Bolingbroke
HENRY ST. JOHN, VISCOUNT, an English statesman and political writer, born in 1678. He became Secretary of War in 1704; resigned in 1707; but, in 1710, he was again one of the ministry. For the next four years he assisted in governing the country, and by the treaty of Utrecht, in April, 1713, brought the war with France to a close.
In 1712 he was created Viscount Bolingbroke; and, in 1714, Queen Anne died. This was a fatal blow to Bolingbroke, who had quarreled with his old friend Harley, the Earl of Oxford, and been commissioned to form a new cabinet. He was compelled to make his escape to France. On the accession of George I., he was impeached by Walpole, at the bar BOLIVAR of the House of Lords. Meanwhile he had entered the service of Charles Stuart, the Pretender, who appointed him his Prime Minister, but who, after his return from Scotland, dismissed him. In 1723 he was permitted to return to England, but he was not readmitted to the House of Lords. This excited his animosity, and he began to write against the ministry, which led to the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole. He resided in France from 1735 until his father's death enabled him to take possession of the family estates at Battersea. Here he passed the remainder of his days, employing his time in writing on nonpolitical subjects. He died in 1751.