Impeachment of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford

Harley was accused of a number of crimes including high treason during his time in office, with charges particularly focusing on his role in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession.

This involved the creation of twelve peers, known as Harley's Dozen, in a single day to tilt the balance of the Whig-dominated House of Lords.

[1] Another major issue that divided the country was the coming succession dispute that would follow the anticipated death of the childless Queen Anne.

As Elector of Hanover, George had been one of Britain's allies who felt betrayed by the secret peace deal and publicly snubbed Harley on his arrival.

[2] In early 1715 fresh elections gave the Whigs a majority, and they set about pursuing those regarded responsible for the peace as well as conspiring to place James on the throne.

[3] On 13 April the Commons appointed a committee of twenty one members to conduct the investigation including prominent Whigs Robert Walpole, James Stanhope, Nicholas Lechmere and Edward Wortley Montagu.

As two of the major landowning families in Herefordshire, the Coningsbys and Harleys had a long-standing rivalry stretching back generations.

In his defence Harley observed that some of the things he was charged with were not his responsibility, and that if he were held accountable so potentially would all future first ministers.

Two weeks later Coningsby advanced six further articles, alleging that Harley had given the Queen "evil advice" and been secretly working for James.

While John Dunton wrote an attack on the former First Minister, both Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift published accounts of the events designed to vindicate Harley's conduct.

However, the very fact that Harley was imprisoned at the time spared him from accusations of actively taking part of the rebellion, although Jacobite prisoners were quizzed on his connections to the movement.

Around this time he wrote to his wife, now living outside the Tower, that he was resolved to be "easy under any confinement, and as I look for no favour, so I shall do nothing towards my freedom, that may not become the character of an English gentleman".

[12] In April 1717 the Whig leadership, now completely dominant in British politics, suffered a major falling out when Lord Townshend was dismissed from the government after a power struggle with James Stanhope.

To try and head this off, the government Whigs sought to try and secure from Harley a statement of his future good conduct in exchange for his release.

This led to lengthy debates in both the Lords and the Commons, where Whig Thomas Miller demanded that Harley should be punished for abandoning the Catalans, who without British help had been defeated at Barcelona.