p. 52). Bolingbroke admitted afterwards that the French had gained too much, but threw the whole blame upon the Dutch and the whigs, who intrigued against him (Eighth Letter on Study of History). The greatest feeling was aroused at the time by what now seems the most enlightened part of the arrangement. Bolingbroke hoped, as he said, that the commercial treaty would tend to produce permanently good feeling between the countries (Corresp. iv. 153). The proposed regulations, however, were not only attacked by the whigs, who were supported by the protected interests, but alienated some of the tories. Bolingbroke was represented in the House of Commons by Arthur Moore [q. v.], the only man whom he seems to have consulted on the question, who was suspected of corrupt motives and had little personal weight. The bill to give effect to the treaty was rejected by 194 to 185 on 15 June. Bolingbroke is also charged with the shameful desertion of the Catalans who had supported the side of the allies under promises that their privileges should be maintained. He appears to have considered them as troublesome and ‘turbulent people,’ made no effective demands on their behalf in negotiating the treaty, and scarcely remonstrated when they were forcibly suppressed by Philip.
Domestic difficulties had been accumulating for some time. Oxford, in his ‘Brief Account of Public Affairs’ (published in the report of the committee of secrecy), says that St. John was already making a party for himself in February 1710–11, when an attempt was made by Rochester to reconcile them. Swift (Change of the Queen's Ministry) says that he had very good reasons to know that there were jealousies at the time of Guiscard's attempt (Journal to Stella, 27 April 1711). Bolingbroke thought that Oxford had prevented him from receiving an earldom and the Garter. But the characters of the two were so opposed as to make discord certain. Bolingbroke, impetuous, brilliant, and overbearing, could not endure to be led by the timid, procrastinating, and vacillating Oxford. Oxford's occasional interferences in the negotiations and their temporary transference to Dartmouth provoked him, and matters soon came to a struggle for superiority. Swift, who was at Dublin in July 1713, was earnestly entreated to return in order to try once more to patch up a reconciliation. The case, however, was hopeless. The critical difficulty was one of which Swift was not allowed to be aware. The health of the queen was evidently breaking, and the question of the succession becoming daily more pressing. Both Oxford and Bolingbroke had kept up negotiations with the Pretender. Gaultier, on his first mission to France in 1710, had communicated to the Duke of Berwick a proposal, in Oxford's name, for the restoration of the Stuarts upon the death of Anne (Berwick, p. 219). Gaultier brought other communications, although the English ministers were very cautious to commit themselves to writing. Bolingbroke, it is said, threatened to send Gaultier out of the kingdom for putting on the table a letter signed with the king's arms (Marchmont Papers, ii. 241 n.) It is asserted in the ‘Mackintosh Papers’ that he had the secret interviews with the Pretender during his visit to Paris in 1712. Bolingbroke saw him in public at the opera (Macpherson, ii. 338; Swift to King, 16 Dec. 1716; Stuart Papers, Roxburghe Club, p. 383), but the private interview is at least doubtful. The Jacobites became suspicious of Oxford's intentions, but Bolingbroke took up their cause decidedly. He spoke openly to Lockhart of Carnwath, and sent advice to the exiles (Lockhart, i. 412–13; Macpherson, ii. 366–7). Bolingbroke's great point was that the Pretender should give up the catholic church. The Pretender honourably refused this concession, which would have removed one of the strongest grounds of objection, and both Bolingbroke and Oxford are said by Gaultier (Stuart Papers in Stanhope's History, vol. i.) to have ceased to insist upon it. The ‘Mackintosh Papers,’ however, show that they attached the greatest importance to the proposal. The difficulty illustrates Bolingbroke's real attitude. He had no enthusiasm for the Stuarts, and in fact no man despised their religious and political creed more heartily. It is doubtful whether a restoration of the Pretender ever appeared practicable either to Oxford or Bolingbroke (cf. Wyon, Queen Anne, ii. 517–19). Their position, however, as leaders of the tories compelled them to keep up some relations with the Jacobites. The accession to the crown of the elector of Hanover meant inevitably the triumph of the whigs and the ruin of the ministers responsible for the peace. Bolingbroke was endeavouring to strengthen himself by every available means, and was thwarted at every step by the timidity of Oxford. He made friends with the queen's favourite, Lady Masham, who had been gained by the Jacobites. His appointment of her brother to the command of the Canadian expedition in 1711, and afterwards to Dunkirk, marks the progress of this connection. Oxford asserted that the public had been cheated of 20,000l. on the first occasion. St. John and Arthur Moore had brought
