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<DATE>2011-11-02</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B111011.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A88869">
<STC T="W">L83C</STC>
<STC T="C">R179228</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">43663303</BIBNO>
<VID>172063</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>The Copy of a <HI>Letter</HI> from <HI>Min Heer T. V. L.</HI> to <HI>Min Heer H. V. C.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Faithfully Tran&s;lated from the Original.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THo' I have a great deference for your Judgment, yet can I not give way to tho&s;e Fears, which you tell me you &s;o mightily apprehend. On the contrary my Opinion is, tho' what you &s;ugge&s;t &s;hould prove true, yet would the Prince, our States, and the Confederates, be con&s;iderable Gainers by the Expedition.</P>
<P>What I &s;ay may &s;eem a Paradox to one who runs, as you do, upon &s;o high a &s;train, in your apprehen&s;ions of &s;eeing all our De&s;igns ruined by King <HI>James</HI>'s regaining the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of His Kingdoms; but yet I doubt not but in few words, to make the matter clear to a much meaner Capacity than yours.</P>
<P>You know Sir, as well as I, that the fir&s;t De&s;ign of the Confederates, was not the Security of the Prote&s;tant Religion, in <HI>England,</HI> nor the hindering their Laws from being changed, nor the Birth of a &s;uppo&s;ed Prince of <HI>Wales;</HI> but principally to oppo&s;e the King of <HI>France</HI>'s Power, and &s;uppre&s;s his Growth. You know Sir al&s;o, that it was looked upon as impo&s;&s;ible to make the late King of <HI>England</HI> a Partner in that Undertaking, or to have kept it &s;ecret, if it had been Propo&s;ed to him; and therefore it was thought nece&s;&s;ary, either to con&s;train him to take part with the Confederates, or el&s;e to reduce him to &s;uch a &s;tate, that it &s;hould not lye in his Power to do them harm by lending his A&s;&s;i&s;tance.</P>
<P>This made our States urge the Prince to hearken to the Propo&s;als of the <HI>Male Contents</HI> in <HI>England;</HI> and the hopes they had of compa&s;&s;ing tho&s;e great Ends, to|gether with &s;ome &s;maller concerns of their own, were powerful Motives to fur|ni&s;h him with Men, Money, Ships, and other Nece&s;&s;aries an&s;werable to the Greatne&s;s of the Attempt.</P>
<P>Now what I affirm, is that tho' the Prince of <HI>Orange</HI> &s;hould be at la&s;t forced to quit <HI>England,</HI> yet would neither he, nor any of the Confederates, nor our States of <HI>Holland</HI> be fru&s;trated of their hopes, but would &s;ufficiently obtain their Ends.</P>
<P N="1">1. Not he; For you know that according to his Declaration he did not at fir&s;t aim at the Crown of <HI>England;</HI> but when he &s;aw it ready to drop upon his head, a far le&s;s Ambitious Man than he, would have &s;carce refu&s;ed it. It was his Natu|ral Antipathy to the King of <HI>France,</HI> and the de&s;ire of Glory, which pu&s;hed him on to make that Attempt, which we mu&s;t needs &s;ay, Nature would have other|wi&s;e abhorred. And the hopes his Souldiers had to have laden them&s;elves with the Spoils of a Countrey which a long Peace, Pro&s;perity and Trafick, had not only made Rich, but Luxurious and Effeminate, made them follow him with Joy in that Expedition. And you may a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, let what will come, they will accompli&s;h their fir&s;t De&s;igns; and if he be Beaten off from his other Attempt, 'tis becau&s;e he went farther than his Commi&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, he will gain his fir&s;t ends, and in&s;tead of either lo&s;ing his Honour, or wa&s;ting his Trea&s;ure (as you &s;ugge&s;t) will no doubt, both enrich him&s;elf and his Companion, and gain a due e&s;teem among&s;t all the Confederates, by providing &s;o effectually again&s;t the common Enemy.</P>
<P>For &s;hould it happen (as you fear it will) that the late King <HI>James</HI> by the Aid of the <HI>Iri&s;h</HI> and <HI>Scotch,</HI> &s;hould enter into <HI>England</HI> and find that People, who are &s;trangely changeable in their Humours, ready to embrace him again for their So|veraign, and like a wanton Steed, ca&s;t their Rider before he be well &s;eated in the Saddle, yet can you not in Prudence think, that he who has the actual Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all the Forts and Magazines, and by con&s;equence the Strength and Riches of the Nation in his hands; and that he who Commands the Ports and Navy, and has put what Officers he plea&s;es in every Station, will go away empty handed, or leave the Nation in a Capacity to do either him or his Confederates any mi&s;chief.</P>
<PB REF="2">
<P> A&s;&s;ure your &s;elf Sir, he will not go till he has Fleec'd that Proud and Pamper'd Nation. The Forts &s;hall be fir&s;t, if not di&s;mantl'd, at lea&s;t render'd u&s;ele&s;s by withdrawing all the Cannon and Amunition from them; &s;ome pretences or other will be found out to drain the <HI>Exchequer,</HI> to melt down the <HI>Plate,</HI> to be Ma&s;ter of the Riche&s;t <HI>Jewels,</HI> to remove the mo&s;t Stately Furniture, to borrow immen&s;e Sums, and by this means, if he cannot keep the Crown, he will at lea&s;t enrich him&s;elf; and the free Plunder of the City of <HI>London,</HI> will be a &s;ufficient recom|pence for his Souldiers, if they find they mu&s;t be gone. Neither can you doubt of his being able to carry all this off, when you con&s;ider that he is not &s;o unpolitick a Prince, but that he will take &s;uch effectual care to &s;ecure the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Fleet from do|ing him any harm, that on the contrary, he will certainly bring the Chiefe&s;t Ve&s;|&s;els into <HI>Holland</HI> with him.</P>
<P N="2">2. This will fully An&s;wer all the Expectations of our Confederates; for all that could have been hop'd for from <HI>England,</HI> would have been either to make them &s;it &s;till, or lend the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of their Fleet, with &s;ome few Regiments: And as for &s;itting &s;till, they mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily do it when they are &s;o impoveri&s;hed, and the Augmentation of our Fleet by tho&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, will make us formidable to the <HI>French</HI> by Sea; neither will he want as great an Army of <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> who will be forced to fly with him as he could have &s;ent, had he continued a Peaceable Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or of the Crown.</P>
<P N="3">3. Our States of <HI>Holland</HI> will be the mo&s;t con&s;iderable Gainers in this Affair; For 'tis manife&s;t, the Three Kingdoms will be &s;o impoveri&s;hed, that they will not be able to recover it 100 years of Peace; but you may a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, we &s;hall not permit that neither; for having once got them under, we &s;hould be Fools if we did not labour to keep them &s;o, and let them have neither Commerce abroad, nor Peace at home, but what we &s;hall think good to allow them.</P>
<P><HI>Thus Sir, you &s;ee I am &s;o far from heing of your mind, that this Expedition of the late King JAMES will be the utter ruine of our Affairs if it &s;ucceed, that I can &s;carce hinder my &s;elf from wi&s;hing Him all the Succe&s;s He hopes for, being per&s;waded that otherwi&s;e we cannot expect to impoveri&s;h that Nation, nor humble it to &s;uch a De|gree, as I hope the Prince of <HI>Orange</HI>'s Return will do. I am</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Min Heer,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your mo&s;t humble Servant, <HI>T. V. L.</HI></SIGNED> <DATELINE>Am&s;terdam <DATE>March the 15th. 1689.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="comment on letter">
<P>I hear &s;ome per&s;ons doubt of the Truth of this <HI>Letter;</HI> but I think no one that &s;ees the Tran&s;actions at pre&s;ent, can be of &s;o Incredulous a Nature. 'Tis mani|fe&s;t that almo&s;t all the Arms and Amunition are &s;ent out of the <HI>Tower,</HI> and other Magazines to <HI>Holland;</HI> not to <HI>Ireland</HI> nor <HI>Scotland,</HI> as we are made believe. The <HI>Exchequer</HI> is already drain'd. <HI>French Hugonots</HI> are underhand Armed with an En|couragement of a free Plunder of the City, if things &s;ucceed not to their minds. The Souldiers and Sea-men who&s;e Loyalty they mi&s;tru&s;t, are, or mu&s;t be Ship'd away for <HI>Holland,</HI> and from thence to the <HI>Indies,</HI> where they are like to Expiate their Treachery to King <HI>James</HI> with a &s;evere Puni&s;hment, a perpetual Slavery. The <HI>Royal Plate</HI> is Melted down. Money is endeavoured to be borrowed, if the Citizens will take a Tax, which is not likely to be Rai&s;ed, for their Security. What will become of the <HI>Jewels</HI> Borrowed for the Corronation, let them that lent them find by Experience. And as for ruining our Trade and Commerce, our Merchands find that <HI>Dutch Bottoms</HI> can now Import Merchandize into <HI>England</HI> without con|troul. So that nothing is now remaining to be effected, but the Demoli&s;hing our Forts, Burning or Sinking our Ships, Plundering the City, and Scampering.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
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