Prev | Current Page 268 | Next

Hume, David, 1711-1776

"The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part F. From Charles II. to James II."

He had entertained
no view, therefore, even when he pawned his royal word to his people,
than to procure a grant of money; and he trusted that, while he
eluded their expectations, he could not afterwards want pretences for
palliating his conduct.
* Such as the letters which passed betwixt Danby and
Montague, the king's ambassador at Paris; Temple's Memoirs,
and his Letters. In these last, we see that the king never
made any proposals of terms but what were advantageous to
France; and the prince of Orange believed them to have
always been concerted with the French ambassador. Vol. i. p.
439.
In Sir John Dalrymple's Appendix, (p. 103,) it appears, that
the king had signed himself, without the participation of
his ministers, a secret treaty with France, and had obtained
a pension on the promise of his neutrality; a tact which
renders his royal word, solemnly given to his subjects, one
of the most dishonorable and most scandalous acts that ever
proceeded from a throne.
Negotiations meanwhile were carried on between France and Holland, and
an eventual treaty was concluded; that is all their differences were
adjusted, provided they could after wards satisfy their allies on both
sides.


Pages:
256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280