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Show [ •14 J cou'd not run away if they wou'd, they wou'd.have it thought a fort of ViC\:ory, and a Sign that the French Courage was at laf.l: reftor'd by VillarJ, which Vendome had in vain attempted., tho fetch'd from Italy on purpoJe for t4at great Work: y.rhich had the!) no other effect on the King's• Affairs, but to ruin them in one part, withQut mending them in the other. But now it feelns the. Bufinefs is· done, and the loft Courage is reftor'd; anc:L had the Dutch been as ready to believe what the French faid·of that Battle; as fome other People have been. fin~e •to ere-: dit the Accounts they give of what paft in the late Treatys, they had , certainly been frightned into Pe~ce upon. their terms: any Expedient or no Expedient, it had been all one, they yvou'd have accepted without difficulty fo much of the Preliminaries, as the Marquifs de Torey wou'd 1 have left them. But the Dutch knew better ·the Ground they ftood upon ; they knew the Acc;ounts of the.ir Friends were to be ~epended on; but that the Reports of the E nemy deferv'd no credit, whofe AffJ irs put them under the utmoft neceffity of mifreprefenting the true State of Things; an Art they have lorig praC\:is'd in great PerfeC\:ion, and oftentimes with no little Succefs. .This made the States ftand to their· point, and not recede an inch from w\lat they had infifted on; which, for fome time, occafion'd a ftop i11 the Negotiation, the p,ench not knowing how to prefs their own Expedient, or to accept theirs, fince they were ~efolv'd to propofe no good one, and ill oxie$ wou'd not be receiv'd; and they fDund ' • · - ' · · ' them-. [ 15 J ~hemfoJv~{Jtnore lJuzzled by the Reduftion bf. MonJ, wl!ij;.;h was a plain Declaration t<;> all tbe Worl4, that the Advantage as well• as Hono11r ofr<ht; Battle was altogether on the fid<; t o~ tl)e Allies. Thefe Succelfes of the S:~ll\Patgn, .jn which the Allies had taken the ltJ"Qng~fl: F?rtrefs i~ Ellrope, and another not much tnfenou~ to 'tt, and had gain'd under the .grea tefl: D1fadvantages . 0)1e of the moit obilinate Battles that w~re ever· fought, gave the French reafon to think the Allies wou'd ra~her rife than fall in their' demands; and this made them for a. while affeC\: to ftand off, and the intercourfe of Letters with Monficuc Petkum feem'd to be at an end: but th1s HumOllr, as it was affeC\:ed, fo it did not !aft. After fome time, the Marquifs de Tor'y wr.ote ~o Monfieur Petkum to defire, fince the Pomt m difpute cou'd. not be adjufted by Letters; that Palfes m1ght be granted for fome Minifters from France to come to HoHand and t·enew the Conferences, or that Monfieu; Petk11m ,l,l1i&ht be permitted to go· to Franc• · to try tf .hts Prefence cou'd help to find out an Expedte9t, that had hither.to been in vain ende~vour:d by Letters. T he fir!!: the S~ate5 ref~s d, till -they knew precifely wha~ they wp lj to come for; fiiJce under the appearance of f9~e good, the Prefence of French Minift<[ rs In Holland gave them an opportunity to do a great deal of harm, by fowing Seeds of. Jealoufy among the Allies, poifoning the Mtnds of rl1e People againft their Governours and rctanHng the great Preparations fur a no: ther Campaign; which can never be pu!h'd with |