CHAP.-XXIII.1697 .

24 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

him. They were bent on making Wharton a Secretary ofState, and had therefore looked forward with impatience tothe retirement of Trumball, who was indeed hardly equalto the duties of his great place. To their surprise and mor-tification they learned, on the eve of the meeting of Par-liament, that Trumball had suddenly resigned, and Vernon,the Under Secretary, had been summoned to Kensington,and had returned thence with the seals. Vernon was azealous Whig, and not personally unacceptable to thechiefs of his party. But the Lord Chancellor, the FirstLord of the Treasury, and the First Lord of the Admiralty,might not unnaturally think it strange that a post of thehighest importance should have been filled up in oppositionto their known wishes, and with a haste and a seeresy whichplainly showed that the King did not wish to be annoyedby their remonstrances. The Lord Chamberlain pretendedthat he had done all in his power to serve Wharton. Butthe Whig chiefs were not men to be duped by the profes-sions of so notorious a liar. Montague bitterly describedhim as a fireship, dangerous at best, but on the whole mostdangerous as a consort, and least dangerous when showinghostile colours. Smith, who was the most efficient of Mon-tague’s lieutenants, both in the Treasury and in the Parlia-ment, cordially sympathised vith his leader. Sunderlandwas therefore left undefended. His enemies became bolderand more vehement every day. Sir Thomas Dyke, memberfor Grinstead, and Lord Norris, son of the Earl of Abing-don , talked of moving sn address requesting the King to