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 XLVIII. (Book 48)

Of the Private Treaty between King Charles the Second, and the French King. Anno 1576

My Lord,

I Have already upon two several occa∣sions observed to Your Lordship, how the Duke and Dutchess were drawn into private Correspondences with the French Court, which when they had once happily effected, and by them and some others, already in their Interests, (whereof I have mentioned soome) drawn in, many more both Courtiers and o∣thers; they proceeded, being thus so con∣siderably re-inforced, to hedge in the King himself; and it was high time, for they had now a greater Jealousie than ever, of the Match with the Prince of Orange, tho' he were not yet come over into England to that purpose; and so far they did prevail, that he did ob∣lige himself to do all he could to ob∣serve still a partial Neutrality with them:

Then they proposed his hindring the Match with the Prince of Orange, unless he could be drawn into a separate Trea∣ty with the two Kings, and delay at all Matching of the Princesses till a general Peace, and to reserve the Eldest for the Dauphin; tho' in the mean while they pro∣mised the Duke of Bavaria the same ad∣vantage for his Daughter, the better to keep him in a Neutrality with them during the then War with the Confede∣rates, but never intended it with the latter, if they could have effected it with our Princess; But in that, the King told them, There might be difficulties insuperable, and so could promise them nothing but his Endeavours, which by reason the Parliament and People were much out of Humour, upon the Duke's late Match would require much Money; be∣cause now for him to go about to cross them afresh, in obstructing, or so much as delaying such a Match, the pro∣posal whereof was already so much known to his People, and found to be so much desired by them, as the only remedy they imagined they had left them against the feared mischief of the other, would hinder them perhaps from grant∣ing him such Supplies as he might o∣therwise expect of them: unless his Most Christian Majesty obliged himself to

supply him with Money enough to need them not, or at least to buy Votes, and to stop clamorous Mouths; but as for that Motion of theirs about committing the Children to the Duke's Care and Tu∣••orage, tho' they were seconded in it by the Duke himself with all the im∣portunity imaginable, yet he absolutely denied them; saying, They were his Children, or rather the Nation's, and not the Duke's, especially now he had Matched so much against the Nation's liking; and that could he have be∣lieved the People of England would have taken so much Allarm at that Marriage, he should have taken care to have stopped it in time; But that ha∣ving let one Fault pass, to admit another much worse, was a thing he doubted not but would cause such Earthquakes as he was resolved not to run the risque of, therefore should not do it; so that Article was wholly laid aside, and the Treaty concluded without, by which the French King was to pay ours an Annuity of Twelve hundred thousand Crowns, whereof Six hundred thousand in hand, besides a Donative of a like Sum at the same time for Extraordi∣naries, and if any occasion should hap∣pen by crosness of Parliaments, Rebel∣lion, or otherwise, that should reaso∣nably

require so much, then he was promised to have it augmented to twelve Millions of Livres whilst such Troubles should last, tho' this latter part they never intended, but gave or∣ders he should be treated only with a Bit now and then, as was the Duke his Brother; only if a Civil War should happen, they were to feed it on both sides, till it were fit to pour in French Forces among them, &c. Yet I have observed, during my abode in this Station, that there was a Fund of Twen∣ty Millions of Livres designed for our three Kingdoms, whereof sometimes they gave largely to the King and Duke his Brother, and slenderly to the se∣veral Factions, only to keep them in heart; and sometimes again largely to them, and little or none to the King and Duke, to make the former Lusty, and Mettlesome to kick and keep the others Low, that being in a crowing condition, they might comply with them. Of those Sums, there has gone some years Four, sometimes Six, and sometimes Eight Millions to Scotland and Ireland; but to the King and Duke, there never went more than than I have mentioned, and that but the first Year neither; all the rest went to the

other Courtiers, and to the several Factions, who of late have had most of it.

In this Treaty, which was concluded by a private Agent, as were the others, there was a Clause incerted, which gave the King leave, if too much press'd up∣on, to pretend as if he would side with the Confederates against France, and to get Money of them, as also of his Parliament on that account; but yet he was by no means to Declare, but to get an Army and Revenue settled for some time, such as was supposed to be the duration of the War, and then to use both the one and the o∣ther to settle his Prerogative-Royal, and make himself Absolute, &c. I can∣not, My Lord, without some Reluctancy, think of several Passages in this Epi∣stle, and particularly, that a King who above Twenty Years had had the greatest opportunity of any of his Pre∣decessors to make himself great both at Home and abroad, should fall to so abject a State, as to become a French Pensioner, which without the ad∣dition of any other Crime, is more than enough eternally to blast the Me∣mory of an English Monarch; but I know

this Subject can be ungrateful to no one alive more than to your Lordship; and therefore I shall forbear further insisting upon it, and remain,

My Lord,

Your Honour's to Serve and Obey.

Paris, Jan. 27. 1680. N. S.