Life and Minifterial Conduct of the late Lord Viscount Bolingbroke His connection, as fecretary at war, with Mr. St. John, now fecretary of state, The difficulties he had to encounter, and how he furmounted them 488, 489 Created vifcount Bolingbroke, and goes over to Paris about the peace 489 Turned out of his office upon the acceffi- Extract from The Adventurer, a new paper, of a new pantomime entertain- ment, called Harlequin Hercules, being Verfes written from Copenhagen, proper On viewing the curiofities at Dr. Mead's Birmingham, and other market-towns 493-502 The JOURNAL of a learned and political Importance of the Eaft India trade 494 SPEECH of A. Bæculonius against the bill Infurance advantageous to the nation 499 How the Eaft-India trade may be made A short differtation upon water A queftion in furveying propofed Hiftory of the South-fea company Obfervations on the turquoife, and upon gems in general The wary damfel ibid. ibid. ibid. Explanation of the Oxford almanack History of New foreft in Hampshire, and of Richmond New park in Surrey Tim. Bennet the patriot cobler 511, 512 Extracts from the bishop of Cloyne's We have received Publicola's letter and aufwer, &c. but as que do not care to meddle with THE LONDON MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER, A brief ACCOUNT of the Life and Minifte- CONDUCT, now publishing by R. Bald- 1752. that even a certain prelate is fo impartial as to own he was a perfon of much activity. In this feffion the Tories, fays our author, being out of court, became zealous for the proteftant fucceffion, and made a motion in the house of lords for inviting over the princess Sophia *, which was over-ruled by the minifters and Whig lords, on which the latter took occafion to bring in the bill for establishing a regency, &c. in cafe of her majefty's death without iffue. This bill being fent down to the commons, the fame motion was made there, but Mr. St. John and Mr. Harley prevented any debate upon the motion, by infifting upon first reading the bill; for they always applied their parts and diligence in preventing things from running into heats and diforders. Then after taking notice of our great fuccess in the campaign of 1706, the author tells us, that the French in a manner begged for peace, and would have agreed to fuch terms, that it is not easy to conceive why Cfo few of our minifters inclined to peace! But fo it was, as both parties agree. And he concludes this letter with obferving, that the general and treasurer taking a pretence from Gregg's affair, refufed, tho' this was not their true reafon, to affift at the cabinet council, while Mr. Harley continued in her majefty's fervice: That he, to deliver the publick from fuch a diD lemma, as well as the queen, refigned the feals, February 11, 1707-8; and foon after Henry St. John, Efq; Sir Thomas Manfel, and Sir Simon Harcourt, who came in with him, laid down their refpective employments; but that they and all their freinds behaved, during that fef2792 fion, UR author begins his fifth letter with fhew. ing the connection that arofe between Mr. St. John, as fecretary at war, and the duke of Marlborough, and the fervices he did to his B grace, by carrying through the houfe the act for fettling upon him the honour and manor of Woodflock, with the penfion from the Poft-office, and demonftrating, that, befides all the great things his grace did, he would certainly have attempted, and m all probability performed, fill greater, if he had not been restrained by the Dutch deputies. But notwithstanding thefe facts, fays our author, we must allow a wide difference between the fincere admirer, and the fervile creature of that great man. Mr. St. John diftinguished himself in the former character, and to the last moment of his life avowed it upon all occafions; but he difclaimed the latter when the duke was in the zenith of his power, and neither the duke nor the dutchefs ever charged him with ingratitude. In the parliament which met, October the 25th, 1705, he had a great share in the management of the publick business, fo November, 1752. That motion did not proceed from any zeal in the Tories for the proteflant fucceffion, bre from a wretched political defign to difirefs the minifters and Whig lords; for thought they, if the minifers and Whig lords oppoje this metion, they will difoblige the princess Sophia, and act contrary to all their former profeffions; kebereas, if they agree to it, they will dijeblige the queen, which may induce ber to difmijs them, and take us again into the administration. But the Whigs fairly outwitted them, for by rejecting this motion, they recommended themjelves to the queens and next day lord Wbarten brought in the bill, which recommended them to the court of Huno 488 Abstract of Lord BOLINGBROKE's LIFE, &c. Nov. hion, with great temper, fteadiness, and The author begins his fixth letter with acquainting us, that Mr. St. John was not a member in the next parliament which was almoft entirely Whig, and A confequently great barmony and unanimity appeared within doors, but jealoufies, heart-burnings and murmurs foon began to appear without, which were blown into a flame by the affair of Sacheverel. The queen herself too was uneafy, as the found herself in every thing dictated to by her minifters; and our author takes up the rest of this letter, and a great part of B his 7th, in explaining the caufes of the following change in the adminiftration, and the difficulties Mr. Harley, the chief projector of it, had to encounter; after which he tells us that the parliament rofe, April the 5th, 1710, foon after which, the change was begun by giving the marquifs of Kent's white staff, as lord cham- C berlain, to the duke of Shrewsbury; that about two months after, the earl of Sunderland was removed from being fecretary of ftate; the beginning of Auguft the treasurer was difmiffed, and a commission appointed, of which Mr. Harley was the chief; and about a month after Henry St. John Efq; was made fecretary of ftate; foon after which the parliament was diffolved, and a new one fummoned to meet in November, when Mr St. John was chofen for Berkhire. About the time the parliament was diffolved, the famous periodical paper, called, The Examiner, was fet up, the first 12 papers of which were fuppofed to be written by Mr. St. John, Dr. Atterbury, Mr. Prior, and other perfons of diftinction; particularly, one was commonly called Mr. St. John's letter to the Examiner. E F Accordingly the parliament met in November; and as the adminiftration had a clear majority, they made a very brisk use of it, by voting 40,000 men for the fea fervice; the like number for Flanders ; and passed the bill for a land tax of 4s. in the pound, before Christmas. In all this Mr. St. John made a great figure, for hitherto the minifter relied chiefly upon him and his vigilance and vivacity were univerfally confessed, though not univerfally applauded, by men of both parties." The author, in his account of the marquis de Guifcard's affair, tells us, that having, as he paired, picked up a pen knife in an G outer room, he deftred to fpeak with Mr. fecretary St. John in private, which being refuted him, and that gentleman fitting out of his reach, he turned fuddenly up on Mr. Harley and stabbed him danger ously in the breaft, after which he informs us, that Mr. St. John had a very great if not the chief hand in the project for reducing Quebec, which failed through the too great care to keep it a fecret, and chiefly by the negligence and fomething worse in certain perfons in New England. Then after informing us of the propofals of peace made by France in April, and the meeting of the parliament in 1711, he tells us, that the great trust of managing the affairs of the administration in parliament, was committed to Mr. St. John, who, to influeuce the nation in of the war, and to excite the most earnest their fentiments of the long continuance defire of peace, employed himself with indefatigable diligence, in drawing up the most accurate computations, as to the number of our own troops, the number of foreigners, and the fums paid by way of fubfidies, during the course of the war; which produced a reprefentation from the commons to the queen, fhewing the hardfhips the ailies had put upon England in carrying on the war. To this the States General drew up a long anfwer; but Mr. St. John drew up a fhort reply, with fuch fpirit and addrefs, as entirely enervated its force. This may, fays our author, serve as a fpecimen of the fecretary's conduct, upon whom at this juncture the great weight of bufinefs lay; and though it is generally faid, and which is more, as generally acknowledged, that even at this time he gave a great loose to his pleasures, and availed himfelf very little of thofe helps to bufinefs that arife from method; yet his very enemies even then allowed, and events will ever prove the truth of it to pofterity, that he managed with great dexterity, and executed the feveral high employments, in which he then acted, with fingular facility and capacity As a ftatef man and a minifter, he had prodigious difficulties to struggle with. Most of the foreign courts we had any transactions with, and of confequence, their ministers were continually prying into, and taking exceptions to his meafures, and that with a certain fiercenefs, which fometimes drove him to extremities. The bufinefs of count Gallas, the Imperial minister, who printed, without ceremony, whatever papers were communicated to him, and was continually complaining if papers were printed by any body elfe, made a great noife, and he was at length forbid the court. The Hanoverian minifter, baron Bothmar's memorial made ftill more noife, and put the secretary under yet greater inconveniences. The letter from the 1752. Abstract of Lord BOLINGBROKE'S LIFE, &c. 489 with acquainting us, that in July Mr. St. John was created vifcount Bolingbroke, and baron St. John of Lidyard Tregoze with remainder, in cafe he died without iffue male, to his father Sir Henry St. John, Bart, and his heirs male. Our author begins his 8th letter with an account of lord Bolingbroke's trip to Paris, in order to finish the negotiation for fettling the preliminaries, and makes feveral proper and just remarks upon the inftructions he carried along with him, upon the artifices of the then oppofition, and upon the treaty of Utrecht itself and concludes with an account of, and fome reflections upon the breach that afB terwards happened among the queen's minifters, which may be faid to have haftened her death. the States-General to the queen, in fup- And the author ends this his 7th letter D And his 9th and laft letter he begins with an account of the queen's death, and the proclamation of the fucceffor, which was figned by all the queen's minifters, and among the rest by lord Bolingbroke; but on the 3d of August, being only two days after the queen's death, the regency having appointed Mr. Addison for their fecretary, they directed the postmafter-general to fend all letters and packets directed to the fecretaries of state, to their fecretary; which was, in fact, a removal of his lordship from the execution of his office; and this humiliation was heightened by his being obliged daily to wait at the door of the regency's apart ment, with a bag in his hand, and ex-1 pofed, as it were, on purpose, to the infolence of thofe who were tempted by their own intemperance of mind, or thought they might make their court to others, by an abuse of this fudden turn of fortune. Therefore his difmiffion, which did not arrive until the gift, would have been a relief to him, if it had not been attended with the locking up the doors of his office, and putting feals upon them, which very probably fuggefted to him what afterwards happened; and this was probably intended for fome who knew i his lordip's great capacity, were at this critical juncture willing to difconcert and deprefs his fpirits, if they could. However, he discovered no figns of apprehenfion at this time, but often declared himfelf able to vindicate his own conduct, and applied with much industry and vigour to keep up the fpirit of the friends to the late adminiftration, during the short feffion which followed the queen's death, In the next parliament, which met, March 17, 1714-15, his lordfhip, with feveral other lords, vigorously oppofed a paragraph in the address moved for in that * Sec bifoze, p. 439. house, 490 Abstract of Lord BOLINGBROKE'S LIFE, &c. Nov. houfe, which reflected upon the queen and her last adminiftration, and lus lordfhip propofed the amendment, but it was over-ruled by a majority upon the divifion; and this as well as feveral private intimations he had, that violent measures were refolved on, and that he was in danger of being made the fcape-goat, made A him, in a few days after, withdraw privately to France, whereupon he wrote the following letter to lord Lanfdown. I MY LORD, Dover, March 27, 1715. Left the town fo abruptly that I had any of my friends: You will excufe B Yours, &c. What afterwards followed thewed clearly, that his lordfhip had not been mifinformed; for, June 10, Mr. Walpole moved to impeach him of high treason, and other high crimes and mifdemeanors; G and, August 6, the commons fent up fix articles of impeachment against him, and demanded that he should be committed to fafe cuftody; but being informed by a meilage from the lords, that he was not to be found, they on the roth brought in a bill to attaint him of high treafon, in cafe he did not surrender before the 10th of September then next, which was accordingly paffed, and after the time elapfed he became attainted, by which he loft his honours, and an eftate of about 2500l. a year. When his lordship was thus cut off from his majefty's fubjects, his refentment led him to enter into the fervice of the pretender; but as he took thefe engagements in a heat, fo he quickly repented of and quitted them, as he himself faid; but his enemies fay, that having provoked his late majesty by his behaviour, he made his peace by betraying the pretender tho' he himself always infifted that his pardon was granted unafked and unearned. As to the time this pardon was granted, or first promifed, our author, from his lordship's own writings, feems to fix it in 1716. However, it was nine years before he reaped the fruit of his majefty's indulgence, fo as to be able to return into this kingdom; for it was not till May, 1725, that the bill was paffed for this purpose. Whilft he was in France, he married, to his fecond wife, the widow of the Marquis de Villette neice to the famous Madam de Maintenon, with whom he had a very large fortune, incumbered, however, with a long and troublesome lawfuit. And the next year after his return, he embarked again in political difputes, and wrote with great freedom and boldness against the measures that were purfued, in which he always acknowledged the late king's mercy and goodness, but difclaimed all obligation to the minister; to whom he said it was owing, that he did not receive all the effects of royal mercy that were intended him. In the profecution of this laft controverfy, fays our author, he found himself ob liged from the beginning to recommend the earl of Oxford's old fcheme, under the new title of a coalition of parties; for the Tories were by this time out of any con dition to aim at places and power, except as auxiliaries; and in doing this, many of them acted but with a bad grace, more efpecially towards the latter end of the struggle, when they began to fufpect the fidelity of their new friends, and were a little fqueamish on behaving in direct oppofition to their old principles. His lectures, however, were the principal means of keeping people together; and it must be confefled to his credit, as a political writer, that he managed the whole affair with the ut mok |