CHAP. X. 1714. 10. ster, set out with the important writ for the court of Hanover. During these momentous crises, fraught with the future Marlbo- fate and destiny of Great Britain, Marlborough remained duct at this at Antwerp, corresponding actively with his friends both rough's con crisis. at home and abroad, and doing everything in his power to secure the Protestant succession and ascent of the Hanoverian family to the throne. He was perfectly firm to his principles, and acted throughout an open, resolute, and consistent part. Convinced that a counterrevolution was threatening at home, he sent General Cadogan to make the requisite arrangements with General Stanhope, and the other leaders of the Hanoverian party, to take measures, when the succession opened, for transporting troops from Dunkirk, which was still in the hands of the British, to London, and offered to put himself at their head. He wrote to the Elector of Hanover, offering to put £20,000 at his disposal, to secure his accession to the throne. So gratified were the Hanoverian family by these proofs of his fidelity, that the Electress Sophia, the next in the succession, pherson, ii. intrusted him with a blank warrant, appointing him vi. 262-264. commander-in-chief of her whole troops and garrisons on her accession to the crown.1* 1 Marlbo rough to Robithon, Nov. 30, 1713. Mac 173. Coxe, * "Ministers have affected to write to such princes not to receive the Pretender, into whose countries they are sure he will never come, and taken no step in earnest towards removing him out of Lorraine, notwithstanding the address of both Houses, and that his being there or in France is the same thing. To this must be added, the giving all employments, civil and military, to notorious Jacobites; the putting the governments of Scotland and Ireland into the hands of two persons who are known to be friends of the Pretender, (Earl of Mar and Sir Constantine Phipps ;) the choosing sixteen lords to serve for Scotland, of whom two were with the Pretender last summer, and most of the rest declared Jacobites; the ministers receiving with such distinction Sir P. Lawless, and, under the pretence of his transacting the business of X. 1714. 11. Mission of to the court Mr Harley of Hanover, The measures now openly taken by the cabinet of CHAP. London to secure the restoration of the Stuart line, and destroy the Hanoverian succession, excited a very serious disquietude at the courts both of Hanover and the Hague. Oxford, aware of this growing feeling, and alarmed at its probable effects, despatched a relative of March 1714. his own, Mr Harley, to Hanover, to counteract its effects. No sooner was he informed of this step than Marlborough sent Mr Molyneux, an Irish gentleman of fortune in the Whig interest, to the Electoral court to watch over his proceedings, and in his own correspondence did his utmost to make that court sensible of the Mr Molydanger which impended over them. So entirely success- Marlboful was this mission that Mr Molyneux, in ten days 18, 1714. after his arrival,1 was able to inform the Duke of Marl- 276. borough "of the perfect regard and affection which this Spain, admitting him into their confidence and privacy, though an Irish Papist, and avowed agent of the Pretender; the violence and force used in the elections of members for the city of London, the invading the freedom of election all over the kingdom by corruption, oppression, and bribery, in order to get such persons chosen as are in the interest of the Pretender; and the animating the clergy to preach up hereditary and testamentary right, both which principles are destructive to the succession."-Marlborough to Robethon, November 30, 1713; Hanover Papers, 1713. * "It is so evident that the Queen's ministers are determined to place the Pretender on the throne, that it would be losing one's time to produce proofs of it. Their greatest desire and their only view, in Mr Harley's embassy, is to obtain some declaration from the Elector which may impose upon the nation, and make it believe your court is satisfied with them. If you fall into this snare, it will render all the efforts of your friends of no avail; but we rely on the great prudence of His Electoral Highness. In my humble opinion, it would be proper to use despatch, and that the Prince should set out before Lord Paget, Mr Harley's successor, arrives. This journey of the Prince, attended with the success which there is reason to expect from it, cannot fail to give the Elector new influence over all Europe, as he will secure to himself the crown of Great Britain, which will attach the Emperor, Holland, and the court of Prussia, and render him the arbiter of the north of Europe."-Marlborough to Robethon, May 5, 1714; Coxe, vi. 269, 270. neux to rough, May Coxe, vi. VOL. II. R CHAP. X. 1714. 12. of the court and death tress Sophia. court preserves for both your merits, which on a thousand occasions I have had the pleasure to perceive, as well in the Electoral Princess and of the whole court.” He The object of Mr Harley's journey to Hanover was Indecision to obtain a written declaration from that court that of Hanover, they were satisfied with the ministry, and had a of the Elec- good understanding with the Queen of England. failed, however, in obtaining any such declaration; and, instead, got only an answer, bearing "that they thought it would be mutually good for both their interests that some one of this house should have the honour to pay his court to the Queen of England"-the very thing which the English Government most wished to avoid. This was the only step, however, which the court of Hanover could be prevailed on to take to support the pretensions of the Elector; and the Prince did not set out even after Baron Schutz had arrived with the writ, summoning him to attend his duty in the English Parliament. They felt the usual indecision of weak and ordinary minds at the approach of a crisis which required a vigorous and decisive step to be taken. Vehement and animated debates were held in the Council of State at Hanover, on the course to be adopted, but they terminated in nothing but indecision; and so gloomy did the prospect appear that Mr Molyneux wrote to Marlborough that "the Prince would not go over, and the succession meets with more difficulties at Hanover than it does in 1 Mr Moly- London." So violent was the crisis, and so painful the state of suspense to those principally concerned, that it proved fatal to the aged Electress, who died on the 8th June, at the age of eighty-four, of an affection of the heart, universally regretted.1 neux to Marlbo rough, June 9, 1714. Coxe, vi. 282, 283. The death of the Electress considerably diminished X. 1714. 13. Prudent conduct of at this crisis. the difficulties of the Elector, and left him, comparatively CHAP. speaking, unfettered to pursue his own line of conduct. Directed by Marlborough's counsels, it was prudent and judicious in the highest degree. Still placing his entire confidence and chief reliance on the great general and the Elector the Whigs, he was yet careful to avoid a rupture with the Tory Ministry, and to do nothing openly which might irritate the Queen, or strengthen the adverse party in England. Upon this principle he refused to allow his son, the hereditary Prince, to go over to take his seat in the English House of Peers, and declined spending any money, or entering into any cabals, to strengthen his interest in Great Britain. Judging wisely that he had better appear to be invited to take the crown than openly to grasp it, he assumed the air of being indifferent to the succession, and left the management of his interests entirely to his supporters and adherents in England. Oxford, to foment a jealousy between him and Marlborough, did not fail to make him acquainted with the whole particulars of the connection, in former days, of the latter with the Stuarts. But the Elector had sense enough to perceive that these days were past; that Marlborough's line was now irrevocably taken in favour of the Hanoverian succession; and he continued to repose in him the same implicit confidence he had 283-286. hitherto done.1 1 Coxe, vi. 14. court of Dismissal of Oxford, and Oxford, Boling broke in Events, however, succeeded each other with a rapidity which was not contemplated either by the Hanover or their adherents in this country. who had climbed to the dizzy heights of power by his trusted with consummate art, and by successively paying court to the tion of a leaders of the most opposite parties, had lost his influ- ministry. ence from the same cause. Duplicity can only prevail the forma CHAP. X. 1714. for a season; truth and sincerity alone succeed in the end. Oxford had alienated Lady Masham by his opposition to the grant of a pension, and other emoluments which she was anxious to obtain; and Bolingbroke, by declining to engage with him in measures for the restoration of the exiled family. By his duplicity, and a secret correspondence carried on though the medium of Torcy and Gualtier, he had long blinded the court of St Germains; but as the decisive moment approached, and it became necessary, from the Queen's rapidly declining health, to take measures to secure a restoration, the exiled family became convinced that he was insincere, and that their whole reliance should be placed on Bolingbroke.* They therefore, through the medium of Berwick and De Torcy, made such vigorous representations to Queen Anne on the absolute necessity of removing Oxford that she at last consented to dismiss him. This was not done, however, without many misgivings and a severe mental contest in the breast of the sovereign, which was not diminished by a most violent and indecorous scene that took Mem. 222- place, on the occasion of his receiving his congé, between him and Bolingbroke, which was prolonged till two in the morning. On this occasion, Oxford said he should leave some people as low as he had found them; and 1 Berwick's 225-edit. Petitot. Coxe, vi. 287,288. "Oxford nous amusait, et il était difficile d'y remédier; car de rompre avec lui, c'auroit été détruire tout, vu qu'il avait le pouvoir en main, et gouvernait absolument la Reine Anne. Il fallut donc feindre de se fier à lui; mais nous ne laissions pas de travailler sous main avec le Duc d'Ormond, et nombre d'autres, afin de venir à bout de cette affaire par leur moyen, si Oxford nous manquait. Enfin, voyant le temps s'ecouler sans qu'il parut aucun plan de la part d' Oxford, et d'ailleurs apprenant que la santé de la Reine Anne devenait de jour en jour plus mauvaise, je soupçonnais plus que jamais que le Trésorier nous trompait, d'autant plus que je savois qu'il avait écrit à l'Electeur d' Hanover, et qu'il venait d'envoyer à cette cour son cousin Harley. Je m'ouvrais donc à M. De Torcy, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, |