Upon the
receipt of this intelligence, the face of things at that place were
immediately altered, and the necessary orders were transmitted to the
troops (which lay most remote from thence) to move towards the place of
rendezvous with all expedition. The enemy seem also to prepare for the
field, and have at present drawn together twenty-five thousand men in
the plains of Lenz. Marshal Villars is at the head of those troops; and
has given the generals under his command all possible assurances, that
he will turn the fate of the war to the advantage of his master.
They write from the Hague of the 7th, that Monsieur Rouille had received
orders from the Court of France, to signify to the States-General and
the Ministers of the High Allies, that the king could not consent to the
preliminaries of a treaty of peace, as it was offered to him by Monsieur
Torcy. The great difficulty is the business of Spain, on which
particular his Ministers seemed only to say, during the treaty, that it
was not so immediately under their master's direction, as that he could
answer for its being relinquished by the Duke of Anjou: but now he
positively answers, that he cannot comply with what his Minister has
promised in his behalf, even in such points as are wholly in himself to
act in or not.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344