conditions as were in his power to perform; but he will never promise that which he knows is impossible for him to perform. If through the injustice and obstinacy of his enemies he is deprived of all hopes of obtaining a peace; then placing his confidence on the providence of God, who can, when he thinks fit, humble those who are puffed up with unexpected prosperity, and who make no account of the public calamities and the effusion of christian blood, he will leave it to the judgment of all Europe, and even of the people of England and Holland, to find out the true authors of the continuance of such a bloody war." This extraordinary termination of a negotiation, which had been so long pending, and from which so much was expected, gave the highest disgust to all persons capable of reflection, and who were not wholly biassed by the spirit of party, both in England and Holland. By conceding the grand point that Philip should be suffered to remain in possession of Spain and the Indies, from which it was evident he could not be expelled, without a fresh and immense effusion of blood and treasure, and the violation of every principle of political and national right, the archduke being originally the object of general dislike, and now of universal abhorrence in Spain, the allies might have obtained the most perfect satisfaction as to all their just and reasonable demands; and indeed as to many that were neither just or reasonable. From this time a number of publications, for the most part ably written, appeared in succession from the press in England, stating the unreasonableness of carrying on the war for the sake of gratifying the boundless and blood-thirsty ambition of the house of Austria, the insatiable avarice of the

duke of Marlborough, and the implacable rescatment of prince Eugene, who was reported to have said that nothing would give him so much pleasure as to enter the Louvre with a lighted torch in his hand. Amongst these publications, by far the most remarkable was SWIFT's "Conduct of the Allies," of which eleven thousand copies were sold in a few weeks. Such were the strong and striking colours in which truth was exhibited in this justly celebrated pamphlet, and in such broad day-light were the facts upon which the merits of the question rested therein placed, that it seemed to produce an instant and entire conviction. Far from being of the opinion of an admired writer of our own times, "that the understanding was to be instructed through the passions," nothing of declamation, nothing of gandy tinsel eloquence, nothing of gross and vulgar abuse, is to be found in this almost perfect production of reason. And had it been offered as a pleading before the famous antient court of Areopagus, who admitted of no appeal to the passions, it must, by those enlightened judges, have been pronounced worthy of the highest applause, while the gorgeous sophistry of a verbose and florid declaimer, and of such an one this nation has recently been, at a most critical moment, the delighted dupe, would have been rejected with scorn and indignation.

Soon after the conclusion of this negotiation at Gertruydenberg, matters took a turn very favorable to France. For, in consequence of the disaster which befell the English troops serving in Spain, under general Stanhope, at Brihuega, and the ensuing battle of Villa Viciosa, the allies were reduced to take shelter under the walls of Barcelona, and the great and total change

of ministry in England made it as much the interest of the court of London, as it was agreeable to the personal inclination of the queen, to put a speedy end to the war, the continuance of which was so essential to the permanency of the duke of Marlborough's power and greatness. Previous, indeed, to the dismission of the whig administration, as we are informed, the queen, who was habituated implicitly to acquiesce in such measures as were recommended to her by the ministers, began to hesitate, to enquire into particulars, to dislike, or decline giving her consent, and the like. And when upon one occasion some papers were brought to her relative to the necessary preparations for the ensuing campaign, she was observed, in signing them, to sigh deeply, and to shed tears: exclaiming with emotion, "LORD, when will this spilling of blood be at an end?" The extreme eagerness of the tory ministers, now in power, to effect a pacification, in a great degree, nevertheless, counteracted their own purpose. For the king of France possessed too much political discernment not to take what indeed could scarcely be called an unfair advantage of it. M. Mesnager relates, "that after he had received the king's directions to repair to England, his majesty altered his intention," saying to him, "there was no need; for that things would go on as well as he could desire, and the new minister would soon stand in need of his assistance." And he farther observes, "that in the space of a few weeks circumstances were so changed, as to induce the English ministers to seek that of the king, which of all others in the world his majesty was most anxious about, and which the French nation stood in so much necessity of, that two months before the king would have given some millions to have had it brought to pass.".

But as the king foresaw now that what he desired so much would soon be asked of him to grant, his majesty was too wise to push his game too fast; but resolved to stand still awhile and see what would be the issue of these great events. It is true this obliged his majesty to run the risque of another campaign, and some were very uneasy at that circumstance, especially when they heard that the duke of Marlborough was continued in the command of the army. However, his majesty was resolved to venture-for though a campaign were to prove unsuccessful, the enemy could not rationally be supposed to penetrate farther than Cambray, and the affairs of England plainly told him that if they did hold together for one campaign, they would certainly break before another; that either the duke of Marlborough would not serve another campaign, or that they would not trust him, and so it proved. As the French army took post wisely on the Scheld, in order to cover Cambray and Arras at the same time, the king ordered marechal Villars, who commanded them, to avoid a battle if possible. The marechal so well discharged himself of this trust, that he not only avoided fighting, but did effectually cover those two places, so that the confederate army, though much superior, never could come near them, and were glad to finish what they called a glorious campaign, with the siege and taking of Bouchain.-Mesnager's Memoirs, p. 67.Vide Mesnager, Torcy, Quincy, Lamberti, Tindal, Somerville, &c. &c.

EXTRACTS FROM THE MEMOIRS

OF THE

MARQUIS DE TORCY,

RELATIVE TO

THE TREATY OF UTRECHT.

A. D. 1711-12.

VOL. III. p. 18.-During the embassy of marechal Taliard to king William, a priest named Gualtier, son of a merchant at St. Germaine's, passed into England. He said mass in the chapel of the ambassador, and introduced himself to the earl of Jersey, who had been ambassador in France after the peace of Ryswick, and whose lady was a catholic. The chapel of the French minister no longer being occupied, he had officiated in that of the count de Gallas, received in London under the character of ambassador of the archduke as king of Spain.

The earl of Jersey, connected with the new administration, proposed Gaultier as a confidential person, very obscure, and well qualified, in both respects, to be deputed on a mission to France. The pro osition was accepted, and Jersey was authorized to instruct Gaultier verbally, and without extrusting him with a single syllable in writing.

The instruction consisted in making known to the king of France, that the new ministers to whom the