LORD HALIFAX

ΤΟ

MR. SECRETARY HARLEY.

A. D. 1706.

IT appears manifest, from a variety of circumstances, that the ideas of the electress Sophia, and those of her son, the reigning duke of Hanover, relative to the af fairs of England, did by no means invariably concur. The electress being the immediate successor to the crown, occasionally shewed, and perhaps chose to shew, her superior consequence, by acting without the participation, and even, in some instances, contrary to the openly avowed opinion of the elector. This was remarkably the case with respect to the celebrated motion of lord Haversham, supported by the whole force of the tories, for inviting the princess Sophia to England. By their determined opposition to the motion, the whigs incurred the risque of displeasing the electress, who wrote a letter upon the occasion to the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Tennison, one of the few whigs who voted in favour of it, expressing strong suspicions of the integrity of some who had been numbered among the friends of her family; and declared her readiness to comply with the desire of the parliament if they thought it for the good of the kingdom to invite her to reside in England; and that she wished her sentiments to be com

municated in order to prevent any idea of her being indifferent to the honour that had been intended for her.

In order to re-establish their credit as firm friends to the protestant succession, the whigs subsequently brought in a bill containing provisions of great importance, by vesting the government of the kingdom, in the event of the queen's demise, in the hands of a regency, consisting of the great officers of state, together with such other persons as should be previously nominated by the successor. This act was transmitted to Hanover by the medium of lord Halifax, a well known and zealous friend of the Hanoverian succession. In the following letter that nobleman relates to Mr. secretary Harley some interesting particulars of his mission. In addition to the regency act, lord Halifax was commissioned to present to the electoral family the act for naturalizing the princess Sophia and her issue; and to the elector personally the insignia of the order of the garter, conferred upon him by the queen.

LORD HALIFAX TO MR. SECRETARY HARLEY.

Hanover, 8 May, 1706.

SIR,

I HAVE received this morning the honour of your letter of the 17-28th May, by which I hear the glorious success of the duke of Marlborough has reached England; I am confident you are all in raptures. I look upon the war at an end; that France will be obliged to make peace on what terms the queen pleases to demand, and that my message to this place will quickly be made more certain by the prince of Wales's journey

to Rome. In obedience to my instructions, I have had private audiences of the elector, the electress, the prince and princess electoral, and of duke Ernest. I repeated to them all the assurances I had before given them of the esteem, affection, and friendship that the queen has for them; and they have ordered me to assure her majesty that they have all the duty and respect imaginable for her. When I waited on the electress I carried to her printed copies of the acts in English. She gave me leave to read them to her, and I endeavoured to explain to her highness the necessity and use of all the parts of them. I gave the elector a translation of the act in French, and gave him a short account of the proceedings upon it in parliament, and the motives and grounds that the houses had for preferring such an establishment to the motion of the invitation, which he assured me he never approved. He desired the ministers might have a conference with me upon the last act, and accordingly the count Platte, count Bernsdorf, M. Gusitz, M. Buleau, M. Oberg, and M. Else, came to my house on Saturday. I had Mr. How with me, and they brought Mons. Robethon, who was interpreter betwixt us. I explained to them all the clauses in the act, as it seemed, to their satisfaction. They made a report of what had passed, to the elector and electress, and I am told they are now fully satisfied of the care and prudence of the queen and parliament in making such an establishment, and will omit nothing, on their part, to shew their approbation of it, and to make it more effectual. The electress will suddenly send over three instruments, whereby she will nominate some persons to be lords justices pursuant to the act.

I hope I have now fully executed the queen's com. mands in this particular, and when the ceremony of the garter is over, I shall take leave of this court, and return for England. Lord Marlborough's conquests will make my stay on this side the water much longer than I thought. I promised to bring him an account of this court, and my negotiation, when I thought I should find him in the neighbourhood of Liege or Maestricht. But where shall I now follow him? The king of Prussia will be here next week: and though I would not have gone far out of the way to meet him, I think I must not run away from him now he is coming. They expect he will propose a match between the princess of Hano ver and his son, which are both nearly related to the crown of England. I wish you much joy of all this good success, and hope, in a short time, I shall have the honour of kissing your hands.

I am, &c.

I HOPE Colonel Richards will be with you in a day or two, with the good news of our victory* over the enemy, which, by the event, appears to be much greater than we could have expected. For, on Monday night, while we were making our disposition to force the passage of the Drule, by break of day the next morning, we had advice that the enemy, having abandoned Louvain, were retired towards Brussels, so that' we made our bridges, and passed the river without any opposition. We encamped that day at Bethlem, and continued our march next morning early. About ten o'clock I received the inclosed letter, by a trumpet, from the marquis de Deynse, governor of that place; whereupon I sent colonel Panton, one of my aids-decamp, with a compliment to him, and the States, to let them know I should be glad to see them in the afterAbout four o'clock they came to Digham, with two other deputations, one from the sovereign council of Brabant, and the other from the burgomasters and

noon.

*On Whitsunday, May 23.