66 highest principles in Church and State, he showed a constant and probably a conscientious attachment. He had adhered to James in every variety of fortune, and was the uncle of the Princesses Mary and Anne, who seemed likely in succession to inherit the crown. He was a fluent speaker, and appears to have possessed some part of his father's talents as a writer. He was deemed sincere and upright, and his private life was not stained by any vice, except violent paroxysms of anger, and an excessive indulgence in wine, then scarcely deemed a fault." His infirmities," says one of the most zealous adherents of his party, were passion, in which he would swear like a Cutter, and the indulging himself in wine; but his party was that of the Church of England, of whom he had the honour for many years to be accounted the head."* The impetuosity of his temper concurred with his opinions on government, in prompting him to rigorous measures. He disdained the forms and details of business, and it was his maxim to prefer only Tories, without regard to their qualifications for office. "Do you not think," said he to Lord Keeper Guildford, "that I could understand any business in a month?" "Yes, my Lord," answered the Lord Keeper, "but I believe you would understand it better in two months." Even his personal defects and unreasonable maxims, were calculated to attach adherents to him as a chief, and he was well qualified to be the leader of a party ready to support all the pretensions of any king who spared the Protestant establishments. MARQUIS OF HALIFAX. Sir George Saville, created Marquis of Halifax by Charles the Second, claims the attention of the historian rather by his brilliant genius, by the singularity of his character, and by the great part which he acted in the events which preceded and followed, than by his political importance, during the short period in which he held office under James. In his youth, he appears to have combined the opinions of a republican† with the most refined talents of a polished courtier. The fragments of his writings which remain, show such poignant and easy wit, such lively sense, so much insight into character, and so delicate an observation of manners, as could hardly have been surpassed by any of his contemporaries at Versailles. His political speculations being soon found incapable of being reduced to practice, melted away in the sunshine of royal favour. The disappointment of visionary hopes led him to despair of great improvements, to despise the moderate services which an individual may render to the com. munity, and to turn with disgust from public principles to the indulgence of his own vanity and ambition. The dread of his powers of ridicule contributed to force him into office, and the attractions of his lively and somewhat libertine conversation, were among the means by which he maintained his ground with Charles the Second, of whom it was said by Dryden, "that whatever his favourites of State might be, yet those of his affections were men of wit." Though we have no remains of his speeches, we cannot doubt the eloquence of him who, on the bill of exclusion, fought the battle of the court against so great * North, p. 230. "I have long looked on Lord Halifax, and Lord Essex, as men who did not love monarchy, such as it is in England."-Duke of York, letter to Legge. See Dedication to K. Arthur. straints of popular government, which have been sometimes contracted by English Ambassadors in the course of a long intercourse with the ministers of absolute Princes. A faint and superficial preference of the general principles of civil liberty, was blended in a manner not altogether unusual with his diplomatic vices. He seems to have gained the support of the Duchess of Portsmouth to the administration formed by the advice of Sir William Temple, and to have then gained the confidence of that incomparable person, who possessed all the honest arts of a negotiator. He gave an early earnest of the inconstancy of an over-refined character, by fluctuating between the exclusion of the Duke of York, and the limitation of the Royal prerogative. He was removed from the administration for his vote on the bill of exclusion. The love of office soon prevailed over his feeble spirit of independence, and he made his peace with the Court, by the medium of the Duke of York, who had long been well disposed to him; and of the Duchess of Portsmouth, who found no difficulty in reconciling the King to a polished as well as a pliant courtier, an accomplished negotiator, and a minister more versed in foreign affairs than any of his colleagues. Negligence and profusion bound him to office by stronger though coarser ties than those of ambition. He lived in an age when a delicate purity in pecuniary matters had not begun to have a general influence on statesmen; and when a sense of personal honour, growing out of long habits of co-operation and friendship, had not yet contributed to secure them against political inconstancy. He was one of the most distinguished of a species of men who perform a part more important than noble in great events; who by powerful talents, captivating manners, and accommodating opinions, by a quick discernment of critical moments in the rise and fall of parties, by not deserting a cause till the instant before it is universally discovered to be desperate, and by a command of expedients and connections which render them valuable to every new possessor of power, find means to cling to office, or to recover it, and who, though they are the natural offspring of quiet and refinement, often creep through stormy revolutions without being crushed. Like the best and most pru dent of his class, he appears not to have betrayed the secrets of the friend whom he abandoned, and never to have complied with more evil than w necessary to keep his power. His temper was without rancour; he me be acquitted of prompting, or even preferring the cruel acts which wer perpetrated under his administration: deep designs and premedit treachery were irreconcileable both with his indolence and his imp sity; and there is some reason to believe that, in the midst of total ference about religious opinions, he retained to the end some de thn vil lib which he might have derived in nts of some of his earl into the cabinet Sir son whose office did elevation to unusual Jent which he served. acquirements no more ae course of business, from the companions of gross buffoonery which But his powers of mind and spirited; and after when he preserved reason aone forth in his judgment, seness of his deportment. the petty contests of the corway to court, through some of e King, as well as to the more de his value known, by contributof which he had been the chief law the trial of Russell, and as a judge acceptable to his masters. On the on who had collected evidence for the , for making private suggestions, proJustice, to Lady Russell while she was The same brutal insolence shewn in the nought the more worthy of reward, because oism of that great man. The union of a h boisterous violence and the basest subser Roi, 15 Avril, 1685. Fox's Hist. app. lviii. an orator as Shaftesbury.* Of these various means of advancement, he availed himself for a time with little scruple and with some success. But he never obtained an importance which bore any proportion to his great abilities, a failure which in the time of Charles the Second may be in part ascribed to the remains of his opinions, but which from its subsequent recurrence, must be still more imputed to the defects of his character. He had a stronger passion for praise than power, and loved the display of talent more than the possession of authority. The unbridled exercise of wit exposed him to lasting animosities, and threw a shade of levity over his character. He was too acute in discovering difficulties, too ingenious in devising objections. He had too keen a perception of human weakness and folly, not to find many pretexts and temptations for changing his measures and deserting his connections. The subtlety of his genius tempted him to projects too refined to be understood or supported by numerous bodies of men. His appetite for praise, when sated by the admiration of his friends, was too apt to seek a new and more stimulating gratification in the applauses of his opponents. His weaknesses and even his talents contributed to betray him into inconstancy; which, if not the worst quality of a statesman, is the most fatal to his permanent importance. For one short period indeed, the circumstances of his situation suited the peculiarities of his genius. In the last years of Charles, his refined policy found full scope in the art of balancing factions,—of occasionally leaning to the vanquished, and always tempering the triumph of the victorious party,by which that monarch then consulted the repose of his declining years. Perhaps he satisfied himself with the reflection that his compliance with all the evil which was then done, was necessary to enable him to save his country from the arbitrary and bigotted faction which was eager to rule it. We know, from the evidence of the excellent Tillotson,† that Lord Halifax showed a compassionate concern for Lord Russell, and all the readiness to save him that could be wished; and that Lord Russell desired Tillotson to give thanks to Lord Halifax for his humanity and kindness and there is some reason to think that his intercession might have been successful, if the delicate honour of Lord Russell had not refused to second their exertions by softening his language on the lawfulness of resistance-a shade more than scrupulous sincerity would warrant. He seems unintentionally to have contributed to the death of Sidney,§ by procuring a sort of confession from Monmouth, in order to reconcile him to his father, and to balance the influence of the Duke of York, by Charles's partiality for his The compliances and refinements of that period pursued him with perhaps too just a retribution during the remainder of his life. James son. "Jotham of piercing wit, and pregnant thought, Endued by nature, and by learning taught To move assemblies, who but only tried The worse awhile, then chose the better side, : Nor chose alone, but turned the balance too."-Absolom and Achitophel. See character of Halifax by the continuator of Mackintosh, p. 513. + The Duchess of Portsmouth said to Lord Montagu, “that, if others had been as earnest as my Lord Halifax with the King, Lord Russell might have been saved.”— Fox's MSS.; other allusions in the MSS. which I ascribe to Lord Halifax, show that his whole fault was a continuance in office after the failure of his efforts to save Lord Russell. Vide Lord J. Russell's Life of Lord Russell, p. 215. § See evidence of Mr. Hampden and Sir Francis Forbes, in Lords' Journals, 20 Dec. 1689. was impatient to be rid of him who had checked his influence during the last years of his brother, and the friends of liberty could never place any lasting trust in the man who remained a member of the government which sent to death Russell and Sidney. LORD GODOLPHIN. The part performed by Lord Godolphin, was not so considerable as to require a full account of his character. He was a gentleman of ancient family in Cornwall, distinguished by the accomplishments of some of its members, and by their sufferings in the royal camp during the civil war. He held offices at court, before he was employed in the service of the state, and he always retained the wary and conciliating manners, as well as the profuse dissipation of his original school. Though a royalist and a courtier, he voted for the Bill of Exclusion. At the accession of James he was not considered as favourable to absolute dependence on France, nor to the system of governing without parliaments. But though a member of the cabinet, he was, during the whole of this reign, rather a public officer, who confined himself to his own department, than a minister who took a part in the direction of the state. The habit of continuing some officers in place under successive administrations, for the convenience of business, then extended to higher persons than it has usually comprehended in more recent times. JEFFREYS. James had, soon after his accession, introduced into the cabinet Sir George Jeffreys, Lord Chief Justice of England, a person whose office did not usually lead to that high station, and whose elevation to unusual honour and trust, is characteristic of the government which he served. His origin was obscure, his education scanty, his acquirements no more than what his vigorous understanding gathered in the course of business, his professional practice low, and chiefly obtained from the companions of his vulgar excesses, whom he captivated by that gross buffoonery which accompanied him to the most exalted stations. But his powers of mind were extraordinary, his elocution was flowing and spirited; and after his highest preferment, in the few instances when he preserved reason and decency, the native vigour of his intellect shone forth in his judgment, and threw a transient dignity over the coarseness of his deportment. He first attracted notice by turbulence in the petty contests of the corporation of London, and having found a way to court, through some of those who ministered to the pleasures of the King, as well as to the more ignominious of his political intrigues, he made his value known, by contributing to destroy the charter of the Capital of which he had been the chief law officer. His services as a counsel in the trial of Russell, and as a judge in that of Sidney, proved still more acceptable to his masters. On the former occasion, he caused a person who had collected evidence for the defence to be turned out of court, for making private suggestions, probably important to the ends of justice, to Lady Russell while she was engaged in her affecting duty. The same brutal insolence shewn in the trial of Sidney, was perhaps thought the more worthy of reward, because it was foiled by the calm heroism of that great man. The union of a powerful understanding with boisterous violence and the basest subser * See Barillon au Roi, 15 Avril, 1685. Fox's Hist. app. lviii. |