meeting of parliament—eugene's visit to england—ministerial attacks on the dutch—meeting of the negotiators at utrecht—the question of the spanish throne—sham fighting against the french—debates on the peace in parliament—withdrawal of the english troops—consequent triumph of the french—bolingbroke's visit to paris—break-up of the grand alliance—more negotiations with the pretender—death of godolphin—marlborough retires to the continent—signature of the peace—the treaty of commerce—its rejection by the commons—the whereabouts of the pretender—dissolution of parliament—the general election—intrigues with st. germains—bolingbroke's activity—his friends in office—the empire and spain make peace—the pretender declines overtures to change his religion—illness of the queen—tax on newspapers—attack upon the "public spirit of the whigs"—steele expelled the house—proposals against the pretender and for bringing over the electoral prince—counter-scheme for bringing over the pretender—obstacles to the scheme—the queen's letter to the elector—death of the electress sophia—the schism bill—its progress through the houses—reward for the apprehension of the pretender—fall of oxford—bolingbroke's jacobite cabinet—illness of the queen—the whig coup d'état—ruin and desperation of the jacobites—death of anne—proclamation of george i.

the houses of parliament reassembled on the 17th of january, 1712, and anne sent word that she was not able to attend in person, not having recovered sufficiently from her attack of the gout. she announced that the plenipotentiaries were now assembled at utrecht, and[2] were already engaged in endeavouring to procure just satisfaction to all the allies according to their several treaties, and especially with relation to spain and the indies. this was a delusion, for, by our treaty with the emperor, we had engaged to secure spain and the indies for his son; and it was now, notwithstanding the assurance in her message regarding them, fully determined to give them up to philip. there was a strong protest in the message against the evil declarations that there had been an intention to make a separate peace, though nothing was more notorious than that the ministers were resolved, if the allies did not come to their terms, to go on without them. the message ended by recommending a measure for the restriction of the liberty of the press. much alarm was expressed at the great licence in the publishing of false and scandalous libels, though the ministers themselves did not scruple to employ the terrible pen of swift.

on the 6th of january there landed at greenwich an illustrious visitor to the court on an unwelcome errand—namely, prince eugene. the allies, justly alarmed at the ministerial revolution which had taken place in england, and at the obvious design of the tories to render abortive all the efforts of the whigs and the allies through the war, from mere party envy and malice, sent over eugene to convince the queen and the government of the fatal consequences of such policy. harley paid obsequious court to the prince as long as he hoped to win him over. he gave a magnificent dinner in his honour, and declared that he looked on that day as the happiest of his life, since he had the honour to see in his house the greatest captain of the age. the prince, who felt that this was a mean blow at marlborough, replied with a polite but cutting sarcasm, which must have sunk deep in the bosom of the lord treasurer, "my lord, if i am the greatest captain of the age, i owe it to your lordship." that was to say, because he had deprived the really greatest captain of his command. the queen, though she was compelled to treat eugene graciously, and to order the preparation of costly gifts to him as the representative of the allies, regarded him as a most unwelcome guest, and in her private circle took no pains to conceal it. the whole tory party soon found that he was not a man to be seduced from his integrity, or brought to acquiesce in a course of policy which he felt and knew to be most disgraceful and disastrous to the peace of europe; and being fully convinced of this, they let loose on the illustrious stranger all the virulence of the press. eugene returned to the continent, his mission being unaccomplished, on the 13th of march.

whilst prince eugene had been labouring in vain to recall the english government from its fatal determination to make a disgraceful peace, the dutch envoy van buys had been equally active, and with as little success. the ministers incited the house of commons to pass some severe censures on the dutch. they alleged that the states general had not furnished their stipulated number of troops both for the campaigns in the netherlands and in spain; that the queen had paid above three millions of crowns more than her contingent. they attacked the barrier treaty, concluded by lord townshend with them in 1709, and declared that it contained several articles destructive to the trade and interests of great britain; that lord townshend was not authorised to make that treaty; and that both he and all those who advised it were enemies to the queen and kingdom. they addressed a memorial to the queen, averring that england, during the war, had been overcharged nineteen millions sterling—which was an awful charge of mismanagement or fraud on the part of the whig ministers. they further asserted that the dutch had made great acquisitions; had extended their trade as well as their dominion, whilst england had only suffered loss. anne gave her sanction to this address by telling the house that she regarded their address as an additional proof of their affection for her person and their attention to the interests of the nation; and she ordered her ambassador at the hague, the new earl of strafford, to inform the states of these complaints of her parliament, and to assure them that they must increase their forces in flanders, or she must decrease hers.

this naturally roused the states, who made a very different statement; contending that, by the treaties, every ally was bound to do all in its power to bring the common enemy to terms; that england, being more powerful than holland, ought to bear a larger share of the burden of the war; yet that the forces of holland had been in the netherlands often upwards of a hundred thousand, whilst those of england had not amounted to seventy thousand; that this had prevented the dutch from sending more soldiers to spain; and that, whilst england had been at peace in her own territory, they (the dutch) had suffered severely in the struggle. to this a sharp answer was drawn up by st. john, and despatched on the 8th of march, of which the real gist was that,[3] according to the dutch, england could never give too much, or the united provinces too little. nothing could exceed the bitterness of tone which existed between england and the allies, with whom it had so long manfully contended against encroaching france; for the whole world felt how unworthily the english generally were acting under the tory ministry, and this did not tend to forward the negotiations, which had been going on at utrecht since the 29th of january. to this conference had been appointed as the british plenipotentiaries, the new earl of strafford—whom swift, a great partisan of the tory ministry, pronounced a poor creature—and robinson, bishop of bristol, lord privy seal. on the part of france appeared the marshal d'uxelles, the abbé de polignac, and mesnager, who had lately been in england settling the preliminaries. on the part of the dutch were buys and vanderdussen; and, besides these, the emperor, the duke of savoy, and the lesser german princes had their representatives.

france and england being already agreed, independently of the consent of the rest of the allies, the conference began on a basis which was sure to lead to immediate confusion and contention. the dutch plenipotentiaries were astonished to see the different tone displayed by the french ambassadors. they were no longer the humble personages that they had been at gertruydenberg. the abbé polignac, who was the chief speaker, assumed a high and confident manner. the french envoys, therefore, when the dutch deputies demanded that the treaty should be carried out on the basis of the terms offered at gertruydenberg, told them plainly that matters were now quite altered, and that the conditions offered at gertruydenberg could not be entertained by france at all, but those to which the queen of england had agreed in london; that unless the dutch were willing to treat on these conditions, they would find their allies concluding peace without them, and that on the spot. the chief article to which the allies objected was the concession of spain to philip; and they were the more resolute because it had become imminently necessary from changes that had now taken place in france. the dauphin had died of the smallpox during the last year. the title had been conferred on his son, the duke of burgundy; but the duke of burgundy had just expired, too, in the sixth year of his age; and of the dauphin's children there only now remained the duke of anjou, a sickly child of two years old. this child was the only remaining obstacle to philip, the king of spain, mounting the throne of france. the danger was so obvious of the union of france and spain in a very few years—to prevent which had been the object of the war—that the english government was compelled to demand from philip a distinct renunciation of all claims on the french crown, and from france as distinct a one in the treaty that any such claim should be resisted. st. john entered into a correspondence with de torcy, the french minister, on this point; and the answers of de torcy must have shown the english government how useless it was to attempt to bind frenchmen on such matters. he replied that any renunciation on the part of philip or any french prince would be utterly null and void according to the laws; that on the king's death the next heir male of the royal blood succeeded, independently of any disposition or restriction of the late king, or any will of the people, or of himself, even; that he was, by the laws of france, sovereign by right of succession, and must be so, in spite of any circumstances to the contrary; that neither himself, the throne, nor the people had anything to do with it, but to obey the constitution. therefore, even if philip did bind himself to renounce the crown of france, should the present dauphin die, he would be king, independently of any circumstances whatever. another expedient, however, was proposed by the english ministry, who must have seen clearly enough the folly of their treating on such hollow ground. that was, if philip did not like to renounce the crown of france, he should at once quit the throne of spain, and agree that the duke of savoy should take it and the indies, surrendering his own territories to philip, to which should be added naples, sicily, montserrat, and mantua, all of which, whenever philip succeeded to the french crown, should be annexed to france, with the exception of sicily, which should be made over to austria. louis xiv. professed to be delighted with this arrangement, but philip would not listen to it, showing plainly that he meant, notwithstanding any renunciation, to retain his claim to both france and spain.

on such utterly unsubstantial ground did the english ministers continue this negotiation. they assured de torcy that the queen of england insisted on philip's renunciation of one throne or the other, and he at length renounced that of france, everybody seeing that the sense in which he renounced it was no renunciation at all, but a pretence to get the peace effected; and thus the[4] english ministers, with their eyes open to the fraud, went on urging the allies to come into these most delusive and unsatisfactory terms. but as the renunciation of philip did not arrive till after midsummer, the negotiators at utrecht continued to talk without advancing, and the armies in the field continued to look at each other without fighting.

marshal villars, like the french plenipotentiaries, had made a great display of forces, pretty certain, from private information, that there was little fear of being attacked. the allies had a fine army of one hundred and twenty thousand men opposed to him; but so far as the english were concerned, their commander had his hands tied. the duke of ormonde was sent to take the place of the duke of marlborough—a certain indication that he was meant only for a mere show general. he was a staunch jacobite, but no general of talents or experience fit to succeed a man like marlborough. on arriving at the hague he assured the states general that his instructions were to act zealously with the allies, and especially the dutch, and from his letters it would appear that such were his orders. but before his arrival, mr. thomas harley, a relative of oxford's, and the abbé gualtier, had reached the hague, and had assured the plenipotentiaries that the government had determined on peace, and would not allow the army to fight. they also brought over with them the scheme of the treaty, which was not yet to be made known to the dutch. but the states general were too well aware of the hollow proceedings of the english court, and, disgusted at the withdrawal of marlborough and the substitution of ormonde, they would not entrust their troops to him, but appointed eugene as their own general. thus, instead of one generalissimo of consummate genius, the army was divided under two chiefs, the abler chief, the prince eugene, having the utmost contempt for the martial talents of his colleague. all on the part of england, both in the conference and in the army, was hollow, treacherous, and disgraceful. yet, though there was to be no fighting, the pretence of it was kept up. the earl of albemarle marched with a detachment of the army to arras, where he burnt and destroyed some magazines of the french. ormonde, too, joined prince eugene on the 26th of may, and the united army passed the scheldt, and encamped between haspres and solennes. eugene proposed to attack villars in his lines, and ormonde consented to it, but he immediately received a peremptory order from mr. secretary st. john against engaging in any siege or battle, and he was directed to keep this order profoundly secret from the allies. ormonde was also instructed that if villars should intimate that he was aware of these secret proceedings, he was to take no notice of them; nor was villars long in letting him know that they might now consider each other as friends. the situation of ormonde thus became one of extreme embarrassment. on the one hand, eugene urged him to prepare for an engagement; on the other, the dutch were impatient to see some stroke which should humble the french and make negotiation more easy; but ormonde was as unable to move, notwithstanding previous assurances, as if he had been a mere image of wood. he wrote to st. john, expressing in strong terms the embarrassing nature of his situation, assuring him that the dutch were exclaiming that they were betrayed; but st. john encouraged him to hold out as well as he could, and ormonde condescended to play this false and degrading part, equally disgraceful to him as a general and a man of any pretences to honour. the prince urged forward the necessity of laying siege to quesnoy, and ormonde was allowed, for the sake of keeping up appearances, to furnish a considerable detachment for the purpose. but there was so evident a backwardness in the duke's movements, that the dutch deputies complained vehemently to the english plenipotentiaries at utrecht of his refusal to act in earnest against the enemy. thereupon robinson, the bishop, took high ground, and retorted that the states general had met the queen's proposals for peace so strangely, that her majesty now felt herself released from any further obligation to maintain the treaties and engagements between herself and them. this roused the states to great and indignant activity. they entered into communication with the electors of hanover, of hesse-cassel, and other princes of the empire, regarding the effective service of their troops in the pay of great britain. they sent off warm remonstrances to the queen of england, and anne was obliged to summon a council, in which it was agreed that ormonde should appear as much as possible to concur with eugene in the siege.

accordingly, on the 5th of june, the queen proceeded to the house of lords, and stated in a long speech the terms on which it was proposed to make the peace with france—namely, that louis xiv. should acknowledge the protestant succession and remove the pretender out of france; that philip should renounce the crown of spain[5], should that of france devolve on him; and that the kings of both france and spain should make solemn engagements for themselves and their heirs that the two kingdoms should never be united under one crown; that newfoundland, with placentia, hudson's bay, nova scotia, or acadia, as it was then termed by the french, as well as gibraltar, port mahon, and the whole island of minorca, should be ceded to england; that the spanish netherlands, naples, sardinia, the duchy of milan, and the places on the tuscan coast, formerly belonging to spain, should be yielded to austria, the appropriation of sicily being not so far determined; that france would make the rhine the barrier of the empire, yielding up all places beyond it, and razing the fortresses on the german side as well as in the river; that the barriers of savoy, the netherlands, and prussia, should be made satisfactory to the allies. the electoral dignity was to be acknowledged in the house of hanover.

dean swift.

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the house of commons received the speech with enthusiasm, and carried up an address of thanks in a body. very different, however, was the reception of the speech in the house of lords. lord wharton proposed that in the address they should declare themselves against a separate peace, and the duke of marlborough supported that view. he said that for a year past the measures pursued were directly opposed to her majesty's engagement with the allies, had sullied the glories of her reign, and would render our name odious to all nations. lord strafford, who had come over from the hague purposely to defend the government policy, and his own share in it at utrecht, asserted that the opposition of the[6] allies would not have been so obstinate had they not been encouraged by a certain member of that house who corresponded with them, and stimulated them by assurances that they would be supported by a large party in england. this blow aimed at marlborough called up lord cowper, who directed his sarcasm against strafford on the ground of his well-known illiterate character, observing that the noble lord had been so long abroad that he had forgotten not only the language but the constitution of his country; that according to our laws it could never be a crime in an individual to correspond with its allies, but that it was a crime to correspond, as certain persons did, with the common enemy, unknown to the allies, and to their manifest prejudice. the amendment of lord wharton, however, was rejected, and the protest, entered against its rejection by twenty peers and bishops, was voted violent and indecorous, and erased from the journal.

notwithstanding these addresses and the confident tone of the queen's speech, the funds fell, and there was general dissatisfaction at the conditions of the proposed pacification. in order to stimulate the proceedings and excite a jealousy of the dutch, st. john professed to discover that they were themselves secretly negotiating with france, and urged that, if we did not take care, they would have the management of the negotiations and not her majesty. lord strafford hastened back to the hague, and from thence to utrecht, where he proposed a cessation of arms, which was rejected by the allies. he then went on to the army, where the duke of ormonde was in a situation of the utmost difficulty. he had received orders from government, in consequence of the clamour in parliament, to support prince eugene at the siege of quesnoy, which he had invested on the 8th of june, and accordingly he had appeared before the place with such forces as threatened speedily to reduce it. at the same time he had received from the marquis de torcy a copy of the articles of peace signed by him, and from the marquis of villars the most bitter remonstrances on his conduct, which he did not hesitate to declare most perfidious and disgraceful. on the other hand, prince eugene, who did not find the english forces, notwithstanding their presence, rendering any active service, was equally irritated by his proceedings. ormonde could but reply to each party that such were his orders, and leave the government to bear the ignominy of it. to extricate themselves from the just censures on this dishonourable policy, st. john instructed ormonde to demand from villars the surrender of dunkirk, which, it was asserted, must be put into the hands of the queen's troops, as a pledge that france would perform all that she had promised, before there could be a cessation of hostilities.

the french hastened to comply with this condition, on the understanding that ormonde would immediately draw off his troops from quesnoy; and the duke was obliged to announce to prince eugene that he was under this necessity, in consequence of the terms agreed upon between france and england; in fact, that he must cease all opposition to the french. ormonde, therefore, not only gave the command for the retirement of the english troops, but also of all those belonging to the german princes which were in british pay. eugene and the dutch field deputies protested most indignantly against this proceeding, and the mercenary troops themselves refused to follow ormonde. in vain did he endeavour to move the officers of those troops; they despised the conduct of england in abandoning the advantageous position at which they had arrived for terminating the war gloriously, and releasing the common enemy of europe from his just punishment to gratify party spirit in england.

when the french saw that ormonde could not induce the mercenary troops to move, they refused to surrender dunkirk, and an english detachment which arrived there to take possession found the gates shut in their faces. at this insult the british troops burst out into a fury of indignation. the officers as well as the men were beside themselves with shame, and shed tears of mortification, remembering the glorious times under marlborough. ormonde himself, thus disgraced, thus helpless—for he had not the satisfaction, even, of being able to avenge himself on the french,—thus deserted by the auxiliaries, and made a laughing-stock to all europe by the crooked and base policy of his government, retired from before the walls of dunkirk, and directed his course towards douay. the dutch shut their gates against him, and he finally retired in ignominy to england.

eugene, during these affairs, had been actively prosecuting the fortunes of the allies with his remnant of an army. he pushed on the siege of quesnoy, and took it. he sent a flying detachment of one thousand five hundred cavalry, under major-general grovestein, to make an incursion into france. this force made a rapid raid in champagne, passed the noire, the meuse, the moselle, and the saar, ravaged the country, reduced a great number of villages and towns to[7] ashes, rode up to the very gate of metz, and then retired to traerbach with a load of rich booty. this was a proof of what might have been done in france at this period with the whole army united under a commander like marlborough, in place of miserably giving up everything to that country in the moment of power. as it was, it created the utmost consternation in paris, the people of which already saw the english at their gate; whilst louis did not think himself safe at versailles, but gathered all the troops in the neighbourhood of the capital around his palace, leaving the city to take care of itself.

but harley and st. john had deprived the nation of its triumph, and left the way open to fresh insults and humiliations. no sooner did villars see the english forces withdrawn from the allies, than he seized the opportunity to snatch fresh advantages for france, and thus make all their demands on the allies certain. he crossed the scheldt on the 24th of july, and, with an overwhelming force, attacked the earl of albemarle, who commanded a division of the allied army at denain. eugene, who, from the reduction of quesnoy, had proceeded to lay siege to landrey, instantly hastened to the support of albemarle; but, to his grief, found himself, when in sight of him, cut off from rendering him any assistance by the breaking down of the bridge over the scheldt; and he had the pain to see albemarle beaten under his very eyes. seventeen battalions of albemarle's force were killed or taken. he himself and all the surviving officers were made prisoners. five hundred wagons loaded with bread, twelve pieces of brass cannon, a large quantity of ammunition and provisions, horses and baggage, fell into the hands of the french. villars then marched on to marchiennes, where the stores of the allies were deposited, and took it on the 31st of july, the garrison of five thousand being sent to valenciennes prisoners. he next advanced to douay, where eugene would have given him battle, but was forbidden to do so by the states, and thus douay fell into villars' hands. then came the fall of quesnoy and bouchain, which had cost marlborough and eugene so much to win.

it was now the turn of the french to triumph, and of the allies to suffer consternation. louis, once more elate, ordered te deum to be sung in notre dame, and all paris was full of rejoicing. he declared that god had given a direct and striking proof of the justice of his cause and of the guilty obstinacy of the allies. his plenipotentiaries assumed at utrecht such arrogance that their very lacqueys imitated them; and those of mesnager insulted one of the plenipotentiaries, count von richteren, and louis justified them against all complaints. in such circumstances, all rational hope of obtaining peace except on the disgraceful terms accepted by england vanished.

in fact, though the allies still held out, it was useless. bolingbroke—for st. john had been called in this year to the upper house as viscount bolingbroke—accompanied by matthew prior, had been in paris since the beginning of august, where they were assisted also by the abbé gualtier, determined to close the negotiations for england, whether the allies objected or not. to make this result obvious to the whole world, the troops which ormonde had brought home were disbanded with all practicable speed. the ostensible cause of bolingbroke's and prior's visit to paris was to settle the interests of the duke of savoy and the elector of bavaria; but the real one was to remove any remaining impediment to the conclusion of the treaty of peace. france and england were quite agreed; bolingbroke returned to london, and prior remained as resident at the court of france, as if the articles of peace were, in fact, already signed. a truce, indeed, for four months longer by land and sea was proclaimed in paris. it was agreed that the pretender should return to lorraine; that all hostilities should cease in italy in consequence of the arrangement of the affairs of the duke of savoy; and that the austrian troops should be allowed to quit spain and return to naples.

the secession of the duke of savoy only the more roused the indignation of the allies. the dutch breathed a hotter spirit of war just as their power of carrying it on failed; and even the experienced heinsius made an energetic oration in the states general, declaring that all the fruits of the war would be lost if they consented to the peace proposed. but to avoid it was no longer possible. the english plenipotentiaries pressed the allies more and more zealously to come in, so much so that they were scarcely safe from the fury of the dutch populace, who insulted the earl of strafford and the marquis del borgo, the minister of the duke of savoy, when the news came that the duke had consented to the peace. every endeavour was made to detach the different allies one by one. mr. thomas harley was sent to the elector of hanover to persuade him to co-operate with her majesty; but, notwithstanding all risk of injuring his succession to the english crown, he declined. similar attempts were made[8] on the king of prussia and other princes, and with similar results. the english ministers now began to see the obstacles they had created to the conclusion of a general peace by their base desertion of the allies. the french, rendered more than ever haughty in their demands by the successes of villars, raised their terms as fast as any of the allies appeared disposed to close with those already offered. the dutch, convinced at length that england would make peace without them, and was bending every energy to draw away their confederates, in october expressed themselves ready to treat, and to yield all pretensions to douay, valenciennes, and mauberg, on condition that condé and tournay were included in their barrier; that the commercial tariffs with france should be restored to what they were in 1664; that sicily should be yielded to austria, and strasburg to the empire. but the french treated these concessions with contempt, and bolingbroke was forced to admit to prior that they treated like pedlars, or, what was worse, like attorneys. he conjured prior "to hide the nakedness of his country" in his intercourse with the french ministers, and to make the best of the blunders of his countrymen, admitting that they were not much better politicians than the french were poets. but the fault of bolingbroke and his colleagues was not want of talent, it was want of honesty; and, by their selfish desire to damage their political rivals, they had brought their country into this deplorable dilemma of sacrificing all faith with their allies, of encouraging the unprincipled disposition of the french, who were certain to profit by the division of the allies, and of abandoning the glory and position of england, or confessing that the whigs, however much they had erred in entering on such enormous wars, had in truth brought them to the near prospect of a far more satisfactory conclusion than what they were taking up with.

whilst matters were in this discouraging condition, lord lexington was sent to spain to receive the solemn renunciation of the crown of france for philip and his successors, in the presence of the cortes, which accordingly took place on the 5th of november. portugal, also, on the 7th of november, signed, at utrecht, the suspension of arms, at the same time admitting to the allies that she did it only as a matter of absolute necessity. the portuguese had held out firmly till the english refused to give them any assistance, when the marquis de bay invaded the kingdom at the head of twenty thousand men, and laid siege to campo-major. the english troops in spain were ordered to separate from those of the allies under count stahremberg, and were marched into catalonia to embark at barcelona. the people of that province beheld the english depart with sentiments of indignant contempt. england had first incited them to take up arms and declare for king charles under the most solemn engagements never to make peace without them. but now they had broken their faith in the most shameless manner, and left them to the vengeance of the french triumphant in spain. such on all sides were the facts which forced on the world the conviction of the perfidy of england, which had hitherto borne so fair a reputation.

another dishonourable characteristic of the ministers of queen anne at this period was that they were in secret zealous partisans of the pretender, and whilst openly professing a sacred maintenance of the protestant succession, were doing all in their power to undermine it. they had given mortal offence to the elector george of hanover, the heir to the throne, by their treachery to the allies; and, as the health of the queen was most precarious from her excessive corpulence and gout, which was continually menacing a retreat to her stomach, this was equally a cause for their hastening the peace, however disgracefully, and for paving the way, if possible, for the return of the pretender at the queen's death. bolingbroke was the great correspondent with st. germains, as his letters in the stuart papers abundantly show. but oxford, although always more cunning and mysterious, was equally concerned in it; nor was the queen, if we may believe these remarkable papers, by any means averse from the succession of the pretender, in spite of his stubborn adhesion to popery. the jacobite party was numerous, powerful, and indefatigable. they were in the ministry and in both houses of parliament. at this moment a public appointment was made which filled the whigs with consternation and rage. this was no other than that of the duke of hamilton—a supposed partisan of the pretender—to be ambassador to the court of versailles. prior was still there, and had all the requisites of a clever and painstaking envoy; but, being only a commoner and a poet, it did not suit the aristocratic notions of england that he should be accredited ambassador. hamilton was appointed, and would thus have had the amplest opportunity of concerting the return of the stuarts with the base ministers at home. but he was not destined to see versailles,[9] for, as readers of thackeray's "esmond" will remember, he was killed in a duel by lord mohun.

the english plenipotentiaries insulted in the streets of utrecht. (see p. 7.)

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instead of hamilton, the duke of shrewsbury was sent to versailles, where matthew prior remained to lend his superior knowledge of french affairs and superior address to the negotiations. the weight of tory vengeance now fell on the duke of marlborough, whom the ministers justly regarded as the most dangerous man amongst the whigs by his abilities and the splendour of his renown. the earl of godolphin died in september of this year. he had always been a staunch friend of the marlboroughs. his son, lord rialton, was married to marlborough's eldest daughter, and during godolphin's later years he was nearly a constant resident with the marlboroughs, and died at their lodge in windsor park. godolphin was one of the best of the whigs; of a clear, strong judgment, and calm temper. he had rendered the most essential services during the conflict against france, by ably and faithfully conducting affairs at home, whilst marlborough was winning his victories abroad; and that great general knew that he should be supported against all his enemies and detractors so long as godolphin remained in power. the highest eulogium on godolphin's honesty lies in the fact that he died poor. but at godolphin's death marlborough stood a more exposed object to the malice of his foes. they did not hesitate to assert that he had had a deep concern in the plot for hamilton's death. he was also harassed by debt. he therefore resolved to retire to the continent, where he continued to keep up a correspondence with the elector of hanover and the pretender to the last, so that whichever came in he might stand well with him. he wrote to st. germains, showing that though he had appeared to fight against the king of england, as he styled the pretender, it was not so. he had fought to reduce the power of france, which would be as much to the advantage of the king when he came to the throne as it was to the present queen. he gave his advice to the pretender for his security and success. "the french king and his ministers," he says, "will sacrifice everything to their own views of peace. the earl of oxford and his associates in office will[10] probably insist upon the king's retiring to italy; but he must never consent. he must neither yield to the french king, nor to the fallacious insinuations of the british ministry, on a point which must inevitably ruin his cause. to retire to italy, by the living god! is the same thing as to stab himself to the heart. let him take refuge in germany, or in some country on this side of the alps. he wants no security for his person; no one will touch a hair of his head. i perceive such a change in his favour, that i think it is impossible but that he must succeed. but when he shall succeed, let there be no retrospect towards the past. all that has been done since the revolution must be confirmed." he added that queen anne had no real aversion from her brother's interests, but that she must not be alarmed, as she was very timid.

at length it was announced that peace was signed with france at utrecht, and it was laid before the council (march 31, 1713). bolingbroke had made another journey to the continent to hasten the event, but it did not receive the adhesion of the emperor at last. holland, prussia, portugal, and savoy had signed, but the emperor, both as king of austria and head of the empire, stood out, and he was to be allowed till the 1st of june to accept or finally reject participation in it. this conclusion had not been come to except after two years' negotiation, and the most obstinate resistance on the part of all the others except england. even in the english cabinet it did not receive its ratification without some dissent. the lord cholmondeley refused to sign it, and was dismissed from his office of treasurer of the household. on the 9th of april the queen opened parliament, though she was obliged to be carried thither and back in a chair in consequence of her corpulence and gout. she congratulated the country on this great treaty, declared her firm adherence to the protestant succession, advised them to take measures to reduce the scandalous licentiousness of the press, and to prevent duelling, in allusion to the tragic issue of that between hamilton and mohun. she finally exhorted them to cultivate peace amongst themselves, to endeavour to allay party rage; and as to what forces should be necessary by land and the sea, she added, "make yourselves safe; i shall be satisfied. next to the protection of divine providence, i depend on the loyalty and affection of my people; i want no other guarantee." on the 4th of may the proclamation of peace took place. it was exactly eleven years since the commencement of the war. the conditions finally arrived at were those that have been stated, except that it was concluded to confer sicily on the duke of savoy for his services in the war; on the elector of bavaria, as some equivalent for the loss of bavaria itself, sardinia, with the title of king; and that, should philip of spain leave no issue, the crown of spain should also pass to him.

the treaty of peace received the sanction of the parliament; not so the treaty of commerce. by this treaty it was provided that a free trade should be established according to the tariff of 1664, except as it related to certain commodities which were subjected to new regulations in 1669. this went to abolish all the restrictions on the importation of goods from france since that period, and within two months a law was also to be passed that no higher duties should be levied on goods brought from france than on the like goods from any other country in europe. commissioners were appointed to meet in london to carry these propositions into effect; but there immediately appeared a violent opposition to these regulations, which were contained in the eighth and ninth articles of the treaty of commerce. it was declared that these articles violated the treaty of methuen, according to which the duties on portuguese wines were always to be lower by one-third than the duties on the french wines.

on the 9th of june, when the house of commons went into committee on the bill, a large number of merchants desired to be heard against it. for several days their statements were heard, and the portuguese ambassador also presented a memorial declaring that should the duties on french wines be lowered to those of portugal, his master would renew the woollen and other duties on the products of great britain. this seemed to enforce the mercantile opinions; the sense of the whole country was against the treaty, and the speech of sir thomas hanmer, a tory, made a deep impression. there was, however, a growing rumour, during the latter days of the debate, that oxford had given the treaty up—a rumour probably not without foundation, for oxford and bolingbroke were no longer in unity. the latter, ambitious and unprincipled, was intriguing to oust his more slow and dilatory colleague; and, as the bill was ostensibly the work of bolingbroke, probably oxford was by no means unwilling that it should be thrown out to damage him. when the question, therefore, was put on the 18th of june,[11] that the bill be engrossed, it was negatived by a majority of one hundred and ninety-four to one hundred and eighty-five. thus the commercial treaty was lost, much to the joy of the nation, and certainly to its immediate benefit.

the defeated party, however, did not give up the idea of the treaty of commerce. another bill was introduced to modify, or, as it was called, to render the commercial treaty more effectual; but such a host of petitions was presented against it, that it was abandoned. sir thomas hanmer, however, proposed and carried an address to the queen, which was intended to cover, in some degree, the defeat of the ministers; and, as he had got rid of the bill itself, he did not hesitate to move for what appeared inconsistent with his proceedings, namely, thanks to her majesty for the care she had taken of the security and honour of the kingdom by the treaty of peace, and also by her anxiety for a treaty of commerce; and, further, recommending her to appoint commissioners to meet those of france, and endeavour to arrange such terms of commerce as should be for the good and welfare of her people. this was laid hold of, as was no doubt intended, in the queen's reply, which assumed this to be a declaration of a full approbation of the treaty of commerce, as well as that of peace; and she thanked them in the warmest terms for their address.

encouraged by their success against the commercial treaty, the whigs demanded that the pretender, according to the treaty of peace, should be requested to quit france. it had been proposed by the french court, and privately acceded to by anne, that he should take up his residence at bar-le-duc or lorraine. the duke of lorraine had taken care to inquire whether this would be agreeable to the queen, and was assured by her minister that it would be quite so. as his territory—though really a portion of france—was nominally an independent territory, it seemed to comply with the terms of the treaty; but the whigs knew that this was a weak point, and on the 29th of june lord wharton, without any previous notice, moved in the peers that the pretender should remove from the duke of lorraine's dominions. the court party was completely taken by surprise, and there was an awkward pause. at length lord north ventured to suggest that such a request would show distrust of her majesty; and he asked where was the pretender to retire to, seeing that most, if not all, the powers of europe were on as friendly terms with the king as the duke of lorraine. lord peterborough sarcastically remarked that as the pretender had begun his studies at paris, he might very fitly go and finish them at rome. no one, however, dared to oppose the motion, which was accordingly carried unanimously. on the 1st of july, only two days afterwards, general stanhope made a similar motion in the house of commons, which was equally afraid to oppose it, seeing that the house was still under the triennial act, and this was its last session. the slightest expression in favour of the pretender would have to be answered on the hustings, and there was a long silence. sir william whitelock, however, was bold enough to throw out a significant remark, that he remembered the like address being formerly made to the protector to have king charles stuart removed out of france, "leaving to every member's mind to suggest how soon after he returned to the throne of england notwithstanding." the addresses carried up from both houses were received by the queen with an air of acquiescence, and with promises to do her best to have the pretender removed. prior, in paris, was directed to make the wishes of the public known to the french government. but this was merely pro forma; it was understood that there was no real earnestness on the part of the english queen or ministry. prior, writing to bolingbroke, said that de torcy asked him questions, which for the best reason in the world he did not answer; as, for instance, "how can we oblige a man to go from one place when we forbid all others to receive him?" in fact, the abbé gualtier, in his private correspondence, assures us that bolingbroke himself suggested to the duke of lorraine the pretexts for eluding the very commands that he publicly sent him.

anne prorogued parliament on the 16th of july in a speech, in which she felicitated herself on having closed a long and bloody war, which she had inherited, and not occasioned. she trusted also that before the meeting of the next parliament the commercial interests of france and england would be better understood, so that there would be no longer any obstacle to a good commercial treaty. she said not a word regarding the pretender, so that it was felt by the whigs that she had followed the dictates of nature rather than of party in regard to him. on the 8th of august she dissolved parliament by proclamation, its triennial term having expired. burnet says it had acquired the name of the pacific parliament; and he winds up his[12] own history with the remark that "no assembly but one composed as this was could have sat quiet under such a peace." there was every effort made, however, to impress on the constituencies the high merit of the parliament in making an advantageous and glorious peace, medals being cast for that purpose bearing the effigy of the queen and a latin motto laudatory of peace.

the elections were now carried on with all the fire and zeal of the two parties. the tories boasted of their successful efforts to stem the tide of expenditure for the war, to staunch the flow of blood, and restore all the blessings of peace. the whigs, on the contrary, made the most of their opposition to the treaty of commerce, which they represented as designed to sacrifice our trade to the insane regard now shown to the french. to show their interest in trade, they wore locks of wool in their hats; and the tories, to show their attachment to the restoration and the crown, wore green twigs of oak. never was shown more completely the want of logical reason in the populace, for whilst they were declaring their zeal for the protestant succession, and whilst burning in effigy on the 18th of november—queen bess's day—the pope, the devil, and the pretender, they sent up a powerful majority of the men who were secretly growing more and more favourable to the pretender's return. never, indeed, had the chances of his restoration appeared so great. general stanhope, on the close of the elections, told the hanoverian minister that the majority was against them, and that if things continued ever so short a time on the present footing, the elector would not come to the crown unless he came with an army.

in the macpherson and lockhart papers we have now the fullest evidence of what was going on to this end. the agents of both hanover and st. germains were active; but those of hanover were depressed, those of st. germains never in such hope. the jesuit plunkett wrote: "the changes go on by degrees to the king's advantage; none but his friends advanced or employed in order to serve the great project. bolingbroke and oxford do not set their horses together, because oxford is so dilatory, and dozes over things, which is the occasion there are so many whigs chosen this parliament. though there are four tories to one, they think it little. the ministry must now swim or sink with france." in fact, oxford's over-caution, and his laziness, at the same time that he was impatient to allow any power out of his own hands, and yet did not exert it when he had it, had disgusted the tories, and favoured the ambitious views which bolingbroke was cherishing. the latter had now managed to win the confidence of lady masham from the lord treasurer to himself; and, aware that he had made a mortal enemy of the elector of hanover by his conduct in compelling a peace and deserting the allies, he determined to make a bold effort to bring in the pretender on the queen's decease, which every one, from the nature of her complaint, felt could not be far off. to such a pitch of openness did the queen carry her dislike, that she seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in the most derogatory terms of both the old electress sophia and her son. oxford's close and mysterious conduct disgusted the agents of hanover, without assuring those of the pretender, and threw the advantage with the latter party more and more into the hands of bolingbroke. baron schutz, the hanoverian agent, wrote home that he could make nothing of oxford, but that there was a design against his master; and when lord newcastle observed to the agent of the pretender that, the queen's life being so precarious, it would be good policy in harley to strike up with the king and make a fair bargain, the agent replied, "if the king were master of his three kingdoms to-morrow, he would not be able to do for mr. harley what the elector of hanover had done for him already." thus oxford's closeness made him suspected of being secured by the elector at the very moment that the elector deemed that he was leaning towards the pretender.

meanwhile the changes made in the government offices betrayed the rising influence of bolingbroke. the duke of shrewsbury was made lord lieutenant of ireland; the duke of ormonde, a noted jacobite, was appointed warden of the cinque ports and governor of dover castle, as if for the avowed purpose of facilitating the landing of the pretender; lord lansdowne was made treasurer of the household; lord dartmouth, privy seal; mr. bromley, the tory leader of the commons, joint secretary with bolingbroke; benson, chancellor of the exchequer, was created lord bingley, and sent as ambassador to spain; and sir william wyndham, till now a friend of bolingbroke's, succeeded benson as chancellor. thus bolingbroke was surrounded by his friends in office, and became more daring in his rivalry with oxford, and in his schemes to supplant the[13] house of hanover and introduce the pretender to the british throne.

sir richard steele.

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whilst the english court was distracted by these dissensions, the emperor was endeavouring to carry on the war against france by himself. he trusted that the death of queen anne would throw out the tories, and that the whigs coming in would again support his claims, or that the death of louis himself might produce a change as favourable to him in france; he trusted to the genius of eugene to at least enable him to maintain the war till some such change took place. but he was deceived. the french, having him alone to deal with, made very light of it. they knew that he could neither bring into the field soldiers enough to cope with their arms, nor find means to maintain them. they soon overpowered eugene on the rhine, and the emperor being glad to make peace, eugene and villars met at rastadt to concert terms. they did not succeed, and separated till february; but met again at the latter end of the month, and, on the 3rd of march, 1714, the treaty was signed. by it the emperor retained freiburg, old briesach, kehl, and the forts in the breisgau and black forest; but the king of france kept landau, strasburg, and all alsace. the electors of bavaria and cologne were readmitted to their territories and dignities as princes of the empire. the emperor was put in possession of the spanish netherlands, and the king of prussia was permitted to retain the high quarters of guelders.

the peace with spain was also ratified in london on the 1st of march. by this, spain, so far as diplomatic contracts could effect it, was for ever separated from france. philip acknowledged[14] the protestant succession, and renounced the pretender. he confirmed the assiento, or exclusive privilege of the english supplying the spanish west indies and south american colonies with slaves, one-fourth of the profit of which the queen reserved to herself—a strange proof of the small idea of the infamy of this traffic which prevailed then in england, whilst so truly benevolent a woman could calmly appropriate money so earned to her own use. gibraltar and minorca were also confirmed to england, on condition that the spanish inhabitants should enjoy their own property and their religion. there was a guarantee given by philip for the pardon and security of the catalans. they were to be left in possession of their lives, estates, and honours, with certain exceptions, and even these were at liberty to quit the country and remove to italy with their effects. but the catalans, who had taken up arms for charles of austria at our suggestion, were greatly incensed at the dishonourable manner in which we had abandoned them and the cause, and, putting no faith in the word of philip, they still remained in arms, and soon found themselves overrun with french troops, which deluged their country with blood, and compelled them to submit. amid all the disgraceful circumstances which attended the peace of utrecht, none reflected more infamy on england than its treatment of the people of catalonia.

during these transactions the activity of the pretender and his agents was encouraged by the growing influence of bolingbroke in the english court. bolingbroke proposed to oxford that they should pay the dowry of the pretender's mother, the widow of james ii.; but to this oxford objected, saying that the widow of james had not contented herself with the title of queen-dowager of england, but had assumed that of queen mother, which, he observed, could not be lawfully admitted after the attainder of her son. this strengthened the hands of bolingbroke with lady masham, who was violently in favour of the pretender. lady masham's disgust with oxford was wonderfully increased. in writing to mesnager, she did not hesitate to say that if the court of st. germains trusted to oxford, they would be deceived; that he was "famous for loving a secret, and making intricacies where there needed none, and no less renowned for causing everything of such a nature to miscarry." the pretender, having every day increased encouragement from lady masham and bolingbroke, demanded of the emperor of germany one of his nieces in marriage; and it was reported that the emperor was agreeable to it, and ready to espouse his cause. it was well known that distinct propositions had been made to the pretender through the duke of berwick, at the instance of lady masham, before her breach with oxford, by which his restoration on the demise of anne was agreed to on condition that he should guarantee the security of the church and constitution of england, and that not even his mother should be admitted to the knowledge of this agreement. at the last point, however, oxford failed to conclude this secret treaty. the duke of berwick, in his memoirs, says that, in consequence of this conduct of oxford's, the friends of the pretender turned their attention to other parties about the court—to lord ormonde, the duke of buckingham, and many other persons. buckingham—who was married to the lady catherine darnley, a daughter of james ii. by catherine sedley, and was, therefore, brother-in-law to the pretender—wrote to the earl of middleton, the pretender's minister, how earnestly he desired to see the king back on the english throne; that nothing but his religion stood in the way; that this was the only thing which prevented the queen from acknowledging him; and he urged him to follow the example of henry iv. of france, who gave up the protestant religion when he saw that he could not securely hold the crown without doing so. but the pretender was, much to his credit—being firmly persuaded of the truth of his religion—much too honest to renounce it, even for the crown of such a kingdom as great britain; and he argued that the english people ought to see in his sincerity a guarantee for his faithful dealing with them in all other matters. but, unfortunately, the example of his father had barred the way to any such plea. no man was more positive in the adherence to his religion, or in his sacrifices on its account; but no man had at the same time so thoroughly demonstrated that he had no such honourable feeling as to breaking his word where any political matter was concerned.

in the midst of these secret correspondences the queen was seized at windsor with a serious illness, and, considering the general state of her health, it was most threatening. the hopes of the jacobites rose wonderfully; the funds went rapidly down; there was a great run upon the bank, and the directors were filled with consternation by a report of an armament being ready in the ports of france to bring over the pretender at the first news of anne's decease.[15] they sent to the lord treasurer to inform him of the danger which menaced the public credit. the whole of london was in excitement, from a report that the queen was actually dead. the whigs did not conceal their joy, but were hurrying to and fro, and meeting in large numbers at the earl of wharton's. the lord treasurer, to keep down the public alarm, remained in town, and contented himself with sending expresses to obtain constant news of the queen's state, for his hurrying to windsor would have had an inconceivable effect. he, therefore, let himself be seen publicly where he could be questioned regarding the condition of the queen, and gave assurances that she was better. to allay the panic, anne was induced to sign a letter prepared for her, announcing to sir samuel stancer, the lord mayor, that she was now recovering, and would be in town and open parliament on the 16th of february. this news being confirmed, those who had been too hasty in pulling off their masks found some awkwardness in fitting them on again. the press was active. steele published a pamphlet called "the crisis," in advocacy of the revolution, and on the danger of a popish succession; whilst on the other hand came out a reply, supposed to be written by swift, not without a few touches from bolingbroke; it was styled "the public spirit of the whigs," and was distinguished by all the sarcasm of the authors. the queen's recovery, and the fact that the french armament was a fiction, quieted the storm and again restored the funds.

the parliament was punctually opened on the 16th of february, 1714, by the queen, as she had promised at windsor, though she was obliged to be carried there; for during last autumn she had been obliged, by her gout and obesity, to be raised into her chamber by pulleys, and so let down again, like henry viii. after congratulating the two houses on the peace with spain, she turned to the subject of the press, and the rumours spread by it regarding the danger of the protestant succession. bolingbroke had been active enough in prosecuting the press because it was dangerous to the designs which he was cherishing, notwithstanding the affected warmth which he and oxford had put into the queen's mouth. they had taxed the penny sheets and pamphlets which agitated these questions; but this, according to swift, had only done their own side mischief. bolingbroke had, further, arrested eleven printers and publishers in one day. but now the war was opened in parliament, lord wharton, in the house of peers, called for the prosecution of "the public spirit of the whigs," and the printer and publisher were brought to the bar. these were john morphew, the publisher, and one john bache, the printer. but lord wharton, who was aiming at higher quarry, said, "we have nothing to do with the printer and publisher, but it highly concerns the honour of this august assembly to find out the villain who is the author of that false and scandalous libel." oxford denied all knowledge of the author, yet, on retiring from the debate, he sent one hundred pounds to swift, and promised to do more. lord wharton then turned upon the printer, whom he had first affected to disregard, and demanded that he should be closely examined; but the next day the earl of mar, one of the secretaries of state, declared that her majesty had ordered his prosecution. this was to shield him from the parliamentary inquiry. here the matter dropped, for swift was too well screened by his patrons, who had lately rewarded him by church preferment, and shortly afterwards made him dean of st. patrick's, in dublin.

the attempt of the whigs in the lords to unearth the vituperative dean, though it had failed, stimulated the tories in the commons to retaliation. richard steele, author of "the tatler," an eloquent and able writer, had not sought to screen himself from the responsibility of the honest truths in "the crisis," as swift had screened himself from the consequences of his untruths, and a whole host of tories assailed him in the commons, of which he was a member. amongst these were thomas harley, the brother of oxford, foley, the auditor, a relative of oxford's, and sir william wyndham, the chancellor of the exchequer. they flattered themselves with an easy triumph over him, for steele, though popular as a writer, was new to the house of commons, and had broken down in his first essay at speaking there; but he now astonished them by the vigour, wit, and sarcasm of his defence. he was ably supported, too, by robert walpole, who had obtained a seat in this new parliament. nothing, however, could shield steele, as swift's being anonymous had shielded him. steele was pronounced by the votes of a majority of two hundred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty-two to be guilty of a scandalous libel, and was expelled the house. during the debate addison had sat by the side of steele, and, though he was no orator to champion him in person, had suggested continual telling arguments.

[16]

the war of faction still went on furiously. in the lords there was a violent debate on an address, recommended by wharton, cowper, halifax, and others, on the old subject of removing the pretender from lorraine; and they went so far as to recommend that a reward should be offered to any person who should bring the pretender, dead or alive, to her majesty. this was so atrocious, considering the relation of the pretender to the queen, that it was negatived, and another clause, substituting a reward for bringing him to justice should he attempt to land in great britain or ireland. though in the commons, as well as in the lords, it was decided that the protestant succession was in no danger, an address insisting on the removal of the pretender from lorraine was carried. anne received these addresses in anything but a gratified humour. she observed, in reply, that "it really would be a strengthening to the succession of the house of hanover, if an end were put to these groundless fears and jealousies which had been so industriously promoted. i do not," she said, "at this time see any necessity for such a proclamation. whenever i judge it necessary, i shall give my orders to have it issued."

the whigs were as active to bring over the electoral prince of hanover as they were to drive the pretender farther off. with the prince in england, a great party would be gathered about him; and all those who did not pay court to him and promote the interests of his house would be marked men in the next reign. nothing could be more hateful than such a movement to both the queen and her ministers. anne had a perfect horror of the house of hanover; and of the ministers, bolingbroke, at least, was staking his whole future on paving the way of the pretender to the throne. when the whigs, therefore, instigated baron schutz, the hanoverian envoy, to apply to the lord chancellor harcourt for a writ of summons for the electoral prince, who had been created a british peer by the title of the duke of cambridge, harcourt was thrown into the utmost embarrassment. he pleaded that he must first consult the queen, who, on her part, was seized with similar consternation. the court was equally afraid of granting the writ and of refusing it. if it granted it, the prince would soon be in england, and the queen would see her courtiers running to salute the rising sun; the jacobites, with bolingbroke at their head, would commit suicide on their own plans now in active agitation for bringing in the pretender. if they refused it, it would rouse the whole whig party, and the cry that the protestant succession was betrayed would spread like lightning through the nation. schutz was counselled by the leading whigs—devonshire, somerset, nottingham, somers, argyll, cowper, halifax, wharton, and townshend—to press the lord chancellor for the writ. he did so, and was answered that the writ was ready sealed, and was lying for him whenever he chose to call for it; but at the same time he was informed that her majesty was greatly incensed at the manner in which the writ had been asked for; that she conceived that it should have first been mentioned to her, and that she would have given the necessary orders. but every one knew that it was not the manner, but the fact of desiring the delivery of the writ which was the offence.

every engine of the english court was put in motion to prevent the electoral prince from coming. oxford had an interview with schutz, in which he repeated that it was his applying for the writ to the lord chancellor instead of to the queen that had done all the mischief; that her majesty, had it not been for this untoward incident, would have invited the prince to come over and spend the summer in england—forgetting, as schutz observed, that the minute before he had assured him that the queen was too much afraid of seeing any of that family here. he advised schutz—who could not be convinced that he had done anything irregular in his application, quoting numerous proofs to show that it was the accustomed mode of applying for writs—to avoid appearing again at court; but schutz, not seeming disposed to follow that advice, immediately received a positive order to the same effect from the queen through another channel. schutz, therefore, lost no time in returning to hanover to justify himself. at the same time, lord strafford was instructed to write from the hague, blaming the conduct of schutz in applying for the writ in the manner he did, as disrespectful to the queen; for, though strictly legal for an absent peer to make such application, the etiquette was that he should defer it till he could do it personally. strafford ridiculed the idea of any movement being afoot in favour of the pretender, and observed that, as to sending him out of the duke of lorraine's territory, it was not practicable, because the french king maintained that he had fulfilled the treaty, lorraine not being any part of france. on the other hand, there were striking signs that the cause[17] of hanover was in the ascendant. men who watched the course of events decided accordingly. marlborough, who so lately had been making court to the pretender, now wrote from antwerp, urging the house of hanover to send over the prince without delay to england; that the state of the queen's health made prompt action necessary; and that the presence of the prince in london would secure the succession without risk, without expense, and without war, and was the likeliest measure of inducing france to abandon its design of assisting the pretender.

welfen castle, hanover.

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the real fact was, that exertions equally strenuous were all this time being made on the part of the pretender. as the state of anne's health became more and more precarious, both parties increased their efforts to secure their ground, and there was a most active and incessant struggle going on round the throne to enable the head of either party to step into it the moment it became vacant. it was considered essential for the claimant to be on the spot, and, therefore, every means was used to induce the queen to admit the pretender as well as a member of the electoral house to court. it was a scheme of the duke of berwick, which he communicated to oxford through the abbé gualtier, that the queen should be induced to consent to do her brother justice; that he should go to st. james's, and that on the understanding that he consented to allow liberty of the subject and of religion, the queen should pass such acts as were necessary for the public security on these heads, and that then she should suddenly introduce him in full parliament.

but there was a circumstance taken for granted in such a scheme which would never have been realised—the consent of the queen. anne, like most other sovereigns, abhorred the idea of a successor. she never liked the contemplation of the occupation of her throne after death, much less did she relish the presence of a competitor during her lifetime. besides in her days of disease and weakness she had enough to do to manage her ministry, without adding to her anxieties by a rival authority either from hanover or st. germains. there was still another obstacle—the unsatisfactory conduct of oxford, who had[18] professed great zeal for the pretender till he got the peace of utrecht signed, because this secured him the vote of the jacobites, but who since then had trifled with them, and never could be brought to any positive decision. berwick had sent over the abbé gualtier to endeavour to bring oxford to a point. gualtier soon informed his employer that oxford was actively corresponding with the house of hanover and therefore berwick and de torcy wrote a joint letter to him, putting the plain question, what measures he had taken to secure the interests of the pretender in case of the death of the queen, which no one could now suppose to be far off. oxford, with unwonted candour this time, replied that, if the queen died soon, the affairs of the prince and of the cabinet too were ruined without resource. this satisfied them that he had never really been in earnest in the pretender's cause, or he would long ago have taken measures for his advantage, or would have told them that he found it impossible. they determined, therefore, to throw the interests of the jacobites into the party of bolingbroke; and this was another step in oxford's fall. they managed to set lady masham warmly against him, and this undermined him more than ever with the queen.

the scene grew every day more busy as the queen became more obviously failing. harley, at hanover, was plying the elector and his family with reasons why the prince ought not to go to england. the elector himself appeared quite of the same opinion; but not so the electress or her son. the electress, who was now nearly eighty-four, and who was undoubtedly a woman of a very superior character, still had that trace of earthly ambition in her, that she used frequently to say she should die contented if she could only once for a little while feel the crown of england on her head. she was the youngest daughter of elizabeth of bohemia, who had ruined her husband by a similar longing after a far less resplendent diadem. when pressed by harley, the electress and her son presented him with a memorial, which he was desired to forward to the queen. anne, in indignation, addressed a letter to the electress, but without effect; and on the 30th of may she indited a more determined epistle to the elector himself:—"as the rumour increases that my cousin, the electoral prince, has resolved to come over to settle in my lifetime in my dominions, i do not choose to delay a moment to write to you about this, and to communicate to you my sentiments upon a subject of this importance. i then freely own to you that i cannot imagine that a prince who possesses the knowledge and penetration of your electoral highness can ever contribute to such an attempt, and that i believe you are too just to allow that any infringement shall be made on my sovereignty which you would not choose should be made on your own. i am firmly persuaded that you would not suffer the smallest diminution of your authority. i am no less delicate in that respect; and i am determined to oppose a project so contrary to my royal authority, however fatal the consequences may be."

this put matters beyond all chance of mistake. the menace had such an effect on the aged electress that she was taken ill and died suddenly in the arms of the electoral princess, afterwards queen caroline (may 28, 1714). sophia was a very accomplished as well as amiable woman. she was perfect mistress of the german, dutch, french, english, and italian languages; and, notwithstanding the endeavours of the jacobite party in england to render her ridiculous, had always maintained an elevated and honourable character. she was more of an englishwoman than a german, and, had she lived a few weeks longer, would have had—according to her often avowed wish—"here lies sophia, queen of england," engraven on her coffin. the journey of the prince was wholly abandoned; not that the inclination of the prince for the journey was abated, nor that the whigs ceased to urge it. townshend, sunderland, halifax, and others pressed it as of the utmost importance; and both the elector and his son wrote to the queen, assuring her that, had the prince been allowed to come, he would soon have convinced her majesty of his desire to increase the peace and strength of her reign rather than to diminish them.

the two rival ministers of england became every day more embittered against each other; and bolingbroke grew more daring in his advances towards the pretender, and towards measures only befitting a stuart's reign. in order to please the high church, whilst he was taking the surest measures to ruin it by introducing a popish prince, he consulted with atterbury, and they agreed to bring in a bill which should prevent dissenters from educating their own children. this measure was sure to please the hanoverian tories, who were as averse from the dissenters as the whigs. thus it would conciliate them and obtain their support at the[19] very moment that the chief authors of it were planning the ruin of their party. this bill was called the schism bill, and enjoined that no person in great britain should keep any school, or act as tutor, who had not first subscribed the declaration to conform to the church of england, and obtained a licence of the diocesan. upon failure of so doing, the party might be committed to prison without bail; and no such licence was to be granted before the party produced a certificate of his having received the sacrament according to the communion of the english church within the last year, and of his having also subscribed the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.

this act, as disgraceful as any which ever dishonoured the statute-book in the reigns of the tudors or stuarts, was introduced into the commons, on the 12th of may, by sir william wyndham, and was resolutely opposed by the whigs, amongst whom sir peter king, sir joseph jekyll, mr. hampden, robert walpole, and general stanhope distinguished themselves. they did not convince the majority, which amounted to no less than two hundred and thirty-seven to one hundred and twenty-six. in the lords, bolingbroke himself moved the second reading, and it was ably opposed by the lords cowper, wharton, halifax, townshend, nottingham, and others. the greatest curiosity was displayed regarding the part which oxford would take, as it was known that in the council he had endeavoured to soften the rigorous clauses; but in the house he followed his usual shuffling habit, declaring that he had not yet considered the question; and, having induced the opposition to let the second reading pass without a division, he absented himself from the final voting, and thus disgusted both parties and hastened his own fall.

in committee the opposition endeavoured to introduce some modifying clause. they proposed that the dissenters should have schools for their own persuasion; and, had the object of the bill been to prevent them from endangering the church by educating the children of churchmen, this would have served the purpose. but this was not the real object; the motive of the bill was the old tyrannic spirit of the church, and this most reasonable clause was rejected. they allowed, however, dames or schoolmistresses to teach the children to read; and they removed the conviction of offenders from the justices of peace to the courts of law, and granted a right of appeal to a higher court. finally, they exempted tutors in noblemen's families, noblemen being supposed incapable of countenancing any other than teachers of court principles. stanhope seized on this to extend the privilege to the members of the house of commons, arguing that, as many members of the commons were connected with noble families, they must have an equal claim for the education of their children in sound principles. this was an exquisite bit of satire, but it was unavailing. the hanoverian tories, headed by lord anglesey, moved that the act should extend to ireland, where, as the native population was almost wholly catholic, and therefore schismatic in the eye of the established church, the bill would have almost entirely extinguished education. the bill was carried on the 10th of june by a majority only of seventy-seven against seventy-two, and would not have been carried at all except for the late creation of tory peers.

the hanoverian tories now again joined the whigs, and their demands compelled the government to issue a proclamation offering a reward of five thousand pounds for the apprehension of the pretender should he attempt to land anywhere in great britain. wharton proposed that the words "alive or dead" should be inserted in the proclamation, but the queen rejected them with horror. the house of lords passed a resolution increasing the reward to one hundred thousand pounds. it was made high treason, too, to enlist or be enlisted for the pretender. bolingbroke, however, assured iberville, a french agent, that "it would make no difference;" and that the queen regarded the whole as a mere sop to the public was evinced by her immediately afterwards receiving the earl of mar, a most determined jacobite, at court on his marriage with lady francis pierrepoint, sister of the celebrated lady mary wortley montagu, and soon after making this man one of her ministers of state, who, in the very next year, headed the jacobite rebellion.

the queen closed the session on the 9th of july, assuring the parliament that her chief concern was for the preservation of our holy religion and the liberty of the subject—this liberty having been most grievously invaded by her through the schism bill. but the dissolution of her ministry was also fast approaching. the hostility of oxford and bolingbroke was becoming intolerable, and paralysed all the proceedings of government. as for oxford, he felt himself going, and had not the boldness and[20] resolution to do what would ruin his rival. he coquetted with the whigs—cowper, halifax, and others; he wrote to marlborough, and did all but throw himself into the arms of the opposition. had he had the spirit to do that he might have been saved; but it was not in his nature. he might then have uncovered to the day the whole monstrous treason of bolingbroke; but he had himself so far and so often, though never heartily or boldly, tampered with treason, that he dreaded bolingbroke's retaliation. bothmar, the hanoverian envoy, saw clearly that oxford was lost. he wrote home that there were numbers who would have assisted him to bring down his rival, but that he could not be assisted, because, according to the english maxim, he did not choose to assist himself. swift endeavoured, but in vain, to reconcile his two jarring friends; and oxford finally utterly lost himself by offending the great favourite, lady masham. he had been imprudent enough to oppose her wishes, and refuse her some matter of interest. he now was treated by her with such marked indignity, that dr. arbuthnot declared that he would no more have suffered what he had done than he would have sold himself to the galleys. still, with his singular insensibility to insult, he used to dine at the same table with her frequently, and also in company with bolingbroke, too.

anne demanded oxford's resignation. the "dragon," as arbuthnot styled him, held the white staff with a deadly grip; but, on the 27th of july, he was compelled to relinquish it, and that afternoon her majesty stated to the council her reasons for dismissing him. his confidant and creature, erasmus lewis, himself thus records them:—"the queen has told all the lords the reasons of her parting with him, namely, 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; that he often came drunk; lastly, to crown all, that he behaved himself towards her with bad manners, indecency, and disrespect."

bolingbroke was now prime minister, and he hastened to arrange his cabinet entirely on jacobite principles. so far as he was concerned, the country was to be handed over to the pretender and popery on the queen's death. he would not run the risk of a new antagonist in the shape of a lord treasurer, but put the treasury in commission, with sir william wyndham at its head. the privy seal was given to atterbury; bromley was continued as the other secretary of state; and the earl of mar, the rankest of jacobites, was made secretary of state for scotland. ormonde, long engaged in the pretender's plot, was made commander-in-chief—a most significant appointment; buckingham was made lord president, and harcourt lord chancellor. as for the inferior posts, he found great difficulty in filling them up. "the sterility of good men," wrote erasmus lewis to swift, "is incredible." good men, according to the unprincipled bolingbroke's notions, were not to be found in a hurry. there were plenty of candidates ready, but it may give an impressive notion of the state of that party, that there was scarcely a man beyond those already appointed whom bolingbroke could trust. the cabinet never was completed. what his own notions of moral or political honesty were, may be imagined from the fact that he did not hesitate to attempt a coalition with the whigs. he gave a dinner-party at his house in golden square to stanhope, walpole, craggs, general cadogan, and other leaders; but though walpole, when minister himself, boasted that every man had his price, bolingbroke had not yet discovered walpole's price nor that of his colleagues. they to a man demanded, as a sine qua non, that the pretender should be compelled to remove to rome, or to some place much farther off than lorraine, and bolingbroke assured them that the queen would never consent to such a banishment of her brother. nothing but the lowest opinion of men's principles could have led bolingbroke to expect any other result from these whig leaders. perhaps he only meant to sound their real views; perhaps only to divert public attention from his real designs, which the very names of his coadjutors in the ministry must have made patent enough to all men of any penetration. the very same day that he thus gave this whig dinner he assured gualtier that his sentiments towards "the king" were just the same as ever, provided his majesty took such measures as would suit the people of england. time only was wanting for this traitor-minister to betray the country to its old despotisms and troubles; but such time was not in the plans of providence. the end of anne was approaching faster than was visible to human eyes; but the shrewd and selfish marlborough had a pretty strong instinct of it, and was drawing nearer and nearer to the scene of action, ready to secure himself whichever way[22] the balance inclined. he was at ostend, prepared to pass over at an hour's notice, and to the last moment keeping up his correspondence with the two courts of hanover and bar-le-duc. both despised and suspected him, but feared him at the same time. such was still his influence, especially with the army, that whichever party he adopted was considered pretty sure to succeed. that it was likely to succeed was equally certain before marlborough did adopt it. lockhart of carnwath, one of the most active and sagacious jacobites, and likely to be in the secrets of the jacobite party, says that the pretender, to test the sincerity of marlborough, asked the loan of one hundred thousand pounds from him, as a proof of his fidelity. he did not abide the test, but soon afterwards offered twenty thousand pounds to the electoral prince, to enable him to come over to england. the moment that marlborough was prepared, with his deep-rooted love of money, to do that, it might be certainly pronounced that he was confident of the success of the hanoverians.

anne making the duke of shrewsbury lord treasurer. (see p. 22)

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the agitation which the queen underwent on the night of the 27th, when she dismissed oxford after a long and fierce altercation, produced a marked change in her health. the council was only terminated, having sat to consider who should be admitted into the new ministry, by the queen falling into a swoon. being got to bed, she passed the night, not in sleep, but in weeping. the next day another council was held, but was again broken up by the illness of the queen, and was prorogued to the 29th of july. to dr. arbuthnot, her physician, anne declared that the disputes of her ministers had killed her; that she should never survive it. lady masham, struck by the queen's heavy and silent manner, apprehended the worst. bolingbroke and his jacobite colleagues were thunderstruck by this sudden crisis. they assembled in council at kensington, in a room not far from that of the dying queen, but they were so stupefied by the blow that they could do nothing. on the other hand, the whigs had been quite alert. stanhope had made preparations to seize the tower; to secure the persons of the ministers and the leading jacobites, if necessary, on the demise of the queen; to obtain possession of the outports, and proclaim the king. a proof of this concert was immediately given by the dukes of argyll and somerset, who belonged to the privy council, but, of course, had not been summoned, suddenly entering the council chamber, stating that, hearing of the queen's critical position, they had hastened, though not summoned, to offer their assistance. no sooner had they said this, than the duke of shrewsbury rose and thanked them for their courtesy. the whig dukes immediately demanded that the queen's physicians should be called and examined as to her probable continuance. the physicians in general were of opinion that her majesty might linger some time; but dr. mead declared that she could not live many days, perhaps not many hours; from the apoplectic symptoms she might be gone in one. argyll and somerset thereupon declared it absolutely necessary that the post of lord treasurer should be filled up, as it was requisite that, at such a moment, there should be a recognised prime minister, and proposed that the duke of shrewsbury should be nominated to that office. bolingbroke felt that his power and his plans were at an end, and sat like one in a dream. the members of the council then proceeded to the queen's apartment, and bolingbroke followed them, as it were, mechanically. the queen was sensible enough to be made aware of their errand, and expressed her approval of it. shrewsbury, however, with that singular hesitation which always characterised him, refused to take the white staff, except from her majesty's own hand. it was, therefore, handed to her, and she extended it towards shrewsbury, saying, "for god's sake, use it for the good of my people!" shrewsbury was already chamberlain, and he presented the staff of that office in resignation of it; but the queen bade him retain both; and thus he was at once lord treasurer, lord chamberlain, and lord-lieutenant of ireland.

oxford had sent round a circular to every whig lord in or near london who had ever belonged to the privy council, warning them to come and make a struggle for the protestant succession. this was one of the most decided actions of that vibratory statesman, and was, no doubt, prompted by his desire to avenge his recent defeat by bolingbroke, and to stand well at the last moment with the house of hanover. in consequence of this, the jacobite ministers found themselves completely prostrate and helpless in the midst of the strong muster of whigs. even the aged and infirm somers made his appearance, and threw the weight of his great name into the scale. prompt measures were taken to secure the advent of the new king. four regiments were ordered to london; seven battalions were sent for from ostend, where[23] marlborough was said to have secured their zealous fidelity to the elector; a fleet was ordered to put to sea to prevent any interruption of his transit, and to receive him in holland. an embargo was laid on all ports, and anne the next morning having sunk again into lethargy, the council ordered the heralds-at-arms and a troop of the life guards to be in readiness to proclaim her successor. mr. craggs was sent express to hanover to desire the elector to hasten to holland, where the fleet would be ready to receive him. the council also sent a dispatch to the states general, to remind them of the fact—which for a long time and to this moment the english government appeared itself to have forgotten—that there was such a thing as a treaty, and that by it they were bound to guarantee the protestant succession. lord berkeley was appointed to the command of the fleet, and a reinforcement was ordered for portsmouth. a general officer was hastened to scotland, where much apprehension of a movement in favour of the pretender existed; and, in short, every conceivable arrangement was made for the safe accession of the protestant king.

still, during all this time, though the tory ministers in the council appeared paralysed, the jacobite lords assembled in secret junto in the very palace where the council was sitting and the queen dying. lady masham's apartments were the scene of the last convulsive agitation of jacobitism. from her the distracted leaders of that faction received the accounts of the progress of the queen's illness. amongst these were buckingham, ormonde, atterbury, and, when he was not at anne's bedside, robinson, bishop of london. this prelate, when he attended to administer the sacrament to the dying woman, received a message from her, which he was bound by the duchess of ormonde to promise to deliver, though it cost him his head. probably it was some last remembrance to her brother, the pretender; though it was supposed by some to be an order to the duke of ormonde, the commander-in-chief, to hold the army for the stuart. nothing, however, of the nature of this message ever transpired; but the duke of buckingham, on the separation of the council, which had just obtained the affixing of the great seal to a patent providing for the government of the country by four-and-twenty regents till the arrival of the successor, clapped his hand on ormonde's shoulder, saying, "my lord, you have four-and-twenty hours to do our business in, and make yourself master of the country." it was a forlorn hope. that evening lady masham entered her apartments in great agitation, saying, "oh, my lords, we are all undone—entirely ruined! the queen is a dead woman; all the world cannot save her!" upon which one of the lords asked if the queen had her senses, and if lady masham thought she could speak to them. she replied, "impossible; her pain deprives her of all sense, and in the interval she dozes and speaks to nobody." "that is hard indeed," said one of the lords. "if she could but speak to us, and give us orders, and sign them, we might do the business for all that." "alas!" replied another lord, "who would act on such orders? we are all undone!" "then we cannot be worse," said a third. "i assure you," remarked another of these conspirators, probably ormonde, "that if her majesty would give orders to proclaim her successor in her lifetime, i would do it at the head of the army. i'll answer for the soldiers." "do it, then!" swore the bishop atterbury, for he did not stick at an oath. "let us go out and proclaim the chevalier at charing cross. do you not see that we have no time to lose?" lady masham told them they might waive debate; there was nothing to be done; her majesty was no longer capable of directing anything. on which the duke of ormonde exclaimed, "lord, what an unhappy thing this is! what a cause is here lost at one blow!"

the queen expired at seven o'clock on sunday morning, the 1st of august, 1714, not having recovered sufficient consciousness to receive the sacrament, or to sign her will. during her intervals of sense she is reported to have repeatedly exclaimed, "oh, my brother, my dear brother, what will become of you!" she was still only in her fiftieth year, and the thirteenth of her reign. bolingbroke wrote to swift—"the earl of oxford was removed on tuesday, and the queen died on sunday. what a world is this, and how does fortune banter us!"

bolingbroke had assured iberville, the french agent, that, had the queen only lived six weeks longer, his measures were so well taken that he should have brought in the pretender in spite of everything. on the very day of the queen's death marlborough landed at dover, so exactly had he timed his return. he found george i. proclaimed in london, in york, and in other large towns, not only without disorder, but with an acclamation of joy from the populace which plainly showed where the heart lay.