tinguishing favour you show to either side, doth
not lessen your esteem in the other party ; 'tis all
ascribed to a depth of policy which they cannot
comprehend, and which they say is peculiar to
yourself, but is not a leaving the party. And in
such an unprecedented manner do you manage
the heads of both parties, that both sides believe,
at a proper time and occasion, you will show
yourself entirely in their distinct interests. I am
very glad to see so eminent a post free from the
reproach that usually hath attended it, and to
SIDNEY, EARL OF GODOLPHIN
From a portrait hi the possession of the Duke of Leeds at Hornby Castle, Vorl-s
(Probably by Sir Godfrey Kneller)
COMPARED WITH GODOLPHIN 45
observe your Honour stands so right in the people's
opinion, being very confident you will so manage
the weaknesses and follies of both sides as will in the
issue redound to the true interest and advantage of
the kingdom.
**The Duke, the Treasurer, and yourself are
called the Triumvirate, and reckoned the spring
of all public affairs ; and that your interests and
counsels are so united and linked together that
they cannot be broken, nor in any danger of it
during this reign." ^
It was natural that there should be this connec-
tion between Harley and Godolphin, for in many
points they were strikingly alike ; yet it is remark-
able that men so similar in political opinion, and
so little fitted in many ways to be leaders, should
have been at the head of affairs throughout the
reign of Queen Anne. '* Both," writes Mr. Lecky,
''were slow, cautious, temporising, moderate, and
somewhat selfish men, tedious and insufficient in
debate, and entirely without sympathy with the
political and religious fanaticism of their party."
For the moment, one wonders how these politicians,
apparently so ordinary in character, could ever have
carried on the business of the nation. But while
this description sets out in negatives certain
similarities of both statesmen, it omits to de-
^ Harley Papers^ ii. 215.
46 ROBERT HARLEY
scribe those qualities which led to their attainment
of power, qualities which since their time have over
and over again been found to be the most valuable
for success, not only in the House of Commons,
but in every representative assembly in the world
— patience and perseverance and good temper, tact
and knowledge of business, and an intuitive insight
(in Godolphin it was often humorous) into the weak-
nesses of men with whom they came into contact.
By the admission of all his contemporaries, Harley
possessed a first-rate capacity as a leader in the
House of Commons, and his decline may perhaps
be dated from the day when he quitted it.
CHAPTER III
HARLEY AND DE FOE
1703-1714
De Foe in Newgate— Released by Harley's Interces-
sion—The Relations between De Foe and Harley— De
Foe's Work— His Mission to Scotland — His Hope of
Official Employment— His Opinion on Harley's Fall in
1708— Continues in Godolphin's Service after Harley's
Dismissal — His Return to Harley in 17 10 — Prosecuted
for Libel in 17 13— Intercession of Harley— The Review—
Harley and Journalism.
It was in 1703, while Harley was still Speaker,
that he entered into close relations with De Foe.
In December 1702, when religious passions were
roused by the parliamentary controversy upon
occasional conformity, De Foe had published The
Shortest Way with the Dissenters, Assuming the
character of a High- Flyer — as the extreme intoler-
ant High Churchmen were called, whom above all
others De Foe disliked — the writer advised the ex-
tirpation of the Nonconformists. Characterised by
the realism which marks all De Foe's works, from a
New Voyage round the World to Robinson Crusoe^
the pamphlet was approved by many Tories. But
its publication resulted in De Foe's prosecution for
libelling the Church. He was convicted, and sen-
tenced (July 1703) to imprisonment and the pillory,
47
48 ROBERT HARLEY
and for the last three days of the month stood in
Cornhill, in Cheapside, and at Temple Bar, amid a
friendly crowd, who drank in pots of beer to the
health of the author of the True-Born Englishman
and of the spirited Hymn to the Pillory.
It was in November 1703^ that, through
Harley's good offices, De Foe was set at liberty.
** What you propose about De Foe may be done
when you will and how you will," wrote Godolphin
to Harley on the 26th of September, and on the 4th
of November he remarks, *' I have taken care on
the matter of De Foe." On the 9th comes the first
of those numerous and vivid letters, full of varied
facts and fresh suggestions, which for ten years
De Foe was constantly writing to Harley. There
was but one interruption in their course — during
the period that Harley was out of office.
^ De Foe's biographers have placed his release from Newgate as
having occurred about August 1704, the Review as having been
begun in Newgate in February 1704, and a Collection of the Most
Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which happened in the Late
Dreadful Tempest both by Sea and Land as being the first of his
imaginative works. The storm reached its height on 26th November,
and De Foe tells (p. 25), with every appearance of truth, how
on the preceding day he was nearly injured by materials from a
house. The book itself is largely a compilation of accounts of the
storm, many of which have the appearance of simple narratives of
facts. This publication, taken in connection with the letters at
Welbeck, is evidence of De Foe's release in 1703. That he was set
at liberty in 1703 is further substantiated by letters of the 12th and
presumably i6th May 1704 {Harley Papers^ ii. p. 83), as to meetings
with Harley, and a letter from an informer that De Foe was in Canter-
bury in June 1704 (p. 93), a fact quite inconsistent with his release in
August 1704. The dates are plainly legible in the original letters.
RELEASE OF DE FOE 49
** As there is something surprising in your
bounty to a mortified stranger, so I am more than
usually at a loss in what manner to express my
sense of it ; but at the same time that you stoop
to do good you subject yourself to a necessity of
bearing the impertinence of a thankful temper.
'* Of all the examples in sacred story none moves
my indignation like that of the ten lepers who were
healed by our Saviour. I, like that one grateful
wretch, am come back to pay the tribute of thank-
fulness which this so unexpected goodness com-
mands from me.
**And though I think myself bound to own
you as the principal agent of this Miracle, yet,
having some encouragement from you to expect
more particularly to know my benefactors, I cannot
but wish for that discovery, that my acknowledg-
ments may in some measure be proportioned to
the quality of the persons, and the value of the
favour.
"It remains for me to conclude my present
application with this humble petition, that if pos-
sible I may by some means or other know what
I am capable of doing, that my benefactors, who-
ever they are, may not be ashamed of their bounty
as misapplied. Not that I expect to be able to
merit so much goodness ; but as a grateful temper
is always uneasy to be loaded with benefits, so
the virtue which I call gratitude has always so
4
50 ROBERT HARLEY
much pride in it, as makes it push at a retribution,
though 'tis unable to effect it. Whoever are the
principals in this favour, I cannot but profess myself
a debtor wholly to yourself, who till I may be
otherwise instructed appears the original as to me.
And in the kindness the manner is so obliging,
and all the articles of it so generous, that as a
man astonished at the particulars, I am perfectly
unable to express my sense of it.
" Only in the humblest manner I can most
earnestly pray that I may have some opportunity
put into my hands by Providence to make more
explicit acknowledgments. .
" 1
Harley could not have assisted De Foe at a more
critical or opportune moment, for the business at
his brick and pantile manufactory at Tilbury had
been ruined by his imprisonment. **A11 my pro-
spects," he wrote to Harley after his release, ** were
built on a manufactorie I had erected in Essex ;
all the late King's bounty to me was expended
there. I employed a hundred poor families at
work, and it began to pay me very well. I
generally made six hundred pounds profit per
annum. I began to live, and took a good house,
bought me coach and horses a second time. I
paid large debts gradually, small ones wholly, and
many a creditor after composition whom I found
^ Harley Papers^ ii* 75*
DE FOE IN 1703 51
poor and decayed, I sent for and paid the re-
mainder to, though actually discharged." ^ The
brighter De Foe painted his previous good fortune
the gloomier appeared his subsequent state, and it
is not improbable that this picture is a little over-
coloured, for it was the prelude to an appeal for
help. He had seven children, "whose education,"
he remarks, with his usual common sense, ** calls
on me to furnish their heads if I cannot their
purses." Yet certainly for the moment De Foe
was in a friendless and moneyless state, from
which he was undoubtedly rescued by Harley.
Thus began a connection which had no little in-
fluence on the careers of both men. How much
Harley owes to De Foe's ability it is hardly pos-
sible to overestimate ; to De Foe his patronage
was for the next ten years a constant source of
livelihood — the means of a most active existence
as a pamphleteer and a political agent.
Harley 's action, however, did more than restore
De Foe to freedom and to prosperity, it placed him
— now in the prime of life^ — again in touch with the
leading members of the Government. He had been
in the confidence of William, but in little more than
a year he had, as he says, tasted the difference
between the closet of a king and the dungeon of
Newgate. Voluminous as Voltaire and Diderot, he
was not a philosophical writer stimulating the minds
^ Harley Pa^ers^ ii. 88. ^ De Foe was born in 1660 or 1661.
52 ROBERT HARLEY
of his readers by abstract theories ; his gifts were of
a quite opposite order, for he had an extraordinary
power of formulating practical projects, to execute
which a man high in office was necessary. So
that when De Foe gained Harley's support, he had
obtained not only personal freedom and an assured
income, but also the possibility of securing the
fulfilment of some, at any rate, of the innumerable
plans which were always in his head, in many of
which he anticipated the reforms of a later age.
But long though their connection lasted, Harley
was never united to De Foe by that tie of personal
friendship which marked his intercourse with Swift.
Their relations were always strictly business-like,
though it pleased De Foe to assert that they were
based on other grounds — that on Harley's part
they began through "a generous compassion to a
man oppressed by power without a crime," that on
his side his services were ** founded rather, and
indeed entirely, on a deep sense of duty and grati-
tude for that early goodness." He avowed that
he had full liberty to pursue his "own reason and
principles, so that he could declare his innocence
in the black charge of bribery."^ All this and
more he wrote to Harley at a time when he was
in receipt of a fixed salary from the Government,
and of special payments from Harley himself, and
he reiterated it so persistently in public, that there
^ Harley Papers^ ii. 213.
HARLEY AND DE FOE 53
has hitherto been a doubt whether or to what
extent he was a paid agent. But it should never
be forgotten that, though De Foe and Harley were
united by a tie of personal and reciprocal interest,
pecuniary on the one side and political on the
other, they had also much in common. Each
possessed a sound sense producing a moderation
of political opinion ; intolerance, whether among
High Churchmen or Dissenters, Whigs or Tories,
was repugnant to each, and each set great store on
peace, progress, and social improvement. It is
thus not difficult to understand how De Foe and
Harley could work together, differing sometimes,
as in the case of the peace with France, or on
the manner of securing an object, but agreeing on
general principles of policy. De Foe was certainly
not always consistent in his treatment of political
questions : thus, after Harley lost office in 1708,
his advocacy of the Whig party was somewhat
opposed to his subsequent writings in favour of
peace. But his relationship with Harley was
characterised by a general consistency of political
argument which shows a community of opinion
between the writer and the statesman. 'Durinof
the whole of their connection De Foe never
hesitated to tell his patron when he needed money,
and Harley was never niggardly in his payment,
though no one could have had a better return for
his expenditure. Just as Harley employed Ogilvie,
54 ROBERT HARLEY
or " Jean Gassiot " as he called himself, in Paris,
so he utilised the services of De Foe, or — to give
him his assumed names — "Mr. Goldsmith" or
** Claude Guilot," in England and Scotland. De
Foe would have fulfilled his duty had he stated
only such facts as would be useful to his employer,
but he did a great deal more, for he delighted to
give his personal views upon every point which
occurred to a mind never at rest, and extra-
ordinarily fertile and imaginative. His opinions
were always liberal, and his vivid imagination was
constantly creating plans of social and economical
progress. Nothing, indeed, is more noticeable
than the outspokenness of De Foe and Swift, so
opposed not only to Harley's habitual reticence,
but to the vagueness and want of candour which
at that time marked the communications of so
many politicians and statesmen.
Harley did more than effect De Foe's release,
he obtained for him an allowance — probably secret
in its payment — which after the loose fashion
of the times was by no means always punctually
paid, a fact of which De Foe took good care to
remind his patron. " I am forced " — this was in
171 2 — *' by importuning circumstances to remind
you that of that allowance or appointment, which
by your intercession or Her Majesty's goodness
I enjoy, there are two quarters behind, which
insensibly (except to me) elapsed during the melan-
DE FOE EMPLOYED BY HARLEY 55
choly interval when your Lordship was hurt and
things unsettled."^
Not long after De Foe's release in 1703,
Harley began to use De Foe's marvellous capacity
for obtaining intelligence, and for describing the
results of his journeys. In the summer of 1704 he
was commissioned to travel through England, to
ascertain the opinions of different localities, and to
report systematically to Harley. In July, as he is
on the point of starting, he enthusiastically declares,
** I firmly believe the journey may be the foundation
of such an intelligence as never was in England." ^
De Foe kept his word, and by his means Harley
was enabled to obtain a view of English opinion
which was invaluable to him in forming a judgment
upon his political course. De Foe's letters were
full not only of facts but of original ideas deduced
from what he saw and heard, and of vivid sketches
of men and places. He was more than a mere
collector of information ; it was part of his task to
mould opinion and to lead it towards that temper-
ance in political thought on which Harley set so
high a value.
*' In all parts," says De Foe to his patron in
1705, at the end of a long paper which he calls
" An Abstract of my Journey with Casual Observa-
tions on Public Affairs," '*the greatest hindrance
^ Harley Papers^ iii. 214. See also ibid.^ p. 275.
2 Harley Papers^ ii. 106.
56 ROBERT HARLEY
to the forming the people into moderation and
union among themselves, next to the Clergy, are
the Justices."^ In a letter of somewhat earlier
date he speaks of ** spreading principles of temper,
moderation, and peace." These were the prin-
ciples which Harley tried to follow from the be-
ginning until the end of his parliamentary career ;
it was his manner of applying them to practical
politics that caused so much adverse criticism in
his own and in succeeding ages.
The connection between Harley and De Foe
is of even greater moment in 1 706, when the union
with Scotland became the burning question of
domestic politics, and the articles of union which
were signed in London in July were handed to
the Scottish people and Parliament for discussion.
As one of Godolphins administration, Harley is
entitled to the credit which belongs to every
member of a Cabinet which carries a measure so
far-reaching in its consequences as the union
between England and Scotland. Of the Lord
Treasurer's policy Harley unquestionably approved,
and he actively aided it.^ As the negotiations
^ Harley Papers^ ii. 272.
2 The following is one example. 23rd July 1706, in reference to
the Duke of Queensberry, Harley says, " I believe now he has an
opportunity of serving himself and at the same time doing the
greatest thing for the advantage and settlement of his own country
such as no man before ever had in so easy a way — what I mean is
as to the union which I might plainly show it is his Grace's interest
to promote." — Harley Papers^ ii. 318.
DE FOE SENT TO SCOTLAND 57
approached the final stage, Harley's chief ally was
De Foe, who, after completing his survey of Eng-
land, was sent by him to Scotland upon a similar
errand.
On 13th September 1706, De Foe states that
he was about to wait on the Minister, and take
his last instructions before departing for Scotland,
when he received the order to leave at once,
without further conferences. He remarks that as
Harley has acquainted the Queen and the Lord
Treasurer with his mission, it is important that
he should be successful in it, and he then proposes
to set down what he understands his present
business to be, summarising with great clearness
and brevity the results of the conversations which
have taken place between himself and Harley : —
** However, that if my notions are wrong I may
be set right by your instructions, I beg leave, though
it be beginning at the wrong end, to set down how
I understand my present business, as follows : —
" I. To inform myself of the measures taking,
or parties forming, against the Union, and apply
myself to prevent them.
*'2. In conversation and by all reasonable
methods to dispose people's minds to the Union.
**3. By writing or discourse, to answer any
objections, libels, or reflections on the Union, the
English, or the Court, relating to the Union.
58 ROBERT HARLEY
*' 4. To remove the jealousies and uneasiness of
people about secret designs here against the Kirk,"
etc.i
De Foe presently breaks away from business, and
as usual concludes by a diffuse demand for money,
which he was constantly needing, and which Harley
ungrudgingly supplied. No man could have done
his work more zealously and effectively. Not only
was he a collector of information, he was also an
apostle of the Union — he was a modern diplomat-
ist and journalist in one. Through Harley his
letters reached the Lord Treasurer, further proof,
if it were needed, that Godolphin and the Secret-
ary of State were working in harmony for a
common end so far as this particular measure was
concerned.
** De Foe's letter," writes Godolphin on i6th
January 1707, *' is serious and deserves reflection.
I believe it is true, and it ought to guide us very
much in what we are doing here, and to take care
in the first place to preserve the peace of that
country."^
So closely united were the fortunes of De Foe
and Harley at this time, that it is convenient to
follow their intercourse for the next few years.
After the completion of De Foe's mission to
Scotland, Godolphin, on Harley 's persuasion, was
* Harley Papers^ ii. 327. ^ Harley Papers^ ii. 382.
DE FOE DESIRES EMPLOYMENT 59
looking round for a permanent post in which he
might place him. At one time there was a ques-
tion of an office in the Customs, but nothing came
of it.
** I was just on the brink of returning," De Foe
writes to Harley in September 1707, "when, like
life from the dead, I received your last with my
Lord Treasurer's letter. But hitherto his Lord-
ship's goodness to me seems like messages from
an army to a town besieged, that relief is com-
ing, which heartens and encourages the famished
garrison but does not feed them."^ And on hope,
so far as official employment was concerned, De
Foe had, perhaps fortunately for posterity, to feed
all his life. For to his need for money, as much as
to his superabundant vitality, we may ascribe the
many future products of his pen.
As Harley s fall drew near, the preference which
De Foe appears to have had for him as an employer
by no means lessened. On loth February 1708 he
wrote —
** The report which fills the mouths of your
enemies of your being no longer Secretary of State
alarmed me a little, I confess, and particularly
brought me to wait upon you this night. Others
compliment you on the accession of your good
fortune ; I desire to be the servant of your worst
1 Harley Papers^ ii. 445.
60 ROBERT HARLEY
days. And yet, upon my word, I know not whether
to congratulate or condole. I think verily you are
delivered from a fatigue which never answered the
harassing you in such a manner and the wasting
your hours in the service of those that understand
not how to value or reward in proportion to
merit. Particularly you are delivered from envy,
and I persuade myself you are removed from
a tottering party that you may not share in their
fall.
** My business was only in duty and gratitude
to offer myself to you against all your enemies.
My sphere is low, but I distinguish nobody when
I am speaking of the ill-treatment of one I am
engaged to, as to you, in the bonds of an inviolable
duty. I entreat you to use me in anything in
which I may serve you, and that more freely than
when I might be supposed following your rising
fortunes. 'Tis also my opinion you are still rising
— I wish you as successful as I believe you unshaken
by this storm." 1
De Foe was at all times an optimist, and his
foresight and knowledge of public feeling enabled
him accurately to forecast the future ; and now he
saw that the tide would presently turn in Harley's
favour. Thus he could write in this cheerful tone.
And Harley, relying much on De Foe's opinion,
^ Harley Papers^ ii. 477.
DE FOE AND GODOLPHIN 61
would gather confidence from it; and so, looking
forward, each saw that in no long time other
influences would become powerful, and that a
temporary disappearance from office was but the
prelude to a period of power.
But neither personal liking nor faith in the
future prevented De Foe, when his patron retired
from office in 1708, from continuing to serve
Godolphin ; for neither he nor Harley had the
least sentiment about their relations. De Foe has
told how Harley, **in the most engaging terms,"
allowed him to offer his services to the Lord
Treasurer, whom hitherto he had only served
through the intervention of Harley. The incident
illustrates the absence of bitterness in Harley's
nature. He had been accused by Godolphin of
ingratitude and treachery, and through his influence
he had been compelled to resign his office. But
he did not hesitate for a moment to approve the
continuance of the ablest journalist of the time in
the service of his opponent. Nor, though during
the intervening years of opposition De Foe had
been of great service to Godolphin, did Harley
in 1 7 10, when he reached that supreme position
to which De Foe had looked forward, refuse
again to employ him. Nothing could be more
plausible or more in keeping with his character
than the letter which De Foe wrote at that time
to Harley.
62 ROBERT HARLEY
*' I cannot," he says on the 12th of August
1 710, "but heartily congratulate you on the happy
recovery of your honour and trusts in the Govern-
ment. Her Majesty is particularly just in placing
you in this station, where you had been so coarsely
treated. It is with a satisfaction that I cannot
express that I see you thus established again ; and
it was always with regret that when you met with
ill-treatment I found myself left and obliged by
circumstances to continue in the service of your
enemies. And now, though I am sunk by the
change, and know not yet whether I shall find help
in it or no, yet I not only rejoice in the thing, but
shall convince you I do so, by publicly appearing