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YEARS OF THE QUEEN.
We left the plenipotentiaries of the allies, and those
of the enemy, preparing to assemble at Utrecht on
the first of January, N.S., in order to form a congress
for negotiating a general peace; wherein although the
Dutch had made a mighty merit of their compliance with
the Queen, yet they set all their instruments at work
to inflame both Houses against Her Majesty’s
measures. Mons. Bothmar, the Hanover envoy,
took care to print and disperse his Memorial, of which
I have formerly spoken: Hoffman, the Emperor’s
resident, was soliciting for a yacht and convoys to
bring over Prince Eugene at this juncture, fortified,
as it was given out, with great proposals from the
Imperial court: the Earl of Nottingham became
a convert, for reasons already mentioned: money
was distributed where occasion required; and the Dukes
of Somerset and Marlborough, together with the Earl
of Godolphin, had put themselves at the head of the
junto, and their adherents, in order to attack the
court.
Some days after the vote passed the House of Lords
for admitting into the address the Earl of Nottingham’s
clause, against any peace without Spain; Mons.
Buys, the Dutch envoy, who had been deep in all the
consultations with the discontented party for carrying
that point, was desired to meet with the lord privy
seal, the Earl of Dartmouth, and Mr. Secretary St.
John, in order to sign a treaty between the Queen and
the States, to subsist after a peace. There the
envoy took occasion to expostulate upon the advantages
stipulated for Britain with France; said “It
was his opinion, that those ministers ought, in respect
of the friendship between both nations, to acquaint
him what these advantages were; and that he looked
upon his country to be entitled, by treaty, to share
them equally with us: That there was now another
reason why we should be more disposed to comply with
him upon this head; for since the late resolution
of the House of Lords, he took it for granted, it would
be a dangerous step in us to give Spain to a prince
of the house of Bourbon; and therefore, that we should
do well to induce the States, by such a concession,
to help us out of this difficulty.”
Mr. St. John made answer, “That there was not
a man in the Queen’s council capable of so base
a thought: That if Buys had any thing to complain
of, which was injurious to Holland, or justly tending
to hurt the good correspondence between us and the
States, he was confident Her Majesty would at all
times be ready to give it up; but that the ministers
scorned to screen themselves at the expense of their
country: That the resolution Buys mentioned,
was chiefly owing to foreign ministers intermeddling
in our affairs, and would perhaps have an effect the
projectors did not foresee: That, if the peace
became impracticable, the House of Commons would certainly
put the war upon another foot, and reduce the public
expense within such a compass as our treaties required
in the strictest sense, and as our present condition
would admit, leaving the partisans for war to supply
the rest.”
