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Show [ i2 J the -French refus'd to make it a rgood as they cou'O, "by excepting-•fuch ·'to?lns as' Were of moftConfequence, fuch as 'DJuay,l~rrar, anil &ambray,; which wou'd lay the\'!V· open to an Invafidn from the Allies: which, c'if the Allies Were able to make, they knew their owh De!ign~ wou'd give but too juft a Handle for ; be!ide5, they were unwilling to part with, under the Name of a Caution, what they cou'd not be Vlilling to patt with for good :ind a 11 ; fince they int-ended to forfeit the Condition, and not do themfelve's, or rather not fuffer that to ~done, which wou'd give them a right to ask for it again. · This being the Defign of France, all ~hefe Negotiations, by Letters, came to nothmg; and one Side wou'd never offer what the other cou'd accept, unlefs the Allies wou'd be content with the Name of an Expedient inftead of the Thing; and have taken that for a Sea1rity, which they were before-hand fore cou'd by no means anfwer the End 'twas given for: which the Allies were too wife to do; and had they done otherwife, which is fo foolifh a Suppofition, f don't well know ~ow to make it, had it been agreed to put tnto the Hands of the Dutc/J three cautionary Towns, over and above thofe that they are to have by the Prcliminarys, Wou'd it have pleas'd the Gentlemen, who are fo angry that a Peace is not yet made? Wou'd they not have been the forwardeft to !hew the lnfufficiency of fuch an Expedient? Wou'd they not, from the evident Folly ofi it, have readily argu'd, it was the effi;(.!, not of-Folly, but' of Treachery? Wou'd it not have been fatd, that that Spain 11-nththe Indies were given tip ia Complement to the pure~, that they might .have a better Fronuer? Wou'd not fome ,body have b~n 1=enfur'd as a Favourer of the Dutob too, fot agreeing to fo fcandalous aa Expedient, f<?r an ;Article of fo much Impor- •tance? Wou'd not Emiffarys have been em, ploy'd inHulland and France, to learn if there were not fom~ fecretWhifpers at leaf!:, of a lprivateCorrefpondence carry'd on by a Great Mao, for facili~ating the way to a Peace fo much to the Mind both of France and the St"tes ? From what is now doing of this kind, we may be very fure what wou'd have been done; and the foolifh Frenchifj'd, .Anti-Dutck Politicks of [orne Men, which if they prevail will, fome time or other, infa\libly prov~ the Ruin of this :Nation, leave no room to doubt, but that if Spain mufl: be loft, they had rather lofe it without this Expedient· than with it, if Holl111nd is to be the better fo; it. _This is fo plain, that I !hall fay no more to vtndicate the Allies on this Head, which I _!hall end with obferving, that the French ~td ~o~ only trifle ~ith the Allies, in offer!"& ndtculous Expedients; but fometimes did It 10 Terms pretty evident, when they faw Monfieur Villars cou'd not be attack'd in his ftrong Camp near Douay, and were in hopes the A \lies cou'd do nothing more on that fide but ta\l:e Tournay, al)d had no Fears from any other Quarter. Nay, this Infolence they affefred tci continue even after the Defeat of T anieres, .which becaufe 'twas fhort of thofe - they .had befpre receiv'd, and their Men were · fo hem'.d in with Intrenchments, that they '' cou'd |