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 LIX. (Book 59)

Arguments used by the French Emissa∣ries in England, to the Royal and Church of England Party, against the matching of the Lady Mary with the Prince of Orange.

My LORD,

THe French Emissaries finding (notwith∣standing the strong opposition made by them to the matching of the Lady Mary with his Highness the Prince of Orange, as I have some time since informed your Lordship,) that there was a very strong Current in the Nation for that Allyance, and having informed their Principals in the French Court therewith, they had fresh Instructions sent them, to gain, if possible, the time desired by them, which was till a General Peace were concluded, and to ply the Royalists, and high Members of the Church of England, not only close upon that Head, but their Instructions were re∣duced to these Branches.

1. They were to represent the Match as dishonourable, and too much reflecting on the Honour of Crowned Heads, to match a Daughter in so fair a way to be Heiress to three Crowns, to a Prince who was not only no Sovereign, but descended of a

Family which had distinguished it self chiefly by heading a Rebellion against his lawful Prince, and who was himself but the chief Officer of a Government so hate∣ful to all Kings, as a Common-Wealth, and that of one founded by Rebellion too; that such an Allyance must needs be more particularly dishonourable to the Royal Family of England, which had so lately and deeply suffered by a Rebellion mov∣ed against it by their own People, chiefly out of an Emulation to be like those Re∣bels; That indeed King Charles I. did match his Daughter to the present Prince of Orange's Father; but it was because he was involved in Troubles, and had not time or opportunity to dispose of her better, and thought by that Match to please the people, appease the Faction animated a∣gainst him, and by such a protestant Match allay the Jealousies conceived of his be∣ing popishly inclined, or having Leagued with popish Powers to their prejudice; and lastly, obtain some Assistance from the States of Holland in his Distress; and yet that after all his projection hereby, that Match was condemned by most of his Friends, as highly Dishonourable, and of very ill Example and Consequence, and is charged upon him as one of the great Errours of his Reign, and therefore by no means to be reiterated by a new one of the same kind.

2. They were to remonstrate, That the Prince of Orange was bred in Presbyterian Principles, and to exaggerate, with all the terrible Circumstances that could be sup∣posed, the danger the Church of England and Episcopacy would be in by the acces∣sion of such a Prince to the Crown; Pres∣byterians being no less passionate Enemies to the Church of England than Papists, and being much the more dangerous of the two, as being incomparably the more nu∣merous; the strange success they lately had in effecting so total a Subversion as they did of the Episcopal Church in the last Reign under rebellious Leaders, being too sensible a proof of both what they could, and what they would do again more effectually and more irrecoverably, when headed by a lawful Superior, and strengthned by the assistance of their Bre∣thren in Holland: This, my Lord, is the substance of the Instructions sent from hence to their Emissaries in England, for the managing of the forementioned part, and with which I shall conclude this Epistle, who am

My LORD,

Your Honours to serve You.

Paris, Aug. 23. 1679. N. S.