Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/222

 2o3 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.

The propofal was not without difficulty ; the forced fituation of that prince, and the inftance of the neutrality in 174I, no fooncr con- cluded than violated by the Hano- Tcrians, raifed fufpicion of the fin- cerity of the inlinuation made by )lis miniilers. It was natural to apprehend that their own drift was to difturb the operations of the then opening campaign, to procure his eledloral highnefs time for (lirring up a part of the princes of Germany againlt the king and the emprefs, and then to joia all their troops to hi?, in order, at the firft favourable opportunity, fafely to fall on the French army.

Thefe refleftions, in themTelves fojuft, and of which the folidity was confirmed by pall experience in a like circumftance, certainly deferved great regard ; but the king's deference for an ally in all refpefts fo faithful and refpefiable as the emprefs-queen, together with the fear that his majeily might one day be reproached with having rejefled a meafure which feemed to promife a more fpeedy reftora- ticn of the peace of the empire, prevailed in his mind above every other confideration, and he con- fented that her imperial majefty fhould offer on his part a neutra- lity for the Hanoverian ftates.

The eleftor anfwered it in the memorial of the 20th of February, hereto annexed ; but it will be feen that the loftinefs with which his eleftoral highnefs expre/Tes himfelf in it, and the invedives againft France fcattered throughout it, with fo little decency, do not indicate very fincere intentions to-.-ards a neutrality. The truth is, this prince had almoll at the fame nme alked and obtained from his par- liament fubfidies for the Xin-' of

Prudia, and likewife for afTemblin^ an army compofed of his eledloral troops and thofe of his allies, un- der the name of an army of obfer- vation, in order to fupport the caufe of the infractor of the public peace againll the king's troops which had been fent to the af- iiftance of his allies, and the de- fence of the liberty of the empire. The Duke of Cumberland had al- ready been appointed for command- ing this army, and the 8000 Hano- verians were on the point of pafTing fromEngland intoGermany, fothat there feemed to remain no hope for the fuccefs of the negotiation ; yet did the emprefs, on freih infinua- tions from the eleftor, defire that the king would impower her to make new trials with that prince. The courts of Rufiia and Denmark added to them their good offices ; they pfFered their guaranty, and the king was pleafed again to come into this frefh negotiation, and conde- fccnd to the conditions which alone could render the neutrality folid and lailing ; and of which a copy is annexed to this memorial.

The eledor's frefh overtures hav- ing no more fincerity in them than the former, this fecond trial had no betterfate than the firft; theEleftor of Hanover clamoured againft the conditions propofed, and efpecially rejefled that of the free poJTa^e through his dominions, and the pof- fefTion of Hamelen for a cautionary town, as unjuft, contrary to his honour, and containing fufpicious views ; yet that he might not feem totally to renounce the neutrality, his eleftoral highnefs propofed to accept of it, provided that, in- ftead of the king's troops paffing through his dominions, they fhould take their way thro* the countries of CafTel, Brunfwick,Gotha and Wei-

niur ;