The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER XXIX. (Book 29)

Of the Massacring the De Wits, the Revolution in Holland, and the Resti∣tution of the Prince of Orange to all the Authority of his Ancestors; with Offers made him by the French King, of the Soveraignty of the United Pro∣vinces, and his Rejection of them.

My Lord.

IN my last to your Lordship, I gave you some account of the Progress of the French Army, in their Conquest of the U∣nited

Provinces; the Resolutions they had taken, both to elude the Crown of Eng∣land of receiving any Benefit by the War, to push on their own Conquests, and Wheed∣les to induce the City of Amsterdam to yield to them: And I have more over hinted to your Lordship, that there fell out two unexpected Accidents at that time, which put a full stop to their Arms; The first whereof, I shall briefly run over to your Lordship; For while the French Armies were ready to seize that important Place, and that every individual Person was in that Consternation, that they only thought of saving their own Families, without other∣wise concerning themselves about the In∣terest of their Countrey; nay, and that without staying for the French King's send∣ing a Summons for the Town to yield, a Council was held in the City, whether they should not go out to meet him, to desire, he would be pleased to take it into his Pro∣tection, as well as all the Inhabitants there∣of; there was very great Danger of their coming to this Resolution; when the Di∣vine Providence wonderfully appeared, by inspiring a couragious Citizen, tho' till then, no very remarkable one neither, whose Name (and perhaps your Lordship ne'er heard it before) was Offe, and ought cer∣tainly to be consecrated to Posterity, so as never to be left out of the Annals of Time; and who was immediately seconded by a∣nother

called Hassenaer, to stand up alone in the dreadful Gap, and with a Voice like a Trumpet, to awaken his dispirited Country∣men out of the Lethargy of black Despon∣dency, with which the cowardly Tyrant Fear had bound up both their Limbs and Intellectuals, and to excite them, as the poor Geese formerly did the drowsy Ro∣mans, at least to make some Defence for that Capital, and Capit••l of the Batavian Commonwealth, and not rashly to deliver up that great Palladium, viz. The vast Bank of Riches therein, on which seemed to de∣pend the state of Europe, into the Hand of a Prince, who wanted only Manacles from thence, to enfetter her; and whose Cou∣rage to attack (said the same Citizen, and I have heard the French-men themselves men∣tion his Name with many Elogiums) depen∣ded solely on the Fears, which the Artifices of his treacherous Correspondents within their Walls, more then the Noise of his Armies, had raised among them; and consequent∣ly on the least shew of Unity and Resoluti∣on among them, would sink with their Cause; nay, continued he, rather then fall into the Hands of him, who (however his Emissaries here have represented him slily to the contrary) will assuredly prove a merciless Tyrant unto us, let us call in the Sea it self, whom we shall find a much more merciful Element, to our assistance: And this, my Lord, being seconded by the Dutch

Mob, now astonished and confounded with the loss of their Country by Land, and op∣posed by two the most potent Kings in the World by Sea; they in a Rage, assassinated the two De Wits, as the Betrayers of their Country, and Causers of that same Calamity, and then deposed the States, who they looked upon to be of the Lovestein or De Wits Facti∣on; and then restored the Prince of Orange, now at Age, to the hereditary Authority and Command of his Ancestors; which sudden and violent Proceedings, did more then stun the French King; but after a little recovery, and finding that his Friends in Amsterdam and other places yet unconquer∣ed, were dispossest of all Authority, and that now the Prince of Orange managed all the Affairs of the State with Pensionary Fagel; he made an Essay, to catch the Prince in a Net, he with his Council, had finely spun for him, by proposing to make him Soveraign of the United Provinces, under his, and his Brother of England's Protecti∣on: I never could learn who it was they employed to the Prince upon this occasion, and what Arguments they induced to gain his Consent, tho' they may be easily guest at; they being never entred into their Ca∣binet Minutes; and perhaps it was because they met with such a Success upon the Prince, as they did not in the least expect, whose Answer was, He would never betray a Trust reposed in him, nor ever sell the Liber∣ties

of his Country, that his Ancestors had so long defended, &c. I have not opportunity to go on in the Prosecution of this Subject at present, but hope in my next, to make it up to your Lordships content; and so remain,

My Lord,

Your Honours most obedient Servant.

Paris, Nov. 3. 1678.