English have of their peculiar happiness, makes me less concerned; but I would venture a good deal to make the queen happy, for I am persuaded she means very honestly."

To Lord Godolphin..

"Genappe, Aug. 11. — I had not time by the last post to answer that part of your letters of the 17th and 21st of the last month, iu which you say that it is not only your own opinion, but also that of Lord Halifax, Lord Somers, and Lord Sunderland, that there should be no time lost in taking measures; and at the same time, letting the Dutch know the firm resolution of the queen and England, never to think of peace till they can bring France to those preliminaries agreed to last winter. I think this is very rightly judged, but the execution will be very difficult; for as the preliminaries were never in form brought to the States, so you may be sure they will pretend to know nothing of them.

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By what I hear from Leipsic, I believe the fate of Toulon will be decided before the negotiation of Count Wratislaw will be finished. When I told you that I approved of the greatest part of Count Wratislaw's letter, I did not mean his reasoning upon what was passed; for my humour is to look forward, so that I meant as to the managing of the war for the next campaign. You may be in the right to wish Prince Eugene to continue where he is; but if himself and the emperor shall think fit to have him in Germany, it would be very harsh in the allies to oppose it. But I shall be better able to speak on this subject after the return of Palmes, which cannot be till the middle of September.

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By the last post I sent you the last resolution of the States, by which you will see their great caution. I cannot forbear giving you my opinion as to what you say of the parliament settling the management of the war with the States. It is a matter I think 31 and all his friends would be extremely glad of, and, therefore, I think it should be avoided; for it is certain that there can be no good end of such an inquiry, and although I cannot prevail with them to do what is good for themselves, yet they will trust me with much more power than they will ever be brought to do by treaty."

In many of the letters between Marlborough and Godolphin, as well as in those from the duchess to the queen, we find frequent allusions to the court of Hanover and to the discordant views and sentiments of the electoral family. The electress Sophia was highly anxious to accept the invitation to England, which had already formed the subject of a discussion in parliament; and notwithstanding her repeated disavowals, both public and private, she always contemplated the prospect of visiting a country where she was regarded as the presumptive heiress to the crown, with a degree of eagerness which increased with age. She even frequently declared that she should die content if she could only live to have in

scribed on her tomb, "Sophia, Queen of Great Britain." At all events, she considered herself as entitled to a pension sufficiently ample to give consequence to her rank and pretensions. She, therefore, readily listened to all who flattered her ruling passion, and, at this moment, was secretly caballing with the Tories, who, to embarrass the government, proposed to bring the subject of the invitation again into discussion. She was at the same time displeased with the Whigs, and, in her resentment for their opposition to her wishes, forgot the services which they had rendered at the Revolution and the zeal which they had manifested in promoting the Protestant succession.

The elector was too prudent and high-minded to countenance these petty cabals; but from aversion to parade and a love of economy, he contributed to the coldness which reigned between the two courts, by declining the formalities which custom had introduced in the intercourse of princes. Thus, when it was thought proper to invest the electoral prince with the order of the Garter, to raise him to the English peerage, under the title of Duke of Cambridge, and to compliment him by the mission of a regular ambassador on the birth of his son-the elector received these marks of distinction with a degree of coldness which bore the appearance of aversion, and did not hesitate to express his contempt for what he called baubles and trifles. The dissatisfaction arising from this source was increased by the reports and complaints of Mrs. Howe, the lady of the British minister, who, in her correspondence with the duchess of Marlborough, expatiated on the froward and mysterious conduct of the electoral court, and represented every trifling omission of ceremony as a deliberate insult and a proof of indifference to the succession.

The electoral prince partook neither of the eagerness of his grandmother to anticipate her expected honours, nor of the stern contempt with which his father regarded the established forms of princely intercourse. On the contrary, he seized every occasion to manifest his respect to the queen and his regard to the nation over whom he was destined to reign; but he was too confined, both in means and influence, to be an object of attention to any of the parties who were striving to ingratiate themselves with the future sovereign.

The Tories did not fail to profit by the situation of the electoral family and the dissatisfaction which reigned between the two courts. At first they employed the agency of Sir Rowland Gwynn, an English gentleman who resided at Hanover; and when. he was dismissed for his intrigues, by order of the elector, they recurred to Mr. Scott, a dependant of the electoral family, who visited England under the plea of domestic business. By his channel they conveyed assurances of their attachment, accused the Whigs of treachery to the Protestant cause, and wrought on the passion which the electress felt to visit the British dominions.

By the agency of Robethon the Duke of Marlborough was speedily acquainted with these machinations, as well as with the sentiment of displeasure which they exerted in the mind of the elector.

Robethon to Cardonel.†

*

"Hanover, Aug. 2. My Lord Peterborough has been here three days; he was indulged with a court carriage and six horses to convey him to Herenhausen, where he dined and supped every day. He has warmly declaimed against Lord Galway. He appears to be extravagantly Swedish, and an enemy of the emperor.

"Our Mr. Scott, who has demanded permission of his electoral highness to go to London for his domestic affairs, has been intriguing there with the high Tories; and he has written to the elector a letter of ten pages, which I have read, tending to advise him to give his assent to the invitation of the electress, and assuring him that if he will permit him to forward it, he will take care that the business shall pass in the next session. He pretends that the great body of the nation desire it; that the Tories, who have proposed it, are the true friends of this house; that the Whigs are devoted to the court, and for this reason oppose the invitation of the successor; and that these same people, among whom he reckons Lord Halifax, would engage his electoral highness to take the command on the Rhine, in order to expose his reputation, and to receive an affront. But he has been told that his highness would not go, unless my lord

† Mr. Cardonel was the able secretary of the duke. M. Robethon was the minister of the elector of Hanover, and busily employed in maintaining a correspondence with the British statesmen friendly to the Hanoverian succession. He had been private secretary to King William until he died; and was a very active, intelligent, and trust-worthy correspondent. He wrote all the letters which George I., George II., and Queen Caroline sent to this country, from the time he entered their service till the death of Queen Anne. Robethon was not an Hanoverian; nor is it certain of what country he was a native. He is called by some a French Protestant refugee, and by others a Dutchman or Fleming. - ED.

duke would give him a good detachment, which he could do without risk. He has written four letters to the elector, full of invectives against my lord duke. His highness was so irritated at this proceeding, that he wrote to him, with his own hand, forbidding him to meddle in any business, on pain of being dismissed from his service.* His highness ordered M. de Schutz to communicate the copy of this letter to Lords Godolphin, Sunderland, and Halifax, in order to make this fellow known to them. I am directed to acquaint you with all this, and to beg you to apprise my lord duke of it. Hitherto I have been the dupe of this man, and therefore it is just that I should labour to prevent others from being so too."

On this occasion Marlborough acted with his usual candour and frankness, by acquainting the elector with the reports circulated by Mrs. Howe, and experienced a similar return. From the correspondence we find that this explanation prevented an open breach between the two courts, and restrained the intrigues of those who laboured to set them at variance. To Lord Godolphin.

"Meldert, Aug. 8. I find by yours of the 21st that you want four packets from Holland; and as the wind is, I fear they are still on this side. The news we have this morning from Paris is much better than what we received by the last post. The duke of Vendome has detached 12 battalions and 9 squadrons, but continues still in his camp. I hope this detachment will encourage the deputies, so as that I may make the march I have been proposing to them for these last six weeks. If they allow of it, my next will be from another camp. You will, by Mr. Walpole's letter, have an account of all our affairs in Catalonia; however, I trouble you with a copy of the letter from Lieut.-general Erle. The other two papers, I have not had time to have them copied; they should not be shown to many; by that from Hanover the queen may see the obligations she has to some of her subjects. Tho' the elector has behaved himself in this business as I always thought he would, you may depend on it that Mr. Scott does nothing but by the direction of the electress, and I dare say you will see this matter attempted in the winter. The other is from Besenval, the French minister, to Torcy. By a letter Mr. Cardonel has received from Lord Peterborough, he should be here this evening or to-morrow.

"I here enclose the resolution of the States, given me this day by the deputies of the army. It is an answer to my having pressed them to get fuller powers. It would do them hurt with the States, if they should know they have shown me the whole resolution, so that I beg it may be

* A translation of the elector's letter is printed in Macpherson, v. ii. p. 93.

† Horace, afterwards Lord Walpole, brother of Sir Robert, who was secretary to General Stanhope in Spain.

communicated only to Lord Halifax, Lord Somers, and Lord Sunderland. You will see, by the reasoning of this resolution, the humour they are in. I should be glad to know what your opinions are of the use ought to make of this."

From Lord Godolphin.

"Windsor, Aug. 4-15.—I received yesterday the favour of yours of the 4th and 8th of August, with the several papers enclosed. The copy of my Lord Peterborough's letter is a perfect picture of himself, and some paragraphs of it are very well explained by the letter intercepted from Besenval. But you having by this time had enough of the original, I shall say no more of it now, but that I hope you have advised him not to be so troublesome as his own temper and inclination would naturally lead him to.

"I think it very probable that he may have entered into all the views of the elector of Hanover, and join with these people in that and in other things when he comes hither, unless your lessons have power enough to hinder him from it.

"I thank you for the letter you sent me from Hanover, because I hope it will do some good with the queen; I am sure it ought to do so. Mr. Secretary Harley will have orders from the queen to let the elector of Hanover's minister know that the person* mentioned in that letter ought to be recalled immediately.

"I have communicated to Lord Halifax and to Lord Sunderland the resolution of the States, enclosed in yours of the 8th from Meldert. Their construction of it is, that you are more at liberty than you have been ; and your letters received to-day, of the 11th from Genappe, seem to confirm that construction. We agree that this month of August must pass, and the fate of Toulon be over, before any just measures can properly be taken, as to what ought to be said to the States."

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August 5-16.—*

* * *

I am much afraid our affairs grow every day worse and worse with the king of Sweden, not that I really think he is in any engagement with France; but his own natural unreasonableness, and his uncertainty is like to have the same effect. And I doubt Lord Peterborough has done all he could to make mischief there, as well as in other places where he has passed; and unless he be gone from you before this comes to your hands, a little good advice from you will have more weight than from any body to hinder him from hurting himself, and being very troublesome to others."

The disavowal of Scott, and the communications made to the queen, contributed to soften her prejudices against the elector; and before the close of the year, Mr. Howe was commissioned to convey assurances which announced the restoration of harmony between the two courts.

* Mr. Scott.