The copy of a letter from a gentleman in Dort to a member of the House of Commons in London translated out of Dutch. Gentleman in Dort. 1690 Approx. 46 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A34478 Wing C6115 ESTC R17343 12039041 ocm 12039041 52930 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A34478) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 52930) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 60:19) The copy of a letter from a gentleman in Dort to a member of the House of Commons in London translated out of Dutch. Gentleman in Dort. 17 p. s.n., [London : 1692] Caption title. Place and date of publication from Wing. Reproduction of original in Newberry Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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SIR , I Am got safe to Dort after rough Passage , and have taken the first Opportunity , after the composure of my Spirits , and a little converse with my intelligent Friends , to return you the most impartial Account I can to those Enquiries you gave me in Charge at my departure ; wishing they may be as much to your Satisfaction , as the most obliging Treatment I received from you , and your other generous Friends in London , and your later Correspondences challenge from me . At this time I shall endeavor to resolve Three of your Enquiries , as those which more immediately concern you as a Member of Parliament , leaving the Remainder to a farther Opportunity . The first , as I remember , was to know what the Successes of the French King's Arms have been this Campaign . Secondly , what I have observed of the state of both our Countries in relation to the present War. And lastly , what Measures are taken by the Confederate Princes towards a Peace , or Preparation for a more vigorous War. As to the first , it is true the intemperate Spring , and thereby the late opening of the Campaign , on the part of the French , and especially that King 's surprizing return to Versailles , and his detaching from hence so great a part of his Troops to the Rhine , put us in great hopes that we should have been able to have at least made a good Defence this Summer ; yea , our States expected some considerable Victory , and the regaining some Frontier Town from the French. But we have had a fatal Disappointment ; our Statholder had very commodiously encamped himself at Park , where he could want no sort of Supplies ; we had with great diligence fortified Huy , a Place of the greatest importance , considering it was the only Place of strength upon the Maize , betwixt Namure and Liege , yet it was lost without our being able to make any Advances towards its relief , when our Army was in its fullest Vigor and Heart ; so that now Liege , and all that fertile Country , and all the Circuit to Bois le Duc , lies open to the French for Forrage and Contribution , out of which they infinitely store their Magazines of Provisions for the next Campaign : We ascribe it to want of Courage , or Conduct , that we attaqued not the Duke of Luxemburgh while he was posting himself to cover that Siege . But we have much more reason to exclaim against the Conduct of detaching the Duke of Wirtenburgh to make so insignificant a forcing of the Lines , and sending such a part of our Army to Liege , at a time when the only excuse we make for the Loss at Landen was the French over-powering ns in Numbers . But surely all wise Men will consider , That as our Army was intrenched , and our Artillery planted , we had the Advantage of Three to One , the French having no Coverture , but were to storm a Fortified Camp with at least 40 , or as they own 45000 Souldiers in it ; an Attempt and Success scarce to be paralled in History ; in which Action the World must own it self convinced that the French conquer by Courage , Manhood and Valour , and not by Treachery or Surprize , or inequality of Forces : And if our Losses must be ascribed to the French out-numbering of the Confederates in all Places , when must we expect better Success ? For to what Number soever we may vainly hope to encrease our Troops , he is able to augment his proportionably ; so that let us swell to what degree soever our windy Imagination may stretch us , we shall be but like the Frog to the Oxe in the Fable . But it must nauseate all thinking Men to consider , what pitiful Excuses both your and our Prints make to cover the Loss we sustained at Nere Winden : They tell us , That the French were slain in whole Brigades by the advantagious disposal of our Cannon , and the small damage we sustained by theirs , our Infantry being commanded to lie upon their Bellies while their Cannon played ; and that in fine they lost above 20000 Men killed , or mortally wounded ; yea , some advance the Loss to be double to ours , and when by Authority they publish these things , to buoy up the Spirits of the People , they with design to have made us hope for some after Success told us , That when the Detachments to Liege , and with the Duke of Wirtenburgh were rejoyned , the Army would be stronger than before the Battle . From which we may learn the truth of the old Proverb , That Lyars ought to have good Memories ; for it is well known that those Detachments amounted to 27000 Men , as the Remarks upon the London Gazette plainly proves . Therefore it is plain though involuntary Confession , that we lost so many , and we ascribe all this Loss to our Statholder's Obstinacy , which with you is called his great Courage ; that he would not hearken to the Councel of withdrawing his Army over the River Geete in the night : whereby all those Mens Lives might have been preserved for future Events , as his was by a timely Retreat to secure his own Person ; which Conduct Marshal Luxemburgh moderately censured , by saying he now found Prince Waldeck was dead . Another convincing Argument of our Loss , as great as I have mentioned , is easily gathered from the Resolution of our States to raise 25000 Men more , which I believe they would willingly enough do , to recruit the Losses of the last Campaign ; and yet no ways increase their Numbers ; but without they be supply'd from you with Mony , I know our Paper Treasury is so low , that we are no ways able to accomplish our Designs . I own the German Princes and Switzerland might supply us , but we must pay at least 20 Dollars a Head , and they must be punctually paid while in Service , or we can get no Men ; for the Princes of Germany raise no Forces but what they sell , as a great Branch of their Revenues , and the Arbitrament of War and Peace depends upon the Gelt , which made our Statholder and States to buy off the King of Denmark from the Siege of Ratisburg , with 100000l . in hand , and as much more promised to be paid after . But we that know the usage of this State know , That that King may stay long enough for the latter Payment , now that the Storm is over . But while I am mentioning those Recruits , you are to consider what raw undisciplined Men they will be , more fit to make Fascines with , than to conquer the well disciplined Army of the French , flushed with so many Victories . However the hopes of our State is , that the Rumor of such a Vote of raising Supplies will obtain from you proportionable Recruits , if you be either able or willing to send more of your fellow-Subjects to the Common Shambles . But to proceed , it was rational to think that after such a success Luxemburgh would attempt either Liege or Charleroy ; and if our Army had been in so good a condition as our and your Gazettes would have perswaded the World , we had opportunity enough to have posted our selves so , as to have prevented the Siege ; while the general Discourse even at our Statholder's Table was , as several Officers assure me , that the French Army was so so harass'd , and weakened by the slaughter of their Men at Nere Winden , and 8000 of their wounded Men couped up in Hospitals that they were able to do no more this Campaign . But to the eternal Shame of our Statholder as Generalissimo , we have suffered Charleroy to be taken without once essaying a Relief , for we want the Skill or Manhood to attacque an Enemy in their Trenches . But it may be you know not what an Excuse we make for such a neglect , for the States had sent a new Train of Artillery to supply the Loss at Landen , as fair Brass Cannon as any was to be seen ; but it seems , being so credulous that the Statholder had saved his Wagons and draught-Horses by his giving out he had sent them away with his Baggage before the late Battel , they sent no supply of them ; so that too late it was owned how great a part of those were lost . So that now we have no manner of Excuse why we relieved not Charleroy , but that we wanted Wagons and draught-Horses to furnish a marching Army with a sufficient Train , and Provisions for a few days ; and so were forced to stand in our Camp with our Arms across for 20 days , till we had notice of the Surrender of it . So that now as Huy opened a free Passage to Liege ; so this to Brussels and the remainder of Brabant , even to our Fastnesses of the united Provinces ; and it is not forgot among us how 20 years since in one Spring this so victorious King took 60 of our strongest Towns and Forts in one Month , when he had neither Huy Namur , or Mons , and advanced within a few Leagues of Amsterdam : So that we have great reason to be apprehensive of our eminent Danger the next Spring , if no Peace be made this Winter ; when we are exposed so naked of any Barrier in the Spanish Netherlands , and consider how untenable the strongest places have hitherto been against the force of his Assaults , when to conceal or cover our Impotence , we ascribe the Successes to Treachery . Thus I have given you a short touch of this King's Successes in our Parts . I pass now to the Rhine ; where 't is notoriously known , how vast a Magazine of Arms , Ammunition , and all sorts of Stores were taken at Heidelberg , and though Prince Lewis of Baden had so strongly intrenched himself , that the Dauphin and Marshal de Lorge thought it not advisable to attacque him , yet the French have had the honour to have couped him up all this Summer , and the Advantage to have maintained their whole Army in an Enemies Country , and raised immense Contributions , which , by reason of the Hostages they have in Custody , must be paid , even when their Army are withdrawn into their Winter-Quarters . Of how great importance the taking of Roses in Catalonia is , may be seen even in the Monthly Account , which industriously lessens all Successes of the French ; it is not only a Port Town and Harbor towards the Mediterranean , but hath a very great Trade into Catalonia : So as it is a Key both to Trade inward and outward ; and gives not only an Harbor to French Merchants , and Galleys , but extends likewise its Jurisdiction to a large part of Catalonia , where it seems the Spaniards are so weak , that his Forces have not been able to take any Advantage over the Duke of Noalles , although he detached some part of his Forces to Marshal Catinat . This leads me to give you a short Account of that wise and fortunate General Marshal Catinat's Successes , who , after he had quietly sustained all the contemptible things from all the Confederates Gazetters , as if he were neither able to Succor Pignerol , or Relieve Cazal ; at last , like another Fabius Maximus , descended from the cloudy Hills into the open Plains , and by fine Force obtained as compleat a Victory over the unfortunate and obstinate Duke of Savoy as any hath been obtained in this War. Since which he marcheth as Conqueror where he pleaseth through the Country , constraining that Duke's Subjects to furnish him with all sorts of Provisions , and most large Contributions ; and the French King resolving to push the War , on that side , either to a Peace upon his own Conditions , or an entire Conquest of the Country , hath ordered an addition of 50000 Men to the Marshals Army , which will much facilitate the Conquest of that Country , or force a Peace . As I have given you this Account of the Successes of the French King's Arms , so you cannot but with me observe the unprosperous Proceedings of the Emperour's Troops this year in Hungary , where the wily Grand Visier , as much contemned as Catinat was , suffered the Duke de Croy to lay Siege to Belgrade , the Reduction of which in one Month our Gazettes assured us off : But after the Duke had lost by Assaults , Sickness and Death , in his march almost as many Thousands of his Men as he had been Days before it ( for some Prints compute them at 15000 Men ) the Visier made a short turn upon him , and made him ingloriously quit the Siege . For excuse of which no other than the common one is made , That the Enemy out-numbered ours , who by the Prints was , from 10000 Men a few days before were multiplied to 50000. at the raising the Siege . You may , if you please , add to these the Consideration , That since this present War the Confederates have neither gained one Town or Fort from the French , or preserved any one , which his Troops attaqued ( except Rhinefield ) nor been able , though that King is surrounded on every side with an entire Circle of Enemies , to hinder him from enlarging his Conquests on every side ; and is so provident that every year he hath sufficient Magazines before hand of all things necessary for one or two years succeeding , and all his Money for two or three years ordered in readiness ; and this year can increase his new Levies proportionable to what ever he finds the Confederates are able to do . This I suppose is sufficient to Answer the first of your Enquiries . As to the second Head , it may be branched into several Particulars , as relating both to you and us ; which I will not persue in an exact Method , but as Matters of Enquiry hath occurred to my mind since I was with you , or the later Letters of you , or your Friends , have suggested to my thoughts . And first , as to the propensity of our Country to embrace a Peace with France ; you may remember that in our Town , which hath the first Vote , the P. of O. was first made Statholder , though all the States and Magistrates of the Seven Provinces had taken Solemn Oaths never to admit a Statholder , and particularly not the P. of O. nor any of his House ; and the Prince himself had taken an Oath not to accept of the Office though tendered to him : So that the breach of all their Oaths upon that Election was by some styled absolute Perjury , but we found a softer Word for it , in styling it , the mortifying the former Edict . You know how our Senior Burger-master Cornelius de Witt , and his Brother the Pentitioner , were most barbarously Murthered , because they did not so readily comply . Now in this very Town the Senior Burger-master Halewin , as you know by his Sentence printed with you , was settling some Correspondence with Monsieur Amelet , in order to know what terms the French King would insist upon ; and I assure you this was not a personal Caprice of his , who is a solid , juditious Person , and of a great Interest and Popular ; who acted nothing in that but with the good Liking and underhand Approbation of many other great Men and Magistrates , which you may easily perceive by the boldness of his Expressions , as you have it printed in your Translation of his Sentence in these Word ; viz. Pag. 12. That it is agreed on all hands , that to endeavour to procure a Peace is not at all prejudicial to the State , but is so far from that , that those that imploy themselves about some honest way of obtaining it , should not be looked on as Criminals , but rather to have a Statue erected them , and that he was willing to do it with the peril of his Life . Also in the 13. Pag. it is said , That being before the high Court of Justice of his Country , he had a great mind to convince them , that it was none of his Fault that Lives and Estates was Sacrificed to Men , and that he would rather dye than that it should be longer continued , and to play on Dobb , Dobb , Dobb , Fanfare for the King of England ; by whom he means not King James but our Statholder , for whose sake he neither would have Lives or Estates Sacrified nor War continued . And in the next Pag. it is added further , That in case some solid and reasonable Proposals of Peace should be offered , it being a thing so necessary , and salutary for the State ; that every true Patriot would readily , and without any other reason , have embraced them : withal assuring the Judges that what steps ever he had made in this affair , they were occasioned by nothing else but a sincere intention to promote the true interest of this State. I assure you he spoke these things with great boldness , and wanted not the majority of the Suffrages of many Magistrates of Cities , if not those of the Judges themselves ; and if the Princes Authority had been as great now , as when he was first made Statholder , he had been de Witted rather than had so easy a Sentence . I verily believe that I perfectly know many Scores of our chiefest Magistrates , who are of the same Opinion with Monsieur Halewin ; and by the Conversation I had with very many of your Parliament Men , I think there are a majority of you , who , if they might give their Vote by Balloting , would put an end to the War , by returning to the Condition our Countries were in before the War ; and if they would consider their Strength , as well as Interest , they would value the Saving of their Country from ruin , before the private concern of any Prince whatsoever . And to me it is an unaccountable thing to find leading Gentlemen in Governments , both at home and abroad , so forward and outragiously zealous to Supplant and Abdicate their lawful Kings , Supream Governors or Magistrates upon small Pretences ; who yet can see their Country fleeced , yea , gnawed to the Bones , with Taxes to support such , as have either been Sovereigns of their own Creation , or Usurpers ; as I have known some Servants who were audatious and refractory to their Masters , and yet were slavishly Cowards and abjectedly suffered the Affronts and Insolencies of their fellow Servants . I am sure this is an odious Disposition in Magistrates or Representatives of the People , as you are stiled . But to return to the head of this your Second Enquiry ; I can assure you we are so solicitous for our own Preservation , and suspicious of our Statholder , that when ever we shall surmise that he shall prefer the Preservation of any Interest before ours , we shall with great precipitation entertain any reasonable Proposals from France , and though Monsieur Halewin says , That unless France would deliver up to the Spanish Netherlands some considerable place , there is no Dutchman who would not rather Sacrifice the last Stiver he had then think of a Peace ; yet I am well satisfied if we might have Mastricht in our own right , as it now properly belongs to the Spaniards , they would that moment quit the Interest , not only of the Statholder but of all our Confederates , and leave them all in the lurch , as you know we have constantly done in all the seperate Treaties we have had , and are well known , even to a Scandal upon us , in those of 48 and 74. And I must here note to you , we are in no condition to continue the War , for though Monsieur Halewin , in his Discourse to Monsieur Amelet , saith , That it was true that the most considerable Families of our Country suffered very much by heavy Taxes , as having great Estates in Land which carry the greatest burthen , yet the Merchants were gently treated for the benefit of Trade , yet he owns that those Arguments he used , in Page the Third and Fourth , were only to magnify the Power of the States ; being desirous , like a Lover of his Country , to let the French know the utmost of our Abilities that we might obtain better Terms ; but the French King knows too well our insufficiency to carry on the War , for the Taxes are here so heavy that I know several substantial Citizens , in our City of Dort , who pay as much for Taxes as the yearly Rent of their Houses yield them . And though Monsieur Halewin saith , That the Taxes on real Estates could cause at the worst but a change of Masters , which did not at all concern the States in general and in abstracto ; yet surely the impoverishing of the landed Men to that degree , That they must be forced to sell their Estates for nothing , to others that were able to pay the Taxes , must in a little time effect the States in general ; who can't subsist without the supply of the Terra firma , no more than the Heart , Brain , or Arms and Legs , without supply from the Stomach ; for , however it is unregarded , all other Taxes , upon what sort of Commodities soever , either of Ware or Tare , in the last resort , fall upon the Land and its Occupiers ; and to let you see how our States , not only at this present squeeze the People , but oppress them to the highest degree , there was a Gentleman who had as fertil a Plat of Ground as any in the Country , which being judged Commodious to build a Fort upon , the States offered a Sum of Mony for it , but the Owner being unwilling to part with his Inheritance , they laid heavier Impositions upon it , till the Taxes amounted very near the yearly profit he made of the Land , so that at last he was forced to part with it ; yet , as Monsieur Halewin saith , the States were no Loosers , for he was Taxed according to the old rate ; it being alledged he had received Mony for it , which was to be Taxed : I remember I heard , when with you , that this Story was related at an Entertainment , when some made complaint of the heaviness of your Taxes ; it was replied , Then , and not till then , England would have reason to complain , when you were driven to such Extremities : you know how great a Man he was that related this , and Major Ashton can name him if he pleases . Monsieur Halewin , pag. 3 , in his Communication with Monsieur Amelot , to aggrandire our power , told him , Though there were some losses of Trade on one hand , yet they were repaid on the other by a considerable Sale of the Manufactures , and those that stood in need of the Goods were to pay a greater price ; and that the Merchants generally ensured : But I must tell you this was said , to put our best foot forward , for though our Merchants , of whom our very States consist , devise all the ways they can to promote or preserve Traffick , yet our common People , what by the burthen of Taxes , and the Obstruction of the old course of Trade , are reduced to such a poor Estate that they are upon the very Tipto of rising in mutiny against our Magistrates and States , for their so obstinate persisting in the War ; and generally exclaim that our Statholder never yet had any success ar all against the French , so that if this Winter , or in the Spring , the French King should have any one signal Success in these parts , it would be impossible to restrain the Mobile any longer . Indeed our Merchants have many Contrivances you want , because our States being all such , contrive or connive at the Frauds ; for whereas we read weekly in your Gazetts of French Prizes , taken by some of our Privateers , they are generally such as by Assignation are to be brought to our Ports , and by these measures we supply you and other Countries with French Commodities , besides we are glad to be excused with so small a quota of our Men of War , while you make a great noise with encreasing the number of your grand Fleet , by which means we spare more for Convoys ; and it is an admiration to our People , that you should not discover our Arts and Industry to ingross all the Trade into our hands . We have , without your being able to censure us for it , utterly defeated all your Laws of Navigation : we bring you in our own Bottoms , at least under some of your own Peoples names , the far greatest part of all your imported Commodities , which may be discovered every day , by the number of our Dutch built Vessels in your River , and all your Ports : We have had good Lading back of Corn , Butter , and Cheese , and there is one Fraught we bring of our Country-men , French Refuges , and other Foreigners , for what uses your Master and ours designs them , it becomes you to look to it ; we have got one advantage since your Revolution besides many other colatcral ones , that we know the soundings of all your Ports , the strength of your Fortifications , the Stores of your Arms and Amunition you had , which have been Transported hither or to Flanders , the small Stock you have left , the Secrets of your Revenue , and what is above all the disposition of your People , and the easiness of managing your Parliaments to our advantage , whereby we and the Confederates have gained many Millions , since we found you so ready to give us 600000l . for our assisting our own Statholder , for which benefits we have reaped since in any other Reign we would have given Millions . Yet notwithstanding all these Emoluments , if you once withdraw your giving hands , we shall be forced to make Peace ; and when you have given to the last Doit , and are sufficiently exhausted , we shall be able to make our Terms , and then enjoy the sole Trade , for obtaining which only , we use all our Arts to engage you still in the War , from which we expect no other advantage . And our Statholders interest will never fail within our consideration , for that he useth his despotick Power in nominating or approving only such Magistrates as are his Creatures , which hath highly disobliged this Town , Roterdam , Pregow , and many others of our most opulent Cities , and by his preferring to the Supream Command of our Armies , The Dukes of Halston Ploen , and Wirtenburgh , General Ginckle and others , he hath so disobliged the Prince of Nassaw Statholder of Friesland and other Princes of his own Blood , as well as deserving Men of our Country , that he hath lost very much of his interest in Friesland , Groninghen , and , other Provinces lying most obnoxious to the French , which is no inconsiderable weakning of our Country ; and I doubt not but by our Statholders disobliging many leading and popular Men in our Country as well as in yours , he must have cooled the Affections of many to his Person , as well as his advancing several among us , who are not very greatful to the People : as I remember I heard many wonder with you , that one Coningsby , who was much blackened by Informations against him in Parliament , and yet , as if done it in dispight to the Houses , he made him a Lord , and took him into his Secret Council . This Consideration leads me to tell you , what Resentments he used of the Conducts of the Admirals this Year , as he had formerly done against Admiral Torrington , and Admiral Russel ; which we look upon as a perfect Design to convince our States that he hath an heartier good will to promote our Interest than yours . I must confess it was a great oversight in your Council , and Commissioners of the Admiralty , that they did not Order the Grand Fleet to attend the Merchants under the Care of Admiral Rook , till they had certain Notice where the French Fleet was ; but since they had no such Orders , I know not wherein the Admirals are to blame ; for I hear that Admiral Almond owns that Sir Ralph Dalaval , and I think the other two Admirals , at a Council of Flag Officers , moved that the Grand Fleet might attend Admiral Rook till they knew where the French Fleet was ; which being utterly denied by our Flags , and such of yours as joyn'd with us , he then moved , that at least they might go a hundred Leagues further ; which being likewise denied , by reason I presume of the positive Orders to attend so far only , without any Latitude in their Instructions , I cannot see why our Statholder should not remove some of the Commissioners of your Admiralty , if he be satisfied there have been no Miscarriages of the Council . As to the Loss sustained there , I think we and the Hamburghers had the greatest Share ; yet when I consider the Charge your Merchants had been at , in lying Fraught Nine , Ten , or Twelve Months in expectance of Convoys , the Charge of buoying up the sunk Ships , and damage to their Goods ; the absolute Loss of their Market , the Money which must be payed for their Conducting home , and the Expences while they stay for a stronger Convoy , and the real Loss you sustained , as appears by the Remarcks on the London Gazette , the Merchants must have lost a pretty round Sum. And I learnt , before I came from London , that upon the first Alarum of that Loss , many thousand of Workmen at the Clothworkers Trade had been dismissed ; so that in one Parish . viz. Leeds in Yorkshire , Five hundred Workmen had been discharged in one day . And the hazard of Adventuring hath so discouraged the Merchants to buy , that they are still out of Employment ; and we have the like Effects with us . However the matter fell out that you suffered no more , yet the French at that time in Ships , and Goods , got as much ( besides the Burning of so many Ships ) as will desray the greatest part of the Charge of their Fleet this Summer ; whereas you have been at a vast Charge , and yet scarcely have preserved one inward or outward bound Ship , which was discovered by a French Privateer . Neither can we apprehend the true reason of your late Proclamation concerning your Sea-men , that they shall have no pay till their next going to Sea , and then only a promise to be paid to Michaelmas last . The Pay they used to have at the laying up of their Ships was a great Support to their Families in Winter , and by short Voyages till the Fleet went out , they got something towards the Summer following : I know not how you can think that near 100000 Persons , including their Wives and Children , can have any possibility of subsisting without Stealing , Begging , or Starving , if they be not paid now . This kind of way of Proceeding our Sea-men would not suffer ; and such Proclamations have that fatal Consequence , besides the Discouragement of the Sea-men ( which you may be sure pleaseth us here ) that it discovers either the real want of Money the Governmeet is in , or else the Squandering what is given to unwarrantable Uses . Such as the magnificent Buildings here at the Loo , where our Statholder is building a Palace to equal Versailles , or the Pleasure-house of the Duke of Savoy ; to furnish which , besides the Curiosities and splendid Ornaments , he hath provided , as an Onyx Table and Stands from the Emperor , he hath transported the richest Hangings , and other Furniture of the Palaces of your Kings , and several rich Silver Tables and Pictures ; and he hath demolished a great part of Hampton-Court , and so magnificently rebuilt it , that I was told when I went to see it , that already he had Expended above 100000 l. upon it , it would Cost 400000 l. more ere finished and furnished , while Whitehall lyes still in Rubbish ; and one of your Commissioners for taking the Publick Accounts told me , that as much was Expended upon that Building , and at Kensington , and for Jewels and other needless Matters , as would have built Fourscore Men of War. And I remember an Extract of their Accounts was shown me , whereby it appeared that since our Statholder's Administration in England , he had received into the Exchequer 25 Millions ; of which , according to a full discharge of all Money to be defrayed according to the Establishments , he must have Expended no more than 20 Millions , and yet there was a Debt owing of 5 Millions still ; and that he expects for carrying on a Vigorous War no less than 7 or 8 Millions more , and an encrease of 20 or 30000 Men , without which he can hope for no better Success than he hath had formerly ; whereas it is our Opinion you neither can provide such Supplies , nor if he had them he would be able to effect greater Matters than he hath hitherto atchieved . I own there are many secret Sluces by which great Sums of your Money have passed , which whether they be publickly owned I know not : The Duke of Savoy , besides 100000 l. Prest-money , hath received 20 , 30 , 40 , or 50000 l. per Month. The King of Denmark had a large Sum for the hiring the Troops under the Command of the Duke of Wirtenburg , though Prince George his Royal Brother hath had ill Usage by your Court. The Duk of Hannouer , and several other German Princes , proportionable Sums : Above 100000 l. spent upon the Swiss Cantons and Vaudois , besides what we and the Spanish Neatherlands have received . So that your Money hath plentifully Circulated through the whole Confederacy . How much hath been squandred away upon other Accounts I know not ; but I presume upon giving liberty to due Informations you may easily learn. And I cannot think it needful to descend to many Particulars ; but one Instance I cannot omit , a Master of one of the transport Ships related to me in presence of several , not as any Secret , but as the Case of many other such Masters ; That upon his first Imployment into Ireland , he had 70 l. worth of Hay a board , and was retained at 50 l. a Month , and ordered with his Hay to lye at one Port after another , till his Wages amounted to 1300 l. and when he related this he said he had the like Lading on Board upon the other years pretended Descent , whièh he had kept on Bonrd till his Pay had run up to 750 l. He adds further , That a year since there was 500000 l. owing to transport Ships , which he durst Undertake to prove , was more by 400000 l. than all their Cargo was worth . I think you may cast into the Scale of the lavish Expence 300000 l. at least squandered away upon your noised Descents , by which you mightily raised the Expectation of all Europe , to have seen some Master-piece of Stratagem , which by their Abortiveness have redounded to your eternal Disgrace ; and if your present Undertaking , with your Squadron under Capt. Bombo , with his Well-boats and Bomb Vessels , shoul end in an empty Burst , you will forfeit for ever your Reputation in Policy , and Conduct . I remember , when I was with you , I heard several of your Character liberally censuring some of these Matters , as also bitterly inveighing against the Numbers of civil and military Officers and Pentioners in the House ; for whom it was reported that 150000 l. was lodged , not to be touched for other Uses , that it might be ready for Distribution agoinst the Sitting of the House . Besides the quarterly Payments of 30000 l. which I doubt not but our States , if required , would willingly pay a share of , rather than such useful Persons should want their Wages ; for the more Liberal such Men are of the publick Money , the more comes to ours and all the Confederates Treasury , as well as yours . And I think you may easily judge in whom this Aurum Potabile works most effectually ; for they will seem , at the first Sitting , as forward as any to redress publick Grievances , yea , to enquire into some Miscarriages , and seem unwilling that any Money should be given till publick Accounts be stated ; but when they have gotten the Reputation of Patriots by that Art , they then know when to follow their File-leaders , to supersede all further Enquiries , by diverting the House by some new Matters , or suggesting Dangers from abroad , or Plots at home , and then watching an Opportunity when their Party is strongest in the House , they gain some fundamental Vote for a Supply , and as soon as that is obtained , they pursue that Quarry only , letting all other publick Bills sink , insinuating that they had found no such grounds of Complaints , or Mismanagements , as at first appeared to them . This Discovery I gained by discourse from a Member of our States General , who hath a great influence in your Councils , as well as ours ; so that you may be confident that till you remove such mercinary Members out of the House , as Monopolists , and other obnoxious Persons , as Betrayers of their publick Trust , have been in other Parliaments , you will never be able to obtain a true Account how your Money hath been Expended , and what vast Arrears are owing to the Fleet and Army , Providores of Stores , of Victuals , Ammunition , transport Ships , &c. It pleaseth us infinitely that so great Sums are brought over hither for pay of the Army , and the Confederates in Specie , and the best Money , and I cannot learn that our Statholder brought any great Sum back in Silver , hesides 1500 l. in washt and clipt Money . I am sure you cannot forget how a very credible Person of Quality told you and me , That if a strict Enquiry were made , there would appear that 1900000l . had been given by you since the Administration of our Statholder with you , for your Fleet more than ever had been paid to the Sea men , or expended upon it , and he believed such like Defalcations would be found in what was given to the Army , and for other Occasions , besides placing more to Accounts than really had been paid : I shall long to know , whether in this Sessions you make any Enquiry into such Matters ; for it is believed , if you trace these Matters up the Stream , ( which if you do not , you will be notorious Breakers of the Trust reposed upon you ) you will pinch some great Ministers , who must either have an unusual Decian Courage , to devote their Lives to excuse some above them , which will be a rare Gallantry in this Age , or you will at the Fountain head find the source of Miscarriages you are to Enquire after , of which we here talk more openly than you do . Having thus dispatched the second of your Enquiries in these several Particulars , I how proceed to the last . It is more difficult I must confess to give an Answer to this than either of the former ; because the Consultations of the Confederate Princes are kept , as they ought to be , very Secret ; only I can tell you in the general , That neither the Emperor , King of Spain , Duke of Bavaria , or the other German Princes , are so devoted to our Statholder as formerly ; since they see he can work no Miracles . And all the deference they have for him now , is because he hath been so well credited , and befriended by you , as to be supplied with Men and Money hitherto , according to his desire , without rendering any Account ; which , though it be to the infinite damage of your selves , who reap no sort of Blessings , or Benefits thereby , yet is the only Cement which prevents the Crumbling of the Confederacy . For I assure you we are sufficiently tired ; out and exhausted by the War , and would be very thankful to such unengaged Princes as would uneergo the Office of Mediators ; for which purpose we have late Advice that the Emperor hath sent to the Pope , to acquaint him , that he is not averse to Peace , provided he may have honourable Terms and for that purpose desires a Copy of the French King's Terms . The King of Poland likewise hath represented his Inability to sustain the Losses his Subjects receive by incursions and pressures of the Tartars : What Applications have been made by the Emperor to the Northern Crowns , and the Willingness of the French King to accept of their Mediation is much discoursed of ; and how instant the Pope , the State of Venice , and the Italian Princes , are to persuade the Duke of Savoy to accept of the Overtures of the King of France , you cannot be ignorant , though it may be it is concealed from you into what strates the Duke is reduced ; for we have it from sure hands , That in the late Battle , after a perfect numbring of the Duke's Souldiers slain , they amounted to 9000 and 600 Men , and that 3000 Prisoners were taken , and 117 Standards and Colours , and besides all the Cannon and Baggage , a vast number of Bombs and Carcasses were taken , with which the Duke intended to Bombard Pignerol . That since this Victory the whole Army under Marshal Catinal hath quartered in that rich Country , and hath drawn such vast Provisions from thence , that he hath stored Pignerol for two years , shall do the like for Cazal , besides putting so large a Garrison into it , as shall enable them to make Excursions all this Winter ; and the French King hath sent a Message to the Italian Princes , that if they admit any of the Germans to quarter in their Territories , he will send his . Troops among them , otherwise he will inviolably preserve the Peace of Italy ; and our very last Advices are , that the Duke hath at last sent to the Duke of Orleance to medeats a Peace ; upon which the French King dispatched a Courier with his Answer in five hours ; and if a Peace be once made in that Quarter ; it will be a great step towards the like with the Emperor . You must , in the next place , consider the French King is so much above his Work , that he may continue the Wars many years yet longer , without impoverishing his Subjects in 12 years more , as much as ours and yours have been in these Four or Five years last ; for that he maintains a great part of his Troops , by Quarterings , Forrage , and Contributions out of the Confederate Countries , and his Sea Force by Prizes , while his own Kingdom enjoys a profound Tranquility , as if no War was in their Borders . And all the World knows with what ease out of his large and populous Dominions he can raise what Men be pleaseth by Warrants only from Lieutenants of Provinces , to the respective Cities and Towns , who at a day prefixed bring to the Rendevouz , a double Number of Men , out of which the Officers pick out the Number needed of the ablest Men , without beat of Drum , or allowing his Officers so much per Head , as the Confederates are forced to advance for theirs . And his Subjects have such a perfect Love to him , even to a Veneration , and such a Sense of the Honour which redounds to the French Nation by his glorious Successes , that with great Alacrity they submit to what-ever he requires ; besides that , all Undertakings , after mature Consultations , are ordered by himself solely , so that his Purposes and Determinations are never betrayed , or embarrassed , or retarded , by staying for the Consent of others , as the Confederates are yearly ●ompelled to submit to ; and then he hath 400000 stout and resolu●e Men , under the most experienced Commanders of any Age , to put all his Commands in Execution ; and his Fund of Money is inexhaustable , for that in times of Peace the whole Revenue of his Kingdom passeth through his Exchequer once in Five or Six years , some affirm it in Four. And if he chance ever to be put to a Streight , a few of his rich Allies will supply him . Thus , Sir , I have given you not only my own Judgment , but that of very juditious Men I have conversed with : Yet , least my Letter should be too long , I have omitted several things I had to say ; which , if this be of any use to you , may be supplied in my next ; and with profound Respects I remain , SIR , Yours .