having stated this whole affair in a clear and full light, it will be proper to tranfcribe his account of it. He begins his letter with fome reflections on the general conduct of the French in all the treaties they had made for fifty years before, to fhew the neceffity there was for the allies to refufe entering into any conferences for a general peace, till fome preliminaries were firft fettled, as a foundation, on which it should be built. But before we come, fays the docter, p. 7. to confider the preliminaries themselves, that you may the better judge of the fincerity of France, I muft obferve to you, that they had previoufly, by their emiffaries, been feeling the pulfe of the Dutch; and, by the mighty profeffions they made of the fincere defires of the king to put an end to the war, they obtained fome private confer ences the beginning of the year 1709, in which the reftitution of Spain and the Indies to king Charles, was always fuppofed as the firft ftep towards a treaty; and, for the reft, they hoped the Dutch, for their part, would not be very difficult, fince they, were affured, that in other points they might have their own terms, and not only be fecured by a good barrier, in which the French were pleafed to be very liberal, but likewife be made very eafy in relation to trade. The Dutch, who, on this occafion, fhewed they understood the French, as well as the French thought they did them, appeared to be very well pleased to hear of overtures of peace, and expreffed great

to

readiness to enter on a treaty; but that they could do nothing without the concurrence of their allies, to whom they communicated what had passed; and, in order to a treaty, gave leave to the minifters of France to come to Holland; firft to monfieur Rouillé, and afterwards to the marquis de Torcy, who both timed their coming thither too remarkably, not to be taken notice of. The duke of Marlborough made two voyages that fpring to England; one in the beginning of March, N. S. which was the fooneft the affairs of the war would admit of his return after the campaign of Lifle; the other about the end of April, when he went to communicate to the queen what had paffed, and to receive her inftructions. Now monfieur Rouillé came to Hol-land, almoft as foon as the duke was gone from thence the first time; and the marquis de Torcy followed foon after the duke's leaving it the fecond: by which it fhould feem, they thought they might make fome advantage of his abfence; and that it was for their master's fervice, to have the Dutch as much as they could to themselves, as the likelieft way to procure fuch a peace as they had a mind to.

Monfieur Rouillé and the mar quis de Torcy came neither of them into Holland, till the duke of Marlborough had left it which was a plain proof, that they had fome designs, which they feared he would not come into; and, that in his and prince Eugene's abfence, they hoped the

ftates

ftates, by the great inclination they expreffed for peace, might be drawn in to confent to fome points, which might either produce a treaty to their minds, or divide the allies among themfelves. This they hoped to do these two ways; firft, by gaining their confent to a partition, which they had never abfolutely declared againft; and next by offering to them, in confideration for that, a greater barrier than they thought confiftent with the intereft and honour of the house of Auftria. The firft of these. they knew the emperor would not agree to; and neither the emperor nor England to the latter. And from this occafion and ground for divifion they promised themselves great fuccefs. But, to their furprize, the firmness of the ftates was fo great, that, as they would abfolutely reject nothing, fo neither would they agree to any thing separately from the rest of the allies, nor enter into any treaty, but jointly with the queen and the emperor, who, to fhew their readiness to hearken to any reasonable terms of peace, that would anfwer the end for which they went into the war, immediately upon notice of the proposals the French had made, fent to the Hague the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene; the firft was attended by my lord Townshend, and the other was foon followed by count Zinzendorf. And both these minifters distinguished themselves in these negotiations very much to the fatisfaction of all the reft. My lord Townshend particularly has,

by his good fenfe, integrity, opennefs, and affability, acquired the universal esteem of the ftates, and all the rest of the allies, beyond what could be hoped from fo young a minifter, and to fuch a degree, as will always be remembered to his honour in that country, however it may be denied or forgot in this. If therefore you do not meet with his and count Zinzendorf's names in what follows, 1 muft defire you would fuppofe of them what I fay of the two generals, fo far at leaft, as to think they did not in any thing of moment ever differ from them.

But to proceed; upon the arrival of thefe minifters at the Hague, conferences were daily held with thofe of France, to fettle preliminary articles. In treating of which their infincerity foon discovered itself, and great reason was given to fufpect their chief aim was to amufe and divide those they seemed fo much in hafte to agree with; that, if they could not get fuch a peace for themfelves as they defired, the campaign at least might be loft to the allies. For it was vevery obfervable, that they eafily agreed, and, in a very little time after, thefe conferences were begun, to all the demands of England and Holland for themselves, though fome articles were contained in both, which the French never dreamt of being asked, when the first overtures of peace were made; fuch as the demolifhing of Dunkirk, and the giving up many towns, which were no part of the Spanish Nether

lands

lands at the time of king Charles's death, nor had in the courfe of the war been taken from them. When the first steps of a treaty were made, the French fo little thought of thefe demands, that the quitting even Lifle and Menin was refufed. But now thefe extraordinary points on the part of England and Holland were by the minifters of France readily agreed to; and yet, at the fame time, great difficulty was made with refpect to what was asked for the emperor and the duke of Savoy, though there was nothing in those articles, but what was extremely reasonable and neçeffary to fecure the dominions of thofe princes from the invafions they would otherwife be expofed to. There was an interval of feveral days, before the French minifters would treat about these articles; nor did they at last consent to them, but with a reserve and a declaration, that this was beyond their inftructions; and that therefore they muft fufpend a full affent, till the further pleafure of the king was known. Now what could be the meaning of this management, but to infnare the maritime powers, if they could, and draw them into a bafe defign of facrificing the intereft of their allies to their own? and what ufe can any body imagine they would have made of this, but to engage the allies in a quarrel among themselves, and to take advantage of their differences; to break the confederacy, and to intice fome of the members of it by large offers to come into feparate mea

fures with them; but, this fcheme failing by the firm adherence of the maritime powers to the rest of the allies, there was one article ftill remained to be adjusted, which in effect included all the reft, and which would afford the French a fpecious pretence for breaking off the treaty, whenever they had a mind to it; and that was to fetthe terms, on which a perpetual fufpenfion of arms should be agreed. No body had ever doubted, but that there was fuch an understanding between the French king and his grandfon, that the former could oblige the latter to refign the Spanish monarchy whenever he pleased, fince he not only gave it king Philip at firft, but had hitherto fupported him in it. Accordingly every thing about him was intirely French; and the restitution of Spain at least, and the Indies, had, as I obferved before, been always fuppofed. And as this was the point, that occafioned the war, the first thing fettled in the preliminaries was a perfect

and intire ceffion of the whole

Spanish monarchy to king Charles III, to be made within two months from the firft of June following. And, in cafe the duke of Anjou should make any difficulty to comply with this, it is exprefsly covenanted in the fourth article, ⚫ that his most chriftian majesty ⚫ and the allies fhall take in con

cert the proper measures to oblige him to it.' What was to be understood by taking proper measures, both fides were content fhould not be then explained. Thus far looked well; and one