Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

Jacobite Secretary of State
In office July 1715 – March 1716
Monarch	James Francis Edward Stuart
Preceded by	Thomas Higgons
Succeeded by	John Erskine, Earl of Mar
Personal details
Born	Henry St John 16 September 1678 Tory
Spouses	Frances Winchcombe Marie Claire des Champs
Parents	Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John Lady Mary Rich
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Signature

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (

Oliver Goldsmith reported that he had been seen to "run naked through the park in a state of intoxication". Jonathan Swift, his intimate friend, said that he wanted to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age, and to mix licentious orgies with the highest political responsibilities. In 1700, he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe of Bucklebury, Berkshire, but this made little difference to his lifestyle.^[8]

Early career

He became a Member of Parliament in 1701, representing the family borough of

In June 1712, St John's commercial treaty with France, establishing free trade with that country, was rejected by the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, the friendship between Bolingbroke and Harley, the basis of the whole Tory administration, had been gradually dissolved. In March 1711, when the Marquis de Guiscard made an attempt on Harley's life, Bolingbroke assumed temporary leadership of the ministry's affairs. His difficulty in controlling the Tory back-benchers, however, only made Harley's absence the more noticeable. In May, Harley obtained the earldom of Oxford and became lord treasurer, while in July, St John was greatly disappointed at receiving only his viscountcy instead of the earldom lately extinct in his family, and at being passed over for the Order of the Garter.^[12]

In September 1713

In March 1714, Herville, the French envoy in London, sent to de Torcy, the French foreign minister, the substance of two long conversations with Bolingbroke in which the latter advised patience till after the accession of George I, when a great reaction was to be expected in favour of the Pretender. At the same time, he spoke of the treachery of Marlborough and Berwick, and of one Other (presumably Oxford) whom he refused to name, all of whom were in communication with Hanover. Both Oxford and Bolingbroke warned James Stuart that he could have little chance of success unless he changed his religion, but the latter's refusal does not appear to have stopped the communications.^[12]

Bolingbroke gradually superseded Oxford in the leadership.

Exile

On the accession of George I the illuminations and bonfire at Lord Bolingbroke's house in Golden Square were "particularly fine and remarkable", but he was immediately dismissed from office.^[12] The new king had been close to the Whigs but he was willing to bring in Tories. The Tories however refused to serve and gambled everything on an election, which they lost. The triumphant Whigs systematically removed the Tories from most of the posts nationally and regionally.^{[citation needed]}

Bolingbroke followed an erratic course that baffled his contemporaries and historians.^[

United Kingdom legislation

Attainder of Viscount Bolingbroke Act 1714
Act of Parliament
1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 16
Dates
Royal assent	20 August 1715

Bolingbroke fled in disguise to Paris—a major blunder. In an even greater blunder he joined the Pretender, was made

1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 16). He hoped to recover the good graces of King George, and indeed managed to do so in a few years.^[14]

He wrote his Reflexions upon Exile, and in 1717, his letter to Sir William Wyndham in explanation of his position, generally considered one of his finest compositions, but not published till 1753 after his death. The same year, he formed a liaison with a widow Marie Claire Deschamps de Marcilly, whom he married in 1720, two years after his first wife's death. He bought and resided at the estate of La Source near Orléans, studied philosophy, criticized the chronology of the Bible, and was visited amongst others by Voltaire, who expressed unbounded admiration for his learning and politeness.^[15]

Pardon and return

United Kingdom legislation

Henry St John Bolingbroke Restitution Act 1724
Act of Parliament
11 Geo. 1. c. 40
Dates
Royal assent	31 May 1725

In 1723, through the medium of the king's mistress,

Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal and Munster, he received a pardon and returned to London.^[16] Walpole reluctantly accepted his return. In 1725, Parliament enabled him to hold real estate but without power of alienating it. But this had been effected in consequence of a peremptory order of the king, against Walpole's wishes, who succeeded in maintaining his exclusion from the House of Lords. He now bought an estate at Dawley, near Uxbridge, where he renewed his intimacy with Pope, Swift and Voltaire, took part in Pope's literary squabbles, and wrote the philosophy for Pope's An Essay on Man (1734),^[15]

which, at Epistle I, begins: "To Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke:

Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition, and the pride of kings.
Let us (since life can little more supply
Than just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan;

On the first occasion which offered itself, that of Pulteney's rupture with Walpole in 1726, he endeavoured to organize an opposition in conjunction with the former and Wyndham; and in 1727, began his celebrated series of letters to The Craftsman, attacking the Walpoles, signed "an Occasional Writer". He won over the Duchess of Kendal with a bribe of £11,000 from his wife's estates, and with Walpole's approval obtained an audience with the king. His success was imminent, and it was thought his appointment as chief minister was assured. In Walpole's own words, "as St John had the duchess entirely on his side I need not add what must or might in time have been the consequence", and he prepared for his dismissal. But once more Bolingbroke's "fortune turned rotten at the very moment it grew ripe", and his projects and hopes were ruined by the king's death in June.^[15]

He wrote additional essays signed "John Trot" that appeared in the Craftsman in 1728, and in 1730 followed Remarks on the History of England by Humphrey Oldcastle, attacking Walpole's policy. Comment prompted by Bolingbroke was continued in the House of Commons by Wyndham, and great efforts were made to establish the alliance between the Tories and the Opposition Whigs. The Excise Bill in 1733 and the Septennial Bill in 1734 offered opportunities for further attacks on the government, which Bolingbroke supported by a new series of papers in the Craftsman styled "A Dissertation on Parties"; but the whole movement collapsed after the new elections, which returned Walpole to power in 1735 with a large majority.^[15]

Bolingbroke retired baffled and disappointed from the fray to France in June, residing principally at the

Earl of Marchmont, and was present at Pope's death in May. The discovery that the poet had printed secretly 1,500 copies of The Patriot King, caused him to publish a correct version in 1749, and stirred up a further altercation with Warburton, who defended his friend against Bolingbroke's bitter aspersions, the latter, whose conduct was generally reprehended, publishing a Familiar Epistle to the most Impudent Man Living.^[15]

Death

In 1744, he had been very busy assisting in the negotiations for the establishment of the new "broad bottom" administration, and showed no sympathy for the

Roubiliac.^[17]

He was succeeded in the title as 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, according to the special remainder, by his half-nephew Frederick St John, 3rd Viscount St John (a title granted to Bolingbroke's father in 1716), from whom the title has descended.^[18] Frederick was the son of the 1st Viscount's half-brother John St John, by his father's second wife Angelica Magdalena Pelissary.

Impact

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Bolingbroke, Georgia, was named after him.

Republicanism in America

In the late 20th century, Bolingbroke was rediscovered by historians as a major influence on Voltaire, and on the American patriots John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Adams said that he had read all of Bolingbroke's works at least five times; indeed, Bolingbroke's works were widely read in the American colonies, where they helped provide the foundation for the emerging nation's devotion to republicanism. His vision of history as cycles of birth, growth, decline and death of a republic was influential in the colonies,^[19] as was his contention on liberty: that one is "free not from the law, but by the law".^[20]

Influence in Britain

The loss of Bolingbroke's great speeches was regretted by William Pitt more than that of the missing books of Livy and Tacitus. By the early 20th century, the writings and career of Bolingbroke would make a weaker impression than they made on contemporaries. He was thought by the author in his biography in A Short Biographical Dictionary of English (1910) to be a man of brilliant and versatile talents, but selfish, insincere and intriguing, defects of character which arguably led to his political ruin; and his writings were described as glittering, artificial and lacking philosophical merit.^[23] Philip Chesney Yorke, his biographer in the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th Edition, commented that his abilities were exercised upon ephemeral objects, and not inspired by lasting or universal ideas.^[15]

Enlightenment philosophy

Bolingbroke held certain views of opposition to church and theological teachings^[1] that may have had influence during the Age of Enlightenment. The atheist antireligious French-German philosopher Baron d'Holbach quotes Bolingbroke in his political work Good Sense, in reference to Bolingbroke's statements against religion.^[2]

Country Party

Bolingbroke was especially influential in stating the need and outlining the machinery of a systematic parliamentary opposition. Such an opposition he called a "country party" which he opposed to the court party. Country parties had been formed before, for instance after the king's speech to Parliament in November 1685, but Bolingbroke was the first to state the need for a continual opposition to the government. To his mind the spirit of liberty was threatened by the court party's lust for power.^[24]

Liberty could only be safeguarded by an opposition party that used "constitutional methods and a legal course of opposition to the excesses of legal and ministerial power" (On the Idea of a Patriot King p. 117). He instructed the opposition party to "Wrest the power of government, if you can, out of the hands that employed it weakly and wickedly" (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 42). This work could be done only by a homogeneous party "because such a party alone will submit to a drudgery of this kind" (On the idea of a Patriot King p. 170). It was not enough to be eager to speak, keen to act. "They who affect to head an opposition ... must be equal, at least, to those whom they oppose" (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 58). The opposition had to be of a permanent nature to make sure that it would be looked at as a part of daily politics. It had on every occasion to confront the government (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 61). He considered a party that systematically opposed the government to be more appealing than a party that did so occasionally (On the Spirit of Patriotism pp. 62, 63). This opposition had to prepare itself to control government (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 61).

Works

• Lashmore-Davies, Adrian C., ed. "The Correspondence of Henry St. John and Sir William Trumbull, 1698–1710", Eighteenth-Century Life 32, no. 3 (2008), pp. 23–179.
• Parke, G., ed. The Letters and Correspondence of Henry St John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. 4 vols. 1798.
• Dickinson, H. T., ed. "The Letters of Henry St. John to the Earl of Orrery, 1709–1711" Camden Miscellany, vol. XXVI. Camden Fourth Series. Volume 14 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1975), pp. 137–199.
• H. T. Dickinson (ed.). "Letters of Bolingbroke to the Earl of Orrery, 1712–13", Camden Miscellany, Vol. XXXI. Camden Fourth Series. Volume 44 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1992), pp. 349–371.
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 1 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 2 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 3 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 4 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 5 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 6 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 7 (London, 1809).
• The works of the late Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, new ed., Vol. 8 (London, 1809).
• The Works of Lord Bolingbroke, Vol 1. University Press of the Pacific, 2001.
  ISBN 0-89875-352-X
• Armitage, David, ed. Bolingbroke: Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  ISBN 0-521-58697-6
• The Philosophical Works of the Late Right Honourable Henry St John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, 3 vol. 1776, reprint 2005.
  ISBN 1-4212-0061-9
• Jackman, S. W., ed. The Idea of a Patriot King. Indianapolis, 1965.
• The Works of the Late Right Honorable Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke was first published in March 1754 in five quarto volumes, and it was made popular by its controversial outlooks on religion. A decade later, the highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was still selling the Works for a considerable fortune, setting the price at three guineas (three pounds and three shillings), a clear indication of the importance and value of the text. In a letter to Dr. Cadell in July 1765, Millar wrote "I never sold a Bolingbroke in quarto under 3 guineas ... Wren paid so and I can't now alter the price".^[25]

Notes

Further reading

• Biddle, Sheila. Bolingbroke and Harley (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1974).
• Dickinson, H. T. "St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, September 2013, accessed 18 October 2017, short scholarly biography
• Dickinson, Harry Thomas. Bolingbroke (1970), scholarly biography.
• Kramnick, Isaac. Bolingbroke and his circle: the politics of nostalgia in the age of Walpole (Cornell University Press, 1992).
• Mansfield, Harvey C. Statesmanship and party government: A study of Burke and Bolingbroke (University of Chicago Press, 2012).
• West, Chris. "Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount (1678–1751)" in The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (2015).

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Yorke, Philip Chesney (1911). "Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Viscount". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 161–164.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. pp. 40–41 – via Wikisource.

Primary sources

• The works of Lord Bolingbroke, 4 vols. (1969)
• H. St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, The idea of a patriot king, ed. S. W. Jackman (Indianapolis, 1965)
• Lord Bolingbroke: historical writings, ed. I. Kramnick (Chicago, 1972)
• Lord Bolingbroke: contributions to The Craftsman, ed. S. Varey (1982)
• Bolingbroke: political writings, ed. D. Armitage (1997)
• Bolingbroke's political writings: the conservative Enlightenment, ed. B. Cottret (1997)

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke.

• Adamson, Robert (1878). "Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (9th ed.). pp. 4–7.
• Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
• Works by Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke at Internet Archive
• Royal Berkshire History: Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke
• Portraits of Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• "Archival material relating to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke". UK National Archives.
• "Henry St. John Bolingbroke". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Parliament of England
Preceded by Henry Pinnell Henry St John	Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett 1701–1707 With: Henry Pinnell 1701, 1702–1705 Thomas Jacob 1701–1702 John Morton Pleydell 1705–1706 Francis Popham 1706–1707	Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Parliament of England	Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett 1707–1708 With: Francis Popham	Succeeded by Francis Popham Robert Cecil
Preceded by Francis Popham Robert Cecil	Richard Goddard	Succeeded by Richard Goddard Edmund Pleydell
Preceded by Richard Neville Sir John Stonhouse, Bt	Member of Parliament for Berkshire 1710–1712 With: Sir John Stonhouse, Bt	Succeeded by Sir John Stonhouse, Bt Robert Packer
Political offices
Preceded by George Clarke	Secretary at War 1704–1708	Succeeded by Robert Walpole
Preceded by Henry Boyle	Secretary of State for the Northern Department 1710–1713	Succeeded by William Bromley
Preceded by The Earl of Dartmouth	Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1713–1714	Succeeded by James Stanhope
Preceded by Thomas Higgons	Jacobite Secretary of State 1715–1716	Succeeded by John Erskine, Earl of Mar
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Earl Rivers	Lord Lieutenant of Essex 1712–1714	Succeeded by The Earl of Suffolk
Preceded by The Earl of Dartmouth	Senior Privy Counsellor 1750–1751	Succeeded by The Earl of Clarendon and Rochester
Peerage of Great Britain
New title	Viscount Bolingbroke 1712–1751	Succeeded by Frederick St John