the British minister had made, that the general suspension of hostilities by sea and land could not take place till the king had consented to the condition in question. In answer, therefore, to the instances of Bolingbroke, his majesty commanded information to be given him, "that desiring on his part the indemnification of the elector of Bavaria, he would consent to the demand of the queen of Great Britain in favor of the duke of Savoy, if that princess would endeavour and engage to effect the establishment of the elector, as sovereign of the Low Countries, which territory the king of Spain had actually ceded to him."

The reply of lord Bolingbroke was expected. He wrote word that he should be the bearer of it himself; that the queen, his mistress, had ordered him to pass over to France, which he purposed doing immediately.

The resolution taken by the queen of Great Britain to send one of her principal ministers into France, was proof to her allies that she persisted firmly in her intention of concluding a separate peace, if they persevered in their refusal to concur with her in negotiating a ge neral one. They even suspected that this separate treaty was already signed, as soon as the intelligence of lord Bolingbroke's unexpected journey was conveyed to Holland.

The conclusion of such a treaty would indeed a long time since have preceded and anticipated the commission with which this minister was charged, if his opinion had prevailed. He had counselled the queen, his mistress, to prefer a separate peace to the suspension of arms, and to assure, as soon as possible, to her subjects the enjoyment of all the conditions which the king had

granted in favor of England. This was the way to cat the knot of all the difficulties which the enemies of peace kad raised against the simple cessation of hostilities. The example of England would have been soon followed; and it was certain that the kings of Portugal and Frussia, the duke of Savoy, and even Holland itself, woukl not adopt the pernicious policy of remaining parties in the war, from which England had retired; and that the rest of the allics, without means and without strength to sustain the burden, would not continue it Jong.

The counsel given by Bolingbroke was opposed by the lord treasurer, too attentive to please the duke of Hanover, and fearing his vengeance when he should attain to the possession of the crown of Great Britain. It was determined therefore to adhere to the project of a suspension. This caused much embarrassment, which would have been avoided by a definitive peace between France and England. The queen of Great Britain, whose infirmities visibly augmented, would have had leisure to provide before her death for the repose of her kingdom, as well as for the safety of those ministers by whom she had been so faithfully served.

P. 248. The convention relative to all the articles under discussion being made and regulated between the two secretaries of state of France and England, they agreed to sign at Fontainbleau, after Bolingbroke had been admitted to an audience of the king, the treaty for a suspension of arms by sea and land during four months between France and Great Britain. They set out together from Paris, in order to present themselves to the king. His majesty wished to mark the satisfaction

which he should take in acting henceforth in convert with the queca of England, and in establishing with that princess a perfectly good understanding, such as was essential to the restoration of the general tranquillity in Europe. Desiring to treat her minister with distinction, the king caused an apartment to be prepared for kim in the castle of Fontainbleau, and on the morrow his majesty gave him a private audience in his closet. Lord Bolingbroke acquitted himself of the commission with which he was charged by the queen, his mistress, with as much grace as nobleness, and at the same time in a manner full of respect for the person of the kingHe would have acquired from this moment the esÆÐIR of his majesty, had he not previously merited and obtained it by the conduct which he had held during the course of the negotiation.

The king, who joined to his rare qualities the talent of expressing himself better than any prince in the world, replied to him in the handsomest terins, devoid of art and replete with courtesy, assuring him of his esteem and of his affection for the queen of Great Britain. He testified the satisfaction which he felt to see the peace approach to a conclusion, through the cares of that princess; as he also on his side had done all in his power to facilitate the same object. He said that he hoped that all the opposition made to its establishment would be vain, and that God would not permit the enemies of the public repose longer to exercise a power fatal to the happiness of so many nations. His majesty assured Bolingbroke, that he would adhere exactly to what he had promised, and that the success of his arms should make no change in the conditions to which he had assented.

The audience being finished, the two secretaries of state again perused and examined the project which they had prepared for a suspension of arms; and the treaty fairly transcribed was signed by them the same day. Lord Bolingbroke was not less agreeable to the courtiers than to the monarch. The court of France was not strange to him; nor did he appear as a stranger there. Every one was eager to pay him honours; and although the example of the king is commonly the model according to which a foreigner is received, Bolingbroke owed no less to his personal accomplishments than to the sentiments which the king discovered in relation to him. He departed a few days afterwards full of zeal and of resolution, to finish happily the work actually begun, and conducted to such a point, that a short time after this the cardinal Polignac wrote from Utrecht" We now assume the part which the Dutch played at Gertruydenberg, and they occupy ours. It is a complete revenge. Count Zinzendorf feels the decay of his power very sensibly."

THE fixed and insuperable aversion of queen Anne to seeing any branch of the Hanover family in England, strikingly displayed itself on occasion of the demand made by baron Schutz, envoy from Hanover, of a writ for the electoral prince to sit in the house of peers as duke of Cambridge. Having good ground to believe that this application, which could not be legally refused, had the previous sanction of the princess Sophia's approbation, the queen, with the advice of her ministers, wrote to the electress the following letter.

MADAM, SISTER, AUNT,

St. James's, May 19, 1714.

SINCE the right of succession to my kingdoms has been declared to belong to you and your family, there have always been disaffected persons, who, by particular views of their own interest, have entered into measures to fix a prince of your blood in my dominions even whilst I am yet living. I never thought till now that this project would have gone so far as to have made the least impression on your mind. But as I have lately perceived by public rumours, which are industriously spread, that your electoral highness is