The Fall of the Godolphin Ministry

Abstract

Much has been written about the fall of Robert Harley in 1708, little about the fall of the Godolphin ministry in 1710.1 Yet a comparison of the two events casts a flood of light upon the nature of politics in the reign of Queen Anne. This is especially true if the historian asks the question: why did Robert Harley succeed in 1710 where he failed in 1708? For succeed he assuredly did in 1710 and fail he certainly did in 1708. On the first occasion he suffered loss of office and humiliation; two years later he drove Godolphin and the Whigs from office bag and baggage. The cumulative scholarship of Godfrey Davies, Geoffrey Holmes, William Speck, and Henry Snyder has done much illuminate the darker corners of the obscure events surrounding Robert Harley's resignation as Secretary of State in 1708. Godfrey Davies showed that Harley had not acted treacherously towards the Earl of Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough in the Almanza debates and that those debates werethe occasion rather than the cause of Harley's fall from power.2 Godfrey Davies did not elaborate upon the true causes of Harley's fall, an omission that Geoffrey Holmes and William Speck repaired in 1965. They showed that Godolphin and Marlborough demanded the removal of Harley because the Secretary was negotiating secretly with Tory politicians for a new of administration, a that meant Godolphin's removal as Lord Treasurer, though not Marlborough's as Captain-General of the army.3 Henry Snyder tells much the same story, but adds that Harley was prepared to implement his scheme without Marlborough, should the duke resign.4 All these authors concur that Harley failed in his endeavors, not for want of the queen's support, but for want of support in the cabinet and parliament. What is now needed is a similar comprehensive and systematic account of Harley's success in 1710, an account which will search out the causes of the fall of the Godolphin ministry, delineate the major issues that arose out of its collapse, and attempt solve those knotty problems that invariably emerge out of such an historical investigation. It is the pur-