It is declared, That to fettle the Intereft of Great Bri tain in the first Place is the Principle from which the Queen can never depart; which Plea was made ufe of, to defer the Interefts of all the Allies to be difcufs'd at genefal Conferences; but the Turn given to it here was to amufe the People, by perfwading them that the English Miniftry was contending for great and particular Advantages and Conceffions to be made to Great Britain, that might make us fome Amends for that great and unequal Burthen which we had lain under through the whole Course of the War. But the English Miniftry having thought fit every where to extol and magnifie the vaft Advantages that were granted to Great Britain, France refolved to make a proper Ufe of it, and declar'd thefe Articles were an eventual or conditional Treaty only; and that the King of France would not be oblig'd to make them good, but in Cafe of the Signing of a general Peace; in this Senfe Monfieur Mefnager fign'd them, and with this Condition they were accepted on our Part. Hard Terms! That fuch Conceffions as thefe were not to be purchas'd at a lefs Price than forcing upon our Allies fuch Conditions of Peace as France fhould be pleas'd to impofe upon them; and this the Miniftry were fully appriz'd of fome time before they were accepted, for in prefling to fettle and adjuft fingly and feparately the Interests of Great Britain, they enforce it by faying, France can run no Risk in fuch Engagements, fince the Special Preliminaries will have no Effect till a general Peace fhall be fign'd. By thefe Means the Committee obferve to how fatal a Dilemma the Queen was brought by her Miniftry; fie muft either now go on, through all Adventures, in the Meafures of France, or they had it in their Power, by divulging the Secret and expofing fuch a notorious Breach of National Faith, to make what Advan tage they thought fit of it among the Allies, who muft from this Time think themfelves difengaged from the Queen, if they could find their own Account by looking after themselves.

And that the French were neither fo ignorant, nor wanting to themselves as to mifs fuch an Opportunity, appears above Three Months before their Articles were fign'd. When Lord Raby in his Letter of the 20th of June, 1711, N. S. to Mr. St. John, acquaints him, That both the Penfionary and Monfieur Vander Duffen had feen a Letter from Monfieur de Torcy, giving an Account that they had begun a Negotiation in England. By which Management the Eng if Miniftry had, tinder Colour of the Queen's Authority

and the Pretence of Treating of a Peace, put it in the Power of France to divest the Queen of all her Allies, and given them greater Advantages than they could any other Ways have hoped for.

On the fame Day that the Special Preliminaries betwixe Great Britain and France were fign'd, another Set of General Preliminaries on the Part of France, was fign'd by Monfieur Mefnager only; which Mr. St. John, in his Letter to the Queen, fays, were to be fent into Holland, as the Foundation of a General Peace, in which my Lord Treafurer had made fome Alterations to make the whole more palatable abroad: And, on the fame Day, a separate Article was fign'd in Favour of the Duke of Savoy. From this Time a perfect Confidence was established between the two Miniftries of England and France; Lord Strafford's Inftructions in order to his immediate Return into Holland were now preparing, and dated Oct. 1. 0. S. 1711. And as an early Proof of the Confidence which Mr. St. John repos'd in the French Minifter, he acquaints Monfieur de Torcy by his Letter of October 2. 0. S. that the Earl of Strafford was going for Holland; and fays, Your Minister, (meaning Monfieur Mefnager, who was then going back to France and carried this Letter,) is fully inform'd in what the Earl of Strafford is to propofe to the States. Such Intelligence of the Queen's Counfels, which Mr. St. John confeffes he had given to the Minifters of the Queen's Enemies, feems very extraordinary; efpecially if it be confider'd, that Lord Strafford was fent over to prefs the opening the Ge neral Conferences, with Affurances of the greatest Friendfhip and Concern for the Interefts of the States, on the Part of the Queen, and by her Authority to procure from France juft Satisfaction for all her Allies; and in his Inftructions is likewife directed to propofe to the States a new Scheme for carrying on the War. Almost every Article in Lord Strafford's Inftructions is a Specimen of the Sincerity with which our Minifters intended to treat the Allies. He is inftructed that it must be the most careful Endeavour and fix'd Principle of all the Confederates to hold faft together; and this immediately after a feparate Treaty had been fign'd by Us; and if the Minifters of Holland should exprefs any Uneafinefs at their Apprehenfions of any fuch private Agreement, he is order'd by evasive Answers to avoid giving them Satisfaction concerning it. But his chief Bufinefs was to deliver to the States the Propofitions fign'd by Monfieur Mefnager, as the Foundation of a general Peace, and as the whole of what had been tranfacted ;

and

and to acquaint them, that France had propos'd Utrecht, Nimeghen, Aix la Chapelle, or Liege, to be the Place for opening the Conferences; to prefs the States to fix upon one of thefe Places, and immediately to grant Paffports to the French Plenipotentiaries to come thither and open the General Conferences.

The fe Propofitions, fo very general and uncertain, did extreamly alarm the States, as not being a fufficient Foundation upon which a Negotiation might be hazarded; which made them for fome Time decline granting the Paffports; and in order to prevail with the Queen to have fome Regard to her faithful Allies, and particularly in the two great Articles of their Barrier and Commerce, they fent over M. Buys, to intercede with her Majefty to alter her Refolutions; they make the fame Reprefentations to the Earl of Strafford, but all to no Purpose. For as Mr. St. John declar'd in his Letter to my Lord Strafford of October the 9th, Certain it is, that her Majesty has so far determin'd on her Measures, that thofe will deceive themselves, who may imagine by Delay or other Artifices to break them. And again, November the 2d, to the Lord Strafford, The Queen will not finally concert a Plan for the Profecution of the War with the States, untill they join with her in agreeing to open the Conferences of Peace. And the Lord Strafford acquaints Mr. St. John, November the 15th, That he had now told them, her Majefty's Order to him was to declare, That she fhould look upon any Delay, as a Refusal to comply with her Propofitions. In thefe Circumftances the Dutch, at last, comply to grant the Paffports, and agree to open the general Conferences at the Time fix'd by the Queen, January the aft, 1711-12,

The Refolution of the States-General upon this Occafion must have mov'd any Set of Men, not already determin'd to hear no Reafon but what came from France; for altho' the Representations made by the States on both Sides the Water, had made fome Impreffions, as is Evident by a Memorial deliver'd by Mr. St. John to the Abbot Gualtier, October the 29th, 1711, and by Mr. St. John's Letter to Monfieur De Torcy of the fame Date, that accompany'd it; yet 'tis in the Memorial declar'd, That the Queen remains firm in her first Refolution of causing the Conferences to be open'd upon the Articles fign'd by Monfieur Mefnager. The fame Memorial declares, It was abfolutely neceffary that the moft Chriftian King fhould give to her Majesty the Queen, fuch Explications of his Intentions in respect to the particular Interefts of the Allies, which he shall think proper, to engage them

to come more easily into the general Negotiation. So that hitherto 'tis plain, our Minifters were entirely ignorant even of the King of France's. Intentions with Regard to the Allies. And again 'tis faid, If her Majesty wishes the moft Chriftian King would give an Explication to the aforesaid Demands, &c. his moft Chriftian Majefty may affure himself, the Queen will make no other Ufe of the Truft the King shall repofe in her, but to advance the Negotiation, in feeking the Shorteft Means, and the most effectual, to obtain a Peace fo much coveted. It is therein again acknowledg'd, that the Dutch have nothing in View but their Barrier and Commerce; and provided the Queen can, without Fear of being difavow'd, fpecify fomewhat near the Barrier that France will confent to yield to them, and to affure them of the Tarriff of 1664, there's no Room left to doubt that the States-General would come without any farther Hefitation into the Negotiation, in the fame Manner as it had been concerted. But left all thefe Arguments should have no Effect, Mr. St. John, in his Letter to Monfieur de Torcy, fays, Thefe Explications will diffipate all Clouds, and you may believe we will make use thereof with great Referve, when I affure you, that if the King would offer a Plan of Specifick Preliminaries, the Queen will never communicate it to her Allies; he concludes, If the Sieur Gualtier returns with these Marks of Confidence, you will fee our Parliament as much inclinable to Peace as ever it was to War.

Here the Committee obferve the English Miniftry begging of France, after they had been feven Months treating with them, that they may have fome Intimations, at least, of what was defign'd for the Allies; expreffing their Fear of being difavow'd by France, after they had gone thefe Lengths with them; declaring, the Dutch would come into the Queen's Meafures, if they could but know any Thing near the Barrier that was defign'd them, and have Security about the Commerce; perfifting ftill, without any fuch Satisfaction, in the Meafures prefcrib'd by France, refolv'd to force the Allies into general Conferen ces, upon loose and uncertain Articles, and promising, if' they could but have fo much Credit with France as to be trufted at all, they would use it with the greatest Reserve, and never communicate it to any of the Allies, for whofe Satisfaction only, 'tis pretended, all this Submiffion was made. The Return made by France, is feen in a Paper call'd, Answer to the Memorial brought by Monfieur Gualtier, November the 18th, 1711. This Memorial is accompany'd with a Letter from Monfieur de Torcy to Mr. St. Johm,

of

of the fame Date, wherein he tells him, His Majesty wholly depends upon the Secrecy and good Ufe you will make of the entire Confidence he teftifies to the Queen of Great Britain, and the King of France extols the Firmness of the Queen, and fees with great Pleasure the new Marks of Refolution she shews. Hereupon the Committee obferve in general, that nothing had at this Time been demanded of France concerning the Difpofal of the Netherlands; and that the King of France, not fatisfy'd with having fecur'd Spain and the Weft-Indies to his Grandfon, propofes to ftrip the Emperor of all his Dominions in Italy, and to impofe upon him much worse Terms than he afterwards procur'd for himself, when left to carry on the War alone. The Dutch may have the Tariff of 1664, with fome Exceptions, if they confent to this Scheme; if not, they are to be reduced to the Tariff of 1699. But, as extravagant as this Scheme was, it is receiv'd by the English Minifter, without any Surprize or Refentment; and Mr. St. John, in his Letter of the 25th of November, 1711, thanks Monfieur de Torcy for the Com munication of it; promifes to make a difcreet Ufe of it; and that the utmoft Efforts should be used to fix the Pretenfions of the Allies, he represents it as neceffary, that all those who wish for Peace, may mutually help one another, and endeavour to finish the Treaty fo foon as not to be expofed to another Campaign. The Committee adds, that it is no Wonder that this Plan was never communicated to the Allies, which muft at once have broke off all the Conferences; and determin'd them rather to run all Hazards, than treat upon fo ruinous a Foundation; but 'tis a Wonder that the English Miniftry were not ftartled, when they faw fuch a Scene open'd. And this fhews with what Juftice the Ministry complain'd, that the Allies would not enter into the Queen's Measures, when they never were inform'd what the Queen's Measures

were.

Pursuant to the Refolution of the States-General upon the preffing Inftances of the Queen, Paffports for the French Plenipotentiaries are fent to Monfieur Buys, and deliver'd to Mr. St. John. Utrecht is agreed upon here to be Place for the general Conferences. The Bishop of Bristol, then Lord Privy-Seal, and the Earl of Strafford, are appointed her Majefty's Plenipotentiaries. December 23,

1711, her Majefty's Inftructions to her Plenipotentiaries are fettled and fign'd, upon which the Committee make one Obfervation, viz. That the Plenipotentiaries are order'd to infift, that the Security and reasonable Satisfaction

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which