Mons. Buys seemed to know little of his masters’ mind, and pretended he had no power to conclude upon any thing.[1] Her Majesty’s minister proposed to him an alliance between the two nations, to subsist after a peace.  To this he hearkened very readily, and offered to take the matter ad referendum, having authority to do no more.  His intention was, that he might appear to negotiate, in order to gain time to pick out, if possible, the whole secret of the transactions between Britain and France; to disclose nothing himself, nor bind his masters to any conditions; to seek delays till the Parliament met, and then observe what turn it took, and what would be the issue of those frequent cabals between himself and some other foreign ministers, in conjunction with the chief leaders of the discontented faction.

[Footnote 1:  Buys’s mission seemed to have been to act on behalf of the States General for the purpose of preventing England obtaining any commercial advantage which the States did not share, and for causing delays.  He certainly had no powers to treat definitely, and Swift’s remark is emphasized by the statement in the Bolingbroke Correspondence (vol. ii. p. 25) about him, he could “only speak as Monsieur Buys.” [T.S.]]

The Dutch hoped, that the clamours raised against the proceedings of the Queen’s ministers towards a peace, would make the Parliament disapprove what had been done; whereby the States would be at the head of the negotiation, which the Queen did not think fit to have any more in their hands, where it had miscarried twice already; although Prince Eugene himself owned, “that France was then disposed to conclude a peace upon such conditions, as it was not worth the life of a grenadier to refuse them.”  As to insisting upon specific preliminaries, Her Majesty thought her own method much better, for each ally, in the course of the negotiation, to advance and manage his own pretensions, wherein she would support and assist them, rather than for two ministers of one ally to treat solely with the enemy, and report what they pleased to the rest, as was practised by the Dutch at Gertruydenberg.

One part of Mons. Buys’s instructions was to desire the Queen not to be so far amused by a treaty of peace, as to neglect her preparation for war against the next campaign.  Her Majesty, who was firmly resolved against submitting any longer to that unequal burthen of expense she had hitherto lain under, commanded Mr. Secretary St. John to debate the matter with that minister, who said he had no power to treat; only insisted, that his masters had fully done their part, and that nothing but exhortations could be used to prevail on the other allies to act with greater vigour.

On the other side, the Queen refused to concert any plan for the prosecution of the war, till the States would join with her in agreeing to open the conferences of peace; which therefore, by Mons. Buys’s application to them, was accordingly done, by a resolution taken in Holland upon the twenty first of November, one thousand seven hundred and eleven, NS.