455. Proceedings against ROBERT Earl of OXFORD,* before the House of Lords, upon an Impeachment for High Treason, and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors: 3 GEORGE I.

A. D. 1717.

June 24, 1717.

THE Earl of Oxford having been impeached by the House of Commons, and being confined near two years in the Tower, without being brought to a trial, presented a Petition to

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*Swift, in his Catalogue of those who have made great figures in some particular action or circumstance of their lives,' inserts Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, at his Trial.' In his History of the Four Last Years of the Queen, he has pourtrayed the character of Oxford

thus:

the House of Lords, setting forth his long confinement, submitting his case to their lordships' consideration, and praying that his imprisonment might not be indefinite.

little ends, and supplying daily exigencies, by little shifts and expedients. But to rescue a prince out of the hands of insolent subjects, bent upon such designs as must probably end in the ruin of the government; to find out means for paying such exorbitant debts as this nation hath been involved in, and reduce it to a better management; to make a potent enemy offer advantageous terms of peace, and deliver up the most important fortress of his kingdom as a security; and this against all the opposi tion mutually raised and inflamed by parties and allies: such performances can only be called cunning by those, whose want of understanding, or of candour, puts them upon finding ill names for great qualities of the mind, which themselves do neither possess, nor can form any just conception of. However, it must be allowed, that an obstinate love of secrecy in this minister, seems, at distance, to have some resemblance of cunning; for he is not only very retentive of secrets, but appears to be so too; which I number among his defects. He has been blamed by his friends, for refusing to discover his intentions, even in those points where the wisest man may have need of advice and assistance; and some have censured him upon that account, as if he were jealous of power: but he has been heard to answer, "That be seldom did otherwise, without cause to repent."

Upon this Petition some of the Lords urged, that the Impeachment was ipso facto destroyed quainted with his character; for, in the sense they take the word, and as it is usually understood, I know no man to whom that mean talent could be with less justice applied, as the con. duct of affairs, while he has been at the helm, does clearly demonstrate, very contrary to the nature and principles of cunning, which is al"This person had been chosen Speaker suc-ways employed in serving little turns, proposing cessively to three parliaments, was afterwards secretary of state, and always in great esteem with the queen for his wisdom and fidelity. The late ministry, about two years before their fall, had prevailed with her majesty, much against her inclination, to dismiss him from her service; for which they cannot be justly blamed, since he had endeavoured the same thing against them, and very narrowly failed; which makes it the more extraordinary, that he should succeed in a second attempt, against those very adversaries, who had such fair warning by the first. He is firm and steady in his resolutions, not easily diverted from them after he has once possessed himself of an opinion that they are right; nor very communicative where he can act by himself, being taught by experience, "That a secret is sel dom safe in more than one breast." That which occurs to other men after mature deliberation, offers to him as his first thoughts; so that he decides immediately what is best to be done, and therefore is seldom at a loss upon sudden exigencies. He thinks it a more easy and safe rule in politics, to watch incidents as they come, and then turn them to the advantage of what he pursues, than to pretend to foresee them at a great distance. Fear, cruelty, avarice, and pride, are wholly strangers to his nature; but he is not without ambition. There is one thing peculiar in his temper, which 1 altogether disapprove, and do not remember to have heard or met with in any other man's character: I mean an easiness and indifference under any imputation, although he be ever so innocent, and although the strongest probabilities and appearances are against him; so that I have known him often suspected by his nearest friends, for some months, in points of the highest importance, to a degree that they were ready to break with him, and only undeceived by time and accident. His detractors, who charge him with cunning, are but ill ac

"However, so undistinguished a caution cannot, in my opinion, he justified, by which the owner loses many advantages, and whereof all men who deserve to be confided in, may, with some reason, complain. His love of procrastination (wherein doubtless nature has her share) may probably be increased by the same means; but this is an imputation laid upon many other great ministers, who, like men under too heavy a load, let fall that which is of the least consequence, and go back to fetch it when their shoulders are free; for, time i

and determined, since he was not brought to trial the same session in which he was impeached, and that the prorogation was an actual Supersedeas to the whole proceedings; however, the vote of the House passed to the contrary, and the earl of Nottingham, who had insisted strenuously upon it, entered his protestation against it.

This being over-ruled, the duke of Buckingham moved to appoint a short day for the

earl's trial, which after some debates was fixed for the 18th of June, and afterwards at the desire of the House of Commons was deferred till Monday the 24th, on which day the Lords came from their House at 12 o'clock in their robes, and went into the Court in Westminsterhall, in their usual order.

The Lords being seated in their places, (and the Commons in a committee of the whole House being in their seats, and the Managers

given in the Letter to sir William Wyndham by Swift's friend Bolingbroke:

"Whilst this was doing, Oxford looked on, passed; broke now and then a jest, which stas if he had not been a party to all which had voured of the inns of court and the bad com

often gained, as well as lost, by delay, which, at worst, is a fault on the securer side. Neither probably is this minister answerable for half the clamour raised against him upon that article: his endeavours are wholly turned upon the general welfare of his country, but perhaps with too little regard to that of particular per-pany in which he had been bred : and on those sons; which renders him less amiable, than he would otherwise have been, from the goodness of his humour, and agreeable conversation in a private capacity, and with few dependers. Yet some allowance may perhaps be given to this failing, which is one of the greatest he has ; since he cannot be more careless of other men's fortunes, than he is of his own. He is master

of a very great and faithful memory; which is of mighty use in the management of public affairs: and I believe there are few examples to be produced, in any age, of a person who has passed through so many employments in the state, endowed with a greater share both of divine and buman learning.

"I am persuaded that foreigners, as well as those at home who live too remote from the scene of business to be rightly informed, will not be displeased with this account of a person, who, in the space of two years, has been so highly instrumental in changing the face of affairs in Europe, and has deserved so well of his own prince and country."

And in the True Narrative* of what passed at the examination of the marquis de Guiscard,' among other praises of Harley, is the following: France records her Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louvois. We talk with veneration of the Cecils. But posterity shall boast of Harley as a prodigy, in whom the spring is pure as the stream; not troubled by ingratitude or avarice, nor its beauty deformed by the feature of any vice. The coming age will envy ours a minister of such accumulated worth."

A very different representation of Oxford is

*Of this "True Narrative," Swift informs Stella, that he had not time to do it himself, and that he was afraid of disobliging Mr. Harley or Mr. St. John in one critical point about it, and so would not do it himself. The Narrative, it appears, was composed by Swift's orders, and from his materials, by one of his underspur-leathers' (as I think he denominates his humbler fellow-labourers in the vineyard of Tory pamphleteering) Mrs. Manley, who wrote the Atalantis,' no very creditable associate, or yery honourable panegyrist.

occasions, where his station obliged him to
speak of business, was absolutely unintelligi.
ble. Whether this man ever had any deter
mined view, besides that of raising his family,
is, 1 believe, a problematical question in the
other."
world. My opinion is, that be never had any

self in the year 1734, speaks very contemp
Bolingbroke, in a letter written to Swift him-
Swift's own expressions at different times con-
tuously of Harley. The inconsistencies of
cerning Harley are the natural consequence of
Swift's political tergiversation.

Harley had been created earl of Oxford on the 11th of May 1711. Of this advancement Burnet writes as follows: "The ministers now found, how hard it was to restore credit, and by consequence to carry on the war; Mr. Harley's wound gave the queen the occasion, which she seemed to be waiting for; upon his recovery she had created him an earl, by a double title, of Oxford and Mortimer. Preambles to Patents of Honour usu

ally carry in them a short account of the dignity of the family, and of the services of the person advanced; but his preamble was very pompous, and set him out in the most extravagant characters that flatterers could invent; in particular it said, that he had redeemed the nation from robbery, had restored vice in a course of many years; all this was credit, and had rendered the public great ser set out in too fulsome rhetoric, and being prepared by his own direction, pleased him so much, that whereas all other patents had been only read in the House of Lords, this was printed. He was at the same time made lord treasurer, and became the chief, if not sole minister, for every thing was directed by him. It soon appeared that his strength lay in managing parties, and in engaging weak people by rewards and promises, to depend upon him; but that he neither thoroughly understood the business of the treasury, nor the conduct of foreign affairs. But he trusted to his interest in the queen and in the favourite."

The Preamble to Harley's Patent was com posed, (I conjecture in Latin and in English)

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for High Treason.

for the House being also in places appointed for them;) the House was resumed.

Then Proclamation was made as follows:

Sergeant at Arms. O Yes, O Yes, O Yes! Our sovereign lord the king doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons to keep silence on pain of imprisonment.

Then the commission for appointing a Lord High-Steward was (after three reverences made in coming up from the clerk's table) presented to the Lord High-Steward sitting upon the wool-sack, by the clerk of the crown in Chan cery on his knee; and the same being brought

by Swift. It is published in English in Swift's Works, vol. 4, p. 223. (Nichols's 12mo edi tion), as follows:

“ PREAMBLE TO MR. HARLEY'S PATENT, "The Reasons which induced her Majesty to create the Right Honourable Robert Harley a Peer of Great Britain; being a translation of the preamble to his Patent, dated May 11, 1711.*

|

"Whatever favour may be merited from a just prince, by a man born of an illustrious and very ancient family,† fitted by nature for all great things, and by all sorts of learning qualified for greater; constantly employed in the study of state affairs, and with the greatest praise, and no small danger, exercising variety of offices in the government; so much does our well-beloved and very faithful counsellor Robert Harley,‡ deserve at our hands: he, who in three successive parliaments was unanimously chosen speaker; and, at the same time that he filled the chair, was our principal secretary of state: in no wise unequal to either province. Places, so seemingly disagreeing were easily reconciled by one, who knew how with equal weight and address to moderate and govern the minds of men : one who could | preserve the rights of the people, without infringing the prerogative of the crown; and who thoroughly understood how well government could consist with liberty. This double

* "First printed in 4to. in Latin and English, by Morphew, in 1711.

+ "This noble family is descended from the ancient house of the de Harlais in France. Their common ancestors were probably a family of that name resident in Shropshire long before the Conquest.

"Robert Harley, esq. eldest son of sir Edward Harley, was born in London, Dec. 5, 1661. He was educated at Shilton, a private school in Oxfordshire, remarkable for producing, at the same time, a lord high treasurer (the earl of Oxford), a lord high chancellor (lord Harcourt), a lord chief justice of the common pleas (lord Trevor) and ten members of the House of Commons, who were all contemporaries as well at school as in parlia

ment.

to the table, proclamation was again made for
keeping silence.

L. H. Steward. (William lord Cowper.) My
lords, his majesty's commission is about to be
read; your lordships are desired to attend to it
in the usual manner, and all others are likewise
to stand up uncovered while the commission is
reading.

Then the said commission was read (all the
Lords and others standing up uncovered) as
follows:
"GEORGIUS R.

، Georgius, Dei Gratia, Magnee Britannia, Francis et Hibernia Rex, Fidei Defensor, &c. task being performed; after some respite, he bore the weight of our exchequer as chancellor, and thereby prevented the farther plundering of the nation; and also provided for the settling of a new trade to the South Seas; and (by rescuing public credit) so opportunely relieved the languishing condition of the treasury, as to deserve thanks from the parliament, blessings from the citizens, and from us (who

never separate our own interests from the public) no small approbation. Therefore we decree to the man that has so eminently deserved of us and of all our subjects, those honours which were so long since due to him and his family; being induced thereto by our own good pleasure, and the suffrage of all Great Britain: for we take it as an admoni|tion, that he should not in vain be preserved, whom the states of our realm have testified to be obnoxious to the hatred of wicked men, upon account of his most faithful services to us, and whom they have congratulated upon his escape from the rage of a flagitious parricide. We gladly indulge their wishes, that he, who comes thus recommended to us by so honourable a vote of both Houses of Parliament, should have his seat among the peers, to many of whom his family has been long allied; and that he, who is himself learned, and a patron of learning, should happily take his title from that city, where letters so gloriously flourish. Now know ye," &c.

The censure of pompous extravagant flattery and fulsome rhetoric' which as we have seen had been passed on this preamble by Burnet, (possibly he knew not by whom it was composed) would not fail to exasperate the political animosity of Swift, who accordingly in return has persecuted the loose and careless style of the bishop with a ludicrous childish minuteness of unrelenting vigilance and inveterate malignity.

Mr. Park, in his edition of lord Orford's Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, mentions that there is in the British Museum a tract entitled, An Account of the Conduct of Mr. Park supposes it to have been composed. Robert Earl of Oxford, 1715, 8vo. by whom

See more concerning lord Oxford in Gregg's Case, vol. 14, p. 1371. See, too, the preceding Cases of Bolingbroke, Ormond, and Strafford.

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