of the under secretaries, but at the same time requested the honour of kissing the King's hand, to whom he testified the utmost submission. This request however was rejected with disdain; the King had been taught to regard him as an enemy, and threw himself entirely on the whigs for safety and protection.

The new Parliament, mostly composed of whigs, met the 17th of March, and in the King's Speech from the Throne many inflaming hints were given, and many methods of violence chalked out to the two houses. "The first steps, (says Lord Bolingbroke, "speaking on this occasion) in both were perfectly "answerable; and, to the shame of the peerage be "it spoken, I saw at that time several Lords concur "to condemn in one general vote all that they had "approved in a former Parliament by many parti"cular resolutions. Among several bloody resolutions proposed and agitated at this time, the resolu"tion of impeaching me of high treason was taken, " and I took that of leaving England, not in a pa"nic terror, improved by the artifices of the Duke " of Marlborough, whom I knew even at that time "too well to act by his advice or information in

any case, but on such grounds as the proceedings " which soon followed sufficiently justified, and such "as I have never repented building upon. Those, "who blamed it in the first heat, were soon after "obliged to change their language: for what other "resolution could I take? The method of prosecu"tion designed against me would have put me out "of a condition immediately to act for myself, or "to serve those who were less exposed than me, but "who were however in danger. On the other hand, "how few were there on whose assistance I could de"pend, or to whom I would even in these circum❝stances be obliged! The ferment in the nation was

"brought

66

"brought up to a considerable height; but there was "at that time no reason to expect that it could in"fluence the proceedings in Parliament, in favour of "those who should be accused: left to its own move"ment, it was much more proper to quicken than "slacken the prosecutions; and who was there to guide its motions? The tories, who had been true "to one another to the last, were a handful, and no "great vigour could be expected from them: the "whimsicals, disappointed of the figure which they hoped to make, began indeed to join their old "friends. One of the principal among them, namely, "the Earl of Anglesea, was so very good as to con❝fess to me, that if the court had called the servants “of the late Queen to account, and stopped there, "he must have considered himself as a judge, and "acted according to his conscience on what should "have appeared to him; but that war had been de"clared to the whole tory party, and that now the "state of things was altered. This discourse needed "no commentary, and proved to me, that I had "never erred in the judgment I made of this set of "men. Could I then resolve to be obliged to them, "or to suffer with Oxford? As much as I still was "heated by the disputes, in which I had been all 66 my life engaged against the whigs, I would sooner "have chosen to owe my security to their indulgence, "than to the assistance of the whimsicals; but I "thought banishment, with all her train of evils, "preferable to either."

Such was the miserable situation to which he was reduced upon this occasion; of all the number of his former flatterers and dependants scarcely was one found remaining. Every hour brought fresh reports of his alarming situation, and the dangers which threatened him and his party on all sides. Prior, who had been employed in negociating the treaty of

Utrecht

Utrecht, was come over to Dover, and had promised to reveal all he knew. The Duke of Marlborough planted his creatures round his Lordship, who artfully endeavoured to increase the danger; and an impeachment was actually preparing in which he was accused of high treason. It argued therefore no great degree of timidity in his Lordship, to take the first opportunity to withdraw from danger, and to suffer the first boilings of popular animosity to quench the flame that had been raised against him: accordingly, having made a gallant shew of despising the machinations against him, having appeared in a very unconcerned manner at the play-house in Drurylane, and having bespoke another play for the night ensuing; having subscribed to a new opera that was to be acted some time after, and talking of making an elaborate defence, he went off that same night in disguise to Dover, as a servant to Le Vigne, a messenger belonging to the French King; and there one William Morgan, who had been a captain in General Hill's regiment of Dragoons, hired a vessel, and carried him over to Calais, where the Governor attended him in his coach, and carried him to his house with all possible distinction.

The news of Lord Bolingbroke's flight was soon known over the whole town; and the next day a letter from him to Lord Lansdowne was handed about in print, to the following effect.

"MY LORD,

"I LEFT the town so abruptly, that I had no "time to take leave of you or any of my friends. You "will excuse me, when you know that I had certain "and repeated informations, from some who are in "the secret of affairs, that a resolution was taken, by "those who have power to execute it, to pursue me " to the scaffold. My blood was to have been the ❝cement

10th of June 1715, it was sent up to the house of lords on the 6th of August ensuing, and in consequence of which he was attainted by them of high treason on the 10th of September. Nothing could be more unjust than such a sentence; but justice had been drowned in the spirit of party.

Bolingbroke, thus finding all hopes cut off at home, began to think of improving his wretched fortune upon the Continent. He had left England with a very small fortune, and his attainder totally cut off all resources for the future. In this depressed situation he began to listen to some proposals which were made by the Pretender, who was then residing at Barr, in France, and who was desirous of admitting Bolingbroke into his secret councils. A proposal of this nature had been made him shortly after his arrival at Paris, and before his attainder at home; but, while he had yet any hopes of succeeding in England, he absolutely refused, and made the best applications his ruined fortune would permit to prevent the extremity of his prosecution.

He had for some time waited for an opportunity of determining himself, even after he found it vain to think of making his peace at home. He let his Jacobite friends in England know that they had but to command him, and he was ready to venture in their service the little all that remained, as frankly as he had exposed all that was gone. At length, (says he, talking of himself) these commands came, and were executed in the following manner. The person who was sent to me arrived in the beginning of July 1715, at the place I had retired to in Dauphine. He spoke in the name of all his friends whose authority could influence me; and he brought word, that Scotland was not only ready to take arms, but under some sort of dissatisfaction to be withheld from beginning: that in England the people were exaspe

rated

rated against the government to such a degree that far from wanting to be encouraged, they could not be restrained from insulting it on every occasion; that the whole tory party was become avowedly Jacobites; that many officers of the army and the majority of the soldiers were well affected to the cause; that the City of London was ready to rise, and that the enterprizes for seizing of several places were ripe for execution; in a word that most of the principal tories were in concert with the Duke of Ormond: for I had pressed particularly to be informed whether his Grace acted alone, or, if not, who were his council; and that the others were so disposed, that there remained no doubt of their joining as soon as the first blow should be struck. He added, that my friends were a little surprised, to observe that I lay neuter in such a conjuncture. He represented to me the danger I ran. of being prevented by people of all sides from having the merit of engaging early in this enterprize, and how unaccountable it would be for a man, impeached and attainted under the present government, to take no share in bringing about a revolution so near at hand and so certain. He intreated that I would defer no longer to join the Chevalier, to advise and assist in carrying on his affairs, and to solicit and negociate at the Court of France, where my friends imagined that I should not fail to meet a favourable reception, and whence they made no doubt of receiving assistance in a situation of affairs so critical, so unexpected, and so promising. He concluded, by giving me a letter from the Pretender, whom he had seen in his way to me, in which I was pressed to repair without loss of time to Commercy; and this instance was grounded on the message which the bearer of the letter had brought me from England. In the progress of the conversation with the messenger, he related a number of facts, which satisfied me as to the general disposition of the people ;

VOL. IV.

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