The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10 eBook
Jonathan Swift
A treaty between Her Majesty and the States, to subsist
after a peace, was now signed, Mons. Buys having
received full powers to that purpose. His masters
were desirous to have a private article added, sub
spe rati, concerning those terms of peace; without
the granting of which, we should stipulate not to
agree with the enemy. But neither the character
of Buys, nor the manner in which he was empowered to
treat, would allow the Queen to enter into such an
engagement. The congress likewise approaching,
there was not time to settle a point of so great importance.
Neither, lastly, would Her Majesty be tied down by
Holland, without previous satisfaction upon several
articles in the Barrier Treaty, so inconsistent with
her engagements to other powers in the alliance, and
so injurious to her own kingdoms.
The lord privy seal, and the Earl of Stafford, having,
about the time the Parliament met, been appointed
Her Majesty’s plenipotentiaries for treating
a general peace, I shall here break off the account
of any further progress made in that great affair,
until I resume it in the last book of this History.
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THE HISTORY OF THE FOUR LAST
YEARS OF THE QUEEN.
BOOK III.
The House of Commons seemed resolved, from the beginning
of the session, to inquire strictly not only into
all abuses relating to the accounts of the army, but
likewise into the several treaties between us and our
allies, upon what articles and conditions they were
first agreed to, and how these had been since observed.
In the first week of their sitting, they sent an address
to the Queen, to desire that the treaty, whereby Her
Majesty was obliged to furnish forty thousand men,
to act in conjunction with the forces of her allies
in the Low Countries, might be laid before the House.
To which the secretary of state brought an answer,
“That search had been made, but no footsteps
could be found of any treaty or convention for that
purpose.” It was this unaccountable neglect
in the former ministry, which first gave a pretence
to the allies for lessening their quotas, so much
to the disadvantage of Her Majesty, her kingdoms,
and the common cause, in the course of the war.
It had been stipulated by the Grand Alliance, between
the Emperor, Britain, and the States, that those three
powers should assist each other with their whole force,
and that the several proportions should be specified
in a particular convention. But if any such convention
were made, it was never ratified; only the parties
agreed, by common consent, to take each a certain
share of the burthen upon themselves, which the late
King William communicated to the House of Commons by
his secretary of state; and which afterwards the other
two powers, observing the mighty zeal in our ministry
for prolonging the war, eluded as they pleased.
