nce of the war, and encouraged Anne to free herself from the
yoke beneath which she had bent so long. At the close of Sacheverell's
trial she broke with the Duchess. Marlborough looked for support to the
Whigs; but the subtle intrigue of Harley was as busy in undermining the
Ministry as St. John was in openly attacking it. The Whigs, who knew
that the Duke's league with them had simply been forced on him by the
war, and who had already foiled an attempt he had made to secure himself
by the demand of a grant for life of his office of Commander-in-Chief,
were easily persuaded that the Queen's sole object was his personal
humiliation. They looked coolly therefore on at the dismissal of
Sunderland, who had now become his son-in-law, and of Godolphin, who was
his closest friend. The same means were adopted to bring about the ruin
of the Whigs themselves: and Marlborough, lured easily by hopes of
reconciliation with his old party, looked on as coolly while Anne
dismissed her Whig counsellors and named a Tory Ministry, with Harley
and St. John at its head, in their place.

[Sidenote: Fall of Marlborough.]

The time was now come for a final and decisive blow; but how great a
dread Marlborough still inspired in his enemies was shown by the
shameful treachery with which they still thought it needful to bring
about his fall. The intrigues of Harley paled before the subtler treason
of Henry St. John. Young as he was, for he had hardly reached his
thirty-second year, St. John had already shown his ability as Secretary
of War under Marlborough himself, his brilliant rhetoric gave him a hold
over the House of Commons which even the sense of his restlessness and
recklessness failed to shake, while the vigour and eloquence of his
writings infused a new colour and force into political literature. He
was resolute for peace; but he pressed on the work of peace with an
utter indifference to all but party ends. As Marlborough was his great
obstacle, his aim was to drive him from his command; and earnestly as he
admired the Duke's greatness, he hounded on a tribe of libellers who
assailed even his personal courage. Meanwhile St. John was feeding
Marlborough's hopes of reconciliation with the Tories, till he led him
to acquiesce in his wife's dismissal, and to pledge himself to a
co-operation with the Tory policy. It was the Duke's belief that a
reconciliation with the Tories was effected that led him to sanction the
despatch of troops which