in his chariot, and Prior thanked him for his charity1." With Swift he was constantly sitting up late talking; once Swift describes the entertainment as a "debauch2," and in 1712 he notes that he stayed at Prior's till "past twelve, and could not get a coach, and was alone, and was afraid enough of the Mohocks3." But the next year had its sorrows for Prior: the most serious undoubtedly was Jersey's death, which took place suddenly on August 26, 1711; and caused Prior real grief, as the following letter shows: Dear Sir Thomas Hanmer, West. Aug. 28, 1711. If you ever knew the tenderness of a true friendship, you will pitty my present condition, when I tell you that my dear Lord Jersey went seemingly well to bed on Saturday night, and at five on Sunday morning dyed-be his spirit for ever happy, and his memory respected. The only moment of ease wch I have found since this cruel blow is just now while I complain and write to you. Time and necessity I know cure all sorrows; but as yet I feel a load upon my spirits which I conceal from the world, and which must be too hard for human nature if it lasts. I know you loved my Lord Jersey, and I hope I trouble you while I give an account of his death: the Queen, the nation, mankind has lost a pattern of honour, integrity, and good manners, you, Sr, have lost a man who understood your merit, and courted your friendship; after you have wept for him, Sr, as I beg you to do, I will wish in recompense that those years which he might reasonably have expected, may be added to yours: in the mean time I desire you to believe that till I lye extended on the biere 1 Journal to Stella, Jany. 4, 1710/11. See also August 29. "My lord treasurer began a health to my lord privy seal, Prior punned, and said it was so privy, he knew not who it was." The habit lasted some years, for Prior writes to Harley in 1717 (Bath Papers, III. 449, Cambridge, Nov. 4/15), "I have made a hundred puns in forty-eight hours, to the joy and wonder of all my hearers." 2 Ibid. Dec. 7, 1710. Cf. also May 16, 1711. 3 Ibid. Mar. 18, 1711/12. as I saw my poor lord this morning, I remain most sincerely and inviolably, Sr, Your obedient and humble servant The note is true, and the letter shows how deep was the intimacy between the two men. It was indeed a serious loss for Prior, who owed nearly everything to Jersey. But this was not the only anxiety which the year brought Prior, though it was the greatest; there was the extraordinary incident of the stabbing of Harley by Guiscard early in the year, an event which caused Prior to join in the flow of poetry which that surprising action evoked; while in the first half of the year he had been annoyed by being transferred from the commission of trade to that of customs. First mentioned in June2, the change was not completed till the end of the year, when Swift says: "Prior hates his commission of the customs, because it spoils his wit. He says he dreams of nothing but cockets, and dockets, and drawbacks, and other jargon, words of the custom house." But before this unfortunate change took place, Prior had passed one of the great landmarks of his life, for at the beginning of July, 1711, the ministry sent him, with great secrecy, to France once more. What events led the ministry to do so, must be reserved for another chapter. 1 Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer, p. 129. 3 Ibid. March 13, 1711/12. ΤΗ Chapter VIII "MAT'S PEACE" 'HE desperate straits to which France had been reduced by Marlborough had not been greatly eased by the events of the year 1710. It is true that Marlborough had won no signal victory, for the sum total of his gains that year was four towns, the safety of which had been long threatened, and the loss of which had therefore been long discounted. But Marlborough and Eugene were still at the head of their troops, and there was no telling when the next stroke would be dealt by the redoubtable pair. The efforts to bring about a peace by negociations had failed; nor was this fact surprising, for so far had the arrogance of the allies carried them that the Dutch demanded that Louis XIV was to assist in dethroning his own grandson, and was allowed two months for the task. As if this was not short enough a time for him to carry through an enterprise in which the Allies had met with but little success for the last eight years, he was to be assisted, in case of failure, by a renewal of the war on the part of the Allies. The conference was clearly little but a farce; but the bitter disappointment of the French is clear from the valedictory letter which their plenipotentiaries addressed to the Dutch on July 20. Yet for all their high words, the position of the Dutch was less favourable than at the beginning of the year. The revolution in the English ministry boded no good to Marlborough, and at the end of the year it seemed almost certain that the Dutch would lose his great services. The Queen at that time did indeed renew his command, but there were not wanting reasons to support the opinion that the near future would witness his disgrace. In the first place, the fall of the glorious Marlborough was a necessity, if the new ministers were to establish themselves firmly in office; and to secure this, peace must be made with France. In the second place, the elections of the autumn, which routed the Whigs, gave the ministry a majority in the House of Commons, and the more secure they became, the more they looked askance on Marlborough. Therefore the Queen's speech to Parliament on Nov. 27/Dec. 8 not only revealed the debts incurred by the odious Godolphin, but also spoke in hopes that when peace should come the country would once more flourish. In the third place, at the very end of the year, on December 24, O.S., came the news of the disaster of Brihuega, which might well make the supporters of the Archduke despair of seeing him rule over the whole of Spain. The main object of the war seemed further than ever from attainment. In spite of the brave words spoken about France being "pushed with the greatest vigour in the most sensible part," the news merely confirmed the ministry in their peace policy1. Even before the news of Brihuega had been received, practical steps towards opening a negociation with France had been taken. On December 23, 1710, a despatch was sent to Louis' great minister Torcy by a priest named François Gaultier. This man had been chaplain to Lady Jersey since the beginning of the war, 1 Bolingbroke Correspondence, 1. 33, St John to Drummond, Whitehall, Dec. 26/Jan. 6, 1710/11. The letter shows St John thought that Spanish affairs were hopeless. “Our misfortune in Spain is very great....I own that, since Spain cannot be gained by revolution...there is no reasonable, sober man who can entertain a thought of conquering and retaining that wide continent." L. P. ΙΟ and under a variety of pseudonyms had acted as a secret agent of Louis XIV in England. The despatch he now sent told Torcy on Jersey's behalf that the ministry were determined on peace, and would give up Spain provided security was granted to British trade. As soon as the two crowns were agreed with the British the allies would be informed, no matter what they might say or think1. The despatch was immediately followed by the abbé himself, who went over to Paris with verbal instructions and messages from Jersey, Shrewsbury the Lord Chamberlain, and Harley the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In order to end the war, they said, they would negociate at a conference in Holland, but not in England, for fear of their heads; and at this conference, it is important to note, not merely was a general peace to be made, but, developing William III's policy at Ryswick, the ministry desired a separate treaty between France and England to be agreed upon, so that if the Dutch proved refractory, they could be forced to sign a peace. To this principle the French King agreed. It was now all-important to the British ministry that the French proposal for peace should appear to be spontaneous, and to come without any suggestion from England; and in this sense Gaultier wrote to France soon after his return to London in February. The enterprise, however, moved slowly, partly because contrary winds prevented Gaultier from crossing the Channel, partly perhaps because of Harley's procrastinating habits, and partly from the refusal of Torcy to make proposals of such a kind as the British ministers could accept. The French offers, they insisted, must be not less ample than those of the year 1 Gaultier to Torcy, Dec. 23/Jan. 3, 1710/11, Aff. Etr. Angl. 230. (Quoted in O. Weber, Der Friede von Utrecht, p. 18, n. 1.) |