result was, that the queen immediately laid aside all her schemes and visions of reconciling the two opposite interests; and entered upon a firm resolution of adhering to the old English principles, from an opinion that the adverse party waited impatiently for her death, upon views little consisdng (as the language and opinion went then) with the safety of the constitution, either in church or state. She therefore determined to fall into all just and proper methods that her ministers should advise her to, for the preservation and continuance of both. This I was quickly assured of, not only by the lord chancellor, and lord Bolingbroke, but by the treasurer himself.
I confess myself to have been then thoroughly persuaded that this incident would perfectly reconcile the ministers, by uniting them in pursuing one general interest; and considering no farther than what was fittest to be done, I could not easily foresee any objections or difficulties that the earl of Oxford would make. I had, for some time, endeavoured to cultivate the strictest friendship between him and the general[1], by telling both of them (which happened to be the truth) how kindly they spoke of each other; and by convincing the latter, of what advantage such a union must be to her majesty's service. There was an affair upon which all our friends laid a more than ordinary weight. Among the horse and foot guards appointed to attend on the queen's person, several officers took every occasion, with great freedom and bitterness of speech, to revile the ministry, upon the subject
- ↑ The duke of Ormond.
