Before I enter upon observing what de Cros says concerning Sir W. T. which takes up the greatest part of his Letter, and leaves him either no Room, or no Memory for the Memoirs he pretends to Answer; I shall first examine what he speaks of himself, and in his own defence, against what he takes himself to be charged with.
He begins, p. 10. There arrived (says he, quoting the Memoirs) at that time from England, one whose Name was de Cros. Upon this he falls immediately into a Scurrilous Chafe. Now, one would wonder what should make the Man so offended to be called by his own Name, or what would have become of Sir W. T. if he had call’d him out of his Name, which is indeed commonly thought an injury, but not the other, as ever I heard of before; yet he reckons it a terrible one to himself and his Family, which he tells us is a good one; I know not whether he means the de Cros’s, or the Monks. The first I must confess, I never heard of in France, but the other is indeed a great one abroad, and a good one at home. But whatever he would have us think of the Goodness of his Family, I will never believe, by what little understanding I have of Heraldry, that any Gentleman would either write such a Letter, or Translate it, tho it were only out of the common Respect that is due to the Memory of a Great King, whose Person Sir W. T. has so often represented, and in so high a Character.
But to proceed; That he was formerly a French Monk (as the Memoirs call him), he confesses, and owns besides (tho with a great deal of ill-will) that He changed his Frock for a Petticoat: For, tho he denies it positively, p. 11. yet five Lines after, he has these words; There was too great advantage to throw off my Frock for the Petticoat I have taken, not to do it; it is a Petticoat of a Scotch Stuff, &c. I am glad it is of one so good as he mentions, and wish it were large enough to cover all his Shame: But whatever he says in the same Page, too malicious to be taken notice of here, of Princesses, who have quitted the Veil for the Breeches (tho, in that it self, I believe he is mistaken) yet all this will never serve to wipe off the Ignominy of Un Moin Defroquè: Upon which I shall only add, That the Marriage of a Monk, when stripp’d of his Frock, is not thought likely to mend the matter: And I believe men of all Religions will agree in the Opinion, That if a Monk leaves his Frock, he ought to do it for a Gown, rather than for a Petticoat; and if he leaves the Orders of one Church, should in decency continue in the Orders of that Church to which he professes himself converted.
As to his being a Swedish Agent, tho he is very angry the Memoirs should call him so; one cannot well discover by his Letter, whether he has a mind to grant it or no; however, he confesses, p. 13, 14. That being Envoy from the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the Interests of his Master being inseperable from those of Sueden, he found himself engaged to be very much concerned in the Interests of that Crown; and that Monsieur Van Benninguen believed, He was intrusted with some Affairs from thence. Which amounts to the very same with what the Memoirs say, p. 335. That he (de Cros) had a Commission from the Court of Sueden (or Credence at least) for a certain petty Agency in England. This he says, Is very Dirty. Alas for the cleanly Gentleman! one would think he was afraid of fouling his Fingers, but he had a great deal more need have taken care of his mouth. By the way, I cannot but admire at the insufferable Impudence of the English Printer or Translator, who hath in the Title Page named this man, An Ambassador at the Treaty of Nimeguen; since in the several Accounts I have seen printed of that Treaty, there is not the least mention of such a Name any other way than in those Memoirs he pretends to Answer. And ’tis doubtless very agreeable to think, that a man who gives himself so good a Character in his own Letter, should make so great a one in so August an Assembly as that is recorded to have been: And he himself in his whole Letter, arrogates no other besides that of Envoy Extraordinary from the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp into England, who was a Prince at that time wholly dispossess’d of His Dominions.
Another Passage in the Memoirs which he takes sadly to heart, is in the same Pag. 335. as follows: At London he had devoted himself wholly to Monsieur Barillon, the French Ambassador, though pretending to pursue the Interests of Sweden: Against which he thus defends himself. First, Letter, pag. 14. He absolutely denies it; and says in the next, He fell out with Monsieur Barillon for three Months, because he diverted the King of England from taking into his consideration the Interests of Sweden. And pag. 16. He says further; That Monsieur Barillon put all in practice to sift him to the bottom (concerning the Swedish Affairs) nevertheless all the Offers of this Ambassador proved ineffectual, and wrought nothing upon this man (meaning himself) who if man would give credit to Sir W. T. was entirely devoted to Monsieur Barillon, and yet Monsieur Barillon found him not to be corrupted or bribed. All this would be an Account good enough of his Innocence in that point, if it had not the misfortune to be so ill plac’d. ’Tis indeed a good way back to the fifth Page of his Letter: And therefore what he says there, one may by the help of a little Charity, impute to the shortness of his Memory. These are his Words: I have had the happiness during some years, to partake in the confidence of a Minister of State, &c. And a little after; Sir W. T. may well imagine that I did not ill improve this able Minister’s Confidence, when he tells us, that I had wholly devoted my self to him. But then how comes it, that in the same 15th page, where he twice endeavours to defend himself against this Imputation, he should make such a Blunder as to say, But yet I must confess, that at such time as he (Monsieur Barillon) stickled for my Master’s Interest, and that of Sweden, I was entirely devoted to him, &c.? After this; let the Reader judge, whether de Cros does not confess at least as much, if not more in this Point, than the Memoirs charge him with: And it is to be observed from the same Book, that at the very time de Cros speaks of, France had taken into its Protection the Interests of Sweden, which it seem’d for some Months before to have very little regarded.
But nothing touches him so nearly as the following Passage in the same 335th page of the Memoirs: This man brought me a Pacquet from Court, commanding me to go immediately away to Nimeguen. Upon which, says he, Pag. 16. Sir W. T. has a mind to make men believe that I was only sent into Holland to carry him a Dispatch from the Court. This passage has so fiercely gall’d him, that he is set a railing for six pages together; and the affront is, that he should be taken for an ordinary Courier, or Messenger. Had a dozen Wasps setled on his Tongue, they could not have swell’d or infus’d more Poison in it; he frets and foams at the mouth, and spatters so much Dirt on all sides, that it is not safe following him. In short, he takes it so heinously to be reckoned a Common Courier, that one could not have netled him more, had one call’d him a Post, or a Post-horse. I cannot imagine why any such words in the Memoirs, should put a man into so much passion: And for my part, both in this and all the rest, I see but one reason why he is angry; and that is, Because he is angry. However, against this grievous Imputation, he defends himself by this strong Argument; That he was not sent over on purpose to deliver the Dispatch to Sir W. T. but for something of greater importance, which he knows himself, and will not tell any body. Wherein I think he acts very discreetly; and I do not doubt, but the best way to give any Reputation to his mighty Secrets, is to hinder them from taking Air: Tho had he done us the favour to discover but one of all those he boasts so much of, it would perhaps have been the most effectual way to raise our expectation of the rest. He would indeed make us believe, that in five Hours time he stay’d at the Hague, he had made some mighty Turn of State by his Negotiations there; which if there be any truth in it, we will grant him to have been not only an Agent, but a Conjurer; and from the strange Effect of his Conduct in that strange Adventure of five hours, we may hope one day to see a Tragedy of that Name, as there has been a Comedy already. But till he thinks fit to make more important Discoveries, he will pardon our suspense in that modest Opinion he has of himself, That doubtless he should publish more just and solid Memoirs than Sir W. T. if he would set about it. But I observe he desires My Lord to take notice, that Sir W. T. confesses it was De Cros procured this Dispatch. I find when men are very angry, that Truth is the least thing they regard: For this is more than ever I could observe after reading those Memoirs with more care and application than I am sure his good humour would ever permit him; and in pag. 336. find these Words: How this Dispatch by De Cros was gain’d, or by whom, I will not pretend to determine. Which De Cros has very politickly thus altered, Letter, pag. 18. I will not pretend to determine by what means, and how De Cros obtained this Dispatch. But pag. 19. he forgets himself again, [and says.] As for me, tho I had the dispatch given me, yet he (Sir W. T.) does not accuse me openly in this place of bearing any other part in this affair, than only as a Messenger intrusted with the Conveyance. But I suppose he never looked farther than his malice would give him leave, which is usually very short-sighted.
But, after all, ’tis not easily thought why he should lay it so much to heart to be called a Courier, when the whole account he gives of his great Negotiations (besides his being Envoy of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp) is, that he was sent by King Charles the Second into Sweden and Denmark, to hasten the Passports for the Congress at Nimeguen: Which is all he tells us of his great Employments, and must be thought to have brought him into that intimacy and confidence he pretends with that great King, and for which he is pleased to make his Majesty such grateful Returns, and to form such a Character of him as he does in his Letter.
For in the first place he tells us, p. 5. That Mons. Barillon was the Primum Mobile of that King’s conduct, which surprized all the World. Which is to affirm more of him than any of his discontented Subjects, the pretended Patriots of that Age. For it is to assert openly and positively what they only pretended to suspect.
Again, Soon after the King had made the Peace with Holland, De Cros brings his Majesty in, p. 23. speaking to him in these Words: Tell the King my Brother (meaning the French King) that it is much against my mind, that I have made peace with these Coquins the Hollanders. And then a little before the conclusion of the Peace at Nimeguen, he delivers the King speaking thus to Mons. Shrenburn concerning the Hollanders; In a little time Monsieur, I will bring these Coquins to Reason. And in the same page he makes that Prince use the same Name to two great Ministers, Mons. Barillon, and Mons. De Avaux. The former whereof he pretends to have been the first Mover of all His Majesty’s Councils. All which, if they be not absolute Untruths, as from his plentiful Gift that way, I am very much inclined to believe, yet are so far from shewing the profound Respect the Writer pretends to, for the Memory of that Prince, that being put together, they make up this malicious Character; That a King of England was guided in his Conduct by a French Embassador; That he made and observed his Treaties with ill-meaning, or with ill-intentions; and that he treated his chiefest Confident (whom he makes to be Mons. Barillon) and another Embassador, with the greatest scorn and contempt.
Besides, he brings this noble Prince upon the Stage, acting a mean piece of Dissimulation to cover his Confidence with so worthy a Person as Mons. de Cros; ’tis concerning his Dispatch so often mentioned into Holland; for being forc’t to confess, that the King was angry with him at his return from thence; He plaisters it up with saying, p. 25. If the late King of England did not approve of my Conduct in the Affairs of Nimeguen, which in effect he declared in publick not to be pleased with, in which he plaid his part to admiration, &c.