Page images
PDF
EPUB

great satisfaction to the contracting powers, and filled the negotiators with the highest joy. "At Breda, as friends!"-cried Temple ;-" here, as brothers!" and De Wit added, that now the business was finished, it looked like à miracle.(1)

France and Spain were equally displeased at the terms of this treaty. Lewis was enraged to find limits set to his ambition; for although his own offer was made the basis of the league, that offer had only been thrown out, in order to allay the jealousy of the neighbouring powers, and to keep them in a state of inaction, till he had reduced the whole ten provinces of the Low Countries. Spain was no less dissatisfied at the thought of being obliged to give up so many important places, on account of such unjust claims, and unprovoked hostilities. At length, however, both agreed to treat, and the plenipotentiaries of all the parties met at Aix-la-Chapelle; where Spain, from a consciousness of her own weakness, accepted of the alternative offered by France, but in a way that occasioned general surprise, and gave much uneasiness to the Dutch. Lewis, under pretence of enforcing the peace, had entered Franche-Comté in the month of February, and reduced the whole province in a few weeks. Spain chose to recover this province, and to abandon all the towns conquered in Flanders during the last campaign;(2) so that the French monarch still extended his garrisons into the heart of the Low Countries, and but a slender barrier remained to the United Provinces. But as the triple league guaranteed the remaining provinces of Spain, and the emperor and the German princes, whose interests appeared to require its support, were invited to enter into the same confederacy, Lewis, it was thought, could entertain no views of prosecuting his conquests in the quarter which lay most exposed to his ambition.

Other circumstances seemed to combine to ensure the balance of Europe. After a ruinous war of almost thirty years, carried on by Spain, in order to recover the sovereignty of Portugal, and attended with various success, an equitable treaty had at last been concluded between the two crowns, in consequence of which the independency of Portugal was acknowledged.(3) Being now free from so formidable a foe, Spain might be expected to exert more vigour in defence of her possessions in the Low Countries; and the satisfaction expressed in England on account of the late treaty, promised the most hearty concurrence of the parliament in every measure that should be proposed for confining the dangerous greatness of France.

But the bold ambition of Lewis XIV., aided by the pernicious policy of the faithless Charles, soon broke through all restraints; and, as we shall afterward have occasion to see, set at defiance more formidable confederacies than the triple alliance.

(1) Temple's Mem. part i.

(2) Id. ibid

(3) This treaty, which was concluded through the mediation of the king of England, and to which a body of English troops had greatly contributed by their valour, was partly connected with a very singular revolution. Alphonso VI. (son of the famous duke of Braganza, who had encouraged the Portuguese to shake off the Spanish yoke, and who was rewarded with the crown), a weak and profligate prince, had offended his subjects by suffering himself to be governed by the mean companions of his pleasures. His queen, daughter of the duke of Nemours, attracted by the more agreeable qualities of his brother, Don Pedro, forsook his bed, and fled to a monastery. She accused him of debility both of body and mind, sued for a divorce, and put herself, in the mean time, under the protection of the church. A faction seized the wretched Alphonso, who was confined in the island of Tercera; while his brother, who immediately married the queen, was declared regent of the kingdom in the assembly of the states. (Vertot, Hist. de la Revol. du Port.) Don Pedro, a prince of abilities, was preparing to assert with vigour the independency of his country, when it was established by treaty in the beginning of the year 1668.

LETTER XIIL

The General View of the Affairs of Europe continued from the Treaty of Aix. la-Chapelle, in 1668, to the Peace of Nimeguen, in 1678.

As the most trivial causes frequently produce the greatest events, in like manner, my dear Philip, the slightest circumstances are often laid hold of by ambition, as a pretext for its devastations-for deluging the earth with blood, and trampling upon the rights of mankind. Though Lewis XIV. was highly incensed at the republic of Holland, for pretending to prescribe limits to his conquests, and had resolved upon revenge; yet his resentment seems to have been more particularly roused by the arrogance of Van Beuninghen, the Dutch ambassador, This republican, who, although but a burgomaster of Amsterdam, possessed the vivacity of a courtier and the abilities of a statesman, took a peculiar pleasure in mortifying the pride of the French monarch, when employed in negotiating the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. "Will you not trust to the king's word?"-said M. de Lionne to him in a conference. "I know not what the king will do," replied he;" but I know what he can do."(1) A medal is also mentioned, though seemingly without foundation, on which Van Beuninghen (his Christian name being Joshua) was represented, in allusion to the Scripture, as arresting the sun in his course :-and the sun was the device chosen for Lewis XIV. by his flatterers!(2) It is certain, however, that the states ordered a medal to be struck, on which, in a pompous inscription, the republic is said to have conciliated kings, and restored tranquillity to Europe.

These were unpardonable affronts in the eyes of a young and haughty monarch, surrounded by minions and mistresses, and stimulated by an insatiable thirst of glory. But while Lewis was making preparations for chastising the insolence of the Dutch, or rather for the conquest of Holland, his love of fame was attracted by a new object, and part of his forces employed against an enemy more deserving the indignation of the most Christian king.

The Turks, after a long interval of inaction, were again become formidable to Europe. The grand vizier, Kupruli, who at once directed the councils and conducted the armies of the Porte, had entered Hungary at the head of a hundred thousand men, in 1664; and although he was defeated, in a great battle, near St. Godard upon the Raab, by the imperial troops under the famous Montecuculi, the Turks obtained a favourable peace from Leopold, who was threatened with a revolt of the Hungarians. The Hungarian nobles, whose privileges had been invaded by the emperor, flew to arms, and even craved the assistance of the Turks, their old and irreconcilable enemies. The rebels were quickly subdued by the vigour of Leopold. But the body of that brave people who had so often repelled the infidels, and tilled, with the sword in their hand, a country watered with the blood of their ancestors, were still dissatisfied; and Germany itself, deprived of so strong a barrier as Hungary, was soon threatened by the Turks.

In the mean time, Kupruli turned the arms of the Porte against the Venetians; and an army of sixty thousand janizaries, under that able and experienced general, had now besieged Candia for upwards of two years. But the time of the crusades was long past, and the ardour which inspired them, extinguished. Though this island was reputed one of the chief bulwarks of Christendom against the infidels, no general confederacy had been formed for its defence. The pope and the knights of Malta were the only allies of the Venetians, against the whole naval and military force of the Ottoman empire. At length, however, Lewis XIV., whose love of glory had made him assist the emperor against the Turks even in Hungary, sent a fleet from Tou lon to the relief of Candia, with seven thousand men on board, under the duke (2) Ibid, chap. ix.

(1) Voltaire, Siècle, chap. viii.

of Beaufort. But as no other Christian prince imitated his example, these succours served only to retard the conquest of that important island. The duke of Beaufort was slain in a sally; and the capital, being reduced to a heap of ruins, surrendered to Kupruli.(1) The Turks, during this siege, discovered great knowledge of the military art; and Morosini, the Venetian admiral, and Montbrun, who commanded the troops of the republic, made all the exertions, and took advantage of all the circumstances, that seemed possible for valour and conduct, in opposition to such superior armaments.

These distant operations did not a moment divert the attention of Lewis from his favourite project, the conquest of the Low Countries, which he meant to resume, with the invasion of Holland. But in order to render that project successful, it seemed necessary to detach England from the triple alliance. This was no difficult matter.

Since the exile of Clarendon, which had been preceded by the death of Southampton, and was soon followed by that of Albemarle, Charles II., having no man of principle to be a check upon his conduct, had given up his mind entirely to arbitrary counsels. These counsels were wholly directed by five persons, commonly denominated the CABAL, in allusion to the initial letters of their names; Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale: all men of abilities, but destitute of either public or private virtue. They had flattered Charles in his desire of absolute power, and encouraged him to love that he might accomplish it by a close connexion with France.(2) Lewis, they said, if gratified in his ambition, would be found both able and willing to defend the common cause of kings against usurping subjects: that the conquest of the United Provinces, undertaken by two such potent monarchs, would prove an easy enterprise, and effectually contribute to the attainment of the great purpose desired; that, under pretence of the Dutch war, the king might levy a military force, without which he could never hope to maintain, or enlarge his prerogative; and that, by subduing the republic of Holland, a great step would be made towards a desirable change in the English government; as it was evident the fame and grandeur of that republic fortified his majesty's factious subjects in their attachment to what they vainly termed their civil and religious liberties.(3)

But although such were the views of the king, and such the sentiments of his ministers, so conscious was Charles of the criminality of the measures he meant to pursue, that only two of the unprincipled members of the cabal were thought fit to be trusted with his whole scheme; Clifford and Arlington, both secretly Roman Catholics.(4) By the counsels of these men, in conjunction with the duke of York and some other Catholics, was concluded at Paris, by the lord Arundel of Wardour, a secret treaty with France; in which it was agreed, not only that Charles should co-operate in the conquest of the Low Countries, and in the destruction of Holland, but that he should propagate, to the utmost of his power, the Catholic faith in his dominions, and publicly declare himself a convert to that religion. (5) In consideration of this last article, he was to receive from Lewis the sum of two hundred thousand pounds, and a body of troops, in case the change of his religion should occasion a rebellion in England; and, by another article, a large annual subsidy was to be paid him, in order to enable him to carry on the war without the assistance of parliament.(6)

On purpose to concert measures conformable to this alliance, and to conceal from the world, and even from the majority of the cabal, the secret treaty

(1) Voltaire, ubi sup. Henault, 1669.

(2) Charles's desire of absolute power seems to have proceeded more from a love of ease, and an indolence of temper, than from any inclination to oppress his subjects. He wished to be able to raise the necessary supplies without the trouble of managing the parliament. But as his profusion was boundless, and his necessities in consequence of it very great, it may be questioned whether, if he had accomplished his aim, he would not have loaded his people with taxes beyond what they could easily bear. At any rate, the attempt was atrocious; was treason against the constitution, and ought to be held in eternal detestation. (3) Boling. Stud. Hist. Hume, vol. viii. (4) King James's Memoirs.

(5) The time when this declaration should be made was left to Charles; who, at the prospect of being able to reunite his kingdoms to the Catholic church, is said to have wept for joy. King James's Mem. (6) King James, ubi sup. See also Dalrymple's Append.

with France, a pompous farce was acted, and an important negotiation managed by a woman of twenty-five. Lewis, under pretence of visiting his late conquests, but especially the great works he was erecting at Dunkirk, made a journey thither, accompanied with his whole court, and preceded or followed by thirty thousand men; some destined to reinforce the garrisons, some to work on the fortifications, and others to level the roads.(1) The princess Henrietta Maria of England, who had been married to the duke of Orleans, brother to Lewis XIV., and who was equally beautiful and accomplished, took this opportunity of visiting her native country, as if attracted by its vicinity. Her brother Charles met her at Dover; where was concluded, between France and England, a mock treaty, perfectly similar to the real one, except in the article of religion, which was totally omitted; and where, amid festivity and amusements, it was finally resolved to begin with the Dutch war, as a prelude to the establishment of popery and arbitrary sway in Great Britain. (2)

Soon after that negotiation, which gave the highest satisfaction to the French, and was so disgraceful to the English monarch, died his sister, the dutchess of Orleans, the brightest ornament of the court of Versailles, and the favourite of her family. Her death was sudden, and not without violent suspicions of poison; yet did it make no alteration in the conduct of Charles. Always prodigal, he hoped in consequence of this new alliance, to have his necessities amply supplied by the generosity of France and the spoils of Holland. And Lewis XIV., well acquainted with the fluctuating councils of England, had taken care also to bind the king to his interests by a tie yet stronger, if possible, than that of his wants, by the enslaving chain of his pleasures. When the dutchess of Orleans came over to meet her brother at Dover, she brought among her attendants, at the desire of the French monarch, a beautiful young lady of the name of Querouaille, who made the desired impression upon Charles. He sent her proposals: his offers were accepted; and although the fair favourite, in order to preserve appearances, went back to France with her mistress, she soon returned to England. The king, in the first transports of his passion, created her dutchess of Portsmouth; and as he continued attached to her during the whole future part of his life, she may be supposed to have been highly instrumental in continuing his connexions with her native country.

Lewis, now sure of the friendship of Charles, and having almost completed his preparations for the invasion of the United Provinces, the chief object of their alliance, took the first step towards the accomplishment of it. There were two ways of leading an army from France into the territories of the republic: one lay through the Spanish Netherlands, the other through the dominions of the German princes upon the Rhine. A voluntary passage through the former was not to be expected; to force it appeared dangerous and difficult; it was therefore resolved to attempt one through the latter. The petty princes upon the Rhine, it was presumed, might be corrupted with ease, or insulted with safety; but as it was necessary first to enter the territories of the duke of Lorrain, whose concurrence Lewis thought it impossi ble to gain, on account of the memory of former injuries, he resolved to seize the dominions of a prince whom he could not hope to reconcile to his views. He accordingly gave orders, in breach of the faith of treaties, and in the height of security and peace, to the mareschal de Crequi, to enter Lorrain with a * powerful army. The dutchy was subdued in a short time; and the duke, deprived of all his territories, took refuge in the city of Cologne.

This enterprise, which seemed only a prelude to farther violences, gave great alarm to the continental powers, though ignorant of its final purpose;

(1) Voltaire, Siècle, chap. ix.

(2) King James's Mem, Conference at Dover. Besides his eagerness for the conquest of Holland, Lewis was afraid, if Charles should begin with a declaration of his religion, to which he seemed inclined, that it might create such troubles in England as would prevent him from receiving any assistance from that kingdom; a circumstance which weighed more with the French monarch, notwithstanding his bigotry, than the propagation of the Catholic faith. (Dalrymple's Appendix.) The duke of York, on the other hand, was for beginning with religion, foreseeing that Lewis, after serving his own purposes, would no longer trouble himself about England. King James's Mem.

and Lewis in vain endeavoured to justify his conduct by the allegation of dangerous intrigues at the court of Lorrain.(1) Charles II., though under no apprehensions from the ambition of the French monarch, took advantage of the general terror, in order to demand a large supply from his parliament. He informed the two houses, by the mouth of the lord-keeper Bridgeman, that both France and Holland were arming by sea and land, and that prudence dictated similar preparations to England. He urged, besides the necessity he was under, in consequence of the engagements into which he had entered by the triple alliance, of maintaining a respectable fleet and army, in order to enable him to preserve the tranquillity of Europe. Deceived by these representations, the commons voted a supply of near three millions sterling ;(2) the largest that had ever been granted to a king of England, and surely for the most detestable purpose that ever an abused people voluntarily aided their prince.

But ample as this supply was, neither it nor the remittances from France were equal to the accumulated necessities of the crown. Both were lost in the mysterious vortex of old demands and new profusions, before a fleet of fifty sail was ready to put to sea. The king durst not venture again to assemble the parliament; for although the treaty with France was yet a secret, though the nation was still ignorant of his treasonous designs against the religion and liberties of his subjects, the duke of York, the presumptive heir of the crown, had at last declared himself a Catholic, and a universal alarm was spread of popery and arbitrary power. Some new expedient was, therefore, necessary, in order to raise money to complete the naval preparations; and, by the advice of sir Thomas Clifford, one of the cabal, who was rewarded for his pernicious counsels with a peerage, it was resolved to shut the exchequer; to pay no money advanced upon the security of the funds, but to secure all the payments that should be made by the officers of the revenue, for the public service.(3)

The shutting of the exchequer occasioned universal consternation, and even ruin in the city: the bankers failed, the merchants could not answer their bills, and a total stagnation of commerce was the consequence. The king and his ministers, however, seemed to enjoy the general confusion and distress. Charles, in particular, was so much elated at being able to supply his wants without the assistance of parliament, and so confident of success in the war with Holland, which he thought could not last above one campaign, that he grew perfectly regardless of the complaints of his subjects; discovered strong symptoms of a despotic spirit, and exercised several acts of power utterly inconsistent with a limited government.(4) But his first hostile enterprise was ill calculated to encourage such hopes, or support such arbitrary proceedings. Before the declaration of war, an insidious and unsuccessful attempt was made upon the Dutch Smyrna fleet, valued at near two millions sterling, by an English squadron under sir Robert Holmes. And Charles had the infamy of violating the faith of treaties, without obtaining such advantage as could justify the measure on the principles of political prudence.

Though the Dutch were not ignorant of the preparations of England, they never thoroughly believed they could be intended against them, before this act of hostility, which was immediately followed by a declaration of war. As Lewis had taken offence at certain insolent speeches, and pretended medals, Charles, after complaining of a Dutch fleet, on their own coast, not striking

(1) Suite de Mezeray. Henault, vol. ii. Voltaire, ubi sup.

(2) Journals, Oct. 24, 1670. This liberal grant is a sufficient proof, that if Charles had acted conformable to the wishes of his people, he would have had no reason to accuse the parliament of parsimony; and may be considered as a final refutation of all apologies for his conduct founded on such a supposition. (3) The hardships attending this measure will better be understood by a short explanation. It had been usual for the bankers to carry their money to the exchequer, where they received interest for it; and to advance it upon the security of the funds on which the parliament had charged their supplies, and out of which they were repaid, when the money was levied upon the public. One million four hundred thousand pounds had been advanced upon the faith of the money-bills passed in the last session of parliament, when the exchequer was shut. R. Coke, p. 168.

(4) Rapin, vol. ii. fol. edit. Hume, vol. vii. Macpherson, vol. i.

« PreviousContinue »