The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letter from Monsieur de Cros,... being an answer to Sir Wm Temple's memoirs... [1693], by Monsieur de Cros This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Letter from Monsieur de Cros,... being an answer to Sir Wm Temple's memoirs... [1693] Author: Monsieur de Cros Release Date: June 2, 2010 [EBook #32656] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTER FROM MONSIEUR DE CROS *** Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
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 [Pg 3]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, [Pg 4]he saith, some-where 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 que[Pg 5]stion 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.[Pg 6]
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.[Pg 7]
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;[Pg 8] 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 perfidi[Pg 9]ousness 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.[Pg 10]
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[Pg 11] 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.[Pg 12]
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[Pg 14] 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[Pg 15] 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.
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 suspici[Pg 16]ons 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.[Pg 17]
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 [Pg 18] 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[Pg 19] 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[Pg 20] 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[Pg 21] 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.[Pg 22]
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[Pg 23] 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[Pg 24] 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.[Pg 25]
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 [Pg 27] 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 [Pg 28] 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, [Pg 29] 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 [Pg 30] 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 Nimeguen, [Pg 31] 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.
But now, if Sir W. T. hath not spared such Illustrious persons as these: No, not so much as My Lord Treasurer, at present Marquis of Caermarthen, laying something to his charge, whom also he does not do that right and Justice, which is due to so great a Minister of State, one of the greatest Wits of the Age, for business; a person so Loyal to the King his Master, that he sacrificed himself for his sake; and after all, so full of zeal for his Country, that he hath bethought himself of all expedients, and hath not feared to expose himself to peril and utter undoing, that he might deliver it from the mischiefs that threaten it; If Sir Will. hath not spared the Kings person, whose Dignity and Reputation he so often sacrifices, can I hope to escape his foul mouthed Language.[Pg 32]
Peradventure he had better have done something else, & something wiser; great Confident of Princes and Ks. the sole preserver of Flanders, as he is, than to have entred the list with a Monk, with a kind of an Agent, and with a cunning Knave. But his desire of revenge hath prevailed, he believes himself cruelly wrong'd, and he is in the right on't, for that at the Hague and at Nimeguen, which he was confident would be the Theatre of his Glory, they made him act a disgraceful ridiculous part. He imagines I am partly the cause of it, either because that my Voyage to Nimeguen might have been the effect of my Negotiation, which he might have gathered by the Kings answer, or, because I might have done nothing in Holland, but administer cause of Suspicions and Umbrages, that hasten'd on the Peace, in spite of his Teeth, and Reverst the Treaty he had but lately concluded at the Hague.
My Lord, If I be not mistaken, here is another occasion of Sir W.T. being vext at me. There was a Treaty a foot between England and Spain, for which purpose Sir W. was employ'd without any other design in reference to England, but to abase the Parliament, and no other on the Spaniards side, but only to add a little more reputation to their Affairs. Now the Parliament got nothing by it, and the greatest advantage accrued to the Spaniard, who upon this occasion made him really believe it, and so took him for a Cully. A sad acknowledgment for having alone saved Flanders for Spain! I ridiculed this Treaty, I made observations thereon, that were publi[Pg 33]shed in Holland, and men judged that the observations were well grounded: After that, and after the business of Nimeguen, I was not to expect any Encomiums from so unjust a person as Sir W. T. but still he might have writ more like a Gentleman, and have spoken of me without ever loosing the respect which he owed to my Master, without doing so great an injury in my person, both to my Name, and Family out of a merry humour, for in whatsoever past, I performed the duty of a Minister, both zealous and most faithful; Nay, and I did nothing but even by concurrance and good likeing of the King of England.
I beseech you, My Lord, conserve for me the honour of your gracious favour, and be fully perswaded, that I shall be all my life long, with much respect.
Your most humble, &c.
It is now some Months ago since the Foreign Journals gave us to understand, that Mousieur de Cross, the Ingenious Author of the foregoing Treatise, was meditating an Answer to Sir William Temple's Memoirs. As nothing more sensibly touches us, than to have our Reputation wounded by those Persons whom we never injured. We are not to admire that our Author who thought himself unjustly attacked in these Memoirs, took the first opportunity to justifie his proceedings to the World; and if he sometimes falls out into severe or indecent Language, it is to be remembred that he was not the first Agressor, but that his Adversary taught him the way. How well M. de Cross has acquitted himself in this Affair, I will by no means take upon me to determine. Let the Reader, without prejudice or partiality, consider what both Parties say, and then let him judge for himself.
When these Memoirs first appeared in publick, I remember the Criticks in Town were much divided in their Sentiments about them; some found fault with the Stile, as too luscious and affected; others censured the Digressions, as Foreign to the Business in hand, and particularly the Story of Prince Maurice's Parrot, that (to use Sir William's own Expression, p. 58.) spoke, and asked, and answered common Questions, like a reasonable Creature. Lastly, the Graver sort of People were scandalized to see several Persons eminent both for their Station and Quality, and some of them still Living, treated with so much Freedom, and with so little Ceremony; adding, that the Author every where appeared too full of himself, which I find is the very Character, which the French Relator of the Negotiation at Nimeguen, has been pleased to bestow upon him.
Indeed, as for the Language of the Memoirs, a Man needs but turn over half a dozen Pages to be convinced that the first Objection is just and reasonable. Every Leaf almost stands charged with Gallicisms, more or less; and indeed 'tis odd enough to see a Man of Sir William Temples's Constitution, who all along declares such an invincible Aversion to the French Nation, so fondly doting upon their Expressions, even where he had no necessity to use them. But at the same time, I confess, I am of opinion, that his Digressions are not so faulty, it being not amiss in a just History, but especially in Memoirs, to relieve a serious Scene, now and then, with something that is diverting and agreeable. As for the last Objection, I have nothing to say to it at present, since it is not improbable but that the following Book of Monsieur de Cross may prevail with him to attempt his own Justification.
Long "s" has been modernized. Apart from that, printer's inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation have been retained.
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