The French raised many difficulties upon several particulars of this expedient; but the Queen persisted to refuse any plan of peace before this weighty point were settled in the manner she proposed, which was afterwards submitted to, as in proper place we shall observe. In the mean time, the negotiation at Utrecht proceeded with a very slow pace; the Dutch interposing all obstructions they could contrive, refusing to come to any reasonable temper upon the Barrier Treaty, or to offer a plan, in concert with the Queen, for a general peace. Nothing less would satisfy them, than the partaking in those advantages we had stipulated for ourselves, and which did no ways interfere with their trade or security. They still expected some turn in England; their friends on this side had ventured to assure them, that the Queen could not live many months, which, indeed, from the bad state of Her Majesty's health, was reasonable to expect. The British plenipotentiaries daily discovered new endeavours of Holland to treat privately with France; and, lastly, those among the States, who desired the war should continue, strove to gain time, until the campaign should open; and by resolving to enter into action with the first opportunity, render all things desperate, and break up the congress. This scheme did exactly fall in with Prince Eugene's dispositions, whom the States had chosen for their general, and of whose conduct, in this conjuncture, the Queen had too much reason to be jealous; but Her Majesty, who was resolved to do her utmost towards putting a good and speedy end to this war, having placed the Duke of Ormonde at the head of her forces in Flanders, whither he was now arrived, directed him to keep all the troops in British pay, whether subjects or foreigners, immediately under his own command; and to be cautious, for a while, in engaging in any action of importance, unless upon a very apparent advantage. At the same time the Queen determined to make one thorough trial of the disposition of the States, by allowing them the utmost concessions that could any way suit either with her safety or honour. She therefore directed her ministers at Utrecht, to tell the Dutch, "That, in order to shew how desirous she was to live in perfect amity with that republic, she would resign up the fifteen _per cent._, advantage upon English goods sent to the Spanish dominions, which the French King had offered her by a power from his grandson,[5] and be content to reduce that trade to the state in which it was under the late King of Spain. She would accept of any tolerable softening of these words in the seventh article of the Barrier Treaty, where it is said, 'The States shall have power, in case of an apparent attack, to put as many troops as they please into all the places of the Netherlands,' without specifying an attack from the side of France, as ought to have been done; otherwise, the Queen might justly think they were preparing themselves for a rupture with Britain.