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 pleasure in a cause favoured by his 'late dear royal mistress' (Parl. Hist. vii. 106); the motion, however, for his committal to the custody of the Black Rod was carried by 82 to 50, and on the 16th he was sent to the Tower. On 2 Aug. six further articles accusing him, among other things, of giving evil advice to the queen, and of secretly favouring the Pretender, were brought up from the commons by Lord Coningsby (Journals of the House of Lords, xx. 136-42). It would appear from the notes and extracts made by Sir James Mackintosh from the Stuart papers that in September 1716, during his confinement in the Tower, Harley wrote to the Pretender 'offering his services and advice, recommending the Bishop of Rochester as the fittest person to manage the Jacobite affairs in England, he himself being in custody ; adding, that he should never have thought it safe to engage again with his majesty if Bolingbroke had been still about him' (Edinburgh Review, lxii. 18, 19). No traces of this important document, which was seen by Sir James Mackintosh at Carlton House, can now be found, a search being made for it in vain by Lord Mahon when engaged in writing his 'History of England' (vol. i. App. p. iii).

In May 1717 Harley, being still confined in the Tower, petitioned the House of Lords that the circumstances of his case should be taken into consideration, and accordingly on 24 June the impeachment was commenced in Westminster Hall, with Lord Cowper acting as the high steward. After Hampden had opened the charges against the earl, Lord Harcourt moved that they should adjourn to the House of Lords, where a resolution was passed declaring that 'the commons be not admitted to proceed in order to make good the articles against Robert, earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer, for high crimes and misdemeanors till judgement be first given on the articles for high treason' (Journals of the House of Lords, xx. 512). The two houses were unable to agree upon this question of procedure, and on 1 July, after fruitless conferences had been held, Harley was acquitted, and the impeachment dismissed in consequence of the failure of his prosecutors to appear. A motion by Sir William Strickland in the House of Commons for leave to bring in a bill of attainder against Harley did not find a seconder, but an address to the king to except Harley out of the Act of Grace was agreed to, and his name, together with that of Lord Harcourt, Matthew Prior, Thomas Harley, and several others, appeared among those excepted from the operation of that act (3 Geo. I, c. 19). Though forbidden the court, Harley continued to go to the House of Lords. In February 1718 he led the opposition to the Mutiny Bill (Parl. Hist. vii. 538, 543-4, 548), and in February 1719 he protested against the introduction of the Peerage Bill (ib. p. 589), but after this date he seems to have but rarely attended the house. He still kept up some correspondence with the Jacobites, but did not accede to the Pretender's suggestion that he should act as the chief of the J acobite council in England. He died at his house in Albemarle Street, London, on 21 May 1724, and was buried at Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, where there is a monument to his memory.

While Pope, in his 'Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer' (, iii. 294), sang the praises of A soul supreme, in each hard instance try'd Above all pain, all passion, and all pride, The rage of pow'r, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre and the dread of death,

and Swift declared that he impartially thought Harley 'the most virtuous minister, and the most able, that ever I remember to have read of' (Works, xix. 160), Bolingbroke, in his 'Letter to Sir William Windham,' has painted his rival's character in the blackest of colours. In spite of an unprepossessing appearance, an inharmonious voice, and a hesitating delivery, Harley, by his consummate tact and unrivalled skill in parliamentary warfare, made a great reputation for himself in the House of Commons. A shrewd and unscrupulous politician, he made a skilful party leader, but owing to his deficiency in most of the higher qualifications of statesmanship he proved a weak and incapable minister. His intellect was narrow, and he was incapable of taking a firm and broad view of any large question. His manners were cold and formal. He was insincere, dilatory, and irresolute, and though unable to arrive at a prompt decision himself on any subject of importance, his jealousy of his colleagues prevented him from consulting them. His want of political honesty, his indifference to truth, and his talent for intrigue were alike remarkable. He kept up communications with Hanover and St. Germain at the same time, and with unblushing effrontery assured both parties of his unswerving attachment to their cause. Even Lord Dartmouth, who had formed a very high estimate of Harley's character, and considered that his greatest fault was vanity allowed that 'his friendship was never to be depended upon, if it interfered with his other designs, though the sacrifice was to an enemy (, History of his own Time, vi. 50 n.) Though he shared with other distinguished