228 ENGLAND. 



the ministry in England, saved France ; and affairs from that day took 

 a turn in its favour. Means were found to persuade the queen, who 

 was faithfully attached to the church of England, that the war, in the 

 end, if continued, must prove ruinous to her and her people, and 

 that the Whigs were no friends to the national religion. The gene- 

 ral cry of the deluded people was, that " the church was in danger," 

 which, though groundless, had great effects. One Sacheverel, an 

 ignorant, worthless preacher, had espoused the clamour in one of his 

 sermons, with the ridiculous, impracticable doctrines of passive obe- 

 dience and non-resistance. It was, as it were, agreed by both parties 

 to try their strength in this man's cause. He was impeached by the 

 commons, and found guilty by the lords, who ventured to pass upon, 

 him only a very small censure. After this trial, the queen's affec- 

 tions were entirely alienated from the duchess of Marlborough, and 

 the Whig administration. Her friends lost their places, which were 

 supplied by Tories ; and even the command of the army was taken 

 from the duke of Marlborough, in 1712, and given to the duke o£ 

 Ormond, who produced orders for a cessation of arms ; but they 

 were disregarded by the queen's allies in the British pay. And, in- 

 deed, the removal of the duke of Marlborough from the command of 

 the army, while the war continued, was an act of the greatest impru- 

 dence, and excited the astonishment of all Europe. So numerous 

 had been his successes, and so great his reputation, that his very 

 name was almost equivalent to an army. But the honour and inter- 

 est of the nation were sacrificed to private court intrigues, managed 

 by Mrs. Masham, a relation of the duchess of Marlborough, who 

 had supplanted her benefactress, and by Mr. Harley. 



Conferences were opened for peace at Utrecht, in January, 1712, to 

 which the queen and the French king sent plenipotentiaries ; and 

 the allies being defeated atDenain, they grew sensible they were no 

 match for the French, now that they were abandoned by the English. 

 A treaty was therefore concluded, by which it was agreed, that Philip 

 should be established on the Spanish throne, but that he should re- 

 nounce all claim to the crown of France ; and the heirs to the French 

 monarchy in like manner renounce all right to the crown of Spain. 

 It was stipulated likewise that the fortifications of Dunkirk should 

 be demolished, and the harbour filled up. 



The rest of the queen's life was rendered uneasy by the jarring of 

 parties, and the contentions among her ministers. It has been con- 

 jectured that she was inclined to call her brother to the succession. 

 The Whigs demanded a writ for the electoral prince of Hanover, as 

 duke o f Cambridge, to come to England ; and she was obliged has- 

 tily to ismiss her lord-treasurer, when she fell into a lethargic dis- 

 order, which carried her off the first of August, 1714, in the fiftieth 

 year of her age, and the thirteenth of her reign. 



Anne had no strength of mind, by herself, to carry any important 

 vesolve into execution ; and upon her death, the succession took place 

 in terms of the act of settlement, and George I, elector of Hanover, 

 son of the princess Sophia, grand daughter of James I, was proclaimed 

 king of Great Britain, his mother, who would have been next in suc- 

 cession, having died but a few days before. He came over to England 

 with strong prepossessions against the Tory ministry, most of whom 

 he displaced. This did not make any great alteration to his pre- 

 judice in England ; but many of the Scots, by the influence of the 



