Henry St John Viscount Bolingbroke

Home > People > History > British and Irish History: Biographies

Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke , 1678–1751, English statesman.

Political Rise

Although he was one of England's great orators, Bolingbroke was also an unstable profligate, and he was generally distrusted. Yet he apparently believed sincerely in a kind of "Tory democracy," for which he was later much admired by Benjamin Disraeli . Entering Parliament in 1701, he associated himself with Robert Harley and eventually came to rival Harley as a Tory leader.

After the accession (1702) of Queen Anne he became a favorite of the powerful duke of Marlborough and was appointed (1704) secretary for war. However, he resigned when Harley was forced out of his post by the Marlborough-Godolphin faction in 1708. When the unpopularity of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Henry Sacheverell incident brought in a Tory ministry (1710) under Harley, St. John became a secretary of state.

St. John used the London Tory clubs and writers such as Jonathan Swift to influence public opinion in favor of his policies and carried on, despite protests from England's allies, separate peace negotiations with France. In 1712 he was created Viscount Bolingbroke, and by the influence of Abigail Masham , Queen Anne's favorite, he gradually rose to become the leading figure in the government. The Peace of Utrecht (1713) and Bolingbroke's intrigues preceding it were denounced by the Whigs, whose political influence he sought to weaken by the Occasional Conformity and Schism acts, directed against religious dissenters. He now broke completely with Harley, who was dismissed in 1714.

Flight to France

Bolingbroke's true intent is not known, but it is sure that, in anticipation of the succession of a pro-Whig Hanoverian to the throne, he negotiated with James Francis Stuart , the Old Pretender, and began replacing Whig officers, especially in the army, with Tories. Whatever plans he had were thwarted by the sudden death (1714) of Queen Anne and the peaceful succession of George I, who promptly dismissed Bolingbroke. He was impeached, but he fled to France before the trial and was then attainted by Parliament. In France, Bolingbroke helped plan the uprising of the Jacobites in 1715, but in 1716 he was dismissed from the service of the Old Pretender on suspicion of having given secret Jacobite plans to the English government. He abjured the Jacobite cause, but only in 1723 did he receive (with the help of a generous bribe) a pardon from George I.

Return to England

On his return to England, although excluded from the House of Lords, he exerted great political influence, at first supporting but later organizing strong opposition to Robert Walpole . He initiated new methods of opposition to the government, such as the use of parliamentary inquiries, and attacked the government in the pages of a new periodical, the Craftsman, to which he contributed a famous series of letters, including a "Dissertation upon Parties" (1735), under the signature of Occasional Writer.

Retirement

He retired from politics in 1735 and spent most his remaining years on his estates in France, where he devoted himself to political and philosophical writing. His numerous writings, in a lucid but rhetorical style that was greatly admired at that time, include Letters on the Study and Use of History (privately printed, 1735–36), The True Use of Retirement (1738), and Idea of a Patriot King (1749). His works were edited by David Mallet (5 vol., 1754) and several times thereafter.

Bibliography

See his correspondence (ed. by G. Parke, 1798); biographies by Sir Charles Petrie (1937) and H. T. Dickenson (1970); J. P. Hart, Viscount Bolingbroke, Tory Humanist (1965); I. Kramnick, Bolingbroke and His Circle (1968).

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, first Viscount (1678–1751), was elected to the House of Commons in 1701 and became a leading figure in the Tory party. He was appointed secretary of war in 1704; secretary of state in 1710; and in 1712 was made Viscount Bolingbroke. He took part in negotiating the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. After the accession of George I, Bolingbroke fled to France and declared his allegiance to the Pretender, James Stuart; he was convicted of high treason and his peerage was withdrawn. Bolingbroke lived in exile in France for the next decade. In an attempt to justify his conduct in the eyes of his fellow Tories he wrote A Letter to Sir William Wyndham in 1717 (published posthumously 1753). In France, Bolingbroke wrote several philosophical essays which reflect the influence of Locke. These writings provoked the outrage of Dr Johnson and others when they were published, also posthumously (in 1754), because of their scepticism concerning religion. It has often been supposed that Pope's An Essay on Man (1734) was inspired by Bolingbroke's philosophical writings.

In 1723 Bolingbroke received a qualified pardon from the king, and he returned to England in 1725 to a life of political journalism in the company of Pope, Swift, Gay, and Lyttelton. In articles written for the Craftsman he attacked the policies and practices of the Walpole administration, deploring, in particular, the practice of ‘influence’ or ‘corruption’. These articles were collected in two volumes as A Dissertation upon Parties (1735) and Remarks on the History of England (1743). He retired to France in 1735. From his retreat he addressed letters on the need for an active and united opposition to corruption (A Letter on the Spirit of Patriotism, written in 1736) and on the role of a monarch in a free government (The Idea of a Patriot King, written in 1738). These essays, like his earlier political writings, reflect the influence of Machiavelli and the classical republican tradition.

Bolingbroke's many posthumous publications excited intense controversy in the decade which immediately followed his death. The political essays published in his lifetime had a more lasting influence: in England, in the movement for parliamentary reform in the 18th and 19th cents; and, in America, on the ideas of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and other publicists and statesmen of the revolutionary era.

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, 1st Viscount (1678–1751). St John was Tory MP for the family seat of Wootton Bassett (1701–8) and Berkshire (1710–12), secretary at war (1704–8), secretary of state for the northern department (1710–13) and for the southern department (1713–14). He was in charge of the negotiations for the peace of Utrecht (1713) ending the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1712 he had been, to his disappointment, created Viscount Bolingbroke, hoping to become an earl. This ‘snub’ contributed to the growing rift between him and Prime Minister Robert Harley, which effectively paralysed the Tory ministry. Dismissed office by George I he was impeached and attainted. He fled to France into the service of the pretender as his secretary of state, from which post he was also dismissed in 1716. He was pardoned and returned to England in 1723, and was restored to his estates in 1725, though barred from the House of Lords. Moving into opposition to Walpole, he provided much of the intellectual backbone to the ‘patriot’ and Tory parties with his philosophical and political writings, particularly in the Craftsman. He retired to France in 1735, and wrote essays on history, including his most famous work Patriot King (1738).

Clyve Jones

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, 1st Viscount (1678–1751). St John was Tory MP for Wootton Bassett (1701–8) and Berkshire (1710–12), secretary at war (1704–8), secretary of state for the northern department (1710–13) and for the southern department (1713–14). He was in charge of the negotiations for the peace of Utrecht (1713) ending the War of the Spanish Succession. The growing rift between him and Robert Harley effectively paralysed the Tory ministry. Dismissed office by George I, he was attainted and fled to France into the service of the pretender. He was pardoned and returned to England in 1723, and was restored to his estates in 1725, though barred from the House of Lords. Moving into opposition to Walpole, he provided much of the intellectual backbone to the ‘patriot’ and Tory parties with his writings, particularly in the Craftsman.

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, 1st Viscount (1678–1751) English politician. He entered Parliament as a Tory in 1701, became Secretary of State following the Tory triumph of 1710, and was responsible for negotiating the Peace of UTRECHT in 1713. Dismissed by George I in 1714, and impeached by the Whig Parliament of 1715, he fled to France, where he joined James Edward Stuart, but soon became disillusioned with the PRETENDER's cause. In 1723 he was pardoned by George I and allowed back into England.

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Viscount (1678–1751) English politician. A prominent Tory minister under Queen Anne, in 1714 Bolingbroke fled to France and joined the Jacobites. In 1723 he was allowed to return to England, and continued to oppose the Whig regime, attacking political corruption under Robert Walpole. The best known of his many philosophical and political writings is The Idea of a Patriot King (1749), upholding the role of monarchy in government.