invasion.

Domestic misery contributed to aggravate the sense of public misfortune. The people, who had already experienced the privations arising from scanty harvests and the waste of war, were menaced with all the horrors of famine, in consequence of the severity of the recent season, which had destroyed the fruits of the earth in the germ. Numerous insurrections broke forth in different quarters, and the public ferment was increased by the effects of religious persecution. The highways were infested with banditti; while in the larger towns, the fury of the populace was restrained only by the presence of that military force which was required for the defence of the frontier. Every invention for raising new taxes had failed; and a forced circulation of fictitious money, which had hitherto furnished resources to the government, had sapped the foundations of commerce, and destroyed the credit of the nation abroad.*

In these deplorable circumstances, a clamour for peace was raised by a powerful party, at the head of whom was the duke of Burgundy, presumptive heir to the throne. They re-echoed the complaints which had been heard in the distant provinces, and disclosed those unwelcome truths, which fear and severity had hitherto withheld from the royal ear. Baffled in all his vast designs, the French monarch had

* The war was ruinous to France, and she hardly recovered under the elder branch of the Bourbons its disastrous calamities. But she was exhausted rather than beaten in the struggle. It will be remarked in the sequel that towards the close of the contest, and after the defection of England from the allies, she recovered many of the strong places she had lost in Flanders, and again became formidable in the field under the able generalship of Marshal Villars. But the country was brought to the verge of ruin from the neglect and oppression of industry by heavy war taxes, aggravated in their pressure by the exemption of the nobility and clergy from imposts. From the decline of trade and general consumption, the revenue fell off, the currency was depreciated, and the choice of the population was carried away to recruit the armies. Louis XIV. having seized for his camps the chief subsistence of the people, said that "they would follow the bread waggons;" but they did not, they had to be dragged to the frontiers like malefactors. England did not suffer in an equal degree, but in this country, too, the war had begun to be unpopular. Splendid as the victories of Eugene and Marlborough had been, they had failed to make any serious impression on the power of France, and the vast contributions we had made in men and subsidies had greatly increased the public debt and taxes. — ED.

no resource, except to open a new negotiation, which, if successful, would relieve him from his multiplied embarrassments, and, even if it failed, might induce the allies to slacken their efforts, and encourage his own subjects to bear more cheerfully the extremities to which they were reduced. With this view he despatched the president Rouillé to Holland, with powers to offer such terms as he hoped would be accepted by the allies.

The French agent was met, on the part of the Dutch government, by Buys and Vanderdussen, who were commissioned to receive and report his proposals. Their conferences were first held at Moerdyke, and afterwards at Worden; and the result is thus communicated to the Duke of Marlborough, by General Palmes, who derived his information from the pensionary.

"M. Rouillé made offers of giving up Spain, the Indies, and the Milanese to King Charles. Upon which, being asked what instructions he had concerning the rest of Italy, he answered, as to the islands, his master was ready to give them, but would insist upon Naples and Sicily for his grandson. The Low Countries he was willing to give up, as at the peace of Ryswick, and join to them Menin; mais pour Lille, que son maître s'en demettroit mal volontiers,' but would consent to give up Ypres in lieu of it. As to the empire, his master would restore every place to the state it was in after the peace of Ryswick. The answer of the deputies was, that they could not enter into any treaty, but upon the foot of what was proposed after the battle of Ramilies; that they had treaties with their respective allies, and would not give any answer to these proposals, till satisfaction was given to the said treaties."

Although these proposals were vague and unsatisfactory, the overture was not peremptorily rejected; and Rouillé departed for Paris, to procure farther instructions. Accordingly, Eugene was remanded from Vienna, and was soon afterwards followed by Count Zinzendorf, as imperial plenipotentiary. At the same time, Marlborough was directed to return to the Hague, and charged with the following instructions.

"As the president Rouillé has held several conferences with certain deputies of the republic, which have excited alarm and jealousies among the confederates, the Duke of Marlborough is enjoined to declare to the pensionary the opinion of the queen, that no negotiation for peace should be concluded with France, until the preliminaries are adjusted between England and the States. He is to announce her hope, that the States will concur in her sentiments and those of her people, so often expressed

in the addresses of parliament, that no peace can be safe or honourable unless the whole Spanish monarchy be restored to the house of Austria. That the French king shall be obliged to acknowledge her title and the succession to the crown; the Pretender be removed from France, and the fortifications and harbour of Dunkirk be destroyed. He is likewise to announce her majesty's desire, that other preliminaries should be required for the security and interest of the States, particularly a barrier, for which a treaty had been so long depending, and of which the queen was willing to become a guarantee, not doubting but the States would, in like manner, guaranty the Protestant succession. He is to endeavour to engage the rest of the allies to be also guarantees."

He was instructed to stipulate, that if the preliminaries were not agreed to before the opening of the campaign, the allies were to consider themselves at liberty to propose additional articles; and he was to inform the pensionary of the queen's desire, that at the conclusion of the war a firm alliance and friendship should be formed between all the confederates.

CHAP. LXXIX. NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.—1709.

On the 9th of April Marlborough reached the Hague, where he found Eugene, who had arrived on the preceding day. They immediately held conferences with the pensionary, Buys, Vanderdussen, and the heads of the government; and after a mature discussion, the terms offered by the French agent were declared inadmissible for the ground of a treaty. Orders were accordingly issued for hastening the military preparations, and the two Dutch agents returned to Worden, to communicate the result of the meeting to Rouillé. however, he deprecated any further decision, till he had received more explicit instructions from Versailles, his application was granted, and he was suffered to wait the return of his messenger.

As,

Soon after his arrival at the Hague, he communicated his instructions to Pensionary Heinsius, intimating, at the same time, the great confidence which the queen and the allies reposed in his integrity and zeal. The pensionary having expressed his apprehensions that France would never submit

to terms so severe, the duke replied, that he could not depart from a single article of his instructions, and testified hopes that the extreme distress of France would oblige her monarch to accept any conditions which the allies, if united, would demand. But the pensionary expatiated on the still greater distresses of Holland, and the inability of the Dutch to carry on the war. He deplored the fatal consequences which must ensue, should the negotiations prove abortive, and insinuated that the people would lay the whole blame of the failure on England. "I will use my endeavours," he added, "that no steps shall be taken but what are agreeable to the queen and the allies; but I recommend you, strongly, not to impart any of your instructions, at the first conference, but what may concern the barrier and the Protestant succession, for the purpose of gaining time, till the return of the French courier."

This opinion of a statesman so friendly to England, and so well inclined to the principles of the Grand Alliance, will prove the extreme difficulty which Marlborough had to encounter; and he soon afterwards perceived still stronger symptoms of the dissatisfaction prevailing among the other members of the Dutch republic, lest the negotiation should be broken off, by insisting on a condition so impracticable as the restoration of the whole Spanish monarchy to the house of Austria within two months. He had the satisfaction, however, to be convinced that the "solid part of the Dutch government were inclined to prosecute the war," till a good and lasting peace should be obtained. He was gratified likewise with the repeated declarations of the pensionary, that no step should be taken without the concurrence of the queen and the other allies; and he states his conviction that a general opinion prevailed in Holland not to proceed to any treaty without their participation.*

We have already seen, by the correspondence, the embarrassments which arose from the interminable disputes with the Dutch republic on the subject of the barrier. At this period the difficulties increased, because the prospect of an approaching peace rendered the Dutch impatient of further delay, and indicated the necessity of settling the barrier in

* Letters from the duke to Secretary Boyle and Lord Godolphin April 12,

the preliminaries, if England expected that the republic should agree to guarantee the Protestant succession. As Marlborough disapproved their exorbitant demands, and particularly opposed the inclusion of Ostend and Dendermond among the towns of the barrier, he was unwilling to irritate the leading men by a formal refusal. He therefore maintained a cautious silence, and declined holding any conversation on the subject. This reserve offended several of the chiefs, and they threatened to send M. Buys to England, with a view to obtain from the cabinet a specific acknowledgment of their claims; a measure which would have been attended with considerable inconvenience, and which he had great difficulty in evading.

Meanwhile, Godolphin and the other members of the British cabinet were displeased with the apparent lukewarmness of the pensionary, and irritated at the Dutch, who, while they advanced such extravagant demands for their own barrier, were unwilling to offend France by insisting on the rasure of Dunkirk, or by allowing equivalent advantages to England. The letters of the treasurer on this occasion are filled with violent invectives against the selfishness and obstinacy of the Dutch republic; and he enjoined Marlborough to lose no time in laying before their government his full instructions on the subject of the proposed preliminaries. It required the greatest discretion and judgment to reconcile these conflicting interests.

Marlborough was also become extremely unpopular among many in Holland, from a suspicion that he would accept the government of the Low Countries, and the recent offer of King Charles to grant it for life increased their jealousy. Nor was it easy to quiet these alarms, because he had not sent a positive refusal, and because he was strongly solicited by Lord Somers not to decline the offer, in hopes that some favourable circumstances might occur to quiet the apprehensions of the Dutch. Even when he had received information from the lord treasurer that the queen left the matter to his own decision, he still deferred his final refusal; lest Charles, or the court of Vienna, should appoint a person who would not be acceptable to the other allies. The solemn asseverations of the duke, that he would not accept the government, came therefore too late to allay the ferment, and,