whereon he placed his hopes, and to bring the authors of them to condign punishment." This was the first authentic announcement of the intention of the Ministers to call their predecessors to account, and it was confirmed by Secretary Stanhope in the course of the debate. A report, he said, had been industriously spread about that the present Ministers never designed to bring the late to trial, but only to censure them in general terms; but he could assure the House that, notwithstanding all the endeavours that had been used to prevent a discovery of the late mismanagement, by conveying away several papers from the Secretaries' offices, yet the Government had sufficient evidence left to prove the former ministry the most corrupt that ever sat at the helm; that those matters would now be laid before the House; and that it would appear that a certain English General had acted in concert with, if not received orders from, Marshal Villars.

The Opposition made their stand upon another part of the address, which, they said, reflected upon the memory of the late Queen; but this objection was dexterously parried by Walpole. Nothing, he declared, was further from their intentions than to asperse the late Queen; they rather designed to vindicate her memory by exposing and punishing those evil counsellors who deluded her into pernicious measures: whereas the opposite party endeavoured to screen and justify those counsellors, by throwing on that good, pious, and well-meaning Princess all the blame and odium of their evil counsels. On the division, the Government had 244 votes, and the Opposition 138.

It was evident, from the intimation of Stanhope, that if even the Duke of Ormond, the general alluded to, should be left untouched, at all events Oxford and Bolingbroke, the chiefs of the Cabinet which had framed his instructions, were to be singled out for trial and punishment. The two ministers thus threatened pursued a very different course. Oxford, still guided by his naturally slow and phlegmatic temper, which, however unfit for action, can, in a defensive position, sometimes supply the place of wisdom, and, still more frequently, of dignity, determined calmly to await the storm.* Bolingbroke, ever since his dismissal, had affected an unconcerned and confident demeanour; had appeared every where in public;' had taken a part in debate; had, in conversation, descanted with his usual eloquence and insincerity on the pleasures of retirement. "I find by experience," he used to say, "that I can be unfortunate without being unhappy." The same tone was also adopted towards him

"He (Lord Oxford) has certainly made advances of civility to the Whigs, which they have returned with the utmost contempt." Mr. Ford to Swift, Aug. 14, 1714.

[His deportment at the coronation is thus described by Lady Cowper in her Diary, as quoted by Lord Campbell. "At the coronation my Lord Bolingbroke for the first time saw the king. He had attempted it before without success. The king seeing a face he did not know asked his name when he did him homage, and he hearing it as he went down the steps from the throne, turned round and bowed three times down to the very ground."-Lives of the Chancellors, vol. iv. 353, note, chap. cxvi.]

by his friends, and thus, for example, by Swift: "I hope your Lordship, who was always so kind to me while you were a servant, will not forget me now in your greatness. I give you this caution, because I verily believe you will be apt to be exalted in your new station of retirement, which was the only honourable post that those who gave it you were capable of conferring."* But though the language of the fallen minister was that of innocence, his conduct was that of guilt. His heart began to fail him when he looked the danger more nearly in the face. He was informed, falsely as it afterwards appeared, that Prior, who had been recalled from his post at Paris, and was just landed, had promised to disclose all he knew. He feared that his enemies would pursue him to the scaffold, he felt that he deserved it, and, in an evil hour for himself, he took the resolution of flying from England. According to his own account, moreover, so thorough was his abhorrence of Oxford, that the necessity of concerting measures with him for their common defence was a principal motive in deterring him from making any defence at all. To conceal and secure his flight, he appeared at Drury Lane Theatre the evening before, the 26th of March; and, at the close of the performance, bespoke (according to the custom of the time) another play for the next night. Having then disguised himself as a servant to La Vigne, a messenger of the King of France, he set off to Dover, and embarked for Calais undiscovered. From thence he proceeded to Paris; and soon afterwards, as I shall have occasion to show, accepted the seals of Secretary of State from the Pretender.

The Duke of Ormond, at first, went into the opposite extreme; and, instead of running from the storm like Bolingbroke, or awaiting it like Oxford, attempted to meet and brave it. By the magnificence of his mode of living, and the public levees which he held, he seemed arrogantly vieing with Royalty itself. He held a sort of Opposition. Court at Richmond: he openly connected himself with the most ardent Jacobites: he showed no displeasure at finding his name coupled with "High Church" as the watchword of riots: he was known to foment those riots: he was proud to be the idol of the mob; and he became at length, as Bolingbroke observes, the bubble of his own popularity. Had he pursued a more moderate course, there is every reason to believe that he would never have been brought to trial. He was not responsible for the restraining orders as a statesman, and, as a soldier, it was his evident duty to obey them. Even without this apology, the Ministers would have shrunk

• Swift to Bolingbroke, Sept. 14, 1714.

See his letter to Sir William Wyndham. I should observe that this letter does not seem to have been published until after Bolingbroke's death. It was, I conceive, written about the time it purports to be (1717), privately printed, and circulated amongst a few persons. In 1744, Bolingbroke mentions his finding a copy of it while looking for other pamphlets (Coxe's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 343), which appears to indicate that it had not been recently printed. Perhaps, however, it was circulated in MS.

1

[See Wright's "England under the House of Hanover," vol. i. chap. i. for many curious particulars respecting the Duke of Ormond's popularity.]

from touching a man with so many friends in the country and in the House of Commons; and have feared that, however easily they might lop off the smaller branches, so great a bough could scarcely be hewed down.*

On the 9th of April, Secretary Stanhope laid before the House all the instructions, memorials, and other papers relating to the late negotiation for peace and cessation of arms; and, observing that they were too many and too voluminous to be perused by the whole House, he moved that they should be referred to a select committee of twenty-one persons. No opposition was made to Stanhope's motion, and the committee was selected by secret lists, which, from the temper of the majority, of course produced the appointment of the principal Whigs. The members met the same evening; chose Walpole for their chairman; and, during the next two months, pursued their investigation with all the activity of party zeal and personal resentment. It being a committee of secrecy, we have no authentic record of their proceedings. Prior, however, who fell under their heavy displeasure for refusing to disclose his secrets, or criminate his employers, has given us an account of his examination, from which I shall make some extracts:-"The most confused questions were put to me upon several heads, backward and forward, by Lechmere, and Boscawen, and Lord Coningsby; the two first of whom, I think, understood not one word of what they were saying. Being asked of whom I received money in France? I answered, of M. Cantillon. Was he not a papist?' said Boscawen. 'Else, sir,' I said, 'he could not have been a banker at Paris, which he had been for several years before I knew him. In one word, he was the common banker to whom the English addressed themselves.' Stanhope and Walpole I found frowning, and nodding at each other, and extremely ashamed of this vile stuff. . . . . They proceeded in asking me to give an account of what, they said, I must needs know the meeting of the Lords at my house, with Mesnager and Caultier. I said, M. Mesnager had often been at my house; that the Secretary of State had seen him there; that I had eat and drank, and been abroad with him several times. They took great hold of this. Boscawen expressed himself with great joy, This is more than we knew before!' And from thence they ran wildly backWhen I knew Gaultier? when I had been with Mesnager? I answered to this in as general terms as I could . . . . . I was interrogated without method or connection, as any member of the Committee pleased; and, indeed, with confusion and disorder enough amongst themselves; for they sometimes stopped each other's questions, and proposed new ones of their own Walpole and

* In Coxe's MSS., vol. xxxvi. Brit. Mus., is a letter from Mr. Cardonnel to the Duke of Marlborough, dated June 14, 1715, urging "whether some means might not be found to bring over the Duke of Ormond to a sense of his error and the owning his having been misled. . . . It is not improbable the ministry would choose to let him drop rather than bring on a prosecution against him."

There were "twelve volumes bound up, and three other small books." Com. Journ. vol. xviii. p. 57.

Stanhope grew mightily perplexed; the one in a sullen, and the other in an unbounded, passion. Coningsby raved outright. . The Chairman told me that the Committee were not at all satisfied with my behaviour, nor could give such an account of it to the House as might merit their favour in my behalf; that, at present, they thought fit to lay me under a stricter confinement than that of my own house. Here Boscawen played the moralist, and Coningsby the Christian, but both very awkwardly. The messenger, to whose house they intended to confine me, being called, Coningsby asked him if his house was secured by bolts and bars. The messenger answering in the negative, Coningsby very angrily said, 'Sir, you must secure this prisoner; it is for the safety of the nation; if he escapes, you shall answer for it.'' This picture is, no doubt, much too highly coloured, but as undoubtedly has many features of resemblance.*

66

Before the Report of the Secret Committee was prepared, there was scarcely a debate in the House of Commons, on whatever subject, that did not give rise to some outbreak of party violence, as in an inflamed state of body every humour festers. Thus, on one occasion, Sir William Wyndham having inveighed against the King's proclamation in January, which he said was of dangerous consequence to the very being of Parliaments, he was fiercely called upon to explain these words, and refusing, was assailed with the cry "To the Tower! To the Tower!" but Walpole, with much dexterity, averted any such unpopular act of rigour. "I am not," he said, for gratifying the desire which the member who occasions this great debate shows of being sent to the Tower. It would make him too considerable; and as he is a young man of good parts, who sets up for a warm champion of the late Ministry, and one who was in all their secrets, I would have him be in the House when we come to inquire into the conduct of his friends, both that he may have an opportunity to defend them, and be a witness of the fairness with which we shall proceed against those gentlemen, and that it may not be said that we take any advantage against them." In compliance with this hint, Wyndham, instead of being committed to the Tower, was only ordered to be reprimanded by the Speaker.

On another occasion, when the civil list was under discussion, Sir William Wyndham incautiously observed, that in the late Queen's time the sum of 500,000l. was sufficient for the support of her family and civil list, though she reserved 50,000l. a year for King James's consort. The Ministers joyfully pounced upon this unwary confession; and Stanhope rose to request the House to take notice of what that gentleman had advanced, because it would serve to confirm some matters which the Committee of Secrecy had found in the papers that were laid before them.†

* See Prior's account at length in the Parl. Hist., vol. vii. Appendix, No. 2. "It is certain," says Dr. Birch, "Mr. Prior did prevaricate." (Tindal's Hist., vol. vi. p. 380.) I must observe that Prior's examination did not take place until the 16th of June, after the report of the Committee.

† Parl. Hist., vol. vii. p. 59. In the same debate, a member of the Opposition, whose

On June 1st, on a bill for regulating the forces, Mr. Shippen, a leading Jacobite, having first thrown out the common-place charge against the Administration of intending to set up a standing army, insinuated his belief that, after all the clamour that had been raised, their Secret Committee would end in smoke. This produced some most bitter invectives from the other side. Boscawen complained of "the insolence of a certain set of men;" and declared, that so far from ending in smoke, the Secret Committee were now ready to make their report. Walpole said that he "wanted words to express the villany of the late Frenchified Ministry!" And Stanhope added, he wondered that men who were guilty of such enormous crimes had still the audaciousness to appear in the public streets!" To such heights had party spirit risen!

At length, on the 9th of June, the long expected report of the Committee, drawn up by Walpole, as the chairman, was read by him in the House of Commons. Its reading occupied five hours that day, and on the next was read a second time by the clerk at the table. It is a document of great clearness, perspicuity, and power; skilfully marshalling all the facts adverse to the late Administration, and followed by an array of seventy-one extracts from their own correspondence, or other authentic documents, in confirmation of its charges. No one, I believe, could peruse it without feeling his bosom burn with indignation at the base motives and shameful conditions of the Peace of Utrecht-above all, at the disgraceful line of conduct prescribed to Ormond at the suspension of arms-at the cold-blooded betrayal of the Catalans to Spain-at the wanton gift of Tournay, to France-at the effrontery of Bolingbroke in attempting to pass upon the British people renunciations which the very parties who were to make them had privately owned to be invalid. Seldom has the avenging arm of offended justice laid bare a scene of such selfish disregard to public interests. In one point, however, the alleged intrigues of Bolingbroke and others of the Ministry with the Pretender, the report appears extremely weak and inconclusive. These intrigues are now, it is true, placed beyond all doubt by the subsequent avowal of some of the principal actors, or the disclosure of their most secret papers. But, at that period, nothing beyond circumstantial evidence or probable conjectures could be produced in support of this accusation; nor would it, therefore, have sufficed as the foundation for a charge of treason.

The reading of the report being concluded, Sir Thomas Hanmer moved, That its consideration should be postponed till the 21st; but this was warmly opposed by Stanhope and Walpole, and negatived by a large majority. Walpole then rose and impeached Bolingbroke of high treason. The friends of Bolingbroke in the House were not few, but his flight prevented their defence. A long silence ensued; and at length some timid expressions of dissent from Mr. Hunger

name is not recorded, made some most malignant observations on an increase in the Judges' salaries, which had been made since his Majesty's accession, and which, he said, "was not for services done, but expected."