ing. "This inconsistency tainted his private and moral, as well as public and political character. He was ambitious, and unscrupulous as to the means of elevation; vehement in hatred; variable in principle. Capable of profound dissimulation, he occasionally exercised it, and effectually deceived the most penetrating of his opponents. But, in general, the liveliness of his imagination, and quickness of his temper, caused him to give vent to the desire or feeling of the moment with an ardour which admitted neither of concealment nor moderation. And hence the otherwise inexplicable inconsistencies and contradictions both of his public life and his private thoughts. CHAP. XI. 1714. 21. of Harley, ford. Harley, afterwards created Earl of Oxford, brought to the support of the same party talents of a much Character inferior but still very serviceable kind. serviceable kind. He had not the Earl of Oxbrilliancy of St John's imagination, his vast stores of erudition, or his power of ready and extempore eloquence. But he was more prudent and sagacious, had more worldly wisdom, and incomparably more of a statesman's tact than his brilliant coadjutor. He was astute, able, and ambitious. Neither the field nor the senate were the fit theatre of his activity; the purlieus of a court, the antechambers of a queen, were the real scene of his greatness. There he was most formidable,—for he was alike able and unscrupulous, intriguing and agreeable. He had great powers for wielding and augmenting a parliamentary party. His wisdom and discretion— like those of Sir Robert Peel in the reconstruction of the same party after its discomfiture by the Revolution of 1832-brought the Tories up from a small minority in the commencement of the War of the Succession, to Royal and Noble Authors, p. 74. * CHAP. XI. 1714. 22. the Tory writers in the press. a decided majority before its close, in the Commons, Lords, and Queen's Council. He was no common man who, in the face of a large Whig majority at the commencement of the struggle, and despite the lustre of Marlborough's victories, could so take advantage of the mutations of fortune, the changes of public opinion, and the still more variable gales of court favour, as under such circumstances to accomplish such a success. It was not, however, either in Parliament or the Swift and Cabinet that the main strength of the party which overthrew Marlborough, and brought about the peace of Utrecht, was founded. It was the vast ability and sarcastic powers of their allies in the press which chiefly produced the result. The Tories were supported by a band of writers who, in the war of pamphlets, by which the contests of parties out of Parliament at that period were carried on, never have been exceeded as regards the versatility of their powers, and the thorough knowledge they possessed of the means of rousing and inflaming the general mind. SWIFT was the most powerful of that determined band; and never did intellectual gladiator bring to the deadly strife of envenomed rapiers, qualities more admirably adapted for success. Able, penetrating, and sagacious, possessed of great powers of argument— greater still of sarcasm-thoroughly thoroughly acquainted with human nature, and unfettered by any of the delicacies which in men of more refined character often prevent the stirring of its passions,- he knew how to excite the public mind by awakening their jealousy in regard to matters which came home to every understanding. Disregarding all remote considerations adapted only for the thoughtful, drawn from the balance of power, matters of foreign policy, or the ultimate danger of England, he at once fastened on Marlborough the damning charge of pecuniary cupidity; held forth the continuance of the war as entirely owing to his sordid thirst of gain, and all the wealth which flowed into the coffers of the great commander as wrung from the labours of hard-wrought Englishmen. Concealing and perverting what he knew was the truth of ancient history, he represented the Roman consul as rewarded for his victories by a triumph which cost less than £1000, and Marlborough enjoying £500,000 as the fruit of his laurels. He forgot to add, that such were the means of amassing a fortune which victory gave to the Roman proconsuls, that Caesar, before obtaining the province of Gaul, was enabled on its prospect to contract £750,000 of debt. It may be conceived what effect such misrepresentations had upon a people already groaning under new taxes, terrified at the growth of the national debt, and inflamed with that envy which the rapid rise even of the most exalted merit scarce ever fails to produce in the great majority of men. The Whigs had able writers, too, on their side; but they were no match for their adversaries in the power of producing a present effect on the multitude, whatever they might be on the cultivated in future ages; and the elegant papers of Addison and Steele, in the Spectator and Freeholder, were but a poor set-off to the coarse invectives and withering sarcasms of Swift. CHAP. XI. 1714. 23. and principles of the High Tories Bolingbroke and Harley were Tory and monarchical in their ideas they belonged to the High Church party in Feelings religion, and in secret they dreamt of the restoration of the exiled dynasty. Being actuated by such principles, in regard it is not surprising that they viewed with jealousy, and at last with open and undisguised aversion, the course of Marlborough's victories, and lent all the weight of their to the war. CHAP. 1714. talents and influence to aid in the propagation of the XI. libels calculated to destroy him. Those triumphs, however glorious to England, however vital to its existence as an independent state, were all adverse to their political principles. They threatened to extinguish the monarchical and Roman Catholic principles in the person of Louis XIV., and raise to supremacy, in their stead, the morose doctrines of the Covenanters, the Solemn League and Covenant, the principles of the Dutch republicans. Queen Anne, with the usual instinct of crowned heads, when in secure possession of power, inclined to the same opinions. She felt the same repugnance to the Whigs, who had placed her after William on the throne, that Louis Philippe, in after times, did to Lafayette and the patriots of 1830, who had erected the throne of the Barricades. These principles and feelings were not confined to the leaders of the party and the sovereign on the throne they pervaded the whole body of their followers, and took deep root in the noblest and most generous affections of the human heart. The warmest partisans of royalty in Great Britain It was these and Ireland were to be found in the French ranks: 24. causes turned Marlborough. which over- they embraced many of the most generous and exalted, because disinterested, persons in the British dominions. Their appearance excited profound sympathy and admiration wherever they appeared on the Continent.* The Pretender himself combated at Malplaquet against Marl * "Leurs aventures furent dignes des beaux jours de Sparte et d'Athènes. Ils étaient tous d'une naissance honorable; attachés à leurs chefs, et affec tionnés les uns aux autres; irréprochables en tout. Ils se formaient en une compagnie de soldats au service de France. Ils furent passés en revue par le Roi à St Germain en Laye: le Roi salua les troupes par une inclination de la tête et le chapeau bas. Il révint, salua de nouveau, et fondit en larmes. Ils se mirent à genoux, baissants la tête contre la terre, puis se rélevants tout à la fois, ils lui firent le salut militaire. Ils furent envoyés delà à les frontières XI. 1714. borough in the midst of the chivalry of France. It CHAP. would be erroneous, therefore, to consider the intrigues and animosity which at length effected the downfall of Marlborough, and brought about the peace of Utrecht, as entirely the result of a revolution du Palais,-a bedchamber affair, in which the interests and glory of nations were sacrificed to the spite or the jealousies of women; and still more unjust would it be to stigmatise Bolingbroke and Harley as worthless adventurers, who were actuated in their opposition to the great hero of the age by mere personal envy or political hostility. Mrs. Masham's bedchamber intrigue, and Bolingbroke's cabinet measures, were merely the form which a great principle, at all times strong in English society, and then peculiarly active, took in order to avert a danger with which, in their estimation, English institutions were threatened. And that principle is expressed in the words, "Fear God and honour the King." 25. lations of tude in the their attack It is evident, from what has been said, that the Tory party had much argument on their side in this great con- Great viotroversy; and that though we, instructed by the event, may moral rectinow see very clearly that they erred on the occasion, yet mode of there is much to be said on their behalf; and the strongest on Marlbojudgment, as well as the purest patriotism, might at the time have found it difficult to say on which side the scales of reason preponderated. But there is one point for which no apology can be made, and for which all the d'Espagne, ce que formait un marche de 900 milles. Partout où ils passaient ils tiraient des larmes des yeux des femmes, obtenaient le respect de quelques hommes, et en faisant rire d'autres par la moquerie qui s'attache au malheur. Ils étaient toujours les premiers dans une bataille, et les derniers dans une retraite. Ils manquerent souvent des choses les plus nécessaires à la vie, cependant on ne les entendit jamais se plaindre, excepté des souffrances de celui qu'ils regardaient comme leur souverain."-CHATEAUBRIAND, Mémoires sur le Duc de Berry, Œuvres, ii. 68. rough. |