The reasons for Anne’s displeasure continued in force until they were superseded by others, equally feminine, arising in the royal mind of the timid, prejudiced, and ill-judging Anne, which renewed her innate dislike towards the opposite faction. The decline of the Whig party was arrested this year by the victory of Ramilies, on which occasion the Queen wrote to Marlborough, assuring him “that she wanted words to express the true sense she had of the great service he had done his country and her in that great and glorious victory, and hoped it would be a means to confirm all good and honest people in their principles, and frighten others from being troublesome;”—“and then spoke,” adds the Duchess of Marlborough, “of the alloy it was to all her satisfaction, to consider what hazards he was exposed to, and repeated an obliging request she had often made, that he would be careful of himself.”[[76]] “I cannot doubt,” adds the narrator of this gracious message, “of the Queen’s kind disposition to my Lord Marlborough at this time, or of her willingness to oblige him.”
The recent introduction of Lord Sunderland to office soon gave rise, however, to a division in the cabinet. Harley, who was offended at the dismissal of Sir Charles Hedges, was practising upon the Queen’s weak mind, and endeavouring to persuade her Majesty to “go alone,”—a notion which had been sedulously kept down by the reigning influence, for many years past; or, as the Duchess expresses it, “to instil into the Queen notions of the high prerogative of acting without her ministers—(as she expressed it,) of being Queen indeed.”[[77]]
The first proof that Anne gave of her profiting by these doctrines, was her appointing certain high church divines to fill two bishoprics. This led several of the Whigs to think themselves betrayed by the ministry; whereas the truth was, that the Queen was secretly under the influence of the Tories, and found it irksome to consult with her ministers on any promotions. The Duke of Marlborough, who, it appears, never lost the respect of his sovereign, represented to the Queen the impropriety of thus acting, and “wrote a very moving letter to her, complaining of the visible loss of his interest with her,” and recommending her Majesty, “as the only way to make her government easy, to prefer none of those that appeared to be against her service and the nation’s interest.”
Notwithstanding the great general’s services, it was, however, manifest that his influence, and that of the Duchess, were now, from some cause or other, deeply undermined. The Duke, as well as the Duchess, suffered great vexation from this new and unforeseen apprehension; for it is easy to be happy without tasting power, but difficult indeed to part with it after long possession. It was in the answer to some communications from the Duchess that Marlborough wrote these touching words, betraying all the weariness of worldly anxieties.
“When I writ my last, I was very full of the spleen, and I think with too much reason. My whole time, to the best of my understanding, has been employed for the public good, as I do assure you I do in the presence of God, neglecting no opportunity to let the Queen see what I take to be her true interest. It is terrible to go through so much uneasiness.”[[78]]
The state of parties was indeed such, that “every service done to the sovereign, however just and reasonable in its own nature,” was, as an author justly observed, “made a job by the minister and his tools.”[[79]]
The understream of faction was flowing unseen, but deep; and the Duchess was for a time insensible to the sure course which it had taken. She was intoxicated with power. Her enemies, indeed, alleged that she “considered her vicegerency as well established as the royal prerogative; that she might not only recommend a point or person, but insist on either as understood in her grant—as a perquisite of her high office; and that she was privileged to exclude everybody from the royal presence, who had not the happiness of being in her good graces.”[[80]]
It is apparent, however, from the letters which passed between Queen Anne and the Duchess, that it was not without continual arguments and remonstrances that the favourite had raised her chosen party to royal favour; and thus maintained, that it was accomplished only by earnest endeavours, and with difficulty. The Duchess, it was more than probable, expected, and sometimes extorted, too much for her friends and adherents. Marlborough truly said, that “both parties were in the wrong.”[[81]] To his sense of justice, his moderation, and calm observation, the interested views of those who alike professed the highest motives, only affixing different names to their boasted objects, were laid bare by a long experience of courts, and by a deep insight into the minds of men. “The Whigs,” it was said, and not without justice, “acted on Swiss principles, and expected to be paid the top price of the market, for coming plump into the measures of the court, at the expense of their former professions.”[[82]]
The Queen, the nervous Queen, was considered as a mere property, “which was to be engrossed, divided, or transferred, as suited best with the mercenary views of those state-brokers who had the privilege of dividing the spoil.”[[83]]
It was not, however, until Harley despaired of achieving the Duchess’s favour, that he became her determined, though secret foe. Even after his enmity was in operation, the Duchess might have retrieved her fortune by prudent attention to her royal mistress. She came, however, seldom to court, a line of conduct which was considered ill judged on her part; and, when she attended on the Queen, performed her offices of duty, such as holding her Majesty’s gloves, with a haughty and contemptuous air, which Anne, who had sunk her own dignity in a degrading familiarity, was constrained to endure, but could not be obliged to forgive.