Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/370

356 France in the negotiations both regarding the peace of Utrecht and the pretender. Like Talleyrand of our time, he had trained himself to an impenetrable concealment of his feelings and his real sentiments, and was so thorough a rogue that when the regent, in spite of the public clamour against each a man being put in his council, had ventured to do it, he was obliged to say to him, "I do beg, my dear abbé, you will endeavour to be a little honest."

This model of a minister was now sent to Hanover to manage the treaty with the king, and to get a guarantee for the regent's succession, whilst he gave up as little as possible. Such are the strange bedfellows which politics, as well as poverty, make people acquainted with, that, on arriving at Hanover, the virtuous and respectable Stanhope received the abbé as a guest at his house. The return which the accomplished abbé made for his hospitality was what Stanhope, of course, expected. He did all in his power to overreach him in his negotiations. As for Mardyk, which the English court was most anxious about, he had brought a huge pile of sketches, plans, and papers with him, with which he endeavoured to entrap and confuse Stanhope; but the English minister was quick enough to perceive that all that the abbé offered was to alter the direction of the sluices, but to leave the port just as capacious and as deep in water as before. As for the parts of the treaty regarding the succession, he endeavoured to bring that in, not as the principal matter, but as a mere accessory, and at the same time to do it in the form of a guarantee to the treaty of Utrecht, the sixth article of which, he said, contained everything that related to the crown of France. That was a good reason for no treaty at all, but worse than none whatever for guaranteeing the treaty of Utrecht, which would cover these whig ministers with disgrace, for they had denounced the treaty as most unpatriotic and scandalous.

But Stanhope was too clear-headed to be duped by the wily Frenchman. He politely but firmly adhered to the demands of England for the suppression of Mardyk as a port, and the abbé then tried the expedient of being angry, and threatening to go away. This, however, failed him too, for Stanhope took his bluster very coolly; and he therefore came down to these conclusions—That in the articles fourth, fifth, and sixth in the treaty of Utrecht between France and England, and the thirty-first between France and Holland, the two former of which relate only to the succession of England, and the two latter containing everything which concern that of France and the renunciation upon which it is founded. This Dubois signed, but not till after three days' wrangling, and then without including Mardyk, the article about which was to be settled in London. Thus the French plenipotentiary had got the better, after all, of his English rival; and when the preliminaries were sent to London, lord Townshend expressed his satisfaction with the treaty as far as it went, but expressed his doubt whether they should ever get the article regarding Mardyk completed. This opinion was fully confirmed when they came to discuss the matter with M. Ibeville, the French agent in London, it being plain to the ministers that the French were determined to retain a depth of water sufficient to admit men-of-war and privateers into Mardyk. This was a great disappointment; but suddenly, three days after, Ibeville gave way, urged by some cause from home which was not very clear, but which, no doubt, regarded the security of the regent. He consented that the article of Mardyk should be confined to sixteen feet in width, which would, of course, wholly exclude ships-of-war and privateers. This sudden turn greatly delighted the English ministry. The preliminaries were concluded, and the Dutch included in them; but the treaty was not ratified till January, 1717.

But though this difficulty was tided over, there remained a still greater one with the northern nation. Charles XII. of Sweden, overthrown by the czar Peter at the battle of Pultowa, had fled into Turkey, and obstinately remained at Bender, though the czar and his allies were all the time overrunning and taking possession of all the Swedish territories on the eastern side of the Baltic. Russians, Norwegians, Danes, Saxons, and Prussians were all busy gorging the spoil. The king of Denmark, amongst the invasions of Swedish territory, had seized on the rich bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, which had been ceded to Sweden at the peace of Westphalia. These bishoprics, which lay contiguous to Hanover, had always been an object of desire to that state. And now Charles of Sweden, suddenly ruined by the proceedings of his vulture neighbours, rending limb from limb his kingdom, galloped away from Bender, and, in November, 1714, startled all his enemies by appearing at Stralsund. Denmark, seeing a tempest about to burst over its head, immediately tempted the English king to enter into alliance with him, by offering him the stolen bishoprics of Bremen and Verden on condition that he should pay a hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and join the alliance of the northern ruffians against Sweden. The bait was greedily swallowed by the virtuous George, and England was immediately called upon to pay the costs of this nefarious transaction.

Here was immediately seen the wisdom of those statesmen who, admitting the petty prince of Hanover to the throne of England, had endeavoured to prevent the kingdom being dragged into the dirty squabbles and dishonest rapacities and complicities of this little German electorate. And here, at the same time, was seen how totally inefficient are all human precautions to prevent such mischief. The second article of the Act of Settlement provided—that in case any foreigners came to the throne of these kingdoms, this nation should not be obliged to engage in any wars for the defence of any dominions that did not belong to the crown of England without consent of parliament.

What was the immediate consequence of this treaty betwixt George of Hanover and Denmark for the cession of the usurped bishoprics of Bremen and Verden? Without waiting for any consent of parliament, Sir John Norris was sent with a fleet to the Baltic, under the pretence of protecting our trade there, but with the real object of compelling Sweden to cede the bishoprics, and to accept a compensation in money for them. Thus we were at once thrown into a hostile attitude towards Sweden, an ancient ally, which was intimately connected with us in trade, which we had assisted this very Charles XII. to defend against former encroachments of Denmark. But now we were made to sanction George of Hanover's unprincipled bargain for a petty addition to his petty electorate; to become, in reality, at