Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN LETTERS O N T H E STUDY and USE . HISTORY. By the late RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY ST. JOHN, LORD VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE. A NEW EDITION, Corneded. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CAIVELL, IN THE STRAND. u,ncc,Lxxix. Annex V THE CONTENTS. LETTER I. OF the Jtudy cf hijiory. Page 3 JL-BTTZR II. Concerning the true ufe and ad-vantages of it. p. 1 1 LETTER III. i . An objection again fl the utility of hijiory removed. 2. The falfe and true aims of thofe who ftudy it. 3. Of the kiftcry of the firft ages, with reflections on the ftate of ancient hijiory, profane and j'acred p. 43 LETTER IV. i . That there is in hiftory fufficient authenti- city to render it ufeful, notwith (landing all objections to the contrary* 2. Of the method and due reftriffions to be obferved in the Jtudy of it. p. 95 LETTER V. i . The great ufe of hi ft cry ^ properly fo called, as diftinguijhed from the writings of mere annalijts and antiquaries. 2. Greek and Roman hiftorians. 3. Some idea of a com- plete hijiory. 4. Further cautions to be obferved in ibis jludy, and the regulation of it according to the different profeffwns* A and CONTENTS. and filiations of men: above all, the ufe to be made of it (i) by divines, and (2) by thofe who are called to the Jervice of their country. p. 119 LETTER VI. From ivbat period modern hiftory is peculiarly ufeful to the fervice of our country, viz* From the end of the fifteenth century to the prefent. The divifion of this into three particular periods; in order to a Jketch of the hijlory and Jlate of Europe from that time. p. 159 LETTER VII. A (ketch of the Jlate and hijlory of Europe from the Pyrenean treaty, in one thoufand fix hundred and fifty nine, to the year one tbcuf and fix bundredand eighty -eight, p. 197 LETTER VIII. 'The fame fubjeft continued from the year cne thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight, p. 255 LETTER I. A plan for a general hijlory of Europe, p. 39 1 LETTER II. Of the true ufe of retirement andjludy. p. 40 1 Reflections upon Exile. p. 433 OF THE STUDY of Hi STORY. LETTER I. Chantelou in Touraine, Nov. 6, 1735* MY LORD, I HAVE confidered formerly, with a good deal of attention, the fubjec"l on which you command me to communicate my thoughts to you: and I pra<5lifed in thofe days, as much as bufmels and plea- fure allowed me time to do, the rules that feemed to me neceflary to be obferved in the ftudy of hiftory. They were very dif- ferent from thofe which writers on the fame fubject have recommended, and which are commonly pracYifed. But I confefs to your lordlhip, that this neither gave me then, nor has given me fmce, any diftruft of them. I do not affect fingi:larity. On the con- trary, 1 think that a due deference is to be paid to received opinion?, and that a due A 2 com- 4 LETTER I. compliance with received cuftoms is to be held; though both the one and the other fhould be, what they often are, abfurd or ri- diculous. But this fervitudeis outward only, and abridges in no fort the liberty of pri- vate judgment. The obligations of lub- mitting to it likewife, even, outwardly, ex- tend no further, than to thofe opinions and cuftoms which cannot be oppofedj or from which we 1 cannot deviate without doing hurt, or giving offence, to fociety. In all thefe cafes, our fpeculations ought to be free: in all other caies, our practice may be fo. Without any regard therefore to the opinion and practice even of the learned world, I am very willing to tell you mine. But, as it is hard to recover a thread of thought long ago laid afide, and impofiible to prove fome things, and explain others, without theafiiftanceof many books which I have not here; your lordfliip muft be con- tent with fuch an imperfect fketch, as I am able to fend you at prefent in this letter. THE motives that carry men to the ftudy of hiftory are different. Some intend, if fuch as they may be faid to ftudy, nothing more than amufement, and read the life of ARISTIDES or PHOCION, of EPAMINONDAS or SCIPIO, ALEXANDER or CAESAR, juft as they Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 5 they play a game at cards, or as they would read the ftory of the feven champions. OTHERS there are, whofe motive to this fludy is nothing better, and who have the further difad vantage of becoming a nuifance very often to fociety, in proportion to the progrefs they make. The former do not improve their reading to any good purpofe: the latter pervert it to a very bad one, and grow in impertinence as they encreafe in learning. I think I have known moft of the firft kind in England, and mod of the laft in France. The perfons I mean are thofe who read to talk, to mine in converfa- tion, and to impofein company; who hav- ing few ideas to vend of their own growth, flore their minds with crude unruminated facts and fentences ; and hope to fupply, by bare memory, the want of imagination and judgment. BUT thefe are in the two lo veft forms.' The next I (hall mention, are in one a little higher; in the form of thofe who grow nei- ther wifer nor better by ftudy themfelves, but who enable others to ftudy with greater eafe, and to purpofes more ufeful; who make fair copies of foul manufcripts, give the fignification of hard words, and take a A 3 great 6 LETTER!. deal of other grammatical pains. The obli- gation to thefe men would be great indeed, if they were in general able to do anything better, and fubmitted to this drudgery for the fake of the public ; as fome of them, it muft be owned with gratitude, have done, but not later, I think, than about the time of the refurrection of letters. When works of importance are prefiing, generals them- fclves may take up the pick-axe and the fpade-, but in the ordinary courfe of things, when that preffing necefiity is over, fuch tools are left in the hands deflined to ufe them, the hands of common foldiers and peafants. 1 approve therefore very much the devotion of a ftudious man at Chrift- Church, who was over-heard in his oratory entering into a detail with GOD, as devout perfons are apt to do, and, amongft other particular thankfgivings, acknowledging the divine goodnefs in furnifhing the world with makers of Dictionaries! thefe men court fame, as well as their betters, by fuch means as GOD has given them to acquire it: and LITTLETON exerted all the genius ^ie had, when he made a dictionary, though STEPHENS did not. They deferve encou- ragement, however, whilft they continue to compile, and neither affect wit, nor pre- fume to reafon. THERE Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 7 THERE is a fourth clafs, of much lefs ufe than thefe, but of much greater name. Men of the firft rank in learning, and to whom the whole tribe of fcholars bow with reverence. A man muft be as indifferent as I am to common cenfure or approbation, to avow a thorough contempt for the whole bufinefs of thefe learned lives; for all the refearches into antiquity, for all the fyftems of chronology and hiftory, that we owe to the immenfe labours of a SCALIGER, a BOCHART, a PETAVIUS, an USHER, and even a MARSHAM. The fame materials are common to them all; but thefe mate- rials are few, and there is a moral impof- fibility that they mould ever have more. They have combined thefe into every form that can be given to them: they have fup- pofed, they have guefled, they have join- ed disjointed paffnges of different authors, and broken traditions of uncertain origi- nals, of various people, and of centuries remote from one another as well as from ours. In fhort, that they might leave no liberty untaken, even a wild fantaftical fi- militude of founds has ferved to prop up a fyftem. As the materials they have are few, Co are the very beft, and fuch as pafs for authentic, extremely precarious : as fome of thefe learned perfons themfclves confefs. A 4 JULIUS 8 L E T T E R I. JULIUS AFRICANUS, EUSEBIUS, and GEORGE the monk opened the principal fources of all this fcience; but they cor- rupted the waters. Their point of view was to make prophane hiftory and chrono- logy agree with facred; though the latter chronology is very far from being eftablifh- ed. with the clearnefs and certainty necef- fary to make it a rule. For this purpofe, the ancient monuments that thefe writers conveyed to pofterity, were digefted by them according to the fyftem they were to maintain : and none of thefe monuments were delivered down in their original form, and genuine purity. The Dynafties of MANETHO, for inftance, are broken to pie- ces by EUSEBIUS, and fuch fragments of them as fuited his defign, are (truck into his work. We have, ve know, no more of them. The Codex Alexandrinus we owe to GEORGE the monk. We have no other authority for it : and one cannot fee without amazement fuch a man as Sir JOHN MARSHAM undervaluing this autho- rity in one page, and building his fyftem upon it in the next. He feems even by the lightnefs of his expreffions, if I remem- ber well, for it is long fince I looked into his canon, not to be much concerned what foundation his fyftem had, fo he (hewed his Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 9 his (kill in forming one, and in reducing the immenfe antiquity of the ./Egyptians within the limits of the Hebraic calcula- tion. In fhort, my lord, all thefe fyftems are fo many enchanted caftles; they appear to be fomething, they are nothing but appearances: like them too, diflblve the charm, and they vanifti from the fight. To diflblve the charm, we muft begin at the beginning of them: the expreflion may be odd, but it is fignificant. We muft examine fcrupuloufly and indifferently the foundations on which they lean: and when we find thefe either faintly probable, or grofly improbable, it would be foolifh to expect any thing better in the fuperftruc- ture. This fcience is one of thofe that are " a limine falutandas." To do thus much may be neceffary, that grave autho- rity may not impofe on our ignorance : to do more would be to aflill this very au- thority in impofing falle fcience upon us. I had rather take the DARIUS whom ALEXANDER conquered, for the fon of HYSTASPES, and make as many anachro- nifms as a Jewifh chronologer, than facri- fice half my life to collect all the learned lumber that fills the head of an antiquary. O F [ II .1 OF THE STUDY of HISTORY, * LETTER II. Concerning the true ufe and advantages of it. LET me fay fomething of hiftory in general, before I deicend into the confideration of particular parts of it, or of the various methods of ftudy, or of the different views of thofe that apply them- felves to it, as I had begun to do in my former letter. THE love of hiftory fe.ems infeparable from human nature becaufe it feems infe- parable from felf-love. The fame principle in this inftance carries us forward and back- ward, to future and to paft ages. We imagine that the things, which affect us, muft arTecl pofterity : this fentiment runs through mankind, from CAESAR down to the 12 L E T T E R II. the parifti clerk in POPE'S mifcellany. We are fond of preferving, as far as it is in our frail power, the memory of our own adventures, of thofe of our own time, and of thofe that preceded it. Rude heaps of ftones have been raifed, and ruder hymns have been compofed, for this purpofe, by nations who had not yet the ufe of arts and letters. To go no further back, the triumphs of ODIN were celebrated in runic fongs, and the feats of our Britifh ancef- tors were recorded in thofe of their bards. The favages of America have the fame cuftom at this day: and long hiftorical bal- lads of their huntings and their wars are fung at all their feftivals. There is no need of faying how this paflion grows, among civilized nations, in proportion to the means of gratifying it : but let us ob- ferve that the fame principle of nature di- rects us as ftrongly, and more generally as well as more early, to indulge our own curiofity, inftead of preparing to gratify that of others. The child hearkens with delight to the tales of his nurfe : he Jearns to read, and he devours with eagernefs fa- bulous legends and novels : in riper years he applies himfelf to hiftory, or to that which he takes for hiftory, to authorized romance: and, even in age, the de- fire Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 13 fire of knowing what has happened to other men, yields to the defire alone of relating what has happened to ourfelves* Thus hiftgry, true or falfe, fpeaks to our paflions always. What pity is it, my lord, that even the bed mould fpeak to our underftandings fo feldom ? That it does fo, we have none to blame but ourfelves. Nature has done her part. She has open- ed this ftudy to every man who can read and think: and what (he has made the moft agreeable, reafon can make the mofl ufeful, application of our minds. But if we confult our reafon, we (hall be far from following the examples of our fellow- creatures, in this as in moft other cafes, who are fo proud of being rational. We {hall neither read to foothe our indolence, nor to gratify our vanity: as little fhall we content ourielves to drudge like gramma- rians and critics, that others may be able to ftudy with greater eafe and profit, like philofophers and ftatefmen : as little fhall we affect the (lender merit of becoming great fcholars at the expence of groping all our lives in the dark mazes of antiquity. All thefe miftake the true drift of ftudy, and the true ufe of hiftory. Nature gave us curiofity to excite the iriduftry of our rninds; but fhe never intended it mould be made 14 L E T T E R II. made the principal, much lefs the fole ob- ject of their application. The true and proper object of this application is a con- ftant improvement in private and in public virtue. An application to any ftudy, that tends neither directly nor indirectly to make us better men and better citizens, is at bed but a fpecious and ingenious fort of idlenefs, to ufe an exprefiion of TIL- LOTSON: and the knowledge we acquire by it is a creditable kind of ignorance, nothing more. This creditable kind of ignorance is, in my opinion, the whole benefit which the generality of men, even of the mod learned, reap from the ftudy of hiftory: and yet the ftudy of hiftory feems to me, of all other, the moft proper to train us up to private and public virtue. YOUR lordfhip may very well be ready by this time, and after lo much bold cen- fure on my part, to aflc me, what then is the true ufe of hiftory? in what refpects it may ferve to make us better and wifer? and what method is to be purlued in the ftudy of it, for attaining thefe great ends? I will anfwer you by quoting what I have read fomewhere or other, in DIONYSIUS HALICARN, I think, that hiftory is philo- fophy teaching by examples. We need but to Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 15 to caft our eyes on the world, and we (hall fee the daily force of example : we need but to turn them inward, and we fhall loon difcov.er why example has this force. '* Pauci prudentia, fays TACITUS, " ho " nefta ab dcterioribus, utilia ab noxiis "difcernunt: plures aliorum evenris do- centur." Such is the im per feel: ion of human underftanding, fuch the frail tem- per of our minds, that abftract or general propofitions, though ever fo true, appear ob- igjre or doubtful to us very often, till they are explained by examples, and that the wifell leffons in favour of virtue go but a little way to convince the judgment, and determine the will, unlefs they are enforced by the fame means ; and we are obliged to apply to ourfelves what we fee happen to other men. Inftrudbions by precept have the further difad vantage of coming ontheautho- rity of others, and frequently require a long deduction of reafoning. " Homines amplius " oculis, quam auribus, credunt: longum " iter eft per praecepta, breve et efficax " per exempla." The reafonof this judg- ment, which I quote from one of SENECA'S epiftles in confirmation of my own opinion, refts, I think, on this; that when examples are pointed out to us, there is a kind of ap- peal, with which we are flattered, made to our 16 L E T T R II. our fenfes, as well as to our underftandings. The inltru&ion comes then upon our own authority ; we frame the precept after our own experience, and yield to fad: when we refill fpeculation. But this is not the only advantage of inftru&ion by example; for example appeals not -to our underftanding alone, but toour paflions likewife. Exam- ple aflwages thefe, or animates them ; fets paffion on the fide of judgment, and makes the whole man of a piece ; which is more than the ftrongeft reafoning, and the cleared demonftration can do : and thus forming habits by repetition, example fecures the obfervance of thofe precepts which example infinuated. Is it not PLINY, my lord, who fays, that the gentleft, he fhould have added, the moft y reading LIVY and QUINTUS CURTIUS : a filly tale, which BODIN, AMYOT, and others have picked up and propagated. LUCUL* j,us had ferved in his youih againft the jylarfj, probably in other wars ? and SYLLA Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 23 took early notice of him ; he went into the eaft with this general, and had a great (hare in his confidence. He commanded in fe- veral expeditions. It was he who reftored the Colophonians to their liberty, and who punilhed the revolt of the people of Myte- iene. Thus we fee that LUCULLUS was formed by experience, as well as ftudy, and by an experience gained in thofe very coun- tries, where he gathered fo many laurels afterwards, in fighting againft the fame ene- my. The late duke of MARYBOROUGH never read XENOPHON, moft certainly, nor the relation pt-rhaps of any modern wars; but he ferved in his youth under Monfieur de TURENNE, and. I have heard that he was taken notice of in thole early days, by that great man. He afterwards com- manded in an expedition to Ireland, ferved a campaign or two, if I miftake not, under king WILLIAM in Flanders: and, befides thele occafions, had none of gaining expe- rience in war, till he came to the head of our armies in one thoufand feven hundred and two, and triumphed not over Afiatic troops, but over the veteran armies of France. The Roman had on his fide ge- nius and experience cultivated by ftudy: The Briton had genius improved by expe- rience, and no more. The firft therefore is B 4 not 24 L E T T E R II. not an example of what ftudy can do alonej but the latter is an example of what genius and experience can do without ftudy.' They can do much, to be lure, when the firft is given in a fuperior degree. But fuch ex- amples are very rare: and when they hap- pen, it will be flill true, that they would have had fewer blemifhes, and would have come nearer to the perfection of private and public virtue, in all the arts of peace and achievements of war, if the views of fuch men had been enlarged, and their fen- timents ennobled, by acquiring that caft of thought, and that temper of mind, which will grow up and become habitual in every man who applies himfelf early to the ftudy of hiftory, as to the ftudy of philofophy, with the intention of being wifer and better, without the affectation of being more learned. THE temper of the mind is formed, and a certain turn given to our ways of think- ing; in a word, the feeds of that moral character which cannot wholly alter the natural character, but may correct the evil and impro/e the good that is in it, or do the very contrary, are fown betimes, and much fooner than is cpmmonly fuppoled. It Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 25 Jc is equally certain, that we mall gather or not gather experience, be the better or the worie for this experience when we come into the world and mingle amongft mankind, according to the temper of mind, and the turn of thought, that we have acquired beforehand, and bring along with us. They will tincture all our future acquisitions , fo that the very fame expe- rience, which fecures the judgment of one man, or excites him to virtue, fhall lead another into error, or plunge him into vice. From hence it follows, that the ftudy of hiftory has in this refpect a double advan- tage. If experience alone can make us perfect in our parts, experience cannot be- tin to teach them till we are actually on the age: whereas, by a previous application to this ftudy, we conn them over at leaft, before we appear there : we are not quite unprepared, we learn our parts fooner, and we learn them better. LET me explain what I mean by an ex- ample. There is fcarce any folly or vice more epidemical among the fons of men than that ridiculous and hurtful vanity by which the people of each country are apt to prefer themfelves to thole of every other; #nd to make their own cuftoois, and man- ners, 26 L E T T E R II. ners, and opinions, the ftandards of right and wrong, of true and falfe. The Chi- nefe mandarins were ftrangely furpriled, and almoft incredulous, when the Jefuits ihewed them how fmall a figure their em- pire made in the genera! map of the world. The Samojedes wondered much at the Czar of Mufcovy for not living among them: and the Hottentot, who returned from Europe, ftripped himfelf naked as ibon as he came home, put on his bracelets of guts and garbage, and grew {linking and lowfy as fa ft as he could. Now no- thing can contribute more to prevent us from being tainted with this vanity, than to accuftom ourfelves early to contemplate the different nations of the earth, in that vaft map which hiftory fpreads before us, in their rife and their fall, in their barba- rous and civilized dates, in the likenefs and unlikenefs of -them all to one another, and of each to itfelf. By frequently renew- ing this profpect to the mind, the Mexi- can with his cap and coat of feathers, fa- crificing a human victim to his god, will not appear more favage to our eyes, than the Spaniard with an hat on his head, and a gonilla round his neck, facrificing whole nations to his ambition, his avarice, and even the wantonnels of his cruelty. I might Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 27 might mew, by a multitude of other ex* .ampks, how hiftory prepares us for expe- rience, and guides us in it: and many of thefe would be both curious and important. I might likewife bring feveral other in- ilances, wherein hiftory ferves to purge the mind of thofe national partialities and pre- judices that we are apt to contract in our education, and that experience for the moft part rather confirms than removes: becaufe it is for the moft part confined, like our education. But I apprehend growing too prolix, and mall therefore conclude this head by obferving, that tho j an early and proper application, to the ftudy of hiftory will contribute extremely to keep our minds free from a ridiculous partiality in favour of our own* country, and a vicious prejudice againft others; yet the fame ftudy will .create in us a preference of affeclion to ,our own country. There is a ftory told of ABGARUS. He brought feverai beajls taken in different places to Rome, they fay, and let them Joofe before AUGUSTUS: every beaft ran immediately to that part of the Circus, where a parcel of earth taken from his na- Itive foil had been laid. " Cre'dat Judseus Apella." This tale n/ight pals on JOSEPHUS ; for in him, I believe 1 read it : but furely f he love of our country is a leflbn of realbn, not 28 L E T T E R II. not an inftitution of nature. Education and habit, obligation and intereft, attach us to it, not inftinft. It is however fo neceffary to be cultivated, and the profperity of all focieties, as well as the grandeur of fome, depends upon it fo much, that orators by their eloquence, and poets by their en- thufiafm, have endeavoured to work up this precept of morality into a principle of pafilon. But the examples which we find in hirtory, improved by the lively de- fcriptions, and the juil applaufes or cenfures of hiftorians, will have a much better and more permanent effect, than declamation, or iong, or the dry ethics of mere philofophy. In fine, to converfe with hiltorians is to keep good company : many of them were excel- lent men, and thofe who were not fuch, have taken care however to appear fuch in their writings. It muft be therefore of great ufe to prepare ourfelves by this converfation for 'that of the world; and to receive our firft: imprefiions, and to acquire our firft ha- bits, in a fcene where images of virtue and vice are continually reprelented to us in the colours that belong properly to them, before we enter on another fcene, where virtue and vice are too ofcen confounded, and what belongs to one is aicribed to the other. Of the x STUDY of HISTORY. 29 BESIDES the advantage of beginning our acquaintance with mankind fooner, and of bringing with us into the world, and the bufmefs of it, fuch a caft of thought and fuch a temper of mind, as will enable us to make a better ufe of our experience; there is this further advantage in the ftudy of hiftory, that the improvement we make by it extends to more objects, and is made at the expence of other men: whereas that improvement which is the effect of our own experience, is confined to fewer ob- jects, and is made at our own expence. To ftate the account fairly therefore between thefe two improvements, tho* the latter be the more valuable, yet allowance be- ing made on one fide for the much greater number of examples that hiftory prefents to us, -and deduction being made on the other of the price we often pay for our experience, the value of the former will rile in proportion. " I have recorded thefe " things," fays POLYBIUS, after giving an account of the defeat of REGULUS, " that " they who read thefe commentaries may " be rendered better by them; for all men ' have two ways of improvement, one arif- < c ing from their own experience, and one i* from the experience of others. Evi- ' dentior quidem ilia eft, qu:e per propria " ducit 30 L E T T E R If, " ducit infortunia ; at tutior Ilia, qu pef * 4 aliena." I ufe CASAUBON'S tranflation. POLYBIUS goes on, and concludes, " that " fince the firft of thefe ways expofes us to 44 great labour and peril, whilft the fecond '*' works the fame good effect, and is at- *' tended by no evil circumftance, every " one ought to take for granted, that the " ftudy of 'hiftory is the beft fchool where *' he can learn how to conduct himfelf in " all the fituations of life." REGULUS had feen at Rome many examples of magnani- mity, of frugality, of the contempt of riches and of other virtues; and triefe virtues he praftifed. But he had not learned, nor had opportunity of learning another leffbn, which the examples recorded in hiftory inculcate frequently, the leflbn of moderation. Art infatiable thirlt of military fame, an uncon- fined ambition of extending their empire, an extravagant confidence in their own cou- rage and force, an inlblent contempt of their enemies, and an impetuous over- bearing fpirit with which they purfued all their en- terprizes, compofed in his days the diftin- guiflhing character of a Roman. Whatever the fenate and people refolved to the menv bers of that common wealth, appeared both practicable and juft. Neither difficulties nor dangers could check them 5 and their fages Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 31 fages had not yet difcovered, that virtues in excels degenerate into vices. Notwith- flanding the beautiful rant which HORACE puts into his mouth, I make no doubt that REGULUS learned at Carthage thole leflbns of moderation which he had not learned at Rome; but he learned them by experi- ence, and the fruits of this experience came too late, and coft too dear; for they coft the total defeat of the Roman army, the prolongation of a calamitous war which might have been finifhed by a glorious peace, the lofs of liberty to thoufands of Roman citizens, and to REGULUS himfelf the lols of life in the midft of torments, if we are en- tirely to credit what is perhaps exaggeration in the Roman authors. THERE is another advantage, worthy our obfervation, that belongs to the ftudy of hiftory; and that I (hall mention here, not only becaufe of the importance of it, but becaufe it leads me immediately to fpeak of the nature of the improvement we ought to have in our view, and of the method in which it feems to me that this improvement ought to be puriued: two particulars from which your lordfliip may think perhaps that I digrefs too long. The advantage I mean confifts in this, that the examples which hiftory prefents to us, both of men and 32 L E T T E R II. and of" events, are generally complete : thd whole example is before us, and confe- quently the whole leffon, or fometimes the various leffons, which philofophy propofes to teach us by this example. For firil, as to men ; we fee them at their whole length in hiftory, and we fee them generally there through a medium lefs partial at lead than that of experience; for I imagine, that a whig or a tory, whilft thofe parties fubfifted, would have condemned in SATURNINUS the fpirit of faction which he applauded in his own tribunes, and would have applauded in DRUSUS the fpirit of moderation which he defpifed in thofe of the contrary party, and which he fufpected and hated in thofe of his own party. The villain who has impofed on mankind by his power or cun* ning, and whom experience could not un malk for a time, is unmafked at length; and the honeft man, who has been mifun- derftood or defamed, isjuftified before his ftory ends. Or if this does not happen, if the villain dies with his mafic on, in the midft of applaule, and honour, and wealth, and power, and if the honeft man dies un- der the fame load of calumny and difgrace under which he lived, driven perhaps into ' exile, and expofed to want; yet we fee hi- ftorical juftice executed, the name of one branded bf the STUDY of HISTORY. 33 branded with infamy, and that of the other celebrated with panegyric tofucceeding ages. " Prascipuum munus annalium reor, ne " virtutes fileantur; utque pravis dictis, Ci faflifque ex pofteritate et infamia metus " fit." Thusj according to TACITUS, and according to truth, from which his judg- ments feldom deviate, the principal duty of hiftory is to erect a tribunal, like that among the Egyptians, mentioned by Dio- DORUS SICULUS, where men and princes themfelves were tried j and condemned or acquitted; after their deaths; where thofe who had not been punifhed for their crimes, and thofe who had not been honoured for their virtues, received a juft retribution. The fentence is pronounced in one cafe, as it was in the other, too late to correct or recom- penfe; but it is pronounced in time to render thefe examples of general inftruction to man- kind; Thus CICERO, that I may quote one inftance out of thousands, and that I may do juftice to the general character of that great man, wbofe particular failing I have cenfured fo freely j CICERO, I fay, was aban- doned by OcTAviuSj and maflacred by AN- THONY. But let any man read this fragment of ARELLIUS Fuscus, and chufe which he would wifh to have been, the orator, or the triumvir ? " Quoad humanum genus C " in- 34 L E T T E R IL ** incolume manferit, quamdiu ufus literif, " honor fummas eloquentise pretium eric, '' quamdiu rerum natura aut fortuna fte- " terit, aut memoria duraverit, admirabilc " pofteris vigebis ingeniurn, et uno pro- " fcriptus fcculo, profcribes Antonium om- nibus." THUS again, as to events that ftand re- corded in hiftory, we fee them all, we fee them as they followed one another, or as they produced one another, caufes or ef- fects, immediate or remote. We are caft back, as it were, into former ages : we live with the men who lived before us, and we inhabit countries that we never faw. Place is enlarged, and time prolonged, in this manner; fo that the man who applies him- felf early to the ftudy of hiftory, may ac- quire in a few years, and before he fets his foot abroad in the world, not only a more extended knowledge of mankind, but the experience of more centuries than any of the patriarchs faw. The events we are wit- nefles of, in the courfe of the longeit life, ap- pear to us very often original, unprepared, fingle, and un-relative, if I may ufe fuch an expreflion for want of a better in Engliflv, in French I would fay ifoles: they appear fuch very often, are called accidents, and looked on 6f the STUDY of HISTORY. 35 fen as the efteds of chance ; a word, by the way, which is in conftant ufe ? and has fre- quently no determinate meaning. We gee over the preient difficulty, we improve the momentary advantage, as well as we can, and we look no farther. Experience can carry us no farther; for experience can go a very- little way back in difcovering caufes : and effecls are not the obje&s of experience till they happen. From hence many errors in judgment, and by confequence in conduct, neceiTarily arife. And here too lies the dif- ference we are fpeaking of between hiftory and experience. The advantage on the fide of the former is double. In antient hiftory, as we have faid already, the examples arc complete, which are incomplete in the courfe of experience. The beginning, the pro- grefiion, and the end appear, not of parti- cular reigns, much lefs of particular enter- prizes, or fyftems of policy alone, but of governments, of nations, of empires, and of all the various fyftems that have fucceeded one another in the courfe of their duration. In modern hiftory, the examples may be, and fometimes are, incomplete-, but they have this advantage when they are fo, that they ferve to render complete the examples of our own time. Experience is doubly defective ; we are born too late to fee the beginning, and we die too foon to fee the C z end 36 L E T T E R II. end of many things. Hiftory fupplies both thefe defeds. Modern hiftory (hews the caufes, when experience prefents the effects alone: and ancient hiftory enables us to guefs at the effects, when experience pre- fents the caufes alone. Let me explain my meaning by two examples of thefe kinds j one paft, the other actually prefent. WHEN the revolution of one thoufand fix hundred and eighty-eight happened, few men then alive, I fuppofe, went farther in their fearch after the caufes of it, than the extra- vagant attempt of king JAMES againft the religion and liberty of his people. His former conduct, and the pafiages of king CHARLES the fecond*s reign might rankle ftill at the hearts of fome men, but could not be fet to account among the caufes of his depofition , fince he had fucceeded, not- withftanding them, peaceably to the throne : and the nation in general, even many of thofe who would have excluded him from it, were defirous, or at leaft, willing, that he mould continue in it. Now this exam- ple, thus ftated, affords, no doubt, much good inft.ruction to the kings, and people of Britain. But this inftruction is not en- tire, becaufe the example thus ftated, and confined to the experience of that age, is imperfect. King JAMES'S mal-adminiftra- tion Of the - STUDY of HISTORY. 37 don rendered a revolution neceffary and practicable i but his mal-adminiftration, as well as all his preceding conduct, was caufed by his bigot- attachment to popery, and to trie principles of arbitrary government, from which no warning could divert him. His bigot-attachment to thefe was caufed, by the exile of the royal family; this exile was caufed by the ufurpation of CROMWEL: and CROMWEI/S ufurpation was the effect of a former rebellion, begun not without reafon on account of liberty, but without any valid pretence on account of religion. During this exile, our princes caught the taint of popery and foreign politics. We made them unfit to govern us, and after that were forced to recal them, that they might refcue us out of anarchy. It was neceffary therefore, your lordfhip fees., at the revolution, and it is more fo now, to go back in hiftory, at leaft as far as I have men- tioned, and perhaps farther, even to the be- ginning of King JAMES the firft's reign, to render this event a complete example, and to devtlope all the wife, honeft, and falutary precc-pts, with which it is pregnant, both to king and fubjeft. THE other example mall be taken from yvhat has fucceecied the revolution. Few C men 3 8 LETTER H. men at that time looked forward enough, tq forefee the neceflary confequences of tha new conftitution of the revenue, that was foon afterwards tormed; nor of the method of funding that immediately took place; which, abfurd as they are, have continued ever fmce, till it is become fcarce poilible to alter them. Few people, I fay, fore- fa w how- the creation of funds, and the multiplication of taxe-Sj would encreafe yearly the power "of the crown, and bring our liberties, by a natural arid necefTary pro- 'greffion, into more real, though iels appa- rent danger, than they were in before the revolution. The exccffive ill hufbandry pradtiied from the very beginning of king "WILLIAM'S reign, and which laid the faun* clations of all we ; fed and all we ftar, was not the effecl: of ignorance, miftake, or what we call chance, but of defign and fcheme in thofe who had the fway at that time. I am not fo uncharitable, however, as to believe that they intended to bring upon their country all the mifchiefs that we, who came after them, experience, and apprehend. No, they faw the meafures they took fingly, and un relatively, or re- latively alone to fome immediate objecl:. The notion of attaching men to the new government, by tempting them to em- barl; Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 39 bark their fortunes on the fame bottom, was a reafon of ftate to fome: the notion of creating a new, that is, a moneyed intereft, in oppofuion to the landed intereft, or as a balance to it; and of acquiring a fuperior in- fluence in the city cf London, at lead by the eftablifhment of great corporations, was a reafon of party to others : and 1 make ho doubt that the opportunity of amaffing immenfe eftates by the management of funds, by trafficking in paper, and by all the arts of jobbing, was a reafon of private intereft to thofe who fupported and improved this fcheme of iniquity, if not to thofe who devifed it. They looked no farther. Nay, we who came after them, and have long tafted the bitter fruits of the corrup- tion they planted, were far from taking fuch an alarm at our diftrefs, and our dan- ger, as they delerved ; till the moft remote and fatal effect of caufes, laid by the laft generation, was very near becoming .an ob- ject of experience in this. Your lordlhip, I am fure, fees at once how much a due reflection on the paflages of former times, as they (land recorded in the hiftory of our own, and of other countries, would have de* terred a free people from trufting the folc management of fo great a revenue, and the fole nomination of thofe legions of officers C 4 employed 4 o L E T T E R II. employed in it, to their chief magiftrate. There remained indeed no pretence for doing fo, when once a falary was fettled on the prince, and the public revenue was no longer in any fenfe his revenue, nor the public expence his expence. Give me leave to add, that it would have been, and would be flill, more decent with regard to the prince, and lefs repugnant if not more con- formable to the principles and practice too of our government, to take this power and in- fluence from the prince, or to fhare it with him; than to exclude men from the privi- lege of reprefenting their fellow-fubjefts who would chufe them in parliament, purely becaufe they are employed and trufted by the prince. YOUR lordmip fees not only, how much a due reflection upon the experience of other age r and countries would have pointed out national corruption, as the natural and necef- fary confequence of inverting the crown with the management of fo great a revenue j but alfo the lofs of liberty, as the natural and necefiary confequence of national cor- jruption. Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 41 THESE two examples explain fufficiently what they are intended to explain. It only remains therefore upon this head, to obferve the difference between the two manners in which hiftory fupplies the defeats of our own experience. It mews us caufes as in fact they were laid, with their immediate effects : and it enables us to guefs at future events. It can do no more, in the na- ture of things. My lord BACON, in his fecond book of the Advancement of learn- ing, having in his mind, I fuppofe, what PHILO and JOSEPHUS aflerted of MOSES, affirms divine hiftory to have this prero- gative, that the narration may be before the fact as well as after. But fince the ages of prophecy, as well as miracles, are paft, we muft content ourfelves to guefs at what will be, by what has been: we have no other means in our power, and hiftory furni(hes us with thefe. How we are to improve, and apply thefe means, as well as how we are to acquire them, (hall be deduced more particularly in another letter. O F QF THE STUDY OF HISTORY, LETTER III. j. An objection againft the utility of hiftory removed. 2. The falfe and true aims of thofe who ftudy it. 3. Of the hiftory of the firft ages, with reflections on the flate of ancient hiftory prophane and facred. WERE thefe letters to fall into the hands of fome ingenious perfons who adorn the age we live in, your lord- Ihip's correfpondent would be joked upon for his project of improving men in virtue and wifdom by the ftudy of hiftory. The general characters of men it would be laid, are determined by their natural con- ftitutions, as their particular actions are by immediate objects. Many very converfant in hiftory would be cited, who have proved ill men, or bad politicians; and a long roll would be produced of others, who 44 LETTER III. who have arrived at a great pitch of private, and public virtue, without any afTiilance of this kind. Something has been faid already to anticipate this objection; but, fince I have heard feveral perfons affirm fuch propo- fitions with great confidence, a loud laugh, or a filent fneer at the pedants who prefumed to think otherwife; I will fpend a few para- graphs, with your lordfhip's leave, to Ihew that luch affirmations, for to affirm amongft thefe fine men is to reafon, either prove too much, or prove nothing. IF our general characters were determined abfo!utely, as they are certainly influenced, by our conftjtutions, and if our particular actions were fo by immediate objects-, all in- ftru&ion by precept, as well as example, and all endeavours to form the moral character by education, would be unnecefTary. Even the little care that is taken, and furely it is impofilble to take lefs, in the training up our youth, would be too much. But the truth is widely different from this reprefentation of it; for, what is vice, and what is virtue? I fpeak of them in a large and philofophical fenfe. The former, is, I think no more than the excefs, abufe, and mifapplication of appetites, Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 45 appetites, defines, and paffions, natural and innocent, nay ufeful and neceffary. The latter confifts in the moderation and go- vernment, in the ufe and application of thefe appetites, defines, and paffions, accord- ing to the rules of reafon, and therefore, often in oppofition to their own blind impulfe. WHAT now is education ? that part, that principal and moll neglected part of it, I mean, which tends to form the moral cha- racter? It is, I think, an inftitution defigned to lead men from their tender years, by pre- cept and example, by argument and au- thority, to the practice, and to the habit of pracYifing thefe rules. The flrongerour ap- petites, defires, and paffions are, the harder indeed is the tafk of education: but when the efforts of education are proportioned to this ftrength, although our keeneft appetites and defires, and our ruling paffions cannot be reduced to a quiet and uniform fub- miffion, yet, are not their excefies aflfwa- ged? are not their abufes and mifapplica- rions, in fome degree, diverted or checked? Tho' the pilot cannot lay the dorm, can- not he carry the (hip, by his art, better through it, and often prevent the wreck that would always happen, without him? 46 LETTER III. If ALEXANDER, who loved wine, and was naturally choleric, had been bred under the feverity of Roman difcipline, it is proba- ble he would neither have made a bonfire of Perfepolis for his whore, nor have killed his friend. If SCIPIO, who was naturally given to women, for which anecdote we have, if I miftake not, the authority of POLYBIUS, as well as fome verfes of NAE- vius preferved by A. GELLIUS, had been educated by OLYMPIAS at the court of PHILIP, it is improbable that he would have reftored the beautiful Spaniard. In Ihort, if the renowned SOCRATES had not corrected nature by art, this firft apoftle of the gentiles had been a very profligate fellow, by his own confefiion; for he was inclined to all the vices ZOPYRUS imputed to him, as they fay, on the obfervation of his phyfiognomy. WITH him therefore, who denies the ef- fects of education, it would be in vain to difpute; and with him who admits them, there can be no difpute, concerning that fhare which I afcribe to the ftudy of hif- tory, in forming our moral characters, and making us better men. The very perfons who pretend that inclinations cannot be re- ftrained, nor habits corrected, againft our natural Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 47 natural bent, would be the firft perhaps to prove, in certain cafes, the contrary. A fortune at court, or the favours of a lady, have prevailed on many to conceal, and they could not conceal without reftraining, which is one ftep towards correcting, the vices they were by nature addicted to the moft. Shall we imagine now, that the beau- ty of virtue and the deformity of vice, the charms of a bright and lading reputa- tion, the terror of being delivered over as criminals to all pofterity, the real benefit arifing from a confcientious difcharge of the duty we owe to others, which benefit, fortune can neither hinder nor take away, and the reafonablenefs of conforming our- felves to the defigns of GOD manifefted in. the conftitution of the human nature; lhall we imagine, I fay, that all thefe are not able to acquire the fame power over thofe who are continually called upon to a con- templation of them, and they who apply themfelves to the ftudy of hiftory, are fo called upon, as other motives, mean and for- did in comparifon of thefe, can ufurp on other men ? 2. That the ftudy of hiftory, far from making us wiler, and more ufeful citizens, as well as better men, may be of no advan- tage 48 LETTER IIL vantage whatfoever; that it may ferve to render us mere antiquaries and fcholars? or that it may help to make us forward cox- combs, and prating pedants, I have already allowed. But this is not the fault of hif- tory ; and to convince us that it is not, we need only contraft the true ufe of hiftory, with the ufe that is made of it by fuch men as thefe. We ought always to keep in mind, that hiftory is philofophy teach- ing by examples how to conduct ourfelves in all the fituations of private and public life; that therefore we mud apply our- felves to it in a philofophical fpirit and manner; that we muft rife from particular to general knowledge, and that we muft fit ourfelves for the fociety and bufmefs of mankind by accuftoming our minds to reflect and meditate on the characters we find defcribed, and the courfe of events we find related there. Particular examples may be of ufe fometimes in particular cafes-, but the application of them is dangerous. It muft be done with the utmoft circumfpec- tion, or it will be feldom done with fuc- cefs. And yet one would think that this was the principal ufe of the itudy of hiftory, by what has been written on the fubjecl. I know not whether MACHIAVEL himfelf is quite free from defect on this account : Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 49 account: he feems to carry the ufe and ap- plication of particular examples fometimes too far. MARIUS and CATULUS patted the Alps, met and defeated the Cimbri be- yond the frontiers of Italy. Is it fafe to conclude from hence, that whenever one people is invaded by another, the invaded ought to meet and fight the invaders at a diftance from their frontiers ? MACHIAVEL'S countryman, GUICCIARDIN, was aware of the danger that might arife from fuch an application of examples. PETER of Me- dicis had involved himfelf in great dif- ficulties, when thofe wars and calamities began which LEWIS SFORZA firft drew and entailed on Italy, by flattering the ambi- tion of CHARLES the eighth, in order to gratify his own, and calling the French into that country. PETER, owed his diftrefs to his folly, in departing from the general tenor of conduct his father LAURENCE had held, and hoped to relieve himfelf by imitating his father's example in one particular in- ftance. At a time when the wars with the pope and king of Naples had reduced LAURENCE to circumftances of great dan- ger, he took the relblution of going to FERDINAND, and of treating in perfon with that prince. The relblution appears in hiftory imprudent and almoft defperate: D were 50 LETTER III. were we informed of the fecret reafons on which this great man a6ted, it would appear very peffibly a wile and fafe meafurc. It fucceeded, and LAURENCE brought back with him public peace, and private fecurity. As foon as the French troops entered the dominions of Florence, PETER was itruck with a panic terror, went to CHARLKS the eighth, put the port of Leghorn, the fortrei- fes of Pi fa, and all the keys of the country, into this prince's hands; whereby he dif- armed the Florentine commonwealth, and ruined himfelf. He was deprived of his au- thority, and driven out of the city, by the juft indignation of the magistrates and people: and in the treaty which they made afterwards with the king of France, it was flipulated, that PETER fhould not remain within an hundred miles of the Hate, nor his brothers within the fame diftance of the city of Florence. On this occafion Guic- CIARDIN obferves how dangerous it is to govern ourfelves by particular examples; fmce, to have the iame fuccefs, we mull have the fame prudence, and the fame for- tune; and fince the example muft not only anfwer the cafe before us in general, but in every minute circumftance. This is the fenfe of that admirable hiftorian, and thefe are his words-- u e fenza dubio molto "peri- Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 51 cc pericolofo il governarfi con gl' efempi, '* le non concorrono, non folo in generale, ma in tutti i particular!, le medifime ragioni-, le le cole non fono regelate- con la medcfima prudenza, & le oltre a tutti li ahri fondamenti, non, v'ha la parte fua la medifima fortuna." An obferva- tion that BOILEAU makes, and a rule he Jays down in fpeaking of translations, will properly find their place here, and ferve to explain ftill better what I would eftablifh. " To tranflatc fervilely into modern lan " guage an ancient author phrafe by phrafe, 44 and word by word, is prepofterous: no- " thing can be more unlike the original 44 than fuch a copy. It is not to (hew, it 44 is to difguife the author: and he who 44 has known him only in this drefs, would " not know him in his own. A good " writer, inftead of taking this inglorious * c and unprofitable talk upon him, will " joufter contre 1'original, rather imitate " than tranfiate, and rather emulate than *' imitate: he will cransfnfe the lenfe and " fpirit of the original into his own work, " and will endeavour to write as the ancient 44 author would have wrote, had he writ in " the fame language. 5J Now, to improve by examples is to improve by imitation. We muft catch the fpirit if we can, and con- P 2 form 52 L E T T E R II. form ourfelves to the reafon of them ; but we muft not affect to tranflate ferdlely into our conduit, if your lordfhip will allow me the exprefnon, the particular conduct of thofe good and great men, whofe images hiftory fets before us. CODRUS and the DECII devoted themielves to death: one, becaufe an oracle had foretold that the army whofe general was killed, would be victorious; the others in compliance with a fuperftition that bore great analogy to a ceremony practifed in the old Egyptian church, and added afterwards, as many others of the lame origin were, to the ri- tual of the Ifraelites. Theie are examples of great magnanimity, to be lure, and of magnanimity employed in the moft worthy caule. In the early days of the Athenian and Roman government, when the credit of oracles and all kinds of fuperftition pre- vailed, when heaven was pioufly thought tor delight in blood, and even human blood was fhed under wild notions of atonement, propitiation, purgation, expiation, and fatis- faction; they who fet fuch examples as thefe, acted an heroical and a rational part too. But if a general mould act the fame part now, and in order to fecure his victory, get killed as fait as he could ; he might pafs for an hero, but, 1 am lure, he would pafs for Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 53 for a madman. Even thefe examples, how- ever, are of ufe: they excite us at lead to venture our lives freely in the fervice of onr country, by propofing to our imitation, men who devoted themfelves to certain death in the fervice of theirs* They mew us what a turn of imagination can operate, and how the greateft trifle, nay the greateft abfurdity, dreffed up in the folemn arts of re- ligion, can carry ardour and confidence, or the contrary fentiments, into the breads of thoufands. THERE are certain general principles, and rules of life and conduct, which always mud be true, becaufe they are conformable to the invariable nature of things. He who {Indies hiitory as he would ftudy philofophy, will foon dittinguifli and collect them, and by doing fo will foon form to himfelf a gene- ral fyftem of ethics and politics on the fureft foundations, on the trial of thefe principles and rules in all ages, and on the confirmation of them by universal experience. I faid, he will diftinguifh them; for once more I mull fay, that as to particular modes of actions, and meafures of conduct, which the cuf- toms of different countries, ,ihe manners of different ages, and the circumftances of dif- ferent conjunctures, have appropriated, as ic D 3 werej 54 LETTER III. were; itisalways ridiculous, or imprudentanci dangerous to employ them. But this is not all. By contemplating the vaft variety of par- ticular characters and events-, by examin- ing the ftrange combinations of caules, different, remote, and feemingly oppofite, that often concur in producing one erTcl ; and the lir.prifing fertility of one fingle and uniform caufe in the producing of a multi- tude of cffecls as different, as remote, and .feemingly as oppofite; by tracing carefully, as carefully as if the fubjedt he confiders were of perfonal and immediate concern to him, all the minute, and fometimes fcarce perceivable circumftances, either in the cha- racters of actors, or in the courfe of actions, that hiftory enables him to trace, and according to which the fuccefs of affairs, even the greateft, is mollly determined ; by thefe, and fuch methods as thefe, for I might defcend into a much greater detail, a man of parts may improve the ftudy of hiftory to it's proper and principal ufe; he may fharpen the penetration, fix the atten- tion of his mind, and ftrengthen his judg- ment; he may acquire the faculty and the habit of difcerning quicker, and looking farther; and of exerting that flexibility, and lieadincfs, which aie neceffary to be joined in the conduft of all affairs, that depend Of the STUDY of HISTORY. ijf depend on the concurrence or oppofition of other men. Mr. LOCKE, I think, recommends the fludy of geometry even to thofe who have no defign of being geometricians: and he gives a reafon for it, that may be applied to the prefect cafe. Such perfons may forget eyery problem that has been propoled, and every folution that they or others have given 5 but the habit of purfuing long trains of ideas will remain with them, and they will appear through the mazes of fo- phifm, and difcover a latent truth, where perfons who have not this habit will never find it. IN this manner, the ftudy of* hiftory will prepare us for action and obfervation. Hif- tory is the antient author: experience is the modern language. We form our tafte on the firft; we tranflate the fenfe and rea- fon, we transfuie the fpirit and force ; but we imitate only the particular graces of the original: we imitate them according to the idiom of our own tongue, that is, we fub* ftitute often equivalents in the lieu of them, and are far from affecting to copy them fer* vilely. To conclude, as experience is con* verfant about the preient, and the prefent D 4 enables 56 LETTER III. enables us to guefs at the future ; f<> hiftory is converfant about the paft, and by know- ing the things that have been, we become better able to judge of the things that are. THIS ufe, my lord, which I make the proper and principal ufe of the ftudy of hif- tory, is not infifted on by thofe who have wrote concerning the method to be followed in this ftudy : and fmce we propofe differ- ent ends, we muft of courfe take different ways. Few of their treatifes have fallen into my hands: one, the method of BODIN, a man famous in his time, I remember to have read. I took it up with much expec- tation many years ago ; I went through it, and remained extremely difappointed. He might have given almoft any other title to his book, as properly as that which Hands before it. There are not many pages in it that relate any more to his fubject than a tedious fifth chapter, wherein he accounts for the characters of nations according to their pofitions on the globe, and according to the influence of the ftars ; and afiures his reader, that nothing can be more necei- fary than fuch a difquifition, " ad univer- *' fam hiftoriarum cognitionem, et incor- *' ruptum earum judicium." In his method, we Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 57 we are to take firft a general view of uni- verfal hiftory, and chronology, in fhorc abftracts, and then to ftudy ail particular hiftories and fyftems. SENECA fpeaks of men who i'pend their whole lives in learning how to act in life, " dum vitas inftrumenta " conquirunt." I doubt that this method of BODIN would conduit us in the fame, or as bad a way, would leave us no time for action, or would make us unfit for it. A, huge common-place book, wherein all the remarkable fayings and facts that we find in hiftory are to be regiftered, may enable a man to talk or write like BODIN, but will never make him a better man, nor enable him to promote, like an uleful citizen, the fecurity, the peace, the welfare, or the grandeur of the community to which he be- longs. I mail proceed therefore to fpeak of a method that leads to fuch purpofes as thefe directly and certainly, without any re- gard to the methods that have been pre- icribed by others. I THINK, then, we mud be on our guard agalnft this very affectation of learning, and this very wantonnefs of curiofuy, which the examples and precepts we commonly meet with are calculated to flatter and in- ciulge. 58 LETTER III. dulge. We muft neither dwell too long in the dark, nor wander about till we lole our way in the light. We are too apt to carry fyftems of philofophy beyond all our ideas, and fyftems of hiftory beyond all our memorials. The philofopher begins with reafcn, and ends with imagination. The hiftorian inverts this order: he begins without memorials, and he fometimes ends with them. > This filly cuftom is fo preva- lent among men of letters who apply them- felves to the ftudy of hiftory, and has fo much prejudice and fo much authority on the fide of it, that your lordfhip mull give me leave to fpcak a little more particularly and plainly than I have done, in favour of com- mon frnfc, againrt an abiurdity which is al- moft fanctified. REFLECTIONS Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 59 REFLECTIONS On the ftate of ancient HISTORY. THE nature of man, and the conftant courle of human affairs, render it impofii- ble that che firft ages of any new nation which forms itfelf, mould afford authentic materials for hiftory. We have none fuch concerning the originals of any of thofe na- tions that actually fubfift. Shall we expect to find them concerning the originals of nations difperfed, or extinguimed, two or three thouland years ago? If a thread of dark and uncertain traditions, therefore, is made, as it commonly is, the introduc- tion to hiftory, we mould touch it lightly, and run fwiftly over it, far from infifting on it, either as authors or readers. Such in- troductions are at beft no more than fanci- ful preludes, that try the inftruments, and precede the concert. He muft be void of judgment and tafte, one would think, who can take the firft for true hiftory, or the laft for true harmony. And yet fo it has been, and fo it is, not in Germany and Holland alonej but in Italy, in France, and in Fngland, where genius has abounded, and tafte has been long refined. Our great fcholars have dealt and deal in fables, at lead as 60 LETTER III. as much as our poets, with this difference to the difad vantage of the former,' to whom I may apply the remark as juftly as SENECA applied it to the dialecticians " triftius " inepti funt. Illi ex profefib lafciviunt ; hi " agere feipfos aliquid exiftimant." Learned men, in learned and inquifitive ages, who pofleiTed many advantages that we have nor> and among others that of being placed fo many centuries nearer the original truths that are the objects of fo much laborious fearch, defpaired of finding them, and gave fair warning to pofterity, if pofterity would have taken it. The ancient geographers, as PLU- TARCH fays in the life of THESEUS, when they laid down in their maps the little extent of fea and land that was known to them, lefe great fpaccs void. In fome of thefe fpaces they wrote, Here are fandy defarts, in others,- Here are impaffable marmes, Here is a chain of inhofpitable mountains, or Here is a frozen ocean. Juft fo, both he and other hiftorians, when they related fabulous ori- ginals, were not wanting to fet out the bounds beyond which there was neither hiftory nor chronology. CENSORINUS has preierved the diftin<5lion of three seras eftablifhed by VARRO. This learned Roman antiquary did not determine whether the firft period had Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 61 had any beginning, but fixed the end of it at the firft, that is, according to him, the Ogygian, deluge ; which he placed, I think, fome centuries backwarder than JULIUS AFRICANUS thought fit to place it after- v/arus. To this asra of abfolute darknefs he fuppoied that a kind of twilight fucceed- ed, from the Ogygian deluge to the Olym- pic asra, and this he called the fabulous age. From this vulgar asra, when CORAE- BUS was crowned victor, and long after the true asra when thefe games were inftituted by IPHITUS, the GREEKS pretend to be able to digeft their hiftory with fome order, clear- nefs, and certainty : VARRO therefore look- ed on it as the break of day, or the begin- ning of the hiftorical age. He might do fo the rather, perhaps, becaufe he included by it the date he likewife fixed, or, upon re- collection, that the elder CATO had fixed, of the foundation of Rome within the pe- riod from which he fuppofed that hiftorical truth was to be found. But yet moil certain it is, that the hiftory and chronology of the ages that follow, are as confufed and uncer- tain, as the hiftory and chronology of thofe ivhich immediately precede this aera. i. The 62 LETTER III. i. The ftate of ancient profane hiftory. THE Greeks did not begin to write in profe till PHERECIDES of SYROS introduced the cuftom: and CADMUS MILESIUS was their firft hiftorian. Now thefe men flou- rifhed long after the true, or even the vul- gar Olympic ^:ra; for JOSEPHUS affirms, and in this he has great probability on his fide, that CADMUS MILESIUS, and Acusi- LAUS ARGIVUS, in a word, the oldeft hifto- rians in Greece, were very little more an- cient than the expedition of the Pcrfians againft the Greeks. As feveral centuries pafied between the Olympic sera and thefe firft hiftonans, there pafied likewile feveral more between thefe and the firft Greek chro- Jiologers. TIMOEUS about the time of PTO- LOMY PHILADELPHUS, and ERATOSTHENES about that of PTOLOMY EVERGETES, feem firft to have digefted the events recorded by them, according to the olympiads. Prece- dent writers mentioned fometimes the olym- piads; but this rule of reckoning was not brought into eftablifhed ufe fooner. The rule could not ferve to render hiftory more clear and certain till it was followed: it was not followed till about five hundred years after Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 63 after the Olympic asra. There remains therefore no pretence to place the begin- ning cf the hiftorical age fo high as VARRO placed it, by five hundred years. HELLANICUS indeed and others pretend- ed to give the originals of cities and go- vernments, and to deduce their narrations from great antiquity. Their works are loft, but we can judge how inconfiderable the lofs is, by the writings of that age which remain, and by the report of thole who had feen the others. For inftance, HERODO- TUS was cotemporary with HELLANICUS. HERODOTUS was inquifitive enough in all confcicnce, and propofed to publifti ali he could learn of the antiquities of the lonians, Lydians, Phrygians, Egyptians, Babylo- nians, Medes, and Pcrfians; that is, of almoft all the nations who were known in his time to exift. If he wrote AfTy- riacs, we have them not-, but we are lure that this word was ufed proverbially to fignify fabulous legends, loon after his time, and when the mode of publiihing fuch relations aud hiftories prevailed among the Greeks. IN the nine books we have, he goes back indeed almoft to the Olympic asr a , without 64 LETTER III. out taking notice of it, however; but he goes back only to tell an old woman's tale, of a king who loft his crown for fhewing his wife naked to his favourite; and from CANDAULES and GYGES he haftens, or rather he takes a great leap, down to CYRUS. SOMETHING like a thread of hiftory of the Medes and then of the Perfians, to the flight of XERXES, which happened in his own time, is carried on. The events of his own time are related with an air of hif- tory. But all accounts of the Greeks as well as the Perfians, which precede thefe, and all the accounts which he gives occafio- nally of other nations,, were drawn up moil manifeftly on broken, perplexed, and doubt- ful fcraps of tradition. He had neither ori- ginal records, nor any authentic memorials to guide him, and yet thefe are the fole foundations of true hiftory. HERODOTUS flourilhed, I think, little more than half a century, and XENOPHON little more than a whole century, after the- death of CYRUS: and yet how various and repugnant are the relations made by thefe two hiftorians, of the birth, life and death of this prince! If moft hiftories had come down from thefe ages to ours, the uncertainty and inutility of Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 6$ of them all would be but the more manifeft. We mould find that ACUSILAUS rejected the traditions of HESIOD, that HELLANICUS contradicted ACUSILAUS, that EPHORUS ac- cufed HELLANICUS, that TIMAEUS accufed EPHORUS, and all pofterior writers TIMAEUS. This is the report of JOSEPHUS. But, in order to Ihew the ignorance and falmood of all thofe writers through whom the traditions of profane antiquity came to the Greeks, I will quote to your lordfhip a much better authority than that of JOSEPHUS; the autho- rity of one who had no prejudice to bias him, no particular caufe to defend, nor lyftem of ancient hiftory to eftablifh, and all the helps as well as talents, necefifary to inake him a competent judge. "I he man I mean is STRABO. SPEAKING of the Mafiagetae in his ele- venth book, he writes to this effect : that no author had given a true account of them, though feveral had wrote of the war that CYRUS waged againft them; and that hifto- rians had found as little credit in what they had related concerning the affairs of the Perfians, Medes, and Syrians; that this was due to their folly; for obferving that thofe who wrote fables profeffedly, were held in cfteem, thefe men imagined they mould ren- E der 66 LETTER III. der their writings more agreeable, if under the appearance and pretence of true hiftory, they related what they had neither feen nor heard from perfons able to give them true information ; and that accordingly their only aim had been to drefs up pleafing and marvellous relations : that one may better give credit to HESIOD and HOMER, when they talk of their heroes, nay even to dra- matic poets, than to CTESTAS, HERODOTUS, HELLANICUS, and their followers: that it is not fafe to give credit even to the greateft part of the hiftorians who wrote concerning ALEXANDER; fmce they too, encouraged by the greater reputation of this conqueror, by the diftance to which he carried his arms; and by the difficulty of difproving what they faid of actions performed in regions fo re- mote, were apt to deceive: that indeed when the Roman empire on one fide, and the Parthian on the other, came to extend themfelves, the truth of things grew to be better known. You fee, my lord, not only how late profane hiftory began to be wrote by the Greeks, but how much later it began to be wrote with any regard to truth; and con- iVquently what wretched materials the learned men, who arofe after the age of ALEX- Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 67 ALEXANDER, had to employ, when they attempted to form fy items of ancient hiftory and chronology. We have fome remains of that laborious compiler DIODORUS SICULUS, but do we find in him any thread of ancient hiftory, I mean, that which pafied for ancient in his time? What complaints, on the contrary, does he not make of for- mer hiftorians ? how frankly does he confefs the little and uncertain light he had to follow in his refearches? Yet DIODORUS, as well as PLUTARCH, and others, had not only the older Greek hiftorians, but the more modern antiquaries, who pretended to have fearched into the records and regifters of nations j even at that time renowned for their antiquity. BEROSUS, for inftance, and MANETHO, one a Babylonian, and the other an Egyptian prieft, had publilhed the anti- quities of their countries in the time of the PTOLEMYS. BEROSUS pretended to give the hiftory of four hundred and eighty years. PLINY, if I remember right, for I fay this on memory, fpeaks to this effect in the fixth book of his Natural Hiftory: and if it was fo, thele years were probably years of NABONASSAR. MANETHO began his hif- tory, God knows when, from the progrefs ot Isis, or fome other as well afcertained period. He followed the Egyptian tradi- E 2 tions 68 LETTER III. tions of dynafties of Gods and Demi-Godsj and derived his anecdotes from the firft MERCURY, who had infcribed them in fa- cred characters, on antediluvian pillars, an- tediluvian at lead, according to our received chronology, from which the fecond MER- CURY had tranfcribed them, and inferted them into his works. We have not thefe antiquities; for the monk of VITERBO was foon detected : and if we had them, they would either add to our uncertainty, and cncreafe the chaos of learning, or tell us nothing worth our knowlege. For thus I reafon. Had they given particular and hi- torical accounts conformable to the fcrip- turesof the Jews, JOSEPHUS, JULIUS AF- RICANUS, and EUSEBIUS would have made quite other extracts from their writings, and would have altered and contradicted them lefs. The accounts they gave, therefore, were repugnant to facred writ, or they were defective: they would have eftablifhed pyrrhonifm, or have baulked our curiofity. 2 Of Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 69 2. Of Sacred Hiftory: What memorials therefore remain to give us light into the originals of ancient nations, and the hiftory of thofe ages, we commonly call the firft ages? The Bible, it will be faid; that is, the hiftorical part of it in the Old Teftament. But, my lord, even thefe divine books muft be reputed inefficient to the purpofe, by every candid and impartial man who confiders either their authority as hiftories, or the matter they contain. For what are they ? and how came they to us? At the time when ALEXANDER carried his arms into Afia, a people of Syria, till then unknown, became known to the Greeks: this people had been Haves to the Egyp- tians, AiTyrians, Medes, and Perfians, as thefe feveral empires prevailed: ten parts in twelve of them had been tranfplanted by ancient conquerors, and melted down and loft in the ealt, feveral ages before the efta- bliihment of the empire that ALEXANDER deftroyed: the other two parts had been car- ried captive to Babylon, a little before the fame sera. This captivity was not indeed perpetual, like the other; but it lafted fo long, and fuch circumftances, whatever E 3 they 70 LETTER III. they were, accompanied it; that the captives forgot their country, and even their lan- guage, the Plebrew dialed at leaft, and character: and a few of them only could be wrought upon, by the zeal of fome parti- cular men, to return home, when the in- dulgence of thr Perfian monarchs gave them leave to rebuild their city, and to re-people their ancient patrimony. Even this rem- nant of the nation did not continue long entire. Another great transmigration fol- lowed; and the Jews, that fettled under the protection of the PTOLEMYS, forgot their language in Egypt, as the forefathers of thele Jews had forgot theirs in Chaldea. More attached however to their religion in Egypt, for reafons eafy to be deduced from the new inftitutions that prevailed after the captivity among them than their ancef- tors had been in Chaldea, a yerfion of their facred writings was made into Greek at Alexandria, not long after the canon of thefe fcriptures had been fmiflied at Jerufa- lem ; for many years could not intervene between the death of SIMON the juft, by iwhomthis canon was finifhed, if he died du- ring the reign of PTOLEMY SOTER, and the beginning of this famous tranflation under PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS. The Heljenift Jews reported as many marvellous things to authorize, Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 71 authorize, and even to fanftify this tranfla- tion, as the other Jews had reported about ESDRAS who began, and SIMON the juft who finiflied, the canon of their fcriptures. Thefc holy romances (lid into tradition, and tradition became hiftory: the fathers of our chriftian church did not difdain to employ them. St. JEROME, for inftance, laughed at the ftory of the leventy-two elders, whofe tranflations were found to be, upon companion, word for word the fame, though made feparately, and by men who had no communication with one another. But the fame St. JEROME, in the fame place, quotes ARISTEAS, one of the guard of PTOLEMY PHILADELPHIA, as a real perfonage. THE account pretended to be wrote by this ARISTEAS, of all that pafTed relating to the tranflation, was enough for his purpofe. This he retained, and he rejected only the more improbable circumftances, which had been added to the tale, and which laid it open to mod fufpicion. In this he (hewed great prudence, and better judgment, than that zealous, but weak apologift JUSTIN, who believed the whole ftory himfelf, and endeavoured to impofe it on mankind. E 4 THUS 72 LETTER III. THUS you fee, my lord, that when we confidcr thefe books barely as hiftories, delivered to us on the faith of a fuperfti- titious people, among whom the cuftom and art of pious lying prevailed remarkably, we may be allowed to doubt whether greater credit is to be given to what they tell us concerning the original, compiled in their own country, and as it were out of the fight of the reft of the world j than we know, with fuch a certainty as no fcholar prefumes to deny, that we ought to give to what they tell us concerning the copy ? THE Hellenift Jews were extremely pleafed, no doubt, to have their fcriptures in a language they underftood, and that might fpread the fame of their antiquity, and do honour to their nation, among their matters the Greeks. But yet we do not find that the author! ry of thefe books prevailed, or that even they were much known among the Pagan world. The rea- lon of this cannot be, that the Greeks ad- mired nothing that was not of their own growth, " fua tantum mirantur: M for, on the contrary, they were inquifuive and cre- dulous in the higheii degree, and they col- kcled and publiflied at leaft as many idle traditions of other nations, as they propa- gated Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 73 gated of their own. JOSEPHUS pretended that THEOPOMPUS, a difciple of ISOCRATES, being about to infert in his hiftory fome things he had taken out of holy writ, the poor man became troubled in mind for fe- veral days; and .that having prayed to GOD, during an intermifllon of his illnefs, to reveal to him the caufe of it, he learned in his Qeep that this attempt was the caufe; upon which he quitted the defign and was cured. If JOSEPHUS had been a little more confident than he is very often, fuch a ftory as this would not have been told by one, who was fond, as Jews and Chriftians in general have been, to create an opinion that the Gentiles took not their hiftory alone, but their philofophy and all their valuable knowledge, from the Jews. Not- withftanding this ftory therefore, which is told in the fifteenth book of the Jewifli An- tiquities, and means nothing, or means to fhew that the divine Providence would net fuffer anecdotes of facred, to be mingled with profane hiftory, the practice of JOSE- PHUS himtelf, and of all thofe who have had the fame defign in view, has been to confirm the former by the latter, and at any rate to fuppofe an appearance at lead of conformity between them. We are told HECAT^US ABDERITA, for there were two 74 LETTER III. two of that name, wrote a hiftory favour- able to the Jews: and, not to multiply inftances, though I might eafily do it, even ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR is called in. He is quoted by JOSEPHUS, and praifed by EUSEBIUS as a man of parts and great va- riety of learning. His teftimony, about the deluge and tower of Babel, is produced by St. CYRIL in his firtt book againft JULIAN: and JUSTIN the apologift and martyr, in his exhortation to the Greeks, makes ufe of the fame authority, among thofe that mention MOSES as a leader and prince of the Jews. Though this POLYHISTOR, if I remember rigiit, what I think I have met with in SUIDAS, fpoke only of a woman he called Moso, " cnjus fcriptum eft lex he- " brasorum*." Had the Greek hiftorians been conformable to the facred, I cannot fee that their authority, which was not cotem- porary, would have been of any weight. They might have copied MOSES, and fo they did CTESIAS. But even this was not o/^- &<; q>r,atv 'AM&tftyi' I Lex. torn. ii. p. 583. fjt.^ y.^ikTu. %. tsii PftjtAij? /iA:a 'TT-nre. in TOTOIJ A.yti, fMf, Id. torn. i. p. 105. Edit. Cantab. 1725. the Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 75 the cafe: whatever ufe a particular writer here and there might make occafionally of the fcriptures, certain ic is that the Jews continued to be as much defpifed, and their hiftory to be as generally neglected, nay almotl as generally unknown, for a long time at lealt after the verfion was made at Alexandria, as they had been before. APION, an Egyptian, a man of much erudition, appeared in the world fome centuries after- wards. He wrote, among other antiqui- ties, thofe of his own country : and as he was obliged to fpeak very often of the Jews, he Ipoke of them in a manner neither much to their honour, nor to that of their hiftories. He wrote purpofely againft them: and JOSEPHUS attempted afterwards, but APION was then dead, to refute him. APION patted, I know, for a vain and noify pedant ; but he paiTed likewile for a curious, a laborious, and a learned anti- quary. If he was cabaliftical or fuperili- tious, JOSEPHUS was at leaft as much fo as he : and it he flattered CALIGULA, JOSE- PHUS introduced himfelf to the court pf NERO and the favour of POPP^EA, by no very honourable means, under the protec- tion of ALITURUS, a player, and a Jew; to fay nothing of his applying to VESPASIAN jhe prophecies concerning the Mefllah, nor 76 LETTER III. nor of his accompanying TITUS to the ficge of Jerufalem, IN fhort, my lord, the Jewifh hiftory never obtained any credit in the wosld, till chriftianity was eltablifhed. The founda* tions of this fyftem being laid partly in thefe hiftories, and in the prophecies joined to them or inferted in them, chriftianity has reflect- ed back upon them an authority which they had not before, and this authority has pre- vailed wherever chriftianity has fpread. Both Jews and Chriftians hold the fame books in great veneration, whilft each condemns the other for not understanding, or for abu- fing them. But I apprehend that the zeal of both has done much hurt, by endeavouring to extend their authority much farther than is necefifary for the fupport perhaps of Judaifm, but to be fure of chriftianity. I explain myielf that I may offend no pious car. SIMON, in the preface to his Critical hif- tory of the Old Teftament, cites a divine of the faculty of Paris, who held that the in- fpirations of the authors of thofe books, which the church receives as the word of God, fiiould be extended no farther than to matters purely of doctrine, or to fuch as. Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 77 as have a near and neceffary relation to thefe; and that whenever thefe authors write on other fubjefts, fuch as Egyptian, Affyrian, or other hiftory, they had no more of the divine afiiftance than any other perfons of piety. This notion of infpira- tions that came occcafionally, that illumi- nated the minds and guided the hands of the facred penmen while they were writ- ing one page, and reftrained their influence, while the Tame authors were writing ano- ther, may be cavilled againit: and what is there that may not ? But furely it deferves to be treated with refpect, fince it tends to eftablifh a diftinction between the legal, doctrinal, or prophetical parts of the Bible, and the hiftorical : without which diftinc- tion it is impoflible to eftablifh the firft, as evidently and as folidly as the interefts of religion require; at leaft it appears impofli- ble to me, after having examined and con- fidered, as well as I am able, all the trials of this kind that have been made by fubrle as well as learned men. The Old is faid to be the foundation of the New, and fo ic is in one fenfe: the fyftem of religion con- tained in the latter, refers to the fyftem of religion contained in the former, and fup- pcfes the truth of it. But the authority on which we receive the books of the New teftament 78 LETTER 111. teftament, is fo far from being founded ort the authority of the Old teftament, that it is quite independent on it; the New being proved, gives authority to the Old, but bor- rows none from it; and gives this authority to the particular parts only. CHRIST came to fulfill the prophecies; but not to confe- crate all the written, any more than the oral, traditions of the Jews. We muft be- lieve thefe traditions as far as they relate to chriftianity, as far as chriftianity refers to them, or fuppofes them neceffary ; but we can be under no obligation to believe them any farther, fince without chriftianity we fliould be under no obligation to believe them at all. It has been faid by ABBADIE, and others, " That the accidents which have " happened to alter the texts of the Bible, " and to disfigure, if I may fay fo, the " fcriptures in many refpecls, could not " have been prevented without a perpetual *' (landing miracle, and that a perpetual " (landing miracle is not in the order of one hundred and twenty or thirty years. APION, DION CASSIUS and others, nay even PLUTARCH included, make us but poor amends for what is loft of LIVY. Among all the ad- ventitious helps by which we endeavour to lupply this lois in fome degree, the beft are thofe that we find featured up and down in the works of TULLY. His Ora- tions particularly, and his Letters, contain many curious anecdotes and infrruclive re- flections, concerning the intrigues and ma- chinations that were carried on againft liberty, from CATILINE'S confpiracy to CAE- SAR'S. The ftate of the government, the constitution and -temper of the feveral parties, Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 133 parties, and the chara&ers of the principal perfons who figured at that time on the public llage, are to be feen there in a ftronger and truer light than they would have appeared perhaps if he had wrote purpofely on this fubjecl, and even in thofe memorials which he ibmewhere promifes ATTICUS to write. " Excudam aliquod Heraclidium opus, " quod lateat in thefauris tuis." He would hardly have unmaiked in fuch a work, as freely as in familiar occafional letters, POM- PEY, CATO, BRUTUS, nay himfeif; the four men of Rome, on whofe praifes he dwelt with the grcateft complacency. The age in which LIVY flourimed abounded with fuch materials as thefe: they were frefh, ihey were authentic^ it was eafy to procure them, it was fafe to employ them. How he did employ them in executing the fecond part of his defign, we may judge by his execution of the firft : and, I own to your lotdQiip, I mould be glad to exchange, if it were pofiible, what we have of this hiftory for what we have not. Would you not be glad, my lord, to lee, in one ftupendous draught, the whole progrefs of that govern- ment from liberty to lervitudc? the \vhole feries of caufes and efre6b, apparent and real, public and private ? thofe which all men law, and all good men lamenied and I 3 op. L E T T E R V. oppofed at the time ; and thofe which were fo difguifed to the prejudices, to the par- tialities of a divided people, and even to the corruption of mankind, that many did not, and that many could pretend they did not difcern them, till it was too late to re- fift them ? I am forry to fay it, this part of the Roman ftory would be not only more curious and more authentic than the for- mer, but of more immediate and more im- portant application to the prefent (late of Britain. But it is loft ; the lofs is irrepa- rable, and your lordfhip will not blame me for deploring it. III. THEV who fet up for fcepticifm may not regret the lofs of fuch an hiftory r but this I will be bold to affert to them, that an hiftory muft be wrote on this plan, and muft: aim at leaft at thefe perfections, or it will anfwer fufficiently none of the intentions of hiftory. That it. will not anfwer fufficiently the intention I have in filled upon in thefe letters, that of inftructing pofterity by the example of former ages, is manifeft: and I think it is as manifeft, that an hiftory can- not be faid even to relate faithfully, and in- form us truly, that does not relate fully, and inform us of all that is neceffary to make a true Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 135 true judgment concerning the matters con- tained in it. Naked fads, without the cau- fes that produced them, and the circumftan- ces that accompanied them, are not fufficient to characterife actions or counfels. The nice degrees of wifdom and of folly, of virtue and of vice, will not only be undifcover- able in them ; but we rnuft be very often unable to determine under which of thefe characters they fall in general. The fceptics I am fpeaking of are therefore guilty of this abfurdity : the nearer an hiftory comes to the true idea of hiftory, the better it informs, and the more it initructs us, the more wor- thy to be rejected it appears to them. I have faid and allowed enough to content any rea fonable man about the uncertainty of hif- tory. I have owned that the beft are defec- tive, and I will add in this place an obfer- vation which did not, I think, occur to me before. Conjecture is not always diftinguifli- ed perhaps as it ought to be; fo that an ingenious writer may fometimes do very innocently, what a malicious writer does very criminally as often as he dares, and as his malice requires it; he may account for events after they have happened, by a fyftem of caufes and conduct that did not really produce them, though it might pof- fibly or even probably have produced them. I 4. But 136 L E T T E R V. But this obfervadon, like feveral others, be- come? a reafon for examining and comparing authorities, and for preferring fome, not for rejecting all. DAVILA, a noble hiftorian fureiy, and one whom I fhould not fcruple to confefs equal in many refpefts to LIVY, as I (hould not fcruple to prefer his country- man GUICCIARDIN to THUCYDIDES in every refpeft : DAVILA, my lord, was accufed, from the firft publication of his hiftory, or at leaft was fufpedted, of too much re- finement and fubtilty, in developing the fecret motives of actions, in laying the caufes of events too deep, and deducing them often through a feries of progreffion too complicated, and too artiftly wrought. But yet the fufpicious perfon who mould re- je6t this hiftorian upon fuch general induce- ments as thefe, would have no grace to oppofe his fufpicions to the authority of the firft duke of KPERNON, who had been an a<5tor, and a principal actor too, in many of the fcenes that DAVILA recites. GIRARD, fe- cretary to this duke, and no contemptible biographer, relates, that this hiftory came down to the place where the old man refided in Gafgogny, a little before his death ; that he read it to him, that the duke confirmed the truth of the narrations in it, and fee me d pnly furprized by what meajis the author coulcj Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 137 could be fo well informed of the moil fecret councils and meafures of thofe times. IV. I have faid enough on this head, and your lordfhip may be induced perhaps, by what I have laid, to think with me, that fuch hiilories as thefe, whether ancient or modern, deferve alone to be ftudied. Let us leave the credulous learned to write hiftory without materials, or to ftudy thofe who do Ib ; to wrangle about ancient tra- ditions, and to ring different changes on the fame fet of bells. Let us leave the fcep- tics, in modern as well as ancient hiftory, to triumph in the notable difcovery of the ides of one month miftaken for the calends of another, or in the various dates and con- tradictory circumftances which they find in weekly gazettes, and monthly mercuries. Whilft they are thus employed, your lordfhip and 1 will proceed, if you pleafe, to confider more clofely, than we have yet done, the rule mentioned above j that I mean of ufing difcernment and choice in the ftudy of the moft authentic hiftory, that of not wandering in the light, which is as neceflary as that of not groping in the dark. MAN is the fubjecT: of every hiftory; find to know him well, we mult fee him arid 138 L E T T E R V. and confider him, as hiftory alone can pre- lent him co us, in every age, in every coun- try, in every ftate, in life and in death. Hiftory therefore of all kinds, of civilized and uncivilized, of ancient and modern nations, in fhort of all hiftory, that defcends to a fufficienc detail of human actions and characters, is ufeful to bring us acquainted with our fpecies, nay with ourfelves. To teach and to inculcate the general princi- ples of virtue, and the general rules of vvif- dom and good policy, which refuk from fuch details of actions and characters, comes for the moft part, and always fhould come, exprefsly and diredlly into the defign of thole who are capable of giving fuch de- tails: and therefore whilft they narrate as hiftorians, they hint often as philofophers, they put into our hands, as it were, on every proper occafion, the end of a clue, that ferves to remind us of fearching, and to guide us in the fearch of that truth which the example before us either eftablifhes or illuftrates. If a writer neglects this part, we are able however to fupply his neglect by our own attention andinduftry: and when he gives us a good hiftory of Peruvians or Mexicans, of Chinefe or Tartars, of Mul- covites or Negroes, we may blame him, but Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 139 but we muft blame ourfelves much more, if -we do not make it a good lefibn of philo- jfophy. This being the general ufe of hif- tory, it is not to be neglected: Every one may make it, who is able to read and to reflect on what he reads: and every one who makes it will find, in his degree, the benefit that arifes from an early acquain- tance contracted in this manner with man- kind. We are not only paffengers or fo- journers in this world, but we are abfolute ilrangers at the firft fteps we make in it. Our guides are often ignorant, often un- faithful. By this map of the country, which hiftory ipreads before us, we may learn, if we pleafe, to guide ourfelves. In our journey through it, \ve are befet on every fide. We are befieged fometimes even in our ftrongeft holds. Terrors and tempta- tions, conducted by the paffions of other men, affaultus: and our own paflions, that correfpond with thefe, betray us. Hif- tory is a collection of the journals of thole who have travelled through the fame country, and been expofed to the lame accidents -, and their good and their ill fuccefs are equal- ly inftructive. In this purfuit of know- ledge an immenie field is opened to us; general hiftories, facred and prophane j the hiitories of particular countries, parti- cular 1 40 L E T T E R V. cular events, particular orders, particular men ; memorials, Anecdotes, travels. But we muft not ramble in this field without dif- cernment or choice, nor even with theie muft we ramble too long. As to the choice of authors, who have wrote on ail thefe various fubjeds, io much has been laid by learned men concerning all thofe that delerve attention, and their icvc- ral characters are fo well eftablifhed, that it would be a fort of pedantic aff, elation to lead your lordfhip through fo voluminous, and at the lame time fo eafy, a detail. I pals it over therefore in order to oblen'e, that as foon as we have taken this general view of mankind, and of the courfe of human affairs in different; ages and different parts of the world, we ought to apply, and, the ihortnels of human life confidt-red, to con- fine ourielves almoll entirely, in our ftudy of hiftory, to fuch hiftories as have an imme- diate relation to our profefTions, or to our rank and fituation in the fociety to wlvch we belong. Let me inftance in the profelllon of divinity, as the noblcft and the molt important. (i) I have faid fo much concerning the . which divines of all religions have taken in Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 141 in the corruption of hiftory, that I moult! have anathemas pronounced againft me, no doubt, in the eaft and the weft, by the dairo, the mufti, and the pope, if thefe letters were fubmitted to ecclefialtical cen- fure ; for furely, my lord, the clergy have a better title, than the Ions of Apollo, to be called " genus irritabile vatum." What would it be, if I went about to (hew, how many of the Chriftian clergy abuie, by rnif- reprefcntation and falfc quotation, the hii- tory they can no longer corrupt? And yet, this tafk would not be even to me, an hard one. But as I mean to fpeak in this place of chriftian divines alone, fo I mean to fpeak of fuch of them particularly as may be called divines without any fneer; of fuch of them, for fome fuch 1 think there are,, as believe themfelves, and would have mankind believe-, not for temporal, but fpiritual intereft, not for the lake of the clergy, but for the fake of mankind. Now it has been long matter of aftonifhment to me, how fuch perfons as thefe could take fo much filly pains to eftablifh myftery on metaphyfics, revelation on philoibphy, and matters of fact on abftract reafoning ? A re- ligion founded on the authority of a divine nii(fion, confirmed by prophecies and mi- racles, appeals to- facts: and the- facts muii be 142 L E T T E R V. be proved as all other fads that pafs for atf- thentic are proved ! for faith, fo reasonable after this proof is abfurd before it. If they are thus proved, the religion will prevail without the afiiftance of fo much profound reafoning: if they are not thus proved, the authority of it will fink in the world, even with this afllftance. The divines object in. their difputes with atheifts, and they object very juftly, that thefe men require improper proofs; proofs that are not fuited to the nature of the fubjecc, and then cavil that fuch proofs are not furnifhed. But what then do they mean, to fall into the fame abfurdity themfclves in their difputes with theifts, and to din improper proofs in ears that are open to proper proofs? The mat- ter is of great moment, my lord, and I make no excufe for the zeal which obliges me to dwell a little on it. A ferious and honeft application to the ftudy of ecclefiaf- tical hiftory, and every part of prophane hiftory and chronology relative to it, is in- cumbent on fuch reverend perfons as are here fpoken of, on a double account: be- caufe hiftory alone can furnifh the proper proofs, that the religion they teach is of God; and becaufe the unfair manner, in which thefe proofs have been and are daily furniflied, creates' prejudices, and gives ad- vantages Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 143 vantages againft chriftianity that require to be removed. No fcholar will dare to deny, that falfe hiftory, as well as (bam miracles, has been employed to propagate Chriftia- nity formerly : and whoever examines the writers of our own age will find the fame abufe of hiftory continued. Many and many inftances of this abufe might be pro- duced. It is grown into cuftorn, writers copy one another, and the miftake that was committed, or the fallhood that was invent- ed by one, is adopted by hundreds. ABBADIE fays in his famous book, that the gofpel or* St. MATTHEW is cited by CLEMENS bifhopof Rome, a difciple of the Apoftlesj that BARNABAS cites it in his epiftle; that IGNATIUS and POLYCARPE receive it ; and that the fame fathers, that give teftimony for MATTHEW, give it like- wife for MARK. Nay your lordfliip will find, I believe, that the prefent bifoop cf London, in his third paftoral letter, fpeaks to the fame effect. I will not trouble you nor myfelf with any more inftances of the fame kind. Let this, which occurred to me as I was writing, fuffice. It may well fuf- fice-, for I prelume the fact advanced by the miniiter and the bifhop is a miftake. If the fathers of the firlt century do men- tion 144 L E T T E R V. tion fome pafiages that are agreeable to what we read in our evangelifts, will it fol- low that thefe fathers had the fame gofpels before them ? To fay fo is a manifeft abufe of hiftory, and quite inexculable in writers that knew, or mould have known, that thefe fathers made ufe of other gofpels, wherein fuch paffages might be contained, or they might be preferved in unwritten tra- dition. Befides which I could almolt ven- ture to affirm that thefe fathers of the firft century do not exprefsly name the gofpels we have of MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, and JOHN, To the true reafons that have been given why thofe who make divinity their profeflion, fliould ftudy hiftory, par- ticularly ecclefiaftical hiftory, with an honeft and ferious application-, in order to fup- port chriftianity againft the attacks of un- believers, and to remove the doubts and prejudices that the unfair proceedings of men of their own order have raifed in minds candid but not implicit, willing to be in- formed, but curious to examine ; to thefe, I fay, we may add another confideration, that feems to me of no fmall importance. Writers of the Roman religion have attempt- ed to (hew, that the text of the holy writ is on many accounts inefficient to be the fole criterion of orthodoxy : T apprehend too that Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 145 that they have fhewn it. Sure I am that experience, from the firft promulgation of chriftianity to this hour, fhews abundantly with how much eafe and fuccefs the mod oppofite, the moft extravagant, nay the moft impious opinions, and the moft con- tradictory faiths, may be founded on the fame text, and plaufibly defended by the fame authority. Writers of the reform- ed religion have erected their batteries againft tradition ; and the only difficulty they had to encounter in this enterprize lay in levelling and pointing their cannon fo as to avoid demolifhing in one common ruin, the traditions they retain, and thole they reject. Each fide has been employed to weaken the caufe and explode the fyftem of his adverfary: and, whilft they have been fo employed, they have jointly laid their axes to the root of chriftianity: for thus men will be apt to reafon upon what they have advanced. " If the text has not ct that authenticity, clearnefs, and preci- " fion which are necefiary to eftabliih it as a " divine and a certain rule of faith and " practice; and if the tradition of the * church, from the firft ages of it till the " days of LUTHER and CALVIN, has been " corrupted itfelf, and has ferved to cor- " rupt the faith and practice of chriftians; K " there J4 6 L E T T E R V. " there remains at this time no ftandard " at all of chriftianity. By confequence " either this religion was not originally or" di- " vine inftitution, or elfe God has not * c provided effectually for prefervmg the " genuine purity of it, and the gates of " hell have actually prevailed, in con- " tradition to his promife, againft the " church.'* The beft efFeft of this reafon- ing that can be hoped for, is, that men (hould fall into theifm, and fubfcribe to the firft propofition: he muft be worfe than an atheift who can affirm the laft. The dilem- ma is terrible, my lord. Party-zeal and private intereil have formed it: the com- mon intereft of chriftianity is deeply con- cerned to iblve it. Now, I prefume, it can never be folved without a more accurate examination, not only of the chriftian but of the Jcwifh fyftem, than learned men have been hitherto impartial enough and faga- cious enough to take, or honeft enough to communicate. Whilft the authenticity and fenfe of the text of the Bible remain as dif- putable, and whilft the tradition of the church remains as problematical, to fay no worfe, as the immenfe labours of the chrif- tian divines in feveral communions have made them appear to bej chriftianity may lean on the civil - and ecclefiaftical power, and Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 147 and be fupported by the forcible influence of education: but the proper force of reli- gion, that force which fubdues the mind and awes the confciencc by conviction, will be wanting. I had reafon therefore to produce divinity, as one inftance of thole profcflions that require a particular application to the ftudy of fome particular parts of hiftory: and fince I have faid fo much on the fubject in my zeal for chriftianity, I will add this further. The refurreclion of letters was a fatal period ; the chriftian fyftem has been attacked, and wounded too, very feverely fince that time. The defence has been better made indeed by modern divines, than it had been by ancient fathers and apo- logifts. The moderns have invented new methods of defence, and have abandoned fome pofts that were not tenable : but (till there are others, in defending which they lie under great difadvantages. Such are various facts, pioufly believed in former times, but on which the truth of chrifti- anity has been refted very imprudently in more enlightened agesj becaufe the falfity of fome, and the grofs improbabi- lity of others are fo evident, that, inftead of anfwering the purpofe for which they K 4 were 148 L E T T E R V. weie invented, they have rendered the whole tenor of ecclefiaftical hiftory and tradition precarious, ever fince a ftrift but juft application of the rules of criticifm has been made to them, I touch thele things lightly; but if your lordfhip reflects upon them, you will find reafon perhaps to think as I do, that it is high time the clergy in all chriftian communions fhould join their forces, and eflablilh thofe hiftorical facts, which are the foundations of the whole lyf- tem, on clear and unquestionable hiftorical authority, fuch as thty require in all cafes of moment from others ; reje<5b candidly what cannot be thus eftablifhed ; and pur- fue their enquiries in the fame fpirit of truth through all the ages of the church ; with- out any regard to hiftorians, fathers, or councils, more than they are ftrictly entitled to on the face of what they have tranf- mitted to us on their own confiftency, and on the concurrence of other authority. Our paftors would be thus, I prefume, much better employed than they generally are. Thofe of the clergy who make reli- gion merely a trade, who regard nothing more than the fubfiftence it affords them, or in higher life the wealth and power they enjoy by the means of it, may fay to them- felves, that it will, laft their time, or that policy Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 149 policy and reafon of ftate will prefervc the form of a church when the fpiric of religion is extinct. But thofe whom I mentioned above, thofe who act for fpiritual not tem- poral ends, and are defirous that men mould believe and practife the doctrines of chrif- tianity, as well as go to church and pay tithes, will feel and own the weight of fuch confiderations as thefe; and agree, that however the people have been, and may be ftill amufed, yet chriftianity has been in decay ever fince the refurrection of letters ; and that it cannot be fupported as it was fup- ported before that aera, nor by any other way than that which I propofe, and which a due application to the ftudy of hiftory, chronology, and criticifm, would enable our divines to purfue, no doubt, with fuccefs. I MIGHT inftance, in other profeflions, the obligation men lie under of applying themfelves to certain parts of hiftory, and I can hardly forbear doing it in that of the law ; in it's nature the nobleft and moft be- neficial to mankind, in its abufe and debafe- ment the moft fordid and the moft perni- cious. A lawyer now is nothing more, I fpeak of ninety- nine in an hundred at leaft, to ufe fome of TULLY'S words, " nifi leguleius qui- lt 3 " dam 150 L E T T E R V, \ ;. * ( dam cautus, et acutus prasco a&ionum, " cantor formularum, auceps fyllabarum." But there have been lawyers that were orators, philoibphers, hiftorians: there have been BACONS and CLARENDONS, my lord. There will be none fuch any more, till, in Tome better age, true ambition or the love of fame prevails over avarice; and till men find leifure and encouragement to prepare them- felves for the exercife of this profefiion, by climbing up to the " vantage ground," ib my lord BACON calls ir, offcience: inftead of groveling all their lives below, in a mean but gainful application to all the little arts of chicane. Till this happen, the profef- iion of the law will fcarce deferve to be ranked among the learned profeffions: and whenever it happens, one of the vantage grounds, to which men mud climb, is me- taphyhcal, and the other, hiftorical know- ledge. They muft pry into the fecret retef- fcs of the human heart, and become well acquainted with the whole moral world, that they may diicover the abftracfc reafon of ail laws: and they muft trace the laws of par- ticular fiates, efpecially of their own, from the firii rough fetches to the more perfect draughts ; from the firft caufes or occaiions that produced them, through all the ef- ftrCts, good and bad, that they produced. But Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 151 But I am running infenfibly into a fubject, which would detain me too long from one that relates more immediately to your lord- fhip, and with which 1 intend to conclude this long letter. (2) I PASS from the confideration of thofe profeflions to which particular parts or kinds of hiftory feem to belong: and I come to fpeak of the ftudy of hiftory, as a necefiary mean to prepare men for the dif- charge of that duty which they owe to their country, and which is common to all the members of every fociety that is conftituted according to the rules of right reafon, and with a due regard to the common good. I have met, in St. REAL'S works, or fome other French book, with a ridicule caft on private men who make hiftory a political ftudy, or who apply themfelves in any manner to affairs of ftate. But the reflec- tion is too general. In governments fo ar- bitrary by their conftitution, that the will of the prince is not only the fupreme but the fole law, it is fo far from being a duty that it may be dangerous, and muft be impertinent in men, who are not called by the prince to the adminiftration of public affairs, to concern themfelves about it, or to fit themfelves for it. T he fole vocation K 4 there j 5 2 L E T T E R V. there is the favour of the court ; and what- ever defignation God makes by the talents he beftows, though it may ferve, which it feldom ever does, to direct the choice of the prince, yet I prefume that it cannot become a reafon to particular men, or create a duty on them, to devote themfelves to the public fervice. Look on the Turkiih go- vernment, fee a fellow taken, from rowing in a common pafiage-boat, by the caprice of the prince: fee him invefted next day with all the power the foldans took under the caliphs, or the mayors of the palace under the fucceflbrs of CLOVIS: fee a whole empire governed by the ignorance, inex- perience, and arbitrary will of this tyrant, and a few other fubordinate tyrants, as ig- norant and unexperienced as himfelf. In France indeed, though an abfolute govern- ment, things go a little better. Arts and fciences are encouraged, and here and there an example may be found of a man who has rifcn by fome extraordinary talents, amidft innumerable examples of men who have ar- rived at the greateft honours and higheft pofts by no other merit than that of afliduous fawning, attendances, or of (kill in fome defpicable puerile amufement; in training wafps, for inftance, to take regular flights like hawks, and ftoop at flies. The nobi- lity Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 153 Jity of France, like the children of tribute among the ancient Saracens and modern Turks, are fet apart for wars. They are bred to make love, to hunt, and to fight : and, if any of them (hould acquire know- ledge fuperior to this, they would acquire that which might be prejudicial to them- felves, but could not become beneficial to their country. The affairs of ftate are trufted to other hands. Some have rifen to them by drudging long in bufmefs: fome have been made minifters almoft in the cradle : and the whole power of the govern- ment has been abandoned to others in the dotage of life. There is a monarchy, an ab- folute monarchy too, I mean that of China, wherein the adminiftration of the govern- ment is carried on, under the direction of the prince, ever fince the dominion of the Tartars has been eftablifhed, by feveral clafies of Mandarins, and according to the deliberation and advice of feveral orders of councils: the admiffion to which claffes and orders depends on the abilities of the candidates, as their rife in them depends on the behaviour they hold, and the improve- ments they make afterwards. Under fuch a government, it is neither impertinent nor ridiculous, in any of the fubjects who are jnvited by their circumftances, or pufhed to I 5 4 L E T T E R V. to it by their talents, to make the hiftory of their own and of other countries a politi- cal ftudy, and to fit tbemfelves by this and all other ways for the fervice of the public. It is not dangerous neither; or an honour, that outweighs the danger, attends it: fince private men have aright by the ancient con- ftitution of this government, as well as councils of ftate, to reprefent to the prince the abufes of his adminiftration. But (till men have not there the fame occafion to con- cern themfelves in the affairs of the ftate, as the nature of a free government gives to the members of it. In our own country, for in our own the forms of a free govern- ment at leaft are hitherto preferved, men are not only defigned for the public fervice by the circumftances of their fituation, and their talents, all which may happen in others : but they are defigned to it by their birth in many cafes, and in all cafes they may dedicate themfeves to this fervice, and take, in different degrees, fome (hare in it, whether they are called to it by the prince or no. In abfolute governments, all public fervice is to the prince, and he nominates all thofe that ferve the public. In free go- vernments, there is a diftinft and a principal fervice due to the ftate. Even the king, of fuch a limited monarchy as ours, is but the Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 155 the firft fervant of the people. Among his fubje&s Ibme are appointed by the con- ftitution, and others are elected by the peo- ple, to carry on the exercife of the legifla- tive power jointly with him, and to controul the executive power independently on him. Thus your lordfhip is born a member of that order of men, in whorn a third part of the fupreme power of the government re- fides: and your right to the exercife of the power belonging to this order not being yet opened, you are chofen into another body of men, who have different power and a dif- ferent conftitution, but who poJTefs another third part of the fupreme legiflative autho- rity, for as long a time as the commiflion or truft delegated to them by the people lafts. Free-men, who are neither born to the firft, nor elected to the laft, have a right how- ever to complain, to reprefent, to petition, and, I add, even to do more in cafes of the utmoft extremity. For fare there cannot be a greater abfurdity, than to affirm, that the people have a remedy in refiftance, when their prince attempt* to enflave them; but that they have none, when their reprefenta- tives fell themfelves and them. THE fum of what I have been faying is, that, in free governments, the public fervice is 156 L E T T E R V. is not confined to thofe whom the prince appoints to different pofts in the adminif- tration under him ; that there the care of the ftate is the care of multitudes; that many are called to it in a particular manner by their rank, and by other circumftances of their fituation ; and that even thofe whom the prince appoints are not only anfwerable to him, but like him, and before him, to the nation, for their behaviour in their feveral pofts. It can never be impertinent nor ridi- culous therefore in fuch a country, whatever it might be in the habit of St. REAL'S, which was Savoy I think; or in Peru, under the Incas, where, GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA fays, it was lawful for none but the nobi- lity to ftudy for men of all degrees to in- ftruct themfelves in thofe affairs wherein they may be actors, or judges of thofe that act, or controulers of thofe that judge. On the contrary it is incumbent on every man to inftruct himfelf, as well as the means and opportunities he has permitted, concerning the nature and interefts of the governments, and thofe rights and duties that belong to him, or to his fuperiors, or to his inferiors. This in general; but in particular, it is certain that the obligations under which we lie to ferve our country increafe, in proportion to the ranks we hold-, and the other circum- ftances Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 157 fiances of birth, fortune, and fituation that call us to this fervice ; and, above all, to the talents which God has given us to per- form it. IT is in this view, that I (hall addrefs to your lordlhip, whatever I have further to fay on the ftudy of hiftory. LET- t 159 1 LETTER VI. From what period modern hiftory is pecu- liarly ufeful to the fervice of our country, viz. From the end of the fifteenth century to the prefent. The divifion of this into three particular periods : In order to a (ketch of the hiftory and ftatc of Europe from that time. SINCE then you are, my lord, by your birth, by the nature of our govern- ment, and by the talents God has given you, attached for life to the fervice of your country ; fmce genius alone cannot enable you to go through this fervice with honour to yourfelf, and advantage to your country ; whether you fupport, or whether you op- pofe the adminiftrations that arife; fmce a great i6o LETTER VI. great (lock of knowledge, acquired be- times and continually improved, is necef- fary to this end; and fince one part of this ftock muft be collected from the ftudy of hiftory, as the other part is to be gained by obfervation and experience; I come now to fpeak to your lordftiip of fuch hiftory as has an immediate relation to the great duty and bufmefs of your life, and of the method to be obferved in this ftudy. The notes I have by me, which were of fome little ufe thus far, ferve me no farther, and I have no books to confult. No matter; I (hall be able to explain my thoughts without their afliftance, and lefs liable to be tedious. I hope to be as full and as exact on memory alone, as the manner in which I mall treat the fubject, re- quires me to be. I SAY then, that however clofely affairs are linked together in the progrefiion of go- vernments, and how much foever events that follow, are dependant on thofe that pre- cede, the whole connection diminifhes to fight as the chain lengthens; till at laft it feems to be broken, and the links that are continued from that poinr, bear no propor- tion nor any fimilitude to the former. I would not be underftood to fpeak only of thofe great changes, that are wrought by a cor- Of the STUDY of HISTQRV. i6c concurrence of extraordinary events; for inftance the expulfion of one nation, the dcftruction of one government, and the eftablifhment of another: but even of thole that are wrought in the fame governments and among the fame people, flowly and al- moft imperceptibly, by the neceffary effects of time, and flux condition of human af- fairs. When fuch changes as thefe happen in feveral dates about the fame time, and confequently affect other ftates by their vicinity, and by many different relations which they frequently bear to one another ; then is one of thole periods formed, at which the chain fpoken of is ib broken as to have little or no real or vifible connection with that which we fee continue. A new fitua- tion different from the former, begets new interefts in the fame proportion of differ- ence-, not in this or that particular ftate alone, but in all thofe that are concerned by vicinity or other relations, as I faid juft now, in one general fyftem of policy. New interefts beget new maxims of government, and new methods of conduct. Thefe, in their turns, beget new manners, new ha- bits, new cuftoms. The longer this new conftitution of affairs continues, the more will this difference increafe: and although fome analogy may remain long between L whap 162 L E T T E R VI. what preceded and what fucceeded fuch a pe- riod, yet will this analogy foon become an object of mere curiofity, not of profitable en- quiry. Such a period therefore is, in the true ienfe of the words, an epocha or an asra, a point of time at which you flop, or from which you reckon forward. I fay forward; becaufe we are not to iludy in the prefent cale, as chronologers compute, backward. Should we perfift to carry our refearches much higher, and to pufh them even to fome other period of the fame kind, we (hould milemploy our time; the cauies then laid having fpent themfelves, the feries of effects derived from them being over, and our con- cern in both confequently at an end. But a new fyftem of caufes and effects, that fub- fifts in our time, and whereof cur conduct is to be a part, arifing at the laft period, and all that paffes in our time being depen- dent on what has paffed fince that period, or being immediately relative to it, we are extremely concerned to be well informed about all thole paiTages. To be entirely ig- norant about the ages that precede this asra would be fhameful. Nay fome indul- gence may be had to a temperate curiofity in the review of them. But to be learned about them is a ridiculous affectation in any man who means to be ufeful to the prefent age. Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 163 age. Down to this sera let us read hiftory; from this aera, and down to our own time, let us ftudy it. THE end of the fifteenth century feems to be juft luch a period as I have been de- fcribing, for thofe who live in the eighteenth, and who inhabit the weftern parts of Europe. A little before, or a little after this point of time, all thofe events happened, and all thofe revolutions began, that have produced fo vaft a change in the manners, cuftoms, and intcrelts of particular nations, and in the whole policy, ecclefiaftical and civil, of thefe parts . of the world. I muft defcend here into fame detail, not of hiftories, collections, or memorials; for all thefe are well enough known : and though the contents are in the heads of few, the books are in the hands of many. But inftead of (hewing your lordfhip where to look, I fhall contribute more to your entertainment and inftrudtion, by marking out, as well as my memory will ferve me to do it, what you are to look for, and by furnifhing a kind of clue to your ftudies. I fhall give, according to cuftom, the firft place to religion. l^ 2 A view 1 64 LETTER VI. A view of the ecclefiaftical government of Europe from the beginning of the fixteenth century, OBSERVE then, my lord, that the demo- lition of the papal throne was not attempted with fucceis till the beginning of the fix- tecnth century. If you are curious to caft your eyes bark, you will find BERENGER in the eleventh, who was foon iilenced ; ARNOLDUS in the fame, who was foon handed ; VALDO in the twelfth, and our \\ICKLIFF in the fourteenth, as well as others perhaps whom 1 do not recollect. Sometimes the doctrines of the church were alone attacked ; and fometimes the docbine, the difcipline and the ufurpations of the pope. But little fires, kindled in corners of a dark world, were foon ftifled by that great abettor or chriftian unity, the hang- man. When they ipread and blazed out, as in the cafe of the Albigeois and of the Huffites, armies were raifed to cxtinguifh them by torrents of blood-, and fuch faints as DOMINIC, with the crucifix in their hands, iniligatcd the troops to the utmoft barbarity. Your lordfhip will find that the church of Rome-was maintained by fuch chad- Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 165 charitable and falutary means among others, till the period fpoken of: and you will be curious, I am fure, to enquire how this period came to be more fatal to her than any former conjuncture. A multitude of circumftances which you will eafily trace in the hiftories of the fifteenth and fixtecnth centuries, to go no further back, concurred to bring about this great event: and a multitude of others as eafy to be traced, concurred to hinder the demolition from becoming total, and to prop the tot- tering fabric. Among thefe circun.ftances, there is one lefs complicated and more ob- vious than others, which was of principal and univerfal influence. The art of print- ing had been invented about forty or fifty years before the period we fix: from that time, the refurrection of letters haflened on apace; and at this period they had made great progrefs, and were cultivated with great application. MAHOMET the fecond drove them out of the eaft into the weft; and the popes proved worfe politicians than the mufties in this refpecl:. NI- CHOLAS the fifth, encouraged learning, and learned men. SIXTUS the fourth was, if I miftake not, a great collector of books at leaft: and LEO the tenth was the patron of every art and fcience. The magicians L 3 them- i65 LETTER VI. themfelves broke the charm by which the? had bound mankind for fo many ages : and the adventure of that knight-errant, who, thinking himfelf happy in the arms of a celeftial nymph, found that he was the mi- ferable flave of an infernal hag, was in ibme fort renewed. As foon as the means of ac- quiring and fpreading information grew common, it is no wonder that a fyftem was unravelled, which could not have been wo- ven with fuccefs in any ages, but thofe of grofs ignorance, and credulous fuperfti- tion. I might point out to your lordfhip many other immediate caufes, fome general like this that I have mentioned, and fome particular. The great fchifm, for inftance, that ended in the begining of the fifteenth century, and in the council of Con- ftance, had occafioned prodigious fcandal. Two or three vicars of CHRIST, two or three infallible heads of the church, roaming about the world at a time, furnim- ed matter of ridicule as well as fcandal: and whilft they appealed, for fo they did in effect, to the laity, and reproached and excommunicated one another, they taught the world what to think of .the inftiunion, as well as exercife of the papal authority. The fame leffbn was taught by the council of Pifa, that preceded, and by that of Baflr, that Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 167 that followed the Council of Conftance. The horrid crimes of ALEXANDER thefixth, the faucy ambition of JULIUS the fecond, the immenfe profufion and fcandalous exactions of LEO the tenth; ail thefe events and characters, following in a continued feries from the beginning of one century, prepared the way for the revolution that happened in the beginning of the next. The ftate of Germany, the ftate of England, and that of the North, were particular caufes, in thefe feveral countries, of this revolution. Such were many remarkable events that happened about the fame time, and a little before it, in thefe and in other nations; and fuch were likewife the characters of many of the princes of that age, fome of whom favoured the reformation like the elector of Saxony, on a principle of con- fcience ; and moft of whom favoured it, juft as others oppofed it, on a principle of in- tereft. This your lordfhip will dilcover rr.a- nifeftly to have been the cale ; and the folc difference you will find between HENRY the eighth and FRANCIS the firft, one of whom feparated from the pope, as the other adhered to hinr, is this: HENRY the eighth divided, with the fecular clergy and his peo- ple, the fpoil of the pope, and his iatel- lites, the monks; FRANCIS the firft divided, L 4. with i68 L E T T E R VI. with the pope, the fpoil of his clergy^ fecular and regular^ and of his people. With the fame impartial eye that your lordlhip furveys the abufes of religior, and the corruptions of the church as well as court of Rome, which brought on the re- formation at this period; you will obferve the characters and conduct of thole who be- gan, who propagated, and who favoured the reformation: and from your obfervation of thefe, as well as of the unfyftematical manner in which it was carried on at fame time in various places, and of the want of concert, nay even of charity, among the reformers, you will learn what to think of the feveral religions that unite in their oppofition to the Roman, and yet hate one another molt heartily; what to think of the feveral feels that have fprouted, like fuckers, from the fame great roots-, and what the true principles are of proteftanc ecclefiaftical policy. This policy had no being till LUTHER made his eftablimmenc in Germany; till ZWINCLIUS began another in Switzerland, which CALVIN carried on, and, like AMERICUS VESPUTIUS who fol- lovved-CnRiSTOPHER CoLVMBVS, robbed the firft adventurer of his honour; and till the reformation in our country was perfected under EDWARD the-fixth and ELIZABETH. Even Of the STUDY of HISTORY. Even popifh ecclefiaftical policy is no longer the fame fince that aera. His holinefs is no longer at the head of the whole weiiern church : and to keep the part that adheres to him, he is obliged to looien. their chains, and to lighten his yoke. The fpirit and pre- tenfions of his court are the fame, but not the power. He governs by expedient and management more, and by authority lefs. His decrees and his briefs are in danger of being refufed, explained away, or evaded, unleis he negociates their acceptance before he gives them, governs in concert with his flock, and feeds his fheep according to their humour and intereft. In fhort, his excom- munications, that made thegreateft emperors tremble, are dcfpifed by the loweft members of his own communion; and the remaining attachment to him has been, from this sera, rather apolitical expedient to preferve an ap- pearance or. unity, than a principle of con- fcience; whatever fome bigotted princes may have thought, whatever ambitious pre- lates and hireling fcribblers may have taught, and whatever a people, worked up" to enthufiafm by fanatical preachers, may hi\ve acted. Proofs of this would be eafy to draw, not only from the conduct ot iuch princes, as FERDINAND the firft, and MAXI- MILIAN the fccond, who could Icarce be efteemed 170 L E T T E R VI. cfteemed papifts though they continued in the pope's communion: but even from that of princes who perfecuted their proteftant fub- jects with great violence. Enough has been faid, I think to (hew your lordfhip how little need there is of going up higher than the beginning of the fixteenth century in the itudy of hiftory, to acquire all the know- ledge neceffary at this time in ecclefiaftical policy, or in civil policy as far as it is rela- tive to this. Hiftorical monuments of this fort are in every man's hand, the facts are fufficiently verified, and the entire Icenes lie open to our obfervation: even that fcene of folemn refined banter exhibited in the council of Trent, impofes on no man who reads PAOLO, as well as PALLAVICINI, and the letters of VARGAS. A view Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 171 A view of the civil government of Eu- rope in the beginning of the fixteenth century. I. In FRANCE. A VERY little higher need we go, to ob- ferve thofe great changes in the civil confti- tutions of the principal nations of Europe, in the partition of power among them, and by confequence 5-n the whole fyftem of European policy, which have operated fo ftrongly for more than two centuries, and which operate ftill. I will not affront the memory of our HENRY the fevertth fo much as to compare him to LEWIS the eleventh : and yet I perceive fome refem- blance between them , which would perhaps appear greater if PHILIP of Commines had wrote the Hiftory of HENRY as well as that of LEWIS; or if my lord BACON had wrote that of LEWIS as well as that of HENRY. This prince came to the crown of England a little before the clofe of the fifteenth century : and LEWIS began his reign in France about twenty years fooner. Thele reigns make remarkable periods in the hiftories of both nations. To 172 L E T T E R VI. To reduce the power, privileges, and pof- icfiionsof the nobility, and to increafe the wealth and authority of the crown, was the principal object of both. In this their fuc- cefs was fo great, that the conftitutions of the two governments have had, fince that time, more refemblance, in name and in form than in reality, to the conftitutions that prevailed before. LEWIS the eleventh was the firtl, fay the French, " qui mit " les rois hers de page." The indepen- dency of the nobility had rendered the Hate of his predecefibrs very dependent, and their power precarious. They were the fo- vereigns of g^eat vafials-, but thefe vafials were fo powerful, that one of them was fometimes able, and two or three of them always, to give law to the fovereign. Before LEWIS came to the crown, the Englim had been driven out of their pof- feffions in France, by the poor character of HENRY the fixth, the domeltic troubles of his reign, and the defection of the houfe of Burgundy from his alliance, much more than by the ability of CHARLES the feventh, who feems to have been neither a greater hero nor a greater politician than HENRY the fixth; and even than by the vi- gour and union of the French nobility in his Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 173 his fcrvicc. After LEWIS came to the crown, EDWARD the fourth made a fhew of carrying the war again into France : but he loon returned home, and your lordfhip will not be at a lofs to find much better rea- fons for his doing fo, in the fituation of his affairs and the characters of his allies, than thofe which PHILIP of Commines draws from the artifice of LEWIS, from his good cheer, and his penfions. Now from this time our pretenfions on France were in effect given up: and CHAKLES the bold, the hft prince of the houfc of Burgundy, being killed, LEWIS had no vaflal able to moleft him. He re-united the duchy of Burgundy and Artois to his crown, he ac- quired PROVENCE by gift, and his fon Bri- tany by marriage: and thus France grew, in the courfe of a few years, into that great and compact body which we behold at this time. The Hiftory of France before this period, is like that of Germany, a com- plicated hiftory of feveral ftates and feveral interefts-, fometimes concurring like mem- bers of the fame monarchy, and fometimes warring on one another. Since this period, the hittory of France is the hiftory of one ftate under a more uniform and orderly go- vernment j the hiftory of a monarchy where- in i 74 L E T T E R VI. }n the prince is pofleffor of fome, as well as lord of all the great ficffees: and the authority of many tyrants centering in one, though the people are not become more free, yet the whole fyftem of domeftie policy is entirely changed. Peace at home is better fecured, and the nation grown fitter to carry war abroad. The governors of great provinces and of ftrong fortreffes have oppofed their king, and taken arms againft his authority and commifijon fince that time: but yet there is no more re- iemblance between the authority and preten- fions of thefe governors, or the nature and occafions of thefe difputes, and the autho- rity and pretenfions of the vafTals of the crown in former days, or the nature and occafions of their difputes with the prince and with one another, than there is be- tween the ancient and the prefent peers of France. In a word, the conftitution is fo altered, that any knowledge we can acquire about it, in the hiftory that precedes this pe- riod, will ferve to little purpofe in our rtudy of the hiftory that follows it, and to lefs purpofe ftill in aflilting us to judge of what pafles in the prefent age. The kings of France fince that time, more mafters at home, have been able to exert themfelves more Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 175 more abroad : and they began to do fo im- mediately, for CHARLES the eighth, fort and fuccefibr of LEWIS the eleventh, form- ed great defigns of foreign conqudb, though they were difappointed by his inability, by the levity of the nation, and by other caufes. LEWIS the twelfth and FRANCIS the firft, but efpecially FRANCIS, meddled deep in the affairs of Furope: and though the fuperior genius of FERDINAND called the catholic, and the ftar of CHARLES the fifth prevailed againft them, yet the efforts they made, fhew Sufficiently how the ftrength. and importance of this monarchy were in- creafed in their time. From whence we may date likewife the rivalihip of the houfe of France, for we may reckon that of Valois and that of Bourbon as one upon this occa- fion, and the hoiife of Auftna ; that conti- nues at this day, and that has coll fo much blood and fo much treafure in the courfe of it. II. In 176 LETTER VI. II. In ENGLAND. THOUGH the power and influence of thtf nobility funk in the great change that began under HENRY the feventh in England, as they did in that which began under LEWIS the eleventh in France; yet the new con- ititutions that thefe changes produced were very different. In France the lords alone loft, the king alone gained; the clergy held their pofltffions and their immunities, and the people remained in a date of miti- gated flcivcry. But in England the people gained as well as the crown. The com- mons had already a fhare in the legiflature ; fo that the power and influence of the lords being broke by HENRY the feventh, and the property of the commons increasing by the fale that his fon made of church lands, the power of the latter increafed of courfe by this change in a conftitution, the forms whereof wen? favourable to them. The union of the rofes put an end to the civil wars of York and Lancafler, that had fucceeded thofe we commonly call the ba- rons wars, and the. humour of warring in France, Of the STUDY of HISTORY-. 177 France, that had lafted near four hundred years under the Normans and Plantagenets, for plunder as well as conqueft was fpenr. Our temple of JANUS was hut by HENRY the feventh. We neither laid wafte our own nor other countries any longer: and wife laws and a wile government changed infenfibly the manners, and gave a new turn to the fpirit of our people. We were no longer the free- hooters we had been. Our nation maintained her reputation in arms whenever the public intereft or the public authority required it; but war cea- fed to be, what it had been, our principal and almoft our fole profefiion. The arts of peace prevailed among us. We became hufbandmen, manufacturers and merchants, and we emulated neighbouring nations in literature. It is from this time thac we ought to fludy the hiftory of our country, my lord, with the urmoft appli- cation. We are not much concerned to know with critical accuracy what were the ancient forms of our parliaments concern- ing which, however, there is little room for difpute from the reign of HENRY the third at leaft; nor in (hort the whole fyf- tem of our civil conftitution before HENRY the feventh, and of our ecclefiaftical con- M ftitution 178 LETTER VI. ftitution before HENRY the eighth. But he who has not ftudied and acquired a thorough knowledge of them both, from theie periods down to the prefent time, in all the variety of events by which they have been affected, will be very unfit to judge or to take care of either. Juft as little are we concerned to know, in any nice de- tail, what the conduct of our princes, relatively to their neighbours on the con- tinent, was before this period, and at a time when the partition of power and a multitude of other circumftances rendered the whole political fyftem of Europe, fo vaflly different from that which has exift- ed fince. But he who has not traced this conduct from the period we fix, down to the prefent age, wants a principal part of the knowledge that every Englifh minifter of flate fhould have. Ignorance in the refpects here fpoken of is the lefs pardon- able, becaufe we have more, and more authentic, means of information concern- ing this, than concerning any other pe- riod. Anecdotes enough to glut the curio- fuy of fome perfons, and to filence all the captious cavils of others, will never be fur- nifhed by any portion of hiftory; nor indeed can they according to the nature and courfc Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 179 courfe of human affairs: but he who is con- tent to read and obferve, like a fenator and a ftatefman, will find in our own and in foreign hiftorians as much information as he wants, concerning the affairs of our ifland, her fortune at home, and her con- duct abroad, from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth. I refer to foreign hiftorians, as well as to our own, for this feries of our own hiftory, not only becaufe it is rea- fonable to fee in, what manner the hifto- rians of other countries have related the tranfactions wherein we have -been con- cerned, and what judgment they have made of our conduct, domeftic and foreign, but for another reafon likewife. Our nation has furnifhed as ample and as importanc matter, good and bad, for hiftory, as any nation under the fun: and yet we mud yield the palm in writing hiftory moft cer- tainly to the Italians and to the French, and, I fear, even to the Germans. The only two pieces of hiftory we have, in any refpect to be compared with the ancient, are, the reign of HENRY the feventh by my lord BACON, and the Hiftory of our civil war in the laft century by your noble anceftor my lord chancellor CLARENDON. But we have no general hiftory to be M ? com.* i8o L E T T E R VI. compared with fome of other countries: nei- ther have we, which I lament much more, paF- ticular hiftones, except the two I have men- tioned, nor writers of memorials nor collec- tors of monuments and anecdotes, to vie in number or in merit with thofe that foreign nations canboaftj from COMMINES, Guicci- ARDIN, Du BELLAY, PAOLO, DAVILA, THU- ANUS, and a multitude of others, down through the whole period that I propofe to your lordlhip. But although this be true, to our (hame-, yet it is true likewiie that we want no neceffary means of information. They lie open to our induftry, and our dif- cernment. Foreign writers are for the moft part fcarce worth reading when they fpeak of our domeftic affairs: nor are our Englifli writers for the moft part of greater value when they fpeak of foreign affairs. In this mutual defect, the writers of other countries are, I think, more excufable than ours; for the nature of our government, the political principles in which we are bred, our dif- tincl: interefts as iflanders, and the compli- cated various interefts and humours of our parties, all thefe are fo peculiar to our- klves, and fo different from the notions, manners, and habits of other nations, that it is not wonderful they Ihould be puzzled or Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 181 or mould fall into error, when they under- take to give relations of events that re- lult from all thele, or to pafs any judgment upon them. But as thefe hiilorians are mu- tually defective, fo they mutually fupply each other's defects. We muft compare them therefore, make ufe of our difcernment, and draw our conclufions from both. If we pro- ceed in this manner, we have an ample fund of hiftory in our power, from whence to col- left fufficient authentic information ; and we muft proceed in this manner, even with our own hiftorians of different religions, fects, and parties, or run the rilque of being mif- led by domeftic ignorance and prejudice in this cafe, as well as by foreign ignorance and prejudice in the other. M 3 III. In 182. LETTER Vi. III. In SPAIN and the Empire. SPAIN figured little in Europe till the lat- ter part of the fifteenth century ; til! Caftile and Arragon were united by the marriage of FERDINAND and ISABELLA; till the total expulfion of the Moors, and till the dif- covery of the Weft Indies. After this, not only Spain took a new form, and grew into immenfe power; but, the heir of FERDI- NAND and ISABELLA being heir likewiie of the houfes of Burgundy and Auflria, fuch an extent of dominion accrued to him by all thefe fucceflions, and fuch an addition of rank and authority by his election to the empire, as no prince had been mafter of in Europe from the days of CHARLES the great. It is proper to obferve here how the policy of the Germans altered in the choice of an emperor, becaufe the effects of this, alteration hwe been great. When RODOLPHUS of Hapfburgh was chofe in the year one thouftnd two hundred and feventy, or about that time, the poverty and the low eftate of this prince, who had been marfhal of the court to a king of Bohemia, was an inducement to elect him. The dif- orderly Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 183 orderly and lawlefs ftate of the empire made the princes of it in thofe days unwilling to have a more powerful head. But a contrary maxim took place at this asra : CHARLES the fifth and FRANCIS the firft, the two mod powerful princes of Europe, were the fole candidates; for the elector of Saxony, who is faid to have declined, was rather unable to ftand in competition with them: and CHARLES was chofen by the unanimous fuffrages of ihe electoral col- lege if I miftake not. Another CHARLES, CHARLES the fourth, who was made em- peror illegally enough on the depofition of LEWIS of Bavaria, and about one hundred and fifty years before, feems to me to have contributed doubly to eftablifh this max- im-, by the wile conititutions that he pro- cured to pafs, that united the empire in a more orderly form and better fyftem of go- vernment ; and by alienating the imperial revenues to fuch a degree, that they were no longer fufficient to fupport an emperor who had nor great revenues of his own. The fame maxim and other circumftances have concurred to keep the empire in this family ever fince, as it had been often be- fore; and this family having large domi- nions in the empire, and larger pretenfions, M 4 as .'j&4 LETTER VI. as well as dpminions, out of it, the other ilates of Europe, France, Spain and Eng- land particularly, have been more concerned fince this period in the affairs of Germany, than they were before it: and by confequence the hiftory of Germany, from the beginning of the fixteenth century, is of importance, and a necefiary part of that knowledge which, your Iprdfhip defires to acquire. THE Dutch cpmmonwealth was not for- med till near a century later. But as foon as it was formed, nay even whilft it was form- inof, thefe provinces, that were loft to obfer- vation among the many that compofed the dominions of Burgundyand Auftria, became fb confiderable a part of the political fyftem of Europe, that their hiftory muft be ftu- died by every man who would inform himfelf pf this fyftem. SOON after this rtate had taken being, others of a more ancient original began to mingle in thofe difputes and wars, thofe councils, negociations, and treaties, that are to be the principal objects of your lord- Jhip's application in the ftudy of hiftory. That of the northern crowns deferves your attention little, before the laft century. Tilt Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 185 Till the election of FREDERICK the firft to ihc crown of Denmark, and till that won- derful revolution which the firft GUSTAVUS brought about in Sweden, it is nothing more than a confufed rhapfody of events, in which the great kingdoms and ftates of Eu- rope neither had any concern^ nor took any part. From the time I have men- tioned, the northern crowns have turned their counfels and their arms often fouth- wards, and Sweden particularly, with prodi- gious effect. To what purpofe fhould I trouble your lordfhip with the mention of hiftones of other nations ? they are either fuch as have no relation to the knowledge you would ac- quire, like that of the Poles, the Mufco- vites, or the Turks; or they are fuch as, having an occafional or a fecondary relation to it, fall of courfc into your fcheme ; like the hiftory of Italy for inftance, which is fometimes a part of that of France, ibmctirnes of that of Spain, and fometimes of that of Germany. The thread of hiltory, that you are to keep, is that of the nations who are, and muft always be concerned in the fame fcenes of adion with your own Thefe are the principal nations of the 186 LETTER VI. the weft. Things that have no immediate relation to your own country, or to them, are either too remote, or too minute^ to em- ploy much of your time: and their hiftory and your own is, for all your purpofes, the whole hiftory of Europe. THE two great powers, that of France and that of Auftria,. being formed, and a rivalfhip eftabliftied by confequence be- tween them ; it began to be the intereft of their neighbours to oppofe the ftrongeft and inoft enterprifmg of the two, and to be the ally and friend of the weakeft. From hence arofe the notion of a balance of power in Europe, on the equal poize of which the fafety and tranquillity of all muft dtpend. . 'JTo deftroy the equality of this balance has been the aim of each of thefe rivals in his turn: and to hinder it from being deftroyed, by preventing too much power from falling into one Icale, has been the principle of all the wife councils of Europe, relative to France and to the houle of Auftria, through the whole period that began at the asra we have fix- ed, and fubfifts at this hour. To make a careful and juft obfervation, therefore, of the rife and decline of thefe powers, in the two Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 187 two lad centuries and in the prefent ; of the projects which their ambition formed; of the means they employed to carry thefe projects on with fuccefs; of the means em- ployed by others to defeat them; of the iffue of all thele endeavours in war and in negociation; and particularly, to bring your obfervations home to your own country and your own ufe, of the conduct that England held, to her honour or difhonour, to her advantage or diiadvanti^e, in every one of the numerous and important con- junctures that happened ought to be the principal fubject of your lordfnip's attention in reading and reflecting on this part of mo- dern hiftory. i Now to this purpofe you will find it of great ufe, my lord, when you have a general plan of the hiftory in your mind, to go over the whole again in another method; which I propofe to be this. Divide the entire period into fuch particular periods as the general courfe of affairs will mark out to you fufficiently, by the rife of new conjunctures, of different fchemes of conduct, and of different theatres of action. Exa- mine this period of hiftory as you would examine i33 LETTER VI. examine a tragedy or a comedy -, that js, take firft the idea or a general notion of the whole, and after that examine every at and every fcene apart. Confider them in themfelves, and confider them relatively to one another. Read this hiftory as you would that of any ancient period-, but ftudy it afterwards, as it would not be worth your while to ftudy the other; nay as you could not have it in your power the means of ftudying the other, if the ftudy war, real- ly worth your while. The tormer part of this period abounds in great hiftorians: and the latter part is fo modern, that even tra- dition is authentic enough to fupply the want of good hiftory, if we are curious to enquire, and if we hearken to the living with the lame impartiality and freedom of judgment as we read the dead: and he that does one will do the other. The whole period abounds in memorials, in collections of public ads and monuments of private letters, and of treaties. All thefe muft come into your plan of ftudy, my lord; many not to be read through, but all to be confulted and compared. They muft not lead you, I think, to your enquiries, but your enquiries muft lead you to them. By joining hiftory and .that which we call ihe mate- Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 189 materia hiftorica together in this manner, and by drawing your information from both, your lordiliip will acquire not only that knowledge, which many have in fome degree, of the great tranfactions that have palled, and the great events that have hap- pened in Europe during this period, and of their immediate and obvious caufes and confequences ; but your lordihip will ac- quire a much fuperior knowledge, and fuch a one as very few men poflefs almoft in any degree, a knowledge of the true po- litical fyitem of Europe during this time. You will lee it in it's primitive principles, in the conttitutions of governments, the fitua- tions of countries, their national and true interefts, the characters and the religion of people, and other permanent circumstances. You will trace it through all its fluctuations, and obferve how the objects vary feldom, but the means perpetually, according to the different characters of princes and of thofe who govern; the different abilities of thole who ferve ; the courfe of accidents, and a multitude of other irregular and con- tingent circumftances. THE particular periods into which the whole period mould be divided, in my opinion, i 9 o L E T T E R VI. opinion, are thefe. I. From the fifteenth to the end of the fixteenth century. 2. From thence to the Pyrenean treaty. 3. From thence down to the prefent time. YOUR lordlhip will find this divifion as apt and as proper, relatively to the particular hif- tories of England, France, Spain, and Ger- many, the principal nations concerned, as it is relatively to the general hiftory of Europe. THE death of queen ELIZABETH, and the acceffion of king JAMES the firft, made a vaft alteration in the government of our na- tion at home, and in her conduct abroad, about the end of the firft of thefe periods. The wars that religion occafioned, and am- bition fomented in France, through the reigns of FRANCIS the fecond, CHARLES the ninth, HENRY the third, arid a part of HENRY the fourth, ended: and the furies of the league were crufhed by this great prince, about the fame time. PHILIP the fe- cond of SPAIN marks this period iikewife by his death, and by the exhaufted condition in which he left the monarchy he govern- ed; which took the lead no longer in dif- turbing the peace of mankind, but acted a fe- Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 191 a fecond part in abetting the bigotry and am- bition of FERDINAND the fecond and the third. The thirty j years war that devafted Germany did not begin till the eighteenth year of the feventeenth century, but the feeds of it were fowing fome time before, and even at the end of the fixteenth. FERDINAND the firft and MAXIMILIAN had fhewn much lenity and moderation in the difputes and troubles that arofe on account of religion. Under ^RODOLPHUS and MAT- THIAS, as the fucceffion of their coufiti FERDINAND approached, the fires that were covered began to fmoke and to fparkle ; and if the war did not begin with this century, the preparation for it, and the expectation of it did. THE fecond period ends in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty, the year of the reite- ration of CHARLES the fecond to the throne of England; when our civil wars, and all the difbrders which CROMWELL'S ufurpa- tion had produced, were over: and there- fore a remarkable point of time, with re- fpect to our country. It is no lefs remark- able with refpect to Germany, Spain, and France. As i 9 2 L E T T E R VI. As to Germany; the ambitious projeds of the German branch of Auilria had been entirely defeated, the peace of the empire had been reftored, and almoft a new con- ftitution formed, or an old one revived, by the treaties of Weftphalia; nay the impe- rial eagle was not only fallen, but her xvings were clipped. As to Spain; the Spanifh branch was fallen as low twelve years afterwards, that is, in the year one thoufand fix hundred and fixty. PHILIP the fecond left his fucceflbrs a ruined monarchy. He left them fome- thing worfe; he left them his example and his principles of government, founded in ambition, in pride, in ignorance, in bigotry, and all the pedantry of ftate. I have read fomewhere or other, that the war of the Low Countries alone cod him, by his own confeflion, five hundred and fixty- four millions, a prodigious Turn in -what fpecies foever he reckoned. PHILIP the third and PHILIP the fourth followed his example and his principles of government, at home and abroad. At home, there was much form, but no good order, no ceco- nomy, nor wifdom of policy in the ftate. The Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 193 church continued to devour the ftate, and that monfter the inquifition to dilpeople the country, even more than perpetual war, and all the numerous colonies that Spain had fent to the Weft Indies : for your lord- fhip will find that PHILIP the third drove more than nine hundred thoufand Morif- coes out of his dominions by one edict, with fuch circumftances of inhumanity in the execution of it, as Spaniards alone could exercife, and that tribunal who had provoked this unhappy race to revolt, could alone approve. Abroad, the conduct of thefe princes was directed by the fame wild fpirit of ambition : rafh in undertaking though flow to execute, and obftinate in pur- fuing, though unable to fucceed, they opened a new fluice to let out the little life and vi- gour that remained in their monarchy. PHI- LIP the fecond is faid to have been piqued againft his uncle FERDINAND, for refufing to yield the empire to him on the abdica- tion of CHARLES the fifth. Certain it is, that as much as he loved to ditfurb the peace of mankind, and to meddle in every quarrel that had the appearance of fup- porting the Roman and opprcfting every other church, he meddled little in the affairs of Germany, Bur, FERDINAND and MAXI- N Ml LI AM 194 L E T T E R VI. MILIAN dead, and the offspring of MAXI- MILIAN extindt, the kings of Spain efpouled the interefts of the other branch of their family, entertained remote views of ambi- tion in favour of their own branch, even on that fide, and made all the enterprizes of FERDINAND of Gratz, both before and after his elevation to the empire, the com- mon caufe of the houfe of Auftria. What compleated their ruin was this, they knew not how to Jofe, nor when to yield. They acknowledged the independency of the Dutch commonwealth, and became the allies of their ancient fubje&s, at the treaty of Munfter: but they would not forego their ufurped claim on Portugal, and they perfifted to carry on fmgly the war againft France. Thus they were reduced to fuch a lownefs of power as can hardly be parelleled in any other cafe: and PHILIP the fourth was obliged at laft to conclude a peace, on terms repugnant to his inclination, to that of his people, to the intcreil of Spain, and to that of all Europe, in the Pyrcnean treaty. As to France; this sera of the entire fall of the Spanifh power is likewile that from which we may reckon that France grew as formidable, as we have feen her, to .- her Of the STUDY of HISTORY. 195 her neighbours, in power and pretenfions. HENRY the fourth meditated great deigns, and prepared to act a great part in Europe in the very beginning of this period, when RAVAILLAC ftabbed him. His defigns died with him, and are rather guefied at than known; for furely thole which his hiftorian PEREFIXE, and the compilers of SULLY'S memorials afcribe to him, of a chriftian commonwealth divided into fifteen ftates, and of a fcnate to decide all differences, and to maintain this new conftitution of Europe, are too chimerical to have been re- ally his: but his general defign of abafing the houfe of Auftria, and eftablifhing the fuperior power in that of Bourbon, was ta- ken up, about twenty years after his death, by RICHELIEU, and was purfued by him and by MAZARIN with fo much ability and fuccefs, that it was effected entirely by the treaties of Weftphalia, and by the Pyrcnean treaty: that is, at the end of the fecond of thole periods I have prefumed to propole to your lordfhip. WHEN the third, in which we now are, will end, and what circumftances will mark the end of it, I know not: but this 1 know, that the great events and revolutions, which N 2 have 196 LETTER VI. have happened in the courfe of it, interefl us dill more nearly than thofe of the two precedent periods. I intended to have drawn up an elenchus or fummary of the three, but 1 doubted, on further reflection, whether my memory would enable me to do it with exactnefs enough: and I faw that, if I was able to do it, the deduction would be immeafurably long. Something of this kind however it may be reafonable to at- tempt, in fpeaking of the laft period: which may hereafter occafion a further trouble to your lordihip. BUT to give you fome breathing time, I will poltpone it at prefcnt, and am in the mean while, My LORD, Your, fcV. L E T- [ '97 ] LETTER VII. A (ketch of the ftate and hi (lory of Europe, from the Pyrenean treaty in one thoufand fix hundred and fifty nine, to the year one thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight. THE firft obfervation I fhall make on this third period of modern hif- tory is, that as the ambition of CHARLES the fifth, who united the whole formidable power of Auftria in himfelf, and the reftlefs temper, the cruelty, and bigotry of PHILIP the fe- cond, were principally objedlsof the attention and folicitude of the councils of Europe, in the firft of thefe periods; and as the am- bition of FERDINAND the fecond, and the third, who aimed at nothing lefs N 3 than 198 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. extirpating the proteftant intereft, and under that pretence lubduing the liberties of Germany, were objects of the Tame kind in the fecond; fo an oppofi- tion to the growing power of France, or to fpeak more properly, to the exorbitant ambition of the houfe of Bourbon, has been the principal affair of Europe, during the greateft part of the prefent period. The defign of afpiring to univerfal monarchy, was imputed to CHARLES the fifth, as foon as he began to give proofs of his ambi- tion and capacity. The fame defign was im- puted to LEWIS the fourteenth, as foon as he began to feel his own ftrength, and the weakness of his neighbours. Neither of thefe princes was induced, I believe, by the flattery of his courtiers, or the appre- henfions of his adverfaries, to entertain fo chimerical a defign as this would have been, even in that falle fenfe wherein the word univerfal is fo often understood : and I miftake very much if either of them was of a character, or in circumftances, to undertake it. Both of them had ftrong defires to raife their families higher, and to extend their dominions farther; but neither of them had that bold and adven- turous ambition which makes a conqueror and Let. 7, and State of EUROPE. 199 and an hero. Thefe apprehenfions however were given wifely, and taken ufefully. They cannot be given nor taken too foon when fuch powers as thefe arife ; becaufe when fuch powers as thefe are befieged as it were early, by the common policy and watchfulnefs of their neighbours, each of them may in his turn of ftrength fally forth, and gain a little ground; but none of them will be able to pufli their con- quefts far, and much lefs to confummate the entire projects of their ambition. Befides the occafional oppofition that was given to CHARLES the fifth, by our HEN- RY the eighth, according to the differ- ent moods of humour he was in-, by the popes, according to the feveral turns of their private intereft, and by the princes of Germany according to the occafions or pretences that religion or civil liberty furnifhcd, he had from his firft fetting out a rival and an enemy in FRANCIS the firft, who did not maintain his caufe " in " forma pauperis," if I may ufe fuch an expreflion: as we have feen the houfe of Auftria, fue, in our days, for dominion, at the gate of every palace in Europe. FRAN- CIS the firft was the principal in his own quarrels, paid his own armies, fought N 4 his 200 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7 his own battles; and though his valour alone did not hinder CHARLES the fifth from fubduing all Europe, as BAYLE, a better philologer than politician, fomewhere af- lerts, but a multitude of other circum- ftances eafily to be traced in hiftory-, yet he contributed by his victories, and even by his defeats, to wafte the ftrength and check the courfe of that growing power. LEWIS the fourteenth had no rival of this kind in the houfe of Auftria, nor indeed any enemy of this importance to combat, till the prince of Orange became king of Great Britain : and he had great advan- tages in many other refpects, which it is necefiary to confider, in order to make a true judgment on the affairs of Europe from the year one thoufand fix hundred and fixty. You will difcover the firft of theie advantages, and fuch as were pro- ductive of all the reft, in the conduct of RICHELIEU and of MAZARIN. RICHE? LIEU formed the great defign, and laid the foundations: MAZARIN purfued the defign, and railed the fuperftructure. If I do not deceive myfelf extremely, there are few paffages in hiftory that deferve your lordfhip's attention more than the conduct that the firft and greateft of thefe minifters Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 201 minifters held, in laying the foundations I fpeak of. You will obferve how he helped to embroil affairs on every fide, and to keep the houfe of Auftria at bay as it were; how he entered into the quarrels of Italy againft Spain, into that concerning the Valteline, and that concerning the fuccefiion of Man- tua; without engaging ib deep as to divert him from another great objecT: of his policy, fubduing Rochelle and difarming the Hu- guenots. You will obferve how he turned himfelf, after this was done, to (lop the progrefs of FERDINAND in Germany. Whilft Spain fomented difcontents in the court, and diforders in the kingdom of France, by all poflible means, even by taking engage- ments with the duke of ROHAN, and for fupporting the proteftants; RICHELIEU abet- ted the fame intereft in Germany againft FERDINAND-, and in the Low Countries againft Spain. The emperor was become almoft the mafter in Germany. CHRISTIAN the fourth, king of Denmark, had been at the head of a league, wherein the United Provinces, Sweden, and Lower Saxony en- tered, to oppofe his progrefs: but CHRIS- TIAN had been defeated by TILLY and VAL- STEIN, and obliged to conclude a treaty ac 202 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. at Lubec, where FERDINAND gave him the law. It was then that GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, with whom RICHELIEU made an alliance, entered into this war, and foon turned the fortune of it. The French minifter had not yet engaged his mafter openly in the war; but when the Dutch grew impatient, and threatened to renew their truce with Spain, unlefs France declared; when the king of SWE- DEN was killed, and the battle of Nord- lingen loft; when Saxony had turned again to the fide of the emperor, and Brandenburgh, and fo many others had followed this example, that Heile almoft alone perfifted in the Swedifli alliance; thfn RICHELIEU engaged his mafter, and profited of every circumftance which the conjuncture afforded, to engage him with advantage. For, firft, he had a double advantage by engaging fo late: that of coming freih into the quarrel againft a wearied and almoft exhaufted tnemy : and that of yielding to tjje im- patience of his friends, who, prefled by their necefllties and by the want they had of France, gave this minifter an oppor- tunity of laying thofe claims, and eftablim- ing thofe pretenfions, in all his treaties with Hoi- Let. 7- and State of EUROPE. 203 Holland, Sweden, and the princes and ftates of the empire, on which he had pro- jected the future aggrandifernent of France. The manner in which he engaged, and the air that he gave to his engagement, were ad- vantages of the fecond fort, advantages of re- putation and credit; yet were cliefc of no fmall ment in the courfe of the war, and ope- rated ftrongly in favour of France, as he defigned they mould, even after his death, and at and after the treaties of Weftphalia. He varmfhed ambition with the moft plaufible and popular preten- ces. The elector of TREVES had put himfelf under the protection of France: and, if 1 remember right, he made this ftep when the emperor could not protect him againft the Swedes, whom he had reafon to apprehend. No matter, the governor of Luxemburgh was ordered to fnrprize TREVES, and to feize the elector. He executed his orders with fuccefs, and carried this prince prifoner into Brabant. RICHELIEU feized the lucky circumftance; he reclaimed the elector : and on the refufal of the cardinal infant, the war was declared. France, you fee, appeared the common friend of liberty, the defender of 204 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.7. of it in the Low Countries againft the king of SPAIN, and in Germany againft the emperor, as well as the protector of the princes of the empire, many of whofe eftates had been illegally invaded, and whofe perfons were no longer fafe from violence even in their own palaces. All thefe appearances were kept up in the ne- gociations at Munfter, where MAZARIN reaped what RICHELIEU had fowed. The demands that France made for herfelf were very great* but the conjuncture was favourable, and fhe improved it to the ut- moft. No figure could be more flattering than her's, at the head of thefe negocia- tions; nor more mortifying than the empe- ror's, through the whole courfe of the treaty. The princes and ftates of the empire had been treated as vafials by the emperor: France determined then to treat with him on this occafion as fovereigns, and fup- ported them in this determination. Whilft Sweden feemed concerned for the pro- teftant intereft alone, and mewed no other regard, as flie had no other alliance; France affected to be impartial alike to the proteftant and to the papift, and to have no intereft at heart but the common intereft Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 205 intereft of the Germanic body. Her de- mands were exceffive, but they were to be fatisfied principally out of the emperor's patrimonial dominions. It had been the art of her minifters to eftablifh this ge- neral maxim on many particular experien- ces, that the grandeur of France was a real, and would be a conftant fecurity to the rights and liberties of the empire againll the emperor : and it is no wonder therefore, this maxim prevailing, injuries, refentments, and jealoufies being frefli on one fide, and fervices, obligations, and confi- dence on the other, that the Germans were not unwilling France mould extend her em- pire on this fide of the Rhine, whilft Sweden did the fame on this fide of the Baltic. Thefe treaties, and the immenfe credit and influence that France had acquired by them in the empire, put it out of the power of one branch of the houfe of Auftria to return the obligations of afliftance to the other, in the wir that continued between France and Spain, till the Pyrenean trea- ty. By this treaty the fuperiority of the houfe of Bourbon over the houfe of Auftria was not only compleated and confirmed, but the great defiga of uniting the 206 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. 4 the Spanifh and the French monarchies under the former was laid. THE third period therefore begins by a great change of the balance of power in Europe, and by the profpect of one much greater and more fatal. Before I defcend into the particulars I intend to mention, of the courfe of affairs, and of the political conduct of the great powers of Europe in this third period; give me leave to caft my eyes once more back on the fecond. The reflection I am going to make feems to me important, and leads to all that is to follow. THE Dutch made their peace feparately at Munfter with Spain, who acknow- ledged then the fovereignty and indepen- dency of their commonwealth. The French, who had been, after our ELIZABETH, their principal fupport, reproached them feverely for this breach of faith. They excufed themfelves in the beft manner, and by the beft reafons, they could. All this your lordfhip will find in the monuments of that time. But I think it not improbable that they had a motive you will not find there, and Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 207 and which it was not proper to give as a reafon or excufe to the French. Might not the wife men amongft them confider even then, befides the immediate advan- tages that accrued by this treaty to their commonwealth, that the imperial power was fallen; that the power of Spain was vaftly reduced-, that the houfe of Auftria was nothing more than the fhadow of a great name, and that the houfe of Bour- bon was advancing, by large ftrides, to a degree of power as exorbitant, and as for- midable as that of the oth-r family had been in the hands of CHARLES the fifth, of PHILIP the fecond, and lately of the two FERDINANDS? might they not fore- fee, even then, what happened in the courfe of very few years, when they were oblig- ed, for their own fecurity, to affift their old enemies the Spaniards againft their old friends the French ? I think they might. Our CHARLES the firft was no great politician, and yet he feemed to dif- cern that the balance of power was turn- ing in favour of France, fome years be- fore the treaties of Weftphalia. He re- fufed to be neuter, and threatened to take part with Spain, if the French purfued the defign of befieging Dunkirk and Grave- A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. Graveline, according to a concert taken between them and the Dutch, and in purfuance of a treaty for dividing the Spanifh Low Countries, which RICHE- LIEU had negociated. CROMWELL either did not difcern this turn of the balance of power, long afterwards when it was much more vifible; or, difcerning it, he was induced by reafons of private intereft: to act againft the general intereft of Europe. CROMWELL joined with France againft Spain, and though he got Jamaica and Dunkirk, he drove the Spaniards into a neceflity of mak- ing a peace with France, that has difturbed the peace of the world almoft fourfcore years, and the confequences of which have well-nigh beggared in our times the nation he enflaved in his. There is a tradition,- 1 have heard it from perfons who lived in thofe days, and I believe it came from THUR- LOE, that CROMWELL was in treaty with Spain, and ready to turn his arms againft France when he died. If this fad was certain, as little as I honour his memory, I mould have fome regret that he died fo foon. But whatever his intentions were, we muft charge the Pyrenean trea- ty. Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 209 ty, and the fatal confequences of it, ill a great meafure to his account. The Spa- niards abhorred the thought of marrying their Infanta to LEWIS the fourteenth. It was on this point that they broke the ne- gociation LIONNE had begun: and your lordfhip will perceive, that if they refumed it afterwards, and offered the marriage they had before rejected, CROMWELL'S league with France was a principal in- ducement to this alteration of their fefolutions. THE precife point at which the fcales of power turn like that of the folftice in either tropic, is impercep- tible to common oblervation : and, in one cafe as in the other, fome pro- grefs mull be made in the new di- rection, before the change is perceiv- ed. They who are in the finking kale, for in the political balance of power, unlike to all others, the fcale that is empty finks, and that which is full rifes; they who are in the finking Icale do not eafily come off from the habitual prejudices of fuperior wealth, or power, or (kill, or courage, nor from O the 2i o A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7, the confidence .that thefe prejudices in- fpire. They who are in the rifing fcale do not immediately feel their ftrength, nor aflume that confidence in it which fuccefs- ful experience gives them afterwards. They who are the moft concerned to watch the variations of this balance, mif-judge often in the fame manner, and from the fame prejudices. They continue to dread a power no longer able to hurt them, or they continue to have no apprehen- fions of a power that grows daily more formidable. Spain verified the firft ob- fervation at the end of the fecond pe- riod, when, proud and poor, and enter-- prizing and feeble, fhe (till thought herfelf a match for France. France verified the fecond obfervation at the beginning of the third period, when the triple alliance flop- ped the progrefs of her arms, which al- liances much more confiderable were not able to effed: afterwards. The other prin- cipal powers of Europe, in their turns, have verified the third obfervation in both it's parts, through the whole courfe of this period. WHEN Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 211 WHEN LEWIS the fourteenth took the adminiftration of affairs into his own hands, about the year one thoufand fix hundred and fixty, he was in the prime of his age, and had, what princes feldom have, the advantages of youth and thofe of experience togecher. Their education is generally bad; for which reafon royal birth, that gives a right to the throne a- mong other people, gave an abiblute ex- clufion from it among the Marmalukes. His was, in all refpects, except one, as bad as that of other ' princes. He jetted fometimes on his own ignorance; and there were other defects in his character, owing to his education, which he did not fee. But MAZARIN had initiated him betimes into the myfteries of his policy. He had feen a great part of thofe foundations laid, on which he was to raife the fabric of his future gran- deur: and as MAZARIN finished the work that RICHELIEU began, he had the lefibns of one, and the examples of both, to inftruft him. He had ac- quired habits of fccrecy and method, in bufmefs j of refers, difcretion, de- cency, and dignity, in behaviour. If he was not the greateft king, he was O 2 the 212 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. the beft ador of majefty at leaft, that ever filled a throne. He by no means wanted that courage which is common- ly called bravery, though the want of it was imputed to him in the midft of his greateft triumphs: nor that other courage, lefs oftentatious and more rare- ly found, calm, Heady, perfevering refo- lution : which feems to arife lefs from the temper of the body, and is there- fore called courage of the mind. He had them, both moft certainly, and I could produce unqueftionable anecdotes in proof. He was, in one word, much fuperior to any prince with whom he had to do, when he began to govern. He was furrounded with great cap- tains bred in former wars, and with great minitfers bred in the fame fchool as himlclf. They who had worked under MAZARIN, worked on the fame plan under him; and as they had the advantage of genius, and experience over moft of the minifters of other countries, fo they had another advantage over thole who were equal or fupe- rior to them: the advantage of ferving a mafter whole abfolute power was eftab- lifhed; and the advantage of a fitu- ation wherein they- might exert their whole Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 213 whole capacity without contradiction; over that, for inftance, wherein your lord- fhip's great grand father was placed, at the fame time, in England, and JOHN DE WIT in Holland. Among thefe minifters, COLBERT muft be mention- ed particularly upon this occafion ; be- caufe it was he who improved the wealth, and confequently the power of France extremely, by the order he put into the finances, and by the encou- ragement he gave to trade and manu- factures. The foil, the climate, the fituation of France, the ingenuity, the induftry, the vivacity of her inhabi- tants are fuch; (he has fo little want of the product of other countries, and other countries have fo many real or imaginary wants to be iupplied by her; that when fhe is not at war with all her neighbours, when her domeftic quiet is preserved, and any tolerable admini- ftration of government prevails, Ihe muft grow rich at the expence of thole who trade, and even of thole who do not open a trade, with her. Her baw- bles, her modes, the follies and extra^- vagancies of her luxury, coft England, about the time we are ipeaking of, O 3 little 214 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. little lefs than eight hundred thoufand pounds llerling a year, and other nations in their proportions. COLBERT made the moft of all thefe advantageous circum- ftances, and whilft he rilled the national fpunge, he taught his fuccefifors how to fqueeze it; a jfecret that he repented hav- ing difcovered, they fay, when he faw the immenfe fums that were neceffary tn fupply the growing magnificence of his matter. THIS was the character of LEWIS the fourteenth, and this was the ftate of hia kingdom at the beginning of the prefenc period. If his power was great, his pretenfions were (till greater. He had re- nounced, and the Infanta with his confent had renounced, all right to the fucceffion of Spain, in the ftrongell terms that the precaution of the councils of Madrid could contrive. No matter; he confented to thefe renunciations, but your lordfhip will find by the letters of MAZARIN, and by other memorials, that he acted on the contrary principle, from the firft, which he avowed foon after- wards. Such a power, and fuch pre- tenfions Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 215 tenfions fhould have given, one would think, an immediate ahrm to the reft of Europe. PHILIP the fourth was broken and decayed, like the monarchy he governed. One of his fons died, as 1 remember, during the negocia- tions that preceded the year one thou- fand fix hundred and fixty : and the furvivor, who. was CHARLES the ftcond, rather languimed, than lived, from the cradle to the grave. So dangerous a contingency therefore, as the union of the two monarchies of France and Spain, being in view forty years toge- ther; one would imagine that the prin- cipal powers of Europe had the means ot preventing it conftantly in view du- ring the lame time. But it was other- wife. France a6ted very fyftematicaily from the year one thoufand fix hun- dred and fixty, to the death of king CHARLES the fecond of Spain. She never loft fight of her great object, the fuccefiion to the whole Spanifh monarchy; and (he accepted the will of the king of SPAIN in favour of the duke of ANJOU. As fhe never loft fight of her great objecl during this time, fo me loft no opportunity of in- O 4 creafing 2 1 6 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. creafing her power, while (he waited for that of fucceeding in. her preten- fions. The two branches of Auftria were in no condition of making a con- fidtrable oppoficion to her defigns and attempts. Holland, who of all other powers was the moil concerned to op^ pole them, was at that time under two influences that hindered her from purfuing her true intereft. Her true intereft was to have ufed her utmofl endeavours to unite clofely and inti- mately with England on the reftoration of king CHARLES. She did the very contrary. JOHN DE WIT, at the head of the Louveftein faction, governed. The intereft of his party was to keep the houfe of Orange downj he courted therefore the friendfhip of France, and neglected that of England. The alliance between our nation and the Dutch was renewed, I think, in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty twoj but the latter had made a defenfive league with France a little before, on the fuppofition principally of a war with England. The war became inevitable very foon. CROMWELL had chaftifed {.hem for their ufurpations in trade, antj Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 217 and the outrages and cruelties they had committed; but he had not cured them. The fame fpirit continued in the Dutch, the fame refentments in the Englifh: and the pique of mer- chants became the pique of nations. f 1 ranee entered into the war on the fide of Holland; but the little afllftance (he gave the Dutch fhewed plainly enough that her intention was to make thefe two powers wafte their ftrength againft one another, whilft fhe extended her conquefts in the Spanifh Low Coun- tries. Her invafion of thefe provinces obliged DE WIT to change his con- duct. Hitherto he had been attached to France in the clofeft manner, had led his republic to ferve all the pur- pofes of France, and had renewed with the marfhal D'ESTRADES a project of dividing the Spanifh Ne- therlands between France and Holland, that had been taken up formerly, when RICHELIEU made ufe of it to flatter their ambition, and to engage them to prolong the war againft Spain. A project not unlike to that which was held out to them by the famous preliminaries, and th? extravagant bar- rier- 2i8 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. rier-treaty, in one, thoufand feven hun- dred and nine; and which engaged them to continue a war on the principle of ambition, into which they had entered with more reafonable and more moderate views. As the private intereft of the two DE WITS hindered that common-wealth from being on her guard, as early as fhe ought to have been, againft France; fo the miftaken policy of the court of England, and the mort views, and the profufe tem- per of the prince who governed, gave great advantages to LEWIS the fourteenih in the purfuit of his defigns. He bought Dun- kirk: and your lordmip knows how great a clamour was railed on that occafion againft your noble anceftor; as if he alone had been anfwerable for the mea- fure, and his intereft had been concern- ed in it. I have heard our late friend Mr. GEORGE CLARK, quote a witnefs, who was quite unexceptionable, but I cannot recall his name at prefent, who, many years after all thefe traniadions, and the death of my lord CLAREN- DON, affirmed, that the earl of SAND- WICH Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 219 WICH had owned to him, that he him- felf gave his opinion, among many others, officers, and minifters, for felling Dun- kirk. Their reaibns could not be good, I prefume to fay, but feveral, that might be plaufible at that time, are eafily guef- fed. A prince like king CHARLES, who would have made as many bad bargains as any young fpend thrift, for money, finding himfelf thus backed, we may afiurc ourfelves, was peremptorily deter- mined to lell: and whatever your great grandfather's opinion was, this I am able to pronounce upon my own experience, that his treaty for the fale is no proof he was of opinion to fell. When the refolu- tion of felling was once taken, to whom could the fale be made ? To the Dutch? No. This meafure would have been at lead as impolitic, and, in that moment, perhaps more odious than the other. To the Spaniards? They were unable to buy : and, as low as their power was funk, the prin- ciple of oppofing it ftill prevailed. I have fometimes thought that the Spani- ards, who were forced to make peace with Portugal, and to renounce all claim 22O A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. claim to that crown, four or five years afterwards, might have been induced to take this refolution then, if the regain- ing Dunkirk without any expence had been a condition propokd to them , and that the Portuguese, who, notwithftand- ing their alliance with England and the indirect fuccours that France afforded them, were little able, after the treaty efpetially, to fupport a war againft Spain, might have been induced to pay the price of Dunkirk, for fo great an ad- vantage as immediate peace with Spain, and the extinction of all foreign pre- tences on their crown. But this Ipecnla- tion concerning events fo long ago paf- fed is not much to the purpole here. I proceed therefore to obferve, that not- withftandirig the fa!e of Dunkirk, and the fecret leanings of our court to that of France, yet England was firft to take the alarm, when LEWIS the fourteenth invaded the Spanim Netherlands in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty feven: and the triple alliance was the work of an Englifh minifter. It was time to take this alarm; for fiom the moment that the king of FRANCE claimed a right to the county of Burgundy, the dutchy .' 1 of Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 221 of Brabant, and other portions of ths Low Counrries as devolved on his queen, by the death of her father PHILIP the fourth, he pulled off the mafk entirely. Volumes were written to eftablifh, and to refute this fuppofed right. Your lord- fhip no doubt will look into a contro- verfy that has employed fo many pens and fo many fwords; and I believe you will think it was fufficiently bold in the French, to argue from cuftoms, that regulated the courle of private iuccef- fions in certain provinces to a right of fucceeding to the fovereignty of thofe provinces ; and to aflert the divifi- bility of the Spanifh monarchy, with the fame breath with which they afierted the indivisibility of their own; although the proofs in one cafe were juft as good as the proofs in the other, and the funda- mental kw of indivifibility was at lead as good a law in Spain, as either this or the Salique law was in France. But however proper it might be for the French and Auflrian pens to enter into long difcufllons, and to appeal, on this great occafion, to the reft of Europe; the reft of Europe had a fhort objec- tion to make to the pica of France, which 222 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. which no fophifms, no quirks of law, could evade. Spain accepted the re- nunciations as a real fecuricy: France gave them as fuch to Spain, and in ef- feft to the reft of Europe. If they had not been thus given, and thus ta- ken, the Spaniards would not have mar- ried their Infanta to the king of FRANCE, whatever diftrefs they might have en- dured by the prolongation of the war. Thefe renunciations were renunciations of all rights whatfoever to the whole Spanifli monarchy, and to every part of it. The provinces claimed by France at this time were parts of it. To claim them, was therefore to claim the whole; for if the renunciations were no bar to the rights accruing to MARY THERESA on the death of her father PHILIP the fourth, neither could they be any to the rights that would accrue to her, and her children, on the death of her brother CHARLES the fecond: an unhealthful youth, and who at this inftant was in immediate danger of dyingj for to all the complicated diltempers he brought in- to the world with him, the fmall-pox was added. Your lordfhip fees how the fatal contingency of uniting the two mon- Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 223 monarchies of France and Spain flared mankind in the face; and yet nothing, that I can remember, was done to pre- vent it: not fo much as a guarantee given, or a declaration made to afiert the validity of theie renunciations, and for fccuring the effect of them. The triple alliance in- deed (topped the progrefs of the French arms, and produced the treaty of Aix la Chapclle. But England, Sweden, and Holland, the contracting powers in this alliance, feemed to look, and probably did look, no farther. France kept a great and important part of what ihe had fur- prized or ravifhed, or purchafed; for we cannot fay with any propriety that (he con- quered : and the Spaniards were obliged tofet all they faved to the account of gain. The German branch of Auftria had been reduced very low in power and in credit under FERDINAND the third, by the trea- ties of \Vcftphalia, as I have faid already. LEWIS the fourteenth maintained, during many years, the influence thele treaties had given him among the princes and ftates of the empire. The famous capitulation made at Francktort on the election of LEOPOLD, who fucceeded FLRDINAND a- bout the year one thouland fix hundred and fifty 224 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. fifty feven, was encouraged by the intri- gues of France : and the power of France was looked upon as the fole power that could ratify and fecure effectually the ob- fervation of the conditions then made. The league of the Rhine was not renewed I believe after the year one thoufand fix hundred and fixty fix; but though this league was not renewed, yet fome of thefe princes and dates continued in their old en- gagement with France: whilft others took new engagements on particular occafions, according as private and fometimes very paltry interefts, and the emifiariesof France in all their little courts, difpofed them. In Ihortthe princesof Germany fliewed no alarm at the growing ambition and power of LE- WIS the fourteenth, but contributed to en- courage one, and to confirm the other. In fuch a ftate of things the German branch was little able toafilft the Spanifh branch againft France, either in the war that ended by the Pyrenean treaty, or in that we are fpeaking of here, the fnort war that began in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty leven, and was ended by the treaty of AixlaCha- pelle, in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty eight. But it was not this alone that diiabled the emperor from acling with Lee. 7. and State of EUROPE. 225 with vigour in the caufe of his family then, nor that has rendered the houfe of Auftria a dead weight upon all her allies ever fince. Bigotry, and its infeparable companion, cruelty, as well as the tyranny and avarice of the court of Vienna, created in thofe days, and has maintained in ours, almoft a perpetual diverfion of the imperial arms from all effectual oppofition to France. I mean to fpeak of the troubles in Hungary. Whatever they became in their progrefs, they were cauled originally by the ufurpa- tions and perfections of the emperor, and when the Hungarians were called rebels firft, they were called fo for no other reafon than this, that they would not be Qaves. The dominion of the emperor being lefs fupporcable than that of the Turks, this unhappy people opened a door to the latter to infelt the empire, inftead of making their country what it had be"en before, a barrier againft the Ottoman power. France; became a lure, though fccret ally of the Turks, as well as the Hungarians, and has found her account in it, by keeping the em- peror in perpetual alarms on that fide, while (he has ravaged the empire and the Low Countries on theocher. Thus we faw, thir- ty two years, ago, the arms of France and Bavaria in pofiVflion of Paffau, and the mal- F concents 1 226 A Sketch of the Hi STORY Let. 7. contents of Hungary in the fuburbs of Vi- enna. In a word, when LEWIS the four- teenth made the firft efiay of his power, by the war of one thoufand fix hundred and fixty feven, and founded, as it were, the councils of Europe concerning his preten- fions on the Spanifh fuccefiion, he found his power to be great beyond what his neighbours or even he perhaps thought it: great by the wealth, and greater by the united fpirit of his people-, greater ftill by the ill policy, and divided interefts that governed thofe who had a fuperior com- mon intcrrft to oppofe him. He found that the members of the triple alliance did not fee, or feeing did not think proper to own that they faw, the injuftce, and the confequence of his pretenfions. They con- tented themfelves to give to Spain an act of guaranty for fecuring the execution of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. He knew even then how ill the guarantee would be obferved by two of them at lead, by Eng- land and by Sweden. The treaty itfelf was nothing more than a compofition be- tween the bully and the bullied. Tournay, and Lifle, 2nd Doway, and other places that I have forgot, were yielded to him: and he reflorcd the county of Burgundy, according to the option that Spain made, againft Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 227 againft the intcreft and expectation too of the Dutch, when an option was forced upon her. The king of SPAIN compound- ed for his pofieffion : but the emperor com- pounded at the fame time for his fuc- ceflion, by a private eventual treaty of partition, which the commander of GRE- MONVILLE and the count of AVERSBERG figned at Vitrnna. Tue fame LEOPOLD, who exclaimed fo loudly, in one thou- land fix hundred and ninety eight, againft any partition of the Spanim monarchy, and refuied to fubmit to that which England and Holland had then made, made one himfelf in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty eight, with fo little rtgird to thefe two powers, that the whole ten provinces were thrown into the lot of France. THERE is no room to wonder if fuch ex- perience as LEWIS the fourteenth had upon rhis occafion, and fuch a face of affairs in Europe, raifing his hopes, raifed his am- bition : and if, in making peace at Aix la Chapelle, he meditated a new war, the war of one thoufand fix hundred and feven- ty two-, the preparations he made forir, by negociariens in all part?, by alliances where- ever he found ingrefiion, and by the in- P 2 create 228 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7* creafe of his forces, were equally proofs of ability, induftry, and power. I mall not defcend into thefe particulars: your lord- (hip will find them pretty well detailed in the memorials of that time. But one of the alliances he made I muft mention, though I mention it with the utmoft regret and in- dignation. England was fatally engaged to acl. a part in this confpiracy againft the peace and the liberty of Europe, nay, againft her own peace and her own liberty ; for a bubble's part it was, equally wicked and impolitic. Forgive the terms I ufe, my lord : none can be too ftrong. The principles of the triple alliance juft and wife, and worthy of a king of England, were laid afide. Then, the progrefs of the French arms was to be checked, the ten provinces were to be faved, and by faving them, the barrier of Holland was to be pre- fcrved. Now, we joined our counfels and our arms to thofc of France, in a project that could not be carried on at all, as it was eafy to forefee, and as the event fhewed, unlefs it was carried on againft Spain, the emperor, and moil of the princes of Ger- many, as well as the Dutch-, and which could not be carried on fuccefsfully, with- out leaving the ten provinces entirely at the mercy of France and giving her pretence and Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 229 and opportunity of ravaging the empire, and extending her conqueils on the Rhine. The medal of VAN BEUNINGHEN, and other pretences that France took for at- tacking the dates of the Low Countries, were ridiculous. They impofed on no one : and the true object of LEWIS the fourteenth was manifdl to all. But what could a king of England mean ? CHARLES the fecond had reafons of refentment againft the Dutch, and juft ones too no doubt. Among the re(r, it was not eafy for him to forget the affront he had fuffered, and the lofs he had fuftained, when, depending on the peace that was ready to be figned, and that was figned at Breda in July, he neglected to fie out his fleet-, and when that of Holland, commanded by RUYTER, with CORNELIUS DE WIT on board as deputy or commif- fionerof the ftates, burnt his (hips at Cha- tham in June. The famous perpetual edict, as it was called, but did not prove in the event, againft the election of a (late-holder, which JOHN DE WIT promoted, carried, and obliged the prince of Orange to fwear to maintain a very few days after the con- clufion of the peace at Breda, might be another motive in the breaft of king CHARLES the fecond: as it was certainly a pretence. of revenge on the Dutch, or at lead ? 3 PO 230 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7, "on the DE WITS and the Louveftein faclion, that ruled almoft defpotically in that com- monwealth. But it is plain that neither thefc reafons, nor others of a more ancient date, determined him to this alliance with France; fince he contracted the triple al- liance within four or five months after the two events, I have mentioned, happened. What then did he mean ? Did he mean to acquire one of the leven provinces, and di- vide them, as the Dutch had twice treated for the divifion of the ten, with France ? I believe not; but this I believe, that his in- clinations were favourable to the popifli in- tereit in general, and that he meant to make himfelf more abfolute at home; that he thought it neccflary to this end to humble the Dutch, to reduce their power, and per- haps to change the form of their govern- ment; to deprive his fubjects of the cor- refpondence with a neighbouring proteftant and free (late, and of all hope of fuccour and fupport from thence in their oppofuiori to him ; in a word, to abet the deligns of France on the continent, that France might abet his defigns on his own kingdom. This, I fay, I believe; and this I mould ven- ture to affirm, if I had in my hands tq produce, and was at liberty to quote, the jpriyate relations I have read formerly, drawn up Let, 7. and State of EUROPE. 231 up by thofe who were no enemies to fuch defigns, and on the authority of thofe who were parties to them. But whatever king CHARLES the fecond meant, certain it is that his conduct eftabiifhed the fuperiority of France in Europe. BUT this charge, however, muft not be confined to him alone. Thofe who were nearer the danger, thofe who were expofed to the imn.ediate attacks of France, and even thofe who were her rivals for the fame fuccefllon, have either afiifted her, or en- gaged to remain neuters, a ftrange fatality prevailed, and produced fuch a conjunc- ture as can hardly be paralleled in hiftory. Your lordfhip will obferve with aftonifli- ment even in the beginning of the year one thoufand P.x hundred and feventy two, all the neighbours of France acting as if they had nothing to fear from her, and fome as if they had much to hope, by helping her to opprefs the Dutch and Iharing with her the fpoils of that common- wealth. " Dclenda eft Carthago," was the cry in England, and feemed too a maxim on the continent. IN the courfe of the fame year, you will obferve that all thefe powers took the alarm, F 4 and Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7, and began to unite in oppofition to France, Even England thought it rime to interpofe ' in favour of the Dutch. The confequences of this alarm, of this fudden turn in the policy of Europe and of that which hap- pened by the maffacre of the DE WITS, and the elevation of the prince of OR ANGE, in the government of the feven provinces, faved thefe provinces, and (lopped the ra- pid progrefs of the arms of France. LEWIS the fourteenth indeed furprifed the feven provinces in. this war, as he had furprifed the ten in that of one thoufand fix hundred and fixty feven, and ravaged defenceleis countries with armies fufficient to conquer them, if they had been prepared to refill. In the war of one thoufand fix hundred and feventy two, he had little lefs than one hundred and fifty thoufand men on foot, befides the bodies of Englim, Swifs, Ita- lians, and Swedes, that amounted to thir- ty or forty thoufand more. With this mighty force he took forty places in forty days, impofed extravagant conditions of peace, played the monarch a little while at Utrecht; and as foon as the Dutch re- covered from their confternation, and, ani- mated by the example of the prince of Orange and the hopes of luccour, refufed thefe conditions, he went back to Ver- fcilles, Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 233 failles, and left his generals to carry on his enterprize: which they did with Ib little fuccels, that Grave and Maeftricht alone remained to him of all the boafted con- quefts he had made ; and even thefe he of- fered two years afterwards to reftore, if by that conccflion he could have prevailed on the Dutch at that time to make peace with him. But they were not yet difpofed to abandon their allies ; for allies now they had. The emperor and the king of SPAIN had en- gaged in the quarrtl againft France, and many of the princes of the empire had done the fame. Not all. The Bavarian conti- nued obftinatein his neutrality, and to men- tion no more, the Swedes made a great di- verfion in favour of France in the empire; where the duke of Hanover abetted their de- figns as mnch as he could, for he was a zealous partiian of France, though the other princes pf his houfe acted for the common caufe. I defcend into no more particulars. The war that LEWIS the fourteenth kindled by- attacking in fo violent a manner the Dutch commonwealth, and by making fo arbitrary an ufe of his firft fuccefs, became gene- ral, in the Low Countries, in Spain, in Sicily, on the upper and lower Rhine, in Denmark, in Sweden, and in the provinces #f Germany belonging to thefe two crowns; on 234 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. on the Mediterranean, the Ocean, and the Baltic. France fupported. this war with advantage on every fide: and when your lordfhip confiders in what manner it was carried on againft her, you will not be furprifed that (he did fo. Spain had fpirit, but too little ftrength to maintain her power in Sicily, where Meffina had revolted; to defend her frontier on that fide of the Py- renees; and to refift the great efforts of the French in the Low Countries. The em- pire was divided-, and, even among the princes who acted againft France, there was neither union in their councils, nor concert in their projects, nor order in pre- parations, nor vigour in execution : and, to fay the truth, there was not, in the whole confederacy, a man whofe abilities could make him a match for the prince of CONDE or the marfhal of TURENNE -, nor many who were in any degree equal to LUXEMBURG, CREQUI, SCHOMBERG, and other generals of inferior note, who commanded the ar- mies of France. The emperor took this very time to make new invafions on the liberties of Hungary, and to oppreis his proteftant fubjects. The prince of ORANGE alone acted with invincible firmnefs, like a patriot, and a hero. Neither the {educ- tions of France nor thofe of England, neither Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 235 neither the temptations of ambition nor thofe of private intereft could make him fwervefrom the true intereft of his country, nor from the common intereft of Europe. He had raifed more fieges, and loft more battles, it was faid, than any general of his age had done. Be it fo. But his defeats were manifeftly due in a great meafure to circumftances independent on him: and that fpirit, which even thefe defeats could not de- prefs, was all his own. He had difficulties in his own commonwealth; the governors of the Spanifh Low Countries crofied his mea- lures fometimes: the German allies difap- pointed and broke them often: and it is not improbable that he was frequently be- trayed. He was fo perhaps even by SOUCHES, the imperial general : a French- man according to BAYLE, and a penfioner of Louvois according to common report, and very ftrong appearances. He had not yet credit and' authority fufficient to make him a centre of union to a whole confe- deracy, the foul that animated and directed fo great a body. He came to b fuch after- wards; but at the time fpoken of he could not take fo great a part upon him. No other prince or general was equal to it; and the conlequences of this defect appeared almoft in every operation. France wa^ fur rounded 236 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. rounded by a multitude of enemies, all in- tent to demolifli her power. But, like the builders of Babel, they fpoke different lan- guages ; and as thofe could not build, thefe could not demolifh, for want of underftand- ing one another. France improved this ad- vantage by her arms, and more by her ne- gociations. Nimeghen was, after Cologn, the fcene of thefe. England was the medi- ating power, and I know not whether our CHARLES the feconddid notferve herpurpo- fes more ufefully in the latter, and under the character of mediator, than he did or could havedone by joining his arms to her's, and acting as her ally. The Dutch were induced to fign a treaty with him, that broke the confederacy, and gave great advantage to France : for the purport of it was to oblige France and Spain to make peace on a plan to be propoftd to them, and no mention was made in it of the other allies that I remember. The Dutch were glad to get out of an expenfive war. France promifed to rcftore Maeftricht to them, and Maeftricht was the only place that remain- ed unrecovered of all they had loft. They dropped Spain at Nimeghen, as they had dropped France at Munfter, but many circumftances concurred to give a much worfe grace to thejr abandoning of Spain, than Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 237 than to their abandoning of France, f need not fpecify them. This only I would obferve : when they made a feparate peace at Munfter, they left an ally who was in condition to carry on the war alone with advantage, and they prefumed to im- pofe no terms upon him : when they made a feparate peace at Nimehegen, they aban- doned an ally who was in no condition to carry on the war alon?, and who was re- duced to accept whatever terms the com- mon enemy prefcribed. In their great dif- trefs in one thoufand fix hundred and fo venty three, they engaged to reftore Maef- tricht to the Spaniards as foon as it fhouid be retaken: it was not retaken, and they accepted it for themfelves as the price of the feparate peace they made with France. The Dutch had engaged farther, to make neither peace nor truce with the king of FRANCE, till that prince confented to reltore to Spain all he had conquered finc'e the Pyrenean treaty. But, far from keeping this promife in any tolerable degree, LEWIS the fourteenth acquired, by the plan im- pofed on Spain at Nimeghen, befidcs the county of Burgundy, fo many other coun- tries and towns on the fide of the ten Spa- nim provinces, that thefe, added to the -places he kept of thofe which had been yielded 238 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.?. yielded to him by the treaty of Aix la Cha- pelle (for fome of little confequence he re- ftored) put into his hands the principal ftrength of that barrier, againft which we goaded ourfelves almoft to death in the Jaft great war ; and made good the faying of the marmal of SCHOMBERG, that to at- tack this barrier was to take the bead by his horns. I know very well what may be faid to excufe the Dutch. The emperor was more intent to tyrannize his fubjects on one fide, than to defend them on the other. He attempted little againft France, and the little he did attempt was ill order- ed, and worfe executed. The affiftance of the princes of Germany was often uncer- tain, and always expenfive. Spain was already indebted to Holland for great fums , greater ftill muft be advanced to her if the war continued: and experience friewed that France was able, and would continue, to prevail againft her pretent ene- mies. The triple league had ftopped her progrefs, and obliged her to abandon the county of Burgundy; but Sweden was now engaged in the war on the fide of France, as England had been in the be- ginning of it : and England was now pri- vately favourable to her imerefts, as Swe- den had been in the beginning of it. The whole Lt. 7. and State of EUROPE. 139 whole ten provinces would have been fub- dued in the courfe of a few campaigns more: and it was better for Spain and the Dutch too, that part fhould be faved by accepting a fort of composition, than the whole be rifqued by refuting it. This might be al- ledged to excufe the conduct of the States General, in impofing hard terms on Spain; in making none for their other allies, and in figning alone : by which fteps they gave France an opportunity that (he improved with great dexterity of management, th opportunity of treating with the confede- rates one by one, and of beating them by detail in the cabinet, if I may Ib lay, as fhe had often done in ihe field. I (ball not compare thefe realons, which were but two well founded in fact, and muft appear plaufible at lead, with other confiderations that might be, and were at the time, in- lifted upon. I confine myfelf to a few ob- fcrvations, which every knowing and im- partial man mull admit. Your lordlhip will ^bferve, firlt, that the fatal principle of compounding with LEWIS the fourteenth, from the time that his pretenfions, bis power, and the ufe he made of it, began to threaten Europe, prevailed ftill more at Nimeghcn than it had prevailed at Aix : fo that although he did not obtain to the full, all 240 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. all he attempted, yet the dominions of France were by common confent, .on every treaty, more and more extended; her bar-, riers on all fides were more and more ftrengthened ; thofe of her neighbours were more and more weakened; and that power, which was to afiert one day, againft the reft of Europe, the pretended rights of the houfe of Bourbon to the Spanifb monar- chy was more and more eftablifhed, and rendered truly formidable in fuch hands at leaft, during the courfe of the firft eighteen years of the period. Your lordmip will pleafe to obferve in the fccond place, that the extreme weaknefs of one branch of Au- ftria, and the miferable conduct of both ; the poverty of fome of the princes of the empire, and the difunion, and, to fpeak plainly, the mercenary policy of all of them; in more, the confined views, the falfe notions, and, to fpeak as plainly of my own as of other nations, the iniquity of the councils of England, not only hin- dered the growth of this power from being flopped in time, but nurfed it up into ftrength almoft infuperable by any. future confederacy. A third observation is this : If the excuies made for the conduct of the Dutch at Nimeghen are not fufficient, they too muft come in- for their fliare in. this con- Let. 7* and State of EUROPE. 241 condemnation, even after the death of the DE WITS; as they were to be condemned molt juftly, during that adminiftration, for abetting and favouring France. If thefe excufes, grounded on their inability to purfue any longer a war, the principal profit of which was to accrue to their con- federates, for that was the cafe after the year one thoufand fix hundred and feventy three, or one thoufand fix hundred and ieventy four, and the principal burden of which was thrown on them by their con- federates; if thefe arefufficient, they fhould not have acted for decency's fake as well as out of good policy, the part they did a<5t in one thoufand feven hundred and ele- ven, and one thoufand feven hundred and twelve, towards the late queen, who had complaints of the fame kind, in a much. higher degree, and withcircumftances much more aggravating, to make of them, of the emperor, and of all the princes of Ger- many , and who was far from treating them , and their other allies, at that time as they treated Spain and their other allies in one thoufand fix hundred and feventy eight. Immediately afccr the Dutch had made their ptrace, that of Spain was figned with France. The emperor's treaty with this crown and that or. Ssveden was concluded in the fol- Q^ lowing 242 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. lowing year: and LEWIS the fourteenth being now at liberty to afllft his ally, whilft he had tied up the powers with whom he had treated from afiifting theirs, he foon forced the king of DENMARK and the elector of BRANDENBURG to reftore all they had taken from the Swedes, and to conclude the peace of the north. In all thefe treaties he gave the law, and he was now at the higheft point of his grandeur. He con- tinued at this point forfeveral years, and in this heighth of his power he prepared thofe alliances againft it, under the weight of which he was at laft well-nigh opprefled; and might have been reduced as low as the general in re reft of Europe required, if fome of the caufes, which worked now, had not continued to work in his favour, and if his enemies had not proved, in their turn of fortune, as infatiable as profperity had ren- dered him. AFTER he had made peace with all the powers with whom he had been in war, he continued to vex both Spain and the em- pire, and to extend his conquefts in the Low Countries, and on the Rhine, both by the pen and the fword. He erected the chambers of Metz and of Brifach, where his own fubjects were profecutors, witnefles, and Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 243 and judges all at once. Upon the decifions of thefe tribunals, he feized into his own hands, under the notion of dependencies and the pretence of re-unions, whatever towns or diftricts of country tempted his ambition, or fuited his conveniency: and added, by thefe and by other means, in the- midft of peace, more territories to thole the late treaties had yielded to him, than he could have got by continuing the war. He afted afterwards, in the fupport of all this, without any bounds or limits. His glory was a reafon for attacking Holland in one thoufand fix hundred and feventy two, and his conveniency a reafon for many of the attacks he made on others afterwards. He took Luxemburg by force: he ftole Strafburgh ; he bought Caflal : and, whilft he waited the opportunity of acquiring to his family the crown of Spain, he was not without thoughts, nor hopes perhaps, of bringing into it the imperial crown like- \vife. Some of the cruelties he exercifcd in the empire may be afcribed to his difap- pointment in this view : I fay fome of them, becaufe in the war. ended by the treaty of Nimeghen, he had already exercifed many. Though the French writers endea* vour to flide overthem, topalliate them, and to impute them particularly to the Englifh Qjz thac 244 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. that were in their fervice, for even this one of their writers has the front to advance : yet theie cruelties unheard of among ci- vilized nations, rnuil be granted to have been ordered by the counfels, and executed by the arms of France, in the Palatinate, and in other parts. If LEWIS the fourteenth could have con- tented himfelf with the acquifitions that were confirmed to him by the treaties of one thoufand fix hundred and leventy eight, and one thoufand fix hundred and fcvemy nine, and with the authority and reputation which he then gained; it is plain that he. would have prevented the alliances that were .afterwards formed againft him; and that he might have regained his credit amongft the princes of the empire, where he had one family-alliance by the marriage of his brother to the daughter of the elector Palatine, and another by that of his fon to the fitter of the elector of Bavaria-, where Sweden was clofely attached to him, and where the lame principles of private inter- eft would have foon attached others as clofeiy. He might have remained not only the principal, but the directing power of Europe, and have held this rank with all the glory imaginable, till the death of the king Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 245 king of SPAIN, or fome other objecl: of great ambition, had determined him to aft a- notherpart. But, inftead of this, he con- tinued to vex and provoke all thofe who were, unhappily for them, his neighbours, and that, in many inftances fortnfles. An example of this kind occurs to me. On the death of the duke of DEUX FONTS, he feized that little inconfiderable dutchy, without any regard to the indifputable right of the king of SWEDEN, to the fervices that crown h-id rendered him, or to the want he might have of that alliance hereafter. The conftquence was, that Sweden entered, with the emperor the king of SPAIN, the eledor of Bavaria, and the States General, into the alliance of guaranty, as it was called, about the year one thoufand fix hundred and eighty three, and into the famous league of Aufburg, in one thoufand fix hundred and eighty fix. SINCE I have mentioned this league, and fmce we may date from it a more general and a more concerted oppofition to France than there had been before; give me leave to recall fome of the reflections that have prefented themfelves to my mind, in con- fidering what I have read, and what I have heard related, concerning the paffages of that 246 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.y, that time. They will be of ufe to form our judgment concerning later paflages. If the king of FRANCE became an objeft of averfion on account of any invafions he made, any deviations from public faith, any barbarities exercitVd where his arms pre- vailed, or the perfecution of his proteitanc iubjeels; the emperor defer ved to be fuch an objer, at Icafl as much as he, on the fame accounts. The emperor was lo too, but with this difference relatively to the political fyftem of the weft: the Auftrian ambition and bigotry exerted themlelves in diftant countries, whofe intercuts were not confidered as a part of this fyftem ; for, otherwife there would have been as much reafon for aflifting the people of Hungary and of Tranfylvania againft: the emperor, as there had been formerly for a/lifting the people of the feven united provinces againft: Spain, or as there have been lately for affift- ing them againft: France : but the ambition and bigotry of LEWIS the fourteenth were exerted in the Low Countries, on the Rhine, in Italy, and in Spain, in the very mid ft of this iyftem, if I may fay fo, and with fuccefs that could not fail to fubvert IE in time. The power of the houfe of Au- ftria, that had been feared too long, was feared no longer : and that of the houfe of Bourbon, Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 247 Bourbon, by having been feared too late, was now grown terrible. The emperor was fo intent on the eftablifhment of his abfo- lute power in Hungary, that he expofed the empire doubly to defolation and ruin for the lake of it. He left the frontier al- moft quite defencelels on the fide of the Rhine, againft the inroads and ravages of France: and by (hewing no mercy to the Hungarians, nor keeping any faith with them, he forced that miferable people into alliances with the Turk, who invaded the empire, and befieged Vienna. Even this event had no effeft upon him. Your lord- fhip will find, that SOBIESKI king of Po- land, who had forced the Turks to raife the fiege, and had fixed the imperial crown that tottered on his head, could not prevail on him to take thofe meafures by which alone it was poflible to cover the empire, to fe- cure the King of SPAIN, and to reduce that power who was probably one day to difpute with him this prince's fucceffion. TEK.ELI and the malecontents made fuch dem .ncis as none but a tyrant could refufe, the pre- fervation of their ancient privileges, liberty of conicience, the convocation of a free diet or parliament, and others of lefs im- portance. All .was in vain. The war con- tinued with them, and with the Turks, Q4 and 248 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. and France was left at liberty to pu(h her enterprizcs almoft without oppofuion, a- gainit Germany and the Low Countries. The diftrel's in both was ib great, that the- States General faw no other expedient for (topping the progrejs of the French arms, than a ceffation of hoftilities, or a truce of twenty years; which they negociated, and which was accepted by the emperor and the king of SPAIN on the terms that LEWIS the fourteenth thought fit to offer. By thefe terms he was to remain in full and quiet pofTc-ffion of all he had acquired fmce the years one thoufand fix hundred and feventy eight, and one thoufand fix hundred and feventy nine; among which acquifitions that of Luxemburg and that of Strafburg were comprehended. The conditions ot this truce were fo advantageous to France, that all their intrigues were employed to ob- tain a definitive treaty of peace upon the fame conditions. But this was neither the intereft nor the intention of the other con- trading powers. The imperial arms had been very fuccefsful againft the Turks. This fuccefs as well as the troubles that followed upon it in the Ottaman armie.% and at the Porte, gave a reafonable expecta- tion of concluding a peace on that fide : and, this peace concluded, the emperor, and the Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 249 the empire, and the king of SPAIN would have been in a much better pofture to treat with France. "With thele views, that were wile and juft, the league of Aufburg was made between the emperor, the kings cf SPAIN and SWEDEN, as princes of the em- pire, and the other circles and princes. This league was purely defenfive. An ex- prefs article declared it to be fo: and as it had no other regard, it was nor only con- formable to the laws and conftitutions of the empire, and to the practice of all nations, but even to the terms of the act of truce fo lately concluded. This pretence therefore for breaking the truce, feizing the electorate of Cologn, invading the Palatinate, be- fieging Philipfburg, and carrying unex- pected and undeclared war into the empire, could not be iupported : nor is i: pofllble to read the realbns publifhed by France at this time, and drawn from her fears of the imperial power, without laughter. As little pretence was there to complain, that the emperor refufed to convert at once the truce into a definitive treaty; fince, if he had done fo, he would have confirmed in a lump, and without any difcnffion, all the arbitrary decrees of thofe chambers, or courts, that France had erected to cover her usurpations ; and would have given up al- 250 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7. almoft a fixth part of the provinces of the empire, that France one way or other had pofieffed herfelf of. The pretenfions of the Dutchefs of OR LEAKS on the fuccefiion of her father, and her brother, which weredif- putcd by the then elector Palatine, and were to be determined by the laws and cufboms of the empire, afforded as little pretence for beginning this war, as any of the former allegations. The exclufion of the cardinal of FURSTENBERG, who had been elected to thearchbimoprick of Cologn, was capable of being aggravated : but even in this cafe his moft Chriftian majtfty oppofed his judg- ment and his authority againtl the judg- ment and authority of that holy father, vvhofe eldeft fon he was proud to be called. In fhort, the true reafon why LEWIS the fourteenth began that cruel war with the empire, two years after he had concluded a ceffation of hollilities for twenty, was this: he relblved to keep what he had got j and therefore he refolved to encourage the Turks to continue the war. He did this effectually, by invadingGermany at the very inftant when the Sultan was luing for peace. Notwithflandingthis, the Turks were in trea- ty again the following year: and good policy fhould have obliged the emperor, fince he could not hope to carry on this war and that againtl Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 251 againft France, at the fame time with vi- gour and effect, to conclude a peace with the lead dangerous enemy of the two. The decifion of this difpute with France could not be deferred, his defigns againft the Hungarians were in part accomplifhed, for his fon was declared king, and the fettle- ment of that crown in his family was made ; and the reft of thefe, as well as thofe that he formed againft the Turks, might be de- ferred. But the councils of Vienna judged differently, and infifted even at this criti- cal moment on the moft exorbitant terms; on feme of fuch a nature, that the Turks fhewed more humanity and a better fenfe of religion in refuting, than they in afking them. Thus the war went on in Hungary, and proved a conftant diverfion in favour of France, during the whole courfe of that which LEWIS the fourteenth began at this time : for the treaty of Carlowitz was pof- terior to that of Ryfwic. The empire, Spain, England, and Holland engaged in the war with France, and on them the em- peror left the but den of it. In the fhort war of one thouland fix hundred and fixty feven, he was not fo much as a party, and inftead of aflifting the king of SPAIN, which, it muft be owned, he was in no good con- dition of doing, he bargained for dividing that 252 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 7, that prince's fucceffion, as I have obferved above. In the war of one thoufand fix hundred and ieventy two he made fome feeble efforts. In this of one thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight he did ftill iefs; and in the war which broke out at the be- ginning of thi prefent century he did no. thing, at leait after the firft campaign in Italy, and after the engagements that Eng- land and Holland took by the grand al- liance. In a word, from the time that an oppofition to France became a common caule in Europe, the houfe of Auftria has been a clog upon it in many inftances, and of confiderabie affiftance to it in none. The accefiion of England to this caule, which was brought about by the revolution of one thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight, might have made amends, and more than amends, one would think, for this de fe<5t, and have thrown fuperiority of power and of fuccds on the fide of the confede- rates, with whom me took part againft France. This, I fay, might be imagined, without over-rating the power of I ngland, or undervaluing that of France j and it was imagined at that time. How it proved otherwife in the event; how France came triumphant out of the war that ended by the treaty of Ryfwic, and though (he gave ,et. 7. and State of EUROPE. 253 up a great deal, yet preferved the greateit and the bell part of her conqueft and ac- tjuifitions made fince the treaties of Weft- phalia, and the Pyrenees; how me acquired, by the gift of Spain, that whole monarchy for one of her princes, though me had no reafon to expect the lean: part of it without a war atone time, nor the great lot of it even by a war at any time; in fhort, how fiie wound up advantageoully the am- bitious lyftem (he had been fifty years in waving ; how fne concluded a war, in which the was defeated on every fide, and wholly exhaufted, with little diminution of the provinces and barriers acquired to France, and with the quiet poilefiion of Spain and the Indies to a prince ot the houfeof Bourbon: all this, my lord, will be the fubjeftol your refearches, when you fome down to the latter part of the laft pe- jiod of modern hiitory. LET- LETTER VIII. The fame fubjett continued from the year one thoufand fix hundred and eighty-eight. YOUR lordfhip will find that the objects propolcd by the alliance of one thou- fand fix hundred and eighty nine between the emperor and the States, to which Eng- land acceded, and which was the founda- tion of the whole confederacy then formed, were no lefs than to reftore all things to the terms of the Weftphalian and Pyrenean treaties, by the warj and to prefcrve them in that ftate, after the war, by a defenfive alliance and guaranty of the fame confede- rate powers againft France. The parti- cular as well as general meaning of this engagement was plain enough : and if it had not been fo, the icnie of it would have been fufficiently determined, by that fcpa- rate article, in which England and Hol- land obliged themfelves to allilt the " houfe of 256 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. " of Auftria, in taking and keeping pof- " feffion of the Spanifh monarchy, when- * c ever the cafe mould happen of the death "of CHARLES the fecond, without lawful " heirs." This engagement was double, and thereby relative to the whole political lyftem of Europe, alike affe&cd by the power and pretentious of France. Hither- to the power of France had been alone regarded, and her pretenfions feemed to have been forgot : or to what purpofe fhould they have been remembered, whilft Europe was fo unhappily conftituted, that the dates, at whofe expence (he encreafed her power, and their friends and allies, thought that they did enough upon every occafion if they made fome tolerable com- pofition with her? They who were not in circumftances to refufe cor.Srming prefent, were little likely to take effectual mcafures againft future ulurpations. But now, as the alarm was greater than ever, by the out- rages that France had committed, and the intrigues flie had carried on; by the little regard fhe had fhewn to public faith, and by the airs of authority fhe had afiumed twenty years together: fo was the fpirit againft her raifed to an higher pitch, and the means of reducing her power, or at lead of checking -it, were increafed. The princes Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 257 princes and dates who had neglected or fa- voured the growth of this power, which all of them had done in their turns, faw their error; faw the necefiity of repairing it, and faw that unlefs they could check the power of France by uniting a "power fuperior to her's, it would be impofiible to hinder her from fucceeding in her great defigns on the Spanifh fucceffion. The court of England had fubmitted, not many years before, to abet her ufurpations, and the king of England had ftooped to be her penfioner. But the crime was not natio- nal. On the contrary, the nation had cried out loudly againft it, even whilft it- was committing: and as foon as ever the abdication of King JAMES, and the eleva- tion of the prince of ORANGE to the throne of England happened, the nation engaged with all imaginable zeal in the common caufe of Europe, to reduce the exorbitant power of France, to prevent her future and to revenge her pad attempts ; for even a ipirit of revenge prevailed, and the war was a war of anger as well as of imereft. UNHAPPILY this zeal was neither well conducted, nor well feconded. Tt was zeal without fuccefs in the firft of the two wars R that 258 A Sketch of the Hist ORY Let.8. that followed the year one thoufand fix hun- dred and eighty-eight-, and zeal without knowledge, in both of them. I enter into no detail concerning the events of thefe two wars. This only I obferve on the firlt of them, that the treaties of Ryfwic were far from anfwering the ends propofed and the engagements taken by the firit grand alliance. The power of France, with refpeft to extent of dominions and ftrength of barrier, was not reduced to the terms of the Pyrenean treaty, no not to thofe of the treaty of Nimeghcn. Lorrain was reftored indeed with very confiderable referves, and the places taken or ufurped on the other fide of the Rhine: but then Strafburg was yielded up abfolutely to France by the emperor, and by the empire. The conceffions to Spain were great, but lb vverc the conquefts and the encroach- ments made upon her by France, fince the treaty of Nimeghen: and (begot lirtle at Ryfwic, I believe nothing more than (he had faved at Nimeghen before. All thefc concefiions, however, as well as the ac- knowledgment of King WILLIAM, and others made by LEWIS the fourteenth af- ter he had taken Ath and Barcelona, even during the courfc of the ne^ociations, com- pared with the lofles and repeated defeats of Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. of the allies and the ill ftate of the confede- racy, furprifed the generality of mankind, who had not been accuftomed to fo much moderation and generofity on the part of this prince. But the pretenfions of the houfe of Bourbon on the Spanifh fuccef* fion remained the fame. Nothing had been done to weaken them; nothing was prepared to oppofe them : and the opening of this fucceffion was vilibly at hand: fojf" CHARLES the fecond had been in immediate danger of dying about this time. His death could not be a remote event: and all the good queen's endeavours to be got with child had proved ineffectual. The league diflblved, all the forces of the con-< federates difperfed, and many difbanded ; France continuing armed, her forces by icA and land encreafed and held in readinefs to act on all fides, it was plain thac the confederates had failed in the firit object of the grand alliance, that of re-> ciucing the power of France > by fucceedr ing in which alone they could have been able to keep ths fecond engagement, than of fecuring the fucceffion of Spain to chfi houfe of Aufbia. AFTER this peace, what remained to be done? In the whole nature of things there K a remained 260 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. remained but three. To abandon all care, of the Spanifh fucceffion was one; to com- pound with France upon this fuccefiion was another; and to prepare, like her, during the interval of peace, to make a a advantageous war whenever CHARLES the fecond ihould die, was a third. Now the firft of thefe was to leave Spain, and in leaving Spain, to leave all Europe in fome fore at the mercy of France; fmce whatever difpofition the Spaniards fhould make of their crown, they were quite un- able to fupport it againft France; fincc the emperor could do little without his alliance; and Cnce Bavaria, the third pre- tender, could do ftill lefs, and might find, in fuch a cafe, his account perhaps better in treating with the houfc of Bourbon than with that of Auftria. More needs not be faid on this head ; but on the other two, which I (hall confider together, feveral fadts are proper to be mentioned, and feveral re^ ,:.s nccefiary to be made. WE might have counter- worked, no doubt, in their own methods of policy, the councils of France, who made peace to dificlve the confederacy, and great concef- fions, with very fufpicious gcnerofity, to gain the Spaniards : we might have waited, like Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 261 like them, that is in arms, the death of CHARLES the fecond, and have fortified in the mean time the difpofitions of the king, the court, and people of Spain, againft the pretenfions of France : we might have made the peace which was made foone time after that, between the emperor and the Turks, and have obliged the former at any rate to have fecured the peace of Hun- gary, and to have prepared by thefe and other expedients, for the war that \\ou!d inevitably break out on the death of the king of SPAIN*. BUT all fuch meafures were rendered im- pra&icable, by the emperor chiefly. Ex- perience had Ihewn, that the powers who engaged in alliance with him muft expcci to. take the whole burden of his caufe upon themfclves; and that Hungary would main- tain a perpetual diverfion in favour of France, fince he could not reiblve to lighten the tyrannical yoke he had eftablilhed in that country and in Tranfilvania, nor his minifters to part with the immenfe confif- cations they had appropriated to thcmfelves. Pail experience thewcd this : and the ex- perience that followed, confirmed it very fa- tallv. But .further; there was not only little afiithnce to be expected from him by R 3 thole 262 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. thofe who mould engage in his quar- rel: he did them hurt of another kind, and deprived them of many advantages by faJie meafures of policy and unfkilful nc-gocUi- tions. Whilii the death of CHARLES the iecond was expected almoft daily, the court of Vienna feemed to have forgot the court of Madrid, and all the pretenfions on that crown. When the count D'HARRACH was lent thither, the imperial councils did iome- tiling worfe. The king of SPAIN was rea- dy to declare the arch-duke CHARLES his fucceffor; he was defirous to have this young prince lent into Spain: the bent of the people was in favour of Auftria, or it had been fo, and might have been eaiily turned the fame way again : at court no cabal was yet formed in favour of Bourbon, and a very weak intrigue was on foot in favour of the eleciorial prince of BAVARIA. Not only CHARLES might have been on the fpot ready to reap the fucceffion, but a German army might have been there to defend it; for the court of Madrid in- fifted on having twelve thoufand of thefe troops, and, rather than not to have them offered to Contribute to the payment of them privately : becaufe it would have been too Irhpopular among the Spaniards, and too prejudicial to the Auftrian intereft, to have had Let, 8. and State of EUROPE. 263 had it known that the emperor declined the payment of a body of his own troops that were demanded to fecure that monarchy to his fon. Thefe propofals were half refufed, and half evaded: and in return to the of- fer of the crown of Spain to the archdukr, the imperial councils afked the government of Milan for him. They thought it a point of deep policy to fecure the Italian pro- vinces, and to leave to England and Hol- land the care of the Low Countries, of Spain, and the Indies. By declining thefe propofals, the houfe of Auftria renounced ia lome fort the whole fucceffion: at leaft (he gave England and Holland reafons, what- ever engagements thefe powers had taken, to refuie the harder tafk of putting her in- to pofieffion by force; when me might, and would not, procure to the EnglHh and Dutch, and her other allies, the eafier talk of defending her in this poffeflion. I laid that themeafures mentioned above were rendered impracticable, by the empe- ror chiefly, becaule they were rendered fo likewife by other cirumftances at the fame conjuncture. A principal one I mall mention, and it (hall be drawn from the ftateof our own country, and thedifpofition of our people, Let us take this up U 4 from 264 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. from king WILLIAM'S accefiion to our crown. During the whole progrefs that LEWIS the fourteenth made towards fuch exorbitant power, as gave him well ground- ed hopes of acquiring at laft to his family the Spanilh monarchy, England had been either an idle fpectator of all that patted on the continent, or a faint and uncertain ally againft France, or a warm and fure ally on her fide, or a partial mediator be- tween her and the powers confederated in their common defence. The revolution produced as great a change in our foreign conduct as in our domeftic eftablifhment : and our nation engaged with great fpirit in the war of one thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight. But then this fpirit was ram, prefumptuous and ignorant, ill conducted at home, and ill feconded abroad : all which has been touched already. We had waged no long wars on the continent, nor been very deeply concerned in foreign confede- racies, fince the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The hiftory of EDWARD the third, however, and of the firft twelve or fifteen years of HENRY the fixth might have taught us fome general but uieful leffons, drawn from remote times, but applicable to the prefent. So might the example of the eighth, who fcjuandered away Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 26$ great fums for the profit of taking a town or the honour of having an emperor in his pay; and who divided afterwards by treaty the kingdom of France between him- felf and CHARLES the fifth, with fuccefs fo little anfwerable to fuch an undertaking, that it is hard to believe his imperial and Englifh majefty were both in earned. If they were fo, they were both the bubbles of cheir preemption. But it feems more likely that HENRY the eighth was bubbled on this occafion by the great hopes that CHARLES held out to flatter his vanity : as he had been bubbled by his father-in-law, FERDINAND, at the beginning of his reign, in the war of Navarre. But thefe reflec- tions were not made, nor had we enough considered the example of ELIZABETH, the laft of our princes who had made any con- fiderable figure abroad, and from whom we might have learned to acl: with vigour, but to engage with caution, and always to proportion our afiiftance according to our abilities, and the real neccffities of our al- lies. The frontiers of France were now fo fortified, her commerce and her naval force were fo encreafed, her armies were grown fo numerous, her troops were fo dif- .ciplined, fo inured to war, and fo ani- ia.ted by a long courfe of fucccfsfui cam- paigns, 266 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.8. paigns, that they who looked on the fitua* tion of Europe could not fail to lee how difficult the enterprizeof reducing her power was become. Difficult as it was, we were obliged on ever account, and by reafons of all kinds, to engage in it: but then we fhould have engaged with more forecaft, and have conducted ourfelf in the manage- ment of it, not with lefs alacrity and fpirir, but with more order, more ceconomy, and a better application of our efforts. But they who governed were glad to en- gage us at any rate: and we entered on this great fcheme of adion, as our nation is too apt to do, hurried on by the ruling pafiion of the day. I have been told by ieveral, who were on the ftage of the world at this time, that the generality of our peo- ple believed, and were encouraged to be- lieve, the war could not be long, if the king was vigoroufly fuppoited: and there in a humdrum fpeech of a fpeaker, of the houfe of commons, I think, who humbly defired his majefty to take this opportunity of reconquering his ancient dutchy of Acquitain. We were foon awakened from thefe gaudy dreams. In fctven or eight years no impreffion had been made on France that was befieged as it were on every fide: and after repeated defeats in the Low Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 267 Low Countries, where king WILLIAM laid the principal ftrels of the war, his foie triumph was the retaking of Namur, that had been taken by the French a few years before. Unfuttained by fucceis abroad, we are not to wonder that the fpirit flagged at home; nor that the diicontents of thofe who were averfe to the eftablifhed govern- ment uniting with the far greater number of thole who difliked the adminiftration, inflamed the general difcontents of the na- tion, oppreflfed with taxes, pillaged by ufu- rers, plundered at fea, and difatpointed at land. As we run into extremes always, ibme would have continued this war at any rate, even at the fame rate: but it was not polfible they (houlci prevail in fuch a fitua- tion of affairs, and fuch a dilpofition of minds. They who got by the war, and made immenfe fortunes by the neceffities of the public, were not fo numerous nor fo powerful, as they have been fince. The mo- seyed intereft was not yet a rival able to cope with the landed intereft, either in the nation or in parliament. The great corpora- tions that had been erected more 10 ferve the turn of party, than for any real national uie, aimed indeed even then at the ftrcngth and influence which they have fince acquired in the legiflature-, but they had not made the lame progrefs by promoting national corrup- tion, 86zA Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. tion, as they and the court have made fince. In (horr, the other extreme prevailed. The generality of people grew as fond of getting out of the war, as they had been of entering into it: and thus far perhaps, confidering how it had been conduced, they were noc much to be blamed. But this was not all; for when king WILLIAM had made the peace, our martial fpirit became at once Ib pacific, that we feemed refolved to med- dle no more in the affairs of the continent, at lead to employ our arms no more in the quarrels that might arife there: and ac- cordingly we reduced our troops in Eng- land to feven thoufand men. I HAVE fomeumes confidered, in reflect- ing on thefe paftages, what I fhouid have done, if I had fat in parliament at thac time-, and have been forced to own mylelf, that I (hould have voted for difbanding the army then; as I voted in the following par- liament for cenfuring the partition-treaties. I am forced to own this, becaufe I remem- ber how imperfect my notions were of the lituation of Europe in that extraordinary crifis, and how much I law the true intereit of my own country in an half light. But, my lord, I own it with fome (hame; bccaufe in truth nothing could be more ab- furd than the conduct we held. What! becaufe Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 269 becaufe we had not reduced the power of France by the war, nor excluded the houfe of Bourbon from the Spanifh iucceflion, nor compounded with her upon it by the peace ; and becaufe the houfe of Auftria had not helped herfelf, nor put it into our power to help her wi:h more advantage and better profpecl of fuccefs were we to leave that whole fucceflion open to the invafions of France, and to iuffcr even the contingency to fubfift, of feeing thofe monarchies united ? What! becaufe it was become ex- travagint, afcer the trials fo lately made, to think ourfelves any longer engaged by treaty or obliged by good policy, to put the houfe of Auftria in pofiefTion of the whole SpaniCh monarchy, and to defend her in this pofiefiion by force of arms, were we to leave the whole at the mercy of France? If we were not to do fo, if we were not to do one of the three things that I faid above remained to be done, and if the emperor put it out of our power to do another of them with advantage-, were we to put it fliil more out of our power, and to wait un- armed for the death of the king of SPAIN? In fine, if we had not the profpect of difpu- ting with France, fo fucceisfuliy as we might have had it, the Spanim iucceflion, when- ever it (hould be open; were we not only tQ 270 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. , to (hew by difarming, that we would not difpute it at all, but to cenfure likewife the fecond of the three things mentioned above, and which king WILLIAM put in practice, the compounding with France, to prevent; if pofilble a war, in which we were averie to engage ? ALLOW me to pufh thefe reflections a little further, and to obferve to your lord- (hip, that if the propofal of fending the archduke into Spain had been accepted in time by the imperial court, and taken effect and become a meafure of the confederacy^ that war indeed would have been protracted > but France could not have hindered the pafiage of this prince and hisGerman forces : and our fleet would have been better em- ployed in efcorting them, and in covering the coafts of Spain and of the dominions of that crown both in Europe and m America, than it was in fo many unmeaning expedi- tions from the battle of La Hogue to the end of the war. France indeed would have made her utmoft efforts to have had fatisfactionon her pretenfions, as ill-founded as they were. She would have ended that war, as we began the next, when we de- manded a reafonable fatisfaction for the em- peror : and though 1 think that the allies would Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 271 would have had, in very many refpecls, more advantages in defending Spain, than in at- tacking France; yet, upon a iuppofition that the defence would have been as ill conducted as the attack was, and that by confequence, whether CHARLES the fccond had lived to the conclufion of this war, or had died before it, the war muft have ended in fome partition or other; this partition would have been made by the Spaniards themfelves. They had been forced to compound with France on her former pretenlions, and they mull and they would have compounded on thefe, with an Auf- trian prince on the throne, juft as they compounded, an,d probably much better than they compounded, on the pretenfions we fupported againft them, when they had a prince of Bourbon on their throne. France could not have diftrefifed the Spaniards, nor have over run their monarchy, if they had been united ; and they would have been united in this cafe, and fupported by the whole confederacy: as we diftrefied both France and them, over-run their monarchy in one hemifphere, and might have done fo in both, when they were difunited, and fupported by France atone. France would not have acted, in luch negociations, the ridiculous part which the emperor acted in thofc 272 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. S. thofe that led to the peace of Utrecht, nor have made her bargain worfe by neglecting to make it in time. But the war ending as it did, though I cannot fee how king WIL- LIAM could avoid leaving thecrown of Spain and that entire monarchy at the difcretion of LEWIS the fourteenth, otherwife than by compounding to prevent a new war he was in no fort prepared to make; yet it is undeniable, that, by confenting to a par- tition of their monarchy, he threw the Spa- niards into the arms of France. The firft partition might have taken place, perhaps, if the electoral prince of BAVARIA had lived, whom the French and Spaniards too would have feen much more willingly than the archduke on the throne of Spain. For among all the parties into which that court was divided in one thoufand fix hundred and ninety eight, when this treaty was made, that of Aultria was grown the weakeft, by the.difguft taken at a German queen, and at the rapacity and infolence of her favou- rites. The French were looked upon with efteem and kindnefs at Madrid ; but the Germans were become, or growing to be, objects of contempt to the minifters, and of averfion to the people. The electoral prince died in one thoufand fix hundred and ninety nine. The ftar of Aufiria, fo fatal to all thofe Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 273 thofe who were obftacles to the ambition of that houfe, prevailed; as the elector ex- prefled himfelf in the firft pangs of his grief. The ftate of things changed very much by his death The archduke was to have Spain and the Indies, according to a fecond partition: and the Spaniards, who had expreffcd great refentment at the firO, were pumed beyond their bearing by this. They loon appeared to be fo; for the ie- cond treaty of partition was figncd in March one thoufand feven hundred ; and the will was made, to the bed of my re- membrance, in the October following. I (hall not enter here into many particulars concerning thefe great events. They will be related faithfully, and I hope fully ex- plained, in a work which your lordmip may take the trouble very probably from perufmg fome time or orher. and which I ihall rather leave, than give to the public. Something however muft be faid more, to continue and wind up this fummary of the latter period of modern hiftory. FRANCE then faw her advantage, and im- proved it no doubr, though not in the man- ner, nor with the circumftances, that fome lying fcribblers of memorials and anecdotes have advanced. She had lent one of the S ableft 274 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. ableft men of her court to that of MADRID, the marfhal of HARCOURT, and fhe had ftipulated in the fecond treaty of partition, that the archduke fhould go neither into Spain nor the dutchy of Milan, during the life of CHARLES the fecond. She was wil- ling to have her option between a treaty and a will. By the acceptation of the will, all king WILLIAM'S meafures were broke. He was unprepared for war as much as when he madethefe treaties to prevent one; and if he meant in making them, what fome wife, but refining men have fufpected, and what I confels 1 fee no realbn to believe, only to gain time by the difficulty of execu- ting them, and to prepare for making war, whenever the death of the king of SPAIN fhould alarm mankind, and roufe his own fubjects out of their inactivity and neglect of foreign interefts: if fo, he was difappointed in that too; for France took pofielTion of the whole monarchy at once, and with univerfal concurrence, at leaft without oppoiltion or difficulty, in favour of the duke of ANJOU. By what has been obfcrved, or hinted rather, very fhortly, and 1 fear a little confufedly, it is plain, that reducing the power of France, and fecu- ring the whole Spanifh fucceffion to the houfe of Auftriaj were two points that king WILLIAM Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 275 WILLIAM, at the head of the Britilh and Dutch commonwealths and of the greateft confederacy Europe had feen, was obliged to give up. All the acquifitions that France cared to keep for the maintenance of her power were confirmed to her by the treaty of Ryfwic: and king WILLIAM allowed, indirectly at leaft, the pretenfions of the houfe of Bourbon to the Spanilh fucccffion, as LEWIS the fourteenth allowed, in the fame manner, thole of the houfe of Auftria, by the treaties of partition. Strange fitu- ation! in which no expedient remained to prepare for an event, vifibly fo near, and of fuch vaft importance as the death of the king of SPAIN, but a partition of his monarchy, without his confent, or his knowledge! If king WILLIAM had not made this partition, the emperor would have made one, and with as little regard to trade, to the barrier of the feven provinces, or to the general fyftem of Europe, as had been (hewed by him when he made the pri- vate treaty with France already mentioned, in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty eight. The minifters of Vienna were not wanting to infinuate to thofe of France overtures of a feparate treaty, as more conducive to their common interells than the acceffiion of his imperial majefty to that of partition. S 2 But 276 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. But the councils of Verfailles judged very reafonubly, that a partition made with Eng- land and Holland would be more effectual than any other, if a partition was to take place: and that fuch a partition would be juft as effectual as one made with the em- peror, to furnifh arguments to theemiflaries of France, and motives to the Spanifh councils, if a will m favour of France could be obtained. I repeat it again; I cannot fee what king WILLIAM could do in fuch circumftances as he found himfelf in after thirty years ftruggle, except what he did: neither can I fee how he could do what he did, efpecially- after the refentment ex- prefled by the Spaniards, and the furious memorial prefented by CANALES on the conclufion of the firft treaty of partition, without apprehending that the confequence would be a will in favour of France. He was in the worft of all political circum- ftances, and that wherein no one good mea- fure remains to be taken -, and out of which he left the two nations, at the head of whom he had been fo long, to fight and ne- gociate themfelves and their confederates, as well as they could. WHEN this will was made and accepted, LEWIS the fourteenth had fucceeded, and the Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 277 the powers in oppofition to him had failed, in all the great objects of intereft an dam- bition, which they had kept in fight for more than forty years ; that is, from the be- ginning of the prefent period. The actors changed their parts in the tragedy that fol- lowed. The power, that had fo long and fo cruelly attacked, was now to defend, the Spanifh monarchy : and the powers, that had fo long defended, were now to attack it. Let us fee how this was brought about: and that we may fee it the better, and make a better judgment of all that pafied from the death of CHARLES the fecond to the peace of Utrecht, let us go back to the time of his death, and cor.fider the circum- flances that formed this complicated ftate of affairs in three views ; a view of right, a view of policy, and a view of power. The right of fucceeding to the crown of Spain would have been undoubtedly in the children of MARIA THERESA, that is, in the houfe of Bourbon ; if this right had not been barred by the lolemn renunciations fo often mentioned. The pretenfions of the houfe of Auftria were founded on thefe renunciations, on the ratification of them by the Pyrenean treaty, and the confirmation of them by the will of PHILIP the fourth. S 3 The A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. The pretenfions of the houfe of Bourbon were founded on a fuppofition, it was indeed no more, and a vain one too, that thefe re- nunciations were in their nature null. On this foot the difpute of right ftood during the life of CHARLES the fecond, and on the fame it would have continued to ftand even after his death, if the renunciations had re- mained unthaktn; if his will, like that of his father, had confirmed them, and had left the crown, in purfuance of them, to the houfe of Auftria. But the will of CHARLES the fecond, annulling thefe renun- ciations, took away the fole foundation of the Auftrian pretenfions ; for, however this ad might be obtained, it was jnft as valid as his father's, and was confirmed by the univerfal concurrence of the Spanim jiation to the new lettlement he made of that crown, Let it be, as 1 think it ought to be, granted, that the true heirs could not claim againft renunciations that were, if I may fay lo, conditions of their birth : but CHARLES the fecond had certainly as good a right to change the courfe of fucceflion agreeable to the order of nature and the conllitution of that monarchy, after his true heirs were born, as PHILIP the fourth had to change it, contrary to this order and this conftitution, before they were born, or at any Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 279 any other time. He had as good a right, in fhort, to difpenfe with the Pyrenean treaty, and to let it alide in this refpecl, as his father had to make it: Ib that the renun- ciations being annulled by that party to the Pyrenean treaty who had exaded them, they could be deemed no longer binding, by virtue of this treaty, on the party who had made them. The fole queftion that remained therefore between thefe rival houfes, as to right, was this, whether the engagements taken by LEWIS the fourteenth in the partition treaties obliged him to ad- here to the terms of the laft of them in all events, and to deprive his family of the fuc- ceflion, which thekingof SPAIN opened, and the Spanifh nation offered to them; rather than to depart from a compofition he had made, on pretenfians that were difputable then, but were now out of difpute ? It may be faid, and it was laid, that the treaties of partition being abfolute, without any con- dition or exception relative to any dilpo- fition the kin^ of SPAIN had made, or might make of his fucceffion, in favour of Bourbon or Aurtria; the dilpofition made by his will, in favour of the duke of AN- jou, could not affect the engagements ib lately taken by LEWIS the fourteenth in thefe treaties, nor difpenfe with a literal S 4- ob- 280 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. obfervation of them. This might be true on ilrift principles of juftice ; but I appre-*- hend that none of thefe powers who ex- claimed io loudly againft the perfidy of France in this cafe, would have been moie Scrupulous in a parallel cafe. The maxim * fummum jmeft fumma injuria' would have been quoted, and the rigid letter of treaties would have been foftened by an equitable interpretation of their fpirit and intention. His imperial majefty, above all, had not the leaft colour of right to exclaim againil France on this occafion; for in general, if his family was to be dripped of all the do- minions they have acquired by breach of faith, and means much worle than the ac- ceptation of the will, even allowing all the invidious circumftances imputed to the conduct of France to be true, the Auftrian family would fink from their prefent gran- deur to that low ftate they were in two or three centuries ago. In particular, the emperor, who had conftantly refufed to ac- cede to the treaties of partition, or to fub- mit to the difpofitions made by them, had not the leaft plaufible pretence to object to LEWIS the fourteenth, that he departed from them. Thus, I think, the right of the two houfts flood on the death of CHARLES he fecond. The right of the Spaniards, JLet. 8. and State of EUROPE. 281 an independent nation, to regulate their -own fucceffion, or to receive the prince whom the dying monarch had called to itj and the right of England and Holland to regulate the fucceflion, to divide, and par- cel out this monarchy in different lots, it would be equally foolifh to go about to eftabh(h. One is too evident, the other too a ;furd, to admit of any proof. But enough has been faid concerning right, which was in truth little regarded by any of the parties concerned immediately or re- motely in the whole conrfe of thefe pro- ceedings. Particular interefts were alone regarded, and thefe were puriued as ambi- tion, fear, reientment, and vanity di- rected: I mean the ambition of the two houfes contending for fuperiority of power; the fear of England and Holland, left this fuperiority mould become too great in ei- ther j the reientment of Spain at the dif- memberment of that monarchy projected by the partition-treaties i and the vanity of that nation, as well as the princes of the houfe of Bourbon: for as vanity mingled with reientment to make the will, vanity had a great fhare in determining the accep- fation of it. LET 282 A Sketch of the HITORY Let. 8. LET us now confider the fame conjunc- ture in a view of policy. The policy of the Spanifti councils was this. They could not brook that their monarchy mould be divi- ded: and this principle is expreficd ftrong* ly in the will of CHARLES the fecond, where he exhorts his fubjecls not to fuffer any difmemberment or diminution of a monarchy founded by his prcdeceflbrs with fo much glory. Too weak to hinder this difmemberment by their own ftrength, too well apprifed of the little force and little views of the court of Vienna, and their old allies having engaged to procure this dif- memberment even by force of arms ; no- thing remained for them to do, upon this principle, but to detach France from the engagements of the partition treaties, by giving their whole monarchy to a prince of the houfe of Bourbon. As much as may have been faid concerning the negociations of France to obtain a will in her favour, and yet to keep in referve the advantages flipulated for her by the partition-treaties, if fuch a will could not be obtained, and though I am perfuaded that the marfhal of HARCOURT, who helped to procure this will, made his court to LEWIS the four- teenth as much as the marfhal of TALLARD, who Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 283 who ncgociated the partitions; yet it is certain, that the acceptation of the will was not a meafure definitely taken at Ver- failles when the king of Spain died. The alternativedivided thofe councils, and, with- out entering at this time into the arguments urged on each fide, adhering to the parti- tions feemed the caufe of France, accepting the will that of the houfe of Bourbon. IT has been faid by men of great weight in the councils of Spain, and was faid at that time by men as little fond of the houfe of Bourbon, or of the French nation, as their fathers had been; that if England and Holland had not formed a confederacy and begun a war, they would have made PHILIP the fifth as good a Spaniard as any of the preceding PHILIPS, and not have endured the influence of French councils in the ad- miniftration of their government: but that we threw them entirely into the hands of France when we began the war, becaufe the fleets and armies of this crown being neceflary to their defence, they could not avoid fubmitting to this influence as long as the fame neceffity continued; and, in fad, we have fecn that the influence lafted no longer. But notwithftanding this, it muft be confefTed, that a war was unavoid- able. 284 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. able. The immediate fecuring of commerce and of barriers, the preventing an union of the two monarchies in lome future time, and the prefervation of a certain degree at leaft of equality in the fcales of power, were points too important to Kngland, Holland, and the reft of Europe, to be refted on the moderation of French, and the vigour of Spanifh councils, under a prince of the houfe of France. If fatisfac- tion to the houl'e of Auftria, to whofe rights England and Holland fhewed no great re- gard whilft they were bettrr founded than they were fince the will, had been alone concerned ; a drop of blood fpilt, or five fhillings fpent in the quarrel, would have been too much profufion. But this was properly the fcale into which it became the common intereft to throw all the weight that could be taken out of that of Bourbon. And therefore your lordfnip will find, that when negociations with D'AVAUX were fet on foot in Holland to prevent a war, or ra- ther on our part to gain time to prepare for it, in which view the Dutch and we h a d both acknowledged PHILIP king of SPAIN; the great article we infifted on was, that reafonable fatisfaction mould be given the emperor, upon his pretenfions founded on the treaty of partition. We could Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 285 could do no otherwife -, and France who offered to make the treaty of Ryfwic the foundation of that treaty, could do no other- wife than refufe to confent that the treaty of partition fhould be fo, after accepting the will, and thereby engaging to oppofe all partition or diimemberment of the Spanifli monarchy. 1 fhould mention none of the other demands of England and Holland, if I could neglect to point out to your lord- fhip's obfervation, that the fame artifice was employed at this time, to perplex the more a negociation that could not iucceed on other accounts, as we faw employed in the courfe of the war, by the Englilh and Dutch minifters, to prevent the fuccefs cf negotiations that might, and ought to have fucceeded. The demand I mean, is that of " a liberty not only to explain the terms " propoied, but to increafe or amplify " them in the courfe of the negociation." I do not remember the words, but this is the fenfe, and this was the meaning of the confederates in both cafes. In the former, king WILLIAM was de- termined to begin the war by all the rules of good policy -, fince he could not obtain, nay fince France could not grant in that conjuncture, nor without being forced to it by a war, what he was obliged by thefe very 286 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.8. very rules to demand. He intended there- fore nothing by this negotiation, if it may be called fuch, but to preferve forms and appearances, and perhaps, which many have fufpe&ed, to have time to prepare, as I hinted juft now, both abroad and at home. Many things concurred to favour his preparations abroad. The alarm, that had been given by the acceptation of the will, was increaled by every ftep that France made to lecure the effect of it. Thus, for inftance, the furprifing and feizing the Dutch troops, in the fame night, and at the fame hour, that were difperfc-d in the garrifons of the Spanifh Netherlands, was notexcufed by the neceffity of fecuring thofe places to the obedience of Philip, nor fof. tened by the immediate difmiffion of thofe troops. The imprelTion it made was much the lame as thole of the furprifes and fei- zures of France in former ufurpations. No one knew then, that the fovercignty of the ten provinces was to be yielded up to the elector of BAVARIA : and every one faw that there remained no longer any barrier between France and the feven provinces. At home, the difpofition of the nation was abfoluteiy turned to a war with France, on the death of king JAMES thefecond, by the acknowledgment LEWIS the fourteenth made Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 287 made of his fon as king of England. I know what has been faid in excufe for this meafure, taken as I believe, on female im- portunity ; but certainly without any re- fard to public faith, to the true intereft of Vance in thole circumftances, or to the true intereft of the prince thus acknowledged, in any. It was faid, that the treaty of Uyf- wic obliging his moft chriftian majefty only not to difturb king WILLIA?J in his pofTeflion, hemight, without any violationof it, have acknowledged this princeas king of England ; according to the political cafuiftry of the French, and the example of France, who finds no fault with the powers that treat with the kings of England, although the kings of England retain the title of kings of France-, as well as the example of Spain, who makes no complaints that other ftates treat with the kings of France, al- though the kings of France retain the title of Navarre. But befides, that the examples are not appofite, becaufe no other powers acknowledge in form the king of England to be king of France, nor the king of France, to be king of Navarre; with what face could the French excufe this meafure? Could they excufe it by urging that they adhered to the ftrift letter of one article of the treaty of Ryfwic, againft the plain mean- ing 288 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. ing of that very article, and againft the whole tenor of that treaty : in the fame breath with which they juftified the accep- tation of the will, by pretending they ad- hered to the fuppofcd fpirit and general in- tention of the treaties of partition, in con- tradiction to the letter, to the fpecific en- gagements, and to the whole purport of thofe treaties ? This part of the conduct of LEWIS the fourteenth may appear juftly the more furprifing, becaufe in mod other parts of his conduct at the fame time, and in fome to his difadvantage, he a6led cau- tioufly, endeavoured to calm the minds of his neighbours, to reconcile hurope to his grandfon's elevation, and to avoid all (hew of beginning hoitilities. THOUGH king WILLIAM was determined to engage in a war with France and Spain, yet the fame good policy, that determined him to engage, determined him not to en- gage too deeply. The engagement taken in the grand alliance of one thoufand fevcn hundred and one is, u To procure an equi- *' table and reafonable fatisfaction to his " imperial majeftyfor his pretenfion to the " Spanilh fucceffion ; and fufficient fecu- " rity to the king of ENGLAND, and the " States General, for their dominion?, and *' for the navigation and commerce of their " fubjects. Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 2^9 *' fubjects, and to prevent the union of the " two monarchies of France and Spain." As king of England, as itateholder of Holland, he neither could, nor did engage any further. It may be difputed per- haps among fpeculative politicians, whe- ther the balance of power in Europe would have been better preferved by that fcheme of partition, which the treaties, and parti- cularly the laft of them, propofed, or by that which the grand alliance propofed to be the object of the war ? I think there is little room for fuch a difpute, as I mall haveoc- cafion to fay hereafter more exprefly. In this place I (hall only fay, that the object of this war, which king WILLIAM medi- tated, and queen ANNE waged, was a par- tition, by which a prince of the houfe of Bourbon, already acknowleged by us and the Dutch as king of Spain, was to be left on the throne of that difmembered monar- chy. The wifdom of thofe councils favv that the peace of Europe might be reflored, and fecured on this foot, and that the liber- ties of Europe would be in no danger. THE fcales of the balance of power will never be exadlly poized, nor in the precife point of equality either difcernible or ne- cefiary to be difcerned. It is fufficient in T this, 290 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. this, as in other human affairs, that the deviation be not to great. Some there will always be. A conftant attention to thcie deviations is therefore neceffary. When they are little, their increafe may be eafily prevented by early care and the pre- caution? that good policy fuggefts. But when they becon.e great for want of this care and thefe precaution?, or by the force of unfcrefcen events, more vigour is to be exerted, and greater efforts to be made. But even in fuch cafes, much reflection is ne- cefTary on all the circumftances that form the conjuncture ; left, by attacking with ill fuccefs, the deviation be confirmed, and the power that is deemed already exorbitant become more fo-, and left, by attacking with good fuccefs, whilft one fcale is pilla- ged, too much weight of power be thrown into the other. In fuch cafes, he who has confidered, in the hiftories of former ages, theftrange revolutions that time produces, and the perpetual flux and reflux of public as well as private fortunes, of kingdoms and ftates as well as of thofe who govern or are governed in them, will incline to think, that if the fcales can be brought back by a war, nearly, though not exactly, to the point they were at before this great deviation from it, -the reft may be left to accidents, Let. 8. and State of- EUROPE. 291 accidents, and to the ufe that good policy is able to make of them. WHEN CHARLES" the fifth was at the heighth of his power, and in the zenith of his glory, when a king of France and a pope were at once his prifoners ; it muft be allowed, that, his fituation and that of his neighbours compared, they had as much at leaft to fear from him and from the houfe of Auftria, as the neighbours of LEWIS the fourteenth had to fear from him and from the houfe of Bourbon, when, after all his other fuccefs, one of his grand- children was placed on the Spanifh throne. And yet among all the conditions of the leveral leagues againft CHARLES the fifth, I do not remember that it was ever ftipu- lated, that " no peace mould be made wich " him as long as he continued to be empe- " ror and king of Spain ; nor as long as " any Auftrian prince continued capable of " uniting on his head the Imperial and Spa- *' nifh crowns." IF your lordfhip makes the application, you will find that the difference of fome circumftances does not hinder this exam- ple from being very appofite, and ilrong to the prefent purpofe. CHARLES the fifth T 2 was 292 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. was emperor and king of Spain; but nei- ther was LEWIS the fourteenth king of Spain, nor PHILIP the fifth king of France. 7 hat had happened in one in- ftance, which it was apprehended mighf happen in the other. It had happened, and it was reafonably to be apprehended that i,t might happen again, and t'uat the Imperial and Spanish crowns might conti- riue, not only in the fame family, but on the fame heads; for mealures were taken to fccure the luccefllon of both to PHILIP .the ion of CHARLES. We cjo not find however that any confederacy was formed., any engagement taken, or any war made, to remove or prevent this great evil. The princes and it,ates of Europe contented ihemlelvestooppoie thedefigns of CHARLES the fifth, and to check the growth of his power occafionally, and as intereft invited, or neceflity forced them to do ; not con- ilantly. They did perhaps toolittle againft him, and fometimes too much for him: but if they did toolittle of one kind, time and accident did the reft. DiftincT: domi- nions, and different pretenfions, created contrary interefts in the houfe of Auftria : and on the abdication of CHARLES the fifth, his brother fuccteded, not his fon, to the empire. The houfe of Auftria divided in- Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 293 to a German and a Spanilh branch : and if the two branches came to have a mutual influence on one another, and frequently a common intereft,, it was riot till one of them had fallen from grandeur, and till the other was rather aiming at it, than in pofieffion of it. In fhort, PHILIP was ex- cluded from the imperial throne by fo na* tural a progreflion of caufes and effedts, ari- fing not only in Germany but in his ovvri family, that if a treaty had been made to exclude him from it in favour of FERDU NAND, fuch a treaty might have been laid very probably to have executed itfdf. THE precaution I have mentioned^ and that was neglected in this cafe without any detriment to the common caufe of Europe, was not neglected in the grand alliance of' one thoufand feven hundred and one* For in that, one of the ends propoied by the war, is to obtain an effectual fecurity againft the contingent union of the crowns of France and Spain. The will of CHARLES the fecond provides againft the fame contin- gency: and this great principle of pre- venting too much dominion and power from falling to the lot of either of the fa- milies of bourbon or Auftria, kerned to be agreed on all fides -, fmce in the parti- T 3 tion- 294 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. tion-treaty the fame precaution was taken againft an union of the Imperial and Spa- nilh crowns. King WILLIAM was enough piqued againft France. His ancient pre- judices were ftrong and well founded. He had been worfted in war, over-reached in negociation, and perfonal'.y affronted by her. England and Holland were fufficiently alarmed and animated, and a party was not wanting, even in our ifland, ready to ap- prove any engagements he would have taken againft France and Spain, and in favour of the houfe of Auftria ; though we were lefs concerned, by any national inter- eft, than any other power that took part in the war, either then or afterwards. But this prince was far from taking a part beyond that which the particular interefts of Eng- land and Holland, and the general intereft of Europe, neceflarily required. Pique muft have no more a place than affection, in deliberations of this kind. To have en- gaged to dethrone PHILIP, out of refent- ment to LEWIS the fourteenth, would have been a refolution worthy of CHARLES the twelfth, king of Sweden, who facrificed his country, his people, and himfelf at laft, to his revenge. To have engaged to con- quer the Spanifli monarchy for the houfe of Auftria, or to go, jn favour of that fa- mily, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 295 mily, one ftep beyond thofe that were ne- ceffary to keep this houfe on a foot of rivalry with the other, would have been, as I have hinted, to aft the part of a vaflfal, not of an ally. The former pawns his ftate, and ruins his fubjects-, for the intereft of his fuperior lord, perhaps for hislord's humour, or his paffion : the latter goes no further than his own intereft carries him j nor makes war for thofe of another, nor even for his own, if they are remote and contingent, as if he fought pro aris et focis, for his re- ligion, his liberty, and his property. A* greeably to thefe principles of good policy, we entered into the war that began on the death of CHARLES the fecond: but we Toon departed from them, as I (hall have occa- fion to obierve in confidering the ftate of things, at this remarkable juncture, in a view of ftrength. LET me recall here what I have faid fome- where elfe. They who are in the fink- ing fcale of the balance of power do not eafily, nor foon, come off from the habi- tual prejudices of fuperiority over their neighbours, nor from the confidence that luch prejudices infpire. From the year one thouiand fix hundred and fixty feven, to the end of that century, France had been T 4 conftamly 296 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. conftantly in arms, and her arms had been fuccefsful. She had fuftained a war, with- out any confederates againft the principal powers of Europe confederated againilher, and had Hnilhcd it with advantage on every fide, juft before the death of the king of SPAIN. She continued armed after the peace, by fea and land. She increafed her forces, while other nations reduced theirs, and was ready to defend, or to invade her neighbours, whilft, their confederacy being diflblved, they were in no condition to in- vade her, and in a bad one to defend them- felves. Spain and France had now one common caufe. The electors of BAVARIA and COLOGNE fupported it in Germany, the duke of SAVOY was an ally, the duke of MANTUA a vafial of the two crowns in Italy. In a word, appearances were formi- dable on that fide -, and if a dittruft of ftrength, on the fide of the confederacy, had induced England and Holland to com- pound with France for a partition of the Spanifti fucceffion, there fi-emed to be full greater reafon for this diftruft after the ac- ceptation of the will, the peaceable and ready lubmiflion, of the entire monarchy of Spain to PHILIP, and all the meafures taken to fecure him in this poficffion. Such ap- pearances might well impole. They did fo Let. 8. and State of EUROPE, 297 fo on many, and on none more than on the French themfcives, who engaged with great confidence and fpiric in the war; when they found it, as they might well expect it would be, unavoidable. The ftrength of France however, though great, was not fo great as the French thought it, nor equal to die ef- forts they undertook to make. Their en- gagement, to maintain the Spanifn monar- chy entire under the dominion of PHILIP, exceeded their itrength. Our engagement, to procure fame out-fkirrs of it for the houfe of Auilria, was not in the fame dif- proportion to our ftrength. If I fpeak po- iitivcly on this occafion, yet I cannot be ace u fed of prefumpticn ; becaufe, how dif- putable locver thcje points might be when they were points of political fpeculation, they are fuch no longer, and the judgment I make is dictated to me by experience. France threw hertelf into the finking fcale, when me accepted the will. Her fcale continued to fink during the whole courfe of the war, and might have been kept by the peace as low as the true intereft of Eu- rope required. What I lemember to have heard the duke of MARLBOROUGH fay, be- fore he went to rake on him the command of the army in the Low Countries in one r.J fcven hundred and two, proved true. 298 A Sketch of the HISTORY. Let. 8. true. T he French mif-reckoned very much, if they made the fame companion between their troops and thofe of their enemies, as they had made in precedent wars. Thofe that had been oppofed to them, in the laft, were raw for the moft part when it began, the Britifh particularly : but they had been dilciplined, if I may fay fo, by their defeats. They were grown to be veteran at the peace of Ryfwic, and though many had been difbanded, yet they had beendifband- ed lately : fo that even thefe wereeafily form- ed a new, and the fpirit that had been raifed continued in all. Supplies of men to re- cruit the armies were more abundant on the fide of the confederacy, than on that of the two crowns: a necefiary confequence of which it feemed to be, that thofe of the former would grow better, and thofe of the latter worie, in a long, extenfive, and bloody war. I believe it proved fo; and if my memory does not deceive me, the French were forced very early to fend re- cruits to their armies, as they fend flaves to their gallies. A companion between thofe who were to direct their councils, and to conduct the armies on both fides, is a tafk it would become me little to undertake. The event fhewed, that if France had had her CONDE, her T-URENNE, or her LUX- EMBURG, Let. 7. and State of EUROPE. 299 EMBURG, to oppofe to the confederates: the confederates might have oppofed to her, with equal confidence, their EUGENE of Savoy, their MARYBOROUGH, or their STA- RENBERG. But there is one obfervation I cannot forbear ro make. The alliances were concluded, the quotas were fettled, and the leafon for taking the field ap- proached, when kingWiLLiAM died. The event could not fail to occafion fome con- fternation on one fide, and to give fome hopes on the other; for, notwithftanding the ill fuccefs with which he made war ge- nerally, he was locked upon as the ible centre of union that could keep together the great confederacy then forming: and how much the French feared, from his liff, had appeared a few years before, in the ex- travagant and indecent joy they exprefled on a falfe report of his death. A fhort time mewed how vain the fears of fome and the hopes of others were. By his death, the duke of MARYBOROUGH was raifed to the head of the army, and indeed of the confederacy : where he, a new, a private man, a fubjcdl, acquired by merit and by ma- nagement a more deciding influence, than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown of Great Britain, had given to king WILLIAM. Not only all the parts of 3 oo A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. of that vaft machine, the grand alliance, were kept more compact and entire; but a more rapid and vigorous motion was given to the whole: and, inftead of languifhing out difaftrous campaigns, we favv every fcene of the war full of aclion. All thofe wherein he appeared, and many of thofe wherein he was not then an adlor, but abettor however of their action, were crowned with the moft triumphant fuccefs. I take with pleafure this opportunity of doing juftice to that great man, whof? faults 1 knew, whofe virtues I admired; and whofe memory, as the greateft general and as the greateft mi- nifter that our country cr perhaps any other has produced, I honour. But betides this, the obfervation I have made comes into my fubjecT:, fince it terves to point out to your lordlliip the proof of what I faid above, that France undertook too much, when fiie undertook to maintain the Spanifh mo- narchy entire in the poffefTion of PHILIP: and that we undertook no more than what was proportionable to our ftrength, when we undertook to weaken that monarchy by difmembering it, in the hands of a prince of the houfc of Bourbon, which we had been dilabled by ill fortune and worfe con- duit to keep out of them. It may be faid that the great iuccefs of the confederates again ft Let- 8. and State of EUROPE. 301 againft France proves that their generals were fuperior to her's, but not that their forces and their national ftrength were fo; that with the fame force with which (he was beaten, (he might have been victorious; that if (lie had been fo, or if the fuccefs of the war had varied, or been lefs decifive againft her in Germany, in the Low Coun- tries, and in Italy, as it was in Spain, her ftrength would have appeared Sufficient, and that of the confederacy inefficient. Many things may be urged to deftroy this reafoning: I content myfelf with one. France could not long have made even the unfucccfsful efforts Jhe did make, if Eng- land and Holland had done what it is un- deniable they had ftrength to do; if befides pillaging, I do not fay conquering, the Spanifh Weft Indies, they had hindered the French from going to the South Sea; as they did annually during the whole courfe of the war without the leaft molefta- tion, and from whence they imported into France in that time as much filver and gold as the whole fpecies of that kingdom amounted to. With this immcnfe and conftant fupply of wealth France was re- duced in effect to bankruptcy before the end of the war. How much fooner muft ihe have been fo, if this fupply had been kept 302 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. kept from her? The confefllon of France herfelf is on my fide. She confefied her inability to ftipport what (he had under- taken, when (he fued for peace as early as the year one thoufand feven hundred and fix. She made her utmoft efforts to an- fwer the expectation of the Spaniards, and to keep their monarchy entire. When ex- perience had made it evident that this was beyond her power, (he thought herfelf juf- tificd to the Spanifh nation, in confenting to a partition, and was ready to conclude a peace with the allies on the principles of their grand alliance. But as France ieemed to flatter herfelf, till experience made her defirous to abandon an enterprize that ex- ceeded her ftrength; you will find, my lord, that her enemies began to flatter themfelves in their turn, and to form defigns and take engagements that ex- ceeded theirs. Great Britain was drawn into thefe engagements little by little ; for I do not remember any parliamentary de- claration for continuing the war till PHILIP fhould be dethroned, before the year one t'houfand feven hundred and fix: and then fuch a declaration was judged neceflar.y to fecond the refoiudon of our miniiters and our allies, in departing from the principles of the grand alliance, and in propofing not only Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 303 only the reduction of the French, but the conqueft of the Spanifli monarchy, as the objects of the war. This new plan had taken place, and we had begun to ad:- upon it, two years before, when the treaty with Portugal was concluded, and the arch-duke CHARLES, now emperor, was fent into Portugal firft, and into Catalonia after- wards, and was acknowledged and fupport- ed as king of Spain. WHEN your lordfhip perufes the anec- dotes of the times here fpoken of, and con- fiders the courfe and event of the great war which broke out on ihe death of the king of Spain, CHARLES the fecond, and was ended by the treaties of Utrecht and Rad- flat; you 'will find, that in order to form a true judgment on the whole you mult confider very attentively the great change made by the new plan that 1 have men- tioned; and compare it with the plan of the grand alliance, relatively to the gene- ral intereft of Europe, and the particular intereil of your own country. It will not, becaufe it cannot, be denied, that all the ends of the grand alliance might have been obtained by a peace in one thoufand feven hundred and fix. I need not recall the * vents of that, and of the precedent years of 304 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. g. of the war. Not only the arms of France had been defeated on every fide-, but the inward ftate of that kingdom was already more exhaufted than it had ever been. She went on indeed, but fne daggered and reeled under the burden of the war. Our condition, I fpeak of Great Britain, was not quite fo bad , but the charge or. the war increafed annually upon us r It was evident that this charge muft continue to increafe. and it was no lefs evident that our nation was unable to bear it without falling foon into fuch diftrefs, and contracting fuch debts, as we have feen and felt, and flill feel. The Dutch neither reftrained their trade, nor over-loaded it with taxes. They foon altered the proportion of their quotas, and were deficient even after this alteration in them. But, however, it mult be allowed that they exerted their whole ilrength ; and they and we paid the whole charge of the war. Since therefore by fuch efforts as could not be continued any longer, without oppreffing and impo- vcrifhing thefe nations to a degree that no intereft except that of their very being, nor any engagement of alTifting an alliance totis viribus can require, France was re- duced, and all the ends of the war were be- come attainable.' j it will be worth your lordfhip's Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 305 lordfhip's while to confider why the true ufe was not made of the fuccels of the con- federates againft France and Spain, and why a peace was not concluded in the fifth year of the war. When your lordfhip con- fiders this, you will compare in your thoughts what the (late of Europe would have been, and that of your own country might have been, if the plan of the grand alliance had been purfued: with the poffible as well as certain, the contingent as well as necefTary, conlequences of changing this plan in the manner it was changed. You will be of opinion, I think, and it feems to me, after more than twenty years of recollection, re-examination, and reflec- tion, that impartial pofterity muft be of the fame opinion-, you will be of opinion, I think, that the war was wife and juft before the change, becaufe necefiary to maintain that equality among the powers of Europe, on which the public peace and common profperity depends : and that it was unwife and unjuft after this change , becaufe un- neceflary to this end, and directed to other and to contrary ends. You will be guided by undeniable fads to difcover, through all the falfe colours which have been laid, and which deceived many at the time, that the war, after this change, became a war U of 306 A Sketch of the Hi TORY Let.8. of paffion, of ambition, of avarice, and of private intereft j the private intereft of par- ticular perfons and particular dates ; to which the general intereft of Europe was facrificed fo entirely ; that if the terms in- fifted on by the confederates had been granted, nay if even thofe which France was reduced to grant, in one thoufand fe- ven hundred and ten, had been accepted, fuch a new fyftem of power would have been created as might have expoied the balance of this power to deviations, and the peace of Europe to troubles, not inferior to thofe that the war was defigned, when it began, to prevent. Whilft you obferve this in general, you will find particular occafion to lament the fate of Great Britain in the midft of triumphs that have been founded fo high, She had triumphed indeed to the year one thoufand feven hundred and fix inclufively: but what were her triumphs afterwards? what was her fuccefs after flic proceeded on the new plan? I (hall fay ibmethingon that head immediately. Here let me only fay, that the glory of taking towns, and winning battles, is to be mea- fured by the utility that refults from thofe victories. Victories, that bring honour to the arms, may bring Ihame to the coun- cils, of a nation. To win a battle, to take Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 307 take a town, is the glory of a general, and of an army. Of this glory we had a very large fliare in the courfe of the wan But the glory of a nation is to proportion the ends (he propofes, to her intereil and her ftrength; the means (he employs to the ends (he propofes, and the vigour (he exerts to both. Of this glory, I appre- hend, we have had very little to boaft, at any time, and particularly in the great con- juncture of which I am fpeaking. The reafons of ambition, avarice, and private in- tereft, which engaged the princes and dates of the confederacy to depart from the prin- ciples of the grand alliance, were no reafons for Great Britain. She neither expected nor defired any thing more than what (he might have obtained by adhering to thofe principles. What hurried our nation then, with Ib much fpirit and ardour, into thofe of the new plan? Your lordfhip will an- fwer this queftion to yourfelf, I believe, by the prejudices .and raflinefs of party; by the influence that the firft fucceffcs of the confederate arms gave to our minifters: and the popularity they gave, if I may lay fo, to the war; by ancient and frefh re- fentments, which the unjuft and violent ufurpations, in (hort the whole conduct of LEWIS the fourteenth, for forty years to- ll 2 gether, 308 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. gether, his haughty treatment of other prin- ces and dates, and even the ftyle of hiscourt, had created; and, to mention no more, by a notion, groundlefs but prevalent, that he was and would be mafter as long as his grandfon was king of Spain, and that there could be no effectual meafure taken, though the grand alliance fuppofed that there might, to prevent a future union of the two monar- chies, as long as a prince of the houfe of Bourbon fat on the Spanifh throne. That fuch a notion Ihould have prevailed, in the jfirft confufion of thoughts which the death and will of CHARLES the fecond produced, among the generality of men, who faw the fleets and armies of France take pofleflion of all the parts of the Spanilh monarchy, is not to be wondered at by thofe that confider how ill the generality of mankind are informed, how incapable they are of judging; and yet how ready to pronounce judgment; in fine, how inconfiderately they follow one another in any popular opinion which the heads of party broach, or to which the firft appearances of things have given occafion. But, even at this time, the councils of England and Holland did not entertain this notion. They acled on quite another, as might be fhewn in many inftances, if any other bcfides that of the j'r grand Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 309 grand alliance was neceflary. When thefe councils therefore ieemed to entertain this notion afterwards, and acted and took en- gagements to act upon it, we muft con- clude that they had other motives. They could not have thefe ; for they knew, thac as the Spaniards had been driven by the two treaties of partition to give their monarchy to a prince of the houi'e of Bourbon, fo they were driven into the arms of France by the war that we made to force a third upon them. If we acted rightly on the prin- ciples of the grand alliance, they acted rightly on thole of the will: and if we could not avoid making an offenfive war, at the expence of forming and maintaining a vaft confederacy, they could not avoid purchafing the protection and affiftance of France in a defenfive war, and efpecially in the beginning of it, according to what I have fomewhere obferved already, by yielding to the authority and admitting the influence of that court in all the affairs of their government. Our minifters knew therefore, that if any inference was to be drawn from the firft part of this notion, it was for fhortening, not prolonging, the war ; for delivering the Spaniards as foon as pof- fible from habits of union and intimacy with France; not for continuing them under the U 3 fame 310 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.8, fame neceffity, till by length of time thefe habits Ihould be confirmed. As to the lat- ter part of this notion, they knew that it was falfe and fxlly. GARTH the beft na* tured ingenious wild man I ever knew, rnight be in^the right when hefaid, in fome of his poerjls at that time, *' An Auftrian prince alone, " Is fit to nod upon a Spanifh throne." The fetting an Auftrian prince upon it was, no doubt, the fureft expedient to pre- vent an union of the two monarchies of France and Spain ; juft as fetting a prince of the houfe of Bourbon on that throne was the fureft expedient to prevent an union of the imperial and Spanilh crowns. But it was equally falfe to fay, in either cafe, that this was the fole expedient. It would be no paradox, but a propofition eafily proved, to advance, that if thefe unions had been effectually provided againft, the general intereft of Europe would have been Jittle concerned whether PHIUP orCHARLES had nodded at Madrid. It would be like- wife no paradox to fay, that the contin^ gency of uniting France and Spain under the fame prince appeared more remote, about the middle of the laft great war, when Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 3 1 1 when the dethronement of PHILIP in favour of CHARLES was made a condition of peace fine qua non, than the contingency of an union of the Imperial and Spanifh crowns. Nay, I know not whether it would be a paradox to affirm, that the expedient that was taken, and that was always obvious to be taken, of excluding PHILIP and his race from the fucceffion of France, by creating an intereft in all the other princes of the blood, and by confequence a party in France itfelf, for their exclufion, whenever the cafe mould happen, was not in its na- ture more effectual than any that could have been taken : and fome muft have been ta- ken, not only to exclude CHARLES from, the empire whenever the cafe mould hap- pen that happened foon, the death of his brother JOSEPH without ifluc male, but his pofterity likewife in all future vacancies of the imperial throne. The expedient that was taken againft PHILIP at the treaty of Utrecht, they who oppofed the peace at- tempted to ridicule j but fome of them have had occafion fince that time to lee though the cafe has not happened, how ef- fectual it would have been if it had: and he who (hould go about to ridicule it after our experience, would only make himfelf ridiculous. Notwithftanding all this, he, U 4 who 3 13 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8, who tranfports himfelf back to that time, jnuft acknowledge, that the confederated powers in general could riot but be of GARTH'S mind, and think it more agreeable to the common intereft of Europe, that a branch of Auitria, than abranchof Bourbon r fhould gather the Spanifti fuccefifion, and that the maritime powers, as they are called impertinently enough with refpect to the fuperiority of Great Britain, might think it was ror their particular intereft to have a prince, dependant for fome time at leart on them, king of Spain, rather than a prince whofe depcndapce, as long as he flood in any, muft be naturally on France. J do not fay, as fome have done, a prince whofe fa- mily was an old ally, rather than a prince whofe family was an old enemy-, becaufs I lay no weight on the gratitude of princes, and am as much perfuaded that an Auftrian king of Spain would have made us returns of that fort in no other proportion than of his want of us, as I am, that PHILIP and his race will make no other returns of the fame fort to France. If this affair had been en- fire, therefore, on the death of the king of SPAIN-, if we had made no partition, nor he any will, the whole monarchy of Spain would have been the prize to be fought tor : find our wifhes, and Inch efforts as we were able Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 313 able to make, in the moft unprovided con- dition imaginable, muft have been on the fide of Auftria. But it was far from being entire. A prince of the houfe of Auftria might have been on thefpot, before the king of SPAIN died, to gather his fucceflion; but inftead of this a prince of the houfe of Bour- bon was there loon afterwards, and took poieflion of the whole monarchy, to which he had been called by the late king's will, and by the voice of the Spaniih nation. The councilsof England and Holland there- fore preferred very wifely, by their engage- ments in the grand alliance, what was more practicable though lefs eligible, to what they deemed more eligible, but law become by the courfe of events, if not abfolutely im- practicable, yet anenterprize of morelength, more difficulty, and greater expence of blood and treafure, than thcfe nations were able to bearj or than they ought to bear, when their fecurity and that of the reft of Europe might be Sufficiently provided for at a cheaper rate. If the confederates could not obtain, by the force of their arms, the ends of the war, laid down in the grand alliance, to what purpofe would it be to ftipulate for more? And if they were able to obtain thefe, it was evident that, whilft they dif- jnembered the Spanifh monarchy, they mult 3 1 4 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. muft reduce the power of France. This happened , the Low Countries were con- quered j the French were driven out of Germany and Italy: and LEWIS the four- teenth, who had fo long and fo lately fet mankind at defiance, was reduced to fue for peace. IF it had been granted him in one thoufand feven hundred and fix, on what foot muft it have been granted ? The allies had al- ready in their power all the dates that were to compofe the reafonable fatisfa&ion for the emperor. I fay, in their power: becaufe though Naples and Sicily were not actually reduced at that time, yet the ex- pulfion of the French out of Italy, and the difpofition of the people of thofe kingdoms, confidered, it was plain the allies might re- duce them when they pleafed. The con- federate arms were fuperior till then in Spain, and feveral provinces acknowledged CHARLES the third. If the reft had been yielded tohimby treaty, all thatthe new plan required had been obtained. If the French would not yet have abandoned PHILIP, as we had found that the Caftilians would not even when our army was at Madrid, all that the old plan, the plan of the gr?nd al- liance required, had been obtained? but ftill Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 315 ftill France and Spain had giveir nothing to purchafe a peace, and they were in circum- ftances not to expect it without purchafing it. They would have purchafed it, my lord: and France, as well as Spain, would have contributed a larger (hare of the price, ra- ther than continue the war, in her exhaufted ftate. Such a treaty of peace would have been a third treaty of partition indeed, but vaftly preferable to the two former. The great objection to the former was drawn from that confiderable increafe of dominion, which the crown of France, and not a branch of the houfe of Bourbon, acquired by them. I know what may be faid fpeci- oufly enougii to perfuade, that fuch an in- creafe of dominion would not have aug- mented, but would rather have weakened the power of France, and what examples may be drawn from hiftory to countenance fuch an opinion. I know likewife, that the compact figure of France, and the conti- guity of all her provinces, make a very ef- lential part of the force of her monarchy. Had the defigns of CHARLES the eighth, LEWIS the twelfth, FRANCIS the firft, and HEN R Y the fecond, lucceeded, the dorm nions of France would have been more extenfive, and I believe the ftrength of her monarchy would have been lefs. I have fometimes thought 316 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. B. thought that even the lofs of the battle of St. Quentin, which obliged HENRY the fecond to recall the duke of GUISE with his army out of Italy, was in this refpec"l no unhappy event. But the reafoning which is good, I think, when applied to thofe times, will not hold when applied to ours, and to the cafe I confider here; the ftate of France, the ftate of her neighbours, and the whole conftitution of Europe being fo extremely different. The objection there- fore to the two treaties of partition had a real weight. The power of France, deemed already exorbitant, would have been m- creafed by this accefilon of dominion, in the hands of LEWIS the fourteenth: and the ule he intended to make of it by keeping Italy and Spain in awe, appears in the ar- ticle that gave him the ports on the Tuf- can coaft, and the province of Guipufcoa. This king WILLIAM might, and, 1 queftion not, did lee; but that prince might think too, that for this very reafon LEWIS the fourteenth would adhere, in all events, to the treaty of partition: and that thefe con- fequences were more remote, and would be lefs dangerous, than thofe of making no partition at all. The partition, even the worft that might have been made, by a treaty of peace in one thoufand feven hun- dred Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 317 dred and fix, would have been the very re- verfe of this. France would have been weakened, aud her enemies ftrengthened, by her conceflions on the fide of the Low Countries, ot Germany, and Savoy. If a prince of her royal family had remained in pofftflion of Spain and the Weft Indies, no advantage would have accrued to her by it, and effectual bars would have been op* pofed to an union of the two monarchies. The houfe of Auftria would have had a rea- fonable fatisf action for that fhadow of right, which a former partition gave her. She had no other after the will of CHARLES the fecond-, and this may be juftly termed a fhladow, fince England, Holland, and France % could confer no real right to the Spanifh fucceflion, nor to any part of it. She had declined acceding to that partition, before France departed from it, and would have preferred the Italian provinces, without Spain and the Weft-Indies, to Spain and the Weft Indies without the Italian pro- vinces. The Italian provinces would have fallen to her (hare by this partition. The particulardemands of England and Holland would have fuffered no difficulty, and thofe that we were obliged by treaty to make for others would have been eafy to adjuft. Wpuld not this have been enough, my 318 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. my lord, for the public fecurity, for the common intereft, and for the glory of our arms? To have humbled and reduced, in five campaigns, a power that had difturbed and infulted Europe almoft forty years ; to have reftored, in fo Ihort a time, the ba- lance of power in Europe to a fufficient point of equality, after it had been more than fifty years, that is from the treaty of Weftphalia, in a gradual deviation from this point; in (hort, to have retrieved, in one thouland feven hundred and fix, a game that was become defperate at the beginning of the century. To have done all this be- fore the war had exhaufted our ftrength, was the utmoft fure that any man could defire who intended the public good alone: and no honeft reafon ever was, nor evef will be given, why the war was protracted any longer; why we neither made peace after a Ihort, vigorous, and fuccefsful war, nor put it entirely out of the power of France to continue at any rate a long one. I have faid, and it is true, that this had been entirely out of her power, if we had given greater interruption to the commerce of Old and New Spain, and if we had hindered France from importing annually, from the year one thoufand ieven hundred and two, iuch immenfe treasures as Ihe did import by Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 319 by the fhips (he fent, with the permiflion of Spain, to the South Sea. It has been ad- vanced, and it is a common opinion, that we were reftrained by the jealoufy of the Dutch from making ufe of the liberty given by treaty to them and us, and which, with- out his imperial majefty's leave, fince we entered into the war, we might have taken, of making conquefts in the Spanifh Weft- Indies. Be it fo. But to go to the South Seas, to trade there if we could, to pillage the Weft-Indies without making conquefts if we could not, and, whether we traded or whether we pillaged, to hinder the French from trading there; was a meafure that would have given, one ought to think, no jealoufly to the Dutch, who might, and it is to be fuppofcd would, have taken their pare in thefe expeditions; or if it had given them jealoufy, what could they have re- plied when a Britilh minifter had told them : 4 That it little became them to find fault that * we traded with, or pillaged the Spaniards * in the Weft-Indies to the detriment of 4 our common enemy, whilft we connived 4 at them who traded with this enemy to * his and their great advantage, againft our * remonftrances, and in violation of the 4 condition upon which we had given the 4 firft augmentation of our forces in the 'Low 320 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. S. * Low Countries ? ' We might have pur- fued this meaiure notwithftanding any en- gagement that we took by the treaty with Portugal, if I remember that treaty right: but inttead of this, we wafted our forces, and fquandered millions after millions in fupporting our alliance with this crown, and in purfuing the chimerical project which was made the object of this alliance. I call it chimerical, becaufe it was equally fo, to expect a revolution in favour of CHARLES the third on the (lender authority of luch a trifler as the admiral of Caftile; and, when this failed us, to hope to conquer Spain by the afliltance of the Portuguefe, and the revolt of the Catalans. Yet this was the foundation upon which the new plan of the war was built, and fo many ruinous engage- ments were taken. THE particular motives of private men, as well as of princes and ftafes, to protract the war, are partly known, and partly guef- fed, at this time. But whenever that time comes, and I am perfuaded it will come, when their fecret motives, their fe r cret deiigns, and intrigues, can be laid open, I preform- to fay to your lordfhip that the mod confufed fcene of iniquity, and folly, that it is poffible to imagine, "will Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 321 will appear. In the mean while, if your lordfhip confiders only the treaty of barrier, as my lord TOWNSHEND figned it, without, nay in truth, againft orders; for the duke of MARLBOROUGH, though joint plenipoten- tiary, did not: if you connder the famous preliminaries of one thoufand feven hun- dred and nine, which we made a tnock- fhew of ratifying, though we knew that they would not be accepted ; for fo the marquis of TORCY had told the penfionary before he left the Hague, as the faid marquis has afiured me very often fin ce that time: if you enquire into the anecdotes of Gertruy- denberg, and if you conlult other authen- tic papers that are extant, your lordihip will fee the policy of the new plan, I think, in this light. 7 hough we had refufed, before the war began, to enter into engagements for the conqucll of Spain, yet as foon as it began, when the reafon of things was ftill the fame, for the fuccefs of our firft cam- paign cannot be laid to have altered it, we entered into thefe very engagements. By the treaty wherein we took thefe engage- ments firft, Portugal was brought into the grand alliance; that is, fhe confcnted to em- ploy her formidable forces again ft PHILIP, at the expence of England and Holland, provided we would debar ourfelves from X making 322 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. making any acquifitions, and the houfe of Auftria promife, that (he (hould acquire many important places in Spain, and an immenfe extent of country in America. By fuch bargains as this, the whole confe- deracy was formed, and held together. Such means were indeed effeclual to mul- tiply enemies to France and Spain ; but a project fo extenfive and fo difficult as to make many bargains of this kind neceflary, and necefiary for a great number of years, and for a very uncertain event, was a pro- ject into, which, for this very reafon, Eng- land and Holland fhoulci not have entered. It is worthy your obfervation, my lord, that thefe bad bargains would not have been continued, as they were almoft to our im- mediate ruin, if the war had not been pro- traded under the pretended nectrffity of re- ducing the whole Spanifh monarchy to the obedience of the houfe of Auftria. Now, as no other confederate except Portugal was to receive his recompence by any difmem- berment of dominions in Old or New Spain, the engagements we took to conquer this whole monarchy had no vifible necefiary caulc, but the procuring the acctffion of this power, that was already neuter, to the grand alliance. Th's acceffion, as I have laid before, icrved only to make us neglect im- Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 323 immediate and certain advantages, for re- mote and uncertain hopes ; and chufe to at- tempt the conqucft of the Spanifh nation at our own vaft expence, whom we might have ftarved, and by ftarving reduced both the French and them, at their expence. I called the necefiity of reducing the whole Spanifh monarchy to the obedience of the houfe of Auftria, a pretended ne- cefiity: and pretended it was, not real, without doubt. But I am apt to think your lordfhip may go further, and find fome reafons to fufpecl:, that the opinion itfelf of this necefiity was not very real, in the minds of thofe who urged it: in the rninds I would fay of the able men among them; for that it was real in fome of our zealous Britifli politicians, I do them the jultice to believe. Your lordfhip may find reafons to fufpect perhaps, that this opinion was let up rather to occafion a diverfion of the forces of France, and to furnim preten- ces for prolonging the war for other ends. BEFORE the year one thoufand feven hundred and^ten, the war was kept alive with alternate fuccefs in Spain i and it may X 2 be 324 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. be faid therefore, that the defign of con- quering this kingdom continued, as well as the hopes of fucceeding. But why then did the States General refufe, in one thou- fand feven hundred and nine, to admit an article in the barrier-treaty, by which they would have obliged themfelves to procure the whole Spanifh monarchy to the houfe of Auftria, when that zealous politician my lord TOWNSHEND preffed them to it? If their opinion of the necefiity of carry- ing on the war, till this point could be ob- tained, was real; why did they rifque the immenfe advantages given them with fo much profufe generofity by this treaty, ra- ther than confent to an engagement that was fo conformable to their opinion ? AFTER the year one thoufand feven hun- dred and ten, it will not be faid, I prefume, that the war could be fupported in Spain with any profpecl; of advantage on our fide. We had fufficiently experienced how little dependance could be had on the vigour of the Portuguefe; and how firmly the Sp^niih nation in general, the Caftilians in particu- lar, were attached to PHILIP. Our armies had been twice at Madrid, this prince had been twice driven from the capital, his rival had been there, none Itirred in favour of the Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 325 the victorious, all wifhed and acted for the vanquifhed. In (hort, the falfhood of all thofe lures, by which we had been enticed to make war in Spain, had appeared fuffi- ciendy in one thoufand feven hundred and fix ; but was fo grofly evident in one thou- fand feven hundred and ten, that Mr. CRAGGS, who was fent towards the end of that year by Mr. STANHOPE into Eng- land, on commiffions which he executed with much good fenfe, and much ad- drefs, owned to me, that in Mr. STAN- HOPE'S opinion, and he was not apt to de- fpond of iuccefs, efpecially in the execu- tion of his own projects, nothing could be done more in Spain, the general attachment of the people to PHILIP and their aver- fion to CHARLES cpnfidered: that armies of twenty or thirty thoufand men might walk about that country till dooms-day, fo he exprefied himfelf, without effect : that wherever they came, the people would fub- mit to CHARLES the third cut of terror, and, as foon as they were gone, proclaim PHILIP the fifth again out of affection : that to conquer Spain required a great army j and to keep it, a greater. WAS it poffible, after this, to think in good earnclt of conquering Spain, and X 3 could 326 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. could they be in good earneft who conti- nued to hold the fame language, and to infifl on the fame meafures ? Could they be fo in the following year, when the em- peror JOSEPH died ? CHARLES was become then the fole furviving male of the houfe pf Aultria, and fucceeded to the empire as well as to all the hereditary dominions of that family. Could they be in earneft who maintained, even in this conjuncture, that " no peace could be lafe, honourable, or <; lading, fo long as the kingdom of Spain " and the Weft-Indirs remained in the " pofftffion of any branch of the houfe of " Bourbon?" Did they mean that CHARLES fhould be emperor and king of Spain? In, this project they would have had the allies againft them. Did they mean to call the duke of SAVOY to the crown of Spain, or to beftow it on fome other prince? In this project they would have had his Imperial majefty againft them. In either cafe, the confederacy would have been broken: and how then would they have continued the war ? Did they mean nothing, or did they mean fomething more than they owned; fomething more than to reduce the exorbi- tant power of France, and to force the whole Spanifh monarchy out of the houle pf Bourbon ? Lef. S. and State of EUROPE. 327 BOTH thefe ends might have been ob- tained at Gertruydenberg. Why were they not obtained? Read the preliminaries of one thoufand 'feven hundred and nine, which were made the foundation of this treaty. Inform yourfelf of what pafied there, and obferve what followed. Your lordfliip will remain aftonilhed. I remain fb every time I reflect upon them, though I faw thefe things at no very great diftance, even whilft they were in tranfaclion ; and though I know moft certainly, that France loft, two years before, by the little fkill and addrefs of her principal* minifter, in anfwering overtures made during the fiege of Lifle by a princi- pal perfon among the allies, fuch an oppor- tunity, and fuch a correfpondence, as would have removed fome of the obftacles that lay now in her way, have prevented others, and have procured her peace. An equivalent for the thirty-feventh article of the preli- minaries, that is, for the cefllon of Spain and the Welt Indies, was the point to be difcufTed at Gertruydenberg. Naples and Sicily, or even Naples and Sardinia would have contented the French, at leaft they would have accepted them as the equiva- lent. BUYS and VANDERDUSSEN, who * CH A MILLAR D. X 4 treated 328 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. fc. treated with them, reported this to the minifters of the allies: and it was upon this occafion that the duke of MARYBOROUGH, as Buys himfelf told me, took immediately the lead, and congratulated the affembly on the near approach of a peace ; faid, that fince the French were in this difpofition, it was time to confidcr what fuither demands fhould be made upon them, according to the liberty obferved in the preliminaries; and exhorted all the minifters of the allies to adjuft their feveral ulterior pretenfions, and to prepare their demands. THIS proceeding, and what followed, put me in mind of that of the Romans with the Carthaginians. The former were refolved to confent to no peace till Carthage was laid in ruins. They fet a treaty however on foot, at the requeft of their old enemy, impofed fome terms, and referred them to their generals for the reft. Their generals puriued the fame method, and, by referv- ing ftill a right of making ulterior demands, they reduced the Carthaginians at laft to the neceffity of abandoning their city, or of continuing the war after they had given up their arms, their machines, and their fleet, in hopes of peace. FRANCA Let. 8, and State of EUROPE. 329 FRANCE faw the fnare, and refolved to run any rifque rather than to be caught in it. We continued to demand, under pre- tence of fecuring the ceffion of Spain and the Weft Indies, that LEWIS the four- teenth fhould take on him to dethrone his grandfon in the fpace of two months ; and, if he did not effecl: it in that time, that we fhould be at liberty to renew the war with- out reftoring the places that were to be put into our hands according to the prelimina- ries ; which were the moft important places France poflefied on the fide of the Low Countries. LEWIS offered to abandon his grandfon ; and, if he could not prevail on him to refign, to furnim money to the allies, who might at the expence of France, force him to evacuate Spain. The propofi- tion made by the allies had an air of inhu- manity : and the reft of mankind might be fhocked to fee the grandfather obliged to make war on his grandfon. But LEWIS the fourteenth had treated mankind with too much inhumanity in his profperous days, to have any reafon to complain even of this propofition. His people indeed, who are apt to have great partiality for their kings, might pity his diftrefs. This happened, and he found his account in it. PHILIP 330 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. PHILIP muft have evacuated Spain, I think, notwithstanding his own obftinacy, the fpiric of his queen, and the refolute attachment of the Spaniards, if his grandfather had in- filled, and been in earned to force him. But if this expedient was, as it was, odious, why did we prefer to continue the war againft France and Spain, rather than ac- cept the other ? Why did we neglect the opportunity of reducing, effectually and immediately, the exorbitant power of France, and of rendering the conqueft of Spain pra6ticab!e ? both which might have been brought about, and confequently the avowed ends of the war might have been anfwered, by accepting the expedient that France offered. " France" it was faid, *' was not firicere: (he meant nothing more " than to am ufe, and divide." This reafon was given at the time; but fomeof thofe who gave itthen, I have feen amamed to infift on it fince. France was not in a condition to act the part me had acted in former treaties : and her diftrefs was no bad pledge of her fincerity on this occafion. But there was a better ftill. The flrong places that Ihe muft have put into the hands of the allies, would have expofed her, on the leaft breach of faith, to fee, not her frontier alone, but even the provinces that lie behind it, defo- lated: Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 331 Jated: and prince EUGENE might have had the fatisfaction, it is faid, I know not how truly, he defired, of marching with the torch in his hand to Verfailles. YOUR lordfhip will obferve, that the con- ferences at Gertruydenberg ending in the manner they did, the inflexibility of the allies gave new life and fpirit to the French and Spanifli nations, diflreffed and ex- Jiaufted as they were. The troops of the former withdrawn out of Spain, and the Spaniards left to defend themfelves as they could, the Spaniards alone obliged us to retreat from Madrid, and defeated us in our retreat. But your lordfhip may think perhaps, as I do, that if LEWIS the four- teenth had bound himfelf by a folemn trea- ty to abandon his grandfon, had paid a fubfidy to dethrone him, and had con- fented to acknowledge another king of Spain, the Spaniards would not have ex- erted the lame zeal for PHILIP ; the actions of Almenara and Saragofla might have been decifive, and thofe of Brihuegha and Villa Viciofa would not have happened. After all thefe events, how could any reafonable man expect that a war mould be fupported with advantage in Spain, to which the court pf Vienna had contributed nothing from the ftrtt, 332 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. firft, fcarce bread to their arch-duke; which Portugal waged faintly and with deficient quotas; and which the Dutch had in a manner renounced, by neglecting to re- cruit their forces? How was CHARLES to be placed on the Spanilh throne, or PHILIP at leaft to be driven out of it ? by the fuc- cefs of the confederate arms in other parts. But what fuccefs fufficient to this purpofe, could we expect ? This queftion may be anfwered beft, by mewing what fuccefs we had. PORTUGAL and Savoy did nothing be- fore the death of the emperor JOSEPH; and declared in form, as foon as he was dead, that they would carry on the war no longer to fet the crown of Spain on the head of CHARLES, fince this would be to fight againft the very principle they had fought for. The Rhine was a fcene of inaction. The fole efforts, that were to bring about the great event of dethroning PHILIP, were thofc which the duke of MARLBOROUGH was able to make. He took three towns in one thoufand feven hundred and ten, Aire, Bethune, and St. Venantr and one, Bouchain, in one thoufand feven hundred and eleven. Now this conqueft being in fact the only one the confederates made that Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 333 that year, Bouchain may be faid properly and truly to have coft our nation very near feven millions fterling ; for your lordfhip will find, I believe, that the charge of the war for that year amounted to no lefs. It is true that the duke of MARLBOROUGH had propoted a very great project, by which in- curfions would have been made during the winter into France ; the next campaign might have been opened early on our fide ; and feveral other great and obvious advan- tages might have been obtained ; but the Dutch refuted to contribute, even lefs than their proportion, for the queen had offered to take the deficiency on herfelf, to the ex- pence of barracks and forage; and difap- pointed by their obftinacy the whole defign. WE were then amufed with vifionary fchemes of marching our whole army, in a year or two more, and after a town or two more were taken, directly to Paris, or at leaft into the heart of France. But was this fo eafy or fo fure a game? The French expected we would play it. Their generals had vifited the feveral pofts they might take, when our army mould enter France, to retard, to incommode, to diftrels us in our march, and even to make a decifive ftand 334 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. (land and to give us battle. I take what I fay here from indifputable authoricy, that of the perfons confulted and employed in preparing for this great diftrefs. Had we been beaten, or had we been forced to re- tire towards our own frontier in the Low Countries, after penetrating into France, the hopes on which we protracted the war would have been dilappointed, and, I think, the moft fanguine would have then repented refuting the offers made at Gertruydenberg. But if we had beaten the French, for it was fcarce lawful in thofe days of our prefump- tion to fuppofe the contrary ; would the whole monarchy of Spain have been our immediate and certain prize ? Suppofe, and I fuppole it on good grounds, my lord, that the French had refolved to defend their country inch by inch, and that LEWIS the fourteenth had determined to retire with his court to Lyons or elfewhere, and to de- fend the pafiage of the Loire, when he could no longer defend that of the Seine, rather than fubmit to the terms impofed on him : what fhould we have clone in this cafe? Muft we not have accepted fuch a peace as we had rcfufed ; or have protracted the war till we had conquered France firft,. in order to conquer Spain afterwards? Did we hope for revolutions in France ? We had Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 335 had hoped for them in Spain: and we fhoukl have been bubbles of our hopes in both. That there was a fpirit railed againft the government of LEWIS the fourteenth, in his court, nay in his famiiy, and that ftrange fchernes of private ambition were formed and forming there, I cannot doubt: and fome effects of this fpirit produced perhaps the greateft mortifications that he fuffered in the latter part of his reign. A LIGHT inflance of this fpirit is all I will quote at this time. I fupped, in tiie year one thoufand feven hundred and fif- teen, at a houfe in France, where two* perfons of no fmall figure, who had been in great company that night, arrived very Iate r The converfation turned on the events of the precedent war, and the negociations of the late peace, in the procefs of the con- verfation, one of them -f broke loofe, and faid, directing his difcourfe to me, " Vous " auriez pu nous ecrafer dans ce terns la : " pourquoi ne 1'avez vous pas fait?" I anfvvercd him cooly, " Par ce que dans ce ** terns-la nous n'avons plus craint votre * c puifiance." This anecdote, too trivial for hiftory, may find its place in a letter, and * The duke de LA FEUILLADE and MORTEMAR. f LA FEUILLADE. may 336 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. may ferve to confirm what I have admitted, that there were perfons even in France, who expected to find their private account in the diftreis of their country. But thefe perfons were a few, men of wild imaginations and ftrong pafiions, more enterprizing than ca- pable, and of more name than credit. In general, the endeavours of LEWIS the four- teenth, and the facrifices he offered to make in order to obtain a peace, had attached his people more than ever to him : and if LEWIS had determined not to go farther than he had offered at Gertruydenberg, in abandoning his grandfon, the French nation would not have abandoned him. BUT to refume what I havefaid or hinted already: the neceflary confequences of pro- trading the war in order todethronePHiup, from the year one thoufand feven hundred and eleven inclufively, could be no other than thefe : our defign of penetrating into France might have been defeated, and have become fatal to us by a reverfe of fortune: our firft fuccefs might not have obliged the French to fubmit , and we might have had France to conquer, after we had failed in our firft attempt to conquer Spain, and even in order to proceed to a fecond : the French might have fubmitted, and the Spaniards Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 337 Spaniards not ; and whilft the former had been employed to force the latter, accord- ing to the Icheme of the allies; or whiHt, the latter fubmiiting likewife, PHILIP had evacuated Spain, the high allies might have gone together by the ears about dividing the fpoil, and difpofing of the crown of Spain. To thefe iflues were things brought by protracting the war; by refufing to make peace, on the principles of the grand alliance at worft, in one thoufand leven hundred and fix; and by refufing to grant it, even on thofe of the new plan, in one thoufand feven hundred and ten. Such contingent events as I have mentioned ftood in profpect before us. The end of the war was removed out of fight ; and they, who clamoured rather than argued for the con- tinuation of it, contented themfelves to af- firm, that France was not enough reduced, and that no peace ought to be made as long as a prince of the houfc of Bourbon re- mained on the Spanim throne. When they would think France enough reduced, it was impoflible to guefs. Whether they intended to join the Imperial pnd Spanifh crowns on the head of" CHARLES, who had declared his irrevocable relblution to con- tinue the war till the condition? infiftcd upon at Gertruydenberg were obtained: Y whether 338 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. whether they intended to beftow Spain and the Indies on fome other prince : and how this great alteration in their own plan fhould be effected by common confers: how poficflion fhoukl be given to CHARLES, or to any other prince, not only of Spain but of all the Spanifh dominions out of Kurope, where the attachment to PHILIP was at lead as ftrong as in Caftile, and where it would not be ib eafy, the diftance and extent of thefe dominions confidered^ to oblige the Spaniards to iubmit to another government: Thefe points^ and many more equally necctTary to be determined, and equally difficult to prepare, were nei- ther determined nor prepared; ib that we were reduced to carry on the war, after the death of the emperor JOSEPH, without any pofitive ft hcme agreed to, as thefchcme of the future peace, by the allies. That of the grand alliance we had long before renoun- ced. That of the new plan was become ineligible ; and, if it had been eligible, it would have been impracticable, because of the divifion it would have created among the allies themfclves: feveral of whom would not have confemed, notwithstanding his irrevocable rcfolution, that the empe- ror mould be king of Spain. 1 know pot what part the protractors of the war, in Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 339 in the depth of their policy, intended to take. Our nation had contributed, and acted fo long under the direction of their councils, for the grandeur of the houfe of Auftria, like one of the hereditary king- doms ufurped by that family, that it. is law- ful to think their intention might be to unite the Imperial and Spanifh crowns. But I rather think they had no very deter- minate view, beyond that of continuing the war as long as they could. The late lord OXFORD told me, that my lord So- MERS being prefled, I know not on what occafion nor by whom, on the unneceffary and ruinous continuation of the war ; in- flead of giving reafons to (hew the necef- f.ty of it, contented himfclf to reply, that he had been bred up in a hatred of France. This was a ftrange reply for a wife man : and yet I know not whether he could have given a better then, or whether any of his pupils could give a better now. THE whig party in general acquired great and juft popularity, in the reign of our CHARLES the lecond, by the clamour they raifed againft the conduit of that prince in foreign affairs. They who fucceeded to the name rather than the principles of this party, after the revolution, and who have Y 2 had 340 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let, 8. had the adminiftration of the government in their hands with very little interruption ever fince, pretending to ad on the fame principle, have run into an extreme as vi- cous and as contrary to all the rules of good policy, as that which their predecef- fors exclaimed againft. The old whigs complained of the inglorious figure we made, whilft our court was the bubble, and our king the penfioner of France-, and infifted that the growing ambition and power of LEWIS the fourteenth fhould be oppofed in time. The modern whigs boafted, and ftill boaft, of the glorious figure we made, whilft we reduced ourfclves, by their councils, and under their adminif- trations, to be the bubbles of our pen- fionere, that is of our allies ; and whilft we meafured our efforts in war, and the continuation of them, without any regard to the intereft and abilities of our own country, without a juft and fober regard, iuch an one as contemplates objecls in their true light and fees them in their true mag- nitude, to the general fyfiem of power in Europe; and, in fhorr, with a principal regard merely to particular interefts at home and abroad. I fay at home and abroad; becaufe it is not leis true, that they have facrificed the .wealth of their coun- try Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 341 try to the forming and maintaining a party at home, than that they have done fo to the forming and maintaining beyond all pretences of neceflity, alliances abroad. Thefe general affcrtions may be eafily juf- tified without having recourfe to private anecdotes, as your lordmip will find when you confider the whole ieries of our conduct in the two wars; in that which pre- ceded, and that which fucceeded imme- diately the beginning of the prefent centu- ry, but above all the laft of them. In the adminiftrations that preceded the revo- lution, trade had flourifhed, and our na- tion had grown opulent: but the general intereftof Europe had been too much neg- lected by us; and flavery under the um- brage of prerogative, had been well-nigh eftablifhed among us. In thofe that have followed, taxes upon taxes, and debts upon debts have been perpetually accumulated, till a fmall number of families have grown into immenfe wealth, and national beg- gary has been brought upon us; under the fpecious pretences of fupporting a common cauie again ft France, reducing her exor- bitant power, and poifing that of Europe more equally in the public balance: lau- dable defigns no doubt, as far as they were j;e.al, but fuch as, being converted into Y 3 mere 342 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. mere pretences, have been productive of much evil ; fome of which we feel and have long felt, and fome will extend its con- fequences to our lateft pofterity. The reign of prerogative was fhort: and the evils and the dangers, to which we were expofed by it, ended with it But the reign of falfe and fquandering policy has laded long, it lafts ftill, and will finally com- plete our ruin. Beggary has been the con- fequ?nce of flavery in fome countries: flave- ry will be probably the confequence of beggary in ours; and if it is fo, we know at whofe door to lay it. If we had finifhed the war in one thoufand feven hundred and fix, we fhould have reconciled like a wife people, our foreign and our domeftic in- terefts as nearly as pofiible: we (hould have fecured the former fufficiently, and not have facrificed the latter as entirely as we did by the profecution of the war after- wards. You will not be able to fee with- out aftonimmem, how the charge of the war encreafed yearly upon us from the be- ginning of it; nor how immenfe a fum we paid in the courfe of it to fupply the defi- ciencies of our confederates. Your aftonifh- ment, and indignation too, will increafe, when you come to compare theprogrefs that was Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 343 was made from the year one thoufand feven hundred and fix exclufively, with the ex- pence of more than thirty millions, I do not exaggerate though I write upon memory, that this progrels coft us, to the year one thoufand feven hundred and eleven inclu- fively. Upon this view, your lordfhip will he perfuaded that it was high time to take the refolution of making peace, when the queen thought fit to change her miniftry, towards the end of the year one thoufand (even hundred and ten. It was high time indeed to lave our country from abfolute infolvency and bankruptcy, by putting an end to a Icheme of conduct, which the pre- judices of a party, the whimfy of fome par- ticular men, the private imereft of more, and the ambition and avarice of our allies, xvho had been invited as it were to a fcram- ble by the preliminaries of one thoufand fe- ven hundred and nine, alone maintained. Theperfons therefore, who came into power at this time, hearkened, and they did well to hearken, to the firil overtures that were made them. The difpofition of their ene- mies invited them to do fo, but that of their friends, and that of a party at home who had nurfed, and been nurfed by the war, might have deterred them from itj for the difficulties and dangers, to which Y 4 they 344 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. they muft be expofed in carrying forward this great work, could efcape none of them. In a letter to a friend it may be allowed me to fay, thai they did not efcape me: and that I forefaw, as contingent but not improbable events, a good part of what has happened to me fince. Though it was a du- ty therefore that we owed to our country, to deliver her from the neceflity of bearing any longer fo unequal a part in fo unnecef- fary a war, yet was there fome degree of merit in performing it. I think fo flrongly in this manner, I am fo incorrigible, my lord, that if 1 could be placed in the fame circumftances again, I would take the fame resolution, and a<5l the fame part. Age and experience might enable me to act with more ability, and greater fkill - t but all I have fuffered fince the death of the queen mould not hinder me from act- ing. Notwithftanding this, 1 (hall not be furprized if you think that the peace of Utrecht was not anfwerable to the fuccefs of the war, nor to the efforts made in it. I think fo myfelf, and have always owned, even when it was making and made, that I thought fo. Since We had committed a fuccefsful folly, we ought to have reaped more advantage from it than we did: and, whether we had left PHILIP, or placed ano- thef Let- 8. and State of EUROPE. 345 ther prince on the throne of Spain, we ought to have reduced the power of France, and to have ftrengthened her neighbours, much more than we did. We ought to have re- duced her power for generations to come, and not to have contented ourfelves with a momentary reduction of it. France was txhaufted to a great degree of men and money, and her government had no cre- dit: but they, who took this for a fuffi- cient reduction of her power, looked but a little way before them, and reafoned too fuperficially. Several fuch there were however; for as it has been faid, that there is no extravagancy which fome philofopher or other has not maintained, fo your expe- rience, young as you are, muft have (hewn you, that there is no abfurd extreme, into which our party-politicians of Great Bri- tain are not prone to fall, concerning the ftate and conducl of public affairs. But if France was exhaufted : fo were we, and fo were the Dutch. Famine rendered her con- dition much more miferable than ours, at .one time, in appearance and in reality too. But as fbon as this accident, that had dif- trefied the French and frightened LEWIS fhe fourteenth to the utmolt degree, and the immediate coniequences of it were over; it was obvious to obferve, though few made the 346 A Sketch of the His TOR v Let. 8. the obfervation, that whilft we were unable to raife in a year, by fame millions at leaft, the expences of the year, the French were willing and able to bear the impofuion of the tenth over and above all the other taxes that had been laid upon them. This obfervation had the weight it deferved ; and fure it deferved to have fome among thofe who made it, at the time fpoken of, and who did not think that the war was to be continued as long as a parliament could be prevailed on to vote money. But fup- pofmg it to have deferved none, fupppfing the power of France to have been reduced as low as you pleafe, with refpect to her in- ward ftate; yet ftill I affirm, that fuch a reduction could not be permanent, and was not therefore fufficient. Whoever knows the nature of her government, the temper of her people, and the natural ad- vantages (he has in commerce over all the nations that furround her, knows that an arbitrary government, and the temper of her people enable her on particular occa- fions to throw off a load of debt much more eafily, and with confequences much lefs to be feared, than any of her neighbours can : that although in the general courfe of things, trade be cramped, and induftry vexed by this arbitrary government, yet neither Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 347 neither one nor the other is oppretfed ; and the temper of the people, and the natural advantages of the country, are fuch, that how great ibever her diftrefs be at any point of time, twenty years of tranquility iuffice to re-e(tabli(h her affairs, and to en- rich her again at the expence of all the na- tions of Europe. If any one doubts of this, let him confider the condition in which this kingdom was left by LEWIS the fourteenth ; the ftrange pranks the late duke of OR- LEANS played, during his regency and ad- miniftration, with the whole lyftem of pub- lic revenue, and private property; and then let him tell himfelf, that the revenues of France, the tenth taken off, exceed all the expences of her government by many mil- lions of livres already, and will exceed them by many more in another year. UPON the whole matter, my lord, the low and exhaufted ftate to which France was reduced, by the laft great war, was but a momentary reduction of her power: and whatever real and more lafting reduc- tion the treaty of Utrecht brought about in focne inftances, it was not fufficient. The power of France would not have ap- peared as great as it did, when England and Holland armed themfelves and armed 348 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. all Germany againft her, if ft>e had lain as open to the invasions of her enemies, as her enemies lay to her's. Her inward itrength was great ; but the ftrength of thofe frontiers which LEWIS the fourteenth was almoft forty years in forming, and which the folly of all his neighbours in their turns fufYered him to form, made this ftrength as formidable as it became. The true reduction of the exorbitant power of France, I take no notice of chimerical projects about changing her government, confifted therefore in difarming her fron- tiers, and fortifying the barriers againft her, by the ceffion and demolition of many more places than me yielded up at Utrecht; but not of more than (lie might have been obliged to facrifice to her own immediate relief, and to the future fccurity of her neighbours. That fhe was not obliged to make thefe facrifices, I affirm was owing folely to thole who oppofed the peace : and I am willing to put rny whole credit with your lordfhip, and the whole merits of a caufe that has been fo much contefted, on this iflue. I fay a cauie that has been fo much contefted; for in truth, I think, it is no longer a doubt any where, except in Britilh pamphlets, whether the conduct of thofe who neither declined treating, as was done Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 349 done in one thoufand feven hundred and fix ; nor pretended to treat without a defign of concluding, as was done in one thouland feven hundred and nine and ten, but carried the great work of the peace forward to its coniummation ; or the conduct of thofe who oppofed this work in every ftep of its progrels, faved the power of France from a greater and a fufficient reduction at the treaty of Utrecht.. The very minilters, who were employed in this fatal oppofuion, are obliged to confefs this truth. How fhould they deny it ? Thofe of Vienna may complain that the emperor had not the en- tire Spanifh monarchy, or thofe of Hol- land that the States were not made matters directly and indirectly of the whole Low Countries. But neither they, nor any one elfe that has any fenfe of lhame about him, can deny that the late queen, though me was refolved to retreat becaufefhe was refolvedto finifh the war, yet was to the utmoft degree defirous to treat in a perfect union with her allies, and to procure them ail the reafon- able terms they could expect: and much better than thofe they reduced themfelves to the neceffity of accepting, by endea- vouring to wreft the negotiation out of her iiands. The difunion of the allies gave France the advantages me improved. The fole 350 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. fole queftion is, who caufed this difunion ? and that will be eafily decided by every impartial man, who informs himfelf care- fully of the public anecdotes of that time. If the private anecdotes were to be laid open as well as thole, and I think it almoft time they mould, the whole monftrous fcene would appear, and (hock the eye of every honeft man. I do not intend to defcend into many particulars at this time: but whenever 1, or any other perfon as well informed as I, mall defcend into a full de- duction of fuch particulars, it will become undeniably evident, that the rnoft violent oppofition imaginable, carried on by the Germans and the Dutch in league with a party in Britain, began as foon as the firft overtures were made to the queen ; before Jhe had fo much as begun to treat: and was therefore an oppofition not to this or that plan of treaty, but in truth to all treaty; and efpecially to one wherein Great Britain took the lead, or was to have any particular advantage. That the Imperia- lifts meant no treaty, unlefs a preliminary and impracticable conditition of it was to fetthe crown of Spainon the emperor's head, will appear from this; that prince EUGENE, when he came into England, long after the death of JOSEPH and elevation of CHARLES, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 351 CHARLES, upon an errand moft unworth} of ib great a man, treated always on this fuppofition: and I remember with how much inward impatience I afiifted at con- ferences held with him concerning quotas fur renewing the war in Spain, in the very fame room, at the cockpit, where the queen's minifters had been told in plain terms, a little before, by thofe of other allies, " that their matters would not con- " fent that the Imperial and Spanifh crowns *' mould uniie on the fame head." That the Dutch were not averfc to all treaty, but n.eant none wherein Great Britain was to have any particular advantage, will ap- pear from this; that their minifter declared himfelf ready and authorized to flop the oppofition made to the queen's meafures, by prelenting a memorial, wherein he would declare, " that his matters entered into them, and were refolved not to con* tinue the war for the recovery of Spain, provided the queen would confcnt that ' they mould garrifon Gibraltar and Port * Mahon jointly with us, and (bare equally ' the Alfiento, the South Sea (hip, and ' whatever fhould be granted by the Spa- 4 niards to the queen and her fubjedts." That the whigs engaged in this league with foreign powers agamit their country, as well 352 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8, well as their queen, and with a phrenfy more unaccountable than that which made and maintained the folemn league and co- venant formerly, will appear from this; that their attempts were directed not only to wreft the negociations out of the queen's hands, but to oblige their country to carry on the war, on the fame unequal foot that had coft her already about twenty millions more than (he ought to have contribu ed to it. For they not only continued to abet the emperor, whofe inability to fupply his quota, was confefied ; but the Dutch like- wife, after the States, had refufed to ratify the treaty their minifler figned at London towards the end of the year one thouland leven hundred and eleven, and by which the queen united hcrfclf more cloicly than ever to them ; engaging to purfue the war, to conclude the peace, and to guaranty it, when concluded, jointly with them ; " pro- " vided they would keep the engagements " they had taken with her, and the con- " ditions of proportionate expence under " which our nation had entered into the " war." Upon fuch Ichemes as thefe was the oppofuion to the treaty of Utrecht carried on : and the means employed, and the means projected to be employed, were worthy of fuch fchemes ; open, direct, and indecent Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 353 indecent defiance of legal authority, fecret confpiracies againft the ftate, and bale ma- chinations againft particular men, who had no other crime than that of endeavouring to conclude a war, under the authority of the queen, which a party in the nation en- deavoured to prolong, againft her autho- rity. Had the good policy of concluding the war being doubtful, it was certainly as lawful for thole, who thought it good, to advife it, as it had been for thofe, who thought it bad, to advife the contrary: and the decifion of the fovereign on the throne ought to have terminated the conteft. But he who had judged by the appearances o^ things on one fide, at that time, would have been apt to think, that putting an end to the war, or to Magna Cuarta, was the lame thing , that the queen on the throne had no right to govern independently of her fuc- ceffor ; nor any of her fubjeds a right to adminifter the government under her, tho* called to it by her, except thofe whom fhe had thought fit to lay afide. Extravagant as thefe principles are, no other could juf. tify the conduct held at that time by thofe who oppofed the peace : and as I faid juft now, that the phrenfy of this league was more unaccountable than that of the fo- lemn league and covenant, I might have Z added, 354 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. added, that it was not very many degrees Itfs criminal. Someofthofe, who charged the queen's minifters, after her death, with imaginary treafons, had been guilty during her life of real treafons : and I can com- pare the folly and violence of the fpirit that prevailed at that time, both before the conclufion of the peace, and, under pre- tence of danger to the fucceflion after it, to nothing more nearly than to the folly and violence of the fpirit that feized the tories foon after the acceffion of GEORGE the firft. The later indeed, which was provoked by unjuft and impolitic per- fecution, bro':e out in open rebellion. The former might have done fo, if the queen had lived a little longer. But to return. THE obftinate adherence of the Dutch to this league, in oppohtion to the queen, rendered the conferences of Utrecht, when they were opened, no better than mock conferences. Had the men who governed that commonwealth been wife and honeffc enough to unite, at lead then, cordially with the queen, and, fmce they could not hinder a congrefs, to act in concert with her in it; we mould have been ftili in time to maintain a fufficient union among the allies. Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 355 allies, and a fufficient fuperiority over the French. All the fpecific demands that the former made, as well as the Dutch them- felves, either to incumber the negociation, or to have in referve according to the ar- tifice ufually employed on fuch odcafions, certain points from which to depart in the courfe of it with advantage, would not have been obtained : but all the cffential demands, all in particular that were really neceflary to fecure the barriers in the Low Countries and of the four circles againft France, would have been fo. For France muft have continued, in this cafe, rather to fue for peace, than to treat on an equal foot. The firft dauphin, fon of LEWIS the fourteenth, died leveral months before this congrefs began : the fecond dauphin, his grandfon, and the wife and the elded fon of this prince, died foon after it be- gan, of the lame unknown diftemper, and were buried together in the fame grave. Such family misfortunes, following a long feries of national misfortunes, made the old king, though he bore them with much feeming magnanimity, defirous to get ouc of the war at any tolerable rate, that he might not run the rifque of leaving a child of five years old, the prcfent king, engaged in it. The queen did all that was morally Z 2 pomble, 356 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let.8. pofiible, except giving up her honour in the negociation, and the intereft of her fub- jeclts in the conditions of peace, to procure this union with the dates general. But all Ihe could do was vain ; and the fame phren- fy, that had hindered the Dutch from im- proving to their, and to the common ad- vantage the public misfortunes of France, hindered them from improving to the fame purpofes the private misfortunes of the houle of Bourbon. They continued to flatter themfelves that they fhould force the queen out of her meafures, by their intrigues with the party in Britain who oppofed thefe meafures, and even raife an infurreclion againft her. But thefe in- trigues, and thofe of prince EUGENE, were known and difappointed; and monfieur BUYS had the mortiBcation to be reproached with them publicly, when he came to take leave of the lords of the council, by the earl of OXFORD ; who entered into many particulars that could not be denied, of the private tranfactions of this fort, to which BUYS had been a party, in coai- nliance with his inftruftions, and, as I be- lieve, much againft his own fenie and in- clinations. As the feafon for raking the field advanced, the league propofed to de- feat the fuccefs of the congrek by the events Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 357 events of the campaign. But inflead of defeating the fuccefs of the congrefs, the events of the campaign ferved only to turn this fnccefs in favour of France. At the beginning of the year, the queen and the States, in concert, might have given the law to friend and foe, with great advan- tage to the former-, and with Juch a detri- ment to the latter, as the caufes of the war rendered juft, the events of it reafon- able, and the objects of it neceflary. At the end of the year, the allies were no longer in a ftate of giving, nor the French of receiving the law-, and the Dutch had recolirfe to the queen's good offices, when they could oppoie and durft infult her no longer. Even then, thefe offices were em- ployed with zeal, and with fome effect for them. THUS the war ended, much more fa- vourably to France than (he expected, or they who put an end to it defigncd. The queen would have humbled and weakened this power. The allies who oppofed her would have crufhed it, and have railed ano- ther as exorbitant on the ruins of it. Neither one nor the other fucceeded, and they who meant to ruin the French power Z 3 preierved 358 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. preferved it, by oppofing thofe who meant to reduce it. SINCE I have mentioned the events of the year one thouland ieven hundred and twelve, and the deciiive turn they gave to the negotiations in favour of France, give me leave to lay fomething more on this fubjed. You will find that I (hall do fo with much impartiality. The difaftrous events of this campaign in the Low Coun- tries, and the confequences of them, have been imputed to the reparation of the Bri- tifli troops from the army of the allies. The clamour againft this meafure was great at that time, and the prejudices which this clamour railed are great ftill among fome men. But as clamour raifed thefe prejudices, other prejudices gave birth to this clamour: and it is no wonder they mould do fo among perfons bent on conti- nuing the war; fince I own very freely, that when the firft ftcp that led to this fe- paration came to my knowledge, which was not an hour, by the way, before I wrote by the queen's order to the duke of ORMOND, in the very words in which the order was advifed and given, " that he " mould not engage in any fiege, nor ha- " zard a battle, till further order," I was fur- Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 359 furprized and hurt. So much, that if I had had an opportunity of fpeaking in pri- vate to the queen, after I had received monfieur DE TORCY'S lettter to me on the fubjecl:, and before fhe went into the coun- cil, I (hould have fpoken to her, I think, in the firft heat againft it. The truth is, however, that the ftep was juftifiable at that point of time in every refpecl:, and therefore that the confequences are to be charged to the account of thofe who drew them on themfelves, not to the account of the queen, nor of the minifter who advifed her. The ftep was juftifiable to the allies furely, fince the queen took no more upon her, no not fo much by far, in making it, as many of them had done by fufprnding, or endangering, or defeating operations in the heat of the war, when they declined to fend their troops, or delayed the march of them, or neglected the preparations they were obliged to make, on the moft frivo- lous pretences. Your lordfhip will find in the courfe of your enquiries mary particu- lar inttances of what is here pointed out in general. But I cannot help defcending into fome view of thofe that regard the em- peror and the States General, who cried the loudeft and with the moft effect, though they had the leaft reafon,on account of their Z 4 own 360 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. own conducl, to complain of the queen's. With what face could the emperor, for in- fiance, prt-fume to complain of the orders fent to the dnke or" ORMOND? I fay no- thing of his deficiencies, which were fo great, that he had at this very time little more than one regiment that could be faid properly to act againft Prance and Spain at }iis foje charge; as I affirmed to prince EUGENE before the lords of the council, and demonftrated upon paper the next day. I fay nothing of all that preceded the year one thoufand feven hundred and feven, on which I mould have much to fay. But I defire your lordmiponly to conlider, what you will find to have pafied after the fa- mous year one thouland feven hundred and fix. Was it with the queen's approbation, or againft her will, that the emperor made the treaty for the evacuation of Lombar- ciy, and let out fo great a number of French regiments time enough to recruit themfelves at home, to march into Spain, and todeftroy the Britifti forces atAlmanza? Was it with her approbation, or againft her will, thar, inftead of employing all his forces and all his endeavours, to make the greateft defign of the whole war, the en- terprize on Toulon, iucceed, he detached twelve thoufand men to reduce the kingdom . ' :% - ' of Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 361 of Naples, that muft have fallen of courfe? and that an opportunity of ruining the whole maritime force of France, and of ruining or fubduing her provinces on that fide, was loft, merely by this unnectfiary diverfion, and by the conduct of prince EUGENE, which left no rooai to doubt that he gave occafion to this fatal difap- pointment on purpofe, and in concert with the court of Vienna? TURN your eyes, my lord, on the con- duct of the States, and you will find rea- fon to be aftonifhed at the arrogance of the men who governed in them at this time, and who prefumed to exclaim againft a queen of Great Britain, for doing what their deputies had done more than once in that very country, and in the courie of that very war. Jn the year one thoufand feven hundred and twelve, at the latter end of a war, when conferences for treating a peace were opened, when the leaft finitter event in the field would take off from that fupe- riority which the allies had in the congrefs, and when the part fuccefs of the war had al- ready given them as much of this fuprrio- rity as they wanted to obtain a fafe, advan- tageous, honourable, and lading peace, the queen directed her general to fuipend till 362 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. g. till further order the operations of her troops. In one thoufand feven hundred and three, in the beginning of a war, when fomething was to be rifqued or no fuccefs to be expecled, and when the bad fituation of affairs in Germany and Italy required, in a particular manner, that efforts mould be made in the Low Countries, and that the war mould not languifh there whilft it was unfuccefsful ever) where elie ; the duke of MARLBOROUGH determined to attack the French, but the Dutch deputies would not fuffer their* troops to go on ; defeated his defign in the very moment of it's execution, it I remember well, and gave no other rea- fon for their proceeding than that which is a reafon againft every battle, the poffibility of being beaten. The circumflance of proximity to their frontier was urged, I know, and it was faid, that their provinces would be expofed to the incurfiors of the French if they loft the battle. But befides other aniwers to this vain pretence, it was obvious that they had ventured battles as near home as this would have been fought, and that the way to ren.ove the enemy far- ther off was by aclion, not inaction. Upon the whole matter j the Dutch deputies ftop- ped the progrefs of the confederate army at this time, by exereiling an arbitrary and Snde- Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 363 independent authority over the troops of the States. In one thoufand fcvcn hundred and five, when the fuccels of the preceding campaign fhould have given them an entire confidence in the duke of MARYBOROUGH'S conduct, when returning from the Moieile to the Low Countries he began to make himfelf and the common caufe amends, for the difappointment which pique and jea- loufy in the prince of BADEN, or ufual (loth and negligence in the Germans, had occa- fioned jult before, by forcing the French lines; when he was in the full purfuit of this advantage, and when he was marching to attack an enemy half defeated, and more than half difpirited j nay, when he had made his difpofitions for attacking, and part of his troops had pafied the Dyle the depu- ties of the States once more tied up his hands, took from him an opportunity too fair to be loft-, for thefe, 1 think, were fome of the terms of his complaint: and in fhort the confederacy received an affront at leaft, where we might have obtained a victory. Let this that has been faid ferve as a fpecimen of the independency on the queen, her councils, and her generals, with which thefe powers a6ted in the courfe of the war; who were not afhamed to find fault that the queen, once, and at the lat- ter 364 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. ter end of it, prefumed to fufpend the oper- ation of her troops till farther order. But be it that they forfaw what this farther order would be. They forefaw then, that as foon as Dunkirk fhould be put into the queen's hands, (he would confent to a fuf- penfion of arms for two months, and invite them to do the fame. Neither this fore- fight, nor the ftrong declaration which the bifliop of BRISTOL made by the queen's or- der at Utrecht, and which (hewed them that her resolution was not taken to fubmit to the league into which they had entered againlt her, could prevail on them to make a right ufe of thefe two months, by endea- vouring to renew their union and good un- derftanding with the queen-, though I can fay with the greateft truth, and they could net doubt of it at the time, that (he would have gone more than half way to meet them, and that her minifters would have done their utmofl to bring it abour. Even then we might have refumed the Superiority we began to loie in the congrels; for, the queen and the States uniting, the princi- pal allies would have united with them: and, in this cafe, it would have been fo much the intereft of France to avoid any < hance of feeing the war renewed, that (he muft, and (he would, have made fure of peace, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 365 peace, during the fufpenfion, on much worfe terms tor herfelf and for Spain, than fhe made it afterwards. But the prudent and fober States continued to aft like fro- ward children, or like men drunk with re- fentment and paflion ; and fuch will the con- duel be of the wile governments in every circumftance, where a fpirit of faction and of private intereft prevails, among thofe who are at the head, over reaibn of ilate. After laying afide all decency in their behaviour towards the queen, they laid afide ail caution for themfelves. They declared " they would carry on the war " without her." Landrecy feemed, in their efteem, of more importance than Dunkirk; and the opportunity of wafting fome French provinces, or of putting the whole event of the war on the decifion of another battle, preferable to the other mea- fure that lay open to them ; that, I mean, of trying in good earnclr, and in an honeft concert with the queen, during the futpen- fion of arms, whether i'uch terms of peace, as ought 10 latisfy them and the other allies might not be impoled on France. IF the confederate army had broke into France, the campaign before this, or in any former campaign ; and if the Germans and 366 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. $. and the Dutch had exercifed then the fame inhumanity, as the French had exercifed in their provinces in former wars ; if they had burnt Verfailles, and even Paris, and if they had difturbed the alhes of the dead princes that repofe at St. Denis, every good man would have felt the horror, that ilich cruelties infpire: no man could have laid that the retaliation was unjuft. But in one thoufand feven hundred and twelve, it was too late, in every refpect, to meditate fuch projects. If the French had been un- prepared to defend their frontier, either for want of means, or in a vain confidence that the peace would be made, as our king CHARLES the fecond was unprepared to defend his coaft at the latter end of his firft war with Holland, the allies might have played a fure game in fatisfying their vengeance on the French, as the Dutch did on us in one thoufand fix hundred and fixty ieven ; and impofmg harder terms on them, than thofe they offered, or would have accepted. But this was not the cafe. The French army was, I believe, more nu- merous than the army of the allies, even before reparation, and certainly in a much better condition than two or three years before, when a deluge of blood was fpilt to diilodge them, for we did no more, at Mai- Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 367 Malplaquet. Would the Germans and the Dutch have found it more eafy to force them at this time, than it was at that ? Would not the French have fought with as much obftinacy to fave Paris, as they did to fave Mons: and, with all the re- gard due to the duke of ORMOND and to prince EUGENE was the abfence of the duke of MARLBOROUGH of no confequence? Turn this affair every way in your thoughts, my lord, and you will find that the Ger- mans and the Dutch had nothing in theirs, but to break, at any rate, and at any rifque, the negociations that were begun, and to reduce Great Britain to the neceffiry of continuing what me had been too long, a province of the confederacy. A province indeed, and not one of the beft treated: fmce the confederates affumed a right of obliging her to keep her pacls with them, and of difpenfing with their obligations to her, of exhaufting her, without rule, or proportion, or mcafure, in the fupport of a war, to which (he alone contributed more than all of them, and in which (he had no longer an immediate intereft nor even any remote intereft that was not common, or, with rcfpeft to her, very dubious; and, after all this, of complaining that the queen prefumed to hearken to overtures of 368 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. of peace, and to fee a negociation on foot, whilft their humour and ambition re- quired that the war fhould be prolonged for an indefinite time, and for a purpofe that was either bad or indeterminate. THE fufpenfion of arms, that began in the Low Countries, was continued, and ex- tended afterwards by the aft I figned at JE-ontainebleau. The fortune of the war turned at the fame time: and all thofe dif- graces followed, which obliged the Dutch to treat, and to defire the affifiance of the queen, whom they had fet at defiance fo lately. This afliftance they had, as effec- tually as it could be given in the circum- ftances, to which they had reduced them- felves, and the whole alliance: and the peace of Great Britain, Portugal, Savoy, Pruflia, and the States General, was made, without his imperial majefty's concurrence, in the fpring of one ihoufand feven hun- dred and thirteen; as it might have been made, much more advantageoufly for them all, in that of one thoufand feven hundred and twelve. Lefs obftinacy on the part of the States, and perhaps more decifive re- folutions on the part of the queen, would have wound up all thefe divided threads in one, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 369 one, and have finifhed this great work much fooner and better. I fay, perhaps more decifive refolutions on the part of the queen; becaufej although I think that I fhould have conveyed her orders for fign- ing a treaty of peace with France, before the armies took the field, much more wil- lingly, than I executed them afterwards in figning that of the ceflation of arms; yet I do not prefume to decide, but fhall defire your lordfhip to do fo, on a review of all circumftances, fome of which I (hall juft mention. THE league made for protracting the war having oppofed the queen to the ut- moft of their power, and by means of every fort, from the firft appearances of a nego- ciation: the general effect of this violent oppofition, on her and her minifters was, to make them proceed by flower and more cautious fteps : the particular effect of it was, to oblige them to open the eyes of the nation, and to inflame the people with a defire of peace, by (hewing, in the moft public and folemn manner, how unequally we were burdened, and how unfairly we were treated by our allies. The firft gave an air of diffidence and timidity to their conduct, which encouraged the league, and A a gave 370 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8 gave vigour to the oppofition. The fecond irritated the Dutch particularly; for the emperor and the other allies had the mo- defty at leaft, not to pretend to bear any proportion in the expence of the war ; and thus the two powers, whofe union was the mod efiential, were the moft at variance, and the queen was obliged to act in a cloler concert with her enemy who defirecl peace, than (he would have done if her allies had been lefs obftinately bent to protract the war. 'During thele tranfactions, my lord OXFORD, who had his correfpondencies apart, and a private thread of negociation always in his hands, entertained hopes that PHILIP would be brought to abandon Spain in favour of his father-in-law, and to con tent himfelf with the flates of that prince, the kingdom of Sicily, and the prefervation ,of his right of fucceffion to the crown of France. Whether my lord had any parti- cular reafons for entertaining thefe hopes, befides the general reafons founded on the condition of France, on that of the Bour- bon family, and on the difpofition of LEWIS the fourteenth, I doubt very much. That LEWIS, who fought, and had need of feeking peace, almolt at any rate, and who faw that he could not obtain it, even of the queen, unjefs PHILIP abandoned im- mediately, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 371 mediately, the crown of SPAIN, or abandon- ed immediately, by renunciation and a folemn act of exclufion, all pretenfion to that of France; that LEWIS was defirous of the former, I cannot doubt. That PHILIP would have abandoned Spain with the equivalents that have been mentioned, or either of them, I believe likewife; if the prefent king of France had died, when his father, mother, and eldeft brother did: for they all had the fame diftemper. But LEWIS would ufe no violent means to force his grandfon; the queen would not continue the war to force him; PHILIP was too ob- ftinate, and his wife too ambitious, to quit the crown of Spain, when they had dilco- vered our weaknefs, and felt their own ftrength in that country, by their fuccefs in the campaign of one thouiand leven hun- dred and ten: after which my lord STAN- HOPE himfelf was convinced that Spain could not be conquered, nor kept, if it was conquered, without a much greater army, than it was pofilble for us to lend thither. In that fituation it was wild to imagine, as the earl of OXFORD imagined, or pretended to imagine, that they would quit the crown of Spain, for a remote and uncertain profpecl: of fuccceding to that of France, and content themfelves to be, A a 2 in 372 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. in the mean time, princes of very fmall dominions. PHILIP therefore, after ftrug- ling long that he might not be obliged to make his option till ihe fuccefllon of France lay open to him, was obliged to make it, and made it, for Spain. Now this, my lord, was the very crifis of the negociation: and to this point I apply what I laid above of the effect of more decifive refolutions on the part of the queen. It was plain, that if Ihe made the campaign in concert with her allies, me could be no longer miftrefs of the negociations, nor have almolt a chance for conducting them to the iffue fhe propofed. Our ill fuccefs in the field would have ren- dered the French lefs tractable in the con- grefs: our good fuccefs there would have rendered the allies fo. On this principle, the queen fufpended the operations of her troops, and then concluded the ceffation. COMPARE now the appearances and effect of this meafure, with the appearances, and erlVct that another meafure would have had. In order to arrive at any peace, it was necciTary to do what the queen did, or to do more: and, in order to arrive at a good one, it was neceflary to be prepared to carry on the war, as well as to make a (hew of itj for (he had the hard talk upon her, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 373 her, of guarding againft her allies, and her enemies both. But in that ferment, when few men confidered any thing coolly, the conduct of her general, afct-r he took the field, though he covered the allies in the fiegeof Quefnoy, correfponde dill, in appear- ance, with the declarations of carrying on the war vigoroufly that had been made, on feveral occafions, before the campaign opened. It had an air of double dealing; and as fuch it paflfed among thofe, who did not combine in their thoughts all the circumftances of the conjuncture, or who were infatuated with the notional oeceffhy of continuing the war. The clamour could not have been greater, if the quern had figned her peace feparately: and, I think, the appearances might have been explained as favourably in one cafe, as in the ether. From the death of the emperor JOSEPH, ic was neither our intercft, nor the common intereft, well underftood, to fct the crown of Spain on the prefent emperor's head. As foon therefore as PHILIP had made his option, and if (he had taken this refo- lution early, his option would have been fooner made, I prefume that the queen might have declared that (he would noc continue the war an hour longer to procure Spain for his Imperial majetly ; that the A a enae- 374 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. engagements, (he had taken whilft he was archduke, bound her no more; that, by his acceflion to the empire, the very nature of them was altered ; that Ihe took effec- tual meafures to prevent, in any future time, an union of the crowns of France and Spain, and, upon the fame principle, would not confenr, much lefs fight, to bring about an immediate union of the Im- perial and Spanim. crowns; that they, who infifted to protract the war, intended this union; that they could intend nothing elfe, fmce they ventured to break with her, ra- ther than to treat, and were fo eager to put the reafonable fatisfaction, that they might have in every other cafe, without ha- zard, on the uncertain events of war; that fhe would not be impofed on any longer in this manner; and that fhe had ordered her rninifters to fign her treaty with France, on the furrender of Dunkirk into her hands; that fhe pretended not to prefcribe to her allies, but that (he had infifted, in their behalf, on certain conditions, that France was obliged to grant to thole of them, who mould fign their treaties at the fame time as fhe did, or who mould confent to an immediate ceftktion of arms, and during the celTation, treat under her mediation. There had been more franknefs, and more dignity Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 375 dignity in this proceeding, and the effect muft have been more advantageous. France would have granted more for a feparate peace, than for a ceiTation : and the Dutch would have been more influenced by the profpect of one, than of the other; efpe- cially fince this proceeding would have been very different from theirs at Munfter, and at Nimeghen, where they abandon ed their allies, without any other pretence than the particular advantage they found in doing fo. A fuipenfion of the opera* tions of the queen's troops, nay a cefifation of arms between her and France, was noc definitive; and they might, and they did, hope to drag her back under their, and the German yoke. This therefore was noc fufficient to check- their obftinacy, nor to hinder them from making all the unfortu- nate haftethey did make to get themlelves beaten at Denain. But they would poffibly have laid afide their vain hopes, if they had leen the queen's minifters ready to fign her treaty of peace, and thofe of ibme prin- cipal allies ready to fign at the fame time-; in which cafe the mifchief, that followed, had been prevented, and better terms of peace had been obtained for the confede- racy : a prince of the houfe of Bourbon, who could never be king of France, would A- a 4 have 376 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8, have fat on the Spanifh throne, inftead of an emperor; the Spanifti fcepter would have been weakened in the hands of one, and the Imperial fcepter would have been ftrengthened in thole of the other: France would have had no opportunity of recover ing from former blows, nor of finifhing a long unfuccefsful war by two fuccefsful campaigns: her ambition, and her power, would have declined with her old king, and under the minority that followed : one of them at lead might have been Ib reduced by the terms of peace, if the defeat of the allies in one thoufand feven hundred and twelve, and the lofs of fo many towns as the French took in hat and the following year, had been prevented, that the other would have been no longer formidable, even fuppofing it to have continued; whereas I fuppofe that the tranquility of Europe is more due, at this time, to want of ambi- tion, than to want of power, on the part of France. But, to carry the companion of thefe two meafures to the end, it may be fuppofed that the Dutch would have taken the fame part, on the queen's de- claring a feparare peace, as they took on her declaring a ceffation. The preparations for the campaign in the Low Countries were made; the Dutch like the other con- federates Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 377 federates, had a juft confidence in their own troops, and an unjuft contempt for thole of the enemy; they were traniported from their ufual lobriety and caution by the ambitious profpecl: of large acquifitions, which had beea opened artfully to them; the reft of the confederate army was com- pofed of Imperial and German troops: fo that the Dutch, the Imperialifts, and the other Germans, having an intereft to decide which was no longer the intereft of the whole confederacy, they might have united againft the queen in one cafe, as they did in the other ; and the mifchicf that followed to them and the common caufe, might not have been prevented. This might have been the cafe, no doubt. They might have flattered themfelves that they fhould be able to break into France, and to force PHILIP, by the diftrefs brought on his grandfather, to refign the crown of Spain to the emperor, even after Great Britain and Portugal, and Savoy too per- haps, were drawn out of the war; for thefe princes defired as little, as the queen, to iee the Spanifh crown on the emperor's head. But, even in this cafe, though the rwadnefs would have been greater, the effect would not have been worfe. The queen ivould have bfen able to Icrve thefe con* federates A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. derates as well by being mediator in the negociations, as they left it in her power to do, by being a party in them: and Great Britain would have had the advantage of being delivered ib much fooner from a bur- den, which whimfical and wicked politics had impofed, and continued upon her till it was become intolerable. Of thefe two meafures, at the time when we might have taken either, there were perfons who thought the laft preferable to the former. But it never came into public debate. In- deed it never could ; too much time hav- ing been loft in waking for the option of PHILIP, and the fufpenfion and ceiFation having been brought before the council ra- ther as a meafure taken, than a matter to be debated. If your lord (hip, or any one elfe, mould judge, that, in fuch circum- ftances as thofe of the confederacy in the beginning of one thoufand feven hundred and twelve, the latter meafure ought to have been taken, and the gordian knot to have been cut, rather than to fuffer a mock treaty to languifh on, with fo much ad- vantage to the French as the difunion of the allies gave them; in fhort, if flowaefs, perplexity, inconfiftency, and indecifion mould be objected, in lome inftances, to the queen's councils at that time-, if it fhould Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 379 mould be faid particularly, that me did not obferve the precife moment when the conduct of the league formed againft her, being expofed to mankind, would have juftified any part me mould have taken (though me declared, foon after the moment was paffcd, that this conduct had let her free from all her engagements) and when (he ought to have taken that of drawing, by one bold mealure, her allies ovic of the war, or herlelf out of the confederacy, be- fore fhe loft her influence on France: if all this mould be objected, yet would the proofs brought to fupport ihefe objections ihevv, that we were better allies than poli- ticians-, that the defire the queen had to treat in concert with her confederates, and the refolution fhe took not to fign without them, made her bear what no crowned head hal ever borne before; and that where me erred, (he erred principally by the pa- tience, the compliance, and the condefcen- fion (he excrcifcd towards them, and to- wards her own fubjects in league with them. Such objections as thefe may lie to the queen's conduct, in the courie of this great affair; as well as objections of human infirmity to that of thofe perfons em- ployed by her in the trsnfactions of it; ironi which neither thofe who preceded, nor 380 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. S. nor thofe who fucceeded, have, I prefume, been free. But the principles on which they proceeded were honeft, the means they ufed were lawful, and the event they propoied to bring about was juft. Whereas the very foundation of all the oppofition to the peace was laid in injuftice and folly: for what could be more unjuft, than the attempt of the Dutch and the Germans, to force the queen to continue a war for their private intereft and ambition, the difpro- porttonate expence of which opprefied the commerce of her fubjects, and loaded them with debts for ages yet to come ? a war, the object of which was fo changed, that from the year one thoufand feven hundred and eleven, (he made it not only without any engagement, but againft her own, and the common intereft? What could be more foclifh; you will think that I foften the t.rm too much, and you will be in the right to think fo: what could be more foolim, than the attempt of a party in Bri- tain, to protract a war fo ruinous to their country, without any reafon that they durft avow, except that of wreaking the reient- ments of Europe on France, and that of uniting the Imperial andSpanifh crowns on an Auftrian head? one of which was to purchaie revenge at a price too dear-, and the Let. 8.. arid State of EUROPE. 381 the other was to expofe the liberties of Eu- rope to new dangers, by the conclufion of a war which had been made to afiert and fecure them. I HAVE dwelt the longer on the conduct of thole who promoted, and of thofe who oppofed, the negociations of the peace made at Utrecht, ?nd on the companion of the meafure purfued by the queen with that which me might have purfued, becaufe the great benefit we ought to reap from the ftudy of hiitory, cannot be reaped unlefs we accuftom ourfelves to compare the con- duct of different governments, and differ- ent parties, in the fame conjunctures, and toobferve the meafures they did purlue, and the meafures they might have purfued, with the actual confequences that followed one, and the poflible, or probable conle- quences, that might have followed the other, by this excrcife of the mind, the ftudy of hiftory anticipates, as it were, ex- perience, as I have obferved in one of the firft of thtrfe letters, and prepares us for action. If this coniideration mould not plead a fufficient excufe for my prolixity on this head, I have one more to add that may. A rage of warring pofltffed a party in our nation till the death of the late queen : 302 A Sketch of theHisxoRV Let. 8. queen: a rage of negociating has poiTe fled the fame party of men, ever fince. You have feen the conlcquences of one : you fee actually thofe of the other. The rage of warring confirmed the beggary of our nation, which began as early as the revolu- tion ; but then it gave, in the laft war, re- putation to our arm?, and our councils too. For though I think, and muft always think, that the principle, on which we acted after departing from that laid down in the grand alliance of one thoufand feven hundred and one, was wrong ; yet muft we confefs that it was purfued wifely, as well as bokily. The rage of negociating has been a chargeable rage likewife, at leaft as chargeable in its proportion. Far from paying our debts, contracted in war, they continue much the fame, after three and twenty years of peace. The taxes that opprcfs our mercantile intereft the moft are ibll in mortgage-, and thofe that opprefs the landed intereft the moft, inftead of be- ing bid on extraordinary occafions, are be- come the ordinary funds for the current fervice of every year. This is grievous, and the more fo to any man, who has the honour of his country, as well as her prof- perity at heart, becauie we have nor, in this cafe, the airy confolation we had in the Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 383 the other. The rage of negociating began twenty years ago, under pretence of con- fummating the treaty of Utrecht: and, from that time to this, our minifters have been in one perpetual maze. They have made themfelves and us, often, objects of averfion to the powers on the continent; and we are become at laft objects of con- tempt, even to the Spaniards. What other effecl: could our abfurd conduft have? What other return has it dtltrved ? We came exhaufted out of long warsj and, in- ftcad of purfuing the meaiures neceflary to give us means and opportunity to repair our itrength and to dminim our burdens, our minifters have acted, from that time to this, like men who fought pretences to keep the nation in the fame exhaufted con- dition, and under the fame load of debt. This may have been their view perhaps; and we could not be furprifed if we heard the fame men declare national poverty ne- ceflary to fupport the prefent government, who havefo frequently declared corruption and a (landing army to be fo. Your good fenfe, my lord, your virtue, and your love of your country, will always deter- mine you to oppofe fuch vile fchemes, and to contribute your utmoft towards the cure pf bcnh theic kinds of rage ; the rage of warring b 384 A Sketch of the History Let. 8. warring, without any proportionable inter- eft of our own, for the ambition of others ; and the rage of negotiating, on every occa- fion, at any rate, without a fufficrent call to it, and without any part of that deci- ding influence which we ought to have. Our nation inhabits an ifland, and is one of the principal nations of Europe; but, to maintain this rank, we muft take the advantages of this fituation, which have been neglected by us for almoft half a cen- tury-, we muft always remember that we are not part of the continent, but we muft never forget that we are neighbours to it. I will conclude, by applying a rule, that HORACE gives for the conduct of an epic or dramatic poem, to the part Great Bri- tain ought to take in the affairs of the con- tinent, if you allow me to transform Bri- tannia into a male divinity, as the verfe requires. Nee Deus interfit, nifi dignus vindice nodus Incident., If thefe reflections are juft, and I fhould not have offered them to your lordfhip, had they not appeared both juft and important to my beft underftanding, you will think that I have not fpcnt your time unprofitably in Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 385 in making them, and exciting you by them to examine the true intereft of your coun- try relatively to foreign affairs; and to compare it with thofe principles of conduct, that I am perfuaded, have no other foun- dation than party-defigns, prejudices, and habits j the private intereft of fome men and the ignorance and ralhnefs of others. MY letter is grown fo long, that I mall fay nothing to your lordfhip, at this time concerning the ftudy of modern hiftory, relatively to the inierefts of your country in domeflic affairs ; and I think there will be no need to do fo at any other. The Hiftory of the rebellion by your great grandfather, and his private memorials, which your lordmip has in manufcript, will guide you furely as far as they go: where they leave you, your lordmip mutt not ex- pect any hiftory , for we have more reafon to make this complaint, " abeft enim hif- " toria literis noftris," than Tully had to put it into the mouth of ATTICUS, in his rirft book of laws. But where hiftory leaves you, it is wanted leafr. the tradi- tions of this century, and of the latter end of the laft, are frefh. Many, who were actors in fome of thefe events, are alive j and .many who have converfed with thofe B b that 386 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. that were aftors in others. The public is in poffefiion of feveral collections and memo- rials, and feveral there are in private hands. You will want no materials to form true notions of tranfacYions fo recent. Even pamphlets, wrote on different fides and on idifferent occafions in our party difputes, and hitlories of no more authority than pamphlets, will help you to come at truth. Read them with fufpicion, my lord, for they deferve to be fufpected : pay no re- gard to the epithets given, nor to the judg- ments paffed ; neglect all declamation, weigh the reafoning and advert to fact. With fuch precautions, even BURNET'S hiftory may be of fome ufe. In a word, your lordfhip will want no help of mine to difcover, by what progreflion the whole conftitution of our country, and even the character of our nation, has been altered : nor how much a worfe ufe, in a national ienfe, though a better in the fenfe of party politicks, the men called Whigs have made of long wars and new fyftems of revenue, fince the revolution ; than the men called Tories made, before it, of long peace, and ftale prerogative. When you look back three or four generations ago, you will lee that the Englifli were a plain, perhaps a rough, but a good-natured hofpitable peo- ple, Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 387 pie, jealous of their liberties, and able as well as ready to defend them, with their tongues, their pens, and their fwords. The reftoration began to turn hofpitality into luxury, pleafure into debauch, and coun- try peers and country commoners into cour- tiers and men of mode.. But whilft our luxury was young, it was little more than elegance : the debauch of that age was en- livened with wit, and varniflied over with gallantry. The courtiers and the men of mode knew what the conftitution was, refpe&ed it, and often aflerted it. Arts and fciences flouriflied, and, if we grew more trivial, we were not become either grofsly ignorant, or openly profligate. Since the revolution, our kings have been redu- ced indeed to a teeming annual depen- dance on Parliament; but the bufinefs of parliament, which was efteemed in gene- ral a duty before, has been exercifed in gene- ral as a trade fince. The trade of parlia- ment, and the trade of funds, have grown univerfal. Men, who flood forward in the world, have attended to little elfe. The frequency of parliaments, that increafed their importance, and mould have increafed the rcfpecl of them, has taken off from their dignity: and the fpirit that prevailed, whilft the lervice in them was duty, has B b 2 been 388 A Sketch of the HISTORY Let. 8. been debafed fince it became a trade. Few know, and fcarce any refpect, the Britifh conftitution : that of the church has been, long fince derided; that of the State as long neglected; and both have been left at the mercy of the men in power, who- ever thofe men were. Thus the Church, at leaft the hierarchy, however facred in it's origin, or wife in it's inftitution, is be- come an ufelefs burden on the State: and the State is become, under ancient and known forms, a new and undefinable mon- fter ; compofed of a king without monar- chical fplendour, a fenate of nobles without ariftocratical independency, and a fenate of commons without democratical freedom. In the mean time, my lord, the very idea of wit, and all that can be called tafte, has been loll among the great; arts and fciences are fcarce alive; luxury has been increafed but not refined ; corruption has been efta- blimed, and is avowed. When govern- ments are worn out, thus it is : the decay appears in every initance. Public and pri- vate virtue, public and private fpirir, ici- ence and wit, decline all together. THAT you, my lord, may have a long and glorious fliare in rciloring all thele, and in drawing our government back to the Let. 8. and State of EUROPE. 389 the true principles of it, I wi(h moft hear- tily. Whatever errors I may have com- mitted in public life, I have always loved my country : whatever faults may be ob- jected to me in private life, I have always loved my friend: whatever ufage I have received from my country, it (hall never make me break with her: whatever ufage I have received from my friends, I never fhall break with one of them, while I think him a friend to my country. Thefe are the fentiments of my heart. I know they are thofe of your lordfhip's: and a communion of fuch fentiments is a tyethat will engage me to be, as long as I live, My LORD, Your moft faithful fcrvant* Bb [ 39' ] A " PLAN FORA General Hiftory of EUROPE, LETTER I. I SHALL take the liberty of writing to you a little oftener than the three or four times a year, which, you tell me, are all you can allow yourfelf to write to thofe you like beft : and yet I declare to you with great truth, that you never knew me fo bufy in your life, as I am at prefent. You muft not imagine from hence, that I am writing memoirs of myfelf. The fub- ject is too flight to defcend to pofterity, in any other manner, than by that occasional mention which may be made of any little actor in the hiftory of our age. SYLLA, CAESAR, and others of that rank, w re, whilft they lived, at the head of mankind: their ftory was in fome fort the ftory of the B b 4 world, 392 A PLAN for a Let. i. world, and as fuch, might very properly be tranfmitted under their names to future ge- nerations. But for thofe who have afted much inferior parts, if they publifti the piece, and call it after their own names, they are impertinent; if they publifti only their own (hare in it, they inform mankind by halves, and neither give much inftruc- tion, nor create much attention. France abounds with writers of this fort, and, I think, we fall into the other extreme. Let me tell you, on this occafion, what has fometimes come into my thoughts. THERE is hardly any century in hiftory which began by opening fo great a fcene, as the century wherein we live, and mail I fuppofe, die. Compare it with others, even the moft famous, and you will think fo. I will (ketch the two laft, to help your memory. THE lofs of that balance which LAU- RENCE of Medicis had preferved, during his time, in Italy; the expedition of CHARLES the eighth to Naples; the in- trigues of the duke of MILAN, who fpun, with all the refinements of art, that net wherein he was taken at laft himfelf; the fuccefsful dexterity of FERDINAND the Ca- tholic, Let. i. General Hiftory of EUROPE. 393 tholic, who built one pillar of the Auftrian greatnefs in Spain, in Italy, and in the Indies-, as the fuccefiion ot the houfe of Burgundy, joined to the Imperial dignity and the hereditary countries, eftabbfhed another in the upper and lower Germany: thefe caufes, and many others, combined to form a very extraordinary conjuncture ; and, by their confequences, to render the fixteenth century fruitful of great events, and of aftonifhing revolutions. THE beginning of the feventeenth open- ed ftill a greater and more important fcene. The Spanifh yoke was well-nigh impofed on Italy by the famous triumvirate, TOLEDO at Milan, OSSUNA at Naples, and LA CUEVA at Venice. The diftra&ions of France, as well as the ftate-policy of the queen mother, feduced by Rome, and amufed by Spain; the defpicable character of our JAMES the firft, the ramnefs of the elector Palatine, the bad intelligence of the princes and Hates of the league in Germany, the mercenary temper of JOHN GEORGE of Saxony, and the great qualities of MAXI- MILIAN of Bavaria, raifed FERDINAND the lecond to the Imperial throne ; when, the males of the elder branch of the Auftrian family in Germany being extinguiftied at the 394 A PLAN for a Let. i. the death of MATTHIAS, nothing was more, definable, nor perhaps more pradicable, than to throw the empire into another houfe. Germany ran the fame rifque as Italy had done: FERDINAND feemed more likely, even than CHARLES the fifth had been, to become abfolute mafter; and, if France had not furnimed the greateft minifter, and the North the greateft captain, of that age, in the fame point of time, Vienna and Madrid would have given the law to the weftern world. As the Auftrian fcale funk, that of Bour- bon rofe. The true date of the rife of that power, which has made the kings of France fo confiderable in Europe, goes up as high as CHARLES the feventh, and Liwis the eleventh. The weaknefs of our HENRY the fixth, the loofe conduit of EDWARD the fourth, and perhaps the overfights of HENRY the feventh, helped very much to knit that monarchy together, as well as to enlarge if. Advantage might have been taken of the divifions which religion occa- fioned ; and lupporting the proteitanc party in FVance would have kept that crown under reftraints, and under inabilities, in iome meafure equal to thofe which were occafioned anciently -by the vaft alienations of Let. i. General Hiftory of EUROPE. 395 of its demefnes, and by the exorbitant power of itsvaffals. But JAMES the firft was incapable of thinking with fenfe, or acting with fpirit. CHARLES the firft had an imperfect glympfe of his true intereft, but his uxorious temper, and the extrava- gancy of that madman BUCKINGHAM, gave RICHELIEU time to finifli a great part of his project: and the miferies, that followed in England, gave MAZARINE time and op- portunity to complete the fyftem. The laft great act of this cardinal's adminiftration was the Pyrenean treaty. HERE I would begin, by reprefenting the face of Europe fuch as it was at that epocha, the interefts and the conduct of England, France, Spain, Holland, and the empire. A fummary recapitulation fhould follow of all the fteps taken by France, during more than twenty years, to arrive at the great object fhe had propofed to herfelf in making this treaty: the mod folemn article of which the minifter, who negociated it, defigned mould be violated; as appears by his letters, wrote from the Ifland of Pheafants, if I miflake not. After this, another draught of Europe fliould have its place according to the relations, which the fcveral powers ftood in, one to- wards 396 A PLAN for a Let. i. wards another, in one thoufand fix hun- dred and eighty eight: and the alterations which the revolution in England made in the politicks of Europe. A fummary ac- count mould follow of the events of the war that ended in one thoufand fix hun- dred and ninety feven, with the different views of king WILLIAM the third, and LEWIS the fourteenth, in making the peace of Ryfwic; which matter has been much canvafied, and is little underftood. Then the difpofitions made by the partition-trea- ties, and the influences and confequences of thefe treaties; and a third draught of the ftate of Europe at the death of CHARLES the fecond of Spain. All this would make the fubjeftof one or two books, and would be the mod proper introduction imaginable to an hiftory of that war with which our century began, and of the peace which followed. THIS war, forefeen for above half acen- tiry, had been, during all that time, the great and conftant object of the councils of Europe. The prize to be contended for was the richeft that ever had been ftaked, fince thofe of the Perfian and Roman em- pires. The union of two powers, which Separately, and in oppofition, had aimed at Let. i. General Hiftory of EUROPE. 397 at univcrfal monarchy, was apprehended. The confederates therefore engaged in it, to maintain a balance between the two houfes of Auftria and Bourbon, in order to preferve their fecurity, and to aflert their independance. But with the fuccefs of the war they changed their views: and, if ambition began it on the fide of France, ambition continued it on the other. The battles, the fieges, the furprifing revolu- tions, which happened in the courfe of this war, are not to be paralleled in any pe- riod of the fame compafs. The motives, and the meafures, by which it was pro- tracted, the true reafons why it ended in a manner, which appeared not proporti- onable to its fuccefs; and the new political ftate into which Europe was thrown by the treaties of Utrecht and Baden, are fub- je<5ts on which few perfons have the necef- fary informations, and yet every one fpeaks with aflurance, and even with paflion. I think I could fpeak on them with fome knowledge, and with as much indifference as POLYBIUS does of the negociations of his father LYCORTAS, even in thofe points where 1 was myfelf an actor. I WILL even confefs to you, that I (hould not dcfpair of performing this part better than 398 A PLAN for a Let i. than the former. There is nothing in my opinion fo hard to execute, as thofe poli- tical maps, if you will allow me fuch an expreflion, and thofe fyftems of hints, ra- ther than relations of events, which are nccefiary to conned: and explain them; and which muft be Ib concife, and yet fo full; fo complicate, and yet fo clear. I know nothing of this fort well done by the an- cients. SALLUST'S introduction, as well as .that of THUCYDIDES, might ferve almoft for any other piece of the Roman or Greek ftory, as well as for thofe which thefe two great authors chofe. POLYBIUS does not come up, in his introduction, to this idea neither. Among the moderns, the firft book of MACHJAVEL'S Hiftory of Florence is a noble original of this kind : and perhaps father PAUL'S Hiftory of Benefices is, in the fame kind of compofition, inimitable. THESE are a few of thofe thoughts, which come into my mind when 1 confider how incumbent it is on every man, that he fhould be able to give an account even of his leifure; and in the midft of folitude, be of fome ufe to lociety. I KNOW not whether I mall have courage enough to undertake the tafk I have V'C' chalked Let. i. General Hiftory of EUROPE. 399 chalked out: I diftruft my abilities with reafon, and I (hall want feveral informa- tions, not eafy, I doubt, for me to obtain. But, in all events, it will not be poflible for me to go about it this year ; the rea- fon s of which would be long enough to fill another letter, and I doubt that you will think this grown too bulky already. Adieu. OF THE TRUE USE O F RETIREMENT and STUDY: To the Right Honourable LORD B ATHURST. LETTER II. SINCE my laft to your lordfhip, this is the firft favourable opportunity I have had of keeping the promife I made you. I will avoid prolixity, as much as I can, in the firft draught of my thoughts -, but I mufl give you them as they rile in my mind, without ftaying to marfhal them in clofe order. As profid as we are of human reafon, nothing can be more abfurd than the gene- ral fyftem of human life, and human knowledge. This faculty or diftinguifhing true from falfe, right from wrong, and what ^Cc is 402 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. is agreeable, from uat is repugnant, to na- ture, either by one act, or by a longer pro- cefs of intuition, has not been given with fo fparing a hand, as many appearances would make us apt to believe. If it was cultivated, therefore, as early, and as carefully as it might be, and if the exercife of it was left generally as free as it ought to be, our common notions and opinions would be more confonant to truth than they are: and, truth being but one, they would be more uniforrn likewife. BUT this rightful miftrefs of human life and knowledge, whofe proper office it is ro prefide over both, and to direct us in the conduct of one, and the purfuit of the other, becomes degraded in the intellectual ceconomy. She is reduced to a mean and fervile ftate, to the vile drudgery of con- niving at principles, defending opinions, and confirming habits, that are none of hers. They, who do her moft honour, who confult her ofteneft, and obey her too very often, are ibil guilty of limiting her authority according to maxims, and rules, and fchemes, that chance, or ignorance^ or intereft, firft devifed, and that cuftom fanctifies : cuftom, that refult of the paf~ jfipns and prejudices of many, and of the Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY, 403 defigns of a few : that ape of reafon, who ufurps her fear, exrrcifes her power, and is obeyed by mankind in her (lead. Men find it eafy, and government makes it pro- fitable to concur in eftablilhed fyftems of fpeculation and practice: and the whole turn of education prepares them to live upon credit all their lives. Much pains are taken, and time beftowed, to teach us what to think; but little or none of either, to inftruct us how to think. The maga- zine of the memory is ftored and fluffed betimes: but the conduct of the under- ftanding is all along neglected, and the free exercife of it is, in effect, forbid in all places, and in terms in fome. THERE is a llrange diftruft of human reafon in every human inftitution : this dif- truft is fo apparent, that an habitual fub- miflion to fome authority, or other, is forming in us from our cradles: that prin- ciples of reafoning, and matters of fact, are inculcated in our tender minds, before \ve are able to exprefs that reafon, and that, when we are able to exercife it, we are either forbid, or frightened from doing fo, even on things ihat are thcmfelve> the proper objects of reafon, pr that are dcli- Cc 2 vered 404 Of the true Ufe of Let- 2. vered to us upon an authority whofe Effi- ciency or infufficiency is fo moft evidently. ON many fubjecls, fuch as th? general laws of natural religion, and the general rules of fociety and good policy, men of all countries and languages, who cultivate their reafon, judge alike. 1 he iume pre- mifes have kd them to the fame conclu- fions, 'and fo, following the iame guide, they have trod in the lame path: at leafr, the differences are fmall, eafiiy reconciled, and luch as could not of themfelves, con- tradiftinguifh nation from nation, religion from religion, and f 61 from feel. How comes it then, that there are other points, on which the moft oppofite opinions are entertained, and fome of thele with fo much heat, and fury, that the men on one fide of the hedge will die for the affirma- tive, and the men on the other for the ne- gative? " Toute opinion eft aflez forte " pour fe faire epouier au prix de la vie," fays MONTAGNE, whom 1 often quote, as I do SENECA, rather for the Imartnels of ex- prefiion, than the weightornewnelsof matter. Look narrowly into it, and you will find that the points agreed on, and the points difputed, are not proportionable to the common Let 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 405 common fenfe and general reafon of man- kind. Nature and truth are the fame every where, and reafon (hews them every wh'rre alike. But the accidental and other caufes, which give rife and growth to opinions, both in fpeculation and practice, are of in- finite variety ; and where'ever thefe opi- nions are once confirmed by cuftom and propagated by education, various, incon- fiftent, contradictory as they are, they all pretend (and all their pretences are backed by pride, by pafiion, and by intereft) to have reafon, or revelation, or both, on their fide; though neither reafon or revela- tion can be poflibly on the fide of more than one, and may be poflibly on the fide of none. THUS it happens that the people of Tibet are Tartars and idolaters, that they are Turks and Mahometans at Conftantinople. Italians and Papifts at Rome ; and how much foever education may be lefs con- fined, and the means of knowledge more attainable, in France and our own country, yet thus it happens in great meafure that Frenchmen and Roman Catholics are bred at Paris, and Engliihmen and Proteftants at London. For men, indeed, properly fpeaking, are bred no where : every one C c 3 thinks 406 Of the true Ufe of Let, 2. thinks the fyftem, as he fpeaks the lan- guage, of his country, at lealt there are tew that think, and none that act, in any country according to the dictates of pure unbiased reafon ; unlefs they may re fair] to do ib, when reafon directs them to Ipeak and act according to the fyftem of their country, or fed, at the fame time as fhe leads them to think according to that of nature and truth. THUS the far greateft pa r t of mankind appears reduced to a lower Hate than other animals, in that very refpect, on account of which we claim fo great fuperiority over them-, becauie inftinct, that has its due ef- fect, is preferable to reafon that has not. I fuppofe in this place, with phiioiophers, and the vulgar, that which I am in no wife ready to affirm, that other animals have no fhare of human reaion : for, let me fay by the way, it is much more likely other ani- mals mould fhare the human, which is de- nied, than that man mould mare the di- vine reafon, which is affirmed. But, fup- pofing our monopoly of reafon, would not your lordfhip chuie to walk upon four legs, to wear a long tail, and to be called a beaft, with the advantage of being determined by irrefiftible and unerring inftinct to thole truths Let.2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 407 truths that are neceflary to your well-being ; rather than to walk on two legs, to wear no tail, and to be honoured with the tide of man, at the expence of deviating from them perpetually ? Inftinct acts fponta- neoufly whenever it's action is neceflary, and dire<5ls the animal according to the pur- pofe for which it was implanted in him. Reafon is a nobler and more extenfive fa- culty j for it extends to the unneccflary as well as neceffary, and tofatisfy ourcuriofity as well as our wants : but reafon mud be excited, or (he will conduct us wrong, and carry us farther aftray from her own pre- cincts than we fhould go without her hejp: in the firft cafe, we have no fufBcient guide: and in the fecond, the more we employ our reafon, the more unreafonable we are. Now if all this be fo, if reafon has fo little, and ignorance, pafiion, intereft, and cuftom fo much to do, in forming our opinions and our habits, and in directing the whole conduct of human life , is it not a thing defireable by every thinking man, to have the opportunity, indulged to fo few by the courfe of accidents, the oppor- tunity " fecum efie, et fecum vivere," of living fome years at leaft to ourfelves, and C c 4 for 408 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. for ourfelves, in a ftate of freedom, un-' der the laws of reafon, initead of pafling our whole time in a ftate of vaffalage un- der thofe of authority and cuftom ? Is it not worth our while to contemplate our- felves, and others, and all the things of this world, once before we leave them, through the medium of pure, and, if I may fay fo, of undefiled reafon ? Is it not worth our while to approve or condemn, on our own authority, what we receive in the be- ginning of lifeontheauthority of other men, who were not then better able to judge for us, than we are now to judge for ourfelves ? THAT this may be done, and has been done to fome degree, by men who remain- ed much more mingled than I defign to be for the future, in the company and bufi- nefs of the world, I lhall not deny : but ilill it is better done in retreat, and with greater eafe and pleafure. Whilft we re- main in the world, we are ail fettered down, more or lefs, to one common level, and have neither all the leifure, nor all the means and advantages to foar above it, which we may procure to ourfelves, by breaking thefe fetters, in retreat. To talk of abftracling ourfelves from matter, lay- ing afide body, and being refolvcd, as it .. ^ were, Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 409 were, into pure intellect, is proud, meta- phyfical, unmeaning jargon: but to ab- itract ourfelves from the prejudices, and habits, and pleafures, and bufmefs of the world, is no more than many are, though all are not, capable of doing. They who can. do this, may elevate their fouls in retreat to an higher ftation, and may take from thence fuch a view of the world, as the fe- cond SCIPIO took in his dream, from the feats of the blefled, when the whole earth appeared fo little to him, that he could fcarce difcern that fpeck of dirt, the Ro- man empire. Such a view as this will encreafe our knowledge by mewing us our ignorance-, will diftinguim every degree of probability from the loweft to the high- eft, and mark the diftance between that and certainty, will difpel the intoxicating fumes of philofophical prefumption, and teach us to eftablifh our peace of mind, where alone it can reft fecurely, in refig- nation: in fhort, fuch a view will render life more agreeable, and death lefs terrible. Is not this bufmefs, my lord? Is not this pleafure too, the higheft pleafure ? The world can afford us none fuch; we muft re- tire from the world to tafte it with a full guft; but we (hall tafte it the better for having been in the world. The {hare of fenfual 4io Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. fenfual pleafures, that a man of my age can promife himfelf, is hardly worth atten- tion : he mould be fated, he will be foon difabledi and very little reflexion lurely will fuffice, to make his habits of this kind lofe their power over him, in proportion at leait as his power of indulging then' di- minimes. Befides, your lordfliip knows that my fcheme of retirement excludes none of thefe plealures that can be taken with decency and conveniency, and to fay the truth, I believe that I allow myfelf more in fpeculation, than I fhall find I want in practice. As to the habits of bufinefs, they can have no hold on one who has been io long tired with it. You may object, that though a man has difcarded thefe habits, and has not even the embers of ambition about him to revive them, yet he cannot renounce all public bufinefs as abfolutely as I feem to do-, becaule a better principle, a principle of duty, may fummon him to the fervice of his country. I will anfwer you with great lincerhy. No man has higher notions of this duty than I have, I think that fcarce any age, or circum- flances can difcharge us entirely frctn it; no, not my own. " But as we are apt to take the impulfe of our own pafnons, for a call to the performance of this duty , fo vvhen Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 411 when thefe pafllons impel us no longer, the call that puts us upon a<5bion muft be real, and loud too. Add to this, that there are different methods, proportioned to different circumftances and fituations, of performing the fame duty. In the midft of retreat, wherever it may be fixed, I may contribute to defend and pre- ferve the Britifh conftitution of govern- ment: and you, my lord, may depend upon me, that whenever I can, I will. Should any one afk you, in this cafe, from whom I expect my reward? Anfwer him by declaring to whom I pay this fervice; ' Deo immortali, qui me non accipere " modo hasc a majoribus voluit, fed etiani " pofteris prodere." BUT, to lead the life I propofe with fa- tisfa&ion and profit, renouncing the plea- fnres and bufinefs of the world, and break- ing the habits of both, is not fufficient: the fupine creature whole understanding is fuperficially employed, through life, about a few general notions, and is never bent to a clofe and fteady purfuit of truth, may renounce the pleafures and bufinefs of the world, for even in the bufinefs of the world we fee fuch creatures often employed, and may break the habits; nay he may re- ' tire 412 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. tire and drone away life in folitude, like a monk, or like him over the door of whofe houfe, as if his houfe had been his tomb, fomebody wrote, " Here lies foch an one.'* But no fuch man will be able to make the true ufe of retirement. The employment of his mind, that would have been agree- able and eafy if he had accuftomed himfelf to it early, will be unpleafant and imprac- ticable late: fuch men lofe their intellectual powers for the want of exerting them, and, having trifled away youth, arc reduced to the necefiity of trifling away age. It fares with the mind juft as it does with the body. He who was born with a texture of brain as ftrong as that of NEWTON, may become unable to perform the common rules of arithmetic : juft as he who has the fame elafticity in his mufcles, the lame fupple- nefs in his joints, and all his nerves and finews as well braced as JACOB HALL, may become a fat unwieldy fluggard. Yet far- ther, the implicit creature, who has thought it all his life needlefs, or unlawful, to exa- mine the principles or facts that he took originally on truft, will be as little able as the other, to improve his folitude to any good purpofe : unlcfs we call it a good pur- pofe, for that fomctimes happens, to con- firm and exalt his prejudices, fo that he Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 413 he may live and die in one continued deli- rium. The confirmed prejudices of a thoughtful life are as hard to change as the confirmed habits of an indolent life: and as fome muft trifle away age becaufe they have trifled away youth, others muft labour on in a maze of error, becaufe they have wandered there too long to find their way out. THERE is a prejudice in China in favour of little feet, and therefore the feet of girls are fwathed and bound up from the cradle, fo that the women of that country are un- able to walk without tottering and Humb- ling all their lives. Among the favages of America, there are fome who hold flat heads and long ears in great efteem, and therefore prefs the one, and draw down the others fo hard from their infancy, that they deftroy irrecoverably the true propor- tions of nature, and continue all their lives ridiculous to every fight but their own. Juft fo, the firft of thefe characters cannot make any progrds, and the fecond will not attempt to make any, in an impartial fearch after real knowledge. To fet about acquiring the habits of meditation and (Hidy late in life, is like getting 414 Of the true Ufe of Let, 2. getting into a go-cart with a grey beard, and learning to walk when we have loft the ufe of our legs. In general the foun- dations of an happy old age muft be laid in youth : and in particular he who has not cultivated his reafon young, will be ut- terly unable to improve it old " Manent " ingenia fenibus, modo psrrnaneant ftu- ' dium et induftria." Not only a love of ftudy, and a defire of knowledge, muft have grown up with us, but fuch an induftrious application like- wife, as requires the whole vigour of the mind to be exerted in the purfuit of truth, through long trains of ideas, and all thofc dark receffes wherein man, not God, has hid it. ~"Jv THIS love and this defire I have felt all my life, and I am not quite a ftranger to this induftry and application. There has been fomething always ready to whifper in rny ear, whilft I ran the courfeof pleafure and of bufmefs, " Solve fenefcentem mature fanus equum." BUT my Genius, unlike the demon of SOCRATES, whifpered fo foftly, that very often Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 415 often I heard him not, in the hurry of thofe paffions by which I was tranfported. Some calmer hours tnere were: in them I heark- ened to him. Reflection had often it's turn, and the love of ftudy and the defire of knowledge have never quite abandoned me. 1 am not therefore entirely unprepared for the life I wiHjead, and it is not with- out reafon that f promife myfelf more fatis- faclion in the latter part of it, than I ever knew in the former. YOUR lordfhip may think this perhaps a little too fanguine, for one who has loft fo much time already: you may put me in mind, that human life has no fecond fpring, no fecond fummer : you may a(k me, what I mean by fowing in autumn, and whether I hope to reap in winter? My an- fwer will be, that I think very differently from moft men, of the time we have to pafs, and the bufinefs we have to do in this world. I think we have more of one, and lefs of the other, than is commonly fuppofed. Our want of time, and the fhortnefs of human life, are fome of the principal common-place complaints, which we prefer againft the eftablimed order of things: they are the grumblings of the vul- gar, and the pathetic lamentations of the philo- 4i 6 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. philofopher; but they are impertinent and impious in both. The man of bufmefs de- fpifes the man of pleafure, for fquander- ing his time away; the man of pleafure pities or laughs at the man of bufmefs, for the fame thing : and yet both concur fuperci- lioufly and abfurdly to find fault with the Supreme Being, for having giver, them fo little time. The philofophtv, who mif- pends it very often as much as the others, joins in the fame cry, and authorises this impiety. THEOPHRASTUS thought it ex- tremely hard to die at ninety, and to go out of the world when he had juft learned how to live in it. His mafter ARISTOTLE found fault with nature, for treating man in this refpecl worfe than feveral other ani- mals : both very unphilofophically ! and I love SENECA the better for his quarrel with the Stagirue on this head. We fee, in fo many instances, a juft proportion of things, according to their feveral relations to one another, that philofophy fhould lead us to conclude this proportion preferved, even where we cannot difcern it; inftead of leading us to conclude that it is not pre- ferved where we do not difcern it, or where we think that we fee the contrary. To conclude otherwife, is mocking pre- fumption. It is to prefume that the fyftem of Let. 2. RETIREMENT and STUDY. 417 of the univerfe would have been more wife- ly contrived, if creatures of our low rank among intellectual natures had been called to the councils of the Moft High: or that the Creator ought to mend his work by the advice of the creature. That life which feems to our felf-love fo fhort, when we compare it with the ideas we frame of eter- nity, or even with the duration of fome other beings will appear fufficient, upon a lefs partial view, to all the ends of our creation, and of a juft proportion in the fucceffi ve courfe of generations. The term itfelf is long: we render it fhort; and the want we complain of flows from our pro- fufion, not from our poverty. We are all arrant fpendthrifts: lome of us diffipate our eftates on the trifles, fome on the fuper- fluities, and then we all complain that we want the necefiarics of life. The much greateft part never reclaim, but die bank- rupts to GOD and man. Others reclaim late, and they are apt to imagine, when they make up their accounts and fee how their fund is diminimed, that they have not enough remaining to live upon, becaufe they have not the whole. But they deceive themfelves : they were richer than they thought, and they are not yet poor. If they hulband well the remainder, it will be D d found 4i 8 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. found fufficient for all the necefiaries, and for fome of the fuperfluities, and trifles too perhaps, of life: but then the former or- der of expence muft be inverted; and the neceflaries of life muft be provided, before they put themfelves to any coft for the trifles or fuperfluities. LET us leave the men of pleafure and of bufinefs, who are often candid enough to own that they throw away their time, and thereby to confefs that they complain of the Supreme Being for no other reafon than this, that he has not proportioned his boun- ty to their extravagance: let us confider the fcholar and the philofopher; who, far from owning that he throws any time away, reproves others for doing it: that folemn mortal, who nbftains from the pleafures, and declines the bufinefs of the world, that he may dedicate his whole time to the fearch of truth, and the improvement of know- ledge. When fuch an one complains of the fhortnefs of human life in general, or of his remaining fhare in particular; might not a man, more realbnable, though lefs lolemn, expoftuiate thus with him? *' Your complaint is indeed confident " with your pradlice; but you would nor, poflibly, Let. 2. RETIREMENT and S^UDV, 419 " pofiibly, renew your complaint if you " reviewed your practice. Though reading " makes a fcholar ; yet every fcholar is " not a philofopher, nor every philofopher *' a wife man. It coft you twenty years to " devour all the volumes on one fide of '* your library: you came out a great critic " in Latin and Greek, in the oriental *' tongues, in hiftory and chronology , but " you was not fatisfied ; you confelTcd that " thefe were the " liters nihil fanantes ;" " and you wanted more cime to acquire c< other knowledge. You have had this "time: you have pafled twenty years " more on the other fide of your library, " among philofophers, rabbies, commen- " tators, fchoolmen, and whole legions of * modern doctors. You are extremely ' well verfed in all that has been written c concerning the nature of GOD, and of c the foul of man ; about matter and form, 1 body and fpirit - t and fpace, and eternal ' eflences, and incorporeal fubftances ; ' and4:he reft of thofe profound fpecula- c tions. You are a mafter of the contro- 1 verfies that have ariien about nature * and grace, about predeftination and free- ' will, and all the other abftrule queflions ' that have made fo much noife in the ' fchools, and done fo much hurt in the . D d 2 " world. 420 Of the true Ufe of Let. 2. ' world. You are going on, as faft as " the infirmities you have contracted ' will permit, in the fame courfe of ftudy ; " but you begin to forefee that you pofed upon by any lame and un- equal tranflation, of the following trea- tife, from the French, in which lan- guage part of it has been lately printed, and retailed in a monthly Mercury ; it is^ judged proper to add it here, at the end of this volume, from the author's original manufcript, as he himfelf had finifhed ic for the prefs. REFLECTIONS UPON >E X I L E. * MDCC XVI. DISSIPATION of mind, and length of time, are the remedies to which the greateft part of mankind truft in their afflictions. But the firlt of thefe works a temporary, the fecond, a flow, effect: and both are unworthy of a wife man. Are we to fly from ourfelres that we may fly from our misfortunes, and fondly to ima- tine that the difeafe is cured becaufe we nd means to get fome moments of refpite from pain? Or fhall we expect from time, the phyfician of brutes, a lingering and * Several paflages of this little treatife are taken from SENECA: and the whole is wrote with fome aliufion to his ftyle and manner, " quanquam non " omnino temere fit, quod de fententiis iilius que- " ritur Fabius," &c. ERAS. Defen .juj. E e uncertain 434 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. uncertain deliverance? Shall we wait to be happy till' we can forget that we are mife- rable, and owe to the weaknefs of our fa- culties a tranquillity which ought to be the effect of their ftrength? Far otherwife. Let us fet all our paft and our prefent af- flictions at once before our eyes.* Let us reiblve to overcome them, inftead of flying from them, or wearing out the fenfe of them by long and ignominious patience, Inftead of palliating remedies, let us ufe the incifion knife and the cauftic, fearch the wound to the bottom, and work an im- mediate and radical cure. THE recalling of former misfortunes ferves to fortify the mind againft later. He muft blufti to fink under the anguifh of one wound, who furveys a body feamed over with the fears of many, and who has come victorious out of all the conflicts wherein he received them. Let fighs, and tears, and fainting under the lighted ftrokes of adverfe fortune, be the portion of thofe unhappy people whofe tender minds a long courfe of felicity has enervated : while fuch, as have pafled through years of calamity, * SEN. De con. ad Hel. bear REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 435 bear up, with a noble and immoveable conftancy, againft the heavieft. Uninter- rupted mifery has this good effect, as it continually torments, it finally hardens. SUCH is the language of philofophy : and happy is the man who acquires the right of" holding ir. But this right is not to be acquired by pathetic difcourfe. Our con- duel can alone give it us: and therefore, inftead of prefuming on our ftrength, the fureft method is to confefs our weaknefs, and, without lofs of time, to apply our- felves to the ftudy of wifdom. This was the advice which the oracle gave to ZENO,* and there is no other way of fecuring our tranquillity amidft all the accidents to which human life is expofed. Philofophy has, I know, her THRASOS, as well as War:, and among her fons many there have been, who., while they aimed at being more than men, became fomething lefs. The means of preventing this danger are eafy and fure. It is a good rule, to examine well before we addictourfelves to any feet: but I thinlc it is a better rule, to addict ourlelves to none. Let us hear them all, with a per- fect indiiferency on which fide the truth * DIOG. LAERT. Ee 2 lies: 436 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. lies: and when we come to determine, let nothing appear fo venerable to us as our own underftandings. Let us gratefully ac- cept the help of every one who has endea- voured to correct the vices, and ftrengthen the minds of men; but let us chufe for ourfelves, and yield univerfal aflent to none. Thus, that I may inftance the feel: already mentioned, when we have laid afide the wonderful and furprifing fentences, and all the paradoxes of the Portique, we (hall find in that fchool fuch doctrines as our un- prejudiced reafon fubmits to with pleafure, as nature dictates, and as experience con- firms. Without this precaution, we run the rifque of becoming imaginary kings, and real flaves. With it, we may learn to affertour native freedom, and live indepen- dent on fortune. IN order to which great end, it is necef- fary that we (land watchful, as centinels, to difcovcr the fecret wiles and open attacks of this capricious goddels, before they reach us.* Where (he falls upon us un- expected, it is hard to refift-, but thole who wait for her, will repel her with eale. The Hidden invafion of an enemy over- * SEN. Decon ad He!. throws REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 437 throws fuch as are not on their guard ; but they who fore-fee the war, and prepare themfelves for it before it breaks out, ftand, without difficulty, the firft and the fierceft onfet. I learned this important leflbn long ago, and never trufted to fortune, even while me feemed to be at peace with me. The riches, the honours, the repu- tation, and all the advantages which her treacherous indulgence poured upon me, I placed fo, that me might fnatch them away without giving -me any dif- turbance. I kept a great interval between me and them. She took them, but Ihe could not tear them from me. No man fuffers by bad fonune, but he who has been deceived by good. If we grow fond of her gifts, fancy that they belong to us, and are perpetually to remain with us, if we Jean upon them, and expert to be confidered for them; we mall fink into all the bitter- nefs of grief, as foon as thefe falfe and tranfitory benefits pafs away, as foon as our vain and childifh minds, unfraught with folid pleafures, become deftitute even of thofe which are imaginary. But, if we do not differ ourfelves to be tranfported by profperity, neither (hall we be reduced by advcrfity. Our fouls will be of proof againft the dangers of both thefe fhtes: Ee 3 nd, 438 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. and, having explored our ftrength, we (hall be fure of it , for in the midft of fe- licity, we (hall have tried how we can bear misfortune. IT is much harder to examine and judge, than to take up opinions on truft; and therefore the far greateft part of the world borrow from others, thole which they en- tertain concerning all the affairs of life and death.* Hence it proceeds that men are io unanimoufly eager in the purfuit of things, which far from having any inhe- rent real good, are varnifhed over with a fpecious and deceitful glofs, and contain nothing anfwerable to their appearances.-f Hence it proceeds, on the other hand, that, in thofe tilings which are called evils, there is nothing fo hard and terrible as the gene- ral cry of the world threatens. The word exile comes indeed harm to the ear, and ilrikes us like a melancholy and execrable found, through a certain perfuafion which men have habitually concurred in. Thus the multitude has ordained. But the greatelt Dum unufquifque mavu.1t credere, quam judi- , nunquam de vita judicaiur, Temper creditur. BEN. De vita beat. t SEN. De con. ad Hel. part care REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 439 part of their ordinances are abrogated by the wife. REJECTING therefore the judgment of thofe who determine according to popular opinions, or the firft appearances of things, let us examine what exile really is.* It is, then, a change of place-, and, left you mould fay that I diminim the object, and conceal the mod (hocking parts of it, I add, that this change of place is frequent- ly accompanied by fome or all of the fol- lowing inconveniences: by the lofs of the eftate which we enjoyed, and the rank which we held; by the lofs of that confi- deration and power which we were in pof- fefiion of-, by a feparation from our family and our friends-, by the contempt which we may fall into; by the ignominy with which thofc who have driven us abroad, will endeavour to fully the innocence of our characters, and to juftify the injuftice of their own conduct. ALL thefe fhall be fpoke to hereafter. In the mean while, let us confider what evil there is, in change of place, abftract- edly and by itfelf. * SEN. de cOn. ad Hel. Ee 4 To 440 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. To live deprived of one's country is in- tolerable.* Is it fo? How comes it then to pafs, that fuch numbers of men live out of their countries by choice ? Obferve how the ftreets of London and of Paris are crowded. Call over thofe millions by name, and afk them one by one, of what country they are: how many will you find, who, from different parts of the earth, come to inhabit thefe great cities, which afford the largeft opportunities, and the largeft en- couragement, to virtue and to vice ? Some are drawn by ambition, and fome are lent by duty; many refort thither to improve their minds, and many to improve their fortunes-, others bring their beauty, and others their eloquence, to market, Re- move from, hence, and go to the utmoft extremities of the Eaft or the Weft: vifit the barbarous nations of Africa, or the in- hofpitable regions of the North: you will find no climate fo bad, no country fo fa- vage, as not to have fome people who come from abroad, and inhabit there by choice. AMONG numberlefs extravagancies which have pafied through the minds of men, we * SEN. De con, ad Hel. may REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 441 may juftly reckon for one that notion of a fecret affection, independent of our reafon, and fuperior to our reafon, which we are fnppofed to have for our country ; as if there were tome phyfical virtue in every fpot of ground, which necefTarily produced this effect in every one born upon it. *' Amor patrias ratione valentior omni.* As if the heimvei was an univerfal diftem- per, infeparable from the conftitution of an human body, and not peculiar to the Swifs, who leem to have been made for their mountains, as their mountains leem to have been made for them.J This no- tion may have contributed to the fecurity and grandeur of ftates. It has therefore been not un-artfully cultivated, and the pre- judice of education has been with care put on it's fide. Men have come in this cafe, as in many, from believing that it ought to be fo, to perfuade others, and even to be- lieve themfelves that it is fo. FROCOPIUS relates that ABGARUS came to Rome, and gained the efteem and friendfliip of AU- GUSTUS to iuch a degree, that this emperor could not refolve to let him return home: * Ov. De Ponto, El. iv. f Card. BENTI. Lee. that 442 REFLECTIONS, upon EXILE. that ABGARUS brought feveral beafts, which he had taken one day in hunting, alive to AUGUSTUS: that he placed in different parts of the Circus lome of the earth which belonged to the places where each of thefe animals had been caught ; that as foon as this was done, and they were turned loofe every one of them ran to that corner where his earth lay ; that AUGUSTUS, admiring their icntiment of love for their country which nature has graved in the hearts of beafts, and ftruck by the evidence of the truth, granted the requeft which ABGARUS immediately prefied upon him, and allow- ed, though with regret, the tetrarch to return to Edefla. But this tale deferves juft as much credit as that which follows in the fame place, or the letter of ABGARUS to JESUS CHRIST, of our Saviour's anfwer, and of the cure of ABGARUS. There is nothing, furely, more groundlefs than the notion here advanced, nothing more ab- furd. We love the country in which we are born, becaufe we receive particular be- nefits from it, and becaufe we have parti- cular obligations to it: which ties we may have to another country, as well as to that we are born in-, to our country by election, as well as to our country by birth. In all other refpecls, a wife man looks on him- feif REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 443 felf as a citizen of the world : and, when you afk him where his country lies, points, like ANAXAGORAS with his finger to the heavens. THERE are other perfons, again, who have imagined that as the whole univerfc iuffers a continual rotation, and nature ieems to delight in it, or to preferve her- klf by it, fo there is in the minds of men, a natural reftleffnefs, which inclines them to change of place, and to the fhifting their habitations.* This opinion has at leaft an appearance of truth, which the other wants; and is countenanced, as the other is contradicted, by experience. But, what- ever the reafons be, which muft have varied infinitely in an infinite number of cafes, and an immenfe fpace of time; true it is in fad, that the families and nations of the world have been in a continual fluctuation, roaming about on the face of the globe, driving and driven out by turns. What a number of colonies has Afia fent into Europe! The Phoenicians planted the coafts of the Mediterranean fea, and pumed their fettlements even into the ocean. The Etrurians were of Afiatic extraction ; * SEN. De con. ad Hel. and, 444 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. and, to mention no more, the Romans, thole lords of the world, acknowledged a Trojan exile for the founder of their em- pire. How many migrations have there been, in return to thefe, from Europe into Alia? They would be endlefs to enumerate; for, bcfides the ^Eolic, the Ionic, and others of aimed equal fame, the Greeks, during feveral ages, made continual expeditions, and built cities in feveral parts of Afia. The Gauls penetrated thither too, and eftablifhed a kingdom. The European Scythians over-ran thefe vaft provinces, and carried their arms to the confines of Egypt. ALEXANDER fubdued all from the Hellefpont to India, and built towns, and eftablifhed colonies, to fecure his con- quefts, , and to eiernife his name. From both thefe parts of the world Africa has received inhabitants and matters; and what Ihe has received me has given. The Ty- rians built the city, and founded the re- public, of Carthage-, the Greek has been the language of .^Egypt. In the remoteft antiquity we hear of BELUS in Chaldasa, and of SESOSTRIS planting his tawny colo- nies in Colchos: and Spain has been, in theie later ages, under the dominion of Moors. If we turn to Runic hiftory, we find our fathers, the Goths, led by WODEN and REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 445 and by THOR, their heroes firft, and their divinities afterwards, from the Afiatic Tar- tary into Europe: and who can afiure us that this was their firft migration? They came into Afia perhaps by the tall, from that continent to which their fons have lately failed from Europe by the weft: and thus in the procefs of three or four thou- fand years, the fame race of men have pufh- ed their conquefts and their habitations round the globe-, at lead this may be fup- pofed, as reafonably as it is fuppofed, I think by GROTIUS, that America was peo- pled from Scandinavia. The world is a great wilderneis, wherein mankind have wandered and joftled one another about from the creation. Some have removed by neceflity, and others by choice. One nation has been foncl of feizing what ano- ther was tired of poflefTing: and it will be difficult to point out the country which is to this day in the hands of it's firft inhabi- tants. THUS fate has ordained that nothing (hall remain long in the fame (late: and what are all thefe tranfportations of people, but fo many public exiles? VARRO, the moft learned of the Romans, thought, fince 446 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. fince Nature* is the fame wherever we go, that this fingle circumftance was fufficient to remove all objections to change of place, taken by itfelf, and ftripped of the other inconveniencies which attend exile. M. BRUTUS thought it enough that thofe, who go into banimment, cannot be hindered from carrying their Virtue along with them. Now if any one judge that each of thefe comforts is in itfelf inefficient, he muft however confefs that both of them joined together, are able to remove the terrors of exile. For what trifles muft all we leave behind us be efteemed, in comparifon of the two moft precious things which men can enjoy, and which, we are fure, will follow us wherever we turn our fteps, the fame Nature, and our proper Virtue?-}- Believe me, the providence of God has eftablilhed fuch an order in the world, that of all which belongs to us the lead valuable parts can alone fall under the will of others. Whatever is beft, is fafeft; lies out of the reach of human power j can neither be given nor taken away. Such is this great and beautiful work of nature, the world. Such is the mind of man, which contemplates * SEN. Decon.adt^el. fib. and REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 447 and admires the world whereof it makes the nobleft part. Thefe are infeparably ours, and as long as we remain in one we fhall enjoy the other. Let us march there- fore intrepidly wherever we are led by the courfe of human accidents. Wherever they lead us, on what coaft foever we arc thrown by them, we (hall not find our- felves abiblutely ftrangers. We mail meet with men and women, creatures of the fame figure, endowed with the fame facul- ties, and born under the fame laws of na- ture. We fhall fee the fame virtues and vices, flowing from the fame general prin- ciples, but varied in a thoufand different and contrary modes, according to that infinite variety of laws and cuftoms which is eftablimed for the fame univerfal end, the prefervation of fociety. We (hall feel the fame revolution of feafons, and the fame fun and moon* will guide the courfe of our year. The fame azure vault, be- fpangled with ftars, will be every where * PLUT. Of banifhment. He compares thofe who cannot live out of their own country, to the fimple people who fancied that the moon or Athens was a finer moon than that ef Corinth. . labentem ccelo qua: ducitis annum. V IRC. Georg. fpread 448 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. fpread over our heads. There is no part of the world from whence we may not ad- mire thofe planets which roll, like ours, in different orbits round the fame central fun; from whence we may not difcover an ob- ject ftill more ftupendous, that army of fixed ftars hung up in the immenfe fpace of the univerfe, innumerable funs whofe beams enlighten and cherifh the unknown worlds which roll around them: and whilft I am ravifhed by fuch contemplations as thefe, whilft my foul is thus raifed up to heaven, it imports me little what ground I tread upon. BRUTUS,* in the book which he wrote on virtue, related that he had feen MAR- CELLUS in exile at Mitylene, living in all the happinefs which human nature is ca- pable of and cultivating with as much afliduity as ever, all kinds of laudable knowledge. He added that this fpectacle made him think that it was rather he who went into banUhment, fince he was to re- turn without the other, than the other who remained in it. O MARCELLUS, far more happy when BRUTUS approved thy exile, than when the commonwealth approved * SEN. Decon. ad Hel. thy REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 449 thy confulfhip! How great a man muft thou have been to extort admiration from, him who appeared an object of admiration even to his own CATO ! the fame BRUTUS reported further, that CAESAR overfhot Mirylene, becaufe he could not (land the fight of MARCELLUS reduced to a ftate fo unworthy of him. His reftoration was at length obtained by the public intercefTion of the whole fen ate, who were dejecled with grief to fuch a degree, thst they feemed all upon this occaiion to have the fame fentiments with BRUTUS, and to be fuppliants for themfelves, rather than for MARCELLUS.* This was to return with honour : but furely he remained abroad with greater, when BRUTUS could notrefolveto leave him, nor C^SAR to fee him; for both of them bore witnefs of his merit. BRU- TUS grieved, and C^SAR blulhed to go to Rome without him. Q^ METELLUS NUMIDICUS had under- gone the fame fate fome years before, while the people, who are always the iureft in- * MARCELLUS was affaffinated at Athens, in his return home, by CHILO, an old friend and fellow- foldier of his. The motive of CHILO 5s not ex- plained in hiftory. CAESAR was fufpeiled, but he leems to be juflified by the opinion of BKUTUS. F f flrumencs 450 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. ftruments of their own fervitude, were lay- ing under the conduct of MARIUS, the foundations of that tyranny which was perfected by CJESAR. METELLUS alone, in the midft of an intimidated fenate, and outrageous multitude, refufed to fwear to the pernicious laws of the tribune SATUR- NINUS. His conftancy became his crime, and exile his punimment. A wild and lawlefs faction prevailing againft him, the beft men of the city armed in his defence, and were ready to lay down their lives that they might preferve fo much virtue to their country. But he, having failed to perfuade, thought it not lawful to conftrain. He judged in the phrenfy of the Roman com- monwealth, as PLATO judged in the do- tage of the Athenian. METELLUS knew, that if his fellow citizens amended, he fhould be recalled ; and if they did not amend, he thought he could be no where worfe than at Rome. He went volunta- rily into exile, and wherever he pafled he carried the fure fymptom of a fickly (late, and the certain prognoftic of an expiring commonwealth. What temper he conti- nued in abroad will beft appear by a frag- ment of one of his letters which GELLIUS,* * Lib, xvii. cap. 2. in REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 451 in a pedantic compilation of phrafes ufecl by the annalift Q^CLAUDIUS, has prtfeived for the fake of the word frunifcor. " Illi " vero omni jure atque honeflate inter- " dicti : ego nequeaqua neque ignc careo: " et fumma gloria frunifcor." Happy ME- TELLUS ! happy in the confcience of thy own virtue! happy in thy pious fun, and in that excellent friend who rckmbled thee in merit and in fortune ! RUTILIUS had defended Afia againft the extortions of the publicans, according to the ftrict juftice of which he made profef- fion, and to the particular duty of his office. The equeftrian order were upon this account his enemies, and the Marian faction was fo of couffe, on account of his probity, as well as out of hatred to iMETEL- LUS. The moft innnocent man of the city was accufed of corruption. The beft man was profecuted by the worft, by API- crus; a name dedicated to infamy.* 1 hole who had ftirred up the falfe acculation, fat as judges, and pronounced the unjult fen- tence againft him. He hardly deigned to * There was another APICIUS, in the reign of TIBERIUS, famous for his gluttony; and a third in the time of TRAJAN. F f 2 defend 452 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. defend his caufe, but retired into the Eaft, where that Roman virtue, which Rome could not bear, was received with honour.* Shall RUTILIUS now be deemed unhappy, v/hen they who condemned him are, for that action, delivered down as criminals to all future generations ? when he quitted his country with greater eafe than he would fuffer his exile to finim ? when he alone clurft refufe the dictator SYLLA, and being recalled home, not only declined to g<>, but fled farther off? WHAT do yon propofe, it may be faid, by thefe examples, multitudes of which are to he collected from the memorials of former ages ? I propofe to mew that as change of place, fimply confidered, can render no man unhappy, fo the other evils which are objected to exile; either cannot happen to wife and virtuous men ; or, if they do happen to them, cannot render them miferable. Stones are hard, and cakes of ice are cold : and all who feel them, feel them alike.-]- But the good or the bad events, which fortune brings upon us, are felt according to what qualities we, not they, have. They are in themfelves in- * SEN. L. De prov. cap. 3. f PLUT. en exile. ; different REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. different and common accidents, and they acquire Strength by nothing buc our vice or our weakneis. Fortune can difpenfe nei- ther felicity nor infelicity unlefs we co-ope- rate with her. Few men, who are unhappy under the lof? of an eftate, would be hap- py in the pofiefllon of it : and thofe, who deferve to enjoy the advantages which exile takes away, will not be unhappy when they are deprived of them. IT grieves me to make an exception to this rule-, but TULLY was one fo remark- ably, that the example can be neither con- cealed, nor pafied over. This great man, who had been the faviour of his country, who had feared in the fupportof that caufe, neither the infults of a delperate party, nor the daggers of aflaflins, when he came to fuffer for the fame caufe, funk under the weight. He diihonoured that banifhment which indulgent providence meant to be the means of rendering his glory complete. Uncertain where he mould go, or what he mould do, fearful as a woman, and froward as a child, he lamented the lofs of his rank, of his riches, and of his fplendid popularity. His eloquence ferved only to paint his ig- nominy in ftronger colours. He wept over the ruins of his fine houfe which CLODIUS F f 3 had 454 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. had demolifhed : and his reparation from TERENTJA, whom he repudiated not long afterwards, was perhaps an afflidion to him at this time. Every thing becomes intolerable to the rmn \vho is once fub- dued by grief. * He regrets what he took no pleafure in enjoying, and, overloaded already, he (hrinks at the weight of a fea- ther CIDERO'S behaviour, in fhort, was iuch that his friends, as well as his enemies, believed him to have loft his fenfes.f CAESAR beheld, with a fecret fatisfacticn, the man, who had refufed to be his litute- nsnt, weeping under the rod of CLODIUS. POMPEY hoped 10 find fome excufe for his own ingratitude in the contempt which the friend, whom he had abandoned, expofed himfeif to. Nay ATTICUS judged him tco meanly attached to his former fortune, and reproached him for it. ATTICUS, whofe great talents were ufury and trimming, who placed his principal merit in being rich, and who would have b-en nored with infamy at Athens, for keeping well with all fides, and venturing on none : even * Mitto caetera intclerabilia Etenim fletu impe- dior. L. iii. Ad Attic, ep. 10. f Tarn fape, et tarn vehementer objurgas, et ani- n>r> infirmo eff? dicis. Ib. i'LL-r. Vit. Solon.- ATTICUS REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 455 ATTICUS blufhcd for TULLY, and the raotl plaufible man alive affumed the ftyle of CATO. I HAVE dwelt the longer on this inftance becaufe, whilft it takes nothing from the truth which has been eftablimed, it teaches us another of great importance. Wife men are certainly fuperior to all the evils of exile. But in a ftrict fenfe, he, who has left any one paflion in his foul unfubdued, will not deferve that appellation. It is not enough that we have ftudied all the duties of pub- lic and private life, that we are perfectly acquainted with them, and that we live up to them in the eye of the world: a paf- fion that lies dormant in the heart, and has efcaped our fcrutiny, or which we have obferved and indulged as venal, or which we have perhaps encouraged, as a principle to excite and to aid our virtue, may one time or other deftroy our tranquillity, and disgrace our whole character. When. virtue has fteeled the mind on every fide, we arc invulnerable on every fide: but ACHILLES was wounded in the heel. The Icaft part, overlooked or neglected, may expofe us to receive a mortal blow. Rea- fon cannot obtain the abfolute dominion of our fouls by one victory. Vice has many F f 4 rdcrvcs, 456 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. referves, which mud be beaten; many ftrong holds, which muft be forced-, and we may be found of proof in many trials, without twdng fo in all. We may refift the fevered, and yield to the weakeft at- tacks of fortune. We may have got the tetter of avarice, the moil epidemical difeafe of the mind, and yet be flaves to ambition.* We may have purged our iouls of the fear of death, and yet fome other fear may venture to lurk behind. This was the cafe of CICERO. Vanity was his cardinal vice.-}- It had, 1 queftiun not, warmed his zeal, quickened his in- duftry, animated the love of his country, ami iupported his conftancy againft CATI- LINE : but it gave to CLODIUS an entire victory over him. He was not afraid to * SENECA fays the contrary of all this, according to the floical fyllem, which however he departs from on many occa.lon?. Si contra unam quamlibet " partem fortune fatis tibi rcboris efl, idem adver- " (as omnes erit. Si avaritia dimifir, vehementiili- " ma generis humani peftis, moram tibi ambitionon " faciet." Si ultimum diem, &c. De con. ad Hel. Not) finoula vitia ratio, fed pariter omnia pro- fternit. in univerfum femel vincitur. Ibid. Nee audacem quidem timoris abfolvimus ; ne pr( viiginr. quidem av^ritia liberamus. De Benef. J , ; v . i v . c . 2 7 . Qji iiutciTi habct vitium unum, habet omnia. IB. 1.. v. c. 15. f In aniino autem ploriis cupido, qualis fuit Ci- cerunis, p uiimum poitil. Vel. Pat. L. i. die REFLECTIONS upon EXILF. 457 die, and part with eftate, rank, honour, and every thing which he lamented the lofs of: but he was afraid to live deprived of them. " Ut vivus hasc amitterem.*" He would probably have met death on this occafion with the lame firmnefs with which he laid to POPILIUS LAENUS, his client and his murderer, " Approach, veteran, and, " if at leaft thou canft do this well, cut * off my head." But he could not bear to fee himfelf, and to be feen by others, ftripped of thofe trappings which he was accuftomed to wear. This made him break out into fo many fhameful expref- fions. " Poffum oblivifci qui fuerim ? tc non fentire qui fim ? quo caream honore, " qua gloria ?" And fpeaking of his brother "Vitavi ne viderem; ne aut il- 44 lius luctum fqualoremque afpicerem, aut " me, quern ille florentiffimum reliquerat, " perditum illi afflictumque offerrem." He had thought of death, and prepared his mind for it. There were occasions too where his vanity might be flattered by it. But the fame vanity hindered him in his profperous eftate from fuppofing fuch a re- verfe as afterwards happened to him. \Vhen it came, it found him unprepared, * Ep. ad Attic. L. iii. ep. 3, 7, 10. etpaffim: f L. iii. ep. 10 ad Attic. it 458 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. it furprifed him, it ftunned him ; for he was ftill fond of the pomp and hurry of Rome, " fumum, et opes, ftrepitumque " Romas," and un weaned from all thofe things which habit renders necefiary, and which nature has left indifferent. We have enumerated them above, and it is time to defcend into a more particular examination of them. Change of place then may be borne by every man. It is the delight of many. But who can bear the evils which accompany exile ? You whoalk diequeftioncan bear them. Every one who confiders them as they are in themfelves, inftead of looking at them through the falfe optic which prejudice holds before our eyes. For what? you have loft your eftate: reduce your defires, and you will perceive yourfelf to be as rich as ever, with this confiderable advantage to boot, that your cares will be diminifhed. Our natural and real wants* are confined to nar- * Naturalia defideria finita funt : ex falf.i opinione nafcentia ubi defmantnon habent, nullus cnim ter- jninus falfo eft. SEN. Ep. 16. Excerp. ex Lib. SEN. falfely fo called. ,Si ad naturam vives, nunquam eris pauper ; fi ad opinionem, nunquam dives. Exiguum natura defi- derac, opinio iuimenfum. SEN. Ep. 16. row REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 459 row bounds, whilft thofe which fancy and cuftom create are confined to none. Truth lies within a little and certain compafs, but error is immenfe. If we fuffer our de- fires therefore to wander beyond thefe bounds, they wander eternally. " Nefcio " quid curtae temper abeft rei." We be- come necefiitous in the midft of plenty, and our poverty encreafes with our riches. Reduce your defires, be able to fay with the apoftle of Greece, to whom ERASMUS was ready to addrefs his prayers, " quam " multis ipfe non egeo ! " banim out of your exile all imaginary, and you will fuffer no real wants. The little ftream which is left will fuffice to quench the third of nature, and that which cannot be quenched by it, is not your thirft, but your dtftemper; a diftemper formed by the vicious habits of your mind, and not the effect of exile. How great a part of mankind bear poverty with chearfulneis, becaufe they have been bred in it, and are accuftomed to it ?* Shall we not be able to acquire, by reafon and by reflection, what the meaneft artifan poflefies by habit? Shall thofe who have fo many advantages v * SEN. De con. ad Hel. over 460 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. over him, be (laves to wants and necefilties of which he is ignorant? The rich, whofe wanton appetites neither the produce of one country, nor of one part of the world, can fatisfy, for whom the whole habitable globe is ranfacked, for whom the cara- vans of the eaft are continually in march, and the remoteft feas are covered with fhips j thefe pampered creatures, fated with fuper- fluity, are often glad to inhabit an hum- ble cot, and to make an homely meal. They run for refuge into the arms of fru- gality. .Madmen that they are, to live al- ways in fear of what they fometimes wifh for, and to fly from that life which they find it luxury to imitate! Let us call our eyes backwards on thofe great men who lived in the -ages of virtue, of fimplicity, of frugality, and let us blufli to think that we enjoy in banifhment more than they were matters of in the midft of their glory, in the utmoft affluence of their fortune. Let us imagine that we behold a great dictator giving audience to the Samnite am- bafiadors, and preparing on the hearth his mean repait witn the fame hand which had fo often fubdued the enemies of the commonwealth, and borne the triumphal laurel to the capitol. Let us remember that RFFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 461 that PLATO had but* three fervants, and that ZENO had none.-f SOCRATES, the reformer of his country, was maintained, as MENENIUS AGRJPPA, the arbiter of his Country was buried, by a contribution. While ATTILIUS REGULUS beat the Car- thaginians in Afric the flight of his plough- man reduced his family to diftrefs at home, and the tillage of his little farm became the public care. SCIPIO died without leav- ing enough to marry his daughters, and their portions were paid out of the trea- * PLATO'S will, in DIOG.LAER. mentions four fer- vants befides DIANA, to whom he gave her freedom. APULEIUS makes his eftate confift in a little gar- den near the academy, two fervants, a patten for fa- crifices, and as much gold as would ferve to make ear-rings for a child. f ZENO was owner of a thoufand talents when he came from Cyprus into Greece, and he ufed to lend his money out upon (hips at an high intereft. He kept, in (hort, a kind of infurance office. He loft this eilate perhaps when he faid, " redle fane agit ' fortuna, quas nos ad philofophiam impellit" Af- terwards he received many and great prefents from. ANTIGOXUS. So that his great frugality and fim- plicity of life, was the effeft of his choice, and not of necefllty. Vid. Dio. LAER. Dioc. LAER. Vit. Soc. quotes ARISTOXENUS for affirmingthat SOCRATES ufed to keep a box, and lived upon the money which was put into it : " Po- fita igitur arcula colligifie pecuniam qua? daretur ; confumpta autem ea, rurfus pofuifle." fury 462 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. fury of the ftate ; for fure it was juft that the people of Rome fhould once pay tri- bute to him, who had eftablifhed a perpe- tual tribute on Carthage. After fuch exam- ples (hall we be afraid of poverty? fhall we difdain to be adopted into a family which has fo many illuftrious anceftors ? fhall we complain of banifament for taking from us what the greateft philofophers, and the greateft heroes of antiquity never enjoyed ? You will find fault perhaps, and at- tribute to artifice, that I confider fingly misfortunes which come altogether on the banimed man, and overbear him with their united weight. You could fupport change of place if it was not accompanied with po- verty, or poverty if it was not accompanied with the feparation from your family, and your friends, with the lofs of your rank, con- fideration, and power, with contempt and ignominy. Whoever he be who reafons in this manner, let him take the following anfwer. The leaft of thefe circumftances is fingly fufficient to render the man mife- rable who is not prepared for it, who has not diverted himielf of that paffion upon which it is directed to work. But he who has got the maftery of all his paffions, who has fort-en all thefe accidents, and prepared REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 463 prepared his mind to endure them all, will be iuperior to all of them, and to all of them at once as well as fingly. He will not bear the lofs of his rank, becaufe he can bear the lofs of his eftatej but he will bear both, becaufe he is prepared for both ; becaufe he is free from pride as much as he is from avarice. You are ft-parated from your family and your friends. Take the lift of them, and look it well over. How few of your fa- mily, will you find who deferve the name of friends ? and how few among thefe who are really fuch ? Erafe the names of fuch as ought not to ftand on the roll, and the voluminous catalogue will foon dwindle into a narrow compafs. Regret if you pleafe, your feparation from this fmall remnant. Far be it from me, whilft I de- claim again ft a fhameful and vicious weak- nefs of mind, to prefcribe the fentiments of a virtuous friendfhip. Regret your fe- paration from your friends , but regret it like a man who deferves to be theirs. This is ftrength, not weaknefs of mind; it is virtue, not vice. BUT theleaft uneafinefs under the lofs of the rank which \ve held is ignominious There is no valuable rank among men but 464 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. but that which real merit afllgns. The princes of the earth may give names, and inftitute ceremonies, and exacl: the obfer- vation of them ; their imbecility and their wickednefs may prompt them to clothe fools and knaves with robes of honour, and emblems of wifdom and virtue: but no man will be in truth fuperior to another, without fuperior merit; and that rank can no more be taken from us, than the merit which eftablifhes it. The fupreme autho- rity gives a fictitious and arbitrary value to coin, which is therefore not current alike in all times and in all places-, but the real value remains invariable, and the provi- dent man, who gets rid as faft as he ran of the drofly piece, hoards up the good filver. Thus merit will not procure the fame confideration univerfally. But what then ? the title to this confideration is the fame and will be found alike in every cir- cumftance by thofe who are wife and vir- tuous themielves. If it is not owned by fuch as are otherwife, nothing is how- ever taken from us; we have no reafon to complain. They confidered us for a rank which we had; for our denomination, not for our intrinfic value. We have that rank, that denomination no longer, and they confider us no longer: they ad- mired REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 465 mired in us what we admired not in our- feives. If they learn to neglect us, let us learn to pity them. Their afliduity was importunate : let us not complain of the eafe which this change procures us; let us rather apprehend the return of that rank and that power, which like a funny day, would bring back thefe little infects, and make them fwarrrt once more about us. I know how apt we are, under fpecious pretences, to difguife our weakneflfes and our vices, and how often we fucceed not only in deceiving the world, but even in deceiving ourfelves. An inclination to do good is infeparable from a virtuous mind, and therefore the man, who cannot bear with patience the lofs of that rank and power which he enjoyed, may be willing to attribute his regrets to the impoflibility which he fuppofes himfelf reduced to of fatisfying this inclination. But let fuch an one know that a wife man contents him- felf with doing as much good as his fitua- tion allows him todo; that there is no fnu- ation wherein we may not do a great deal: and thafi when we are deprived of greater power to do more good, we efcapeatthe fame time the temptation of doing fome evil.* * SEN. de con. ad HeT. Gg THE 466 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. THE inconveniencies, which we have mentioned, carry nothing along with them difficult to be borne by a wife and virtuous man; and thofe which remain to be men- tioned, contempt and ignominy, can never fall to his lot. It is impofiible that he who reverences himfelf mould be defpifed by others; and how can ignominy affect the man who collects all his ftrength within himfelf, who appeals from the judgment of the multitude to another tribunal, and lives independent of mankind, and of the accidents of life? CATO loft the election of prsetor, and that of conful ; but is any one blind enough to truth to imagine that thefe repulfes reflected any difgrace on him? The dignity of thofe two magiftracies would have been encreafed by his wearing them. They fuffered, not CATO. You have fulfilled all the duties of a good citizen, you have been true to your truft, conftant in your engagements, and have purfued the intereft of your coun- try without regard to the enemies you created, and the dangers you run. You fevered her intereft, as much as lay in your power, from thofe of her factions, and from thofe of her neighbours and allies too,. when they became different. She reaps REFLECTIONS upon EXILE, 467 reaps the benefit of thefe fervices, and you fuffer for them. You are banimed, and purfued with ignominy, and thofe whom you hindered from triumphing at her ex- pence, revenge themfelves at yours. The perfons, in oppofition to whom you ierved, ^or even faved the public, confpire and ac- complifli your private ruin. Thefe are your acculers, and the giddy ungrateful crowd your judges. Your name is hung up in the tables of profcription, and art joined to malice, endeavours to make your beft adions pafs for crimes, and to (lain your character. For this purpoie the fa- cred voice of the fenate is made to pro- nounce a lye, and thofe records, which ought to be theeternal monuments of truth, become the vouchers of impoiiure and ca- lumny. Such circumftances as thefe you think intolerable, and you would prefer death to fo ignominious an exile. Deceive not yourfelf. The ignominy remains with them who perfecute unjuftly, not with him who fuffers unjuft perfecution. " Re- calcitrat undique tutus." Suppofe that in the aft which banifhes you, it was de- clared that you have fome contagious dif- temper, that you are crooked, or other- wife deformed. This would render the G g 2 legiflators 468 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. legiflators ridiculous.* The other renders them infamous. But neither one nor the other can affefl the man, who in an health- ful well proportioned body enjoys a con- fcience void of all the offences afcribed to him. Inftead of fuch an exile, would you compound, that you might live at home in eafe and plenty, to be the inftnunent of blending thefe contrary intereils once more together, and of giving but the third place to that of your country ? Would you pro- ftitute her power to the ambition of others, under the pretence of lecuring her from imaginary dangers, and drain her riches into the pockets of the meaneft and vileft of her citizens, under the pretence of pay- ing her debts? If you could fubmit to fo infamous a competition, you are not the man to whom I addrefs my difcourfe, or with whom I will have any commerce: and if you have virtue enough to difdain it, why fhould you repine at the other alter- native ? Banilhment from fuch a country, and with fuch circumftances, is like being delivered from prifon .DIOGENES was driven out of the kingdom of Pontus for counterfeiting die coin, and STRATO- * The dialogue between CICERO and PHILISCUS. DION. CAS. L. xxxviii. N1CUS, REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 469 NICUS thought that forgery might be com-, mitted in order to gee banimed from Scri- phos. But you have obtained your liberty by doing your duty. BANISHMENT, with all its train of evils, is fo far from being the caufe of contempt, that he who bears up with an undaunted ipirit againft them, while fo many are de- jeded by them, erects on his very misfor- tunes a trophy to his honour: for fuch is the frame and temper of our minds, that nothing ftrikes us with greater admiration than a man intrepid in the midll of mif- fortunes. Of all ignominies an ignomi- nious death muft be allowed to be the greateft ; and yet where is the blafphemer who will prefume to defame the death of SOCRATES*? This faint entered the prifon with the fame countenance with which he reduced thirty tyrants, and he took off ig- nominy from the place; for how could it be deemed a prifon when SOCRATES was there? PHOCION was led to execution in the fame city, all thofe who met the fad procefiion caft their eyes to the ground, and with throbbing hearts bewailed, not the innocent man, but juttice herielf, who * SEN. De con. ad Hel. G g 3 was 470 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. was in him condemned. Yet there was a wretch found, for monfters are fometimes produced in contradiction to the ordinary rules of nature, who fpit in his face as he pafled along. PHOCION wiped his cheek, fmiled, turned to the magiftrate, and faid, " Admonifh this man not to be fo nafly for " the future." IGNOMINY then can take no hold on Virtue*; for Virtue is in every condition the fame, and challenges the fame refpect. We applaud the world when (lie profpers ; and when me falls into adverfity we ap- plaud her. Like the temples of the Gods, {he is venerable even in her ruins. After this muft it not appear a degree of madnefs, to defer one moment acquiring the only arms capable of defending us againft attacks which at every moment we are expo- fed to ? Our being miferable, or not miferable, when we fall into misfortunes, depends on the manner in which we have enjoyed profperity. If we have applied ourfelves betimes to the ftudy of wifdom, and to the practice of virtue, thefe evils become indifferent j but if we have neg- lected to dofo, they become neceifary. In * SEN. De con. ad Hel. REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 471 one cafe they are evil, in the other they are remedies for greater evils than them- ielves. ZENO* rejoiced that a fhipwreck had thrown him on the Athenian coaft: and he owed to the lofs of his fortune the acquifition which he made of virtue of wif- dom, of immortality. There are good and bad airs for the mind, as well as for the body. Profperity often irritates our chronical diftempers, and leaves no hopes of finding any fpecfic but in adverfity. In fuch cafes, banimment is like change of air, and the evils we fuffer are like rough medicines applied to inveterate difeafes. What-}- ANACHARSIS faid of the vine, may aptly enough be laid of profperity. She bears the three grapes of drunkennefs, of pleafure, and of forrow, and happy it is if the laft can cure the mifchief which the former work. When afflictions fail to have their due effect, the cafe is defperate. They are thelaft remedies which indulgent Providence ufes: and if they fail, we muft languilh and die in mifery and contempt. Vain men! how leldom do we know what to wifh or to pray for ? When we pray againft misfortunes, and when we fear them mod, we want them moft. It was for this reaion that PYTHAGORAS forbid his * Dio. LAER. f SEN. G 3 4 difci- 472 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. difciples to afk any thing in particular of GOD. The Ihorteft and the beft prayer which we can addrefs to him, who knows our wants, and our ignorance in afking, is this: " Thy will be done." TULLY fays, in fome part of his works, that as happinefs is the object of all philo- fophy, fo the difputes among philofo- phers arife from their different notions of the fovereign good. Reconcile them in that point, you reconcile them in the reft. The fchool of Zeno placed this fovereign good in naked virtue, and wound the prin- ciple up to an extreme beyond the pitch of nature and truth. A fpirit of oppofition to another doctrine, which grew into great vogue while ZENO flourished, might occa- fion this excefs. EPICURUS placed the fovereign good in pleafure. His terms were wilfully, or accidentally miftaken. His fcholars might help to prevent his doctrine, but rivalfhip inflamed the dif- pute ; for in truth there is not fo much difference between ftoicifm reduced to rea- fonable intelligible terms, and genuine or- thodox epicurifm, as is imagined. The felicis animi immota tranquillitas, and the voluptas of the latter are near enough a-kin : and 1 much doubt whether the firmeft hero of REFLECTIONS upon EXILF. 473 of the Portique would have borne a fit of the (tone, on the principle of ZENO, with greater magnanimity and patience than EPICURUS did, on thole of his own philo- fophy.* However, ARISTOTLE took a middle way, or explained himfelf better, and placed happinefs in the joint advan- tages of the mind, the body, and of for- tune. They are reafonably joined; but certain it is, that they muft not be placed on an equal foot. We can much better bear the privation of the lad, than of the others; and poverty itielf, which mankind is fo afraid of, " per mare pauperiem fu- " giens, per faxa, per ignes," is furely preferable to madneis, or the ftone, though -J-CHRYSIPPUS thought it better to live mad, than not to live! ifbanifhment therefore, by taking from us the advantages of for- tune cannot take from us the more valuable advantages of the mind and body, when we have them; and if the fame accident is able to reftore them to us, when we have * Compare thereprefentations made fo frequently of the doftrine of volupty taught by EPICURUS. with the account which he himfelf gives in his letter toMENoecEus, of the fenfe wherein he underftoed this word. Vid. DIOG LAER. f In his third book of Nacure, cited by PLU- TARCH, in the treatife on the contradictions of ;he Stoics. lolt 474 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. loft them, banimment is a very flight mif- fortune to thofe who are already under the dominion of reafon, and a very great blef- fing to thofe who are ftili plunged in vices which ruin the health, both of body and mind. It is to be wilhed for, in favour of fuch as thefe, and to be feared by none. If we are in this cafe, let us fecond the de- figns of Providence in our favour, and make fome amends for neglecting former oppor- tunities by not letting flip the laft. " Si mlis fanir, curres hydropicus." We may ihorten the evils which we might have pre- vented, and as we get the better of our diforderly paffions, and vicious habits, we fhall feel our anxiety diminifh in propor- tion. All the approaches to virtue are comfortable. With how much joy will the man, who improves his misfortunes in this manner, difcover that thofe evils, which he attributed to his exile, fprung from his vanity and folly, and vanim with them ! He will fee that, in his former tem- per of mind, he refembled the effeminate prince who could drink no* water but that of the river Choafpes-, or the fimple queen, in one of the tragedies of EURIPIDES, who complained bitterly, that fhe had not PLUT. On banifhment. lighted REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 475 lighted the nuptial torch, and that the river Ifmenus had not furnifhed the water at her fon's wedding. Seeing his former ftate in this ridiculous light, he will labour on with pleafure towards another as conrrary as poffible to it; and when he arrives there, he will be convinced by the ftrongeft of all proofs, his own experience, that he was unfortunate, becaule he was vicious, not becaufe he was banifhed. IF I was not afraid of being thought to re- fine too much, I would venture to put fome advantages of fortune, which are due to exile, into the fcale againft thofe which we lofe by exile. One there is which has been neglecled even by great and wile men. DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, after his expul- fion from Athens, became firft minifter to the king of ^)GYPT; and THZMISTOCLES found fuch a reception at the court of Perfia, that he ufed to fay his fortune had been loft if he had not been ruined. But DE- METRIUS expofed himielf, by his favour un- der the firil PTOLMY, to a new difgrace under the fecond: and THEMISTOCLES, who had been the captain of a free people, became the vafial of the prince he had con- quered. How much better is it to take hold of the proper advantage of exile, and to 476 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. to live for ourfelves, when we are under no obligation of living for others? SIMILIS, a captain of great reputation under TRAJAN and ADRIAN, having obtained leave to retire, pafied feven years in his retreat, and then dying, ordered this infcription to be put on his tomb: that he had been many years on earth, but that he had lived only feven.* If you are wife, your leifure will be worthily employed, and your retreat will add new luftre to your character. Imi- tate THUCYDIDES in Thracia, or XENO- PHON in his little farm at Scillus. In fuch a retreat you may fit down, like one of the inhabitants of Elis, who judged of the Olympic games, without taking any part in them. Far from the hurry of the world, and almoft an unconcerned fpe&ator of what pafles in it, having paid in a public life what you owed to the prefcnt age, pay in a private life what you owe to pofterity. Write, as you live, without paffion; and, build your reputation, as you build your happinefs, on the foundations of truth. If you want the talents, the inclination, or the neceflary materials for fuch a work, fall not however into (loth. Endeavour to * XlPHlL. copy REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. 477- copy after the example of SCIPIO, at Lin- ternum. Be able to fay to yourfelf, " Innocuas amo delicias doclamque " quietem." Rural arriufements, and philofophical me- ditations, will make your hours glide fmoothly on-, and if the indulgence of Heaven has given you afriend likeL^KLius, nothing is wanting to make you completely happy. THESE are fomeof thofe reflections which may ferve to fortify the mind under ba- nimment, and under other misfortunes of life, which it is every man's intereft to prepare for, becaufe they are common to al men*: 1 fay they are common, to all men; becaufe they who even efcape them are equally expofed to them. The dares of adverfe fortune are always levelled at our heads. Some reach us, fome graze againft us, and fly to wound our neigh- bours. Let us therefore impofe an equal temper on our minds, and pay without murmuring, the tribute which we owe to humanity. The winter brings cold, and * SBK. Ep. 107. we 478 REFLECTIONS upon EXILE. we mud freeze. The fummer returns with heat, and we rnuft meit. The inclemency of the air diforders our health, andwe mutt be fick. Here we are expofed to wild beafts, and there to men more favage than the beafts: and if we efcape the inconve- niencies and dangers of the air and the earth, there are perils by water, and perils by fire. This eftabliihed courfe of things it is not incur power to change j but it is in our power to affume liich a greatnefs of mind as becomes wife and virtuous men-, as may enable us to encounter the acci- dents of life with fortitude, and to conform ourfelves to the order of nature, who go- verns her great kingdom, the world, by continual mutations. Let us fubmit to this order, let us be perfuaded, that what- ever does happen ought to happen, and never be fo foolim as to expoftulate with nature. The belt relblution we can take is to i'uffer w hat we cannot alter, and to purfue, without repining, the road which Providence who directs every thing, has marked out to us: for it is not enough to follow; and he is but a bad foldier who fighs, and marches on with rductancy. We muft receive the orders with fpiric and thc'arfulnefs, and not endeavour to (link ouc REFLECTIONS upon EXILE, 479 out of the poft which is afllgned to us in this beautiful difpofition of things, where- of even our fufferings make a necefiary part. Let us addrefs ourfelves to GOD^ who governs all, as CLEANTHES did in thofe admirable verfes, which are going to lofe part of their grace and energy in my translation of them. Parent of nature! Matter of the World! Where'er thy Providence diredts, behold My fteps with chearful refignation turn. Fate leads the willing, drags the backward on. Why (hould I grieve, when grieving I muft bear? Or take with guilt, what guiltlefs I might {hare. Thus let us fpeak, and thus let us aft: Refignation to the will of GOD is true magnanimity. But the fure mark of a pu- fillanimous and bafe fpirit, is to flruggle againft, tocenfure the order of Providence, and, inftead of mending our own conduct, to fct up for correcting that of our maker. THE END. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it wss borrowso. OCT 6 1997 -SRLF QUARTER OCT 03 '97 * LOAN mini A 000001 115 5