e, never extended probably
beyond the propitiation of his Tory followers; and it is difficult to
imagine that Bolingbroke could have really advocated the Pretender's
recall, whose divine right he repudiated and whose religion and
principles he despised. Nevertheless, whatever his chief motive may have
been, whether to displace Oxford as leader of the party, to strengthen
his position and that of the faction in order to dictate terms to the
future king, or to reinstate James, Bolingbroke, yielding to his more
impetuous and adventurous disposition, went much further than Oxford.
It is possible to suppose a connexion between his zeal for making peace
with France and a desire to forward the Pretender's interests or win
support from the Jacobites.[3] During his diplomatic mission to France
he had incurred blame for remaining at the opera while the Pretender was
present,[4] and according to the Mackintosh transcripts he had several
secret interviews with him. Regular communications were kept up
subsequently. In March 1714 Herville, the French envoy in London, sent
to Torcy, the French foreign minister in Paris, the substance of two
long conversations with Bolingbroke in which the latter advised patience
till after the accession of George, when a great reaction was to be
expected in favour of the Pretender. At the same time he spoke of the
treachery of Marlborough and Berwick, and of one other, presumably
Oxford, whom he refused to name, all of whom were in communication with
Hanover.[5] Both Oxford and Bolingbroke warned James that he could have
little chance of success unless he changed his religion, but the
latter's refusal (March 13) does not appear to have stopped the
communications. Bolingbroke gradually superseded Oxford in the
leadership. Lady Masham, the queen's favourite, quarrelled with Oxford
and identified herself with Bolingbroke's interests. The harsh treatment
of the Hanoverian demands was inspired by him, and won favour with the
queen, while Oxford's influence declined; and by his support of the
Schism Bill in May 1714, a violent Tory measure forbidding all education
by dissenters by making an episcopal licence obligatory for
schoolmasters, he probably intended to compel Oxford to give up the
game. Finally, a charge of corruption brought by Oxford in July against
Bolingbroke and Lady Masham, in connexion with the commercial treaty
with Spain, failed, and the lord treasurer was dismissed or retired on
the 27th o