Letter from Monsieur de Cros

Here is, I acknowledge, a very expert Messenger, very knowing in the Secret, and very forward in the work, in 4 or 5 hours time, that I had been at the Hague. Monsieur T. will be much more stun'd than Monsieur Fagel was, when he shall know hereafter what past at the Hague, in that little time that I was there, not having discovered what it really was, neither then, nor since. It was most certainly, something of greater importance than to tell the Deputies of the Towns the Contents of the Dispatch, with which I was intrusted. And Monsieur T. will see cleerly one day, how far this only incident did change the Fate of Christendome.

I pretend not, adds Monsieur T. to determine bywhose Means, and how du Cross, obtained this Dispatch. And a little lower, All that I could learn at Court, about this matter, was, that his Orders were made up one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of Portsmouths apartment, by the intervention of Monsieur Barillon.

It's pity, that an English Ambassadour, that all the King his Master's Council (if one can believe it) that a Man, who if he had pleased himself, might have been several times Secretary of State, should be so little informed, I will not say during his absence, while he remained at the Hague, and at Nimeguin, but even since his return into England, of what past there, and chiefly in that very affair, wherein Monsieur T. was more exercised than in any other Business that he ever undertook.

But how he could be know it, since neither the Duke of York nor my Lord Treasurer, nor hardly the King himself (if we may believe Monsieur T.) knew any thing of it; And that these Orders were made in one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of Portsmouths Apartment, by the Interception of Monsieur Barillon.

Observe now, if you please, my Lord, the Malice of Monsieur T. in Relation to Monsieur Williamson, on whom he would give in this place, the Character of Perfidy, as he hath done in diverse other parts of his Memoirs. Monsieur T. ought to have had at least, some respect for the King, whose Orders Monsieur Williamson did Execute.

I never talkt of it, says Monsieur T. to the Secretary of State Williamson, as if he would lay that he was sufficiently perswaded that Monsieur Williamson was a Man altogether for France, and that he was intirely devoted as well as my self, to Monsieur Barillon, and that he was the Author of this Dispatch.

Is it not clear that Monsieur T. would make us imagine that Monsieur the Chevalier Williamson, Secretary of State, the French Ambassador, and the Dutchess of Portsmouth promised these Orders. As for me, tho' I had the Dispatch given me, yet he does not accuse me openly in this place of bearing any other part in this Affair, than only as a Messenger entrusted with the Conveyance. And not only so, but I never went to the Dutchess of Portsmouths Lodgings, she having an irreconcilable aversion for me, and I for her.

Can there be a greater absurdity than this? To endeavour to perswade his Readers that the most important affair of that time, on which depended (says Monsieur T.) The Fate of Christendom was concluded and made up, in one hours time, in the apartment of the Dutchess of Portsmouth, by the Intervention of Monsieur Barillon.

Monsieur T. is accustomed so little to spare the King's Reputation, that he fears not on this occasion, to prostitute it, in a strange manner. He does not only charge him with partiality and connivance, in suffering Valentiennes, Cambray, St. Omer, and several other places in Flanders, to be taken, without Murmur or Opposition; But the King of England obliged as much as could be, in the Quality of a Mediator, and more through the Interest of his Kingdoms to procure the Repose of Christendom, yet corrupted by the French Ambassadours, and by the Charms of a Mistress, Sacrifices all Europe, and his own Estate, to a Power that is naturally an Enemy to England. And this without Ceremony, in an hours time, without the advice of his Council, and hides himself in the Apartment of a Woman, as if he was sensible that he went about an action the most unworthy of the Majesty of a Prince, and the most opposite to the Felicity of his People that could be. For what other Construction can any one make of what Monsieur T. says, and can any man conclude, otherwise when he reads this worthy passage in his Memoirs?

Certain it is, that this Dispatch was made up by Monsieur Williamson, and by the Kings Order. And since the King was pleased to avoid opening his mind hereon to Monsieur T. giving him no other answer, but that I had been more cunning than all of 'em; Monsieur T. might possibly Address himself to Monsieur Williamson, who, it may be, might tell him, by whose means, and how Du Cross had obtained this Dispatch.

'Tis plain that Monsieur T. despairs of penetrating into this Affair; that he knows not where about he is when he speaks of it; and that he only seeks to blacken the Reputation of the King and his Ministers. If the Peace of Aix la Chapelle is his Favourite, because he hath the Vanity to believe it to be intirely his own work; 'tis easie seen that the Peace of Nimeguen is his Aversion, because he is ashamed to have had so small a Part in it as he had, and that the most glorious part of his Life is not to be found in that Negotiation.

I would have this Complaisance for Monsieur T. though he treats me so ill; I would, at least, in some part, draw him out of this great incertainty, on the subject of the Dispatch which I brought him.

He is deceived, when he imputes this Resolution to the Intrigues and Perswasions of France. It was neither managed, nor taken, nor dispatcht, at the Dutchess of Portsmouth's; nor was it by the means or intervention of Monsieur Barillon. That Ambassadour had no part in it, but on the very Instant when the affair was concluding. He was not so much as present at the Expedition, as he had not been at any time at the Deliberations. The Marquiss of Ruvigny, the Son, carryed the first News to the King, his Master, the same day that I parted for Nimeguen. Monsieur Williamson knew well what was contained in the Dispatch to Monsieur T. in which there was nothing very mysterious. But he was never privy to the secret of the Negotiation, and tho' he was present when I took my leave of the King in Secretary Coventry's Office, yet he was then ignorant of the true subject of my Voyage, and perhaps he never knew it.

The King was not at all precipitate, and the affair was not concluded and dispatcht in an hours time. It was treated on, and deliberately considered near Three weeks. There was time given to the Ambassadours of Swedeland to resolve themselves, and make their Answer. The King's design was doubtless aimed for the good of Europe, and the publick tranquility, but in truth, he had not in his Eye, nor did he certainly believe that happy Fate of Christendome, for which Monsieur T. labours so earnestly in consort with some particular Persons, Enemies to the State, Seditious, and Disturbers of the Publick Repose.

But the King said pleasantly, adds Monsieur T.that the Rogue (Coquin) du Cross had outwitted them all. If Monsieur T. had not made the King say this, and had said it himself, I might have applied to him, with as much Justice as any man in the World, these Verses which I have read somewhere,

Coquin, he calls me, with mighty disdain.

Doubtless, I should answer Monsieur T. thus,

Seek your Coquins elsewhere, you're one your self, But the Person of Kings is sacred. Besides, Can that be an abuse, which is spoken pleasantly, without the least design perhaps of offending. For Coquin is a word which the Late King of England often used, when he spoke of People for whom he had notwithstanding Respect and Consideration. 'Tis true, he used the word also very familiarly, when he was angry, but at such times he spoke with indignation, and not pleasantly.

The Parliament presented an Address to the King (as Monsieur T. reports) in which they represented the Progress of the French Arms, and desired him to stop it before it became more dangerous to England, and the other Neighbouring Countries. Don Bernard de Salinas (continues Monsieur T.) said to certain Members of the Commons, that this Address had so exasperated the King, that he said those who were the Authors of it were a Company of Coquins.

I remembred at my Arrival in England, in 1675, before I was to go into France in Quality of an Envoy, whither I acknowledge his most Christian Majesty would not permit me to come, either because they had informed him that I had embraced the Protestant Religion, or it may be because the King of France would not receive his own Subjects, in the Quality of Ministers of other Princes. It happened, I say, that the King of England (to whom also I had a Commission) bid the Marquiss of Ruvigni, one Evening, bring me to his Cabinet, and himself come in with me.

The King enquired of me, at the first, what news I could tell him of the Condition of the Swedes Army in Pomerania, through which I past, and exprest much concern that the Constable Wrangle, not minding to pass forward into the Empire (as Monsieur T. says) had thereby different pretences, had attacked the Elector of Branderburg as vigorously and with as much success as he could. I told the King the reason, which concerns not my present subject to report here.

Afterwards, I having informed the King of the State of Germany, the King believing that I was to pass into France, spoke to me in these very words. Monsieur, tell the King, my Brother, that it is much against my mind that I have made Peace with these Coquins, the Hollanders, Monsieur the Marquiss of Ruvigny, who stands here, knows it well.

Sometime before the making of this Peace, the King talking with Monsieur de Shrenborn Envoy from Mayence, told him also, in Relation to the Hollanders, In a little time, Monsieur, I will bring these Coquins to Reason. Monsieur de Barillon writ to the Count d' Avaux, the French Ambassadour at the Hague, certain Discourses which the King had concerning the Hollanders. The Count d' Avaux made use of this to encrease the just Suspitions of the Estates. He carried the Letters of Monsieur Barillon, to Monsieur Fagel. Whereupon, the States made a terrible Complaint, and the King of England said on this Occasion to the Duke of Lauderdale, that Monsieur Barillon, and the Count d' Avaux were Coquins.

Had the King called me Coquin, seriously, I ought not to think it any very strange thing; since he hath treated in the same manner the most powerful and wisest Republick of the World, to whom he had so great Obligations; two Ambassadours of his most Christian Majesty, of extraordinary merit, and as honest Men as France ever had; and also the greatest Lords of his own Kingdom who were Authors of the Address which the Commons presented him.

There is also this difference, that the King, speaking of those Lords, those Ambassadours, and the Hollanders, he called them Coquins in anger, but when he spoke of me, he said it pleasantly (according to Monsieur T.) and that I was a cunning Coquin, more cunning than the Duke of York, my Lord Treasurer, the Secretary of State Williamson, and even the King himself.

Either I am much deceived, or all the Ministers of the Confederates that were then at London, would have been all Coquins at this rate, and Monsieur Temple himself, and would have deceived those who abused and deceived them. For besides, there is more credit methinks on such like Occasions, to be a cunning Rogue, and to pass for a more able Man than the most able Ministers of State, than to be the laughing-stock, and the Fool of a Monk and a sort of Agent; Sir William Temple, and some others, were truly so on this occasion.

But I would acquaint Sir W. Temple of what he has not perhaps heard of, as he has done the like to me, I do not invent it to revenge my self, and if I would make use of falshoods, I might make recourse to more heinous Affronts; the truth of my Remarks upon his Memoirs, shall be my full satisfaction. What I shall relate may be found in my Letters upon that account to the Prince my Master, and his Ministers: I took no particular care to divulge it immediately to Mounsieur Barillon, to whom I was so much devoted; were he alive he might witness that as well as the Aversion the King of England always bore to Sir W. Temple; and the little Esteem he had of him at bottom. Upon my return from Nimeguen to London, I went immediately to Court, as soon as I came there I meet Prince Rupert, who askt me with a sterne Countenance if the Peace was Concluded, I answered him in the Affirmative, upon which he cryed out and said, O Dissimulation. After having had the Honour to give his Majesty an account of what was past, I told him of the ill humour I perceived Sir W. T. to be in, and what I knew of his neglect of his Majesties Orders; The King seemed very angry with Sir W's. Proceedings, and said, he was a very impertinent R – to find fault with my Commands.

But if the late K. of England, did not approve of my Conduct in the affairs of Nimeguen, which in effect he declared at first in Publick not to be pleased with, in which he play'd his part to admiration: If against his will, I had truly inform'd the several Deputies at the Hague, how that the two Kings of England and France were intirely agreed upon Conditions of Peace; if this accident changed the Destiny of Christendom, and what endeavours soever the English Court had made, there were no ways to repair the Breach. If I was a Fool, a peice of an Agent, or a Knave, How comes it that the King suffer'd me to stay in England near a year? nay, as long as my Master thought fit. Why was the King so civil to me? Why did he recompence me for my Voyage from Nimeguen? Upon what account did the King bestow several other Favours upon me? How comes it, that I haveing made a great Entertainment and Fireworks, to shew my joy for the Re-establishment of the Duke my Master to his Teritories, that the whole Court should do me that Honour as to be present thereat?

It was not my quality of Envoy Extraordinary of the Duke de Gottorp, that hindred the King to express some kind of resentment against me, and thereupon to bid me avoid the Kingdom. I do well remember the King was just upon the point of making Mounsieur Van Beuningen Ambassador to the States General, to withdraw and get him out of the Land, because he had got the word Connivance, to be foisted into a Memorial he presented to the King, for the recalling of the English Forces, which bore Armes in France.

Don Barnard de Salinas was the Spanish Envoy; the King made much of him, yea and loved him for the particular care he had in Flanders of the education of the E. of Plym. one of the Ks. Sons, He did nothing but report up and down, that the King gave the Authors of the Address, presented to his Majesty, by the House of Commons no better name than Rogues. The King had his liberty to reject this Address, as indeed he did, and no ways apprehended the Consequences of it at that time; yet for all that, he banished Don Bern. de Salinas, not in the least considering his Character, nor the Kindness wherewith he had always honoured this Minister; Yea and he Banished him too, without any respect to the King of Spain.

But, for me who had abused and deceived the D. of York, My Lord Treasurer, ay, and the K. himself, who had overthrown all those fair and vast Projects, which the Confederates had contrived at London and Nimeguen; and Sir W. T. at the Hague, which had disclosed the Kings dispatches, a master piece of Secrecy, who was the cause of quite changing the Fate of Christendom: for me, I say, against whom the P. of Orange had written, and caused to be written so many thundering Letters, against whom all the Ministers of the Confederates called for Vengeance; against whom Sir W. T. levelled more of his endeavours to destroy me than the Court did to repair this Breach, and patch up the business, it lets me alone, it does not make the least complaint to the Duke my Master; the K. does me a great many favours, and laughs in his Sleeve at the Surprise, at the Sorrow, and Complaints of the Confederates, and Sir W. T.

After all that, can any body reasonably believe that the K. of England might have lookt upon me as a Rogue: And when he told Sir W. T. after a droleing manner that I was a Rogue and had out witted them all, may it not be probable, that he had a mind to jeer him, and to make him sensible that he was taken but for Fool? It was very like so to be.

I have not gone about, My Lord, to say in this place what I might say, to wipe of all those scandalous impressions that Sir W. T. hath such a desire to fasten upon me; I suppose I have given your Lordship sufficiently to understand, that what he hath been pleased to say upon this Theme of me, proceeds from inveterate Spite and Malice.

But, what way is there to get clear of one of the most Haughty, and most Revengeful of men, who in his Memoires falls foul upon the reputation even of the greatest Minister, who casts aspersions on the Duke of Lauderdale, that most Zealous, and most Faithful Minister, that ever the King was Master of; on My Lord Arlington whom Sir W. is bound to respect as his Master, who was his Benefactor, that raised him from his sordid obscurity, and as it were from the Dunghill, to bring him into play, This ingreatful person forsooke him, that he might catch at the shadow and appearance of mending his Fortune; he would not have stuck to ruin My Lord Arlington by base indirect means: This is no hard matter to make out, even by Sir W. T. his own Memoirs, but yet I am acquainted with some particulars upon this Subject that make my hair stand an end, nay, and I have not only learnt them from My Lord Arlingtons own mouth, but also from a noted Minister of those times.

What a piece of impudence to call in question and tax the Principal Ministers, and the soberest Magistrates of Holland, viz. Monsieur de Beverning, Monsieur Valknier and others, generally esteemed by every body. To arraign them, I say, some for Avarice, others for Partiality, I had almost said for betraying their Trust. But above all, to give such disadvantagious representations of the E. of Rochester, and of Sir Leoline Jenkyns; that, it would have been all one if he had said, that Sir Leoline, was a man of the other World, a plain downright Ideot, void of insight and Experience: And that Law. Hyde, now E. of Rochester, was a Lord altogether unacquainted with, and no ways fit for the imployment the King gave him at Nimeguen; nevertheless, Sir Leoline was made Secretary of State, and no notice at all taken of Sir W.

As for Laurence Hyde, Sir W. speaks first of him, as if he were a Youth, that should have been sent to the University, I plainly perceive, saith he, that the chief design of that Commission was to introduce Mr. Hyde into this sort of employment, and to let him understand the manner how the men behave themselves in the same, then he adds, He excused himself out of modesty, to have any thing to do with any Conference, and Compiling Dispatches. Was it out of the respect he owed to Sir W. T. or for want of Capacity, that My Lord shewed so much modesty, that he would neither make Dispatches, nor meddle with Conferences, what, he who had been ingaged already, as he was afterwards in very important Affairs; who had been Embassadour in the principal Courts of Europe, who was chosen as Chief of the Embasie at Nimeguen, one who in all respects is so far above Sir W.T. for all these great qualities; yet My Lord, affords Sir W. just as much difference, as a petty Scholar does a famous Pedant. And to reward him, Sir W. T. would make him pass in the world, for an Embassadour that was but at best his Scholar.

I make account to tell you, what Sir W. dare not acknowledge. Mr. Hyde, being more subtile, and of greater Abilities than Sir W. and of that quality too, that was not to be exposed, would not intermeddle in a Mediation, which was like to suffer so gross Indignities, as the Mediation of England suffered at the Treaty of Nimeguen. One time or other I shall publish those indignities in my Memoires, together with the weakness, and tameness wherewith they were content to suffer them.

But now, if Sir W. T. hath not spared such Illustrious persons as these: No, not so much as My Lord Treasurer, at present Marquis of Caermarthen, laying something to his charge, whom also he does not do that right and Justice, which is due to so great a Minister of State, one of the greatest Wits of the Age, for business; a person so Loyal to the King his Master, that he sacrificed himself for his sake; and after all, so full of zeal for his Country, that he hath bethought himself of all expedients, and hath not feared to expose himself to peril and utter undoing, that he might deliver it from the mischiefs that threaten it; If Sir Will. hath not spared the Kings person, whose Dignity and Reputation he so often sacrifices, can I hope to escape his foul mouthed Language.

Peradventure he had better have done something else, & something wiser; great Confident of Princes and Ks. the sole preserver of Flanders, as he is, than to have entred the list with a Monk, with a kind of an Agent, and with a cunning Knave. But his desire of revenge hath prevailed, he believes himself cruelly wrong'd, and he is in the right on't, for that at the Hague and at Nimeguen, which he was confident would be the Theatre of his Glory, they made him act a disgraceful ridiculous part. He imagines I am partly the cause of it, either because that my Voyage to Nimeguen might have been the effect of my Negotiation, which he might have gathered by the Kings answer, or, because I might have done nothing in Holland, but administer cause of Suspicions and Umbrages, that hasten'd on the Peace, in spite of his Teeth, and Reverst the Treaty he had but lately concluded at the Hague.

My Lord, If I be not mistaken, here is another occasion of Sir W.T. being vext at me. There was a Treaty a foot between England and Spain, for which purpose Sir W. was employ'd without any other design in reference to England, but to abase the Parliament, and no other on the Spaniards side, but only to add a little more reputation to their Affairs. Now the Parliament got nothing by it, and the greatest advantage accrued to the Spaniard, who upon this occasion made him really believe it, and so took him for a Cully. A sad acknowledgment for having alone saved Flanders for Spain! I ridiculed this Treaty, I made observations thereon, that were published in Holland, and men judged that the observations were well grounded: After that, and after the business of Nimeguen, I was not to expect any Encomiums from so unjust a person as Sir W. T. but still he might have writ more like a Gentleman, and have spoken of me without ever loosing the respect which he owed to my Master, without doing so great an injury in my person, both to my Name, and Family out of a merry humour, for in whatsoever past, I performed the duty of a Minister, both zealous and most faithful; Nay, and I did nothing but even by concurrance and good likeing of the King of England.

I beseech you, My Lord, conserve for me the honour of your gracious favour, and be fully perswaded, that I shall be all my life long, with much respect.

    Your most humble, &c.

FINIS