Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/290

 276 card was generous, enthusiastic on behalf of his oppressed country, and had ruined himself in its cause; but there is nothing in the French authorities to bear out the stigma fixed on him by our historians, that he was a low debauchee. To have been seen in company with Harley and St. John was enough, however, to have made him suspected of similar habits. Harley's wound was not serious, but it served to make a political hero and martyr of him; Guiscard being represented as a papist, and instigated from France to destroy this champion of England and the church.



On his first appearance in the house of commons he was congratulated on his happy escape in a most eulogistic speech by the speaker; and an act was passed, making it felony without benefit of clergy to attempt the life of a privy councillor. The earl of Rochester dying at this juncture, left Harley entirely at the head of the cabinet, and he was immediately raised to the peerage, first as baron Wigmore, and then as earl of Oxford and Mortimer. He was, moreover, appointed lord treasurer, much to his own gratification and glory, but little to the furtherance of the national business, for he was naturally inert and indecisive, whilst all around him was a scandalous scene of corruption, bribery, intrigue, and neglect. The commons, however, were, during this time, busied in making a show of patriotism; but, in reality, they were seeking only to damage the whigs. They appointed a committee to examine all the grants made by king William, to estimate their value, and to take some measures regarding them; but the lords threw this out. They then began an examination of the public accounts, in order to charge the maladministrations on lord Godolphin. They asserted that above five-and-thirty millions of money granted by parliament remained unaccounted for, though a considerable sum of this extended to the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; but Mr. Bridges, the paymaster, soon showed that all except three millions had been accounted for. They next inquired into the debts of the navy, which exceeded five millions; and these, with other debts, amounting to about nine millions and a half, were funded, bearing interest at six per cent. They also inaugurated a company called the South Sea Company, with a delusive privilege of trading to the coasts of Peru, the members of which were holders of navy bills, debentures, and other public securities. Having thus laid the foundation of the great South Sea bubble which exploded so ruinously nine years afterwards, and voted six millions and a half for the continuation of the war, though