No. 12.
ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD.
Black and gold dress.
BORN 1661, DIED 1724.
STUDIED under the famous Dr. Birch (who boasted of the number of statesmen he had educated), and showed great promise. In 1688 he raised a troop of horse for the service of William of Orange, whom he joined, but who showed him no particular favour. Harley sat in Parliament, but waited for office till 1704, when Queen Anne gave him a seat in the Council, and made him Secretary of State. He was much opposed to Godolphin and Marlborough, and made common cause with the Queen’s new favourite, Mrs. Masham, to overthrow the power of the Whigs.
The Ministers insisted on his dismissal, but Anne stood by him as long as she could; when Harley was compelled to resign, the Queen said to him: ‘You see the unfortunate condition of monarchs,—they are obliged to give up their friends to please their enemies;’ but so high was Anne’s opinion of Harley, that she constantly consulted him on public affairs, when out of office.
On the downfall of the Whig Administration, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Treasurer.
He was much censured, even by his own party, for some of his financial measures, by which, however, he enriched the Royal coffers. In March 1711, an event happened that made a great noise, and rendered Harley the hero of the day. A French adventurer, called Bourlie, or the Marquis de Guiscard and Langalleve, was a shifty individual, who acted first as a spy of England against France, and then of France against England, being in the pay of both. His intrigues were discovered, and he was brought before the Privy Council. Believing that Harley had been instrumental in his detection, he resolved to be revenged. While waiting his turn for examination, he found means to secrete about his person a penknife which was lying on the table, among some papers. No sooner was he brought forward than he rushed in a fury upon Harley, and stabbed him several times, the Minister falling senseless on the ground, covered with blood. A scene of confusion ensued, and the Duke of Buckingham, drawing his sword, wounded the assassin, who was conveyed to Newgate, where he died in a few days, either from the effect of the sword-thrusts, or by his own hand.