St. John was clearly ready to admit the Pretender instead of the House of Hanover, and had been in close correspondence with the Court of St. Germains, and there is every reason to believe that it was with the cognisance and approval of the queen, who hated the House of Hanover. But Harley was bent on maintaining the Protestant succession, whilst he was equally determined on the achievement of a peace damaging to the Whigs. He knew too well that, however the queen might lean towards the restoration of her brother, the Pretender, the nation would never submit to it. He therefore entered into a secret negotiation with France on another basis to that of St. John.

Nothing is more certain than that the queen was strongly inclined to admit the claims of her brother, James Stuart, the Old Pretender, if he could be brought to renounce the Catholic religion, and that she entered into a correspondence on this head. It is true that she continued to express doubts of his being really her brother, yet she every now and then let observations escape her which showed that she really believed him to be so. It was on the ground of this conviction that she corresponded with him regarding his succession to the Crown, and was only compelled to give up his claim because she could not bring him to abandon his attachment to his religion. Amongst those who supported the claims of the Pretender were her uncle Rochester and Marshal Tallard—still prisoner of war at Nottingham, and kept there by Louis on the understanding that he was more useful there as a secret negotiator than he would be anywhere else at the head of an army.

After the disgrace of Guiscard the Abbé Gualtier became the agent of Harley for carrying on the proposals for peace with France. Gualtier was a man of very infamous life, but he was a more cautious and diplomatic man than Guiscard. He and Tallard urged on the Pretender's claims to the last moment. So late as May of the year 1711 the Pretender addressed a long letter to Queen Anne, which is to be seen in the Macpherson State Papers, in which, addressing her as his sister, he appeals to her by the natural affection which he bears her, and which he protests that their common father bore her till his death, to see him righted. He reminds her of her promises which she had made to her father on this head, and argues that, as he never would relinquish his just claims, the only way to prevent the continual excitement, disquietude, and wars injurious to the realm, is to admit his claim. And he concludes thus:—"And now, madam, as you tender your own honour and happiness, and the preservation and re-establishment of an ancient royal family, the safety and welfare of a brave people, who are almost sinking under present weights, and have reason to fear far greater, who have no reason to complain of me, and whom I must still and do love as my own, I conjure you to meet me in this friendly way of composing our differences, by which only we can hope for those good effects which will make us both happy, yourself more glorious than in all the other parts of your life, and your memory dear to all posterity."

The Pretender offered to give all liberty to the Church and to the Dissenters, but he would not abandon his own religion. On reading this letter the disappointed queen said to the Duke of Buckingham—who had married her half-sister, James II.'s natural daughter Catherine, by Catherine Sedley, and who was in her confidence—"How can I serve him, my lord? You well know that a Papist cannot enjoy this crown in peace. Why has the example of the father no weight with the son?" Here she acknowledged that the Pretender was the son of James. But she added, "He prefers his religious errors to the throne of a great kingdom; he must thank himself, therefore, for his exclusion." Still she begged Buckingham to try further to persuade him; it was in vain, and Anne gave up the hope of his restoration, and turned her whole mind to the conclusion of a peace including the Protestant succession.

Gualtier was despatched to Versailles secretly, and, to avoid detection, without any papers, but with full instructions relating to the proposals for peace. He introduced himself to De Torcy, the Prime Minister of Louis, and assured him that the English Government was prepared to enter into negotiations for peace independently of the Dutch, whom De Torcy had found so immovable. This was delightful news to the French Minister, who was overwhelmed with the necessities of France, which were come to that pass that peace on any terms, or invasion, appeared inevitable. In his own memoirs De Torcy says that "to ask a French Minister then whether he wished for peace, was like asking a man suffering under a long and dangerous malady whether he wished to be better." On being convinced that Gualtier was a bonâ-fide agent of the English Court, the French Court was thrown into the most delightful astonishment. Gualtier told De Torcy that it was not necessary to commit himself by written documents on the matter; he had only to write a simple note to Lord Jersey, saying that he was glad to have heard of his lordship's health through the Abbé, and had charged him with his thanks; that this would give the English Ministers to understand that their proposition had been favourably entertained, and that the negotiation would be gone into in earnest.

So far as the English Ministers were concerned, they now rushed on with that reckless impetuosity of which wily politicians like Louis and De Torcy were sure to take advantage. Gualtier was authorised to write to De Torcy in the name of the English Ministry, requesting his most Christian Majesty to communicate to them the terms on which he would feel disposed to make a general peace—just as if England, and not France, were at an extremity, and in a condition not to dictate, but only to accept of terms. Louis was so general in his answer that it was necessary for Gualtier to make another journey to Versailles—thus giving the idea that it was England rather than France which was all anxiety for a peace. Gualtier returned with certain propositions, but Marlborough was now driving Villars before him, and was in possession of Bouchain, and prepared to make himself master of Paris in another campaign. We were entitled to make the amplest demands, and our Allies were entitled to know what they were, and to enjoy the benefit of circumstances. Our Ministers continued to negotiate without the Dutch and Germans, because they meant to accept terms which they knew their allies would not condescend to. But the intelligence of our proceedings soon reached the Hague, and the States-General quickly demanded an explanation, and at the same time announced again to De Torcy, that they were prepared to treat in co-operation with England. The English Ministers were thereupon compelled to communicate the French memorial to the States-General. Lord Raby, the British ambassador at the Hague, wrote urging the necessity of keeping faith with the Dutch, who were greatly incensed at our taking measures for a peace without them, and apprising them that every letter received from France conveyed the delight of the French in the prospect of being able to sow discord amongst the Allies. The States soon informed the Ministers of England that they were quite prepared to go along with them in the treaty for peace, but they would insist on the conditions being ample and satisfactory. In order to convert Lord Raby into a devoted advocate of a disgraceful and undignified policy, St. John wrote to inform him that it was her Majesty's pleasure that he should come over to England, in order to make himself perfect master of the important subjects about to be discussed. Lord Raby was a Wentworth, nearly allied in descent to the Earl of Strafford who was beheaded in the time of Charles I., and he had long been soliciting for himself the renewal of that title. St. John therefore adroitly announced to him that, on his reaching London, it was her Majesty's gracious intention to confer that honour upon him. This intimation at once threw Raby into a fever of gratitude, and he made the most ardent professions of doing all in his power to serve her Majesty.

MARLBOROUGH HOUSE IN THE TIME OF ANNE.

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These obstacles to their entering into a dishonourable peace being removed, Gualtier was once more despatched to Versailles, and this time accompanied by Matthew Prior, a poet of some pretension and much popularity, but much more distinguished as a diplomatist. He had lived in France, knew the French and French Court well, having been secretary to the embassies of the Earls of Portland and Jersey. Prior was a man of courtly and insinuating manners, and devoted to Harley and the Tory interest. The propositions which he brought from the queen as the basis of the peace were—that the Dutch should have a barrier in the Netherlands; that the German Empire should have another on the Rhine; that the Duke of Savoy should receive back all towns or territories taken during the war; that proper protection should be obtained for the trade of England and Holland; that France should acknowledge the title of Anne and the Protestant succession; that the fortifications of Dunkirk should be destroyed; that Gibraltar and Port Mahon should continue in British possession; that Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay should also be acknowledged as British, but that the French should be allowed to trade to Hudson's Bay; that in other respects France and England should retain their possessions in America as they did before the war; that the Assiento, or contract for supplying the Spanish Colonies of South America with slaves—which had formerly been held by the Portuguese, but, since 1702, by the French—should be made over to England, with four towns on the Spanish Main, anywhere between the Straits of Magellan and California, as depôts for the slaves when first brought over. The terms might have been better, but they were substantial. As Prior and Gualtier had no powers to accept terms from France, M. Mesnager, an expert diplomatist, deputy from Rouen to the Board of Trade in Paris, was despatched to London with the English envoys. They were to return in all secrecy, and Mesnager was furnished with certain instructions wholly unknown to Prior and Gualtier. These were, that an equivalent for the destruction of the fortifications of Dunkirk was to be demanded; and that some towns in Flanders which the French had lost, particularly Lille and Tournay, should be restored. These demands he was to keep very close, and only cautiously but firmly open to the principal negotiators. But the secret was out that a treaty was on foot with France, and the general opinion was that the Ministers were bent on making peace on any terms. The Government, nevertheless, kept the matter as much out of sight as possible. The queen sent Prior to apologise to Mesnager for his being received in so secret a manner, and Oxford, St. John, Jersey, and Shrewsbury were appointed to confer with him privately. On the 8th of October the English Commissioners and Mesnager had agreed upon the preliminaries and signed them. Mesnager was then privately introduced to the queen at Windsor, who made no secret of her anxiety for peace, telling him she would do all in her power to complete the treaty and live in good-fellowship with the King of France, to whom she was so closely allied in blood. At supper she said publicly that she had agreed to treat with France. The Ministers were just as incautious, for Swift was invited by St. John the same evening to sup with him and a small party in his apartments in Windsor Castle. This party consisted of no other persons than Mesnager himself, Gualtier, and the infamous Abbé Dubois, tutor to the young Duke of Orleans, this profligate having also been engaged in assisting Mesnager in the treaty. With them was Prior. All these particulars Swift wrote, as he wrote everything, to Stella in Ireland. Yet when the preliminaries were handed to Count Gallas, the Imperial ambassador, who, in his indignation, immediately had them translated and inserted in one of the daily papers, the queen was so angry that she forbade his reappearing at Court, and informed him that he could quit the kingdom as soon as he thought proper. He departed immediately, and the queen, to prevent an explosion on the part of the Allies, wrote to the Emperor to say that she should be happy to receive any other person that he might send. Raby, now Earl of Strafford, was hurried to the Hague to announce to the States the fact of her having signed these preliminaries, and to desire them to appoint a spot where the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies and France should meet to discuss them. Both the Dutch and the Emperor were startled and greatly confounded at the discovery of the nature of the terms accepted. They used every means to persuade the queen to draw back and accept no terms except those which had been offered to France after the battle of Malplaquet, but rather to push on the war vigorously, certain that they must very soon obtain all they demanded.