Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/538

 630 DUTCH MISSIONS TO ENGLAND IN 1689 October Europe and the old commercial rivalry with the Dutch would have perpetuated one another, and British neutrality would have subsisted so long as no equal sea-power had arisen to compel the island-state to choose a side. This would have pleased many of the English and it would have served the interests of many of them. It was not in its essence a dynastic or anti-national policy, and the fall of the house of Stuart did not by itself make it impossible. Had James been expelled by a purely domestic rebellion the policy might have gone on and might even possibly have taken on a still more definite hostility to the Dutch. The tradition of the Commonwealth might have been revived at home and a new British republic might have fought the Dutch and made alliance with the French, as Cromwell had done a generation before. True, this was a bare possibility, but it is a possibility which must be remembered if the significance of William's landing at Torbay is to be grasped. It was stated clearly by Bentinck at the interview at Celle on 27 July/6 August 1688, when he oi)ened the plan for invading England to Fuchs, the Brandenburg minister. Die siegreiche Partei wiirde England umformen zur Kepublik. Diese wiirde ihren Hass werfen auf den Prinzen und auf die Republik Holland, wiirde diese zu bezwingen suchen, um sich zur Herrin alles Handels zu machen.^ No doubt the stronger this danger was made to appear, the better William's justification for intervening, but, at any rate, without intervening, the Dutch could never be certain that this danger might not at any time arise. With their stadtholder on the English throne they were safe from this, but it still remained uncertain how much more they had gained, what help and what concessions they would get from the English. They could not even be certain, until William's position showed itself to be reasonably strong, that the treaties would be fulfilled. In the rush of business and the excitement of action, very few men in either country found much time for committing to writing their speculations about how the alliance of the sea- powers ought to be or was likely to be drawn up. For an impression of the public opinion on the matter it is necessary to go to the few pamphleteers who discuss it, and they, imfor- timately, are not writers who deserve very much serious atten- tion. On the Dutch side there are three pamphlets which may be noticed. The first is dated 19/29 March 1689, a naive little work called The Minds of a Roman Catholic, a Remonstrant, and a Protestant, freely spoken out in a Conversation} The three go on » Quoted by Klopp, Der Fall des Hauses Stuart, iv. 71. • De Oemoederen van ten Boomsch Catholyk, Remonstrant, en een Protestant ; try uytgesproken in een T samenspraah (Amsterdam, 1689). <v