Pope afterwards declared that Addison had disavowed all party intentions at the time, and he accused him of insincerity for afterwards taking credit (in a poetical dedication of _Cato_) for the services rendered by his play to the cause of liberty.

Pope's assertion is worthless in any case where he could exalt his own character for consistency at another man's expense, but it is true that both parties were inclined to equivocate.
It is, indeed, difficult to understand how, if any "stage-play could preserve liberty," such a play as _Cato_ should do the work.

The polished declamation is made up of the platitudes common to Whigs and Tories; and Bolingbroke gave the one to his own party when he presented fifty guineas to _Cato_'s representative for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator.

The Whigs, said Pope, design a second present when they can contrive as good a saying.
Bolingbroke was, of course, aiming at Marlborough, and his interpretation was intrinsically as plausible as any that could have been devised by his antagonists.

Each side could adopt _Cato_ as easily as rival sects can quote the Bible; and it seems possible that Addison may have suggested to Pope that nothing in _Cato_ could really offend his principles.