To others in Holland, who appeared to be more moderate, the Earl was directed to say, “That the States were upon a wrong scent:  That their minister here mistook every thing that we had promised:  That we would perform all they could reasonably ask from us, in relation to their barrier and their trade; and that Mons. Buys dealt very unfairly, if he had not told them as much.  But that Britain proceeded, in some respects, upon a new scheme of politics; would no longer struggle for impossibilities, nor be amused by words:  That our people came more and more to their senses; and that the single dispute now was, whether the Dutch would join with a faction, against the Queen, or with the nation, for her?”

The court likewise resolved to discourage Prince Eugene from his journey to England, which he was about this time undertaking, and of which I have spoken before.  He was told, “That the Queen wanted no exhortations to carry on the war; but the project of it should be agreed abroad, upon which Her Majesty’s resolutions might soon be signified:  but until she saw what the Emperor and allies were ready to do, she would neither promise nor engage for any thing.”  At the same time Mr. St. John told Hoffman, the Emperor’s resident here, “That if the Prince had a mind to divert himself in London, the ministers would do their part to entertain him, and be sure to trouble him with no manner of business.”

This coldness retarded the Prince’s journey for some days; but did not prevent it, although he had a second message by the Queen’s order, with this farther addition, “That his name had lately been made use of, on many occasions, to create a ferment, and stir up sedition; and that Her Majesty judged it would be neither safe for him, nor convenient for her, that he should come over at this time.”  But all would not do:  it was enough that the Queen did not absolutely forbid him, and the party-confederates, both foreign and domestic, thought his presence would be highly necessary for their service.

Towards the end of December, the lord privy seal[1] set out for Holland.  He was ordered to stop at The Hague, and, in conjunction with the Earl of Stafford, to declare to the States, in Her Majesty’s name, “Her resolutions to conclude no peace, wherein the allies in general, and each confederate in particular, might not find their ample security, and their reasonable satisfaction:  That she was ready to insist upon their barrier, and advantages in their trade, in the manner the States themselves should desire; and to concert with them such a plan of treaty, as both powers might be under mutual engagements never to recede from:  That nothing could be of greater importance, than for the ministers of Great Britain and Holland to enter the congress under the strictest ties of confidence, and entirely to concur throughout the course of these negotiations:  To which purpose, it was Her Majesty’s pleasure, that their lordships should adjust with the Dutch ministers, the best manner and method for opening and carrying on the conferences, and declare themselves instructed to communicate freely their thoughts and measures to the plenipotentiaries of the States, who, they hoped, had received the same instructions.”