Part 2
Whereupon, my Lord, I shall tell you one thing, in which _Monsieur_ de _Ruvigni_, at present Lord _Galloway_, cannot but agree with me, no, nor _Monsieur Olivencrantz_ neither. The departure of this Ambassador for _England_, occasioned shrewd suspicions both at _Nimeguen_ and _London_ to the _French Ambassadors_. Monsieur _Barillon_ was much alarm'd at it, especially when he saw that Monsieur _Olivencrantz_ lodged at my House, and when he knew that I had offered a Project, upon which I had the Honour sometimes to be in debate with my Lord Treasurer, Monsieur _Barillon_ put all in practice to sift him to the bottom; nevertheless all the offers of this _French_ Embassador proved ineffectual, and wrought thing upon this Man; who, if a man would give credit to Sir _W.T._ was intirely devoted to Mons. _Barillon_, and yet Mons. _Barillon_ found him not to be corrupted or bribed.
One would think, my lord, that Sir _W.T._ has a mind to make Men believe, that I was only sent into _Holland_ to carry him a Dispatch from the Court; for he is always harping upon this String, when he mentions my Voyage: Yet please to take notice, my Lord, That he confesseth that it was I, _who procured this Dispatch_.
What means the King then, when he says, That _I had been too cunning for them all_? There is not so much Prudence and great Abilities required in a _Courier_; it is sufficient that he be expeditious. But this Message must needs have been Honourable, to employ an Envoy extraordinary of one of the greatest Princes of the Empire, except it be what Sir _W._ hath been pleased to say, That I was so much devoted to the King; yea, and to Monsieur _Barillon_ too, and so little tender of my Master's Dignity, that I would comply with any Offices.
If I were a Courier or Messenger, Monsieur _T._ hath at least done me a good Office, in representing me to be, what I would not have the Confidence to believe my self; namely, that I was an able Messenger, a Courier of the Cabinet, and very deep in the King's Trust and Confidence. For before ever Monsieur _T._ spoke of this Dispatch, which as he says, the Court sent him, to be kept as a mighty Secret, _Pensioner_ Fagel, says he, _knew all the Contents, and was quite stun'd at it_. Du Cross _had industriously informed the Deputies of the Town_, (1 Copy from Monsieur _T._) _and had told them that the two Kings were intirely agreed on the Conditions of Peace; that he had carried Orders to Monsieur_ T. _to go to_ Nimeguen, _and that at his Arrival there he would find the Letters of my Lord_ Sunderland, _the_ English _Ambassador, at_ Paris, _with all the Articles as they are concluded between the two Crowns_.
Here is, I acknowledge, a very expert Messenger, very knowing in the Secret, and very forward in the work, in 4 or 5 hours time, that I had been at the _Hague_. Monsieur _T._ will be much more stun'd than Monsieur _Fagel_ was, when he shall know hereafter what past at the _Hague_, in that little time that I was there, not having discovered what it really was, neither then, nor since. It was most certainly, something of greater importance than to tell the Deputies of the Towns the Contents of the Dispatch, with which I was intrusted. And Monsieur _T._ will see cleerly one day, how far _this only incident did change the Fate of_ Christendome.
_I pretend not_, adds Monsieur _T. to determine by whose Means, and how_ du Cross, _obtained this Dispatch_. And a little lower, _All that I could learn at Court, about this matter, was, that his Orders were made up one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of_ Portsmouths _apartment, by the intervention of Monsieur_ Barillon.
It's pity, that an _English_ Ambassadour, that all the King his Master's Council (if one can believe it) that a Man, who if he had pleased himself, might have been several times Secretary of State, should be so little informed, I will not say during his absence, while he remained at the _Hague_, and at _Nimeguin_, but even since his return into _England_, of what past there, and chiefly in that very affair, wherein Monsieur _T._ was more exercised than in any other Business that he ever undertook.
But how he could be know it, since neither the Duke of _York_ nor my Lord Treasurer, nor hardly the King himself (if we may believe Monsieur _T._) knew any thing of it; And _that these Orders were made in one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of_ Portsmouths _Apartment, by the Interception of Monsieur_ Barillon.
Observe now, if you please, my Lord, the Malice of Monsieur _T._ in Relation to Monsieur _Williamson_, on whom he would give in this place, the Character of Perfidy, as he hath done in diverse other parts of his Memoirs. Monsieur _T._ ought to have had at least, some respect for the King, whose Orders Monsieur _Williamson_ did Execute.
_I never talkt of it_, says Monsieur _T. to the Secretary of State_ Williamson, as if he would lay that he was sufficiently perswaded that Monsieur _Williamson_ was a Man altogether for _France_, and that he was intirely devoted as well as my self, to Monsieur _Barillon_, and that he was the Author of this Dispatch.
Is it not clear that Monsieur _T._ would make us imagine that Monsieur the _Chevalier Williamson_, Secretary of State, the _French_ Ambassador, and the Dutchess of _Portsmouth_ promised these Orders. As for me, tho' I had the Dispatch given me, yet he does not accuse me openly in this place of bearing any other part in this Affair, than only as a Messenger entrusted with the Conveyance. And not only so, but I never went to the Dutchess of _Portsmouths_ Lodgings, she having an irreconcilable aversion for me, and I for her.
Can there be a greater absurdity than this? To endeavour to perswade his Readers that the most important affair of that time, on which depended (says Monsieur _T._) _The Fate of Christendom was concluded and made up, in one hours time, in the apartment of the Dutchess of_ Portsmouth, _by the Intervention of Monsieur_ Barillon.
Monsieur _T._ is accustomed so little to spare the King's Reputation, that he fears not on this occasion, to prostitute it, in a strange manner. He does not only charge him with partiality and connivance, in suffering _Valentiennes_, _Cambray_, St. _Omer_, and several other places in _Flanders_, to be taken, without Murmur or Opposition; But the King of _England_ obliged as much as could be, in the Quality of a Mediator, and more through the Interest of his Kingdoms to procure the Repose of Christendom, yet corrupted by the _French_ Ambassadours, and by the Charms of a Mistress, Sacrifices all _Europe_, and his own Estate, to a Power that is naturally an Enemy to _England_. And this without Ceremony, in an hours time, without the advice of his Council, and hides himself in the Apartment of a Woman, as if he was sensible that he went about an action the most unworthy of the Majesty of a Prince, and the most opposite to the Felicity of his People that could be. For what other Construction can any one make of what Monsieur _T._ says, and can any man conclude, otherwise when he reads this worthy passage in his Memoirs?
Certain it is, that this Dispatch was made up by Monsieur _Williamson_, and by the Kings Order. And since the King was pleased to avoid opening his mind hereon to Monsieur _T._ giving him no other answer, but that I had been _more cunning than all of 'em_; Monsieur _T._ might possibly Address himself to Monsieur _Williamson_, who, it may be, might tell him, _by whose means, and how_ Du Cross _had obtained this Dispatch_.
'Tis plain that Monsieur _T._ despairs of penetrating into this Affair; that he knows not where about he is when he speaks of it; and that he only seeks to blacken the Reputation of the King and his Ministers. If the Peace of _Aix la Chapelle_ is his Favourite, because he hath the Vanity to believe it to be intirely his own work; 'tis easie seen that the Peace of _Nimeguen_ is his Aversion, because he is ashamed to have had so small a Part in it as he had, and that the most glorious part of his Life is not to be found in that Negotiation.
I would have this Complaisance for Monsieur _T._ though he treats me so ill; I would, at least, in some part, draw him out of this great incertainty, on the subject of the Dispatch which I brought him.
He is deceived, when he imputes this Resolution to the Intrigues and Perswasions of _France_. It was neither managed, nor taken, nor dispatcht, at the Dutchess of _Portsmouth_'s; nor was it by the means or intervention of Monsieur _Barillon_. That Ambassadour had no part in it, but on the very Instant when the affair was concluding. He was not so much as present at the Expedition, as he had not been at any time at the Deliberations. The Marquiss of _Ruvigny_, the Son, carryed the first News to the King, his Master, the same day that I parted for _Nimeguen_. Monsieur _Williamson_ knew well what was contained in the Dispatch to Monsieur _T._ in which there was nothing very mysterious. But he was never privy to the secret of the Negotiation, and tho' he was present when I took my leave of the King in Secretary _Coventry_'s Office, yet he was then ignorant of the true subject of my Voyage, and perhaps he never knew it.
The King was not at all precipitate, and the affair was not concluded and dispatcht in an hours time. It was treated on, and deliberately considered near Three weeks. There was time given to the Ambassadours of _Swedeland_ to resolve themselves, and make their Answer. The King's design was doubtless aimed for the good of _Europe_, and the publick tranquility, but in truth, he had not in his Eye, nor did he certainly believe _that happy Fate of Christendome_, for which Monsieur _T._ labours so earnestly in consort with some particular Persons, Enemies to the State, Seditious, and Disturbers of the Publick Repose.
But _the King said pleasantly_, adds Monsieur _T._ _that the Rogue_ (Coquin) du Cross _had outwitted them all_. If Monsieur _T._ had not made the King say this, and had said it himself, I might have applied to him, with as much Justice as any man in the World, these Verses which I have read somewhere,
Coquin, _he calls me, with mighty disdain_.
Doubtless, I should answer Monsieur _T._ thus,
_Seek your_ Coquins _elsewhere, you're one your self_, But the Person of Kings is sacred. Besides, Can that be an abuse, which is spoken _pleasantly_, without the least design perhaps of offending. For _Coquin_ is a word which the Late King of _England_ often used, when he spoke of People for whom he had notwithstanding Respect and Consideration. 'Tis true, he used the word also very familiarly, when he was angry, but at such times he spoke with indignation, and not pleasantly.
The Parliament presented an Address to the King (as Monsieur _T._ reports) in which they represented the Progress of the _French_ Arms, and desired him to stop it before it became more dangerous to _England_, and the other Neighbouring Countries. _Don Bernard de Salinas_ (continues Monsieur _T._) said to certain Members of the Commons, that this Address had so exasperated the King, that he said those who were the Authors of it were a Company of _Coquins_.
I remembred at my Arrival in _England_, in 1675, before I was to go into _France_ in Quality of an Envoy, whither I acknowledge his most Christian Majesty would not permit me to come, either because they had informed him that I had embraced the Protestant Religion, or it may be because the King of _France_ would not receive his own Subjects, in the Quality of Ministers of other Princes. It happened, I say, that the King of _England_ (to whom also I had a Commission) bid the _Marquiss of Ruvigni_, one Evening, bring me to his Cabinet, and himself come in with me.
The King enquired of me, at the first, what news I could tell him of the Condition of the _Swedes_ Army in _Pomerania_, through which I past, and exprest much concern that the _Constable Wrangle_, not minding to pass forward into the Empire (as Monsieur _T._ says) had thereby different pretences, had attacked the Elector of _Branderburg_ as vigorously and with as much success as he could. I told the King the reason, which concerns not my present subject to report here.
Afterwards, I having informed the King of the State of _Germany_, the King believing that I was to pass into _France_, spoke to me in these very words. _Monsieur, tell the King, my Brother, that it is much against my mind that I have made Peace with these_ Coquins, _the_ Hollanders, _Monsieur the Marquiss of_ Ruvigny, _who stands here, knows it well_.
Sometime before the making of this Peace, the King talking with Monsieur _de Shrenborn_ Envoy from _Mayence_, told him also, in Relation to the _Hollanders, In a little time, Monsieur, I will bring these_ Coquins _to Reason_. Monsieur _de Barillon_ writ to the Count _d' Avaux_, the _French_ Ambassadour at the _Hague_, certain Discourses which the King had concerning the _Hollanders_. The Count _d' Avaux_ made use of this to encrease the just Suspitions of the _Estates_. He carried the Letters of Monsieur _Barillon_, to Monsieur _Fagel_. Whereupon, the _States_ made a terrible Complaint, and the King of _England_ said on this Occasion to the Duke of _Lauderdale_, that _Monsieur_ Barillon, _and the Count_ d' Avaux _were_ Coquins.
Had the King called me _Coquin_, seriously, I ought not to think it any very strange thing; since he hath treated in the same manner the most powerful and wisest Republick of the World, to whom he had so great Obligations; two Ambassadours of his most Christian Majesty, of extraordinary merit, and as honest Men as _France_ ever had; and also the greatest Lords of his own Kingdom who were Authors of the Address which the Commons presented him.
There is also this difference, that the King, speaking of those Lords, those Ambassadours, and the _Hollanders_, he called them _Coquins_ in anger, but when he spoke of me, he said it _pleasantly_ (according to Monsieur _T._) _and that I was a cunning_ Coquin, _more cunning than the Duke of_ York, _my Lord Treasurer, the Secretary of State_ Williamson, _and even the King himself_.
Either I am much deceived, or all the Ministers of the Confederates that were then at _London_, would have been all _Coquins_ at this rate, and Monsieur _Temple_ himself, and would have deceived those who abused and deceived them. For besides, there is more credit methinks on such like Occasions, _to be a cunning Rogue_, and to pass for a more able Man than the most able Ministers of State, than to be the laughing-stock, and the Fool of a _Monk_ and a sort of Agent; Sir _William Temple_, and some others, were truly so on this occasion.
But I would acquaint Sir _W. Temple_ of what he has not perhaps heard of, as he has done the like to me, I do not invent it to revenge my self, and if I would make use of falshoods, I might make recourse to more heinous Affronts; the truth of my Remarks upon his Memoirs, shall be my full satisfaction. What I shall relate may be found in my Letters upon that account to the Prince my Master, and his Ministers: I took no particular care to divulge it immediately to Mounsieur _Barillon_, to whom I was so much devoted; were he alive he might witness that as well as the Aversion the King of _England_ always bore to Sir _W. Temple_; and the little Esteem he had of him at bottom. Upon my return from _Nimeguen_ to _London_, I went immediately to Court, as soon as I came there I meet Prince _Rupert_, who askt me with a sterne Countenance if the Peace was Concluded, I answered him in the Affirmative, upon which he cryed out and said, _O Dissimulation_. After having had the Honour to give his Majesty an account of what was past, I told him of the ill humour I perceived Sir _W. T._ to be in, and what I knew of his neglect of his Majesties Orders; The King seemed very angry with Sir _W_'s. Proceedings, and said, _he was a very impertinent R---- to find fault with my Commands_.
But if the late K. of _England_, did not approve of my Conduct in the affairs of _Nimeguen_, which in effect he declared at first in Publick not to be pleased with, in which he play'd his part to admiration: If against his will, I had truly inform'd the several Deputies at the _Hague_, how that the two Kings of _England_ and _France_ were intirely agreed upon Conditions of Peace; if this accident changed the Destiny of _Christendom_, and what endeavours soever the English Court had made, there were no ways to repair the Breach. If I was a Fool, a peice of an Agent, or a Knave, How comes it that the King suffer'd me to stay in _England_ near a year? nay, as long as my Master thought fit. Why was the King so civil to me? Why did he recompence me for my Voyage from _Nimeguen_? Upon what account did the King bestow several other Favours upon me? How comes it, that I haveing made a great Entertainment and Fireworks, to shew my joy for the Re-establishment of the Duke my Master to his Teritories, that the whole Court should do me that Honour as to be present thereat?
It was not my quality of Envoy Extraordinary of the Duke _de Gottorp_, that hindred the King to express some kind of resentment against me, and thereupon to bid me avoid the Kingdom. I do well remember the King was just upon the point of making Mounsieur _Van Beuningen_ Ambassador to the States General, to withdraw and get him out of the Land, because he had got the word _Connivance_, to be foisted into a Memorial he presented to the King, for the recalling of the English Forces, which bore Armes in _France_.
_Don Barnard de Salinas_ was the Spanish Envoy; the King made much of him, yea and loved him for the particular care he had in _Flanders_ of the education of the E. of _Plym._ one of the Ks. Sons, He did nothing but report up and down, that the King gave the Authors of the Address, presented to his Majesty, by the House of Commons no better name than Rogues. The King had his liberty to reject this Address, as indeed he did, and no ways apprehended the Consequences of it at that time; yet for all that, he banished _Don Bern. de Salinas_, not in the least considering his Character, nor the Kindness wherewith he had always honoured this Minister; Yea and he Banished him too, without any respect to the King of _Spain_.
But, for me who had abused and deceived the D. of _York_, My Lord Treasurer, ay, and the K. himself, who had overthrown all those fair and vast Projects, which the Confederates had contrived at _London_ and _Nimeguen_; and Sir _W. T._ at the _Hague_, which had disclosed the Kings dispatches, a _master piece of Secrecy, who was the cause of quite changing the Fate of Christendom_: for me, I say, against whom the P. of _Orange_ had written, and caused to be written so many thundering Letters, against whom all the Ministers of the Confederates called for Vengeance; against whom Sir _W. T._ levelled more of his endeavours to destroy me than the Court did to repair this Breach, and patch up the business, it lets me alone, it does not make the least complaint to the Duke my Master; the K. does me a great many favours, and laughs in his Sleeve at the Surprise, at the Sorrow, and Complaints of the Confederates, and Sir _W. T._
After all that, can any body reasonably believe that the K. of _England_ might have lookt upon me as _a Rogue_: And when he told Sir _W. T._ after a droleing manner that I was a _Rogue and had out witted them all_, may it not be probable, that he had a mind to jeer him, and to make him sensible that he was taken but for Fool? It was very like so to be.
I have not gone about, My Lord, to say in this place what I might say, to wipe of all those scandalous impressions that Sir _W. T._ hath such a desire to fasten upon me; I suppose I have given your Lordship sufficiently to understand, that what he hath been pleased to say upon this Theme of me, proceeds from inveterate Spite and Malice.
But, what way is there to get clear of one of the most Haughty, and most Revengeful of men, who in his Memoires falls foul upon the reputation even of the greatest Minister, who casts aspersions on the Duke of _Lauderdale_, that most Zealous, and most Faithful Minister, that ever the King was Master of; on My Lord _Arlington_ whom Sir _W._ is bound to respect as his Master, who was his Benefactor, that raised him from his sordid obscurity, and as it were from the Dunghill, to bring him into play, This ingreatful person forsooke him, that he might catch at the shadow and appearance of mending his Fortune; he would not have stuck to ruin My Lord _Arlington_ by base indirect means: This is no hard matter to make out, even by Sir _W. T._ his own Memoirs, but yet I am acquainted with some particulars upon this Subject that make my hair stand an end, nay, and I have not only learnt them from My Lord _Arlingtons_ own mouth, but also from a noted Minister of those times.
What a piece of impudence to call in question and tax the Principal Ministers, and the soberest Magistrates of _Holland_, viz. Monsieur _de Beverning_, Monsieur _Valknier_ and others, generally esteemed by every body. To arraign them, I say, some for Avarice, others for Partiality, I had almost said for betraying their Trust. But above all, to give such disadvantagious representations of the E. of _Rochester_, and of Sir _Leoline Jenkyns_; that, it would have been all one if he had said, that Sir _Leoline_, was a man of the other World, a plain downright Ideot, void of insight and Experience: And that _Law. Hyde_, now E. of _Rochester_, was a Lord altogether unacquainted with, and no ways fit for the imployment the King gave him at _Nimeguen_; nevertheless, Sir _Leoline_ was made Secretary of State, and no notice at all taken of Sir _W._
As for _Laurence Hyde_, Sir _W._ speaks first of him, as if he were a Youth, that should have been sent to the University, _I plainly perceive_, saith he, _that the chief design of that Commission was to introduce Mr._ Hyde _into this sort of employment, and to let him understand the manner how the men behave themselves in the same_, then he adds, _He excused himself out of modesty, to have any thing to do with any Conference, and Compiling Dispatches_. Was it out of the respect he owed to Sir _W. T._ or for want of Capacity, that My Lord shewed so much modesty, that he would neither make Dispatches, nor meddle with Conferences, what, he who had been ingaged already, as he was afterwards in very important Affairs; who had been Embassadour in the principal Courts of _Europe_, who was chosen as Chief of the Embasie at _Nime__guen_, one who in all respects is so far above Sir _W.T._ for all these great qualities; yet My Lord, affords Sir _W._ just as much _difference_, as a petty Scholar does a famous Pedant. And to reward him, Sir _W. T._ would make him pass in the world, for an Embassadour that was but at best his Scholar.
I make account to tell you, what Sir _W._ dare not acknowledge. Mr. _Hyde_, being more subtile, and of greater Abilities than Sir _W._ and of that quality too, that was not to be exposed, would not intermeddle in a Mediation, which was like to suffer so gross Indignities, as the Mediation of _England_ suffered at the Treaty of _Nimeguen_. One time or other I shall publish those indignities in my Memoires, together with the weakness, and tameness wherewith they were content to suffer them.