ever, after many expedients, at last resolved to wave his pretensions to the French monarchy; and the treaty went forward with rapidity and success.

In the beginning of August, secretary St. John, now created viscount Bolingbroke, was sent to the court of Versailles to remove all obstructions to the separate treaty. He was accompanied by Mr. Prior and the abbé Gaultier, and treated with the most distinguished marks of respect. He was caressed by the French king, and the marquis de Torcy, with whom he adjusted the principal interests of the duke of Savoy and the elector of Bavaria. This negotiation being finished in a few days, Bolingbroke returned to England, and Prior remained as resident at the court of France.

In the mean time the articles of the intended treaty were warmly canvassed among all ranks of people in London. A duel, which was fought between the duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun, in which they were both killed, served to exasperate the Whigs and Tories against each other. The subject of the duel is said to have been a lawsuit; but, Mohun being considered as a bully in favour of the Whigs, the Tories exclaimed, against the event as a party-duel, and absurdly affirmed that a plot was laid against the life of the duke of Hamilton. Mobs now began to be hired by both factions, and the whole city was filled with riot and uproar. In this scene of confusion, the duke of Marlborough, hearing himself accused as the secret author of these mischiefs, thought proper to retire to the continent; and his retreat was compared by his party to that of Scipio from Rome, after he had saved his country.

At length, the treaties of peace and commerce beA.D. tween England and France being agreed on 1713. by the plenipotentiaries on either side, and rati

fied by the queen, she acquainted her parliament with the steps she had taken. She informed them of her precautions to secure them the succession of a protestant king; and desired them to consider by her actions whether she ever meant to divide her interests from the house of Hanover. She left it to the commons to determine what forces, and what supplies, might be ne cessary for the safety of the kingdom." Make your selves safe," said she," and I shall be satisfied. The affection of my people, and the providence of Heaven, are the only guards I ask for my protection.". Both houses returned warm addresses; and, the ratifications of the treaty being exchanged, peace was proclaimed on the fifth of May, to the inexpressible joy of the ma jority of the nation.

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The articles of this famous peace were longer canvassed, and more warmly debated, than those of any other treaty read of in history. The number of different interests concerned, and the great enmity and jea lousy subsisting between all, made it impossible that all could be satisfied; and indeed there seemed no other method of obtaining peace, but that which was taken, for the two principal powers concerned to make their own articles, and to leave the rest for a subject of fu ture discussion.

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The first stipulation was, that Philip, now acknowledged king of Spain, should renounce all right to the crown of France, the union of two such powerful kingdoms being thought dangerous to the liberties of Europe. It was agreed that the duke of Berry, Philip's brother, and after him in succession, should also renounce his right to the throne of Spain, in case of his acquisition of the French crown. It was stipulated that the duke of Savoy should possess the island of Sicily, with the title of king, together with Fenestrelles, and other

places on the continent which increase of dominion was, in some measure, made out of the spoils of the French monarchy. The Dutch had that barrier granted them which they so long sought after; and if the crown of France was deprived of some dominions to enrich the duke of Savoy, on the other hand the house of Austria was taxed to supply the wants of the Hollanders, who were put in possession of the strongest towns inFlanders. With regard to England, its glory and its interests were secured. The fortifications of Dunkirk, a harbour that might be dangerous to their trade in time of war, were ordered to be demolished, and its port destroyed.Spain gave up all right to Gibraltar. and the island of Minorca. The French resigned their pretensions to Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland but they were left in possession of Cape Breton, and the liberty of drying their fish upon the shoreton Among the articles glorious to the English nation, their setting free the French protestants, confined in the prisons and galleys for their religion, was not the deast meritorious. For the emperor it was stipulated that he should possess the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, and the Spanish Netherlands. The king of Prussia was to have Upper Guelderland; and a time was fixed for the emperor's acceding to these articles, as he had for some time obstinately refused to assist at the negotiation. Thus Europe seemed to be formed into one great republic, the different members of which were cantoned out to different governors, and the ambition of any one state amenable to the tribunal nof allivThus it appears that the English ministry did -justice to all the world; but their country denied that justice to them. zooT sit Jaisgs besibujonq vldguor eid The Dutch and the Imperialists, after complaining of this desertion in their allies, resolved to hold out for

some time. But they also soon after concluded a peace; the one by the barrier treaty, and the other by the treaty of Rastadt, in which their interests were ascertained, and the treaty of Utrecht confirmed.dord modt od The English, being in this manner freed fromỠAT Ďo their foreign enemies, had now full deisure to in- 1714. dulge their domestic dissensions. The two parties never contended with greater animosity, or greater injustice, against each other. No merit could be allowed in those of the opposite faction, and no knavery seen in their own. Whether it was at this time the wish of the ministers to alter the succession of the crown from the house of Hanover to the Pretender, cannot now be clearly made out but true it is that the Whigs be lieved it as certain, and the Tories but faintly denied the charge. The suspicions of that party became every day stronger, particularly when they saw a total removal of the Whigs from all places of trust and confidence throughout the kingdom, and their employments bestowed on professed Tories, supposed to be maintainers of an unbroken hereditary succession. The Whigs were all in commotion, either apprehending, or affecting to apprehend, a design in favour of the Pretender; and their reports went so far as to assert that her was actually concealed in London, and that he had held several conferences with the ministers of state. bomso 9qoptim"T Bonga nat te 36:828

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Besthis as it will, the chiefs of the Whig faction held secret conferences with baron Schutz, resident from the court of Hanover! They communicated their fears and apprehensions to the elector, who, before he arrived in England, for considered the spirit of parties, was thoroughly prejudiced against the Tories. In return, they received his instructions, and were taught to expect his favoreinlocase of his succession. The house of lords

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seemed to share in the general apprehension. The queen was addressed to know what steps had been taken for removing the Pretender from the dominions of the duke of Lorrain. They begged she would give them a list of such persons as, having been once attainted for their political misconduct, had obtained licences to return into Great-Britain since the Revo, lution. Mr. Steele, afterwards known as the celebrated Sir Richard Steele, was not a little active in raising and spreading these reports. In a pamphlet written by him, called the Crisis, he bitterly exclaimed against the ministry, and the immediate danger of their bringing in the Pretender. The house of commons considered this performance as a scandalous and seditious libel; and Steele was expelled from the house of commons.

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But while the Whigs were attacking the ministers from without, these were in much greater danger from their own internal dissensions. Harley was created "earl of Oxford, and St. John viscount Bolingbroke. Though they had started with the same principles and 'designs, yet, having vanquished other opposers, they now began to turn their strength against each other. Never were two tempers worse matched to carry on business together: Oxford, cautious, slow, diffident, and reserved; Bolingbroke, hot, eager, impetuous, and proud: the first of great erudition, the latter of great natural capacity; the first obstinate in command, the other reluctant to obey: the first bent on maintaining that rank in the administration which he had obtained upon the dissolution of the last ministry; the other disdaining to act as a subaltern to a man whom he thought himself able to instruct. Both, therefore, began to form separate interests, and to adopt different principles. Oxford's plan was the more moderate ;

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