preliminary to it, as far as they could be transacted at home, were
thrown upon me. I continued in the House of Commons during that
important session which preceded the peace; and which, by the spirit
shown through the whole course of it, and by the resolutions taken
in it, rendered the conclusion of the treaties practicable. After
this I was dragged into the House of Lords in such a manner as to
make my promotion a punishment, not a reward; and was there left to
defend the treaties almost alone.

It would not have been hard to have forced the Earl of Oxford to use
me better. His good intentions began to be very much doubted of;
the truth is, no opinion of his sincerity had ever taken root in the
party, and, which was worse perhaps for a man in his station, the
opinion of his capacity began to fall apace. He was so hard pushed
in the House of Lords in the beginning of 1712 that he had been
forced, in the middle of the session, to persuade the Queen to make
a promotion of twelve peers at once, which was an unprecedented and
invidious measure, to be excused by nothing but the necessity, and
hardly by that. In the House of Commons his credit was low and my
reputation very high. You know the nature of that assembly; they
grow, like hounds, fond of the man who shows them game, and by whose
halloo they are used to be encouraged. The thread of the
negotiations, which could not stand still a moment without going
back, was in my hands, and before another man could have made
himself master of the business much time would have been lost, and
great inconveniences would have followed. Some, who opposed the
Court soon after, began to waver then, and if I had not wanted the
inclination I should have wanted no help to do mischief. I knew the
way of quitting my employments and of retiring from Court when the
service of my party required it; but I could not bring myself up to