第86章 LETTER 8(28)

Turn your eyes,my lord,on the conduct of the States,and you will find reason to be astonished at the arrogance of the men who governed in them at this time,and who presumed to exclaim against a queen of Great Britain,for doing what their deputies had done more than once in that very country,and in the course of that very war.In the year one thousand seven hundred and twelve,at the latter end of a war,when conferences for treating a peace were opened,when the least sinister event in the field would take off from that superiority which the allies had in the congress,and when the past success of the war had already given them as much of this superiority as they wanted,to obtain a safe,advantageous,honorable,and lasting peace,the queen directed her general to suspend till further order the operations of her troops.In one thousand seven hundred and three,in the beginning of a war,when something was to be risked or no success to be expected,and when the bad situation of affairs in Germany and Italy required,in a particular manner,that efforts should be made in the Low Countries,and that the war should not languish there whilst it was unsuccessful everywhere else;the Duke of Marlborough determined to attack the French,but the Dutch deputies would not suffer their troops to go on;defeated his design in the very moment of its execution,if I remember well,and gave no other reason for their proceeding than that which is a reason against every battle,the possibility of being beaten.The circumstance of proximity to their frontier was urged,I know,and it was said,that their provinces would be exposed to the incursions of the French if they lost the battle.But besides other answers to this vain pretence,it was obvious that they had ventured battles as near home as this would have been fought,and that the way to remove the enemy farther off was by action,not inaction.Upon the whole matter,the Dutch deputies stopped the progress of the confederate army at this time,by exercising an arbitrary and independent authority over the troops of the States.In one thousand seven hundred and five,when the success of the preceding campaign should have given them an entire confidence in the Duke of Marlborough's conduct,when returning from the Moselle to the Low Countries,he began to make himself and the common cause amends,for the disappointment which pique and jealousy in the Prince of Baden,or usual sloth and negligence in the Germans,had occasioned just before,by forcing the French lines;when he was in the full pursuit of this advantage,and when he was marching to attack an enemy half defeated,and more than half dispirited;nay when he had made his dispositions for attacking,and part of his troops had passed the Dyle the deputies of the States once more tied up his hands,took from him an opportunity too fair to be lost;for these,I think,were some of the terms of his complaint:and in short the confederacy received an affront at least;where we might have obtained a victory.Let this that has been said serve as a specimen of the independency on the queen,her councils,and her generals,with which these powers acted in the course of the war;who were not ashamed to find fault that the queen,once,and at the latter end of it,presumed to suspend the operations of her troops till farther order.But be it that they foresaw what this farther end would be.They foresaw then,that as soon as Dunkirk should be put into the queen's hands,she would consent to a suspension of arms for two months,and invite them to do the same.Neither this foresight,nor the strong declaration which the Bishop of Bristol made by the queen's order at Utrecht,and which showed them that her resolution was taken not to submit to the league into which they had entered against her,could prevail on them to make a right use of these two months,by endeavoring to renew their union and good understanding with the queen;though I can say with the greatest truth,and they could not doubt of it at the time,that she would have gone more than half-way to meet them,and that her ministers would have done their utmost to bring it about.Even then we might have resumed the superiority we began to lose in the congress;for,the queen and the States uniting,the principal allies would have united with them:and,in this case,it would have been so much the interest of France to avoid any chance of seeing the war renewed,that she must,and she would,have made sure of peace,during the suspension,on much worse terms for herself and for Spain,than she made it afterwards.But the prudent and sober states continued to act like forward children,or like men drunk with resentment and passion;and such will the conduct be of the wisest governments in every circumstance,where a spirit of faction and of private interest prevails,among those who are at the head,over reason of state.After laying aside all decency in their behavior towards the queen,they laid aside all caution for themselves.They declared "they would carry on the war without her."Landrecy seemed,in their esteem,of more importance than Dunkirk;and the opportunity of wasting some French provinces,or of putting the whole event of the war on the decision of another battle,preferable to the other measure that lay open to them;that,I mean,of trying,in good earnest,and in an honest concert with the queen,during the suspension of arms,whether such terms of peace,as sought to satisfy them and the other allies,might not be imposed on France.