fequences; therefore we could not forbear to apply our felves by this Letter directly to your Majefty, hoping that you will confider it, as we promife our felves you will, as well because of your great Prudence and Wifdom, as your fo much fam'd Zeal for the publick Welfare, and particularly from your ufual Friendship and Affection for us and our Republick.

We proteft before all things, that as we have ever had a true Friendship as well as the higheft Refpect for your Majefty, and a fincere Affection to all your Interefts, with an earneft Defire to live in a perfect good Understanding and Union with you; we have ftill the fame Sentiments, and fhall always preferve them, wifhing for nothing more than to be able to give your Majefty the moft convincing Proofs of it.

After this we pray your Majefty to confider, according to your great Penetration, whether we have not juft ground to be furpriz'd, when we fee a Stop put by an Order, in your Majefty's Name, without our Knowledg, to the Operations of the Confederate Army, the fineft and ftrongest which perhaps has been in the Field during the whole Course of the War, and provided with all Neceffaries to act with Vigour, and this after they had march'd, according to the Refolution taken in concert with your Majefty's General, almoft up to the Enemy, with a great Superiority both as to Number and Goodnefs of Troops, and animated with a noble Courage and Zeal to acquit themselves bravely; so that in all human Appearance, and with the Divine Affiftance, which we have experienc'd fo fully on fo many other occafions, we fhould have been able, either by Battel or Sieges, to gain great Advantage over the Enemy, to have better'd the Affairs of the Allies, and to facilitate the Negotiations of Peace.

We flatter our felves indeed with the Hopes which the Duke of Ormond has given us, that in a few Days he expects other Orders; but in the mean time we are forry to fee one of the fineft Opportunities loft, being uncertain whether we fhall have another fo favourable, fince the Enemy have time given them to fortify themselves, and take their Precautions; while the Army of the Allies lies ftill without Action, and confuming the Forage all round, deprive themselves of the means of fubfifting for time to come in thofe Places, where by concert the Operations of the Campaign were defign'd, which may make fuch Enterprizes impoiible hereafter as were practicable now, and confequently render the whole. Campaign unsuccessful, to the ineftimable prejudice of the Common Caufe of the High Allies.

Certainly when we confider the Army, as it really is, to be compos'd of the Troops of your Majefty and the other Allies, join'd together by common Concert to act for the greatest Advantage and Furtherance of the Common Caufe, and the · Vol. II.

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Affurances

Affurances which your Majefty had given us by your Letters, by your Minifters, and laft of all by your General the Duke of Ormond, of your Intentions that your Troops fhould be order'd to act with their ufual Vigour, as well as the Engagements into which your Majefty is enter'd, not only with refpect to us, but alfo feparately and jointly with us in respect to the other Allies; 'tis very difficult for us to conjecture and conceive how an Order fo prejudicial to the Common Cause, given fo fuddenly, without our knowledg, and undoubtedly too without the knowledg of the other Allies, can correspond and fubfift with the nature of an Alliance, and with those Affurances and Engagements juft now mention'd. For tho according to the Declaration of the Bishop of Bristol, your Majefty holds your felf to be difengag'd from every Obligation with regard to us, 'tis plain that the matter now in queftion is not our particular Intereft or Advantage, but that of all the Allies, who will fuffer by the Prejudice which an Order fo little expected muft needs bring to the Common Cause.

But, Madam, we cannot forbear telling your Majefty, that the Declaration made by the Bishop of Bristol at Utrecht, has no less furpriz'd us, than that of the Duke of Ormond in the Army. It appears to us fo extraordinary, that we know not how to reconcile it with the great Goodness and Kindness that your Majefty has always honour'd us with; and not being able to conceive how fuch a fudden Change could happen with re spect to us, we are not only furpriz'd, but afflicted at it. We have carefully examin'd our Conduct, and find nothing in it that can have given ground to that Diffatisfaction which your Majefty expreffes with us by this Declaration.

From the very firft Day that your Majefty afcended the Throne, we teftify'd all the Deference that you could defire from a State in Friendship and Alliance with you. We carefully fought after your Amity and Affection; and confidering the happy Effects which a good Intelligence, Harmony, and Union betwixt your Majefty and Us and the two Nations might produce, and have really produc'd, and the Advantage which refulted from thence to both one and the other, as well as to the Common Caufe of all the Allies, we made it our business heartily to cultivate 'em, and more and more to gain your Majefty's Confidence, and to conform our felves to your Sentiments as much as poffibly we could.

We think that we gave a fignal Proof of this, particularly with regard to the Negotiations of Peace, fince not only after we were inform'd of the Conferences formerly held in England upon this Subject, we did expect that your Majefty would give us an account of them; having this firm Confidence in your Friendship for our Republick, and in your Zeal for the Good

of

of the Common Caufe, that nothing would be done to prejudice us, nor the other Allies: but also when your Majefty communicated to us the Preliminary Articles fign'd by M. Mef nager in England, and when your propos'd to us the calling and holding a Congress for a General Peace, and requir'd of us to grant for this end neceffary Paffports for the Enemies Minifters, we consented to it, tho we had many Reasons, which to us feem'd very well grounded, not to enter into fuch a Treaty without a better Foundation; or, at leaft, without the Concurrence of the other Allies: but we prefer'd your Majefty's Sentiments to our own, in order to give you a new Proof of our Deference.

We did no lefs, with refpe&t to the Difficulties which were ftarted on the Subject of the mutual. Guaranty for the Succeffion of the Proteftant Line to your Majeffy's Kingdoms, and for our Barrier; a Treaty of fuch importance to the two Nations, that we look upon it as the ftrongeft Tye that could be thought on to unite for ever the Hearts and Interefts of both; concluded after the matureft Deliberation, and ratify'd on both fides in the moft authentick Form. For tho we might have ftood to the Treaty as it was, yet we enter'd into a Negotiation upon thofe Difficulties, and particularly on the Point of the Affiento, concerning which we gave our Plenipotentiaries fuch Inftructions, that we no longer doubted but all the Difficulties would have been adjufted to mutual Content, and that we should thereby have entirely regain'd your Majefty's Confidence; and fo much the more, because in the firft place, when the Meeting of a Congrefs for a General Peace was in hand, your Majefty declar'd to us by your Ambaffador, That you defir'd no more than our Concurrence in that fingle Point, and this only Mark of our Confidence; and that then you would give us ftrong and real Proofs of your Affection towards us, and of your upright Intentions, with respect to the Common Cause of all the Allies: and that afterwards, when the Difficulties about the Succeffion and the Barrier were rais'd, your Majefty did likewife affure us, that if we would remit fomething upon the moft effential Points, and particularly about the Affair of the Affiento, it would be the true way to re-eftablish a mutual Confidence; which being once reftor'd, your Majefty would take particularly to heart the Interefts of this State, and act in conjunction with us in the whole Negotiation, to obtain an honourable, good and fure Peace.

But we find our felves very much out in our Expectations, fince at the very fame time when we made the greatest Advances towards your Majefty, and that we did verily believe we should come to an Agreement about the Points in difference, we see the Earl of Strafford gone without finishing that Affair, we fee the Army ftop'd in the beginning of its Ca

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Teer, and we hear a Declaration by which your Majefty looks upon your felf to be difengag'd from all Obligations with us; for which the Rea fons alledg'd are, That we have not answer'd, as we ought, the Advances which your Majefty made towards us, and that we would not act in concert with your Minifters about the Peace.

If your Majefty will be pleas'd to look with a favourable and equitable Eye upon our Conduct, we flatter our felves, and have a firm Confidence, that you will find nothing in it which can give you fuch difadvantageous Ideas and Thoughts of us; but that you will rather find, that we have perform'd, and do ftill perform, all that we owe, as good and faithful Allies; and particularly, to your. Majefty.

What we have faid already, might perhaps be fufficient to perfuade you of it; but we must add, that having always efteem'd your Majefty's Affection, and a good Harmony betwixt the two Nations, as one of the ftrongeft Supports of our State, and of the Proteftant Religion, and as one of the moft effectual Methods to maintain and advance our common Intereft, and those of the whole Confederacy: and this fincere Opinion being firmly imprinted on our Hearts, we were never backward to communicate and confult in all confidence with your Majefty and your Minifters upon the Affairs of the Peace, according to the Foundations laid down in the Grand Alliance and other Treaties. We declare, that we have always been inclinable and ready to do it, and are so ftill, as far as we can, without prejudice to the other Allies, and without contravening the Engagements, Treaties and Alliances which we have enter'd into.

But, Madam, all the Proposals hitherto made to us upon that Subject were couch'd in very general Terms, without communicating to us the Refult of the Negotiations betwixt your Majefty's Minifters and thofe of France, nor even your Majefty's Thoughts about the Subject; which we ought to have concerted together. 'Tis true, that in fome of the laft Conferences your Majefty's Minifters demanded to know whether ours were furnish'd with a full Power, and authoriz'd to draw up a Plan for the Peace; but it had been juft, before fuch a thing was demanded of us, that they fhould have communicated the Befult of the Negotiations fo long treated of betwixt your Majefty's Minifters and thofe of the Enemy; or, at leaft, they fhould have told us your Majefty's Thoughts.

Had that Plan related only to your Majefty's Intereft and ours, we should perhaps have been in the wrong not to have forthwith come into it; tho even in that cafe the Affair would not have been without its Difficulties, fince the leaft Notice of it which fhould have come to the Enemy, muft have been very prejudicial: But as the Plan in queftion concern'd the In

tereft

tereft of all the Allies, and almoft all Europe, we had very ftrong Apprehenfions, That as the particular Negotiations betwixt your Majefty's Minifters and those of France, and the Readiness with which we confented to the Congress at Utrecht, and to the giving of Paffports to the Enemy's Minifters, had already occafion'd abundance of Sufpicions, and much Uneafinefs to his Imperial Majefty and the other Allies: We fay, we apprehended that his Imperial Majefty and the other Allies coming to know (which would have been very difficult to conceal from 'em) the Concert betwixt your Majefty's Minifters and ours for a Plan of Peace, and that before the Minifters of France had given a Specifick Anfwer to the Demands of the Allies, their Sufpicions and Uneafinefs would have increas'd, and that way of proceeding might have given them ground to entertain prejudicial Thoughts, as if it had been the Intention of your Majefty and Us to abandon the Grand Alliance and the Common Caufe, or at leaft that We alone took upon us to determine the Fate of all the other Allies;' by which his Imperial Majefty and the other Confederates. might have been push'd on to feparate Measures, and to take fuch fteps as would be no ways agreeable to your Majesty's Interefts.

We thought thefe Reasons ftrong enough to juftify our Conduct to your Majefty on this head; and if we did not enter with all the hafte which you might have wifh'd for into the Concert propos'd, we hope that at moft your Majefty will look upon our Backwardness only as an Excefs of Prudence or of Scruple, and not in the leaft as a want of Confidence in your Majefty; while the Allies might have confider'd it as a Contravention of the Treaties, and particularly of the eighth Article of the Grand Alliance. We also hope, that your Majefty for the Reasons which are here alledg'd, will lay afide thofe hard Thoughts of Us, as if we had not answer'd as we ought to the Advances which your Majefty made towards Us, and that we would not act in concert with your Minifters upon the Subject of the Peace. But, Madam, tho your Majefty Ifhould not acquiefce in our Reafons (of which however we cannot doubt) we pray your Majefty to confider whether that be fuficient for your Majefty to think that you are disengag'd. from all Obligations with refpect to Us.

Had we contravened the Engagements and Treaties which we had the honour to conclude with your Majefty, we might have expected from your Goodness and Juftice, that you would have reprefented thofe Contraventions to Us, and not have. look'd upon your felf to be difengag'd, till fuch time as we had refus'd to give all neceffary Redrefs. But as we did no ways engage to enter with your Majefty into a Concert to draw up a Plan of Peace, without the participation of the

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