quarrels, and sometimes occupy separate rooms ; but 
 though some former biographers seem to have been 
 quite unaware of the fact, Mr. and Mrs. St. John still 
 lived in the same house together ; and whenever he 
 was in any danger through the contrivances of others, 
 or from his own imprudence, the good lady always 
 displayed the tenderest alarm.* 
 
 Harley's wounds were found not to be very danger- 
 ous. But he was confined to his room for six weeks, 
 quantities of clotted blood every now and then coming 
 from his breast. 
 
 The Tories of course were loud in their indignation at 
 Guiscard, who died wretchedly of a neglected wound in 
 Newgate. He was frequently examined by the members 
 of the Council, and just before he died, asked St. John 
 to give him his hand, and pardon him for what he had 
 attempted to do. "I pardon you," replied the Secre- 
 tary ; " may Grod pardon you !" St. John, from this 
 circumstance, as well indeed from his former intimacy 
 with Gruiscard, and the whole history of the attempted 
 
 * " Lady Stanley came to visit Mr. St. John, and sent up for me to make 
 up a quarrel with Mrs. St. John, whom I never yet saw ; and, what do you 
 think ? that devil of a secretary would not let me go, but kept me by main 
 force, though I told him I was in love with his lady, and it was a shame to 
 keep back a lover, etc. But all would not do ; so at last I was forced to break 
 away, but never went up ; it was then too late." — Swift's Journal to SteUa, 
 Jan. 8, 1711. For other notices of Mrs. St. John in the same work see the 
 Journals of March 8, April 7 and 10, and August 4 and 5 in the same year. 
 See also Swift's Letter to Archbishop King on the night when Harley was 
 stabbed. 
 
192 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 assassination, declared that it was he whom Griiiscard 
 wished to kUl, and that it was the merest accident 
 which caused Harley to be stabbed instead of himself. 
 Yet the Treasurer was spoken of as a martyr, as the 
 patriotic victim of France and popery, while nobody 
 gave any of i^ie credit to the Secretary, for whom the 
 penknife had really been intended. St. John was loud 
 in his complaints, declaring, in all companies, that if 
 any of the ministers were to be considered obnoxious 
 to Prance and the Papists, he whom Gruiscard had es- 
 pecially marked out, as the object of his vengeance, 
 ought to be the man. There can be no doubt, that 
 in one respect the Secretary was perfectly right : he 
 was really the person whom Gruiscard had desired to 
 slay. 
 
 But Harley had actually been stabbed. It was 
 small comfort, after receiving two serious wounds on 
 the breast-bone, just about half a nail's breadth from 
 the heart, to be told that they were intended for another 
 person. Having undergone the danger, ought he not 
 to have the glory ? Harley himself, after the first 
 fortnight, still pale and thin, and just able to walk 
 about his bedroom with a stick, very naturally thought 
 so ; and as even the members of the October Club re- 
 lented towards him, could not but believe, that, having 
 felt the blows from the penknife, he was actually the 
 person whose life Gruiscard sought to take away. As 
 officious talebearers reported to him the claim which 
 the Secretary had set up to be regarded as Gruiscard's 
 intended victim, the suspicion and distrust which he 
 already felt of his brilHant colleague, were not likely to 
 be removed. The jealousy between the two ministers 
 increased. To such a height had it reached by the end 
 
1710—1711.] MES. MANLEY'S DIPLOMACY. 193 
 
 of March, that Swift, who thought of writing a history 
 of the attempted assassination, prudently abandoned the 
 task for fear of offending either one or both of his patrons. 
 The work was undertaken, at his suggestion, by Mrs, 
 Manley. This lady was notorious as the literary re- 
 tailer of libel and scandal in which she had, not spared 
 herself, the author of the New Atlantis, the slanderer 
 of Somers. She was then living with Barber, the printer 
 of The Examiner, and neither her moral character nor her 
 literary ability reflected much honour on the party for 
 which she employed her scurrilous pen. The first page 
 of the pamphlet she produced was written by Swift ; and 
 the contrast is great between these two paragraphs of 
 his plain and manly style and the rest of the inflated 
 and affected composition. On the delicate point, how- 
 ever, relating to the rival pretensions of St. John and 
 Harley to the honour of martyrdom from Guiscard's 
 knife, the virago acquitted herself with some dexterity. 
 She stated that after Gruiscard had repeated his blow 
 on Harley's breast, he rushed on St. John, thus 
 " seeking the destruction of those two dreadful enemies 
 of France." Her getting over the significant fact that 
 Gruiscard had asked to speak to St. John alone is es- 
 pecially ingenious. " It appeared reasonable," she 
 wrote, " that if, upon the pretence of discovery, Guiscard 
 could get Mr. St. John to withdraw, Mr. Harley might 
 possibly be of the party, and he have a chance to murder 
 both before they could be assisted," And of the courage 
 which Harley displayed after he had received his wounds, 
 she declared, " from his own behaviour all his friends, 
 particularly his tenderest, Mr. St. John, hoped he was 
 but slightly hurt." In this manner did Mrs. Manley 
 diplomatically endeavour to distribute her praise be- 
 tween the two great ministers, and attempt to do 
 
194 THE SECEETAEY OF STATE. [Chap. VI." 
 
 honour to them both, in the hope that they would both 
 be satisfied.* 
 
 But it was impossible to satisfy them both. The two 
 statesmen could never from that time act cordially 
 together. Harley was cold, dry, cautious, distrustful, cor- 
 rect in his morals, reserved in his conversation, destitute 
 not only of frankness, but even of the appearance of 
 frankness, without eloquence, without imagination, 
 hesitating at every word, guarded of himself even 
 in the House of Commons, where he seldom spoke, 
 and always with reluctance, without power to gain 
 friends or to keep them, ready to promise but slow 
 to perform, glad to put off until to-morrow everything 
 that he was not absolutely driven to do to-day, and 
 loving, above all things, to look serious and do nothing. 
 St. John was bold, gay, impassioned, full of fire, and full 
 of energy, with brilliant eloquence and most pleasing 
 elocution, accustomed to act on the impulse of the 
 moment, eager to enjoy the present hour, careless 
 of the future, familiar with all his associates, averse 
 either to restrain his inclinations or to conceal his 
 thoughts, and, though ready enough to seize upon any 
 advantage that came in his way, one of the worst dis- 
 semblers in the world. It is much more surprising how 
 two such men should ever have become friends than 
 that, when they began to quarrel, their different cha- 
 racters should begin to tell, and render any reconcilia- 
 tion impossible. 
 
 While Harley was absent, the entire management of 
 the House of Commons of course fell to his brilliant 
 colleague. He brought down two messages from the 
 
 • A True Narrative of what passed at the Examination of the Marquis de 
 Guiscard at the Cockpit, March 8, 1810-11 ; his stabbing Mr. Harley; and 
 other precedent and subsequent facts relating to the Life of the said Guiscard. 
 Printed by John Morphew, 1711. 
 
1710— 1711.] HAELEY'S RESERVE. 195 
 
 sovereign, one recommending the building of fifty new 
 chnrclies, which gave much satisfaction to the Tories, 
 and the other announcing the death of the emperor, 
 which seriously affected all the plans of the allies for 
 the Spanish succession. It has been said that, even 
 at this time, St. John thought himself fully qualified 
 to be prime minister, and would perhaps gladly' have 
 learnt that Harley's wounds had proved mortal, that he 
 might, at one bound, have leaped into the first place in 
 the Grovernment.* At all events, from this time he is 
 supposed to have entertained the design of supplanting 
 the Treasurer. But he felt that the greatest weakness 
 of his position was the little influence he had at Court. 
 Harley had kept this important means of ascendancy 
 entirely to himself. Though St. John had, of course, as 
 Secretary of State, frequent access to her Majesty, his 
 communications were as yet almost entirely official ; 
 and as the Queen had been told of the excesses of his 
 private life, the opinion she entertained of him was 
 not favourable. As St. John confessed, Harley held 
 the thread of his intrigue, through Mrs. Masham, in 
 his own hands ; and " he was the first spring of all 
 motion, by his credit with the sovereign." f 
 
 When the spirit of discord is once established, the 
 means both to give and to take offence are seldom 
 wanting. Godolphin's administration of the Treasury 
 had been so much applauded, that Harley's friends, in 
 his own justification, felt themselves compelled to find 
 serious abuses in the department. It appeared from 
 the report of the committee brought up by Harley's 
 brother, who was one of the auditors of the Exchequer, 
 that accounts to the amount of thirty-five millions of 
 
 * See Swift's Enquiry. 
 
 t Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 2 
 
196 THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 money had not yet been passed. Thirty-five millions ! 
 exclaimed with wonder all the country gentlemen, who 
 seemed to consider that Grodolphin must have pocketed 
 that enormous sum, though, in fact, after administering 
 the affairs of the Treasury for so many years, he retired 
 from office with an estate of less than four thousand 
 a year, seriously embarrassed, and even refused a 
 pension which was offered him by the Queen. It was 
 necessary, however, to get up a cry against the late 
 Lord Treasurer ; and much was made of these thirty- 
 five millions. Fourteen or fifteen millions of the money 
 related to the accounts of Bridges, the Paymaster of the 
 Forces, who had continued in office under the new 
 ministry, and had long been an intimate friend of 
 St. John. It was impossible to blame Godolphin, 
 without blaming Bridges ; and he was strongly at- 
 tacked by the supporters of the Grovernment. St. 
 John, however ready he had been himself to declaim 
 against abuses, was not prepared to give up his old 
 friend the Paymaster ; besides, from having been 
 Secretary-at-War, he had some knowledge of the dila- 
 tory manner in which affairs were managed at the 
 Pay Office. Some of the accounts which had not yet 
 been passed dated from the reign of King William, 
 and even from the reign of Charles II. ; and, of course, 
 during a long war, such as the country was then 
 waging, without any grounds for positive blame on 
 particular persons, the difficulties of impressing the 
 Paymaster's accounts had very much increased. These 
 delays, indeed, continued in that office during nearly the 
 whole of the eighteenth century, long after the genera- 
 tion then in active hfe were in their graves : such dif- 
 ferent Paymasters as the first Lord Holland, and the 
 first William Pitt, were obliged to allow the same 
 
1710—1711.] ST. JOHN AND HAELEY QUAEEEL. 197 
 
 dilatory management ; and these abuses, if abuses tbey 
 •were to be regarded, continued until tbey were only 
 corrected tbrough the reforms introduced into tbe office 
 by Paymaster Edmund Burke in 1782. St. John, in 
 tbe present state of bis relations with Harley, was 
 perhaps not disinclined to thwart him in these attacks ; 
 he told Harley's brother that he knew nothing of the 
 business, warmly defended his friend Bridges, and 
 declared that neither he nor the late ministry were to 
 be blamed for this delay in passing the accounts. 
 Having once taken a side, the Secretary was not 
 inclined to draw back. Notwithstanding the clamour 
 which was raised against him, he became more vehe- 
 ment and eloquent ; and careless of the offence he 
 gave to many members of his own party, fairly left 
 them in the lurch. 
 
 St. John's conduct was of course reported to Harley, 
 who had been for a few days in the country recovering 
 his strength before again taking his seat in the House. 
 He was highly indignant, as, of course, were all his 
 friends. The spirit with which they had directed these 
 inquiries may be inferred from the words of Swift, 
 who, dining with Harley when St. John's conduct was 
 alluded to, said to the Treasurer — " If the late ministry 
 were not to blame in that article, you ought to lose 
 your head for putting the Queen upon changing them." 
 Harley laughed ; but it was clear to the busy divine 
 that all was not well between the two statesmen. It 
 was said that the Secretary would soon be out of office. 
 No person at that time had any idea that he would 
 prove too strong for the Treasurer.* 
 
 * " By some hints given me from another hand that I deal with, I am afraid 
 the Secretary ivill not stand long. This is the fate of courts. I will, if I meet 
 Mr. St. John alone on Sunday, tell him my opinion, and beg' him to set him- 
 self right, else the consequences may be very bad ; for I see not how they can 
 
198 THE SECRETAET OF STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 On Harley's reappearance in the House of Commons 
 harmony was not at all restored. He received the 
 most fulsome compliments from the Speaker ; it was 
 said that he was to be appointed Lord Treasurer, and 
 to be sent into the House of Lords. The death of the 
 queen's uncle, Lord Rochester, who had succeeded 
 Somers as President of the Council, and was supposed, 
 in some measure, to balance Harley's influence on the 
 royal mind, left him without a rival in court favour, 
 and probably increased the alienation of St. John. 
 Resenting what he considered the bad conduct of the 
 Secretary, Harley became more reserved than before, 
 was seldom seen in the House of Commons, neither 
 consulted St. John nor any of his colleagues, procrasti- 
 nated more than ever, and brought all business to a 
 stand. 
 
 Such was the state of the ministry in the last week 
 of May, when the Secretary wrote in this manner to 
 his friend the Earl of Orrery, who had succeeded 
 Cadogan as Commissioner of the Spanish Netherlands : — 
 " Do you not remember, my Lord, a certain time last 
 summer, when for several weeks I avoided writing to 
 you, although I knew how uneasy the pangs of expecta- 
 tion were to the Duke of Argyle and yourself, in that 
 crisis of domestic affairs ? "We are now in a state not 
 
 well want him neither, and he would make a troublesome enemy." — Swift's 
 Journal, April 27, 1711. Cunningham, in his History of Great Britain, gives 
 us a long speech of St. John, violently attacking the late ministry about these 
 thirty-five miUions. That speech represents correctly enough the spirit of 
 the declamations delivered by the Secretary at an earlier period of the session on 
 the alleged abuses in the victualling department of the army and navy; but 
 with regard to the thirty-five miUions it is very apocryphal. It was evidently 
 put into St. John's month in the manner in which Livy and Plutarch put 
 speeches into the mouths of their heroes, as a modern author who wi-ote in Latin 
 might of course think himself justified in doing. — See Cunningham's History 
 of Great Britain. 
 
1710—1711.] HARLEY CREATED EARL OP OXFORD. 
 
 199 
 
 very unlike to that wliich we were then in. Mr. 
 Harley, since his recovery, has not appeared at the 
 Council, or at the Treasury, at all, and very seldom in 
 the House of Commons. We, who are reputed to be in 
 his intimacy, have few opportunities of seeing him, and 
 none of talking freely with him. As he is the only 
 true channel through which the queen's pleasure is con- 
 veyed, so there is, and must be, a perfect stagnation till 
 he is pleased to open himself and set the water flowing. 
 You remember, my Lord, that a scene of action followed 
 last year very quickly after that full stop which 
 seemed to have been put to the measures then carrying- 
 on. I hope the same will again happen ; and as soon 
 as I discern the least appearance of it you shall hear 
 from me on the subject. I fancy the delay will not be 
 long, and that the alteration will begin with the pro- 
 motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the 
 Earldom of Oxford, and to the rank of Treasurer."* 
 
 Two or three days afterwards the patent creating 
 Harley Earl of Oxford passed through St. John's oflSce. 
 But the glowing preamble to the deed was certainly 
 not St. John's composition. It occasioned, at the 
 time, much ridicule among the new earl's political 
 enemies, and was even thought by his friends extrava- 
 gantly eulogistic. The pride which Harley was accus- 
 tomed to display in boasting over his cups of the 
 antiquity of his family, and of his descent from the 
 Veres and Mortimers, and which St. John had fre- 
 quently observed with much disdainful impatience and 
 credulity, breaks out in the first sentence of the 
 pompous Latin exordium."}" The whole of the inscrip- 
 tion was in singular contrast to the brief simplicity and 
 
 * Letter of May 18,1711. 
 
 t It tegiiis " Vir illustri et perantiqua gente ortus," &c. 
 
200 THE SECEETAKY OP STATE. [Chap. VI. 
 
 dignity of the prefaces in which these honours are gene- 
 rally conveyed. Harley took care to have it printed 
 and published, with an English translation, probably 
 from the pen of Swift ; and it caused bitter rage, 
 envy, and contempt in the mind of the scornful and 
 resentful St. John. 
 
 And so, just as the early summer began, while the 
 fresh-mown hay was pleasantly fragrant in the fields 
 about Chelsea, the boats swam gaily on the river, and 
 the nightingales at Yauxhall were ceasing to sing, 
 Robert Harley was made Earl of Oxford, Earl of Mor- 
 timer, and Baron Harley ofWigmore Castle. A few 
 days afterwards he was presented by the queen with the 
 white wand as Lord Treasurer ; and it was whispered 
 through the City that he would shortly have the Garter. 
 He was surrounded with petitioners ; crowds attended 
 his levee ; he seemed at the highest summit of human 
 glory, A friendly attempt was made at this time to 
 revive the little Saturday club, with the select dinner 
 party of the Lord Keeper, the Secretary, the Treasurer, 
 and Lord Rivers. Swift, who had also been admitted 
 to this select company, endeavoured to amuse them at 
 the time of Harley's elevation by writing to St. John a 
 humorous letter, which the Secretary read aloud among 
 the guests, informing them that it was the last time he 
 would have the pleasure of dining with Robert Harley, 
 Esq., and Sir Simon Harcourt, Knight, whose patent of 
 peerage, as Lord Harcourt, was also being prepared.* 
 But it was impossible to restore the old cordiality either 
 by Dr. Swift's jokes or by his earnest remonstrances. 
 Other guests were soon invited to the party ; as it 
 became more numerous and general, of course frank- 
 ness and confidence diminished ; and it degenerated into 
 
 * Letttr to !;t. John, of May 12, 1711. 
 
1710—1711.] ST. JOHN TO THE EAEL OF OEEEEY. 201 
 
 a mere formal afternoon assembly of the ministerial 
 chiefs.* 
 
 St. John, however, hiding what he felt even from 
 his nearest friends, at first put the best face he could 
 on the altered relations between himself and the new 
 earl. He appears to have wished to persuade himself, 
 or at least others, that he was satisfied wi^h all the 
 honours which the favour of the sovereign had 
 showered on Harley's head. On the 12th of June, 
 the day of the prorogation of the Parliament, the 
 Secretary again wrote to the Earl of Orrery : " Our 
 friend, Mr. Harley, is now Earl of Oxford and High 
 Treasurer. This great advancement is, what the labour 
 he has gone through, the danger he has run, and the 
 services he has performed seem to deserve. But he 
 stands on slippery ground, and envy is always near the 
 great to fling up their heels on the least trip which 
 they make."f The Earl of Oxford, as Harley was now 
 entitled to be called, did certainly stand on very slip- 
 pery ground : envy was very near him indeed ; and 
 there was a brilliant Secretary of State, ready enough 
 if the opportunity should offer, to fling up the new 
 Earl's heels. 
 
 * See Swift's Journal, passim. t Corr., i. 148. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 1711. 
 THE SECEETAEY'S OFFICIAL AND PEIVATE LIFE. 
 
 The prorogation of the Parliament was a great relief 
 to St. Jolin. It had sat mncli longer than usual ; and 
 while Harley was, after the attempt of Gruiscard, push- " 
 ing his fortune at Court and acquiring an earldom and 
 the Treasurer's staff, the Secretary in the House of 
 Commons had borne the burden and heat of the day. 
 As he himself complained, he was almost dead with 
 fatigue and anxiety. He had a habit of speaking of 
 the load of business on his shoulders as more than one 
 man could bear. He would shake his head, shrug his 
 shoulders, and hint that all this could not go on much 
 longer ; that if other people did not feel for him he 
 must feel for himself; and that he might soon be 
 expected to break down altogether. His friends, 
 including Swift, who has recorded the circumstance, 
 sympathized with him in his presence, but among them- 
 selves laughed at his complaints, and ascribed them to 
 the ridiculous affectation of a young man pretending to 
 be overwhelmed with public business, while, in truth, he 
 delighted in his labours.* 
 
 * Swift's Journal, Nov. 3, 17 U. 
 
1711.] RETURN OP GAULTIER. 203 
 
 But thougli some degree of affectation in this matter 
 was neither ungraceful nor unnatural, assuredly at this 
 time iSt. John, as Secretary of State, had enough on his 
 hands. The principal portion of the weight of debate 
 in the House of Commons, of correspondence with 
 foreign courts, and of the responsibility of the great 
 negotiations on which the peace of Europe depended, 
 all fell to his share. Without him very little could be 
 done : his activity alone could rouse the torpid indo- 
 lence of the Prime Minister, who, from the time that he 
 had obtained the Treasurer's staff, seemed quite at a loss 
 what to do with it ; and who, in the greatest position 
 which a British subject could reach, was, to those who 
 watched him closely every day, appearing one of the 
 most helpless and frivolous of human beings. There 
 are men whose ardour is entirely spent in the race of 
 ambition ; no sooner is the goal attained than their 
 energy expires. Harley had been a skilful manager of 
 the House of Commons ; he had, with rare dexterity, 
 balanced himself long between contending parties ; he 
 had shown himself a master of court intrigue : but the 
 hand which grasped the white staff seemed paralyzed, 
 and his incapacity was soon proved. The Secretary, 
 with all his faults, was at least equal to his situation. 
 Those who disliked him most acknowledged that he was 
 not a fool. 
 
 As Harley was recovering, and the dissensions 
 between him and St. John began to run high, the 
 Abbe Graultier returned from France with a note from 
 Torcy, containing the first definite propositions for 
 peace. They were still very general : the desire to 
 play off England against Holland was plainly indicated 
 in the memorial ; but a copy of it was soon transmitted 
 by the Secretary to the Hague. He found reason to 
 
204 THE SECRETABY'S OFFICIAL & PEIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VH. 
 
 suspect that the Dutcli were endeavouring to open 
 negotiations on their own account. The English 
 ministers after having at the outset expressed a desire 
 to treat through Holland, had already completely- 
 altered their intention ; and the Secretary particularly 
 requested Prance to leave the business in their own 
 hands. Louis and his faithful Torcy, of course, again 
 readily pledged themselves to treat only through 
 the British Government ; but they secretly rejoiced 
 that England now seemed to supplicate, and was pre- 
 pared to bid against Holland for their favour. At the 
 request of St. John, another memorial was sent from 
 Marli, through Graultier, as M. De Lorlme, to England 
 containing some more expKcit details of the advantages 
 to be conferred on this country. But the negotia- 
 tion, while Harley was busy about his earldom and 
 Treasurer's staff, and full of suspicions of the Secretary, 
 had made but little progress. As soon as the Prime 
 Minister attained his personal objects, and a little more 
 cordiahty was apparently restored between him and 
 St. John, they determined upon a new expedient. 
 Prior, who was already favourably known to the Court 
 of Versailles, by having been the Secretary to the 
 embassies of the Duke of Portland and the Earl of 
 Jersey, was sent on a secret journey to France. The 
 summer, however, was far advanced before the mission 
 was known to have any positive result.* 
 
 At the same time St. John was not without the 
 ambition to distinguish himself as a war minister. He 
 aspired to nothing less than to expel the French from 
 North America, and personally fitted out an expedi- 
 tion to the river St. Lawrence. Such a conquest, he 
 thought, would afford England greater advantages than 
 
 * See Torcy's Me'moiies, ii. 25 ; Con-., i. 106, 109, &c. 
 
1711.] THE EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC. 
 
 205 
 
 the barren glories of Marlborougli ; it would at least 
 show that other G-overnments besides the Grodolphin 
 administration knew how to conduct a war. In every- 
 thing relating to this expedition the Secretary took the 
 greatest interest. He considered it his own, counted 
 impatiently the days when it was getting ready for sea, 
 dreamed of nothing but triumphs, and while the men- 
 of-war and transports were under weigh, already saw 
 in imagination the British standard flying on the 
 walls of Quebec. Wishing to make his court to the 
 favourite, the Secretary had put the land forces 
 of the expedition under the command of Mrs. 
 Masham's brother, Brigadier Hill, who had already 
 been promoted over the heads of many older officers, 
 and was now, through St. John's patronage, to have 
 the opportunity of rivalling Marlborough. Could not 
 jovial Jack, who could drink his four bottles without 
 inconvenience, also win victories ? Might not Mrs. 
 Masham show the queen what a member of her family 
 could also do to uphold the glory of the English arms ? 
 G-reat men only wanted their opportunities; Marl- 
 borough had had all his own way. Everything was ex- 
 pected from this expedition. As it was leaving the 
 English shores, St. John wrote a farewell letter to the 
 gallant Brigadier Hill, full of encouraging anticipations. 
 " Grod give you success," St. John observed ; " if good 
 wishes can contribute to it, they are in no degree 
 wanting. I am sure there is no need of saying any- 
 thing to animate ypu to pursue with vigour an under- 
 taking wherein the honour of our mistress, and the 
 most durable advantages to our country is concerned ; I 
 shall therefore only renew my vows for your pros- 
 perity." After the ships had been about five weeks at 
 sea, a Scotch vessel arrived at Grreenock with the news 
 
206 THE SECEETARTS OFFICIAL & PEIV ATE LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 that the great fleet had been seen standing with a fair 
 wind for the North American coast. St. John was all 
 exultation. He wrote to the Queen that it was evident 
 the voyage had been prosperous, and that Brigadier 
 Hill, and the naval ofiScers assisting him, were doubt- 
 less at that very time carrying into execution her 
 Majesty's commands.* 
 
 More than two months passed away before any 
 definite intelligence of the success of the gallant 
 Brigadier and the expedition was received. While the 
 ships were approaching the river St. Lawrence, and Prior 
 was quietly going down to the house of Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer, to cross over unobserved from the Sussex 
 coast, to confer with Torcy about the conditions of peace, 
 it may be desirable to look a little more closely into 
 the official and private life of the ambitious Secretary. 
 Thus only can we form for ourselves any just idea of 
 St. John. He was not always immersed in the routine 
 of his office ; his head was not always full of diplomatic 
 notes and parliamentary speeches ; it was his boast to 
 combine pleasure with business, to be Alcibiades, or, 
 rather, Petronius. 
 
 In his office he could indeed work hard enough, 
 though sometimes by fits and starts, never quietly, 
 regularly, steadily. The mails frequently went out 
 very late at night, or very early in the morning ; and 
 at these times, which St. John called his post nights, he 
 sat up writing and despatching letter after letter until 
 long after the dawn of the next day. But during these 
 unseasonable hours, even when he was almost overcome 
 by sleep, and his fingers were so tired that they could 
 hardly hold the pen, he never relaxed into carelessness, 
 nor allowed important documents to lie about in the 
 
 * Letter to the Queen, July 5, 1711. 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN'S OFFICIAL HABITS. 207 
 
 disgraceful manner Harley had formerly transacted the 
 business of his office. St. John was always wide 
 awake. He frequently sat at his desk from ten o'clock 
 in the morning until eight at night, taking no refresh- 
 ment, and then hurrying home almost famished, or 
 calling on his way at Prior's house, in Duke Street, 
 Westminster, and supping gaily at midnight, sometimes 
 on a cold blade bone of mutton. The clerks complained 
 that he expected them neither to eat, drink, nor sleep ; 
 but if he was occasionally unreasonable to them, he 
 was also unreasonable to himself. During these earlier 
 negotiations for peace, he worked very much harder 
 than they did. As it was necessary that the first over- 
 tures should be kept strictly secret, he took care to 
 copy many of the papers with his own hand ; and even 
 when he was obliged to have some assistance, only took 
 a single clerk into his confidence. 
 
 To lighten the labours of his department, a third 
 Secretary of State had been recently appointed. But 
 the Duke of Queensbury, who had been selected for the 
 office, was found to have but little aptitude for the 
 administration of public affairs. The third Secretary 
 was extremely slow ; and St. John found that he had 
 just as much work as ever to do. In this summer the 
 Duke of Queensbury unexpectedly died : as his office 
 had been proved to be useless, no successor was chosen 
 to fill it ; and all the business was, as before, carried on 
 by the two Secretaries, Lord Dartmouth and St. John. 
 St. John was, however, as he had been from the first, the 
 Secretary of State. The honest, grave, and painstaking 
 Lord Dartmouth could scarcely be considered to have 
 an opinion of his own on the general policy of the 
 administration ; it was St. John who conducted the 
 
208 THE SECRETARY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VIL 
 
 secret negotiations, and held in tis hands the great 
 issues of peace or war. 
 
 He was called the handsome Secretary. With his 
 fine person and engaging presence, he seemed to carry 
 ahout with him an irresistible fascination. The beauty 
 of his face was universally acknowledged. Though he 
 had all the cares of State on his mind, he could not 
 look grave and business-like. There was about him still 
 the charm of youth combined with the authority which 
 the administration of great affairs naturally confers.* 
 The two studious years in his country retirement had 
 given him a knowledge of books which he had not pre- 
 viously possessed ; and he seemed not only to be a man of 
 business, but also a man of learning. The information 
 he wanted was always ready at his call ; his pleasant 
 wit and keen intelligence enabled him to make the best 
 display of all he had. His statesmanlike capacity could 
 scarcely be denied by his bitterest enemies ; he grasped 
 at once the real point at issue in the intricate diplo- 
 matic questions with which he had to deal ; and having 
 once seized it he never let it slip out of his fingers. 
 His knowledge of French, though generally accurate, and 
 far superior to that of most of his contemporary states- 
 men, was not thought sufficient by him to conduct these 
 negotiations. As so much was believed to depend on the 
 Spanish succession, he felt it necessary to acquire a know- 
 ledge of the Spanish language ; and he soon mastered it 
 sufficiently to read for himself whatever he wished to 
 know. When important documents, however, about 
 the peace were to be sent abroad, and it was desirable 
 
 * "A certain lady, renowned for beauty (the Lady Mary Churchill, Duchess 
 of Montague), at the princess's palace, desired she might have the dressing up 
 of the young, handsome statesman."— True Relation of the Intended Riot, &c., 
 1711. 
 
1711.] HARD DRINKING. 209 
 
 that every word should have the exact meaning, and 
 no more than he intended ; he preferred, in his com- 
 munications with the Dutch statesmen, writing his 
 diplomatic notes in plain English. His letters to 
 Torcy were, on the other hand, always in French ; 
 and this distinction perhaps shows, as much as more 
 important peculiarities, that he was ready to grant to 
 France in these negotiations a latitude which he was 
 not willing to allow to Holland.* 
 
 His manners were courteous, without being studied. 
 The artificial politeness of some great diplomatists was, 
 indeed, quite contrary to his disposition. He was no 
 great master of the art of dissembling ; he could con- 
 ceal neither his likes nor dislikes ; his passion was very 
 easily roused, and when once he was in a passion, he 
 " was very likely to blurt out more than was prudent. 
 On these occasions he would sometimes say what he 
 would immediately regret, and soon afterwards forget, 
 but which his enemies never forgave. His conversa- 
 tion was pleasing ; in private society he was gay, 
 natural, and frank ; he spent his money freely, and 
 seemed to despise it : even Marlborough, who knew 
 men well, had formerly, as we have seen, answered for 
 St. John's fidelity and sincerity to Godolphin ; and 
 certainly at this time, deceit and faithlessness would 
 not have been considered the especial vices of the Secre- 
 tary of State. A good-natured man, perhaps, he could 
 not justly be called ; but he had at least the appear- 
 ance of goodhumour ; and even his vices seemed akin 
 to generosity rather than to self-seeking ambition. 
 
 Of these vices the most prominent was hard 
 drinking. The faculty which he had, almost as a boy, 
 
 * See the Letter to M. Buys in the Bolingbroke Correspondence, and compare 
 it with the tone of the whole con'espondence with Torcy. 
 
 P 
 
210 THE SEOEETABY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VIT. 
 
 made his pride and boast of swallowing more wine 
 than other men, he still possessed as Secretary of State, 
 in no sensible diminution. Fits of drinking alter- 
 nated with fits of business : he would sit up all one 
 night writing despatches, and on the next with some gay 
 companions over the bottle. The Secretary's cham- 
 pagne and burgundy were famous ; and these wines he 
 drank in unlimited quantities. He could sit nearly 
 everybody out. Even placehunters, who came to pay 
 court to him, found their heads were not strong enough 
 to drink equally with their jovial patron, and left him at 
 three o'clock in the morning, shouting for T'other flask. 
 Twice during these summer months when so much de- 
 pended upon him had he been ill through drinking to 
 excess. At first he had a fever, and afterwards, just as the 
 negotiations for peace were making some progress, he 
 was laid up with pains in the back and a severe attack 
 of gravel. For some days he was obliged to forswear 
 all intoxicating beverages ; and, what was a severe 
 punishment for one with such strong convivial propen- 
 sities, had to sip tea while his friends about him were 
 swallowing his champagne. No sooner did he find 
 himself a little better, than all his promises of reforma- 
 tion were thrown to the winds ; and the Secretary in 
 his cups again cursed and raved, and twaddled and 
 railed against Harley, and let out important secrets of 
 State, and was as gay and boisterous as any schoolboy. 
 His wife, who really seems to have had the deepest 
 love and the most tender affection for him, was in 
 despair. The hurry, excitement, and anxiety of the 
 last few months were too much for the poor lady, whose 
 constitution was very delicate ; and just as St. John 
 was breaking out again after his recovery, she became 
 herself seriouslv ill, and was advised to drink the 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN'S TREATMENT OP SWIFT. 2]1 
 
 waters at Bath. She wept; but the doctor's orders 
 were imperative ; and she was compelled to leave 
 London. Again with tears in her eyes, as Swift 
 was bidding her good-bye, she besought him to look 
 after the Secretary, saying earnestly that he was the 
 only person with whom she could trust her husband.* 
 
 " We were determined to have you. You were the 
 only one we were afraid of," said St. John to Swift 
 one night as he gaily quaffed off a goblet of cham- 
 pagne. Swift was doing the work of the ministry, as 
 no other man at that time was either as able or unscru- 
 pulous enough to have done it ; he was assailing all his 
 old friends with merciless satire and invective, and 
 proving that there was no malice like the rancour of the 
 renegade. His reward was to be looked upon as the con- 
 fidential go-between of the Treasurer and the Secretary, 
 and to be their favourite companion. Harley would obe- 
 diently go into the House of Commons with a message 
 from Swift to St. John, telling him that the doctor would 
 not dine with him if he dined late ; and when the throng 
 of suitors were assembled at Harley's house, and their 
 coaches filled the neighbouring streets. Swift would 
 walk composedly into the minister's bedroom and show 
 himself to the envying crowd as a person of trust and 
 importance. The two statesmen knew the value of the 
 arrogant and eccentric divine's services : this was the 
 price he put upon them ; and this price, with much open 
 amusement and a little secret contempt, they con- 
 descended to pay. Early in the morning and late at 
 night, in his times of business and his times of pleasure, 
 to St. John Swift was admitted at all hours. But their 
 intimacy was not without a cloud. One day at dinner 
 the Secretary was cold and reserved : the doctor re- 
 
 * See S^'•ift's .Journal of Jan. 18, April 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1711. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THE SECRETARY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 fleeted on this change of temper ; and at their next inter- 
 view asked him bluntly what was the reason of the 
 alteration. Alluding to what he had suffered from 
 the caprices of Sir William Temple, Swift plainly 
 said he would endure no such treatment again from 
 any great man who honoured him with his company. 
 St. John assured him that there was no cause of 
 offence, and that he had only been depressed and ill 
 from keeping late hours, with too much work and too 
 much drinking. Lord Peterborough, who had gone on 
 a mission to Vienna, sent the Secretary a present of 
 twelve dozen flasks of the finest bm-gundy, on con- 
 dition that Swift, who was winning Peterborough's 
 heart by his attacks on Marlborough in the Examiner, 
 should have his share ; but St. John liked the wine too 
 well to part with a single flask, and said nothing about 
 it to Swift until it was all drunk. The doctor did not 
 at all like the cheat the Secretary had put upon him. 
 " I reckon he owes me thirty-six pounds," computed 
 the economical vicar of Laracor. To make him 
 amends, St. John sent him a case of the Florence wine 
 which the Duke of Tuscany was then accustomed to 
 present to the English Secretaries of State. But 
 Swift was obliged to pay seven and sixpence to two of 
 St. John's servants who brought the case to his lodg- 
 ings, and the wine afterwards turned sour. " And," 
 said he, " I dare not complain." 
 
 After going to Court on the Sunday morning, it was 
 Swift's custom at this time to dine every Sunday after- 
 noon with the Secretary. Sometimes the company was 
 very numerous, at others it was very select. Swift pre- 
 ferred dining with a few great lords at St. John's table, 
 and frequently undertook himself to invite those whom 
 he wished to meet at dinner. On one occasion St. John 
 
1711.] SUNDAY CONVERSATION AT ST. JOHN'S TABLE. 213 
 
 stowed him the bill of fare. " Pooh, pooh," said he ; 
 " show me your bill of company." St. John repeated 
 this to Harley as a very good saying, though the 
 wit of it is not perhaps so very remarkable. On 
 another occasion, in Prior's presence, the Secretary de- 
 clared that Swift's lines on Vanbrugh were better 
 than any that Prior had written, though the doctor 
 himself confessed that he did not see their supreme 
 excellence. In fact, it suited St. John's purpose to 
 flatter Swift ; and there was a wicked irony in the 
 notes the Secretary sometimes wrote, inviting him to 
 the Sunday banquets as Reverend Sir.* "What the 
 style of conversation was on these occasions may be 
 learnt from an account which Swift gave to Stella 
 of one of these convivial meetings on a Sunday in 
 May, when the company was more numerous than 
 usual. Swift would not allow them to swear, and 
 indulge in obscene talk ; and seeing that his presence 
 was a restraint upon these worthy champions of the 
 Church and Tory party, as soon as the dinner was 
 over the model divine abruptly took his leave.f 
 
 Excessive drinking, profane swearing, and loose 
 conversation were not even the worst. It must be 
 confessed that the Secretary outraged the decencies 
 of his situation still more grossly. Though his wife 
 was devotedly attached to him, and though they still 
 lived under the same roof, he was as licentious as 
 in the days of his early youth, when it had been 
 his boast to rival the wild exploits of Rochester. 
 The House of Commons, the War Office, the studies in 
 
 * See a specimen of one of these notes in Scott's edition of Swift, xv. 381. 
 
 t " Mr. Secretary had too much company with him to-day, so I came away 
 soon after dinner. I give no man hberty to swear or taXk h — dy, and I found 
 some of them were in constraint, so I left them to themselves." — Journal to 
 Stella, Sunday, May 20, 1711. 
 
214 THE SECEETAET'S OFFICIAL & PEIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 his country retirement, the development of his genius, 
 the Secretary of State's office, the rivalry with Harley, 
 all the promptings of a high and justifiable ambition 
 had not rendered his life purer than that of the lowest 
 rake about London. On the news of St. John's appoint- 
 ment as Secretary of State spreading through the 
 town, an ancient lady who presided over a mansion 
 of easy virtue, exclaimed with delight, " Five thousand 
 a year, my girls, and all for us !" It is not from his 
 political enemies, from Steele, Addison, or Walpole that 
 we have the most explicit details of St. John's habitual 
 debaucheries. The Secretary's friends have been the 
 most candid. A handsome woman, they all admit, 
 sometimes jestingly and sometimes sadly, was a tempta- 
 tion he never could resist. Rank made no difierence 
 whatever in his appreciation. With the same ardour 
 he would make love to a maid of honour about the 
 person of the Queen, or follow in broad daylight a 
 common woman of the town, whose appearance might 
 happen to please him, as he was walking with some 
 friends in the Mall.* 
 
 After this it was an edifying sight to behold the 
 Secretary at his prayers. Such an exhibition was 
 actually to be seen. He and others, whose vices were 
 notorious, might be observed kneeling at the altar, and 
 receiving the sacrament. Even Swift, from whom 
 St. .John had a little while before stolen away to follow 
 one of the painted stroUers of the Mall, was, if not 
 shocked, at least amused, when he learnt on what 
 a devout business his great friend was engaged one fine 
 Sunday morning. " I was early," he wrote, " with the 
 Secretary to-day, but he was gone to his devotions, and 
 
 * See Journal to Stolla of Aug. 24, 1711, and Voltaire's Correspondence. 
 ,Sct) also Enquiry into the Conduct of the Queen's La»t Miuistry ; Mrs. Manle/s 
 True Kclatiou of the Intended Kiot ; and Arbuthnot's Art of Pohtical Lying. 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN'S DRIVES TO WINDSOR. 215 
 
 to receive the sacrament ; several rakes did the sarae ; 
 it was not for piety but employment, according to Act 
 of Parliament." These men strongly objected to the 
 Dissenters qualifying themselves for office by receiving 
 the sacrament once or twice ; nothing, according to St. 
 John and his gay friends, could be more ruinous to 
 Church and State than such occasional conformity ; but 
 they saw nothing wrong in their own perpetual con- 
 formity. So runs the world. 
 
 Many of the Secretary's Sundays during the summer 
 months were passed at Windsor, whither the Queen 
 used to go as soon as the Parliament was prorogued and 
 the London season considered over. There was the 
 same luxurious feasting, the same drunkenness, the 
 same jollity, and late hours at the little town where 
 Queen Anne then held her court as there had been 
 in London, The two Secretaries of State took Windsor 
 by turns, St. John going one week and Lord Dart- 
 mouth the other. St. John, on the Saturdays when 
 it was his turn to go, managed to get the business 
 of his office done by about, two o'clock. His chariot at 
 that hour was brought to the door. He drove to Windsor 
 in about three hours, and generally dined as soon as 
 he arrived. Sometimes he broke the journey by 
 stopping at Lord Peterborough's residence near Par- 
 sons' Green, the house and grounds being placed 
 at his disposal by the eccentric and versatile owner ; 
 and when the peaches, grapes, and apricots were 
 ripe, spent an hour or two eating fruit in the 
 pleasant gardens. On one occasion, when Swift was 
 with him, the doctor thought fit to complain of being 
 hungry, and they stopped at Brentford to get some- 
 thing to eat. A roast joint smoking hot was brought 
 upon the table, which the statesman and his friend. 
 
216 THE SECBETAKT'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 with two other gentlemen, heartily enjoyed ; but the 
 doctor's enjoyment was a little spoiled when the bill 
 was brought in, and St. John, who loved to play tricks 
 with Swift's penuriousness, called upon him to pay 
 both for himself and the rest of the company. He 
 then declared .that he had only wanted some bread and 
 butter, and " faith," said he, " it cost me a guinea ; I 
 don't like such jesting." 
 
 The jealousy which existed between St. John and 
 Harley might have been observed in their treatment 
 of Swift. The divine knew well how to play off one 
 at the expense of the other. If Harley drove Swift to 
 Windsor one week, St. John would do so the next. 
 If he were brought down by Harley he would dine 
 mth St. John. If he dined with St. John he would 
 have supper with Harley ; and if Harley, who was 
 sometimes late, had not yet arrived, he would walk 
 two miles up the road at night to meet his carriage. 
 The first time Swift came to Windsor, he was brought 
 by the Lord Treasurer ; the next week he of course 
 accompanied the Secretary, who, to outdo Harley, gave 
 Swift a bed in his own house, and, the next morning, 
 the doctor's linen not having arrived, even lent him 
 a shirt to go to court in. 
 
 As Secretary of State St. John had an apartment at 
 the Castle, but finding it more convenient to have a 
 habitation to himself, he had lent him a small house be- 
 longing to the prebendary. There he and his Under 
 Secretary stayed, quietly writing and transacting busi- 
 ness. Swift would sometimes spend a week at the 
 house, composing, under St. John's direction, his famous 
 pamphlet The Conduct of the Allies, to prepare the 
 people for that peace which, during this summer at 
 Windsor, was rapidly progressing. The facts of which 
 
1711.] THE CLUB OF BEOTHEES. 217 
 
 this treatise was composed were evidently derived from 
 official information. Whoever examines carefully The 
 Conduct of the Allies, must ohserve that though it 
 was written with Swift's pen, and in that plain, homely 
 manner which was in such striking contrast with the 
 more fervid and oratorical style of St. John, yet that the 
 knowledge displayed in it is such as only one who had 
 filled the offices of Secretary at War and Secretary of 
 State could possess. St. John and Swift, during these 
 Windsor visits, were seen walking together for hours 
 up the long avenue, and discoursing deeply on high 
 affairs of State. Sometimes too, after midnight, when 
 the company was gone, they would sit talking on the 
 same subject by the fire far into the next morning. In 
 this manner, St. John, without writing a sentence of it 
 himself, supplied the materials for that treatise which 
 produced so mighty an effect upon the public mind. 
 
 At Windsor, during this summer, St. John dined 
 with a Club of Brothers, which he, in the spring, had 
 been mainly instrumental in forming. It had, in fact, 
 originated from his design, and appears to have been 
 intended as a kind of Tory rival to the Kit Cat, in 
 which the great Whig chiefs had so long met in fellow- 
 ship together. As St. John projected it, this society 
 Avas to consist of twenty members, who were all to be 
 distinguished by political influence, social eminence, or 
 by literary ability, and one of its principal objects was 
 to constitute a body of patrons who could promote the 
 interests of rising men of genius. There was not to be 
 the extravagance of the Kit Cat ; there was not to be 
 the drunkenness of the Beefsteak ; the meetings were 
 all to be conducted with a strict regard to order and 
 decency. The organization of the Club employed much 
 of St. John's time and thoughts, though he certainly 
 
218 THE SECEETARY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. Vn. 
 
 liad enough to do without any additional business ; and 
 amid all his other occupations he wrote long letters to 
 his intimate friends, explaining the design, and re- 
 questing them to become members. At first they met 
 at St. John's house, and afterwards at Oczinda's near 
 St. James's. ,In the summer, when it assembled 
 at Windsor, the club might be considered fairly es- 
 tablished. Each member presided in his turn, and 
 bore the expense of the dinner. The ministers of state, 
 and Mrs. Masham's husband and brothers, represented 
 the political influence of the club ; two or three great 
 noblemen the social rank ; and Swift and Prior the men 
 of wit. The members addressed each other as brother. 
 But notwithstanding St. John's avowed intention, be- 
 yond each member subscribing a guinea a-head to a 
 subscription for some very indifferent poetaster, it 
 cannot be said that the Club, as a Club, did very much 
 for learning and literary men. It became a mere 
 meeting for dining and drinking ; but, as such, un- 
 doubtedly answered one of the Secretary's purposes by 
 promoting cordiality and friendship among the leading 
 members of the Tory party.* 
 
 Cordiality and friendship were certainly necessary 
 during these meetings at Windsor. Mrs. Masham just 
 being confined, she was of course obliged to give over her 
 personal attendance upon the Queen. Her rival, the 
 Duchess of Somerset, who had received the Duchess of 
 Marlborough's gold key, was supposed to increase in 
 influence daily ; and one Saturday night, a Cabinet 
 Council was obliged to be postponed because St. John 
 positively refused to sit at the board with the Duke of 
 
 * St. John's Letter to the Earl of Orrery, of Jime 12, 1711, gives the best 
 account of his design in forming this ckib. See also Swift's Journal of 
 Juno 21, 1711, and p(ssiH). 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN AT HIS COUNTET SEAT. 219 
 
 Somerset. While tlie cabinet was assailed in the outer 
 circle, there were still dissensions even in the centre. 
 The Secretary and the Treasurer continued to distrust 
 and fear each other, and the Whigs were fully aware of 
 their growing enmity which began to be openly talked 
 about. Still it was St. John whom they expected to 
 retire. They did not for one moment suppose that 
 he could trip up the cautious and cunning prime 
 minister.* 
 
 After so many scenes of riot and dissipation, it is a 
 relief to contemplate the Secretary at his country seat. 
 There he appeared in a more amiable light than in any 
 in which he has yet been observed. Notwithstanding 
 the defects of his character, his professed liking for the 
 country and a rural life was a genuine love, and no 
 mere affectation. While corresponding anxiously with 
 Drummond about the conduct of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, the pretensions of the Dutch, and the back- 
 wardness of the Emperor, the Secretary was not less 
 anxious about some fine bay trees which were to be sent 
 to him from Holland. He ordered one of his gar- 
 deners down to the coast to take them out of the ship, 
 and see that they were properly conveyed to Bucklers- 
 bury, and displayed the greatest impatience to see with 
 his own eyes that they were all that he had been given 
 to expect, f 
 
 Bucklersbury, the country seat, which was part of 
 the portion St. John received with his wife, was 
 delightfully situated in agricultural Berkshire, about 
 twenty-five miles from Windsor, and seven north- 
 east of Newbury. During the weeks when it was 
 his turn to be in attendance upon the Queen, he fre- 
 
 * Swift's Letter to Arclibishop King, of An-. 26, 1711. 
 t Letter to Mr. Driimmoud, May 15, f7U. 
 
220 THE SECEETAEY'S OFFICIAL & PEIVATB LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 quently took the opportunity of driving to his rural 
 home, spending a night or two there, and then re- 
 turning to Windsor. Sometimes he took with him 
 on these excursions a friend whom he wished to 
 oblige. The Secretary appeared quite another man 
 at Bucklersbuiy to what he did at Windsor and St. 
 James's. He threw himself into all the pursuits of his 
 neighbours with a zest which only real enjoyment can 
 give ; and the ambitious and somewhat boisterous 
 statesman subsided into the model country gentleman. 
 Even those who knew him best, as he was known in 
 London, were surprised at the suddenness and complete- 
 ness of the change. " I cannot," he said, " plunge 
 myself so far into the thought of public business as to 
 forget the quiet of a country retreat ; and I am ready 
 to go at an hour's warning." The remark vas literally 
 true : he certainly had a pleasant, and might have had 
 a happy home. This fine estate and grounds, beautiful 
 garden, stately woods in the background, and a mansion 
 of the Elizabethan type, with its picturesque gables, 
 carved cornices, and ornamental buttresses, a clear 
 income from this property of three thousand a year, all 
 derived from his wife, who did the honours of the 
 house with much grace and refinement, and who really 
 adored her husband as much as he would allow her 
 to do, with Ins own wealth, rank, position in the 
 state, youth, and genius, seemed to make the Secre- 
 tary's cup of worldly bliss very full. He had several 
 gardeners, who took his own orders for all im- 
 provements, and delighted to gratify his taste. ;He 
 had a huntsman and a pack of hounds, whose deep 
 notes might be heard in the stables. They all knew 
 their master at his approach, and every hound he also 
 knew by name. He would soon be surrounded bv his 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN AS A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 221 
 
 dogs, calling first for one and then for another, and 
 taking care to remember and be remembered by them 
 all. He would inquire about the crops of wheat in 
 this or that field as earnestly as though his fortune and 
 life depended upon the harvest. He would make one 
 in a group of country neighbours, listen to all their 
 gossip, and smoke with them pipes of tobacco. He 
 would relate to a visitor the history of his wife's 
 ancestor, the famous Jack of Newbury, whose picture 
 hung in the hall. All this was very pleasant ; but plea- 
 santer than all was it to see the Secretary and his wife 
 at this time doing especial honour to a guest, by them- 
 selves marching before him to his chamber with the 
 large candlesticks in their hands, and the servants 
 bringing up the rear in the old country style. The 
 object of this honour, on one occasion, was Dr. Swift, 
 who, in his best clergyman's gown and wig, doubtless 
 stalked up to his bedroom after his obliging host and 
 hostess with sufficient pride and gravity,* 
 
 But St. John's disposition did not allow him to 
 indulge for any length of time in the tranquillity of 
 country pursuits. Had he, indeed, then been ever so 
 desirous of enjoying these rural pleasures, he could have 
 afforded very few hours for their gratification. Just 
 after returning to Windsor from one of these brief 
 excursions, he suffered a deep mortification. News 
 at length arrived of the expedition to North America 
 under Jack Hill. It was an utter failure. Everything 
 had gone wrong : the ships had been scantily provi- 
 sioned ; they were found to be too large for going up 
 the river ; several of the transports had been driven 
 ashore in a storm ; and the gallant brigadier, under the 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Aug. 4 and 5, 1711. 
 
222 THE SECRETARY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VII. 
 
 advice of that last resort of an incapable commander, a 
 council of war, had returned, not only without doing 
 anything, but even without attempting to do anything. 
 Such was the end of the Secretary's project of adding 
 all the French dominions in North America to the 
 British crown. His best friends had always doubted 
 the success of the expedition ; but in his dream 
 St. John persisted to the last. A little while before 
 the intelligence of this shameful failure reached White- 
 hall, he confidently assured one of his correspondents 
 that all North America was by that time in the posses- 
 sion of England. It seems strange that, with such an 
 earnest wish his plan should succeed, the Secretary 
 never thought of selecting from so many officers of 
 great experience a commander of real ability. It 
 was not given to a Jack Hill to be a Marlborough 
 or a Wolfe : ministerial patronage, the consequence 
 of his sister Abigail's favour with Queen Anne, 
 might bestow upon the jovial brigadier military rank, 
 but it could not confer upon him military capacity. 
 He was sent to do what only an able officer coidd 
 accomplish ; and the Secretary justly shared his dis- 
 grace. On the day when the news reached Windsor 
 Mrs. Masham wept, and St. John stormed ; but the 
 Lord Treasurer, who had always disapproved of the 
 expedition, and was, in his heart, perhaps, not sorry for 
 the Secretary's disappointment, was as gay and merry as 
 ever. The mortification which the Secretary endured 
 from his patronage of Jack Hill did not, however, put 
 an end to their connection. It afterwards appeared 
 that his indulgence to the favourite's brother went 
 much further, and that he allowed Mrs. Masham her- 
 self to pocket some twenty thousand pounds out of the 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN STILL FRIENDLY TO MAELBOROUGH. 223 
 
 public purse in a manner which made it nothing less 
 than a direct robbery.* 
 
 Yet with all this comphance to Mrs. Masham and her 
 brother, the Secretary still made little way at Court. 
 Oxford continued, during the summer, to be Queen 
 Anne's trusted counsellor ; and she continued to look 
 upon St. John with no favourable regard. What could 
 be the cause ? The Secretary fretted and fumed, and 
 swore that he would not go on as he was much longer, 
 that he would either be better or worse. At last he 
 thought that he had found out the reason of the Queen's 
 coldness for so many months. It appeared that he was 
 still supposed to be closely allied with the Duke of 
 Marlborough, and was regarded as one who, from the 
 long friendship that had existed between them, was only 
 lukewarm in some of the designs of the Court. Here 
 was a pretty discovery : the idea threw St. John into a 
 great rage. After all that he had done, it was too bad 
 to be suspected of any remaining weakness with respect 
 to the Duke. It was doing the Secretary a great injus- 
 tice, and he felt it to be such ; but St. John's attach- 
 ment to Marlborough must, up to very recently, have 
 been great indeed ; for there can be no doubt that this 
 opinion did prevail, not only with Mrs. Masham and the 
 complacent courtiers round Queen Anne's tea table, but 
 even in other well-informed circles, both at home and 
 abroad, t 
 
 But though St. John in heart retained his old admi- 
 
 * See the Report of the Secret Committee; the first of the Additioniil 
 Articles of Impeachment against the Earl of Oxford ; the first of his answers 
 to the Additional Articles ; and Oxford's Brief Account of Public Affairs. 
 
 t Swift, writing to Archbishop King about the disagreement between the 
 Secretary and the Treasurer on the 1st of August, 1711, observes : " They 
 vary a little about a certain gi-eat general ;" and even the Marquis de Torcy 
 says of St. John : " On ne lui connoissoit aucune haison avec Harley ; il parais- 
 soit plutot en avoir avec Marlborough." — Mdmoircs, ii. 13. 
 
224 THE SECRETARrS OFFICIAL & PRIYATE LIFE. [Chap. TII. 
 
 ration for the great military chief, he was not at all 
 prepared to allow this feeling to stand in the way of his 
 ambition. On this point he had no compunction what- 
 ever. 
 
 Marlborough had been sent very early in the year 
 to his command in the Netherlands of which the 
 Government had not yet ventured to deprive him. 
 He had but just departed when the ministers allowed 
 Swift to write the most severe attack that had yet been 
 made upon him in the parody to Marcus Cassius.* Of 
 this Marlborough complained to St. John, and St. John 
 was all zeal and devotion. He said, what we may take 
 the liberty of doubting, that he had not even read the 
 paper which had given the Duke so much annoyance, 
 and that he would see nothing of the kind should occur 
 in future. " I have taken care," he remarked in a 
 following letter, " to have the proper hint given to the 
 Examiner, and your Grace may be assured that I 
 cannot have a greater pleasure than to find it in my 
 power to serve you." The letters between the Secre- 
 tary and the Duke were at this time full of expressions 
 of confidence and friendship ; and Craggs, who was 
 considered his Grace's creature, had many interviews 
 with St. John to make the understanding complete. 
 But the fact was that neither Marlborough nor St. John 
 trusted each other, and that under the polished surface 
 of their intercourse there was mutual deception and 
 irreconcilable enmity. Yet when the intelligence came 
 that the Duke had performed his last, and, in a mili- 
 tary point of view, one of his greatest exploits, that of 
 entering the French lines near Bouchain, all the 
 Secretary's old enthusiasm revived, and he again 
 addressed a corigratulatory letter to Marlborough in 
 
 * The Examiner, Xo. 27. 
 
1711.] ST. JOHN CONGRATULATES MAELBOEOUGH. 225 
 
 the style he had hailed the conqueror of Ramillies of 
 Oudenarde, and of Malplaquet. A mere official letter, 
 he said, was not enough. " The hardest battles you 
 have fought," wrote the Secretary to the general, 
 " and the greatest victories you have won, cannot 
 afford more honourable testimony of your Grace's 
 superior capacity, and of your indefatigable zeal for the 
 public service, than your late success. For my own 
 part I have the joy which every honest man must feel 
 when the common enemy receives a blow ; and I have 
 the additional satisfaction of a faithful friend in think- 
 ing that it was your Grrace who gave it."* 
 
 After this brilliant feat of arms, the Dutch deputies 
 were anxious that Marlborough should hazard a battle ; 
 this, however, his Grrace thought fit to decline. Loud 
 complaints were made against him in Holland, and they, 
 of course, found their way to England. But St. John 
 spoke of them most contemptuously, writing, both to 
 Marlborough and Cadogan, letters full of friendly pro- 
 fessions on this strange reverse of the situation, the 
 Dutch deputies eager to fight, and the Duke resolved to 
 avoid an engagement. Marlborough steadily pressed 
 on the siege of Bouchain, and in September, Bouchain 
 capitulated, the whole garrison surrendering prisoners 
 of war. Once more St. John was all exultation, assuring 
 Marlborough that he had sent an express to the queen 
 with the news, ordered the Tower guns to fire, and again 
 took such a part in the success as became an honest man. 
 But these fine formalities of friendship came abruptly to 
 an end. Marlborough's chaplain and literary trumpeter. 
 Dr. Hare, published a sermon as preached before the 
 Duke on the capture of Bouchain ; and it was followed, 
 from the pen of the same reverend author, by a 
 
 * Letter of July 31, 1711.— CoiT., i. 177. 
 
226 THE SECRETARY'S OFFICIAL & PRIVATE LIFE. [Chap. VH. 
 
 pamphlet entitled Bouchain ; or, A Dialogue between 
 the Medley and the Examiner. In these pamphlets Marl- 
 borough's triumphs were of course made the most of, and 
 the policy by which the ministry was seeking to termi- 
 nate the war was by implication as strongly censured. 
 On perusing these manifestos, as St. John regarded 
 them, of Marlborough's real sentiments, the Secretary 
 became very angry. In the postscript of a letter 
 intended to be seen by the Duke, he observed : " My 
 Lord Marlborough's stupid chaplain continues to spoil 
 paper. They had best, for their patron's sake as well 
 as their own, be quiet. I know how to set them in the 
 pillory, and how to revive fellows that will write them 
 to the death." 
 
 St. John was as good as his word. There soon 
 afterwards appeared a learned comment of Dr. Hare's 
 sermon, written, as Swift says, by Mrs. Manley, 
 with some hints from himself; but whoever peruses 
 it attentively will suspect that many of the com- 
 ments really came from St. John, as they are far 
 superior to Mrs. Manley's usual style, and have much 
 more resemblance to the brilliant and declamatory 
 manner of the Secretary, than to Swift's plainer and 
 simpler method of composition. This was followed by 
 a still more virulent attack on the Duke, ripping up all 
 the old slanders of his life, and adding many more, under 
 the title of A New Vindication of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough.* It was also, under the Secretary's inspiration, 
 the work of the ingenious Mrs. Manley, who naturally 
 revelled in aU the scandalous details of private history, 
 
 * Mrs. Manley regarded James II.'s coanection with Marlborough's sister, 
 Arabella Churchill, as a great honour, for which the duke ought to have been 
 especiaUy grateful. " James," says this authoress, " had honoured his Grace's 
 family so far as to mingle his own blood with it."— A New Vindication of the 
 Duke of Marlborough, 1711. 
 
1711.] RUPTURE BETWEEN MARLBOROUGH & ST. JOHN. 227 
 
 and showed that on such themes, a shameless literary- 
 vixen conld be as fierce an antagonist as the cynical and 
 remorseless Swift. Just as these pamphlets appeared, 
 it became known that preliminaries of peace between 
 France and England were signed in London without 
 Marlborough, while commanding in the Netherlands, 
 having been at all consulted, or even informed of the 
 negotiations. This intelligence put an end to all friend- 
 ship or appearance of friendship between the duke and 
 St. John, Their correspondence, both official and private, 
 came suddenly to an end. Marlborough, who had been so 
 long the mainspring both of arms and of diplomacy, felt 
 that in carrying on negotiations without himself being at 
 all informed on the matter, notwithstanding St. John's 
 friendly professions, a great slight had been put upon 
 him by the ministers. Henceforth, he threw himself 
 entirely into the hands of the Whigs ; and the Duke and 
 the Secretary kept no terms with each other. Whatever 
 obstacle any suspected weakness with respect to Marl- 
 borough may have hitherto prevented St. John's favour 
 at court, was finally removed out of his way. It is 
 now time to relate the progress of these negotiations 
 for peace, which had so powerfully contributed to bring 
 about what the Secretary probably considered a very 
 happy result. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1711—1712. 
 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. 
 
 Prior, accompacied by the Abbe Graiiltier, reacted 
 France in safety about the middle of July, and repaired 
 immediately to Fontainebleau. He first requested tlie 
 French minister to inform him positively whether 
 Louis XIV. was authorized to treat for his grandson 
 the King of Spain. On receiving an answer in the 
 affirmative, the poet produced a long memorial drawn 
 up by St. John as Secretary of State, containing the 
 particular propositions, to which clear and satisfactory 
 answers were to be returned. 
 
 The State paper was divided into two parts. One 
 embodied the preliminaries which England thought fit 
 to stipulate for the allies ; the other, the conditions 
 which she desired for herself. On the side of the 
 Netherlands she required a barrier for Holland, and on 
 the side of the Rhine, another for the Emperor ; that 
 the strong places taken from her favoured ally, the 
 Duke of Savoy, should be restored to him, and he 
 should be put in possession of others in Italy ; and that 
 all the pretensions of the allies which were the legiti- 
 mate consequence of treaties, should be carried out to 
 
1711—1712.] PBELIMINARIBS OP THE TREATY. 229 
 
 their general satisfaction. For these allies, it must be 
 confessed, the propositions were not very definite. The 
 demands which St. John, as the organ of the Grovern- 
 ment, through Prior and by this memorial, made for 
 England were much more particular and precise. The 
 mere willingness to treat, of course, was a virtual 
 acknowledgement of Queen Anne as sovereign of Grreat 
 Britain : and the ministers, whatever might be the 
 inclination of some of them, could not but stipulate 
 that the succession to the crown in the Protestant line, 
 as established by Act of Parliament, should also be 
 acknowledged. Next in importance, as it was then con- 
 sidered, to the inheritance to the crown, was the con- 
 dition that the fortifications and works at Dunkirk 
 should be destroyed, and the port blocked up. Another 
 proposition, which at this day it is scarcely possible to 
 consider without shame, was that to the two African 
 companies of England should be transferred the 
 Assiento Contract then held by a French company for 
 the conveyance of negroes from the coast of Africa to 
 America ; and that suitable places in the West Indies 
 should be ceded to refresh the slaves as they were being 
 conveyed to the land of their bondage. There was to be 
 a new commercial treaty. Gibraltar and Port Mahon 
 were to be left to the British crown ; and England 
 was, with regard to Spain, to have all the advantages 
 of the most favoured nation. France was to give 
 up the island of Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, and 
 the Straits to England. In other respects the two 
 nations were, in North America, to have all the 
 places of which they should be in possession at the 
 ratification of the treaties. This stipulation St. John 
 thought highly advantageous to his country ; for as 
 the news of Hill's failure had not arrived when the 
 
230 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 memorial was sent fortb, tlie sanguine Secretary con- 
 fidently believed that England would be in possession 
 of all North America, There were three other con- 
 ditions which were much more general, and which it 
 was not so easy to carry into effect : that the crowns of 
 France and Spain should never be united, nor worn by 
 the same sovereign ; that all the allies should be 
 satisfied; and that trade should be restored and 
 supported. 
 
 Prior was a great favourite of the French ministers. 
 They fully believed that he wished for peace. But there 
 was much in the propositions he made far from accept- 
 able to Torcy and his colleagues. It was easy, they said, 
 to talk about restoring and supporting trade ; but if all 
 that England asked were granted, the trade of France 
 and of every other nation would be ruined. Still, to 
 refuse these demands abruptly, was to hazard at the outset 
 the miscarriage of the whole negotiation. The French 
 ministers hoping to soften them in detail, began to 
 debate each proposition. This, however, Prior plainly 
 refused to do ; his powers, he said, were very Hmited ; 
 he could only listen to what his Most Christian Majesty 
 had to say to the proposals. To convince the French 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs that this was all he 
 could do, he showed his secret commission. It was 
 contained in one sentence, written on a scrap of paper, 
 and expressed in these laconic terms : " Mr. Prior is 
 fully informed of our prehminary demands, and 
 authorized to communicate them to France, and to 
 bring back the answers to them." These few words 
 were in the handwriting of St. John, and had the 
 Queen's initials signed under them, A. R. 
 
 The French ministers were much disappointed on 
 reading this strange commission. Their only comfort 
 
1711— 1712.J KEASONS FOR ALLOWING PHILIP TO EEIGN. 231 
 
 was that the insulting preliminaries of the conferences 
 of the Hague and of Grertruydenberg had been fully 
 abandoned, and the Spanish throne left to Philip of 
 Anjou. With that affectation of piety which was then 
 so fashionable at the French Court, and which Ministers 
 of State allowed to pervade even official despatches 
 and diplomatic memoirs, Torcy observes on this 
 subject : " Grod, who holds in his hands the heart of 
 kings as He is the master of their fate, had fixed a 
 period to the disgraces of the King of Spain, and 
 softened the heart of the British Queen."* Nor, what- 
 ever faults may be found in other respects with St. 
 John's manner of conducting this negotiation, can he 
 be justly blamed of yielding to circumstances, and 
 allowing Philip to reign peaceably at Madrid. To 
 effectually conquer Spain for another competitor, must 
 probably have taken ten years more of war. Be- 
 sides, the death of the Emperor in the last April, 
 had entirely altered the position of affairs. The 
 House of Austria, with Spain and the Indies, Naples 
 and Sicily, all united under the Imperial Crown, 
 must have been quite as formidable as the House of 
 Bourbon possessing both France and Spain. Even 
 though the Archduke Charles had, as he declared 
 himself ready to do, delegated his claim to the Spanish 
 throne to a younger member of his family, as a 
 question between Philip and any other rival, St. John 
 was right in declaring that it was not worth to 
 England the expenditure of a single life or a single 
 charge of powder.f Another series of new campaigns 
 to secure Spain for the House of Savoy would have 
 been scarcely more justifiable. The time had undoubt- 
 edly come to make peace, and whatever Government 
 
 * Toroy's M^moires, ii. 30. t Letters on History. 
 
232 XEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTEECHT. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 had been in power in England after the Emperor's 
 death, peace must have been made. All that English- 
 men had a right to expect from St. John and his col- 
 leagues vas, that this peace should be obtained on the 
 best possible terms, and that if there were to be a 
 disagreement among the allies about the conditions, 
 England should be brought out of her engagements 
 in such a way as to cast ho stain upon her faith. 
 
 Unhappily this was not so. The manner in which 
 the first clandestine advances were made to France 
 through Gaultier, at the very time when the most posi- 
 tive assurances were given by St. John to the Dutch 
 ministers, that no overtures were ever to be made to 
 France at all, exactly corresponded with the style in 
 which St. John continued to carry on these negotia- 
 tions to the end. In direct breach of the article of the 
 Grrand Alliance, which stipulated that none of the 
 contracting powers should privately negotiate with the 
 enemy any advantages for itself, and independently 
 of each other, Prior insisted upon it as an indispen- 
 sable condition that these specific demands of England 
 for herself should be kept quite secret, and particularly 
 concealed from the Dutch. Nor is it sufficient to argue, 
 as Bolingbroke afterwards did in his defence, that 
 Holland, if she had had the opportunity, would have 
 done the same thing. This is a bad excuse at the best ; 
 but it is not justified by facts. Holland had had the oppor- 
 tunity, and she had not done the same thing. Every 
 attempt was made at the Hague and Grertruydenberg to 
 separate her from the allies, and especially from 
 England, and without success. All the preliminaries 
 she insisted upon were invariably communicated to 
 Marlborough, who knew everything that was going 
 on ; much more, indeed, than he did at this time of the 
 
1711—1712.] MBSNAGEE SENT TO ENGLAND. 233 
 
 proceedings of his own G-overnment, wliicli studiously 
 kept him ignorant of these negotiations. The French 
 Secretary of State, the Marquis de Torcy himself, is 
 the best witness for the good faith of Holland: his 
 great cause of complaint is that every proposition 
 made by himself at the Hague, and his emissaries at 
 Grertruydenberg, was immediately communicated by 
 the Dutch to the English Commander-in-chief, and that 
 it was not possible to detach Holland from her allies.* 
 Even the Barrier Treaty, which was so much railed at 
 as a proof of the selfishness and rapacity of the Dutch, 
 was a treaty which they were at perfect liberty to 
 negotiate ; it was made, not with France, the enemy, 
 but England, the ally ; and it was signed by Lord 
 Townshend, the English plenipotentiary. 
 
 Besides refusing to debate the different clauses of 
 St John's memorial, Prior demanded a specific answer 
 in writing to each proposition. The French ministers 
 were in the greatest embarrassment. To refuse the 
 demand positively was to run the risk of breaking off 
 the negotiations altogether ; to agree to it was either 
 to surrender at discretion, or to show how far France 
 was averse from accepting what the English ministers 
 considered indispensable for peace. They hit upon 
 another expedien-t. They determined to send back with 
 Prior and Graultier an agent of their own, to discuss 
 the different terms with the English Government. 
 The person chosen for this delicate office was the 
 deputy to the Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, 
 M. Mesnager, who had already been engaged in the 
 recent conferences of peace with the Dutch. He 
 thought that he could persuade this country and her 
 allies that they might gain more for their common 
 
 * Torcy's Memoires, i., passim. 
 
234 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTEECHT. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 advantage by sharing in Spanish commerce, than by 
 any cession of Spanish territories ; and on questions of 
 trade he appears to have entertained more liberal and 
 sensible views than were prevalent among his contem- 
 poraries either in France or England. 
 
 Mesnager and his two associates in the work of peace, 
 Prior and Ganltier, landed at Deal in the middle of 
 August. Their first experience was not encouraging. 
 They were arrested by a zealous Custom-house officer, 
 and only released by a warrant sent down from St. 
 John as Secretary of State, at Whitehall. He was de- 
 lighted at Mesnager's mission, but expressed his regret, 
 and the regret of his sovereign, that it would be neces- 
 sary for the deputy to live some time in concealment. 
 A week elapsed before Mesnager had his first confiden- 
 tial interview with the chiefs of the administration. But 
 he was immediately asked for the answer in writing to 
 St. John's memorial ; and seeing that it would be 
 hazardous to refuse it altogether, he wrote a paper, in 
 reply, containing some remarks on each of the EngHsh 
 propositions, and also what the French king demanded 
 for himself and his allies. The first interview with the 
 ministers took place at the house of the Earl of Jersey, 
 whose suggestions about making the overtures to 
 France through Gaultier had produced such important 
 results, and who, dying shortly afterwards, was pre- 
 vented from himself personally carrying out the business 
 he had so succcessfully begun. As Mesnager explained 
 in detail the concessions which France was prepared to 
 make to England, the ministers listened to him with 
 evident satisfaction ; but no sooner did he begin to 
 speak about the stipulations which his master expected in 
 return, than he was heard with the greatest impatience, 
 and at last abruptly cut short in his harangue. This, 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN AND THE FRENCH ENVOY. 
 
 235 
 
 St. John told him, was not to the question. All 
 that he had to do was to be explicit on the terms 
 France was prepared to grant to England. Mesnager 
 and the French Q-overnment had hoped that the en- 
 gagements would he reciprocal ; that if France were 
 ready to declare all the concessions she would make to 
 England, England would, on her part, be willing to 
 declare what particular advantages France might de- 
 pend upon for herself and her allies, particularly the 
 Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, whose restoration to 
 their dominions Louis XIV. had deeply at heart. But 
 St. John and his colleagues would not hear any men- 
 tion of such conditions. After a conference of four 
 hours' duration the council broke up in no satisfactory 
 mood. 
 
 Two days afterwards St. John called on the French 
 envoy, and asked him plainly to state whether he really 
 was empowered to negotiate on the advantages to be 
 conferred on England ? The minister also expressed 
 his surprise that the deputy should have thought 
 fit to dilate on the general conditions of peace rather 
 than on those which concerned England alone. Mes- 
 nager, though much mortified, declared himself ready 
 to conform to the views of the English cabinet, and 
 offered at once to send to France for new instructions. 
 In the evening St. John returned, and suggested 
 that Mesnager should himself go and consult the 
 French Government. This, however, the wary envoy 
 declined to do. He knew that it would be very much 
 like breaking off the negotiations altogether, and frus- 
 trating all the hopes of that peace which had become 
 so indispensable to France. After another interview 
 with the ministers it was at last determined again to 
 send Graultier. He took with him another elaborate 
 
236 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 paper from St. John's pen ; and, that lie might not be 
 exposed to the interference of the authorities on the 
 coast, he was accompanied by a Queen's messenger, 
 and crossed the Channel in a packet provided by the 
 Grovernment. 
 
 A brief delay intervened. The ministers were far 
 from unanimous in their opinion on Mesnager's mission ; 
 and some of them contemplated Graultier's return with 
 many misgivings. The manner in which the negotia- 
 tions had been opened was not calculated to satisfy a 
 very scrupulous conscience. Disguise the matter as St. 
 John might to himself and to his colleagues, England was, 
 in fact, negotiating for herself, and at the expense of her 
 allies. What could be more unfair than for one power 
 in the confederacy to make clear and express stipulations 
 on her own account, and leave her partners in the war to 
 take care of themselves at the general conferences for 
 peace ? To insist, for instance, at the outset that the for- 
 tifications of Dunkirk should be totally demolished, and 
 to admit that, in return for this concession, Louis XIY. 
 should have some equivalent in Flanders ? St. John 
 himself had no hesitation. He was bold, resolute, 
 determined, ready to answer all objections, and to bear 
 down all opposition; but there were among his "col- 
 leagues men who looked on the whole business with 
 dislike and distrust, and feared that they might one 
 day be called to a strict account. Of these, in parti- 
 cular, was the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Chamberlain. 
 Though at heart a Whig, and conscientiously attached 
 to the Protestant succession, he had been flattered by 
 Harley to attach himself to his ministry, and after the 
 Treasurer himself had played the most important 
 part in the recent changes. But he was timid and 
 hesitating by nature, had little sympathy with his 
 
1711—1712.] SHBEWSBURY'S HESITATION. 237 
 
 associates, distrusted their intentions, and regarded 
 Mesnager's mission with much suspicion. His character 
 was in many respects the very antithesis of St. John's. 
 He was always tortured hy scruples and doubts, was 
 vacillating, and temporizing, and became perplexed and 
 fearful, when it was necessary to act and be decided. 
 Still his patriotism was great. He felt that his col- 
 leagues and himself were doing wrong ; and he had his 
 fears of the day of reckoning. When it was deter- 
 mined to send G-aultier across the Channel for further 
 instructions, Shrewsbury's suspicions of Mesnager, and 
 the designs of France, greatly increased. St. John 
 wrote him two letters, enclosing papers, and earnestly 
 requesting him to be at Windsor to assist his colleagues 
 in their deliberations about the peace. Shrewsbury pro- 
 mised to attend ; but took occasion, in his reply, to exhibit 
 his doubts and perplexities on the negotiations. " As to 
 what we demand for ourselves," he wrote to St. John, 
 " I hope it has been well considered, and is so bene- 
 ficial to the nation, that it will warrant the concessions 
 we are obliged to make ; but I am so ignorant in those 
 affairs, that I shall trouble you with nothing upon 
 them. But as I still continue to mistrust the sincerity 
 of the French, and that these are nothing but arts to 
 sow division among us, so, one time or other, I conclude 
 these papers will be made public ; in which case, 
 though we know her Majesty has a fair and just inten- 
 tion with relation to the allies, yet in these papers 
 little notice having been taken of their interests, 
 neither in general words nor in particular, it may 
 look suspiciously, as if her party had no consideration 
 but of what concerns Britain ; and having settled 
 that with France would leave her friends to shift for 
 themselves at a general treaty, in which her partiality 
 
238 NEGOTIATINa THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 might be liable to suspicion, since she had beforehand 
 stipulated for herself : this as it is far from her design, 
 so in all the papers that pass, a more than ordinary- 
 care should be taken to explain that to the world. I 
 remember to have seen, in a paper delivered in by 
 M. Mesnager, some propositions so disadvantageous to 
 the allies, that I question whether notice should not be 
 taken of them, as the articles, that of the Elector of 
 Bavaria's having Flanders, and I think some others ; 
 for if ever all these papers should be made public, 
 silence on such a subject might fall within the suspicion 
 
 of consent Looking over the papers again, I am 
 
 more of opinion that there is something in them that 
 looks like bargaining for yourselves apart, and leaving 
 your friends to shift at a general treaty, that I am con- 
 firmed the exposing such a paper (as it will be in the 
 power of France to do), may create great jealousy and 
 complaint from the allies."* 
 
 One of the demands which Graultier carried over 
 from England to France was that Mesnager's powers 
 might be altered. He was originally authorized to 
 treat with England or any other of the allies at war 
 with France ; but the English ministers requested that 
 he might be authorized to negotiate with them alone. 
 This was very significant. Of course the King of 
 France made no difficulty in agreeing to what St. 
 John desired. A. memorial was also drawn up, con- 
 senting, on the part of Louis, to defer till the general 
 treaty of peace an equivalent for tlie demolition of 
 Dunkirk, and accepting, more or less, most of the other 
 propositions contained in the paper brought by Graultier 
 from the English Secretary of State. His Most Chris- 
 
 * Letter to St. John, Aug. 27, 1711. 
 
1711—1712.] CONSIDERING THE FRENCH PROPOSALS. 239 
 
 tian Majesty, indeed, regretted that England wonld 
 insist in her own demands, and would not, in return, 
 bind herself as to the terms which France had to expect ; 
 but this politic sovereign consented with a good grace 
 to what St. John and his colleagues in this respect 
 desired. The king knew all the advantages he could 
 reap from such a method of negotiation. Already 
 England was virtually separated from her allies, and 
 was evidently more friendly to France than to Hol- 
 land. 
 
 Graultier reached London again in the third week of 
 September. He supped privately with the Treasurer, 
 who expressed his joy at the king's condescension in the 
 liveliest terms, and as soon as his servants had with- 
 drawn, Oxford, who was himself, perhaps, as usual, a little 
 elevated from claret, declared that he regarded Mesna- 
 ger as an intimate friend, and that he looked upon his 
 master as the good ally of Bngla,nd ; and filling his 
 glass three times, he drank first the health of Louis, then 
 that of the Dauphin, and concluded with toasting the 
 French ministers. But when the cabinet assembled 
 some days afterwards at Prior's to consider the papers 
 which Graultier had brought, everything was not 
 quite so satisfactory. Mesnager was kept waiting for 
 some time. On being introduced he observed on the 
 countenances of the ministers evidences of distrust and 
 agitation. Shrewsbury, in particular, appeared deeply 
 moved. The Duke read and re-read the new powers 
 which had been sent to Mesnager in a hesitating and 
 suspicious manner, pausing at every sentence, and 
 weighing every expression as though he were anxious 
 to find fault with a document which was, however, 
 unexceptionable. The ministers then began to consider 
 the memorial containing the reply to the propositions 
 
240 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 they had made ; but still appeared very anxious 
 and embarrassed. Instead of looking like the rulers 
 of a great empire, they seemed like a group of con- 
 spirators, watching each other with jealous eyes 
 and lowering brows. Shrewsbury's agitation became 
 greater than qver. But St. John's manner was in 
 striking contrast with that of his colleagues, and parti- 
 cularly with that of Shrewsbury. The Secretary read 
 out loudly the papers with marked emphasis, and to 
 each article of the answer he gave the warmest appro- 
 bation. He had none of Shrewsbury's doubts, fears, nor 
 scruples. On this question of peace, St. John appeared 
 to Mesnager the one decisive man in the cabinet.* 
 
 After the papers had been read there was some dis- 
 cussion about Louis' reservation of the right to fish on 
 the banks of Newfoundland, the Assiento Contract, 
 and the cession of the island of St. Christopher. Then 
 came a long and embarrassing silence. It was at 
 length broken by St, John, who drily remarked, 
 that " It was prohibited by Act of Parliament to treat 
 with any prince who received the Pretender." This 
 was the real cause of the agitation which ilesnager had 
 observed on the faces of the ministers as he entered the 
 room. No intimation had yet been made, in the course of 
 the negotiations, that as in the conferences of the Hague 
 and Gertruydenberg the unhappy exile would have to 
 leave France, and the omission had been the cause 
 of a warm debate. But Mesnager had some reason to 
 
 * " Le due de Shrewsbmy lut le pouvoir, et le relut plusieurs fois. Mesnager 
 crat remarquer qu'il le lisoit avec I'attention d'un homme qui d&iroit d'y 
 
 trouver quelque difficult^ et quelque sujet de contestation Shrewsbttfy 
 
 d&iroit cependant la paix autant qu'aucun des autres ministres : tons ^toient 
 frappfe de la crainte d'un temps que peut-etre ne seroit pas eloigne; et nonob- 
 stant leurs bonnes intentions, la reflexion les retenoit, h I'exceptioii de Saint 
 Jean. 11 lut tout haut les pieces que Mesnager venoit de remettre : il donnoit 
 k chaque article des marques d'approbation." — Torcy, ii. 58. 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN TAKES MBSNAGER TO THE QUEEN. 241 
 
 complain that this objection should only be raised seven 
 or eight months after the English ministers had them- 
 selves made the overtures for peace, and particularly 
 just after he had received from his soyereign a new 
 power in accordance with the terms they had them- 
 selves demanded. He observed that the Chevalier was 
 about setting out on a journey through the different 
 provinces of France, and who could tell where he might 
 be when the regular Conferences for peace began ? 
 
 This diplomatic intimation was considered satis- 
 factory. All obstacles between the two Grovernments 
 were not, however, removed. St. John had several 
 separate interviews with Mesnager at Prior's ; he set 
 himself the task of smoothing each obstacle to peace as 
 it arose ; at one time the negotiations seemed actually 
 on the point of breaking off through the difficulties 
 which his colleagues threw in the way : but at last 
 everything yielded to the Secretary's ardour and 
 resolution. At Whitehall on the 27th of September, 
 according to the old style, and the 8th of October, accord- 
 ing to the new, the preliminaries were signed by St. John 
 and Dartmouth, as the English Secretaries of State, 
 and by Mesnager as the envoy of the French King.* 
 
 The next day, for the first time, Mesnager, accom- 
 panied by Gaul tier and another priest, the Abbe de Poli- 
 gnac, were seen in the Secretary's lodgings at Windsor. 
 Their appearance excited much attention, and gave rise 
 to some conjectures. It was whispered that they were 
 secret agents from France, that negotiations were making 
 rapid progress, and that a peace would soon be con- 
 cluded. At eight o'clock in the evening St. John con- 
 ducted Mesnager by a secret staircase to the Queen's 
 
 * See St. John's Letters to the Queen, of Sept. 26 acd 27, 1711, and the 
 preliminaries in the Bol. Corr., i. 233. 
 
 R 
 
242 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 room. Her Majesty received him very graciously, 
 and declared her readiness to do all in her power to put 
 an end to the war. After kissing her royal hand, and 
 taking his leave, Mesnager was led out by the Secre- 
 tary through the same private passage, the only per- 
 sons who saw them being a confidential waiting woman, 
 in the antechamber, and two sentinels at the door. 
 That night Mesnager, the two priests. Swift, and St. 
 John, supped together at the Secretary's lodgings ; and 
 after the Frenchmen left, St. John and Swift sat up 
 until two o'clock talking about that peace, the pre- 
 liminaries of which had just been signed. Prior took 
 Mesnager back to London in the morning, and cautioned 
 him not again to present himself at the Secretary's 
 house, for that spies constantly watched it on the part 
 of the Whigs, and that it was still necessary to use the 
 greatest circumspection.* 
 
 St. John's most serious difficulties about the peace 
 indeed only began after these preliminaries were 
 signed. Mesnager departed for France, carrying with 
 him a friendly and complimentary letter from the 
 Secretary to Torcy, and the newly created Earl of 
 Strafford crossed over to Holland with the paper of 
 preliminaries, which it was necessary to communicate to 
 the Dutch ; but there was another separate paper 
 with which neither they nor the ambassador himself 
 were at the time made acquainted. Of this want of 
 confidence, Strafford afterwards complained to St. John, 
 and the Secretary exculpated himself with much 
 earnestness ; " For Grod's sake, my Lord," St. John 
 wrote to Strafford, " be persuaded that I have less 
 cunning, and more frankness ; and that of all people in 
 
 * See Swift's Journal, Sept. 28 and 30, 1711, and Torcy's M^moires, ii. 73 
 and 74. 
 
1711—1712.] PENSIONARY BUYS. 243 
 
 the world I would not begin playing tricks with one 
 whom I have corresponded and lived so happily with, 
 and in whose bottom I am now embarked upon the 
 greatest and nicest occasion that was perhaps ever to 
 be managed. I conjure you to have no jealousies of a 
 man who will always try to deserve your confi- 
 dence."* 
 
 Strafford on landing in Holland found Buys, the 
 Pensionary of Amsterdam, waiting, as was then usual, for 
 a fair wind to cross over to England. His object was 
 to counteract the negotiations which were known 
 to be in progress. His confidence in his powers of 
 oratory and persuasion had not diminished. " Buys," 
 St. John wrote, " depends on his rhetoric, and thinks to 
 impose, of which imagination he will certainly be the 
 dupe." With the Secretary of State, the Queen, and 
 Lords of the Council, the good burgomaster persisted 
 in trying the effects of his eloquence. Holland, he 
 assured them, was prepared to do her part in the war. 
 No sacrifice would be too great for her to make that it 
 might be brought to a triumphant conclusion. Peace 
 he admitted to be very desirable ; but were the English 
 ministers taking the best method to promote it by 
 leaving the allies to take it up themselves at a general 
 congress ? Would they not by this means be left 
 exposed to the machinations of France ? Surely it would 
 be much better to settle clearly the preliminaries as at 
 the Hague and G-ertruydenberg, than to see the alliance 
 in danger of being divided against itself. Thus Buys 
 spoke and reasoned in a series of elaborate orations ; 
 but he only convinced himself : it was then impossible 
 for the English Grovernment to change the plan of 
 negotiations they had adopted ; and the Dutch states- 
 
 * Letter to the Earl of Strafford, 1711. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 man's argumentative speeches were considered very 
 long, and very wearisome. Count de Gallas kept 
 no terms with the queen's advisers. As soon as 
 he had obtained a copy of the preliminaries, he took 
 care to have them published in the Daily Oourant ; he 
 threw himself .entirely into the hands of the Whigs ; and 
 to his master, the Emperor, spoke of the Enghsh ministers 
 as a set of fools and knaves, who were betraying both 
 their own sovereign and her alhes. St. John took the 
 extreme step of forbidding Grallas, in the name of the 
 Queen, to present himself at Court, and ordering him to 
 leave the country. The envoy of the Duke of Savoy 
 also declared that the interests of his master had not 
 been sufficiently taken care of in the prehminaries. 
 All the allied Courts were in commotion, and the 
 Whigs were furious. Marlborough, too, returned to 
 England the determined opponent of the Grovernment. 
 Menaces and cajolery could not prevent him from in- 
 forming the queen that he entirely disapproved of the 
 manner in which her ministers were negotiating the 
 peace. The Secretary, however, believed that Marl- 
 borough could be made to suffer for his hostility to the 
 administration. ' ' His fate," said St. John, " hangs 
 heavily upon him."* 
 
 In such an excited state of the public mind, of course, 
 the pamphleteers were very busy. So also were St. 
 John's messengers in apprehending, under his warrant 
 as Secretary of State, all who could as authors, printers, 
 or publishers be construed to have any hand in attack- 
 ing the Government. St. John himself had literary 
 abilities, and he was himself a patron of letters, but 
 it is to his disgrace as a statesman, that no Secretary 
 of State ever carried on a more harassing persecution 
 
 • St. John to the Earl of Stratford. 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN'S PBESECUTION OF THE PRINTBES. 245 
 
 of the press. Everyttiiiig that could be regarded as 
 a libel on the Government was by bim mercilessly 
 seized and pnnisbed ; wbile Swift, the most unscru- 
 pulous of political writers, was encouraged, under the 
 Secretary's protection, to assail, with rancorous satire 
 and ribaldry, all the opponents of the ministry. The 
 renegade divine boasted of the protection he received, 
 and of the means of vengeance at his command. For 
 two or three allusions to Swift, not one-tenth part so 
 severe as the reverend doctor was daily writing against 
 others, Boyer was taken up, and his case was but a 
 s^Jecimen of many others of the same kind. " One 
 Boyer, a French dog," Swift wrote to Stella, " has 
 abused me in a pamphlet, and I have got him up in a 
 messenger's hands ; the Secretary promises me to 
 swinge him ; I must make that rogue an example, for 
 warning to others."* St. John was equally ready to 
 boast, even to Majesty itself, of what he was doing, as a 
 political and literary censor. In writing to the Queen 
 at this time, he observed : " I have discovered the 
 author of another scandalous libel who will be in 
 custody this afternoon : he will make the thirteenth I 
 have seized, and the fifteenth I have found out."f A 
 few days afterwards, when the courts of law were 
 opened after the long vacation, no less than fourteen 
 printers, publishers, and booksellers, who had been 
 arrested under St. John's warrant, were placed at the 
 bar for being concerned in the publication of what he 
 pleased to call libels on the Government. Well and 
 truly did the Whig counsel, Lechmere, argue against 
 the injustice of committing people without specifying 
 their crimes. " If," said he, " the minister is to act in 
 this manner, the office of the Secretary of State mi;st 
 
 * Journal, Oct. 16, 1711. t Con-., i. 255. 
 
246 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTEECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 become a Spanish Inquisition." The Attorney-Greneral 
 however, succeeded in having all the fourteen accused 
 persons bound over on their recognizances to the end 
 of the term.* 
 
 Swift was still busy, under St. John's direction, pre- 
 paring The Conduct of the Allies, which was to be ready 
 for publication about the time of the meeting of ParKa- 
 ment. Queen Anne had gone to Hampton Court ; and 
 thither the ministers went down on the Saturday, and 
 generally came back on the Monday, just as they had 
 done at Windsor. At Hampton Court, however, the 
 Secretary had no accommodation for a friend, and 
 Swift was not a man to go to any expense he could 
 himself help for lodgings and dinner : he therefore 
 was left behind in London, while St. John, with his 
 pocket stuffed with the proof sheets of The Conduct of 
 the Allies, went to attend upon the Queen .| 
 
 Two brief notes from St. John to Swift were written 
 during one of these visits. The first shows us that 
 even a busy Secretary of State can find time to listen to 
 any scandal about a political opponent : — 
 
 " Hampton Court, Not. 16, 1711. 
 " I return you the sheet, which is, I think, very 
 correct. Sunday morning I hope to see you. 
 " I am, sincerely, 
 " Tour hearty friend and obedient servant, 
 
 " H. St. John. 
 
 " P.S. — I have a vile story to tell you of the moral 
 philosopher, Steele." 
 
 St. John in his haste sent Swift the wrong proof, 
 and on the next day wrote again to him as follows : — 
 
 * See Annals of Queen Anne, 1711, 264. 
 
 t See Journal to Stella, Nov. 3, 15, 18, 1711. 
 
1711—1712.] brigadiee beeton. 247 
 
 " Dear Doctor, 
 " I ask pardon for my mistake, and I send you the 
 right paper. 
 
 " I am, in sickness and in health, 
 
 " Ever your faithful friend, 
 " H. St. John." 
 
 The winter was now approaching. It promised to 
 be a most eventful one. Plenipotentiaries were being 
 appointed for the Congress which was to meet at 
 Utrecht ; the time for the meeting of Parliament 
 was drawing nigh ; and country members were coming 
 up in batches to town. St. John, with more than his 
 usual ardour, was preparing for the political campaign. 
 Golden Square, lying to the north of Leicester Fields, 
 and to the south of the Oxford Road, had just been 
 built, and was considered the most magnificent and 
 fashionable part of the metropolis. There the Secretary, 
 determined not to be outdone, had a new house, 
 which was being splendidly furnished and decorated. 
 In the mean time Mrs. St. John and himself lodged at 
 a Dr. Cotesworth's. B.ut at the house of Brigadier 
 William Breton, whom he on the following year sent as 
 ambassador to Berlin, the Secretary was more at home, 
 and was accustomed to dine when he wished to avoid 
 company. The lady of the house was about five-and-thirty 
 years of age, had some reputation for gallantry, and was 
 considered a great wit. St. John was one of her greatest 
 admirers ; and her husband, the brigadier, was his con- 
 fidential friend. After a day's hard work at the office, the 
 Secretary, in his chair, might frequently be seen proceed- 
 ing to Breton's when he did not go to Prior's. A bottle of 
 good wine and a substantial meal were there always at 
 
248 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTEECHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 Ms command on those post days when for hours he had 
 had scarcely time to break his fast. If the Secretary 
 was nowhere else to be foimd it was generally supposed 
 that he must be " at Breton's ;" and to Breton's those 
 who were most in St. John's intimacy frequently 
 repaired. 
 
 Just at this time, before the Secretary's mansion in 
 Grolden Square was quite ready, he became alarmed 
 lest it should be demolished by a riotous mob. On the 
 17th of November, the anniversary of Queen Eliza- 
 beth's birthday, a grand procession was supposed to 
 have been arranged by the Whig chiefs at the Kit Cat ; 
 images of the devil, the pope, the cardinal, Sacheverel, 
 and the Pretender were to be carried at midnight through 
 the streets by torchlight, and to be burnt in eifigy. 
 It was said that immense sums had been subscribed to 
 give due effect to the popular ceremony, and that, as in 
 the similar demonstration arranged by Shaftesbury and 
 the country party during the time of the • Exclusion 
 Bill, the populace was to be encouraged to rise and 
 overawe the court and government. The Ministers 
 affected the greatest alarm, and accused the Whigs of 
 the darkest purposes, of riot, pillage, and assassination. 
 On the night before that of the intended procession, the 
 images were seized by an order of the Secretary of 
 State, and were conveyed to his office. One of these 
 waxen effigies was represented as like the Lord Trea- 
 surer, and another was perhaps not quite so handsome, 
 as Mr. Secretary St. John ; but it turned out that they 
 were neither so costly nor so artistic as they had been 
 supposed, and that the demonstration, had the Grovern- 
 ment not prevented it, would have been, after all, of a 
 very harmless nature. The Whigs ridiculed the pre- 
 
1711—1712.] DEFEAT OF THE GOVEENMENT. 249 
 
 tended panic of the Ministers ; and even St. Jolm's 
 friends admitted that his apprehensions had had very 
 little foundation.* 
 
 It was convenient, however, to suspect the Whigs of 
 the most diaholical machinations. The time for the 
 meeting of Parliament arrived. It was confidently- 
 reported that a desperate effort was to be made in the 
 House of Lords, where the opposition was at least 
 equal, if not numerically superior, to the Court, to put 
 a stop to the negotiations for peace. All the arts of the 
 Junto in close alliance with Godolphin and Marl- 
 borough were to be tried ; the whole strength of the 
 Whig party, reinforced by that champion of the 
 Church, the Earl of Nottingham, was to be put 
 forth. Now or never was the time. St. John, with 
 his characteristic ardour, rejoiced at the coming 
 struggle. " Friday next," he said, " the peace will 
 be attacked in Parliament. I am glad of it ; for I hate 
 a distant danger which hovers over my head. We 
 must receive their fire and rout them once for all."f 
 
 The enemies of the Government were not so easily 
 routed as the Secretary anticipated. On the 7th of 
 December, when the Parliament met, Nottingham, in the 
 House of Lords, moved an amendment to the address, 
 representing to her Majesty that no peace could be safe 
 or honourable if Spain and the West Indies were left to 
 the House of Bourbon ; and after a long debate, in 
 which most of the great Whig peers, and the Dukes of 
 Somerset and Marlborough supported the clause, it was 
 carried against the Court. Nor was this the only mor- 
 tification the Ministry had to endure. The Queen was 
 present during the discussion, and on leaving the House 
 
 * See Swift's Journal, Nov. 17, 18, 19, 26, 1711. 
 t Letter to liord Strafford, Dec. 4, 1711, 
 
250 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 of Lords gave her hand to the Duke of Somerset, that 
 he might escort her to her carriage. It was supposed 
 that his wife, who had succeeded the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough as Grroom of the Stole, and to whom Queen 
 Anne was known to be attached, was doing to Mrs. 
 Masham what Mrs. Masham had herself done to the 
 Duchess of Marlborough. The Duke of Somerset had 
 distinguished himself as one of the opponents of the 
 peace ; and it was by his representations that many- 
 needy peers had been induced to vote against the 
 Grovemment. Dismay sat upon the countenances of the 
 courtiers. The Lord Treasurer was loudly blamed for 
 his mismanagement : he seemed at once to have lost 
 both his influence over the Queen and the Parliament. 
 Majorities, in such circumstances, have a natural ten- 
 dency to increase. The Lords passed other resolutions 
 condemnatory of the Government ; and at Christmas 
 the Ministers had lost all control over the deliberations 
 of the Upper House. Nothing shows more clearly the 
 evil of a Government depending on back-stair influence 
 and feminine intrigue than the panic which the mere 
 suspicion that the Duchess of Somerset had reaUy sup- 
 planted Mrs. Masham in her Sovereign's favour pro- 
 duced among the dependents of the Ministry. Swift, 
 who had grossly abused the favour he enjoyed with 
 St. John and Oxford, and who had something of the 
 twin disposition of the bully and coward in his nature, 
 was in a perfect fright. He gave up all for 
 lost, and besought the two ministers to send him on 
 some foreign mission, that he might be out of the way 
 of the vengeance he knew he had deserved. He medi- 
 tated hiding some time, and then stealing over secretly 
 to his willows and vicarage at Laracor. 
 
 While all was shaking around him, St. John appears 
 
1711—1712.] THE CREATION OP TWELVE PEERS. 251 
 
 to have acted a firm and courageous part. He bad, 
 indeed, left himself no retreat : the attack on the peace 
 was more an attack on the Secretary of State, who was 
 conducting the negotiations, than even upon the Trea- 
 surer ; but at this crisis, at all events, Oxford had no 
 reason to complain of his colleague. St. John assured 
 Swift that he was in no danger ; that he would take care 
 of him as he would of himself ; that everything would 
 yet be well ; that in a little while the wisdom of the 
 Lord Treasurer would appear greater than ever ; and 
 the Secretary swore that either the Duke and Duchess 
 of Somerset should be turned out of their places, or he 
 would himself resign his seals of office,* 
 
 The difficulty was not settled until the 31st of 
 December. On that day a Gazette appeared con- 
 taining the names of eleven new peers, and concluding 
 with the announcement that the Duke of Marlborough 
 had been dismissed from all his employments. Twelve 
 new peers were, in fact, created for the express purpose 
 of swamping the Whig majority in the House of 
 Lords. Such a step, unprecedented in the constitu- 
 tional history of England, could only be excused by 
 the most extreme necessity : it may well be doubted 
 whether any object which the ministers then had in 
 view could justify such an extraordinary exercise of 
 the royal prerogative. This act, however, suited St. 
 John's daring and impetuous nature, and, at the time, 
 had his hearty approval. On the 2nd of January, 
 1712, when the new peers went to take their seats, 
 and the Tories, thus reinforced, were to try their 
 strength on the motion for the adjournment of the 
 House, the Secretary stood in the Court of Bequests 
 waiting to know the result of the division. On being 
 
 * See Swift's Journal, Dec. 8, 9, and 13, 1711. 
 
252 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. Vm. 
 
 informed that tte Court had carried the question by 
 a majority of one, he said, impetuously, " If those 
 twelve had not been enough, we would have given 
 them another dozen."* 
 
 St. John was, indeed, himself very nearly being 
 created one of the new peers. He wished to follow 
 Harley into the Upper House, and feel his brow also 
 adorned with a coronet. For the time, however, his 
 presence in the House of Commons was found to be 
 indispensable. He alone, since the prime minister 
 had left the scene, could lead the Tory majority, 
 sustain by his brilliant oratory the weight of debate, 
 and carry the negotiations for peace triumphantly 
 through the stormy assembly. It was, however, 
 generally rumoured that as soon as the peace should 
 be concluded, and the session come to an end, he was 
 to be raised to the peerage ; and he was himself given 
 to understand that he should lose nothing in rank by 
 having his promotion deferred.^ 
 
 During the session which had just begun, St. John 
 then remained in the House of Commons. At the 
 head of an overwhelming majority, the acknowledged 
 leader of the House, and without a rival in administra- 
 tion or debate, everything was done under his imme- 
 diate superintendence. His personal influence was 
 immense : the Tory majority seemed under his will, 
 and to obey implicitly the direction of his single mind. 
 " I sat in Parliament," Bolingbroke afterwards ob- 
 served, " during the whole of that important session 
 
 * Boyer's Annals of the Eeign of Queen Anne. But while Bolingbroke 
 ■was in exile even he could speak of this measure " as unprecedented and in- 
 vidious, to he excused hy nothing but the necessity, and hardly by that." — 
 Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 t See St. John's Letter to Lord Strafford of July 23, 1712, and Swift's 
 Journal of Dec. 29, 1711. 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN LEADING THE HOUSE OP COMMONS. 253 
 
 whicli preceded the peace, and which, by the spirit 
 shown through the whole course of it, and by the 
 resolutions taken in it, rendered the conclusion of the 
 
 treaties practicable I never look back on this 
 
 great event, past as it is, without a secret emotion 
 of mind, when I compare the vastness of the under- 
 taking, and the importance of the end with the means 
 employed to bring it about, and with those which were 
 employed to traverse it." It was on the manner in 
 which he, as with one hand, led the House of Commons, 
 and with the other directed the negotiations at Utrecht, 
 that he based his highest claims as a practical states- 
 man. For what passed, both in debate and diplomacy, 
 he must be held mainly responsible ; and here we 
 might expect his sagacity, wisdom, and patriotism to 
 appear. 
 
 It must, however, be candidly confessed that during 
 this celebrated session, in the proceedings of the House 
 of Commons under St. John's guidance, we find little 
 more than the unrestrained exercise of the old spirit 
 of party vengeance, such as the Tory majorities had 
 formerly displayed in the last years of the reign of 
 William and the first of the reign of Anne. On the 
 first day of the session, in the speech which was put 
 into the mouth of the Queen, her advisers thought it 
 becoming to make her Majesty congratulate her sub- 
 jects that negotiations for peace were progressing, 
 " notwithstanding the arts of those who delight in 
 war." Everything in the House where St. John sat 
 and gave the law to his obedient majority, was, from 
 the beginning to the end of the session, in strict con- 
 formity with this undisguised exhibition of royal 
 partisanship. No effort was left unemployed to stig- 
 matise the political opponents of the ministry by reso- 
 
254 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VHT. 
 
 lutions, addresses, votes of censure, and all the ma- 
 chinery of Parliamentary condemnation. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough was the most illustrious 
 victim. Some colourable excuse was to be found for 
 depriving the great Greneral of his command. This 
 measure, which was in truth the mere effect of Mrs. 
 Masham's personal animosity, was to be justified by 
 his imputed corruptions. Early in the session, another 
 report from the Commissioners for examining the public 
 accounts was presented to the House, informing the 
 Commons of several abuses which they pretended to 
 have discovered. Two of these alleged abuses related 
 to certain perquisites which were paid to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, in the contracts for supplying the 
 army with bread, and to deductions of two and a half 
 per cent, from the pay of the foreign troops, sent over 
 to the Duke, but never accounted for by him as pubhc 
 money. His Grace declared, in explanation of the 
 charge about the contracts for bread, that this per- 
 quisite had always been allowed to the commander-in- 
 chief in Flanders, and for the two and a half per cent, 
 deductions, he produced even the Queen's warrant, 
 stating, at the same time, that the money had been 
 applied to the secret service. The Duke was cer- 
 tainly not a man to neglect any means of enriching 
 himself which precedent had authorized. This, how- 
 ever, all who examine the question impartially, will admit 
 to be in this case the full extent of his delinquency. The 
 only surprise is, that much greater abuses were not 
 discovered. Marlborough's defence of himself, if not 
 triumphant, at least shows that there was little to find 
 fault with, except his having been so unfortunate as to 
 incur the bitter enmity of the Queen and Mrs. Masham. 
 Indeed, St. John, in his private letters, even admits this 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN AND WALPOLE. 255 
 
 to have been the real foundation of the charges, and 
 the reason of the resolutions which, under his leader- 
 ship, the House of Commons was induced to pass, 
 censuring these practices. In a strain which would 
 have better become a Turkish vizier than an English 
 Secretary of State, he observes : " What passed on 
 Thursday in the House of Commons, will, I hope, show 
 people . abroad as well as at home, that no merit, no 
 grandeur, no riches can excuse, or save any one, who 
 sets himself up in opposition to the Queen. The whole 
 debate was so managed as to show evidently to what 
 the Duke was to ascribe his fall."* 
 
 After Marlborough, Walpole had, perhaps, incurred 
 the deepest resentment of the ministers, and certainly 
 of St. John himself. Cardonnel, the Duke's secretary, 
 was made to participate in his disgrace, being declared 
 guilty of corruption, and without ceremony expelled 
 from the House of Commons. But Walpole, the rival 
 Secretary at War, the rival political leader on the 
 other side of the House, the able defender of Godol- 
 phin's administration of the Treasury, the master of 
 figures and the details of finance, the fearless oppo- 
 nent of St. John at the head of his unscrupulous 
 majority, was in a particular measure the object of the 
 Secretary's vengeance. Thirteen years afterwards, in 
 an answer to one of Bolingbroke's attacks upon him, 
 Walpole wrote : " I despise all that a man in the im- 
 potence of disgrace can do against me, for you could 
 never terrify me in the zenith of your power ;"f and 
 it must be admitted, though it ought not to excuse his 
 shortcomings in his future prosperity, that the aspiring 
 
 * St. John's Letter to the Earl of Strafford, Jan. 27, 1712. Marlborough's 
 Vindication will be found in the Pari. Hist., vi. 1079. 
 t An Answer to the Occasional Writer, 1726. 
 
256 NEaOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTEECHT. [Chap. VIII, 
 
 leader of the Whigs, in this the season of his adversity, 
 confronted St. John and his intemperate legions of the 
 October Club, with a dauntless front. Since Walpole 
 was not to be intimidated, the Secretary resolved to 
 destroy him. In the report of the Commissioners 
 about the contracts for bread and the deductions from 
 the pay of the foreign troops, there was also another 
 charge relating to the contracts for forage in Scotland. 
 It was alleged that Robert Walpole, the late Secretary 
 at War, had received, either by himself or his agent, Mr. 
 Mann, two different sums, each of five hundred guineas, 
 from the forage contractors. Walpole explained that a 
 fifth share in these contracts had been expressly reserved 
 for his friend, Robert Mann ; that the contractors chose 
 to pay Mann these sums rather than admit him into 
 the partnership ; that such arrangements were then 
 very usual in the public service ; and that, as Secre- 
 tary at War, he received no advantage whatever from 
 the bargains. St. John, too, as his correspondence 
 with the Duke of Marlborough shows, had, while 
 himself Secretary at War, been far from averse to 
 pocket all the per centages he could obtain; only 
 during the' preceding year, as Secretary of State, he 
 had allowed Jack Hill and Mrs. Masham, on account 
 of the expedition to Canada, to appropriate an immense 
 sum of public money to their own use in a manner much 
 more flagrant than, the difference of circumstances and 
 persons considered, anything that had been charged 
 against either Marlborough or Walpole ; and it was 
 with the greatest management that the House of 
 Commons was at this time prevented from inquiring 
 into this misappropriation of at least twenty thousand 
 pounds.* Nevertheless, the Minister had no compunction 
 
 * See Oxford's Brief Account of Public Affairs, 
 
1711—1712.] VIOLENT PROCEEDINGS. 257 
 
 in driving matters to extremity against his late suc- 
 cessor in the War Office. Walpole was voted guilty 
 of notorious corruption ; he was committed to the 
 Tower; he was even expelled the House, and at 
 length pronounced incapable of being re-elected to 
 serve in the existing Parliament. All sense of fair. 
 ness and decency was not, however, extinguished in 
 the breasts of the more moderate members of the 
 Tory party. In the course of these strong measures 
 against his political rival, St John found his majority 
 perceptibly diminish. Walpole's amendment to the 
 address, on the first day of the session, had been de- 
 feated by one hundred and twenty-six votes ; but the 
 resolution declaring him guilty of notorious corruption 
 was only carried by a majority of fifty-two, his ex- 
 pulsion by twenty-two, and his committal to the Tower 
 by twelve.* 
 
 St. John himself had afterward no excuse to offer 
 for proceedings so violent and discreditable. He 
 avowedly acted on the most extreme line of party hos- 
 tility, and regarded all measures as justifiable which 
 could injure a political opponent. His conduct to Wal- 
 pole, especially, was afterwards, with other proceedings 
 which Bolingbroke would gladly have buried in obli- 
 vion, recalled to his recollection when he was himself 
 at the mercy of his foes, and complained loudly of the 
 persecution to which he was subjected. His outcries 
 against the hardships he was made to endure might 
 have been listened to with more sympathy if it could 
 have been shown that in this his day of power he had 
 acted in one single instance with candour and gene- 
 rosity towards a political adversary. 
 
 The measures against Marlborough and Walpole 
 
 * Pari. Hist.,vi. 1071. 
 
258 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTREOHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 were precipitated by the arrival of Prince Eugene in 
 England. He ostensibly came over to make certain 
 proposals on the part of the Emperor to take upon him- 
 self a greater proportion of the Spanish war ; but the 
 real object of his mission was to strengthen the hands 
 of Marlborough and the Whigs, and by his popularity 
 to encourage the opponents of the peace. The mi- 
 nisters beheld his arrival with displeasure and anxiety. 
 St. John had written strongly to the ambassadors 
 abroad to prevent the prince undertaking such a 
 journey at such time, and employing, indeed, every 
 means but her Majesty's direct prohibition. Even this 
 extreme step might have been taken had not Eugene 
 arrived earlier than was expected ; but he was, in 
 fact, off the coast of England before the Secretary's last 
 despatches on the subject had left the shores. Since Eu- 
 gene had come it was necessary for the ministers to make 
 the best of his journey. He was everywhere received 
 with the greatest hospitality ; her Majesty presented 
 him with a sword mounted with diamonds, worth four 
 thousand pounds ; and his reception at St. James's was 
 gracious and magnificent. On the day of his presen- 
 tation to the Queen, he had, however, no large periwig 
 to go to court in, and Hoffiman, the Grerman envoy, 
 assured him that the absence of such a head-dress 
 would be considered a gross breach of etiquette. St. 
 John, to whom the prince related his perplexities on 
 this question, assured him that it was of no conse- 
 quence ; though the Secretary, not to lose favour in 
 the eyes of his roya,l mistress, who was observant 
 enough on such matters, himself wore such a huge 
 periwig that it quite shut out the illustrious general 
 from the sight of the bystanders. St. John also gave 
 a great banquet to Eugene ; but Swift, who had been 
 
1711—1712.] FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF ASSASSINATION. 259 
 
 vainly anxious to have the honour of dining with the 
 prince, was not invited ; and he could only console 
 himself with the reflection that the Secretary and his 
 guests would be all drunk.* 
 
 Swift did not hesitate to charge Prince Eugene 
 with most disgraceful projects of insurrection and 
 assassination. But, as Walter Scott observes,! Swift 
 gave no authority whatever for so shameful an im- 
 putation on a brave soldier. The only foundation 
 for the charge was the allegation of French and English 
 spies, who evidently reported what they believed 
 might please their patrons, A paper of this kind, 
 obtained by very disgraceful means and pretending 
 to give the substance of certain communications 
 between Eugene and the Court of Vienna during 
 his stay in England, was actually read in the Com- 
 mittee of Privy Council, According to this docu- 
 ment, Marlborough and Grodolphin proposed that St. 
 John and Oxford should be De-Witted. The French 
 ministers also, through Gaultier, informed the English 
 Grovernment that the Mohocks, who were then frighten- 
 ing respectable citizens out of their senses by their 
 rumoured outrages at night in the streets of London, 
 had been set on by Marlborough ; that he was medi- 
 tating the seizure of the Tower, and even the person 
 of the Queen ; and that Eugene had entertained a 
 project of setting fire to London. These wild impu- 
 tations are not entitled to the slightest credit, Marl- 
 borough was certainly not inclined to embark in any 
 
 * " Prince Eugene dines with the Secretary to-day with about seven or eight 
 general officers or foreign ministers. They will he all drunk, I am sure. I 
 never was in company with this prince. I have proposed to some lords that 
 we should have a sober meal with him ; but I cannot compass it." — Swift's 
 Journal, Feb. 17, 1712. 
 
 t Scott's edition of Swift, note to The History of the Four Last Years. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 desperate scheme, of which his enemies, including the 
 Queen and Lady Masham, Oxford and St. John, would 
 have gladly laid hold to send him to the scaffold. And 
 even though he had been so foolish as to form such a 
 design, he was not so foolish as to talk about it in the 
 hearing of spies, or trust it to the mercy of the post. 
 The great Whig chiefs with whom he was closely 
 allied, Halifax and Somers, were essentially men of the 
 gown and not of the sword ; and their advice at this 
 trying time was, as their bitterest opponents have ac- 
 knowledged, strictly moderate and constitutional. They 
 knew, what those who were then leading the House of 
 Commons on the most extreme party principles had 
 altogether overlooked, that to every reaction in 
 England there is a rebound, and that the day of re- 
 taliation and vengeance would assuredly come.* 
 
 Carrying out his idea of making his political enemies 
 and the allies of England acknowledge that a new spirit 
 had taken possession of Parliament, St. John laid the 
 Barrier Treaty before the House of Commons. Lord 
 Townshend, for negotiating it, was voted an enemy of 
 his country. As by this treaty the Dutch were made 
 guarantees of the Protestant succession, Bothmar, the 
 envoy of the Elector of Hanover, had his suspicions 
 awakened. He wrote a letter of remonstrance to the 
 Secretary, expressing his hope that due precautions 
 would be taken on the subject. The Secretary replied, 
 with great spirit, that the House of Commons had a 
 right to inquire into everything supposed to be injurious 
 to the nation ; that the best guarantee of the Protestant 
 succession consisted in the Queen, the Parliament, and 
 
 * For these charges of projected insun-ection and assassination against 
 Mavlhorough and Eugene, see Swift's History of the Four Last Years of the 
 Queen ; Torcy's M^moires, ii. 139 ; Bol. Corr., i. 387, and note. 
 
1711—1712.] THREATENS TO COMMIT HAMPDEN. 261 
 
 the people ; and that he could not understand how an 
 examination of the Barrier Treaty, which deeply- 
 affected the commercial interests of England, could 
 give any cause of jealousy to the House of Hanover.* 
 
 But while to the Hanoverian minister the Secretary 
 was assuming so high a tone with regard to the powers 
 of the House of Commons, in that House itself, to 
 refractory Whig members who presumed to question 
 the wisdom of the course the Grovernment was pur- 
 suing, St. John spoke in a tone which would have 
 better become a minister of Queen Elizabeth or of 
 Henry VIII. than of one who held the seals of office 
 according to the constitutional settlement of the Revo- 
 lution under King William. The spring advanced, 
 and the summer was coming on ; the time for the 
 commencement of the campaign had arrived ; but 
 Parliament was told nothing of the prospects of peace. 
 On a motion for the adjournment of the House, Mr. 
 Hampden, the member for Buckinghamshire, and the 
 lineal descendant of the celebrated leader of the Long 
 Parliament, complained that the campaign was inactive, 
 and that the negotiations stood still. " We are," he said, 
 " amused by our ministers at home, and tricked by our 
 enemies abroad." St. John rose with great indigna- 
 tion expressed in his countenance. "I have," he ob- 
 served, " too great a share in the management of 
 affairs not to resent such insinuations. They reflect 
 highly on her Majesty and her Majesty's ministers. 
 Members have been committed to the Tower for less 
 offences ; but though the honourable gentleman may 
 be desirous of that honour, the House may be of 
 another opinion." Sir Richard Onslow warmly de- 
 
 * Bothmar's Letter and St. John's Keply in French will be found in the 
 Bol. Corr., i. 401-403. 
 
262 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTEECHT. [Chap. VHI. 
 
 fended Hampden, and, in answer to the Secretary's 
 threats, moved that, to suppose her Majesty or her 
 ministers had any influence on the deliberations of the 
 House, was injurious to the Queen and a violation of 
 the privileges of the Commons. Onslow's resolution 
 was seconded by Lechmere. Hampden was, however, 
 in some danger, as the Secretary had intimated, of 
 being actually sent to bear Walpole company in the 
 Tower, had not some of St. John's more moderate sup- 
 porters interfered, and remarked that the commitment 
 of the member at such a time would doubtless be con- 
 sidered by him rather a subject of pride than of morti- 
 fication.* 
 
 But though the ministers "COuld as "yet give Parlia- 
 ment no positive assurances about the peace, this did 
 not prevent St. John from proposing and carrying 
 elaborate parliamentary censures against the allies of 
 England. In the spirit of Swift's recent pamphlet, 
 resolution after resolution was passed blaming the 
 Dutch and the Emperor for not having fulfilled all the 
 obligations they had contracted as members of the 
 Grand Alliance. These complaints were all carefully 
 set forth in a long Representation, the joint work of 
 Swift, St. John, and Sir Thomas Hanmer ; and being 
 laid at the foot of the throne, and published in every 
 newspaper, it gave much offence to the Dutch mi- 
 nisters, who put forth a reply to some of the allega- 
 tions it contained. St. John on his part, though he 
 affected to blame all political correspondence with news- 
 papers, himself on this occasion became a contributor to 
 the G-azette of Amsterdam, and undertook the defence 
 of the Representation. This was surely a strange way 
 for an English Government to carry on negotiations 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 1134. 
 
1711-1712.] THE EESUMPTION BILL. 263 
 
 for peace in professed concert with allies. What effect 
 could such proceedings have but to encourage Prance 
 in her pretensions, and put England at almost irrecon- 
 cileable enmity between herself and those powers with 
 whom she for ten years had been so closely associated 
 in the war ? 
 
 It was in direct reversal of all the policy which had 
 been pursued since the Eevolution. Instead of looking 
 upon the Dutch republic as an ally that was to be 
 cherished, St. John evidently looked upon Holland 
 as an enemy whose intentions were to be watched, 
 whose aggrandizement was to be opposed, and with 
 whom it was scarcely necessary to keep any terms. 
 After this, it is not surprising to find the ministers as 
 ministers countenancing a direct attack on the memory 
 of King William. Another Bill, on that old subject of 
 discord the resumption of the late king's grants of land , 
 was, with the Secretary's support, carried through the 
 House of Commons ; but, by the strenuous exertions of 
 the great Whig peers, who most justly argued, that if 
 royal grants were to be inquired into at all, then the 
 exorbitant grants of Charles II. to his favourites were 
 no more worthy of respect than those of King Wil- 
 liam, the measure was at last defeated, St. John felt 
 that his conduct on this question was of very doubtful 
 interpretation, especially by some whose rights were 
 affected by the BiU. One of these was the brilliant 
 and wayward Earl of Peterborough, who was still 
 looked upon as one of the supporters of the Grovern- 
 ment, whom it was necessary to keep in good humour, 
 and who, restless, eager, and full of activity, by no 
 means approved of all that the ministers were doing 
 to bring about the peace. The Secretary informed 
 Peterborough^' that, with the exception of Lord Port- 
 
264 N EGOTIATIN& THE PEACE OF UTBECHT. [Chap. Vni. 
 
 land, whose estate was directly struck at, the possessors 
 would have been let off very easily, and that, in par- 
 ticular, Peterborough's interests would have been taken 
 care of by his friends.* But when such resumptions 
 are once begun, it is diflScult to say where they may 
 end ; and certainly a resumption which was only to be 
 partial and exceptional, which was to affect the enemies 
 of the ministry and glance harmlessly over their 
 friends, would have been the most unjust and flagrant 
 of all. 
 
 These proceedings in Parliament show clearly the 
 spirit which was presiding over the negotiations for 
 peace. After the debate of the day was over, the 
 Secretary's duties at his desk began. Though the 
 conferences had been formally opened at Utrecht in 
 January, it was at London and at Paris that the 
 negotiations were really carried on. The Earl of 
 Strafford, the English ambassador of the Hague, was 
 a proud, haughty, and punctilious nobleman, and Dr. 
 Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, and Lord Privy Seal, 
 had had a long experience in the diplomacy of the 
 Northern Courts of Europe. These were the two 
 English plenipotentiaries at Utrecht. But though the 
 Earl of Strafford enjoyed St. John's friendship, had 
 some share in his confidence, and had positively re- 
 fused to be associated in the negotiations with another 
 plenipotentiary of such mean birth as Prior ; and 
 though the appointment of the Bishop of Bristol was 
 supposed to raise the dignity of churchmen, and was 
 considered by Swift, who doubtless thought that he, 
 too, in spite of his black gown and cassock, might 
 also some day be a plenipotentiary and an ambas- 
 sador, as a very handsome thing done on the part of 
 
 * Letter to the Earl of Peterborough, May 27, 1712. 
 
1711—1712.] THE NEGOTIATORS OP THE PEACE. 265 
 
 the Lord Treasurer ; yst the real business of the nego- 
 tiations was still, in fact, transacted between St, John and 
 Torcy, through the agency of the humble French priest, 
 the Abbe Gaultier, who flitted to and fro between 
 London, Versailles, and Utrecht as the circumstances of 
 the moment required. "Where the abbe was everything 
 appeared to go well ; when he was absent everything 
 stood still. This fat monk was called by St. John 
 his Mercury, and by Torcy the Angel of Peace.* 
 
 No sooner had the high Plenipotentiaries met and 
 exchanged their credentials at Utrecht, than they ap- 
 peared to have assembled to do nothing. The English 
 negotiators were not so much to blame for the delay. On 
 the great question relating to the Spanish succession they 
 were without instructions ; and Strafford himself, though 
 a Tory, was in close correspondence with the Princess 
 Sophia, f and suspicious of not being thoroughly 
 trusted by St. John. He followed literally the in- 
 structions he received ; but he was carefid to do nothing 
 without instructions. Two of the French ministers, 
 the Marquis de Huxelles and Mesnager, were still 
 prepossessed in favour of Holland ; but the other, the 
 Abbe de Polignac, who resented the treatment he 
 had ^ received at the conferences of Gertruydenberg, 
 as Torcy, the French Secretary of State, did the treat- 
 ment he had also suffered from the Dutch at the 
 conferences of the Hague, was strongly inclined to 
 England. The rivalries and jealousies to which diplo- 
 matists, quite as much as the rest of human beings, are 
 subject, had considerable influence. The wish of the 
 French Secretary of State and his master, was, that a 
 private but intimate concert should be established be- 
 
 * Bol. Corr., i. 466. Torcy's Mdmoires, ii. 148. 
 t Hanover Papers, passim. 
 
266 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTRECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 tween the ministers of England and France ; for they 
 knew well that the closer the union of England 
 with her old enemy, the more complete must be her 
 separation from her old allies. But the plan of peace 
 which the Marquis de Huxelles laid on the table, and 
 which had some months before been previously com- 
 municated to the English ministers, was now published 
 in the- newspapers ; and the pretensions of France ap- 
 peared so offensive in this memorial, that it awoke 
 universal indignation in England and among both parties 
 in Parliament.* 
 
 This did not promise well. Just at the time a signal 
 dispensation of Providence still further increased the 
 difficulties with which the negotiators at Utrecht, and 
 particularly St. John as the Secretary of State at "White- 
 hall, anxious for peace, had yet to struggle. Last year 
 the dauphin died. His son, the Duke of Burgundy, 
 who had been declared dauphin, suddenly followed 
 him, this February, to the tomb ; and his eldest boy, 
 who, on the death of his father, had also just been called 
 the dauphin, was three weeks afterwards borne to the 
 same grave. Between the inheritance of Philip of 
 Anjou, the King of Spain, to the throne of France after 
 the death of Louis XIY., there now remained only a 
 sickly infant of two years of age. Thus, as at the be- 
 ginning of this great question of the Spanish succession, 
 when the Elector of Bavaria died and confounded all 
 the wise provisions of King William and the first 
 partition treaty, was the foresight of politicians rebuked 
 by the striking uncertainty of human life. They were 
 even to be rebuked still further. This sickly child of 
 two years of age lived to be Louis XV. ; but nearly all 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 1108. St. John's Letter to the Lords Privy Seal and 
 Strafford, Feb. 16, 1711. 
 
1711—1712.] THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 267 
 
 men then considered the likelihood of his death, and of 
 his uncle Philip being called to the throne of France, 
 as almost certain eventualities against which it was 
 necessary that statesmen should most deliberately pro- 
 vide. 
 
 The question of the Spanish succession then pressed 
 upon St. John with tenfold force. Whatever might be 
 his wishes he had no excuse for leaving it open. If he 
 were to escape impeachment for negotiating the peace, 
 it would at least be necessary to show that due pre- 
 cautions had been taken to prevent France and Spain 
 from coming under the rule of one sovereigii. This 
 question was of such importance that St. John him- 
 self meditated going over to France at once, and 
 personally coming to some arrangement with the 
 French Grovernment. But for an English Secretary 
 of State in a time of war, and with no certain prospects 
 of peace in view, to take the extreme step of repairing 
 to the enemy's court without even consulting tbe allies, 
 was regarded by his colleagues as too bold and hazardous 
 a proceeding.* Thomas Harley, the cousin-german of 
 the prime minister, was sent off to Utrecht, and Gaultier, 
 at the same time, despatched to Versailles with a me- 
 morial containing the demands of England. The last 
 article of this paper comprised the point on which, for 
 their own security, St. John and his colleagues had 
 determined to make the whole negotiation depend. 
 Philip was to renounce for himself and his descendants 
 all right to inherit the French throne, and the renun- 
 ciation was to be ratified by the Cortes of Castile, and 
 of Arragon, and the States-General of France. Torcy's 
 letter in reply, with the memorial he enclosed in answer 
 
 * St. Jobn's Letter to the Earl of Strafford, Feb. 19, 1712, and his Letter to 
 the Lord Plenipotentiaries, Feb. 23, 1712. 
 
268 NEGOTIAITNG THE PEACE OF UTEECHT. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 to that which Gaultier had delivered, are extremely 
 curious documents. The French minist-er told St. John 
 frankly, that, -while the union of France and Spain 
 might be pernicious to both countries, the expedient 
 the EngHsh Government proposed to prevent such a 
 contingency wquld be quite invalid, and that to trust to 
 it would be to build upon sand. The memorial con- 
 tained an uncompromising assertion of the divine right 
 of the House of Bourbon to the Crown of France suffi- 
 cient to appal, not only an English Whig of the school 
 of Somers, but even a Tory such as St. John pro- 
 fessed to be. It affirmed, that, according to the fun- 
 damental laws of the realm, the prince who stood 
 nearest the crown by birth was necessarily the heir. 
 This was a fundamental law which the king himself, 
 the absolute master in other respects, could not alter. 
 On the death of one sovereign another at once suc- 
 ceeded without asking the consent of anybody : he 
 succeeded as the head of the kingdom of which the 
 lordship belonged to him by the right of birth alone. 
 He received the crown, not by the will of his pre- 
 decessor, nor by any edict, nor by any decree, nor 
 by the generosity of any person. He derived it solely 
 from the law which was the work of Him. alone who 
 estabhshed monarchies, and who alone could abolish 
 that law. Even though Philip himself was to renounce 
 the throne of his ancestors, the case would not in the 
 least be altered. No renunciation could take away 
 what Grod himself had given.* 
 
 This was sufficiently plain speaking. To English 
 ears these doctrines sound more fanatical than any 
 advanced by Fihner, or countenanced by James I. 
 Hobbes himself, the most strictly logical and re- 
 
 * Bespouse au Me'moire apport^ par le Sieur Gaultier, le fi Mars, 1712. 
 
1711—1712.] THE EENUNCIATIONS. 269 
 
 morseless of the advocates of despotism, in subject- 
 ing all laws, morals, and religion to the will of the 
 sovereign, at least affirmed, as the basis of his system, 
 that this will was paramount. On this point alone, 
 however, it appeared that a King of France was 
 powerless. He could not abdicate for himself; neither 
 could he and the next heir, with the sanction of 
 the parliament and states of the kingdom together, 
 alter the right of succession. In justice to Torcy, 
 it must be allowed that these extravagant doctrines 
 were not adopted to suit a purpose by the Secretary 
 of State ; nor were they extreme assertions of an unin- 
 terested courtier eager to uphold Louis XIV.'s majesty, 
 or dazzled by its splendour. They were, in fact, the 
 deliberate opinions of the ablest French lawyers ; and 
 the memorial in which they were contained was, on this 
 subject, a literal paraphrase of the sentiments expressed 
 by a celebrated French magistrate, Jerome Bignon. 
 
 St. John, however, was not inclined to abandon the 
 expedient he had proposed. The English doctrine 
 and the French doctrine on the right of kings appeared 
 to stand in direct antagonism in the correspondence of 
 the two ministers. " We are willing to believe," 
 replied St. John, " that you in France are persuaded 
 that God alone can abolish the law on which the right 
 of your succession is founded ; but you will permit us 
 in England to be also convinced that a prince may give 
 up his right by a voluntary cession, and that he in 
 favour of whom this renunciation is made may be justly 
 supported in his pretensions by the powers who become 
 guarantees of the treaty."* Philip had, during the last 
 year, provided that, if he should inherit the crown of 
 France, the throne of Spain should be filled by his 
 
 * Lettre a Monsieur de Torcy, ce 23° Mars, N. S., 1712. — Bel. Corr., i. 439. 
 
270 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTEECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 brother. Torcy proposed that in the treaty of peace 
 this disposition should be confirmed ; but the idea was 
 scouted by St. John. It showed in itself, he said, the 
 absolute necessity of making no peace which should 
 not clearly comprehend a renunciation of the Spanish 
 throne. After, many letters had passed, it appeared to 
 be the fixed determination of the Secretary and his 
 colleagues to agree to no arrangement which should 
 leave the choice of Philip to remain open till the time 
 when the throne of France might be actually vacant ; for 
 with all their professions of confidence in Louis XIV., 
 the English Ministers felt that if Philip were actually 
 reigning monarch of Spain when called to be King 
 of France, he would prefer uniting both crowns in 
 his own person to giving up one, even to a brother 
 or any near relative of his own house. 
 
 The renunciation, and nothing but the renunciation, 
 it seemed, would satisfy the English Grovernment. 
 Torcy was eloquent on the wisdom of second ideas ; 
 St John preferred his first. For weeks the negotiation 
 was suspended, while Louis was consulting Philip, on 
 whose decision, of course, any arrangement was sup- 
 posed finally to depend. At last, however, the Enghsh 
 Secretary of State himself made another proposal, 
 apparently so advantageous to France that he for some 
 time was confident it would be adopted. He offered, 
 that if Philip would at once give up the crown of 
 Spain to Victor Amadeus, the Duke of Savoy, he 
 should be made king of Sicily and Naples, and also 
 possess the states of the Duke of Savoy, and the 
 duchies of Montferrat and Mantua; and that in the 
 event of his succeeding to the French crown, aU 
 these dominions, with the exception of Sicily, which 
 was to revert to the House of Austria, should be finally 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN'S COUNTER PROPOSAL. 271 
 
 united to France. This was a tempting bait. In the 
 contingency which was then contemplated as all but 
 inevitable, even by Louis himself, the pallor of death 
 seeming already settled on the face of the child that 
 alone stood on the old king's death * between Philip 
 and his ancestral throne, France must have had her 
 dominions extended further than she could have ever 
 hoped by the most successful wars. She must have 
 been mistress of Italy ; she must have preponderated in 
 the Mediterranean. Louis himself wrote in the most 
 affectionate terms to Philip, advising him to accept 
 the proposal. Philip, however, after taking time for 
 consideration and receiving the sacrament, preferred 
 remaining where he was. As King of Spain he 
 declared himself ready to make the renunciation, which 
 he previously well knew from the envoy of his grand- 
 father to be, according to the laws of France, totally 
 invalid. This was what the English Secretary of State 
 required ; he insisted upon it, though he had been told 
 plainly that it was not binding ; and since he pro- 
 fessed to be satisfied with it, it was, after all, his own 
 affair. Such was the determination of Philip after 
 previously communicating with the Higher Powers.f 
 
 Before the news of the King of Spain's decision was 
 received, Torcy wrote, that, with or without Philip's 
 consent, Louis would certainly accept one of the two 
 proposals. Since, then, every real obstacle to peace was 
 
 * Louis the Fourteenth's own words on this question in a letter to Philip 
 are : " Si cette enfant vient a mourir comme sa complexion foibte ne donne que 
 trop sujet de le croire, vous recueillerez ma succession suivant I'ordre de votre 
 naissance." 
 
 t Of the advice AA'hich Philip really followed Torcy significantly observes : 
 " Ce conseil ^toit oelui de conserver la possession aotuelle de I'Espagne et des 
 Indes, et d'accorder a la opiniatret^ des Angla,is de renoncer k la succession 
 incertaine de la couronne de France, condition lis se contentoient, persuades 
 qu'ils sauroient bien en assurer reffet."^M^moires, ii. 155. 
 
272 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTRECHT. [Chap. Tin. 
 
 removed, would not England at once agree to a suspen- 
 sion of arms ? The spring was far advanced, tlie 
 campaign was about to open, it was necessary to decide 
 at once as to what was to be done. 
 
 The Duke of Ormond had been sent to command the 
 English forces in Flanders. He had succeeded Wharton 
 as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was a decided Tory, and 
 might now be considered something more. His miKtary 
 achievements had scarcely been those of a captain who 
 was deemed capable of succeeding Marlborough, and of 
 acting on equal terms with Eugene. His friends 
 boasted of his illustrious descent, his devoted loyalty, and 
 the sweetness and affability of his disposition ; but they 
 could not but admit that his hfe had not been exempt 
 from the licentiousness of the age, that he was very vain, 
 that his temper was far too easy, and that he was gene- 
 rally induced to follow the advice of persons, and espe- 
 cially women, whose sense was much inferior to his own. 
 He had been wounded and taken prisoner at Landen. 
 His greatest exploit, however, though its praises were 
 sung in Latin verse by Addison, could scarcely increase 
 the reputation of any warrior. He commanded the 
 English troops in that unfortunate expedition to Cadiz 
 which terminated in the capture and burning of the 
 Spanish galleons at Yigo, where, as General Stanhope 
 said, the English fleet acquired much plunder and much 
 infamy. St. John and Ormond had long been on 
 friendly though not confidential terms, but their friend- 
 ship, like other intimacies which the Secretary formed 
 and maintained for many years, was at last to be dis- 
 solved.* 
 
 * For the character of the Duke of Ormond see Swift's Enquiry into the 
 Behaviour of the Queen's Last Ministry ; Journal to Stella, passim ; Stanhope 
 Correspondence ; and the Letter to Sir W. Windham, passim. 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN'S LETTER TO OEMOND. 273 
 
 To the Duke of Ormond, as the English commander 
 in the Netherlands, St. John wrote, on the 10th of 
 May, one of the most extraordinary letters that 
 any Secretary of State ever addressed to a British 
 general. No suspension of arms was yet settled. 
 Philip's answer to the last proposal of the British 
 Government had not arrived. The English army was 
 in the field with the allies when the Secretary of State, 
 in the name of her Majesty, positively commanded the 
 Duke on no account either to enter upon a siege or to 
 hazard a battle ; and his Grace was even told to keep 
 the order a secret from the allied generals, and to find 
 some pretence or excuse for not complying with what 
 was understood to be Prince Eugene's desire. This 
 command, which was perhaps the most weighty of all 
 the accusations against the Secretary, was conched in 
 the following terms : " Her Majesty, my Lord, has 
 reason to believe that we shall come to an agreement 
 on the great article of the union of the two monarchies 
 as soon as a courier, sent from Yersailles to Madrid, 
 can return ; it is therefore the Queen's positive com- 
 mand to your Grace, that you avoid engaging in any 
 siege or hazarding a battle till you have further orders 
 from her Majesty. I am, at the same time, directed to 
 let your Grace know that the Queen would have you 
 disguise the receipt of this order ; and that her Majesty 
 thinks that you cannot want pretences for conducting 
 yourself so as to answer her ends, without owning that 
 which might at present have an ill effect if it was 
 publicly known." " To disguise the receipt of this 
 order," " her Majesty thinks you cannot want pre- 
 tences :" these were strange words to be used, in the 
 name of his sovereign, by a Secretary of State as the 
 official organ of a nation priding itself on its good 
 
 T 
 
274 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTRECHT, [Chap. Vni. 
 
 faith. To make the matter still worse, this order, which 
 was to be so cunningly concealed from the allies, was 
 immediately communicated by St. John himself to the 
 enemy. The Secretary added in. a postscript, and 
 as a matter not worth mentioning : " I had almost 
 forgot to tell your G-race that communication is given 
 of this order to the Court of France." It seems scarcely 
 credible, and yet it is now acknowledged to be the 
 truth, that this order, which virtually, on the part of 
 England, put an end to the war, was designedly con- 
 cealed by the Secretary from most of his colleagues, and 
 that no Council was held upon it at all.* 
 
 This was wading in deep water. In the event of 
 any change in his pohtical fortunes the Secretary was 
 incurring a very heavy responsibility. For one 
 moment visions of a future impeachment, and even of 
 exile, seemed to flit before St. John's mind ; but as he 
 thought of the strength of the Tories in Court and Parlia- 
 ment, and sanguinely believed that after the peace the 
 influence of the party would become greater than ever, 
 these forebodings of evil were dismissed from his thoughts 
 as most improbable and absurd. Thus may some very 
 remarkable expressions in a letter written about this 
 time from St. John to the Earl of Peterborough be con- 
 strued. " As to my conduct in the negotiations for 
 peace," the Secretary remarked, " I shall want no justi- 
 fication. I have, it is true, acted as boldly in the pro- 
 moting that good work as your lordship used to do, 
 when you thought the interest of your country at stake ; 
 and I tell you, without any gasconade, that I had rather 
 be banished for my whole life because I have helped to 
 make the peace, than be raised to the highest honours 
 
 * See Bol. Corr., i. 500, and note ; the Report of the Committee of Se- 
 crecy ; and the Earl of O.\ford's Answer to this article of his Impeachment. 
 
1711—1712.] THE TABLES TURNED. 275 
 
 for having contributed to obstruct it ; however, Grod be 
 praised ! we run no risk of the kind." 
 
 It was according to St. John's nature, that, once 
 being thoroughly engaged in the work of peace, he 
 should only become the more zealous for this cause. 
 His temper became heated by opposition ; the greater 
 the obstacles that were thrown in his path, the more his 
 ardour and determination to surmount them increased. 
 His disposition was essentially combative ; he fought 
 for victory, and spurned the very idea of defeat. To 
 all who stood in his way he soon entertained feelings of 
 personal animosity. For the allies who at this time 
 were not prepared to adopt the course he proposed, and 
 whose prejudices and interests were against the peace 
 as it was negotiated, he could find no words strong 
 enough to characterize his dislike and contempt. 
 Polignac wrote shortly afterwards to Torcy from 
 Utrecht : " "We cut the same figure that the Hollanders 
 did at Grertruydenberg, and they cut ours. The tables 
 are completely turned." It was natural that the Dutch, 
 without any corresponding cause given by themselves, 
 should feel painfully this reverse of circumstances. 
 But St. John had worked himself up into a positive 
 rage against Holland, and for the republic which had 
 been so long and so gloriously allied with England he at 
 last felt nothing but the most bitter hatred. 
 
 It is curious to follow the progress of this animosity. 
 At first the Secretary had proposed that the negotia- 
 tions should pass through the hands of the Dutch 
 statesmen. In adopting the suggestions of Prance, 
 that they should be conducted by England, he had 
 solemnly pledged himself at the same time not to agree 
 to any treaty without the Dutch. He had afterwards 
 insisted that the French Grovernment should enter into 
 
 T 2 
 
276 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OP UTRECHT. [Chap. VIH. 
 
 no correspondence with Holland, and particularly re- 
 quested that Mesnager's instructions might be limited to 
 England alone. When the conferences at Utrecht were 
 opened, though St. John professed himself desirous of 
 terminating hostilities, he firmly declared that England 
 would make no peace without her alHes ; but that if 
 they still persisted in rejecting the terms proposed, 
 though she would still faithfully adhere to them and carry 
 on the war, she would take care to limit her expenses 
 in men and treasure to what she could proportionately 
 bear. As these conferences went on, the Secretary, 
 however, began to afSrm, that if France only gave 
 satisfaction about the renunciations, England would 
 make peace with or even without the Dutch. But 
 now, in the last stage of all, he abandoned all profes- 
 sions of acting in concert with the allies, and in his 
 private correspondence expressed his hopes that the 
 Dutch would be obstinate and hold out, as it would be 
 more advantageous to England to sign a separate 
 peace. On the very day when he sent off the order to 
 the Duke of Ormond, not to act against France, St. 
 John wrote to Thomas Harley, the Lord Treasurer's rela- 
 tive at the Hague, a letter full of invective against the 
 republic of Holland. " I confess," he said, " I begin to 
 wish that the Dutch may continue obstinate, rather 
 than submit to the Queen's measures, since we do not 
 want them either to make or support the peace, and 
 since it will be better settled for England without their 
 concurrence than with it."* 
 
 This state of things could not continue. According 
 to the spirit in which the negotiations were conducted 
 an open breach between England and the allies was 
 inevitable. Prince Eugene declared his resolution of 
 
 ' Letter to Mr. Harley, May 10, 1712. 
 
1711—1712.] ENGLAKD AGAINST HOLLAND. 277 
 
 attacking the French army, and of course invited the 
 BngHsh commander to take his part in the operations. 
 The Duke of Ormond was at lergth obhged positively 
 to decline acting offensively against the enemy ; and in 
 answer to the indignant complaints of the Dutch, the 
 Bishop of Bristol, the plenipotentiary at the Hague, 
 stated openly that his sovereign considered herself 
 released from all obligations to the republic and the 
 allies, and would make a peace to suit her own interests 
 alone. These declarations of the bishop, being after- 
 wards constituted one of the articles of Oxford's im- 
 peachment, he denied all knowledge of such instruc- 
 tions ever having been given by the English Secretary of 
 State. It is certain, however, that the very words which 
 the bishop used at the Hague coincide almost literally 
 with some expressions of St. John in a previous letter to 
 the Lord Treasurer's kinsman, Mr. Harley, and they 
 might be regarded in themselves an instruction to the 
 British diplomatist to make the declaration which as- 
 tounded all Europe. " On the report," wrote the Secre- 
 tary from Whitehall, " which my Lord Strafford, who 
 arrived here the day before yesterday, has made by word 
 of mouth, as well as upon the contents of the latter 
 despatches from Utrecht, her Majesty is fully determined 
 to let all negotiations sleep in Holland ; since they have 
 neither sense, nor gratitude, nor spirit enough to make a 
 suitable return to the offers lately sent by the Queen, 
 and communicated by the plenipotentiaries, her Majesty 
 will look upon herself as under no obligation towards 
 them, but proceed to make the peace either with or with- 
 out them."* The tenor of all St. John's correspon- 
 
 • Letter of May ^ 1712. See also the paper giving an account of the 
 Conferences about the Duke of Ormond not attacking the enemy. — Bol. 
 Corr., i. 513. 
 
278 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTEECHT. [Chap. VXH. 
 
 dence at that time was in the style of the right reverend 
 plenipotentiary's declaration ; nor when the Secretary 
 was challenged by the Whigs in the parliament at the 
 time, did he in any respect deny that such instructions 
 had been given. 
 
 The outcry of the Whigs was powerless to impede 
 the course of the. Government. The wavering of the 
 earher portion of the session was at an end, and in both 
 Houses St. John was sure of his majority. As soon as the 
 despatch announcing the readiness of Philip to make the 
 renunciation was received, the Secretary hastened to 
 pledge the Queen by a declaration in Parliament to the 
 terms of peace. Her Majesty came down to the House 
 of Peers, and in a speech from the throne informed the 
 Lords and Commons of the renunciations which were to 
 be made, the advantages that were to be conceded to 
 England, and the conditions which France was ready to 
 grant to the allies. The Queen admitted that every- 
 thing was not yet arranged ; but declared plainly that 
 a satisfactory basis for a peace had been laid down, and 
 expressed confidently her hopes that the negotiations 
 would soon be brought to a happy conclusion. Addresses 
 of thanks in conformity with the terms of the royal 
 speech were carried in both Houses. The Secretary and 
 his friends were triumphant. After so long buffeting 
 with the storms of political controversy and diplomatic 
 negotiations, the haven of peace to which St. John had 
 been directing aU his efforts seemed on the point of 
 being reached at last. 
 
 Yet this peace was still certainly not sought by the 
 Secretary ia the spirit of peace. The session was about 
 to end, and with the session was to terminate St. John's 
 pohtical career in the House of Commons ; but he per- 
 sisted in his favourite system of inflicting parliamentary 
 
1711—1712.] PARLIAMENTARY CONDEMNATION. 279 
 
 censures on the allies, and all who presumed to question 
 the wisdom of his pohcy. The States-General, ia a pa- 
 thetic letter to Queen Anne, complained of the manner 
 in which they had been deserted by England ; and this 
 letter, which was in part a remonstrance, having been 
 pubHshed in the newspapers, nothing would satisfy the 
 Secretary but the formal condemnation of it by a 
 solemn resolution in the House of Commons, and an 
 address to the throne. Under his instigation, the same 
 punishment was at the same time inflicted on indi- 
 viduals and foreign powers, on a bishop as well as on their 
 High Mightinesses, the States-General. Dr. Wilham 
 Fleetwood, the Bishop of St. Asaph, published a volume 
 of four sermons with a preface, which was supposed to 
 reflect on the manner in which the ministers had con- 
 ducted the negotiations. Although there was really 
 nothing in the bishop's preface but what any candid 
 political opponent might justifiably say, it was also 
 formally condemned by the House of Commons as 
 maHcious and factious, and ordered to be burnt by the 
 hangman in Palace Yard.* 
 
 No minister since the Revolution ever showed so 
 much impatience of pubhc criticism as St. John. The 
 slightest reflection on his political conduct was sure to 
 call forth his severest indignation. Just as, during the 
 last autumn, he had fourteen printers and publishers at 
 the bar under his warrant as Secretary of State, he had 
 in the course of the session brought down a message 
 from the Crown complaintag of the Hcentiousness of the 
 press ; and one of his latest ministerial acts in the House 
 of Commons was to carry through the famous Stamp 
 Act which existed to our time, and has only recently 
 been repealed. It was expressly introduced by him to 
 
 * See Pail. Hist., vi. 1151. 
 
280 NEGOTIATING THE PEACE OF UTEECHT. [Chap. Vm. 
 
 restrain the liberty of the press, and to check political 
 discussion. By one blow it was expected that Grub 
 Street would be destroyed. The Medley, the Examiner, 
 and many other publications of different and indifferent 
 merit, sank under it; but the Spectator, which was 
 doing more unmixed good to England than any 
 periodical that had ever yet appeared, or than all the 
 statesmanship of St. John, still managed to struggle 
 on at a double price under the weight which had so 
 insidiously been placed upon it by the Grovernment. 
 The party purposes for which the Stamp Act was 
 framed, were, however, by no- means answered. As 
 Swift confesses, the Tory publications suffered more 
 than the Whig ; and, indeed, the hterature of Toryism, 
 under equal conditions, never enjoyed that extent of 
 popular patronage which was lavished on the more 
 democratic prints of all sizes and degrees. Many years 
 after this time, the country squire devoted to the 
 Church, contented himself with the weE-thumbed 
 Dyer's Letter; but the Whigs and Dissenters living 
 principally in the towns read printed sheets, and there- 
 fore bought them ; and, as a natural consequence, these 
 publications flourished. 
 
 After the Queen had given her consent to this mea- 
 sure against the press, and several others awaiting her 
 sanction. Parliament was adjourned by a speech from 
 the throne, on the 21st of June ; but the Houses were 
 not finally prorogued until the 8th of July. This 
 unusual course of proceeding gave rise to some con- 
 jectures, one of which was not very favourable to St. 
 John. It was said that Walpole being still confined 
 in the Tower, could only be released when the 
 Parliament was finally prorogued for the session ; and 
 that the adjournment was adopted for a fortnight 
 
1711—1712.] ST. JOHN LEAVES THE HOUSE OP COMMONS. 281 
 
 longer than it would otherwise have been, that his 
 imprisonment might be continued. The effect of this 
 adjournment undoubtedly was, that Walpole spent a 
 few days more in the Tow'er ; but the alleged motive, 
 as a mere supposition, may be charitably disallowed. 
 The two rivals were no more to sit face to face on 
 opposite benches. By withdrawing from the House 
 of Commons, St. John left the supremacy in the 
 popular assembly open to his political enemy ; and 
 "Walpole, whose ascendancy in his party had increased 
 by the persecution he had undergone, was fully capable 
 of profiting by this great opportunity. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1712—1713. 
 THE NEW PEER. 
 
 When" St. John left the House in which he had so 
 rapidly risen to political eminence, he was undoubtedly 
 the greatest commoner in England. Of all contem- 
 porary pohticians, his career had hitherto been the 
 most prosperous ; and his fortunes appeared to the 
 shrewdest observer those with which it would be the 
 most prudent to be associated. Swift, little dreaming 
 of what a disastrous eclipse would follow the Secre- 
 tary's imclouded splendour, told him frankly that he 
 was the statesman whose future could most con- 
 fidently be trusted ; and what the doctor said per- 
 sonally to St. John, he also remarked to the most 
 confidential of his own correspondents. " The Secre- 
 tary," wrote Swift to Stella, only in the preceding 
 February, "turns the whole Parhament, who can do 
 nothing without him; and if he lives and has his 
 health, will, I believe, be one day at the head of aifairs. 
 I have told him sometimes that if I were a dozen 
 years younger, I would cultivate his favour, and trust 
 my fortune with his."* This was St. John's position 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Feb. 23, 1711-12. 
 
1712—1713.] ABANDONS THE FIELD TO WALPOLB. 283 
 
 in the summer of the year 1712 ; and this was the 
 position that he eagerly abandoned for a coronet. 
 
 A lord was a lord in those days more than in ours, 
 and a lord the Secretary was anxious to be. For a 
 politician of any high class, much less for a great 
 statesman, this readiness to accept a peerage showed 
 but a poor appreciation of his own situation, and the 
 spirit of his age. It is evident that the truth had not 
 yet dawned upon St. John, who was most concerned 
 in recognizing it, that the House of Commons had 
 become the supreme power in the state, that the 
 leadership of that House ought to be the first object 
 of an aspiring statesman's ambition, and that the man 
 who could acquire and retain the confidence of that 
 House must necessarily be the first man in England. 
 In the prime of manhood, at thirty-four years of age, 
 St. John found himself in possession of this great 
 talisman ; and, like a spoiled child, unacquainted with 
 its virtues, he rashly threw it away for the sake of the 
 glittering but worthless bauble with which his eyes were 
 dazzled. Never was there a more complete misap- 
 prehension of the circumstances of his time made by 
 an English statesman. What St. John thoughtlessly 
 relinquished, his rival, Walpole, seized and firmly 
 retained. Many of St. John's subsequent misfortunes 
 arose from this ill-advised acceptance of a coronet. 
 It was as a peer that he was afterwards placed in his 
 enemy's power, and permanently shut out from the 
 legislature. As a commoner, he might again have 
 taken his place on the benches of the Opposition, and 
 once more confronted his adversary on equal terms. 
 But the peerage was accepted ; and Henry St. John 
 disappeared from that great popular assembly over 
 whose deliberations he was every day acquiring a 
 
284 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 more decided influence, and where, as an orator, at a 
 time when eloquence was becoming almost everything, 
 he had, and could have had, no rival. 
 
 Such an ascent could scarcely be called an elevation. 
 It was made much less so, in his own opinion, by the 
 grudging manper in which the honour was conferred. 
 The promise made to him at the beginning of the 
 session was, that he should not lose rank by the 
 creation of the new peers. As during the last year 
 the earldom of Bolingbroke, belonging to the elder 
 branch of his family, had expired, St. John construed 
 this promise to mean that it should be revived in his 
 own person. He was only, however, made Yiscount 
 BoKngbroke and Baron St. John ; and this grant of 
 the lower step in the peerage instead of the higher 
 one, awoke his keenest indignation. Besides, Harley 
 having been made an earl, St. John thought that he 
 had a claim to an equal advancement. In writing 
 immediately afterwards to Lord Strafford, who had 
 gone to Utrecht, the new peer observed, in answer 
 to his friend's letter of congratulation : " It would ill 
 become the friendship I profess to you, if I did not 
 naturally own what passes in my soul upon this sub- 
 ject, and confess to you, what I will do to no one else, 
 that my promotion was a mortification to me. In the 
 House of Commons I may say that I was at the head 
 of business, and I must have continued so whether I 
 had been in court or out of court. There was, there- 
 fore, nothing to flatter my ambition in removing me 
 from thence, but giving me the title which had been 
 many years in my family, and which reverted to the 
 Crown about a year ago, by the death of the last of 
 the elder house. To make me a peer was no great 
 compliment when so many others were forced to be 
 
1712—1713.] ST. JOHN DISSATISFIED. 285 
 
 made to gain a strength in Parliament; and yet 
 further her Majesty wonld not go without a force, 
 which never shall be used by me. I own to you that 
 I felt more indignation than ever in my life I had 
 done ; and the only consideration which kept me from 
 running to extremities was that which should have 
 inclined somebody to use me better." * 
 
 Bolingbroke's feelings on this subject were doubtless 
 acute ; but on looking at the question impartially, there 
 scarcely appears in it to be much of which he could 
 reasonably complain. He does not himself allege that 
 any express promise was violated ; and the construc- 
 tion about the reversionary earldom was one which 
 he put upon it himself, but which certainly admitted 
 of another interpretation. He was promised that if 
 he would remain in the House of Commons to the end 
 of the session, he should not lose his rank ; nor did 
 he lose his rank. A viscount might be a lower degree 
 than an earl ; but a baron was certainly lower than 
 a viscount. If he were ambitious of these aristocratic 
 honours, they were still within his grasp. He was a 
 young man, powerful in the Grovernment and in the 
 Parliament, with a future before him. He was a 
 viscount to-day, he might be an earl to-morrow ; and 
 he might yet die, if he pleased, with the strawberry 
 leaves upon his escutcheon. Nor could it be fairly said 
 that his claims to an earldom were equal to Oxford's. 
 Harley was the prime minister, he had been princi- 
 pally instrumental in the great change which had 
 raised the Tories to power, he had been three times 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, he was compara- 
 tively an old man, and had undergone a long par- 
 
 * Letter to the Earl of Strafford, July 23, 1712. See also Oxford's Brief 
 Account of Public Affairs. 
 
286 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 liamentary service. As a statesman, he was now all 
 that he could ever hope to be. Bolingbroke might yet 
 confidently count upon anything to which he chose to 
 aspire. Though St. John's career in ParKament and ia 
 oflSce had been brilliant and arduous, it had not been 
 of such long continuance that the refusal of an earldom 
 could be considered an act of royal ingratitude and 
 neglect. For a young man, it might be fairly thought 
 that he had already been suflSciently paid ; he was 
 Secretary of State, he had now a peerage, and was 
 undoubtedly the second man in the Government. The 
 wonder is, not that he was made a viscount instead 
 of an earl, but that, at his time of life, he should have 
 wished to be made a peer at all. For a great 
 statesman, priding himself on his genius and philo- 
 sophy, this was but a paltry ambition. But Henry 
 St. John, now Viscount Bohngbroke, was thoroughly 
 an aristocrat at heart: the pursuit of this visionary 
 earldom he continued throughout all pohtical vicissi- 
 tudes, and to attain it he employed many hours of his 
 latest years ia the Court of Frederick Prince of Wales. 
 It was not, however, merely the refusal of this 
 higher step in the peerage that caused the anger and 
 discontent of the newly-created viscount. Bolingbroke 
 felt that the Lord Treasurer's influence was stiU para- 
 mount at Court, and that, notwithstanding all his own 
 subserviency to Lady Masham and her brother in the 
 matter of the twenty-six thousand pomids granted for the 
 expedition to Quebec, he, the Secretary of State, whose 
 exertions to bring about the peace had been so indefati- 
 gable, was still only regarded as a useful tool. This was, 
 indeed, the case. Whatever might have been Boling- 
 broke's success as a politician when he was first enrolled 
 among the English nobility, he had not yet prospered 
 
1712—1713.] EBNOUNCES HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR OXFORD. 287 
 
 in his career as a courtier. At home and abroad, at 
 the court of Hanover and among the Jacobite emissaries, 
 his position in the Grovernment was considered Very 
 unstable. It was still said, that as his colleagues could 
 not speak or write French with fluency, and as the 
 thread of the negotiations was in his hands, it was 
 necessary to tolerate the Secretary until the peace was 
 signed, but that as soon as the work was accomplished, 
 he would be summarily dismissed.* Whatever might 
 be Lady Masham's sentiments, the Queen still looked 
 coldly upon him. Even at the moment when she 
 placed the coronet upon his brow, he was given, by 
 the refusal of the earldom, significantly to understand 
 that the honours of the Crown were still at Oxford's 
 disposal, and that thus far, and no farther, was the 
 Secretary to be permitted to rise. It was the con- 
 sciousness of this fact which, when he knelt at her 
 Majesty's feet, and kissed her royal hand, for his new 
 honours, caused Bolingbroke's breast to heave and his 
 eye to sparkle with indignation. What was given only 
 made him feel more indignant at what had been with- 
 held. He once more thought of resigning his seals of 
 office: wiser councils, however, which he thought the dic- 
 tates of patriotism, at last prevailed. But the fire burnt 
 all the more fiercely internally because the outward signs 
 were suppressed. All that he had suffered, or imagined 
 that he had suffered, at the hands of the prime minister, 
 wrought painfully within him ; and henceforth, as 
 Bolingbroke himself afterwards declared, he " fully re- 
 nounced in his heart all friendship for Oxford." f 
 
 But as Oxford had had a glowing preamble of his 
 merits affixed to his patent of peerage, the Secretary 
 thought that he might also have prepared a similar eulo- 
 
 * See the Stuart Papers ; Maopherson, ii. 532. t Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
288 THE NEW PEER, [Chap. IX. 
 
 gium. He asked Swift to draw it up ; but the divine, 
 who never wanted prudence in his dealings with the two 
 jealous statesmen, earnestly begged to be excused. " I 
 felt," he afterwards remarked, " that such a work 
 might lose me a great deal of reputation, and get me 
 very little." • Before the Secretary had, however, 
 finally decided on his title, Swift advised him to take 
 that of Pomfret. It sounded well ; it was known in 
 history ; there was such a place as Pomfret Castle. 
 But Pomfret being situated in Yorkshire, and the 
 Secretary having no estate there, and besides 
 being doubtful whether that title was not already in 
 another family, he wisely took one which had already 
 been known to the house of St. John ; and the title of 
 Bolingbroke was, through his own genius, to become 
 quite as famous in history as that of Pomfret.* 
 
 Just as the Secretary's patent of peerage was passing 
 through the oflSce, and he was in a kind of chrysalis 
 state between a lord and a commoner, some important 
 transactions were being settled on which the peace 
 finally depended. As soon as the consent of Philip to 
 the renunciations had been obtained, the most formidable 
 obstacle was removed from that suspension of arms which 
 the French ministers had been so eager to bring about. 
 To this result one important condition was attached. 
 Dunkirk, as a pledge of security, was to be delivered 
 up to England until the peace. The moment Marshal 
 Villars on the part of France informed the Duke of 
 Ormond that his master was ready to agree to this pro- 
 posal, a cessation of arms for the space of two months, 
 and capable of further extension, was to be declared 
 between the two armies. But a new difficulty oc- 
 curred. The suspension was to extend to all the troops 
 
 *'Ree Swift's Journal, July 1 and 17, 1712. 
 
1712—1713.] ADMIRAL SIR JOHN LEAKE. 289 
 
 in the pay of England ; but it soon appeared that the 
 duke could not count upon the obedience of the foreign 
 battalions whose expenses were defrayed by the 
 British Grovernment. The Secretary intimated that 
 neither the arrears nor any further pay should be 
 given by England to those foreign troops who would 
 not in this emergency obey her general. On this 
 point the King of France was not disposed to haggle, 
 and again signified his willingness to put England 
 in possession of Dunkirk. Ormond drew off with 
 twenty thousand men from the allied army, and on 
 some hindrances being made to his march through the 
 towns in the possession of the Dutch, turned round 
 suddenly and seized upon Grhent. It seemed doubtful 
 whether the cessation of arms with France might not 
 lead, on the part of England, to a collision with those 
 allies with whom her native troops had so long emu- 
 lously marched side by side, and under the leadership of 
 Marlborough so many times shown the way to victory. 
 Under these circumstances, to weaken the Duke of Or- 
 mond's army, as had been originally intended by sending 
 a detachment from it to take possession of Dunkirk, was 
 thought a hazardous proceeding. It was determined 
 to embark troops direct from England ; and the British 
 admiral, Sir John Leake, was ordered to be in readi- 
 ness with his squadron in the Downs. Leake was a 
 distinguished naval officer, who had taken a principal 
 part in the maritime expeditions that had been carried 
 on in the course of a war in which the navy had only 
 played a secondary and a somewhat inglorious part. 
 Sir John was a Whig, and had been, as was considered, 
 too closely connected with the Grodolphin administra- 
 tion ; but managing to make his peace with the ruling 
 powers, he was still allowed to hoist his flag. His 
 
 TJ 
 
290 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 original letters and papers in tlie manuscript depart- 
 ment of the Britisli Musemn contain three un- 
 published letters from the Secretary of State, just as 
 he was being raised to the peerage. They have the 
 last of the signatures, H. St. John ; and all relate to 
 this pacific but* most important expedition to Dunkirk. 
 The first is- as follows : — 
 
 "Whiteliall, July 1, 1712. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Your letter of the twenty-eighth of June from 
 Deal, and that of the thirtieth from the Downes, are 
 both come to my hands. I have very little to trouble 
 you with in answer to them, her Majesty having di- 
 rected the Lords of the Admiralty to prepare you such 
 instructions as are necessary for your conduct in the 
 expedition on which you are going. You will likewise 
 receive from their Lordships an answer to your proposal 
 of proceeding with your squadron to Margate Road in 
 order to meet the yachts and transports. 
 " I am. Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " H. St. John."* 
 
 The next letter refers to the commander of the mili- 
 tary portion of the expedition. This was no less a 
 person than Lady Masham's brother, the redoubted 
 Jack HiU, whom the Secretary dehghted to honour, 
 notwithstanding that his successes had not been 
 quite so splendid as his opportunities. Though gene- 
 rally blamed for his miscarriage in the expedition 
 to Canada, his sister's influence prevented him from 
 suffering under any disgrace. He was chosen to com- 
 mand the six regiments which were to embark in this 
 
 * Additional MSS., 5443. 
 
1712—1713.] JACK HILL. 291 
 
 service. It was one of great honour and no little deli- 
 cacy, as the Secretary of State implies ; but happily it 
 was one of little danger, and required but little mili- 
 tary capacity. Even among the ministers there were 
 persons who doubted whether France really would give 
 such a proof of her confidence in the English Grovern- 
 ment as to put this great fortified town into their 
 hands. Might she not still be playing false ? Might 
 not her game to the last be to sow dissension between 
 England and Holland, and induce the Dutch to throw 
 themselves unconditionally on her mercy? Even 
 sagacious political observers had their doubts and sus- 
 picions. This was the question which Brigadier Hill 
 was to be sent to solve. Dunkirk was, if promises 
 were to be depended on, to be placed without a murmur 
 under his authority. Marlborough, it is true, had 
 taken towns from the French in another manner ; but 
 if Jack could not rival his former patron in one way he 
 might in another. At all events he was kept promi- 
 nently before the public in an important situation ; and 
 this alone has not unfrequently been supposed to con- 
 stitute merit. Good credulous people outside of the 
 great official world often judge of the capacity of a 
 person for office by the offices he has contrived to fill. 
 
 Some such thoughts as these were perhaps in the 
 Secretary's mind when he had Hill appointed, and 
 penned this letter to the admiral in the Downs : — 
 
 "WMtehall, July the 5tli, 1712. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Coll. Kane brings you this. He is sent away 
 almost as soon as we receive the express from Col. 
 King, to take care that Mr. Hill, who will be with you 
 to-morrow night, may, on his arrival at Deal or Mar- 
 gate, have nothing to do but to go on board. Your 
 
 u 2 
 
292 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 assistance to him will not be wanting, I am sure, nor 
 anything else which is in jour power to advance a 
 service of great honour as well as real advantage to 
 our Queen and country. Inclosed you will find a trans- 
 lation of the points agreed upon between the French 
 officers and those sent by her Majesty, for your part of 
 this expedition, though I suppose Mr. King may have 
 already given you the same communication. I trans- 
 mit likewise a secret instruction which the Queen has 
 thought fit to sign, and which it is her intention should 
 be punctually observed. I need not tell you how 
 desirous her Majesty is that this whole affair, which 
 has been transacted hitherto upon honour between 
 the French and us, should be finished with the best 
 grace on the Queen's part. I most heartily congratu- 
 late with you, wish you good success, and am, 
 " Sir, 
 " Your obedient, humble servant, 
 
 " H. St. John.* 
 " Sir J. Leake." 
 
 The next letter, written the day afterwards, intro- 
 duces Hill in person to the admiral. It also shows that 
 notwithstanding France was, as the Secretary said, upon 
 honour, that doubts were still entertained of her good 
 faith, and that it was thought necessary, as a measure of 
 precaution, to strengthen the English garrison by all the 
 marines that could be spared from the fleet. 
 
 " Wldtehal], July the 6th, 1712. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. 
 HiU, as I hope that which I writt last night to you has 
 been before now by Mr. Kane. The Queen, in consider- 
 ation of the hard duty which so small a body of troops, 
 
 * Additional MSS., 5443. 
 
1712—1713.] JACK HILL AND BOLIKGBEOKE. 293 
 
 in so large a town, and so many forts must be exposed 
 to, thinks fit, not only that the six hundred marines 
 shoxild be detained on shore, but hkewise that you 
 should reinforce them, with as many more as you can 
 possibly spare out of every ship in your squadron. 
 This may the more conveniently be done since care will 
 very soon be taken to relieve all the marines, and restore 
 them to the sea service. 
 
 " I am. Sir, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " H. St. John."* 
 
 The Secretary's epistle was forwarded to the admiral 
 in another from Hill himself. The brigadier's com- 
 position is a literary curiosity. Though the Secretary's 
 enclosed letter was still signed H. St. John, Jack 
 writes of his friend as " My Lord Bullingbroke," the 
 orthography of titles at the moment of their creation 
 being somewhat uncertain. Jack also confessed that 
 he was " out of order," probably from the effects of the 
 last night's drinking bout with the Secretary and some 
 jovial friends, who^ before his departure, had quaffed to 
 the success of his expedition bumpers after bumpers of 
 champagne. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I am just this moment come and have been very 
 much out of order before I came out of town, and there- 
 fore design to go on board the yatch to refresh myself, 
 or would have come on board you myself ; Coll. King, 
 who brings you this, tells me that he thinks is going 
 before may make our landing more expeditious. 1 
 hope you will order him what ship or yatch you shall 
 
 • Additional MSS., 5443. 
 
294 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 ttink necessary. The enclosed letter is from my Lord 
 Bullingbroke, desiring yon would spare as many marines 
 as possible, whicli at present will be absolutely neces- 
 sary, tbe place being so large and our troops so few. 
 
 " Sir, 
 " Your most obedient, humble servant^ 
 
 " J. Hill. 
 
 " Deal, July the 7tli, 1712."* 
 
 The progress of this bloodless expedition was satis- 
 factory. All that the French had promised they punc- 
 tually performed. It was with a feeHng of relief that 
 Bolingbroke first learnt on Tuesday, the 10th of July, 
 from a letter of Sir John Leake to Mr. Bromley, then 
 at the Admiralty, and a messenger from Hill himself, 
 that the British troops and marines were peaceably in 
 possession of the town and forts of Dunkirk. Hill's 
 honours increased ; he became mihtary governor of the 
 place. Jack, in his elevated position, grew quite a 
 polite and considerate personage, paying his friends in 
 England delicate attentions by sending them Kttle 
 presents from Dunkirk. Lady Masham received from 
 him a pattern head-dress, and Swift a handsome gold 
 snuff-box, with a goose engraved on the bottom. 
 Only once did Grovernor Hill give the ministers some 
 anxiety. When the Duke of Ormond was expected to 
 retire with the English troops from Grhent to Dunkirk, 
 Bolingbroke became fearful that the new governor, 
 pluming himself on his own merits and favour, might 
 not receive the noble general with the respect due to 
 his rank. The Secretary wrote earnestly to Hill, to 
 neglect no courtesy which he could pay to the duke ; 
 and to consider that a man of his exalted position, who, 
 under such circumstances, came with some eighteen or 
 
 * AdditioDal MSS., 5443. 
 
1712—1713.] MBSSBNGBBS' BILLS. 295 
 
 twenty thousand men from the head of a great army 
 and the presence of the enemy could not be in the best 
 of humours.* 
 
 Bolingbroke was himself, as we know, at this time 
 not in the best of humours. His disappointment about 
 the earldom, and the slight which he considered Oxford 
 and the Queen to have put upon him, still vexed 
 his restless and irritable mind. But he continued to 
 attend to the business of his office with all his charac- 
 teristic assiduity, neglecting no matters high or low. 
 While he was corresponding voluminously with the 
 French minister Torcy and the English plenipoten- 
 tiaries about the weighty matters of peace and war, 
 the barrier for the Dutch, and the renunciations to 
 be made by Philip of Spain, and the members of the 
 French royal family, in the manuscripts presented by 
 Sir William Musgrave to the British Museum, Boling- 
 broke's name, with the signature and date carefully 
 written by^ his own hands, may be also seen appended 
 to a messenger's bill for one pound, eleven shillings, 
 and sixpence, after it had been carefully certified by 
 one official and duly examined by another, the clerk 
 of the cheques. 
 
 In the Musgrave collection some of Bolingbroke's 
 messengers' bills have been preserved and may still 
 be read in the original documents. While he was 
 Secretary of State, these officials were fully employed. 
 His favourite messenger was one Eichard Sharman; 
 and this man's approach was then looked upon with 
 terror by Whig printers and publishers. From one 
 of Sharman's bills at this time, drawn up, as was the 
 
 * See Swift's Letter to Hill, of Aug. 12, 1712 ; the Journal to Stella, of 
 July 17 and -Sept. 18, 1712 ; Additional MSS., 5443 ; and Bolingbroke's 
 Letter to Hill, of July 12, 1712, in Con-., i. 564. 
 
296 THE NEW PEEB. [Chap. IX. 
 
 custom, just like a lawyer's bill of costs, an extract 
 may be given as an illustration of the official charges 
 and customs of Queen Anne's reign : — 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 " lath of July, 1712.— Commanded by your 
 lordsbip's warrant"" to take into custody 
 Mary and Elizabeth Evans, and for 
 keeping tbem in custody with diet and 
 lodging from July 13th to July 15th 
 inclusive, being three days . . .200 
 
 " For extraordinary expenses for a con- 
 stable and assistance in searching to 
 apprehend the said Mary and Elizabeth 
 Evans, and bringing them down to the 
 office to be examined . . . .050 
 
 " 14th July. — Ordered by your lordship's 
 office to take two women and a man 
 along with me to search for the widow 
 Bird. Expended in several places to 
 find out the said widow Bird, and bring 
 her to your lordship's office to be ex- 
 amined* . . . . . .050" 
 
 A long series of items might be given. But these may 
 be enough to indicate the workings of the office, with 
 Bolingbroke's warrants and messengers. "Widow Bird's 
 search and apprehension, it appears, cost the State five 
 shillings. All such items were minutely detailed and 
 examined, in order to be allowed or disallowed by the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Bolingbroke, in the third week of August, was for 
 a few days taken out of his ordinary official routine, 
 Avith all its petty details, and summoned to play the 
 
 * Musgrave's Collection of MSS., 5756. 
 
1712—1713.] OXFORD'S SCRUPLES. 297 
 
 Minister of State in a grand style, and on a splendid 
 stage. After the temporary suspension of arms between 
 France and England in Flanders had been proclaimed, 
 and the English put in possession of Dunkirk, many 
 things remained still to be settled. If BoHngbroke's own 
 wishes had been followed a separate peace between 
 France and England would have been at once con- 
 cluded. He cared nothing for the outcry of the Dutch 
 and the rest of the allies, and would have gladly seen 
 his own country break off from the great confederacy 
 without the shghtest regard to their pretensions or 
 interests. This was the advice he gave the Queen ; it 
 was characteristic of the man, and the part he was now 
 seeking to perform.* 
 
 But Oxford's scruples prevented the EngKsh Grovern- 
 ment from adopting such a course. He knew that the 
 steps already taken to bring about the peace had been 
 highly disapproved at Hanover ; and that if England 
 were at once to throw all her existing alHances to the 
 winds, and again to act, as in the days of Charles and 
 James, in strict concert with France alone, it must 
 sunder at once, and for ever, all ties between the Eng- 
 lish Government and the House of Brunswick. In fact, 
 such a system of pohcy, to have any intelligible result, 
 meant, and could only mean, the restoration of the 
 House of Stuart. But Oxford, with aU the Puritan 
 leaven in his blood, and timid, cautious, temporiz- 
 ing, and procrastinating by nature, could not bring 
 his mind to contemplate such a contingency as at all 
 
 * " Boling'bro'ke," writes Torcy, " avoit conseille a la Eeine sa maitresse de 
 pr^ferer im paix particuliere a la suspension d'armes, et d'assurer au plus tot 
 a ses sujets la jouissance de toutes les conditions dont le Eoi ^toit convenu en 
 faveur de I'Angleterre. . . Le conseil donn^ par Bolingbroke fut contredit par 
 le grand tresorier trop attentif a menager le due d'Hanovre, et oraignant sa 
 vengeance lorsqu'il seroit assit sur le trone d'Angleterre." — Memoires, ii. 202. 
 
298 THE NEW PEEE. [Chap. Df. 
 
 desirable. Indeed, whatever may have been the wishes 
 of many of his pohtical associates, and some of the 
 eminent members of the Tory party, no minister 
 that ever held office since the Revolution, had, in his 
 heart, less inclination to the Jacobite cause than Oxford. 
 He was perplexed, and at a loss what to do ; but he 
 still looked anxiously to Hanover. Bohngbroke, it is 
 true, openly professed to take the same view ; but with 
 much grumbling, because the Elector did not abandon 
 the Whigs, and adopt all the prejudices of the minis- 
 ters : instead of the Tories courting the House of Ha- 
 nover, he seemed to think that it was the duty of the 
 House of Hanover to court the Tories. Already to 
 Thomas Harley, who had gone from Utrecht to Ha- 
 nover, the Secretary had made the significant observa- 
 tion : " We ought to be better or worse with the court 
 of Hanover than we are."* Oxford was by no means 
 prepared to do anything that would make him worse 
 with the Elector ; and their opposite sentiments on the 
 question conspired with their other pohtical rivalries, 
 jealousies, and mutual distrust, to maintain that 
 state of auenation which the refusal of Bolingbroke's 
 earldom had effectually produced between the two 
 ministers. 
 
 As a means of putting Bohngbroke again, into a 
 good humour, it was determined to send him perso- 
 nally on a mission to France. To visit the court of 
 Versailles, as an Enghsh Secretary of State, had for 
 some months been one of his desires ; but though he 
 had, in February, been prevented by his colleagues from 
 carrying this intention into effect, it was thought that 
 the same objections to the proposed journey no longer 
 existed after the suspension of arms in Flanders, and 
 
 * Letter to Mr. Harley, June 7, 1712. — Corr., i. 533. 
 
1712—1713.] JOURNEY TO PARIS. 299 
 
 the surrender of Dunkirk. The different pretensions 
 of the Prince of Bavaria, and Victor Amadeus, Duke 
 of Savoy, the exact form of the renunciations to be 
 made by PhiHp and the French princes, and the terms 
 of the general suspension of arms, all required to be 
 determined. Already they had given rise to long 
 letters between Torcy and Bolingbroke, when the Eng- 
 lish Secretary of State, somewhat to the surprise of his 
 correspondent, announced that he intended crossing 
 the Channel in person, and bringing over with him a 
 draft of the suspension. 
 
 The Secretary, conducting with him Graultier and 
 Prior, arrived safely at Calais. After spending a night 
 in the old town, and sending off a letter to his colleague, 
 the Earl of Dartmouth, Bolingbroke drove forward to 
 Paris. He did all he could on the journey to keep his 
 visit a secret by stopping as little as possible for refresh- 
 ment and only in the smaller places, and by endea- 
 vouring to conceal his name. But the news of his 
 arrival spread everywhere as he approached, and every- 
 where he was received with enthusiastic demonstrations 
 of respect and welcome. He was looked upon as the 
 herald of peace. France was suffering severely from 
 the war ; and he was considered the man who was to 
 put an end to her sufferings. The people thronged 
 round his chaise, kissed the horses, and almost threw 
 themselves under the wheels. After a kind of royal 
 progress he at last reached the French capital as tired, 
 he said, with compliments as with the fatigue of the 
 journey. These compliments he decorously thought 
 fit to ascribe to the Queen ; but they were really in- 
 tended for himself* 
 
 No sooner had Bolingbroke's feet touched the ground 
 
 * Letter to Lord Dartmouth, Aug. 21, N. S. 1712. 
 
300 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 than he was met by a gentleman with the carriage of 
 Madame de Croissi, Torcy's aunt, who invited him to 
 supper, and informed him that her nephew was tra- 
 velKng post to meet him from Fontainebleau. He 
 accepted the invitation, and was received with the 
 utmost kindness and hospitality. Torcy soon after- 
 wards arrived. During his stay in Paris, Bolingbroke 
 was induced to make Madame de Croissi's hotel his 
 home. The situation of the two Ministers was in some 
 respects similar. They both had their enemies at court ; 
 they both hated the Dutch ; they were both blamed for 
 trusting too much to each other ; it was the anxious 
 desire of them both to bring about a peace between 
 their two countries as speedily as possible. This 
 mutual interest in the success of the negotiations lent 
 extraordinary warmth and pleasantry to their inter- 
 course. In a few hours Bolingbroke found himself 
 fairly domesticated with the Torcys, who, the aunt, 
 mother, and sisters, all lived under the same roof. 
 They began to call the Secretary and his friend, Prior, 
 by their Christian names. Madame la Marquise after- 
 wards caused much merriment in the little circle, by 
 speaking of Bolingbroke as her son, and transforming 
 his familiar English name of " Harry " into a French 
 "Harre." Prior also participated in the agreeable 
 intercourse. He was called Matthieu ; and he taught 
 the Torcys to drink the health of the absent 
 Lord Treasurer as Eobin. But the Secretary, the 
 handsome, pleasant, and accomplished Harre, was the 
 especial favourite. His praises were on the tongues of 
 the whole household of the Torcys ; he won all their 
 hearts. 
 
 With negotiators so pleased with each other as Torcy 
 and Bolingbroke there could not be much fear of a mis- 
 
1712—1713.] MADAME DE TENCIX. 301 
 
 understanding. Two days sufficed for them to come to 
 an agreement on most important points yet remaining 
 in dispute between tlieir Grovernments. It was agreed 
 that Victor Amadeus was to have Sicily, and that his 
 T'ight to succeed to the crown of Spain after Philip and 
 his heirs should be acknowledged in the acts in which 
 the inheritance of the Bourbons was settled. A draught 
 of Philip's renunciation was afterwards made by the 
 two ministers. Their warmest discussion, however, 
 occurred on the satisfaction to be given to the favoured 
 ally of Louis XIV., the Elector of Bavaria, who, as 
 soon as he heard of Bolingbroke's arrival in Paris, 
 came into the neighbourhood to advocate his own 
 pretensions. 
 
 In the course of their conferences it became of some 
 importance for the French minister to discover the 
 extent of Bolingbroke's powers. Knowing the English 
 Secretary's weakness, Torcy employed for this pur- 
 pose an intriguing but fascinating Frenchwoman, then 
 residing occasionally with her married sister, Madame 
 de Perriole, but still better known under her own name 
 of de Tencin. She was well fitted for the task set her 
 by de Torcy : she and her brother, the Abb6 de Tencin, 
 being afterwards employed on other occasions, years 
 afterwards, in opening and resealing the letters of Eoman 
 prelates, in order to betray their secrets to the French 
 ministers of the day, and the lady being thorough mis- 
 tress of that bad art. At this time Madame de Tencin 
 had already given sufficient occasion for scandal, though 
 she might be considered only to have started on that 
 career of shameless infamy which she afterwards ran. 
 She had been a nun, had fled from the convent, 
 and protested against her vows. She settled in Paris 
 
 with her brother, the Abbe, who was one of the most 
 
 « 
 
302 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 wicked and abandoned of those wicked and abandoned 
 French priests of which the last century afforded so 
 many examples. The brother and sister worked assi- 
 Inously together in all the mines of intrigne and pro- 
 fligacy. They certainly formed a worthy pair : the 
 Abbe afterwards being found guilty of simony by his 
 own handwriting, at the moment when he was about 
 to declare his innocence on oath ; and Madame subse- 
 quently also exposing her illegitimate child to perish 
 on the steps of a church one cold November morning. 
 This child, however, became an immortal testimony to 
 the mother's heartlessness ; having been found and 
 brought up by a poor glazier's widow, it lived to be the 
 celebrated D'Alembert. Another lover of Madame 
 de Tencin afterwards killed himself in her house, and 
 left a letter accusing her of every crime.* She was, 
 indeed, even in her vices and errors, a kind of female 
 Rousseau, without that nobler light of genius which has 
 dazzled the admirers, and even the enemies, of the elo- 
 quent Genevese. 
 
 These things were as yet in the future. When 
 Madame de Tencin was introduced to Bohngbroke she 
 was about thirty years of age, witty, handsome, high- 
 spirited, somewhat bold, and with large, languishing, 
 dark eyes. The susceptible Secretary was in a moment 
 subdued. He declared himself her admirer; and he 
 also addressed her sister, Madame de Ferriole, in a very 
 passionate strain. Savoy being then held by French 
 troops, Louis had presented the Abbe de Tencin with 
 an abbey called the Abbey of Abundance, in that moun- 
 tainous district. At the peace, however, Savoy was 
 again to be restored to its rightful owner, Victor Ama- 
 deus, and of course the gift which had been bestowed 
 
 * See the Letfcres de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke, iii. 288. 
 
1712—1713.] mTEEVIEW "WITH THE KING. 303 
 
 by the King of France was likely to be revoked. 
 Madame de Tencin and ber sister, Madame de Ferriole, 
 besougbt Bolingbroke's influence with tbe Dnke of 
 Savoy. Tbe Secretary promised to do all be could to 
 confirm tbis wortbless priest in possession of wbat be 
 bad acquired ; and Victor Amadeus soon afterwards 
 yielded to tbe representations of tbe Englisb states- 
 man.* 
 
 On tbe Saturday after bis arrival, Bolingbroke was 
 conveyed by de Torcy to Fontainebleau, wbere tbe 
 King of France tben resided. An apartment was 
 assigned tbe Englisb statesman in tbat part of tbe 
 palace called tbe Conciergerie ; and nothing was neg- 
 lected to do him honour. Tbe next morning be bad 
 an interview with Louis, who received bim most gra- 
 ciously. Tbe old king was fast declining to tbe tomb ; 
 be was but the shadow of his former self ; but still in bis 
 age, and amid the misfortunes which his vanity and 
 ambition had brought upon bis kingdom, he preserved 
 all that august dignity with which be had for so many 
 years filled tbe French throne. It was impossible to 
 look without emotion on that splendid phantom of 
 royalty, which bad seemed so magnificent, had shone 
 so long, had at last sufiered so cruel an eclipse, and was 
 on tbe eve of departing for ever. Louis expressed bis 
 desire for peace, and his respect for Queen Anne ; but 
 his articulation, perhaps from the effects of old age, was 
 rapid and indistinct, and Bolingbroke could not catch 
 every word tbat fell from tbe king's lips. Later on the 
 
 * For Bolingbroke's iutimacy with the family of the TenciBS see his own 
 letters of Kov. 11, 1712, and Jan. 7, 1713 ; see also his letter to the Dnke of 
 Savoy, thanking him for conferring the gift of the Abbey of Abundance, on 
 Deo. 4, 1712 ; see also Coxe's Walpole, i. 197 ; and for tins lady's intimacy 
 witli Bolingbroke see also the Lettres de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke, Paris, 
 1808, iii. 285, in which some very satirical verses are quoted about Madame 
 de Tencin's conquests over princes and statesmen, including Bolingbroke. 
 
 * 
 
304 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 same day the French, and English Secretaries of State 
 read over together the draught of a convention, which 
 they had previously prepared, for a suspension of arms 
 for four months between England, France, and Spain. 
 This convention was then signed, and the war was, in 
 fact, at an end. 
 
 Bolingbroke returned to Paris, and spent a day or two 
 more in the brilliant capital, which had for him at this 
 time many fascinations. He was the lion of the hour. 
 Crowds followed him wherever he went. To be invited 
 to an assembly in which he was expected to be present 
 was considered a privilege. His gracious reception by 
 the Bang was well known ; and the fashionable world 
 was ready enough to honour any one whom Louis con- 
 descended to honour. But Bolingbroke, it was said, 
 deserved to be glorified on his own account ; his grace, 
 his wit, his beauty, his genius, his virtues, were declared 
 to merit the enthusiastic homage of the Parisians.* 
 When he entered the theatre, as Oorneille's fine 
 tragedy, the Cyd, was being represented, the whole 
 house rose to receive him, and the performance 
 was interrupted that the audience might g-ive their 
 illustrious visitor the most public manifestation of their 
 respect. Such a demonstration might have turned 
 any head ; Bolingbroke was sufficiently assailable on 
 the side of vanity. His visit to France certainly 
 did not make him, as an English statesman, more 
 attached to the constitutional liberties of his countrv. 
 He saw himself honoured by a despotic monarch, 
 and the idol of a despotic court; and he was not 
 disinclined to set about deserving their praises by 
 listening to designs which were in the highest degree 
 perilous both to himself and to tlae dearest interests of 
 
 * Memoires du Marquis de Torcy, ii. 210. 
 
1712—1713.] BOLINGBROKE AND THE PRETENDER. 305 
 
 the country he represented. It was many a day since 
 an Enghsh Secretary of State had been on such inti- 
 mate terms with the Court of France. The Pretender, 
 if not actually a resident in Paris during Bolingbroke's 
 stay, was certainly in the immediate neighbourhood. 
 That Bolingbroke had actually, as has been alleged on 
 the authority of some documents, said to have been 
 discovered in the French archives by Sir James Mackin- 
 tosh,* two secret interviews with this unfortunate son 
 of James II. may, notwithstanding this statement, 
 very well be questioned. That if such interviews did 
 take place, they could only be for purposes the most 
 hostile to the succession of the House of Hanover, and 
 must have been, under any circumstances, a gross breach 
 both of duty and decency on the part of an English 
 minister, cannot at all be a matter of question. That 
 Bolingbroke and the Catholic Pretender to the British 
 crown were actually under the same roof at the Opera, 
 and in the sight of all the Parisian audience, sat wit- 
 nessing the same performance, was certainly no mere 
 calumny subsequently invented, as his first biographer 
 asserts,! by the statesman's enemies. It was a fact. 
 Contemporary evidence shows clearly that the circum- 
 stance actually occurred. It gave rise to much specu- 
 lation, and awoke the most sanguine hopes in those 
 who were favourable to the Jacobite cause. J 
 
 * See Edinburgh Review for Oct., 1835. 
 
 t Memoirs of Bolingbroke, 1754, p. 240. 
 
 t Nairne to Abram, Aug. 28, 1712 : — " I told him the king was as civil to 
 Geudron [probably Prior] as he could ; and I asked him if he had any credit 
 with Honiton [Harley]. I told him the king had seen Mr. St. John at the 
 Opera." »Nairne to BeiTy, Sept. 1, 1712 : — " Amongst other news from Prance 
 we are told that Lord Bolingbroke happened to be at the Opera with the 
 Chevalier de St. George, where they could not but see one another; so I 
 should be glad to know what my lord says of that knight, and whether the 
 likes him ; for they tell me he is a tall, proper, well-shaped young gentleman, 
 that he has an air of greatness mixed with mildness and goodnature, and that 
 
 X 
 
306 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Bolingbroke departed from Paris, leaving behind 
 him, as Torcy afterwards wrote m a strain of gallantry 
 not often found in a diplomatic correspondence, aU the 
 ladies in despair. Nothing was talked about but the 
 visit, and the pleasant associations which it had be- 
 queathed to the Torcy family and the fashionable world 
 of Paris. BoHngbroke left a large bag of money for 
 Madame la Croissi's servants ; but the marchioness, 
 with a deKcacy which it would have been as well if 
 English noblemen at that time had imitated, returned it 
 to. Prior, and would not allow them to receive anything 
 from her illustrious guest. The Secretary also left a 
 handsome sum for the players ; but this also there was 
 some difficulty in getting accepted. He was, how- 
 ever, afterwards thanked for his boxmty by the per- 
 formers, who had played the Cyd and other leading 
 parts. Madame la Croissi herself sent BoHngbroke 
 a handsome snuff-box, simple in outward appearance, 
 but beautifully inlaid with gold ; and Madame de Tencin 
 also sent over some truffles by the Duke of Argyle, 
 which Bolingbroke gave the Queen, and which her 
 Majesty ate heartily, and only regretted that they were 
 not " marbre." Bohngbroke was, on his part, equally 
 attentive to his new friends in Paris. Every member 
 
 his countenance is not spoiled with the small-pox ; hut, on the contrary, that 
 he looks now more manly than he did, and is really healthier than he was 
 before ; and they say he goes to Chalons." — Original Stuart Papers ; ilac- 
 pherson, ii. 338, 339. The argument that the Pretender and Bolingbroke 
 could not have been at the Opera on the same evening, because Bolingbroke's 
 box must have been provided by the Court, scarcely deserves notice ; and the 
 assertion that the officers of the royal household would have taken care to 
 avoid giving any offence to the English Government is a poor hypothesis. 
 Louis could easily have pleaded that he was not in this respect master of the 
 Chevalier's movements. Bolingbroke himself acknowledged to Swift that he 
 had seen'the Pretender at the Opera. " He protested to me that he never saw 
 him but once ; and that was at a great distance in public, at the Opera." Swift 
 to Archbishop King, Dec. 16, 1716. 
 
1712—1713.] BOLINGBROKE AT DUNKIRK. 307 
 
 of the Torcy family he endeavoured to assist by all the 
 means in his power. To Madame la Marquise herself, 
 indeed, he could do httle, but send a large quantity 
 of honey-water, Barbadoes water, and sack. But 
 there were others, particularly the Duke of St. Pierre, 
 Torcy's brother-in-law, to whom, as to the brother of 
 Madame de Tencin, BoHngbroke's ofHcial position 
 enabled him to render much more substantial and 
 valuable services. 
 
 This was the bright side of the visit to Paris ; but it 
 had another aspect not quite so pleasing. His assiduous 
 attentions to Lady Masham and all the members of her 
 family were never for a moment relaxed. On his 
 journey back to England he took Dunkirk by the way, 
 and called on his friend the Governor Hill, whom 
 in conversation the Secretary addressed as Jack, and in 
 his private letters as dear John. Accompanied by 
 the French officer who was still in charge of the 
 ordnance and magazines, Bolingbroke surveyed the 
 works, which, according to the terms of the traaty he 
 was negotiating, were to be destroyed ; and it was 
 pointed out to him, that if the demands of England 
 were in this respect hterally carried out, not only would 
 the sluices for defensive purposes be demolished, but 
 also those used for the necessities of irrigation, and 
 that, in consequence, the surrounding country would be 
 laid under water. The Secretary promised to modify 
 the terms respecting this demolition, and he parted 
 from the French Intendant, the Chevalier de Mole, and 
 his lady, with expressions of the most unbounded 
 regard.* 
 
 But on arriving in England he found the scene 
 changed. His own goodhumour was restored, and Mrs. 
 
 * Sec Bolingbroke's Letter to the Chevalier de Mole, Nov. 14, 1712. 
 
 ■ X 2 
 
308 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Masham herself was all smiles ; but some other great 
 persons with whom he was associated in the Court and 
 Government, did not receive him with the most pleasant 
 faces. He caught an epidemic fever, and went down 
 into the country for the benefit of his health. On 
 returning to Whitehall, he learnt that there was to be 
 some alteration made in the business of his office. 
 Hitherto, though really belonging to Lord Dartmouth's 
 department, the correspondence with France had been 
 principally carried on by Bolingbroke. It was now 
 intimated as her Majesty's desire that for the future that 
 portion of a Secretary of State's duties was to revert 
 to Lord Dartmouth. The reason of this change was 
 not given ; but it was not difficult to be understood. 
 Some of Bohngbroke's proceedings abroad had been 
 contemplated with displeasure, both by the Lord 
 Treasurer and the queen. There were many flying 
 rumours in circulation. The private relations which 
 Bohngbroke had estabhshed in France were the cause 
 of much distrust ; and much more was suspected than 
 was actually known. Oxford was jealous by nature : 
 he thought that the Secretary of State was acting for 
 himself ; and had designs altogether independent of the 
 Prime Minister and his colleagues.* 
 
 Bolingbroke acquiesced in the arrangement, and put 
 the best face he could upon the matter. But it occa- 
 sioned much surprise among his most intimate friends. 
 Torcy and Prior were both astonished and indignant. 
 They felt the change more painfully because they were 
 both in positions of some embarrassment, and depended 
 greatly on Bohngbroke's influence in the Grovernment. 
 The enemies of the French minister still pretended 
 
 * See Oxford's Brief Account, in which he expressly states Bohngbroke's 
 conduct in France was at this time considered highly objectionable. 
 
1712—1713.] PRIOR LEFT IN PARIS. 309 
 
 ■ 
 
 that England was insincere in making peace, and that 
 after Trance had put her old enemy in possession of 
 Dunkirk, she might yet be made the dupe of this mis- 
 placed confidence. It was Torcy's interest that nothing 
 should happen on the part of England to encourage 
 such mistrust. Just, however, as everything seemed 
 happily settled, and himself and Bolingbroke had made 
 the personal acquaintance of each other, and formed a 
 private friendship, the official correspondence with 
 France was put into other hands. Even a credulous 
 man might have had his suspicions. What could this 
 mean ? Did it not indicate that some of Bolingbroke's 
 colleagues were dissatisfied with what he had done, and 
 were inclined to take precautions against the brilliant 
 Secretary ?* 
 
 Prior's situation was as delicate as that of the French 
 minister. He was quite as much annoyed at what 
 had so unexpectedly occurred. He had been left by 
 Bolingbroke in France as a kind of British plenipoten- 
 tiary ; but it was not .easy to say exactly what he really 
 was. As he said himself, " I have neither powers, com- 
 missionj title, instructions, appointments, or secretary." 
 Such a position was one both of difficulty and danger, 
 and required that the most unreserved confidence 
 should exist between him and the Secretary of State 
 with whom he corresponded. When Bolingbroke 
 directed the negotiations all was well ; Matt, and 
 Henry, as they called each other, were intimate 
 friends, and even in their official despatches they found it 
 impossible to put on the airs of the ambassador and the 
 Secretary of State. But Lord Dartmouth was a proud, 
 grave, and reserved nobleman, who looked with disdain 
 on all sallies of wit, and the eccentricities of genius ; 
 
 * See Torcy's Letter to Bolingbroke, Sept. 27, N, S. 1712. 
 
310 THE NEW PEEB. [Chap. IX. 
 
 he would not ask Swift to dinner,* and he cared no- 
 thing for Prior's verses. Bolingbroke and Prior had 
 many sympathies in common. BoKngbroke, indeed, 
 was a man of rank, and sufficiently sensible of his 
 worldly position ; and Prior's birth was very obscure ; but 
 Prior had risen to eminence both in business and the 
 world of letters, before the voice of St, John had been 
 heard in the House of Commons ; and the important 
 embassies in which Prior had been concerned in a 
 degree equalized the intimacy of the poet and the 
 statesman. The irregularities of their private Hfe also 
 corresponded. Swift, with all his grossness, was 
 obhged to keep up some appearance of restraint, even 
 in his interviews with the Secretary ; but Prior and 
 Bolingbroke could, in their convivial hours, drink 
 another bottle, and joke about a mistress without 
 any breach of clerical decorum. Their letters bore 
 the impress of their habits. Both their official and 
 private communications were singularly frank and 
 lively, fuU of fun, scandal, and anecdote, now and then 
 not a httle indehcate, and so free in their private 
 details, that the editor of Bolingbroke's correspondence 
 in 1798, felt himself called upon to take the ques- 
 tionable hberty of omitting certain passages, f Bohng- 
 broke affected to feel the stings of jealousy. Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer went over to Paris, and the Secretary asked 
 this Tory country gentleman to tell him all he could 
 about his friend's private Hfe ; and, in evident allu- 
 sion to Madame de Tencia, requested Sir Thomas 
 particularly to inquire whether Prior had not aban- 
 doned his nut-brown maid and taken up with the 
 
 * " I can't get a dinner out of Lord Dartmouth." — Swift to Stella, August, 
 1712. 
 t See ISote to the Bol. Corr., ii. 94. 
 
1712—1713.] MATT. AND HENEY. 311 
 
 eloped nun ? Prior, though a man of wit and gal- 
 lantry, had a pecuKarly sad expression of countenance ; 
 and Torcy and Bolingbroke, when their correspondence 
 was resumed, found time, in the hurry of business, to 
 make many hmnorous allusions to their friend Mat- 
 thew's sombre visage, which looked habitually as 
 mournful as an undertaker's at a funeral. 
 
 Prior's first duty, on being left in Paris by Boling- 
 broke, was to exchange the ratifications of the suspen- 
 sion of arms. This was very soon satisfactorily accom- 
 plished. He had also to look after the departure of the 
 Pretender, with whom he was suspected of being in 
 secret communication ; and who, at this time, left 
 for Ohalon upon the Maine. " The young gentle- 
 man," wrote Prior to Bolingbroke, " is very melancholy, 
 but much resigned." Prior made to Bolingbroke, in 
 characters, another private communication, which, as it 
 relates to the Queen's passports that were openly sold in 
 the Secretary of State's office, and clearly shows that there 
 was something not only informal in the business, but 
 also to be ashamed of, may be best given in the friendly 
 plenipotentiary's own words : — 
 
 " Matt, to Henry. 
 
 " Believe how truly I love you ; and think it my 
 friendship that I tell you. Going to Chanille this after- 
 noon, Monsieur de Torcy and Madame, and Monsieur 
 Dalincourt, Secretary to the Admiralty, in the coach, 
 Monsieur de Torcy read, and gave us to read, the 
 Dutch Gazetteer ; and, upon a passage in one, asked 
 me if it were true that at the Secretary's office passports 
 were sold for six pounds each ? You will think the con- 
 fusion I was in, and the manner in which I turned it ofi", 
 which I will write to you en droiture, not being able in 
 
312 THE NEW PEEE. [Chap. IX. 
 
 the meantime to conceal anything from you where I 
 think your honour concerned. Make what use you 
 please of this. Adieu ! 
 
 " I am, very truly, 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " Yours."* 
 
 In an official letter immediately afterwards. Prior 
 added a private postscript, with another allusion to the 
 same delicate subject. " I am sure you are not angry 
 with me for what I wrote to you in characters. You 
 can't think how people talk of it here ; I deny it still, 
 as to your part, and will do so to the death." Tery 
 soon after this was written, Prior was sent over to 
 England, with the consent of France to the cession of 
 Tournay, and to smooth some other difficulties which 
 had arisen among the plenipotentiaries at Utrecht. He 
 pledged himself to the French minister, that if peace 
 were not made, after what France had surrendered, he 
 •would return and allow himself to be hanged. This 
 promise is pleasantly alluded to in Torcy's letters ; but 
 Bolingbroke abstained from making any remarks on the 
 matter of the passports which had excited so much sur- 
 prise in the mind of the French minister. It is 
 evident, however, that the indiscriminate sale of the 
 Queen's passes to a country with which, though there was 
 a suspension of arms, England was stiU nominally at 
 war, was considered a very extraordinary proceed- 
 ing. The fees on the passes to Holland, or wherever 
 her protection extended, formed no inconsiderable 
 portion of the Secretary of State's gains ; and it appears, 
 from a memorandum made at the time, that Boling- 
 broke had in one year cleared from this resource no 
 
 * C'oi-r., ii. 81. 
 
1712—1713.] BOLINGBEOKE WANTING MONEY. 313 
 
 less than three thousand seven hundred and nineteen 
 pounds. 
 
 He was in no condition to despise these emoluments. 
 Notwithstanding his wife's fortime, the property of his 
 family, and his regular official salary, his means were 
 still straitened. Very recently he had lost, by the 
 failure of a merchant whom he trusted, four thousand 
 pounds ; and he told his friend. Lord Strafford, that he 
 had never had in hand at once fifteen hundred pounds 
 in his hfe.* As an English peer he was in no condi- 
 tion to live without office. After having once enjoyed 
 them, the pomp, state, and riches of a great ministerial 
 situation had become necessaries ; and he was eager to 
 render his tenure of ofiice less precarious than he well 
 knew it to be. This fact accounts, on his part, for 
 many proceedings which otherwise would seem inex- 
 plicable. 
 
 The jealousy between the Secretary of State and the 
 Lord Treasurer still continued. The stock of goodhu- 
 mour which Bolingbroke brought back from France was 
 very soon exhausted ; indeed, the manner in which the 
 correspondence had been transferred to Lord Dartmouth 
 might have soured a much meeker statesman ; and 
 during the autumn of 1712 the dissensions in the 
 Government were growing stronger than ever. Swift 
 was again obliged to assume his unthankful office 
 of mediator between Bolingbroke and Oxford ; but 
 their differences had taken deep root, and could not 
 be removed. Oxford already saw that the Secretary 
 was gaining ground with Lady Masham, and to gain 
 ground with Lady Masham was eventually to gain 
 ground with the Queen, 
 
 In the heat of this dissension her Majesty again 
 
 ♦ Letter to the Earl of Strafford, April 8, 1712. 
 
314 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 became ill. She took a fit. of ague and fever, and the phy- 
 sicians were sent for in great haste. The alarm which 
 this sudden indisposition produced among the courtiers 
 and ministers ought to have once more warned both the 
 jealous statesmen of what they might expect on the 
 not very unlikely event of the Queen's sudden decease. 
 That power which they were so ready to quarrel about 
 was held by the frailest tenure ; in a day all their 
 machinations might be scattered to the winds : a jealous 
 and watchful enemy was at the gates. 
 
 Such considerations, however, were without avail to 
 induce the Lord Treasurer and the Secretary of State 
 to lay aside their mutual enmity at the prospect of their 
 common danger. Their struggle for place was, indeed, 
 increased by their sense of the insecurity with which it 
 was held. It was necessary to lose no time. Neither 
 side was disposed to make allowances or concessions to 
 the other. Just at this season Grodolphin died. His 
 Order of the Grarter, and several others which had also 
 reverted to the crown, were at the disposal of the Prime 
 Minister. Bolingbroke was passed over. The neglect 
 to confer upon him this bit of ribbon caused his passions 
 again to boil, just as they had done when he found he 
 was to be made a viscount instead of an earl. He was 
 furious, and would listen to nothing but his indignation. 
 Though it was necessary that some very important 
 business should be settled, the Secretary went down to 
 Bucklersbury, and remained at his country seat in seclu- 
 sion for a fortnight, nursing his rage against Oxford. 
 Again Swift had to interfere to bring about a reconciha- 
 tion ; but, after using all his efforts, he confessed that 
 the quarrel could only be patched up,* 
 
 It was necessary for some degree of unanimity to be 
 
 * Journal to Stella, Oct. 11 and 28, 1712. Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
1712—1713.] FEEKCH DIPLOMACY. 315 
 
 restored between these discordant colleagues, in order 
 that the great business of the peace might be brought 
 to an end. The state of the Queen's health, and the 
 safety of the ministers imperiously called upon them 
 to put the last hand to the great work. Bolingbroke's 
 journey to France appears rather to have impeded than 
 to have facilitated the negotiations. The Dutch had 
 previously been beaten at Douay. The allies suffered 
 other reverses by the reduction of Douay, Quesnoy, and 
 Bouchain ; and through a quarrel between the lackeys 
 of Rechtheren, one of the Dutch deputies, and Mesnager, 
 the French plenipotentiary, the conferences at Utrecht 
 had been entirely suspended. The English Secretary 
 of State had, indeed, left France full of zeal to conclude 
 the negotiations he had so long carried on, and giving 
 the most positive assurance of his wishes to see a sepa- 
 rate peace signed between England and France. There 
 was, he said, only one contingency to be dreaded. If 
 the Dutch were to abandon their opposition, and throw 
 themselves into the hands of England, public opinion 
 would compel the Queen's ministers to take up their 
 cause, and advocate their pretensions against France.* 
 To gain time to carry the renunciations into effect, and 
 to keep up the differences with the Dutch, until all was 
 arranged between France and England, became the 
 objects of French diplomacy. The miserable quarrel 
 between the lackeys of Rechtheren and Mesnager was 
 designedly magnified by Louis, as Torcy ingenuously 
 confesses, into a serious breach of international deco- 
 rum. Towards Holland the French king spoke in all 
 the lofty style of his former days, and pretended to 
 insist on the recall of Rechtheren, and the nomination of 
 another deputy, as the only compensation becoming his 
 
 * See Mtooires du Marquis de Torcy, ii. 214. 
 
316 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 royal dignity. Oxford, however, and other members 
 of the British Grovernment, disapproving of the com- 
 plete concert which had been estabhshed between Torcy 
 and Bolingbroke, were not inclined to see the French 
 game played out ; and Torcy was significantly told that 
 his master was assuming too high a tone, and going a 
 little too far. Prior's return to England, with the con- 
 sent of Louis to give up Tournay, removed one great 
 difficulty to the success of the negotiations. It was, 
 however, a concession made exclusively to Eng- 
 land, and, though adding another town to the Dutch 
 barrier, with no wish on the part of France that it 
 might render the Dutch more inclined to agree to the 
 peace. Another delay unexpectedly occurred by the 
 tragical death of the Duke of Hamilton, who was killed 
 on the morning of the 1 5th of November in a duel with 
 Lord Mohun, just before his G-race was about to depart 
 as Enghsh ambassador to the Court of France. This 
 great nobleman's death was deeply regretted by Boling- 
 broke. The sad event was supposed to be not only 
 another hindrance to the peace, but a grievous blow to 
 the Jacobite cause.* 
 
 Both the principals in this terrible duel expired on 
 the ground where they fought. General Macartney, 
 however, who had been Mohun's second, and was 
 alleged to have stabbed the duke as he lay bleeding 
 in mortal agony, fled from justice. Macartney was a 
 Whig : he was one of the officers who had been dis- 
 missed from the army for being devoted to Marl- 
 borough. The Tories were most eager to see him 
 apprehended and brought to trial for his life. Boling- 
 broke sent out his messengers with warrants in every 
 direction. Sharman went by the Secretary's orders to 
 
 * See Stuart Papers ; Macphei-son, ii. 364. 
 
1712—1713.] PURSUIT OF MACARTNEY. 317 
 
 Deal and Dover, and scoured the country far and wide. 
 A long bill of the messenger's expenses, for this pur- 
 pose, drawn up by himself, and addressed to " my Lord 
 Bulingbroke, her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State," 
 may still be read among the manuscript documents of 
 Sir "William Musgrave.* Sharman's expenses in this 
 pursuit amounted to fifty-seven pounds nine shillings 
 and twopence halfpenny ; and the costs of other mes- 
 sengers employed in the same pursuit were doubtless in 
 the same proportion ; but though Bolingbroke assured 
 the Queen that Macartney had been traced to Ipswich, 
 and that the messengers expressed themselves confident 
 of his capture,! the fugitive general at last managed to 
 baffle his pursuers, and escaped to the Continent. 
 
 This death of the Duke of Hamilton increased the 
 difficulties of the Government. To appoint a successor 
 was a matter of great dehcacy. The brilliant, accom- 
 plished, and versatile Duke of Shrewsbury was at length 
 fixed upon ; he had performed a great part in the Revo- 
 lution of 1688, when he was but a youth, and after 
 many shortcomings from natural fickleness, timidity, 
 and irresolution in his manhood, he was yet in his old 
 age to perform a great part in the crisis of the Pro- 
 testant succession which was fast approaching. During 
 the reign of Wilham, he had for a moment inadvertently 
 lent his ear to some of the Jacobite plotters, but he was 
 in heart and principle firmly attached to the liberties of 
 his country, and had no thought of abandoning the in- 
 terests of the House of Hanover. He had a great name, 
 and was the King of Hearts still. Whether Shrews- 
 bury's appointment to the Court of Prance was alto- 
 gether agreeable to Bohngbroke may be doubted. 
 
 * Additional MSS., 5756. 
 
 t Letter to the Queen, Nov. 28, 1712. 
 
318 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Though they were apparently upon friendly terms, and 
 the Secretary professed for the duke the highest admira- 
 tion and respect, Shrewsbury was not disposed to foUow 
 implicitly Bolingbroke's leadership, and as, during the 
 first conferences about the peace, when Mensager was 
 in England, he regarded the Secretary's proceedings at 
 this time with dishke and suspicion. It was reported 
 at Hanover that Shrewsbury was sent to France merely 
 to get him out of the way of business.* 
 
 The year 1713 had begun before Shrewsbury was 
 ready to cross the Channel. But Prior was, in the mean- 
 while, again sent over to the French Court, and con- 
 ducted the negotiations on points which yet remained 
 in dispute between the two Grovemments. At the be- 
 ginning of the new year, these subjects of controversy 
 were reduced to two : the claims of France to New- 
 foundland, and the differences about trade, which were 
 to be settled by the commercial treaty. They were 
 not easily arranged ; for in matters respecting trade 
 the French people have always shown a jealousy of 
 England which the most despotic Government cannot 
 afford to disregard. The Enghsh, on the other hand, 
 grew impatient at the delay. The usual time for the 
 meeting of Parhament had passed, and nothing as yet 
 appeared done. It was said that the peace was still 
 as far off as ever, and that the ministers were afraid 
 to call the two Houses together. The French Grovern- 
 ment took advantage of these difiSculties of the British 
 cabinet, and, instead of showing a readiness to conclude, 
 began to keep off, and persist in their demands. Even 
 Bolingbroke was disgusted with this conduct in his 
 friends at the French Court, and indulged in language 
 which he had not hitherto used during the progress of 
 
 * Hanover Papers; Letter from Robethon to Gatke, March 21, 1713. 
 
1712—1713.] THE ALLIES. 
 
 319 
 
 the negotiations. " We cannot," he wrote to Prior, on 
 January 19th, 1713, " persuade ourselves here that the 
 French act either fairly or wisely ; they seem to press 
 us to conclude that they may have others at their mercy, 
 and at the same time they chicane with us concerning 
 the most essential article of all our treaty, and endeavour 
 to elude an agreement made, repeated, confirmed."* 
 
 As the French lost something in Bohngbroke's good 
 graces, the Dutch began to rise in his estimation. The 
 statesmen of Holland at last felt that the best course 
 for them to take was to submit themselves in all things 
 to England ; and by yielding to the modifications on 
 which Bolingbroke insisted in the Barrier Treaty, in- 
 duce the Queen's Government to make better terms for 
 them with France. This alternative was adopted, and 
 the harmony between England and Holland was appa- 
 rently restored. Even Bolingbroke himself was com- 
 pelled to admit that with Holland he had at last no 
 cause of complaint. " Indeed, my Lord," he wrote to 
 Lord Straiford, "it is impossible to say enough in 
 commendation of that good conduct which has over- 
 come the obstinacy of the Dutch, and by prevailing 
 upon them to execute the Barrier Treaty, has buried 
 at once all their disputes with the Queen. "f This was 
 not, however, exactly what France wanted. England 
 had now no excuse for not making common cause with 
 Holland : the sacrifice of Tournay, in the hope that a 
 separate peace between England and France would be 
 signed, had been made without avail ; England seemed 
 once more on good terms with the best of her allies. 
 
 The Emperor, however, held out. ' Parhament had 
 again to be prorogued ; and it appeared certain that if 
 
 * Con-., ii. 186. 
 
 t Letter to the Earl of Strafford, Feb. 3, 1713. 
 
320 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 the sittings of the legislature were to be suspended until 
 the House of Austria should be satisfied, the meeting 
 of Lords and Commons must be dispensed with alto- 
 gether. The Queen's health was still precarious ; the 
 season for opening the campaign was coming on ; 
 Prince Eugene, still endeavoured to induce the Dutch 
 to continue the war. As most of the important points 
 in the negotiations were settled, the more the perti- 
 nacity of the diplomatists increased to wrangle over 
 the trifling matters which yet remained in dispute. 
 The despatches on all these various subjects were most 
 voluminous; BoHngbroke's patience was quite ex- 
 hausted : he was frequently at his desk until three 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 It was a sign of his increasing influence at Court, 
 that the official correspondence with Shrewsbury and 
 the Court of France, was at this time again resumed by 
 Bolingbroke, after having, in the preceding September, 
 been so suddenly taken out of his hands. The struggle 
 between him and the Lord Treasurer still continued. 
 Twice in the course of three months had Swift again 
 attempted to bring about a better understanding between 
 them ; on both occasions his efforts had entirely failed ; 
 and he at last abandoned the invidious task as hopeless. 
 Oxford himself felt that he was losing ground. Not 
 in vain, after all, had Bolingbroke paid such assiduous 
 court to Lady Masham. Not in vain had he lavished 
 his patronage and friendship on Jack Hill. Lady 
 Masham was warmly advocating the Secretary's cause 
 against the Treasurer's ; and allowing Bolingbroke once 
 more to direct the negotiations with France, was, on the 
 part of Oxford, the admission of a defeat.* 
 
 * See the Journal to Stella, Jan. 12, 1712, and Jan. 1, 1713, and BoHng- 
 broke's Letter to Shrewsbury, Jan. 19, 1713. 
 
1712—1713.] GEORGE ST. JOHN. 321 
 
 The Secretary soon afterwards received another 
 proof of his sovereign's growing favour not without 
 its significance. A young man called Thomas Harri- 
 son, who had distinguished himself by some agreeable 
 verses, and possessed some hvely talents, had for two 
 years been Secretary to the embassy at the Hague. 
 Swift always imagined that he had been the cause of 
 Harrison's appointment, by his recommendation to the 
 Secretary ; but family reasons had also their weight, 
 for Bolingbroke directly speaks of Harrison as his 
 relation.* The young man's good fortune did not 
 long continue. He died very suddenly, to the great 
 grief of Swift, who, in his patronizing way, felt poor 
 Harrison's loss acutely. It was necessary to appoint 
 a successor to the secretaryship at the Hague ; and 
 Bolingbroke was allowed to fill up the vacancy with 
 his half brother Greorge, and as the Secretary expressly 
 wrote, as a mark of the Queen's approval of his own 
 conduct. 
 
 George was the eldest son of his father's second mar- 
 riage. He was many years younger than Bolingbroke, 
 and when that statesman became Secretary of State, 
 went to study at Utrecht. There he remained for 
 nearly twelve months, and being, as the brother of 
 the prosperous Secretary, surrounded by flatterers and 
 parasites, contracted debts, and committed other im- 
 prudences. He fell iE of the small-pox, and was 
 conveyed to Mr. Drummond's house at Amsterdam, 
 where, for some time, he remained between hfe and 
 death. It is only due to Bohngbroke to say, that 
 amid the hurry of business and pleasure, and while 
 apparently so engrossed in the pursuits of political 
 ambition, he found time to write many kind letters 
 
 * Letter to tlie Earl of Strafford : Con: l, 68. 
 
322 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 to Mr. Drummond about the poor lad, and showed 
 himself most anxious for his recovery and progress in 
 his studies. The debts which George had thought- 
 lessly incurred, Bolingbroke requested the friendly 
 merchant to pay, and declared that if his father refused 
 to accept the bills that were to be drawn upon • him 
 for this purpose, he would himself see that they 
 were punctually met. Sir Harry St. John still saun- 
 tered about the clubs and coffee-houses, troubling 
 himself very httle about his sons or anything else, 
 chatting about the exploits of Sedley and Rochester 
 in other days, and occasionally making a joke at his 
 eminent son's expense. This was all the notice that 
 the old beau condescended to take of the greatness of 
 his eldest born; but Sir Harry carefully avoided, 
 perhaps from mere indifference, or from old associa- 
 tions, committing himself to Bolingbroke's political 
 machinations, or endorsing his poHtical enmities. Such 
 a father was not hkely to assist his younger son for- 
 ward in the world. This the Secretary appears to 
 have felt. He became himself a father to poor Greorge, 
 who, in the absence of children of Bolingbroke's own, 
 was hkely to inherit both the family estates and his 
 honours ; and the statesman, with almost parental 
 sohcitude, in this the season of his prosperity, did 
 everything he could to promote the young man's in- 
 terests. When Thomas Harley went, during the last 
 year, from Utrecht to Hanover, he was accompanied by 
 George St. John, whom Bolingbroke warmly recom- 
 mended to his care. The enemies of Oxford and Boling- 
 broke, indeed, gave a somewhat ludicrous explanation 
 of this journey. It was said that the rivalry between 
 the Secretary and the Lord Treasurer had become so 
 established and so keen, that a kinsman of the one could 
 
1712—1713.] DRUMMOND. 323 
 
 not be trusted on a complimentary visit to the Court of 
 Hanover, without being accompanied by a kinsman of 
 the other ; and that as Oxford sent his cousin Thomas, so 
 Bob'ngbroke, at the same time, took care to send his bro- 
 ther George. Their joint mission, as it was considered, 
 certainly excited much attention among the Jacobites 
 and Hanoverians. Greorge, however, did not stay long 
 at Hanover. At the beginning of this year he had 
 returned to England, and was sent back by Bolingbroke 
 to Utrecht as Secretary to the embassy. 
 
 The Secretary managed, about the same time, to do 
 something for his friend Drummond. This Amsterdam 
 merchant had his health drunk as honest John Drum- 
 mond by the Tories, and he had suffered for his devotion 
 to their cause and the cause of the peace. Commerce 
 and pohtics do not very easily assort together in the 
 same person. Drummond had become so obnoxious to 
 the Dutch that they had ahnost ruined him, and he 
 had felt himself obliged to set about winding up his 
 mercantile affairs in Amsterdam. It was of course the 
 duty of his political friends to provide for him ; and the 
 task was easier because he had contrived to keep on 
 good terms with both Oxford and BoHngbroke. The 
 Secretary had in view for Drummond, that never- 
 failing resource, a consulship, with an increased 
 salary ; and he was also appointed Queen's Commis- 
 sioner, to regulate matters of British trade in the 
 Flemish towns, which, at the impending peace, would 
 have to change masters. Drummond had been a useful 
 tool both to the Lord Treasurer and the Secretary, and 
 he took care to profit by the advantages they agreed to 
 throw in his way. It appeared afterwards, that in 
 certain pecuniary transactions, which were formed 
 into one of the charges in Oxford's impeachment, 
 
 T 2 
 
324 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 John Drummond was the very efficient agent ; and he 
 certainly received for his conduct in the business, which 
 related to the ostensible disposal in his name of some 
 thirteen thousand pounds by the Lord Treasurer's war- 
 rant, very much more than a lucrative percentage.* 
 
 It was not so easy to accommodate Prior. The 
 poetical plenipotentiary, indeed, endeavoured to keep 
 on good terms both with the Lord Treasurer and the 
 Secretary ; but he was not so successful in preserving 
 his friendly neutrality as Drummond. The private 
 correspondence between Matt and Henry did his 
 business. He was soon regarded as devotedly attached 
 to BoHngbroke, and, in consequence, began to lose the 
 favour of Oxford. Having accompanied Bolingbroke to 
 France, and been left there in intimacy with the new 
 acquaintances the Secretary had formed during his 
 visit. Prior was supposed to be Boliagbroke's confidant 
 in schemes which were concealed from Oxford. As 
 Shrewsbur}'' would, as the Enghsh ambassador, have to 
 make a public entry into Paris in his official character, 
 Prior thought that, as plenipotentiary, he ought 
 also to have a coach, liveries, and servants, in order 
 to make some display on this state occasion. But on 
 applying to the Grovernment at home for money to 
 defray these expenses, he received an answer from 
 Lord Dartmouth, that he was only to appear in the 
 ambassador's train as a private gentleman, that his 
 plenipotentiary's commission gave him no representa- 
 tive character, and that he might very properly dispense 
 with a coach, liveries, and servants. Prior sent an 
 abstract of this terse reply to Bolingbroke, who ex- 
 pressed great indignation at the manner in which the 
 
 * See the second additional article of charges against the Earl of Oxford, 
 and his answer. 
 
1712—1713.] PRIOR AND SHREWSBURY. 325 
 
 poet was treated. He even gave Prior an intimation 
 that something more was going on than perhaps ap- 
 peared, by advising him to use his credit, and incur 
 any expenses he thought suitable for his appearance at 
 the entry, and assuring him that in time they would be 
 paid by the Grovernment. The Secretary now evi- 
 dently believed that the day was not very far distant 
 when he would be the undisputed master both of the 
 Court and Treasury.* 
 
 Prior and Shrewsbury had at length succeeded in 
 settling the disputed points Mdth France. After having 
 been so long at sea they were at last entering port. 
 Difficulties had arisen about what were in diplomatic 
 language called the bona immobilia which the French 
 were to leave in the territories given up to England. 
 The British Government sought to obtain the release 
 of the unfortunate French Protestants whom the bigotry 
 of Louis XIV. had condemned to the galleys. The ninth 
 article of the treaty of commerce with what were called 
 the four accepted species, was to be explained. The 
 renunciations of the French princes were to be duly 
 registered. Everything, however, at last yielded to the 
 determined perseverance of Bolingbroke and the two 
 English diplomatists by whom his wishes were most 
 ably seconded. It was in February that everything 
 was satisfactorily arranged between Torcy and Shrews- 
 bury, and on the same day the Duke wrote to the pleni- 
 potentiaries at Utrecht, ordering them to sign the treaty 
 with France, and any of the alhes who might be disposed 
 to follow the example. Bolingbroke transmitted similar 
 letters in the most positive terms from London ; but to 
 the last the plenipotentiaries at Utrecht kept up their 
 character for delay. 
 
 * Letter to Prior, March 20, 1713. 
 
326 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Bolingbroke still hoped that all the powers would 
 sign, and the peace become general. It soon appeared, 
 however, that this happy result was more than would 
 be attained. The Emperor persisted in refusing to 
 Hsten to terms, and through the agency of Prince 
 Eugene, endeavoured in Holland to rekindle the flames 
 of animosity against France and the English ministers. 
 A more ludicrous circumstance contributed to prevent 
 Spain from concluding. The Princess de Ursini, who 
 had so long governed the uxorious Phihp through his 
 Queen, had been seized with the ambition of becoming 
 an independent sovereign. The Spanish negotiators 
 made all sorts of dilBculties, because Louis XIY. and 
 Torcy, however compliant in other respects, were not 
 willing in Flanders to carve out a kingdom for this old 
 woman. Lord Strafford and the Bishop Eobinson 
 thought that their powers as plenipotentaries at Utrecht 
 only authorized them to sign the treaty with all the 
 powers ; and when it became certain that the Emperor 
 would not come into the settlement at Utrecht, they 
 wrote off to Bolingbroke for an alteration in their cre- 
 dentials. Indeed, through all the negotiations, the Eng- 
 hsh Secretary found that these plenipotentiaries would 
 not advance a step beyond their instructions. What 
 they did, they did by express orders from Whitehall. 
 They knew the dangers with which they were sur- 
 rounded, and carefully shunned all responsibUity. BoHng- 
 broke had always to determine everything, to direct 
 everything, to give written iastructions about every- 
 thing. His hopes and fears respecting the peace were, 
 however, to be set at rest. On the 1st of April, O. S., 
 the treaties were signed between England and France 
 at two o'clock in the afternoon ; the ministers of the 
 Duke of Savoy, and the Bang of Prussia, in the course 
 
1712—1713.] THE TEEATY AT LAST SIGNED. 327 
 
 of the same evening, set their hands and seals to the 
 parchment ; and the Dutch characteristically came in 
 last, signing at midnight. Prior had had the distinc- 
 tion of bringing over the treaty of Ryswick to England. 
 The honour of bringing over the treaty of Utrecht was 
 reserved to Bohngbroke's young brother George, who 
 arrived in London with the precious document about 
 two o'clock in the afternoon of Good Friday, the 3rd of 
 April. The Secretary welcomed his brother with 
 open arms, as, covered with dust, he alighted from his 
 post chaise at Whitehall. All Bohngbroke's cares 
 seemed at an end. He could scarcely believe in the 
 reality of the great treaty that he so eagerly glanced 
 over. The words which came to the mouth of Elizabeth 
 when the news came to Hatfield that her sister Mary 
 was dead, and that she, the persecuted princess, was now 
 the Queen of England, came to Bohngbroke's mind : 
 "It is the Lord's work, and it is marvellous in our 
 eyes. * 
 
 The great obstacle to the assembling of Parhament 
 was removed. After so many adjournments, delays, and 
 evil forebodings, the ministers could meet the two 
 Houses with some appearance of success. Bolingbroke 
 would, indeed, be no longer present in the Commons to 
 encourage the Tories, and to show them the game. He 
 was still, however, as eager as ever to make play. .His 
 advice was to seek to turn the tables upon the Whigs ; 
 and, instead of waiting to be attacked, for the ministe- 
 rialists themselves to be the assailants. The Tory 
 majority had not diminished during the recess : from 
 deaths and other causes, it might be said, indeed, to 
 have increased ; and it seemed that the Whigs could do 
 
 * See Pari. Hist,, vi. 1170; and Bolingbroke's Letters to the Earl of 
 Strafford, of April 4, 1713, and to the Duke of Shrewsbury, of April 19, 1713. 
 
328 - THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 notlimg but show their own impotence. During the 
 debate in the Privy Council on the question of ratifying 
 the treaty, the Whig Chief Justice, Parker, and Lord 
 Cholmondeley, the Treasurer of the Household, ven- 
 tured to raise objections. Lord Cholmondeley was 
 turned out of office. Whig officers of the army, and 
 Whig lord-lieutenants for counties were also dismissed. 
 Oxford appeared to act at last with something like 
 energy, and to adopt Bolingbroke's favourite plan of 
 making a clean sweep of their pohtical opponents. For 
 the moment it seemed that something hke harmony was 
 restored between the two great men.* 
 
 The Queen, notwithstanding the alarming rumours 
 that had been prevalent about her health, dehvered the 
 royal speech in person. Her voice was weak, but clear 
 and articulate. How could the factious Whigs presume 
 to say that death was impending over this illustrious 
 princess ? Her Majesty gave the Tory portion of her 
 subjects the comfortable assurance that the peace was 
 signed, and that in a few days the ratifications would 
 be exchanged. Securities, she also observed, had been 
 taken about the Protestant succession, and between 
 herself and the House of Hanover perfect friendship 
 had been established. The Stamp Act, it appeared, 
 had not been sufficient to check the wantonness of the 
 press ; and the Queen called upon the Lords and Com- 
 mons to provide further remedies for this great abuse. 
 She also lamented the impious practice of duelling, 
 which in the case of the Duke of Hamilton and Lord 
 Mohun had been attended with such fatal results ; and 
 concluded with exhorting her subjects, since they were 
 about to enter into the enjoyment of peace abroad, to 
 cultivate among themselves peace at home. 
 
 * Journal to Stella, April 8, 1713. 
 
1712—1713.] THE PLAY OP CATO. 329 
 
 But there was little of the spirit of peace in her Ma- 
 jesty's own speech, or in the proceedings of her ministers. 
 Complimentary addresses were carried in both Houses, 
 the Whigs in the House of Commons scarcely venturing 
 to divide. Bohngbroke being all for an immediate attack 
 on the adversaries of the Government, recourse was had 
 to the usual expedient, the Commissioners of Public 
 Accounts. Two more inflammatory reports were pub- 
 lished on the alleged mismanagement of the revenue in 
 the departments of the army and navy, reflecting, of 
 course, on former Whig officials in general, and on 
 Wharton, Marlborough, and the departed Godolphin in 
 particular, and not even sparing Bolingbroke's old 
 friend, Paymaster Mr. James Brydges. Once more 
 a Bill, continuing these indefatigable Commissioners 
 of the Public Accounts, was brought in; and once 
 more all the opponents of the peace were publicly 
 branded as persons who delighted in war.* 
 
 The two parties now felt themselves engaged in a 
 struggle for hfe or death. Animosity had kindled 
 animosity, rancour had produced rancour ; neither fac- 
 tion was disposed to extend justice, much less mercy, 
 to the other. The peace of Utrecht became the symbol 
 of the triumph of the Tories ; and the mere mention 
 of the treaty had on the Whigs the same effect as the 
 sight of a red flag is said to have on a mad bull. 
 
 Just at this time Addison's play of Cato was brought 
 upon the stage. Both parties thronged to Covent 
 Garden on the first night of the performance. Steele 
 had undertaken to pack a house ; and a zealous party 
 of honest Whigs from the City under the command of 
 Sir Gilbert Heathcote, the Governor of the Bank, filled 
 the benches of the pit. On the one side of the boxes 
 shone the stars of the great Whig peers in opposition ; 
 
 * See Pari. Hist., vi. 1176—1207. 
 
330 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 on the other the scarcely less brilliant assembly of the 
 Tories ; while, in the stage-box, appeared the handsome 
 face and noble presence of BoMngbroke himself, the 
 author of the Peace of Utrecht, the central object 
 of Tory pride and Whig hatred. Such a scene in a 
 theatre has been seldom witnessed. The performance 
 before the curtain surpassed in interest that which 
 took place behind. Every hne in which the unfor- 
 tunate Cato lamented the expiring liberties of his 
 country was applied by the Whigs to Marlborough 
 and their own leaders, who had been driven from power 
 by the intrigues of their opponents ; and the Tories took 
 up the applause in order to show that they were not 
 prepared to admit the propriety of the inference. The 
 happiest party hit of that evening was admitted by the 
 Whigs themselves to have been made by Bohngbroke. 
 After the performance he called Booth, who had played 
 the part of Cato, into his box, and in the sight of the 
 audience gave him a purse with fifty guineas, for, as the 
 Secretary pointedly observed, defending the cause of 
 liberty so well against a perpetual dictator. Boling- 
 broke was, however, at all times a warm friend and 
 patron of Booth. We find him not only presenting this 
 meritorious actor with those fifty guineas, but recom- 
 mending him to the Lord Chamberlain, and at all times 
 in every way endeavouring to promote both his pe- 
 cuniary and professional interests.* But the Jacobites 
 regarded the play of Cato as opposed to their political 
 principles. They said that it had been made by the 
 Whigs to damage the Tories, and was expected to have 
 almost as much effect as Sacheverell's trial.f 
 
 * Letters to the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 
 t "There is a tragedy called Cato, made by the Whigs. It was acted 
 several times. It makes impression on the people. The Whigs say it will 
 have as good an effect on the people as Sacheverell's sermons and trial." — 
 Letter of Rogers to 8ir W. Ellis in Stuart Pajiers, April 20, 1713. 
 
1712—1713.] ADDISON AND BOLINGBEOKE. 331 
 
 It was, however, Bolingbroke's policy at this time to 
 put the best interpretation he could on the tragedy of 
 Cato. Oxford was known to have been making some 
 overtures to the Whigs, and was accused by some 
 violent Tories, and particularly Bolingbroke himself, of 
 wishing to carry on the Government in the spirit of 
 neutrality and compromise. Though the Lord Trea- 
 surer at the meeting of Parliament had at the moment 
 so far given in to the Secretary as to adopt a more 
 decided system, he had soon again returned to his old 
 habit of delay and hesitation, and the two ministers 
 were immediately as much averse to each other as 
 ever. Oxford was turning wistful glances to Marl- 
 borough, who had, in the last November, withdrawn 
 himself to the Continent, and been more recently fol- 
 lowed by his Duchess. Some communications, it was 
 whispered, were passing between the Lord Treasurer 
 and Lord Cowper, who represented the more moderate 
 section of the Whigs. Why should not the Secretary 
 follow the example of the Lord Treasurer, and just at 
 the time when the discussions about the peace were 
 coming on, show some courtesies to one or two of the 
 eminent members of the other party? Bohngbroke 
 invited Addison to dinner. They dined together on 
 the very day the peace was proclaimed, and had a 
 discussion on the merits of their respective parties, 
 Addison bringing forward his objections to the prin- 
 ciples of the Tories, and Bolingbroke answering them, 
 in a calm and friendly manner. It would have been 
 well for this brilhant and aspiring Tory statesman, had 
 he, during this the season of his pohtical greatness, 
 sought more of these occasions for displaying a spirit of 
 moderation and conciliation. The Secretary's attention 
 to Addison excited so much interest, that Prior wrote 
 
332 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 gaily to Bolingbroke from Paris about a report of his 
 having rescued Cato from Whiggism.* 
 
 But if Bohngbroke hoped that any attentions he 
 could show to Addison and other eminent members 
 of his party would induce them to approve of his policy 
 he was sadly deceived. Knowing of the dissensions 
 that prevailed among the ministers, they were not dis- 
 inclined to eat the Secretary's dinners to promote this 
 growing disunion. But this was aU. No true Whig 
 could bring himself to approve of the peace of Utrecht ; 
 it was opposed to all his policy ; it shocked aU his 
 prejudices. He had also motives of party vengeance 
 to stimulate him ; and many of these Bolingbroke had 
 himself furnished in no stinted measure. It was on the 
 4th of May that the peace was proclaimed ; on that 
 very day eleven years before the war had been de- 
 clared. On the 9th, the Queen informed the Par- 
 liament, that, in exercise of her undoubted prerogative, 
 she had ratified the treaties of peace and commerce 
 with France, and had ordered them without delay to be 
 laid before the two Houses. The treaty of peace, from 
 the moment it received the sovereign's sanction, how- 
 ever much it might be disapproved, and however 
 much those who negotiated it might be afterwards 
 called to account for their conduct, could not be modi- 
 fied by any vote in Parhament. But the treaty of 
 commerce, as altering the duties on French goods, re- 
 quired to give it effect the dehberate assent of the 
 House of Commons ; it was on the objectionable eighth 
 and ninth articles of this arrangement that the op- 
 ponents of the Government fastened, and the great 
 conflict began. During the course of the contest Bo- 
 hngbroke had frequently to regret his early retirement 
 
 * Bol. Uorr., ii. 393. 
 
1712—1713.] TRADE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 333 
 
 from the great popular assembly whicb his fervid elo- 
 quence had so often animated. It was there that his 
 cherished work was most fiercely attacked ; it was there 
 that it most needed a brUhant and skilful defender. 
 
 The eighth article put the commercial relations of 
 Prance and England on the footing of equality. In 
 diplomatic jargon it was called the laost-favoured nation 
 clause, and declared that, for the future, the subjects of 
 both kingdoms were to enjoy the same privileges as any 
 others in respect to all duties and impositions. The 
 ninth article sought to carry out this agreement by 
 providing in England that no higher custom should 
 in two months be paid on French goods than were 
 levied on those of any other nation. These stipu- 
 lations sought to bring back the commerce of the two 
 countries to the same position regarding each other 
 as had been established during the greater portion of 
 the reign of Charles II. Even then, however, the 
 merchants had loudly complained ; prohibitory duties 
 had been passed ; and since the Revolution it had seemed 
 to be the object of the English legislature to shut out 
 all French goods whatsoever. 
 
 The prospect of so sudden a change appeared alarm- 
 ing. The commerce of the two nations, having been ar- 
 tificially dammed up, had found other channels. We had 
 a treaty with Portugal obliging us to charge a third less 
 on the Portuguese wines than on those of France ; and 
 the Portuguese people were among our best customers. 
 We had established extensive silk manufactories ; and 
 the persecution which Louis XIV. had carried on for 
 so many years against the Huguenots on the revo- 
 cation of the edict of Nantes, had powerfully contributed 
 to supply the weavers of Spitalfields with numerous 
 bodies of skilled workmen. The balance of trade with 
 
334 THE KEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 France had always been against us; while with the 
 demands we had made for silk from Italy and Turkey, 
 a great market for our woollen manufactures in return 
 had grown up, which had become, in every point of 
 view, exceedingly advantageous. The linen manu- 
 facturers and the paper manufacturers also flourished 
 as they had never flourished in those days when there 
 was almost unrestricted commercial intercourse with 
 France. By this treaty, however, as negotiated by 
 Bohngbroke, a free trade with France was sought to 
 be estabhshed ; and the commercial prosperity which 
 had stricken such deep root, even amid revolutions 
 and wars, would, in the opinion of many Whigs, by 
 a free trade with France, be destroyed.* 
 
 The Whigs, however, in the House of Commons, 
 were in a decided minority, and by themselves could 
 effect httle. As long as the question was a mere party 
 contest, BoHngbroke's supporters had decidedly the 
 advantage. On the first division, the Whigs, led by 
 Walpole and Stanhope, only nmnbered one himdred 
 and thirty agaiost two hundred and fifty-two. When 
 the next question was put, they abandoned the field 
 altogether, and leave was given to bring in the bill by 
 an immense majority. Bolingbroke, who watched the 
 debate from the place assigned to the peers, had reason 
 to congratulate himself on the manner in which his 
 work had been received. The pohtical treaty had 
 scarcely been attacked at all ; and the principle of the 
 commercial treaty had been triumphantly affirmed. 
 What could a successful minister desire more ? 
 
 So at least it appeared ; but these appearances were 
 not to be trusted. Even some Tories who professed to 
 
 * A very clear summary of their objections will be found in Tindal's Con- 
 tinuation of Bapin. 
 
1712—1713.] THE WHIMSICAL TORIES. 335 
 
 dread any delay in tlie signing of the treaties, began, as 
 soon as they were laid on the tables of the two Houses, 
 to look upon them with coldness. The most remarkable 
 representation in condemnation of -the war had been 
 moved by Sir Thomas Hanmer. He was a handsome, 
 eloquent, and accomplished man, artful, plausible, and 
 vacillating, ready on occasion to play fast and loose 
 with both parties ; to be a Tory and yet declare himself 
 heartily opposed to Jacobitism, to be for the House 
 of Hanover, and yet act very lukewarmly in its service. 
 Sir Thomas being disappointed in not receiving the offer 
 of a place began to join with the Whigs in their objec- 
 tions to the eighth and ninth articles of the commercial 
 treaty. The ferment which had at first been confined 
 within the walls of St. Stephen's chapel was taken up 
 by the great towns. The clothiers, weavers, and paper 
 manufacturers became loud in their outcries. This, it 
 was said, was not to be considered a party question. The 
 prosperity of England was in jeopardy ; her trade was 
 threatened with destruction. Petitions from the seats 
 of commerce and manufacture every day poured into 
 the House of Commons, echoing the alarm of nearly all 
 the trading classes of the kingdom. The lovers of 
 claret were indeed anxious for French wines ; and, as a 
 Whig wittily said, would not sup-port. But the lovers 
 of claret, except among the higher classes, were in a mino- 
 rity, and could do httle against the interested prejudices 
 of nearly the whole commercial community. A general 
 election, too, was approaching ; and the trading classes 
 would evidently make their power felt. This was the 
 third session of the Parliament, which, according to 
 the provisions of the Triennial Act, was to be dissolved in 
 the autumn ; and the ministers who had been so confi- 
 dent of a majority at the next election greater than they 
 
336 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 even then possessed, saw that power which seemed so 
 firmly estabhshed shaken to the foundations. 
 
 Under these circiunstances the wisest course would 
 have been at once to have given way. Many of the 
 friends of the Grovemment hoped that the bill would 
 be withdrawn, at all events for that session. It was 
 rumoured that the Lord Treasurer, who had very httle 
 to do with the negotiation of the treaty of commerce, 
 and was by no means anxious for its success, was of 
 this opinion. The Tories, too, in the House of Com- 
 mons, were overmatched in the debates on this question. 
 Orthodox country gentlemen, at the head of whom was 
 BoHngbroke's young friend. Sir Wilham Windham, 
 might be great on the folly of continental aEiances, the 
 danger of standing armies, the selfishness of the Dutch, 
 the iniquities of Marlborough, and the dangers of the 
 Church; but, as Bohngbroke himself afterwards con- 
 fessed, commercial matters they could not be expected 
 to understand, and even when they were right in their 
 conclusions they were wrong in their arguments. 
 
 The defence of these obnoxious eighth and ninth 
 articles was generally left to a tool of the Secretary's 
 own, Arthur Moore, who was then a commissioner of 
 trade, and had originally been a footman. On com- 
 mercial questions, Bohngbroke's knowledge was scarcely 
 more profound than that of the country gentlemen who 
 supported him, and Arthur Moore had on these sub- 
 jects been his constant adviser. This man had some 
 ready talents, but his education corresponded with the 
 station from which he had sprung ; he had neither 
 learning nor eloquence ; he was mean, sordid, and 
 servile; in the worst of those pecuniary transactions 
 which have been charged against the Secretary Moore's 
 
1712—1713.] ARTHUR MOORE. 337 
 
 agency can be distinctly traced. It was under his great 
 encouragement that Bolingbroke sent out the expedition 
 to Canada ; and it was Moore who received the order on 
 the Treasury for the twenty-six thousand pounds, of 
 which twenty thousand mysteriously disappeared into 
 the pockets of Lady Masham. He was supposed to be a 
 great authority on matters relating to the trade with 
 Spain, and professed to know how England could enrich 
 herself by this traffic more than by all her conti- 
 nental alKances and privileges extorted from her 
 partners in the war. But this great idea did not 
 prevent him, when, relying on his knowledge, Boling- 
 broke allowed him to superintend the negotiations of the 
 Spanish commercial treaty, from accepting an enormous 
 bribe from the Spanish minister to acquiesce in some 
 unjust stipulations which excited the utmost indignation 
 of the House of Commons. Such a man, though aided 
 by Defoe, who, in his periodical called the Mercator had 
 become the advocate of a free trade with France, was 
 scarcely a match in debate for Walpole and the great 
 Whig merchants, directors of the East India Company 
 and governors of the Bank of England, who, as one 
 man, declaimed against the bill.* 
 
 Authority, interest, prejudice, and passion, were all 
 against the commercial treaty. To the surprise, how- 
 ever, of their own friends, the Tories persisted in going 
 into committee on the bill. The most distinguished 
 persons in all the branches of trade affected by the 
 measure were examined at the -bar. Their evidence 
 was decidedly unfavourable to the agreement made 
 with the French Grovernment. The country gentlemen 
 always patriotic at heart, hstened patiently to the 
 
 * For the character of Arthur Moore, see Oxford's Brief Account of Public 
 Affairs ; and the History of the White Staff. 
 
 Z 
 
338 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 examination of the witnesses, and to the voluminoiis 
 petitions against the bill read by the Clerk of the 
 House ; and at last even members of the October Club 
 began to sym.pathize with the representations of the 
 silk merchants, the Portuguese merchants, the Turkey 
 merchants, and the ItaKan merchants, who declared 
 that if the biU were passed they would be inevitably 
 ruined. The first sign of a ministerial defeat was by 
 a clause being inserted to strike out the four ex- 
 cepted species of goods from the tarifi" of 1664. But 
 the decisive struggle occurred on Monday, the 15th of 
 June, when the motion was made that the bill should 
 be engrossed. In vain Arthur Moore exerted all his 
 ingenuity to persuade the House that the proposed 
 arrangement conferred a great boon on British com- 
 merce. Sir Thomas Hanmer, to the dismay of the 
 ministers, declared himself openly against any further 
 progress with the measure. He T\'as followed on the 
 same side by two official personages, a Lord of the 
 Admiralty and a Commissioner of the PubKc Accounts 
 on whose support the Grovernment had fairly calculated. 
 At eleven o'clock at night the question of the engross- 
 ment of the bill was lost by one hundred and ninety- 
 four votes against one hundred and eighty-five.* 
 
 This defeat.settled the fate of the commercial treaty 
 for the session. Such was the unfortunate termination 
 of a contest in which Bolingbroke had sanguinely 
 counted upon a great parhamentary triumph. Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer, indeed, hoping to make amends to his 
 ministerial friends, himself proposed an address of 
 thanks to the Queen for the treaties of peace and com- 
 merce ; and this address her Majesty, under Boling- 
 broke's advice, somewhat hberally construed into a vote 
 
 ♦ Pail. Hist., vi. 1223. 
 
1712—1713.] BOLINGBBOKE'S VEXATION. 339 
 
 of direct approbation of both measures. But there was 
 no doing away with the effect of the defeat the Grovern- 
 ment had sustained. The disaster was ominous. It 
 showed that on great questions, affecting their very 
 existence, the ministers could not depend on the 
 •obedience of their majority. In the Upper House 
 Lord Anglesea and other peers who had been looked 
 upon as supporters of the administration, displayed a 
 similar spirit of opposition. What did this portend ? 
 Moderate men were becoming scrupulous. But Boling- 
 broke was entering on a course which required, as the 
 indispensable element of success, an obedient majority 
 voting blindly, without asking questions. He became 
 very much harassed, was taken seriously ill, felt him- 
 self almost desperate, and declared to Shrewsbury and 
 Prior that he suffered more than at any former period 
 of his life.* 
 
 Very few, however, of the ministerial acts of Boling- 
 broke can be so successfully defended as this commercial 
 treaty which was so heavily censured. Some of the 
 details were undoubtedly open to great objection ; but 
 the general principle of seeking to promote a free trade 
 with France, and estabhshing the peace on the founda- 
 tion of the commercial interests of the two countries, 
 was far-sighted, liberal, and sound. In this respect, at 
 least, his policy appears in a far more advantageous hght 
 than that of the Whigs, who, heated by party opposition 
 and national prejudices, from condemning the treaty 
 proceeded to condemn all trade with France whatever. 
 On this point, if on this point alone, Bolingbroke was 
 before his age. It is impossible not to sympathize with 
 what he wrote on this subject to the Duke of Shrews- 
 bury : — " I beheve it will be of use to insinuate to 
 
 * Letters to Shrewsbury and Prior, of July 4, 1713. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Monsieur de Torey, that as, among other things, the 
 factious people here intend, by their opposition to the 
 settlement of any trade with France, to keep the nations 
 estranged from each other, to cultivate the prejudices 
 which have been formerly raised, and which, during 
 two long wars, have taken deep root, and also to pre- 
 vent the wearing them out, which would be the natural 
 necessary consequence of an open advantageous trade ; 
 so we, on our part, and the ministers of France on 
 theirs, ought to counterwork their designs, and to finish 
 what relates to commerce, more in the character of 
 statesmen than of merchants." To Prior he repeated 
 this sentiment in language even still more explicit, 
 and, for the justness of the views it expressed, deserving 
 of all approbation, " I cannot omit mentioning to you 
 a thing which I spoke of in one of my letters to the 
 Duke of Shrewsbury, and which, in my opinion, is of a 
 good deal of consequence towards confirming that peace 
 and friendship which the late treaty estabhshes between 
 the two nations. The "Whigs, who have been beat ofi" 
 from aU their other attacks, seem to fix themselves on 
 the treaty of commerce as their last hold, and endea- 
 vour to raise a ferment among the people by scanning, 
 straining, and misrepresenting every article, nay, every 
 syllable in it, and propagating, with wonderful industry, 
 th-at all trade whatever with France is prejudicial to 
 Britain. The French ministers will easily see, I sup- 
 pose, and if they do not, they ought to be shown this, 
 among other views, is calculated to hinder those preju- 
 dices which our people have been possessed with against 
 France, and which begin now to wear off, from being 
 extinguished ; to keep up the strangeness between the 
 two nations, and to preserve such a temper of mind in 
 our people as may dispose them, upon every sHght 
 
1712—1713.] ENLIGHTENED VIEWS OF BOLINGBROKE. 341 
 
 occasion, to a dispute witli France, Now the most 
 effectual way of preventing this is certainly an open 
 and advantageous commerce between the two kingdoms. 
 Nothing unites Hke interest ;* and when once our people 
 have felt the sweet of carrying on a trade to France 
 under reasonable regulations, the artifices of Whiggism 
 will have the less effect amongst them. As this is true, 
 so it is proper enough to be insinuated to the French 
 ministers, and, it is to be hoped, will make them more 
 easy in the settlement of such points as remain still to 
 be decided relating to commerce." * Statesmen, on this 
 question, have had to contend against the inveterate 
 jealousies of both nations. The prejudices of the French 
 people certainly equalled the prejudices of the Whigs ; 
 and even the prejudices of the Whigs had not very 
 unnaturally been provoked and encouraged by the ser- 
 vility to France of the last Stuart kings, the pride and 
 ambition of Louis XIY., and the dangers of the Pro- 
 testant succession. As long as there was a Roman 
 Cathohc pretender to the British throne, directly or in- 
 directly patronized by France, it could not be easy to 
 establish between the two countries those pacific rela- 
 tions which are the very life of commerce. But it would 
 have been well for the reputation of BoHngbroke as a 
 statesman had his views on most political questions 
 been so enlightened as they undoubtedly were on the 
 treaty of commerce with France. 
 
 Many of the provisions of the general treaty of 
 Utrecht, though not at the time so strongly attacked, 
 were open to much more severe animadversion. It 
 was, however, to this general treaty, rather than to the 
 treaty of commerce, that, to the last hour of his life, 
 
 * Letter to the Diiie of Shrewsbmy, of May 29, 1713, 0. S., and Letter to. 
 Prior,ofMay 31, 1713, 0. S. 
 
342 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 Bolingbroke looked back with the most complacency. 
 The persecution to which he was afterwards subjected 
 for negotiating it only rendered it dearer in his eyes. 
 He would hear little agailist it ; what his enemies re- 
 presented as his shame, he regarded as his glory. A 
 few general obeervations on some of the leading clauses 
 of this celebrated treaty may therefore here be consi- 
 dered necessary. 
 
 One of the greatest triumphs of a diplomatist is to 
 negotiate an honourable peace for his country out of an 
 unsuccessful war. The glory of this achievement was 
 claimed by Torcy when he compared the terms which 
 were offered to France at the conferences at the Hague 
 and Grertruydenberg in 1709 and 1710, with those which 
 she signed at Utrecht in 1713.* Bolingbroke was in 
 just the opposite situation. The EngHsh statesman had 
 to bring his country honourably out of the most success- 
 ful war she had ever waged. He was not a suppHcant 
 but a dictator ; nothing that he might consider it his 
 duty to demand could the enemy refuse. As the prize 
 of the contest, the Spanish monarchy, was left in the 
 hands of Phihp, though France had been defeated in 
 many battles, and could not protect her own frontiers, 
 it was but reasonable to expect that the peace should in 
 every other respect have been satisfactory to England. 
 Yet Bolingbroke himself afterwards admitted that the 
 terms were not all satisfactory, and that better might 
 and ought to have been obtained.f He gave, indeed, 
 a singular reason for the deficiencies of the treaty : they 
 were aU owing to the opposition of the Whigs and the 
 aUies. But the real cause why France profited so 
 much by the dissensions among the members of the 
 
 * JKmoires du Marquis de Torcy, ii. 225. 
 + Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
1712—1713.] THE NEGOTIATIONS. 343 
 
 Grand Alliance was, in fact, as has been shown in the 
 course of this narrative, the manner in which the nego- 
 tiations were begun and carried on by Bohngbroke and 
 his colleagues. It was preposterous to blame their 
 political opponents for what was the inevitable result 
 of their own conduct. If there was disunion among 
 the alhes, and if France profited by this disunion, it was 
 brought about entirely by the manner in which the 
 English Government proceeded with the negotiations. 
 There was not a single flaw in the alliance when Harley 
 and St. John entered office ; but dissension was iaevi- 
 table after the private understanding had, through 
 Gaultier, been established between France and England 
 to the disadvantage of the Dutch and the other allies. 
 During the later period of the negotiations we find 
 Bolingbroke himself as conscious of this fact as the rest 
 of the world. When it seemed that France, on a cer- 
 tain point, was likely to be stubborn, the Enghsh Secre- 
 tary of State directed Prior to ask Torcy candidly 
 whether there were not many exceptional circumstances 
 in the way which England had negotiated the treaty, 
 that ought to render the French Government, merely 
 as an act of gratitude, ready to make every reasonable 
 concession to her demands ?* 
 
 There was no mistaking the meaning of these words. 
 England released herself from her engagements, and par- 
 ticularly from the eighth article of the Grand Alliance, in 
 a manner it is impossible to justify ; and there was very 
 much in the proceedings of Bolingbroke, with regard to 
 the Dutch, not to be contemplated without indignation 
 and sorrow. The consequencewas that France triumphed 
 at Utrecht, that England permitted her conquered enemy 
 to give the law to her faithful and victorious ally. This 
 
 ' Letter to Prior. 
 
344 THE NEW PEER. [Chap. IX. 
 
 was certainly neither necessary nor honourable. The 
 nation was undoubtedly tired of the war ; a peace was 
 highly desirable ; but to be for the peace of Utrecht is to 
 be, not for peace in the abstract, but for a particular 
 treaty which was both, as it was negotiated, and in 
 some of its previsions highly objectionable. 
 
 The cardinal point of this treaty, even in Bohng- 
 broke's opinion, was the renunciations made by Phihp 
 and the French princes. But the Enghsh Secretary- 
 had been distinctly told by the parties immediately con- 
 cerned, that what he demanded as indispensable for 
 the future security of Europe was no security whatever. 
 The greatest French lawyers had endorsed this opinion ; 
 nor was it only a theory ; it had in that generation 
 been dehberately acted upon : if renunciations had been 
 of any value, there would have been no war of the 
 Spanish succession at all. Phihp himself sat on the 
 Spanish throne in wanton disregard of solemn renun- 
 ciations. How idle, then, was it, how worse than idle, 
 to hold out to the Enghsh people these renunciations 
 as a satisfactory security for preventing the union of 
 the Spanish and French crowns ! Bohngbroke well 
 knew them to be otherwise. He knew that for any 
 effect they were hkely to have on those who signed 
 them they were just so much waste paper. But his idea 
 was that though they might be disregarded by Phihp 
 himself, it would, in the event of the death of the child 
 that stood between the King of Spain and the inherit- 
 ance of the French throne, be the interest of the Duke 
 of Orleans and the other French princes to maintain the 
 vahdity of the renunciations ; and that they would cer- 
 tainly be the justification of the other powers of Europe 
 in taking up arms to prevent a result against which these 
 renunciations had so solemnly provided. Thus, in a phrase 
 
1712—1713.] THE RENUNCIATIONS. 345 
 
 which was introduced by Bohngbroke into one of Queen 
 Anne's speeches to her Parhament, and was much ridi- 
 culed by the Whigs at the time, the treaty would execute 
 itself". But it was not hkely that the ambition of the Duke 
 of Orleans, had he even been disposed to dispute Phihp's 
 right to the French crown, would have been able to give 
 effect to the renunciations against the decision of the 
 ablest French lawyers and the general feehng of the 
 people; and it must have certainly produced a civil 
 war in which Philip would have been supported by the 
 whole power of Spain. The determination of the other 
 States to see the renunciations carried out, on which 
 Bolingbroke also calculated, must as certainly have led 
 to a general war, in which England and the other 
 members of the Grand Alliance could scarcely have been 
 in so commanding a position as they were when the 
 conferences at Utrecht began. At all events, the seeds of 
 future wars were sown by the very contingency contem- 
 plated ; and the renunciations themselves, the guarantee 
 of peace, were to become the standard round which the 
 enemies of the House of Bourbon were to rally. 
 
 Happily, however, the contingency which was looked 
 upon as all but inevitable never occurred. The life of 
 the young dauphin, then supposed, both by physicians 
 and statesmen, not to be worth six months' purchase, 
 was spared ; and the efficacy of the renunciations were > 
 never brought to the test. Enough, however, occurred, 
 even while Bohngbroke still remained in office, to con- 
 vince him that PhUip was, in the event of the child's 
 demise, fully prepared to set at nought the solemn 
 obligations to which he had sworn, and, in defiance of 
 all renunciations, to revive and to act upon his preten- 
 sions to the French throne.* 
 
 * See Prior to Bolingbroke, August j^, in the State Paper Office. 
 
346 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 It would have been well if the assumed validity of 
 these invalid renunciations had been the principal objec- 
 tion to the treaty of Utrecht. No single article of the 
 treaty was regarded by Bolingbroke with more satis- 
 faction than the Assiento Contract, or the stipulation 
 that England should enjoy for thirty years the exclusive 
 right of conveying African slaves to the Spanish West 
 Indies and the coast of America. This was the 
 glorious privilege which he insisted should be yielded to 
 England, especially to recompense her for her sacrifices in 
 the war, for the miUions of treasure she had spent, and 
 for the blood of her children so prodigally shed at Blen- 
 heim, at EamilEes, at Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. Other 
 advantages of the treaty might be enjoyed in common 
 by the allies ; but this great distinction, as the queen 
 expressly called it, in a royal address, was to be 
 reserved to England alone.* It was this stipulation 
 which, more than any other part of the conduct of 
 the British ministry in the course of the negotia- 
 tions, roused the jealousy and distrust of the Dutch, 
 and induced them so long to refuse to accept the pro- 
 posals of peace. Their obstinacy on this point excited 
 the bitter scorn of Bohngbroke, and those who wrote 
 under his inspiration. " It will," observed Swift, 
 " have an odd sound in history, and appear hardly 
 creditable, that in several petty republics of single 
 towns which make up the States General, it should be 
 formally debated whether the Queen of Great Britain 
 who preserved the Commonwealth at the charge of so 
 many millions, should be suffered to enjoy after a 
 peace, the Kberty granted her by Spain of selling 
 African slaves in the Spanish dominions of Ame- 
 
 * The Queen's Speech, containing the plan of peace delivered to Parliament, 
 June 6, 1712. 
 
1712—1713.] THE ASSIBNTO CONTRACT. 347 
 
 rica."* It has a much odder sound in history, and it 
 appears much more incredible, that great statesmen and 
 divines of the Church of England should have been so 
 eager and proud to negotiate for their country, as a 
 great and exclusive advantage, the liberty of seUing 
 African slaves at all. Grladly, indeed, should we see 
 expunged from the roll of history the disgrace of ever 
 having sought to recompense ourselves for the cost of a 
 glorious war by taking to ourselves as a privilege, 
 this shameful and iniquitous traffic. So, however, it 
 was. Even as a mere political arrangement this bargain 
 was not only invidious but most unfair ; though what 
 now appears to us the blacker stain on humanity 
 makes the blot on our public faith comparatively sHght. 
 By the articles of the G-rand Alhance, England and all 
 the other states subscribing them, were pledged neither 
 to enter into any separate treaty with the enemy, nor 
 to seek to negotiate for themselves any exceptional 
 privilege to the exclusion of the other members of the 
 confederacy. But it is quite clear that this obhgation 
 was totally disregarded when our Government in- 
 sisted on this concession to themselves of the Assiento 
 Contract by France and Spain before the proposals for 
 peace were even communicated to the rest of the alhes. 
 The Whigs, however, were not superior to the Tories 
 in their perception of the guilt and infamy of this mise- 
 able stipulation ; and the Secretary of State who extorted 
 it, if he could be now heard in his defence, might plead 
 that he made no pretensions to be either better or 
 wiser in this respect than his contemporaries. Eager as 
 the enemies of Oxford and Bolingbroke were to find, and 
 even to assume, matter of accusation against them, they 
 allowed this Assiento Contract to pass without rebuke. 
 
 * History of the Four Last Years of the Queen. 
 
348 THE NEW PEEK. [Chap. IX. 
 
 It is not mentioned once in the articles of impeach- 
 ment exhibited against either of the two statesmen, nor 
 even in the inflammatory reports of the Committees of 
 the House of Commons. Objectionable as it was from 
 nearly every point of view, this Assiento Contract was 
 evidently regarded as the portion of the treaty of 
 Utrecht that was on the whole the least reprehensible. 
 
 The Whigs reserved all their indignation for another 
 business, which was, however, bad enough. This 
 was the fate of the Catalans, for ever -to be sadly 
 associated with the memory of Bohngbroke and the fan- 
 fame of Enghsh statesmen. We had in 1705 sum- 
 moned the people of Catalonia to arms in the cause of 
 Charles III. and the allies. We had denounced the 
 most fearful penalties against them if they did not at 
 once respond to the call. But trusting to the solemn 
 promises of the Queen of England, that she would see 
 secured to them aU the privileges they had enjoyed 
 under the House of Austria, they had obeyed the sum- 
 mons. In Catalonia Charles III. had been regarded as 
 the lawful sovereign. There the gold and the arms of 
 Phihp had been powerless, and twice had the allies 
 entered Barcelona in triumph. But what was to become 
 of the Catalans at the peace ? The treaty was provi- 
 sionally signed with Spain in April ; it was ratified at 
 the beginning of July, The British and Imperial 
 troops were, according to the terms of a convention, 
 evacuating Catalonia ; but nothing had been done to 
 secure to the Catalans either the ancient privileges they 
 had been promised, or even a safeguard from the ven- 
 geance of their new sovereign. They refused to lay down 
 their arms, and persisted in making war on their own ac- 
 count. At last Barcelona was besieged, and the world 
 saw with astonishment and indignation an English squad- 
 
1712—1713.] THE CATALAKS. 349 
 
 ron, under Sir James Wishart, preparing to co-operate 
 with tlie troops of Philip in the siege of Barcelona. The 
 city was reduced to ashes, the country laid waste with fire 
 and sword, and the Catalans suffered all the horrors of 
 military conquest and subjugation by a master whom 
 they abhorred, and whom, under British instigation, they 
 had repeatedly provoked and defied. The conduct of 
 England to the Catalans at the treaty of Utrecht was 
 worse than her conduct to the Genoese at the treaty of 
 Vienna, a hundred years afterwards ; for though in 
 both cases very solemn promises, which ought never to 
 be made by a great power unless they are fulfilled at 
 any sacrifice, were utterly disregarded, we did not 
 send an Enghsh fleet to act against the very people 
 whom we had called to arms. 
 
 It would be unjust to Bolingbroke to say that he 
 never saw the necessity of making good terms for the 
 Catalans. On the contrary, he was fully aware of the 
 obligation England had contracted towards this unfortu- 
 nate people, and frequently, in the course of the 
 negotiations, expressed his sense of these engagements 
 in the most explicit terms. In an early part of the 
 negotiations he wrote : — " Particular notice is, at all 
 events, to be taken of the Catalans, Arragonians, Valen- 
 cians, and whoever else has declared on our side in 
 Spain during the war. This article is just in itself, 
 extremely honourable for the Queen to insist upon, and 
 cannot well admit of much difficulty on the part of the 
 French."* During his visit to France the English 
 statesman had also represented, in the strongest man- 
 ner, to Torcy the importance of conciliating the Cata- 
 lans. G-aultier had, by his directions, made similar 
 representations. Just after BoHngbroke returned to 
 
 * Additional Minutes of Instructions for Mr. Harlev at Utreclit. 
 
350 THE NEW PEBE. [Chap. IX. 
 
 England, the French minister wrote to him from 
 Fontainehleau that the king had sent a courier to 
 Madrid advising his grandson to pardon the Catalans, 
 and that Phihp would undoubtedly follow this good 
 advice.* Still later, we find Bolingbroke writing to 
 Lord Strafford : — " Your Lordship will continue to insist 
 on those terms, that the Catalans be restored to their 
 ancient privileges, and we will carry the point."f 
 Nothing, apparently, could be more satisfactory than 
 the endeavours of the English minister. How, then, 
 came it that these efforts turned out entirely futile, and 
 that the case of the Catalans became such a blot on 
 the treaty of Utrecht and the statesmanship of Bohng- 
 broke ? 
 
 This is not easy entirely to apprehend ; but it arose, 
 probably, in a great measure from the haste with which 
 the treaty was at last signed. The ministers, the 
 nation, and the Parliament had all become impatient 
 of delay ; the Queen, and Louis XIV., were both 
 in a precarious state ; the cabinet could not meet the 
 two Houses without informing them that a peace 
 with France and Spain was concluded. The state of 
 domestic poHtics, even the safety of the ministers 
 themselves, and the manner in which the Emperor 
 held out, all made it of more importance that the 
 other negotiations should be brought to a close. In 
 diplomatic language, it was necessary to finish. The 
 Spanish Court took advantage of this necessity. As 
 soon as the general treaty was signed, Philip and his 
 advisers began to construe their obligations in the nar- 
 rowest sense ; and on every article of the treaty of com- 
 merce, and other points which had not been made 
 matter of express stipulation, they became proud, 
 
 * Bol. Con-., ii. 26. t Letter of Feb. 3, 1713. 
 
1712—1713.] THE CATALANS. 351 
 
 reserved, punctilious, and overbearing. They attempted 
 to elude the terms of the treaty, even in the cession of 
 Sicily to the Duke of Savoy. The obstinacy of the 
 Catalans in refusing to lay down their arms was consi- 
 dered a sufficient reason for releasing Philip from the 
 promise he had made to the English Government to 
 give them all the advantages of the peace, and to restore 
 them to their former rights. Bohngbroke tmfortunately 
 permitted himself to acquiesce in this interpretation of- 
 the royal mind. He had many other affairs on his 
 hands, and the Catalans had become very troublesome. 
 He was enraged with them for their former opposition 
 to the peace ; and, just as in the case of the Dutch, 
 when once he was enraged with any people for oppos- 
 ing his poHcy, his anger soon turned to positive hatred, 
 and he was inchned to abandon them contemptuously to 
 the mercy of their enemies. His great mistake was in 
 not making the concession of the ancient privileges of 
 the Catalonians, and their protection from the hostihty 
 of Philip and his CastiHans, one of the express condi- 
 tions of the peace, that they might have claimed the 
 privileges their ancestors had enjoyed on the same 
 terms as Philip held his crown. Proper securities 
 ought to have been taken, and some sohd satisfaction 
 have been given to the Catalans before the English 
 troops had been reduced in that province by a single 
 bayonet, or PhiHp have been acknowledged as sovereign 
 of Spain at all. As Bolingbroke had himself confessed, 
 the honour of England was deeply concerned on this 
 question ; and no military connection, on her part, with 
 the enemies of the Catalans, nor disgust at the obstinate 
 perverseness of the poor people themselves, could release 
 her from this great obhgation. 
 
 But Bohngbroke had at this time entertained the idea 
 
352 THE NEW PEEE. [Chap. IX. 
 
 that it was necessary for England to manage the Court 
 of Spain. To weaken the attachment of PhiHp to the 
 eoimtry of his birth, and to encourage him in asserting 
 the independence of the country of his adoption, the 
 EngKsh Secretary regarded as a great stroke of states- 
 manship. The two Houses of Bourbon might, he 
 thought, be set against each other. With this object 
 the Spanish Court was allowed to take liberties which, 
 •under other circumstances, would not have been 
 tolerated. With this object PhiHp was permitted 
 to make diiEculties about the treaty of commerce, to 
 assume a haughty tone to Portugal, and to trifle 
 with the most important obligations. With this 
 object, at last, as a recompense for some concession 
 which England was in a condition to have extorted, 
 his CathoHc Majesty was, as there is only too much 
 reason to beheve, suffered to act the tyrant to the 
 Catalans, to brand them as rebels, and to issue sangui- 
 nary orders, against which the Duke of Berwick, who 
 was in command of Philip's troops, strongly remon- 
 strated, and refused to carry out. Philip, as Berwick 
 afterwards declared, hated the Catalans with aU the 
 hatred of a Bourbon despot, and the Enghsh Grovern- 
 ment permitted itself to minister to that hatred.* 
 Bohngbroke condescended to adopt the absurd pre- 
 tensions of the Princess Ursini to a Flemish throne, 
 to instruct the British plenipotentiaries at Utrecht to 
 advocate her cause, and even discussed the propriety of 
 putting her in possession of the towns in the Nether- 
 lands which were, untU peace was settled with the 
 Emperor, garrisoned by British troops. His volumi- 
 nous correspondence with this woman, the Lady Masham 
 of the Court of Spain, was in a strain of the most 
 
 * M^raoires du Mar&lial de Bei-wick, ii. 203, edit. Petitot. 
 
1712—1713.] THE PRINCESS DE UESINI. 353 
 
 polished flattery and high-strained sentiment. The 
 EngKsh Secretary was, however, all this time ftiHy 
 conscious of the ridiculous farce he was playing. " As 
 long as the Queen of Spain lives," he said, " she will 
 govern her husband ; and as long as the princess lives 
 she will govern her, so that the advantage of flattering 
 this old woman's pride, for her avarice we cannot 
 flatter, must be solid and lasting."* The advantage 
 was not so sohd and lasting as Bolingbroke supposed. 
 A few days after this letter was written came the news 
 that the Queen of Spain was no more ; and the power 
 of the Princess de Ursini was extinguished almost as 
 suddenly as that of Lady Masham, from a similar cause, 
 a few months afterwards. With the power of the prin- 
 cess expired all her pretensions to a monarchy ; but the 
 effect on BoHngbroke's reputation, of his deference to 
 the Spanish court, in the case of the Catalans, was not 
 so easily extinguished. It remains, and must ever 
 remain, one of the greatest blemishes in his political 
 career. How his confident expectations of the effect 
 that the conclusion of the peace would have on domestic 
 politics were disappointed, very soon became painfully 
 evident. 
 
 ♦ Letter to the Earl of Strafford, Feb. 13, 1714. 
 
 2 A 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 1713—1714. 
 THE CRISIS. 
 
 Ever since his accession to office, Bolingbroke's constant 
 cry had been, Only give us peace. Peace included 
 almost everything that, as a statesman, he professed to 
 desire. Peace was to annihilate the "Whigs for ever as 
 a party, and to bring back a golden age to the Tories. 
 The advantages of peace were in themselves to excuse 
 all the questionable proceedings which had attended the 
 negotiations, and all the acknowledged deficiencies in 
 the terms of the treaty. The end was to justify the 
 means. Ministers having so great an object as this peace 
 in view could not aiford to haggle about small matters, or 
 to stand out even on points which might be considered 
 of some importance. Whiggish pohticians might 
 threaten them with the vengeance of the Court of 
 Hanover for deserting the alhance ; but, with this peace 
 once secured, what would be the Court of Hanover to 
 the ministers ? They could afford to despise its enmity ; 
 for they would be in a position to defy it. 
 
 Such was the brilliant vision which had appeared to the 
 eyes of Bolingbroke as he pursued those intricate negotia- 
 tions. It had inspired him with zeal, given him energy 
 
1713—1714.] AFTER THE PEACE. 355 
 
 when others were weary, and courage when others were 
 in despair. Two years before, it had found expression 
 in a letter to Lord Strafford ; and the sentences that the 
 Secretary let fall from his pen on the subject may very 
 fairly be considered to photograph the delightful pros- 
 pect he had in his mind. " The Elector of Hanover," 
 he wrote, " has now placed himself at the head of a 
 party, and that, too (whatever he is made to believe), by 
 great degrees the least at this time, and whenever we 
 shall have got rid of our war, likely to be still weaker. 
 The landed interest will then rise, and the monied inte- 
 rest, which is the great support of Whiggism, must of 
 course decline. There is something unaccountable in 
 this matter ; the Elector will be, one time or other, un- 
 deceived. I pray Grod it may be soon."* 
 
 The peace had at length been signed, ratified, pro- 
 claimed. But the expected result had not immediately fol- 
 lowed. The "Whigs were neither destroyed nor silenced ; 
 the monied interest had not dechned ; the Bank still 
 held up its head. The treaty of commerce with France 
 had been attacked and condemned. Already before the 
 session in which the treaties were laid before Parlia- 
 ment had terminated, Bolingbroke's bright anticipations 
 had turned out to be only a pleasing dream. The 
 golden age of the Tories appeared more distant than 
 ever. As he himself afterwards confessed, the work on 
 which he and his friends had so long built as the basis 
 of their strength, was partly destroyed before their eyes, 
 and they were stoned with the ruins.f 
 
 Bohngbroke and Oxford, having quarrelled when 
 their circumstances were prosperous, were not hkely to 
 become better friends when their pohtical affairs were 
 
 * Letter to the Earl of Strafford, March 7, 1711. 
 t Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 going ill. The Secretary was nearly beside himself 
 with rage. There have been colleagues in the same 
 ijrovernment hating each other, and eager to trip up 
 each other, and yet preserving, in outward appearance, 
 all pohteness, and even friendship ; bowing, smiling, 
 comphmenting, shaking hands as though they were on 
 the best terms in the world. But this was not Boling- 
 broke's way. His temper never allowed him to keep 
 up appearances. His anger showed itself in the most 
 stormy reproaches; he dehvered the most violent 
 invectives in the presence of clerks and domestic ser- 
 vants; and the Secretary of State could scarcely be 
 prevented from coming to blows with the Prime 
 Minister.* Foreign ministers and ambassadors abroad 
 were at this time made acquainted with their dissensions. 
 The breach between the two statesmen had never 
 before become so obvious as at the prorogation of 
 Parliament in the middle of July of this year, 1713. 
 
 Bohngbroke had in some respects cause for being 
 angry. He believed, and apparently with some reason, 
 that the defeat the Court had sustained on the com- 
 mercial treaty, and the disaffection which had arisen in 
 the ranks of the Government on other questions, were 
 all owing to Oxford's bad management. He could 
 bear, he said, to be beaten in a fair fight by the 
 Whigs ; he could bear to lose a victory by the deser- 
 tion of the Tories, if they were really at heart opposed 
 to the cause of the Government. " But," wrote Bohng- 
 broke to Prior, "our enemies are in themselves con- 
 temptible, and our friends are well inclined. The 
 former have no strength but what we might have taken 
 from them, and the latter no dissatisfaction but what we 
 might have prevented. Let the game which we have 
 
 • See Oxford's Briel' Account of Public Affairs, 1714. 
 
1713—1714.] A PRIME MINISTER IN DIFFICULTIES. 357 
 
 be wrested out of our hands : this I can bear ; but to 
 play like children with it, till it slips between our 
 fingers to the ground, and sharpers have but to stoop 
 and take it up ; this consideration distracts a man of 
 spirit, and not to be vexed in this case is not to be 
 sensible." It was quite clear to Bolingbroke that the 
 defeat of the bill making good the commercial treaty 
 was owing to the opinion prevailing among the Tories 
 that Oxford was indifferent to the passing of the mea- 
 sure during that session. The Treasurer had even 
 written a letter to Bromley, the Speaker, and, since 
 Bohngbroke's withdrawal, the ministerial leader in the 
 House of Commons, advising him to give up the bill. 
 So httle was the ministerial defeat expected that many 
 of Oxford's friends remained neutral ; he was himself, 
 over his claret, surprised to hear that the House was 
 sitting late ; and could not conjecture what it was that 
 detained the members from their homes.f A pleasant 
 situation for the Prime Minister to be in at an impor- 
 tant political crisis, and on the most important night of 
 the session ! He had about the same time thrown all 
 the Scotch members into a state of mutiny by insisting, 
 against the opinion of Bohngbroke, on levying an equal 
 malt tax of sixpence a bushel on both kingdoms. They 
 united with the enemies of the Government to distress 
 the ministers ; and the Scotch peers, assisted most 
 inconsistently by the Whigs, moved for leave to bring 
 in a bill to dissolve the Union, which, after a warm 
 debate, was only defeated by a very narrow majority. 
 At the same time there was no money in the Treasury. 
 From the debts which had accumulated on the civil list, 
 the salaries of the ambassadors, and the most important 
 
 » Letter to Prior, July 25, 1713. 
 
 t See Stuart Papers ; Macpherson, ii. 425. 
 
358 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 officers of the Government were unpaid. Bolingbroke 
 declared that he had received nothing on account of his 
 office for two years ; and the Treasurer had even 
 refused to pay him the expenses of his journey to 
 France, though it had been undertaken by the Sove- 
 reign's command.* 
 
 Amid these difficulties and perplexities Oxford 
 laughed, joked, and shrugged his shoulders. He in- 
 duced the House of Commons, just at the close of the 
 session, to discharge the debts on the civil Hst ; but he 
 would hear nothing of allowing any sum to the Secre- 
 tary for his visit to France, and of those expenses 
 Bolingbroke never obtained a single farthing. Oxford 
 was not what he had been. Lady Masham had become 
 his enemy ; Bohngbroke was always at her ear ; resolu- 
 tions were taken without consulting the Treasurer, 
 who, naturally jealous and suspicious of all mankind, 
 became more reserved, dilatory, and indolent than ever. 
 
 There can be no doubt that he really rejoiced over 
 the defeat of the commercial treaty, and becoming 
 conscious of his precarious position, and the efforts 
 Bohngbroke was making to supplant him, beheld 
 the embarrassment of his own administration with 
 a secret pleasure. The knowledge of this fact gave 
 unusual bitterness to the Secretary's hostihty. No 
 terms were at last kept between the two statesmen. 
 Bolingbroke filled his letters to his official correspond- 
 ents abroad with sneers at Oxford's trifling and insuf- 
 ficient conduct ; and the Prime Minister himself, just 
 when their quarrel was at its height, being taken ill of 
 an inflammation in the eyes, an attack of gravel, and 
 a humour in the legs, shut himself up, would see 
 nobody, and did nothing. Oxford took to his bed, and 
 
 * Letter to the Earl of Ijtrafford, Aug. 7, 1713. 
 
171.3—1714.] OXFORD AND BOLINGBEOKB. 359 
 
 there he lay for some days meditating on the decline of 
 his favour at Court, and the artifices of the perfidious 
 rival whom he had himself put high in office. The 
 result of his meditations was a long letter to Boling- 
 broke, on the 25th of July. What the real contents of 
 the epistle were we have no means of knowing ; for it is 
 a curious fact, that though Bolingbroke's correspon- 
 dence during these four busy years of his Hfe appears 
 in general to have been carefully preserved by himself, 
 this important communication has never been dis- 
 covered. From the despatch of this letter Oxford after- 
 wards dated the loss of all substantial power. Bohng- 
 broke answered this communication on the 27th; and 
 the outward result was the speedy dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment, and several important changes in the ministry.* 
 
 The defeat which the Grovernment had sustained in 
 the House of Commons appears to have greatly con- 
 tributed to bring about these alterations. Siace Bohng- 
 broke's elevation to the peerage, both the Secretary of 
 State and the Lord Treasurer had been in the House of 
 Lords. This was the cause of weakness which it was 
 considered necessary to remove. Lord Dartmouth was 
 now appointed Privy Seal, and Mr. Bromley Secretary 
 of State in that nobleman's place ; the Third Secretary- 
 ship was again revived for the Earl of Mar, who was to 
 have the administration of Scottish affairs ; Sir Wilham 
 Windham was translated from the War Office to that 
 of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the Queen 
 giving Bolingbroke the choice, he exchanged the seals 
 of the Northern Department of State for those of the 
 Southern province, which Lord Dartmouth had held 
 for the last three years. Although these modifications 
 in the cabinet were made with Oxford's sanction, they 
 
 * Oxford's Brief Account of Public Affairs. 
 
360 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 were signs of Bolingbroke's increasing ascendancy. 
 The correspondence with France was at last in his own 
 department. The Lord Treasurer's tenure of office had 
 not, as Oxford afterwards thought fit to represent, from 
 this time become merely nominal ; that which became at 
 last a fact, was still, indeed, only the suspicion of his own 
 jealous and distrustful nature, and had some influence 
 in producing the very effect of which he complained. 
 But the Secretary of State was, with the support of 
 Lady Masham, advancing rapidly in court favour. 
 That termination of the peace which his enemies had 
 so long regarded as the period when Bphngbroke 
 would be dismissed from office, was, really, the time 
 from which his personal rivalry with Oxford was first 
 openly displayed, and it became clear that he was fuUy 
 capable of standing his own ground. 
 
 The court was divided into two parties. The Lord 
 Chancellor Harcourt, • the Lord Chief Justice Trevor 
 and Sir W. Windham, the new Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, looked up to Bolingbroke as their leader. 
 They were three decided Tories, with a strong ten- 
 dency to Jacobitism. The rest of their colleagues 
 either remained neutral, or were more or less on the 
 side of Oxford. But the Lord Treasurer had so long 
 trusted nobody, that few people were inchned to trust 
 him ; his was not a character to attract personal friends, 
 though he might be hked by dependents, like the 
 honest Under Secretary, Lewis, and Swift, who had 
 gone to Ireland to take possession of the deanery of St. 
 Patrick, and was anxiously summoned again to London 
 in the hope that he might once more make matters up. 
 
 The ministers who were generally regarded as favour- 
 able to the Treasurer, beheld his struggles with in- 
 difference ; they might not assist in his fall, but they 
 
1713—1714.] SHREWSBURY. 361 
 
 were inclined to look upon it without regret. Shrews- 
 bury, being on his embassy to France, out of the way 
 of their dissensions, was appealed to both by Oxford 
 and Bolingbroke. His public entry was over, and 
 he was anxiously expected again in England. He 
 recommended, as by temper he was inclined to practice, 
 moderation and forbearance to the two rival ministers. 
 Bohngbroke wrote to him letter after letter, full of the 
 most unbounded professions of respect and deference, 
 and declaring that he would regulate his conduct in 
 all things by the Duke's advice ; but Shrewsbury, 
 though his natural courtesy and habitual restraint pre- 
 vented him from showing his dissatisfaction, was 
 not at all pleased with his own position, and was not 
 disposed to be made the tool or the dupe of either 
 statesman. Before the genius, the character, the years, 
 and the fame of Shrewsbury, the brilliant and eager 
 Secretary felt himself rebuked.* 
 
 Shrewsbury, on his return to England, in August, 
 found Bohngbroke at Windsor. During the indis- 
 position of the Treasurer, and with the new Secretary 
 of State not as yet thoroughly acquainted with his 
 duties, most of the important business of the Govern- 
 ment was transacted by Bohngbroke. Windsor was 
 found to be most favourable to the Queen's health; 
 there, with an occasional journey to Hampton, she 
 mostly resided ; and there Bohngbroke, at this time, 
 was most frequently in attendance. He was growing 
 almost indispensable to Lady Masham. He seemed 
 to do everything, while the Lord Treasurer growing 
 every day more dissatisfied, uncommunicative, and 
 
 * See Bolingbroke's correspondence with Shrewsbury, passim, and particu- 
 larly the letters of May 29, July i and 25, and Aug. 20, 1713. For the 
 state of parties at this time see also the Hanover Papers ; Letter from L. Her- 
 mitage, of July 4, 1713, and of Jacob Mears to the Elector, of Sept. 12, 1713. 
 
362 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 sullen, neglected everything but the establishment of his 
 own family by wealthy alliances. No sooner was he suffi- 
 ciently recovered to be able to move about, than, instead 
 of resuming his official duties, he went into the country 
 to attend to the marriage of his eldest son, Lord 
 Harley, with> the Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holies, 
 the daughter and heiress of the Duke of Newcastle. 
 This was a splendid match ; to bring it about the in- 
 genuity of the Lord Treasurer had long been taxed ; 
 it had appeared to be the object of all his statesman- 
 ship : but had he thought only of his position as the 
 chief of the Government, he would have paid some 
 attention to what other people regarded as more im- 
 portant matters. During his absence from Court, he 
 was leaving the field open to Bolingbroke ; and the 
 Secretary was rapidly profiting by the opportunity. 
 
 At this time there was at least one great improve- 
 ment in BoHngbroke's habits. His convivial excesses 
 had long been deplored by his best friends. But with 
 the new responsibilities which he felt upon him, he 
 began to restrain himself in the use of the bottle, and 
 to acknowledge that a great minister of state ought to 
 have a more worthy object of pride than boasting about 
 the large quantities of wine he could swallow at a 
 sitting. He drank very much less than he did; and 
 seemed gradually overcoming this, the most wretched 
 of all failings in a man of genius, seeking to play a 
 great part in the world.* 
 
 In other respects he was no better than he had been. 
 His hfe was still as hcentious as in his earhest man- 
 hood. The same friendly pen that informs us of his 
 reformation in the vice of hard drinking, also lets us 
 
 * Swift expressly says that Bolingbroke drunk much less than he had been 
 in the habit of doing. 
 
1713—1714:.] LADY BOLINaBROKE. 363 
 
 know at the same time, very unmistakeably, that his 
 morals regarding women had undergone no improve- 
 ment.* One of his worst faults was to boast of his gal- 
 lantries to younger men. To the young Count de Mon- 
 tijo, who had come over with the Spanish embassy, and 
 for whom BoHngbroke professed the most tender and 
 romantic friendship, which the young man also on his 
 part affectionately returned, we find the statesman be- 
 ginning a letter in the following terms : — " I have been 
 many times in love, my dear and amiable Count, in the 
 course of my life, but I never remember to have felt in 
 leaving a mistress such griefs as have pierced my heart 
 in separating from you, nor to have received any billet- 
 doux with a pleasure equal to that produced by your 
 letter." The whole female sex he continued to regard 
 as his natural prey. In the gratification of his hcen- 
 tious passion he was not disinclined to make love to 
 the wives and daughters of his best friends, or to take 
 up with any common creature who happened to attract 
 his vagrant fancy for the hour. He had at last ceased 
 to five with his wife. That there was then, or indeed 
 at any other time, any formal separation, appears very 
 doubtful : it is certain, however, that she was now 
 living in retirement alone at her family seat of Bucklers- 
 bury. In a letter from Lady Bohngbroke to Lord 
 Harley, she wrote of herself as a " poor, discarded 
 mistress," which shows suflEciently the cause that had 
 produced this recent separation from her lord.-}- 
 
 " Bucklcrsbury, Aug. 18, 1713. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I am extremely glad to hear that my Lord 
 Treasurer takes care of his health. I hope he will 
 
 * Swift in liis Enquiry into the Conduct of the Queen's Last Ministry, 
 t A manusei-ipt copy of this letter may be seen aniong the Harleian MSS., 
 4163, 261. 
 
364 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 continue to do so ; for thougli I am a poor, discarded 
 mistress, yet my best wishes shall always attend his 
 lordship. I beg my most himible service to him and 
 his lady, and am, 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " Your most faithful servant, 
 
 " F. BOLINGBROKE." 
 
 This letter is endorsed, " Eeceived at Wimple, Aug. 
 the 22nd, 1713." 
 
 After perusing this communication from his lady, it 
 is not surprising to find that Bolingbroke did not 
 spend his autumn hoHdays this year at Bucklers- 
 bury. The attractions of his wife's country seat 
 were neglected by him, and he had a separate domestic 
 estabhshment at Ashdown Park. Thither he had sent 
 down before him his favourite dogs and horses, and 
 leaving Lady Masham and the Ooiirt and business for 
 a brief recreation, he set himself to enjoy a few weeks 
 of hunting. It was the purest of his pleasures. The 
 statesman, in this season of successful intrigue and 
 ambition, became again the country gentleman. Sur- 
 rounded by his dogs, with a jockey cap on his head, 
 a hunting belt round his waist, and a huge whip in 
 his hand, he was to be met with nearly every day 
 strolhng about the fields in the neighbourhood of Ash- 
 down Park. A Tory squire who used to excite 
 much amusement at Bucklersbury, by riding home 
 safely in a state of drunken insensibihty, and managing, 
 in some way or other, to open about ten gates on his 
 road through the fields, was not to be met with at 
 Ashdown Park. Still the prosperous statesman had 
 some pleasant companions. One lieutenant-colonel, 
 who was eager to display his ardour in following the 
 Secretary both in politics and over a fence, had the 
 
1713—1714.] THE JEESBY FAMILY. 365 
 
 misfortune to get a fall and to break two or three of his 
 bones. But notwithstanding other similar mishaps, 
 a month's interval of fox-hunting and a country retire- 
 ment, were an agreeable holiday after all Bolingbroke's 
 labours on the peace of Utrecht, the endless corre- 
 spondence of his office, and the feverish rivalries in 
 which he was engaged. It is pleasant to find him take 
 leave of the French ambassador in a letter addressed 
 from his hunting stable, and informing his • noble 
 correspondent that he was writing among his dogs and 
 horses, and in the deepest rural retirement.* 
 
 The season of quiet could not last long. Before 
 setting out again for Whitehall, he was infoimed that 
 a lady of rank had taken a step which gave him the 
 greatest annoyance. The Dowager Countess of Jersey, 
 the daughter of Charles II.'s closet-keeper, Chiffinch, 
 and a Eoman Catholic, just after a midnight interview 
 with Lady Masham, had, against the advice of her best 
 friends, set off for France, carrying with her a younger 
 son, with the object, as it seemed, of bringing him up 
 in the religion of the Church of Rome. Since the 
 death of the late Earl, Bolingbroke had been considered 
 the friend of the Jerseys ; being, in fact, a relation by 
 blood, he called himself the cousin of the young earl 
 and his brother. He was* at this time endeavouring to 
 bring the Earl of Jersey forward in the pubHc service, 
 and acted as guardian to the family of Villiers. By 
 the proceeding of the dowager Countess, himself, Lady 
 Masham, and the Queen were rendered liable to gross 
 misrepresentation ; for in such a time of doubt and sus- 
 picions people would be incHned to believe the foolish 
 woman had made an open manifestation of their 
 
 * See the Letter a Monsieur le Duo d'Aumont de mon Eourie, ce 21" Oct., 
 1713. 
 
366 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 adherence to the cause of the Pretender. In fact, this 
 was actually the unpression this conduct of Lady Jersey 
 made at Hanover.* Bohngbroke was, however, not 
 disposed to rest under this imputation. He wrote the 
 strongest letters of remonstrance to the countess, telling 
 her that botii Lady Masham and himself disapproved 
 of what she had done, and that unless she at once 
 sent her son back to England, he would act in such 
 a manner as to show the world that he had no part in 
 her secret. Prior, who had been the Secretary of the 
 late Earl of Jersey's embassy to France in the reign 
 of Wilham, had been for many years in the closest 
 intimacy with the family. The Dowager, he said, was 
 a Medea, teUing her beads. Once the earl, her late 
 husband, had taken up a knife to kill her, and was 
 only prevented from carrying his intention into effect 
 by the poet's interference. The Abbe Graultier being 
 her confessor, the abduction of the young Harry 
 Vilhers from Westminster school was strongly suspected 
 to have been done under the advice of the cunning 
 priest. Prior had to exert all his ingenuity to get the 
 boy sent back to England. Bohngbroke wrote a letter 
 to the boy, beginning Dear kinsman, and concluding, 
 Your most faithful and affectionate cousin. Torcy was 
 appealed to ; and his influence at last prevailed on the 
 mother, after many prayers, sighs, and sobs, to give up 
 her son. She would not, however, allow Prior to have 
 any hand ia the transfer from Paris to London. She 
 would only surrender the boy to a person expressly 
 authorized by Bohngbroke to receive him, and on the 
 condition that he would continue to watch over the 
 little Harry's education, and allow him to spend his 
 holidays in Bolingbroke's house. These conditions the 
 
 * Hanover Papers : Schutz to Eohethon, Oct. 13, 1713. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLTNGBROKE'S FEIENDS IN PABIS. 367 
 
 statesman promised to perform. He sent his favourite 
 groom to Paris, and the boy was, after many delays 
 and difficulties, brought back to England. 
 
 This business gave Bollngbroke and Prior almost as 
 much trouble as the negotiations for peace, which had 
 been begun between the Emperor and Louis XIV. at 
 Rastadt. Prior had at the same time another affair of 
 Bolingbroke to settle, also of no little difficulty. This 
 was to distribute the large cargo of Palma, sack, and 
 honey-water which the Secretary had sent as a present 
 to the friends he had made in France. The families 
 of de Torcy and de Noailles were in great commotion. 
 Each member of each family put in a claim for a fair 
 share of the articles. Bolingbroke himself considered 
 that there was another family whose claims should not 
 be neglected. Surely the sister of Madame de Tencin 
 might have a share of the present.* But the honey- 
 water was in great request among the ladies, and the 
 Duchess de Noailles was highly indignant with Prior 
 for acting on Bolingbroke's suggestion. " Matthieu," 
 she exclaimed, " est fripon naturellement ; il en a bien 
 la mine. Pardi ! il a vole la moitie de mon eau de miel, 
 il I'a donne a sa religieuse defroquee." Bolingbroke, 
 at the same time, presented Torcy with a fine medal of 
 Cassar ; " II est bien beau," said the French minister, 
 who was, in return, requested by the English statesman 
 to sit for his portrait. " Assure him, dear Matt," wrote 
 Bolingbroke to Prior, " I will place it among the Jen- 
 nies and the Mollys, and that I will prefer it to all 
 of them." Le cher Henns health was drunk in his own 
 sack by the Torcys, Prior, and Old Lassy, as Madame 
 de Tencin was called. Prior was also packing up a 
 
 * "May Madame de Ferriole not liave some ?"— Bolingbroke to Prior, 
 Sept. 8, 1713. 
 
 * 
 
368 THE CRISIS. [CiLiP. X. 
 
 miniature Venus to send over to Bolingbroke. But in 
 words which, are very characteristic of his friend's 
 careless habits, he observed : " If I thought there was a 
 finer picture of the kind in the world, I would not send 
 it to you ; all that I desire is, that you would not 
 promise it to anybody before you see it; two hours 
 after you have received it, I take it for granted it is 
 gone." Bolingbroke promised solemnly to keep the 
 miniature Yenus for himself; how he fulfilled that 
 promise it is impossible to say.* 
 
 As Prior was sending his friend this miniature 
 Venus, there was a lady who had once been regarded 
 by her royal lover as Venus personified, soliciting 
 their attention. This was the lady whom Charles II. 
 had made Duchess of Portsmouth ; no longer, how- 
 ever, the proud, vain, and capricious beauty, whose 
 charms had eclipsed those of all her rivals, whose 
 apartments at court had been built of white marble, 
 and rendered brilliant with fittings up of silver and 
 gold, and who had moved in her shame and splen- 
 dour like an Oriental sultana through the galleries 
 at WhitehaU.f She was now a wrinkled old woman. 
 But she was herself quite unconscious of the change 
 which had passed over herself, and over the country 
 in which she had once ruled. Having been obliged 
 to take refuge in France, she thought that she might 
 again return to England, that she was still popular 
 here, that whatever she asked would be granted, that 
 she might again triumph in the court of Queen Anne, 
 as she had triumphed in the court of Charles II. 
 She pestered Bolingbroke and Prior to allow her to 
 
 * Prior to Bolingbroke, Nov. 23, 1713, and Bolmo;broke to Prior, Dec. 2, 
 1713. 
 
 t See Pepys' Diary. 
 
1713—1714.] THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH. ^569 
 
 come over to England once more. But of what she 
 forgot BoKngbroke had a keen perception. He was 
 ready to pay any amount of deference to Lady Masham 
 as the reigning favourite of Queen Anne ; but, with all 
 his gallantry and passion for the female sex, for the 
 aged mistress of Charles II. he had but scant cour- 
 tesy. " For God's sake," he wrote to Prior, " con- 
 vince the Duchess of Portsmouth, as civilly as you can, 
 that it is impossible she should be welcome here to any 
 one creature ; what can she expect, when she has the 
 recollection of a thousand invidious things to struggle 
 with, new favours to ask, and no beauty to plead her 
 cause ?"* Frail beauties, like the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, or cunning intriguers, who, Hke Lady Masham, 
 humour the weakness, as the others minister to the 
 vices of sovereigns, have, even in the BoHngbroke 
 philosophy, but their day. In a few short months 
 after this time Lady Masham was as much out of 
 place ia the Court of England as this poor aged mistress 
 of Charles II. 
 
 But the letter in which Bolingbroke expressed his 
 painful sense of the departure of the Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth's beauty was written from Windsor on the 
 2nd of December, when he was himself climbing fast 
 to the highest pinnacle of favour and power. The fates 
 were opposed to Oxford. He was again prevented from 
 attending to his duties at Court and in the Government 
 by the death of his favourite daughter, the Marchioness 
 of Caermarthen. First his absence had been from his 
 own illness ; then the marriage of his son ; at last the 
 death of his daughter: but the result was still the 
 same. His domestic virtues might be numbered among 
 his misfortunes. He was always out of the way ; and 
 
 * Letter to Prior, Dec. 2, 1713. 
 
370 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 everything was left to BoKngbroke. Bolingbroke, 
 indeed, had been taken ill, too, after his return from 
 Ashdown Park ; but he had managed to prevent his 
 indisposition from interfering with his business. He 
 was in constant attendance upon the Queen ; his letters 
 to her Majesty became more frequent ; he advised her 
 on every subject; he made himself acquainted with 
 the different departments of the administration, and 
 began to give a general superintendence over aU the 
 branches of the Government. He earned on a long 
 correspondence on Irish affairs with the Duke of 
 Shrewsbury, who had crossed St. Greorge's Channel as 
 Lord Lieutenant. He entered into aU the details of the 
 business of the Admiralty. He wrote frequently to 
 Prior and Torcy. One of his letters on Spanish affairs 
 occupies ten quarto pages.* 
 
 Lady Masham was to him a goddess to be assiduously 
 worshipped, though she was not quite so beautiful as 
 Prior's miniature Venus. In this respect, indeed, 
 perhaps the old Duchess of Portsmouth might still be 
 considered to have the advantage. But no arts that 
 could flatter Lady Masham, no gratifications that could 
 enrich her were omitted by Bohngbroke. The Marl- 
 boroughs had for years profited by Anne's indulgent 
 partiality to acquire immense wealth ; but they had at 
 least the excuse that they rendered her great public 
 services in return, and in rewarding them she was re- 
 warding friends who had been attached to her from her 
 earliest years. Lady Masham was even more merce- 
 nary than they had ever been ; nothing pleased her so 
 much as to put in her way a lucrative job ; and in aU 
 such matters the Secretary was her very obedient 
 servant. Oxford' first lost and Bolingbroke first 
 
 * Bol. Con-., ii. 540. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBEOKB IN HIGH FAVOUR. 371 
 
 acquired her favour by the gains lie had allowed her to 
 pocket on the expedition to Quebec ; and as their friend- 
 ship began it continued to the end. Nothing grieved 
 her more than to find by Oxford's management the 
 Queen was obliged to relinquish the share reserved to 
 her in the Assiento Contract, which was calculated to 
 be worth at least a hundred thousand pounds, thirty 
 thousand of which this rapacious favourite had already 
 looked upon as her own. This heaped up the measure 
 of her wrath against the devoted Lord Treasurer.* 
 BoHngbroke's influence was growing stronger every 
 day. It was reported that the Government would no 
 longer exhibit the weakness and indecision of the last 
 three years. It would be seen whether, notwith- 
 standing the reports about the Lord Treasurer seeking 
 to court the "Whigs, the enemies of the Government 
 would be allowed to act any longer with impunity. Yigo- 
 rous measures were to be adopted both in England and 
 Ireland ; and all resistance to the Queen and her ad- 
 ministration was to be put down. Such was the 
 language held by those who were supposed to be in the 
 secret of affairs as the star of Bolingbroke was rising 
 in the ascendant. Just before Christmas he came up 
 from Windsor to London, to transact official business at 
 Whitehall. On Wednesday the 23rd of December, 
 previous to returning again to the queen, he sent off about 
 eighteen letters in one day, that he might spend the 
 Christmas undisturbed with Lady Masham and her 
 royal mistress ; and he expected to pass a pleasant fort- 
 night with these twin objects of his idolatry, out of the 
 sight of his hated rival, and free even from the inter- 
 ruption of his colleagues, 
 
 * See the Anecdotes of Oxford, Harcourt, and Bolingbroke in the Original 
 Stuart Papers ; Macpherson, ii. 533. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 But his expectation of a happy Christmas was very 
 suddenly destroyed. On arriving at Windsor again on 
 the Christmas eve, he found that the Queen had been 
 seized with a violent shivering, which ended in a 
 serious attack of fever, For a fortnight she continued 
 in a dangeroufe state, that was at last only relieved by a 
 fit of the gout. The most alarming rumours were in 
 circulation. All through the January of the new year 
 1714, it was given out that her life was despaired of, 
 and that an attempt was at once to be made to set aside 
 the succession in the House of Hanover. France was 
 declared to be fitting out a fleet to bring over the Pre- 
 tender. The Whigs, who had at first shown the most 
 indecent joy at the news of the Queen's illness, took 
 fright. The stocks fell ; a run was made upon the 
 Bank ; there was a panic on the Exchange. It was not 
 until the 1st of February, when the queen herself wrote 
 to the Lord Mayor, assuring him that she was nearly 
 recovered, and intended opening the new Parhament on 
 the 1 6th, that the agitation of the public mind began 
 to subside. This curious letter was drawn up by 
 Bohngbroke's advice, and was countersigned with his 
 name of Bolingbroke. 
 
 It was indeed the Crisis. A pamphlet under this title 
 had been recently pubHshed by Steele, who had been 
 elected member for Stockbridge, and began to act as a 
 pohtician with much imprudent zeal, as though the fate 
 of the Protestant succession depended upon himself 
 alone. The manner in which his shilhng pamphlet was 
 received, might, indeed, have turned any man's head. 
 Steele's production was a mere catchpenny treatise, 
 consisting of a string of extracts from Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, which he had drawn up with the assistance of a 
 lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, and a preface and commentary 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBBOKE AST) THE QUEEN. 373 
 
 by himself, not remarkable either for logic, eloquence, 
 propriety of style, or even grammatical correctness. 
 It was advertised for months, published by subscrip- 
 tion, and on the day of publication a long train of 
 Whig gentlemen and noblemen, esquires, knights, 
 barons, viscounts, earls, and dukes, went to the pub- 
 lisher's shop in Little Britain to carry their copies home 
 and transmit them by thousands into the country. The 
 pamphlet was answered by Swift in his fierce style, 
 under the title of The Pubhc Spirit of the Whigs, 
 and while ridicuHng, the very reverend Dean of St. 
 Patrick's seemed to envy the honours Steele's powerful 
 patrons conferred on the author of The Crisis.* 
 
 But they were only the outward indications of the 
 public excitement. The Queen evidently could not last 
 long. The ministers by their own conduct confessed 
 that the zealous friends of the Protestant succession 
 had some reason for their anxiety by again sending 
 Thomas Harley to Hanover to ask if the little Court of 
 Herrenhausen were satisfied with the security already 
 provided, and if not, what others they would require. 
 This mission admitted of a double interpretation. At 
 the time when Harley was setting out, Bolingbroke, in 
 a letter to the Queen, was inveighing against the Whigs, 
 and assuring her Majesty that he, at least, had nothing 
 to do with Hanover. " Your Majesty's letter to the 
 Lord Mayor," he observed, " was received with trans- 
 ports of joy, and will, I hope, put some stop to those 
 infamous proceedings by which the Whigs have, on 
 this occasion, shown, from the highest of them down to 
 the lowest, what they always had at heart, ingratitude 
 and disloyalty. I beg your Majesty's pardon for so 
 harsh an expression, and hope it may be allowed to the 
 
 * yrc the first jiaragraph ul The Public Siiirit of the Whigs. 
 
374 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 zeal of one whose life is devoted to your service, and 
 whose views go no further than yourself."* In con- 
 nection with this letter it is not without significance, 
 that Whig officers and noblemen were being compelled 
 to resign their commissions; that Jacobites and even 
 Catholics were being put in the army ; and that a com- 
 plete remodelhng of the forces was avowedly contem- 
 plated. It was agreed upon on all sides that the moment 
 for action had come. But the dissensions at Court 
 between Oxford and Bolingbroke were more violent than 
 ever ; men who were believed to be in their confidence 
 Kke Prior, and foreign courts with whom they were sup- 
 posed to have established intimate relations hke that of 
 France, knew not what to make of these quarrels. 
 Oxford was in a strange perplexity. His conduct and 
 intentions were a puzzle to all men ; and for the best of 
 all reasons : they were a complete puzzle to himself. 
 Every moment he appeared on the point of making 
 important revelations to Schutz, the Hanoverian envoy, 
 but inunediately afterwards again closely entrenched 
 himself in his habitual reserve. Afraid to commit him- 
 self, he made some apparently sincere, but ungracious and 
 uninteUigible overtures, which, from their strangeness 
 and indirectness, excited doubt and suspicion, and were 
 very much worse than useless. Bolingbroke did not 
 at this time condescend to make any professions in 
 favom: of the Court of Hanover, f 
 
 Such were the extraordinary relations of parties and 
 statesmen when the new Parhament was opened by 
 commission on the 16th of February. Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer was chosen Speaker. He was patronized by 
 the Whigs for his opposition to the treaty of com- 
 
 * Letter to the Queen, Feb. 3, 1714. 
 
 t See Hanover Papers, 1713 and 1714, passim. 
 
1713— 1714.J PAELIAMBNT. 375 
 
 merce, and regarded as the head of the Whimsical 
 Tories, whose proceedings were afterwards bitterly 
 commented upon by Bolingbroke.* They could not be 
 counted upon ; on an important division they were 
 ready to vote at any moment with the Opposition ; and 
 from their moderation and influence with all the Tories, 
 who were not absolute Jacobites, more dangerous to 
 the administration than the most violent hostility of the 
 Whigs. After the Parliament had been opened, and 
 the Speaker chosen, the two Houses were adjourned for 
 a fortnight. The ratifications of the treaties of peace 
 and commerce with Spain, which had so long tried Bo- 
 lingbroke's patience, were at last received. Peace with 
 the Catholic king was proclaimed on the 1st of March ; 
 and two days later Queen Anne was carried down 
 to Westminster in a sedan chair, and delivered a royal 
 speech to her Parliament. The topics of her address 
 were the peace she had just concluded, the necessity of 
 maintaining the balance of power chiefly by the navy, 
 and the height of mahce which possessed persons who 
 affirmed that the Protestant succession was in danger 
 under her Grovernment. The impoverished state of the 
 country from the effect of war was again lamented, though 
 it was most ungraciously, and with an absence of all 
 royal dignity, insinuated in a parenthesis that particular 
 men might have been gainers by it ; and again, as in 
 nearly all the speeches which the Queen delivered while 
 Bolingbroke was in high oflSce, the seditious licentious- 
 ness of the press was condenmed, though in indecency 
 and savageness the Tory scribblers, under the direct 
 encouragement of Oxford and BoHngbroke, far surpassed 
 their opponents. Swift, the best writer of the Tories, 
 was much less restrained by considerations of delicacy 
 
 * Letter to Sir W. Wmdham. 
 
376 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 and propriety, than Addison, the best writer of the' 
 Whigs. The Dean had just fiercely attacked all the 
 Scotch peers in his Public Spirit of the Whigs. The 
 pamphlet was brought before the House of Lords ; and 
 the ministers were obliged to join in a prosecution of 
 the printer, and in offering a reward for the discovery 
 of the author. Oxford solemnly protested, in his place 
 as a peer of the realm, that he knew nothing of the 
 pamphlet, and joined in condemning loudly the ma- 
 hcious insinuations it contained, while he privately 
 sent a bill of a hundred pounds to Swift to defray the 
 expenses of the printer's defence, and promised to send 
 more.* Steele had brought upon himself the vengeance 
 of the Tories from his Crisis, and his Enghshman, and 
 from the indiscreet manner in which he had pushed himself 
 forward on the election of the Speaker ; and after long 
 debates, and a gallant defence of the Whigs, most ably 
 led by Walpole, the zealous member for Stockbridge 
 was expelled from the House, in which he had expected 
 to play a great part. 
 
 This parHamentary reprobation of the two rival 
 pamphleteers was but the opening chorus to the great 
 pohtical drama of the session. At an important crisis 
 the pubhc attention is generally fixed on the proceed- 
 ings of the House of Commons. But at this particular 
 period it was on the House of Lords, in which sat both 
 Oxford and Bolingbroke, and where they were fearlessly 
 confronted by the three great members of the Whig junto 
 of William's reign, Wharton, HaHfax, and Somers, that 
 the eyes of all Englishmen, and even of foreign na- 
 tions were turned. There were marvellous machina- 
 tions, rapid transactions, plots and counterplots, strange 
 
 * See Oxford's Letter to S\7ift in a feigned hand, with the Dean's endorse- 
 ment, March 14, 1714, and compare it with the Pari. Hist., vi. 1263. 
 
1713—1714.] OXFORD'S STRANGE CONDUCT. 377 
 
 motions of whicli none could tell the meaning. Oxford 
 asked for leave to bring in a bill, called by himself, for 
 the further security of the Protestant succession, and 
 making it high treason to bring any foreign troops into 
 the kingdom. It was pointed out, however, that to 
 ask leave to bring in a bill was quite unnecessary, as it 
 was one of the privileges of the peers to lay any bill 
 on the table of their House. But was not the bill 
 unnecessary in other respects ? It was stated, indeed, 
 to be an additional guarantee to the Protestant succes- 
 sion, but might it not be to weaken the securities it pro- 
 fessed to strengthen? Might it not apply to the 
 alleged design of the Whigs, to bring in troops to 
 support the succession of the House of Hanover ? 
 These considerations were argued with great force by 
 Lord Nottingham. Bolingbroke ostensibly rose to 
 support the Lord Treasurer's motion ; but he left him 
 in a worse position than he found him. Speaking as 
 though he had not been consulted on the business, and 
 as though the Prime Minister and the principal Secre- 
 tary of State were quite strangers to each other, " I 
 doubt not," Bolingbroke observed, " the noble peer who 
 made the motion means only such foreign troops as 
 might be brought into the kingdom by the Pretender 
 or his adherents." " Yes," said Oxford, eagerly adopt- 
 ing the explanation offered for him, " that is my mean- 
 ing." Then it was immediately rephed, the bill is 
 doubly unnecessary. Such troops, if foreigners, might 
 at once be dealt with as enemies, and if natives as 
 rebels. The motion was allowed to fall to the ground ; 
 no bill on the subject was ever brought in ; and what 
 Oxford really did mean, remained and still remains a 
 mystery to all mankind. The most charitable supposi- 
 tion was, that he had no meaning at all.* 
 
 * Pari. Hist, vi. 1330. 
 
378 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 Ttose who gave credit to Oxford for profound de- 
 signs, and they were many, might, however, well be 
 alarmed at such a proceeding, and ask each other what 
 was coming next. The unfortunate situation of the 
 Catalans, given up to their enemy by the British ministry, 
 blended the spnse of insecurity with indignation. On 
 this question Bolingbroke himself was strongly attacked, 
 and his defence was singularly weak. He argued that 
 the engagements we entered into concerning the Cata- 
 lans was made with Charles, who had become Emperor. 
 They could not be expected to bind PhiHp, who had 
 never been acknowledged King of Spain. All that Eng- 
 land could do, was to employ her good oflSces in their 
 behalf. Remembering what a commanding position 
 England had been in when the negotiations for peace 
 were begun, many of the Lords exclaimed, after the 
 Secretary of State had sat down, that surely more 
 effectual means for the support of these poor people 
 than mere good officers had been placed by Provi- 
 dence in her Majesty's hands. The good offices, indeed, 
 which her Majesty did employ in behalf of the 
 Catalans were to aid the Spanish king with a squadron 
 of ships to reduce their capital city. But Bolingbroke 
 was so far influenced by the remonstrances of the peers 
 that he sent off new instructions to Sir James Wishart 
 not to appear before Barcelona until he received further 
 orders. The admiral, however, interfered sufficiently 
 as to justify the Catalans in hanging the Queen's solemn 
 promise of protection on the high altar of the cathedral 
 as an appeal to Heaven against the faithlessness of a 
 British Government. 
 
 The person by whom this unhappy business of the 
 Catalans was settled for BoHngbroke, was a Jacobite 
 
 * See Revolt des Catalans, in Tindal, and The Case of the Catalans as repre- 
 sented in the Itoport of the Committee of Secrecy, June, 1715. 
 
171»— 1714.] SIR PATRICK LAWLEiSS. 379 
 
 emissary, Sir Patrick Lawless. He was an Irishman 
 by birth, and a Cathohc by religion ; he had borne 
 arms for James II. in Ireland, had followed his royal 
 master into exile, had fought against England during 
 the Spanish war, and had come over nominally as a 
 Spanish envoy to regulate the treaty of commerce. 
 The reception of this man at the Court, more than per- 
 haps any other single circumstance, convinced the great 
 majority of the people at this time that the Queen and 
 her ministers, and particularly Bolingbroke himself, 
 were in the interests of the Pretender. Nor can this 
 permission to allow Lawless, who was an exiled 
 subject of the British crown, to remain here as the 
 accredited agent of another power, be justified on any 
 pretence. It was clearly contrary to the express laws 
 of the realm. Lawless was hable to be apprehended as 
 a traitor to the Government which received him, and 
 he could not put off his allegiance at pleasure, and clothe 
 himself with the privileged immunities of a foreign 
 envoy. His residence in London at this crisis was 
 extremely annoying and irritating to all who wished 
 well to the succession of the House of Hanover. At 
 last the Lords interfered. They addressed her Majesty 
 to issue a proclamation against Jesuits, Papists, and all 
 who had borne arms against King William, Queen Mary, 
 and herself; and they passed two resolutions, that no 
 person who had not been included in the articles of the 
 Treaty of Limerick, and had been in the French and 
 Spanish service during the war, should be capable of 
 any civil or military employment in England, and that 
 no person who was a natural-born subject of the queen 
 should be admitted as a public minister of any foreign 
 power. To these resolutions little objection can be 
 taken. Lawless was obliged to bend to the storm which 
 
380 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 his presence created, Bolingbroke requested him to pre- 
 tend that he had received orders from Spain to repair to 
 Holland, and advised him at once to leave this country ; 
 and the English Secretary of State had to make the best 
 excuse he could to the Court of Spain, All this, how- 
 ever, Bolingbroke did with great reluctance, and with 
 many lamentations at the perversity of the EngKsh 
 people. Through the confidential letters both of Prior 
 and himself at this time may be traced an undisguised 
 admiration of the smoothness with which affairs were 
 transacted in the despotic Court of Louis XI Y,, and an 
 equally undisguised vexation at the difficulties and 
 annoyances with which the servants of the Crown 
 were beset in the constitutional Government of Eng- 
 land,* 
 
 Just at the close of the last session the Lords had 
 addressed the Crown, to see the Pretender removed 
 from Lorraine. BoMngbroke had, however, taken no 
 steps to carry out the promise her Majesty had 
 returned until December, and then he betrayed consi- 
 derable unwillingness to make any remonstrances on 
 the subject. He indeed went so far as to privately sug- 
 gest to the Duke of Lorraine how the pubHc represen- 
 tations could be eluded which he was obhged officially 
 to make. This disingenuous proceeding has been stig- 
 matized by a very moderate historian as almost incre- 
 dible baseness on the part of BoHngbroke,f But this is 
 perhaps too harsh a judgment. The fact is, that the 
 Lords and Commons were on this point extremely imrea- 
 sonable. The address for the removal of the Pretender 
 from Lorraine was a party manoeuvre of the Whigs for 
 
 * See BolinglDi-oke's Letters to the Princess Ursini, of April 23, 1714 ; to 
 the Marquis de Mont^leon, of April 27, 1714 ; to Prior, of Feb. 16, 1714 ; iuid 
 Prior's Reply, of March 12, 1714. 
 
 t Lord Million, in his History of England, i. 53. Lib. edit. 
 
1713—1714.] THE PRETENDER IN LORRAINE. 
 
 381 
 
 the purpose of putting the ministers in difficulties. 
 Bolingbroke had not ventured openly to oppose it ; but 
 he might doubt whether he could be expected to act 
 literally upon it. As Torcy very properly asked, Where 
 was the unfortunate young man to go ? He had been 
 driven out of France ; he had taken up his abode in 
 Lorraine : but if he was to be expelled from country 
 after country, what was to be done ? It does not 
 appear that he was more formidable in Lorraine than he 
 could be in many other places ; and surely a petty per- 
 secution of obliging him to fly from shelter to shelter in 
 order to drive him beyond the Alps, was scarcely worthy 
 of an English Grovernment. Another great outcry was, 
 however, raised this session, because the address to the 
 throne had not been followed up, and because the Duke 
 of Lorraine still afforded to the heir of the Stuarts the 
 hospitality of Bar-le-duc. A forged letter from the duke 
 to Queen Anne was shown about-, in which he was 
 represented as declining to remove the Pretender from 
 his dominions, and praising him for the noblest princely 
 virtT:^ps. Sunderland and Halifax declared that the 
 Duke of Lorraine's minister had informed them that no 
 steps had been taken to carry out the promise given by 
 the Queen. " Baron Fostner, the Duke of Lorraine's 
 minister, could have made no such declaration," rephed 
 Bolingbroke. " I have myself made those instances to 
 the baron, in the Queen's name." A committee was 
 formed to inquire into the truth of the conflicting state- 
 ments made by BoHngbroke and the Whig peers ; but 
 the enemies of the Secretary did not find what they 
 hoped to discover.* 
 
 These debates led to the great question of the session, 
 and of the time — the alleged danger of the Protestant 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi., 1334. 
 
382 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 succession. The subject was first discussed in the House 
 of Lords, and was afterwards taken up by the House of 
 Commons. In both Houses it gave rise to the most 
 animated debates, with similar results. In both, the 
 Whimsical Tories, with Lord Anglesea and Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer, joined the Whigs, and voted against the 
 Grovemment. In both the Succession was voted out of 
 danger, and the ministers triumphed, but with diminished 
 majorities. This victory was generally regarded as 
 merely nominal ; but Bolingbroke was of another 
 opinion. What the ministerial ranks lost in numbers, 
 he thought, they gained in steadiness ; and he spoke of 
 the two great party divisions with much outward satis- 
 faction.* 
 
 But was the Protestant succession reaUy in danger ? 
 Was there any formed design of the ministers as a 
 body, was there any private scheme of Bolingbroke 
 himself, to set aside- the Act of Settlement, and restore 
 the House of Stuart ? This is the great historical pro- 
 blem of that age ; it is imperative in any biographer 
 of BoHngbroke to attempt some explanation of. this 
 mystery : through the four years he was Secretary of 
 State it forces itself upon our attention. At the critical 
 period of his life to which we have now arrived, it 
 cannot be dismissed without deliberate examination. 
 On a correct interpretation of his conduct on this ques- 
 tion depends the whole complexion of Bolingbroke's poli- 
 tical career. By the Whigs of his own day he was accused 
 of being engaged in a systematic conspiracy to place the 
 Pretender on the throne, after the death of the Queen. 
 Well-informed persons of later times, hke Walter Scott, 
 not at all unfavourable to the Stuarts, have also affirmed 
 that the designs of Oxford and Bolingbroke were " deep 
 
 • Letter to the Earl of Strafford. 
 
1713^1714.] THE MINISTERS AND THE SUCCESSION. 383 
 
 and dangerous ;"* while, on the other hand, a biographer 
 of Bohngbroke has sought to represent him as a mis- 
 understood but most devoted martyr to his attachment 
 to the House of Hanover.f It is necessary to deter- 
 mine fully how far the general opinion of Bolingbroke's 
 contemporaries was correct, and how far the confident 
 though most contradictory statements of recent writers 
 can be justified by facts. Such an inquiry is in a certain 
 degree retrospective : but it is only in this manner that 
 any just conclusion can be drawn. 
 
 The question whether the ministers in a body acted 
 together on any concerted plan to restore the Stuarts may 
 be answered at the outset. "We have only to consider 
 the terms on which they were with each other. Most 
 certainly Oxford and Bolingbroke never co-operated 
 with any such view. There was a misunderstanding 
 between them at the time that St, John entered oflSce. 
 Yery early he began to complain of the mysteries and 
 reserves of the Treasurer ; and they had not been six 
 months in the Grovernment together before they were 
 almost openly at variance. Men engaged in traitorous 
 conspiracies must have some confidence in each other ; 
 but Harley and St, John, almost from the beginning of 
 their ministry, thoroughly distrusted each other. As 
 it was with these two chiefs, so it cannot but have been 
 with their colleagues. Never was there among them 
 those intimate relations and correspondence which must 
 have been estabhshed if they had been united in one 
 great and zealous combination to put the son of 
 James II. on the throne. After aU the official and 
 private letters of that time have been sifted and scruti- 
 
 * Scott's edition of Swift ; note to the Bnctuiiy into the Conduct of Queen 
 Anne's Last Ministry, 
 t Cooke. 
 
384 THE CEISIS. . [Chap. X, 
 
 nized to the utmost, no evidence of any general and 
 deliberate design has been discovered. 
 
 The evidence goes the other way. If there had been 
 such a plot, it must have been known to the French 
 minister. The Marquis de Torcy, whatever may have 
 been his faults and prejudices, was certainly not a man 
 capable of writing a dehberate falsehood. He distinctly 
 and expressly states in his Memoirs, written many years 
 after the events to which they related, and when he had 
 no interest in conceahng the truth, that the Enghsh 
 ministers never spoke to his Government about the 
 Pretender at all, except to insist upon his removal from 
 France at the conclusion of the peace. 
 
 That private communications passed between the 
 dififerent ministers and the Jacobite agents is of course 
 unquestionable. The difficult point to determine is, 
 how far these overtures were sincere. Both Marl- 
 borough and Grodolphin had a similar correspondence, 
 even to the last, with the Jacobites ; but no person can 
 doubt that these two wary pohticians only thought of 
 providing for themselves amid the uncertainties of the 
 time a way of retreat tmder all circumstances, and that 
 they had not the shghtest intention of doing anything 
 to bring about the restoration of the House of Stuart. 
 Even after Godolphin's fall from power, we find him 
 regretting to one of the Pretender's emissaries that he 
 had not been able to give effect to his inclinations in 
 the cause ;* and Marlborough, even when he was urg- 
 ing the Elector of Hanover to send his son over to 
 England, was preparing to draw the sword for the 
 House of Hanover, had the Elector's commission in his 
 pocket as comanander of the forces, and even appeared 
 to give that most unquestionable pledge of his sincerity, 
 
 * Stuart Papers : Macpherson. 
 
1713—1714.] OXFORD AND THE JACOBITES. 385 
 
 the loan of twenty thousand pounds, to be used for the 
 Elector's purposes in England, still with a grave face, 
 and many solemn oaths, acted the part of a family 
 adviser to the Stuarts.* "When men so deeply com- 
 mitted to the cause of the Protestant succession kept up 
 such relations with the Jacobites, it is not wonderful 
 that Oxford and Bolingbroke played the same game, 
 and with, as there is every reason to believe, almost as 
 little sincerity. During the first two years of their 
 ministry, Bolingbroke was comparatively powerless ; 
 all court favour and ministerial power were concentrated 
 in the person of the Prime Minister. Had the Secre- 
 tary of State been even disposed to do all he could for 
 the Stuarts, during most of his tenure of office he could 
 not have done much. It was to the conduct of Oxford 
 that, throughout these four years, they looked with the 
 most anxiety ; and though the Jacobite agents in gene- 
 ral were the most credulous of mankind, they were 
 obliged to confess that the minister's intentions were to 
 the last a mystery. He was a dark man. His profes- 
 sions of one day were contradicted by his acts of the 
 next. When Gaultier first went over to France with 
 the overtures of the British ministry for peace in the 
 December of 1710, he communicated to the Duke of 
 Berwick a proposal, ostensibly from Harley, to the 
 effect that if the Jacobites would support the Court, a 
 plan might be arranged, at the conclusion of the peace, 
 to bring about the restoration of the Stuarts on the 
 death of the Queen. The Jacobites eagerly accepted 
 the proposal. They gave orders for their EngHsh adhe- 
 rents in Parliament to support the Government, and to 
 fall in readily with all the measures of the ministers. 
 The Treasurer, however, as his nature was, after having 
 
 * Stuavt Papers, Tunstal to Middleton, Oct. 'j^ 1713. 
 
 2 c 
 
386 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 once opened his mind as to his professed intentions, 
 became more reserved than ever. As long as the war 
 continued, he put off everything until the peace. The 
 peace was at last made ; but no plan was ever sent over 
 from Oxford to St. Germains or Barleduc* The truth 
 was, that he had a great contempt for the Stuarts, and 
 was in his heart decidedly averse to their cause, but 
 that, being doubtftd of the intentions of the Queen 
 under the influence of Lady Masham, and half of his own 
 supporters being Jacobites, he was obHged to keep them 
 quiet with promises, which he never intended to perform. 
 If by the mere will of his own he could have put the 
 Pretender on the throne, there is no reason to suppose 
 that this act of vohtion would ever have been performed. 
 After the February of 1711, Oxford and Bolingbroke 
 were never on such terms of confidence and intimacy as 
 even to consult each other about the Pretender, much 
 less to concert measures together to bring about the res- 
 toration of the Stuarts. Whatever their plans may have 
 been, they certainly never were, nor from the relations 
 between these two statesmen could have been, com- 
 municated to each other. The first glimpse we have 
 of the Secretary of State in direct commimication with 
 the agents of the Stuarts, is in the very apocryphal 
 Minutes of Mesnager's Negotiations. This work was 
 published in 1717, and professed to be a translation 
 from the French, of which no original exists, or 
 has ever existed, Bolingbroke is there represented 
 as discussing with Mesnager, after the preliminaries of 
 peace had been signed, the manner in which the French 
 King was to be privately released by the Queen of 
 England from the obligations he had taken to acknow- 
 
 * See Mtooires du Due de Berwick, written by himself, and the Lockhart 
 Papers, i. 368. 
 
1713—1714.] MBSNAGER AND LADY MASHAM. 387 
 
 ledge the succession in the House of Hanover. Mesnager 
 is shown as suggesting a secret article, which, how- 
 ever, the English Secretary of State doubted whether 
 her Majesty would sign, but thought that she might 
 make a declaration by word of mouth as to the manner 
 in which that provision of the treaty was to be under- 
 stood. Boliagbroke, it is then alleged, after consulting 
 the Queen, introduced Mesnager to Lady Masham, that 
 he might from her learn his royal mistress's intentions, 
 declaring, at the same time, that he did not wish to 
 have anything more to do with the business. Lady 
 Masham, however, and the French plenipotentiary 
 agreed upon two points. The one was that the King 
 of France, to give satisfaction to the people and the 
 allies, should acknowledge the succession in the House 
 of Hanover ; the other, that this agreement should not 
 bind him after the Queen's death, to refrain from 
 attempting to place her brother on the British throne.* 
 No person familiar with the history of the negotia- 
 tions which ended in the peace of Utrecht, can believe 
 for one moment that this important affair was ever 
 treated in the manner there represented. The obliga- 
 tion to acknowledge the House of Hanover formed one 
 of the preliminaries actually signed by Mesnager, and 
 agreed to in the conferences with the ministers, when 
 the scrupulous Shrewsbury was present. It was not a 
 question afterwards introduced and settled by Lady 
 Masham. Neither Queen Anne nor her Secretary of 
 State would at that time have condescended to discuss 
 this subject with a French envoy, much less to make 
 terms with him respecting the inheritance of the 
 Crown. It is very possible, however, that Mesnager 
 may afterwards have privately spoken to Bolingbroke 
 
 • See Minutes of Monsieur Mesnager's Negotiations, 282. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 as to what the King of France was to do in the event 
 of the Act of Settlement being set aside ; that the 
 Secretary of State may have introduced him to Lady 
 Masham; and that this favourite may at once have 
 thought fit to give assurance in the Queen's name, with 
 which Anne' herself would have been anything but 
 satisfied. For the Protestant succession, the honour 
 of the crown, the faith of treaties, and the liberties and 
 independence of the EngKsh people, were nothing to a 
 woman Hke Lady Masham. EJQOwing that she could 
 expect nothing from the House of Hanover, she would 
 gladly have done anything to serve the House of Stuart. 
 The Queen, however, cold, suspicious, and jealous, both 
 of the Pretender and the Elector, was not easily 
 managed ; and it was only by occasional hints and by 
 humouring her prejudices, that the unprepossessing 
 favourite could allude to the subject at all.* 
 
 Even throughout the whole of the negotiations on the 
 Pretender's change of residence, Bolingbroke carefully 
 avoided committing himself in writing. He referred 
 Torcy always to Graultier, but was not at all disposed 
 to put his neck in Gaultier's power; and once declined, 
 in the most peremptory manner, and under the threat 
 of sending Gaultier out of the kingdom, to receive 
 a letter from the Pretender sealed with the royal arms, 
 and left on the table by this cunning priest.f It is also 
 remarkable that Torcy distrusted the Jacobites almost 
 as much as Bolingbroke ; over and over again they 
 complained that the French minister would not listen to 
 
 * It will be seen that though the account of Mesnager's negotiations may 
 be generally fictitious, I am not disposed to reject the work altogether. The 
 author, whom Mr. Hallam thought to be Defoe, had some information on the 
 subject. I cannot believe the letter quoted at page 313 &om Lady Masham 
 to be a pure forgeiy. 
 
 t See Marchmont Papers, note, ii. 241. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBROKE SUSPECTED OP JACOBITISM. 389 
 
 any of their allegations ; and the acknowledgment of the 
 Protestant succession in the Treaty of Utrecht, awoke 
 their keenest indignation.* This could never have 
 been had they thought for one moment that there was an 
 implied understanding between the French and English 
 Grovernments to set it aside. And can we beheve that 
 such an understanding could have been come to without 
 the Pretender or his minister, the Earl of Middleton, 
 being informed on a point of such importance ? 
 
 Oxford himself first began to suspect Bolingbroke of 
 having estabhshed relations with the Jacobites from the 
 time of his visit to France. But Oxford's suspicions, un- 
 less they can be supported by other testimony,, are the 
 poorest of all foundations for any historical assumption. 
 The questionable assertion of Sir James Mackintosh 
 about the interviews Bolingbroke was said to have 
 had at that time with the Pretender, can be met, as I 
 have already shown, with the most positive contradic- 
 tion. It is, however, undoubtedly true that Boling- 
 broke then came to an arrangement with Torcy to pay 
 fifty thousand pounds to the dowager Queen, as part 
 of the jointure which had so long been withheld. But 
 the advocacy of this claim was a point of honour with 
 the French Grovernment ; it was one of the conditions 
 on which Torcy and his master strongly insisted ; and 
 in partly yielding to it, and coming to a private under- 
 standing to pay over the fifty thousand pounds, the 
 English Secretary made a compromise which he might 
 think himself fully justified in agreeing to, without in 
 any respect rendering himself more liable to Jacobite 
 imputations than King Wilham in virtually admitting 
 the payment of the jointure to Mary of Modena, as one 
 of the conditions of the peace of Eyswick. The one was 
 
 * See Stuart Papers ; Macpherson, 1713. 
 
390 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 indeed a public agreement, and the other a mere private 
 miderstanding ; but the change in the circumstances 
 of the times renders this difference at least excusable. 
 Most certainly it can never fairly be considered one of 
 Bohngbroke's crimes. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1713, we see the Secre- 
 tary of State for the first time in undoubted communica- 
 tion with the Jacobites. On this there is no mistake. 
 He talked long and unreservedly with the indefatigable 
 Lockhart of Carnworth, whom he impressed with a 
 behef of his sincerity, but to whom he also hinted his 
 suspicions that the Lord Treasm-er had not the same 
 good intentions towards the Stuarts,* But BoHngbroke 
 and Oxford were then on very bad terms. Lockhart 
 was one of the most eminent members of the Jacobite 
 party, and had the greatest influence with the Jacobite 
 members of the House of Commons. The Secretary 
 of State may have thought it a clever policy to appear 
 attached to their cause, and to increase their suspicions 
 of the reserve and hesitation of the prime minister, 
 without being himself any more devoted to the Stuarts 
 than he had ever previously been. It suited his purpose 
 to speak their language, and seem to adopt their senti- 
 ments ; but it does not foUow that he had become any 
 more himself a Jacobite, or was prepared to put his own 
 hfe and fortune to hazard for the sake of the Pretender. 
 It would be as erroneous to beheve him reaUy zealous 
 for the House of Hanover. He had read EngHsh 
 history, and knew something of human character. The 
 great stumbling-block of himself and the Tory country 
 gentlemen to adopting the cause of the Pretender was 
 liis rehgion. Could this have been removed, Bohng- 
 broke would, without scruple, hesitation, or fear have 
 
 * See the Stuart Papers; Macpherson, ii. 366. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBROKE'S EEAL SENTIMENTS. 391 
 
 thrown the country into James's hands. But the mi- 
 nister knew well enough that as long as the Chevalier 
 professed the Roman Catholic religion, persons of his 
 own persuasion must ever have a paramount influence 
 over his mind. It was absurd to make promises, and 
 to talk of the solemn obligations of gratitude. The 
 Pretender could not make promises more earnestly than 
 his father James II. had done to preserve aU the rights 
 and privileges of the Church of England, or be under 
 deeper obHgations of gratitude than James II. had been to 
 those who had so strenuously supported his pretensions 
 to the crown in the great battle of the Exclusion Bill. 
 Yet all these had been disregarded. His ablest ministers, 
 his nearest relations, Hahfax and Rochester, had been 
 dismissed ; and all the highest honours of the state 
 had been given to men whose only claim was the most 
 unscrupulous subserviency and a profession of the 
 Roman Catholic faith. This experiment had surely 
 been sufiScient. Bolingbroke and his friends then insisted 
 on the Pretender's embracing the religion of the Church 
 of England; and for some time they believed this 
 representation would have effect. It seemed scarcely 
 likely that a young man could resist such a temptation. 
 Had he yielded, Bohngbroke's course would have been 
 easy. The spirit of the Act of Settlement would have 
 been set against the letter. As long as the Protestant suc- 
 cession was preserved, what necessity was there to insist 
 on seeing it carried out in the House of Hanover ? The 
 principles of the Tories, and of the Church of England 
 all recommended a preference for a son of James II. to 
 the members of a German family, whose kinship was 
 much more distant, and who were supposed to be in 
 league with Whigs, dissenters, and the Dutch. Nor 
 was it imperative, according to this scheme, to repeal 
 
392 . THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 openly the Act of Settlement. The Tories, when 
 thoroughly masters of all the strongholds of the Grovern- 
 ment, might take, on this question, what course they 
 pleased ; it was not necessary to excite alarm before 
 the moment for action came : if the Chevalier were 
 once in England, and ready to declare that he had 
 adopted the established religion, the provisions of the 
 Act of Settlement might be treated as of no account. 
 Queen EKzabeth had succeeded to the English crown 
 in defiance of an Act of Parliament by which she had 
 been disinherited, and branded as illegitimate. From 
 the manner in which Bolingbroke afterwards dwelt 
 on this memorable precedent, it is evident that it had 
 made a great impression upon his mind ; and tliat he 
 had not been disinclined to think what had been 
 done before might be done again.* It was necessary, 
 however, to secure the troops, to have them commanded 
 by officers who were not under the influence of Marl- 
 borough, and to have the important fortresses of the 
 kingdom placed in safe hands. Hence, notwithstanding 
 Oxford's undisguised reluctance and delays, the plan for 
 remodelling the army was pushed forward ; Ormond was 
 made Lord "Warden of the Cinque Ports, and, unknown 
 to the Lord Treasurer, was in correspondence with the 
 Marshal Berwick ; the towns of Berwick and Edinburgh 
 were placed under the control of persons devoted to the 
 Jacobite cause ; and it was sought to induce the "Whig 
 Earl of Dorset to give up the governorship of Dover 
 Castle, t 
 
 The dangerous illness of the Queen at the beginning 
 of the year 1714 gave consistency and urgency to the 
 
 * See his Letters on the Study of History. 
 
 t See the Memoires du Marshal de Berwick ; and Horace Walpole's Letter 
 to Mann, Collected Correspondence, May 17, 1749. 
 
1713—1714.] THE QUEEN'S HESITATION. 393 
 
 design. It was evident that she had but a few months 
 to live ; what was to be done must be done at once. 
 Bolingbroke and Lady Masham took care to let the 
 Queen know how the Whigs had rejoiced at the pros- 
 pect of her death. Indignation at this intelligence re- 
 moved some of the scruples from the Queen's feeble 
 mind ; and from the period of her convalescence she 
 became herself a party to the plot. Still her belief in 
 the Church of England was the great conviction of her 
 life ; and nothing would ever have induced her to 
 countenance any project that might have placed a 
 Catholic on the throne. But the Queen's more favour- 
 able inclination towards her brother appears to have 
 compelled Oxford, in one of his last efforts to keep his 
 place, seemingly to acquiesce in his rival's scheme. 
 Gaultier wrote a letter to the Pretender,* professedly at 
 the Lord Treasurer's dictation, telHng the prince 
 that if he ever hoped to succeed to the throne, it 
 would be necessary for him to change, or at least t9 dis- 
 semble his rehgion, and that the Queen would do 
 nothing for him while he remained a member of the 
 Church of Rome. It is not necessary to believe ex- 
 plicitly the priest's letter as to the real sentiments or in- 
 tentions of Oxford ; but it is evident that if the Pretender 
 would, in the February of this year, have professed him- 
 self a convert to the Church of England, the Queen, 
 Lady Masham, BoHngbroke, and the great majority of 
 the Tory party would have co-operated together to bring 
 about his succession to the Crown. 
 
 Such apprehensions greatly disturbed the Court of 
 Hanover.f The Elector's little circle could scarcely 
 believe that such a temptation could be resisted ; and 
 
 » Gaultier to the Pretender, ^_^P 1714. 
 
 Jan. 27> 
 t See Hanover Papers, 1713, passim. 
 
394 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 they wrote to the Hanoverian envoy in England to 
 consult HaHfax and Somers as to the best means of pro- 
 viding against the danger. Bolingbroke was apparently 
 even more confident that the Pretender would prefer a 
 Crown to the privilege of going to pubhc mass ; for the 
 dictates of rehgion had so little influence on the mind 
 of the Secretary of State that he was quite unable to 
 make any allowance for their influence upon the minds of 
 others. Nevertheless, the son of James II. rejected 
 the lure that was so perseveringly held out. He wrote 
 a spirited and not ill-expressed letter in reply, posi- 
 tively declining to change, or even to tamper with his 
 rehgion. Such firmness, he declared, ought to recom- 
 mend him to the English people, and be an additional 
 reason for their having confidence in him; for how 
 could they trust any promise he might make if he thus 
 hghtly gave up the dehberate conviction of his hfe ?* 
 This composition was very creditable to the young man, 
 who wrote much better than many of his advisers ; but 
 it would have been more prudent in hinn to have fol- 
 lowed the advice of the Duke of Berwick, and have 
 said nothing at aU.f 
 
 The letter was soon in the hands of the Jacobites' 
 agents in London. It was shown to Bolingbroke, and 
 by him communicated to several of his friends. He 
 afterwards declared that the subject of rehgion was so 
 awkwardly handled in it that it made him and those 
 whom he consulted at once resolve to have nothing 
 more to do with the Pretender or his cause.J But 
 this was said when Bolingbroke had quarrelled with 
 
 * The letter is dated March '^, 1714 : it may be found among the Stuart 
 Papers ; Macpherson, ii. 525. 
 t The Duke of Bei-wick to James, March ??, 1714. 
 I Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBROKE INCLINES TO THE PRETENDER. 395 
 
 James and the Jacobites, and was desirous of repre- 
 senting them in the most despicable hght possible. He 
 was, doubtless, very angry for the moment at the .firm- 
 ness which the yoimg Pretender displayed •, he was so 
 full of his own ministerial greatness, and so confident in 
 his abilities, that he could not bear either the Elector of 
 Hanover or the son of James II. to have a will or an 
 opinion of his own ; and there is no doubt that at 
 this time the truest picture of Bolingbroke's state of 
 mind will be found drawn by himself in a moment of 
 unguarded frankness: — "As to what might happen 
 afterwards, on the death of the queen, to speak truly, 
 none of us had any very settled resolution."* These 
 words have, perhaps, deserved more attention than they 
 have received. They help greatly to clear up the 
 mystery. They are at all events conclusive that 
 Bolingbroke, according to his own statement, had no 
 very settled resolution to bring in the House of Hano- 
 ver. The distrust which the Elector felt of him was 
 perfectly justifiable •, his own words, his own acts, 
 were directly against any formed design of carrying out 
 the Act of Settlement. But was it indeed a truth that 
 after perusing the Pretender's letter the Secretary aban- 
 doned all intentions of seating him on the throne without 
 the indispensable guarantee of a change of religion ? 
 From the manner in which Bolingbroke did after- 
 wards throw himself into the hands of the Jacobites, 
 when no alteration in this respect had been made in 
 James's sentiments or conduct, it can scarcely be be- 
 lieved that this objection to embrace the Pretender's 
 cause would have remained insurmountable. There is 
 evidence to the contrary. It appeared that very soon 
 after Bohngbroke had been so annoyed at this unfortu- 
 
 * Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
396 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 nate letter, his resolution to have nothing more to do 
 with the Pretender had begun to give way.* 
 
 Such then, after a careful deduction from facts and 
 consideration of circumstances, were the sentiments of 
 Bolingbroke on this momentous question. It is idle to 
 say the Protestant succession was in no danger. It is 
 worse than idle, it is simply ridiculous to represent 
 him as a real friend of the succession in the House of 
 Hanover. Neither had he, until the Queen's death was 
 imminent, fully made up his mind to bring in the 
 Pretender. He showed no attachment to one cause 
 more than to the other; but still sought to reserve 
 to himself the power of deahng with the question ac- 
 cording to what he thought might best suit the interests 
 of his party, that is, of himself. There was nothing high- 
 minded in this policy. There was nothing in it of the 
 old Cavaher sentiment of devotion to Church and King. 
 It was Toryism with aU the exalted principle of Toryism 
 taken out; a mere negation of "Whiggism; a system of 
 watching events, in the hope of profiting by them, when 
 to direct them properly it was necessary to come to 
 some decided resolution, and make circumstances bend 
 to the occasion. 
 
 Bolingbroke was with justice regarded both by Hano- 
 verians and Jacobites as the author of all the violent 
 measures adopted at this time. It may, however, be 
 
 * "St. Gei-mains, ^^^, ^ 1714. 
 Apnl 2o, 
 
 " M. Talon (Tovcy) has had letters from Jeannot (Sherville) and Waters 
 (Gaultier), which he intends to send unto M. Eaucourt (James) by a messenger 
 on purpose ; so I shall only hint here, that for all M. Waters (Gaultier) for- 
 merly assured Oleron (Oxford) and Lahl^ (Bolingbroke) would never hearken, 
 unless Eancourt (James) made up with Eoland (became a Protestant), he now 
 Avrites word that both these gentlemen have assured him that after Albert 
 (Anne) they wiU never serve nor have another master but Mr. Eobinson 
 
 (James)." — Letter of the Duke of Berwick to James, of ^^% 5 1714 
 
 among the unedited Stuart Papers. ' 
 
1713—1714.] DISMISSAL OF THE HANOVERIAN ENVOY. 397 
 
 doubted whether they were wisely taken. They roused 
 the suspicions of the Court of Hanover to the highest 
 degree ; they irritated the Whigs almost to fury ; but 
 they neither broke their strength nor subdued their spirit. 
 If Bolingbroke had really meant well to the Court of 
 Hanover, never certainly were measures so extraordi- 
 nary as those which he took. The Protestant succes- 
 sion had scarcely been voted out of danger by small 
 parhamentary majorities when a new question arose. 
 By the advice of Halifax, Schutz, the Hanoverian 
 envoy, went to the Lord Chancellor and demanded the 
 writ of Prince Greorge's to sit in Parliament as Duke of 
 Cambridge. Harcourt blushed, hesitated, and without 
 refusing to deliver the document, said that he must first 
 consult the Queen before allowing it to go out of his 
 hands. A cabinet council was immediately held. The 
 writ was sent to Schutz's residence ; but it was con- 
 sidered that by asking for the parchment without pre- 
 viously informing her Majesty of his intention, he had 
 treated her with gross disrespect. Schutz, after dis- 
 regarding an intimation that his appearance in the 
 Queen's presence would not be welcome, was peremp- 
 torily forbidden the Court by Bohngbroke, and Oxford's 
 cousin, Mr. Thomas Harley, was ordered immediately 
 to demand the envoy's recall. Schutz, however, antici- 
 pated the order by immediately setting off for Hanover. 
 The account he gave to the Elector of the proceedings 
 of the English Grovernment could scarcely be expected 
 to be very complimentary to Bohngbroke, who was 
 known to be the principal adviser of this very decided 
 step. In the cabinet council on the demand of the writ 
 for the Duke of Cambridge, Oxford and several other 
 ministers advised that Prince George should be invited 
 over. Had the Grovernment really been desirous of 
 
398 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 quieting the alarms which prevailed, and of giving satis- 
 faction to the Court of Hanover, this would undoubt- 
 edly have been the best course to pursue. It was, how- 
 ever, most decidedly opposed by Bolingbroke, and was 
 known to be most disagreeable to the Queen, Anne 
 might be excused, like Queen Elizabeth, for not wishing 
 to behold her own tombstone in the person of a succes- 
 sor. But there are times when even such feelings ia 
 sovereigns must yield to considerations of pubKc welfare ; 
 and these times it is the especial duty of a statesman ia 
 the highest confidence of the crown to take the oppor- 
 tunity of pointing out. There was no analogy between 
 the state of England in the last year of Queen Eliza- 
 beth's reign and that in the last year of Queen Ajine, 
 James I. was at least the undisputed heir on the death 
 of Ehzabeth, There was no other pretender to the crown 
 supported by France, by a powerful party ia England, 
 and, as was suspected, by many of the Queen's minis- 
 ters, and even by the Queen herself. Nor can the 
 Whigs be fairly accused of iaconsistency in voting 
 against calling over the Duke of Cambridge, ia 1705, 
 and so clamorously demanding that he should be sum- 
 moned ia 1714. In 1705 the Protestant succession was 
 not in immediate danger. The Queen's health was 
 then good ; Marlborough and Godolphin were not sup- 
 posed to be acting in concert with a CathoHc Pretender 
 to the Crown ; it was not a question of weeks or days 
 as to whether the crisis of the succession might not 
 occur. Precautions which were not at all necessary at 
 the earher period became ahnost indispensable for se- 
 curity during the last year of the Queen. But any 
 precautions of this kind were stubbornly resisted by 
 Bolingbroke ia the name of the sovereign ; it was his 
 conduct which kept this question open to the last, so 
 
1713—1714.] LOED CLARENDON. 399 
 
 that it seemed, even to the closest observers, that at the 
 death of Anne there would be a mere race for the 
 crown between the Elector and the Pretender, and that 
 he who arrived the first would certainly be King.* 
 
 Swift afterwards remarked to BoKngbroke that he 
 had always thought there was a great neglect in the 
 ministers not at this time endeavouring to come to 
 some good understanding with the Elector. But it 
 Avas the fault of Bolingbroke himself that he took 
 no pains while these precious moments were slipping 
 away to make the House of Hanover believe him to be 
 their friend, and yet he affected afterwards to be sur- 
 prised and indignant because they looked upon him as 
 their enemy. AH his proceedings had the same bear- 
 ing. It seems strange that no person of any weight or 
 character could be found to represent the Grovernment 
 at Herrenhausen, Oxford's cousin, Thomas Harley, 
 returned again at this time to London. Lord Claren- 
 don, the most stupid nobleman in the whole roll of 
 English peers, was chosen for the delicate oflSce of 
 conveying her Majesty's expressions of indignation at 
 the manner in which the writ for the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge had been demanded of the Lord Chancellor, and 
 earnestly to remonstrate against the young man being 
 sent over to England without the Queen's consent, 
 which, of course, there was no HkeHhood of her giving. 
 The appointment of Lord Clarendon, instead of Lord 
 Paget, who had been previously fixed upon, was 
 regarded as an undoubted proof that Bolingbroke's 
 influence at Court was superior to Oxford's. The 
 choice of a representative who might be supposed 
 agreeable at Hanover was never thought of for one 
 moment ; and as everybody laughed at Lord Clarendon 
 
 * See Hanover Papers ; Martines to RolDethon, Feb. 19, N. S., 1714. 
 
400 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 who, when Governor of Pennsylvania, dressed him- 
 self up as a woman, the more fuUy to represent his 
 female sovereign, the letter which he carried with 
 him from the queen to the Elector, beginning, " My 
 experience of the Earl of Clarendon's capacity deter- 
 mined me to send him to your Court," could only be 
 construed into a very good joke.* 
 
 The Princess Sophia had just died very suddenly, and 
 her son the Elector, now stood, according to the Act of 
 Settlement, the heir to the British crown. As a com- 
 phment to him, it was proposed in the House of Com- 
 mons to pay all the arrears due to the Hanoverian troops 
 which had been withheld with those of the other alHes 
 after their refusal to follow the Duke of Ormond. 
 This motion had the sanction of the auditor Harley, 
 and it was ordered to be reported to the House. No 
 sooner, however, did Bolingbroke hear of the propo- 
 sition than he used aU his influence to defeat it. Here 
 again, he said, the Queen was treated with disrespect. 
 As it had been by her Majesty's orders that the money 
 had not been paid, so it was only after her personal 
 recommendation that it ought to be voted by the House 
 of Commons. In spite of the Whigs, Bolingbroke suc- 
 ceeded in getting the question laid aside, without being 
 positively rejected, f 
 
 It was not, however, the Court of Hanover only that 
 felt at this time the effect of Bolingbroke's angry 
 ascendancy in the councils of his sovereign. The Pro- 
 testant dissenters in England were treated with as Httle 
 ceremony. No single act on his part ever excited 
 greater hopes among the Jacobites, or keener indigna- 
 
 * Hanover Papers ; Bothmar to Robethon, June 16, 1714 ; Queen Anne to 
 the Elector, June 19, 1714. 
 
 t See Bolingbroke's own vereion of tHs affair in his Letter to the Earl of 
 Strafford, May 18, 1714. 
 
171»— 1714.] THE SCHISM ACT. 40] 
 
 tion on the part of those who were attached to the prin- 
 ciples of the Revolution, than his conduct in relation to 
 what was called the Schism Bill, drawn up by himself, 
 and brought in by his friend Sir William Windham into 
 the House of Commons. This measure was thoroughly 
 imbued with BoKngbroke's daring and unscrupulous 
 spirit. It shows us from what kind of legislation 
 England escaped by the fall of this minister from 
 power. He boldly proposed to do nothing less than to 
 take the education of their children out of the hands 
 of the dissenters, and intrust it to schoolmasters 
 licensed by the bishop. No licence was to be granted 
 except to persons who had received the sacrament 
 according to the forms of the Church of England, and 
 who had during the past year taken the oaths of 
 allegiance and supremacy. A neglect in complying 
 with these arbitrary regulations exposed the offender to 
 imprisonment without bail ; and the law was to be 
 enforced by the justices of the peace, who, being 
 generally country gentlemen, members of the October 
 Club, and bigoted Tories, had, of course, the conscien- 
 tious Nonconformists of all denominations subjected 
 to their tender mercies. This was legislating with a 
 vengeance. This was what Bobngbroke called one of 
 his strong measures for keeping no terms with his oppo- 
 nents, and of showing a determined front ; and it would 
 have gratified Strafford in the days when he called out 
 for Thorough. It is impossible to say anything in 
 . defence of a statesman who sought in such a manner to 
 tyrannize over his fellow-subjects. After the Restoration, 
 when Clarendon forgot the solemn promises his master 
 had given, and abandoned the Puritans to the vindictive 
 loyalty of the Cavaliers, he had at least the excuse of 
 sincere devotion to the Church of England, and of much 
 
 2 D 
 
402 THE CRISIS. [Chap, X. 
 
 suffering in her cause. But Bolingbroke knew himself to 
 be a disbeliever in all revealed religion, when he thus 
 shamefully set himself to persecute, in the name of the 
 estabhshment, men who were at heart much less dissenters 
 than himself. The fact was, that the struggle between the 
 Secretary of' State and the Lord Treasurer was not yet 
 over ; and Bolingbroke thought it a masterstroke of 
 policy to acquire to himself the hearty allegiance of the 
 extreme Tories and Jacobites, or obhge Oxford to break 
 entirely with the dissenters and the moderate party. 
 The Prime Minister was placed between the two horns 
 of a dilemma. Notwithstanding all that he had done 
 for the Tories, the old associations still clung to him, and 
 the dissenters scarcely regarded him as their enemy. 
 But if he supported the Schism Act, he would lose their 
 allegiance for ever ; if he opposed it, he would ruin him- 
 self with the Court and the country gentlemen, and 
 Bolingbroke would become undisputed chief of the Tory 
 party and the Grovernment. Thus did this unscrupulous 
 statesman play with the most cherished parental rights 
 and the dearest principles of public freedom and natural 
 justice, as though they were mere counters in the 
 miserable game of his ambition. 
 
 In spite of the strongest opposition of the Whigs, 
 headed by Walpole, Lechmere, and Stanhope, the bill 
 passed the House of Com m ons. It was introduced into 
 the House of Lords by Bolingbroke himself, who took 
 charge of it and defended it through every stage. On 
 moving the second reading, he made a speech which those 
 who knew what his real sentiments on the tenets of the 
 Church of England were, and how far his hfe was spent in 
 conformity with the precepts of that church, and of all 
 other Christian churches, could scarcely Hsten to with 
 grave faces. The bill, he said, was of the greatest import- 
 
1713—1714.] WHARTOM'S TAUNTS. 403 
 
 ance. It concerned the Churcli of England, which was 
 the great support of the monarchy. It concerned all good 
 men ; for they were all interested in supporting both the 
 church and monarchy. And it particularly concerned 
 that august assembly, which deriving its lustre from the 
 throne, and being nearest to the throne, ought to have 
 the interests both of the church and monarchy most at 
 heart.* Bolingbroke was answered by Cowper in a 
 most masterly speech. All the Whig peers strenuously 
 resisted the bill. Nottingham alluded in the most 
 direct manner to Swift, who, with the patronage of 
 Bolingbroke, was supposed to be in a fair way to 
 obtain a bishopric, and yet was suspected of scarcely 
 being a Christian. But the fiercest attack on the 
 ministers and the measure was made by Wharton. Profli- 
 gate as Wharton was, he could at least assume an immea- 
 surable superiority over men whose hves were as licen- 
 tious as his, who had, like himself, been brought up in 
 families supposed to be attached to the Presbyterian form 
 of worship, and yet put themselves forward as pious 
 champions of the Church of England, endeavoured 
 to violate aU the traditions of their households, and 
 to take away from the dissenters the education of their 
 own children. Bolingbroke, Harcourt, and Oxford, all 
 lay under these same imputations of early Presbyterian- 
 ism ; and they all felt the stinging force of Wharton's 
 sarcasms on their conduct. This man had some great 
 oratorical powers. His ridicule was merciless ; and 
 certainly the leading patrons of such a scheme deserved 
 no mercy. 
 
 Oxford was in a sad state of perplexity. In his heart 
 he thoroughly disapproved of the biE, and knew well 
 the object for which it had been framed ; but being still 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 1351. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 THE CRISIS. [Chap.X. 
 
 nominally the head of the Government, and the leader 
 of the Tories, he could not bring himself to act with 
 manly resolution against this unprincipled measure. He 
 managed, as usual, awkwardly to offend both parties : 
 he indicated clearly that he disHked the bill, and that 
 dissension existed in. the ministerial ranks, by saying 
 that he had not yet considered what course he should 
 take on the question, but that when he had done so he 
 would act as he thought best for the country ; and with 
 these stammering and confused observations he voted 
 for the second reading. The dissenters petitioned to be 
 heard by counsel against the measure ; their prayer was 
 rejected, Oxford leaving the House before the divi- 
 sion, but some of his friends voted in the Whig mino- 
 rity of sixty-six. In violation of every sound principle 
 of legislation which had been estabhshed by the Revo- 
 lution, the bill became law, with one most extraordinary 
 amendment, excepting the tutors of noblemen from all 
 the provisions, except that of taking out a Kcence from 
 the bishop. It was to come into effect on the 1st of 
 August, a memorable day, on which, however, as the 
 Greeks would have said, by fate, and pious Christians 
 by divine interposition, at one blow all the ambitious 
 schemes of Bolingbroke were confounded, and his career 
 as a statesman destroyed. 
 
 But for the time the Schism Act answered its pur- 
 pose. Oxford had been made to appear more obnoxious 
 than ever to many of his former supporters. Never 
 was a first minister in a more wretched phght. His 
 state was indeed pitiable, if he had been a fitting 
 object of pity. But in justice he was entitled to no 
 commiseration. He only found the same weapons 
 which, for the most purely personal ends, he had used 
 against Godolphin and Marlborough turned against 
 
1713—1714.] LADY MASHAM. 405 
 
 himself by his former disciple. It was right that he who 
 had risen by intrigue and influence of the back stairs 
 should fall by intrigue and influence of the back stairs. 
 It was right that the hand which had raised him up should 
 pull him down. To Lady Masham and cunning ma- 
 noeuvres he owed everything ; by Lady Masham and the 
 more cunning manoeuvres of a rival in her favour he lost 
 everything. It is impossible, however, not to feel some 
 indignation at the manner in which the low-minded 
 Abigail treated the object of her former regard. " I 
 shall take no more messages," she said ; " I shall neither 
 meddle nor make." " You have never done the queen 
 any service, nor are you capable of doing her any," was 
 one of the insolent repHes she returned loudly, and in a 
 storm of passion, to the minister, who stiU tried to 
 flatter, to cringe, and to soothe. But Oxford's abject 
 humility was, indeed, deserving of scorn. After being 
 treated with the grossest rudeness and insult in the 
 presence of others, he would still go meekly, in the old 
 style, and sup with Bolingbroke and Lady Masham. 
 After railing bitterly at the Secretary of State, as the 
 incarnation of all human perfidy and wickedness, Oxford 
 endeavoured to the last to come to some terms with his 
 rival, and offered, if only they would allow him to keep 
 his place, to serve Bolingbroke and Lady Masham in 
 their own way.* 
 
 Still the dragon, as he was called, died hard. He 
 sprung mine after mine under the feet of Boling- 
 broke, who found himself, until the end of the session, 
 compelled to be always on his guard against Oxford's 
 machinations. The sitting of Parliament was even 
 prolonged until the month of July, entirely, as the 
 Secretary of State supposed, by the artifices of the Prime 
 
 * See the Letter of Lewis to Swift, July 17, 1714. 
 
406 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X; 
 
 Minister. No art that could damage Bolingbroke in 
 public estimation was omitted. It was remarked, even 
 by Oxford's best friends, that had he exerted but half 
 the diligence, when he had all power in his hands, that 
 he employed vainly to keep it after it had slipped 
 through his fingers, he would never have been forced 
 to succumb to any rival. 
 
 The struggle was long and doubtful. At Hanover, 
 to the last, it seemed a question whether Oxford or 
 Bolingbroke would get the better. One day it was 
 reported that the Secretary of State was in all favour, 
 on another that the Lord Treasurer had recovered 
 his lost ground.* Oxford and Oxford's adherents raised 
 against Bolingbroke and his followers the cry of Jaco- 
 bitism. Bohngbroke, however, boldly met the charge 
 by declaring that he had proofs in his own hands of Ox- 
 ford's deahngs with the Jacobites ; and to give a public 
 contradiction to the imputations that had been brought 
 against him, the Secretary of State advised the Queen to 
 issue a proclamation, offering a reward of five thousand 
 pounds for the apprehension of the Pretender. A bill, 
 with his sanction and assistance, was also brought in 
 against those who should enlist troops for the Pretender's 
 service. These measures were, however, not intended 
 to have any effect, and did not at all mean that Bohng- 
 broke had come to any fixed resolution on the question 
 of the succession. " The proclamation will make no dif- 
 ference," he observed, " to the French envoy, Iberville."t 
 
 This blow having failed, Oxford tried another. He 
 gave information to the Whigs of the bribe which 
 Arthur Moore had taken from the Spanish ministers 
 diiring the negotiations about the treaty of commerce, 
 
 * See Hanover Papers, Cadogaa to Bothmar, May ,'g, 1714. 
 t Iberville to 'J'orcy, July, 2, 1714. 
 
1713—1714.] OXFORD'S LAST STRUGGLE. 407 
 
 in the hope that Bolinghroke would be damaged by the 
 exposure of his creature's disgraceful cupidity. The 
 subject was brought before the House of Lords. Thirty 
 great Enghsh merchants petitioned to be heard against 
 the three explanatory articles of this treaty of com- 
 merce ; Oxford and Bolinghroke openly spoke and voted 
 on different sides ; and an address was carried asking 
 her Majesty for all the papers, and the names of those who 
 had advised her to agree to such stipulations. Arthur 
 Moore was called to the bar, and subjected to a severe 
 cross-examination by Lord Cowper. The Secretary to 
 tlie Commissioners of Trade and Plantations acknow- 
 ledged having seen a letter from a Spanish minister to 
 Moore declaring that the two thousand louis d'or were 
 only to be paid him on the condition that the three 
 explanatory articles were ratified. The directors of the 
 South Sea scheme solemnly expelled Moore from their 
 body. Still further proceedings were meditated against 
 him by the House of Lords both for his conduct on this 
 business and on that of the Assiento Contract ; and the 
 indignation which was everywhere so warmly expressed 
 against Moore was understood to glance upwards very 
 unequivocally at his patron, Lord Bohngbroke. This 
 was not the most pleasant situation for a statesman to 
 find himself in, as he was just on the eve of being made 
 Prime Minister. Bohngbroke put an end to the session 
 while the matter was stUl under consideration, and 
 wrote to Swift : " If my grooms did not live a happier 
 life than I have done this great while, I am sure they 
 would quit my service."* 
 
 Swift had gone into the country to be out of the way 
 of the final struggle between Oxford and Bolinghroke. 
 The Dean boarded and lodged for a guinea a week with 
 
 * Letter to ^wift, July 13, 1714. 
 
408 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 a country clergyman at the small village of Letcombe, 
 in Berkshire. There he wrote his Free Thoughts 
 on the Present State of Affairs, and sent it up 
 to his friend, Charles Ford, the gazetteer, to he 
 printed by Barber. Barber, to make his court, showed 
 the anonymous manuscript to Bohngbroke, who was 
 highly delighted with it, and took it home, without the 
 author's consent, to make some additions and alterations. 
 Weeks passed on, but stiU the manuscript was not re- 
 turned, much to the indignation of Swift and his friend 
 Ford. It is evident, however, that Bohngbroke guessed 
 who the author was, and considered himself entitled to 
 take what might otherwise have been regarded as an un- 
 warrantable hberty. He kept the manuscript by him 
 so long that the opportunity for pubhshing it was lost 
 before the great event occurred which entirely changed 
 'the position of affairs. But though Swift has been highly 
 praised by Walter Scott and others for adhering faith- 
 fully to Oxford, at this crisis of his fortunes, whoever 
 reads the Free Thoughts with attention, will be inchned 
 to doubt whether the panegyric was deserved. AH re- 
 concihation between Oxford and Bohngbroke being hope- 
 less, this was not exactly the time to dwell strongly on 
 Oxford's faults ; and yet it is on Oxford's faults that the 
 author lays the principal blame for the dissensions which 
 had arisen in the Court and the Grovernment. BoKng- 
 broke's failings are touched with a very gentle hand. 
 He is ably defended from the accusation of seeking to 
 bring in the Pretender ; and, as Ford himself observed 
 to Swift, the manuscript was as much calculated to do 
 Bohngbroke service as though it had been written by 
 his own directions.* It reads very much like, as though 
 the politic author, notwithstanding his professions of 
 
 * Charles Ford to Swift, July 17, 171i. 
 
1713—1714.] SWIFT DISSATISFIED WITH BOLINGBEOKB. 409 
 
 attachment to Oxford, and Ms offer to accompany him 
 in his retirement, was preparing to worship the rising 
 sun. Bohngbroke had laughed heartily when he heard 
 that the Dean had gone proudly and morosely into the 
 country to ruminate on the quarrels of his friends. 
 The statesman gave orders to his butler, George, to 
 send Swift, into Berkshire, a hamper of good wine 
 to keep up his spirits. But though Swift many 
 years after declared to Bolingbroke himself, that, " You 
 were always my hero," it is worthy of remark, that, 
 just at this brief season of Bolingbroke's greatness. 
 Swift was really dissatisfied with him, and, hke the 
 rest of the world, distrusted his professions of friend- 
 ship. Swift was anxious to be made historiographer, 
 that, as he said, in a memorial to be shown to the 
 Queen, he might have access to all records in order to 
 compose, as a loyal Tory, the true history of the more 
 recent part of her Majesty's reign. It is, however, 
 more than probable that his real object was to conciliate 
 the Queen by the announcement of his intention to 
 write her history, in the hope that Anne's very proper 
 objections to bestow upon him high ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ment might be removed. Her Majesty could scarcely 
 refuse to confer a bishopric on the clever Dean who 
 undertook to deliver down to posterity the glories of 
 herself and Lady Masham.* To his great annoyance, 
 however, the historiographer's place was filled up by an 
 insignificant personage, totally unknown to fame, 
 named Thomas Madox, Esq., while the author of the 
 manuscript History of the Peace of Utrecht was over- 
 looked. Swift attributed his mortifying disappoint- 
 ment to Bohngbroke. " I am not of your opinion 
 about Lord Bohngbroke," wrote the Dean to Miss 
 
 * See the Memorial in Swift's Works, Scott's edition, xvi. 
 
410 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 Yanhomrigh ; " perhaps he may get the staff, but 
 I cannot rely on his love to me ; he knew I had a 
 mind to be historiographer, though I valued it not, 
 but for the public service, yet it is gone to a worth- 
 less rogue that nobody knows." * But if the pubKc 
 service, which the dean contemplated rendering as 
 historiographer was to have been anything like his 
 utterly unfair History of the Four Last Years of the 
 Queen, the loss was certainly not very great. 
 
 Bolingbroke had reason indeed to congratidate both 
 himself and Swift on the close of the session. Oxford's 
 conduct during the last few days had only rendered 
 the Secretary of State more determined to bring matters 
 between them to a crisis. It was impossible, he said, 
 and with justice, that things could go on any longer as 
 they had been. Never again would he meet Parhament 
 in the position he was then placed. In fact he could 
 not do so. It was said that he must during the recess 
 devise some means to bring in the Pretender, because if 
 he again faced the two Houses in the temper they had 
 just displayed about Arthur Moore's alleged corruptions, 
 not only would the tool himself be prosecuted, but also 
 the master who employed him. As it was, the Queen, 
 by her presence alone, put an end to the many dis- 
 cussions in the House of Lords on the subject, when 
 she appeared in person to prorogue the Parhament on 
 the last day of the session. Never did a minister of 
 state, when so directly attacked, get rid of a disagree- 
 able business in a more unsatisfactory manner. The 
 struggle, therefore, between the colonel and the captain, 
 as Oxford and Bolingbroke were respectively called by 
 the supporters of the Government, became fierce and 
 decisive. The event was no longer doubtful. Ladv 
 
 * Letter of Aim. 1, 1714. 
 
1713—1714,] BOLINGBBOKB AiTD THE TWO FAVOURITES. 411 
 
 Masham herself felt that her own influence at Court, at 
 length, depended on getting rid of her former friend and 
 patron, who, in assaihng Bolingbroke, had not spared 
 the favourite. It was no longer a duel between the 
 Lord Treasurer and the Secretary of State ; Lady 
 Masham herself was now violently on Bolingbroke's 
 side. Even the Duchess of Somerset, whose daughter 
 was married to Sir William Windham, came at last to 
 her aid. All the Jacobites having become disgusted at 
 Oxford's manoeuvring procrastination, were also at last 
 convinced of his insincerity, and grew eager to pre- 
 cipitate his fall. Oxford's whisperings, his half confi- 
 dences, his mysterious hints, his elaborate excuses, his 
 delays, his double dealings, his cunning, would serve 
 him no longer. With such influences to assist him, 
 Bolingbroke, though the names that were given him of 
 Mercurialis and the Sharper Secretary were decidedly 
 not complimentary, and the motives attributed to him 
 of no very elevated kind, gained ground every day.* 
 
 The manner in which Bohngbroke flattered the two 
 fiivourites of the Queen, who, hating each other, had at 
 last made up their differences, and agreed to support 
 him, showed him a master of those arts of intrigue and 
 cajolery which at last so effectually served his pur- 
 pose. Lady Masham and the Duchess of Somerset had 
 persuaded themselves, that, if Oxford were removed, 
 there would be no other first minister, and that 
 their influence would predominate at Court without the 
 check which was imposed upon it by a Lord Treasurer 
 high in the confidence of the sovereign. Bolingbroke 
 eagerly encouraged them in. this delusion ; for at the 
 
 * See Hanover Papers ; the Letters of Bothmar to Eobethon at the end of 
 July; JIacpherson, ii. 635; Me'moires du Mar&hal de Berwick, ii. 224; Lewis 
 to Swift, July 17, 1714. 
 
412 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 moment it exactly suited the necessities of his own 
 position. He began to find the want of a good cha- 
 racter. His vices had been so notorious, his go- 
 between, Arthur Moore's conduct in the business of the 
 Spanish treaty of commerce had made so much noise, and 
 had been so injurious to Bohngbroke himself, that, even 
 with the support of the rival favourites, the Jacobites, 
 and even the Queen, he found he would not at once be 
 permitted to step into Oxford's place. Some of his 
 colleagues, men of high rank and position, were 
 very scrupulous ; and though they were willing to 
 act with him, were not disposed to act absolutely Tinder 
 him. He felt compelled to allow the Treasury to be 
 put into commission, and himself retain his post of 
 Secretary of State, from which he hoped to exercise 
 the power of first minister, without provoking the 
 jealousies and animosities which would be sure to dis- 
 play themselves if he were immediately nominated 
 Lord Treasurer,* 
 
 The colleague who gave Bohngbroke the most 
 trouble, and clouded the splendour of his triumph over 
 Oxford, was Shrewsbury. The Duke had returned from 
 Ireland ia no satisfied mood. In the quarrels between 
 Oxford and Bohngbroke he took httle interest ; he was, 
 indeed, displeased with the conduct of both the rival 
 statesmen. Notwithstanding the earnest professions of 
 respect and deference made to him in their long corre- 
 spondence by Bolingbroke, Shrewsbury had remained 
 studiously aloof from the policy of the Secretary of 
 State. He had taken with him a Whig Secretary to 
 Ireland, and had, as Lord Lieutenant, disregarded all 
 BoHngbroke's advice to keep no terms with the Whigs 
 because they kept no terms with the Government. It was 
 
 * Lewis to Swift, July 6, 1714. 
 
1713—1714.] THE ATTITUDE OF SHREWSBURY. 413 
 
 •with great unwillingness that Shrewsbury left Dublin 
 again for London, to be made a party to the dissensions 
 of the Secretary and the Lord Treasurer. As he totally 
 disapproved of Bohngbroke becoming first minister, it 
 was hoped that he might attempt a reconcihation. No 
 sooner was Oxford's dismissal finally determined upon, 
 than Bohngbroke began to entertain of Shrewsbury all 
 the feelings of jealousy and distrust which he habitually 
 experienced against those who stood ia his path. The 
 Duke was to him what Oxford had been ; but he could 
 not treat Shrewsbury as he had treated Oxford. The grace 
 and gentleness of Shrewsbury's manners disarmed all 
 opposition ; his sweet temper concihated even the 
 fiercest of politicians ; his age, his rank, and the great 
 services which he had rendered to the Revolution when 
 William of Orange was seated on the throne, rendered 
 him an object of respectful interest to the generation 
 which had grown up since that great event first startled 
 the world. There were no asperities, no angularities 
 in Shrewsbury's nature ; there was nothing to invite 
 opposition, to fix an enmity upon, to produce hatred. By 
 the mere accident of position, Shrewsbury's character 
 exerted at this time a kind of moral influence which 
 almost imperceptibly but most effectually counteracted 
 all Bolingbroke's ambitious schemes. The Secretary of 
 State was greatly irritated even by the mere presence 
 of the courteous and unassuming Shrewsbury ; and, as 
 usual, he could not keep his irritation to himself. When 
 Oxford and Shrewsbury were observed talking together, 
 Bohngbroke broke out to Arbuthnot, " I know how I 
 stand with that man," pointing to Oxford ; " but as to 
 the other I cannot tell."* In the great changes at 
 Court then daily expected, Shrewsbury's intentions 
 
 * Arbuthnot to Swift, July 17, and Ford to Swift, July 20, 1714. 
 
414 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 were a mystery, and he made Bolingbroke feel ex- 
 tremely uncomfortable. 
 
 The blow, after being for some days strangely de- 
 layed, was at last struck. On Tuesday, the 27th of 
 July, after many outbursts of impotent rage, which 
 did not raise his character even in the opinion of his 
 most devoted adherents, Oxford was at last dismissed 
 from office. He retired without a pension or dukedom, 
 as he had been given to expect, and with every mark 
 of disgrace. On the very evening of the Lord Trea- 
 surer's fall, Bolingbroke entertained at his house in 
 Grolden Square, Stanhope, Craggs, Pulteney, Walpole, 
 and Cadogan, who, all Whigs, and friends of Marl- 
 borough as they were, sat down to dine with the 
 Secretary of State and Sir William Windham, then 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. The greatest reproach 
 that Bolingbroke had really made against Oxford was 
 his baseness in seeking to court the Whigs at the ex- 
 pense of the Tories. Yet Oxford had never had the 
 principal opponents of the ministry openly at his own 
 table, as Bolingbroke then had them at his. Well 
 might the Under Secretary, Lewis, exclaim to Swift on 
 relating this strange circumstance, "What if the 
 dragon had done so !"* The conduct of the Whig 
 leaders in accepting the invitation was easily ex- 
 plained ; all they wished to do was to throw as much 
 confusion as possible into the camp of the enemy, and 
 to increase the dissensions which then prevailed in 
 the ministerial ranks. But what could be Boling- 
 broke's motive in thus surrounding his dining-table at 
 such a moment with his political adversaries ? This 
 was not the only extraordinary proceeding on his part 
 during the brief period when he might be considered 
 
 * Lewis to Swift, July 29, 1714. 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGBROKE'S DESIGNS. 415 
 
 virtual Prime Minister and master both of the Court 
 and Grovernment. On the very next day he requested 
 his confidant, John Drummond, to get ready to set out 
 for Holland, with a commission requesting the Earl of 
 Albemarle to mediate between the English Government 
 and the Elector of Hanover, and to establish a good 
 understanding between Bolingbroke and the legal suc- 
 cessor to the crown. From these facts the deduction 
 has been drawn that the Secretary of State was at this 
 brief period of his greatness really in favour of the 
 House of Hanover, but that having no time to carry 
 his intentions into effect, the Elector persisted most 
 erroneously in regarding him as an enemy.* 
 
 But as Bolingbroke himself, when it was clearly his 
 interest to do so, never declared that he was at this 
 time on the point of helping to carry out the Act of 
 Settlement, and as the evidence to the contrary is much 
 less equivocal,! all that can be affirmed with certainty is, 
 he was not at the moment of his becoming chief of the 
 ministry desirous of driving the Elector to despair. 
 For a time he wished to continue the old system of 
 trimming between the Hanoverians and Jacobites. 
 He assured Gaultier that his sentiments were still 
 favourable to the Pretender, if the young man would 
 only act in conformity with the wishes of the Tories, f 
 The Duke of Marlborough's arrival in England was 
 daily expected. Any public manifestation of the 
 ministry in favour of the Stuarts would immediately 
 have been met by the Whigs by an appeal to arms. 
 It was necessary at the moment to keep matters quiet. 
 Hence the Whigs were to be courted, and an attempt 
 
 * See Stuai-t Papers ; Maopherson, ii. 533, 
 
 t See Marohmont Papers, ii. 241. 
 
 Julv 27 
 t Gaiiltier to Torcy, ,-—>., 1714. 
 ^ •" Aug. 7' 
 
416 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 was to be made to come to a better understanding with 
 the Court of Hanover, But Bolingbroke himself 
 afterwards confessed quite enough to justify the appre- 
 hensions which prevailed. When he had every motive 
 to deny that any violent designs were meditated, he 
 admitted that he was preparing to adopt measures 
 which must in themselves have produced a revolution, 
 and probably led to a civil war. These measures, 
 which he does not disclaim, and even defends as of an 
 extremely innocent and justifiable nature, were to tax 
 the fundholders at proportions greater than the rest of 
 the community, because "the lender of money added 
 nothiag to the common stock and throve by the public 
 calamity ;" to strike at the two great commercial corpora- 
 tions, the Bank and the Bast India Company, because 
 they were strongholds of the City Whigs, and because 
 " the Bank had been extravagant enough to pull of the 
 mask " by remonstrating against the dismissal of Go- 
 dolphin's ministry ; and to restrain " the influence of the 
 monied interest on the legislature and matters of State," 
 because " the coxmtry gentlemen were vexed, put to 
 great expenses, and even baffled by the traders in their 
 elections."* Even when expressed in Bolingbroke's 
 own language, and in his own justification, these designs 
 seem the most extravagant ever entertained by an 
 Enghsh statesman. Could they have been carried into 
 effect they must have destroyed the great system of 
 public credit which Montague had founded, and have 
 checked for ever that noble expansion of our commer- 
 cial prosperity which was to be the wonder and 
 envy of the world.. According to these notions which, 
 with his recent conduct in devising the Schism Act 
 against the dissenters, constituted the Toryism of 
 
 * See the Letter to Sir "W. Windham. 
 
1713—1714.] DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE. 417 
 
 Bolingbroke, the merchants of England, and, indeed, 
 all the trading classes were to he mere hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water to the country gentlemen. They 
 were not to presume to have an opinion on an affair of 
 State ; they were to be especially taxed for the crime of 
 lending money to the Government ; and to contest a 
 borough against a landed proprietor, and to put him to 
 any expense in his election, was a monstrous abuse 
 which demanded the interference of the legislature. 
 If these were the principles which Bolingbroke avowed 
 and defended in the season of his disgrace, what might 
 not have been expected in the day of his power ? 
 
 The day of his power was, however, scarcely per- 
 mitted to dawn. On the night of Oxford's dismissal 
 there had been a stormy altercation in council while the 
 Queen was present. The agitation in which she had 
 been kept by Oxford's struggles to keep his place had 
 been too much for her delicate health ; the violence of 
 the last scene was a death-blow ; she declared to one of 
 her physicians that she could not survive it. On the 
 two following days, Wednesday and Thursday, she was 
 much indisposed ; and on the morning of Friday, the 
 30th of July, she fell back speechless into the arms of 
 her attendants from a fit of apoplexy. Her life was 
 evidently in the greatest danger. The council as- 
 sembled with anxiety and alarm. In the midst of their 
 deliberations they were surprised by the entrance of 
 the Dukes of Somerset and Argyle, who, without being 
 summoned, took their places at the board. This step 
 was said to have been taken in concert with Shrews- 
 bury, who thanked the two Whig peers for their season- 
 able attendance; it certainly disconcerted all the 
 designs of Bolingbroke. With fierce rage at his heart, 
 and a smiling face, he was obhged in this emergency to 
 
 2 E 
 
418 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 acqiiiesce in Shrewsbury being nominated Lord Trea- 
 surer, to proceed himself to Kensington and inform 
 the poor Queen, who had rallied from the first effects of 
 the seizure, of what the council had done ; and to see 
 Anne with a trembling hand give the white staff to 
 Shrewsbury, telling him to use it for the good of her 
 people. It was a bitter mortification ; but worse remained 
 behind. 
 
 Anne soon fell back in a state of stupefaction. It 
 was clear that she could hve but for a few hours ; aU 
 the members of the Privy Council were summoned to 
 attend; and while life remained ia the body of the 
 Queen, Bohngbroke, though still holding the seals of 
 Secretary of State, had already on Saturday become a 
 cypher, and the Government was in the hands of his 
 enemies. It was in vaia to struggle. \ The Whigs 
 having the law on their side, and being confident that 
 they would be supported by the Parhament and the 
 people, were bold, energetic, and determined. The 
 crisis they had long foreseen had at last come ; and the 
 veteran statesmen of the junto were fuUy equal to the 
 occasion. Then was seen what an advantage it was for 
 a party to be led by men with decided principles and 
 positive convictions. Nothing was omitted to render 
 the succession of the Elector secure and easy. Troops 
 were at once ordered to London ; the regiments at Ostend 
 were sent for ; an embargo was laid upon the ports. 
 The fleet was commanded to put to sea ; the Hanoverian 
 envoy, with the black box containing the roU of regents, 
 requested to be ready ; and the heralds and Life Guards 
 kept mounted to proclaim the new King the moment the 
 breath should be out of the dying Queen. And all this 
 time, Bolingbroke and his friends could do nothing but 
 look irresolute at each other ; and, like mere clerks, to 
 
1713—1714.] BOLINGEEOKB'S GEIEF. 419 
 
 carry out with feigned readiness the orders which they 
 knew to be fatal to themselves and to their party. At 
 last, on Sunday morning, the 1st of August, the day 
 appointed for the shameful Schism Act to come into 
 operation, the Queen expired, and Gleorge I. was, without 
 the least difficulty or opposition, proclaimed King of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. Bohngbroke's manservant 
 rode through Wantage with the news ; and Swift, at 
 Letcombe, was informed that Anne was no longer 
 sovereign, and his political services no longer required, 
 just as he was sitting down to dinner. Two days after- 
 wards he received a letter from Bolingbroke himself, 
 tersely expressing his feelings at the blow which had 
 been to him so disastrous, and of which he still felt the 
 crushing force. " The Earl of Oxford was removed on 
 Tuesday ; the Queen died on Sunday. What a world 
 is this ! and how does Fortune banter us !"* 
 
 It would be vain to attempt fuUy to depict Bohng- 
 broke's real state of mind as the crown passed so quietly 
 from the head of Anne to that of her lawful successor. 
 The proscription of himself and his friends was not exactly 
 foreseen by him, though there was reason to appre- 
 hend it ; but it is the greatest condemnation of the 
 course he had pursued during the last four years, to find 
 him at this supreme moment conscious that the event 
 which had long been so imminent, was in effect the 
 death-blow to the party he had striven to estabhsh in 
 power. Whatever occurred, he knew that the Tories 
 were undone. " The grief of my soul," he said to 
 Atterbury, to whom he communicated his secret 
 thoughts, " is this : I see plainly that the Tory party is 
 gone." With this bitter reflection, Bolingbroke had 
 also the galling conviction, that had the Queen's life 
 
 * Birch to Swift, Aug. 1, 1714; Bolingbroke to Swift, Aug. 3, 1714. 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 THE CRISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 been spared for a little longer, the ruin of his party 
 might have been prevented. " Lord Bolingbroke has 
 assured me," wrote the French envoy, Iberville, to his 
 Court, " so well prepared were his measures, that in six 
 weeks affairs would have been put into such a condition 
 that there Aeed have been no fear of what has just 
 happened."* This declaration might be seized upon as 
 an open avowal that BoHngbroke, at the time of the 
 Queen's death, did meditate the bringing in of the Pre- 
 tender. Yet when candidly examined, it also admits of 
 the interpretation, that measures might, in Bolingbroke's 
 opinion, have been taken to secure the Tories from the 
 malice of their enemies, without setting aside the Act 
 of Settlement. Whether such measures ever could 
 have been taken is another question ; and it may be 
 unhesitatingly decided in the negative. It was absurd 
 to suppose that the House of Hanover, in succeeding to 
 the crown, was to receive the law from the Tories, and 
 at their bidding deprive themselves of the services of 
 those Whig statesmen whom they regarded as, on prin- 
 ciple, their best friends. This would, indeed, have been 
 to make the sovereign much more really a Doge of Venice 
 than the most narrow and oHgarchical of Whigs ever 
 sought to accomplish. Whatever Bolingbroke might pre- 
 tend to others, or seek even to persuade himself, the esta- 
 bhshment of the Tories in power, in such a manner as 
 to put them above all the efforts of their enemies to 
 dislodge them, could only have been effected by the 
 restoration of the House of Stuart ; and to bring about 
 this result, the very measures which he primarily de- 
 signed to defeat the plans of the Whigs must inevit- 
 ably have led. His friend Atterbury, then Bishop of 
 Rochester, whom he had intended to be Privy Seal, 
 
 * Iberville, Aug. 2, 1714. 
 
1713—1714.] ATTERBURT'S ADVICE. . 421 
 
 and who was one of the most vain, restless, and aspir- 
 ing of prelates, saw this consequence very plainly. 
 Just at the death of the Queen, he is said to have 
 offered himself to head a troop of Life Guards in 
 his lawn sleeves, and proclaim James III. Bolingbroke, 
 however, could not bring his mind to concur in such a 
 resolution ; and the precious moments slipped rapidlj' 
 away. The bishop turned on his heels, indignantly 
 declaring that the noblest cause in the world was thrown 
 away for want of spirit.* Bolingbroke attended the 
 proclamation .of King George at the Guildhall, and 
 though there was an attempt made to affront him 
 as he passed through the streets 'in his carriage, the 
 applause drowned the hisses. Oxford was by no means 
 so well received, f 
 
 There can be no doubt that Bolingbroke acted wisely 
 in refusing to sanction Atterbury's desperate proposal 
 to proclaim the son of James II. The bishop was one 
 of the most indiscreet of men ; and the attempt would 
 have only recoiled on the heads of its authors. / When 
 James II. died, a foolish effort was made by some 
 Jacobites to proclaim his son in the streets of London. As 
 soon as their design became known, the mob rose, pelted 
 the procession with stones, pursued the gaudily-dressed 
 heralds with frightful yells, and obliged them to throw 
 away their tabards, and to fly for their lives. J ^ A similar 
 result would assuredly have overtaken the enterprise 
 Atterbury advised. The prelate's lawn sleeves would 
 soon have been covered with mud, and torn from his back ; 
 and both he and his followers would have thought them- 
 selves happily out of the riot they must have occasioned 
 by being lodged in the Round House. 
 
 * See Walpole's George II. f Ford to Swift, Aug. 5, 1714. 
 
 J Lettrt'S Histi.iriciue, mois de novembre, 1701. 
 
422 THE CEISIS. [Chap. X. 
 
 Another restoration of the Stuarts, had the Queen 
 Hved ever so long, and Bohngbroke's design been ever 
 so matured, I hold to have been impossible. There 
 was no analogy between the state of the nation in the 
 time of Richard Cromwell, and the state of the nation 
 in the reign ef Queen Anne. At one period the people 
 were weary of civil commotions, sick of civil war, and 
 apprehensive of all the horrors of a mihtary anarchy. 
 Charles I. was looked upon by great numbers as a 
 martyr to their church, and his reign remembered with 
 regret. The memory of James II. was regarded with 
 very different feelings. The people were still proud of 
 the Revolution of 1688, and of the great results it had 
 brought about ; and there was no sorrow mingled with 
 their joy. Wealth and intelligence had spread far 
 beyond all calciJation ; commercial prosperity had 
 struck the deepest roots ; and the mihtary renown of the 
 country had been carried to the highest point over the 
 head of her ancient rival. A Restoration, in the minds 
 of the great body of the people, meant a complete reversal 
 of this happy state of things. It meant subserviency to 
 France, persecution, disgrace, repudiation, bankruptcy ; 
 and these prejudices would on trial have been found 
 too strong to be overcome by any minister. Since the 
 Revolution, a generation had grown up which had been 
 nurtured by it, and educated under it, and which looked 
 on the assertion of a divine right as the folly of maniacs. 
 The stream could never have been turned back. Look- 
 ing at the question in every light, the conviction is 
 forced upon us, that, though the Jacobites were nume- 
 rous among certain classes of society, they stood upon 
 very narrow ground ; and that a Restoration was hope- 
 less, not so much from the conduct of this or that states- 
 man, as becaiLse England had outgrown the Stuarts. 
 
423 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1714—1716. 
 
 # 
 
 A FALL. 
 
 As yet, however, Bolingbroke had. not abandoned all 
 hope of preserving his place. The new Bang was 
 known to be a man of moderate opinions, and 
 averse to extreme measures. It seemed to be his 
 interest to conciliate the Tories, or at least not to 
 allow their opponents to tyrannize over them. It 
 might not be impossible to make use of the weapons 
 used by the Whigs themselves, and raise the cry of 
 Jacobitism against them as loudly as they were shouting- 
 it against the Tories. " The Whigs are a pack of 
 Jacobites ; that shall be the cry in a month, if you 
 please," Bolingbroke wrote to Swift on the 3rd of 
 August. On the same day he addressed a letter in 
 French to King George, who had not yet set out from 
 Hanover. " I take the Hberty," Bolingbroke said, " in 
 the midst of the acclamations of your people, to testify 
 to your Majesty the joy that I feel to become the subject 
 of so great a prince. The same spirit prevails every- 
 where ; and the factions which have generally dis- 
 turbed the Grovernment are no more. May Grod grant 
 that your Majesty's wisdom and firmness may hinder 
 
424 A FALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 them from again coming to Kfe !" The letter concluded 
 by assuring the King that the same principles of honour 
 and conscience which had induced Bolingbroke to serve 
 the late Queen with honour and fidehty to the day of 
 her death, would attach him devotedly to his present 
 Majesty, and that, in whatever station he might be 
 employed, either in the Court, Parhament, or the 
 country, he would endeavour to deserve the title of 
 his Majesty's most humble, most faithful, and most 
 obedient servant,* This was in a different strain from 
 that in which Bolingbroke had ever before spoken or 
 written of Hanover. He had gone so far as to say, 
 not many months before, in a very imprudent moment, 
 when the wine was in his head, " I will never serve 
 the Elector." This declaration was now remembered 
 against him ; and the many enemies he had made were 
 firmly resolved that he should be taken at his word. 
 
 They ^vere not slow in giving him to understand 
 that all power had passed out of his hands. The black 
 box had been opened, and the five-and-twenty regents, 
 most of whom were Whigs, or those whom Bolingbroke 
 had reason to dislike even still more, the Whimsical 
 Tories, began to exercise their power without the 
 shghtest consideration to the ministers who still held 
 office. Bohngbroke had to hsten humbly and in 
 silence to their severe rebukes for the manner in which 
 the outposts had been left in so defenceless a condition. 
 It was useless for him to attempt any justification. He 
 was met by lowering looks at the Council Board even 
 from the great officers of state who had been his own 
 colleagues, and the five-and-twenty regents, who ap- 
 peared to him ■ like five-and-twenty kings, evidently 
 regarded him as a traitor. Addison was appointed 
 
 * Bol. Con-., ii. 679. 
 
1714—1716.] BOLINGBROKE'S DISMISSAL. 425 
 
 their secretary. They gave orders that all the corre- 
 spondence with foreign Courts was to be brought to 
 him ; and Bolingbroke, who had been a week ago 
 master of the Court and Government, - was kept for 
 hours in the antechamber with his hlue hag in his 
 hand, the object of derision to lackeys and grooms, 
 while he was made to wait the good pleasure of the 
 regents. His proud spirit suffered keenly the hu- 
 miliation to which he was subjected ; but his enemies 
 were compelled to acknowledge that he bore all that 
 he was obliged to endure with patience and even 
 dignity. In his pride of place and genius, while 
 heated by party passion and the fierce struggles of 
 power, he had given many cruel provocations ; and 
 he was soon made to expect no mercy at the hands of 
 those from whom, as he candidly acknowledged, he 
 had deserved none.* 
 
 He was still, however, nominally a minister of 
 the crown. As long as he continued in ofSce, the 
 Tories still hoped that they were to be managed, and 
 spoke of enjoying some share of the king's favour, 
 while the other party were not satisfied that their 
 success was complete. Of all the members of Queen 
 Anne's Government, he was the most obnoxious to 
 the Whigs : to see him still hold the seals a day longer 
 than was necessary became intolerable to the trium- 
 phant faction. Neither Bohngbroke nor his enemies 
 were long kept in suspense as to his fate. His dutiful 
 letter to the King remained without an answer : but 
 about the middle of August, an order came from his 
 Majesty summarily dismissing him, and appointing 
 Lord Townshend, the author of the Barrier Treaty, 
 
 * " I received no mercy from the Whigs, and I had deserved none." — Letter 
 to Sir W. Windham. 
 
426 A FALL. [Chap. XL 
 
 to his office. Other servants of the Queen were per- 
 mitted to keep their places until the King's arrival : 
 to Bolinghroke no such forhearance was shown. It 
 was impossible, in his case, to forego any longer the 
 luxury of revenge. Prior's letters from France were 
 received with great distrust : it was said that he wrote 
 in cypher what he might well have communicated in 
 plain language ; and some of the regents suspected 
 Bolinghroke of keeping back his despatches.* His 
 dismissal from the office he had held for four years 
 was to them a cause of joy only second to the 
 death of the Queen. " The removal of Lord Boling- 
 hroke," wrote the gentle and moderate Addison, " has 
 put a seasonable check to an interest that was making 
 in many places for members in the next Parliament, 
 and was very much relished by the people, who as- 
 cribed to him in a great measure the decay of trade 
 and pubhc credit." f 
 
 But it was not thought enough to dismiss Boling- 
 hroke from office. His papers were sealed up ; though 
 Hare, his imder - secretary, managed to conceal the 
 most valuable and important. J Bohngbroke, how- 
 ever, received from this proceeding of his enemies, 
 a sufficient warning that more was meditated against 
 himself than mere exclusion from power. 
 
 After attending the deliberations of the old Parlia- 
 ment, which met, according to the Act of Settlement, 
 on the death of the Queen, and witnessing in every 
 discussion the mortification of his friends, he went into 
 the country at the beginning of September. As he 
 took up his residence at Bucklersbury rather than at 
 Ashdown Park, his wife probably shared his retire- 
 
 * Bothmar to Robethon, Aug. 10, 1714; Macpherson, ii. 641. 
 f Hanover Papers ; Addison to Eobethon, Sept. 4, 1714. 
 % See the Preface to the Bol. Corr. 
 
714—1716.] AT BTJCKLEESBUET. 427 
 
 ment. Some kind of reconciliation was certainly come 
 to between them in the season of his disgrace ; for 
 afterwards, when the whole world seemed against him, 
 she considered it her duty and her honour to defend 
 her husband. Whatever may have been her feelings 
 towards him in the hour of his prosperity, when his 
 political fortunes were at the blackest, she no longer 
 spoke of herself as the discarded mistress.* But 
 though Swift was one of her admirers, Bolingbroke 
 never seems to have regarded her with much love or 
 esteem. In the country, however, there were still his 
 dogs and horses, his neighbours to smoke with, and 
 his wheat and barley to get in ; and these occupations 
 still afforded him real pleasure. f What a change had 
 occurred in his prospects since he hunted the last 
 autumn at Ashdown Park ! Then the world smiled 
 upon him ; he was full of business ; all the foreign 
 correspondence of the kingdom was directed by him ; 
 princes and kings contended for his favour ; the settle- 
 ment of Europe was made by him ; the succession to 
 the crown seemed to depend upon his mere will and 
 pleasure. And now all was changed. He was in 
 disgrace ; he had been driven from the Court and the 
 Government ; his enemies were all-powerful ; his 
 papers were sealed up ; he was shunned by everybody 
 who hoped to profit in the new order of things ; his 
 name was scarcely ever mentioned without obloquy ; 
 threats of banishment, of confiscation, of the scaffold, 
 were uttered against him : he had reason to dread the 
 worst vengeance of his foes. Bitter thoughts of how 
 all this might have been prevented, had the Queen 
 lived but a little while longer, or Oxford been a little 
 
 * See her Letters to Swift, of May 5 and Aug. 4, 1716. 
 t Swift to Bolingbrolic, Sept. 14, 1714. 
 
428 ^ PALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 more resolute, attended tim through the pleasant corn 
 fields, as he smoked tobacco, and even while the deep- 
 mouthed baying of his hounds came down the wind 
 like rich music to his ears. 
 
 Then many of the country squires about him were 
 Jacobites, and loudly lamented their lost opportunity. 
 They told him plainly what they thought. Could 
 nothing be done ? Were they to lie down quietly and 
 allow their enemies to ride roughshod over them ? 
 Or might they not retrieve the game by setting up a 
 Tory king ? 
 
 Just at this time a pamphlet appeared, entitled the 
 Secret History of the White Staff. The author was 
 Defoe ; but it was generally supposed to be written 
 under Oxford's instigation ; and professed to relate 
 how he had during his administration counteracted the 
 Jacobite designs of BoHngbroke and his supporters, 
 and how they had, in order to bring in James III., 
 made him at last a martyr to the Protestant succession. 
 The work produced what has been called a sensation ; 
 and seemed to confirm all the worst suspicions against 
 Bolingbroke which the Whigs had so long avowed. 
 Appearing at such a moment, it was calculated to do 
 him a serious injury by adding fuel to the animosity 
 which was supposed to prevail against him in the 
 highest places. An answer to this pamphlet was im- 
 mediately afterwards published, retorting on Oxford 
 the very charges which his panegyrist made against 
 Bolingbroke and Atterbury ; it is doubtful, however, 
 whether the reply, which was not remarkable either 
 for power or spirit, was produced with Bolingbroke's 
 sanction or knowledge ; and the only result of the two 
 publications was to convince the majoritv of the read- 
 ing pubhc of the truth of the accusations respectively 
 
1714—1716.] THE PEETENDER'S PROCLAMATION. 429 
 
 made by the assailants of both the late Lord Treasurer 
 and the late Secretary of State.* 
 
 The noise of the controversy had scarcely died away, 
 when another circumstance occurred which strengthened 
 these allegations. A proclamation from the Pretender, 
 signed James R., was published, in which he explained 
 his position, asserted his hereditary right to the crown, 
 and gave his reasons for remaining quiet during his 
 sister's reign, " whose good intentions towards us," he 
 said, " we could not, for some time past, well doubt." 
 This proclamation was greedily seized upon by the 
 Whigs, and was at first declared by the Tories to be a 
 forgery. All doubts of its authenticity being soon set 
 aside, BoHngbroke's enemies asked, what further proof 
 could be required ? Here was the Pretender himself, 
 admitting, under his own hand, that Queen Anne's 
 ministers had been acting in concert with him to put 
 him on the throne. Bolingbroke himself professed as 
 much indignation at the Pretender's letter as the Whigs. 
 
 His friend. Lord Strafford, was recalled from the 
 Hague. On landing in England he was requested 
 to give up all his instructions and papers. Prior 
 was ordered to return from France, and his corre- 
 spondence was also seized. A severe inquisition was 
 evidently meditated into the conduct of all who had 
 anything to do with the late negotiations for peace ; and 
 of these Bolingbroke was the chief. All the agents of 
 the last Government were in the greatest alarm. In 
 the midst of these apprehensions the Duke of Ormond, 
 who had been succeeded by Marlborough as captain- 
 general of the forces, but who, in other respects, had 
 
 * See Secret History of the White Staff; the Detection of the Sophistries of 
 that pamphlet. There was also another answer, entitled the History of the 
 Mitre and Purse. 
 
430 A FALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 been treated with courtesy and consideration by the new 
 King, suddenly disappeared; and it was prematurely 
 alleged that he had sought shelter from the storm which 
 was evidently impending by taking refuge in France. 
 Here, again, it was said, was another striking confirmation 
 of aE. the worst suspicions of Bohngbroke's enemies : the 
 nobleman who had superseded Marlborough in the com- 
 mand of the EngKsh troops, and who, by his refusal to 
 fight, and his desertion of the alhes produced the disaster 
 of Denain, had not dared even to wait until his conduct 
 was inquired into, but had at once fled from the antici- 
 pated investigation. It was evident that BoHngbroke 
 would not long be allowed to remain in quiet. As he 
 hunted and smoked with his neighbours, and chatted 
 about the crops that were at last safely stacked in his 
 barn-yards, he had reason to expect a visit from his old 
 acquaintances, the messengers of the Secretary of State's 
 office, with a warrant for his apprehension, signed by 
 his successor. Lord Townshend. 
 
 The winter passed on, however, and BoHngbroke was 
 still allowed to Uve unmolested at his country seat. 
 
 The Whigs were busily engaged in securing their 
 power. AH idea of managing the Tories was given up ; 
 and it was clear that their opponents were to have exclu- 
 sive possession of office. Nor can the King or his advisers 
 be justly blamed for following this course. It was 
 necessary that there should be a ministry united 
 in their councils, and acting confidently together; 
 and this result coidd only be attained by putting the 
 Grovernment entirely into the hands of the Whigs. 
 George I. naturally preferred men whom he could 
 trust, because he knew them to be his friends, 
 than men whom there was only too much reason 
 to believe to be his enemies, and who certainly. 
 
1714-1716.] BOLINGBEOKB AND GEOEGE THE FIEST. 431 
 
 while they had power, during the late reign, had 
 treated both his mother and himself with very little 
 deference. During the four years Bolinghroke had 
 been Secretary of State he had been constantly 
 bickering with the residents from Hanover at the 
 English Court; nor can it be shown that through- 
 out that period he ever seemed to care how his 
 conduct was represented to the Elector. He had 
 demanded the recall of one Hanoverian envoy ; he 
 had forbidden another to appear at Court ; the last 
 letter Anne wrote to the Princess Sophia, just 
 before the aged Electress died, contained a strong 
 rebuke for the publication of the correspondence 
 about the Duke of Cambridge coming over. Nor 
 can it be said that the acts of the Elector, or his 
 late mother, had been at all unreasonable. They 
 were suspected of being indifferent to the succession 
 at all ; and so moderate, indeed, were their proceed- 
 ings, that even an authoress in our day, strongly 
 devoted to the cause of the Stuarts, has deduced 
 from their temperate conduct the conclusion that 
 the Electress Sophia was really indifferent to the 
 succession, and actually preferred that the heir of 
 James II. should have the crown rather than 
 her own son.* It is impossible to avoid seeing 
 that, had Bolinghroke, when minister, reaUy shown 
 a sincere disposition to conciliate the Elector, he 
 might have succeeded. But every line of his cor- 
 respondence, and every act which he performed, 
 proved that he had no such disposition. He could 
 not, therefore, justly complain at this time that he 
 and his friends were neglected and distrusted. He 
 only reaped what he had himself sown. Nor could 
 
 * Miss Strickland in her Life of the Princess Sophia. 
 
432 A FALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 he, who avowed that his great object as a minister 
 was " to fQl all employments in the kingdom, down 
 to the meanest of them, with Tories,"* justly turn 
 round upon his opponents and cry out against their 
 injustice for filling all the offices at their disposal 
 with Whigs. It was because the spring had been 
 so violently pressed down that there was such a 
 violent recoil. Men who expect moderation from 
 their opponents should themselves act with modera- 
 tion. The manner in which Bolingbroke had, during 
 the reign of Anne, pursued the system of governing 
 solely by the Tories, had rendered it almost inevi- 
 table that George I. should govern almost solely by 
 the Whigs. 
 
 The ParHament was dissolved at the beginning 
 of the year 1715. Every party engine and all the 
 influence of the Court, were used to secure a majority 
 for the Whigs at the new elections. The Bank, 
 the Bast India Company, the South Sea Company, 
 all the monied interest, put forth their strength. 
 The Tory majority, which, ever since the dissolu- 
 tion after the trial of Sacheverell, had dominated 
 in the House of Commons, disappeared, never again 
 to be revived during the hfe of Bolingbroke, or, 
 indeed, until some years after the breaking out of 
 the American war during the administration of Lord 
 North. All restraint was now taken from the 
 Whigs : they had the power ; and it was soon seen 
 how they would use it. 
 
 A proscription began, of which Bolingbroke learnt, 
 on coming to town early in March to attend his 
 duties in the new ParHament, that he was to be 
 one of the first victims. The advice of the mild 
 
 * Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
1714—1716.] THE EEGEET OP S0MEE5. 433 
 
 and venerable Somers was once more disregarded, 
 and the Whigs were eager for revenge. A letter 
 of Bolingbroke on this subject has been preserved, 
 dehneating, with apparent truth, the position of 
 affairs. " George the First," Bolingbroke wrote, " set 
 out from Hanover with a resolution of oppressing no 
 set of men that would be quiet subjects. But as 
 soon as he came into Holland a contrary resolution 
 was taken, at the earnest importunity of the allies, 
 and particularly of Heinsius and some of the Whigs. 
 Lord Townshend came triumphing to acquaint Lord 
 Somers with all the measures of proscription and 
 persecution which they intended, and to which the 
 King had at last consented. The old peer asked 
 what he meant, and shed tears on the foresight ot 
 measures like those of the Roman Triumvirate." 
 
 In the royal speech which was given to be read by 
 the Lord Chancellor Cowper, at the meeting of the new 
 Parliament, on the 21st of March, his Majesty's dis- 
 satisfaction with the treaty of peace, and the conduct of 
 the late Queen's advisers was plainly declared. That 
 dissatisfaction was expressed still more strongly in the 
 two addresses of the Lords and Commons in reply ; and 
 Oxford and Bolingbroke were given very unequivocally 
 to understand that they had to expect Uttle mercy. The 
 Lords uttered a hope, in one portion of their address, 
 that his Majesty would recover the reputation of the 
 kingdom in foreign parts, and declared that they would 
 convince the world by their actions that the loss was 
 not to be imputed to the nation in general. This was 
 condemning by implication the Tory statesmen much 
 in the same style as in their recent royal speeches and 
 addresses Bolingbroke and his friends used to condemn 
 the Whigs. Such a method of party warfare on both sides 
 
 2 P 
 
434 A FALL. [Cha*. XL 
 
 was greatly to be deplored. The late ministers strongly 
 objected to these expressions ; and Bolingbroke appeared 
 at the head of the Opposition. He spoke manfully, ably, 
 and eloquently. He would do all, he said, to vindicate 
 the conduct of the last Grovernment. If he had done 
 wrong he was willing to be punished ; but it was hard 
 to be censured without being heard in his defence. He 
 eulogized both the late Queen and the present King, 
 declaring that his Majesty was a prince of great wisdom, 
 equity, and justice, and that their lordships would do 
 well to imitate his example. He concluded by moving 
 that the words "recover the reputation of the king- 
 dom," and the rest of the paragraph might be omitted. 
 He was followed by Strafford and Shrewsbury on the 
 same side ; and opposed by Wharton, Cowper, Not- 
 tingham, Aylesford, and Devonshire. It was not cre- 
 ditable to the House of Lords, in which Bolingbroke 
 and his friends had recently been so powerful, that 
 this condemnatory address was, however, carried against 
 him by sixty-six votes to thirty-three, exactly two to 
 one.* 
 
 In the House of Coromons the late ministers even 
 fared stdl worse. There, though General Stanhope 
 had been made the other Secretary of State in the 
 place of Squire Bromley, Walpole, the Paymaster of 
 the Forces, was, in fact, the leader of the Grovemment. 
 His ascendancy was almost as great over the Whigs 
 as Mr. Secretary St. John's had ever been over the 
 Tories, and he was quite as much resolved to gratify their 
 vengeance and his own. It is true that Bolingbroke, 
 forgetting how long he had, at the head of his party, 
 called out for measures of proscription against his poli- 
 tical opponents, now felt that it was extremely wrong ia 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vi. 46. 
 
1714—1716.] WALPOLE'S BITTERNESS. 435 
 
 ministers whose business it was to restrain the violence 
 of their followers " to act as tribunes of the people."* 
 AValpole, though not at all either a merciless man or 
 fond of extreme measures, followed the very bad ex- 
 ample his rival had set. He fully believed that Boling- 
 broke and his friends had been concerting measures to 
 put the Pretender on the throne ; and that they had 
 shamefully given up to France all the successes of the 
 war. Into all their conduct he was determined to exer- 
 cise the most vigorous scrutiny. On the first day of the 
 session he gave Bolingbroke fully to understand that he 
 was to expect the worst. Walpole was made chairman 
 of the committee to prepare the address of the Commons 
 in answer to the royal speech. This address was even 
 stronger against the late Government than that which 
 was carried by the Lords ; and the positive assurance 
 was given to the King that the representatives of the 
 people would spare no efforts to inquire into past mis- 
 managements, and to bring the authors of them to 
 condign punishment. Walpole's own speech even 
 breathed a still more acrimonious spirit. Some of the 
 Tories, particularly Bolingbroke' s friends. General Ross 
 and Sir William Windham, objected to the language 
 of the address, and declared that certain passages which 
 censured the late ministry could only be construed into 
 a reflection upon the memory of the late Queen. " No- 
 thing," said Walpole, " is further from my intention 
 than to brand the memory of the Queen. All I in- 
 tend is to expose and punish the evil counsellors 
 who deluded her into pernicious measures. No 
 person, indeed, should be condemned unheard ; but 
 those who made and advised the peace, by which, 
 as the whole nation is sensible, the honour and in- 
 
 * The Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 A FALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 terest of the country were given up, must, in due 
 time, be called to account." General Stanhope followed 
 in a similar style. In taking notice of a report that 
 Queen Anne's advisers were only censured in general 
 terms, he declared, that though many papers had been 
 removed from the pubKc offices, there was sufficient 
 evidence to show that the late ministers were the most 
 corrupt that ever sat at the hehn, and he pledged him- 
 self that the whole business should soon be brought 
 before the House. The Tories were now exactly in 
 the position of their opponents in recent sessions ; the 
 address was carried by two hundred and forty-four 
 against one hundred and thirty-eight.* 
 
 It was clear, then, that a prosecution was impending 
 over both Oxford and Bohngbroke. Oxford conducted 
 himself with his characteristic caution. He came from 
 the country to town and went back from town to 
 the coimtry several times in a mysterious, uncertain 
 way, speaking little, and that httle quite unintelligible, 
 seldom appearing in pubhc, and never putting himself 
 prominently forward in opposition. Bohngbroke as- 
 sumed quite a bold and defiant air. His speech on the 
 first day of the session was almost a challenge to his 
 opponents ; he showed himself everywhere ; spoke con- 
 fidently of his innocence ; and seemed as though he 
 cared nothing for what his enemies might do. This 
 was, however, all acting. He was at heart much more 
 alarmed than Oxford. After showing himself at the 
 theatre, on the evening of the 25th of March, compli- 
 menting the actors, and bespeaking a play for the next 
 night, he suddenly, with all the ready money he could 
 raise on his property, left town in the disguise of a 
 valet to the French messenger, La Yigne, who was just 
 
 • Pari. Hist., vii. 50. 
 
1714—1716.] BOLINGBEOKE'S FLIGHT. 437 
 
 going over to Paris. He wrote from Dover a letter to 
 his friend, George Granville, then Lord Lansdowne, 
 and was then conveyed quietly over to Calais. 
 
 The next day Bolingbroke's letter was shown about 
 in manuscript, and gave rise to some curious specula- 
 tions. Even those who were most in his confidence, 
 could not understand some of the allusions ; nor has, 
 indeed, any satisfactory explanation of them been given 
 up to this hour. They showed, however, plainly 
 enough, that the statesman who, up to the time of his 
 flight, had put on so brave an appearance, was really 
 in a positive fright. "I left town so abruptly," he 
 wrote, " that I had not time to take leave of you or 
 any of my friends. You will excuse me when you 
 know, that I had certain and repeated information? 
 from some who are in the secret of affairs, that a reso- 
 lution was taken by those who have power to execute 
 it, to pursue me to the scaffold. My blood was to have 
 been the cement of a new alliance ; nor could my inno- 
 cence be any security after it had been once demanded 
 from abroad, and resolved on at home, that it was 
 necessary to cut me off." 
 
 All this seemed strange, mysterious, perplexing. 
 People asked each other what it did actually mean? 
 Prior, indeed, was just coming over from Paris, and it 
 was reported that he was about to tell all he knew. 
 Yet this could scarcely be the reason of Bolingbroke's 
 alarm. The private and confidential correspondence of 
 Matt and Henry has been pubhshed, and it appears, on 
 the whole, of a very innocent nature ; there is cer- 
 tainly nothing like treason in it ; still less in the 
 ofiicial correspondence between the two friends, which, 
 from the precautions of Bohngbroke's Under Secre- 
 tary, their enemies had it alone in their power to 
 
438 A PALL. [Chap. XL 
 
 examine. Bolingbroke's language indicates other ap- 
 prehensions : " I had certain and repeated information, 
 from some who are in the secret of affairs, that a reso- 
 lution was taken by those who have power to execute 
 it, to pursue me to the scaffold. My blood was to be 
 the cement of a new alliance." These words, when 
 taken with the letter already quoted infer that the 
 Pensionary Heinsius, resented Bolingbroke's conduct in 
 the negotiations about the peace so highly that he de- 
 manded his head as the price of the renewal of the 
 alliance with England. Elsewhere, Bolingbroke de- 
 clares that he was to have been accused of high treason ; 
 and that from the method of prosecution, his innocence 
 would have availed him nothing. But, surely, even 
 though Heinsius had been ever so thirsty for Boling- 
 broke's blood, his experience might have told him that 
 in England, even during the worst of times, it was not 
 easy to bring in any man guilty of high treason, unless 
 the crime had actually been committed, and there was 
 sufficient evidence to justify a conviction. Notwith- 
 standing all the means at the command of his enemies, 
 it was found afterwards very difficult to frame two 
 articles of impeachment against either Oxford or Bo- 
 lingbroke even in appearance looking something like 
 high treason. That on such charges, whatever might 
 have been the determination of his accusers, their blood 
 could ever have been shed, is the wildest improba- 
 bility. 
 
 Who, then, was the influential person that supplied 
 Bolingbroke with the certain and repeated information 
 which induced him to fly from the accusations, and by 
 taking such a step by his own conduct alone give an 
 apparent admission of guilt? It was the work of a 
 master hand •, it was the work of Marlborough. Boling- 
 
1714—1716.] MAELBOEOUGH PEIGHTENS BOLINGBEOEB. 439 
 
 broke in his extremity thought of his old friendship. 
 He went to the duke, expressed himself anxious to make 
 matters up between them, and earnestly besought his 
 Grace's advice. Marlborough was placable by nature, 
 seldom inclined to act upon his resentments, or ready 
 to refuse the proffered hand. But after all that 
 had passed, he would have been either much more or 
 much less than human — ^he would perhaps have acted 
 with ridiculous weakness — could he in his heart have 
 forgiven Bolingbroke, or have performed towards him 
 a friendly part. Crueller wrongs no person had ever 
 received from the hands of another than the duke had 
 sustained from the young statesman, whom he had 
 made Secretary-at-War, for whose fidehty he had 
 answered, and whom he had called his son.* Boling- 
 broke had libelled his wife, encouraged Swift to assail 
 him with merciless satire and vituperation, brought 
 forward accusations of peculation and extortion against 
 him in the House of Commons, taken him from the 
 head of his victorious army, given his command to an 
 enemy, surrendered his glorious conquests, driven him 
 from England, and threatened on his return, almost at 
 the moment of the Queen's death, to commit him to the 
 Tower. And were these things at once to be forgotten 
 or forgiven ? The duke acted like himself. He re- 
 ceived Bolingbroke with courtesy, professed himself 
 ready to serve him, privately communicated, as one 
 deep in the secrets of Heinsius and the ministers, that 
 his life was to be struck at ; that Oxford and the Whigs 
 had come to an understanding of which the price was 
 his blood ; and that his only resource was flight. Bo- 
 lingbroke, being greatly alarmed before, was absolutely 
 appalled at the duke's manner and the duke's words, 
 
 * See Marchmont Papers (note), ii. 214. 
 
440 A PALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 intimating, as they did, more even than expressed. The 
 consequence was, that in the fears which Marlborough 
 had so artfully practised upon, Bolingbroke did the very 
 last thing which, on the presumption of his innocence, 
 he ought to have done. By flying from his accusers, 
 and seeking refuge in France, he appeared to justify all 
 the allegations of those who charged him with having 
 given up the interests of England by the peace to the 
 French king, and of having been in a deep conspiracy 
 to bring in the Pretender.* 
 
 His flight was felt to be so injurious to himself, that 
 some of his friends for some days professed to consider 
 the letter from Dover a forgery. Lord Trevor had 
 most earnestly advised him not to think of leaving 
 England; and to the last moment Bolingbroke had 
 declared that he would follow his friend's counsel. His 
 enemies were now determined to hasten the proceed- 
 ings against the late ministers. On tae 31st of March 
 an address was moved and carried in the House of 
 Commons requesting his Majesty to order all the papers 
 relating to the negotiations about the peace to be laid 
 upon the table. Copies of these documents were soon 
 afterwards brought down to the House by Mr. Secre- 
 tary Stanhope ; but they were found to be so volumi- 
 
 * Bolingbroke, in the Letter to Sir W. Windham, denies that he was 
 frightened by Marlborough into leaving England ; but even his own language 
 somehow strengthens the belief that this impression, was really correct. " I 
 took the resolution of leaving England, not in a panic terror, or moved by the 
 artifices of the Duke of Marlborough, whom I knew too well, even at that time> 
 to act by his advice or information in any case, but on such grounds as the 
 proceedings which soon followed justified, and as I have never repented build- 
 ing upon." His principal motive for going, he afterwards declared, was 
 his intense personal abhorrence of Oxford, and that he rather preferred 
 banishment to consulting with him about their common defence. But how 
 does this assertion correspond with the letter from Dover ? It was certainly 
 written in tenw, and even in " panic terror." See also Marchmont Papers, 
 note, ii. 192. 
 
1714—1716.] THE SECRET COMMITTEE. 441 
 
 nous that a Select Committee was thought necessary to 
 examine and digest them under proper heads. It was 
 afterwards determined that this should be a Secret Com- 
 mittee, and that it should consist of one-and-twenty 
 members. These members were chosen by ballot ; and 
 were aU stanch "Whigs or Whimsical Tories ; not one of 
 them could be said to have any political attachment to 
 Bolingbroke, and some of them were unquestionably 
 his personal enemies. The names of most of them, 
 even to our day, are suggestive of memorable Whig 
 reminiscences, embracing more than half a century of 
 political history. Among them were the respectable Sir 
 Eichard Onslow, afterwards a Speaker, and the father 
 of Speakers ; Eobert Walpole, who could now pay the 
 debt of vengeance contracted in years of rivalry; James 
 Stanhope, full of earnest and conscientious party zeal ; 
 Spencer Cowper, a Whig of the Whigs, and who had 
 himself been obnoxious to the Tories ; William Pulte- 
 ney, with whom many years afterwards Bolingbroke 
 was to be closely allied in the struggle against the 
 ascendancy of his old rival; the rough and resolute 
 Hugh Boscawen, the Comptroller of the Household; 
 the time-serving and self-seeking Aislaby, who, on the 
 bursting of the South Sea bubble, was himself to feel 
 the vengeance of the Commons, and be covered with 
 obloquy; the two eminent Whig lawyers, Nicholas 
 Lechmere and Sir Joseph Jekyll ; Daniel Lord Finch, 
 who was one day to be as eager for Bolingbroke's par- 
 don as he now was for his punishment ; Richard Hamp- 
 den, whom Bolingbroke had once threatened to commit 
 to the Tower ; the fiery and intemperate Thomas, Lord 
 Coningsby, determined to spare no efforts to briag Queen 
 Anne's advisers to justice ; the stolid and wealthy Ed- 
 ward Wortley Montagu, blessed in marriage with the 
 
442 A PALL. [Chap. XI. 
 
 most brilliant woman of the age, a blessing wMcb be 
 does not appear always to bave appreciated; and tbe 
 respectable Mr. Tbomas Pitt, senior, Diamond Pitt as 
 be was called, being tbe possessor of tbe great diamond, 
 late Governor of Madras, tbe grandfather of tbe William 
 Pitt wbo became tbe great Earl of Chatham, and the 
 great-grandfather of the Wilham Pitt who was to 
 become the canonized Tory statesman. 
 
 The Committee of Secrecy having been chosen, it was 
 determined to lose no time before proceeding to busi- 
 ness. The members of the Committee assembled on the 
 same evening and chose Walpole their chairman ; he 
 was, however, taken ill on the following day, and Stan- 
 hope was appointed to act in bis stead. All books and 
 papers were ordered to be given up to tbe Committee ; 
 it was agreed that five members should constitute a 
 quorum ; that they should meet from day to day ; and 
 that for greater despatch they should divide themselves 
 into three sub-committees, each to examine a portion of 
 tbe voluminous papers submitted to their scrutiny. 
 This investigation occupied about six weeks. Boling- 
 broke's friends affected great confidence, and professed 
 much impatience for the Eeport of the Committees. 
 Tbe "Whigs were equally confident on the other side, 
 declaring that when tbe Eeport should appear it would 
 contain most extraordinary revelations. At length, on 
 tbe 2nd of June, Walpole informed the Commons that 
 the Committee bad examined all the books and papers 
 which had been laid before them ; that they had 
 matters of the highest importance to communicate ; and 
 requested the House to appoint a day to receive the 
 Report. That day week was fixed upon, and all 
 members were ordered to be then in their places. 
 
 On the appointed day Walpole rose in a crowded 
 
1714—1716.] THE EBPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 443 
 
 House. Before producing tlie Report lie moved that 
 the Speaker might issue his warrant to apprehend 
 certain persons who should be named by the Chair- 
 man of the Committee ; and that no member should 
 be permitted to leave the house. The motion was 
 carried. The lobby was cleared of strangers ; the 
 doors were locked ; the keys laid upon the table, and 
 the Sergeant-at-Arms commanded to keep guard at the 
 entrance. Walpole named several persons who were 
 to be taken into custody, in order that they might be 
 examined ; the two principal being Oxford's cousin, 
 Thomas Harley, and Bolingbroke's friend, Matthew 
 Prior, who, though the debts he had contracted in Paris 
 were unpaid, had just arrived from France. These 
 preliminaries were sufficiently alarming. Walpole in- 
 formed the House that the Committee had agreed upon 
 their Report ; and that it was contained in one large 
 volume with a separate appendix of important papers. 
 He then began to read the Report : with the aid of the 
 clerk the perusal was continued until eight in the 
 evening ; it was resumed on the following day, and 
 ■concluded at about four in the afternoon. 
 
 This Report was a most elaborate and able com- 
 mentary on the whole series of negotiations relating to 
 the peace of Utrecht. It was the composition of 
 Walpole himself, and shows how much energy and 
 hatred he had brought to the task of prosecuting his 
 former rival ; for though the conduct of Strafford, 
 Ormond, and Oxford is sternly commented upon, 
 it is on Bolingbroke that the principal weight of con- 
 demnation is made to fall. Most of the conclusions 
 are severely drawn ; but many of them were un- 
 happily too well justified. No Englishman can at 
 this day undertake to defend the manner in which th& 
 
444 A FALL. [Chap. XL 
 
 negotiations were conducted, I have already pointed 
 out where they must be considered the most faulty; 
 it is not necessary to repeat those observations by 
 entering into any detailed examination of the allega- 
 tions of the Committee. But even the remarkable 
 analytical skill with which the Eeport was drawn up, 
 could not hide from Bolingbroke's enemies the fact that 
 the crimes of which they accused him did not actually 
 amount to high treason. Something more than errors in 
 negotiation, or even wanton misconduct in negotiation, 
 was necessary to bring an Enghsh statesman to the 
 block. Throughout the Eeport there is a painful con- 
 sciousness that though many of the transactions on 
 which the Committee conunented were highly blame- 
 able, yet this was not all that was expected or re- 
 quired. They pressed into the service the rigorous 
 statute of Edward III.'s reign ; and on the imputed 
 willingness of Bolingbroke and Oxford to surrender 
 Tournay to the French, notwithstanding the Queen's 
 promise to the contrary, attempted to establish a charge 
 of constructive treason by an alleged adhering to her 
 Majesty's enemies. But Tournay had not been given 
 up. Why that town should have been fixed upon on 
 which to build a charge, while Lisle and other places 
 which had actually been taken from the Dutch barrier 
 were allowed to pass without comment, is one of those 
 strange proceedings which become more extraordinary 
 the more they are considered. It is not difficult to see 
 what a reception such charges would have met with 
 had they ever come before the judges. On perusing 
 them, no impartial person can avoid asking. Was it for 
 fear of being tried for his life on these grounds that 
 Bolingbroke fled from his country ? The Eeport was 
 deeply injurious to his reputation as a statesman;. 
 
171*— 1716.] IMPEACHMENT OP BOLINGBEOKE. 445 
 
 but not from tte proofs it contained of any high treason 
 he had committed. As lie himself wrote about this 
 production of the Secret Committee : " That step of the 
 Whigs was more cruel than all the others : by a partial 
 representation of facts, and pieces of facts, put together 
 as best suited their purpose, and published to the whole 
 world, they did all that in them lay to expose me for a 
 fool, and to brand me for a knave. But then I had 
 deserved this abundantly at their hands, according to 
 the notion of party justice."* 
 
 After the Eeport had been read, and laid on the 
 table. Sir Thomas Hanmer, and the more moderate 
 section of the House, recommended that further pro- 
 ceedings upon it might be adjourned until after it had 
 been printed and put into the hands of all the members. 
 But Walpole and Stanhope would hear of no delay. 
 Here, they said, was a pretty thing. They had been 
 blamed for not getting the Report ready earlier ; and 
 now, when they had produced it, the very persons who 
 blamed them wished the business to be postponed. The 
 motion for the adjournment of the debate was defeated 
 by a large majority. Walpole then rose and said : 
 " After having heard the Report read, I have no doubt 
 that the House is fuUy convinced that Henry Lord 
 Viscount Bolingbroke is guilty of high treason, and 
 other high crimes and misdemeanors. I therefore 
 impeach him of those crimes. But if any member 
 has anything to say in his behalf, I have no doubt the 
 House will be willing to listen." There was a long 
 pause and a deep silence. None of the time-serving 
 
 • * The Letter to Sir W. Windham. The Eeport of the Committee of Secrecy, 
 which ought to be carefully read by every one who undertakes to give an 
 opinion on this portion of Bolingbroke's life, will be found in the Appendix to 
 the seventh volume of the Parliamentary History. 
 
44G A PALL. [Chap. XL 
 
 sycophants who had cheered and courted the brilliant 
 Mr. Secretary St. John now stood up to defend the 
 impeached viscount. After a silence of some minutes, 
 a silence that was painfully expressive, one member, a 
 Mr. Hungerford, did indeed express a doubt whether 
 there was anything they had heard in the Report 
 amounting to high treason ; another, stout General 
 Ross, rose, saying that he would reserve what he had 
 to say to another occasion, declared his surprise that 
 not a single member had anything to say in Lord 
 Bolingbroke's favour. The motion for the impeach- 
 ment was carried without a dissentient voice.* 
 
 Immediately afterwards Coningsby impeached Oxford. 
 Prior was subjected to a severe examination by the 
 Committee of Secrecy. A few days afterwards came 
 the turns of Strafford and Ormond. Of all the leading 
 members of Queen Anne's Government, Ormond is the 
 only one of whom we know with absolute certainty, 
 that during the last year of her reign, he was heartily 
 engaged in the Jacobite plots, and when Commander- 
 in-chief, was in secret correspondence with the Duke of 
 Berwick.f Yet the motion for his impeachment was 
 only carried by a small majority, and after many ex- 
 pressions of respect and regret. He was looked upon 
 as a nobleman of good intentions and most excellent 
 character, who had been deceived by his more artful 
 colleagues. But his sudden flight to France at leugth 
 silenced his friends, and encouraged his enemies ; and 
 he was placed in the same category as Bolingbroke. 
 
 The articles of impeachment were first exhibited 
 against Oxford. The opposition made to the eleventh 
 article, charging him with high treason on the business 
 
 * Pari. Hist., vii. 66. 
 
 + See the M^moires du Mar^chal de Berwick. 
 
.1714r-1716.] BOLINGBEOKE ATTAINTED. 447 
 
 of Tournay, and the confession of Sir Joseph Jekyll, 
 that on this question he differed from his associates in 
 the Committee of Secrecy, showed clearly that had 
 Bolingbroke really met his accusers face to face, and 
 stood upon the merits of his case, he would certainly 
 have had very little to fear. He had, however, fairly 
 placed himself in the power of his enemies, and could 
 expect no forbearance. It was not until the 4th of 
 August, after Oxford had been heard in his defence, 
 committed to the Tower, and additional charges 
 exhibited against him, that six articles of impeachment 
 were reported against Bolingbroke. On the 6th, 
 attended by a crowd of Whig members, Walpole went up 
 to the bar of the House of Lords, and in the name of the 
 Commons, solemnly impeached Henry Yiscount Boling- 
 broke of high treason, and other high crimes and 
 misdemeanors ; and at the same time he asked the 
 Lords to sequester the accused nobleman from Parlia- 
 ment, and commit him to safe custody. The Lords 
 sent a message to the Commons informing them that in 
 obedience to the request they had ordered the Usher of 
 the Black Rod to attach Lord Bolingbroke and bring 
 him to the bar ; that he was not, however, to be found, 
 and had, indeed, long before retired to France. A bill 
 attainting Bolingbroke of high treason was immediately 
 directed to be introduced in default of his surrendering 
 himself to justice by the 10th of September. The bill 
 was not carried without some opposition. On the third 
 reading in the House of Lords, a strong protest was 
 signed by all the noblemen who were still not ashamed 
 to profess some friendship and consideration to the 
 statesman who had lately been so powerful and pros- 
 perous ; Atterbury, Mashain, Bishop Compton, the 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, the young Earl of Jersey, 
 
4.48 A FALL. [Chap. XL 
 
 and two or three other peers, put their names to 
 the protest, against attainting the accused, as they 
 declared, on mere rumour, producing no proof of 
 the charges, and assigning him so short a period 
 to return to the kingdom before the law had to take 
 effect.* All this was, however, futile. The 10th of 
 September arrived, and Bolingbroke did not make 
 his appearance. On the 14th his name was ordered to 
 be erased from the roll of peers. 
 
 Bolingbroke had, however, already confirmed the 
 worst imputations of his foes, and apparently justified 
 all their harsh proceedings, by becoming Secretary of 
 State to the Pretender. How he fared in this new 
 undertaking we shall now see. 
 
 • Pari. Hist„ vii. 143. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1715—1716. 
 SECEETAKY OP STATE TO THE PRETENDER. 
 
 OiST arriving at Calais, Bolingbroke found a carriage 
 waiting at the landing to convey him to the Governor's 
 house. He vras received with unbounded hospitality, 
 and treated with almost as much respect as when 
 he was looked upon in the old town as the harbinger of 
 peace. The next day he went on to Paris. On the 
 road he is said to have met the Earl of Peterborough, 
 who was proceeding in post haste from Turin to London, 
 somewhat anxious about the reception he might meet 
 with from the new sovereign ; for, though thoroughly 
 a Whig, his hatred and jealousy of Marlborough had 
 kept him during the last four years allied with the 
 Tories. Bolingbroke and Peterborough passed each 
 other without speaking. The world was changed 
 since, but a few short months ago, the statesman was, 
 in a long correspondence, flattering the eccentric 
 soldier, whose movements were so sudden and rapid 
 that Bolingbroke was obliged to send letters to him at 
 a guess, scarcely knowing in what part of Europe he 
 might at any moment turn up. 
 
 At Paris, Bolingbroke was politely welcomed by 
 
 2 G 
 
450 SECRETARY OP STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 the Torcys and all who had a little while ago 
 received him with rapture. But he was no longer 
 the powerful Secretary of State, on whose will de- 
 pended so many great interests. He had been then 
 all but universally regarded as the finest Englishman 
 of his time, and as one of the finest heads of Europe. 
 He was, to all outward appearances, the same man : his 
 presence as noble, his manners as pleasing, the glance 
 of his eye as brilliant, his intellectual quaHties still fur- 
 ther ripened by experience. But his power had departed, 
 and he was like a monarch discrowned, or Jove with- 
 out his thunderbolts. Had Torcy been ever so friendly 
 disposed to Bolingbroke, under the watchful eyes of 
 the British ambassador, Lord Stair, a Scotch nobleman 
 of real courage, ability, warmth, insight, and decision, 
 the friend and pupil of Marlborough, and who had, with 
 some apparent reluctance, been deprived of his regiment 
 by Bolingbroke, on account of his attachment to the 
 Whigs and the Hanoverian succession, the Minister of 
 the aged Louis would have been obliged to act with 
 caution, in order that the country might not again be 
 involved in war. There was then no longer the same 
 unrestrained and cordial intercourse between Boling- 
 broke and Torcy ; and BoHngbroke could not but feel 
 humbled by the change. And the charming Madame 
 de Tencin, the unfrocked nun, the gay devotee at once of 
 religion and pleasure ? Madame was all enthusiasm for 
 the Bull of Unigenitus : she had, like a true French 
 woman, with all her gallantry, violently espoused the 
 orthodox side in this great religious controversy. Bo- 
 lingbroke soon renewed his intimacy with both Madame 
 de Tencin and her sister, Madame de Ferriole. The 
 fallen statesman could, however, no longer assist their 
 exemplary brother, the Abbe de Tencin, secretary to the 
 
1715—1716.] BOLINGBEOKE'S LETTER TO STAIR. 451 
 
 Duke of Orleans, and Madame de Tencin had herself 
 found a field for the display of her talents for intrigue 
 as the zealous assistant of this worthy Abbe. Madame 
 was perfectly conscious, however, of the influence she 
 had established over Bolingbroke, and was prepared to 
 make use of it on occasions. As soon as Bolingbroke 
 was thought to be again the depositary of important 
 state secrets, Madame de Tencin, or the Queen, as he 
 called her, again put forth all her fascinations to extract 
 them from him ; but, the amorous statesman was not so 
 easily duped a second time.* 
 
 One of Bolingbroke's first proceedings on the very 
 night he arrived in Paris, was to send to the English 
 ambassador's hotel, inform him of the circumstance, 
 and request an interview. Not receiving an immediate 
 reply, the next day he addressed to Lord Stair a letter, 
 which I publish from the copy forwarded by Lord 
 Stair to the government at home. 
 
 " Saturday Morning. 
 
 " Mt Lord — I arrived at Paris last night, and imme- 
 diately sent to acquaint your Lordship with it, and to 
 desire thei favour of waiting on you, whenever your 
 conveniency would allow of it. 
 
 " I am to repeat the same request, to assure your 
 Lordship that I shall endeavour, in the midst of my 
 own misfortunes, to hold an irreproachable conduct, 
 and to beg your Lordship to be persuaded that I am, 
 " Your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 " Bolingbroke. "f 
 
 The interview was granted. Lord Stair received 
 him with great kindness, and indeed, as Bolingbroke 
 acknowledged, always acted towards him in his misfor- 
 
 * See Bolingbroke a Mme. de Ferriole, Juin 3, 1715. 
 t State Paper Office, Foreign Correspondence. 
 
 2 G 2 
 
452 SECEETAEY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 tunes a very friendly part. Bolingbroke promised the 
 ambassador that he would enter into no engagements 
 with the Jacobites, and studiously avoid, by his own 
 conduct, affording his enemies in England any excuse 
 for treating him with harshness. He repeated the 
 same assurance shortly afterwards to Lord Stair in 
 another letter, inclosing one to Lord Stanhope, so sub- 
 missive that some of his friends accused him of mean- 
 ness of spirit. The letter to Stanhope has been long 
 published ; this second letter to Lord Stair I have 
 found in the State Paper Office, and here insert from 
 the original manuscript. 
 
 " My Lord — I enclose a letter which I have writ to 
 Mr. Secretary Stanhope, and which I beg of your 
 Lordship to convey in your pacquet to him. The 
 favour I ask of him I must ask of your Lordship too ; 
 and I will conduct myself so as to give you no reason 
 to repent your granting of it. 
 
 " On account of my own satisfaction, as well as for 
 other reasons, which I need not repeat, I am anxious 
 [not ?] to be any longer at this place. I expect a few 
 necessaries, which I cannot much longer want, and I 
 remove; but whither I vow I can hardly determine. 
 The more obscure my retreat is, the better it will suit 
 my circumstances and my temper of mind. Wherever 
 I am, 1 shall ever be, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most faithful 
 and obedient servant, 
 
 " BoLIIfGBROKE."* 
 
 Bolingbroke added on the back page of this letter, 
 " I send my letter to Mr. Stanhope open. When you 
 have read it, be pleased to seal it with a head, and to 
 
 * MS. in the State Paper Office. 
 
1715—1716.] BOLINGBROKE AND BERWICK. 453 
 
 send it forward. I trust to your Eordship's goodnature 
 and generosity, as what may infinitely avail me in 
 my present circumstances." 
 
 Bolingbroke positively asserts in his letter to Sir 
 William Windham, that he kept the promise he delibe- 
 rately and repeatedly made to Lord Stair to have 
 nothing to do with the Jacobites. " I saw the Earl of 
 Stair. I promised him that I would enter into no 
 Jacobite engagements, and I kept my word with him." 
 But the Duke of Berwick, the agent of the Jacobites 
 in their correspondence with the court of France, 
 declares as positively that Bolingbroke had a secret 
 interview with him as soon as he arrived in Paris ; that 
 he spoke well of the prospects of the Pretender in 
 England ; and assured him that he was only restrained 
 by a regard to appearances, at the moment, from 
 giving his open adherence of his attachment to the 
 Jacobite cause.* This obvious discrepancy between 
 Bolingbroke's own assertion, and the statement of the 
 best informed and the most truthful man in the 
 Jacobite interest, has been considered another of those 
 instances of that duplicity which many persons of very 
 different political principles have agreed to ascribe to 
 Bolingbroke's character. It is possible that when he 
 gave those contradictory assurances respectively to 
 Lord Stair and the Duke of Berwick, he had not yet 
 really made up his mind as to what he would do : it 
 certainly does not follow that at the time of his arrival 
 in Paris he had fully decided on embracing the cause of 
 the Pretender. The truth is, that having few positive 
 
 * " A son arrivfe k Paris," says Berwick, " je le vis en secret, et il me con- 
 firma la bonne disposition des affaires en Angleterre ; mais, ne croyant pas 
 qu'il convint encore qu'il se melat publiquement des affaires du jeune roi, il se 
 retira h, Lyon, d'ou apr^s quelques mois, nos amis lui mandferent qu'il eut k 
 revenir a Paris." — M^moires du Mar&hal de Berwick, ^dit. Petitot, ii. 228. 
 
454 SECRETAEY OF STATE TO THE PEETENDEE. [Chap. XH. 
 
 convictions, he was not a man wlio ever proceeded 
 on any definite plan. His conduct was generally 
 decided by impulse, and not unfrequently the impulse 
 of the moment acting on a very susceptible and pas- 
 sionate nature. 
 
 Neither, however, can we justly adopt altogether his 
 own subsequent declaration of the cause why he was 
 driven into the Jacobite ranks. It was, he said, his 
 imprudent resentment of the bill of attainder which his 
 enemies had introduced into Parliament, and the smart 
 of which, he declared, still tingled in his veins.* No- 
 thing is more certain than that he had actually accepted 
 the seals from the hands of the Pretender and acted as 
 his Secretary of State, before the bill of attainder was 
 brought into the House of Commons, and before even 
 Bolingbroke had actually been impeached in Parlia- 
 ment. This important fact can be clearly established 
 by a reference to dates. 
 
 After spending a few days in Paris he retired quietly 
 to Lyons, At the beginning of July, as he says, he 
 was summoned from his retreat on the Rhone by a 
 message from the leading Tories in England. He 
 repaired, on this command, immediately to Commercy 
 in Lorraine ; had there an iuterview with the Pre- 
 tender, and was by him prevailed upon to accept the 
 seals. He returned to Paris as the minister of 
 James to prosecute the Jacobite interest with the 
 French government ; and his first letter to James, in 
 the unedited Stuart Papers, from Paris, giving an 
 
 * " The act of attainder, in consequence of my impeachment, had passed 
 against me for crimes of the blackest dye ; and among other inducements to pass 
 
 it, my having been engaged in the Pretender's interest, was one." The Letter 
 
 to Sir W. Windham. The same statement is still more positively repeated in 
 the twenty-fourth of Bolingbroke's Letters or, as he calls them, Eemarks on 
 the History of England. 
 
1715—1716.] A DISCREPANCY. 455 
 
 account of his arrival, and what he was doing, as the 
 Jacobite Secretary of State, is dated the 23rd of 
 July, corresponding with the 12th of July accord- 
 ing to the English style. This date shows clearly, 
 that, before the month of July ended, Bolingbroke 
 had heartily thrown himself into the Jacobite cause. 
 Now, it was not until the 4th of August that the 
 articles of impeachment against Bolingbroke were 
 reported by Walpole to the House of Commons ; it 
 was not until the 6th that Bolingbroke was impeached 
 by Walpole at the bar of the Lords ; it was not until 
 after that ceremony, and the message, in consequence, 
 from the peers informing the Commons that Boling- 
 broke had left England, that the bill of attainder was 
 brought in ; it was not until the 18 th of August that 
 the bill was read a third time by the Lords ; and it was 
 not until the middle of September that, by Bolingbroke's 
 own default, it came into effect as a law of the land. 
 
 When Bolingbroke retired to St. Clair, near Vienne, 
 in Dauphiny, where he met again unexpectedly the 
 Abbe de Tencin and the young son of Madame de Fer- 
 riole, he was still in an uncertainty as to his future con- 
 duct. To him the House of Hanover and the House of 
 Stuart, so far as they represented any principle, were 
 nothing. But by the one he was now persecuted, and by 
 the other he was courted. Jacobite emissary after Jaco- 
 bite emissary pursued him, full of the most sanguine 
 hopes of an immediate restoration. As long as he trusted 
 to his own observation of what had passed before his eyes 
 in England, he was not deceived ; but he had not been 
 two months abroad when he began to suffer from the 
 malady of exile. Every rumour from his native coun- 
 try hostile to the new dynasty was grossly exagge- 
 rated ; every outbreak of dissatisfaction from the Tories 
 
456 SECEETAEY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 at the ascendancy of tlie Whigs was regarded as an in- 
 falHble portent of an impending revolution. A demon- 
 stration of a High Church mob, for at that time there 
 actually were High Church mobs, was magnified 
 through the medium of distance to the most alarming 
 proportions. Because the late ministers were cheered 
 by the populace on their way home from Parliament, it 
 was assumed that the people were ready to rise and 
 drive George I. from the throne. Many of the Tories 
 in London appear to have shared in this delusion ; and 
 to the thorough-paced Jacobites, both at home and 
 abroad, it became an absolute certainty. Bolingbroke 
 was not a Jacobite, but he was a Tory, and an exile ; 
 and he, too, was readily inclined to take his wishes for 
 realities. While he was in this state of mind an 
 acquaintance arrived from London, professing to speak 
 in the name of all his friends, assuring him that the 
 Tories had all become Jacobites, that Scotland could 
 scarcely be prevented from breaking into rebellion, that 
 London was in a similar state of excitement, that dis- 
 affection pervaded the army, and that discontent with 
 the new government was deep and general. This 
 gentleman had seen the Pretender at Commercy, and 
 brought with him to Bolingbroke a letter from James 
 requesting his assistance. The statesman was assured 
 by this eager emissary that he had but a little time to 
 make up his mind ; James would soon have friends 
 enough : the restoration was so certain that, if Boling- 
 broke hesitated, he might at once and for ever lose 
 all the merit of an early adhesion to a triumphant 
 cause. 
 
 BoHngbroke was not fuUy convinced of the truth of 
 all that he had been told, and was not really influenced 
 by the bill of attainder, which, notwithstanding his 
 
1715—1716.] BECOMES SECRETARY TO JAMES. 457 
 
 own statement to the contrary, it is certain, as has just 
 been shown, had not yet been brought into parHament, 
 much less passed into a law : yet he took but a few 
 minutes to come to a determination. He immediately 
 went to Commercy in Lorraine, had an interview with 
 the Pretender, knelt at his feet, kissed his hand, and 
 acknowledged him as his sovereign. James pressed him 
 to accept the seals. Would he not be to him all that 
 he had been to his sister ? Would he not at once pro- 
 ' ceed to Paris as Secretary of State, and exert all the 
 influence he had acquired over the French government 
 by his conduct jn bringing about the recent peace 
 to induce Torcy and Louis to give the cause they 
 professed to favour effectual assistance ? A few troops, 
 some ammunition, and a little money were all that was 
 required, and the blessed work of the Restoration would 
 be done. Whether James appeared in England or Scot- 
 land, and, though he was preparing to set out either for 
 one kingdom or the other, he had not yet exactly made 
 up his mind for which, he had but to show himself to 
 be acknowledged as the rightful king. Bolingbroke was 
 still not satisfied. He had had a great experience in 
 affairs, and even in this, his first interview with the 
 Pretender, he was struck with the difference between 
 an actual sovereign and an expectant one, nursing 
 himself with hopes which he construed into certainties. 
 Nevertheless Bolingbroke became Secretary of State 
 to James. He afterwards declared, however, that no 
 sooner had he accepted the seals than he repented of 
 what he had done.* This was scarcely the temper of 
 mind ia which a statesman could hope to carry out 
 successfully a most arduous undertaking. 
 
 He was stUl less satisfied on proceeding, after this 
 
 * The Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
458 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 interview, from Commercy to Paris. Some small 
 vessels were privately fitting out to aid the attempt 
 about to be made by the unfortunate heir of the 
 Stuarts to regain the kingdoms of his ancestors. But 
 instead of the business being kept a secret, Boling- 
 broke found .that it was the common talk of tea-tables. 
 Every exile considered himself a Jacobite minister, 
 and bound to give advice which ought to be followed. 
 Of all James's adherents, the Irish were the most 
 busy, restless, and talkative. Bohngbroke was, how- 
 ever, an Enghsh statesman, and had no sympathy vrith 
 the Irish priests and adventurers. Their object was 
 not his : he believed that their councils were most 
 pernicious : and he began to feel for them a contempt 
 which he was at no pains to conceal. The same jea- 
 lousy which had broken out between the Enghsh and 
 Irish Jacobites, even when King James was in Ireland, 
 the year after the Revolution, had continued to exist in 
 the mimic court of St. Germains ; and at this period, 
 when it seemed that a restoration was near, the ani- 
 mosity between the two factions became greater than 
 ever. As Bohngbroke, from the exalted position he 
 had filled, and the great reputation he possessed, was at 
 once regarded as the chief of the English Jacobites in 
 France, so he became the especial object of the hostility 
 of Jesuit confessors, wandering friars, and the Hiber- 
 nian Macs and O's, who regarded themselves as the only 
 faithful assertors of the Jacobite cause, and looked upon 
 every Enghshman, and especially every Englishman 
 who was not a Catholic, as an intruder and an enemy.* 
 This was a state of things which Bohngbroke had never 
 imagined as possible. He had been a real minister in 
 
 * The Duke of Berwick repeatedly says that Bohngbroke was mtensely hated 
 by the Irish. — See th€ Memoires, passim. 
 
17! 5— 1716.] BOLINGBEOKB AND THE IRISH JACOBITES. 459 
 
 a real court, where, of course, intrigues and jealousies 
 were to be found; but to be, after such an elevation, 
 the mock minister in a mock court, and to be as much 
 the butt of jealousy and intrigue as though he had 
 still been the Secretary of State to Queen Anne, was 
 terrible to his proud and haughty spirit. " Into such 
 company," he said, " had I fallen for my sins." 
 Bolingbroke dined with Torcy, who himself, as an 
 actual minister, exercising real power, had long had a 
 great contempt for these Jacobite adventurers of all 
 denominations with such cross projects, loud boastings, 
 impertinent meddhng, and airs of mysterious conse- 
 quence. He received his late friend, the Secretary to 
 Queen Anne, now the Secretary to the Pretender, on 
 a more respectful footing ; but he would not undertake 
 that the Pretender should receive the efficient aid he 
 desired. 
 
 In the very first letter which Bolingbroke wrote to 
 James, giving him an account of his progress in these 
 negotiations at Paris, it is remarkable that we find his 
 dissatisfaction with his Jacobite associates very plainly 
 expressed. The style of this epistle is curious, begin- 
 ning, as it does, with as much respectful formality 
 as though the Pretender had actually been settled as a 
 reigning sovereign at St. James'. It is dated from 
 Paris, the 23rd of July (n.S.), and begins thus : — 
 
 " Sir, — Your servants at this place judging it im- 
 possible by letter to set matters in so full and just a 
 hght before your eyes as the 'nicety and importance of 
 the present conjuncture require, the bearer of these 
 packets has the honour to attend your Majesty. I 
 think it, however, my duty to make a deduction of 
 what has passed since my arrival here, to point out to 
 
460 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PEE'raNDEE. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 your Majesty the mischiefs and the causes of them, 
 which your service labours under ; and the remedies 
 which appear necessary and in your power to take. 
 
 " The day I arrived I saw Mr. In(nes), and put into 
 his hands all that you had been pleased to intrust me 
 with. I soon found a general expectation gone abroad 
 that your Majesty was to undertake somewhat imme- 
 diately ; and I was not a little concerned to hear, in 
 two or three places, and among women over their tea, 
 that arms were provided and ships got ready ; but I 
 confess I was struck with concern when I knew in such 
 a manner as is to be depended upon, and as I beg your 
 Majesty to depend upon, that the factor of Lawrence 
 (King Greorge) in this country knew of the httle 
 armament, and had sent advices of it home; that the 
 court in Maryland (England) were in the resolution of 
 conniving till the enterprize should be gone upon, and 
 made no doubt, by this means, of crushing the whole at 
 once; that ships are cruising on the coast, and that 
 they are under private orders to observe, and even to 
 search, when that shall appear necessary, all vessels 
 which pass. I was preparing on Sunday to send your 
 Majesty these accounts, and to despatch Mr. Bulk, 
 when Mr. In(nes) came to me, and brought with him 
 a man who had dehvered your Majesty's letter to him, 
 and the note you was pleased to write to me. Mr. 
 In(nes) told me, at the same time, that though he was 
 referred by you, sir, to this person for the particulars 
 of the message which he brought, yet that he could get 
 nothing distinct nor material out of him; that he 
 seemed very unwilling to come to me, but that he had 
 obliged him to it, and hoped I should be better informed 
 by him."* 
 
 * Stuart Papers : Bolingliroke to the Pretender, July % 1715. 
 
1715—1716.] EARL OF BOLINGBROKE. ' 461 
 
 The letter proceeds, at more length than it is desirable 
 to quote, to give Bolingbroke's account of an interview 
 with the Jacobite emissary. He turned out to be a 
 certain Irish friar, a Dominican, called Father Cal- 
 laghan, who declared that he was commissioned by the 
 Duke of Ormond to tell James to set out at once for 
 England. Bolingbroke examined this man for an hour, 
 and considered him totally unworthy of confidence. 
 Torcy and Berwick, when informed of the circum- 
 stance, confirmed Bolingbroke's distrust. They all 
 agreed in advising James not to put faith in the words 
 of such a messenger delivering such a message. 
 
 James replied immediately to Bolingbroke's letter. 
 He was struck by the complaining manner in which 
 the statesman had alluded to the Jacobite agents, and 
 was anxious to make him some amends for a disap- 
 pointment which he evidently felt. The Pretender 
 therefore enclosed to Bolingbroke a patent raising him 
 a step higher in the peerage. " I cannot, you know," 
 wrote James, wishing to be very gracious, " as yet 
 give you very essential proofs of my kindness, but the 
 least I can do for so good and faithful a servant is in 
 sending you the enclosed warrant, which raises you a 
 degree higher than my sister had done before, and 
 which will fix your rank with me beyond dispute."* 
 
 Bolingbroke's weakness about his rank had been long 
 known to the Jacobites. The wish of his heart was, 
 however, at last to be gratified ; he was henceforth to 
 be Earl of Bolingbroke, 
 
 But though James was so condescending and boun- 
 tiful to his new Secretary of State, yet, like a true 
 Stuart king, he was not any the more inclined to 
 follow his counsellor's advice. Nothing could have been 
 
 * Stuart Papers : the Pretender to Bolingbroke, July ?j, 1715. 
 
462 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 more judicious than Bolingbroke's admonition to him 
 not to put any confidence in the Irish friar's message. 
 " Things," the statesman wrote, " are not yet ripe in 
 England ; at least you cannot tell with certainty whether 
 they are so or not ; the secret is divulged ; in the present 
 method the correspondence wants that preciseness and 
 exactness which is indispensably necessary ;" and he had 
 earnestly besought James " to employ such men as have 
 capacity equal to the business, and to whose honour 
 your own safety, and that of so many persons as are 
 concerned, may be trusted."* Yet in direct disregard 
 of the whole tenour of Bolingbroke's letter, James 
 determined to act on Father Callaghan's message, 
 without consulting any further either with Boling- 
 broke, Torcy, or Berwick, because he knew that all 
 three would disapprove of the step he was about to 
 take. He actually prepared to leave Lorraine without 
 delay, sent an order for a vessel to be fitted out for 
 him at Havre, and commanded Bolingbroke to meet him 
 there on the thirtieth of the month. It was only by 
 the interference of the French court that James was 
 prevented from carrying his intention into effect, f 
 
 To find James, at the outset of their relationship as 
 sovereign and minister, prefer the counsels of the 
 obscure friar. Father Callaghan, to those of his new 
 Secretary of State, who had a world-wide reputa- 
 tion, and had made the Peace of Utrecht, besides 
 being generally acknowledged to be the most brilliant 
 Enghshman of his time, was no pleasing thought to 
 Bolingbroke. Was not this the very spirit in which 
 James II. had lost three kingdoms ? And was it by 
 stiU trusting to friars and priests of aU degrees, rather 
 
 * Stuart Papers : Bolingbroke to James, July f?, 1715. 
 t See the Mdmoires du Marechal de Berwick, ii. 232. 
 
1715— 171B.] MEMORIAL TO TOECY. 463 
 
 than to responsible Englisli statesmen, that his son 
 could hope to regain them ? It was such conduct that 
 compelled the French government to put no confidence 
 in the Jacobites ; and Bohngbroke found, at the outset, 
 any chance of his negotiation succeeding almost de- 
 stroyed by this proceeding on the part of James. In 
 the midst of the Secretary's perplexity, dissatisfaction, 
 and sorrow, another messenger, Charles Kkmaird, 
 arrived from England, with a memorial he had learnt 
 by heart from the dictation of the Earl of Mar. 
 
 The memorial was in answer to one Bolingbroke had 
 sent over, and became to him a compass by which he 
 endeavoured to steer his course. It stated that troops 
 and arms from France were indispensably necessary!; that 
 with such assistance some of the leading Tory gentle- 
 men would undertake to rise ; but that it would be better 
 to put off the insurrection until September, when the 
 Parliament would be prorogued, and they would all 
 be dispersed among their friends and tenants in their 
 different counties. It also indicated Plymouth as the 
 place near which it would be best for James to 
 land. Bolingbroke lost no time in copying a portion 
 of this paper into French, and sending it to Torcy. 
 He enclosed the extract in a letter of his own, earnestly 
 beseeching the French government to act upon its 
 recommendations. " I send you, sir," he said, " a 
 memorial which will correctly inform you of the state 
 of our affairs. You will there see the sentiments of 
 our friends very simply expressed, as well as their 
 resolutions. They are not the sentiments of two or 
 three private persons ; they are not opinions given 
 in haste ; they are not resolutions inspired solely by 
 passion, and hable to be as lightly abandoned. They 
 are, on the contrary, the sentiments of the best hearts 
 
464 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 and the best heads in the country whence the memorial 
 comes, founded upon sure observation, and upon a 
 consideration of the state of all parts of the realm. 
 They are opinions taken flegmatically after mature 
 deliberation ; they are the resolutions of gentlemen of 
 honour, whose characters will answer for them, as it 
 is known that they are in a state to answer for all the 
 party which is distinguished by the name of Tories. 
 Tou will not be vexed to see this undertaking mis- 
 carry, the ruin of which would involve all the friends 
 France has in England, and deliver that country for 
 ever into the hands of its fiercest enemies. It only 
 depends on the King to insure its success : I presume 
 to say that it will be easier for him to restore the son 
 than it was for the States of Holland to restore the 
 father."* But aU Bolingbroke's eloquence could not 
 persuade the court of France to openly patronize the 
 Jacobites, and brave the anger of the English govern- 
 ment. He was obliged, in reply to the memorial, 
 to write that the demands it contained could not be 
 complied with ; and that they would have to be very 
 much reduced before there was any likehhood of the 
 old King and his ministers giving any assistance what- 
 ever. Some time afterwards, a second memorial was 
 sent to him, with the application of the Tories for 
 succour much diminished. They gave up all hopes 
 of obtaining a body of French troops, and only be- 
 sought a supply of arms and ammunition. 
 
 But even these were then not easily to be obtained 
 from the French government. Bolingbroke's earnest 
 importunities had had very little effect. Louis, very 
 
 * This letter, endorsed, A Copie de la Lettre de Milord Bolingbroke a M. de 
 Torcy, is among the unedited Stuart Papers : it was written originally in 
 French. 
 
1715—1716.] THE FRENCH COURT. 4'o5 
 
 mucli shaken in his bodily health, and no longer pos- 
 sessing his usual mental energy, had retired to Marli, 
 where Bolingbroke, in his altered situation, could not, 
 of course, be received. Torcy himself could do nothing, 
 and was not inclined even if he had had the power 
 to do anything. Frenchmen were all looking forward 
 to the King's death and the regency which seemed 
 impending. The Duke of Orleans was courted by Lord 
 Stair, and had, indeed, entered into a private arrange- 
 ment with George I. not to disturb the English 
 government, that his exercise of the authority of the 
 regency might not be interrupted. He knew that the 
 King had signed a will, leaving the military administra- 
 tion of the kingdom and the guardianship of the young 
 heir to the Duke of Maine ; and that, if this arrange- 
 ment should be carried into effect, Philip's own power 
 as Regent would be merely nominal. Besides, he 
 had in view the eventual succession to the crown, 
 on the likelihood of the dauphin's death. These 
 considerations, which were surely weighty enough, 
 had fully determined him, as well as those who were 
 in his confidence, not to increase the difficulties of 
 his position by the hostility of the reigning sovereign 
 of England. Bolingbroke was, however, too clear- 
 sighted to be altogether deceived : he knew that an 
 understanding was some time before come to between 
 Lord Stair and the Duke of Orleans ; and that he could 
 not count on the gay, good-humoured, easy, and dissolute 
 Philip's friendship. In the letter immediately following 
 the one already quoted, from Bolingbroke to James, the 
 English statesman observed : " It is certain that the factor 
 of Leonard (the ambassador of King Greorge) deals with 
 19, 22, 16, 10, 6, 18, 23 (Orleans). They had, I 
 beheve, very lately a private meeting. I gave notice 
 
 2 H 
 
466 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XIL 
 
 in the proper place, and took care that it should get 
 to the ears of Humphrey (Orleans)."* 
 
 In reply to the letter James expressed some vexa- 
 tion. He had expected when Bolinghroke became 
 his Secretary of State, that all difficulties with the 
 French government would at once have been removed. 
 He had supposed that the personal influence of the 
 minister who had made the peace of Utrecht would 
 have been sufficient for everything ; and Bolingbroke's 
 anticipations appear to have been equally confident. 
 They were both, however, deceived. Little was done, 
 and James was both surprised and impatient. Boling- 
 hroke, however, though himself much disappointed, 
 felt that this was no time to despair. He answered 
 the Pretender's letter in a tone of encouragement 
 which he was himself far from feeling. " Impatience, 
 sir, in your circumstances, is unavoidable : and you 
 would not be what you are, were you exempt from it. 
 I wish to Grod the nature of the affairs we have in 
 hand admitted of so swift a progress as to satisfy this 
 impatience ; but that is not to be expected. In the 
 meanwhile, I must be humbly of opinion that they im- 
 prove every day : and that the event of things will justify 
 the advice given you from Maryland (England)."! 
 
 Unfortunately the hopes of both James and Boling- 
 hroke received a few days afterwards a blow from 
 which they scarcely ever entirely recovered. The Duke 
 of Ormond had, up to this time, remained in England, 
 living in almost regal splendour at Richmond, and assur- 
 ing his Jacobite friends abroad, that he would keep on 
 the spot to the last in order to be ready to act. Bo- 
 
 Au2. 3, 
 * Bolingbroke to tlie Pretender, j^, .-.^ 1715 ; Stuart Papers. 
 
 Ault. 5, 
 t Bolingbroke to the Pretender, j^, .,. 1715 ; Stuart Papers. 
 
1715—1716.] ARRIVAL OP OEMOND. 467 
 
 lingbroke had trumpeted the Duke's name loudly in the 
 ears of the French minister. Ormond was more the 
 real sovereign than George I. He had only to show 
 himself in the western counties, and twenty thousand 
 men would at once spring to arms. He had already 
 secretly secured by his agents Bristol and Plymouth. 
 His popularity was great both with the army and the 
 people. He had but to give the word and all England 
 would be immediately illumined with the flames of 
 civil war. Hearing, however, that orders had been 
 given to arrest him, the Duke fled precipitately from 
 Richmond ; and instead of making his way to the 
 western counties, where it is possible that he might 
 have made a stand, he crossed over to France alone 
 in a small boat. The man whom Bolingbroke had 
 represented as able to take the crown from the head 
 of Greorge I. and put it on the head of James III., 
 arrived in Paris without money, without friends, and 
 without a single attendant. The French ministers 
 were surprised and disgusted. They began to distrust 
 the representations of Bolingbroke, as they had from 
 long experience distrusted the confident assurances of 
 less eminent Jacobite agents.* 
 
 Despairing of active assistance from France, Boling- 
 broke and Berwick, who then had between them the 
 principal direction of these negotiations in favour of 
 the Pretender, thought of another expedient. This 
 was nothing less than to apply to Charles XII. of 
 Sweden for troops to invade Great Britain. Such 
 an enterprise suited his romantic disposition. His 
 fortunes had failed him on the disastrous day of Pul- 
 towa : he had been nearly driven out of his German 
 
 * For the. effect of Ormond's arrival in sucli a manner, see the letter to Sir 
 W. Windham. It is sufficiently candid. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 SECRETARY OP STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 provinces ; and was considered to have no great love 
 for Greorge I. as a German prince. Having about 
 seven thousand soldiers with transports ready at 
 Gottenburg to proceed to Stralsund, where he was 
 himself beset by his enemies, it was hoped that he 
 might be induced to allow them to sail for either 
 England or Scotland. When Bolingbroke first men- 
 tioned the design to Torcy, he laughed at it as chime- 
 rical : it was, however, entertained by the Swedish 
 minister at Paris : and out of the Pretender's scanty 
 treasury fifty thousand crowns were actually sent to 
 Gottenburg to defray the expenses of the embarkation. 
 Charles, however, when, after some delay, he was 
 himself consulted about the business, naturally pre- 
 ferred seeing his soldiers at Stralsund, where he wanted 
 them very much. The troops, he said, were cavalry, 
 and, therefore, not adapted for the service, and besides, 
 that George I. had not yet declared himself his enemy. 
 The following year, and at other later periods, he was 
 himself willing to embark in such an enterprise, but a 
 successful descent on England was not always so prac- 
 ticable.* 
 
 While this scheme was in agitation, Louis XIY., 
 though he could spare no money himself, v^rote with 
 his own hand to his grandson, Philip of Spain, for 
 funds in aid of the Pretender. So far, at least, Boling- 
 broke succeeded in his negotiations by the middle of 
 August. He afterwards declared that, notwithstanding 
 the aversion of the French government to interfere 
 directly against the new dynasty, Louis XIY. would 
 soon have again heartily embraced the cause of the 
 Stuarts, and been drawn into another war with En gland. f 
 
 * See th« IKmoires du Mar&hale de Berwick, ii. 235. 
 t The Letter to Sir W. Wiadham. 
 
1715—1716.] MADAME DE TBNCIN AGAIN. 469 
 
 This was now the object of the English statesman, who 
 had made the peace of Utrecht. 
 
 Just at this time, as Bolingbroke's mind was occupied 
 with these great designs, Madame de Tencin once more 
 appeared on the scene. She had been commissioned 
 by her brother and the Duke of Orleans to get to know 
 from Bolingbroke what the Jacobites were really medi- 
 tating, just as she had formerly been commissioned by 
 Torcy to discover the extent of Bolingbroke's powers 
 when he came over to France about the peace. Madame 
 again tried all her charms and fascinations. Nothing ■ 
 that the dexterous feminine intriguer could do to dis- 
 cover from Bolingbroke this secret of the Jacobite 
 politics was omitted. She coaxed, she flattered, she 
 inveigled, she professed the most unutterable devotion, 
 and even played her last card by hinting at a marriage 
 between the Pretender and one of the daughters of 
 the Duke of Orleans. But Bolingbroke, though 
 not awakened from his dream of love, was on his 
 guard against the arts of the temptress. Madame's 
 brilliant powers were all exerted in vain. But the pro- 
 posal of marriage he appears to have contemplated 
 seriously. 
 
 He wrote to James an account of his contest with 
 this Parisian enchantress, who was still a divinity 
 in his eyes. The letter well deserves quotation. " I 
 have," he said, " been in commerce with a woman for 
 some time, who has as much ambition and cunning as 
 any woman I ever knew — perhaps as any man. Since 
 my return to Paris, she has, under pretence of per- 
 sonal concern for me, frequently endeavoured to sound 
 how far I was engaged in your service, and whether 
 any enterprise was on foot. Your Majesty hardly 
 
470 SECEETARY OP STATE TO THE PEETENDBE. [Chap. Xll. 
 
 imagines that the answers I gave her were calculated 
 to make her believe that neither I nor any one else 
 thought at present of any such design. A few days 
 ago she returned to the charge, with all the dexterity 
 possible, and made use of all the advantages which 
 her sex gives her. I took that occasion to pretend to 
 open my heart entirely to her, and according to what 
 I writ your Majesty word, I had concerted with Talon, 
 to insinuate the impossibility of attempting anything 
 for your service. She entered upon this into the 
 .present state of affairs, in a manner that I could see 
 was premeditated ; agreed that in consideration of 
 Harry's [Louis XI Y.] age and health, no vigorous 
 resolution could be expected here ; but added that 
 Harry's nephew [the Duke of Orleans] when he was 
 once confirmed in the 22, 10, 12, 10, 18, 27 (regency), 
 would undoubtedly be ready to concur in so great an 
 undertaking, and that she did not see why a marriage 
 between you and one of his daughters might not be 
 an additional motive to him, and a tie of union between 
 you. I received the proposal merrily, as a sally of 
 her imagination, and as such she let it pass. But there 
 must be more in it, because of her character, because 
 of the intimacy she has had with 19, 22, 16, 10, 6, 18, 
 23 (Orleans), and because of the private but strict 
 commerce, which I know she keeps up with one of his 
 confidants, and the influence she has over that man. 
 It is extremely nice and difficult to manage this affair 
 since particular engagements of this kind might, in 
 many respects, do hurt here and in Maryland [Eng- 
 land], might prejudice your affairs now, and embarrass 
 you hereafter. And yet the advantage of gaining 
 a man of that ambition, of those talents, and so nearly 
 
1.715-1716.] BOLINGBEOKE AND JAMES. 471 
 
 allied to power, deserves great consideration. Tour 
 Majesty will excuse tkis detail, if you judge it imper- 
 tinent, and you will give me your orders if you think 
 any use may be made of such an intrigue. I would 
 have even the pleasures of my life subservient to your 
 Majesty's service, as the labours of it shall be always."* 
 
 The Duke of Orleans' confidant with whom Madame 
 de Tencin is said by Bolingbroke to be in so strict a 
 commerce, and over whom she is declared to have so 
 great an influence, was the celebrated or infamous Du 
 Bois. She was to be known as the worthy mistress of 
 this worthy minister, though it was a gallant chevalier 
 who was also, through her, soon to be the father of 
 D'Alembert. Bolingbroke for many years afterwards 
 kept up an intimate correspondence with Madame de 
 Ferriole and her family : he also remained on good 
 terms with the Abbe de Tencin, who was but at the 
 beginning of his career ; his passion, however, for 
 Madame de Tencin, with her fine wit and sparkling 
 eyes, was suddenly extinguished. Madame was a little 
 too clever. 
 
 At the desire of his friends in England, who had 
 sent him the report of the Committee of Secrecy, Bo- 
 lingbroke was thinking of shutting himself up for a few 
 days, in order to write an answer to it, a vindication 
 of the late ministry, whose reputation they considered 
 it necessary to maintain. In announcing this intention 
 to James, he wrote in the most encouraging tone. 
 " What I had the honour to foretell you, sir, proves 
 true : this spirit increases, and all the measures taken 
 to extinguish the flame seem but as fresh fuel to make 
 it burn higher. Things are hastening to that point,, 
 
 * Bolingbroke to the Pretender^ Aug. \^, 1715 ; Stuart Papers. 
 
472 SECEBTAEY OF STATE TO THE PEETENDEE. [Chap. XH." 
 
 that either you, sir, at the head of the Tories, must save 
 the Church and Constitution of England, or both must 
 be irretrievably lost for ever."* 
 
 The next day, on Torcy enclosing extracts to 
 BoKngbroke from some letters of the French envoy, 
 Iberville, still residing in England, the prospects of 
 the Jacobites seemed yet brighter. Shrewsbury, who 
 could not in honour abandon the Tories when under 
 persecution, was understood to be engaged. There 
 were hopes even of Peterborough ; and Marlborough 
 gave polite and ready answers, and, that he might be 
 prepared, as usual, for all contingencies, was willing to 
 advance the Pretender money, just as, in the last year 
 of the Queen's reign, he and Cadogan had offered to 
 raise thirty thousand pounds for the service of the 
 Elector of Hanover in England. Bolingbroke, at these 
 favourable indications, did not pause to consider whether 
 the undoubted discontent of these eminent noblemen, 
 because they were neglected by King George, really 
 meant a hearty intention of rising in arms to drive him 
 from the throne. Thus wrote Bolingbroke, still more 
 confidently, to James : " Your affairs hasten to this 
 crisis ; and I hope that, with prudence and fortitude, 
 for they must go hand in hand, your Majesty's restora- 
 tion wiU soon be accomplished. Was the conjunction 
 here in any degree answerable to the conjunction in 
 England, you would neither have any risk to run nor 
 struggle to go through. The Duke of Shrewsbury is 
 frankly engaged, and was, the last time I heard of him, 
 very sanguine. I submit to your Majesty whether a 
 letter from yourself to him, or a message through me, 
 would not be proper. As to Peterborough, I think, in- 
 
 * Boliugbroke to the Pretender, Aug. '|, 1715 ; Stuart Papers. 
 
1715—1716.] PEATH OF LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH. 473 
 
 deed, he is not to be neglected. I will write to tim, 
 and even offer to meet him. Your Majesty knows his 
 character, and will give me your orders how far he is to 
 be promised. We have always lived together on a foot- 
 ing of intimacy, and perhaps I may succeed to dip him. 
 At present he endeavours, I perceive, to keep on the 
 best side of the bay. May I presume to ask whether 
 something particular has been said to Marlborough? 
 He is at this moment much perplexed and openly 
 pushed at. Should not the Duke of Berwick, at least, 
 by your Majesty's order, in this point of time, endea- 
 vour to fix him ? An application justly timed has 
 always a double force."* 
 
 But while, according to the tenour of the letter just 
 quoted, everything was going on so prosperously for 
 the Jacobite cause, it contained a postscript more than 
 sufficient to counterbalance all the hopes which could be 
 built on Shrewsbury's proverbial fickleness, Peter- 
 borough's restless knight-errantry, and Marlborough's 
 habitual duplicity. " The reports from Versailles," 
 Bolingbroke added, before sealing his letter, " vary 
 continually about the King's health. I believe your 
 Majesty must depend upon his life as very precarious." 
 At the time the life of Louis XIV. was indeed pre- 
 carious. On that very day he had fallen most seriously 
 ill ; but he lingered on to the end of the month, and on 
 the 1st of September (n.s.) terminated by his death a 
 strangely chequered, but, on the whole, politic and glo- 
 rious reign. 
 
 With him expired ail the hopes of Bolingbroke. 
 The will which the old sovereign had been persuaded 
 to leave, though he was himself convinced that, despotic 
 as he had been for so many years, his wishes would be 
 
 * Bolingbroke to the Pretender, Aug. f , 1715. 
 
474 SECEETAEY OF STATE TO THE PEETENDEE. [Chat. Xn. 
 
 disregarded the moment his life should be extinct, was 
 set at nought. The Duke of Orleans became the undis- 
 puted ruler of France ; and, in a few weeks, a complete 
 change was made in the government. The ministers 
 chosen to preside over the different departments in 
 his Council of Regency were not inclined to favour the 
 late King's policy. Torcy soon retired from the oflBce 
 of Foreign Affairs, and his successor, the Marshal de 
 Huxelles, though personally not unfriendly to Boling- 
 broke, gave him no hope that he would even indirectly 
 assist to bring about a Jacobite restoration. The great 
 family of Noailles was, indeed, still powerful in the Coun- 
 cil of Regency, the Duke of that name having been ad- 
 vanced to the presidentship of the Treasury, and the 
 Cardinal to the presidentship of the Council of Con- 
 science. But a tendency to time-serving has in more 
 ages than one characterized the members of that illus- 
 trious family. The Duke of Noailles, after having 
 courted Bolingbroke assiduously during the reign of 
 Louis XIY., not less assiduously shunned him during 
 the regency of Orleans. Berwick, who was a naturalized 
 Frenchman, had expected to be chosen a member of the 
 Council ; but the reason the Duke gave for excluding 
 him showed Bolingbroke and the Jacobites very plainly 
 how little they had to expect. Philip declared that 
 the appointment of James II. 's illegitimate son, though 
 a marshal of France, to a high post in the French 
 government, would produce a bad feeling in England ; 
 and he politely requested Berwick to excuse the omis- 
 sion, promising to provide for him in some important 
 command. 
 
 The whole conduct of the new French government 
 was consistent with this beginning. Lord Stair, the 
 British ambassador, proved himself a very efficient 
 
1715—1716.] HOPES AND FEARS. 475 
 
 master of his craft, and between him and the Duke of 
 Orleans the good relationship which had been previously 
 established was, in the delicate circumstances in which 
 they were placed, very satisfactorily maintained. Ad- 
 miral Byng entered the roads of Havre, and demanded 
 that some ships, which he specified by name, should be 
 given up, as part of a clandestine Jacobite armament. 
 The ships were not actually surrendered; but their 
 arms were taken out and placed in the French maga- 
 zines, under a promise from the Duke of Orleans 
 that they should not again be employed against 
 the English government. Bolingbroke appears from 
 this time to have really given up all hopes of success ; 
 nor can it be said that any rising in Scotland or Eng- 
 land received from him the slightest encouragement. 
 He did all that he fairly could to prevent the Jacobites 
 from taking steps which he well knew would be ruinous 
 to themselves. 
 
 Torcy, just before leaving office, forwarded to Boling- 
 broke a reply, from his political friends in England, to 
 the second memorial he had sent over. It stated that 
 they knew not what language to hold until they saw 
 the eifect the death of Louis XIV. would have on the 
 French government. This appeared to Bolingbroke to 
 suspend the resolution they had previously declared of 
 rising in September, and left him in a similar state of 
 anxious suspense from which he had been relieved by 
 the former communication. A gentleman arrived 
 from the North nearly at the same time with the infor- 
 mation that Scotland was on the point of rising in arms, 
 and that if the Jacobites were then restrained from act- 
 ing the opportunity would be lost for ever. Thus it 
 seemed, that while in England the friends of the Pre- 
 tender wished for delay, in Scotland they could not be 
 
476 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. 511. 
 
 withheld from beginning. What did this backwardness 
 on the part of one kingdom, and eagerness on the part 
 of the other, to break into insurrection really portend ? 
 To Bolingbroke it foretold nothing less than destruction 
 to the cause. He immediately despatched an emissary 
 to London to inform the Earl of Mar that the English 
 Jacobites had declared they could not rise without 
 assistance from France ; that in the circumstances of 
 the French government this assistance was not to be 
 expected ; and that, from these two propositions, he 
 might draw his own inference. This inference clearly 
 was that the rebellion should, in both kingdoms, be 
 postponed. But when the gentleman charged with 
 Bolingbroke's message reached London, he found that 
 the earl had already left for Scotland to summon the 
 Highlanders to arms. Why did Mar at once take a step 
 so precipitate ? asked Bolingbroke afterwards indig- 
 nantly.* The fact really was, though Bolingbroke does 
 not appear to have known it, that Mar had obeyed the 
 express orders of the Pretender, transmitted formally 
 to him, without any communication with either Boling- 
 broke or Berwick, his two principal ministers.! 
 
 With this act of gross perfidy on the part of the Pre- 
 tender to Bolingbroke, the rebellion in Scotland began. 
 The English statesman was placed in a most unhappy 
 situation : he was made responsible for proceedings 
 over which he had no control, and which were under- 
 
 * The Letter to Sir W. Wmdham. 
 
 t " Le comte de Mar qui avoit ete Secretaire d'Btat ponr I'Ecosse du temps 
 de la reine Anne, et qui en avoit ete depossede par Georges, re9ut au mois de 
 Septembre un ordre secret du roi Jacques de s'en aller dans I'instant en Ecosse, 
 et d'y prendre les armes. Ni Bolingbroke ni moi ne savions rien de ceci, 
 quoique nous fussions ses principaux ministres, par qui toutes les correspon- 
 dances d'Angleterre et tons les projets passoient ; ce qui ne faisoit rien augurer 
 de bon, vu que sans nous il ne pouvoit y avoir rien de conceTte."—Memmres du 
 Marechule de Berwick, ii, 246. 
 
1715—1716.] THE PRETENDER'S PROCLAMATION. 477 
 
 taken against his clearest judgment. In obedience to 
 another message of the English Jacobites, James set 
 out from Lorraine for the coast, with the intention of 
 crossing over the Channel, and to land in the west 
 of England. But the vigour of the government 
 in arresting the principal Jacobite leaders, including 
 Sir William Windham, rendered a rising in the western 
 counties fruitless. The Duke of Ormond made two 
 attempts to land : on one occasion he was denied a 
 night's lodging in the country whose crown, he had 
 been led to believe, was at his disposal ; and on the other 
 he was driven back by a storm, and by this means, in 
 Bolingbroke's opinion, only saved from a more disas- 
 trous fate.* 
 
 While James was about to make this attempt in 
 person to regain the kingdom of his ancestors, his 
 Secretary of State had other mortifications to endure. 
 The declaration which Bolingbroke had drawn up for 
 the unfortunate young man, to be published on his 
 landing, was deliberately altered by the Roman Catho- 
 lics about him, and the positive assurances which the 
 English statesman had put into his mouth to maintain 
 all the privileges and immunities of the Churches of 
 England and Ireland were quite changed. Sentence 
 after sentence which Bolingbroke had written, in the 
 true spirit of a statesman, to give satisfaction to the 
 Tory country gentlemen, were turned into feeble plati- 
 tudes, that the scruples of the Jesuits and women who 
 considered themselves the only proper advisers of the 
 Pretender, might be respected. As we read the account 
 of their conduct on this business in the concluding por- 
 tion of the letter to Sir W. Windham, we might not un- 
 naturally suspect that Bolingbroke, acting on his resent- 
 ments, was inclined to exaggerate the suicidal bigotry 
 
 * The Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
478 SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER, [Chap. Xlt 
 
 and folly of James and his Roman Catholic counsellors. 
 It is only justice, however, to the statesman to acknow- 
 ledge, that, from the unquestionable evidence of the 
 Stuart Papers, his remonstrances on this question with 
 James were, at the time when these alterations were 
 made, quite as strong as it was possible for them to be, 
 and were delivered with the utmost manliness and 
 freedom. "I own to your Majesty," he wrote, "that 
 the alterations made in the draught are strong objec- 
 tions with me against putting my name to it. K'o 
 name whatever will hinder men whose jealousies on 
 that head run very high, from observing that there 
 is no promise made in favour of the Church of Ire- 
 land, and that even the promise which relates to the 
 Church of England is very ambiguous, and liable to 
 more than one interpretation. In that case my name 
 will do your Majesty's cause no service, and my credit 
 will suffer by it. But if, in the first heat of things, 
 other expressions, which, to avoid being tedious, I 
 omit, be observed, yet hereafter they wUl be taken 
 notice of ; and it is easy to foresee that, in all disputes 
 which may arise about settling the government upon 
 your restoration, the declarations you shall have pub- 
 lished will be the test to which all parties will resort. 
 In this case, sir, I should not be able to answer it to the 
 world, or to my own conscience, if my name had in 
 any degree contributed to weaken that security which 
 all your friends expect, and will certainly insist upon, 
 both for the Church of England and for that of Ireland. 
 I serve your Majesty with an entire zeal, and upon 
 that bottom which can alone restore you and the 
 monarchy. Was I to go off from that bottom, which I 
 am incapable of, I should become useless to you."* 
 
 Nov. 2, 
 * Bolingbroke to the Pretender^ ^^^ ^^ ' 1715 ; Stuart Papers. 
 
1715—1716.] MADEMOISELLE DE OHAUSSERT. 479 
 
 At this time the fate of Oimond's embarkation was 
 not yet known. James was proceeding by circuitous 
 routes, and in disguise, to the sea-shore. Lord Stair had 
 his emissaries out in every road, determined, if possible, 
 to obhge the Regent to put a stop to the Pretender's 
 journey. Boliugbroke was left at Paris to solicit 
 assistance from the French government. This duty 
 he diligently performed, though he was suffering, for 
 the first time in his life, from something very much 
 like a fit of the gout, and could scarcely bear the 
 motion of a carriage over the rough stones of Paris. 
 
 As he was spending day after day in almost hope- 
 lessly soliciting the Marshal de Huxelles, the French 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs, for some effectual assis- 
 tance to the Scotch insurgents, he received a note re- 
 questing him to call at a house in the Bois de Boulogne. 
 Thither the Duke of Ormond had, while living with 
 Bolingbroke, and sharing his purse and his bed, 
 been accustomed to resort with every precaution for 
 secrecy. Himself a man of gallantry and intrigue, 
 Bolingbroke was too keen-sighted not to learn some- 
 thing of the Duke's mysterious journeys. He had his 
 doubts whether the visits were indeed for business or 
 pleasure ; but suspected that they partook of both. 
 They were to a mistress, Olive Trant, who resided 
 with a Mademoiselle de Chaussery, whom she had intro- 
 duced to the Duke of Orleans. The Abbe de Tencin, 
 Philip's secretary, was also a member of this conclave ; 
 as, indeed, whenever there was anything question- 
 able going on, it was next to impossible for the 
 Abbe not to appear in it ; and through them the Duke 
 of Ormond had indirectly been negotiating in the hope 
 of being more successful than Bolingbroke was through 
 the recognized channel of the Minister for Foreign 
 
480 SECRETARY OP STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XIL 
 
 Affairs. Olive Trant, after accompanying the Duke in 
 some portion of his journey to the coast, had returned 
 to the little house in the Bois de Boulogne. It was 
 she who then sent for Bolingbroke, and undertook, 
 with her friend Mademoiselle de Chaussery, to induce 
 the Duke of Orleans to grant all that the Jacobites 
 desired. Bolingbroke making no way with the real 
 ministers, thought that there was no harm in trying 
 what could be done through these pretended ones. 
 At first he seemed to make greater progress than he 
 had ever been able to accomplish in the proper manner. 
 A note was shown to him from the Regent ostensibly 
 written to a woman, but understood to be addressed to 
 the Earl of Mar. Bolingbroke, however, soon met 
 with obstacles which were not to be overcome by 
 feminine importunity. Under no circumstances could 
 he obtain the delivery of the eight thousand stand ol 
 arms which had been promised to the Duke of Ormond. 
 The reason which was given for this refusal gave 
 Bolingbroke even still less satisfaction. He was told 
 by these female managers that the Regent entertained 
 personal prejudices against himself, and that he sus- 
 pected him of being in communication with Lord Stair, 
 in whose house he was stated to have been very recently, 
 and had not left until three o'clock the next morning. 
 Bolingbroke, highly indignant, consulted Berwick, who 
 went to the Regent and requested him to give the Eng- 
 lish statesman an opportunity of justifpng himself from 
 such serious accusations. The Duke of Orleans replied 
 that a circumstantial story about Bolingbroke's visit 
 to Lord Stair's house had been told him by persons 
 whom he had considered trustworthy ; that he had, 
 however, since been convinced it was false ; that he 
 had the best intentions respecting Bolingbroke; but 
 
1715—1716.] CHARACTEB OP OEMOND. 481 
 
 that he had been greatly surprised at being teased at 
 his instigation by women who were not fit to be trusted 
 with any business, when he could have applied directly 
 to him through the Marshal de Huxelles. To Boling- 
 broke himself", in an interview he had soon afterwards, 
 the Regent expressed himself in similar terms. The 
 truth was that the Duke of Orleans wished to keep 
 Bolingbroke at a distance, because he was not a man 
 to be deceived by pr«mises of assistance which 
 Philip had neither the inclination nor perhaps the 
 power to perform.* 
 
 Bolingbroke promptly discontinued his visits at 
 Mademoiselle de Chaussery's. The Duke of Ormond 
 returned from his unsuccessful attempt to land in 
 England, and though Bolingbroke and he still lived 
 together, they no longer met with the same cordiality. 
 Bolingbroke had, during the Duke's absence, been let 
 into the secret of the little house in the Bois de Bou- 
 logne, which ought not to have been a secret be- 
 tween them at all. The Duke never, indeed, seems to 
 have acted with any frankness towards Bolingbroke. 
 Even when Ormond was corresponding with Marshal 
 Berwick in the last year of the Queen's reign, he had 
 never opened his mind to the Secretary of State. " I 
 never was in the secret when we were in England," 
 said Bolingbroke ; and the Memoirs of Berwick show 
 that this statement was correct, though Coxe, the 
 biographer of Walpole, asserts the contrary. In 
 France, Ormond acted towards Bolingbroke with similar 
 reserve. The Duke was, in fact, an insignificant 
 person, spoiled by vanity and flattery. To his illus- 
 trious descent from the noblest of the cavaliers, he 
 
 * See the Letter to Sir "W. Windham, in which this affair ia very minutely- 
 related. 
 
 2 I 
 
482 SECRETARY OP STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XITI 
 
 owed the respectful attachment of the Tories ; but this 
 eminence was in no respect due to his own abilities. 
 He was jealous and punctilious, expecting to be treated 
 with almost royal honours, looking upon himself as 
 the main support of the Jacobite cause, and somewhat 
 envious of the position which Bolingbroke occupied as 
 the Pretender's Secretary of State, though there was, 
 indeed, little in Bolingbroke's position, at that time, to 
 be envied. To be a statesman, Ormond had no pre- 
 tensions. His friends might persuade him that he was 
 a great general, but of his military qualifications the 
 Duke of Berwick, a very competent judge, spoke with 
 contempt. He was a little, thick-set, bull-headed noble- 
 man, reserved without prudence, and bashful without 
 modesty ; careless, and licentious ; without decision and 
 without capacity ; relying always upon others ; and yet 
 without that distrust of himself from which an habitual 
 reliance upon others might be expected to proceed. 
 
 Bolingbroke and Ormond, though they still con- 
 tinued for a time to live together, were, after the 
 Duke's return to Paris, soon on somewhat distant 
 terms. Some years ago, a house which they were 
 believed to have inhabited near Paris, was being pulled 
 down, and a secret horde of gold coin was discovered 
 by the workmen. This treasure was supposed to belong 
 to the Jacobites, and to have been hidden by the Duke 
 and Bolingbroke. Although, however, this statement 
 went the round of the French newspapers, whether the 
 money really found was ever secreted by the two 
 English noblemen may very reasonably be doubted. 
 The Pretender's treasury was not so rich that gold 
 could be so easily spared ; Ormond's necessities were 
 great, he being always, what Swift called him, an 
 expensive man ; and though Bolingbroke had still with 
 
1715—1716.] JAMES IN SCOTLAND. 483 
 
 him a considerable supply of ready money, he certainly 
 had none to spare. He was afterwards accused of 
 squandering on a mistress the sums advanced to him 
 by James to buy arms and powder.* He could 
 scarcely have forgotten had he secreted any of it in 
 the wainscot or ceiling of his house. A portion of the 
 money which was really obtained from Spain for the 
 Pretender was shipped by Bolingbroke for Scotland 
 and was lost with the vessel on the coast. 
 
 To Scotland James, after many delays, had at last 
 gone. He only arrived, however, in the December 
 of the year 1715, and- his presence there could do little 
 good. The battle of Sheriffmuir had been fought ; 
 the northern insurrection in England had been put 
 down ; the Earl of Mar had displayed his incapacity, 
 and lost the most valuable time in listless inaction at 
 Perth ; the Highlanders were going off in bodies to 
 their mountains ; and the strength of the insurrection 
 was gradually wasting away. The letter which Bo- 
 lingbroke received from James, after he had arrived 
 in Scotland, is not destitute of a certain sort of pathos. 
 " I am at last," he wrote from Peterhead, " thank God ! 
 in my own ancient kingdom, as the bearer will tell 
 you, with all the particulars of my passage, and his own 
 proposals of future service. Send the Queen the news 
 I have got here, and give a line to the Regent, en atten- 
 dant, that I send you from the army a letter from our 
 friends, to whom I am going to-morrow. I find things 
 in a prosperous way ; I hope all will go well, if friends 
 on your side do their part as I shall have done mine. 
 My compliments to Magine ; tell him the good news. 
 I don't write to him for T am wearied, and won't delay 
 a moment the bearer. — J. R." 
 
 * Lord Stair to Horace Walpole, March 3, N.S., 1716. 
 
 2 I 2 
 
484 SECEETART OF STATE TO THE PBETENDEE. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 James wrote cheerfully ; but he affected a confidence 
 he was far from feeling. Something more was neces- 
 sary than to land in Scotland to win back the British 
 crown. He was not able to reach his army so soon as 
 he expected, and when he did arrive at Perth he found 
 only four thousand men under his standard. " Had I 
 retarded," he said, " some days longer, I might in all 
 probability have had a message not to come at all."* 
 James was dissatisfied with his troops, and his troops 
 were dissatisfied with him. In his correspondence with 
 Bolingbroke, he, however, declared that he would not 
 abandon Perth without blows; that he expected the 
 Lords Huntly and Seaforth would scatter his enemies in 
 the north ; expressed his hopes that the French govern- 
 ment would at once send him a number of arms, the fine 
 Irish regiments in the French service, and Marshal 
 Berwick to take the command; and he also earnestly 
 desired that the Duke of Ormond might make a diver- 
 sion either in England or Scotland, f In not one single 
 respect did the facts correspond with the unfortunate 
 young man's wishes. As soon as Cadogan and Argyle 
 advanced with King Greorge's army from Stirling, 
 Mar abandoned Perth. The Lords Huntly and Sea- 
 forth were, at the very time when James was writing, 
 seeking to make peace with the government. The 
 French government sent neither arms, Irish regiments, 
 nor Marshal Berwick : and Berwick, feeling that as a 
 naturalized subject, and a French marshal, his first duty 
 was to France, declined to proceed to Scotland without 
 the express orders of the Duke of Orleans. Berwick 
 perhaps acted rightly for his own interest ; between 
 him and the Pretender there was no love; and yet 
 
 • The Pretender to Bolingbroke, Dec. ff, 1715. 
 t The Pretender to Bolingbroke, Jan. 'f, 1716. 
 
1715—1716.] THE PRETENDER'S RETURN. 485' 
 
 this was a time when the phlegmatic marshal, with his 
 stern virtues, might have risked something. Never was 
 a skilful general more needed than hy James's little 
 army ; Berwick's military skill was undisputed, and 
 the influence of his name was great. Mar did nothing 
 and there is no reason to believe that, under any cir- 
 cumstances, he could have done much. 
 
 Bolingbroke's despatches were anxiously expected 
 by James. Scarcely one, however, reached him, and 
 he could not understand why they did not arrive. 
 Surely the English statesman wrote by every oppor- 
 tunity : surely he was doing his best to urge the 
 French government to send assistance : " The Duke of 
 Mar's letters, and the bearer's relation, will supply my 
 not entering into details. Surely the Eegent will not 
 abandon us all, or, rather, will not be quite blind to 
 his own interest. Nothing will be neglected, I am 
 sure, on your side. You will know the whole truth, 
 and then make the best use of it." This was the last 
 of James's letters which Bolingbroke received from 
 Scotland. It was dated from Montrose on the 3rd 
 of February, and in the afternoon of the following 
 day, both the Pretender and the Earl of Mar privately 
 stole out at a back door at that port, went on board a 
 vessel in the roads, and set sail for France, leaving 
 their deserted army to its fate. 
 
 A week afterwards James landed at Grravelines. 
 He then proceeded to meet the Queen-mother at St. 
 Germains, and was there waited upon by Bolingbroke. 
 James was all smiles, thanks, and embraces. Not one 
 whisper did he utter of dissatisfaction at any portion 
 of his Secretary of State's conduct. It appeared, that 
 whatever might be their misfortunes, their fates would 
 be inseparable. Bolingbroke, by the advice of the 
 
486 SECEETAEY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 French Minister for Foreign Affairs, advised James 
 to iose no time in setting out for Bar, that he might 
 arrive before the Duke of Lorraine could be informed 
 of his intention, and thus afford him an excuse to the 
 English government for again allowing him to reside 
 in his dominions. Unless this step were immediately 
 taken, it seemed that James would have to go to Avig- 
 non, or perhaps beyond the Alps ; and such a retreat 
 must be in the highest degree disadvantageous to his 
 cause. James, however, was in no hurry to leave 
 France, and he asked to see the Eegent. He sent 
 Bolingbrpke back to Paris to request this interview, 
 which, however, the Duke of Orleans had no disposi- 
 tion to grant. Bolingbroke returned to St. Germains 
 with the refusal ; and James then declared that he 
 would set out the next day, ordered his coach to be 
 ready at five o'clock, gave Bolingbroke some commis- 
 sions, asked him when he could be ready to follow, and 
 with every expression of friendship and confidence, 
 parted from him at three o'clock on a Monday morn- 
 ing. 
 
 But James did not set out for Lorraine. He went 
 privately to the little house in the Bois de Boulogne, 
 where the female politicians were assembled. There 
 he had interviews with the Spanish and Swedish am- 
 bassadors, and assumed an air of great mystery and 
 business : but his principal occupation was to listen to 
 the complaints of Miss Trantand Mademoiselle de Chaus- 
 sery against Bolingbroke. The English statesman had in- 
 curred the bitterest hatred of these women by ceasing 
 to hold any communication with them after his ex- 
 planation with the Eegent. They accused him loudly 
 of treachery and incapacity. The Duke of Ormond 
 wishing to be Secretary of State, and the Earl of Mar, to 
 
1715-1716.] BOLINGBEOKE'S DISMISSAL. 487 
 
 excuse his utter want of generalship, joined in the cry 
 against the obnoxious minister. Ormond had told 
 Mar of some disrespectful expressions against James, 
 let fall by Bolingbroke when he was drunk. In James's 
 presence Mar asked Ormond what the words actually 
 were, and the Duke, with seeming reluctance, at last 
 repeated them by the Pretender's command. James 
 fell into a great passion. He wrote two notes, one 
 summarily dismissing Bolingbroke, in the brief em- 
 phatic style of a powerful sovereign, and the other 
 ordering him to give up to Ormond all the papers 
 of his oflBce. Bolingbroke at once delivered up the 
 seals and such papers as he could readily find ; others, 
 and particularly some reflecting on Ormond's capacity 
 in the Pretender's own writing, the dismissed minister 
 sent him by another agent. This occurred on the Thurs- 
 day after Bolingbroke's last interview with James, and 
 the papers were dated on the Friday, that, with the hint 
 Ormond threw out, Bolingbroke might believe them 
 to have been written on the road to Lorraine, though 
 James was all the time at the house in the Bois de 
 Boulogne, and Bolingbroke was well aware of the 
 fact.* 
 
 Thus ended Bolingbroke's connection with the 
 Stuarts. The faults and errors of his political career 
 I have not attempted to conceal in the course of this 
 narrative : but it is scarcely possible to consider the 
 treatment he received from James and his adherents 
 without feeling shame and indignation. To his 
 country Bolingbroke might be guilty : to the Pre- 
 tender he was at least innocent. The accusation of 
 
 * See the Letter to Sir W. Windham. The Notes written by the Pretender 
 dismissing Bolingbroke are still among the manuscript Stuart Papers ; many 
 of those papers relating to BoUngbroke have been printed by Lord Mahon in 
 the Appendix to the first volume of his History. 
 
488 SECRETAEY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. Xn. 
 
 treacliery scarcely deserves an answer. When Lord 
 Stair first heard of Bolingbroke's dismissal, he appears 
 to have felt for him something like compassion. " The 
 true Jacobite project," vPTote the ambassador to his 
 friend, Horace Walpole, " has been at last discovered, 
 and they imagine nobody would tell it but Boling- 
 broke, who, they have now, as they say, clearly dis- 
 covered, has all along betrayed them ; and so poor 
 Harry is turned out from being Secretary of State, 
 and the seals are given to Mar; and they use poor 
 Harry most unmercifully, and call him knave, and 
 traitor, and Grod knows what. I believe all poor 
 Harry's fault was that he could not play his part with 
 a grave enough face : he could not help laughing now 
 and then at such kings and queens. He had a mistress 
 here at Paris ; and got drunk now and then ; and he 
 spent the money upon his mistress that he should have 
 bought powder with, and neglected buying and sending 
 the powder and arms, and never went near the Queen ; 
 and in one word told Lord Stair all their designs, and 
 Avas had out of England for that purpose. I would 
 not have you laugh, Mr. Walpole, for all this is very 
 serious."* How amusing to the Whigs, and all true 
 adherents of the House of Hanover like my Lord Stair 
 and the Walpoles, to hear of such folly on the part of 
 the Stuarts ! And to what a depth had Bolingbroke 
 fallen in the twenty months which had elapsed since the 
 death of Queen Anne, to have thus become at once an 
 object of laughter and pity to his political enemies ! 
 
 The Duke of Berwick, in a very different tone, is 
 equally explicit on Bolingbroke's innocence, and in- 
 dignant at the manner in which his services had been 
 requited, " I was, in fact, a witness," wrote Berwick, 
 
 * Lord Stair to Horace Walpole, March 3, 1716 ; Coxe's Walpole, iL 307. 
 
1715—1716.] BERWICK'S TESTIMONY. 489 
 
 " how Bolingbroke acted for King James whilst he 
 managed his affairs, and I owe him the justice to say, 
 that he left nothing undone of what he could do, he 
 moved heaven and earth to obtain supplies, but was 
 always put off by the court of France ; and though he 
 saw through their pretexts, and complained of them, 
 yet there was no other power to which he could 
 apply." * On the folly of dismissing in such a manner 
 the only English statesman capable of directing the 
 Pretender's business with any degree of success, 
 Berwick wrote with similar plainness. Had it been 
 pointed out to Bolingbroke, that owing to the coldness 
 which existed between him and Ormond, they could 
 not act any longer together, " I know enough of 
 Bolingbroke's character," added Berwick^ " to be con- 
 vinced that he would at once have resigned his seals 
 of office." James, however, thought fit to dismiss him 
 with every possible affront. In seeking, however, 
 to destroy Bolingbroke's character, the young 
 man effectually ruined his own cause. What other 
 statesman, who had anything to lose, would devote 
 himself to the scanty fortunes of the Stuarts at the 
 risk of receiving similar treatment ? Who again would 
 seek to put his life and reputation at the mercy of fools, 
 adventurers, monks, and Jesuits, the Mademoiselle 
 de Chausserys, and Olive Trants ? 
 
 Bolingbroke had managed to become obnoxious to 
 nearly all the Jacobites of every class and degree with 
 whom he had been associated during the last few 
 months. The hatred of the Irish was intense : they 
 hated Bolingbroke because they hated England. Of 
 the enmity of the female politicians in the Bois de 
 Boulogne it is also easy to account for : he had slighted 
 them, and they reviled him : and, however contemptible 
 
 * Memoires du Marechal de Berwick. 
 
490 SEORETAEY OF STATE TO THE PRETENDER. [Chap. XII. 
 
 they really were, they managed to prejudice against 
 him hoth the Duke of Orleans and the Pretender. 
 Mary of Modena at St. Germains was equally indig- 
 nant at Bolingbroke. He had not consulted her, or 
 cared to inform her of all that was being done for the 
 Jacobite cause, because he knew very well that Mary 
 of Modena was quite incapable of keeping a secret.* 
 Then there were Mar and Ormond, who could not 
 pretend to rival Bolingbroke as statesmen, and yet 
 were eager to see him removed. Berwick, indeed, 
 was the only man of eminence engaged in the Stuart 
 cause w;ith whom Bolingbroke appears to have re- 
 mained on friendly terms ; and Berwick was almost 
 as much disliked by the Pretender himself as Bohng- 
 broke ; and for a very similar reason : he had a cha- 
 racter to maintain, and saw clearer, and acted wiser 
 than the miserable knot of adventurers in every rank, 
 condition, and sex who set up to be ministers and 
 advisers of James. Bolingbroke and Berwick re- 
 mained on good terms to the last. The Memoirs of 
 this stern and intrepid son of James II. and Arabella 
 Churchill contain the most trustworthy defence of 
 Bohngbroke's conduct at this time ; and when, nearly 
 twenty years afterwards, the news reached England 
 that Berwick had been killed at the siege of Philips- 
 burg, Bolingbroke took the opportunity in the Crafts- 
 man, of paying an eloquent tribute to the memory of 
 this gallant soldier of fortune, who, through the errors 
 of his family, had neither home nor country, yet lived 
 a life without stain, and died in the profession he 
 ennobled. 
 
 * For the manner in whicli the unfortunate Queen of James II. allowed 
 important matters, which it was of the highest moment to conceal to become 
 known to everybody, see the Souvenirs of Madame de Caylus, 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1716—1725. 
 EXILE AND ISOLATION. 
 
 It was now that Bolingbroke experienced all tlie 
 terrible meaning of tlie word exile. While lie had 
 remained the minister of the Pretender, he had at least 
 been so much occupied with business as to be prevented 
 from dwelling exclusively on his own misfortunes ; and 
 for a time his mind had been buoyed up by the excite- 
 ment of the struggle and the hope of vengeance. The 
 struggle was over, and vengeance had become the 
 portion of his adversaries. His most inveterate foes 
 could not wish him a more unhappy fate than that 
 which he had to endure. After the great position he 
 had filled in the reign of Anne, after negotiating the 
 peace of Utrecht, after being the leader of a great 
 party, and at last, with the highest favour of his 
 sovereign, the virtual Prime Minister of England, it 
 was a fall indeed even to be the mimic Secretary of 
 State to a mimic king. But to be the discarded and 
 reviled secretary of this pretended sovereign, after 
 having been a mock minister, to have to defend himself 
 from a mock impeachment, was worse than even to 
 suffer a real impeachment at Westminster, or even to 
 
492 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHI. 
 
 expiate his faults and errors on Tower Hill. He had 
 fled from England because he thought the Whigs were 
 determined to bring him to the scaffold : but the Pre- 
 tender and the Jacobites were not satisfied without 
 making him at once odious and ridiculous. The whole 
 world appeared against him. To whom could he appeal 
 for justice ? To his poKtical enemies in England ? 
 or to the Tories, who were at least half Jacobites, and 
 who could scarcely doubt the assertions of the Pretender 
 and his counsellors ? Driven from his native land, 
 stripped of his estate and honours, the Jacobites now 
 seemed eager to rob Bolingbroke even of everything he 
 had left, his reputation as a statesman and his personal 
 honour. On whatever side he turned his eyes, there 
 seemed nothing before him but blank, hopeless ruin. 
 
 Immediately after his dismissal he retired to a 
 private lodging, which he had for some time kept a 
 secret from all but two or three of his most intimate 
 acquaintances. He remained in this obscure retreat 
 for a fortnight, wishing to avoid all the gossip of the 
 most gossiping city in the world. At the end of that 
 time, however, Berwick came to him one evening and 
 informed him that it was necessary to show himself, as 
 the Jacobites were circulating all kinds of slander re- 
 specting the cause of his dismissal from their master's 
 service. He was accused of treachery, of imbecility, 
 of every crime a minister could commit : and all Paris 
 was busy execrating his name. In compliance with the 
 advice of the friendly marshal, Bolingbroke imme- 
 diately appeared again in society. The calumnies 
 which had so suddenly risen in his absence,- died as 
 suddenly when opposed to the personal influence of 
 his presence. It was impossible for those who had 
 seen him labouring so zealously for the Pretender in 
 
1716—1725.] THE CEY OF OBLOQUY. 493 
 
 France, long to credit the sliameful accusations of 
 wliicli he was now the object. 
 
 Among the Tories and Jacobites in England, the 
 effect of these slanders was not so easily destroyed. 
 Bolingbroke could not cross the channel ; he could give 
 no explanations by word of mouth ; the poison rapidly 
 spread, and the antidote was not easily administered. 
 He was soon informed that among the Jacobites in 
 England his name was reviled as much as by the 
 Jacobites in France. By his orders his honest private 
 secretary, John Brinsden, who had followed him 
 into exile, and was sharing his misfortunes, wrote 
 four letters, answering the more prominent of the 
 accusations. These letters produced replies, and 
 there seemed, in April, a prospect of a controversy 
 which might occasion some very extraordinary revela- 
 tions.* The cry of obloquy, however, ceased in Eng- 
 land almost as suddenly as in France, while Boling- 
 broke was himself meditating a more serious defence of 
 his conduct as Secretary of State to the Pretender. 
 
 After Bolingbroke's first indignation had subsided at 
 his peremptory dismissal from the Pretender's service, 
 and the calumnies which had been raised against him 
 by the Pretender's agents, he began characteristically 
 to make the best of his situation. He thought it not 
 so bad as at first sight it had appeared. He had him- 
 self meditated giving up the seals, believing that 
 the insurrection headed by the Earl of Mar in Scot- 
 land, and the unfortunate attempts to rise in England, 
 had been the last struggle of the Tories for power, 
 and that the game was irretrievably lost. On the 
 whole, therefore, the Pretender had done him a service 
 
 * These Letters may be seen in Tindal's Continuation of Eapin, ii. 477^ 
 fol. edit. 
 
494 ' EXILE AND ISOLATION. [CsAP.Xni. 
 
 in dismissing him with ignominy. None could now 
 accuse him of interested fickleness in leaving the 
 cause of the Stuarts. They had themselves driven him 
 away ; he had not abandoned them, they had abandoned 
 him ; he was justified in the face of the whole world in 
 having done with them for ever. The insight he had 
 gained into the interior of the Pretender's court had con- 
 vinced him of the hopelessness of the struggle in which 
 the Jacobites were engaged ; and it was with a feeling 
 of relief that he began to contemplate the abrupt dis- 
 solution of his alliance with the unfortunate Stuarts. He 
 was once more a free man, and determined never more 
 to involve himself in such a galling bondage. Mary of 
 Modena sent him a message, stating that his dismissal 
 had been effected without her knowledgej and express- 
 ing her hopes that a reconciliation might yet take place 
 between him and her son. " May my arm rot off if I 
 ever use my sword or my pen in their service again ! " 
 was Bolingbroke's indignant reply.* 
 
 He was beginning to look homeward. He was 
 resolved to take the first opportunity of making his 
 peace with the English government. He had not 
 long to wait before the opportunity of coming to some 
 terms of accommodation was afforded him. He tells us 
 himself that, even while he was in the service of the 
 Pretender, Lord Stair had been authorized to pro- 
 pose a return to his allegiance to the House of Ha- 
 nover; and that even the Duke of Orleans had also 
 offered personally to interest himself in this business.f 
 How far these statements were justified by facts it is 
 not easy to ascertain. That, however, after Boling- 
 
 * Diary of the Earl of Waldegrave referred to by Coxe in his "Walpole, 
 i. 200. 
 
 t The Letter to Sir W. Windham. 
 
1716—1725.] OFFEE OF PAEDON. 4S5 
 
 broke's dismissal from the Pretender's service, the first 
 overtures were actually made by Lord Stair, as the 
 agent of the English government, and that he vpas 
 authorized to make them, before Bolingbroke had him- 
 self made any advances at all, I find confirmed by the 
 most satisfactory evidence. The quarrel vfith the 
 Pretender was known to Lord Stair, and through him 
 to his government at home, almost as soon as it 
 occurred. It is noticed immediately in the manuscript 
 correspondence between the ambassador and Lord Stan- 
 hope, the Secretary of State, which I have read in the 
 State Paper Office. On the 28th of March, Stanhope 
 wrote to Stair in the following terms, which certainly 
 fully prove what Bolingbroke affirmed, and his enemies 
 afterwards denied, that the British ambassador was em- 
 powered to come to an understanding with him, and 
 offer, from the King and ministry, to reverse his 
 attainder : — 
 
 " We cannot tell what judgment to make here of the 
 late Lord Bolingbroke's situation, but we have heard 
 that the Jacobites have been a good deal alarmed at the 
 reports of his disgrace, and expressed a good deal of 
 apprehension lest he should return hither and tell all. 
 Your Lordship is best able to judge what temper of mind 
 he may be in ; and if he be in the disposition some 
 imagine, your Lordship cannot do better service to the 
 King than by finding ways to improve it. The King- 
 depends so much upon your address in this, that he 
 authorizes you to give all suitable hope and encourage- 
 ment, if you shall see occasion."* 
 
 After receiving this despatch, Lord Stair sent a mes- 
 sage to Bolingbroke, requesting him to call at the 
 
 * Stanhope to Stair, 28th March, 1716, MS. in the State Paper Office. 
 Foreign Correspondence, France, No. 349. 
 
496 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHI. 
 
 embassy. Bolingbroke had a long and friendly inter- 
 view, for an hour and a half, with Stair ; and the 
 manner in which he could be restored was fully dis- 
 cussed. The exiled statesman declared himself most 
 anxious and determined to return to his duty towards 
 his King and country. Nothing, he declared, could 
 shake his resolution, even though King George were 
 to refuse to pardon him. He was ready, even if he 
 could be useful to co-operate with Lord Stair in France. 
 " My Lord," he said to the ambassador, with fervour, 
 " you know my character. I am not accustomed to do 
 things by halves. In returning to my duty, I propose 
 to serve my King and country with zeal and affection. 
 To accomplish this purpose, I shall beheve myself 
 obliged by every act of duty, of gratitude, of honour, 
 and of interest, to inform the King of all that my expe- 
 rience may suggest for the establishment of the public 
 tranquillity, and to frustrate all the designs which may 
 be formed in favour of his enemies. I shall do all tliat 
 I can to make the Tories who have embraced the Pre- 
 tender's cause return to their duty, in letting them see 
 vphat kind of a man this Pretender is, and how they 
 deceive themselves if they think that, with him, they 
 can have any security for their liberties or their religion. 
 To do this, however, it is necessary, even for his Majesty's 
 service, that I should not lose my reputation nor pass 
 for an informer." On this point Bolingbroke was most 
 earnest. " What I propose to do," he added, " is worthy 
 of an honest man, convinced of his error, and truly 
 penitent. It is what I shall do openly in the face of 
 the imiverse. Permit me to add that it is a real service 
 that I shall fender to my King and country. But to 
 consent to betray private persons, or to reveal secrets 
 which may have been confided to me, would be to dis- 
 
1716—1725.1 BOLINGBROKE A SUPPLICANT. 497 
 
 1716. 
 
 honour me for ever." Bolingbroke, in the course of" 
 this interview, showed not only a thorough alienation 
 from the Pretender, but a decided animosity against 
 France. At the close of this conversation, he shook 
 Lord Stair warmly by the hand, and emphatically 
 observed : " My Lord, if the ministers do me the justice 
 of believing that my professions are sincere, the more 
 they manage my reputation the more they do for the 
 Bang's service. If, on the contrary, they suspect me of 
 not acting straightforwardly, they may reasonably 
 require from me conditions which, as an honest man, I 
 can at the same time as reasonably refuse. The diffi- 
 culties which I make against promising too much may 
 serve as guarantees that I shall keep what I engage to 
 do. At all events, time and my uniform conduct will 
 convince all the world of the uprightness of my inten- 
 tions ; and it is better to wait for this result, however 
 long, than to arrive hastily at one's goal, by leaving 
 the highway of honour and honesty."* 
 
 Bolingbroke was now a supplicant for mercy from 
 those whom he had hitherto always regarded as his 
 most inveterate enemies. Lord Stair warmly seconded 
 his application, and answered for the sincerity of his 
 repentance. After Stanhope's orders, and Lord Stair's 
 reply, the King expressly assured Lord Winchilsea 
 of Bolingbroke's future favour. As soon, however, 
 as the business was broached in the Cabinet, it 
 appears to have met with opposition from Walpole 
 and Townshend. The dissensions in the ministry, 
 which soon afterwards resulted in their retirement 
 from the government, and the open breach in the 
 
 * A despatch in French, containing a minute account of this interview 
 between Bolingbroke and Lord Stair, will be found at the end of the letter to 
 Sir W. Windham. There is also a manuscript copy of it in the British 
 Museum. 
 
498 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 Whig ranks, were now beginning. The Septennial Bill, 
 and George I.'s visit to his Grerman dominions, caused 
 much altercation ; and the confusion prevailing in the 
 government made many of the leading Whigs shun re- 
 sponsibility. To attempt the immediate reversal of 
 Bolingbroke's attainder, and to allow him to return 
 home a free man, were steps which few of them were 
 prepared to take. His name was execrated by their 
 party ; and even the Tories, who were influenced by 
 the calumnies which were circulated by the Jacobites, 
 ceased to regard him with favour. Being no longer 
 formidable as an enemy to the government, it was 
 thought that he could afford to wait the convenience 
 of the ministers, who were lukewarmly in favour of 
 his restoration. Lord Stair's despatch, therefore, re- 
 mained without an answer, the royal promise was 
 neglected, and Boliugbroke was kept in suspense. 
 
 At the beginning of the summer, however, though 
 he still himself received no mark of returning favour, 
 his father, Sir Henry St. John, was created Baron of 
 Battersea and Yiscount St. John. Bolingbroke was, of 
 course, called after the act of attainder, " the late Lord 
 Bolingbroke ;" and the joke which his father had made 
 when he was raised to the peerage, of, " Well, Harry, I 
 thought thee would be hanged, but now I see thee wilt 
 be beheaded," was very nearly being fulfilled. Old Sir 
 Harry, joking and sauntering as usual from coffee- 
 house to coffee-house in the neighbourhood of St. 
 James's, had managed, even when his son was attainted 
 and outlawed, to keep on good terms with the ruling 
 powers. What were Whig and Tory to him ? Of the 
 two parties he had a languid, idle, hereditary preference 
 for the Whigs ; and he was never for one moment sus- 
 pected of sharing in any of the dangerous designs attri- 
 
1716—1725.] LADY BOLIKGBROKB. 499 
 
 1716. 
 
 buted to his ambitious and brilliant son. He went 
 quietly witb tbe stream, thinking the great game of 
 politics, and life itself, only a very good joke. Though 
 he had once been under sentence of death for murder, 
 he was in no danger of losing his head for high treason. 
 He had his reward. It seemed a good stroke of policy 
 to make him a peer, while his son was still in exile, and 
 suffering under the Act of Attainder. 
 
 Lady Bolingbroke, too, had been for some months in 
 London seeking to obtain, from the generosity of the 
 government, the estate which had belonged to her, and 
 which had, of course, with the rest of her husband's 
 property, been forfeited by the Act of Attainder. She 
 was far from well, and a residence in town during the 
 sultry summer months was highly injurious to her deli- 
 cate constitution. Still, however, she persevered amid 
 all the difEculties with which she was surrounded, from 
 the obloquy with which Bolingbroke" s name was 
 covered, the coldness and neglect of relations who were 
 not eager to assist her in her misfortunes, her own bad 
 health, and the hostility of her husband's political 
 enemies. The King had indeed received her with 
 kindness ; and the first offers of a pardon to Boling- 
 broke himself, as he afterwards asserted, and as the 
 despatch of Stanhope already quoted seems to con- 
 firm, proceeded directly from Greorge the First's 
 own unsolicited good nature. At first, Lady Boling- 
 broke hoped to succeed speedily ia her application. 
 But the same delay which attended Bolingbroke's own 
 efforts to obtain the reversal of his forfeiture, also hin- 
 dered the success of his wife. Months passed on, and 
 she suffered all the anxiety of delay. With true 
 feminine devotion, whatever causes she may have 
 had to complain of Bolingbroke in his prosperity, she 
 
 2 K 2 
 
500 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XUI. 
 
 defended him gallantly in this the season of his adver- 
 sity. When the Jacobites were loud in their accusa- 
 tions against her husband she wrote to Swift : " As 
 to my temper : if it is possible, I am more insipid 
 and dull than ever, except in some places, and there I 
 am a little fury, especially if they dare mention my 
 dear lord without respect, which sometimes happens."* 
 This is the wife who has been represented as in- 
 different to her husband's pursuits, and as living sepa- 
 rated from him for many years after their marriage. 
 Some months later, as she was still indefatigably pro- 
 secuting her claims to the indulgence of the ministry, 
 and seeking to get back her fortune, she declared ; 
 " I hope, one time or other, his Majesty will find my 
 Lord has been misrepresented ; and by that means he 
 may be restored to his country with honour, or else, 
 however harsh it may sound out of my mouth, I had 
 rather wear black." These expressions have also been 
 strangely construed to mean that Lady Bolingbroke was 
 so attached to the House of Hanover, she would 
 rather see her husband dead than find him really acting 
 with the Jacobites.f They mean, and could mean 
 nothing of the kind. At the time when she penned 
 this strong declaration to Swift, on the 4th of August, 
 1716, there was no question that her husband had 
 been Secretary of State to the Pretender. It was an 
 admitted fact, known to everybody. Biit rumours were 
 in circulation during the summer that Bolingbroke was 
 about to make his peace with the English government, 
 by reveahng all that he knew of the Pretender's secrets ; 
 and it was to these reports, exaggerated by Jacobite 
 malignity, and the partisanship hatred of the Whigs, that 
 
 • Lady Bolingbroke to Swift, May 5, 1716. 
 t Couke, ii. 39. 
 
1716—1725.] THE LADIES BOLINGBEOKE AND ORMOND. 501 
 1716. 
 
 Lady Bolingbroke alluded. She meant, that rather 
 than not see her husband restored to his country with 
 honour, she would not wish to see him restored at all. 
 No such heartless or unwomanly sentiment surely ; but 
 a declaration worthy of one of the best of wives, made, 
 as it was, to one of her husband's intimate friends.* 
 
 The Duchess of Ormond and Lady Bolingbroke were 
 in very much the same position. At this time they 
 were both soliciting from the government as a favour, 
 what they could not claim as a right, some portion of 
 the estates which their husbands had forfeited. Suffer- 
 ing the same misfortunes, they naturally condoled 
 together, and called each other sister. The Duchess 
 was, however, in a worse situation than her friend. 
 Her goods had been taken away ; she was left without 
 money ; she was obliged to maintain herself by bor- 
 rowing from her rich relations ; she expected to 
 be deprived of her wardrobe, and could only call her 
 own the clothes which she wore on her back. As the 
 calumnies spread against Bolingbroke by the Jacobites 
 in France were talked about in England, the friendship 
 between Lady Bolingbroke and the Duchess of Ormond 
 declined, as the friendship of their lords had previously 
 done. They saw each other but seldom ; and the 
 Duchess sneered at Lady Bolingbroke's solicitations, 
 insinuating pretty plainly that Bolingbroke himself was 
 making his own terms, by betraying the Jacobite cause. 
 " To tell you the truth," the Duchess wrote to Swift, 
 " I believe her husband has been a better courtier than 
 either she or any of her sex could be ; because men 
 have it in their power to serve, and I believe he has 
 effectually done what lay in him."t 
 
 * Lady Bolingbroke to Swift, Aug. 4, 1716. 
 
 t The Duchess of Ormond to Swift, September 14, 1716. 
 
502 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 Thougli the insinuation that Bolingbroke was mak- 
 ing his peace with the English government by betray- 
 ing the Stuarts, must be dismissed as utterly unworthy 
 of credit, he was just as the Duchess penned this letter 
 doing all that he justifiably could to get his attainder 
 reversed. It was the month of September. Greorge I. 
 was at Hanover, Stanhope was in attendance upon 
 his Majesty, and Lord Townshend, at home, had the 
 principal direction of affairs under the Prince of Wales. 
 Bolingbroke felt it necessary to give the government 
 some proof of the sincerity of his repentance. He 
 wrote a private letter to his friend. Sir William Wind- 
 ham, warning him, in the most confidential and affec- 
 tionate terms, against being misled by the reports of the 
 Jacobite agents. " Depend npon what I say to you, 
 my very dearest friend," the exiled statesman observed, 
 " nothing can be so desperate as the circumstances of 
 affairs, nothing so miserable as the characters, nothing 
 so weak as the measures ; and whoever represents things 
 in another light is guilty either of gross ignorance or 
 of scandalous artifice. That ardent and sincere affec- 
 tion which I bear you, and which I shall carry to the 
 grave along with me, exacts this admonition from me ; 
 and the rather because the knowledge I have of some 
 part of what is doing, and the guess I make at the 
 particulars which I do not certainly know, inchne me to 
 think that I should not neglect a moment in so material 
 an affair." Bolingbroke earnestly advised his friend to 
 keep himself free from any further engagements with 
 the Jacobites, informed him that the King of Sweden's 
 position was desperate, and that the Eegent of France 
 would imdoubtedly throw himself into the interests 
 of George I. This letter Bolingbroke kept by him 
 for some days, then added, that it was sent sealed, 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBROKE'S CONDUCT. 503 
 
 1716. 
 
 with a head under another friend's cover. But the fact 
 was, that Bolingbroke transmitted his epistle, unsealed, 
 to young Craggs, the son of the Postmaster-General, to 
 be forwarded by him to his father, leaving him at his 
 discretion to let it be sent on to Sir William, or be 
 destroyed. Old Craggs, as Bolingbroke doubtless 
 expected, at once took the letter to Lord Townshend, 
 the Secretary of State, who read it with much interest, 
 took a copy of it, to be shown to the King at Hanover, 
 and ordered the original letter to be by all means for- 
 warded to the influential Tory baronet to whom it was 
 addressed, hoping that it might immediately cure him 
 of all Jacobite predilections. It certainly was calcu- 
 lated to do good service to George I.'s government. 
 Townshend earnestly commented upon it to Stanhope, 
 and considered the view taken in it of foreign and 
 domestic affairs confirmed by other knowledge in the 
 possession of the ministers. The letter did not, how- 
 ever, appear to produce the effect intended. Though 
 his wife was allowed to enjoy some portion of her in- 
 heritance, months passed on, and Bolingbroke himself 
 was still an attainted exile.* 
 
 He endeavoured to put the best face he could upon 
 his unhappy situation. Poverty and sickness were 
 not yet added to the other misfortunes of his life. The 
 supply of money which he had brought with him to 
 France was not exhausted ; and he had prudently 
 secured a small fund which he said was enough for 
 him to live upon with economy in any part of the 
 world. His health, too, was much better than it had 
 been when he was immersed in business and pleasure ; 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Sir W. Windham, Sept. ^, 1716 : and Lord Towns- 
 hend to Secretary Stanhope, Sept. 15, 1716, O.S. Walpole Correspondence, 
 ii. 308 and ii. 310. 
 
504 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHI. 
 
 and he began to write in a tone of clieerfiilness re- 
 specting himself which was not merely assumed. 
 " At present," he wrote to Swift, " I enjoy, as far as I 
 consider myself, great complacency of mind ; but this 
 inward satisfaction is embittered, when I remember the 
 condition of my friends. They are got into a dark 
 hole, where they grope about after blind guides ; jostle 
 against one another, and dash their heads against the 
 wall ; and all this to no purpose. For assure yourself 
 that there is no returning to light ; no going out but 
 by going back. My style is mystic, but it is your trade 
 to deal in mysteries, and therefore I add neither com- 
 ment nor excuse." What did these words really imply ? 
 Walter Scott has given us his interpretation. Ac- 
 cording to him, Bolingbroke was busily engaged in the 
 intrigues of St. G-ermains, and his meaning might be 
 expressed in Shakespeare's words : — 
 
 " Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, 
 And welcome home again deserted faith, 
 Seek out King James, and fall before his feet."* 
 
 But assuredly Bolingbroke was not then engaged in 
 the intrigue of St. Grermains : he had done with the 
 Stuarts for ever : and his meaning must have been just 
 the contrary to . what Scott has drawn. The advice 
 Bolingbroke was then giving Sir William Windham 
 and other friends shows plainly that the meaning of 
 the mystical words, " There is no returning to light 
 but by going back," implied that the Tories could only 
 save themselves by returning to their allegiance to the 
 House of Hanover. In a letter from Archbishop 
 King to Swift, just a month later, there is in the 
 same correspondence, another repetition of the rumours 
 to which the Duchess of Ormond had previously al- 
 
 • Note to Scott's edition of Swift, xvi. 261. 
 
1716—1725.] REFLECTIONS ON EXILE. 505 
 
 1716. 
 
 luded. " We have a strong report," the Archbishop 
 dryly remarked to the Dean, whom he seemed to delight 
 in snubbing, " that my Lord Bolingbroke will return 
 here and be pardoned; certainly it must not be for 
 nothing. I hope he can tell no ill story of you."* 
 
 But though, at the beginning of the winter of 1716, 
 it was generally reported that Bolingbroke was to 
 return home a free man, nothing more was actually 
 done in his favour. He resumed the studies which 
 had been interrupted ever since he accepted the seals 
 of the Secretary of State under Harley ; and to comfort 
 himself under his afflictions, he began to pass through 
 his mind all the instances preserved in Greek and 
 Roman history of illustrious men who had been obliged 
 to fly from the country of their birth. The result was 
 the Reflections on Exile, of which the date, 1716, is 
 still affixed to both the published and unpublished copy, 
 though much of it was undoubtedly written two or three 
 years later. It was begun, he said to Swift, in jest, 
 and finished in earnest. This little work is avowedly 
 written in imitation of Seneca, and especially of the 
 Epistle from Corsica to his mother. Throughout his 
 Reflections, Bolingbroke has, in many places, closely 
 paraphrased Seneca's language ; and we are frequently 
 left in doubt whether the sentiments are really the 
 English statesman's own, or merely a clever adaptation, 
 as a kind of rhetorical exercise, of the Roman philo- 
 sopher's rhapsodies. This, indeed, is the great defect 
 of the thing. A genuine record of Bolingbroke's 
 own reflections in exile would always have been 
 interesting and valuable ; but this work presents us 
 with no feature of the real man, and can scarcely be 
 considered more than a collection of pompous philo- 
 
 » Archbishop King to Swift, Nov. 22, 1716. 
 
506 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIIL 
 
 sophical commonplaces, destitute of any direct appli- 
 cation to his own particular situation. The eloquence 
 of some passages is undeniable ; but it is an eloquence 
 which we could well spare. We miss altogether the 
 manly style of Bolingbroke's letters and despatches, and 
 find, in its stead, the epigrammatic, meretricious splen- 
 dour of a clever schoolboy's theme. Seneca is scarcely 
 the philosopher which an accomplished English states- 
 man might have been expected to set up as his model. 
 At the best he was only a very bad second-hand imi- 
 tator of Socrates, without the noble Attic purity, without 
 the noble Attic wisdom, without the noble Attic he- 
 roism, which seem to illumine, with a more than earthly 
 radiance, the pages in which Plato has chronicled the 
 life and teachings of his sage. How different does 
 the death of Seneca appear, even as it is depicted 
 by Tacitus, to the death of Socrates as depicted by 
 Plato ! How like and yet how unlike ! The one seems 
 a noble reality, almost divine in the subhmity of its 
 moral ; the other a mere painted philosophical phantas- 
 magoria. Seneca was, after all, only half a man, the 
 panegyrist of the worst tyrants, the theatrical imitator 
 of the noblest of sages. In his speculations we see 
 plainly that philosophy was at its last gasp, just as 
 in the stern sententious prose of Tacitus we catch the 
 last sighs of Roman freedom. Rome was hopelessly 
 sinking ; genius itself even in its greatest efforts only 
 made more painfully evident the fatal symptoms of that 
 sad decay. 
 
 Much of this, however, seemed hidden from Boling- 
 broke. He knew well, indeed, the defects of Seneca's 
 character, but considered his book on exile worthy of 
 being eloquently paraphrased. These sentiments the 
 English statesman made his own without any regard to 
 
1716—1723.] LOVE OP COUNTRY. 507 
 
 1716. 
 
 tte propriety of their application. In truth, we can 
 make little of all those high-sounding phrases which 
 certainly never could console any one under a similar 
 infliction. It may be very fine to be told that Varro, 
 the most learned of the Komans, thought it sufficient to 
 remove all objections to a change of place, that nature 
 is the same wherever we go ; that it was enough for 
 Brutus to reflect that those who went into exile could 
 not be prevented from carrying their virtue along with 
 them ; or that when Anaxagoras was asked where his 
 country was situated he pointed with his finger to the 
 heavens. But how are we edified by such illustrations, 
 or how do they apply to Bolingbroke ? In truth, we 
 learn nothing from them at all ; nor do they in any 
 way affect his own particular situation. That there 
 may have been much insincere ranting about the love 
 of our country, is no reason for the insincere ranting 
 about an indifference to our country in which BoKng- 
 broke indulges, and which, there can be no question, is 
 infinitely more pernicious than the prejudice he attempts 
 to destroy. 
 
 He admits that the notion of an affection to the 
 land in which we are born may have contributed 
 to the grandeur and security of states ; and yet this 
 notion he, a statesman, sets himself to explode. He 
 boldly calls in question the very existence of such a sen- 
 timent as patriotism. He denies that there really can 
 be any devoted attachment to any particular country 
 independent of the mere worldly benefits derived fi:om 
 it ; ignores the existence of any great historical associ- 
 ations, or the influences of tradition ; and puts this love 
 for our native land, which has been justly said to " in- 
 clude all the charities of all," on the basis of the lowest 
 utilitarianism. 
 
508 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 It would be idle to attempt to refute his reasoning on 
 the subject. It is at once refuted by the heart of every 
 Englishman. No people, no nation, ever existed or 
 could exist without patriotism. Facts are always 
 stronger than theories. We know that even Boling- 
 broke , himsel:^ so far from feeling that indifference to 
 his country professed in these Reflections, suffered as 
 keenly as any one under the stern sentence of banish- 
 ment. We know that no exile ever felt more painfuUy 
 the dragging weight of the lengthening chain. We 
 know that at the very time when he was thus elo- 
 quently declaring that it was enough for a wise man 
 to look at the planets as they were revolving in 
 their orbits round the same central sim, or to survey 
 the numerous army of fixed stars shining resplen- 
 dently in the skies, he was moving heaven and earth 
 in order to bring about a restoration to his country 
 and his honours. No man was ever less inclined 
 voluntarily to spend his time in this sublimely celestial 
 stargazing. He was a philosopher only because he 
 could not help it. 
 
 His philosophy was somewhat cruelly put to the 
 test. The reports about his having made his peace 
 at home, by revealing the secrets of the Jacobites, 
 after being first whispered about in the higher 
 circles of society, became still more prevalent as 
 time passed on. The Pretender had been compelled, 
 as Bolingbroke had foreseen, to leave Lorraine : he 
 had for a time resided at Avignon, but he soon had 
 to go still further south. It suited the unfortunate 
 young man to impute most of his misfortunes to the 
 statesman whom he had suspected of betraying him, and 
 had chosen to dismiss with ignominy. A Letter from 
 Avignon was published, evidently written with his sane- 
 
1716—1725.] ANOTHEE BURST OF OBLOQUY. 509 
 
 1717. 
 
 tion, reasserting all the cliarges of treachery and incapa- 
 city which had so suddenly died away in the previous 
 year. This letter was not remarkable as a literary 
 composition. Like most of the Jacobite productions, it 
 showed that the adherents of the banished Stuarts had 
 lost their command of the English language, after they 
 had repudiated all allegiance to the English govern- 
 ment. It was as Bolingbroke, who was an exquisite 
 judge of style himself pronounced it, a medley of false 
 facts, false arguments, and false eloquence. Still, how- 
 ever, it produced an effect. Taken with the other 
 scandals which had been so industriously published 
 against Bolingbroke, none seemed inclined to deny the 
 truth of what was so deliberately and so solemnly 
 asserted. The stanch Jacobites in England gave him 
 up altogether. The Tories, who were only Jacobites 
 when it suited the purposes of their party, spoke of 
 their former champion somewhat doubtfully, and with 
 many misgivings. It was impossible to deny that he 
 was in correspondence with the English government, 
 and seeking to get his attainder reversed. Few persons 
 had any idea of the most unjustifiable treatment he had 
 received from the Pretender, which had certainly war- 
 ranted him in offering to resume his allegiance to 
 George I. Ignorant as they were of facts, and eager 
 to listen to every idle calumny of the Pretender's 
 adherents, who hated the man they had injured, the 
 country gentlemen who had formerly sat behind him 
 in the House of Commons, cheering his ardent elo- 
 quence, and applauding his violent counsels, seemed at 
 last to look with much suspicion on their exiled chief, 
 whose character was at the mercy of aU men. 
 
 Bolingbroke was fairly overwhelmed by this new 
 and unexpected storm of obloquy. Hitherto he had 
 
510 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 borne up cheerfully ; he was relieving his mind by 
 his transcendental Reflections on Exile when he 
 found himself a mere mortal after all. His philoso- 
 phy was at once thrown to the winds. Notwithstand- 
 ing all his eloquent declamations, notwithstanding all 
 the examples of Grreek and Roman heroes, notwith- 
 standing all the epigrammatic rants he had borrowed 
 from Seneca, notwithstanding that his own manu- 
 script still unfinished was open reproachfully before 
 him, he could not act up to his professed indifference 
 to the world, and especially to the opinion of his 
 countrymen. He determined at once to begin the 
 elaborate justification he had meditated ever since his 
 dismissal from the Pretender's service. The work was 
 not only to be a triumphant vindication of himself, but 
 also, in the same measure, an overwhelming exposure 
 of the Jacobites. Thus two objects would be served at 
 once. His own revenge would be accomplished against 
 the Pretender, the Earl of Mar, the Duke of Ormond, 
 and the Irish papists to whom he had been so ob- 
 noxious; and in the same degree George I. and 
 the English government would be conciliated by 
 the clear exposition of the follies of the Stuarts, and all 
 who on the Continent still adhered to the cause of the 
 Chevalier. 
 
 Bolingbroke set to work, in the April of 1717, to 
 write his celebrated letter to Sir William Windham. 
 This young man was of an old family, and had a great 
 estate. Since Bolingbroke had been raised to the 
 peerage, Sir William had become a kind of Tory leader 
 in the House of Commons. Though his abilities were 
 not great he was an effective speaker, and he was 
 blessed with those two very valuable qualifications 
 in a leading politician, goodnature and excellent 
 
1716-1725.] SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM'S CHAEACTEE. 511 
 
 1717. 
 
 temper. It is not necessary tliat the leader of the 
 Tory country gentleman should be a man of brilliant 
 intellectual endowments; but it is necessary that he 
 should share their convictions, and sympathise with 
 their cause. This "Windham did ; and precisely because 
 he did so, though he might not be a statesman, he 
 became a power in the state. During the late Tory 
 ministry he had filled many ofSces, from the mastership 
 of the Buckhounds to the Chancellorship of the Ex- 
 chequer, and until he was designated by Bolingbroke 
 to be Secretary of State in the new ministry, which the 
 death of Queen Anne destroyed, even before it had 
 been born. To Bolingbroke, Windham, amid the dis- 
 sensions of the Tory party, remained steadily attached, 
 and had no inconsiderable share in his confidence. 
 Being son-in-law of the proud and stupid Duke of 
 Somerset, Windham turned this relationship to account, 
 by at last inducing the Duchess to throw her influence 
 with the Queen into the scale against Oxford, After 
 Bolingbroke's flight, and the proscription of the Tories, 
 Windham became a Jacobite, and, indeed, Bolingbroke 
 expressly says, that it was only after he had received 
 the commands of the Tories, transmitted to him by 
 Sir William, that he embraced the Pretender's 
 cause. In the autumn of 1715, when an insurrec- 
 tion in the western counties was organized for the 
 purpose of co-operating with the intended risings in 
 Scotland and the north of England, orders were given 
 to arrest Windham, with other Jacobites. He fled from 
 the messenger who came down to his house to execute 
 the Secretary of State's warrant ; but afterwards sur- 
 rendered himself, and was committed to the Tower. 
 This was, however, all the hardship he underwent, 
 though the orders for the arrest gave great offence to 
 
512 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 the Duke of Somerset. For a country gentleman, 
 Windham was somewhat superstitious. He had been 
 told that he would meet his fate by a white horse. He 
 once while hunting received a severe kick from such 
 an animal ; and, on entering the Tower, the white 
 horse in the arms of the House of Hanover over the 
 gateway struck him with terror. He was soon per- 
 mitted to return to his place on the front bench of 
 the Opposition. Bolingbroke had a real affection for 
 Windham : he called him his '■' dear Willie ;" he cor- 
 responded with him about dogs, horses, and field- 
 sports ; his letters were always written in a strain of 
 unusual tenderness ; with Windham he never quarrelled. 
 The letter to Sir William Windham has frequently 
 been pronounced the best of Bolingbroke's compositions. 
 It is certainly the most interesting. It does not, like 
 the Reflections on Exile, consist of vague, high- 
 sounding, philosophical generalities, which never, in 
 fact, regulated the conduct of any human being. 
 Neither does it, like so many of his subsequent writ- 
 ings, consist of ingenious distortions of past history, 
 all directed to one particular end, the aspersion of a 
 Living minister. A greater contrast, indeed, than exists 
 between the Reflections on Exile and this letter it 
 is almost impossible to imagine. Bolingbroke, the 
 statesman, is himself : he is not the clever school- 
 boy, writing finely about the philosophers and heroes 
 of Greece and Rome. We hear nothing more about 
 Metellus, Rutihus, Attilius Regulus, Phocion, Anar 
 charsis, Demetrius Phalereus, Thucydides in Thrace, 
 and Xenophon on his httle farm at Scillus. Boling- 
 broke writes of actual facts, and of the real world, of 
 what he had himself witnessed, of his own strugg;]es, 
 vexations, and anxieties ; of the characters of persons 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBROKE'S ADMISSIONS. 513 
 
 1717. 
 
 with whom he was thrown in contact ; and of the in- 
 justice with which he was treated. It is a most valuable 
 chapter of authentic history : the actors live and move 
 before us. Admitting the truth of the author's state- 
 ments, it is not easy to dissent from his conclusions. 
 
 This letter has one great merit. The revelations it 
 contains are made with great frankness, and tell fre- 
 quently as much against Bolingbroke himself as against 
 his enemies. His recapitulation, at the outset, of the 
 designs of the Tories when they acquired power during 
 the four years of the Queen's reign, and the weakness 
 and vacillation of their party with respect to the great 
 question of the succession, certainly afford no very satis- 
 factory proofs either of the capacity, integrity, or 
 wisdom of their leaders ; while he at the same time 
 acknowledges that he contemplated measures in the 
 highest degree impolitic and injurious to the com- 
 mercial interests of the country. His statement about 
 his embracing the cause of the Pretender, on account of 
 the injustice of the Bill of Attainder, cannot, as I 
 have already shown, be received as authentic, since the 
 Bill of Attainder had not been even brought in when 
 Bolingbroke first accepted the seals at Commercy ; and 
 it is to be suspected that his representation of being, 
 at this important crisis, the mere unreflecting instru- 
 ment of the vengeance of the Tories, and acting, as he 
 says he did in joining the Pretender, by their express 
 orders, must also be received with considerable qualifi- 
 cation. Accepting, however, his version of his conduct 
 at that time as true, it does not increase our estimate of 
 his judgment andl discretion. The more highly he 
 colours the folly, bigotry, and perversity of the Pre- 
 tender and his agents, the picture reflects all the more 
 strongly against himself; for it shows to what counsels, 
 
 2 L 
 
514 EXILE AND ISOLATION.- [Chap. XIIL 
 
 and to what agents, he was ready, through caprice and 
 passion, to give up the destinies of his country. The 
 utter absence of all that is most dignified and exalting 
 in statesmanship and patriotism, through the candid 
 avowals Bolingbroke makes, cannot but surprise even 
 the most indulgent of his readers. On the other hand, 
 however hateful the Pretender and his friends are 
 made to appear, and however much Bolingbroke's 
 enemies might justifiably suspect the truth of his nar- 
 rative, there is little doubt but that, in the main 
 features, it is strictly correct. Indeed, his statements, 
 so far as they have been examined, have been found in 
 every respect confirmed by Berwick's Memoirs, and the 
 evidence of both the pubHshed and unpublished Stuart 
 Papers. Bolingbroke was treated so badly by the Stuarts 
 that it was impossible for him to exaggerate the base- 
 ness, ingratitude, and absurdity of their conduct in 
 driving him from their service. He had but to relate 
 the facts as he knew them to be, and he saw that the 
 effect they would produce must be most damaging to 
 the Jacobites. Such, undoubtedly, is the impression left 
 on the mind of all who have perused the narrative. 
 The exposure is complete. 
 
 This object, however, was not attained in Boling- 
 broke's lifetime. It was, indeed, strongly asserted by 
 a former biographer that this letter to Sir William 
 "Windham was actually published in the year 1717 ; but 
 the very first sentence of the answer which it called 
 forth, when it was really given to the world in 1753, is 
 in itself decisive of the question as to its never having 
 been previously published.* Neither was it privately 
 printed at this time, nor extensively circulated among 
 
 * See the Remarks on Lord Bolingbroke's Celebrated Letter to Sir W. 'Wind- 
 ham, 1753. 
 
1716—1725.] THE LETTER NOT PUBLISHED. 615 
 
 1717. 
 
 Bolingbroke's friends. The evidence is all the other 
 way. The letter was undoubtedly written when it 
 professed to have been ; but it is doubtful whether it 
 was ever sent even to Sir William Windham at all ; 
 and it certainly was never printed until after Boling- 
 broke's death. Had it been so, one printed copy at least 
 would have surely been preserved.* So important and 
 interesting a contribution to the secret history of the 
 time could scarcely have escaped without some notice or 
 remark. We look, however, for any such indication 
 in vain. The private letter which Bolingbroke wrote 
 to Sir William Windham in the previous year excited 
 much attention ; but this great public letter passed 
 without any observation until it was posthumously 
 published. Then it was printed from the original 
 manuscript, which had evidently undergone a great deal 
 of correction, some portions being written in Boling- 
 broke's handwriting, though not all the work. I 
 may also add, from a personal examination, that both 
 the letter to Sir William, and other posthumous pub- 
 lications of Bolingbroke, have been very incorrectly 
 printed; and that whenever a new edition of his 
 works may be required, it will be highly desirable to 
 have a copy of the existing printed volumes carefully 
 collated with the manuscripts in the British Museum. 
 
 Why then, it may be asked, was the letter to Sir 
 William Windham not published immediately after it 
 was written ? Such was clearly Bolingbroke's intention 
 when he composed it ; yet years passed on ; the persons 
 on whose conduct it commented one after another 
 passed away ; and the letter became deprived of 
 that contemporaneous authority which it would have 
 
 * " The letter I writ to Windham I found ; and I send it."— Bolingbroke to 
 Lord Hardwieke, Oct. 30, 1740. 
 
 2 L 2 
 
516 ^ EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 possessed had it been given to the world when the Earl 
 of Oxford, the Earl of Mar, the Duke of Ormond, 
 and most of the Jacobite agents were living. Though 
 it has escaped observation, the reason why the letter 
 was not published in 1717 is very evident when we 
 remember one of the main purposes for which it was 
 composed. Bolingbroke expected that he would receive 
 his pardon, and be allowed to return home a free man. 
 He appears to have thought himself not bound to 
 publish what was likely to do service to the Grovem- 
 ment, until some real indications of a friendly intention 
 to himself were manifested by the English ministers. 
 These, however, notwithstanding the overtures Lord 
 Stair had been authorized to make, still remained 
 latent. The disruption which had occurred in the mi- 
 nisterial ranks seems to have frustrated all Boling- 
 broke's hopes of a free pardon. Walpole at this very 
 time thought fit publicly to allude, in terms of the most 
 unqualified condemnation, to the rumour which pre- 
 vailed on the subject. Stanhope and Sunderland, 
 whatever might be their inclinations, were not will- 
 ing, for the sake of Bolingbroke, to incur obloquy 
 and suspicion from some of the most influential of the 
 Whigs in opposition, as well as from the great body 
 of their own supporters. As, therefore, Bolingbroke 
 continued impardoned, his letter to Sir William 
 Windham continued unpublished, until the time for pub- 
 lishing with any effect on the immediate politics of the 
 day had gone for ever. When he was at last allowed to 
 return to England, some years afterwards, the aspect 
 of affairs had entirely altered. The Hanoverian suc- 
 cession might be considered securely established ; and 
 under the conditional and utterly unsatisfactory terms 
 on which he was at last permitted to enjoy some of the 
 
1716— IT25.] OXFORD'S ACQUITTAL, 517 
 
 1717. 
 
 privileges of an Englishman, Bolingbroke considered 
 himself released from all obligation to the Governments 
 He was soon in direct opposition. Associated as he be- 
 came with discontented Whigs and his old Tory associ- 
 ates, he was not disposed to revive the controversies and 
 dissensions of which this letter was the imperishable 
 record. It remained among his papers unpublished, and 
 for some years passed out of his memory altogether.* 
 
 After finishing this letter to Sir Wilham Windham 
 in the summer of 1717, Bolingbroke continued then 
 under the stern ban of exile. He suffered bitter morti- 
 fications. He learnt that the trial of his old rival Oxford, 
 who had wisely braved the storm, was abandoned. Ox- 
 ford might be considered honourably acquitted, while 
 Bolingbroke still suffered the penalties of his act of 
 attainder. He seemed almost forgotten by the political 
 world of England, and when his name was mentioned it 
 was in a very doubtful manner. The report that he had 
 actually become an informer did not long continue, 
 when it was found that he was still an exile. But after 
 a friendly treaty had been made with the Eegent, it 
 was said Bolingbroke was to be permitted to reside in 
 France on the condition that he absented himself from 
 Paris. Then it was rumoured that .when the act of 
 grace which the King had promised should appear, 
 Bolingbroke would be included; "which," said Swift, 
 " if it be true, is a mystery to me."t It probably 
 seemed to Swift more equivocal because the House of 
 Commons, after Oxford's acquittal, had directly inter- 
 fered by an address to the throne requesting his Ma- 
 jesty not to allow the Earl's name to be inserted in this 
 act of royal clemency. 
 
 See the letter to Lord Hardwicke, Oct. 30, 1730. 
 t See Lewis to Swift, Jan. 12, 1716-17 ; Swift to Cope, July 9, 1717 ; and 
 ParL Hist. vii. 497. 
 
518 ■ EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIH'. 
 
 But Bolingbroke's name was not inserted in the act 
 of grace. He could do nothing but make the best of a 
 very bad situation. He retired, as he was obKged to 
 do, from Paris, and taking up his residence in the 
 country^ abandoned himself once more to the study of 
 letters and philosophy. Politics were altogether laid 
 aside : the letter to Sir William Windham was neg- 
 lected. Bolingbroke reading, moralizing, and reflect- 
 ing, was what he depicted himself in his Reflections 
 in Exile. He indulged in vague, lofty generalities 
 and sublime philosophical meditations on the vanity of 
 human ambition, and the nothingness of the world. 
 When he first became Secretary of State he had taken 
 proudly for a motto, 
 
 Nee qvuerere, nee spemere, honorom ; 
 
 and having nothing else to do, he now determined to 
 carry this out in reality, though, he had somewhat for- 
 gotten this maxim, when he was in such a rage with 
 Oxford for the refusal of an earldom. In this elevated 
 mood, as he was travelling one day in his post-chaise, 
 he set himself to paraphrase into Englisli verse the 
 lines in the first epistle of the first book of Horace, be- 
 ginning Tides, quae maxima credis. They may be 
 quoted as specimens of Bolingbroke's poetry and philo- 
 sophy, though, it can scarcely be added, of his practice : 
 
 Survey mankind, observe what risis they nin. 
 What faneied ills, through real danger, shim ; 
 Those fancied ills, so dreadful to the great, 
 A lost election, or impaired estate. 
 Observe the merchant who, intent on gain, 
 Ailronts the terrors of the Indian main • 
 Though storms arise and broken rooks appear. 
 He flies from poverty — ^knows no other fear. 
 Vain men ! who might amve, with toil far less, 
 By smoother paths, at greater happiness ; 
 
1716—1725.] LETTER TO SWIFT. 519 
 
 1718. 
 
 For 'tis superior bliss not to desire 
 
 That trifling good which fondly you admire, 
 
 Possess precarious, and too dear acquire. 
 
 What hackney gladiator can you find 
 
 By whom the Olympic crown would be declined ? 
 
 Who, rather than that glorious palm to seize, 
 
 With safety combat, and prevail with ease, 
 
 Would choose on some inglorious stage to tread. 
 
 And, fighting, stroll from wake to wake for bread ? 
 
 These verses Bolingbroke afterwards enclosed to 
 Swift, with a long letter. The exiled statesman's life 
 passed on for two years with but little excitement. 
 Swift wrote to him two very friendly epistles : and to 
 these Bolingbroke replied. He indulged in many sneers 
 at his enemies ; compared the situation of the Stuarts, 
 as Swift had previously done, to that of the dethroned 
 monarch Pierochole in Rabelais ; said that Oxford 
 was a man by nature fitted only to be a spy, or, at least, 
 a captain of miners; and declared that Ormond re- 
 minded him of nothing so much as the poor gentleman 
 in Congreve's play of Love for Love, whose heart 
 was where his head should be, and who had no head at 
 all. This pardonable sally at his foes Bolingbroke, 
 however, intermingled with the most sublime, un- 
 worldly reflections, in the spirit of his Horatian para- 
 phrase. " Sincerity, constancy, tenderness," he re- 
 marked, " are rarely to be found. They are so much 
 out of use, that the man of mode imagines them to be 
 out of nature. We meet with few friends : the great 
 part of those who pass for such are, properly speaking, 
 nothing more than acquaintances ; and no wonder 
 since Tully's maxim is certainly true, that friendship 
 can subsist non nisi inter -bonos. At that age of life 
 when there is balm in the blood, and that confidence in 
 the mind which the innocence of our own heart in- 
 spires, and the experience of other men destroys, I was 
 
520 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIIL 
 
 apt to confound my acquaintance and my friends 
 together. I never doubted but that I had a numerous 
 cohort of the latter. I expected, if ever I fell into mis- 
 fortune, to have as many and as remarkable instances 
 of friendship to produce, as the Scythian, in one of 
 Lucian's Dialogues, draws from his nation. Into these 
 misfortunes I have fallen. Thus far my propitious stars 
 have not disappointed my expectations."* 
 
 Solne of his old enemies saw him with kindly 
 feehngs. Greneral Stanhope came over to Paris, as 
 the quadruple alliance between England, Austria, 
 Holland, and France was being negotiated. He met 
 Bolingbroke in a very friendly spirit, and discussed 
 with him the policy of this measure, which Boling- 
 broke ever afterwards condemned. The intention 
 was. Stanhope declared, to reduce the Emperor to 
 a specific demand, and to remedy the mistakes in 
 the treaty of 1716. Bolingbroke replied, with much 
 animation, that this was to justify one fault by another ; 
 and that the Emperor might have been satisfied in 
 another manner. It was only necessary to say to 
 Spain : " We must, in pursuance of our treaties, arm 
 against you, as you have broken the treaties ; we will 
 no longer be bound to the strange article of the 
 reversibility of Sicily, but will give it to the Empe- 
 ror, and satisfy otherwise the Duke of Savoy." To 
 Bolingbroke's ardent observations the stoHd Whig 
 Stanhope contented himself with answering — " Ah ! 
 Harry, you was always an enemy to the House of 
 Austria." At the time when Bolingbroke, many years 
 afterwards, related this conversation to his young friend, 
 the third Earl of Marchmont, he said that he could not 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Swift, Marcli 17, 1718-19. 
 
 t Diary of Hugh, Earl of Marchmont, Aug. 9, 1744. ' 
 
1716—1725.] THE MARQUISE DE VILLETTE. 521 
 
 1718, 1719. 
 
 tell how the article on the reversibility of Sicily slipped 
 into the treaty of Utrecht ; and imputed it to the Earl 
 of Oxford, who was always carrying on some underhand 
 negotiation.* 
 
 In his exile and isolation Bolingbroke had at this time 
 found other consolations than from philosophical reflec- 
 tions on the nothingness of worldly honours or 
 friendly conferences with his political foes. At the 
 beginning of 1717 he had formed the acquaintanceship 
 of the Marquise de Yillette. She was a daughter of 
 a noble family in Champagne, was by marriage the 
 niece of Madame de Maintenon,t had been educated 
 at St. Cyr, and soon after leaving the convent became 
 the wife of the Marquis de Villette-Valois, to whom 
 she was introduced as the betrothed bride of his own 
 son. When Bolingbroke first knew her, she had been 
 ten years a widow, was nearly two years older than 
 himself, and her beauty, which had been great when 
 she became the second wife of the old Marquis de 
 Yillette, was faded. She enjoyed several pensions, 
 was possessed of considerable property and troubled 
 with some lawsuits. In Paris she occupied a house 
 in the Eue Saint Dominique, Faubourg Saint Germain. 
 Bolingbroke was soon known to be the confidential 
 
 * Marchmont Papers, ii. 14. 
 
 t As the exact relationship of the Marquis de Yillette to Madame de 
 Main tenon has been disputed, I give the following extract from the very pleasing 
 Souvenirs de Madame de Oaylus : " Thfodore Agrippa d'Auhign^ doit je 
 parle, ^pousa Suzanne de Lezay, de la maison de Lusignan. II eut de ce 
 mariage un fils et deux filles ; I'ainfe epousa M. de Caumont Dadele, et 
 I'autre M. de Yillette, mon grand-pere. Le fils fut malheureux, et mdrita 
 ses malheurs par sa conduite. 11 epousa, ^tant prisonnier dans le chateau 
 Trompette de Bourdeaux, Jeanne de Cardillac, fiUe de Pierre de Cardillac, 
 lieutenant de M. le duo d'Epemon, et gouverneur sous ses ordres de cette 
 place. La femme ne Tahandonna jamais dans ses malheurs, et accoucha dans 
 la conciergerie de Niort de Francoise d'Aubignd, depuis Madame Scarron, et 
 ensuite Madame de Maintenon." 
 
522 EXILE Am) ISOLATION. [Chap. XIH, 
 
 friend of tlie marcliioness. He resided regularly with 
 her at her family mansion of Marcilly, and superintended 
 ah her improvements in building and planting. She 
 was a clever, amiable, and accomplished woman. Her 
 only fault was talking a little too much. She had 
 owed but little to her connection with Madame de 
 Maintenon, and was said by Voltaire to have even 
 reproached the wife of Louis XIV. with the little that 
 she had done for her family.* 
 
 Though Bolingbroke was now on such intimate terms 
 with the Marquise de Villette, he still led a life of gal- 
 lantry and pleasure. It has been positively aflSrmed 
 by a French biographer, who ought to have known 
 something, at least, of this period of his life, that his 
 hcentiousness was just as indiscrimiaate as it had ever 
 previously been, and that he suffered severely in health 
 from this dissipation.! He also continued his corre' 
 spondence in a very gallant strain with Madame de 
 Ferriole.. She sent him, from the Marquis de Huxelles, 
 the welcome present of pipes and tobacco. In thank- 
 ing Madame de Ferriole for her attentions, Bolingbroke 
 in return embraced, on paper, the Beautiful Circassian. 
 
 With this Beautiful Circassian there hangs a tale 
 which, as illustrative of the French society in which 
 Bohngbroke then lived, and in which a Madame de 
 Tencin, a Cardinal du Bois, and a Philip of Orleans 
 were possible, is worth telling. M. de Ferriole, the 
 brother-in-law of the lady with whom Bolingbroke 
 corresponded, had been the French ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople. There he had purchased a handsome Cir- 
 cassian child, whom he brought back with him to France, 
 and determined to educate. She grew up to woman- 
 
 • See the Lettres de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke, Paris, 1838 (note), iii. 37. 
 t Grimoard's Essai Historique sur Bolingbroke. 
 
1716—1725.] THE BEAUTIFUL CIRCASSIAN. 52^ 
 
 1719. 
 
 hood even more beautiful than she had been as a child, 
 and was admired by all who sought the society of the 
 Ferrioles for her rare beauty. She caught the attention 
 of the Duke of Orleans. Of course, Philip immediately 
 threw down his handkerchief to the fair Circassian. The 
 young lady, however, declined to pick it up; and Madame 
 de Ferriole, who seems to have been a true Tencin, was 
 not ashamed to undertake the office of advising her to 
 yield to the duke's importunities. The persecuted girl 
 sought M. de Ferriole, who protected her from the duke, 
 only that she might be more indulgent to himself. 
 This old libertine was successful. " When 1 purchased 
 you at Constantinople," he afterwards wrote to her, 
 " I resolved to make you my daughter or my mistress. 
 You have been both." This Beautiful Circassian 
 was called Mademoiselle Aisse'. She will shortly re- 
 appear in Bolingbroke's history.* 
 
 Bolingbroke spent his time at Marcilly very agree- 
 ably. He, as usual, read, hunted, and built. Books 
 were sent to him and the marchioness from Paris by a 
 passage-boat, which was sometimes detained by the ice; 
 He corresponded with Madame de Ferriole and a 
 young Abbe Alari, his letters sometimes being written 
 at a table next to that of visitors, who were playing at 
 cards, and others, as he was pulling down an old tower, 
 when he was surrounded by workmen, whom he super- 
 intended from four o'clock in the morning until seven 
 in the evening. As these improvements were being 
 proceeded with, the Marquise de Villette went for some 
 days to lodge at a neighbour's, and Bolingbroke declined 
 a visit from Lord Peterborough, because he was in the 
 midst of dust and noise. He now and then went 
 to Paris, dining frequently at the Hotel de Matignon. 
 
 * See Lpttres de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke (note), ii. 445. 
 
524 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHI. 
 
 In the November of 1718, two years after the estabKsh- 
 ment of his intimacy with the Marquise de Villette, his 
 first wife died. Bolinghroke was not at all grieved at 
 her death, though he was highly indignant at the terms 
 of her will. He had allowed some portion of his pro- 
 perty to be secretly at her disposal ; he considered 
 that it was out of pure kindness to him that King 
 George had allowed her to enjoy a portion of the con- 
 fiscated estates; and yet he had 'been entirely over- 
 looked in the will. Perhaps the knowledge of the 
 terms he was on with the Marquise de Yillette had 
 some influence on the first Lady Bolingbroke's con- 
 duct. Bolinghroke, however, was much annoyed. The 
 poor lady had died in a very pious mood. BoKngbroke 
 commented on this devotion with great asperity to 
 Madame de Ferriole. " What a supple thing," he ex- 
 claimed, " is religion ! How it lends itself to every- 
 thing, and how it sanctifies everything, when it is 
 managed by a skilful director !"* 
 
 The first Lady Bolinghroke was buried in the parish 
 church, where there still exists a memorial of her, with 
 others of members of her family, and the families of 
 the Packers and Hartleys, with whom the Winchcombes 
 were allied. The manor of Bucklesbury, which, 
 having once belonged to Eeading Abbey, was granted 
 to the son and heir of the famous Jack of New- 
 bury, passed away from Bolinghroke to the represen- 
 tatives of his deceased wife's younger sister, and co- 
 heiress. Bolingbroke's regret, however, at the prospect 
 of losing Bucklersbury was considerably moderated 
 
 * " EUe est morte devote. Que la religion est une cliose souple, qu'elle 
 se prete a tout, qu'elle sanotifie tout, quand elle est manife par im habile 
 directeur!" — BoUngbroke h, Madame Ferriole, D^cembre 6, 1718. See also 
 his letters to the same lady, November 23, 1718, and December 21, 1728. 
 Lettres de Lord Vicomte Bolinghroke, ii., 474, 476, and 478. 
 
1716—1723.] SECOND MARRIAGE. 525 
 
 1720. 
 
 by the thought, that being now a widower he could 
 aspire to the hand of the Marquise de Villette, with 
 whom he was deeply in love, and whose temper was 
 much more suited to his own impetuous disposition. 
 
 Their courtship was a strange one ; and their mar- 
 riage beset with difEculties. Some of her property 
 was invested in England : on her union with the 
 attainted and outlawed Bolingbroke this money would 
 be liable to be forfeited with his own possessions. 
 Besides, the marchioness had several suitors. One 
 of them, a Scotch Jacobite of the name of Macdonald, 
 had the honour of implanting in Bolingbroke's bosom 
 the fiercest stings of jealousy. The statesman's temper 
 could bear rivalry in love as little as in politics ; and. 
 when angry he could put no more restraint upon his 
 feelings in the one pursuit than in the other. One 
 day at dinner he was annoyed at some preference 
 which he supposed the marchioness to have shown for 
 Macdonald, and the undisguised triumph which he 
 thought was displayed on Macdonald's countenance, 
 and in Macdonald's manner. Bolingbroke rushed for- 
 ward to chastise his Scotch rival on the spot, tripped 
 himself up, and tumbled down, dragging with him an 
 avalanche of plates and dishes. The Marquis de Ma- 
 tignon, and the learned Abbe Alari, who had known 
 the Marquise de Villette from childhood, and was 
 afterwards a tutor to Louis XV. 's children, were the 
 witnesses of this singular scene, and endeavoured to 
 make peace.* 
 
 Bolingbroke, however, could at last afford to ' laugh 
 at his rival. He was soon the lady's accepted lover. 
 Even so early as the December of 1718, a month 
 after his first wife's death, some rumours of his second 
 
 * Grimoard's Essai Historique sur Bolingbroke. 
 
526 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIU. 
 
 marriage were prevalent in England. Arbuthnot 
 wrote to Swift : " I do not believe tbe story of Lord 
 Bolingbroke's marriage, for I bave been consulted 
 about tbe lady ; and by some defects in ber constitu- 
 tion, I should not tbink ber appetite lay mucb towards 
 matrimony."* 
 
 Tbe fact of tbe marriage for some time after tbe cere- 
 mony was performed was designedly allowed to remain 
 in obscurity. Tbis was by no means favourable to tbe 
 second Lady Bobngbroke's reputation; and, indeed, 
 tbe marriage was always considered problematical by 
 some of tbeir friends: but sbe was a Frencb woman, 
 and ber lord's circumstances rendered tbe public an- 
 nouncement of tbeir union bigbly imprudent. Tbis 
 actually took place in tbe May of 1720, at Aix la 
 Cbapelle, wbitber tbe marcbioness bad retired for tbe 
 benefit of tbe waters.f For years tbey lived in tbe 
 same bouse togetber as Lord Bolingbroke and tbe 
 Marquise de Villette, and as sucb were spoken of by 
 Voltaire, wbose tragedy of (Edipus bad been shown 
 to Bolingbroke by Madame de Ferriole, and bad re- 
 ceived bis warmest approbation. When tbey were 
 actually married tbe lady renounced the Catholic for 
 ■the Protestant faith of tbe Church of England : the 
 conversion has been represented as made for politic 
 reasons : Bolingbroke, in addition to all bis other 
 heresies in the eyes of his countrymen, not daring 
 to add that of marrying a Roman Catbobc wife. 
 
 France was deep in tbe Mississippi scheme. Bo- 
 lingbroke, like Walpole with the kindred South Sea 
 bubble in England, managed to turn his money, 
 to gain moderately, and to secure himself from all 
 
 * ArbntLnot to Swift, Dec. 11, 1718. 
 
 t Letties de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke, iii. 14. 
 
1716—1725.] LA SOURCE. 527 
 
 1720. 
 
 risks. He often declared that, could he have pre- 
 vailed upon himself to flatter Law's vanity for half 
 an hour a week, and to have employed his thoughts on 
 this speculation for two minutes a day, he might have 
 made a colossal fortune. He did enough, however, to 
 excite Swift's wonder, 
 
 Bolingbroke out of his gains had purchased as a 
 life proprietor from a widow a small estate, on which, 
 until he could return to England, he determined to 
 make his home. It was situated near Orleans, and 
 was called La Source, from the small river Loiret rising 
 suddenly there, and, after a winding course, losing 
 itself in the Loire. The house, which was small, he 
 entirely rebuilt. He tried to sound the depth of the 
 Great Source ; but three hundred fathoms of rope with 
 a cannon ball attached to the end of it did not reach 
 the bottom.* 
 
 He boasted that this spring was the clearest and the 
 biggest in Europe, and that before it left his park it 
 formed 'a more beautiful river than any which flowed 
 in Greek or Latin verse. This was his hermitage ; 
 and he delighted to call himself the hermit of La 
 Source, as he playfully called his wife Madame La 
 Source. The beauty of his grounds, and the quiet 
 of his retreat, appealed to his better nature ; and he 
 spoke and wrote with enthusiasm of his beloved La 
 Source. Just as when he retired to Bucklersbury, after 
 his dismissal from the Secretaryship of War, so he was 
 now all for philosophical inscriptions on the pleasures of 
 the country, and the vanities of human ambition. Over 
 his green-house he had written, " Hie ver assiduum, 
 atque alienis mensibus sestas ;" and in an alley leading 
 to his own room, " Fallentis semita vitse." For a 
 
 * See Eeoherches Historiqnes sur la Ville d'Orl&ns, par D. Lottin, pere, 
 ii. 266. 
 
528 EXILE AND ISOLATION. tCHAP. Xm, 
 
 marble memorial, whicli he intended erecting near his 
 spring, he prepared two long inscriptions worthy of the 
 noblest Greek or Eoman patriots. It is not necessary 
 to subject them to any severe scrutiny. They were in 
 a similar strain to the Reflections on Exile, to which 
 he was occasionally adding a sentence or a paragraph, 
 until he had almost persuaded himself that he believed 
 in the truth of what he wrote. The best comment, 
 however, both on the treatise and on the Latin lines, 
 is contained in the letter in which Bolingbroke enclosed 
 these inscriptions to Swift : " You see I amuse myself 
 de la bagatelle as much as you ; but here lies the difference, 
 your bagatelle leads to something better, as fiddlers 
 flourish carelessly before they play a fine air ; but mine 
 begins, proceeds, and ends in bagatelle." 
 
 It would have been as well had all Bolingbroke's 
 occupation at La Source really begun, proceeded, 
 and ended in bagatelle. This, however, scarcely suited 
 the character of his mind. He plunged into much 
 more serious studies, the results of which were not 
 always satisfactory. It is at this period that he was 
 first inspired with the ambition of being regarded as a 
 great philosopher, not merely in his contempt for all 
 worldly greatness, but also as one who could tear the 
 veil from all mysteries, solve all problems, and settle the 
 bounds of all human knowledge. The honour of 
 having first induced him to enter fully into a considera- 
 tion of those questions in which so many years of 
 his compulsory leisure were afterwards employed, was 
 ascribed by himself, in the first of his productions on 
 those weighty matters, to an ingenious Frenchman, 
 M. de Pouilly, with whom he had many long discus- 
 sions in the retreat at La Source, and whom he was 
 afterwards represented as declaring with Pope and 
 himself, one of the only three persons he had ever 
 
1716—1725.] PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 529 
 
 1720. 
 
 known fit to reign. The beginning of the letters 
 he wrote originally in French to this friend, was 
 characteristic : " You led me first, in my retreat, to 
 abstract philosophical reasonings; and though it be 
 late to begin them at forty years of age, yet I have 
 learned enough, under so good a guide, not to be afraid 
 of engaging in them whenever the cause of Grod and of 
 natural religion is concerned." 
 
 Thus he began these studies with the best intentions. 
 He believed himself to be, in this philosophical arena, 
 the champion of Providence and of natural religion, 
 just as on the humbler political stage he had been the 
 champion of the Tory party and of the Church of 
 England. He was all for controversy. He lived in 
 the whirlwind and the storm ; and, since he could not 
 longer combat the Whigs, began to wage war with both 
 atheists and divines, believing of the two kinds of 
 teachers the divines were the more pernicious. He 
 ransacked ancient history, examined in an eclectic 
 spirit the philosophical theories of the universe, and 
 patiently entered into the different chronological sys- 
 tems which learned men had laboriously formed, in 
 order that he might set the chronology of the Bible 
 against the chronology of the ancient pagan nations. 
 This last was his favourite occupation at La Source. He 
 pursued it with the greatest ardour. He was in no 
 respect restrained by the consciousness of the very 
 different manner in which his Hfe had hitherto been 
 spent, or by the complete absence of reverence shown 
 in every line he ever wrote. He read, he analyzed, 
 he disputed, he commented, he dogmatized ; all the 
 time believing and asserting that he was the meritorious 
 advocate of Providence. "No man," said he, "has 
 higher notions of the Divine omnipotence, nor carries 
 
 2 M 
 
530 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIIL 
 
 ttem further than I." It was because he had such 
 elevated notions of the Deity that he refused to have 
 them degraded by what he regarded as the impious 
 blasphemies of divines. His political mission might he 
 at an end ; but he felt that he had now another, and 
 far nobler galling : it was to assert the majesty and 
 beauty of natural religion. He was to be a great 
 reformer ; he was to be the eloquent asserter of the 
 highest truths. 
 
 A young Mr. Brook Taylor, who was on bad terms with 
 his father ; a philosophical Abbe Conti, who was medi- 
 tating a poem in praise of Sir Isaac Newton's system ; 
 and a thorough-going atheist, whom Bolingbroke men- 
 tions under the name of Damon, were the principal 
 companions in his studies at La Source. From the 
 dispute with the atheist the letters to M. de Pouilly 
 originated ; and the abstract which Avas afterwards 
 published in EngHsh has most of the characteristic ex- 
 cellencies and defects of all BoKngbroke's philosophical 
 writings. Though he is apparently defending deism 
 from the attacks of atheism, his real enemy is the 
 divine, and it is the divine that Bolingbroke delights 
 to assail. His disbelief in the chronology of the New 
 Testament, and his contempt for the author of the book of 
 Genesis, and, indeed, for most of the books of Moses, are 
 plainly avowed. It is not his scepticism which shocks 
 the reader, so much as the manner in which it is de- 
 clared. He makes no allowances for the effects of reli- 
 gion on other minds ; and in a letter on one of Tillot- 
 son's sermons, written also nearly at this period, he calls 
 the gentle and tolerant archbishop an orthodox bully. In 
 a similar spirit, throughout the abstract of his letters 
 to M. de Pouilly^ he denies that the Jews had any 
 noble ideas of omnipotence ; asserting, on the contrary. 
 
1716—1725.] CHEONOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 531 
 
 1721. 
 
 that no nation had such mean ones. When it suits him, 
 however, to maintain his own tkeory, that the world 
 had a beginning, his assumptions are quite as arbitrary 
 as any he had condemned in philosophers or divines. 
 He had himself no knowledge of natural philosophy, 
 and yet he decides dogmatically on points on which 
 only a natural philosopher can give an opinion. In 
 opposition to everything that is now known by the 
 name of science, he scarcely draws any distinction 
 between the beginning of the world and the beginning 
 of the race of men who inhabit it ; and argues that all 
 history and all tradition agree in bringing out the same 
 general conclusion. Many of his illustrations are very 
 ingenious ; his learning, at least his reading, appears 
 most extensive ; and it is scarcely possible not to admire 
 the copiousness of his style, and the richness of his 
 rhetoric, when we cannot but condemn the spirit in 
 which many of his observations are made. 
 
 Bolingbroke at last became tired of his chronological 
 researches, " I never intended," he wrote to Mr. 
 Brook Taylor, " to do more than to examine as well as 
 I was able the foundations on which those systems of 
 chronology and ancient history, which obtain in our 
 western world, are built, ajin de savoir a quoi men tenir. 
 I have done this ; and I have no more desire to pursue 
 this study any further than to be a proficient in judicial 
 astrology." * 
 
 It was, in truth, better to be building summer-houses, 
 admiring Cardinal Polignac's poem, the Anti-Lucretius, 
 writing to Madame de Ferriole about a new French cook 
 who spoiled all his soups and prepared dishes, or in- 
 quiring about the secret of making Chinese fireworks, as 
 Bolingbroke was doing, than in hoping that for himself 
 
 * See the Letters to Mr. Brook Taylpr of Nov. 23, 1721, and Deo. 26, 1723. 
 
 2 M 2 
 
532 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIIL 
 
 alone it had been reserved to solve the mysteries of the 
 universe, and that the philosophers and divines of all 
 ages in their immortal aspirations had been hopelessly 
 in the wrong. This was, however, not his opinion. 
 He gave up his chronological investigations ; but he 
 still retained all of what might be called his spiritual 
 pride : pride in his own intellect, and perhaps a some- 
 what inordinate contempt for the intellects of other 
 men. 
 
 Yisitors in great numbers, and more or less distin- 
 guished, came to La Source. All were delighted with 
 Bolingbroke's courtesy, and by the grace of his lady, 
 whom he called his feUow-hermit. But the most illus- 
 trious of his visitors was young M. Frangois Arouet, 
 afterwards Yoltaire, who, just at the close of the year 
 1721, came to Bolingbroke's retreat, and began an ac- 
 quaintance, which was not without results both to France 
 and to Europe. Yoltaire, eager, anxious, ambitious, burn- 
 ing for literary fame, revising and correcting assiduously 
 his Henriade, saw in the famous Englishman everything 
 to admire. Bolingbroke, with his mind full of chrono- 
 logical and speculative theories, with his hatred of di- 
 vines, and his scorn of philosophers, could not but appeal 
 to all the latent sceptical sympathies of the brilliant and 
 ingenious Frenchman. No wonder that Yoltaire spoke 
 enthusiastically of his first visit to La Source. " It 
 is necessary that I should make you share," he wrote to 
 his friend and correspondent Thiriot, " my delight at a 
 journey I have made to La Source, the abode of Lord 
 Bolingbroke and Madame de Yillette. I have found 
 in this eminent Englishman all the learning of his 
 country, and all the politeness of ours. I have never 
 heard our language spoken with more energy and 
 justice. This man, who has been all his life immersed in 
 
1716-1725.] VOLTAIRE AT LA SOUECE. 533' 
 
 1722. 
 
 pleasure and in business, has, however, found time for 
 learning everything, and retaining everything. He is 
 as well acquainted with the history of the ancient 
 Egyptians as with that of England. He knows Virgil 
 as well as Milton. He loves the poetry of England, 
 France, and Italy; but he loves them differently, 
 because he discerns perfectly the difference of their 
 genius." Yoltaire's admiration of Bolingbroke was 
 certainly not diminished by the enthusiasm with which 
 both he and his wife read the epic poem, submitted by 
 Voltaire to their perusal, as he was in the habit of 
 showing it to all his friends. Never was a production 
 more read, criticised, and revised, than this ambitious, 
 though after all somewhat tame and commonplace 
 French epic on the virtues and heroism of Henry IV. 
 " After the portrait I have given you of Lord Boling- 
 broke," continued Voltaire to Thiriot, " it will perhaps 
 be wrong in me to tell you that both Madame de Villette 
 and he have been infinitely pleased with my poem. In 
 the enthusiasm of their approbation they have placed it 
 above all the poetical works which have appeared in 
 France."* 
 
 At the time of this visit from Voltaire, Bolingbroke 
 had just returned from Paris, whither he had been 
 reluctantly obliged to go for ten days about a lawsuit 
 and on the same disagreeable business he had six weeks 
 afterwards again to take another journey to the French 
 capital. It concerned, as he told Swift on the New 
 Year's Day of 1722, four-fifths of four hundred thousand 
 livres which he had invested in Paris, and was the 
 miserable remnant of his private fortune, f 
 
 He felt fits of depression. Years had rolled on ; minis- 
 
 • Voltaire k M. Thiriot, 2 Janvier, 1722. N. S. 
 t Bolingbroke to Swift, Jan. 1, 1721-22. N. S. 
 
534 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 ters had risen and fallen ; great changes had occurred in 
 England and on the Continent ; and yet, notwithstanding 
 the promises that had been made to him, he still con- 
 tinued an attainted exile. Philosophy was a fine 
 thing ; but it was not everything. Despite his Reflec- 
 tions on Exile, despite the beauties of La Source, de- 
 spite of his woods, spring, statues, inscriptions, and 
 studies, Bolingbroke experienced the miseries of banish- 
 ment ; and as months and years passed away without 
 any attempt being made to repeal the harsh sentence 
 which had been pronounced in his absence against him, 
 he suffered all the sickness of hope deferred. When he 
 was in Paris again on his law business during the 
 spring of 1722, he met Lord Polwarth, afterwards the 
 second Earl of Marchmont, with whose son Boling- 
 broke, in his later years, was to be on such intimate 
 terms. , Lord Polwarth was in credit with the ministers 
 at home ; had been already on some important foreign 
 missions ; and was then proceeding as the first English 
 ambassador to the futile Congress of Cambray. Bohng- 
 broke took the opportunity of opening his mind to this 
 sympathising friend. He declared himself very uneasy at 
 the delay to which he was subjected ; thought himself 
 neglected and forgotten; assured Lord Polwarth that 
 he had slighted most advantageous offers from Spain 
 and other countries ; that he could bring himself to act 
 up to any resolution, and to Hve, if necessary, even in 
 the most remote mountain of Switzerland; but that 
 this constant uncertainty was very hard to bear.* Lord 
 Polwarth told him from Lord Carteret, who had be- 
 come Secretary of State on the death of James Craggs, 
 that on the first suitable occasion the pardon should be 
 
 * Lord Tolwartli to Lord Carteret, March 15, 1722 ; Marchmont Papers, note, 
 ii. 185. 
 
1716—1725.] PABDON. 535 
 
 1723. 
 
 granted. Bolingbroke expressed himself satisfied with 
 this assurance ; but he was resolved to omit no oppor- 
 tunity of bringing the painful uncertainty to an end. 
 
 He wrote letters. He importuned ministers. He ap- 
 plied to the Duke of Orleans and Cardinal Du Bois, 
 who exerted their influence in his favour. The bold, 
 ambitious, learned, and aspiring Carteret really looked 
 favourably on his cause ; but he had his own difficulties 
 to master. Walpole was now First Lord of the Trea- 
 sury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, having suc- 
 ceeded Lord Sunderland, whom the South Sea business 
 had driven from office. Walpole was closely alhed with 
 his brother-in-law. Lord Townshend, who had been 
 again appointed the other Secretary of State, Lord 
 Stanhope having soon followed Craggs to the 
 grave. Death was at this period busy among states- 
 men, poets, and warriors. Sunderland, after his re- 
 tirement, survived but a few months Craggs and 
 Stanhope. Marlborough, too, was no more. Walpole 
 and Townshend were strugghng against Carteret 
 for ascendancy in the Government. The briUiant 
 Carteret, though he knew all modern languages, and 
 could talk in German with George I., was playing 
 but a losing game. The King could not, amid all 
 these shifting scenes of intrigue and poHtical vicissitude, 
 have forgotten the promise he had made to Boling- 
 broke ; and George I., though his character was much 
 misunderstood in England, and notwithstanding his 
 weakness for unprepossessing women and strong punch, 
 was in his way really a conscientious, just, and honourable 
 sovereign. To him really, more than to any of his 
 ministers, we are justified in ascribing Bolingbroke's 
 tardy restoration in blood, or pardon, which passed the 
 great seal in May, 1723. The Act of Attainder 
 
536 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHI. 
 
 remained, and his estates were still under forfeiture : if 
 his father died he could not be his heir ; but he could 
 now, at least, come to England, plead his pardon, and 
 see what more might be done. He passed through 
 Paris, taking leave of his French friends, some of whom 
 saw his departure with regret, expecting, as perhaps he 
 did himself, that he would not again return. One of 
 these was Voltaire. " The recall," he wrote, " of Lord 
 Bolingbroke to England interests me much. He will 
 be to-day at Paris, and I shall have the grief of bidding 
 him farewell, perhaps for ever."* Voltaire did not 
 foresee how soon he would himself proceed to England, 
 and what important consequences would follow from 
 this visit, and the intimacy with Bolingbroke, which 
 had been begun at La Source, and was to be continued 
 at Dawley. 
 
 As BoHngbroke landed at Dover, Atterbury was wait- 
 ing for a wind to go into banishment. They were, how- 
 ever, since Bolingbroke's breach with the Stuarts, no 
 longer friends. Atterbury has been represented as ex- 
 claiming, " I am exchanged !"•}• , The bishop left England 
 on the 18th of June. The return of Bolingbroke and the 
 exile of Atterbury coincided in time, and there was no 
 getting out of the prelate's mind the notion that there 
 had been an intentional exchange. I'he exclamation 
 was doubtless made, though the fact of the direct meet- 
 ing at Dover has been doubted. It is certain that, since 
 Bolingbroke's dismissal from the Pretender's service, 
 there had been no friendship between the statesman 
 and the bishop. Atterbury was much more a politician 
 than a divine, and he had recently been on bad terms 
 
 * Voltaire k Mdme. la Prfsidente de Bemieres, Avril, 1723. 
 t See the Atterbury Correspondence, edit. 1780, ii. 117, 274 ; and the 
 volume of Stuart Papers edited by Mr. Glover. 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBROKE'S PROFESSIONS. SSY 
 
 1723. 
 
 with both Bolingbroke and Prior, who had lately sunk 
 Tinder chronic disease, and been buried at the feet of 
 Spenser in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 "When BoKngbroke reached England the London 
 season was over. The King had gone to Hanover, and 
 the two Secretaries of State, Carteret and Townshend, 
 were both in attendance upon him, jealously watching 
 each other, and seekiag to trip each other up. The 
 fashionable world, after having gone nearly mad about 
 operas and opera-singers, was scattered in the country. 
 Some of Bolingbroke's former friends, however, met 
 him with open arms, particularly Sir William Windham 
 and Lord Harcourt. His manners, which had always 
 been fascinating, were declared to be unproved ; he 
 looked as well as ever ; and years of study, and perhaps 
 suffering, had increased the dignity of his fine presence. 
 While exciting the admiration of his old friends, he 
 managed to make some new ones, who promised him to 
 do their utmost to get his attainder reversed. Among 
 these were Lord Finch, the son of his old enemy, Lord 
 Nottingham, and the Earl of Berkeley, then at the head 
 of the Admiralty. The great body of the Whig party 
 looked, however, with great displeasure on Bolingbroke's 
 pardon, and still more at the prospect of the reversal of 
 his attainder. This is clearly confessed in the private 
 correspondence between Walpole and Townshend, and 
 even in the letters of Bolingbroke himself. He wrote 
 to the King, and his rapacious mistress, the Duchess of 
 Kendal, thanking them for what they had done, and 
 these epistles he enclosed in one to Lord Townshend, 
 " I shall do my best," he wrote, " on this side of the 
 water, to lessen the force of any objections against what 
 the King has done ; and if my restitution can be com- 
 pleted, your lordship may have more useful friends and 
 
538 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chaj. Xffl; 
 
 servants ; a more faitliful one you cannot have, than I 
 shall endeavour to approve myself."* 
 
 To Walpole, Bolingbroke was equally warm in his 
 expressions of gratitude. He professed himself entirely 
 devoted to the cause of the two brothers, as Walpole 
 and Townshend were called, and even revealed to them 
 the machinations of their rival and enemy Carteret 
 with the Tories. He proposed an alliance between 
 Walpole and those Tories who, like Sir WilKam 
 Windham, Lord Bathnrst, and Lord Gower, had been 
 in opposition to the Grovemment ever since the acces- 
 sion of the House of Hanover. He said that they 
 were tired of their present situation, ready to renounce 
 Jacobitism, and wilHng to come to the support of the 
 Grovemment. It was natural that Bolingbroke should 
 propose such an union, as in this way he could en- 
 deavour to be on good terms with the Whig statesmen, 
 on whom alone he could depend for his restoration, and 
 also remain attached to his old friends. Bolingbroke's 
 conduct at this time has been stigmatized by the bio- 
 grapher of Walpole as abject and servile ; but surely 
 these epithets are much too severe. It was necessary 
 for him to make the best of a bad situation ; and we 
 know enough of his temper to feel sure that to be at 
 all dependent for mercy on Walpole and Townshend, 
 must have cost him many a bitter pang. The scheme, 
 however, which he offered for Walpole's adoption, had 
 only a little while before been broached by Lord Kin- 
 noul, and had been promptly rejected by the minister 
 as likely to bring suspicion on the orthodox Whiggism 
 of his section of the Grovemment. " I think the 
 maimer in which you received Lord Kinnoul's over- 
 tures was exactly right," Townshend had rephed to 
 
 • Bolingbroke to Lord Townshend, June 28, 1723. 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBEOKE DISSATISFIED. 539 
 
 1723. 
 
 Walpole's communication on this subject. " Nothing can 
 be more dangerous than to enter into negotiations with 
 the Tories, or even to labour under the suspicion of it 
 at this time."* Walpole was not likely to think better 
 of this plan when it was revived by BoUngbroke ; for 
 his pardon had already given more offence to their fol- 
 lowers than Walpole and Townshend had expected. 
 " I am sorry," wrote Townshend at the time, " to find 
 Lord Bolingbroke's affair continues to make ill blood 
 among our friends."f Walpole therefore rejected Boling- 
 broke's proposal as promptly as he had that of Lord Kin- 
 noul ; and he accompanied his peremptory refusal with 
 some advice to the unfortunate statesman. " I an- 
 swered," Walpole wrote to Townshend, " that it was 
 both impossible and unadvisable for me to enter into 
 any such negotiations, and told Lord Bolingbroke I 
 thought he was doing a most imprudent thing, who 
 was to expect his salvation from a Whig parliament, to 
 be negotiating to bring in a set of Tories; that if 
 this should be known, his case would be desperate in 
 Parliament ; and desired and advised him to give this 
 answer to his friends, as from his own farther recollec- 
 tion ; and that he thought it not proper, on considera- 
 tion, to mention it to me, which he seemed to acquiesce 
 in, and be satisfied." J 
 
 But Bolingbroke was far from satisfied ; as, indeed, 
 how could he be ? The Whigs were not prepossessed 
 in his favour : they grumbled loudly at what had 
 already been done for him, and were not willing to see 
 anything more accomplished. Though, in his pride of 
 youth and power, he had once insisted on Marlborough 
 
 • Coxe, i., 202. 
 
 t Townshend to "Walpole, July 28, 1723. 
 
 t Walpole to Townshend, July 23, 1723. 
 
540 EXILE AND ISOLATION. IChap. XIIL 
 
 giving up his old friends, the advice was very harsh 
 and unacceptable ; and Bolingbroke found it not easy 
 to follow when it was given to himself in still more 
 xmhappy circumstances. It was not to be expected that 
 he was to look coldly on Sir William Windham and 
 the young race of Tories whom he might yet hope to 
 lead. He was suffering from fever, and, under the treat- 
 ment of Dr. Mead, was taking bark. He determined 
 to withdraw himself again from England, not so much 
 then, as it has been supposed, on account of his want of 
 a fortune to maintain an appearance there,* but really 
 that he might not offend either party, and in the 
 hope that he might have the opportunity on the Conti- 
 nent of pleading his cause to the King in person. Al- 
 ready his intention to visit Hanover had been men- 
 tioned and spoken of by Lord Townshend.f By going, 
 however, to Aix-la-Chapelle ostensibly to drink the 
 waters for the benefit of his health, he would not be 
 very far from Herrenhausen, and might perhaps receive 
 an invitation to his Majesty's little German court. 
 
 Before leaving England, however, he wished to see 
 Lord Harcourt, who, though a Tory, was on friendly 
 terms with Walpole, and was doing all he could to 
 bring about his friend's complete restoration. Harcourt 
 was at his country seat. Bolingbroke wrote to his old 
 ally in the following words : 
 
 " London, July 26, 1723. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I think it a case of conscience to interrupt 
 your lordship in the enjoyment of the pleasure of the 
 country, which you love so well, and can follow so little. 
 But a return of my fever, which Dr. Mead hopes he 
 
 * Cooke. 
 
 t Townshend to Walpole, Coxe, ii. 260. 
 
1716—1725.] AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLB. 541 
 
 1723. 
 
 has stopped by tlie bark, makes me in haste to be going' 
 for Aix, where he thinks I may promise myself to find 
 a radical cure for this ill habit of body. There are 
 some other reasons which are fortified to my apprehen- 
 sion since your lordship left us, that incline me to go 
 away about Thursday or Friday sevennight, which time 
 is later than your lordship set for your return. If by 
 any accident your return should be deferred, I must beg 
 leave to wait on you in the country, or desire you to 
 give me a meeting where it may be least inconvenient 
 to your lordship on the road, for I cannot think of 
 leaving England without embracing the person to whom 
 I owe the obligation of having seen it once more. I 
 will not descend into any particulars at present, but I 
 cannot help saying that I see some clouds rise which it 
 is certainly much more easy to hinder them from 
 gathering than to dispel when gathered. I am, and 
 shall be, in all circumstances of life, and in all countries 
 of the world, 
 
 My Lord, 
 " Your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 " BOLINGBROKE.* 
 "ToLordHarcourt." 
 
 Bohngbroke set out for Aix-la-Chapelle in Sep- 
 tember. He travelled from Mons to Namur, but found 
 the roads very bad, and suffered much inconvenience 
 before he reached Aix-la-Chapelle. Thence he de- 
 spatched a younger brother to Hanover, with compli- 
 mentary letters to the two rival Secretaries of State, 
 
 ♦ This letter, and another which I shall afterwards quote, were found among 
 the Nuneham Papers by G. S. Harcourt, Esq., M.P., and given by him to 
 the present Lord Stanhope. See Lord Mahon's History of England, second 
 edition, Appendix to the second volume. 
 
542 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIIL 
 
 Townshend and Carteret, and with another also to the 
 Duchess of Kendal, " from whom," he said, " I have 
 received the greatest civilities possible." It may be 
 observed that the brother he then sent to Hanover was 
 not the Greorge St. John whom he had previously 
 sought to introduce into public life, and had made secre- 
 tary to the plenipotentaries at Utrecht. Poor George had 
 died very prematurely some years before at Vienna ; the 
 expectations Bolingbroke had indulged in respecting him, 
 had not been fulfilled ; and he now had other two younger 
 brothers demanding his protection, his father having 
 had three sons by his second marriage. Old Lord 
 St. John, as Bolingbroke's father was now called, con- 
 tinued still gay and sprightly, and appeared to have 
 better health than his emiaent son. Bolingbroke, though 
 only forty-five, began to feel the effects of his early 
 dissipation. Already he was beginning ocra,sionally to 
 complain of some of the infirmities of age. His attacks 
 of ague were very significant, and these frequently 
 subsided into attacks of another disease. Scarcely had 
 he begun to drink the waters at Aix-la-Chapelle, when 
 his fever changed into a severe fit of the gout. This 
 was the second time he had suffered from this painful 
 malady ; and he was for days confined to his room. 
 Surrounded as his bed was one day by visitors of 
 all kinds, he received a letter jfrom Swift, which braced 
 his nerves and cheered his spirits. He afterwards, 
 for the edification of the Dean, drew a ludicrous picture 
 of the scene, which his correspondent thought to be a 
 caricature, but which Bolingbroke assured him was 
 very little exaggerated.* 
 
 He corresponded, at the same time, with Sir WilHam 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Swift, Dec. 25, 1723 ; and Sept. 12, 1724. 
 
1716—1725.] FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 543 
 
 1723. 
 
 Windham in the same affectionate manner which 
 marked all their intercourse. Windham was, indeed, one 
 of the very few of Bolingbroke's friends with whom he 
 was always on the best of terms : their intimacy began, 
 continued, and ended with warm affection on both sides. 
 Windham's wife. Lady Katherine, had been ill, and 
 Bolingbroke wrote to congratulate him on her re- 
 covery. The letter also showed, as usual, their common 
 taste for field sports. Sir William was training four 
 hounds which Bolingbroke designed as a present for a 
 brother sportsman, and at La Source the statesman 
 had a spaniel which he was having broken for Wind- 
 ham. The dogs are pleasantly alluded to in Boling- 
 broke's letter ; and a postscript is added by Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke, half in EngHsh and half in French, claiming 
 the dear friends of her husband as her own.* Lady 
 Bolingbroke could both read and write English, though 
 she spoke it with a foreign accent. She was ever 
 fond of her husband, and the union, in every way 
 cordial and affectionate, was a great comfort to Boling- 
 broke amid all the disappointments and annoyances he 
 still had to endure. 
 
 They were very many. The removal of his at- 
 tainder, notwithstanding all his applicationSj appeared 
 still distant. He received no invitation to Hanover, 
 as he had expected ; and to his restless mind Aix-la- 
 Chapelle was but a dull place. As soon as his health 
 permitted him, he set out by way of Brussels for Paris, 
 where there were new actors in a new scene. 
 
 From the death of Louis XIV. England and France 
 had generally been on friendly, and even confidential 
 terms. The Duke of Orleans and his minister, Du 
 
 * These letters are preserved amongst the Bgremont Papers, and may be 
 found quoted in a note to Bowles' edition of Pope, ix., 93. 
 
544 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XHT. 
 
 Bois, may in their private lives have been the most 
 profligate of mankind, yet on the whole they governed 
 France with a wisdom worthy of better men ; and, so 
 far as England was concerned, acted with a friendly 
 generosity worthy of nobler rulers. For some years 
 scarcely a cloud had arisen to disturb the friendly 
 union of the two countries ; and English influence had 
 been paramoimt at the court of Versailles. Much of 
 this was due to Du Bois, who, though a shameless 
 priest, was also something of a statesman, England, 
 sensible of his good offices, had sedulously supported 
 this minister ; and bv her aid he had obtained considers 
 able revenues, the first place in the government, an 
 archbishopric, and a cardinal's hat. But Du Bois, much 
 regretted, at least by the English ministers, had died in 
 the preceding summer ; and just as Bolingbroke arrived 
 in Paris, at the beginning of the winter, the alliance 
 between the two countries received a still greater shock 
 by the death of Du Bois' master, the licentious Duke of 
 Orleans himself. Here was a field for speculation, 
 diplomacy, and intrigue. The Duke of Bourbon be- 
 came First Minister ; and the British Grovernment 
 was full of anxiety. Would the friendly relations 
 between the two governments be continued ? In the 
 event of the death of the young king, Louis XY., 
 would the renunciations be carried into effect ? Foreign 
 courts were in commotion. The hopes and pretensions 
 of the Spanish party were strongly roused. Sir Luke 
 Sohaub, a Swiss, who had been secretary to Stanhope, 
 and was now at Paris as the agent of Carteret, found his 
 influence counteracted by Horace "Walpole, who had 
 filled secretaryships and diplomatic appointments of one 
 kind or another for several years, and had only lately 
 been sent to France by his brother, as a means of 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBEOKE AND THE WALPOLES 545 
 
 1723. 
 
 thwarting the influence of Carteret on the French 
 government. 
 
 Into the perplexed and husy scene at Paris BoHng- 
 broke plunged with all his usual ardour, hoping that he 
 might render such services to the English ministry as 
 would make the repeal of his attainder and complete re- 
 storation of his estates and honours, acts of common gra- 
 titude. He warmly espoused the cause of Walpole and 
 Townshend against that of Carteret, spoke most con- 
 temptuously of Schaub, and undertook to exert all his 
 influence with the Duke of Bourbon and his mistress, 
 Madame du Prie, to promote the continuance of the 
 alliance between the two countries. He left no means 
 unemployed to convince Horace Walpole of his friend- 
 ship. He assured him that his brother Robert had 
 acted with good faith ; that for his own part he had 
 done with parties for ever ; that he would make 
 no engagements to any set of men except those who 
 should aid him in his restoration, and to them he pro- 
 fessed ever to show the most devoted attachment. He 
 was anxious, however, to be relieved . from suspense. 
 He could endure this uncertainty no longer. Surely, 
 in the course of the winter, and with the new session of 
 Parliament approaching, something might be done. 
 Horace Walpole, in his own. name, and in the name 
 of his brother, professed equal friendliness in return, 
 but committed himself to nothing. Whatever was to be 
 effected could only be accomplished through Parliament ; 
 and Horace Walpole took care to explain the difficulties 
 with which Bolingbroke's restoration was likely to be 
 met from the rank and file of the Whigs, and even from 
 the Jacobites, who, acting on the representations they 
 had received from abroad, still regarded him as a traitor 
 to their cause. As Atterbury was residing at Brussels 
 
 2 N 
 
546 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIH. 
 
 wlien Bolingbroke passed through that city ob his road 
 from Aix-la-Chapelle, it was reported they had had an 
 interview. Bolingbroke denied with warmth, and cer- 
 tainly with truth, that there was any foundation for 
 this rumour. He had only returned from Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle through Brussels because the roads were better 
 by that route for carriages ; and as for Atterboiy, 
 " There is not a man hving imder the sun," said 
 Bolingbroke, " whom I have less reason to trust 
 or more to complain of than the late Bishop of Eo- 
 chester."* 
 
 Bohngbroke corresponded on French politics, and 
 his own restoration, at the close of the year 1723, and 
 the beginning of the year 1724, with almost as much 
 industry as during the period when he was a real Secre- 
 tary of State. Once more he seemed inunersed in busi- 
 ness. He talked, he wrote, he intrigued, he protested, 
 he implored. His private secretary, John Bxinsden, 
 passed to and fro with minutes and letters from Paris to 
 London, and from London to Paris. Yet still no positive 
 promise was made to him by the Walpoles that the act 
 of attainder would during the next session be reversed 
 in ParHament. Perhaps he did not act judiciously, in 
 professing such absolute devotion to one section of the 
 ministry, and especially the one to which, from old poli- 
 tical associations, he seemed the more antagonistic. It 
 was impossible that he could be on intimate terms with 
 Horace "Walpole at Paris, without the circumstance 
 being remarked by Schaub, who soon informed his 
 patron, Carteret, of BoHngbroke's conduct, Carteret, 
 who was not a suspicious man by nature, could at first 
 scarcely believe that, after aU that had passed, Bohng- 
 broke could profess such attachment to the Walpoles. 
 
 * See Bolingbroke to Townshend in Coxe's Walpole, li., 327. 
 
1716—1725.] LADY BOLINGBEOKE'S " DAUGHTER." 547 
 
 1724. 
 
 "What you say of Bolingbroke," replied Carteret to 
 Schaub, " is scarcely credible. If it is true, he has not 
 half the capacity I thought he had."* 
 
 It certainly was true. The best apology for Boling- 
 broke consists in his situation. He was down ; he was 
 at the mercy of his old foes ; he could expect nothing 
 but from their kindness ; and he omitted nothing to 
 establish himself in their good graces. He was only 
 half successful. Walpole was not a man to run any 
 unavoidable risks, or give himself any unnecessary 
 trouble. The session of Parliament, which began on 
 the 9th of January, and closed on the 24th of April, 
 was one of the quietest on record. It passed over, and 
 Bolingbroke's attainder continued unreversed. 
 
 The omission was more vexatious to him because 
 he was just then engaged in negotiating a marriage 
 for a lady, whom he calls his wife's daughter, with a 
 young man of a noble family, and was anxious to be 
 settled himself, either in England or Prance. Voltaire 
 aflSrms correctly that^ Madame de Caylus was, in fact, 
 only the stepdaughter of Lady Bolingbroke. Voltaire 
 certainly ought to have been well informed on these 
 matters, since he was personally acquainted with the 
 second Marchioness of Villette after her marriage 
 with Lord Bolingbroke, and even introduced anecdotes, 
 on her authority, into his history of Louis XIV. Yet 
 in the first edition of that work he called her the 
 actual niece of Madame de Maintenon, when she was 
 only her niece by marriage; and he afterwards ac- 
 knowledged and corrected the error. He also posi- 
 tively stated that a daughter of the Marquis de Villette 
 was even grown up to womanhood at the time of her 
 father's marriage with Mademoiselle de Marcilly, and 
 
 * Hardwicke Papers :. Carteret to Sohaub, Mar. 12, 1724. 
 
 2 N 2 
 
548 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [CflAr. XHL 
 
 that both the wife and daughter were so handsome, 
 that Madame de Maintenon said to the Marquis, "It 
 will not depend on you whether your house be full of 
 good company. You have both a wife and daughter 
 who must attract it."* Voltaire nowhere, however, 
 alleges, as Grrimoard does, that the second Lady Boling- 
 broke had no children by her first husband. Boling- 
 broke himself alludes to a young lady at this time, and 
 frequently afterwards, as " the marchioness's daughter ;" 
 and we are justified in concluding, from other evidence, 
 that Lady Bolingbroke had one, if not another daughter 
 by her first husband. A stepdaughter would, in 1724, 
 have been nearly as old as Lady Bolingbroke herself, 
 who resigned all her pensions in favour of her own 
 daughter in order that she might have a sufficient 
 dowry.f 
 
 Scarcely, however, had Lady Bolingbroke effected 
 this indispensable point in a French matrimonial ar- 
 rangement than she found that the income she had 
 reserved to herself in England was seriously jeopardized. 
 Bolingbroke received from Lord Harcourt a letter en- 
 closed by Lord Townshend to Horace Walpole, informing 
 him that Sir Matthew Decker, with whom the Mar- 
 chioness de Yillette's money had been placed, refused 
 to pay it, on the plea that, as she was now the wife of 
 Lord Bolingbroke, he might be made answerable for 
 it by Parliament. This was a business scruple ; but it 
 enraged and alarmed Bolingbroke. He called Sir 
 Matthew Decker a rascal, and even did not spare his 
 old friend John Drummond, who had been doing bank- 
 
 * Compare (Euvres de Voltaire, xxi., 149 (the Siecle de Louis XIV., 
 chap. 24), with GEuvres de Voltaire, xxvii., 170 (Voltaire's Melanges His- 
 toriques), in the seventy-volume edition, 1785. 
 
 t See Bolingbroke's letter Feb. 3, 1724, in Coxe's Walpole, ii., 327. It 
 was more prohahly addressed to Lord Ilarcourt, 
 
■1716—1725.] THE SECOND LADY BOLINGBROKE. 549 
 
 1724. 
 
 ing business in London since the accession of the House 
 of Hanover, had managed to keep on pretty good 
 terms -with the Whig ministers, even during the South 
 Sea mania, and had been employed to invest the Mar- 
 chioness de Yillette's money. Against Bolingbroke's 
 wishes, Drummond had allowed a large sum to re- 
 main with Decker ; and the result was, that this man 
 refused to pay either principal or interest. Sir Matthew 
 did not act justifiably even as a man of business, for 
 even Lord Townshend called the reason given for with- 
 holding the money very bad. Still there was, in the 
 opinion of Townshend and Harcourt, only one course 
 to take. Lord Bolingbroke was not to appear in the 
 matter at all. His wife was to present a petition to the 
 Duke of Bourbon, as a French subject, requesting his 
 interposition with the King of England to obtain jus- 
 tice. An indemnity might then be procured ; and 
 Horace Walpole was authorized by Lord Townshend to 
 promise the Duke of Bourbon, as soon as he should men- 
 tion the business, the best assistance of the government. 
 Bolingbroke yielded to this advice, though it caused 
 him some rage and mortification. The Duke of Bour- 
 bon's warm recommendation to King Greorge was 
 obtained. It was necessary that Lady Bolingbroke 
 should proceed to England as the Marchioness of Yil- 
 lette, and personally advocate her cause. It was not 
 pleasant to proceed on such a business in such an equi- 
 vocal situation ; but, as Bolingbroke said, any dissimu- 
 lation was allowable to get out of the hands of robbers 
 and assassins. She carried with her, besides several 
 letters from her husband to the English ministers, one 
 to his old friends Lord Harcourt and Sir "William 
 Windham, and to another person, more important than 
 any of them, the Duchess of Kendal. The marchioness 
 
550 EXILE AND ISOLATION. fCHAP. XIIL 
 
 was to act according to circumstances ; to appear either 
 as Bolingbroke's wife or otherwise, to suit the occasion ; 
 and to spare no efforts, while prosecuting her pecu- 
 niary matters, to urge his complete restoration. 
 
 Before going over, she was engaged in a very deli- 
 cate business. The Beautiful Circassian was in trouble. 
 M. de Ferriote, her old protector, had died in 1722. Since 
 then Madlle. Aisse had had several offers of marriage 
 which she rejected. She had, however, fallen desperately 
 in love with a young officer of artillery, and the conse- 
 quence was that she soon expected to give birth to a 
 child. Not daring to mention her situation to Madame 
 de Ferriole, she earnestly besought the aid of Lord and 
 Lady Bolingbroke. They made Madame de Ferriole 
 believe that Mademoiselle was to accompany Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke to England ; but instead of doing so she 
 retired to a quiet lodging in Paris, and was confined of 
 a daughter. This child Bolingbroke adopted. She was 
 called his niece, was brought up at a convent, and went 
 under the name of Miss Black. Some of his friends 
 who knew of the circumstances were inclined laugh- 
 ingly to hint that Miss Black stood towards him in a 
 nearer relationship. But both he and Lady Boling- 
 broke really seem to have acted in this matter with 
 consideration and dehcacy to the Beautiful Circassian. 
 We find him, some time afterwards, gravely thanking 
 Madame de Ferriole, whom it was still necessary to 
 deceive, for her kindness to the Little Breton, as the 
 orphan child of a father and mother whom he had 
 esteemed. This was really the child of Mdlle. Aisse.* 
 
 Lady Bolingbroke arrived in England at the end 
 of May. She was kindly received by the ministers ; 
 the King was gracious ; and the indemnity was ob- 
 
 • See the Lettre k Mme. Ferriole, H Dec. 1725. 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBEOKE ALONE. 551 
 
 1724. 
 
 tained. " We learn," wrote Yoltaire from Paris, in 
 July, " that Madame de Yillette has gained her cause 
 in England, and has declared her marriage."* She, 
 however, did more. By the judicious present of eleven 
 thousand pounds to the Duchess of Kendal, she induced 
 this reputed left-hand wife of the King warmly to 
 advocate Bolinghroke's restoration. The money was 
 paid through William Chetwynd to^Lady Walsingham,. 
 the niece of the duchess, who had assuredly an itching 
 palm.f 
 
 Walpole could scarcely be ignorant how matters 
 stood, and it was, in fact, his interest to conciliate the 
 King's most powerful favourite. Walpole and Towns- 
 hend had just triumphed over Carteret, who had been 
 compelled to exchange his post of Secretary of State for . 
 the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland. Horace Walpole was 
 officially appointed ambassador to the court of France. 
 The ascendancy of the brother and brother-in-law was 
 unquestionable ; and out of mere decency they could 
 under the circumstances scarcely refuse to do something 
 for Bolingbroke. The Abbe Alari, who was supposed 
 to have some influence in the French court, also soon 
 afterwards went over to England, and earnestly im-- 
 portuned Walpole to reverse Bolinghroke's attainder. 
 He and Lady Bolingbroke obtained a promise that in 
 the following session a bill should be brought into 
 Parliament. The Duke of Newcastle, who had suc- 
 ceeded Carteret as Secretary of State, was very friendly 
 
 * Voltaire a Mdlle. la Presidente de Bernieres. This letter, with, another, 
 is placed in the Voltaire Correspondence under the year 1722 : but the allu- 
 sions to the " late Duke of Orleans," and his daughter, the Queen of Spain, 
 show clearly that they were written in 1724. Philip, the King of Spain, had 
 abdicated in favour of his son Louis, and, on his premature death, afterwards, 
 to the great perplexity of some historical students, resumed the crown. 
 
 t dough Papers ; quoted by Coxe in the Walpole Correspondence, ii., 345. 
 
552 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 to Lady Bolingbroke, and professed himself highly 
 favourable to the reversal of the forfeiture. BoKng- 
 broke wrote to his grace, in October, a special letter of 
 thanks. " I shall wait," he observed, " with a perfect 
 confidence the effect of those promises which have been 
 made me this summer, and shall receive it with a due 
 sense of the King's goodness, and of the friendship of 
 his ministers."* 
 
 Bolingbroke, after remaining some time in Paris, 
 and attending regularly a literary club called the Socie'te 
 d'Entresol, founded by the Abbe Alari, had returned in 
 the summer to La Source. He had his books, and he 
 had his dogs; and in the two occupations of hunting and 
 studying, endeavoured to compensate himself for his 
 wife's absence. After taking a very friendly leave of 
 Townshend and Walpole, she joined her husband in 
 the autumn ; but by his direction returned to England 
 again before the winter to personally see that the 
 ministers redeemed the pledge they had given. Bo- 
 lingbroke, in the winter of 1724, resumed his correspond- 
 ence with Swift. He wrote a long letter of many 
 pages. He told the dean of the intention he had formed 
 of writing the history of England for the first twenty 
 years of the century, and vindicated himself from the 
 imputation of being a freethinker, which Swift, it ap- 
 peared had heard, in language which Bolingbroke did 
 not remember, when he was writing his philosophical 
 works. He also mentioned to the dean his Eeflections 
 on Exile, and again quoted the words of Brutus, that a 
 virtuous man could not be unhappy in exile, because 
 wherever he went he carried his virtue along- with 
 him.f 
 
 * Bolingbroke to the Duke of Newcastle, October 24 1724. 
 
 t See thu very remarkable letter of Bolingbroke to Swift, Sept. 12, 1724. 
 
1716-1725.] DOGS AND FIELD SPORTS. ' 553 
 
 1725. 
 
 Bolingbroke continued at La Source through the 
 winter of 1724, and until the spring of 1725 had re- 
 turned. He corresponded regularly with Sir William 
 Windham, who was in London, attending to his par- 
 liamentary duties, the two Houses having met before 
 Christmas. It was, however, in the second part of the 
 session that Bolingbroke's business was expected to be 
 brought on; and noth withstanding all his appeals to 
 Brutus, he could not but look forward to the result 
 with some anxiety. As far as his health allowed him, 
 he continued, however, to practise field-sports as much 
 as ever. One of his grooms whom he called Little 
 Jack, had brought his horses again to La Source ; and 
 Bolingbroke, in January, determined to see whether 
 he had strength enough to bear the fatigues of a wolf- 
 chase. This was a trying pastime to men, horses, 
 and dogs. He speculated earnestly as to which of 
 his hounds would assail the wolf boldly ; which would 
 sneak off as soon as he stood at bay ; and which would 
 .scarcely be able to hunt him at all. He was always 
 breeding and breaking hounds. The most hardy of 
 his pack he had recently obtained from Lord Gore : he 
 was anxious to procure more young ones in the 
 spring ; and, intending to send over to Lord Gore's 
 huntsman for some of his best crosses, he wished to buy 
 several couples. He communicated these intentions to 
 Sir William Windham, who was his regular sporting 
 correspondent, and for whom he was at this time, as 
 during his former residence at La Source, rearing 
 several dogs. One of these animals, a very fine one, 
 had been given to him by the Count de Hautefort ; other 
 two were being trained, as Bolingbroke declared, by 
 the best schoolmaster in France ; and another, a beau- 
 tiful and high-bred bitch, though she was too tender 
 
554 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Uhat. XIIL 
 
 and could only hunt for about an hour at a time, was 
 considered one of the most handsome creatures of the 
 kind ever seen. All these were intended for Windham. 
 Some persons have sneered at Bolingbroke for entering 
 into minute details about his dogs and horses, and for 
 being so fond of fox-hunting and wolf-hunting. Others 
 however, may, perhaps, consider his indulgence in 
 these tastes one of the most pleasing features of his 
 biography. Bolingbroke, as he afterwards expressed 
 in one of the most admirable passages in his political 
 writings, was never inclined to neglect the government 
 of men for horses and hounds.* 
 
 « 
 
 Unfortunately he could now enjoy these sports but 
 seldom. Though he had scarcely arrived at more than 
 middle age, his health continued to be very precarious. 
 He felt, he said, the approach of decay. Fits of gout, al- 
 ternating with fits of fever, warned him that his con- 
 stitution was no longer robust. Just as his mind was oc- 
 cupied with this wolf-chase, he was seized with a violent 
 affection of the stomach, and had several attacks of 
 intermittent fever. His strength was worn out, and his 
 spirits greatly depressed. Lady Bolingbroke and Sir 
 William Windham, whom he informed about his ill- 
 ness, were alarmed. He wrote in February to reas- 
 sure them, declaring that he had quite recovered ; but 
 that there was nothing which rendered existence any 
 longer desirable to him, except the marchioness and one 
 or two friends. He looked, however, impatiently for 
 the act that was to pass in his favour ; and it was some 
 time before his hopes and his fears were set at restf 
 
 He had written, in his letters to Sir William Wind- 
 
 * Egremont Papers : Bolingbroke to Sir W. Windham, Jan. 30, 1725. 
 See also tlie Essay on the Spirit of Patriotism. 
 
 t See letter to Sir W. Windham, Feb. 6, 1725 ; Coxa Correspondence, 
 ii., 331. 
 
1716—1725.] BOLINGBROKE AND PULTENEY. 555 
 
 1725. 
 
 ham, of January and February, of sending over to 
 England in tlie spring. This seemed to indicate that 
 he had no intention himself of coming over before the 
 summer. But when he found that no attempt was 
 made, as soon as Parliament was reassembled, to 
 release him from the disabilities under which he was 
 placed, his natural impatience could not be restrained. 
 He set out for. England. He arrived in London at 
 the beginning of March ; and, that he might give no 
 offence, soon went into the country, to an estate which 
 he purchased in Middlesex. He looked anxiously 
 for the ministers to make some sign ; but March was 
 ending, and no motion had been made in Parliament. On 
 the contrary, Arthur Moore, who had managed, like John 
 Drummond, to make his peace with the ruling powers, 
 forgot the obligations he owed to his former patron, 
 and circulated a report to the effect that the ministers 
 could scarcely be expected to do anything for Boling- 
 broke while he was in intimate correspondence with 
 Pulteney and the Opposition. This assertion, containing 
 the very imputation he went into the country to avoid, 
 came to Bolingbroke's ears, and caused him both annoy- 
 ance and alarm. Bolingbroke wrote anxiously to Lord 
 Harcourt : " If this report was to be thrown into the 
 world, Arthur Moore might with a better grace have 
 left it to be propagated by some other emissary ; and 
 if it be designed as an excuse for leaving me in my 
 present condition, than which none more cruel can 
 be invented, I do assure your lordship that the ex- 
 cuse shall not hold good. I have very much esteem 
 for Mr. Pulteney. I have met with great civility 
 from him, and shall on all occasions behave myself 
 towards him like a man who is obliged to him. But, 
 my lord, I have had no private correspondence or even 
 
556 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 conversation with him ; and whenever I appeal to the 
 Eang, and beg leave to plead my cause before him, I 
 will take care that his ministers shall not have the least 
 pretence of objection to me in any part of my conduct."* 
 The truth was that the ministers had more difficulty 
 with the members of their own party than Bolingbroke 
 supposed. Walpole knew what the feeling on the sub- 
 ject was among his followers, and he was not inclined 
 to oppose their prejudices. At last, however, by the 
 importunities of the Duchess of Kendal, and the express 
 command of the King, the minister was obliged to do 
 something. On the 20th of April, Lord Finch, who 
 had constituted himself Bolingbroke's champion, pre- 
 sented a petition from him to the House of Commons. 
 The substance of Bolingbroke's prayer to the House 
 was, after his professions of penitence, that leave might 
 be given to bring in a Bill allowing him and the heirs of 
 his body to take his settled estate ; and to enable him to 
 hold all the personal estate which he then possessed or 
 might acquire, and invest it in the purchase of any real 
 or personal estate within the kingdom. Walpole rose 
 on the part of the ministers to state what they had 
 determined to do with respect to the petition. He 
 assured the House, by the command of the King, that 
 Bolingbroke had seven years before made his submis- 
 sion, and had been encouraged to hope for some mark of 
 his Majesty's grace and goodness. This statement, as 
 
 » This letter was also given to Lord Mahon from the Nuneham Papers. It 
 has induced me to make the statement, in the text, of Bolingbroke's return to 
 England before the bill for his relief was brought in, though it is surprismg 
 to see it dated Dawley Farm, March 22, 1725. Yet if we are to follow some 
 of the dates given of his letters to the Abbe Alari, in the French collection, 
 entitled Lettres de Lord Vioomte Bolingbroke, it would appear that he was in 
 England earlier. These dates, however, it is impossible to reconcile with those 
 of the letters to Swift and Windham ; and they are also contradicted by state- 
 ments in the preliminaiy essay as well as by the events to which they refer. 
 
1716—1725.] THE BlLl- INTRODUCED. 557 
 
 1725. 
 
 Bolingbroke afterwards pointed out, and as I have 
 shown, was not literally accurate. The submission had 
 been made nine years before, and the expressions Wal- 
 pole employed, in construing the royal promise, contained 
 very much less than the truth. " The King authorizes 
 you to give all suitable hope and encouragement,"* were 
 the words of Stanhope's despatch to Stair. This meant 
 more, surely, than " being encouraged to hope for some 
 mark of his Majesty's grace and goodness." Since then, 
 too, many years had gone ; and no explanation was 
 given why the royal word, deliberately pledged, had 
 not been sooner redeemed. Bolingbroke had at least 
 the right to expect that, when some mark of favour 
 was at last extended to him, the delay should be taken 
 into consideration. This, however, was not the case. 
 Walpole admitted that the petitioner was a fitting object 
 of mercy, and that his prayer, so far as allowing him to 
 enjoy his family inheritance, which, of course, he could 
 not do without an Act of Parliament, might reasonably 
 be granted. This the minister was prepared to recom- 
 mend, but nothing more; and thus was the royal 
 promise of " all suitable hope and encouragement " 
 tardily performed.! 
 
 Walpole's best excuse is that this boon, small as it was, 
 could not be granted without considerable opposition. 
 Methuen, the Comptroller of the Household, declaimed 
 violently against the Bill when it was first proposed by 
 Lord Finch, declaring that having been the British 
 minister in Portugal at the time when the Catalans were 
 given up, he knew well the heinousness of Bohngbroke's 
 guilt in that sad business. Many more of the usual 
 supporters of the government were equally determined 
 
 * See ante, p. 495. 
 
 t See Bolingbroke's Answer to The Pinal Remarks. 
 
558 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 In their opposition, especially Sergeant Miller, Lord 
 William Paulett, Sir Thomas Pengelly, and Arthur 
 Onslow. Dr. Friend and Sir Thomas Hanmer supported 
 the motion, which was carried by 231 against 113 : under 
 the circumstances no very extraordinary majority. 
 Lord Finch and Walpole were, ordered to bring 
 in the Bill. On the second reading. Lord William 
 Paulett moved a clause disabhng Bolingbroke from 
 sitting in either House of Parliament, or holding any 
 place of trust under the crown. This too, though 
 strongly supported, was rejected by a majority of 
 seventy votes. In fact, the proposal was imnecessary. 
 As long as the other provisions of the Act of Attainder 
 were in force, and they of course continued unrepealed, 
 Bolingbroke's return to office, or even his entrance 
 into the House of Lords, was very effectually barred. 
 The Bill went through the third reading, and was sent 
 up to the other house, where it passed, but not without 
 a division, and a protest from the Lords Coventry, 
 Bristol, Clinton, Lechmere, and Onslow, who took 
 strong constitutional objections to the manner in which 
 Bohngbroke's pardon had been granted. 
 
 Bohngbroke could now enjoy the estate he inherited 
 from his grandfather, and was not prevented from 
 holding any other property that he might acquire. He 
 was, however, anything but satisfied, as, indeed^ he had 
 very little reason to be. Until the Bill had passed he 
 prudently abstained from corresponding with Swift : as 
 soon, however, as it became law, he allowed his dis- 
 content openly to break forth against both the ministers 
 and the measure. " Here I am, then," he wrote to the 
 dean, " two-thirds restored ; my person safe (unless 
 I meet hereafter with harder treatment than even that 
 
 * See Pari. Hist, viii., 461, 466, 478, 479, 481. 
 
1716—1725.] OBLIGATIONS TO WALPOLE. 559 
 
 1725. 
 
 of Sir Walter Ealeigb) ; and my estate, with all the 
 other property I have acquired, or may acquire, secured 
 to me. But the attainder is kept carefully and pru- 
 dently in force, lest so corrupt a member should come 
 again into the House of Lords, and his bad leaven 
 should sour that sweet untainted mass."* 
 
 Here arises the question, What was the extent of 
 Bolinghroke's obligations to Walpole ? Walpole's adhe- 
 rents, at one time his biographer Coxe, and Horace 
 Walpole always, loudly raised the cry of ingratitude 
 against Bolingbroke, for afterwards assailing the 
 minister who had thus restored him to England. 
 Bolingbroke had certainly a right to expect a com- 
 plete restoration. Years ago it had been promised ; 
 and even though Walpole had not been a member 
 of the Government who made the promise, it does 
 not follow, as Coxe asserted, that he was not bound 
 by the acts of his predecessors. The promise was one 
 really made in the name of the sovereign, and of a 
 nature that must be held binding on every minister. 
 Even this excuse, however, will not serve. It is not 
 true that Walpole was out of office when Bolingbroke 
 was told to expect all suitable hope and encouragement 
 of public favour from the King ; a reference to the date 
 of Stanhope's despatch, March 28, 1716, will prove 
 that at the time it was written both Townshend and 
 Walpole were in office, and shared the responsibility 
 with their colleagues. Besides, when it is actually 
 stated that Walpole allowed the Bill, such as it was, to be 
 introduced with the greatest unwillingness ; that he only 
 gave way- by the express command of the King ; that 
 before moving in the business at all he extorted a promise 
 
 • Bolingbroke to Swift, July 24, 1725. 
 
560 EXILE AND ISOLATION. [Cil*.p. XIII. 
 
 from his master that Bolingbroke should always be 
 excluded from office, and even from the legislature, 
 how can the charge of ingratitude be seriously main- 
 tained? Walpole knew Bolingbroke's restless and 
 aspiring character well. He knew that whatever 
 professions he might make, no sooner should his at- 
 tainder be reversed, than he would either be admitted 
 to a fall share of power, or become a formidable op- 
 ponent to any Government. Walpole believed in 
 nothing less than expressions of friendship and grati- 
 tude. He was jealous of his own colleague and brother- 
 in-law, Townshend, with whom he was already beginninp' 
 to quarrel, and afterwards turned out of office ; and ii 
 his heart he felt, and could not but feel, all the old 
 rivalry and enmity against Bolingbroke. "What he did 
 for Bolingbroke, he did as tardily as he could ; he then 
 did as little as he could ; and after Walpole's slow and 
 reluctant concession, Bohngbroke was fully justified in 
 not being able to sit down and dine with him, and in 
 exclaiming " Thank you for nothing !" 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1725—1735. 
 AT DAWLEY. 
 
 BoLiNGBROKE retired into the country. He had pur- 
 chased of Lord Tankerville an estate called Dawley. It 
 was pleasantly situated near Uxbridge, about sixteen 
 miles from London. Dawley, Bolingbroke determined to 
 make his home. He soon had a handsome villa, an exten- 
 sive park before it, gardens which allowed him scope for 
 every improvement, stables for his dogs and horses, 
 land to sow with wheat or to lay out in meadow, just as it 
 might suit the taste or whim of the passing moment. Here 
 he resolved again to lead the life of a country gentleman ; 
 and he wrote of this fine estate as a mere farm, Dawley 
 Farm being the address of many of his letters. He built, 
 he planted, he laid out the grounds. He furnished the 
 house in an elegant manner, and, in fact, launched out 
 into such expense in improving and adorning this rural 
 abode as surprised even those who had been familiar 
 with his manner of living when he was Queen Anne's 
 favourite minister. Dawley cost him in one way and 
 another nearly twenty-three thousand pounds. Economy'- 
 was never one of his habits. He despised, as Swift told 
 him, the simple rules of arithmetic, and scarcely ever 
 
 2 
 
562 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 considered that two and three only made five, and never 
 more.* 
 
 There was much imprudence in this extravagance ; 
 and Bolingbroke himself soon afterwards regretted it. 
 But he was still in his heart as aspiring as ever, and 
 notwithstanding his recent disappointment about the 
 reversal of his attainder, hoped yet to appear again on 
 the public stage. He was far from having any sus- 
 picion that his part in the great political drama was 
 over ; that he had left office for ever ; and that it 
 would have been wiser in him to have left hope behind. 
 He moralized, he declaimed on the vanity of all earthly 
 things, he was eloquent on the tranquil pleasures of the 
 country ; but he could not subdue his yearnings for a more 
 active and illustrious career. He had been early inured 
 into habits of office ; he had been the most brilliant 
 statesman of his age in the flush of his early manhood ; 
 and he naturally pined for the great excitement of Eng- 
 lish political life. For, whatever else he might pretend to 
 be, or persuade himself that he was, he remained essen- 
 tially a politician. His philosophy was but a makeshift, 
 and his country pursuits a relaxation. The inconsistency 
 of his professions and conduct was noticed by persons 
 who were most intimate with him, amid all the novelty 
 of his first occupation of Dawley. Pope wrote to Swift : 
 " One of our friends labours to be unambitious ; but 
 he labours in an unwilling soil."f Bolingbroke had 
 talked of buying the sovereignty of the Bermudas, 
 and of bidding a farewell to England and politics for 
 ever. This was all pure affectation, or at least mere 
 self-illusion. Never had he less intention of abandon- 
 ing his native land ; never was he less convinced of the 
 
 * Swift to Bolingbroke, Oct. 31, 1729. 
 t Pope to Swift, Sept. 3, 1726. 
 
1725—1735.] POPE AND BOLINGBKOKE. 563 
 
 1725. 
 
 advantages of exile, or satisfied with the harmless plea- 
 sures of the country, than during the ten years he 
 spent at Dawley. He was thrown from his horse 
 while fox-hunting during his first autumn at this 
 delightful retreat. The accident was reported in 
 the newspapers, and somewhat alarmed Swift, who 
 mentioned his apprehension to his correspondent Pope. 
 " Lord Bolinghroke," replied Pope, " had not the least 
 harm hy his fall ; 1 wish he had received no more by 
 his other fall."* 
 
 Pope and Bolinghroke were neighbours, Dawley and 
 Twickenham being only the distance of a pleasant ride 
 from each other through country lanes by Cranford, 
 Hounslow, and Whitton, down to the luxuriant valley of 
 the Thames. Their friendship was of an old date, and 
 had been on both sides established by favours given and 
 received. Pope had been introduced to Bolinghroke by 
 Swift, in the days of Queen Anne's last ministry ; and 
 in some of the busiest days of that busy time, Boling- 
 hroke had found time to read over and correct portions 
 of Pope's translation of the Iliad. Pope, on the other 
 hand, even while Bolingbroke was yet in exile, and 
 covered with obloquy by both Whigs and Jacobites, 
 had boldly given the testimony of his esteem to the 
 fallen statesman. No sooner was Bolingbroke settled 
 at Dawley than the intimacy between him and the little 
 poet of Twickenham became firmly established. Pope's 
 reputation was great, and he was proud of seizing 
 every occasion to declare his admiration of his friend. 
 They visited each other almost daily, shared the same 
 studies, wrote sometimes also with Gay, and what 
 Bolingbroke called "Cheddar," letters to Swift on the 
 same sheet of paper. 
 
 * Pope to Swift, Oct. 15, 1725. 
 
 2 2 
 
564 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Bolingbroke had tlie air of the great world about 
 him ; his reputation was historical ; to the sickly and 
 secluded poet the noble author of the peace of Utrecht 
 seemed the most illustrious of mankind. Though not 
 given much to idolatry, though full of admiration for 
 his own poetical talents, and jealous of all competi- 
 tors, yet Pope absolutely worshipped Bohngbroke, felt 
 towards him all that Boswell ever felt for Johnson, 
 thought him more than human, and only a little lower 
 than the angels.* In all this Pope was most sincere. 
 Full of affectation, and seldom inclined to show his real 
 sentiments, still in his admiration of his neighbour 
 at Dawley there was no affectation. The worship of 
 BoHngbroke became one of Pope's cherished passions. 
 This idolatry, too, was exactly suited to Bohngbroke's 
 character. Regarding himself as bom for empire and 
 command, it was something while excluded from the 
 legislature, and hated by more than one section of 
 English politicians, to have secured to himself the cor- 
 dial admiration and esteem of the famous poet of the 
 age, who was ready to record his glory in the most 
 finished verse. Bolingbroke, in their correspondence, 
 assumed a kind of dictatorial superiority over both Pope 
 and Swift. This dictatorship Pope was willing to allow ; 
 and Swift, with whom there might have been diffi- 
 culties, was generally too far distant to question the 
 supremacy. The intercourse between the three friends 
 therefore seemed very pleasant. The world was made 
 for them to criticise and comment upon ; and they 
 seemed to confer a great favour upon the world by 
 living in it, and upon mankind, whose high privilege it 
 was to number three such master spirits among their 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 * This is Pope's own expression : Letter to Swift, Oct. 15, 1725. 
 
1725—1735.] SWIFT IN ENGLAND AGAIN. 565' 
 
 1726. 
 
 One of the joint letters from Pope and Bolingbroke 
 was written in the December of 1725. Bolingbroke 
 pointed out the defects of Seneca's character in lan- 
 guage which had a double application. " Seneca," 
 wrote Bolingbroke, " was a slave to the worst part of 
 the world, to the court ; and all his big words were 
 the language of a slighted lover, who desired nothing 
 so much as a reconciliation, and feared nothing so much 
 as a rupture."* 
 
 In the spring of 1726 there was joy at Twickenham 
 and Dawley. Swift visited England for the first time 
 since his return to Ireland on the death of the Queen ; 
 and the three friends met each other again, after many 
 vicissitudes and a long separation. He resided partly 
 in London and partly with Pope at Twickenham, and 
 while sauntering in the poet's garden, or lounging in the 
 grotto, renewed all his old intimacy with Bolingbroke. 
 The politic Dean, indeed, who, with all his eccentric 
 misanthropy, did not neglect to cultivate, as far as pos- 
 sible, his own particular interests, waited on the Princess 
 Caroline, and had two interviews with Walpole. He 
 was not willing to adopt all the enmity which Boling- 
 broke had begun to entertain against the minister, 
 nor had he yet made up his mind, as Bolingbroke was 
 on the point of doing, to cast in his lot with Pulteney 
 and the Opposition. Gulliver's Travels, which had not 
 yet been published, was discussed by the friendly circle ; 
 and when, in July, Bolingbroke suddenly disappeared 
 for a fortnight, on a visit to Lord Bathurst, he playfully 
 addressed a letter from the banks of the Severn to Pope, 
 Gray, and Swift, as the Three Yahoos of Twickenham. 
 News came to Swift from Dublin that Stella was almost 
 hopelessly ill. He meditated taking a journey to France, 
 
 * Pope and Bolingbroke to Swift, Dec. 10, 172o. 
 
566 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 and Bolmgbroke offered to go with him, and spend a 
 winter at La Source, which at a great expense he still 
 kept up, in order that, after some law business was 
 settled, he might dispose of it on more advantageous 
 terms. Swift declared himself almost as much a 
 lover of the second Lady Bolingbroke as he had been 
 of the first, though he confessed that her graces were 
 entirely French. She gave much pleasant anima- 
 tion to the dinner and supper parties at Dawley. 
 She complained that the air of England oppressed her 
 imagination, and that when her friends talked English 
 rapidly she heard only a noise ; that the only words she 
 thoroughly understood when she was greeted by her Eng- 
 lish acquaintances were the eternal " It is a very cold 
 day," or " It is a very warm day ;" and that these two 
 expressions, with the constant use of fans by the ladies, 
 seemed to her to constitute all' the intercourse of polite 
 society. Swift, as his habit was, found fault with the 
 dishes at Dawley. He cared nothing, he said, for 
 French cookery. If he ate a piece of roast beef he 
 wished to know that it was roast beef; when he asked 
 for a plate of fowl, he wished to recognize what was 
 brought to him ; he did not understand why people 
 should not know what they ate. Bolingbroke himself 
 professed to be a mere farmer, and was called by his 
 wife Le Seigneur de Dawley, and Notre Fermier. Dis- 
 tressed by the reports about Mrs. Johnson's health, 
 Swift left Twickenham without any leave-taking, pro- 
 ceeded to London, and from London set off" for Dublin. 
 Bolingbroke, not knowing the cause, was greatly dis- 
 pleased at Swift's unceremonious departure. " II se 
 plaint et boude," wrote Lady Bolingbroke of her hus- 
 band.* 
 
 * See Lady Bolingbroke's two letters to Swift, Febniary 1727. 
 
1725—1735.] POPE NEARLY DROWNED. 567 
 
 1726. 
 
 , In the month of September a serious accident hap- 
 pened to Pope as he was going home one night rather 
 late from Dawley. He was in Bolingbroke's carriage, 
 drawn by six horses, a number which, owing to the 
 badness of the roads, was then frequently required, as 
 much for use as magnificence. There had been some 
 heavy rains at "Whitton, about a mile from Twicken- 
 ham, A bridge baving fallen, the carriage had to 
 be driven through the river. The night was dark, 
 the bank was steep, and a hole on one side, and a block 
 of timber on the other, caused the vehicle to upset. 
 Pope was in great danger of being drowned. The 
 water came up to the knots of his periwig ; and the 
 footman was for some time prevented from coming 
 to his assistance by being himself stuck fast in the 
 mud. One of Bolingbroke's servants, however, at 
 last succeeded in breaking a glass ■y^indow of the 
 carriage, and the poet was lifted out more dead than 
 alive, with two fingers of his right hand severely cut 
 by the broken glass. For a time it was believed that 
 tbe tendons were severed, and that he had quite lost 
 the use of the two fingers, which hung helplessly down. 
 Three separate letters, from Arbutbnot, Gay, and 
 Bolingbroke himself, conveyed to Swift the news of 
 this accident to their common friend, the little poet, 
 who considered himself, and was also regarded by them, 
 as so great a man.* 
 
 Bolingbroke was himself, at this season, accustomed 
 to remain very late at his neighbour's, Lord Berkeley, 
 who resided at Cranford, about two miles from Dawley. 
 There the statesman was as much at home as at Pope's ; 
 and there he frequently both dined and supped with Gray, 
 
 * Gay to Swift, Sept. 16 ; Arbuthnot to Swift, Sept. 20 ; and Bolingbioke 
 to Swift, Sept. 22, 1726. 
 
568 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 "Windham, and the society of the hospitable nobleman, 
 who had become one of his greatest admirers, and who, 
 probably on account of this intimacy, was by the jealous 
 Walpole soon afterwards expelled from the ministry. 
 
 This autumn of 1726, Bolingbroke, too, received at 
 Dawley a more illustrious visitor than either G-ay, 
 Pope, or Swift. Voltaire had arrived in England. 
 Though flying from persecution, he brought with him 
 the warmest letters of recommendation from Morville, 
 the French Secretary of State, and from Horace Wal- 
 pole, the British ambassador at the court of Yersailles. 
 But to Bolingbroke and his lady he needed no letters 
 of recommendation. They received him as an old 
 friend. He looked upon Bolingbroke's house as his 
 own ; and during the two years he remained in Eng- 
 land, his letters were frequently addressed to Boling- 
 broke's care. , He came to this country strongly 
 prejudiced in its favour, as the land of liberty and 
 free thought; and the benefits which were heaped 
 upon him by the hands of the King downwards 
 through all the higher ranks of society, still more 
 deeply rooted this attachment. He was one of the few 
 great Frenchmen who ever understood England ; and 
 he was delighted with the boldness of the speculations, 
 and the freedom of public life which he everywhere 
 witnessed. The writings of Bacon, Locke, and Newton 
 seemed to afford him a glimpse of a new world. He 
 applied to their works all the logic, clearness, and 
 precision of the highly-cultivated French intellect. He 
 became the interpreter between the English mind and 
 ;the Continent; and what he interpreted to France 
 Bolingbroke frequently interpreted to him. To whom, 
 indeed, could an ingenious Frenchman come for in- 
 formation more properly than to the famous English 
 
1725—1735.] VOLTAIEE AT DAWLBY. 569 
 
 1727. 
 
 statesman, who was so well acquainted with both 
 Prance and England, who could talk in Trench as 
 brilliantly as Voltaire himself, and whose hospitalities 
 Voltaire had shared at La Source ? The greatest of New- 
 ton's works Bolingbroke, indeed, had not himself scien- 
 tific knowledge enough to understand, much less to in- 
 terpret to others. But he had studied diligently Bacon 
 and Locke All that was acute, bold, and rational 
 in their writings he eagerly grasped ; some of their 
 higher characteristics he was inclined to disregard. As 
 expounded by Bolingbroke, the utilitarianism of Bacon 
 became more utilitarian, and the materialism of Locke 
 more material ; and these leading features of their 
 philosophy, without the redeeming qualifications which 
 Bacon and Locke themselves sought to introduce, 
 were eagerly seized by Voltaire's inquisitive intellect. 
 The continued acquaintance of Bolingbroke and Vol- 
 taire was not, however, altogether friendly. Voltaire 
 hinted to Bolingbroke the intention of dedicating the 
 Henriade to the illustrious author of the peace of 
 Utrecht. Bolingbroke, apparently declining the honour, 
 wrote to Madame de Ferriole, asking her whether Vol- 
 taire really was sincere in the intention he had pro- 
 fessed. The answer was not favourable. Bolingbroke 
 replied that he was well aware of Voltaire's duplicity, 
 but that he was much mistaken if he supposed he could 
 make him his dupe by words.* Voltaire afterwards, in 
 very complimentary terms, dedicated his tragedy of 
 Brutus to Bolingbroke ; but Brutus was not the 
 Henriade. 
 
 The publication of Grulliver's Travels was the 
 great topic of conversation and of merriment at Daw- 
 ley and Twickenham during the latter period of 1726 
 and the beginning of 1727. Voltaire laughed at the 
 
 See Lettres- de Lord Vicomte •Bolingtroke, iii. 274. 
 
570 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Lilliputians and Brobdignagians as heartily, and ad- 
 mired them as much, as either Pope or Bolingbroke, 
 and he was anxious to make the acquaintance of their 
 friend Jonathan, the eccentric Dean of St. Patrick's, 
 who appeared a Rabelais without Eabelais' filth. He 
 wished to have the book translated into French, and 
 wrote earnestly to his correspondent Thiriot to under- 
 take the task.* Lady Bolingbroke sent Swift some 
 fans in which the principal scenes of GruUiver were 
 dehneated ; and in Bolingbroke's circle the world seemed 
 to go as merry as a marriage bell. 
 
 It was not, however, exactly so. Ambition was still 
 burning fiercely within his breast. He again plunged 
 deeply into politics and court intrigue. He disre- 
 garded the advice of his friend, the Abbe Alari, who 
 returned to France, and who, on being told by Bohng- 
 broke what he was about to do, said frankly, " I pity 
 you." Bolingbroke was oifended at the Abbe's frank- 
 ness : soon afterwards their correspondence ceased. 
 The retirement of Dawley was frequently abandoned, 
 and Bolingbroke, besides his country retreat, had a 
 house in Pall Mall, where much of the winter of 1726 
 and the spring of 1727 were spent in all the hurry and 
 agitation of his old political pursuits. 
 
 For some years Europe had appeared on the verge 
 of war ; and there had been, on the part of England 
 especially, diplomatizing and mediating without end. 
 The triple alhance, the quadruple alliance, the quin- 
 tuple alliance, and the Congress of Cambray, had all 
 been directed to the purpose of settling the differences 
 between the Emperor and Philip, between the King 
 of Spain that was and the King of Spain that would 
 have been. It is no part of a biographer of Boling- 
 broke to enter minutely into the history of these diplo- 
 
 » See Voltaire h M. Thiriot, 2 Fevrier, 1727. 
 
1725—1735.] OEGANIZATION OF THE OPPOSITION. 571 
 
 1727. 
 
 matic perplexities, which, after having so long troubled 
 many of the courts of Europe, immediately changed 
 their aspect by the return of the Infanta on the hands 
 of the court of Madrid, and the sudden and portentous 
 alliance of Spain and Austria by the conclusion of the 
 treaty of Vienna, in the April of 1 72 5 . To guard against 
 the results of this union, of which the establishment of the 
 Emperor's visionary Ostend Company, and the acquisi- 
 tion of Minorca and Gribraltar from England were sup- 
 posed to be some of the terms, the treaty of Hanover was 
 signed in the following September by France, England, 
 and Prussia. Other powers afterwards came into this 
 new alliance ; but when the year 1727 began, war seemed 
 more than ever imminent. The Duke of Bourbon was 
 no longer at the head of affairs in France : Fleury had 
 just risen to his long ascendancy in the government of 
 the young King, Louis XY. Horace Walpole, the 
 British ambassador at Paris, was doing his best to con- 
 tinue the French alliance, and his brother Robert had 
 gradually drawn to himself nearly all power in the 
 Euglish administration. 
 
 With Walpole's personal ascendancy fully established 
 also coincides the gradual organization of the opposi- 
 tion. Hitherto it had been of no weight nor character. 
 Pulteney had, in the spring of 1725, objected to the 
 payment of the burdens on the civil list, and he soon 
 moved for a committee of inquiry into the state of the 
 public debts. But it was at this time, and with the 
 co-operation of BoHngbroke and the Tories^ led by Sir 
 William Windham, who lived at Dawley as at his own 
 home, that the opponents of the government first 
 showed a formidable and united front. 
 
 Much of this organization was due to Bolingbroke 
 himself. He had, unquestionably, many of the talents 
 of a party leader ; and his object was to induce the 
 
572 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV.' 
 
 Tories and independent Wliigs to sink their differences 
 and act steadily together in opposition to the individual 
 minister. The old Tory watchwords of the Church 
 and the Monarchy were neglected ; the corruption and 
 degeneracy represented as pervading all departments 
 of the administration were declaimed against as the 
 national evils of the time ; and all honest men, of every 
 party, were exhorted to combine against a minister 
 whose only system of government was alleged to be by 
 means of money. There was some truth in these in- 
 dignant outcries, which began to be heard loudly in 
 1727 ; but there was also much exaggeration, and not 
 a little absurdity. It was not true that Walpole governed 
 solely, or even principally, by the influence of money : 
 he governed by the great Whig families who had acted 
 steadily together in support of the Revolution and the 
 Protestant succession : he governed on that great prin- 
 ciple of party connection which Bolingbroke himself 
 formerly applauded and acted upon, and now as loudly 
 condemned. Fidelity to his party had been hitherto 
 Bolingbroke's excuse for many errors, and some other- 
 wise indefensible proceedings. That all parties were 
 evils became now his loudest cry, repeated, with few 
 variations, to the last days of his life. Hitherto he 
 had professed to be a Tory; he now became, as he de- 
 clared, something beitter, a patriot, whose only prin- 
 ciple was the good of his country. Walpole was to the 
 nation like a nightmare ; and it was the duty of all 
 good and wise men to unite and shake off this incubus. 
 This cry suited both Whigs and Tories, and, in fact, 
 every discontented person who thought his merits over- 
 looked, or was driven into opposition by the minister's 
 insatiable love of power. A new generation had grown 
 up, and was then entering public life, which Boling- 
 broke undertook to teach : the young and rising men 
 
1725—1735.] PULTENEY'S CHARACTER. 573 
 
 1727. 
 
 ■were to sit at his feet and learn wisdom and patriotism : 
 the second Cato amid the corruption and degeneracy 
 of Rome could not have preached a more austere virtue. 
 There was in these later writings of Bolingbroke, it 
 may be observed, very little of Toryism. Nothing can 
 be more erroneous than to represent him, since his 
 breach with the Pretender, as a champion of the Tory 
 party ; in fact, he from that time repudiated Toryism 
 altogether ; and his doctrines, so far as they had any 
 practical application, formed a kind of hberal and in- 
 dependent Whiggism. 
 
 For Pulteney, the parliamentary leader of this oppo- 
 sition, was a Whig of the Whigs, as, indeed, were most 
 of the young men, of whom Bolingbroke afterwards 
 became the teacher. Nothing would have horrified 
 them more than to have been thought Jacobites, or 
 even Tories ; and from their connection with those 
 who laboured under the imputation of unfriendliness 
 to the Protestant succession, they thought it necessary 
 to assert more loudly than the ministerialists their 
 devotion to the pure orthodox Whig creed. 
 
 Pulteney was the son of a Leicestershire squire. He 
 had been educated at Westminster school, and after- 
 wards at Christ Church, Oxford ; and when Queen 
 Anne paid a visit to the ancient university with the 
 rising statesman, Mr. St. John, then Secretary-at-War, 
 in her train, Pulteney was chosen by the heads of his 
 college to deliver the congratulatory oration to her 
 Majesty. But Pulteney carried away with him no 
 Toryism from Christ Church. He soon afterwards 
 entered Parliament on the Whig interest, and re- 
 mained throughout all that eventful period decidedly 
 opposed to Bolingbroke and the Tories. His great 
 patron, and the friend of his father, was an old Whig 
 
574 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIT. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Guy, a parliamentary 
 character of those days, and who was also young St. 
 John's adviser when he first entered office. " Don't waste 
 your influence in important applications for your friends, 
 secure something really good first for yourself," was 
 the advice of this old Secretary of the Treasury to young 
 St. John, as the accumulated result of his great experi- 
 ence. Henry Gruy, however, gave to Pulteney something 
 more substantial than even this valuable advice. He 
 bequeathed to him forty thousand pounds and an estate 
 of five hundred a year : in those days a great fortune, 
 acquired, it may be presumed, during three reigns by 
 following the same prudential maxims which the veteran 
 official inculcated on younger men. At the accession of 
 George I. Pulteney became a privy councillor and Secre- 
 tary-at-war, as the immediate reward of the energy, 
 ability, and consistency which he had displayed in his 
 opposition to Queen Anne's last ministry. But the Duke 
 of Marlborough, who was made commander-in-chief, was 
 offended at the appointment of Pulteney to be Secre- 
 tary-at-War, regarding that office as one which he had 
 the right to fill up according to his own satisfaction. 
 This is a remarkable circumstance, as it proves clearly 
 that when St. John was himself made Secretary-at-War, 
 with the duke's warm approbation, it must have been, 
 as I have previously shown, at Marlborough's express 
 nomination, and that the young statesman was indeed, 
 as he was regarded, Marlborough's personal friend and 
 favourite. Pulteney and Walpole having fought side 
 by side in opposition to the Tories, remained attached 
 to the same section of the Whig party, and Pulteney 
 followed his friend Walpole out of office, and into oppo- 
 sition to the administration of Stanhope and Sunderland. 
 
 * See Bolingbroke to S\fift, Jan. 1, 171i2. 
 
1725—1735.] ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CEAPTSMAN. 575 
 
 1727. 
 
 But when Walpole returned to office, and became vir- 
 tual prime minister, no great post was offered to Pulte- 
 ney. The engrossing statesman only proposed a peerage 
 for his friend, in order that he might be removed from 
 the great arena, of which Walpole, sooner than any 
 other politician, had discovered the importance. Pul- 
 teney was not then inclined to repeat St, John's 
 error. The peerage was scornfully rejected. The im- 
 portance of the House of Commons was still daily rising ; 
 and there Pulteney remained, to become, though always 
 sitting on the Treasury bench, the ablest leader of a 
 regular parliamentary opposition it had yet known. 
 Yet Pulteney does not rank high amongst the states- 
 men of the last century. He has left no mark in Eng- 
 lish history. He seems to have contended merely for 
 personal ends. While the names of Walpole, Chatham, 
 Burke, Pitt, and Fox are on all lips, that of Pulteney 
 is seldom heard, and awakes no familiar or cordial re- 
 collections. More than mere debating talent, or po- 
 litical cleverness, is necessary to a man who would 
 be permanently remembered among English states- 
 men. 
 
 With Pulteney, however, Bolingbroke was now 
 closely allied. The celebrated periodical. The Crafts- 
 man, had just been established by Pulteney, and both 
 in parliament and through the press a regular po- 
 htical war began to be waged. In parliament Bolino-- 
 broke could do nothing ; but his graceful and eloquent 
 pen was at the service of the Opposition ; and in the 
 January of the year 1727 he formally, though anony- 
 mously, appeared as a poHtical writer in opposition 
 to Walpole and the ministry. This was in a pamphlet, 
 the publication of the first number of what Bohng- 
 broke called The Occasional Writer. It was in an 
 
576 AT DAWLET, ' [Chap. XIV. 
 
 ironical strain of satire and flattery, professing to be 
 written by a Grrub Street back, and addressed to tbe 
 powerful minister, into wbose service, Kke a hireling 
 Swiss, be offers to enter. Tbere were many taunts, but 
 not a great deal of politics in tbis first letter. Walpole 
 was upbraided with tbe prosecution of hucksters and 
 printers carried on by one of bis principal instruments, 
 tbougb it never appeared tbat be bad, like BoHngbroke, 
 fourteen printers at tbe bar of tbe House of Commons 
 at once. Even tbe Frencb alKance was sneered at ; and 
 Horace Walpole, tbe minister at tbe court of Versailles, 
 spoken of witb contempt as tbe tool of tbe Frencb govern- 
 ment. In tbe second pampblet of tbe Occasional Writer, 
 a week after tbe first, BoHngbroke entered more elabo- 
 rately into bis views on foreign affairs, pretended, as 
 tbe anonymous Grub Street pamphleteer, to be a 
 Wbig, and in favour of prosecuting tbe war wbicb 
 was terminated at tbe peace of Utrecht ; and again 
 wrote doubtfully of tbe designs of France, applauded 
 the triple alliance, and censured the partition treaties. 
 Just as he was concluding tbis second letter an answer 
 to tbe first was brought to him, wbicb, in a postscript, 
 he called a stiff and pedantic piece of composition, and 
 declared tbat tbe author could not be Walpole whom he 
 ostensibly personated. In the third pampblet of the 
 Occasional Writer, BoHngbroke changed his tactics, 
 professed himself convinced tbat tbe reply had really 
 been written under Walpole's direction, and gave an 
 
 abstract of it, in the manner of tbe day, as tbe M 
 
 E.'s Answer to tbe Occasional Writer. BoHngbroke 
 guessed correctly tbat Walpole bad actually much 
 to do with the answer the first number of tbe Occa- 
 sional Writer bad called forth. Tbe minister bad 
 doubtless expected some such thing, and immediately 
 
1725—1735.] WALPOLE'S REJOINDERS. 577 
 
 1727. 
 
 recognising Bolingbroke's style, which was sufficiently 
 unmistakable, accepted his challenge, and retorted 
 with great spirit and asperity. The ironical offer of 
 service the minister disdainfully rejected. Even in 
 the abstract Bolingbroke gave of this reply, and which 
 was not altogether fairly given, some of the retorts 
 have an edge. " You are so profligate a character, 
 that in your prosperity nobody envied you, and in 
 your disgrace nobody pities you." " I know you like 
 the Emperor, because he is like yourself in gratitude ; 
 and you hate our friend Prance, because you were well 
 received there." There were more of the minister's 
 rejoinders which Bolingbroke did not quote. " I can- 
 not be mortified at his resentment, all whose obligations 
 are paid in that coin ; but had much rather have such 
 a foe than such a friend." These hits were rather 
 telling. Bolingbroke, for a statesman, was always 
 remarkably thin-skinned ; few men ever winced more 
 sensibly under adverse criticism ; and this feeling is 
 very perceptible in the third, and the last, of the 
 Occasional Writers. - He begins and ends with taunt- 
 ing Walpole with his love of painting, which was 
 scarcely a reproach ; undertakes to continue to serve 
 him and his government vsdth decency, disinterested- 
 ness, and impartiality ; and seems to lay out the ground 
 for a more extended field of opposition. Yet no more 
 Occasional Writers appeared. Bolingbroke had in- 
 deed afterwards some intention of writing a fourth, and 
 wished Swift to co-operate vsdth him ;* but the war- 
 fare, at the outset, had become a little too direct and 
 personal, and he must have felt that there was danger 
 in continuing it in the manner it had been begun. 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Swift, May 18, 1727, and August, 1727. 
 
 2 p 
 
578 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV, 
 
 He changed his tactics, and assailed Walpole's power 
 in a more circuitous and hidden way. . • 
 
 He never forgot how Godolphin and Marlborough 
 were overthrown by Lady Masham, and how he had 
 overthrown Oxford by the same means. Could not the 
 influence he had acquired over the Duchess of Kendal 
 by the present of the eleven thousand pounds be turned 
 to a similar account ? As soon as the bill allowing him 
 to enjoy his estate had passed, he wrote to the King 
 claiming the full redemption of the royal promise ; and 
 both he and the Duchess of Kendal agreed in blaming 
 Walpole because the act of attainder was not repealed. 
 Lady Bolingbroke was assiduous in her attentions to 
 the tall, lean, old mistress. The duchess was, in her 
 way, as jealous of Walpole as Bolingbroke himself; 
 and he artfully increased her distrust of the minister on 
 whom the King called at Richmond in an afternoon, and 
 drank punch very freely and in a very friendly man- 
 ner. She made common cause with Bolingbroke, and 
 determined to co-operate with him to effect Walpole's 
 removal. She privately delivered a memorial from 
 BoUngbroke, full of invectives against the minister, 
 and asking the honour of an interview in the royal 
 closet, to show that Walpole's power would be fetal 
 to the prosperity of the country, and to the Brunswick 
 dynasty. This memorial Greorge I., however, put into 
 Walpole's hands. The minister taxed the duchess with 
 her double dealing, and earnestly advised the King to 
 admit Bolingbroke to an audience. The interview was 
 granted, but, apparently, with little effect. Lord Lech- 
 mere, then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 
 broke in unexpectedly upon the conference ; and, on 
 seeing who was there, declaimed violently to the King 
 against Walpole, as the author of much mischief him- 
 
1725—1735.] DEATH OF GEOEGE THE FIRST. 579 
 
 1727. 
 
 self, and for allowing to come into the royal presence 
 one who was still more mischievous. The indignant 
 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster rushed out of 
 the royal presence without offering for signature the 
 papers he had brought with him for that purpose. 
 Walpole waited with some anxiety to know from the 
 King what important communications BoKngbroke had 
 made. " Bagatelles ! bagatelles !" exclaimed George I., 
 with a laugh. 
 
 Nevertheless Bolingbroke believed that he was in 
 a fair way to be prime minister. George I. set 
 out for Hanover, and died on the road. There was a 
 strange midnight scene ; the King struck with apoplexy, 
 and, at his earnest command, the postilions galloping 
 their horses through the pleasant summer night, " To 
 Osnabruck ! to Osnabruck !" and the carriage, with 
 smoking horses, at length driving up to the bishop's 
 gate, and his royal brother found Hfeless within. Bo- 
 lingbroke, however, always asserted that had George I. 
 not then died, Walpole would have been dismissed, 
 and that he would himself have been made first 
 minister.* Walpole, too, though he called Boling- 
 broke an habitual and incorrigible liar for making 
 the statement, appears, in moments of depression, to 
 have anticipated the same result. But both Walpole's 
 fears and Bolingbroke's hopes were probably exagge- 
 rated. It was not in George I.'s power to make 
 Bolingbroke prime minister in opposition to the for- 
 midable Whig combination which had seated and 
 maintained the House of Hanover on the throne ; and 
 Bolingbroke certainly underrated the effect of his own 
 unpopularity, as he was some years afterwards in a 
 very painful manner given to understand by Pulteney 
 
 • Bolingbroke to Sir W. "Windham, Nov. 9, 1735. 
 
 2 p 2 
 
580 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 and his new allies, whose battles he was fighting. A 
 fate, however, seemed to attend the efforts of Boling- 
 broke. The death of George I. seemed as fatal to his 
 schemes as the death of Queen Anne had been. No 
 sooner did he raise the chalice of power to his lips 
 than an Almighty hand dashed it to the ground,* 
 
 For some months, however, after George II. suc- 
 ceeded his father, Bolingbroke still hoped that Wal- 
 pole's government would be of very short duration^ 
 It was known that the minister had not always been 
 on the best of terms with the late Prince of Wales ; 
 and Swift and Bolingbroke counted confidently on the 
 King's mistress, Mrs. Howard, as they had recently 
 built their hopes on the Duchess of Kendal. In the 
 summer and autumn of 1727 Walpole's disgrace was 
 considered certain, though his fall might be made as 
 gentle as possible.f But Swift and Bolingbroke were 
 once more deceived. Walpole had secured the sup- 
 port of Queen Caroline ; and the character of this 
 extraordinary woman now began to make itself felt in 
 the Court and the Government. She might bear, with 
 apparent equanimity, the presence of the King's mis- 
 tress, but she would endure no rival in power ; and 
 though George II. might be an unfaithful husband, the 
 Queen's influence over him in matters of business was 
 found to be supreme. She was his most trusted ad- 
 viser : and by her aid Walpole's administration con- 
 tinued unshaken. 
 
 It was only by degrees that the opposition made this 
 disagreeable discovery, Bolingbroke was still, in his 
 own language, ready to revive and animate the paper 
 
 * See Coxe's Walpole, i., 262, 265; and the Etough Papers, Sept. 13, 1737, 
 quoted by Coxe, ii., 344. 
 t See Swift to Dr. Sheridan, June 24, 1727. 
 
l'(25— 1735.] VOLTAIRE. 58l 
 
 1728. 
 
 ■war ; and Swift, who never lost sight of what he 
 believed to be his interest, continued in England, and 
 even set about writing a paper for the Craftsman, to 
 aid his friends in this crisis of their struggle against 
 their political enemy. Swift, however, was seized with 
 a combined attack of his deafness and giddiness, and 
 suddenly withdrew to Ireland again, once more taking 
 no leave of Bolingbroke, who loved to be courted, and 
 did not readily put up with the appearance of a slight. 
 Bolingbroke himself returned to Dawley, at last getting, 
 as he declared, hold of the earth, and striking strong and 
 tenacious roots. He professed that his farm was every- 
 thing to him ; that he had done with courts ; and that 
 agriculture, literature, and philosophy should be hence- 
 forth his only occupations. The more it became clear 
 as months passed on, and the year 1728 arrived and 
 also began to slip away, that Walpole was not to be 
 dismissed, Bolingbroke ploughed, read, and planted at 
 Dawley more sedulously than ever. In the pursuits of 
 his literary friends he Continued to take the warmest 
 interest. He rejoiced at the success of The Beggar's 
 Opera. Both he and Lady Bolingbroke earnestly 
 patronized and recommended The Henriade, which 
 at last made its appearance while the author was in 
 England, then residing at The White Peruke, in 
 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden ; and the progress of 
 Pope's satire on Dullness, which was afterwards en- 
 titled The Dunciad, was watched by Bolingbroke with 
 impatience and admiration.* 
 
 But in the spring of 1728 the studies and farming at 
 Dawley were for some weeks interrupted by Lady Boling- 
 
 * See Swift to Pope, Oct. 30, 1727 ; Swift to Gay, Nov. 27, 1727 ; Voltaire 
 to Swift, Deo. li, 1727 ; and another letter of Voltaire's to Swift of the same 
 period, Tjut without date ; and Bolingbroke and Pope to Swift, Feb. 1728. 
 
582, AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV: 
 
 broke' s" illness. Her health had never been good since 
 her arrival in England ; the climate did not agree with 
 her ; and her husband and herself in May repaired to 
 Bath in order to drink the waters. Lady Bolingbroke 
 was indeed seriously ill, and he was far from well. 
 They remained at Bath for more than a month with 
 many other fashionable and distinguished persons. 
 Gay was there, full of the success of The Beggar's 
 Opera ; and there, too, was Congreve, one of the great 
 representatives of the wits and poets of a past gene- 
 ration, in the last stage of weakness and decay, 
 but kindly attended by Henrietta Duchess of Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 In June Bolingbroke and his wife were again at 
 Dawley. His health was much improved, but his lady 
 had received no benefit from the Bath waters. Neglect- 
 ing the advice of her doctors, as soon as she returned 
 to Dawley she of her own accord adopted a milk 
 diet, which had a very good effect both on her spirits 
 and appetite. She felt better than she had been for 
 many months. Bolingbroke was farming in good ear- 
 nest. It was at this time, as his hopes of seeing Wal- 
 pole dismissed were declining, that he contracted with 
 an artist at the price of two hundred pounds to paint in 
 black crayons his hall, with rakes, spades, pitchforks, 
 ploughs, harrows, and, indeed, aU the implements of rural 
 •husbandry. Pope, with a twinkle in his eye, heard him 
 make the bargain. " It is solely," wrote the poet to 
 Swift, " to countenance his calling this place a farm." 
 This letter was written while Bolingbroke was reading 
 one from Swift between two haycocks, and now and 
 then casting his eyes upwards to the clouds in appre- 
 hension of a shower ; and the malicious sentence about 
 the bargain with the painter was added while the 
 
1725—1735.] EMBAEBASSMENTS. -588 
 
 1728. 
 
 statesman was running after his cart. A farmer's 
 diet ought to be simple ; and Bolingbroke then affected 
 the greatest simplicity, dining with Pope and Lady 
 Bolingbroke, for one whole day, at least, as the poet 
 again maliciously remarked, on mutton broth, beans 
 and bacon, and a barn-door fowl. Swift, who fre- 
 quently hinted that it was Bolingbroke's neglect of 
 temperance which always occasioned his illness, to 
 improve these rural banquets sent him some usque- 
 baugh from Ireland. It had, however, the fate of 
 many of Swift's presents : two bottles were broken ; 
 some of the rest stolen ; and the hamper was left by 
 mistake at Bolingbroke's neighbour, Lord Berkeley's, 
 to whom, indeed, somehow or other it had been di- 
 rected.* 
 
 Bolingbroke, however, though he spoke of only 
 farming, philosophy, and retirement, was far from 
 being contented in his mind. He began to regret the 
 heavy expenses into which he had launched at his 
 return to England, when he counted sanguinely on 
 success at cDurt. Large sums of money had been spent 
 over Dawley ; other large sums in town ; he had all 
 the time lived beyond his income ; and he felt most 
 anxious for the future. There seemed no likelihood 
 of his father's death. Lord St. John, notwithstanding 
 the life he had lived, was still at nearly eighty years of 
 age hale, cheery, and hearty ; and he bade fair even 
 to outlive his distinguished son. Bolingbroke could 
 not, then, depend on inheriting the family estate and 
 mansion at Battersea ; and a troublesome suit in 
 Chancery rendered his income still more imcertain. If 
 old Lord St. John would die, or "Walpole be turned out, 
 
 * Pope to Swift, June 28, 1728; Gay to Swift, July 6, 1728; Swift to 
 Pope, July 16, 1728 i Swift to Mr. Worrall, Sept. 28, 1728. 
 
584 AT DAWLBY. {Chap. XIV. 
 
 Bolingbroke's fortune might yet be easy. Otherwise 
 the prospect seemed to him anything but comfortable.* 
 In the winter his wife was again seriously ill, and 
 they resided in town. He did all he could to animate 
 the opposition, repeating the maxim, " Res volunt 
 diu niale administrari," and urging Pulteney and 
 his younger allies to make speeches in the House 
 x)f Commons, telling them, what he had formerly said 
 to Swift, that a few good speakers in a right cause 
 would in the end carry any point against a ministerial 
 majority. Prevented himself, though the greatest 
 orator of his time, from using his tongue in either 
 House of Parliament, he, however, employed his other 
 weapon, the pen; and at the end of 1728 and at the 
 beginning of 1729 made another vigorous attack on the 
 foreign policy of the Grovernment. 
 
 Walpole began to be strongly attacked. Whether 
 he had himself authorized the pretensions of Spain 
 to the restoration of Gibraltar ; how far these preten- 
 sions had been abandoned ; Lord Stanhope's promise ; 
 George I.'s promise, and letter; England's refusal of 
 the sole mediatorship at Cambray; and the manner 
 in which, as Bolingbroke and the Opposition asserted, 
 Philip of Spain had been thrown into the hands of 
 the Emperor by the undisguised leaning of England 
 to France — were the fertile topics which for several 
 years employed the tongues and pens of all the ene- 
 mies of the minister. Bolingbroke still laboured to 
 ■combine, not always with success, the Tories under Sir 
 William Windham, the Jacobites under Shippen, and 
 the discontented Whigs under Pulteney, in a cemmon 
 assault on the Government. He exercised all his 
 ingenuity, he employed all his talents, for party 
 • The Egremont Papers : Bolingbroke to Sir W. Windlianj, Marcli 18, 1Z36. 
 
1725—1735.] DB. HOADLT. 585 
 
 1729. 
 
 organization ; lie frequently employed Ms eloquent and 
 graceful pen. Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, of the Ban- 
 gorian controversy, published a defence of the minis- 
 ter's foreign policy, entitled, An Enquiry into the 
 Reasons of the Conduct of Great Britain; and Wal- 
 pole was suspected, in his rough-and-ready style, of 
 writing in his own defence some of the many letters 
 which appeared in The London Journal with the sig- 
 nature of Publicola. The Craftsman replied ; the 
 ministerial writers rejoined ; and Bolinghroke him- 
 self, under the homely name of John Trot, appeared 
 as the opponent both of The London Journal and 
 of Hoadly, whom he insinuated might be doing 
 better things than appearing as a poHtical pam- 
 phleteer. " I do not," he wrote, " presume to say, 
 for instance, that such a piece was writ by Ben, 
 or such a one by Rohin ; but I can plainly dis- 
 tinguish in their productions a difference of style and 
 character. In some I feel myself lulled by a regular, 
 mild, and frequently languid harangue : such as often 
 descends upon us from the pulpit. In others I observe 
 a crude, incoherent, rough, inaccurate, but sometimes 
 sprightly declamation : well enough fitted for popular 
 assemblies, where the majority is already convinced." 
 However, both Publicola and Dr. Hoadly did good 
 service: they returned the ball and kept up the 
 game. Bolinghroke struck it back to them on the 4th 
 of January, and displayed his thorough knowledge of 
 foreign affairs, and his experience of negotiations, in a 
 manner that was not to be mistaken. In this respect, 
 indeed, as well as by his brilliant style, his productions 
 were all distinguished from that of the other corre- 
 spondents of Mr. Caleb Danvers in the pages of The 
 Craftsman. He writes as a man thoroughly ac- 
 
586 -AT DAWLEY. '[Chat. XlVi 
 
 quainted with the subject ; and his hits are always 
 effective. 
 
 On the question, indeed, between "Walpole and the 
 Opposition, and in all the interminable negotiations 
 and controversies respecting Spanish affairs, which 
 gave the dij)lomatists of Europe so much employ- 
 ment for so many years, every person will now gladly 
 hear as little as possible. Walpole managed, even 
 under the most inauspicious circumstanceSj to preserve 
 peace. Spain was at last, by the treaty of Seville, 
 played off against the Emperor; the English Oppo- 
 sition continued to assail the ministers ; and their ranks 
 were gradually drawing closer together : but Walpole 
 still kept his place, and his conduct throughout these 
 foreign embroilments can scarcely be pronounced either 
 unsuccessful or injudicious. 
 
 The bishop published a defence of his Enquiry, 
 which Bolingbroke as John Trot had somewhat rudely 
 assailed. John Trot, after some delay, wrote a reply 
 to this defence, and the prelate had httle reason to be 
 satisfied with the figure he cut in these political con- 
 troversies. Bohngbroke concluded the last of John 
 Trot's contributions by exhorting the bishop, in a 
 paraphrase of the apostohcal constitutions, not to be so 
 ready to make his court, not to bear false witness 
 against his neighbour, nor to become the advocate of 
 private causes ; neither to be ambitious, double-minded, 
 double-tongued, deceitful, fallacious, nor sophistical in 
 discourse, as all these things were hateful to Grod and 
 pleasing to the devil. Yet this sturdy polemic seems 
 to have been a very respectable bishop, as bishops were 
 in the time of the first Georges, when worldliness and 
 latitudinarianism, to a very remarkable degree, seem to 
 have been thought the highest of episcopal qualificar 
 
1725^1735-.] AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 587 
 
 1729. 
 
 tions; and the most worldly-minded of the latitudi- 
 
 narian bishops under the Hanoverian dynasty were 
 
 certainly not more worldly-minded than Atterbury, 
 
 whom Oxford and Bolingbroke had raised to the 
 
 episcopal bench, or than Swift, on whom they would 
 
 gladly have conferred the mitre. The political bishop, 
 
 as bishops then wrote politics, has happily become 
 
 an extinct species. 
 
 With all these controversies Bolingbroke still felt 
 that he was making but very little way. He went 
 to Dawley to look after his spring corn, to have some 
 yew hedges removed, to level a mount which he 
 regarded as an eyesore, and to see that his gardeners 
 did their duty. During the last year it had been re- 
 ported by the newspapers that he was about to write 
 the history of his own times. Swift, who read the 
 report, wrote from Ireland strongly urging him to 
 undertake the task, or at least the history of Queen 
 Anne's last Government. Bolingbroke professed to 
 adopt the hint, and spoke of his intention to collect 
 and arrange materials.* 
 
 His wife was again very ill, and he had determined 
 to accompany her to the Continent in the hope that the 
 change of air might do her good. They set out in 
 August, and went at first again to Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 where they drank the waters and remained for about a 
 month. All the morning the waters, he said, kept him 
 fuddled or employed. In the afternoon he and Lady 
 Bolingbroke took the air or made visits ; and they 
 retired to rest very early. One 'day he saw a proces- 
 sion which greatly amused his sceptical turn of mind. 
 An image of Charlemagne was carried on the shoulders 
 of a man who was entirely hidden by the long flowing 
 
 * See Swift to Bolingtroke, March 21, 1729. 
 
588 ' AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 robes oi" the Imperial effigy. On reaching the vesti^, the 
 fellow slipped from under his burden, and the gigantic 
 figure dwindled to the ordinary size and was put away 
 as hmiber. So it was, Bolingbroke thought, with the 
 great historical personages of the past. In history and 
 fable they ^eem of gigantic proportions ; but when 
 looked at closely in their private Hves, and through the 
 medium of their private letters, they are found to be of 
 the same size as ordinary men.* Lady Bolingbroke's 
 health again improved. From Aix-la-Chapelle, Bohng- 
 broke conducted her by way of Brussels on the road 
 to France. She met, however, with an accident at 
 Rheims, and did not for some weeks reach her usual 
 destination, the Convent of Sens, where she joined her 
 daughter. Bolingbroke returned to England by Ostend. 
 But he was detained by the winds so long that he lost 
 all patience, and at last set off for Calais. At the be- 
 ginning of October he was again settled at Dawley, 
 conversing with Pope, and concluding a letter to Swift, 
 v^hich he began at Aix-la-Chapelle and continued at 
 Brussels, Ostend, and Calais, full of sublime moralizing 
 on the vanity of human things, the wisdom of economy, 
 and the nothingness of fame.f 
 
 Lady Bolingbroke remained in France almost to the 
 end of the following year, 1730. Her most frequent 
 complaint was a slow fever, which seemed gradually 
 undermining her constitution. Death was constantly 
 in her thoughts ■, but she looked for the event without 
 terror, only regretting it for the sake of her husband and 
 the friends whom she would have to leave. Bolingbroke 
 still loved her as devotedly as when he first became 
 
 * See Pope and Bolingbroke to Swift, April 12, 1730. 
 
 t Bolingbroke to Swift, from Aix-la-Chapelle, Aug. 30. N.S. ; from Brussels 
 Sept. 27, N.S. ; Ostend Oct. 5., N.S. ; Calais Oct. 9, N.S. ; and Dawley, 
 Oct. 5, O.S. 
 
1725-1735.]' ' A SPY. ' 589 
 
 1730. 
 
 acquainted witk lier thirteen years before ; and during 
 tlie winter of 1729, and nearly all 1730, was afraid lest 
 lie should be summoned to ber deatb-bed in France. 
 If anything happened to her, he declared his intention 
 of retiring altogether from the world, of abandoning 
 even the management of his estate and private affairs, 
 and of spending the remainder of his life in philo- 
 sophical seclusion. Fortunately a foreign medical 
 adviser prescribed her a remedy which removed the 
 most serious of her complaints ; and though she con- 
 tinued but an invalid in a very precarious state, she 
 still lingered on. Bolingbroke's love for his second 
 wife was after his own fashion, though it is one of the 
 most pleasing features of his later years. To her, as to 
 the young men who sought his society he was accus- 
 tomed to boast of his former gallantries. " Ah !" she 
 said to him one day, with a smile, when he was on this 
 topic, " as I look at you methinks I see the ruins of a fine 
 old Roman aqueduct ; but the water has ceased to flow." 
 Lady Bolingbroke, on her return to England in the 
 winter of 1730, spent some days in Paris. One of her 
 friends, M. d'Albin, sounded her about the Pretender. 
 For some time she parried his questions : at last, how- 
 ever, she spoke more openly, and declared herself James's 
 friend, regretting, however, his treatment of her hus- 
 band, who, she said, from his great abihties, could have 
 done more for him than all the rest of his adherents 
 together. She also spoke disparagingly of Atterbury's 
 political talents, adding that, though he might be a 
 great man, others acted with more prudence and took 
 a more effectual way to further their ends. The particu- 
 lars of this private conference with Lady Bolingbroke 
 were communicated by M. d'Albin to a spy of the English 
 Government, and were by him sent to Walpole. They 
 
590 AT DAWLBY. |Chap. XIV. 
 
 must not be taken literally. But even according to 
 them, Lady Bolingbroke resisted for some time every 
 attempt to draw her out, then spoke very doubtfully, 
 and only gave a kind of verbal adhesion to the cause of 
 the Stuarts. Assuredly Bolingbroke had in no respect 
 softened in his just indignation against the Pretender, 
 nor had he any share in Atterbury's schemes, which 
 were only terminated by that restless prelate's death.* 
 
 In the writings which Bolingbroke was at that time 
 contributing to the Craftsman, there was certainly 
 nothing of Jacobitism. He, indeed, in the most marked 
 manner, and the strongest phrases, repudiated the cause 
 of the Stuarts. 
 
 The Opposition, with Pulteney at its head, had acted 
 most vigorously against the Grovernment in the session 
 of 1730. Bolingbroke had also sent his own private 
 secretary, Brinsden, to Dunkirk to examine the state of 
 the fortifications, which Walpole was accused of allowing 
 to be rebuilt. After the termination of the parliamentary 
 campaign, Bolingbroke still carried on the warfare with 
 equal ardour through the press. He began a series of 
 letters, which were subsequently collected and pub- 
 lished together as Remarks on the History of England, 
 by Humphrey Oldcastle. They professed, in the first 
 ■papers, to be the literal transcript of discussions carried 
 on in a pohtical club, of which the oracle was " an 
 ancient venerable gentleman," whose discourses always 
 convinced his hearers, and were received with respect- 
 'ful deference. The old sage might indeed typify Bo- 
 lingbroke, in the position he was then assuming as the 
 ■teacher and counsellor of the younger members of the 
 
 * This letter from tte spy to Walpole is dated Paris, Dec. 2, 1730, and wiU 
 be found extracted from the Townshend Papers, in a note to the ninth volume 
 6{ Bowles' edition of Pope, p. 175. 
 
1725-1735.] EEMAEKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY. ' 591 
 
 1730. 
 
 Opposition. But the machinery of the clubVas neither 
 an original nor a happy invention. There was nothing 
 dramatic in Bohnghroke's genius, and the first two 
 letters, which are professedly couched in that form, 
 are certainly the least interesting. The discourses of 
 " the ancient venerable gentleman " were justly pro- 
 nounced by the ministerial writers in the Daily Cou- 
 rant and The London Journal to be very prolix ; and 
 Bolingbroke, always sensitive on the score of criticism, 
 went out of his way to reply to their taunts, and asked 
 them if an essay of two or three columns might not 
 be longer than one of five or six ? In the fourth contri- 
 bution he abandoned the dramatic form and wrote with 
 more brevity and directness other twenty letters on 
 English history. 
 
 Many of them are flowing and animated as compo- 
 sitions. They were received with all the delight of 
 novelty by the readers of that day. Chesterfield after- 
 wards pronounced them to be a model of style : " Tran- 
 scribe, imitate, emulate," he wrote to his son. They 
 were, however, somewhat desultory, and were evi- 
 dently written as rapidly as they could be penned. 
 They cannot be said to make a good collected whole. 
 It must be confessed, too, that under the flowing 
 and brilliant surface of the stream there is but little 
 depth. Some of the maxims which are laid down 
 as undeniable truths are of questionable soundness, 
 and there is frequently a want of pertinence in the 
 application of the remarks. They do not rank high 
 as contributions to political philosophy. The mind 
 refuses to see throughout the whole history of England 
 a distorted image of Walpole in every corrupt minister, 
 or the figure of little pompous George ll. in every 
 imbecile sovereign. Even a historical parallel is also 
 
592 AT DAWLEY. [Chap, XIV. 
 
 found, with questionable prudence, to Queen Caroline, 
 in Edward IV.'s queen, patient, submissive, and tole- 
 rating the King's infidelities in order to maintain her 
 influence over him and govern in public affairs. The 
 old gentleman, in the first letter, lays it down as a 
 fundamental axiom of political science that liberty is 
 more easily attacked, and with more difficulty defended, 
 in a limited monarchy than in a perfect democracy or 
 a mixed republic : a conclusion which has surely been 
 contradicted by all experience, and never more so than 
 during the four or five generations which have gone 
 since the days of Bolingbroke, or than during the 
 times in which we live. Some of the remarks are 
 highly amusing for the ingenuity by which the pro- 
 ceedings of former ages are perverted into attacks on 
 the Walpole ministry. Bolingbroke wanted party and 
 ecclesiastical distinctions to be sunk, in order that all 
 sects and denominations might unite in opposing the 
 Grovernment. We are therefore told that even in the 
 reign of King John high and low church united in a 
 common cause ; and that though the King blustered and 
 drew out his army, it was still a British army. Thus 
 Magna Charta was won. The wisdom of Edward III., as 
 an example, and the folly of Richard, as a warning, are 
 equally instructive to readers in the time of George II. 
 Edward III. began a war with Grerman allies ; but 
 he soon adopted better expedients. The unexperienced 
 and ill-designing persons stigmatised in one of the thirty- 
 four articles in the instrument of Richard II.'s resigna- 
 tion, are by implication made to reflect very unmistak- 
 ably on the two brothers, Horace and Robert Walpole ; 
 and in each of Richard II.'s favourites we are taught 
 to behold a Walpole. The two letters, indeed, on 
 Edward III. and Richard II. were thought so directly 
 
1725—1735.] WALPOLE'S MODERATION. 593' 
 
 1730. 
 
 personal and offensive that a prosecution was begun 
 against Franklin, tlie printer of the Craftsman. He 
 was, however, in no danger. The Grovernrnent really 
 acted with moderation. The best answer to the 
 charges of tyranny and oppression, which Bolingbroke 
 and the Opposition brought against Walpole, is the 
 fact that such writings as Bolingbroke was then giving 
 to the world were allowed to be published with im- 
 punity. The Opposition was permitted steadily to in- 
 crease in strength, and the Craftsman to fan the rising 
 flame almost without molestation from the Grovernment. 
 Such would assuredly not have been the case in the 
 last years of Queen Anne's reign. From that time the 
 nation had made a great leap. Bolingbroke was, in- 
 deed, as he declared, doing the country service by 
 keeping alive the spirit of liberty. By the Craftsman 
 the freedom of the press was being powerfully asserted, 
 and the age of journalism was coming in. 
 
 Appealing to the people against the Grovernment, 
 and seeking to render popular the ingenious historical 
 parallels in which these letters abound, the views which 
 Bolingbroke generally took of English history were 
 essentially popular. Though in the controversies which 
 he provoked, his enemies sought eagerly to fasten the 
 charge of Jacobitism upon him, not only is Jacobitism 
 repudiated, but even moderate Toryism, and the spirit 
 throughout is thoroughly Whiggish, and even democratic. 
 The Stuarts at his hands find neither sympathy nor 
 mercy. He had in three former papers of the Crafts- 
 man made an elaborate contrast between the wisdom 
 of Queen Elizabeth's Grovernment and the folly of 
 James I.'s.* He still further, in several of these letters. 
 illustrated the subject in every respect to the disad- 
 
 * The Craftsman, Xos. 137, 138, 139. 
 
 2q 
 
594 AT DAWLEY, [Chap. XIV. 
 
 vantage of James and his successor Charles I. No 
 language could anywhere be found more contemptuous 
 of the pedantic British Solomon. Divine, hereditary, 
 indefeasible right is ridiculed as the most wretched of 
 absurdities. Laud is declared to have been not fit to 
 govern a small college, much less to become the ruler 
 of a great kingdom. Charles I. is represented as one 
 of the weakest of sovereigns ; the assertion against him 
 of what is somewhat vaguely called the spirit of liberty 
 is loudly applauded ; and in his favourite Buckingham 
 we are again told to recognize Walpole. 
 
 At this period, however, Bolingbroke pauses. He 
 doubtless felt that he could scarcely carry his his- 
 torical parallels further down without giving offence to 
 some portion of the heterogeneous Opposition. His 
 last letter, the twenty-fourth, is devoted to a reply to 
 the ministerial writers who had assailed him fiercely 
 throughout the series ; and he enters into a defence 
 of Pulteney and himself from the charges which had 
 been so loudly brought against them as the two great 
 patrons of the Craftsman. This letter appeared on 
 the 22nd of May, 1731. It set all Walpole's hack 
 writers in a ferment, and disturbed even his own con- 
 scious superiority and jovial equanimity. Pulteney 
 was separately assailed. An elaborate answer to that 
 portion of the twenty-fourth letter relating to Boling- 
 broke's conduct was published, entitled. Remarks on 
 the Craftsman's Vindication, and it bore unmistakable 
 evidence of the minister's inspiration, if not of his own 
 pen. Bolingbroke at last replied in a pamphlet with A 
 Final Answer to the Remarks on the Craftsman's Vin- 
 dication ; and the controversy became again, as in 
 1728, a fierce and somewhat dangerous warfare of per- 
 sonality. 
 
1725—1735.] BOLmOBEOKE'S TWO LIVKS. 595 
 
 1731. 
 
 Enough has been said on these disputed points of 
 Bolingbroke's pubHc life as they have arisen in the 
 course of this narrative. It would be diflficult, indeed, 
 to defend him altogether from the charge of ingrati- 
 tude to the Duke of Marlborough, whose confidence he 
 had possessed, and who had been his ^^warm friend 
 and patron.* To Godolphin he does not appear to 
 have owed any particular obligations. His positive 
 and repeated declaration, that he did not enter into any 
 engagement with the Pretender until after the Act of 
 Attainder had been introduced, I have shown to be 
 contradicted by the clearest evidence. But that he 
 ever was at heart a Jacobite, that he ever betrayed the 
 Pretender's interests to Lord Stair, or that he had not 
 a promise of a complete pardon from George I., are 
 accusations which, though then loudly asserted by the 
 ministerial writers, and countenanced by Walpole him- 
 self, must by all impartial persons be regarded as most 
 invidious, unjust, and false. 
 
 To have to defend himself from such charges was no 
 pleasing task for Bolingbroke in the summer of 1 73 1 . He 
 was at that time characteristically leading two lives : one, 
 that of an eloquent and vehement political writer, the 
 other, that of a retired philosopher investigating through 
 the lore of all ages the deepest questions which can em- 
 ploy the human intellect. Pope, after his brilliant satire 
 on the dunces, was now, by Bolingbroke's advice, en- 
 gaged on his Essay on Man ; and, to illustrate the system 
 of philosophy on which they had discoursed together 
 in Pope's garden and grotto, accompanied occasionally 
 during two former summers by Swift and Arbuthnot, 
 Bolingbroke was busily composing, in a series of essays 
 or letters addressed to Pope, a philosophical system into 
 
 * See Marchmont Papers (note), ii., 214. 
 
 2q2 
 
596 AT DAWLBT. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 which his former chronological investigations had 
 finally merged. The matter flowed in upon his pen. 
 His essays soon became volumes. Lord Bathurst after- 
 wards declared that he had seen the very plan of 
 the Essay on Man in Bolingbroke's handwriting before 
 it was put into verse by Pope ; and though Dr. John- 
 son was somewhat sceptical of the truth of this asser- 
 tion, it was, at all events, made on good authority. 
 But, in reality, all Bolingbroke's philosophical com- 
 positions were avowedly written for Pope's instruction, 
 and to afford him materials for the series of ethical 
 poems which he contemplated, and which he only partly 
 completed. So early as the autumn of 1729 the first 
 portion of the Essay on Man was in progress. It 
 was called by Pope a system of ethics in the Horatian 
 way, and received Bolingbroke's warmest approbation.* 
 The two friends worked at their poetry and philo- 
 sophy for several years, and Bolingbroke was indus- 
 triously rearing a vast philosophical system which he 
 evidently intended to be regarded as the most enduring 
 monument of his genius, and of the immeasurable 
 superiority of his intellect over that of all divines and 
 all other philosophers. 
 
 About these philosophical works, which make up 
 about one half of the collected series of Bolingbroke's 
 writings, much, indeed, might be said. Biographically, 
 however, it would be of but little importance, nor 
 would it much interest nor edify any reader of the 
 present day. Notwithstanding the pretensions with 
 which they were composed, these philosophical works 
 never made the slightest impression upon the public, 
 and, in fact, only served to increase the obloquy with 
 which his name had so long been covered. When can- 
 
 * See Pope to Swift, Nov. 28, 1729. 
 
1725—1735.] HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. 597 
 
 1732. 
 
 didly examined, with many admirable illustrations, 
 there is very little of novelty in these writings ; and, 
 indeed, to the name of philosophy, in any high sense 
 of the word, they scarcely have a claim. A very few 
 observations upon them, and those rather of a biogra- 
 phical than a critical nature, may here suffice. 
 
 "We saw Bolingbroke at La Source deeply engaged, 
 with little satisfaction to himself, in the most abstruse 
 chronological investigations. Any system, he declared 
 in the Letters to M. de Pouilly, might be supported 
 by chronology. He could, by the same authorities, 
 prove that there had been four Assyrian monarchies, 
 that there had been three, that there had been two, that 
 there had been one, or that there had never been an 
 Assyrian monarchy at all. In criticizing a theological 
 work of Swift's friend, Dr. Delany, Bolingbroke, in the 
 August of 1731, repeated these sentiments, and avowed 
 all his former contempt for Sir John Marsham and every 
 chronological system.* He at last, however, proceeded 
 much further. With the aid of Locke he constructed 
 an anti-metaphysical system, primarily intended to show 
 that we know nothing except through the medium of 
 the senses ; and that from the very construction of 
 the human mind, we can know nothing more. In his 
 introductory letter to Pope, Bolingbroke declares what 
 he means by the first philosophy : according to him 
 it is simply natural theology or theism, a religion of 
 natural ethics. Hence, natural theology is only to him 
 a part of natural philosophy; and can be established 
 only by the same method of Baconian induction. We 
 can see Grod by the hght of nature, as it pleases Him to 
 exhibit himself in His works ; and Bolingbroke attempts 
 elaborately to show, in his Essay on Human Knowledge, 
 
 * See the Lettev to Swift, Aug. 2, 1721. 
 
598 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV.- 
 
 which was really composed the last of the series, that 
 this is all we can ever know. This knowledge is all 
 derived from sensation, and is merely relative to our- 
 selves and the position in which we find ourselves in the 
 universe. We see as through a glass darkly. We know 
 nothing beyond the ken of our own imperfect vision. 
 The light of nature teaches us, however, to know God. 
 We can see Him in simplicity, in majesty, in uni- 
 formity : this is natural religion, far superior to any 
 taught by philosophers or divines. On the all-sufficiency 
 of the light of nature, Bolingbroke, throughout this 
 series of essays, eloquently expatiates ; and in the second, 
 which he entitles. On the Folly and Presumption of 
 Philosophers, while assailing most of the notions enter- 
 tained by the great sages of antiquity, he endeavours to 
 prove that all that is really excellent in Christianity 
 had been known to the rest of the world long before 
 the birth of Christ. He denies that the Jews enter- 
 tained more elevated ideas of the Deity than other 
 nations ; and affirms, on the contrary, that none ever 
 held more gross and degrading. Next to his utter 
 detestation of the Jews, and of their lawgiver, Moses, 
 is his contempt for Plato, whom he calls a madman, a 
 rogue, a sceptic under the mask of a dogmatist, and the 
 visionary author of all the theological corruptions 
 which, under the name of Christianity, have been 
 grafted on natural religion. Artificial theology, the 
 spurious offspring of artificial philosophy, had become 
 the abomination of mankind. There had been no wars 
 like religious wars; there had never, indeed, been a 
 religious persecution until Christianity had become esta- 
 bhshed in the world. Christianity had not reformed 
 the morals of mankind ; it had not made men better. 
 The elementary principles, indeed, were those of the 
 
1725—1735.] NATURAL RELIGION. 599 
 
 1732. 
 
 religion of nature ; and, so far as these had heen con- 
 formed to, it had produced good, but in every other 
 respect evil. 
 
 Monotheism, as the first and great principle of natural 
 religion, and, borrowed from it, of Christianity, is the 
 subject of BoKngbroke's third essay. He again assails 
 the Jews, and Locke for maintaining that they had sub- 
 limer ideas of Grod than the rest of the world. He as- 
 serts that the true notion of the uniformity of Grod was 
 held by the Egyptians, and was derived from them by 
 Moses ; that it was held even by the Chinese ; and that 
 the Grod of Nature was indeed always visible, even in 
 the most minute parts of his works. Here Boling- 
 broke, while ridiculing the ideas entertained by nearly 
 all the wisest of the ancients about the Supreme Being, 
 still affirms that even savages, by the mere use of their 
 reason, could attain a thorough knowledge of Grod in 
 His unity. In the fourth essay, headed Concerning 
 Authority in Matters of Religion, he again, as in the 
 volume of Fragments and Minutes of Essays, which 
 followed, it, repeats much of what he had said before. 
 Plato is again assailed in every variety of diction, and 
 next to Plato, St. Paul is fiercely stigmatized as the 
 corrupter of natural religion : the great chief of the 
 academy, and the apostle of the Grentiles, share be- 
 tween them the post of honour in being attacked by 
 Bolingbroke as the champion of Providence ; and they 
 both come in for some very eloquent, but also some 
 very unphilosophical vituperation. 
 
 It is not necessary to proceed with this brief analysis 
 further. It is sufficient to observe that Bolingbroke, 
 in these essays, while ingeniously endeavouring in 
 everyway to sap all faith in revealed religion, nowhere 
 openly avows himself a disbeliever in its authenticity. 
 
600" ■ ■ AT DAWLEY. ' ■ [Chap. XIV; 
 
 His scepticism is not veiled, and yet it is denied. He 
 practises an artifice whicli is somewhat ingenious, 
 and whicti was carried to much, greater perfection by. 
 other sceptics. The abuses of rehgion only he pro- 
 fessedly assails, though the logical conclusion from all 
 his reasoning is that it is impossible Christianity should 
 be true. He endeavours throughout to assume that 
 it was grafted on natural religion, and he is always 
 drawing a parallel between them to the disadvantage 
 of the Gospel.* He everywhere, too, speaks of him- 
 self as a friend of religion, while, in fact, he is doing 
 everything to destroy its sacredness. The whole gist 
 of what he called his philosophy may be given in his 
 own words : " God has proportioned in every respect 
 our means of knowledge to our station here, and to 
 our real wants in it. The bodies that surround us 
 operate continually on us ; and these operations con- 
 cern not only our well or iU being but our very 
 being. We are fitted, therefore, to acquire, by the 
 help of our senses properly employed, by experiment 
 and industry, such a degree of human knowledge about 
 them as is suflicient for the necessary uses of human 
 life and no more." Hence, according to Bolingbroke, 
 creatures of circumstances, of the circumstances that 
 surround us, we are, and cannot help being. The 
 actual was with him everything. He delighted to say 
 to all mankind, and especially to philosophers and 
 divines, Thus far can you go, and no fiirther. 
 
 Such was the philosophy which has been so loudly 
 reprobated. Bolingbroke wished himself to be regarded 
 as the great high priest of natural rehgion ; but his 
 fundamental error was to set about writing on religion 
 at all. He ought to have remembered the rebuke he 
 
 * See Essay 4, section 7. 
 
1725— 1735.] BOLINGBROKE'S PHILOSOPHY OHAEACTEEIZED. 601' 
 1732. 
 
 received from the Pretender when he remonstrated 
 with him on the alterations in the proclamation of 
 September 1715 : " You are not considered the fittest 
 person to speak about religion." This reproaich was 
 then misapplied, because Bolingbroke was at least a 
 statesman, and had a right to judge of the effect which 
 certain words in the proclamation would produce on 
 the minds of his Tory friends, who were anxious for 
 the security of the Church of England. But he was 
 in no respect a divine, and to write on religion was 
 certainly not his province. His life had been sen- 
 sual, worldly, and ambitious. He had no sympathy 
 with the most vital of truths, and could not estimate 
 their effect upon others, because they awoke no response 
 within his own bosom. These philosophical writings 
 are bad, not so much because they are sceptical, nor 
 because their tendency is pernicious, but because the 
 spirit in which they are written is essentially self- 
 sufficient, immoral, commonplace, and false. Neither 
 in the breast of the Christian nor of the sceptic who 
 is really a worshipper of truth do they kindle any 
 sympathy. Their very philosophy is unphilosophical. 
 Throughout the two quarto volumes and a half of these 
 anti-metaphysical speculations we see only one bold 
 ambitious spirit, Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke, 
 who, shut out by circumstances from ruling in the world 
 of poUtics, wishes to rule in unquestioned supremacy over 
 the intellectual world, and who cannot bear to admit of 
 a superior either in active or speculative hfe. 
 
 His attacks on Christianity are distinguished from 
 those of the most philosophical of sceptics by their 
 thorough bitterness. Thinkers like Hume found Chris- 
 tianity opposed to their systems, and they therefore 
 rejected Christianity; but Bolingbroke appears to 
 
602 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV/ 
 
 have constructed his system mainly as an engine of 
 assault against Christianity. It must be confessed that 
 some of his most laboured passages, except in style, 
 scarcely rise above the level of the Tolands and the 
 Tindals of his day. They are not original ; they are 
 not profound : we frequently see the will more than 
 the power to injure. They certainly do not rank in 
 an equal class with the philosophical works of Cud- 
 worth, Clarke, Berkeley, and Butler, whom Bolingbroke 
 continually assails. Hobbes was a sceptic of a higher 
 form ; so also was Hume. Bolingbroke's writings on 
 these subjects are just what they might have been 
 expected to be from his want of philosophical training, 
 his imperious disposition, his love of speculation and 
 controversy, and the restlessness of his intellect, pining 
 for action in a more congenial sphere. Perhaps, in- 
 deed, they rather sink below than rise above the level 
 which he might be thought qualified to attain. As we 
 can trace in Swift's misanthrophical writings, such as 
 his sketches of the Yahoos, and his panegyric on the 
 Honyhnhnms, the effect of his political disappointments, 
 confined like a wild beast in a cage to a country he 
 hated, and hopelessly shut out from being that com- 
 panion and adviser of ministers and princes he con- 
 sidered he had the right to be, so a similar spirit may 
 be traced throughout the philosophical works of Boling- 
 broke. Disappointment followed disappointment; ex- 
 pectation after expectation was frustrated. His years of 
 matured manhood were slipping away and old age was 
 approaching, while he still found himself left behind in 
 the political race ; not only deprived of ministerial 
 power, but even of his seat in the legislature, over whose 
 deliberations he had in youth exercised a paramount 
 influence. Hence he appeared to have constructed a 
 
1725—1735.] PHILOSOPHICAL TOEYISM. 603 
 
 1733. 
 
 system of pMlosophy in a spirit of intellectual cyni- 
 cism, and wished to degrade the nature tie shared, in 
 common with the rest of mankind, to the level of the 
 beasts. 
 
 Assuredly in these writings he exhibits a melancholy 
 picture. That they should be the composition of a 
 statesman, of one who confesses that the vulgar ought 
 to be governed by vulgar opinions, and that it is a base 
 and wicked thing to try to destroy the effect of religion 
 on their minds, is perhaps their saddest feature. Bohng- 
 broke tries to get rid of this reproach by declaring that 
 he only wrote for a few friends, and particularly Pope, 
 who is always introduced as a kind of chorus, and the 
 Roman Catholic creed made throughout a subject of run- 
 ning commentary. But they were evidently intended 
 from the first for publication ; and the manner in which 
 they were left, with notes after notes added to the latest 
 period of Bolingbroke's life, puts the question beyond 
 all doubt. The manuscripts, carefully copied out, may 
 still be examined in the British Museum. No more 
 perfect copy could be found of any posthumous work. 
 
 It is amusing to trace occasionally Bolingbroke's old 
 Tory politics, even in writings of which the effect logi- 
 cally was to subvert Christianity, and, indeed, all eccle- 
 siastical institutions. Once or twice it seems to have 
 occurred to him that such compositions were not exactly 
 what might be expected from the Tory and high church- 
 man he formerly professed to be. While sapping every 
 foundation of the Christian faith, he therefore still 
 takes care to affirm his attachment to the Church of 
 England. At the close of the fourth essay, in which 
 St. Paul and the Christian fathers are treated with 
 such scant respect, not to say scurrilous profanity, and 
 the effect of Christianity as an instrument in the 
 
604 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 reformation of manners plainly declared to have been 
 pernicious, Bolingbroke still argues that there ought to 
 be an established church in a nation, and that this 
 church ought 'to be maintained in unquestioned supre- 
 macy over all dissenting sects and forms of worship. 
 This portentous conclusion, in which, though censuring 
 Christianity for the persecutions to which it gave rise^ 
 he still manages to maintain in himself some of the spirit 
 of a persecutor, it is best to give in his own unqualified 
 words : " To make government effectual," he says, 
 " there must be a religion : this religion must be na- 
 tional ; and this national religion must be maintained 
 in reputation and reverence : all other religions or sects 
 must be kept too low to become the rivals of it. These 
 are, in my apprehension, the first principles of good 
 policy." * 
 
 This ludicrous inconsistency, of which he shows a 
 somewhat angry consciousness, is attended by others 
 quite as absurd. There is throughout these specula- 
 tions a want of logical precision. The epistolary form 
 in which they are couched, and the rhetorical style 
 which he preserves, are fatal to that philosophical clear- 
 ness which is always desirable in such discourses. 
 Many of his pictures of the ancient philosophers and 
 their philosophy are lively and ingenious, but much too 
 sketchy. They leave no definite impression. He takes 
 up, abandons, and resumes a subject at his pleasure, 
 seldom fully develops his ideas, but generally ram- 
 bles at will through those philosophical mazes in 
 which he delights to tread in a proud, contemptuous, 
 superior, and self-conscious spirit. Notwithstanding 
 the attractions of Bolingbroke's style, these philo- 
 sophical speculations are somewhat dreary reading. 
 
 * Essay 4, section 41. 
 
1725—1735.] THE ESSAY ON MAN. 605 
 
 1733. 
 
 The mind is dazzled, perplexed, wearied, saddened, and 
 unconvinced ; and few of the most industrious students 
 who hegin resolutely the perusal of Essay the First, On 
 Human Knowledge, ever get to the end of the Frag- 
 ments and Minutes of Essays in the last volume. 
 
 One of the strangest questions connected with the 
 subject of Bolingbroke's philosophy relates to the real 
 sentiments of Pope with respect to the scepticism of his 
 friend. There is no doubt whatever but that Pope 
 received from Bolingbroke the leading principles of his 
 Essay on Man. Pope, indeed, acknowledges his obliga- 
 tions in the fullest sense at the beginning of the first 
 and at the close of the fourth book ; and, notwithstand- 
 ing Wafburton's defence, the Essay on Man and the 
 principles of Bolingbroke must be considered one and 
 the same, though they are less openly expressed in the 
 poem, and disguised with poetical ornament. It is 
 impossible to find in a single couplet any acknowledg- 
 ment of revealed religion ; but, on the contrary, all 
 that admiration of nature, of looking upward through 
 Nature's works to Nature's God, which was Boling- 
 broke's main tenet. The leading sentiments of the 
 Essay on Man may not altogether deserve Dr. John- 
 son's contemptuous sarcasm ; yet their tendency, so far 
 as they have a tendency, is undoubtedly to that blind 
 fatalism and naturalism which Bolingbroke called pure 
 theism. His condemnation of metaphysics really meant 
 everything that is called theology. 
 
 Was Pope, then, it has been asked, really not aware 
 of the tendency of the writings which were addressed 
 to himself, and the doctrines he asserted in his own 
 poem ? We may or we may not believe that Bolingbroke 
 laughed, as has been stated, at making Pope the poeti- 
 cal mouthpiece of his scepticism, which the simple poet 
 
606 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 took for the pure gospel of orthodox truth. But though 
 Pope's reHgion sat somewhat loosely upon hint, it is 
 difficult to suppose that he ever wished to be thought 
 the opponent of Christianity. The alarm he after- 
 wards showed at the attacks of the Swiss professor, 
 Crousaz, and the gratitude he always felt to Warburton 
 for defending him from such imputations, ought to be 
 decisive on this question. Pope was no philosopher ; 
 for philosophy as for politics he cared very little : he 
 was not inclined to set himself antagonistic to the opi- 
 nions and prejudices of mankind. It was not respect- 
 able to attack Christianity, and Pope always wished 
 to be respectable. Two of his most severe lines in the 
 Dunciad he had levelled at Toland and Tindal — 
 
 " Toland and Tindal prompt at priests to jeer, 
 Yet silent bowed to Christ's No Kingdom here." * 
 
 Are we then to suppose that the poet himself wished to 
 be regarded as one who jeered at priests and wished 
 to see estabhshed Christ's No Kingdom ? He thought 
 it poetical to write about nature, and satirical to rail at 
 superstition and tyranny, but his views do not appear 
 to have extended further. To him the great conclusion 
 that " whatever is is right " was eminently orthodox ; 
 to Bolingbroke it had quite another meaning. Pope 
 ■was absolutely fascinated by his friend's Hfe and genius. 
 He never thought of criticizing or analyzing Boling- 
 broke's philosophy. It seemed plausible, and was full of 
 glare. Pope's eyes were completely dazzled by its bril- 
 liancy. His only feeling with respect to these writings 
 of Bolingbroke was wonder, and he rejoiced that it 
 ■was by his influence, as he thought, that Bolingbroke 
 appeared to give up politics and devoted himself to 
 
 * The Dunciad, Book ii., lines 367 and 368. 
 
1725—1735.] POPE'S SENTIMENTS. 607 
 
 1734. 
 
 sucla sublime speculations. " I hope you will live," 
 PopeJtvrote to Swift of Bolingbroke, " to see and stare 
 at the learned figure he will make on the same shelf 
 with Locke and Malbranche." * This was Pope's 
 abiding sentiment on the subject. Little did he foresee, 
 because he was really unacquainted with their ten- 
 dency, what a storm of indignation and obloquy these 
 writings would raise against their author and himself. 
 
 Pope, however, was obliged to confess that, in spite 
 of philosophy, the field of politics continued to have for 
 Bolingbroke irresistible attractions. In his very next 
 letter to Swift, the poet regretfully observed : " Lord 
 Bolingbroke is voluminous ; but he is voluminous only 
 to destroy volumes ; I shall not live, I fear, to see 
 that work printed : he is so taken up still (in spite of 
 the monitory hint given him in the first line of my 
 Essay) with particular men, that he neglects mankind, 
 and is still a creature of this world, not of the uni- 
 verse, "f Bolingbroke could not subdue his nature. He 
 would confine himself for months together at Dawley, 
 dine on the simplest food, dress himself in a rustic suit, 
 go to bed at nine o'clock in the evening, and rise at 
 five the next day, and moralize most eloquently and 
 beautifully on the decay of passion and the happiness 
 of retirement. A fine letter, which he wrote to Swift 
 at six of the clock one morning, in this philosophical 
 vein, has been much and deservedly admired, and for 
 this reason is too well known to require any further 
 quotation. But the gales of passion soon began again 
 to blow ; and frequently they burst into a storm. 
 
 In his private Kfe during these years there had 
 been but little variation. Scarcely anything had oc- 
 
 * Pope to Swift, Sept. 15, 1734. 
 t Pope to Swift, Dec. 19, 1734. 
 
608 AT DAWLEY.' [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Curred to require any particular biograpliical notice. 
 He and Pope both recommended to Swift Mr. Wesley, a 
 poor and aged Tory clergyman, whose house had been 
 twice burnt down, and who had published a Latin com- 
 mentary on the book of Job; and this clergyman, 
 though the editors of Swift's correspondence have not 
 deemed the circumstance worthy of notice — not even the 
 generous and many-sided Walter Scott* — was the father 
 of John and Charles Wesley, whose names were to be- 
 come' household words at many firesides in England and 
 America, and whose lives and works were to afford some 
 commentary on the qualifications of the Hanoverian 
 bishops and the pertinency of Bolingbroke's philosophy. 
 Bolingbroke in this year had another object in view. He 
 actually believed that Swift was in earnest when he con- 
 stantly complained of the hardship of being condemned, 
 through Oxford's neglect, to exile in Ireland ; and he 
 had formed a plan by which Swift could exchange his 
 dignity in the Irish church for a clergyman's living 
 in Berkshire. Swift, however, when the question came 
 for his decision, was by no means prepared to give up 
 his Irish deanery for a living in Bolingbroke's neigh- 
 bourhood of four hundred a year, even though it had 
 attached to it the additional attraction, as Bolingbroke 
 assured him, of being only within half a day's ride 
 from Dawley.f John Barber, the printer, with whom 
 Swift and Bolingbroke had formerly been so closely 
 connected, was Mayor of London in 1733. He won 
 the hearts of his two former patrons by the opposition 
 he offered to Walpole's Excise Act. He dined fre- 
 quently with Bolingbroke at Dawley, and Swift wrote 
 him a warm letter of thanks. The approbation of these 
 
 * See Scott's edition of Swift, xvii., 299 (note), 
 t Bolingbroke to Swift, July 18, 1732. 
 
1725—1735.] THE EXCISE SCHEME. 609 
 
 1734. 
 
 great friends from whom, as Barber said, he had had 
 the happiness of early learning honest principles, gave 
 him that peace of mind which the whole world could 
 not purchase.* 
 
 The storm of popular fury which greeted Walpole's 
 excise scheme awakened all the ambition of Boling- 
 broke. It was a great opportunity : he declaimed 
 eloquently in the Craftsman against excises ; he took up 
 his residence in town, eagerly prompting Sir William 
 Windham, for whom he wrote many of his speeches, 
 and, in fact, always made him the vehicle of his senti- 
 ments to the House of Commons. Some of the power- 
 ful declamations which Windham delivered against 
 Walpole, and which excited the admiration and the 
 surprise of the Opposition, were, in truth, Bolingbroke's 
 own speeches, delivered almost word for word by his 
 faithful and devoted " Willie." 
 
 It seemed in the debates on the excise proposition 
 that Walpole must inevitably perish. But the minister 
 allowed the bill to drop ; the storm gradually subsided ; 
 and Walpole's power appeared only the more firmly 
 established by the decided measures he took to punish 
 the waverers and the disaffected in the ministerial 
 ranks. Chesterfield was dismissed from the post of 
 Lord Steward, and Lord Stair from that of Vice- Admi- 
 ral of Scotland. Other noblemen, the Dukes of Bolton 
 and Montrose, and the Lords Cobham, Marchmont, 
 Clinton, Burlington, all felt the effects of the minister's 
 indignation. Bolingbroke saw this display of minis- 
 terial vigour with joy. The dismissed lords were, with 
 scarcely an exception, important additions to the strength 
 of the Opposition. Lord Stair was a statesman and 
 soldier of great experience, and Bolingbroke's friend ; 
 
 * See Barber's Letter to Swift from Goldsmiths' Hall, Aug. 6, 1733. 
 
 2 R 
 
610 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 Ctesterfield, a man of talents and accomplishments, was 
 the leader of fashion; and some of the other noble- 
 men possessed abilities and virtues such as it could 
 not be to the advantage of any government to count 
 among its foes. The Opposition became more formi- 
 dable as Walpole's power became more despotic. In 
 the session of 1734, the minority in the House of Com- 
 mons made repeated efforts to bring about his over- 
 throw, and Bolingbroke was more decidedly than ever 
 the great political prompter behind the scenes. 
 
 In the pages of the Craftsman he also made another 
 elaborate and continuous attack on Walpole. It consisted 
 of a series of nineteen letters, entitled A Dissertation 
 on Parties. They were eagerly read at the time, and 
 repubhshed in a collected form, with a dedication to 
 the minister. They may be justly regarded as the ablest 
 and the most celebrated of all Bolingbroke's writings 
 against Walpole's administration. Here again, indeed, 
 as in all Bolingbroke's political compositions, after 
 the Letter to Sir William Windham, we find nothing 
 of Toryism. In the preface or dedication which was 
 afterwards added, he expressly says that he wishes 
 to revive and maintain the spirit of old Whiggism; 
 and, in truth, many of his definitions and assertions are 
 such as many Whigs, even at this day, would consider 
 too democratic. His descriptions of a king and a bishop 
 are in a strain lower than those of Paley, and would 
 certainly have raised the anger of George III. " A 
 king," wrote Bolingbroke, "is really nothing more 
 than a supreme magistrate, instituted for the service of 
 the community, which requires that the executive 
 power should be vested in a single person. He hath, 
 indeed, a crown on his head, a sceptre in his hand, and 
 velvet robes on his back, and he sits elevated on a 
 
1725—1735.] BOLINGBKOKE'S OPINIONS. €11 
 
 1734. 
 
 tlirone, whilst others stand on the ground about him ; 
 and all this to denote that he is a king, and to draw 
 ■the attention and reverence of the vulgar." * In what 
 a different spirit is this from that in which Marlborough 
 was taken from the command of his victorious army, 
 and prosecuted as a peculator by the House of Com- 
 mons, all because, as Mr. Secretary St. John declared, 
 he had offended Queen Anne ! At that time Mr. St. 
 John, commenting, as we have seen, on those violent 
 party proceedings, wrote to the Earl of Strafford : 
 " What passed on Thursday in the House of Com- 
 mons will, I hope, show people abroad, as well as at 
 home, that no merit, no grandeur, no riches, can excuse 
 or save any, who sets himself up in opposition to the 
 Queen."f There was indeed a changed world, and 
 along with it Bolingbroke had changed. A bishop 
 is declared in the Dissertation on Parties to be only 
 " a man with a mitre on his head, a crosier in his hand, 
 and lawn sleeves, and sits in a purple elbow-chair, to 
 denote that he is a bishop, and to excite the devotion 
 of the multitude." This idea of a bishop would cer- 
 tainly have been thought very latitudinarian in Burnet 
 or Tillotson. The Revolution, too, which Bolingbroke 
 had formerly declared to have been carried on con- 
 trary to the soundest principles of Tory policy, and the 
 interests of the landed gentry and the Church of Eng- 
 land, is represented as the period when all that was 
 intelligible in the war-cries of the two contending fac- 
 tions, Whig and Tory, ceased. From that time, he said, 
 they had no real meaning at all. To argue other- 
 wise, he maintained, was to say worse of the Revolution 
 than " it was in the power of a vain, forward, and 
 turbulent preacher to cast upon it, by his frothy decla- 
 
 « Letter 14. t See ante, 265. 
 
 2 R 2 
 
612 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 mation."* Such was Bolingbroke's real opinion of 
 Sacheverell, and his appreciation of this instrument, by 
 which Harley and St. John had climbed to power. Bo- 
 lingbroke, also, though taunting Walpole with tyranny 
 and oppression, now speaks kindly of the dissenters, 
 and rejoices in the tolerant spirit that everywhere pre- 
 vailed. No higher praise can be given to the progress 
 of th^ose moderate principles in government of which 
 TValpole was in some sort the representative, than to find 
 Bolingbroke, who had been the great advocate of the BiE 
 against Occasional Conformity, and the author of the 
 Schism Act, both of which, after the accession of the 
 House of Hanover, were most righteously repealed, 
 saying about the dissenters that, " far from desir- 
 ing to impose any new hardships upon them, even 
 those who have been reputed their enemies, and who 
 have acted as such on several occasions, acknowledge 
 their error. Experience hath removed prejudice. They 
 see that indulgence hath done what severity never 
 coiuld."f So little, indeed, was Bolingbroke now a 
 Tory, that, in tracing the history of the two parties in 
 the reign of Charles II. and James II., he goes even 
 further than many Whig writers, and pronounces for 
 the justice and expediency of the Exclusion Bill.| 
 
 On the general question that all parties are evils, as 
 Bolingbroke undertakes to show, by tracing the history 
 of the two great English parties in the first ten of these 
 Letters, it is not necessary to say much. It is certain 
 that in one form or another there always have been 
 parties in free countries, and that there always will be. 
 Such connections are liable to great abuse, and were 
 as much abused by Bolingbroke as by any statesman 
 
 • Lett«rl9. ^ Letter 1. 
 
 t See Letter 4, and the emphatic beginning of Letter 6. 
 
1725—1735.]' PARTIES. 613 
 
 1734. 
 
 _ who ever became a party leader. But great traditional 
 combinations, acting together on public grounds, to 
 carry out great principles, may be made the deposi- 
 tory and school of every public virtue. Politicians are 
 surely much more likely, when they agree in their 
 general views of affairs, to promote the interests of the 
 state by acting together, than by standing jealously 
 separate as solitary units. Everything had shown 
 since the Revolution that some understanding and co- 
 operation were necessary among those who carried on 
 or supported the government ; and for a similar reason 
 a kind of organization was necessary to the Opposition. 
 Bolingbroke had himself industriously laboured to form 
 the Opposition that then existed against Walpole, and 
 while denouncing all political connections was forming 
 a party on the ruins of party. His theory was in his 
 circumstances a necessity ; but his practice had been 
 and continued to be altogether different. There must 
 still, he admitted, be a court and country party, though 
 Whig and Tory were to be heard of no more. 
 
 That very corruption, indeed, which Bolingbroke 
 deplored, has always been found to exist, in a greater * 
 and more hopeless degree, without party connection 
 than with it. A minister who governs by party may 
 dispense with corruption ; but in the last century, at 
 least, without government by party, corruption was 
 inevitable. The " King's friends " of George III., who 
 professed to be independent of parties, were the most 
 corrupt section of politicians existing in their day. 
 They were, in reality, only a body of political mercenaries 
 acting for hire in the service of the court for or against 
 the minister of the time being, according to what they 
 supposed to be their sovereign's inclinations. Though 
 Bolingbroke tries, indeed, to conceal the fact, corruption 
 
614 AT DAWLET. [Chap. XIV.' 
 
 with Walpole was always a subordinate instrument to , 
 Ms great lever of party connection ; and, in truth, the 
 two leading accusations, of governing by corruption, 
 and governing by party, partly destroy each other. 
 Walpole was, indeed, blameable for his want of moral 
 elevation, and his disregard of public opinion, the 
 power of which he greatly underrated ; and Boling- 
 broke, though some of these letters abound in passages 
 of declamation which good taste may consider tawdry 
 and puerile, was doing good service by his eloquent 
 championship of pubhc virtue. Still, justice compels 
 us to admit that Bolingbroke cannot be regarded as 
 a purer statesman than Walpole ; and, judging from his 
 practice when he had power, which is the only uner- 
 ring test of political professions, few people can believe 
 that, had he been then in office, instead of writing the 
 Dissertation on Parties, that his administration would 
 have been milder, less corrupt, and more beneficial to 
 the interests of the country than that of his successful 
 rival. 
 
 The Dissertation on Parties was ironically dedi- 
 cated to Walpole in a style which assuredly Bolingbroke 
 as a minister would never have allowed any one to 
 address to him with impunity. It is certainly any- 
 thing but a true description of the means by which 
 Walpole had attained power to say that it was " by 
 wriggling, intriguing, whispering, and bargaining him- 
 self into the dangerous post to which he was not called 
 by the general suffrage, nor, perhaps, by the deliberate 
 choice of his master himself." Though Walpole was 
 greedy of power, and may not have altogether acted 
 equitably to some of his colleagues, yet assuredly he 
 had risen to his high eminence not by intrigue, but by 
 great parliamentary services. His successes had been 
 
1725—1735.] BOLINaBEOKB AND WALPOLB. 615 
 
 173i. 
 
 legitimate. He was the recognized and trusted chief 
 of a great party ; and the confidence that was deservedlj'^ 
 placed in him had been the result of a long and tried 
 experience. Everybody now acknowledges that the 
 nation reaped many blessings under his government. 
 Bolingbroke and the Opposition might excite the public 
 mind by their brilliant invectives against tyranny, 
 corruption, and wicked ministers; but the prosperity of 
 the country was steadily increasing, commerce was 
 extending on every sea, new hives of industry were 
 being raised throughout the globe by English enterprise, 
 and at home peace, order, and security everywhere pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 The controversy between Bolingbroke and Walpole 
 had, as the Vindication proved, again become entirely 
 personal. When these letters appeared in the pages 
 of the Craftsman, some of the ministerial writers 
 threatened Bolingbroke with Walpole's vengeance ; and 
 Bolingbroke himself taunted Walpole with the threats 
 of his hireling scribblers. Walpole's habitual modera- 
 tion of temper wisely prevailed ; he all but allowed 
 Bolingbroke to write against him as he pleased ; and, 
 during these years of a somewhat irritating opposi- 
 tion, almost contented himself with once returning the 
 compliment by delivering a studied invective against 
 Bolingbroke in the House of Commons. This occurred 
 in the session of 1734, in reply to Sir William Wind- 
 ham, when the materials of the Tory baronet's speech 
 were evidently all supplied by Bolingbroke. A bill 
 was introduced to repeal the Septennial Act, which 
 Bolingbroke also assailed in his Dissertation on Parties. 
 The Whigs, in opposition, somewhat reluctantly acqui- 
 esced in the j)roposed repeal, which, however, was more 
 enthusiastically supported by the Tories. Sir William 
 
616 AT DAWLEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 Windham's speecli on this question was considered his 
 masterpiece. Taking the liberty, as he said, of " sup- 
 posing," he drew a strong caricature of Walpole as a 
 minister lost to virtue and honour ; of no great family, 
 and of but a mean fortune ; ignorant of the true inte- 
 rests of his country ; acquiring great wealth by plun- 
 dering the nation ; buying a parliamentary majority with 
 the public money ; keeping his sovereign in the same 
 state of ignorance and corruption as himself; and de- 
 pending for the continuance of his power on the main- 
 tenance of the Septennial Act. In Sir William's picture 
 there was something very harsh and invidious : but no- 
 thing was then considered by the Opposition bad enough 
 to be said of Walpole. The minister, however, being 
 thus assailed, and knowing from whom the matter of 
 Sir Wniiam's invective had been derived, retorted with 
 another " supposition," and, by drawing another picture 
 of an ante-minister and a mock patriot. Walpole began 
 by informing the House that no person within the walls 
 could come under the description of the person he 
 supposed. This gentleman thought himself of such 
 extensive parts and eminent qualifications that he 
 regarded himself as the only person fit to co'nduct the 
 affairs of the nation, and spoke of every other public 
 man in office as a blunderer. He had gained over to 
 his side some other gentlemen of good families, great 
 wealth, and excellent abilities, as well as a few others 
 of desperate fortunes. They became puppets in his 
 hands, and spoke what he put into their mouths ; yet, 
 though he had constituted himself their leader, he was 
 not liked even by those who blindly followed him, and 
 was hated by the rest of mankind. He was in a 
 country where he really ought not to be, and where he 
 could only have been by the effect of his sovereign's 
 
1725—1735.] A "SUPPOSITION." 617 
 
 1734. 
 
 •goodness and mercy. He endeavoured to destroy the 
 fountain whence tliat mercy flowed. He continually 
 contracted familiarities and friendships with the ambas- 
 sadors of the countries believed at any time to be at 
 enmity with his own. He endeavoured by their agency 
 to discover any secrets which might be prejudicial to 
 his native land, and sought by his mouthpieces in the 
 House of Commons to procure for those ambassadors 
 information which might be equally injurious. He 
 had travelled much. At every court he had wished to 
 be regarded as the greatest minister the world had ever 
 seen ; and always had made it his business to betray at 
 one court the secrets which in the utmost confidence he 
 had acquired at another. Walpole assured the House 
 that he could carry his " supposition " a great deal 
 further, but that he would forbear ; and turning round 
 to the Opposition, he asked them how they liked the 
 picture ?* 
 
 The portrait was somewhat coarsely drawn, but the 
 colours were laid on with a bold hand. Such debatino- 
 was no joke, and the young Whigs in opposition 
 became greatly alarmed. They declared they knew 
 of no such person as the minister had alluded to ; and 
 even Pulteney blamed Sir William Windham for 
 being too much under Bolingbroke's influence. Bo- 
 lingbroke continued his contributions to the Craftsman ; 
 he went in the autumn again with Pope to take the 
 Bath waters ; he had Alderman John Barber, the ex- 
 Mayor, again to dinner at Dawley. But Parliament had 
 been dissolved ; the general elections had taken place ; 
 and at the meeting of the new Parliament in the begin- 
 ning of 1735 the minister, in spite of all invective and 
 
 * An abstract of Walpole's speech, from the Walpole Papers, is given hv 
 Coxo, i., 420. i- ' = J 
 
618 AT DAA;7LEY. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 abuse, still stood his ground with a diminished but still 
 an effective majority. 
 
 This was not the worst of Bolingbroke's mortifica- 
 tions. He was enraged to find that Pulteney and the 
 young Whigs imputed their ill success at the elections 
 and in the House of Commons to him : they scarcely 
 concealed from him that it was .his own unpopularity 
 with, the nation that injured them more than all his 
 eloquence and experience did them service : that the 
 imputation of being associated with him was found to 
 be a most damaging scandal. Even Pulteney gently 
 hinted that if he left the country altogether for a time 
 it would be the better for the common cause, as his 
 presence rendered it odious.* 
 
 Here was a pleasant predicament. To be told by the 
 very men in whose cause he was contending that his 
 presence did them an injury, was indeed a vexation. 
 Bolingbroke characteristically at once resolved again 
 to retire to France. His haughty spirit was deeply 
 wounded ; he determined to write in the cause of the 
 Opposition no more. Other circumstances also had 
 their share in driving him, as old age was approach^ 
 ing, again from his native land. Walpole's philippic 
 against him had been taken up by all the ministerial 
 writers, and menaces of something more than invec- 
 tives in the House of Commons were spoken of as in 
 preparation against Bohngbroke. Moderate as Wal- 
 pole was, it was intimated that there might be a limit 
 to his moderation : that he was not likely to allow 
 himself to be always assailed as the worst of criminals 
 by the man who owed it to him that he could live in 
 
 * " I hear lie (Pulteney) has talked of something he expects from me; but 
 I have desu-ed he may be told that I will write nothing. He thought my 
 very name and presence in England did hurt." Bolingbroke to Sir W. 
 Windham, July 23, 1739. See also Marchmont Papers, ii. 350. 
 
1725—1735.] AGAIN LEAVES ENGLAND. 619 
 
 1735. 
 
 England, and whose head, it was said, was still in his 
 power. Though these threats might have no effect, 
 still, was it wise in Bolinghroke to increase the number 
 and inveteracy of his enemies ? His private circum- 
 stances, too, were by no means comfortable. His father, 
 old Lord St. John, not only still hved, but seemed 
 not at all likely to die. Though now above four- 
 score years of age he was as hale and hearty as ever, 
 and threatened to outlive his brilhant son. Boling- 
 hroke had gone to more expense than he could afford 
 at Dawley ; there was no immediate prospect of his 
 inheriting the family estate ; pecuniary embarrassments 
 stared him in the face.* Dignity, prudence, economy, 
 all counselled retirement. Early in 1735, to the sur- 
 prise of both friends and enemies who were unac- 
 quainted with the delicacy of his situation, he once 
 more left England to take up his residence in Prance. 
 
 • See the letter of Pulteney to Swift, Nov. 22, 1735. 
 
()20 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 1735—1743. 
 IN FEAJSrCE AGAIN. 
 
 In the May of 1735, Bolingbroke found himself once 
 more removed from the great scene of Enghsh politics. 
 His friend and neighbour, Lord Berkeley, accompanied 
 him to Paris. To some of his acquaintances whom he 
 left in England he had spoken of soon coming back. But 
 there were few inducements for him again to return. 
 Since he had settled in England ten years had gone, 
 and during all that time his situation had remained 
 without change or amelioration. Hope was at last 
 leaving him. The conviction was forcing itself upon 
 his mind that for him the political arena was finally 
 closed, and that all he had to do was to leave it with 
 dignity. According to his own illustration, he felt, on 
 leaving England, like an actor who had trodden the 
 stage too long, and who was every moment in danger 
 of being hissed off.* 
 
 He remained some time in Paris, until in the autunm 
 he had decided on his future abode. It was not until 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Sir W. Windham, Nov. 29, 1735. 
 
1735—1743.] LADY BOLINGBBOKE'S DAUGHTER. 621 
 
 1735. 
 
 October that he had finally settled on a permanent 
 residence at Chanteloup, in Touraine, where the Due de 
 Choiseul, five-and-thirty years afterwards, also retired, 
 and where another ex-minister afterwards also took up 
 his abode. The nobleman who had married Lady 
 Bolingbroke's daughter held a high official post, which 
 allowed Bolingbroke to have the use of the forests, 
 and of the dogs and horses in the stables. Lady Boling- 
 broke lived with him the greater portion of the year, 
 and spent the rest with her daughter at the Convent 
 of Sens, in which her family always appear to have had 
 great interest, of which, if we credit a letter of Pope,* 
 her daughter was actually the abbess, and where Miss 
 Black, the daughter of the Beautiful Circassian, was 
 growing up and being educated as Bolingbroke's niece . 
 Some of these arrangements were made from econo- 
 mical considerations. When Bolingbroke entered into a 
 calculation of his debts, estate, and expectations, his affairs 
 seemed quite embarrassed ; and he wrote to his intimate 
 friend Windham that it was a question whether his wife 
 should not retire to her convent altogether. He was 
 obliged to borrow money at interest. He owed one cre- 
 ditor, his old friend the Marquis de Matignou, two thou- 
 sand pounds, which was advanced him without security. 
 He had not been long at Chanteloup when he was under 
 the necessity of obtaining another loan of two thousand 
 two hundred and fifty pounds ; and he soon afterwards 
 required two thousand pounds more. One step he 
 found absolutely indispensable. It was necessary that 
 he should sell Dawley. If old Lord St. John died, this 
 estate would be useless as a place of residence ; if he 
 still lived on, the expense of keeping it up was likely to 
 
 ^* See the letter Pope wrote to Swift, May 17, 1739. 
 
622 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 swallow up nearly all the receif)ts. Still, to part with 
 Dawley cost Bolingbroke a struggle. He had found it 
 a wilderness, he had made it a most elegant abode. 
 The grounds were most tastefully laid out ; nothing 
 was wanting to give beauty, comfort, and luxury to 
 this rural home. Dawley, however, was to be sold; 
 and Sir William Windham and Lord Bathurst were 
 earnestly requested to find a purchaser. Bolingbroke 
 offered to part with the estate for twenty-six thousand 
 pounds, then for twenty-five, and at last, his necessities 
 admitting of no delay, for twenty -three thousand 
 pounds, . or twenty thousand pounds down, and a 
 thousand a year until his own death, or the death of 
 Jiis father. His old secretary, John Briusden, who had 
 been doing some little business as a wine-merchant 
 among Bolingbroke's great friends, and who still re- 
 mained faithfully attached to him through all vicissi- 
 tudes, acted as a kind of steward at Dawley. But 
 Windham and Bathurst had the principal charge of the 
 intended sale. They were soon in treaty with Judge 
 Denton, who offered to purchase it ; but the years 
 1736 and 1737 passed over, and the negotiation, not- 
 withstanding Bolingbroke's anxious impatience, came 
 to a stand. 
 
 His health, too, was anything but good. His gout 
 had left him ; but he could not sleep soundly, and his 
 spirits were greatly depressed. He tried to make up 
 for his want of rest in the night by sleeping in the 
 day ; and when he found himself restless after going to 
 bed, he rose, dressed himself, walked about, or read and 
 wrote until he found himself again able to sleep. He 
 .sought to remedy his mental depression by temperance 
 and exercise ; but walking merely for the sake of walk- 
 ing was always irksome to him; and as a substitute, 
 
1735-1743.] COnRESPONDENOE WITH CHARLES WINDHAM. 623 
 1735. 
 
 on days wten lie was not hunting, he might frequently 
 be seen in the forest with his gun in his hand, and his 
 dogs by his side. 
 
 While hunting twice a week, and reading six hours 
 a day, he also professed philosophy in a very sublime 
 style. Never did his mind appear more active. Cover- 
 ing ream after ream of paper with his thoughts on his- 
 tory, politics, and philosophy, his letters to Sir William 
 Windham, on all subjects, were also long, eloquent, 
 and affectionate. Sir William's eldest son and heir, 
 Charles Windham, was also just reaching manhood. 
 Bolingbroke corresponded with the son as affectionately 
 as with the father. Some of these letters, however, 
 to Charles Windham are not in the very highest tone. 
 To write to a young man, as his father's friend, about 
 affairs of gallantry is not exactly what we might expect 
 from the other compositions which were then flowing 
 from Bolingbroke's pen ; and such letters give some 
 countenance to the assertion of Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montague, that one of Bolingbroke's worst faults in his 
 old age was his habit of speaking of his gallantries to 
 the young men who sought his society, and boasting of 
 his physical qualifications at a time when it was quite 
 obvious all vigour had departed. Just after being 
 settled at Chanteloup, and when he was beginning his 
 Letters on History, we find him writing to Charles 
 Windham in the following terms : 
 
 " Your letter, my dear friend, is this moment 
 brought me ; and you will receive one, with a large 
 packet, from me to-morrow, or next day, by young 
 Dupin, who is gone with his mamma to Paris. I want 
 to know several circumstances about your present pas- 
 sion, which, I hope and believe, .... If it be for 
 the Grossein, or the Dangeville, the only ladies of the 
 
624 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV; 
 
 comedy I know by sight, you must tell me which, 
 I "want to know whether you are happy, and by what 
 medium, whether by money, or stark love and kindness. 
 With all ladies, with those particularly, good engineers 
 
 proceed by assaults, not saps Whilst I loved 
 
 much, I never loved long, but was inconstant to them 
 
 all, for the sake of all Above all things, let her 
 
 have no hopes of your sighing or ... . This is very 
 wholesome advice, and such as a man of your age may 
 practise. I wish you grace to follow it. Adieu ! I 
 am interrupted, but will write to you soon again. 
 Adieu, dearest Charles!" There are other letters in 
 the same tone ; but it is much to be regretted that they 
 were not destroyed by the young man to whom they 
 were addressed. Charles Windham sat in the House 
 of Commons for several parliaments, and succeeded to 
 his father's baronetcy, and afterwards to the earldom of 
 Egremont. These letters were allowed to be printed 
 by his son and successor. 
 
 It is a strange transition from such a correspondence 
 to the Letters on History, the first of which bears the 
 date of the same place, year, and month. Thus only, 
 however, do we get a correct idea of Bolingbroke. It 
 was at Chanteloup, in the month of November, in the 
 year 1735, that he first took up his pen to instruct, by 
 the Letters on History, another young Tory, Lord 
 Cornbury, afterwards Lord Hyde, then the member 
 for the University of Oxford, and the great-grandson 
 of the celebrated Lord Clarendon. Lord Cornbury 
 was an amiable and excellent young nobleman, of 
 some literary pretensions, afterwards the author of a 
 published comedy and several manuscript tragedies. 
 Of him even Horace Walpole spoke with enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
1735—1743.] USE OF HISTORY. 625 
 
 1735. 
 
 The earlier portion of the Letters on History is, as 
 BoKngbroke himself afterwards observed, somewhat 
 elementary in its nature. He lays down the celebrated 
 dictum, borrowed from Dionysius Halicarnassus, that 
 history is philosophy, teaching by examples. Its object 
 is to improve men in virtue and wisdom, to make them 
 better men and better citizens. In this spirit Boling- 
 broke eloquently declaims. Every reader must be de- 
 lighted with the author's vivacity and style, even when 
 he may be inclined to question his conclusions. Of all 
 Bolingbroke's writings, this work has been the most 
 read. It exhibits in the highest degree both his 
 strength and weakness. Some of the observations in 
 the first letters remind us of the puerilities of the Re- 
 flections on Exile ; in the attack on the Jewish history 
 and scriptural chronology we behold a repetition of 
 what he had written in the letter to Pouilly, and his 
 fourth philosophical essay ; and the three concluding 
 Letters, which are evidently an elaborate defence of 
 his conduct in making the peace of Europe, show all his 
 grasp and power as a practical statesman. Though it 
 is impossible to overrate the importance of history, 
 many persons, however, will doubt whether the philo- 
 sophy which it is to teach by example has much real 
 influence on the passions of mankind. History may be 
 contemplated both in the spirit of the cynic as well as 
 in that of the optimist; and the conclusion derived 
 fi'om its lessons may be exactly opposite. Too often 
 the examples of history seem but repetitions in one 
 generation of the crimes and errors of another. It 
 is with nations as with individuals. Seldom are 
 kings, statesmen, or people restrained from bringing 
 endless calamities on themselves, and those who come 
 after them, by contemplating the follies and wicked- 
 
 2 s 
 
626 IN FllAXCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 nesses of those who have gone before them. Bohng- 
 broke himself had been studying history dihgently in 
 his two years of retirement before he became Secretary ■ 
 of State ; yet he had been hurried by his passions 
 to commit mistakes, if not crimes, which he himself 
 deeply regretted, and from the effects of which he was 
 stiU suffering. Into his defence of his ministerial con- 
 duct in the last two letters it is not necessary here to 
 enter, for enough has been said in former chapters on 
 the Peace of Utrecht. Bohngbroke still evinces his old 
 animosity to the House of Austria ; but, as he is writing 
 on the necessity of opposing the ambition of Louis XI Y., 
 in his remarks on the partition treaties, and on the war of 
 the Grand Alliance, he certainly never shows in these 
 letters on history, or, indeed, in any of his published 
 writings, that devotion to a French alliance which has 
 been absurdly represented as one of his characteristics 
 as a statesman. On the contrary, both in this work, as 
 in his conversations and writings in his old age, he 
 regretted that the great fortified frontiers of France 
 had not been sufficiently weakened by the very peace of 
 Utrecht which he made, though again, as in his letter 
 to Sir William Windham, he ascribed the omission to 
 the violent conduct of his poHtical adversaries.* 
 
 There are many errors in these Letters. Not even 
 his philosophical treatises were more fiercely assailed ; 
 for this work on history offended both statesmen and 
 divines : working politicians, Whig lords, and bishops, 
 were all eager to attack the author who, in the same 
 work, both defended the Peace of Utrecht and assailed, 
 sometimes with much coarseness and profaneness, the 
 historical authenticity of the Old Testament. He wrote 
 without books, and with the aid of a few notes only ; 
 
 • *• See his Eeflections on the State of the Nation, 1749. • 
 
1735—1743.] HABITS OF COMPOSITION. 627 
 
 1736. 
 
 he never confined himself to a definite plan. When he 
 felt the impulse, he poured out his impressions with 
 heat and rapidity, and seldom cared to read over and 
 correct patiently what he thus hastily composed. 
 Trusting so much to his memory, the powers of which 
 were undoubtedly great, he could not avoid inac- 
 curacies, some of which were very obvious. In the 
 Reflections on Exile, for instance, he tells the anecdote 
 of Agbarus, King of Edessa, on the authority of Pro- 
 copius, while, in these Letters on History, the same 
 anecdote is ascribed to Josephus. The story is not in 
 Josephus, though it may be found in Procopius ; but 
 Bolingbroke was frequently misled by the French 
 translations of original authors, which, as the very 
 names he uses with the French terminations, frequently 
 indicate. But the mental activity which such compo- 
 sitions as these Letters on History display, was cer- 
 tainly extraordinary. The earlier letters were sent 
 over to England, and seen by Pope in the March of 
 1736, a very few months after Bolingbroke had settled 
 at Chanteloup. Pope read them with wonder and ad- 
 miration. He wrote to Swift : " I have lately seen 
 some writings of Lord B.'s, since he went to France. 
 Nothing can depress his genius ; whatever befalls him 
 he will still be the greatest man in the world, either in 
 his own time or with posterity."* 
 
 In another short letter, which, with others, appears 
 to have been addressed to their common friend. Lord 
 Bathurst, Bolingbroke sketched a general plan of the 
 History of Queen Anne's Eeign, which he long medi- 
 tated. There were to be two or more introductory 
 books, giving the state of Europe when the Treaty 
 of the Pyrenees was signed, a recapitulation of the 
 
 * Pope to Swift, March 25, 1736. 
 
 2 S2 
 
628 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XT. 
 
 design of France in making that treaty, the posi- 
 tion of the different powers at the time when the 
 Revolution of 1688 broke out, and on the death of 
 Charles II. of Spain. Bolinghroke's seventh and 
 eighth Letters on History seem in some degree to carry 
 out this ide^, and were probably at first intended as 
 the introduction to his greater work. At the acces- 
 sion of Queen Anne, he thought of entering on the full 
 stream of his subject, and of relating all the vicissitudes 
 in war and in negotiation of that great struggle for 
 which the Spanish monarchy was the prize. He be- 
 lieved it as noble a theme as could possibly occupy the 
 pen of the historian and the philosopher. ■ This work, 
 he said, was to be a votive draught of great. transactions, 
 consecrated and hung up in the temple of Truth. For 
 some years it was frequently in his mind. He wrote to 
 Windham, requesting him to gather correct accounts of 
 the revenue and national debt at the Revolution, the 
 reign of William, and at the Peace of Utrecht, and, in ask- 
 ing him to apply to the old Duchess of Marlborough for 
 papers, alluded to his intention of defending the Duke's 
 conduct in the expedition to the Moselle, in 1*705, and 
 his inactivity in 1707, both of which had been cen- 
 sured. The application to the Duchess of Marlborough 
 was actually made by Lord Carteret. She promised 
 compliance ; but did nothing more. It is probable that 
 she distrusted Bolingbroke and the use he might make 
 of any materials she could supply. It is certain that 
 her husband's glorious campaigns had quite a secondary 
 importance in her mind to her own conduct as the 
 mistress of the royal wardrobe, and the squabbles 
 between herself. Queen Anne, and Mrs. Masham.* The 
 
 * See the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlhorongh, ^s«m. 
 
1735—1743.] THE DOWAGER DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. 629 
 1736. 
 
 old dowager Duchess was a patriot. She was ardent 
 in her opposition to the Walpole administration, was 
 buying estate upon estate on the clearest arithmetical 
 calculations, offering to lend money on good security 
 and good interest, thinking of the jewels she had given 
 to her favourite grandchildren, and which, on their 
 untimely deaths, her greatest anxiety was to reclaim, 
 defying the court in asserting her privileges as the 
 Ranger of Windsor Park, finding this life by no 
 means an enviable one, even for the richest dowager 
 duchess of the time, and speculating, in a state of great 
 bewilderment^ on that other life, which, with its rewards 
 and punishments, she had heard, was yet to come. 
 Bolingbroke received no papers from the Duchess of 
 Marlborough ; but they were not, in their closing years, 
 on unfriendly terms. They were both at war with the 
 world as it was, and this common hostility became be- 
 tween them a bond of sympathy and alliance.* 
 
 While waiting for papers, and meditating on his 
 great design, Bolingbroke still continued writing and 
 moralizing.' He addressed other letters to Lord 
 Bathurst, the second being on the True Use of 
 Retirement and Study. It was undoubtedly true, as 
 Bolingbroke represents, that a love of knowledge and 
 books, in one form or another, had always been charac- 
 teristic of him, even amid the struggles, business, and 
 pleasures of his younger days. Whether, however 
 the best way to employ the leisure of old age was to 
 examine all opinions, and reject everything as false 
 that did not seem true to each person's own reason 
 which, he affirms, ought to be each person's oracle, may 
 admit of doubt. Through all the maxims he here enun- 
 
 * See Letter to Sir William Windham, Jan. 5, 1736, and March 16, 1738 • 
 also the Marchmont Papers, ii., 334. 
 
630 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 ciates, and whicli lie appears to have thought so edify- 
 ing and admirable, we trace very distinctly the sceptical 
 spirit with which he had become thoroughly imbued. 
 In fact, this letter is fuller of what may be called his 
 philosophy, than any of his writings which are not 
 avowedly philosophical. He seems never to have com- 
 prehended the value of a prejudice as a prejudice. Ac- 
 cording to him, we ought always to be unbelieving, and, 
 in religion, government, and philosophy, to distrust 
 everything that is established. Instead of being a sub- 
 lime, this is perhaps a very melancholy occupation ; and 
 no really wise man will assume that all the rest of 
 mankind but himself are fools. Surely, even on Boling- 
 broke's own conclusion, that "whatever is, is right," 
 might have taught him that there must be something 
 right in the prejudices, the convictions, and the aspira- 
 tions of the multitude. 
 
 In the multitude, however, he was no behever. Quit- 
 ting the lofty philosophical subjects, which he had dis- 
 cussed in his letter on the True Use of Retirement and 
 Study, in his next epistle, afterwards addressed to 
 Lyttelton, he entirely changed his theme, and again 
 descended into the arena of politics. His subject was the 
 Spirit of Patriotism. In the first pages he laid it down 
 as an unanswerable proposition, that in every age there 
 were a few great men who engrossed nearly all the 
 reason of their species ; that, though the race of man 
 was very low in the intellectual scale, yet there were still 
 a few human beings on whom a larger share of what 
 Bolingbroke calls the ethereal spirit had been bestowed ; 
 that these select individuals were born to think and to 
 rule, and that all other people were bound to eat, to 
 drudge, and to obey. After having established, in a 
 manner quite satisfactory to his own mind, this pecuHar 
 
1735—1743.] ESSAY ON PATRIOTISM. 631 
 
 1737. 
 
 kind of hero worship, he then reviews the position of 
 the two great Enghsh parties ; shows himself thoroughly 
 disgusted with both ; and admits that his attempts to 
 form a coalition between them, in opposition to Wal- 
 pole, who is called a farmer of royal authority, had 
 been disappointed by pusillanimity disguised as mode- 
 ration, in some men, and by sloth, disguised as phi- 
 losophy, in others. The review gives him little plea- 
 sure. He declares that he expects nothing good either 
 from Whigs or Tories ; characterizes their struggles 
 at the time when the Protestant succession was sup- 
 posed to be in danger, as a mere dispute between 
 Bigendians and Littleendians ; and tells his correspon- 
 dent that his only hope is in him, and a few more 
 of the young men who still refused to bow the knee 
 to Baal. He then breaks out into a fine dissertation 
 on oratory, and the two great orators of antiquity, 
 Demosthenes and Cicero. His brilliant pages on 
 this subject, of which he was himself so complete a 
 master, can scarcely be read without admiration and 
 pleasure. He concludes by afSrming that an opposition 
 can only be successfully conducted with the same pre- 
 paration and industry as an administration; that it was 
 absolutely necessary to act on a definite plan ; and that 
 every Member of Parliament ought to consider himself 
 as one of a perpetual standing council to promote good 
 government, and to oppose bad ministers. 
 
 Bolingbroke was, in his correspondence with Windham 
 during the same period, expressing with almost equal 
 eloquence similar sentiments. To him England appeared 
 in the most desperate condition. He was dissatisfied with 
 nearly everything and everybody but himself, Wind- 
 ham, Bathurst, and two or three very young men. The 
 quarrels between George II. and the Prince of Wales 
 
632 IN FEAiv-CE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 however, became pubKc in 1737, and afforded Boling- 
 broke another topic for commentary and reflection in 
 his letters to Windham. He praised the conduct of 
 the Prince on the question proposed by Pulteney, to 
 settle on him a hundred thousand a year ; and, in fact, 
 this extraordinary application has been represented 
 as accordirig to Bolingbroke's own advice : but he 
 disapproved of the conduct of both parties when the 
 Princess was removed, during the pangs of her con- 
 finement, from the palace of Hampton Court to St. 
 James's, to the great scandal of the London world. " I 
 am at a loss," he wrote, " to find the plausibility or 
 the popularity of the present occasion of rupture. He 
 hurries his wife from court, when she is on the point 
 of being delivered of her first child. His father swells, 
 struts, and storms. He confesses his rashness, and asks 
 pardon in terms of one who owns himself in the wrong. 
 Besides that all this appears to me boyish, it is purely 
 domestic ; and there is nothing, as far as I can discern, 
 to interest the public in the cause of his royal high- 
 ness."* The unexpected death of Queen Caroline, in 
 December, had also an extraordinary effect on Boling- 
 broke. Greorge II. was getting old, and had recently 
 been very ill ; his Queen was dead ; might not the 
 reign of Frederick, Prince of Wales, be soon at hand ? 
 The ambitious statesman was once more planning and 
 scheming. Might he not yet be Frederick's minister, 
 and return on Walpole all that he had suffered ? There 
 was intoxication in the very idea. After all, and at 
 the close of his life, might not Bolingbroke be as great 
 and powerful in court and parliament as Mr. Secretary 
 St. John had been in his younger days ? 
 
 While nursing these hopes at the beginning of the 
 
 * Letter to Sir W. Windham, Oct. 13, 1737. 
 
1735—1743.] IN ENGLAND. , 633 
 
 1738. 
 
 year 1738, his private circumstances were more em- 
 barrassing than ever. Dawley still remained unsold ; 
 his creditors were pressing; and old Lord St. John 
 would not die. Bolingbroke's letters to Sir William 
 "Windham, to hasten the sale of Dawley, almost at any 
 sacrifice, became more urgent ; and at length he deter- 
 mined himself to cross over to England, and finish the 
 sale without delay.* 
 
 He arrived in England at the end of June. He soon 
 effected his immediate object by selhng Dawley, and 
 paying off some of his heavy debts. He spent some 
 time with Pope at Twickenham ; and from the poet's 
 villa the two friends wrote the last of their joint letters 
 to Swift, whose memory was nearly gone, and who, 
 with his fits of giddiness and deafness every day be- 
 coming worse, was sinking into a state of imbecility 
 which was only to terminate in raging lunacy. 
 Bolingbroke himself was in very good health, though 
 much fatter than he had been when he went to Prance, 
 and his spirits, as he conversed with his old associates, 
 seemed very high. His intention of writing his great 
 work on the Reign of Queen Anne was generally talked 
 about ; and his old political allies expected the greatest 
 things from his retirement-! 
 
 But Bolingbroke himself affected, during this visit to 
 England, a satisfaction he was far from feeling. His 
 quarrel with the Opposition still continued, and neither 
 the Whigs nor Tories who composed it were willing 
 to follow his counsels. Sir WilHam Windham, indeed, 
 was docile enough ; but there was another Tory leader 
 the eccentric Shippen, who was by no means inclined to 
 
 * See Bolingbroke to Sir W. Windham. 
 
 t See Alderman Barber to Swift, July 2, 1738 ; Richardson to Swift, July 
 25, 1738 ; and Swift to Pope and Bolingbroke, Aug. 8, 1738. 
 
634 IN PBANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 relinquish Toryism under the advice of Bolingbroke ; 
 and Shippen's influence was great among all the 
 country gentlemen who still inclined to Jacobitism. 
 As the Tory portion of the Opposition would not give 
 up, Toryism, so the powerful Whig section, under 
 the leadership of Pulteney, would not abandon their 
 Whiggism. Pulteney, indeed, distinctly avowed that 
 his object was to purify Whiggism, to act on Whig 
 principles, and to strengthen the Whig party. Neither 
 Tories nor Whigs would beheve, as Bolingbroke told 
 them, that these party distinctions had ceased ; and the 
 nearer the prospect appeared of driving Walpole from 
 office, the more they perversely refused to unite. Again 
 Bolingbroke found himself one too many; and again 
 Pulteney intimated to him as delicately as possible that 
 his presence did the Opposition an injury, and only 
 assisted the minister.* ' ~ 
 
 Bolingbroke's only hope was in Frederick, Prince of 
 Wales. After being obliged to quit St. James's Palace, 
 the Prince and his household had taken up their resi- 
 dence at Norfolk House, in St. James's Square, which, 
 in fact, became the head-quarters of the Opposition. 
 Thither came George Lyttelton, who had two years be- 
 fore been appointed the Prince's secretary ; the brilliant 
 and aspiring William Pitt, whose maiden speech had 
 been made on the congratulatory address to the Prince 
 of Wales on his marriage ; the young Lord Polwarth, 
 son of the second Earl of Marchmont, with whom 
 Bolingbroke was entering into the closest intimacy ; 
 the accomphshed Chesterfield; and Pulteney, the ac- 
 knowledged chief of the Whig Opposition in the House 
 of Commons, 
 
 * See Bolingbroke's letter to Sir W. "WindLam,' July 23, 1739, and the 
 Marchmont Papers, ii., 179. 
 
1735—1743.] THE PATRIOT KING. 635 
 
 1738. 
 
 The Prince had been years before charmed with 
 Bolingbroke's manners and conversation. Treated, as 
 the veteran statesman was, so coldly by Pulteney, 
 Carteret, and others, who distinctly avowed that, if 
 they acquired power, they would, in opposition to his 
 counsels, pxirsue a Whig system, Bolingbroke was natu- 
 rally anxious, before again returning to France, to 
 do something on his own account. Hence he wrote 
 The Patriot King, of which the object, of course, was 
 to ingratiate himself thoroughly with the Prince of 
 Wales. 
 
 The Patriot King was therefore, with the Letter on 
 Patriotism, appropriately addressed to the Prince's 
 secretary, Lyttelton, and was at first entitled The Pa- 
 triot Prince. The Letter to Sir William Windham 
 is frequently careless in style ; the Reflections on 
 Exile can scarcely be considered more than a rhetorical 
 exercise ; the contributions to the Craftsman were evi- 
 dently written with the utmost rapidity, to serve the 
 purpose of the day ; and even the philosophical essays 
 do not always appear to be the result of profound 
 thought and studious investigation. Being intended, 
 however, as a piece of elegant flattery, to establish 
 himself thoroughly in the favour of him whom Boling- 
 broke expected soon to be King of England, the Pa- 
 triot King bears indications of great care, and perhaps 
 affords the best specimen of the author's style. " Until 
 I had read that work," said Chesterfield, "I did not 
 know the extent and power of the English language." 
 The sceptical spirit, however, which Bolihgbroke had 
 spent many years in nursing, now occupied his 
 whole being, and possessed him at last to an extreme 
 little short of fanaticism. Even at the beginning of 
 this treatise, intended for the hands of royalty, in the 
 
636 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. SV. 
 
 first paragraph after the introduction, he observes : 
 " In this case, as in all those of great concernment, the 
 shortest and the surest method of arriving at real 
 knowledge is to unlearn the lessons we have been 
 taught, to remount to first principles, and take nobody's 
 word about them ; for it is about them that almost all 
 the juggling and legerdemain employed by men whose 
 trade it is to deceive, are set to work." Churchmen 
 and sovereigns, uniting together to impose a kind of 
 divine right upon a silly world, are spoken of with the 
 utmost scorn. He confesses that his ideas may be con- 
 sidered very antimonarchical ; and therefore proceeds, 
 according to the principles of his philosophy, to esta- 
 blish another kind of divine right, depending on the law 
 of reason. Kings were made for kingdoms, not king- 
 doms for kings. As a monarchy can be shown by reason 
 to be the best form of government, so a limited mo- 
 narchy is the best of all monarchies. God himself, 
 Bolingbroke affirms, always bordering on profaneness, 
 is a kind of limited monarch. But the blessings of a 
 limited monarchy can only be thoroughly enjoyed under 
 the rule of a patriot king. To this patriot king, which 
 is, indeed, purely a creation of the author's imagination, 
 though it is understood by implication to be Frederick 
 Prince of Wales, Bolingbroke ascribes a power far be- 
 yond any ever imputed by the most extreme worshipper 
 of divine right to the sovereign authority. A patriot 
 king had but to will to be obeyed. The moment he 
 ascended the throne, by the mere effort of his voHtion, 
 and the force of his good intentions, faction would 
 cease, corruption no longer be needed as an expedient 
 of government, and the very vices of former reigns 
 act only as foils to his glory. Bolingbroke admits that 
 a. patriot king is in himself a sort of standing miracle ; 
 
] 73^—1743.] A VISIONAEY IDEA. 63T 
 
 1738. 
 
 and the effects he supposes such a character to produce 
 are certaiply miraculous. 
 
 There seems nothing of the practical statesman in 
 this extraordinary scheme. Goldsmith called Boling- 
 hroke's dream of a patriot king, which had its attrac- 
 tions for literary men, a fine idea ; and a fine idea it 
 is, hut nothing more. Plato in his Republic, More in 
 his Utopia, Harrington in his Oceana, never imagined 
 anything more extravagantly visionary and unreal. In 
 a work intended to instruct a future king of England, 
 scarcely anything is said of the British constitution, or 
 even of the existence of Parliament. How a patriot king 
 was to govern without a parliamentary majority, and 
 how he was always to see the best interests of his people 
 more clearly than the wisest of his subjects, Bolingbroke 
 never condescends to explain. He would himself have 
 readily acknowledged that Queen Anne was a patriot 
 sovereign in the last years of her reign ; and yet he 
 found that, in making the peace of Utrecht, and carrying 
 on her government in defiance of the Whigs, there were 
 many difficulties. George III., who read The Patriot 
 King, and sought to carry the theory into practice, was 
 certainly a patriot ; and yet the worst king that ever 
 ruled in England never did more mischief than this 
 sovereign's narrow-minded patriotism at the period of 
 the American war, and the struggle for the repeal of 
 the Roman Catholic disabilities. Kings and princes are 
 but men ; and men, whether patriotic or otherwise, are 
 very fallible beings. Bolingbroke only thought of his 
 own particular circumstances and situation. Himself 
 disliking all parties, he wished Prince Frederick to dis- 
 regard all parties ; and opposed as he was to nearly all 
 the public men, either in office or opposition, he advised 
 the Prince to act independently of them all. There are 
 
638 , IX FilANCE AGAm. [Chap. XV. 
 
 but two practical notions hinted at throughout the 
 book ; and these must be taken for what they are 
 worth, A patriot king was to have no standing army ; 
 but he was to apply the money for maintaining a 
 great body of troops to increase the number of marines, 
 and to keep thirty thousand sailors always ready for 
 the royal navy. Writing, too, of the wretched educa- 
 tion given to most princes, Bohngbroke hints that Par- 
 liament would almost be justified in looking to the 
 education of the royal family. If anything could ex- 
 cuse this interference, it would be the manner in which 
 Greorge III. was brought up by the Princess of Wales 
 and Lord Bute, who were such admirers of The Patriot 
 King. Never was the education of a great sovereign 
 more shamefully and criminally neglected. George III. 
 was taught but to have one idea, which was taken from 
 Bolingbroke's book, because it coincided with the pre- 
 judices and interests of his mother and tutor ; and this 
 idea being once rooted in a mind never susceptible of 
 new impressions, brought endless calamities upon his 
 people. 
 
 When Bolingbroke showed this work to Lyttel- 
 ton he expressed his surprise at what was written 
 about parties, and hinted that the sentiments needed a 
 more particular application. This induced Bolingbroke 
 to give, in a separate paper, a brief delineation of the 
 State of Parties at the Accession of George I., which 
 follows The Patriot King in his collected works. Here 
 once more we have all Toryism distinctly repudiated ; 
 and in the first paragraph he gave expression to his 
 abiding and final sentiment. " I know," he wrote, " all 
 parties too well to esteem any." He denied that there 
 was any formed design in the last year of Queen Anne's 
 yeign to set aside the succession in the House of Ha- 
 
1735—17-13.] AT TWICKENHAlVr. 639 
 
 1739. 
 
 nover, showed that his animosity to his former colleague, 
 the Earl of Oxford, who had heen fifteen years in 
 his grave, had in no respect abated by time, bitterly 
 regretted that Greorge I. had at his accession, by throw- 
 ing himself entirely into the hands of the Whigs, 
 driven the Tories into rebellion, and in the spirit of his 
 recent treatise hoped for a national union, independent 
 of parties, as soon as patriotism should fill the throne, 
 and faction be banished from the government. 
 
 The introduction to The Patriot King bears the date 
 of December 1738. When Bolingbroke had come over 
 in the preceding June he had spoken of goiag back in 
 a month or two to his forest. The spring of 1739 had, 
 however, returned before he again left England. Ke 
 had found himself unable to settle all his affairs to his 
 satisfaction ; and perhaps he wished to see the result 
 of the great debates on the convention with Spain, 
 which threatened to destroy the Walpole administration. 
 The ear of Captain Jenkins had set the nation in a 
 flame. Nothing would satisfy the people and the Op- 
 position but a Spanish war; and to this desire the 
 minister was himself at last about to yield. The ap- 
 proval of the convention with Spain was only carried 
 in March by a small majority. It was evident that 
 stirring times were approaching ; and Bolingbroke 
 could not but watch intently the progress of afiairs, 
 though he was himself still regarded as an intruder, 
 and his presence neither asked nor desired by the 
 Government nor the Opposition. ' 
 
 Most of his time was still spent with Pope at Twick- 
 enham. They had read and criticised together Aaron 
 Hill's tragedy of Caesar, which they both praised much 
 too highly ; and, on the usual difficulties occurring 
 about bringing it on the stage, early in 1739, Boling- 
 
6'40 IB PRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 broke drew a parallel between Hill's poetical situation, 
 and bis own political position. Fortune, be said, 
 treated tbem botb alike. " Tbe stage," wrote Pope to 
 Hill, " is as ungrateful to you as bis country to Lord 
 Bolingbroke : you are botb sure of posterity, and may 
 say, in tbe meantime, witb Scipio, ' Ingrata patria, ne 
 ossa quidem babeas !' "* 
 
 Tearing bimself away from tbe political scene, Bo- 
 lingbroke was in May once more in France. He 
 occupied a residence, wbicb be rented of a widow 
 under a new arrangement. Tbe negotiation gave 
 bim mucb trouble, and it was not until July tbat 
 be could call tbe bouse bis bome. He communicated 
 tbe result to Sir WiUiam Windbam. " My lease," 
 Bolingbroke wrote, " is for tbe life of a widow or tbe 
 term of ber widowbood. Sbe will not marry, I tbink, 
 because sbe would lose by it tbe best part of a small 
 revenue ; and tbougb sbe be younger tban I am, sbe is 
 old enougb not to be courted for ber beauty." -j- His 
 address be altered from Cbanteloup to Argeville. He 
 bad still, bowever, all tbe advantages of tbe neigb- 
 bourbood. 
 
 During tbe autumn and winter of 1739, and tbe spring 
 of 1740, be corresponded frequently witb Sir WiUiam 
 Windbam, and tbe young Lord Polwartb, wbo, on tbe 
 deatb of bis fatber, in January, 1740, became tbe tbird 
 Earl of Marcbmont. In tbese letters Bolingbroke's 
 dissatisfaction witb all parties, and particularly witb 
 botb tbe leading members of tbe Wbig opposition 
 and tbe Jacobites, was still very strongly expressed. 
 After tbe convention witb Spain bad been virtually 
 approved, tbougb by a small majority, tbe Opposition 
 
 * Pope to Aaron Hill, February 12, 1739. 
 
 t Bolingbroke to Sir W, Windham, July 23, 1739. 
 
173=5-1744.] SECESSION. 641 
 
 1739. 
 
 had seceded in a body from the House of Commons. Sir 
 W. Windham's speech, in bidding farewell to this scene 
 of debate, was very eloquent, and Bolingbroke, as usual, 
 had the credit of Sir William's oratorical effort. The 
 secession, however, did Walpole no injury. It gave 
 him the opportunity of passing easily some useful 
 measures ; and when Parliament was prorogued the 
 step which the Opposition had taken seemed very 
 questionable to the public out of doors. Pulteney 
 hinted to Lord Polwarth his desire that Bolingbroke 
 should write something on the question. For Pulteney, 
 however, Bolingbroke had determined to write nothing 
 more. When the request was communicated to him, 
 Bolingbroke replied to Polwarth, " I am hurt, and your 
 lordship will acknowledge that I have some reason to 
 be so, when I hear that the same persons as think my 
 name, and much more my presence in Britain, whenever 
 I am there, does them mischief, should express any 
 expectation of that kind you mention from me. They 
 treat me a little too lightly." For Lord Polwarth's 
 own satisfaction, however, Bolingbroke did sketch out 
 a paper in defence of the secession. No sooner, how- 
 ever, was it sent over than it was found practically 
 useless, for the secession came to an end. War was 
 declared against Spain in October of 1739, Parhament 
 was summoned to meet in November, and the Opposi- 
 tion again appeared in their places. 
 
 From his retreat in France, Bolingbroke surveyed 
 the agitating scene in England like a being from another 
 world. His day of action was over. He could but 
 look on and communicate his thoughts to the two 
 friends by whom his opinions were still received with 
 respect. His reflections were very melancholy. He 
 was certain that Walpole even, in declaring war, was 
 
 2 T 
 
642 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV, 
 
 tetraying his country to Spain, and that England was 
 almost hopelessly undcne. Nothing but a national 
 union of men of all parties could afford any prospect of 
 saving the state ; and this union was perversely resisted 
 by the Whigs, who had plainly told Bolingbrokethat tbey 
 did not want their party destroyed, and by the perverse 
 Jacobites, who, he said, were born to be hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water to the rest of their countrymen. 
 He still, in his private letters, declaimed on the evils of 
 parties, and recapitulated at great length to Lord 
 Polwarth all the efforts he had made for so many years 
 to establish an opposition on another principle of combi- 
 nation than that of Whig or Tory. These endeavours, 
 however, had been unavaiHng. The nation was all but 
 abandoned to perdition. With the exception of Wind- 
 ham and Polwarth, no English politicians would act 
 on the principle Bolingbroke had laid down. It was 
 useless for him to struggle any longer. He had 
 preached eloquently, but in vain, to a foolish, wicked, 
 and thoughtless generation, only deserving such a 
 minister as Walpole to rule over it as a kind of grand 
 vizier or mayor of the palace. Such were the tenor of 
 BoHngbroke's reflections as the year 1739 closed.* 
 
 In the January of 1740, Lord Polwarth was removed 
 from the House of Commons, and even from the pohti- 
 cal scene, by the death of his father, the second Earl of 
 Marchmont. In becoming a Scottish peer, as the third 
 Earl of Marchmont, without a seat as one of the elected 
 peers in the House of Lords, Bolingbroke's young 
 favourite found himself almost in the same condition as 
 his great instructor. They could do little but complain 
 
 * See Bolingbioke's letters to Sir W. Windham, of July 23, Nov. 1 and 
 18, 1739, and New Tear's Day, 1740 ; and the letters to Lord Polwarth of 
 July 22, Oct. 15, 1739, and New Year's Day, 1740. 
 
1735-1744.] DEATH OF SIR W. WINDHAM. 643 
 
 1740. 
 
 to eacli other. Bolingbroke still meditated a history of 
 Queen Anne's reign, and set about revising his philo- 
 sophical essays. He shot and hunted as usual in the 
 forest. His ordinary pursuits were, however, inter- 
 rupted by a severe attack of bilious fever. For some 
 days he was confined to his bed, and was only slowly 
 recovering when he received a visit from Sir William 
 Windham, Lord Marchmont, and another friend. He 
 observed with pain that Windham's health was much 
 broken. Sir William soon afterwards died. The loss 
 of this old friend affected Bolingbroke more than any 
 affliction he had ever sustained. 
 
 He wrote and received many letters of condolence. 
 Pope, Lyttelton, and Marchmont all sent him very 
 interesting and curious epistles for the insight they 
 gave to the characters of the writers and to the 
 position Bolingbroke held as their friend and political 
 adviser. A genuine letter from Pope to Bolingbroke 
 is itself a curiosity, for it is strange how few of such 
 compositions we possess. This letter, a manuscript 
 copy of which I have found in the library of the 
 British Museum, is one of the most characteristic of 
 Pope's epistles. It exhibits plainly the relation in 
 which Pope and Bolingbroke stood towards each other. 
 On September the 3rd, 1740, Pope then was, as usual, 
 prostrate in the dust before the image of Bolingbroke, 
 and wrote as follows : 
 
 "My dear Lord, 
 
 " Your every word is kind to me, and all the 
 openings of your mind enviable. Your communicating 
 any of your sentiments both make me a happier and a 
 better man. There is so true a friend of all virtue, 
 public and social, within you, I mean so right a sense 
 
 2 T 2 
 
614 IN PRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XY; 
 
 of things as we stand related to each other by the laws 
 of Grod, and indebted to each other in conforming to 
 those laws, that I hope no particular calamity can 
 swallow up your care and concern for the general. 
 Indeed, the loss of Sir W. Windham might have been felt 
 by you more deeply as a particular than by any other ; 
 and I see 'nothing so manly, nothing so edifying, as 
 your not deserting the common cause of your country 
 at this juncture. No man has less obligation to her, 
 no man feels a stronger than yourself. Tour resolution 
 to return to her, if she wants to be saved, and will or 
 can be saved, is by far a more dignified one than any of 
 her sons can pretend. And every one who knows 
 either her condition or your ability (and, more than 
 your ability, our safety, duty, and honour), must rest 
 his chief hope upon it. Lord Marchmont does so as 
 the ultimate resource, as he holds no language but that 
 of his heart, and unless you animate him to act by that 
 hope, will drop all thought of action. No other has 
 the least influence, and all his friends' entreaties have 
 been urged in vaia to draw him from Scotland for this 
 winter to come. Lord Chesterfield despairs as much as 
 ourselves to act. He and Lyttelton think alike, and 
 act the best part that ever was acted in their conduct, 
 and counsel to their master. But still I will say, be 
 others at home as they will, they cannot be as generous 
 as you. They must, if good counsel prevail, reap bene- 
 fits you will not reap, and may expect to see these fruits 
 of which you can see the blossom only. The monk and 
 ascetic tell us, we are not attained to perfection till we 
 serve God for his sake only, not our own, not even for 
 the hope of heaven. You really would serve men in 
 this manner, and many whom you have no obligation to 
 love, and who have done their best to ruin you, all in 
 
1735-174;4.] POPE TO BOLINGBEOEE. 645' 
 
 1710. 
 
 their turns. It may therefore be called by its true name, 
 
 not so mucb love to your country as to your God. It 
 
 is not patriotism but downright piety, and instead of 
 
 celebrating you as a poet should, I would (if I were 
 
 Pope) canonize you, whatever all the advocates for the 
 
 devil could say to the contrary. 
 
 " But I hope the time for that is not near ; that your 
 reward in the next life (of which I am satisfied) might 
 be the sole motive of such a conduct, will be different 
 at least during my own time. There is nothing at 
 present I desire so much to know as that your bilioTis 
 fever is quite removed ; the repeated attacks of which 
 have given me an alarm greater, I assure you, than 
 almost any worldly event could give me, who daily 
 find myself passing into a state of indifference, out of 
 which I would take those whom Providence seems by 
 their talents to ordain to do more good to mankind. I 
 have a more particular interest, too, in your life than 
 any other at present, as a private man ; for the greatest 
 vanity I have is to see finished that noble work, which 
 you address to me, and where my verses interspersed 
 here and there will have the same honour done them 
 as those of Ennius in the philosophical writings of 
 Tully. 
 
 " Next to patching up my constitution, my great 
 business has been to patch up a grotto (the same you 
 have so often sat in the sunny part of, under my house) 
 with all the varieties of nature underground, spars, 
 minerals, and inarbles. I hope yet to live to philoso 
 phize with you in this museum, which is now a study 
 for virtuosi and a scene for contemplation. At least I 
 am resolved to have it remembered that you was there, 
 as you will see from the verses I dare to set over it. 
 
616 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV, 
 
 " Adieu ! may you and yours be happy : 
 
 " Then who shall stop, &c." (as in the printed copy). 
 
 " Aweftil as Philo's grove or Niima's grot, 
 Where nobly pensive St. John sat and thought : 
 Here patriot sighs from Windham's bosom stole, 
 And shot the generous flame through Marchmont's soul. 
 Let such, such only, &c." * 
 
 On perusing this specimen of the correspondence 
 between Pope and Bolingbroke, every reader may ask, 
 How is it that so few of these letters are to be found ? 
 Besides the one here now printed, scarcely another be- 
 tween Pope and Bolingbroke has come to light. In the 
 voluminous editions of Pope's published correspondence 
 there is not a single letter from him to Bolingbroke, or 
 from Bolingbroke to him. That, however, they wrote 
 to each other regularly can be shown from many 
 allusions in other epistles. What, then, has become of 
 all their letters? Pope evidently intended his for 
 publication : in the letter just given, there is a care and 
 affectation, showing that the poet was writing to 
 posterity as much as to Bolingbroke. As Bolingbroke 
 had afterwards the charge of Pope's manuscripts, the 
 conclusion is forced upon us, that, enraged with what 
 he regarded as the poet's treachery, he deliberately 
 destroyed all the letters which passed between them 
 in order that no trace of their long and intimate cor- 
 respondence should remain. 
 
 The letter from Lyttelton to Bolingbroke which I 
 have found in the same collection, anticipates very cor- 
 rectly all the loss which Sir Wilham Windham's death 
 had entailed upon the Opposition. It was found im- 
 possible to keep the Tories in hand, and during the very 
 
 * This interesting letter I have given exactly as it remains in the manu- 
 script copy : Additional MSS. 4291. The verses were afterwards slightly 
 altered. 
 
1735—1744.] LYTTELTON TO BOLINGBEOKE. 647 
 
 1740. 
 
 next session, on Sandys' motion for Walpole's removal, 
 a considerable body of them under Shippen left the 
 house without voting at all, and others, like Boling- 
 broke's virtuous friend Lord Cornbury, actually sup- 
 ported the minister. The earnest and conscientious, 
 though somewhat dreamy and solemn Mr. Lyttelton was 
 one of those whom Walpole called the Boys ; but he 
 clearly defines the position Sir W. Windham had long 
 held, and, though he wrote as an orator, his views, 
 as expressed in this letter, are practical and sagacious. 
 " It is," wrote Lyttelton to Bolingbroke, " my lord, no 
 small addition to the grief I feel for the loss of Sir W. 
 Windham, that I know it must be an inconsolable one 
 to your lordship ; and that it comes upon you when 
 your spirit has been weakened by a great fit of illness, 
 as I hear from Mr. Pope, whom I saw yesterday atmy 
 return out of Worcestershire. Indeed, you will have 
 need of all your philosophy to support such a blow, 
 which falls as heavily upon the public as it does upon 
 you ; so that you have the affliction of your country to 
 bear as well as your own ; nor do I see any comfort to 
 either but resignation to Providence, for the loss is 
 irreparable. 
 
 " Besides his abilities and integrity, there were some 
 peculiar circumstances in Sir W. Windham's situation 
 which made him of the utmost importance to his 
 country in the present conjuncture. He was the centre 
 of union to the best men of all parties. His credit in 
 Parliament was the only check to the corrupt part of 
 the Whig opposition, and his influence with the Tories 
 the only means of keeping that party in any system of 
 rational measures. Now he is gone, those who look 
 towards the court will pursue their schemes with little 
 or no difficulty, without any regard to the coalition or 
 
648 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 to any national reformation of Government, but rather 
 to build a new fabric on Sir Robert's [weak] and rotten 
 foundation; and it is mucb to be feared that resent- 
 ment, despair, and their inability of conducting them- 
 selves, may drive the Tories back into their old pre- 
 judices, heat, and extravagance. That this is too 
 likely to happen, I dare say your lordship feels and 
 laments. What alone could prevent it is, I doubt, not 
 likely to happen, viz., that the Prince of "Wales should 
 have credit enough with the best part of the Tories — with 
 that part, I mean, which was under the influence of Sic 
 W. W. — to keep them united under him, with the uncor- 
 rupt part of the Whigs ; and that the views of this coah- 
 tion should be steadily, regularly, and warmly pursued. 
 " This, my lord, might yet preserve us from impend- 
 ing destruction. But even if with the mediation of Sir 
 W. W. [this] could not be effected, if even with him at 
 our head we were inactive, careless, and ready to break 
 asunder every day : what hope is there now of greater 
 activity, greater confidence or union in our proceed- 
 ings ? Who shaU take the lead in the House of 
 Commons ? Who has authority enough there to defeat 
 the perfidy of some, and to spirit the languor of others ; 
 to direct our measures, and to give them weight, order, 
 and dignity? To say the truth, after losing in one 
 year. Lord Polwarth and Sir W. Windham, to hope to 
 resist the fall of the nation is a sort of presumption. 
 But though to hope may be folly, to contend, I am sure, 
 is a duty ; and upon that principle some, I suppose, will 
 act under any discouragement. From the despondency 
 I feel about the public, my head is, I think, with the 
 sentiments of private afi'ection and concern for my 
 friends. This makes me very impatient to hear from 
 your lordship, that I may be assured of your healthy 
 
1735—1744.] THE EAEL OF MAECHMONT. 6i9 
 
 1740. 
 
 whicli I am afraid may be too mucli affected by tliis 
 unbappy event ; and it will be tbe greatest consolation 
 to me under tbe loss of a friend I sball always regret, 
 to find tbat you continue your kindness to 
 
 "My lord, 
 " Your lordsbip's most obliged bumble servant, 
 
 " G. Lyttelton. 
 
 " I put tbis into tbe bands of Mr. Brinsden till be 
 can find a safe opportunity of conveying it to you."* 
 
 Lord Marcbmont, tbe Lord Polwartb of tbe last 
 year, followed on tbe same mournful subject. Boling- 
 broke wrote to bim in tbe most affectionate terms 
 immediately after bearing of tbe deatb of tbeir common 
 friend. He classed tbem botb togetber as lost to public 
 life ; for Marcbmont by bis Scottisb peerage was as 
 bopelessly sbut out from tbe House of Commons, and 
 from taking part in tbe great impending struggle 
 against Walpole, as Windbam was by tbe grave. 
 " Wbat a star bas our minister !" exclaimed Bolingbroke 
 in a letter to Pope^ wbo afterwards quoted tbe expres- 
 sion in anotber letter to tbe young Earl. " Windbam 
 dead — Marcbmont disabled ! tbe loss of Marcbmont and 
 Windbam to our country !" Nor was tbis merely 
 friendly exaggeration. During tbe six years Lord 
 Polwartb bad sat in tbe House of Commons, be bad 
 risen rapidly to be an effective speaker, and bad dis- 
 tinguisbed bimself as one of tbe ablest of Walpole's 
 assailants, Sir Eobert bimself ranking bis efforts 
 above tbose of Lyttelton or even Pitt. Tbis Hugb, tbe 
 tbird Earl of Marcbmont, was undoubtedly a nobleman 
 of many virtues and accomplisbments : in tbe time of 
 Pitt and Fox he still remained, at above eighty years of 
 
 * Additional MSS. No. 2, 4291. 
 
650 • IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 age, the representative of a generation that had gone 
 for ever, and after witnessing the fierce parliamentary 
 battles against Walpole in 1741 and 1742, he lived 
 to be a spectator of the straggle of the younger Pitt 
 against the coalition of Fox and North in 1784, and 
 even to behold the French Kevolution, and the begin- 
 ning of the great war in 1793. He was the ^grandson 
 of that Sir Patrick Hume, who was afterwards by King 
 William created the first Earl of Marchmont, and who 
 shared the perils of the unfortunate Argyle's expedition 
 in the reign of James II., and has been so frequently 
 blamed for its failure. Between this Hugh, the third 
 Earl, and his twin brother Alexander Hume Campbell, 
 there was such a strong family likeness that even their 
 acquaintances frequently mistook one for the other. 
 
 Marchmont had won Bolingbroke's heart by accept- 
 ing his sentiments on the wickedness and folly of all 
 parties. Bolingbroke assured him that he was to take 
 Windham's place in his bosom, and be to him aU that 
 he had lost. The aging statesman needed some one to 
 whom he could write and converse, on the past, the 
 present, and the future. He chose the young Scottish 
 earl, who looked up to him with great respect, and 
 who, during the closing years of Bolingbroke's life, 
 continued his most intimate and cherished friend. 
 Bolingbroke's letters to Marchmont were frequently 
 written in a very high style. He moralized, he be- 
 wailed the misfortunes of his country, and, as in his recent 
 letters to Windham, adopted a tone of the most ardent 
 and disinterested patriotism. The historical work 
 which he had intended addressing to Windham was 
 now to be addressed to Marchmont. "I hope," wrote 
 Bolingbroke to him, after lamenting Windham's death, 
 "you will see one day or other some essays, that 
 
1735—1744.] MAECHMONT TO BOLINGBROKE. 651 
 
 1740. 
 
 vindicate reason against philosopliy, religion against 
 
 divinity, and God against man ; and I flatter myself 
 
 that on all these subjects they will give you some 
 
 satisfaction by what they contain, and more by what 
 
 they suggest. The mention of these essays puts me in 
 
 mind of some miscellaneous writings that I shall leave 
 
 behind me, if I live a little longer, and enjoy a little 
 
 health. The principal part of them will be historical, 
 
 and these I intended to address to Windham : permit me 
 
 to address the whole to you. I shall finish them up 
 
 with more spirit, and with greater pleasure, when I 
 
 think that, if they carry to posterity any memorials 
 
 of my weakness, as an actor or a writer, they will carry 
 
 thither a character of me, that I prefer to both, the 
 
 character of Windham and Marchmont's friend." 
 
 The earl was highly flattered by the assurance 
 
 that he stood so high in Bolingbroke's esteem. Eeply- 
 
 ing to him from his family seat, Eedbraes Castle, on 
 
 the 24th of September, he said : " My lord, I have 
 
 this minute received your letter, and by my brother's 
 
 leaving this place to-morrow, I am inclined to return 
 
 you the thanks of a most grateful and affectionate 
 
 heart, for the pleasure which your goodness, and 
 
 the instruction of your genius, communicate to me. 
 
 My lord, it is beyond my power to express what I feel 
 
 when I observe you take every occasion of gratifying 
 
 me, by permitting me to have fresh marks of your 
 
 affection. It is impossible, I think, even for your 
 
 lordship to go beyond this of making me successor to 
 
 Sir W. Windham. I have reaped the fruit of a long 
 
 life after a short time of labour, in the acquisition of 
 
 such friends. God long preserve you, my lord, that all 
 
 comfort may not be taken away ! I have just received 
 
 a letter from Lord Chesterfield, pressing me to come to 
 
652 IN FRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV; 
 
 town. I have told Mm that I could be of no use, I know 
 I cannot ; but they all deal in imagination, or without, as 
 I see, one probable foundation to build their hopes upon. 
 They have lost their generals, and they are pressing 
 private men. They want advice, when they have no hand 
 to execute nor head to conduct the operations. I have 
 told my lord that I would, if possible^ look on for a 
 month, in obedience to him who is the only hope in this 
 country ; but excluded from the scene where the action 
 must now lie, wherever I am, my lord, I hope to have 
 the pleasure of frequent communication with you, and, 
 by that means, the advantage of being directed by your 
 judgment. My inclination leads me to turn from a 
 scene where I can only refresh the memory of what is 
 gone for ever. I know enough of people and things to 
 expect no good, and to be sensible I can do none. I 
 cannot act, and I have credit with none who do or can 
 act, and this I think decides that point. Thus far, I 
 can practise resignation, though I lament and repine 
 at the blow which has reduced me to it. Tour lord- 
 ship is used to our fortunes, and have reasoned your- 
 self into submission. But I have met them in the 
 bloom of hopes, and my first trials are the great bitter- 
 nesses of life. I have but one way to support them, and 
 I may rejoice that it is open to me-^the enjoyment of 
 your friendship and those friendships I owe to you."* 
 
 Lord Marchmont wrote much more in the same strain. 
 The correspondence between the young earl and the 
 old statesman having been thus established after Wind- 
 ham's death, continued with scarcely any interruption. 
 To Charles Windham, who had succeeded to his late 
 
 • This letter will not be found among the published Marchmont Papers. 
 A copy of it is, with the others I have quoted, in the British Museum. Add, 
 MSS. 4291. 
 
1735—1744.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH MARCHMONT 653 
 
 1741. 
 
 father's estate and baronetcy, Bolingbroke also wrote 
 at this season two or three letters of advice about the 
 management of his affairs, and earnestly counselled him 
 to practise that economy from the neglect of which 
 Bolingbroke himself was still suffering. But March- 
 mont soon became his only regular correspondent. The 
 struggle against Walpole in 1741, the conduct of the 
 Tories, the general election, and Walpole's consequent 
 defeat and resignation in the February of 1742, were 
 subjects in which Bolingbroke still took the greatest 
 interest, and on which he wrote to his friend eloquently 
 and copiously. He related to him an interview he had 
 in the autumn of 1739 with a distinguished member 
 of the Opposition, who, in answer to Bolingbroke's re- 
 monstrances for not acting steadily against Walpole, 
 solemnly replied that he did not consider the English 
 Constitution worth preserving, and that on the whole he 
 decidedly preferred the scheme in Harrington's Oceana. 
 Bolingbroke still meditated his historical work, which, 
 however, began to be more limited in design, and to be 
 rather memorials for history than a general history, in 
 consequence, as he observed, from not receiving all the 
 materials he expected ; and he requested Lord March- 
 mont, as he had formerly done Windham, to make in- 
 quiries about the state of the revenue in the last year of 
 Queen Anne's reign and the first of the accession of the 
 House of Hanover. He admitted that the treaty of 
 Utrecht had left too much power in the hands of the 
 House of Bourbon; and on Torcy's Memoirs being 
 shown to him in manuscript by the author, who had 
 been, Hke himself, many years in retirement, he doubted 
 the accuracy of the statement made on Mesnager's autho- 
 rity that he had objected to treat with France on the 
 ground that there was an express law prohibiting the 
 
654 m PRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 Englisli government from negotiating witli any state 
 harbouring the Pretender. 
 
 A change also soon occurred in Bolingbroke's pri- 
 vate affairs. He learnt at Argeville, in the year 1741, 
 that his father, old Lord St. John, was at last break- 
 ing, and that he might himself soon expect to become 
 master of Battersea. He was visited by Chesterfield, 
 who during the summer spent three days with him, 
 and found him deep in metaphysics, refusing almost to 
 talk on any other subject.* Still, Bolingbroke was pre- 
 pared to leave his French hermitage, and cross over to 
 England on the first summons. He was, however, by 
 no means anxious to attend his father in his last hours. 
 Between them for many years there scarcely seems to 
 have been any communication or sympathy, as, indeed, 
 under their circumstances, little kindly feeling was to be 
 expected. Between a brilliant son who was above sixty 
 years of age, with a broken constitution and indifferent 
 circumstances, and a hale and hearty old gentleman who 
 kept Bolingbroke out of the family estate, and at ninety 
 years of age still persisted in living, and threatened to 
 run a hard race even with his legal successor, the domestic 
 relationship could not be very tender. The old gentleman 
 threatened to live to the age of Methusaleh ; and Bo- 
 lingbroke, who was himself getting grey, and was both 
 gouty and rheumatical, could not afford to wait. Old 
 Lord St. John made a hard fight for it, but, tough as 
 he was, he at last succumbed. He died in the April 
 of 1742 ; and Bolingbroke's presence was required in 
 England. 
 
 Here he remained, however, little more than two 
 months. In succeeding to his father's estate he was still 
 
 * Chesterfield's Works, edited by Lord Stanhope, v. 443. 
 
1735—1744.] STUDIES AT ABGEVILLE. 655 
 
 1742. 
 
 far from rich. His debts were heavy, and his means 
 limited. He resolved to continue his residence in 
 Prance. Independently of his straitened circumstances 
 the political events of the spring and summer gave 
 him little pleasure. After Walpole's fall Bolingbroke, 
 with nearly all the rest of the world, had been dis- 
 satisfied with the compromise Pulteney and Carteret 
 had been artfully induced to make with the subordinate 
 members of the late government, and he had written 
 strongly to Lord Marchmont lamenting the conse- 
 quences he had always foreseen. He arrived in 
 London just in time to witness the complete discom- 
 fiture of the patriots, the total shipwreck of Pulteney's 
 reputation, and the miscarriage of all those prospects of 
 union which Bolingbroke himself had so long striven 
 to carry out. Seeing that he could do no good in 
 England, where he was as much out of place as at any 
 time during "Walpole's government, Bolingbroke was 
 anxious to be off again to France. 
 
 Bidding adieu to Pope and Lord Marchmont, he soon 
 again crossed the Channel. The passage was tedious, and 
 the vessel in which he sailed narrowly escaped capture by 
 three Spanish privateers. In August he was once more 
 settled at Argeville. He found, however, his hermit- 
 age not so quiet as he had expected ; his house was full 
 of visitors, thinking that he had come into a great 
 fortune ; and BoHngbroke, to pursue his studies free 
 from interruption, fitted up a small pavilion in a garden 
 belonging to the Abbey of Sens. There he had only 
 means of accommodation for himself and three or four 
 servants ; and in this retreat he still hoped to draw up 
 something historical, in order, as he said, that posterity 
 should know he lived and died Lord Marchmont's 
 friend.* 
 
 * See Bolingbroke's letters to Lord Marchmont, Aug. 2. and Oct. 30, 1742. 
 
656 IN PRANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 Lord Marclimont now inhabited Bolingbroke's house 
 at Battersea. Bohngbroke himself continued in his 
 foreign residence for some months. He still corre- 
 sponded with Lord Marchmont, and though he spoke 
 of England as despicable and despised, his interest 
 in her affairs was not at all diminished. His disgnst 
 at the turn things had taken after "Walpole's fall was 
 intense ; but he could scarcely complain of Pulteney, 
 who had gone into obscurity and insignificance by 
 being raised to the peerage as Earl of Bath, or of 
 Carteret, who had always frankly told him he in- 
 tended carrying on the old system. " The principles 
 of the late Opposition," remarked Bolingbroke to 
 his friend Marchmont, " were the principles of very 
 few of the opposers ; and your lordship and I, and 
 some few, very few, besides, were the bubbles of men 
 whose advantage lies in having worse hearts ; for I am 
 not humble enough to allow them better heads." 
 
 At the beginning of 1743 Bolingbroke was again in 
 England. He stayed some days at Battersea, dined 
 frequently with Lord Chesterfield, with whom he was 
 to the last on friendly terms, met Pope, Bathurst, and 
 Marchmont with the old cordiality, and again entered 
 into all the schemes of the Opposition. No disappoint- 
 ment could extinguish his political ardour. Like the 
 old war-horse, he was always strong, and his spirits 
 excited at the prospect of the coming battle. 
 
 Much of the time that was not given to politics 
 was spent with Pope. Pope had two new admirers. 
 The one was William Murray, afterwards the celebrated 
 Lord Mansfield, who, during Bolingbroke's last absence 
 in France, had been appointed solicitor-general, and the 
 other Warburton, who had won the poet's gratitude and 
 admiration by his defence of the Essay on Man from 
 the attacks of Crousaz. Bolingbroke had known Murray 
 
1735-1744.} . WARBUETON. 657 
 
 1743. 
 
 some years, they agreed in their dislike of parties, and 
 Murray's recent appointment to the solicitor-general- 
 ship had been hailed by Bolingbroke as a sign that 
 good and able men might rise independent of such 
 connections. Pope introduced Warburton to Boling- 
 broke, hoping that two such great and learned persons 
 would feel for each other that sincere admiration he 
 felt for them both. Never was expectation more com- 
 pletely deceived. Even before the two men met, the 
 seeds of their future enmity had been sown. Pope had 
 some time before innocently shown Warburton the 
 Letters on the Study of History, which had been pri- 
 vately printed in two small volumes. The dissertation 
 on Jewish History and Ancient Chronology, Warburton 
 without, as he declared, knowing who the author was 
 at the time, considered commonplace, second-hand, and 
 disingenuous. Pope, all zeal for his friend, asked War- 
 burton to state his objections in writing to this portion 
 of the work. Warburton sat down at once in the 
 library at Twickenham and wrote on several sheets 
 of paper a series of remarks in answer to Bolingbroke's 
 observations. When they were communicated by Pope 
 to Bolingbroke, they excited his strongest indignation ; 
 and he considered that Pope had committed a breach of 
 confidence in showing the work to Warburton at all. 
 As we have seen, this chronological question was one on 
 which Bolingbroke had formed very decided opinions, 
 even when he first began his philosophical studies at 
 La Source. To attack him on this ground was to attack 
 him where he felt most deeply. He had also a very 
 high estimation of his own writings ; and Warburton' s 
 criticism seemed to him nothing but presumption. He 
 wrote a warm defence of his dissertation, in which 
 there was more heat than argument. Pope at last 
 
 2 TT 
 
658 IN FEAXCE AaAIN. [Chap. XV: 
 
 introduced Warburton to Bolingbroke ; Bolingbroke 
 received him with politeness ; hut it required an 
 effort to conceal his antipathy. How, indeed, could 
 Pope have expected Bolingbroke to like Warburton ? 
 The author of the Divine Legation was the embodi- 
 ment of all .that Bolingbroke detested in divines ; and 
 his bold, paradoxical, learned, and elaborate work 
 must have appeared to Bolingbroke one of those 
 compilations of artificial theology which he considered 
 it his especial mission to destroy. The two men stood 
 in natural antagonism. Bolingbroke's hatred was not 
 softened by the suspicion, that whatever might be his 
 other qualifications, his learning on those theological 
 questions on which he pronounced so decidedly, was 
 not to be compared with that of this proud and scornful 
 attorney's son, who was working his way up to the 
 bench of bishops. Bolingbroke, too, was jealous of the 
 ascendancy Vf arburton was acquiring over Pope, who, 
 frightened at the imputations of irrehgion which had 
 been brought against the Essay on Man, regarded his 
 champion as the ablest of critics, and the Divine 
 Legation as the greatest of all works. Having him- 
 self been for so many years worshipped by Pope, 
 Bolingbroke could not bear to see the poet transfer a 
 portion of his idolatry to Warburton ; and he very 
 soon wrote of Warburton in the most contemptuous 
 terms. In reviewing the Fourth Philosophical Essay 
 addressed to Pope, he added some remarks on the 
 difference between genuine Christianity and the arti- 
 ficial theology preached and written about by divines. 
 Bolingbroke observed, with no very philosophical 
 equanimity, " You have, I know, at your elbow a very 
 foul-mouthed and a very trifling critic, who will en- 
 deavour to impose upon you on this occasion, as he did 
 
1735-1744.1 BOLINGBEOKE AND WARBUETON. 659 
 
 1743. 
 
 on a former. He will tell you again that I contradict 
 myself, and that by going about to destroy the autho- 
 rity of the fathers and the church which I reject, I go 
 about to reject the authenticity of the gospels, which I 
 admit. But if the dogmatical pedant should make this 
 objection, be pleased to give him this answer, that I do, 
 indeed, admit the gospel, not on the testimony of the 
 Spirit, like Calvin, but on that of the fathers and doctors 
 of the Church, who not only bear this testimony sepa- 
 rately, but assembled in a council at Laodicea, rejecting 
 many other gospels, made a canon of these : and yet 
 that his objection is impertinent, since I may receive 
 the gospels on the credit of these men, of whom I 
 think very little better than I do of him, for authentic 
 scriptures, just as well as he receives the books of the 
 Old Testament, concerning which he has started so 
 many idle paradoxes, for such, on the credit of the 
 Jews, though he rejects their oral law, and the fabu- 
 lous traditions of their rabbis." * 
 
 Bolingbroke continued in England during this visit 
 until June. He might be considered to have two 
 homes : part of the time he stayed in his own house, 
 with Lord Marchmont, at Battersea, and the rest was 
 spent, as usual, at Twickenham with Pope, whom he 
 magnanimously forgave for showing his Letters on 
 History to Warburton. He was anxious to bring about 
 a coalition between the Opposition and the Pelhams. 
 With Carteret he kept no terms, and eagerly counselled 
 measures to drive him from the councils of Greorge II. 
 His private affairs continued in a very unsatisfactory 
 condition ; and they gave both himself and his friend 
 
 * The conclusio:! of Bolingbroke's Fourth Philosophic 1 Fsspy ; see also 
 "Warbui'ton's review of Bolingbroke's philosophy for his account of their first 
 acquaintanceship ; and Pope's letters to Warburton passim, 
 
 2 u 2 
 
660 IN FEANCE AGAIN. [Chap. XV. 
 
 William Chetwynd, of Stafford, mncli trouble. When 
 he again left England, Bolingbroke's mind was, as 
 usual, excited and distracted, full both of poHtical affairs 
 and of his own embarrassed circumstances. Bitterly 
 did he continue to regret his neglect of economy during 
 the years he spent at Dawley.* 
 
 His rheumatism was still troublesome, and to finish 
 some doses of bark which he was taking, he stayed five 
 days at Calais. He then went on to Paris, where he 
 spent three more days, and at last set off for his hermi- 
 tage at Argeville. The news of the battle of Det- 
 tingen, fought in some way by England under the 
 leadership of his old friend Lord Stair, reached him as 
 soon as he was settled, and he took the most lively 
 interest in that conflict, which to us was both a victory 
 and an escape. He wrote repeatedly to Lord March- 
 mont to get him some red Yirginia acorns for a friend 
 and neighbour, who was fond of planting, and informed 
 him that he was learning in his solitude to play at 
 backgammon. " I find," he said, " that the back game 
 may be played often to advantage when tke fore game 
 is lost." He was also looking after Lord Grower's two 
 sons, who were studying in France, and he had them 
 with him on a visit at his house. 
 
 Bolingbroke had only been a month at Argeville 
 once more, before he thought of leaving this foreign 
 home, for what turned out to be the last time. All the 
 bark he took did not remove his rheumatism ; his gout 
 was also painful ; his wife, too, was not in good health ; 
 and the winter was coming on. He was advised by 
 his physicians again to go to Aix-la-Chapelle, and try 
 what bathing, sweating, drinking, and pumping would 
 do. In August, with most of his baggage and house- 
 
 * Letter to Lord Marchmont, June 19, 1713.. 
 
1735-1744.] EETUENS HOME AT LAST. 661 
 
 1743. 
 
 hold, he' set out by way of Brussels, determined to 
 employ those remedies to the utmost. " I am lame," 
 he wrote, " and my wife has lost the use almost en- 
 tirely of one hand. We are going to the pool of 
 Bethesda, and we shall soon see whether the angel will 
 descend and stir the waters for us."* 
 
 Bolingbroke stayed at Aix-la-Chapelle throughout 
 the month of September. He still corresponded with 
 Lord Marchmont earnestly on both foreign and domes- 
 tic affairs. He discussed the future probabilities of a 
 coalition, Henry Pelham having on the death of Lord 
 Wilmington become First Lord of the Treasury ; 
 whether Prince Charles had recrossed the Rhine ; the 
 ambition of the House of Bourbon ; and the necessities 
 of a peace to England. He spoke of leaving Aix-la- 
 Ohapelle again on the 7th of October, and of returning 
 to Argeville. But he suddenly changed his mind, and 
 ■ about the middle of the month set out from Aix to 
 England. One reason for his change of place was his 
 desire to assist in bringing about his favourite scheme 
 of a coalition ; and another was the unsatisfactory con- 
 dition of his private circumstances. After contributing 
 to drive him from England for so many years^ these 
 embarrassments had at last their share in compelling 
 him to return. " If I cannot," he observed, " have 
 ease and stability in my retreat abroad, I had as good 
 be at home, though it is one of the last places where I 
 would be." Though he knew it not at the time, his 
 ramblings were at an end. He was no longer to take 
 up his residence on a foreign soil. That England in 
 whose affairs, notwithstanding all his disappointments 
 and declarations, he could not help feeling so strong an 
 interest, was henceforth, during the few years that yet 
 remained to him, to be his home. 
 
 * Letter to Lord Marchmont froin Brussels, Aug. 2.'>, 1743. 
 
662 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 1744—1751. 
 BATTEESEA. 
 
 BoLiNGBROKB came over to England intending, as lie 
 said to Lord Marchmont, to live with him on the same 
 brotherly terms as Windham had lived at Dawley. The 
 winter of 1743, and the spring of 1744, were spent by 
 Marchmont and Bolingbroke together in pleasant idle- 
 ness ; political affairs were not immiediately pressing ; 
 and their only anxiety was about their common friend, 
 Pope. 
 
 Pope's health had been gradually declining. He had 
 recently been at Bath, but even as a sickly poet, could 
 still dine gaily, taking garlic in sauces rather than ia 
 electuaries. After Bolingbroke returned to England, 
 the poet was frequently brought down to Battersea, 
 and as he became worse, nothing that Bolingbroke 
 could do was omitted to render him the kindest atten- 
 tions. He consulted physicians; he carried them to 
 Twickenham ; he was hours and days at Pope's bedside. 
 On the Easter Monday of 1744, Pope wrote to his two 
 friends, one of the last of his letters, inviting them to 
 come to Twickenham together, to meet Murray, the 
 
1744-1751.] POPE'S DEATH. 663 
 
 1744. 
 
 solicitor-general there, and to send Warburton, who was 
 very desirous to wait upon them both, on to him in a 
 chaise which had been left at Battersea. As the month 
 of May came in, it became clearly evident that Pope 
 had but a little while to live. Bolingbroke spent nearly 
 all his time at Twickenham. One day Pope was on the 
 terrace taking the air with Bolingbroke and Marchmpnt. 
 Martha Blount came to the steps. Poj^e, according to 
 Johnson, requested Bolingbroke to assist her up to him ; 
 but he only replied by crossing his legs, and ungallantly 
 left the task to Marchmont. Bolingbroke, however, wept 
 over his dying friend, passionately exclaiming, " Oh ! 
 great God, what is man !" When all hope in this world 
 was over, the eminent surgeon, William Cheselden, re- 
 marked that the poet's friends must now look towards 
 heaven. " Pshaw !" replied Bolingbroke, " we can only 
 reason on the actual :" the actual in his philosophy 
 always being just what he could grasp with his ten 
 fingers. At the suggestion of Hooke, the historian of 
 Eome, a Catholic priest was brought to the poet's bed- 
 side. When Bolingbroke heard of the circumstance he 
 was highly indignant, and fell into a great passion. 
 But some of the anecdotes of his conduct as Pope was 
 dying, though minutely related, come from his enemies, 
 and may be received with diflSdence. Pope breathed 
 his last on the thirtieth of May. Bolingbroke sobbed 
 like a child ; and repeatedly declared that the poet was 
 one of the best and most generous of men.* 
 
 In a few days, however, Bolingbroke's language 
 regarding his late friend began to change. To War- 
 burton had been left a rich legacy in the property of 
 all Pope's printed writings ; to the care and judg- 
 ment of Lord Bolingbroke, and after him to Lord 
 Marchmont, were committed, with the authority to pre- 
 
 * See Spence's Anecdotes, Singer's edition, 320-22, 
 
664 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XTI. 
 
 serve or destroy them, all the poet's manuscripts and 
 imprinted papers. The old Dowager Duchess of Marl- 
 borough had of late years been on very friendly terms 
 with Pope, and had given him a thousand pounds to 
 destroy the character of Atossa, which had been handed 
 about, and which she well knew was intended for herself. 
 Though to the last high-spirited and brave, she really 
 dreaded Pope's satire, and had done everything to make 
 him her friend. On his death she inquired anxiously of 
 Lord Marchmont what had become of the character of 
 Atossa. Bolingbroke made some investigations on the 
 subject, and the result may be given in his own words, 
 addressed to Lord IMarchmont. " Our friend Pope, it 
 seems, corrected and prepared for the press, just before 
 his death, an edition of the four epistles that follow the 
 Essay on Man. They were then printed off, and are 
 now ready for publication. I am sorry for it, because 
 if he could be excused for writing the character of 
 Atossa formerly, there is no excuse for his design of 
 publishing it after he had received the favour you and I 
 know, and the character of Atossa is inserted." As the 
 acceptance of the Duchess's money by Pope has been 
 denied, these words of Bolingbroke to Lord March- 
 mont, who was one of the executors of the rich old 
 dowager's will, put the matter beyond dispute, if any 
 credit is to be placed in human testimony. Bolingbroke 
 speaks on the subject as of a fact well known both to him- 
 self and Lord Marchmont. Whether Bolingbroke was 
 also, as has been asserted, really dissatisfied with the terms 
 of Pope's will, and expected that he would have re- 
 ceived the legacy which was bequeathed to "Warburton, 
 are questions which must be left to the great Searcher 
 of hearts. Pope had undoubtedly acted with character- 
 istic baseness ; and soon a breach of faith on his part 
 came to light, even towards Bolingbroke himself. 
 
1744-1751.] PEBLTNGS AT BATTERSEA. 665 
 
 1744. 
 
 This further discovery had, however, not fully been 
 made when Bolingbroke thought of again going to Aix- 
 la-Chapelle. With this object he crossed the Channel in 
 June ; but, deterred apparently by the alarming aspect 
 of continental affairs, there being nothing but wars, 
 and rumours of wars, he suddenly changed his mind, 
 remained a few days at Calais, and then returned to 
 England. Henceforth he determined finally to reside 
 at Battersea. He sent for all his remaining baggage 
 from Argeville ; he made every necessary prepara- 
 tion ; and in the autumn of 1744, settled down in 
 the old and decayed mansion in which his father and 
 grandfather had lived and died, and where he was at 
 last to live and die. His spirits were not joyful. He 
 wrote, on coming to this resolution, " I go into my own 
 country as if I went into a strange . country, and shall 
 inhabit my own house as if I lodged in an inn."* 
 
 Yet, after so long buffeting with the storm, he 
 might have been expected to feel some comfort at 
 reaching his own haven. His days were to end where 
 they had begun. By the old church, which he could 
 not enter without seeing before him the large win- 
 dow emblazoned with all the heraldic glories of the 
 St. Johns, the arms of England in the centre, and the 
 whole supported by portraits of Margaret Beauchamp, 
 Henry YII., and Queen Elizabeth; and in the old 
 house, with the green terrace before it, and looking so 
 pleasantly on the broad and tranquil river, as it flowed 
 down to the great metropolis, here he had at last found 
 his home. Ambition and philosophy, however, had 
 destroyed in his mind those associations which throw a 
 halo over the past, ennoble the present, and brighten 
 the future. The traditions of the past spoke to him in 
 vain ; disappointments embittered the passing hours. 
 
 * Letter toLord Marchmont, June 18, 1744. 
 
666 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVi: 
 
 In the future, of whicli the old church, where the 
 remains of his family were lying, a mere step- 
 ping-stone from his door, was the symhol, he had 
 ceased to believe. He tried to seek comfort in his cold, 
 dreary First Philosophy, and sought it in vain. Even 
 with the virtues of his grandmother, the good and pious 
 Lady Johanna, and of his grandfather, the estimable Sir 
 Walter St. John, he was not very greatly impressed. 
 Of his grandmother all he remembered v/as her assi- 
 duity in making him, as a boy, take some favourite 
 cephalic drops, a few at a time, but often.* Of his 
 grandfather, who had left many philanthropic memo- 
 rials behind him, not the least being the school he had 
 founded at Battersea for twenty poor boys, of whom 
 Bolingbroke might hear the joyous shouts in the play- 
 ground, he thought very little. Of his father, the late 
 Lord St. John, he appears to have at last entertained 
 something like aversion, and he refrained even from 
 erecting the slightest monument to his memory. 
 
 On first settling at Battersea he found himself en- 
 gaged in a very unpleasant duty. The breach of 
 faith which Pope committed to the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough had scarcely come to light when another, 
 equally injurious to the poet's memory, was discovered 
 towards Bolingbroke himself. Bolingbroke had given 
 to Pope the manuscript of The Patriot King, and the 
 letter on Patriotism, in order to get five or six copies 
 printed for private circulation. Pope, however, had 
 given orders for fifteen hundred additional copies 
 to be worked off, under the strictest injunctions of 
 secrecy. The secret was kept until Pope's death. 
 Soon afterwards Bolingbroke received a letter from 
 the printer, asking him what was to be done 
 with these fifteen hundred copies ? Bolingbroke 
 
 * See -Letter to Lord Marchmont, June 19, 1743. 
 
1744-1751.] POP.E'S TREACHERY. 667 
 
 1744. 
 
 was astonislied to find so mucli artifice and naean- 
 ness in Ms former friend. He requested Lord March- 
 mont to get all the edition into his hands. " Since," 
 Bolingbroke wrote, " you will take the trouble of 
 receiving from Mr. Wright the edition of that paper 
 which our late friend caused so treacherously to be 
 made ; and since I mean to have it only to destroy 
 it, the bringing it hither would be useless. Be so 
 good as to see it burned at your house, to help to dry 
 which is the best use it can be put to."* The edition 
 was, however, not burnt at the house Lord March- 
 mont was furnishing in London. He thought it more 
 satisfactory to have the sheets destroyed under Boling- 
 broke's own eyes. They were all taken down to Bat- 
 tersea, and burned on the terrace. Bolingbroke himself 
 set fire to the pile. It is impossible to defend Pope. 
 That he greatly admired The Patriot King, and was 
 afraid so valuable a work would be lost to posterity, 
 unless he took this method of preserving it, as Warbur- 
 ton afterwards alleged, is at best scarcely an excuse. 
 No adequate motive for Pope's conduct has ever been 
 discovex'ed nor imagined. The simplest explanation is 
 the most satisfactory. Stratagem and double-dealing 
 were habitual to him : he could not act straight- 
 forwardly, nor understand a straightforward course in 
 others ; he frequently lied when lying was quite use- 
 less to him, and answered no purpose of deception ; 
 and when he could not deceive his enemies, he with a 
 weak kind of cunning appears to have taken a pleasure 
 in outwitting his best friends. Bolingbroke's indignation 
 at the moment was natural and just. It would have 
 been well, however, had it gone no further. 
 
 During the autumn of 1744, when he first perma- 
 nently resided at Battersea, his mind was still all con- 
 
 * Bolingbroke to Lord Marchmont, October 22, 1744. . 
 
668 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 centrated on the politics of the day. His society was 
 sought by many of the younger politicians who had 
 composed the opposition he formerly counselled in vain. 
 It seemed that the time had come when Carteret was 
 to be expelled from office, and when Bolingbroke's 
 favourite scheme of a coalition was at last to be carried 
 out. On this question, as on all the topics of foreign 
 policy, both he and Lady Bolingbroke discoursed with 
 much fluency, relating their experiences of the French 
 ministers, and animating and encouraging their young 
 friends, who listened to them with great interest and 
 curiosity, the husband having actually made the peace 
 of Utrecht, and the wife having really shone in the 
 court of Louis XIY. To them, of course, came Lord 
 Marchmont, proud of Bolingbroke's friendship ; the 
 conscientious Lyttelton, Secretary to the Prince of 
 Wales ; the accomplished Solicitor-Greneral, Murray, 
 now united with the Pelhams, but always respectful to 
 Tories, and even Jacobites, for whom he was suspected 
 of having a predilection ; old Lord Stair, still full of 
 warmth and energy ; Chesterfield, the wit and leader of 
 fashion, who had been for some years out of office, but 
 who, on the expected changes at court, was anxious to 
 go to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant, since Lord Shrews- 
 bury had formerly told him that it was a very dignified 
 post, in which there was just suflScient business to pre- 
 vent an English nobleman from going to sleep, and not 
 enough to keep him awake. 
 
 A greater, too, than either Marchmont, Lyttelton, 
 Murray, Stair, or Chesterfield, at this time occasionally 
 appeared in Bolingbroke's cedar parlour at Battersea. 
 This was WiUiam Pitt, just enriched with a legacy 
 of ten thousand pounds from the old Dowager Duchess 
 of Marlborough, who had soon followed her dreaded 
 satirist, Pope, to the tomb. On what terms did these 
 
1744-1751.] PITT AND BOLINGBROKE. 669 
 
 1744. 
 
 great orators and statesmen, the two most brilliant 
 politicians of two different generations, meet and con- 
 verse together ? Fortunately we have the means of 
 knowing : for both communicated their impressions 
 of each other, and they were very characteristic. 
 Pitt, always proud, self-conscious, and patriotic, was 
 not so respectful to Bolingbroke as the old states- 
 man expected. Bolingbroke complained to the Lords 
 Chesterfield and Marchmont, that, though Mr. Pitt 
 might be a young man of fine parts, he was super- 
 cilious, dogmatical, narrow, passionate, ignorant of the 
 world, and did not listen with such deference to Boling- 
 broke's opinions as the old Tory leaders. Sir Edward 
 Seymour and Musgraye, were accustomed to show to 
 those he had himself formerly expressed as young Mr. St. 
 John. Pitt, on the other hand, thought Bolingbroke 
 also dogmatical and pedantic, and was surprised to see 
 that, with all his professions of philosophy, he was 
 querulous and fretful, would become vexed with his 
 wife, and storm at his servants.* 
 
 In justice, however, to Bolingbroke, it must be added 
 that he was still really fond of his wife, and that if he 
 did sometimes fly into a rage with his servants, he was 
 not an unkind master. One old servant, who was 
 superannuated, and lived at Bath, he used frequently to 
 visit. His household was now principally French. 
 His valet, Francis Arboneau, had been with him for 
 many years. He had another confidential French ser- 
 vant whom he called Picard, but whose real name was 
 Henri Charnet ; Marianne Trebon was another ; and 
 these, with the wife and son of Francis Arboneau, were 
 all, according to his limited means, well provided for 
 
 * Pitt's statement about Bolingbroke was afterwards made to his friend 
 and follower, the future Marquis of Lansdowne, and has heen frequently- 
 quoted. For Bolingbroke's sentiments respecting Pitt, see Lord Marchmonl's 
 ■Qiary, Nov. 6 and 10, 1744. 
 
670 BATTERSEA. ' [Chap. XVI. 
 
 afterwards in Bolingbroke's will. Assuredly they 
 had no reason to regret the time they spent in his 
 service. 
 
 The house at Battersea, to which the young and 
 aspiring politicians were flocking, at the close of 1744, 
 has been nearly all destroyed. On its site was erected 
 a strange building, known to Londoners as the Hori- 
 zontal Mill ; and the Horizontal Mill has since been 
 reduced to a mill of less elevated pretensions. To a 
 stranger, carelessly looking on, it would seem that all 
 traces of the old mansion had vanished. This, however, 
 is not the case. One wing of the old building, outwardly 
 modernized, indeed, appears still to exist ; and on enter- 
 ing, the massive wooden staircase may yet speak of the 
 past. Even the identical cedar parlour which Boling- 
 broke occupied in his old age, there is some reason to 
 believe, partly remains ; such it is, at least, indicated by 
 a tradition of the house and neighbourhood, where nearly 
 everything else has undergone so complete a transfor- 
 mation. Upstairs too, above the cedar parlour, there is 
 still an interesting panneled painting ; and the finely- 
 carved fruits about the chimneypiece show still some 
 traces of the former splendour. 
 
 The remains of the old house, and even the old church 
 and churchyard by its side, on the brink of the river, 
 seem, in this age of steam and railways, and with 
 the outskirts of London extending on every side, to 
 struggle for the ground on which they stand. As with 
 Bolingbroke himself, when he spent these last years at 
 Battersea, a new world is struggling around them, full 
 of life and energy ; and in an age with which they have 
 little in common, they seem, as he did at last, very 
 much in the way. 
 
 The event which had employed Bolingbroke's 
 thoughts during the autumn, and which he had ear- 
 
1741-1751.] THE E'EBELLION OF 1745. 671 
 
 1745. 
 
 iiestly endeavoured to bring atout, at last came to 
 pass in the November of 1744. Carteret, now Earl of 
 Granville, was obliged to give way to the Pelhams ; 
 and the administration called the Broad Bottom was 
 establisbed. Many of the visitors to Battersea entered 
 office ; others soon expected to do so ; and Bolingbroke, 
 for the first time since the accession of the House 
 of Brunswick, might be considered really on good terms 
 with the government of the day. He condemned the 
 Jacobites who would not support the administration : 
 he had little to do with the opposition which sprung 
 up only to prove its insignificance ; and yet he was at 
 heart far from satisfied. He was full of regrets : he 
 could bear neither to look backwards nor forwards; 
 and his letters to Lord Marchmont, were under the 
 semblance of philosophy all in a sad and complaining 
 tone. 
 
 In the year 1745 the rebellion broke out. Lord 
 Marchmont, as became the grandson of Sir Patrick 
 Hume, was anxious to do something effective in support 
 of the Protestant dynasty. Bolingbroke advised him to 
 restrain his zeal, and himself characteristically looked on 
 the contest with indifference. He seems to have thought 
 more of a request that had been made to him through 
 Maupertuis, whom he had long known, and was now 
 the President of the Academy at Berlin, to get him two 
 small greyhounds for the King of Prussia, than of either 
 the cause of the young Chevalier or of that of Greorge II. 
 " I expect," he wrote, " no good news, and am there- 
 fore contented to have none. I wait with much resig- 
 nation to know to what lion's paw we are to fall."* 
 
 His residence at Battersea had lost the charm 
 
 * See jthe letter to Lord Marolimont, without date, in the Marchmont 
 Papers, ii., 348, and Lord Marchmont's Diary, Sept. 21, 1745. 
 
672 BATTEESEA. IChap. XVI. 
 
 of novelty. The number of visitors whicli were at 
 first attracted there by curiosity to see a person so cele- 
 brated, soon began to fall off; and Bolingbroke felt 
 that he was neglected even by those successful poli- 
 ticians who had sought his advice, and had at last 
 become part of the administration. He complained of 
 them, just as he had formerly complained of Pulteney 
 and Carteret, and spoke of himself as once more disap- 
 pointed and deceived. " I did not leave England iu 
 '35," he said again to his only confidential corre- 
 spondent, Marchmont, "till some schemes that were 
 then on the loom, though they never came into effect, 
 made me one too many, even to my intimate friends. 
 I have not left off, since I came to re-settle here, ad- 
 vising and exhorting, till long after you saw it was to 
 no purpose, and smiled at me for persisting. It is time 
 I should retire for good and all from the world, and 
 from the very approaches to business, ' ne peccem^ I put 
 it into prose, ' ad extremum ridendus.' If I have showed 
 too much zeal, for I own that this even in a good cause 
 may be pushed into some degree of ridicule, I can show 
 as much indifference ; and surely it is time for me to 
 show the latter, since I am come to the even of a tem- 
 pestuous day, and see in the whole extent of our hori- 
 zon no signs that to-morrow will be fairer."* 
 
 This was his constant cry. Everything was very 
 bad, and he gave up even expecting anything better. 
 That indifference of which he spoke, he was, how- 
 ever, far from feeling : he could neither extinguish nor 
 subdue his interest in public affairs. Still he narrowly 
 watched events and speculated on the aspect of affairs. 
 Still there gnawed at his heart the worm that dieth not. 
 His complaints, too, were in some degree justifiable. 
 
 * Letter to Lord Marchmont, July 24, 1746, 
 
1744-1751.] HIS EETIEEMENT. 673 
 
 1746. 
 
 The war tten raging on tlie Continent was to this 
 country but a succession of defeats : there appeared 
 to be an utter want of commanding statesmanship ; 
 there were many of Walpole's faults, without Wal- 
 pole's tact and personal ascendancy : though England 
 was really prosperous under the rule of the Pelhams, 
 she certainly did not appear brilliant. 
 
 Bolingbroke's life passed on with scarcely any varia- 
 tion. He sent one day into town for Lord Marchmont, 
 though a Presbyterian^ to buy him a large Common 
 Prayer Book, such, he directed, as a lord of the manor 
 might hold forth to the edification of the parish. It is 
 interesting to know that he still occasionally attended 
 the services of the old church, and occupied the family 
 pew. In the September of 1746, he went into Oxford- 
 shire on a visit to Lord Cornbury. There he met his 
 friend, William Chetwynd, the solicitor-general Murray, 
 and Pittj who had at last become Paymaster of the 
 Forces. Bohngbroke spent a few days very pleasantly, 
 and then professing absolute resignation, though still 
 criticising the ]3olitics of the day, returned to his own 
 fireside at Battersea, which he declared to be the fittest 
 and only place for him in the winter, where he expected 
 no good and feared no evil. He added : 
 
 " C'est icy, que j'attends la mort sans la d&irer, ne la oraindre." 
 
 His life was henceforth more solitary than it had 
 ever previously been. He said that he scarcely knew 
 the language spoken by the younger generation ; that 
 henceforth he would plunge himself still more deeply 
 in philosophical retreat ; that he would hve as if he 
 were dead. He called the home of his fathers his hermi- 
 tage. There he resided, still occasionally embarrassed 
 in his circumstances, but spending less than he had 
 
 2 X 
 
674 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 ever done before, and having, as lie declared, sufficient, 
 because the little that he had he would not want long. 
 He still criticised both foreign and domestic affairs, 
 expressing to Lord Marchmont his dissatisfaction with 
 all men and things. Even with the friends whom 
 he had advised to unite with the Pelhams, and all 
 the members of the Opposition that had been formed 
 against Walpole, he was anything but pleased. The 
 cause of liberty, he said, had been as little regarded 
 by the leaders, who gave it out to their troops, as the 
 cause of St. George or St. Denis was concerned in the 
 battles of the English and the French. He considered 
 that they had made him their instnnnent, and as soon 
 as their purpose was served, had laid him scornfully 
 aside. "From being a crutch," he wrote, "I am at 
 most a reed in the hand of every one I honour and 
 would serve. Some who leaned upon me, such as I 
 was, in their days of lameness, have laid me by as an 
 useless instrument, since the angel stirred the waters, 
 and they got into the pool and were cured."* 
 
 The winter of 1746 was severe. At Battersea the 
 tides were very high. The rain sometimes fell in tor- 
 rents ; at others the snow blocked up the roads ; and the 
 weather was always most tempestuous. Fewer visitors 
 than ever drove from London down to Bolingbroke's 
 house. He seemed quite deserted by the great and busy 
 world, and he agaia complained of being left in com- 
 plete solitude. But he wrote to Lyttelton a kind letter 
 of condolation on the death of his wife. As the summer 
 of 1747 approached, Bolingbroke's gout became again 
 very painful. He was also troubled with a humour, 
 which had settled in his thigh and knee. Dreading the 
 next winter, and wishing, as abnost his sole comfort, to 
 
 * See the letters to Lord Marchmont, Nov. 25, 1746, and Feb. 19 1747. 
 
1744-1751.] A CEIPPLE. 675 
 
 1747. 
 
 be free from acute pain, he again repaired to Bath, hoping 
 that the waters would remove his rheumatism, or drive 
 his gout to an extreme part.* At first they afforded him 
 some relief. But he persevered with the pumping until 
 it did his limbs more harm than good ; and the drinking of 
 the waters had at last no beneficial effect. He moralized 
 on this effect of the Bath waters, and applied the result 
 to his general experience of life. He had always, he 
 said, at first been drawn in by flattering appearances ; 
 he had then impetuously gone to the utmost extreme ; 
 and the end had been vexation and disappointment. 
 
 During the winter of 1747 and throughout 1748 
 he was frequently a cripple. Ever disliking walk- 
 ing exercise, both he and his wife were now 
 seldom able to drive out. He was frequently on a 
 couch, and even when he could sit up in his chair, he 
 could not always use his hand to write even to his 
 friend Lord Marchmont. His mind, however, was still 
 active. As the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle was about 
 to meet, he speculated on the prospects of the peace. 
 He took the warmest interest in Lord Marchmont's do- 
 mestic affairs. After condoling with him a little while 
 before on the death of one wife, he wished him joy on 
 marrying another ; congratulated him on being ap- 
 pointed First Commissioner of Police in Scotland, and 
 at last on being elected, with the support of the Grovern- 
 ment, one of the Scottish representative peers. The 
 King had objected to confer any favours on Lord 
 Marchmont, because he was a friend and visitor of Lord 
 Bolingbroke at Battersea, and supposed to be entirely 
 under his influence. Lord Chesterfield, who had re- 
 turned from Ireland, and had accepted the seals as 
 Secretary of State, warmly defended Marchmont in the 
 
 * See the letter to Lytteltan, Aug. 20, 1747 : Phillimore's Lyttelton, p. 294. 
 
 2x2 
 
676 BATTEBSBA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 royal closet. He even weut further. He boldly con- 
 fessed to the King that he frequently visited Boling- 
 broke, and that he was always glad to talk with him, as 
 he regarded him as a thorough master of foreign affairs. 
 Bolingbroke was not inclined to say as much of Ches- 
 terfield, He spoke privately of Chesterfield's abilities 
 as a foreign minister with contempt, and told March- 
 mont that the Earl once brought to him for his appro- 
 bation a despatch so poorly composed that he was 
 obliged to write it all over again. Chesterfield, how- 
 ever, in these years certainly paid Bolingbroke more 
 attentions, and really thought more highly of him, than 
 did any other of the prominent statesmen of that time. 
 He held him forth to his son as a finished man, a model 
 at once of eloquence, style, philosophy, and good breed- 
 ing : " And why," Chesterfield asked, " should not my 
 son be the same ?" Bolingbroke himself admitted that 
 Chesterfield remained faithful to him among the faith- 
 less. They talked not only on foreign pohtics, but even 
 on such matters as Whitfield's preaching, though neither 
 of them could fully estimate the effect Wesley and Whit- 
 field would produce. Bolingbroke, too, could not bear 
 contradiction even from Chesterfield. A mere differ- 
 ence of opinion on a philosophical question made him 
 quite angry. When he talked most about the omnipo- 
 tence of reason his passions always appeared to Chester- 
 field the strongest.* 
 
 After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was signed 
 in the October of 1748, and on which Bolingbroke and 
 Chesterfield had many conversations, Bolingbroke set 
 himself to compute the cost of the late war, and the prin- 
 ciples of policy on which it had been waged. The result 
 
 * See the Marohmont Papers, ii., 377 ; Lord Marclimont's Diary, Aug. 30, 
 1747 ; and Chesterfield's Works, ii., 220, 357. 
 
1744-1751.] STATE OF THE NATION. 677 
 
 1748. 
 
 of his meditations during the winter of 1748 and the 
 spring of 1749, was Some Reflections on the Present 
 State of the Nation, principally with Regard to her 
 Debts and Taxes. This, the last of the productions of 
 his brilliant pen, was composed, as far as it now ap- 
 pears, in 1749, and was left unfinished. It is written in 
 a calmer tone than any of his other political writings, 
 and had apparently no personal object. Many of the 
 opinions expressed in it he sincerely entertained. We 
 again observe his inextinguishable animosity to the 
 House of Austria ; though he is not at all in favour 
 of allowing that power to be destroyed by France. 
 The Quadruple Alliance he censures as dipping Eng- 
 land again in continental affairs from which his own 
 treaty had extricated her ; and then enters into a 
 consideration of the debts and taxes under which, ac- 
 cording to him, the nation was all but undone. The 
 public debt amounted to the immense sum of eighty 
 millions. As he had himself been one of those who 
 called out for the war against Spain, which began ten 
 years before, and which had since involved France and 
 most of the continental powers, he could scarcely be 
 surprised, however much he might regret, the addi- 
 tional burdens it had entailed. From these he considers 
 it imperative that England should be relieved, even 
 though the land-tax had to be kept on at four shillings 
 in the pound. He disapproves of Pelham's celebrated 
 scheme for consolidating the Three per Cents., because 
 it obviously proceeded on the principle of rendering the 
 debt permanent which he was anxious to see paid ofi". 
 The importance of the commercial interests of England 
 is in this treatise, however, more fully recognized than in 
 any other of Bolingbroke's political works. Trade, he 
 admits, gave us wealth, wealth power, and power had 
 
678 BATTEESEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 rendered us at one time more tban a match for France. 
 But he still cannot reconcile himself to those whom he 
 stigmatizes as stockjobbers and usurers, nor to the chiefs 
 of the great mercantile corporations, who, born, he 
 says, to be the servants of Government, had become its 
 masters. He cannot bear that they should compete 
 with the country gentlemen. The landowners, he ex- 
 pressly says, are the true owners of the political vessel ; 
 the moneyed men are only passengers. 
 
 It must be confessed that the farewell view which Bo- 
 lingbroke takes in these Eeflections of the state of that 
 England he was about to leave, is very melancholy. 
 He can see scarcely anything around him but ruin 
 and despair. His opinions in many respects coincide 
 with those which John Brown afterwards broughtforward 
 in his Estimate, and which produced so great and so 
 absurd an impression. Bolingbroke does not consider 
 that England was then at all equal to France ; that her 
 financial position was superior ; or that she was able to 
 wage a vigorous and successful war against her ancient 
 rival. Yet there was a contradiction given to these 
 evil forebodings by the great war administration of that 
 proud, haughty, and pedantic young Mr. Pitt, who, 
 since he became Paymaster of the Forces, scarcely ever 
 came down to Battersea. A strange contrast, indeed, 
 was afforded by these gloomy Eeflections on the State 
 of England in 1749, with her condition in 1759, when 
 all the trimnphs of the Grodolphin administration, and 
 of the Duke of Marlborough, were equalled, if not sur- 
 passed. The national debt of eighty millions too, though 
 it might not be what the eight hundred miUions have 
 been called in our day, a mere nothing, was assuredly 
 no such dreadful burden, nor at all above the national 
 resources. The growing prosperity of the country, 
 
1744—1751.1 GLOOMY VIEWS OF ENGLAND. 679 
 
 1749. 
 
 whatever miglit be the outward appearances, was 
 increasing far beyond the briUiant dreams of either 
 ministers or poets. The growing importance of the 
 colonies and the great commercial and manufacturing 
 towns counts from this time ; events were progressing 
 in America and Asia, which were to result in ex- 
 tending the British dominions far beyond the limits 
 ever imagined by public men in the days of Queen 
 Anne, and the first thirty years of the House of Bruns- 
 wick ; and the British empire, commercially, financially, 
 and politically, was soon to become the wonder of the 
 world. To all these indications, however, as these 
 Reflections show, Bolingbroke's eyes were blind. 
 
 As though he had not had enough of controversy and 
 vexation, when he was writing these Reflections he also 
 involved himself in a bitterly personal and angry warfare. 
 He published, under the title of Letters on the Spirit 
 of Patriotism, his essay on that subject. The Patriot 
 King, and his Remarks on the State of Parties at the Ac- 
 cession of George I. When Lyttelton, to whom, as the 
 Prince of Wales' private secretary, these writings, with 
 many compliments, had been addressed, and who pos- 
 sessed the manuscript of The Patriot King in Boling- 
 broke's own writing, was informed of his intention to 
 pubhsh them, he earnestly requested him not to allow 
 his name at least to appear. Being no longer in 
 opposition, but a Lord of the Treasury, allied with 
 the Pelhams, he did not wish in any manner to 
 share the responsibility of such a publication. " If I 
 might presume to judge for your lordship," Lyttelton 
 wrote to Bolingbroke, " I should think it more eligible 
 for yourself to defer the publication of it to a more 
 proper time. That a very disagreeable use will be made 
 of it, I am sure ; and there is a great difference as to the 
 
680 BATTEESEA. [Chap. XVI; 
 
 consequences and effects of it in the world between an 
 imperfect copy of it being stole into print in a magazine 
 and the avowed and authorized publication, which will 
 draw the attention of aU mankind." Bolingbroke dis- 
 regarded his friend's advice, and was not satisfied with 
 merely publishing these essays. He prefixed to them 
 a preface, ascribing, as the reason of publication, Pope's 
 former breach of faith. Copies, it appeared, were 
 really stiU in existence ; and some portion of The 
 Patriot King had lately filled the columns of a maga- 
 zine. The author had therefore been compelled to pub- 
 lish a corrected version in his own defence. Poor Pope, 
 though never mentioned by name, is spoken of several 
 times as " the man," and made to appear in a very con- 
 temptible and odious Kght. The comphments which 
 Bolingbroke had paid to Lyttelton were of course 
 omitted ; and Bolingbroke observed, both to him and 
 Marchmont, that he had the double mortification of con- 
 cealing the good he had said of one friend, and of 
 revealing the treachery of another.* 
 
 David MaUet, a busy Scotchman, who was under- 
 secretary to the Prince of Wales as Lyttelton had been 
 secretary, was appropriately employed to edit this pub- 
 lication. He had the credit of the preface, though a 
 copy of it, in the same writing as most of Bolingbroke's 
 other manuscripts, may still be seen in the library of 
 the British Museum. Mallet was, according to John- 
 son, the only native of Scotland of whom Scotchmen 
 were not proud. Some of his ballads are really poeti- 
 cal; but his more ambitious poems do not rise above 
 mediocrity ; and his prose compositions are not remark- 
 able. His Life of Lord Bacon, however, acquired some 
 celebrity ; and to him and Glover, with a bequest of 
 
 * See Phillimore's Lyttelton, 429 ; and the Marchmont Papers, ii., 380. 
 
1744—1751.] DAVID MALLET. 681' 
 
 1749. 
 
 a thousand pounds, was left by the old dowager the 
 task of writing a biography of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough. Griover abandoned both the money and the 
 oflSce to Mallet ; and how Mallet performed this duty 
 has been long known. He always spoke of beings 
 engaged upon it ; he flattered Garrick with the pro- 
 spect of having, by a dexterous anticipation, a niche 
 in it ; and, though this fact is not so well known, he 
 practised the same artifice upon Bolingbroke. Sensible 
 that there were certain circumstances in his connection 
 with Marlborough which it required a friendly pen to 
 represent favourably, next to writing the history of the 
 time himself, Bolingbroke thought that he did well to 
 secure Mallet, whom he always supposed busy on that 
 life of the Duke of Marlborough of which Mallet actually 
 never wrote a line. Mallet's connection with the prince 
 was also a motive for Bolingbroke's intimacy with him ; his 
 deistical sentiments were another ; and the last, though 
 not the least of their bonds of sympathy, was their cor- 
 dial hatred of Warburton. The year after Pope's 
 death, we find BoHngbroke writing to Mallet in the 
 following friendly manner : " Since I send to enquire 
 after your health and Mrs. Mallet's, of both which I 
 hope to have a good account, I cannot help mentioning 
 to you what I hear from many different quarters. 
 They say that Warburton talks very indecently of your 
 humble servant, and threatens him with the terrible 
 things he shall throw out in a life he is writing of our 
 poor deceased friend Pope. I value neither the good 
 nor ill will of his pen. But if he has any regard for 
 the man he flattered living, and thinks himself obliged 
 to flatter dead, he ought to let a certain proceeding die 
 away in silence, as I endeavour it should." 
 
 Bolingbroke had himself now broken that silence.- 
 
682 BATTEESEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 He had endeavoured even to cover Pope's memory 
 VTitli obloquy. Warburton rusbed to tbe rescue in a 
 Letter to tbe Editor of tbe tracts on Patriotism ; but be 
 could only allege a series of ingenious excuses in favour 
 of bis departed friend and benefactor. Afterwards 
 
 A Letter to tbe Lord Yiscount B ^ke, occasioned by 
 
 bis Treatment of a Deceased Friend, was also publisbed, 
 of wbicb Warburton bad also tbe credit, tbougb be 
 denied tbe autborsbip. Pope was defended from tbe 
 imputation of cheating merely for tbe sake of gain ; 
 and Bolingbroke reminded of tbe manner in wbicb Pope 
 bad so often sung bis praises. Witb sufficient severity 
 tbe pamphleteer said to bim, " Regard to yourself 
 ought to have prevented you from exposing tbe man 
 on whose moral character your own will in a great 
 measure depend. For if Mr. Pope has been unjust to 
 your lordship in one respect be may have been so 
 in another ; and then what credit are we to give to 
 all the fine things be has said of your lordship ?" 
 On Mallet, this anonymous assailant retorted witb 
 great spirit, as diligent in licking Pope's feet while 
 living, and was now licking Bolingbroke's ; and he 
 concluded by telling Bolingbroke that Pope's name 
 would revive and blossom in the dust, " while yours, 
 had it not been for bis genius, friendship, and idola- 
 trous veneration of you, might in a short course of 
 years have died and been forgotten." 
 
 Bolingbroke scarcely expected to be addressed in this 
 manner. An answer to Warburton' s pamphlet ap- 
 peared, entitled A Familiar Epistle to the Most Impu- 
 dent Man Living. This, though professedly written 
 by an admirer of Bolingbroke, and also, Kke tbe ad- 
 vertisement to the Essay on Patriotism, ascribed to 
 Mallet, was also really composed at least under tbe 
 
1744—1751.] A LETTER TO WAEBUETON. 683 
 
 1749. 
 
 direction of Bolingbroke himself. The manuscript copy, 
 which has been preserved, is also in the same hand 
 as most of his other writings ; and the allusions at 
 the beginning to Bolingbroke living apart as a dis- 
 tinct species in the political society of his time, and of 
 never having broken the terms of friendship with any 
 man who had not previously broken them with him, are 
 really almost word for word in the letters he was about 
 the same period writing to Lord Marchmont.* For the 
 rest there is much abuse of Warburton, and nothing 
 else. He is told to keep in the low sphere to which 
 nature and fortune had confined him, to coax his young 
 wife, to flatter his old uncle, never to attempt to reason, 
 to be less insolent to those who are far above him in 
 every form of life, and not to insult ladies of the first 
 quality, and men of the greatest eminence. He was 
 not, above all things, to presume to measure himself 
 with Lord Bolingbroke. " I know enough of Lord 
 
 B to be persuaded that it is not in your power to 
 
 disturb the quiet of his life. Men like him may be said 
 to live in a superior sphere, where the buzz and din of 
 such insects can never reach." 
 
 The public to whom both Warburton and Boling- 
 broke appealed, loudly declared against Bolingbroke. 
 On the question there was scarcely a difference of opi- 
 nion. Pope, it was admitted, had acted wrongly ; but he 
 had been nearly five years in his grave when Bolingbroke 
 thus exposed his conduct. To those who remembered 
 the noble beginning and conclusion of the Essay on 
 Man, in which Pope's finest efforts had been to pane- 
 gyrize Bolingbroke, whose enemies were told that their 
 sons should blush their fathers were his foes, such a 
 proceeding seemed lamentable in the extreme. Bohng- 
 
 ♦ See the letters to Lord Marchmont of Sept. 14, 1747, and June 7, 1749. 
 
684 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI, 
 
 broke had declared by Pope's deathbed that frieudship 
 was the only thing worth living for : for years his 
 constant toast after dinner had been, To Friendship 
 and Liberty ; and what was now the result ? People 
 called to mind the other eminent men, Oxford and 
 Marlborough, who, after being thought Bolingbroke's 
 friends, had found him their most unscrupulous enemy ; 
 and they asked if his conduct was not consistent to the 
 last ? A roar of obloquy, resembling that which rose 
 against him after his breach with the Pretender, in 
 1716, resounded throughout the kingdom. Chester- 
 field told Bolingbroke frankly that he had at last 
 succeeded in uniting against himself, Whigs, Tories, 
 Trimmers, and Jacobites. But towards all his assail- 
 ants Bolingbroke turned the same scornful and de-t 
 fiant spirit,* 
 
 It was deeply to be regretted that, at the close of his 
 Hfe, he should have engaged himself in such an un- 
 seemly controversy, from which he could not possibly 
 gain any advantage. Nothing seemed to soften him, 
 not even his own declining health, and the very serious 
 illness of his wife. 
 
 For some time Lady Bolingbroke had been more 
 dead than alive. The attacks of slow fever, undei* 
 which she had suffered for so many years, had entirely 
 exhausted her strength ; and during 1749 it appeared 
 certain that she was slowly but inevitably sinking. In 
 December, Bohngbroke had her conveyed up to town, 
 for the more convenient attendance of physicians, though 
 he himself felt conscious that he was bringing her to 
 London to die. Dm-ing these later years, she is men- 
 tioned in his letters, sometimes as the good woman of 
 this house, sometimes as the old woman of this house, 
 
 * See Marchmont Papers, ii. 370. 
 
1744—1751.] DEATH OF LADY BOLINGBROKE. 685 
 
 1750. 
 
 and at others, as our French friend ; but always with 
 respect and affection. The prospect of her death, when 
 his own health was in a very critical condition, 
 caused him much grief. " A man who thinks and feels 
 as I do," he said, " can find no satisfaction in the pre- 
 sent scene ; and I am about to lose one who has been 
 the comfort of my life, in all the melancholy scenes of 
 it, just at the time when the present is most likely to 
 continue, and to grow daily worse." During the 
 months of January and February, 1750, Lady Boling- 
 broke still lingered, though her death was steadily 
 approaching. Bolingbroke applied to himself what old 
 Victor had once said to him, " Je deviens tous les ans 
 de plus en plus isole dans ce monde."* As she was 
 dying Bolingbroke flung himself on the bed, asking her 
 with tears to forgive him all his faults and errors. f Her 
 death occurred on the 18th of March ; and, as the parish 
 register shows, she was buried in the church at Batter- 
 sea on the 22nd. 
 
 Bolingbroke, now almost quite solitary, was not 
 reconciled to his wife's death, when he found himself 
 obliged to undertake a very disagreeable duty. Some 
 of her relatives in France disputed her second marriage, 
 and made a legal claim to her property in France. 
 Sinking himself under the attacks of disease, Bolingbroke 
 found himself compelled, in the law courts of Paris, to de- 
 fend both his honour, and the second Lady Bolingbroke's 
 memory. His old friend, the Marquis of Matignon, who 
 had aided him in the courtship to the Marchioness of 
 Villette, and who had, during his residence in France, 
 lent him large sums of money without interest, exerted 
 himself zealously in Bolingbroke's favour. The proofs 
 of the marriage were, however, not easily procured. A 
 
 * Letter to Lord Marchmont, March 1, 1750. t Walpole to Mann, April 2, 1750. 
 
686 BATTEKSBA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 decree of the Chambre de Enqu^tes was given against 
 Bolingbroke ; and, under that decree, M. de Montmorin, 
 as the Marchioness of Villette's heir-at-law, himself col- 
 lected the rentes of the late Lady Bolingbroke, as they 
 became due, and applied them to his own use. An 
 appeal was made to the Great Chamber of the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris. Law, however, is proverbially tedious ; 
 and Bolingbroke himself had followed his second wife 
 to the tomb before the issue was finally determiaed. 
 
 Whilst tortured by gout and rheumatism, and fre- 
 quently deprived of the use of his right hand, his 
 temper was not improved by the vexations he suffered 
 from the ungrateful conduct of his late wife's relations, 
 to whom he had really been kind. Another disease 
 had also now established itself in his frame, more 
 dreadful in its ravages than either the gout or rheuma- 
 tism, from which he had so long suffered. In his un- 
 finished Eeflections on the State of a Nation, he had 
 spoken of a cancerous humour preying upon the vitals 
 of the constitution. This, which was a simile as applied 
 to England, sufferiag under the burdens of the fund- 
 holders, became, so far as he was himself personally 
 concerned, a literal fact. A humour ia his jaw turned 
 out to be cancerous; and this dreadful affection was 
 found to be not merely local, but to pervade his whole 
 frame. 
 
 He could still congratulate Lord Marchmont on the 
 birth of a son and heir; and, during intervals from 
 pain, interested himself in the poHtics of the day. He 
 could also still look forward to the time when Prince 
 Frederick should become king, and had not abandoned 
 hopes that the earldom, which Oxford had declined to 
 grant him, might still be bestowed upon him by the 
 Prince of Wales, when he should succeed to the British 
 
1744—1751.] BOLINGBEOKE'S "WILL. 687 
 
 1750. 
 
 crown. His sister-in-law, the Lady St. John, was one 
 of Prince Frederick's favourites. Bohnghroke had her 
 son, the young Lord St. John, brought to Battersea, in 
 order, if we beheve Horace Walpole, to please the 
 Prince, though surely it was only natural that he 
 should take some interest in his nephew and heir. He 
 refused, even at the Prince's request, to drink coffee in 
 his presence, starting up when Lord Egmont offered 
 him a cup, and exclaiming, like a true courtier, " Good 
 Grod ! my lord, what are you doing ? Do you consider 
 who is here ?" A belief that Bolingbroke directed all 
 the measures of Prince Frederick's little court ge- 
 nerally prevailed.* 
 
 It was decreed, however, that Prince Frederick was 
 never to inherit the crown, nor Bolingbroke to receive 
 from him the patent of earldom. The old statesman 
 felt himself getting more and more enfeebled, as the 
 months of the year 1750 passed away. His impatience 
 for the result of his litigation before the French tri- 
 bunals increased. But he harassed himself in vain. In 
 November he made his will. He professed, in the spirit 
 of his philosophy, a cheerful resignation to the order 
 of Providence, and then regretted that, after thirty 
 years of proscription and the immense losses he had sus- 
 tained, " by unexpected events in the course of it, by 
 the injustice and treachery of persons nearest to me, by 
 the negligence of friends, and by the infidelity of ser- 
 vants," that his fortune was so reduced, as to render 
 him unable to make such a disposition, and to give such 
 ample legacies, as he had always intended. William 
 Ohetwynd, of Stafford, and Joseph Taylor, of the Inner 
 Temple, were made executors of this will, and to them 
 
 * See Smollett's History of England ; Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the 
 Eeign of George II. ; and the Works of Dr. "William King. 
 
'688 BATTEESEA. [Chap, XVI 
 
 each lie left two hundred guineas, to buy some memorial 
 of their friend. The diamond ring which he wore upon 
 his finger he bequeathed to the Marquis of Matignon, 
 and after him to his son, the Count de Grace. Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke, in dying, had left to the Marquis a similar tes- 
 timony of her regard. Four hundred pounds were to be 
 laid out in the public securities for his valet, Francis 
 Arboneau and his wife, and after them to their son. To 
 his servants, Marianne Trebon and Henri Charni,he gave 
 a hundred pounds each ; and all the others who shoidd 
 have hved with him two years or more at the time of 
 his death were to receive an additional year's wages. 
 To David Mallet, he left, as far as they were at his own 
 disposal by law, all the printed and published works of 
 which he was the author ; the Letters on History, 
 which had been privately printed, but not published ; 
 aU his manuscript works, papers, and writings ; and all 
 the books which, at the time of his decease, should be 
 found in his library. No mention was made in the will 
 of any member of the St. John family. The residue 
 of his personal estate, which, after the legacies had been 
 paid, appears to have been very small, was bequeathed 
 to his two executors. The will was dated the twenty- 
 second day of November. 
 
 Though Bolingbroke had made lus will, he had no 
 idea, during most of the year 1751, that his end was 
 so near. The unexpected death of Prince Frederick 
 in March, was the last of Bolingbroke's political disap- 
 pointments. His great comfort was, until the summer, 
 that his pain was not acute. The malady, however, 
 began daily to make more rapid progress. Dissatisfied 
 with the remedies prescribed by his regular medical 
 attendants, he, with all his old impetuosity, put himself 
 under the direction of a popular empiric, who xmder- 
 
1744—1751.] DEATH OF BOLINGBROKE. 689 
 
 1751. 
 
 took to remove the humour in the jaw. As the cancer 
 was, however, not local but universal, there was really 
 no hope of a cure. Bolingbroke was, however, con- 
 fident that he would soon he well. He told Chester- 
 field, at the beginning of December, not to come to him 
 until he was quite recovered, as he expected to be in 
 ten days or a fortnight. The very next day he was 
 seized with the most violent pains. The treatment of 
 his new medical attendant of course made him worse. 
 He had now no relief from the most dreadful agony. 
 He began to be convinced himself that his death was 
 near. Chesterfield paid him a farewell visit. " God," 
 said Bolingbroke, " who placed me here, will do what 
 He pleases with me hereafter ; and He knows best 
 what to do. May He bless you !" Now and then he 
 fell into fits of passion and rage. He refused the 
 ministrations of the clergyman of his parish. The 
 violent pains never left him until two days before his 
 death. He then sunk into a state of insensibility, from 
 which he never recovered.* According to the evidence 
 of his own monument in the church, he died on 
 the 12th of December, 1751. This date is confirmed 
 by other testimony ; and, though it has been disputed, 
 there seems no good reason whatever for setting it 
 aside. He was privately buried in the vault, with his 
 late wife, as he had himself directed, on the 18th of 
 December.! 
 
 The family vault is directly under the communion 
 
 * See Chesterfield's Works, ii., 451, iii., 432, and iv., 1 ; Spence's Anec- 
 dotes, 369; and Walpole to Mann, Dec. 12, 1751. 
 
 t This date I give on the evidence of the parish register, which, on all 
 the disputed points respecting Bolinghroke's life, I have carefully examined. 
 It is surprising to see in the second edition of so meritorious a book as the Life 
 of Pope by Mr. Carruthers, such erroneous statements respecting Bolingbroke, 
 as that he died on the 15th of November, and that The Patriot King and the 
 Essay on the State of Parties in 1714 were addressed to Lord Cornbury. 
 
 2 y 
 
690 BATTEKSEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 and altarpiece ; and above them is the fine old painted 
 ^vindow, on which the heraldic glories of the St. Johns 
 are so prominently displayed. There sleeps Henry St. 
 John Yiscount Bohngbroke, after all the vicissitudes 
 of his ambitious and stormy career. In the gallery to 
 the right of the communion table, a monument rival- 
 ling that of the Lord Grrandison and his wife, near 
 which it is placed, was erected to Lord and Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke, also with busts of them both in white marble. 
 The epitaphs were composed by Bolingbroke himself-; 
 and his own, in which he speaks of his long and severe 
 persecution, for being devoted to Queen Anne while she 
 lived, and of being, in the latter portion of his life, the 
 enemy of no national party and the friend of no faction, 
 stiU exists in his own handwriting. Such was the esti- 
 mate he wished to be accepted of himself. So let it be. 
 The two medallion busts of Lord and Lady Bohng- 
 broke are extremely interesting memorials. Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke's features are regular and pleasing. We see 
 that she is a Frenchwoman ; but that even in old age, 
 and with the signs of ill health plainly marked, she has 
 still something of Parisian grace, and the style of the 
 Faubourg St. Germain. Bolingbroke's bust is very 
 characteristic of him as he was during the last years he 
 spent at Battersea. The hair, quite white, is drawn away 
 from the brow, and falls straight down the back of the 
 head. The forehead is retreating but high, the junction 
 of the brow and face strongly marked, the expression 
 piercing and eager, the nose long and prominent, and 
 the lines about the mouth somewhat harsh and severe. 
 It is undoubtedly the face of a man of great intellec- 
 tual endowments ; but it possesses not much of the 
 placid serenity of old age : it is scarcely the portrait 
 of one at ease with himself or with the world. 
 
1744—1751.] THE LAWSUIT AT PARIS. 691 
 
 Bolingbroke had been dead but a few weeks when 
 his lawsuit was decided at Paris. Early in March, 
 the judgment of the Great Chamber of the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris reversed the decision of the Chambre 
 des Enquetes. The marriage between Bolingbroke and 
 his second wife was proved, and M. Montmorin was 
 obliged to restore the money he had seized under the 
 former verdict. The President even went out of his 
 way to declare his great admiration for the late Lord 
 Bolingbroke, and the pleasure it gave him and the 
 court to be the means of doing justice to the memory 
 of himself and his wife. All Paris was excited, and 
 rejoiced at the result. " The cause," wrote one of 
 Mallet's friends, " was finally determined yesterday in 
 the Parliament of Paris, and the sentence of the judges 
 more favourable than our most sanguine hopes ex- 
 pected. The former sentence of the Chambre des En- 
 quetes is totally annulled, and Montmorin is condemned 
 to refund the money that he seized in consequence of it, 
 and to pay, in the style of the law of England, the 
 whole costs of the suit. Such a determination does honour 
 to the G-rande Chambre, and must have given infinite 
 joy to his lordship, if he had been alive to have enjoyed 
 the triumph. The Marquis of Matignon has done 
 wonders for his friend, and I believe few such charac- 
 ters are to be met with in the records of ancient or 
 modern times." * 
 
 At his death, Bolingbroke, in this marquis, had, 
 therefore, at least left one faithful friend. It was 
 nearly all, with the few legacies, that he had to leave. 
 The three sons of his father by his second wife died 
 
 * This letter is in the Sloane MSS. 4948, A. 436. Immediately preceding 
 it there is also "a letter in French from the Marquis of Matignon on the same 
 subject. It is equally satisfactory and explicit. 
 
 2 Y 2 
 
692 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 before Bolingbroke. George, the eldest, as has been 
 before stated, expired at Yenice in January 1716. 
 Holies, the youngest, who had been equerry to 
 Queen Caroline, died unmarried in 1738, and was 
 buried in the vault at Battersea, where there is a 
 marble tablet erected to his memory. Lord St. John's 
 second son, John, for some time represented Wootton 
 Bassett, and was made Comptroller of the Customs 
 in the port of London at a salary of £1200 a year. 
 This appointment, though it was purchased, as well 
 as that held by young Holies St. John, proves clearly 
 that old Lord St. John and his sons by his second 
 marriage were on good terms with the court and the 
 Walpole administration, during the period when Bo- 
 lingbroke was one of the most obnoxious opponents of 
 the Grovernment, and of George II. John St. John,, 
 the second son, succeeded his father as Lord St. John. 
 He also married twice, left a numerous family, and 
 died in 1748. His body was brought over to Eng- 
 land and buried with great pomp in the church at 
 Battersea. His eldest son, Frederick, then became Vis- 
 count St. John ; and, on Bolingbroke's death, also suc- 
 ceeded to his honours as Viscount BoHngbroke and 
 Baron St. John of Lydiard Tregoze. The second 
 Viscount Bolingbroke became one of George III.'s 
 steady adherents, and for many years was a Lord of 
 the Bedchamber. His matrimonial relations were less 
 fortunate than those of his illustrious uncle. He 
 married, in 1757, the Lady Diana Spencer, eldest 
 daughter of the second Duke of Marlborough. From 
 her, however, he was divorced in 1768, and she was 
 afterwards married to the Hon. Topham Beauclerk, 
 with whom she had forgotten her duty to her first 
 husband. She was the " Lady Di," who is so fre- 
 
1744—1751.] SIE WALTER ST. JOHN'S SCHOOL. 
 
 693 
 
 quently mentioned in Boswell's Life of Jolinson, 
 whom the doctor himself once branded with the most 
 opprobrious epithet that can be appHed to a woman, 
 but with whom, however, he for years continued on 
 very complimentary and friendly terms. With the 
 second Lord Bolingbroke the doctor once happened to 
 meet at Brighton after his union with Lady Diana 
 had been dissolved ; and Johnson, not knowing at the 
 time whom he was addressing, delivered to him a long 
 harangue on divorces, which was supposed to be more 
 eloquent than agreeable to his hearer. 
 
 The St. Johns ceased to live at Battersea. The 
 church was rebuilt, and the old family left the suburban 
 village where their immediate ancestors resided, where 
 the market gardens in the neighbourhood were well 
 cultivated, where the asparagus was famous, but where 
 every year the advancing boundary of the great me- 
 tropolis steadily encroached. The school, however, 
 which Sir Walter St.' John founded in 1700, for twenty 
 poor boys of Battersea, has been enlarged, and still 
 flourishes, and deserves to flourish. This philanthropic 
 institution, as bread cast upon the waters, visibly 
 appears after many days. It promises to outlast the 
 splendid window in the old church, and the marble 
 monuments of the Lords Grandison and Bolingbroke ; 
 and in a few generations it may be the only vestige of 
 the St. Johns in Battersea. The school was rebuilt in 
 1859, and over the gateway there was again admirably 
 carved the arms of Sir Walter St. John, surmounted 
 by the eagle, above the helmet ; with the device on the 
 shield of the bloody hand ; and the motto underneath — 
 
 Eatter a)eatte 
 
 t^aix 
 
 ifal0e of 
 
 JFapt^e» 
 
694 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI, 
 
 In Walter St. John's portrait, whicli belongs to tlie 
 foundation, and, it is to be toped, will be preserved to 
 it,* we can trace a decided family likeness to the repre- 
 sentations yet remaining of Lord Bolingbroke. The 
 features, however, are less strongly marked, and the 
 general expression is more pleasing. If not the picture 
 of a great geiiius, it is that of a happy and good man ; 
 as Sir Walter St, John's life was certainly happier, 
 and perhaps more enviable than that of his brilliant 
 grandson. 
 
 Bolingbroke went down to his grave beheving that 
 both his political and philosophical reputation would 
 yet burst forth in full brilliancy, G-reat things were 
 expected from his posthumous writings. They were 
 the talk of all literary circles. Even his most inti- 
 mate friends, to whom some of these works had been 
 shown, looked for their appearance with impatience. 
 As soon as Lord Cornbury, then Lord Hyde, knew that 
 Bolingbroke had left his writings to Mallet, this amiable 
 nobleman wrote to him from Paris, respecting the manner 
 in which they were to be given to the world. He was 
 particularly anxious about the Letters on History, 
 which were addressed to himself, and earnestly be- 
 sought Mallet to suppress the dissertation on the au- 
 thenticity of Jewish History. "Lord Bolingbroke's 
 own mind embraced all objects," Lord Cornbury observed 
 in his letter to Mallet, " and looked far into all, but not 
 without a strong mixture of passions, which will always 
 necessarily beget some prejudices and follow more. And 
 on the subject of religion particularly (whatever was 
 the motive that inflamed his passion upon that subject 
 chiefly) his passions were there most strong; and I 
 
 * It is now in tlie diningroom of the master of the college, hanging over 
 the fireplace. 
 
1744—1751.] LORD CORNBURY'S LETTER TO MALLET. 695 
 
 will venture to say, (when called upon, as I think, to 
 say it,) what I have said more than once to himself, 
 with the deference due to his age and extraordinary 
 talents, his passions upon that subject, prevented his 
 otherwise superior reason from seeing that even in a 
 political light only, he hurt himself, and wounded 
 society, by striking at establishments upon which the 
 conduct at least of society depends." Lord Cornbury 
 said much more. His letters, however, had no effect 
 upon Mallet. He replied, that the book was printed 
 off; and that he had Lord Bolingbroke's repeated com- 
 mands to publish his works exactly as they were left 
 in the revised copies.* 
 
 Few things that Mallet did entitle him to respect. 
 If he resisted Lord Cornbury's importunities, it is rea- 
 sonable to suppose that he saw his own advantage in 
 persevering with his original intention. He was after- 
 wards loudly blamed by all Lord Bolingbroke's intimate 
 friends, and particularly by the Lords Cornbury and 
 Marchmont, for giving these anti-religious writings un- 
 curtailed to the world. It was said that Lord Boling- 
 broke had himself promised one of his relatives that 
 his attacks on Christianity should not appear, and that 
 he had himself even drawn his pen through the dis- 
 sertation on Jewish History. On Mallet, the agent, 
 they endeavoured to cast the blame, which the public 
 thought belonged to Lord Bolingbroke himself as the 
 author. But there can be no doubt that Mallet did 
 fulfil the commission intrusted to him by Lord Boling- 
 broke as he had been directed. The complaints which 
 Lord Marchmont and Lord Cornbury made against 
 him were therefore most unjust. It is true that in 
 
 * The letters of Mallet and Lord Cornbury on this subject have been 
 several times printed. See also Sloane MSS. 4254. 
 
696 BATTERSEA. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 Bolingbroke's will there were no express injunctions 
 to publish his writings as they were left ; but neither 
 was there anything to the contrary; and had he de- 
 sired these works to have been suppressed or altered, 
 he could easily have carried this intention into effect. 
 But the very selection of Mallet as editor, instead of 
 Lord Marchmont or Lord Cornbury, appears to show 
 that Bolingbroke foresaw the scruples these two friends 
 would entertain on the subject ; and that he left them 
 to Mallet, who was himself an avowed deist, because he 
 knew that Mallet would publish them as they remained. 
 When Mallet was blamed for publishing the dissertation 
 on Jewish History, ifc was forgotten that Warburton 
 had objected to that very portion of the Letters 
 on History ; that his criticism had been transmitted 
 to Bolingbroke by Pope ; that Bolingbroke was highly 
 indignant at Warburton's presumption ;* and that he 
 drew up an answer to it, which was also carefully left, 
 correctly copied out, and revised, among his manuscript 
 papers.f Bolingbroke regarded this portion of his 
 work as the corner-stone of his system. "We have seen 
 him engaged on these chronological investigations ever 
 since the year 1720 : this was a question, on which if 
 he had not thought deeply, he had at all events read 
 much, and felt very strongly. 
 
 Besides, what is the short dissertation on Jewish His- 
 tory in the Letters on History, in comparison with the 
 whole series of the philosophical writings addressed to 
 Pope ? Were they to be destroyed ? Can any one who 
 has noticed Bolingbroke labouring on those subjects for 
 so many years, and who observes the careful manner in 
 which these manuscripts were left, affirm that they were 
 not really intended by the author for pubhcation ? Yet 
 
 * See ante, p. 657. t See this answer in Sloane MSS. 4948 A, p. 455. 
 
1744—1751.] A FRENCH CLUB. 697 
 
 Bolingbroke only repeats in the Letters on History 
 what he had said in much more detail, and with still 
 greater emphasis, in the Philosophical Essays. It 
 would have been useless to destroy the one without 
 destroying the others. Surely some degree of honesty 
 was due to the public. Without these writings no 
 , correct idea could ever have been formed of Boling- 
 broke as he actually was. Whatever may have been 
 Mallet's other delinquencies, by refusing to curtail these 
 writings he gave the world the opportunity of judging 
 fairly of Bolingbroke as he really appeared in his later 
 years ; and for doing so, although it might not please 
 the Lords Cornbury and Marchmont to have their 
 great friend known by the public as the passionate 
 proselytizing deist they themselves knew him to have 
 been. Mallet must, by all impartial persons, who 
 believe that truth has something to do with literature 
 and philosophy, be considered in this respect, if in no 
 other, to deserve praise rather than censure. 
 
 Almost immediately after Bolingbroke's death, a 
 volume containing his Reflections on Exile and the 
 Letters on History was published in Paris from a 
 copy in the possession of the Marquis of Matignon. 
 In the preface there was an account of the lawsuit 
 which had just terminated so satisfactorily. Some time 
 afterwards another work was published with the French 
 on one page and the English on the opposite, entitled 
 Reflections concerning Innate Moral Principles. In the 
 advertisement it was stated that this little philosophical 
 treatise had been written in French by the late Lord 
 Bolingbroke for a club in Paris, and that the manuscript 
 was in some respects imperfect. The work appeared in a 
 somewhat suspicious manner; but on examination it 
 will afford ample evidence of being Bolingbroke's com- 
 
698 BATTEESEA. [Chap. XVI., 
 
 position. The club for which it was written was the 
 celebrated Societed' Entresol, which met in the lodg- 
 ings of the Abbe Alari, in the upper portion of the 
 hotel of the President Renault in the Place Vendome. 
 This club was founded in imitation of the Enghsh asso- 
 ciations of a similar nature. It met on the Saturday 
 evening of every week ; there were coffee and tea 
 prepared for the members ; and literature and politics, 
 especially foreign affairs, became the topics of dis- 
 cussion. M. de Torcy sometimes appeared in the 
 Entresol. The other members were all of some dis- 
 tinction in the French society of that day. Boling- 
 broke, however, though his name has been mentioned 
 as one of the members of the club, and though, in one 
 of his letters to the Abbe Alari, he alludes to it 
 jokingly as a rival to the French Academy, of which 
 the Abbe had been elected a member,* could not 
 have been a very frequent visitor. He was only oc- 
 casionally in Paris during the year 1724, when, if the 
 statements of the historians of the club are to be more 
 trusted than the evidently very inaccurate dates afl&xed to 
 some portion of Bolingbroke's correspondence with the 
 Abbe Alari, it was first established.f He returned to 
 England in 1725 ; and did not see France again until 
 four years after the Societe d'Entresol had ceased to 
 exist. The political discussions which were carried on 
 by the members at last excited the apprehensions of 
 the French government. The club was dissolved by 
 Cardinal Fleury in 1731. 
 
 The Reflections on Innate Moral Principles form but a 
 slight treatise. Bolingbroke discusses with eloquence 
 one of those questions on which ingenious men love to 
 
 * See the Letter to the Abbe Alari (wi-ongly dated) Oct. 6, 1723. 
 + See the Lettres de Lord Vicomte Bolingbroke, iii., 458. 
 
1744—1751.] INNATE MORAL PRINCIPLES. 699 
 
 display their ingenuity. Of course, accol-ding to his 
 philosophy, there can be no innate moral principle. 
 He argues that all compassion for the distressed, and 
 even the affection of parents for their children, proceed 
 from the love of self, which he aflSrms to be the only 
 great motive principle of human nature, implanted by 
 Providence in the breasts of all men. This he nlain- 
 tains to be a kind of instinct, though, as generally hap' 
 pens when the word instinct is mentioned in philoso- 
 phical works, as to what it really is, and how far it is 
 to be distinguished from an innate moral principle, he 
 is not very clear. Paternal affection he denies to be 
 an innate principle, instancing, as against any such 
 conclusion, the Greeks and Romans leaving their chil- 
 dren to perish in forests and on the mountains, and 
 the Peruvians, on the authority of Garcilasso de la 
 Vega, who fattened their children and ate them, and 
 when their women had given over child-bearing, fat- 
 tened and ate them too. Education and custom deter- 
 mine everything, and form the character of all men 
 and all nations. One man butchers his foe through 
 self-love ; another tenderly rears his son through self- 
 love. The same principle of action which impels the 
 highly-cultivated European to relieve the distresses of 
 his fellow-creatures impels the American savage to kill 
 and eat his son. Such are the conclusions to which 
 Bolingbroke comes in this little treatise on innate 
 morality. They are at least consistent with the gene- 
 ral tenor of his philosophy. 
 
 The publication of the French edition of the Eeflec- 
 tions on Exile and the Letters on History, as with the 
 subsequent Reflections on Innate Moral Principles, 
 excited little attention in England. Mallet, how- 
 ever, gave to the public, in 1753, an instalment of 
 
700 BATTERSEA. [Chaf. XVI. 
 
 Bolingbroke's posthumous works, by publishing, in one 
 volume, the Letter to Sir William Windham, the un- 
 finished Reflections on the State of the Nation, and 
 the Introductory Letter to Pope on the Philosophical 
 Essays. They were bought eagerly, and prepared the 
 reading world for the great body of Bolingbroke's 
 works, which appeared on the day Henry Pelham died, 
 the 6th of March, 1754. 
 
 Mallet found himself immediately involved in litiga- 
 tion with Francklin, the proprietor of the Craftsman. 
 In this new edition of Bolingbroke's writings, Mallet 
 had printed as a matter of course, and as though his 
 right to them, as to the rest of Bolingbroke's works, was 
 quite indisputable, the Remarks on English History, the 
 Dissertation on Parties, and other contributions which 
 had appeared in the celebrated organ of the Opposition. 
 Francklin, however, claimed these political works as his 
 own property. They had appeared in his periodical : 
 he had undergone prosecutions on account of some of 
 them : he had run the risk of more : he had published 
 them in volumes during Lord Bolingbroke's life, and 
 had never been called upon by him for any account. He 
 asserted that Bolingbroke allowed him to enjoy the profits 
 of these works, as some recompense for the trouble and 
 danger he had undergone during their first publication. 
 On referring even to the terms of the will in which Bo- 
 lingbroke had bequeathed his writings to Mallet, these 
 contributions of the Craftsman were only left to him, as 
 far as they could be by law : an expression which seemed 
 to intimate a conviction that Francklin had a claim upon 
 them as his own literary property. Arbitrators were 
 chosen by both Francklin and Mallet. They had several 
 meetings, and came to an arrangement which seemed 
 equitable. Mallet appeared at first satisfied with the 
 
1744-1751.] RECEPTION OF HIS PHILOSOPHY. 701 
 
 decision. But he acted on this occasion as on nearly 
 all others during his life. He sent a lawyer's letter 
 refusing to accept the award which had been partly 
 settled by his own arbitrator.* 
 
 He expected to make immense profits from the pub- 
 lication of the works ; but he found himself disap- 
 pointed. The posthumous philosophical publications 
 which ranked Bolingbroke amongst the most deter- 
 mined assailants of Christianity, were at first received 
 with surprise, and afterwards read with detestation; 
 While Bolingbroke lived he had only been known to 
 the outward world as a statesman and political writer. 
 Even then, for nearly forty years he had been most 
 unpopular ; and he had been regarded as the enemy of 
 the system of government established by the Ee volution. 
 Few even of his most inveterate enemies were, how- 
 ever, prepared for the recklessness of his philosophical 
 revelations. After being long considered as the oppo- 
 nent of English liberty, he appeared now as the foe of 
 all revealed religion, of all established institutions, and of 
 all society. He seemed to have taken a cynical kind of 
 pride in shocking every prejudice which is most deeply 
 rooted in the hearts of Englishmen, and especially 
 of that party which professed to support the Church 
 of England, and of which he had once been the most 
 brilliant champion. All Lord Cornbury's anticipations 
 were more than fulfilled. Men who were inclined to 
 look with some degree of toleration and even of sym- 
 pathy on the errors of Bolingbroke's political life, only 
 reprobated the more strongly his philosophical heresies. 
 The divines of all ranks and denominations appeared in 
 the front rank of his assailants, and of these, of course 
 Warburton was the ablest and the foremost. From the 
 
 * Sea a printed statement of the case in Sloane MSS. 4948, A. 450. 
 
702 BATTEESBA. [Chap. XVI, 
 
 pulpit, and through the press, Bolingbroke's name was 
 never mentioned but with obloquy. Even the clergy- 
 man whom he had some years before presented with 
 the living at Battersea distinguished himself as one of 
 the assailants of his noble patron's philosophical works. 
 In a very ingenious ironical imitation of Bolingbroke's 
 style and manner of declaiming, young Edmund Burke 
 showed that the attack on what was called artificial 
 theology might be turned against all established go- 
 vernments. The Jacobites had long before given 
 Bolingbroke up ; the moderate Tories now abandoned 
 him ; and, in truth, from this period the assailants of 
 his life and works have been most frequent and deter- 
 mined among the more conservative section of Enghsh 
 politicians than even among his old enemies .the Whigs. 
 It is not the object of this work to revive in any 
 manner that clamour which so fiercely assailed Bohng- 
 broke's memory. It has been endeavoured in these 
 pages to give a just delineation of his life as it really 
 was. Even from drawing any general conclusion of 
 my own, I deliberately refrain. The facts must speak 
 for themselves : and of these every reader may be the 
 judge. Whatever may be the verdict, and whatever 
 may be the fate of those writings, both political and 
 philosophical, which Bolingbroke estimated so highly, 
 and which certainly, as magnificent declamations, have 
 scarcely ever been surpassed, there is little doubt that 
 his name will always be remembered as that of one of 
 the most brilliant and accomplished statesmen who 
 ever sought to govern England. And his life will not 
 be without a memorable moral, full of warning to the 
 most brilliant and ambitious, if it show that even great 
 intellectual endowments, high rank, and the finest 
 opportunities, are not in themselves sufficient to con- 
 
1744—1751.] CONCLUSION. 
 
 703 
 
 stitute an enduring political success ; but that all these 
 qualifications, without some earnest and steadfast faith 
 in a great cause as the representative of a great prin- 
 ciple, without something which can he said to take a 
 man out of his narrow individual selfishness, and make 
 him zealously uphold what he believes to be the best 
 interests of his country and of mankind, cannot always 
 avert mortification and defeat from their possessor, 
 nor secure the lasting respect and approbation of the 
 world. 
 
 [Index, 
 
705 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abbey op Sbks, Bolingbroke fits up a 
 Email pavilion for a study in a gar- 
 den belonging to the, 655. 
 
 Act of Settlement, the provisions of, 
 nullified, and England left vrithout 
 an heir, by the death of the young 
 Duke of Gloucester, only surviving 
 child of the Princess Anne, 46 ; 
 some of the most popular provi- 
 sions in, due to the reluctance of 
 the Tory majority in framing the 
 Act, and to their not caring what 
 limitations they introduced against 
 the House of Hanover, 54. 
 
 Adam de Port, Baron, marriage of, to 
 great grand-daughter of William de 
 St. John, Knight, and hence style 
 of, William de St. John, Lord of 
 Basing, and son and heir of Adam 
 de Port, 2. 
 .Addison, Joseph, scene on the first 
 representation of his Cato, 330 ; 
 his appointment as secretary to the 
 five-and-twenty regents, on the ac- 
 cession of George I., 424. 
 
 Albin, M. d', a spy of the English 
 Government, the second Lady Bo- 
 lingbroke sounded by, about the 
 Pretender, 589. 
 
 Almahide, elaborate, dull ode by 
 Bolingbroke, 21. 
 
 Almanza, loss of the battle of, 115. 
 
 Amsterdam, the gazette of, Boling- 
 broke defends the Representation 
 in, 262. 
 
 Ancestry of Bolingbroke, 2-13. 
 
 Anne, Queen, accession of, 76 ; her 
 disputes with Godolphin, 124 ; her 
 obstinacy, 167 ; her enmity against 
 the Duchess of Marlborough, 
 167 ; informs the Lords and Com- 
 mons, in a speech from the throne, 
 that a satisfactory basis of peace 
 had been laid down, 278 ; her ill- 
 
 Anne, Queen — contirmed. 
 
 ness, 314 ; her speech on the sign- 
 ing of the peace of Utrecht, 328 ; 
 public alarm about her health 
 (1714), 372 ; her letter to the Lord 
 Mayor, 373 ; another royal speech, 
 375 ; her declining health, and 
 hesitation in reference to the Pre- 
 tender, 393 ; her indignation at the 
 manner of demanding the writ for 
 Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, 
 399; her death, 417. 
 
 Argeville, Bolingbroke settles and 
 studies at, 655. 
 
 Ashby and White, the case of, 85. 
 
 Ashdown Park, Bolingbroke's sepa- 
 rate domestic estabhshment at, 364. 
 
 Assiento Contract, the, conferring on 
 England for thirty years the exclu- 
 sive right of conveying African 
 slaves to the Spanish West Indies 
 and the coast of America, Boling- 
 broke's satisfaction at, 346 ; the 
 guilt and infamy in, shared by 
 Whigs and Tories, 347. 
 
 Atossa, the character of. Pope's con- 
 duct towards the Dowager Duchess 
 of Malborough in retaining in his 
 Essays, 664. 
 
 Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, ofier 
 attributed to, of heading a troop of 
 Life Guards, and proclaiming James 
 ni., on the death of Queen Anne, 
 421 ; his banishment coincident in 
 time with Bolingbroke's return, 536 ; 
 Bolingbroke's alienation from, 546. 
 
 Austria, selfishness and stupidity of 
 the court of, 116 ; Bolingbroke's 
 detestation of, 178. 
 
 Backgammon, Bolingbroke in his 
 solitude learns to play at, 660. 
 
 Barber, John, printer, and Lord 
 Mayor of London, his opposition to 
 
 2 z 
 
706 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Barber, John — continued. 
 Walpole's Excise Act, wins the 
 hearts of his two former patrons, 
 Bolingbroke and Swift, 608. 
 
 Barcelona, the siege of, 349. 
 
 Barrier iVeaty, the, laid before the 
 House of Commons, by Boling- 
 broke, 260. 
 
 Bathurst, Lord, Bolingbroke addresses 
 his letter on the True Use of Ee- 
 tirement and Study to, 629. 
 
 Battersea and Wandsworth, manors 
 of, granted to Baron Tregoze, a 
 member of the St. John family, 3 ; 
 inherited by John St. John, an 
 eminent royalist, 4. 
 
 Battersea, residence of Sir Walter, 
 grandfather, and Henry the father 
 of Bolingbroke at, 6 ; not a gloomy 
 sanctuary of Presbyterianlsm in the 
 reigns of Charles II. and James II., 
 9 ; evidence of the kind of house- 
 hold at, 11 ; Bolingbroke becomes 
 master of, 665 ; his life at, 662 ; 
 finally settles at, 666 ; burns an 
 edition of The Patriot King, and 
 the letter on Patriotism treache- 
 rously printed by Pope's orders at, 
 667 ; BoUngbroke's house at, near- 
 ly all destroyed, and its site occu- 
 pied by the Horizontal Mill, 670 ; 
 modernized wing of the old build- 
 ing, and Bolingbroke's cedar par- 
 lour still remaining at, 670; dis- 
 posed of, 693. 
 
 Battersea, the church of, painted 
 window in, containing portraits of 
 Margaret Beauchamp, Henry VII., 
 
 . and Queen Elizabeth, commemora- 
 tive of the connection of the St. 
 John family with the Tudor line, 3. 
 
 Beauchamp, Margaret, sister of Lord 
 Beauchamp, first marriage of, to 
 Sir Oliver de St. John, 2 ; second 
 marri^e of, to the Duke of Somer- 
 set, 3 ; her daughter married to 
 Edmund Tudor, Duke of Eich- 
 mond, and mother of Henry VII., 
 thus connecting the St. John family 
 with the Tudors, 3. 
 
 Berkeley, Lord, Bolingbroke's inti- 
 macy with, 567. 
 
 Berkshire, Bolingbroke becomes Mem- 
 ber for, 156. 
 
 Berwick, the Duke of, his defence of 
 Bolingbroke, 489 ; Bolingbroke's 
 tribute to his memory nearly 
 
 Berwick, the Duke of — continued, 
 twenty years later, in the Crafts- 
 man, 490 ; declines as a French 
 marshal to proceed to Scotland, in 
 aid of the Pretender, without the 
 express orders of the Duke of 
 Orleans, 484 : is disliked by the 
 Pretender, 490. 
 
 Blenheim, rejoicing in England after 
 the battle of, 192. 
 
 Bletsoe, the lordship of, acquired by 
 the union of Sir Oliver de St. John 
 with the sister of Lord Beauchamp, 
 in the reign of Henry VI., 2. 
 
 Bolingbroke, First Earl of, created by 
 James I., 4 ; Parliamentary cause 
 espoused by, 4. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Henry St. John Vis- 
 count, his pride of ancestry, 1 ; 
 his descent from Heniy St. John, 
 son of Sir Walter St. John, and 
 Lady Mary, second daughter and 
 joint heiress of Eobert Eich, Earl 
 of Warwick, 5 ; his residence 
 with his grandfather and father at 
 Battersea, 6 ; is six years of age 
 when his father was under sentence 
 of death for the murder of Sir 
 William Estcourt, Bart. (1684), 7 ; 
 his early years, 8, 9, 10, 26 ; taunt 
 that he had been bred a Presby- 
 terian refuted, 8, 9, 10 ; the house- 
 hold at Battersea, 12, 13; sent to 
 Eton, 13 ; his enmity with Eobert 
 Walpole said to have been sown in 
 the schoolroom, 14 ; sent to Christ 
 Church, Oxford, 14 ; his dissipation, 
 1 5 ; his removal to London, 15 ; 
 his imitation of Eochester, 16 ; his 
 complimentary verses to Dryden, 
 17 ; his visit to Dryden, 19 ; his 
 continental tour (1697—1699), 20 ; 
 his mastery of the French language, 
 21 ; his scepticism, 21 ; writes an 
 elaborate ode (Almahide), 21 ; his 
 verses to an orange girl, 23; his 
 profligacy, 24 ; his marriage, 25 ; 
 his domestic unhappiness, 25 ; his 
 separation from his wife not final 
 until after the death of Queen 
 Anne, 25 ; succeeds his father in 
 representing the borough of Wootton 
 Bassett (1701), in the fifth of 
 William lll.'s reign, 27 ; attaches 
 hi m self to Harley, 50 ; becomes 
 a Tory of the Tories, 52 ; his voice 
 powerfully exerted in debates on 
 
INDEX. 
 
 707 
 
 liuVm^rdke-^continued. 
 
 the Act of SettleDient, 55 ; ap- 
 pointed with the Secretary of State, 
 Sir Charles Hedges, to prepare and 
 bring in the Bill for the Further 
 Security of the Protestant Suc- 
 cession, 56 ; his intemperate ad- 
 vocacy of measures against Lord 
 Ronjevs and the Whig statesmen, 
 for their negotiation of the Parti- 
 tion Treaties, 59 ; his subsequent 
 defence of these treaties, 60 ; his 
 contempt for the liberties of in- 
 dividuals, on the question of the 
 Kentish Petition, 61 ; his youth 
 and inexperience some excuse for 
 his conduct, 62 ; character of his 
 Toryism, 63 ; in reasoning on poli- 
 tical affairs, his sentiments entirely 
 Whiggish, 63 ; his graceful appear- 
 ance, 64 ; becomes the model of a 
 young English patrician, though 
 dissolute, full of intelligence and 
 spirit, 64 ; charms of his oratory, 
 65 ; Lord Brougham's and Pitt's 
 opinions of him as an orator, 66 ; 
 defines it the business of an orator 
 to show game, 67 ; accused of 
 voting against the Protestant Suc- 
 cession, 74 ; receives the degree 
 of Doctor at Oxford, 78 ; power- 
 fully supports the Occasional Con- 
 formity Bill, 79, 82; his attack 
 on Halifax for breach of trust and 
 mismanagement, 81 ; his fierce 
 antagonism with Walpole, 82; ap- 
 pointed to search the Lords' Jour- 
 nals, 83 ; his speech on the case 
 of A shby and White, 85 ; appointed 
 Secretary-at-War, and of the Ma- 
 rines, 89 ; owes his promotion to 
 Marlborough, 90 ; his duties as Se- 
 cretary-at- War, 91; his enthusiastic 
 congratulation of Marlborough, on 
 the battle of Blenheim, 94 ; votes 
 against the project of tacking the 
 Bill against Occasional Conformity 
 to the Land-Tax Bill, as a means 
 of forcing it through the House of 
 Lords, 95 ; his history for a period 
 merges into that of the Godolphin 
 Administration, 96 ; he becomes a 
 man of business, though still a 
 man of pleasure, 96 ; his devotion 
 to Marlborough, 99 ; his army 
 estimates, 101 ; his official style as 
 Secretary-at-War, 103 ; extent of 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 his implication in the intrigues of 
 Harley, 105 ; his zealous co-opera- 
 tion with his colleagues in carrying 
 the Union with Scotland through 
 the legislature, 111 ; his allowance 
 out of the poundage desired by 
 Marlborough, 115; his increasing 
 ofBcial labours, 116 ; his long and 
 tedious examination by the House, 
 118 ; retires from office, 121 ; his 
 rivaliy with Walpole, 123 ; his 
 retirement from Parliament caused 
 by his great obligations to Marl- 
 borough, 124 ; summoned to Batter- 
 sea by the death of his grandfather. 
 Sir Walter St; John, 125 ; con- 
 gratulates Marlborough on the 
 battle of Oudenarde, 125 ; his 
 philosophical professions, 127 ; en- 
 raged by an epigram, 128 ; his 
 two years of study the happiest of 
 his life, 129 ; his attainments and 
 reading, 131; his remarks on the 
 changed aspect of the war, 133 ; 
 congratulates Marlborough on the 
 battle of Malplaquet, from his 
 retirement at Bucklersbury, 140; 
 considered to be in league -witli 
 Marlborough's enemies, 141 ; his 
 observations on the conference at 
 Gertruydenberg, 144 ; his first 
 quarrel with Harley, 149 ; ap- 
 pointed Secretary of State, 149 ; 
 his great responsibilities (1710), 
 152 ; his politics, 153 ; his secon- 
 dary view of the public interest, 
 154; becomes member for Berk- 
 shire, 156 ; his mass of correspond- 
 ence, official and private, 156 ; 
 the address from the Commons 
 (1710), written by him, 158 ; his 
 letter in the Examiner vehemently 
 attacking the conduct of the war 
 and the Duke and Duchess of 
 Marlborough, 159; impolicy of his 
 anonymous attacks on the Allies, 
 160; his determination to bring 
 about a peace, 163 ; his letter to 
 Buys, Pensionary of Amsterdam, 
 164 ; his correspondence with John 
 Drummond of Amsterdam, 165 ; 
 dictates terms to Marlborough, 
 169; his auger at the Duke's 
 adhering to the Whigs, 170 ; rates 
 the Duke on abandoning the Tories, 
 172 ; authorizes, with Harley, the 
 
 2 z 2 
 
708 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 
 Earl of Jersey to despatch the 
 Abb6 Gaultier on a secret mission 
 to France, 175 ; his detestation of 
 Austria, 178 ; impolicy of his 
 treating with France independent of 
 the allies, 178 ; his factious pro- 
 ceedings, 182 ; becomes the fa- 
 vourite of the October Club, 185 ; 
 his intimacy and subsequent quarrel 
 with the Marquis de Guiscard, 187 ; 
 Guiscard's intended attempt on his 
 Kfe, 189 ; avenges Harley by stab- 
 bins Guiscard, 190 ; pardons Guis- 
 card before his death, 191 ; his 
 differences with Harley, 194 ; sup- 
 ]Msed to entertain the design of 
 supplanting Harley, 195 ; his de- 
 fence of Bridges, Paymaster of the 
 Forces, 196 ; his quarrel with 
 Harley, 197—200 ; envy of Harley 
 on his elevation to the peerage, 
 201 ; his official and private life, 
 202 ; personally fits out an ex- 
 pedition to the Eiver St. Law- 
 rence, 204 ; his encouragement of 
 the expedition, 205 ; his official 
 labours, 207 ; his statesmanlike 
 capacity, 208; his engaging pre- 
 sence and fascination, 208 ; his 
 love of the bottle, 210; love 
 of coimtry life, 219 ; connives at 
 Mrs. Masham's peculation, 222 ; 
 makes little way at court, 223 ; 
 again congratulates Marlborough 
 on his brilliant exploit of entering 
 the French lines near Bouchain, 224 ; 
 his anger at pamphlets published 
 in favour of Marlborough, 226 ; 
 his rupture with Marlborough, 227; 
 carries on negotiations for peace in 
 direct breach of the Grand Alliance, 
 232 ; his negotiations with M. 
 Mesnager, the French envoy, 235 ; 
 his approbation of Mesnager's pro- 
 posals from Prance, 240; signs 
 prehminaries of peace with France, 
 241 ; orders Count de Gallas to 
 leave the country, 244 ; his per- 
 secution of the press, 245 ; fur- 
 nishes a new house in Golden 
 Square, 247 ; represses a popular 
 demonstration, 248 ; becomes a 
 party to the creation of twelve new 
 peers to caiTy the peace measure 
 through the Upper House, 251 ; 
 his leadership of the House of 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 Commons, 253 ; his resentment 
 against Walpole, 256 ; his extreme 
 party hostility, 257; lays the 
 Barrier Treaty before the House 
 of Commons, 260 ; threatens to 
 commit Hampden, member for 
 Buckinghamshire, 261 ; sets forth 
 in a long Representation elaborate 
 censures of the Allies, 262 ; con- 
 tributes to the Gazette of Amster- 
 dam a defence of the Representa- 
 tion, 262 ; regards Holland as an 
 enemy, in direct reversal of the 
 pdicy pursued since the Revolu- 
 tion, 263 ; his hazardous project 
 of going over to France to arrange 
 about the Spanish Succession, 267 ; 
 his difficulties on the question, 
 267 ; his project of the Renuncia- 
 tions, 269 ; his counter proposal, 
 271 ; his most extraordinary letter 
 ordering the Duke of Ormond, 
 Commander of the English forces 
 in Flanders, not to engage in any 
 siege, or hazard a battle, but to 
 disguise the receipt of the order, 
 273 ; designedly conceals this order 
 from his colleagues, and com- 
 municates it to the court of France, 
 274 ; his ardour and determination 
 in the work of peace, and his rage 
 against Holland, 275 ; abandons 
 all professions of acting in concert 
 with the Allies, 276 ; is sure of 
 his majority in both Houses, 278 ; 
 his impatience of public criticism, 
 279 ; introduces and carries the 
 Stamp Act to restrain the liberty 
 of the press, 280 ; leaves the House 
 of Commons, 281 ; his ill-advised 
 acceptance of a coronet, 283 ; is 
 created Viscount Bolingbroke and 
 Baron St. John, 284; his dissatis- 
 faction at not being made an earl, 
 285 ; renounces all friendship for 
 Harley, Eari of Oxford, 287 ; his 
 three unpublished letters on the 
 expedition to Dunkirk, 290 — 293 ; 
 his messengers' bills, 295 ; de- 
 spatched on a mission to France, 
 298 ; his enthusiastic reception in 
 France, 299 ; is domesticated with 
 the Torcys, SOO ; under the influ- 
 ence of Madame de Ferriole and 
 her sister, Madame de Tencin, 302 ; 
 his reception by Louis XIV. at Fon- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 709 
 
 Bolingbroke — contintced. 
 
 tainebleau, 303; homage paid to 
 Mm ty the Parisians, 304 ; under 
 the same roof with the Pretender, 
 305 ; visits Governor Hill at Dun- 
 kirk, 307 ; his return to England, 
 307 ; his proceedings abroad viewed 
 with displeasure, and the corre- 
 spondence vdth Kranoe taken out 
 of his hands, 308 ; his want of 
 money, 313 ; his indignation against 
 Oxford at not receiving the Order 
 of the Garter, on the death of 
 Godolphin, 314 ; issues warrants 
 to apprehend General Macartney, 
 Lord Mohan's second in his duel 
 with the Duke of Hamilton, 316 ; 
 the Duke of Shrewsbury's appoint- 
 ment as ambassador to France, not 
 altogether agreeable to him, 317 ; 
 is disgusted with the conduce of 
 his friends at the French court, 
 318 ; admits that with Holland he 
 had at last no cause of complaint, 
 319 ; his increasing influence at 
 Court, and his resumption of ofiicial 
 foreign correspondence, 320 ; gains 
 ground in his struggle with the 
 Earl of Oxford, 320 ; through his 
 growing favour at Court, is allowed 
 to appoint his half brother, George 
 St. John, to the secretaryship to 
 the embassy at the Hague, 321 ; 
 his kindness to his relative, George 
 St. John, 322 ; his joy at the sign- 
 ing of the peace of G'trecht, 327 ; 
 rewards Booth, the actor, with fifty 
 guineas, on the representation of 
 Addison's Cato, 330 ; invites 
 Addison to diimer, and discusses 
 the merits of their respective parties 
 in a calm and friendly manner, 
 331 ; regrets his retirement from 
 the House in the contest on the 
 8th and 9th articles of the new 
 treaty of commerce vrith France, 
 333 ; his danger from the ferment 
 in the trading classes, 335 — 338 ; 
 his vexation at the defeat of the 
 Ministry on the commercial treaty, 
 339 ; his enlightened vievre on free 
 trade vnth France, 341 ; glories in 
 having brought about the peace, 
 342 ; observations on his short- 
 comings in the peace negotiations, 
 343; his satisfaction at the Assiento 
 Contract, 346; his reprehensible 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 abandonment of the Catalans, 348 ; 
 his earlier efforts in favour of the 
 Catalans, 350 ; his vexation at their 
 opposition to the peace, 351 ; his cor- 
 respondence with the Princess d'Ur- 
 sini, 352 ; his disappointment at the 
 results of peace in England, 355 ; his 
 increased hostility towards the Earl 
 of Oxford, 356; denied by the 
 Earl the expenses of his journey to 
 France, 358 ; his tenure of office 
 strengthened by ministerial changes, 
 360; grows almost indispensable 
 to Lady Masham, 361 ; profits by 
 the opportunity afforded through 
 Oxford's neglect of ofScial duties, 
 362 ; drinks less, 362 ; his continued 
 licentiousness, 363 ; his separate do- 
 mestic establishment at Ashdown 
 Park, and love of hunting, 364; 
 rendered liable to gross misrepre- 
 sentation by the proceedings of 
 the Dowager Countess of Jersey, 
 365 ; gets back young Villiers from 
 the Dowager Countess, 366 ; com- 
 missions Prior to distribute his 
 cargo of Palma, sack, and honey- 
 water, to his friends in France, 
 367 ; solicited in vain by the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth for per- 
 mission to return to England, 368 ; 
 his attention to official duties, 370 ; 
 is in high favour at Court, 371 ; 
 his unjustifiable conduct in allow- 
 ing Sir Patrick Lawless, an Irish- 
 man, a Catholic and an exile, to 
 be received at Court, 379 ; his 
 admiration of the smoothness of 
 affairs in a despotic court, and 
 vexation at the annoyances in con- 
 stitutional governments, 380 ; his 
 disingenuous proceeding in regard 
 to the removal of the Pretender 
 from Lorraine, 380; the charge 
 of his seeking to set aside the Act 
 of Settlement and restore the House 
 of Stuart considered, 382—388; 
 suspected of Jacobitism by Oxford, 
 389; his arrangement to pay fifty 
 thousand pounds to the Dowager 
 Queen explained, 389 ; his little 
 zeal for the House of Hanover, 
 390 ; the religion of the Pretender 
 his real stumbling-block, 391 ; his 
 unsettled resolution how to act in 
 the event of the death oi' Queen 
 
710 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 
 Anne, 395; inclines to the Pre- 
 tender, 396 ; forbids Scliutz, the 
 Hanoverian envoy, the Court, 397 ; 
 stubbornly resists aU precautions 
 to secure the Protestant succession, 
 398 ; his hostility to the Dissenters, 
 400 ; his conduct in relation to the 
 Schism Act, 401 ; his freethinMng, 
 402 ; shares in Jihe public indigna- 
 tion excited against his creature, 
 Arthur Moore, on the exposure of 
 his disgraceful cupidity, 407 ; keeps 
 the manuscript of Swift's Free 
 Thoughts on the Present State of 
 Affairs, by him, greatly to the 
 dissatisfaction of the author, 408 ; 
 gains ground at Court by intrigue 
 and cajolery, 411 ; is jealous and 
 distrustful of Lord Shrewsbury, 
 413 ; entertains his leading political 
 adversaries at dinner, 414 ; endea- 
 vours to establish a good under- 
 standing with the Elector of Ha- 
 nover, 415 ; his extravagant design 
 of taxing the fundholders at a 
 higher rate than the pubHc gene- 
 rally, in opposition to the Bank 
 and the East India Company, as 
 the strongholds of the City TVhigs, 
 416 ; disconcerted by the tmex- 
 jiected presence of the Dukes of 
 Somerset and Argyle at the council- 
 board, on occasion of Queen Anne's 
 last illness, 417 ; obliged to ac- 
 quiesce in Shrewsbury being nomi- 
 nated Lord Treasurer, 418 ; his 
 grief at finding himself and the 
 Tories undone, on the proclamation 
 of King George I., 419 ; wisely 
 refuses to sanction Bishop Atter- 
 bury's desperate proposal of pro- 
 claiming James HI., 421 ; addresses 
 a letter in French to King George 
 I., on his accession to the throne, 
 423 ; his fall, 424 ; is summarily 
 dismissed by George I., 425 ; re- 
 tires to Bucklersbury, 426 ; his 
 papers sealed up, 426 ; his retire- 
 ment shared by his wife, 427 ; his 
 disgrace, 427 ; his impolicy in not 
 having conciliated the Elector, 431 ; 
 his entire loss of influence in both 
 Houses of Parliament, 434 ; bitterly 
 opposed by Walpole, 435 ; his de- 
 fiance of his enemies, 436 ; his 
 flight to France in di^uise of a 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued, 
 valet, on being persuaded that his 
 life was in danger, 437 ; his inter- 
 view with Marlborough, who art- 
 fully practises on his fears, 440 ; 
 his impolitic absence from Eng- 
 land, 440 ; is impeached of high 
 treason, without a dissentient voice, 
 446; is attainted, 447; his name 
 erased from the roll of peers, 448 ; 
 becomes Secretary of State to the 
 Pretender, 448 ; his reception in 
 Paris a contrast to his former visit, 
 450 ; his interview with Lord 
 Stair, 452 ; his interview with the 
 Duke of Berwick at variance with 
 his promise to Lord Stair, 453 ; 
 his conduct the result of impulse, 
 454 ; his acceptance of the seals 
 from the Pretender prior in date to 
 his impeachment and attainder, 
 455 ; soon repents the step he had 
 taken, 457 ; is hated by the Irish 
 Jacobites, 459 ; his respectful for- 
 mality ia correspondence with the 
 Pretender, 460 ; is created an earl 
 by the Pretender, 461 ; his judicious 
 advice to James disregarded, 462 ; 
 his memorial to Torcy on behaK of 
 James, 463 ; his earnest impor- 
 tunities of the French government 
 unsuccessful, 464; his disappoint- 
 ment in the Pretender, 466 ; ap- 
 plies to Charles XII. of Sweden for 
 troops to invade Great Britain, 
 467 ; his object of annulling the 
 Peace of Utrecht by drawing France 
 into another war with England, 
 468 ; is proof against the intrigues 
 and blandishments of Madame de 
 Tencin, 469 ; contemplates a mar- 
 riage between James and one of 
 the daughters of the Duke of Or- 
 leans, 470 ; is more hopeful about 
 the prospects of the Pretender, 
 471 ; his hopes expire on the death 
 of Louis SIT., 473 ; recommends 
 the Earl of Mar to postpone the 
 rebellion, 476 ; his unhappy situa- 
 tion through the perfidy of James, 
 477 ; is treated by the Duke of 
 Ormond with want of frankness, 
 481 ; waits upon James at St. 
 Germains on his return from Scot- 
 land, 485 ; is treated with every 
 mark of friendship and confidence, 
 486 ; is loudly accused of treachery 
 
INDEX. 
 
 711 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 and incapacity by Olive Trant and 
 Mademoiselle de Chaussery, 486 ; 
 is summarily and ignominiously 
 dismissed by James, 487 ; becomes 
 in twenty months an object of 
 laughter and pity to his political 
 enemies, 488 ; his innocence to- 
 wards the Pretender attested by 
 the Duke of Berwick, 489 ; his 
 removal eagerly sought by the 
 Earl of Mar and the Duke of 
 Ormond, 490 ; experiences all the 
 terrible meaning of the word exile, 
 491 ; slandered by the Jacobites 
 at home and abroad, 493 ; indig- 
 nantly rejects Mary lof Modena's 
 attempt at a reconciliation with 
 the Smarts, 494 ; Lord Stair's first 
 overtu.-es to return to his alle- 
 giance to the House of Hanover, 
 495 ; his interview with Lord 
 Stair, 497 ; becomes a supplicant 
 497; is kept in suspense by the 
 Whigs, 498; his letter to Sir 
 William Vindham against being 
 misled by Jacobite agents, trans- 
 mitted unstaled to young Craggs, 
 son of tht Postmaster-General, 
 503; his letter to Swift misin- 
 terpreted by ■iir Walter Scott, and 
 now explainel, 504; writes his 
 Kefleotions on Exile, 505 ; puts 
 the love of comtry on the basis of 
 the lowest liilitarianism, 507 ; 
 again calumniaed in a letter from 
 Avignon, writtei under the sanc- 
 tion of the Pretender, 508 : 
 writes his celebated letter to Sir 
 William Windhan, 510 ; his highly 
 probable reasons or not publishing 
 the letter at the tine it was written, 
 515 ; his pardon deferred, 516 ; 
 his name not insa-ted in the act 
 of royal clemency, after the Earl 
 of Oxford's acquittil, through the 
 direct interference if the House 
 . of Commons, 517 ; his forced re- 
 tirement from Paris, and devotion 
 to the study of lettes and philo- 
 sophy, 518 ; his verss and letter 
 to Swift, 519 ; discusgs the Quad- 
 ruple Alliance with; Gneral Stan- 
 hope, 520; his aoquantance with 
 the Marquise de Vilette 521 ; loses 
 his wife, 522 ; the manor of Buck- 
 lersbury passes away rom him. 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 
 522 ; in love with the Marquise 
 de Villette, 523 ; his jealousy, and 
 attempt to chastise a rival, 523 ; 
 his second maniage, 524 ; makes 
 money out of Law's Mississippi 
 Scheme, 525 ; purchases an estate 
 near Orleans, called La Source, 
 526 ; jhis pleasures at La Source, 
 527 ; his - philosophical studies, 
 528 ; believes himself the cham- 
 pion of Providence and natural 
 religion, 529 ; his onslaught on the 
 divines, 530; his chronological 
 researches, 531 ; is visited by M. 
 Frangois Arouet (Voltaire), 532 ; 
 his approbation of the unpublished 
 Henriade, 433 ; his fits of depres- 
 sion, 534; sees Lord Polwarth in 
 Paris on the subject of the pardon, 
 534 ; his pardon to be personally 
 ascribed to George I., 535 ; his 
 return to England, and hearty re- 
 ception by Sir William Windham 
 and Lord Harcourt, 537 ; proposes 
 an alliance between Walpole and 
 those Tories, like Sir William 
 Windham, who had been in oppo- 
 sition to the government, snice the 
 accession of the House of Hanover, 
 538 ; his dissatisfaction, 539 ; his 
 letter to Lord Harcourt, 540 ; starts 
 for Aix-la-Chapelle to recruit his 
 health, 541 ; his oorrespondenee, 
 and domestic happiness, 543 ; sets 
 out for Paris, 544 ; espouses the 
 cause of the Walpoles against that 
 of Carteret, 545 ; his alienation 
 from Atterbury, 546 ; is engaged in 
 negotiating a marriage for his wife's 
 daughter, 547 ; refused his wife's 
 money by Sir Matthew Decker, 
 on the plea that he might be 
 answerable to Parhament for it, 
 548 ; finds that the occupations of 
 hunting and studying at La Source 
 ill compensate for the absence of 
 his wife in England, 551 ; resumes 
 his correspondence with Swift, 552; 
 his dogs and field sports, 553 ; his 
 precarious health, 554 ; is aimoyed 
 and alai-med by Arthur Moore's 
 report that he was in intimate 
 correspondence with Mr. Pulteney 
 and the Opposition, 555 ; his peti- 
 tion to the House of Commons 
 presented by Lord Finch, 556 ; is 
 
712 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bolingbrokis — continued. 
 
 hy law partially restored, 558 ; his 
 slight obligations to Walpole, 559 ; 
 retires to Dawley, 561 ; his ex- 
 travagance there, 562 ; renews 
 his intimacy with Pope, 563 ; 
 is visited by Swift, after many 
 vicissitudes and a long separation, 
 565 I receives Voltaire at Dawley, 
 568 ; his appreciation of Grul- 
 Uver^s Travels, 569 ; espouses 
 the cause of Pulteney against 
 Walpole, 570 ; is concerned in 
 organizing an opposition to Mi- 
 nisters, 571 ; his outcry against 
 parties, 572 ; repudiates Toryism, 
 and adopts a liberal independent 
 Whiggism, 573 ; produces the Oc- 
 casional Writer, 575 ; artfully in- 
 creases the Duchess of Kendal's dis- 
 trust of Walpole, 578 ; his interview 
 with George I., 579 ; his hopes 
 baffled by the death of George I., 
 580 ; counts confidently on the in- 
 fluence of Mrs. Howard with George 
 II., 580 ; returns to Dawley to 
 plough, read, and plant more sedu- 
 lously tha,n ever, 581; his studies 
 interrupted by the illness of Lady 
 BoUngbroke, 582 ; affects the great- 
 est simplicity of diet, 583 ; his em- 
 barrassments, 583 ; his labours to 
 combine the Tories, Jacobites, and 
 discontented Whigs in a common 
 assault on the Government, 584; 
 vigorously opposes Walpole and the 
 London Journal, under the name 
 of John Trot, 585 ; repairs to Alk- 
 la-Chapelle for the benefit of Lady 
 Bolingbroke's health, 587 ; returns 
 to England and moralizes on the 
 nothingness of fame, 588 ; his Re- 
 marks on the History of England, 
 590 ; his animadversions on the 
 follies of the Stnarts, 593 ; his fierce 
 political controversies, 594 ; his phi- 
 losophical compositions avowedly 
 written for Pope's instruction, 596 ; 
 his Essay on Human Knowledge, 
 597 ; his Folly and Presumption 
 of Philosophers, 598 ; his Mono- 
 theism, 599 ; his Concerning Au- 
 thority in Matters of Eeligion, and 
 Fragments and Minutes of Essay, 
 599 ; his philosophical writings 
 considered, 602-3 ; recommends to 
 Swift Mr. Weskv, the lather of 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 
 John and Charles Wesley, 608 ; his; 
 opposition to Walpole's Excise 
 Scheme, 609 ; writes many of Sir 
 William Windham's speeehesj 608 ; 
 his Dissertation on Parties, 610 ; 
 his changed opinions verge on the 
 democratic, 612 ; contrsBted with 
 Walpole; 615 ; his invective against 
 Walpole couched in a "supposi- 
 tion, put in the mouth of Sir Wil- 
 liam Windham, met by Walpole's 
 philippic in a counter " supposi- 
 tion," &16 ; suffers the vexation of 
 being told that his unpopularity 
 with the nation injured his paity, 
 618 ; again leaves England for 
 France, 619 ; settles in a large 
 house at Chsinteloup, in Touiaine, 
 620 ; his increasing eznbarrass- 
 ments, 621 ; endeavoTUS to sell 
 Dawley, 622 ; his occupations of 
 reading, writing, huating, and 
 shooting at Cbanteloirp, 623; his 
 correspondence with joung Charles 
 Windham, 624 ; commenGes his 
 Letters on History a; Chanteloup, 
 624 ; his habits a' composition, 
 697 ; meditates writng the History 
 of Queen Anne's Jeign, 628 ; his 
 True Use of Eetireiient and Study, 
 629 ; his Spirit ofPatriotism, 631 ; 
 his schemes on tje death of Queen 
 Caroline, 632 ; returns to England 
 and sells the Dswley estate, 633 ; 
 spends some tine with Pope at 
 Twickenham, (33 ; his Patriot 
 King, 635 ; hisState of Parties at 
 the Accession pf George I., 638 ; 
 his correspondeice with Sir WiUiam 
 Windham and the young Lord Pol- 
 warth, afterwards the third Earl of 
 Marchmont, (40 ; at Chanteloup, 
 640 ; for Lori Polwarth's satisfac- 
 tion sketches out a defence of the 
 Secession of the Opposition from 
 the House jf Commons, 641 ; his 
 correspond^ce with Sir W. Wind- 
 ham and LoyA. Polwarfh on the 
 hopeless s&te of affairs, on Wal- 
 pole's declaring war against Spain, 
 642 ; stil meditates a history of 
 Queen Aihe's reign, 643; is greatly 
 affected ^y the death of Sir W. 
 Windhaft, 643 ; Pope's unpublished 
 charactalstic letter to him, 644 ; 
 Lyttelt(ji's letter to him, 647 ; the 
 
INDEX. 
 
 713 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 Earl of Marchmont's letter to him, 
 651 ; his intimacy with the Earl of 
 Marchmont, 651 ; Marohmont be- 
 comes his only regular correspon- 
 dent, 653 ; is visited by Chesterfield, 
 654 ; returns to England on the 
 death of his father, 654 ; becomes 
 master of Battersea, but resolves to 
 continue his residence in France, 
 655 ; his intimacy with Chester- 
 field, 656 ; is again in England, 
 associating with Chesterfield, Pope, 
 Bathurst, and Marchmont, 656 ; his 
 enmity against Warburton, 657; 
 Pope introduces Warburton to him, 
 658 ; his natural antagonism with 
 Warburton, 658 ; magnanimously 
 forgives Pope for having shown his 
 Letters on History to Warburton, 
 659 ; again leaves England, dis- 
 tracted with political affairs and 
 his own embarrassments, 660 ; his 
 attacks of gout and rheumatics, 
 660 ; his lively interest in the 
 battle of Dettingen, under the 
 
 . leadership of Lord Stair, 660 ; re- 
 turns finally to England, 661 ; his 
 life at Battersea, 662 ; his attend- 
 ance on Pope in his last illness, 
 663 ; settles at Battersea, 666 ; 
 bums an edition of The Patriot 
 King, treacherously printed by 
 Pope's orders, 667 ; his indignation 
 against Pope, 667 ; his associates 
 at Battersea, 668 ; his opinion of 
 Pitt, 669 ; is at length on good 
 terms with the government of the 
 day, on the formation of the Broad 
 Bottom Administration, 671 ; his 
 dissatisfaction,' 672 ; his retii-ement, 
 673 ; becomes a cripple, 675 ; his 
 conversation with Chesterfield, 676 ; 
 his Reflections on the Present State 
 of the Nation, 677 ; his gloomy 
 views, and blindness to the future 
 greatness of England, 679 ; pub- 
 lishes The Patriot King, and his 
 Eemarks on the State of Parties at 
 the Accession of George I., 680 ; is 
 cajoled by David Mallet, under the 
 idea of having a niche in his pro- 
 mised Life of Marlborough, 681 ; is 
 assailed by Warburton in the Pope 
 Controversy, 682 ; writes, in reply, 
 A Familiar Epistle to the Most 
 Impudent Man Living, 682; the 
 
 Bolingbroke — continued. 
 
 public declare against him, 683 ; 
 loses his second wife, 685 ; his law- 
 suit in France to recover his wife's 
 property, 686 ; is afflicted by a can- 
 cer in the jaw, which pervades his 
 whole frame, 686 ; makes his will, 
 687 ; his excruciating torments and 
 death, 689 ; is privately buried in 
 the vault with Ms late wife, in the 
 old church, Battersea, 689 ; his epi- 
 taph written by himself, 690 ; his 
 bust and that of his late wife, 690 ; 
 succeeded in his title by his nephew 
 Frederick, son of John St. John, 
 692 ; publication of his posthumous 
 works, 695 ; French editions of his 
 works, 697 ; reception of his reck- 
 less philosophical revelations in 
 England, 701. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Lady, first wife of Vis- 
 count Bolingbroke. See Winches- 
 comb, P., daughter of Sir Henry 
 Winchescomb, Bart. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Lady, second wife of 
 ' Viscount Bolingbroke. 5eeVillette, 
 Marquise de. 
 
 Booth, the actor, Bolingbroke's gift 
 of 50 guineas to, on the first repre- 
 sentation of Cato, 330. 
 
 Bouchain, Marlborough's last but one 
 of his great exploits near, 224. 
 
 Breton, Brigadier WiUiam, Boling- 
 broke's intimacy with, 247. 
 
 Bridges, Paymaster of the Forces, de- 
 fended by Bolingbroke, 196. 
 
 Brinsden, John, position of, as a kind 
 of steward at Dawley, 622. 
 
 Bristol, the Bishop of. See Eobinson, 
 Eight Eev. Dr. 
 
 Bucklersbury, the seat of his father- 
 in-law, Bolingbroke retires to, 125 ; 
 the manor of, passes away from 
 Bolingbroke on the death of his 
 first wife, 622. 
 
 Burgess, Daniel, a dissenting divine, 
 but not a Presbyterian, his real 
 piety, and his freedom from fanati- 
 cism of, 9. 
 
 Busts of Lord and Lady Bolingbroke, 
 white marble, in Battersea Church 
 690. 
 
 Buys, Pensionary of Amsterdam, Bo- 
 lingbroke's letter to, 164 ; tries the 
 effect of his eloquence on Queen 
 Anne and the English government 
 in recommending a peace with 
 
714 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Buys — continued. 
 
 France not to be concluded with- 
 out the concurrence of the AUies, 
 243. 
 
 Campbell Alexasdeb Hume, strong 
 family likeness of, to his twin 
 brother Hugh, third Earl of March- 
 mont, 650. 
 
 Cambridge, Piince George, the Duke 
 of, the Whigs not inconsistent in 
 voting against, in 1705, and cla- 
 mouring lor, in 1714, 398. 
 
 Cardonnel, Mr., secretary of the Duke 
 of Marlborough, his expulsion from 
 the House of Commons, caused by 
 Bolingbroke, 255. 
 
 Caroline, Queen, Walpole supported 
 in office by, 580; effect of her 
 death on Bolingbroke, 632. 
 
 Carteret, Lord, Secretary of State, on 
 the death of Craggs, BoUngbroke's 
 cause regarded favourably by, 535. 
 
 Catalans, their fate shamefully sacri- 
 ficed by England, 349 ; they hang 
 Queen Anne's solemn promise of 
 protection on the high altar of the 
 cathedral as an appeal against 
 British faithlessness, 378. 
 
 Cato, Addison's, scene on first repre- 
 sentation of, 330. 
 
 Chanteloup, in Touraine, BoUng- 
 broke's residence at, 620 ; com- 
 mences his Letters on History at, 
 624. 
 
 Charles Xll., of Sweden, applications 
 of Bolingbroke and the Duke of 
 Berwick to, for troops to invade 
 Great Britain, 467. 
 
 Chaussery, Mademoiselle de, supposed 
 influence of, with the Duke of 
 Orleans, in favour of the Jacobites, 
 480 ; accuses Bolingbroke of treach- 
 ery to the Pretender, 489. 
 
 ' ' Cheddar Letters," Pope's and Boling- 
 broke's, to Swift, 563. 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, spends three days 
 with Bolingbroke at his French 
 hermitage, 654 ; his intimacy with 
 Bolingbroke, 656 ; his farewell 
 visit to Bolingbroke, 689. 
 
 Cholmondeley, Lord, Treasurer of the 
 Household, his dismissal from 
 office on account of his objections 
 to ratifying the ti-eaty of Utrecht, 
 328. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford, Bolingbroke 
 
 sent to, 14. 
 
 Chronolc^cal Livestigations by Bo- 
 lingbroke, remarks on the, 597. 
 
 Churchill. See Marlborough, Duke 
 of. 
 
 Clarendon, Lord, appointment of the 
 stupid, to the Court of Hanover, to 
 express her Majesty's indignation 
 at the manner in which the ^rat 
 for Prince George, Duke of Cam- 
 bridge, had been demanded, 399. 
 
 Club, the, of Brothere, Bolingbroke 
 mainly instrumental in forming, as 
 a rival to the Whigs' Kit Cat, 217. 
 
 Cockpit, the, site of, now occupied by 
 the Treasury, Guiscard examined 
 at, 188. 
 
 Commerce, the treaty of, consequent 
 on the peace of Utrecht, great con- 
 flict in Parhament on the 8th and 
 9th articles of; 332-338; minis- 
 terial defeat on, rejoiced in by the 
 Earl of Oxford, 358. 
 
 Combury, Lord, afterwards Lord 
 Hyde, great^randson of the cele- 
 brated Lord Clarendon, Boling- 
 broke writes his Letters on History 
 for, 624; letter of, when Lord 
 Hyde, to David Mallet, on the 
 maimer of giving BoUngbroke's 
 posthumous works to the world, 
 694. 
 
 Couti, Abb^, BoUngbroke's companion 
 at La Source, 529. 
 
 Country gentlemen, determii^tion of, 
 to bring the leading Whigs to the 
 block, 184 ; suspect the ministry 
 of lukewarmness, 184. 
 
 Cowper, Earl, reply of, to BoUng- 
 broke's Tory Manifesto in the 
 Examiner, 162. 
 
 Craftsman, the, BoUngbroke's elo- 
 quent tiibute in, to the memorj- of 
 the Duke of Berwick, 490 ; esta- 
 bUshment of, by Pulteney, 575. 
 
 Crisis, the, Steele's pamphlet, puhU- 
 cation of, 372 ; repUed to by Swift, 
 373. 
 
 Damon, pseudonyme of one of Bo- 
 Ungbroke's companions at La 
 Source, 529. 
 
 Dartmouth, Lord, Secretary of State 
 with Bolingbroke, the honest pains- 
 taking of, 207 ; the correspondence 
 with France, taken put of the hands 
 
INDEX. 
 
 715 
 
 Dartmouth, Lord — continued. 
 
 of Bolingtroke, reverts to, 308 ; 
 his pride and reserve, 309. 
 
 Dawley, near Uxbridge, estate pur- 
 chased of Lord TankervHle by Bo- 
 lingbroke, 561 ; the sale of, 633. 
 
 Decker, Sir Matthew, refuses to pay 
 money belonging to the second 
 Lady Bolingbroke on the plea that 
 on her husband's account he might 
 be answerable to Parliament for it, 
 548. 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, his advocacy of free 
 trade with France in the Mercator, 
 337 ; his pamphlet, the Secret 
 History of the White Staff, 428. 
 
 Dettingen, news of the battle of, 
 under the leadership of Lord Stair, 
 reaches Bolingbroke at Argeville, 
 660. 
 
 Dissenters, the, Bolingbroke's hosti- 
 lity to, 400. 
 
 Dissertation on Parties, Bolingbroke's, 
 610. 
 
 Divine Bight, the French minister, 
 Torcy's uncompromising assertion 
 of, on the question of the Spanish 
 Succession, 268. 
 
 Dogs, Bolingbroke's love of, 553. 
 
 Douai, siege of, under Marlborough, 
 147. 
 
 Drummond, John, merchant of Am- 
 sterdam, Bolingbroke's correspond- 
 ence with, 165 ; his appointment 
 to a consulship on being obhged, 
 through his obnoxiousness to the 
 Dutch, to wind up his mercantile 
 affairs at Amsterdam, 323 ; ma- 
 nages to keep on pretty good terms 
 with the Whigs, 548. 
 
 Dryden, John, Addison's graceful es- 
 say on the Georgics, prefi.xed to the 
 Virgil translated by, 16; Compli- 
 mentary Verses by Bolingbroke 
 addressed to, 17 ; Bolingbroke 
 visits, and inspects first rough 
 draught of Ode to St. CeciUa's 
 Day, 19. 
 
 Du Bois, Cardinal, England's support 
 of, in the French government, 544. 
 
 Duel of the Duke of Hamilton with 
 Lord Mohun, 316. 
 
 Dunkirk offered as security to Eng- 
 land imtil the peace, 288; Bri- 
 gadier Hill made military com- 
 mander of, 294. 
 
 Edgehill, the Battle of, death of St. 
 John of Bletsoe at, 4. 
 
 Egremont Papers, ill-advised publica- 
 tion of Bolingbroke's Letters to 
 Charles Windham among the, 624. 
 
 Entresol, Soci^t^ de, Bolingbroke's 
 Befleotions concerning Innate Mo- 
 ral Principles written for the, 697 ; 
 dissolved by Cardinal Fleury in 
 1731, 698. 
 
 Essay on Human Ejiowledge by Bo- 
 lingbroke, remarks on, 597-8. 
 
 Essay on Man, Pope's, the leading 
 principle in, received from Bohng- 
 broke, 605. 
 
 Estoourt, Sir William, Bart., killed 
 in a brawl by Henry St. John, 
 father of Bolingbroke, 7. 
 
 Eton, Bolingbroke sent to, 13. 
 
 Eugene, Prince, arrival of, in Eng- 
 land viewed with displeasure by 
 the Ministry, 258 ; his reception 
 at Court, 258 ; great banquet given 
 to, by Bolingbroke, 258; Swift's 
 charges against, unfounded, 259 ; 
 his resolution to attack the French, 
 and indignation at the Duke of 
 Ormond's declining to act offen- 
 sively against the enemy, 277. 
 
 Examiner, a weekly, political paper, 
 started by the chiefs of the Tory 
 party, 158 ; Bolingbroke's letter in, 
 on the war, and the Duke and 
 Duchess of Marlborough, 159 ; 
 Swift's libellous attacks on the 
 Whig statesmen in, 171. 
 
 Faction, extreme violence of (1710- 
 11), 183 ; among ladies, 184. 
 
 Ferriole, Madame de. See Tencin. 
 
 Fleetwood, the Eight Eev. Dr., 
 Bishop of St. Asaph, volume of, 
 formally condemned by the House 
 of Commons, and burnt by the 
 hangman in Palace Yard, 279. 
 
 Fontainebleau, Bolingbroke received 
 by Louis XIV. at, 303. 
 
 France, spectacle of misery in the 
 provinces of, 1710, 146. 
 
 Francklin, Mr., publisher of The 
 Craftsman, Mallet's litigation with, 
 on pubhshing Bolingbroke's post- 
 humous works, 700. 
 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales, residence 
 of, at Norfolk House, St. James's 
 Square, the head-quarters of the 
 Opposition, 634; Bolingbroke en- 
 
716 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Frederick — contirmed. 
 
 deavours to ingratiate himself 
 
 with, 635. 
 Free Trade with France, violent 
 
 opposition of the Whigs to, 334 ; 
 
 Bolingbroke's enlightened views on, 
 - 341. 
 
 GhALLAS, CoTmr de, ordered hy Boling- 
 
 ' broke to quit tfie country, 244. 
 
 Gaultier, Abb^, secret mission of, to 
 the French King, 175 ; again de- 
 spatched to France, 235 ; called by 
 Bolingbroke his Mercury, by Torcy 
 the Angel of Peace, 265 ; suspected 
 of being concerned in the abduction 
 of Henry Villiers, 366. 
 
 Gay, John, his intimacy with Boling- 
 broke, 565. 
 
 Geoige, Prince, created Lord High 
 Admiral, on accession of Queen 
 Anne, 77 ; his death, 132. 
 
 George I. proclaimed King of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, 419 ; the first 
 offers of a pardon to Bolingbroke 
 proceed directly fi'om his own un- 
 solicited good nature, 499 ; Boling- 
 broke's tardy restoration justly 
 ascribed to the justice and honour 
 of, 535 ; his death on his journey 
 to Hanover, 579. 
 
 George II., his accession to the throne, 
 580. 
 
 Gertruvdenberg, conference at, 144, 
 145." 
 
 Ghent suddenly seized upon by the 
 Duke of Ormond, on meeting some 
 hindrances on his march through 
 some towns in possession of the 
 Dutch, 289. 
 
 Godolphin, Lord, appointment of, to 
 the Treasury, 1700, 46; becomes 
 Lord High Treasurer, 76; foun- 
 der of the celebrated Godolphin ad- 
 ministration, 76; intrigues against, 
 109 — 113 ; has disputes with Queen 
 Anne, 124 ; downfall of, 147 ; vm- 
 ceremoniously dismissed and or- 
 dered to break his staff, 148 ; cry 
 got up against, 196 ; his refusal of 
 a pension fi'om the Queen, 196 ; his 
 death, 314. 
 
 Golden Square, considered the most 
 fashionable part of the metropolis, 
 Bolingbroke furnishes a new house 
 in, 247. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, opinion of, on 
 Bolingbroke's Patriot King, 637. 
 
 Gout, Bolingbroke subject to attacks 
 of, 554. 
 
 Grand Alliance, the special work of 
 William III., formation of the, 75. 
 
 Grandison, Viscount, Irish title of, 
 borne by a member of the St. John 
 family, in the times of Elizabeth 
 and James I., 3. 
 
 Guiscard, Marquis de, miscarriage of 
 English expedition under, 187 ; 
 his vices, 187 ; his treasonable 
 correspondence of, 188 ; his arrest, 
 188 ; stabs Harley with a penknife, 
 190 ; dies of a neglected wound in 
 Newgate, 191. 
 
 Hague, La, conferences at, 134 — 136. 
 
 Halifax, Lord. See Montague, 
 Charles. 
 
 Hamilton, the Duke of, death of, in 
 a duel with Lord Mohun, 316 ; 
 difficulties of government increased 
 by the death of, 317. 
 
 Hampden, Mr., M.P. for Bucts, 
 threatened by Bolingbroke to be 
 committed to the Tower, 261. 
 
 Hamner, Sir Thomas, concerned with 
 Bolingbroke and Swift in setting 
 forth complaints against the Allies 
 in a long representation to be laid 
 at the foot of the throne, 262 ; cho- 
 sen speaker, and patronized by the 
 Whigs, 374 ; regarded as the head 
 of the Whimsical Tories, 375. 
 
 Hanover, the Elector of, apprehen- 
 sions entertained at the Court of, 
 on the chances of the Pretender 
 turning Protestant, 393 ; his dis- 
 trust of BoUngbroke, 394. 
 
 Harcourt, Lord, his hearty reception 
 of Bolingbroke on his return to 
 England, 537 ; Bolingbroke's letter 
 to, previously to starting for Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, 540. 
 
 Hare, Dr., chaplain to Marlborough, 
 pamphlet on Bouchain by, 226. 
 
 Havley, Eobert. See Oxford, Earl of. 
 
 Harrison, Thomas, Secretary to the 
 embassy at the Hague, death of, 
 felt acutely by Swift, 321. 
 
 Hedges, Sir Charles, appointment of, 
 as Secretary of State, 46. 
 
 Heuriade, The, submitted by Voltaire 
 for penisat at La Source, 533. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 717 
 
 Higli Church mob, demonstration of 
 a, 456. 
 
 Hill, Brigadier, brother of Mrs. 
 Masham, the land forces of the ex- 
 pedition to Quebec, put under the 
 command of, by Bolingbroke, 205 ; 
 chosen to command six regiments 
 in the pacific expedition to Dun- 
 kirk, 291 ; his letter to Admiral 
 Sir John Leake, a literary curiosity, 
 293 ; becomes military governor of 
 Dunkirk, 294. 
 
 Hill, Aaron, the tragedy of CsEsarby, 
 much too highly praised by Boling- 
 broke and Pope, 639. 
 
 Hoadly, Bishop Benjamin, Boling- 
 broke opposes under the name of 
 John Trot, 585. 
 
 Hobbism, Bolingbroke's mind tainted 
 with, 21, 52. 
 
 Holland, Bolingbroke's rage against, 
 for her opposition to the proposals 
 for peace, 275 ; harmony between, 
 and England, apparently restored, 
 319. 
 
 House of Commons, rebuke of, from 
 the Upper House, for unjust and 
 ■oppressive use of their high privi- 
 leges, 58 ; violence of, 1701, dis- 
 gusted the whole nation, 60 ; ren- 
 dered furious by the Kentish Peti- 
 tion, 61; rising importance of, 575. 
 
 House of Lords, disputes of Lower 
 House, in the early part of Queen 
 Anne's reign, 83, 86. 
 
 Howard, Mrs., Bolingbroke counts 
 confidently on her influence with 
 George II., 580. 
 
 Humphrey Oldcastle, Bolingbroke 
 writes Remarks on English History 
 under the name of, 590. 
 
 Hunting, Bolingbroke's love of, 553. 
 
 Huxelles, the Marquis de, French 
 minister, plan of peace by, awakes 
 universal indignation in England, 
 266. 
 
 Hyde, Lord. See Cornbury, Lord. 
 
 Irish Jacobites at the Court of St. 
 Germains, character of, for being 
 the most busy, restless, and talka- 
 tive of James's adherents, 458 ; 
 Bolingbroke hated by, 459. 
 
 Jacobites, their vengeance against 
 
 Bolingbroke, 492. 
 James II., death of, 1701, 72. 
 
 Jersey, the Dowager Countess of, 
 (daughter of Charles II.'s closet- 
 keeper, ChifBnoh,) the Queen, Lady 
 Masham, and Bolingbroke rendered 
 by her proceedings liable to gi'oss 
 misrepresentation, 365. 
 
 John Trot, Bolingbroke with his pen 
 opposes Walpole and the London 
 Journal, under the name of, 585. 
 
 Journalism, dawn of the age of, 593. 
 
 Kendal, the Duchess of, Bolingbroke's 
 complimentary letters to, 541 ; the 
 Marchioness de Villette propitiates 
 by a present of eleven thousand 
 pounds, 550 ; Bolingbroke's expec- 
 tations from the influence of, 570; 
 her distrust of Walpole artfully 
 increased by Bolingbroke, 578. 
 
 Kentish Petition, the presenters of 
 the, to the House of Commons, 
 ordered into custody, 61. 
 
 Lady Di, so frequently mentioned by 
 Boswell, who she was, 692. 
 
 Lansdowne, Lord (George Granville), 
 Bolingbroke's panic-written letter 
 to, during his flight, 437. 
 
 Lawless, Sir Patrick, Bolingbroke's 
 unjustifiable conduct in allowing, 
 to appear at court, 379. 
 
 Lawsuit at Paris, instituted by Boling- 
 broke to recover his second wife's 
 property, favourable termination of, 
 691. 
 
 Leake, Sir John, Admiral, ordered to 
 be in readiness in the Downs with 
 his squadron, 289 ; Bolingbroke's 
 letter to, 292. 
 
 Letoombe, the village of, in Berk- 
 shire, Swift boards and lodges, for a 
 guinea a week at, 407 ; Swift writes 
 his Free Thoughts on the Present 
 State of Affairs at, 408. 
 
 Letter, Bolingbroke's celebrated, to Sir 
 William Windham, 512; remarks 
 on, 513; evidently written at the 
 date it professes to have been, but 
 certainly never printed until after 
 Bolingbroke's death, 515. 
 
 Letters on History, Bolingbroke's, re- 
 marks on, 625. 
 
 Lille, siege and capture of, 132. 
 
 Locke, John, Bolingbroke's anti-me- 
 taphysical system constructed with 
 the aid of, 597. 
 
718 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 London Journal, Bolingbroke opposes, 
 under the name of John Trot, 585. 
 
 Louis XIV., eldest son of James IL, 
 acknowledged by, in violation of 
 treaty, as King of England, 72; 
 description of, hy Toroy, the French 
 minister, 134- ; Abb^ Gaultier's se- 
 cret mission to, 178 ; his manner of 
 receiving (1710-1711) advances to- 
 wards peace, 179 ; deputes Mesnager 
 to discuss terms of peace with the 
 English government, 233; his re- 
 ception of Bolingbroke at Pontaine- 
 bleau, 303 ; consents to give up 
 Tournay to England, 316 ; writes 
 to his gi'andson, Philip of Spain, for 
 funds in aid of the Pretender, 468 ; 
 his death, 473. 
 
 Lyttelton, G., letter of, to Boling- 
 broke, on the death of Sir W. Wind- 
 ham, 647. 
 
 Macaetney, General, Lord Mohun's 
 second in his duel with the Duke of 
 Hamilton, warrants sent out by 
 Bolingbroke to apprehend, 314. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, invectives of, against 
 Marlborough, 35, 41. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, contradiction 
 of the questionable assertion of, 
 respecting Bolingbroke's interviews 
 with the Pretender, 389. 
 
 Maintenou, Madame de, the Marquise 
 de Villette proved to be only the 
 niece of, by marriage, 521. 
 
 Mallet, David, his promised Life of 
 Marlborough, 681 ; Bolingbroke be- 
 queaths to him all his printed and 
 published works, his Letters on 
 History privately printed, all his 
 manuscript works, and all the books 
 in his library at the time of his 
 death, 688 ; disregards Lord Corn- 
 bury's injunction respecting the 
 manner of giving to the world 
 Bolingbroke's posthumous works, 
 695 ; justification of his conduct, 
 697 ; his htigation with Prancklin, 
 the piublisher of the Craftsman, 
 700. 
 
 Malplaquet, the battle of, 139. 
 
 Manley, Mrs., history of Guiscard's 
 attempt on Harley's life written by, 
 at the suggestion of Swift, 193 ; 
 her ingenious endeavour to satisfy 
 both Harley and Bolingbroke, 193. 
 
 Manton's, Dr., folio, Bolingbroke's re- 
 ference to, in a letter to Pope, ex- 
 plained, 11. 
 
 Mar, the Earl of, BoUngbroke's re- 
 commendation to, to postpone the 
 rebellion, 476 ; acts upon orders 
 direct from the Pretender, without 
 any communication with either 
 Bolingbroke or the Duke of Ber- 
 wick, 476 ; his incapacity, 483 ; 
 deserts his army with James, and 
 sets sail for France, 485. 
 
 Marchmont, third Earl of, Boling- 
 broke's correspondence with, 640, 
 641 ; his virtues and accomplish- 
 ments, 649 ; his long career, 650 ; 
 his intimacy ' and correspondence 
 with BoUngbroke, 651 ; inhabits 
 Bolingbroke's house at Battersea, 
 656. 
 
 Marcilly, family mansion of the Mar- 
 quise de Villette at, 522. 
 
 Marlborough, the Duke of, not easily 
 proved a worse man than the ma- 
 jority of the eminent men of his 
 age, and more easily proved superior 
 to nearly all of them, 34 ; free from 
 many of the vices of his times, 35 ; 
 charge f)f avarice against, 36 ; mar- 
 riage of, to a woman with scarcely a 
 penny for her fortune, 36 ; finn at- 
 tachment of, to the Church of Eng- 
 land, 36 ; treachery of, to James 11., 
 beneficial to England, 36 ; his giving 
 information about the secret expe- 
 dition to Brest, 38 ; Bolingbroke's 
 political hostUity against, but ad- 
 miration of, 40; at last in favour 
 with William HL, sent over to the 
 Netherlands, 75 ; made Captain- 
 General of all Queen Anne's forces 
 by land and sea, 76 ; Bolingbroke's 
 appointment as Secretary-at-War 
 due to, 90 ; his victory at Blenheim, 
 92 ; his victory of EamiUies, 102 ; 
 honours and emoluments showered 
 upon, 110 ; deceived by Harley's 
 duplicity, 114; insists on the dis- 
 missal of Harley, 119 ; his victory 
 at Oudenarde, 125 ; bribe to, of the 
 French minister, Torcy, 133 ; as a 
 diplomatist, 135 ; his love for the 
 Duchess, 136 ; his chair of state, 
 137 ; seeks to obtain an unconstitu- 
 tional patent of general for life, 139 ; 
 machinations against, 139 ; his 
 ' murdering ' battle of Malplaquet, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 719 
 
 Marlborough — continued. 
 139 ; his impolicy in not concluding 
 peace, 144 ; declines to forsake his 
 old friends the Whigs, 169 ; con- 
 gratulated by Bolingbroke on his 
 last and one of his greatest exploits, 
 that of entering the French lines 
 . near Bouchain, 224 ; his rupture 
 . with Bolingbroke, 227 ; supports 
 the Earl of Nottingham in his op- 
 position to the peace, 249 ; is dis- 
 missed from all his employments, 
 251 ; unfounded and malicious 
 charges against, 259 ; Bolingbroke's 
 great ingratitude to, 439 ; artfully 
 practises on Bolingbroke's fears for 
 his hfe, 440 ; is reported to be will- 
 ing to advance the Pretender mo- 
 • ney, 472. 
 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, her last in- 
 terview with Queen Anne, 147 ; 
 Bolingbroke's application to, for 
 papers to assist him in his proposed 
 History of Queen Anne's Reign, 
 628 ; gives Pope a thousand pounds 
 to destroy the character of Atossa, 
 664 ; her death, 668 ; her bequest 
 to Glover and Mallet to write a Life 
 of the Duke of Marlborough, 680. 
 Mary of Modena, Queen of James II., 
 indignation of, against Bolingbroke, 
 480 ; incapable of keeping a secret, 
 480 ; her attempt at a reconciliation 
 with Bolingbroke, 494. 
 Masham, Mrs. (Abigail Hill), intrigues 
 of, 104, 105 ; her peculation of 
 twenty thousand pounds, 222 ; ad- 
 vocates Bolingbroke's cause against 
 the Earl of Oxford, 320; Boling- 
 broke grows almost indispensable 
 to, 361 ; grossly flattered by Boling- 
 broke, 370 ; her mercenary charac- 
 ter, 371 ; her time-serving, 388 ; 
 the Earl of Oxford made and un- 
 made by, 405. 
 Matignon, the Marquis de, his faith- 
 ful services to Bolingbroke, 691. 
 Mesnager, M., sent by France to dis- 
 cuss terms of peace with the Eng- 
 lish government, 233 ; signs pre- 
 liminaries of peace on the part of 
 France, 241 ; secret interview of, 
 with Queen Amie, 242 ; quarrel 
 between, and the lackeys of Eech- 
 theren, one of the Dutch deputies 
 at Utrecht, 315 ; his apocryphal 
 minutes of negotiations, 386. 
 
 Mohocks, rumoured night outrages 
 of, in the streets of London, at- 
 tributed to Marlborough, 259. 
 
 Mohun, Lord, the Duke of Hamilton 
 killed by, in a duel, 316. 
 
 Monotheism, Bolingbroke on, 599. 
 
 Montague, Charles, late Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, the national debt 
 considered the work of, 33 ; created 
 Lord Halifax, 56 ; voted guilty of 
 a breach of trust and of gross mis- 
 management, 81 ; acquitted by the 
 House of Lords, 81. 
 
 Montmorin, M., condemned to re- 
 fund the money he had seized be- 
 longing to the second Lady Boling- 
 broke, and to pay the whole costs 
 of the suit, by the Great Chamber 
 of the Parliament of Paris, 691. 
 
 Monument to Lord and Lady Boling- 
 broke in Battersea Church, 689. 
 
 Moore, Arthur, his lowly origin, 336 ; 
 his influence with Bolingbroke in 
 questions affecting commerce, 337 ; 
 summoned to the bar of the House 
 of Commons, 407 ; manages to keep 
 on terras with the Whigs, 555. 
 
 Murray, William, afterwards the cele- 
 brated Lord Mansfield, Pope's in- 
 timacy with, 654. 
 
 National debt, the, considered the 
 work of Charles Montague, and 
 long regarded by Bolingbroke as 
 pregnant with ruin, 33. 
 
 Natural religion, Bolingbroke on, 
 598, 600. 
 
 Newbury, Jack of, Bolingbroke mar- 
 ried to a descendant of, 24. 
 
 Nottingham, the Earl of, honesty of, 
 88 ; grave deportment of, 88 ; his 
 resignation of office, 89 ; opposes 
 the measures for peace, and defeats 
 the government, 249. 
 
 Occasional Conformity Bill, power- 
 fully supported by BoUngbroke, 79 ; 
 thrown out in House of Lords, 80 ; 
 
 Occasional Writer, the, Bolingbroke 
 produces, 575 ; remarks on, 576. 
 
 October Club, the, origin of, 184 ; 
 discontent of, 185. 
 
 Onslow, Sir Richard, choice of, as 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, 
 132 ; Hampden, M.P. for Bucks, 
 warmly defended by, against the 
 attacks of Bolingbroke, 261. 
 
720 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 On the Folly and Presumption of 
 PMlosophers, Bolingbroke's re- 
 marks on, 598. 
 
 Opposition, secession of the, from the 
 House of Commons, 641. 
 
 Orange girl, in the lobby of the 
 Court of Requests, Bolingbroke's 
 verses to, 23. 
 
 Orford, Lord (Admiral Eussell of the 
 battle of La Hogue), hatefnl cha- 
 racter of, 34. 
 
 Orleans, the Duke of, becomes, on the 
 death of Louis XIV., the undis- 
 puted ruler of France, 474 ; effects 
 of his death on the English and 
 French alliance, 544. 
 
 Ormond, the Duke of, appointment 
 of, to command the English forces 
 in Flanders, 272 ; his character, 
 272 ; Bolingbroke's most extra- 
 ordinary letter to, not to engage in 
 any siege or hazard a battle, but to 
 disguise the receipt of his order, 
 273 ; declines to act with Prince 
 Eugene offensively against the 
 enemy, 277 ; draws off with 20,000 
 men from the allied army, and 
 seizes upon Grhent, 289 ; effects of 
 his precipitate flight from Rich- 
 mond, and arrival in Paris, without 
 money or friends, 467 ; his two 
 attempts to land on the English 
 coast, 477 ; his want of frankness 
 towards Bolingbroke, 481 ; his cha- 
 racter, 482. 
 
 Orrery, the Earl of, Bolingbroke's 
 letter to (May 18, 1711), 199; 
 BoUngbroke's design in forming the 
 Club of Brothers given in a letter 
 to, 218. 
 
 Oxford, Robert Harley, Earl of, chosen 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, 
 1701, 48 ; Ms descent from a Pres- 
 byterian family, 49 ; his solemnity 
 in business, 49 ; Bolingbroke at- 
 tached to, 50 ; his inebriety, 51 ; 
 appointed Secretary of State, 89 ; 
 his inexcusable employment of Mrs. 
 Masham, 105 ; his intrigues, 109 ; 
 denominated the trickster by the 
 Whigs, 112; his dupUcity, 113; 
 his expulsion from office, 119 ; 
 made Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer, 153 ; Mrs. Masham and Dr. 
 Sacheverell the wretched instru- 
 ments of his obtaining office, 154 ; 
 his jealousy of Bolingbroke, 186 ; 
 
 Oxford — cordinued. 
 stabbed by Guiscard, 190 ; regarded 
 as a martyr, 192 ; his growing dis- 
 trust of Bohngbroke, 193; his re- 
 serve, 195 ; his reappearance in the 
 House of Commons, and compli- 
 ments received from the Speaker, 
 
 198 ; his quarrel with Bolingbroke, 
 199 ; is created Earl of Oxford, 
 
 199 ; made Lord Treasurer, 200 ; 
 his incapacity, 203; Bolingbroke 
 renounces all friendship with, 287 ; 
 his scruples about a separate peace 
 between England and France, 297 ; 
 his disinclination to the Jacobite 
 cause, 298 ; his suspicion of Boling- 
 broke's proceedings abroad, 308 ; 
 loses ground in the struggle for su- 
 premacy with Bolingbroke, 320 ; 
 surprised by the ministerial defeat 
 on the commercial treaty with 
 France, 357 ; his increasing suspi- 
 cion and indolence, 358 ; his de- 
 cline in court favour, and letter to 
 Bolingbroke, 359 ; his n^lect of 
 official duties in furthering the ma- 
 trimonial alliance of his eldest son, 
 Lord Harley, vrith the Lady Hen- 
 rietta Cavendish HoUes, dai^hter 
 and heiress of the Duke of New- 
 castle, 362 ; prevented from attend- 
 ing to official business by the death 
 of his favourite daughter, 369 ; his 
 increasing enmity against Boling- 
 broke, 374 ; protests he knew no- 
 thing of Swift's pamphlet Public 
 Spirit of the Whigs, and sends a 
 hundred pounds to Swift to defray 
 the expenses of the printer's de- 
 fence, 376 ; his strange conduct in 
 the House of Lords, 377 ; his con- 
 nection with the Jacobites, and 
 hopes held out to them, 385 ; his 
 contempt for the Stuarts, and his 
 delusive promises to their adherents, 
 386 ; his dilemma in relation to the 
 Schism Act, 401, 404; his abject 
 humility to Lady Masham and Bo- 
 lingbroke, 405 ; his last struggle 
 for power, 407 ; is dismissed from 
 office with every mark of disgrace, 
 414 ; his characteristic caution and 
 reserve in face of a Whig prosecu- 
 tion, 436 ; his impeachment, 446 ; 
 his acquittal, 517. 
 
 Oudenarde, the battle of, 125. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 J2l 
 
 Pall Mali,, Bolingbroke spends much 
 of tlie Y.'inter of 1726 and the 
 spring of 1727 in his large house 
 in, 570. 
 
 Paris, BoHngbroke's Piefiections in 
 Exile, and Letters on History, pub- 
 lislied at, 697. 
 
 Parhament, the, commencing busi- 
 ness 10th Feb. 1701, the worst, 
 perhaps most factious, and least 
 patriotic that has .ever legislated 
 suice the Revolution, 53 ; the first 
 session of the first, of Great Bri- 
 tain, 117; memorable re.solution 
 passed in, that no peace ought to 
 be made while Spain or the West 
 Indies remained in the power of the 
 House of Bourbon, 118. 
 
 Partition treaties, the, only defensible 
 on the groimd of the King's situa- 
 tion, 43 ; unpopularity of the Whigs 
 arising from, 45 ; impeachment of 
 the Whigs founded on, 56. 
 
 Passports to France, openly sold in 
 Bohngbroke's office, Prior's letter 
 on, 311. 
 
 Patrick, Eev. Simon, residence of, 
 with the St. John family as chap- 
 lain, 8 ; elevation of, to the see of 
 Chichester, and thence to that of 
 Ely, 9 ; distinguished as one of the 
 divines in the conference with the 
 lioman Catholic priests in the pre- 
 sence of James II., 9. 
 
 Patriot King, Bolingbroke's remarks 
 on, 635 ; an edition of, treacher- 
 ously printed by Pope's orders, 
 burnt by Bolingbroke at Battersea, 
 667 ; is published by Bolingbroke, 
 680. 
 
 Peace, preliminaries of (1711), signed 
 by Bolingbroke and Dartmouth 
 and by Mesnager, the French en- 
 voy, 241 ; negotiations delayed by 
 the tragical death of the Duke of 
 Hamilton, when about to depart 
 as ambassador to France, 316, 
 
 Peers, creation of twelve new, to 
 swamp the Whig majority in the 
 Upper House against the minis- 
 terial measures for peace, 251. 
 
 Peterborough, the Earl of, infoiTaed 
 by Bolingbroke that his interests 
 would be taken care of, notwith- 
 standing the Resumption Bill, 264 ; 
 Bolingbroke recommends the Pre- 
 tender not to neglect, 473. 
 
 Philip V. (d'Anjou), King of Spain, 
 Bolingbroke's proposal to, to eive 
 up the crown of Spain to Victor 
 Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, and be 
 made King of Sicily and Naples, 
 270 ; his readiness to renounce for 
 himself and his descendants all 
 right to the French throne, on the 
 assumption that such renunciation 
 would be invalid by the laws of 
 France, and his determination to 
 remain where he was, 271 ; his 
 vengeance on the Catalans, 349, 
 352. 
 
 Philips, John, verees by, on the 
 battle of Blenheim, 94. 
 
 Philosophical writings, Bohngbroke's 
 remarks on, 596 — 606. 
 
 Pitt, Thomas (Diamond Pitt), grand- 
 lather of the great Earl of Chatham, 
 appointment of, on the Whig secret 
 committee to examine the peace 
 papers, 442. 
 
 Pitt, William, contrasted with Bo- 
 lingbroke, 669. 
 
 Polwarth, Alexander Lord, afterwards 
 second Earl of Marchmont, Boling- 
 broke's interview with, in Paris, on 
 the subject of the pardon, 534. 
 
 Polwarth, Hugh Lord, is removed 
 from the House of Commons, and 
 becomes third Earl of Marchmont, 
 on the death of his father, 642 ; his 
 intimacy with Bolingbroke, 651. 
 
 Pomfret, Bolingbroke recommended 
 by Swift to take the title of, 288. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, Bolingbroke's inti- 
 macy with, at Dawley, 563 ; bis 
 admiration of Bolingbroke, 564 ; 
 visited by Swift and Bolingbroke, 
 565 ; is nearly drowned in Boling- 
 broke's carriage, at Whitton, 567 ; 
 his letter to Swift on Bolingbroke's 
 bargain with the painter at Dawley, 
 582 ; Bolingbroke's philosophical 
 compositions avowedly written lor 
 the instruction of, 596 ; his scep- 
 tical sentiments, 606 ; his unpub- 
 lished and characteristic letter to 
 Bolingbroke, 643 ; scarcity of his 
 letters to Bolingbroke accounted 
 for 646; his two new admirers — 
 WiUiam Murray, afterwards the 
 celebrated Lord Mansfield, and 
 Warbm-ton, 656 ; innocently shows 
 Warburton Bolingbroke's privately 
 in-inted Letters on the Study of 
 3 A 
 
722 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pope — continued. 
 History, 657 ; is forgiven by Bo- 
 lingbrolte, 659 ; Bolingbroke sobs 
 over his death-bed, 663 ; his con- 
 duct in retaining in his Essays the 
 character of Atossa, 664 ; his 
 treachery to Bolingbroke in print- 
 ing The Patriot King and the Let- 
 ter on Patriotism, 666. 
 
 Portsmouth, the Duchess of, Boling- 
 broke solicited 'in vain by, to allow 
 her to return to England, 368. 
 
 Pouilly, M. de, Bolingbroke's philo- 
 sophical discussions with, at La 
 Source, 528. 
 
 Prerogative, Royal, of saving from 
 the gallows a person found guilty 
 of murder, the controversy on, in 
 the case of Sir William Estcourt, 
 Bart,, and Henry St. John, father of 
 Bolingbroke, 7. 
 
 Press, the, further measures called 
 for, to check the wantonness of, 
 328. 
 
 Pretender, the, in Lorraine, Address 
 of the Lords to the Crown to re- 
 move, 380; Torcy's evidence on 
 the question of restoring, 384 ; his 
 religion the real stumbling-block 
 with Bolingbroke, 391 ; rejects the 
 lure of succeeding to the English 
 Crown through a change of faith, 
 394 ; Bishop Atterbury's desperate 
 proposal of proclaiming King 
 James HL on the death of Queen 
 Anne, 422 ; his proclamation, on 
 the death of Queen Anne, 429 ; 
 Bolingbroke becomes Secretary of 
 State to, 448 ; creates Bolingbroke 
 an Earl, 462 ; disregards Boling- 
 broke's judicious advice, 462 ; his 
 disappointment in Bolingbroke, 
 466 ; his declaration to be pub- 
 blished on his landing, drawn up 
 by Bolingbroke, tampered with by 
 his advisers, 447 ; lands in Scot- 
 land, 483 ; his letters to Boling- 
 broke, 484 ; deserts his army and 
 sets sail from Montrose for France, 
 485 ; summarily dismisses Boling- 
 broke, 487 ; his conduct towards 
 Bolingbroke, 489. 
 
 Prior, Matthew, familiarity of, with 
 Bolingbroke, 185 ; sent on a secret 
 journey to Prance, 204 ; becomes a 
 great favourite of the French Minis- 
 ters, 230 ; his strange, secret corn- 
 
 Prior — cmdinucd. 
 mission shown to the French Minis- 
 ter for Foreign Affairs, 230 ; ac- 
 companies Bolingbroke to France, 
 299 ; is left behind in Prance in a 
 position of difficulty and danger, 
 309 ; his unrestrained correspond- 
 ence with Bolingbroke, 310; his 
 sombre countenance humorously 
 alluded to, by Bolingbroke and 
 Toroy, 311 ; writes to Bolingbroke 
 on the reported sale of passports to 
 Prance, 312 ; again sent to the 
 French Court, 318; loses the fa- 
 vour of the Earl of Oxford, through 
 his attachment to Bolingbroke, 
 323 ; exerts all his ingenuity in 
 recovering young Harry Villiers 
 out of the hands of the Dowager 
 Countess of Jersey, his mother, 
 366 ; his difficulties in the dis- 
 tribution of Bolingbroke's cargo of 
 Palma, sack, and honey-water to 
 Madame de Tencin and other friends 
 in France, 367 ; ordered by the 
 House to be taken into custody, to 
 be examined on the peace nego- 
 tiations, 443 ; his burial in West- 
 minster Abbey, 536. 
 
 Protestant Succession, the real danger 
 to, 396. 
 
 Public Spirit of the Whigs, Swift's 
 pamphlet in reply to Steele's Crisis, 
 
 ., prosecution of the printer of, 376. 
 
 Pulteney, Mr., Bolingbroke protests 
 he has no private correspondence 
 with, 555 ; his cause espoused by 
 Bolingbroke, 570; his character, 
 773 ; his public career, 574 ; rejects 
 a peerage, 575. 
 
 Quadruple Alliance, the policy of, 
 discussed between the Whig Gene- 
 ral Stanhope, and the exiled Boling- 
 broke, 520. 
 
 Quebec, the Expedition to, Boling- 
 broke's encouragement of, 205 ; 
 under Jack Hill, an utter failure, 
 221. 
 
 Ramillies, the battle of, 102. 
 
 Reflections on Exile, written by Bo- 
 lingbroke in imitation of Seneca, 
 505 ; remarks on, 506. 
 
 Reflections on the Present State of 
 the Nation, by Bolingbroke, re- 
 marks on, 677. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 723 
 
 Reflections concerning Innate Moral 
 Principles, by Bolingbroke, publi- 
 cation of, in Frencb and English, 
 in Paris, 697 ; remarks upon, 699. 
 
 Remarks on English History, Bohng- 
 broke's, 591 ; observations on, 
 592-3. 
 
 Renunciations made by Philip of Spain 
 and the French Princes, observa- 
 tions on the, 344; their efficacy 
 never brought to the test, 345. 
 
 Restoration of the Stuarts, unpopu- 
 larity of, 422. 
 
 Resumption Bill, the, supported by 
 Bolingbroke, and carried through 
 the House of Commons, 263. 
 
 Revolution of 1688, the, pettiness of 
 the means compared with greatness 
 of the end at, 28 ; the people proud 
 of, and of the great results it had 
 brought about, 422. 
 
 Robinson, Rt. Rev. Dr., Bishop of 
 Bristol, one of the two English 
 plenipotentiaries at Utrecht, 264 ; 
 his declaration at the Hague, that 
 his sovereign considered herself 
 released from all obligations to 
 Holland and the allies, and would 
 make a peace to suit her own in- 
 terests alone, 277. 
 
 Rochester, Bishop of. See Atterbury. 
 
 Rochester, Anne, Countess Dowager, 
 interesting letters of, on last ill- 
 ness and conversion of her son, the 
 celebrated John Wilmot, Earl of 
 Rochester, to her kinswoman Jo- 
 hanna,, Lady St. John, the grand- 
 mother of Bolingbroke, 11. 
 
 Russell, Admiral (Lord Orford) mean 
 intrigues of, 34. 
 
 Ryswick, the peace of, not really a 
 peace, but a truce, 42. 
 
 Sachbvbrell, Dr., prosecution of, 
 143 ; his more than royal progress 
 into Wales, 155. 
 
 Schaub, Sir Luke, Lord Carteret's 
 agent at Paris, Bolingbroke's con- 
 tempt of, 545. 
 
 Schism Act, the, drawn up, and de- 
 fended by Bolingbroke, 402 ; be- 
 comes law, 404. 
 
 School, the, for twenty boys, founded 
 at Battersea in 1700 by Sir Walter 
 St. John, soon, probably, the only 
 vestige of the St. Johns at Batter- 
 sea, 693. 
 
 Schutz, the Hanoverian envoy, for- 
 bidden the Court by Bolingbroke, 
 307. 
 
 Scott,, Sir Walter, opinion of, that 
 the designs of Oxibrd and Boling- 
 broke were " deep and dangerous," 
 383. 
 
 Secession of the Opposition from the 
 House of Commons, 641. 
 
 Secret Committee of Whigs and the 
 Whimsical Tories, appointment of 
 the, to examine and digest the 
 papers on the peace negotiations, 
 441 ; their elaborate report, 443. 
 
 Septennial Act, repeal of the, some- 
 what reluctantly acquiesced in by 
 the Whigs, and more enthusiasti- 
 cally supported by the Tories, 
 615. 
 
 Seymour, Sir Edward, venality and 
 effrontery of, 54. 
 
 Shrewsbury, Duke of, distmsts the 
 intentions of his associates in the 
 ministry, and suspects the mission 
 of Mesnager, the French envoy, 
 237, 240 ; his appointment of, as 
 ambassador to Fi-ance, 317 ; his 
 past services, 317 ; recommends mo- 
 deration and forbearance to Boling- 
 broke and Oxford, 361 ; Bolingbroke 
 feels himself rebuked before, 361 : 
 remains aloof fi'om the policy of Bo- 
 lingbroke, 412 ; Bolingbroke's feel- 
 ings of jealousy and distrust to- 
 wards, 413 ; thanks the Dukes of 
 Somerset and Argyle for their sea- 
 sonable attendance at the council 
 board, on occasion of the last illness 
 of Queen Anne, 417. 
 
 Sicily, the article on the reversibility 
 of, in the treaty of Utrecht, 521. 
 
 Somers, Lord, pure, inflexible pa- 
 triotism of, 32 ; the Whig party of 
 the first half of last century founded 
 by, 33 ; his dismissal from office, 
 46 ; his able defence at the bar 
 of the House of Commons, 57 ; im- 
 peachment of, 57 ; acquittal of, 58 ; 
 draws up the papers in which the 
 Peers asserted their privileges in 
 the early part of Queen Anne's 
 reign, 83 ; appointed Lord Presi- 
 dent of the Council, 132 ; duped by 
 Queen Anne, 148 ; his regret at the 
 measures of prescription and perse- 
 cation intended by the Whigs on 
 the fall of Bolingbroke, 433. 
 
724 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Source, La, near Orleans, Boling- 
 broke's estate called, 524. 
 
 Spain, war declared against (1739), 
 641. 
 
 Spanish succession, the war of the, 
 England's interest in, 160 ; striking 
 uncertainties of human life con- 
 nected with, 244 ; difficulty of the 
 question, in negotiating the Peace 
 of Utrecht, 267. 
 
 Spencer, I^ady Diafta (the " Lady Di " 
 of Boswell), her divorce from the 
 second Viscount Bolinghroke, and 
 marriage to Hon. Topham ]3eau- 
 clerk, 692. 
 
 Spirit of Patriotism, Bolinghroke on, 
 630 ; remarks on, 631. 
 
 Stair, Lord, his overtures to reverse 
 his attainder, preceding any ad- 
 vances from Bolinghroke, 495 ; Bo- 
 linghroke's interview with, 497 ; 
 is dismissed hy Walpole from the 
 post of Vice-Admiral of Scotland, 
 609 ; his letter to Horace Walpole 
 on Bolinghroke's dismissal hy the 
 Pretender, 488 ; as British ambas- 
 sador in Paris, Bolinghroke's cor- 
 respondence and interview with, 
 451. 
 
 Stamp Act, one of Bolinghroke's latest 
 ministerial acts in the House of 
 Commons, 279 ; its effect on Tory 
 and Whig publications, 280. 
 
 Stanhope, General, Bolinghroke in 
 exile met by, in a very fiiendly 
 spirit, and the policy of the qua- 
 druple alliance' discussed, 520. 
 
 Staremberg, the imperial general, 180. 
 
 States-General, the letter of, partly in 
 remonstrance, to Queen Anne, on 
 the manner of their desertion (1711- 
 12) by England, 279 ; condemned 
 hy the House of Commons, 279. 
 
 Statesmen, English, when Bolinghroke 
 entered Parliament 28 — 46. 
 
 Steele, Sir Eichard, publication of the 
 Crisis by, 372 ; expelled from the 
 House, as member for Stockbridge, 
 376. 
 
 Stella, Swift's, coarse allusions of, 
 129. 
 
 St. John, Henry, afterwards Viscount 
 Bolingbrolie. /S'ee Bolinghroke. 
 
 St. John, the family of, derive through 
 the female line, 2 ; connection of, 
 with the Tudor hne, 3 ; longevity 
 of, 6. 
 
 St. John, William de, knight, post 
 held by, in the Norman aimy, at 
 the battle of Hastings, 2 ; son of a 
 person of great distinction in the 
 reign of Rufus, 2. 
 
 St. John of Bletsoe, son of the first 
 Earl of Bolinghroke, elevation of, 
 by Charles 1. to the House of Peers, 
 4 ; Parliamentary cause espoused 
 hy, and death of, at the battle of 
 Edgehill, 4. 
 
 St. John, Oliver, lawyer in Lincoln's 
 Inn, defence of Hampden by, 4; 
 created by Cromwell a Chief-Jus- 
 tice of England, 5 ; Johanna, 
 daughter of, married to Walter St. 
 John, 5. 
 
 St. John, John, of Battersea, three 
 sons of, slain in the services of 
 Charles I., 5 ; family honom-s of, 
 reverted to his uncle Walter St. 
 John, 5. 
 
 St. John, Sir Walter, heir and exe- 
 cutor of John St. John, of Batter- 
 sea, prosecution of, for offending 
 against the laws of heraldry, in his 
 magnificent burial of his nephew, 
 5 ; marriage of, to Johanna, daugh- 
 ter of Uhief-Justice'Oliver St. John, 
 
 5 ; second union of, with a French 
 lady, whose descendants were to in- 
 herit the honours of Viscount Bo- 
 linghroke, 6 ; his residence at Bat- 
 tersea, 6 ; not bred a Presbyterian, 
 
 6 ; his longevity, 6. 
 
 St. John, Henry, son of Sir Walter 
 St. John, by his first wife, father of 
 Henry St. John, afterwards Vis- 
 count Bolinghroke, 5 ; longevity of, 
 
 6 ; dissipated life of, 7 ; Sir William 
 Estcourt, Bart., killed in a brawl 
 hy, 7 ; plea of murder by, on as- 
 surance of a pardon, 7 ; controversy 
 on the royal prerogative involved, 
 
 7 ; indifference to his son's welfare, 
 322 ; his character, 498 ; is created 
 Baron of Battersea and Viscount 
 St. John, while his son is under 
 the Act of Attainder, 499 ; his ro- 
 bust health, 542, 583, 619; his 
 death, 654. 
 
 St. John, George, half-brother of Bo- 
 linghroke, and eldest son of Boling- 
 hroke's father's second marriage, 
 his appointment to the secretary- 
 ship at the Hague, 321 ; Boling- 
 hroke's kindness to, 322 ; brings 
 
INDEX. 
 
 725 
 
 St. 3 ohn— continued. 
 
 over to England the treaty of 
 Utrecht, 327 ; his death, 542. 
 
 St. John, Mrs. (Bolingbroke's first 
 wife). See Winchescomb, F., daugh- 
 ter of Sir Henry Winchescomb, 
 Bart. 
 
 Strafford, the Earl of, one of the two 
 English plenipotentiaries at Utrecht, 
 264. 
 
 Stuarts, the, the Earl of Oxford's con- 
 tempt of, and his delusive promises 
 to their adherents, 386. 
 
 Sunderland, Earl of, appointment of, 
 as Secretary of State, 110. 
 
 Swift, Dean, contempt expressed by, 
 on Bolingbroke's verse, 22 ; epigram 
 on Bolingbroke's retirement fi'om 
 politics, 127 ; his coarseness, 128 ; 
 his impression on appointment of 
 Bolingbroke as Secretary of State, 
 150 ,• his advocacy of the Harley 
 and St. John Administration, 155 ; 
 his attacks on the Whig statesmen 
 in the Examiner, 171 ; his Last 
 Four Years of Queen Anne, 176 ; 
 his familiarity with Bolingbroke, 
 185 ; fails to restore cordiality 
 between Harley and Bolingbroke, 
 200 ; his famous pamphlet, The 
 Conduct of the Allies, 216 ; his 
 charges against Prince Eugene 
 without foundation, 259 ; assists 
 Bolingbroke and Sir Thomas Hau- 
 mer in setting forth complaints 
 against the Allies in a long Repre- 
 sentation to be laid at the foot of 
 the throne, 262 ; declines to draw 
 up a preamble of merits to be 
 affixed to Bolingbroke's patent of 
 peerage, and recommends him to 
 take the title of Pomfret, 288 ; his 
 efforts at reconciling Bolingbroke 
 and Oxford, 314; abandons the 
 task of bringing about a better 
 understanding between Bolingbroke 
 and Oxford, 320 ; replies to Steele's 
 pamphlet. The Crisis, under the 
 title of The Public Spirit of the 
 - Whigs, 373 ; his printer prose- 
 cuted, 376 ; boards and lodges at 
 ^ the small village of Letcombe in 
 Berkshire, and writes his Free 
 Thoughts on the Present State of 
 Afiairs, 408 ; distrusts Boling- 
 broke's professions of friendship, 
 409 ; his disappointment at not 
 
 Swift — continued. 
 being made historiographer to the 
 Queen, 409 ; the exiled Boling- 
 broke's letters to, 519 ; Boling- 
 broke resumes his correspondence 
 with, 552 ; revisits England for 
 the first time since the death of 
 Qneen Anne, 565 ; his visits to 
 Bolingbroke and Pope, 565 ; his 
 contempt of French cookery at 
 Dawley, 566 ; his Gulliver's Travels, 
 569. 
 
 Tankeeville, Lord, made Privy 
 Seal, 46. 
 
 Tatler, the, Earl Cowper's reply to 
 Bolingbroke's Tory manifesto in 
 the Examiner, addressed to Isaac 
 Bickerstaff, Esq., editor of, 162. 
 
 Taylor, Mr. Br(jok, Bolingbroke's 
 companion at La Source, 529. 
 
 Tenoin, Madame de, employment of, 
 to influence Bolingbroke, 301 ; her 
 profligate character, 302 ; Boling- 
 broke now proof against her in- 
 trigues and blandishments, 469. 
 
 Tencin, the Abbe de, worthless cha- 
 racter of, 302. 
 
 Thtoeseuil, Chevalier de, Boling- 
 broke's lines to Dryden published, 
 with alterations and additions, in 
 a French work by, 18. 
 
 Tillotson, Bishop, described by Bo- 
 lingbroke as an orthodox bully, 
 530. 
 
 Tonson, Jacob, device employed by, 
 in publishing Dryden's Virgil, 20. 
 
 Torcy, French minister, his bribe to 
 Marlborough, 133 ; his invaluable 
 Memoirs and Despatches, 134 ; his 
 interview with Marlborough, 135 ; 
 the Abbe Gaultier's interview with, 
 176 ; his curious documents assert- 
 ing the divine right of the House 
 of Bourbon, in reply to Boling- 
 broke's scheme on the Spanish 
 Succession, 268; Bolingbroke do- 
 mesticated with, 300 ; his evidence 
 on the question of restoring the 
 Pretender, 384 ; his distrust of the 
 Jacobites, 388; Bolingbroke's un- 
 successful memorial to, on behalf 
 of the Pretender, 464; his retire- 
 ment from office on the death of 
 Louis XIV., 475. 
 
 Tories, the reluctant agents of the 
 Revolution of 1688, 31 ; possibility 
 
726 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tories — continued. 
 of William III. being seated on the 
 throne not contemplated by the, 
 31 ; Ministry of, formed in 1700, 
 46 ; unquestionable majority of, 
 in the new Parliament, 1701, 47 ; 
 division of, into two parties, through 
 the discussions between Boling- 
 broke and Oxford, after the peace 
 of Utrecht, 360. 
 
 Tories, the Whimstoal, danger of, to 
 Boliugbroke's Administration, 375. 
 
 Tournay, Louis XIV. consents to 
 give up, to England, 316 ; unac- 
 countably fixed upon by the Whigs, 
 in a charge against Bolingbroke for 
 having surrendered the town to the 
 French, though, unhke Lisle and 
 other places, it had not been given 
 up, 444. 
 
 Townshend, Lord, for negotiating the 
 Barrier Treaty, voted an enemy of 
 his country, 260 ; succeeds Boling- 
 broke as Secretary of State, 425. 
 
 Trant, Olive, attempt of, to persuade 
 Bolingbroke, that with her friend, 
 Mademoiselle de Chaussery, she 
 would induce the Duke of Orleans 
 to grant all that the Jacobites de- 
 sired, 480 ; the Duke of Ormond's 
 intimacy with, 481 ; reviles Bo- 
 lingbroke, 489. 
 
 Tregoze, Baron, English title of, 
 borne by a member of the St. John 
 family, in the times of Elizabeth 
 and James L, 3. 
 
 True Use of Betirement and Study, 
 Boliugbroke's, 629 ; remarks on, 
 630. 
 
 Tudor, Edmund, Duke of Kichmond, 
 marriage of, to daughter of Duke 
 of Somerset, and daughter of sister 
 of Lord Beauchamp, rehct of Sir 
 Oliver de St. John, progenitor of 
 the Tudor sovereigns, 3. 
 
 Union, The, with Scotland, royal 
 assent given to, 111. 
 
 Ursini, the Princess d', the claims of, 
 to a Flemish throne, advocated by 
 Bolingbroke, 352. 
 
 Utrecht, preliminaries of the Treaty, 
 229 ; conferences formally opened 
 at, 264 ; conferences at, suspended 
 through a quarrel between the 
 lackeys of Eeohtheren, one of the 
 Dutch deputies and Mesnager, 
 
 Utrecht — continued. 
 
 315; peace finally concluded at, 
 326; treaty of, brought over to 
 England by George St. John, half- 
 brother of Bolingbroke, 327 ; be- 
 comes the symbol of Tory triumph 
 and Whig discomfiture, 329 ; ob- 
 servations on, 342 ; the triumph of 
 France and English mismanage- 
 ment at, 343. 
 
 Vendome, Marshal, General Stanhope 
 and ten thousand British troops 
 obliged by, to surrender prisoners 
 of war, 180. 
 
 Villette, the Marquise de, by marriage 
 the niece of Madame de Maintenon, 
 Bolingbroke's acquaintance with, 
 521 ; her character, 522 ; Boling- 
 broke in love with, 523 ; her re- 
 nunciation of the Catholic for the 
 Protestant faith, and marriage with 
 Bolingbroke, 525 ; proceeds to 
 England to recover property with- 
 held by Sir Matthew Decker on the 
 plea that on Bolingbroke's account 
 he might be answerable to Parlia- 
 ment for it, 549 ; is graciously re- 
 ceived by King George I., and gains 
 her cause, 550 ; her illness and 
 residence at Bath, 582 ; repairs to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle for the benefit of 
 her health, 587 ; her ill health, 
 660 ; her death, 685. 
 
 Villiers, Henry, difBculties created 
 through his being removed from 
 Westminster School by his mother, 
 the Dowager Countess of Jersey, 
 to be brought up in the Church of 
 Home, 365 ; is given up to Boling- 
 broke, 366. 
 
 Voltaire, visit of, to Bolingbroke at 
 La Source, 502 ; his admiration of 
 Bolingbroke, 533 ; his reception at 
 Dawley, 568 ; bis appreciation of 
 Gulliver's Travels, 569 ; resides at 
 The White Peruke in Maiden 
 Lane, Covent Garden, 581. 
 
 Walpole, Robert, his ambition stimu- 
 lated by the success of Bolingbroke, 
 70 ; his first speech, 71 ; bis deter- 
 mined adherence to the Whigs, 71 ; 
 his uncouth manner, 71 ; his anta- 
 gonism with Bolingbroke, 82 ; his 
 speech on the case of Ashby and 
 White, 85 ; succeeds Bolingbroke 
 
I]SrDEX. 
 
 727 
 
 Waliwle — continued. 
 as Secretary-at-War, 122 ; acquires 
 the favour of the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough, 123 ; Bolingbroke's re- 
 sentment against, 256 ; is voted 
 guilty of notorious corruption, is 
 expelled the House, and committed 
 to the Tower, 257; Bolinghroke, 
 on acceptance of a coronet, aban- 
 dons the field to, 283 ; his bitter 
 determination to exercise the most 
 vigorous scrutiny into the conduct 
 of Bohngbroke and his party on 
 the accession of George I., 435 ; 
 chosen chairman of the Whig 
 Secret Committee appointed to 
 examine the peace papers, 442 ; 
 composes the report of the com- 
 mittee in direct hostility to Boling- 
 broke, 443 ; impeaches Boling- 
 broke of high treason, 445 ; Bo- 
 lingbroke, on his return to Eng- 
 land, is warm in expressions of 
 gratitude towards, 537 ; rejects 
 Bolingbroke's proposed alliance of 
 Tories and Whigs, 539 ; recom- 
 mends that Bolingbroke's petition, 
 so far as allowing him to enjoy his 
 family inheritance, should be 
 granted, but nothing more, 557 ; 
 allows the Bill for BoUngbroke's 
 restoration to be introduced with 
 the greatest unwillingness, and 
 only gives way at express com- 
 mand of the king, 559 ; his ascend- 
 ancy confronted by an organized 
 opposition, 571 ; his government 
 based not even principally on 
 money, but on party connection, 
 572; his smart rejoinders to Bo- 
 lingbroke's Occasional Writer, 577 ; 
 is supported in office by Queen 
 Caroline, 580 ; his conduct through- 
 out foreign embroilments scarcely 
 unsuccessful or injudicious, 586 ; 
 his moderation in respect of the 
 liberty of the Press, 593 ; his un- 
 popular Excise Scheme, 609 ; con- 
 trasted with Bohngbroke, 615 ; his 
 bold retort with another " supposi- 
 tion" rei^ecting on Bohngbroke, in 
 answer to Sir William Windham, 
 616 ; uninjured by the secession of 
 the Opposition from the House of 
 Commons, 641 ; his fall, 655. 
 
 Wandsworth and Battersea, manors 
 of, granted to Baron Tregoze, a 
 
 Wandsworth — con tin ued. 
 
 member of the St. John family, 3 ; 
 inherited by John St. John, an 
 eminent royalist, 4 ; 
 
 Warburton, William (afterwards 
 Bishop of Gloucester), Pope's gra- 
 titude and admiration won by, 656 ; 
 wiites in Pope's libraiy at Twick- 
 enham some remarks on Boling- 
 broke's unpublished Letters on the 
 Study of History, 657 ; assails Bo- 
 lingbroke in defence of Pope, 682. 
 
 Warwick, Robert Rich, Earl of, Lady 
 Marj', second daughter and joint 
 heiress of, the mother of Henry 
 St. John, afterwards Viscount 
 Bolingbroke, 5. 
 
 Wesley, Mr. , a poor Tory clergyman, 
 and the father of John and Charles 
 Wesley, recommended by Boling- 
 broke to Swift, 608. 
 
 Wharton, Earl of, freedom of, from 
 hypocrisy, 34 ; his appointment as 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 132. 
 
 Whigs, their surprise at the success 
 of their own work, on the corona- 
 tion of William and Mary, 31 ; 
 impeachment of, on the charge of 
 their negotiation of the partition 
 treaties, 56 ; their dismissal, 147 ; 
 their powerless outcry against the 
 peace negotiations at Utrecht, 278 ; 
 their opposition to free trade with 
 Prance, 334 ; their discomfiture on 
 ratifying the peace of Utrecht, 329 ; 
 their minority of sixty-six, on the 
 Schism Act, 404 ; active measures 
 taken by, to render the succession 
 of the Elector secure and easy, on 
 occasion of the last illness of Queen 
 Anne, 418 ; their power, and the 
 use they made of it, 432 ; view 
 Bolingbroke's pardon with great 
 displeasure, 537. 
 
 William III., the greatness of his 
 character enthusiastically acknow- 
 ledged, 28 ; his non-identification 
 with England, 29 ; his attachment 
 to his native Holland, 29 ; dis- 
 claims any obligation to England, 
 30; his dislike of the Princess 
 Anne, 30 ; his supineness, if not 
 indifference, about the interests of 
 England, 30 ; his neglect of all the 
 arts of popularity, 30 ; his fear of 
 Marlborough, 35 ; his masterly 
 knowledge of foreign affairs, 57 ; 
 
728 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 William III. — continued. 
 
 the Grand Alliance, his special 
 work, 75 ; Ms death, 76. 
 
 Winohesoomb, Sir Heniy, Bart., 
 danghter of, married to Boling- 
 broke, 24; descent of, from Jack 
 of Newbury, 24. 
 
 Winchesoomb, P., daughter of Sir 
 Henry Winchesoomb, Bart., her 
 marriage to Bolingbroke, 24 ; her 
 domestic unhappiYiess, 25 ; her 
 anxiety for her husband, on Guis- 
 card's attempt against his life, 191 ; 
 her affection for her husband, 210 ; 
 ■ ceases to live with Bolingbroke, 
 36.^ ; rejoins him in his disgrace 
 and retirement, 427 ; her efforts to 
 obtain a pardon for Bolingbroke, 
 499 ; her letter to Swift on the 
 restoration of Bolingbroke to his 
 country explained, 501 ; her death, 
 522. 
 
 Windham, Sir William, arrest of, 
 among the principal Jacobite 
 
 Windham — cmitin ued. 
 leaders ; 477 ; Bolingbroke's cele- 
 bi'ated letter to, 510 ; his character, 
 511 ; his superstition, 512 ; his 
 hearty reception of Bolingbroke on 
 his return to England, 537 ; many 
 of his speeches written by Boling- 
 broke, 609 ; his very harsh and in- 
 vidious attack on Walpole, couched 
 in a ' supposition,' 616 ; his speech 
 on the Secession of the Disposition 
 from the House of Commons, 641 ; 
 his death, 643. 
 
 Windham, Charles, son of Sir William 
 Windham, afterwards Lord Egre- 
 mont, Bolingbroke's correspondence 
 with, 623. 
 
 Wishart, Sir James, English squad- 
 ron under, at the siege of Barce- 
 lona, 349. 
 
 Wootton Bassett, Bolingbroke suc- 
 ceeds his father in the representa- 
 tion of, 27. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 lONDOK : PIUNTED Br WILWAM CLOWES AND S0S.9, STAMFOllD STBUET AND CHAHIKO CK03S. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 In 3 Vols., demy 8vo., 
 
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 the respect and attention of the literary world." 
 
 The Mokning Herald. 
 
 " Mr. Macknight lays his facts with great candour before the reader, and, 
 looking at the amount of general as well as particular information contained in 
 his work, we regard it as a valuable addition to that portion of our literature 
 which treats of the political history of this country " 
 
 The MohninG Adveetiseb. 
 
 " It is a biographical masterpiece, and will greatly enhance the author's reputa- 
 tion." 
 
 The Cologne Zeitting. 
 
 " One of the best gifts which the English bookmarket offers to the public is a 
 new Life of Burke by Macknight. We do not say enough in calling it a new 
 biography, because till to-day England has not yet possessed, concerning one of 
 her greatest political speakers, any work worth reading. The book which lies 
 before us is indeed not a perfect one, but the facts are carefully sifted and the 
 execution is worthy of the illTistrious person who is the subject of the work." 
 
 Bell's Weekly Messenger. 
 
 " It is unnecessary that we should attempt an eulogy of Edmund Burke. Mr. 
 Macknight has fulfilled his duty so well that we must be content to refer to his 
 labours, and to express our opinion that he has done more for the reputation of the 
 man he admires than any former biographer has been able to accomplish." 
 
 The Statesman. 
 "A soUd and interesting work that wiU iUl the vacuum hitherto left in our 
 literature by the absence of a life of the great Irisimiaii at aU worthy of the 
 subject." 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY, LONDON. 
 
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