done all in his power to dissuade James from making his
fatal expedition at such a time, and under such untoward circumstances.
He had shown judgment, prudence, and, in the true sense, courage. He
had shown himself a statesman. He might very well have met James in
the mood and with the remonstrances of the counsellors who, after the
event, are able to say, "I told you so." But Bolingbroke appears to
have had more discretion and more manliness. He advised James to
withdraw once again from the dominions of the King, and take refuge in
Lorraine. Bolingbroke knew well, by this time, that there was not the
slightest chance of any open assistance from the French Court; and even
that the French Court would be only too ready to throw James over, and
sacrifice him, if, by doing so, they could strengthen the bonds of good
feeling between France and England. James professed to take
Bolingbroke's counsel in very friendly fashion, and parted from
Bolingbroke with many expressions of confidence and affection. Yet it
is certain that at this time he had made up his mind not to see
Bolingbroke any more. He went for a time to a house near Versailles, a
kind of headquarters of intriguing political women, and thence
immediately despatched a letter to Bolingbroke, relieving him of all
his duties as Secretary of State. Bolingbroke affects to have taken
his dismissal very composedly, but it cannot be doubted that his heart
burned within him at what he, {132} doubtless, believed to be the
ingratitude of the prince for whom he had done and sacrificed so much.
For Bolingbroke had that unlucky gift of fancy which enables a man to
see himself, and his own doings, and his own merits, in whatever light
is most gratifying to his personal vanity. He had, in truth, never
risked nor sacrificed anything for the sake of James or the Stuart
cause. He never had the least idea of risking or sacrificing anything
for that cause, or for any other. It was only when his fortunes in
England became desperate, when impeachment, and, as he believed, a
scaffold threatened him, when he had no apparent alternative left but
to join the Pretender or stay at home and lose all--it was only then
that he took any decided step as an adherent of the cause of the
Stuarts. We cannot doubt that James Stuart knew to the full the part
that Bolingbroke had played. He knew that he owed Bolingbroke no
favor, and that he could have no confidence in him. Still, it remains