PART II. 1.689.. April 27. ing the inclination of the King on this point. Both houses, therefore, in an addrefs, affured him of their fupport in a war against France. The King could not conceal his joy when he received it.. The words of his anfwer were fhort and unaffected, and therefore contained the fentiments of his heart: "The "measures of France," he said, "amounted so much "to a declaration of war, that a war on the part of "England was not fo much an act of choice, as of "neceffity." The Empire, Spain, Holland, the Elector of Brandenburgh, united at the same time against France, and many other Princes prepared to join them. The hour feemed to approach when Lewis XIV. was to be called upon, to pay the forfeit he had long owed for his infults to all the nations around him. William is reported to have said to his confidents, that the day on which England joined the other powers of Europe against their common enemy, " was the first "day of his reign." But as the late King was in Ireland, those who confidered the state of things with lefs fanguine expectations, forefaw that a war on the part of England must chiefly be defenfive. Others who examined the nature of free and trading nations, believed that an alliance between England and Holland, under one common Prince, could not fail to be the fubject of jealoufies to both. APPENDIX A P P E NDI X то C CHAPTER I. OF PART II. Letter of Lord Sunderland to King William, dated Amfterdam, March 8th, immediately after the revolution. -Anxious about his own fate-reminds King William of his fervices in the revolution. F I had not followed the advice of my friends rather IF than my own sense, I should not have been out of England at this time; for I thought I had served the public fo importantly in contributing what lay in me towards the advancing of your glorious undertaking, that the having been in an odious ministry ought not to have obliged me to be absent: but nothing makes me repine so much at it, as that I could not give my vote for placing your Majesty on the throne, as I would have done with as much joy and zeal as any man alive; and do now most heartily wish you all the greatness and profperity you deserve, which is to wish you more than any man ever had. I must now beg leave to offer to your Majesty my most humble acknowledgments for your justice and and grace in ordering me to be fet at liberty. I came into this country because I defired to be intirely in your power, and will continue in it till you forbid me, which I hope in charity your Majefty will never do. I fhould be fure you never would, if my condition were worthy of your confideration. Wherever I am in the world, your commands, as they ought, fhall be moft exactly obeyed by, (In King William's Cabinet.) Amfterdam, March 8. Lady Sunderland to King William.-A fimilar letter. THE HE relief I had by your Majefty's justice and grace from the sharpest apprehenfions that ever I lay under, may, I hope, be allowed a fufficient plea for the liberty I now take to prefent you my moft humble acknowledgments for that great charity of yours: I dare not impute it to any other motive; but however unfortunate my present circumstances are, I have this to fupport me, that my thoughts as well as actions have been, are, and I dare fay ever will be, what they ought to be to your Majefty; and not only upon the account of the duty I now owe you, but long before your glorious undertaking, I can't but hope you remember how devoted I was to your fervice, which was founded upon so many great and estimable qualities in you, that I can never change my opinion, whatever my fortune may be in this world; and may I but hope for fo much of your Majefty's favour, as to live quietly in a country where you have fo much power, till it fhall pleafe God to let me end my days at my own home, I fhall ever be moft truly and humbly thankful. (In King William's Cabinet.) Amfterdam, March 11. Letter Letter of Lord Sunderland to King William-Anxious about his fate. YOUR difpleafure is of all things the most grievous. I deserve pity upon many accounts. That I befeech you do withdraw, and forgive my failings, and difpose of me for ever as you fhall think fit. mighty preserve you for ever. Thursday. God Al (In King William's Cabinet.) The above three letters fhow the difficult fituation into which the double conduct of Lord and Lady Sunderland (as double-dealing always does) had thrown both themselves and King William. In memoirs written by Sir John Lowther, firft Lord of the Treafury to King William, part of which Sir James Lowther was fo obliging as to fhow me, there is a very strong picture of the distresses which King William was under in England, from want of money. But the strongest picture of all is in a letter in King William's cabinet, from Lord Godolphin to King William, without a date, but appearing from its contents to have been written in the year 1693. This letter, containing the true state of parties and of the king immediately after the revolution, and being a very remarkable one in many refpects, I print the whole pf it. For SIR, For the KING. HAVING, according to my duty, made it my bufinefs not only to give a constant attendance in the house all this feffions, but at all meetings to which I was called, to confider how to carry on your affairs; and having thereby had an opportunity to make several observations that may prove for your Majefty's fervice to know, I think myself obliged, with all imaginable fubmiffion, to lay them before your Majesty. And it being generally difcourfed as if your Majefty had a peace in profpect, you'll pardon me, Sir, if from those observations, in the first place, I prefume to say how much, in my poor opinion, it will contribute to your future happiness if it should, if poffible, be perfected before the meeting either of this or any other parliament. When your Majefty confiders the prefent state of the kingdom, and the factions that are in it, you'll find that the two great points that require more especially your care, are how to manage the partyes foe as to maintain yourself against your enemies abroad, and at the fame time so to preserve your authority at home, that the neceffity of doing the one may not bring you to such circumstances that it will be impoffible for you to keep the other; and this task is more difficult, because the toreys, who are friends to prerogative, are so mingled with Jacobites, that they are not to be confided in during the war; and the Whigs, who are, for that reafon, of neçeffity to be employed to fupport your cause against the common enemy, will at the fame time endeavour all they |