Of the truth of that saying, in one of its senses, HARLEY became himself a salient instance. Bred a Whig, and during his early years acting commonly with the Whigs, his party ties were gradually relaxed. By temper and mental constitution he was always inclined to moderate measures. As the party waxed fiercer and fiercer, and as its policy came to be more and more obviously the weapon of its hatreds, HARLEY soon lay open to the reproach of being a trimmer. The growing breach became evident enough in the course of the debates on the treason of Sir John FENWICK, in November, 1696. [Sidenote: HIS SPEECH ON THE ATTAINDER OF FENWICK.] He then argued, with force and earnestness, that atrocity in a crime is no justification or excuse for violence and unscrupulousness in a prosecutor. Some of his applications of that sound doctrine are very questionable. But it is to his honour that he preached moderation with consistency. He did not bend it to the exigencies of the party he was approaching, any more than to those of the party from which he was gradually withdrawing himself. Meanwhile he had signalised his powers in another way. By long study he had acquired a considerable knowledge of parliamentary law and precedent. He had taken his full share in the work of committees. In February, 1701, he was proposed for the Speakership, in opposition to Sir Thomas LITTLETON. He had a large body of supporters, nor were they found exclusively in the Tory ranks. The King sent for LITTLETON, and told him that he thought it would be for the public service that he should give way to the choice of Mr. HARLEY in his stead. But the election was carried by a majority of only four votes. ‘It is a great encouragement to his party,’ wrote TOWNSHEND to WALPOLE, who was then in the country, ‘and no small mortification to the Whigs.’ HARLEY retained the Speakership until the third session of the first Parliament of Queen ANNE. Whatever may have been the ‘mortification of the Whigs’ at his elevation, it is certain that at this time HARLEY laboured zealously for the establishment of the Protestant succession to the throne. [Sidenote: HARLEY AND THE ACT OF SUCCESSION.] [Sidenote: 1701. March.] In the preparation, facilitating, and passing of that measure he took so influential a part that, afterwards, he was able to say, in the face of his opponents, when they were most numerous and most embittered, ‘I had the largest hand in settling the succession of the House of Hanover.’ The assertion met with no denial.