The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10: Historical WritingsSwift, Jonathan
History
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10: Historical Writings
Swift, Jonathan
Anne, Queen of Great Britain, 1665-1714; Great Britain -- History -- Anne, 1702-1714; Spanish Succession, War of, 1701-1714
The Earl Rivers had, in the foregoing year, been sent to Hanover, in
order to undeceive the Elector, and remove whatever prejudices might be
infused into his Highness against Her Majesty's proceedings; but it
should seem that he had no very great success in his negotiation: for
soon after his return to England, Mons. Bothmar's "Memorial" appeared in
the manner I have already related, which discovered the sentiments of
his electoral Highness (if they were truly represented in that
"Memorial") to differ not a little from those of the Queen. Mr. Harley
was therefore directed to take the first opportunity of speaking to the
Elector in private, to assure him, "That although Her Majesty had
thought herself justly provoked by the conduct of his minister, yet such
was her affection for his Highness, and concern for the interests of his
family, that instead of showing the least mark of resentment, she had
chosen to send him (Mr. Harley) fully instructed to open her designs,
and shew his Highness the real interest of Britain in the present
conjuncture." Mr. Harley was to give the Elector a true account of what
had passed in England, during the first part of this session of
Parliament; to expose to his Highness the weakness of those with whom
his minister had consulted, and under whose directions he had acted; to
convince him how much lower that faction must become, when a peace
should be concluded, and when the natural strength of the kingdom,
disencumbered from the burthen of the war, should be at liberty to exert
itself; to shew him how his interest in the succession was sacrificed to
that of a party: that his Highness had been hitherto a friend to both
sides, but that the measures taken by his ministers, had tended only to
set him at the head of one in opposition to the other: to explain to the
Elector, how fully the safety of Europe was provided for by the plan of
peace in Her Majesty's speech; and how little reason those would appear
to have, who complained the loudest of this plan, if it were compared
either with our engagements to them when we began the war, or with their
performances in the course of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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