From the dominant party, which carried the Parliament also unconditionally along with it, Queen Anne appealed as it were to the nation. The nation decided for her. Amidst a lively contest of factions, in which the government put all their resources into play, a new general election took place in the year 1710. The advantage was so decidedly on the side of the Tories, that Harley for the first moment was horrified; for it had never been his intention to call into existence the supremacy of any one party, which would have prescribed laws to him; but rather to govern with the help of both parties, perhaps somewhat in the manner of William III, only with a preponderance of Tory influence.

When Parliament assembled, however, the Whigs showed themselves to be still very strong; they had men of intellect and energy at their head, who hoped to get the power they had lost once more into their hands before long; they looked upon the new combination as merely transitory, and they were determined to offer to it the most obstinate resistance.

And if one seeks to know on what from the very first moment they grounded their hopes, it was the impending succession of the house of Hanover. Hanover, says Sunderland, must be our anchor; the Elector will one day bring everything again into the right track. But the Whigs might expect from Hanover, not only hope for the future, but also co-operation in the present circumstances, the central point of which was the question of peace or war.