But this is not to say that Prior knows of any intrigue to restore the Stuarts.

As against these doubts we must remember that in a letter to Halifax after the Queen's death he vehemently protested that all suspicions were unfounded; and although this does not amount to much, for it is what any man might be expected to do in like circumstances, it is supported by the fact that Berwick, even when Prior was smarting under his dismissal from office by the Hanoverian government, stigmatised his Jacobitism as very lukewarm.

I had a long discourse with M. Pecour, but he insisted so much upon M. Robinson's making up with M. Pery (? Protestantism) that I could bring him to no conclusion favourable for this present time1.

But far clearer evidence of Prior's innocence of anything but the vaguest professions of good intentions is provided by Gaultier's correspondence with Torcy. At the very beginning of the intrigue we find Gaultier writing: "Il ne faut pas sil vous plaist que M. Prior sache rien de tout cecy, car il me semble que M. de Bolingbroke luy en ueut faire un mistere2," and at the very height of the business when transmitting to the French minister Oxford's advice to James III in February, 1714, Gaultier adds: "Mathieu doit absolument ignorer tout cecy3." This and the silence of his official papers make it reasonable to suppose that the ministers did not take Prior into their confidence in this important matter. Thus we can explain at once the lack of results ensuing on the transference of Prior's papers to Lord Stair and

1 Hist. MSS. Comm. Stuart Papers, 1. 342, Berwick to James III, St Germain, Jan. 6, 1715.

2 Aff. Etr. Angl. vol. 240, fo. 82, Gaultier to Torcy, London, Oct. 12, 1712; cf. E.H.R. July, 1915, 1. 502.

3 Ibid. vol. 253, fo. 268, Gaultier to Torcy, Feb. 5, 1714; cf. E.H.R. July, 1915, 507.

the confidence that Prior showed when the Queen died. The evidence is all in favour of Prior's innocence of taking part in a conspiracy to break the laws of his country, and it also might be taken to indicate what has been already suggested that Prior's political position was of no very great importance. In spite of close personal friendship, similarity of political opinions, and fellowship in the work of peace, neither Bolingbroke nor Oxford seems to have been prepared to entrust him with knowledge of their more important schemes1. Prior seems to be little better than a hack doing the routine work of the office; the important personage is Gaultier. It may be so, but we must remember that ministers had to take measures to cover up their tracks in the event of failure. Had they employed Prior, there would have been available in London, not merely the drafts of his instructions, but also the evidence of clerks who had written them out; there would further have been found in the Embassy in Paris, the fatal originals themselves. The method of negociating through Gaultier had this great advantage, that he would transmit to James III or Torcy the messages given to him verbally by Oxford or Bolingbroke, and thus the compromising documents would be filed in Jacobite and French archives to which the British government had no access. When therefore the Whigs came into power and appointed a Committee to enquire into what was a matter of common gossip, no documentary evidence could be produced either from the offices in London, nor from the Embassy in Paris, and it was not until a hundred years later that any view based on other than guesswork became known to the world. For these reasons we should do well to avoid jumping at the conclusion that in the days of his "greatness," Prior's position was little better than a hollow sham, because he knew nothing of this most dangerous affair of state.

1 E.g. he knew very little of the proposed alliance with France in 1714.

Chapter XI

THE YEARS OF TROUBLE

PRIOR had no desire to continue as minister in

Paris, and even in the lifetime of the Queen preparations had been made for his recall by appointing General Charles Ross as ambassador1. But as Ross did not undertake the mission, Prior was kept on in Paris, and he did not receive his final letters of revocation till the next year2.

The fall of Oxford had removed his best friend from the ministry; but the loss was not so serious as might at first sight appear, for Shrewsbury, who succeeded Oxford as Lord Treasurer, was a good friend to the man who had so ably seconded him in Paris. However, on the accession of George I, Prior's old boon companion, Bolingbroke, was driven from office, and although Bolingbroke had not been too friendly disposed towards Prior during the last few weeks, Prior now had need for all the help he could possibly obtain from his friends.

On receiving the news of the Queen's death, he immediately wrote a letter of congratulation and loyalty to the new King, and so long as George I was separated from his ministers, continued to correspond directly with him3. Although certain persons were offended at P.R.O. Royal Letters, 7. The date is St James', April 23/May 4, 1714; and F.O. King's Letters, 13. Date, St James', April 23,/May 4, 1714.

i

2 P.R.O.; F.O. King's Letters, 14. Dated, St James', Dec. 31/Jan. 11, 1714/15; cf. also Shrewsbury's letter (obviously to Prior), dated Sept. 29, 1713, in Hist. MSS. Comm. Portland Papers, v. 341.

3 P.R.O. France, 159, Letters of Aug. 20, Aug. 23, Sept. 21, and Sept. 28, 1714.

this proceeding, because they thought the despatches should have been first sent to London1, the King seems to have received the letters graciously, and not to have taken offence2. To those about the King he was not unknown. The young Earl of Dorset might prove a protector in these difficult times, and Prior wrote to him assuring "My dear Lord Dorset...of my continued and inviolable respects." When the ministry was changed, Prior wrote letters of congratulation to his new chiefs. From one, James Stanhope, he received a friendly reply: "if you will let me know wherein I can be serviceable to you, I shall gladly embrace the occasion of showing that I am not forgetful of my old acquaintance1."

If words could be relied on, Prior might perhaps have been satisfied. But he knew that he needed more than words, for he was now heavily encumbered with debts, and without Oxford he could not rely on their being paid. Shrewsbury could not pay anything out without a sign manual from the Lords Justices, and they "reasonably declined any distribution of money but what directly tended to the preserving the peace5."

It was therefore necessary to obtain as much influence as he could, and fortunately, he could write to Halifax without loss of self respect. The attempts of Oxford to persuade Halifax to join in support of the ministry, had borne fruit perhaps in Halifax writing to Prior at the beginning of 1714 to ask for some trees 1 Hist. MSS. Comm. Portland Papers, v. 493, News letter, Sept. 4, 1714.

2 Cf. P.R.O. France, 159, Prior to the King, Fontainebleau, Sept. 21, 1714. "Sire, La Manière gracieuse et benigne dont il a plu à Votre Majesté de répondre à la liberté que j'ai prise de lui écrire en droiture." 3 Ibid. Prior to Dorset, Versailles, Aug. 20, 1714.

4 Ibid. Stanhope to Prior, Cockpit, Oct. 7/18, 1714.

5 Hist. MSS. Comm. Portland Papers, v. 497, Shrewsbury to Prior, London, Oct. 4, 1714.

and seeds for his garden. Prior sent the trees, and some melon seed, and was asked in return for "some seed of the herbs commonly used for 'salating' and was offered some 'malt drink1." Encouraged by Halifax's friendly tone, Prior wrote him two letters, of which the second has survived:

My Lord,

Paris the 12/23 Oct. 1714.

The answering my last letter is a point referable only to your own Goodness. Friendship can no more be forced than Love, and those persons sometimes are the objects of both Indulgence in this kind who may least have deserved our favour. I have however the satisfaction to believe that you think me an honest Man and an Englishman: for my having acted as the Queen's orders given Me by her ministers enjoined, my dispatch sent to the Court of England, the copies of my letters here, (I may add) the testimony of the D: of Shrewsb[ury] and all I have had to do with, and my own Mens conscia recti will abundantly justify me; for the pride of my mind, pass; there may be some defects and faults in it on that side, but for the Integrity of it, and as to any underhand doings, before God, Angels and Man, I shall stand cleared: and you, my Lord, may pass your word and honour upon that account. I will only add that few men alive have more merit in this regard than my Self, and as long as the 4th article either of Ryswick or of Utrecht remain legible I may as well be thought a Mahometan as a Jacobite: but as these are little reflexions raised by the underlings who had a mind to justify some of their masters' being angry with me, so they will all fall half an hour after you are pleased to be my friend. Pray let that be within half an hour after you receive this letter, and now at the same time that I congratulate your being again first Commissioner of the Treasury, I must implore the immediate succour of your Justice and Humanity: I will complain as little as I can and just as much as is absolutely necessary to let your Lordship see the present state of my affairs, and I believe in this the D. of Shrewsbury's goodness has prevented Me: since my

1 Bath Papers, III. 443–445.