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weakning the powers moft capable of,

and

fent to their aid against the Bishop of Munster, for which he was fully paid) excited no fentiments in her favour in the minds of the people of Holland. This we may fully learn from D'Eftrades' letter to the king, dated, March 31, 1667; in which, among other things, he writes as followeth : That which gives me the moft trouble is, to find the people in general fo inclined to receive wrong impreffions of France and the present government. No endeavours have been wanting to fet them right in that particular; and if they were capable of judging their own intereft, the reafons contained in your majefty's letter would be fufficient to undeceive them. But they are fo obftinately blind, and fo foolish, as to believe your majefty's principal defign is to watch your opportunity, and conquer them as foon as you have made fure of Flanders.

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is not M De Witt, nor the men of sense among the States that believe this; but the generality of the people, and the magiftrates in the particular towns, whose ordinary converfation runs upon nothing else. I am daily endeavouring to filence thefe falfe reafoners with arguments the moft folid and effective; fuch as, the many obligations your majefty has conferred upon the 'ftates; the auxiliary troops fent into Holland; the 'peace with the Bishop of Munster; the rupture with

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England; the great expences your majesty had been at; and the diligence ufed to have a fleet at fea able to affift them powerfully this campaign. To this I • added, that their apprehensions were no better than illgrounded conceptions and real falfhoods; but that my

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and most interested in, oppofing her ambitious views fo the other was but of a

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very

I have

iii. p. 90.

• allegations were true in fact, and that they enjoyed ⚫ the effects of them for these twelve months paft (m).' (m) Id. vol. It was not long, however, before De Witt talked to the ambaffador himself in the fame ftrain. been,' fays D'Eftrades, in his letter to his mafter, dated, May 19, 1667, with M. De Witt. He told me, he was mightily furprized to understand your majefty was C upon the point of marching to the frontier; and that • at the fame time that you was setting forth the queen's ⚫ right to the States: that your majesty had often assured M. Van Beuningen, that you would undertake nothing. without their participation; and yet, without fo much as giving them time to examine the validity of your pretenfions, you execute your designs at the fame time that you acquaint the States with them, which is con❝trary to the opinion the States had that your majesty would act in this particular with greater confidence to• wards them, allowing them a reasonable time between the advice and execution: that he hoped your majefty ' would have explained yourself, either to the States or to him, what places or countries you would be contented with, that a ftop might be put to the flame that is breaking out in all parts of Chriftendom: that he had offered before, and is ftill ready, to ufe his intereft with the Spaniards to perfwade them to an accommo• dation; and he was in hopes of fucceeding, if he had time to manage the towns, and obviate the jealoufies " they are under of your majesty's entry into the Low"Countries during the treaty of peace, which convinces

' all

156.

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very short continuance. For Lewis being angry with the Dutch, determined to take

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all the world that your majefty is agreed underhand with the English: to which he added, "They have long obferved your majefty's affection to the ftates to be grown cooler, and that every thing has been practic'd in France that could contribute to the ruin of their trade, by impofing heavy cuftoms upon all Dutch manufactures, and by trying all ways to entice their workmen into France, from whence however feveral of them • have returned without finding the encouragement they (n) Id. p. expected (n).' Thefe remonftrances had no effect. The king marched in perfon, in a fhort time after, at the head of an army of 35,000 men, commanded by Turenne; befides two other bodies, under the conduct of D'Aumont and Crequi. His progrefs was rapid. All places fell before him: nor were the Spaniards capable of making any confiderable refiftance. The neighbouring ftates took the alarm: nothing was heard but execrations on the French King. His perfidy; his ambition; and the danger all near him were in, from his daring acts of violence; were become the talk of moft nations. The Triple League between England, Sweden, and Holland, was now formed; which faved Flanders, in fome measure, for a time, by inducing the French to agree with Spain, and restore part of their conquefts, by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, May 2, 1668.

(0) See Temple's Letters, Jan. 28, 29, Jaly 22, 1608.

Thus did Charles, with honor to himself, with fatiffaction to his people, and the applause of his allies (0), in fome measure, atone for his impolitic fteps in commencing and conducting the Dutch war; whereby the

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a fevere revenge: and, in concert with Charles, projected the conqueft of the United Provinces. This brought on (RRR)

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two contending nations were weakened, and France had an opportunity of meditating, and, in part, executing those mighty schemes of ambition which fince have proved fo fatal to herself and her neighbours. How long his majefty continued thus to act, will be seen in the following note.

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(RRR) The Second Dutch war, engaged in by Charles, went near to ruin that Republic, and the liberties of Europe.] It appears from D'Eftrades, that the Triple League gave great offence to the French: and that though, for the present, they said little publickly; they harboured thoughts of revenge against Holland, which fo unexpectedly and fuddenly had united with their common enemy. As for the ill proceedings of thefe peo→ •ple here," fays he, there is fufficient ground to make them doubly and certainly feel their effects when the C peace is made. I know their weakness as well as any and on what fide they are to be taken when the king pleases: but this is not the time (p).’· M. de Lionne, in his letter to D'Estrades, dated, March 2, 1668, tells him, that he had two hours difcourfe with Van Beuningen [the Dutch Ambaffador]: that he had told him only as his private opinion, without any order from the king to fay it to him, that he would have 5 engaged his head for it, that the peace would infallibly • have been concluded on the conditions of one of the two alternatives, if the league at the Hague had not VOL. II. • been

man,

Ρ

(p) Id. Pi 525.

a fecond war with Holland, which was like

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been made; but that this league having given the world a profpect which might make it judge that all 'that the king had done only from his own inclination, and to acquire the glory of moderation, which at prefent is the only thing which remains to be gotten, he would at prefent do it, as it were by force, for fear of the faid league; which appeared,' continues he, fo hard to a prince of the king's humour, who prefers his glory to all other confiderations, that I could not fay any thing more of it. And, indeed, I cannot be fufficiently furprized, confidering the prudence of those engaged in this negotiation, that they did not, as it were, bury in the fecret articles, as well as the third of the faid articles, all that might feem imperiously to prescribe a law to the king, or the conduct he is to chufe, that if he will not, that they will make him do it by force; as is expreffed in the place where it is faid, that his majefty fhall not any longer use his arms in Flanders, nor even receive the places which would furrender to We may well enough therefore believe Voltaire, when he tells us, that Lewis XIV. was filled ' with indignation to behold fuch a little ftate as Holland forming defigns to fet bounds to his conquefts, and be the arbiter of kings: and his indignation was increased, when he found that this little ftate was able to do this. Such an enterprize of the United Provinces was an outrage he could not bear, though he affected to difregard it: and from that time he meditated re

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(9) Id. p. him (q).'

• · .

548.

(r) Age of venge (r).' — Agreeably hereunto Lord Halifax, who was well acquainted with the affairs of this reign, obferves,

Lewis XIV.

vol. P. 116.

that

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