ition of Tories and moderate Whigs,
placed all his hopes in the result of a general election. Every effort was
made to get a Tory majority returned, and with success. Bishop Burnet,
whose Whiggish proclivities are apparent in every page of his history,
took no pains to disguise his opinions as to the way the elections were
generally carried out, and more particularly in the city of London. "While
the poll was taken in London," he writes,(1968) "a new commission for the
lieutenancy of the city was sent in, by which a great change was made;
Tories were put in and Whigs were left out; in a word, the practice and
violence now used in elections went far beyond anything that I have ever
known in England." If freedom of election was to count for anything, the
worthy bishop entertained grave doubts as to the new parliament being a
representative parliament at all. Only one of the old members was returned
by the city, viz., Sir William Withers. With him were elected another
alderman of the city, viz., Sir Richard Hoare, who had been defeated in
the Tory interest at the last election, Sir George Newland and John
Cass,(1969) who afterwards became an alderman, and who, at his decease,
left money for the foundation of a school in the parish of St. Botoph,
Aldgate.

(M973)

The new House of Commons being strongly Tory, Harley and St. John found
themselves compelled to form a purely Tory ministry. On the 27th the queen
delivered a speech in person, reflecting, as was supposed, the policy of
the new ministry. To carry on the war with the utmost vigour was, she
declared, the surest way of procuring a safe and honourable peace for
England and her allies, and in February of the following year (1711)
Marlborough was despatched for the avowed purpose of carrying this policy
into execution, the Commons being called upon to furnish supplies. Yet in
the midst of all this Harley commenced opening secret negotiations for a
peace with France, regardless of the interests of England's allies. By
September (1711) these negotiations had so far progressed that
preliminaries for a peace were actually signed, but for fear lest the
favourable terms obtained for England should provoke the jealousy of the
Dutch a garbled edition of the treaty was specially prepared for the
edification of our allies. Such was the political morality of the age!

(M974)

The High Church party being in power, the queen took the opportunity of
enlisting their support for a