Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion (53 page)

On 19 May Anne had a tense exchange with Godolphin on the question of whether Sunderland should go to Vienna. Following their discussion, he wrote to say that her attitude had caused him considerable ‘uneasiness’, and he complained that she evidently still expected him to depend solely on the Tories. Unnerved by his firm tone, the Queen gave way about Sunderland, insisting in a placatory letter that she did not want to add to Godolphin’s difficulties. ‘I have no thought or desire to have you join yourself to any one party’, she assured her Lord Treasurer. ‘All I wish is to be kept out of the power of both’.
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With the Alien Act due to come into force at Christmas 1705, it was to be hoped that the Scots would avert catastrophe by resolving their differences with England. To further a settlement, Anne decided on a change
of leadership in her Scots ministry, and in the spring of 1705 she appointed the twenty-six-year-old Duke of Argyll as her Commissioner. Known as ‘Red John’ because of his flaming hair, Argyll was a prickly and demanding young man. He was more concerned about advancing his own career in the English army than in serving the Crown in Scotland, but he nevertheless proved an efficient political operator. Behaving ‘in a manner far above what could be expected from one of his years’ he ‘administered the government with great ability and applause’ while taking ‘no less care of his own interest’.
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Having kissed the Queen’s hand on 27 February, Argyll ‘immediately harangued’ her, telling her there must be extensive changes in the Scottish ministry. Anne was reluctant to dismiss so many of her ministers, but it became more difficult to retain them when the Scottish council failed to prevent the judicial murder of an English sea captain named Green and two of his crew members, on trumped-up piracy charges. The ministers had acquiesced in their execution because hostility to England was at such a peak that they feared being lynched themselves if they had issued a reprieve, but their craven behaviour merely demonstrated the extent to which they had lost the respect of their countrymen. When Argyll threatened to resign unless his wishes were heeded, the Queen gave way, although she objected to the way he had imposed his will on her. She was even more irritated by Argyll’s overruling her suggestion that Lord Forfar should be given a position in the Scottish treasury, and told Godolphin that Argyll must at least give him a comparable position elsewhere. She wrote wrathfully ‘I do expect he should comply with this one desire of mine in return of all the compliances I have made to him. This may displease his Grace’s touchy temper, but I can’t see it can do any prejudice to my service, and in my poor opinion such usage should be resented’.
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The Queen’s indignation heightened when Argyll laid down that the Duke of Queensberry must be brought back into government, despite the fact that Anne proclaimed him ‘more odious to me than ever’ on account of his ‘past tricking behaviour’. Although she initially swore she would never consent, she once again backed down to avoid losing Argyll. To Godolphin the Queen fumed, ‘it grates my soul to take a man into my service that has not only betrayed me, but tricked me several times, one that has been obnoxious to his own countrymen these many years and one that I can never be convinced can be of any use’. However, not wanting it to ‘be said if I had not been obstinate everything would have gone well’ – an admonition with which she was clearly all too familiar – ‘I will
do myself the violence these unreasonable Scotsmen desire, and indeed it is an unexpressible one.’
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Anne was pessimistic about the forthcoming session of the Scottish Parliament, telling Godolphin, ‘I am entirely of your opinion that no method will succeed’. It was left open to Argyll either to try once again to settle the succession – possibly in conjunction with limitations to be imposed on the next sovereign – or, instead, to make arrangements to bring in a treaty of Union. As ever, the Queen herself favoured Union, but not many people in England were so keen on the idea. The Whigs, in particular, would have preferred a straightforward resolution of the succession question, fearing that Union would result in an influx of Scots politicians to the Westminster Parliament, which might undermine their own power.
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The Scottish Parliament met on 28 June, and three weeks later the succession option was effectively ruled out when a motion of the Duke of Hamilton’s was accepted, blocking the Parliament from naming a successor unless a treaty with England was negotiated, sorting out commercial matters and other concerns. Almost certainly Hamilton’s action was no more than ‘a pretence to keep matters yet longer in suspense’, and was intended to impede a settlement. Nevertheless, far from being upset by the development, the Queen considered it an opportunity. Godolphin told the Scots Chancellor, Lord Seafield, to press ahead with proposals to bring about a treaty of Union, for ‘such an Act as this … is what the Queen is still willing to flatter herself may be obtained’.
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A measure authorising negotiations was duly introduced in Scotland, but was given such a poor reception in its Parliament that Godolphin commented gloomily on 9 August ‘it looks to me as if that nation desired to bring things to extremity’. Gradually, however, matters assumed a more favourable aspect. The Queen’s sacrifice of her feelings about the Duke of Queensberry proved worthwhile, for he was ‘mighty diligent’ in pushing forward the proposed treaty, and was able to deliver numerous votes in favour of it from his followers. Difficulties arose when some Scots parliamentarians argued that it would be unseemly to negotiate with England while the nation was being held to ransom by the Alien Act.
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The problem was overcome when the ministers undertook that an address would be presented to the Queen, begging that the Act be repealed if the Scots agreed to appoint Union commissioners.

Arrangements were subsequently put in place empowering commissioners to negotiate with England. Crucially, no restrictions were
imposed preventing them from concluding an incorporating Union, rather than the looser federal sort. Less satisfactorily from the English point of view, it was originally envisaged that the choice of commissioners would be left to the Scots themselves. This could have ruined everything, for if people hostile to the Union were selected, they could ensure that negotiations failed. On 1 September, the situation was unexpectedly transformed when, in an inexplicable
volte-face
, the Duke of Hamilton proposed to a thinly attended Parliament that the Queen should nominate the Union commissioners. The motion was approved by eight votes. This ‘sudden turning of the tables made his whole party stare and look aghast’, and the Jacobite George Lockhart noted dolefully, ‘From this day may we vote the commencement of Scotland’s ruin’.
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The Scots Parliament of 1705 had had a surprisingly positive outcome, but elsewhere things were not going so well. In particular, success had eluded Marlborough in his latest campaign. He had been planning to advance into France through the Moselle valley, but had to abandon the idea after the Dutch failed to equip magazines along the invasion route, leaving his army stuck in the Netherlands. Marlborough’s hopes of achieving anything there were repeatedly frustrated when the Dutch Field Deputies accompanying him forbade him from engaging the enemy. Smarting at yet another veto from these officious advisers, in August he asked Godolphin to tell the Queen that, had he been free to fight, ‘I should have had a greater victory than that of Blenheim’.
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The allies had at least made some progress in Spain. In October the allies gained another foothold there when an army led by the Earl of Peterborough took Barcelona. Charles III was proclaimed King in that city, whereupon the Catalan people rose up and joined the allied cause, enticed by an earlier promise from the Queen that she would ‘secure them a confirmation of their rights and liberties’ from their new monarch.
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The capture of Barcelona was unfortunate in the sense that it fortified the allies in the unrealistic belief that victory in Spain was attainable. Peace proposals made by France that year were rejected out of hand. Dismissing the terms on offer as completely unacceptable, Godolphin commented haughtily ‘if England had lost a battle at sea and another at land, I think they would still despise such a peace’.
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Having digested the implications of the elections, Godolphin concluded that he could only be sure of commanding a majority in the new Parliament by doing something to please the Whigs. Marlborough agreed, although
he cautioned that ‘all the care imaginable must be taken that the Queen be not in the hands of any party’. The Duke opined that this could be achieved even if concessions were made to the Whigs for, since it was obvious that Anne only desired the ‘good of her kingdoms’, moderates from both sides would support her out of patriotic duty. The Queen herself believed this analysis was over sanguine. In early July she wrote to Marlborough saying she would consult with Godolphin as he wished, but that the parties were ‘such bugbears’ that an acceptable political configuration would be hard to bring about.
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As events would show, the Queen was more accurate than others when it came to gauging the creep of party power.

The Queen did not dispute that it was now desirable to dismiss her Lord Keeper, Sir Nathan Wright, who, besides acquiring a reputation for corruption, was a violent Tory who had purged many moderate Whigs from local Commissions of the Peace. She was worried, however, as to who would be put in his place, and on 11 July 1705, considering it ‘best to tell one’s thoughts freely’, she wrote to Godolphin on the matter. Forthrightly she declared, ‘I cannot help saying I wish very much that there may be a moderate Tory found for this employment. For I must own to you I dread the falling into the hands of either party, and the Whigs have had so many favours showed them of late, that I fear a very few more will put me insensibly into their power, which is what I’m sure you would not have happen no more than I’. The Queen continued that while she did not doubt he was being pressured to place a leading Whig in the office, she trusted that he would decline to do something ‘that would be an unexpressible uneasiness and mortification to me’. Assuring him that he enjoyed her complete confidence, she concluded that she relied on him to ‘do all you can to keep me out of the power of the merciless men of both parties’.
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Contrary to Anne’s hopes, Godolphin had now decided that the Great Seal should be offered to William Cowper, a successful lawyer who had already distinguished himself by impressive oratory in the House of Commons. Though not himself a member of the Junto, Cowper was closely affiliated to them, and was ‘a very acceptable man to the Whig party’ as a whole. Unfortunately, for that very reason, the Queen flatly refused to allow him the post. Marlborough wrote in August to commiserate with the Lord Treasurer, but saying he was sure the Queen would be won over before too long.
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In fact, Anne would keep up the fight for weeks to come.

The part played by Sarah in the struggle to appoint Cowper is not entirely clear. Certainly she later gave herself full credit for prevailing on
the Queen to oust Sir Nathan Wright. As for Cowper, she stated ‘I continually laboured with the Queen to make him Keeper … and at last, by a great deal of drudgery, I succeeded’.
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The Queen’s recollection was different, for years later, discussing the matter with her physician Sir David Hamilton, she claimed ‘the Duchess … never spoke but once to her of it’. It seems indeed that the Queen’s principal fear at the time was not that she herself would be browbeaten by Sarah, but that the Duchess would have better success encouraging Godolphin to form closer links to the Whigs. Anne had alluded to this in her letter to the Lord Treasurer of 11 July when she remarked, ‘I know my dear unkind friend has so good an opinion of all that party that … she will use all her endeavour to get you to prevail with me to put one of them into this great post’.
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In August 1705 Sarah accompanied her mistress on a summer progress to Winchester. During this holiday the two women got on better, and Marlborough wrote congratulating his wife for being on ‘easier’ terms with Anne. He told her, ‘I think for the good of everything you should make it your business to have it so’ as he knew that Godolphin would find it ‘of great use to him’.
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Yet by the end of the summer Anne was still resisting Cowper’s appointment, and it took an eloquent letter from Marlborough himself to overcome her obstinacy.

The Queen had earlier written to her general, appealing for his backing on the issue. On 18/29 September Marlborough penned a graceful reply, expressing sympathy, but making it plain that he believed she must give way. He pointed out that it was Tory intransigence that was responsible for her predicament, and that Nottingham’s refusal to serve on anything other than his own terms had narrowed her options alarmingly. Were he in England, ‘I should beg on my knees that you would lose no time in knowing of my Lord Treasurer what is fit to be done, that you might be in a condition of carrying on the war and opposing the extravagances of these mad people’. The only alternative, in his view, was to entrust the government to Nottingham and Rochester, which would almost certainly result in the war being abandoned. Gratified by his ‘kind concern’, the Queen wrote back on 27 September to say that ‘as for those two persons you mention, they have made it wholly impossible to employ them, if I had never so much inclination to do it’.
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For a fortnight longer she refused to accept the logic of the situation, but at length, on 11 October, the Great Seal was conferred on Cowper.