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at every turn threatening to break the alliance, if he will not comply.

From these reflections upon war in general, I descend to consider those wars wherein England has been engaged since the conquest. In the civil wars of the barons, as well as those between the houses of York and Lancaster, great destruction was made of the nobility and gentry; new families raised, and old ones extinguished; but the money spent on both sides, was employed and circulated at home; no publick debts contracted; and a very few years of peace quickly set all right again.

The like may be affirmed even of that unnatural rebellion against king Charles I. The usurpers maintained great armies in constant pay, had almost continual war with Spain or Holland; but, managing it by their fleets, they increased very much the riches of the kingdom, instead of exhausting them.

Our foreign wars were generally against Scotland, or France; the first, being in this island, carried no money out of the kingdom, and were seldom of long continuance. During our first wars with France, we possessed great dominions in that country, where we preserved some footing till the reign of queen Mary; and although some of our later princes made very chargeable expeditions thither, a subsidy and two or three fifteenths cleared all the debt. Besides, our victories were then of some use as well as glory; for we were so prudent as to fight, and so happy as to conquer, only for ourselves.

The Dutch wars in the reign of king Charles II, although begun and carried on under a very corrupt administration, and much to the dishonour of the crown, did indeed keep the king needy and poor, by discontinuing or discontenting his parliament, when he most needed their assistance; but neither left any debt upon the nation, nor carried any money out of

At the Revolution, a general war broke out in Europe, wherein many princes joined in alliance against France to check the ambitious designs of that monarch; and here the Emperor, the Dutch, and England were principals. About this time, the custom first began among us, of borrowing millions upon funds of interest. It was pretended, that the war could not possibly last above one or two campaigns; and that the debts contracted might be easily paid in a few years by a gentle tax, without burdening the subject. But the true reason for embracing this expedient, was, the security of a new prince, not firmly settled on the throne. People were tempted to lend, by great premiums and large interest; and it concerned them nearly to preserve that government, which they had trusted with their money. The person said to have been author of so detestable a project, lived to see some of its fatal consequences, whereof his grandchildren will not see an end. And this pernicious counsel closed very well with the posture of affairs at that time: for a set of upstarts, who had little or no part in the revolution, but valued themselves upon their noise and pretended zeal when the work was over, were got into credit at court, by the merit of becoming undertakers and projectors of loans and funds: these, finding that the gentlemen of estates were not willing to come into their measures, fell upon those new schemes of raising money, in order to create a monied interest, that might in time vie with the landed, and of which they hoped to be at the head.

The ground of the first war for ten years after the Revolution, as to the part we had in it, was to make France acknowledge the late king, and to recover Hudson's Bay. But during that whole war the sea was almost entirely neglected, and the greatest part of six millions annually employed to enlarge the

Dr. Burnet, bishop of Sarum. H.

frontier of the Dutch; for the king was a general, but not an admiral; and although king of England, was a native of Holland.

After ten years fighting to little purpose, after the loss of above a hundred thousand men, and a debt remaining of twenty millions, we at length hearkened to the terms of peace, which was concluded with great advantages to the empire and Holland, but none at all to us; and clogged soon after with the famous treaty of partition, by which Naples, Sicily, and Lorrain, were to be added to the French dominions; or, if that crown should think fit to set aside the treaty, upon the Spaniards refusing to accept it, as they declared they would to the several parties at the very time of the transacting it, then the French would have pretensions to the whole monarchy. And so it proved in the event; for the late king of Spain, reckoning it an indignity to have his territories cantoned out into parcels by other princes, during his own life, and without his consent, rather chose to bequeath the monarchy entire to a younger son of France; and this prince was acknowledged for king of Spain, both by us and Holland.

It must be granted, that the counsels of entering into this war were violently opposed by the churchparty, who first advised the late king to acknowledge the duke of Anjou; and particularly it is affirmed, that a certain great person*, who was then in the church interest, told the king in November, 1701, that since his majesty was determined to engage in a war so contrary to his private opinion, he could serve him no longer, and accordingly gave up his employment; although he happened afterwards to change his mind, when he was to be at the head of the treasury, and have the sole management of affairs at home, while those abroad were to be in the hands of

* Earl of Godolphin. H,

one*, whose advantage, by all sorts of ties, he was engaged to promote.

The declarations of war against France and Spain, made by us and Holland, are dated within a few days of each other. In that published by the States, they say very truly, that they are nearest and most exposed to the fire; that they are blocked up on all sides, and actually attacked by the kings of France and Spain; that their declaration is the effect of an urging and. pressing necessity; with other expressions to the same purpose. They desire the assistance of all kings and princes, &c. The grounds of their quarrel with France, are such as only affect themselves, or at least more immediately than any other prince or state; such as, the French refusing to grant the Tariff promised by the treaty of Ryswick; the loading of the Dutch inhabitants settled in France, with excessive duties, contrary to the said treaty; the violation of the Partition Treaty by the French accepting the king of Spain's will, and threatening the States if they would not comply; the seizing of the Spanish Netherlands by the French troops, and turning out the Dutch, who, by permission of the late king of Spain, were in garrison there; by which means that republick was deprived of her barrier, contrary to the treaty of partition, where it was particularly stipulated, that the Spanish Netherlands should be left to the archduke. They alleged, that the French king governed Flanders as his own, although under the name of his grandson, and sent great numbers of troops thither to fright them t; that he had seized the city and citadel of Liege; had possessed himself of several places in the archbishoprick of Cologne, and maintained troops in the country of Wolfenbuttle, in order to block up the Dutch on all sides; and

* Duke of Marlborough. H.

This the author of John Bull calls "frighting the children out of their bread and butter." H.

caused his resident to give in a memorial, wherein he threatened the States to act against them, if they refused complying with the contents of that memo

rial.

The queen's declaration of war is grounded upon the grand alliance, as this was upon the unjust usurpations and encroachments of the French king; whereof the instances produced are, his keeping in possession a great part of the Spanish dominions, seizing Milan and the Spanish Low-countries, making himself master of Cadiz, &c. And instead of giving satisfaction in these points, his putting an indignity and affront on her majesty and kingdoms by declaring the pretended prince of Wales king of England, &c., Which last was the only personal quarrel we had in the war; and even this was positively denied by France, that king being willing to acknowledge her majesty.

I think it plainly appears by both declarations, that England ought no more to have been a principal in this war than Prussia, or any other power, who came afterward into that alliance. Holland was first in danger, the French troops being at that time just at the gates of Nimeguen. But the complaints made in our declaration do all, except the last, as much, or more concern almost every prince in Europe.

For, among the several parties, who came first or last into this confederacy, there were few but who *, in proportion, had more to get or lose, to hope or to fear, from the good or ill success of this war, than The Dutch took up arms to defend themselves from immediate ruin; and by a successful war, they

we.

*There were few but who,' &c. This is a bad mode of phraseology, and should be changed to the following there were few who, in proportion, had not more to get or to lose,' &c. S..

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