CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
FROMCornell University Library
D 242.K31 V
State papers and correspondence
3 1924 028 010 381
31924028010381STATE PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
STATE OF EUROPE
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE ACCESSION OF
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER.
EDITED, WITH
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS, AND NOTES,
By JOHN M>£EMBLE, M.A.
LONDON:
JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND.
1857.PRINTED BY
JOHN EDWARD TAYXOE, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.LIST OF THE LETTERS
1686.
PAGE
De Rebenac..............................................1
De Falaiseau .... ... 2
1. De Rebenac to De Falaiseau . . 2
1687.
2. De Hoverbeck to De Falaiseau ....................3
Paul Fuclis ..... . . 5
3. De Fucks to De Falaiseau .... 5
1688.
4. De Fuchs to De Falaiseau.............................. 6
Sophia, Electress of Brunswick-Liineburg .... 7
5. Sophia, Electress of Brunswick, to Leibnitz ... 55
1690.
6. Sophia, Electress of Brunswick, to Leibnitz . . 56
7. Extract of a Letter from Johnstone.....................57
8. Robetkon to Leibnitz ..... 58
1691.
9. Molesworth to De Falaiseau.............................59
10. Molesworth to De Falaiseau . . ... 62
11. W. Duncomb to Johnstone . ... 64
1692.
12. Eberhard von Danckelmann to De Falaiseau ... 65
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orleans . 66
13. The Duchess of Orleans to the Electress Sophia ... 88
14. Maximilian, Duke of Brunswick, to the Electress Sophia . 89IV
LIST OP THE LETTERS.
PAGE
15. Yon Winkler to Danckelmann.............................91
16. De la Fouleresse to Blathwayt..........................93
17. The Duchess of Orleans to the Electress Sophia ... 94
18. Von Winkler to Danckelmann ...... 95
19. Von Winkler to Danckelmann...........................95
20. Extract of a Letter from Blathwayt .... 96
21. Earl of Nottingham to H. Greg .... .97
22. Extract of a Letter from Sir P. Rycaut . . 98
23. Von Winkler to Danckelmann ... .99
24. Leibnitz to G. Stepney . . . . 103
25. Stepney to Leibnitz...................... . . 105
1693.
26. Leibnitz to Stepney...................... . . 107
Hans Adam yon Schoning . . ... 108
27. Sir W. Colt to E. Southwell ... 113
28. Leibnitz to------ .... . 114
29. Stepney to Leibnitz .... ... 115
30. Bacmeister to Leibnitz ........ 118
31. Stepney to Leibnitz.................................. . 120
32. Extract of a Letter from Heemskerke.........................122
33. Stepney to Leibnitz.........................................124
34. Stepney to Leibnitz.........................................128
Remarks on the same by Leibnitz.........................130
35. Extract of a Letter from Lord Paget.........................130
36. The Electoral Prince of Brunswick to the Electress Sophia . 131
37. The Electoral Prince of Brunswick to the Electress Sophia . 132
38. Blathwayt to Stepney........................................133
39. P. Rycaut to Stepney........................................134
40. Relation of a sedition at Hamburg...........................135
41. Further relation of the same................. • 137
42. De la Rosiere to De Falaiseau .... • 139
The Countess de Bocklitz .... • 140
43. Stepney to Leibnitz....................................... .155
1694.
44. T. de Danckelmann to De Falaiseau......................156
45. P. Rycaut to Stepney......................... .158
46. Stepney to Leibnitz............................... I00
47. W. de Danckelmann to De Falaiseau ..... 161
48. Stepney to Leibnitz ... .... 163
1695.
49. T. Bridges to Leibnitz .... ... 164LIST OF THE LETTERS. V
PAGE
50. Stepney to Blathwayt ........ 165
Alexander, Burggrave of Dolma..............................168
51. De Dolma to De Falaiseau.................................171
52. Stepney to Leibnitz ........ 173
53. Leibnitz to Stepney ........ 175
54. Stepney to Blathwayt......................................176
55. Stepney to Blatliwayt ... ... 179
56. Stepney to Leibnitz......................................179
57. Leibnitz to Stepney......................................182
58. Maximilian of Brunswick to the Electress Sophia 183
1696.
59. Gilbert Burnet to the Electress Sophia . . . . .184
60. The Duchess of Orleans to the Electress Sophia . • . 186
61. Gilbert Burnet to the Electress Sophia . . . . 187
1697.
62. Maximilian of Brunswick to...............................188
63. Queen Sophie Charlotte of Prussia to De Fuchs . . . 189
64. Thomas Burnet to the Electress Sophia .... 191
65. Danckelmann to De Falaiseau .... . 197
66. The Electress Sophia to....................................198
67. Duke Maximilian to Queen Sophie Charlotte . . . 200
68. H. Greg to De Falaiseau . . .... 202
69. De Schmettau to De Falaiseau .... . 204
70. De Beske to De Falaiseau ....... 205
71. Christian, Duke of Brunswick, to the Electress Sophia 206
72. Extract of a Letter from Dr. Heunisch......................207
73. Leibnitz to Dr. Heunisch...................................208
74. De Schmettau to De Falaiseau ... . . 209
75. Leibnitz to Duke Anton Ulrich of Wolfenbiittel . . . 210
76. Duke Christian to the Electress Sophia...................211
77. Duke Christian to Leibnitz . . . 214
78. Duke Christian to Leibnitz . . . . . 215
79. Benedicts, Duchess of Brunswick, to Leibnitz . 215
80. Leibnitz to----- ... 216
81. De la Fouleresse to De Falaiseau.........................218
1698.
82. Heunisch to Leibnitz ........ 220
83. James the Second to the Electress Sophia .... 221
84. Maria d’Este to the Electress Sophia ... . 222
85. Duke Anton Ulrich to Von dor Sehulenburg . . . 223
86. Leibnitz to Benedicts, Duchess of Brunswick . . 224vi LIST OF THE LETTERS.
PAGE
87. Duke Maximilian to the Electress Sophia .... 226
88. Benedicta, Duchess of Brunswick, to Leibnitz • 227
89. Benedicta, Duchess of Brunswick, to Leibnitz . • 228
90. Duke Maximilian to the Electress Sophia .... 229
91. Hackemann to Leibnitz.................................230
1699.
92. Amalie, Duchess of Brunswick, to the Electress Sophia . 232
93. Gilbert Burnet to the Electress Sophia .... 233
94. Hackemann to Leibnitz............................... 234
95. Duke Maximilian to the Electress Sophia .... 235
96. The Princess des Ursins to the Electress Sophia . . . 236
97. Addison to Halifax....................................237
98. Stepney to Leibnitz . . ..................238
99. Leibnitz to Stepney 238
1700.
100. Leibnitz to the Electress Sophia ... . . 241
1701.
101. Stepney to Leibnitz ............................... 243
102. Stepney to Blathwayt......................245
103. Gilbert Burnet to Leibnitz................248
104. Leibnitz to Stepney.......................249
105. Sir A. Fountaine to Leibnitz ...... 252
106. Fountaine to Leibnitz................ . . 252
107. Leibnitz to Fountaine................................253
108. Fountaine to Leibnitz................................255
109. Instructions for Stepney in the affair of Wolfenbiittel . 256
110. Fountaine to Leibnitz................................256
111. Fountaine to Leibnitz................................257
112. Sir P. Frazer to Leibnitz..................... 258
1702.
113. Ellis to Stepney..........................259
114. Fountaine to Leibnitz ........ 260
115. Leibnitz to Frazer............................• 261
116. Fountaine to Leibnitz.................... 262
117. Leibnitz to the Princess of Hohenzollern .... 263
118. Vernon to Stepney ........ 266
119. Queen Anne to the Elector of Brunswick .... 267
120. Queen Anne to the Electress Sophia ... . 268
121. Mile, de Pellnitz to Leibnitz ...... 268
122. Leibnitz to D’Oberg ..... 269LIST OF THE LETTERS.
Vll
123. Leibnitz to Bertram..........................
124. Hedges to Stepney............................
125. Fountaine to Leibnitz........................
John Matthias von der Schulenburg
126. Leibnitz to Schulenburg......................
127. Queen Sophie Charlotte to Mile, de Pollnitz
128. Ellis to Stepney.............................
123. Hedges to Stepney.............................
130. The Duchess of Savoy to the Electress Sophia .
131. Queen Sophie Charlotte to Leibnitz
1703.
132. Hedges to Stepney............................
133. Eountaine to Leibnitz........................
134. Addison to Leibnitz..........................
135. Queen Sophie Charlotte to Leibnitz
136. Leibnitz to the Earl of Roxburgh
137. Queen Sophie Charlotte to Leibnitz
138. Leibnitz to Queen Sophie Charlotte
139. Mile, de Pollnitz to Leibnitz ....
140. Leibnitz to Van Obdam........................
141. Huyssens to Leibnitz.........................
1704.
142. Queen Sophie Charlotte to Mile, de Pollnitz
De Bothmer....................................
143. De Bothmer to Leibnitz.......................
144. Leibnitz to the Electress Sophia ....
145. Fountaine to Leibnitz........................
146. Lord Shaftesbury to Stepney (P) .
147. Leibnitz to Fountaine........................
148. Queen Sophie Charlotte to the Electress Sophia .
John Eeinholt von Patkul......................
149. Anonymous to Patkul..........................
150. Leibnitz to Stepney..........................
151. Frederick Augustus, King of Poland, to Schulenburg
152. Patkul to Schulenburg........................
153. Frederick Augustus to Schulenburg
154. Harley to Stepney ....
155. De Tettau to Leibnitz ......
156. Lewis to Stepney.............................
157. Sir Rowland G Wynne to Stepney
158. Caroline, Princess of Anspach, to Leibnitz .
Cavalier and the War of the Cevennes
PAGE
271
273
273
274
299
310
311
312
313
313
314
315
316
318
319
321
322
324
325
327
330
330
331
332
333
334
336
337
338
375
376
377
378
378
379
380
381
382
383
384LIST OF THE LETTERS.
viii
PAGE
159. Cavalier’s Eelation . .... 431
1705.
160. Foley to Stepney .... • 432
161. Shrewsbury to Stepney ... ... 433
162. Caroline of Anspack to Leibnitz . . ... 434
1706.
163. Frederick Augustus to De Gersdorf.......................435
164. Philippe, Duke of Orleans, to the Electress Sophia . . 436
165. Sckulenburg to his Sister . .....................437
166. Leibnitz to Schulenburg ....... 439
167. Lord Peterborough to Admiral Leake . . • 443
168. Peterborough to Halifax . . ... 445
169. Louise Hollandine to the Electress Sophia (1707*) . 447
170. Leibnitz to Davenant .... . . 449
171. Peterborough to Admiral Wassenaer . ... 452
172. Dorset to Halifax ... . 454
173. Alversleben to Leibnitz . . 456
174. Stepney to Harley . 457
1707. —1&
175. Leibnitz to Lord Eaby...................................457
176. Agostino Steffani to the Electress Sophia . . 459
177. Louise Hollandine to the Electress Sophia . . 461
178. Leibnitz to Eaby . . . . . 462
179. Eaby to Leibnitz............................. . 463
180. Louise Hollandine to the Electress Sophia . . . 465
181. Eaby to Leibnitz .... 466
182. Leibnitz to Toland . . . ... 467
183. Leibnitz to Eaby . . . 470
184. Eaby to Leibnitz . . .... 475
185. Schulenburg to Leibnitz . . . . 477
186. Bothmer to the Electress Sophia . 479
187. Leibnitz to Mile, de Klenk . . ... 481
188. Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz . . ... 482
189. Leibnitz to Queen Sophia Dorothee ..... 484
190. Baron de Steinghens to Schulenburg ..... 486
191. Schulenburg to Leibnitz.............................. 439
192. Steinghens to Schulenburg . . 492
Claude Alexandre, Comte de Bonneval . , 495
193. Duchess of Marlborough to De Bonneval . .498
194. Steinghens to Schulenburg . . 501
Misplaced,LIST OF THE LETTERS. ix
PAGE
195. Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz.........................503
196. Leibnitz to Scholenburg.................................504
197. Steinghens to Scbulenburg...............................506
198. Scbulenburg to Leibnitz.................................512
199. Steinghens to Schulenburg . 515
200. Duchess of Marlborough to Bonneval......................516
201. Roger Acherley to Leibnitz..............................519
202. Acherley to Leibnitz....................................521
203. Leibnitz to Caroline of Anspach . . ... 528
204. Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz . ... 531
205. Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz .... . 533
206. Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz ... . . 534
207. Leibnitz to Caroline of Anspach ...... 536
208. Schulenburg to Leibnitz..............................539
209. Leibnitz to Caroline of Anspach . . ... 541
EEBATA.
Page 448, for M. le Prince de Anty read de Conty.
Page 496, for Marquise de St. Prie read Marquis Dc Prie.CONTEMPORARY "SOVEREIGNS, 1686-1716.
Pope.............
Emperor . . . .
England . . . .
France . . . .
Spain............
Denmark . . . .
Sweden . .
Russia...........
Prussia . . . .
Brunswick-Zell.
Calemberg or Ha-
nover . . . .
Wolfenbiittel . .
Saxony . . . .
Bavaria . . . .
Palatinate . . .
Savoy ...........
Poland . . . .
Turkey . . . .
1686-1689.
1689-1691.
1691-1700.
1700-1716.
1686-1705.
1705-1711.
1711-1716.
1686-1688.
1688-1702.
1702-1714.
1714- 1716.
1686-1715.
1715- 173 6.
1686-1700.
1700- 1716.
1686-1699.
1699-1716.
1686-1797.
1697-1716.
1686-1716.
1686-1688.
1688-1701.1
1701- 1718. j
1713-1716.
1686-1705.
Innocent XI.
Alexander VIII.
Innocent XII.
Clement XI.
Leopold.
Joseph I.
Charles VI. (Charles III. of Spain.)
James II.
William III.
Anne.
George I.
Louis XIV.
Louis XV. (Regent Due d’Orleans.)
Carlos II.
Philip V.
Christian V.
Frederick IV.
Charles XI.
Charles XII.
Peter the Great.
Fred. William III., Elect, of Brand.
Frederick.
Frederick I., King of Prussia.
Frederick William I.
George William.
1686-1698.
1698-1716.
1686-1704.
1704-1714.
1714-1716.
1686-1692.
1692-1694.
1694-1716.
1686-1716.
1686-1690.
1690- 1716.
1686-1716.
1686-1694.
1694- 1706.
1706-1711.
1711-1716.
1686- 1687.
1687- 1691.
1691- 1695.
1695- 1702.
1702-1716.
Ernest Augustus.
George Louis, King of England.
Rodolf August and Anton Ulrich.
Anton Ulrich.
August William.
John George III.
John George IV.
Frederick Augustus, King of Poland.
Maximilian Emmanuel.
Charles.
John William.
Victor Amadeus II.
John Sobieski.
Fred. Aug. Elector of Saxony.
Stanislaus Leczinski.
Fred. Augustus of Saxony.
Mahomet IV.
Solyman III.
Achmet II.
Mustapha II.
Achmet III.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
The Peace of Westphalia put an end to the most ter-
rible war that had desolated the Continent of Europe
since the awful cataclysm which has been called the
wandering of the nations. Goth and Vandal had indeed
again swept over the plains of Germany, and devastation,
as before, had followed in their train. But, this once, it
was not the effeminate civilization of Roman provincials
that they had to encounter: they were confronted by
men more savage than themselves; and the horrible
scourge of a war of religion, under which specious name
the ambition of .Emperors and Kings was veiled, had
gone forth into every district of a flourishing land. The
deep and settled purpose of the House of Austria, con-
sistent and terrible in its perfidy throughout all times, was
directed to the destruction of all the liberties of the Ger-
manic Empire, and the triumph of Absolutism over Pro-
testantism, or the freedom of religion, on the one hand,
and all national and constitutional rights on the other.
For its own inscrutable purposes Providence had raised
up a man willing and able to carry this fearful object into
effect. Albert of Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland and
Sagan, was the man to whom it was committed to give
life and form to the ideas of a Maximilian, a Charles V.,Xll
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
and a Ferdinand. Cold but cruel, heartless but full of
logical convictions, keensighted as to ends, and reck-
less as to the means by which they were to be obtained,
the servant, the saviour, and the victim of the Imperial
policy, he had vowed to realize the visions which the
House of Hapsburg entertained of restoring the mon-
archy of Constantine and Justinian. Like that bold, bad
man Strafford, save only that he was more fortunate in
his career as a successful soldier, and that he was spared
the disgrace of a public execution, he had set up “ Tho-
rough” as his system. Like him he had determined upon
the erection of a standing army, by which unlimited and
irresponsible power might be maintained. He had dyed
his hands with the blood of his Bohemian fellow-nobles;
he had amassed for himself enormous wealth out of their
confiscated estates; he had raised himself from the posi-
tion of a simple gentleman to that of a Prince of the
Empire, trampling down with iron will all laws, Divine
and human, that ran counter to his own designs; and he
fell at last, because he was grown so great that it was
impossible for him to remain in a secondary condition.
It was the Nemesis that followed him, that caused such
a career to end in a puddle of blood, that sent a horde
of treacherous banditti to end a man who had saved
Caesar! With that instinct which God seems often to
have given to such men, Friedland from the first sus-
pected and dreaded Gustavus Adolphus, in whom alone
he ever found a victor. But the battle of Lutzen, al-
though it removed the great hero of Protestantism from
the scene, brought no relief to Germany. The terrible
arms of Horn and Baner Torstensohn and Konigsmark
and Wrangel, the still more terrible counsels of Axel
Oxenstjerna, carried devastation and disorganization intoHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XUl
every part of the Empire. And when at last both parties
found themselves compelled by utter exhaustion to con-
sent to a compromise, it contented no man.
But it left Germany prostrate and ruined, not less by
the loss of its material prosperity than by the total break-
ing up of all those social and political relations which had
hitherto held the great but heterogeneous body together.
We who are accustomed in these days to see war carried
on upon principles as Christian as are consistent with its
existence at all, and sin rather on the side of an ill-judged
courtesy towards our enemies, can form but little notion
of the results of a war in the seventeenth century. Re-
gular armies, raised in time of peace, and forming an
institution which harmonizes more or less with the con-
ditions of such a state of society, officered by gentlemen
used to the courtesies of civilized life, and furnished with
the regular and steady means of subsistence, can give us
but little notion of the horrible mobs of banditti which
were called armies in those days. As long indeed as
Gustavus Adolphus lived, and the Swedish force looked
upon itself as a body of Crusaders in the cause of Christ,
a severe and in general effective discipline had been main-
tained on their side; but even he, cut off from his natu-
ral basis of operations, his magazines and resources, had
been compelled to draw upon the means of the country
in which he operated, for the subsistence of his troops.
After his death, and during the weak and vicious reign
of his daughter Christina, the Swedes themselves had
declined to a condition not much higher than that of
their opponents. Unwilling or unable to make head
against a favouritism whose forms and results foreshadow
the palmy days of Elizabeth and Catherine of Russia,
the Swedish Generals, once the instruments in a nobleXIV
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
work of regeneration, found themselves reduced to play
the role of adventurers, and to recruit their forces from
the scum of the Condottieri of Europe, who offered, turn
by turn, their swords to the best bidder. How tho-
roughly Wallenstein understood the principle that war
is to be made to feed itself, is clear enough from his re-
mark, that he could not make an army of forty thousand
men provide for itself, but he could an army of a hun-
dred thousand.
Under these frightful conditions we have no difficulty
in understanding the state to which the country was re-
duced. We now learn without surprise, and read almost
as a matter of course, that in this or that principality
three or four hundred villages, once the seat of prospe-
rous industry, vanished from the face of the earth. We
perfectly understand why every ancient work of fortifica-
tion, many perhaps dating from the days of heathendom
itself, should be ascribed by popular tradition to Wallen-
stein or the Swedes. We feel no difficulty in believing
that flourishing cities like Magdeburg or Min den* were
laid in ashes, or that even Berlin retained at the close of
the war only three-fourths of its former burgesses. Pro-
fessor Ranke, in his ' History of Prussia’ (vol. i. p. 56),
says -. “ A painful picture of the times is presented by a
set of tables drawn up in the seventeenth century, con-
taining a comparison of the number of houses, of which,
in the good old times, each city in the March was com-
posed, with that which was left standing at the end of
the Thirty Years’ War. In many cities one-half, in some
* The sack of Magdeburg has been made horrible by poets and
painters. The archives of many German towns, which few men can,
and yet fewer will, read, tell us that this was no favoured city in the
aristocracy of misery. The contemporaneous official accounts of the
sack of Minden, yet in MS., are my authority for what I say.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XV
two-thirds, in a few even five-sixths of the houses had
been destroyed. The suburbs of Berlin no longer ex-
isted, and within its walls the houses had diminished
by at least one-fourth. The city contained only three
hundred burghers.” And yet the March of Branden-
burg had been treated leniently compared with other
parts of Germany. It was computed that property to
the value of at least seven millions of dollars had been
destroyed or plundered in Konigsmark’s sack of Prague.
With these facts before our eyes, we can readily appreciate
the moral degradation which had ensued. With his house
torn down or burnt over his head, his cattle driven away,
his savings stolen from him, and all his domestic sancti-
ties violated, it is not wonderful that the peasant had him-
self become a bandit, and hastened to indemnify himself
at the expense of others for his own losses. The Princes
that had set the example of lawlessness and revolution
were become little more than the heads of mobs of plun-
derers. Many had taken service with the House of
Hapsburg, whose sole end and aim was the destruction
of their legal independence, and the reduction of them
to that condition which, in these later years, it has en-
forced upon Bohemia, Hungary, and Italy. Others,
throwing off all the ancient bonds which held the Empire
together as a political body, had set themselves up as
independent sovereigns, raising claims valid only while
they stood at the head of their armies of Landsknechte,
each striving to secure for himself, under specious pre-
texts, a remunerative share of the common spoil. And in
the meanwhile Prance, whose deep principle of policy was
the disorganization of the Empire, had carefully fomented
and nourished all those intestine dissensions, till it had
succeeded in detaching a large portion of the Princes ofXVI
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
that body from the true interests of the House of Haps-
burg and their own. ■ Richelieu, while he remorselessly
trampled out in France every spark of civil and religious
liberty, intrigued with Baner and subsidized Mansfeldt.
In this fatal precedent the later Princes found a justifi-
cation for the relation in which they themselves and their
ministers stood to Louis XIV. And under these cir-
cumstances fully developed itself that germ of division
which has now blown out into full flower, in the spirit
of separation, which renders the idea of a “ German
unity” a mockery and a snare.
At the close of the Thirty Years’ War, Germany pre-
sented a spectacle which perhaps has never been paral-
leled in the history of civilized nations. Pestilence and
famine had done what the armies had left undone. Hu-
mane letters had ceased to be cultivated in the seats
where they had been most favoured; for law there had
been substituted brute force, for loyalty there was re-
bellion, for unity there was discord! Worst of all, the
German had learned to look to other countries than his
own for the principles of his political and social being.
And when the Peace came, it brought dismemberment
with it. This humiliation the Emperors had drawn upon
themselves by the war which they had provoked. They
had marched under the banner of Absolutism, and they
had seen the bonds of their legitimate authority loosened :
they had proclaimed the triumph of Roman Catholicism,
and they had been forced to submit to a very consider-
able confiscation of church property; and, as regarded
the “ stranger,” they had been driven to consent to the
cession of many provinces. By the eleventh article of
the Treaty of Munster, France became possessed of the
episcopal sees of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, of Upper andHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XVII
Lower Alsace, of the Siindgau, of Breisac, and of ten
Imperial Cities lying in Alsace. • It had obtained the
right to place a garrison in Philipsburg, of causing the
fortifications of Benfelden, Rheinau, Hohenhar, and Neu-
burg to be dismantled, and of extorting a pledge that
froni Basle to Philipsburg no fortress should be erected
on the banks of the Rhine. It had thus secured to it-
self a high-road into the heart of the Empire. On the
other hand, by the tenth article of the Treaty of Osna-
burg, Sweden appropriated to itself the Duchies of Bre-
men and Verden and the District of Willshausen, Hither
Pomerania and the Island of Rugen, a large portion of
Further Pomerania, and Wismar, Stettin, Gartz, Dam,
Golnau, and Wollin, with the Haff, as well as the har-
bours of Pene, Swine, and Diewenau; it had extorted,
in addition, a gratification of five millions of thalers.
The condition imposed upon it, of taking these lands as
a fief of the Empire, though it might soothe the vanity
of Csesar, made Sweden an Imperial estate, and held
out that possibility which was nearly realized, both in
the persons of Gustavus Adolphus and of Charles XII.,
of a King of Sweden becoming Emperor of Germany.
Although, as far as words could settle so important a
question, the religious differences were for awhile set to
rest, and the three Christian confessions, of Catholics,
Lutherans, and Calvinists, were placed upon a perfect
equality, there was but little hope that the provisions of
the treaty would be satisfactory to those most nearly
concerned. The details of administration were too va-
rious and too numerous, the transfers of property too
arbitrary, and too many questions were left to be decided
at a future period, for any real peace to be secured. The
Catholics had in fact reason to complain that they had
bxviii HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
come out of the affair the greatest sufferers; the Upper
Palatinate had been restored to the son of Frederick V.,
and an eighth Electorate created in the hands of a Pro-
testant Prince, which might give a preponderance to that
Confession in the Electoral College. Large sums were to
be provided for the satisfaction of his claims and those
of his brother, for the dowry of his mother, and the
portions of their unmarried sisters.* That the Emperor
and the Catholic Estates would submit to this humilia-
tion was hardly to be expected; and scarcely was the ink
dried with which the signatures were written, when a
system of evasion commenced, by which the great settle-
ment itself was attempted to be rendered nugatory in
many of its details. Too many conflicting interests had
to be reconciled; the great majority of the German
States stood towards one another in family and political
relations of the most complicated character; and these
had been thrown into almost irremediable confusion by
the events of the war.
In the theory of the German constitution, the settle-
ment of these various difficulties pertained of right to
the Emperor in his Aulic Council; but the ends and
objects of Caesar, which were never above suspicion, had
been shown of late in a way which justified the reluct-
ance of the Princes to place their interests in his hands.
Nor is it much to be wondered at, that men who had
tasted the delight of independence, and had learnt to
trust in their own forces and the influence of their al-
liances with the foreigner, should be little inclined to
defer to the pedantic deductions of the peruked jurists at
* To the brother, 400,000 thalers ; to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia,
20,000 thalers, and to each of her daughters 10,000 (about fifteen hun-
dred pounds).HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XIX
Regensburg. A civil war is always ruinous to a nation;
a foreign one may sometimes be a blessing, if it unites
and binds up together all the popular energies in one
great national cause. But this chance was not given to
Germany for more than a generation after the signature
of the Peace of Westphalia. And wdien, twenty years
later, the ambition of Louis XIV. again lit the flames of
war in Europe, the Empire itself took no decided and
positive part. In the meanwhile the Princes amused
themselves with learning and aping the manners of the
French Court, keeping up alliances (under which term
they understood the receiving of large pensions from
France), and establishing over their ruined and dispersed
subjects despotic rights of sovereignty which they had
never before possessed. The policy of Henry IV. of
France, which Richelieu had consistently pursued, aimed
at the humiliation of the Emperor, and the detaching of
Spain from the House of Austria. The Treaty of the
Pyrenees (November 7th, 1659), the fertile source of
future disturbances, was Mazariu’s corollary to his great
predecessor’s measures. But Germany looked on in
quiet; and even when Louis declared war against the
Estates-General, in order to punish them for entering
into the Triple Alliance, there was but a lukewarm assist-
ance afforded by the Princes of the Empire to the great
bulwark of Protestantism in Europe. Frederick William
'HI. of Brandenburg, whom history has indeed justly
surnamed “The Great Elector,” forms here a great and
glorious exception. Called to raise his little Principality
to the highest point of power, and to prepare its recep-
tion into the foremost rank among the dynasties of Eu-
rope,—wise in counsel, provident of means, intent upon
great ends, and well assured that the prosperity of the
b 2XX
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Prince can only consist with the prosperity of the people,
—he had succeeded in driving the Swedes from his neigh-
bourhood on the Baltic, in repressing the pretensions of
Poland, in restoring the material well-being of his Estates,
and in taking up the high position of the head of the Pro-
testant interest in Germany. It was related of him that
on the death of Michael, in 1648, he might have been
elected King of Poland, on condition of conforming to
the Roman Catholic dogma, but that he had answered,
“ At that price I would not even take the Empire of Ger-
many!” On the revocation of the Edict of Nantes he
offered a home and every assistance to the Huguenots
who suffered for conscience-sake. To his efforts it was
mainly due that France was, in 1678-9, compelled to
sign the Peace of Nimeguen, in which all the provisions
of the Peace of Westphalia were solemnly ratified, as an
integral and unchangeable part of the public law of
Europe.
The war which was thus closed had been in truth di-
rected against Holland and the Emperor, and for a long
while the Princes of the Empire, many of them in alli-
ance with France, affected to believe that it was no con-
cern of theirs. A less sensitive vanity than Louis XIV.’s
might well have taken umbrage at the position assumed
by the United Provinces at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle;
nor were in general the Princes much concerned either
in upholding the Calvinist Republicans, or strengthening
the hands of the House of Austria. But the Great
Elector saw further than his contemporaries, and judged
that the reduction of Holland was not the limit which
Louis proposed to his arms. Prussia itself belonged
indeed, not to the Lutheran, but the Calvinist (called
the Reformed) Confession, which in religious matters cor-HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXI
responded with that of Holland, and acknowledged the
Canons of the Synod of Dort. But neither this consi-
deration, nor the personal interests of the House of
Orange, with which he himself was nearly connected,
were his principal motives in taking an active part in
hostilities against France. He saw clearly that the po-
licy of that power was steadily directed against the Em-
pire, and he spared no pains to awaken the Princes to a
sense of their danger. He took the field himself, at the
head of the best troops then .existing in Germany ; and
when France, in order to recall him from the Rhine, let
loose her allies, the Swedes, upon him in his own states,
he commenced that series of skilful manoeuvres which
were crowned by his decisive victory at Fehrbellin. The
Peace of Nimeguen followed (1678-9). But even this,
however solemnly engaged, was not destined to be of
long duration. The claims which Louis put forward,
under the title of Reunions, soon called Europe again to
arms, and prepared those great events which changed
the succession in England, and were terminated only for
a time by the Peace of Ryswick.
During the whole of this period the relations of the
Princes of the Empire amongst themselves, and towards
the neighbouring States, were assuming the most com-
plicated aspect. The most of them had taken advantage
of the prostration in which the Thirty Years’ War had
left their subjects, to develope totally new principles of
internal government upon very despotic bases. In this,
as in many other of the less amiable parts of his charac-
ter, the French King was the model which they had pro-
posed to themselves for imitation. Many of them stood
openly in his pay, and, with their own connivance, their
Ministers were his pensionaries. All had reason more orXXII
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
less to dread the faithlessness of the Emperor, whose
ambition had shown itself not less dangerous to them
than that of the House of Bourbon. And the Protes-
tant Estates especially complained with justice of the
little regard that was paid to the most solemn provisions
of the Peace of Westphalia in their favour. But what
really rendered the Princes incapable of uniting for any
public purpose, either for the defence of their own liber-
ties against the House of Hapsburg, or to resist the
encroachments of that of Bourbon, were their own mi-
serable jealousies, and the quarrels which arose among
themselves, for the enjoyment of certain ranks and privi-
leges and the possession of certain disputed portions of
territory. To these ends the most of their policy was
directed, and with these objects they framed their alli-
ances. A slight and very rapid sketch of some of these
relations will assist the reader in forming a judgement as
to the distracted condition of politics in the largest part
of the continent of Europe. It must necessarily be ex-
tremely general, and touch merely the principal points,
without entering into details, for which there is here no
space; but I trust it will be sufficient to show with what
difficulties the vindicators of European liberty against
the encroachments of Prance continually had to contend.
It was in truth like weaving a rope of sand !
Although the battle of Fehrbellin* had rendered Swe-
den comparatively innoxious, the Great Elector still kept
a wary eye upon its movements. Sweden was engaged
in hostile relations to Denmark, and with Denmark
therefore Frederick William sought alliance; but Den-
mark had a fierce feud with Holland, and Holland was
the natural ally of Prussia. Here was one diplomatical
* In the March of Brandenburg; fought June 18th, 1675.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XX11I
combination, not easy to unravel: Hamburg presented a
second. Denmark had cast a wishful eye on that city,
which it longed to reduce to its own subjection, and to
this the Great Elector could not consent. Unhappily,
with a very justifiable instinct, Hamburg had shown no
very great desire to connect itself too closely with Bran-
denburg, but had preferred the friendship of its near
neighbours, the Dukes of Brunswick-Liineburg, whose
commercial policy was as liberal as it was profitable.
But these Dukes were looked upon with no friendly eye
by Prussia, which steadily set itself to oppose their ad-
vancing importance and rising dignity, and which had
serious disputes with them respecting the possession of
several valuable districts. Only on one great occasion
did Frederick William earnestly and cordially join in the
plans of Duke William of Zell. The support of William
of Orange, in his attempt upon England, was concerted
with that Prince, and was the last public act with which
the greatest of the Prussian rulers closed his long and
glorious life (April 24th, 1688). His son, who, even at
the moment of his accession to the Electorate, had pro-
bably conceived the design of converting his barret into
a Crown,* was indeed married to a daughter of the Duke
of Calemberg; f yet, in spite of this family connection,
it seemed on several occasions as if an armed collision
would be unavoidable. Peace was, it is true, with diffi-
culty preserved; but very many years elapsed, many
difficulties had to be overcome, and many concessions to
be made, before a tolerable understanding was re-esta-
blished between the families.
The House of Brunswick itself was irremediably di-
* Sir W. Colt was aware of this intention as early as Jan. 3, 1693.
t Sophie Charlotte, the pupil and friend of Leibnitz.XXIV
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
vided. After the ruin of the great Duke, Henry the
Lion, in the twelfth century, the various members of his
House, though always occupying a distinguished rank
among the German Dynasts, had still held but a second-
ary one. At this time they stood indeed at the head of
the College of Princes, but below that of the Electors.
Of the various branches into which the family was di-
vided, two wTere particularly distinguished,—the House
of Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel and that of Brunswick-Lune-
burg, and the latter was again divided into the lines of
Zell and Calemberg. Between both these branches, and
between these several lines also, there existed disputes
respecting portions of territory and revenue; and the
House of Wolfenbiittel saw, with undisguised alarm, the
growing power and wealth of its rivals in Liineburg.
An attempt to unite Wolfenbiittel and Zell, by the mar-
riage of the children, had failed, and had ended by draw-
ing together the Houses of Zell and Hanover. George
Louis of Hanover became the husband of his cousin, and
Duke George, having no male children, consented that
the much-coveted Electoral dignity should be conferred
upon his younger brother, and descend to his son-in-law,
and his child.* Under these circumstances, the Princes
* I have no doubt that this marriage was the bait which induced
Duke George to desist from the opposition to his brother’s promotion,
which he had at first resented as a personal affront. Sir W. Colt evi-
dently understood the matter so: he writes from Hanover, Aug. 6th,
1689, “ This Duke in a few days marches with betwixt 8 or 9000 men,
to joyn the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, in order to some
great designe with Prince Waldeck. The Emperor has summoned all
the Electors to meet him at Augsburg in September, in order to choose
his sou King of the Romans ; and this Duke has great hopes to be then
made the ninth Elector, this House and Cell being joyned by the mar-
riage of this Prince and that only daughter.” There is still a good deal
of obscurity about the attainment of this dignity by the House of Ha-HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXV
of Wolfenbiittel had allied themselves with Brandenburg
and Denmark, and above all things had sought the pro-
tection and accepted the subsidies of Prance. Nor had
Hanover itself decidedly thrown off its dependence upon
the last-named Power, till the hope of the electoral dig-
nity drove it to assume the party of the Emperor, and
nover. Spittler himself professes to be totally ignorant as to when the
idea first arose, or from what quarter. Like everything else connected
with the history of the Serene House, this has probably been intention-
ally involved in a very childish and unnecessary mystery. There was
nothing discreditable in aspiring to the dignity, and, for anything which
has yet transpired, nothing discreditable in the means employed to ob-
tain it. The House of Liineburg paid quite a sufficient price for the
favour. Frederick the Great, in one of his philosophical moods, sneers
at the whole transaction. He says (Mem. de Brand, i. 100): “Le Due
Ernest Auguste de Hanovre, beau-pere de Frederic III. (as Elector)
fournit de son cote a l’Empereur un corps de six mille hommes, pour la
guerre de Hongrie: et en recompense de ce secours, il obtint la dignite
electorate. La creation de ce neuvifeme electorat rencontra beaucoup
d’opposition dans l’Empire: il ne se trouva que les Electeurs de Bran-
debourg et de Saxe qui l’appuyerent; mais l’Empereur, qui avait besoin
de secours reels, ne crut pas les acheter trop cher en les payant par des
titres frivoles.’’ But what he says is incorrect in every respect. The
Elector engaged himself to a great deal more than to furnish 6000 men
on that occasion. His creation was warmly supported by William III.,
and the Electoral dignity was not a “titre frivole.” Mr. Macaulay is
nearly as incorrect in attributing everything in this affair to William of
Orange, as Frederick the Great is in leaving him entirely out of ques-
tion. There is no doubt that England did warmly support the preten-
sions of the House of Liineburg. At the same time, that House offered
a very tempting bribe, as will be seen from the terms of the Treaty, as
negotiated and concluded by the Hanoverian Minister, Otto von Grote.
The Houses of Zell-IIanover and Austria pledged themselves mutually
to support one another at all Diets and Conventions of the Empire, and
always to give the same votes, except in cases where the religion, the
national, or the private rights of the two Houses were concerned. The
readmission of Bohemia, in favour of the Emperor, was to be supported
in the Electoral College by Zell-Hanover ; and the vote of this Electo-
rate was for ever to be given to the eldest son of the Emperor, on the
election of a Eing of the Homans. For the Turkish war, then waging,
the Dukes were to give 500,000 rixdollars, and to march 6000 men intoXXVI
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
join in the great alliance against the disturber of Europe.
On September 6th, 1688, the Electress Sophia writes
these significant words to Leibnitz : “ On dit que Mr le
Prince d’Orange passera bientot la mer avec une flotte
formidable pour se rendre protecteur de la religion re-
formee en Angleterre. La Prance menace la Hollande
d’entrer avec f0 homines dans ses etats, si elle souffre que
le Prince d’Orange passe la mer avec une armee. Les
Dues de Celle et de Wolfenbuttel envoyent r| homines
aux Hollandois, Mr l’Electeur de Brandenburg leur en
fournit “, Mr le Landgrave y envoie du monde aussi.
Pour Hanovre, il attend, comme Jupiter en Lucien, la
fumee de quelque sacrifice, avec les bras croises, jusqu’a
ce qu’il lui conviendra de prendre une autre figure; car
il ne laisse pas de faire quelques levees pour empecher
la surprise.” The fumee which decided the German Ju-
piter was the Electorate. Anton Ulrich, Duke of Wolfen-
buttel, co-regent indeed with his brother Rudolph Au-
Hungary; from 2000 to 3000 ruen were likewise to be kept on foot
upon the Rhine, and Hanover pledged itself to stand by the Emperor
till the arrangement of a satisfactory peace. In any future war of the
Empire, the Dukes were to furnish, over and above their legal contin-
gent, 144,000 rixdollars yearly, or to send 2000 men, duly equipped, into
the field. In any war of the Emperor—in Hungary or elsewhere—
not affecting the Empire itself, the contingent might be left out, but
the other services were to remain the same. In return the House of
Austria was in time of need to assist the Dukes with 4000 men; and in
consideration of this Convention the Emperor consented to raise the
Dukedom of Hanover to an Electorate, and to use all his efforts to
cause the recognition of the new dignity by the other Electors and the
College of Princes. I have a very strong suspicion that the scheme of
the ninth Electorate had been originally entertained by William of
Orange before the invasion of England ; that it was intended to invest
Duke George of Zell with it; that this it was that rendered the preten-
sions of Ernest Augustus so galling, and that the marriage was devised
as the easiest way of reconciling the conflicting interests. But this is
only a supposition, for which I can offer no direct proof.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXV11
gustus, but in reality the director of the policy of the
State, was in many respects a distinguished and an
amiable Prince, but the position in which he stood to-
wards his relatives was a false one, and the whole course
of his policy was crooked and unpatriotic. The difficul-
ties of his situation are well set forth in a letter from Sir
*■ W. Colt, of January 3rd, 1693. He observes: “I do
not find them here in the same humour they were in soe
few days since; for now the Danes and the other Princes
ply them hard, and the Danish Resident, who went from
Cell without taking leave, is here; and the Duke tells
us many extraordinary stories, as that the Elector of
Brand, is soliciting the Empr to be made King of Prus-
sia, and that the new Elector is endeavouring to comand
the army on the Rhine, to wh he offers, they say, to join
10,600 men. ... In short, Sir, I am more apprehen-
sive of this Duke then ever I was, for the others carry
things high & he knows not how to trust them without
he comply more than he is willing to doe. Besides he
says the Empr offers to make him Grand Duke, but that
he will not quit the party of the Princes, who are resolved
to defend their libertys: however he continues his pro-
testations to have no other allyance but with Denmark
& Brandenburg, the latter of w11 he complains to have
been broken in 3 months after it was made. He alsoe
continues to swere that he hath never had the least
money from any person whatsoever, and that he will al-
ways doe his best for the common cause. Whilst others
say we must suspect all they say here, and it may be not
without reason. . . . The other point this Duke in-
sists on is that the Family Pact be renewed, and amend-
ment made, wh shall be necessary upon this new Electo-
rate, and that then the King of Denmark and the Elec-XXV111
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
tor of Brand, may be added in the mediation. I have
but to many reasons to think that the time hath been
neglected to regain this Duke, and that he is most cer-
tainly engaged with the Princes to oppose the new Elec-
torate, and that he is not at liberty to be reconciled with
his kinsmen, and that all his faire words are but to gain
time, for they absolutely refused the Bn Hecheren to part
with any of their troops, wh he offered to treat then for,
to remove all jealousys; to conclude they are in an evil
way, wh we have fully represented to them, and I hope
this Duke will not to much relye on Denmark, wh may
be his ruin, as he confessed.” But all his assurances
could not, and indeed did not, deceive those who had so
deep an interest in watching his movements. To the
very last he continued to support the intrigues of the
disaffected members of the Hanoverian family, to accept
the bribes and rely upon the protection of France, till, in
accordance with a plan drawn up by William III. him-
self, his cousins of Zell and Hanover suddenly marched
an army into his territories, seized upon his fortresses,
and disarmed his troops, and thus reduced him to a
state of quiet. Thus driven from politics, he devoted
himself to the literary pursuits which have earned for
him celebrity. The ponderous romances of which he is
the author contain a great many interesting details both
of the public and private events of the time, and many
valuable notices of historical personages introduced under,
fictitious names. He was a generous patron of the Arts,
and many of the splendid works which adorned the once
Ducal residence of Salzdahlen were procured by his taste
and munificence.
But long before these events the House of Liineburg
had become involved in an affair which threatened, notHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXIX
only to bring it into direct collision with Denmark and
Saxony, but to cause the utmost confusion in every part
of the Empire. The death, in 1689, of the last reigning
Prince of Saxe-Lauenburg without male heirs had called
forth a number of claimants, whose pretensions rested
upon details of the most complicated and conflicting
nature. Sweden, Denmark, Anhalt, the Electoral and
Ducal Houses of Saxony, the Dukes of Brunswick and
Mecklenburg, and a host of minor pretenders, announced
themselves. The Emperor would gladly have taken the
matter into his own hands, and given the fief, together
with the Princess of Lauenburg, to a Duke of his own
selection. On June 17th, 1690, Colt reports, “It is
now confidently written that the Emperor intends the
eldest Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg for the eldest Prince
Palatine, which will anger yet more the former pretender
I have mentioned.” But to these pretensions, and to an
attempted sequestration, all parties were alike adverse,
and some proceeded to assert their rights by vote de fait.
Saxony went indeed so far as to take legal possession
of Hadeln, by a formal act and notarial settlement; but
the Dukes of Brunswick-Liineburg, men wiser in their
generation, as Colonels of the Circle of Lower Saxony,
marched a body of troops into the Duchy, claimed it
for themselves, and began in all haste to fortify Ratze-
burg. Nor was it till after a military demonstration,
and its bombardment by the Danes, that they consented
to its dismantling, remaining however themselves in pos-
session till the right to it could be settled. The whole
progress of this affair, which, from the threatening cha-
racter which it assumed, was justly odious to William
III ., was so long a stumbling-block and stone of offence,
that it may be worth while to pursue it a little further.XXX
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
The only competitors of any real importance were the
Saxon Houses, Brunswick-Liineburg, Sweden, and Den-
mark, with the Gottorps. The right was clear in no one
claimant, and the title of all was for the most part de-
rived from very ancient and obscure periods. Sweden
however and Denmark soon found that they could esta-
blish no valid claim, and the two competitors that re-
mained were Electoral and Ducal Saxony on the one
hand, and Brunswick-Liineburg on the other. The Duchy
of Lauenburg was an original possession of the Billungs,
and had been inherited from them by the Guelphs. On
the ruin of Henry the Lion, it fell to the lot of Adolph of
Holstein, through whom it came to Denmark, and after-
wards to the Albertine line in Saxony. Upon this the
two Saxon Houses relied (although the Ernestine claimed
priority), as well as upon Imperial recognitions of the
years 1507, 1660, and 1687. They also relied upon
possession, which they took in legal form on September
26th, 1689, but which was de facto superseded by the
forcible entry of the Duke of Cell. The Dukes of Bruns-
wick derived their pretensions from Henry the Lion, by
right of conquest, and in virtue of a Pact made in 1389,
between Duke Eric of Saxe-Lauenburg, and Frederic of
Brunswick-Grnbenhagen. They were also in force upon
the spot. But if this claim were good, then Wolfen-
biittel shared in it, and accordingly Anton Ulrich de-
manded his proportion, as right descendant of the com-
mon ancestor, and first acquirer, Henry the Lion. The
justice of this claim was admitted; but by a Treaty be-
tween Dukes George William, and Rudolph Augustus
(April 23rd, 1703), Wolfenbiittel ceded all its rights, in
consideration of the settlement in remainder, a yearly
payment of 10,000 dollars, and the cession of a territoryHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXXI
of a certain stipulated value. To meet this last condi-
tion the district of Campen was assigned; but as Anton
Ulric refused to ratify his brother’s act, the Duke of Zell
placed himself by force of arms in possession of his pro-
perty. In 1706, however, Campen and a part of Gifhorn
were definitively ceded to Anton Ulric by George Louis,
and thus the claims of Wolfenbuttel were satisfied. The
greatest danger however arose from the side of Denmark.
That Power, which had many causes of dislike to the
House of Luneburg, could not for a moment endure the
erection of a fortress so near its frontier, and so well
adapted to render all its views upon Hamburg vain.
The Danes accordingly laid siege to Ratzeburg, and hos-
tilities commenced, whose results might easily have been
the total dissolution of the European alliances, had not
the Emperor, Holland, Sweden, Brandenburg, and Eng-
land, stepped in between the belligerents, and brought
about a peace, the principal provisions of which were,
that the fortifications of Ratzeburg should be razed, and
that Luneburg should remain in possession of the dis-
puted territory and rights, until the matter should be
settled by due course of law. In the meanwhile the
Saxon claimants were not idle: Frederic Augustus the
Elector not only formally protested against the occupa-
tion by Luneburg, but ordered his representatives in the
Diet to sit and vote for Lauenburg. However, as he
found the Emperor indisposed to take any steps which
might annoy the Princes of the House of Brunswick, and
was probably aware that the Emperor, Spain, England,
and Brandenburg, had joined in a guarantee that Lune-
burg should not be disquieted in its possession, dum in
agris agit foederatus exercitus, during the continuance of
hostilities with France, he thought it best to come to anXXX11
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
amicable arrangement. A compromise was agreed upon ;
Saxe-Zeiz ceded his rights to the Elector, who relinquished
them to Hanover, in consideration of a payment of six
tons of gold, of the reversion, on failure of the House of
Brimswick-Liineburg, and of a division of the titles,—
Saxony retaining the style of a Duke of Engern and West-
phalia, Hanover assuming that of Duke of Lauenburg,
together with a seat and vote in the College of Princes.
This Treaty, made in 1697, was ratified in 1716 by the
Emperor ; but it was only in 1720 that the sequestration
was taken off Hadeln, and that this Duchy was incorpo-
rated with Liineburg. I may just add that at the Con-
gress of Vienna, Lauenburg was ceded to Denmark, in
which it yet remains—the fertile source of future com-
plications. So much for the business of Saxe-Lauen-
burg, which, as the reader will see, was pregnant with
consequences of a much graver character than the inter-
ests in question seem at all to warrant.
I have spoken of the position of the Electors of Sax-
ony in respect to it, and shall have occasion hereafter to
enter into considerable detail with regard to Frederick
Augustus and the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden; but
there are still some observations which will perhaps bet-
ter be made here. The Electors of Saxony, at this time
among the wealthiest and most powerful of the German
Princes, had already begun to cast a wishful eye upon
a higher station, and to entertain hopes that upon the
next vacancy the Elective Crown of Poland might fall to
their share. This accession of dignity, which was attained
by Frederic Augustus, had, it appears, been already con-
templated by his brother and predecessor, John George
IV., and his ambitious mistress.* To this end they had
* See tlie account of the Countess of Eocklitz, p. 148.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. XXxiii
maintained alliances with Denmark, in consequence of
which, and of their imbroglio with respect to Lauenburg
and the county of Mansfeldt, they were no very sincere
well-wishers to the House of Liineburg. Like all their
neighbours, these Princes had been dazzled by the glare
of splendour which surrounded Louis XIV., and aped
in their own States the extravagant profligacy which
for many years distinguished the French Court. It is
not to be denied that in most of the German resi-
dences the mistresses played a part as important, and
ruled as despotically, as at Versailles itself; and in none
was their government more unabashed and scandalous
than at Dresden, especially during the reigns of John,
George IV., and Frederick Augustus. To supply their
extravagance, the Electors had also for a time consented
to be the subsidiaries of France; and when these bonds
were broken through, and they did finally consent to
join the Grand Alliance, their adherence was not secured
without heavy bribes to the women, who really disposed
of them and their resources. Sir William Colt gives
many amusing hints as to the mode by which the Coun-
tess of Itocklitz was brought over to the party of the
Allies; and at a later time, Stepney could not conceal his
alarm lest Marie Aurora von Konigsmark should force
Frederick Augustus into a war with Liineburg, to avenge
her own private wrong.* It was fortunafe that this dan-
gerous woman did not long retain her influence over a
Prince who, whatever other faults he may have had,
* “An intreaguing woman, the Countess of Konigsmark, who has al-
most as great credit as our last Countesse (viz. the Itocklitz), and who
is continually employing it towards stirring up a hold Prince to re-
venge.”—Stepney, Relation yg Mar. 169f ; Add. Mus. Brit. Mus. 9719.
fo. 74.
cXXxiv HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
never showed any want of personal courage or aptitude
for military adventure.
Thus divided by their interests and their jealousies,
the Princes of the Empire would probably at length have
succumbed to the dark but steady policy of the Imperial
Court. It might have been their fate to share the con-
dition of Bohemia and Hungary; but on the borders of
Austria itself was encamped a dangerous and ever watch-
ful foe, whose attacks were as terrible as they were in
general unforeseen, and whose very neighbourhood gave
continual employment to the Imperial Court and the
Imperial arms. The Turkish power was then not an
abstraction, tolerated upon calculations of European
policy, but a real, a threatening, and an active enemy.
Civilized Christian Europe still trembled, and not with-
out cause, at the terrible energy of the Mohammedan,
and the barbarians whom he dragged along with him in
his train. Although a series of reverses had somewhat
shaken the prestige of his earlier successes, the Turk was
yet felt to be formidable, both from his own internal
power, and for the support which he could always afford
to the populations of the Danube in their struggle against
the encroachments of Austria. More than one Hunga-
rian and Transylvanian, called a Rebel at Vienna because
he would not consent to sacrifice the ancient rights and
chartered privileges of his country, had uttered the cry
of despair,
“ Flectere si nequeo Superos, Aclieronta movebo,”
and had turned from the treachery of the Christian to
trust in the honour of Islam. Tokoli and Ragoczi had,
by the aid of the Sultan, carried terror to the heart of
the Emperor. As yet the dangerous enemy who was to
inflict its greatest humiliations upon the Turkish EmpireHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXXV
had hardly emerged from the barren steppes in which
he was forging the weapons for a future contest with
Europe: between the Russians and the Turks there still
remained boundary and barrier - nations unsubdued.
Then, if the Turk or Hungarian pitched his tents under
the walls of Vienna, it was Poland, not Russia,—Sobieski,
not Nicholas,—that saved it!
The enemies of Austria found a ready hearing at Con-
stantinople ; and even from the days of Prancis I. and
Charles V., an alliance with Turkey was one of the
means adopted in the policy of France to weaken and
embarrass its Imperial rival. It is true that the Vene-
tians still served in some respect as a bulwark of Chris-
tendom against the Infidel, and that the energies of the
Republic were more than once crowned with honourable
and deserved success. But Venice itself had passed the
culminating point of its prosperity, and its alliance was
not rarely felt as a severe drain upon the resources of the
Christian Powers. Its possessions in the islands and
on the continent of Dalmatia were a standing cause of
quarrel with Turkey, and a challenge to that haughty
Power, which led to almost interminable hostilities. On
this side, therefore, the pressure upon the Princes of
the Empire was somewhat lightened. The service of the
Emperor against the Turks became a service both of
honour and profit; Dukes and Princes held commands
in his armies, and, while they themselves learnt the art
of war, maintained their own forces in a state of effi-
ciency, which was no trifling guarantee of their own
independence. It was in this school that Montecuculi,
and Louis of Baden, and Eugene of Savoy, learnt those
lessons which they afterwards practised with such fatal
effect against another foe. Nor were the affairs of Italy,
c 2XXXVI
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
and the complicated interests of the Imperial House in
that country, without their influence in the relations of
the Emperor and the Empire; so that, upon the whole,
what could not be expected from Caesar’s honesty, might
ivell be the consequence of his embarrassed position.
It was quite clear that the days were gone by when the
Princes of Mecklenburg could be dispossessed and ruined
by a mere rescript of the Imperial Chancery, or when a
brutal Cuirassier like Pappenheim could hope to step
into the inheritance of the Dukes of Calemberg. At the
time indeed with which the following letters have imme-
diately to do, the tendency of power was rather in the
opposite direction. Pressed on every side by the diffi-
culties in which he was involved by his wars with Prance,
and in spite of the aid which he obtained from the mari-
time Powers, the Emperor was soon made to feel that he
could not stand alone without the active co-operation of
the Princes of the Empire. It is not much to be won-
dered at if these gladly seized the opportunity to make
their gain of his need. We may be well assured that it
was with no friendly eye that he beheld the elevation of
an Elector of Saxony to the throne of Poland,—with no
little reluctance that he consented to make an Elector of
Brandenburg King of Prussia, or to change the Duke-
dom of Luneburg into an Electorate. It was hardly
possible for him not to see that in these changes there
lay the germs of future convulsions, by which the con-
stitution of the Empire itself might be shattered; but
the private interests of the House prevailed over those
more distant ones of the body politic ■ and he who strove
to aggrandise himself at the expense of Bohemia and
Hungary and Italy, could hardly refuse the claim of his
instruments to aggrandise themselves in his service.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
xxxvn
Among the questions which at this time made any
settlement of the affairs of Europe difficult was one
which, although it did not seem to involve any great or
immediate interests of the Germanic body, really entered
more or less into nearly every diplomatical combination.
This was the affair of Holstein-Gottorp. Not that there
was really any great difficulty in it, or any such compli-
cation as might not very readily have been got rid of,
had there been any real desire to settle it justly and
fairly: but its existence offered too good an occasion to
Sweden to interfere in the affairs of Denmark, and to
keep that Power continually in disquiet, to be readily
relinquished; and it required years of hostilities and
negotiations, in which all the great Powers took a part,
before the question of sovereignty over two or three
petty districts was definitively arranged. Divested of all
extraneous matter, the question was simply whether the
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp was or was not to be an inde-
pendent Prince in the little territory which had become
the appanage of his family when the elder branch of it
ascended the throne of Denmark; or whether, as they
claimed at Copenhagen, he was to be considered as a
mere administrative officer of the Danish Crown. In
truth, at that time, as at present, Denmark felt the full
value of Holstein and Schleswig, and was prepared, as
we have lately seen it do, to vindicate its claim by right
of arms. But the House of Gottorp was closely con-
nected by marriage with the Crown of Sweden, and in
all its disputes with Denmark was perfectly sure of aid
from Stockholm. As long as this pierre d’achoppement
lay in the way, it was impossible that peace could be
made among the Princes of the Empire, many of whom
were engaged by their alliances on one or the other side.xxxvm
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
And as neither the Crown nor the Duchies would con-
sent to the intervention of the Emperor, as head of the
Empire, it was only by private mediation that the wished-
for accommodation could be brought to pass. Erederick
the Great resumes the question rapidly, but in the main
correctly. He says, 1687 : “ Le Nord fut sur le point
d’etre trouble inopinement par les differends que le Roi
de Danemark eut avec le Due de Gottorp, touchant la
Paix de Roeskilde, par lequel le Roi de Suede, Charles
Gustave, avait procure a ce Due l’entiere souverainete de
ses Etats: les Danois, en haine de cette Paix, chasserent
ce Prince du Schleswig, et declarerent qu’ils etaient resolus
de conserver la possession de ce Duche comme celle du
Danemark meme. L’Empereur Leopold voulut se meler
de ces differends; mais le Roi de Danemark ne con-
sentit a s’en remettre de ses interets qu’entre les mains
de l’Electeur de Brandebourg. On tint des conferences
a Hambourg et a Altona; Frederic V. offrit au Due de
Gottorp de lui ceder de certains comtes dont les produits
egaleraient les revenus du Schleswig, a l’exception de la
souverainete; le Due refusa ces offres.”—Mem. de Brand.
(CEuv. vol. i. 89.) By the good offices of the Great
Elector a peace was brought about, under the guarantee
of England, Sweden, Holland, and Liineburg. This,
which is called the Peace of Altona, was signed in 1689,
and confirmed all the provisions of the Treaties of Roe-
skilde, Copenhagen, and Westphalia, in favour of the
Duke.
There was indeed at the period of which we treat no
quarter from which more real dangers threatened, than
from the Scandinavian kingdoms, and the policy they
seemed disposed to follow in the great struggle which
impended. Sweden, it must be remembered, was stillHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
XXXIX
in possession of great provinces upon the continent of
Europe; its troops were justly reckoned among the best
in existence; it had Generals long trained to great mili-
tary enterprises, and statesmen than whom none were
more profoundly versed in all the political interests of all
the European Courts. The so-called Reduction had not
yet borne its bitter fruits, but it had amassed enormous
wealth in the hands of the King; so that it was by no
means a matter of small importance into which scale the
influence of Sweden should be thrown. And Denmark,
although much weakened by its unsuccessful contests
with its Gothic neighbour, and certainly incapable of
making head against its armies, was still strong by its
insular position, and the possession of a very well-ap-
pointed fleet, which no race in Europe knew better how
to use. In the early part of 1693 this armament
amounted to very nearly 600 guns, without reckoning
the privateers which could be sent out from every Da-
nish port at short notice.* What was to prevent these
Powers from clubbing their forces together, bringing
the Princes of the Empire over to their side, and thus
forming a tiers parti, or neutral party, which would give
its own laws to the belligerents ? The idea was by no
means a vague one, nor was it at all devoid of plausi-
bility. It was one moreover which, in the then temper
of Europe, had great right to be popular. No English-
man now will hesitate for a moment to admit that the
triumph of the Grand Alliance over France was a bless-
ing for the world, and the salvation of England itself,
* Under date May 3rd, 1693, I find the following list of the “ ships
newly fitted out at Copenhagen—The Swan, 66 guns; Guldenlew, S2;
Carlotta Amalia, 64; Schleswik, 50; Neptune, 44; Delmenhorst, 44;
Oldenburg, 50; Swerdfisk, 44; Angel, 44 ; Tumbler, 42; Phsenia, 22 ;
Pacant, 20; SwEerman, 18 ; and Crown, a yaeht, 24; in all, 584 guns.xl
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
and air that her sons think worth living for; but it is
not at all so clear that this was the universal view at that
time. It mattered very little to Sweden and Denmark,
and not a great deal to Saxony or Liineburg or Bran-
denburg, whether the Dutch Stadtholder should be King
of England or not. It is very probable that the Scan-
dinavian kingdoms were never carried away by the po-
pular bugbear of Louis’s Universal Monarchy, and, as
Leibnitz expresses it in one of his letters, thought France
was “ a long way off.” To go to war with Louis was
to give up advantageous commercial relations, in which
especially the Danish nobles were extensively engaged.
Neither Denmark nor Sweden had any great love for the
DutchSweden had no great l’eason to care for the
House of Austria, or make sacrifices in its favour. On
the other hand, neutrality would allow them to husband
their resources for future emergencies; nay it might
bring into the Baltic ports a profitable share of the car-
rying trade, which the Dutch would fain have monopo-
lized. Above all, it promised, if skilfully used, to place
the heads of the tiers parti in a position to give the law
to all parties, when exhaustion and mutual injuries had
done their work. It is impossible to say that this was
an unfair mode of reasoning, or that such a policy was
not recommended by many strong considerations. Sel-
fish no doubt it was; but those who believe the game of
politics to be otherwise at any time, have read no history
but that of Utopia.
The Electors, it is true, were in more immediate dan-
ger from France; and it may be said that the mere in-
stinct of self-preservation ought to have rallied them,
without hesitation, to the Grand Alliance, and deterred
them from giving ear to the proposals of Sweden andHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
xli
Denmark; but even this is not very clear now, and was
very much less so then. If they were to be dependent
upon somebody,—in other words, upon the Grand Alli-
ance, the tiers parti, or the King of Prance,—it is not
at all obvious that the first was the most secure and pro-
fitable condition. As to Protestantism, for its own sake,
there could be no superabundant enthusiasm; the Ger-
man Princes were not by any means so securely grounded
in their faith, as to stand very firm when apostasy offered
any considerable contingent advantages. John Frede-
rick of Hanover, Rudolph Augustus and Anton Ulric of
Wolfenbiittel, became Roman Catholic; so did Prederick
Augustus of Saxony, for the sake of the Polish Crown:
so had Edward, Palatine of Simmern, Maximilian Wil-
liam of Brunswick, and a score of others done. As to
the interests of Holland, which of course were dear to
the Prince of Orange and the Elector of Brandenburg,
how could they immediately -affect the calculations of
any one else ? The Princes had got on very well for
centuries while Holland was a province of Spain, and
might have gone on quite as well with Holland a pro-
vince of Prance. They certainly had no personal liking for
the proud, repulsive, overbearing Republicans, of whose
wealth and prosperity they were jealous, whose politics
they characterized, with some reason, as unscrupulous,
whose form of government they detested, and with whose
religion they could not be reconciled. It must not be
forgotten that a Lutheran will in general find it easier
to agree with a Roman Catholic than a Calvinist in point
of doctrine; in some respects he stands in a similar
position towards the members of the Anglican Church;
and both on this score, and on some grounds which are
found to prevail at almost all periods of history, thexlii
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
majority of German Princes were not very likely to care
what became of England. It was always a matter of
doubt whether Louis or the Emperor and his Allies would
ultimately prevail: it was only certain that both sides
would come out of the struggle much less formidable
than at its commencement; and the doctrine of the
Princes was not at all unreasonable, that Caesar’s loss
was their gain. If they were appealed to in the name of
loyalty, they had a ready answer: Loyalty begets loyalty!
If they were threatened with the overgrown power of
Prance, they could reply, that it could never be more
dangerous to them than the duplicity and ambition of
Austria.* But if they could have found a sufficient sup-
port in a League, at the head of which one of the princi-
pal Lutheran Princes stood, and thus established a great
Protestant Power in the North of Germany, who shall
say that they would not have done what was after all
the best for Germany itself? Or is there any sane man
now who believes that this separation must not one day
come, and on the same ground of religious difference ?
It is, as I have said, eminently fortunate for us that
the Princes did not carry out this plan, which might so
far have saved Prance as to change the whole after-
current of English history. The only great man among
them was the Elector of Brandenburg: on private as
well as public grounds he was the firm friend of Holland
and its Stadtholder; and although he died before the
* They did hold this language. The Elector of Saxony told Colt, in
February, 1693, that “ it was equall to him whether he was a slave to
the Emperor or France.’' A little later, Cressett writes to Lexington,
“ The German Princes say the House of Austria is already as dangerous
to them and their liberty as the House of Bourbon. Your lordship
will think this odd language, but ’tis what I hear every day.”—Lexing-
ton Papers, p. 73.HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
xliii
Grand Alliance was definitively formed, yet his principles
of policy were maintained and carried out by the Danc-
kelmanns, Schmettaus, Fuchses, and other Ministers who
had grown up in his school; so that, in spite of every
difficulty, the great politicians who ruled at the Hague
and in London did succeed in forming the League which
brought down the grey hairs of Louis in sorrow and ig-
nominy to the grave, but which perhaps destroyed for ever
the chance of creating a powerful and united Germany.
I have now sketched, though in a very slight manner,
the principal features of this troubled period, as far as
they are necessary for the due comprehension of the
Letters which follow. It would have been ridiculous to
attempt a detailed account of any one of the many im-
portant questions which were raised, or any closer de-
scription of any one of the great interests at stake; but
still a few words of explanation seemed necessary, to lead
the Reader to the meaning and significance of much that
is merely indicated, and often intentionally involved in
mystery. Nor have I thought it necessary to enter into
any inquiry respecting the state of moral and mental
culture at this time. It is indeed a subject of surpass-
ing interest; but it demands a much more earnest and
serious treatment than could be given to it within the
limits of this Introduction. The Reader will find a good
deal in the letters which will throw light upon it; only
let him carefully bear in mind the fiery furnace through
which a whole generation had passed, and remember
that he is moving on a path which is on every side en-
cumbered with ruins. A good deal of information, which
it was not possible to introduce into this preliminary
part of my Work, will be found in the biographical notes
which here and there accompany the Correspondence.xliv
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
It remains only to say a few words respecting the
State Papers and Letters here collected and given to the
Public. The greater number of them are found among
Leibnitz’s correspondence, preserved in Hanover; but
several have been derived from other sources, of which
the letters and Relations of Sir W. Colt and G. Stepney,
now in the British Museum, may particularly be men-
tioned : a very few have also been derived from printed
books, not generally known or accessible in this coun-
try. Nearly all the originals are written in French, and
have therefore been translated into English. Although
my renderings give back the sense of the originals, I
will venture to say, with very tolerable accuracy, I must
lament that much of the character of the letters is lost
in this process of transfusion. On this account, where
this character was of more moment than the positive
historical facts,—where, in short, the manner was more
noteworthy than the matter contained in a letter,—-I
have generally left it untranslated. This is the case with
nearly all the correspondence of the Princes and Prin-
cesses of the Electoral House of Hanover. It must be
confessed that it is absurd enough to find oneself com-
pelled to reduce to English letters written by Englishmen
in French,—in other words, to put into their mouths
words which they themselves would not have used; but
I am told that English gentlemen of education cannot
or will not read French. I presume however that an
attentive reader will not fail to perceive the difference
between the letters written originally in English and
those which I have transplanted from another tongue.
Here and there I have added Biographical Notices,
which might serve to illustrate the history—and espe-
cially the family relations—of the period which the cor-HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
xlv
respondence comprises ; and a complete Index renders
reference to every name mentioned in the Letters easy.
According to the original plan, the Work would have con-
tained a very much greater number of these documents,
and several more biographical sketches, which have been
necessarily omitted, in order to bring the collection within
the compass of a single volume. This must explain a
certain want of balance visible in the Letters. In conse-
quence of this change of plan, several documents have
now become superfluous, which would have been other-
wise duly in their places.
I am aware that it is not the present fashion to like
what are called “ the Materials for History,” and that in
general we prefer to take our history ready made. The
plan is no doubt a convenient one, and spares trouble;
but whether it is the most conducive to the discovery
and establishment of truth, may be doubted. More than
one work of good repute, in these days, might be named,
which would have assumed other proportions, had a due
study of historical materials either preceded its composi-
tion, or been likely to expose its deficiencies. But this
evil tendency of our light literature does not dispense
those who have been educated in a different school from
doing what they believe to be necessary for the honest
pursuit of historical truth. Bor my own part, I do not
regret that the fear of finding very few readers did not
for a moment cause me to waver in compiling the Anglo-
Saxon Charters ; and I feel daily that the wide use made
of that Work fully justifies all the labour bestowed upon
it. Who is there who will say that Ellis’s Letters, or still
older collections, such as Macpherson’s, are not indispen-
sable contributions to historical science ? Or who will
undervalue the admirable publications of similar mate-xlvi
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
rials, which have been produced in France, both by the
industry of private inquirers, and the active interference
of the Government ? There is nothing which can more
clearly prove the want of some such complete collection
than the shortcomings of some of our most celebrated
modern histories, when they deal with the Continental
relations between the Thirty Years’ and the Seven Years’
Wars. Nothing has tended to put certain portions of
English history in a clearer light than Mr. Bruce’s late
most interesting revelations respecting Charles the First.
It is often said, that the labour of reading such do-
cuments may be left to the professed historian, and that
the public has nothing to do but with his results. The
proposition is one that cannot lightly be agreed to. Not
only is it possible that two persons may take different
views of the same passage; but every conscientious stu-
dent knows that at different periods, and under different
circumstances, he takes different views himself. Let any
one compare his own quotations on any given point with
the originals, after an interval of years, and I think he
will understand me. He will find, to his surprise, and,
if an honest man, to his dismay, how often what once
seemed clear as day has become indefinite and doubtful;
how what once appeared positive proof dwindles down
into probability, or ceases to have any relation to the
exact matter which it was supposed to illustrate. This is
the especial danger which we run if we neglect to verify
all passages abstracted by us, and separated from the
context, before we build up our theories upon them. And
even at the very best, man is not infallible, and two pair
of eyes will often see better than one, however practised
the vision of the one pair may be. Where the docu-
ments themselves are accessible, all the world is madeHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
xlvii
the judge of the care, the qualifications, and the con-
science of the writer that uses them: he works in broad
daylight, and all his neighbours can tell whether he does
his work like an honest man. None but a dishonest
workman, one should think, would wish to labour in
darkness; and none but a very weak thinker would de-
sire to surrender his judgement, in implicit reliance upon
the all-sufficient qualifications of another.
Though much has been done of late for the history of
Europe between 1630 and 1800, very much still remains
to be done, before we can form a clear picture of the
stupendous movement which has been, and yet is, going
on. The public acts alone, of Sovereigns or Generals or
Statesmen, will not teach us all; still less will their public
manifestoes and diplomatical relations do this. To know
what they really are about, we must be with them in the
privacy of their closets, and listen to the secret revela-
tions which they reserve for their confidants. Corre-
spondence is the most important material for modern his-
tory, as it is for ancient—when we can get it. The letters
of the Popes teach us much more than the decrees of
Councils; we learn more of Becket from John of Salis-
bury’s correspondence than from a dozen editions of the
‘ Quadrilogus.’
I hope therefore that this small contribution to the
history of the last years of the seventeenth and first of
the eighteenth century, will not be altogether without its
value. It shows us many persons who occupied an im-
portant place in the European councils of the time, in a
more familiar light than the mere general histories have
done. However imperfect, it still contains some new
matter, which is valuable to him who would appreciate
the spirit and tendencies of the times, and which helpsxlviii HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
to place more immediately before us the modes of thought
and action of those who moved at the head of them. In
one respect particularly this collection of letters seems to
me to deserve the attention of thinking men, and most
of all, those who have studied the philosophy of the
eighteenth century. They contain traits for a picture of
one of its great heroes. They supply a good deal of
illustration of one side (hitherto little noticed) of a great
man’s character. We have seen abundant materials for
a life of Leibnitz as Jurist, Mathematician, Historian,
Philosopher, and Theologian ; but we see him here, nearly
for the first time, as Politician, Courtier, Gentleman, and
accomplished man of the world. It was due to his me-
mory that this slight reparation should be made him by
a fellow-countryman of those who have never shown a
disposition to do him the justice he deserved. I can
only lament that the limits imposed upon me have pre-
vented its being more extensive and ample.
J. M. K.
November \hth, 1856.STATE PAPEES AND LETTEES,
FROM
THE REVOLUTION TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT.
DE K^BENAC.
Francois Du Pas, Marquis de Feuquieres, was the second
son of Isaac, a soldier and diplomatist of reputation, by
Anne Louise, daughter of Antoine Due de Grammont.
With his wife he took the county of Rebenac in Bearn,
and from that time forth styled himself Seigneur de Re-
benac. He entered the diplomatic service of France, and
was employed as Envoy to the Northern Courts, and to
those of Brunswick-Liineburg and Brandenburg. In 1683
he was resident at Vienna, where, by awakening the jea-
lousy of the Emperor, he had the address to prevent that
Prince’s acceptance of 18,000 men, offered by the “ Great
Elector” for his service against the Turks and Hungarians.
In 1685 he was despatched to Berlin, to remonstrate with
Frederic William upon the countenance given in Branden-
burg to the expatriated Huguenots. Subsequently De
Rebenac was Envoy to Spain, to Savoy and other Italian
States, and in 1692 he was employed at Rome to alarm
the Pope as to the Emperor’s designs upon Italy, in which
missiou he met with success. His famous speech to His
Holiness against the Emperor’s Alliance with William III.,
B2
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
and that King’s pretended views upon the Italian States,
produced a clever answer, published at Cologne, under
the title ‘ Reponse a un Discours tenu a Sa Saintete, par
M. de Rebenac, Envoye du Roy tres Chrestien.’
De Rebenac was born in 1650 and died in 1695.
De Ealaiseau was a Ereuch refugee, who probably left
France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He
was employed in the diplomatic service of Prussia, and
resided for some time as Councillor of State and Envoy
Extraordinary at the Court of Stockholm, from whence
he kept up an active correspondence with Danckel-
mann, Fuchs, and Schmettau. He was one of the Com-
missioners of Mediation, together with Fuchs and Lord
Lexington, in 1692, to settle the quarrel between the
King of Denmark and the Princes of Liineburg respect-
ing the fortifications of Ratzeburg. De Falaiseau ap-
pears at a later period to have left the Prussian service
and retired to England. In 1706 he accompanied the
Earl of Halifax (together with the Earl of Dorset and
Mr. Addison) on that nobleman’s mission to Hanover, to
present the Acts of Succession and the insignia of the
Garter: after this period I have lost sight of him. De
Rebenac’s letter obviously refers to the confiscation of
De Falaiseau’s property in France, and a plan devised to
save at least a portion of it for him.
l.J De Rebenac to De Falaiseau.
Berlin, 12tli April, 1686.
Sir,
I have seen, Sir, by the letter which you do me the honour
to write, how much confidence you arc pleased to place in my
friendship. I shall begin by strengthening you in an opinion
in which you appear to me persuaded, namely, that you willDE HOVERBECK TO DE FALAISEAU.
3
have no reason to complain of having opened yourself to me,
even if a thousand times as much were at stake as you know
what. All that remains is, that I should have the means of
serving you, and of setting about it in a useful way. Write to
me, I beg, all the circumstances of your affairs, without how-
ever discovering your effects to me or the place where they
are, but only their nature, that I may take the proper mea-
sures. For some time past the King has shown a wish to do
me a favour, and by his commands my friends are looking out
for an occasion for it. If your effects are concealed and are
not discovered by the King’s officers, I will apply for the con-
fiscation of them for myself, and I will deal with you in the
manner that you desire. Besides my word of honour which
I give you upon it, and which, as far as I am concerned, would
be the best assurance, I should be ready to give you others,
even if it went as far as furnishing security. I do not offer to
ask the confiscation for myself, and give it back to you entire.
In that case I should be deceiving the King, against whose in-
tentions I should be acting, and I should be doing myself con-
siderable wrong, inasmuch as I should be rendering the good-
will of my master towards myself of no effect. I do not think
you will disavow me in this. But I will content myself with
what you mention, and in short I will deal in the whole matter
in a way to satisfy you. I await your answer, Sir, in order to
take my measures, and I will act in the rest of the affair in
concert with M. de Fuchs, to whom you and I shall be obliged
to mark our gratitude. I am, Sir, with all the esteem and
passion imaginable, etc. etc.,
Rebenac.
2.] De Hoverbeck to De Falaiseau.
Copenhagen, 28th January, 1687.
Sir,
As the present season is in every respect the most barren
of the whole year, so is it also in news, and more so here
than in any other place in Europe. Nothing is talked of
B 24
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
but hunting-parties, games, and other amusements of the sort,
so that they seem to me quite to have forgotten business.
That of Gottorf is the only one which now and then gives us
something to talk of, and particularly with respect to the Me-
diation, which several powers have offered to the King. They
have accepted that of his E. H. our master and that of the
Elector of Saxony, which he offered by an express letter, in
which he followed the example of his E. H. of Brandenburg.
The Dukes of Zell and Hanover have indeed done the same,
but without similar success. By order of his E. H. I have
made several instances and remonstrances, in order to induce
this Court to accept their good offices with regard to the pro-
posed treaty for the settlement of the difficulties of Holstein,
but without being able to prevent their meeting with refusal,
as you will perceive by the annexed copy which one of my
friends has communicated to me. The representations which
M. de Smettau, in pursuance to his orders, made to the King
and his ministers at Gottorf touching the interposition of the
Emperor, were of such weight, that they caused the resolution
to admit the ministers of the Emperor to the negotiation of
the Treaty. And since, they have repeated the same declara-
tion to me, on condition however that the Emperor should
offer his mediation ultro, as the Electors of Brandenburg and
Saxony have done; so that the said treaty should have no
resemblance to a commission of the Emperor, which would
only confirm the opinion which some people entertain that
the differences of Holstein depend upon bis conusance. And
as they appear here to wish that the Court should be informed
of tbis resolution by the minister of his E. H., in order that
in the com'se of his notification he may lead it and dispose
it to conform to the same, his E. H. has sent the necessary
orders to M. Canitz, who, as you know, Sir, is at present at
Vienna, and we must wait to see what effect they will pro-
duce. People have thought that Lieutenant-General Geise
would make some difficulties in returning to this country and
remaining in the service of the King, after they had come to
the resolution of giving the command of the troops to GeneralDE FUCHS TO DE FALAISEAU.
5
Ahrendorff; but a day or two ago he wrote to the King, and
declared he had no objection to put himself under M. d’Ahren-
dorff’s orders in case of their taking the field together, if he
he only allowed to keep his government of Holstein and the
command there as he has hitherto had it. And since the King
has granted him this favour, it is supposed he will make all
the haste he can to Gliickstadt for the purpose of taking pos-
session of his charge. And it will be then also, that the Com-
missioners will be sent there, to make, in conjunction with
him, an inquiry into the condition of the artillery. This, Sir,
is all I have to tell you at this time, except that I am, etc. etc.,
D’Hoverbeck.
Paul Fuchs, the writer of several subsequent letters,
was born in 1640 at Stettin, where his father was prin-
cipal preacher and Superintendent, an office resembling
that of a bishop. He studied at the Universities of
Greifswald, Helmstadt, and Jena, travelled, and then
practised as an Advocate in Berlin. In 1667 he was
called to fill a Professor’s Chair at Duisburg; in 1670 he
became private Cabinet Secretary to the Great Elector,
and in 1674 Privy Councillor. In 1700 he was ennobled,
and four years later died in possession of the post of
Minister of State and at War in actual service. So much
from Biilau, ' Geheime Geschichten,’ etc., vol. iii. p. 73.
But from this letter it would seem that Fuchs assumed
the noble von or de as early as 1688.
3.]
De Fuchs to De Falaiseau.
Sir,
Berlin, %gg,108t.
This is only to tell you that your relation of the of March
has been received, that your reasoning on the subject of Pro-6
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
testantism is found to be very just, that it is much approved
of, and that an answer will not fail to be sent to you by the
first ordinary, in expectation of hearing further from you on
the subject. The news which I am about to tell you will no
doubt surprise you extremely; that is, the unexpected death of
our generous Margrave Louis : he fell sick die palmar um, which
was a sacrament day, at which he attended with extraordinary
piety. The disorder seized him with vomiting and pains of
the stomach and in the belly; it was thought it was a colic,
lie lasted a week in this way without fever, and without any
one’s entertaining any alarm, and died all at once the second
day of Easter. At the opening of the body, which was done
by the express orders of his E. H., and against the wishes of
the deceased, certain signs were found, which make us trem-
ble, and judge that the illness of the Electoral Prince was
not more natural, and that he was marked out for the same
fate, from which God has preserved us. Their E. H. are in-
consolable ; and you may judge what our state is, who dread
that the authors of a crime so execrable and hitherto so un-
known in Germany will not stop here. I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
De Fuchs.
Addressed to M. de Falaiseau, Councillor of State to his
E. H. of Brandenburg, and his Envoy Extraordinary to the
Court of H. M. the King of Sweden, at Stockholm.
4.J De Fuchs to Db Falaiseau.
Berlin, March W 1688.
Sir,
You will receive annexed an instruction in the matter of
Holstein, which will appear to you somewhat novel, but which
has been well digested and subsequently projected by myself.
It is clear that in no other way shall we ever come to an un-
derstanding in this great affair. There will still be many dif-
ficulties in persuading Denmark to this restitution of the Go-
vernment of Gottorf, but it must be tried. I am well awareSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
7
that Sweden will not be pleased to see the Duke accept the
counties, it being her object by the restitution of all Schleswig
to have him put in a position to oppose himself to Denmark,
and unite himself with her. But this is not the interest of
the neighbouring States, who desire the preservation of peace;
nor of the Duke himself, who would find himself again plun-
dered of his estates before he had an opportunity of putting
himself in a state of defence, or the Swedes could come to his
assistance. I beg you to take this affair to heart, which, if it
should happen to produce a war, would be the total ruin of
the Protestant party, and would give France the Empire. On
this account we must endeavour to take the best means we
can to parry so fatal a blow. I shall set out in a week for
Hamburg. I entreat you to inform me by every ordinary, of
what takes place in this affair, for it is the last attempt which
his E. H. will make for an amicable arrangement. I trust to
your prudence, and that you will propose matters in such a
way that no suspicion shall be entertained of the good and
upright intentions of his E. H. I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
De Fuchs.
SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER: DUCHESS OF
BRUNSWICE-LUNEBURG.
Sophie, Princess of the Palatinate, for whom Providence
had in store that great and noble destiny to become the
source and original of our English Kings, was the twelfth
child and fifth daughter of Elizabeth Stuart and Frede-
rick, Elector-Palatine, the weak prince who accepted a
crown he could not keep. At the time when she first
saw the light, the fortunes of her House were reduced to
the lowest ebb. Driven from Bohemia by the arms of
Tilly, the son-in-law of James the First saw himself de-
prived of his Electorate, and banished from Germany.
Persecuted by the Austrian party, against whom he could8
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
not make head, and deserted by those whom he had
brought into danger, but had not the energy to save,
bankrupt at once in character and means, he was con-
tent to prolong an ignoble and uneasy life, under the
weak and selfish patronage of Sweden, or on the alms,
and under the protection, of the proud and intolerant re-
publicans of Holland. From his father-in-law Frederick
could hope no aid; the vassal of Spain was not allowed
to have any tenderness for the enemy of Austria: and
the deprived and despised King of Bohemia died about
the commencement of those wars which cost his brother-
in-law, the second Stuart, his throne and head, leaving a
large family of children utterly without provision for the
future. The elder brothers and sisters of Sophie were :
1. Henry Frederick, who at the early age of six years,
in 1620, was designated King of Bohemia, by the Estates
of that kingdom, together with his father. He is said
to have been a prince of good promise, but died without
finding any opportunity of displaying his qualities, having
been drowned, while yet very young, upon the coast of
Holland. He had gone out from Haarlem to visit some
Spanish galleons: a large vessel at full sail, during the
night, ran down the ship on board of which he was, and
he perished, together with the whole crew.
2. Charles Louis, born in 1617, died in 1677, had in
1650 the good fortune to recover the dignity and estates
which his father had forfeited. Of his daughter, Eliza-
beth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans, I shall speak here-
after.
3. The third child, Elizabeth of Bavaria, was perhaps
the most learned woman of her day, a time when very
extensive learning was by no means a rare feminine ac-
complishment. Her passion for Descartes and his phi-SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
9
losophy lias given her an imperishable name: Europe
was astonished to behold a beautiful and high-born lady
mastering the profoundest problems of metaphysical and
mathematical thought, at an age when most other women
think only of pleasing; but she was mistress also of six
languages, and was as conversant with lighter literature
as with the severe studies which excited the wonder of her
contemporaries. “ Dans son enfance,” says M. Thomas,
in his Eloge de Descartes, “ sa mere lui avait appris six
langues. Elle possedait parfaitement les Belles Lettres.
Son genie la portait aux sciences profondes. Elle etudia
la philosophie et les mathematiques. Mais des que les pre-
miers ouvrages de Descartes tombereut entre ses mains,
elle crut n’avoir rien appris. . . . Descartes lui trouva
un esprit aussi facile que profond. En peu de temps elle
se trouva au niveau de sa geometrie et de sa metaphy-
sique. Bientot apres Descartes lui dedia ses Principes.
II la felicite d’avoir su reunir tant de connaissances, dans
un age ou la plupart des femmes ne songent qu’a plaire.”
One princess had resigned a throne on the pretext of de-
voting herself more freely to a life of philosophical ease :
Elizabeth, who was a better philosopher than Christina,
refused to accept one on similar grounds. Ladislas,
King of Poland, after the death of his first wife, Renee
Cecile of Austria, was an unsuccessful suitor for her hand.*
A terrible event in her house drove Elizabeth from her
mother’s protection. Scandal accused a French gentle-
man, named De l’Epinay, of too intimate relations with
the widow of the King of Bohemia, f Her son Philip
avenged the honour of his family by an assassination, to
which Elizabeth either was, or by her mother was be-
* Ermann, Mem. de Soph. Charlotte, p. 8.
f Mem. de Du Maurier, p. 265.10
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
lieved to be, privy.* Some men called it a duel, which
it was not; others said it was chance-medley. The Queen
believed the daughter to be of counsel with her son. De-
prived of her home, and without the means of support-
ing her rank, the Princess wandered from place to place,
sometimes finding a temporary refuge with her brother
at Heidelberg, or his wife’s family at Hesse Cassel; till
at last a permanent provision was made for her in the
Abbey of Hervorden. Here she resided till her death in
16S0, when she had attained the age of sixty-one. At
Hervorden, Elizabeth is said to have founded a sort of
Academy of Philosophy, over which she presided; and
divided her leisure hours between squabbles with the
municipality of the town, and the half-crazy speculations
of mystical sectaries. Here she continued also to cor-
respond with Descartes until his death, which occurred
more than thirty years before her own. The letters in-
terchanged between these two profound but strange
thinkers, however interesting in one sense, are not such
as to find a place in this collection. Those, on the other
hand, addressed to her brother Charles Louis of the Pala-
tinate, are neither of an interesting nor scientific charac-
ter; referring in general to family disputes about the pro-
perty she believed herself entitled to claim from him; or
complaining of the short quantity, or poor quality, of the
wine which the owner of the vineyards of Deidesheim and
Porst supplied for the use of his sister’s table. No other
* Ermann observes, that this fact, if the tale be true, would help to
complete the parallel between Elizabeth and Christina, and form a pen-
dant to the murder of Monaldeschi. But the Princess of the Palatinate
was a much more reputable personage than the Ex-Queen of Sweden ;
and the death of De l’Epinay, even at the worst, was hardly so inex-
cusable as that of Monaldeschi. It passed at the time as a duel, and was
at the worst but “ chance medley.”SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OP HANOVER.
11
correspondence of hers has passed through my hands : but
I should imagine, from incidental notices which I have
met with, that she was not always on good terms with
her family, and that the qualities of her head were su-
perior to those of her heart.
4. The fourth child of Frederick and Elizabeth was
Ruprecht or Robert, better known in the wars of Charles
I. as Prince Rupert; of whom a not very creditable anec-
dote is recorded by his niece, namely, the deception of
Madame de Bellamont by a mock marriage, while residing
under her father’s roof in Ireland.* He was a brave
but not a prudent soldier, an excellent trooper, but very
middling commander. The most to his credit was the
attempt, after the Restoration, to keep Charles II. to mo-
derate measures: on this subject he spoke out. When
Charles dissolved the Parliament at Oxford, and made
his retreat, or rather flight to Windsor, Rupert lost no
time in seriously remonstrating with him. A MS. me-
morial addressed to the Electress Sophia, about 1700,
and devoted to an explanation of the state of Parties and
Principles of Government in England, relates : “ I have
heard it with great confidence reported, that the good old
Prince Rupert, joining him there next day, told him in
plain English, ‘ By God, you’ll ne’er have done following
your father’s course till you come to the same misfor-
tune ! ’ ” Prince Ruprecht spent his last years in England,
taking little part in public affairs. A life, the earlier part
of which had been passed amid civil broils and warfare,
was closed among pursuits of peace and science. The
chemical researches of the Prince gave to our manufac-
tures the metallic alloy which from him is called Prince’s
* Madame to tlie Raugravine Amalie, January 28th, 1705.—Bibl.
Stuttg. vi. 86.12
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Metal, and to his observation we owe great improvements
in mezzotinto engraving. He died in 1682, in time to
escape the sight of the ruin which the intractable spirit
of the last English Stuart irrevocably drew down upon
that doomed House.
5. The fifth child, Maurice, is also known for the part
he took in the civil war. On the total ruin of the King’s
party he found a refuge in America, and was, I believe,
never again heard of. He is supposed to have gone down
in a storm in the West Indies.
6. The second daughter, and sixth child, was Louise
Hollandine, of whom little that is creditable is known to
us. Her violent passions betrayed her into a profligate
and openly scandalous life. While yet a young girl she
fled from her mother’s protection, upon pretence of adopt-
ing the Roman Catholic religion, and long wandered about,
leaving her family in ignorance of all that concerned her.
At length, worn out with her irregular and troubled course,
she found refuge in, and became Abbess of, Maubuisson
in France, without, as it appears, assuming in any degree
a deportment more suited to this dignified ecclesiastical
position. She died in her convent in 1709, being then
in her eighty-sixth year. Louise Hollandine had some
talent as an artist: many of her portraits still clothe the
walls of the house which formerly belonged to theWalm-
oden family in the George Park, Hanover : they show a
good deal of study, and much facility in handling the
pencil; and they are sometimes interesting, from having
preserved to us the features of persons who played a part
in the social or political circles of the Hanoverian House.
In her later years she corresponded with her sister Sophie,
and was visited by her niece, the Duchess of Orleans;
one or two of her letters are found in this collection, andSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
13
many, sometimes very strange, allusions are made to her
in the correspondence of Madame.
7. The fifth son was Louis, who died in childhood.
8. Edward, born in 1625, became a Roman Catholic,
and died in 1663, in the military service of France. He
married the Princess Gonzaga, sister to Marie Louise,
who was successively the wife of Ladislas and Casimir,
Kings of Poland. One of his daughters by this lady be-
came the wife of the Prince de Conde; another of them
married John Frederick, Duke of Hanover, and had the
satisfaction before her death, of seeing one of her daugh-
ters, Benedicte, Duchess of Modena; the other, Amalie,
Empress of Germany.
9. Henriette Marie was born in 1626. She married
Sigismund Ragozzi, Prince of Transylvania, and died in
1661.
10. Philip, born in 1627, was killed in battle in 1650.
11. Charlotte was born in 1628, and died in 1631.
12. The twelfth and last child was Sophie, Princess
Palatine, by marriage Duchess, and then Electress of
Brunswick, and, by settlement of the English Parliament,
successor to the throne of England, on the demise of
Anne. She was born in Holland on 13th October, 1630,
two years before the death of her father, and during the
period of his total ruin; her education was therefore
left entirely to her mother. If Elizabeth had inherited
some evil tendencies from her grandmother, it must ne-
vertheless be confessed that she did her duty well, in
early and severely training the minds and talents of her
own children. Vanity and love of dress, which do not
appear to me to have been offensively developed in her
daughters, are said to have been her besetting sins. To
a reproach of her own was attributed her husband’s fatal14
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
acceptance of the Bohemian crown: “ If you are afraid
to be a King,” said she, “ you should not have ventured
to marry a King’s daughter!” Even her daughter, the
Abbess of Maubuisson, does not fail to remark that she
was always filled with childish delight on getting a new
dress ; and if the tale of De I’Epinay be true, there were
other and even less creditable points of resemblance in
the characters of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia,
and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. But she knew that
her children had a dreary and a difficult path to tread,
and a hard battle with the world to fight. If they were
destined to feel the loss of all the gifts of fortune; if rank,
devoid of means to support it, would only be for them a
stone of offence and a cause of dissatisfaction and misery,
she was resolved to give them at least that moral training
which might enable them to find in their own resources
a compensation for what the outward world would not
confer. We have already seen that she had taught her
eldest daughter six languages; and Sophie appears, from
many trustworthy evidences, to have spoken fluently a
still greater number. English, Dutch, and German, she
may be said to have been born to: to them she added
Italian, Spanish, Latin, and French, which last language
she spoke and wrote with remarkable grace and correct-
ness. She delighted in the society of learned and accom-
plished men, and none knew better than herself how to
unite the amenities of life with graver speculations upon
its ends and objects. If her knowledge of abstruse phi-
losophical questions fell short of that possessed by her
elder sister, her natural sense and talents are known to
have been in nothing inferior to hers, and it is clear that
she much exceeded Elizabeth not less in practical know-
ledge of the world, than in the milder virtues of theSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
15
womanly character. Chevreau, a very competent judge,
mentions the two princesses together with great praise,
but contrasts their different qualities: he says, “ J’ose
dire que la Prance n’a point de plus bel esprit que Ma-
dame la Duchesse d’Hanovre d’aujourdhuy; ni personne
plus solidement savante, que Madame Elisabeth de Bo-
heme, sa sceur.”* At an advanced period of her life,
Bishop Burnet could still speak of her as the most know-
ing and most entertaining woman of the age.f
The twelfth child of a banished King and of a widowed
mother, one too whose uncle had terminated his reign
and life so tragically, cannot be supposed to have had
any brilliant prospects or exorbitant pretensions. The
youngest brother of three Dukes of Hanover offered her
his hand, and was accepted. Towards the end of Sep-
tember, 1658, she became the wife of Ernest Augustus,
then Bishop of Osnabriick, under the provisions of the
Treaty of Westphalia. J A higher alliance however seemed
to be at one time within her reach. In a letter from
Madame we are told that the King of the Romans had
been subjugated by her charms, and would have mar-
ried her, but for his unexpected death. This must have
been the Emperor Leopold’s elder brother, Ferdinand IV.,
who died of small-pox in 1654, in the twenty-first year
of his age, and who from all accounts appears to have
been a prince of great promise. Assuredly a strange
* Chevreana, i. 91.
f “ She was then seventy-five ; but had stOl so much vivacity, that as
she was the most knowing and the most entertaining woman of the
age, so she seemed willing to change her scene, and to come and shine
among us here in England.”—Own Times, ii. 434.
J Sophie was now in her twenty-eighth, Ernest Augustus in his twenty-
ninth year. He was born in 1629, and died after long suffering in 1698,
Titular Elector of Hanover.16
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
sport of fortune had this been so; had the daughter of
Frederick married the grandson of Ferdinand, and made
it necessary, perhaps, to establish a different line of suc-
cession in England !
Little as at this time her union with the cadet of a
fallen House appeared to promise, a great and glorious
lot was fated to be the brilliant close of a life commenced
in sorrow and exile. She lived to see her husband and
son become the possessors of all the scattered portions of
territory which had been the inheritance of elder branches
of her family; to attain the dignity of the Electorate, which
placed her House upon a level with the proudest Houses
of the Empire; to become the mother of a Queen in
Prussia; nearly to become a Queen in England; and
even if she lost that great glory for herself, to know that
she left the rich and powerful succession to her son.*
Yet was this happiness not unalloyed, nor was she placed
beyond the reach of many sorrows with which the irony
of fate delights to compensate the unequal distribution
of worldly prosperity. Neither in her husband nor her
children could Sophie find unmingled satisfaction. With
many great and generous qualities, Ernest Augustus was
not at all exempt from faults which especially influence
* On the death of John Frederick in 1679, without heirs male, Er-
nest Augustus succeeded to the sovereignty of Calemberg, or Hanover.
In 1692, in spite of the most determined opposition on the part of the
other members of the Electoral College and the Princes of the Empire,
he obtained the erection of Hanover to a ninth Electorate. In 1705,
her son George Louis, afterwards King of England in 1714, re-united
with his own the possessions of his father-in-law, Duke George William
of Zell, also deceased without male issue. In 1700 her son-in-law,
Frederick of Brandenburg, exchanged the electoral hat for a royal
crown. In 1701 an embassy from England brought over to her the Act
of Succession; and had she lived only a few weeks longer than she
did, she would herself have mounted the throne of this country.SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVEE.
17
the happiness of women. His military skill, and his
penetration in the cabinet, had shown him to be a man
of no ordinary capacity, and gave a favourable impres-
sion of the clearness of his judgment and the firmness
of his will: but these qualities had not wholly saved
him from succumbing to weaknesses, for which he could
indeed plead some excuse in the then lax state of do-
mestic morality, when conjugal fidelity could hardly be
numbered among princely virtues. A person which,
while youth lasted, was graceful and yet dignified, much
amiability of temper, and a liberal disposition, recom-
mended him to the fairer members of his Court, and it
cannot be denied that Sophie had cause to complain of
her husband’s levities. But complain she did not: what-
ever vagrant fancies she might have to deplore, she seems
never to have doubted her possession of his heart: a less
beautiful and accomplished woman might indeed have
been excused for thinking herself capable of inspiring a
real and lasting passion; and Ernest Augustus at no time
forgot the respect, and at least the' outward show of af-
fection, which were due to his admirable consort, or suf-
fered others to forget the attention which she had a right
to claim. I think it not unlikely that she was blessed
with a contented disposition, which enabled her to bear
with equanimity certain descriptions of inconvenience
which custom, at that bad time, made appear inevitable;
and in truth most women of good-breeding possess an
instinctive pride which leads them to conceal their real
feeling respecting a neglect which is no compliment to
their charms. Chevreau relates that on one occasion,
when they were at Venice, some meddling mischief-
maker pointed out to her the Elector engaged in some-
what close conversation with a beautiful Italian woman,
c18
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
and that she contented herself with replying, “ II m’im-
porte peu que M. le Due promene son cceur toute la
journee, pourvu que le soir il me le rapporte,” *—a re-
buke for an uncalled-for and impertinent interference.
More important is it that in a voluminous correspondence,
much of which was of the most confidential character,
her biographer Feder could find no word which marked
her dissatisfaction with the conduct of her husband; and
the tenderness with which she discharged every duty of
a wife during the Elector’s last long and wearisome ill-
ness, attracted the admiration and won the applause of
her contemporaries. After his death she wrote a letter
to his old servant, Von Ilten, which gives a very lively
picture of the state of her feelings towards him, and
proves with what a real affection she cherished the me-
mory of the past. One circumstance there is which
almost seems to show that she carried her complaisance
to a very unusual extent. After the catastrophe of John
Christopher, Count Konigsmark, in which the Countess
von Platen was well known to have been deeply con-
cerned, his sister Marie Aurora had been very unsparing-
in her comments upon the character and conduct of that
lady. On this occasion the Electress thought it neces-
sary to interfere, and wrote an angry letter to the young
Countess, in defence of the woman who, it was impos-
sible for her not to know, was, and long had been, her
husband’s mistress. I confess I can only explain this upon
the supposition, that she felt it to be of the utmost mo-
ment to cast a veil over all the circumstances connected
with that dreadful affair; and that if she were compelled
to endure the daily presence of Madame von Platen, she
still did not choose to have the scandal of her own Court
* Chevreana, i. 141.SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER. 19
made the subject of injurious comments in a foreign one.
The feelings of the wife may here have yielded to the
urgency of the Electress’s position.
It is surprising that a woman endowed with so much
sound sense, and so much practical knowledge and tact,
as the Electress, should have exercised so little real in-
fluence as she did upon public affairs, in which the in-
terests of her House were deeply involved : yet this
seems to have been the case, and that, on any subjects
but such as concerned the management of her family
and household, her opinion was rarely asked. I am well
aware that this is a point upon which different authori-
ties have decided differently; but after having read and
balanced the conflicting evidence which Feder has col-
lected, I can only come to a conclusion in the negative.*
It does not seem possible to judge otherwise from the
distinct and positive assertion of Yon Ilten, who was
most intimately acquainted with every detail of Ernest
Augustus’s life, and was long one of his most trusted
servants and ministers. In a yet unpublished biography
of the Elector, he says, “ Elle fut toujours tenue eloignee
et sans credit dans les affaires, et par son mari et par
son fils, qui laissoient a sa disposition tous les agremens
de leurs cours, dont elle faisoit rornement et les honneurs,
avec cette dignite et noblesse accompagne d’aisance, qui
en fait l’agrement, et qui est si difficile aux princesses
d’attraper.” On the sole question of the succession in
England, in which she was most nearly concerned, but
which was first mooted after her husband’s death, she
appears to have exercised a more direct and independent
power. It could not in fact well be otherwise, since it
was in her, and not in her son, that the inheritance was
* Feder, Sophie Churfurstiii v. H., p. 37.
C 220
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
vested. On any other subject however there can be no
doubt that George Louis allowed her as little influence
as her husband had done; it is indeed only too certain
that this prince’s conduct to his mother was marked by
harshness and neglect. Madame often expresses her
dissatisfaction with this state of estrangement between
two persons so nearly related to her, and does not at all
spare the Elector, whose coolness both to the Electress
and to his own children was at all times the subject of
remark and disapprobation. She writes to the Raugra-
vine, on 22nd April, 1702: “That the Elector is a dry
and disagreeable gentleman I had opportunity enough
to discover when he was here; . . . but where he is en-
tirely in the wrong, is the manner in which he lives with
his mother, to whom he is in duty bound to show no-
thing but respect. Suspiciousness, haughtiness, and ava-
rice, make this Elector what he is: ... I observe often
enough in Ma Tante’s letters, (though she does not speak
it out,) that she is ill-satisfied. The worst is, that this
Elector has no good natural disposition, as is evident
from his manner of going on with his brothers.”* Again
she says, January 4th, 1715: “I suspect however that
this good King inquires very little about those whom his
mother loved.”f And, June 9th, 1718 : “This King of
England, who is so dreadfully alarmed lest any one should
imagine that he lets himself be ruled, how can he sub-
mit to be led in this way by that Bernstorff, and against
his own children too !” J
There is a good deal more in the same strain scat-
tered throughout Madame’s letters : it is fair to say that
she particularly disliked George Louis, who had offended
her by some want of courtesy towards herself; and that
* Bibl. Stuttg. vi. 68. t Ibid., vi. 196. J Ibid,, vi. 305.SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
21
she generally takes care not to let any of her pictures
remain too faint in their tone for want of colour : never-
theless it is not probable that she has exaggerated on
this occasion. The Electress, though not much given
to complaining, does certainly hint here and there that
matters are not on the right footing between herself and
her son; and in some of her letters we detect a gentle
insinuation, that her recommendation in favour even of
old and tried servants of her house is not likely to meet
with attention from him.
But although the direct interference of the Electress
with public affairs may be denied, there was another
sphere in which her personal influence must have been
actively exerted and continually felt. Among the multi-
farious interests which were to be conciliated ere all the
objects of the Serene House could be attained, it is im-
possible that such a woman as Sophie should not have
played an important part. Her court of Hanover, and
still more her intimate circle at Herrenhausen,* were
celebrated throughout Europe for the dignified and grace-
ful intercourse with men of good breeding and learning,
in which she personally appeared to so much advantage.
Here were gathered round her women of lofty station
and cultivated manners, remarkable for their grace and
beauty or distinguished by their wit. Sophie Charlotte
of Prussia, as amiable and as clever as her mother, took
* This country-house, about two miles from Hanover, is built in the
stiff French style, with large gardens, decorated or deformed by a
profusion of bad statues, fountains, and cbpped beech and hornbeam
hedges. These however were, and still are, full of nightingales, which
the Electress loved. Her apartments in this chateau have lately been
restored to the state in which they were when she talked pleasant
scandal here with her daughter, the Queen of Prussia, and Caroline of
Anspach, or laughed at Leibnitz’s jests, and dictated her correspon-
dence with half the beaux esprits of Europe.STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
refuge here from the wearisome pomp of her own Court,
and the pedantry of her heavy husband; here Caroline,
the future Queen of England, her beloved daughter-in-
law, hung on the eloquent lips of Leibnitz discussing
the providential scheme of the world, the perfectibility
of man, and drawing even out of evil proofs of the wis-
dom, justice, and mercy of God. Here were to be found
the light, vivacious Frenchman, the grave and travelled
Englishman, attracted by the fame of her society and
the charms of her conversation ; and here was the cen-
tral point to which news of every description from every
corner of Europe continually flowed, to be again con-
tinually dispersed for the amusement and instruction of
her correspondents. In this society the pious and learned
Molanus, the polished and deeply read Hortensio Mauro,
laid aside for awhile their severer studies; here Handel
preluded to those sublime strains which have given to
him among composers the same rank which Milton oc-
cupies among poets; and here, above all throned, the
great intellectual giant of the age, to whom questions
touching the profoundest metaphysics or the lightest art
were equally welcome and familiar; who was as well
versed in the history of ancient realms and peoples as in
the politics of his own day, the intrigues or the gossip
of contemporary courts; who devised stupendous ma-
chinery today for the mines in the Hartz whence the
Electors derived their wealth, and tomorrow must in-
evitably be consulted as to the hanging of a picture or
the furnishing of a boudoir; who founded academies of
science and art, and laboured in vain with Bossuet to
find some common ground of reconciliation between
Protestant and Catholic, yet refused a cardinal’s hat and
the librarianship of the Vatican, offered him on conditionSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
23
of apostasy; the friend of Bernoulli, the correspondent,
and, unhappily, at length the opponent of Newton; the
dexterous negotiator and the most lively and amusing of
letter-writers; the most universal man perhaps of whom
the history of letters has to tell. In such a circle,
drawn together by such a woman, how much must not
have been won, which mere diplomatic notes, memorials,
and deductions could never have brought to pass! How
many difficulties, envenomed and complicated by mere
official communications,—“ces vaines paroles dont la
politesse des ministres assaisonne l’aprete des refus,”*—
must not have yielded to the charm of her conversation
and the irresistible graces of her manners! Nor are we
left here to mere conjecture, or the assertion of a proba-
bility ; we know that she by such means gained over,
in one important conjuncture, the all-powerful Minister
of Prussia, the Count of Wartenberg, much as it must
have cost her to admit his profligate and low-born but
influential wife, the mistress en titre of Frederick I., and
rival of her own daughter, to her presence. Nor can it
be doubted that principally to herself was due the ulti-
mate reconciliation of the Houses of Hanover and Wol-
fenbiittel, so long distracted by the conflict of adverse
family interests. Enough remains on record to show
that Duke Anton Ulric, deeply wounded and humiliated
as he had been by the Dukes of Hanover and Zell, was
captivated by his enchanting relative, and suffered all his
jealousy of the cognate branches of his House to melt
away under her peace-making hand. To the last mo-
ment of his life he continued to regard her with affec-
tionate interest, and delighted in her visits to Wolfen-
biittel, where all the resources of his splendid Court were
put in requisition for her amusement.
* Fred. II., Mem. de Brandenb. i. 123, 4th ed.24
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
By her marriage with Ernest Augustus, Sophie became
the mother of seven children :—
1. George Louis, born May 28th, 1660, Elector in
1698, and in 1714 King of England; married in 1682 to
Sophia Dorothea of Zell, his cousin ; and died in 1727.
2. Erederick Augustus, born October 3rd, 1661; be-
came a Major-General in the Imperial service, and fell,
December 31st, 1698, in battle against the Turks in
Transylvania.
3. Maximilian William, born December 23rd, 1666;
died in 1726, with the rank of Field-Marshal in the
Imperial service.
4. Sophie Charlotte, born October, 1668, at her
father’s residence of Iburg, near Osnabriick; married 6th
October, 1684, Frederick, the Electoral Prince of Bran-
denburg and afterwards the first King of Prussia; died
at Planover, February 11th, 1705.
5. Charles Philip, born 13th October, 1669, at Iburg;
fell in battle against the Turks, January 1st, 1690.
6. Christian, born 29th September, 1671, at Heidel-
berg ; rose to the rank of a Major-General in the Impe-
rial service; was drowned 31st July, 1703, in the Da-
nube, in the retreat from Minderkingen, while attempting
to rescue another person from the same fate.
7. Ernest Augustus, born 17th September, 1674; be-
came Bishop of Osnabriick in 1715, and died in 1728.
In these her children Sophie was not entirely or equally
happy. During several years of her life she had to struggle
with the natural anxiety, how to provide for a large family
of princes upon the meagre appanage of a Bishop of Osna-
briick, and the youngest of her children was already five
years of age, when her husband succeeded his brother in
the Dukedom of Calemberg. Employment in foreignSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
25
courts or armies was the only resource for her princes, and
hence we find them nearly all in the temporary or per-
manent service of the Emperor. But here their promotion
was far from rapid, probably for want of the most obvious
and usual means of advancement.* Only by slow de-
grees did some of them attain to high rank and profitable
employment. They seem however not to have been want-
ing in soldierlike qualities: George Louis served with
credit against the Turks, and the courage and conduct
of his brothers merited and received the approbation of
their superiors. We still possess two public letters of
the Emperor Leopold, conveying the Imperial thanks to
Prince Charles Philip, a colonel in his armies.f
The effect of George Louis’s cold, repulsive manners
upon his mother has been already noticed. But in one
terrible event of his life a blow was struck, whose con-
sequences long overclouded her household happiness. A
dark veil of mystery still conceals many of the circum-
stances of this domestic tragedy, and it is possible that
the whole truth respecting it may never be revealed to
the public. I shall touch but gently upon it, and say no
more than is necessary and unavoidable in a sketch of
the fortunes of this House: but what I shall say is the
result of a conscientious and extensive study of all the
evidence which has at any time been allowed to transpire,
and a careful examination of what has from time to time
* Sophie thought that her son Frederick Augustus did not push him -
self sufficiently at the Court of Vienna, where he obtained his promo-
tion to the rank of Major-General only in 1689. Poverty may possibly
have retarded this advancement, yet the attainment of a Major-General’s
rank at the age of twenty-eight does not seem a thing to be dissatisfied
with.
t Dated 27th August and 8th October, 1689, the year before his
death.—Feder, Sophie, p. 192.26
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
been written by previous inquirers. The reader will per-
ceive that I allude to the fate of John Christopher, Count
of Konigsmark, and the consort of George Louis, Sophie
Dorothee, Duchess of Ahlden. The elder brother of
Ernest Augustus, Duke George William of Zell, had in
early life formed an attachment and entered into a liaison
with a beautiful Erench girl, Eleonore d’Esmieres, a lady of
the family D’Olbreuse, the issue of which was a daugh-
ter, Sophie Dorothee. By his interest with the Court of
Vienna, which he supported with troops, money, and ad-
vice, he had obtained for this lady the patent of German
nobility, next, that of princely rank, and finally, by chang-
ing his morganatic or left-handed marriage for a regular
one, had made her a Duchess, and legitimated her daugh-
ter as a Princess of the House of Brunswick. Madame,
whose hatred of a mesalliance nothing could soften, fre-
quently speaks with great asperity of this marriage, and
declares that the Duchess of Zell might have thought
herself a happy woman had she ever obtained the prefer-
ment of marrying a gentleman of Monsieur’s household.
Eleonore d’Olbreuse was a lady of very good family, and
many excellent qualities : to judge from the pictures and
medals which I have seen of her; she must have been a
woman of rare personal charms ; and all accounts concur
in representing her as accomplished and virtuous. Nor
is the nature of her connection with the Duke in any way
a contradiction of this favourable judgment: a morgana-
tic marriage is a marriage before God and man, although
it could not raise the wife to the rank of her husband, or
give to the children of such a union the succession to
fiefs held of the Empire. The Duchess appears to have
been tenderly attached to her husband, and to have
watched with care over the education of their only child,SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
27
who inherited a good deal of her own vivacity and beauty.
During Sophie Dorothee’s childhood, and before the ac-
knowledgment of her rank as a Princess of Brunswick,
John Christopher of Konigsmark, descended from one of
the wealthiest and most powerful families in Germany
and Sweden, had long been an inmate of her father’s
Court. It may be that a childish passion grew up be-
tween them, and that this, even if perceived, would not
have been looked upon as at all inadmissible by either
parent. The Konigsmarks had intermarried with Kings
and Princes : their alliances were more splendid than those
of almost any subject in Europe; their landed property
exceeded in extent and value the dominions of many a
Prince of the Empire; their wealth was fabulously great.
Mademoiselle d’Olbreuse might consider herself fortu-
nate in a union even with the cadet of such a house ;
and John Christopher was not without personal quali-
ties which captivate the fancy and influence the feelings
of women. But with the recognition of Duke George’s
marriage, and the elevation of Eleonore to the rank of a
sovereign Duchess, the scene was changed. A Princess,
the heiress of a large part of north Germany, with flou-
rishing towns and noble harbours, had pretensions to
something more than the coronet of a Swedish Countess.
John Christopher too, before the girl had grown into the
woman, had left Zell to pursue that adventurous life which
seems to have been an inborn and inevitable necessity for
every scion of his House. During this interval the for-
tunes of the Konigsmarks had declined. The extravagant
splendour of their housekeeping had embarrassed them :
the confiscation of their fiefs and domains, under Charles
XI.’s edict of Reunion,* consummated their ruin. If
* See this explained in detail under the head of J. If. Patkul.28
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
any affection still continued to subsist between the two
young people, it was become imperative that it should
be forgotten. Higher alliances, in which the interests of
the ducal House were the points most to be considered,
were now proposed for Sophie Dorothee: as with other
Princesses in all times, her heart was less thought of than
the advantages to be gained by a prudent disposal of her
hand. The nearest object was a reconsolidation of the
dominions of the House of Brunswick, at this period par-
titioned among various more or less direct descendants of
Henry the Lion, the great Duke of Saxony. The Plouse
of Wolfenbuttel (now represented by the Dukes of Bruns-
wick-Oels) and that of Calemberg, were the two which
came into consideration; and not only the suggestions of
policy, but private feeling caused the scale of the former
to preponderate in Duke George’s councils. The son of
Duke Anton Ulric, joint regent of Wolfenbuttel, was ac-
cepted as the future husband of the heiress of Zell. But
this marriage, whose consequences, not less to Hanover
than to the unhappy Princess herself, would have been
most momentous, was fated not to take place: the bride-
groom, who is said to have been an amiable and accom-
plished Prince, died before the completion of the nup-
tials. His younger brother seems now to have been
thought of to supply his place; but in the meantime
Sophie, alive to the importance of uniting Liineburg with
Calemberg, and to the necessity of preventing its junc-
tion with Wolfenbuttel, succeeded in winning over Berns-
torff, the powerful minister at Zell, effected a complete
reconciliation between Duke George and his brother, and
obtained the consent of the former to the ill-omened mar-
riage of his daughter with her own son.* George Louis
* November 11, 1682.SOPHIA, ELECTEESS OF HANOVER.
29
himself appears to have entered into this alliance with a
repugnance which was not likely to improve his sullen
and morose temper. Like his father, the Elector,* he
was under the dominion of an artful and intriguing wo-
man : both the mistresses felt the danger which might
arise to their power from the influence of a young, a gay,
a beautiful and virtuous Princess, the consort of the Heir-
apparent, and combined to effect her ruin. Years passed,
during which they caballed to bring her into discredit
with the Elector; with George Louis their game was won
even before it was commenced. The Princess soon found
herself isolated in the strange Court to which she had
been transplanted. From her husband she had nothing
to hope : the Elector treated her indeed with civility, but
the profligate Countess von Platen had possession of his
ear, and even the Electress was unable to stem the tor-
rent. We cannot wonder that she repaid neglect with
contempt and hatred, or that she despised the man who
could sacrifice her, in the full bloom of her youth and
beauty, to women every way inferior to herself in every
grace of mind and person. At this conjuncture, so dan-
gerous to a woman, Konigsmark returned to Germany,
and entered the military service of Hanover in command
of a regiment; his rank, as well as his magnificence,
made him a constant and welcome visitor at Court; and
Sophie Dorothee eagerly sought the sympathy and sup-
port of her old playmate, and made no secret of the fa-
vour with which she regarded him. This conduct, na-
tural as it was, was at the least imprudent, and was skil-
* I call him tlie Elector, although he had not yet attained that dig-
nity. The marriage of his son to Duke George’s daughter was no doubt
one of the measures directed to overcome the Duke of Zell’s opposition
to the creation of a ninth Electorate, by which his younger brother would
be raised above himself.30
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
fully turned to her disadvantage. Konigsmark was hand-
some and agreeable, bnt vain, weak, unprincipled, and illi-
terate. In a Court where so scandalous an example was
set in the highest quarters, a lax system of morality pre-
vailed : he soon became notorious for his bonnes fortunes,
and at length, to his misfortune, attracted the fancy of
the Elector’s mistress. This cheap conquest was the cause
of his tragical fate. Countess von Platen, a woman of
violent passions, although no longer young, was subject
to that of jealousy. The tyranny she exerted over Ko-
nigsmark produced coolness and aversion: made keen-
sighted by anger and suspicion, she placed spies upon all
his steps, and soon found, or affected to find, that an
illicit passion for the Princess was at the root of his
estrangement from herself. At this time, Konigsmark,
with a strange instinctive feeling which often surprises
and alarms us in reading the history of such men, had
determined upon leaving the Hanoverian service, and had
actually entered that of the Elector of Saxony, with the
higher rank of a Major-General. His departure was to
be the signal for a scandal and a crime. Even those who
still contend for the innocence of Sophie Dorothee are
compelled to admit that it was her intention to leave her
father-in-law’s Court, and that Konigsmark was to be
the companion of her flight, all the arrangements for
which she had confided to his management. But the
slightest movements of both were watched, and on the
night preceding the day on which Konigsmark had an-
nounced his attention of leaving Hanover, he was sur-
prised and assaulted in a part of the palace which he
was obliged to traverse on descending from the Princess’s
apartments. It may be that the orders given were only
to arrest him, but that having drawn his sword to defendSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER.
31
himself he was struck down by a partisan, and shortly
breathed his last. This appears now to be a more pro-
bable account than the many wild fables which were cur-
rent at the time of his disappearance, and have since been
frequently repeated. At all events his body seems to have
been buried at once under the stone floor of the chamber
or corridor in which he fell, and is said to have been dis-
covered not many years ago, during some repairs and
alterations of the basement story. The sequel of this
tale is soon told : the Princess and her confidential atten-
dants were subjected to the most searching interrogations,
but steadily refused to inculpate themselves, and persisted
to the last in denying the existence of any criminal inter-
course. Either the failure of means to procure, or dis-
inclination to give the world the scandal of a conviction,
counselled a measure which might set George Louis free
from his matrimonial fetters, without absolutely compro-
mising his honour as a husband. A suit was commenced
by him in the Consistorial Court of Hanover, against his
wife, for malicious desertion, and praying restitution of
conjugal rights. On her refusal to return to him, the
Court pronounced sentence of divorce in his favour. By
her father she was sent to the Castle of Ahlden, where
she was detained, at first in strict, and afterwards in
mitigated custody, and where she died very shortly be-
fore the death of George I. would probably have restored
her to freedom. Although this is a sketch of the Elec-
tress’s life, and not a history of Sophie Dorothee, I can-
not forbear a few reflections upon this painful piece of
family history. The one question which alone can in-
terest us is this—Was Sophie Dorothee really guilty of
the crime laid to her charge, and which she was con-
demned to expiate by a life-long imprisonment ? The32
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
precautions taken to conceal as much as possible all
traces of this affair make it difficult to give an answer:
yet from what has transpired, I find myself compelled to
reply in the affirmative. It is in my opinion utterly im-
possible to read the extracts from her correspondence
with Ivonigsmark, preserved in the University archives
at Lund, in Sweden, and published by Palmblad, without
coming to the same conclusion. It is not to be expected
that a woman, even in her letters to her lover, should in
direct terms inform him of what he himself must be well
aware, that she has granted him every favour in her
power to bestow; and the Princess certainly may claim
the benefit of having made no such direct avowal. But
she does write in a strain which could only be adopted
by a woman who had sacrificed every thought of duty;
and his letters, full of coarseness and indelicacy, of vio-
lent jealousy and angry reproach, of stories which it is
difficult to imagine a gentleman’s writing to any wo-
man, of allusions which admit of only one explanation,
leave no doubt upon my mind that the Princess had
not successfully contended with temptation. It makes
but little difference whether she had actually dishonoured
her husband, or only meant to do so, when she should
succeed in placing herself beyond the reach of his ven-
geance ; she was prepared to fly with Konigsmark: she
writes over and over again that her only hope of happi-
ness lies in escaping from her tyrant in order to devote
her life to her lover; she offers to conceal him for days
together in her apartments; she breathes not one word
of reproach, nor shows a trace of indignation at the tone
of his letters to her; she excuses herself as best she can
when he is jealous; when he is absent she manifests
herself all the symptoms of jealousy. It seems to meSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER. 33
that the conclusion is inevitable; and it is only upon the
supposition that her guilt was too clearly proved to be
for a moment doubtful, that we can understand the harsh
treatment which she suffered at the hand of her father.
How thoroughly the secret was kept, even from those
for whom few things were secret, appears from a letter
of Madame, written shortly after the fatal eclat at Ha-
nover. She says :* “ The Duchess has more reason than
anybody to be distressed at her daughter’s misfortune,
for had she not brought her up in early youth to co-
quetry and gallantry, she would not have fallen into the
scrape she has now got into. There are people here who
will not say that she is not guilty; and a young person
who lets herself be kissed and pulled about as she did,
is likely enough to suffer all the rest.” Had she been
informed as to the true state of the case, she would
hardly have written in this manner to so near a relative
as her own sister; but every possible precaution was
taken at Hanover to hush up the whole affair; even the
ambassadors at foreign Courts received instructions as to
what they were to say, and the open accusations of the
Konigsmark family were never openly answered. It
seems to me that all these circumstances are corrobora-
tive of the view I take, that the Princess really was a
guilty woman. That in later years her mother obtained
permission to visit her at Ahlden, or that her son George
Augustus sometimes stole over to her incognito,f cannot
certainly be quoted as proofs that they believed her in-
* To the Raugravine, April 29th, 1702 (Bibl. Stuttg. vi. 70). Menzel
must surely have misdated this letter.
t Lord Hervey tells us that he never mentioned his mother, not even
inadvertently nor indirectly, any more than if such a person had neVer
had a being. (Mem. ii. 542.) Mr. Croker’s observation upon this pas-
sage is just. George II. may have had some affection for his mother,
D34
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
nocent. My conclusion is that she sinned, yet that she
was more sinned against than sinning; that she was
exposed to temptation, but did not sufficiently resist it;
that she was goaded into ruin, but did not struggle as
she might have done to save herself. Young and inex-
perienced as she was, had she fallen into good hands,
she might have been trained to a career of happiness
and honour; but surrounded by enemies, led away by
an ardent temperament,* and married to a man whom
she could not love and who extended no protection to
her, she became the victim of the circumstances in which
she was placed. Nothing can palliate her errors as a
wife, but nothing need prevent us from sympathizing
with her as a most ill-used and unfortunate woman.
Another fatal quarrel in the Electoral House, whose
origin partook of a more public character, but whose
result was to deprive Sophie for years of the society of
her younger sons, yet remains to be mentioned. In ac-
cordance with the general law of descent in Germany,
by which all the property of a deceased father is equally
divided among the children, it was customary on the
death of a Prince to partition his territories among the
male descendants. The mischief that resulted from this
custom was obvious: a power, which, while compact and
wielded by a firm hand, might ensure a position of com-
but cannot baye believed her innocent. Had he not been convinced
of her guilt, how powerful an engine would she not have been in his
hands in his quarrels with his father! And must not some trace of
his belief have been discoverable in the numerous letters of Caroline
of Anspach?
* An excellent picture of her by Gachard is in the possession of
Baron von Grote in Hanover. One feels that such features and such an
expression have something dangerous; but the “ much castigation, ex-
ercise devout,1' which perhaps might not have been thrown away upon
her, were not much at home in the Court of Hanover.SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OP HANOVER. 35
mand and influence, vanished away when divided and
parcelled out among many possessors. In some German
States the attempt had therefore-been made to put the
law of succession in the dominions upon a different foot-
ing from that which prevailed in ordinary cases; primo-
geniture, and with it of course appanage for the younger
branches, had been successfully tried. Both Branden-
burg and Saxony were already beginning to feel the
value of a policy which substituted the undivided power
of a single will, for the petty and often conflicting in-
terests of a number of equal and jealous Regents. This
consolidation enabled them to hold a new and startling
language in the affairs of the Empire; and far-seeing
politicians even might now discern the faint shadow of
coming events, and augur that an Elector of Branden-
burg, in full possession of all the weight of his House,
might ere long exchange his electoral for a kingly title.
Means which revolt the feelings of men, and deeply
wound the interests of society, had already been tried
with partial success: in an earlier generation, seven bro-
thers, among whom the territories of Brunswick were to
be divided, had agreed to cast lots, on whom the duty
should fall of perpetuating the ducal race. He whom
fortune designated should marry, and in the hands of
his children the succession should again, by lapse of col-
lateral heirs, be reunited; the other six should found
no home or family, or if they had children, these should
be such as the universal public law excludes from the
name and inheritance of the father. In this manner had
the Duchy descended to Ernest Augustus; but the ex-
pedient was not only an immoral, it was also an imper-
fect one. It depended at all times upon a compromise,
and an agreement among heirs having equal rights, which36
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
some, or all, might not be disposed to surrender. Er-
nest Augustus determined therefore to introduce into his
own House the law of primogeniture, whose beneficial
effects he witnessed in the Houses of his neighbours;
but this plan was met by the unwavering opposition of
his younger children, and especially his third son, Maxi-
milian William, and his fifth son, Christian, who never
could be brought to yield upon this favourite point of
his domestic policy. The latter of these Princes appa-
rently contented himself with a passive resistance, which,
however it annoyed his father, was not at any rate pushed
to a criminal excess : he had made up his mind to suffer
for what he believed to be just, and consented to remain
in poverty and an exile from his father’s house rather than
make any sacrifice of principle. The conduct of Maxi-
milian cannot be judged so leniently; either actuated by
motives of self-aggrandisement, which I should suspect
to have been the case, or perhaps unwilling to relinquish
what he considered a right unjustly attacked, he did un-
doubtedly enter into intrigues of a treasonable descrip-
tion. He maintained correspondences at Wolfenbuttel,
Rome, Paris, and Vienna, which, to use even the gentlest
terms, were contrary to the duty he owed the Elector
as his son and subject; but, in spite of the mystery
in which this part also of the Electoral history has been
carefully shrouded, there can be no doubt that he lent
himself to schemes of far deeper criminality. The coun-
sels and remonstrances of his mother were addressed to
him in vain: other advisers of a more congenial charac-
ter, and less attached both to the father and the son,
fanned the flame of disobedience, and hurried on the
Prince to a ruin which we cannot deplore. A conspiracy
to dethrone the Elector, and, to use the words of theSOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER. 37
chief mover, Count von Moltke, make his elder brother
George Louis harmless, was formed, and Maximilian was
one of the conspirators. The plans however of these
desperate men were betrayed: Moltke, after a fruitless
attempt to escape, was executed on the rampart at Ha-
nover, and the Prince, after a confinement of some dura-
tion, was expelled from his father’s house, and closed his
days in the Imperial service at Vienna. There seems
indeed to have been but little praiseworthy in his con-
duct and character; much good is nowhere reported
of him, and various letters in this collection tend to
place his disposition and habits of life in a very un-
amiable light. In all these respects Christian appears to
have been a perfect contrast to his elder brother; those
who knew both the Princes all bear witness to the great
difference between them, and the superiority of the
younger. Leibnitz, always deeply interested in every-
thing that tended to the honour or stability of the Elec-
toral House, corresponded frequently from Vienna with
the Electress on the subject of these sons; no one knew
them better, or understood their characters more fully;
and Leibnitz, in his letters meant for Sophie’s eye alone,
confirms every word which I have said respecting them.
Writing to Sir Andrew Fountaine, September 4
per utitur valetudine, Dominus Burnettus me ssepe introdi
Cum in Archivis Anglicis nulla amplius inveniam documeMAXIMILIAN TO TIIE ELECTRESS SOPHIA.
235
quibus Historia possit Brunsvicensis illustrari; dulcissimam
Angliam intra octiduum respicere post terga teneor. Indicu-
lum aliarum rerum, tibi forsan utilium, clam confeci, cum
Arcbivarius apud Turrim Londinensem Argi babeat oculos.
(iuotidie banc morosi senis audio cantilenam: You must no
take other things, as they belonges to your Historie.
Transactiones Philosophicas, quas desideras, libenter mecum
afferrem; sed Bibliopolse posteriora sex volumina post indicem
Oldenburgianum, 4 sex prioribus separata vendere nolunt.
Menses, sive numeri, tibi desunt 105, it num: Sc. 143 usque
ad 247, inclusive. Sed de his et aliis scripsi prolixe in prio-
ribus, de quibus supra dixi, literis. Vale, Vir Illustris, et
fave
Celeberrinue turn virtutis Admiratori
et cultori perpetuo,
Fred. A. Hackeman.
95.] Maximilian, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg,
TO THE ElECTRESS SOPHIA.
Viene, le 13 Mars, 1699.
Madame,
Je laisse passe quelque ordinaire sans donner part a V. A. E.
de mon estat, a cause des sollennites est des autres rejouissances
qu’on a fait ses jours passes al occasion du Hoi des Romeins,
ou je este occupe pour me mettre en trein de paroitre, si non
avec la meme magnificence que les autres, au moin selon que
la bourse le permettoit a se temps la, pour concourir passable-
men a la dite sollennite. Je ne fais point a V. A. E. un recit
de ce qui si est passe, puisque les gasettes en seront plein est
elle en aura este informe par d’autres meins, de sorte que je
ni trouve rien a joindre, si non qui faut esperer que l’accom-
plissemen de cet mariage ne soit moin heureux que le com-
mencemen est que la suite en procure la duree. Apres un si
bon carnaval nous nous trouvons dans le Caresme, ou au lieu
des Operas, des Balls, est des festeins, on se divertit avec des236
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Sermons ; ce sont ceux ou je consume la plupart du temj
presan; en attenden que j’aurais la satisfaction d’en gov
d’avtres, je finis pour 1’assurer que persoune soit avec plus
respect est devotion, Madame, de Y. A. E.,
tres humble est tres obeissant Serviteur,
Maximilien Guilleatime
96.]
The Princess des Ursins to the Electress
Sophia.
1696
Iaurois este tres assurement, Madame, des premieres a
donner Phonneur de faire mon compliment a Vostre Alte
Electorale sur le mariage de la Reine des Romains si la jc
que jen ay eu dabord nauoit este troublee presque dans
mesme temps par la mort de ma soeur. Jaduoue, Madame, c
ce dernier euenement ma este si sensible que ia nay este jusqi
aujourdhuy occupee que de ma douleur et que je differei
mesme encore de me donner l’honneur d’ecrire a Y. A. E. si
ne trouuois une espece de consolation a entretenir une grai
princesse qui est plus propre qu’une autre a me compi
par la bonte de son coeur et par lamitie dont elle mTionore.
scay, Madame, le plaisir que ressentira V. A. E. de uoir IV
dame la princesse de Bronsuich dans une place qui luy ass1
la couronne imperiale; cette raison suffisoit pour minteres
plus que persoune a cet heureux sucses, mais comme jay i
core par moy mesme lhonneur de connoistre sa majeste,
fait miles voeux tant que les cboses out este incertaines pi
que la cour de vienne rendist a son merite et a sa naissanci
justice qui luy estoit deiibe. Vostre Altesse Electorale, IV
dame, naura jamais de tres humble seruante plus absolum
deuouee ny plus respecteuse que
La Princesse des Ursins
Je ne me suis point donne lbonneur de repondre a la d
niere lettre de V. A. E.; je me suis contentee de l’admireiADDISON TO HALIFAX.
237
de penser en mov mesme que les historiens les plus interesses a
la gloire du Roy guilaume dengleterre ne feront jamais un por-
trait de ce prince ny plus beau ny plus spirituel. Je le trouue
en uerite, Madame, bien plus grand par laquisition quil a fait de
uostre estime que par les trois couronnes quil a sceu se mestre
sur sa teste.
97.] Addison to Halifax.
Paris, Oct. 1 bth, 1699.
Honour’d Sir,
I am at present in a place where nothing is more usual than
for mean people to press into the presence and conversation
of great men, and where modesty is so very scarce that I think
I have not seen a Blush since my first landing at Calais, which
I hope may in some measure excuse me for presuming to
trouble you with a letter. But if I may not be allowd a little
confidence of the country, I am sure I receive in it so many
Effects of Your Favour in the Civilities my La Ambassador has
bin pleas’d to shew me, that I can’t but think it my Duty to
make you acquainted with them, and to return my most hum-
ble thanks. I am sorry my Travails have not yet fumisht me
with anything else worth your knowledge. As for the present
State of Learning, there is nothing publisht here which has
not in it an Air of Devotion. Dacier has bin forced to prove
his Plato a very good Christian before he ventures to trans-
late him, and has so far complyd with the Taste of the Age
that his whole Book is overrun with Texts of Scripture and
the notion of Prseexistence suppos’d to be stoln from two
verses out of the Prophets. Nay, the humour is grown so
Universal that tis got among the Poets, who are evry day
publishing Legends and Lives of Saints in Rhime. My imper-
fect Acquaintance with the French Language makes me inca-
pable of Learning any more particular News of this kind, so
that I must end my Letter as I begun it with my most Humble
Acknowlegements for all your favours. I am, Honour’d Sir,
etc. etc., J. Addison.238
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
98.]
Stepney to Leibnitz.
Sir,
The Hague, November 25th, ll
I cannot make up my mind to pass the sea without re
ing you my most humble thanks for the civilities whicl
lately showed me at Hanover, and communicating to you
is passing here with regard to the belle lettre. M. Boval
work upon an augmentation of the Dictionary of the Acad
Mr. Bayle upon a supplement to his ‘ Dictionnaire Criti
and M. Moytens has just published his ‘ Recueils des Tri
in four volumes, five copies of which I take with me for
self and my friends in England, for I find it a work of j
utility, and shall be very glad to be the first to make a
sent of it to our great men of business.
I have sent you by the channel of M. Wiquefort a
translation of ‘ Plato/ by Dacier. The indolence of Soc
on the eve of his death charms me more than the feebl
guments which he uses to prove the immortality of the
When you have made what use you will of this boo
‘ Plato/ I entreat you to pass it on to Mademoiselle Pell)
Herewith is a specimen of our English stage. The pie
not without wit, hut it might pass for rather too libei
and that is why I dare not have it sent to Berlin; bui
will do, Sir, with it as you please, and perhaps the moi
of ‘ Plato’ will have the better of the licentiousness of
shionable author. I entreat you to cast me at the feet o
adorable Electress, and to believe me, with much passim
esteem, Sir, etc. etc.,
G. Stepni
P.S.—I hope to embark tomorrow for England.
99.] Leibnitz to Stepney (in answer).
Sir,
I hope that you had a good passage across the sea, and
you will he at present in a perfect state of health and satLEIBNITZ TO STEPNEY.
239
tion, which I wish you may enjoy in proportion to your de-
serts, whose measure is by no means a common one. The
state and situation of your kingdom obliges you to unite the
care of your commerce with that of foreign affairs. You are
thus placed exactly in an occupation equally suited to yourself
and to your country. I learn that they have rejected in Eng-
land the project of the Florida colony; but I see that the
French have shown much less delicacy towards the Spaniards
in establishing a colony in the Gulf of Mexico itself, from which
they intend to take all your colonies in the rear, and to join
the Mississippi with Canada and the St. Lawrence by means
of their own. It is much to be wished that you, gentlemen,
the directors of trade, should have something done for the
perfecting of geography. I have heard say that Mr. Halley,
who was secretary to the Royal Society, intended to make a
voyage on purpose to investigate the variation of the compass,
and the movements of the winds and sea. I do not know
whether he has sailed with M. Dampierre, or whether each
has gone his own separate way.
I have written at large to M. Cresset about our lead-trade,
for after England the greatest supply of lead comes from our
mines; but I should like a reciprocal communication with
regard to your own, for if you and we could come to an un-
derstanding about it, we should be entirely the masters of that
important trade. As for tin, about which you spoke to me,
I can hardly give you much information, for we have none.
Whatever Germany furnishes comes from Saxony and Bohe-
mia. It is used to make tin-plate, a manufacture which they
were beginning to imitate in France when I was there.
I have not received M. Dacier’s 'Plato/ which you gave
M. Wiquefort for me, and to be sent on to Berlin; but Ma-
dame the Electress has received the translation of the English
comedy, which seemed to me natural enough.
I have seen the great collection of public acts, but to tell
you the truth have found it below my expectation. There is
scarcely anything in it which has not been printed elsewhere,
and indeed almost the whole of it is taken from a small num-240
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
ber of books which are common enough, such as ‘ Gold
‘ Arzema/ the ‘ Theatrum Pacis,’ the ‘ Recueils des Trai
la Couronne de France/ by Leonard, and my ‘ Codex
maticus/ of which I am about to publish a continuati
which, among other matters, I shall insert the statutes
three principal Royal Orders, viz. the Garter, the C
Fleece, and the St. Esprit, to name them in the order o:
foundation. I hope that Mr. Tyrell will continue his hi
which seems to me excellent, everything in it being gro
upon good old authorities. I shall insert in my contim
of the ‘ Codex Diplomatics' some ancient pieces touchii
quarrels between France and England, and England and
land, respecting the feudal rights which the English cl;
in Scotland. I have some considerable materials which
one day serve to throw light upon the history and ai
rights of England. Before I close, Sir, I must entrea
to do me a favour. I have seen some chronological tab
large folio, which a person named Tallents formerly pub!
in English. I have written to have them, but in vain. A
you have the kindness to direct some bookseller to look
up for me, and send them me to Hanover, or they mig
delivered to our agent; the bookseller must be good ei
to give me advice of it at the same time, and if he shoi
it in English I should not fail to understand him. I sh
very glad to have a correspondence with a man of this
who will be able to supply me with curious pieces from
land. This will be an addition to the obligations wl
already owe you. Madame the Electress of Brunswick
times does me the honour to speak to me of yourself,
she esteems infinitely, and of your choice, whom she
wish to be able to esteem also; that is to say, that she
wish to see her, for that will be enough to esteem her.
I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
LeibnLEIBNITZ TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA. 241
100.] Leibnitz to the Electkess Sophia,
InXtzenburg, July YitJi, 1700.
Madame,
• Although I imagine that Madame the Electress will give
your Electoral Highness a description of the Comic Masque-
rade or Village-Fair which was represented yesterday at the
theatre of Liitzenburg, I am determined also to say some-
thing about it. The director of it was M. d’Osten, he who was
in the good graces of the late King of Denmark. The whole
had been got up in a great hurry, in order to have it executed
on the day appointed for keeping the Elector's birthday, that
is to say, the 12th, although the 11th, which was last Sunday,
is the real birthday; so they represented a fair in a village
or a little town, where there were shops with signs, in which
they sold (for nothing) hams, sausages, neats'-tongues, wines
and lemonade, tea, coffee, chocolate, and similar drugs. Mgr.
the Margrave Christian Louis, M. d’Obedam, M. du Hamel,
and others were the shopkeepers. M. d’Osten, who acted the
part of the quack-doctor, had his harlequins and saltimbanchi,
amongst whom Mgr. the Margrave Albert took his part very
agreeably ; the doctor had also some tumblers, who were, if
I am not mistaken, M. le Comte de Solms and M. de Was-
senaer; but nothing could be prettier than his juggler; this
was Mgr. the Electoral Prince, who, in fact, really has learned
the hocus-pocus.
Madame the Electress was the doctoress, and kept the shop,
for the sale of orvietan. M. d’Alleurs acted his character of
the tooth-drawer very well. At the opening of the theatre
there appeared the solemn entry of the doctor, mounted upon
a kind of elephant, and Madame the doctoress showed herself,
also carried in a litter by her Turks; the juggler, the tum-
blers, the buffoons, and the tooth-drawer came next; and
when the doctor’s whole suite had passed by, there was a little
ballet of gipsy-girls, ladies of the Court, under a chief, who
was Madame the Princess of Hohenzollern, and some others
joined them in order to dance. They also saw an astrologer
R242
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
make his appearance with his spectacles or a telescope in his
hand. This was to have been my character, but M. le Comte
de Wittgenstein charitably took it off my hands; he made
some predictions in favour of Mgr. the Elector, who was
looking on from the nearest box. Madame the Princess of
Hohenzollern, who was the principal gipsy, undertook to tell
Madame the Electress’s fortune in the most agreeable man-
ner possible in some very pretty German verses made by M.
de Besser. M. de Quirini was the valet-de-chambre of Madame
the doctoress; and as for me I placed myself in a favourable
position to see everything near ■with my little spectacles, in
order to be able to give your Electoral Highness a report of
it. Madame the Princess of Hohenzollern’s lady had the tooth-
ache, and the tooth-drawer, doing his duty with a pair of
farrier’s tongs in his hand, produced a tooth which was about
as thick as my arm, and, to tell the truth, it was a walrus’s
tooth. The doctor, praising the skill of his tooth-drawer,
left the company to judge how adroit he must be to draw
such a tooth as that without hurting anybody. Among the
sick who wanted remedies were MM. d’Alefeld and de Flem-
ing, the Envoys of Denmark and Poland, and our M. d’llten,
all dressed like peasants of their several countries, each Jack
with his Jill. Madame the Grand Marshal was the wife of the
tooth-drawer, and helped him to put his drugs and instru-
ments in order; so it was with all the rest. Several skilfully
intermingled compliments for the Elector and Electrcss; M.
d’Obedam in Flemish, M. Fleming in good Pomeranian, for he
wound up with
Vivat Fridericli und Chariot!
Wer’s nioht recht meynt ist ein II-.
However it was like the Tower of Babel, for every one was talk-
ing his own language; and M. d’Obedam, to please Madame
the doctoress, sang the song out of ‘ L’Amour Medecin,’ which
ends with “ La grande puissance de l’orvietan;” and indeed that
which such a doctoress sold could not be without it. Towards
the end came a Trouble-joy,—M. de Eeisewitz, the Saxon En-
voy in Poland, representing tho ordinary doctor of the place,STEPNEY TO LEIBNITZ.
243
or Stadt-physicus, who fell upon the Quack; it was a pleasant
war of words enough; the Quack having shown his papers,
his parchments, privileges, and certificates of Emperors, Kings,
and Princes, the Stadt-physicus laughed him to scorn, and
showed him handsome medals of gold hanging from his neck
and that of his wife, saying it was his skill that had acquired
for him such pieces as those, and that they were much more
real marks of ability than a pack of papers picked up here and
there. At last Mgr. the Elector himself came down from his
box in the disguise of a Dutch sailor, and made purchases
here and there in the shops of the fair. There was music in
the orchestra, and all those who were present, (who either were
or ought to have been people of the Court or of distinction,)
have confessed that a Grand Opera, which would have cost
thousands of crowns, would have given much less pleasure
both to the actors and the spectators, etc. etc.
Leibnitz.
101.] Stepney to Leibnitz.
Vienna, May 1, 1701.
Sir,
I am very much obliged to you for the friendly sentiments
which you have expressed in the letter you did me the honour
to write to me on the 18th of January, which I have not been
able to answer sooner, having very shortly after received his
Majesty's orders to set out for the Imperial Court, where I
arrived only yesterday.
The matter of which your letter treats was concluded ex-
actly the day that I left London, and in the way which I
supposed it would in the second letter which I had the honour
of writing to the Electress on this subject. I have just been
congratulating her with all my heart; for besides the advan-
tage which will accrue to her house through this declaration
of Parliament, I look upon it as the best step which our na-
tion could take to secure our religion and our quiet, in spite
of the anger which the Duke of Savoy and others may feel;
R 2244
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
for it is beyond all doubt that a disposition made by a King
full of life and good sense, with the consent of the States of the
realm, is a hundred times more valid than that which has just
been made by a Prince weak in every respect and a cabal of
interested people.
The English nation was so well disposed to the succession,
at the King’s recommendation, that there was no need of pam-
phlets to prepare men’s minds, or of men of talent to conduct
the affair; otherwise I am persuaded that they could not have
chosen for that service a person more capable than yourself;
and I should have given myself great pleasure in busying
myself to procure this advantage for you, and at the same
time for myself the honour of serving you in England; but
fate decided otherwise, and since the affair has gone off so
well we have all the better reason to be satisfied.
It is some time since you spoke to me about Mr. Halley.
I have seen him since his return, and also the chart which he
has prepared for the King, on which he marks the variations
of the compass; it is very curious, and they will probably
have it printed. They expect Dampierre home soon, having
had news of him from Batavia. He has been to the East
Indies to discover some spice island for the benefit of our
Company, in which I believe he has succeeded. I have not
been able to find Tallent’s Chronological Tables in London,
which you wished for, otherwise you should have had them
long ago. If there is anything in this country in which I can
be of use to you, you have only to lay your commands upon
me, for I am with passion and esteem, etc. etc.,
G. Stepney.
P.S.—I had just finished this letter when I received yours
of the 24th of March, for which I return you my humble
thanks.STEPNEY TO BLATHWAYT.
245
102.] Stepney to Blathwayt (?).
Vienna, June 1, 1701,
Sir,
In my letters to M'r Secretary I have been carefull not to
say anything that might give offence upon His Matys having
acknowledged the new King of Spain; hut to you I may ven-
ture to own I was not a little surprised at that sudden reso-
lution, on which I could have wished Mr Secretary had been
pleased to explain to me some of the motives which induced
his Ma'y to that degree of complyance; for notwithstanding
the deference all mankind deservedly hear to his judgement,
and the reasons which accompany all his actions, yet the wisest
heads, and even our best freinds, are at a loss what to say or
think on this occasion. 1st, They are persuaded His Maty
warmly disapproved what the Dutch did in the height of their
despair, when the French torrent broke in upon their neigh-
bourhood, and they neither had forces of their own to rely on,
nor any assistance to expect from their Aliys; which makes
this Court utterly astonished at His Matys condescention now,
when wee have a powerfull Fleet abroad, and a Parliament (as
wee think) ready to do whatever shall be proposed to them for
the good of Europe. 2ly, The manner of communicating his
Resolution to the Emperours Envoy seems extraordinary.
My Lord A. first broke the news to him, hut forgot to ex-
plain the motives, which last part was committed to the care
and discretion of Baron Schutz, the Lunenburgh Envoy, who
has very much abounded in his reasonings and glosses, which
however are far from giving satisfaction here; and the use of a
foreign Envoy upon such an errand, without any mention of a
Secretary of State or other English minister, makes people
beleive wee are either afraid or ashamed to own what is
doing amongst us.
You may imagine I have not ventured to express myself
thus freely to Mr Secretary, tho’ the conveyance of the mes-
sage is very publick here, C. Wratislaw having writt it not
only to the Empr and his ministers, but even to the Jesuites246
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
(who must have their share in every thing that passes), and the
reflections which are generally made upon our proceedings are
such that I had rather you should guess than I relate. 3ly, As
to the motives, Baron Schutz says, the King was sensible the
Parliament intended to request the acknowledgement, and
thought his authority concerned rather to prevent their so
doing by making it his own free act; which these people think
is a false maxime, and are willing to flatter themselves that if
the King had referred this article (as He has done several
others of late) to the advice and consent of his Parliament,
they were likely to have formd more freinds there than some
imagine, and therefore wish that matter had been refer’d to
a fair tryall, as his Majesty promised to communicate to them
all things relating to the negotiation.
As a commissioner of Trade I have been willing to throw
in my oar, That such an acknowlegement was necessary,
towards securing our merchants and withdrawing their effects
from Spain, without which precaution wee might begin a war
now with greater disadvantage than wee did the last; But
neither this reason nor any other that I know will satisfy
them. They complain they are abandon’d, and instead of
being assisted by us, as is required by the Grand Alliance
(which they offer to renew and enlarge by Conferences to be
held either at the Hague or in London, to which purpose full
powers have been sent long ago both to Cl Goes and C4 Wra-
tislaw), wee do them all the mischeif wee can by entring
into seperate negotiations with the French, (notwithstanding
their horrid and frequent perjurys) wherein wee make what
blind agreements wee please, without giving any information
to our Aliys, who are more immediately concerned; as if they
were mere Pupills not able to contract for themselves, and
when wee have signed and sealed wee think it time enough
to dictate to them our pleasure as the rule, wherewith they
must be contented. This hapened at Nymeguen and Ryswick.
This was practised in the two late Treatys of Partition; and
this (they think) is now transacting with Cl d’Avaux in a
third, whereby they suppose all that is to fall to their shareSTEPNEY TO BLATIIWAYT.
247
is Milan and the Spanish Netherlands. I wish with all my
heart the Archduke was in possession of those countrys, for I
am not apt to beleive wee shall ever arrive at so good con-
ditions; yet I perceive this Court thinks that Portion too
scanty, fancying themselves as good as sure of the former by
the Arrays they have in Italy, and tho’ the Dutch and Eng-
lish should get the latter for them, they will not account that
any great obligation, it being rather for our own security than
out of Love and Kindness to the Emperor, who is likely to
he at more expence in maintaining those Provinces than they
are worth, as may be made apparent by all the Historys of
the Netherlands from the Duke of Parma down to the D. of
Bavaria.
If to these terms might be added Naples and Sicily the
conditions might be worth accepting, and these acquisitions
are thought more feasible than the other, if wee could spare a
fleet for their assistance in the Mediterranean. For the Pope
(they beleive) is their freind, and they have much ado to keep
the nobility of Naples from breaking out in their favour,
before those designs are ripe enough for execution.
To sum up all, if after the late injurys wee have received
from the French and the contempt wee are daily exposed to,
wee are resolved once more to lay ourselves at their mercy to
the destruction of our constant and naturall Ally, whom wee
ought according to Treatys to assist, and from whom wee
may hereafter expect assistance in our turns, All I foresee is
plainly this, that the Emperor will for the future endeavour
to do his own buisness, without us, by the Mediation of the
Pope and the Jesuites, and then leave us to struggle as well
as wee can for our Libertys and our Religion whenever France
or Spain shall join together to impose upon us a Prince of
Wales, a Duke of Berry, or any body else.
By the freedome or rather Licentiousness of these reason-
ings you may easily imagine they are only for yourself.248
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
103.] Burnet to Leibnitz.
Salisbury, June 30, 1701.
Dear Sir,
I know I cannot do the Earle of Macclesfield a more use-
full as well as a more acceptable service than to introduce him
into the acquaintance of one who is now the Glory not only
of the Court of Brunswick but of the whole German Empire.
Men who are very Eminent in any one great thing may justly
reckon that they may well neglect all other things. But it is
very Extraordinary, and may be justly reckoned among the
wonderfull Phenomena of the Age, that one man should excell
in all Sciences. Mathematicks, Philosophy, Law, History, and
Politicks do not exhaust a Genius that seems born to let the
world see to what one man can attain; and yet after all this,
you seem to have studied Theology as if you had minded no-
thing else. When I tell you so freely what justice all the
world does you, you will easily beleeve that it gave me no
small satisfaction to find that my book, which I took the liberty
to send you, was so well liked by so great a man and so true
a judge. I am glad to find that it is like to be of some use in
order to the softning the sharpnes that is among your Divines,
particularly in the matters of Predestination. The Court of
Brunswick is now so entirely united to ours upon the justice
which the King and Parliament have done in declaring the
right of Succession, that I hope we shall agree in this, as well
as in every thing else, to promote an agreement among all that
are Enemies to Popery, in order to the defending ourselves
against the Common Enemy.
The present State of affairs opens to us a great Crisis; for
either the K. of France will arrive at the much longed for
Yniversall Monarchy, or, by grasping at too much as Spain
did above an Age agoe, he may fall under a feeblenes like
that to which we see Spain now reduced. The warre in Italy
is that upon which all mens eyes are now set; when the Im-
perialists are once fixed there in some Important places, and
are sure of winter quarters, affairs every where else will put onLEIBNITZ TO STEPNET.
249
another face. Our Parliament here has ended much better
than was expected. The practices of the French were as visible
here as in many other Courts, and have been so skillfully
managed that we have been much embroiled by them: yet
the Genius of the Nation worked so strongly towards a warre,
that it could not be resisted. I will not enter further into our
affairs, but leave them to the Noble bearer, or such about him
with whom you may fall into free conversation. I beg leave
to assure you that no man honours, Loves, and Respects you
more than He, who is with a most particular esteem,
Dear Sir,
Your most humble and
most obedient Servant,
Gil., Bishop of Sarum.
104.J Leibnitz to Stepney.
[.Hanover,] the 8th July, 1701.
Sir,
It is a peculiar mark of kindness to have written to me the
day after your arrival at Vienna, and I am much obliged to
you for it.
The great affair respecting which I had had the honour of
writing to you, conformably to what you had announced to Ma-
dame the Electress, has ended well, agreeably to what you had
written to her a little before the resolution of the House of
Commons. The wisdom of the King, and his zeal for the na-
tion and the Protestant religion, have shown themselves con-
sistent, and all honest people must be more convinced of them
now than ever. God grant that such just measures may be
taken not only among yourselves and among us, but also in
the Court where you are, in all the Empire and elsewhere, as
to prevent that transcendent power, which puts itself in a po-
sition to give the law to all the earth and successors to mo-
narchies, from overturning the best established settlements.250
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
We languish for good news from Italy; the party dominant
at Milan flatters itself with the belief that the Emperor’s army
is without money, provisions, or a plan; these are the terms
of a letter from a person of very great consideration in that
country, but I hope that they will not have despised their
enemy with impunity, and that his Imperial Majesty will have
taken better measures than his adversaries imagine. I con-
fess that they have to do with people very skilful, and sup-
ported by one of the greatest powers in the world, and that
it will require some extraordinary coup to catch them, either
by Providence interfering in some very special manner, or by
exciting the minds of men to devise unforeseen expedients
which may render the precautions of the enemy useless.
The conspiracy of Hungary is an untoward event. It will
be well if the Emperor can find a sufficient number of neutral
troops for Hungary, in order that he may he the better able
to use his own elsewhere. This was hoped from those of Ba-
varia, but I hear now that there are doubts about it; these
neutralities are spreading widely, but I do not know that they
will be eternal. The Court of Wolfenbiittel has made no diffi-
culty of declaring its own to M. le Comte de Rappach. People
pretend to have seen some traces of a manifesto which that
Court is causing to be printed, to set up, that the grandfather
of the Dukes had no power to renounce the succession to Zell;
but I can hardly believe it. Nevertheless I verily believe
that they would aim at it rather for themselves, if there were
the means, than for Monsieur the Due Maximilian, whom I
should wish to see in better hands than those of certain
counsellors whom he has at present at Vienna, and who mix
themselves up in his affairs without knowing them thoroughly,
as their letters only too clearly show. No one can be more
distressed than I am to see the part that he has taken with
Duke Christian, his brother, and that they are both of them
insensible to the remonstrances of their best servants. How-
ever I still do not despair that they will think better of it; and
I hope that Duke Max may not have taken any step which
may be too prejudicial, and at which he used to laugh himselfLEIBNITZ TO STEPNEY.
251
in old times. To return to general affairs. It is a great coup
for us that Denmark has let itself be won over to the right
side. A report is current that the Bishop of Munster is not
over well, and that they are already beginning to take measures
respecting the succession; it is to be hoped that in the event
of a vacancy no mistake may be made in the choice, as has
happened more than once. Here are some pretty Latin verses
which Mr. Abercrombie, a Scotchman, has sent me upon the
establishment of the English succession. I remember once to
have written to you at your desire with respect to your trade,
but you must at present have quite other thoughts in your
head. It is true that you take a part in everything, and that
in the realm of learning you are one of the most considerable
citizens. A man of learning is at work at an edition of Da-
mascenus, in which he will give some pieces hitherto not
printed. He has learnt that there is something of this Father
in the Emperor’s library, but they tell me this is closed now
since the death of M. Wesseling. If any one had access to
it, I would have recourse to him, and I would venture to en-
treat you to be favour-able to us; but I suspect that at Vienna
they think of anything rather than this sort of employment.
M. de Galvin, Minister of State at Berlin, has asked me if
Mr. Bymer’s great work will soon appear. I am told that
Mr. Haly is going to sea again ; this is to be really indefati-
gable. I am sorry that there are people who attack the Bishop
of Salisbury’s Commentary upon the Articles of your church,
for I find this work very much to my taste. Some parts of it
have been translated into Latin at Berlin, with great enco-
miums, as I have told him in thanking him for the copy which
he sent me. You will hardly be thinking much about Moses
where you are; the air of England is more fitted to inspire
thoughts of that kind. Your political occupations may do
more service to religion than meditations on the Bible, how-
ever good they may be. I am, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.252
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
105.]
Fountaine to Leibnitz.
(Lettre que M. Chevalier Fountaine m’a ecrite pour estre receu
dans la Societe Royale de Berlin.)
Sr,
Berlin, 18 Octobre, 1701.
It wont, Fme certain, be thought strange that one who has
had the Happynesse of conversing frequently with you, should
desire to put himself under your direction, and to be admitted
into a society that Studys the advancement of Learning and
the propagation of the Xtlan faith; the Royal Academy at
Berlin has already made such a progresse in the first, and per-
sues with so much industry the last, that i shall take it as a
particular favour to be made a member of that Learned Body,
and to the utmost of my power, i shall alwaies endeavour to
promote the designs of soe great a King, and soe judicious a
director, i am, Sr,
Your most obedient
humble Servant,
Andrew Fountains.
106.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
Leipzig, Oct. 24, 1701.
Dear Sr,
The letters of addresse that you sent me were the most
gratefull present you could make, and that which I have al-
ready delivered to Mr Menke has procured me an abundance
of Civilitys; but the compliments you made me were not quite
soe acceptable, because I know very well that I dont deserve
’em; but they have convinced me, that you are able to make
as great a figure among the Courtiers as you doe among the
men of letters; and that you can oblige the Ladies as well as
the Learned, by your conversation: in short you are just what
you please; you understand every thing, and are admired by
every body.LEIBNITZ TO FOUNTAINE.
253
I stopt for some time at Wittemberg, and pay’d a visit to
Martin Luthers and Melancthons tombs, which are not very
sumptuous for men of their merit; though they are very much
of a peice with the rest of the University.
Pray deliver the enclosed to Mra Pelnitz, and with your ac-
customed good nature excuse all the nonsense and bad French
in it; for I had not the Happynesse to meet with soe good a
director, as you are, here. I hope to meet with a letter from
you at Vienna, wch I shall esteem as a particular favour, and
it will convince me that you have soe much goodnesse as to
lay aside the Meaux’s and your other great correspondents, to
oblige me that has noe other merit than that of being,
Dear Sr,
Your most oblidged humble Servant,
A: Fountaine.
107.] Leibnitz to Fountaine.
Berlin, November 12th, 1701.
Sir,
I was enchanted to learn that my letter from Liitzenburg
had reached you before your departure from Berlin, and that
the enclosures are to your satisfaction. M. Minkenin’s thanks
me for having procured for him and his son the honour of your
acquaintance : it is a correspondence, at least among persons
like you and him, by which all parties are gainers, the only
commerce in which that takes place. But as for me, I am he
who derives the most advantage from it, and your deserts are
the capital from which I derive the profit. I have no doubt
that M. Morel at Arnstadt, and M. Imhof at Niimberg, will
also be much obliged to me. One is fortunate when one has
a person like yourself to produce. The Queen still thinks her-
self my debtor for having introduced you, although you were
more than sufficiently so by Madame the Electress’s letter;
and Mademoiselle de Pellnitz, as well as the other ladies,
often ask me news of you; not to speak of your wit, your good254
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
looks, or rather your beauty, remains engraved in their imagi-
nation, and makes as much noise at Court as your learning
does among our savans, who have had the advantage of your
acquaintance. I read your letter, or rather I translated it in
our assembly. The Society accepts with much pleasure the
advantage of having you as a member; the King of Prussia
himself, when he heard it, expressed his satisfaction about it;
and we reckon very much upon a person of such distinction
as yourself.
I do not know if Mile, de Pellnitz will still send me a letter
for you, or whether she has perhaps already despatched it to
M. Plantamour. If I learn that you are gone to Italy, I shall
take the liberty to send you letters for some friends that I
have in that country. The affairs of our Society get on : we
are about to send to Muscovy a gentleman who is a learned
geometrician and painter, and understands the language of the
Czar, to make observations there. The King is sending orders
into the provinces to make the doctors collect observations re-
specting the seasons and the winds, and their influence on the
body, so as to be able to draw up ‘ Historiam Regni Physico-
Mcdicam/ which is to be sent to the Society. I entreat you
to impart your observations on your travels to me; and not to
call me Excellence unless you choose me to call you My Lord
in reprisals, which however I might do more justly, and in the
character of a prophet, for you are of an age and condition to
rise, while as for me I am at an age to descend, but it will
never be from the quality I shall ever maintain of being, Sir,
etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
P. S.—My most humble compliments to Mr. Stepney and to
M. and Mme. Hamel Brusines; and if by chance you should
meet M. le Comte de Rappach, who was the Envoy of the
Emperor at Hanover and Wolfenbiittel, and whom I have seen
both at the one and the other place, and for the last time at
M. le Comte de Platens, at the time when he left us, I en-
treat you to do him the same good service, and assure him of
my zeal.FOUNTAIN® TO LEIBNITZ.
255
108.] Fountain® to Leibnitz.
Munich, 25 Novemb. 1701.
Dear Sr,
You may perceive by the place from which I date this letter
that I am become a perfect Rambler; but, notwithstanding
that, my affections are steady and I have still the same value
and respect for you that I alwaies had. Your letter to Mr
Morellus procured me very great civilities from him, and he
not only showed me all the Count of Schwartzburgs medalls,
and gave me severall very learned instructions, but he alsoe
made me a present of some valuable Roman coines. From
Arnstet I went to Nuremberg, and was soe unfortunate as
to come thither just when the inhabitants were paying their
taxes into the Treasury, soe that Mr Imhoff as Treasurer was
obliged to attend daily, and I had but little of his company,
hut that little that I had of it convinced me that he is a very
learned man.
Hannover and Berlin have left such impressions upon me,
that I cant relish fine buildings without good inhabitants, and
■’tis that, that makes me prefer the Electrice’s Apartment at
Hernhausen to that they call the Emperours at Munich; and
the Little ball at Lusenbourg to the famous one at Ausbourg.
in short, I dont beleive I shall like my native England, un-
lesse I find a Court from Hannover there. I am just now go-
ing to pay a visit to the Abbe Stephani, who seems to be a
man of letters, and is, like everybody employed by his master,
very well bred. To morrow or next day I shall set out for
Vienna, where the greatest satisfaction I propose to my self is
to meet a letter from you.
I am, Dear Sr,
Most sincerely yours,
And : Fountain®.
If my Lady Bellamont be angry with me, pray make us
Friends. My humble service to the Abbe of Lockum.256
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
109.] Form of an Order from His Majesty for Mr. Stepney,
such as their Highnesses of Cell and Hanover wish for.
[About the end of 1101.']
As it will soon be necessary for the advantage of the com-
mon cause to concert measures to bring the House of Wolfen-
biittel to reason, and to prevent the ill consequences which
might result from the great armament which it is making with
French money, His Majesty, considering that his E ,H. of Bruns-
wick and his E. H. of Cell are not only exposed to the offen-
sive designs which this House appears to have formed, but that
they are also better situated than any other power to be tho-
roughly acquainted with the intrigues of Duke Antony Ulric
with France, has thought fit to leave their said Highnesses at
liberty to propose this matter to the Emperor at whatever time
they may think the most fitting; which time being uncertain,
H. M., before his departure for England, has thought it incum-
bent on him to leave in the hands of his Highness of Cell the
present Order, to which Mr. Stepney will conform himself when
it shall be delivered to him, and he will support at the Imperial
Court, in the name of H. M., the proposals which shall be
made to him by their said Highnesses with respect to the
House of Wolfenbiittel, acting in concert with the Minister of
their Highnesses at Vienna, and giving himself all pains to
make the negotiations succeed.
110.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
[1701.]
S',
Having this morning found the convenience of goeing to
Leipsig in a long Coach that is returning thither has forced me
to give you this trouble, and to desire you, if the Letters are
finisht, to send 'em by this messenger ; if not, to direct 'em for
me at the Post House at Leipsig. What with the hurry of
packing up my Cloaths, and my usuall negligence together, IFOUNTAINE TO LEIBNITZ.
257
lost the Copy of the Letter you left with me, hut as much as
I can remember of yours is contained in the enclosed, and I
hope is sufficient; if not, I shall obey any further orders that
you are pleased to send me. I must own that I part very
sorrowfull from Berlin, and particularly that I am at this pre-
sent oblidged to part with soe much expedition that I cant
possibly have the Honour and Happynesse to wait upon the
Queen before my departure; but I beg of you to say what
you think necessary upon this occasion. You shall [hear]
from me at Leipsig; I hope alsoe to have an answer to the en-
closed, directed to Mr Stepneys at Vienna. I am, Dear Sir,
Your most sincere, humble Servant,
A. Fountain.
My humblest respects to Mrs Pelnitz, and the other pritty
Ladies at Luzenbourg. My humble Service to M1' Opdam
and Mr Wasnaer.
111.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
Vienna, Decemb. 10th, 1701.
Dear S1',
I am convinced by your letter, which I was soe happy as to
meet with at this place, that you are still soe kind as to re-
member me. I received also MadUe Pelnitz’s letter, which I
take for a great honour, and design to return her my humble
thankes next post; you need not have made any excuse for the
breaking of it open, since there’s nothing that I am master
of that I would not very willingly communicate to you. I
am very much obliged to you and your society for your kind
acceptance of me into your number, and I shall make it my
endeavour to be as serviceable to you as I can. I wonder you
have not yet received the methods of our Insurance offices
for fire, because I wrote a great while agoe about that matter,
and have received an answer to the letter I wrote to the Book-
seller at the same time; he is like most others of his trade, a
knave, and talks of such terms as are not worth your while to258
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
give, but I will write to another next post in Expectation of a
better answer. I send you here enclosed a letter I received
from M1' Edward Thwaites, that has published severall Saxon
books at our presse at Oxford; perhaps you may find some-
thing in it that will make amends for the dulnesse of my own.
The letters of Addresse that you have already given me have
bin of singular use to me, soe that I most eagerly embrace
your kind proposal! of sending me some for Italy. I shall in
two weeks time set forward for Venice, and shall be glad of
the honour of delivering any letters or commands that you
shall lay upon,
Dear Sir,
Your most sincere and
k most obliged humble Servant,
And: Fountain.
Direct your next to me,
Chez Mr Broughton,
Consul de la Nation Angloise a Venise.
Pray give my humblest services to all my Friends at Han-
nover, and assure 'em that I long to enjoy the happynesse
that that Court affords.
112.] Fkaiser to Leibnitz.
De Londres, 15 Deo., nevue Sti., 1701.
Monsieur,
Je me suis donne Fhonneur de vous ecrire deux fois de
Londress, enfin d’attirer des reponcess touchant Les affaires
do vostre coure, et mesme je vous ay avert! que on estoit re-
solu dans le Boyaume d’Ecose, de ne pas suivre L’example
que Le Parlement d'Angleterre Leur avoit donne h L’egarde
de La Successione, ett qu'il falloit deturne ce coupe si il
estoit possible; car c’est une natione qui peut faire- beau-
coupe de mall, quoique elle ne peut point faire du bien; vos
enncmis commencent h Les pratiquer, enfin de Les soute-FRAISER TO LEIBNITZ.
259
nir dans Leur desseinge; ce pourquoi il faut y penser de bon
heure.
Je me creu oblige de uons donne cet avertisment, ayant
receu tant des beinfaits de son Altess et de Madam sa mere,
dont je suis le fidel serviteur.
Nous commencons a esperer de voire bientot il Londres Le
Prince Electorale d’ Hanover; je vous prie de me faire sca-
voire le temps positivement qu’il doit arriver. Yous pouvez
addresser vostre Lettre pour moy cbez Mr Bemarde, proche
de la Maisone du Duke de Shomberge, dans Le pel-mell it
Londres. Je suis avec respect,
Yostre tres humble serviteur,
Peter Eraiser.
113.] Ellis to Stepney.
Whitehall, 10tK Mar., 170|.
Sir,
By the sad News you will recieve by this post, you will
censure mee for want of judgement, at least, in the account I
gave you last post, of H.M. illnesse; but I must averre that
any one, who had seen him on Thursday about noon, as I
bad the honour to do, and had heard him speak, would not
have believed wee should have had the misfortune to be de-
prived of him by 8 a clock on Sunday morning. You will
see, by Her Matics declaration in councill, and by the ad-
dresses of both Houses of Parliament, that it is resolved to
pursue the same measures, that the King was taking for re-
ducing the too great power of France. The E. of Marlb. is
Grand Vizier, as you may imagine, and the E. of Rock™ and
Lord Godol. cooperate with him, as wee take for granted. I
cannot hear that the King has made any will, since that in
Holland, in 1696; so that some persons who expected large
Legacies have gott very little. He thought, till Saturday in
the afternoon, he should have weathered it, and then he sunk
so fast, it was too late to do any thing materiall, tho’ he was
s 2260
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
in his senses to the last. I have the favour of yours of 4 inst.
to acknowledge, and am ever, etc. etc.,
J. Ellis.
114.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
Vienna, 14ith Jan., 1702.
Dear S1',
I am extreamly obliged to you for your recommendations
of me hitherto, and I dont in the least doubt but those kind
things you have said of me in your letter to Maliabecchi will
obtain a favorable reception for me, as comeing from a man
of your character, though I dont at all deserve 'em. After
often writing I have obtained the enclosed papers concerning
our Insurance offices, and the friend that sent ’em to me pro-
mised at the same time that if you had any queries or objec-
tions to make that he would answer ’em to your satisfaction.
The price of insuring the houses will alter in proportion to the
goodnesse of your security, the interest you are able to make
of your money, and the value of your houses, etc., but these
things will all naturally occur to one of your learning & judge-
ment.
I wrote a fortnight agoe to MadUe Pelnitz, and gave my
opinion, I fear, a little too freely of this Court; I must desire
you to beg my pardon of that faire Lady, if she is angry at
the Satyre or stile of my last letter. I long to hear that the
Queen of Prussia is got to Hannover; for as I wish all hap-
pynesse to that family, I am of opinion that the presence of
that good Queen will contribute much towards it.
I was, according to your desire, to wait upon P. Mene-
gatti; he had an account of the same thing before, but he was
very glad to heare of your wellfare; he is one of the most
sensible Jesuites I have met with here, for between you and I
they are generally Knaves or Blockheads; and ’tis difficult to
meet with a learned man here.
I have bin often with Generali Marsigli, who is going to
publish the Antiquities of Hungary, and I have persuadedLEIBNITZ TO FRAISER.
261
him to propose to the Emperour to send for Morellus to put
that great Collection in order, that lies at present in very great
confusion.
My humblest services to all my Friends at Berlin and Han-
nover, both which Courts gave me soe much satisfaction that
nothing has pleased me ever since I left 'em. I am,
Dearest Sr,
Most sincerely Yours,
A. Fountaine.
Here is great rejoyceing at Prince Eugene's having taken
Bercello. Mr Stepney and Abbe Eccaro are your humble
servants.
115.] Leibnitz to Fraiser.
Hanover, Jan. 28th, 1702.
I have never received any letter from you except the last
from London, which came to me from the house of M. the
Envoy Cresset; and it will be well to ascertain whether they
were delivered to the post or entrusted to some private person.
All that I have learnt of you since your departure is what
M. de Brauns informed me that you had charged him with
your remembrances for me, and I have begged him to thank
you for it. I have not failed here to make your compliments
to Madame the Electress, as well as her son, who are both of
them obliged to you. Madame the Electress has always thought
that it was not for her to put herself forward in England or
Scotland; consequently she left to the late King, and still
leaves to the Queen and the two nations, the care of thinking
upon what is most advantageous to themselves at the present
time. She is naturally an enemy of intrigues, and likes to
travel the broad way. She cherishes persons of honour and
merit, and prizes their affection, setting a high value on your
own.
She wishes, for the benefit of the two nations, that the Union262
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
of Scotland and England may take effect. The Queen her
mother having been born in Scotland, she still looks upon
herself as a Scotchwoman, and interests herself warmly for
whatever may happen to the advantage of Scotland, counting
upon their affection as well as upon that of the English. She
is particularly charmed that the Queen has shown so much
firmness and goodwill for the common cause of the Allies, in
which the public liberty and the Protestant religion are so
deeply interested. May God bless good counsels ! I commit
you to His protection, and am ever, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
To M. the Chevalier Fraiser, London.
116.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
Dear Sr,
Saltzburg, 29th Jan., 1702.
I am got thus far on my way for Venice, and this being
the first Town that I made any stop at, I take this oppor-
tunity to thank you once more for youre obligeing letters, and
to beg of you, if you think it convenient, to obtain the Elec-
trices letter to the Dutchesse of Modena; to which place I
design to goe, after having visited the Imperiall Army in
their winter quarters. If the Electrice does not usually write
to the Dutchesse, Twill be improper to ask that favour of her
Highnesse, but you are a better Judge of that than I am.
Whilest I was at Vienna I had the Honour of Conversing fre-
quently with Prince Christian, who is a very sober, studious
Prince, and seems to me to be one of the valuablest men of
quality in the Imperiall Court; and the very reverse of his
Brother, Prince Maximilian.
I hope you received my last from Vienna, because in it I
sent you the Methods of our Insurance offices; but not
Knowing whether you were at Berlin or Hanover, I directed
it to Mr Plantamour.
I must desire you to send the Enclosed speedily forward forLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OF HOHENZOLLERN. 263
England; and to give my humblest duty to all the faire Ladys
of both Courts, but in perticular to MUe Pelnitz. I am,
Dearest Sr,
Your most obliged and most obedient Servant,
Direct to me, A. Fountaine.
Chez Monsieur Broughton,
Consul de sa Majeste Brittanique Yenise.
117.] Leibnitz to the Princess of Hohenzoelern.
Hanover, Feb. 25th, 1702.
Madam,
Having been at Berlin or at Liitzenburg the last autumn
and the beginning of the winter until the Queen came here,
I have more than once heard how much Her Majesty was
affected by the illness and annoyances of your Serene High-
ness, not only on account of the affection she feels for you,
Madam, but also because they deprive her of the pleasure of
seeing you. At present, as from the news she has received
from you, she hopes that your Serene Highness will have re-
covered, or will soon be entirely set up again, she flatters her-
self that she shall possess you next summer, and rejoices at
it by anticipation. However, Madam, it is her pleasure that
I should give you a little account of what is going on here,
where she is amusing herself not ill, as well as Madame the
Duchess of Courland: masks and balls, play and the theatre
succeed one another, and sometimes there are intermezzi,
which serve to vary the pleasures. They celebrated lately a
festival in the Roman fashion, which was intended to repre-
sent that of the famous Trimalcion, which Petronius has de-
scribed. The modem Trimalcion was M. the Burgrave; and
his wife, Fortunata, disposed everything as the ancient For-
tunata did in the house of her Trimalcion. There were beds
for the guests, the principal of whom were the Queen, Mgr.
the Elector, and Mgr. the Duke Ernest Augustus; but Mme.
the Electress, Mgr. the Duke of Zell, and other principal264
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
personages, only came to look on. Trimalcion’s trophies were
to be seen; these were emptied bottles. There were also a
number of devices pointing out his good qualities, particularly
his courage and his wit. When the guests entered the room
a slave cried out, “The right foot forward !” They had already
taken their places on the beds, and Almolpus was reciting a
poem in praise of the great Trimalcion, when he arrived him-
self, carried upon a machine, preceded by huntsmen, drum-
mers, musicians, and slaves, all of whom made a great deal of
noise. They sang verses in his honour, as for example,—
“ In the camp as in the Court
He is a man of good report;
He feareth not the jars
Of Bacchus or of Mars.”
The great actions of Pescaret, of Vienna, and other places,
and particularly the manner in which he had set about soften-
ing the heart of Mme. de Winsingerode, as Hannibal did the
rocks of the Alps, were the subject of these verses. Having
in this manner gone more than once round the hall, as if in
triumph, he placed himself upon his bed, and began to eat and
drink, inviting his guests very graciously to follow his ex-
ample. His carver was called M. Coupe, in order that when
he said “Coupe” he might at once name him and give him his
orders; this was like the Carpus in Petronius, to whom his
master said “ Carpe,” which means ‘ carve.’ There was a hen
whose eggs, when they opened them, were on the point of being
thrown away, because it was thought there were chickens in
them, but they were ortolans. There were little children
carying pates, and birds flying out of another pdte, which
the huntsmen caught again; another was carrying olives; and
many other extraordinary figures, which gave variety to the
festival, and surprised the spectators; all in imitation of the
Roman original. There was even a Zodiac, with dishes which
answered to the twelve signs, and Trimalcion gave a very
amusing astrological lecture upon it. Fortunata was called
several times before she could put herself at table, for every-
thing rested upon her shoulders. Trimalcion being in aLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OF IIOIIENZOLLERN. 265
humour to spit learning, had the catalogue of his burlesque
library brought, and as they named the several books in
reading the catalogue, he quoted the fine passages or criticized
them. There was nothing drunk hut Falernian; and Tri-
malcion, who prefers that of Hungary to any other, neverthe-
less put a restraint upon himself for the sake of his guests.
At length, contemplating his own felicity, and at the same
time the vanity of worldly grandeur, he caused his will to he
brought and read, in which he directed how he chose to he
buried, and what sort of monument should be set up for him,
and distributed legacies, all of it in a most comical manner.
He emancipated his slaves, who during the reading of the will
continued to make faces and lamentable exclamations; but
during the festival itself he gave liberty on the spot to the one
who was called Bacchus, making himself proud of having gods
in his service. The slave went at once to take the hat, the
mark of freedom. When the master drank the slaves made a
noise which resembled the firing of cannon, or rather Jupiter’s
thunder, which was of good augury if it came from the left
side.
But in the midst of the rejoicings the Goddess of Discord
threw one of her apples among them : a quarrel broke out
between Trimalcion and Fortunata; he flung a glass at her
head, and they had all the difficulty in the world to reconcile
them; however it was brought about at last. The whole
ended in the most agreeable manner possible. The procession,
with hunting-horns, drums, musical instruments, and songs,
ended as it had commenced; and, not to mention Fortunata,
one may say that the Trimalcion surpassed himself. I wish
that a better description could be given of this, to rejoice your
Serene Highness. For myself I was glad to take this occasion
of showing at least how much I desire to retain the honour
of your good graces, being with respect, Madam, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
The lady to whom this letter was addressed was a
born Countess of Zinzendorf, and the wife of Frederick266
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
William, Prince of Hohenzollern Hechingen. Marie
Louise Leopoldine of Hohenzollern died in 1709. Her
daughter Ernestine Frederica was also a correspondent
of Leibnitz. The letters of the Princesses of Zollern are
pretty numerous, but of no great interest.
118.]
Vernon to Stepney.
Sir,
Copenhagen, Feb. 28th, 1702.
Yesterday, about Eleven a Clock in the Forenoon, tbe K. of
Denmark being in Boors Cloaths, and accompany’d by Prince
Charles, and tbe Court on Horseback, all clad after the same
manner; went from his castle here, to one of bis Country
houses, about an English mile and a half from this City, to a
Carousel in imitation of one first introduc’d here by a Colony
of Boors, of Low Dutch extraction, whom the Kings of Den-
mark, since Christian the 4ths Time, have been accustom’d
to do ye honour once a year, to imitate, in their Dress, Di-
vertisements, and even Country Fare; in order to encourage
them to go on with improving the Soil, which, I have been
told, they have done considerably, from what it was, while cul-
tivated (or rather neglected) by the Natives, near this Place.
The Cavalcade thro’ the City was extream comical; and
indeed the Carousel was no less so; which, how diverting so-
ever it was to the Beholders ; yet ’twould be hard to give such
an account of it, as cou’d bear reading. And therefore, to
skip over the particulars of the Pastime, I shall only name
the prizes, which were a good fat Buck and a Barril of Beer.
The King himself carry’d the first, by his Dexterity in tilting
at full gallop, with a long Pole (or rather Pitch Fork), at 3
Cats coop’d up in an empty Barril swinging between two
Poles, till his Majesty knock’d out the head on’t, and thereby
acquired an additional Kingship among his Fellow-Boors, for
enlarging the poor Prisoners.
The second Prize was the Reward of one Brigadeer Oraag,ANNE, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, TO THE ELECTOE. 267
for pulling off the head from a Goose swinging by the Feet
between the two Poles aforesaid.
The number of the Boor-knights, besides the King & P.
Charles, was in all 34, among whom were the French Am-
bassadour and the Prussian Envoy.
The Carousel being over, the King with his Knights din’d
at one Table, and the Queen with her Boorines (among whom
was the French Ambassadress) at another. Their Majesties
having danc’d away the afternoon, return’d hither in the
Evening about 6 a Clock, being accompany’d with the Jovial
Crew,, and went straight to the Italian Comedy, clad as they
were. After which there was a Mascarade at Court, that
lasted till 5 this Morning, and I hear there is to be another
there to night.
119.] Anne, Queen of England, to the Elector.
A St. James, ce 16'
thinking it a very extraordinary thing that he should be made
Arbitrator of the terms with Portugal!, after the great offers
that she has made in that point. You are to press for terms
to be offered to the Elector of Bavaria, and that one of themFOENTAINE TO LEIBNITZ.
315
be the yielding him Naples, which is the thing that is most
likely to satisfy that Elector, whereof the Emperor may please
to give him such Assurances as he shall think most proper.
Her Majfy thinks it of very great importance to the common
cause that no time should be lost in gaming that Prince almost
at any rate; and whatever territories or dominions the Emperor
shall think fit to allow him for his satisfaction, her Map? is
willing, in conjunction with the States Gen11, to give her Garanty
for maintaining the same : you are to endeavour to gett a list
of all the Forces design’d by the Emperor for Italy, and send
it to me as soon as possibly you can. I am, etc. etc.,
C. Hedges.
133.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
Zell, March 16th, 1703.
Dear Sr,
I give you many thankes for your obligeing letter, and doe
assure you that, though the diversions at Hannover were very
numerous, they did not in the least make me forget you, and
amidst all the entertainments I never failed of enquiring ear-
nestly after your health; every body was desirous of your com-
pany here, and we were all sorry to find that your stay at
Berlin would be longer than was expected. I doe assure you,
that for my part I am soe well satisfied with the Carneval and
with the civilities that I received at Hannover, that I will not
faile, if it please God, to return thither once more; and there
is nothing I desire more than an opportunity of convincing
the Electrice and all her family that nobody can be more sin-
cerely gratefull than I am; and that I should misse no occa-
sion of serving her Electorall Highnesse, and all that belongs
to her. Let me beg of you, if you can doe it apropos, to assure
the Queen how intirely sensible I am of the great Honour
Her Majesty has done me by speaking soe frequently to my
advantage, and that I esteem it my greatest happynesse to be
in the good opinion of soe great and soe wise a Princesse.
You may be sure that I shall not forget you when I am amidst316
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
my medales; on the contrary, I shall often wish for you, to
explain what I don’t understand; the Electrice did me the
honour to receive the poor present I made her, and in return
gave me a most noble gold medall, which I shall alwaies keep
as the greatest treasure I have; and should be very glad when
you write next to her Electorall Highnesse, if you would let
her know, how much I esteem the great bounty she showed
me. I desire you not to trouble yourself about the night
gown, and shall be very glad if you will accept soe small a
present, and I am of opinion that I doe service to the Republick
of letters in taking care of your health. I shall be at Ham-
borough, I hope, within 10 or 12 days, and if you have any
commands to lay upon me, pray direct to me at Mr. Strat-
ford’s. I am most sincerely, Dear Sr,
Your obliged humble Servant,
A. Fountaine.
My most humble respects to the pritty and witty Mademoi-
selle Pelnitz.
134.] Addison to Leibnitz.
Hague, July 10th, 1703.
Sir,
I have wisht for a pretence to trouble you with a letter ever
since I had the honour of your Conversation at Berlin. I am
sorry the first I write shoud he to solicite a favour of you.
But as you are evry where known to be the great promoter
as well as Master of all kinds of usefull Learning, I have lately
receiv’d a Letter from a friend of mine that is now upon an
Edition of Caesar’s Commentarys, and desires me to make you
acquainted with his Design. He has heard that the King of
Prussia has one of those Buffalos that Julius Caesar calls an
XJrus, and gives so particular a description of. He intends to
spare no cost in the Edition of this Book, which will probably
be the noblest volume that ever came from the English press.
He woud therefore be very glad to get a Drawing of this Beast,ADDISON TO LEIBNITZ.
317
f possible, which he woud have engraven at Amsterdam, where
they are now at work on several other prints that are to have
a place in the same Book. He intends to enrich his Edition
with Palladio’s Cutts of Csesars Battles, Machines and En-
campments, with all the ancient Medals, Statues & Bas reliefs
that have any relation to his Authour, and with prints of any
modern pictures that have bin taken from the Commentaries,
and are esteem’d by the best Masters. One of the greatest
ornaments of his Book however woud be any observations of
Mr. Leibnits. If therefore you think it worth your while to
compare the Animal with the description that Csesar has made
of it, and to see whether it has all the Qualities that are there
attributed to it, or any other that are there omitted, I am sure
it woud be a very great Obligation, not only to the Undertakers
of this Work, but to the learned world in general. The Book
will be a large Folio, and has for its subscribers the greatest of
the nobility in England with Prince Louis of Baden and prince
Eugene at the head of ’em. The Undertaker is Mr. Tonson.
I had last night the honour to drink your Health with Mr.
Haley, who is on a Second Voyage to the port of Bucali in the
Venetian Gulfe: for our ministers of State so well approve of
y° description he has made of it that they are resolv’d to fit
it up if the Emperour does not fail ’em. He tells me that
there is an Excellent Road for ships of the greatest burden,
and that the Basin itself, which is Land-lock’d of all sides, is
capable of holding sixty Men of War. Pray, Sir, excuse the
trouble of this Letter, and if I can execute any of your Com-
mands here or in England be pleas’d to honour me with ’em.
A Letter directed for me to the Hague will find, Sir,
Your most Obedient and
most humble Servant,
J. Addison.
Note by Leibnitz.
(II sera bon d’en ecrire a M. Hamrath.)
The note in Leibnitz’s hand was speedily followed by
a practical interference. There is a short correspondence,318
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
of no particular interest; but at a later period, as we
learn from a letter of Sir Hans Sloane, the scientific de-
scription and drawings of this Urus were transmitted to
the Royal Society. I doubt whether the plan was ever
carried out: the book does not appear in Schweiger’s
admirable catalogue, and though Tonson published one
or two editions of Caesar’s Commentaries, I do not find
any in folio, or with the sort of illustrations noticed by
Addison. The times were favourable to the production
of little but pamphlets that were violent libels.
135.J Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia to
Leibnitz.
Lutzbourg, ce 14 daust, [1703.]
Ie ne doute pas que nous ne soyez en peine, monsieur, de-
puis que nous avons receu une meauaise nouelle icy; car vous
conoises la sensibilite de Mad. Lelectrice pour ces enfens: pour
cela ie vous dires que elle a fort bien suporte sa douleur, et
fait ce quelle peut pour ce la mestre hors de lesprit, et elle
rcusit du moins en ce point quelle nen est pas malade, ce que
ie craigner fort, conoisant son temperament, quelle ne peut
pas pleurer, ce qui soulage d’ordinaire. Elle a rendu la uisite
au Roy a chonhausen bier, ou elle a uu du monde; il en uient
ausy icy, ce qui sert a la distraire: sy vous esties icy, vostre
bone conuersation y contribueroit beaucoup ausy, et a mon
egard ie la regrette ausy beaucoup. Cependent ie uous prieres
de menuoyer les discours que vous auez fait pour mons. Lelec-
teur. Come ie suis de mesme sentiment que vous sur ce
suiet, ie seres rauie de my voir fortifie par des bones raisons.
Le philosophe alemand que vous me depeignez doit estre un
rare personage ; il me semble quil et ausy outre sur son senti-
ment, que le pere bonhours sur le contraire. Ie ne desespere
pas encore de vous voir icy, monsieur; et ie crois que ie nayLEIBNITZ TO THE EARL OP ROXBURGH. 319
pas besoin de vous dire combien ie le souhaitte, car ie vous
estime, et suis autant que Ion le peut estre afectionee a vous
servir.
Sophie Charlotte.
Ie vous enueres bien des nouclles publiques, mais ie crois
que vous les auez plus fraiches et ueritables a benhausen que
Ion na icy.
Vous uaures plus persone auec qui vous recrier sur les cala-
mites pupliques, car la bone mad steland et morte avant que
iay seu quelle etoit malade; elle a eu une colique, a quoi cet
ioint une apoplexie.
136.] Leibnitz to the Earl of Roxburgh.
September, 1703.
My Lord,
I have been charmed to learn under your own hand that
you are in good health, and that you continue to think kindly
of me. You have added to it the high treat of a book by one
of your countrymen on some subtle points of mathematics,
for which I return you my humble thanks; it was late in
arriving here, having gone by way of Bremen, otherwise I
would have answered you sooner. However I did not delay
to express to the Queen of Prussia the sentiments which your
Lordship continues to entertain towards Her Majesty, who
has done me the favour to reply in terms so flattering to
yourself that I have not another word to add to them.
This Mr. Cheinaus, the author of the book, seems capable
of doing something of use; and I wish that he may follow Mr.
Pitcairners example, and unite inquiries into Natural Science,
and particularly into diseases, with his mathematical labours.
The Scotch prove clearly enough that their genius can quite
keep pace with that of the English. MM. David Gregory
andCreigh are taking successful pains with mathematics; but
the late Mr. James Gregory especially was an excellent genius.
I say nothing of the illustrious Lord Napier, the author of320
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
the Logarithms. I hope also that Mr. Cunningham, whom I
was formerly acquainted with at Florence, will do honour to
his country whenever he shall choose to communicate to the
public the great knowledge he possesses.
Public affairs would he without doubt as well regulated
among yourselves, as the talents of those who have the ma-
nagement of them are eminent, if distinguished talents always
applied themselves to that which is really good; but they too
often pursue a vain grandeur which renders them as miserable
as all the rest. I have always thought that all that Europe
can do at present is to rescue itself from an imminent slavery
by a strict union; but people sometimes use this pretext to
take false precautions against tyranny, and many expect to
profit by the public necessities to settle their own private
affairs, or carry some party object. They will he deceived, in
this manoeuvre; the end of which will be, unless Providence
throws some extraordinary obstacle in the way, that we shall
see tyranny triumphant both over soul and body in Chris-
tendom. I should be very sorry if your country and mine
were to be included; but neither the inhabitants of your
islands nor those of our Continent make all the efforts which
are necessary to guard themselves against it. Wisdom and
virtue there will always be in the world, and will always bear
their price in spite of public revolutions; but to show them-
selves they require both means and good health. If God pre-
serves the last to you, my Lord, as I hope, you will have no
cause to complain on the other score.
I have put every imaginable kind of machinery in action in
favour of Mr. Burnet, who is at this moment a prisoner in the
Bastille, being authorized thereto by the Queen of Prussia and
M. the Electress, and being myself convinced that they have
done him wrong. They have given us hopes of his release;
but since our intercourse with France has now for some time
been interrupted, we get our news from that quarter very
late ; but you, my Lord, will know how the matter stands.
M. the Electress is gone to Liitzenburg to the Queen, and
there she learned the sad news of the death of her son DukeSOPHIA CHARLOTTE TO LEIBNITZ.
321
Christian. I am very glad that it was rather there than here;
since the King and Queen and all Berlin will have made it
their business to divert her mind from sad thoughts, to which
end the variety and novelty of objects contribute greatly. He
was a Prince of much merit and virtue; I have rarely met
with a heart better disposed. Unhappily filled with false im-
pressions against the law of succession established in this
country, he made it a point of honour to maintain pretensions
from which Mme. the Electress gave herself great pains to
wean him ; but on this subject he appeared invincible, and pre-
ferred reducing himself to live upon the poorest footing to
giving them up, which, in the concatenation of things, has at
length caused his ruin. I am, my Lord, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
To my Lord Roxburgh, Peer of Scotland.
137.] Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia, to
Leibnitz.
A Berlin, ce 13 de Nouembre [1703].
Come Madame lelectrice et de retour, iay sy peur que vous
moubliez, monsieur, que ien suis plus exacte a vous remercier
de vostre derniere lettre. Yous voyez quil y a un peu de ialousie
en moy, qui me fait parler ainsy; vous ne pouez la guerir que
en uenant apres le carnaval icy. Ie voudrois que ce fut auec
moy; se seroit un signe que ihires a hanover, ce que iespere
encore, mais ne le say pas seurement, car tout et fort variable
dans ce monde. Ie ne vous dis rien de la P. de zolern; cet
une matiere trop ample et qui demande une grande lettre. Les
nouelles dicy sont que le margraue dansbach et aupres du roy
a orienbourg; que sa seur et partie, qui et une Princesse dont
Mad Lelectrice vous fera le portrait; que ie suis tres seule icy,
et nay dautre plaisir que dauoir des nouelles: ien ay eue de
Saxe que le Boy de pologne a done la maison de beugling a
plug, et a sa feme les meubles; que Ion acuse celuy cy de
sortilesges et davoir comunication auec les esprits; que son
frere le fauconier souhaitte de voir sa feme avec luy, qui et
Y322
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
fille de mons haxthausen, et quil ne la peut seulement pas
voir; que le felt-marchal Stein [au] leve des trouppes a coups de
batons, sans argent; que la noblesse se plaint extremement du
P. furstenberg. Mad fleming et touiour icy, mais son mary
et en voyage, ie ne say ou. Le roy son maistre cependent et
mal dans ces afaires par la prise de thoren. Ie vous prie, sy
vous sauez quelque chose de la P de zolern, de me le mander,
et me croire touiour affectionee pour vous seruir.
Sophie.
138.] Leibnitz to Sophia Charlotte, Queen
of Prussia.
Hanover, November 17th, 1703.
Madam,
The Princess of Zollern’s letter will have been delivered to
your Majesty together with my own. She writes to me that
she was not long able to keep up her incognito at the Convent
of Hanichen, a league from Wolfenbiittel; and M. de Clermont
Montalban, who is here, has told me that the nuns, who are
not very profound genealogists, believed she was the sister of
the Emperor himself, instead of his Envoy, Count Zinzendorf.
We firmly believe that your Majesty will do us the grace to
come here at the next Carnival. It is true that Hanover, even
when it is most populous, is a desert compared to Berlin, but
it is a desert which has its own pleasant side, and which will
make you find magnificence more agreeable, even as one has
a better appetite after having starved a little. However I see
that your Majesty talks of solitude in writing about Berlin
after the departure of the Princess of Anspach. Probably the
two Margraves and tlieir wives, and the Princess Henrietta,
will not be there any more than the Princes, the King's bro-
thers, and at that rate I grant that Hanover will be more peo-
pled with Princes and Princesses at your Majesty’s pleasure.
If there is nothing more to be said against the conduct ofLEIBNITZ TO SOPHIA CHARLOTTE.
323
Count Beuchling than his commerce with spirits, he is no
doubt innocent; for certain things which he has done do not
give the least evidence of their having answered him. I am
assured of a thing which is to me almost as incomprehensible
as if he had talked with spirits, and that is, that among his
papers has been found the draught of a letter from the Mar-
quis de Torcy to the Cardinal-Primate on the subject of the
detention of M. de Lutheran, corrected by the hand of Count
Beuchling himself, and that the printed copy has been found
to agree with this corrected one; unless indeed it may be said
that he wished to soften down the true letter when consenting
to its being printed, and that he had some object in this for
the service of his King; but in order to judge we ought to
have both the draught and correction before us. Father Vota
answers nobody: I am afraid he is ill. Berlin and Liitzenburg
would suit him better than Russia, where he has already run
about so much with the late King. We have an Englishman
here, a great Parliamentary authority, seeing that he has been
twenty years a Member of the House of Commons; he seems
to he a man of judgement, and knows the affairs of England
better than all those we have seen here; his name is Sir Row-
land Gwinn. With regard to the controversy between Father
Yota and M. L’Enfant, I have learnt that unluckily the Father
suspects me of having had something to do with your Ma-
jesty’s letter, in which he does great wrong both to M. L’Enfant
and myself. I do not know if M. Jacquelot’s book may not
soon reappear. There is a French translation of a book by a
celebrated Englishman, named Mr. Locke, entitled ‘ An Essay
on the Human Understanding.’ As his philosophy does not
agree over-well with mine (as for instance when he thinks
the soul not imperishable), and as he does not fail to show a
great deal of penetration, I made some remarks upon it while
reading a portion of the Work when I was going to Brunswick
and Wolfenbiittel, and when I have leisure I will finish the
rest. It will be an occupation for the time, which will give
me the advantage of paying my court at Liitzenburg. His
sentiments are popular enough, and will have the approbation
Y 2324
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
of many who do not look deeply into things: and this is why
it seems to me important to answer it.
If the verses which have been put at the bottom of my por-
trait are to stay there, I must get some one to kill me, for fear
that those who may afterwards see me should be disabused of
the high opinion which the verses will give them of my great
knowledge; as we never canonize Saints till long after their
deaths, when their weaknesses are no longer remembered, so
people ought not to heap praises upon men of letters till they
are no longer in a condition to give the lie to their panegyrists.
Monsieur the Count Fleming had written to me that he in-
tended to go to Saxony, but perhaps he has pushed on to join
the King his master. I do not know whether the Prince de'
Fiirstenberg is returned or not. If he does not know how to
find money as Beuchling did, he will find it difficult to main-
tain himself. It is thought that the King of Poland will re-
call the troops under the command of M. de Schulenburg,
having no other infantry; but I fear that the best part of
those troops have perished, or will perish before they can join
him, for they are in want of everything, and M. de Schulen-
burg has actually advanced more than twenty thousand dol-
lars of his own. The Fraulein, his sister, hopes that he will
come here to the Carnival. I am, with devotion, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
139.] Mademoiselle de Pollnitz to Leibnitz.
Berlin, November 20th, 1703.
Sir,
H. M. the Queen has commanded me to make you a grand
and fine excuse for not answering you herself today.
As I am not very eloquent, I leave to your own penetration
the care of devising everything that can be said the most
obliging and the most flattering; and the more advantageously
for yourself, the more sure you may be of having exactly hit
her Majesty’s sentiments.LEIBNITZ TO BARON VON OBDAM.
325
I shall not tell you anything of this place; for I neither see
nor hear anything, and it seems to me as if we were more in
the country here than at Liitzenburg. We had a hall yester-
day, and we could only muster five ladies and four gentlemen.
The Margrave of Anspach dances pretty well, hut that is also
the end of his knowledge : he is still very raw and very timid,
hut good-looking enough, and moreover very civil and polite.
If I dared I would beg you to tell me whether the Linsburg
pebbles are hard enough to engrave armorial bearings upon,
and use as seals; and if they are so, be kind enough to inform
me where they are to be bought: you will give me great plea-
sure, Sir, as I am in a hurry to execute the commission of
having oue engraved.
Pardon me for giving you this trouble. If, in return, you
have any commands for Berlin, I will execute them with much
pleasure, being very perfectly, Sir,
Your very humble and obedient Servant,
Pellnitz.
140.] Leibnitz to Baron von Obdam.
December 1th, 1703.
As for that unhappy action by Spires, it may be a question
whether the absence of the greater part of the troops of Bruns-
wick is a piece of good or bad fortune. Perhaps they might
have prevented the defeat; but perhaps also they might have
been carried away along with the rest, so great was the dis-
order, and in this case there would have been still less resource.
In order to determine this problem, one ought to have what
the theologians call the Medial science; however, as we ought
to judge by the reason rather than by the events, I do not doubt
but that your Excellency has been informed of those which
the Generals of Luneburg allege; for they assert that, accord-
ing to the terms of the treaty, our troops were only to serve
below the Moselle. Thus the Generals, as I am told, had no326
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
power to make any alteration, of their own authority, without
the consent of their masters, in an affair of so much import-
ance ; and nevertheless that, in order to show their zeal and
to gain time, they did take the resolution to march as far as
the Moselle, so that a courier being despatched to the master,
they might receive an answer before passing the river, as it
happened. If things are so, it seems they are not to be blamed,
and the change of dispositions having been made all on a sud-
den (for previously all our troops were to remain where they
were), the Elector himself had no power to set things to rights.
I have positive knowledge how well-intentioned this Prince is;
for I was with him a good part of the summer and winter at
Hcrrnhausen and at Linshurg, and I heard his conversation
every day. But unhappily I see that, throughout almost all
the Empire, those that have the same ends have not come to a
good understanding with one another, and consequently do
not aid one another as they might if there was any cordiality,
and if they would put down the little private interests which
are only opposed to the great interest of all. I further see
that it very often is not even interest which embroils the
people, and that it is rather some pique or passion. Such ap-
peared to me to be the differences between the Court of Bran-
denburg and the House of Liineburg. I heard the late Elec-
tor say one day, that whilst his eldest son Christian Louis was
still alive, they had at least twenty controversies with Hesse-
Cassel on the subject of their boundaries and other matters,
which often arise between neighbours, and yet the Princes re-
mained good friends. All affairs of this kind ought to be put
an end to by amicable or legal means; and above all, peo-
ple should abstain from acts of violence, and not throw old
controversies to account when the question is respecting im-
portant and general matters, in which the' native country of
all is concerned. I have preached this often enough at Ber-
lin, sed non omnes capiunt verbum hoc. The Court of Berlin
fires up at the least trifle, which scarcely deserves to be no-
ticed ; for instance, the Emperor had charged the Elector of
Hanover and the Duke of Zell to maintain, in quantum deHUYSSENS TO LEIBNITZ.
327
#
jure, the interests of the Abbess of Ilerforden, a Princess of
Courland, against whom some of the Canonesses have got
up an opposition. It is quite possible that this Princess was
a little in the wrongj however it is also possible that the Ca-
nonesses may have gone a little too far. The Elector wrote
to them a letter of admonition, desiring them to take care,
and not to exceed due bounds in their conduct towards the
Princess their superior. On this the Court of Berlin makes
as much noise as if the Emperor had bombarded Herforden.
It seems to me that we ought never to make a riot when no-
thing but ink has been spilt; and especially when nothing has
been said to injure a Princess’s reputation, and in writing
to the Canonesses not a word had been said of the King or
those belonging to him. How can the King forbid a Princess
of the Empire, or the Emperor to delegate any Princes, to do
their duty conformably to the course of justice ? How can
he find fault with acts which are in themselves so harmless ?
141.J Huyssens to Leibnitz.
Moscow, Dec. 23rd, 1703.
Sir,
It is no small consolation for me to see by the letter which
you did me the favour to write to me on the 5th of November,
that a person of such distinguished merit in the world as your-
self deigns to retain so favourable a remembrance of me as
you show. I have been vaunting about it to M. de Briisse,
General of Artillery, who is the first foreigner that has ever
been made President of one of His Majesty’s Chanceries, and
to M. Ferkelsohn, who teaches mathematics here. Both of
them know you by reputation, and by the honourable mention
which the English mathematicians have made of you in their
books. The first will give me a list of the languages which
are used in the countries that belong to this vast Empire, and
an exact description of the countries themselves. I have given
the same commission to those who are in the Prikazi for328
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
those distant countries, and to others who have been there.
I hope thus to he soon able to give you some satisfaction on
the points concerning which you inquire. Mr. Isbrand, who
was the Envoy of his Czarish Majesty in China, has printed
his Voyage in octavo in Holland, together with a map and a de-
scription of the countries through which he passed; it is from
this book that some light upon the subject may be derived.
The Englishman, Sir, will give you in this letter some account
of what has been done in the sciences. T return you most
humble thanks for the admirable reflections which you have
communicated to me on the news of the day. I would gladly
have the same advantage more frequently; but as other affairs
of greater importance occupy you, I hardly dare take the
liberty of entreating you to honour me sometimes with your
letters. You would do me a very particular favour if you
would lay this charge upon somebody in your confidence, to-
wards whom I would testify my perfect gratitude for the kind-
ness which he would do me in this respect.
We are making at present more preparations than ever for
the next campaign. Of every five Russian valets whom they
find in the service of whomsoever it may be, they chose one
to go to the war. Those who are not disposed to follow the
drum leave their masters and decamp, for fear of being enrolled.
They are setting seriously to work to give powerful aid to his
Majesty the King of Poland, both in money and men.
Besides my charge of Councillor-at-War, His Majesty the
Czar has done me the favour to entrust me with the education
of his Royal Highness the Czarevitch, and the care of regu-
lating his household. He is a Prince in whom there is no
want either of talent or liveliness; he has an ambition mode-
rated by reason, a sound judgement, and a great desire to dis-
tinguish himself, and to pursue everything which he is told
is suitable to a great Prince; he is of a docile and tractable
temper, and shows that he is desirous of repairing, by serious
application, what has heretofore been neglected in his educa-
tion. I observe in him a great leaning to piety, justice, up-
rightness, and integrity of morals; he likes the mathematicsHUYSSENS TO LEIBNITZ.
3:29
and foreign languages, and shows a great desire to visit foreign
countries; he wants to learn thoroughly both French and
High German; he has begun to learn dancing, fencing, and
the military exercises, in which he takes great delight. His
Majesty has permitted him not to be so strict in the observ-
ance of fasts, for fear of its injuring his health or strength in
any way; but from a feeling of devotion he declines any dis-
pensation of the kind. His Majesty has returned from Voro-
netz, where he has begun to build a quantity of ships of war,
galleys, and brigantines. It is impossible to conceive how
much this Prince wearies himself with the affairs which con-
cern the administration of his kingdoms; he has an eye upon
everything that is done, takes cognizance of everything, and
his plans are always the best; he likes the art of constructing
and managing ships better than anything else. The richest
of his subjects are obliged to have some built at their own
expense, and it is his wish that they should at the same time
learn navigation. His Majesty keeps here, in a very fine
palace, a number of Englishmen, who give daily instruction
in mathematics and navigation to two or three hundred men;
he is not content with paying these masters well, but each
scholar, young or old, has ten sous or more per diem, and at
the end of two or three years, when they have finished their
course, some hundred roubles and employment in the navy.
A panegyric has been held here in praise of His Majesty, in
Latin, under my direction, which I shall be able to send to
be printed in Germany; it contains many details of His Ma-
jesty’s life and exploits. I left in Germany my clothes and
hooks heaped up here and there, and as I do not know how
long I shall be able to remain here, I do not have them sent
after me yet. I wish you every prosperity for the approach-
ing year, and beg your pardon most humbly for the irregular
way in which I have been obliged to write this letter. On
every other occasion I shall beg to prove to you the respectful
attachment with which I am, and ever shall be, Sir, etc. etc.,
H. Huyssen.330
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
142.] Sophia Charlotte to Mademoiselle de
Pollnitz.
\_Nodate: 1704 P]
Dites au Comte de Dolma, qu’il ne s’oppose pas aux galan-
teries du Prince Royal 1’am our polit Pesprit, et adoucit les
mceurs. Mais qu’il dirige son gout, qu’il ne porte sur rien de
bas. Pas un chiffon de papier ne me tombe sous la main.
Adieu, ma chere Pollnitz.
Sophie.
BOTHMER.
Hans Caspar von Bothmer or Bothmar (for the name
is spelled indifferently the one and the other way, though
he himself usually writes Bothmer) was born in 1656,
and entered the service of Brunswick-Zell. In 1696 he
was appointed Ambassador from the Elector of Hanover,
Ernest Augustus, to the Court of Vienna; in 1697 he
was present in the same capacity at the negotiations of
Ryswick; in the following year he was despatched to the
Court of Louis XIV. In 1705 he was promoted to the
rank of Privy Councillor in activity (Wirlclicher Geheimer
Rath) in the Electorate, was Ambassador for Hanover at
the Hague in 1709, and was sent in the same capacity
to England in 1714 shortly before the death of Queen
Anne. In the following year he was raised to the dig-
nity of a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. On the
accession of George I. he became directing Minister of
Hanoverian affairs in England, and so continued till,
in 1727, he attained the post of Prime Minister in Ha-
nover. He died in London on the 6th of February,
1732.BARON DE BOTH ME R TO LEIBNITZ.
331
143.] Baron de Bothmer to Leibnitz.
The Hague, January 8, 1704.
Sir,
I humbly thank you for the honour of your letter, dated the
last day of last year, and for the good wishes it contained for
that in which we now are living. I wish you one as happy and
as full of all prosperity. It may be so more easily for our-
selves individually than for what concerns the public affairs;
nevertheless, if the great people who are interested in these
would only unite cordially in their good wishes, they might
perhaps also bring about their accomplishment, in good part at
least. This seems very necessary in our present position, par-
ticularly in Germany; in default of it we may very easily lose
the two Circles, which are making the greatest efforts, either
by the act of the enemies or even the conduct of our friends;
for the one and the other are equally a burden upon them,
and excite their complaints. There are some who doubt with
you whether this State can long support the excessive expense
to which it is put; but every one is assured that England can,
if they can only maintain quiet at home. Scotland was on
the point of disturbing it. Let us hope that this may be re-
medied now that the conspiracy has been discovered. It is
probable that the King of Spain is at this moment in Eng-
land. It is hoped that he will not be obliged to remain there
as long as he did here. The public is delighted with the sup-
port which you have given to his rights. I have forwarded to
M. d’Obedam the letter which you addressed to me for him,
and herewith you have his answer. I think that he would
prefer going to the war than on an embassy. We shall soon
know whether the approaching promotion of Generals will in-
clude him also.
I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
Bothmer.332
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
144.] Leibnitz to the Electress Sophia.
Wolfenbuttel, January 12, 1704.
Madam,
As I supposed that M. the Doctor Ebel would have in-
formed you of what has passed here with respect to the death
of M. the Duke Rudolph and of Mme. the Duchess, wife of
Duke Antony Ulrich, I did not wish to write, having no
opportunity of knowing the details as accurately as he. The
late Prince died cheerfully enough, having made an organ-
man and fiddler play to him immediately after his brother
had given him his word to provide for those whom he should
recommend to him, of whom the organ-man was one, but the
fiddler, not being so, declared that he was very sorry to have
played with the other. This is an anecdote which I have
only just learnt, or I would not have failed to communicate
sooner to your Electoral Highness so important a circum-
stance of the last hours of this good Prince.
I have received a terribly long letter from Mr. Burnet,
which says just as little as the last; except that he is charmed
to learn from me that your Electoral Highness and the
Queen have had the goodness to think of his deliverance, and
he has written to you both the enclosed letters, in which no
doubt he will express his gratitude. It was my intention to
return to Hanover at the end of the first week of the Fair,
which this time has been a mere nothing; but M. the Duke
has expressed his wish that I should remain a few days longer,
in order to assist him in dispelling the sad impressions made
by the sudden death of the Duchess; however I shall be at
Hanover, please God, at the end of the week; being, with
devotion, Madam, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.FOUNTAINS TO LEIBNITZ.
333
145.] Fountaine to Leibnitz.
London, Jan. 29, I70J, O. S.
Sr,
Mr Wiudes Father sent me your letter but last weeke, or
else you had had an answer to it sooner. I was in hopes my-
self to have waited upon you this Carneval at Hannover, but
have bin prevented by family affaires; which is no small
trouble to me, having the greatest desire imaginable to see
that place once more, where I was soe well and soe kindly
entertained. The Japonese you mention in England is still
here, and in great repute, though many suspect both him and
the story he tells of himself; he pretends to be the son of
one of the greatest men in the Island Formosa; and that at
the Age of nineteen yeares he made his escape with a Jesuite
to Avignon, but not liking their notion of Transubstantiation,
he got away into Germany, where being equally averse to the
Lutherans principle of Consubstantiation, he left them and
went into Holland, but there not being able to agree with the
Calvinists about Predestination, he came into England and
made himself a member of our church. I have here enclosed
sent you his Alphabet, written all with his own hand, and the
powers he has given the letters; he says this Alphabet was
taught to his nation by a certain great wise man about 900
yeares agoe. I suppose you already informed about him, soe
I shall say no more at present. A gentleman desired me to
acquaint you, that if you have not got Dr Cudworths Intel-
lectual System, My Lady Massam will be glad of an oppor-
tunity to present you with one; she being the author’s daugh-
ter and the inheritrix of his learning. My Saxon coines goe
on apace, and I have inclosed the first table, that you may
give your opinion of it. I will by the first opportunity send
you a Welsh Dictionary, but I cant as yet hear of an Irish
one, though I am told that such have bin printed at the
Colledge de propaganda fide in Rome. I must repeat my in-
treaties to you not to neglect any opportunity of acknow-
ledging my gratitude to Her Prussian Majesty and the Elec-334
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
trice for the honours done me whitest I was at their courts;
and I beg of you to command me in any thing I can serve
you in, and to beleive me most sincerely,
Dear Sir,
Your affectionate humble Servant,
And. Fountaine.
146.] Anthony Ashley, Lord Shaftesbury,
to Stepney (?).
Hotterd™, Jan. 23i, 1704.
Sir,
I am extreamly obligd to you for yours, & ye kind thoughts
of me wch you express in it. What you have heard of me as
to my living much retir’d, and having left publick affaires, is
true.
I kept in ’em as long as I was able: but by a Constitution
unfitted for the fatigue of Buisness, I had long since been forc’d
to quitt, but that I chose to suffer anything rather than not
come in heartily & with all my Strength at that last hour
when I apprehended not my Country only but Mankind was
sinking, had not the Prince then alive been supported, a Warr
enter’d into, & an English Protestant Succession establish’d.
I have liv’d to see the cheifest of these Ends compass’d, &
those good Laws pass’d for the Establishment of our Consti-
tution, wch I wishd for at the Revolution ; but wch were after-
wards gott with so much Envy, Struggle, and Pain, as I can-
not remember but with Regrett for that Prince’s sake whose
Memory however with all true Englishmen, I must still
honour and love. I hope the Remainder of this good Work
will be perfected & the Warr for common Liberty carryed on
with Vigour : it lying wholly now in the Power of our Eng-
lish Court: where I hope the Will is not wanting : and I re-
joyce to hear such noble Maxims from an English Throne as
we have lately had from thence.
If those Persons of your Court are such as you describe,ANTHONY ASHLEY, LORD SHAFTESBURY.
335
there are yet Treasures of Happiness in store for England and
the World. I can rely on your Judgment sooner than most
Persons living, but cannot help in myself a naturall Diffidence
of Courts, after having been deceived so much in one I so
early lov’d, and had such thoughts of, as to beleive it no less
than impossible to have seen it sacrifize its best Friends, &
lay itself at last so low, by such repeated Acts, & by loosing
even that Degree of Faith & Gratitude wch attends common
Policy & Interest.
Every thing in Nature seems to demonstrate this Truth, y*
Things are to be maintain’d & advanc’d by the Principles on
wch they were founded. But Courts are supernaturall Things,
& subservient to none of these Rules. All is miraculouse
there and out of the Order of common human Policy; or at
least seems to be so, to retir’d & speculative People such as
Myself.
But I have troubled you with enough : having no better
or other Subject for a Correspondance: wch otherwise I should
with the greatest Willingness embrace: but that the Terms are
so unequall between one in a principall Court of Europe &
one living so much out of the World, & knowing little of what
passes till long after it has past & is no longer News.
Tho’ I am not now in Parlement myself, where I never was
of much Service, & for the future can be of little or none, yet
I cannot but regrett the Loss we have of you, whom I have
ever esteem’d one of the most fitted & most usefull. If any
thing can make amends, it is your being where you are; to
give that good Advice you are so capable of; in wcU Station,
as one of the greatest importance to us, I am necessitated to
think you of any Englishman the most fitted; being conscious
as I have been of the Services you did at a former Court (our
then presumptive Successor’s), when I first knew you, and
where, as an Omen of my being for ever a bad Courtier, I
made choice of you (an Englishman and a Whigg) instead of
any other to present me : whch is Circumstance ’tis likely you
may long e’re this have forgotten; but which I am glad of
this Occasion of remembering, tho’ at a Distance of Time,336
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
that I might shew you with what early Obligation, & by what
Tyes of private Friendship, as well as Publick Principle, I am,
& must be, Your most reall
and faithfull humble Servant,
Shaftesbury.
147.] Leibnitz to Sir A. Fountaine.
Feby (P), 1704.
Sir,
I have sent your specimen of ancient medals to Monsieur
the Count of Schwarzburg, and have begged of him casts of
those which he has. M. Brenner, who has published the
Swedish coins, says that several antiques have been found at
a place in Sweden, and that there were English ones also:
it would be well to ask him for an account of this. There
is every appearance of the alphabet of your Japanese being
an invention of his own; his Lambdo, Sambdo, Bagdo, Go-
mera, Yomera, to express L, S, B, G, and Y, as well as
some other letters, which looked to me very like it; but es-
pecially his Epsi, because he has either not known or not re-
flected that it is the e ^iXov, or thin E, which no doubt will
not be quite the same in the island of Formosa.
I have written to my Lady Masham, or Marsham, to thank
her in advance, and I have begged Mr. Puchler, who is in the
household of Baron Schiitz, to show you my letter. I shall
cause a great work to be printed, containing ancient histo-
rical documents, serving to illustrate the House and lands of
Brunswick and its neighbours, and I hope to be able to serve
you with some copies of it. Mr. Burnet of Kemney has
written to us from Geneva, having been set at liberty. Dic-
tionaries, Grammars, and notices of the Welsh and Irish lan-
guages will always interest me extremely, for I look upon the
Welsh like the ancient Gaulish, and the Irish like the still
more ancient Celtish. I think that I remarked once in your
Transactions, that one of your men of learning pretends to seeSOPHIA CHARLOTTE TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA. 337
some connection between the Latin and the Irish, even in-
dependently of the Romans. This may be; for all the Latin
that is not derived from the Greek comes apparently from the
ancient Celtic, although this was very different towards Italy
from what it was towards the ocean. I have a catalogue of
the books printed in the “De Propaganda Fide,” which I have
not yet been able to find: I will see if there is an Irish dic-
tionary; I have seen an Irish grammar.
We kept at Court the first of May, English style, with
leeks. I don’t know whether I thoroughly understood the
origin of this custom, and whether they say that a Prince of
Wales fighting a victorious battle on that day (perhaps when
the Black Prince took King John prisoner), caused his people
to take leeks to distinguish his side; for I have at present no
time to hunt it up in the histories.
148.] Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia,
TO THE ElECTRESS SOPHIA.
Berlin, lr Mars, 1704.
Ie renvoye les lettres du Roy h Y. A. E., pour qu’elle voye
que j’ay eu bon nez de ne pas rester d’avantage k Hanover.
Apres avoir demande partout pour m’informer ce qui estoit
cause du mecontentement du Roy contre Mons. le due, l’on
m’a dit, que l’on croyoit qu’il detournoit le Roy de Suede de
tenir un Reichstag; et quand on tiendra un, le Roy a son tour
pourra estre directeur du Cercle, ce que le Roy de Suede est
a present. J’en laisse le jugement k Y. A. E.
Cependant le Roy de Pologne est detrone dans les formes,
quoique quelques uns de la petite noblesse sont encor pour luy.
Eleming est alle k Coppenhague, negotier je ne say quoy. Nous
avons cependant ses Comediens, k qui il doit deux ans de gages,
qui font 20 mille ecus. Ils sont bons dans le Comique, mais
dans le serieux ceux d’Hanover les passent. Ils ont fini de
jouer hier, car nous jeunerons Mercredi, et toutes les betes
aussi:—je ne say dans quel chapitre cela est ecrit. Mais je
z338
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
plains deja Tripolina et Melampia et le perroquet par avance.
Monsieur Stepney en partant m’a prie d’asseurer V. A. E. de
ses respects, et qu’il luy avoit tousjours este attache, et que
l’interest d’etre plus pres de la couronne ne le faisoit pas faire,
mais que e’estoit par une veneration particuliere qu’il luy a
vouee de tout temps. II est content des bonnes intentions
du Roy pour le bien public; mais il faudroit estre en etat de
pouuoir executer tous les grands desseins, dont je doubte beau-
coup, quoyque 1’on fasse des couuertures de mulets il 1500
ecus la piece, pour ne se pas servir des vielles, h cause qu’elles
n’ont qu’une Couronne Electorale, et qui sont au reste tres
belles.
Berleps est revenu d’aupres de l’Electeur de Baviere, dont il
m’a porte des complimens: il se porte fort bien et n’a plus
mal aux yeux, et vit fort bien avec l’Electrice: ce n’est qu’un
cceur et une ame a present. Il a un fils de Mad. d’Arco, qui
s’appelle Le Clievaber de Baviere, qui doit estre tres job.
M. Jaquelot m’a fort demande apres Monsieur Leibnitz; il
a fait un distique dessus son pourtrait, qui veut dire en Latin,
Qui ne le connoist pas ? e’est tire de Virgile. Il m’a conte que
M. Obdam sera oblige de payer 8000 ecus, ou d’epouser la pe-
tite fille qui a eue un enfant, et qui a produit un contrat de
marriage de luy. Cependant dans les douleurs de l’enfante-
ment elle a dit, qu’il y en avoit quatres, des quels elle ne pou-
uoit dire qui estoit le pere de 1’enfant. Elle est petite fille de
Caron, ce grand voyageur, qui alloit aux Indes avec Taver-
nier. Je suis avec respect et passion, de Y. A. E.
La tres bumble et tres obeissante Servante,
Sophie Charlotte.
JOHN REINHOLT YON PATKUL, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
AND PRIVY-COUNCILLOR OF H. I. M. THE
CZAR OF MUSCOVY.
The fate of this unfortunate nobleman, who after fill-
ing important civil and military offices, and exercising aLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
339
great influence upon the diplomatic combinations of his
day, was finally put to a cruel and ignominious death,
to satisfy the revenge of Charles XII. of Sweden, has at
all times attracted interest and sympathy. These feelings
have always been enhanced by the comparative obscurity,
one might almost say mystery, in which many events
of his life are shrouded, and which in all probability will
never be entirely removed. These it was impossible for
his contemporaries, and is difficult for us, at this dis-
tance from the events, to penetrate. Care was taken to
conceal from his contemporaries all knowledge of details
which it was justly felt would not bear looking into
closely; and we, to whom the events themselves are more
familiar, have now no longer the key which would enable
us to combine and read the scattered cipher.
Something nevertheless we have been enabled to col-
lect from various sources; and we believe that we are in
possession of very much, if not all, of the truth, respect-
ing him. His own course of life was indeed so dark and
tortuous, his intrigues so numerous and varied, that we
can never hope to follow him through all the transactions
which raised him at one time so high, to fall so terribly and
perish so miserably. But we believe that we can give an
outline of some principal events of his career, which will
be sufficient to explain the dreadful fate he suffered. A
sketch of his life, prefixed to an edition of his despatches,
which appeared anonymously at Berlin at the close of the
last century,* contains the most of what is known with
* ‘ John Keinholt von Patkul, etc.: Berichte an das Czarische Cabinet
in Moscau,’ part i., Berlin, 1792; part ii., Berlin, 1795; partiii., 1797.
It is a book of very good authority, and the work of a diplomatist of
experience, well versed in the intrigues of Patkul’s time, and acquainted
with the secret archives of more than one Court. The first part contains
the text of Patkul’s Despatches from the Court of Frederick Augustus,340
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
certainty respecting him, and must always remain the
chief authority for his biography. There are other scat-
tered notices however, either derived from MS. sources
or found in books, which have appeared since the publi-
cation of the despatches, and throw light upon some
points that have hitherto remained unexplained. From
the very outset of his life to its last fearful moment,
everything about him is involved in more or less of un-
certainty and mystery. Even the time and place of his
birth are unknown. An idle and oft-repeated tale, that
he first saw the light in a prison, to which his mother
had accompanied her husband, under condemnation upon
a charge of high treason, has no foundation : it seems to
have been devised to render his fortunes more romantic,
as if the terrible reality could stand in need of artificial
heightening, or perhaps further to blacken a character,
equivocal enough of itself, by insinuating that the traitor
had inherited his crime. It was first circulated after his
death, and has been rejected as a fable by his able and
well-informed biographer, who refutes the whole story of
his father having fallen under the displeasure of the Go-
vernment. All that we do know is, that Patkul’s family
were nobles of Livonia, a province ceded to Sweden by
Poland, and that several of its members had been in the
military service of the former State. At the time when
we first meet with him in history, John Reinholt himself
held a Captain’s commission in the Swedish army. The
year 1660 is fixed upon as the most probable date of his
birth.
In order to attain a clear insight into the events which
directed all the after-course of his life, we must take up
King of Poland, till 1705, with the keys to the ciphers; parts ii. and
iii. are occupied with a sketch of his life.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
341
some points in the history of Sweden at an earlier pe-
riod. Under the Kings of the House of Wasa, the no-
bility had succeeded in establishing a power which over-
shadowed the throne itself: one of the motives which led
Gustavus Adolphus’s daughter to abdicate was the im-
possibility of making head against her hereditary coun-
cillors, and disgust at finding her vagrant fancies thwarted
and opposed on every occasion. Her successors of the
Palatine House of Neuburg were not disposed to submit
to any such interference; they had not obtained the
Crown, as the first Wasa had, by the aid of the Swedish
nobles; they owed them no thanks, and they saw with
ill-concealed resentment, that these relations between the
highest orders of the State had greatly curtailed the power
of the sovereign. They decided accordingly upon accom-
plishing, at all risks and any cost, a systematic emanci-
pation of their Crown from all the long-established con-
stitutional checks and restrictions. Charles XI. had de-
termined upon annihilating for ever the power of the Se-
nate and the resistance of the Estates. But large sums
of money were indispensable to the success of these plans;
and the Crown of Sweden, not less by the wars of Gus-
tavus than the extravagance of Christina, had been re-
duced to a state of utter poverty. In the lapse of years,
and under a system of very improvident management,
the great domains had mostly been alienated, and had
devolved into private hands : some had been sold under
pressure of difficulties, very probably below their real
value : others had been granted as the rewards of courtly
subservience, or of gallant and faithful services in the
field; for among those who had been thus enriched were
found the great names of Brahe, Oxenstjerna, and Ko-
nigsmark, of Horn, of Banner and Torstensohn. By
restoring these domains, if possible, to the Crown, the342
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Ministry hoped at once to consolidate the power of the
King, and inflict an irreparable blow upon the refractory
nobility.
In defiance therefore of all justice, and of a possession
consecrated by long enjoyment, a plan of Reduction, or
Reunion, as it was called, was proposed and decreed by
royal authority. The principle of this spoliation was,
that all domains which were presumed to have been sold
for less than their real worth, should be revalued, and
two-thirds of the sum resumed; provided always, that
the third which thus remained to the owners should in
no case exceed the yearly sum of seventy pounds: the
mesne profits were to be strictly accounted for to the
Crown. With even less show of justice, the same rule
was made applicable to all the estates which had been
granted on hereditary tenure, in consideration of public
services. The ruin and dismay which these arbitrary
measures occasioned are not to be described : there was
hardly a family of note in the kingdom which they did not
either directly or indirectly reach. Estates, which on the
faith of a valid title, had passed from hand to hand, had
been charged with family settlements, and assigned as
dower or appanage, were now to be violently confiscated;
for such a reduction was nothing less than confiscation.
Yet even more terrible was the operation of the clause
which called for an account of the mesne profits. Many
who in difficult moments had come forward to assist their
sovereigns, and believed themselves creditors of the Crown
to large amounts, found that the Commissioners of Re-
union had such counter-claims upon them, as not only
totally to extinguish their own rights, but to bring them
in debtors in ruinous sums.* In no part of the monarchy
* De Linieres, Hisfcoire de Suede sous le Regne de Charles XII. (six
vols. A.mst., 1721), especially vol. i. p. 38 and p. 403.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
343
was this spoliation more unjustifiable, or more deeply re-
sented, than in Livonia. This province had not been
ceded to Sweden without the most solemn engagements
and, as it was thought, the strictest guarantees, continually
recited and repeated in public instruments.* The Kings
of Sweden had in the most formal manner sworn to re-
spect the privileges of the various classes in their new
dominions, and to maintain them intact in statu quo ante:
and successive monarchs had renewed this solemn under-
taking,—Gustavus Adolphus in 1614, and again in 1621;
Christina in 1648.f In spite however of these capitula-
tions and confirmations, which had become an integral
part of the public law of the State, it was determined
that the Reunion should be introduced also into Livonia;
and with such unprincipled harshness was the measure
enforced, that an account was to be rendered even of what
had been alienated by the Kings of Poland and the
Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order, while the province
belonged to them, and long before its cession to the Crown
of Sweden. In short these Kings now claimed what
never had belonged nor had been surrendered to them,
and proceeded to enforce their claims without the slight-
est regard to legality, or the old established constitutional
forms and matriculated privileges of the nobility.
This numerous and powerful class did not however
succumb without a struggle. They remonstrated and
argued and protested, but all in vain. What Pompeius
once said to the municipality of a Spanish city,—“ What
is the use of protesting against the measures of a man
* Especially by tbe Treaty of Peace of Oliva in 1660; vid. Collect.
Livonica, No. xxiii., p. 177, App. No. vii. Ex Instrumento Pacis Oli-
vensis, art. ii.
t Collect. Livonica, No. xxiii., 5, 6, 8.344
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
who commands two legions ?”—might have been the
motto of the Swedish Kings, confident in the support of
their household troops. The Livonians nevertheless suc-
ceeded in 1689 in obtaining at all events the promise of
a hearing, and were directed to send Commissioners to
Stockholm to inform the King and lay their case before
him. We possess the Power and Letters of Credence
given for this purpose in the year 1690 to Landrath
Gustav von Budberg and Captain John Reinholt Pat-
kul.* This is the first time that his name appears in
history; but the delicate and important situation of trust
in which we find him, sufficiently answers for the estima-
tion in which he stood among his brother nobles ; per-
haps also it may imply that he had already taken a pro-
minent part in the opposition to the measures of Govern-
ment. In obedience to the commands of King Charles
XI., these gentlemen waited upon him at Stockholm and
in other places; but all their efforts were in vain: the
King was resolved upon the Reunion, and no words
could move him. A year was spent in totally fruitless
negotiation, at the close of which the Commissioners
returned home, with their hearts full of bitterness and
indignation, to report the failure of their mission and
concert other means of securing their rights. Prom this
period it seems probable that the Livonians began to
look around them in hopes of succour from abroad, and
to intrigue with the neighbouring Duchy of Courland
and Electorate of Brandenburg,! fully prepared to sepa-
* Collect. Livon. xii., and Bericlite, ii. p. 69.
f The reader is requested to examine with attention an extract given
at p. 91 of this Work from a secret and unpublished Despatch of the
Prussian Resident at Stockholm, Von Winkler, to Danckelmann, dated
June 15th, 1692. It appears from this document that overtures had
certainly been made to Brandenburg, and probably to Courland, andLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
345
rate themselves entirely from Sweden, and unite with
some other country, on condition of remaining unmo-
lested in the possession of their lands and privileges. In
the year 1692 a Diet was called at Wenden (it opened
on the 11th of March), and before this the Commission-
ers rendered an account of their mission, and of their
unsuccessful endeavours on behalf of the whole body.
Before they separated, the members of the Diet appoint-
ed a committee to watch over their interests, in which
Patkul was included. The Committee now adopted the
plan of publishing manifestoes, under the form of letters
addressed to the King ; in these documents the injustice
of his measures was exposed, and the rights of the Livo-
nian nobles were vindicated, in the strongest and most
unsparing terms. Charles XI. received the news of this
opposition with the utmost indignation, and inquiries
were directed to be instituted for the purpose of disco-
vering the authors of the letters and bringing them to
condign punishment. The Swedish ministry soon con-
sidered themselves in possession of evidence sufficient to
bring the attack home to Patkul. He was ordered to
repair forthwith to Stockholm, to answer whatever might
there be laid to his charge ; but, distrusting the tribunal
before which he was cited, or conscious of having en-
gaged in intrigues which might endanger his life, he re-
solved to provide for his own safety by withdrawing en-
tirely from within the reach of Swedish influence. At
this period, in addition to the difficulties which we have
that they had gone through the channel of J. It. Patkul. In another
secret Despatch of Von Winkler, dated September 21st, 1692, he informs
the Minister: “ On dit que M. Patkol a cate en Courlande, ou il a tire
de l’Archiv du Due l’original d’un ancien privilege, qu’on a allegue on
faveur de la noblesse de Livonie et d’Esthonie, mais en vain.’' During
this voyage Patkul had probably sounded the Duke.346
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
described, he had also unhappily become engaged in an
affair which threatened him with the utmost danger as
an officer of the royal army. He had long been on bad
terms with Field-Marshal the Count von Hastfer, com-
mander of Riga, and colonel of the regiment in which
he held a company. Jealousy has been assigned as the
cause of their dissension, and may possibly have had
some influence upon their relations to one another; but
Patkul’s restless, dissatisfied spirit of opposition to the
Swedish Governor will probably sufficiently account for
their mutual hatred, which personal grounds embittered;
and from all that is recorded of him, it would seem that
Von Hastfer himself was a man of most tyrannical dis-
position and very indifferent character. It appears that
several officers of the regiment had reason to be discon-
tented with the treatment they received from Von Hast-
fer’s creature and lieutenant-colonel Magnus von Hel-
mersen, and came to the resolution of demanding a court-
martial of the Governor. From all the voluminous official
records of the proceedings in this case, it is obvious that
the Captains had been deeply aggrieved by the conduct of
their superior officer, and had the justest cause for com-
plaint ;* but Von Helmersen was Hastfer’s friend and
favourite, and Patkul, Hastfer’s enemy, was one of the
complainants. Unfortunately an oversight had betrayed
them into a grave breach of military principles and dis-
cipline. Advantage was taken of the fact that the me-
morial which they presented had been signed by them
in common : instead of obtaining the court-martial they
had asked for, they were put upon their trials on a charge
of mutiny (seditio), and Patkul was carefully designated
* The trial of these officers is fully reported in the 1 Berichte,’ vol. ii.
pp. 160-196.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
347
in the indictment as the instigator of their proceedings.
It is unnecessary to detail all the steps of this prosecu-
tion, which extended over a long period of time : suffice
it to say, that finally all the other officers were frightened
into throwing themselves upon the King’s mercy, not
however without, at the same time, declaring that they
had been led into their offence by the intrigues and in-
fluence of Patkul. They were severally condemned to
various periods of imprisonment, and to make the most
humiliating public apology to Yon Helmersen; on which
terms they saved their heads. During the progress of
the trial, whose result he clearly foresaw, Patkul had
succeeded in escaping from Livonia into Courland, taking
with him all the papers belonging to the Diet of Wen den,
as well as those having reference to the negotiations of
the deputation in Stockholm. On being summoned, as
we have seen, to appear in that city to answer for his
conduct, he addressed a spirited remonstrance to the
King, and declared his readiness to obey his commands;
but insisted upon a safe-conduct, which Charles XI.
actually granted; not however without an ambiguous
clause, which might possibly render its benefits nuga-
tory, and which throws grave doubts upon the honesty of
the King’s intentions.* In spite of this danger Patkul
boldly presented himself in Stockholm, where he vigo-
rously conducted the defence both of his accused brother-
officers, and his colleagues in the Committee of the Diet.
But perceiving that the Court sought every means of
procrastination, and showed no intention of concluding
these proceedings, he became apprehensive that it was
in contemplation to protract them until the expiration of
his safe-conduct, or in some other way to deprive him of
* This document bears date March 28th, 1694; vid. Linieres, ii. 91.348
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
its stipulated protection. He consequently determined
to be beforehand with his enemies, and place himself
beyond their power: having succeeded in effecting his
escape from Stockholm, still carrying with him his valu-
able documents, he at first retired into Courland, and
thence at length found his way into Switzerland. Here
he long remained concealed under the name of Fischer-
ing, occupying his enforced leisure with a translation of
Puffendorf, and aiding in the education of a young and
noble friend. On the 24th of December, 1694, the
Court of Inquiry proceeded to declare the deputies guilty
of high treason. They were all condemned to death and
confiscation of property, and in addition the hand which
had written the scandalous libels, Patkul’s, was to be
struck off by the executioner. These sentences were
however commuted for various periods of imprisonment,
which only ceased at the death of Charles XI. On the
accession of Charles XII., April 15th, 1697, Patkul pro-
bably hoped to be included in the amnesty accorded to
his associates, and applied in terms of submission to the
young King. The only reply he received was, that he
would not be molested as long as he refrained from agi-
tation. From this time he appears to have entertained
some doubts of his safety in Switzerland, which he left,
and after many wanderings in Savoy, Italy, and France,
he returned into Germany, and took up his quarters in
Berlin. His selection of this city as his place of refuge
confirms Yon Winkler’s assertion that he had previously
entertained secret relations with the ministry of the Great
Elector. There cannot be the least doubt that now, if
not at an earlier period, Patkul laboured to incite the
Elector into the renewal of a war with Sweden, and that
he made himself responsible for the active co-operationLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
349
of Livonia. But the Elector had lost some of his ancient
fire: his victory at Fehrbellin had settled many of the
points in dispute between himself and his neighbour;
the Ministry were not at all prepared to disturb the ex-
isting arrangements, and least of all by entering upon
open hostilities. At length Patkul, finding his overtures
and advice treated with coolness, took advantage of his
acquaintance with Count von Fleming to obtain the
means of retiring to the Court of Saxony, where it is
probable that his representations met with more atten-
tion, and where he remained for some time in the ser-
vice of Frederick Augustus, the Elector, and King of Po-
land. The circumstances in which this Prince was placed
were certainly favourable to Patkul’s views. On his
election to the throne of Poland, Frederick Augustus
had accepted and sworn the “Pacta Conventa” and usual
capitulations with the Diet.* These imposed upon him
the duty of restoring to the Republic, either by force of
arms or by treaties, such provinces and possessions as
had at an earlier period been torn from it. The districts
intended by this general expression were Kaminiec and
Podolia, from which the Turks would have to be ex-
pelled ; the Ukraine, to which the Republic laid claim;
and no doubt Livonia also, violently and unjustly occu-
pied by Sweden. It is true that the Pacta Conventa do
not expressly mention this last province, nor do Parthe-
nay or Linieres notice the King’s designs upon it, before
the year 1700; on the other hand Nordbergf and the
‘ Iiistoire de Stanislas ’ :j: distinctly affirm that it was in-
* The text of the Pacta Conventa is found in Parthenay, Hist, de
Pol. sons Frdd. Aug. 1733, vol. i. pp. 127-131.
f Gesch. Karls des XII., etc.
$ H. de Stan, ler, Boy de Pol., par M. C. D.. Londres, 1741.350
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
tended to be included in his obligation. This is no
doubt the case; but it was necessary that attention
should not be prematurely called to it. If the plan was
to succeed, the intention required to be buried in pro-
found secrecy until the moment for its execution had
arrived; in fact it was by some, and perhaps not un-
justly, suspected, that the King would gladly have re-
duced Livonia to subjection to himself, and united it
with his Electorate of Saxony, so as to be in a condition,
with the combined force of the two States, to dictate
terms to the Poles unfavourable to their liberties.*
Patkul’s anonymous biographer thinks Erederick Au-
gustus was first led to entertain thoughts of attacking
Sweden in 1698, by Peter the Great; but it is distinctly
stated by the King himself, in his Manifesto published
about June, 1700, that he was bound by oath to recover
Livonia, (“indem Ihn nicht allein sein Gewissen, und
der gethane Eydschwur Lieffland wieder zu recuperiren,
hierzu verbindlich machte,”) and a subsequent reference
in the same document to the Pacta Conventa makes it
probable that this engagement was taken in them, either
as an open or a secret article.f
The first undertaking of the King, that against Kami-
niec, was attended with complete success; the Turks
were defeated and expelled, and the town, with its terri-
tory, reannexed to the kingdom of Poland. The attempt
upon Livonia had a different result: everything here ap-
peared indeed to favour the views and nourish the hopes
of Frederick Augustus. The Swedes themselves had be-
gun to give signs of deep discontent with Charles’s go-
vernment ; the Livonians were almost in open rebellion;
* Nordberg, vol. i. p. 104.
f The text of the Manifesto is published in the ‘ Theatrum Euro-
paum,’ vol. xv. p. 785, seq.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
351
the justice of the cause was on the side of Poland, for
the right of the Republic to this province, rent from it
by violence and treachery, could not be gainsaid; the
Czar of Muscovy was ready to enter into a strict alli-
ance, offensive and defensive, against Sweden j while at
the same time this kingdom had dangerous occupation
enough with Denmark on the one hand, and Branden-
burg on the other. Yet was Livonia nevertheless des-
tined to be the stone of offence that ultimately caused
Frederick Augustus’s ruin, We have seen that, in order
to succeed in any enterprise against this province, it was
necessary that the Swedes should be taken by surprise;
but here the constitution of Poland itself presented al-
most insuperable difficulties. The Saxon army was nei-
ther of adequate strength, nor in an efficient state to
operate alone: without the Polish forces there was not
even the shadow of a chance. But the King could le-
gally undertake no military expedition of the kind with-
out consulting the Diet, and it is clear that to do this
would have been at once to reveal the whole plan,—in
short, to ensure its failure. A middle way was therefore
adopted. Secret and several negotiations with some of
the leading Poles were resorted to, whose assent, it was
thought, would be sufficient to replace the legal authori-
zation of the Diet. These were won over by liberal dis-
tributions of lucrative offices and money; and foremost
among them the all-powerful Cardinal-Primate Radzie-
jowsky, who is distinctly asserted to have sold his con-
sent for one hundred thousand dollars, offered him in
the name and on behalf of the Livonian nobility, by John
Reinholt Patkul.* Through the influence of this prelate
# Hordberg, vol. i. p. 201, and ‘ Echo, sive justissima responsio,’ etc.,
1705, p. 90, seq.352
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
other important suffrages were secured, and in the course
of the year 1699 the King was enabled to look upon
his wishes on this subject as sufficiently gratified. Some
historians have represented Patkul as the first person
who put the thought of invading Livonia into the King’s
head, and his anonymous biographer has discussed the
question with skill and impartiality, but without arriving
at a certain conclusion.* Our opinion is that the Pacta
Conventa themselves imposed the duty; but there can-
not be the least doubt that, if not himself its author,
Patkul threw himself with heart and soul into the scheme,
intrigued in its favour with all his influence in Saxony,
Poland, and Livonia, and took a prominent personal part
in the invasion itself. A detailed and well-considered
plan of attack, addressed by him to Prederick Augustus,
is yet extant, f In this, among other strategical points
of importance, the necessity of surprising Riga was
strongly dwelt upon. In accordance with these views,
the attempt was made in the spring of 1700; but the
Swedes had obtained some notice of what was intended,
and were fully prepared. Their resistance under a vete-
ran commander was successful: the Saxon General Car-
lowitz, who had been entrusted with the duty, was com-
pelled to draw off in confusion. Patkul had been placed
under the command of this General, at the head of a body
of horse, and had shared in the disappointment and dis-
comfiture of the plan. Obliged to relinquish all the hopes
which had been grounded on the supposition of Riga’s
fall, he determined to rouse the Livonians into open in-
surrection. With his body of cavalry he rode from place
* Berichte, vol. ii. p. 234, seq.
t Grodno, Jan. 1st, and Warsaw, April 7th, 1699: see Berichte, ii.
pp. 237-266.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
353
to place, publishing addresses and proclamations, and
calling upon his brother-nobles to join the Polish cause
as the only possible refuge against the tyranny of Sweden
But the failure of the attempt on Riga had produced its
bad effects; the Livonians shrunk from the premature
declaration of an adherence to Poland, which would
bring down all the vengeance of Charles XII. upon
them; and Patkul had the deep mortification to meet
with little sympathy, and to find his advances repelled
in every quarter. It is unnecessary to enter into any
description of the war which now ensued between Charles
XII., Frederick Augustus, and Peter the Great; its
events and results are sufficiently well known. We will
therefore content ourselves with pursuing the fortunes of
Patkul. He had accompanied Carlowitz to the Court of
the Czar, at which he was residing at the end of 1699;
and it is hardly to be doubted that he had a considerable
influence in the negotiation and conclusion of the Treaty
of Moscow. This important instrument was signed on
November -^j-, 1699, and was renewed a year and a half
later at Borsen. In the second Article, the high con-
tracting parties, the Czar and the King of Poland, stipu-
lated that his Majesty the King of Poland would be as-
sisting with all his might and power to place and to
maintain his Majesty the Czar in possession of a port on
the coast of the Baltic, as his predecessors had in time
past possessed ; and to that end would forthwith break
with the King of Sweden. By the third Article, the King
of Poland engaged himself to make such a diversion with
his troops as to give full occupation to the Swedish army
in Esthonia and Livonia, and prevent it from falling upon
the Muscovites. By the fifth Article, the Czar bound
himself to make peace within a year with Turkey, and354
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
to declare war against Sweden. He further undertook
to operate with a competent force against Ingria and
Carelia.
The King of Denmark was afterwards associated to
this treaty; but Charles XII., nothing daunted by the
combination of his enemies, fell at once upon the Danes,
whose army he annihilated, and compelled them to sue
for peace, which was signed at Travendal, August 13,
1700, on condition of their deserting the Russo-Polish
alliance. Charles then turned upon the Muscovites, whom
he utterly routed at Narva on the 1st of October ; and,
after pushing back the Saxons under General Theinau,
carried the war into Poland. During the progress of
the events which we have described, Patkul had, for
some unexplained cause, relinquished the service of Sax-
ony, and entered that of the Czar, with the military rank
of a Major-General and the title of a Privy Councillor.
In this capacity he was sent to reside as Minister at the
Court of Frederick Augustus,—a nomination which leads
to the conclusion that his retirement from that sovereign’s
service had not been accompanied by any disagreeable
circumstances. The treaty of Borsen,* which is much
more detailed in its provisions than that of Moscow, was
signed on the 9th of March, 1701. By this treaty the
Czar and the King stipulated as follows:—
Art. 2. That the Czar shall place from 15,000 to
20,000 men at the disposal of the King, and, if possible,
unite them with the Saxon army between Pleskow and
Diinaburg.
* The text of the Treaties of Moscow and Borsen, from the originals
in the Royal archives at Dresden, were first published in the anony-
mous ‘ Life and Memoirs of Schulenburg.’ This book appeared only a
* few years ago, and is attributed to a person of eminence in the Saxon
diplomatic service.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
355
Art. 5. That the Czar shall deliver 100,000 pounds
of gunpowder, and convey the same to Witepsk on the
Diina.
Art. 6. The Czar engages to pay yearly, for two years,
the sum of 100,000 roubles, or 200,000 thalers, to the
King.
Art. 7. The Czar renounces for himself and his suc-
cessors all rights which may accrue by conquest in Estho-
nia and Livonia, and consents that those provinces shall
again be incorporated with the kingdom of Poland. In
return, he is to reserve for himself whatever conquests
may be made in Ingria and Carelia.
Art. 10. The two Monarchs agree to give their ally,
the King of Denmark, notice of this treaty.
A secret article further provided, that at the end of
June the Czar should disburse to the King 20,000
roubles, to be expended in buying or rewarding useful
members of the Polish nobility and senate.
Thus, in spite of the Peace of Travendal, Denmark still
kept up a secret understanding with Saxony and Rus-
sia with which last State she had signed an alliance, of-
fensive and defensive, at Moscow, on the 23rd of January,
1701. The objects aimed at by the several parties to
this treaty are now sufficiently plain. Peter, who by
the Peace of Constantinople (June 13, 1700) had ob-
tained possession of the port of Azof, was anxious to
secure a similar outlet for his commerce on the Baltic,
and to this end made pretensions to Ingria and Carelia,
through which countries the Neva flows into the Gulf
of Finland. Frederick Augustus hoped to restore to
the Crown of Poland, Courland, Esthonia, and Livonia,
its ancient fiefs. The King of Denmark desired the
humiliation and disarming of his restless neighbour, and
2 a 2356
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
the recognition by the allies of his claims on Holstein.
The first consequence, of these treaties was that a consi-
derable force of Muscovites was sent to join the army of
Saxony and Poland.
On the 19th of July, 1702, the two armies, com-
manded by their Kings in person, met near Clissow; the
Saxons had somewhat the superiority in numbers, and
the more favourable position; but opposed to them were
some of the best soldiers in the world, trained to the
strictest discipline, and inured to victory. The result,
which competent military authorities attribute far more
to the gallantry of the soldiery than the skill of their
leader, was not for a moment in suspense. At the very
first discharge the Polish horse broke in a panic and fled
from the field; and though the infantry, thus unsup-
ported and attacked with fury on every side, was saved
by the cool intrepidity of Schulenburg, who commanded
it, the rout was decisive and complete. The united army
lost all its baggage, its military chest, its cannon, and the
most of the colours.
In spite of this success, the King of Sweden was not
strong enough to advance, and remained in Poland,
where he intrigued against Prederick Augustus with the
venal and dissatisfied nobility, while the allies endea-
voured to attack him by means of new alliances with
the Princes of Northern Germany. We possess a series
of Patkul’s relations or secret despatches to the Czar
from 1703 to 1705 inclusive; they are mostly written in
cipher, and throw a good deal of light upon the intrigues
at the Russian and Polish Courts, and the views of Peter
in his hollow alliance with Prederick Augustus; not
that, in our opinion, the alliance was one whit less hol-
low on the part of the latter. We have conclusive evi-LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
357
dence that in 1702 he had already made overtures to
the King of Sweden for a separate peace, which Charles
XII. however would not entertain. His accomplished
mistress, the Countess von Konigsmark, and afterwards
his chamberlain, the Baron von Yitzthum, had been sent
on this bootless errand to the Swedish camp. The latter
was arrested and detained for several weeks in confine-
ment ; the former, whom Charles characterized at once by
a coarse but true expression, was sent back without being-
admitted to his presence. The King of Sweden was in
truth inexorable in his enmities, and, as Frederick the
Great said of him, had no way of revenging himself upon
Kings but by dethroning them.
We wifi bestow our attention for a short time upon
the communications which Patkul made to the Imperial
Court. It was the advice of the Minister that the Czar
should take care to entertain suspicion and jealousy be-
tween the King and the Cardinal-Primate Radziejowsky,
the Prince Lubomirsky, the Crown-General Szucka, and
other chief men of the Polish party. It is not, he argued,
for the interest of Muscovy that Poland should ever be
united and strong; the Czar will find his surest advan-
tage in keeping Frederick Augustus in a continual state
of dependence upon himself, which may best be accom-
plished by giving secret encouragement to the confedera-
tions of the nobles opposed to the party of the King.*
He reports that the bribes and gratifications have had an
excellent effect, and that it would be advisable to con-
tinue them.f That the King is utterly without resources,
* Despatch to Gollowyn ; Mohilow, August 1703, Ber. i. pp. 2-4;
to the Czar, September ±|-, 1703, Ber. i. p, 26.
f To Gollowyn, August 1703, Ber. i. p. 3 ; to the Czar, September
J-g, 1703, Ber. i. p. 15. The backwardness of the Czar to send money
for these purposes is often alluded to and blamed. The impression358
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
either of troops or money, and may, if not vigorously
supported against Sweden, find himself compelled to a
separate peace with that power on very hard conditions.*
The terms of an active co-operation are enumerated and
explained; the King of Poland can bring twenty thou-
sand men into the field by the end of spring, but has De-
means of paying them. It will be necessary to assist
him, but his demands are excessive.f He is dissatisfied
with the sums doled out to him, and has hinted that
he could get more from the Emperor of Germany, if he
accepted that Prince’s mediation between himself and
Sweden, and handed over his army to the use of the
Allies. J Here and there too Patkul enables us to sec
for what purposes these extravagant subsidies were re-
quired, and to what end these excessive demands were
made. The bad economy and shameless prodigality of
the Saxon Court, its tasteless, childish magnificence, and
unblushing profligacy, were to be supported by Russian
money. Although the despatches nowhere give positive
accounts of the sums which were squandered on the in-
numerable mistresses of the King and their rapacious
creatures, they still contain very intelligible hints that
however was general that Patkul was the dispenser of the Russian
secret funds. In the ‘ Lettres Historiques,’ 1703, p. 523, we find, “ On
parle fort d’une alliance entre S. M. Czarienne et la Republique de
Pologne; et l’on croit remarquer que les bourses d'or que le General
Patkul a apportees depuis peu de Moscovie, pour avancer cette alliance,
out deja produit un bon effet.”
* To Gollowyn, §«;r9, 1703, Ber. i. p. 9.
t To the Czar, Warsaw, September T7-g-, 1703, Ber. i. p. 17.
% To the Czar, September £§, 1703, Ber. i. p. 27; and October y§
(Annex B), Ber. i. p. 56. It is evident that Frederick Augustus hoped
at this time for an accommodation with Charles XII. ; but as this
hope vanished, he again threw himself upon the Czar, and accepted
two instead of the three hundred thousand roubles, which he had asked
for.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
359
no money ought to be given unaccompanied by a plan
for putting its disposal out of the power of the King and
his Ministry. A commission is proposed, Patkul probably
not choosing to have the undivided responsibility of re-
fusals which could hardly tend to render him popular at
Dresden or Warsaw.* But without some such provision,
it is abundantly evident that the profligate Countesses of
Teschen or Kosel, and their brothers or cousins, would
have soon dissipated the funds which were necessary for
the pay and rations and the transport of the army. The
hostility of England to the Russo-Polish alliance is more
than once touched upon. In one despatch Patkul reports
that secret letters from Queen Anne to Charles XII. have
been intercepted, copied, and sent on, from which it ap-
pears that England was determined upon the deposition
of the King of Poland.f He relates elsewhere that the
Imperials, Holland and England, were very unfavourable
to an alliance between Russia and Poland, and that they
could not conceal their jealousy at the Czar’s obtain-
ing a port on the Baltic.J The most pressing object at
this time was to revive the alliance between Denmark,
Russia, Saxony, and Poland, which had been gradually
relinquished, and to induce the new King of Prussia § to
join the league against Sweden. To this object Patkul
now devoted himself, and spared neither pains nor bribes
to bring it to a favourable conclusion. He spent his
* To tlie Czar, October
November
1703;
; to Gollowyn, November ; to the Czar,
to Gollowyn, February 1704; March 8th, July
December 10*
9th, 1704: see Ber. vol. i. pp. 54, 64, 80, 122, 145, and 228.
f To the Czar, September -Jf-, 1703, Ber. i. p. 23.
J To the Czar, September 1703, Ber. i. pp. 27, 28.
§ Frederick I., son of the Great Elector. In 1700 this Prince had
half persuaded, half compelled, the Emperor to consent to the conver-
sion of the Electorate into a kingdom.360
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
days and nights in journeys between Dresden, Warsaw,
and Berlin, and lavished money with an unsparing hand
upon all whose influence might he worth securing. In
a secret despatch to Gollowyn, March 8th, 1704, he
writes :* “ Patkul has promised to pay the following
sums at Berlin :—to Count Wartemberg (the Prime
Minister) 10,000 ducats, to Ilgen 6000, to the Chancery
2000, and to the Field-Marshal 8000 ducats yearly, as
long as the war shall last.” He made similar engage-
ments in Denmark, England, and Holland, and even in
Saxony expended considerable sums in secret service, f
In a series of most able despatches he dilates upon the
advantages to be derived from an alliance with Prussia.
Sweden, he argued, was the real and natural enemy of
Brandenburg, as the great Elector had clearly seen. It
could not he doubted that her object was sooner or later
to seize upon the whole Baltic coast from Livonia to
Pomerania, to make conquests in Prussia itself, and thus
place the lands of the King of Prussia in the utmost
jeopardy, j: In order to meet this real and imminent
danger, Prussia must seek for alliances, not in France—
too far off and too much hampered by her own difficul-
ties to render efficient aid—but in Poland, Russia, and
Denmark. Attacked vigorously in Poland, and ruined
there,—a point on which Patkul never wavers,—the King
of Sweden will lie at the mercy of the allies, who may
deprive him of all his continental possessions, and divide
them among themselves. The State of Livonia, exas-
* Ber. i. p. 100.
f See Iiis Despatches to the Czar, April ^s, 1704, and to Gollowyn,
July 9th of the same year, Ber. i. pp, 185, 229.
+ To Gollowyn, ; to the same, February y% to the same,
July 9th; to the Czar, August yl-; to Gollowyn, August Jj ; to the
same, August 1704, Ber. vol. i. pp. 114, 125, 235, 266, 273, 281.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
361
perated by the tyranny of the Swedish Court, made an
attack in that quarter plausible, and the first success
would certainly allure the King of Prussia into joining
the league. But another and important object, which
ought never to be lost sight of, was the creation of a
third party in Europe, which should consist of the Danish,
Prussian, Polish, Russian, and Saxon interests, together
with the Duke of Brunswick or the Elector of Hanover,*
and thus be enabled to give the law, as mediator, be-
tween the two contending Powers, Erance and Spain,
with Italy, on the one side, England, Holland, and the
House of Austria on the other, f
All these things duly considered, it must be confessed
that Patkul was serving the interests of Russia with zeal
and vigour. Nor was Peter ungrateful: he gave him the
command of the auxiliary corps of 12,000 men destined
to serve in Poland, with the rank of Lieutenant-General,
and the further title of a Privy Councillor in activity, or,
as we now say, Minister of State; and it must also be
admitted that he was doing everything in his power to
ruin Sweden. Accordingly the Swedish King proposed
to revenge himself with the utmost severity if ever Pat-
kul fell into his hands. The plans of the allies depended
however entirely upon the success which might attend
them in the field; and here they were decidedly inferior
to the King of Sweden both as regarded the number and
quality of their troops. The Muscovites were fit for
nothing; they had not the slightest pretension to the
character of soldiers, and served only to increase the
difficulties of a march, and diminish the means of sub-
sistence for the army; in the hour of battle they on most
* The Elector of Hanover, tlie heir-apparent of the English throne !
t To the Czar, April T%, 1704, Ber. i. p. 190.362
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
occasions did nothing whatever but disorganize and ex-
pose their Saxon comrades, usually breaking in panic
terror at the first discharge, or flying at the first sight of
the Swedish bayonets, leaving the flanks of the infantry
to be turned and enveloped. The Polish horse, supplied
by the Republic, conducted themselves throughout in a
manner almost as infamous. The Saxon troops, of which
something might have been made,—inasmuch as they were
well officered, and many regiments consisted of veteran
soldiers,—could hardly be kept together for want of the
subsidies the Czar promised, but did not pay ■ or, when
he paid, paid in light copecks, which caused a loss of a
thud to the soldier. The magazines were empty • the
cannon could not be transported for want of a regular
train ; there was no commissariat, and no military chest:
the mistresses of Frederick Augustus and their lovers or
relatives plundered the treasure, exhausting in shameless
debauchery and tasteless splendour the funds which were
indispensable for the defence of his Crown. The result
of such a state of things was easily to be foreseen.
Charles XII. was victorious in every point; dissolved the
alliances formed against him; defeated the Saxons and
Poles in repeated engagements; deposed Frederick Au-
gustus from the throne of Poland, and caused Stanislaus
Leczinski to be elected King. Nothing gives a more
striking evidence of the contemptible character of the
Saxon Elector than his condescending to base entreaties
to be allowed to retain the title of a King when the king-
dom itself had been torn from his hands. At length
Charles XII., finding no other foe to subdue, flung him-
self upon the Czar, isolated and deprived of all his allies,
and might well have changed all the future destinies of
Europe but for the event, the least in the world to beLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
863
expected, the utter destruction of his army at Pultava
in the year 1709.
Although Patkul, during the earlier part of these
events, retained the command of a large corps of Mus-
covites, we do not hear much of his military services; in
the few instances where his name is mentioned it is very
probable that he has been confounded with General Pey-
kul, another victim of Charles XII.’s unsparing and vin-
dictive severity.* Indeed his talents as a General seem
to have been of a very secondary quality, and to have
been greatly exceeded by his aptitude and inclination for
political intrigue. It is therefore much to be regretted
that his relations or despatches extend only from the
middle of 1703 till the end of March 1705, and that
neither his earlier negotiations nor those of the close of
1705 have been preserved. The latter would be parti-
cularly valuable, as they would render the causes of his
ultimate ruin far more clear and intelligible than they are
up to this moment. Although we can trace in the pub-
lic events in which he took a share many circumstances
which tend to explain his catastrophe, it seems very cer-
tain that his own personal character had no inconsiderable
influence upon his fate. It has been remarked by one
* Peykul was, like Patkul, a Livonian, and entered the Saxon service,
where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General. On the breaking out
of the war with Sweden, Charles had issued letters of recall to all his
subjects engaged on the side of his enemy. These Peykul disregarded,
and continued to command against the Swedes till he was out-manoeu-
vred by them, and compelled, with his whole force, to lay down his arms.
His claim to be treated as a prisoner of war was rejected ; he was sent
to Stockholm and put upon his trial for high treason. In his imprison-
ment he pretended to the art of transmuting metals, and was for a very
long time allowed to amuse the Ministry with the fallacious hope of
making gold; but at last their patience was exhausted, and, in pur-
suance of his sentence, the unlucky General was decapitated.364
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
who knew him well, that Patkul’s temper and disposition
were very had; that he was haughty, overbearing, and
malicious, while his love of chicane and intrigue rendered
him dangerous. The evidence is that of an enemy, but
nevertheless the judgement does not appear to be unjust.
He appears never to have secured, or very soon to have
lost, the favour of Frederick Augustus, who disliked him
probably not less on public than private grounds. With
the Saxon Ministry he was throughout on the worst pos-
sible terms. His multifarious intrigues with the Courts
of Prussia, Russia, Denmark, and Austria, could not be
entirely unknown to the King and his Council of State;
in fact as latterly he was dealing underhand with Sweden
itself, and endeavouring to earn his pardon from that
power at the expense of the Electorate, it is possible
that the Swedish Court itself may have thought fit to
enlighten the Saxon Ministers as to the conduct of the
Muscovite General. It is also very certain that in the
discharge of his duty to the Czar, Patkul had been com-
pelled to decline advances of money which Frederick
required him to make for other than national purposes;
and I have read somewhere that the commencement of
his disgrace is to be dated from his refusal of a large sum
of money to Aurora von Konigsmark; this is in so far
improbable, that of all the King’s mistresses this lady
alone appears to have been devoid of debauchery and ra-
pacity; but with the Lubomirska or the Kosel it was
likely enough; and in the last days of his life he himself
attributed his ruin to having compelled the King on
some occasion to send back a box of jewels which he
contemplated paying for with the Russian subsidy, and
had presented to one of these women. But however
hostile may have been the feelings with which he wasLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
365
regarded by Frederick Augustus and the Council of
State to whom the Government of Dresden was com-
mitted during the King’s absence in Poland, he had still
a strong support to rely upon. He had established him-
self very firmly in the good graces of Madame Royale,
the King’s mother, and by her influence and favour he
long maintained himself in Dresden against all the at-
tacks of the Council; but this very favour at length only
tended to precipitate his fate. The Master of the House-
hold to Madame Royale, a M. von Rumohr, had a daugh-
ter, Anna Marie, married to Privy-Councillor von Ein-
siedel; but she had very soon been left a widow, was
very young and possessed of great personal charms, and
to a very large inherited property added a jointure enor-
mous for those days;—so that she was looked upon as
the richest match in Saxony. Patkul’s protectress formed
the plan of securing this young lady’s wealth for her
favourite; the marriage was arranged with the consent
and to the satisfaction of all the parties, and the nuptials
were to have been celebrated on the very day following
that in which Patkul was arrested. This accession to
his wealth, and consequently his influence, alarmed and
enraged the Council of State; it was determined to break
the match off by any means and at any cost. The Coun-
cil were fully in possession of information respecting in-
trigues which Patkul was at this time engaged in of a
threatening character for the interests of the King; they
hoped that by placing these in a proper light before Fre-
derick Augustus they would secure his approval of the
extreme measure they meditated. The Russian General
had in fact entered into a concert with the Austrian
Envoy to transfer the Muscovite troops under his com-
mand from the service of Saxony to that of the Em-366
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
peror. This measure, to which Patkul engaged himself
by a solemn treaty with the Count Strattman—which
the Czar afterwards disowned*—would have inflicted a
most serious blow upon the interests of Frederick Au-
gustus, and was no doubt mainly intended to conciliate
the King of Sweden, whose anger Patkul ever instinc-
tively strove to appease. The papers found in his pos-
session, and now in the Royal archives at Dresden, prove
clearly that his object at this time was neither to serve
the Czar nor the King-Elector, but through the media-
tion of Prussia to obtain an amnesty from Charles XII. f
Under all these circumstances, the Council of State de-
termined upon a step which is almost without a parallel.
On the 15th of December, 1705, the treaty with Stratt-
man had been signed; in the night of the 19th-20th
the unfortunate General was arrested and conveyed to
the fortress of Sonnenstein. The following account of
the transaction was sent early in 1706 by Schulenburg,
enclosed in a letter to Leibnitz :—“ Le 18me de ce mois
M. Patkul celebra les flan cables avec la fille du vieux
Conseiller-prive Rumor, qui est une dame de 500 mille
ecus. 11 n’a cherche par cette alliance qu’un appuye de
sa grande autorite en Saxe, vu que Mad. Royale sou-
tient extremement la famille du Rumor, et en cas de la
mort du Roy, le Sieur Patkul croyoit etre l’unique
Ministre, et l’oracle du Saxe. 11 avoit deja insulte et in-
timide la pluspart du Conseil prive; mais quelques-uns
de cet illustre College, ayant aperc;u que le Sieur Patkul
avoit fait un traite avec l’Ambassadeur de l’Empereur,
qui est ici, pour faire marcher les trouppes Moscovites qui
* Gollowyn’s Despatch to Strattman, Moscow, January 13th, 1706.
Mem. Schulenb., i. 220.
f Mem. Schulenb., i. 219.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
367
sont dans ce pays ici, en Italie, prirent la vigourense reso-
lution de prevenir ce mauvais dessein, et firent arreter le
Sieur Patkul, le 19 a dix lieures du soir, et le conduire a
Sonnenstein. Tout le rnonde en est surpris, ne sachant
pas la cause de cet arret imprevu. Aujourdhuy on vient
d’expedier un courier au Roy, pour l’en informer, et on
verra comment il se prendra, et quelles mesures il fera
la-dessus.”* There can be little doubt that this passage
contains a good part, though possibly not the whole, of
the truth in relation to this event, and I fear it contains
all that we are ever likely to learn respecting it.
The arrest of a person of such consequence under such
circumstances, and in the absence of the King, produced
an enormous sensation, and was universally condemned.
The diplomatic corps were indignant at a step which ap-
peared subversive of their privileges; the Austrian and
Danish Ministers formally protested against it as an un-
heard-of violation of the law of nations. The Russian
agent at Dresden for the auxiliary troops, Prince Galit-
zin, not only joined in this protest, but refused to perform
any public functions, especially as regarded any further
payment of the stipulated subsidies.! The Saxon Mi-
nisters attempted to defend their act upon the ground
that Patkul’s mission was not a diplomatic one, and that
* Leibnitz had asked Schulenburg for information on the subject,
and received only this answer, which is evidently by a third hand, from
his friend. Schulenburg, who, as a member of the Council, had con-
curred in, if not proposed, Patkul’s arrest, probably did not think it
consistent with his duty to give any explanation of what had been done.
t Nestesuranoi, ‘Mem. du Itcgne de Pierre le Grand,’ 1705, p. 571.
Alvensleben, in a letter to Leibnitz, dated February 1st, 1706, says:
“ Il est vray, Monsieur, que le Hoy de Pologne a approuv5 l’empri-
sonnement de M. de Patcul; mais pour l’approbation du Czaar,—tant
s’en faut qu’elle soit arrivde, qu’au contraire l’argent que le Czaar s’est
engag6 a faire payer pour lea trouppes Saxonnes, vient d’etre contre-308
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
the character with which he was invested was purely
military. This ground is alleged in a Pro Memoria, re-
corded January 3rd, 1700, by Yon Hoymb, President of
the Chamber.* This paper, it is true, offers no evidence
in support of the assertion; but it seems hardly probable
that it could have been so boldly and openly advanced
had it been entirely without foundation. Moreover in
one of his despatches to the Czar, Patkul had certainly
proposed the laying down of his ministerial quality as
conducive to the advantage of the Muscovite service, and
had expressed the wish to retain only his military com-
mand. The most serious question however was how so
unusual a step would be looked upon by the Czar and
the King of Poland. If either of them disapproved and
disavowed it, the ruin of every member of the Council
was inevitable. All anxiety on this subject was soon
at an end. Peter did at first seem disposed to resent
the treatment which his Minister had received; but
it was soon whispered that his favourite, Prince Alex-
ander, approved of what had been done, and that the
Czar had allowed himself to be appeased. He probably
supposed that the arrest would be of short duration,
or that at all events Patkul would be sent to Moscow to
take his trial upon such charges as might be brought
against him. He nevertheless demanded an explana-
tion and satisfaction for the insult; and on the 13th of
mande, et qu’on n’en a pas touche un sol, la derniere foire de Leipzig.
Le Eoy a envoy^ le Ckambellan Steinbeck, frere du Vice-Chancelier de
la Couronne, au Czaar, pour l’affaire de Patcul. Cependant l’infan-
terie a ordre de marcher en Pologne sans argent et sans equippage.
Le dit emprisonnement a dpouvante ceux-memes qu’on croit y avoir
bonne part, par la peur qu’ils ont d’un pared traitement t6t ou tard.
On dit meme que le Prince de Fiirstenberg cherche a se demettre du
service, et a entrer dans celuy de l’Empereur.”
* Mdm. Sckulenb., i. 219.LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
369
February Gollowyn informed Patkul of this fact, as well
of the Czar’s intention to support him, adding that he
would have taken more active steps but for the trou-
bles consequent upon the march of the Swedes into Li-
thuania.* The biographer of the Countess Aurora von
Konigsmark attributes the slackness of the Czar in this
matter to the effect of the calumnies with which the
Saxons loaded Patkul ;f but it seems certain that Peter
was not only dissatisfied with his General’s conduct, but
felt himself compelled to humour his Polish ally, whose
fidelity and steadiness of purpose were always question-
able.
The King of Poland however not only approved of the
act of his council, but gave directions to his envoys in
England and elsewhere to mark his surprise and dissatis-
faction at negotiations, the result of which would have
been to deprive him of six thousand men, whose services
it was impossible for him to dispense with. \ And in
truth the pressure of his difficulties had reached so alarm-
ing a degree, that even all the aid of his allies appeared
not superfluous, if his honour and rank were still to be
saved. The Swedes had pushed forward their troops,
and threatened Warsaw. On the news of these move-
ments, Schulenburg, the only General of merit in the
King’s army, set out to meet them; but a General with-
out an army is as little likely to effect any great object,
as an army without a General. The force upon which
Schulenburg could rely was the Saxon infantry, but this
was badly appointed and provisioned, and very ill sup-
* Mem. Schulenb. i. 221.
f Cramer, Denkwiirdigkeiten der Grafin Konigsmark, i. 373.
J Letter from Frederick Augustus to Yon Gersdorf, January 8th,
1706.370
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
plied with artillery and ammunition. To these troops
were added Patkul’s division of Muscovites and a strong
body of Polish cavalry, and with these questionable auxi-
liaries the army of the King-Elector greatly outnumbered
the Swedes. General Rheinschild however could trust
in the discipline of his smaller force, and after manoeuvring
for some time in retreat, suddenly turned round and at-
tacked Schulenburg with the utmost fury, near the town
of Erauenstadt, where he lay entrenched in order of bat-
tle. I have already entered into the details of this en-
gagement :* suffice it here to say that the Muscovites
and the Polish horse fled at the first onset, and that
the Saxon dragoons followed their scandalous example:
the infantry alone retrieved for awhile the honour of the
Saxon arms, but they were speedily enveloped, broken,
and cut down: everything fell into the hands of the vic-
tors ; and the rout was so complete, that Schulenburg
himself, after forcing his way through the enemy with
the utmost difficulty, escaped from the field, accompanied
by only two horsemen. Saxony remained, without an
army, defenceless, and entirely open to the invaders.
The terrible remembrance of Horn and Baner was yet
present to the minds of the Princes of the Empire : they
trembled at the thought of again witnessing the march
of the Swedish force into their territories: they attempted
to mediate, but their interference was promptly and per-
emptorily declined: negotiation and remonstrance were
alike fruitless, and for resistance, both the means and the
courage, perhaps even the inclination, failed. Charles
XII. inspired too much terror, nor would any member
of the princely or electoral colleges place his own land in
jeopardy on behalf of a King whom no one could respect,
* Tide p. 293.LIEUTENANT-GENEKAL PATKUL.
371
and whom many secretly hated as much as they despised.
Steadily and unchecked the victorious armies advanced,
taking possession of the country on every side, and not
even met by that heroic spirit which sometimes raises a
people en masse to defend a beloved ruler, and the peace
of their own household. The Council of State in Dresden,
deprived of the presence of the King, without money or
an army or a man of conduct and courage, came to the
humiliating conclusion, that the only chance of saving even
the Electoral dominions lay in an unreserved submission
to the conqueror. Overtures for peace were made, which
the King of Sweden at length haughtily condescended to
accept. The plenipotentiaries met at Alt Rannstadt, and
an ignominious treaty was signed by the Council on be-
half of the King. Among the bitter conditions of this
peace were, the relinquishment of the Polish throne by
Frederick Augustus, the recognition of Stanislaus Le-
czinski as King, the quartering of the Swedish army in
Saxony till the fulfilment of all the stipulations, which
included heavy payments for the costs of the war, and
the extradition of Lieutenant-General Patkul. Deeply
as the dishonour of this last condition was felt, there was
no escape from it; intercession and entreaties were all in
vain, or only tended to increase the obstinacy with which
they were rejected. Charles XII. was inexorable, and
demanded the utmost tittle of his bond. Attempts were
indeed made and plans devised to facilitate Patkul’s se-
cret escape from the fortress in which he was confined;
but at length dread of the vindictive conqueror and the
consequences to themselves, should he be cheated of his
victim, overcame all nobler considerations, and the un-
fortunate statesman was delivered up to his executioners.
As to the fate that awaited him, there could be no doubt.
2 b 2372
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
After having been detained for some time in close cus-
tody, he was carried under a strong escort to the town of
Casimir on the Vistula, and there most barbarously put
to death by the wheel. The head and limbs were exposed
on poles till they entirely vanished by the action of the
elements.* A tale of Voltaire’s, that Frederick Augustus
in happier days collected Patkul’s remains and showed
them, preserved in a casket, to De Bezenval, is a fahle.
The King-Elector did no doubt in 1713 make an attempt
to give Christian burial to the bones of one who might
be considered his victim, but the officer despatched upon
this duty was compelled to report that nothing now re-
mained or could be discovered of the body. It is said
that the sufferings of Patkul were greatly increased by
the ignorance and inexperience of the peasant who acted
as his executioner; and a horrible report existed, that
the officer who commanded the guard at the scaffold, and
had mercifully permitted the head to be struck off before
life was extinct in the mangled limbs, was cashiered by
Charles XII.’s express command.f
As many allusions to Patkul and his intrigues occur in
these letters, I thought fit to give some account of his
life and fate, which was once but imperfectly known, and
* A description of Patkul’s last moments is given by Leonhart
Hagen, the chaplain who prepared him for death and attended him to
the scaffold: from this account most of the others seem to have been
derived. It is found very nearly entire in the ‘ Theatrum EuropEeum,’
vol. xviii. (1707), p. 279, and in the anonymous ‘ Berichte,’ vol. iii. p. 278.
It appears also to have been translated into English, under the title of
‘ Anecdotes concerning the famous John Keinhold Patkul; or an authen-
tic Relation of what passed between him and his Confessor, and at his
Execution.’ London, 1761.
f “Sans egard aux intercessions des autres Souverains, quand les Su6-
dois, sortis de Saxe, furent rentrds en Pologne, Patkul fut roue, au com-
mencement d’Octobre, 1707, dans la ville de Kasimir. Ce qu’il y a de plusLIEUTENANT-GENERAL PATKUL.
873
is now perhaps entirely forgotten. We cannot feel much
sympathy for him, or deny that he was himself the main
cause of his own ruin; but he played in his time too im-
portant a part to be totally omitted from an historical gal-
lery of portraits of the seventeenth century. We cannot
deny that his active opposition to the Reunion under
Charles XI. led him into acts which fall under even the
strictest definition of high treason: however deep the pro-
vocation given by the King may originally have been,
we cannot deny that the measures in which he engaged
against Charles XII. partook to the last degree of the
nature of that crime. Setting aside the events of his
early life, until his flight into Switzerland, we find him
treating with contempt the Avocatoria, or Letters of Re-
call, which Charles XII. published on the 3rd of April,
1700, and by which all his Livonian subjects were com-
manded to leave the Saxo-Polish service on pain of high
treason.* Patkul, like Peykul, chose to run the risk, and
justly suffered. He levied actual war against the King in
Livonia, a province of Sweden, and commanded a body of
cavalry against the Swedish Generals. He negotiated trea-
ties of alliance against the Princes in whose jurisdiction he
was born and in whose service he had been commissioned:
he did all that his restless energy and untiring persever-
ance could effect to cripple their resources, to detach
dormant, o’est que l’officier Suedois qui dut asaiater a, l’ex^cution du
malheureux Patkul et qui lui fit trancher la tete, quoique ce fut bien
apres qu’il aroit ete roue et qu’a peine respirait-il encore, fut casso par
le Roi de Suede, qui avoit ordonne qu’on ne lui tranclieroit la tete que
lorsqu’ilauroit expire dansleasouffrances.”—Journal dePierrele Grand,
p. 161. This anecdote, which we will earnestly hope is apocryphal, shows
well the feeling which Charles XII. was known to entertain against
Patkul.
* See the document in Theatrum Europ., xv. 783.874
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
their provinces, and seduce their subjects to revolt, to
ruin their armies, to alienate their friends, to comfort and
assist their enemies. His execution then, when at length
he fell into their hands, cannot surprise us, or shock our
sense of justice, however we may turn with disgust from
the barbarity of its nature; and even this ought to be
judged according to the practices and feelings, not of the
nineteenth, but the seventeenth century. The law of every
state, in such a case, would have justified, and Patkul had
richly earned, a sentence of death: we do not blame the
Swedes for inflicting it. But nothing can extenuate or
excuse the cowardly and ignominious surrender of him
by the Saxons. If his arrest were thought necessary,
upon the principle that solus populi supremo lesc, he should
have been sent at once to Moscow, even at the risk of
falling on the way into the hands of Swedish parties.
Over him the Saxons had no authority, and his imprison-
ment was a coup d’etat, not an act of law and a compe-
tent jurisdiction. If not as a Russian Minister, at least
as a Russian General, he ought to have been accused and
sent to be judged before his master, his offences not being
of a merely military character. The Saxons had a right to
render him innocuous; but they had none to deliver him
up to those who thirsted for his blood. If Charles XII.
stained his memory with cruelty by his vindictive perse-
cution of this wretched man, with what shall we say the
memory of Frederick Augustus is loaded, who gave up
an old servant and instrument to the rage of his most
implacable enemy?ANONYMOUS TO PATKUL.
375
149.] Anonymous to Patkul.
Berlin, March 18 th, 1704.
Sir,
Three or four days ago they received news here, as it is
said, upon sure authority, which have greatly chagrined and
disconcerted both the King of Prussia and the most trusted
of his Ministers. It is, Sir, that the Czar is going to Notte-
burg with a numerous Court and a great quantity of ladies,
and that the greater part of his troops are destined to be
moved in the same direction. It has been announced besides,
that although they have given themselves a great deal of
trouble and pains in Muscovy, after all they cannot furnish
the succours which they have promised the King of Poland,
either in men or in money; and that even if they did, these
succours would arrive so late that the King of Poland would
get but little good from them. If these news should turn out
to be true, you can easily believe, Sir, that it would have the
effect of upsetting all that was done during your long stay
here; seeing that the promises which were made to you were
founded upon the understanding that the Czar, instead of go-
ing in the direction of Ingria, would send a good army into
Courland, and that the King of Poland should be placed in a
condition to make head against the King of Sweden by means
of the succours which should be sent to him from Muscovy.
The King of Prussia sent Ilgen to me, express, to communi-
cate to me the above-said bad piece of news; he has spoken to
me himself frequently about it since, and has told me in very
significant terms, that in case it is true, people are not to have
any great expectations of seeing him burn his own paw to take
their chestnuts out of the fire. I have done everything in the
world to patch up the business by persuading that perhaps the
news was not true, and that I was convinced of the Czar’s being
a religious observer of his word, and that in a little while the
effects would show; but I have not been able to diminish much
of the incredulity which it appears people have conceived on
this subject. You, Sir, know how important the affair is, and376
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
on that account I would not neglect to give you advice of it.
Write, I entreat you, in God’s name, to the Czar, and use
every effort that we may soon see the contrary of what is re-
ported. I am, with much esteem and passion, Sir, your very
obedient and very humble servant,
Z.
150.] Leibnitz to Stepney.
Hanover, March 24th, 1704.
Sir,
Not having been able to have the happiness of enjoying
your passage through this place, in order not to take you away
from persons who had more important and agreeable things
to tell you than myself, I take the liberty of writing a word
to you to testify both to the regret which I feel, and how
much I am honoured by your goodness in remembering me.
I am charmed to learn from Berlin that the King and the
Ministers have done justice to you, and have distinguished
the times as you yourself, Sir, have not failed to do with your
usual wisdom. If it is true, as we have every reason to hope,
that the King of Prussia has chosen the better part, namely
that of taking the salvation of the Empire in hand, it will be
as glorious as profitable to him; but affairs would get on still
better, if for that purpose he were to act in concert with all
the House of Brunswick. We are also led to hope that M.
the Elector Palatine may possibly do us the honour of passing
this way. I wish there was any way in which it might be
managed that his E. H. should go first to Berlin, for a media-
tor of so much consideration and so well intentioned might
have a very good effect; but I am afraid that the ceremo-
nial is in the way, which perhaps is not yet sufficiently regu-
lated.
I do not know whether this letter will find you at Vienna,
and I should be glad if it did not, because in that case you
will have started for Hungary, which would give me a good
deal of hope, and make me believe that effectively affairs wereFREDERICK AUGUSTUS TO SCHULENBURG. 377
in a good way of being made up; otherwise I must confess
that I am a little incredulous, considering all the circum-
stances, and the little reliance that can he placed upon all
that we have been told up to this time.
The Queen of Prussia has invited my lord Shaftesbury to
spend this summer at Liitzenburg. She made his acquaint-
ance long ago, and esteems him much; but Mr. Davenant
fears that he may already have returned to England. Mr.
Pooley is returned hither, after having taken the compliments
of condolence to Wolfenbiittel on the part of the Queen.
The money comes in admirably among your people; there
is a regular crush to bring it in, and it is said some one has
positively been crushed to death in the crowd. But in point
of fact the condition of annuities is really a profitable one; I
have always thought so, and been astonished a hundred times
over that in countries where Rome is recognized, and where
there are so many unmarried ecclesiastics, they should not be
more in vogue. It is the most efficacious way which can be
devised to guard against nepotism; for many of those who
might employ their money so profitably for themselves, and
be, so to say, their own inheritors, will care very little about
their nephews and nieces. However you have other things to
do, Sir, than to amuse yourself with useless letters; I finish,
therefore, and am, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
151.J Freberick. Augustus: to Schulenburg.
Sendomir, 18 May, 1704.
Je ne sais pas la raison que vous pouvez avoir de demander
votre conge; votre conduite a ete telle, que j’en ai ete tres
satisfait, ce qui me met d’autant plus en etonnement que dans
un terns ou j’ai besoin de vous, vous demandez votre retraite.
Ainsi k l’heure qu’il est je ne puis me passer de vous la refuser,
esperant que, comme homme d’honneur, vous ne quitterez
pas dans les conjonctures presentes. Si vous avez quelque378
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
chagrin, parlez: on vous fera justice, et je serais toujours votre
tres affectionne
Auguste, Roi.
152.] Patkul to Schulenburg.
From the King’s Camp near Sendomir,
May 23rd, 1704.
Sir,
I have the honour to advise you by these lines that I have
spoken to the King about you. I can assure you, Sir, that
the tales of your enemies have had no effect upon his Majesty’s
mind; on the contrary, he approves of your conduct through-
out, and promises to support you -with vigour. I hope that
you will be content with this, and that you will take a plea-
sure yourself in working conjointly with us at the re-esta-
blishment of the tottering fortunes of a master who has a
serious determination to turn over a new leaf, of which I have
convincing proofs in my own hands. I conjure you, Sir, to
take such steps that we may see you -with as little delay as
possible at the head of the infantry. Everything here is
going on admirably throughout the whole kingdom; they
sigh for the army of Saxony, etc. etc.
J. R. Patkul.
153.] Frederick Augustus, King of Poland,
to Schulenburg.
A deux lieues de Varcas, le 28 Aout, 1704.
Par celle-ci vous apprendrez que j’ai passe heureusement la
Yistule et espere d’etre le 30 Varsovie, ou se trouve encore le
General Horn et la pluspart des confederes; j’espere les y attra-
per et me saisir de leur pont, pour ensuite marcher du cote de
Praga; je ne crois pas qu’ils me manqueront, personne n’ay ant
avis de ma marche selon mes nouvelles, mais on me croyait
en Volhynie, vers ou le Roi de Suede doit etre marche; ilHARLEY TO STEPNEY.
379
conduit de la grosse artillerie avec soi, laquelle l’embarrassera
beaucoup s’il veut retrousser chemin pour me suivre, ayant
20 m. Cosaques a ses trousses, et l’arriere-saison, qui approcbe,
rendrait ce pays impraticable, et j’espere par la de lui avoir
fait echouer la campagne. J’attends avec impatience de vos
nouvelles et des mouvemens que vous etes intentionne de faire
sur Papprocbe du Palatin de Posnanie (Stanislaus), pour que
je me puisse regler. Yous pouvez etre persuade qu’il n’a que
3000 hs. d’infanterie et 2 m. de cavalerie Suedoise, et 3 m.
Polonais de Lubomirsky, dont la pluspart ne sont que des pay-
sans. Le nombre et la qualite etant la pluspart de nouvelles
levees, vous ne devez pas balancer aller les rencontrer, pen-
dant que je les suivrais de pres, et ce que nous devons fame
sitot que cela se fasse vite, pour qu’ils ne puissent recevoir des
renforts du Roi. Mais aussi comme il se pourrait que quand
ils apprendront que je suis derriere eux, ils ne vous quittent
et ils ne viennent vers moi, il faut que vous tachiez de les
serrer de pres pour les prendre entre deux. Je fcrai descendre
le pont de Varsovie & Sakrozin, pour avoir le passage en
Prusse et nous joindre k l’infanterie moscovite que descend le
Bug. J’espere que vous aurez reju mes deux precedentes et
attends avec impatience de vos nouvelles de ce que vous etes
intentionne de faire, pour m’y regler. A Varsovie je ne se-
journerai que 4 ou 5 jours pour laisser reposer ma cavalerie,
qui a marche 52 lieues en 12 jours et passe quatre rivieres,
qui est le Boug, Yiperz, Vistule et Pillizca, et nous n’avons
tout au plus que 100 marodes, lesquels peuvent meme encore
servir en cas de besoin. Ne me laissez pas dans 1’incertitude
de ce que vous faites; tout consiste dans la vitesse.
A. R.
154.] Harley to Stepney.
Whitehall, Sept. y6j, 1704.
Sir,
I wrote you by the last post an account of the Receipt of
yours by the packets wh came in Thursday and Friday last.380
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
I cannot let any letter go from hence without renewing Her
Ma^8 directions for your promoting the making peace with
the Malecontents in Hungary, and sending succours into Italy.
I need not mention to you the great importance of enabling
the Duke of Savoy to act offensively, and how much Spaine
is concern’d in keeping up the Warr in Italy: I will not urge
arguments, because the enclosed Memoriall from Count Bri-
ancjon, the Savoy minister here, will abundantly supply that:
I have by Her Mal>" commands assured him that Her Ma*r
will press the sending his master succours with all possible
earnestness: to that end I send the memoriall to you for you
to do your part, as I know you are never wanting, and I send
another copy to the Duke of Marlborough for his assistance:
tho’ I fear money and magazines are more wanting than men :
is it possible to convey any from Bavaria thither (if that coun-
try has any left) as Mr. Hoffman proposes ?
The other paper enclosed is from Mr. Schutz on behalfe of
the Elector of Hanover. You know how much it is our concern
to promote the Elector’s interest, and Her Ma1)' would have
you do all the good offices you can with all earnestness as you
shall find proper occasions.
I have taken the opportunity of some expressions in your
last letters, to let Mr. Hoffman know the respect you had for
H. I. M. person, and the many occasions you take to show it.
I hope he will have sence enough to let it be known for your
advantage in his next letters. I am, etc. etc.,
Bo. Harley.
155.] De Tettau to Leibnitz.
G-oltzen, Sept. 27th, 1704.
Sir,
I only received your note yesterday evening, in which you
request to know whether Lieut.-General Schulenburg leaves
the service of Saxony, or whether he will come on leave of
absence to the fair at Leipzig. I have the honour to replyLEWIS TO STEPNEY.
381
that the said M. Schulenburg has for the last six months
been demanding his dismissal of the King on very good
grounds; but there is very little probability of his obtaining
it, because there is not a general officer in the whole army
upon whom the King can rely. You know the King of Po-
land, and consequently know that there is no Prince in the
world who has more engaging manners to win hearts, so that
I doubt very much M. Schulenburg’s quitting him at a time
when he is so necessary. The last letters which I have re-
ceived from this gallant man are dated the 15th of this month;
he expected to unite with the King on the 17th. This, Sir,
is all I know about it. I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
D. de Tettau.
156.] E. Lewis to Stepney.
Whitehall, Oct. V7th, 1704.
Sir,
I am very much pleas’d that the more freedom I use in
giving you my thoughts on your private affairs, the more
agreable it is to you; and I hope I have not run so much
into the extream as to choque you, or discourage you from
any attempts for your advantage, when a conjuncture favours.
I shall watch when the waters move, for without that, the
Scripture tells us, it is to no purpose to goe in.
I am puzzled to think how Mr. Stanhope can be provided
for, and much more what can he done with Sr Philip; he has
no appetite for the Hague since he was there, and there is no
appearance of getting anything more at home unless his Father
is taken to Heaven and leaves him his Cloak, and the hoard
of Trade would be a very good one. He is thought a man of
sence, hut keeps no company, and is very little known. His
purchase of Knight Marshall has been to his prejudice, for
most people think it sufficient provision for him.
Lord Dorset, after a thousand actions that plainly shew’d he
had entirely lost his sences, has compleated all by marrying382
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Joany Roche. A young married gentlewoman that had lain
with Lord Nothingham’s Black, being near the time of her
delivery, grew very apprehensive she shou’d produce a little
Negro, and has therfore run away to avoid the scandal. I
have yours of the 13th inst. and leave all Politicks till our
Parliament sits. Adieu.
Tom Harley and George Greenville must be provided for
before Sr Philip.
157.] Sir R. Gwynne to Stepney.
Hanover, Dec. 16th, 1704.
Sir,
I received the honour of your letter of the 13th of October
from the D. of Marleboro’s Camp at Crome Weissenburge,
and am much oblieged to you for the favour you expressed
yourself willing to shew to Mr. Cooke and Mr. Ball, if they
had found you at Vienna; however they were very kindly
treated in your absence by your family there, and this gives
me encouragement to recomend to your favour Mr. Browne,
who will deliver this to you. He is going to Venice.
I am sorry that your Treaty at Schemnitz had not better
success, and we are tould, that there was no sincerity in the
Emperor’s Ministers: I must confesse I am inclin’d to be-
lieve it, since that, tho’ the E. hath been delivered from the
great dangers he was in, solely by the Protestants, yet he will
not restore them to their indisputable rights and priviledges in
the Empire: what then is to he expected for the Bohemians,
Silesians, Hungarians, and Transilvanians, whom he looks
uppon as his vassalls and slaves? I should be glad if you
would doe me the favour to set these matters in a true light,
and I doe assure you, that noe person shall know the least of
it, but the Elector, nor will I comunicate what you write to
his Highness unless you give me leave to do it.
The Duke of Marleborough did me the honour to write to
me when he was in the Army, and I am sure that his GraceCAROLINE, PRINCESS OF ANSPACH, TO LEIBNITZ. 383
hath done all the good he conld, as well as to treatys, as in
the matter of warr, which I am further assured of by his
Grace, when he was here. He came hither on Munday was
fortnight, and was treated with the greatest honour and kind-
ness that could he shewed him. His grace went hence on
Fryday was sennight, but did not arrive at the Hague till
Fryday last, as I understand by a letter I received this day
from Mr. Cardonnel, which his grace ordered him to write to
me as soone as he came thither.
I believe he was very well pleased here, for they did every
thing they could devise to shew their affection and respect,
and his Grace tould me more than once, that he was extreamely
well pleased here, and sorry that he could not stay longer at
this Court.
The Parliament does act very well towards carrying on the
war, and, God be thanked, the Queen’s Administration does
please the whole kingdome: I pray & hope that the like suc-
cess of that of the last summer may allwayes attend her ma-
jestyes Councells and Armes. I am with the greatest truth
and sincerity, Sir, your most obedient, most faithfull & most
humble Servant,
Rowland Gwynne.
158.] Caroline, Princess of Anspach, to Leibnitz.
Anspach, ce 28 Decemper [1704].
.Pay receus votre lettre, Monsieur, avec la plus grande joys
du monde, puisque par la je me vois toujours dans votre sou-
venir et amitie. Je vous suplie, Monsieur, de me la conserver
comme A une personne qui en connoit le pri et qui ne souhait
rien avec plus de passion qne se monterer reconnoissan pour
toute les bonte que vous mavez temoigne pantant mon cesjours
a lutzelbourg. Yous me flatee fort agreablement, Monsieur, de
m’assurere que la Reine et toute la Cour mont plain de ce que
je n’ay peu profiter plus long-temps du bonheur de faire ma
cour a notre incomparable Reine; je vous suplie, quand vous384
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
trouverez L’occasion, d’assurer S. M. de mes tres profon re-
spect. Je croit que le Roy d’Espange ne se mest plus en
paine pour ma personne ;* au coutrer, l’on mora en horreur de
ce que je n’ay pas voulu suisvre les bonnes instruction de
Mr de Ste Marie. Je resois tout les poste des lettre de ce bon
Cavallier; je croy que ses discours on beaucoup contripue a
linquemodite que jJay eu pandant 3 cemain don je me trouvez
parfaitement retablie. Md 1/Electrise me fait trop bonneur de
ce souvenir de moy; elle ne peut avoir vne plus tres humble
servante qui luy est si parfaitement aquise que je la suis. Je
pran beaucoup de part a la jois qu’elle aura de voire Mr le
princes Roiyal a Hanover. Je suis infiniment obligee a M1' le
due Antoine Ullerich de ce qui me veut faire passer pour vne
heroine dans son roman vous; verez quauec le temps Ion me
fera voir sur la sene avec Mr Ste Marie, ou je me defanterez en
mervellye. Je vous aurais bien de bobligation sy vous voules
prande la bene de faire bientot venir de france les instrumant
de Madematique pour notre cher amis. Soigee persouadee,
Monsieur, que je cerais toute ma vie votre servante,
Caroline Wilhelmine.
GENERAL OAYALIER AND THE RELIGIOUS WAR OF
THE CEVENNES.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), the
most unpardonable blunder of Louis XIV.’s long reign,
was followed by an organized and unsparing persecution
of the Protestants in Prance. As long as the resistance
of the Reformed Church and the Princes who conformed
to the Confession of Augsburg was capable of embarrass-
ing the Emperor of Germany, and giving full occupa-
* The King of Spain is the Archduke, afterwards Emperor. He
had offered his hand to the Princess Caroline; but she refused to be-
come a Catholic, and the match was broken off.GENERAL CAVALIER.
385
tion to the Catholic Electors, the Court of France had
not scrupled to support and encourage the Protestants
of the Empire. The Peace of Westphalia had however
at length put a term to the horrors of the Thirty Years’
War, and both contending parties, worn out and rained,
had consented to a compromise, which was rather an
evidence of their exhaustion than of their moderation or
love of justice. But the aims of Prance had been gained;
for years must now elapse before the Empire could again
be in a condition to offer any effectual opposition to her
policy of aggrandisement. England, under the miserable
sway of the restored Stuarts, was become a cipher in
Europe; Sweden, itself exhausted by the war of religion,
was involved in all the difficulties of a domestic revolu-
tion, and crippled by the opposition offered to its plans
of reunion ;* Holland was isolated, and, standing un-
supported, could not entertain any hope of long resisting
its imperious neighbour. It seemed at last safe to break,
in the most formal manner, with the Huguenots; but this
act of a blind fanaticism was an error as well as a crime.
It drove from their country tens of thousands of skilful
artisans, of frugal and laborious citizens, of gentlemen
inured to arms, or practised in the career of letters and
politics. It weakened at once the Prench monarchy, and
strengthened the enemies that were combined for its
ruin. The Protestant States of Europe profited by the
folly, which preferred the triumph of a dogma to the
possession of so large and valuable a class of laborious,
earnest, and, in general, loyal subjects. A trustworthy
authority assures us that four hundred thousand Prench-
men left their native country, and the homes they had
founded, to spread in other lands a civilization as yet un-
* See sketch of the life of J. R. Patkul.
2 C386 STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
known.* The number of English families which trace
their descent from Huguenot refugees is very consider-
able, and among them are many who have occupied high
and honourable positions in the land of their adoption,
Holland, Louis XIY.’s most intolerable eyesore, not only
gained by the influx of a numerous industrial population,
but, as Mr. Macaulay has justly observed, was driven,
by the persecution of the Protestants, to take paid in
that league which enabled William of Orange to crush
the influence of Prance. Travellers remarked that, at
this time, in Zell and Hanover Prench was spoken and
written as purely as in Paris, and that a refinement
hitherto unknown had begun to distinguish the inter-
course of the Courts of Northern Europe. Latin was
gradually ceasing to be the language of diplomacy.
Berlin owes nearly its existence as a city to the Prench
exiles who were invited to settle there ; and whole dis-
tricts of Prussia, which the Thirty Years’ War had depo-
pulated and ruined, became the homes of colonists whose
knowledge and industry opened new channels of wealth
and power. Prederick William, whose title of “ The
Great Elector” was in this most justly earned, was one
of the first to offer an asylum in his States to men suf-
fering for conscience’ sake.t The result of his wise
* M6m. cle Brandebourg.
f The Great Elector’s Letters Patent, dated Potsdam, October 29th,
1685, are as follows:—“We, Frederick William, etc. etc. etc., make
known to all men, etc., that whereas, through the too severe treatment
with which, for some time past, our brethren of the Reformed Church
in France have been afflicted, many French families have been com-
pelled to emigrate and seek an abode in foreign lands, we, moved there-
unto by the just commiseration which we are bound to give to those
who suffer for the Gospel and the pure faith, which we in common with
them do profess, have determined by this Edict, under our own hand,
to offer unto all the said French a secure and free ingress to and egressGENERAL CAVALIER.
387
measures is thus described by his great-grandson :*—“ A
Favenement de Frederic-Guillaume a la regence, on ne
faisait, dans ce pays, ni chapeaux, ni bas, ni serges, ni
aucune etoffe de laine: Findustrie des Fran^ais nous en-
richit de toutes ces manufacturesj ils etablirent des fa-
briques de draps, de serges, d’etamines, de petites etoffes,
de droguets, de grisettes, de crepon, de bonnets et de
from all tlie territories subject to our rule, and therewith to proclaim
what rights, franchises, and advantages we will that they shall enjoy,
whereby they may he rescued, and in some degree supported in that
state of need in which it has pleased the providence of Almighty God
to place them.’' Article 1 provides that free transport and provisions
shall be supplied to such refugees as find their way into Holland, as far
as Hamburg. 2. That all who prefer going by Frankfort or Cologne
shall be forwarded down the Khine to Cleves, etc., and supplied with
money, passports, and ships ; the Elector’s agents are to see to the exe-
cution of these details. 3. The refugees to be free to settle where they
will, in villages or cities, and. to exercise all handicrafts, commerce, etc.,
undisturbed. 4. AJ1 they bring with them, whatsoever it may be, to
pass free from tax or toll. 5. Dwellings to be assigned them provi-
sionally, rent-free; building materials to be supplied them at the Elec-
tor’s expense, and the houses they build to be free from taxes for the
space of six years. 6. Those who choose to settle in cities to have
building-ground and materials free of cost; their houses to have a ten
years’ exemption from taxation; to be lodged provisionally for four
years at the Elector’s charge. 7. To have all the rights of citizens and
guildsmen as fully as bom Prussians. 8. Their manufactures of cloth,
hats, linen, and the like, to be privileged, and, if needful, loans to be
advanced them for the first establishment of factories. 9. To select an
arbiter from their own body, by whom all disputes between Frenchman
and Frenchman may be settled. In disputes between a Frenchman
and a Prussian, the said arbiter to have a concurrent jurisdiction with
the German authorities. 10. The King to appoint and pay a chaplain
and build a church for them in every district. 11. The refugee nobles
to be employed in the civil and military service, on the same footing as
the Prussian nobles. 12. Commissioners to be named to carry out the
provisions of this decree.
* ‘ Des Mceurs et des Coutumes,’ etc., (Euvres de Fred. II., vol. i. p.
227. The King estimates the number of refugees that found an asylum
in Brandenburg at about 20,000.—Ibid., p. 226.
2 C 2388
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
bas tissus sur des metiers, des chapeaux de castor, de
lapin et de poil de lievre, des teintures de toutes les
especes. Quelques-uns de ces refugies se firent mar-
chands, et debiterent en detail l’industrie des autres:
Berlin eut des orfevres, des bijoutiers, des horlogers, des
sculpteurs; et les Fran^ais qui s’etablirent dans le plat
pays, y cultiverent le tabac, et firent venir des fruits et
des legumes excellents dans les contrees sablouneuses,
qui, par leur soin, devinrent des potagers admirables.
Le Grand Electeur, pour encourager une colonie aussi
utile, lui assigna une pension annuelle de quarante mille
ecus, dont elle jouit encore.”
Even Russia, hardly yet emerging from its state of
barbarism, hastened, by the promise of complete religious
toleration, to attract the services of men whose influence
could be of so much worth in its struggle for material
prosperity and European civilization.
An important ukase of Ivan and Peter Alexeievitch,
dated January 21st, 1689, shows that the Elector of
Brandenburg, not content with offering a refuge to the
victims of fanaticism in his own territories, had secured
for them a favourable reception in those of his powerful
neighbour. It states that the Elector, having brought
to the notice of their Majesties the sufferings to which
the French Protestants are exposed, for the sake of their
religion (many of which are particularly enumerated),
and that multitudes of them, who had succeeded in leav-
ing France, had established themselves, or desired to es-
tablish themselves, in other countries where they might
enjoy religious toleration, their Majesties the Czars, at
the instance of the said Elector and by the advice of
the Boyars of their council, decree full liberty of ingress
and egress and settlement for all such refugees as shallGENERAL CAVALIER.
889
desire to establish themselves in Russia, and promise
employment to all who shall be willing to enter their
Majesties’ service, according to the rank, qualifications,
and personal recommendations of the said refugees, etc.
etc.* The refugees had thus indeed secured for them-
selves, though at heavy cost, a new country and the free
exercise of their religion, and had incalculably benefited
the States that had taken them under their protection;
but even on this account the condition of the brethren
who remained behind became daily more intolerable.
Disquieted and alarmed by the successful evasion of the
richer Huguenots, and irritated by the censure which all
Europe heaped upon their master, the advisers of Louis
had recourse to more stringent and more erroneous mea-
sures. From 1685 to 1689 there appeared a series of
Declarations, prohibiting, under the severest penalties,
any public exercise or recognition of the Reformed reli-
gion. The merciless instruments of a merciless policy
proceeded to pull down the churches and shut up the
schools of the Calvinists, to hunt down prayer-meetings,
to execute in tortures men who remained steadfast to
what they believed the cause of God, and to quarter
troops, encouraged to more than the license of war, on
those districts in which the doctrines of the Reformed
Church prevailed. An ineffectual effort was indeed
made, during the negotiations at Ryswick, in favour of
# The original of tliis ukase, in French, is found among the MSS. of
the Royal Library in Hanover. It is intituled, “ Copie du Passeport
de leurs Czars-Majestds Jean Alexeiwitz et Pierre Alexeiwitz, Grands
Dues de Moscovie, en favour dcs R6fugi.
Sir,
I do not follow the example of M. Magliabeccbi, who put
himself out of temper on a report of his death having been
spread. M. de Bulauhad brought me that of mine. I made
out of it a subject of rejoicing, and I greatly approve of the
maxim of those who strive to find such in everything; though
I by no means hold the principles of Lucretius, and cannot build
two cities in one day like that Sardanapalus whose epitaph,
translated into Italian, you send me, on what account I know
not, as if it was something curious. This epitaph was cele-
brated enough among the ancients: you know, Sir, these
verses, which have been translated from it into Latin—
“ Hsec kabui quae edi, quaeque exsaturata libido
Hausit; at ilia jacent, multa et praeclara relicta.”
I should prefer to say,
Haec kabui quae scivi, et laetus recta peregi;
Quaeque relicta jacent, mentem tamen acta sequuntur;
for I hold the principle of a sovereign reason entirely con-
formable to that fine expression of Scripture, “ Opera eorum
sequentur eos.” Nothing is lost, according to my philosophy;
and not only do"all simple substances, such as souls, necessarily
preserve themselves, but, what is more, all actions remain in
2 G450
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
nature, however transitory they may appear to our eyes, and all
the foregoing enter into all the subsequent ones. I have de-
monstrated this mathematically with regard to motion, no
single act of which perishes; and as the perceptions are the
representations of motions, the same must be said of them. I
do not know whether you will continue to call me a philoso-
pher after this confession, which is sufficiently conformable to
established opinions, and in the truth of which the public is
interested.
I have seen a fine version of Lucretius in Italian verse, but
not rhymed. It is attributed to M. Marchetti, and has not yet
been printed. I had it bought one day for the Queen of
Prussia, and I hope it has not been lost; it will probably then
be the same as the one which the Duke of Shrewsbury has
brought, as you tell me.
I only wish that some excellent poet would put a philosophy
more true than that of Epicurus into verses as beautiful as
those of Lucretius.
The election of Munster may have consequences. The Pope
has acted wisely in having it put off, in order that nothing
may be done in a hurry. Formerly the Emperors had the
nomination; the Popes extorted this from them, but still re-
serving to them certain considerable rights, which the Em-
perors themselves have neglected to uphold. It is neverthe-
less still only just that the Emperor should have at least the
power of suspending the matter till an equitable discussion,
in order to avoid any irreparable prejudice which might happen
to the public good. Strangers may say, Sir, with you, that
they do not care much about what regards the internal affairs
of the Empire as long as the peace of Europe is none the worse
for it; but MM. the States arc of opinion that the one has a
good deal of connection with the other.
If we should receive any check upon the Rhine, we shall
only get our deserts. The Emperor is excusable for recalling
the troops which are necessary to him to prevent Austria and
Moravia from being entirely destroyed : but the Empire is
not excusable for acting with so much sconcerto. The con-LEIBNITZ TO DAVENANT.
451
tingents of the Empire ought to be devoted solely to forming
its army and furnishing it with necessaries. But important
matters are only treated en passant at Ratisbon, and the
Ministers there have either scarcely any instructions at all, or
are not sufficiently accredited; and after that it is no wonder
if they do no great things, or if their conclusions are of little
effect. There are some able men among them, but it is not
their fault if affairs are not better managed. M. the Elector
of Mayence had formerly a grand design, into which the Mar-
grave Louis of Baden had also entered, to establish a good order
in the Circles amongst themselves. But even if the conjunc-
tures had been favourable, the plan would have required more
concert with the Imperial Court and with the most powerful
members of the Empire ; and it would have been possible to
find a way to satisfy them. I saw with pain that this design
ended in smoke, merely for want of a good understanding be-
tween them. The disputes concerning the Ninth Electorate, in
which France meddled, contributed a good deal to this result.
But I do not despair of our returning some day to something
of this kind, provided always that the Emperor may find in it
also the maintenance of his authority, which is necessary in
the Empire, if exercised according to the laws; to which this
very project might have served: for it is quite true that those
Princes who govern according to law, are for the most part
those who have the greatest authority, or at all events the most
durable. This English maxim deserves to be that of all na-
tions. After having been saved by your good principles and
by your money, it is right that we should go to school to you,—
I mean you as you now are, and not as you were sixty years
ago. You have learnt to your own cost that you may push
liberty too far : hence I hope that people will be wiser now,
and will not suffer themselves to be dazzled by exaggerated
Republican principles at a moment when the fear of arbitrary
power will he diminished by the humiliation of France. The
Whigs are at this moment on good terms with the Court. We
are not sorry for it; for we seek and desire the welfare of the
nation and the agreement of parties in one same principal ob-
2 g 2452
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
ject, which will also he the security of the succession; and we
flatter ourselves that the nation also will not neglect the in-
terests and the dignity of that House, and those persons who
are among the nearest in the Protestant line. We shall see
whether the conditions of the Union will he approved in Scot-
land. The great success which God has granted to the Queen
and the Prince-Duke of Marlborough, her General, will give
great support to the plans of the Court, and it is to be hoped
that those plans will always be just.
I do not speak to you of the little quarrel between the Court
of Gottorp and the Count of Ranzau, who complains of being
dispossessed by violence; and the Imperial Court commands
that he shall be restored before everything else. Sweden hav-
ing the directory in this Circle at present has taken the bail-
lage in question into sequestration. This the Count pretends
can never take place except when the possession is in dispute:
hut it can take place also when there is metus armorum.
I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
171.] Peterborough to Admiral Wassenaer.
Campo Robles, Aug. 25tk, 1706, N.8.
Sir,
I have receiv’d- hut one Letter from the Fleet since I saw
you; (by the wise management I have always apprehended
would ruine us) the country all round were up in arms against
us, and all communication was prevented, and about two Hund
officers and soldiers murder’d in all the places of Castille wher-
ever they were found marching up to joine the Army.
Our circumstances, in a few words, are brought to this: from
being sure of the Monarchy of Spaine without a Blow, without
further Expence or hazard, it’s now, not only a doubtfull case,
but I fear worse, Our army in the midst of an Enemy’s country
(as’t has been manag’d) without Magazines, without any place
of Strength, without Bread, or a Farthing of mony, the com-PETERBOROUGH TO ADMIRAL WASSENAER. 453
munication being cut off with Portugal, the Enemy stronger
in Horse, and almost equal in Foot: we lost Madrid like Fooles,
with our Army superiour in number without a blow, and such
confusion and want of discipline was neaver known, the Troopes
subsisting upon nothing but Rapine.
These are the effects of a young Prince’s giveing ear to such
wretched Creatures, who, contrary to such solemn Councels of
War, and measures so unanimously agreed to, contrary to the
Protestations of Ambassadors and Ministers, the repeated in-
stances of Generals and all mankind, have lost, perhaps, such
an empire to their Prince, by carrying him up and downe,
selling offices, and picking up little Summs of Mony in ex-
change for Peru and Mexico.
But besides these fatal delays, when a Prince could not be
persuaded in two months time to come and take a Crowne,
the Generals of the army have, if possible, exceeded the mis-
takes of the Court. There were two ways certain to secure
the Monarchy of Spaine; one was marching forwards, and
pushing the Horse over the Hebro, before the Foot could joyne
them; the other was takeing a proper camp near Madrid,
and fortifying it, and making magazines out of the Mancha,
and those fertile places of Castille behind them abounding in
Corne.
But in stead of these they stay’d ten days at Madrid, near
thirty at Guadalaxara, and let an army steal upon them, with-
out the least notice, pass ’em by, so as to take their ovens and
provisions, and declare for K. Philip with Five Hund Horse.
When I came to the army I found them starveing, some for
fighting under the most desperate circumstances in the world,
for this only reason, that ’twas better to dye by the sword than
hunger; but I believe some were for any hazard to recover
the fatal steps they had made. I offer’d with 5000 men to
attempt what I thought would recover all, it was agree’d to by
all the Generals, but when at night I came to the King for
orders to march he told me, ‘ tomorrow;’ next night I was told
a great Councel wou’d meet in the morning, there I was in-
form’d they had not a day’s bread to give me for a march454
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
of ten leagues, and so other measures were taken to seek for
bread.
In this instant the happy Messenger came, who brought me
orders to repair to the Fleet, and take that command upon me,
towards the Execution of what I shall inform you of as soon as
I arrive, which will he with the utmost diligence.
The success I have had in takeing Cuen9a, the strongest
place by nature I ever saw, with a few troopes that were march-
ing up with Windham, the recovering all this part of Castille,
and burning the Townes where they had murder’d any men,
and pillag’d all my baggage, and this with eighty Horse, march-
ing for above a Hund miles in an enemy’s country, where thou-
sands were up in arms, seems something surprizeing; but how-
ever I have had the good fortune to escape, and am come past
danger upon the borders of Valencia.
I am glad you’ve had such good fortune at Alicant, and
that the success is owing to the extraordinary Mettle of the
seamen, who attempted a breach that was no ways practicable,
and made the soldiers asham’d not to support ’em. I hope to
see you in a little time; in the mean while, tell my Lord Durs-
ley, that Landola was as lucky a word in Castille, as the little
Whigg in Valencia; ourliveing Saints directed hs better, than
the dead ones did our monarch. I hope you did us reason.
We depend upon’t, you pledge us sometimes, when we remem-
ber them about the Toasting hours. Sir,
Your most humble and affectionate Servant,
Peterborow.
172.] Dorset to Halifax.
Hanover, Sept. 1706.
My Lord,
’Tis now something more then a week since we came hither,
and I should not have fail’d writeing to your L? sooner but
that I was willing to refer it till I could be pretty sure you
were got into England; therefore without desending to par-DORSET TO HALIFAX.
455
ticulars I shall begin with assnreing you y‘everry body enquired
verry kindly after your Lp, both old and young. Vans Barr is
in town, but to my great affliction Bell Barr went into the
Country the day before our arrival. You may depend upon all
Falliso’s letters from 'em to be entirely his own invention; and
to his greater mortification I can assure you, they neither re-
membred him nor his name, till I described him by certain
marks peculiar to himself. I can't help telling you that when
I first came hither there was an od kind of woman that was
continually with the Electress and hardly ever seen any where
but in her Closet; ’twas the business of the whole Court to find
out who she was, but the secret was so well kept that no crea-
ture could give any account of her till after she was gone, and
then it came out that she was our little Robust freinds Bas-
tard, who for haveing committed some inormities at Berlin, was
forc’d to leave y* place with an intention to go over to her fa-
ther incognito. The Ministers here look as solem as ever;
they are at present employ’d about a knotty point entirely
oweing to your Lp. The affair is briefly this, Upon the arrival
of the swords you sent to the two pages that waited upon you,
Oberg desired that a stop might be put to the delivery of them
till they had met about it; and accordingly when they were
assembled he urged that in his opinion the swords had better
be sold, and the value of them equally distributed to all the
pages; however nothing was resolv’d that day, but the Counsel
ajorn’d to the next, and then they order’d bothe the swords to
[be] laid before them, and after a considerable debate, they
deputed Baron Rupton and another to go to Mr. How and
ask him what he immagin’d to be your Lps intention; you may
be sure he was very clear in the matter, and thought the boys
had got them long before. This story he told me when I came
to town, and at that time thought the matter was quite over;
but upon enquirey it seems the Counsel is once more to meet
about it, and the poor boys are still in pain least it should go
against them: this may seem verry extraordinary even to your
Lp, that has some knowledge of ’em, but I’le assure you ’tis
true to a letter. Mr. Lumlcy and Mr. Smith both present their456
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
humble services to you, and if I can be any way serviceable to
your Lp in these parts, I hope you’l lay your commands upon
one who would be glad of any opportunity to shew with how
much sincerity he is
Your Li)s most oblydge’d humble Servant,
Dorset.
If your Lp favours me with a Letter, pray direct it to Drum-
monds in Amsterdam.
173.] Alvensleben to Leibnitz {Extract).
October 9th, 1706.
The battle between the Swedes and the Saxons has made
more noise than its real importance merited. The Diet of the
Estates in Saxony has been put off. The Ministry pretends
to the Direction, and it appears that it is flattering the Swedes
that it will facilitate the levies of money which they demand;
hut this is in effect to concur in the ruin of the country, see-
ing that the object of the said Ministry is so to regulate the
imposts as to supply at the same time the pressing need of
King Augustus, which one may call lighting the candle at
both ends at once. Mme the Electress Dowager of Saxony
and the Electoral Prince are on the point of decamping from
Magdeburg, to seek another asylum in the States of the King
of Denmark. This is quite as much for fear of the intrigues
of some of the Ministers, as for any which they have of the
Swedes; and as they complain that no one will give them a
plain answer about the protection which they have demanded
here and there, they think the best way to be in safety is to
put a rampart of some forty leagues’ breadth between them-
selves and those they have to fear. They place the most of
their hope in the Queen of England, who, as I learn, appears
favourably enough disposed towards them, by the means of
Prince George, the uncle and brother of the said illustrious
refugees.LEIBNITZ TO LORD RABY.
457
174.] Stepney to Mb. Secretary Harley {Extract).
From, the Camp at Camhran, Oct. 24th, 1706.
I can make no Judgement of the King of Sweden’s inten-
tions. The Courts of Berlin and Hannover seem satisfied
with his eating up Saxony, if his appetit goe no further; But
of that there is no other security than the good opinion they
are pleased to entertain of him, notwithstanding they know
his Ministers to he generally in the French Interest. As to
the Emperour, he apprehends the worst, but is oblig’d to dis-
semble and hide those Jealousies, least he shou’d provoke and
draw upon himself the Lyon, which is broke loose, and is at
Liberty (as the Empire is now compos’d) to devour any part
of it without Restraint; whereby the Allies may have reason
to reflect That they have been too indulgent by allowing Him
to grow too bigg for them; and I cannot think the House of
Hannover will have Interest enough to lead him home again
quietly, unless King Augustus consents to abdicate, which
proposal, you may imagine, will not be easily digested. I can
scarce believe either the Kings of Sweden or Prussia carry
their views so farr as to be Kings of the Romans. I dare
venture to assure you Hungary has been offer’d to both of
them, and is likely to fall to one of their shares, if the Impe-
riall Court does not soon change Maxims. For this suspicion
I have very good ground and authority; and therefore thought
it my Duty to warn the Emperour of the Danger at my last
Audience; which advice he accepted very graciously, and I
hope it may in time have a good effect on him, if some of his
Ministers would allow him to be a free Agent.
175.] Leibnitz to Lord Raby [Extract).
Hanover, July ls£, 1707.
My Lord,
Although I saw the three Kings in Saxony, I saw nothing
worthy of being told your Excellency, or which you do not458
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
know better already. The King of Sweden had set out to
review his troops dispersed throughout the country, and the
administrator of Holstein had run more than forty leagues
after him without being able to catch him. At the moment
when the King returned I was at Altranstadt, and I saw him
at dinner; that lasted a full half horn’, but his Majesty did not
say a single word during his dinner, and never raised his eyes
but once, when a young Prince of Wiirtemberg, seated at his
left hand, began to play with the dog, which he left off doing
the moment he caught that look. One may say that the phy-
siognomy of the King is very good, but his demeanour and
dress are those of the troopers of the old school. Having waited
above a week for his return, I could not stay any longer, al-
though hopes were held out to me that I might have an audi-
ence of his Majesty, as the young Count Platen and M. Fa-
bricius the younger, who arrived just as I was about to start,
have since had. But what should I have been able to say to
him? He does not like to hear his own praises, even when
they are just, and he does not talk of business; but he speaks
very well about military matters, as I have been assured by
M. de Schulenburg, who had an audience of nearly two hours
of him. M. the Comte de Fleming had also an audience of
him a little before my arrival at Leipzig, and remained to
dine with his Majesty, who even continued the conversa-
tion after dinner, and gave proof of his being in very good
humour by making jokes. Your Excellency will have seen
a printed account of the King’s dancing at the marriage of
one of his Generals, but I was already gone when this so-
lemnity was celebrated. I saw King Stanislaus when he was
at General Rheinschild’s; he is a good-looking Prince, and
seems very reasonable. The young Count Platen was to pay
him a compliment on the part of the Elector. I also spoke
to several considerable persons in the Chancery of the King
of Sweden, who gave me to understand that the King their
master would never consent that King Augustus should con-
tinue to take the name and arms of King of Poland, and that
the King, although, as they thought, he had great reason toBISHOP OP SPIGA TO THIS ELECTRESS SOPHIA. 459
complain of the Emperor, especially on the subject of the
Muscovites who had escaped, would probably take no notice
of it in order to show his moderation; hut nobody could get
the slightest hint, as long as I was at Leipzig, how it would
be about the retreat of the Swedes, so deeply desired as it was
by the people. People who are well-informed have assured
me that at the beginning the country might have made an
arrangement with the Swedes for three millions of crowns,
but that M. Imhof prevented this, believing that any treaty
between the Swedes and the Estates of the country would be
prejudicial to the authority of the King his master; as if there
could have been no means to find a middle way, and as if the
Ministers could not have made their treaty in a sense con-
formable to the general feeling of the Estates; however the
affair having been given over to the discretion of the Swedes,
they have got about twice as much out of it. While I was at
Leipzig, the treaty about the county of Mansfeld was settled
between the King Augustus and the Elector my master; hut
the King Augustus cedes it to the Elector, only reserving a
right to repurchase his authority.
L.
176.] Agostino, Bishop op Spiga, to the Electress
Sophia.
Dussel&orf October 22, 1707.
Madame,
As M. de Norris has given me to understand, through se-
veral of his letters, that your E. H. desired to know thoroughly
in what way the person who calls himself Toland succeeded
in getting from his E. H. my master the letter which he has
presented to you on his part; and a friend of mine, who called
upon me on other subjects, having by accident given me some
hint upon this matter, in which he himself is not a little con-
cerned, seeing that the said Toland has been recommended
to him from London, I think it my duty to tell your E. H.
the whole story, which-is pretty enough. Thus it is:—To-460
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
land went and looked out this friend of his, and told him that;
having been in England the greatest and the first promoter of
the succession, and the man who drew out the deduction of
the rights of your E. H., he had since been at the Court of
Hanover, where he had been regaled with I do not know how
many medals of high price; but that, having been extremely
well received by your E. H. (as one might well believe),
he had had long and secret conferences with your Highness,
and had taken long walks with you. This had made him a
great many enemies, as well in Hanover as in England, where
they had taken him for a Hanoverian spy, on account of his
attachment to the Serene House; so that in fact he would not
dare to return again to Hanover without some pretext; that
he should nevertheless find it extremely necessary to return
there in the interest of the Most Serene House, for which he
found himself obliged to make a tour to Hanover and Berlin,
in order to be present on the first of this month at the open-
ing of Parliament; and that the said pretext might be given
him by a letter from his E. H. to your Serene Highness,—
a letter simply of civility, and which should mean no more than
that his E. H. is well satisfied with him, and has received
good services from him. Upon this the letter was asked for,
drawn up, and sent to me to sign, as I have already written
to M. de Norris. This, Madame, is all that was wanting
to give the proper turn to the romance. If I had known it
sooner, you may be perfectly certain that I should have given
myself the pleasure to communicate it to you, for this bit of
history seems to me worthy of your S. II.’s curiosity. In
order to finish my letter with something of much more im-
portance, your E. H. will permit me to express the extreme
joy with which I have learnt the return of M. the Elector to
his capital; and the assurance that there is nothing which
equals the profound respect with which I am, Madame, etc.
etc.,
A., Bishop of Spxga.LOUISE HOLLANDINE TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA. 46]
177.] Louise Hollanbine, Abbess be Maubutsson,
TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA.
Nouemlre 14, 1707.
Ie suis persuadee, Ma cliere Sceur, que vous ne serez pas
fasche de receuoir par moy mesme des nouuelles de ma sante;
c’est pourquoy ie me fais vne ioye de vous en donner, et ie
vous en parle comme de quelque chose de bien important; il
l’est p1' le moins autant A chacune de nous comme des affaires
des autres, de quoy it nos ages on se soucie fort peu. Je me
porte pres qu’it mon ordinaire a lheure qu’il est. Je fus hier
a l’Eglise, pr y entendre vn fort bon sermon; je me douttois
qu’il seroit tel, parcque ie connois le predicateur p1' homme
raisonuable et bon chrestien, et point du tout comedien en
chaire. le reuins sans estre fatiguee, quoyque i’eusse este
leuee assez matin. Iattends le premier beau soleil p1 y aller
exposer mes membres, et me promener it laide du prochain qvi
me donne la main; en attendant je prens lair a la fenestre, et
voy arriuer de loin ceux qui viennent me faire des complimens
sur ma meilleure sante, de quoy ie suis encore plus aise qu’eux,
parceque quand on n’a point a mourir on est assez aise d’estre
hors la maladie. II y en a vne certaine de laquelle on ne
guerira point, et on ne sait jamais laquelle sera; cest pour-
quoy il faut touiours conter sur cette derniere; quand on s’est
mepris, ce sera p1’ vne autre fois. Yous auez a lhem’e quil est
vne cour chez vous, parceque ie voy dans vre lettre du 1" de
9bre Madame labbesse dont v3 me faittes la description n’a pas
grandes pratiques de couuent a garder a ce que ’ie vois, et la
croix attachee a vn cordon bleu ne lincommode gueres. Ie
suis etonnee de lopinion que tient Mr de Libnitz, que les bestes
ont vne ame immortelle; il y auroit bien des choses it repliquer
it cela, qui ie croy lembarasseroient. Le liure quil vous a prete
it lire contient des faits plus incontestables que son opinion
sur lame des bestes, quoyque ie croiye bien quelles ne sont
pas sans attention. Iobserue celle de ma chatte, qui en toutes
choses cherche sa commodite: depuis que ic ne mange plus462
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
au refectoir, elle vient sur ma table et me fait fort bien enten-
dre ce quelle veut. Les chiens de nre clos ont encore plus d’es-
prit, et je m’attens bien ;i en estre lechee a outrance si je vas les
voir tantost. Je vis il y a quelques annees un vieux linre dancien
franjois, qui contient la vie de la Princesse D’orange, nre grande
mere, qui a este vne prudentissime de son terns; il y a toute
la description des intrigues de ce terns la contre nre Maison,
que lauteur apelle des hapelourdes, ce qui ie croy veut dire
des tromperies. Il marque comme lElecteur, nre Grand Pere,
estoit vne partie de la iournee it table, et qu’on en servoit 33
par iour. Madame me fit voir ce liure, qui est it vne biblio-
theque de Paris. La gasette de Hollande marquera sans
doutte la ceremonie faitte a Yienne quand on a presente it la
Princesse Elizabeth le portrait de Monsieur l’Archiduc; il sera
luy bien content apparemment quand on luy fera voir celuy
de la Princesse, que 1’Imperatrice appelle la belle Princesse;
cest vn double bonheur que S. M. Imperiale ait du gout pour
sa future belle sceur. Quelle pitie si la pauure Mile de lasson
est deuenue ethique, ce qu’on pretend icy ne guerir iamais,
et conduire lentement et douloureusement a la mort. Yous ay
ie dit que la ueuue du due Dalbermale, qui Pa aime avec tant
de passion et qui la tant pleure, s’est remariee depuis peu, de
quoy son pere et sa mere sont fort fachez; elle a vne fille de
son premier mary, qu’clle croit Princesse.
178.] Leibnitz to Lord Raby [Extract).
Hanover, December 29, 1707.
I think that Mr. Toland will have had the honour of seeing
your Excellency, and that he will have shown you what the
Elector Palatine has given him, and what this Prince has
written in his favour to Madame the Electress of Brunswick.
This Elector had an object of his own to serve, which was to
get something published that might help to disabuse the Eng-
lish who have looked upon him as a persecutor of the Protes-
tants ; and a Minister whom he has in England thought Mr.LOUD RABY TO LEIBNITZ.
463
Toland’s pen fitted for this purpose. Mr. Toland then hav-
ing this claim upon the Prince, and having for some time past
entertained the design of making his reappearance again in
Germany, has thought this a good opportunity. He has in-
sinuated to us here that since the change of Ministry in Eng-
land he is in favour at Court, that he is employed by the
Ministers, and that he has relations with even the Duke of
Marlborough ; but as he has given us no proofs of this credit
of his, we have remained with him on the ordinary footing.
Some people believe that he is in favour with Mr. Harley, Secre-
tary of State. He showed me a letter in which he was strongly
recommended to M. Lindlo : I know that this letter came
from a M. Sanson, a Frenchman, who was formerly with Mr.
Lindlo at Berlin, and has since been with M. de Hersum, and
employed in the affair of Munster. Mr. Toland told me he
was going on the Queen’s service; that he should pass through
Berlin, and should shortly return hither.
I gave him a letter which he requested of me for the Grand
Chamberlain, in which I merely mentioned that Mr. Toland
professed now to be on good terms with his Court. I should
be inclined to believe that this personage might be employed
with advantage if he would change his tone and manners:
modesty and uprightness added to good sense are better quali-
fications for business than all the liveliness in the world which
gives itself airs of freedom. He protests to me that he has
made it up with the Theologians : all the better for him. This
is what I advised him to do the first time I saw him, on occa-
sion of my Lord Macclesfield’s embassy; perhaps he will re-
turn by way of Berlin.
179.] Lord Baby to Leibnitz {Extract).
Berlin, January 17th, 1708.
You must not look at every speech either in the Upper
or Lower House in order to judge of the feeling of the na-4G4 STATfe PAPERS AND LETTERS.
tion, because everybody makes a speech according as he has
his own affairs to settle with the Ministry ; and the true reason
that some of the Whigs spoke out at the beginning of this
session was that they were disgusted with the Queen’s deter-
mination to make some new Bishops who were not of their
party, although men of very moderate views; and so they had
threatened before the session began that if the Queen did not
retract her promise to those Bishops they would oppose all the
wishes of the Court; and especially that they would show up
the Admiralty in such a way that the Prince should be obliged
to give up his post of High Admiral. But after they saw that
the Queen would not retract, and that the Tories were ready
to fall in with the Court, and that they could make nothing
out of the complaints of the merchants, they were afraid of
putting the Queen and Ministry too much out of temper, as
these made a pretence of reconciling themselves with the
Tories. This is the reason MM. the Whigs returned to their
duty, and are ready at this moment to do everything, although
the Queen seems still disposed to moderate men. My Lord
Peterborough, they say, made a very clever speech in the Lords;
and among other things he said that he was so convinced of
the necessity of having a good army in Catalonia that he should
vote for having one there even though it were to have the
misfortune to be commanded by my Lord Galway. But you
see what pains we are taking to have Prince Eugene there;
although I doubt whether these will succeed, because the Em-
peror seems to me not to trouble himself about any other con-
quest of the French except Sicily : the rest, they reckon at
Vienna is more for our convenience than their own, their wish
being to unite their Italian possessions with their others in
Germany, which would make the House of Austria greater
than if it had Spain separately: for I do not think that the
Princes of the Empire will suffer Charles the Third, like Charles
the Fifth, to be both Emperor and King of Spain together, and
it is only too evident that Joseph will never have any children.
Mr. Toland has given himself no small airs on the strength
of your letter, for he carried it open in his hand the first timeLOUISE HOLLANDINE TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA. 465
he visited the Grand Chamberlain, and told everybody that it
was a letter from Madame the Electress. He would have been
glad to have persuaded them here also that he was employed
by the English Ministry. But I have put a stop to all that,
and Mr. Harley himself has written to me that so far from
having any commission from him, he made difficulties in giving
him a passport to leave England, not knowing what business
he could possibly have abroad; that it is true that for some
time he suffered him in his company, as a man reputed to have
a good deal of reading, but that he was very far from ever having
had any friendship for or confidence in him. I asked the man to
dine with me in order to hear him talk, never having seen him
before and having heard that he had a great deal of talent;
but I found the devil was not so black as he was painted. He
made the same use of Sanson’s letter to Lindlo that he did of
yours; for he told everybody that it was a letter from M.
Hersum himself, with whom he pretends to be on terms of
great familiarity and friendship. I should have taken much
more interest in this man if he had not been so much given to
lying, for he told me things which I myself happened to know
quite otherwise. He presented me his book in justification of
the Elector Palatine, which is false with respect to many facts
of sufficient notoriety; but as it was for the English he thought
there would be no one capable of contradicting him. I believe
that he will return this way, and that they will make him
some present or other, because formerly he wrote a book in
which he said a good deal in praise of the King. This book
was translated, and he has promised to write another which
shall be better. I believe he is just now at Vienna, but he
does not go to our Envoy's there; for the Chevalier writes to
me that he is there, but that he has not seen him yet.
180.] Louise Hollandine, Abbess of Maubuisson,
to the Electkess Sophia (Extract).
Le 8me de Mars, 1708.
[After describing her ailments, etc., she continues:] Cela
2 II466
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
n’cst gueres poly de vous prendre pour un medecin, et de vous
parler medicine, mais vs n’en serez pas scandalisee, pareeque
Dieu ns. a appris qu’il a etably la nature humaine auec tous
ces assujettissemens. II y a icy vn grand euenement: le Roy
D’angleterre partit liier pour Dunkerque, et delk descendre en
Escosse, S’il plait a Dieu, comme dit L’apostre Sl Jaques, car
e’est lk ou ce cSil plait Dieu’ est bien necessaire. Toujours
sera-t-il vray que ce jeune Prince aura par dcuers luy la ioye de
lesperance et celle dun voyage agreable; k son age florissant,
beau, bien fait, aimable et dvne humeur a souliait, il ne luy
manque qu’unc meilleure situation, et cest qui depend de la pro-
vidence. Si elle destine le Mareschal de Barwick aux mesmes
succez que le General Monk, cela sera glorieux pour luy.
II ny a plus quasi que vous et moy, cliere soour, qui sommes
bonnes k parler de ces histoires la, car ns les auons vues, et
les jeunes gens qui ne les out fait que lire nous prennent aussy
pour des chroniques. Je plains cependantles inquietudes que
va auoir la pauure Reine, qui va se renfermer k prier Dieu.
I’ay enuoye auiourdhuy luy faire mon compliment, mais vous
saurez toutes ces nouuelles-lk meiux que nous. Si on alloit de
plein pied ou on assure, le cas seroit bien different; mais la
jeunesse et la sante sont des biens pour ce monde cy, qui de-
dommagent des autres. Madame vous aura fait donner soi-
gneusement de ses nouuelles, sans doutte; les miennes sont
comme k mon age apartient. J’ay besoin de la ioye de re-
ceuoir des votres, et je vous les demande k vre premier loisir.
181.] Lord Raby to Leibnitz [Extract).
Berlin, [April ?] 24th, 1708.
As to what you write to me of Toland, I admire bis assu-
rance, but certainly he has more impudence than all his coun-
trymen put together; and I could not refrain from letting
Chevalier Meadows know what Toland has been boasting of
his confidential correspondence with him, but without telling
him from whom I had my information; and as soon as heLEIBNITZ TO TOLAND.
467
sends me an answer I will not fail to send it to you, if it is
worth the trouble. It is quite certain that, when he returned
from Vienna, he had no terms of abuse strong enough for the
Chevalier; but finding that was not to my taste, he changed
his tone; and having left this place on bad terms with me, he
has thought it necessary to talk of his confidential intercourse
with at least some of the Queen’s Ministers, and I believe
that Mr. Howe has always avoided him.
182.] Leibnitz to Toland.
Hanover, April 30th, 1709.
On my return I received the present of your book, together
with the honour of your letter, and I thank you for it. My
absence has been a long one, otherwise I would have answered
you sooner. There are some good remarks in all your works,
and I can readily believe with you that Livy was nothing less
than superstitious. M. Huet, in applying the fables of the
Pagans to Moses, was more anxious to show his erudition
than his accuracy, of which nevertheless he has given good
evidence on other occasions and his book upon the ‘ Demon-
stration Evangelique’ does not fail to be very instructive, al-
though he runs riot in it in his showing up of mythologies.
You are quite right to give great praise to Herodotus. Strabo
is a grave author; but when he speaks of Moses, he appears
to study the actions and opinions of that legislator accord-
ing to the chimerical prejudices of the Greeks. Apparently
he had only confused notions on the subject, and he is ma-
nifestly mistaken in believing that the Temple of Jerusalem
was the work of Moses, that the neighbours of the Hebrews
had customs similar to theirs, and that circumcision and the
prohibition of certain meats among the Jews was posterior to
Moses. I do not know also if you have found, Sir, in the
language of the Copts or Egyptians, that it does agree with
that of the Phoenicians and Arabs, as you say at page 145.
The late M. Acoluthus of Breslau thought that it agreed with
2 h 2468
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
that of the Armenians, hut his proofs never satisfied me; it
is a language very different from any other that we know.
As for the object you propose to yourself, I grant that we
cannot crush superstition enough, provided at the same time
that we supply the means of distinguishing it from true reli-
gion ; otherwise we run the risk of involving the one in the ruin
of the other, in the eyes of men who rush easily into extreme
opinions, as we have seen it happen in France, where bigotry
has made devotion itself an object of suspicion: for a verbal
distinction is not enough. Hence I hope that you will be
inclined to clear up the truth as earnestly as you have laboured
to destroy the false.
You frequently refer, Sir, to the opinion of those who think
that there is no other God or Eternal Being than the world
itself,—that is to say, matter and its connection (as you ex-
plain it at p. 75), without the necessity that this Eternal Being
should be intelligent (p. 156); a sentiment which, according
to you, Strabo attributes to Moses, and which you yourself
attribute to the philosophers of the East, and particularly to
those of China (p. 118) ; and you even go so far as to say
(p. 115) that we may apply to it (hut only equivocally) the
perfect Being, the Alpha and Omega, that which has been, is,
and is to be, that which is all in all, in which we are and
move and have our being,—all formularies found in the Scrip-
tures. But as this opinion, which you yourself profess to re-
ject, is as pernicious as it is unfounded, it would have been to
be wished. Sir, that you had not repeated it without a suitable
refutation of it, which perhaps you mean to give us on some
other occasion; however it would always be better not to
administer the antidote too long after the poison. And to
tell the truth, it does not appear that the greater number of
those among the ancients and moderns who have spoken of
the world as God, have believed this God destitute of know-
ledge. You know that Anaxagoras united intelligence with
matter. The Platonists conceived a soul of the world, and it
appears that the doctrine of the Stoics came to the same point;
so that, according to them, the world was a kind of animal orLEIBNITZ TO TOLAND.
469
living being, tlie most perfect possible, and of which all indi-
vidual bodies could only be looked upon as the limbs. Strabo
also understands the case thus in the passage which you quote.
The Chinese themselves, and other Orientals, conceive certain
spirits of heaven and earth; and it is possible that there may
be some even among ourselves who conceive a Supreme Spirit
of the universe; so that the difference between all these philo-
sophers (particularly the ancients) and the true theology would
consist in this, that according to us and the truth, God is above
the corporeal universe, and is both its maker and its master,
Intelligentia supramundana; while the God of these philoso-
phers is only the soul of the world, or even the animal which
results from it; however their whole, irav, was not without
intelligence, any more than our Supreme Being. Mme the
Electress is accustomed to quote and praise particularly that
passage of Scripture that demands whether it is consistent
with reason that the author of the eye should not see, and the
author of the ear should not hear (Psalm xciv. 9) ; that is to
say, that there should be no knowledge in the first Being, from
whom all others derive their knowledge. And, strictly speak-
ing, if there is no universal intelligence in the world, we can-
not conceive it as a substance truly one; it would be nothing
but an aggregate, an assemblage, as a flock of sheep might be,
or a pond full of fish. Hence, to make of it an eternal sub-
stance, deserving of the name of God, would be a mere play
upon words, and a clothing of nothing in fine expressions. The
error vanishes as soon as we give proper consideration to the
results (too much neglected) of the great principle, that there
is nothing for which there is not a reason, which determines
why it is as it is, and not otherwise than it is; which compels
us to pass beyond all that is material, because the reasons of
the determinations cannot be found therein.
The two works, one in Latin and the other in Italian, which
Giordano Bruno published on the Universe and the Infinite,
and which I read long ago, show that this author did not
want penetration; but unhappily he went beyond the just
limits of reason. He dabbled also in the chimeras of Ray-470
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
mond Lully’s art. I have never read his ‘ Spaccio della Bes-
tia TrionfanteI rather think that some one spoke to me
about it in France, but I cannot be sure, it is too long ago.
Ought not one to write Specchio instead of Spaccio ? M. de
la Croze tells me that you have shown him this book. M.
the Electress, thank God, is still well; she has just lost her
sister, the Abbess of Maubuisson, who was much older than
herself, and who retained her health up to her last year. I
believe that M. the Electoral Prince will be present again at
the next campaign. I am, with zeal, Sir, your very humble
and obedient servant,
Leibnitz.*
183.] Leibnitz to Lord Raby.
1710.
[After stating that he had been engaged in an unsuccessful
attempt to secure the books and manuscripts of the deceased
Marquard Gudius, for the Library of the Duke of Wolfenbiittel,
he goes on to say:] Ces Manuscrits ont ete offerts aussi au
Roy de Dannemarc, maitre du feu collecteur; mais ce prince
-a besoin de faire faire grand nombre de selles, pour remonter
la cavallerie revenue de Scanie, et meme les selliers de Brons-
vic, loues par ceux de Hambourg, luy en fournissent. II y a
de l’apparence qu’il reussira enfin it reprendre la Scanie,
parce que les Suedois seront obliges, ce semble, de tourner tous
leurs efforts du coste de la Finlande, dont la perte leur doit
estre bien plus sensible. Elle fait une bonne partie de leur
anciennes forces, et un ennemi, qui la possede, peut penetrer
aisement dans les visceres du Royaume de Suede; car le trajet
de la mer est petit, et en hyver on y peut passer souvent sur
* The' book referred to in this letter was Toland’s ‘ Adeisidsemon,
sive Titus Livius a Superstitione vindicatus,’ which appeared at the
Hague in 1709. This grave letter of Leibnitz is a very serious rebuke
to any expectation Toland may have had of establishing an influence
with the Electress in favour of his infidel views.LEIBNITZ TO LORD 11ABY.
471
la glace. Outre que Stockholm tire de la Finlande une bonne
partie de sa provision. La Finlande d’ailleurs est fort detachable
dc la Suede par deux grandesraisons: Fune, que lamer lesse-
pare; 1’autre, que la langue des Finnoniens est aussi differente
dc la Suedoise, que la langue Suedoise est differente de celle des
Russes. La Finnonieime est toute particuliere, et il n’y a que
la Flongroise, de toutes celles de l’Europe, qui en approclie:
an lieu que la Russienne, ou Moscovite, convient avec la Polon-
noise ou Bohemienne, comme la Suedoise, dans le fond, n’est
qu’un dialecte de la langue Allemande; plus aise a entendre
il nos gens, que le vieux Allemand lie l’est aux Allemands mo-
dernes. En disant cela je fachois votre Monsieur Leyenstat,
que j’apprends avoir quitte la Cour de Berlin. Notre Mon-
sieur Frisendorf va partir aussi, et il a dejit pris conge a Wol-
fenhutel, ou il avoit a negotier avec le due Antoine, a Fegard
des affaires du Cercle de la Basse Saxe, dont ce prince est un
des directeurs. M. Frisendorf est un peu allarme du traite
qu’on a fait a Hanover avec le Czar et avec le Roy de Danne-
marc. Mais ces traites n’ont pour objet que ce qui a este
regie a Ratisbonne et a la Haye, sur la neutralite des provinces
Allemandes des Suedois, et tend au bien meme de la Suede;
a laquelle il semble que tous les Allies voudroient conserver
ces provinces, puisque le Roy de Prusse meme, porte par des
sentimens de droiture, n’a pas fait la moindre demarche qui
marque Fenvie que feu FElecteur, son pere, auoit, de posseder
la Pomeranie entiere; mais que le Roy de Suede, s’il est obei,
renversera peut-etre toutes ces mesures, et forcera le Roy de
Prusse, malgre luy pour ainsi dire, a reprendre la partie de
Pomeranie qui luy manque. Car on pourroit venir a une rup-
ture, en cas que le corps de Crassau voulut repasser par les
pays Brandebourgeois, pour rentrer en Pologne. Il semble,
selon l’equite naturelle, que les Allies, ne voulant pas souffrir
le retour des troupes de Crassau en Pologne, au moins par
terre, parce que cela pourroit attirer les Moscovites et les
Polonnois dans FEmpire, devroient leur facilitcr le moyen de
repasser en Suede. Car je doute que les Suedois vcuillcnt
s’en defaire tout de bon, u’ayant que trop besoiu de soldats,472
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
dans l’etat dangereux ou ils se trouvent. Quoyqu’il court un
bruit que les Turcs soyent disposes & rompre avec les Musco-
vites, il semble qu’il n’est pas asses fonde; et M. Fabrice, gen-
tilhomme envoye de l’Administratcur de Holstein-Gottorp,
ecrivant de Bender it son pere, qui est un des Ministres d’etat
de l’Electeur de Bronsvic, ne marque pas cela. Mais il paroist
que les Turcs sont disposes il favoriser le Roy de Suede indirecte-
ment; car il leur importe beaucoup sans doute, que ce Prince
puisse remonter sur sa bete, et donner des affaires au Czar.
Et la France travaille sans doute il la Porte, pour faire valoir
ces considerations. On croit que ces brouilleries du Nord, et
l’esperance que la France en a congue, a contribue & la rupture
du traite de Gertruydenberg. J’espere que cette couronne se
trompera, et qu’elle se sera flatte aussi en batissant des grandes
esperances sur les animosites qu’on remarque dans votre grande
et belle isle. Je suis persuade que ce n’est pas pour l’amour des
beaux yeux de Madame l’Eglise Anglicane, ny par les charmes
de la Presbyterienne, sa sceur cadette, que tout ce remue-me-
nage se fait. Le parti qui est le plus favorise de la Cour, ordi-
nairement ne garde point de mesures avec les autres, et veut
avoir toutes les charges et toutes les graces pour les siens.
Mais par lit il se charge de la haine publique, qui oblige enfin
la Cour meme de l’abandonner; laquelle d’ailleurs peut avoir
ses raisons pour favoriser ce changement. Dieu nous garde
seulement de ceux qui sont dans les extremites des deux partis,
et qui ont veritablement les sentimens dont l’un parti est
charge par 1’autre, c’est-il-dire des Jacobites et des Republi-
cains; dont les premiers seroient fort il craindre si la Maison
de Bourbon se reconcilioit avec la fortune; et les autres se-
roient aussi fort dangereux, si la France etoit mise tout il fait
hors de consideration. Car si Messieurs les Republicans
n’avoient rien it apprehender de dehors, et se pouuoient verita-
blement considerei
“ Ut penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos,”
peut-etre ne chercheroient-ils point de Roy hors de leur pays,
et peut-etre meme en voudroicnt-ils un qui n’en fut que l’ombre,LEIBNITZ TO LORD RABY.
473
ou se mettroient tout it fait en Republiquc, pour practiquer
1’Oceana de Harrington. J’applaudirois k l’etablissement des
Republiques, s’il y avoit moyen de rendre les hommes sages et
vertueux ; car au defaut de cela, il faudroit les rendre stupides,
pour leur oster 1’esprit de discorde. Mais il est tres difficile
qu’un grand Etat, rempli de peuples aussi spirituels que ceux
de votre isle, et aussi a leur aise, puisse passer du gouverne-
nient d’utt Roy a celuy d’une Republique, sans un bouleverse-
ment, et qu’il s’y puisse maintenir. Les Republiques qui
se forment insensiblement, sont les plus durables; ou ne sau-
roit mieux juger de tout cela que V. E. le fait; et vous aves
raison de dire, My Lord, que la presente constitution de vostre
gouvernement est la meilleure de l’Europe. Yotre Atalantis
paroist asses jolie ; mais je crois qu’elle outre un peu les clioses,
et blame trop certaines personnes, comme font toutes les pieces
satyriques. Je prends grande part a la joye de votre Cour au
sujet de la naissance d’un nouveau Prince d’Orange. Je suis
aussi bien aise d’apprendre que M. le Grand Chambellan* est
* Le Grand Chambellan, M. le Comte de Wartenberg, was at this
time what we may call Prime Minister in Prussia. Unhappily he was
ruled absolutely by his Countess, a person of low extraction and profli-
gate disposition, who not only betrayed him into many mistakes, but
so exasperated the Court of Berlin by her haughtiness and avarice, that
she in 1711 caused the ruin of her husband. For a long while she was
the reputed Mistress of the King of Prussia; but those most nearly
concerned in the affair, were assured that there was nothing of the sort
between them ; and that the pretended connection was the result of
nothing but the King’s shame at being out of the fashion, and wish to
have a mistress,—at that time an indispensable piece of palace furniture.
Nevertheless for some time she exercised influence over the King, and
particularly over all public affairs that were in her husband’s hands.
Even the Electress Sophia, mother of the Queen of Prussia, Sophia
Charlotte, thought fit to pay court to the all-powerful Countess, and in-
vited her to the Court of Hanover, a favour that appears to have over-
whelmed the Great Chamberlain with gratitude and delight (see Feder,
Sophie, p. 52, seq.). There is very little doubt that Madame de Warten-
berg intrigued with Lord Raby, during his embassy at Berlin. In a
letter to Leibnitz, Oct. 6, 1704, the Electress says : “J’auoue aisement
que Mylord Baby n’a pas la meme politesae que Mylord Due de Marl-
borough : mais, comme il est de mes amis, je luy passe bien des petits74
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
ans un etat qui fait esperer qu’il sera bientot entierement
3mis. Dieu preserve les pays de Brandebourg de la peste qui
:s menace! J’espere que ce qu’il y a ti Brentzlau ne sera que
evres malignes; mais la frayeur asses souvent les fait tourner
n peste. II seroit difficile d’empecber ce mat de passer I’El be,
il prenoit une fois le dessus dans vos quartiers. Si la famine
pense miner la France, la peste la pourroit sauver. Mais il
rat esperer que Dieu ne luy fera point ce plaisir, funeste aux
utres. La bataille donnee pres de la Segra auroit des grandes
uites en Espagne, si les circonstances etoient a la lettre comme
n les debite icy. Nous sjaurons bientot ce qui en est. Si
3 Roy Charles avoit it present dix mille hommes de plus, il
emble que l’affaire seroit faite. Mais la Grande-Bretagne et
efauts, qu’il a peut-6tre pris par la sympathie d’une, qui par sa nais-
mee n’eu sauroit trop auoir. Au moins suis-je fort persuadee que le
lari de celle-ci fera toujours tout ee qu’il pourra, pour meriter les bonnes
races de la Seine ” (Feder, Sophie, p. 251). Pollnitz however is, not
nly perfectly aware of this intrigue, but tells a story about it, which
i not the less amusing for being scandalous. According to him, the
Jountess had a mind to try whether Frederick Augustus really deserved
is European reputation. He had visited Berlin with the King of Den-
lark, in hopes of forming an alliance with the King of Prussia, by means
f which he might recover his throne in Poland, Charles XII. of Sweden
eing already inyolved in the misfortunes of his Russian invasion. The
lountess seized the opportunity to make him the most violent advances,
rhich he neglected, and treated with contempt. But being convinced
hat his wishes for the Prussian alliance could only be obtained through
Vartenberg’s influence, and this through the favour of the Countess,
e resolved to visit her: how she received him and in what nfyligS,
ow she tempted, and even endeavoured to force him, is described by
’ollnitz ; and how he was saved by the opportune appearance of Baby,
diom the servants had not imagined to be included in the general order
f ‘ Not at home to anybody.’ “ Entrez, entrez, entrez, Milord,” cried
he King, “vous n’etes pas de trop!” The Countess, furious at the
dventure, used all her influence to prevent the proposed alliance, which
he battle of Pultava rendered unnecessary to the King of Poland (Ga-
mte Sachsen, pp. 230-233). After the fall of the Wartenbergs, she
etired to Paris, where, according to Madame, she lived a vicious and
isreputable life. See her letters to the Raugr. Louise, 18tli July, 1715,
th August, 1715 (Bibl. Stuttg., vi. 212, 213. 216).LORD RABY TO LEIBNITZ.
475
la Hollande ont raison de s’attacher au gros de l’arbre, voyant,
s’ils pouuoient percer dans la Prance, l’Espagne s’en ressen-
tiroit par sympathie. Je souhaiterois au Roy Charles, a pre-
sent, une partie des trouppes, qui n’ont rien fait, et ne feront
rien en Piemont. J’avois espere cet este l’honneur de faire
la reverence it V. E., mais des empechements l’ont defendu.
Peut-etre serois-je plus heureux l’annee qui vient. Estant
entierement, My Lord, de V. E. etc. etc.,
L.
184.] Lord Raby to Leibnitz.
Berlin, Fevr ye VJth, 1711.
Monsieur,
J’ai manque extreemement en n’ayant pas plutot repondre
;\ vos deux tres agreables et tres obligantes lettres; mais vous
saves en partie ce que m’ait empeche, par les changemens fait
it cette cour, ou j’ai perdu assurement un bon ami; et sans
faire tort aux autres, on peut dire que le plus honnet homme
de la cour est parti, dans la personne du Grand Chambellan.
Apres ce que j’ai vu en luy, et particulierement en ce qui
estoit fait contre le Comte de Witgensteine, sans le permettre
de repondre pour luy meme,* vous ne seres pas surpris si je
vous dis, que je rens grace it Dieu que je suis Anglois, et que
je crie “ Yive liberty and property !” Alors on sait ce qu’on
a, et ce qu’on doit faire, pour conserver pour vous et vos heri-
tiers, le bien que vous possedees. Depuis cette affaire j’ai pense
a moimeme, que s’il estoit possible de depouiller un Roy de
passion, et de le prier de raisonner meurement, il ne seroit pas
difficile de luy prouver, que c’est pour son bien qu’on le lie
les mains par des restrictions et bonnes loix; parce que c’est
impossible, enfermes comme sont les plus part des Roys, qu’ils
pouvent savoir le fonde d’une affaire, ou du caractere d’un
homme; or, comme il y a des charges it gagner, il y aura tou-
jours des gens qui les chercheroient, et les gens les plus in-
dustrieux sont ordinairement ceux qui sont le plus grand fiirbs
* Wittgenstein was sent to Spandau, and Wartenberg banished.476
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
et fripons: ce sont ceux la qui tache le plus de s’insinuer
aupres du maitre: ils etude avec soin, ce qui luy plait; on
etude ses passions et inclinations: ses gens laissent aller tout
autre chose, et ne visent qu’it ce seul but: de sorte que c’est
impossible que quasi le plus sage Roy du monde les echappe;
et d’abord qu’un de ceux la gagne le faveur du Maitre, il im-
pose sur luy, tout ce qu’il veut: et un bon Roy, croyant faire
des juste et bonnes choses, peut faire les plus mechantes et plus
injustes choses du monde. Or quand un bon Roy vient it re-
connoitre celit, ne criera-t-il pas, ‘ On m’a trompe: d’ou vient
qu’on ne m’avoit pas dit, que j’allai faire des injustices?’ et
alors ce bon Roy repentiroit jusqu’it sa mort une violence ou
une injustice qu’il ait commi inocentement. Or done, si on
disoit alors a un tel Roy: ‘ Sire, pourquoi voudries vous etre
le juge, sans entendre la cause? pourquoi voudries vous punir
un homme, sans 1’avoir examine au fond ?’ il vous repondroit,
‘ J’aurois trop it faire, d’examiner chaque chose moi meme,
ainsi il faut que je laisse l’examin a mes ministres.’ On pour-
roit luy repondre: due ses ministres sont balances, ou par des
passions, ou par d’interet, ou par de Haine, ou, le plus sou-
vent, par une negligence; il prend la chose d’un autre, qui a
interet de faire une insinuation contre celuy qui doit etre
condamne; et comme cela un bon Roy peut faire suffrer un
bonnet homme, sans pourtant que ce bon Roy en estoit cause.
Mais quand on diroit: ‘ Sire, fait faire des loix, et que chaque
homme seroit juge par des juges impartiel, et que son affaire
seroit jugee au fond; alors vous etes sur de ne jamais con-
damner un innocent, et votre conscience seroit toujours tran-
quille; et qu’est ce que c’est que vous perdries par ceci ? settle-
ment le pouvoir de faire du mal. Et pourquoi voudries vous
faire du mal it des honnet gens?—car les loix puniront les
mechants:—faut il qu’un Roy ne se croit pas Roy, si il ne
peut pas etre injuste, quand il veut? Parcequ’un Roy qui
est limite, comme sont les notres en Angleterre, peut faire
tout sort de bien, toute sorte de grace, meme pardonner le
plus grand scellerat de la terre: il est seulement empeche par
des faux raports de faire du mal. Il me semble que tousSCHTJLENBURG TO LEIBNITZ.
477
princes qui considere cette affaire, qui considere que rien ne
sauroit, ni dans ce monde ci, ni dans celuy it venir, excuser la
mort d’un inoccnt; et pourquoi ne voudroit on 1’avoir, hors de
leur pouvoir de le faire? il me semble qui c’est plutot une
chose a souhaiter par un Prince, que de luy deplaire. Et
pourtant nous pourons raisonner jusqu’it demain, sans con-
vaincre aucun Roy au monde. Et ceci seroit plus raisonnable
que comme Mr de Lintelo, l’Envoye d’Hollande, qui disputoit
it la table avec le Roy, qu’une Republique estoit un gouverne-
ment bien meilleure qu’une Monarchic.
Qu’cn dites vous de la situation presente des affaires d’Eu-
rope ? On nous crie pour les troupes de la nutralite, et nous
sommes de si bons gens, que nous voudrions donner celles
meme du Roy Auguste, pour garder une nutralite, ou il est
luy meme un des Principaux, contre qui cete nutralite fut
fait; et il n’est pas it doubter qu’il n’agisse avec impartiality,
particulierement quand un point doit estre decide entre luy
meme et les Suedois. Je voudrois bien savoir le sentiment de
votre cour la dessus. Je viens d’avoir Phonneur que Mons1'
Du Chat m’a dedie Rablais, avec des notes : si son ouvrage a
votre approbation, il seroit d’autant plus agreable a, Monsieur,
Yotre tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur,
Raby.
185.] ScHULENBURG TO LEIBNITZ.
A la Haye, ce 4me Avril, 1711.
Monsieur,
Apres tant de temp sans avoir eu de vos lettres et de vos
nouvelles, il sera permis de vous demander Petat ou vous vous
trouvez, et de vous mander ce que je viens de faire. Mon
frere Auguste ete fort chagrine des ennemis que nous avons
l’un et 1’autre a la Com’ du Roy de Pologne, et que j’eus
Pannee passee mon pacquet aussi; je resolus des alors de sortir
de cette mer orageuse it quel prix que ce fut; depuis cela
Flemming a eu le commandement des Troupes, qui m’avoit
ete promis si souvent. J’ai done fait sonder Flemming et478
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Wackerbart lk dcssus, leur faisant comprendre qu’il y alloit
de leurs interest de me faire avoir ma dimission : ensuite jJa.i
presse le Roy a me satisfaire, ou de permettre que je me retire
hors de son service; ce que je viens d’obtenir, et meme d’unc
maniere que j’ai lieu d’etre satisfait. On ne sfait quelques
fois pas a quoy il est bon d’avoir des envieux et des ennemis :
bref, on me paye tous mes arrerages, mes appointemens, et
emoluments, jusqu’au premier de Maye, et ~ ecus outre cela,
de presant; et [me] voila libre comme un oiseau dans l’air.
J’en suis plus resjouis et plus contant, que de tout ce qui me
pouvoit arriver; car de me voir hors de cet embarras, de
bonne grace, et de bonne maniere, en verite je ne le compte
pas pour peu de chose. Je me serois retire deja il y a six mois,
mais Milord Due, le Conseiller Pensionaire et le Prince Eu-
gene m’en ont cmpeche, et les deux premiers m’ont gronde
beaucoup du pas que je viens de faire : on voudroit meme me
racrocher, mais j’en ai, en verite, peu d’envie. Quand on sort
sauf et seint avec honneur et reputation, de ce metier, que
doit on chercher d’avantage? On n’acquerera jamais ni Roy-
aume ni province; faut-il done toute sa vie etre folcelie(?).
Je prevois de terrible nouages qui environne la Saxe et la
Pologne. Le Roy de Suede est plus a craindre que l’on ne
croid : j’admire ce Prince aussi souvant que je songe a luy : il
a des sentiments audessus du commun, tient sa vie pour rien :
avouez que cela est de quoy faire un grand et tres dangereux
homme.
Les affaires des Allies sont fort embrouillees, et Milord Due
tres ambarasse. Si les ennemis sont sages, et qu’ils se tiennent
sur leur garde, en se conservant en etat de s’opposer aux pro-
gres, ou en serons nous? et n’a-t-il pas de l’apparence que
leurs affaires se feront d’elles mesmes ?
Je vous diray dans la suite ce que je vais devenir; peutetre
auray je bientost l’avantage de vous embrasser. Je suis en
attendant, plus que personne, Monsieur,
Yotre tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur,
ScHOULEMBOURG.BOTHMER TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIA.
479
186.] Baron de Bothmer to the Electress Sophia.
A Londres, ce Avril, 1711.
Madame,
.Pay eu l’honneur de reeevoir les lettres que Yostre Altessc
Electorale m’a fait la grace de m’ecrire le 7 et 10me de ce mois.
•Pay voulu rendre moy meme au Dr. Hutton celle qui y estoit
enfermee pour luy. Nous nous sommes manque reciproque-
ment, en nous cberchant l’un l’autre ; jay laisse cependant la
lettre entre les mains d’un de ses gens. Je luy.suis fort oblige
de la bonne idee qu’il donne it Y. A. E. de moy; la bonte
qu’Elle a de donner son approbation it ma conduite, m’anime
pour en meriter la continuation. On ne peut pas mieux re-
pondre que V. A. E. fait aux desirs qu’il luy a marque pour
la voir icy; plusieurs autres sont pour leur partieuiller de son
sentiment, mais cela ne suffit pas, il faudroit que la Reinc elle
meme jugat la presence de V. A. E. necessaire, et qu’Elle l’in-
vitat de venir, et que son eutretien fut regie par la nation.
S. M. n’est pas sortie de sa chambre depuis ce qui est arrive
avec Guiscar, ay ant eu tantot la fievre et tantost la goutte.
Elle se porte asses bien a cettc heure, on croit qu’elle sortira
bientost. Mr. Harlay se tient aussi au logis encor sans voir
le monde; on dit que c’est par precaution, et qu’il est autant que
gueri; aussi tost que je pourray luy parler je luy feray le com-
pliment que V. A. E. m’a ordonnee pour luy. Je suis bien
aise qu’Elle entre dans les raisons que je luy ay rapporte contre
le voyage de Mme Chevan. Un Seigneur du Conseil it qui j’en
parlois en confidence, me disoit, que les eaux de Bourbon luy
conviendroient mieux, it son avis, que celles de Bath. On vou-
droient eloigner les Catoliques de Londres; cela ne paroist pas
practicable, on les a conte it cette occasion, et on a trouue i
personnes de cette Religion dans cette Yille. On a resolu de
l’enrichir encor de 50 eglises, pour ceux de la Religion Angli-
cane; il y en a desja un tres grand nornbre, mais elles sont
touttes basses et petites, comme des eglises de village, excepte
celles de St. Pauls et de Westminster. Les ecclesiastiques au-
roient en meme temps grand besoin d’une reforme, mais per-480
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
sonne veut toucher icy ft une corde si delicate; ils se melent tous
de politique, c’est la morale qu’ils traiteut dans leur sermon. On
Pabolira d’autant moins que les deux partis croyent trouuer
tour it tour leur conte dans cette metode. Elle est plus pardon-
nable it un ecclesiastique comme PEveque de Bristol, qui a
passe une grande partie de sa vie dans les affaires ; pour tirer
V. A. E. aussi bien que la Reine meme du doute qu’Elies ont
fait paroistre it sa promotion, s’il scait precher encor, il a fait
depuis peu un sermon, et Pa fait imprimer, dont il m’a donne
un Exemplaire pour V. A. E., que j’ay envoye it M. Robetbon
h la Haye, pour le luy faire tenir; s’il n’en trouue pas Poccasion
plustost, il pourra se servir de celle de Mr Witworth, qui part
aujourdhuuy d’icy pour la Haye, et ira ensuite par Hannover,
Berlin, et Dresden, it la cour du Zaar, avec le caractere d’Am-
bassadeur de la Reine; c’est un fort job homme par son esprit
et par ses manieres; il s’arrestera quelques jours it la Haye.
Je serois fort aise que les Souhaits de MUe de Bahr fussent
accompbs. Mr le Br. de Gortz m’a addresse une lettre pour
Mr Pulteney, sans me dire que c’est d’elle; je la luy ay fait
rendre et me suis offert pour faire tenir sa reponse; l’absence,
dit on, est le pire de tous les maux d’amour. Je ne savois rien
de cette affaire, et ne connois pas l’amant encor. Mr Kreien-
berg m’a dit que la somme que Y. A. E. a de bon it cette heure
aupres de luy, ne suffit pas pour un seul billet de la nouuelle
lotterie, qui content 100 li. St. la piesse; je crois qu’il vaudra
mieux garder icy cet argent, jusqu’it ce que la somme deviendra
plus grande, n’y ayant qu’environ que 25 piesses de reste, it ce
que Mr Kreienberg me dit. J’espere que nous apprendrons
bientot des heureuses nouvelles de Mme la Princesse Electorale;
Dieu luy conserve les enfants qu’il luy a donne et en augmente
heureusement le nombre! Je suis avec toute la veneration
possible, Madame,
De vostre Altesse Electorale
Le tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur,
Bothmer.
P S.—Puisque V. A. E. me fait l’honneur de me demauderLEIBNITZ TO THE COUNTESS YON KLENK. 481
mon avis sur son argent mis dans la Lotterie de l’annee passe,
je joins icy un plan comment elle pourroit le changer et le
mettre dans la nouvelle qui se fera. Elle verra par ce plan, ce
qu’il y anroit fl gagner d'une maniere et de 1’autre. Si Elle
goutte ce changement, ses ordres seront necessaires la desus
sans aucun delais, puisque cette nouvelle Lotterie se formera
incessament. Si elle ne goutte pas ce changement, ou si ses
ordres viennent trop tard, elle pourroit employer le revenu de
cette annee pour achepter des billets blancs de la merne Lot-
terie de Panne passe, pour en augmenter icy son revenu, puis-
qu’on peut les avoir a un prix, comme elle verra par mon plan,
cy joint, qu’ils rapportent dix pour cent, pendant 32 ans, au
bout des quels le capital est perdu et les interests finissent.
187.] Leibnitz to the Countess von Klenk.
Extract eines Schreibens des Herren Hertzogs zu Sachsen-
Zeitz, Durchl.
“ Von 23 May, 1713.
“In Leipzig babe ich eine Raritat gesehen, nehmlichen
einen rechten lebendigen natiirlichen Hund, so reden konnen,
zum wenigsten mehr als 50 Worte, so er seinem Lehrmeister
recht h propos geantwortet, und das A, B, C, biss auf M, N, X,
ausgesprochen. Ich habe ihn Zweymahl in Gegenwarth vieler
Personen observirt. Diess ist, deiicht mich, doch was neiies,
welches ich zum wenigsten nicht gesehen nocht gehort.”
Vienne, le 30 de May, 1713.
Mademoiselle,
Je suis bien f&che de ne pouvoir jouir de Pavantage que M.
lc Comte Jorger m’offre de faire ma cour it Ebersdorf en sa
compagnie, et de vous faire la reverence particulierement. Je
suis engage dans une occupation dont je ne saurois me dis-
penser aujourdhuy. Cependant je vous communique une nou-
velle philosophique, qui est que les chiens commencent dejft
2 i482
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
de parler, et que par consequent le monde va s’embellir, quc
les betes peu a peu deviendront raisonnables, que les hommes
deviendront des anges, et que les anges, tels que vous etes
dejct avec vos belles compagnes, deviendront enfin des petites
divinites. Vous en pouves juger par le papier cy-joint, qui
contient un extrait de la lettre que M. le Due de Saxe-Zeiz
m’a fait l’honneur de m’ecrire de sa main. Ne vous bates
pourtant pas trop, je vous en prie, de quitter l’estat angelique
ou vous cites, pour courir a l’apotheose, qui vous est reservee.
Daignes plustot de vous humaniser.envers celuy qui se nomme
avec respect,
Mademoiselle,
Votre tres humble, etc.,
[Leibnitz.]
The following letter of Caroline, Electoral Princess
and afterwards Queen, is only legible by the help of the
interlineations, which are Leibnitz’s own, and the notes
which I have taken the liberty of adding.
188.] Caroline of Anspach to Leibnitz.
over
luxnn le 27 Xber, 1713.
Yous pouvez esttre persuadee, Monsieur, que de touttes les
lettres quc ces feste mon1 procure la vostre a este la mieu re-
ceue. Yous avez raison de comances2 vos voeux par le trons
d’Angletere, qui a la verite an a le plus de besoins, et malgre
toutes les les belle chose que vos gasette vous dieez4 il me
samble que tout va de mal anpire.5 Pour moy, qui suis feame.
et par consequance aime a me flader,6 jespere que le trop dc
mal des afaire yra a lavantage de la famille. Je pran Is
comparaison que vous faites, quoy que trop honnorable porn
1 ces fetes m’ont. a de commencer. 3 trone. disent. 5 en pire. c a m<
flatter.CAROLINE OF ANSPACH TO LEIBNITZ.
483
moy, de la Heine Elisabete, a bon augure. Son droit luis
feut1 dispute par une soeur galouse et de mecbant humeur, et
elle n’an feut iamais sure qua son avenement a la couronne.
Yous voiye, Monsieur, combien lamour propre est ingenieuse
l’Electrice
a se flader. Dieu soit louee que nostre Princesse de Gale se
l’air de l’emporter
porte mieu que jamais, et quelle a tout lairs de lanporter, par
tous ees ennemis,
sa bone sante, sur tout ces ainemis, et que vous uous prenez
pour les vostre, puisque vous ne peance3 pas a votre retour,
qui est souhaite par lea vivans ct par les morts,
qui et soitez par les viveant et pour les mors, qui, sil pou-
traites
vez3 se plaintre, ne se trouverais4 pas trop bien trestee de
Que vous ont-ils fait, Monsieur, ces pauvres Prineca Ep. Dues,
vous. Que vous ou dil fait, Mr, ces pauuver P. Ep. Due, pour
vouloir que la seule consolassion qui reste a la vanite ne leurs
instruit
soit donne, et que le monde ne soit pas instreut par vous de
tout leurs haut fait? Je ne Scais ce qui les doit flader5
davantage destre louee par vn home come vous, au quel6
servent d’exemple
servez dessample a leurs neveu pour toute les belle et bone
calidee quil doit7 avoir possedee. Jespere qu’apres mestre
fait leurs avocat vous serais trop polie, Mr, pour me refeuser
vostre retour. Vous trouverais que malgre votre longue ab-
sance je suis toujours votre amie,
Caroline.
Pour toute les nouvelles que je vous puis donner dflssy,
ces8 que se soir il y aura vn balle au Mr L’Electeur, et mes
anfeant an seron.9 Mr le P. E. vous et tres reconnoissante
pour tout les souhait obligeant que vous fait pour luis; il sou-
hait votre retour.
1 lui fut. 2 pensez. 3 pouvaient. 4 trouveraient. 5 flatter. " ou qu’ils.
7 belles et bonnes qualites qu’ils doivent. 8 d’iei, e’est. J enfans en
seront.
2 i 2484
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
189.] Leibnitz to the Queen of Prussia.
Vienna, March VJth, 1714
Madam,
Tlie continuance of your Majesty’s goodwill towards me,
which I observed in receiving the honoiu1 of your answer, en-
gages me to profound thanks. The ardent desire which I have
to prove my zeal to your Majesty as well as to the King causes
me to venture to touch upon the affairs of this time, with all
submission to the pleasure of that great Prince, in case your
Majesty thinks these lines fit to be brought under his notice.
The conclusion of the Treaty of Rastadt seems to change
the whole system of Europe. But as France continues to
march towards her own ends, and is even more successful by
peace than by war, it is to be feared that, as she subjected
Spain at Ryswick, she may have forged the chains of England
at Rastadt: not that the Emperor enters into these designs,
but that the nature of things itself leads to this result: the
peace which France has signed with the Empire, depriving
in fact the Dutch of the great support which they might
otherwise have hoped for from the Empire, in case they
should have been obliged to oppose themselves to the Pre-
tender, and quarrel again with France. Besides, were Eng-
land to submit to a creature of France, what would become of
Holland, the Low Countries, and the Lower Rhine, together
with the Duchy of Cleves and its neighbourhood? And moreover
the King is one of the most deeply interested in this matter;
not only in general as head of the Protestants in the Empire
(a quality which must, and indeed cannot fail to enter into his
principal views), but also in particular, seeing that your Ma-
jesty and his children are the next in the Protestant succession
of Great Britain after the line of Mgr. your brother. Thus
it seems at present that it is almost peculiarly the King’s
affair to oppose himself to these dangerous views of the Bour-
bons, and to take measures thereupon concurrently with Mgr.
his brother-in-law, and MM. the States-General; and even to
mediate a new and strict intelligence between the Emperor—LEIBNITZ TO THE QUEEN OE PRUSSIA. 485
with the Empire—and the Estates for the conservation of the
public liberty, to which‘measure M. de Bothmer assures me
the States are well inclined. Moreover the conclusion of the
Peace between the Empire and Prance might still be made to
follow a slow course on many accounts; among others, for the
sake of securing the interests of the Protestants against the
Fourth Article of the Treaty of Byswick. It was therefore
much to be desired that M. le Comte de Dohna might have
been able to remain here a little longer. But as that has not
been the case, his Majesty will not want for other means, pub-
lic or private, to watch over the conservation of the public
liberty, the Reformed religion, and his own interests, and to
insinuate here what is suitable to those objects. Having my-
self some access to the Emperor, I judge that His Imperial
Majesty will never stray from any point towards which his
Imperial office and the public good ought to lead him. I say
these things rather to show with what ardour I desire every-
thing which tends to the service and glory of His Majesty,
than in the hope of being able to say anything on this subject
which could escape the wisdom of his Majesty and his advisers.
My design is to be in Hanover at the beginning of the sum-
mer ; but wherever I may be, I shall endeavour to show with
how much attachment and devotion I am, Madam, your Ma-
jesty’s etc. etc.,
Leibnitz.
The writer of the following letters, Baron von Stein-
ghens, descended from an ancient family of the Nether-
lands, resided at this time in London as Minister from
the Elector Palatine. He carried on an active corre-
spondence with Schnlenburg, the principal object of
which was to remove the jealousy entertained at Hano-
ver of Queen Anne’s intentions with regard to the Suc-
cession. It is evident that he believed the unscrupulous
partisans of the Opposition to be carrying on a game486
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
which could only end in mischief; and he more than
once complains that there is little* hope of his being be-
lieved if he ventures to give unpalatable advice. At this
particular conjuncture the main intrigue was to bring
over the Electoral Prince to reside in England, various
details of which are already published in Macpherson.
Among Leibnitz’s correspondence are many letters re-
ferring to this subject, of which he seems to have had
the management on the part of the Electress, the Elector
himself treating it with considerable indifference. All
Steinghens’s letters were communicated by Schulenburg
to Leibnitz, who appears also to have been employed in
drawing up deductions in answer to them.
190.] Baron de Steinghens to Schulenburg.
London, March 1714.
With regard to affairs here, I shall tell you nothing of the
intentions of the Queen’s Council as to foreign politics; be-
cause, since the ‘ Daily Courant’ has published the list of re-
solutions of MM. the Estates of the 24th of February, touch-
ing the conferences of my Lord Strafford, every cobbler knows
more than they have chosen to tell any foreign Minister, so
you are not to wait for me there, hut at any rate on matters
purely national. Now, however poor an opinion you may have
of my courage to discover my true sentiments, I will assure
you, upon my honour, that, after having well calculated and
weighed everything which I have been able to make out on
one side or the other, after the most exact and impartial re-
searches, I do not see the slightest chance of the Pretender’s
coming hither, unless affairs were to change their aspect much
more than, morally speaking, there is any possibility of their
doing. I will go further, and say, that if the Queen had died
at the time when people were free enough to announce her
death, the Princess Sophia would have been proclaimed QueenDE STEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
487
the self-same day. Not that I am not well aware that it is
more easy to persuade people to transubstantiation than to
convert prejudiced minds from the opposite opinion; but that
will not prevent me from telling you things as I believe them
to be, assuring you that, if I perceived the slightest foundation
for believing in a plot in favour of the Pretender, I should be
the very first to inform the Elector of it through your chan-
nel, so convinced I am of the necessity of the Protestant suc-
cession in England for the safety of Germany itself. Every
true Englishman, whatever party he may be of, is persuaded
of this necessity for the preservation of his own national
liberty and prosperity; he is not less persuaded of this con-
stant truth, that the only enemy which this island has to fear,
cither for its might or for its commerce, is France. Now, as
I know that the Premier here is very convinced of these two
principles, I have thought hitherto that the indolence which
has been shown with regard to the Pretender has been nothing
but a bone thrown out for the Whigs and their friends to
gnaw, in order to keep them to their duty; but seeing that
the Queen has fired up more than ever in her last speech in
favour of the Protestant succession, I am compelled to change
my mind, believing that the business of Parliament will be
got over much more quietly than would otherwise have been
the case, provided that no false steps are taken from abroad.
I have often been astonished at the surprising success with
which the party adverse to the Court continues to impose
upon minds beyond sea for so many years, in spite of the lie
which time has so often given to their most positive assertions.
I will not deny that the governing party may possibly have
acted with too much indolence, for I am very far from wishing
to make any apology for them; nevertheless I know, beyond
all doubt, that the monopoly of belief which the opposite party
continues to enjoy, is the reason why no proper persons can
be found to send to foreign Courts. It is this very monopoly
which ought to prevent me from entertaining you with the
true state of affairs here; for what is the use of speaking dif-
ferently to you, when I know beforehand that you will not488
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
believe me ? However, as I happen to be in the humour of
writing, I will tell you that the last lie about the Bank is one
of the grossest that can be invented; for it is a fact that,
during the three days which the run upon the Bank lasted, all
the sums demanded did not amount to a hundred and fifty
thousand pounds sterling. Now be pleased to tell me if this
sum could possibly throw into confusion a Bank which has
six millions in its pocket. There was nothing in it but the
malice of the body which governs it in so mysterious a way
that, like the rising republic of the Jews, their dogmas are
hidden and impenetrable to all those who are not members of
their coterie from father to son. The effect of the pretended
danger of the Bank is evident enough from the call of forty
per cent., which these gentry have made, and which might be
followed by many others, in order to draw into their own cof-
fers almost all the coin of the realm, unless the Government
takes order for it; for 1 am bold to assert that it will never be
at its ease until it introduces some one devoted to itself among
the monopolists of the Bank.
The report of the desperate state of the Queen’s health,
which has been kept up so long, may also serve as a proof of
the ascendency of the party opposed to the Court; neverthe-
less I can assure you, on very good authority, that all the
danger to the Queen’s life did not last twice twenty-four
hours, and that all that was said either before the last illness,
with regard to the disorder of the navel, the dropsy, etc., oi
since, touching the dysentery and other symptoms, is utterlj
and totally false.
Now what remains for the Opposition, after so many change!
of attack, except to stick to that of the Pretender ? But evei
supposing that we believe that party in earnest, and insepa
rably attached to the interests of the House of Hanover, wha
can that House risk in trying, only as a matter of prudence
to place itself on good terms with the Queen and the Mi
nistry ? Is there any harm in securing oneself on one side a
well as the other ? and ought not the Opposition itself to wisl
this, for the sake of the succession it desires so greatly ?SCHULENBURG TO LEIBNITZ.
489
191.] SCHULENBURG TO LeIBNITZ.
Berlin, March 31«L 1714.
Sir,
Since I have been here I have received three of your agree-
able letters, which are full of instruction, and give me all the
pleasure imaginable. I wish I had the power of acting in
conformity with your good and judicious instructions. I was
a long time this morning with the King, and afterwards dined
with him, being placed at his side. We were three hours at
table, which is very unusual; and many fine things were said.
He put more questions to me than I could have answered in
detail in several months. He has all the cleverness imagin-
able, and it is more than a pity that this Prince amuses him-
self with trifles, and that he is for the most part of his time
surrounded by people of very middling talents; and that he
enters without reflection into the opinion which is uppermost
at the moment. I did not fail to sound him on many subjects,
and I find that he has taken great umbrage on the chapter of
the peace which has just been made between the Emperor and
the King of France. He suspects that there are several articles
reserved in petto, which may nevertheless have important con-
sequences. I perceive however that there is a great regard
here for His Imperial Majesty, and that he is taken, and with
justice, for a Prince who is in earnest and who is firm and in-
trepid, as soon as he is convinced that he has right on his side.
A part of the Ministers are of the same mind; hut there are
others who, without any deep appreciation of the situation of
affairs, imagine that everything is to arrange itself according
to their views. I have dropped a word or two here and there,
giving them to understand that there is no example of any
Prince of the Empire having ever managed his own matters
successfully without keeping up a good understanding with the
Emperor; and that he can produce more effect with a single
stroke of his pen than the other Princes of the Empire have
ever succeeded in doing with their armies and their intrigues.
This is the language I have spoken hitherto: it remains to be490
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
seen whether the King chooses to have any farther conversa-
tion with me, and whether he will he permitted to see me
often; if so, you may be sure I will speak to him conformably
with your letters and according to your views. He catches
one’s meaning with half a word, and understands very well what
one means to say. If I could go with him to Potsdam I should
have the opportunity of taking him in hand there in a proper
manner; hut these are things which depend upon chance, and
which I have no power of forcing on. I am very sure that the
greater part of the people here would he very glad that I should
see and frequent him as little as possible. You may be per-
suaded beforehand that they are very uncertain here what
side to take; and that nothing ought to be neglected, particu-
larly at the present time, if you have any need of this Court, to
engage it on your side by some real advantage, or at least by
something which may flatter this young King. With respect
to Stettin, I am told that the King has said that he should
be very glad to keep it, but that he should never be of the hu-
mour of the late King, his father, to fret and go a fortnight
without sleeping, if he were to lose it again; that God had
given him enough to keep up his dignity with, and so he should
make up his mind to be content with it. I have inquired about
what you mention in one of your letters of a treaty having been
made between France, England, this Court, and Holstein,
but I cannot discover anything about it: I notice that even
the Holsteiners are disquieted and embarrassed. All the world
will stand with their arms crossed till they see a little more
clearly with respect to the peace which has just been made ; it
is a blow which has stupefied them all. You are of course
aware that in the treaty between this Court and Holstein it is
provided that the King engaged to have the Administrator
restored by using all the means quantum possibile; and now
they are attempting to explain these terms away : it was Ilgcn
who put them in. At present the whole question is a dispute
about words, which is as much as to say, there will be nothing
real done,—the more so as they have attained their ends. I
told the Holsteiners what would happen, four months ago. ItSCHULENBURG TO LEIBNITZ.
491
is reported that the King of Sweden has forbidden the Senate
of Stockholm to meddle with making peace, and that he will
take charge of it himself. Miiller is said to have written to
Count Horn, that they hoped soon to come to a good under-
standing with the King of Poland, The Czar is dreaded here
extremely, Prussia lying entirely open. What say you, that the
Czar has thrown off the mask so soon in attempting to transfer
his commerce from Archangel to Petersburg, and in sending-
in all directions to conclude commercial treaties ? Would it
not have been more wisely done to have thought of this some
years hence? People here do not entertain the views they
ought with regard to England and Holland; they are incensed
against the Dutch, and hold them cheap; and they do not
consider the course they ought to adopt towards the English,
whose plans they do not know at bottom. It seems neverthe-
less that they have thought better about Hanover; they are
really in treaty for Nordhausen, as the King himself told me,
and this seems to be a good start for the rest. What do you
say to the Queen's last speech to her Parliament, in which it
seems that she puts herself on a parallel with Queen Eliza-
beth, who assuredly would never have let France off so cheaply
and so dishonourably ? This Princess is timid to an excess,
and lets herself he ruled by people whom their own selfish in-
terest rules, and who move towards their ends by infamous
ways. The Grand Treasurer, Harley, is an intrepid man, who
knows England as thoroughly as he is ignorant of foreign
affairs, and spends more in spies than Cromwell ever did.
Bolingbroke is a man of superior genius; he has a marvellous
facility of comprehending an affair; he works without trouble;
moreover he is extravagant in wine and in women, and is often
heedless in his measures. These two gentlemen are by no
means hearty friends. The Whigs have the best heads in Eng-
land, and have more money than the Tories; the greatest part
of the army is for them, and the Tories have not a single mili-
tary man of weight to place at their head, while the others
have several. At Hanover they are too indolent upon this
subject, and I am much mistaken if the Elector would not be492
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
glad to be quit of it, if be could with honour. It is still bi
lieved that the Emperor will quarrel with the Dutch, which
do not believe. I am on the contrary persuaded that hot
parties are much too well aware of their true interests. Tl:
Pensionary Heinsius has re-engaged himself for six years, o
condition that he shall be permitted to retire every year, ever
month, or every week,—a curious agreement enough. Thei
have been disturbances at Utrecht on the subject of the fundi
they get five per cent, instead of ten, which is a crying injui
tice. The Duke of Savoy has been a great deal blamed; it
believed that if he cannot find any port to put into, he wi
rather give up Sicily than risk his new acquisitions in Ital;
It is reported that Prince Eugene is to be Governor of tt
Netherlands. The Congress of Brunswick is opened, but tl
parties interested are slow in coming; they would like first 1
see the bottom of the bag of the treaty between France an
the Emperor. You will be so good, if you please, as to write 1
me again here, since I do not know when I shall leave. I wi
write also to you as long as I remain here, praying you t
continue me the honour of your remembrance, and to be pei
suaded that I am truly, with great esteem, Sir, etc. etc.,
SCHULENBURG.
192.] Steinghens to Schulenburg.
London, May Jj, 1714.
Since my last there have been great debates in both House
the Ministers have been torn to pieces, tooth and nail, a thir
which takes place here, especially in the Lower House, wi
as much impunity as people blackguard one another on tl
Thames; but the Ministry cares very little about it, provid
it keeps its majority on important questions. It has do
this up to the present time, and seems likely to do so till t
end of the session; and if the Opposition has succeeded
gaining more ground than there was reason to expect at fir:STEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
493
it can only be attributed to the dissensions which have arisen
in the Ministry itself. Some people have been at work for a
whole year to deprive my Lord Treasurer of the sole conduct of
public affairs. I have been aware, almost from the beginning,
of the different channels which have been made use of to carry
this point; but I should never have expected that they would
fire the mine before the end of this session, and I am much
mistaken if the authors have not reason one day to regret
their over-haste; for I do not know my man if he does not
cut out a good deal of work for them, particularly if a certain
intrigue which is on the tapis succeeds. As for the rest, you
may rely upon his sentiments, as I explained them in my last;
and he never succeeded in persuading those who doubted them,
more than by his declaration made in full House on the j^th
of last month, upon the question of the danger to the Protes-
tant succession, having in it given much greater hold upon
himself than there was any need for, if he is not acting in
good faith. The House of Hanover has, beyond all contra-
diction, gained much by this debate; and the party of the
Hanoverian Tories, who are so called to distinguish them
from the Court Tories, has visibly been strengthened by it.
That is the party which must be looked after; for it is an illu-
sion to believe that the Whigs alone can bring in the House
of Hanover. We shall see what steps this House will take
after my Lord Paget’s arrival at this Court, and after the for-
bidding of this one to M. le Baron Schutze, whose conduct
it is impossible to justify (in having demanded of the Lord
Chancellor a writ for the Duke of Cambridge, without giving
the Court any notice of it), unless indeed he had received
such orders. Of this I should be as sorry as I should be to
see the Electoral Prince here against the will of the Queen,
knowing beyond all possibility of doubt the ill consequences
to which such an attempt might lead, since the Queen is
found to be more firm and more resolved to play out her part
of the game than any one ever believed her capable of being.
Why do they not rather wait for unmistakable measures,
which you have a right to ask for, either by having the Pre-494
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
tender moved much further off thau he is, or by strengthening
the guarantees in favour of the Hanoverian succession ? (for th(
demand that the Queen shall set a price upon her brother’s
head has been looked upon as madness by the Whigs them-
selves ever since their first fury cooled down.) The Queer
has engaged herself to both these measures; but let them
not rouse this Princess’s extreme jealousy respecting her own
power, by attacks upon her sovereignty, which might force
her to carry into execution those violent resolutions which the
hope of self-preservation is often capable of inspiring into a
Ministry; and all this at a time when there are more mode-
rate and more suitable means of arriving at one’s ends; when
a little deference shown to the wishes of the Queen might
regain that Princess’s goodwill; when her health, better than
it has been for the whole year, puts off all danger of her
death; and when, by an Act of Parliament, one might legi-
timate the introduction into the kingdom of the troops of
those Princes who have undertaken the guarantee, in case of
any well-founded apprehension of such as might accompany
the Pretender.
P.S.—After, Sir, having spoken of other people’s affairs, let
us speak of our own ; and permit me to entreat you not to de-
lay going to Hanover, if only on pretext of wishing the Elec-
toral Prince a good journey, but in reality to prevent it alto-
gether, for the reasons alleged in my letter. As M. Schiitze
has conducted himself very ill here from the very first, he de-
serves to be made the scapegoat; but as to his successor, be
lieve me, upon my honour, when I tell you that there is nc
fitter person than yourself. Already the conclusion of the Peac<
of Rastadt, after so many other examples, proves that thi
quality of a Minister does not derogate from that of a grea
General: and as in this case the interest of the Elector an<
the pleasure of your company would oblige me to think of th
means of remaining here, I dare to assure you that, by putting
together affairs upon a very different footing from the past
we should, with the help of God, succeed in establishing th'
Hanoverian succession in the possession of these kingdoms, aCOUNT DE BONNEVAL.
495
well as in keeping it there, whatever difference there may be
between the one and the other. As long as I had reason to
think that my Lord Treasurer’s colleagues in the Cabinet
were only struggling to share with him the Queen’s favour
and her secret, I could never bring myself to believe that there
could he any plot to introduce the Pretender, reckoning that
my Lord Treasurer was incapable of joining any such, unless
pushed to the utmost extremity, which is still very remote.
But since I have had reason to be persuaded that these col-
leagues, having begun to have some influence upon the Queen,
wish to drive him entirely from office, I smell a rat, and
judge on this account that it is of extreme importance, both
for the Whigs and the House of Hanover, to take steps to keep
him there, and to engage him by some sort of particular confi-
dence to be assured of his fortune under this House, so that
he may not leave his employment: for all the world agrees
that it will not be taken from him unless he desires it, as he
seemed to do lately when he tendered his resignation, which the
Queen refused to accept. If you think proper to make any
use of this delicate confidence, write to me as if it had been
made you by somebody else.
CLAUDE ALEXANDBE, COMTE DE BONNEVAL.
This, as well as a subsequent letter of the Duchess of
Marlborough, dated July 29th, 1714, were, I have no
doubt, addressed to the eccentric and well-known Comte
de Bonneval. This gentleman, who descended from a
family connected with Royalty itself, was born at Paris
on the 14th of July, 1675. In 1691 he entered the
naval service of France, but seven years later (1698) he
left it, and received a Lieutenant’s commission in the
Royal Guards. Here he rose to the rank of Colonel, in
which capacity he served with great credit in Italy under
Catinat, Villeroy, and Vendome. His profligacy and496
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
turbulence however got him into disgrace with Madame
de Maintenon, and he was passed over in the promotion
of officers in the year 1704. His disgust at this slight,
and, as it seems also, the fear of being called to account
for certain passages of his life, determined him to leave
his country. In 1705 he went over to the Austrians,
and was received with welcome by Prince Eugene,
through whose favour he was made a Major-General,
April 5th, 1706. He was employed both by Eugene
and Marlborough in civil as well as military services,
made the successive campaigns in Elanders and Italy,
and was one of the commissioners for the treaty of peace
at Rastadt, signed March 7th, 1714. With the rank of
a Lieutenant-General he served under Eugene in the
Turkish war, 1715-1718, and on several occasions dis-
tinguished himself by his daring bravery. On the con-
clusion of the Turkish campaigns he was sent, with a
high command, into the Netherlands (1723), where his
insolent and overbearing conduct involved him in a
quarrel with the Imperial Commissioner, Marquis de
St. Prie. By this officer’s order he was placed under
arrest and sent to Vienna: here he was brought to a
court-martial on various charges. Deserted by Prince
Eugene, with whom he had ceased to entertain relations
of friendship, he was abandoned to the mercy of his ene-
mies, and the court-martial pronounced sentence of death
against him: this sentence was however commuted to
imprisonment for one year in the fortress of Munkacz,
with degradation from his rank and military character.
On his discharge from prison, finding all hope of success
in the Imperial service vain, without a home or means
of support, he took the desperate resolution of throwing
himself into the arms of the Turks, and was received hyCOUNT DE BONNEVAL.
497
them on favourable conditions, being appointed to the
rank of a Pasha of two tails, and placed at the head of
an artillery corps. On this occasion he assumed the
name of Achmet Pasha, by which he is almost better
known than by his own. Por many years he served the
Ottomans with success, and displayed no inconsiderable
administrative talents in the commands he held. But
De Bonneval was no better Turk than he was a Chris-
tian ; if we may trust an anecdote of Casanova, who
visited him in his old-age, he by no means adhered to
the precepts of the Koran with respect to wine. His
attempted improvements also in the artillery service were
looked upon with disfavour by all zealous Mussulmen.
He fell into disgrace, and, after having been sent to
various places in a sort of honourable exile, was finally
relegated to the island of Cyprus, where he died in 1747,
in the seventy-third year of his age. During his residence
at Vienna, Leibnitz relied much upon De Bonneval’s in-
fluence with Eugene, to gain that prince’s support for his
plan of founding an Academy of Sciences in that city,
for the support of which institution the duties on paper
were to be assigned. Several letters between De Bon-
neval and Leibnitz are printed in Peder, ‘ Commercium
Epistolicum Leibnitii’ (p. 423-459); others still remain
in MS. at Hanover, and are quite as amusing specimens
of De Bonneval’s light and somewhat frivolous style. In
a letter, dated September 21, 1714, Leibnitz says: “Si
j’etais en estat d’obeir a S. A. R., j’irois l’accompagner
jusqu’en Angleterre; et en ce cas je souhaiterois de vous
y voir, Monsieur, suivant ce que vous avies fait esperer a
Mme la Duchesse de Marlborough.” And Bonneval him-
self writes : “ Madame la Duchesse de Marlborough m’a
decrit l’entree de son rnari en Angleterre; elle ne pent trop
2 K498
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
me marquer la joie de l’avenement du Roy a la couronne
d’Angleterre” (October 6, 1714). These passages seem
to refer to this correspondence.
The ‘Memoires du Comte de Bonneval’ were published
at the Hague, in two volumes, in 1737. They contain
his own, and therefore a favourable, version of the prin-
cipal events of his life. A hostile critique upon this
work, which appeared soon after its publication, at-
tempted to prove the alleged intimacy of Prince Eugene
with Bonneval to be a mere chimera, the invention of a
lawless adventurer. The letters of Leibnitz and Field-
Marshal von der Schulenburg sufficiently refute this ca-
lumnious assertion, and show that, whatever may have
afterwards been the case, there was a time when the two
comrades were on terms of friendship and confidence.
De Bonneval’s character was unhappily bad enough,
without any blackening on the part of time-serving para-
sites at the Imperial Court. However ill we may think
of him as a man, his conduct and courage as a soldier
were never impeached.
193.] Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to
De Bonneval.
Antwerp, May the 21s/, 1714.
Sr
I was very agreably surprized with a letter from you ii
English, and I will give the person, that wrote it, the trouhli
of reading my sincere thanks to you in a very ill hand, be
cause I have nobody, that I can rely upon to do it in french
I can’t find any words, that can satisfye me to express tin
Sense I have of the Princes great goodnesse in giving si
obliging an answer to my request, but I hope you will mat
my acknowledgements in the manner, that they ought to be
The Duke of Marlcborough hath written upon the same subDUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH TO DE BONNEVAL. 499
ject, to the Prince, two days ago, by the Prince of Ligne, & I
hope what is desired in favour of General Murray may the
more easely he obtained, because I believe him so honest &
so reasonable a Man, as not to wish to he continued longer in
the post he is now in, then till ye Dutch can provide for him.
For my own part, I am very much touch’d with the number
of Spaniards, you mention, which are so unfortunate as to
want a provision; I could solicit for them very heartily myself;
’tis cruel to thinck men should suffer for having opposed those,
that had no right J;o govern their country, & that have shown
by their Injustice and tyranny, that they did not deserve to
he trusted with power, if one could persuade oneself to believe,
that the will of a weak Prince could be a sufficient title to
dispose of his Country. As to my own ridiculous Country-
men, besides what you know already of them, I believe you
have seen their address upon the 16th of April, in which they
thank her Majesty for a safe, honourable, and advantagious
peace with france & Spain, & at the same time, that this
adress was procured, the Ministers heard themselves, (hours
together) arraign’d & villifyed in both hous’s, without any
hodys saying a word in their defence : never were facts so
plainly proved without any contradiction, & most of the Torys,
that have estates, are joyned with the honest party, & have
declared, in both Houses of Parliament, that they have been
too long deluded with the false promises of the Ministers. I
am sure it is natural upon this account for you to ask (this
being so) how they came to make such an address, which the
Torys would excuse to their new freinds, by Saying, that they
had so long commended this peace, both in publick & private,
that they could not condemn it in the lump, that this address
was only a Complement to the Queen, & that they would take
all occasions for the future, to secure the true interest of the
Nation; in the mean time they have given some credit to the
men, that they design to pull to pieces, that is with such as
don’t know them, & live at a great distance; & to save their
dear honour, they have voted, what every body knows, (that
has sense enough to feed themselves) what they believe, and
2 k 2500
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
know to be every word false. But as ill a look as this hath
at present for the publick, there are very understanding men,
that believe these Betrayers of then’ Country can’t stand long;
the number of the House of Lords upon some questions is
come to be equal, & in the Commons they have divided 208
of the most wheighty men against the Court; & because you
are a Soldier, I will tell you a Saying, which we have in Eng-
land, that Such a number of Volonteers will soon beat a much
greater of pressed men, then the Ministers have by all the
power of the Crown, & the corruption of the times; her Ma-
jesty has been oblidged to give herself the trouble to send for
bishops, and severall people, & hath given them the most so-
lemn assurances that you can imagin, that she will never de-
part from what she hath so much at her heart, the protestant
succession in the House of Hanover, professing that she never
had any thoughts of any thing else, & that she will do all that
is possible to secure it; & to shew how far the goodnesse of
Her Majesty extends, & the desire She hath to make all people
easie, I have very good reason to believe, that She hath given
all the assurances, that can be desired, of her kind intentions
for her friends at Barleduc, and that they are entirely satisfy’d
with her; which I fear you will not be with me for writing so
much upon this foolish proceeding: tho’ when you were at
Frankford, you did not seem to be so much in love with the
pope, but that you could bear to pass a little time with us
poor Hereticks in England; where I wish I could see you,
that I might express in all the ways I am capable of, how
much you have oblidged Your
Most faithfull & most humble Servant,
S: Marlborough.
The Duke of Marlborough presents his humble service to
you, & I beg you would joyn mine wdth his, to those that have
done us the honour, to remember us in your letter; not know-
ing anything of the merits or pretentions of the Irish Gentle-
man, Mr Hobbs, I fear it would be impertinent in me to
write to the Count Merci, to whom I have not the honour toSTEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
501
be known, but I will take care to let Mr Cadogan know your
goodnesse to him in that matter, that he may take what mea-
sures he thinks proper. The Duke of Argile said lately in a
Speech in the house of Lords, (which was all very Severe) these
following words, that it was a Satyr upon mankind in general,
& upon England in particular, to suffer such a Sett of Ignorant
& Knavish Ministers to govern them so long. Others said,
upon occasion of the debate for the Address, that a Parliament
of Paris had yet more notions of honour and liberty left, than
to have such grosse absurdities and contradictions imposed
upon them, as that adress would be; and this is the language,
that the Ministers are treated with every day. However it
has not yet made them slaken their measures, & many brave
men have been turn'd out of the army, after having fought so
long in the glorious cause of liberty, some for talking, some
for thinking, and wretches put into their places, that never
served. I had a letter lately from General Stanhope, who is
still in good heart, notwithstanding this melancholy Account.
The following letter was written after the dishonest dis-
avowal of Baron Yon Schiitze by the Elector, and his
recall from London.
191.] Steinghens to Schulenburg.
London, June 5th, 1714.
It is an infinite pleasure to me that my sentiments agree
with your own. The Elector’s conduct in this delicate affair
will convince all impartial people of the superiority of his
genius, and will not fail to make it easy for him to gain the
Queen’s affections entirely. Nothing will be wanting to finish
the work so well begun, but the choice of an able Minister,
who shall be at the same time agreeable to this Court; on
which subject I cannot think better than I did, being moreover
well assured that no one here will gainsay me.502
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
It was nothing but the fear of the arrival of the Electoral
Prince, in spite of the Queen, which made them find expe-
dients to put off the unanimous vote of the Low'er House for
payment of the arrears to the Hanoverian troops. I can assure
you, in spite of the fine promises of the Whigs, that the Par-
liament would never have voted one sou for the subsistence of
this Prince if he had come against the will of the Queen : and
I can tell you still more, that I have learnt from people of the
first order, that if the Prince had come to this kingdom in that
way, the Pretender would not have failed to follow him imme-
diately, and that he would have found here all the dispositions
which the spite and rage of an insulted Court and party could
inspire; so much horror people have of falling again under
the domination of the Whigs, the hatred of whom can be com-
pared to nothing better than that of the Catholic Netherlands
against the Dutch, either for atrocity or for extent; for I am
well assured that there are more than thirty Tories for one
Whig in this kingdom.
You have perfectly well guessed upon the subject of our
man; and he is already so far advanced in your project of up-
setting his adversary, that it is believed certain that the latter
will throw up the game.
Your friend’s letter is full of reasonings of the highest order.
I reserve to myself the pleasure of answering them in detail in
my next; assuring you that you may rely as much upon the
good treatment as upon the sincerity of the inviolable attach-
ment with which I am, etc. etc.,
Steinghens.
This, like all the rest of Steinghens1 s letters, was com-
municated by Schulenburg to Leibnitz; but in the mean-
time the Count had received from Leibnitz the letter
from Vienna, No. 196 in this Collection, in part answer
to which he had written on the back of the foregoing
letter the following words :—
“ Bonneval is in every respect a man of merit, andCAROLINE OF ANSPACII TO LEIBNITZ.
503
capable of much, as is also the Due d’Arenberg. De-
bauchery, and, in consequence, the little attention which
they pay to serious affairs, will end by spoiling and
utterly ruining them. The two Princes of Wiirtemberg
are of another quality, and differ very much from them.
You are put out by nothing, though one might easily be
so in such company. Farewell.”
195.] Caroline op Anspach to Leibnitz.
Hanower, Juin, 1714.
Le seulle avantage que pay diray,1 Monsieur, de toute les
avantage qui adantoit3 Mr le P. E., et3 votre lettre, que vous
mavez ecrit. Mr le P. E. vous a beaucoup d’oblication de
vous inderesser sy fortement pour luis; il auroit estte a sou-
haiter que dout4 le monde eut lieu les mes santimant;5 se
nest pas la feaute de Mr le P. ny de tout les honneste geans
d’isy, il a remeuez ciel et tere, et j'ean ayee parle moy meme
tres fortement a Mr L’Electeur. Nous avons estte deans la
crisse jusqu’avant hier, ou on a receu vn Courie de la Heine
avec des lettres pour Mad. L’E., et Mr L’E. et le P. E., qui
sont d’un violances dinge6 de Milord Bullenbrock, et par 111 le
P. E. ces veu7 presque sans esperance daller prender sa seances
celon son Droit. Je ne scais ce que le monde peu juger de la
contevuite8 que nous avons Denu isy;9 je ne regrede pas teans10
la perte que peudestre11 nostre contevuite nous adirera12 que
d’auoir en quelque manier apandone13 l’interest de nostre S*
Religion, la Liberdie d’urope14 et tant de pravez et boneste
amis an angeltere. Je n’ay d’autre consolassion que D’avoir
veu humenent15 faire tout au P. pour opdenir e’este permission.
MdL,E. ces joint a leuis,16 et ille veulle anvoiyer17 leurs lettres
1 tir<5. 2 qu’attendait. 3 est. 4 tout. 5 eu les memes sentimens. 6 vio-
lence digne. 7 s’est vu. 8 conduite. 9 tenu ici. 10 regrette pas tant.
11 peut-etre. 13 attirera. 13 abandonne. 14 liberte de l’Europe. 15 hu-
mainement. 16 e’est jointe a lui. 17 ils veulent envoyer.504
STATE TAPERS AND LETTERS.
de la R: qu’il on receu1 an angeltere. Mr le P: ma charge de
vous prier, Monsieur, d’assurer Mr le P: de Savois de ces tres
humble service et de le prier tres instanment de ne luis rien
ynpuder an3 toute ceste afaire; qu’il savoit que Mr le P. lavoit
trouvez bon et apropo. II y a plus de deux anne que sy sa
avoit despandu3 de luis; il aurais desferais d’apore4 au santi-
ment d’un sy grand home, pour le quelle il avoit teant de vene-
rassion, mais que tout avoit estte innudilee.5 Je ne trouuez
dautre consolassion que destre persuadee que la provvidance fait
tout pour nostre bien, et votre prefaces sur la Doeodyces6
m’est d’un grand secour. Enfin, Monsieur, jamais chacrain
ne ma pareu sy vivez et insutenable come ce luis la.7 Je
crains pour la sante du P. E. et peutetre pour sa vie. Jes-
pcre que votre retour restera fixes h la jeans; il n’y aura
persone qui an sera plus ayssez que M. le P. et moy, qui nous
feron toujours vn plaisir de vous marquer an doute les oc-
casion que nous some de vos amies.
Caroline.
Mande moy, je vous prie, ce que le P. Eugene vous a repondu,
et ce que Ion dit a la conr de notre condevuite.
19G.] Leibnitz to Schulenburg.
Vienna, June 7th, 1714.
Sir,
I think I heard M. le Comte de Bonneval say that he had
received a letter from you, of which he is very glad : he is also
in correspondence with the Duchess of Marlborough. You are
quite right in saying that M. le Due d’Arenberg shrinks too
much from serious occupations; but he is young and would
correct himself, if he had anything to do. M. de Bonneval too
would like nothing better than to have more to do. When
1 qu’ils ont refu. 2 hnputer en. 3 ?a avoit dependu. 4 auroit de-
fere d’abord. 5 inutile. 6 Tkoodicee. 7 celui-la.LEIBNITZ TO SCHULENBURG.
505
I am in their company they excuse my drinking, and I leave
when it seems good to me.
I am both rejoiced and surprised at what you tell me of the
good order which the King of Prussia has introduced into his
finances and his troops : I congratulate him upon it. He must
be very attentive to his affairs, and be seconded by able people.
The Emperor, who has much more application and experience,
cannot yet say that he has got to so advanced a point as you
say the King of Prussia has. It seems that his Prussian
Majesty wishes to study his affairs better, before he forms
grand resolutions therein. The news, Sir, which you give me
of the Court of Hanover, fills me with as much joy as I am
capable of feeling, after the death of our incomparable Electress.
I hope that this good condition may be durable, and, among
other things, I wish that Mgr. the Prince could be in the
Council of State.
As for English affairs, there are people who would fain per-
suade us that the quarrel between my Lords Oxford and Bo-
lingbroke is feigned, or of little consequence. I am ready
enough to believe that my Lord Oxford will not lend his hand
easily or heartily to bring in the Pretender; for I do not
think he would mend his position that way, but rather make
it worse. But I fear that for the sake of maintaining himself
he may be obliged to pretend to give in to it, and so let matters
go so far that it will be difficult to remedy them. For to give
posts of confidence, especially in the army, to people suspected
of favouring the Pretender ; to arm the Scottish Highlanders;
to disarm the Irish Protestantsthese are all very dangerous
things. Again, to push the Presbyterians to extremities, and
to do all one can to make a quarrel between the Dutch and
the Emperor, are the most favourable measures that could be
taken for Jacobitism and Popery. The former Ministry and
the Whigs had been overturned, without going so far; and the
present Ministry had it in its power to make a very glorious
Peace, and one that would have been very advantageous both
to the nation and to Europe. But as they have made one so
bad and (to judge by the little specimen of Dunkirk) so dis-506
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
honourable, we must conclude, either that the Ministers them-
selves inclined to the side of France, or that they were obliged
to go so far in order to render themselves agreeable, and main-
tain themselves in power. For there are people who lay it to
their charge that they would never have got on so far unless
they had held out hopes of overturning the succession. I wish
that they may put an end to these suspicions by their acts; but
if they go on as they do, they will find it difficult to satisfy
the nation. For at last the phantom of Whigs and Tories,
which people seem to wish to keep up, will vanish, and only
two parties will remain, that of the well-intentioned, and that
of the Jacobites. They would be very wrong at Hanover to
attach themselves only to the Whigs; they ought to attach
themselves to the bulk of the nation, and endeavour to abolish
these factions. I think, Sir, I told you my belief that Mgr.
the Elector was to interpose his good offices to bring about an
accommodation between MM. the States-General and the Em-
peror. I do not know whether it is true that M. de Kobethon
is to go to Holland while M. de Bothmer is in England. I am
more curious than ever to have news from Finland; for pro-
vided matters remain there in statu quo, I hope for a tolerable
peace in the North.
The following is a deduction in answer to one of Leib-
nitz’s, forwarded by Schulenburg. I regret that I have
not been able to find this, as it no doubt contained a
skilful expose of the views entertained by the Electress’s
party at Hanover. Still, as Steinghens observes, these
were the same as the Opposition in England continually
put forward, which are abundantly familiar to us.
197.] Steinghens to Schulenburg.
Bath, June 14th, 1714.
I beg you a thousand pardons, both for not having answeredSTEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
507
sooner the very important Memoir which you have sent to me,
and also for not being able to do it at present otherwise than
very feebly, on account of the gout, which is plaguing my hand
more than ever.
The reasoning contained therein, respecting the affairs of the
North and the apparent views of the Court of Vienna, is so
just that I subscribe to it at once; hut I expect some indul-
gence on the part of the author if I differ from him in opinion
with regard to affairs here. The reasons upon which he founds
his are no novelty to me; they are those of the Opposition,
toutes crachees; but it is not quite so difficult to answer them
as he thinks, or to prove the very reverse, provided folks would
only get rid of certain prejudices and their party-spirit: hoc
opus, hie labor est.
The author’s alarm at the exorbitant power which the Peace
of Utrecht has given to France is very laudable; I wish that
the Empire may never lose sight of it; hut to make the English
Ministry alone responsible for it, is to show oneself little versed
in the anecdotes of this Peace,—to ignore entirely the incredi-
ble obstacles which the enemies of the Ministry threw, both at
home and abroad, in the way of making the Peace such as it
might have been; in a word, it is not to be well-informed
either of the uprightness of the Queen’s and her Ministers’
intentions, or of the way in which the trickery of France was
able to take advantage of it, in the fatal necessity to which they
were reduced, of not being able any longer to put off the cession
of Spain to Philip without exposing the Exchange in London
and the credit of the nation (in which its principal resource
consists) to a general combustion. Hinc illce lachrymce.
I do not pretend to enter into any dispute with the author
on the power of France to introduce the Pretender, although
there are very strong reasons to doubt it in the opinion of per-
sons who have lately made very exact inquiries into the mat-
ter ; hut what authority, except that of the Whigs, has the au-
thor to affirm so positively that France has any desire to intro-
duce the Pretender ? For my part, however disposed I suspect
Scotland may he to receive him, I shall never he persuaded508
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
that, under present circumstances, France will be willing to
make a second attempt* to bring bim thither; and moreover
I see that the same part of the nation, whatever faction it may
be of, including even tbe Jacobite, has entirely given up the
idea that the House of Bourbon alone can introduce and es-
tablish the Pretender in England.
But (1) England is disarmed and disunited; (2) Holland is
intimidated; (3) the House of Hanover is out of reach; and
(4) the English Ministry act as if they were for the Pretender.
These are the four principal objections which I shall attempt
to answer.
1. In order to show that the disarming of England in no
degree assures the country in favour of the Pretender, I appeal
to its history; and I defy any one, even if they go back to the
time of Julius Caesar, to find in it a single example of conquest
without there having been a regular standing army. The
reason of this is evident: it is that, in this case, they had only
to win over some of the Generals or to gain a single battle to
throw the whole nation into irretrievable confusion; seeing
that, trusting to its army, it neglected the natural advantage it
had of disputing the ground, foot by foot, in several quarters at
ouce. In fact it is very difficult to come to an end with a
nation as opulent as it is warlike and brave; whose militia,
exercised from time to time, amount to more than 100,000
men, and which, in case of need, is in a condition to mount,
over and above these, 20,000 horse, and to fit out upwards of
100 ships of the line, all ready, as people of honour, who both
can and ought to know, have positively assured me.
The disunion of the nation, of which the author of the
Memoir complains, will never make any impression when it is
considered that the factions in this country are the natural
consequence of the Government being divided between the
Court and the Parliament: this is the reason that there have
been such, and there always will be, as long as the present form
* The first attempt, in the year 1708, was a total failure, and cost
France a sum of money which it was by no means in a condition to
venture a second time.STEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
509
of Government subsists. But, give them whatever name you
will, they will at all times he reducible under two principal
heads, namely those who are in office, and those who want to
be. In short, it may be asserted that office is the source of
the animosities and the most envenomed divisions of this na-
tion ; and whatever they may talk about party-principles, it
seems to me indubitable that the Whigs would never have
taken up the side of Hanover, if they had not thought it the
surest way to turn out the Tories and to get back the Govern-
ment into their own hands ■ so that no one in the world will
be more surprised than myself if these same Whigs are not
the very first to desert that cause as soon as they see the House
of Hanover come to a good understanding with the Queen and
the Ministry.
2. I do not enter into the question whether Holland is
really as much intimidated as the author believes, since he
may possibly be better informed than myself on this point: I
will even admit that Holland was not less thunderstruck by
the Peace of Rastadt than annoyed at having to come to that
of Utrecht. But as she is about to put herself in a position of
security, through the measures which (according to the very
probable opinion of the author) she is about to concert with
the Emperor for the mutual safety of the Low Countries and
the Rhine, and as moreover she is already resolved to take up
a commanding position by sea, I dare to affirm that this Re-
public has nothing to fear on the side of the Pretender, if the
said good understanding is established.
3. The House of Hanover being out of reach, I find it on
that very account the more obliged to make itself accessible,
this being the surest means to secure the succession. This is,
in my opinion, the very point on which there is no time to be
lost, even though the WTiigs should on that account desert
their side, as they have threatened to do. My reason is, that
they are of no great importance in comparison with the mass
of the nation, and that they will always hitch on to Hanover
again as soon as they think that there is any real ground for
believing that the Ministry is disposed again to bring in the510
STATE PATERS ARD LETTERS.
Pretender. Moreover, as it is evident that the August House
will gain more and more with the mass of the nation, by the
good understanding in question, it may console itself the more
readily for the present defection of the Whigs; seeing that the
nation is, both by principle and inclination, for Royalty and the
Hanoverian Succession; while the Whigs are suspected, not
without reason, to be inclined at bottom to the introduction of
a Republican Government.
4. As to the conduct of the English Ministry, as I do not
pretend to excuse it when it is unjustifiable, I grant that I have
myself complained on certain occasions of their indolence, de-
lays, and indifference. But is it not amusing that those same
persons should be dissatisfied and blame them for want of se-
verity, who are continually insulting them to the utmost, and
tearing their honour to pieces by the most atrocious abuse at
times, not sparing the Queen herself? I come to the fact:
I find their present situation much more to be pitied than
envied; namely, having to serve a woman whose life is pre-
carious, who is without descendants, and whose successor, edu-
cated out of the kingdom, is so prejudiced in favour of their
bitterest enemies, that from day to day they must dread (even
supposing that in their hearts they are for the House of Ha-
nover) to see themselves exposed to the resentment of an im-
placable hatred, and made responsible for the misfortunes of
which their enemies have been for the most part the cause.
After all, what do you want them to do, even if they were all
equally opposed to the Pretender ? Are they to make war upon
the King of France and the Duke of Lorraine, in order to
have him sent further off, if they will not defer to the instances
which have been continually made on this subject? Do you
want them to prosecute the parsons who, out of their hatred
to the Whigs, preach in favour of the Pretender? Do you
wish for a second Sacheverel affair, to make yourselves the
laughing-stock of all Europe ? Vestigia terrent.
In truth, if the author was here and saw the continual diffi-
culties in which the intrigues of the most active party that
ever existed are continually placing the Ministry with regardSTETNGHENS TO 8CHULENBURG.
511
to home affairs, he would not be much surprised at the little
leisure they have for foreign affairs; he would find that chance
has a good deal more to do with many omissions than any-
thing else, and he would admit that the resentment shown
against certain persons was by no means for having spoken in
favour of the Protestant Succession, hut for having set them-
selves up as firebrands and done nothing less than sound the
tocsin. Quod si hie esses, aliud sentires.
After all, it is impossible that all these reasonings should
have escaped the great discernment of the author of the Me-
moir, since he himself winds up the matter in question by
saying, that it is right to advise the Court of Hanover to be on
good terms with the Queen I hope he will say as much with
respect to the Ministry, if he will only remember that, with-
out its assistance, it is morally impossible for France to bring
in the Pretender. As for myself I am very much at ease on
that score, if the good understanding in question be esta-
blished, knowing, beyond a doubt, that the Ministry in general
wants nothing else, as well as to renew the good understand-
ing with the Emperor and the Empire, not to speak of that of
the States-General.
These, Sir, are my poor opinions. If I have in many places
confined myself to general terms, it is because I thought it
dangerous to enter into particulars, contenting myself with hav-
ing done so in my private letters to you. I fear even that I
have said too much about the true situation of the Ministry;
but as, in my opinion, nothing can prove the necessity of the
good understanding in question more than showing what may
be naturally expected without it, I have thought it my duty to
speak as I have done; the more so, that I count upon your
making a good use of what I say. T hope to be able to tell
you more in my next letter, being in too great pain to do so at
present.
* There was an Address to this purpose in the House of Commons.512
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
198.] SCHULENBTJRG TO LEIBNITZ.
Embdeti, July ¥lth, 1714
Sir,
Not having had the pleasure of receiving any letter from
you by several posts, I believed you were on your road to
these quarters; but I am undeceived by yours of the 30th of
June. I do not think that the Electoral Prince will get his
father to consent to his entering the Council of State, though
he desires it ardently. I confess that the father treats his
son too harshly, in not choosing to gratify him in the slightest
of his wishes, particularly in regard to a regiment, and a few
thousand crowns a year addition to his income; but, on the
other hand, the son demeans himself in a way that his father
has just reason to complain of. He says, among other things,
that he dare not put him into the Council of War, knowing
of a certainty that he blabs everything to the women. Just
now they are on good terms, as I noted to you before, so that
it really depends only upon the Prince to make matters take
another course. I have had no letters from England for some
posts: I do not know.whether my correspondent is ill. Other
news say that Bolingbroke is strengthening himself by means
of the Jacobites; that his credit rises in proportion as that
of the Treasurer sinks. I grant that M. de Bothmer, who is
a man of merit and probity, and who is well qualified as a
negotiator, is the most proper person to send to England;
but they are prejudiced against him in that country. The
Queen and the Ministry detest him, and you know what the
result of that may be. The Minister himself, from what he
told me, is persuaded that, under the present circumstances,
he cannot do any good in that country* Kobethon is able;
but his violent passions and party-spirit sometimes make him
drive on the wrong side; he is hated and persecuted by the
Hanoverian Ministry, with the exception of Bernstorff, who
* Over this passage Leibnitz has written, “ Ceux qui sont contraires
a At. de Bothmar, ne le sont que par un mauvais prineipe, ainsi il ne
faut pas y avoir <5gard.”SCHULENBURG TO LEIBNITZ.
513
supports him. They report to me also that the Duke of Sa-
voy has taken it into his head to protest* against the Hano-
verian Succession in England, on the ground that his son is
the next heir, if the Prince of Wales is to be excluded. I
remember he often told me, that the Parliament had made
overtures to him of the inclination they felt for his line, and
that, in order to be successful, he had only to send his Prince
to England and have him brought up in the Anglican faith.
Mr. Hill was carrying on some negotiation on that subject
when I was at Turin. Strafford is still busy doing as much
mischief as he can; he attempted to embarrass the Spanish
Treaty by having the clause about the kingdom of Sicily in-
serted in it, which however was rejected; nevertheless this
Peace was signed at his house, in spite of the opposition of
the Dutch. He pretends now to the direction in the agree-
ment for the barrier. The Emperor has complained to the
Queen of the little respect which this man shows him, declar-
ing, at the same time, that he will never allow him to be pre-
sent where he, the Emperor, has anything to treat of. I am
surprised at the return of Joslinga, who is a man of merit,
and that they leave M. Buys alone at Paris: he is a good
talker, and a man of honour, but so full of himself, so pedan-
tic and extravagant, that any one who knows how to take him
by his weak side can lead him, and make him do anything he
pleases. The departure and journey of the King of Sweden
are spoken of very differently; some believe him to be with
Stanislaus, others think he is still at Demotica, with the in-
tention of going into Poland, in order to throw the affairs of
that country into confusion again. The King of Sicily will
be at this time setting out to return to his Italian States.
Goritz has left Berlin; and M. Bassewitz, the Envoy from
Holstein, has returned to that city from the Czar: he is said
to be spreading about very important reports respecting Go-
ritz, so that no one knows where it may end. They write to
* Interlined by Leibnitz : “ II l’a deja fait, quand le Hoy Guillaume
fit faire le premier acte pour la Succession. Le Koy y a este porte pour
se venger du Due, qui l’avoit abandonee un peu avant la Paix de
Eiswick.”
2 L514
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
me that the King of Prussia is extremely dissatisfied with
Goritz; nevertheless they fear the man at this Court, lest he
should play them some trick. I told you in one of my former
letters that they would not listen there to the proposals of
France, England, Sweden, and Holstein, hut that the whole
was referred to the Emperor; or they required that the Elec-
tor of Hanover should be persuaded to enter into the same
views with this Court, the Elector being determined to con-
form entirely to what his father-in-law should do. Our pri-
vate advices say that the Emperor has come to a good under-
standing with the French; that they mean to abrogate the
article in the Treaty of Utrecht by which Philip is excluded,
in order to remove the Duke of Orleans from the Succession
in case the Dauphin should die. Nothing will be done at
Baden, I am told, in favour of the Protestant religion; quite
the reverse: they want to form a league adverse to it among
the principal Catholic Powers. I know the Englishman Mid-
dleton very well; he is a young man who is seeking his for-
tune, as he says; he is steady; if there is anything secret in
his game, I know nothing of it. You will cut pretty much
the same figure as I did at Magdeburg among the troop of
debauchees whom you sometimes frequent at Vienna; how-
ever they are men of talents and of merit.
I am, Sir, etc. etc.,
ScHULENBURG.
M. Friesendorf, who is at Berlin, is going to Brunswick,
accredited on the part of the King his master, by which one
sees that Sweden begins to listen to reason. What say you
to the death of the Due de Berri ? The old gentleman will
be thrown into no little embarrassment by it; he would be
glad enough to have his grandson the King of Spain, with all
his lineage, back again in France. The Emperor and the Al-
lies would like to have the Duke of Orleans in Spain, where,
he would cut out a good deal of work for the French. Why
are not you and I younger? We might still witness many a
revolution.STEINGHENS TO SCHULENBURG.
515
199.] Stejnghens to Schulenburg.
Bath, July 24th, 1714.
If I had the Hanoverian Succession in these kingdoms less
at heart, I would have spared you the trouble of reading this,
and the annoyance of learning things which are incompatible
with our views, at any rate until my return to town. Do not
look for any order in my discourse, my heart is too full; and
I cannot refrain from telling you that, at the very moment
when we are working ourselves to death at everything (except
indeed consenting to the coming of the Prince, because abso-
lutely this is as yet out of season) to oblige and reassure the
House and Court of Hanover, this House seems to forget no-
thing which may chagrin and shock the Court of England, at
the same time that it raises an alarm about the Pretender. I
am not going to speak about the Elector’s choice of M. de
Bothmer, seeing that I have this moment myself been excu-
sing it, on the ground that, as this Minister was the most
within reach to pass into England, his E. H. thought it best
to prefer him to any one else, in order not to delay the duty
of the notification. What I allude to is the communication of
copies of letters which the Queen and her Prime Minister wrote
in the deepest confidence to the late Electress and to the
Electoral Prince, which letters are seen and cried about the
streets in print, to the great scandal and in despite of the
Court, and all those who are well-affectioned to the Hanove-
rian Succession, of whom there are a great number among the
Tories; meanwhile the Whigs laugh at them to their faces,
and speak with the utmost contempt of the Queen, for having
suffered herself to be duped by their importunities into setting
a price upon her brother’s head. I have reason to doubt that
they will not take for sterling coin the excuse that the Elector
had nothing to do with this communication, and that he
greatly disapproves of it, of which I myself am fully per-
suaded. If they expected to witness the resentment of his E.
H. against those of his Ministers who dared, unknown to him,
to take part in the affair of the Writ, although with his mo-
2 l 2516
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
tlier’s consent, do you believe; Sir, that it will be less expected
in the present case, even supposing tbe Prince to be concerned
in it, which I suppose he is not ? Do you believe that if, in-
stead of showing this resentment, his E. H. continues to
honour with his esteem those of his Ministers whom her Ma-
jesty’s Ministry look upon as the intimate friends and blind
instruments of the designs of their irreconcilable enemies,
that that is the way to gain the confidence of the Queen, her
Ministry, and the Hanoverian Tories? Do not tell me, if
you please, that it was not believed that these letters would
be divulged; for this is precisely the effect of not having the
exact knowledge of the country, and of the real intentions of
these folks who have spared no cost to gain their ends (wit-
ness the trick they played Prince Eugene the moment after
his departure), which are to prevent by any means the possi-
bility of a good understanding between the House of Hanover
and the party opposed to themselves, inasmuch as they think
that they have no other assurance of coming into power
themselves, to the entire exclusion of the said party. And do
not tell me either, what the same people no doubt would insi-
nuate, that after the price set upon the head of the Pretender,
that good understanding is a matter of indifference; for I
should reply, that the same Parliament which set a price upon
King Charles’s head in November, recalled him, unless I am
mistaken, in the following March; so that I conclude that we
must always keep our eyes open, and have a wary look after
those who may do mischief. As for the rest, you may count
upon my earliest answer to the prejudices of your friend’s last
memoir. Be kind enough to do as much upon the attachment
with which I am, etc. etc.,
Steinghens.
200.] Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to
De Bonneval.
Sir,
Antwerp, July 29, 1714, 0. S.
It was with a great deal of satisfaction that I received theDUCHESS OP MARLBOROUGH TO DE BONNEVAL. 517
favour of yours of the 30th of June, fc I must once more beg
of you to make my acknowledgements to the prince in the
best manner that you can; for I am very sure no body can
wish him more happinesse then I do of all sorts, nor bee with
more respect then I am, his humble Servant.
I was extreamly pleased to find that you had so much as a
thought of seeing England ■ if that should ever happen, I hope
it will bee before I die, that I may make you as welkome as
’tis possible, and in doing so, some amends for your sufferings
with us at Frankfort. The D. of Marlborough (who is much
your humble Servant) has taken his resolution to leave this
place for England: tho’ I cannot say there is such a change
there, as is raisonable to wish: however it will bee better to
pass the little time wee have left with our friends, and in good
trusts, then to bee like pilgriames as wee have been for almost
two yeares.
I am sure I need not give you an account of what has been
don lately concerning the proclamation against the . . . You
will be much puzled, I beleive, to find out the meaning of
such a thing from a Ministry and parliament, that have don
so much to advance the interest of that . . . and his Holi-
ness. All the good that I see by it, is, that it looks as if
there were realy differences among the Ministers, & that
they find the generality of the nation will not have the . . .
to be their king; which must fall very heavy upon them, when
it appears to the whole nation, that the peace is of no advan-
tage, but to particular people who have sold their country for
their own private gain. I beg your pardon for my polliticks,
as well as for all the trouble given you by
Your most faithfull humble Servant,
S: Marlborough.
I have had an account from England, that in the time of
the Queen’s great illnesse, the Ministers made bold to open
the instrument with the Regents names, which was in the
Chancellours hands, and had taken a private resolution to
seise them, in case the Queen had dyed. As new instruments518
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
are now going from Hannover, to bee exchanged for the old
ones, which are void upon the death of the Princesse Sophia,
they are extreamly embarassed, it being high treason to have
opened them. And it not being possible to seal them up
again in such a manner that it shall not appear; the Queen
has been so good as to promise that she will say she opened
this instrument with her own hands, in case there should hap-
pen any trouble upon it. However, for fear of the worst, My
lord Chancellour has privately taken out a pardon. This was
discovered by My lord Treasurer’s Friends, who was busy in
his own Office when hee thought the Queen would dye, and
not being guilty by the Law in that matter, not being pre-
sent, hee has thought fit to discover this in a private way, to
hurt my lord Bullingbrook and the Chancelour, who have
presumed to set up an interest against him.
I had a letter this moment from England, that gives an ac-
count that My lord Treasurer and My lord Bullingbrook are
at daggers drawing: but I fancy sometimes ’tis only like fen-
cers, to amuse the spectators; but I think a very short time
must shew whether they will patch up.
In the foregoing letters allusion has several times been
made to a Whig intrigue to bring over the Electoral
Prince, afterwards George II., to take his place in the
House of Lords as Duke of Cambridge. Several of the
steps connected with this attack upon the Queen are re-
corded in Macpherson. It is evident that the leaders of
the Whig party, and the party of the Electress in Hano-
ver, acted in concert, but that they were not cordially
supported by the Elector himself; he seems to have
been heartily sick of the troubles in which his new in-
heritance was likely to involve him, of the grasping ava-
rice and impudent profligacy of the English tatesmen,
and would, but for very shame, have been glad to washACHERLEY TO LEIBNITZ.
519
his hands of the whole business. I think it not at all
improbable that Roger Aclierley, Esq., barrister and
pamphleteer, was really the first person who advised the
moving the Writ, his correspondence with Leibnitz on
the subject commencing as early as the 25th of July,
1712, and continuing till the death of Queen Anne
made the intrigue unnecessary; at all events the way in
which he represents his share in it is amusing, and cha-
racteristic of the period. I am afraid that, like many
other good friends of the House of Hanover, he was
not rewarded in a manner proportioned to his own esti-
mate of his merits, and certainly between Leibnitz and
Bothmer he seems to have had some cause for com-
plaint; at any rate I cannot find that a plan he had
formed of turning Sir Isaac Newton out of his Mastership
of the Mint met with any success.
201.J Acuerley to Leibnitz.
London, 3 Aug., 1714.
May itt please yor Excellency,
This Reminds you of the many Letters and Schemes I have
troubled you with in relacon to ye Securing the peaceable Ac-
cession of our Illustrious House of Hanover to ye Throne of
Great Britain, which thoughts yor Excellency was pleased to
say were well accepted att that Court.
As to my last Project of his Royall Highnesse the Duke of
Cambridg’s Demanding his Writt of Sumons to the Pari iam*:
Tho’ Itt had not the wishd Effect, yett itt had rather a more
Effectual! Effect than was expected as appears in these parti-
culers.
1. Itt raisd a mighty fferment in the People and discoverd
their warm inclinacions to have the Duke amongst ’em, as th’
onely means to remoue their ffears.
2. Itt created such a jealousy amongst the Ministers that520
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
each suspected th’ other to have deserted him as if hee had
made private Applicacions for himselfe to his Electorall High-
nesse, And Each accused and bely’d th’ other to the Queen,
as the Adviser & contriver of the Demand, & that Embarassd
both her and themselues.
3. Itt rais’d an Excessive ffear and jealousy & Suspition in
the Queen, Lest Shee shou’d bee Abandon’d & forsaken, and
That joind to her ill habit of Body collaterally accelerated her
End & Death.
The Kings Matte thereupon hath in peace Ascended the
Throne of Great Britain. Your Excellency was pleased to
say That my Endeavoers shoud in a propper time bee remem-
bred.
The happy Day is come; His Electorall Highnesse is come
into his Kingdome. Itt is my Vnhappinesse not to Speak
ffrench, and his Excellency Baron Bothmer Speaks noe Eng-
lish ; soe that I cannot expect to doe any thing with him.
Itt hath been my ffortune for 4 years to bee mark’d out as
a Zealot for the House of Hanover, & as such to haue Suffered
with their other ffreinds.
Baron Bothmer is now Soe Surrounded by importunate
Pretenders to his Maties flavours, That I have little hopes that
any notice wil bee taken of mee : Therefore claiming the Be-
nefitt of yor Intimacions I humbly intreat you to write a par-
ticuler Letter to the King Recomending mee to his Mallcs Re-
membrance. What I have to ask is small, & will not occasion
either Expence or Vneasinesse, I hope yor Excellency will not
Esteem this Letter as troublesome or impertinent from
Yor most humble Serv1,
Roger Acherly.
I begg you to direct mee soe as I may apply to some prop-
per person to Effect my Small Affair which is only to have an
Office propper only for a Lawyer. Please to favoiu- mee with
a Line in ffrench Directed to mee in Bell Yard near Temple
Barr, London.
I am more and more informd & Satisfyed That the DemandACHERLEY TO LEIBNITZ.
521
of yc Writt was as bad as a Bomb thrown amongst the Queen
& her Ministers, and had the like Effect.
202.] Acherley to Leibnitz.
London, October \2th, 1714.
My Lord,
I most humbly thank your Excellency for the Favour of
your 2 letters, Th’ one of the ff- of September, and th’ other
of the 2d of October instant (viz. 21 September) 1714, with
the inclosed letter to the Baron d’ Botlimer, which I myselfe
delivered to him; I now trouble your Excellency, because I
find in yours of the 2d instant, these words:—
“ Mais je ne savois pas que vous avies conseille la demande
du Writt comme elle a este faite, sans ordre du Roy, et qu’on
m’a dit que sa Majeste n’en a pas ete entierement contente;
je ne saurois dire s’il sera bon ou non que vous vous fondies
lk-dessus aupres de ce Monarque, mais cela ne sauroit etre
desagreable a Monseigneur le Prince Royal.”
Now Sr with great submission, I think you rob yourselfe of
the honour you ought to have for your share in the matter of
the Writt. For you know very well the honour I assumed in
corresponding with the Ministers of the Illustrious House of
Hannover: in August and September, 1712, I laid before his
Electorall Highnesse my 2 first Memoirs, which were trans-
mitted by Doctor Brandshagen. Your Excellency was the first
Minister that wrote to mee from Hannover, in which you
were pleased to say that you had orders from his Electorall
Highnesse to tell mee that my Propositions were found rea-
sonable, and well grounded, and that suitable retumes should
bee made whenever an opportunity would permitt, and that I
was desired to proceede, etc.
After that I wrote a third Memoir and a letter to his Elec-
torall Highnesse, and Mr Brandshagen sent -’em all in a cover
to your Excellency, and they followed you to Vienna, from
whence you remitted ’em to Hannover : In answer I received522
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
a kind letter, as from his Electorall Highnesse, signed T: B.
which was by special order delivered to mee, by Monsieur
Kryneberg’s Secretary; And you were pleased in a letter from
Vienna to Mr Brandshagen, to assure mee that there was made
no small Consideration by the Elector and his Ministers of my
Thoughts.
Baron Bothmer in severall letters ordered Mr Brandshagen
to tell mee that my Propositions were highly esteemed att
Hannover.
The subject matter of all this Correspondence beeing my
Projections for Introducing a Prince of that Illustrious House
into this kingdom with honor and safety, To the intent to se-
cure their succession, which all men apprehended to bee then
in the utmost danger; Your Excellency knows how I pressed
his Electorall Highnesse to endeavour that the Article in the
treaty of Utrecht, touching the acknowledging the Hannover
Succession, might bee explained by declaring a Liberty to the
Princes of that House to reside in England; that their pre-
sence and possession might enable them to defend their right
in like manner as the Queene, in her speech, said, That the
French Princes to whome the succession of that Crowne be-
long’d would bee ready and powerfull enough to vindicate their
owne right; and for this purpose I humbly proposed that his
Electorall Highnesse would prevail on the Princesse Sophia to
demise or surrender her Title, to make the Elector the imme-
diate successor. But aU these my projects, (tho’ highly es-
teem’d) were not put in practise, Because wee had then a House
of Commons intirely influenced by the Ministry, who being
disaffected to the House of Hannover and their Allyes, made
all their Court to France. Things rested thus till Septr 1713,
when Doctor Brandshagen informed mee that your Excellency
desired to know whether I had any further Thoughts about
introducing here a Prince, etc.
Bee pleased now to observe that sometimes from weak Seedes
there happen great events. In my letter to your Excellency
dated Octobris 1713, 1 laid the whole scheme of introducing
a Prince, etc., and proposed my opinion as to the person, theACHERLEY TO LEIBNITZ.
5.23
time, and method of doing itt. As to the Person, itt ought not
to bee the Princesse Sophia, because of her Great Age; nor the
Elector, because hee was a Soveraigne Prince, and had great
Dominions of his owne to governe; hut that itt ought to bee
the Duke of Cambridge, because hee was a Duke and Peer of
Great Britain, and had a right to sitt and vote in Parliament.
As to the time; that the best time to attempt itt, would bee
about a week after the Queen had made her Speech to the
Parliament, that was then just chosen, for reasons I then sug-
gested : and as to the method; that the best way would hee,
to demand of the Queen by a petition, that the Duke of Cam-
bridg’s writt might bee sent by a propper Messenger to call
him to sitt and vote in that Parliament, and gave reasons for
the necessity and practicability of that Method.
Your Excellency by a letter in the French tongue dated att
Vienna V3 January, 171-f, informed mee that you had received
my letter of the 20th of October, 1713, and had communicated
my Thoughts to the Court of Hannover, where the same were
approved by the Elector and his Ministers.
By this correspondence with your Excellency Itt appeares,
That I advised the writt on the SO411 of October, 1713.
The Parliament was putt off from week to week till the
second of March, 17Hb att the meeting whereof the Queen
made a Speech full of bold and daring Expressions, pointed att
the House of Hannover.
From this time your Excellency’s remote situation at Vienna
made itt necessary that my future letters should goe directly
with speed to Hannover, and therefore I sent ’em all to Baron
Bothmer, to bee dispatched away to that Court.
I wrote a patheticall letter to Baron Bothmer, dated the 9th
of March, 17hl, and informed him of the contents of my letter
to your Excellency of the 20th of October, 1713, and of your
answer, and moreover argued the necessity of the Duke of
Cambridge’s petitioning the Queene for the writt, and sent him
the forme of such a Petition inclosed in that letter, and de-
sired him to transmitt the letter and petition to the Court
of Hanover.524
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Some few days after this, the Lord Treasurer (whome I
tooke to bee the cheife conspirator) made a motion in the
House of Lords for leave to bring in a Bill or Law to prevent
the introducing into this Kingdom any forreigne Troopes. This
motion alarmed mee and all the City, and therefore I wrote
another letter, dated the 19th March, 17}-!, more pressing than
the former, urging that the Conspirator by that motion had
laid the Ax to the root of the Succession ■ that the stroke was
levelled at the Elector, and in my opinion was an attack in
forme; and therefore necessity required the Duke of Cam-
bridge to hasten his petition and journey, and that nothing
but his presence could stay the tide.
I beleeve this letter precipitated the Demand of the Writt,
for on the 24th day after the date of this letter (viz* on the
12th of April, 1714) Baron Schiitz demanded the Writt of
Chancellor, which occasioned such universall joy on one side,
and such a consternation in the Ministry and the Pretender’s
party, as was never parallelled.
All these things are facts apparent; now I relate what I
partly know and partly am informed, viz*:
That the Court of Hanover sent to Baron Schiitz a Petition
from the Duke of Cambridge to the Queene, praying her to
grant him his Writt to call him to sitt in Parliament; and
ordered him to present the Petition to the Queene, which was
modelled according to my advice.
That Baron Schiitz shewed the Petition to the Prime Mi-
nister, (The Treasurer) and desired to bee introduced to the
Queene to deliver itt to her.
That this Prime Minister imediately contrived a Trick to
frustrate the effect of the Writt, and represented to Baron
Schiitz, That it was improper to trouble the Queene with the
Petition in such an extraordinary manner, Because Sliee had
already done all that was necessary on her part, by issuing out
her proclamation under the Great Seale, to call a Parliament,
and had thereby ordered the Chancellor to make and send
Writts to every Nobleman, and that hee had soe done, and that
this demand (being a matter of ordinary Course) Hee, the PrimeACHERLEY TO LEIBNITZ.
525
Minister, advised Mr Sehiitz to goe to the Chancellor and
demand the Writt.
ThatMr Sehiitz apprehending himself to bee rightly advised,
went imediately to the Chancellor and demanded the Writt,
which putt the Chancellor into a terrible disorder and doubt
how to behave himselfe.
That in the meane time the Prime Minister went to the
Queene, and incensed her against the House of Hannover, as
if they were guilty of the greatest rudenesse and insolence to-
wards her, for demanding the Writt of the Chancellor, without
first breaking the designe to the Queene.
That the Queene tooke occasion from that Pretence to for-
bid Baron Sehiitz to appear att Court: That when Baron
Sehiitz came to Hanover, hee was reprimanded for spoiling
the wholl scheme by demanding the Writt of the Chancellor,
instead of delivering the Petition to the Queene as hee was
ordered.
That Baron Sehiitz excused himselfe by insisting that hee
went about to deliver the petition to the Queene, and was di-
verted and advised by the Prime Minister, not to doe itt, but
to demand the Writt of the Chancellor; and if there were a
fault, itt ought to be charged on the Treasurer.
That notice of this Transaction being sent by Mr Tlio. Har-
ley to London, Mr Bromley, Secretary of State, (who probably
knew nothing of the Petition,) did, in the House of Commons,
positively declare, That his Electorall Highnesse had disowned
that hee ever gave any orders to Baron Sehiitz, to demand the
Writt of the Chancellor.
This dash’d downe the Wliiggs, and elevated the Toryes,
whoe there vpon grew insolent, and the Hanoverian party
were depressed into the lowest humiliation and disappoint-
ment.
That the Ministers there vpon tooke new courage; and
framed those vnaccountable letters that were sent to Hanover
to abuse and insult the wholl family of Princes of the Blood
Roy all.
That the Prime Minister having putt a lye into the mouth526
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
of the Expresse that carryed those letters, Mr Thomas Harley,
to th’ intent to give the Expresse time to divulge itt, kept the
letters (after hee received ’em) att least 24 hours, in his cus-
tody, during which time the Expresse, (with the vtmost con-
fidence and perseverance,) published the falshood, viz*, That
hee had brought letters to invite the Prince into England, and
that this Report caused Transports of Joy att the Court of
Hanover.
That when the letters came to be opened and read, the Bit-
ternesse of ’em caused such Resentments and Convulsions in
her Royall Highnesse the Princesse Sophia that shee tooke to
her Bed that aftemoone and dyed the next day.
That his Electorall Highnesse in justification of himselfe
wrote a Letter to the Queene, wherein hee expostulated with
her, why shee would charge him with Rudenesse about not
broaching to her the matter of the Writt, when itt was her
owne Prime Minister, the Treasurer, that advised Schiitz to
demand the Writt of the Chancellor.
That when the Queene received this letter, shee comuni-
cated itt to Bolingbroke and the Chancellor, etc., who there
vpon concluded that the Treasurer had betrayed ’em to the
House of Hanover, and was really in the bottome of the Advice
to demand the Writt, in case the fact alledged in the Elector’s
letter were true; to determine which, the Treasurer was sent
for, and the Queene, holding the Elector’s letter open in her
hand, told him that the Elector had charged him with advising
the demand of the Writt of the Chancellor, and demanded to
know whether hee did soe or not.
That the Treasurer being astonished and conscious to him-
selfe, confessed hee had soe done, and endeavoured to give itt
very artfull turns.
That from that moment, the Queene resolved to demolish
the Treasurer.
That the Treasurer neverthelesse fancyed that hee had merited
of the Hanover family, (tho’ in fact hee endeavoured to elude
the force of the Writt,) omitted nothing that might look like
magnanimity, and expostulated with the Queene herself, andACHERLEY TO LEIBNITZ.
527
insulted his fellow ministers, and raised such a commotion att
Court, that the Queene was vexed and frighted, and that putt
a stop to her gouty humours, that were att that time begin-
ning to disperse into her hands and feet, and turn’d ’em upp
into her head, and killed her as effectually and almost as sud-
denly as if shee had been shott with a Pistoll.
Upon this a glorious scene was opened; for whereas my de-
signe reached no further than to introduce the Duke of Cam-
bridge, in order by ordinary meanes to secure the Elector’s
peaceable accession to the Crowne in some remote distance of
time, Providence turned the demand of the Writt a better
way, and ordered itt soe, that instead of introducing the Duke
of Cambridge, itt has been the means of his Majesty’s speedy,
sudden, and unexpected ascending the throne of a rich, power-
full and glorious kingdome.
These events are soe surprizing and glorious, that they seem
even in our owne eyes, fabulous and not reall; The wholl body
of the King’s friends, (except myselfe,) enjoy the beneficiall
influences of his Power, and of his kindnesse for sendees done
him. One woud think that when my services have been soe
advantagious to the wholl Royall family and the wholl King-
dom, and happened for the best, soe far beyond all human ex-
pectation, that one might modestly expect such favours as
woud bear some proportion to the importance of the service,
and the rather, because if I had been discovered, I had been
sacrificed to the rage of the Pretender’s Party.
My vnhappinesse is, that I laid the scheme between your
Excellency and Baron Bothmer. The beginning was laid with
your Excellency, but the finishing part was transacted with
Baron Bothmer ; hee knows not the beginning of my advice,
neither does your Excellency know the finishing part of itt;
soe that between both, I am in danger of being not esteemed,
(tho’ I really was) the adviser of the Writt.
I depend, that in justice to yourselfe as well as to mee, You
will please (as I doe intreat you) to write mee a testimonial of
the matters, that I advised in my letter to you of the 20th of
October 1713, for in that letter was specifyed my first advice528
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
to demand the Writt of summons for the Duke of Cambridge,
And that advice was given vpon your inquiring which was the
best method of introducing into England a Prince of that
Illustrious family.
I humbly intreate your Pardon to him Who with all imagi-
nable Deference is
My Lord,
Your Excellencies most obedient humble Servant,
Roger Acherley.
Baron Schiitz being here, received all his orders from Hano-
ver ; Itts improbable hee shoud know whoe was the Adviser
of the Writt.
203.] Leibnitz to the Princess of Wales. '
Hanover, ce 10 de May, 1715.
Madame,
Ce que Y. A. R. m’a fait dire par MUe de Pelniz peut passer
pour une grace tres insigne, ou pour une menace tres grande,
car ce n’est qu’ii condition qu’Elle obtienne du Roy la charge
que je demande, qu’Elle me fait esperer de pouvoir revoir un
jour ses pretieux caracteres addresses ii moy-meme. Mais je
veux le tourner du cote de l’esperance;
Speranza,
Speranza non laaciare, ni abandonne il cor.
Elle est tousjours plus agreable que la crainte; et j’en remercie
V. A. R. de tout mon cceur. Sa bonte me rendra le hienfait
du Roy encore plus souhaitable, et me fera travailler plus ar-
demment pour le meriter. II est vray que ce qui me fait
ambitionner le poste en question, est en bonne partie le point
d’honneur. Je ne voudrois ceder en rien il un certain Antago-
niste que les Anglois m’ont mis en tete. Y. A. R. saura peut-
etre que e’est le Chevalier Newton, qui a une pension du Roy,
parce qu’ii a l’inspection sur la Monnoye. Lorsque la courLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OP WALES.
529
d’Hanover n’etoit pas trop bien avec celle d’Angleterre, pen-
dant le regne dn dernier Ministere, quelques-uns crurent que
le temps lenr etoit favorable pour m’attaquer, et me disputer
l’honneur d’une invention qu’on m’attribue depuis l’an 1684.
Un journaliste Hollandois, ou plus tost Franfois, ecrivant
en Hollande, dit lk-dessus, qu’il sembloit que ce n’etoit pas une
querelle entre Mr Newton et moy, mais entre l’AUemagne et
l’Angleterre. Mais un savant Homme m’ecrivit d’Angleterre,
que l’esprit de quelques Rigides peu favorables au parti d’Ha-
nover, tant k Cambridge (d’ou M. Newton est venu a Londres)
qu’k Oxford (ou se trouvent ses seconds), y avoit beaucoup
de part. J’ose dire que si le Roy m’egaloit pour le moins
a M. Newton k tous egards (comme un de ses plus anciens
serviteurs lepeut esperer), que dans ces circonstances, ce seroit
faire honncur k Hanover et k Allemagne en ma personne; et
la qualite d’Historien, ou je pretends m’etre distingue, en
fournit une belle occasion.
Je n’ay pas eu le loisir de repondre k M. Newton et k ses
seconds, qui sont venus k la charge il y a un an ou environ;
mais d’autreshabiles gens, meme en France eten Suisse, l’ont
fait pour moy. II est vray que des amis me pressent d’ex-
aminer par moy-meme la pliilosophie de M. Newton, qui est
un peu extraordinaire. II pretend qu’un corps attire Fautre k
quelque distance que ce soit, et qu’un grain de sable chez nous
exerce une force attractive jusques sur le soleil, sans aucun
milieu ni moyen. Apres cela, comment ses sectateurs vou-
dront-ils nier que par la toute-puissance de Dieu nous pouvons
avoir participation du corps et du sang de Jesus-Christ, sans
aucun empechement des distances ? C’est un bon moyen de
les embarrasser,—des gens, qui par un esprit d’animosite contre
la Maison d’Hanover, s’emancipent maintenant plusque jamais
de parler contre nostre Religion de la Confession d’Augsbourg,
comme si notre Realite Eucharistique etoit absurde. Pour moy,
je crois qu’il faut reserver une operation extraordinaire et mi-
raculeuse en effect pour les Mysteres divins, et ne les point
faire entrer dans l’explication des choses naturelles. Ainsi mes
Antagonistes me donnent asses de prise, mais je n’ay point le
2 M530
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
loysir maintenant de me servir de mes avantages : j’aime mieux
de satisfaire au Roy, en donnant mes Annales, et Sa Majeste
pourra mieux refuter ces gens que moy, en me traitant a l’egal
de M. le Chevalier Newton; ce qui piquera assurement ces
Messieurs, peu amis d’Hanover. Mais quantite d’honnetes et
d’habiles gens en Angleterre en seront bien aises, et il y en
a asses qui me font l’honneur de m’estimer.
Je suis avec devotion, Madame, etc.,
Leibnitz.
P.S.—J’admire que Y. A. R. paroist avoir dejii trouue le
foible de M. Locke. Sonliure sur l’entendement contient quel-
ques bonnes ckoses, mais asses minces, et il y en a beaucoup
qui n’ont aucune solidite. Je le trouue aussi un peu ennuy-
eux, et il s’en faut beaucoup qu’il aille au fond des ckoses. Ce
sont souuent des subtilites qui ne font qu’effleurer. Son amie,
Madame Masham, fille du celebre M. Cudworth, etoit ma cor-
respondante. Elle mouroit un peu apres luy. Je trouuay
bien du merite a cette dame; mais M. Locke se trouua un
peu moins pkilosoplie que je n’avois cru. J’auois fait quelques
remarques sur son liure. Il s’en filch a; je ne l’ay pas appris
que par un Recueil de ses Posthumes, ou elles se trouuent in-
serees, et ou il en parle auec mepris, dans une lettre a un savant
il Dublin nomme M. Molineux. Mais tout le monde n’est
pas de son avis, et une personne capable d’en juger dit que ce
qu’il y a de meilleur dans ce Recueil sont mes objections. Son
mepris venoit apparemment de ce que mes sentimens sont dia-
metralement opposes aux siens, sur des grands articles; et il
ne me connoissoit pas asses, ni mes raisons. Il paroist que
selon luy tout est corporel, que la matiere est capable de penser,
et choses semblables, qui ruinent la religion. Ces Messieurs
s’imaginent qu’on ne sauroit avoir 1’esprit fort ny solide, sans
etre de leur sentiment.
Si Y. A. R. jette les yeux sur la seconde edition des Carac-
teristiques de Mylord Shafsbury (mort a Naples il y a deux
ans ou environ), Elle y trouuera quelque chose de moy: au
moins si l’on a suivi son intention, et si M. Coste a pu tenirTHE PRINCESS OF WALES TO LEIBNITZ.
531
parole, qui etoit son correspondent, et gouvernenr (je crois)
de son fils. Je fis quelques remarques sur l’ouvrage de ce My-
lord, qui est profond en effect, ct dont il m’avoit fait present
par M. Coste. 11 trouua mes remarques si it son gre (quoi-
qu’il y en eut oil je n’etois pas de son sentiment) qu’il voulut
qu’elles fussent jointes ft la Seconde Edition de son ouurage.
II etoit fils du celebre Chancelier Shafsbury. Je suis fitch e de
sa mort, et je crois qu’il auroit contente Y. A. R. II avoit
ete Locciste au commencement, mais dans le progres de ses
meditations il s’etoit approche de mes sentimens, sans les savoir.
Je ne say si M. Coste a eu l’honneur d’etre remarque de V. A. R.
it Hanover. Il y avoit ete avec un jeune Anglois. Il est Fran-
cis Reforme. C’est luy qui a traduit en Francois l’ouurage
de M. Locke, mais je crois que V. A. R. le lit en Anglois.
204.] Caroline, Princess of Wales, to Leibnitz.
St. James, le Y 9ber, 1715.
Douvien que vous croie, Monsieur, que je puise oubliger vn
home telle que vous ? et meme toute la tere m’anferais resou-
venir. Jispere que quand vous verais le Roy, qu’il vous con-
dantera, et je ne toute pas qu’il aura lieux de lesttre de vous.
Je n’ay point estte charme de lexperimant du colonelle becker;
la chose, selon moy, ett impratiquable. Hier nous avons veu
d’une autre espesse, qui na’pas plus reusi; c’estoit de pouvoir
preuller vn veseau de loin; je ne scais dons rien le preuit que
Ion avoulu preuller S* James, avec le Roy et toute sa familge;
j’avoue que je suis des incredulle. Je vous ayee beaucoup
d’oblication des soins que vous me marquee dans votre lettre;
je dois rander jusdice au femes et dames angloise qui sont
alantour de moy, quelle me servee avec toute ladantion du
monde. J’ay parlais ancore aujourdehuis avec L’Eveque de
lincolme, pour la tratuction de votre theodice; il ny apersone
capable de sela, a ce quil m’assure, que le docteur clerque, don
je vous ayee anvoiyie des livres par onhausen. Ce meme home
et amie indime du chevalie nutbon, et je ne crois pas la chose
2 it 2532
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
en fort bone mains. J’espere que la tracdestion de pope que
ji vous ayes ausy anvoiyee vous fera tout a fait decider pour
le merite du bonhome homer; je souhaiteray avec vous que
Ion peu descbifrere les voiages d’ulisce. II yades persone icy
qui crois que tout se livre et plus to vne moralle que des voi-
ages. II me samble que lamour de la paterie du Suedois luy
a fait mestre les chants elicien au son peais; il me samble que
c’estois plus tost c’est endroit ou il faisoit le saquerifice d’un
bouque noire au anfere, apres quoy il vit les ame, et. sy je ne
me trompe, sa mere. Je n’ay pas veu adisson, de quelque se-
maine; sa tragity est tres belles, et caton luy meme ne se plain-
deray pas des santimant noble et dinge d’un home come luy
qu’il luy a done. Je n’ay pas veu la francoise. Falaiseau, don
vous voulee savoir des nouvelles, a encore une petite pansion du
due de Montecu; on ne parle pas avec trop d’avantage de luy.
Il n’a pas paru icy depuis mon arivee; les raisons de proul-
gerie avec le feu Due, son bienfaitteur, on estte cause par la-
mour que falaiseau avee pour la C. de Santwitz, et don le Due
aystte chalou. Je vous anvois des ver que Madame ma anvoiye
et qui doivee estter fort louee an france. Je vous avoue mon
mauvais gou, quelle ne me plaise pas, Vous aurais remarque
dans le raport contre le dernier minister que le feu Ld Boulin-
brouck dit que les francois sont ausy mechant poette que les
anglois politicien. Je suis pourtant fort pour ceu de cornelle,
Racine, beaulau, Renie; il se peut que ne possitan pas sy bien
la langue anglois que la francoise, jadmire plus se que j’antan.
Je vous dire un mot de nos nouvelles, qui sont que Mr le due
dorleans a ranvoiye le pretandan an lorene, que les rebelle
sur les frondier d’angueltere se sont proulge, que le general
[Cusbert?] les a dispersee, et qu’il va joinder le due Dargeile
pour finir lafaire. Les troup holandaise sont adandu a tout
moment, le vean estant tres bon. Le peais de Bremen et fort
apropo, et la comparaisson que vous avez fait dans la lettre de
la c. de p. des chiens de Brusselle et selon moy parfaite; elle
a fait rire le Roy, qui je l’ais dit, Jespere que vous aurais tou-
jours sujett destre condand et je souhaite dy pouvoir contripuer.
Caroline.THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO LEIBNITZ.
533
Apres avoir leu le sonet, vouterais vous lanvoiyer a M'1
Pelnitz ?
205.] Caroline, Princess op Wales, to Leibnitz.
St. James, le -j-f 9hre, 1715.
[After stating the steps she had taken on his behalf with
George I. to obtain payment of his arrears of salary, to which
she considers him justly entitled, and which she now hopes
are in a fair way of being settled, she continues:] Vous savez
que je ne suis geure jesuvite. II faut leur rander justice, puisque
ausy bein il lont rarement; il me samble que ce qu’il croi de
la graces et plus raisonable et plus convenable a dieu. Jespere
que vous aurais les livers que je vous aye anvoiyee. Mande
moy, je vous prie, ce que vous pances sur les ouvrages du D.
glerck, qui, selon moy, on beaucoup de bon, bien que je ne
luis trouvez pas la deodiscee. Je suis fache que vos douceur
finisse trop tot; il n’y a rien qui puisse excuser d’aimer a etter
flader que de l’estre d’un home come vous. Jaime les profete
qui predisce tans de chose pour lagrandissement de notre fa-
mille; permette moy destre fache qu’vne home come vous
ayez ette vn moment sans savoir ce qu’il disoit. Le Roy a
pareu ettre aissez que vous fuciee contan du manifeste; nous
panson fort serieusement il faire tradevuire votre deodise, mais
nous cheron un bon traducteur. D. Glerck et trop oposee a
vos opinnion pour le faire; sans contredit il serait le plus pro-
per de tous; il et trop de lopinion de Sr Eizack newton, et je
suis moy meme an dispute avec luy. J’implore votre secour;
il dore la pillulle et ne veut avouer tout il fait que Mr newton
ayee les santiment que vous luy donne, mes an efait vous ve-
rais par le papie sy joint que sest la meme chose. Je ne puis
jamais croire que ce qui et convenable il la perfection de dieu.
Je la trouvez beaucoup plus parfait dans vos opinion, que dans
celle de M1' newton; ou effectivement dieu doit esttre toujours
presans pour raquemoder la machine, parcequ’il ne la peu faire
des le com an cement. Dr Glerck ny newton ne se veulle dire534
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
de la Secte de M1' locke, mais je ne puis ny ne veut esttre de
la leur. II on vne autre nossion sur lame; il disee qu’il ne
crois pas, mais que Dieu peut aneantir lame, come vous le
verais ausy icy. J’ay toute une autre opinion; je crois que
Dieu les a fait immortelle, et je tire sela de la Se Ecriture, ou
il dit qu’il fera l’home selon son image. C’est image estte
surement lame, puisque notre pauver corps, tout parfait qu’on
nous le veut faire acroire, n’aurait peu alttere (?); ainsy c’est
ame et immortelle et selon 1’image de dieu. Je ne puis done
croire que Dieu ne la puisse anneantire, tout come il ne peut
faire que ce que je tien dans ma main soit plus grande qu’elle;
ensy je crois la meme chose de lame. Je vous prie de me dire
vos santimentla decus. Jespere de n’ecrire pas a vne Eveque;
einsy je vais plus loin, et dis que je suis persuadee que c’est
vne pardit de cestte perfection divine; je crain que nous ne
serons pas tacord. Je vous prei de reponder au papie et de
me monderer mes erreur, que je quiterais avec beaucoup de
plaisir, et de deferance pour vn home du merite du grand
Monsieur L’Ebeniz.
Caroline.
206.] The Princess of Wales to Leibnitz.
St. James, le December, 1715.
J’ay eu vn sy grand Rume que je n’ay peu vous repondre,
Monsieur. Je suis bien aise que mes livers on ette agreable-
ment receu de vous. vous trouverais dans D : Thilonsoon beau-
coup de raport avec vos opinions, que vous nous avez sy ad-
mirablement marque dans votre deotisee. J’espere que vos
soubait seron exhaucee, et qu’a lavenir nous n’adanteron plus
parller de repellion dans c’est ille. Madame ne s’est pas con-
tande de vous dire ces santimens; elle me les a ecrite avec la
mesme franchise an dissun mille bien du feu due Dormunt, ce
qui ma porte de luy anvoiyer an francois le Raporte de la co-
mitee Segrette, ou elle trouuera le caractere de c’est honest
home, avec les santiment de Mr torcy sur la renunciassion
du Roy d’Espanye a la courone de france. J’espere qu’elleTHE PRINCESS OF WALES TO LEIBNITZ.
535
le fera lire h M1 le Regent; je l’ay done au comte de Salmaire
pom- le luy randre. Je vous ranvois me reponce a votre papie;
je conservez avec tous le soins du monde les reponce de codes
et d’autre. Je ne Scais sy la prevantion que i’ay pour votre
merite me rand parcialle, mais je drouvez tous replique, plus
tot des mot sans qu’on les puisse nomer des replique. Vous
ne vous ete point trompe h lodeur des reponce; elles ne sont
pas ecrit sans lavie du Chev: Neuthon, que ie vousderais ra-
comode avec vous. Je ne scais sy vous y voulez consantir,
mais l’abbe condy et moy nous nous avons erigee an midya-
teurs, et il serait a plaindre que deu aussy grands homes que
vous et luy fussie desvny pour des mesandanties. Je vous
remercy de la connoissance de l’abee, qui, at ceque londit, et
tres savant; cet de quoy je ne puis juger, mais je luy trouuez
de l’Esprit et vn grand Estime pour vous. Je n’ay peu mam-
pecher de dire au Docteur Glerck que votre opinion me pa-
raissait la plus convenable a la perfection de dieu, et que toute
philosophic qui m’anvoulet Eloinger, me paressoit inparfait,
puisque Selon moy elle estte fait ou devoit estre recherche
pour nous tranquilliser et fortifier conter nous meme et de
tout ce qui nous hurde hor’ de nous, que je ne croiet pas quelle
pouroit faire c’est effait sy elle nous monderait ^imperfection
de dieu. II ma fort Ion terns parlle pour me faire de son opi-
nion, et il y a perdu son ladin; je vous prie dy repondre. Vous
saurais que mon bon ami L’Evesque de lincolne et Archeveque
de canterbury, ce qui ma estte un sansible plaisir, non seul-
ment par raport aluy, mais davoir un home de son merite h
la D’ette de nos Eglise protestande. Il ma parlle aujour de
huy de votre admirable deodisee, et d’aper apres que Son in-
stallassion sera fait nous parleron a la faire traduire. Je suis
doute glorieuse d’avoir les meme santiment avec se grand
horns, qui trouuez que plus on relie seliver plus on le trouuez
incomparable. Le gout que jay pour se liver me fait souvenir
de L’Evesque de Spieu, qui dissoit aime estter ademire dans
la musique par les plus grand ingoran. Je me fladee que vous
aurais le meme santiment; ensy vous devrez ettre tres con-
dans destre admires par vne aussy grande ingorande que moy.536
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Mais la verite frape les ingoran come le plus sayan, et ces cc
que j’ay prie la liberdee de dire a feu Mad. l’Electrice, qui
pretandes ue le pouvoir condantre. Je crois que l’on donuera
quelque ordre a hanovres pour votre argeant; du moins jy fait
de mon mieux, et le ferais toujours ou il sagira de vous faire
plaisir.
Caroline.
207.] Leibnitz to the Princess of Wales.
Hanover, 11 Sept. 1716.
Madame,
Je suis de retour de Brousvic depuis quelques jours, ou j’ay
fait uu peu ma cour vers la fin de la foire; et je me suis donne
1’honneur d’en ecrire it Yotre Altesse Royale, et de luy envoyer
la relation de Mgr. le Prince de Beveren, que Mgr. le Due
Regent me donna luy-meme pour cet effect. J’ay ete aussi
quelques fois cbez Madame la Princesse de Beveren, soeur de
l’Imperatrice; et je trouve cette Princesse aussi heureuse que
sa Soeur, it cela pres que son mari s’expose d’avantage mainte-
nant: il est vray que l’Empereur ne l’a pas fait moins. On
espere que Temeswar ne tiendra pas longtemps ; et quelques-
uns se flattent qu’on pourra encore assieger Belgrade. Mais si
l’on avoit eu ce dessein, je crois qu’on auroit commence par
Belgrade. Cependant si Temeswar se rendoit bientot, et si
la saison continuoit d’etre favorable, peut-etre pourroit-on se
resoudre encor au second siege, mais qui deviendra sans doute
plus difficile par le delay.
Les nouvelles de Corfou sont asses variables. Les freres et
sceurs out eu grand sujet de craindre pour le General Scbulen-
bourg. Cependant on croit maintenant que la ville tenoit
encore bon, et qu’il avoit la mer fibre pour recevoir du secours,
et pour pouvoir sortir au besoin. On espere meme qu’a I’ar-
rivee des vaisseaux Espagnols et Portugais, les Venitiens pour-
ront etre en etat d’attaquer avec succes la flotte Turque, et
obliger ces barbares de quitter l’isle. J’ay vu it Bronsvic un
autre General Schulenbourg, qui est au Service du Roy de
Sicile, et qui paroissoit craindre pour Corfou : mais il y a deLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
537
l’apparence que la porte Ottomane, ayant appris le grande de-
faite de Peterwardein, rappellera les troupes debarquees dans
l’isle de Corfou, pour les employer a mieux couvrir ses pro-
pres etats menaces par les imperiaux. Yotre Altesse Roy ale
aura sans doute este informee des etranges deportemens du
Marquis de Langallerie, que j’ay connu a Berlin, ou il me parut
asses raisonnable; mais les malheurs luy ont toume la tete.
On m’ecrit de Vienne qu’ayant ete interroge devant les Com-
missaires de l’Empereur, il a avoue d’abord son traite avec le
Turc, mais il a adjoute qu’il n’y avoit point eu de guerre alors
entre PEmpereur et les Ottomans, et qu’il avoit eu sujet de
croire qu’il n’y en auroit point; que depuis qu’il etoit sorti
du service de France, il n’avoit jamais eu engagement avec des
ennemis de Sa Majeste Imperiale; que son dessein avoit ete
de faire la guerre au Pape, comme a un ennemi de Jesus-
Christ, de livrer le Pape aux Turcs, et la ville de Rome a
PEmpereur; que les Turcs luy ayoient promis en echange
un royaume dans quelque isle de la Mediterranee, et que
l’ecbange d’un pretre contre un royaume n’auroit point ete
mauvais. Les Commissaires ont eu de la peine a s’empecher de
rire. Quelques-uns disent que le pretendu Prince de Linange,
qui est aussi arrive a Vienne, est un fils nature! d’un Comte
de Linange; d’autres pretendent qu’il est gentilhomme de
Poitou, et qu’apres avoir fait mille fourberies en France, il est
venu en Hollande, se disant premierement Prince depute des
pirates de Madagascar, qui trancbent de Souverains dans cette
grande isle; et puis il a voulu faire le Messie, ou du moins le
precurseur du Messie des Juifs, et a trouve des fous qui luy
ont donne de l’argent. On croit done qu’il y a de la malice
dans son fait, mais de la folie dans celuy du Marquis.
Le Roy a trouve un Successeur du Baron de la Hontan,
mais d’une autre espece, e’est le Comte de Brandebourg. On
dit qu’il est d’une bonne famille de Luxembourg, et que s’etant
fait Capucin dans sa jeunesse, il est parvenu jusqu’ft etre con-
fesseur de la Reine Douairiere d’Espagne. Il m’a raconte luy-
meme, qu’etant ami du Comte de Melgar, Amirante de Cas-
tille, qu’on voulu [t] attirer au Service Bourbon, sous pretexte538
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
de l’envoyer Ambassadeur en France, mais dans le dessein de
le mettre en prison, il luy ecrivit une lettre pour l’en avertir;
et que cette lettre estant tombee enfin entre les mains du parti
du Due d’Anjou, il fut pris prisonnier et mene en France.
Je me souviens que la gazette a parle d’un Capucin mis en
prison pour affaires d’etat. Il est reste dans la Bastille, jus-
qu’h la paix, et alors il a ete relache. Mais depuis, etant des-
accoutume de la maniere de vivre Capucine, il a quitte la re-
ligion Romaine avec le froc, et Madame de Kielmansek luy a
obtenu une pension du Roy. Maintenant il est souvent it la
table de sa Majeste; et comme luy et l’Abbe Bouquoy out ete
compagnons de Bastille, j’espere qu’ils s’accorderont mieux
que l’Abbe et le Baron. S’il luy etoit permis, depuis qu’il a
quitte le metier, de rompre le sceau de la confession, il nous
pourroit dire si la Reine d’Espagne n’a pas ete tentee d’epar-
gner une grande guerre a l’Europe, par un peccadillo, comme
quelques-uns le voudroient peut-etre appeler.
Je suis fort oblige a Y. A. Royale de la permission qu’elle
a donnee de luy dedier la traduction de la ‘ Theodicee,’ et de
parler dans la dedicace de l’approbation qu’Elle a donnee il ce
dessein. Je ne connois pas encor la personne qui l’a entrepris,
mais je soubaite qu’elle ecrive en bon style Anglois, qui puisse
avoir 1’approbation des connoissanccs; car les Anglois sont
fort delicats, mime par rapport au style, et ils ont raison; car
cette delicatesse contribue beaucoup a faire exprimer nette-
ment et agreablement les pensees. Je ne saurois juger de
1’elegance Angloise, mais il me semble que je puis juger au
moins de la nettete des expressions. M. Clarke n’en manque
pas assurement, mais nous verrons bientot, si elle est accom-
pagnee de sincerite, et s’il est homme k donner les mains a la
verite : cela luy feroit plus d’honneur sans doute, que les de-
tours qu’il pourroit prendre pour s’en exemter. S’il continue
a me disputer le grand principe, Que rien n’arrive sans qu’il y
ait une raison suffisante pourquoy il arrive, et pourquoy ainsi,
plustdt qu’autrement, et s’il pretend encore que quelque chose
peut arriver par un mere will of God, sans aucun motif; senti-
ment refute parfaitement dans la Theodicee, et encore dansLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
539
mon dernier ecritj il faudral’abandonner a son sens, ou plus-
tost a son obstination, car il est difficile que dans les fonds
de Tame il n’en soit touche: mais je crois que le public ne l’en
tiendra point quitte. Cependant j’espere encore le meilleur,
surtout puisque le tout s’agit sous les yeux de Yotre Altesse
Royale, qu’il n’est pas aise de tromper. Au reste, je suis avec
devotion,
Madame, de Votre Altesse Royale
Le tres soumis et tres obeissant Serviteur,
Leibnitz.
P.S.—Les Anglois admirent Monseigneur le Due de Cor-
nouaille; ils soubaiteroient seulement qu’il eut aupres de luy
quelque page ou valet Anglois choisi.
208.] SCHULENBURG TO LeIBNITZ.
Corfu, ce 12 de Sept., 1716.
Monsieur,
J’ai eu le plaisir de recevoir la lettre que vous aves eu la
bonte de m’ecrire en dernier lieu de Hannovre du 22 de Juin.
Je ne sais ou elle a ete si long temps en cliemin. Vous
sgaurez sans doute ce qui s’est passe icy; il m’est impossible
de vous en faire un detail exact, vous sgaurez cependant un
jour de quelle maniere je me suis pris aux affaires depuis que
je suis icy au Levant. J’ai ete embarasse et quasi tous les
jours aux mains avec les Musulmans, qui ont eu en tete de
m’emporter, sans se donner la peine de la faire par les forma-
lites ordinaires, par un assaut general; ils y ont ete bien pres.
Ces gens sont venus malgre un feu d’enfer de mines, fougades,
et tonneaux de poudre enterres, les uns et les autres etant
charges de pierres, avec une intrepidite eomme des enrages,
se rendre maitre de 2 ouvrages du chemin couvert, du fosse,
des caponieres, qui le defendaient, et de quelques poternes, s’en-
terrant dans la plupart de places d’armes; cependant avec
l’assistence de Dieu, et par une espece de miracle, je les ai re-540
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
chasses. On en a tue bon nombre, et on leur a pris bien des
drapeaux. L’attaque de ces gens-l;\ est quelque chose de terri-
ble^ mais le moindre revers produit un effet tout contraire; on
les renvoit et on les repousse sans beaucoup de peine. II ne
manque it ces gens-lit que l’ordre et la discipline militaire, et
ils nous battroient tous. Pendant ce siege ils ont fait quelque-
fois un tres-beau feu; leur Artillerie est servie en merveille, et
beaucoup de ces gens ont tire aussi bien que les meilleurs
chasseurs du monde; ils n’ont gueres manque leur homme.
Le 20 il Ant un orage et une pluye horrible; j’ai ete dans l’eau
jusqu’a la ceinture; de 2 cotes on ne pouvoit pas tirer un coup
de fusil. Je fis armer d’abord tout mon monde de demypiques,
et je le fis voir ainsi tout aux Mosul mans, qui remarquerent
bien qu’il y avoit de la desperation dans mon fait. Le 21 le
feu, apres qu’on s’etait seche, recommenpa de part et d’autre.
Ces Messieurs sur mer, qui nous ont vu faire et meme assez
pres, etant sou vent sur le petit Isle de Yido, ont eu la Comedie,
et les Alliez avouent qu’ils A ont gueres vu de feu plus vivc et
continue plus longtemps. J’avois donne il chaque soldat 2
jusqu’a 3 fusils. Vers le soir du 21, on vit porter beaucoup
d’echelles dans les tranchees des ennemys: je me preparois il
essuyer un second assaut general. Je crois que les Comman-
dans Turcs ont ete d’avis de la faire donner; mais on s£ait que
les Janissaires et autres peuples s’y sont opposes, et que c’est
par lh que toute l’Armee prit la fuite 2 heures avant le jour
le 22, laissant en arriere sans aucune necessite pres de 60
canons et mortiers, tous de bronze, la plus belle artillerie du
monde, une infinite de munition, vivres et d’autre attirail de
guerre. II ne dependoit que d’eux, leur Flotte etant il un
grand tir de canon de lil, de faire leur retraite en ordre et
d’embarquer toute I’artillerie; mais ils ont laisse les canons
de Goin, qui etoient si pres de leur flotte. Leur armee a ete
forte de — hommes, il ce que les prisonniers, dont on a trouve
pluissieurs endormis dans leurs tranchees, disent; on mande de
terre ferme que les 2 tiers de cette armee sont peris sur cette
Isle, comme morts, tues, disperses et noyes il la retraite.
On a fait avec peu ou quasi avec rien, tout ce qui a ete liu-LEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
541
mainement possible. Le Capit. Bassa a manoeuvre en grand
et habile homme: sa retraite fut belle. De nostre cote on a
aussi fait tout ee qui it ete hunaainement possible, pour com-
battre les infideles, mais le Ciel ne nous a pas voulu favoriser:
on n’a jamais eu pendant un si long temps, un quart d’heure
un vent favorable; nous avons eu 46 vaisseaux de guerre, et
41 galleres et galleasses, 3 brulots, 4 capres, et 12 jusqu’it 15
vaisseaux de transport. Notre Flotte est alle vers Zante, pour
suivre le Capne Bassa, qu’on aura de la peine a revoir cette
campagne, mais bien de bonne heure le printemps qui vient.
Je voudrois profiter des conjonctures favorables, et j’en vou-
drois avoir le moyen: avec tout cela, on a fait miracles a
Yenise d’avoir sur mer une bonne et nombreuse Flotte, et un
bon nombre de troupes sur pied; en peu de temps il y aura
sur la Flotte et icy 16 jusqu’it ^ bommes. Je vous prie de
m’envoyer l’honneur de votre souvenir, et de me donner de
temps en temps de vos bonnes nouvelles; vers le mois de No-
vembre j’espere d’etre a Venise. J’ai attrape, de toutes les
fatigues et embarras que j’ai eus, la crampe aux deux jambes,
et qui commence il me prendre aussi aux bras : si le temps et
les conjonctures le veulent permettre, je prendrai les bains au
Royaume de Naples, car ce mal me fait souffrir beaucoup. Je
suis au reste, tres sincerement, Monsieur,
Votre tres bumble et tres obeissant Serviteur,
C. DE ScHULENBURG.
209.J Leibnitz to the Princess of Wales.
[IVo date.\
Madame,
Apres avoir eu l’honneur depuis peu d’ecrire une longue
lettre il V. A. R., je ne devrois pas y revenir si tost, si la lettre
d’un ami de Berlin ne m’avoit donne occasion de penser it une
chose importante aux eglises protestantes en general, ou il
me paroist que V.A.R. pourroist estre un organe choisi par
la Providence pour la faire reussir.542
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
Afin d’entrer en matiere, il faut vous raconter, Madame, ce
qui s’est passe deja la-dessus. Feu Monsieur de Spanlieim,
passant un jour par Hanover, eut ordre du Roy son maistre
de sonder notre Roy, alors Electeur, shl n’y avoit moyen de
venir a une meilleure intelligence entre les deux eglises protes-
tantes, dont les Theologiens de Brandebourg et de Bronsvic,
etant constamment les plus moderes de PEmpire, pourroient
jeter les premiers fondemens. Cela fut agree; Monsieur
l’Eveque Ursinus et Monsieur Jablonski furent nommes d’un
cote, et Monsieur PAbbe Molanus de Pautre; qui voulut que
j’y fusse joint, ce que Monseigneur PElecteur trouva bon. On
vint it des conferences de vive voix, et & des communications,
par ou Pon n’avanfa pas peu: et je crois que Paffaire seroit allee
loin, si le Roy de Prusse avoit ete constant dans les mesures
prises, et les avoit poursuivies sur un meme pied. Mais il
etoit fort sujet a changer: il se degouta d’une affaire qui ne
pouvoit pas courir la poste; et il se laissa entrainer par les
projets des pietistes, et particulierement du Docteur Winkler
de Magdebourg, avec son Arcanum Regium. Ces gens encou-
rageoient le Roy de faire des changemens cbez luy au preju-
dice de nos Eglises, en vertu de sa souveraine puissance; ce
qui estoit directement contraire it ce qu’on avoit concerte:
savoir, que les Eglises de Brandebourg et de Bronsvic vien-
droient it des declarations procurees par le commun accord
des deux souverains. Ainsi la negotiation fut suspendue par
un silence mutuel; et le Roy de Prusse cependant reconnut
que l’avis des pietistes ne serviroit qu’it de nouvelles aigreurs,
de sorte que tout demeura en suspens. Il pensa un jour a
introduire dans le Brandebourg Pusage des Eglises Anglicanes;
mais ce ne fut aussi qu’une pensee passagere.
Maintenant que PElecteur de Bronsvic, devenu Roy de la
Grande-Bretagne, est entre dans l’figlise Anglicane, sans
avoir change de Religion, comme Sa MatlS declare avec raison
dans les occasions; il s’ensuit qu’elle juge que Pfiglise Angli-
cane et la nostre ne different point de Religion, mais seule-
ment de Rite: e’est-k-dire, dans les ceremonies et dans des
dogmes non-essentiels des docteurs, dont l’Eglise n’exigeLEIBNITZ TO THE PRINCESS OP WALES. 543
point la creance dans ses membres; et je ne doute point que
V. A. Royale ne soit dans le meme sentiment. Mais de Pa li-
tre cote l’Eglise Anglicane soutient de n’avoir pas une autre
Religion que celle qu’ont les Eglises Reformees du Brande-
bourg; pnisqu’aussy bien les unes et les autres ne s’attachent
point au Synode de Dordrecht. Or deux choses etant une
meme chose avec une troisieme, sont un entre elles. La Re-
ligion des Eglises de Bronsvic est* la meme avec l’Anglicane :
la Religion des Eglises Reformees de Brandebourg est aussi
la meme avec l’Anglicane : done la Religion des Eglises Evan-
geliques de Bronsvic et Reformees de Bronsvic (sic) est aussi
la meme, sans que la diversite des rites et des dogmes doc-
toresques le puisse empecher.
II s’agit maintenant de faire en sorte que cela soit bien
compris des peuples, et mis en jour par des declarations des
souuerains, concertees par les Theologiens. Et il semble
qAil faudroit reprendre le fil de la negotiation commencee, et
non encore rompue, entre les Theologiens de Brandebourg et
de Bronsvic, sous T autorite des deux Rois; d’autant plus
aisement que les deputes vivent encore de part et d’autre;
et d’y joindre des Theologiens de l’figlise Anglicane, comme
mediateurs; puisque cette Eglise etant le lien, et qu’elle est
ce tiers, lequel estant un avec chacun des deux partis, fait
qu’ils sont un entre eux. Le Roy de Prusse y est peut-etre
autant et plus propre que son predecesseur. Car quoyqu’il
prenne peut-etre moins feu d’abord sur des choses de cette na-
ture, en echange, je crois qu’il sera plus attache it des mesures
prises, et pourra faire conduire une affaire jusqu’au bout.
II s’agit presentement de faire entrer nostre Roy dans la
resumption de cette affaire, et il faut que ccla se tente avec
toute la delicatesse imaginable; et surtout il faut qiPil ne pa-
roisse pas que j’y ay la moindre part. Le vray moyen pour
cela seroit que des grands homines de PEglise Anglicane en
parlassent il Sa Ma4*5 et la priassent d’interposer son autorite
pour faire cesser, ou pour diminuer au moins, le grand
Schisme des eglises protestantes, qui leur a cause tant de
maux, et qui les a mis autresfois il deux doigts de leur perte,544
STATE PAPERS AND LETTERS.
dans l’Empire. Et pour y mieux porter Sa Mat
Miltitz, De, 197.
Milton, John, 22.
Mina, 408.INDEX.
555
Minckwitz, De, 304.
Minkenin, 253.
Miremont, De, 422.
Mocktien, 58.
Modena, Prince of, 228.
Modena, Duke of, 56, 184.
Molanus, Abbot of Lockum, 22,
255, 542,544.
Moldavia, Hospodar of, 123, 126.
Molesworth, R., 59, 62, 92, 219.
Moltke, Baron de, 37.
Molyneux, 530.
Monalde8cki, 10.
Moncbevreuil, Madame de, 94.
Monk, General, 466.
Montague, Duke of, 532.
Montague, Lord, 218.
Montague, Mr., 117, 434.
Montecuculi, Comte de, 124.
Montrevel, Mareclial de, 408, 410,
411, 416.
Moreau, De, 134, 139.
Morel Catinat, 404, 418, 423.
Morel, 253, 255, 261, 274.
Moses, 416, 424, 467,468.
Mouginot, 218.
Moytens, 238.
Muller, 491.
Munster, Bisbop of, 120, 158,224,
251.
Murray, General, 499.
Napier, Lord, 319.
Nassau, Prince of, 198.
Neitschiitz, Budolph de, 140,156.
Nemours, Madame de, 448.
Nestesuranoi, 367.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 104, 117, 164,
426, 427,428,529, 530, 531,533,
535.
Nierotk, General, 292.
Noailles, Due de, 425.
Nordberg, De, 349, 350, 351.
Normanby, Marquis of, 193.
Norris, Bev. Mr., 192.
Norris, De, 459, 460.
Norris, Cardinal, 274.
Norris, Father, 121.
Nott, De, 63.
Nottingham, Earl of, 93, 97, 143,
158, 312, 382. -
Obedarn, Baron d’, 241, 242, 257,
825, 331, 338.
Obery, D’, 269, 455.
Ohnhausen, D’, 531.
Oldenburger, 182.
Olivenkranz, D’, 197.
Oraag, Brigadier, 266.
Orange, Louisa Henriette, Prin-
cess of, 169.
Orleans, Mademoiselle d’, 208.
Ormond, Duke of, 584.
Osten, D’, 241, 308.
Otto, 182.
Oxenstjerna, Achsel, 341.
Paget, Lord, 107, 120, 122, 126,
128, 129, 120, 434, 493.
Paget, Mr., 117.
Palatinate, B-augraves of the, 11,
20, 33, 45, 48, 66, 70, 72, 73, 75,
83, 86, 87, 474.
Palladio, 317.
Palm, 234.
Palmblad, Professor, 30.
Palmieri, Comte de, 211.
Parker, Lord Justice, 47.
Parma, Duke of, 247.
Parthenay, 349.
Pasha, Capitaine, 540, 541.
Passau, Bishop of, 125.
Patkul, J. B. de, 27, 91, 99, 101,
288, 291, 295,338 seq., 375, 378,
435, 441.
Pauli, 219.
Pedenell, General de, 306.
Peikul, General de, 291, 292, 363,
373.
Perkins, 185.
Perrant, 218.
Peslers, 62.
Petavius, 122.
Peter, Czar of Muscovy, 91, 95,
96, 100, 189, 191, 197, 198 seq.,
201, 301, 302, 309, 328, 329, 350
seq., 375, 376, 388, 436, 440, 441,
472, 480, 491.
Peterborough, Lord, 442, 445,447,
452, 464.
Petronius Arbiter, 263.
Pfanner, 182.
Piingsten, George Ernest de, 295.
Pflug, Comte de, 321.
Philip V., King of Spain, 245, 420,
453, 507, 534.
Philip, Duke of Orleans, Regent556
INDEX.
of France, 68, 430, 436, 532,
535, 536.
Philip of Bohemia, Prince Pala-
tine, 9, 10, 103.
Philip, Margrave of Brandenburg,
66.
Pieper, 13.
Pitcairne, 319.
Plantamour, 254, 262.
Platen, Comte de, 254, 458.
Platen, Comte de, 304.
Platen, Comtesse de, 18 seq., 190.
Player, 218.
Plesse, De, 163.
Ploen, Duke of, 304.
Poille, Due de, 94.
Poland, Queen of, 213, 434.
Polier, Abbe de, 86.
Polignac, Cardinal de, 197.
Pollnitz, Mile, de, 170, 171, 238,
253, 254, 257,260, 263, 268, 269,
310, 316, 324, 325, 329, 533.
Pollnitz, Baron de, 53, 474.
Pomponne, De, 224, 279.
Pooley, 377, 432, 433.
Pope Clement XI., 247, 291, 450.
Pope Innocent XI., 1.
Pope Innocent XII., 108, 120.
Pope, A., 532.
Portland, Earl of, 106, 113, 143,
156, 158, 205.
Pratt, Dr., 194.
Praun, De, 85.
Pretender, The, 466,484, 486, 487,
488, 494, 502, 505, 507,508, 509,
510, 511, 532.
Price, 165.
Prie, Comte de, 434, 496.
Prior, 167.
Psalmanazar, 333, 336.
Puchler, 336.
Puffendorf, De, 181, 348.
Pulteney, 480.
Quirini, De, 190, 232, 242.
Raby, Lord (Earl of Strafford),
50, 457, 462, 463, 466, 470, 473,
474, 475, 477,486.
Racine, 532.
Radziejowski, Cardinal Primate,
285,287, 302, 309,328, 351, 357.
Ragotzi, Sigismund, Prince of
Transylvania, 13, 207, 270.
Ranzau, Comte de, 452.
Ranzen, Comte de, 219.
Rappach, Comte de, 250, 254,
272.
Ravanel, 404, 416, 422, 423.
Rebenac, De, 120, 127. Vide Du
Pas.
Reinschild, General, 292, 293,370,
439, 440, 458.
Reisewitz, De, 242.
Renald I., Duke of Modena, 86.
Renee Cecile of Austria, Queen of
Poland, 9.
Reske, De, 205.
Rheinfels, Princess de, 207.
Richard I., King of England,
251.
Richelieu, Due de, 69, 70, 81,393.
Ridpath, 50.
Rieske, 62.
Riom, Comte, 74.
Rivers, Lord, 50.
Robethon, De, 58, 144, 480, 506,
512.
Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, 90,
134, 219, 480.
Rochester, Earl of, 46, 306.
Rocklitz, Magdalena Sybilla, Coun-
tess of, 111, 113, 140 seq., 155,
160, 217.
Rockingham, Earl of, 259.
Roland, 404, 405, 414, 415, 416,
417, 418, 419, 422.
Romans, King of the, 220, 225,226,
232, 235, 306, 464.
Rose, 91.
Rosibre, De la, 139.
Roxburgh, Earl of, 319.
Roy, Comte de, 57.
Rudolph August, Duke of Bruns-
■wick-Wolfenbiittel, 275, 304,
332.
Rumohr, De, 197, 365, 366.
Rumpf, 95.
Rupert, Prince of the Palatinate,
11, 209.
Rupton, Baron de, 455.
Rustalet, 404.
Ryeaut, Sir P., 97, 98, 133, 134,
158.
Rymer, 164, 173, 181, 232, 251.
Sabliere, De la, 61.
Salm, Prince de, 207, 221.INDEX.
557
Salmaire, Comte de, 535.
Sandwich, Countess of, 532.
Sanson, 463, 465.
Sapieha, 215.
Sardanapalus, 449.
Savoy, Princess de, 278.
Savoy, Duchesse de, 282, 310, 313.
Saxe-G-otha, the Duke of, 57.
Saxe-Zeitz, Due de, 481, 482.
Shaftesbury, Antouy Ashley, Lord,
334, 336, 377, 426, 530, 531.
Schapelow, Marianne de, 108.
Schiller, De, 85.
Sclioning, Hans Adam de, 57, 108
seq., 134, 142, 156, 177.
Sclilick, Comte de, 307.
Schomberg, Due de, 259.
Schmettau, De, 2,4,158,204, 209,
220.
Schmidt, Dr., 211.
Schtitz, Professor, 86.
Schutze, Baron, 45, 47, 245, 246,
268, 330, 493, 494, 501.
Schulenburg, John Matthias v. d.,
43, 44, 45, 217, 222, 274 seq.,
299, 309,310, 313, 324, 356,366,
367, 369,377, 378, 380, 381, 391,
437, 439, 458, 477,485,489,492,
498, 501, 502,504, 506, 512, 536,
539, 541.
Schulenburg, Gustavus Adolphus
v. d., 275.
Schulenburg, Lewin Frederick
v. d„ 281.
Schulenburg, Daniel Bodo v. d.,
291.
Schulenburg, Melusine v. der, 298,
324, 432, 437.
Schwarzburg, Comte de, 255,
339.
Schweinfort, De, 134.
Schweiger, 318.
Schwencken, Petronella Ottilie de,
275.
Selden, John, 104, 106.
Seur, Mohamed Pasha, 123.
SevignA Madame de, 8.
Shele, De, 158.
Sherlock, Dean, 192.
Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, 430.
Shrewsbury, Duke of, 174, 179,
433, 450.
Siri, Vittorio, 181, 182.
Sloane, Sir Hans, 318.
Smith, Dr., 165, 173, 175, 231.
Smith, 455.
Sobieski, John, King of Poland,
107, 120.
Sobieski, Prince Jacob, 213.
Sobieski, Prince Alexander, 213.
Sobieski, Prince Constantine, 213.
Solms, Comte, de, 241.
Solms, Ursula, Countess of, 168.
Somers, Earl of, 47, 446, 493.
Sophie, Electress of Brunswick-
Liineburg, 7 seq., 55, 56, 66, 82,
88, 89, 94, 104, 105, 106, 107,
115,131,132,163, 174, 180, 183,
184,186,187,189,191, 198, 206,
214, 221, 222, 226, 229,231, 232,
233, 235,236,238, 241, 242,243,
249,253,255, 259,261, 262,263,
268,282,306, 310, 313, 315, 316,
318, 320, 321,332, 333,337, 338,
384,390,419,433, 434, 447, 455,
459,460, 461,462,465, 469,470,
473, 479, 483, 486, 503,505,506,
536.
Sophie Charlotte, Queen of Prus-
sia, 16 seq., 21, 24,39, 48, 54,55,
78, 104, 106, 115, 116, 118, 155,
169, 170,189,198 seq., 200, 209,
233,241,242, 253, 257, 260, 263,
268, 310, 313, 315, 318, 319, 320,
321, 322, 324,329, 333, 337, 338,
377,383,432, 434,450,473.
Sophie Dorothea, Queen of Prus-
sia, 484.
Sophie Dorothea, Princess of
Brunswiek-Zell, 24 seq.
Southwell, E., 113.
Spanheim, De, 104, 106, 118, 124,
211, 542.
Spinola, Bishop of Thina, 57.
St. Asaph, Bishop of, 121.
St. Geran, Countess de, 393,
394.
St. Marie, M., 384.
St. Ruth, 59.
St. Simon, 73, 81, 407, 410, 418,
419, 422.
Stanhope, Sir Philip, 381, 382.
Stanhope, 381, 501.
Staremberg, 113, 142.
Steffani, Agostino, Bishop of
Spiga, 56, 255, 307, 459, 535.
Stemau, Field-Marshal de, 282,
291.558
INDEX.
Steinbeck, De, 368.
Steinghens, Baron de, 485, 492,
501, 502, 506.
Steland, Mme. de, 319.
Stepney, G., 38, 50, 90, 103, 105,
107, 115,118,120,124,128,129,
133,134, 155,158,160,163,165,
167,173,176,179, 182, 217,238,
243,244, 245, 249,254, 256,257,
259, 261,266, 273, 311, 312,314,
334,338, 376,379, 381, 382,421,
432,433,457.
Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester,
194, 196.
Stirum, Field-Marshal Comte de,
214, 284.
Stillingfleet, Mrs., 194.
Stockman, 182.
Strabo, 467, 468.
Stratford, 167, 316.
Strattman, Comte de, 127, 155,
365, 366, 435.
Sunderland, Lord, 47.
Swartzkopf, 214.
Sydney, Lord, 106.
Syncka, Crown-General, 357.
Tallents, 240, 244.
Tartary, the Cham of, 125, 128.
Tavernier, 338.
Temple, Sir William, 124, 181.
Teschen, Comtesse, 359.
Tettan, Colonel, 166, 380, 381.
Theinau, General, 354.
Thomas, 9.
Thun, Comte de, 213.
Thwaites, E., 258, 273.
Tillotson, Dr., 534.
Tilly, Comte de, 7.
Toekoeli, Comte de, 123, 126.
Toland, 50, 459, 462, 463, 464,
467.
Tonson, 317, 318.
Torcy, De, 224, 279,297, 322, 534.
Torstensohn, 341.
Toulouse, Comte de, 445.
Tour, De la, President, 133.
Townsend. Lord, 47.
Trampe, Madame, 206.
Trenchard, Mr. Secretary, 133,
156.
Treves, Elector of, 157.
Turenne, Marechal, 68.
Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 273.
Tyrrel, 230, 240.
Ursins, Princesse des, 236.
Ursinus, Bishop, 542.
Vanstiicken, 203.
Varnhagen, Von der Ense, 275.
Vaudemont, Comte de, 124.
Veiling, General, 289.
Vendome, Marechal, Due de,
495.
Vernon, 266, 273.
Victor Amadeus II., Duke of
Saxony, 43, 44, 45, 57,133,184,
281, 313, 380, 390,492.
Viehweg, 85.
Villars, Marechal de, 81, 404,410,
411, 412, 415,416,417,418, 423.
Villeroi, Mardchal de, 280, 495.
Vitzthum, Baron de, 357.
Vizier, the Grand, 58, 122, 123,
126, 128, 129, 130, 131.
Vobone, Colonel, 239.
Voltaire, 372.
Vota, Father, 323, 448.
Wachtmans, Mademoiselle, 205.
Wackerbath, Lieut.-Gen. Comte
de, 296, 478.
Wallachia, Prince of, 124, 126.
Walter, 218.
Wartenberg, Colb, Comte de, 23,
463, 465, 473, 474, 475.
Wassenaer, Admiral, De, 241, 237.
Weselow, De, 105.
Wesseling, 251.
Westley, 192.
Whitworth, 38,434, 480.
William of Orange, 1, 42, 44, 45,
49, 55, 88, 111, 113, 125,127,
130,131,133,134,139,141,143,
146,147 seq., 156,158,163,164,
166,174,175,180,185,186,187,
210,219,237, 243,244, 245,246,
249, 256,259, 261,267,273,276,
278, 281,282, 304, 305,314, 386,
391.
William, Duke of Brunswick-Ca-
lenberg, 277.
Wilson, Chevalier, 114.
Winckler, De, 90, 91, 95,99, 344,
348.
Winde, 333.
Windham, Lieut.-Gen., 444, 454.INDEX.
559
Windisckgratz, Comte de, 125.
Winkler, Dr., 542.
Winzingerode, Madame de, 264.
Winzingerode, Mile, de, 156.
Wicquefort, De, 58, 182,238, 239.
Witt, Pensionary de, 182.
Wittgenstein, Comte de, 242,
475.
Wratislaw, Comte de, 245, 246.
Wiirtemberg, Prince of, 458, 503.
Wiirtemberg, Duke of, 125, 126,
214, 306.
Wiirzburg, Bishop of, 214.
Zeitz, Duke of, 66.
Zersen, 313.
Zinzendorf, De, 197, 322.
Zumalacarregui, 408.
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JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QDEEN STREET,
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