BOOKS.
THE LIFE OF LORD GODOLPHIN.•
GODOLPHIN has always remained little more than a name in history, although for eight stirring years he was the chief adviser of the Crown. Nor is this surprising when we read the story of his life which Mr. Hugh Elliot has reconstructed with great care and no small measure of success. His obscurity is only partly due to the fact that he was overshadowed by the greater name of Marlborough, his close ally. He had abilities, it is true; he was cool, patient, upright, and hard-headed, a master• of finance and administration as they were understood in that day. But he was one of the most colourless and con- victionless politicians that ever lived. Four successive Sove- • The Life of Sidney, Earl of Godolphin, LG., Lord High Treasurer of England, 1702-1710. By the Hon. Hugh Elliot. London: Longman!, Green, and Co. 1888.
reigns, Cherie?, and James, and William, and Anne, availed themselves of his useful services, and found him equally ready to promote their widely differing policies. The son of a Cornish squire, and brought up about the Court, he made his first mark in politics as a supporter of the Exclusion Bill. Yet when James succeeded, he was continued in his office of First Commissioner of the Treasury, and took a prominent part in negotiating the pension treaty with France, and in all the most questionable measures of the reign. He even gave it to be understood that
he was on the point of being converted to his master's faith. It is, indeed, to his credit that he did not go over to the other
side until all was lost; but when William, to the intense disgust of the Whigs, offered him a place at the Treasury, he at once accepted it, and gave him. the benefit of his great financial skill and experience. He was at the head of the Treasury when those financial reforms were carried with which the name of Montagne is connected. But though Montague, being in the Commons, had most to do with carrying them through Parliament, the First Lord, who was at the head of the finances, must, as Mr. Elliot suggests, have had no small share in their inception. But while serving William, Godolphin did not break with the exiled house. Few statesmen in those uncertain times did wholly break with it. But as he was specially obnoxious to the Whigs, a strong effort was made to identify him with Fenwick's plot, which, though unsuccessful, led to his temporary resignation. That he was not actively disloyal, is shown by the prudent and worldly counsel he gave William against dissolving a Parliament in which parties were evenly balanced. This advice gives an interesting forecast of his policy in the next reign. " Set up for a party of your own," he wrote, " and let every one see that if they expect your favour they must depend upon you for it, and let not any one hope for promotion by being true to a faction, but by serving you." He had never spoilt his own chances by being true to a faction, and he was anxious to impress the same lesson upon others.
Godolphin at this time was a moderate Tory. He had always stood well with Anne, and the marriage of their children had cemented a close alliance between him and Marlborough. No fitter person, therefore, could be found to carry on the government in the interest of the Marlboroughe, and at her accession, Anne at once appointed him Lord Treasurer. It fell to him to manage affairs at home, and to finance the war, while Marlborough was winning his brilliant victories on the Continent. Marlborough's was the prominent name in the firm, and the other partner, who did most of the hard work, has been forgotten. One of the chief results of his tenure of power was to show how impracticable was government on non-party lines, and to establish the principle of Ministerial solidarity. He was, indeed, accused by the Examiner of introducing a new phraseology into the Court style : " Madam, I cannot serve you while such a one is in employment ;" " I desire humbly to resign my commission if W— continues Secretary of State." The Ministry had inherited a Whig war, to which, as time went on, Marlborough and his ally became more and more committed, while their original colleagues and followers soon sickened of it. Godolphin's passive opposition to the Occa- sional Conformity Bill also roused the Church party against him, and he was driven to rely more and more on the support of the Whigs. First Rochester and Nottingham deserted. Then Harley was got rid of for his share in the Masham intrigue. Then, to please the Whigs, the Queen was forced by a threat of resignation to admit Sunderland to office. Between the claims of the Whigs for a share of power proportionate to their support, and the Tory inclinations of the Queen, the system of governing on non-party lines was put to a strain it was unable to bear. At length the return of a Tory Parlia- ment in 1710 enabled Anne to have her way. She first dismissed the obnoxious Sunderland, and when that did not bring Godolphin's resignation, sent him an order• to break his staff.
Marlborough's brilliant victories form the chief glory of this long Administration ; nor must the influence of the famous Sarah in assuring the Royal favour be forgotten. But Godolphin himself did good work enough to entitle him, at any rate, to the present biography. Never did Minister manage the finances better, or inspire greater confidence in the moneyed classes. No detail was beneath him. There is still extant in his hand- writing, on the back of a warrant for a new silver trumpet for a troop of Guards, a minute asking what had become of the
old one. He was able to negotiate bills at 4 and 5 per cent., for discounting which as much as 40 per cent. had been charged. in the previous reign. And his dismissal was _followed by a_ heavy fall in the Funds.
Mr. Elliot claims that it was Godolphin's statesmanship in
giving the Royal consent to the Scotch Act of Security in the face of universal opposition in England, that brought about. the Union. It was a curious way of bringing about the Union, to provide for the separation of the two Crowns in a probable. contingency. It had the desired result, however, by conciliating the Scotch Parliament, and the only question is,—Did Godolphin foresee the consequences of his action, or was its merely a happy blunder P Beyond finding money to pay, Marlborough and the allies, be had little to do with the war- on the Rhine ; but about the other operations Marlborough cared little, and it fell largely to his colleague to direct them. A satisfactory history of the war in Spain has still to be- written, but, in spite of all Mr. Elliot's ingenious arguments,. we cannot see that Godolphin's conceptions merited any better success than befell them. With war on the Rhine,. and war in Spain already on his hands, he was anxious to send a third expedition to aid the persecuted Protestants in. the Cevennes. When this came to nothing, he embarked on the disastrous siege of Toulon. Toulon, he said, was the key of Madrid. He was not much of a speaker, and this was his only apophthegm. It excited even- more merriment than Lord_ Beaconsfield's similar phrase a few years ago. Next he thought of effecting a landing in the North of France._ France was no doubt misgoverned ; but it is a singularly British notion, which Mr. Elliot shares, that the French peasantry were likely to welcome the English soldiers as liberators. Finally, though acting under Marlborough's in- fluence, Godolphin must bear his share of the blame for- forcing Louis to continue the war, when a satisfactory peace might have been made.
Godolphin was essentially one of those whom moderate- talents raise to fame. With the doubtful exception of his consent to the Act of Security, it is impossible to point to any act of brilliant statesmanship in his administration. His personal character was fairly free from reproach. Swift accused him of the not very heinous offence of using his- patronage to keep himself in office " Sid's rod was slender, white, and tall,
Which oft he used to fish withal;
A place was fastened to the hook, And man, scores of gudgeons took; Yet still, so happy was his fate, He caught his fish and saved his bait."
He not only carefully husbanded the national resources, but. was himself singularly free from any taint of personal corruption, and left office a poor man. He lived plainly, in a. house which bore his name, on the site where Stafford House now stands, a few steps from his friend's residence. He had no literary or oratorical gifts, and is said to have delighted_ in racing and cock-fighting. The most amiable thing about him was his capacity for friendship. In early life, John_ Evelyn had a great regard for him, and his friendship with- Marlborough was one of the closest and most famous in our- political history. In the midst of his campaigns, the great Captain often looked forward to retiring, and living quietly in the country with the Duchess and Godolphin. It was in- Marlborough's house that Godolphin died, two years after his dismissal. It is not easy at this distance of time to depict a.. personality so little striking as Godolphin's, and Mr. Elliot, we believe, has not had access to all the existing sources of information. When the Godolphin Papers were dispersed' some years ago, only a portion of them went to the British Museum, and to these alone does he refer. His Life is well written, interesting, and instructive ; and if he has a fault, it is an excess of zeal and ingenuity in exalting the reputation of the forgotten statesman. After much neglect, Godolphin has at length received more than impartial justice at his hands..
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