1

THE CHEVALIER

11

only when "the smart " of a bill of attainder 1" tingled in every vein." He retired to the country, and it was not until July, when he received from the Jacobites a report of their cause too optimistic in its nature, that he betook himself to Commercy, where James Stuart held his court. Almost at once he saw his error.

"The very first conversations with the Chevalier answered in no degree my expectations and I assure you with great truth, that I began even then, if not to repent of my own rashness, yet to be fully convinced both of yours and mine. He talked to me like a man who expected every moment to set out for England or Scotland, but who did not very well know for which." a

2

With superb irony Bolingbroke points out where the mischief lay. The Jacobites were right, he saw, to plan a Scottish rising but a rising in Scotland was useless, if it stood alone. He saw plainly that

1 Bolingbroke was attainted an outlaw on 14th September 1714.

2

* Works, vol. i. p. 48.

the Duke of Ormonde, the most prominent Jacobite still left across the Channel, must engage the Hanoverians in the rear by a similar rising in the west of England. Above all, no steps could be taken till James could count upon the assistance of the French. These views Bolingbroke laid bare; the Pretender armed him with full powers, and negotiations were at once opened with Versailles.

We cannot surmise what might have been accomplished by the hero of the Utrecht negotiations, if he had been given a free hand. The worthless following of James, however, hampered him at every turn by their incompetence, their ignorance, or their indiscretion.

66 Those who could write and read had letters to show, and those who had not arrived to this pitch of erudition had their secrets to whisper. No sex was excluded from this ministry. Fanny Oglethorp, whom you must have seen in England, kept her corner in it, and Olive Trant was the great wheel of our machine." 1

1 Works, vol. i. pp. 53, 54.

DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.

13

1

Perhaps he could have kept the Oglethorps and Trants at bay; but for the second time a monarch's death was vitally to affect his fortunes. Louis XIV. died on 1st September 1715. "My hopes sunk as he declined and died when he expired." 1 With the statesmen, who with the new reign came into power at Court, Bolingbroke was unfamiliar. The Regent clearly meant to keep the Stuarts at a distance. If anything else was needed to depress the Jacobites, it was to be found in the reappearance of Ormonde in France. Just before the death of Louis he had left England, where his presence was essential. He proceeded to plunge into the midst of the intrigue that surrounded the exiles, burning all the while with jealousy of Bolingbroke. There is no need for us to describe here the fiasco of '15. The expedition from the first was doomed. James on his return hastened to inform Bolingbroke that he had no further occasion for his services, and that he was to be succeeded by Ormonde. Bolingbroke for his part did not wait to show resentment at this abominable treatment, 1 Works, vol. i. pp. 59, 60.

but threw off the yoke with alacrity. He says that he did not care; and no one will be tempted to suggest the presence of sour grapes. During the next year he wrote to the distinguished Tory statesman, Sir William Windham, a letter defending his behaviour. In terms of witty scorn, rarely if ever surpassed in political writing, he exposed the Jacobites, disclaimed alliance with James Stuart, and warned the Tory party against him. The second section of his life had run its course.

No sooner had Bolingbroke received his dismissal than he was once more granted an interview by Lord Stair. His reception by that astute diplomat was cordial. He abjured the cause of the Pretender and offered his services to King George, asserting, however, as an honourable exception, that he would not betray any Jacobite State secrets that had come to his knowledge up to then. He departed with a half promise of a pardon, which, as a matter of fact, was not to come till 1723. The seven intervening years he spent in study at La Source in the valley of the Loire. Here Voltaire met him; and in him he found the man who was to be a power

THE WHIGS AT HOME

15

ful influence on the development of his philosophy of life." Here we shall leave

him for the moment enjoying the society of his friends, deep in the study of his books, and content in the company of his second wife,' the Marquise de Villette, who succeeded in winning and retaining his errant affection till thirty years later, broken hearted, he laid her in an English grave. Meanwhile, we shall turn to the politics of England.

After the accession of George and the rout of the Tory party the Whigs set about the enjoyment of their victory. At first there was no division in the camp, and all combined in passing the Septennial Bill, a measure which ensured to the Whig Parliament seven years of undisturbed existence; and which was well described by the French Regent as "un coup de parti contre le Prétendant et les Torys." But unanimity was not long preserved. Sunderland and Stanhope both took the lead, and, secure in the favour of the sovereign, drove Townshend and Walpole out of

1 See Mr. Churton Collins' essay on Voltaire in England.

? He married her in 1720.