“Then, Your Majesty, the war will end.”
“The Government, Mr. Harley, seem so firmly behind the Duke.”
“Godolphin, Sunderland—family connections! A Marlborough junta Madam. That sort of thing can be very powerful.”
“I never liked the Whigs.”
“Nor did the Duke, Madam, until he needed their support for his war. I have been consulting with my friends.…”
“Yes, Mr. Harley.”
“If we could overthrow the present Government I believe I could present Your Majesty with a Tory Ministry which would be very much to your liking.”
A Tory Ministry! thought Anne. Peace abroad! The Church and State safe! And dear, amusing, clever Mr. Harley at its head. That was a very desirable prospect.
Marlborough had returned from the campaign which had culminated at Malplaquet. He was very anxious; he had heard from Sarah that the reception of the victory had been less enthusiastic than that of Oudenarde and that the joy which followed the news of Blenheim was entirely lacking.
The Queen, Sarah pointed out, continued devoted to her dirty chambermaid, and snake Harley with Slug St. John was continually in her presence.
As for Sarah, she had written to the Queen reminding her of all she had done for her and how she had given her friendship over the years, and had had no reply.
Marlborough himself asked for an audience with Anne.
She received him with affection. He was such a charming man and had none of his wife’s overbearing manners. Anne would always have a fondness for Mr. Freeman however much his wife provoked her. He never forgot that she was the Queen and although he was the hero of so many great battles and his brilliant generalship had astonished Europe, he was far more modest than Sarah ever was.
“Dear Mr. Freeman,” said Anne, “I am pleased to see you home safe and well and I trust you will remain here with us for a long time.”
He knelt and kissed her hand.
Marlborough replied that there was nothing which would delight him more but that he had the Queen’s interests to protect and he feared they would soon take him from home.
Anne sighed, remembering the casualty lists from Malplaquet.
“I wish,” said Marlborough, “to make sure that Your Majesty and the country are safe for ever. And there is only one way in which I can be sure of bringing this about.”
“And that way, Mr. Freeman?”
“If Your Majesty would make me Captain-General of your armies …”
“But you are that already.”
“I have my enemies, Madam. They could replace me at a moment’s notice if they banded together and were sufficiently strong against me. If Your Majesty would make me Captain-General of your armies for life …”
He paused, aware of the magnitude of the demand he was making. Sarah had represented Anne to be a fool, a cipher in her hands; and although he knew that Sarah had exaggerated in her contempt for the Queen, he had accepted the fact that Anne was a simple woman.
This was not entirely true. She might love her cards and her chocolates, her gossip and her comforts, but she had a great sense of her responsibilities to her country; and she would not make a rash promise before she had first pondered the matter or consulted with those whose opinion she valued.
She understood what this would mean. The title of Captain-General for life would make Marlborough a military dictator whom none could shift.
She thought of Sarah grown more arrogant than ever, forcing her way into the royal apartments. Oh no! That would never do.
She lowered her eyes and studied her hands.
“I should need time to consider that, Mr. Freeman,” she answered.
Disappointed, but not unhopeful, Marlborough talked of other matters and after a while took his leave.
Anne was thoughtful after the Duke had left. How right Mr. Harley and Abigail had been! It was true that the Churchills were trying to reduce her to a mere cypher; and they had begun it by joining themselves through marriage with the most influential families so that the junta was formed; and now there they were—Marlborough, Godolphin and the hateful Sunderland—ready to rule the nation. All they needed was for Marlborough to become Captain-General of the Army for life—which would mean that no one would have the power to dislodge him—and there would be the military dictatorship for which they would all be working.
Relations with Sarah were very strained; they would soon be so with her husband, for Anne was certain that she was putting no such power into the hands of Marlborough.
But how to act in a manner so tactful that she could refuse Marlborough’s demands without alienating him, for if he were to resign from his present position at this moment she could not imagine what evil might befall her armies abroad.
She considered her ministers and thought of Earl Cowper who was not of the Churchill faction, and was a man whom she trusted and who would not wish to see Marlborough supreme. She sent for him.
“My lord,” she said, “if I were to ask you to draw up a commission to make the Duke of Marlborough Captain-General of the Army for life, how would you do it?”
Cowper was momentarily speechless at such a prospect.
“Your Majesty …” he stammered at length. “Madam … I … I could not advise such an undertaking in any circumstances.”
“My Lord Marlborough has asked that his position should be made permanent,” she told him.
“Madam, it is an office which has never been bestowed, other than for the time of the Sovereign’s pleasure.”
“I know it, my lord; but now His Grace would have it otherwise.”
“But, Madam …”
“You will know what to say to His Grace, I am sure, my lord,” said the Queen with her placid smile.
Cowper did know. He first went to his friends and told them what had taken place between him and the Queen. They were immediately apprehensive and angry. Marlborough was clearly aiming at military dictatorship. How disastrous if the Queen had agreed to his request which, they believed, she might have done if the Duchess had been on the old terms with her.
In the circumstances, Cowper was able to go to the Duke, with the support of his friends, to tell him that the great seal of England would never be put to such commission.
There was consternation throughout the Ministry. Marlborough’s preposterous suggestion was seen as a dangerous one.
Harley and St. John talked of it to their political and literary friends.
Sarah had failed to keep her hold on the Queen, it was said; so Marlborough was going to rule instead of the Queen. Military men with big ambitions should be watched.
John went down to St. Albans with Sarah. Restlessly and angrily they talked.
“Nothing goes as we could wish!” cried John; and he looked sadly at his wife, for none believed more than he did that if Sarah had retained her friendship with the Queen everything they desired would have come to them. But he never criticized her; all he would do was warn her gently. Sarah was far from gentle. She railed against Abigail Hill, for she was certain that all their troubles came from her.
“They have no gratitude,” she cried. “The nation, the Queen … nor Abigail Hill. You have won resounding victories for England; I have spent hours with the stupid woman when I would have preferred to be shut in a dungeon; I brought that whey-faced slut from a broom to a palace … and where is the gratitude, I ask you. Those who have most reason to love us turn against us.”
It was soothing to go down to Woodstock and look at the progress of Blenheim; but even that was slow and not to Sarah’s taste and she and John Vanbrugh had by now conceived a great dislike of each other.
Disgruntled and angry they returned to London. The Duke realized he had made a mistake in underestimating the Queen, and believing she would grant his request without consulting her ministers. Who would have thought that she would have called in Cowper before the commission was a fait accompli?