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 LXI. (Book 61)

The Arguments used in Holland by the French Emissaries to the Lovestein Faction against the Prince of Orange's matching with the Lady Mary, &c.

My LORD,

IF it was any pleasure to your Lordship to peruse the Accounts I have already given you, of the Stratagems of this Court to incite the Church of England and Dis∣senting Parties against the Match with the Prince of Orange, as I am desirous, and I hope not unwilling, to interpret your si∣lence in that regard to imply it; I cannot think it will be less to your Honour's sa∣tisfaction, to understand how they mana∣ged the same Affair in Holland, where no less Subtilty and Address was wanting than in England to divert a Match, that predicted no good Omen to France, as they imagined; the Party in that Repub∣lick

which their Emissaries had Instructi∣ons to work upon, were the Lovestein Fa∣ction, to whom nevertheless they were to address themselves very cautiously and co∣vertly, and first to insinuate to them, and by them to the State-Party.

That indeed it was true the Illustrious Princes of the House of Nassau had not only been the first Founders, but also the great preservers of their Common-wealth, and that it could not be denied but that the present Prince of Orange had very much contributed to its late Recovery, after it had been brought to the very brink of Destruction; and that they were fully convinced that same Family must remain a necessary Bulwark to their Com∣mon-wealth, so long as their Interests should continue inseperably intwisted with those of the State; but if they should be so blinded as to consent, or but tacitely give way to any Steps that might alter those of the Prince into any other Channel; that same House might, in process of time, prove the fatal Cadency and Dissolution, as it had been the happy Rise and Glory of that flourishing State. That the implacabi∣lity of the Spanish Royal Family against those that have once offended them, and their bloody and unjust Proscription of the noble House of Orange, had so firmly ce∣mented the Interests of the Princes of that Family with those of the States during the

Wars with Spain, that there could not pos∣sibly any Danger arise to them from that House, how much soever they were in∣trusted with the Authority of the States, they being then best secured by the Great∣ness and Power of that. Nay, and that after the Peace made between that Repub∣lick, and the Crown of Spain, there could be no Danger from those Princes neither, so long as they matched into inferior Prin∣ces Families, as those of Germany, &c. which might add Strength, but never could Power enough to the Princes of Orange to crush the State, or in the least divide from its true Interests. But that it might be of the dangerousest Consequence, if any of them were suffered to match into the Fa∣mily of any Crowned Head, and especial∣ly of any near Neighbour to the Repub∣lick; for that would be an effectual Means to fill their Heads with aspiring Thoughts, and great Designs to Aggrandize themselves, and might afford them Power enough to put them in Execution; a Temptation too strong for almost any active spirited Prince to resist: And therefore such an one as this present Prince ought by no means to be exposed to by any wise States-men, whose Interest it was to keep him from it, and who had Cunning enough to put him by it. That never any of His present High∣ness's Predecessors have been ever as much as suspected of aspiring at any Power over

the Commonwealth; but what tended to its greater Security, and for the Elevation of the Majesty of the Republick, without the least Glances of assuming any to them∣selves, unless it were His Highness's Fa∣ther; who, in all probability, was anima∣ted thereunto by his matching with a Daughter of England: And that his Ambi∣tion might have proved fatal to the Re∣publick, beyond Retrieve, if his immature Death, and other seasonable Providences, had not intervened. That the Influence of that Match had proved very detrimen∣tal to that illustrious House, by stirring up such a Jealousie in the States against them, as would not suffer them to admit the pre∣sent Prince, for a long time, to enjoy the Places of Honour, Authority and Trust formerly so well maintained and officiated by his noble Ancestors: And that, at the same time, it had proved as pernicious to the States themselves, in creating and nou∣rishing Factions among them, and Endea∣vours to keep up the Republick upon a new Model, without Captain-General, Stadt∣holder, Admiral, &c. and to deprive them∣selves of the so necessary and Auspicious Assistance and Conduct of that most Illu∣strious House; and thereby exposed even almost to be made a Prey to the dangerous Ambition of the French Monarch.

And therefore now, when they had so newly re-enter'd into their true Interests,

and happily re-fixed all things on the old Foundation, by restoring the present Prince to the Dignity of his Ancestors, and call∣ing him to the Helm of the Tempest-bea∣ten State, and had by his Courage, Con∣duct and Interest recovered the Common∣wealth to a very hopeful Condition of Power and Prosperity again, it would be no less than a Madness to venture the Ruin of all those fair Hopes, by a second Match with England, when by the former they had been almost all Shipwrack'd; and to suffer a Prince who was now wholly their own, to espouse, in such a Marriage as was then in Agitation, a Foreign Interest; and such as, in all probability, could not, in time, but interfere with theirs: And therefore desired it might not be.

1. Because, though the Prince's Inten∣tions should happen to continue never so right and firm to the Interest of the Re∣publick, yet this Match could not but be still very detrimental both to him and them, by causing incurable Jealousies, Fa∣ctions and Animosities amongst them, without end; and which could not but be of pernicious Consequence to them both.

2. That by reason of the little probabi∣lity of the Duke of York's having any Vi∣vacious Male Issue, this would give the Prince such a near Prospect of the British Crowns, that it could not but engage him, in that View, upon all Occasions, to strain

his Power and Interest in the United Pro∣vinces to the utmost for the advantage of the English Nation, to the prejudice of the Dutch increase of Power and Interest.

3. That if he ever came to be King of England, the Power he would thereby ob∣tain, added to that he had already in the United Provinces as Stadt-holder, Captain General, &c. and to the great Influence he had among the Soldiery in the States pay, would undoubtedly be a great temp∣tation to him for to reduce that State un∣der the English Crown, and influence the others to assist him in it; And that if he should have Issue by his Princess, as it was likely enough he might, the danger under that Circumstance would be in a manner inevitable.

Its likely, my Lord, our Politicians here forsaw very great Difficulties would arise in making any manner of Impressions up∣on the States against the Prince's Match, for by the foresaid Remonstrances it does appear to me their Master-battery was turned on that side; but though all their Politicks have failed them for the preven∣tion of the Marriage, yet they have not failed to put some of these Arguments fo••••ards, to render the Prince, and all his Proceedings suspect to the States, and they have already bragged; that all the Constancy his Highness is well known to be Master of, will find work enough to

ver-come the Jealousies entertained of him, (and which they are resolved never to be wanting on their part to foment) and to make it believe that all he has acted since his marriage has been to the aggrandizing of himself and his Authority, and the Di∣minution of that of the Republick; I fear I have already too much transgrest by my tediousness, and shall therefore only subscribe my self, as I am in sincerity

My LORD,

Your Lordships, Most humble Servant.

Paris, Sept. 20. 1679. N. S.