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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ORC-PAI |
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OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST EARL
chief
interest
elevation
From the first Harley gave great attention to the conduct of public business, bestowing especial care upon the study of the forms and ceremonies of the House
House
' I.e. in the Harley line. of speaker. For a part of this period, from the 18th of May 1704, he combined with the speakership the duties of a principal secretary of state for the northern department, displacing in that office the Tory earl
opinion of his abilities that he was admitted to the ministry. For some time, so long indeed as the victories of the great English general cast a glamour over the policy of his friends, Harley continued to act loyally with his colleagues. But in the summer of 1707 it became evident to Godolphin that some secret influence behind the throne was shaking the confidence of the queen in her ministers. The sovereign had resented the intrusion into the administration of the impetuous earl of Sunderland, and had persuaded herself that the safety of the church depended on the fortunes of the Tories. These convictions were strengthened in her mind by the new favourite Abigail Hill (a cousin of the duchess of Marlborough through her mother, and of Harley on her father's side), whose soft and silky ways contrasted only. too favourably in the eyes of the queen with the haughty manners of her old friend, the duchess of Marlborough. Both the duchess and Godolphin were convinced that this change in the disposition of the queen was due to the sinister conduct of Harley and his relatives; but he was for the present permitted to remain in his office. Subsequent experience showed tale necessity for his dismissal and an occurrence supplied an opportunity for carrying out their wishes. An ill-paid and poverty-stricken clerk, William Gregg, in Harley's office, was detected in furnishing the enemy with copies of many documents which should have been kept from the knowledge of all but the most trusted advisers of the court, and it was found that through the carelessness of the head of the department the contents of such papers became the common property of all in his service. The queen was thereupon informed that Godolphin and Marlborough could no longer serve in concert with him. They did not attend her next council, on the 8th of February 1708, and when Harley proposed to proceed with the business of the day the duke of Somerset drew attention to their absence, when the queen found herself forced (February 11,) to accept the resignations of both Harley and St John.Harley went out of office, but his cousin, who had now become Mrs Masham, remained by the side of the queen, and contrived to convey to her mistress the views of the ejected minister. Every device which the defeated ambition of a man whose strength lay in his aptitude for intrigue could suggest for hastening the downfall of his adversaries was employed without scruple, and not employed in vain. The cost of the protracted war with France, and the danger to the national church, the chief
With the sympathy which this attempted assassination had evoked, and with the skill which the lord treasurer possessed for conciliating the calmer members of either political party, he passed through several months of office without any loss of reputation. He rearranged the nation's finances, and continued to support her generals in the field with ample resources for carrying on the campaign, though his emissaries were in communication with the French king, and were settling the terms of a peace independently of England's allies. After many weeks of vacillation and intrigue, when the negotiations were frequently on the point of being interrupted, the preliminary peace was signed, and in spite of the opposition of the Whig majority in the Upper House, which was met by the creation of twelve new peers, the much-vexed treaty of Utrecht was brought to a conclusion on the 31st of March 1713. While these negotiations were under discussion the friendship between Oxford and St John, who had become secretary of state in September 1710, was fast changing into hatred. The latter had resented the rise in fortune which the stabs of Guiscard had secured for his colleague, and when he was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron St John and Viscount Bolingbroke, instead of with an earldom, his resentment knew no bounds. The royal favourite, whose husband had been called to the Upper House as Baron Masham, deserted her old friend and relation for his more vivacious rival. The Jacobites found that, although the lord treasurer was profuse in his expressions of good will for their cause, no steps were taken to ensure its triumph
On the accession of George I. the defeated minister retired' to Herefordshire, but a few months later his impeachment
then passed to a cousin, Edward, 3rd earl (c. 1699-1755), and eventually became extinct with Alfred, the 6th earl (1809-1853). Harley's statesmanship may seem but intrigue and finesse, but his character is set forth in the brightest colours in the poems of Pope and the prose of Swift. The Irish dean was his discriminating friend in the hours of prosperity, his unswerving advocate in adversity. The books and manuscripts which the 1st earl of Oxford and his son collected were among the glories of their age. The manuscripts became the property of the nation in 1753 and are now in the British Museum; the books were sold to a bookseller called Thomas Osborne in 1742 and described in a printed catalogue of five volumes (1743-1745), Dr Johnson writing an account of the library. A selection of the rarer pamphlets and tracts, which was made by William Oldys, was printed in eight volumes (1744-1746), with a preface by Johnson. The best edition is that of Thomas Park, ten volumes (1808-1813). In the recollection of the Harleian manuscripts, the Harleian library and the Harleian Miscellany, the family name will never die. End of Article: OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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