Such was the dangerous situation of an army upon which the archduke Charles depended for the dethrone ment of his rival, and for placing the crown of Spain upon his head. Notwithstanding the able defence of lord Galway, and the detection of many random and false assertions in the paper delivered in by the earl of Peterborough, the house resolved that the latter had given a very faithful, just and honorable account of the councils of war in Valencia, and that the earl of Galway, lord Tyrawley, and general Stanhope, insisting, in a conference held at Valencia, some time in January, 1706-7, in the presence of the king of Spain, and the queen's name being used in maintenance of their opinions for an offensive war, contrary to the king of Spain's opinion, and that of all the general officers, and public ministers, except the marquis das Minas; and the opinion of the earl of Galway, lord Tyrawley, and general Stanhope being pursued in the operations of the following campaign, was the unhappy occasion of the battle of Almanza, and one great cause of our misfortunes in Spain, and of the duke of Savoy's expedition before Toulon, concerted with her majesty."

The object of the earl of Galway's commission, therefore, was avowedly the conquest of Spain, and his crime, according to the judgment of their lordships, that he fought a battle in order to obtain it!" Never," says bishop Burnet, "was any thing carried on in the house of lords so little to their honor as this was. Some who voted with the rest seemed ashamed of it. The duke of Buckingham said, in plain words, that they had the majority, and would make use of it. They loaded, singly, the earl of Galway with the loss of the battle of

Almanza, though it was resolved on, in a council of war, that he had behaved himself in it with all the bravery and conduct that could be expected from a great general.”—Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. iv. p. 311.

CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN

MR. HARLEY AND LORD GODOLPHIN.

A. D. 1707.

THE following letters exhibit the commencement and progress of that disagreement which took place, during the years 1706-7, between lord Godolphin and Mr. Harley. Marlborough and Godolphin had now relinquished their connection with the tory party, and were anxiously courting the friendship and support of the whigs. Mr. Harley, from a variety of causes, disapproved of this total change of system, and ventured, though in language the most obsequious and submissive, to remonstrate against it.

The temper and policy of this minister, dark, subtle, and indecisive, had always led him to trim between the two parties and to endeavour to cultivate the favor of each, valuing himself upon his address in poising the political balance. He had now also begun, in concert with Mrs. Masham, to establish a separate interest with the queen, and he knew that she dreaded being thrown entirely into the hands of the whigs. In fine, he was aware that one of the schemes in agitation was the dismission of sir Charles Hedges, joint secretary of state, a man much inferior to himself in political consequence, and to transfer the possession of the seals to lord Sunderland, who had married one of the daughters of the duke

of Marlborough, and whose connections, rank, fortune, and talents, would render the jealous and aspiring Harley comparatively insignificant. Impressed with these considerations, he insinuates to lord Godolphin the impolicy of entirely breaking with the tories; he expresses his dislike of the gross partiality with which the controverted elections were decided by the house of commons in favour of the whigs, under the auspices of the present ministers; and he represents, in that cloudy and obscure mode of writing which he usually adopted, and perhaps affected, the inveterate dislike and animosity of the zealous adherents of that party to the lords Marlborough and Godolphin.

That Mr. Harley entertained any views, at this early period, of supplanting those great leaders, is very improbable. He was now gradually ascending the dangerous steeps of ambition, but without fixing his eye on any distinct or determinate object; and his conduct may be easily accounted for from obvious causes, without supposing him to have carried his arts of refinement and dissimulation to strange and extravagant lengths.

LORD GODOLPHIN TO MR. SECRETARY HARLEY.

August 10th, 1706.

SIR,

I HEREWITH return you the letters and papers you sent me, with many thanks for the favor of your letter, and your being so particular in the matter upon which I desired your thoughts, though I differ in opinion. I think the matter of elections was but a pretext taken in the last session: there was an averseness at

bottom to do any thing that they thought would give merit to the whigs; though it was, and is, a demonstration that without them, and their being entire, the queen cannot be served; but the leaning to what I take to be an impossibility, will, I doubt, make them jealous and uneasy, and at best but passive; the consequence of which is, that the majority will be against us upon every occasion of consequence. I hope, however, the queen's service will go on, and, for myself, I am as little concerned as one need to be upon such an occasion, but I am not blind or asleep. The topics you mention would not hurt us alone, if there were not a preparation to make them uneasy and jealous from whom only we can have or hope for any friendship.

GODOLPHIN.

MR. SECRETARY HARLEY TO LORD GODOLPHIN.

Brampton, 15 August, 1706.

As to home affairs, what I wrote to your lordship was in the sincerity of my heart, and what I could collect from my conversation with both parties, and of which I am at any time ready to give your lordship the particulars: but far be it from me to espouse any opinion of my own, or to differ from your lordship's judgment. I shall always be ready when required, and never but then, to give my poor thoughts, and such reasons as I have, and when I have done that I know myself too well to be fond of any notions of my own, with that attachment to your lordship and lord Marlborough, which I shall always preserve.

The reason I mentioned elections in my letter was,