Part 1
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LETTER FROM
Monsieur _de CROS_,
Who was an Embassador at the Treaty of _Nimeguen_, and a Resident at _England_, in K. _Charles_ the Second's Reign.) To the Lord ----
BEING AN ANSWER TO Sir _Wm TEMPLE_'s MEMOIRS,
Concerning what passed from the Year 1672, until the Year 1679.
LONDON,
Printed for _Abel Roper_ at the _Mitre_, near _Temple-Bar_, 1693,
A LETTER from Mons. _de Cros_, &c.
_My Lord_,
I have been informed of the Calumnies that Sir _W. T._ hath caused to be Printed against me. I know very well that Sir _W._ is of great Worth, and deserves well; and that he hath been a long time employed, and that too upon important occasions; but I am as certain, that he had but a small share in the Secrecy of the late King _Charles_'s Designs in the greatest part of the Affairs, for which he was employed, from 72, till 79, which is the main Subject of his Work.
This Consideration alone might not perhaps have given me the curiosity, or at least, any great earnestness to read his Memoirs; and I might have very well judged that I could draw from them no sufficient light and insight for the discovery of so many Intrigues.
Nay besides, I might have doubted whether or no these Memoirs might not have been his own Panegyrick upon himself, and the diminution and undervaluing of the real Worth and Glory of several Persons of Quality, and distinguished by their Merit; whose Fortune and Reputation Sir _W. T._ hath so much envied: for I am particularly acquainted with Sir _W_'s Pride. He looks upon himself to have the greatest Reach, to be the wisest and ablest Politician of his Time; and a man may perceive abundance of Satyrical Reflexions scattered here and there in his Work against most illustrious Persons, and that he hath stuffed his Memoirs with his own Praise, and the fond over-weening Opinion he hath of himself.
Without doubt this is quite different from that Sincerity and Modesty which reigns throughout the Memoirs of _Villeroy_, in the Negotiations and Transactions of _Jeanin_, in the Letters of Card. _Dossat_, those mighty and truly eminent Persons, esteemed as such by the greatest Princes of their Age; and even still are to this day, by the ablest Politicians, with much more Justice and Glory than Sir _W_'s Book-Seller stiles him, _One of the Greatest Men of this Age_. It had been Sir _W_'s duty to have regulated himself according to their most excellent Pattern.
I shall at present only quote one Passage, which I accidentally light on at the first opening his Book, whereby one may easily guess at the greatness of his presumption; in a short time, _My Lord_, I shall give you occasion to observe many others. _The Negotiations_, saith he, _that I managed and transacted at the_ Hague, _at_ Brussels, _at_ Aix la Chapelle, _which saved_ Flanders _from the_ French _Churches, in 68. made People believe I had some Credit and Reputation amongst the_ Spaniards, _as well as in_ Holland.
'Twas a Piece of strange Ingratitude of the _Hollanders_ and _Spaniards_, as well as of his own dear Country-men, so much concern'd for the preservation of _Flanders_, not to rear him a Statue, which, he saith, somewhere else, Mr. _Godolphin_ had promised him. Could Sir. _W. T._ have done any thing to deserve it more; or was there any thing more worthy of Triumph than to have preserved _Flanders_, a Country so important to the _Spaniard_, and the only Bulwark of _Holland_ and _England_? But Sir _W._ was apt to believe he could not find any one who was better able to hammer out his own Glory than himself; and he flattered himself with the Opinion that he should erect himself as many Statues, as there are places in his Memoirs, crouded with intolerable and ridiculous Vain-glory.
It was not the Negotiations, my Lord, that Sir _W._ tells us he managed at the _Hague_, _Brussels_, and at _Aix la Chappelle_, which saved _Flanders_ from the hands of the _French_, in 1668. The _French_ published that they were beholding to the most Christian Kings Moderation for that Peace; who was willing to put a stop to the progress and course of his victorious Arms. But the truth of it is, they most justly ascribed all the Merit, and all the Glory of the Peace, and of the Triple League, to the generous resolution and stedfastness of the States-General. They made use, upon this occasion, of a Minister of State far beyond Sir _W._ in Prudence, Experience, and Capacity, one, who was in the Opinion even of his Enemies, the most able Manager of Affairs of his Age.
I shall not undertake, my Lord, in this place, strictly to examine Sir _W. Temple_'s _Memoirs_: I will do it shortly if God spare me with Life; nay, and I promise you a Volume of Remarks, at least, as large as his Book.
If, like him, I had the Vanity to procure the printing of Memoirs, during my life-time, I could now have a fair pretence so to do, and without all question I should publish more just and solid ones than his are. Not, that I have the presumption to judge my self more capable to do it; but, in several places he relates some things falsly, whereof I am much better informed. The only Hero of my piece shall be Truth, without Complaisance or Flattery; without Passion, no not so much as against him: So that I shall do him the satisfaction and kindness to instruct him better, even touching divers Matters, which he performed and executed, without knowing so much as the reason why he was made to act so.
It is not likewise, because I have been one of the Council of the King his Master; yet I have had the Happiness, during some Years, to partake in the Confidence of a Minister of State, who was in several important, weighty Occasions, as it were the _Primum Mobile_ of that Conduct and Management that surprized all the World. You know, my Lord, what Credit he had, and of what nature his Intelligences were. Sir _W._ may well imagine that I did not ill improve this able Ministers Confidence, when Sir _W._ tells us, _That I had wholly devoted my self to him_.
Men are not ignorant likewise, that oftentimes I have had some access to the King's Ministers of State, and even near to the King himself,; it did more especially appear, in the business for which I took my Journey to _Nimeguen_; and it would be a great shame that a Man _more cunning and subtil than them all_, according to the King's own testimony, as Sir _W._ relates it, should not have had (considering so much freedom of access and easiness) the address and cunning to dive into the most hidden Springs of Deliberations and Resolutions, wherein the _Swede_ and my Master had so great an Interest.
Be therefore assured, my Lord, that after my Death, nay perhaps, whilst I am alive, if need require, and if I be obliged thereto, there will appear some Memoirs, which will divulge some Matters the truth whereof is still so carefully concealed, Sir _W._ doth ingeniously confess that hitherto he was ignorant of them; He, who hath so much quickness of Penetration, and seems to make us believe that he was the King his Master's Confident.
You your self, my Lord, have often urged me to acquaint you with such important Secrets, and of such great Consequence; and altho' I could not possibly refuse, upon the account of that honour you do me to afford me any share in your Favours, to let you have a glympse of one part of what pass'd in one of the most important Negotiations of that time; yet you had so much Generosity as not to take the advantage of it you might have done, to the infallible ruine, as was believed, of a Minister whom you take for one of your greatest Enemies; yet on this occasion one could not well lay any thing to his charge, besides his blind obedience to the Will of his Master.
The Truth of it is, I am not obliged to have the same Considerations that with held me at that time, but yet I preserve a profound respect for the Memory of the late King, and also a great respect for some Persons, who are even at this time of the day so much concerned, that I should hold my tongue, if it were not for that reason, it would be a very easie matter for me, to make appear without any more adoe, how basely Sir _W._ is mistaken in what he delivers concerning divers Negotiations of _England_; and especially concerning my Journey to _Nimeguen_.
My Design is not at all, my Lord, to write you a Letter full of Invectives against Sir _W._ I shall not descend to the Particulars of his Behaviour, and shall tell you no more of them at present, than what is needful to let your self and every body else judge that I have means in my hand to be revenged for the Injury he hath done me.
They will be without doubt more just Invectives, than those that he fills his Book withal. He set upon me first. He writes out of a Spirit of Revenge, with a great deal of Heat and Passion, and like a Man that believ'd himself touch'd and wrong'd to the purpose. As for my part, my Lord, I protest I write to you in cold Blood, I do so much scorn the Injury that Sir _W._ affects to do me, that I should but laugh at it, if my silence was not able to persuade you, and those persons whose esteem of me doth do me so much honour, that I have but small care of my reputation.
Sir _W._ hath shined a long time, 'tis true; but yet he hath borrowed all his Splendour first of all from the protection of a Lord, whom he betray'd at last, of whom he speaks too insolently in his Memoirs and with abundance of Ingratitude; and then again he advanced himself by the protection of certain other persons to whom he was devoted, to the prejudice of his bounden Duty: _He did so well insinuate himself_ (that I may make use of the Terms he makes use of in speaking of me) into the Favours and into the Confidence of those, near to whom it was necessary for him to have access, that he might have been in a capacity to render considerable Services to the King his Master, and to his Country, if so be he had made better use of this advantage; but he kept it just after the same manner as he had got it; that is to say, that he often came short of exact Faithfulness and Loyalty, which a Minister of State is obliged to maintain inviolably even in the least Matters, that doth plainly appear in his Memoirs.
The late King of England _perceived_ it, and was so far convinced of it, that he never made use of him in the last Commissions he committed to his charge, to the States-General; but only out of Consideration of the Acquaintance he had there, who made people conjecture that Sir _W._ might have some Credit amongst the _Spaniards_, as well as in _Holland_, as he himself assures us he had.
Neither was he employed, but only upon some Occasions, wherein one would not employ a Man who was a Favourite of the Prince, or for whom he had any value, or in whom he might confide; 'tis a Truth owned and confess'd by Sir _W._ himself in his Memoirs; and a Man may judge of it by the so opposite false steps, that he complains, they caused him to make, and by all the things that were done contrary to the Measures that he had taken, just as if the Court had had a mind to expose him.
Besides, the King slighted him after the Peace at _Nimeguen_, and laid him aside, making very little use of him; it was not, what he would make us believe, his love for his own ease, and his Indispositions of body, that made him decline his Employments. Never did Man desire more to have an hand in Affairs; he was removed by reason of the King's secret dissatisfaction at his Services, by that Conduct and Management, which in executing the King's Orders, when they were contrary to his Opinion, and disliking to his Friends, smelt very much like perfidiousness and Treachery, as may principally appear in whatsoever he did for to evade and frustrate the King's Orders, contained in the dispatch I left with him at the _Hague_, to _Nimeguen_, for the conclusion of the Peace, by Order of his Majesty.
It is concerning this business that has made so great a noise for which Sir _W._ takes occasion to reproach me, that I am going to relate you some Particulars in the Reflections, that I am obliged to make upon what he says concerning my self. Do not expect, my Lord, that I should teach you here the true Cause of so extraordinary a Resolution which so much surprized Sir _W._ with which Pensioner _Fagel_ was so much astonished, and which in Sirs _W_'s opinion did entirely change the Fate of _Christendom_.
I should please him very much, if I should discover so important a Secret, in which many persons in the late and present Reigns have been concerned. I do not doubt but Sir _W._ extremely desires it; he knows very well the greater knowledge of these Practices would perhaps raise a great deal of trouble in the Parliament to some people, whose Ruine he desires at the bottom of his Heart, being little concerned for the reputation of the late King, and envious of the esteem of those that protected him, and who have bestowed so many favours upon him.
As for my self at this Conjuncture, in which K. _William_ endeavours the repose of _Christendom_, and the Happiness of _England_ with so much Zeal and Glory, I will not stir up the envy and hatred which has too much appeared in _England_; and, which may perhaps be a great Obstacle to that Union which is so necessary to the happy Execution of the Undertakings of this great Monarch.
There arrived, said Sir _W. at that time from_ England, _one whose name was_ de Cros. I shall not stop, my Lord, upon this Term of Contempt, _One called_; it is a very malicious Expression, in respect of my self; the late King of _England_ himself did me the Honour to treat me in Passports, in his Letters, in his Commissions which he charged me with: It is very impudent and rude to speak so of a Man, who is of a good Family, who has had the honour of being employed for almost twenty years, and whom a great Prince and a King have not disdain'd to use as Councellor of State.
_He was_ (continues Sir _W._) _a French Monk who had lately quitted his Frock for a Petticoat_. Here is a reproach which ill becomes an Ambassador of a Monarch, who is Defender of the Faith, and of the Protestant Religion; of one who declared so openly at _Nimeguen_, that he would have nothing to do with the Pope's _Nuncio_. I do not know, my Lord, that it is a disgrace to be a Monk; and much less, to have been one formerly: There are indeed amongst them, as well as amongst the rest of Mankind, some miserable Wretches, of a mean Birth, and of a disorderly and infamous Life; People of no use, without Honour, and without Reputation: Sir _W.T._ thought, without doubt, that I was of that Number; but there are likewise several very famous for the Sanctity of their Lives, of an extraordinary Merit, and of the greatest Quality, Sons of Princes and Kings, and Kings themselves, and Popes: But if this sort of Life is not now, as formerly it was, so certain a Character of a good and honest Man, do's Sir _W._ think he can dishonour me, in reproaching me for leaving a Profession which himself thinks so contemptible, for a _Petticoat_?
It will not be material in this place to say how I was engaged therein in my tender years. There is nothing more usual in _France_, _Spain_ and _Italy_, where ancient Houses do sacrifice a good part of their Families in Monasteries; 'tis a Maxim, to say the truth, most cruel and horrid.
Neither will I relate how, and after what manner I came out of it; however, it was not for a Petticoat. I have remained several years without so much as having any inclination to it; and it hath been apparent that I have had much a-do, and was very much unresolved as to this Choice.
There was too great advantage to throw off my Frock for the Petticoat that I have taken, not to do it. It is a Petticoat of a Scotch Stuff, and which hath been a greater Ornament, and done the Crown of _England_ more good than Sir _W._ himself; if he do not know it, the History of _England_ and _Scotland_ in these late Times may inform him. I shall enlarge no further, that I may not engage my self to publish the Misfortunes and Disorders of Sir _W_'s Family; which, I suppose would not be like a Gentleman. I have no reason that I know of, to complain, neither of his Lady, nor his Son, nor of his Daughters.
Besides, had I even cast off the Monk's Habit for a Petticoat, I should have done no more than a great many worthy deserving Persons have done; yea, some of the Pope's _Nuncio's_, Cardinals, Bishops, Kings and Princesses too, who have quitted the Veil for the Breeches, whose Posterity, I make no question is highly esteemed and reverenced by Sir _W._
_I did so well insinuate my self_, saith Sir _W. into the Court of_ Sweden, _that I obtained from thence a Commission to be a kind of an Agent in_ England. That is very dirty. I have had the management of Affairs and the Quality of Envoy, when Sir _W._ had no more than that of an Agent or Resident at _Brussels_. I was Envoy at the Court of _England_ before ever I was in _Sweden_, or before ever I had any acquaintance there.
I went the first time to _Sweden_ just at that time the late King of _England_ sent me into _Sweden_ and _Denmark_, about the beginning of the Year 1676. The Pretence was for to demand the free passage of Letters; which the King of _Denmark_ refused, for hastening the Congress of _Nimeguen_, in procuring the expedition of Passports, requisite to the Ministers of State who were to compose the Assembly; and also to urge the Departure of the Embassadors belonging to those two Northern Crowns. But now the true Cause was quite another Matter, and of greater consequence; not for the King of _England_, but indeed for another Potentate.--That shall be made appear some time or other in my Memoirs.
Had I been a kind of a _Swedish_ Agent, I should not have defended myself in that Point; I should have held it as a great piece of Honour, since it could not chuse but be very glorious and splendid, to have the Affairs of so great a King, in such important Conjunctures as those were, committed to ones charge and care; but at the very time Sir _W._ speaks of, I was dignified with the Quality of Envoy Extraordinary from the Duke of _Holstein Gottorp_, acknowledged and received at the Court of _England_ for such.
Sir _W._ knows that very well, there was sent him divers Memoirs to _Nimeguen_ whilst the Mediation lasted, which I had delivered in at _London_, concerning the re-setling my Master; but the Interest and Concerns of this Prince were so indifferent to him, that I was fain to beg of my Lord Treasurer to recommend them more particularly to Sir _Leoline Jenkyns_.
Moreover, you may see Sir _W.T._ mentions in his Memoirs all the Potentates that had any interest in the Peace of _Nimeguen_, except the Duke of _Holstein Gottorp_, notwithstanding he had two Ministers at the Congress, and although _France_ had stipulated for his re-establishment in the second Article or Condition of the Peace, such who shall peruse the Memoirs of Sir _W_ might be apt to think that the Duke of _Holstein_ was reckoned as no body in the World, and that he had no part at all in what pass'd in Christendoom, from the commencing of the War in 1672, until the conclusion of the Peace 1679. But Thanks be to God Sir _W._ is not the Steward of Glory and Immortality.
Sir _W._ therefore must have often read my Name and Character in the Letters, and Orders of the Court, and cannot have forgot that he came to render me a Visit at my Lodgings, at such time as he, by the King's Order, was to confer with me upon what account Monsieur _Olivencrantz_ might be obliged to pass from _Nimeguen_ into _England_. That _Swedish_ Embassador lodg'd at that time in my house.
'Tis true indeed, as the Interests of my Master were inseparable from those of _Sweden_, I found my self engaged to be very much concerned in the Interests of that Crown in whatsoever might depend on my care: There was an Envoy extraordinary from _Sweden_ at _London_; and yet for all that, the _Swedish_ Ambassadors did me the Honour to maintain a very regular Correspondence by Letters with me: The King of _England_ was also graciously pleased to hear me in what concerned the Affairs of the _Swede_, although I was no otherwise authorized for it. Monsieur _Olivencrantz_, his Voyage to _London_ was contrived first of all by the King and my self, without the least medling or intervention of any one of his Ministers; and then again in the Negotiation, whereof my Voyage to _Nimeguen_ was a Consequence, the Restitution of _Sweden_ was especially insisted upon.
All this made many Men believe, that I was intrusted with the Management of the Affairs of this Crown; and Monsieur _Van Beuninguen_ believed it so to be, in the Letter he writ to the Lords States-General, which hath since been printed; where he speaks with so much uncertainty concerning the Voyage I was about to make to _Nimeguen_, and about this Negotiation, that it was evident it was a very great Secret.
_Since his being at_ London, saith Sir _W._ speaking of me, _he hath wholly devoted himself to Monsieur_ Barillon, _the_ French _Ambassador, under pretence to act for the Interests of_ Sweden. Monsieur _Barillon_ was not at that time in _London_, when I was sent thither, he came not thither till a long time after; I found Monsieur _le Marquis de Ruvigni_ there, whom Monsieur _Courtin_ succeeded; and after that Monsieur _Barillon_ came to take the place of Monsieur _Courtin_.
I never devoted my self to this Ambassador, and I never had any Correspondence or was in League with him prejudicial to my Duty. Nay, it happened the King of _England_ one day, having a design more especially to take into Consideration the _Swedish_ Interests, Monsieur _de Barillon_ diverted him from it; whether for fear lest a particular Peace should be clapp'd up between the _Northern_ Crowns, or else out of Jealousie, that he might leave the Glory of the Restitution of this Crown to the King his Master; and depriving it of all other relief, might keep it in the mean time in a greater dependance.
I was so much put to it, and fell out with Mr. _Barillon_ so much thereupon, that I did not so much as speak to him in 3 or 4 months; nay, one day as the King was at Dinner I cast in his teeth what had past in the presence of _Monsieur Wachmeister_, Envoy-Extraordinary from the King of _Sweden_. I do not question but Monsieur _Wachmeister_ remembers it well enough; he is no less worthy to be believed, than he is brave and undaunted.
And now after this manner I became all one with the Ambassador of _France_. But yet I must confess that at such time as he stickled for my Master's Interest and that of the _Swede_, I was intirely devoted to him, thinking my self most happy that I was enabled to pay my most humble Services to such a great Monarch, whose Subject I have the honour to be, without failing in my Loyalty and Allegiance, which I ought to pay him before all others whatsoever.