for some time, he at length muttered a few words, expressing his wonder that no one better qualified should be found to advocate the cause of his friend, and adding that he would reserve what he had to say for a better opportunity. The emotion exhibited by the old soldier, and his speechless, though expressive, appeal in favour of an absent friend, are said to have had an effect on the house which could scarcely have been produced by a torrent of eloquence; and when he sat down, it was amidst the spontaneous cheers of the united assembly. "It is strange," he said to a person near him, "that I cannot speak for him, when I would so willingly fight for him.”

The charges preferred against Bolingbroke in the House of Commons, are so entirely in the spirit of party, that, to have induced them to arrive at their prejudiced decisions, it must have required the grossest servility from one portion of the House, and the most furious enmity on the part of the other. That Bolingbroke, during the complicated and most difficult negotiations connected with the treaty of Utrecht, and with the variety of interests which he had to consult, may not, in every individual point, have carried out his instructions in their exact spirit;-that he adopted measures which the emergency of the occasion could alone justify,-and, moreover, that, in particular points, there were grounds for accusing him of not having properly supported the interests of England, or kept strict faith with her allies, are facts which it would

be difficult to disprove. On the other hand, there is not the slightest ground for accusing him of intentional dishonesty, and even had all the charges brought against him been distinctly proved, they could not legally have amounted to high treason.

Moreover, admitting that offences had been committed against the state, it was not Bolingbroke individually who was to blame, but the Tory party in general, and the House of Commons who had solemnly and distinctly approved the proceedings. When Sir William Wyndham subsequently reminded the house that the late peace had been sanctioned by two successive parliaments, and had been declared by them to be a safe, advantageous, and honourable one, he answered every argument that could be adduced against Bolingbroke's conduct. "Though a subsequent parliament," added Wyndham," may annul any laws which a former parliament has decreed, yet it cannot and ought not to call any ministers to justice, for measures which have been sanctioned by the three branches of the legislature." These arguments, however, had little weight with the House of Commons. They passed a bill, summoning Bolingbroke to appear before their tribunal on a certain day, and, in default, attainted him of high treason. Their summons being, of course, disregarded, he was formally declared to be degraded from his nobility, to be attainted in blood, and disqualified from inheriting the

estates of his family, and, finally, he was condemned to suffer death on the scaffold should he ever again set foot in his native country. Notwithstanding a strong protest, the bill which awarded these severe penalties passed the House of Lords, and eventually received the royal

assent.

It

There was one crime laid to the account of Bolingbroke, which was, of course, regarded by his Whig persecutors as the blackest in the catalogue of his political offences: we allude to the charge, which has been so often and so confidently brought against him, of having entertained an intention of restoring the Stuart dynasty, and, with this purpose, of having invited the Pretender to return to England on the death of Queen Anne. We have certainly no desire to enter into the merits of a difficult controversy, which has been often and ably discussed. is necessary, however, to observe, that, as this charge is omitted in the articles of impeachment, his enemies must have failed in procuring evidence to substantiate it. One or two vague conjectures, indeed, and an ingenious interpretation of some questionable documents, constitute the unsatisfactory and sole presumption of his guilt. Had he ever in reality made any treasonable overtures to the exiled family, the proofs could scarcely have escaped the vindictive industry of Walpole, and the rigorous investigation of the secret committee. But even had they chanced to have eluded so searching

an inquisition, we, who live in later times, must have discovered the missing evidence, either from the Stuart Papers, or from other literary emporiums to which posterity has had access.

If the fortunes of Bolingbroke were on the decline in England, his position in France was as little to be envied. Nothing, indeed, could be more lamentable, or adapted more strikingly to illustrate the instability of human greatness, than the situation to which the once powerful Bolingbroke was now reduced. Deserted by his friends and flatterers, and stripped of his rank, fortune, and political power, he found himself an almost impoverished exile in that very country, where, but a few months before, he had been caressed by the King, followed by the acclamations of thousands in whatever town he passed through, and universally courted by the nobles, equally for his wit and celebrity as a man of genius, as from his being the minister of the most powerful kingdom in the world.

Added to the misery of self-reflection, the misfortunes of exile, and the inconveniences of a very restricted income, Bolingbroke, about this period, was laid prostrate on a bed of sickness on the banks of the Rhone. It was in this unhappy condition that he received a visit from an emissary of the Pretender, who was then residing, with his small court, at Barr. The arguments of this unexpected visitor, or rather the exaggerated picture which he drew of the prosperous condition of his master's affairs, would

probably have had but little weight with such a mind as Bolingbroke's, had he not been predisposed to listen to the persuasions of the tempter, from the feelings of resentment which rankled in his mind. The personal character of the Pretender he ever affected to despise; but, as he himself tells us, "the smart of a bill of attainder tingled in every vein." His decision was soon made. He hastened to the heir of the Stuarts, who had now removed to Commercy, and with a heart panting for revenge and retribution, accepted the Seals under that unhappy prince.

The step adopted by Bolingbroke on this occasion must not only be regarded as a blot on his character, but reflects very disparagingly on his common sense. This was the view which was afterwards entertained by Bolingbroke himself of his own conduct. His heart seems to have failed him in the first act of the drama, and he admits that the first conversation which he held with his new master convinced him of the unworthiness of the man whose cause he had adopted, and how desperate was the undertaking in which he had so rashly embarked. Speaking of their first interview, he says, "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; and when he entered into the particulars of his affairs, I found that, concerning the former, he had nothing more circumstantial nor positive to go upon than what I had already heard." Bolingbroke further in