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 OF 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE WINGROVE COOKE, ESQ. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. 1. 
 
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 LONDON: 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 
 33ublt^]^ci- in (©lUinari) to ^ii ^a)tm. 
 
 MDCCCXXXV.
 
 
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 v.l 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Considering the station which BoHngbroke occu- 
 pies in our history, both as a statesman and a writer, 
 it is surprising that no tolerable history of his life 
 
 '^ has yet appeared. The only connected accounts of 
 
 ^s* , . . 
 
 ^^ him m the language are, the Memorials of his Life 
 
 Sf and Ministerial Conduct, published soon after his 
 death, in the form of letters, and containing, as its 
 title imports, little more than a history of his public 
 conduct while secretary of state ; — another, yet more 
 meagre and less known, to be found only among 
 p the political pamphlets of the time, and consisting 
 6 almost entirely of extracts from Boyer's Political 
 K State, and the Parliamentary History ; — and a third, 
 which, as it was written by Goldsmith, is more ge- 
 nerally read. This last is, however, but a sketch. 
 It was intended only for the edition of Bolingbroke's 
 Works to which it was originally prefixed ; and owes 
 its popularity chiefly to its being reprinted among 
 
 VOL. I. b 

 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 the miscellaneous works of its author. The facts, 
 and frequently even the language, are taken from 
 the article ' St. John,' in the Biographia Britannica ; 
 of which, with some improvements in style, it ap- 
 pears to be little more than a transcript. 
 
 Even these accounts, slight and unsatisfactory as 
 they are, abound in errors : there is scarcely a date 
 relating to the private history of the subject of their 
 memoir that is correctly given. There is, for in- 
 stance, an error of no less than six years in the date 
 of his birth ; and Bolingbroke, who, as his contem- 
 poraries agree, entered very early into public life, 
 is consequently described as passing his youth in 
 idle debaucheries, and taking no part in public busi- 
 ness until he reached the age of eight-and-twenty. 
 
 This neglect of a man whose powers were rated 
 so highly by his contemporaries, is attributable to 
 the unjust severity with which he was treated by 
 the popular authors of tlie succeeding age, and the 
 consequent disfavour with which his name has been 
 heard by posterity. There is a fashion which rules 
 even over fame ; and the most illustrious characters 
 are often unnaturally raised or depressed, according 
 to its capricious influence. Bolingbroke is an in-
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 Stance of this. In his lifetime he was celebrated 
 as the first genius of his age : some are now ready 
 to deny that he possessed any genius at all ; and 
 as the subjects of his writings are little adapted to 
 the popular taste, men are rather inclined to join 
 in the general condemnation than to examine its 
 justice. 
 
 It is probably this circumstance which has induced 
 posterity to visit so heavily upon the memory of 
 Bolingbroke that infidelity which the fate of Raleigh, 
 the history of Hume or Gibbon, and the poetry of 
 Byron, have in other instances bribed them to pardon. 
 The strength of prejudice existing against him has 
 rendered Bolingbroke an ungrateful subject for bio- 
 graphy. While the important and brilliant era in 
 which he lived has been carefully illustrated, and while 
 his contemporaries have found able and popular his- 
 torians, his portrait has been sedulously erased from 
 the picture in which it formed so prominent a figure ; 
 or if introduced, it has only been that the deep 
 shadows in which it has been invested might form 
 a happy contrast with the brilliancy of the hero for 
 whom it was the grouper's design to bespeak our 
 sympathy. 
 
 /; 2
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 The appearance of a Life of Bolingbroke, there- 
 fore, requires no apology. The character of the man 
 is sufficiently important to warrant the undertaking, 
 and the insufficiency of all existing accounts is cal- 
 culated to encourage it. 
 
 When I began to direct my miscellaneous reading 
 towards this object, I was surprised to find the pau- 
 city of materials and the dearth of particular infor- 
 mation which exist with regard to a man whom all 
 contemporary writers agree in celebrating in such 
 lofty phrases of general admiration. His enemies, 
 who deny him every virtue and attribute to him al- 
 most every vice, describe a magnificent although a 
 dark character. They dwell upon the charms of 
 his powerful eloquence, while they insist that he pro- 
 stituted it to unworthy objects ; — they speak of the 
 brilliancy of his conversation, and the finished ele- 
 gance of his address, while they execrate him for the 
 manner in which they declare these advantages were 
 abused. Bolingbroke's superior talents were admired 
 by both friends and enemies : beyond this admission 
 we have little more from either than unbounded but 
 general expressions of admiration and esteem, or 
 loud but equally general accusations of public and
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 private turpitude. It is singular that no one of 
 either party has preserved a specimen of his elo- 
 quence ; and that, of the quick and glittering repUes 
 for which he w^as so famous, scarcely one has been 
 handed down to us. His character as an eloquent 
 public speaker and a brilliant conversationalist we 
 must therefore be content to take from the una- 
 nimous consent of his contemporaries. As a writer 
 he stands undisguised before us. This part of his 
 character is open to every man's investigation : here 
 he should be influenced neither by the censure of 
 personal enemies, nor the praise of partial friends. 
 We all have as ample opportunity of judging as 
 they had, without the peculiar disadvantages which 
 biassed their judgment. 
 
 The sources of information concerning the facts 
 of his life and the vicissitudes of his career are 
 multifarious, but rarely concurrent. Whether we 
 take them from friend or foe, — and in his day there 
 was no third class, — we must equally view them 
 through the distorting medium of party prejudice. 
 
 The events which give a character to his public 
 life are chiefly recorded by his political opponents ; 
 and when we recur to their pages after viewing him
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 as he appears in his familiar correspondence with 
 Pope, Swift, Gay, Arbuthnot, and others of his in- 
 timate friends, we appear to breathe a different 
 atmosphere — to see nothing but poUtical dishonesty 
 and guUty ambition suddenly take the place of 
 unrestrained friendship and benevolent philosophy.* 
 Even where his friends have described portions of 
 his public conduct, the advantage is still in the 
 hands of his opponents. Swift rarely pretends to 
 any character higher than that of a party writer ; 
 but Coxe and Horace Walpole lay claim to the im- 
 partiality of historians. It is difficult, however, to 
 discover that the historians are more scrupulous 
 than the partisan, in blackening the characters of 
 those whose politics they dislike. 
 
 To Archdeacon Coxe, nevertheless, much praise 
 must be accorded : if he has been partial, he has 
 laid before his readers the authorities upon which 
 he formed his judgment. The raw materials of his 
 Life of Walpole, pubUshed in the two quarto volumes 
 annexed to it, are a most valuable addition to our 
 stores of history, — an addition which we owe entirely 
 
 * I am speaking of Bolingbioke's practical, not his specula' 
 live philosophy.
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 to his industry and influence. From this source I 
 have drawn largely, as every one must who writes 
 upon that period of our history ; and I take this op- 
 portunity of acknowledging my obligation. 
 
 The benefit which Mr. Coxe has conferred upon 
 history is not limited to the immediate produce of 
 his labours ; his example has stimulated others to 
 similar undertakings. The publication of family 
 papers has since become general, and the periods to 
 which they relate proportionably better known. Of 
 these, the Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace 
 Mann, and his Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of 
 the Reign of George the Second, both edited by the 
 late Lord Dover, are particularly valuable. Our 
 literature is considerably indebted to the noble 
 editor for the abiUty and candour with which he 
 has performed his task. 
 
 I may mention also the selections from the March- 
 mont Papers, recently published. These contain 
 many letters from Bolingbroke during his residence 
 in France ; and the fi'equent recurrence of his name 
 in the Diary of Hugh Earl of Marchmont, furnishes 
 strong evidence of the deference which was paid 
 to his authority after he had ceased to take any
 
 Xii PREFACE. 
 
 ostensible part in political affairs. The editor of 
 these papers has been somewhat severe upon the 
 memory of Bolingbroke, and seems to consider 
 that an apology is necessary for the publication of 
 any letters from so dangerous a person. They are, 
 however, by far the most valuable^ as well as the 
 most beautiful, in his collection. Those parts of 
 them which relate to politics breathe a lofty pa- 
 triotism ; and we never find the sentiments of the 
 deist intruded among the expressions of private 
 friendship. 
 
 The quantity of history relating to the reigns 
 which the long life of Bolingbroke included is im- 
 mense. The histories, memoirs, letters, pamphlets, 
 together with the fleeting publications of the day, 
 form a mass amid which the impartial investigator 
 of truth may easily become bewildered. To set out 
 with a predilection in favour of one of the great 
 parties, and to judge of the acts of individuals by a 
 reference to that predilection, as it is the most com- 
 mon, is certainly the most easy method to pursue 
 in writing upon this period. 
 
 I have, however, ventured to depart from a course 
 I find so generally followed. While I unreservedly
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 adopt those grand constitutional doctrines which 
 are generally called Whig principles, I have not 
 hesitated to award censure because the individuals 
 whose conduct deserved it were ranked as the ad- 
 herents of a party whose general tenets I revere. 
 
 My task has not, however, carried me far into the 
 stream of general history. It was the misfortune 
 of Bolingbroke that his day of power immediately 
 preceded that age of general information which he 
 was so instrumental in ushering in, but the benefits 
 of which he was not permitted to partake. Those 
 regular periodical publications which soon after 
 began to give full accounts of the parliamentary de- 
 bates, were during his administration unknown. It 
 is only since their establishment that the eloquence 
 of our statesmen has been transmitted to posterity. 
 The biographer of a minister whose parliamentary 
 career closed before that time has little temptation 
 to dwell upon what is but a dull and unvaried series 
 of motions and divisions, known only as they are 
 recorded in the Journals of the Houses, or in the 
 scarcely more explanatory pages of the Parliament- 
 ary History. 
 
 The history of England during the life of Doling-
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 broke has been fully and ably detailed by the bio- 
 grapher of his contemporary Walpole. My course 
 has therefore been to adhere closely to the subject of 
 my work, and to recur to public history no farther 
 than was necessary to preserve the continuity of the 
 narrative. The notices of public events which do 
 not bear immediate relation to the fortunes of Bo- 
 lingbroke are therefore concise, and always made 
 with this view. 
 
 For the account of that part of the Viscount's 
 life which was passed in France, I have had fre- 
 quent recourse to the literature of that nation. The 
 " Essai Historique sur BoUngbroke" of General 
 Grimoard, and the " (Euvres Philosophes de St. 
 Lambert," have afforded me much assistance, and 
 enabled me to rectify many errors ; but the dates 
 of these authors are frequently erroneous, and have 
 never been adopted but where their probability has 
 appeared from other sources. 
 
 The proper use of these heterogeneous materials 
 is a work of much difficulty. While reading so much 
 violent and undeserved abuse, the mind is naturally 
 prone to take the side of the weaker party, and the
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 biographer is in danger of degenerating into an 
 apologist. 
 
 Against such an undue bias I have been fortified 
 by two powerful sentiments. I have regarded his 
 political life with the prepossessions of a Whig;* 
 and I have opposed to his sceptical philosophy the 
 conviction of a Christian. 
 
 In examining his works upon this latter point, I 
 would not, however, be supposed to have under- 
 taken their refutation : — this has already been done 
 by far abler pens. My province has only been to 
 give an account of them sufficient to enable the reader 
 to form a judgment of what his opinions upon this 
 subject were, and of the degree of ability with which 
 he has supported them. An elaborate exposition of 
 his fallacies would require far more theological learn- 
 ing than I can boast, and far more space than I was 
 at liberty to devote. 
 
 * In avowing a preference ciples in every instance soberly 
 
 for the tenets of the Whigs, and steadily carried out into 
 
 I intend to express only an practice. — The Whigs have at 
 
 anxious affection for the prin- least been consistent in their 
 
 ciples of our free constitution, professions, 
 and a desire to see those prin-
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 The work which is now offered to the public has 
 long been the companion of my hours of leisure from 
 severer studies. What was commenced as an amuse- 
 ment was prosecuted with diligence ; the hope that 
 it might be found worthy to occupy an evident- 
 ly vacant place in our literature urged its com- 
 pletion. I have attempted to portray Bolingbroke, 
 not as he appeared either to his admirers or his 
 enemies, but as he was : whether I have succeeded 
 will soon be adjudged. 
 
 Inner Temple Lane, 
 
 February 16th, 1835.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Origin of the Family of the St. Johns. — Parentage of Boling- 
 broke. — Educated among the Presbyterians. — Anecdote of Dr. 
 Burgess, his Tutor. — Is sent to Eton, and afterwards to Oxford. 
 — His Conduct at the University. — His Dissipation. — His 
 Poetry. — Marries. — Joins Harley, and obtains a Seat in Parha- 
 ment. — His QuaUfications for Pubhc Life. . Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Political State of England in the Year 1700. . . 24. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 Conduct of St. John in Parliament. — Death of the King. — 
 Queen Anne favours the Tories. — Formation of a New Mi- 
 nistry. — St. John made Secretary at War. — His Conduct in 
 Office. . . . . . . .50 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Godolphin's Jealousy of the designs of Harley. — Influence of 
 the Marlboroughs upon the decline. — Harley ingratiates him- 
 self with the Queen. — His Intrigues with Mrs. Hill. — Dismissal 
 of Harley. — St. John resigns his Office. . . .75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Harley's Intrigues at Court. — Unpopularity of the Whigs. — 
 Attempts against the Duke of Marlborough. — The Queen's 
 Dislike to her Ministers. — St. John's Conduct in Opposition. 
 — Retires from the House of Commons. — Dissolution of the 
 Godolphin Administration. .... 94
 
 XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Formation of the New Administration. — Its Difficulties. — 
 Dissolution of Parliament. — St. John returned for Berks. — 
 'The Examiner' established. — St. John's Letter. — Answered 
 by Earl Cowper. .... Page 1 18 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Measures of the New Ministry. — Debate upon the War in 
 
 Spain Investigation of the Public Accounts St. John's 
 
 Speech. — Commencement of the Negotiations for Peace 
 
 Condition of France and Spain. .... 135 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Guiscard's attempt to assassinate Harley. — Its effect in 
 strengthening the Ministry — Harley created Earl of Oxford. 
 
 — Commencement of the Jealousy between him and St. 
 John. ••..... 151 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Negotiations for Peace resumed. — Prior appointed Ambas- 
 sador to the Court of Versailles. — Preliminary Demands 
 
 Mesnager's Embassy — His Conduct in the Negotiations. 164 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Expedition to Quebec designed by St. John. — Its failure. 
 
 Preliminaries hastily signed in consequence.— St. John's Pri- 
 vate Life. — Formation of the Brothers' Club. . . 179 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Meeting of Parliament.— Critical Situation of the Tories 
 
 Creation of Peers.— Prosecution of the Duke of Marlborou^^h. 
 
 — St. John's exertions to increase the Unpopularity of the 
 War.— The Multiplicity of his Duties — His Intrigues against 
 f^arley ^ 19^,
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 St. Jolin raised to the Peerage as Viscount Bolingbroke. — 
 His Discontent and Resentment against Harley. — The Nego- 
 tiations resumed. — Bolingbroke sent upon a Mission to France. 
 — Concludes a Suspension of Arms. — Rumours respecting De- 
 signs in favour of the Pretender. . . Page 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Bolingbroke's attempts against the Press. — His Failure. — He 
 
 is refused the Order of the Garter, and his Disgust increased. 
 
 — The Negotiations continued. — Conclusion of the Treaties of 
 
 Utrecht — Approved by Parliament. . . .219 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Divisions in the Cabinet. — Secession of the Whimsical Tories. 
 — Fear of the Pretender. — Tactics of the Opposition. — The 
 Schism Bill. ...... 238 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Struggle between Oxford and Bolingbroke. — Swift's attempt 
 to reconcile them. — Oxford's Letter to the Queen His Dis- 
 missal. ....... 260 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Bolingbroke's Ambition disappointed. — Illness of the Queen. 
 — Proceedings of the Council. — The Earl of Shrewsbury made 
 Lord Treasurer. — Death of the Queen. — Critical Position of 
 Bolingbroke. — His Letter to the King. — Is Dismissed. — Dis- 
 solution of Pai'liament. ..... 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Proceedings of the New Parliament. — Disgrace of Oxford. — 
 The King refuses to see Bolingbroke. — Dismay of the Tories. — 
 Flight of Bolingbroke. — Circumstances of his Escape. — Letter 
 to Lord Lansdowne. ..... 292
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Parliamentary Inquiry into Bolingbroke's Ministerial Con- 
 duct. — Appointment and Report of the Committee of Se- 
 crecy. ...... Page 313 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Report of the Committee of Secrecy. — Considerations of the 
 Charges it contains against Bolingbroke. — His Impeachment 
 moved by Walpole. . . . . . 326 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Consideration of the Articles of Bolingbroke's Impeach- 
 ment. — Examination of his Conduct with regard to the Suc- 
 cession. ....... 339 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Bill of Attainder passed against Bolingbroke. — He joins the 
 Pretender. ...... 334 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Bolingbroke accepts the Office of Secretary of State under 
 the Pretender. — His Mission to the Court of Versailles. 370 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Distracted State of the Pretender's Councils. — Insurrection 
 in Scotland resolved upon — Opposed by Bolingbroke — Its 
 Issue. — Intrigues at the French Court. — Bolingbroke's Dis- 
 missal from his Office of Secretary, . . .387 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Calumnies vented against Bolingbroke. — Impeached by the 
 Pretender. — The Articles of his Impeachment examined. 407
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Origin of the Family of the St. Johns. — Parentage of Boling- 
 broke. — Educated among the Presbyterians. — Anecdote of Dr. 
 Burgess, his Ttitor. — Is sent to Eton, and aftenvards to Ox- 
 ford. — His Conduct at the University. — His Dissipation. — 
 His Poetry. — Marries. — Joins Hurley, and obtains a Seat in 
 Parliament. — His Qualifications for Public Life. 
 
 Individuals rendered illustrious by their genius chap. 
 or their fortunes are objects of a curiosity as rational ' 
 
 as it is universal. With them we seek a closer ^-D- ifi's 
 intimacy than we can acquire from the page of 
 general history ; which, in tracing the progress of 
 events, presents the actors to our view only as they 
 influence the subject of the narrative. There, we 
 behold the master-spirits of the age in tableau ; 
 we feel desirous of viewing them individually, of 
 beholding the secret causes of success and disaster, 
 and of tracing those lighter shades of character 
 which are necessary to the perfection of the por- 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
 J
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, trait. It is the province of Biography to gratify 
 
 ' this desire : it brings under our minute inspection 
 
 A.D. 1678 characters which we had before seen but distant- 
 
 to 1700. , , . - , ... .... 
 
 ly and transiently ; that, while our admiration is 
 excited by their genius or their virtue, our emu- 
 lation may be encouraged by finding they were not 
 free from the failings of humanity. Thus, where 
 V we exhibit excellences, we must not conceal defects ; 
 
 where we celebrate virtues, we must also expose 
 and condemn vices. Biography holds a balance of 
 merit or demerit, which History cannot pause to 
 determine. She falsifies the experience of mankind 
 when she descends to the language of unmixed 
 panegyric ; she degrades herself when partiality for 
 her subject induces her to become the apologist for 
 vice. 
 
 Posterity is as much instructed by the errors as 
 by the successes of those who have gone before, 
 and does not refuse to be interested in the career of 
 an individual because with much that is excellent 
 he mingled much that is evil. Such was Boling- 
 broke ; a man whose memory has been visited with 
 unjust severity from the most opposite quarters. 
 Those who would applaud the statesman, dare not 
 raise their voice in defence of the sceptic ; while 
 others, who approve his speculative tenets, almost 
 universally condemn his political principles. 
 
 Both parties have therefore indulged in immode- 
 rate censure when the character of Bolingbroke was
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 to be delineated : his opinions, which, if sincere, as chap. 
 we have every reason to beheve they were, were the ^- 
 
 one great defect of a brilliant mind, have been mag- a.d. 1678 
 nified into crimes, and held to taint every sentiment, 
 however honourable, and to vitiate every action, 
 however noble. Be it our endeavour to denude his 
 character of this veil of prejudice, to exhibit him 
 as he was : while we expose his deformities, let us 
 also point out and admire his excellences. 
 
 As the acquisition of distinctions is more honour- 
 able than their enjoyment, it might be thought that 
 original genius would seldom seek to adorn itself 
 with inherited honours. But the pride of ancestry 
 is universal. If it be a weakness, it is one which 
 none commonly despise but those who have little 
 temptation to indulge it. The lineage of Boling- 
 broke was worthy of his genius and his fortunes. 
 Among the noble famihes of England, that of 
 St. John is conspicuous for its antiquity, its dig- 
 nity, and its possessions. We find WilHam de St. 
 John holding an honourable post in the army of 
 the Conqueror ; and he appears to have rendered 
 that monarch important assistance in the battle of 
 Hastings. This chief received large rewards for 
 his services, and was the founder of the family in 
 England. 
 
 William de St. John left two sons, who, by their 
 noble alliances, increased the influence and posses- 
 sions of the family. Bolingbroke was descended 
 
 B 2
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, from John, the younger of these sons, through a 
 ^- female descendant named Mabel. This lady mar- 
 
 A.D.1678 ried Adam de Port, a descendant of the Barons of 
 to 1700. Basing in Hampshire; a title which his ancestors 
 had enjoyed long anterior to the Conquest. The 
 heir of Adam de Port assumed, upon the death of 
 his father, his maternal name of St. John, which was 
 retained by his issue. Thus, although Bolingbroke 
 derived his family name from one of the Norman 
 chiefs who upheld the standard of the Conqueror, 
 his paternal descent was from the ancient nobiHty 
 of. tJie Saxons. 
 
 Nor did this house owe all its importance to its 
 antiquity and wealth. In each succeeding age, it 
 produced men conspicuous in the field, the cabinet, 
 and the senate. Their talents and services did 
 not pass unrewarded ; the lordships of Bletshoe, 
 Tregone, and Grandison had arisen and expired in 
 his family before Bolingbroke threw over it a lustre 
 which no titles could alone bestow. As their num- 
 bers increased, their unity became less perfect ; and 
 during the civil wars we find them supporting differ- 
 ent parties. While Sir John St. John, the representa- 
 tive of one branch, sided with the royalists and lost 
 three of his sons in the service of his king ; Oliver, 
 sprung from another branch, shone as one of the 
 master-spirits and guiding stars of the republicans. 
 These divisions of the family, dissimilar as were their 
 politics, were united by the marriage of the grand- 
 parents of Bolingbroke ; so that the Chief Justice of
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 5 
 
 Cromwell was his great-grandfather on the maternal chap. 
 side — a circumstance of which his political oppo- ' 
 
 nents did not fail to remind him. a.d. 1678 
 
 The issue of this marriage was Henry St. John, 
 who inherited a baronetcy, but for whom the talents 
 of his son afterwards obtained much higher honours. 
 He married the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, by 
 whom he had an only son, who was born on the 1st 
 October, 1678,* at the family seat at Battersea. 
 
 This son was Henry St. John, the futui-e Viscount 
 Bolingbroke, whose birth and fortune were there- 
 fore sufficient to qualify him to contest the highest 
 honours of the state. Henry experienced but little 
 parer.tal care : the tastes of Sir Henry never prompt- 
 ed him to direct the education of his son. During 
 his infancy and childhood, he was intrusted to the 
 care of his^,^rjandm.other, who inherited the puri- 
 tanical prepossessions of her father. This old lady 
 was a rigid presbyterian, and seems to have imbibed 
 a large portion of the fanaticism which then distin- 
 guished that sect. Her religious guide was Daniel 
 Burgess, a puritan preacher celebrated rather for 
 the quaintness of his conceits than the soundness of 
 his understanding. 
 
 We have a specimen of this man's style of preach- 
 ing in an anecdote which occurs in the life of Dr. 
 
 * This date is fixed by a 1738. " Nine months hence," 
 
 letter from him, preserved he says, " I shall be three- 
 
 among the Egremont Papers, score." This date agrees also 
 
 It is dated New-year's Day with Swift's statement.
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Yalden. The doctor was arrested upon suspicion 
 ^' of being concerned in the affair which was at the 
 A.D. 1678 time called Bishop Atterbury's plot. His papers 
 were seized and strictly examined ; but the only 
 circumstance which could countenance the suspicion 
 that was entertained of him was a mysterious me- 
 morandum found in an old pocket-book. It con- 
 sisted of these two cabalistic words, " Thorough-paced 
 doctrine." This memorandum the examiners could 
 not understand, and they therefore, of course, con- 
 cluded that it \\as pregnant with treason. Dr. 
 Yalden's explanation removed the difficulty. It 
 was an old memorandum, he said, which he had 
 made in the reign of Queen Anne. He was then 
 at the University, and during one of the vacations 
 he paid a visit to the metropolis. While there, he 
 had been induced by curiosity to hear the famous 
 Daniel Burgess, and a passage in his sermon had 
 occasioned the suspected entry. The preacher had 
 been inveighing against pernicious doctrines, and, 
 after enumerating many kinds, continued : " But, 
 above all other pernicious doctrines, beware, my 
 beloved, of the thorough-paced doctrine ; that doc- 
 trine, I mean, which, coming in at one ear, paces 
 straight through the head and out at the other ear." 
 To this person's care was young St. John consigned, 
 in order that he might acquire the rudiments of learn- 
 ing and the principles of the presbyterians. No 
 choice could have been less adapted to the temper 
 and abilities of the youthful pupil : his quick sensibi-
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 
 
 lity was disgusted, and his eager curiosity was check- chap. 
 ed, by never-ending theological disquisitions ; and ^' 
 
 his ready perception of the ridiculous quickly found a.d. i678 
 exercise in deriding the eccentricities of his tutor. 
 Perhaps to this disgust for the sombre system of 
 the puritans, which was so injudiciously excited and 
 so early engraven upon his mind, we may ascribe 
 much of the error of his after life. Burgess appears 
 to have been a mere fanatic. His pupil's reading 
 was almost confined to a ponderous folio, containing 
 the sermons of Dr. Manton. Dr. Manton was a rec- 
 tor of St. Paul's Covent Garden, who had been expel- 
 led from his living for non-conformity, and who had 
 then employed his leisure in writing one hundred 
 and nineteen sermons upon the 119th Psalm. This 
 drowsy mass formed St. John's daily task-book ; and 
 it can scarcely be wondered at, that, sickened by 
 the gloomy superstition by which he was surrounded, 
 he should, with the hasty temper of youth, imbibe 
 a prejudice against all religion, from the injudicious 
 manner in which it was forced upon him. 
 
 The vision of Dr. Manton's folio seems often to 
 have haunted him after its substantial persecutions 
 had ceased. In one of his letters to Pope,* he takes 
 an opportunity of ridiculing the puritanical parson 
 Dr. Manton, whom, when a boy, he was sometimes 
 condemned to read ; and a similar remark occurs 
 in another part of his writings. The whole of his 
 conduct shows that the severity of his early educa- 
 
 * Pope's Letters, Warton's edition of his Works, vol. ix.
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, tion produced impressions the very opposite to those 
 ' which his instructor contemplated. 
 
 A.D. 1678 These unpalatable occupations were not, however, 
 
 to 1700. r. 1 , . TT r- 
 
 or any long continuance. Henry soon grew out ot 
 the jurisdiction of his grandmother; and with her 
 authority terminated that of her confessor. He was 
 now sent to Eton ; and perhaps the dulness of Bur- 
 gess gave him a keener relish for those studies in 
 which he immediately engaged. Of his career at 
 Eton we know nothing, except that he was there at 
 the same time with Robert Walpole. It is said 
 \ ifOA' that the contests which afterwards took place be- 
 Xj^'' tween these two great men upon so conspicuous a 
 
 theatre, and with such important consequences, were 
 rendered bitter and personal by the mutual dislike 
 which had its commencement even thus early.* 
 St. John doubtless acquired, at Eton, at least the 
 rudiments of sound learning; probably the foundation 
 was now laid of the superstructure which his after 
 life was consumed in completing. 
 
 How long he remained at Eton, is not known. 
 He was removed thence to Christ Church, Oxford, 
 where his great natural advantages had more faci- 
 lities for development. His wit and genius soon 
 distinguished him among his companions, and he 
 already assumed a superiority which he was des- 
 
 * Horace Walpole's Memoirs school, he must have meant 
 
 of the Last Ten Years of the at Eton. BoHngbroke never 
 
 Reign of George II. When this was at any other school : Wal- 
 
 author says that Bolingbroke pole was two years older than 
 
 and his father were rivals at Bolingbroke.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. ft 
 
 tined always to maintain. His extraordinary talents chap. 
 forced themselves into gen€.ral. notice ; and his ^- 
 tutors confessed that in him they had no common a.d. i678 
 pupil. His original and unquiet curiosity startled 
 and perplexed them, and his prodigious strength of 
 memory and quick apprehension excited their asto- 
 nishment. His dashing and brilliant style of con- 
 versation was the admiration of his friends, and his 
 social disposition rendered their affection equal to 
 their admiration. 
 
 But St. John seemed little assiduous to discover 
 or improve his great talents. Nature appeared to have 
 been scarcely more prodigal in bestowing, than he 
 was industrious in abusing them. A career of wild 
 dissipation left him little leisure for the pursuit of 
 knowledge. Even thus early he professed a profounds- 
 contempt for mere bpok4earnmg, and he would 
 jestingly shield himself from the reproaches of his 
 tutors under the tenacity of his memory. He was 
 afraid, he declared, to read many books, lest he 
 should fill his head with what did not deserve a 
 place there ; and, when it was once in, he found it 
 impossible to get it out again. 
 
 It is probable that St. John fell in with a common 
 affectation, in pretending an idleness he did not 
 practise. Great as his excesses were, there is reason 
 to believe that his reading, though varied and de- 
 sultory, was nevertheless continued with consider- 
 able assiduity. Amid all his pleasures, his studies 
 were never entirely intermitted ; and during his
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, residence at the University, he contrived to cultivate 
 ^- the classics, and to acquire an extensive acquaint- 
 A.D. 1678 ance with the literature of his own country. The 
 to 1700. jjissipation of St. John was not that unbroken round 
 of systematic debauchery, which destroys the cha- 
 racter of the man, and leaves only that of the de- 
 bauchee : amid all his riot, there occurred lucid in- 
 tervals in which he rallied his scattered thoughts 
 and exerted his nobler faculties. Many years after- 
 wards, he declared that the love of study and 
 desire of knowledge were what he felt all his life ; 
 and though his genius, unhke the demon of So- 
 crates, whispered so softly, that very often he heard 
 him not in the hurry of those passions with which 
 he was transported, yet some calmer hours there 
 were, and in them he hearkened to him.* 
 
 But, soft as were the whisperings of his genius 
 during his residence at Oxford, and rare and fitful 
 as were his intervals of steady application, his re- 
 putation rapidly increased. Accurate critical know- 
 ledge he never attained, or desired ; but his desul- 
 tory reading, tenacious memory, and strong reason- 
 ing powers, rendered him an antagonist to be dread- 
 ed even by those who had laboured most diligently 
 at the studies he had neglected. His learning was 
 crude and undigested, but the mass was great ; and 
 as he always possessed the showy~art of displaying 
 every qualification in the most advantageous view, 
 his companions considered him as resembling Crich- 
 
 * Essay on the True Use of Retirement and Study.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 11 
 
 ton as closely in his acquirements, as he certainly chap. 
 did in his dissipation. When he left them, they ^- 
 
 looked after him with anxious expectations as he a.d. i678 
 immerged into the world : none doubted that he *° ^'^'^' 
 was destined to perform a distinguished part in the 
 great drama of his age. 
 
 But St. John was not yet satiated with riot. His 
 father had intended that, upon leaving the Univer- 
 sity, he should immediately apply himself to public 
 business : passion was however yet too strong for 
 reason ; and Sir Henry could not severely reprove 
 irregularities in which he had himself indulged.* 
 Henceforward he was unchecked in his career of 
 pleasure, and he ran it recklessly. Formed to excel 
 in whatever he might undertake, he soon became as 
 notorious for his excesses, as he was afterwards emi- 
 nent for his genius and learning. By those who 
 could yet remember the court of Charles the Second, 
 he was compared to Rochester ; and he was then 
 proud of the comparison. He left nothing unac- 
 complished that could increase the similitude ; he 
 conducted his drunken revels with the most un- 
 blushing publicity, and his mistress, Miss Gumley, 
 was the most beautiful courtesan of her day : but 
 
 * We learn from Bishop slon of the sentence, we are 
 
 Barlow, that Bolingbroke's fa- ignorant : but the bishop, in 
 
 ther was tried and convicted arguing the legality of the par- 
 
 of the murder of Sir William don, has preserved the me- 
 
 Estcourt. Of the extenuating mory of the crime. — Bishop 
 
 circumstances, if there were Barlow $ Cases of Conscience, 
 
 any, which procured a remis- Preface.
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. St. John was rather captivated by her celebrity than 
 
 ^- won by her beauty ; his attentions were not very 
 
 A.D. 1678 assiduous, nor was his constancy very remarkable. 
 
 to 1700. The town was rife with accounts of his wild^ex- 
 
 ploits ; and they were censured with a smile, while 
 
 the rake was courted and caressed. Some of his 
 
 drunken extravagances are highly descriptive of the 
 
 state of society at the period, and, disgraceful as they 
 
 are to the actor, reflect equal discredit upon the 
 
 public taste which could tolerate, and even applaud 
 
 them. 
 
 But even now, when he was abusing to the ut- 
 most the liberty he had just obtained by his eman- 
 cipation from university discipline, his more sober 
 friends could discern in him the seeds of better 
 things. Amid all his riot, he discovered an acute 
 taste for higher pleasures. He eagerly cultivated 
 the friendship of the men of genius and learning 
 who then flourished ; and they were flattered by the 
 homage of so promising a disciple. It must be ever 
 mentioned to his honour, that he cheered the de- 
 clining age of poor Dryden, who now, stripped of his 
 pension and struggling with poverty, had become 
 the slave of the booksellers. Bolingbroke long after- 
 wards related an instance which he had witnessed 
 of the dependence of the poet. On one occasion, 
 when he was sitting with him, a person was heard 
 below. " 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
 
 to 1700. 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 13 
 
 him ; and if you leave me unprotected, I must suffer chap. 
 all the rudeness to which his resentment can prompt ^' 
 his tongue."* a.d. i678 
 
 His friendship for Dryden produced the first lite- 
 rary attempt that St, John made in public. In 
 1697, the poet published his translation of Virgil ; 
 and a copy of eulogistic verses from the pen of St. 
 John was prefixed to the first edition. This at- 
 tempt rather attests his admiration of the genius of 
 his friend, than any strong poetical talent in himself. 
 His verses betray much labour and little taste, and 
 their harshness and incorrectness prove that, if he 
 had studied the works of the veteran he so much 
 admired, he sought in vain to imitate the harmony 
 by which he was so distinguished. 
 
 This copy of verses was, however, thought worthy 
 of being pirated ; but perhaps rather for their author's 
 name, than from any intrinsic merit they possessed. 
 In the year 1714, the Chevalier de St. Hyacinthe, 
 better known as the Chevalier de Themiseul, pub- 
 lished in Holland a French work, called " Le Chef- 
 d'ceuvre d'un Liconmi^ avec cles remarijues." The 
 poem is a whimsical old ballad, which the chevalier 
 criticises with some humour and more pedantry. It 
 was the custom of the time to prefix a sort of polyglot 
 encomium to a new work, and the chevalier was 
 not a man to neglect such a fashion. Greek, Latin, 
 TDutch, and French odes he had in numbers ; but an 
 English one was wanting, and St. John's praises of 
 
 * Lives of the Poets.
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Dryden were purloined without scruple. It was 
 
 ^- slightly altered for the occasion ; but the alterations 
 
 A.D. 1678 were infinitely worse than the original. In the first 
 
 to 1700. gjjj^-jQjj^ tj^g author disguised his fraud by printing 
 
 the verses in Greek characters : in the second, he 
 
 grew bolder ; they were inserted in the common 
 
 character, and signed " Henricus de Bolingbroke, 
 
 Annse a secretis." 
 
 Th^miseul's egotism betrays his robbery. When 
 he tells us, in the preface of his work, that he is in 
 his forty-seventh year and in excellent health, he 
 forgets that he had already made Bolingbroke ad- 
 dress him as 
 
 " Young, spite of age ; in spite of weakness, strong ;" 
 a description which applies aptly enough to the 
 bodily infirmity and mental vigour of the poet, but 
 with little justice to the sturdy chevalier. 
 
 In 1700, St. John published " Almahide, an ode," 
 which found the fate it merited. It is a lifeless 
 production, of which the only poetical idea is avow- 
 edly borrowed.* 
 
 There are two other poetical trifles, written by 
 
 \r St. John about the period of which we are now 
 
 speaking. The first is a copy of verses to one of 
 
 his mistresses — apparently a lady who little valued 
 
 such proofs of admiration ; the other, a prologue to 
 
 * It is singular that this ode had an enemy more bitter thalP 
 
 is only preserved in a rare Stanhope and Walpole, it was 
 
 and long-forgotten book, called the Earl of Wharton. 
 " Whartoniana." If St. John
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 15 
 
 the Earl of Orrery's tragedy of Altemira. These chap. 
 are the most favourable specimens we have of St. ^' 
 
 John's muse ; but, although superior to the two a.d. 1678 
 efforts we before noticed, they contain nothing to 
 support a claim on the part of their author to the 
 honours of poesy. 
 
 These performances point out his pursuits, and 
 are illustrative of his character. In theory, they 
 exhibit him as the philosophical defender of good 
 taste and morality ; and we know him to have been, 
 at this time in practice, a reckless rake and an un- 
 disguised libertine.* 
 
 St. John, however, soon discovered that poetry 
 was not the department of literature in which he 
 was destined to succeed. Living as he always did 
 in an atmosphere of poetry, and enjoying the inti- 
 macy of the most celebrated poets of our language, 
 he could not indeed always avoid the infection. He 
 never, however, had the temerity to submit any of 
 these amusements to the public. They were some- 
 times communicated to his two intimate friends; 
 but they were too sincerely his friends to flatter him 
 that he was a poet. Swift liberally abused them, 
 and Pope never mentioned them at all. The author 
 approved their judgment, and properly applied to 
 himself the lines of Horace : — 
 
 Mediocribus esse poetis 
 
 Non homines, non dii, non concessere columnae. 
 
 * Johnson once rebuked saying, " Sir, your mind is all 
 such a theoretical moralist by virtue, your body all vice."
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. The only poetical production of liis extant, besides 
 • those we have already enumerated, is a paraphrase 
 
 A.D. 1678 upon some lines of Horace, which he enclosed to 
 Swift, telling him he had written them in a post- 
 chaise.* 
 
 These scraps of poetry are little valuable in them- 
 selves, and contribute nothing to the reputation of 
 their author ; but they become objects of curiosity 
 as his productions, and, since most of them are scat- 
 tered about in old editions and scarce works, we 
 , have added them in the Appendix.f 
 
 St. John's extravagances were as injurious to his 
 father's purse as to his own reputation. If he could 
 not wean him from his follies, he at least resolved 
 to remove them from his own immediate notice. 
 Henry was therefore sent to travel ; and he probably 
 passed about two years upon the Continent. Of his 
 adventures while absent from England, no record 
 remains : we only know that he was at Milan, and 
 that he there obtained the acquaintance of the 
 Baron de Seckingen, to whom he writes in the year 
 1711, assuring him that he had never forgotten their 
 old friendship since its commencement at Milan, nor 
 the happy days they had there passed together. J 
 
 During his travels, he acquired a perfect know- 
 ledge of the French language ; an advantage which 
 to him was of signal service in his political career. 
 
 It is difficult to assign the exact period of this 
 
 * Swift's Letters. f Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 ^ Lettres de Bolingbroke, vol. i. p. 57.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. I7 
 
 residence abroad. That he was in England in 1697, chap. 
 is established by the date of Dryden's Virgil : and ^- 
 
 as his next production was Almahide, his absence a.d. i678 
 was probably during the years 1698 and 9- These ^°^^°^- 
 were the two years immediately preceding his enter- 
 ing upon public life. 
 
 St. John was now twenty-one years old. Hitherto, 
 his life presents only a course of riotous dissipation, \/ 
 interspersed with a few brighter spots on which the 
 eye may rest with pleasure. Had the talents which! 
 were then apparent only in their abuse never been 
 reclaimed to nobler objects, his character would have 
 deserved and found but oblivion or contempt. The 
 possession of great abilities must rather increase 
 than lessen our scorn of the possessor, if, when ca- 
 pable of deeds worthy of the memory and applause 
 of posterity, he seems anxious only to acquire a mo- 
 mentary and disgraceful notoriety. 
 
 But we have seen, that amid all the intemperance 
 of his youth, the spirit of St. John looked forward 
 to the time when such pursuits should be abandoned 
 for objects of more honourable ambition ; and he 
 took every opportunity which his wayward humours 
 would allow him to prepare himself for such a ca- 
 reer. He seems to have been conscious that these 
 excesses were but the first turbid bubbling of that 
 fountain, which, when its impurities had been thus 
 purged, was to gush forth in continued brightness. 
 
 The earliest evidence of disgust for the pleasures 
 he had hitherto pursued with such avidity, was an 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, inclination towards marriage ; and his friends were 
 • not long in procuring him a connexion suited to 
 
 A.D. 1678 his rank. This was the daughter and co-heiress of 
 ■ Sir Henry Winchescomb, the descendant of a man 
 well known in the reign of Henry the Eighth by 
 the familiar title of Jack of Newbury — a fine speci- 
 men of the wealth and liberality of the English mer- 
 chant even in those early days. Jack of Newbury 
 was a clothier ; but instances of his munificence are 
 recorded which would not have disgraced the most 
 successful of the courtiers who followed Henry for 
 their jackal share of the plunder of the monasteries. 
 At one time he entertained the king and the whole 
 of his retinue with a magnificence which Wolsey 
 himself could not have excelled ; and at another, 
 when the Scots were to be driven within their bor- 
 der, he led to his sovereign's assistance a hundred 
 men, paid and equipped at his own expense, who 
 shared the danger and the glory of Flodden Field. 
 Such examples among the tradesmen of England go 
 far to disprove that insignificance which Hume has 
 so pertinaciously attributed to the commons of this 
 reign. 
 1700. The union of St. John with this lady took place in 
 
 1700. It was a mere marriage of convenience. There 
 was probably but little affection on either side : St. 
 John never professed any. By the marriage-settle- 
 ment he however obtained a large accession of pro- 
 perty, which, as his father lived to enjoy the family 
 estates to a very old age, was no small advantage to
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 19 
 
 him. The Winchescomb estates were scattered over chap. 
 the counties of Wiltshire, Surrey, and Middlesex ; ' 
 
 and St. John's rent-roll was by no means incon- ^•^- ^'^o- 
 siderable. He was now established in life, and his 
 friends indulged the hope of a complete reformation. 
 But it was a much easier task to adjust the interests 
 of the two famihes, than to assimilate the dispositions 
 of the immediate parties. St. John was imperious 
 and inconstant ; the lady was obstinate and jealous. 
 It was not easy to reduce his wild disposition 
 to the tameness of domestic life. Could she have 
 preserved her temper, she might perhaps have won 
 him from irregularities which habit had rendered 
 inveterate ; the object was at least worthy of the 
 attempt : but the recurrence of her reproaches 
 quickly destroyed what little hold she had upon 
 his affections. He complained that her temper was 
 insufferable, and she that his infidelities were shame-* 
 less and intolerable : they soon formally separated. 
 
 Marriage was only resolved on by St. John as a 
 prelude to engaging in political pursuits ; a line of life 
 to which his peculiar advantages directed his atten- 
 tion, and whose splendid rewards attracted his am- 
 bition. The extended connexions of his family would 
 have been sufficient to inspire men of far less natural 
 ability than he possessed, with the idea of pushing 
 their fortunes in a career of public life. Nor was he 
 without experienced political guides to direct his 
 early footsteps. His grandfather, Sir Walter St. John, 
 who had long represented the county of Wilts in 
 
 c 2
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, parliament, was still alive. His father, too, was well 
 ^- skilled in the bearings of parties : he also had re- 
 
 A.D. 1700. presented Wiltshire, and had sat several times for 
 Wootton Bassett ; a borough in which the family in- 
 terest of the St. Johns was predominant. 
 
 Sir Henry, however, now resigned a pursuit in 
 which he had never met with much success, and his 
 son succeeded him in the borough. He was returned 
 as one of its representatives to the parliament which 
 met in February of this year, and he took his seat in 
 the English senate with advantages inferior to those of 
 no member who sat there. His family interest was 
 powerful ; but the real and irresistible resources of 
 St. John were seated in himself. It was not long 
 before these were developed. The sparkling vivacity 
 ^^— and easy gaiety which his famihar conversations had 
 discovered, were accompanied with other qualities 
 with which they are not commonly allied. Every 
 ,_^ effort of St. John bore that pregnancy of wit which 
 constitutes genius: it animated his conversation, it 
 glittered in his speech, it flashed in his reply. It is 
 said that, in the delivery of his speeches, there were 
 occasional pauses of reflection ; but when he had 
 recovered and arranged his ideas, as he clothed them 
 in words, his language flowed on without either 
 hurry or hesitation in a copious stream of eloquence 
 which equally deHghted the ear and convinced the 
 judgment. In all the arts of oxatory he seemed to 
 have been endued with a natural proficiency ; and 
 even the tactics of debate were not in him the ac-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 21 
 
 quirements of experience. Where the weakness of a chap. 
 cause was to be disguised, or the attention of the ^' 
 
 audience withdrawn from its examination, the wit of ^•^- 1'^^^- 
 the orator shot like a star-shoot athwart the debate ; 
 but when the arguments of an adversary were to be 
 sifted and his fallacies exposed, he discovered a 
 wonderful power of analyzing his subject at a single 
 glance, and of almost instinctively discovering its ca- 
 pabilities of attack and defence. He united in his 
 reply a subtlety of reasoning, a profundity of think- 
 ing, and a solidity of judgment, which fixed atten- 
 tion and commanded admiration. 
 
 Such talents could not be long without their in- 
 fluence in an English house of commons ; it re- 
 mained only to be seen into which scale that in- 
 fluence would be thrown. His father and grand- 
 father had sided with tligl^^^ and their example 
 and inclination were expected to influence his choice. 
 That party was jnov^ip. povver* and from them he 
 might expect immediate advancement ; they were 
 yet popular with the country, and strong in their 
 majorities, so that their supremacy appeared well 
 established. But St. John was far too ambitious to 
 enter into the service of an established party, to bow 
 himself to its leaders, and to rise by slow gradations 
 from the lowest steps of office. Hisjoriginal genius 
 prompted him to choose an eccentric course, and tlie"' 
 juncture was highly favourable to his design. 
 
 Robert Harley was now secretly laying the 
 foundations of the power which he afterwards en-
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, joyed : having already adopted that undecided policy 
 ^- which he never renounced, he at first pursued it with 
 A.D. 1700. success, and was courted by both parties, while he 
 was the servant of neither. St. John thought he re- 
 cognised in him a kindred spirit, and resolved to 
 seek his friendship and share his fortunes. Harley 
 met his overtures with cordiality, and in a short time 
 they were inseparable. 
 ^- The struggle for ascendency which afterwards 
 
 divided Harley and St. John, and the virulent hatred 
 with which they ever after regarded each other, 
 have induced the belief that the friendship of 
 these two great men was never sincere; that St. John 
 attached himself tp Harley, only that he might share 
 his rising fortunes ; and that the latter encouraged 
 his advances, only that he might strengthen the party 
 by which he intended to reach the summit of power. 
 These views doubtless had their weight in forming 
 and cementing the union of the two aspirants after 
 distinction ; but there is no reason to suppose that 
 these were their only motives. The experience and 
 cunning of Harley might perhaps have led him to 
 simulate what he did not feel ; but St. John had not 
 yet learned to dissemble, and he at least doubtless 
 entertained the sentiments he professed. We may 
 find a bond of sympathy in their private tastes as 
 well as their political interests. Harley was not 
 indeed in the habit of indulging to excess in either 
 of the pleasures which were so seductive to St. John ; 
 yet he could appreciate his talent and enjoy his con-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 23 
 
 versation. The love of literature had revived with chap. 
 tenfold force in St. John's breast ; it was now aided ^- 
 
 by ambition. The undisputed master of fashionable a.d. i700. 
 follies had another object ; and the desire of excelling 
 in the senate taught him to labour in the study. 
 That these pursuits were in accordance with the 
 taste of Harley, can receive no higher testimony than 
 the history of his country's literature affords. The 
 collection of MSS. which bears his name, and which 
 forms the most invaluable treasure that our national 
 library can boast, attests at once his taste, his zeal, 
 and his liberality. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the secret motives 
 of the two allies, it is certain that their union was 
 strictly preserved, and that their political conduct 
 was in accordance with their private intimacy. That 
 St. John ever relied upon Harley as a patron, his 
 character forbids us to believe; but the latter's 
 greater experience and established reputation would, 
 of course, give him more powerful influence in the 
 party to which St. John attached himself, and lent 
 some colour, but little justice, to the accusation of 
 ingratitude with which he was afterwards assailed. 
 He, indeed, received his first official appointment 
 from the hand of Harley ; but Harley offered it as a 
 friend and ally, not as a patron ; and he was well 
 requited by the conduct of the coadjutor he thus 
 secured.
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Political State of England in the Year 1700. 
 
 CHAP. 1 HE history of a statesman is identified with the 
 political events of his age. It will be necessary 
 
 II. 
 
 A.D. 1688 therefore, in order that we may understand the 
 
 to 1700. . P 1 . , , 
 
 motives or the actions we are about to relate, 
 that we take a summary view of the foreign 
 relations and internal state of this country at 
 the time St. John first obtained_.a-~voice iiL-its 
 councils. 
 
 England was now slowly recovering from the 
 shock which had shaken James the Second from 
 his throne. His mad attack upon their laws and 
 religion had united against him the most hostile 
 factions ; and reduced into one opposing mass prin- 
 ciples the most jarring and elements the most dis- 
 cordant. Their zeal was as great as their only bond 
 of union — necessity — was urgent ; and the imbecile 
 tyrant fled at the first echo of their voice. 
 
 But no sooner was the immediate danger past, 
 than the heterogeneous mass resumed its more ordi- 
 nary divisions ; party prejudices regained their for- 
 mer authority, and the T ories were abashed at the
 
 LORD BOLINGBRORE. 25 
 
 victory they themselves had helped to secure. They chap. 
 saw their tenets of divine right and non-resistance— the ^^' 
 very watch-words and war-cries of their party, which a.d. i688 
 had obtained for them the confidence and support 
 of successive monarchs — suddenly and for ever swept 
 away. They saw, also, that they had been practically 
 conforming to principles which in theory they had 
 uniformly opposed. At a period when the voice of ^ 
 faction had been hushed in dread of the approaching 
 tempest, they had beheld their rules of government i v 
 contemned and abandoned, and those of their rivals 
 acknowledged and adhered to ; and when they now 
 reflected upon what had passed, they trembled for 
 their political existence as a party. 
 
 Their first endeavour, therefore, was to retain the 
 integrity of the succession ; and the clumsy expedient 
 of a regent with kingly power was invented to save 
 their consistency without compromising their safety. 
 The leaders of the Whigs, however, were more de- 
 cided in their views, since their principles were more 
 adapted to meet the exigency. They argued, that 
 the right of resistance which enabled them to sus- 
 pend the exercise of a sovereign's functions would 
 equally extend to his deposition. They therefore 
 boldly asserted the great principle of an original 
 contract between king and people ; they declared 
 allegiance and protection to be reciprocal ties de- 
 pending upon each other ; and, to confirm and pro- 
 tect these principles of government, they se ated Wil- 
 liam the Third upon the throne:*
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Since this was a measure effected in spite of the 
 ^^- determined opposition of the Tories, they could 
 A.D. 1688 not expect to enjoy any great share of power or 
 to 1700. fa^vQ^j. under the new sovereign ; nor is it sur- 
 prising that they should favour the return of a 
 dynasty from whom they might expect honours and 
 power. The most violent of their party refused the 
 oath of allegiance to the new king, and, distinguished 
 by the title of non-jurors, openly declared for a re- 
 storation of James. When the battle of the Boyne 
 had extinguished all reasonable hopes of success by 
 arms, and the canonized exile had retired to culti- 
 vate in his seclusion a reputation for sanctity which 
 his early habits must have sadly impaired, those who 
 looked for him as the renovator of their ruined for- 
 tunes secretly intrigued for what they dared not 
 openly attempt. 
 
 The Tories, therefore, were generally considered 
 as favourable to the return of the old king ; the 
 Whigs, as resolute in their purpose of maintaining 
 the monarch of their choice. Jealousy of prerogative 
 was, however, still a principle by no means abjured ; 
 and William, watched by the Whigs and plotted 
 against by the Tories, was glad to abandon all high 
 pretensions at home, in return for being allowed to 
 make himself respected abroad. The nation readily 
 joined in his views, provoked a struggle with a pow- 
 erful rival, and triumphed. But success procured 
 for England mere empty honour ; the solid advan- 
 tages were monopolized by her allies.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 27 
 
 The treaty of Ryswick, which concluded this chap. 
 war, was sufficiently favourable to them and humili- ^^' 
 
 ating to France ; but, upon the part of England, a.d. i688 
 it stipulated only the recognition of William. It 
 stripped the French king of almost all his con- 
 quests, and appears to have been concluded by him 
 only with the view of clearing the board for a more 
 important game. 
 
 Louis the Fourteenth was, at this time, at once i697. 
 the most powerful, the most able, and the most am- 
 bitious monarch in Europe. If by the treaty of Q 
 Ryswick he restored nearly all the conquests he had 
 made during the war, he still no less effectually 
 accomplished his immediate purpose. Alone and 
 unsupported, he had broken in pieces the powerful 
 confederacy of Augsburg ; and when England, Hol- 
 land, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Savoy were 
 banded against a single power, it was no small tri- 
 umph to Louis to withdraw his kingdom uncrippled 
 from such a contest. 
 
 This confederacy, and the struggle by which it 
 was dissolved, had neither moderated his ambition, 
 nor induced him to lay aside his plans of ulterior 
 aggrandizement. And now a splendid prize seemed 
 to demand the exertion of all his energies. 
 
 Charles the Second of Spain, who had been the 
 victim of incessant invasions, and at whose expense 
 much of Louis's military glory had been acquired, was 
 now in a declining state. Although he had not yet 
 reached his fortieth year, his constitution, originally
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, feeble, was worn by the reverses with which he had 
 ' been harassed, and it was evident that the throne of 
 A.D. 1688 Spain would soon be vacant. Charles had no issue 
 by either of his queens ; but he had the power of 
 nominating his successor, and three powerful com- 
 petitors were eagerly soliciting his choice. Louis, 
 the Emperor Leopold, and the Elector of Bavaria, 
 were the contending candidates. Each asserted an 
 hereditary right ; although, in tracing that right, the 
 parties broke through oaths and compacts with a 
 facility which history shows to be well justified by 
 custom, when kings are the competitors and a king- 
 dom the prize. The right of the Bourbons, other- 
 wise unimpeachable, had been formally and distinctly 
 renounced upon the very occasion which gave it 
 birth. Leopold, to establish a plausible title, was 
 compelled to assert the indefeasible right of male 
 heirs, and to ascend to Maximilian, the father of 
 both branches of the house of Austria ; while the 
 Elector of Bavaria's claims rested upon a will of 
 Philip the Fourth in favour of his mother, the 
 Infanta Margaret. 
 
 It was not difficult to foresee that, of these com- 
 petitors, the imbecile and declining king would award 
 the prize to him whom he most dreaded. It was 
 apparent to Europe that Louis had retired from the 
 late contest only that he might concentrate his power 
 for one great and decisive blow. Spain once indivi- 
 sibly united with France, the dreams of universal 
 power which had dazzled his youth would no longer
 
 1698. 
 
 <^i> J- 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 29 
 
 be the vain chimera of an ambitious mind ; and ex- chap, 
 perience had rather taught him policy to pursue 'his ^^- 
 object, than moderation to abandon it. a.d. i688 
 
 Ere the contingency should occur, England re- 
 solved to interfere ; but since she and her allies were 
 unwilling to commence a war in which success could 
 not assure them security, recourse was had to nego- 
 tiation, and a treaty was signed by England, Holland, 
 and France. 
 
 In this treaty it was stipulated that, at the 
 death of Charles the Second without issue, his domi- 
 nions should be divided among the competitors for 
 his crown ; and a formal division of the Spanish 
 monarchy and its dependencies was marked out. 
 Spain and her American colonies were assigned to 
 the Elector of Bavaria ; the dukedom of Milan to 
 the Emperor ; the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, 
 the ports on the Tuscan shore, and the marquisate 
 of Final, with all the Spanish territory beyond the 
 Pyrenees, were allotted to France. 
 
 But, weak as Charles was, an insult so heartless 
 and so galling as the division of his kingdom while 
 he yet reigned stung him to resentment. He imme- 
 diately executed a will in favour of the elector ; and 
 England and Holland rejoiced at the success of their 
 scheme. But the path of an ambitious spirit is not 
 to be crossed with impunity ; and the sudden death 
 of the electoral prince, which happened soon after, 
 was attributed to the opposition he was likely to 
 afford to the designs of Louis.
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. This event rendered a new treaty necessary ; 
 • and during the negotiations France manoeuvred 
 
 A. D. 1700. so skilfully to obtain the confidence of Charles, 
 and the emperor so imprudently violated the 
 prejudices of the people, that the influence of the 
 queen was vain. A secret will was made in favour 
 of the Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin, 
 whose youth would, it was hoped, appease the jea- 
 lousy of Europe. 
 
 Charles did not long survive this act : a few 
 months showed the vacant throne which had been 
 so anxiously expected. But no sooner was the in- 
 telligence of the king's death coupled with that of 
 the will in favour of the Bourbons, than alarm spread 
 throughout Europe. Louis seemed at first to hesi- 
 tate between the will and the partition treaty — be- 
 tween family pride and selfish aggrandizement. His 
 determination was, however, made to prefer the 
 glory of giving a sovereign to an ancient rival, to 
 the advantage of an accession of territory whose in- 
 fluence would be neutralized by the shares of other 
 powers. Spain, under the grandson of Louis, and 
 supported only by him against the ill-dissembled 
 hostility of the rest of Europe, would be as much 
 his own as if annexed to his kingdom, or governed 
 by a viceroy. He, therefore, accepted the will ; and 
 the Duke of Anjou was crowned at Madrid by the 
 title of Philip the Fifth, and publicly acknowledged 
 as the sovereign of Spain. 
 
 Of the great European powers, the emperor alone
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 31 
 
 disputed his title. Leopold had been the greatest chap. 
 sufferer by the success of France, and he resolved to ' 
 
 recover by arms what he had lost by want of policy. -^•^- ^^^^• 
 Prince Eugene took the field, and two decisive vic- 
 tories determined the fortune of the campaign. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs abroad : the domestic a.d. i688 
 relations were no less critical and involved. Although ^° ^'^^* 
 the Whigs enjoyed the favour of the king, and had in- 
 fluence to procure majorities in the early parliaments, 
 yet the Tories were still a powerful faction. They 
 numbered in their ranks many of the most ancient and 
 wealthy families in the kingdom ; and if strict cor- 
 diality had bound them together, and prudence had 
 taught them moderation in their designs, they might 
 soon have undermined the influence of the Whigs, 
 even at court. Gratitude compelled William to 
 protect the party to whom he owed his kingdom ; but 
 he had that keen relish for power which monarchs 
 have seldom been without, and the submissive doc- 
 trines of Toryism were, doubtless, more to his taste 
 than the independent principles of the Whigs. The 
 latter thought themselves entitled to all the favour, 
 while they strove to circumscribe the prerogative of 
 the new king. It was with indignation;, therefore, 
 that they saw some of the other party retained in 
 office and power. Lqrd_Daaby^^ although he had 
 been impeached as a corrupt and dangerous minister, 
 had yet favoured and forwarded the revolution ; the 
 present king knew him therefore only as an adhe- 
 rent : but Halifax had been one of the most flagi-
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, tious ministers of Charles ; Godolphin had seconded 
 ^^' James in his most daring attempts, not even shrink- 
 
 A.D. 1688 ing from the commitment of the bishops ; and Not- 
 tingham had been the most conspicuous opponent of 
 William when only a candidate for a vacant throne. 
 That these men should be retained in places of trust 
 and honour, aroused the indignation of the domi- 
 nant party, and deepened the jealous watchfulness of 
 their ordinary principles with the bitterness of disap- 
 pointment and suspicion. 
 
 It was probably this evidence of the possibility of 
 the Tories supplanting them, which induced them 
 to delay passing the bill of indemnity. While the 
 leaders of their enemies lay open to their impeach- 
 ments, they were restrained from taking any very 
 active part in opposition, or in making any very 
 violent struggle for power. This weapon remained 
 suspended over the heads of the Tories during the 
 existence of the convention parliament : but, in the 
 next, WilHam put an end to their terror by sending 
 down an act of grace. He was now more than ever 
 willing to put the Tories upon an equality with their 
 opponents, and to enable them to maintain a contest 
 for power. The latter had just given a new instance 
 of their suspicious watchfulness against the increase 
 of the kingly power, by their conduct in the settle- 
 ment of his revenues. Every preceding sovereign 
 had enjoyed these for life ; and William was so in- 
 dignant at the settlement, which in fact condemned 
 him to dependence upon his commons, that he was
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 33 
 
 at one time upon the point of throwing from him a chap. 
 sceptre which he declared that his subjects would ^^- 
 
 not suffer him to wield. The document by which a.d. 1688 
 he intended to declare his abdication has come down ^° 
 to us ; but the circumstances which altered his de- 
 termination are not related.* The Whigs, there- 
 fore,'were far from enjoying the confidence as fully 
 as they did the favour of their sovereign, who was 
 not sorry to find that the Tories were gradually 
 gaining ground with his people. 
 
 In this temper William suddenly dissolved the 
 parliament~wliich elected hirn^ and which, from the _ 
 circumstance of its original informality, is usually 
 called the convention ., parliament. This step at 
 once lost him the affections of those who made him 
 king, and appears to have been the result of the 
 success of the endeavours of the Tories to persuade 
 him that the 'Whigs were intent upon establishing 
 a republic; — a persuasion sufficiently favourable to 
 their views, but having little foundation in truth. 
 The records we have of those times afford no evi- 
 dence of any, even the most contemptible party, 
 having such an object ; and our sources of informa- 
 tion are too numerous for such a party to have 
 escaped our knowledge, had it ever existed. 
 
 The character of the new parliament was suffi- 
 ciently shown by the election of their speaker. Sir 
 John Trevor, who was now chosen to that office, 
 was a violent Tory, whose high monarchical tenets 
 
 * Tindal. 
 VOL. L D
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, had procured him the patronage of the late king, 
 ^i- By him he had been made master of the rolls ; and 
 A.D. 1688 he now undertook to procure a majority for the 
 to 1700. f^Qy^Yt, if sufficient sums were placed at his disposal. 
 The system of governing by corruption was ap- 
 proved, and Trevor received his patent as first com- 
 missioner of the great seal.* The settlement of the 
 . 4 revenues of the king was now completed ; and al- 
 , jj^ i - though it still fell far short of what William thought 
 cf^"' he had a right to expect, it was less humiliating than 
 '" that before proposed by the Whigs, and the Tories 
 
 seemed secure in their power. Yet, subservient as 
 that party now appeared to the views of William, 
 and readily as they forwarded his schemes, we now 
 know beyond a doubt that their professions were 
 hollow and their designs treacherous ; that they 
 waited only an opportunity to dethrone the very 
 monarch whose confidence they were courting, and 
 to place upon his throne a king or a regent who 
 would reassert their old and not yet forgotten dogmas 
 of divine and indefeasible right. " I wish," said 
 Lord Shrewsbury to AVilliam, " you could have 
 established your party upon the moderate and honest- 
 principled men of both factions ; but as there be a 
 
 * This worthy was, it would don, for his services in getting 
 
 appear, unable to bribe others a bill through the House ; and 
 
 without edifying them by his was compelled to put the vote, 
 
 example. While he held the that he had been guilty of a 
 
 office of speaker, he was con- high crime and misdemeanour, 
 
 victed of receiving a bribe of The vote was carried, and Tre- 
 
 1000/. from the city of Lon- vor was expelled.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 35 
 
 necessity of declaring, I shall make no difficulty to chap. 
 own my sense that your majesty and the government ^^' 
 
 are much more safe depending upon the Whigs, a.d. i688 
 whose designs, if any, are improbable and remoter, 
 than with the Tories, who many of them questionless 
 would bring in King James, and the very best of 
 them, I doubt, have a regency still in their heads : 
 for although I agree them to be the properest in- 
 struments to carry the prerogative high, yet I fear 
 they have so unreasonable a veneration for monarchy, 
 as not altogether to approve the foundation yours is 
 built upon."* That Lord Shrewsbury was right, 
 the secret documents of that age which have since 
 appeared abundantly testify. It is difficult to say 
 who of those who offered their services to the exiled 
 king were actuated by a sincere though mistaken 
 loyalty, and who by a treacherous intention of merit- 
 ing the favour of William by revealing the councils of 
 St. Germain's ; but it is certain that almost all the 
 Tory and some even of the Whig peers maintained 
 a correspondence with the late king, and that the 
 hopes of the Tories were still centred in a restora- 
 tion. The Whigs took advantage of this to unmask 
 the new favourites, and to open the eyes of William 
 to the danger of his situation. They produced in 
 the upper house a bill for recognizing the title of the 
 reigning sovereigns, and for declaring all the acts of 
 the last parliament to be good and valid. This 
 proposition, as had been foreseen by its proposers, 
 
 * Shrewsbury Correspondence. 
 
 d2
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, placed the Tories in a dilemma. If they opposed 
 ^^' the bill, they at once declared themselves the enemies 
 
 A.D. 1688 of the king they wished to propitiate ; if they sup- 
 to 1700. pQj,|-g(j [^^ ti^gy blighted for ever their secret hopes, 
 and abandoned the principles which were the distin- 
 guishing badge of their party. 
 
 The contest upon this bill was severe and pro- 
 tracted ; modifications were offered and rejected — the 
 measure was lost and regained, until at last, con- 
 founded by the argument that such a bill alone 
 could secure the actors in the late revolution from 
 the penalties of treason, the Tories reluctantly con- 
 ceded the point ; and the Whigs and the court, who 
 had been again temporarily united, triumphed. The 
 battle of the Boyne, which happened at this time, 
 gave another blow to the influence of the Tories ; 
 and the Whigs now began to regain their majorities, 
 both.JrL the council and in the parliament. 
 
 The Tories Were not the only part of the nation 
 whom the revolutionary stain upon the escutcheon of 
 William prompted to insincerity. Men of all classes 
 seem to have been so atonished with the late occur- 
 rences, that they deemed a restoration inevitable. 
 That a king, whose hereditary right was undisputed, 
 who had exercised unchecked almost absolute domi- 
 nion over a great people — a people unprone to act 
 from momentary excitement, and recognizing in 
 every grade that principle of honour which taught 
 loyalty to their king and protection to his throne ; — 
 that a king apparently so firmly seated should fall
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 37 
 
 without a blow to the condition of an exile; and that chap. 
 a foreigner, whose temper and habits were diametri- ^^' 
 cally opposed to the prejudices of the people he came ^•^- 1688 
 to govern, should place himself upon his throne with 
 as little struggle or dispute as if it had been the mere 
 ordinary succession of a periodical magistracy, — ap- 
 peared so wonderful to the spectators — nay, to the 
 actors themselves — that, when reflection came, each 
 trembled lest the day of retribution was at hand, and 
 hastened by early overtures to claim merit with the 
 banished prince. This dread, which pervaded all 
 parties, is the only reason we can assign for the 
 existence of a Jacobite party even among the Whigs. 
 These mingled their liberal principles with their 
 loyalty ; and the name by which they were distin- 
 guished showed that they entertained the absurd 
 design of compounding with James for a crown 
 which, from their admission of his still retaining any 
 claim to it at all, must have appeared to be in their 
 eyes indefeasibly his. If the crown was not the in- 
 alienable property of a particular individual, the act 
 of parliament which conferred it upon William for 
 ever extinguished the title of any competitor : if it 
 was so inalienable, that property could only rest in a 
 divine right, and those who detained it from James 
 were guilty of treason to their king and impiety to 
 their God. 
 
 That Russel and Marlborough, the naval and 
 military heroes of their day, participated in these 
 intrigues, is now placed beyond a doubt. And we 

 
 38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, learn from the authority whence this certainty is 
 "• derived, — that of James himself, — that while their co- 
 A.D. 1683 operation was courted, their double perfidy was de- 
 spised. Mr. Macpherson's Original Papers, contain- 
 ing the secret history of Great Britain from the 
 Restoration to the Accession of the House of 
 Hanover, were published in 1776. They have been 
 collected with great care and industry, and their 
 authenticity is undoubted. In them we have the 
 original correspondence of the parties who were in- 
 volved in the secret and intricate plottings of that 
 period ; and they introduce us to the recesses of many 
 of those dark intrigues which have rendered this 
 portion of our history so mysterious and uncertain. 
 
 In this collection we find copious extracts from an 
 autobiography of James, which reveal the true cha- 
 racter of many of William's apparently staunch sup- 
 porters. With respect to the Duke of Marlborough, 
 he writes : " Many begin to be dissatisfied with the 
 Prince of Orange's government. The violent current 
 
 '^ jC^ p^ which had borne everything before it abated; the 
 hearts of many remained true, though their hands 
 were tied ; every day cleared up more and more the 
 
 ''' ^^-v. dark and hidden contrivances which had produced 
 
 the revolution. The number of the king's friends in- 
 creased daily ; they proposed schemes for his resto- 
 ration. The correspondence with Churchill was kept 
 up : though his pretensions were liable to sus- 
 picion from his former conduct, his professions had 
 the appearance of sincerity ; there was some cause
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 39 
 
 to believe him, as both he and his mistress, the chap. 
 Princess Denmark, were out of favour with the ^^' 
 Prince of Orange. Neither of them reaped any ad- ^•^' ^688 
 vantage from their past infideUty, but the infamy of 
 having committed such great crimes. The most 
 interested may be credited when they can reason- 
 ably hope to mend their fortune and better their 
 condition by returning to their duty."* 
 
 This contempt and suspicion expressed for a man 
 whom we are accustomed to look upon as one of the 
 brightest characters in our history, may excite our 
 astonishment and offend our prejudices; but the 
 opinion of his old master was justly formed. Raised 
 to rank and fortune by the bounty of James, — the 
 loudest in his praises, the most obsequious in his 
 service, — he was perhaps of all others the man in 
 whom the infatuated monarch placed the most im- 
 pHcit confidence. Yet, no sooner did he see the storm 
 approaching, than, while still making professions of 
 the most devoted loyalty to his patron, he secretly 
 corresponded with his enemy, f It was not, how- 
 ever, until the contest was in effect decided, and the 
 fortunes of James grew desperate, that Churchill 
 
 * Macpherson, vol. i. owe to God and my country. 
 
 t This letter is a singular My honour I take leave to put 
 
 piece of Jesuitism ; it runs into your highness' hands, in 
 
 thus : — which I think it is safe. If' 
 
 " August 4th, 1688. i/ou think there is anything else 
 
 " Mr. Sidney will let you that I ought to do, you have hut 
 
 know how I intend to behave to command me : I shall pay 
 
 myself: I think it is what I an entire obedience to it, being
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, openly avowed his treachery and ingratitude, and, 
 ^^' followed by several officers of the highest rank, 
 A.D. 1688 made good the desertion which he had long me- 
 to 1700. ditated. Those who would justify the betrayal of 
 his benefactor as a sacrifice made to his country, must 
 forget that such a motive might indeed well justify 
 an opposition to arbitrary acts, but could never ex- 
 cuse or palliate deliberate treachery. Marlborough 
 might well be justified, had he only refused to assist 
 in forging again chains which an indignant people 
 had broken ; but neither gratitude nor honour can 
 be reconciled with the indecent haste with which he 
 grasped at the offices of privy -counsellor and lord of 
 the bedchamber, and the miserable ambition which 
 urged him to accept an earldom that was at once the 
 reward and memorial of his dishonour. 
 
 Highly indeed must we rate military talent, if we 
 hold it to cover conduct such as this. We cannot 
 wonder that the betrayed king should require better 
 security than such a man's word ere he again trust- 
 ed him. He seems to have found some such se- 
 curity in the conduct of his daughter, Anne Princess 
 of Denmark, over whom the duke and his duchess 
 had at that time supreme influence. The princess 
 
 resolved to die in that religion the command of five thousand 
 
 which it has pleased God to troops to oppose the prince's 
 
 give you both the will and progress to London; and, hav- 
 
 power to protect." ing vainly endeavoured to se- 
 
 This is the language of a duce, at length abandoned 
 
 man who, a few days after- them. Posterity benefits by 
 
 wards, with many expressions the treachery, but cannot ap- 
 
 offidelity, accepted from James plaud the traitor.
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 41 
 
 wrote her father a penitential letter, expressive of chap. 
 contrition for the undutiful conduct of which she ^^' 
 
 had been guilty during the moment of his deepest ^•^' 1^88 
 
 ,. , • 1 • p • 1 .to 1700. 
 
 distress, and craving his lorgiveness and reconci- 
 liation. It is in the relation of the receipt of this 
 letter that James convicts Russel also of treason to 
 his trust. He says : " A person of the name of Lloyd 
 brought this letter. Admiral Russel, who had the 
 command of the English fleet, still pretended to be 
 in the king's interest. He was dissatisfied with the 
 king's declaration. There was a necessity of doing all 
 that was possible to content a person who had the 
 crown of England so far in his hands. Lloyd was 
 Russel's particular friend. Russel had several con- 
 ferences, before he came away, with the Princess of 
 Denmark. He expressed his earnest desire to serve 
 the king : he said the people were inclined enough 
 to his side again, if the king would take a right 
 line to continue them so : he advised him, if he wish- 
 ed to reign as a catholic king over a protestant 
 people, he must forget the past, and grant a general 
 pardon ; and that, as for him, he made no stipulations 
 for himself, saying it was the public good, and no 
 private advantages, made him enter into this affair. 
 He told him, therefore, that if he met the French 
 fleet, he would fight it, were even the king himself 
 on board ; but that the method he proposed to serve 
 the king was, by going out of the way with the 
 English fleet. 
 
 " Tills was an odd way to restore the king, by
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, fighting him. He, however, meant nothing but ad- 
 ^^- vantage to himself, as the preparations of the French 
 
 A.D. 1688 made a restoration probable. He was determined 
 to 1.00. ^Q raise his fortunes, whichever way the balance in- 
 cHned. Had the French passed by accident or 
 prevailed by force, he would have made a merit of 
 serving the king ; and, should the contrary happen, 
 he could easily keep his credit with the present 
 government." * 
 
 The professions of these two great men were, 
 however, followed by no action which could com- 
 promise their safety. Whenever they were urged 
 by the impatient exiles of St. Germain's to any open 
 demonstration, they hesitated and temporised; but 
 when a secret opportunity presented itself of proving 
 their good-w^l to the cause of James without dan- 
 ger to themselves, no sense of honour, no feeling of 
 patriotism — not even the love of glory, could deter 
 them from embracing it. Russel was the unwilling 
 architect of his country's fortunes. The battle of 
 La Hogue, which destroyed the navy of Louis, blight- 
 ed for ever the hopes of the Stuarts. But Russel, 
 although he monopolised the glory, had little share 
 in the joy of the victory : his mind was rather busy 
 ■ to discover, how, having given so strong a pledge 
 of loyalty to William, he should still preserve his 
 credit with James. He succeeded in neutralizing 
 much of the advantage so splendid a victory should 
 have procured ; and he gained, as his reward, the 
 
 * Macplierson, vol. i.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 43 
 
 censure and contempt of the rivals, whom he at once chap. 
 courted and betrayed. ^^' 
 
 One of the means which Marlborough took to a.d. i688 
 assure the court of St. Germain's of the sincerity of 
 his adherence, was to give notice to James, and 
 through him to Louis, of a secret expedition which 
 was about to sail against Brest. The failure of the 
 expedition, with the loss of the commander and 
 eight hundred men, were the results of this commu- 
 nication. 
 
 We have dwelt upon the conduct of these 
 two men, rather to illustrate th e state of the king- 
 dom at the time, than to exhibit particular acts 
 of treachery. If men such as these, who enjoyed 
 power and influence under the new dynasty, and 
 who acted solely as they thought their interest di- 
 rected them, without any very scrupulous regard to 
 the claims of gratitude or the ties of honour ; if such 
 men are found in correspondence with the exiled 
 king, surely it argues that the very atmosphere 
 around the throne of William was surcharged with 
 electric matter, and that a spark would suffice to 
 have caused an explosion which must have laid in 
 ruins the fabric it had cost so much wisdom and 
 firmness to erect. 
 
 The mixed character of the ministries, and the 
 various changes which took place in the sentiments 
 of public men under William, render it difficult to 
 give any concise and clear account of the state of 
 parties in his reign. We have already seen suffici- 
 ent to show us that political consistency was not a
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, virtue then in high repute ; and many of the leading 
 "• statesmen of the day seem to have passed successively 
 A.D. 1688 through every shade. The Jacobite principles which 
 to 1700. tainted, divided the factions ; and a close review of 
 their shifting combinations would lead us far from 
 our path into a disquisition upon the views of the 
 high-church and the moderate Tories, of the com- 
 pounders and non-compounders, and many other 
 shades of party, which agreed chiefly in the invete- 
 rate hostility with which they regarded eacli other, 
 and the facility with which they concluded hollow 
 and insincere unions whenever their interest prompt- 
 ed them. 
 
 We may, however, state the leaders of the Tory 
 party to have been Rochester, Nottingham, Godol- 
 phin, and Marlborough. It may appear strange that 
 we have placed in the ranks of the Tories two men 
 who are known to posterity as the strenuous sup- 
 porters, and even the chief support, of the Whig 
 party : but it is no less an undoubted fact that, at 
 the period of which we are now speaking, Godolphin 
 and Marlborough were Tories. They were inveighed 
 against by the Whig pamphlets ; the Whig news- 
 papers uniformly speak of them as belonging to the 
 opposite faction ; and it was by very gradual pro- 
 gression that they became alienated from the Tories, 
 and not until they had secured the favour of the 
 queen for the Whigs that they finally adopted that 
 party. Even then they appear to have been actuated 
 rather by resentment against the Tories, because
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 45 
 
 they so feebly seconded their views with regard to chap. 
 the war, than from any affection for their new allies, ^^' 
 the heads of whom they strove anxiously to exclude a.d. 1688 
 from power, while they profited by their assistance. 
 
 These leaders of the Whigs were Somers, the most 
 insurmountable obstacle to the Tories in their path 
 to power, who was deservedly influential with the 
 king, and almost alone fixed his wavering disposition 
 to the maintenance of his Whig ministry, and who 
 was not unaptly termed by Lord Sunderland, " the 
 life and soul of his party;"* Wharton, equally dis- 
 tinguished by his talents and his dissipation ; Orford, 
 whose exploits as Admiral Russel have rendered his 
 name one of the household words of Fame ; Halifax, 
 the most strenuous of the agents of the revolution, 
 the president of the meeting of the lords which 
 declared the abdication of James, and the speaker of 
 their house in the convention parliament ; Shrews- 
 bury, honest and popular, but not free from a trans- 
 ient taint of the prevailing fault of coquetting with 
 the Pretender; and Sunderland, who afterwards emu- 
 lated the examples of less corrupted times, in sacrificing 
 his private animosities to the love of his country .f 
 
 * Letter of Lord Sunder- which I have above quoted, 
 
 land to the King. Hardwick's advising him to send immedi- 
 
 State Papers, ii. 446. ately for Lord Somers, whom 
 
 f He had quarrelled with he speaks of as the only man 
 
 Lord Somers ; but when he capable of forming a ministry 
 
 observed the unpopularity of which might successfully op- 
 
 the new Tory ministry, he pose the measures the other 
 
 wrote the letter to the King party were then pursuing.
 
 46 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. The dissolution which produced the parliament 
 of 1700 was occasioned by that vacillating policy 
 
 A.D. 1688 
 to 1700. 
 
 which induced William -to- veer from party to partyj^^^^ 
 according to the circumstances of his affairs. His_ 
 ministry had become unpopular ; the partition trea- 
 ties had been disapproved by the intelligent part 
 of his people ; the parliament was indignant that, 
 in an affair of such importance, its advice had not 
 been required ; and the commons were become ob- 
 stinate and uncompromising. Alarmed at his situa- 
 tion, William looked anxiously around for more 
 strenuous support; and the Tory leaders eagerly 
 embraced the opportunity they saw open. Late 
 events had given them popularity, to which, perhaps, 
 the mere fact of their being in opposition added ; and 
 they now offered to manage the parliament so as to 
 accomplish the designs of the king, provided he 
 would part with those of his ministers who were most 
 formidable to their party and most odious to the 
 people. The first evidence of the king haying 
 thrown himself into their hands, was his taking the 
 seals from Somers after vainly exhorting Jiim to 
 resign. The observant lawyer saw the danger 
 approaching; but he chose rather to be formally 
 dismissed, than to incur, by a timorous retreat, 
 the imputation of cowardice or consciousness of 
 guilt. 
 
 So critical, however, was the state of the kingdom, 
 or so divided among themselves were the contending 
 parties, that no known Tory stood forward to claim
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 47 
 
 the lead in the affah-s of government ; and even the chap. 
 seals which had just been taken from Somers were ^^' 
 refused by several to whom they were offered, and '^•D- isbb 
 remained for some time in commission. Perhaps 
 this is partly to be ascribed to the caution of the 
 king, who was willing to make terms with those 
 whom he was about to introduce to his councils, and 
 to stipulate for support in pursuing his expensive 
 project* of acting as the arbiter and preserver of the 
 balance of power upon the Continent. At last, how- 
 ever, his mind was determined. The Earl of Ro- 
 chester promised the adherence of the Tories, and 
 was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Go- 
 doiphin was placed at the head of the treasury ; and 
 other changes of minor importance were effected. 
 But the managenient_of Jhe^(imm.Q]as.JfcLa§,,..ixi^^ 
 ed_tp jlarley^jpk^ho had hitherto opposed all the 
 measures of the court with such violence and abi- 
 lity, that his hostility was dreaded by the new 
 ministry. 
 
 Like most of the conspicuous characters of his 
 time, Harley had commenced his career in a very 
 different character to that which he afterwards as- 
 sumed. He was the representative of a family emi- 
 nent for its nresbyterian principles ; and his edu- 
 
 * It was the ardour with unnatural a bulk. Perhaps it 
 which "William was seconded will be said, that the encum- 
 in the pursuit of this favourite brance has been most efficient- 
 scheme, that produced the ly aided in its increase by the 
 first germ of that national debt motives which gave it birth, 
 which has since grown to so
 
 to 1700. 
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, cation and early conduct were in consonance with his 
 ^^- extraction. He engaged with ardour in the further- 
 A.D. 1688 ance of the revokition, and expected reward for his 
 exertions in behalf of the party of his family. But 
 his talents and his services were overlooked, and 
 Harley learned henceforward to depend upon him- 
 self alone for advancement. Without entirely 
 estranging himself from his early friends, he applied 
 himself to secure the confidence of the high-church 
 Tories ; and although, from his temporizing poHcy, 
 he never enjoyed the unreserved confidence of either 
 party, yet he obtained such influence in both, that 
 he was rightly considered by the new ministry as no 
 small acquisition to their ranks. 
 
 The existing house of commons was, however, 
 not of a character for the successful management of 
 the new undertakers; nor did they design to at- 
 tempt it, for the Whigs were still strong in their 
 majority. Their first act was a dissolution ; and 
 that parliament was summoned in its stead, to which 
 St. John was returned. 
 
 The government was now mixed in its party cha- 
 racter, although the Whigs still retained the predo- 
 minance ; and no man could have been selected 
 more adapted to negotiate between the parties than 
 Harley, who had already proved his dexterity by 
 attaching himself to both. The king considered his 
 accession to the new government so important, that 
 he did not scruple to use his personal influence to
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 49 
 
 procure his election as speaker. Sir Thomas Lyt- chap, 
 tleton, his most powerful opponent, declined the ^' 
 
 contest, at the request of the sovereign ; and Harley ^-D. 1688 
 then had a large majority over Sir R. Onslow, his 
 only remaining competitor.* 
 
 * Tindal. 
 
 vor. I. E
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Conduct of St. John in Parliament. — Death of the King. — 
 Queen Anne favours the Tories. — Formation of a New Mi- 
 nistry. — St. John made Secretary at War. — His Conduct in 
 Office. 
 
 CHAP. j^ucH were the relations of the country abroad, 
 III. . '' 
 
 and such the state of parties at home, when St. 
 
 A.D. 1701 
 to 1707. 
 
 John commenced his poHtical career. He entered 
 immediately into all the views of Harley, and 
 seconded him with zeal in their accomplishment. 
 But we are not to suppose that he immedi- 
 ately attached himself unreservedly to the Tories, 
 or was numbered among their staunch supporters. 
 Harley's long-cherished design was to rise by a 
 coalition of parties, which he flattered himself that 
 he alone could bring about, and which he hoped 
 that he alone would be able to direct. It was now 
 his policy to support the measures of the Tories, who 
 were in high popularity. 
 
 We have before mentioned that the junction of 
 the dexterity of Harley with the brilliant talents of 
 St. John gave the two friends an increased influ- 
 ence, which they determined to use, without bound- 
 ing their views by the narrow confines to which a
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 51 
 
 strict adherence to either party might restrain them. chap. 
 Harley and St. John now shone the twin-star of the ^^^' 
 
 poHtical heavens, and determined to pursue together a.d. noi 
 an eccentric path to power ; drawing to them in ^° ^'^^' 
 their transit all minor bodies which should come 
 within the range of their influence. 
 
 At this period of our history, so bitter_wy,s^..party 
 
 feelirig, and so virulent political hatred, that the 
 defeat of a ministry was generally followed by the 
 impeachment of its members. The Tories, at 
 the meeting of parliament, found they had a ma- 
 jority, which they increased by the most shameless 
 partiality in the decision of election cases. Their 
 first party measure was directed against the discard- 
 ed ministers ; and their conduct in negotiating the 
 partition treaties was made the ground of a severe 
 inquiry. The Earl of Portland, who was the prime 
 manager of the negotiations, was the first to undergo 
 their accusation ; and Lords Somers, Orford, and 
 Halifax, were afterwards included in the impeach- 
 ment. In the divisions upon this measure, the vote 
 of St. John swelled the small majorities by which the 
 Tories succeeded. In the pursuit of power himself, 
 and striving to raise himself by the fall of others, 
 he seems to have had little compunction for the 
 severity of the sentence he was inflicting ; but when 
 that severity recoiled upon himself, and he was 
 smarting under the scourge himself had wielded, he 
 could look back upon this measure, and condemn it, 
 not only as severe, but also as unjust. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. In his Letters on History,* he says : " I have 
 ' sometimes considered, in reflecting on those passages, 
 A.D. 1701 what I should have done it I had sat in parHament 
 at that time ; and have been forced to own myself, 
 that I should have voted for disbanding the army 
 then, as I voted in the following parliament for cen- 
 suring the partition treaties. I am forced to own this, 
 because I remember how imperfect my notions were 
 of the situation of Europe in that extraordinary 
 crisis, and how much I saw the true interest of my 
 country in a half light. But, my lord, I own it 
 with some shame, because, in truth, nothing could be 
 more absurd than the conduct we held." 
 
 The enemies of St. John have remarked, that, as 
 the first measure to which he lent his aid was ex- 
 treme and oppressive to individuals, so the second 
 was of a tendency to subvert the liberties of the 
 nation ; — a remark which his support of the resolu- 
 tions upon the Kentish petition perhaps merited 
 and justifies. The violent proceedings of the new 
 parliament, and their slowness with relation to foreign 
 affairs, soon lost the Tories much of the transient 
 popularity they had enjoyed, and gave almost as 
 much disgust to the people as displeasure to the 
 king. Large quantities of bullion had been lately 
 imported from France ; and the mercantile interest, 
 which dreaded the union of that kingdom with 
 Spain, and trembled for the stability of their com- 
 merce, did not scruple to assert that the torpor of 
 
 * Letter VIIL
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 53 
 
 the commons was occasioned by a liberal distribu- chap. 
 tion of French gold among the members. The ^^^' 
 
 people's hereditary hatred of the French was aroused a.d. noi 
 by publications, in which the louis-d'ors of Louis were 
 compared to the silver spears of the IMacedonian 
 Philip ; and it was asserted that there were not a few 
 orators in the house whose golden quinseys influenced 
 not only their voices, but their votes. The growing 
 unpopularity of the commons produced, among other 
 petitions, one from the grand jury and justices of 
 Kent, in which the petitioners implored the house 
 to suffer no pretence whatever to create a misunder- 
 standing among themselves, or the least distrust of 
 his most sacred majesty, whose great actions for 
 this nation were writ in the hearts of his subjects, 
 and could never, without the blackest ingratitude, be 
 forgotten. They proceeded to recommend the house 
 to turn their loyal addresses into bills of supply, that 
 his most sacred majesty might be enabled powerfully 
 to assist his allies before it was too late.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the undertaking of the Tories, 
 the measures of this parliament had been far from 
 satisfactory to the court ; and the word ' loyal' intro- 
 duced in this petition was supposed, and probably 
 intended, as a sarcasm upon their conduct. Still 
 there was nothing to justify any formal refusal of 
 the petition, still less any proceedings against those 
 from whom it emanated. But the dominant party 
 in the house thought otherwise : they immediately 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, resolved, "That the petition was scandalous, inso- 
 ^^^' lent, and seditious, tending to destroy the constitu- 
 
 A.D. 1701 tion of parliaments, and to subvert the established 
 government of these realms." This violent resolu- 
 tion was followed by another yet more unexpected. 
 The deputation who brought up the petition were 
 committed to the custody of the serjeant-at-arms, 
 and threatened with the severest penalties unless 
 they repudiated their act. Their firmness gained 
 them universal popularity, and fixed no less general 
 odium upon the party which had perpetrated so 
 daring an inroad upon the liberty of their country- 
 men.* 
 
 It is probable that St. John's eloquence in debate 
 was first displayed in the house in support of these 
 violent and unconstitutional resolutions. That he 
 made himself conspicuous in the affair, we are as- 
 sured ; and that such conduct must have drawn upon 
 him the execration of the people, is also certain. 
 His early efforts, therefore, were little adapted to 
 raise him into power upon the favour of the people : 
 they seemed rather calculated to render him as un- 
 popular for his politics as he had before been noto- 
 rious for his vices. 
 
 This house of commons entered into a fierce con- 
 troversy with the lords upon the subject of the 
 impeachments ; and its proceedings were so gene- 
 rally disagreeable to the court, that it was dissolved 
 at the end of the session, and another summoned. 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 55 
 
 St. John still retained his seat for Wootton Bassett ; chap. 
 a circumstance which shows that his family were not ' 
 
 much offended by the line of politics he had chosen. ^-^- i^^i 
 This parliament was speedily terminated by the 
 death of the king, which happened at a time when 
 all his unquestionable abilities seemed requisite to 
 guide the state vessel through the billows which 
 assailed, and the breakers which threatened her. 
 
 With all his faults, — and he was not so free from 
 them as some of his eulogists have endeavoured to 
 show, — no Englishman can review his character or his 
 reign without affection for the memory of a prince 
 who banished for ever a family which has stained 
 its annals with an uninterrupted series of atrocious 
 tyranny and destructive civil wars; which, by its 
 craving hunger after despotic power, awoke those 
 slumbering passions in the people, which, once 
 aroused, hearkened to no measure of moderation, 
 but hurried them on to excesses as great as those 
 they were called into action to withstand. WiUiam 
 tore away the cancer which was twining itself among 
 the vitals of the constitution ; and by his prudent 
 treatment so recovered the country from the shock 
 it had sustained, that at his death every department 
 of the government had recovered its former stability, 
 and the crown descended in the course the law had 
 pointed out, with as little hesitation or confusion as 
 if Anne had been the immediate descendant of a 
 dynasty of a hundred kings. 
 
 Although no one dared to raise his voice against
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the title of the new queen, there were not a few who 
 ^^^' viewed her accession with feeHngs of dismay. During 
 
 A.D. 1701 the greater part of the former reign, the Whigs had 
 enjoyed that power which their decided conduct, when 
 decision only could have saved their country, had 
 k iAA\ gained them : but now their empire was at an end. 
 Anne had been educated among Tories, and she had 
 strongly imbibed their principles. She had been 
 taught to look upon the Whigs as a party holding 
 tenets utterly incompatible with monarchy, sub- 
 versive of the church, and destructive to relisfion. 
 The prejudices she had conceived against their prin- 
 ciples were not likely to be softened by the only 
 personal opportunity she had had of judging of their 
 practice. She attributed to their influence with the 
 late king the disputes in which she had been in- 
 volved with him, and the injuries which she con- 
 ceived herself to have suffered at his hands. They 
 it was who opposed the settlement upon her of a 
 revenue suited to her rank and expectations ; and 
 it was they who wished to render her entirely de- 
 pendent upon a king with whom she was openly at 
 variance. The Tories, on the other hand, had be- 
 friended her in the contest : they had exerted them- 
 selves zealously in her cause, and had obtained for 
 her terms more favourable than, from the spirit of the 
 ministerial party, she could have expected. True, 
 their motive was mere hostility to the king ; but 
 while that hostility manifested itself in her favour, 
 she easily learned to sympathise with a party who
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 57 
 
 were her sole and efficient supporters. Her partiality chap. 
 was as openly avowed as it was reasonable. She ^^^' 
 held close correspondence with their leaders, and dis- a.d. noi 
 covered the opinion she had formed of their con- ^° ^^^'' 
 servative principles in matters of religion, by always 
 speaking of them as the church party; a distinguish- 
 ing epithet, which betrayed her suspicions of the 
 designs of their opponents.* 
 
 It was not long ere this partiality was developed 
 in her conduct. Before the six months had elapsed, 
 which, by an act of the late king, had been fixed as 
 the period of the duration of a parliament after a 
 demise of the crown, she anticipated its dissolution 
 by an exercise of her prerogative ; and before another 
 parliament was assembled, she determined to sur- 
 round herself with counsellors more congenial to her 
 taste. 
 
 We have seen that, during the reign of William, 
 Anne and the Prince of Denmark were almost 
 wholly under the control of the Earl and Countess 
 of Marlborough : they had recourse to them in 
 every difficulty, and they relied upon them to obtain 
 support from the parties of the state. Marlborough 
 dictated and inculcated her pohtical creed, and drew 
 her with him into his dark intrigues with the phan- 
 tom court of St. Germain's. His influence was as 
 great over the prince as over his consort ; and the 
 royal pair were as cordial in their political prepos- 
 sessions as they were united in their private affec- 
 
 * Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough.
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, tions. They had a common aversion to the Whigs, 
 
 ^^^- whom they beHeved to be their foes ; a common 
 
 A.D. 1701 friendship for the Tories, whom they knew to be 
 
 to 1707. tjjgjj. friends. 
 
 Not so Marlborough and his countess. The earl 
 was at this time a staunch Tory; his lady had long 
 been a partisan and intriguer for the Whigs. Nor 
 were her means of advancing the views of that party 
 slight. The influence she had over her mistress was 
 immense ; and the insolence with which she exercised 
 that influence was as impolitic as it was unseemly. 
 Had Anne been less firmly grounded in her preju- 
 dices, or more ductile in her disposition, she could 
 hardly have withstood, upon one point, a woman to 
 whom she ceded every other. But the countess, 
 great as was her power, — and to the influential office 
 of keeper of the privy purse she joined what seems 
 the somewhat incongruous oflSce of groom of the 
 stole,* — could obtain no voice in the formation of 
 the new ministry. 
 
 The distribution of the offices was confided to the 
 Earl of Marlborough, who proved his moderation 
 and wisdom by rejecting the violent claims of his 
 own party. Insolent in their hour of triumph, they 
 demanded that the Whigs should be entirely ex- 
 cluded from the cabinet, and revelled in the antici- 
 
 * Incongruous only in its of the sovereign. It is sin- 
 sound. The superintendence gular that the title remains 
 of the royal wardrobe must, unaltered, 
 of course, vary with the sex
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 59 
 
 pation of a long and undisputed supremacy. But chap. 
 Marlborough judged more wisely, that a coalition of ^^^' 
 
 parties would be better for the stability of the go- a.d. noi 
 vernment and the interests of the country. He 
 reserved for himself the personal conduct of the war, 
 — a choice conducive to his own and his country's 
 glory ; but he determined to place at the head of 
 the ministry a person whom he could depend upon 
 to second him in his efforts, and to defend his mea- 
 sures in his absence. He made choice of the Earl 
 of Godolphin, who was connected with him by mar- 
 riage, and who was with difficulty prevailed upon to 
 accept an office at least as arduous and dangerous as 
 it was honourable. The new high treasurer was also 
 at this time a zealous Tory. 
 
 The reason that the two leaders of this ministry 
 afterwards abandoned their party, and sided with 
 their opponents, is thus assigned by Tindal : — " The 
 truth is, both these lords had been educated in the 
 persuasion that the Tory parties were the best friends 
 to the constitution both of church and state ; nor were 
 they perfectly undeceived but by experience." Per- 
 haps a close examination of their whole conduct might 
 convince an accurate observer that there were other, 
 and, perhaps, more powerful motives operating to 
 their conversion than a tardy conviction that the 
 Tory party were not the best friends to the constitu- 
 tion. The Earl of Marlborough retained the title 
 of captain-general of the forces, and Prince George 
 of Denmark was named generalissimo of the allied
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, armies. But this last appointment the ministry was 
 ^^^- obliged to rescind : the Dutch objected to his want 
 
 A.D. 1701 of experience, and doubted whether the prince would 
 ^° ^^^^* submit himself to their directions in the management 
 of the operations. Prince George readily agreed to 
 relinquish a post for which he had little taste, and 
 the dignity of lord high admiral was conferred upon 
 him instead of that he resigned. Several other 
 changes of minor importance were made ; but in 
 general, with these exceptions, the Whigs enjoyed 
 the offices they held at the end of the last reign. 
 Direct insult to the party was avoided. No Whig 
 was ejected from his office ; but every office which 
 became vacant was invariably given to a Tory. 
 Such was the origin and formation of the celebrated 
 Godolphin administration. 
 
 In support of this ministry the eloquence of St. 
 John shone, and the dexterity of Harley was dis- 
 played ; but neither of them, in the first instance, 
 received any advancement from it. Harley, in- 
 deed, retained his office of speaker of the house of 
 commons. But this parliament, now that the ar- 
 rangements had been completed, was about to be 
 dissolved. It had spent the few months of its exist- 
 ence, which intervened between the death of the 
 king and the dissolution, in discussions worthy 
 of a private debating club rather than of the 
 dignity of a national assembly. After the usual 
 addresses had been voted to their new queen, and 
 much critical acumen had been exercised upon her
 
 LORD BOLIINGBHOKE. 61 
 
 answer, they took into their serious consideration chap. 
 some squibs and pamphlets that had appeared, ^^^- 
 
 reflecting, with the coarse personahty which the a.d. i701 
 custom of the time Hcensed, upon the measures of *° ^^^^' 
 the late king's reign. But, not content with fixing 
 the eyes of the nation upon every miserable piece of 
 scurrility which issued from the press, they diligently 
 examined every new work which appeared ; and 
 every passage derogatory to the fame of the king or 
 the reputation of his ministers immediately under- 
 went their censure. It was a singular view of a 
 British house of commons, to see them erect them- 
 selves into a board of censors of the press, and issuing 
 their mandates for the apprehension of every scribbler 
 who had dared to differ in opinion from the majority 
 of their body. We have a strange compound of 
 divinity, literature, and trash, mingled together in 
 their votes of censure. The most numerous are the 
 published sermons of several divines ; and the indig- 
 nation of parliament is at once thundered against 
 these : — Mr. Drake's History of Parliament ; and 
 *^ Tom Double returned out of the Country, or the 
 True Picture of a Modern Whig, set out in a Second 
 Dialogue between Mr. Whiglove and Mr. Double, at 
 the Rummer Tavern in Queen Street." 
 
 But while the commons were amusing themselves 
 in debating upon the precise terms in which they 
 should express their disapprobation of these works, 
 the queen and her ministry were deciding a more 
 momentous question. Marlborough, who ruled her
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, councils, held the humiliation of the French as the 
 •^"' darling object of his life. 
 
 A.D. 1701 Louis had given a specious pretence for a decla- 
 ration of war, by declaring the son of the deposed 
 James to be the rightful heir to the throne, and by 
 acknowledging him as King of England upon the 
 death of his father. The war was undertaken upon 
 the same principle as the glorious but unprofitable 
 one which had just been concluded. It was to pre- 
 serve the balance of power in Europe ; and England, 
 in assuming the office of judge, pledged her honour 
 for the enforcement of her decrees. Godolphin had 
 steadily opposed the former war : he had advised 
 the late king to acknowledge the Duke of Anjou ; 
 and in 1701 he told him, that since his majesty was 
 determined to engage in a war so contrary to his 
 private opinion, he could serve him no longer; and 
 accordingly gave up his appointment. It is to be 
 feared that, in the present instance, Godolphin sa- 
 crificed his own opinion either to ambition or to his 
 admiration of Marlborough, and gave his vote to 
 provoke a contest which in his heart he disapproved. 
 Rochester, the late chief of the Tory party 
 in the cabinet, proposed that England should avoid 
 a declaration of war, and act only as an auxiliary ; 
 but the influence of Marlborough was all-powerful, 
 and war was declared against France and Spain. 
 The commons returned assurances of loyalty and' 
 support in answer to a communication of this event, 
 and were soon after dissolved.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 63 
 
 The elections for the new parliament were de- chap. 
 cidedly favourable to the ministry. It has been ^^^• 
 
 spoken of as an instance of moderation in Anne, that a-D- ivoi 
 she did not openly interfere ; but perhaps she took ^° ^'^'' 
 even more effectual measures to advance the interests 
 of her favourite party. She made a tour through 
 several parts of her kingdom, and her popular man- 
 ners, so different from the repulsive taciturnity of 
 her predecessor, raised an enthusiasm among the 
 cities she visited in favour of herself and the ministers 
 of her choice.* The queen's wish for a majority of 
 Tories was sufficiently known, and at the meeting of 
 the parliament they were found to be at least double 
 the number of their opponents : " and," says the 
 historian, " they met in full fury against the memory 
 of the late king, and against those who had been 
 employed by him." -f 
 
 It is not for us to enter into a review of the mea- 
 sures of this parliament, or to canvass every minis- 
 terial measure which was brought before it. To 
 record every vote which St. John gave, and the 
 grounds upon which he voted, would be to give a 
 detailed and uninteresting history of the period. It 
 is sufficient to say, that having joined himself to the 
 
 * Oxford lay in her route, doctor's degree from the uni- 
 
 and there she was received versity ; a circumstance which 
 
 with every manifestation of bears honourable testimony to 
 
 loyalty. Among other promi- the estimation in which he was 
 
 nent characters in her suite already held. 
 St. John received an honorary -f Burnet.
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Tories, he zealously supported a ministry in which 
 ^^^' that party had so decided a majority. 
 
 A.D. 1701 If, however, we suppose that St. John, in num- 
 to 1707. |3pj.jpg himself among the Tories, shared in those 
 ultra principles which were then so confidently attri- 
 buted to that party ; — if we suppose him inimical to 
 the late revolution, regarding the act of settlement 
 as a violent and invalid invasion of the rights of the 
 Stuarts, and nursing in his heart those darling tenets 
 of divine right and irresponsible and indefeasible 
 authority ; — if we suppose him a Jacobite either in 
 heart or profession, — we very much mistake his sen- 
 timents, and do injustice to the power of his com- 
 prehensive mind. That the mind of St. John was 
 shackled by no such dogmas, appears from every 
 page of his works. The pen of Junius could hardly 
 have traced these tenets to more absurd conclusions, 
 than does Bolingbroke in his Dissertation on Parties, 
 where his subject leads him directly to their dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 " The disputes," he says, " about the words abdi- 
 cate or desert, and about the vacancy of the throne, 
 were in truth fitter for a school than a house of par- 
 liament ; and might have been expected in some 
 assembly of pedants where young students exer- 
 cised themselves in disputation, but not in such an 
 august assembly as that of the lords and commons 
 met in solemn conference upon the most important 
 occasion. The truth is, that they who formed the 
 opposition were reduced to maintain strange para-
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 6 
 
 i) 
 
 doxes — stranger, in my opinion, than those which chap. 
 cast so much ridicule upon the stories of old. Thus, ^^^• 
 for instance, they were forced to admit that an op- a.d. noi 
 pressed people might seek their remedy in resistance, ^° ^^*^^' 
 for they had sought it there themselves ; and yet 
 they opposed making use of the only remedy which 
 could effectually secure them against returns of the 
 same oppression when resistance had put it in their 
 power, as oppression had given them the right to 
 use this remedy. Surely this must appear a pa- 
 radox — and a very absurd one too, — if we consider 
 that resistance in all such cases is the mean, and 
 future security the end ; and that the former is im- 
 pertinent — nay, wicked in the highest degree, — if it , 
 be not employed to obtain the latter. Thus, again, 
 the same men declared themselves willing to secure 
 the nation against the return of King James to that 
 throne which he had abdicated, or, according to 
 them, deserted. Nay, some of them were ready, if 
 we may credit the anecdotes of that time, to proceed 
 to such extreme resolutions as would have been 
 more effectual than justifiable in the eyes of man- 
 kind ; and yet they could not prevail on their scru- 
 pulous consciences to declare the throne vacant. 
 
 "They had concurred in the vote, that it was incon- 
 sistent with the laws, liberties, and religion of Eng- 
 land, to have a papist rule over the kingdom. King 
 James had followed the pious example of Sigismund ; 
 who, not content to lose the crown of Sweden him- 
 self for his religion, had carried his son away, that 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, he might be bred a papist, and lose it too : and yet 
 ^^^- they maintained, though they did not expressly name 
 
 A.D. 1701 him, that if the throne was then or should be at any 
 to 1707. iijj^Q vacant of the father, it must be reputed in- 
 stantaneously full of the son, upon the foundation of 
 this silly maxim, that the king never dies. 
 
 " According to this law and these politics. King 
 James and his successors to the twentieth generation 
 might have continued abroad, a race of royal exiles, 
 preserving their indefeasible right to govern, but 
 debarred from the exercise of it ; whilst the nation 
 continued during all this time from century to cen- 
 tury under the dominion of regents, with regal 
 authority, but without any regal right — an excellent 
 expedient sure to keep the monarchy in an hereditary 
 succession. But there remained none better on the 
 principles of these men, since the Prince of Orange 
 had committed the fatal oversight of neglecting to 
 conquer the nation. His sword would have cut the 
 gordian knot of hereditary right, and they could have 
 submitted with safe consciences to the conqueror. 
 
 " But to give the crown to a prince, though they 
 had put the whole administration into his hands, — 
 which, by the way, was high treason, unless the 
 throne was, what they denied it to be, actually 
 vacant; — to give the crown, I say, to a prince who 
 would not take it when it was in his power to take 
 it without their consent ; to settle a new govern- 
 ment by agreement and compact, when the glorious 
 opportunity of establishing it by force and conquest
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 67 
 
 had been unhappily lost ; — these were propositions to chap. 
 which they could not consent. ^^^' 
 
 " King James had violated the fundamental laws a.d. noi 
 which he had promised over and over, and sworn, to ^° ^'^^'^' 
 maintain. He had shown by his first escape, when 
 nothing more was imposed on him than to wait the 
 resolution of a free parliament, that he would re- 
 nounce his crown rather than submit to secure effec- 
 tually the observation of these laws. He had made 
 a second escape, which was voluntary as well as the 
 first, and made on the same principle, against the in- 
 treaties of his friends and the instigations of the same 
 council as had directed his former conduct, and on a 
 letter from the queen, claiming his promise to do so. 
 
 "Notwithstanding all these reasons they who main- 
 tained the hereditary right of our kings, reduced 
 themselves, and would have reduced their country, 
 to the absurd necessity of altering the constitution 
 under pretence of preserving it. No king except a 
 Stuart was to reign over us ; but we might establish 
 a doge, a lord archon, a regent ; and thus these 
 warm asserters of monarchy, refusing to be slaves, 
 contended to be republicans. Many more paradoxes 
 of equal extravagance might be cited which were 
 advanced directly, or which resulted plainly, from 
 the arguments employed on one side of the question 
 in those disputes : but the instances I have cited 
 may suffice for our present purpose, and may serve 
 to show, that although difficulties hard to solve in 
 
 speculation or to remove in practice will arise in 
 
 F 2
 
 6'8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the pursuit of the most rational principles, yet such 
 ^^^- absurdities as these can never arise except from the 
 A.D. 1701 most irrational, and always must arise from such." * 
 ^° ' Such were the sentiments of St. John ; and such 
 is the language of our constitution. That he held 
 these views in common with many of the Tory 
 party, is undeniable ; but that there was a numerous 
 sect among them who avowed the tenets he ridicules 
 and despised, is equally true. The adherents of St. 
 John were, however, the leaders of the party : it was 
 their privilege to govern, and their task to defend. 
 We learn their sentiments from the grounds upon 
 which they defended the measures they proposed ; 
 and he who examines the conduct of the Godolphin 
 ministry must admit that their measures were gene- 
 rally as wise as their sentiments were moderate. 
 
 The talents of St. John had now met with oppor- 
 tunity for their development, and he was unques- 
 tionably ranked as one of the leading speakers of 
 this parliament. His support upon all important 
 questions was always valuable, sometimes decisive. 
 We find him conspicuous in the stormy debates 
 upon the occasional uniformity bill, and afterwards 
 one of the managers for the commons in the con- 
 ferences and disputes between the houses which 
 that measure induced. It was not long before the 
 importance of his assistance compelled the reluctant 
 leaders of his party in the cabinet to secure his co- 
 operation by allowing him a share in the government. 
 * Dissertation on Parties, Let. viii.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. b'9 
 
 The ministry, composed of Tories of every shade* chap. 
 had not long continued to act together, before they ^^^- 
 
 discovered that the views of several of the sections a.d. noi 
 were diametrically opposed. In the year 1704, '° ^ 
 these divisions became more determined in their 
 character, and terminated in the defection of the 
 high-church party, as they were now called, or the 
 ultra Tories ; who were accused of serious designs 
 in favour of the pretender, and were found by the 
 minister completely unmanageable. 
 
 The Earl of Rochester, who was the queen's 
 uncle, and had at the formation of the ministry been 
 appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, became dis- 
 gusted with the measures of Marlborough, and was 
 piqued by the advancement of Godolphin to the 
 office which he himself had before held : he there- 
 fore early retired from the administration, and his 
 office was given to the Duke of Ormond. But 
 now the Earl of Nottingham, who was secre- 
 tary of state, and the great support of the high- 
 church party, demanding the dismissal of those who 
 opposed his views, the queen chose rather to accept 
 his own resignation. This was followed by that of his 
 adherents ; and several posts were thus vacated. 
 
 To the most important of these offices it was de- 
 termined to advance Harley. Not that either Marl- 
 borough or Godolphin viewed him with particular 
 favour, or counted upon him as an attached adherent : 
 but that dexterity to which we have before advert- 
 ed, which had enabled him to vote with the Tories,
 
 to 1707. 
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, and hold the office of their speaker in the commons, 
 ^^^- without losing the connexion of the Whigs, pointed 
 A.D. 1701 him out as a valuable ally in the present emergency. 
 Godolphin had been weakened by the defection of 
 the ultra Tories ; he now wished to conciliate the 
 Whigs. This he dared not do openly without ha- 
 zarding the immediate dissolution of his adminis- 
 tration ; but he was willing to avoid giving them 
 unnecessary offence by appointing to the vacant 
 office a man who still retained some connexion 
 with them. 
 
 Harley, therefore, succeeded the Earl of Notting- 
 ham in the secretaryship ; and St. John was, atthe 
 same time made, secretary at war, in the room of 
 Mr. Blaithwaite. It has been doubted whether 
 St. John owed this his first appointment solely to 
 his reputation in parliament, or whether he was not 
 rather indebted it for to the influence of the new 
 secretary. There are many circumstances which 
 incline us to attribute his advancement to the exer- 
 tions of his friend, especially since we may do so 
 without ascribing to Harley more disinterested 
 friendship than his contemporaries have allowed him 
 to be capable of evincing. 
 
 Harley had, indeed, succeeded in retaining a 
 connexion with both of the great parties in the 
 state, but at the expense of a sacrifice of cha- 
 racter which usually attends such undecisive and 
 temporizing conduct. He was patronized by both ; 
 but he was trusted by neither. The Whigs recom-
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 71 
 
 mended him to office because he was the only avow- chap. 
 ed Tory who promised to assist them to rise again "^• 
 
 to the place of power whence they had fallen ; the a.d. noi 
 Tories received him because he procured them the 
 essential assistance, or at least the neutrality, of the 
 Whigs. 
 
 Harley was a man of too much penetration not 
 to perceive that he was merely made use of, and 
 that when the occasion which rendered him useful 
 had passed, he would be dismissed and forgotten. 
 This was his moment of prosperity, and he resolved 
 to improve it, to bring into the ministry with him 
 two friends upon whose fidelity he could rely, and 
 whose influential talents would give weight and im- 
 portance to the coalition. The early adherence and 
 rising fame of St. John sufficiently designated him 
 as one of this nucleus of a new party : Sir Simon 
 Harcourt was the other. The one, we have seen, 
 was made secretary at war ; the other was appointed 
 attorney-general. 
 
 Others have attributed the early advancement of 
 St. John to the favour of Marlborough, who, it is 
 known, entertained sentiments of esteem and friend- 
 ship for him which no after political differences 
 could shake. The friendship between Marlborough 
 and St. John appears to have been reciprocal. AVhile 
 the young statesman admired the hero of his age, 
 the earl returned his reverence with affection ; and 
 long afterwards, upon the death of an only son, was 
 heard to declare that St. John was now the only
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, consolation that remained to him.* That the friend- 
 
 ^^^- ship of so powerful a man should facihtate the ad- 
 
 A.D. 1701 vancement of St. John to a seat at the council-board, 
 
 to 1707. jg doubtless probable. But from the manner in which 
 
 he had already united his fortunes with those of Har- 
 
 ley, and from his conduct upon the dismissal of that 
 
 minister, it appears rather to be believed that Harley 
 
 made the appointment of St. John and Harcourt the 
 
 condition upon which alone he would accept office. 
 
 Afterwards, when the tortuous mazes of court 
 intrigue had separated men who had long been con- 
 federates, and when party jealousy had converted 
 old friends into rancorous foes, Bolingbroke indig- 
 nantly denied that subserviency or inferiority had 
 ever been felt or acknowledged by St. John. With 
 regard to Harley 's accusations of ingratitude, he asks, 
 " Whose circumstances most demanded, whose family 
 most required, an increase of wealth and fortune ; 
 those of the accused, or those of the accuser ? Who 
 hath given greater proofs of avarice to gather, and 
 profusion to squander ; the accused, or the accuser ?" 
 Again : " His ingratitude and treachery to the late 
 Duke of Marlborough and the Earl of Godolphin 
 stand first in the roll of his sins. I believe no man 
 acknowledges more sincerely than he the superior 
 merit of these two illustrious men, or wishes more 
 ardently that they were now alive and had the 
 conduct of the affairs of Great Britain ; but I know 
 no obligations of gratitude or honour which he lay 
 
 * Macpherson. vol. ii.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 73 
 
 under to continue in their administration when the chap. 
 measures of it were altered. They might have ^^^• 
 reasons — perhaps good reasons — for altering their a.d. i701 
 measures : he could have none in point of honour, ^° ^^^^" 
 whatever he might have had in point of interest, for 
 complying with that alteration. Some of the ene- 
 mies * of this gentleman came into the world on such 
 a foot, that they might think it preferment to be the 
 creatures of any men in power. He, who came into 
 it upon another foot, was the friend, but not the 
 creature, of these great men."* 
 
 Whatever might have been the influence which 
 placed St. John in the administration, he certainly 
 applied himself with diligence to the efficient dis- 
 charge of the duties he had undertaken. His friend- >»- 
 
 ship for Marlborough was not the mere interchange 
 of hollow professions : of such dissembling St. John 
 was incapable. His temper was sincere almost to 
 rashness, and where his co-operation was promised, 
 it was given with zeal and conducted with ability. 
 Marlborough jy as his friend, and he served liim with 
 fidelity ; he supplied him abundant succours abroad, 
 an^^^e defended his conduct at home. It was 
 during the administration of St. John that the duke 
 achieved some of his most glorious exploits. At 
 this time the victories of Blenheim and Ramelies 
 immortalized the name of the soldier^ and placed 
 another brilliant in the diadem of his country's 
 glory. St. John had been assiduous to strengthen 
 
 * Letter in the Craftsman.
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, him for the struggle ; he was now ardent to reward 
 ^^^- his success : — he introduced and carried through the 
 A.D. 1701 commons the bill which conferred Woodstock upon 
 ^°^'^'^- the duke and perpetuated it in his family; and he 
 secured to him other advantages scarcely less ac- 
 ceptable. 
 
 To direct the energies of the nation in support of 
 the war, and to announce the triumphs of her arms, 
 were the peculiar province of St. John ; but his ac- 
 tivity was equally conspicuous in the other depart- 
 ments of the government. His eloquence was ever 
 ready, his assistance always efficient ; and often did 
 the ministers, when discomfited in debate, find pro- 
 tection from the war of words behind the impregna- 
 ble shield of St. John. 
 
 We have seen that Harley was originally intro- 
 jJuced into the ministry to conciliate the Whigs, and 
 that St. John came in to strengthen the influence of 
 Harley. The Whigs had supposed that, ow^ng his 
 advancement to their recommendation, he would be 
 devoted to their interest ; but Harley was ambitious 
 of power, and scorned to be the passive tool they 
 intended to make him. The Whigs soon discovered 
 that they had more favour to expect from the mi- 
 nister who needed their support than from their old 
 ally. The desertion of the high-church party had 
 in fact determined Marlborough and Godolphin to 
 a gradual change. They had almost alone supported 
 the Tories ; they now resolved toJ)ficomeLtlie._lejaders 
 of the Whigs.
 
 LORD BOLINGBHOKE. 75 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Godolphms Jealousy of the designs of Harley. — Influence of the 
 Marlboroughs npon the decline. — Harley ingratiates himself 
 with the Queen. — His Intrigues with Mrs. Hill. — Dismissal 
 of Harley. — ^S*^. John resigns his Office. 
 
 1 HE change in the political sentiments of Marl- chap. 
 borough and Godolphin was chiefly brought abgut ^^' 
 by jealousy of the designs of Harley, who, brought a.d. i707, 
 in only to serve their purposes, had with consummate 
 skill obtained a complete influence over the queen, 
 and contrived to make her withdraw all confidence 
 from her ministers. These court intrigues were 
 the immediate causes of St. John's temporary dis- 
 grace, but eventual supremacy : they form, there- 
 fore, an important part of his history, although they 
 were conducted almost exclusively by Harley. 
 
 The disposition of Anne was peculiarly susceptible 
 of flattery, and prone to induce her to allow those 
 who studied her pleasure an unrestricted influence | 
 
 over her conduct. Durins; the reiojn of William, 
 
 I 
 
 &• 
 
 she had been entirely guided by the Earl of Marl- 
 borough and his countess. Their influence continued 
 after she had ascended the throne ; and one of the 
 first acts of her reign was to create Marlborougji a
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. duke. Her partiality for her friend, who had not then 
 ^^' achieved those exploits which afterwards silenced his 
 
 A. D. 1707. enemies, exceeded that of her commons, who refused 
 to concur in some grants which she proposed to confer 
 upon him. His duchess was the most favoured of 
 her female attendants ; and, together, the influence 
 of the Marlboroughs was all-potent. Long enjoyment 
 induced a security which alone could have afforded 
 an opportunity for opposing favourites so firmly es- 
 tablished. The close attendance and the constant 
 adulation which had raised them to power became 
 irksome when the object was gained ; and while the 
 attentions of the duchess became less assiduous, her 
 tone of remonstrance or advice became more haughty. 
 In order that she might retain an undisputed ascend- 
 ency over her mistress while she relieved herself 
 from the necessity of personal attendance upon her, 
 she introduced into her service a Mrs, Abigail Hill, 
 who, being a creature of her own, she considered as 
 entirely devoted to her. 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough was herself the 
 most scheming and successful practiser of court in- 
 trigue of her day. But in this instance she was 
 fatally foiled ; and a discovery of the arts by which 
 she had been herself outwitted, seems so have led 
 her to indulo-e in moral reflections, which seldom 
 intruded while those arts were only employed in 
 furtherance of her own designs. Since she was un- 
 questionably the victim of ingratitude, she may be 
 allowed to relate the history of this transaction her-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 77 
 
 self. " It was about this time," she says, " that I chap. 
 discovered the base returns made me by Mrs. ^^• 
 Masham, upon whom I had heaped the greatest a.d.1707, 
 obligations. The story of this lady, as well as of 
 that gentleman who was her great adviser and di- 
 rector, is worth the knowledge of posterity, as it will 
 lead them into a sense of the instability of court 
 favour, and of the incurable baseness which some 
 minds are capable of contracting. 
 
 " Mrs. Masha,m was the daughter of one Hill, a 
 merchant in the city, by a sister of my father. Our 
 grandfather. Sir John Jenyns, had two-and-twenty '■/ 
 children ; by which means the estate of the family, 
 which was reputed to be about 4000/. a year, 
 came to be divided into small parcels. Mrs. Hill 
 had only 500/. to her portion. Her husband 
 lived very well, as I have been told, for many 
 years, till, turning projector, he brought ruin upon 
 himself and his family. But as this was long 
 before I was born, I never knew there were such 
 people in the world, till after the Princess Anne was 
 married, and ^'hen she lived at the Cockpit ; at 
 which time an acquaintance of mine came to me, 
 and said she believed I did not know I had relations 
 who were in want ; and she gave me an account of 
 them. When she had finished her story, I answered, 
 that indeed I had never heard before of any such 
 relations ; and immediately gave her ten guineas out 
 of my purse for their present relief, saying I would 
 do what I could for them. Afterwards, I sent
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Mrs. Hill more money, and saw her. She told me 
 ^^'- that her husband was in the same relation to Mr. 
 
 A.D. 1707. Harley as she was to me; but that he had never done 
 anything for her. 
 
 " I think Mrs. Masham's father and mother did 
 not live long after this. They left four children, two 
 sons and two daughters. The elder daughter, after- 
 wards Mrs. Masham, was a grown Avoman. I took 
 her to St. Albans, where she lived with me and ray 
 children ; and I treated her with as great kindness as 
 if she had been my sister. After some time, a bed- 
 chamber-woman of the Princess of Denmark died ; 
 and as in that reign, (after the princesses were 
 grown up,) rockers, though not gentlewomen, had 
 been advanced to be bedchamber-women, I thought 
 I might ask the princess to give the vacant place to 
 Mrs. Hill. At first, indeed, I had some scruples 
 about it; but this being removed by persons I thought 
 wiser, with whom I consulted, I made the request 
 to the princess, and it was granted. As for the 
 younger daughter (who is still living), I engaged my 
 Lord Marlborou2;h, when the Duke of Gloucester's 
 family was settled, to make her laundress to him ; 
 which was a good provision for her. And when the 
 Duke of Gloucester died, I obtained for her a pen- 
 sion of 200/. a year, which I paid her out of the 
 privy purse : and in some time after I asked the 
 queen's leave to buy her an annuity out of some of 
 the funds ; representing to her majesty, that as the 
 privy purse money produced no interest, it would be
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 79 
 
 the same thing to her if, instead of the pension to chap. 
 
 Mrs. Hill, she gave her at once a sum sufficient to ' 
 
 purchase an annuity ; and that by this means her ^.d. 1707. 
 majesty would make a certain provision for one who 
 had served the Duke of Gloucester. The queen was 
 pleased to allow the money for that purchase ; and it 
 is very probable that Mrs. Hill has the annuity to 
 this day, and perhaps nothing else, — unless she saved 
 money after her sister had made her deputy to the 
 privy purse, which she did as soon as she had sup- 
 planted me." * 
 
 The duchess goes on to show how she provided 
 for all the rest of this family ; summing up the fa- 
 vours she conferred, to increase our sense of the in- 
 gratitude with which they were repaid. She tells us, 
 that she got the eldest brother a situation in the 
 customs ; and took the second, who was a tall boy all 
 in rags, and who was afterwards called by the bottle- 
 men ' Honest Jack Hill,' under her protection, and sent 
 him to school. Honest Jack Hill afterwards rose, by 
 his sister's interest, to be a general ; and the duchess 
 cannot sufficiently express her resentment, that when 
 Mr. Harley attacked the Duke of Marlborough in 
 parliament, this once ragged boy whom she clothed, 
 happening to be sick in bed, was nevertheless per- 
 
 * Conduct of the Duchess said that he received 5000/, 
 
 of Marlborough. This work for his performance. Hooke 
 
 was written by Hooke, under was a diligent compiler, but a 
 
 the immediate superintend- poor writer, 
 encc of the duchess. It is
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, suaded by his sister to get up, wrap himself in 
 ^^' warmer clothes than those he had received from his 
 A.D, 1707. benefactress, and go down to the house to vote 
 against her husband. 
 
 " As for Mrs. Masham herself," she continues, " I 
 had so much kindness for her, and had done so much 
 to oblige her, without ever having done anything to 
 offend her, that it was too long before I could bring 
 myself to think her other than a true friend, or for- 
 bear rejoicing at any instance of favour shown her 
 by the queen. I observed indeed, at length, that 
 she was grown more shy of coming to me, and more 
 reserved than usual when she was with me ; but I 
 imputed this to her peculiar moroseness of temper, 
 and for some time made no other reflections upon it." 
 
 The first circumstance which opened the eyes of 
 the duchess to the plot which was so covertly laid to 
 supplant her, was the discovery that Mrs. Hill had 
 contracted a private marriage at which the queen 
 was present. She was immediately alarmed that 
 this should have been industriously concealed from 
 her, who had been usually consulted upon the most 
 ordinary movements of her royal mistress. It was 
 the circumstances attendant upon this marriage which 
 gave Harley so absolute an influence over the new 
 favourite, and enabled him by her means to execute 
 the ambitious designs he had in view. 
 
 Harley, although he had neglected his relation 
 when she was in want of his assistance, was as- 
 siduous in his attentions now tliat she could be of
 
 LORD BOLINGBllOKE. 81 
 
 use to him in his projects. The most fulsome flat- chap. 
 tery was lavished upon a woman who was not less ^^'■ 
 
 influenced by it herself because she was in the habit a.d.1707. 
 of exercising it upon others ; and so thoroughly was 
 Harley master of the arts of dissimulation and ad- 
 dress, that he soon insinuated himself into her entire 
 confidence, and drew from her a secret which he well 
 knew how to turn to his own advantao;e. 
 
 Mrs. Hill, if we receiv^e the somewhat suspicious 
 testimony of her indignant benefactress, was pos- 
 sessed of few personal charms, and still fewer intel- 
 lectual endowments. She represents her as ordinary 
 in person and morose in disposition, except when her 
 interest compelled her to restrain or dissemble her 
 natural temper. We know that her hopes of fortune 
 were confined to the expectations she might enter- 
 tain from the favour of the duchess. Mrs. Hill, 
 therefore, was not likely to make any impression 
 upon the gallants of the court. She had fixed her 
 affections upon a gentleman much younger than 
 herself, a Mr. Masham, then page to the queen. 
 But she appears to have distrusted her own powers 
 of fascination to obtain for her the object of her 
 preference ; and she communicated her passion and 
 her despair to her sympathizing cousin. In obtain- 
 ing this secret, Harley rightly imagined that he had 
 a means of establishing a strong claim upon her 
 favour ; and he made her concurrence in his plans 
 the price of his assistance. He employed a veteran 
 courtier to break the matter to Masham, who aroused 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 the young man's ambition, and fed it with the most 
 magnificent promises. Haiiey's plan succeeded : 
 A. D. 1707. Mrs. Hill became Mrs. Masham ; the queen was 
 present at the private marriage, and Harley and the 
 bride had already advanced far in the prosecution of 
 their common piirpose. Whether the gratification of 
 her passion inspired her with a gratitude which no 
 other kindnesses could kindle, or whether she found 
 that her own interests and those of Harley were iden- 
 tified, it is unnecessary to inquire : certain it is, that 
 Mrs. Masham became entirely subservient to her 
 new ally. The duchess, secure in her opinion of 
 her relation's fidelity, had frequently been absent 
 from the court for several weeks together ; and these 
 opportunities were not lost by her treacherous rival. 
 Gradually her absence was less remarked, and her 
 presence less desired ; so successful had been the 
 waiting-woman's endeavours to ingratiate herself 
 with her mistress. All her influence was now em- 
 ployed to prepossess the queen in favour of Harley, 
 and to give him frequent access to her presence. 
 Once admitted, the address of the courtier soon won 
 the confidence of his weak and unsuspecting mis- 
 tress.* He entertained her with conversation most 
 adapted to please a woman's ear ; now detailing the 
 
 * Bolingbroke bears testi- pent of the Old Testament: — 
 mony to Harley's insinuating " Where anything was to be 
 address. In his ironical dedi- got, he could wriggle himself in; 
 cation of his Remarks on the when any misfortune threat- 
 History of England to him, ened him, he could find a way 
 he compares him to the ser- to wriggle himself out "
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 83 
 
 trifling topics of interest, and the secret gallantries chap. 
 of her court ; now descanting in strains of polished ^^' 
 adulation upon the happiness and devoted loyalty of a.d. i707. 
 her people. So attached did Anne become to his 
 society, that she often remained long after her usual 
 hour of rest closeted with him and her new fa- 
 vourite. 
 
 She was afflicted with a complaint which affected 
 her eyes, and Prince George was supposed to allude 
 to these secret conversations, when he remarked in 
 the house of lords, that " the queen would never 
 be better while she kept such late hours :" a re- 
 mark which occasioned much speculation among the 
 courtiers. At these interviews no opportunity was 
 neglected of instilling into her mind an affection for 
 the high Tory doctrines, and a hatred of the princi- 
 ples of the Whigs. These latter were constantly 
 represented as a sect whose hopes were centred in 
 a republic, and whose principles and practice were 
 alike hostile to the existence of monarchy. Such 
 sentiments are always attractive to a sovereign ; and 
 it is not surprising that the weak-minded Anne 
 easily confided in those who maintained them. Her 
 ministers found they had lost her confidence before 
 they discovered by whom they had been supplanted- 
 In furtherance of their design of gradually intro- 
 ducing the Whigs, they had proposed to make the 
 Earl of Sunderland one of the secretaries of state ; 
 but this the queen strenuously and for some time ob- 
 stinately opposed. Like many persons who are difii- 
 
 G 2
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, dent of their own resolution, she was accustomed to 
 ^^* prepare herself for an unpleasant altercation with 
 A. D. 1707. her advisers, by fixing upon a single sentence in 
 which to declare her determination, and giving no 
 other answer to every effort to shake her resolve, 
 than a repetition of tlie same words. This mode of 
 opposition at once precluded all possibility of obtain- 
 ing from her the grounds of her refusal, or the names 
 of the parties who had prompted it. Her consent to 
 the appointment of Sunderland was not obtained 
 until those who secretly guided her feared lest their 
 designs should be prematurely developed ; they then 
 permitted her acquiescence. But some ecclesiastical 
 preferments which were soon after bestowed upon 
 Tories, and the appointment of Sir Simon Harcourt, 
 the strict ally of Harley and St. John, and the then 
 solicitor-general, to the vacant office of attorney- 
 general, gave the Whigs new uneasiness ; and they 
 began to suspect the ministers of treachery, when, in 
 fact, these measures were taken against their con- 
 sent and in defiance of their opposition. The secret 
 council was obliged again to give way ; and the 
 queen was permitted to promise that she would 
 bestow no more favours upon the Tories. 
 
 While Harley was engaged in these intrigues, and 
 secretly alienating the mind of his sovereign from 
 his colleagues, he was openly manifesting towards 
 them the most unreserved friendship and cordiality 
 The letters which he was at this time constantly 
 writing to Godolphin and Marlborough teem with
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 85 
 
 expressions of fidelity and attachment : the Duchess chap. 
 of Marlborough has preserved several, which contain ^^' 
 the^warmest professions of sincerity, and fully justify a.d. i707. 
 her censure of a man who could pretend entire de- 
 votion to his colleagues while he was engaged in 
 a scheme of deliberate treachery against them. He 
 appears at one time to have felt that he was sus- 
 pected, for we find him protesting to Marlborough — 
 " I serve you by inclination and principle ; and a 
 very little time will make that manifest, as well as 
 that I have no views or aims of my own."* Such 
 instances of deliberate falsehood incline us to believe 
 in the existence of those dark traits which his ene- 
 mies declare pervaded the character of Harley, but 
 which we should have discredited did they rest only 
 upon their testimony. 
 
 How far St. John was implicated in these in- 
 trigues, it is difficult to decide. That he took no 
 active part in them, is to be inferred from the silence 
 of the duchess, and the frankness of his disposition, 
 which would disqualify him for a task of such pro- 
 found dissimulation. But that he was entirely ig- 
 norant of what was going on, we can hardly believe, 
 when we consider the close connexion which existed 
 between him and Harley, and how nearly he was 
 interested in the continuance of his friend's influence 
 at court. If St. John was privy to the secret corre- 
 spondence which was carried on behind the throne, 
 
 * Cited by the Duchess of Marlborough in her Defence of 
 her Conduct.
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF ' 
 
 CHAP, he must be considered as sharing in the guilt of 
 ^^' duplicity and ingratitude which has attached to 
 A.D. 1707. Harley. He had courted and enjoyed the affection 
 of Marlborough ; he had gained the confidence of 
 Godolphin. If we are to suppose of him that he 
 sought affection only to betray, — that he courted con- 
 fidence only that he might abuse it, we fix a stigma 
 upon his memory which no talents can brighten 
 and no virtues efface. 
 
 But much may be said to show that he had a 
 very faint and indistinct knowledge of the tactics 
 of his coadjutor. A participation in these schemes 
 was never urged against him by his political adver- 
 saries, although they did not forget to tax him with 
 other actions with regard to Marlborough and Go- 
 dolphin which do not bear out the charge of ingra- 
 titude they were adduced to support. If they ac- 
 cused him of ingratitude for raising himself into a 
 seat which his friends had resigned, they could not 
 have believed that he had been caballing against 
 them while they retained it, and that they had been 
 driven from it by his arts. St. John never confessed 
 that he had any part in this business : he always 
 speaks of it as the intrigue of Harley ; and the jea- 
 lousy and reserve which were so prominent in the 
 character of that statesman, and were the fruitful 
 source of misunderstanding between him and St. 
 John, lend strength to the presumption, which is 
 raised by the silence of his enemies and his own 
 denial.
 
 LORD UOLINCBROKE. 87 
 
 The treachery in the cabinet and in the palace chap. 
 were discovered about the same time. The duchess ^^' 
 says her suspicions were aroused by Mrs. Masham ^.D. i707. 
 bursting unceremoniously into the royal presence 
 while she was closeted with the queen, and retiring 
 in confusion when she discovered who was with her. 
 The obstinacy of their mistress, and her aversion to 
 the Whigs, had before aroused the suspicions of Go- 
 dolphin, and he had written to the duchess to tell 
 Mrs. Masham not to speak upon business to the 
 queen. But the mischief was now done ; the plot 
 was matured, and Harley might now have bid de- 
 fiance to his late patrons as securely as Mrs. Masham 
 did to her benefactress. His colleagues perempto- 
 rily required his dismissal, and the queen as firmly 
 refused. It is said that upon this occasion the af- 
 fection of Anne revived for the Marlboroughs — that 
 she would have gladly accepted the resignation of 
 Godolphin, but she could not resolve to give up the 
 duke ; — that now the duchess made one desperate 
 effort to retrieve the favour she had lost, and at this 
 interview she was as abject in her humiliation as 
 she had before been haughty in her presumption ; — 
 that the timid queen, distracted by the contests of 
 her attendants and affected by the tears of her 
 friends, resigned the point, and reluctantly withdrew 
 her protection from her secret adviser. But it is 
 not probable that the web which Harley had woven 
 around her was so easily to be broken. We are 
 told that she would hear no ill of him ; that she
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, discredited every attempt which was made to injure 
 ' him in her esteem. She denied that she had ever 
 
 A.D. 1707. jjggjj a party to any secret negotiations, or had al- 
 lowed Harley to use her name in any schemes he had 
 on foot for the formation of a new ministry, of which 
 himself was to be the head. The duchess says that 
 her reception was cold and forbidding, and com- 
 plains that she sent her away without a kind look. 
 Perhaps we are rather to seek the cause of the 
 temporary success of the Whigs — for Marlborough 
 and Godolphin are henceforward to be ranked among 
 that party — in the prudence or the ambition of Har- 
 ley. A dismissal from office would enable him to 
 carry on his opposition openly ; and his influence in 
 the palace assured him that he should do so suc- 
 cessfully. 
 
 Other circumstances also conspired to convince 
 him that it was prudent for him to retire for a 
 season from a conspicuous post. Among these, the 
 most powerful was the discovery and execution of 
 Gregg, who was convicted of carrying on a treason- 
 able correspondence with the courts of France and St, 
 Germain's. The circumstances were these : — Letters 
 to M. Chamillard, the French prime minister, were 
 accustomed to be transmitted to him through the 
 secretary's office, in compliance with the courtesy 
 usually observed among civilized belligerents. These 
 letters were of course sent to the secretaiy open, and 
 related only to indifferent subjects. Upon some sus- 
 picion which was excited in the authorities in Hoi-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 89 
 
 land, the packet was stopped, and the letters reopened, chap. 
 by which the discovery was made that there was a ^^- 
 person in the secretary's office who was carrying on a a.d. no?. 
 regular correspondence with the enemy, and that 
 through him, the secret instructions of the ministry to 
 the allies were known at Versailles long before the ori- 
 ginals reached their destination. In the letter which 
 was seized, the writer boasted of his means of procur- 
 ing information, and promised yet more important ser- 
 vices if well encouraged. This letter was forwarded 
 to the Duke of Marlborough, who instituted an im- 
 mediate search for the author. The handwriting 
 appeared to be that of one Gregg, a man whom 
 Harley had negligently taken into his confidence, 
 without proper inquiry into the circumstances of 
 his former life — nay, with the knowledge that his 
 character had been far from pure. Harley had used 
 him as a spy ; and he executed his commissions 
 so much to the satisfaction of his employer, that he, 
 with a strange want of judgment, enabled him to 
 practise upon himself the perfidy which he had 
 rewarded him for practising upon others. Gregg 
 did not attempt to deny his guilt : on the contrary, 
 actuated probably by a hope of pardon, he confessed 
 the facts with which he Avas charged, and pleaded 
 guilty upon his trial. It is said that the ministers 
 offered Gregg a pardon if he would denounce his 
 companions in the transaction, hoping to convict 
 Harley of a participation in his guilt. Swift after- 
 wards accused them of having gone yet farther, and
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, asserts that they attempted to bribe him to accuse 
 ^^' his master.* Gregg, however, was proof against 
 
 A.D. 1707. the temptation : he answered, that he would rather 
 die than live a life of infamy — and he did die. The 
 enemies of the secretary, on the other hand, said 
 that Gregg was sustained in his resolution by the 
 continual assurances of pardon which Harley held 
 out to him, and that he dropped some expressions 
 when upon the scaffold, complaining of the manner 
 in which he had been deceived. Both these tales 
 are probably mere inventions of party malice : the 
 latter appears improbable in itself. 
 
 This was not the only circumstance which hap- 
 pened at the time to show the truth of the^ assertion 
 of the Duchess of Marlborough, that the department 
 of Harley was miserably mismanaged. He had em- 
 ployed two men, named John Bara and Alexander 
 Vali^re, as spies to bring him intelligence from 
 France, and had given orders at the outports that 
 they should be allowed to pass without inquiry. It 
 was soon suspected by the officers upon the coast 
 that these men conveyed much more information to 
 
 * In No. XXXII. of the Ex- away Mr. Harley's life, though 
 aminer, speaking of Guiscard's differing in their methods; 
 attempt, he says, " And here the first proceeding by snbor- 
 it may be worth observing nation, the other by violence." 
 how unanimous a concurrence The same accusation is re- 
 there is between sonrie persons peated in No. xxxiii., and 
 once great in power and a was answered by other publi- 
 French papist : both agreeing cations at the time, 
 in the great end of taking
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 the enemy than they brought respecting him, and 
 frequent remonstrances were addressed to the secre- 
 tary upon the subject. He, however, was confident 
 in their fidelity, and treated with indifference every 
 attempt to arouse his suspicions. At length the 
 presumptions against them became so violent, that 
 the authority of the secretary was no longer able to 
 protect them. They were seized, and subjected to 
 the examination of the seven lords who were ap- 
 pointed to examine Gregg. These examinations, 
 which appear at length in the parliamentary history 
 of the time, clearly show that they were engaged in 
 a treasonable correspondence with the enemy ; but 
 they furnish no evidence whatever to implicate 
 Harley in the transaction, or to subject him to any 
 other charge than that of gross negligence. But 
 negligence in a man holding his situation amounts 
 to crime. 
 
 These circumstances, happening at so critical a 
 moment, were well calculated to destroy his popu- 
 larity with the nation and to shake his credit at 
 court. The organs of the ministry impressed the 
 people with a conviction of his guilt ; but they were 
 without influence with Anne. She received the 
 account of the occurrence from his own lips, and was 
 convinced that he had become an object of perse- 
 cution, only because he was devoted to her service. 
 
 Harley had therefore probably determined already 
 to withdraw ; and the queen only acquiesced in his 
 wishes when she appeared to yield to her ministry. 
 
 91 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 A.U. 1707.
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 A.D. 1707. 
 
 He knew also, that however willing she might 
 be to support him against the rest of her cabinet, 
 she was at present incapable of realizing her wish. 
 Upon receiving the resignation of Marlborough and 
 Godolphin, she had treated them with coolness, and 
 seemed determined to do without them ; but the 
 conduct of her council, which met immediately after, 
 had convinced both her and her adviser of their 
 error. They refused to proceed to business, and 
 gave her plainly to understand, that if Marlborough 
 and Godolphin were dismissed, the administration 
 was dissolved. For so bold a step as the breaking 
 up of a government so efficient and popular as that 
 of Godolphin's, Anne was not yet prepared ; and she 
 reluctantly accepted the resignation of Harley, ex- 
 claiming against the hard fate of sovereigns, who are 
 obliged to sacrifice their dearest friends to the im- 
 perious demands of state necessity. 
 
 The secession, or rather dismissal, of Harley from 
 office was immediately followed by the resignation 
 of St. John. It may be supposed that so strong an 
 evidence of identity of interest affords sufficient 
 proof that the latter was privy to all the intrigues 
 which had caused the division ; but the inference 
 is not necessary. 
 
 Without considering the friendship which St. 
 John entertained for Harley, and his admii-ation of 
 his talents — perhaps his hopes of advancement from 
 attaching himself to his fortunes ; there were suffi- 
 cient motives of a mere party nature to justify the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 93 
 
 course which he then pursued. By the dismissal of ^^^ap. 
 
 IV 
 
 Harley, the Tory party in the cabinet became ex- ' 
 
 tinct. Had St. John remained, he must have abajij, ^•^- ^'''^'''• 
 doned his politics as a Tory, .and have followed the 
 chiefs of the council over to the ranks of the„ Whigs : 
 but he had chosen his party, and he resolved to 
 abide by his choice, preferring rather to forfeit his 
 place than his political consistency.
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Harleys Intrigues at Court. — Unpopularity oj the Whigs. — 
 Attempts against the Duke of Marlborough. — The Queens 
 Dislike to her Ministers. — St. John's Conduct in Opposition. 
 — Retires from the House of Commons. — Dissolution of the 
 Godolphin Administration. 
 
 CHAP. The violence which the cabinet had done to the 
 ^'- incUnations of the queen, in insisting upon the re- 
 A. D. 1707 tirement of her favourite minister, was not calculated 
 to 1710. ^^ increase her confidence in them. This measure 
 seems to have broken the tie which still bound her 
 to Marlborough, and inclined her to hsten to all the 
 tales w^hich those around her were eager to whisper 
 to his disadvantage. Dr. Sacheverell's trial, which 
 occurred at this time, gave great assistance to their 
 schemes, by rendering the Tories suddenly the popu- 
 lar party. With little ability, learning, or virtue, 
 this violent man was still a powerful instrument in 
 11 the hands of those who espoused his cause that they 
 
 might sanctify their own. The people beheld the 
 persecution of a churchman who had little claim 
 upon their esteem, and they instantly connected it 
 with dano-er to a church which had and merited 
 their love. Their suspicions were excited, their
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 95 
 
 passions were aroused, and the affair was dexter- ^M^p. 
 ously improved to throw odium upon the Whigs. 
 
 The managers of the commons, in conducting his 
 impeachment, were necessarily obliged to assert the 
 principles of the revolution : these expressions were 
 severely canvassed in the palace, and were adduced 
 in confirmation of the accusation of dangerous tenets 
 which had been before attributed to the new alUes 
 of the ministry. 
 
 The nocturnal conversations which had continued 
 while Harley was in office, were not now inter- 
 mitted. So infatuated was the queen, that she 
 deemed no sacrifice too great to enjoy the society of 
 her favourites. She had purchased a small house --^ 
 at Windsor, and endured the inconvenience which a 
 residence there entailed upon her, only because the 
 park attached to it afforded Mrs. Masham private 
 opportunities of introducing her friends. Another 
 instance of her partiality, and the fear she had of 
 discovery, was more discreditable to her sensibility 
 as a woman. Her husband, the Prince of Denmark, 
 had lately died ; and Anne, to the surprise of her 
 attendants, chose his closet as her retiring room. 
 The Duchess of Marlborough expressed her asto- 
 nishment that she should have chosen a spot so 
 likely to suggest to her the most dreary reflections. 
 Anne was startled, and seems to have been for the 
 first time struck with the strangeness of her conduct. 
 She changed her room ; but the duchess asserts, that 
 what originally determined her choice was, that a
 
 A.D. 1707 
 to 1710. 
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, staircase communicated with it from Mrs. Masham's 
 V. 
 
 rooms, and afforded facilities for her private inter- 
 views with Harley and his friends.* 
 
 Among the most assiduous of the attendants at 
 the palace were a number of the high-church clergy, 
 who felt themselves to be identified with the cause 
 of Dr. Sacheverell ; and spared no pains to make his 
 persecutors odious to the queen. They poured into 
 her ear the soft doctrines of non-resistance and un- 
 restrained prerogative ; and drew between their own 
 unlimited loyalty and the jealous reservations of their 
 opponents a contrast which could not fail to be con- 
 vincing to a princess who was not insensible to flat- 
 tery, nor careless of her prerogative. Harley con- 
 ceived these to be no contemptible allies, and he 
 secured their good offices. His ancient flirtation 
 with the dissenters had rendered him an object of 
 some suspicion to the high-church party ; but he 
 was not sparing of protestations where an object was 
 to be gained, and his present exclusion by th^ Whigs 
 appeared a sufficient pledge for his sincerity. The 
 queen had been before taught by her spiritual ad- 
 visers, that the church was in danger ; that the same 
 hand which was raised against Dr. Sacheverell would 
 fall with sacrilegious violence upon all the religious 
 institutions of the country : — it was now added, that 
 none but Harley could arrest the blow ; that it was 
 upon him that the eyes of the whole nation were 
 
 * Conduct of the Ducliess of Mai-lborougli.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 97 
 
 turned ; that he alone could preserve the church and chap. 
 save the country. ^' 
 
 With these sentiments, expressed by all who en- ^•'^- '^'^^'^ 
 joyed her favour and abused her confidence, Anne 
 doubtless concurred ; but she could yet not divest 
 herself of admiration for the great talents of Marl- 
 borough, or forget the splendid services he had per- 
 formed : she could not but remember the unre- 
 served confidence she had once reposed in him, and 
 the assistance he had afforded her at a time when 
 she most needed it. To destroy this feeling was a 
 necessary preliminary to the success of the designs 
 of her new advisers. Her vanity was piqued by 
 constantly dwelling upon his importance and power. 
 He was represented as directing at his will every 
 measure of the state ; as all-influential with the allies, 
 who, as his enemies told her, considered the regal 
 power effectually vested in him, and regarded his 
 sovereign as a mere cipher, having no other office than 
 to execute his decrees. While they hurt her vanity 
 by such representations of the estimation in which 
 she was held abroad, they aroused her jealousy by 
 insinuating that he who so absolutely exercised the 
 authority of a king could hardly want power to 
 assume the title ; and they applauded the resolution 
 which had at last broken the bondage in which the 
 Marlboroughs had so long held her. Their suc- 
 cess was so great, that Mrs. Masham at last was 
 able to promise Harley, the duke should receive so 
 many mortifications, that it should be impossible for 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, him to continue in the service ; — a promise which 
 ^' by some means became known to the object of its 
 
 A.D. 1707 threat, and formed the subject of a strong remon- 
 strance which he addressed to his mistress. 
 
 Mrs. Masham had the necessity of self-preservation 
 to plead for pushing her hostility to the Marlbo- 
 roughs to the extent of driving them from the pre- 
 sence of their sovereign ; and Anne had received an 
 insult which justified her in lending herself to her 
 favourite's views. When the duchess found that her 
 rival was too firmly established in her mistress's 
 favour to be shaken by her influence, she subjected 
 her to whatever insult it was in her power to inflict ; 
 and these were more adapted to enrage the mistress 
 than to injure the servant. One of her measures, 
 whether, as she declares, it was only a threat, or 
 whether, as Harley asserts,* and as his contempo- 
 raries believed, it was a defeated attempt, must have 
 aroused the indignation of the queen, and determined 
 her favourite to keep no longer any terms with her 
 opponents. That the duchess should seriously advise, 
 and ministers approve, an address of the house of 
 commons for the removal of a bedchamber-woman, 
 proves the desperate condition of the proposers and 
 the power of the obnoxious servant. We are told 
 that ministers were only restrained from moving, 
 and doubtless carrying, such an address by the in- 
 dignant remonstrances of Anne herself It is not 
 
 * Harley's tract of " Faults on Both Sides," Soniers' Tracts.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 99 
 
 surprising that this impolitic attempt should have chap. 
 detached the last tie which held them to office. ^ • 
 
 So complete was the influence the intriguers had a.d. 1707 
 now gained, that Anne had joined in systematic *° ^^^^* 
 opposition to her own ministry ; and, if the assertion 
 of the Duchess of Marlborough deserves credit, after- 
 wards, when they had succeeded in their object, 
 Harley and his friends often boasted in their cups, 
 that while the ministers were asleep, they were at 
 court, assisting the queen in devising schemes to 
 perplex and oppose what her responsible advisers had 
 done during the day. 
 
 But the history of the decline of this ministry is 
 important to our narrative only as it influenced the 
 fortunes of St. John. In the intrigues which were 
 carried on after his secession from office, he certainly 
 bore no part. By the uncompromising adherence to 
 the principles upon which he started, he gained the 
 confidence of his friends and the esteem of his oppo- 
 nents. His conduct in parliament during the period 
 which intervened between his retirement and the 
 dissolution was marked by a moderation which asto- 
 nished his late colleagues, who expected to find him 
 furious and foremost in opposition. The temper he 
 preserved was as politic as it was commendable. 
 His talents challenged admiration ; his present mo- 
 deration commanded respect, and induced many who 
 had disliked him in office to consider him now as a 
 man who postponed his private resentments to his 
 country's good. Probably St. John obtained credit 
 
 H 2
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, for a strength of patriotism which he did not possess ; 
 ^- for we find in his works frequent boasting allusions 
 
 A.D. 1707 to the services he had done his party, and the sacri- 
 to 1710. ^^^g j^g ^^^ j^^^jg .jj ^l^g.j, behalf. A devotion to a 
 
 faction is seldom compatible with a refined sense of pa- 
 triotism ; and we have his own ingenuous confession, 
 that each party felt that it was a struggle of factions 
 for ascendency, and that the prize of victory was 
 power. 
 
 But, whatever were the motives that influenced 
 his political conduct, his pubhc acts, both in retain- 
 ing and relinquishing office, were much less exposed 
 to censure than his private life. That eager pursuit 
 of pleasure which had stained his early youth, was 
 the more serious reproach of his manhood. No 
 affairs of state could be sufficiently important in his 
 eyes to postpone a purposed gratification ; no call of 
 prudence, not even ambition itself, could moderate 
 the licentiousness of his dissipation. These dis- 
 graceful excesses, which have been fairly urged in 
 refutation of the principles he avowed, derived addi- 
 tional infamy from the exalted station in which they 
 were enacted. But, while they load the memory of 
 his private character with reproach, they contribute 
 to vindicate his public conduct from any participa- 
 tion in the tortuous intrigues of his friend. The 
 queen was attached, by education and conviction, to 
 the principles of the church ; and, although her zeal 
 was somewhat indiscreet, her sincerity was undoubted. 
 Her practice usually accorded with her professions ;
 
 LORD BQLINGBROKE. 101 
 
 and the glaring immoralities of St. John, faithfully chap. 
 detailed to her as they were by the suspicious jealousy ^• 
 of Harley, inspired her with a disgust for his private a.d. no? 
 character, which his political conduct might qualify, 
 but could not destroy.* This was too well known 
 to hold out to him any inducements to a frequent 
 attendance at her court, and affords an additional 
 argument for pronouncing him guiltless of bearing 
 part in the scene of duplicity which was played off 
 against Marlborough and Godolphin. The honour 
 of the statesman is of more importance to the com- 
 munity than the virtue of the man ; and, perhaps, 
 the object of our criticism would not be unwilling 
 to compound for our approbation of the secretary 
 by the condemnation of Mr. St. John. 
 
 Whether it was that adversity enforced a lesson 
 which success had never been able to inculcate, — or 
 whether, which is more likely, he felt the necessity 
 of preparing himself for an arduous struggle, and 
 regretted the time he had already lost, — certain it 
 is, that from the time he left office, his behaviour 
 underwent an entire change — a change which was, 
 indeed, but temporary in its duration, but which was 
 not the less complete in its nature and lasting in its 
 effects. It is probable that the situation which he 
 had held, and the manner in which he had fallen 
 from it, had taught him that there were many 
 branches of knowledge necessary for an efficient 
 minister of state which his devotion to pleasure had 
 
 * Stuart Papers, Macpli. vol. ii p. 533.
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, hitherto left him no leisure to acquire ; that the 
 ^' attainment of every auxiliary was necessary to the 
 
 to 1710. 
 
 A.D. 1707 acquisition of the supremacy for which he panted, 
 and to throw oflf the dependency which in his heart 
 he abhorred. No sooner was the' parliament dis- 
 solved, than St. John withdrew from the represeni 
 
 tion of the borough for which he had hitherto sat : 
 and while Harley was pursuing his well-concocted 
 schemes, he retired into the country, and employed 
 himself in the diligent prosecution of a course of study. 
 He was before inferior to few of his competitors in 
 the extent and multiplicity of his acquirements ; his 
 prominent superiority over them is to be dated from 
 this time, when that innate love of knowledge, which, 
 he says, he always felt, acquired sufficient power, by 
 coalescing with his ambition, to withdraw him for a 
 season from the field of controversy and the scenes 
 of pleasure. For two years he devoted himsdfjto 
 retirement and study ; and he ever afterwards men- 
 tioned these two years as the most pleasant and pro- 
 fitable period of his life. The evidences of deep 
 reading which are scattered throughout his works, 
 sufficiently indicate his application, and show that 
 his learning was not superficial. Generally, when he 
 quotes the sentiment of an author, he adopts his 
 words; and the frequent occurrence of passages from 
 the ancients has subjected his style to the charge of 
 pedantry. But the pedantry of St. John, if pedantry 
 it be, is not that laborious striving for display which 
 marks a shallow mind. He wrote many of his
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 103 
 
 works, in which these quotations most frequently chap. 
 occur, in places where he had not books to consult ; ^' 
 
 and we are assured that in all cases he was indebted a.d. 1707 
 for his illustrations solely to his nifiiiiQiy. That he 
 should have preserved the language of his author, 
 shows, under such circumstances, rather the strength 
 of his retention, than the labour or affectation which 
 the charge of pedantry implies. This store of learn- 
 ing, which furnished him with brilliant ideas in de- 
 bate and happy illustrations in composition, he chiefly 
 gathered, and entirely methodized, in the two years 
 during which he was lost to the political world. 
 
 But events soon occurred to draw him from his 
 retirement, and to place him again in the situation 
 for which he was so eminently qualified. The par- 
 liament from which he had been excluded consisted 
 almost entirely of Whigs, whose complete ascendency 
 had been secured by the practice, at this time general, 
 of deciding upon election petitions according to the 
 sentiments of the candidates. Secure in their ma- 
 jority, they ventured upon measures which occa- 
 sioned their ruin. It was this parliament which 
 undertook the prosecution of Sacheverell, to which 
 we before had occasion to allude when speaking of 
 the intrigues of the court. To adopt the quaint 
 expression of Bishop Burnet, " The Whigs took it 
 in their heads to roast a parson, and they did roast 
 him ; but their zeal tempted them to make the fire 
 so high that they scorched themselves." This fire, 
 which threatened destruction to those who had
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, kindled it, was, however, fed with fuel from other 
 ^' quarters. The ministers often decided upon import- 
 A.D. 1707 ant subjects without inquiring the queen's senti- 
 ^° ' ■ ments, and not unfrequently in opposition to her 
 known wishes. If Anne had the irresolution and 
 timidity, she had also some share of the obstinacy, 
 of the Stuarts ; and an independent spirit, which 
 taught her to abhor the idea of being thought a mere 
 instrument in the hands of her counsellors, made her 
 more vulnerable to the secret attacks of her court, 
 when they assailed her vanity, and described her 
 being taken to hear the progress of Sacheverell's trial 
 as being led to school to imbibe the rudiments of 
 Whig politics. Another circumstance happened, 
 which showed how diminished was the influence of 
 her old counsellor, and discovered to the world that 
 the star of Marlborough had passed its zenith. By 
 the death of Lord Essex, a colonelcy was at the 
 disposal of the crown. This Mrs. Masham requested 
 for her brother, — the same whom we have seen the 
 Duchess of Marlborough describe as " Honest Jack 
 Hill, the ragged boy she clothed and sent to school." 
 The duke declared that Hill was " good for nothing ; " 
 and wrote an urgent letter to the queen, to prevail 
 upon her to withdraw her nomination. Anne was 
 fixed in her purpose, which the personal entreaties of 
 Marlborough could not shake : the only answer he 
 obtained was one of her reiterated replies, that he 
 had better advise with his friends. 
 
 This mortification discovered that the power of
 
 LORD EOLINGBROKE. 105 
 
 the Whigs was rotten at its base ; but tlie cautious chap. 
 policy of Haiiey led him rather to retard than pre- ^' 
 
 cipitate their fall. That he had the power to dismiss a.d. 1707 
 them from office at any moment, he was well assured : 
 to avoid doing any violence to public opinion by 
 the too open exercise of that power, was now his 
 aim. But although his schemes were developed cau- 
 tiously and gradually, they were not allowed to 
 slumber. Three weeks after the defeat of the Whigs 
 in the case of Sacheverell — for a defeat it essentially 
 was* — without communicating the matter to any of 
 her ministers, the queen took the chamberlain's staff 
 from the Marquis of Kent, and gave it to the Duke 
 of Shrewsbury, who had voted for the acquittal of 
 that clergyman. This nobleman had belonged to 
 the Whig party during the last reign, but had since 
 then resided several years abroad, where he had 
 married an Italian lady, whose religion was consi- 
 dered equivocal, since she had been induced to de- 
 clare herself a protestant by the same romantic pas- 
 sion which had led her uninvited to follow the duke 
 from her home and country. A half-popish wife was 
 
 * The censure passed upon ferment, was lost by a majo- 
 him was ridiculously slight for rity of one ; the numbers being 
 an offence which was deemed fifty-nine to sixty. That he, 
 worthy of such particular no- his party, and the people, con- 
 tice, and such unusual pro- sidered his sentence as a tri- 
 ceedings against him. He umph, the bonfires and illu- 
 was suspended from preaching minations over the whole king- 
 for three years : and the pro- dom, and his well-known pro- 
 position, that during that time cession into Wales, sufficiently 
 he should be incapable of pre- testify.
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, at that time considered no slight argument against 
 ^- the honesty of her husband; and at his return the 
 A.D. 1707 duke appears to have been received with coldness 
 to 1710. ^^^ suspicion by his old friends. Notwithstanding 
 this, he supported the administration until his votes 
 upon Sacheverell's trial declared him to be a deserter 
 from their ranks. His change of principles was at- 
 tributed to a secret management between him and 
 Harley with Mrs. Masham ; and the manner in 
 which he had been thrust into office, by the dis- 
 missal of an officer of state without the advice of 
 the council, although that officer was compensated 
 for his loss by a dukedom, gave great alarm, for it 
 was immediately concluded that this was only the 
 prelude to an entire change of ministry. 
 
 But those who ruled the councils of Anne were 
 not yet prepared for so bold a measure. While she 
 was engaged in an act so opposed to them, she pre- 
 tended a deference to their wishes. She wrote a 
 letter to Godolphin, acquainting him with what she 
 had done, and expressing a hope that he would ap- 
 prove of this and all her actions.* This produced 
 a strong remonstrance from the high treasurer, which 
 served only to show how little the queen felt the 
 anxiety for the approbation of her ministry which 
 she expressed. About two months were suffered 
 to elapse before another blow was directed against 
 them ; but this had been retarded only that it might 
 be more decisive. 
 
 * Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 107 
 
 The Earl of Sunderland, whose introduction into chap. 
 the cabinet had been the most important victory of ^' 
 
 the Whiffs, was now removed ; and Lord Dartmouth ^-^^ ^'^^'^ 
 was appointed to his post. This measure was looked 
 upon as deciding the fate of the ministry, and the 
 people were loud in their applause. But the Whigs 
 still had a majority in the commons, and Anne still 
 hesitated to declare her purpose. 
 
 The near relationship of Sunderland to Marlbo- 
 rough suggested the idea that his removal was re- 
 solved upon as a personal indignity to the duke. 
 The allies, who confided in him as the great support 
 of the war, ventured to remonstrate with the queen 
 upon her determination. The monied interest, who 
 beheld in him the best pledge of successes which 
 could alone sustain the deeply mortgaged credit of 
 the country, complained ; and the governor of the 
 Bank sought an interview with her majesty, to re- 
 present to her the injuries which the measures she 
 was pursuing were likely to inflict upon the com- 
 merce of her kingdom. The queen was frightened 
 at the storm she had raised ; she hesitated and 
 temporized. She declared that she had no inten- 
 tion of making any farther changes ; and she in- 
 structed her ambassadors at the courts of her allies 
 to make declarations to the same effect. 
 
 It is probable that these declarations were in 
 some measure confided in ; otherwise it is hardly 
 possible to account for the tenacity with which the 
 ministers clung to office. Even after the dismissal
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, of Sunderland must have convinced them that they 
 ^' had lost the confidence of their mistress, and that 
 
 A.D. 1707 they were responsible for her conduct without 
 to 1710. , . , . ^ . , 
 
 having the power to influence it, they could not 
 
 resolve to retire. They looked upon Marlborough 
 
 as sufficient in himself to support any ministry ; and, 
 
 fearful lest the removal of his relation, added to the 
 
 other mortifications which he had lately experienced, 
 
 might induce him to abandon them, they wrote him 
 
 an earnest request that he would not, under any 
 
 circumstances, resign his command. 
 
 Perhaps it would be too much to attribute du- 
 plicity to the queen or her advisers at this time. It 
 is by no means clear that either contemplated the 
 entire removal of the old administration. Harley's 
 object was to gain the place, or at least the power, 
 which Godolphin then held ; and, provided that ob- 
 ject were obtained, he was not very scrupulous as to 
 the political creed of his coadjutors. He is said to 
 have observed, that the Tories had been so little in 
 office lately, and were therefore so little acquainted 
 with the details of business, that it was absolutely 
 necessary to bring over a few practical Whigs to 
 direct the subordinate offices of the administration. 
 
 With this view, while steadily pursuing his ob- 
 ject of weakening their power by removing them 
 one by one, he was engaged in negotiations with 
 those who remained. He held out the preservation 
 of the present house of commons, in which they had 
 a majority, as the reward of their compliance ; while
 
 LORD BULINGBROKE. 109 
 
 he threatened them with a dissolution, which would chap. 
 have left them in a minority, as the consequence of ^' 
 
 their refusal. But here he met with an unconquer- a.d. i707 
 able obstacle in the pretensions of his own party. 
 They thought their hour of triumph was come, and 
 they were unwilling to share any portion of their 
 prosperity with their old foes. They refused to 
 coalesce upon any terms with the Whigs ; and even 
 Harley's influence was not strong enough to neu- 
 tralize the dislike with which Anne had always re- 
 garded that party. 
 
 But had the Tories been more ready to strengthen 
 themselves with the more practised talents of their 
 opponents, the scheme would have had' small chance 
 of success. In vain did Harley assure the Whigs 
 that* " a Whig game was intended at bottom :" 
 the treacherous part he had already played, had 
 given them sufficient reason to distrust any fact 
 which depended only on his assertion ; and they 
 chose rather to retire from power, than to acknow- 
 ledge as their chief one who had already betrayed 
 them. 
 
 Upon the failure of his negotiations, it was re- 
 solved to effect the entire removal of the ministry. 
 The mask was suddenly dropped ;f Godolphin was 
 
 * Coxe's Life of Walpole. ward, and Mr. Boyle, secre- 
 
 t Swift at this time writes tary of state, are all turned 
 
 thus : — "I hear the report out to-day. I never remem- 
 
 confirmed of removals. My her such bold steps taken by a 
 
 Lord President Somers, the court : I am almost shocked at 
 
 Duke of Devonshire, lord ste- it, though I did not care if they
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, dismissed from his office, and the treasury was 
 V* put in commission.* Thus fell the Godolphin ad- 
 A.D. 1707 ministration, which, composed — T5f-^the~~"Tnost ta- 
 to 1710. jgjjted men in the nation, had extended their coun- 
 try's power abroad, and purified her institutions at 
 home. 
 
 Bigoted to no party, the leaders of this ministry 
 had veered round the political compass as they found 
 the one party or the other more inclined to advance 
 or oppose their principal measures. Their personal 
 abilities require no comment. If the talents of 
 Marlborough for the council are eclipsed by his 
 achievements in the field, posterity must allow, that 
 the mind which could acquire and hold almost ab- 
 solute power in England — which could persuade suc- 
 cessive parliaments to vote supplies, unprecedented 
 in their amount, for a war often doubtful in its 
 necessity, and faint in its promises of advantage — ■ 
 and which could form and keep together an alliance 
 of independent princes, with separate objects, and 
 sometimes jarring interests — needed not the laurels 
 
 were all hanged. We shall break his staff was delivered 
 
 have a strange winter here, by an ordinary livery servant, 
 
 between the struggles of a The treatment he received 
 
 cunning, provoked, discarded might well justify the violent 
 
 party, and the triumphs of one expressions which he used, as 
 
 in power." — Journal to Stella, he brake the staff of office and 
 
 Sept. 20, 1710. threw it into the fire: but these, 
 
 * Godolphin was upon this when carefully reported to the 
 
 occasion treated with great queen, were not calculated to 
 
 indignity. The command to recall her favour.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. Ill 
 
 gathered at Blenheim and Ramilies to designate it chap. 
 as of no ordinary power or calibre. ^' 
 
 Of the talents of his faithful coadjutor, Godolphin, a.d. no? 
 we have an unquestionable testimonial in the con- 
 fidence which was reposed in him by the monied 
 interest of the country ; a class of persons that the 
 national debt, which had already acquired some 
 bulk, had lately raised into much greater importance 
 than they had before enjoyed. So great was their 
 confidence in this minister's talents as a financier, 
 that the majority of them made the public credit 
 personal to him, and, scrupling to advance money 
 upon the credit of the nation, offered it upon his 
 single word.* 
 
 It falls not within the province of the biographer 
 of Bolingbroke to criticise with minuteness the 
 conduct of this administration ; but no one who can 
 estimate the mutual advantages which have accrued 
 to the two kingdoms from the union of England 
 and Scotland, can look back upon that measure with- 
 out a sentiment of admiration for the men who, 
 against the formidable obstacles of national pre- 
 judice and party opposition, brought their great de- 
 sign to a successful issue. 
 
 That their conduct upon all occasions will not 
 warrant the high eulogium which a reference to this 
 single part of it would tempt posterity to pass upon 
 them, must be admitted. And perhaps we must also 
 
 * Coxe's Walpole.
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHyVP. agree with St. John, that, during the latter part of 
 ' their existence, they forfeited much of the claim they 
 
 '^L: 
 
 A,D. 1707 had established upon the gratitude of their country. 
 While he continued with them, his activity was 
 second to none ; and he is fully entitled to share the 
 praise of every beneficial measure which was carried 
 while he held office. While labouring with them, he 
 was zealous in the service of his country ; but it 
 /y would be folly to ascribe any higher motive for his 
 y'n^^i \ # desertion than adherence to his party and a view 
 I ^ ' to his own interest. Had he remained, since his 
 
 authority was but secondary, he must have concurred 
 in the measures which were afterwards taken, and 
 which he then forcibly opposed and afterwards con- 
 demned. The admirer of Bolingbroke may there- 
 fore be glad to find, that if he acted from party 
 spirit, he might defend his conduct upon a nobler 
 principle, — that the claims of his party were in 
 unison with the dictates of his conscience. 
 
 Of those errors of the Godolphin administration 
 which succeeded the secession of St. John, some 
 were mere instances of bad policy, others were fatal 
 mistakes. Some, like the prosecution of Sacheverell, 
 were injurious only to themselves ; but there were 
 others which fell with a blighting influence upon the 
 interests of their country. Among these, none was 
 so indefensible in its motive or ruinous in its conse- 
 quences as the determination which was taken to 
 carry on the war, when such terms were offered as
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 113 
 
 deprived the allies of all just pretence for the blood- chap. 
 shed and losses which ensued. ^ • 
 
 The immense supplies which had been granted, to a.d. 1707 
 an amount then unprecedented in our history; the 'o ^'i^- 
 popularity of the war, the excellence of our armies, 
 and the talents of our generals, — had obtained for the 
 allies successes which in every seat of this extended 
 war were now become as decisive as they were glo- 
 rious. In Italy, the fortune of Prince Eugene had 
 proved predominant ; and the Duke of Orleans, his 
 opponent, was driven from before the walls of Turin, 
 and compelled to evacuate all his conquests. In 
 Spain, the siege of Barcelona, so gloriously raised, 
 and a passage to Madrid laid open, were decisive of 
 the fortune of the campaign ; while in Flanders, 
 the disastrous defeats of the Elector of Bavaria and 
 Marshal Villeroi had shaken the firmness of Louis, 
 and compelled him to sue in earnest for a peace. 
 He offered all that the allies had in the first instance 
 contemplated, or could now justly demand. He 
 would have yielded all the Italian provinces of Spain 
 to the house of Austria, — the very portion of that 
 kingdom which their narrow policy had originally 
 prompted them to desire. He offered full satisfaction 
 to England and to Holland for the insults the one, 
 and the injuries the other, had received ; and he 
 proposed an equitable adjustment of the claims of 
 the other allies. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive any valid argument which 
 ministers could advance for continuing to shed the 
 
 VOL. L I
 
 114 MEMOII^S OF 
 
 CHAP, blood of the people, and to mortgage the resources of 
 ^' the country, in the prosecution of a war which now 
 
 A.D. 1707 had as its only pretence the vague and ambiguous ob- 
 ■ ject of humbling the power of France. They did not, 
 or would not see, that in humbling the power of 
 France they were inflicting a deadly wound upon 
 their own. The gashes which France received were 
 deep, but they were open : they looked terrific at the 
 moment of the blow, and paralyzed her efforts. But 
 their effect was temporary; the faintness passed away, 
 and her vigour returned. Not so with her opponent : 
 in dealing the blow she had exceeded her strength, 
 and the exertion produced an inward strain which is 
 still felt, now that the wounds of her enemy are healed 
 and forgotten. 
 
 The censure of unnecessarily continuing a destruc- 
 tive war must fall chiefly upon Marlborough, who 
 conducted the negotiations ; but it must be in some 
 degree shared by the Tories, who, in their anxiety 
 tb remove their most powerful enemy from the court, 
 obtained his appointment to an office which he, from 
 his private interest and inveterate prejudice, was of 
 all men the least adapted to discharge. In the con- 
 duct of war, the British lion was as wary in his pre- 
 parations as he was bold and crushing in his spring : 
 but in peace he saw only the entire destruction of 
 his already waning influence^ — he beheld only the loss 
 of all means of maintaining his profuse expenditure ; 
 and perhaps he fancied that he saw his country 
 deprived of the advantages she had a right to expect
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 115 
 
 from her success. Accordingly, we find him insisting chap. 
 upon preliminaries which manifested an intention of ^' 
 destroying all hopes of peace, and treating the French a.d. 1707 
 ambassadors with an insolence which was as disgrace- ^° *^^^' 
 ful to himself as it was injurious to his country. 
 
 Marlborough's insatiate greediness of money was 
 the constant theme of his enemies ; and he gave them (jv 
 
 too many occasions to renew the charge. An anec- ^ M- 
 
 dote is related of the Earl of Peterborough, highly |j ^ 
 
 illustrative of the public feeling with regard to the 
 conduct of Marlborough in pecuniary matters. This 
 facetious nobleman was once taken by the mob for 
 the duke ; and being about to be roughly treated by 
 these admirers of summary justice, he addressed 
 them in these words : " Gentlemen, I can convinceV 
 you by two reasons that I am not the duke. In I .-yx " 
 the first place, I have only five guineas in my pocket ;| 
 and in the second, they are heartily at your service./ 
 So, throwing his purse among them, he pursued his 
 way amid their loud acclamations.* It must be re- 
 membered, however, that the earl was noted for his 
 personal enmity to Marlborough. 
 
 The opinion of his avarice must have been strong 
 among his contemporaries, before the French minis- 
 ter would have dared to offer him a direct bribe to 
 induce him to grant more favourable terms. His 
 admirers confess his weakness by celebrating his 
 resistance of the temptation ; but the people de- 
 clared, that no bribe the French king could offer 
 * Orford's Noble Authors, Parke's edit. 
 
 I 2
 
 to 1710. 
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, could equal the sums which he annually derived 
 
 ^' from the war. They were urgent for peace, and 
 
 A.D. 1707 vehemently exclaimed against a contest which they 
 
 declared was prosecuted only to gratify the ambition 
 
 and avarice of a single man. 
 
 The imperious conduct of the allies, governed as 
 they were by the will of Marlborough, produced the 
 consequences which were anticipated. The French 
 king was destitute of resources, and his people were 
 reduced to extreme distress ; yet no sooner did 
 they learn that their monarch, who had given law 
 to Europe, was required to stoop to concessions 
 which were humiliating to himself and inglorious to 
 France, than they answered his appeal with an 
 enthusiasm which the most brilliant success could 
 not have enhanced. The people flocked in thou- 
 sands to his standard ; their very distresses contri- 
 buting to increase their loyalty. 
 
 Louis had indeed little to offer. His treasury 
 was destitute of money, and his magazines were but 
 slenderly supplied with corn, but what little there was 
 in the country, was there ; and the peasantry found 
 in his service a refuge from the absolute starvation 
 which menaced them at home. This account of the 
 state of his kingdom serves, more than any argu- 
 ment drawn from its external relations, to show that 
 Louis was at this time sincere in his desire for a 
 permanent peace : and it serves also to account for 
 the strenuous efforts which enabled France, when 
 she was considered to be prostrate at the feet of the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 117 
 
 allies, suddenly to resume the struggle, to wrest from chap. 
 them the advantages they had gained, and finally to ^' 
 oblige them to conclude a peace upon terms incom- a.d. no? 
 parably less advantageous than those which they ^° 
 now refused. 
 
 The abrupt termination of these negotiations was 
 little adapted to pour oil upon those waves of political 
 agitation which the prosecution of Sacheverell had 
 called into being at home. The ministry had lost 
 the favour of the people ; and Anne knew that the 
 mob which stopped her carriage upon her passage to 
 the house, and saluted her with " God bless your 
 majesty ! we hope you are for Dr. Sacheverell and 
 the church," spoke the sentiments of the majority 
 of her subjects. When she found her own private 
 predilections favoured, not only by her secret coun- 
 sellors, but also by the public voice, it is not sur- 
 prising that she discarded a party which she had 
 always disliked.
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Formation of the Neio Administration. — Its Difficulties. — Disso- 
 lution of Parliament. — St. John returned for Berks. — ' The 
 Examiner ' established. — St. Joh^is Letter. — Answered by Earl 
 Cou'per. 
 
 CHAP. 1 HE continuance of the war had chiefly effected 
 
 '. the unpopularity of the old administration ; the pro- 
 
 A.D. 1710. jjjigg Qf peace was the cause of the popular rejoicing 
 which welcomed the new. During the latter period 
 of the existence of the Godolphin government, Harley 
 had been engaged in negotiations with France ; and 
 St. John had occasionally ventured from his literary 
 retirement to give effect to his proposals. This de- 
 sign, which Harley was compelled to avow in order 
 to preserve his popularity, was of great injury to him 
 in his secret intrigues with the Whigs, by whose 
 assistance he hoped to keep in check St. John and 
 Harcourt, whom he already looked upon with jea- 
 lousy. 
 
 The Whigs however were faithful to Marlbo- 
 rough and war ; and Harley was obliged to form his 
 ministry entirely from the Tories. In apportioning 
 the offices, he attempted to confine St. John to that 
 which he had before held ; a design which, consi-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 119 
 
 derins: the devotedness with which the latter had chap. 
 
 adhered to him when dismissed, is creditable rather ^^' 
 to his foresight than his gratitude. He had the a.d. i710. 
 same views with regard to Harcourt, who was to be 
 restored to his place of attorney-general^ while St. 
 John was to be reinstated in his office of secretary 
 at war.* 
 
 But both St. John and Harcourt knew the value 
 of their assistance too well to accept offices which 
 they felt to be inferior to their merits. They di- 
 rectly refused to join the new ministry upon such 
 terms ; and as their party seconded them in their 
 opposition, Harley was obliged to give way : St. 
 Johtt-w^j*^.appQiirted-.se€refeary-of,s.tate, and the seals 
 were at length given to Harcourt. Harley himself 
 was appointed one of the commissioners of the trea- 
 sury, and chancellor and under-treasurer of the ex- 
 chequer. Nominally, therefore, there was no pre- 
 mier. It was only his known influence over the 
 queen, and the deference whi'ch was paid him by 
 his party, which pointed Harley out as the head 
 of the administration. 
 
 The administration now stood thus : — Lord Dart- 
 mouth and St. John, secretaries of state, instead of 
 Lord Sunderland and Mr. Boyle. The office of 
 Lord Godolphin, who was removed from the trea- 
 sury, put into commission : Earl Pawlet, first com- 
 missioner ; Harley, Mansel, Paget, and Benson, the 
 others. Mr. Harley, chancellor of the exchequer ; 
 
 * Stuart Papers.
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, an office which Godolphin had also held. The Eaii 
 ^^- of Rochester, president of the council, instead of 
 A.D. 1710. Lord Somers. Sir Simon Harcourt, attorney-ge- 
 neral, instead of Sir James Montagu ; and the 
 Duke of Shrewsbury, lord chamberlain, instead of 
 the Marquis of Kent. Soon afterwards. Sir S. Har- 
 court was made lord chancellor, with the title of 
 Baron Harcourt, instead of Lord Cowper, who, not- 
 withstanding several efforts to retain him, insisted 
 upon resigning. Marlborough was continued in the 
 command of the army ; and although several of the 
 Whig lords followed the example of the Earls of 
 Orford and Wharton, and threw up their commis- 
 sions, the duke appears to have reconciled himself 
 to his altered fortunes. 
 
 We have an account of the understanding which 
 took place between him and the new ministry in 
 the words of St. John. In a letter to his confiden- 
 tial agent, Mr. Drummond, he says : " He" (the 
 duke) " has been told by the Duke of Shrewsbury, by 
 Mr. Haiiey, and by your humble servant, that since 
 the queen agrees to his commanding the army, it 
 is our duty, and in the highest degree our interest, 
 to support him, if possible, better than he ever yet 
 was ; and that he may depend upon this. He has 
 seen in other instances that we are able to see and 
 to pursue that which was right ; why should he 
 think us capable of judging upon this occasion so 
 wrong ? He was told at first that he had nothing 
 to reproach us with ; that his wife, my Lord Go- 
 dolphin, and himself had thrown the queen's favour
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 121 
 
 away ; and that he ought not to be angry if other chap. 
 people had taken it up. He was told that his true ^^^• 
 interest consisted in getting rid of his wife, who was a.d. 171o. 
 grown to be irreconcileable with the queen, as soon 
 as he could, and with the best grace which he could : 
 instead of this, he teased the queen, and made the 
 utmost effort to keep this woman in her places : he 
 never brought the key* till he had but three days 
 given him to do it in, and till he found that a longer 
 delay was not to be hoped for from the queen's 
 resolution ; however, he now pretends to make a 
 merit of this resignation. He has been told that he 
 must draw a line between all that is past and all 
 that is to come, and that he must begin entirely 
 upon a new foot ; that if he looked back to make 
 complaints, he would have more retorted upon him 
 than it was possible to answer ; that if he would 
 make his former conduct the rule of his future be- 
 haviour, he would render his interests incompatible 
 with those of the queen. What is the effect of all 
 this plain dealing ? He submits, he yields, he pro- 
 mises to comply. 
 
 " We shall do what we can to support him in 
 the command of the army, without betraying our 
 mistress ; and, unless he is infatuated, he will help 
 us in this design ; for you must know, that the mo- 
 ment he leaves the service and loses the protection 
 of the court, such scenes will open as no victories 
 will varnish over." 
 
 * The symbol of her office as keepei* of the privy purse.
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. The first effort of the new ministry was to secure 
 ^'^' themselves in the power they had gained. But this 
 A.D. 1710. was a task of no small difficulty. The house of 
 lords was against them ; in the commons their op- 
 ponents had a great majority, and the monied in- 
 terest threatened to embarrass all their measures, by 
 withdrawing the credit they had extended to Go- 
 dolphin. The Whigs still flattered themselves that 
 there were men in the ministry who would never 
 consent to what they considered the extreme measure 
 of a dissolution ; and while the commons continued 
 with them, they dreaded but little any accession of 
 strength to their opponents in any other quarter. 
 The pecuniary embarrassments of the ministry at 
 starting were great, and even critical ; so that their 
 best friends doubted whether they could sustain 
 themselves against them.* But Harley contrived 
 to divide the City interest, and by means of those 
 arts of petty diplomacy in which he was so skilled, 
 obtained a seasonable supply.f 
 
 Having thus obtained resources, without which no 
 government could be carried on, his next point was 
 
 * Astle Papers. to whom this was addressed, 
 
 f It was upon this occasion was a party little liable to be 
 
 that he published the tract so influenced by mere argument ; 
 
 celebrated at that time, called and it required some strong 
 
 *' An Essay upon Public Cre- measures, among which was 
 
 dit," which, although written that South Sea scheme which 
 
 under the direction of Harley, afterwards occasioned such 
 
 and generally attributed to extensive losses, to convince 
 
 him, is probably the produc- them that it was their interest 
 
 tion of the celebrated Daniel to give him their support. 
 De Foe. The monied interest,
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 123 
 
 to neutralize an opposition which no ministry will chap. 
 be ever able to resist. Notwithstanding the confi- ' 
 
 dent predictions of the Whigs, that the present par- '^■^- 1'^^^ 
 liament would be continued, it was suddenly dis- 
 solved ; and with it vanished their power and hopes 
 of office during this reign. 
 
 It was now that the sudden change in the popular 
 mind influenced the public conduct of the country. 
 While the votes of the commons were for war, the 
 voice of the people was rather loud than influential. 
 The general election restored to them their import- 
 ance. Their indignation against the Whigs, who were 
 considered as identified with the war, was at this time 
 seasonably augmented by some reverses which Marl- 
 borough sustained. The cry against them became 
 louder and more violent, until at last the Whig can- 
 didates in many places dared not appear upon the 
 hustings, and their friends were intimidated from 
 voting in their favour. It is said that this decided 
 triumph of the Tories was not in all respects agree- 
 able to the new managers ; out that, having gained 
 their chief aim by removing the late lord treasurer 
 and his friends, they rather designed to hold the 
 balance between the parties. They wished only 
 such a majority of the high-church as might counte- 
 nance their new schemes, and were desirous of an 
 opposition sufficiently powerful to overawe their 
 friends, and prevent their cabalhng among them- 
 selves, or making any of their favourite motions 
 against toleration. But if this was the intention of 
 
 * Swift's Journal to Stella.
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the minister, the result of the elections showed that 
 ^^' he had either failed in his computations or his en- 
 
 A.D. 1710. deavours. Many causes came in aid of the unpo- 
 pularity of the Whigs to exclude them from the 
 new parliament. They had imagined there was no 
 design on foot for a dissolution, and had rested in 
 supine indifference, while their opponents were ac- 
 tively employed in canvassing the very places for 
 which they sat. The clergy also, who considered 
 themselves identified with Sacheverell and attacked 
 through him, kept up the outcry against his prose- 
 cutors, and the churches rang with violent invectives 
 against the Whigs. The historian accuses the in- 
 ferior clergy of violating, upon this occasion, all the 
 common duties of gratitude, and of strenuously op- 
 posing their patrons and benefactors.* That much 
 bitterness of feeling prevailed, and much violence 
 existed, is doubtless true : but not all the excesses 
 of the people in conducting the elections could 
 disgrace them, so much as the conduct of the com- 
 mons, in determining the appeals, did their repre- 
 sentatives. In every preceding meeting of a new 
 parliament, we have had occasion to notice the un- 
 blushing partiality which was exercised upon de- 
 ciding these questions : and this is not the last 
 instance of it. The fall of Sir R. Walpole, long 
 afterwards, was determined by the loss of his usual 
 majority upon an election petition.f 
 
 * Tindal. trying election cases which 
 
 t The excellent method of at present prevails originated
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 125 
 
 Among the competitors St. John had come off chap, 
 with great success : he was not only elected for his ^^- 
 
 old borough of Wootton Bassett, but also for the a.d. nio. 
 county of Berks, for which he elected to sit. 
 
 One of the most efficient measures which the 
 Tories had taken to advance their popularity, was to 
 gain the support of all the men of talent and con- 
 troversial abilities whom their patronage could allure. 
 About this period the power of the press had become 
 greater than had ever before been known in this 
 country. Occasional circumstances had indeed fre- 
 quently given vast influence to particular produc- 
 tions ; and the tracts of Marprelate, and other 
 fictitious champions, exercised a power over the 
 politics of their day which has deserved the notice 
 of history. But it is from about this period that we 
 are to date the influence which periodical political 
 publications have since exercised over the public 
 mind. Before this time, such attempts were isolated 
 and occasional ; henceforward they became uniform 
 and systematic. Regular periodical papers were 
 established ; and those who from station and talent 
 ranked first in the nation, contributed to sustain the 
 reputation of the organ of their party. Under the 
 
 with Mr. Grenville, who de- 10 Geo. III. c. 16,) has re- 
 serves all the credit of abro- quired others to amend and 
 gating the partial and uncon- perpetuate it ; but it contained 
 stitutional mode of trial which all the fundamental provisions 
 was formerly used. The act, upon this point which expe- 
 which goes by his name, (the rience has since approved.
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, transparent disguise of an assumed name, they could 
 ^^' in its pages enforce their principles with an energy 
 
 A.D. 1710. which would have been judged indecorous in tlie 
 houses of the legislature; and the custom of the 
 time allowed a coarseness and personality in their 
 articles, that lent a raciness to their style calculated 
 to attract the attention and gratify the coarser taste 
 of the people. 
 
 The hero of these contests was Swift, who is too 
 well known, both as a poet and a politician, to re- 
 quire any notice at our hands. His talents had been 
 seen and appreciated by parley, who introduced him 
 to St. John;* and he was always afterwards the 
 steadj[^^^ortei^an(l-XQUstant com^nion^ of jthese 
 ministers. The genius of Prior and the cutting 
 satire of Atterburyf were exercised in the same 
 
 * Swift was introduced to in his " Memoirs relating to 
 Harley at this critical period the Change in the Queen's 
 by a commission, with which Ministry." 
 lie had been intrusted by the t Dr- Atterbury, afterwards 
 primate of Ireland. His ob- bishop of Rochester, was de- 
 ject was to solicit the queen scribed in the house of con- 
 fer a remission of the first vocation as " Vir in nullo lite- 
 fruits and twentieth parts to rarum genere hospes, in ple- 
 the Irish clergy. His Tale of / risque artibus et studiis diu et 
 a Tub, published six years be- feliciter exercitatus, in maxime 
 fore, had given him notoriety ; perfectis literarum disciplinis 
 and Harley was not slow to perfectissimus." It were well 
 see the value of such an ally, for the fame of Atterbury if 
 Swift was not more consistent an equally merited eulogium 
 than most of his coadjutors. could be passed upon his pri- 
 Some account of his conver- vate character and sentiments, 
 sion to Toryism will be found But an irregular mode of liv-
 
 LORD BOLTNGBROKE. 127 
 
 cause ; and, directed by the inaster-mind of St. John, chap. 
 they formed the chief leaders of a literary band, who ^^- 
 
 shot their light shafts against the Whigs, and, scat- a.d. nio. 
 tered around the cabinet, defended every pass against 
 an enemy which could number among their chiefs a 
 Walpole, an Addison, and a Steele. 
 
 The controversial talents of all these eminent 
 men were concentrated in the production of a 
 weekly paper, called the Examiner. In this the 
 views of the new ministry were gradually developed, 
 their interests were espoused, and their measures 
 defended. But the paper which engi-ossed the at- 
 tention of the public, and superseded for the mo- 
 ment every other topic of conversation, was a com- 
 munication of St. John, which has ever since been 
 well known by the title of " Mr. St. John's Letter 
 to the Examiner." In this letter he forcibly paints 
 the error of the late ministry in neglecting the proper 
 moment to obtain an honourable peace. He writes, 
 " To restore the Spanish monarchy to the house of 
 Austria, who by their own supineness and the per- 
 fidy of the French had lost it, and to regain a bar- 
 rier for Holland, which lay naked and open to the 
 insults of France, were the wise and generous mo- 
 tives which engaged England in the present war. 
 
 ing and a loose style of think- exception perhaps of Swift, 
 
 ing seem to have been the who was as offensive in his 
 
 prevailing features in the cha- language as his companions 
 
 racter of the men who com- were in their acts and senti- 
 
 posed St. John's set; with the ments.
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. We engaged as confederates, but we were made to 
 ^'^' proceed as principals — principals in expense of blood 
 
 A.D. 1710. and treasure, whilst hardly a second place in re- 
 spect and dignity is allowed to us. 
 
 "In the year 1706, the last of these two motives 
 was effectually answered by the reduction of the 
 Netherlands, or might have been so by the conces- 
 ' sions which it is notorious that the enemy offered. 
 But the first motive remained still in its full force ; 
 and we were told, that though the barrier of Holland 
 was secured, the trade of Britain and the balance 
 of power in Europe would still be precarious. Spain, 
 therefore was to be conquered before we laid down 
 our arms ; and we were made to expect that the 
 whole attention of our ministers would be applied to 
 that part of the war. Like men of resigned under- 
 standings, we acquiesced, and flattered ourselves 
 that since Holland had been secured in the first 
 place, Britain would be taken care of in the second. 
 But, alas ! these expectations, like many others, 
 have failed us." He contends that the brilliant suc- 
 cesses and decisive victories which had been since 
 obtained, tended in no respect to advance the re- 
 maining ostensive object of the war. " Just enough 
 has been done," he says, " to serve as a pretence for 
 estimates and demands of supplies. Towns have 
 been taken, and battles have been won ; the mob 
 has huzzaed round bonfires ; the Stentor of the 
 Chapel has strained his throat in the gallery, and 
 the Stentor of Sarum" (the celebrated Dr. Burnet,
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 129 
 
 bishop of Salisbury, one of St. John's most able op- chap. 
 ponents), " has deafened his audience from the pulpit. ^^' 
 
 In the mean while, the French king has withdrawn a.d. nio. 
 his troops from Spain, and has put it out of his 
 power to restore the monarchy to us, was he re- 
 duced low enough really to desire to do it. The 
 Duke of Anjou has had leisure enough to take off 
 those whom he suspected, to confirm his friends, to 
 regulate his revenues, to increase and form his 
 troops, and, above all, to rouse that spirit in the 
 Spanish nation which a succession of lazy and indo- 
 lent princes had lulled asleep." < 
 
 He proceeds to argue, that if the war continues 
 much longer, the French king will find a powerful 
 ally in the sovereign who had hitherto depended for 
 existence only upon succours from France : that 
 the Dutch, although they were eager to continue a 
 war in which all the resources of England were 
 drained, in order to increase and strengthen their 
 territory, yet avoided the payment of their stipu- 
 lated contingency. The emperor, (he says,) having 
 already obtained the advantages which he wished, 
 would easily abandon his relative, and Britain might 
 expect to remain exhausted of men and money — to 
 see her trade divided amongst her neighbours, her 
 revenues anticipated even to future generations, and 
 to have this only glory left her — that she had proved 
 a farm to the bank, a province to Holland, and a 
 jest to the whole world. He argues, from a review 
 of these circumstances, that the King of France must, 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, from the errors of the ministry which directed the 
 ^^' affairs of the kingdom to this crisis, find himself 
 A.D. 1710. in a situation to demand higher terms ; and he 
 proceeds to assign farther reasons for his pre- 
 tensions, from the state of domestic affairs. He 
 assigns as a cause of the change which the senti- 
 ments of the people had lately undergone, and the 
 excitement which it had occasioned, the tyranny of 
 the Duchess of Marlborough over her mistress. " By 
 an excess of goodness," (he is speaking of the queen,) 
 " she delighted to raise some of her servants to the 
 highest degrees of riches, of power, and of honour ; 
 and in this only instance can she be said to have 
 grieved any of her subjects. 
 
 " The rule which she had prescribed to these 
 persons as the measure of their conduct was soon 
 departed from. But so unable were they to asso- 
 ciate with men of honester principles than them- 
 selves, that the sovereign authority was parcelled 
 out among a faction, and made the purchase of in- 
 demnity for an offending minister. Instead of the 
 mild influence of a gracious queen governing by law, 
 we soon felt the miserable consequences of subjection 
 to the will of an arbitrary junto, and to the caprice 
 of an insolent woman. 
 
 " Unhappy nation ! which, expecting to be go- 
 verned by the best, fell under the tyranny of the 
 worst of her sex ! But now, thanks be to God ! that 
 fury, who broke loose — who broke loose to execute 
 the vengeance of Heaven on a sinful people, is
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 131 
 
 restrained, and the royal hand is reached out to chap. 
 chain up the plague." ^'i- 
 
 Whatever we may think of the cause which this a.d. nio. 
 letter was written to advocate, there can be but 
 one sentiment upon such unmeasured abuse, poured 
 upon a lady whose husband was at that moment 
 engaged abroad in the service of his country. That 
 the Duchess of Marlborough, like all other court 
 favourites, in some instances abused the power she 
 had obtained, is doubtless the fact : but to represent 
 her as " a plague," and " a fury broke loose to ex- 
 ecute the vengeance of Heaven on a sinful people," 
 is a strained hyperbole which nothing but the in- 
 discriminating hate of faction could have suggested. 
 St. John's gallantry and love of truth were evidently 
 not proof against his desire of rhetorical effect ; and 
 he has calumniated the duchess, by calling her the 
 worst of her sex, merely that he might flatter his 
 mistress in antithesis, by styling her the best. 
 
 This was the first prominent production of St. 
 John as a political writer, and it had all the success 
 which the exquisite ability it displays promised. It 
 appeared during the progress of the elections ; and 
 so sensible was its efi'ect upon the minds of the 
 people, that the Whigs put forward their most trusted 
 champions to neutralize its influence. Manwayring 
 in the Medley, and Addison in the Whig Examiner, 
 put a lance in rest against the new adventurer. Sir 
 Richard Steele, under the names of Isaac Bickerstaff 
 and the Censor, mingled in the fray. But the Tory 
 
 K 2
 
 132 • MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, was supported by the favour of the spectators ; and, 
 ^^' however signal might have been his defeat, they 
 
 A.D. 1710. never would have believed their favourite beaten. 
 St. John, however, was well able to maintain his 
 ground even in a field where such men as these dis- 
 puted ; and so important was the contest deemed, 
 that Earl Cowper, who yet held the seals, intermitted 
 his labours as a judge to assume the task of con- 
 troversy. His answer is in the form of a letter to 
 Isaac BickerstafF, published in the Tatler ; and this 
 tract, and that which occasioned it, — exhibiting, as 
 Sir Walter Scott observes,* the singular picture of 
 two statesmen, each at the head of their respective 
 parties, condescending to become correspondents of 
 the conductors of the periodical writings on politics, 
 — afford a sure proof of the extensive influence 
 which these writings must have acquired over the 
 mind of the public. 
 
 The chancellor, in his reply, attempts to sow dis- 
 sension in the Tory camp, by showing how little 
 the views of Harley and St. John were in accordance 
 with those of the ultra members of their own party. 
 In this he was doubtless correct. These ministers 
 never scrupled to express their contempt for Dr. 
 SachevereU, and the principles to which he was 
 deemed a martyr : and the little patronage that 
 puppet of their faction ever received at their hands, 
 was granted rather to the coarse wit of Swift, than 
 
 * Somers' Tracts.
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 133 
 
 to their gratitude for the advantages they had reaped chap. 
 from his prosecution. ^^' 
 
 The earl turns with justice upon St. John the a.d. nio. 
 accusation of governing the queen by court intrigue. 
 It was rather a bold method of attack, to revile the 
 Whigs for maintaining their power by the agency 
 of a woman, and to follow their patroness with 
 reproaches after her influence had ceased — when 
 we find that the accusation came from men who had 
 gained their ascendency by the same means, and by 
 the use of an instrument immeasurably more base. 
 While St. John was pouring forth his invective upon 
 the duchess as the worst of her sex, did it never 
 occur to him, with how much more force such an 
 epithet would apply to the woman who owed her 
 very means of existence to her bounty, yet insidi- 
 ously supplanted and then openly insulted her ? The 
 earl had some reason to accuse the writer who 
 could praise the creature, yet revile the benefactress, 
 with being intoxicated with the fumes of his own 
 oratory. 
 
 The chancellor's defence of the continuance of 
 the war is not so good : perhaps the position he had 
 to guard was more open to attack. Addison, who 
 had preceded him, had gathered few laurels in the 
 contest ; and the earl was content to throw out 
 vague charges of Jacobitism, and to magnify the 
 terrors of French ambition. 
 
 We have dwelt with more minuteness upon this
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, production of St. John, because it exhibits him as 
 ^'^- placing himself at one stride at the head of all the 
 
 A.D. 1710. party writers of the day ; calling into action by his 
 attack the most reserved force of his opponents, 
 and, if the suffrages of the majority be allowed to 
 decide the victory, inflicting upon them by one blow 
 a signal and decisive defeat.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 135 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Measures of the New Ministry — Debate upon the War in Spain. 
 — Investigation of the Public Accounts. — St. John's Speech. — 
 Commencement of the Negotiations for Peace. — Condition of 
 France and Spain. 
 
 OOME measures were of course to be taken to chap. 
 justify the entire change of ministry which the ^^^' 
 queen had made. In the house of lords, an inquiry ^d. 1711. 
 was instituted into the conduct of the Spanish war ; 
 and the disastrous battle of Ahnanza was eagerly 
 seized as a theme upon which much censure might 
 be poured forth. The Earl of Peterborough, who 
 had been superseded in his command by the Earl of 
 Galway, was by no means disinclined to enter into the 
 views of the new ministry. Upon the evidence they 
 obtained from him, the lords made a representation 
 to the queen, in which they declared, that by not sup- 
 plying the deficiencies of the men given by parlia- 
 ment for the war in Spain, the late ministry greatly 
 neglected that service wliich was of the greatest 
 importance.* They attributed to their mismanage- 
 ment the battle of Almanza, and all the disasters by 
 which it was followed ; and passed a vote of thanks 
 
 * Pari. Hist. vi. 997.
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, to the Earl of Peterborough for the conduct which 
 ^^^' had influenced the ministry to supersede him. 
 A.D. 1711. If the justice of these votes was doubtful, their 
 usefulness to the new ministry was sufficiently evi- 
 dent. A disastrous battle was a misfortune which 
 the people could well appreciate ; and they are sel- 
 dom critically accurate in fixing the due portion of 
 blame upon the parties who deserve it. The resolu- 
 tions of the lords were generally approved, although 
 they were very partially supported by the evidence 
 upon wliich they were professedly founded. The 
 Duke of Buckingham only said, what the rest of his 
 party thought and acted upon, when he declared, 
 that they had the majority and would use it, as he 
 had observed done by others when they had it on 
 their side.* 
 
 The commons, with the same design, instituted 
 an inquiry into the management of the revenue: and 
 the public were astonished by the bold declaration, 
 that there were upwards of thirty-five millions of the 
 public money unaccounted for. The debate occurred 
 upon a motion for a committee of inquiry. To the 
 defence which the few remaining friends of the 
 Whigs set up, and to the eloquent vindication of 
 himself which the Earl of Godolphin had delivered 
 in the lords, St. John replied : " Some perhaps may 
 wonder that any man should be found so resolute 
 and magnanimous as to expose himself and his own 
 safety to dangers at this time, in support of the de- 
 
 * Burnet.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE, 137 
 
 dining state of our government and religion ; but chap. 
 it is a much greater object of wonder, that any man ^^^^- 
 
 within this house should be so bold as to oppose an a.d. i7ii. 
 inquiry into the public money, when, if this should 
 be neglected, our kingdom and government cannot 
 stand. I believe no news was ever more acceptable 
 to the people of England, than that the public ac- 
 counts were to be settled. Who can be a friend to 
 these men, but such as are either enemies to their 
 country, or would themselves plunder the treasury ? 
 Though in prosecuting those who have had the 
 management of affairs during the war, I may be 
 moved with no less contempt than hatred ; yet I 
 would rather have them dismissed with condign 
 punishment than contempt. But among all their 
 odious acts and dispositions, there is not one that 
 appears to me so intolerable, as that they do not 
 now endeavour to ruin us and the church by means 
 of their thieves and usurers only ; nor yet by the 
 agency of wretches abandoned from an innate im- 
 probity, — desperate through want, or adorned by 
 rapacity and the fortune of war with the spoils of 
 all nations ; — but through the instrumentality of men 
 distinguished for humanity and mercy : and those 
 whom they have not yet been able to ruin by their 
 taxes, their rapine, their violence, their power, their 
 injustice, and a mighty armed force — even aU of 
 you, my fellow -citizens, they now meditate to over- 
 throw by your own authority, your own religion, and 
 your own votes."
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. St. John's speech upon this occasion is thus re- 
 ^"- ported by an historian by no means well affected to 
 A.D. 1711. him or his party. The author wrote in Latin ; and 
 he was not improbably seduced by the example of 
 the historians whom he has so assiduously imitated, 
 to put in the mouths of his characters, not what he 
 knew they did say, but what he thought they might 
 have said. St. John was certainly highly esteemed 
 by the nation at this time as a high-church cham- 
 pion ; but it is scarcely probable that he would have 
 been introduced as talking of the church and our 
 religion upon such an occasion, had not the historian 
 sought an opportunity of remarking, that this reli- 
 gion, of which he was so careful, he had everywhere 
 disgraced by his incontinence.* 
 
 St. John was answered by Walpole with great 
 spirit. " It is obvious," he replied, according to the 
 same author, "that the people of England are at 
 this moment animated against each other with a 
 spirit of hatred and rancour. It behoves you, in 
 the first place, to find a remedy for those distempers 
 which at present are predominant in the civil con- 
 stitution ; and unless you reject this inquiry with 
 becoming indignation, I leave you to conjecture the 
 
 * Cunningham's History of thirty-five milHons, as it was 
 
 Great Britain. The words used called ; and he cites no autho- 
 
 are, " Religione, quam St. rity for the speeches he pro- 
 
 Johnius ubique gentium stu- fesses to report. He was an 
 
 pris polluerat." Cunningham envoy from George I. to 
 
 gives a very confused ac- Venice, 
 count of this affair of the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 139 
 
 situation to which this kingdom and government are chap. 
 hkely to be exposed." ^^^^' 
 
 The committee was however appointed: and upon a.d. nil. 
 their report the house, on the 24th of April resolved, 
 " That of the moneys granted by parliament, and 
 issued for the public service, to Christmas 1710, 
 there were 35,302,107/. 186'. 9^/., for a great part 
 whereof no accounts had been laid before the audi- 
 tors, and the rest not prosecuted by the accountants 
 and finished." 
 
 Against this resolution of the commons, Walpole 
 wrote two pamphlets — " The Debts of the Nation 
 Stated and Considered," and " The Thirty -five Mil- * 
 lions accounted for ;" two performances which drew 
 from Manwayring an opinion that he was the best 
 master of figures of any man of his age. 
 
 It does not appear that this question was ever 
 brought forward with a view to charge the Earl of 
 Godolphin, against whom it was principally levelled, 
 with corruption. The charge was, negligence in the 
 performance of a duty in which the greatest punc- 
 tuality should be preserved. This appears from the 
 two resolutions with which the commons dismissed 
 the subject. They resolved, " That the not com- 
 pelling the several accountants duly to pass their 
 respective accounts, had been a notorious breach of 
 trust in those that of late years had had the manage- 
 ment of the treasury, and an high injustice to the 
 nation :" and, " That the several accountants who 
 had neglected their duty in passing their accounts
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ought no longer to be entrusted with the receiving 
 ^^^' the public money." 
 
 A.D. 1711. It appears that these resolutions were fully war- 
 ranted by the facts ; and the proof offered by Wal- 
 pole, that this money had been duly expended, by 
 no means answered the charge of negligence in not 
 having before formally accounted for it. Cunning- 
 ham says, that St. John was the chief instigator of 
 this inquiry, and that Harley entered into it with 
 reluctance. Swift, however, who was far more 
 likely to know the fact, speaks differently, and inti- 
 mates that St. John gave great offence to his party 
 by the light manner in which he spoke of this affair 
 in the house of commons.* This is an additional 
 ground for suspecting the authenticity of the speech 
 given by Cunningham. 
 
 The Harley administration had entered upon office 
 with the promise of establishing a secure and ho- 
 nourable peace ; an event absolutely necessary to 
 England, but exceedingly dreaded by her allies. 
 Since the rejection by Marlborough of the favour- 
 able terms which had been offered last year, another 
 campaign had been fought, and its event was by no 
 means so successful as previous conquests had led 
 the nation to anticipate. In the battle of Mons, 
 Victory indeed still sided with her favourite ; but she 
 appeared in none of the splendour with which she 
 had usually shone when Marlborough was in the 
 field. The success of the allies extended only to 
 
 * Swift's Journal.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 141 
 
 routing part of the enemy, and causing the rest to chap. 
 retire : their slain amounted to 20,000, while that of ^'"- 
 the enemy was not half that number. Upon the ^D- nil. 
 Rhine, the army of the emperor had been repulsed 
 with loss : and in Spain and Portugal a series of re- 
 verses had commenced, which tended more than any 
 other circumstance to diminish the terror of the 
 British arms, and to stop the panic which late suc- 
 cesses had spread among the French. 
 
 This unlooked-for turn of fortune operated to 
 raise the tone of the French monarch in negotiating 
 for peace. Perhaps, also, he might derive some as- 
 surance from the character of the men with whom 
 he had now to treat, and who, he well knew, 
 were pledged to put an end to the war. In an 
 early number of the Examiner, their partisans had 
 said, "We have not the least reason to doubt but 
 the ensuing parliament will assist her majesty with 
 the utmost vigour, until her enemies again be brought 
 to sue for peace, and again offer such terms as will 
 make it both honourable and lasting ; only with this 
 difference, that the ministry perhaps will not again 
 refuse them." 
 
 They had given Louis yet plainer proofs of 
 their anxiety for the discontinuance of the war. 
 During the reign of William, one Gaultier, a priest, 
 son of a merchant settled at St. Germain's, came 
 to England with Tallard, the French ambassador. 
 Having for some time performed the duties of chap- 
 lain to the embassy, he was taken into the family of
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the Earl of Jersey, who had been ambassador at 
 ^^^' France after the peace of Ryswick, and whose lady 
 
 A.D. 1711. was a Roman catholic. In this situation he became 
 acquainted with Matthew Prior ; who, having held 
 the offices of secretary to the embassy under Jersey, 
 and before that of secretary to Lord Portland, was 
 well versed in the political relations of the period. 
 Gaultier was a shrewd and prying priest, and made 
 such use of the opportunities he possessed, that he 
 soon acquired an insight into the affairs of England. 
 When, therefore, the rupture between the two coun- 
 tries obliged Marshal Tallard to return to France, he 
 thought this ecclesiastic a useful agent to leave in 
 the kingdom. He instructed him to continue in 
 London so long as the authorities would permit him ; 
 to observe everything that happened, to collect every 
 scrap of intelligence that might fall within his reach, 
 and to transmit full reports to the French ministry. 
 Discretion and secrecy were enjoined as the first 
 objects of his care ; since it was of more importance 
 to his employers to retain an agent in the kingdom, 
 than to obtain an isolated piece of intelligence at the 
 risk of the destruction of every channel of intrigue 
 with the country. 
 
 Gaultier punctually followed the instructions he 
 had received : he wrote but seldom, and the French 
 minister affirms he gave no intelligence of any conse- 
 quence during the whole course of the war. Thus 
 his residence in London created no suspicion ; and he 
 officiated as chaplain to the embassy from the Arch-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 143 
 
 duke Charles, who was here officially recognised as chap. 
 
 * 
 
 VII. 
 
 King of Spain. 
 
 The Eaii of Jersey was connected with Harley ; a.d. i7ii. 
 and when the views of his party were directed to a 
 peace, he remembered his old chaplain as a man 
 likely to suit their purpose. Through this channel 
 several distant intimations were conveyed to the 
 French court of the changes which were in agitation, 
 and the revolution which would then take place in 
 the national councils. But it was not until they 
 were estaWished in office, and had secured a decided 
 majority in the commons, that they ventured to send 
 their agent upon a secret mission to Versailles. 
 Their first steps were still taken with great caution. 
 The Earl of Jersey was the person appointed to com- 
 municate to Gaultier his instructions, and these were 
 to be verbal. 
 
 The communication of this messenger went only 
 to say, that the ministers whom the queen had now 
 entrusted with the government of her kingdom were 
 desirous of peace, and thought it necessary for the 
 welfare of England : that it was not in their power 
 to set on foot a private negotiation with France, 
 being obliged for their own safety to use great cir- 
 cumspection : that the king must therefore again 
 propose to the Dutch to renew the conferences for a 
 general peace : that as soon as they were opened, the 
 ambassadors from England should have such par- 
 ticular orders, that it would no longer be in the 
 power of the Dutch to prolong the war. 
 
 * De Torcy's Memoirs.
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Big with the importance of his communication, 
 ^^^- the triumphant ecclesiastic hurried to the court of 
 A.D. 1711. his sovereign, and announced himself as the bearer of 
 the pacification of Europe. " Do you choose peace ?" 
 said he : "I am come to enable you to conclude it 
 independently of the Dutch — a people unworthy of 
 the king's consideration, and of the honour he has 
 done by applying so often to them." 
 
 The Marquis de Torcy, nephew of the celebrated 
 Colbert whose genius rendered this reign the Au- 
 gustan era of France, remarks, that to ask Louis at 
 that time whether he chose peace, was the same 
 thing as to ask a person lingering under a dangerous 
 malady whether he chose to recover. Yet it was 
 not without opposition that the bare letter of compli- 
 ment, which was all that Gaultier asked as a basis 
 for future communications, was granted him. The 
 Dutch had lately been boasting that the king would 
 soon offer more advantageous terms than those which 
 the allies had lately rejected. Their object was to 
 amuse the people with hopes from the continuance 
 of the war, and to render them insensible to the 
 miseries it had occasioned them. But the members 
 of the council of Louis had been nettled by the 
 boasting of these " gentlemen pedlars ;" and they 
 advised, that Gaultier should be sent back to 
 England without any answer to the proposals he 
 had brought. Their opinion was, that after the 
 degrading demands which had been made at the 
 conferences at Gertrudenberg, a proposal for new
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 145 
 
 negotiations would not only compromise the dignity chap. 
 of their master, but would also confirm the reports ^^^' 
 
 the Dutch had already industriously spread, that ^•^- ^'ii- 
 
 France was unable to endure another campaiojn, and 
 
 that she must at last yield to whatever conditions the 
 
 allies should please to prescribe. De Torcy, however, 
 
 saw more clearly the extremity to which his country 
 
 was reduced ; and his influence with his master was 
 
 as powerful as it was merited. The required letter 
 
 of compliment was given to Gaultier for the Earl of 
 
 Jersey, and an answer was returned, that although 
 
 Louis, irritated at the conduct of Holland, would 
 
 hear nothing of a renewal of the negotiations through 
 
 that government, yet he would with pleasure treat 
 
 for peace by the interposition of England. 
 
 The new ministry were satisfied with this answer; 
 and Gaultier was instructed to invite Louis to de- 
 liver a proposal which England might submit to her 
 allies. The king caused a memorial to be drawn 
 up, in accordance with the desire of the English 
 ministry ; and Gaultier, who was commissioned to 
 Carry it to London, set out upon his return, the 
 28th April 1711. In this, however, little attention 
 was paid to the hopes the ministry had expressed, 
 that the king's offers by the interposition of England 
 would not be less than those which he had lately 
 made at the conferences of Gertrudenbuig. 
 
 Since these conferences had been broken off, an 
 event had occurred which tended considerably to 
 alter the relations of the belligerent parties. Philip 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 MEMOmS OF 
 
 CHAP, of Spain had hitherto been entirely dependent upon 
 
 VII 
 
 ' his grandfather for retaining his throne. But when 
 A.D. 1711. ii^Q Spanish troops, alone and unsupported, had 
 gained a decisive victory over an English army, and 
 could number eight brigades of British troops among 
 their prisoners of war, a new era occurred. The na- 
 tional spirit, which had been crushed by the power of 
 the competitors who were struggling for their coun- 
 try, revived. The archduke was hated by them ; Philip 
 had been diligent to gain their affections. The cause, 
 which had been considered only the cause of France, 
 now became that of Spain. The people were sud- 
 denly sensible that they could defend themselves 
 and any monarch of their choice, and they declared 
 that monarch to be Philip. The death of the dauphin 
 had indeed rendered it more necessary for the 
 allies, if they pursued the object for which they had 
 commenced the war, to insist upon his expulsion. 
 The French king, in the hour of his humiliation, 
 had at Gertrudenburg offered not only to abandon 
 him, but also to assist to dethrone him. Now, how- 
 ever, the position of affairs was altered. His troops 
 were no longer required in Spain : the efforts of 
 the Spaniards had enabled him to withdraw* them ; 
 and their presence in his own kingdom had chiefly 
 enabled him to survive the campaign, which he had 
 looked upon as pregnant with his destruction. 
 
 It was not probable therefore, with all these cir- 
 cumstances in his favour, and knowing also that he 
 was to treat with a ministry pledged to procure a
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 147 
 
 peace, that Louis should abide by the offers he had chap. 
 made when his fortunes were at a much lower ebb. ^^^" 
 The death of the emperor had also so altered the a.d. i7ii. 
 relations of the contending powers, that the requisi- 
 tions which had been at one time considered as the 
 prime objects of the war, ceased to be points of 
 primary importance. The allies had dreaded the 
 aggrandizement of the house of Bourbon, and there- 
 fore they had supported the archduke. But when it 
 became plain that that prince must succeed to the 
 empire, they felt little disposition to continue the 
 sacrifices they were making, in order to raise a 
 power which would be little less exorbitant than 
 that against which they were allied. 
 
 Since the terms of this memorial were much modi- 
 fied in the subsequent negotiations, it is unnecessary 
 to notice its details. It was sufficiently moderate 
 to induce the ministry to make it the foundation of 
 a peace, and they immediately forwarded it to the 
 Hague. All the negotiations which followed were 
 entirely the work of St. John. It is said that he 
 was the only member of the cabinet who was ac- 
 quainted with the French language.* It was by St. 
 John that the propositions of France were forward- 
 ed to Lord Raby, the ambassador at the Hague. 
 
 * Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 530. after three weeks' application, 
 
 — Bolingbroke upon this occa- he was able to hold a corre- 
 
 sion took the pains to make spondence with the Spanish mi- 
 
 himself master of the Spanish nisters in their own tongue. — 
 
 language; and we are told, upon Spenres Anecdotes. 
 the authority of Pope, that, 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. They were accompanied with insti'uctions to com- 
 ^^^- municate them to the pensionary, and to assure 
 A.D. 1711. that minister that the queen was resolved in making 
 peace, as in making war, to act in perfect concert 
 with the States, and to desire that the secret might 
 be kept among as few as possible. He was in- 
 structed to confess that the terms of the several 
 propositions were very general ; and that there was 
 an air of complaisance shown to England, and the 
 contrary to Holland, which might threaten ill con- 
 sequences : but that these could never occur, so long 
 as the queen and States took care to understand 
 each other, and to act with as little reserve as be- 
 came two powers so nearly allied in interest. And 
 Raby is instructed to assure the pensionary, that 
 " this rule on our part shall be inviolably observed." 
 The answer of the pensionary was expressed in 
 terms of equal fidelity and confidence. They urge 
 the necessity of an entire confidence one with 
 another at this critical juncture ; and declare that 
 they will take no step, in any kind of negotiation 
 which regards the mutual interests of both nations, 
 but in communication and concert with her majesty. 
 From these specimens of the correspondence be- 
 tween the two governments, we should infer that 
 they were completely identified in their policy. 
 But time, which has brought the secret transactions 
 of the period to light, has shown us that St. John 
 and the pensionary were at the time diligently en- 
 gaged in counterplotting each other.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 149 
 
 While the English ambassador was waiting for chap. 
 an answer to the communication he had made from ^ ^^* 
 
 his court, the Dutch had privately despatched an a.d. 171i- 
 agent to Versailles, and endeavoured to gain with 
 Louis all the merit of advancing the peace they 
 could not avert.* Their object was to obtain a strong 
 barrier towards France ; and now that England refus- 
 ed any longer to continue the war, they wished to get 
 the greatest share of the advantages of peace. But 
 the information of St. John was too good to allow this 
 intrigue to pass undiscovered. Louis would gladly 
 have corresponded separately with his enemies ; for 
 while he kept them both in good humour by promises 
 of individual gratification, he might then have played 
 them off against each other. In St. John, however, he 
 had an opponent little more scrupulous or less sharp- 
 sighted than himself. Instructions were immediately 
 sent to Gaultier, to require that the French court, in 
 their answer to the Dutch, should decline any negotia- 
 tions for peace unless conveyed through England : and 
 Louis complied with the request. Their imperious 
 conduct at the conferences of Gertrudenburg had 
 furnished him with sufficient excuse for returning 
 this reply : but it must have been no small source 
 of confidence to him, in conducting his negotiations, 
 to know that he had succeeded in dividing his 
 enemies ; and that those who were a short time be- 
 fore firm in their determination to prosecute the 
 contest, were now, with opposite views, eagerly and 
 
 * De Torcy.
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, separately seeking an opportunity of putting an end 
 VJI- to it. 
 A.D. 1711. It cannot be denied, that this false position in 
 which England was now placed, was the consequence 
 of the selfish policy of St. John and his colleagues. 
 That the country wanted peace, he insists upon with 
 reason in his works ; and that it was necessary to 
 the existence of his ministry, he does not hesitate to 
 admit. But if England was exhausted by the attack, 
 France was not less enfeebled by the defence ; and 
 although the country desired peace, it was in a situ- 
 ation to demand that it should be honourable and 
 secure. The basis of the popularity of the Tories 
 was their opposition to the war : but that man could 
 assert but questionable claim to patriotism or ho- 
 nour, who in deliberating upon the proposals of an 
 enemy, should hesitate to reject them lest he should 
 thereby compromise his own and his party's interest. 
 That the undissembled eagerness of the Tories for 
 peace gave confidence to the tone of France, and 
 distracted the councils of the allies, must be admitted 
 by all : and we fear it is no less indisputable, that 
 that eagerness was prompted chiefly by a considera- 
 tion of the interest of their party, and influenced 
 but slightly by any regard for the welfare of their 
 country.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 151 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Guiscard's attempt to assassinate Harley. — Its effect in strengthen- 
 ing the Ministry. — Harley created Earl of Oxford. — Cotn- 
 mencement of the Jealousy between him and St. John. 
 
 After the reply of Holland had been received, the chap. 
 negotiations were suffered for some time to languish. ^^^^- 
 Their prosecution was interrupted by a circumstance a.d. nil. 
 which threatened an abrupt termination to St. John's 
 career. Upon St. John and Harley at this time 
 hung the fortune of Europe ; and the success of the 
 attempt now made upon their lives would have in- 
 volved consequences, which, whether happy or dis- 
 astrous, must have been of the greatest moment. 
 
 A man of pleasure himself, St^ John was readily 
 accessible to those who j^oined in the same pursuits ; 
 and his leisure hours were often passed with men 
 who were little fitted to be the companions of a^ 
 minister "oTstat^^^ Among these was a Marquis 
 Guiscard, a French refugee,* who, by his conver- 
 sational talents and devotedness to dissipation, had 
 acquired the intimacy of the new secretary. It was 
 an intimacy, however, which subsisted only over the 
 
 * This man's original name was the Abbe de Bourlie.
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, wine-cup and at the brothel ; — the companions of St. 
 ^^^i- John were never suffered to become the friends of 
 A.D. 1711. the secretary : and a dispute about the issue of some 
 low intrigue abruptly destroyed tlie connexion. 
 
 Guiscard had held the rank of colonel in the 
 British army, and had on several occasions behaved 
 himself with such gallantry as to elicit the praise 
 of the commander. He was present in the disastrous 
 battle of Almanza, where his regiment was cut to 
 pieces ; and as it was not again formed, he lost 
 his pay. Under these circumstances, he thought, 
 with some reason, that he was entitled to a pension 
 from the government he had served ; and during the 
 existence of the Godolphin administration he made 
 frequent applications to that effect. But his inti- 
 macy with St. John and others of his party ren- 
 dered him an object of suspicion to the Whigs, who 
 then needed all their patronage to preserve their 
 friends, and were little inclined to strengthen the 
 hands of their enemies. His applications were dis- 
 regarded ; and Guiscard solaced himself with the 
 reflection, that in the change which was evidently 
 approaching, he who had suffered for his intimacy 
 with the Tories in their adversity would not be 
 forgotten in their prosperity. As soon therefore 
 as the new ministry was formed, the marquis re- 
 newed his claims. But the quarrel between him 
 and St. John had occurred meanwhile, and he found 
 the secretary but little disposed to forward his case. 
 Overcome by his importunities, St. John at last
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 153 
 
 promised to mention him to the queen ; and al- chap. 
 though the marquis owed little to the zeal of his _^^^_ 
 
 advocate, Anne recognized the justice of his claim, a.d. 171i. 
 and ordered him a pension of 500/. a year. But 
 other difficulties arose in his way : Harley enter- 
 tained a personal dislike to him, and was perhaps 
 jealous that St, John should possess any part of an 
 influence which he intended to monopolize. He 
 insisted upon reducing the pension to 400/., and re- 
 fused to place it upon the fixed establishment. This 
 Guiscard attributed to a petty vindictiveness in St. 
 John ; and enraged by his disappointments, he made 
 several attempts to obtain an interview with the 
 queen. Failing in all his endeavours, he determined 
 to abandon all hopes of advantage from England, and 
 to try to make his peace with his own country. 
 With this view he opened a correspondence with the 
 French ministry, and promised that from the facili- 
 ties he possessed of obtaining information, he would 
 soon merit a restoration to his rank and fortune. 
 His communications with the French court were 
 conducted through a M. Moreau, a banker at Paris ; 
 and to diminish the chances of discovery, his letters 
 were sent to the latter by a circuitous route. They 
 were in the first instance sent to a person in Por- 
 tugal under cover to the Earl of Portmore, who was 
 then ambassador at that court. The earl, having 
 some suspicion as to the contents of ^the packets 
 which were passing through his hands, opened one 
 of them, and discovering the nature of the corre-
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, spondence, immediately sent it back to his countess, 
 ^'^^^' by whom it was delivered to Mr. Harley. 
 
 A.D. 1711. Now that suspicion was once aroused, Guiscard 
 was closely watched ; and a second packet \Vas soon 
 after intercepted, addressed to the same person. 
 What the contents of these packets were has never 
 been declared ; but many have alleged that they 
 contained only loose reflections upon the minis- 
 try, and perhaps promises of more important com- 
 munications. That they contained any information 
 of moment, is not probable ; for it does not appear 
 that Guiscard enjoyed any opportunities of acquiring 
 intelligence ; but his behaviour when accused cer- 
 tainly betrayed a consciousness of guilt. But what- 
 ever may have been the nature of the correspond- 
 ence, he was apprehended in St. James's Park, under 
 a warrant signed by his old friend St. John, and 
 carried immediately before the privy council to be 
 examined upon a charge of high treason. So terri- 
 fied was he upon being captured and disarmed by 
 the messenger, that he begged him to kill him, and 
 seemed at once to have abandoned himself to despair. 
 In the room at the Cockpit, in which he was con- 
 fined while a committee of the council were assem- 
 bling, he found a penknife which lay in an inkstand 
 upon the table ; and, determined either by his own 
 or his enemies' hands to escape the stroke of the 
 executioner, he secreted this about his person. 
 
 When brought before the council, he had recovered 
 his presence of mind, and answered the questions
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 155 
 
 which were put to him by St. John with an unalter- chap. 
 ed countenance. The examination was drawn out ^^^^" 
 
 to some length; and St. John, who sat near the a.d. nii. 
 prisoner, changed places with Harley, in order that 
 he might be able to observe with more accuracy his 
 emotion when the extent of the evidence was dis- 
 covered to him. He had hitherto preserved the 
 confident air which he had assumed ; but when 
 St. John, pursuing his examination, asked him 
 whether he knew such a person residing at Paris 
 as M. Moreau, (producing at the same time the in- 
 tercepted correspondence,) his assurance left him, 
 and despairing of a pardon, he sought only to involve 
 his enemies in his destruction. When the letters 
 had been read, he earnestly requested to speak to 
 Mr. St. John in private, having much, as he said, of 
 urgent importance to communicate. But St. John 
 had little wish now to reconcile himself with his 
 discarded friend, and his refusal in all probability 
 saved his life. He told him that his request was 
 impracticable and unusual — that he was before the 
 council as a prisoner charged with high treason, and 
 whatever he had to offer in his defence he must 
 state before them all. The marquis persisting in his 
 desire to speak only to St. John, Harley was rising 
 to ring the bell for the messengers to remove him ; 
 which he observing, remarked, *\Voild qui est dur ! — 
 pas un mot .'" 
 
 Disappointed in his design against St. John, who 
 sat out of his reach, he turned suddenly upon Har-
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ley, and exclaiming, " J' en veu.v done a toi !" drew 
 \iii. forth the knife he had concealed, and stabbed him 
 
 &-. 
 
 A.D. 1711. in the breast. The blow fell upon the breastbone 
 and the blade of the knife brake : but Guiscard, not 
 'r-'^^^^perceiving this, continued repeating his blows, while 
 I the council were stupified by the suddenness of the 
 assault. " The villain has killed Mr. Harley !" ex- 
 claimed St. John, as he drew his rapier, and rushing 
 forward to his friend's assistance ran the assassin 
 through the body. The council-chamber was now 
 in the most tumultuous confusion : some of the 
 members took up chairs to defend themselves ; 
 several swords were directed against the desperate 
 man, who by his obstinate resistance evidently 
 courted death at their hands. The tumult within 
 attracted the attention of the messengers in waiting ; 
 and one of them rushing in, seized the marquis, and 
 in securing him gave him a blow upon the back, 
 which laid him at their feet, and which afterwards 
 was adjudged to have occasioned his death. 
 
 As the knife had broken upon the breastbone, 
 Harley's wound was of course not very serious ;* but 
 it was sufficiently so to confine him for some time 
 to his room.f Guiscard's hurts were more severe. 
 
 * Swift says he measured f Concerning this event St. 
 
 with his finger the distance of John writes, " It is impossible 
 
 the scar from the spot where to express to you the firmness 
 
 a wound would have been mor- and magnanimity which Mr. 
 
 tal. It was about half the Harley showed upon this sur- 
 
 breadth of his nail. — Swifts prising occasion ; I who have 
 
 Journal. always admired him never did
 
 J.ORD BOLINGBROKE. 157 
 
 Obstinately resolved to avoid the ignominy of a chap. 
 public execution, he for some time refused all medi- ^ ^^^' 
 
 cal aid, and, after lingering a few days, died from a a.d. 171i. 
 mortification of the contusion he had received from 
 Wilcox the messenger. 
 
 This desperate attempt created no small sensa- 
 tion at the time, and w^as of great use to the ministry, 
 since the high-church party, who were wavering and 
 jealous, were ashamed of opposing men who had 
 nearly lost their lives by disconcerting the designs 
 of a papist and a Frenchman, — two characters which 
 were objects of their special abhorrence. It also oc- 
 casioned an act, which was immediately passed, at 
 the instance of the queen, making it felony to at- 
 tempt the life of a privy counsellor.* 
 
 The objects of this attack derived yet more im- 
 mediate advantages from the danger they had es- 
 caped. The popularity of Harley, which had been 
 upon the wane, suddenly returned. The people be- 
 held in the attack upon his life an evidence of his 
 sincerity to his country's service ; and they reasoned, 
 that from the attack having been made by a French- 
 man, he must be formidable to their old enemy. 
 This circumstance, originating in accident, and 
 having only private revenge as its object, was mag- 
 it so much. The suddenness Drummond, March 13, 1710- 
 of the blow, the sharpness of H. 
 
 the wound, the confusion * An act was also passed 
 
 which followed, could neither to indemnify those who had 
 change his countenance nor wounded Guiscard. 
 alter his voice." — Letter to Mr.
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, nified into a national cause ; and the people were 
 ^^^^' taught to consider Harley as a man who, by his 
 
 A.D. 1711. services to his country, had incurred the especial 
 hatred of its enemies. 
 
 This feeling in his favour, which pervaded the 
 country, found a voice in the commons. Upon 
 taking his seat in the house after his recovery, he 
 was congratulated by the speaker in a strain which 
 evinced the disposition of that assembly to support 
 his administration, and discovered how much his 
 wound had increased their confidence in him. That 
 the highly flattering address which greeted him upon 
 this occasion was prompted by the feelings of the 
 house, and not by the private sentiments of the 
 speaker, we have sufficient assurance from the well- 
 known repugnance which the latter entertained to 
 Harley, and the private hostility which always sub- 
 sisted between them. 
 
 The attempt of Guiscard, and the feeling it in- 
 duced, furnished to Anne the opportunity she sought 
 of rewarding her favourite minister. His talents 
 for managing the commons, which had recommended 
 him to the leaders of the Godolphin administration, 
 he had long since diverted to the more profitable 
 and less arduous purpose of governing the queen. 
 The leadership in the commons he had abandoned 
 to St. John, who soon acquired an ascendency in 
 that assembly which nothing but superior intellect 
 can attain. It was St. John who, in the lower house, 
 proposed and defended every measure of the govern-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 159 
 
 ment. By his industry, no less than his eloquence, chap. 
 he laboured to convince the country of the immensity ^^^^' 
 
 of the sacrifice which had been made for the prose- ^•^- ^'^^• 
 cution of the war ; and he drew from the state of 
 the finances the only valid argument he could ad- 
 duce in favour of the peace he was about to con- 
 clude.* 
 
 While so tried a champion remained to fight the 
 battles of the ministry in the commons, Harley could 
 withdraw without prejudice to their interest ; and 
 the queen gratified herself and her people by bestow- 
 ing upon him the titles Baron Wigmore, and Earl 
 of Oxford and Mortimer, and creating him lord high 
 treasurer ; an office which he had long in effect held, 
 but to which he was not until now formally ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 But although the attempt of Guiscard was thus 
 immediately advantageous to the objects of his re- 
 
 * Swift has drawn St. John's of complaint of too great a 
 
 character at this time. He load of business, which looks 
 
 says : " I think Mr. St. John a little like affectation ; and 
 
 the greatest young man I ever he endeavours too much to 
 
 knew : wit, capacity, beauty, mix the fine gentleman and 
 
 quickness of apprehension, man of pleasure with the man 
 
 good learning, and an excel- of business. What truth and 
 
 lent taste ; the best orator in sincerity he may have, I know 
 
 the house of commons ; ad- not. He is now but thirty- 
 
 mirable conversation, good na- two, and has been secretary 
 
 ture, and good manners ; ge- above a year. He turns the 
 
 nerous, and a despiser of whole parliament, who can do 
 
 money. His only fault is nothing without him." 
 talking to his friends in way
 
 160 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, venge, in its ultimate consequences it proved dis- 
 ^^^^' astrous to both. The flattering distinction of being 
 A.D. 1711. looked upon as a martyr, was too alluring to both 
 to be retained or resigned without a struggle. 
 Harley had endured all the pain and danger of the 
 wound, and he thought himself entitled to mono- 
 polize the honour of the traitor's hatred. It was» 
 however, generally considered that St. John was the 
 first object of his vengeance, and that it was only 
 when foiled in his purpose that he turned upon 
 Harley. St. John was not inclined to refuse his 
 countenance to a view of the circumstance which 
 was calculated to increase his importance with his 
 party ; and Harley felt jealous and aggrieved. 
 
 This is the first symptom we have of that gradual 
 \ change in the sentiments of these two great men 
 1 towards each other, which afterwards rendered them 
 \ from the warmest friends the most irreconcileable 
 \ enemies. Harley had doubtless long before indulged 
 a jealousy of St. John. Even at the formation of 
 his ministry he had endeavoured to give him a rival 
 who might detract from the influence he had ac- 
 quired in the commons. The great talent of Wal- 
 pole, afterwards Earl of Orford, had already made 
 itself apparent ; and Harley made every effort to 
 gain him.* He made the most flattering advances ; 
 told him he was worth half his party, and pressed 
 him to continue in administration. When entreaty 
 failed, he had recourse to threats, but equally in vain : 
 
 * Coxe's Walpole, 33.
 
 LORD BOLINGP.ROKE. 161 
 
 Walpole was neither to be seduced nor intimidated ; chap, 
 and St. John remained the ministerial leader of the _ ^^^^- 
 commons. a.d. 1711. 
 
 This jealousy in Harley does not appear to have 
 been seen or resented by the secretary, and it had 
 never hitherto been so shown as to occasion any 
 interruption of their friendship. But on the occa- 
 sion of the attempt of Guiscard, it broke forth 
 openly, and became known to all the ministerial 
 scribes. The conduct of Swift upon this occasion 
 shows that he was not so perfectly independent as 
 those imagine who judge only from the account he 
 gives of himself in his Journal. He had undertaken 
 to write an account of the scene in the council- 
 chamber at the time Harley was stabbed ; but upon 
 discovering the difference which had arisen upon 
 this subject between that minister and St. John, he 
 seems to have thought that, however he might treat 
 the subject, he must lose one of his patrons. He 
 must either admit that St. John was the first object 
 of Guiscard, and offend Harley ; or he must deny 
 that he was at all concerned in the matter, and incur 
 the displeasure of St. John. Neither of these alter- 
 natives suited him, and he abandoned his work, 
 which he had already commenced.* 
 
 * This is confirmed by the queen's ministry. The man- 
 account Swift himself gives of ner in which Swift speaks of 
 the transaction, in his Memoirs St. John at this time is very 
 relating to the change in the contradictory. It would not, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Desirous, however, that a minute account of the 
 ^^^^' circumstance should be preserved, he deUvered his 
 A.D. 1711. MS. to Mrs. Manly — a lady already well known by 
 her amorous poetry, and in political literature by her 
 communications to the Examiner — with hints for the 
 completion of the pamphlet. Mrs. Manly executed 
 her task with more regard to the wishes of the 
 parties interested than to truth. Afraid to assign 
 to St. John the honour — for such it was esteemed — of 
 being the first object of attack, she suj)poses that 
 Guiscard's idea in wishing to speak privately with 
 St. John, was to get him and Harley together, so 
 that he might have an opportunity of killing both : 
 and she asserts that, after dealing the blow which 
 brake the blade of the knife, Guiscard rushed for- 
 ward to attack St. John ; a circumstance incom- 
 patible with all the more genuine accounts of the 
 transaction. 
 
 The change of style, from the nervous language of 
 Swift to the tawdry bombast of Mrs. Manly, suffi- 
 ciently indicates the part which each had in the 
 composition of this pamphlet.* 
 
 however, be difficult to cite ways my hero:" and perhaps 
 
 numerous passages from his he then thought so ; for BoHng- 
 
 works, which prove that he broke was still his friend, 
 
 considered himself decidedly Oxford was dead, and Swift's 
 
 attached to Harley and his memory was bad. 
 personal interests. Many * It is published in. Lord 
 
 years afterwards he told Somers' Tracts, vol. xiii. 
 Bolingbroke, " You were al-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 163 
 
 These minutiae are only worthy notice as they chap, 
 show that the seeds of dissension in the ministry ^^^^' 
 
 were already sown; and that their counsels were so a.d. 1711. 
 loosely kept, that it was evident even to their hum- 
 blest followers that the interests of St. John and 
 the premier were separate. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Negotiations for Peace resumed. — Prior appointed Ambassador 
 to the Court of Versailles.— Preliminartj Demands. — Mes- 
 Tiagers Embassy. — His Conduct in the Negotiations. 
 
 CHAP. The accession of honour as well as popularity 
 IX. which the ministry had gained, by no means 
 A.D. 1711 diminished the necessity for peace. Unable while 
 the tide of public feeling ran so strong in their 
 favour to attack them openly in the house, the 
 Whigs were yet able to cause them much embar- 
 rassment. The threats of the moneyed interest were 
 not vain : the funds were in their hands, and by 
 depreciating the public credit they rendered peace 
 more than ever necessary. 
 
 St. John — for, as we have before observed, he was 
 almost the sole conductor of these negotiations — was 
 distracted between the two necessities he laboured 
 under, of concluding the war speedily and honourably. 
 " Make a safe and honourable peace," was Walpole's 
 only reply to Harley, when he repeatedly entreated 
 him to moderate the violence of his opposition : and 
 St. John well knew, that while nothing else but an 
 immediate termination of the war would satisfy the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 165 
 
 people^ no terms that could be obtained from Louis chap. 
 would be sufficient to realize what the Whigs now ^^' 
 understood by the terms safety and honour. a.d. i7ii. 
 
 The negotiations were, however, to be proceeded 
 with ; and the interest of the Earl of Jersey and the 
 friendship of St. John advanced Mr. Prior to the 
 post of ambassador upon this important work. Mr. 
 Prior had before been sent upon a secret embassy 
 respecting the same business : and although his 
 journey was known in England by an accident 
 which occurred to him on his return,* his conduct 
 had obtained for him the approbation and confidence 
 of his employers. The caution of St. John in his 
 choice of subordinate agents is strongly exemplified 
 by his conduct upon this occasion. Prior had been 
 already employed by his party, and was recommend- 
 ed by the interest of some of his most powerful co- 
 adjutors. The persecution he had suffered from the 
 Whigs attested his fidelity; and the strict private 
 friendship which subsisted between him and the 
 secretary shows that St. John was not doubtful 
 either of liis talent or integrity : but it is a remark 
 which applies to his whole career, that he never 
 allowed liis private partialities or friendships to 
 individuals to interfere with his conduct towards 
 them in his ministerial capacity.f 
 
 That Mr. Prior was a man of talent and integrity, 
 
 * Political State. merit in a man so addicted 
 
 -j- This is admitted even by to pleasure as Bolingbroke 
 Mr. Coxe, and is no small was.
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, he knew ; but that his powers extended to a capa- 
 ^^- bihty of conducting affairs of such momentous im- 
 A.D. 1711. portance as those in which he was now called to take 
 part, was a fact which he had not yet proved. His 
 instructions were therefore of the most limited cha- 
 racter : had Marlborough himself been their am- 
 bassador, his powers could not have been more re- 
 stricted. They were couched in these terms : " Mr. 
 Prior is fully instructed and empowered to communi- 
 cate our preliminary demands to the court of France, 
 and to bring back their answer." These laconic 
 instructions bore the queen's signature, and were ac- 
 companied by the document to which they refer. 
 
 The preliminary demands now delivered formed a 
 singular contrast to those which had been before of- 
 fered by Louis and refused ; and still more so to those 
 i ji,/\ which had been insisted upon by the allies at the 
 '^- conferences at Gertrudenburg. England no longer 
 
 \ il/titi^' ^"sis^^d upon the expulsion of Philip from Spain, or 
 ^ required Louis to join in effecting the dethronement 
 
 of his grandson. True, the fortune of the war had 
 materially changed, and the relations of the parties 
 had undergone such alterations, that the house of 
 Austria was now become as legitimate an object of 
 jealousy as that of Bourbon : but after the pre- 
 ponderance of the Bourbons had been declared to be 
 the cause of the Avar, — and after the sacrifices by 
 which that war had been carried on, and the magni- 
 ficent successes with which it had been attended, — the 
 nation expected something more than a declaration
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. l67 
 
 that the crowns of France and Spain should never chap. 
 be united upon one head; — a declaration which ^^• 
 might have been obtained at the very commence- a.d. nii. 
 ment of the struggle, and which was now all that 
 could be obtained after it had been prosecuted at the 
 expense of a hundred millions of money and a count- 
 less waste of human life. 
 
 Thus was the great object of the war aban- 
 doned. In return for this concession, England de- 
 manded some advantages for herself, and some for 
 her allies. 
 
 The primary object of the Dutch was to obtain a 
 barrier of fortified posts in the Netherlands ; and this 
 was stipulated in their favour, together with a secu- 
 rity for the protection of their commerce. 
 
 A similar demand was made on the part of the 
 empire for a barrier on the side of the Rhine : and 
 for Savoy it was stipulated that the strong places 
 which had been taken should be restored. 
 
 The claims of the rest of the allies were to be set- 
 tled during the negotiations. 
 
 For herself, England demanded as the object of 
 her greatest solicitude, that the protestant line of 
 succession as established by parliament should be 
 fully acknowledged ; that a new treaty of commerce 
 should be made ; that the fortifications of Dunkirk 
 should be demolished ; and that Gibraltar and Port 
 Mahon be ceded by Spain, and Newfoundland and 
 Hudson's Bay by France. 
 
 A Briton must blush to find, that among the
 
 168 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, methods by which England proposed to recruit the 
 ^^- losses she had suffered in the prosecution of an ill- 
 A.D. 1711. managed, and, for a long time, unnecessary war, the 
 chief and most favourite project was the extension of 
 her traffic in human beings. Thus, no point was 
 \?? w* insisted on with more pertinacity, than that England 
 
 should have four towns in the West Indies, situated 
 conveniently for the protection of this trade, and for 
 refreshing and exposing for sale the slaves.* The 
 cold-blooded cruelty which could calculate upon such 
 practices on an extensive scale as a desirable source 
 of national emolument can find no palliation in any 
 superiority of talent. St. John was here content to 
 share the worst prejudices of his age, and discovered 
 that he had little real perception, even in theory, of 
 that lofty morality upon which in his works he so 
 often expatiates. 
 
 Such were the demands which St. John committed 
 to the hands of Mr. Prior. The only advantages 
 they claimed were some commercial facilities, by 
 which the country might hope to retrieve her almost 
 sinking credit, and to shake off the shackles which 
 the war had riveted around her. The objects of 
 the war were entirely abandoned, and all that was 
 now sought was some indemnity against the immense 
 losses which had been sustained. A peace upon 
 these terms might, from the condition of the nation, 
 be necessary — it certainly could never be esteemed 
 honourable. 
 
 * De Torcy.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 169 
 
 CHAP. 
 IX. 
 
 But, moderate as was the tone of these demands, 
 the French king was not disposed to accede to them 
 unconditionally : and as the ambassador had no a.d. nu. 
 power to discuss or mitigate the articles, Louis was 
 perplexed between the danger of breaking off all ne- 
 gotiation, and admitting demands which he now 
 deemed unreasonable. 
 
 To obviate both these evils, the French court 
 resolved to remove the seat of the negotiations to 
 London : and Prior returned with Mesnager, a man 
 whom the French minister describes as thoroughly 
 informed of the advantages which the English would 
 receive from the King of Spain, and well acquainted 
 with the commerce of the Indies, which he had 
 made his peculiar study. With this man's arrival in 
 England, which was in August 1711, the negotia- 
 tions may be said to have seriously commenced : and 
 we have a letter of St. John's to the French minister 
 De Torcy, of this date, acknowledging his arrival, 
 and anticipating favourably from the circumstance.* 
 
 Mesnager's instructions were to offer peace to the 
 empire upon the terms of the treaty of Ryswick : but 
 he was to demand, as an essential condition, the 
 restoration of the Electors of Cologne and Bavaria to 
 their dominions, honours, and dignities. For herself, 
 France demanded the restitution of Lisle, Tournay, 
 Aire, Bethune, and Douay. 
 
 The ambassador was also empowered to promise, 
 on behalf of the King of Spain, an extension to the 
 
 * Bolingbrokc Correspondence, i. 175.
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. English of the privilege, which he had some years 
 ^^- before granted to a company of French merchants, of 
 A.D. 1711. transporting slaves to America ; and that he should 
 assign to them some places in the New World, where 
 they might refresh and sell them. His powers in 
 respect to England went, in fact, almost to the full 
 extent of the preliminary demands ; but he was 
 warned to use them with discretion, and to obtain 
 conditions for every concession.* 
 
 From St. John's correspondence at this time we 
 learn the multitude of his occupations, and the im- 
 mense application which he found necessary to fulfil 
 them. Although labouring under a severe and most 
 painful complaint, we find him constantly complain- 
 ing that he has been for two days together unable to 
 leave his office ; and often, in the evening of the post- 
 day, that his correspondence has not suffered him to 
 lay down his pen the whole day. 
 
 During these conferences at London, the labours 
 of St. John were not diminished. He was joined 
 with the Earls of Oxford and Jersey, the Duke of 
 Shrewsbury, and Lord Dartmouth, in a commission 
 to treat with the French envoy. The part he took 
 in the conferences which took place with Mesnager 
 will form a specimen of the ascendency which he 
 had over his colleagues in all questions of foreign 
 policy. 
 
 The first conference took place at the Earl of 
 Jersey's ; at which Mesnager expatiated upon the 
 
 * De Torcy.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 171 
 
 concessions which his master was induced to make chap. 
 on belialf of British commerce, and the vast ad- ^^' 
 vantages which must accrue to England from the a.d. 1711. 
 king's interposition in favour of their commerce in 
 America. While he dwelt upon concessions to be 
 made, he was listened to with the greatest attention : 
 but when he came to speak of the conditions upon 
 which Louis promised these advantages, St. John sud- 
 denly interrupted him, and saying that they were then 
 only discussing the terms to be granted to England, 
 and that those of the king and his allies were to be 
 reserved for the conferences for the general peace, 
 put an end to the conference. 
 
 The next morning St. John called alone upon 
 Mesnager, and stated the queen's surprise at his pro- 
 posing to enter into a detail of articles relative to 
 the king's expectations, at the commencement of a 
 negotiation which ought to be confined entirely to 
 the interest of Great Britain : he therefore begged 
 him to declare whether he was authorized to settle 
 the points which related to the English only. Mes- 
 nager had such authority, and he was now com- 
 pelled to avow it ; a circumstance of no small ad- 
 vantage to England in the conduct of the nego- 
 tiations. 
 
 We find St. John on several other occasions treat- 
 ing alone with the French envoy ; and on the 3rd 
 September a conference was held, at which Oxford, 
 St. John, Dartmouth, Jersey, and Prior were pre- 
 sent. When they were assembled, (says the minis-
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ter who has given us a detailed account of all these 
 ^^- negotiations,*) St. John, better versed in the French 
 
 A.D. 1711. language and more eloquent than Dartmouth his 
 colleague, assumed the lead. He attempted to 
 prove that their present business was only to settle 
 the advantages which England was to derive from 
 the peace. So soon as this article was fully agreed 
 to, the queen his mistress would, he said, transfer 
 her whole attention to the interests of France ; that 
 her majesty had ordered a packet to be prepared to 
 carry over the express which Mesnager wished to 
 send to his court : but that they were previously to 
 resume the argument, and a more determinate an- 
 swer must be given to the several articles in dispute. 
 To this Mesnager promised acquiescence. 
 
 The first condition was the entire demolition of 
 the works which the king had erected at Dunkirk, 
 as well upon the land as towards the sea. Mesnager 
 in vain offered the destruction of the Risbau and the 
 forts towards the sea. They were inflexible. The 
 fortifications of a town so situated gave too much un- 
 easiness to England, to suffer them to stand. There 
 was no other way than to yield. Mesnager, how- 
 ever, in giving up this point, complied with his 
 instructions, in demanding a suitable compensation 
 for this extraordinary concession to the Queen of 
 Great Britain. This was to procure, at the conclud- 
 ing of the peace, an equivalent for razing all the 
 
 * De Torcy.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 173 
 
 works that had been erected for the defence of the chap. 
 town of Dunkirk, and the security of its harbour. ^^' 
 
 Mesnager proposed as an equivalent, the restitution a.d. i711. 
 of the towns of Lisle and Tournay. The ministers 
 assured him that the queen really intended the king 
 should be indemnified ; but as to the quality of the 
 indemnification, they said it was impossible then to 
 determine it. After the article of Dunkirk, they 
 proceeded next to the securities which England de- 
 manded for her trade in America : they pretended 
 that the only security the King of Spain could give 
 to please them, was to deliver up some towns in the 
 West Indies, as Prior had mentioned at Fontain- 
 bleau. 
 
 Mesnager declared they must not expect the King 
 of Spain would ever admit of such a pretension. 
 " What advantage, then," said they, " shall we obtain 
 for our trade ?" — " You shall have," replied Mesnager, 
 " an exemption from the duties of Cadiz and the In- 
 dies for all the commodities of the growth and ma- 
 nufacture of England." 
 
 They asked, whether that advantage would be 
 granted only to England, or whether other nations 
 would likewise enjoy it ? "I know," said Mesnager, 
 " that when I was at Madrid, the King of Spain in- 
 tended to lay a duty of at least fifteen per cent, upon 
 all goods, as well at Cadiz as in the West Indies, 
 and to impose it on all nations alike." 
 
 St. John asked, whether the French did not
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, enjoy that same exemption which his catholic ma- 
 
 TY • 
 
 jesty was willing to grant to the English? The 
 
 I A.D. 1711. King of Spain, he was answered, had not yet ex- 
 
 plained himself with respect to this article ; but 
 he showed, from the particular privileges that would 
 be extended to the English merchants, besides tho 
 negro-trade and their exemption from the before- 
 mentioned duties, that the English would be more 
 favoured in their commerce than any other nation 
 in Europe. 
 
 The proofs he gave were not sufficient to persuade 
 
 the ministers. They asked him again, what security 
 
 they should have of enjoying the privileges which 
 
 he vaunted so highly ? He proposed that the treaty 
 
 should be confirmed and sworn to at the assembly of 
 
 the states of Castile. " Such assemblies," replied 
 
 ^. Oxford, *' sunt magni nominis umbrae." 
 
 j^r v"^ " Would you be satisfied if Cadiz be confided to a 
 
 v' Swiss garrison ?" — " The expedient," said the minis- 
 
 ^ ters, " would be an excellent one for the officers and 
 
 soldiers of Switzerland ; but would be of no use at 
 
 ♦^ S, all to England." 
 
 He then offered Port Mahon as a security. They 
 replied, that Port Mahon was an excellent security 
 for the commerce with the Mediterranean : but what 
 had Port Mahon to do with America ? 
 
 St. John continued to insist on the necessity of 
 letting England have some settlements in the West 
 Indies for the security of her commerce. He con- 
 cluded however with demanding, as an indemnifi- 
 
 )r
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 175 
 
 cation for the King of Spain's refusal, that he would chap. 
 consent at least to let the English enjoy the negro- ^^- 
 
 trade for thirty years. This was a long term; yet a.d. nil. 
 Mesnager made answer, that he Avas convinced the 
 king would employ his good offices to procure this 
 new advantage for the English. 
 
 St., John wanted something more, as he said him- 
 self, intending to specify what it was in a memorial 
 concerning the different questions discussed at the 
 conference. 
 
 In vain did Mesnager endeavour to introduce the 
 interests of the Electors of Cologne and Bavaria : 
 they repeated the same answer as before, and re- 
 ferred this article to the general conferences of peace. 
 
 St. John having finished the memorial, gave it to 
 Mesnager at a fresh conference held at Prior's, the 
 9th Sept. It was a representation of the several 
 demands made by England. 
 
 To these demands the King of France transmitted 
 his minister power to accede : and De Torcy gives a 
 characteristic account of the manner in which this 
 information was received by the English ministers. 
 
 " The Abb6 Gaultier set out with the new memo- 
 rial and the king's instructions to Mesnager, and ar- 
 rived in London the 23rd of September. Prior sent 
 word directly to the Earl of Oxford. The ministers 
 commissioned by the queen came to town from 
 Windsor. In the mean time Mesnager, together 
 with the Abbe Gaultier, waited upon the lord trea- 
 surer, at eight o'clock the same evening. The joy
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, that minister received from the king's answers, 
 ^^- though he had only a general idea of them, appeared 
 
 A.D. 1711. in the hearty welcome he gave to Mesnager, more 
 than in a profusion of expressions. He familiarly 
 kept them to supper. After the servants were gone, 
 he told him that he treated him as a friend ; that 
 he looked upon the king as England's good ally ; and 
 then he drank the health of his majesty, of the 
 dauphin, and of his ministers. 
 
 *' The ministers appointed by the queen met the 
 next evening at Prior's. They retired into a little 
 room by themselves ; and after Mesnager came, it 
 was some time before he could obtain admission. 
 Upon being introduced, he observed a great altera- 
 tion in their countenances : the Duke of Shrews- 
 bury, especially, seemed the most uneasy. However, 
 they received him not only politely, but with great 
 marks of satisfaction. 
 
 " At the opening of the conference Mesnager told 
 them, that notwithstanding the just uneasiness it 
 might give his master to see England refuse to take 
 the least engagement in any of the points relating 
 to the interests of France, yet his majesty was de- 
 termined to comply with most of the conditions de- 
 manded by that crown. He showed his new power 
 for signing as preliminaries the king's answers to their 
 demands. 
 
 " The Duke of Shrewsbury rehd the power several 
 times. Mesnager thought he read it with the atten- 
 tion of a person that wanted to find some flaw in it.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 177 
 
 but if he had any such notion, he was disappointed ; chap. 
 there was no fault to be found with the power. ^^' 
 
 They proceeded therefore to read the answers. a.d. i7ii. 
 
 " The English ministers still appeared to be in the 
 same perturbation, especially Shrewsbury. Mesnager 
 could not imagine the cause, much less what would 
 be the issue of it. 
 
 " This uneasiness was in part owing to the natural 
 timidity of the Duke of Shrewsbury. He had a 
 thorough knowledge of the constitution of his country, 
 and a sensibility of the dangers to which the minis- 
 ters are exposed, either upon the accession of another 
 prince to the throne, or upon a change of adminis- 
 tration. The more he was acquainted with these 
 matters, the more the apprel^ension of future in- 
 quiries disturbed his mind : it even impelled him, 
 notwithstanding his gentle disposition, to speak in 
 a rough manner to Mesnager at one of the con- 
 ferences. And yet Shrewsbury was as desirous of 
 peace as any one in the administration. They were 
 all struck with the terror of a period which perhaps 
 was not remote ; and notwithstanding their good 
 intentions, they were awed by this reflection. We 
 must except St. John : he read the papers which 
 Mesnager submitted to him aloud, and gave marks of 
 approval to each article."* 
 
 This circumstance which occasioned the sudden 
 consternation of the ministers, was the recollection 
 that an act of parliament had some time ago de- 
 
 * De Torcy. 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, clared it high treason for any minister to make peace 
 ^^' with a prince who harboured the Pretender. St. 
 
 A.D. 1711. John alone appears to have had firmness to disregard 
 so absurd an enactment. His conduct throughout 
 these conferences indicates the master-spirit; and, 
 but for his resolution, it is probable that the nego- 
 tiations would upon this ground have been abruptly 
 broken off. Upon stating the difficulty to Mesnager, 
 the sagacity of the Frenchman supplied him with a 
 further argument in favour of assenting to the preli- 
 minaries ; and forcible arguments were needed to 
 convince his timorous colleagues, that with watchful 
 enemies, ever ready to urge any advantage against 
 them, it would be prudent to put their lives within 
 the power of the law. Mesnager suggested that the 
 articles they were now about to sign were not a 
 peace, but merely the preliminaries of a peace, and 
 consequently could not be within the scope of the 
 enactment : and he hinted that the Chevalier St. 
 George was then upon a tour in the provinces of 
 France, and that possibly, before the general con- 
 ferences for peace were opened, the cause of their 
 uneasiness might be removed. The objection of 
 Mesnager was deemed vahd, and the ministers de- 
 termined to proceed. But other objections were 
 again advanced, and farther obstacles raised ; and 
 much delay occurred before the preliminaries were 
 signed. These difficulties were at length overcome, 
 and Mesnager returned with the document properly 
 confirmed, to the French court.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 179 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Expedition to Quebec designed by St. John. — Its failure. — Pre- 
 liminaries hastily signed in consequence, — St. Johns Private 
 Life. — Formation of the Brothers Club. 
 
 1 HE English ministry had .an object in view in the chap. 
 delays they had interposed to the completion of these ^- 
 conferences. They hoped, by securing great com- a.d. nii, 
 mercial advantages to the country, to protect them- 
 selves from the attacks which they well knew would 
 be made upon them immediately the treaty they 
 were negotiating was made public. To this object 
 nothing would contribute more than the acquisition 
 of some valuable portion of the New World; and this 
 they were now expecting. 
 
 Early in this year St. John had listened to the 
 proposals of a Colonel Nicholson, regarding an expe- 
 dition against some of the French settlements in 
 America. This officer had great experience in the 
 nature of the country which he proposed to attack. 
 He had in a former expedition taken possession of 
 Nova Scotia and Port Royal, in the latter of which 
 he left a garrison, having, in compliment to his sove- 
 reign, changed its name to Annapolis. The Indians 
 
 N 2
 
 180 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, he brought home with him for some time mono- 
 ^' polized the attention of the public, and drew more 
 
 A.D. 1711. general attention to his account of the advantages 
 which would accrue to England from the conquest of 
 the French possessions in North America. 
 
 St. John heard him, and entered warmly into his 
 views ; and an expeditjon^^agamst jQuebe^^^a^ 
 centia was resolved upon. He appears to have as- 
 sumed the whole responsibility of advising this ex- 
 pedition ; he certainly was the only member of the 
 administration who exerted himself in its prepara- 
 tion. A strong squadron of ships was prepared, 
 under the command of Sir Hovenden Walker ; and 
 they were to be accompanied by transports, contain- 
 ing 5000 men, under the command of Brigadier Hill, 
 the brother of Mrs. Masham, and the person who has 
 already figured in the political history of this time 
 as the ragged protege of the Duchess of Marlbo- 
 rough. This was evidently St. John's own favourite 
 measure. His anxiety with regard to it appears in 
 all his confidential correspondence at this period.* 
 He is continually instructing his agents abroad to 
 circulate specious reports as to the destination of the 
 expedition. These were not without avail: he suc- 
 
 * " I am glad to find that, nagement of it singly carried 
 Avhatever guesses curious peo- on by me, you will easily ima- 
 ple may make, there yet ap- gine that I have a sort of pa- 
 pears no more light into the ternal concern for the success 
 secret of IVIr. Hill's expedition, of it." — Letter to Mr. Drum- 
 As that whole design was moiid, June 26, 1711. Bol. 
 formed by me, and the ma- Corr.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 181 
 
 ceeded in causing great consternation in the French ; chap. 
 who, in consequence of the insinuations of his agents, ^' 
 dreaded a formidable descent upon their coast. a.d. nu. 
 
 The fleet sailed from Plymouth early in May, and 
 received strong reinforcements upon their voyage. It 
 had been concerted that a body of 4000 men should 
 assemble at Albany, and march by land into Canada 
 to co-operate with the expedition from England ; 
 and, from the care with which the preparations had 
 been made, success was anticipated as certain. 
 
 But the correctness of Nicholson's plans, and the 
 conduct of the leaders of the expedition, did not 
 justify the confidence which St. John had reposed in 
 them. So unprepared was he for failure, that upon 
 receiving intelligence that the fleet had arrived at its 
 destination, he wrote to the Earl of Orrery that the 
 whole of North America was in the possession of the 
 English.* The arrival of the fleet was, however, but 
 the signal for the commencement of its disasters. 
 A violent storm drove their ships among the rocks, 
 destroyed eight of the transports and above eight 
 hundred men. It was now discovered that the ships 
 were too large to ascend the river ; and that it would 
 be impossible, with their present means, to attain the 
 prime object of their expedition — the capture of 
 Quebec. The fleet sailed back to Spanish River 
 Bay, and a council of war was held to decide upon 
 their future measures. As they were short of pro- 
 visions, and could place no dependence upon New 
 
 * Doling. Corr.
 
 M^' 
 
 '$/^ 
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. England for supplies, it was resolved to return home 
 ^- without farther prosecuting the enterprise. 
 A.D. 1711. Thus ended, in disaster and disgrace, an expedition 
 in which St. John had embarked much of his repu- 
 tation. It is probable that the ministry had early 
 intelligence of the failure, and that this influenced 
 them to despatch Mesnager with the preliminaries. 
 P^ No sooner was he gone than the affair was made 
 
 known ; and the public voice declared, not without 
 some appearance of reason, that the safety of the 
 expedition had been sacrificed to the ambition and 
 incapacity of a favourite of the court. 
 
 Immediately afterwards the preliminaries which 
 had been agreed upon were published in one of the 
 political periodicals, by the ambassador of the em- 
 peror, to whom they had been confidentially com- 
 municated.* He was induced to take this step to 
 embarrass the ministry and retard the peace, and he 
 was punished for it by an immediate dismissal from 
 the court. 
 
 St. John's occupations were at this time extremely 
 multifarious and harassing ; but, notwithstanding 
 their pressure, he yet found time to enjoy the con- 
 versation of the literary men of his age. His con- 
 versational powers enabled him to shine with pe- 
 culiar brilliancy at those periodical meetings of inti- 
 mate friends which were at this time so much in 
 fashion. Business appears to have at least tempo- 
 rarily weaned him from the habitual extravagances 
 
 * Political State.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 183 
 
 in which he once indulged ; and he seems now^to chap. 
 have delighted to pass his hours of leisure ratherin ^- 
 the en|o^!inent of the socTety of the talented than in a.d. 1711. 
 the participation of the pleasures of the dissipated. 
 
 Thus we find him about this time complaining of 
 the irregularities which had been introduced into 
 most of the clubs of his party, and proposing the 
 formation of a new one, in which the members should 
 be less numerous and the intercourse more intel- 
 lectual. In his letters to the Earl of Orrery, he 
 states his views in the formation of this society : — 
 /** I must," he writes, '* before I send this letter, give 
 your lordship an account of a club which I am form- 
 ing, and which, as light as the design may seem to 
 ^be, I believe will prove to be of real service. We 
 shall begin to meet in a small number ; and that will 
 )e composed of some who have wit and learning to 
 recommend them ; of others who, from their own 
 situations or from their relations, have power and 
 linfluence ; and of others who, from accidental rea- 
 fsons, may be properly taken in. The first regu- 
 jlation proposed, and that which must be most in- 
 ; violably kept, is decency. None of the extravagance 
 c^f the Kit Cat,* none of the drunkenness of the 
 
 X 
 
 * The Kit Cat Club was in- rous, the most violent party 
 stituted in 1699. Its most obtained the majority, and the 
 illustrious members were Con- earl and his friends were less 
 greve, Prior, Sir John Van- regular in their attendance- 
 burgh, the Earl of Orrery, and The October Club was also 
 Lord Somers ; but the mem- composed of Tories, but was 
 bers becoming more nume- looked upon with no favour
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Beefsteak, is to be endured. The improvement of 
 ^' friendship andjthe encouragement of letters- are^t^x^bja^ 
 
 A.D. 1711. the two great ends of our society." And again to the 
 same nobleman : " As to the club which I spoke to 
 you of, I beheve you will think it very well chosen ; 
 and you may be sure that you will be one of the first. 
 There are about ten or twelve places filled : the re- 
 mainder, to one-and-twenty, remain open for some of 
 our friends who are abroad, and for such others as 
 we shall in the winter in full chapter elect." 
 
 The establishment of a society such as this which 
 St. John proposed, could not but have extensively 
 beneficial effects upon the party to which the mem- 
 bers were attached, while it strengthened the friend- 
 ship which united its supporters. St. John pro- 
 mised himself as the happiest of its effects, that the 
 men of genius by whom his administration was de- 
 fended would have a corporation of patrons to pro- 
 tect and advance them in the world. He hoped 
 that in the freedom of continual intercourse the folly 
 of his own party would be ridiculed and checked ; 
 
 by St. John and the govern- his coadjutors stepped between 
 
 ment. It consisted of more them and their prey, they be- 
 
 than one hundred members of came loud and angry in their 
 
 parhament, of the most violent expostulations. It was only 
 
 Tory views. This subdivision fear of the common enemy 
 
 of a party was for some time which prevented them from 
 
 formidable, and once nearly open opposition, 
 fatal to the ministry. When The Kit Cat took its name 
 
 the Whigs went out, they were from a pastry-cook, whose pies 
 
 for extreme measures against formed a regular dish at the 
 
 them ; and when Harlcy and suppers of the club.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 185 
 
 and he knew that by the union it must effect, the op- chap. 
 position of the adverse party would be more power- ^' 
 fully resisted. a.d.i7ii. 
 
 St. John's anticipations were fully verified : this 
 society, under the name of the Brothers' Club, con- 
 tinued for some time to restrain the outburst of 
 those elements of disunion with which the Harley 
 ministry was so rife. To be a member of this club 
 was esteemed a distinguished honour. They ad- 
 dressed each other as " brother ;" and we find their 
 ladies in their correspondence claiming to be en- 
 rolled as sisters.* The members of this club were 
 the Dukes of Ormond, Shrewsbury, Beaufort ; the 
 Earls of Oxford, Arran, Jersey, Orrery, Bathurst ; 
 Lords Harley, Duplin, Masham ; Sir Robert Ray- 
 mond, Sir WiUiam Windham, Colonel Hill, Colonel 
 Desney, St. John, Granville, Arbuthnot, Prior, 
 Swift, and Friend. 
 
 The names of the members which constituted this 
 society show that the rules which St. John laid 
 down at its formation were exactly observed. They 
 a^_alLjIien who could boast eitherj:ank,-4al©Ht, 
 orMBterest ; ^'nH^Tn many these essentials were 
 united. 
 
 We have here also a list of St. John's most inti- 
 mate friends and most constant companions : and 
 if some of them, such as Masham and Hill, were 
 little worthy of his friendship, it must be remem- 
 bered that they were probably tolerated only to pre- 
 
 * See Swift's Letters, passim.
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, serve an interest with the queen ; without which 
 ^' the poUtical existence of himself and his friends 
 
 A.D. 1711. depended only upon the breath of a jealous and not 
 very efficient minister. 
 
 St. John's life at this time affords a fine prac- 
 tical specimen of the compatibility which he has in- 
 sisted upon in his works,* of the enjoyment of plea- 
 sure with a constant discharge of public duty. In 
 one of these he contends that the common — the sen- 
 sual pleasures to which Nature prompts, and which 
 Reason therefore does not forbid, though she should 
 always direct, are so far from being excluded out of 
 a life of business, that they are sometimes necessary 
 in it, and are always heightened by it. He instances 
 the pleasures of the table, which may be so ordered 
 as to promote the confidence of friendly intercourse : 
 and he fortifies his position with the authority of 
 the elder Cato, who, in the midst of public duties, 
 private studies, and an extreme old age, found time 
 to frequent the sodalitates, or clubs of friends, at 
 Rome, and to sit up all night with his neighbours in 
 the country of the Sabines. 
 
 The eloquence of St. John, hke the virtue of Cato, 
 often glowed with wine ; and none who knew him 
 could affirm that he abstained in practice from the in- 
 dulgences which he extended to public men by his pre- 
 cepts. In many instances, as he says, his pleasures 
 were necessary portions of his business. At the so- 
 cieties of his party it was at once his task and his 
 
 * Spirit of Patriotism.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 187 
 
 delight to cultivate friendships, and to compose chap. 
 differences of opinion ; to recapitulate the past, and ^- 
 
 to prepare for the future; to reward the genius a.d. i7ii. 
 which laboured for his party, and to point out new 
 subjects for its exercise. 
 
 Nor were his attentions confined to rewardinsr 
 the past or directing the future performances of his 
 literary friends. In many of the productions which 
 were so celebrated in their day as masterpieces of 
 political writing, the pen of St. John is frequently 
 to be traced. The most celebrated of these writers 
 submitted their more important efforts to his cor- 
 rection, and were often indebted to him for giving 
 elegance to their sentiment and pungency to their 
 satire. We know that this was the case with re- 
 spect to the "Conduct of the Allies," a pamphlet 
 published at this time by Swift, for the purpose of 
 inclining the parliament, which was now about to 
 assemble, to an immediate peace. The success of 
 this pamphlet was unprecedented, and its effect was 
 electrical. Yet it is well known that St. John con- 
 tributed much to the correction of this work ; and 
 traces of his style are occasionally to be met with 
 throughout it.* 
 
 These revisions were the produce of his social 
 hours. It was in the moments of careless abandon- 
 
 * Some of the Whig writers ignorance of his style of writ- 
 declare that this pamphlet was ing, which is the very anti- 
 entirely Bollngbroke's. Such podes of Swift's, 
 a mistake manifests a strange
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ment to the society of his friends, that he scattered 
 __11__ those brilliant jew^^ d'esprit, and that sparkling wit, 
 
 A.D. 1711. which were the theme of admiration among his 
 friends, and were often extensively circulated to the 
 confusion of his enemies. 
 
 It was not, however, among the literary men of 
 his party that his leisure was wholly or even chiefly 
 spent. The talent of Swift as a pamphleteer corri- 
 manded the attention of the ministers ; and his 
 overweening vanity impelled him to retail to a 
 foolish woman every minute acknowledgment of his 
 usefulness which they accorded to him. In this 
 account of his movements we necessarily meet with 
 many notices of St. John. But since the Journal of 
 the dean generally consists only of a recital of the 
 common news of the day, and a faithful chronicle 
 of the invitations he has received to dinner, St. John 
 seldom figures in his narrative otherwise than as 
 the secretary or the host. We may thank him, 
 however, for the information he gives us with regard 
 to some of the occasions where he came in contact 
 with the secretary at the houses of third parties. 
 He tells Stella* that his best night-house was Lord 
 
 * Swift's conduct to Mrs. of these two ladies has been 
 Johnstone, whom he chose to strangely commiserated as un- 
 celebrate by this name, is too requited affection ; and the 
 well known to need animad- heartless trifling of this reve- 
 version here. The fate of Va- rend deceiver has received 
 nessa (Mrs. Van Homrigh) is more indulgence than he de- 
 yet more strange, but perhaps served himself, or would have 
 less pitiable. The silly vanity extended to another.
 
 A.D. 1711. 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. . 189 
 
 Masham's, where the rulers of his party were almost cpiap. 
 
 every evening assembled. The company, he says, ' 
 
 usually consisted of Lady Masham, the lord trea- 
 surer ; Dr. Arbuthnot, the favourite physician of the 
 queen ; St. John ; and Mrs. Hill, of the bedchamber, 
 sister to Lady Masham. 
 
 St. John then, notwithstanding the jealousy which 
 was now known to subsist between him and the 
 treasurer, was careful not to lose by inattention the 
 interest of the cabal which directed the measures 
 of the court. Again, he found the amusements of 
 the drawing-room facilitate the designs of the closet : 
 his presence and his address were necessary to coun- 
 teract the subtle insinuations which the jealousy of 
 Oxford was hourly suggesting. 
 
 Thus, as far as we have facts to guide us, the 
 private life of St. John was at this time rational 
 and consistent ; and if, as the occasional remarks 
 of his contemporaries seem to intimate, there were 
 other points in w^hich he laid less restraint upon 
 himself, those habits were at least never suffered to 
 interfere with his duties as a minister of state.
 
 190 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 & 1712. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 \ 
 
 Meeting of Parliament. — Critical Situation of the Tories. — 
 Creation of Peers. — Prosecution of the Duke of Marlborough. 
 — St. Johns exertions to increase tlie Unpopularity of the 
 War. — The Multiplicity of his Duties. — His Intrigues against 
 Harley. 
 
 CHAP. After the preliminaries of peace had been agreed 
 ^^- upon, the intrigues of the empire and the remon- 
 A.D. 1711 strances of Holland, although no less actively em- 
 ployed, became less powerful to embarrass the mi- 
 nistry. The arrangements for the general conferences 
 were completed previous to the meeting of parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 This session commenced in December. The queen, 
 in her speech,* declared that she was glad to be able 
 to tell them that, notwithstanding the arts of those 
 who delight in war, both time and place were ap- 
 pointed for opening the treaty of a general peace ; 
 and that she would endeavour that, after a war 
 which had cost so much blood and treasure, they 
 might find their interest in trade and commerce im- 
 proved and enlarged by a peace, with all other ad- 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 191 
 
 vantages which a tender and affectionate sovereign chap. 
 could procure for a dutiful and loyal people. ^^- 
 
 This speech was too undisguised in its reflection a.d. 1711 
 upon the Whigs to be received without exciting a ^ ^'^^* 
 violent contest. In the commons, Walpole moved 
 an amendment to the address ; which was, however, 
 negatived by an immense majority. And in the 
 lords a yet more stormy debate succeeded. The 
 Earl of Nottingham seceded from the ministry, and 
 moved a clause in the address, that, in the lords' 
 opinion, no peace could be safe or honourable to 
 Great Britain or Europe, if Spain and the West 
 Indies were to be allotted to any branch of the 
 house of Bourbon. This was carried against the 
 ministry by a majority of a single voice ; and the 
 Tories and their adherents were in the utmost con- 
 sternation. The Whigs were so exasperated against 
 the ministers, that their fall from power was con- 
 sidered by them only as the prelude to their entire 
 destruction. In the moment of triumph, the Earl 
 of Wharton is said — but upon very questionable 
 authority — to have smiled and put his hands to his 
 neck when any of the ministry were speaking, in- 
 timating that the head of the speaker was in danger.* 
 Whether a gesture so ferocious can be justly attri- 
 buted even to the Earl of Wharton, is very doubt- 
 
 * Swift's History of the history, he takes every oppor- 
 
 Four last Years of the Reign tunity of pleading the cause 
 
 of Queen Anne ; a work in of his party, 
 which, under the disguise of
 
 192 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ful ; and whether the Whigs contemplated the 
 ^^' severities which the Tories dreaded, is yet more 
 
 A.D. 1711 questionable. But it is certain that the terror of 
 the adherents of the administration was sincere. 
 The queen was believed to have joined the Whigs ; 
 and even Mrs. Masham for a moment thought that 
 her influence was gone. Swift was in terrible con- 
 sternation : he begged of St. John to send him 
 abroad ; and told the Earl of Oxford that he should 
 have the advantage of him, for that the earl would 
 lose his head, but he should only be hanged, and so 
 carry his body entire to the grave.* 
 
 Amid the general panic of his party, St. John 
 alone was sufficiently calm and self-possessed to re- 
 medy the confusion which the negligence of Oxford 
 had created. His exertions in the commons, where 
 his eloquence had contended with unqualified success 
 against that of Walpole,| had reanimated his party, 
 and perhaps recalled the wavering favour of his mis- 
 tress. When his party were downcast and dejected, 
 
 * Journal to Stella. ed his affectation of contempt. 
 
 ■f Walpole was now rapidly Giving an account to Stella 
 
 rising to that estimation which of a lampooning ballad which 
 
 he afterwards attained. In he had written upon the Duke 
 
 his " History of the Four last of Nottingham, he says, " I 
 
 Years," Swift says, " One Mr. heard at court that Walpole, a 
 
 Walpole proposed an amend- great Whig member, said that 
 
 ment to the address," &c. I and my whimsical club writ 
 
 This was written when his it at one of our meetings, and 
 
 apprehensions had subsided : that I should pay for it." — 
 
 but at the time of the minis- Journal, Dec. 18. 
 ter's defeat, his fears conquer-
 
 LORD BOLINGIillUKE. 19-'^ 
 
 his countenance was cheerful, his voice confident, chap. 
 and his counsels energetic. He urged the timorous ^^' 
 
 and procrastinating Oxford to the only measure which ^•^- ^^^^ 
 could retain his party in power ; and if his counsel 
 and his language show but little delicacy for the 
 constitution of his country, his resolution in emer- 
 gency pointed him out as the support and leader of 
 the ministry. The house of lords were now in op- 
 position : the queen, notAvith standing the doubts 
 which had been entertained, proved firm in her ad- 
 herence to the cabal, which patronised the Tories : 
 twelve new peers were created : and St. John is re- 
 ported to have declared that they should have three 
 times as many more if these were not enough.* 
 
 Some years after, when his object was to excul- 
 pate himself and to censure Oxford, he could dis- 
 cover that this sudden creation of a majority was 
 an unprecedented and invidious measure, to be ex- 
 cused by nothing but the necessity, and hardly by 
 that. There is sufficient evidence to show that he 
 heartily concurred in, and probably originated, this 
 unprecedented and invidious measure ; although the 
 credit of Oxford with the queen rendered him the 
 only person who could put it in execution. 
 
 This extreme expedient re-established the su- 
 premacy of the Tories, and the Whigs were now 
 exposed to the vengeance they had threatened. The 
 
 * When these peers took ther they intended to vote by 
 their seats, the Earl of Whar- their chairman, 
 ton ironically asked them whe- 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, first object of the victors' resentment was Walpole, 
 ^^' who had shown himself too dangerous an opponent 
 
 A.D. 1711 ^Q ijg allowed to continue his opposition with im- 
 punity. He was proved to have been concerned in 
 some clandestine practices with regard to the forage 
 contract in Scotland, while he held office under the 
 old ministry. There can be no doubt that he in 
 effect sold the contract for 500/., since he was con- 
 fessedly privy to his nominee receiving that sum 
 for it. Very violent speeches were made against 
 him in the commons : Sir Peter King declared he 
 deserved hanging, and St. John was also among 
 the foremost of his accusers. The house voted 
 that Walpole had been guilty of a high breach of 
 trust and notorious corruption : he was expelled 
 the house, imprisoned in the Tower, and declared 
 incapable of sitting in the present parliament. This 
 is an important circumstance in the history of St. 
 John, since it assigns the cause of that merci- 
 less and persevering personal hostility which cha- 
 racterized Walpole's future conduct towards Boling- 
 broke. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough was the next object 
 of this minister's attack : he had headed, perhaps 
 contrived,* the late attempt ; and the ministry de- 
 termined to humble the Whigs in the person of 
 their chief. It is much to be regretted that this 
 great man's conduct gave too much colour of justice 
 to the prosecution which was commenced against 
 
 * De Torcy.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 195 
 
 him from factious motives. A commission, which had chap. 
 been appointed for examining the public accounts, ^^• 
 reported that the duke had received an annual bribe a.d. i71i 
 of 5000/. or 6000/. from the contractors of bread ^ ^^^-• 
 to the array ; and the queen, upon so grave a 
 charge, made from such a quarter, declared she 
 could not do otherwise than dismiss him from all 
 his employments, that the matter might be im- 
 partially examined. This prejudgment of his case 
 savours much of the violence of faction ; but the 
 sequel of the investigation showed that, though 
 his disgrace was premature, it was not unmerited. 
 Other charges were now brought forward : his 
 having received large yearly bribes from Medina, 
 a Jew, was made too clear to be questioned. 
 He was charged with having misappropriated 
 much of the 10,000/. a year he received from the 
 queen to defray the charges of intelligence ; and 
 he was proved to have deducted two and a half 
 per cent, from the pay of the foreign troops main- 
 tained by England : the commons voted that these 
 practices were unwarrantable and illegal, and that 
 the deduction was to be accounted for as public 
 money. 
 
 Although it cannot be denied that such practices 
 were sordid and disgraceful, we can accord no 
 praise to the ministers for exposing them. St. 
 John and his colleagues, as appears from his letters, 
 knew of them while they continued him in office. 
 Their object was not the punishment of a public 
 
 o 2
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, delinquent, but the ruin of a powerful enemy. Ac- 
 ^^' cording to De Torcy, his influence had prevailed 
 
 A.D. 1711 even upon the officers of the queen's household to 
 
 Q. 1719 
 
 vote against her in the division upon the address : 
 and Oxford and St. John, when they remembered 
 how near they had been to ruin, and how their 
 mode of escape had exasperated their enemies, and 
 startled even their friends, thought it would be 
 rather rashness than clemency to spare so dangerous 
 and implacable a foe. 
 
 This strong measure ot creating a majority in 
 the lords could be justified only by its necessity 
 in self-defence, and could be protected only by the 
 favour of the people. The Tories satisfied them- 
 selves and their adherents by magnifying the vio- 
 lence of the Whigs ; and St. John undertook the 
 task of conciliating the people. They were already 
 sufficiently discontented with the continuance of 
 the war, and sufficiently enraged against those who 
 advocated it. To increase that discontent, and 
 point their indignation, St. John employed himself 
 in drawing up accurate computations of the num- 
 bers of our own men, and a comparison of them 
 with the numbers of foreigners, who had been em- 
 ployed in the war. The same course was adopted 
 with regard to the number of ships contributed by 
 England and her allies. The items in which she 
 had exceeded, and they had fallen short of, the 
 stipulated contingents, were pointed out ; and the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 197 
 
 sums paid by way of subsidy were accurately stated cpiap. 
 and put prominently forward. ^^' 
 
 By this statement the eyes of the people were a.d. i71i 
 opened to the immense sacrifices which had been 
 already made. They saw that while the allies, by 
 the exorbitance of their demands, attempted to 
 destroy all hopes of peace, they were unable to 
 contribute any material proportion to the prosecu- 
 tion of the war ; and their indignation was raised 
 to the highest pitch when they discovered, that 
 the contest which had dazzled them by its glory, 
 and exhausted them by its expense, had been en- 
 tirely for the interest of her allies, not for that of 
 England. They were convinced that, as the rela- 
 tions of Europe then stood, this country was un- 
 interested in the disposal of Spain ; and they felt 
 with bitterness that England had been the out- 
 witted tool of Holland. 
 
 The success of these labours of St. John was 
 apparent in the conduct of the commons. They 
 attended the queen with a strong representation of 
 the hardships the allies had put upon England in 
 carrying on this war, and how necessary it was to 
 devise some plan of relief. They showed, from the 
 accounts which had been laid before them by St. 
 John, that the annual expenditure of England, 
 which, at the commencement of the contest, amount- 
 ed only to about three millions, was now increased 
 to nearly seven millions ; and that this immense
 
 & 1712. 
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, increase was chiefly occasioned by the deficiencies of 
 ^^' the allies. The States-General, they said, were 
 A.D. 1711 frequently deficient two-thirds of the quota of the 
 shipping they undertook to provide ; which not only 
 increased the charge of the English, but occasioned 
 damage to their navy and the destruction of their 
 commerce ; since the British navy was employed 
 in the service which the States had undertaken, 
 instead of convoying their own merchantmen. In 
 the Netherlands they had been deficient of their 
 quota of troops upwards of 20,000 men. In Spain 
 and Portugal the whole burden of the war had been 
 thrown upon England ; and even the emperor, who 
 was most immediately interested in the success of 
 the war in that quarter, had no troops at all in pay 
 there till the last year of the war, and then but one 
 single regiment. England, in Spain alone, maintain- 
 ed 60,000 men ; and the charges of the shipping em- 
 ployed in that service only, amounted to no less than 
 eight millions sterling. In every article she had 
 exceeded her obligations, and in the course of the 
 war had expended beyond her quota above nineteen 
 millions of money. 
 
 The representation declared that all this had been 
 not only connived at, but in many instances contrived 
 and encouraged upon private views ; that the greater 
 had been the success of the war, the heavier had 
 the burdens of England become ; — new dominions 
 had been conquered for the allies, while they ex- 
 cused themselves from any contribution to the ex-
 
 LORD BOLINGBllOKE. 199 
 
 pense ; and it was not to be expected that they would chap. 
 ever be weary of enlarging their territories at the ^^' 
 
 charge of England, when even the revenues of the ^•^- i^ii 
 conquered countries were not applied to defray the ^ ^'^^' 
 expense of prosecuting the war. 
 
 They represented that, though Britain had borne 
 so great a share in the contest, no advantages had 
 been stipulated for her ; but, on the contrary, the 
 barrier-treaty with the Dutch was destructive to 
 her trade ; and the putting Newport and other places 
 in Flanders into their hands, made the trade of the 
 English to the Spanish Netherlands precarious : and 
 the strength of that country, which Britain had so 
 largely contributed to increase, might hereafter be 
 employed against Britain herself 
 
 The representation concludes by imploring the 
 queen to rescue her people from those evils which 
 the private counsels of ill-designing men had ex- 
 posed them to, and so to amend the treaties with 
 the allies, that they may consist with the interest 
 of Great Britain, and with a real and lasting friend- 
 ship between her majesty and the States-General.* 
 
 This representation, which was drawn up by Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer, who was chairman of the com- 
 mittee appointed for that purpose, assisted by Oxford, 
 St. John, and Swift,f was intended at once to punish 
 and repress the intrigues which the States and the 
 
 * Pari, History, vol. vi. justice than modesty, describes 
 
 f In his History of the Four this representation as written 
 last Years, Swift, with more with much energy and spirit.
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, empire had been carrying on against the ministry, 
 ^^' and to assure them they had nothing to hope from 
 A.D. 1711 the countenance and support of the Whigs. It was 
 ^ ^'^^' also a direct approval of the conduct of ministers 
 throughout the period they had been in office, and 
 supplied them with a reply to every charge of their 
 opponents, that the measure attacked had been 
 formally approved by the house of commons. It 
 was well adapted to increase the confidence of 
 France in the parties with whom she was nego- 
 tiating ; and operated powerfully to destroy the 
 hopes which the allies still cherished of breaking off 
 the negotiations and resuming the war. It at least 
 made it apparent, that if the war was to be resumed, 
 its expense would be no longer borne by England, 
 while its benefits accrued to them. 
 
 To this representation the States published a reply, 
 which was answered by St. John in a manner that 
 gave them little cause to rejoice in the success of 
 their production : the facts were strongly against 
 them, and the secretary was not a man to overlook 
 his advantages. The publication of this reply gave 
 the last blow to the opposition of Holland, and she 
 now reluctantly turned her attention in earnest to 
 the negotiations. 
 
 The long and dilatory conferences which pre- 
 ceded the treaty of Utrecht were now commenced ; 
 and every letter of instructions which was given to 
 the English plenipotentiaries proceeded from the 
 pen of St. John. The whole thread of the nego-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 201 
 
 tiations was in his hands, — without his aid they chap. 
 were at a stand : his most assiduous exertions were ^^* 
 
 scarcely able to urge them forward. The interests a.d. i71i 
 he had to reconcile were the most jarring and ^ ^'^^' 
 discordant. In France he had an able opponent, 
 but in the allies he had much more dangerous 
 enernies. Averse to any peace, the object of every 
 step they took was to perplex the negotiations, 
 and to destroy, or at least delay, all hope of ac- 
 commodation. No occasion was lost for raisins; 
 impediments ; and the most extravagant demands 
 were advanced only to distract attention and to 
 consume time. 
 
 Few tasks could be more harassing and dis- 
 heartening than this in which the secretary was 
 now involved. Difficulties which are foreseen and 
 can be estimated, courage and perseverance may 
 hope to siu-mount ; but where the utmost exertion 
 discovers no sensible progression, — where one height 
 is gained only to show others steeper and more 
 impassable, — the excitement must languish, and hope 
 itself must droop. Even the opposition of the allies, 
 who should have studied their own interest by cor- 
 dially joining with him ; and the apathy and in- 
 dolence of his colleagues, whom duty, if not am- 
 bition, should have inclined to share his labours; 
 were not the only difficulties with which St. John 
 had now to struggle. The cause of the allies was 
 warmly undertaken by the opposition at home ; and 
 no manoeuvre was left untried to set the people
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, against the court, and to make the very peace upon 
 ^i- which the ministry hoped to estabhsh their power 
 
 A. D. 1711 the instrument of their overthrow. 
 
 & 1712. After the morning had been consumed in cor- 
 respondence upon the subject of the negotiations, the 
 evening was employed in defending the instructions 
 he had issued. He stated all the great questions 
 that were brought before the house ; he persuaded, he 
 illustrated, he supported the resolutions which were 
 taken upon them ; he answered objections, and re- 
 pelled attacks. And this was no trivial task. The 
 opposition consisted of, with the single exception 
 of himself, the most able and acute men in the 
 kingdom, and possessed the most dangerous power 
 which an opposition can wield. Eloquence may 
 be met by eloquence, and spirited declamation may 
 be easily answered, when it proceeds upon no extent 
 of information or accurate knowledge of the sub- 
 ject it attacks. But the opposition against which 
 St. John had nightly to contend had lately enjoyed 
 the conduct of affairs, and were intimately acquaint- 
 ed with all the detail of office : no subject could 
 be debated upon which they were not as well in- 
 formed as himself; and the indulgence which had 
 suffered many of their adherents to remain in office, 
 was abused to the purpose of affording them in- 
 formation of every error, and early intimation of 
 the most trifling informaiitv. 
 ^y^t The duties of negotiator, minister, author, and 
 aebater, were not the only calls upon his assiduity :
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 203 
 
 he had hkewise to discharge the more minute chap. 
 offices of a courtier. In this capacity he had -^^' 
 
 many and nice affairs upon his hands, and was a.d. 1711 
 ohhged to enter into and manage private in- 
 trigues of a very dehcate description. His quarrel 
 with Oxford reduced him to the necessity of as- 
 suming this part, which he had hitlierto neglected 
 as suited neither to his taste nor character. So 
 little attention had he formerly paid to the court, 
 that we are told he was hated _mprtalLy^„hy..J*ady 
 Masham, and abominated- -by ^iieqneer*-; so that 
 he must have fallen if he had not been necessary 
 for the scheme of the peace, from being the only 
 man about the court who could speak French.* 
 But necessity and practice seem to have rendered 
 him at length such an adept in court intrigue, that 
 he could successfully contend even with Oxford, 
 whose power had been entirely gained and wholly 
 supported by its practice. 
 
 At the time the expedition against Quebec was 
 projected, Oxford dared to refuse Lady Masham 
 a request which she made with regard to the 
 equipment of the fleet, and by which she intended 
 to realize a .large sum of money. The will of a 
 favourite is not to be opposed with impunity by 
 a courtier. To array conscientious scruples against 
 her interest, was an indignity which the lady pa- 
 troness of the ministry could never forgive. St. John 
 saw his opportunity: with better tact and less scruple 
 
 * Stuart Papers.
 
 204./ MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, he told her that, in spite of Oxford's opposition, he 
 ^^' would do it for her. He did so : and from that 
 
 & 1712. 
 
 A.D. 1711 moment Lady Masham became his friend; and the 
 influence of his rival was gradually, though perhaps 
 hardly sensibly, upon the decline * It was not without 
 an end, therefore, that he was assiduous in his at- 
 tendance at the evening meetings at Lady Masham's. 
 When we remember these multitudinous duties 
 which he had to perform, — that he was successful in 
 most of them, eminent in all, and surpassed in none ; 
 that the gravest duties were often intermitted for 
 the loosest pleasures ; — the nervous eloquence of the 
 orator preceded or followed the smooth adulation of 
 the courtier : whatever condemnation we may be 
 induced to pass upon some of the objects for which 
 he exerted his powers, we must acknowledge that 
 those powers were of the highest order ; — we must 
 feel admiration of the talent which could support 
 himself and his party against such a storm of oppo- 
 sition, such a weight of influence, and such a torrent 
 of abuse, as at this time both they and he sustained. 
 
 In these labours St. John persevered until the 
 prorogation of parliament, which took place early in 
 July : a circumstance then occurred which entirely 
 destroyed the little kindly feeling which he still en- 
 tertained for Oxford, and determined him to attempt 
 his overthrow. 
 
 * Stuart Papers. — Oxford's letter to the queen.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 205 
 
 A.D. 1712. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 St. John raised to the Peerage as Viscount Bolingbroke. — His 
 Discontent and Resentment against Harley. — The Negotiations 
 resumed. — Bolingbroke sent upon a Mission to France. — Con- 
 cludes a Suspension of Arms. — Rumours respecting Designs in 
 favour of the Pretender. 
 
 When the twelve peers were created, to procure a 
 majority in the lords, they were naturally chosen xii. 
 from the supporters of the government; and St. John 
 was of course entitled to the first place in the list : 
 but the ministry would then be left without ade- 
 quate support in the commons ; and he consented to 
 remain in the lower house for the present, upon an 
 understanding that his peerage should be reserved 
 for him, and that the rank of his title should give 
 him precedence of those which were then created. 
 
 Since this promise had been made to him, the 
 elder branch of his family had become extinct. The 
 family title — that of Earl of Bolingbroke — had expired 
 with Paulet St. John, who about a vear before this 
 period died without issue. This earldom St. John 
 expected should be revived in himself^ and he was 
 naturally ambitious of retrieving the expiring ho- 
 nours of his family. Oxford had received an equal
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, rank for no more assiduous services : the business 
 ^^^' of the peace was still in St. John's hands ; and what 
 
 A.D. 1712. he might not expect from gratitude, he might hope 
 from interest. 
 
 His expectations were disappointed and his re- 
 quest refused. The jealousy. ^of^Qxfordjsro^uldr-not 
 allow him to bestow lipon his rival a rank which had 
 been deemed sufficient for himself. St. John was 
 
 therefore created Viscount Bolingbroke and Baron 
 St. John ; and his title was limited, in case of his 
 death without issue male, to his father, Sir H. St. 
 John, baronet, and his heirs male. Such was the 
 reward of twelve years constant service ;-—aLr§^iard 
 far inferior to that obtained by one who was.perhaps 
 less able, certainly less deserving ; and scarcely dis- 
 tinguishable from that bestowed upon a herd of 
 others who had done little to deserve any distinction 
 at all.* 
 
 That the fiery temper of St. John should feel in- 
 dignation at the treatment he received was to be 
 anticipated ; that he should be able to control that 
 indignation, is more than was to be expected. But 
 so it was : his party feeling, or his love of power, 
 triumphed ; and he continued to keep measures with 
 his colleague. 
 
 In a letter written at this time, he describes his 
 feelings of the injustice he conceived himself to have 
 sustained : " I am to thank you, my lord," he writes,f 
 
 * St. John was now thirty- Strafford, 23rd July, 1712. 
 four years old. Bol. Cor. 
 
 f Letter to the Earl of
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 207 
 
 " for the very kind part which you took in the ho- chap. 
 nour her majesty was lately pleased to confer upon ^^^' 
 
 me. It would ill become the friendship I profess to a.d. 1712. 
 
 you, if I did not naturally own what passes in my !^> 
 
 soul upon this subject, and confess to you, what I will ^^-? , ^ 
 
 do to no one else, that my promotion was a mortifi- _ ^^^ 
 
 cation to me. In the house of commons, I may say j ^a^^^ 
 
 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, therefore, 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 made, to gain a 
 
 strength in parliament ; and, since the queen wanted 
 
 me below stairs in the last session, she could do no 
 
 less than make me a viscount, or I must have come in 
 
 the rear of several whom I was not born to follow. 
 
 Thus far there seems to be nothing done for my 
 
 sake, or as a mark of favour to me in particular ; 
 
 and yet, farther her majesty would not go without a 
 
 force which never shall be used by me. I own to 
 
 you that I felt more indignation than ever in ray 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. I 
 
 knew that any appearance of breach between myself 
 
 and the lord treasurer would give our common ene-
 
 208 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, mies spirit ; and that, if I declined serving at this 
 ^"' conjuncture, the home part of the business would, at 
 
 A.D. 1712. least for some time, proceed but lamely. TaJriend- 
 ship therefore, and the public good, if I may be par- 
 doned so vain an expression, I sacrificed my private 
 resentment, and remain clothed with as little of the 
 queen's favour as she could contrive to bestow." 
 
 Time and adversity were not sufficient to reconcile 
 him to the insult which he considered Oxford had 
 offered him upon this occasion. Long afterwards, 
 when misfortune and exile should have taught him 
 to forget the dissensions which had caused his fall, 
 he remembered and resented the refusal of the earl- 
 dom. In his letter to Sir William Windham, giving 
 a summary of his conduct at this time, he says : 
 " For the part I acted in the prosecution of these 
 views of the Tories, as well as of all the measures 
 accessory to them, I may appeal to mankind. To 
 those who had the opportunity of looking behind 
 the curtain I may likewise appeal for the difficulties 
 which lay in my way, and for the particular dis- 
 couragements I met with, A principal load of parlia- 
 mentary and foreign affairs in their ordinary course 
 lay upon me ; the whole negotiation of the peace, 
 and of the troublesome invidious steps preliminary 
 to it, as far as they could be transacted at home, 
 were thrown upon me. I continued in the house 
 of commons during that important session which 
 preceded the peace ; and which, by the spirit 
 shown through the whole course of it, and by the
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 209 
 
 resolutions taken in it, rendered the conclusion of the chap. 
 treaties practicable. After this I was dragged into ^^^' 
 
 the house of lords, in such a manner as to make ^•^- 1'^^2. 
 my promotion a punishment, not a reward ; and was 
 there left to defend the treaties almost alone. 
 
 " It would not have been hard to have forced the 
 EarJ of Oxford to use me better. His good inten- 
 tions began to be very much doubted of: the truth 
 is, no opinion of his sincerity had ever taken root in 
 the party ; and, which was worse perhaps for a man 
 in his station, the opinion of his capacity began to 
 fall apace. In the house of commons his credit was 
 low, and my reputation very high. You know the y^^ 
 nature of that assembly : they grow, like hounds, 
 fond of the man who shows them game, and by 
 whose halloo they are vised to be encouraged. The 
 thread of the negotiations, which could not stand 
 still a moment without going back, was in my 
 h nds ; and before another man could have made 
 himself master of the business, much time would 
 have been lost, and great inconveniences would 
 have followed. Some, who opposed the court soon 
 after, began to waver then ; and if I had not wanted 
 the inclination, I should have wanted no help to do 
 mischief. I knew the way of quitting my employ- 
 ments, and of retiring from court, when the service 
 of my party required ; but I could not bring myself 
 up to that resolution, when the consequence of it 
 must have been the breaking of my party, and the 
 distress of the public affairs. I thought my mistress 
 
 VOL. L P
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, treated me ill ; but the sense of that duty which I 
 ^^^- owed her came in aid of other considerations, and 
 A.D. 1712. prevailed over my resentment. These sentiments, 
 indeed, are so much out of fashion, that a man who 
 avows them is in danger of passing for a bubble 
 in the world. Yet they were, in the conjuncture I 
 speak of, the true motives of my conduct ; and you 
 saw me go on as cheerfully in the troublesome and 
 dangerous work assigned to me, as if I had been 
 under the utmost satisfaction. I began, indeed, in 
 my heart to renounce the friendship which till that 
 time I had preserved inviolable for Oxford. I was 
 not aware of all his treachery, nor of the base and 
 ^^' little means which he employed then, and continued 
 
 to employ afterwards, to ruin me in the opinion of 
 the queen and everywhere else. I saw, however, that 
 he had no friendship for anybody ; and that with 
 respect to me, instead of having the ability to ren- 
 der that merit which I endeavoured to acquire an 
 addition of strength to himself, it became the object 
 of his jealousy, and a reason for undermining me. 
 In this temper of mind I went on, till the great 
 work of the peace was consummated, and a treaty 
 signed at Utrecht ; after which a new and more 
 melancholy scene for the party, as well as for me, 
 opened itself." 
 
 That the dread of the breaking of his party and 
 losing his power — perhaps the conviction that the 
 interests of his country required a peace which he
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 211 
 
 alone could bring about — induced him to stifle his chap. 
 resentful feelings, is very probable. ^^^' 
 
 That friendship for Oxford gave weight to these a. d. 1712, 
 considerations, is not likely : Oxford always affected 
 a reserve towards his colleagues, and often resolved 
 upon important measures without their concurrence 
 or even knowledge. Lord Harcourt complained 
 that, although he was lord chancellor, he knew no 
 more of what was going on than his groom : that 
 the secretary visited him but very seldom, and the 
 lord treasurer did not even know him.* The infor- 
 mation of the secretary was often not much more 
 exact than that of the chancellor ; but St. John was 
 not a man to caress the hand which treated him 
 with indignity. Oxford, in a letter to the queen, 
 written some time after this period, declares that so 
 early as February I7IO there commenced a division 
 among the Tories in the house of commons, and that 
 St. John thought fit to be listing a separate party 
 for himself; that this spirit in him was discernible 
 at the opening of the parliament in November pre- 
 ceding, when he complained much that Oxford had 
 not acquainted him with the secret of raising money 
 for the current service of the year, and particularly of 
 his having concealed from him his favourite scheme 
 for liquidating nine millions of the national debt. 
 Oxford insinuates that St. John's dissatisfaction upon 
 this account proceeded from the most unworthy 
 motives, and that he suggested the facility with 
 
 ■"■ Stuart Papers. 
 
 p2
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, which 100,000/. could have been deducted from so 
 
 ^^^ large a sum, and divided by Oxford among his 
 
 A.D. 1712. friends. 
 
 This grave accusation must rest solely upon the 
 authority of the lord treasurer, — an authority not 
 very weighty, when it is remembered that it was 
 a charge made by a rival, unknown to the party 
 accused, and uttered with all the expectation of 
 security which is warranted by the confidential na- 
 ture of the communication. On the other hand, the 
 character of St. John tends to rebut the charge. 
 That he was not very scrupulous in the employment 
 of means, must be admitted by his most ardent ad- 
 mirers, but the ends for which those means were 
 employed were always honourable ; and, whatever 
 censure he may incur for his eager pursuit of power, 
 he has never been reproached with the ignoble vice 
 of avarice, or the vulgar crime of peculation. Ox- 
 ford, in constituting himself his accuser upon this 
 ground, has tempted posterity to inquire into his 
 motives ; and probability favours the supposition that 
 it had its origin in that hatred which sprang, phoenix- 
 like, from the ashes of their departed friendship. 
 
 The negotiations at Utrecht slowly progressed, 
 and had the Dutch preserved any decency in their 
 opposition, might probably have been much longer 
 delayed. Their violence in abandoning the Duke 
 of Ormond, who had the command of the British 
 army, and their insolence in seducing part of his 
 troops and refusing a passage through their cities
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 213 
 
 for tlie remainder, provoked reprisals. The English chap. 
 
 Y T T 
 
 general seized upon Ghent ; his government ap- " 
 proved his conduct, and the British plenipotentiaries ■^•^- ^"^^2. 
 were directed to let the Dutch ministers at Utrecht 
 know that the queen was determined by their late 
 conduct, to make peace either with or without 
 them.* 
 
 A suspension of arms in the Netherlands was 
 now agreed upon between England and France, and 
 the details of the treaty had been in a great measure 
 determined upon : the grand article remaining was 
 the prevention of the union between France and 
 Spain, and this was to be arranged during the 
 cessation of hostilities. But many difficulties arising 
 about that and some other points of importance, 
 which could not easily be adjusted, either between 
 the plenipotentiaries at Utrecht, or by correspond- 
 ence between De Torcy and the ministry here, it 
 was determined to send some person to France who 
 might remove the remaining difficulties, and put a 
 final hand to these dilatory negotiations. For this 
 purpose who could be so well fitted as the man who 
 had managed them throughout, and was therefore 
 master of every question they embraced ? 
 
 Bolingbroke was immediately despatched ; and his 
 powers were ample.f His instructions authorised 
 him to negotiate everything necessary for settling 
 the treaty of peace in such a course as might bring 
 it to a happy and speedy conclusion. He was em- 
 
 * Report of the Secret Committee. t Bel. Corr.
 
 A.D. 1712. 
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, powered to agree to a general suspension of arms 
 
 '- — by land and sea between Great Britain, France, and 
 
 Spain, to continue for four months, provided France 
 and Spain would previously give positive assurances 
 that they would make good the terms demanded by 
 England for the Duke of Savoy, and would also 
 adjust the forms of the renunciations to be made 
 by both the sovereigns in order to prevent the con- 
 tingency of their dominions ever becoming united. 
 
 France espoused the interests of the Elector of 
 Bavaria as warmly as England did those of the 
 Duke of Savoy ; and the adjustment of the terms 
 which were to be granted to that prince formed also 
 a part of Bolingbroke's instructions. 
 
 This embassy was also to explain all doubtful ar- 
 ticles which related to the advantages Britain was 
 to derive from the treaty, and to obtain from France 
 what, in the language of diplomacy, was called her 
 ultimatum upon the general plan of peace, and to 
 communicate the determination of England to im- 
 pose no conditions upon her allies, but to leave 
 those who refused to concur with her entirely at 
 liberty to obtain the best terms they could. 
 
 The great questions involved in these instructions, 
 show this to be a mission of the very first im- 
 portance, and not what Oxford afterwards declared 
 it to be, an embassy for which there was little 
 occasion, and undertaken only to put Bolingbroke 
 into good-humour.* 
 
 * Oxford's Letter to the Queen.
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 
 
 215 
 
 He was received by the French court with all chap. 
 the distinction due to the eminence of his station ^^^• 
 and talent. He succeeded in establishing a better a. d. 1712. 
 understanding between the two crowns, and ob- 
 tained many of the concessions he was instructed 
 to demand. His residence, however, in the French 
 metropolis was but of short duration : a few days 
 sufficed him to fulfil the duties he had undertaken. 
 He was accompanied upon this embassy by Prior, 
 who remained behind to complete several points 
 which he was obliged to leave unsettled. The first 
 object of his mission, which was to prevent any 
 farther actual hostilities, he accomplished ; and in 
 signing the treaty for a suspension of arms upon 
 the terms specified in his instructions, he obtained 
 the honour to which he had long aspired, — that of 
 putting an end to a war which, during its ten 
 years' continuance, had injured the commerce, drain- 
 ed the resources, and diminished the influence of 
 his country. 
 
 His conduct in managing this affair received 
 the full approbation of his sovereign, but was not 
 therefore less liable to attack from his enemies.* 
 
 * Some years after, Horace 
 Walpole writes to LordTovvns- 
 hend an account of some obso- 
 lete scandal he had heard in 
 Paris about Bolingbroke, dur- 
 ing his residence in the French 
 capital. According to this let- 
 ter, De Torcy threw in Bo- 
 lingbroke's way Madame Ten- 
 
 cin, at that time so celebra- 
 ted for her beauty and accom- 
 plishments. The inflammable 
 secretary eagerly seized the 
 bait ; and the lady, acting un- 
 der De Torcy's instructions, 
 contrived to steal some papers 
 which that minister wished to 
 
 see. 
 
 That Bolingbroke formed
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, Charges the most inconsistent, and censures the 
 •^^^' most contradictory, were advanced against him. He 
 
 A.D. 1712. was accused of openly courting the society of the 
 Pretender, and of avowedly espousing his cause. 
 The understanding between them was, it was said, 
 not sought to be disguised. He sat in the next 
 box to him at the opera, and was content to be 
 numbered among his adherents. The organs of 
 the opposition teemed with innuendoes upon the 
 real motive of his journey : it was declared that 
 the liberties of England were aoain to be confided 
 to the mercy of the Stuarts ; that the Pretender was 
 already upon his journey towards the coast, and 
 a project had been formed by which he was to 
 be joined with the queen in the government.* 
 
 These rumours, which were spread as instruments 
 of opposition by an incensed party, appear ridicu- 
 lous to us, who know how baseless the event proved 
 them to have been ; but at the time they were 
 promulgated, they were not without their effect. 
 The queen refused to issue the severe proclamations 
 against her brother which the terrors of her people 
 required ; and many still doubted the sincerity of 
 her wish that the crown should pass from her 
 family. Still more suspected the intentions of her 
 
 a connexion with Madame * Two letters published in 
 
 Tencin, is very probable : the the Flying Post at this time, 
 
 honour of inventing the rest and purporting to have been 
 
 of the story we may without written from Paris, contain 
 
 much danger divide between these assertions. 
 the Parisians and Horace.
 
 LORD BOLINGBllOKE. 217 
 
 ministers, who had little to hope from the house chap. 
 of Hanover, and everything to fear from the re- ^"- 
 sentment of the Whigs. These suspicions were a.d. 1712. 
 not entirely unfounded : Oxford was at this time 
 in correspondence with the exiled prince ; and al- 
 though his object was probably nothing farther than 
 security in the event of a revolution, which he 
 thought not improbable, the weight of his name 
 animated the adherents of the chevalier, and gave 
 vigour to a languishing cause. He appears to 
 have thought that Bolingbroke was concerned in 
 a similar intrigue, but without reason. We have 
 not only his own assertion, but we have also the 
 testimony of those who were in the confidence of 
 the Pretender, that at this time the secretary had 
 no other view than to secure the quiet succession of 
 the Elector of Hanover.* These intrigues, which 
 the confidence of the chevalier's agents in England 
 made them divulge, were sufficient to lend colour 
 to the most absurd tales ; and many even of the 
 most reflecting portion of the nation really dreaded 
 some such event as was prognosticated. 
 
 That such reports should be believed, or even 
 promulgated, evidences the feverish state of public 
 feeling upon this subject ; but the share which was 
 attributed to Bolingbroke was easily refuted. More 
 accurate information made it known that he could 
 not have courted the society of the Pretender, for 
 the simple reason that that person was not in Paris 
 
 * Stuart Papers.
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF , 
 
 CHAP, during any part of Bolingbroke's stay there. With 
 ^^^' a desire to avoid even the possibility of offence. 
 
 A.D. 1712. the French monarch had sent the chevalier from 
 his capital as soon as he heard of the British am- 
 bassador's approach, and he was detained in the 
 provinces until Bolingbroke had left the kingdom. 
 
 A prejudice which accords with the interest of 
 the party entertaining it, is not easily eradicated : 
 the very precaution which had been taken to avoid 
 suspicion of any designs in the chevalier's favour, 
 was brought forward as proof of their existence. 
 " We have already in our history," said many who 
 scorned to be convinced, " an instance of a similar 
 circumstance ; and we are likely to see it followed 
 by a similar event. When Cromwell's ambassador, 
 Lockhart, arrived in Paris, Charles the Second was 
 dismissed the court as the chevalier now is ; yet that 
 very Mr. Lockhart lived to walk the Mall between 
 Charles and his brother, the one his sovereign, the 
 other the Duke of York."* 
 
 * The Flying Post and the are replete with assertions and 
 other periodicals of the day arguments of this quality.
 
 LORD EOLINGBROKE. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Bolingbrokes attempts against the Press. — His Failure. — He is 
 refused the Order of the Garter, and his Disgust increased. — 
 The Negotiations continued. — Conclusion of the Treaties of 
 Utrecht. — Approved by Parliament. 
 
 1 HESE falsehoods, so frequently and so unblushingly chap. 
 put forward, operated not only to keep alive the '^•^^^' 
 
 flickering flame of opposition throughout the nation, ^•^- ^^^^ 
 
 ^ 1 71 '^ 
 
 but served also to increase the obstinacy of the allies, 
 and induce them to place more dependence upon 
 their friends in England. Reduced to contend single- 
 handed with the desire which England now mani- 
 fested for peace, their opposition must soon have 
 given way; but, seconded and encouraged by a party, 
 who proved themselves so numerous and so powerful 
 that they could insult and libel the ministers with 
 impunity, they were encouraged to hold out, in ex- 
 pectation of the catastrophe which the Whigs daily 
 assured them was at hand. Their assurances gave 
 them to hope that each succeeding day would bring 
 intelligence that the ministers were discarded, and 
 that the Whigs, now lords of the ascendant, were 
 ready to lead them again to conquest. 
 
 It was probably the influence of the Whig papers
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHvVP. in nourishing these hopes^ that induced Bolingbroke 
 ^^^^' to attempt to circumscribe the liberty of the press. 
 
 A.D. 1712 The possession of power is in itself a strong tempta- 
 ^ '^^'^' tion to its exercise; and Bolingbroke, the object of 
 attack as a minister and a party leader, forgot the 
 feelings which liad induced him, when establishing 
 himself upon the ruin of the former ministry, to 
 pursue their retreat with the bitterest censures, and 
 to heap the most unmanly insult upon their patron- 
 ess at court. With the writers he could employ 
 upon his side, it miglit be supposed he would have 
 little to fear from any literary contest ; that argu- 
 ment might be safely opposed to abuse, and mere 
 scurrility be despised and forgotten. But Boling- 
 broke was a minister: he was engaged in a multitude 
 of occupations — some of these were of doubtful pro- 
 priety, all were capable of attack. All the^ comments 
 upon his conduct were severe, but some of them were" 
 probably true ; and Bolingbroke, while he could re- 
 tort the severitv, must resent the truth. 
 
 So important were these libellous publications 
 deemed, that the queen concludes one of her mes- 
 sages to parliament by representing the licentious- 
 ness of the press.* She is made to declare, that by 
 seditious papers and factious rumours, designing men 
 have been able to sink credit, and the innocent have 
 suffered ; and she recommends the house to find a 
 remedy equal to the mischief. From the address 
 which was voted in answer to this message, we 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 LORD BOLTNGBROKE. 221 
 
 should infer that the queen's wrath was chiefly di- chap. 
 rected against some blasphemous publications which ^^^^- 
 
 had lately appeared ; an interpretation which her a.d. 1712 
 character would favnour. But Swift, who was in the ^ ^'^' 
 
 secret of all this transaction, and who was no uncon- 
 cerned spectator, declares that Lord Bolingbroke, 
 who advised the queen as to this part of her message, 
 intended only to check the political libels which 
 caused the ministry so much uneasiness. 
 
 In obedience to the queen's desire, and at the 
 instance of her secretary, the parliament passed a 
 bill, imposing a stamp upon pamphlets and periodical 
 publications — the origin of the present newspaper 
 stamp. At its origin the amount of this stamp was 
 only a halfpenny ; and it is curious to observe what 
 an effect this trifling impost had upon the circulation 
 of the most favourite papers. Many were entirely 
 discontinued, and several of those which survived 
 were generally united into one publication. The bill 
 operated in a directly contrary manner to what the 
 ministers had anticipated; for the opposition, who 
 had more leisure, and perhaps more acrimony of 
 feeling, were unanimous in the support of their 
 cause. They employed a set of writers by sub- 
 scription, who, says Swift,* were " well versed in all 
 the topics of defamation, and had a style and genius 
 levelled to the generality of readers." The adher- 
 ents of ministers, who were by no means behind the 
 opposition in their proficiency in the topics of defa- 
 
 * History of the Four last Years, &c.
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, mation, were, it seems, not so strenuously supported ; 
 
 YTTT 
 
 L_ and the measure thus chiefly destroyed those whom 
 
 A.D. 1712 it was Bolingbroke's interest to protect. 
 
 The insufficiency of liis expedient soon became ap- 
 parent to himself, and we find from his correspond- 
 ence that Bolingbroke was often employed in prose- 
 cuting the printers of those papers which were most 
 violent against him. Swift, who should have cer- 
 tainly had a fellow-feeling for these libellers, seems 
 not only to have approved, but to have urged this 
 severity. He complains much of the Flying Post 
 and the Medley, two of the leading opposition jour- 
 nals of the period.* Their printers were often in 
 prison, but were discharged upon bail; and the papers 
 still appeared, with their satire rendered more pun- 
 gent by the treatment the authors were smarting 
 under. 
 
 The ill success of his prosecutions determined 
 Bolingbroke to attempt an expedient which, if it had 
 succeeded, would quickly have stopped the streams 
 of vituperation which flowed from each party. 
 Among the provisions he proposed was one, that 
 every printed book, pamphlet, or paper which was 
 published should bear the writer's name and address : 
 a requisition which must have at once driven from 
 the field of controversy all those men of eminence in 
 the opposite parties who were bold so long as they 
 could mingle masked in the fray, but who would 
 
 * See his correspondence at this time.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 223 
 
 have shrunk from openly exposing their reputations chap. 
 and their persons in so equivocal a contest. ^^^^' 
 
 No one felt the inconvenience of the threatened a.d. 1712 
 measure more forcibly than the author of the " His- 
 tory of the Four last Years." His defence of anony- 
 mous writing drawn forth by this occasion is ex- 
 ceedingly amusing, when we consider the character 
 of the works which he used to send forth, and the 
 peculiar motives he usually had for concealment. 
 " Besides the objection to this clause/' he says, 
 " from the practice of pious men, who, in publishing 
 excellent writings for the service of religion, have 
 chosen, out of an humble christian spirit, to conceal 
 their names ; it is certain that all persons of true 
 genius or knowledge have an invincible modesty and 
 suspicion of themselves upon their first sending their 
 thoughts into the world ; and that those who are dull 
 or superficial, void of all taste and judgment, have 
 dispositions directly contrary : so that if this clause 
 had made part of a law, there would have been an 
 end, in all likelihood, of any valuable production for 
 the future, either in wit or learning ; and that insuf- 
 ferable race of stupid people, who are now every day 
 loading the press, would then reign alone — in time 
 destroy our very first principles of reason, and intro- 
 duce barbarity amongst us, which is already kept out 
 with so much difficulty by so few hands." 
 
 This bill, which so powerfully excited the dean's 
 fears for the safety of libellers and the interests of
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, religion and learning, met with such opposition from 
 ^^"' both parties, that it was suffered to drop in the 
 
 A.D. 1712 commons ; and the idea of farther fettering the press 
 was abandoned as impracticable. The attempt 
 failed, but the purpose had been entertained ; and, 
 considering the part which St. John had already 
 taken in the dirt-throwing contests which were then 
 in vogue, and the approbation and assistance he was 
 still affording to his satellites in the same practice, 
 his attempt argues rather a distrust of the intrinsic 
 defensiveness of many of the points attacked, than 
 a dislike of the licentiousness which himself had 
 indulged. 
 
 But these attacks, although embarrassing to him 
 as a minister, were too frequent and too unfounded 
 to afford any great personal uneasiness to Boling- 
 broke. There was another circumstance which hap- 
 pened at this time that caused him much more an- 
 noyance. Several deaths that had lately occurred in' 
 the peerage, among which was that of the Earl of 
 Godolphin, had placed some of the ribands of the 
 garter at the queen's disposal. They were now 
 given away, and Oxford obtained one for himself. 
 Bolingbroke was not less desirous to obtain than he 
 was assiduous to merit honourable distinction, and 
 he too expected that his late services would be re- 
 warded. But the jealousy of the lord treasurer 
 again interposed, and Bolingbroke considered he had 
 endured a new affront. This was an addition to 
 the reasons he already had for renouncing the friend-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 225 
 
 ship of his early companion in the path of ambi- chap. 
 tion ; and he determined within himself that one -^^"- 
 or both must fall. a.d. 1712 
 
 But before leisure could be obtained for a struggle ^ ^^^^' 
 with so powerful a rival, the great work which now 
 absorbed all his attention must be despatched ; and 
 before his party engaged in a contest among them- 
 selves, their ascendency over the common enemy 
 must be rendered complete. The conclusion of a 
 peace was looked upon as the event which was to 
 establish the power of the Tories upon an impreg- 
 nable basis : that once attained, and sanctioned by 
 the approbation of the nation, and all their diffi- 
 culties would be conquered, all the topics of their 
 enemies' eloquence would be taken away. Boling- 
 broke trusted to his own powers to bring about this 
 event, and to the favour of his sovereign to shield 
 him when he had accomplished it. 
 
 The queen had some time before submitted to her 
 parliament a statement of the concessions she could 
 hope to obtain from France, and stated that they 
 were such as would in some degree indemnify her 
 subjects for the sacrifices they had made during the 
 long period that this sanguinary and expensive war 
 had raged. These conditions had been approved by 
 both houses, but not without violent debates in the 
 lords ; and the queen was thanked for her great 
 condescension in making the communication, and 
 for her conduct throughout the negotiations. The 
 support of the parliament being thus ensured, every 
 
 VOL. 1. Q
 
 226 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, effort had since been used to expedite the conclusion 
 ^^^^' of this important work. At length the exertions 
 
 A.D. 1712 of the secretary were crowned with success. When 
 
 o 1 71 Q 
 
 the first burst of their enthusiasm had subsided, the 
 States began to reflect upon the prospect they had 
 before them. They discovered how httle able they 
 were to resist an enemy who had sustained an equal 
 contest with them when supported by a power which 
 had brought into the field thrice the number of men 
 they could bring together with their utmost exer- 
 tions. The arrogance of the French increased in 
 proportion as the obstinacy of the States left them 
 slighter claims upon the support of England. Eng- 
 land, however, still proffered them her aid ; and a few 
 reverses which the Dutch sustained made them now 
 eager to profit by it. The queen promised to insist 
 upon France ceding to thein the city of Tournay ;* 
 and several other advantages offered them, which 
 they had no hope of obtaining by a separate peace, 
 induced them to come into the queen's measures. 
 
 Many disputes yet occurred, and long discussions 
 were still to be endured ; but at length the terms of 
 the different treaties were definitively settled. By 
 the stipulations of that between England and France, 
 Louis bound himself to acknowledge Anne's title, 
 
 * The ministers had ori- served it. Their conduct upon 
 
 ginally intended that this city this point formed the most im- 
 
 should be restored to France, portant article in the impeach- 
 
 and nothing but the perse- ments which were afterwards 
 
 verance of the Dutch pre- brought against them.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 227 
 
 which he had never yet formally recognised, and to chap. 
 assent to the Hne of succession which had been es- ^^^^' 
 
 tablished by the nation. The fortifications of Dun- a.d. 1712 
 kirk, upon which he had bestowed so much attention 
 and expense, were to be destroyed within a limited 
 period. The cession of Hudson's Bay and St. Chris- 
 topher's, which had been insisted upon by England, ^"^'/^^' 
 was granted ; and Newfoundland was added, with a ^-c^^ 
 reservation to the French of a settlement at Cape ^^ 
 
 Breton, and a right to dry their fish upon the coast '^'c>»'^- 
 of the island. 
 
 For the allies, England obtained the best terms '^:- 
 
 she could. The King of Portugal had refused to 
 treat, until an actual invasion had shown him how 
 impotent he was when deprived of the aid of his 
 chief ally : he then yielded, and had no cause to 
 complain of the conditions which were obtained for 
 him. 
 
 The emperor refused to become a party to the 
 general accommodation ; but it was stipulated in his 
 behalf that the possession of Naples, Milan, and the 
 Spanish Netherlands, should be reserved to him. 
 
 The influence of England had been powerfully 
 exerted to reward the fidelity of the Duke of Savoy : 
 policy also concurred with the partiality of the 
 queen for so near a relative. The island of Sicily 
 was added to his dominions, and the title of king 
 rendered his dignity equal to his extended territory. 
 
 The Elector of Bavaria, who had suffered as the 
 ally of France, was indemnified with the island of 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Sardinia ; and to him also was assigned a place 
 -^"^' among the crowned heads of Europe. 
 
 A.D. 1712 The King of Prussia had suffered but little dirai- 
 ■ nution of territory from the concessions required of 
 him ; the possession of Upper Gueldre was assigned 
 to him as a sufficient equivalent. 
 
 The barrier, which was so prime an object with 
 the Dutch, was settled to their advantage, and even 
 to their satisfaction. The genius of Marlborough 
 had put them in possession of many of the most 
 important posts in Flanders ; and the cities now 
 yielded rendered their frontier towards France se- 
 cure from aggression. For the necessity of restoring 
 Lisle and its dependencies, they might chiefly accuse 
 their own obstinacy ; but the cession of Charleroy, 
 Luxemburg, Newport, Nam.ur, and Ypres, tended 
 to reconcile them to the loss. 
 
 In estimating the advantages of peace, England 
 had looked chiefly to the treaty of commerce ; but 
 the terms yielded by France were not so favourable 
 as the nation expected. It was mutually agreed 
 that the two countries should, in their commercial 
 relations, be placed on the same footing with regard 
 to each other as the nation which was now the most 
 favoured by either ; that no higher imposts should 
 be laid upon the merchandise of France and England 
 in each other's ports, than the lowest sum which was 
 paid for the same species of merchandise by any 
 other nation. Since the infraction of a commercial 
 treaty induces rather a war of prohibitions and
 
 & 1713. 
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 229 
 
 duties than of arms, its final arrangement was not chap. 
 a necessary preliminary to the peace. Commis- ^^^^' 
 sioners were appointed to meet at London to settle a.d. 1712 
 the details, and to determine with exactness the 
 principles upon which commerce was to be carried 
 on between the two countries. 
 
 More important advantages accrued to England 
 from the treaty with Spain. The Spanish succession 
 had been the origin of the war, and England thought 
 she had reason to seek from that country some in- 
 demnity for the losses she had sustained by it. The 
 expulsion of Philip had been abandoned, but only 
 upon the condition that he should grant many of the 
 concessions which the Archduke Charles had freely 
 promised. In return for his recognition as King of 
 Spain, Philip solemnly renounced all title to the throne 
 of France, — a renunciation which was ratified in the 
 most solemn manner by the council of the nation. 
 Gibraltar and Minorca were ceded to England ; and 
 the title of the Duke of Savoy to Sicily acknow- 
 ledged. The assiento treaty, which had been so 
 firmly demanded by the English and so eagerly dis- 
 puted by the Dutch, was secured to England for 
 thirty years. The stipulation of this long-disputed 
 article was, that a company chartered by the English 
 government should enjoy the exclusive privilege of 
 importing every year, for thirty years, four thousand 
 eight hundred slaves from Africa to the West Indies ; 
 and that upon each slave a moderate fixed duty 
 should be paid to the Spanish government. Thus 

 
 230 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, did England, with infinite pains, and to the envy of 
 ^^^^' all other nations, particularly the Dutch, who were 
 
 A.D. 1712 terribly enraged at being excluded from this honour- 
 able traffic, acquire the exclusive privilege of carry- 
 ing slavery and misery into a new world. She has 
 since, indeed, nobly redeemed the crime of which 
 she w^as then guilty ; and as she was one of the first 
 to import, so she has been the very first to abolish 
 slavery in that quarter of the globe. 
 
 While each succeeding article of these treaties 
 had been disputed and conceded, parliament had 
 been continually prorogued, in order to avoid the 
 necessity of calling for war-supplies, and to deprive 
 the Whigs of the power which their union in the 
 house would give them to interrupt the negotiations. 
 
 A.D. 1713. At length, in the middle of March, a courier from 
 France brought the treaties of peace and commerce 
 between France and England to Utrecht, with the 
 plan of a general peace, which had been settled 
 there by the Duke of Shrewsbury and the French 
 minister De Torcy.* The duke had also received 
 the renunciation of Philip of Spain, and had wit- 
 nessed the registration of renunciations of all claim 
 to Spain by the Dukes of Berry and Orleans. These 
 renunciations, without which no final step could be 
 taken, were now also arrived. All things being 
 thus ready for putting a period to this great and 
 difficult work, the lord privy seal and the Earl of 
 Strafford gave notice to the ministers of the several 
 
 * De Torcy's Memoirs.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 231 
 
 allies, that on the 31st of March they would be chap. 
 prepared to sign a treaty of peace and commerce ^^^^' 
 
 between their mistress and the most christian king ; a.d. i713. 
 and they hoped the allies would be prepared at the 
 same time to follow their example in the accommo- 
 dation of all their points of difference. 
 
 That day being arrived, the Bishop of Bristol and 
 Earl Strafford, according to the instructions tliey had 
 received from their court, assumed the characters of 
 ambassadors. They delivered to the French minis- 
 ters a memorial on behalf of the French protestants, 
 and received from them a declaration that the Pre- 
 tender was no longer in the French territory. 
 
 About two o'clock in the afternoon the represen- 
 tatives of the negotiating courts met at the bishop's 
 hotel, and there the long-protracted work was ac- 
 complished. The treaties between England and 
 France were immediately executed, and the Duke 
 of Savoy's minister signed about an hour after. The 
 assembly thence adjourned to the Earl of Strafford's 
 to dinner. About nine at night the peace was exe- 
 cuted by the ministers for Portugal ; by those of 
 Prussia at eleven ; and, still preserving their charac- 
 teristic procrastination, when it was near midnight 
 by the States. The ratifications were soon after- 
 wards exchanged, and on the 5th of May the peace 
 was proclaimed, amid the rejoicings of the populace. 
 
 Such was the conclusion of BoHngbroke's cele- 
 brated work. The Spanish treaty was not indeed yet 
 signed, because, as Philip was not yet recognised by
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, any of the allied powers, he had no minister at the 
 ^^"' conferences ; but as he had treated through the 
 
 A.D. 1713. French, every point of the treaty was arranged, and 
 its signature was only delayed until his recognition 
 was formally made, and his ambassador named and 
 received. 
 
 The parliament, which had been so often prorogued 
 in expectation of this event, was now opened, and 
 the queen, after telling them that her great object 
 was at length accomplished, left the defence of the 
 kingdom in their hands. " Make yourselves safe," 
 she said, " and I shall be satisfied : next to the pro- 
 tection of Divine Providence, I depend upon the 
 loyalty and affection of my people."* 
 
 Both houses joined in addresses of congratulation. 
 The commons addressed the queen for copies of .the 
 treaties of commerce with France, and, when they 
 were laid before them, appointed a day for their 
 discussion. The treaty of commerce was most 
 severely animadverted upon. It was said that, in 
 the commercial intercourse of the countries, the 
 consumption of England had far exceeded that of 
 France, and high protecting duties had been esta- 
 blished to rectify the inequality. In Portugal, on 
 the contrary, the balance of trade was greatly in 
 our favour ; and in return for our productions, we 
 not only imported wines and merchandise, but also 
 large quantities of specie. By the new treaty, it 
 was contended, the productions of France would be 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 233 
 
 consumed, but the profitable commerce with Portu- chap. 
 gal destroyed. The artificers who were engaged in ^^^^- 
 the trades which the high protecting duties had fos- a.d. 1713. 
 tered, would now, said the Whigs, be ruined ; and 
 beggary and wretchedness must be diffused through- 
 out the kingdom, in order to meet the terms of an 
 implacable enemy. More general topics of censure 
 were introduced into the debate. The suspen- 
 sion of arms, the eager anxiety for peace, the deser- 
 tion of the allies, were censured as the fatal causes 
 of disgrace and disaster. The gathered indignation 
 of the whole opposition was poured forth upon the 
 negotiations and their authors ; but in vain. The 
 house decided in favour of the treaty by a great ma- 
 jority, and a bill was brought in to enable the queen 
 to carry its provisions into execution. This bill 
 however was not passed. It met with great oppo- 
 sition from the trading portion of the community, 
 who universally detested it, as destructive to their 
 interests. It called forth also remonstrances upon 
 the part of Portugal, which kingdom threatened 
 reprisals by an interdict upon our woollen exports. 
 
 The commons did not intend this rejection of the 
 bill as a censure upon the treaty : on the contrary, 
 they voted an address of thanks to the queen for the 
 great care she had manifested for the honour and 
 safety of her kingdom in respect to the peace, and 
 the excellent footing upon which she had placed her 
 subjects with regard to trade.* 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. The queen and her ministers understood this 
 ^^^^- address as an entire approval of the treaty ; and her 
 A.D. 1713. answer was warmly expressive of her satisfaction, 
 not olily that the war which had continued during 
 the whole of her reign was at last concluded, but 
 that the manner of its conclusion had satisfied her 
 people. 
 
 Whether the satisfaction which had been ex- 
 pressed was warranted by the advantages which 
 had been gained, it is not for us now to inquire. It 
 was necessary thus far to notice the progress of the 
 negotiations, because the history of the treaty of 
 Utrecht forms a great portion of that of St. John. 
 It was a work of magnitude and importance suffi- 
 cient to give fame to the man who singly undertook 
 and accomplished it, however false his views — how- 
 ever reprehensible his conduct. If successful in so 
 great an undertaking, his fame will be commen- 
 surate with the magnitude of the achievement, and 
 the extent of the benefits conferred : if unsuccessful, 
 his failure was on too large a theatre, and its effects 
 must have been too disastrous, to allow his attempt 
 to be unknown, or his name forgotten. 
 
 His claim to praise, or his liability to censure, 
 it will be our business to determine when the course 
 of our history calls upon us to examine the charges 
 which this treaty originated against him. That he 
 at least felt no suspicion that his management had 
 been incompetent or reprehensible, his public avowal 
 at the time, and his writings afterwards, testify. In
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 235 
 
 the house of commons, while the treaty was yet chap. 
 pending, he declared that he had acted throughout ^^^^• 
 for the good and advantage of Great Britain ; and a.d. 1713. 
 whatever censure he might undergo for it, the bare 
 satisfaction of having acted in that view, would be 
 a sufficient recompense and comfort to him during 
 the remainder of his life. When adversity might 
 have taught him to look back with more impartial Q^ 
 
 attention to the cause which produced it, Boling- f. ^^"^^y^ 
 broke still gloried in the part he had borne in this "^ 
 
 transaction. He always said that he could never ^'/P^ 
 
 review that great event, passed as it then was, ^ 
 
 without a secret emotion of mind, when he com- 
 pared the vastness of the undertaking, and the 
 importance of success, with the means employed 
 to bring it about and those which were employed 
 to traverse it. He declared that the importance 
 of succeeding in the work of the peace was equally 
 great to Europe, to his country, to his party, 
 and to himself, — to the present age, and to future 
 generations ; but the means employed to bring it 
 about were in no degree proportionable. A few 
 men, some of whom had never been concerned in 
 business of that kind before, and most of whom put 
 their hands for a long time to it faintly and timor- 
 ously, were the instruments of it. The minister 
 who was at their head, he then declared, showed 
 himself every day incapable of that attention, that 
 method, that comprehension of different matters, 
 which the first post in such a government as that of
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Britain requires even in quiet times. By his credit 
 ^^^^^' with the queen he was the spring of motion to the 
 
 A.D. 1713. ministry ; and by his rank in the state his concur- 
 rence was necessary to everything that was done : 
 yet we are told, when business. was most pressing 
 he was sometimes asleep, sometimes at play. He 
 neglected the thread of the transactions, which was 
 therefore necessarily held by other hands ; and when 
 he did negotiate, as he did by fits and starts, he 
 X ■ _' chose little tools, petty intrigue, and indirect ways, 
 which rendered his occasional activity as hurtful as 
 \his habitual indolence.* 
 
 Now that the object of every effort of the ministry 
 was accompHshed, and the peace which the nation 
 had called for had been effected; — now that that 
 peace had received the sanction of the houses of 
 parliament, and the nation was about to return to 
 its usual peace establishment ; it was expected that 
 the men who had guided the vessel through the 
 storm would be allowed peaceful possession of the 
 helm when the danger was past. Far different was 
 the result. In parliament the ministry were sup- 
 ported by a majority, and the opposition of the 
 Whigs was rather noisy than dangerous ; but no- 
 thing could equal the intemperance with which they 
 attacked every article of the treaty out of doors. 
 Making every allowance for its errors, we must still 
 regard the hyperbolical strain of denunciation which 
 was used to decry it as ludicrously inappropriate to 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 237 
 
 the subject or the occasion. The extremities to chap, 
 which the most violent of the party proceeded may ^^^^' 
 
 be imagined from the terms in which one of the a.d. i713. 
 most moderate has expressed himself. When we 
 see a prelate of the church* seriously prophesying 
 from this disastrous treaty the downfal of the 
 church, the extinction of liberty, destruction to the 
 protestant succession, and a renewal of popish fires 
 in Smithfield ; and when we find him boastingly 
 recording his prophecy long after he had witnessed 
 its failure, — we can conjecture what must have been 
 the expressions of those who had all that prelate's 
 hostility to the Tories, but no sanctity of character 
 to restrain the outburst of their indignation — no re- 
 putation for prudence to be maintained at the ex- 
 pense of controlling their passionate feeling. 
 
 * Bishop Burnet.
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Divisions in the Cabinet. — Secession of the Whimsical Tories. — 
 Fear of the Pretender. — Tactics of tJie Oppositiofi. — The 
 Schism Bill. 
 
 CHAP It was not only the hostility of the two great 
 -^^^^- leaders of the ministry which now embarrassed the 
 A.D. 1713. administration ; nor was it the violent attacks of its 
 open enemies which threatened its sudden overthrow. 
 Directly the peace was concluded, it appeared as 
 though this alone had been the purpose for which 
 the ministry had been constituted. From their con- 
 duct, it might have been supposed that the business 
 of the negotiations was the only bond which con- 
 nected them together; that work once accomplish- 
 ed, and the restraining power withdrawn, the hete- 
 rogeneous mass at once resolved itself into its con- 
 stituent elements. Those Whigs who had joined 
 the ministry at its commencement now began to 
 waver, and showed themselves ready, upon the first 
 favourable opportunity, to desert to their old asso- 
 ciates. Like prudent politicians, they had shared 
 in all the prosperity of the minister — they had no 
 wish but to escape any participation in his adversity. 
 The Whigs were not the only deserters from the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 239 
 
 ranks of the ministry : there was a party among the chap. 
 Tories, who, sharing in their anxiety for the secu- ^ 
 
 rity of the protestant succession, and also perhaps ^•^- ^'^^• 
 seeking to secure themselves in power when those 
 limitations should take effect, maintained a close 
 correspondence with the Elector of Hanover, and 
 were in a great measure guided in their conduct by 
 his sentiments. They were not long in perceiving 
 that their interest lay in deserting their associates, 
 whom the intrigues of the Whigs had completely 
 succeeded in rendering odious at the electoral court. 
 The elector had become a convert to the erro- 
 neous opinion that was extensively diffused through- 
 out the nation, that the ministers, and especially 
 Bolingbroke, were diligently engaged in bringing 
 about a restoration. Every circumstance which was 
 by any means to be wrested to favour this con- 
 clusion was eagerly employed for the purpose ; and 
 the charge was so often repeated, that its truth at 
 length began to be considered as admitted. A 
 measure which was taken to quiet the apprehen- 
 sions now so loudly avowed, from the unskilful 
 manner in which it was advanced, and the tact with 
 which it was received by the Whigs, produced quite 
 the contrary effect, and gave yet more force and 
 credence to the accusation. The lord treasurer 
 moved for leave to bring in a bill for the farther 
 security of the protestant succession, with a pro- 
 vision that it should be deemed high treason to bring 
 any foreign troops into this kingdom.
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. This may have been a measure taken by Oxford 
 ^^^' in accordance with his usual trimming policy, and 
 
 A.D, 1713. with the hope that each party would consider it a 
 concession made to them alone. But the Whigs 
 were more quicksighted. The lords immediately 
 perceived that the penalties, apparently designed 
 against the adherents of the Pretender, might with 
 the greatest facility be enforced against the protec- 
 tors of the right of the house of Hanover, should it 
 be necessary, upon the death of the queen, for the 
 elector to assert his title with arms. 
 
 The Earl of Nottingham, who since his desertion 
 had been furious in his opposition, represented that 
 such a bill might be turned against the guarantees 
 of the protestant succession, and weaken that happy 
 settlement, for the security of which the measure 
 was pretended to be framed. Lord Bolingbroke 
 explained that the earl intended to confine his pro- 
 vision to such foreign troops as might be brought 
 in by the Pretender or his adherents. It was in 
 vain that Oxford declared that such only was his 
 meaning : the suspicion of the house was awaken- 
 ed. He was answered, that in that case the bill was 
 unnecessary, since such troops were already, if fo- 
 reigners, open enemies ; if natives, rebels and trai- 
 tors. The debate was abruptly terminated by the 
 Earl of Anglesea, who took an objection to the pro- 
 ceeding upon a point of form. Oxford had moved 
 for leave to bring in this bill, and as, by the rules of 
 the upper house, no such leave is necessary, he sag-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 241 
 
 gested that the present proceeding was irregular, chap. 
 
 and it would be time to debate the bill when it was ^^^ ' 
 
 before them. Upon this the motion was dropped, a.d. 1713, 
 and it was never resumed : nor did it pass off with- 
 out occasioning many speculations, both in parlia- 
 ment and throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Another foundation for this charge against minis- 
 ters was an attempt which Bolingbroke was said to 
 be making to remodel the army. Now that the 
 enemies of the ministry were becoming so formid- 
 able, it was deemed necessary to use harsher mea- 
 sures towards their adherents than had hitherto been 
 adopted, in order if possible to discourage their 
 friends, and to reward and animate their own. In 
 pursuance of this resolve, the Duke of Argyle was 
 dismissed from his employments, and the Earl of 
 Stair was deprived of his regiment : several other 
 officers at the same time received an intimation that 
 they must sell their commissions. 
 
 It was assiduously reported, that all. these dis- 
 missals were occasioned by a refusal upon the part 
 of those who were removed to join in Bolingbroke's 
 designs to bring over the Pretender ; and it was 
 added, that many other officers had been privately 
 interrogated whether they would serve the queen 
 without asking (questions,* and that those who had 
 refused to give such a pledge were to be immedi- 
 ately turned out of their posts. 
 
 These presumed intentions upon the part of the 
 
 * Boyer's Political State. 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 A. D. 1713. 
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, government called forth proof of the determination^ 
 ^^^' of the people to preserve the protestant succession. 
 The Whigs who remained in the army were cau- 
 tiously but actively imbuing the corps which they 
 commanded with a hatred of the Pretender, and an 
 affection for the house of Hanover. These men 
 communicated with each other, and held themselves 
 ready to act upon the first exigency. A body of 
 French refugees who were then in the kingdom 
 were imited in the same cause, and their aid was 
 much relied upon in case of a collision : measures 
 had also been taken by the members of the Kit-Cat 
 Club, that, upon tlie first alarm, a military officer 
 with whom they were in correspondence, should seize 
 the Tower, and arrest and confine there all the most 
 considerable persons who were suspected of favour- 
 ing the Pretender's cause. 
 
 With this disposition for the contest, the Whigs 
 waited in expectation of some decisive step ; and 
 had any design existed to bring about a restoration, 
 the people alone would have been found sufficiently 
 prepared to render it abortive.* No such design 
 did exist ; but of this the Elector of Hanover was as 
 ignorant as those in England, who bound themselves 
 to resist a scheme which was only the phantom of 
 their own imaginations. It is not strange, there- 
 fore, that the whole of his interest was thrown into 
 the scale against the ministers ; and it is natural 
 
 * I shall have occasion to recur to this subject.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 243 
 
 that the precarious nature of the queen's health chap. 
 should render that interest exceedingly powerful.* ^^^^' 
 
 When it became known that the ministers were -a.d. 1713. 
 divided among themselves — that the queen's life, 
 upon whom alone they depended, was exceedingly 
 precarious — and that they had no favour to expect 
 from the elector, every day discovered new vacancies 
 in their ranks. Their opponents were proportion- 
 ably encouraged, and redoubled their attacks. They 
 were severely censured for their conduct with regard 
 to the Catalans, — a people whom they had excited to 
 provoke the indignation of their sovereign, in order 
 to produce a diversion in their favour during the 
 war ; who had served them devotedly, and who, 
 when their services were no longer required, had 
 been abandoned without scruple. That Bolingbroke 
 had but little compunction for his conduct, or sym- 
 pathy for their misfortunes, appears from many parts 
 of his correspondence : tame and fruitless memo- 
 
 * The Tories had been 
 strangely inattentive to the 
 court of Hanover. They 
 seem to have thought that it 
 was rather the part of the elec- 
 tor to pay court to them, than 
 theirs to conciliate their futm-e 
 sovereign. In their vain con- 
 fidence, they did not scruple to 
 disgust Robothen, the elector's 
 private secretary; and the elec- 
 toral court was abandoned en- 
 
 tirely to the Whigs. They did 
 not fail to improve their advan- 
 tage : Robothen and Bothenar 
 were devoted to their interests, 
 and as their master was entire- 
 ly ruled by his dependants, 
 their influence was decisive. 
 Bolingbroke, from some pas- 
 sages in his correspondence, 
 seems to have discovered his 
 error, but not until it was too 
 late to remedy it. 
 
 11 2
 
 244 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, rials were all he was disposed to undertake in their 
 ^^^'- behalf. 
 A.D. 1713. The want of perseverance in persecuting the Pre- 
 tender was another subject of attack. The violence 
 with which the Whigs, urged forward the most dig- ^ 
 graceful attacks upon this person, was the worst 
 part of their character as a party. The Earl of 
 Wharton proposed in the lords to offer a reward for 
 his apprehension either alive or dead, or, in other 
 words, a reward for his assassinalipn j — a disgraceful 
 proposition, which would have been rejected with 
 indignation by a horde of savages, but which was 
 listened to with complacency by no inconsiderable 
 portion of the peers of England.* They had since 
 presented several addresses to induce the queen to 
 insist upon his expulsion from the territories of her 
 allies, and sometimes received from her a reprimand 
 instead of a promise of compliance. They now re= 
 solved upon an address to know what steps had been 
 taken to remove the Pretender from Lorraine, whi- 
 ther he had retired upon his expulsion from France; 
 and desired the queen to issue a proclamation, pro- 
 mising a reward for his apprehension in case he 
 should land in England. The queen replied, that it 
 would be a real strengthening to the succession of 
 the house of Hanover, as well as a support to her 
 
 * It was carried in the first graceful clause was rejected by 
 
 instance ; and when the com- a majority of ten. — Pari. Hist. 
 
 mittee reported it, the debate Mr. Coxe is not ashamed to 
 
 was renewed, and this dis- attempt to justify this motion.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 245 
 
 government, if an end were put to those groundless chap. 
 fears and jealousies which had been so industriously ^^^' 
 
 promoted. She saw no occasion for such a procla- a.d. 1713. 
 mation ; but whenever she judged it necessary, she 
 would order it to be issued. With regard to the other 
 particulars of the address, she promised to give proper 
 directions thereon. 
 
 The persevering hatred of the lords was not yet 
 satisfied ; their determination to hunt the unfortunate 
 prince from every asylum, and to take from him 
 every refuge, manifested such an unwarrantable 
 bitterness, as to procure him to be considered an 
 injured man by many who had little favour for 
 his cause. Men naturally feel compassion for the 
 misfortunes of those whose exalted stations have 
 rendered their reverses more conspicuous and se- 
 vere ; and the ungenerous animosity of the lords 
 obtained for the Pretender a sympathy which neither 
 his disposition nor his talent could have ever gained 
 or justified. They were dissatisfied with the an- 
 swer of the queen to their address, and prepared 
 another, which, however, was not presented. 
 
 Among the numerous attacks made upon ministers 
 by the indefatigable Earl of Wharton, was a motion 
 recording it as the opinion of the house that the pro- 
 testant succession was in danger from the present ad- 
 ministration. The debates upon this question dis- 
 covered the weakness of ministers and the treachery 
 of their supporters. The Archbishop of York and the 
 Earl of Anglesea, who had hitherto supported them.
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, now joined the Whigs ; and the earl delivered him- 
 ^^^' self with all the zeal of a new convert. He pre- 
 
 A.D. 1713. tended a sudden conviction from the arguments 
 which had been advanced by the opposition, and 
 which, in fact, were but a repetition of what had 
 been nightly reiterated during the whole progress of 
 the transactions. He owned his assent to the acts 
 which were most vehemently censured, and asked 
 pardon of his God and his country for the error 
 he had committed. " The honour of his sovereign," 
 he said, " and the good of his country, were the 
 motiv^es of his conduct ; but should he have been 
 deceived and misled, he would dare pursue an evil 
 minister from the queen's closet to the Tower, and. 
 from the Tower to the scaffold." A resolution which 
 he had doubtless taken upon discovering by ex- 
 perience with what honourable intentions such fatal 
 errors may be committed. But this conscientious 
 and repentant nobleman was afterwards reclaimed 
 to Toryism by the promise of a more lucrative 
 appointment. 
 
 The lord treasurer was accused of regularly sub- 
 sidizing the Highland chiefs, who were notoriously 
 the most ill-affected to the house of Hanover of all 
 the queen's subjects. He, however, entirely re- 
 butted the charge, by proving that the practice 
 had been commenced by King William, and that 
 he had considerably reduced the amount remitted 
 to them. 
 
 Another scheme to embarrass ministers was the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 247 
 
 persuading Baron Schultz to demand a writ for the chap. 
 electoral prince, that he might sit in the house of ^^^' 
 
 peers as Duke of Cambridge, and to intimate that ^■^- 1'^^^. 
 he intended to reside in England. The chancellor, 
 to whom this request was first communicated, was 
 astonished at the proposal ; but, upon conferring 
 with the council, thought fit to comply. The queen, 
 however, deeply resented the application as an af- 
 front to her ; and she wrote a letter to the Princess 
 Sophia to prevent the execution of any such de- 
 sign. That the presence of a person who was 
 eagerly expecting her death in order to secure 
 her throne must have been disagreeable to Anne, 
 is very natural; but it was no less natural, that 
 when a large and active party existed ready to take 
 advantage of any fortunate contingency to defeat 
 their title, the elector and his adherents should 
 be anxious to have an authoritative agent upon 
 the spot ready to oppose their attempts. The queen 
 also wrote to the prince and the elector upon the 
 subject ; and the design, which had never been ap- 
 proved or even known by him, was abandoned. 
 These letters were afterwards published ; a liberty 
 which the queen resented so highly, that she pro- 
 secuted the printer, and forbade the Hanoverian 
 minister her court. 
 
 Such were the open attacks which were daily 
 made upon the ministry, — attacks enforced by all 
 the power of eloquence, and prosecuted with all 
 the zeal which patriotism and party spirit can
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, together inspire. But amid the open assaults of 
 ^^^' enemies and the desertion of friends, the queen 
 
 A.D. 1713. yet stood firmly attached to the cause of her minis- 
 ters : while she survived they were still safe, and 
 could they have established unanimity among them- 
 selves, they might yet have made their peace with 
 the house of Hanover. The dangerous position 
 in which they stood in the event of the queen's 
 death was well understood by Bolingbroke, who 
 betrays an irresolution upon this point which was 
 inconsistent with his usual character. " I cannot 
 help adding," he writes to a relation of the lord 
 treasurer, " that we ought to be better or worse with 
 the court of Hanover than we are." * He saw the 
 danger to be dreaded from the succession of the 
 elector and the supremacy of the Whigs ; but he 
 saw no means to obviate that danger but by de- 
 claring openly for the Pretender and repealing the 
 act of succession. We have before asserted that 
 no fixed design for bringing about this event was 
 ever entertained by the ministr)'^ ; but we are far 
 from declaring that the Tories, threatened by the 
 violence of the Whigs and the undisguised hostility 
 of the lawful successor to the crown, did not many 
 of them ardently wish for a restoration, provided it 
 could be accomplished upon terms which would 
 secure the liberty and constitution of the country. 
 Every person, however, who held any correspondence 
 with the Pretender, soon discovered that, in the 
 
 * Letter to Mr. Harley, of July 23, 1712. Bol. Corr.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 249 
 
 words of Sir W. Windham, he was an " impracti- chap. 
 
 cable man :" he had all the bigotry and obstinacy, _^ ! 
 
 and not a little of the incompetence, which cha- ^i^- 1^^^. 
 racterized his family. Bolingbroke well knew that 
 the restoration, which would confirm his own power, 
 must ruin his country. 
 
 Circumstances occurred which showed that the 
 dissolution of the Harley administration ^va;s speedily 
 and inevitably approaching. The members of it 
 were unable to act in concert even in their own 
 defence. The fire which had been long smoul- 
 dering in the cabinet, had now burst forth in flame. 
 Harley and St. John, from secret rivals, had become 
 open and violent enemies. Every meeting of the 
 council was a scene of tumult and confusion. The 
 queen vainly interposed to put an end to a con- 
 test which nothing but the fall of one could deter- 
 mine. Lady Masham, who determined the queen 
 in everything, openly declared against the trea- 
 surer : she told him that he had never done the 
 queen any service, nor was he capable of doing any; 
 and was as assiduous to persuade the queen to dis- 
 card him, as she had once been to raise him in her 
 estimation.* 
 
 But^nne had still a high opinion of her minister's 
 ability ; and though her friendship for him liad been 
 cooled by the arts of those around hei> her confidence 
 inliim remained. She had seen many of his schemes 
 succeed which others had opposed as impracticable ; 
 
 * Letter of Lewis to Swift, — Swift's Letters.
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, she had seen others fail which they had advised and 
 ^^^' he had disapproved. She felt that disease was ra- 
 
 A.D. 1713. pidly gaining upon her — that she had not long to 
 live; and she was averse to disturbing the remainder 
 of her life with the cabals of contending parties. 
 The measures of Oxford were usually moderate and 
 conciliatory, and likely to accord with the wishes of 
 a timorous and declining woman. These considera- 
 tions induced her to support her minister for some 
 time in the high office he held : but although his 
 nominal superiority remained, his real authority was 
 gone. It is said, that it was in the debate upon 
 the question, whether the queen should permit the 
 Duke of Cambridge to take his seat in the lords, that 
 the influence of Bolingbroke was first established. 
 Oxford wished to allow it as a boon which might 
 convince the house of Hanover of the falsehood of 
 the charges that had been made against the minis- 
 ters. This sentiment, so disagreeable to the queen, 
 Bolingbroke opposed ; and declared, that after filling 
 all the offices with Tories, they need be under no 
 apprehension from the resentment of the elector, 
 who would then have too much occasion for their 
 services to resent any injuries he might fancy he had 
 received. His opinion prevailed ; and his conduct 
 upon this occasion added not a Httle to his influence 
 with the queen. 
 
 Having thus gained an ascendency in the council, 
 he determined upon another scheme, which he hoped
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 251 
 
 must either deprive his rival of the benefit of the in- chap. 
 trigues he was carrying on with the dissenters, or ^^^- 
 
 entirely ruin him with the queen. Anne, although a.d. 1713. 
 owing her crown to the principles of the revolution, ,.— , 
 
 had been deeply imbued, by her education, with sen- ^--c-t^ 
 
 timents not altogether favourable to religious liberty. <^>^5^ ^-C_, 
 
 Her affection for the church of England was ardent 
 
 and sincere ; but, as is frequently the case in weak 
 
 minds, it was too apt to show itself in intolerance. 
 
 Any measure, professing as its object the security of 
 
 the church, was certain of her approval; and Boling- 
 
 broke, before the session closed, determined to turn 
 
 this weakness to his own advantage. He laid before 
 
 her a bill, having as its title, " An Act to prevent the 
 
 growth of Schism, and for the better security of the 
 
 Church of England as by law established." 
 
 This bill pressed with great severity upon the dis- 
 senters, and was of course, by them and their patrons 
 the Whigs, violently opposed. Walpole, Hampden, 
 and others of that party, nobly vindicated the prin- 
 ciple of religious tolerance : Sir Peter King declared 
 that it looked more like a decree of Julian the 
 Apostate than a law enacted by a protestant parlia- 
 ment, since it tended to raise as great a persecution 
 against our protestant brethren as either the primi- 
 tive christians ever suffered from the heathen em- 
 perors, or protestants from popery and the inquisi- 
 tion. The supporters of the bill were more violent 
 against the dissenters than they had been against 

 
 252 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, those who were contriving their persecution. One 
 ^^^' of them declared that the dissenters were equally 
 
 A.D. 1713. dangerous to church and state ; that if members 
 were so opposed to this bill, he would readily consent 
 that it should drop, but only upon the condition that 
 another should be brought in to incapacitate them 
 either to sit in that house, or to vote in elections for 
 members of parliament. 
 
 It was remarked that among the most strenuous 
 advocates of this bill in the lower house was one 
 Collier, whose presence was looked upon as equally 
 a disgrace to the house, and to Bolingbroke, who 
 had placed him there. This man, who had been 
 an attorney of very equivocal character, obtained 
 by his obtruding impudence the acquaintance, and 
 at length the intimacy, of Lord Bolingbroke ; who, 
 it is said, from a buffoon and an obsequious com- 
 panion of his nocturnal debauches, thought fit to 
 advance him to a higher station.* By the Duke 
 of Beaufort's interest he was brought into the house 
 of commons, although those whom his ribaldry an- 
 noyed asserted that he had not 30/. a year of pro- 
 perty. The companions of a debauchee are not 
 often very carefully selected ; but if Bolingbroke held 
 any other intercourse with Collier, it was for some 
 more pertinent qualities than his excellence as a 
 
 * A tract called " The Life written with all the violence 
 and History of Lord Boling- of party enmity, 
 broke," published in 1754, and
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 253 
 
 buffoon. At this time he was much in need of un- chap. 
 scrupulous supporters ; and the notice which the -^^^ • 
 other party took of the zeal of this man, showed that a.d. 1713. 
 he had at least some of the qualities which policy- 
 would have led his patron to approve. 
 
 The bill passed the commons with a rapidity 
 which proved that Bolingbroke's influence there was 
 still paramount ; but it was in the lords that he hoped 
 to derive benefit from its discussion. Upon intro- 
 ducing it, he said " it was a bill of the last im- 
 portance, since it concerned the security of the 
 church of England, the best and firmest support of 
 the monarchy ; both which all good men, and in 
 particular that august assembly, who derived their 
 lustre from and were nearest the throne, ought to 
 have most at heart." * 
 
 In the speeches which were delivered in opposition 
 to this measure, many of the Whigs ably defended 
 the dissenters against their political adversary, ^nd 
 enforced their party's principles. The Earl of 
 Wharton said he was agreeably surprised to see 
 that some men of pleasure were on a sudden become 
 so religious as to set up for patrons of the church ; 
 but he could not but wonder that persons who had 
 been educated at dissenting academies,! whom he 
 
 * Parliamentary History. a pupil in a school kept by 
 
 t We have already noti- a presbyterian : this school 
 
 ced Bolingbroke's education was famous for the number 
 
 among the presbyterians. of illustrious men which it 
 
 Harley was for many years sent forth.
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, could point out, and whose tutors he could name, 
 ^^^' should appear the most forward in suppressing 
 A.D. 1713. them. " This," he said, " was but an indifferent 
 return for the benefit the public had received from 
 those schools, which had sent forth those great men 
 who had made so glorious a peace, and treaties that 
 executed themselves ;" — a boast which ministers had 
 made during the discussions ; — " who had obtained 
 so great advantages for commerce ; and who had 
 paid the public debts without any charge to the 
 nation. He could see no reason there was to sup- 
 press these academies, unless it were an apprehension 
 that they should still produce greater geniuses, that 
 should drown the merits and abilities of those great 
 men. My lords," he continued, " to be serious, 
 'tis no less melancholy than surprising, that at a 
 time when the court of France prosecutes the design 
 they have long since laid to extirpate our holy reli- 
 gion, — when not only secret practices are used to 
 impose a popish Pretender upon these realms, but 
 men are publicly enlisted for his service ; — it is me- 
 lancholy and surprising, I say, that at that very time 
 a bill should be brought in which cannot but tend to 
 divide protestants, and consequently to weaken their 
 interests and hasten their ruin. But there the won- 
 der will cease, if we remember what madmen were 
 the contrivers and promoters of this bill." Again 
 his lordship remarked, " that both in the bill, and in 
 the speeches of those who declared for it, several laws 
 had been recited and mentioned, — but there was a
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 255 
 
 law that had not yet been mentioned. I expected," chap. 
 he added, turning to the bench of bishops, " that ve- ^^^- 
 nerable bench would have put us in mind of it ; a.d. 1713. 
 but since they are pleased to be silent in this debate, 
 I will myself tell them that it is the law, to do unto 
 all men as we would be done unto.'" 
 
 The Earl of Nottingham exclaimed against a 
 measure which deprived parents of their natural 
 right of educating their children, and concluded with 
 a severe attack upon Swift, who had lately assailed 
 his lordship with some very bitter lampoons. 
 
 All the eiforts of the opposition were in vain : 
 Bolingbroke was confident of a majority, and with 
 unshrinking intolerance refused the insertion of a 
 clause allowing the dissenters schools for the edu- 
 cation of their own children. But his real object 
 was for the present frustrated. The lord treasurer, 
 whose declaration he had anxiously expected, refused 
 to vote : he said, " that he had not yet considered of 
 it; but when he had, he would vote according as it 
 should appear to him to be to the good or detriment 
 of his country." 
 
 He continued to pursue this undecided conduct. 
 The presbyterians petitioned to be heard by counsel 
 against the bill ; and although their prayer was re- 
 fused, upon division it appeared that many of 
 Oxford's staunchest friends were in the minority : 
 he himself, however, was not in the house. This 
 reluctance to decide strengthened the suspicion of 
 Bolingjbroke's real intention, and intimated that the
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, treasurer was aware of the danger that threatened 
 ^i^'- him. 
 
 A.D. 1713. The allusion which had been made by the Earl 
 of Wharton in his speech upon this bill was not 
 without foundation. The Jacobites were carrying on 
 their projects in England with great zeal, but with 
 little caution. An agent of the Pretender at Deal, 
 acting under the formal authority of the Earl of 
 Middleton, the Pretender's secretary of state, had 
 lately been openly enlisting soldiers for his service. 
 The vigilance of the Earl of Wharton first discovered 
 *^ this circumstance ; and he did not fail to communi- 
 cate his discoveries, and to charge the ministers 
 with connivance at the practice. This charge was 
 indignantly denied ; and Bolingbroke's conduct upon 
 the occasion was certainly not that of a man who 
 was disposed to bring about a restoration. Upon 
 ascertaining the truth of the intelligence, he immedi- 
 ately issued a proclamation, offering 5000/. reward to 
 any person who should apprehend the Pretender 
 upon his landing in any part of Great Britain. He 
 also brought in a bill to put an effectual stop in 
 future to such attempts as those which now caused 
 so much dismay. By this he proposed to declare it 
 to be high treason for any person to enlist, or for 
 any one to engage others, for the service of the Pre- 
 \ tender ; — a measure which certainly no friend to that 
 prince would ever have proposed, and which was 
 ^too efficacious in its effects to have been advanced 
 as a blind to disguise ulterior designs.
 
 LORD BOLINGBRUKE. 257 
 
 These active steps seem to have reassured the chap. 
 parliament, and rendered them more confident in ^^^' 
 
 the honesty of the queen's intentions. Votes of a.d. 1713. 
 thanks to her for the proclamation were carried in 
 both houses ; and the commons declared that they 
 would cheerfully grant her majesty the means of 
 increasing the reward to 100,000/. 
 
 Lord Bolingbroke's bill was received with great 
 favour ; and in order to make it more comprehensive, 
 its penalties were extended to all wJiQ- should engage 
 in the service of any foreign prince without the con- 
 sent of the queen, signified under her sign manual. 
 These measures taken, the panic which the alarm 
 sounded by the Earl of Wharton had excited passed 
 away, and the Whigs returned again to their more 
 ordinary topics of opposition. 
 
 There was yet one tie which restrained the cabinet 
 from formally declaring against each other out of the 
 council-chamber : it was the sense of a common 
 danger. While any part of the late negotiations re- 
 mained uncanvassed, the members of the present go- 
 vernment were open to prosecution upon that ground ; 
 and every individual felt that the time was not far 
 distant when the Whigs would want neither power 
 nor inclination to pursue their advantages. The 
 Spanish treaty — which, as was before observed, was 
 not executed at the conferences at Utrecht, because 
 the King of Spain had not yet been acknowledged — 
 was still to be discussed in parliament ; and ministers 
 were anxious to have the sanction of the houses to 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, this important measure before the prorogation took 
 ^^^- place. 
 A.D. 1713. In the house of lords the debate upon this subject 
 was, as usual, very violent ; and the ministers had 
 sufficient employment in wiping off the mud with 
 which the scavenger assailed them.* Since the 
 treaty had been signed, several explanatory articles 
 had been agreed to at a conference at Madrid, where 
 some details not mentioned in the treaty had been 
 determined. These additional articles, which Bo- 
 lingbroke, acting under the advice of one Moore, 
 whom he supposed to be well versed in the com- 
 mercial interests of the country, persuaded the 
 queen to ratify, turned out to be highly injurious 
 to our trade. Evidence to this effect was given at 
 the bar of the house of lords ; and, acting upon this 
 evidence, they addressed the queen for copies of 
 all papers connected with these articles, and for 
 the names of the parties who had advised her ma- 
 jesty to ratify them. The latter part of this ad- 
 dress conveyed a strange request, and would suggest 
 a suspicion that the doctrine of the entire respon- 
 sibility of the ostensible ministers of the crown 
 was hardly so well established and defined as it 
 has since been. 
 
 The queen, however, refused to comply with their 
 demand ; but declared that she had assented to the 
 ratification of the explanatory articles upon a con- 
 
 * This is the manner in speaks of the Earl of Wharton, 
 which BoUngbroke generally — See the Bol. Corr.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 259 
 
 viction that they were not hurtful to the commer- chap. 
 cial interests of her people. The house of lords ^^^' 
 was with difficulty induced to rest satisfied with this a.d. 1713. 
 reply; and, in the commons, a more direct attack 
 was made upon Moore, the adviser of the obnoxious 
 provisions. But the interest of Bolingbroke was 
 there too powerful to be withstood, and the delin- 
 quent escaped. He did not, however, avoid all 
 the consequences of the odium he had incurred. 
 The court of directors of the South Sea Company 
 expelled him their body, of which he was a member, 
 for some transactions connected with that company : 
 he was declared incapable of again holding that 
 office ; but in degrading the agent, the Whigs were 
 probably not sorry to discover a means of censuring 
 his employer. 
 
 To appease these clamours, and to persuade the 
 parliament to sanction the treaty, the queen de- 
 termined upon a sacrifice which she had hoped 
 would be unnecessary. In insisting upon the as- 
 siento contract, she had a view to her own comfort 
 and independence, as well as to the increase of her 
 country's commerce : she had therefore reserved 
 one quarter of the proceeds of that trade to herself. 
 This she now gave up, and received in return an 
 address of thanks from the lords for her muni- 
 ficence. After some more debate the treaty was 
 approved, and the task of Bolingbroke consum- 
 mated. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Struggle between Oxford and Bolingbrohe. — Swift's attempt to 
 reconcile them. — Oxford's Letter to the Queen — His Dismissal. 
 
 CHAP. iiiVERY common object being now obtained, nothing 
 ' remained to retard the final struggle to eject the 
 A.D. 1714. lord treasurer from the place, the power of which 
 he had long ceased to wield, and the duties of which 
 he had still longer ceased to perform. Each rival, 
 in preparation for the event, had been secretly tam- 
 pering with the Whigs, who looked on delighted 
 spectators of the conflict. They knew their in- 
 terest, however, too well to coalesce with enemies 
 whom they soon expected to have at their mercy, 
 and they affected a severe and stately reserve. 
 
 Oxford now experienced the usual consequence 
 of timorous and crooked counsels : the Tories looked 
 upon him as half a Whig, as in his heart he no 
 doubt was ; the Whigs saw in him only the success- 
 ful rival who had ejected them from power, and 
 who since, while amusing them with hollow pro- 
 fessions, had sought in vain to betray those whom 
 he wanted art enough to deceive. All the Tories 
 who were at all to be depended upon, such as Lord
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 26*1 
 
 Harcourt, Sir William Windham, and Mr. Secretary chap. 
 Bromley, had attached themselves to Bolingbroke. ^^' 
 Hope of accommodation there was none — that had -^D- 1714. 
 been often unsuccessfully tried ; at the commence- 
 ment of the struggle, by Lady Masham, and even 
 the queen herself, whom these harassing dissensions 
 were hurrying towards the grave ; and more lately 
 by Swift, whose fortunes were linked with the 
 Tories, and who foresaw in their enmities his own 
 ruin. In expectation of their fall, he had just pro- 
 cured his deanery ; a promotion with which, as it 
 was in every respect disagreeable to him, he would 
 never have been satisfied, had he entertained any 
 hopes of his patrons remaining in office. Upon his 
 return from taking possession of his preferment, he 
 found their animosities had if possible increased ; but 
 he resolved to make an effort to bring about a re- 
 conciliation. 
 
 With this object, he contrived to bring them 
 together at Lord Masham's ; and having acquainted 
 him and his lady with his purpose, they left him 
 alone with the two rivals. Swift warmly expos- 
 tulated with them ; showed them the madness* of 
 their conduct — the ruin they were bringing upon their 
 friends, and the triumph they were preparing for 
 
 * Bolingbroke was not in- proverb, " Quos perdere Jupi- 
 
 sensible of the truth of these ter vult, prius dementat;" a 
 
 observations: in a letter to sentence well exemplified in his 
 
 Prior at this period, he bewails own and his rival's fortunes, 
 the contusion, and quotes the
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, their enemies. He urged every topic he could sug- 
 -^^- gest tending to induce them to sacrifice their pri- 
 
 A.D. 1714. vate sentiments to the interest of their country — or, 
 perhaps more properly, to the interest of their party. 
 He hoped, by keeping them together, to revive the 
 friendship which they once had felt ; and he induced 
 them to go to Windsor together. Thither he soon 
 followed them ; but he had the mortification to hear 
 from Lord Bolingbroke that his scheme had failed, 
 and he observed, with despair, that every hour les- 
 sened the chances of any accommodation. 
 
 He made one more attempt, and they again met 
 at Lord Masham's. When he found his expostulations 
 vain, he said that all was gone, and their friends 
 must provide for their own safety. Oxford said 
 that all would yet be well ; but Bolingbroke whis- 
 pered Swift that he was right. 
 
 Deserted by his friends, frowned upon by his 
 mistress, and abandoned by his dependants, Oxford 
 yet resolved to make one effort to regain the su- 
 premacy, and scorned "f 6 yield without a struggle. 
 Marlborough's name was yet a tower of strength ; if 
 he could be gained, the falling treasurer might retire 
 into the ranks of the Whigs, and return at their head 
 prepared to chastise the insolence of his enemies. 
 Marlborough was abroad, whither the intrigues of 
 Oxford had driven him ; but the latter was now as 
 anxious for his return as he had before been de- 
 sirous of his departure. He wrote to him, entreat- 
 ing in the most earnest manner his co-operation and
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 263 
 
 support. But the resentment of the Marlboroughs chap. 
 was too deep and well-founded to be extinguished ^^' 
 
 by concessions prompted only by a sense of weak- ^•^' ^'i'*- 
 ness. The duchess could not forget the arts by 
 which she had been supplanted, and the disgrace 
 in which she had been dismissed ; and the duke is 
 said to have vowed that he would never forget or 
 forgive the injuries he had suffered from him.* Far 
 from benefiting him, his attempt, when it became 
 known to his rival, furnished him with a new topic 
 of accusation to the queen. The return of the duke 
 to England was a circumstance which she dreaded 
 as much as the most timorous Tory in her ministry ; 
 and her.prime minister now appeared to her in the /f^ 
 character of a traitor to_ her interests and a spy of >V' 
 the house of Hanover. 
 
 Sensible that this state of things could not long 
 continue, Oxford prepared to render to the queen 
 such an account of his administration as might, when 
 examined by the Whigs, whom he foresaw must be 
 almost immediately in power, tend to thrpw all the 
 odium of the obnoxious measures upon his colleagues, 
 and obtain for himself the merit of every popular 
 step. The caution which he habitually observed 
 rendered this no difficult task ; and he accomplished 
 it in a letter to the queen, which he entitled, " A 
 Brief Account of Public Affairs since August the 
 8th, 1710, to this present 8th of June, 1714 ; to 
 which is added the State of Affairs Abroad as they 
 
 * Political State, vol. ii.
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, relate to this Kingdom ; with some humble proposals 
 ^^- for seeming the future tranquillity of her majesty's 
 A.D. 1714. reign, and the safety of her kingdoms." 
 
 In this letter he gives an abstract of the history 
 of the transactions of his four years of office. He 
 states, that when he assumed the helm, he found the 
 army in the field, and no money in the treasury : 
 that the contractors had refused to renew their con- 
 tracts, and the Bank had refused Godolphin any 
 farther advances : the navy was eleven millions in 
 debt, the civil list 600,000/., and the yearly revenue 
 nearly 130,000/. under the necessary expenditure. 
 
 He says that, notwithstanding all these disad- 
 vantages, he paid the army, provided funds for the 
 ensuing year, and laid before the ensuing parliament 
 a plan for discharging nine millions of the national 
 debt. He dwells with great complacency upon this 
 scheme, attributing to it the establishment of our 
 credit abroad, and the readiness of France to enter 
 into negotiations for peace. He traces to this also 
 the origin of what he calls the envy and rage of 
 his fellow-servants ; and makes that charge of in- 
 tentional peculation against St. John which has been 
 before mentioned and refuted. 
 
 He disclaims all participation in the ill-fated ex- 
 pedition to the Canadas ; and he thus relates the 
 affair which cost him the friendship and support of 
 Mrs. Masham :— " The 4th of June, 1711, three 
 days after the treasurer was sworn, he was sur- 
 prised with a demand of 28,036/. ds. for arms and
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 265 
 
 merchandise said to be sent to Canada. When the chap. 
 treasurer scrupled this, Mr. Secretary St. John and ' 
 
 Mr. Moor came to him with much passion upon this ^•^- 1'^^^. 
 affair ; and about a fortnight after the secretary of 
 state signified the queen's positive pleasure to have 
 that money paid ; and accordingly her majesty 
 signed a warrant, June 21 ; and the treasurer not 
 being able then, with all his precaution, to discover 
 farther light, the money was paid July the 4th. 
 
 '* Since the return from that expedition, the secret 
 is discovered, and the treasurer's suspicion justified ; 
 for the public was cheated of above 20,000/. 
 
 " One thing more is craved leave to be added : 
 that the treasurer was forced to use all his skill and 
 credit to keep the house of commons from examining 
 this affair last parliament." 
 
 The acquiescence in this job is certainly a blot 
 upon the reputation of BoliiQgbnike ; but it can by 
 no means be therefore admitted that he was pro- 
 bably guilty of the intention which Oxford, charges.^ 
 hini.mth, of appropriating a large sum of the public 
 money to his own use. Living in the atmosphere 
 of a corrupt court, and determined to gratify his 
 ambition, Bolingbroke was inclined to venture upon 
 acts which the timidity rather than the principle of 
 Oxford would not allow him to engage in. Like 
 many, other and better ministers, he held a station ^„^ 
 in a government which exercised corriiption,as one 
 of .the means of its support ; and habit soon inclined,^ 
 him, as it has them, to look with widely different 
 
 -'»B<4
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, feelings upon corruption applied to support their 
 ^^' power, and that which is exerted only for the sordid 
 
 A.D. 1714. purpose of personal avarice. This consideration is 
 not advanced as an apology for Bolingbroke's conduct 
 in this affair ; it is only urged to prevent his condem- 
 nation upon the other charge, which was far baser 
 in its nature, and much more destitute of plausi- 
 bility or proof. 
 
 With regard to the credit the treasurer claims 
 of having withdrawn the attention of parliament 
 from the subject : if the assertion were true, it 
 would only implicate him as a party to the trans- 
 action ; and so the house of commons thought when 
 they made it one of the articles of his impeachment. 
 That the service was not very important, may be 
 inferred from his answer to that article ; which was, 
 that although all the papers upon which he grounded 
 his judgment were before the house, who had long 
 been looking anxiously for some such charge to bring 
 home against Bolingbroke, they had never thought 
 such an accusation sustainable against him. 
 
 In his " Brief Account" the treasurer proceeds to 
 say, that after this affair Mr. Secretary St. John 
 thought fit to list a separate party for himself. To 
 prevent this. Lord Rochester and the treasurer de- 
 sired to have a meeting ; and it was contrived that 
 they should both dine at St. John's house. He re- 
 marks, that this was the last time St. John ever 
 invited him to his house. At this dinner the Duke 
 of Shrewsbury, Earl Powlet, and others, were pre-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 267 
 
 sent ; and Lord Rochester " took pains to calm the chap. 
 spirit of division and ambition."* ^^' 
 
 The attempt of Guiscard then intervened ; and a.u. nu. 
 when he had recovered from his wound, he says, 
 his hands were full of negotiating the peace in all 
 courts abi'oad ; and his duties were greatly increased 
 by being obliged to conciliate the captious temper 
 of Mr. Secretary, who was always quarrelling either 
 with him, or Lady Masham, or Lord Dartmouth. 
 
 The falsehood of the statement he makes, that he 
 conducted the negotiations in all the courts abroad, 
 every document which passed and the testimony of 
 every party to the treaties demonstrate. Like many 
 persons who advance questionable propositions, he 
 seems to think that repetition will increase its chance 
 of credence. He therefore takes an opportunity of 
 again insisting that the correspondence with all the 
 courts concerned in the negotiations was in his own 
 hand, and at his own charge ; and he adds, what is 
 as improbable as the other is certainly false, that 
 very often he had the good luck to set right several 
 mistakes, and to obtain some things very little ex- 
 pected. What these were he does not venture to 
 tell us — a singular omission in a letter written solely 
 to exhibit and magnify his services. That his dis- 
 
 * This statement, if it can to Sir William Windham, that 
 
 be depended upon, (we shall he preserved his friendship 
 
 presently see the queen's opi- for Harley inviolate until his 
 
 nion of Oxford's veracity,) suf- disappointment with respect 
 
 ficiently refutes what Boling- to his peerage, 
 broke has declared in his letter
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, coveries were very numerous, his notorious inat- 
 ^^' tention to business renders extremely unlikely ; that 
 
 A.D. 1714. his interference ever obtained any concession to Eng- 
 land or her allies, no hint is given by any of the mi- 
 nute writers upon these treaties. 
 
 The quarrels and grudges of St. John with Lady 
 Masham and himself are hardly to be urged as an 
 accusation by a man who, upon losing her favour, 
 could call the same lady " ten thousand bitches and 
 kitchen-wenches." * St. John was then in j^he^ same 
 situation in which Oxford afterwards..fQijQd^ himj;^ 
 selfjjrTr.iated by the favqunjte,, and_therefore Jn ill 
 odour with the queen. He had also the insolent 
 superiority of Oxford himself to endure ; who, leav- 
 ing all the drudgery and the odium of business to 
 him, monopolized every tittle of patronage. In 
 1711, he complains to one of his correspondents, 
 that he has little in his power.f Even Mr. Hare, his 
 under-secretary, for whom he interested himself very 
 warmly, could obtain through his solicitation no 
 more than a small place in the West Indies, and 
 even that appointment was only during pleasure. 
 While Oxford engrossed all the patronage of the 
 court, the favour of the queen, and the rewards of 
 the services of the ministry, it is not surprising that 
 St. John should sometimes warmly expostulate, that 
 to him was assigned only the conduct and odium of 
 unpopular measures, and that his reward was the 
 
 * Lewis to Swift, July 17, 1714. f Bol. Corr. vol. i. p. 176.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 269 
 
 opposition of the favourite and the dislike of his chap. 
 
 XV. 
 
 mistress. 
 
 The treasurer particularly dwells upon St. John's ^ d. i714. 
 violence upon the occasion of his elevation to the 
 peerage; and again, when the knighthood of the 
 garter was given away from him. Did we not 
 know that the expressions are those of a falling mi- 
 nister towards a successful rival, we should conceive 
 from his picture of him that Bolingbroke was a dan- 
 gerous madman — a firebrand which was kept from 
 spreading conflagration throughout Europe only by 
 the delicate management of the patient and long- 
 suffering lord treasurer. 
 
 The most indefensible parts of the negotiations, 
 particularly the French treaty of commerce, he de- 
 nies all participation in ; and declares that all was 
 done contrary to his instructions, while he was con- 
 fined by sickness. 
 
 That Oxford was hardly to be reproached for any 
 of the positive measures of his administration, maybe 
 readily admitted : his crime^was rather the neglect of 
 the affairs of government, for which he was respon- 
 sible. That he opposed the stipulations in the com- 
 mercial treaties is hardly credible, when we consider 
 that the chief cause of their defective and unfavour- 
 able character was the hurry with which they were 
 despatched, in order that the ministers might be able 
 to tell the parliament that peace had been con- 
 cluded. 
 
 This is the substance of the treasurer's exculpatory
 
 270 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, letter to his mistress ; — a letter which, whether writ- 
 ^^' ten to shift the responsibility of the measures of his 
 
 A.D. 1714. administration from himself to the secretary, and 
 gain favour, or at least impunity, from the Whigs 
 — or whether written to excite the gratitude of the 
 queen now he could no longer count upon her fa- 
 vour, was equally ill adapted to his object. Anne 
 could not fail to resent the accusations made against 
 a man who now enjoyed her confidence, especially 
 when his new ally, the Lady Masham, was at hand 
 to declare them false. Sovereigns seldom care to be 
 reminded of obligations to their subjects ; and the 
 Stuart blood which ran in the veins of Anne would oc- 
 casionally betray her as kindred spirit to the haughty 
 monarchs of that family. When she was told that 
 many of his alleged services were imaginary, and 
 knew that others were exaggerated, she was inclined 
 to doubt the foundation of his claim to any, and to 
 excuse her fickleness under the name of justice.* 
 
 From the Whigs this document received still less 
 favour : it was made use of to furnish articles for 
 his impeachment. Some of the admissions it con- 
 tains are certainly indicative that in its composition 
 his passion overcame his habitual caution ; and its 
 transmission to the queen had not a momentary 
 effect in delaying the execution of the resolution she 
 had formed for his dismissal. 
 
 * This letter is printed in the negotiations of the Trea- 
 the Report of the Secret Com- ties of Utrecht, 
 mittee appointed to examine
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 271 
 
 Anne now no longer made any scruple to part chap. 
 with him, or any secret of her intention. She de- ^^'- 
 clared to all her servants, that the reasons of his a.d. 1714. 
 dismissal were, that he neglected all business ; that 
 he was seldom to be understood ; that when he did 
 explain himself, she could not depend upon the truth 
 of what he said ; that he never came to her at the 
 time she appointed; and lastly, that he behaved 
 himself towards her with bad manners, indecency, 
 and disrespect.* Oxford, in fact, had experienced 
 the favour of the queen until he had been spoiled 
 with indulgence ; and he acted then, as most favour- 
 ites have been found to act, with too little recollec- 
 tion of the tenure by which he held his fortune. 
 But to this list of his transgressions many others 
 are to be added which weighed more powerfully 
 against him, although it would hardly have been 
 politic to enumerate them. Among these are to be 
 placed his opposition to Mrs. Masham in the abortive 
 expedition to Canada; his remonstrating with the 
 queen upon the occasion of her granting that lady 
 a pension of 1500/. a year; and again, his allowing 
 the queen's share in the assiento contract to be 
 given up, — a scheme, in the profits of which the 
 favourite expected largely to participate. Boling- 
 broke, with less scrupulous principle, or with less 
 terror for coming investigations, had gratified his 
 patroness in every instance, and thought no conces- 
 
 * Erasmus Lewis' letter to the most faithful of the earl's 
 Swift. This Lewis was one of adherents.
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, sion too great to secure her all-powerful friendship. 
 ^^- His hour of triumph was, he thought, now come, 
 A.D. 1714. and he did not attempt to conceal his feelings of 
 exultation. On the 20th of July, the lord chancellor 
 — who had no longer any occasion to complain of 
 neglect on the part of Bolingbroke — was sent for 
 to town, and was closeted with the queen the next 
 day. Lady Masham was constant in her attendance 
 upon her ; and it was believed that at this council 
 the fate of the dragon — as Oxford was nicknamed 
 by the adherents of the ministry — would be settled. 
 It was anticipated, however, that his dismissal 
 would be honourable ; and that a dukedom and a 
 pension of 5000/. a year would be bestowed, to re- 
 concile him to the necessity of retirement. But the 
 ministers were too much divided as to the persons 
 to be appointed commissioners in his place, to be 
 able to take from him his staff: the number was to 
 be five ; Bolingbroke and Sir W. Windham were 
 of course to be two, but they could not decide upon 
 the other three. Meanwhile, the conduct of the 
 treasurer was singularly inconsistent : at one time 
 he would rage, and threaten to burst the toils which 
 surrounded him ; at another, he and his rival were 
 to be seen walking together, apparently upon terms 
 of perfect friendship. The desertion of the chan- 
 cellor particularly excited his indignation, and he 
 repeatedly swore that he would be revenged upon 
 him. The chancellor's conduct he might have ex- 
 pected from the neglect with which he had treated
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 273 
 
 him. Lady Masham had been connected with him chap. 
 by closer ties of friendship ; yet, when she declared ^^' 
 openly against him and bid him defiance to his face, a.d. 1714, 
 he brooked the insult, remained and supped with 
 her and Bolingbroke, and still continued to visit, 
 cringe, and flatter. 
 
 This conduct, continued to the last moment, was 
 probably intended to obtain for him favourable terms 
 upon his dismissal. It is certain that at this time 
 he had no hopes of regaining his lost influence. 
 The morning of the day upon which he was dis- 
 missed,* he wrote to Swift to sa}'-, that to-morrow 
 morning he should be a private person ; and he 
 added, that he had had no power since the 25th of 
 July 1713. In naming this date, he alludes to a 
 letter which he wrote to Lord Bolingbroke at that 
 time, containing his scheme of the queen's affairs, 
 and his ideas as to what was necessary for Boling- 
 broke to do. He seems then, even thus early, to 
 have discovered that his influence was gone, and 
 to have entirely retired from business, although he 
 chose to continue to enjoy the honours of his post. 
 
 His anticipations were correct. A cabinet council 
 was held that evening, at which all the ministers 
 attended. In the discussions which arose, Oxford 
 broke the restraint which he had hitherto imposed 
 upon his resentment. The presence of the queen, 
 the authority of a sovereign, the feebleness of a 
 weak and sickly woman, could not avert the storm, 
 
 * 27th July. 
 VOL. I. 'H
 
 274 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, or moderate the rancour of the rivals' recriminations. 
 •^^' Threats and reproaches were exchanged with a noise 
 
 A.D. 1714. and scurrihty which disgraced the men who uttered, 
 and insulted the sovereign who permitted them. 
 The hoarded enmity of three years now at last found 
 vent in words. Every act of their ministerial career 
 formed a topic of reproach and retort ; and even the 
 queen herself was not excepted from the angry de- 
 nunciations of the discarded courtier. Lady Masham 
 was particularly distinguished by his abuse ; — he 
 told her that she and her coadjutor had ruined him 
 with the queen by lies and misrepresentations : and 
 when his staff of office was demanded, he delivered it, 
 indignantly declaring that he would yet be revenged 
 upon them all, and would find means to leave some 
 people as low as he had found them. Oxford's best 
 friends regretted this womanish ebullition of impo- 
 tent rage, so contrary to his usual conduct, so op- 
 posed to his general character for temper and mo- 
 deration. Those who wanted only an excuse to 
 abandon him, readily found one in the indignity 
 which was offered to their mistress. In his fall, he 
 seemed to be entirely deserted by the policy which 
 had raised him to power and maintained him in its 
 possession ; and he retired from the theatre of all his 
 triumphs, having secured few friends, but made many 
 enemies.* ^ ~~ " ~ " 
 
 * Swift's Letters of this date.
 
 LORD BOLINGBIIOKE. 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Bolnighrokes Ambition disappointed. — Illness of t/ie Queen. — 
 Proceedings of the Council. — Tlie Earl of Shrewsbury made 
 Lord Treasurer. — Death of the Queen. — Critical Position of 
 Bolingbroke. — His Letter to the King. — Is dismissed. — Disso- 
 lution of Parliament. 
 
 JjuT although Bolingbroke's first great step was chap. 
 accomplished by the rum jof„Jbis rival, he was jet ^^^' 
 far from the altitude which his ambition persuaded a.d. i714. 
 him was within his reach. The Earl of Shrewsbury, 
 who during the time that these court intrigues were 
 being matured had been employed at a distance, as 
 ambassador to France, and since as lord lieutenant 
 of Ireland, was now present. He was a nobleman 
 possessing extensive interest with his party, moderate 
 in his sentiments, and attached to the protestant 
 succession. He was likely to prove an obstacle to 
 Bolingbroke's design of leaping into the seat from 
 which he had just torn his early friend ; and this 
 Bolingbroke well knew. All along he viewed this 
 nobleman with suspicion, and was dubious as to the 
 part he would take. This uneasiness as to Shrews- 
 bury's sentiments he did not conceal. Upon one 
 occasion, when a friend delivered to him from 
 
 T 2
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Swift a memorial to be presented to the queen, 
 ^^^- asking for a place which was then vacant, he was 
 A.D. 1714. reckoning the probabilities there were of his obtain- 
 ing the request. He had left Oxford and Shrews- 
 bury in order to converse with the friend, and point- 
 ing to them as they walked on, he said, " As to that 
 man," (Oxford,) " I know upon what footing I stand 
 with respect to him ; the other I do not." * 
 
 In the debate which followed the dismission of 
 Oxford, Shrewsbury took part. The difficulties 
 which occurred to the formation of the commission 
 to perform the duties of the office were insurmount- 
 able. Every one saw that it was a post of much 
 danger and little profit. If the queen lived, and the 
 ulterior designs of Bolingbroke should succeed, they 
 would be immediately removed to make way for 
 him : should the queen die, or should BoHngbroke's 
 endeavours to maintain himself and his friends in 
 power prove unsuccessful, the acceptance of this post 
 would only expose them more prominently to the 
 rage of the succeeding party. To these considera- 
 tions, in many, a jealousy of the secretary's ascen- 
 dency was to be added ; and united, they effectually 
 prevented the decision of the question as to who 
 should form the new commission. 
 
 In a stormy discussion upon this point, the sitting 
 of the cabinet council was prolonged until past two 
 in the morning ; and then they adjourned until the 
 evening without coming to any resolution. During 
 
 * Swift's Letters.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 277 
 
 all this time the queen had been present. The vio- chap. 
 lence of the discussions with Oxford, the fatigue of a ^^^• 
 lengthened sitting, the critical state of her affairs, a.d. i714. 
 and the certain prospect of future disquiet, were too -^^^ 
 much for a constitution already weakened by disease: ^"hJ^ 
 she retired from the scene in the council- chamber *°'*^ ^y^"*** 
 declaring she should not outlive it, and was carried ^^^-tJ^ 
 
 to her bed, whence she never again rose. 
 
 This aJbiniing;. illness of the queen was an event 
 which Bolingbroke had not foreseen or provided for. 
 It at once destroyed the airy fabric of ambition 
 which he had with so much care constructed. The 
 council again met ; but the queen had sunk into a 
 lethargic state, and their resolves were of course 
 destitute of authority. They again adjourned ; and 
 the next day the physicians reported that the queen 
 was sensible. 
 
 While the ministers were anxiously discussing the 
 measures to be taken in this extraordinary con- 
 juncture, the Dukes of Somerset and Argyle abruptly 
 entered^the chamber. These noblemen, particularly 
 the latter, had been the especial objects of Boling- -^ 
 
 broke's persecution while he ruled the ministry ; and "if 
 while all regarded them with amazement, he beheld -'-e>'- 
 them with no small degree of alarm. The Duke of c* 
 
 Shrewsbury, however, thanked them for their zeal in— ^. '^'^^ 
 
 '' ' ''^^ 
 attending to afford their advice at this important ~^-«-^, 
 
 crisis, and they took their seats at the table. They ' J^-^^ 
 
 proposed that the physicians should be examined; > 
 
 and they having delivered a written declaration
 
 278 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, that the queen's consciousness was returned, Argyle 
 ^^^- moved that the council should address her, to de- 
 A.D. 1714. liver the treasurer's staff into the hands of the Duke 
 of Shrewsbury. To the mortification of Bolingbroke, 
 the proposal was immediately adopted; and when 
 they communicated their resolution to the queen, she 
 declared they could not have recommended a -man.- 
 she liked better than the Duke of Shrewsbury. She 
 immediately gave him the white staff of office ; and 
 upon his tendering that of chamberlain, which he then 
 held, she refused to receive it, but told him to keep 
 it and use it for the good of her people. 
 
 Thus^ was the ambition of Bolingbroke disap- 
 pointed, and thus were all his well-contrived schemes 
 hopelessly defeated. The sudden illness of the 
 queen alone deprived him of the highest office in 
 the kingdom, — a post which, if he had once ob- 
 tained, it is highly probable he would have perma- 
 nently held. The futile overtures of Oxford to 
 Marlborough, which Bolingbroke had made a charge 
 against him to the queen, he had since then himself 
 imitated, and probably with better success. It is 
 said, that, notwithstanding their political differences, 
 a reciprocity of friendly feeling had always existed 
 between these two great men ; and that Marlborough 
 had often expressed an affection for St. John, who 
 admired him as a general as much as he feared him 
 as a politician.* That friendship should exist be- 
 tween two party leaders and political opponents at 
 
 * Stuart Papers.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 279 
 
 a time when the hatred of the factions was more chap. 
 bitter towards each other than at any other period ^^'^- 
 of our history, is certainly improbable ; and there a.d. 1714. 
 is nothing in their public correspondence to give 
 weight to the assertion : on the contrary, many of 
 the letters which have been quoted show that St. 
 John made frequent and severe animadversion upon 
 his conduct ; and if Marlborough could have brooked 
 reproof from a man so much his junior, he would 
 find it difficult to retain kindly feelings for any 
 member of an administration which had driven him 
 from all his employments, and abandoned him to 
 the mercy of his most violent enemies. 
 
 That any private friendship subsisted between \y^' 
 Marlborough and St. John is therefore improbable ; 
 but at the same time there was none of that bit- 
 terness which made him scorn all the overtures of 
 Harley. A return to his country and to the emo- 
 luments of office was an offer which Marlborough 
 was well able to appreciate : and while Bolingbroke 
 and his adherents were confident of succeeding to 
 all power in the new ministry, they made proposals, 
 to which there is every reason to believe that Marl- 
 borough acceded, and that, at Bolingbroke's instance, 
 he was then on his way to England to assume the 
 command of the army, and to concert measures to 
 bring about a coalition with the more moderate men 
 of the Whig party. This scheme Bolingbroke him- 
 self had been attempting to put in practice. Upon the 
 very day he procured the treasurer's dismissal, he 
 
 I
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, entertained at dinner, in Golden-square, where he 
 ^^^- then lived, Generals Stanhope, Cadogan, and Palmer, 
 A.D. 1714. who met there Sir William Windham and Mr. 
 Craiggs ; a mixture of Whigs and Tories which 
 intimated his distrust of the present ministers, and 
 occasioned various conjectures as to his probable 
 purpose. 
 
 By the dexterous prosecution of this design, Bo- 
 lingbroke probably intended, and would very pos- 
 sibly have succeeded in establishing his power upon 
 a firm and stable basis. If the favourite continued 
 firm in his interest, — and Bohngbroke well knew how 
 to preserve her favour, — the queen might have been 
 gradually weaned from her exclusive affection for 
 the high-church Tories, and, placing her confidence 
 in Bolingbroke, who pretended a perfect community 
 of sentiment with her upon this subject, she might 
 have assented to admit a portion of the Whigs to 
 office, while she depended upon her minister to con- 
 trol or frustrate any liberal designs they might en- 
 tertain towards the dissenters. The name of Marl- 
 borough would have attracted many to his standard. 
 The desertion of these would have disconcerted and 
 disunited his opponents ; and with a ministry com- 
 posed of the majority of both parties, he might have 
 made his own terms with the house of Hanover, and 
 continued as powerful and supreme under George 
 as he would certainly have been under Anne. 
 
 Such were the brilliant prospects which his suc- 
 cess suggested, when the sudden death of the queen.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 281 
 
 and the energetic conduct of the Dukes of Somerset chap. 
 and Argyle, dissipated the dreams of ambition, and in- ^^'^- 
 troduced the stern reality of exile and proscription. a.d. 1714. 
 
 The moments which intervened between the in- 
 sensibility and death_Qf ,Anne were not lost. Bo- 
 lingbroke and his adherents found themselves de- 
 feated and jipwerless, and, upon reflectionj thought 
 it would be their int^r^St ,to reniaiji silent. Mean- " 
 while the most active precautions were taken to 
 secure the succession of the elector, and to cripple 
 the energies of the Jacobites. The heralds and life- 
 guards were ordered to be in momentary readiness 
 to proclaim George, King of Great Britain. A letter 
 was immediately despatched to acquaint that prince 
 with the hopeless state of the queen, and to urge 
 his immediate departure for Holland, where a fleet 
 should be ready to receive him immediately the 
 event contemplated had occurred. It was discovered 
 that the security of the seaport towns had been 
 much neglected; and Lord Bolingbroke, when ex- 
 postulated with upon this subject, endured with 
 calm contempt the reprimand of his victorious rivals. 
 A corps of six hundred men were with all speed 
 formed from the pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, and 
 committed to such officers as were immediately at 
 hand. These were directly sent down to Ports- 
 mouth to reinforce the garrison ; an embargo was 
 laid upon the ports, a fleet was sent to sea, and 
 Brigadier Whetham was ordered immediately to 
 repair to Scotland to crush any attempt of the Jaco-
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, bites in that kingdom : in short, every measure was 
 ^ • adopted which could strike terror into the adherents 
 
 A.D, 1714, of the Stuarts, and preserve the peace of the kingdom. 
 
 The intention of those who directed all these 
 measures was fully answered : the peaceful succes- 
 sion of the elector was secured, and the people were 
 convinced that the queen's ministers had entered 
 into a conspiracy to bring in the Pretender. Nothing 
 but a great and imminently impending danger could, 
 they thought, have inspired the new government 
 with so much activity : they naturally estimated the 
 danger by the standard of the preparations made to 
 meet it. ^ 
 
 The crisis passed without the anticipated struggle. 
 Upon the queen's death, which happened two days 
 after, King George was proclaimed with as little 
 excitement as if he had been an hereditary prince 
 long known and beloved by the people he was about 
 to govern. 
 
 The Duke of Marlborough returned to England 
 the day the queen died, but under very different 
 circumstances to those he had anticipated. Instead 
 of coming to place himself in office under the pa- 
 tronage of Bolingbroke, he found his party tri- 
 umphant in power, and himself once again lord 
 of the ascendant. He made a public entry into 
 London, amid the acclamations of the people, and 
 the censure of those who thought that some respect 
 was due to the memory of her who had bestowed 
 upon him all his honours, and gone beyond her
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 283 
 
 people's wishes in the furtherance of his fortunes, chap. 
 Among those whom this ostentatious show of triumph ^^'^- 
 
 disgusted was BoHngbroke, who declared he ought a.d. 1714. 
 to be sent to the Tower for it. This expression has 
 been advanced to prove that there was never any 
 understanding between them;* but Bolingbroke's 
 sentiments towards the duke might have been very- 
 friendly when he was preparing to welcome him as 
 an ally, and yet may have undergone a considerable 
 change when he saw him enter London as the 
 captain of the victorious Whigs. But the event 
 proved that Marlborough had gained but little by 
 the change : instead of remaining chief of his party, 
 he was soon after abandoned by them, and slighted 
 by the king, who was probably aware of his co- 
 quetry with the Stuarts. His sun was now for 
 ever set, and he soon afterwards retired to enjoy in 
 the decline of life that domestic privacy which a 
 life of ambition had never suffered him to taste. 
 Yet, even in the retirement of Blenheim, he could 
 not help convincing his countrymen that the love of 
 money, which had been the reproach of his youth 
 and manhood, was not weakened or subdued by the 
 approach of age. I 
 
 But the future fortunes of BoHngbroke were not 
 
 * Stuart Papers. life. Marlborough after this 
 
 t It is well known that con- time frequently appears in the 
 
 stant disputes with his work- debates in the lords, but never 
 
 men at Blenheim harassed the as taking any very conspicu- 
 
 last years of Marlborough's ous part in their proceedings.
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. SO monotonous and equable. Without waiting for 
 ^^^' the production of the deed by which the king had 
 
 A.D. 1714. before named additional lords justices, he could 
 judge that the power and government of the king- 
 dom were already in the hands of his enemies. 
 This was soon demonstrated : no sooner was the 
 new council of regency assembled, than the secretary 
 was virtually dismissed from his office ; the post- 
 master was directed to bring all letters addressed 
 to the secretary to them, by whom they were 
 opened and canvassed ; and rumours were spread 
 that the foreign despatches had discovered the most 
 treacherous confederacies between England and 
 France against the emperor and the Dutch, who 
 were the especial favourites of the Whigs. 
 
 Now that the lion was fallen, every scribbler 
 could throw his paper pellet at him ; but even now 
 this was not to be done with impunity. One of the 
 organs of the Whigs having revived the old accu- 
 sation of an attempt to remodel the army, Boling- 
 broke demanded and obtained his punishment, and 
 by this well-timed boldness checked the torrent 
 of calumny and abuse which was ready to flow in 
 upon him. But this was a very little consolation 
 amid the indignities he was now made to endure. 
 Resign his post of secretary he could not until the 
 king arrived ; and could he have done so, it had 
 been but questionable policy to allow^ his enemies a 
 pretence for saying that his fear evidenced his guilt, 
 and that his abrupt desertion of his post showed
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 285 
 
 that he had far other designs in view than the chap. 
 succession of the present king. This he would not ^^^' 
 
 — he could not do: he continued to discharge his a.d. 1714. 
 duties as secretary of state, and in the fulfilment of 
 those duties he endured with a contempt, which 
 deprived them of their sting, all the petty indig- 
 nities which the insolence of little minds could 
 suggest. The new courtiers had their cue, and no- 
 thing was so meritorious as to insult the secretary : 
 he was compelled to stand with his bag of papers in 
 his hand at the door of the council-chamber, while 
 those who would have shrunk with terror from an 
 encounter with him in the senate vented their pert 
 witticisms, and even encouraged the menial ser- 
 vants to imitate their conduct. 
 
 Such things could not seriously discompose Bo- 
 lingbroke. Whatever may be his errors or his vices, 
 he possessed a dignity of sentiment which could 
 enable him to derive amusement from these petty 
 and innoxious efforts to make him feel acutely his 
 loss of power. With an elasticity of spirit which 
 was inherent in him, he would not even now admit 
 that the cause was desperate ; he rather hoped that 
 by a steady course of conduct all would yet be well. 
 His reliance appears to have been placed upon a 
 high opinion he had formed of the new king's mo- 
 deration and sagacity ; and he persuaded himself 
 that such a prince would be unwilling to irritate 
 a party which comprehended nearly all the landed 
 property of the kingdom, and was so powerful either
 
 286 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, for good or evil. These expectations appear in a let- 
 XVI. ter which he wrote to the new king two days after the 
 A.D. 1714. death of the queen. In this acknowledgment of his 
 allegiance, he expresses joy at becoming the subject 
 of so great a prince, and assures him of his zealous 
 and dutiful endeavours for the promotion of the 
 interests of his government. He congratulates his 
 sovereign that the factions which had been accus- 
 tomed to disturb the government had ceased : " And 
 God grant," he says, " that the wisdom and firmness 
 of your majesty may ever prevent their revival!"* 
 On the same day he wrote a short letter to Swift, 
 which betrays none of the despondence of the de- 
 feated votary of ambition. " I have lost," he writes, 
 *' all by the death of the queen but my spirit ; and 
 I protest to you I feel that increase upon me. The 
 Whigs are a pack of Jacobites ; that shall be the cry 
 a month hence, if you please." f 
 
 The only reply which he received to his letter to 
 Hanover served to undeceive him as to the charac- 
 ter of the king. On th^^lst-j of Augu s t a d e spaicb-- 
 arrived frprn Holland, with a warrant to create the 
 electoral prince, Prince of Wales, and another for 
 the dismissal of Bolingbroke. This might have 
 warned him of the measures which were afterwards 
 pursued. The seals of office were demanded of him 
 by the Duke of Shrewsbury, who took possession of 
 
 * Bol. Cor. vol. ii. — The the language of the people he 
 letter is in French. The elec- came to govern, 
 tor was profoundly ignorant of -j- Swift's Letters.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 287 
 
 his papers, and locked and sealed the room in which chap. 
 they were. Mr. Hare, the under-secretary, had ^^ ' ^- 
 however found means to remove those which were a.d. i7i4. 
 most available against his principal ; but Bolingbroke 
 refused to take advantage of his foresight, and they 
 were all returned.* 
 
 This seizure of his papers w^as a menacing com- 
 mencement, but Bolingbroke manifested no appre- 
 hension : his utmost efforts were exerted to keep 
 alive the hopes of his party. Even now he declared 
 that the Tories were resolved not to be crushed, and 
 that was sufficient to ensure their safety. He took 
 every opportunity of expressing his contempt of any 
 charges his enemies might bring against him : he 
 declared that he defied their enmity, and that, with 
 the support of an approving conscience, he would 
 meet every inquiry that could be instituted, and 
 triumph in every examination they might direct 
 against him. 
 
 These bold assertions were ^ not unnecessary to 
 maintain any spirit in the party ; nor were they 
 without their success. His adherents hoped they 
 would be all found as immaculate as their leader 
 boasted, and a respectable party now ranged them- 
 selves under his command. Presence of mind under 
 critical circumstances is the test of superiority, as well 
 in the cabinet as in the field. Bolingbroke's coolness 
 and decision had vouched his capacity, and many 
 believed his assurances that he yet would triumph. 
 
 * Dr. King's Anecdotes.
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. During the short session of parliament which en- 
 ^^^- sued, and which was merely assembled to settle the 
 A.D. 1714. civil list, provide for the security of the kingdom, 
 and to transact some routine business, there were 
 but few points to excite party animosity. The 
 Tories, however, still mustered in respectable num- 
 bers ; and if they were deserted by the Whimsicals, 
 they were joined by all who were at all tainted by 
 Jacobite principles. 
 
 After this short session the parliament was dis- 
 solved, and it was then that the despatch arrived 
 which removed Bolingbroke from his office. That 
 he was still an object of terror to the now dominant 
 party, appears from the testimony of Mr. Addison. 
 In a letter to Hanover, the new secretary says, " The 
 removal of the Lord Bolingbroke has put a seasonable 
 check to an interest that was making in many places 
 for members in the next parliament." And he adds, 
 " that it was very much relished by the people, who 
 ascribed to hijn,. in a great measure, the ^ decay of 
 trade and publi€-ci£iiit." * 
 
 That Bolingbroke was not so unpopular as Addi- 
 son would persuade his new master, we may infer 
 from the fact, that when he, with the other great 
 officers of state, joined the procession which pro- 
 claimed the king ; while Oxford was vehemently 
 hooted, and many others of the Tories received in- 
 dubitable proofs that they had lost with the favour 
 of the sovereign that of the people ; an attempt to 
 
 * Han. Papers, Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 652.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 289 
 
 raise a clamour against Bolingbroke signally failed, chap. 
 and was immediately drowned in general accla- ^^^^' 
 mations.* a.d. 1714. 
 
 When Bolingbroke wrote his letter to Swift, he 
 had hope for himself and his party : — the insolence 
 of the lords justices damped, and the censure passed 
 upon him by the king in removing him extinguished, 
 that hope. The confidence of his tone proceeded 
 from the pride, not from the hopes, of the party 
 leader ; and where he could reveal his sentiments 
 without increasing the despondency of those who 
 looked to him for support, he freely acknowledged 
 and bewailed the hopelessness of the Tory cause. A 
 letter of his to the Bishop of Rochester, written im- 
 mediately after his removal, discovers the darkness 
 of his forebodings. It runs thus : — 
 
 " To be removed was neither matter of surprise 
 nor of concern to me; but the manner of my removal 
 shocked me for at least two minutes. 
 
 " It is not fit that I should be in town without 
 waiting upon the king when he arrives ; and it is 
 less proper that I should wait on him after what has 
 passed, till by my friends some eclair c'usement has 
 been had with him. I have writ to the king, and 
 I have spoke with M. Bothmar;f and both, I hope, 
 in a way becoming me. On Sunday morning I go 
 
 * " Though a few hissed, f Bothmar was an autho- 
 
 the acclamations immediately rized agent of the king, who 
 
 drowned the noise." — Letter had resided in England since 
 
 from Ford to Swift, Aug. 5. June. The account given of 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, home, from whence I shall return as I receive advices 
 ^^^- from hence. 
 A.D. 1714. " The satisfaction and the advantage of conversing 
 with your lordship are so great, that I shall certainly 
 make use of the opportunity of seeing you, which 
 you are so kind as to afford me. About eight 
 to-morrow in the evening I will not fail to be at 
 the Deanery. 
 
 " I cannot conclude this letter without assuring 
 you that I am not in the least intimidated from any 
 consideration of the Whig malice and power. But 
 the grief of my soul is this, — I see plainly that the 
 Tory party is gone. Those who broke from us 
 formerly, continue still to act and speak on the same 
 principles and with the same passions ; — numbers 
 are still left, and those numbers will be increased by 
 such as have not their expectations answered : but 
 where are the men of business that will live and 
 
 this interview in the Hanover 
 Papers, Macph. ii. 650, is 
 this : — 
 
 " Sept. 3rd. — Bolingbroke 
 had been with Bothmar: he 
 attributed his disgrace to the 
 insinuations of Oxford, whom 
 he suspects of having misre- 
 presented him to the King. 
 Oxford endeavours to per- 
 suade the world that, by his 
 influence witli his majesty, 
 Bohngbroke was turned out, in 
 order to create a belief that he 
 
 will have still the giving away 
 of employments." In another 
 place Bothmar says, " Boling- 
 broke said formerly, that he 
 would never serve the elector: 
 he did not believe then that 
 the time would ever be when 
 he would be taken at his 
 word." There were not want- 
 ing persons about the new 
 king who would remember or 
 invent many similar speeches 
 when Bolingbroke's name was 
 mentioned.
 
 LORD liOLINGBROKE. 291 
 
 draw together ? You, my lord, know my thoughts chap. 
 as well as you know your own. Nothing shall ^^^- 
 
 tempt or fright me from the pursuit of what I know a.d. 1714. 
 is right for the church and nation ; but the mea- 
 sures of the pursuit must, I fear, be altered. Till 
 to-morrow, my lord, adieu." * 
 
 Th€L_despair_which Bolingbroke felt was nowhere 
 visible in his conduct;. nor did he inanifest any sign 
 of dread or apprehension. The new elections were 
 much in favour of the Whigs ; and the new court 
 party counted upon a large majority. Meanwhile, 
 Bolingbroke was to be seen every day in public ; he 
 spoke and acted with his usual openness and care- 
 lessness ; nor, while he appeared so perfectly uncon- 
 cerned and confident, could his enemies thoroughly 
 enjoy their triumph. 
 
 * Bol. Corr. 
 
 V 2
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Proceedings of the New Parliament. — Disgrace of Oxford. — The 
 King refises to see Bolingbroke. — Dismay of the Tories. — 
 Flight of Bolinghroke. — Circumstances of his Escape. — Letter 
 to Lord Lansdowne. 
 
 CHAP. Ihe first act of the new parliament declared that 
 •^^"' they were determined to remove this provoking in- 
 A.D. 1715. difference of the discarded secretary ; and it also 
 discovered that he was ready and able to oppose 
 their designs. The king, in his opening speech, de- 
 sired them to let no unhappy divisions of parties here 
 at home divert them from pursuing the common in- 
 terests of their country ; yet he hardly followed the 
 advice he had given, when he hinted that there were 
 persons who designed to deprive him of the affection 
 of his people. 
 
 In answer to this clause of the speech, the lords 
 proposed to address his majesty, that they doubted 
 not that he, with their assistance, would be able to 
 extinguish the very hopes of the Pretender, and re- 
 cover the reputation of this kingdom in foreign 
 parts ; " the loss of which," — thus the clause was 
 worded, — " we hope to convince the world by our
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 293 
 
 actions, is by no means to be imputed to the nation chap. 
 in general." xvii.^ 
 
 To this part of the address there was a violent a.d. nis. 
 opposition made by the late ministers, led on by 
 Bolingbroke. He expressed the deepest concern for 
 the memory of the late queen, which he said he 
 would do all in his power to vindicate ; that he had 
 had the honour to be one of her servants, and if he 
 had done anything amiss, he would be contented 
 to be punished for it ; but that he thought it hard 
 to be censured, and unjust to be condemned, unheard. 
 His present majesty, he said, had several times ex- 
 pressed a great respect and tenderness for the late 
 queen's memory ; and was a prince of so great wis- 
 dom, equity, and justice^ that he was sure his 
 majesty would not condemn any man without hear- 
 ing what he had to say for himself; — that so august 
 an assembly ought to imitate so great a pattern.* 
 After urging these topics in a lengthened speech, he 
 moved that the words " recover the reputation of 
 this kingdom in foreign parts," might be changed to 
 " maintain the reputation," &c., and the rest of the 
 paragraph be omitted. In this amendment he was 
 supported by his old colleagues, and Shrewsbury 
 among the rest ; and opposed by the Marquis of 
 Wharton, now lord privy seal, and Earl Cowper, 
 now lord chancellor.f These expressed all respect 
 
 * Pari. Hist. office, and became groom of 
 
 f Shrewsbm-y was soon tlie stole ; being the only Tory 
 
 after removed from his high who was retained about the
 
 294-. MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, and reverence for the memory of the queen, but 
 ^^^^- distinguished between her and her ministry ; and 
 A.D. 1715. they maintained that the clause was amply justified 
 by the mismanagements of the latter, — an argument 
 which found some support in the speech from the 
 throne. Lord Cowper declared that it was not 
 condemnatory of any individual, but only of the 
 peace in general, which the majority of the house 
 were certainly then disposed to censure. He object- 
 ed to the amendment, because the word " maintain" 
 would signify no more towards the justification of 
 the guilty, than the word " recover " did towards the 
 condemnation of the innocent. The original address 
 was carried by a majority of nearly two to one ; and 
 this division gave Bolingbroke presage of the treat- 
 ment he was now to expect. 
 
 In answering similar objections in the commons, 
 Mr. Robert Walpole said that nothing was farther 
 from his intention than to asperse the late queen ; 
 that he rather designed to vindicate her memory by 
 exposing and punishing those evil counsellors who 
 deluded her into pernicious measures : whereas the 
 opposite party endeavoured to screen and justify 
 those counsellors, by throwing on that good, pious 
 
 new king. Among other Stanhope, secretaries of state, 
 
 changes, Marlborough was The privy council was also 
 
 made captain-general of the dissolved, and a new one ap- 
 
 forces ; the Earl of Sunder- pointed, more consonant with 
 
 land, lord-lieutenant of Ireland; these ministerial arrangements. 
 
 Walpole, paymaster of the — Hist. Reg. 
 forces ; and Townshend and
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 295 
 
 and well-meaning princess all the blame and odium chap. 
 of their evil counsels. As to censuring the late ^^^^' 
 
 ministers without hearing them, and condemning A.J). 1715. 
 the peace without examination, which had been 
 objected to as unjust and unprecedented ; he said 
 that they must distinguish between censuring minis- 
 ters and condemning the peace in general, and con- 
 demning particular persons ; — that they might in 
 equity and justice do the first, because the whole 
 nation was, he said, already sensible that their ho- 
 nour and true interest were given up by the late 
 peace ; that in due time they would call them to an 
 account who made and advised such a peace ; but 
 God forbid that they should ever condemn any 
 person unheard.* 
 
 This was fearful evidence that the thunder-clouds 
 were gathering above : the only consideration which ^ 
 remained was, whether to prepare to meet or to 
 avoid the storm. 
 
 Oxford was not without his share in the impend- 
 ing danger. His intrigues, his cabals, his half-mea- 
 sures, his indecisive conduct, were all in vain to pro- 
 cure favour, or even to secure for him impunity. 
 When he hurried with eager expectation to meet 
 the king upon his landing at Greenwich, he met 
 the most mortifying reception that the studied 
 malice of his enemies could prepare for him. Bo- 
 lingbroke delights to commemorate his disgrace. 
 " Oxford," he says, " by his secret negotiations at 
 Hanover, took it for granted that he was not only 
 
 * Pari. Hist.
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, reconciled to that court, but tliat he should under 
 -^'^^^- his present majesty's name have as much credit as 
 
 A.D. 1715. he had enjoyed under that of the queen. He was 
 weak enough to boast of this, and to promise his 
 ffood offices voluntarily to several, — for no man was 
 weak enough to think them worth being solicited. 
 ^ In a word, you must have heard that he answered 
 to Lord Dartmouth and Mr. Bromley, that one 
 
 J ; should keep the privy seal, and the other the seals of 
 Xd"^ iJ4 secretary ; and that Lord Cowper makes no scruple 
 C^ of telling how he came to offer him the seals of 
 chancellor. When the king arrived, he went to 
 Greenwich with an affectation of pomp and of 
 favour. Against his suspicious character, he was 
 once in his life the bubble of his credulity ; and this 
 delusion betrayed him into a punishment more 
 severe, in my sense, than all that has happened to 
 him since, or than perpetual exile. He was affront- 
 ed in the manner in which he was presented to 
 the king. The meanest subject would have been 
 received with goodness ; the most obnoxious, with 
 an air of indifference ; but he was received with 
 the most distinguishing contempt. This treatment 
 he had in the face of the nation. The king began 
 his reign, in this instance, by punishing the ingra- 
 titude, the perfidy, the insolence which had been 
 shown to his predecessors. Oxford fled from court 
 covered with shame, — the object of the derision of 
 tlie Whigs, and of the indignation of the Tories." 
 The pleasure Bolingbrokc evidently feels in
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 297 
 
 dwelling upon this public mortification of his enenny, chap. 
 is not the only evidence we have that a common ^^^^- 
 
 misfortune could not mitigate their mutual enmity, a.d. 1715. 
 Bolingbroke's antipathy was so great, that even the 
 hope of another struggle with the Whigs could not 
 tempt him to an accommodation. He abhorred 
 Oxford to that degree, that, rather than concert 
 measures with him for their mutual safety, he pre- 
 ferred any extremity of persecution — nay, he was 
 ready to prefer death itself, to the appearance of 
 even a temporary friendship. 
 
 Bolingbroke, we have seen, had made advances 
 towards th(g"~fcing, as well as Oxford: and they__ 
 w^ere not more favourably received. A message 
 from the court requiring his presence when the seal 
 was removed from the secretary's office, he ex- 
 cused himself from attending, observing that so 
 trifling a formality could be performed by one of 
 the under-secretaries : but he seized the occasion to 
 request the honour of kissing the king's hand, and 
 made many protestations of loyalty and submission. 
 
 His request was.. y^fused, .and his protestations 
 probably disbelieved. Bolingbroke was then con- 
 vinced that he had no protection to hope for from 
 his sovereign — no chance of removing the opinion 
 he had formed to his disadvantage. The same 
 discovery was now fully made by the rest of the 
 party. Many of the Tories had reckoned upon 
 sharing the emoluments of office, — all had counted 
 with Bolingbroke upon impunity : and such, we are
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, assured, was the intention of the king when he set 
 1_ out to take possession of his throne. He had been 
 
 A.D. 1715 assisted to that throne by the Whigs, who had 
 watched with jealous vigilance every movement 
 which could threaten his succession : it was ex- 
 pected — it was right, that those who had assisted him 
 to gain should share his success ; but that violent 
 measures should be immediately taken to crush the 
 fallen party, — to pursue to the scaffold men who at 
 most had only been guilty of a want of skill in con- 
 ducting a most intricate business, and of taking 
 false steps in a conjuncture of no ordinary difficulty, 
 — this was an extremity of party rancour certainly 
 never contemplated by the sovereign, and warranted 
 by no principle of patriotism or justice. 
 
 A similar design, of which the Whigs were then 
 to have been the objects, had been before formed by 
 the October Club : but this violence Harley and St. 
 John, to their honour, withstood, and continued firm 
 in their resolution for moderate measures, although 
 their administration was several times, by the disaf- 
 fection of those of their party whom they thus dis- 
 obliged, dragged forward to the very brink of ruin. 
 Bolingbroke, therefore, had established no precedent 
 for the conduct which was thus pursued against him. 
 
 The cause of all this violence may be traced in 
 the result of the elections. The majority of the 
 Whigs who were now returned had been long ex- 
 cluded from taking any part in public affairs, or 
 having any voice in the government of the country ;
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 299 
 
 they came into parliament smarting under the re- chap. 
 collection of the insignificance they had endured. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 and they found that the favour of the court, the a.d. I715. 
 establishment of their power, and the gratification 
 of their revenge, were by no means incompatible 
 objects. 
 
 Walpole, who could not forget his expulsion from 
 the house of commons by these very men he now 
 had at his mercy, was rather inclined to direct than 
 to calm the storm. It is said to have been at his 
 solicitation that the king changed his intentions of 
 clemency towards the Tories, and consented to aban- 
 don one portion of his people to the fury of the 
 other. Walpole urged the necessity of an example 
 — the Jacobite tendency of the party — but, above 
 all, the difficulty of managing the commons without 
 making some sacrifice to their resentment. Expedi- 
 ency obtained what justice could not be prevailed 
 upon to advocate ; — the king withdrew his protection. 
 
 It has been charged upon the Whigs by their 
 adversaries, that their conduct in this respect was 
 prompted by a cruel and cold-blooded policy, not by 
 the heat of passion and resentment. It was their 
 interest, say they, that the house of Hanover should 
 succeed to the crown in a storm : but as they were 
 disappointed in this, and their services had not been 
 so prominent in securing the succession as they 
 wished, they were willing that their zeal might be 
 made apparent in maintaining them upon the throne 
 they had so peacefully ascended. Nothing would
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. SO effectually answer this purpose as some rash at- 
 -^^^^- tempt in behalf of the Pretender ; and nothing would 
 
 A.D. 1715. be so likely to induce such an attempt as the perse- 
 cution of the Tories, who had among them all the 
 elements of a Jacobite party. 
 
 That such was their intent, the character of the 
 men engaged in the investigation forbids us to 
 imagine ; but that the effect was in furtherance of 
 their interest, all must acknowledge. Those who 
 are persecuted and insecure under one government, 
 will naturally turn with hope to the prospect of 
 another: and many now looked with favour upon 
 the cause of the Pretender who had no affection for 
 his person, no love for his principles, and little re- 
 spect for his hereditary title. Resentment for the 
 loss of an influence which the high-church party had 
 been taught to consider their birthright, and fear 
 for their future treatment when the secrets of their 
 rule should be revealed, made them dejected as a 
 party, and disaffected as individuals. This disaf- 
 fection, as it became more extended, grew bolder ; 
 and Bolingbroke, during a short residence in the 
 country, whither he had retired while the elections 
 were going on, found that sentiments in favour of 
 a restoration were more generally and less ambi- 
 guously expressed.* These expressions, however, 
 as they were the offspring only of disgust with the 
 reigning king, had yet resolved themselves into no 
 settled design in favour of the Pretender ; but they 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 301 
 
 were materials created by the Whigs for a powerful chap. 
 faction, and needed only a head to organize, and an _ll^__ 
 
 object to unite them, to become formidable to the a.d. nis. 
 house of Hanover, and destructive to the liberties 
 of their country. 
 
 The violence which gave birth to this dangerous 
 spirit found in it an excuse for its indulgence. The 
 proceedings of the new ministry discovered that no 
 measures would be deemed too extreme, — that the 
 utmost possible punishment was contemplated. Not 
 satisfied with the evidence to be obtained from the 
 papers in the public offices, the closet of the queen 
 was ransacked to furnish matter of accusation against 
 her ministers : her private letters were opened, and 
 even those which she had sealed up to be burnt after 
 her death did not escape the scrutiny of the jealous 
 inquisitors. 
 
 While these preparations were avowedly made 
 for the purpose of supporting an impeachment, ..B£t^ 
 lingbroke_.was well aware that its heaviest stroke 
 must fall upon him. He wasjhe most exposed man 
 of hjs^ party ; and whatever mercy the Whigs mlgfit 
 extend to others, he could hope for none at their 
 hands. If those who had acted but subordinate 
 parts in the negotiation of these hated treaties felt 
 themselves insecure, how much more certainly peril- 
 ous was the situation of him who had borne the 
 chief part throughout, — whose handwriting iden- 
 tified him with every memorial, letter of instruc- 
 tions, correspondence — in fact, with every paper
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, which conduced to the arrangement of the treaties, — 
 ^^^^^' and whose incautious conduct and unrestrained sar- 
 A.D. 1715. casm had exposed him to the personal resentment of 
 the most powerful members of the present govern- 
 ment ! 
 
 Emissaries of the ministry were not wanting to 
 apprize him of his danger : the condemnation of the 
 leader of a numerous and lately powerful party might 
 cost them a struggle, and must show their enemies 
 their united strength. His absence would have 
 been more acceptable to them, could they frighten 
 him into flight. Bolingbroke heard his disinterested 
 advisers, and discerned their object ; but while he 
 duly appreciated their sincerity, he did not despise 
 their information. 
 
 He did not, however, require their confirmation 
 of the report that an impeachment was .theix.,.pjre- 
 paring against him ^ -he had already received inti- 
 mation that a resolution had been taken to pursue 
 him to the scaffold. Whatever were the political 
 crimes of Bolingbroke, such a penalty was outrage- 
 ously disproportionate to them ; nor could it have 
 been allotted or inflicted with any colour of justice. 
 But Justice holds but little influence in the decisions 
 of party ; and the assent which she might refuse. 
 Revenge and Ambition readily accord. It is dan- 
 gerous even for an innocent man to appear before 
 a tribunal where his accuser is also his judge : the 
 lords, who had prejudged his case and clamoured
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 303 
 
 for his impeachment, would be hardly convinced that chap. 
 their vituperation had been misplaced, ;_ 
 
 Had Bolingbroke remained to meet the charge, A. D.nis. 
 he must have concerted his defence with Oxford, 
 who was involved in the common calamity. "A 
 sense of honour," he says, " would not have per- 
 mitted me to distinguish between his case and mine 
 own ; and it was worse than death to lie under the 
 necessity of making them the same, and of taking 
 measures in concert with him."" * 
 
 The recklessness of this hatred, which sacrificed 
 to its indulgence the fortune of himself and of his 
 friends, can be regarded only as the splenetic resent- 
 ment of disappointed ambition, which, feeling acutely 
 the stroke of adversity, looks around for some object 
 on which it may resent the blow. But if it were 
 folly to indulge old enmities at the expense of present 
 security, it had been madness to wait the attack 
 with no means of repelling it. In rejecting the plan 
 of a reconciliation with Oxford, and the strict union 
 and simultaneous movement of their whole party, 
 he rejected a plan which was bold and feasible, easy 
 of accomplishment, and calculated to compel their 
 enemies to grant them honourable terms. He knew 
 that the only alternatives were death, or flight and ~"' 
 proscription. 
 
 I^r the iatler--he_JiQSL.^epamd. His time for 
 
 escape was short: the toils were already closing 
 around him. The Whigs had concluded their in- 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham.
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, vestigations : even the articles of impeachment were 
 ^^'^^' ready ; — every night expectation was excited of 
 
 U>*"^ 
 
 A.D. 1715. the opening of the charge — every hour was fraught 
 with danger. BoUngbroke's deportment was to the 
 last moment bold and fearless ; — his flight waS",pre- 
 cipitate and unexpected. When he Bad: receiv^ed 
 /intimation that the charge would be no longer de- 
 ayed, he appeared the same night at the theatre, 
 Where he conversed with all his characteristic gaiety, 
 /^ Ibespoke a play for the next night, and subscribed to 
 
 an opera to take place a fortnight after. But im- 
 mediately the performance was over, he left London 
 with precipitation, travelled rapidly t o Dove r, crossed 
 the Channel in a small vessel, and landing at Calais 
 the next day, found himself an exile. 
 
 Such was the reverse which a few short months 
 wrought in the fortunes of Bolingbroke. Now 
 wielding all the mighty energies of his country, 
 giving an object to the prowess of her arm, directing 
 the thunder of her power, controlling her allies, 
 breaking the resources of her enemies, guiding all 
 the intricate mechanism of her domestic government ; 
 diffusing the terror of her name abroad, mitigating 
 the burden of the contest at home ; and, lastly, hush- 
 ing the clangor of war, which for ten years had 
 rung through Europe, into the busy murmur of 
 peace. Now behold the same man, exiled from the 
 country he had governed, proscribed by the people 
 he had ruled, sheltered only by the enemy he had 
 subdued !
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 305 
 
 No sooner was the news of Bolingbroke's fliglit chap. 
 known in London, than the greatest excitement pre- ^^^^' 
 
 vailed amongst the party who were thus defrauded ^-D- 1715. 
 of their victim. The new ministry were loudly cen- 
 sured for suffering him to elude their vengeance ; and 
 the new senators, enraged at their disappointment, 
 almost threatened to inflict upon their masters the 
 punishment they had intended for the fugitive. To 
 exculpate themselves, ministers commenced an inves- 
 tigation of the circumstances of his escape ; and 
 proved, from the precautions he had taken, that he 
 could have had no hope of any connivance upon 
 their parts. 
 
 The night of his departure was Friday; the 25th 
 of March : and it was discovered that, after he left 
 the theatre, he disguised himself in a- black wig and - 
 a large coat ; and under this concealment he joined / -OU 
 M. La Vigne, one of the French king's messengers, Y 
 who was then about to return to that court, and_J 
 travelled as valet to that gentleman. 
 
 The circumstances of his journey after reaching 
 Dover were stated by Captain Morgan, who held a 
 commission in the marines, and who returned to 
 London a few days after. As he had been instru- 
 mental in his escape, he was arrested, and examined 
 before the privy council. He stated, that having 
 sent a messenger to provide a vessel to take him 
 to Calais upon private business, he travelled post to 
 Dover on Saturday night. About six on Sunday 
 morning he saw two men, whom he at first thought 
 
 VOL. I. V
 
 V' 
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, to be two French couriers, come into the inn where 
 ^^^^- he then was. Soon after, one of them spoke to him, 
 A.D. 1715. and discovered himself to be Lord BoHngbroke. 
 I His lordship was in disguise, having a black bob- 
 wig on, a laced hat, and very ordinary clothes ; but, 
 notwithstanding his disguise. Captain Morgan im- 
 mediately recognized him, as he knew him well, and 
 had formerly received several favours from him. 
 Lord BoHngbroke proposed to go over in the vessel 
 which Captain Morgan had hired. The captain 
 consented ; and they went on board on Sunday. La 
 Vigne only accompanied them ; and they landed at 
 Calais the same evening, about six o'clock. Soon 
 after they had landed, the governor of the city 
 waited on Lord BoHngbroke, and carried him to 
 his house, where he remained when Captain Morgan 
 left. 
 
 Bolingbroke's flight was of course for some time 
 the all-absorbing topic of conversation. The cu- 
 riosity excited upon the subject produced many se- 
 parate accounts of his adventures at Dover. The 
 following letter, which is somewhat more minute 
 than the statement of Captain Morgan, was pub- 
 lished at the time : it was dated from Dover.* 
 
 *' Last Saturday there came to George Slater's 
 the two Galways, who are cousins of Captain Gal- 
 way, and presently went to the pier, and hired a 
 vessel to go to Calais ; pretending it was to examine 
 the records of condemnation of their ship, which 
 
 "• Political State.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 307 
 
 was arrested when you was in town. And about chap. 
 twelve at night there came two gentlemen to them ^^^^- 
 
 post from London, one of them a lord, and the other a.d. nis. 
 their uncle, Captain Morgan, expecting to go imme- 
 diately on board, the tide just then serving ; but 
 the weather proving tempestuous, they were forced 
 to stay, though very uneasily, till the next tide. 
 My lord vi^as kept locked up all the time, and no- 
 body suffered to come near him, except La Vigne, 
 the French courier, who went over with him. Sun- 
 day, after dinner, (though I don't hear they eat any,) 
 the tide serving, the officers of port v/aited on them 
 for fees, &c., amongst whom Mr. William Lambe, 
 being in a double capacity, (as proctor for Gal way 
 in the cause he was pretending to go about, and also 
 clerk of the passage,) went abruptly into their 
 chamber, which put them all into the utmost con- 
 fusion, especially my lord, who changed his colour, 
 and looked as if he thought the devil was come for 
 him : but Mr. Galway immediately took Mr. Lambe 
 by the hand, and, leading him out of the room, asked 
 his pardon, told him they were busy, and desired 
 him and other officers to go to Mr. Dishald's, at the 
 pier, and they would all come to them and pay the 
 fees, take passes, and also consult farther about the 
 law affair. But no sooner were the officers gone, 
 than they went off in the bay on board the vessel, 
 which was in the road. And now my lord, whom 
 nobody in the house had seen before, was forced to 
 appear. He had got on a very black wig, and a 
 
 X 2
 
 308 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, riding-coat, which he buttoned over his wig, and 
 XVII. covered the lower part of his face. He carried on 
 A.D. i7if^ his shoulders a pair of leathern bags, and affected 
 a clownish, country air in his w alking ; though no- 
 body suspected him till he was gone off, and then 
 some of the seamen fancied they knew him. He 
 arrived at Calais about eight o'clock Sunday night, 
 and there the governor's coach attended him on his 
 arrival ; and then the man with the riding-coat and 
 black periwig was known to be the right honour- 
 able the Lord Bolingbroke. Yesterday Captain 
 Morgan and the tw^o Galways returned ; and finding 
 it was known they had conveyed over my lord, they 
 grew very insolent, and came to poor George Slater, 
 and buUied him, and told him, had he not been a 
 common-councilman, they would have w^hipped him 
 round the market for an informing rogue." 
 
 The precautions which Bolingbroke took to pre- 
 vent recognition, sufficiently acquit the ministers of 
 any connivance at his escape. No-soouerJiad- the 
 curiosity and surprise excited by the circumstance in 
 some degree subsided, than another affair connected 
 with it afforded another topic of conversation for the 
 coffee-houses. A letter was handed about, first in 
 manuscript and afterwards in print, which was 
 written by Bolingbroke to Lord Lansdowne from 
 Dover, and by him, as the author had intended it 
 should be, communicated to the public. So many 
 Squibs were constantly appearing about the fugitive 
 nobleman, that the genuineness of this letter was for
 
 LORD BOLINCJBROKE. 309 
 
 some time doubted ; but its authenticity was after- chap. 
 wards acknowledged. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 XVII. 
 
 A.D. 1715. 
 
 it 
 
 I left town so abruptly that I had no time to 
 take leave of you or any of my friends. You will 
 excuse me when you know that I had certain and 
 repeated informations from some who are in the secret 
 of affairs, that a resolution was taken to pursue me 
 to the scaffold. My blood was to have been tFe" 
 cement of a new alliance ; nor could my innocence 
 be any security, after it had been once demanded 
 from abroad and resolved on at home that it was 
 necessary to cut me off. Had there been the least 
 reason to hope for a fair and open trial after liaving 
 been already prejudged unheard by two houses of 
 parliament, I should not have declined the strictest 
 examination. I challenge the most inveterate of my 
 enemies to produce any one instance of criminal cor- 
 respondence or the least corruption in any part of 
 the administration in which I was concerned. If 
 my zeal for the honour and dignity of my loyal 
 mistress and the true interest of my country has 
 anywhere transported me to let slip a warm or un- 
 guarded expression, I hope the most favourable inter- 
 pretation will be put upon it. It is a comfort that 
 will remain to me in all my misfortunes, that I 
 served her majesty faithfully and dutifully in that 
 especially which she had most at heart — relieving 
 her people from a bloody and expensive war; and
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, that I have always been too much an Englishman to 
 ^^^^' sacrifice the interest of my country to any foreign 
 
 A.D. 1715. ally whatever : and it is for this crime only that I 
 am now driven from thence. You will hear more at 
 large from me shortly, &c. &c. 
 
 " BOLINGBROKE." 
 
 This letter was attacked with a virulence which 
 showed that the danger which Bolingbroke had an- 
 ticipated was not imaginary. His ^ight was of 
 course deemed an evidence of his guilt ; his defence 
 of it was considered a libel upon his peers. Those 
 who railed at him as a coward for withdrawing him- 
 self from their vengeance, at the same time declared 
 that the evidence against him was sufficient to justify 
 the extreme punishment which he knew they had 
 resolved to inflict. The expressions which he apo- 
 logized for as warm and unguarded, were declared to 
 be the strongest evidence of traitorous and Jacobitish 
 designs. Those who could remember any such, re- 
 peated them with all the exaggerations which a wish 
 to magnify their own importance could suggest: 
 those who could not, found it hard to be without any 
 specimens of what the accused had acknowledged to 
 exist, and found it easy to invent what they could 
 not remember. The temper of the Whigs, and par- 
 ticularly the rage manifested by those who would 
 have been his judges, sufficiently exculpate Boling- 
 broke from any charge of cowardice in avoiding a 
 trial before a tribunal where his case was already 
 prejudged.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 311 
 
 His example had, however, no effect upon the chap. 
 other leadei's^ of his party, who were determined to ^^^^^' 
 wait the event. Few of them had exercised so little a.d. nis. 
 caution as he had; and Pxfordjjiought his lukewarm 
 conduct could never deserve or excite any severe 
 resentment. His conduct since his disgrace had 
 been in exact accordance with his usual character, 
 and^in perfect„CQXilrast with the decided demeanour 
 of Bolingbroke. It is said, that upon returning 
 from Greenwich, after going for a short time into the 
 country, he returned incognito, and remained skulk- 
 ing about London for some weeks. Thence he re- 
 turned to his seat in Wales, to obtain his son's 
 return for the family borough — a design in which he 
 failed. For some time after this he was lost to the 
 curious eyes of those who were delighted at his fall 
 and hoped to be entertained with his prosecution. 
 Some said he was still in Wales ; others, that he had 
 been seen at Burton-upon-Trent, travelling north- 
 wards : others declared he had followed Boling- 
 broke's example, and embarked at Milford Haven 
 for Genoa ; and again, it was said that he was upon 
 his road to town. Like the whole of his life and con- 
 duct, his movements now. were dubious,^ mysterious, 
 andchangeable. One circumstance seemed to indi- 
 cate that he either dreaded the result pf the impend- 
 ing examination, or now feared for the success of the 
 scheme he had originated and fostered : he sold out 
 all the stock — which was no inconsiderable sum — 
 that he had in the Spijth-Sea project, and probably
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, invested it in foreign securities. This was a precaii- 
 ^^^^- tion which Bolingbroke had taken some time before : 
 A.D. 1715. while climbing the rugged steep of ambition, he was 
 not so dazzled by the splendour of the summit above 
 him but he could think of the dangers which lay- 
 beneath; and while anticipating the probability of 
 the event which now occurred, he had taken mea- 
 sures to alleviate, although he could not avert, the 
 calamity.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 313 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Parliamentary Inquiry into Bolinghrokes Ministerial Conduct. — 
 Appointment and Report of the Committee of Secrecy. 
 
 J\ ow the chief object of their enmity was gone, — chap. 
 since the power of the party was entirely broken, ^^^^^' 
 and they had nothing to fear from his opposition, a.d. ms. 
 nothing to hope from his condemnation, — the Whigs 
 were in no haste to precipitate measures. It was 
 better that their accusation should be plausible than 
 speedy; and no pains were spared to render their in- 
 formation complete. A -sgcret^committee was formed, 
 of which Walpole was chairman ; and they were 
 charged to examine all the papers^ which the mi- 
 nisters had discovered and laid before the house re-^" 
 lative to the late negotiations of peace and commerce. 
 This committee continued sitting upwards of two 
 months ; and no industry was spared to discover those 
 secret practices, which all believed to he so nefarious, 
 
 * These papers were brought and numbered, beside three 
 up by Mr. Secretary Stanhope, smaller books. The committee 
 in consequence of an address was chosen by ballot, and con- 
 fer that purpose: they con- sisted of twenty-one mem- 
 sisted of twelve volumes bound bers.
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, but of which no one had ever formed any very 
 
 ^^'^^i- definite idea. 
 A.D. 1715. On the 2nd of June, Mr. Walpole, as chairman of 
 the committee, brought up their report. It com- 
 mences by stating that the late ministry ^^d sup- 
 pressed many jofjhe. documents connected with the 
 treaties, and then proceeds to examine those which 
 the committee had before them. They remark upon 
 the first propositions of France, that the loose and 
 general terms in which they are conceived show 
 that from the beginning it was the design of France 
 to secure Spain and the West Indies to King Philip. 
 They dwell with justifiable severity upon the du- 
 plicity of St. John, in assuring the Dutch that Eng- 
 land would act only in strict conjunction with the 
 States, and afterwards carrying on negotiations for 
 above five months, and making no communication 
 of them until after the special preliminaries were 
 signed, and the seven general preliminaries were 
 concluded and sent to them. This was certainly a 
 direct violation of the eighth article of the grand 
 alliance. By that article it was stipulated, " Neutri 
 partium fas sit, bello semel incepto, de pace cum 
 hoste tractare, nisi conjunctim et commmiicatis con- 
 siliis cum altera parte" That St. John advised his 
 mistress to a direct infraction of this condition, cannot 
 be denied : he thereby rendered his country guilty 
 of a breach of faith ; — an act which no sincerity of 
 intention, no purity of patriotism, can justify or ex- 
 cuse. A public minister may be honestly mistaken
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 315 
 
 in questions of ordinary expediency ; — he cannot chap. 
 be mistaken in, he has no right to tamper with, his ^^^"' 
 
 country's honour. Honesty with nations, as with a.d. 1715, 
 individuals, is in every case the best policy : and the 
 universal application of this maxim is sufficient to 
 remove any infringement of that honesty from the 
 sphere of legitimate power assigned to a minister. 
 
 In examining the papers connected with the pre- 
 liminary parts of the negotiations, the committee 
 remark upon the great caution exercised by the 
 ministers in obtaining the queen's authority for every- 
 thing they did : a strange exception to be taken 
 by persons who were anxiously searching for some 
 act not protected by such an authority, and who, by 
 their very appointment, show that it was a caution 
 which was never more required. A consciousness 
 of guilt is not always the motive to caution. The 
 persevering hostility ministers met with from the 
 Whigs in opposition, left them little doubt as to the 
 treatment they would meet with from them in power. 
 
 Their objections to the preliminaries are chiefly 
 — That the succession was not at all secured ; — no 
 provision for removing the Pretender — no engagement 
 not to support him, not even an acknowledgment of 
 the queen, appeared in the first article. The treaty 
 of commerce, the assiento contract, and the article 
 of Dunkirk, they speak but shortly upon in con- 
 sidering the preliminaries ; but they dwell severely 
 upon the concessions with respect to the article 
 upon Newfoundland. They cite the article of the
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, grand alliance, by which it is stipulated that France 
 ^^^^^' shall by no means be permitted directly or indirectly 
 
 A.D. 1715. to trade to any part of the Spanish West Indies; 
 and they contrast this with the claim made by 
 England, to have all the privileges granted by Spain 
 to the subjects of France or any other nation. 
 
 The committee infer from the utter neglect of the 
 interests of England which they thought the pre- 
 liminaries manifested, that those interests were not 
 the inducement to proceed in this extraordinary 
 manner ; and they quote from the draft of answers 
 upon the conferences with Mesnager, that the object 
 of ministers was to get the slight advantages they 
 stipulated for signed first, that they " might be en- 
 abled to engage the queen to make the conclusion 
 of the general peace easy to France." 
 
 Thejnisexahle, effect^of the breacli_of faitfe^-wJiich 
 England had committed is justly exposed, and the 
 step severely reprobated. The committee had reason 
 to remark, that under colour of the queen's authority, 
 and the pretence of treating a peace, the ministers 
 had put it in the power of France to djy est the queen 
 of all her allies. The French were not so ignorant 
 nor so wanting to themselves as to overlook the ad- 
 vantage they had obtained : an ambiguous hint that 
 the negotiations might be fully unveiled to the 
 allies, was often of use to them when a point they 
 were unwilling to concede was pertinaciously de- 
 manded. 
 
 The report proceeds to examine seriatim every
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 317 
 
 act of the negotiations, reflecting severely upon chap, 
 each ; — where they are the legitimate effects of the 
 
 XVIII, 
 
 first great error, of separating from the allies, with -^i^- i^i^. 
 justice ; in many other cases, with party partiality. 
 The task of the committee was an easy one : — it 
 is much less difficult to discover faults than to avoid 
 them. 
 
 After disposing of the preliminary steps, the 
 report arrives at the general conferences, and ex- 
 amines minutely every step of the English ministry. 
 The correspondence of St. Jolm is freely quoted. 
 He is accused of pressing the States to surrender 
 points which he himself had considered essential; 
 and of declaring, when they had resolved to insist 
 upon those points, that " he hoped this resolution 
 * was the last convulsive pang of an expiring faction." 
 " And yet," remark the committee, " this resolution 
 was no more than to insist on a demand in which 
 all the allies were unanimous, and in which the 
 British plenipotentiaries had themselves concurred." 
 
 Tjie^reats, the bribery^ the manoeuvring, which 
 were made use of to induce the Dutch to come into 
 the plans of the ministry, are all detailed ; and the 
 committee ridicule the manner in which her ma- 
 jesty's ministers were pleased to show their respect 
 for the interests of " the queen's good friends and 
 allies, the Dutch." 
 
 The guarantee that the crowns of France and 
 Spain shall never be united, is next considered. 
 When it was first proposed, England demanded real
 
 n 
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, securities ; intending by that, that some fortresses of 
 
 •^^^^^- importance should be left in neutral hands to gua- 
 
 A.D. 1715. rantee the performance of the stipulation. This 
 
 France, when the affair came to be discussed, re- 
 / ^Ay.fused ; and England receded from her demand, re- 
 \V^ t|| quiring only a solemn renunciation of one of the 
 "" i/v ^ I crowns by each of the parties to whom the heredi- 
 tary title could by possibility descend. In the an- 
 swer to the memorial which was delivered upon 
 this article by England, M. De Torcy candidly 
 admits that the renunciation would be null and 
 void by the fundamental laws of France ; according 
 to which laws, the prince most near to the crown is 
 by necessity the heir. M. De Torcy declared that 
 this was considered an inheritance which the prince 
 receives neither from the king his predecessor, nor * 
 from the people, nor from the law ; so that, when one 
 king dies, the other succeeds him forthwith, without 
 asking the consent of any one whatever. He suc- 
 ceeds, not as heir, but as the master of the kingdom ; 
 the seigniory of which belongs to him, not by choice, 
 but by right of birth only. He is not beholden for 
 his crown either to the will of his predecessor, or to 
 any edict, or to any decree, or to the liberality of 
 any person, — but to the law. This law is looked 
 upon as the work of Him who hath established all 
 monarchies ; and we are persuaded in France, he says, 
 that God only can abolish it. No renunciation, there- 
 fore, can destroy it ; and if the King of Spain should 
 renounce for the sake of peace, and in obedience 
 to the king his grandfather, they would deceive
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 319 
 
 themselves that received it as a sufficient expedient chap. 
 to prevent the mischief we propose to avoid. xviii. 
 
 Such was the candid opinion of the French minister a.d. 1715. 
 upon the expedient proposed to answer the great end 
 for which this arduous conflict had been commenced 
 and carried on. The committee not unjustly re- 
 mark upon the folly which could insist upon a pro- 
 mise which the party who was required to make it 
 declared he did not consider binding, and that could 
 deem such an engagement sufficient to satisfy what 
 they professed to be a fundamental principle — that 
 a re-union of the crowns of France and Spain was 
 to be securely provided against. Former experience 
 might have determined the value of regal renuncia- 
 tions ; and if St. John's reliance was placed only upon 
 the guarantee of the other powers of Spain, the long 
 war which had been maintained was useless — the 
 guarantee might have been entered into without the 
 consent of the princes who had the right of suc- 
 cession, and instead of going to war to obtain a 
 consent which could not be deemed binding, they 
 might, upon the same grounds of general expediency, 
 have forcibly interfered whenever the event should 
 occur. 
 
 St. John, as a philosopher, might doubtless smile at 
 the senseless casuistry which could assert a divine, 
 immutable, hereditary right in the members of one 
 family to govern those of every other — he had every 
 right as an individual to expose its absurdity and 
 ridicule its power ; but he had no right, as a states- 
 man, to act as though an opinion of its validity did
 
 320 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, not exist. As a philosopher, he should also have 
 ^^^^^- known that mankind are often more pertinacious 
 
 A.D. 1715. in their defence of falsehood than in an adherence to 
 truth ; (and this fact he did know and often mis- 
 employed ;) and he might have judged, that a 
 war kindled by, and maintained on behalf of, an 
 old superstition, is no less virulent and danger- 
 ous because that superstition is absurd. If France 
 and her princes believed the doctrine De Torcy 
 lays down — and it has never been asserted they did 
 not — the one would be as likely to advance, and the 
 other to maintain, an hereditary title to the throne, 
 as though no renunciation had ever taken place, or 
 any guarantee been entered into. 
 
 It would be absurd, in such a case, to argue the 
 propriety of the security by the event. The expe- 
 dient of the renunciations, upon which so much stress 
 was laid, was either an error of great magnitude, or 
 it was a mere scheme to fence with and escape from 
 the difficulty which had produced and prolonged 
 the war. If the former, it deserved censure in pro- 
 portion to its obviousness and extent : if the latter, 
 it was no less culpable — since real advantages, which 
 might have been obtained in its stead, were bartered 
 for a disingenuous and valueless concession. 
 
 The next object of examination to the committee 
 is the suspension of arms — a measure which Oxford 
 denies all participation in,* and abandons entirely to 
 St. John, — and the orders to engage in no offensive 
 
 * Letter to the Queen.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 321 
 
 enterprise which were given to the Duke of Ormond chap. 
 as a preliminary to this measure. ^^^^^^' 
 
 The suspension of arms then agree upon was always ^D- 1715. 
 designated by the Whigs the y<7^rt/ suspension of arms, 
 and was generally looked upon as the most grievous 
 error the Tories had committed during their adminis- 
 tration. That it was advantageous to France and 
 disadvantageous to the allies, will be readily allowed ; 
 but that there was anything so very faulty in the 
 mere suspension of hostilities as to justify the outcry 
 that was raised against it, may well be questioned. 
 When England once determined to separate her 
 interests from those of her allies, and to obtain the 
 best terms she could for herself regardless of their 
 claims, she took a decisive step, by which every after- 
 act of the negotiations must be influenced. Having 
 come to a definite and separate understanding with 
 France, it was absolutely necessary to give that 
 power some pledge of her sincerity. The part 
 which had been already acted was not scrupulously 
 honourable, and the French monarch might be par- 
 doned for suspecting that those who had deserted 
 their friends would not be very scrupulous in break- 
 ing engagements with their enemies. The prosecu- 
 tion of the campaign was an object dreaded by both 
 England and France : by France, because any alter- 
 ation in the relative situations of the contending 
 parties must destroy all those diplomatic labours in 
 which they had hitherto obtained a decided advan- 
 tage ; by England, because it would send the minis- 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ters again to ask war-supplies from a house of com- 
 ^^^^^' mons but little inclined to support war, or those who 
 A.D. 1715. advocated it. The possession .of Dunkirk, and the 
 entire separation of France and Spain, were the two 
 articles which were the most universally popular with 
 the nation : these firmly secured, and the ministry 
 hoped the opposition would be crippled in its en- 
 ergies. A suspension of arras, when the negotia- 
 tions were already so far advanced, was a concession 
 which France would naturally require ; and the 
 equivalents of Dunkirk and the settlement of the 
 Spanish article were what the interest of the 
 ministers would naturally suggest as the condition 
 of their consent. The demolition of the fortifications 
 of Dunkirk was a measure which Louis, after the 
 immense sums he had expended upon their con- 
 struction, was most averse to concede ; and his ir- 
 resolution showed itself in repeated and suspicious 
 delays. These delays afford an opportunity to 
 the committee to accuse the general of remain- 
 ing idle when his instructions warranted his co- 
 operation with the allies, and in refusing to take 
 part in the active measures of the campaign. Under 
 such circumstances, Ormond, in their opinion, ne- 
 glected the true interests of his country, and tarnished 
 his fame as a soldier. But in forming this opinion 
 the Whigs made no allowance for the feeling which 
 should ever induce a civilized chief to avoid the 
 unnecessary effusion of blood ; and they did not 
 allow themselves to reflect, that if he was not justi-
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 323 
 
 fied by the letter, he certainly was by the spirit, of chap. 
 his instructions. xviii. 
 
 The cessation of hostilities was confined to the a.d. 1715. 
 armies of the Netherlands, and was the natural con- 
 sequence of the part which England had taken at 
 the commencement of the negotiations. That by 
 taking that part she divided her power, alienated her 
 allies, and placed herself in a false position, has 
 already been admitted. That Bolingbroke was the 
 cause of this, has not been denied ; and for this great 
 false step he had been rightly censured: but the 
 suspension of arms in the Netherlands cknnot deserve 
 the prominent place among the errors of his political 
 career which has been allotted to it.* Admit that 
 the preceding negotiations were correct, and it was 
 just and necessary, although perhaps badly timed 
 and unskilfully managed : — impugn their propriety, 
 and this act will also be censured amid their train 
 of consequences. 
 
 It became more immediately notorious by the 
 magnitude of its effect. England withdrawn from 
 the contest, France was an overmatch for the re- 
 mainder of the alliance ; and subsequent events too 
 
 * The instructions which broke had risen in his place 
 
 were sent to the Duke of in the council-chamber to 
 
 Ormond are said to have oppose, or at least delay the 
 
 proceeded entirely from the order, when the queen put an 
 
 queen, acting upon the advice end to the discussion. This 
 
 of Harley. The latter never strong measure, therefore, was 
 
 avowed this; but the March- the offspring of Harley's policy 
 
 iiiont Papers say that Boling- and Anne's obstinacy. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, plainly evinced her superiority. At the battle of 
 xviii. Denain, where the Duke of Albemarle was entirely 
 
 AD. 1715. defeated and himself taken prisoner, the ardour of 
 the States for continuing the war received a check 
 which the people there did not soon recover. But 
 the indignation of the committee is particularly ex- 
 cited by the manner in which De Torcy communi- 
 cates this victory to Bolingbroke, anticipating the 
 joy of the English minister at the defeat of his ally, 
 and promising himself that it will further their 
 common object in reducing the obstinacy of the 
 vanquished. Villars held the same language to the 
 Duke of Ormond ; and the committee triumphantly 
 adduce these communications to show that England 
 and France were now allies instead of enemies, and 
 that the Dutch were the objects of this new alliance. 
 The occupation of Ghent and Bruges is the next 
 point of importance in the transactions, and is 
 equally censured. That Bolingbroke should write 
 to the Duke of Ormond that this step had improved 
 her majesty's views — that he should order him to 
 secure the towns in the best manner he was able, 
 and express a confidence that it would have a good 
 effect upon the conduct of their allies, particularly 
 excites the resentment of the committee, who look 
 upon the Dutch as already abandoned and betrayed 
 by England, and could see in their resentful and 
 haughty behaviour no excuse for the measure 
 which was adopted to curb their rising spirit of 
 hostility.
 
 LORD BOLINGBilOKE. 325 
 
 The trifling of the French plenipotentiaries at chap. 
 
 Utrecht, and the connivance of the EngUsh, are the ^ L 
 
 next subjects of observation. This, again, was a ne- ^•^' ^^^^• 
 cessary consequence of England becoming separated 
 in interest from her allies. She had a common in- 
 terest with France in reducing their opposition, and 
 she was of course obliged to pay for the assistance 
 which France was ready to afford her for this pur- 
 pose. It was natural that this payment should be 
 made at the expense of those who had occasioned its 
 necessity. According to the false system which had 
 been adopted, England was thus obliged to play into 
 the hand of France, and the States suffered. 
 
 That Bolingbroke should have deliberately wished 
 the cession of Tournay to the French, or the weaken- 
 ing of the Dutch barrier, is a thing which, without 
 some accusation of corruption — which has never been 
 made or even suspected — is incredible : that an 
 ardent desire to conclude the peace should force 
 him to concede points too important to have been 
 lightly given up, is a probability which the diffi- 
 culties by which he was environed serve to account 
 for. The first would have been treason : the second 
 may be weakness, error, or even incapacity ; but it 
 cannot deserve so opprobrious an epithet or so ex- 
 treme a punishment.
 
 326 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Report of the Committee of Secrecy. — Considerations of the 
 Charges it contains against Bolingbroke. — His Impeachment 
 moved by Walpole. 
 
 CHAP. Jr ERHAPS the committee are right, when they say 
 
 XIX 
 
 L_ that Tournay was at last obtained owing solely to 
 
 A.D. i7i£). ^j^g firmness and resolution of the States. 
 
 The precipitation of the negotiations, and the 
 ardour shown for the conclusion of a separate peace, 
 is the next subject of comment. The whole weight 
 of censure for this measure is thrown upon Boling- 
 broke. From the correspondence, it appeared that 
 the plenipotentiaries were adverse to coalescing so 
 completely with the French. They write to the 
 secretary, that they could say a great deal to justify 
 their cautious proceedings with the French ; and 
 they express themselves to be satisfied that he would 
 be of the same opinion, if he were to see their way of 
 negotiating with all the allies, and how hard it was 
 for them to obtain what to him it appeared impossi- 
 ble the French should make any difficulty to grant. 
 
 These remonstrances had little effect. They were 
 replied to by instructions, pressing the immediate
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 327 
 
 signature of a separate treaty. They required more chap. 
 ample powers ; and Bolingbroke, although he declares ^^^' 
 he has not enough sagacity to discover the deficiency a.d. 1715. 
 in those they already had, immediately sends them. 
 
 The eagerness displayed by Bolingbroke in hurry- 
 ing this important negotiation to a close, is not for- 
 gotten by the committee ; and after stating the 
 manner in which the several powers were brought to 
 sign their treaties, they add, " The emperor and 
 empire alone chose rather to bear the whdle weight 
 of the war, than submit to such disadvantageous and 
 dishonourable terms as had been carved out for them 
 by England and France." 
 
 The Spanish treaty is next considered ; but, as this 
 was in many instances connected with that with 
 France, receives less detailed notice. A lengthened 
 account is given of the hardships suffered by the 
 Catalans. The ministry are accused of sending in- 
 sufficient instructions in their behalf, and their am- 
 ^ bassador. Lord Lexington, of not even fulfilling those 
 instructions. The committee conclude their observa- 
 tions on this subject in these words : — 
 
 " The Catalans, thus abandoned and given up to 
 their enemies contrary to faith and honour, were 
 not however wanting to their own defence ; but, ap- 
 pealing to Heaven, and hanging up at the high altar 
 the queen's solemn declaration to protect them, un- 
 derwent the utmost miseries of a siege, during which 
 what multitudes perished by famine and the sword ! 
 How manv have since been executed, and how
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, many persons of figure are still dispersed about the 
 
 ■Y'TV 
 
 ' Spanish dominions in dungeons, is too well known to 
 A.D. 1715. need any relation. 
 
 " It is hoped, however, that the calamities of the 
 Catalans will not be imputed to Great Britain, in 
 general abused by the ministry with repeated as- 
 surances that everything was doing for the preserva- 
 tion of that unfortunate people." 
 
 Bolingbroke's want of sympathy with these cou- 
 rageous people has been before mentioned. While 
 they assisted his views, they were his esteemed 
 allies ; but when their assistance was no longer 
 wanted, his good will to them suddenly vanished. 
 He seems in this to have borrowed a little of the 
 high Tory feeling of some of his coadjutors, — a feel- 
 ing naturally foreign to him. The Catalans espoused 
 the vmsuccessful party, therefore they were rebels ; — 
 they were rebels, therefore they deserved to be ex- 
 terminated without pity. 
 
 It is made a ridiculous subject of accusation 
 against Bolingbroke, among other things done by 
 him during his mission to the French court, that 
 he settled where the Pretender was to -reside, and 
 contributed to enable him to proceed to Lorraine. 
 Strange that it should be deemed a crime to fix the 
 residence of a dangerous enemy where he is least 
 capable of annoyance ! The timid and pusillanimous 
 persecution of Hannibal has been reckoned to have 
 tarnished the glory of those who overcame him : it 
 manifested a fear of which Rome was deemed inca-
 
 LORD EOLINGBROKE. 329 
 
 pable. If the shame of the fear increases with the chap. 
 insignificance of the object which inspires it, England ^^^- 
 can have Httle cause for gratulation in reviewing her a.d. 1715. 
 conduct to the Chevalier St. George. 
 
 The letter of Oxford to the queen, which we have 
 before examined, is the last subject of importance 
 which is reviewed in the report. The committee 
 state that their labours were yet incomplete, and 
 that they were proceeding in their examinations. 
 No further report was, however, presented. 
 
 This remarkable report was the result of a patient 
 examina^TT"©? all the papers which survived of the 
 transactions which it professes to elucidate. Thes™ 
 papers, when collected, formed no less than fourteen 
 large volumes, — in themselves a sufficiehr proof of 
 the assiduity of the man in whose hand the greater 
 part was written. The report was followed by an 
 appendix, containing the most important of the 
 papers referred to, and which was also of no con- 
 temptible bulk. 
 
 It has been necessary to examine this production 
 of the Whigs, in order to ascertain the grounds of 
 the severe measures which were immediately adopt- 
 ed against Bolingbroke. His errors are in this do- 
 cument fully and forcibly detailed. Whatever crimes 
 he may have committed, whatever faults he may 
 have been guilty of, are there sure to be found, — and 
 found decked out in all the hyperbole which the re- 
 sentment of an incensed party could suggest. With 
 every transaction of his public hfe open before them,
 
 330 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, — with all the secret papers by which those trans- 
 ;_ actions were suggested or carried on, — with private 
 
 A.D. 1715. and confidential letters* to shed their light upon 
 the more guarded expressions of public despatches, — 
 it is difficult indeed to suppose that these lynx-eyed 
 investigators could have overlooked any material 
 fact, or left undiscovered any act of his ministry 
 which could particularly authorize the punishment 
 they were resolved to inflict. 
 
 They had now those papers before them which 
 Oxford hadT alluded to as furnishing e^nHenceTTh^^ ^ 
 Bolingbroke had been engaged in corrupt practices, 
 and had prostituted the influence of his office to*tKe " 
 purpose of private gain. No surer evidence cSxTtfe"" 
 adduced that this charge was without foundation 
 than the conduct of the committee which was thus 
 appointed to collect evidence against him. Although 
 they retort upon Oxford the charge of conceaUng 
 an act of embezzlement in which, by not divulging 
 it at the time, he became an accomplice, — they never 
 ventured to include it in the articles of Bolingbroke's 
 impeachment. It is evident, therefore, that they did 
 not believe it, and that they despaired of making any 
 one else believe it. They made it a subject of charge 
 against Oxford, because he had convicted himself 
 by his own admission ; and he in his turn defended 
 himself by alleging their implied disbelief. 
 
 * Many such are quoted by this is from Harry to Mat, — 
 
 the committee : there are se- not from tlie secretary to the 
 
 vera] such to Prior, in which ambassador." 
 BoHngbroke says, "Remember ^ ^
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 331 
 
 Had Bolingbroke remained to defend himself chap. 
 against the prosecution which was now about to be ^^'^• 
 instituted, it had been unnecessary for his biographer a.d. 1715. 
 to pursue this report upon his ministerial conduct 
 into its details. His defence would then have fur- 
 nished an opportunity of pointing out the points in 
 which he was really culpable and justly punishable, 
 and to distinguish them from those which proceeded 
 merely from the insolence of newly-acquired supe- 
 riority, and the bitter feeling engendered by long 
 and painful subjection. 
 
 No talents however brilliant, no wisdom however 
 profound, no integrity however pure, could have 
 conducted this intricate negotiation without allowing 
 scope for much censure from examiners constituted 
 as those were who now investigated the conduct of 
 Bolingbroke. From party enmity we can expect 
 no word of approbation ; and from human efforts 
 we cannot hope perfection. We may therefore allow 
 some censures of the conduct of the negotiations to 
 be just, without impugning the talent or patriotism 
 of their chief author. Some errors may also be at- 
 tributed to the violent opposition which raged at 
 home and abroad, and which obliged him sometimes 
 to abandon and at others to precipitate important 
 measures. This consideration may extend yet far- 
 ther the list of excusable errors which Bolingbroke 
 may have committed without guilt, and acknow- 
 ledged without shame. But in following the com- 
 mittee' in their tedious examination, we have been
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, obliged to view with them many defects in these 
 XIX. negotiations which sagacity and integrity might 
 
 A.D. 1715. have provided against, and which no violence of 
 opposition could have prompted. 
 
 The first of these in time and magnitude has al- 
 ready been remarked upon. In determining to put 
 the war upon a more equal footing — to enforce the 
 full contributions of the allies, and to reduce the 
 contingents of England to what the terms of the 
 alliance required, St. John resolved as an English 
 minister might and should have resolved. In sepa- 
 rating from those alHes, in taking part with the 
 enemy, and in negotiating a separate p~eace,TiFacleE^ 
 treacherously towards his country's comrades in the 
 contest, and involved her in the guilt of a breach"^^ 
 of faith 5 which nothing less than the most imminent"** 
 danger can empower a minister to commit, and 
 which even that can hardly justify. His first move- 
 ment had been a diverging from the straight line 
 of candid policy ; every subsequent step carried him 
 yet farther from it. The consequences of his early 
 error clogged his footsteps as he advanced, and ren- 
 dered arduous and ungrateful what had otherwise 
 been easy and pleasing. The fault had been com- 
 mitted ; — the prize which prompted its commissTOrr^ 
 was jii gace : and peace must then be obtained, whaf-"" 
 ever farther sacrifices might be required to secure it. 
 This was a fault which entered into every part of 
 these extensive and long-continued negotiations. In 
 every conjuncture, under ev€ry new demand, Boling-
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 333 
 
 broke retained unabated his desire, for pea,ce ; and, chap. 
 by betraying that desire, gave France to understand ^^^- 
 
 that notliins^he iiiiMht otier would be refused. This a.d. nis. 
 was not an isolated mistake ; it was a continuous 
 chain of errors arising from one and the same false 
 principle, — and that a principle alike derogatory to 
 the dignity and interest of the country. 
 
 Had this proceeded from pure but mistaken pa- 
 triotism, we might have admired the motive while 
 we regretted the deed : had it proceeded from want 
 of talent or deficiency in discernment, the agent 
 might be pitied, and the resentment due to his mis- 
 carriages might fall only upon those who raised in- 
 competence and folly to the seat of government and 
 power. That the latter excuse may shelter Boling- 
 broke, can never be supposed. In him brilliance of 
 oratory, elegance in writing, and depth of learning, 
 were acquired only to form, and exercised only to 
 aid, the statesman. Bolingbroke may be, — nay, he 
 is, an object of just and heavy censure ; he can 
 never be an object of contempt. 
 
 It is with more regret that we feel the other ground 
 of defence must also be abandoned. Patriotism may 
 have told him that his country wanted peace : but 
 that is no peace which patriotism can approve, where 
 every advantage is successively given up in order 
 only to put an end to a war in which his country 
 had been uniformly victorious ; — that could be no 
 advantageous peace, by which, according to the ex- 
 pression of the Duke of Savoy, France, after having
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, been beaten for ten years, was still left in possession 
 ^^^' of the prize of victory. 
 A.D. 1715. No part of Bolingbroke's management is less de- 
 fensible than the treaty of commerce with France. 
 So baneful were its provisions, so incomplete its 
 details, that even the ministry who had concluded 
 it, when its errors were exposed, shrunk from the 
 odious office of defending it. It is well known that 
 the extraordinarily disadvantageous character of this 
 treaty was owing, not to the power of the enemy 
 with whom it was made, nor to any urgent ne- 
 cessity which existed that the commercial rights 
 of a people essentially mercantile should be hastily 
 and immediately determined. They were objects 
 of such importance, that the most serious delibe- 
 ration and the most cautious discussion could upon 
 no subject have been more advantageously expended. 
 
 But the interest of Bolingbroke's party required 
 an immediate conclusion of all difficulties. Par- 
 liament had been often prorogued ; it must then 
 have been called together. To call for war-supplies 
 would have endangered, not only their popularity, 
 but their places. A declaration that peace had been 
 concluded, would, they thought, smooth down every 
 difficulty, secure the favour of the multitude, and 
 paralyze the efforts of the opposition. These anti- 
 cipations were fallacious ; but they were entertained. 
 They promised extensive advantages to a party, and 
 the interests of the nation were made to succumb. 
 
 We have Bolingbroke's own assertion, — and while
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 335 
 
 we own its candour we must assert its truth, — that chap. 
 he and his party came into court in the same dispo- ^^^' 
 
 sition as all parties have done. The principal spring ^•^- 1'''^^- 
 of their^ actions^ .was to have, the .government of 
 the state in^_their Jiands ; — their principal views 
 were the cons^£vatiQn,- of this power, great employ- 
 ments for themselves, and great opportunities of re- 
 warding those who had helped to raise them, and 
 of hurting those who stood in opposition to them. 
 He declares, however, that it is 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 they 
 took to be such.* 
 
 The public good is here admitted to have been 
 but a secondary object, which may be pursued as 
 long as it concurs with or does not oppose party 
 interest, but is not to be brought into competition 
 with it. It was the misfortune of Bolingbroke that 
 these two objects seldom coincided while he directed 
 the councils of the nation ; and it was his crime that 
 he acted too strictly in accordance with the senti- 
 ment which seems to have been acknowledged as a 
 rule of conduct by the party with which he acted. 
 
 The report of the secret committeej; was so long, 
 that us'TeMihff consumed six hours, and the pa- 
 tience of the Tories. After it had been read a 
 second time, Mr. Robert Walpole, in that house 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham. 
 I This report was drawn up by Walpole.
 
 H36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, whence St. John had once expelled him, stood up 
 ^^^' and said, that he made no question that, after the 
 
 A.D. 1715. report had been twice read, the whole house was 
 fully convinced that Henry Lord Viscounty Boling- 
 broke was guilty of high treason and other higli 
 crimes and misdemeanours; that therefore he ira-^ 
 peached him of those crimes. He proceeded to re- 
 capitulate his errors, and to magnify them into the 
 darkest crimes. He declaimed against him with all 
 the power his eloquence could lend him, and with 
 all the bitterness his resentment could suggest. 
 Having drawn a portrait in which none but a per- 
 sonal enemy could recognize a likeness, he chal- 
 lenged the house to dispute its faithful resemblance. 
 He declared with singular modesty and justice, that 
 those who could defend or palliate his conduct must 
 share its guilt ; and concluded by ironically bespeak- 
 ing the attention of the house for the defence which 
 his friends were about to make. 
 
 So great was the power of the accuser, and such 
 the effect of his eloquence, that his victim seemed as 
 deserted and friendless as even he could have wished. 
 A long silence ensued, which was at last broken by 
 Mr. Hungerford ; who, however, did not venture to 
 enter into a defence of his late chief, but confined 
 himself to contending the point that no accusation 
 which had been made by the report could possibly 
 amount to high treason. 
 
 The only other member of the house who dared 
 to oppose the predominant party was General Ross.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 337 
 
 This gentleman was an intimate friend of Boling- chap. 
 broke, and was indebted to him for many favours. ^^^- 
 When he stood up to defend him, he was so over- a.d, nis. 
 powered by the novelty of his situation, that his feel- 
 ings deprived him of utterance. After remaining 
 some time in an attitude to speak, he was about to 
 desist, overpowered by emotion. As he sat down in 
 silence, cheers burst from every part of the house, — a 
 tribute to friendship which even party animosity 
 could not restrain. The general was for a moment 
 reassured, and expressed his wonder that a hundred 
 voices were not raised in behalf of a man to whom 
 so many were bound by the obligations of friendship 
 and gratitude ; but, unable to proceed, he said he had 
 much to say in his friend's defence, but he would 
 reserve it to another opportunity. He sat down 
 amid loud cheers, observing to a person who sat 
 near him, '* It is strange that I cannot speak for 
 him, when I would so willingly fight for him." 
 
 This incident might show the estimation in which 
 Bolingbroke was held by his friends, but it had 
 little effect upon the purpose of his enemies. The 
 resolution for his impeachment passed without a 
 division. The same resolution was taken against 
 the Earl of Oxford. And thus were these two 
 men, who had held for four years the government 
 and patronage of the empire, consigned to imme- 
 diate ruin, with scarcely a voice raised in their 
 behalf, and without a friend of sufficient energy to 
 divide the house in their cause, and to mark his 
 
 VOL. I. z
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, opposition to the proceedings against them by his 
 ^^^- vote. 
 A.D. 1715. The motion for the impeachment was made on 
 the 10th of June, upon the reading of the report : 
 the articles were carried up to the house of lords on 
 the 6th of August. They consisted of six charges 
 of no inconsiderable length : — embracing his deception 
 of the alhes ; his advising the separate treaty ; his 
 transactions with Mesnager in London ; his dis- 
 closing instructions given to the plenipotentiaries by 
 Gaultier ; his advice to the French minister with 
 regard to Tournay ; and lastl)% his promoting the 
 yielding up of Spain and the West Indies to Philip 
 of Spain, — whom the articles call the public enemy, 
 the Duke of Anjou.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 339 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Consideration of the Articles of Bolinghrokes Impeachment. — 
 Examination of his Conduct with regard to the Succession. 
 
 It will be seen from the articles of Bolingbroke's im- chap. 
 peachment, which are printed at length in the Appen- ^^- 
 dix, that the only counts that by the utmost stretch a.d. 1715. 
 of the law could be made to charge the ex-secretary 
 with high treason were those which concerned the 
 negotiations for the surrender of Tournay. This the 
 committee construed to be an adhering to the queen's 
 enemies within the statute of Edward the Third. The 
 charge against Bolingbroke was therefore one of con- 
 structive high treason ; a crime now happily unknown 
 to our laws. His opponents, in the blindness of 
 their rage, armed themselves with the same weapons 
 which had been wielded with such dreadful effect 
 by the arbitrary dynasty they were so cautiously 
 excluding from the throne. A constructive ex- 
 tension of this act of Edward the Third had long 
 been the ready instrument of tyranny when the 
 parliament was found less corrupt than the bench : 
 that which could not be done by statute, was with 
 less difficulty obtained by the cruel analogies and 
 
 z 2
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, heartless logic of the presiding judge. Parliaments 
 ^^" had seen with indignation this species of tyranny 
 
 A.D. 1715. practised by the sovereign ; their passions now blind- 
 ed them to the consequences of imitating the conduct 
 they had condemned. 
 
 It has been, however, advanced by the unhesi- 
 tating admirers of the men who pursued these ex- 
 treme measures, that they were actuated only by a 
 zeal for justice. These writers admit that the law 
 was upon this occasion violently strained ; but they 
 affirm that, although the means were somewhat 
 informal, the object was just and patriotic* Sir 
 William Windham forcibly urged in arguing against 
 these measures, tliat the peace had been approved 
 by two successive parliaments, and declared safe, 
 advantageous, and honourable. " Our constitution," 
 he said, " knows no limits to the power of the king, 
 lords, and commons, assembled in parliament ; and 
 though a subsequent parliament may annul any 
 laws which a former parliament has decreed, yet it 
 cannot and ought not to call any ministers to justice 
 for measures which have been sanctioned by the 
 three branches of the legislature." This is the true 
 and sufficient ground of Bolingbroke's defence. This 
 consideration is sufficient to stamp all the proceed- 
 ings against him with the character of a mere party 
 persecution. But, say the apologists of his pro- 
 secutors, the crimes mentioned in the articles of 
 impeachment were only the ostensible charges : 
 
 * Coxe's Life of Walpole, p. 68.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 341 
 
 there were others, and far darker ones, of which chap. 
 he was notoriously guilty, but whicli could not be ^^• 
 
 legally proved. If, then, there was one weapon in a.d. 1715. 
 the armoury of justice which could be directed 
 against him, that weapon the vindicators of public 
 justice were bound to employ. 
 
 This great criine, of which Bolingbroke and Ox- 
 ford were jp„j:onfidently considered guilty, was a 
 design to introduce the Pretender. ^The Whigs 
 were firmly convinced that the late queen had de- 
 signed that her brother should be her successor, and 
 that her ministers had been the willing agents of 
 her will. This charge was eagerly disseminated by 
 all their writers, and was readily credited by a sus- 
 picious people. Accidental circumstances tended to 
 increase its probability. In August 1714, the Pre- 
 tender put forth a manifesto, containing this re- 
 markable passage : " Upon the death of the princess 
 our sister, of whose good intentions towards us we 
 could not for some time past well doubt ; and this 
 was the reason we then sat still, expecting the 
 good effects thereof, which were unfortunately pre- 
 vented by her deplorable death."* 
 
 This accession of proof, slight and inconclusive as 
 it was, gave great weight to the assertions of the 
 Whigs. It came from an independent source, and 
 people did not wait to examine whether a different 
 object may not prompt the same conduct, — whether 
 this might not be an idle boast, or the result of a pur- 
 
 * Tindal, vol. xviii.
 
 342 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, posed deception, or even a contrivance to foment 
 ^^' those divisions which were so favourable to the 
 
 A.D. 1715. alien's cause. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the object of this de- 
 claration, its effects were sufficiently palpable ; — none 
 doubted that the late mnistry^Jiad J3een_jen 
 in a deep-laid conspiracy to set aside- llie^ote^taojt 
 succession. This was the consideration which jus- 
 tified Th the eyes of the nation the severity which 
 was now inflicted upon them, and is the only 
 apology which can be offered for the conduct of 
 those who pursued them with such virulent ani- 
 mosity. 
 
 If the charge were true, we should be almost 
 inclined to think with Stanhope and Walpole, that 
 no technicalities should be allowed to arrest the 
 arm of justice — that such offenders should not escape 
 a punishment commensurate with their offence. But 
 was it true? This is a question which is still dis- 
 puted. It behoves us to investigate it. 
 
 Mr. Coxe,* while he asserts that the collateral 
 evidence was convincing, adds, that " It must how- 
 ever be confessed that that part of the report which 
 infers the intention of the late ministry to restore 
 the Pretender is extremely weak, founded only on 
 vague conjecture and circumstantial evidence" Yet 
 the committee who made this report had before 
 them every document which could possibly throw 
 light upon this subject : not only were the sealed 
 
 * Life of Walpole, p. 69.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 343 
 
 papers of the discarded ministers open to them, but chap. 
 also the most private memoranda of the late queen ; ^^' 
 
 even those which she had sealed up and ordered to a.d. 1715. 
 be burned after her death were opened, and every 
 source of information was searched with microscopic 
 care, in order to discover sohie traces of the scheme 
 which all were so confident had existed. 
 
 And what was the result of so strict and diligent 
 an investigation ? — a mere inference of intention, 
 " founded upon vague conjecture and circumstantial 
 evidence." In other words, the result was a com- 
 plete acquittal of the ministers of any such design. 
 The documents had been examined, which, had any 
 such design ever been in being, must have been preg- 
 nant with proof of its existence, and none such was 
 found. The inference was obvious ; but it was un- 
 favourable to the views of the dominant party, and 
 was therefore disallowed. 
 
 Mr. Coxe indeed asserts, that " documents have 
 since become pubHc, which were then strongly sus- 
 pected by the Whigs, that place the fact of the 
 ministry's guilt in so clear a light as to render them 
 absolutely incontrovertible." What these important 
 documents are, he does not inform us : they certainly 
 are not to be found in any of the papers which he 
 published as the authorities for his work. The 
 only documents which can be supposed to have any 
 tendency to prove the position he assumes, are the 
 proofs of Harley's correspondence with the court of 
 St. Germain's, preserved by Macpherson. These
 
 344 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, fall far short of proving the charge he advances. 
 ^^' Harley's object is generally believed to have been 
 
 A.D. 1715. merely to deceive the Pretender, and to provide for 
 his own safety in the case of an event which he 
 thought not improbable, although he had no inten- 
 tion of attempting to bring it about ; such was the 
 opinion even of the Jacobites themselves * But 
 even if he was sincere, the proof extends only to 
 Harley ; there is no pretence for associating tlie 
 rest of the ministers with him in the accusation. 
 
 We have already shown the improbability of the 
 two rival ministers ever embarking together in an at- 
 tempt which required such perfect unanimity and 
 such delicate management. We repeat, that, consi- 
 dering the jealousy with which they regarded each 
 other, and the different objects they had in view, it 
 is a moral impossibility that any design should have 
 been formed by the whole cabinet to bring about 
 the restoration of the Pretender. 
 
 This view is strengthened by the authority of Dr. 
 SomerviUe ; an historian, who, though strongly in- 
 clined to espouse the principles of the Whigs as a 
 party, has not hesitated to censure the individuals 
 of that party when their conduct has been at 
 variance with their professions. " Like a band of 
 spies," says this writer, " the ministers watched and 
 dreaded each other. This internal discord was the 
 safeguard and palladium of the protestant settlement. 
 
 * Memoirs of" Berwick, vol. ii. p. 184.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 345 
 
 Fortified by the sanctions of law, not one of them, chap. 
 whatever he thought or indined, durst whisper a ^^' 
 
 wish or drop a hint against it, because it would have a.d. 1715. 
 furnished his internal enemy with the certain means 
 of his destruction." * 
 
 If farther proof were wanting to exculpate the 
 ministers as a body from the accusation of Jacobi- 
 tisra, it would be amply supplied in the intemperate 
 recriminations which took place between them im- 
 mediately the administration was dissolved. If they 
 were conscious of a common guilt, the circumstances 
 of that crime would at least be avoided by them in 
 their mutual accusations. But the fact was directly 
 the reverse. Oxford's first effort to revenge his 
 overthrow was by an endeavour to fix an imputation 
 of Jacobitism upon his rival. We have already seen 
 him employing the pen of the celebrated Daniel De 
 Foe in his service. This clever writer he had kept 
 to himself, and he was still attached to his interests. 
 Soon after Oxford's disgrace, De Foe published his 
 " Secret History of the White Staff; being an ac- 
 count of affairs under the conduct of some late 
 ministers, and of what might probably have hap- 
 pened if her majesty had not died." The object 
 of this pamphlet is the entire vindication of the 
 pamphleteer's patron from all connexion with the 
 exiled family, and the transfer of the guilt to Boling- 
 broke and his adherents. 
 
 * History of the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 392.
 
 346 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. De Foe was by no means a timid writer : he gives 
 ^^' with the most unhesitating confidence the conver- 
 A.D. 1715. sations of the supposed conspirators, and details all 
 the minute circumstances with as much particularity 
 and fidelity as he observed in the narrative of Mrs. 
 Veal's ghost-story. No man was a greater adept 
 than De Foe in throwing an air of probability over 
 an invention. Bolingbroke is represented as ardent 
 in the Pretender's cause. Speaking of Oxford, he is 
 made to say, " God d — n him ! what has he ever 
 done for us ? Has he not fed us with good words 
 and fine notions all along ; told us it was not a time 
 to enter upon the question, and that to mention any- 
 thing of the Pretender would alarm the nation and 
 break all the public measures ? Has he done any- 
 thing but made fools of us ? I am satisfied he is a 
 spy upon us for the house of Hanover : he is no 
 more for the Pretender than he is for the Grand 
 Seignior." * 
 
 This extract gives a sufficient specimen of the 
 object of the pamphlet, and the style in which it 
 was written. Oxford, when interrogated upon the 
 subject, denied that it proceeded in any way from 
 him ; f but the author's name soon became known, 
 and his connexion with the ex-minister was noto- 
 rious. It did not remain long unanswered ; the 
 " Considerations upon the Secret History of the 
 
 * Secret History of the t Letter from Dr. Arbuth- 
 
 White Staff, in three parts, not to Mr. Ford, Oct. 19, 1714. 
 London, J. Baker, 1714. — Sivift's Letters.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 34? 
 
 White Staff,"* are generally attributed to Boling- chap. 
 broke. This answer directly denies the charge, and ^^' 
 
 retorts it upon the Earl of Oxford, to whom the a.d. i715. 
 pamphlet is " humbly addressed." Another answer 
 appeared, with the title of "A Detection of the 
 Sophistry and Falsities of the Pamphlet entitled 
 The Secret History of the White Staff,"-}- containing 
 a general defence of the ministers whom the original 
 pamphlet had accused ; and a third, called the " His- 
 tory of the ]\Iitre and the Purse,":}: which related 
 chiefly to the conduct of Bishop Atterbury and Lord 
 Harcourt. These answers drew forth in their turn 
 several replies. 
 
 But the zeal of De Foe was not yet satisfied. 
 His next production was an ingenious forgery, 
 which has deceived several careful historians. In 
 1717, he published " Minutes of the Negotiations of 
 Monsieur Mesnager at the Court of England towards 
 the close of the last Reign ; wherein some of the 
 most secret transactions of that time relating to 
 the interest of the Pretender, and a clandestine 
 separate peace, are detected and laid open : written 
 by himself; done out of French." This work had a 
 similar object to that of the " White Staff:" it ex- 
 culpated Oxford, and convicted Bolingbroke and his 
 adherents. In it the conversation of the queen and 
 Lady Masham are reported as confidently as those 
 of the ministers had been before: and the favourite 
 
 * 8vo. London, Moore, (no date.) :j; 8vo. London, J. Mor- 
 t 8vo. London, J. Roberts, 1714. phew, 1714.
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, who had worked the downfal of De Foe's patron was 
 ' • made by him to bear an especial portion of the guilt. 
 
 A.u. 1715. These Minutes, although no French edition of 
 them had ever appeared, have been generally 
 received as genuine. Dr. Somerville quotes them 
 without suspicion, and many facts have been re- 
 ceived upon their authority. Mr. Hallam,* with 
 his usual acumen, has discovered internal evidence 
 of their spurious character, and is the first modern 
 author who has rejected them : but even he does 
 not appear to have known that at the time of their 
 appearance they were denounced as a forgery, and 
 that the fact was so incontrovertible, that De Foe 
 publicly denied that he was the author of them.f 
 This denial was, however, estimated at its real 
 value; — no one then doubted that they were a 
 production of De Foe's. 
 
 These attempts by fabricated evidence to fix 
 their rivals with the odium of the greatest crime 
 a minister could then commit, are of themselves suf- 
 
 * Constitutional History,vol. points out his object. This 
 
 iii. p. 301 : 8vo edition. drew from De Foe a tolerably 
 
 f See Boyer's Political abusive answer, denying that 
 
 State, vol. xiii. p. 627. he was the author ; to which 
 
 Boyer was a Whig, and was Boyer only replied, that " he 
 
 himself suspected of being the should never descend so low 
 
 author. He repels the charge as to enter the Billingsgate 
 
 with indignation, and proves lists either with branded D. F. 
 
 to a demonstration that the or any other scribbler of that 
 
 work is a forgery. He makes stamp." — Political State, vol. 
 
 it sufficiently clear that De xiv. p. 100. 
 Foe was the real author, and
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 349 
 
 ficient proof that there was no real evidence in ex- chap. 
 istence. A review of all these circumstances ; — the ^^' 
 
 broken state of the ministry, — their jealousy of each a.d. 1715. 
 other, — the difficulty and danger of the attempt, — 
 the laudable watchfulness of the Whigs, — the severe 
 scrutiny afterwards instituted, — the failure of that 
 scrutiny to discover the proofs they sought, — the 
 eagerness of the Tories, when in disgrace, to accuse 
 each other, and even their failure to bring forward 
 any genuine proof; — all these circumstances prove 
 almost to a demonstration that there was no design 
 entertained by the queen's ministers, as a body, to 
 alter the succession as limited by parliament. 
 
 If, then, there is no ground for condemning the 
 ministry collectively, we must have proof of delin- 
 quency against every individual before we pass so 
 heavy a censure upon him. Neither Bolingbroke nor 
 any of his coadjutors can be im})licated by any evi- 
 dence which exists only against Oxford. In that 
 case, Bolingbroke must be acquitted of all suspicion. 
 He has repeatedly and explicitly denied that he had 
 ever at this time held any correspondence with the 
 Pretender : there is no evidence whatever to contra- 
 dict this denial ; while there is strong negative evi- 
 dence — the only species of evidence the circumstance 
 admits of — corroborating it. We search in vain for 
 any traces of such a correspondence in the volumi- 
 nous records of the dark intrigues of the time. The 
 letters of the cautious Harley are preserved ; and 
 those of every other man of note who engaged in
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, these transactions survive to attest his perfidy. Is 
 ^^' it likely, then — is it possible, that Bolingbroke, whose 
 A.D. 1715. disposition savoured so strongly of rashness, should 
 be the sole exception? — that he alone should have 
 passed unknown through a defile in which so many 
 more cautious politicians were discovered ? The 
 "^ \t/^ collection of Papers by Macpherson contains nothing 
 P ^ hy^ 'against Bolingbroke ; while they are pregnant with 
 ^ Iri matter against every other public character who was 
 suspected of favouring the Stuart cause. 
 
 ^r 
 
 \_/f'^ ^'i The only paper in this collection which has been 
 
 ^^IJ^' 
 
 
 ever cited against him, is a letter from one of the 
 Jacobite agents ; who says, " Your friend Mr. Gary 
 [Lockhart] writes to me from Porter's quarters 
 [London], that he is in friendship with Mr. Bruce 
 zfppvozingy [Bolingbroke], and has lately had 
 much freedom of conversation with him, by which 
 he thinks Bruce [BoUngbroke] an honest man, and 
 much in your uncle Frank's [the Pretender's] inte- 
 rest ; but, at the same time, he thinks Bruce [Bo- 
 lingbroke] is not altogether well with Mr. Gould's 
 successor [Harley] ; and by what Gary [Lockhart] 
 draws from Bruce, he doubts of Gould's good inten- 
 tions." * 
 
 This amounts only to a second-hand declaration 
 of Lockhart, that he thought Bolingbroke was in the 
 Pretender's interest ; which is worth literally nothing, 
 when we remember the character of the relator. 
 Lockhart was a hot-headed Jacobite, who did not 
 
 * Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 367.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 351 
 
 scruple to spread any report and to give any account chap, 
 
 W 
 
 which he thought favourable to the cause he had __ii__ 
 
 espoused. We find him, in his Memoirs, describing ^ ^^- 1^^^- 
 it as the most easy of undertakings to bring about a 
 repeal of the act of settlement, and telling us that he 
 had avowed his principles before the queen, who 
 heard him with favour. It is singular that in these 
 Memoirs the name of Bolingbroke does not once 
 occur. It is inconceivable that the Pretender's 
 agents should have made no farther mention of so 
 illustrious a convert in any of their despatches, had 
 he been so " honest" a man as James Forbes asserts 
 upon the authority of Mr. Gary. This extract from 
 Nairne is no evidence at all. 
 
 But whatever weight might be attached to this 
 opinion of Lockhart, it cannot resist the direct evi- 
 dence contained in the following circumstance, which 
 is given from the Marchmont Papers. While the 
 negotiations for the treaty of Utrecht were yet pend- 
 ing, the conferences of the Abb^ Gaultier with the 
 secretary were of course frequent. Upon one of 
 these occasions Bolingbroke observed that the priest 
 left a sealed letter directed to him upon his table. 
 The letter bore the arras of England upon its seal ; 
 and Bolingbroke immediately suspecting from whom 
 it came, called the abbe back and interrogated him. 
 He confessed that the letter was written by the Pre- 
 tender ; upon which Bolingbroke returned it, with 
 the admonition, that if he discovered him again to be 
 the medium of any correspondence from that quarter,
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, he should order him to quit the kingdom in twenty- 
 ^^ ' four hours. 
 A.D. 1715. With such evidence before us, even if we beUeve, 
 upon the authority of the passage quoted from Mac- 
 pherson, that some correspondence did pass between 
 Bohngbroke and the Pretender's agents, it will be 
 impossible to conclude that he ever, while minister, 
 entertained any serious design in favour of that 
 person. Viewing this fact in the severest manner, 
 it only tends to argue, that when a doubtful contest 
 was momentarily expected to commence, he felt in- 
 clined to secure some terms, in case, as was by no 
 means improbable, the cause of the Stuarts should 
 ultimately prove triumphant. This is, however, at- 
 taching to the report of Lockhart far more import- 
 ance than it deserves. 
 
 But there is another quotation to be made from 
 Macpherson, which is much more to the purpose 
 than that already cited. It is given as an extract 
 from Cartes' Memorandum Book. 
 
 " The design of L. B. [Lord Bolingbroke] at the 
 time [May 1714] was to bring about the Hanover 
 succession ; and two or three days before the queen's 
 death, L. L. and Sir W. Wyndham going in a coach 
 together, the first said, * Now they have got the power 
 entirely into their hands, they might easily bring 
 about a restoration :' to which Sir W. said, ' Put that 
 out of your head ; that will never be : is an im- 
 practicable man' (/. e. would not change his rehgion 
 at that moment), ' and will never be brought in.' And
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 353 
 
 L. L. going on the Saturday evening (before the chap. 
 queen died) to Kensington, met Arthur Moore and xx. 
 John Drummond waiting for L. B. (who dined with a.d. 1715. 
 Sir W. W. and a great deal of company that day at 
 Blackheath), who did not come, though John was 
 appointed to attend there for L. B., to receive his 
 last instructions, in order to set out the next day for 
 Hanover, to make up matters with that court. This 
 John Drummond himself told L. L. ; but the queen's 
 death did not allow them time to execute their 
 scheme, and they could never make the court be- 
 lieve they had any such schemes." * 
 
 This minute recapitulation of proofs would have 
 been unnecessary, had not the confident tone in 
 which Bolingbroke's guilt has been assumed by his 
 enemies prevailed upon many authors to adopt their 
 authority without suspicion or examination. From . 
 the historical records we possess, it may in fact be 
 affirmed as certain, that Bolingbroke took no part in 
 the intrigues which so many individuals carried on 
 with the Pretender at the latter part of the queen's 
 reign. 
 
 If this view of the case be correct, the only de- 
 fence which the apologists of Stanhope and Walpole 
 have set up in excuse for their extreme violence falls 
 to the ground ; and the prosecution of Bolingbroke 
 must, upon their own statement, appear unjust and 
 undeserved. 
 
 * Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 530. 
 VOL. I. 2 A
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Bill of Attainder passed against Bolingbroke. — He joins the 
 
 Pretender. 
 
 CHAP. Upon receiving the articles of impeachment, the 
 ^^^' lords ordered the accused nobleman to be attached ; 
 
 A.D. 1715. and upon the report of their officer that he had long 
 since retired into France, they returned an answer to 
 the commons to that effect. The common^^pon this 
 message, immediately pass^ed a bill, summoning him 
 to render him5£lf-t» justice by. ajcertaijpL.jia^ in 
 default attainting biju.^fjiigh treasQjou-_ This bill 
 passed the lords, and received the royal assent ;* and 
 at the expiration of the time which it specified, Bo- 
 lingbroke became degraded from his rank, attainted 
 in blood, unable to inherit his family estates, and 
 liable to suffer death if he should ever return to his 
 native country. 
 
 The sum which prudence had induced him long 
 ago to transmit to the Continent, and which he had 
 invested in foreign securities, was very small, and 
 the income to be derived from it was utterly insuffi- 
 cient to supply him with those luxuries which habit 
 
 * There was a strong protest entered against it in the lords.
 
 LORD lUJLlNGBUOKE. 355 
 
 had rendered necessary, and which Bolingbroke had chap. 
 never despised. He had laughed at Swift, when he ^^^' 
 
 affected to withdraw himself from the court, and ^•^- ^'^^'^• 
 to retire with pleasure to contentment and philo- 
 sophy in the country ; and experience proved him 
 right. Bolingbroke, while harassed by the noise of 
 contending factions, threatened with the persecution 
 of a conquering party, and despairing of recovering 
 the station he had once enjoyed, may, in a mood of 
 despondency, have sighed also for quiet and retire- 
 ment ; but if he did, he forgot to apply to his own 
 use the knowledge of mankind which enabled him 
 to lecture others. The mind of Bolingbroke was 
 never fashioned for repose : to him action was almost 
 a necessary condition of his existence. If debarred 
 from serving his country, he would attack her ; and 
 he persuaded himself that in following the dictates 
 of his passion he was but striving to inflict a just 
 punishment upon his enemies. 
 
 Bolingbroke's philosophy, although avowedly based 
 upon that of the Stoics, partook largely of the Epi- 
 curean character ; and a life of poverty and absti- 
 nence was sufficiently unpleasant to him to drive him 
 upon any project which might promise to extricate 
 him from it, and to place him again where his heart 
 ever was — amid the storm and turmoil of political 
 conflict. It is no proof, therefore, of his having when 
 in power formed any design in favour of the Pre- 
 tender, if he now felt more favourably disposed to- 
 wards the cause of that person. No sooner had the 
 
 y%l A /«<
 
 356 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, fact of his self-expatriation become known at Bar, 
 ^^^' where the ChevaHer then held his mimic court, than 
 A.D. 1715. agents were despatched to solicit the aid of his 
 powerful talents. It was rightly conjectured that 
 the resentment arising from disappointed ambition 
 would be too strong to contend with any abstract 
 principle of attachment to a protestant sovereign, or 
 any preconceived dislike for the family of the Stuarts. 
 The Jacobites depended much upon his ambition, 
 but more upon his desire of vengeance ; and they 
 tempted him with the most highly-wrought descrip- 
 tions of the universal popularity of their cause, ^nd 
 the certainty of their ultimate success. 
 
 Bolingbroke's own observation had convinced him 
 that these boastings were not entirely without foun- 
 dation : he knew how numerous and how powerful 
 was the Tory faction, how discontented the measures 
 of the Whigs had already made them, and how des- 
 perate they would be rendered by the further morti- 
 fications their opponents seemed determined to in- 
 flict. Bolingbroke had been their leader ; the Pre- 
 tender's agents affected to believe that he was now 
 their ambassador. They told him of a train laid 
 throughout England and Scotland, which waited 
 only their signal to explode beneath the throne 
 of the Hanoverian usurper. The kingdoms w^ere 
 pledged to rise en masse at their bidding ; the Che- 
 valier was to place himself at their head ; and^o- 
 lingbroke was invited to share his fortunes and his 
 success.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 357 
 
 The exiled minister knew that although there chap. 
 was much exaggeration in this statement, there was ^^^• 
 also some truth : but while a hope remained that he ad. 1715. 
 might be allowed to serve his country, he refused 
 to contribute to its distraction. The endeavours of 
 his agents were aided by a letter from the Pre- 
 tender himself; and in the situation in which Bo- 
 lingbroke then was, it argues no faint disinclination 
 to the cause of the Pretender, that he absolutely 
 refused to join his adherents, or even to answer the 
 letter which that person addressed to him. Surely 
 the man who, when his fortunes were desperate, 
 refused to embark in such a cause, was not likely 
 voluntarily to have embraced it when no advantage 
 allured him, and danger and dishonour combined to 
 repel him. 
 
 But when Bolingbroke refused the offer to be- 
 come minister to this fictitious prince, he was Tiot~^ 
 aware of the full extent of the persecution which 
 he was about to undergo. The bill of attainder, 
 although in preparation, was not yet a law ; and 
 he indulged a hope that the prudence if not the 
 mercy of the new sovereign would interpose to pre- 
 vent its completion. Experience had not even yet 
 convinced him of the unrelenting malignity of his 
 enemies, or the unhesitating com{)liance of their 
 master. The power of parliament was exhausted 
 against him ; and Bolingbroke, when he heard that 
 England had condemned him to death, resolved, with 
 Alcibiades, to convince her that he was yet alive. •
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. The tie of patriotism he now considered to be 
 ^^^- entirely severed : his country contained nothing that 
 
 A.D. 1715. he could call his ; she had not only taken from him 
 everything which she had bestowed, but had de- 
 prived him of all hope of retrieving that he had 
 lost. His paternal property must pass from him to^ 
 other hands, and he was deprived of the power-of- 
 transmitting the title he had gained. To land upoa- 
 his country's shores was death : a hopeless exile was 
 the condition upon which alone he was suffered to 
 exist. Thus cut off from every other connexion, 
 BoUngbroke clung to that which during his political 
 life he had never relaxed. He still continued the 
 firm adherent of his party. Even when the dregs 
 of ministerial wrath had been poured out upon him- 
 self, he remembered that he still owed a duty to his 
 political friends. AVith the exception of the Earl 
 of Oxford, their welfare was as dear to him as his 
 own ; and while a hope remained that their oppo- 
 nents would moderate or relent, he resolved to do 
 no act that could furnish them an excuse for re- 
 newing or prosecuting their hostilities. The im- 
 peachment of the Duke of Ormond dissipated every 
 lingering hope : the Tories then saw that war was 
 declared against all, — against the more retired and 
 little known, as well as the eminent and obnoxious. 
 To keep terms any longer with such active and un- 
 disguised enemies, was no longer necessary, or even 
 safe. Bolingbroke was relieved from any restraint, 
 and was at liberty to act as he might deem his
 
 LORD BOLINGBHOKE. 359 
 
 own and his party's interest required. He admits chap. 
 that he considered himself their man, and that the ^^^' 
 friends he left behind him were the only persons '^•^- i^is. 
 who could determine him to any course of conduct. 
 While their interest seemed to require concession, 
 he remained loyal to the house of Hanover, and re- 
 spectful to their government. He wrote a letter in 
 his jown justification to the secretary of state ; re- 
 fused all correspondence with the Pretender ; and 
 retired from Paris into Dauphine, to obviate any 
 suspicion which a residence in the capital might 
 create or justify. 
 
 This conduct, which was the result of a party 
 heroism happily unknown in these less violently 
 factious days, was misrepresented by his enemies 
 and misunderstood by his friends. His letter to the 
 secretary was described as a fawning and contemp- 
 tible submission ; and his departure from Paris was 
 cited as an abandonment of the Tory cause. Cor- 
 respondence with him was difficult and dangerous ; 
 and even his most staunch political ally. Sir William 
 Windham, could but rarely and darkly communicate 
 to him the situation and views of their party. 
 From these ambiguous despatches, however, the 
 shrewd mind of Bolingbroke could catch the des- 
 perate condition of his partisans, and the object to 
 which their wishes now tended. He was a Tory, but 
 he was no Jacobite : he disdained to merit that title 
 in order only to gain personal importance, but he 
 would not hesitate if it were necessary to prove his
 
 360 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, fidelity to his party. In reply, therefore, to their 
 ^^^' occasional communications, he let them know that 
 A.D. 1715. they had but to command him to ensure his obe- 
 dience. '* He was ready," he said, " to venture in 
 their service the little which remained, as frankly 
 as he had exposed all which was gone." 
 
 At last the party in England decided upon their 
 proceedings, and Bolingbroke received immediate 
 intimation of their resolves. This was in July. Bo- 
 lingbroke was then upon the banks of the Rhone ; 
 and a confidential agent was despatched to com- 
 municate with him. He spoke in the name of all 
 those friends with whom he had acted, and whose 
 authority could influence him. He brought word 
 that Scotland was not only ready to take arms, but 
 was dissatisfied at being withheld from beginning. 
 " In England," he said, " the people were exaspe- 
 rated against the government to such a degree, that, 
 far from wanting to be encouraged, they could not 
 be restrained from insulting it upon every occasion. 
 The whole Tory party was become avowedly Jaco- 
 bite : many officers of the army, and the majo- 
 rity of the soldiers, were well affected to the cause ; 
 the city of London was ready to rise, and the enter- 
 prises for seizing several places were ripe for execu- 
 tion." Bolingbroke demanded who was the leader 
 of these mighty preparations, and the Duke of Or- 
 mond was the person named : inquiring again whe- 
 ther his grace acted alone, and if not, who were 
 his council, he was told that most of the principal
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 361 
 
 Tories were in the scheme, and that the others were chap. 
 so disposed that there remained no doubt of their ^^^' 
 
 joining so soon as the first blow should be struck. a.d. nis. 
 
 The agent had related his facts ; he now pressed 
 the immediate co-operation which was the object 
 of his mission. He observed, that the Tories in 
 England were not a little surprised to observe that 
 their late leader should lie neuter in such a con- 
 juncture. He represented the danger he ran of 
 being prevented by people of all sides from having 
 the merit of engaging early in this enterprise ; and 
 how unaccountable it would be for a man impeach- 
 ed and attainted under the present government, to 
 take no share in bringing about a revolution so 
 near at hand and so certain. He entreated, there- 
 fore, that Bolingbroke would defer no longer to join 
 the Chevalier. The Jacobites at this time hoped 
 to obtain important assistance from France to further 
 their enterprise ; and who could be so qualified to 
 solicit that assistance as Bolingbroke, towards whom 
 many of the ministers at that court entertained 
 sentiments of friendship and admiration ? The agent 
 declared that this was the task which awaited him, 
 and urged him to immediately undertake it. He 
 concluded by giving him a letter from the Preten- 
 der, whom he had fallen in u ith in his w^ay. This 
 letter required him to repair wdthout loss of 
 time to Commercy ; a summons that derived its 
 confident tone from the message which the agent 
 brought from England.
 
 362 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Bolingbroke was dissatisfied that this man should 
 ^^^- have communicated the message to the Pretender 
 
 A.D. 1715. before he had seen him, to whom he was first sent. 
 But he had been eager to deliver the assurances he 
 had received, and to pay his court to what he 
 considered his future sovereign ; and lie probably 
 considered that he should be able to perform his 
 mission with better success, when he could inform 
 the object of his journey that the Tories in England 
 were already bound to the Chevalier, and that they 
 had engaged for themselves and him. 
 
 Bolingbroke knew too well the instances of false 
 confidence which had occurred among this party, to 
 yield implicit credence to the tales which he had 
 heard. He detained him for some time in conver- 
 sation, to try the consistency and authority of his 
 statements. In the progress of this conversation, 
 he related a multitude of facts which satisfied him 
 as to the general disposition of the people ; but he 
 gave him little satisfaction as to the measures taken 
 for improving that disposition, for driving the busi- 
 ness on with vigour if it tended to a revolution, or 
 for supporting it with advantage if it extended into 
 a war. When he put direct questions concerning 
 several persons whose disinclination to the govern- 
 ment admitted of no doubt, and whose names, 
 quality, and experience were very essential to the 
 success of the undertaking, it was owned that they 
 kept a great reserve, and did at most but encourage 
 others to act by general and dark expressions.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 363 
 
 At the time this conference took place, Boling- chap. 
 broke was confined to his bed, and therefore did not ^^^; 
 need an excuse to decline any immediate participa- a.d. 1715. 
 tion in so dangerous a scheme. That the enter- 
 prise was desperate, if not hopeless of success, he 
 could discover from the admissions of his informant, 
 and from the experience he himself had lately had 
 of the absence of any unity of design in England. 
 But, as he tells us, " the smart of a bill of attainder 
 tingled in every vein," and his resentment prompted 
 him to contemn dangers which could not escape his 
 penetration. That feeling of party honour, which 
 had regulated his conduct through life, tended to fix, 
 if not to excuse, his resolution. He considered his 
 party to be oppressed, and looking to him for assist- 
 ance ; and he could not endure the disgrace, after 
 having participated in their prosperity, of refusing a 
 post of danger to extricate them from their adversity. 
 His high sense of honour told him also that his ad- 
 herence, to be made gracefully, must be made im- 
 mediately. 
 
 The Tories were already committed : every mo- 
 ment he delayed following their example, he fur- 
 nished a presumption that he had abandoned their 
 party. They were about to apply to France for 
 succour ; should that be granted before his deter- 
 mination was known, it might be said that he came 
 to support a prosperous cause after refusing to assist 
 it when it required his aid. He hoped, too, that 
 when he came to confer upon the subject with the
 
 36*4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Chevalier, he should obtain rnore accurate intelli- 
 ^^^- gence than his agent could afford him. He could 
 A.D. 1715. not conceive that, with no further hopes of support 
 or assistance than those he had heard enumerated, 
 he would attempt to kindle a war which, if sup- 
 pressed, would effectually destroy all the resources 
 of his house. He judged therefore that the gentle- 
 man with whom he conversed was not admitted into 
 the more secret councils of his chief, and antici- 
 pated more particular disclosures when he should 
 hear his plans from the Pretender himself 
 
 With these expectations, and under these feel- 
 ings, he accepted the task which had been allotted 
 to him. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, 
 he set out for Commercy, and lost no time in openly 
 declaring. Jijni.self an adhere»t of the Chevalier. It 
 is evident that he took this step with great reluct- 
 ance : he hated alike the Pretender's principles, his 
 person, and his old adherents. But against all these 
 party spirit prevailed. The first interview he had 
 with the Chevalier by no means removed the slight 
 opinion he had formed of his resources, or realized 
 the hopes he had entertained that the designs of 
 that person w^ere more sober and better digested 
 than those of his adherents. Bolingbroke began 
 already to see that he had entered into a dangerous 
 and ungrateful service ; and he already blamed the 
 rashness which had identified the fortunes of his 
 party with so hopeless a cause. Of the first con- 
 versation he held witii the Chevalier, he says : " He
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 365 
 
 talked to me like a man who expected every mo- chap. 
 ment to set out for England or Scotland, but who ^^^' 
 
 did not very well know for which : and when he a.d. 1715. 
 entered into the particulars of his affairs, I found 
 that concerning the former he had nothing more 
 circumstantial nor positive to go upon than what 
 I had already heard." * 
 
 All the advices which were received from Eng- 
 land were couched in vague and general expressions 
 of universal support ; but no evidence of whence 
 this support was so certainly to be obtained could 
 be collected. The confidence of the parties might 
 certainly be some proof of the truth of their as- 
 sertions ; and their readiness to take part in the 
 execution of the decisive measures they proposed, 
 was evidence of the sincerity with which those pro- 
 posals were made. But then all their assertions 
 were general, and their authority seldom satisfactory. 
 The assurances of assistance which came from the 
 most powerful persons were verbal, and often com- 
 municated by messengers whose veracity was but 
 doubtful. Other advices came from parties whose 
 fortunes were as desperate as their counsels ; and 
 others again from persons whose situation made 
 their opinions and their assistance in such an affair 
 alike valueless. 
 
 The great hope of the Jacobites rested upon 
 France : without assistance from that quarter, they 
 did not disguise from themselves that nothing could 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham.
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, be done. But their great error consisted in never 
 ^^^' supposing it possible that France should fail them 
 
 A.D. 1715. at their time of need. The Duke of Ormond had 
 now the direction of all the Chevalier's affairs in 
 England. Unlimited powers had been given him 
 to command, negotiate, design, and even execute. 
 Everything was entrusted to him except the means ; 
 without which his powers were as shadowy and un- 
 substantial as the royalty of the person he was at- 
 tempting to serve. He applied for a small body of 
 regular troops, some arms and ammunition, and 
 some money. The conclave at Bar declared their 
 utter incapacity to furnish any such assistance, and 
 referred him to the court of Versailles. By France 
 he was told that no troops whatever could be given 
 him, but that he might count upoij receiving some 
 money and ammunition. A small sum of money 
 was afterwards advanced ; but the languidness of 
 the aid showed that the French court had in view 
 rather to prevent the extinction of the party, and 
 to preserve it as a machine of future annoyance, than 
 to second them in any vigorous effort to place their 
 chief upon the throne. 
 
 Under these circumstances, to proceed openly in 
 an attempt to bring about a restoration without any 
 means of resisting the storm they were raising, was 
 a madness which nothing but the intemperate re- 
 sentment of the Tories could have betrayed them 
 into. Yet such was their conduct. Without hope
 
 LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 367 
 
 of effectual aid from France, with no hope at all chap. 
 from the Pretender, they went _ or, sounding the ^^^- 
 
 tocsin through the kingdom, awakening all the vi- a.d. nis. 
 gilance of a watchful government, and giving a 
 publicity to their designs which would have ena- 
 bled the minister to counteract any attempt, al- 
 though made with all the resources, of which they 
 were destitute. 
 
 Scotland, however, was in a state of readiness : 
 that, if the same spirit had at all extended to Eng- 
 land, would have succeeded in producing the revo- 
 lution which was projected. The rising then must 
 have been simultaneous and complete ; and the for- 
 tunes of Bolingbroke might have risen upon the ruin 
 of his country's liberties. But as their eagerness 
 was met with little corresponding ardour in England, 
 their forwardness was rather a w^eakness than other- 
 wise. They were even less discreet in conceahng 
 their intentions than their friends in England ; but 
 they were better prepared to execute them. They 
 had concerted every measure necessary for the com- 
 mencement of the rebellion, and wanted only the 
 presence of their leader to rise in arms. Their re- 
 monstrances upon his procrastination were rather 
 energetic than respectful ; and the Chevalier, over- 
 come by their earnestness, was now about to embark 
 in an adventure in which the odds were fearfully 
 against him. 
 
 This Bolingbroke strongly opposed. He represented
 
 368 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the absolute necessity of assistance from France, and 
 ^^^- declared that without it all hope of success was wild 
 
 A. D. 1715. and chimerical. He described what he knew to be 
 the state of parties in England ; that the Jacobites, 
 as a party, were a most contemptible minority ; that 
 nothing but the violence of the Whigs had produced 
 the loud declarations of dissatisfaction, which the 
 Chevalier counted upon as decisive declarations in his 
 favour ; that this dissatisfaction was rather loud than 
 dangerous, and few even of the most noisy would 
 be drawn to risk their lives and fortunes for a prince 
 whose claims and person were alike indifferent to 
 them, unless they saw such a certainty of success 
 that they could depend upon sharing the favours he 
 would soon have to bestow. After events proved 
 that Bolingbroke was right. The old incomprehen- 
 sible principle of mere instinctive loyalty, which no 
 crimes could eradicate and no worthlessness could 
 startle, — which had threatened England with the 
 imposition of an absolute monarchy, and had enabled 
 the houses of York and Lancaster to spill her blood 
 in quarrels where she was the chief sufferer, — had 
 long lost all its force in England ; and, if it still re- 
 tained its pristine vigour in Scotland, it was chiefly 
 in those fastnesses where the ties of chieftain and 
 clansman had served to cherish the old feudal feel- 
 ing, and to degrade the reasonable affection of men 
 to the blind fidelity of the brute. The Stuarts had 
 counted upon the support of this loyalty long after
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. ^69 
 
 its influence had vanished, — or rather, after its cha- chap. 
 
 XXT 
 
 racter had changed. Their punishment proved the 1_ 
 
 magnitude of their error ; but even the misfor- ^•^- ^''^^• 
 tunes it had entailed could not induce them to 
 relinquish a conviction so flattering to their pride 
 and so favourable to their absolute pretensions. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B
 
 370 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Bolinghroke accepts the Office of Secretary of State under the 
 Pretender. — His Mission to the Court of Versailles. 
 
 CHAP. 1 HE advice of Bolingbroke was in this.iastance fol- 
 XXII. lowed. TfielmpatieTice of the clans was restrained; 
 A.D. 1715. and it was determined to make every effort to obtain 
 effectual assistance from France. As a reward for 
 his present services, and as an inducement to future 
 efforts, Bolingbroke was invested with the office of 
 secretary of state to the fictitious King of England ; 
 an office which he accepted with much hesitation, 
 and doubtless with feelings of degradation and con- 
 tempt. In accepting the seals, as he somewhat 
 ludicrously terms this mock installation, he made it 
 a condition that he should be at liberty to quit a 
 station which his humour — and, as he says, many 
 other considerations — made him think himself very 
 unfit for, whenever the occasion for which he was 
 engaged was over one way or other. 
 
 After this honourable office had been thus be- 
 stowed upon him, and had been thus somewhat un- 
 graciously received, he was despatched upon the 
 embassy upon which all hope of success to the cause
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 371 
 
 he had undertaken rested. At his own request, he chap. 
 was instructed to draw up and deliver a plan of the ^^^^' 
 
 whole design, a particular specification of the sue- -^•^' I'l^. 
 cours desired, the time when and the place where 
 they should be delivered. But he entered upon his 
 task with that lassitude and indifference which men 
 must always feel when they are engaged in a cause, 
 not only desperate in its nature, but foreign to their 
 wishes, and little in accordance with their principles. 
 
 However, Bolingbroke had accepted the office, and 
 he addressed himself to the fulfilment of his duties. 
 He arrived in Paris about the end of the month, 
 avowedly for the purpose of obtaining French troops 
 to invade his native country. How different must 
 have been his feelings upon entering the French 
 capital this time, to those which he had experienced 
 on a former occasion — then the minister of a power- 
 ful sovereign, backed by all the power of England, 
 secure in the favour of his mistress and popular 
 with her subjects, come to decide the most moment- 
 ous interests of a mighty kingdom, and banishing by 
 his presence the impotent pretender to its throne. 
 Now he entered that city the servant of the ad- 
 venturer who had then fled at his approach, decked 
 with the tawdry title of minister to the puppet of 
 his country's enemy, in a character which his per- 
 sonal qualities alone could redeem from derision and 
 contempt. 
 
 The humihating contrast must have struck him 
 forcibly as he entered upon the object of his mission : 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, and other thoughts, of forfeited rank, lost fortune, 
 ^^^^- and attainted blood, may have mingled in his musings 
 
 A.D. 1715. with the reception he had before received, and the 
 dignity and power he had once enjoyed. There is a 
 bitter pleasantry in his relation of this his second 
 diplomatic visit to the French court, which marks 
 his disgust for the employment he had undertaken, 
 and shows that his thoughts were busily employed in 
 reflections upon what he had been and what he then 
 was. We have little other authority than his own 
 for the secret events which transpired during this 
 residence ; and since he had little inducement to con- 
 ceal or magnify the facts, we may allow him to relate 
 them in his own words. 
 
 " All I was charged with, and by consequence 
 all I am answerable for, was to solicit the French 
 court, and to dispose them to grant us the succours 
 necessary to make the attempt as soon as we should 
 know certainly from England in what it was de- 
 sired that these succours should consist, and whi- 
 ther they should be sent. Here I found a multitude 
 of people at work, and every one doing what seemed 
 good in his own eyes, — no subordination, no order, 
 no concert. Persons concerned in the management 
 of these affairs upon former occasions have assured 
 me this is always the case : it might be so to some 
 degree, but I believe never so much as now. The 
 Jacobites had wrought one another up to look upon 
 the success of the present designs as infallible : every 
 meeting-house which the populace demolished, every
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 373 
 
 little drunken riot which happened, served to confirm chap. 
 them in these sanguine expectations ; and there was ^^^^- 
 hardly one amongst them who would lose the air of a.d. 1715. 
 contributing by his intrigues to the restoration, which 
 he took for granted would be brought about without 
 him in a very few weeks. 
 
 " Care and hope sat on every busy Irish face. 
 Those who could write and read, had letters to 
 show ; and those who had not arrived to this pitch 
 of erudition, had their secrets to whisper. Fanny 
 Oglethorpe, whom you must have seen in England, 
 kept her corner in it ; and Olive Trant was the 
 great wheel of our machine. 
 
 " I imagine that this picture, the lines of which 
 are not in the least too strong, would serve to re- 
 present what passed on your side of the water at the 
 same time. The letters which came from thence 
 seemed to me to contain rather such things as the 
 writers wished might be true, than such as they 
 knew to be so : and the accounts which w^ere sent 
 from hence were of the same kind. The vanity of 
 some and the creduhty of others supported this 
 ridiculous correspondence ; and I question not but 
 very many persons — some such I have known — did 
 the same thing from a principle which they took to 
 be a very wise one. They imagined that they 
 helped by these means to increase the spirit of 
 party in England and France. They acted like 
 Thaos, that turbulent jEtolian, wlio brought An- 
 tiochus into Greece : * Quibus inendaciis de rege,
 
 374 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, multiplicando verbis copias ejus, erexerat multorum 
 XXII. jjj Grecia animos : iisdem et regis spem inflabat, 
 A.D. 1715. omnium votis eum arcessi.' Thus were numbers of 
 people employed, under a notion of advancing the 
 ])usiness or from an affectation of importance, in 
 amusing and flattering one another, and in sounding 
 the alarm in the ears of the enemy, whom it was 
 their interest to surprise. The government of Eng- 
 land was put on its guard ; and the necessity of 
 acting, or of laying aside with some disadvantage 
 all thoughts of acting for the present, was precipi- 
 tated before any measures necessary to enable you 
 to act had been prepared or almost thought of. 
 N^ " If his majesty did not till some short time after 
 this declare the intended invasion to parliament, it 
 was not for want of information. Before I came to 
 Paris, what was going on had been discovered. The 
 little armament made at the Havre, which furnish- 
 ed the only means the Chevalier then had for his 
 transportation into Britain, which had exhausted 
 the treasury of St. Germain's, and which contained 
 all the arms and ammunition that could be depended 
 upon for the whole undertaking, though they were 
 hardly sufficient to begin the work even in Scotland, 
 was talked of publicly. A minister less alert and 
 less capable than the Earl of Stair would easily 
 have been at the bottom of the secret, — for so it was 
 called, when the particulars of messages received 
 and sent, the names of the persons from whom they
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 375 
 
 came and by whom they were carried, were whis- chap. 
 pered about at tea-tables and in coffee-houses. ^^^^- 
 
 " In short, what by the indiscretion of the people a.d. nis. 
 here, what by the rebound which came often back 
 from London, what by the private interest and am- 
 bitious views of persons in the French court, and 
 what by other causes unnecessary to be examined 
 now, the most private transactions came to light ; 
 and they who imagined that they trusted their 
 heads to the keeping of one or two heads, were in 
 reality at the mercy of numbers. Into such com- 
 pany was I fallen for my sins. 
 
 " I had made very little progress in the business 
 which brought me to Paris, when the paper so 
 long expected was sent, in pursuance of former 
 instances, from England. The unanimous sense of 
 the principal persons engaged was contained in it : 
 the whole had been dictated word for word to the 
 gentleman who brought it over by the Earl of Mar : 
 and it had been delivered to him by the Duke of 
 Ormond. I was driving in the wide ocean without 
 a compass when this dropped unexpectedly into my 
 hands ; I received it joyfully, and I steered my 
 course exactly by it. Whether the persons from 
 whom it came pursued the principles and observed 
 the rules which they laid down as the measurer of 
 their own conduct and of ours, will appear by the 
 sequel. 
 
 *' This memorial asserted, that there were no
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, hopes of succeeding in a present undertaking, for 
 xxi^- many reasons deduced in it, without an immediate 
 A.D. 1715. and universal rising of the people in all parts of 
 England upon the Chevalier's arrival ; and that this 
 insurrection was by no means probable, unless he 
 brought a body of regular troops with him. That 
 if this attempt miscarried, his cause and his friends, 
 the English Hberty and government, would be ut- 
 terly ruined ; but if by coming without troops he 
 resolved to risk these and everything else, he must 
 set out so as not to arrive before the end of Sep- 
 tember : to justify which opinion many arguments 
 were urged. In this case, twenty thousand arms, a 
 train of artillery, five hundred officers with their ser- 
 vants, and a considerable sum of money, was demand- 
 ed : and as soon as they should be informed that the 
 Chevalier was in a condition to make this provision, 
 it was said that notice should be given him of the 
 places to which he might send, and to the persons 
 who were to be trusted. I do not mention some in- 
 conveniences which they touched upon arising from 
 a delay, because their opinion was clearly for this 
 delay, and because that they could not suppose that 
 the Chevalier would act, or that those about him 
 would advise him to act, contrary to the advice of 
 his friends in England. No time was lost in making 
 the proper use of this paper ; as much of it as was 
 fit to be shown in this court, was translated into 
 French and laid before the King of France. I was 
 now able to speak with greater assurance, and in
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 377 
 
 some sort to undertake conditionally for the event chap. 
 of things. ^^^^- 
 
 "The proposal of violating treaties so lately and a. d. 1715. 
 so solemnly concluded, was a very bold one to be 
 made to people, whatever their inclinations might be, 
 whom the war had reduced to the lowest ebb of 
 riches and power. They would not hear of a direct 
 and open engagement, such as the sending of a body 
 of troops would have been ; neither would they 
 grant the whole of what was asked in the second 
 plan. But it was impossible for them or any one 
 else to foresee how far those steps which they were 
 willing to take, well improved, might have encouraged 
 or forced them to go. They granted us some suc- 
 cours ; and the very ship in which the Pretender 
 was to transport himself was fitted out by Depine 
 D'Anicant, at the King of France's expense. They 
 would have concealed these appearances as much 
 as they could ; but the heat of the Whigs and the 
 resentment of the court of England might have 
 drawn them in. We should have been glad indi- 
 rectly to concur in fixing these things upon them ; — 
 and, in a word, if the late king had lived six months 
 longer, I verily believe there had been war again 
 between England and France. This was the only 
 point of time when these affairs had, to my appre- 
 hension, the least reasonable appearance even of 
 possibility : all that preceded was wild and un- 
 certain, all that followed was mad and desperate. 
 But this favourable aspect had an extreme short
 
 378 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, duration. Two events soon happened, one of which 
 ^^^^- cast a damp on all we are doing, and the other 
 
 A.D. 1715. rendered vain and fruitless all we had done ; — the 
 first was the arrival of the Duke of Ormond in 
 France, the other wasliHe death of the king. 
 
 " When I arrived at Paris, the king was already 
 gone to Marly, where the indisposition which he 
 had begun to feel at Versailles increased upon him. 
 He was the best friend the Chevalier had; and when 
 I engaged in this business my principal dependence 
 was upon his personal character : this failed me in 
 a great degree — he was not in a condition to exert 
 the same vigour as formerly. The ministers, who 
 saw so great an event as his death to be probably 
 at hand, — a certain minority, an uncertain regency, 
 perhaps confusion at best — a new face of government 
 and a new system of affairs, — would not for their own 
 sakes, as well as for the sake of the public, venture 
 to engage far in any new measures. All I had to 
 negotiate — by myself first, and in conjunction with 
 the Duke of Ormond soon afterwards — languished 
 with the king. My hopes sunk as he declined, and 
 died when he expired. The event of things has 
 sufficiently shown that all those which were enter- 
 tained by the duke and the Jacobite party under 
 the regency were founded on the grossest delusions 
 imaginable. Thus was the project become imprac- 
 ticable before the time arrived which was fixed bv 
 those who directed things in England for putting 
 it in execution.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 379 
 
 " The new government of France appeared to chap. 
 me like a strange country : I was little acquainted ^^'^^- 
 
 with the roads ; most of the faces I met with were a.d. 1715. 
 unknown to me, and I hardly understood the lan- 
 guage of the people. Of the men who had been in 
 power imder the late reign, many were discarded, 
 and most of the others were too much taken up 
 with the thoughts of securing themselves under 
 this, to receive applications in favour of the Pre- 
 tender. The two men who had the greatest appear- 
 ance of favour and power, were D'Aguesseu and 
 Noailles. One was made chancellor on the death 
 of Voisin, from attorney-general ; and the other was 
 placed at the head of the treasury. The first passes 
 for a man of parts, but he never acted out of the 
 sphere of the law. I had no acquaintance with him 
 before this time ; and when you consider his circum- 
 stances and mine, you will not think it could be 
 very easy for me to get access to him now. The 
 latter I had known extremely well while the late 
 king lived ; and, from the same court principle that 
 he was glad to be well with me then, he would 
 hardly know me now. The minister who had the 
 principal direction of foreign affairs* I lived in friend- 
 ship with ; and I must own to his honour, that he 
 never encouraged a design which he knew his court 
 had no intention of supporting. 
 
 " There were other persons — not to tire you with 
 further particulars upon this head — of credit and in- 
 
 * M. De Huxelles.
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, fluence, with whom I found indirect and private 
 •^■^^^- ways of conversing ; but it was in vain to expect 
 
 A.D. 1715. any more than civil language from them, in a case 
 which they found no disposition in their master to 
 countenance, and in favour of which they had no 
 prejudices of their own. The private engagements 
 into which the Duke of Orleans had entered with 
 his majesty during the life of the late king, will 
 abate of their force as the regent grows into strength, 
 and would soon have had no force at all if the Pre- 
 tender had met with success ; but in these beginnings 
 they operated very strongly. The air of this court 
 was to take the counterpart of all which had been 
 thought right under Louis XIV. : Cela ressemhle 
 trop ci L'ancien systhnCi was an answer so often given 
 that it became a jest and almost a proverb. But to 
 finish this account with a fact which is incredible, 
 but strictly true : — the very peace which had saved 
 France from ruin, and the makers of it, had become 
 as unpopular at this court as at the court of Vienna. 
 " The Duke of Ormond flattered himself in this 
 state of things that he had opened a private and 
 sure channel of arriving at the regent, and of bend- 
 ing him to his purposes. His grace and I lived to- 
 gether at the time in a house which one of my 
 friends had lent me : I observed that he was fre- 
 quently lost, and he made continual excursions out 
 of town with all the mysterious precaution imagin- 
 able. I doubted at first whether these intrigues 
 related to business or pleasure ; I soon discovered
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 381 
 
 with whom they were carried on, and had reason to chap. 
 believe that both were mingled in them. It isneces- ^^^^' 
 
 sary that I explain the secret to you. a.d. i715. 
 
 "Mrs. Trant,* whom I have named above, had 
 been preparing herself for the retired abstemious 
 life of a Carmelite by taking a surfeit of the pleasures 
 of Paris ; when, a little before the death of the 
 queen, or about that time, she went into England. 
 What she was entrusted either by the Chevalier or 
 any other person to negotiate there I am ignorant 
 of, and it imports not much to know. In that 
 journey she made or renewed an acquaintance with 
 the Duke of Ormond. The scandalous chronicle 
 affirms, that she brought with her, when she returned 
 into France, a woman of whom I have not the least 
 knowledge, but who was probably handsome, since 
 without beauty such a merchandize would not have 
 been saleable, nor have answered the design of the 
 importer ; and that she made this way her court to 
 the regent. Whatever her merit was, she kept a 
 correspondence with him, and piitlierself upon that /- 
 foot of a familiarity which he permits all those who -^''t^^^^/' 
 contribute to his pleasures to assume. She was / 
 placed by him, as she told me herself when I found her 
 some time after that which I am speaking of, in the 
 house of an ancient gentlewoman who had formerly 
 
 * She used to pretend a too much dishonoured by his 
 
 resolution of turning nun. She former life to be so even by 
 
 afterwards married the Duke this scandalous match, 
 of Bouillon's brother, who was
 
 382 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, been maid of honour to Madame, and who had 
 
 XXTT 
 
 contracted at court a spirit of intrigue which ac- 
 
 A.D. 1715. companied her in her retreat. 
 
 " These two had associated to them the Abb6 de 
 Jesieu in all the political part of their business, — for 
 I will not suppose that so reverend an ecclesiastic 
 entered into any other secret. This abbe is the 
 regent's secretary ; and it was chiefly through him 
 that the private treaty had been carried on between 
 his master and the Earl of Stair in the king's reign. 
 Whether the priest had stooped at the lure of a car- 
 dinal's hat, or whether he acted the second part by 
 the same order that he acted the first, I know not : 
 this is sure — and the British minister was not the 
 bubble of it, — that whilst he concerted measures on 
 one hand to traverse the Pretender's designs, he testi- 
 fied on the other all the inclination possible for his 
 service. A mad fellow who had been an intendant 
 in Normandy, and several other politicians of the 
 lowest form, were at different times taken into this 
 famous junto. 
 
 " With these worthy people his Grace of Ormond 
 negotiated ; and no care was omitted on his part 
 to keep me out of the secret ; the reason of which, 
 as far as I am able to guess at, shall be explained 
 to you by and by. I might very justly have taken 
 this proceeding ill ; and the duke will not be able 
 to find in my whole conduct towards him anything 
 like it. I protest to you very sincerely I was not 
 in the least moved by it.
 
 LORD liOLINGBROKE. 383 
 
 " He advanced not a step in this business with chap. 
 these sham ministers, and yet imagined that he got ^^^^- 
 daily ground : I made no progress with the true a.d. 1715. 
 one, but I saw it. These, however, were not our 
 only difficulties : we lay under another, which came 
 from your side, and which embarrassed us more. 
 The first hindered us from working forward to our 
 point of view ; the second took all point of view 
 from us. 
 
 " A paper was sent into England just before the 
 death of the King of France, which had been drawn 
 by me at Chaville, in concert with the Dukes of 
 Ormond and Berwick, and with M. de Torcy. This 
 paper was an answer to the memorial received from 
 thence. The state of this country was truly re- 
 presented in it : the difference was fixed between 
 what had been asked and what might be expected 
 from France ; and upon the whole it was demanded 
 what our friends would do, and what they would 
 have us to do. The reply to this came through 
 the French secretary of state to our hands. They 
 declared themselves unable to say anything till 
 they should see what turn affairs would take on so 
 great an event as the death of the king, the report 
 of which had reached them. 
 
 " Such a declaration shut our mouths and tied 
 our hands. I confess I knew neither how to solicit 
 nor what to solicit ; this last message suspending 
 the project on which we had acted before, and which 
 I kept as an instruction constantly before my eyes.
 
 384 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. It seemed to me uncertain whether you intended 
 
 XXII. 
 
 to go on, or whether your design was to stifle as 
 A.D. 1715. much as possible all past transactions — to be per- 
 fectly still, to throw upon the court the odium of 
 having given a false alarm, and to wait till new 
 accidents at home and a more favourable conjunc- 
 ture abroad might tempt you to resume the en- 
 terprise. Perhaps this would have been the wisest 
 game you could have played : but then you should 
 have concerted it with us who acted for you here. 
 You intended no such thing, as appeared afterwards ; 
 and therefore those who acted for the party in 
 London, whoever they were, must be deemed inex- 
 cusable for leaving things on the foot of this mes- 
 sage, and giving us no advice fit to be depended 
 upon for many weeks. Whilst preparations were 
 to be made, and the work was to be set a-going by 
 assistance from hence, you might reasonably expect 
 to hear from us ; but when all hopes of this kind 
 seemed to be gone, it was your part to determine 
 us, and we could take no resolution here but that 
 of conforming ourselves to whatever should come 
 prescribed from England."* 
 
 Such is the tone in which Bohngbroke describes 
 the early events of his second residence at the French 
 capital. In the account he has given us of his con- 
 duct, he asserts no partiality for the cause he had 
 undertaken ; he takes no credit for attaching him- 
 self to a desperate cause and an exiled prince ; he 
 
 * Letter to Sir William Windham.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 385 
 
 lays no claim to praise for a devotedness of loyalty chap. 
 which must often excite our sympathy, although we ^^^^- 
 
 cannot award it our approbation. The brilliancy of ^•^- i^is. 
 his talents might have lent brightness to the basest 
 cause ; those talents exerted in the cause of mis- 
 fortune might have invested him with a character of 
 chivalrous heroism : but while it rendered his career 
 and character more glittering, it must have de- 
 tracted from that steady sterling sense that was the 
 substratum of the showy parts which dazzled and 
 amazed. The motive of his conduct was the ad- 
 vantage of his party ; that motive he fearlessly ac- 
 knowledged and fearlessly pursued. 
 
 The man who sought to build his fortunes upon 
 those of the Pretender would certainly have aban- 
 doned the project when his circumstances had ar- 
 rived at the ebb at which we have just seen Boling- 
 broke describe them to be. If his hopes were placed 
 upon his success, he would be anxious to accelerate 
 the attempt. But Bolingbroke was not : he looked 
 only to his party in England for instructions ; and 
 he sufficiently intimates that if they had thought it 
 right to abandon his cause, and to disappoint the 
 anticipations of the ministry, they would have found 
 in him a willing coadjutor. Nor in this was his 
 conduct open to the accusation of treachery or un- 
 faithfulness. He had avowed to the person he was 
 serving, as explicitly as the temper of that person 
 would allow him to do, that he was a Tory, not 
 a Jacobite. Until the Tories declared for a resto- 
 
 VOL. I. 2 c
 
 386 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, ration, Bolingbroke had been deaf to all his pro- 
 ^^^^- posals ; and he joined him at last at their command, 
 
 A.D. 1715. and served him under their auspices. How far such 
 a devotedness to a faction is praiseworthy, or even 
 justifiable, it is unnecessary here to examine : suffi- 
 cient for our present purpose that it existed, and 
 that it prompted him to undertake, and sustained 
 him in the prosecution of, an ungrateful and arduous 
 office.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 387 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Distracted State of the Pretender s Counsels. — Insurrection in 
 Scotland resolved upon — Opposed by Bolingbroke — Its Issue. 
 — Intrigues at the French Court. — Bolingbroke s Dismissal 
 from his Office of Secretary. 
 
 1 HE condition in which he and the partisans of the chap. 
 Pretender now were, was sufficiently desperate; with xxiii. 
 
 nothing to hope for from France ; with no intelli- a.d. 1715. 
 gence from England ; acting each by different in- 
 struments, and intent rather to conceal their actions 
 from each other than to advance their common 
 cause. This state of uncertainty was rendered yet 
 more distracted by the wild designs of some of the 
 frenzied Jacobites, who thought an effort only want- 
 ing to ensure the assistance of Heaven for its success. 
 The sagacity of Bolingbroke alone had already pre- 
 vented the success of one of these attempts, which 
 would probably have ended in the extirpation of 
 the whole party. While he was engaged in the 
 negotiations at Paris, a monk arrived at Bar, re- 
 presenting himself as a messenger from the Duke 
 of Ormond. He gave a circumstantial account 
 of interviews he had had with that nobleman, and 
 
 2 c 2
 
 388 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, declared that by his instructions he had come to 
 ^^^^^- urge the immediate departure of the Chevaher for 
 
 A.D. 1715. his kingdom. All things, he said, were prepared ; 
 the people were ready to rise in his behalf, and 
 waited only his arrival to place the crown upon his 
 head. So confidently was this account given, and so 
 circumstantial was it in all its details, that a resolu- 
 tion was immediately taken at Bar to set out for 
 Britain, and Bolingbroke had named the time and 
 place of joining the Chevalier and taking part in the 
 intended expedition. Had he fulfilled his intention, 
 it is probable that the history of Bolingbroke would 
 have closed here : the axe might have terminated 
 his career before he had tarnished the lustre of his 
 intellect by those darker spots which have dimmed it 
 in the eyes of posterity. But the practised mind of 
 the ex-secretary discovered something suspicious in 
 the manner of the communication, and much that 
 was surprising in the matter. The messenger was 
 sent for from Bar to Paris, and quickly discovered 
 into what different hands he had fallen. Boling- 
 broke soon discovered and obliged him to confess 
 that the message was fictitious ; that the design of 
 an immediate attempt was unknown to the duke, 
 and was prompted only by the sanguine frenzy of 
 the monk himself. Immediately after, Ormond him- 
 self arrived in France, and sufficiently confii'med this 
 confession. 
 
 Such an event was a lesson of caution which Bo- 
 lingbroke, while he mingled in these transactions,
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 389 
 
 never forgot; and the verbal messages and unauthen- chap. 
 ticated reports which he now received, he treated ^^m- 
 with the contempt which the issue showed that they a.d. 1715. 
 deserved. He founded his rule of conduct upon the 
 less fallible dictates of his reason, which sufficiently 
 told him, that if, when the government were lulled in 
 security, — if, when they had no fleet at sea, no armies 
 upon the coast, and not above eight thousand troops 
 throughout the island, — if it was then a rash and hope- 
 less enterprise to attempt to shake the Hanoverian 
 from his throne without the strenuous assistance of 
 France, madness itself could hardly entertain the 
 idea of such an attempt when vigilance had been 
 aroused, preparations had been made, the scheme 
 had been discovered, and all assistance from the great 
 source of all their hope was worse than questionable 
 — was hopeless. 
 
 His conduct now was that which prudence re- 
 commended, and that which his motives in entering 
 upon the service he was engaged in enforced. He 
 resolved to remain passive until he had certain in- 
 structions from England, and until he was assured 
 by those instructions what the Tories there intended 
 to do, and what they expected from their friends 
 abroad ; to proceed no further than to employ the 
 slender resources that remained in his hands to 
 prevent the complete extinction of the flame, which 
 he knew not yet how to apply. 
 
 Even in this he was not only unassisted, but was 
 even opposed, by the French. Some arms which had
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, been embarked on board transports, which he had 
 XXIII. provided, and which were intended to keep alive the 
 A.D. 1715. expectations of the Pretender's friends, were, at the 
 instance of the English admiral. Sir George Byng, 
 disembarked and placed in the royal magazines : a 
 confiscation which declared that France was scru- 
 pulous not to risk the friendship of England for the 
 sake of advancing the fortunes of her enemy. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the senseless confidence 
 of the Jacobites rather increased than diminished. 
 A messenger arrived from Scotland to ask the Che- 
 valier whether he would have the insurrection made 
 immediately ; and to represent to him, that if it was 
 delayed much longer, it probably would not be made 
 at all. To represent the true state of affairs would 
 be to quench the very embers of the expiring fire. 
 He was told that the Chevalier yvaitedqn^^^^ for ad- 
 vices from England to issue instructions for an imme- 
 diate insurrection. As soon as measures could be so 
 concerted between his friends in both countries, so 
 that when the attempt was made it might be made 
 simultaneously and distract the attention of the go- 
 vernment, no delay should intervene between its 
 practicability and its accomplishment. If it were 
 possible, he was instructed, the Scots should remain 
 until England was ready to join them ; but if they 
 were so pressed that they must either resist or sub- 
 mit, the Chevalier said, let them rise immediately, 
 and he would make the best of his way to them. 
 It was not difficult for Bolingbroke to foresee
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 391 
 
 what must be the result of this message, and that chap. 
 
 V VTT r 
 
 the impatience of the Scots would embrace the most '_ 
 
 violent alternative. Having done everything in his ^'^■^- ^''^^^ 
 power to promote a scheme in which success might 
 be probable, he now endeavoured to prevent one in 
 which failure was certain. The Earl of Mar was, 
 since the departure of the Duke of Ormond,* the 
 leader of the Jacobite party in England. To him 
 Bolingbroke despatched a messenger, to represent 
 that he knew it to be his and his party's opinion 
 that Scotland could do nothing without England, and 
 that England would not stir without assistance from 
 abroad. He now declared to him that no such as- 
 sistance could be depended upon, and left the earl to 
 make the inference. The messenger arrived in Lon- 
 don, but the earl was already gone : the irrevocable 
 step had been taken, and Mar was in the Highlands 
 already at the head of the clans. Bolingbroke's 
 message was confided to Mr. Erasmus Lewis, a 
 stanch adherent of the Earl of Oxford ; he pro- 
 mised to transmit it to the now outlawed insurgent 
 chief; and this ineffectual warning was all that Bo- 
 lingbroke could do to arrest the ruin of the cause 
 in which he was embarked, and, what affected him 
 much more, the ruin of his friends who were in- 
 volved in that cause. 
 
 He had done all in his power to prevent this rash 
 step ; he now exerted himself to the utmost to falsify 
 
 * He had followed the ex- from England vvlien threatened 
 ample of Bolingbroke, and fled with an impeachment.
 
 392 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the predictions he had given. While counsel could 
 
 Y YTTT 
 
 '— avail, he was cautious and timid ; now that it was 
 
 A.D. 1715. necessary to act, he was confident and impetuous. 
 His energetic and manly deportment now reassured 
 those whom his former objections had made to hesi- 
 tate and doubt. When the moment was come for 
 decision, the spirits of the Chevalier himself seemed 
 to flag ; and Bolingbroke, who had before attempted 
 in vain to restrain his ardour, was assiduous to in- 
 spire him with confidence. He took a prominent 
 part in preparing the plan of the expedition, and 
 applied to the best purpose the slender means that 
 were at hand for giving it some chances of success. 
 He despatched an active emissary of the Jacobites,* 
 who for fear of accident got his instructions by 
 heart, to learn the state of things in England : he 
 was to lay open to the conspirators there the real 
 state of affairs, the destitution of the Chevalier, and 
 the absence of all foreign succour ; and he was to 
 concert with them whether his presence would be 
 more useful to the cause in England or in Scotland. 
 The Pretender held himself ready to set out im- 
 mediately he should receive an answer to this com- 
 munication, and was determined to abide by the 
 advice his friends in England should give him. 
 
 The answer was not long delayed. The messen- 
 ger had an interview with the Earl of Lansdowne, 
 who declared for the Jacobites in England that 
 they were ready to rise immediately, and that, since 
 
 * Mr. Ezechiel Hamilton.
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 393 
 
 affairs were rather retrograding than progressing, chap. 
 the enterprise should not be a moment delayed. '^'^^^^' 
 
 Bolingbroke had received intimation which led him a.d. 1715. 
 to suspect that the French ministry were dealing 
 treacherously with him, and had communicated to 
 the English government despatches which they had 
 undertaken to convey to the friends of the Preten- 
 der. This information he had transmitted to the 
 parties more immediately interested ; and it is pro- 
 bable that the supposition that they were already 
 known to the government as agents in the rebellion 
 which was so openly preparing, formed a powerful 
 stimulant to their immediate declaration. It was 
 represented that the western counties were ready, 
 so soon as the Pretender should make his appear- 
 ance, to rally around him : his person would there, 
 it was said, be as safe as in Scotland ; it would sti- 
 mulate those to action who would otherwise hesitate 
 to declare themselves, and it would tend in many 
 other respects to secure the unity and energy of his 
 friends. To this advice was added a general di- 
 rection that the place of his landing should be as 
 near to Plymouth as possible ; an expression which 
 alone shows how uncertain and indefinite were all 
 their plans. 
 
 However discouraging the prospect before him, 
 the Pretender resolved to respond to the call. True, 
 the invitation he had received was vague and 
 unsatisfactory ; he carried with him no troops to 
 guard him upon his landing ; he had not sufficient
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, force to protect himself even against the attempt of 
 ^^^^^^^- any private person who might be animated by a 
 A.D. 1715 desire to obtain the reward offered for his appre- 
 hension : but a kingdom was the prize to be striven 
 for, and the splendour of the reward ecHpsed the 
 dangers of the attempt. Persons were despatched 
 to the North of England, to signify the resolution 
 which had been taken, and to declare that the South 
 was already in arms : others were sent before to 
 London, to apprise their friends there, that their 
 king was on his way to place himself among them. 
 The Pretender at the same time set out from Bar, 
 and the Duke of Ormond from Paris. All things 
 were at length prepared for the decisive event. 
 
 But now it was that the uselessness of general 
 assertions became manifest. All were declared 
 ready to rise, yet no single town had resolved upon 
 the measures which alone could render such an 
 event certain. The whole country gave signs of 
 disaffection, but scarcely any means had been adopt- 
 ed to concert those minute circumstances necessary 
 to give power and direction to the feeling. The 
 predictions of his secretary were verified ; the ardour 
 of the Chevalier's hope was equalled by the depth of 
 his despondency. He had seen in the distance an 
 enchanting vision of splendour and royalty ; it was 
 not until he attempted to grasp it that he found it 
 was but a phantom. When he arrived in Britanny, 
 he was met by the Duke of Ormond, who had 
 already to recount misfortunes. No sooner had the
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 395 
 
 duke reached the coast, than he received intelligence chap. 
 that the most considerable of his friends were already ^'^^^^- 
 
 seized, and the government fully apprized of his a.d. nis. 
 designs. The messenger who brought this account 
 told him that the party was in the utmost conster- 
 nation, their leaders dispersed, and despair upon 
 every countenance. The firmness of the duke 
 prompted him to fulfil the scheme entrusted to him : 
 he embarked for and landed upon the western coast ; 
 but no acclamations greeted him, no multitudes 
 thronged to his standard. In the midst of the 
 county said to be so well affected to his cause, 
 and which had been so industriously prepared for 
 his reception, he was so far from obtaining any 
 encouragement or any hope of success, that he 
 was even refused a night's lodging ; and his friends, 
 who had explored the coast and now joined him, 
 declared that there was not the slightest symptom 
 of any movement throughout those parts of the 
 county which they had traversed. The duke had 
 no other course to pursue than to return. He 
 steered for the coast of Britanny, where he found 
 the Chevalier ready to embark, and stopped him 
 by the account he gave of the state of the cause. 
 
 Scotland, however, was in arms, and some hope 
 yet remained. The Chevalier resolved to put him--**** 
 self at the head of his adherents there, jajad make one 
 effort for his kingdom. The result is well known : 
 after performing some idle mimicries at Perth, he 
 was obliged to fly precipitately at the approach of
 
 396 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the Earl of Argyle, and embarking at Montrose, 
 ^-^^^^- was glad to betake himself again to the friendly 
 A.D. 1715. protection of a French town. His friends were led 
 as prisoners in triumph to London ; and every other 
 large place where the sedition had showed itself 
 could boast its petty procession of fettered Jacobites : 
 r Op \ ^^ these some were executed, some suffered banish- 
 
 tyO^-"*^^^ ment, others languished long in the prisons through- 
 \\ out the country, and others, by their impunity, 
 
 testified the weakness of their cause and the con- 
 tempt of the government. 
 
 It was no fault of Bolingbroke that he was not 
 personally engaged in this adventure. We have 
 seen him upon the near execution of a former pro- 
 ject about to share in all the dangers of the enter- 
 prise ; and his was not a disposition to remain in- 
 active while others were in the field. But the in- 
 terests of the party now required his presence in 
 Paris. In the event of any success attending the 
 first burst of insurrection, it would be of the utmost 
 importance to have a man of talent and reputation 
 upon the spot. When any chance of success oc- 
 curred, the French might become more manageable ; 
 and seasonable succours might possibly be obtained 
 to prosecute an advantage, or give a finishing stroke 
 to the attempt. This disposition of his talents was 
 judicious ; but fortune never gave him an oppor- 
 tunity of exerting them to advantage. The secret 
 negotiations, which had been concealed from him so 
 industriously, and which had been beheld by him
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 397 
 
 with such indifference, lost their agents, who were chap. 
 called off by the expedition. Their prosecution was ^-^^^^^ 
 now therefore forwardly thrust upon him. a.d. i715. 
 
 A little house in the Bois de Boulogne had been 
 the scene of these intrigues. It was the residence 
 of Mademoiselle de Chaussery, the superannuated 
 maid of honour who has been before mentioned. 
 This veteran mt?^igante, and the no less experi- 
 enced Olive Trant, were the actors in the myste- 
 rious drama. When Bolingbroke, in obedience to 
 their summons, attended them at this place, they 
 opened to him the intrigues which Ormond had 
 been carrying on : they told him of the hopes they 
 had of drawing the regent into their schemes, and 
 convinced him, by proofs which he could not dis- 
 believe, that they had access to and credit with that 
 person. Bolingbroke had long been trying in vain 
 to make any impression by fair and open appli- 
 cation ; he now determined to try the effect of a 
 more tortuous course. He remembered the court 
 of Anne, and the all-powerful influence which in- 
 trigue and favouritism had there possessed ; and 
 these reminiscences made him now, as his ambition 
 did then, stoop to conciliate instruments whom in 
 his heart he loathed. 
 
 Favoured by these worthies, he met with smoother 
 language and greater hopes than had hitherto been 
 extended to him. Some ambiguous communications 
 were even received from the regent ; an interview 
 was obtained for one of the Pretender's agents ; — a
 
 398 Memoirs of 
 
 CHAP, faint hope was again raised, and Bolingbroke strove 
 •^•^^^^' hard to ripen it to a reality : but fair words and 
 
 A.D. 1715. faint promises were all that could be obtained, and 
 he found himself as far from his object at the end as 
 he had been at the commencement of this intrigue. 
 
 With a connexion at once so humiliating and so 
 fruitless Bolingbroke was soon sufficiently disgusted ^^ / 
 he began to manifest an impatience which astonish- 
 ed his female coadjutors. They told him that the 
 regent had entertained personal prejudices against 
 him, and that it was only by degrees that they 
 could be removed. Bolingbroke was conscious of 
 no offence which could have produced such a dis- 
 like, and he doubted its existence. It proved, he 
 thought, that these women were amusing him only 
 with empty promises, and indulging their vanity — 
 perhaps their cupidity — at his expense. He declar- 
 ed that he would pursue the affair no further, and 
 desired them to explain the reasons of the personal 
 dislike which they said the regent entertained to- 
 wards him. He was readily answered, that he was 
 said to be in correspondence with the Earl of Stair, 
 the British minister, and had been seen coming out 
 of his house so late as three in the morning. This 
 had been reported to the regent, who looked upon 
 him as too dangerous a man to be trusted with se- 
 crets which might involve the peace of his kingdom. 
 This was a fact upon which Bolingbroke could 
 proceed. He immediately sent the Marshal of Ber- 
 wick to the regent, to express his concern that he
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 399 
 
 should labour under his displeasure, and to desire chap. 
 to know in what he had offended. The marshal ^^m- 
 
 was instructed to add, that a story, which it was A. d. 1715. 
 said the regent believed, had been related to him ; 
 that he expected the justice which he could deny to 
 no man, of having the accusation proved, — in which 
 case, he said, he was contented to pass for the last of 
 human kind, or of being justified if it could not be 
 proved. The regent admitted that such a story had 
 been related to him, and he had believed it ; but he 
 had since discovered that it was false, and that 
 Bolingbroke might rest satisfied of his regard. He 
 added, that he was certainly displeased that he who 
 could apply to him through his foreign secretary 
 should choose to make his communications through 
 Mrs. Trant. In an interview which soon after took 
 place, he repeated the same sentiments ; he com- 
 plained that Trant and her cabal teazed him to 
 death, and spoke of them in no measured terms. 
 Bolingbroke left him with but slender hopes of bring- 
 ing him to second his views, but with the satis- 
 faction of having received from himself an order to 
 hold no more communication with his patronesses in 
 the Bois de Boulogne. 
 
 This conduct seems to have been in accordance 
 with the general character of the Duke of Orleans. 
 With all the politeness of his nation, he united a 
 firmness of purpose which would not allow his con- 
 duct to be swayed by petty intrigue. His love of 
 pleasure and his dislike to give a positive refusal
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, prompted him to allow the importunities of his 
 ^^^^^' female cabal : but what his indolence promised, his 
 A.D. 1715. firmness restrained him from performing. His cha- 
 racter in this respect was not essentially different 
 from that of Bohngbroke : both were endowed with 
 brilliant parts, and both led debauched lives ; yet by 
 neither were the connexions into which their licen- 
 tiousness led them, suffered to interfere with their 
 measures of state.* 
 
 Bolingbroke found that all hope from France was 
 gone ; he applied himself, therefore, solely to con- 
 centrate and direct the resources he could command 
 independent of that court : tliese were small, and his 
 success was but commensurate with his means. To 
 the court of Spain he now made application, through 
 the Spanish ambassador at Paris, and more immedi- 
 ately through Lawless, who had long been in that 
 king's service. By these means some money was ob- 
 tained, but only in very small quantities. Officers 
 were picked out of the Irish troops then in the service 
 of Spain, and sent off by different routes to join the 
 
 * An anecdote upon this et la prenant par la main, la 
 subject is told in the Memoirs conduit devant une glace : 
 of Madame de Maintenon : — ' Vois-tu cette tete char- 
 " Ses maitresses ne le gou- mante ?' lui dit-il ; ' elle est 
 vernoient point : la Comtesse faite pour les caresses de 
 de P , livree a ses enne- I'amour, mais non pour les se- 
 mis, crut que I'instant de foi- crets de I'etat." — Mcmoires de 
 blesse etoit arrive, et osa le Madame de Maintenon, tom. v. 
 sonder sur une alFaire impor- p. 676. 
 tante. L'amant saute du lit,
 
 LORD BULINGBROKE. 401 
 
 Pretender. But these attempts were generally ren- chap 
 dered abortive by the delay which intervened before xxiii. 
 they could be accomplished; and the officers were on a.u. 1715 
 their way when the Chevalier returned from Scot- 
 land. 
 
 At the same time Bolinghroke-^ofc "advimta:ge-©f — 
 every accident which occurred to involve some of 
 the other powers of Europe in the quarrel. Sweden 
 offered soiTie_pmsp,ex:i£sJ!bOJicce^s ; but after much 
 expectation had been excited, he had the mortificaT 
 tion to find that his efforts were in vain. He made 
 an abortive attempt to fit out privateers who should 
 cruise under the Pretender's commission ; — an at- 
 tempt which, like all the others he had made, failed, 
 because there were no resources to furnish it with 
 the requisites of success. 
 
 After trying every possible quarter and exhausting 
 every chance of success, Bolingbroke determined, as 
 he declared to the French foreign secretary, that he 
 would be no longer made an instrument of amus- 
 ing the Scotch : since he could do them no service, 
 he resolved that he would at least inform them that 
 they must flatter themselves no longer with hopes 
 of succour from France. D'Huxelles approved his 
 resolution, and advised him to execute it ; explicitly 
 declaring it as his opinion, that it was the only thing 
 which was left to do.* 
 
 * Bolingbroke wrote an committing the Tories further 
 earnest letter to Sir William in this falling cause. This let- 
 Windham, to dissuade him from ter fell into the hands of the 
 
 VOL. I. 21 D
 
 402 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. Before he could act upon this determination, the 
 XXIII. bubble had burst — the real weakness of the cause 
 A.D. 1716. had become apparent, and the adventurer was re- 
 turned. Upon arriving at St. Germain's, he was met 
 by Bolingbroke, and received him with every mark 
 of approbation. The court of France was alarmed 
 that he should be in that kingdom and so near the 
 court : they urged his immediate departure, and 
 Bolingbroke concurred in the policy of such a step. 
 The displeasure of England and the evident ruin of 
 his cause would, he thought, induce the Duke of 
 Lorraine to refuse him the asylum which he had 
 hitherto afforded him : in that case, he would be 
 obliged to seek a refuge in the papal dominions ; — 
 a retreat of all others the most disadvantageous to 
 him, and offering the fewest facilities of commencing 
 any new intrigues. For these reasons, Bolingbroke 
 advised him to depart immediately for Bar, before 
 the duke had time to desire him to look out for 
 some other residence ; — a project in which he would 
 probably have succeeded, but which he was very 
 ill disposed to try. 
 
 On the contrary, he intended to stay at St. Ger- 
 main's until he could have an interview with the 
 regent; and he sent Bolingbroke back to Paris to 
 solicit the meeting. The regent refused the appli- 
 cation with a violence little in accordance with his 
 
 government, and a copy was Coxe's Life of Walpole, vol. if. 
 preserved. It is printed from p. 308. 
 tlie Townshend Papers in
 
 LOUD BOLINGBROKE. 403 
 
 usual character, and Bolingbroke returned not much chap. 
 displeased at his ill success. ^^^^^- 
 
 This occurred about the end of February. A few a.d. i716. 
 days after, the Pretender and his minister parted. 
 He said he acquiesced in the determination of the 
 regent, and declared that he would immediately set 
 out for Lorraine : his trunks were packed, his chaise 
 was ordered to the door, and a message was des- 
 patched to Paris to assure the minister that he was 
 gone. He inquired anxiously of Bolingbroke how 
 soon he would be able to follow him, and gave him 
 commissions for things which he desired him to 
 bring after him. " No Italian," says our author, 
 " ever embraced the man he was going to stab with 
 greater show of affection and confidence." 
 
 But the designs of the Chevalier were far other 
 than those he communicated to his secretary. In- 
 stead of hastening to Bar, he went to the little house 
 in the Bois de Boulogne. Here he lay concealed 
 for several days, and abandoned himself to the guid- 
 ance of his female advisers. They introduced to 
 him at this place the Spanish and Swedish ambas- 
 sadors ; and it is probable that their importunities 
 prevailed upon the regent to grant an interview 
 which he had refused to his minister. 
 
 Bolingbroke was too old a politician not to have 
 information of all these intrigues ; but he was too 
 indifferent as to the cause of the Pretender, and too 
 much disgusted with him personally, to care for 
 their issue. On the fourth day after that person 
 
 2 D 2
 
 404 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, had avowedly left him for Lorraine, the Duke of 
 ^^-^"^- Ormond waited upon him, and after hinting to him 
 A.D. 1716. the purport of his visit, delivered him two papers in 
 the Pretender's handwriting. One was a note to 
 the duke ; the enclosure was a slip of paper directed 
 to Bohngbroke : the laconic and kingly strain in 
 which it was written, contrasted ludicrously with 
 the situation in which Bolingbroke knew the writer 
 then to be.* It was a declaration that the king had^ 
 no further occasion for his services, and contained 
 an "equally laconic order to deliver up the papers of 
 his office. As the dismissed minister read this docu- 
 ment, he might have reflected with a smile that his 
 
 * I have followed Boling- to the subject of them by the 
 
 broke's own account of this Duke of Ormond at the in- 
 
 transaction. Mr. Archdeacon stance of the Earl of Mar. 
 
 Coxe has given another version. Mr. Coxe has not favoured 
 
 He say:, upon the authority us with the reasons which in- 
 
 of the Earl of Waldegrave's duced him to prefer this se- 
 
 Diary, who professes to have cond-hand rumour to the 
 
 had the account from General testimony of the person who 
 
 Buckley, then in the house- must have known and could 
 
 hold of the Pretender; that have no interest in disguising 
 
 Bolingbroke had supped with the truth. Too many persons 
 
 the Pretender the night be- were cognizant of the circum- 
 
 fore, left him at one o'clock stances, to allow us to suppose 
 
 in the morning, and received that he would have hazarded 
 
 his dismissal at nine. He a public and deliberate false- 
 
 adds, that the reason of this hood upon such a point. I 
 
 unceremonious treatment was only mention this circumstance 
 
 some contemptuous epithets as a proof of the impartiality 
 
 which Bolingbroke applied to with which Mr. Coxe treats 
 
 his master during a drunken his hero's great opponent, 
 fit, and which were repeated
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 405 
 
 royal master was then skulking in disguise at a cot- chap. 
 
 tage kept not for the most honourable or dignified L 
 
 of purposes, and that his royal mandate was pro- -^•^- ^^^6. 
 bably penned at the dictation of two ladies whose 
 profession it would be difficult to designate without 
 violence to the decency of modern expression. The 
 papers of his office were the contents of a moderate 
 sized paper-case ; and if Bolingbroke disobeyed the 
 order in this respect, it was to show that he felt no 
 resentment at the affair which could impel him for 
 a moment to take a revenge that was in his power. 
 Among the letters he had received from the Pre- 
 tender were several reflecting in no measured terms 
 upon the capacity of the man whom he now sent 
 to fulfil the disagreeable office of communicating his 
 dismissal. These he collected and returned by a 
 private channel ; the others, together with his seals 
 of office, he delivered to the duke. And thus ended, 
 by another unceremonious dismissal, Bolingbroke's 
 second career as a ministerr— -^ - "" 
 
 The circumstance that- h€ was now free of a 
 party which he never liked, was doubtless an event 
 upon which he congratulated himself ; but the man- 
 ner of his dismissal was no less annoying. He took 
 every measure in his power, however, to disguise his 
 anger — if indeed it was not, as he asserts, merged in 
 his contempt. He restored all the papers he had of 
 the Pretender; but he never condescended to de- 
 mand his own in return. He contented himself 
 with showing this piece of shadowy royalty how
 
 406 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, little difficulty there was in getting rid of a man 
 who wanted only an honourable excuse to get rid 
 
 A.D. 1/16. Qf jjjjyi and his cause. 
 
 The queen -do wager was more sensible of the 
 merits of the counsellor her son had dismissed : she 
 sent to Bolingbroke, begging him not to resign the 
 seals, and promising that everything should yet be 
 accommodated. " No," replied the insulted noble- 
 man, " tell them I am now a free man, and may 
 this arm rot off if it ever directs sword or pen in 
 their service again." * 
 
 * Earl of Waldegrave's Diary.
 
 LORD liOLlNGBROKE. 407 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Calumnies vented against JBolinghroke. — Impeached hy the Prc- 
 . tender. The Articles of his Impeachment examined. 
 
 After this event Bolinghroke remained for some chap. 
 days in retirement, and having communicated the cir- xxiv. 
 cumstances of his dismissal to two or three friends, a.d. 1716. 
 resolved to live alone until the noise the circum- 
 stance made in the scandal-loving city of Paris 
 should subside. This did not happen so soon as 
 he expected : when he again came abroad, he found 
 every mouth filled with anecdotes of his treachery 
 and duplicity ; his name was mentioned with the 
 most opprobrious epithets, and the most scandalous 
 stories were circulated and believed. 
 
 These were so extravagant, that he never deign- 
 ed to refute or even notice them: they generally 
 carried in themselves their refutation. We shall se- 
 lect one as a specimen of the rest. 
 
 The Pretender, in his journey to Bar, was to have 
 been accompanied only by one or two attendants ; 
 and, as we have seen, Bolingbroke urged his imme- 
 diate departure. Some days after, it was discovered 
 that a design had been formed of waylaying him 
 upon the road, and murdering him. The project
 
 408 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, was concocted by two Englishmen, and was to have 
 ^^^^'' been executed at Evreux, which lay upon his road- 
 
 A.D. 1716. The plot was discovered, and the men seized and 
 convicted of the crime; but as France was then 
 engaged in some negotiations with the British go- 
 vernment, they were set at liberty. It was now ■' 
 declared that Bolingbroke was the author of the 
 whole affair : he it was who had hired the assassins ; 
 he had named the spot for the commission of the 
 deed ; he had projected the journey to Lorraine, and 
 had used every effort to force his victim into the 
 toils he had prepared for him.* 
 
 The absurdity of such a charge was too great even 
 for Bolingbroke's most determined enemies to lend 
 it their countenance. But it was whispered around 
 the circles of Parisian society ; and many who hated 
 the man they could not rival, hesitated to pro- 
 nounce it false, although they w anted the effrontery 
 to proclaim it true. 
 
 This, and several other charges which were at this 
 time whispered against him, — such as having applied 
 to his own use a large sum of the Chevalier's money 
 and having, during the time that person was in 
 Scotland, left him without any notice of what was 
 doing in France, — were particular facts which par- 
 ticular facts could be brought to disprove-t Thus, 
 
 * Remarks of Lord Boling- f The Earl of Stair writes 
 
 broke's famous Letter, &c. p. to Walpole concerning these 
 
 57. — Memoires de Madame de reports thus : — March 3rd, 
 
 Maintenon, torn. v. p. 27L 1716.— " The true Jacobite
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 409 
 
 the queen's treasurer at St. Germain's could say, cjiap. 
 that the little money the Chevalier had, passed ^^^^- 
 through his hands ; and so far from Bolingbroke a.d. nie. 
 having received any for his own use, he had spent 
 a great part of his own no very large income in the 
 service : and it was a fact which all connected with 
 the expedition knew, that the Chevalier received no 
 less than five expresses from Bolingbroke during the 
 short time he was in Scotland; — no proof of neglect 
 on the part of his secretary, when it is remember- 
 ed that he was only absent from France about six 
 weeks in all. These charges at first gained credence 
 from the impudence with which they were asserted ; 
 they died away as soon as they were compared with 
 
 project has been at last dis- then, and he spent the money 
 
 covered, and they imagine no- upon his mistress that he should 
 
 body would tell it but Boling- have bought powder with ; and 
 
 broke, who they have, as they neglected buying and sending 
 
 now say, clearly discovered the powder and the arms, and 
 
 has all along betrayed them ; never went near the queen : 
 
 and so poor Harry is turned and, in one word, told Lord 
 
 out from being secretary of Stair all their designs, and was 
 
 state, and the seals are given had out of England for that 
 
 to Mar ; and they use poor purpose. I would not have 
 
 Harry most unmercifully, and you laugh, Mr. Walpole, for 
 
 call him knave and traitor, and all this is very serious. For 
 
 God knows what. I believe the rest, they begin now to 
 
 all poor Harry's fault was, that apprehend that their king is 
 
 he could not play his part with unlucky, and that the wes- 
 
 a grave enough face ; he could terly winds, and Bolingbroke's 
 
 not help laughing now and treason, have defeated the 
 
 then at such kings and queens, finest project that ever was 
 
 He had a mistress here at laid." — Walpole Papers ; 
 
 Paris ; and got drunk now and Coxes Life of Walpole. .
 
 410 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, the facts, which were too notorious to be contradict- 
 ^^^^- ed or perverted. But there were others which from 
 
 A.D. 1716. their nature were less capable of immediate re- 
 futation, and were insisted upon after the former 
 had been long forgotten. 
 
 These were of a less specific character : they 
 related to his general conduct, to his fidelity, to his 
 assiduity, — nay, even to his capacity ; — an objection 
 to which the envy of contemporaries might perhaps 
 lend a momentary colour, but which in the eyes of 
 posterity can recoil only upon those who alleged 
 it. These charges were soon afterwards adduced 
 in a more tangible form. With a ludicrous gravity, 
 the Pretender and his adherents impotently aped 
 the malignity of his enemies in England ; articles 
 of impeachment were exhibited against him in the 
 petty debating-club which was dignified with the 
 appellation of a parliament, and Bolingbroke was 
 found guilty upon seven charges. The neglect >of^ 
 the duties of his office stood foremost in the rank 
 of his offences. With what foundation of truth 
 this charge was constructed, the account we have 
 given of his conduct throughout may sufficiently 
 declare. Those who applied to him upon business 
 could, it was said, seldom obtain an interview ; and 
 if they succeeded, they could yet more rarely find the 
 secretary in a mood to listen to their communications, 
 or to discuss with them the object of their inquiry. 
 For this there might be some slight ground. The 
 .parties who were ever thronging him with fabulous
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. 411 
 
 accounts of concerted risings, and childish projects for chap. 
 future revolutions, would often find in Bolingbroke ^^^^^'- 
 a contemptuous listener; and he might sometimes a.d. nie. 
 refuse to waste his attention upon their drivellings. 
 We have already seen sufficient to show us that 
 the frantic monks and harebrained Jacobites who 
 formed the body-guard of the Chevalier were not 
 the men whom a statesman would admit into his 
 counsels, or honour with his confidence. That Bo- 
 lingbroke was ever really wanting in investigating 
 the subjects that were committed to his care, his 
 detection of the monk who was about to lead the 
 Chevalier and his party to certain destruction may 
 go far to disprove ; the contempt which he cared not 
 to conceal for many similar characters, the same 
 event may fully justify. 
 
 The second charge was neglecting to send arms 
 and ammunition to the^Earl of Mar, who was re- 
 duced to the greatest distress for want of them, and 
 who sent no less than six messengers to require 
 them of him. 
 
 The answer to this charge was more simple and 
 conclusive than gratifying to the vanity of the person 
 who directed it to be brought. There were no arms 
 or ammunition to be obtained. The Pretender had 
 out of England no money, no resources, no arms, no 
 ammunition ; nor had he any friends who could or 
 would supply them. The efforts which Bolingbroke 
 was making during the whole time of the Pretender's 
 remaining in Scotland have been stated ; their issue
 
 412 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, has also been stated ; and that account sufficiently 
 XXIV. shows the impossibility there was of obtaining suc- 
 A.D. 1716. cours from the French court, for a cause, the success 
 of which was at that time even opposed to their in- 
 terest, and towards which their actions, whatever 
 their professions might have been, manifested en- 
 mity rather than favour. 
 
 Thcvlhird article in this mock impeachment was 
 a neglect in sending assistance to the Pretender 
 while he was in Scotland ; a charge which has been 
 already abundantly met, and which might have been 
 easily disposed of by the accused. 
 
 In the fourth article we have a particular fact ; 
 an advantage which but few of the others afford. 
 It states that there was at Havre a j:onsiderable 
 quantity of stores and arms belonging to the Pre- 
 tender ; and charges, that at the time these were 
 so particularly necessary for his service^ they were 
 suffered to remain useless ; and that Count Castel 
 Blanco, in whose custody they were, could procure 
 from the secretary no instructions for their trans- 
 portation, although he made continual applications 
 for that purpose. 
 
 If this accusation can be supported, it carries with 
 it a confirmation of all the rest : it deprives the 
 secretary of his great and satisfactory ground of de- 
 fence — the non-existence of the succours which he 
 was expected to forward. The facts, however, will 
 be found somewhat at variance with the charge. 
 As stated by Bolingbroke, they amount to this: — The
 
 LORD BOLINGBROKE. ^^^ 
 
 stores were part of those which were landed from chap. 
 
 . XXIV. 
 
 the Chevaher's vessels at the instance of the English 
 
 admiral. They were then placed in the puhlic ma- ^•^" ^^^^" 
 gazines of France. Castel Blanco was a Spaniard, 
 who, having married an Englishwoman, considered 
 himself therefore entitled to take a deep interest in 
 the disposal of the British crown. He became a 
 confederate of the cabal in the Bois de Boulogne ; 
 and these people, who were piqued by the contempt 
 and desertion of Bolingbroke, were eager to do some- 
 thing which might shake his credit and increase 
 their own importance. By their means the regent 
 was induced to promise that these stores should be 
 delivered up to their original owner, if this could be 
 accomplished without committing the neutrality of 
 France. This promise was communicated to Bo- 
 lingbroke, who, although too experienced to confide 
 in it, was too careful to neglect it. A project was 
 invented, by which the condition upon which the 
 promise was founded should be observed. Castel 
 Blanco was to receive the stores, and was to enter 
 into recognizances to convey them to Spain, and 
 thence to the West Indies. Bolingbroke was to 
 provide a vessel for this purpose, which Blanco was 
 to pretend to hire or buy. When the ship was at sea, 
 she was of course to proceed directly for Scotland. 
 
 The success of this project depended entirely on 
 the secrecy which was preserved, — and secrecy and 
 celerity are not often attainable together : yet in a 
 fortnight's time the ship was ready to sail, and no
 
 414 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP, suspicion of her destination or of her belonging to 
 
 XXIV 
 
 L. the Chev^aher was gone abroad. This argued no 
 
 A.D. 1716. neglect or incapacity on the part of the manager. 
 But the stores were not forthcoming ; nor could 
 Castel Blanco get an order for their delivery until 
 the Pretender was on his way back to Gravelines. 
 The first order he gave upon landing was to stop all 
 ships which were proceeding upon his account to 
 Scotland : this was one of the few ships stopped 
 in obedience to that order. 
 
 Such is the account of this business which is 
 to be gathered from the justification Bolingbroke 
 published a short time after. Since his facts have 
 never yet been called in question, we are bound to 
 beheve them true : and if they are true, what be- 
 comes of this fourth charge of these veracious ar- 
 ticles ? 
 
 The fifth charge amounts to no more than that 
 certain persons at the French court doubted his lord- 
 ship's fidelity to the cause, and that yet more en- 
 tertained but little respect for his discretion. Dis- 
 cretion was a quality which Bolingbroke forfeited 
 much of his claim to when he consented to enter 
 so miserable a service at all : but perhaps even his 
 impetuosity would have received a check, had he 
 known that he was to be responsible for all the 
 opinions which the fools around him might choose 
 to entertain of his integrity or conduct. 
 
 Sixthly, he is accused of having prevented many 
 merchants from sending arms and ammunition into
 
 LORD BOLINGRROKE. 415 
 
 Scotland, by requiring a public order for their em- chap. 
 barkation ; a thing which he well knew the court -^-^iv. 
 of France could not grant. This accusation is ge- a.d. 1716. 
 neral, and can be met only by a general denial, 
 which may be drawn from probabilities. It would 
 be a singular thing indeed that Bolingbroke should 
 restrain independent merchants from proceeding to 
 Scotland ; and that not only when their errand there 
 would give some hopes of success to a party with 
 which his hopes of restoration were linked, but 
 when he was also straining every nerve to obtain 
 privateers, who should receive the Pretender's com- 
 mission to cruise, in return for a voyage they were 
 to make to Scotland on the account of the Pre- 
 tender. But the fact is, that the time the insur- 
 rection lasted in Scotland was so short, and the de- 
 lays in France were so long, that there was no time 
 during the absence of the Chevalier to plan and exe- 
 cute any expedition, however trifling. 
 
 The last article was a repetition of the obsolete 
 scandal of the Parisian cafes, stating that Boling- 
 broke had held no correspondence with the Chevalier 
 during his absence. He publicly declared this ac- 
 cusation to be false, and pointed out the persons 
 through whom the correspondence passed. That 
 reply was never contradicted. 
 
 These articles were printed and circulated in Eng- 
 land ; and Bolingbroke directed his secretary to give 
 them the following laconic answer : — 
 
 " The Earl of Mar and the others who came from
 
 416 MEMOIRS OF LORD BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 CHAP. Scotland are so much in want of any excuse for 
 
 ^^i^^- their flight, that they have thought fit to have my 
 
 A.D. 1716. Lord Bolingbroke discharged the Chevalier's service 
 
 in the most abrupt and injurious manner, under the 
 
 pretence that the want of powder which he delayed 
 
 to send forced them to abandon Scotland. 
 
 "His lordship says publicly, — 1st, That he is 
 able to prove, that if they wanted powder, it was not 
 by his fault. 
 
 " 2ndly, That according to what the Chevalier and. 
 Earl of Mar both say in their letters, they must 
 have come away as they did, had they had all the 
 powder in France. 
 
 " 3rdly, That if they had pleased to have stayed 
 in Scotland a few days longer, they would have re- 
 ceived near 10,000 arms, and near 30,000 weight 
 of powder, and other stores in proportion. 
 
 " And lastly. That the true reason flows from 
 another source ; and that he knew and spoke of the 
 design to discard him long before the want of powder 
 was so much as talked of. That he is unwilling to 
 enter into particulars of those general heads, for rea- 
 sons that may be easily guessed, since he is per- 
 suaded he shall neither pass for a traitor nor a dri- 
 veller among his friends." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
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