Her personal feelings had in this arrangement at first assigned the preponderance of power to the Tory, or, as she called it, the Church party. The course of events had shifted this balance. For the next two years there was a Cabinet entirely Whig, and this was followed by another entirely Tory. King George III. tried to form a government from both parties, but the experiment was not attended with success. There have also been other coalitions; but all have been unable to stand, and from the year 1708 homogeneous party Cabinets have been the rule in England. A Cabinet is a Committee of the Privy Council, in which all the chief ministers have seats. Though an important element in English political life, its existence is not recognised by the law.

Marlborough's

Strange to say, it was almost exactly at the time when the Whigs had secured all the seats in the Cabinet that the causes which led to their ruin began to work. The alienation of the queen from the Duchess of Marlborough was almost complete. It was said that at a public ceremonial the duchess spilt a glass of water, as if by accident, over the gown of her rival, and she was not again invited to Court. The Duke of Marlborough, fearful lest he also should lose the queen's favour, conceived the idea of having his aprequest to be pointment as Commander-in-Chief confirmed to him for life. It is quite possible, indeed, that his motive was patriotic, and that he may have desired the permanent appointment to secure the allegiance of his country to the cause of the Grand Alliance. He was warned by his friends that such an appointment was contrary to the constitution: and one of them, the Lord Chancellor, told him that he would not put the great seal to such a patent. Marlborough per severed, and actually applied to the queen, who firmly and without hesitation refused. These events ought to

made Commander-inChief for life.

have made Godolphin and his ministry careful. Yet their next step seemed most heedless.

sermon.

A not very wise clergyman, named Dr. Sacheverell, a college friend of Addison's, who, though of Low Church parentage, had won himself a reputation for Sacheverell's extreme High doctrines, preached in London before the Lord Mayor and in Derby at the assizes two sermons in which he attacked the Revolution, maintaining that resistance to a king was never justifiable, and declaring that the Church was in danger‘even in her majesty's reign.' Not content with this general teaching, he alluded to Godolphin under a nickname, borrowed from one of Ben Jonson's plays, of 'Volpone,' or 'the Fox.' His sermons were published. The matter was brought before the Cabinet, when its wisest members, such as Somers, were in favour of letting the sermons alone, or at best prosecuting the preacher in a court of law; others, however, and Godolphin most strongly, were for impeachment before the House of Lords. The result was that an important State trial was made out of this trumpery matter. Thinking him persecuted, people took the doctor's side. He was condemned indeed when the impeachment came before the Lords, but his punishment was almost nominal, for he was only prohibited from preaching for three years, and his book was burnt by the hangman. As the condemned clergyman travelled through England, his journey was like a triumph. Crowds came forth to see him and to ask his blessing he was received everywhere with enthusiasm. Before this feeling had subsided there was a general election. With the Tory sympathy for Sacheverell was united a general weariness of the war, and the result of the elec-. tions was the return of a powerful Tory majority. The queen gladly took advantage of it to get

:

General

election.
Tory

majority.
Dismissal of
Whigs.

rid of her Whig ministers. The long services of Godolphin, and a little later the distinguished services of Marlborough, were repaid with almost ignominious dismissal. The Duchess of Marlborough, who had for some time been kept at a distance from Court, was dismissed from her office, and had to leave her apartments in St. James' Palace. She was so angry that she tore down the mantel-pieces and had the brass locks removed from the doors.

The queen did not wish all her former ministers to resign. She pressed Somers to continue in office, for she said he had never deceived her.' Five times she gave back the seals into Cowper's hands. But they stood staunchly by their colleagues, and the new principle prevailed. A new government was formed under Harley and St. John.

The work of this new ministry remains to be narrated. One incidental result of the change was that the Occasional Conformity Bill, which had for some time slept, was now passed almost without opposition.

Occasional
Conformity
Bill passed.

Harley.

CHAPTER XIV,

FAG-END OF THE WAR.

Of the two men who were now the leading advisers of the queen and acknowledged chiefs of the Tory party, Harley was in the higher position, though Bolingbroke was really the abler man. Robert Harley belonged to a Whig family; his father had even been put in prison on suspicion of being implicated in Monmouth's conspiracy. Entering Parliament for a

Cornish borough immediately after the Revolution, Harley was very strongly opposed to the Tory party, which he afterwards joined. In William's reign he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons. When Godolphin was dismissed, his place as Lord High Treasurer was, at first, not filled up; the office was put in commission, and Harley was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, but was practically Prime-Minister. Harley was neither eloquent nor a man of genius, but he possessed powers which have sometimes availed more than eloquence or genius—the arts of a courtier. He was more at home in the queen's antechambers than in either House of Parliament. He was ambitious, unscrupulous, strong in

worldly wisdom.

Attack on his life.

An event which nearly cost him his life had the effect of increasing his popularity. A French refugee, who called himself the Marquis of Guiscard, had made frequent proposals for descents upon the coast of France. Afterwards he had carried on intrigues with France. He was arrested, and under examination before the Council, when he suddenly seized a penknife from the table and stabbed Harley with it. A scuffle ensued, in which the Frenchman was mortally wounded, and it was then found that Harley's wound was but slight. Great sympathy was expressed for Harley, and shortly afterwards the queen made him an earl, with the double title, Oxford and Mortimer. She then raised him to the office of Lord High Treasurer.

Made Earl of Oxford.

St. John.

Henry St. John was a man of very different character. In that age, famous for its wits and its literary men, he could hold his own with any of them. He was very intimate with the chief authors of the day, especially with Pope and Swift, and the poetdiplomatist, Matthew Prior. He was an accomplished

classical scholar, very eloquent, and renowned as an elegant writer. As a politician he was distrusted, and could never have kept his party together. He was brilliant rather than safe. As a writer, he was very hostile to Christianity. It was nearly a year later than Harley's promotion that St. John was elevated to the peerage, and he was then only made a viscount. His title was Viscount Bolingbroke. It is said that this inequality of rewards led to ill-will between these members of the same Government.

Made Lord Bolingbroke.

It is probable that from their first acceptance of office they intended to put an end to the war, but they could not well publicly declare this intention; and whilst they were still feeling their way, an event occurred which promised to provide them with an excellent excuse. The Emperor Joseph died; and his brother, the Archduke

Archduke Charles, after due formality of an election Charles and a delay of nearly six months, succeeded becomes Emperor. him as Emperor; so that it now became doubtful whether it would be in accordance with the views of the allies to continue a war which had been begun nominally in order to give him the crown of Spain. But such a feeling was gradual, not immediate. In order to secure the election at Frankfort from any fear of a French invasion, Eugene received orders from Vienna to withdraw with all his troops from the army under Marlborough in Flanders. Villars, the French marshal, had fortified his position with great care, and boasted that Marlborough could not pass into France. He called his lines the Non plus ultra. Marlborough, however, although the allied forces were weakened by Eugene's withdrawal, entered the Non plus ultra with ease. He then laid siege to Bouchain, and captured it; but these were the only military achievements of the allies during the year

Marlborough's last cam

paign.