Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/240

232 humour in the Dutch, in hopes to put them under a necessity of preparing for the next campaign; and some time after went so far in this pursuit, that he summoned the several ministers of the empire, and told them he had letters from his master, with orders to signify to them, "That his Imperial majesty resolved to begin the campaign early, with all his forces united, against France; of which he desired they would send notice to all their courts, that the several princes might be ready to furnish their contingents and recruits." At the same time, Zinzendorf endeavoured to borrow two millions of florins upon the security of some Imperial cities; but could not succeed either among the Jews or at Amsterdam.

When the earl of Strafford arrived at Utrecht, the lord privy seal and he communicated to the Dutch ministers the new treaty for a succession and barrier, as the queen had ordered it to be prepared here in England, differing from the former in several points of the greatest moment, obvious to any who will be at the pains to compare them. This was strenuously opposed, for several weeks, by the plenipotentiaries of the States. But the province of Utrecht, where the congress was held, immediately sent orders to their representatives at the Hague, to declare their province thankful to the queen: "That they agreed the peace should be made on the terms proposed by France, and consented to the new projected treaty of barrier and succession." And about the close of the year 1712, four of the seven provinces had delivered their opinions for putting an end to the war.

This unusual precipitation in the States, so ferent