Briefwisseling en aantekeningen. Deel 1

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CXXXII.
Willem Bentinck aan de gravin van Portland.

[B.M., Eg. 1713]

Den Haag, 25 October 1745.

I foresee that there will soon be an infamous peace made between England and France; that the Empire and the King of Sardinia (will be) abandon'd, the continent left to itself, with all that belongs to it. The blame of this is to be laid on the Dutch. Be sure that this is the plan in England; that the Ministry is resolved to make up with France at any rate; and that they will be very glad to see the Dutch not fulfill the engagements they are under to declare warr to France, that the Ministry may be screen'd by them against national reproaches or something worse for not pushing the warr against France with the vigour which the honour and the interest of the nation require.

As I am not privy to this plan, I am under no obligation to keep it secret. I might glorify that it is kept a secret from me. And it is but by bits and scraps that I have pick'd up and put together that I have made it out. I wish it was publick before it could be brought to maturity, and that every good Englishman knew what danger he is in with relation to religion and liberty. What gave me the first suspicion was the not pressing the Declaration of Warr¹⁾ upon the invasion; what confirmed it was the recalling the British troupes²⁾, the leaving the Treaty with Bavaria etc. unfinish'd, the talk and clamour against the Dutch, against the Queen of Hungary, the complaints about the excessive expence the nation has been put to - - which proves want of economy more than of money - - and several other circumstances, but above all other reasons to think as I do, there is one which tyes and binds all the rest together, which is the secret

1) ‘Dat Engeland de Republiek niet tot een oorlogsverklaring aan Frankrijk drong.’

2) Bij instructie van 4 Sept. O.S. werd Trevor opgedragen de terugroeping van de eerste 10 battaljons mee te deelen; P.R.O.

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that has been made to me of all that has been doing of late. The two mails that fell into the hands of the French¹⁾ will have put them au fait of everything. And I shall may be learn the whole truth of what has been doing this summer by some of Abbé de la Ville's correspondents here. I am sure that without doing too much honour to myself, or too little to anybody else, there is nobody more known nor avow'd for affection to both the nations than I am, and I cannot but look on the hiding the measures of this summer from me, as an aknowledgment that they could not be reconciled with the principles which had hitherto been acted upon, tho' ever so faintly.

This reflexion may fall on whom it will; that's not my business. It suffices that it be true and just; as I am sure it is. It is astonishing to see how contradictions lodge in the same head together; and how the well-wishers to the present constitution, old Whigs, men of Revolution principles, can think to carry on affairs upon those grounds - - as they would have the world think - - and form or maintain a party against France with those that are entirely devoted, and given up to France; for the measures to be taken against the power of France, and against the Pretender and their adherents, ought to be their chief care, if they were the men they pretend to be, or at least if they had courage enough to follow their own principles......

As to the two mails that were taken, pray consider the sense and judgment there is in trusting papers of such importance to a poor silly fisherman, whose apology I shall not make. I don't know what bargain was made with him, nor consequently how far he is punishable.

1) Vgl. P. Geyl, Willem IV en Engeland, blz. 154.