The Author of the Memoirs had so little to apprehend in his Reputation either at home or abroad from the feeble Efforts of Monsieur de Cross in his late trifling Invective, that had it not been for the repeated Instances of some Friends, who were unwilling to have such a wretched Scribler escape unpunished, he had never condescended to the severe penance of sitting an hour upon him. To their Importunities, and not to his own Inclinations is the Reader obliged for the following Remarks, which as they serve to justifie those particular passages in the Memoirs that are so outrageously exclaimed against by Mr. de Cros, so they discover, en passant, several Intrigues hitherto not so well known or understood.
Though we may safely allow it to be some sort of Mortificatioa for any one to see himself lie under the lash of a Man of Wit; yet certainly 'tis infinitely more supportable than to be assaulted by a Malice altogether made up of Phlegm and Dulness. Æneæ magni dextrâ cadis, was said by way of Consolation to young Lausus as he fell by the hands of that celebrated Heroe. When we lie under an unavoidable necessity of being encountered in Publick, 'tis some Comfort to be engaged with Bravery and Honour: In such a Case there is Reputation to be got if we come off with Victory; but to be forced to enter the Lists with a feeble, inglorious and despicable Adversary, is somewhat afflicting; there can be no Skill, no Dexterity shown in putting by his Thrusts, and there is no Reputation acquired by gaining the Conquest.
Certainly there never appeared in the World a Paper so little performing what it seems to promise in the Title page, so mean and undesigning, and in short so below the mighty Character of its Author who so often takes care to instruct us that a great Prince and a King did not disdain to employ him as a Counsellor of State, as this rambling, incoherent unthinking Letter. But perhaps it may be alledged by some of its Favourers, that the sincerity of what it pretends to relate, may atone for all its other palpable defects, since to use his own magnificent Expression our Deserter of a Monk is pleased to assure us, p. 9. that the only Heroe of his Piece shall be Truth: And indeed the Matter wou'd be somewhat mended if the Case were so; but for certain Considerations best known to himself our Letter-Writer has been so complaisant to his Heroe, as not to give him any trouble at all. However this pleasant passage puts me in mind of a certain person of the Long Robe who a little after the Restauration, when writing of Plays was more in fashion than it is at present, must needs threaten the Stage with a Play; and as a Hero is a very necessary Ingredient in all or at least most Compositions of that Nature, he designed to furnish himself with a Hero that should work Miracles, defeat Armies, charm the Ladies, and make as considerable a Figure as any Hero that had visited the World for many Ages. After he had amused himself some Months with this painful Undertaking, a Friend of his happens to interrogate him upon this Article, and asks him what Progress he had made in his Play, and how his Hero fared. To which the poor Gentleman replied, that a certain Misfortune had befallen him which had put a stop to the Affair. In short, after a tedious Enquiry, he informs him that he had unluckily killed his Hero in the first Act, and so cou'd not for the heart of him tell how to advance any farther. This was fairly and civilly done in our Gentleman. He had cut out so much Work for his Hero in the first Act, that he had left him nothing to do in any of the rest; and therefore was obliged to dispatch him in his own defence; but Monsieur de Cros never so much as introduces his Hero in one single Paragraph of his Letter: He threatens indeed to bring him in Play one time or another, but for all that keeps him still as invisible as a Fairy Treasure, and his Hero has no more to do throughout the whole piece, than one of the Mutæ Personæ in the ancient Drama.
Monsieur de Cros is pleased to address his Letter to a certain Noble Lord in Nubibus; for he no where takes occasion to name him, and this was certainly done with no other Prospect than only to recommend his Trifle the better to his Readers. He owns, p. 3. that Sir W. T. is a Man of some Merit, and that he has been employed a long time upon very important Affairs, but then with his usual Confidence affirms that he knew very little of the Secret of the late King of England's Designs. Sir W. T. no where pretends in his Memoirs that he knew the bottom of all the Court-Intrigues, that were managed with so much Artifice by the prevailing Ministry of those times; nay he congratulates his good Fortune that he was never made acquainted with them; and though from several remarkable Circumstances he has all the Reason imaginable to suspect that some things were not so fairly meant as was openly pretended, yet he knows no Reason why they should not trust him in any Occasions wherein the Honour of his Master or the true Interest of the Kingdom were concerned: And as for the rest, he thinks it the highest Complement the Ministry ever made him, not to disclose them to him.
Upon this Consideration says Monsieur de Cros, p. 4. I had no great Curiosity to peruse the Memoirs, well judging that the Author was not able to give me any tolerable Light into the discovery of so many secret Intrigues that were carried on at that juncture: And besides, continues he, I had Reason to doubt whether these Memoirs were not principally designed to be a Panegyrick upon himself, and to blacken the Reputation of several Persons of eminent Quality and Merit, because, adds he, I was particularly acquainted with the Pride of Sir W. T. who fansies himself to be the wisest and ablest Politician of his Age. If Sir W. T. is that vainglorious and ill-natured Animal as Monsieur de Cros represents him to be, he here solemnly promises him that he will never come to him to learn either Humility or good Manners; and if he has been severe upon any of the Great Men then in Vogue, he has done no more than what every Body almost in the Nation has done since. He barely contents himself with the Satisfaction of having been in some measure serviceable to his King and Country; and since he has not made his Fortunes at the expence of either, he supposes he may lawfully mention his Services without the horrid Crime of Ostentation or Vanity.
But to let the World see that Monsieur de Cros has no Malice in his Heart, but that he really designs Sir W. T's Good, he condescends p. 5. to give him wholesome Advice, and sets him Copies to write after. To this purpose he recommends to his Perusal the Memoirs of Villeroy, the Negotiations of Jeanin, and the Letters of Cardinal Dossat, in all which there reigns a Spirit of Sincerity and Modesty. Sir W. T. never presum'd to set himself in Competition with any of those illustrious Persons; he is no Stranger to their Merits or Character, but is afraid that Monsieur de Cros has proposed some Models to him which he never intends to follow himself. It was not Sir W. T's Bookseller that called him One of the greatest Men of this Age, as Monsieur de Cros falsely insinuates, p. 5. but a reverend Prelate of our Church, who published the Memoirs without the Author's Consent or Privity; and who, in his Advertisement to the Reader, does not stile him Un des Grands Hommes de ce Siecle, as Monsieur du Cros maliciously has printed it, but only an Ornament to Learning and to his Country: So that this being a Mystery to no body in England, he wonders how some People come to make such Blunders about it in Holland. But by this and several Instances of the like Nature, any man may easily guess what famous Exploits Monsieur de Cros designs to perform with the Help of his Hero.
To make good the Charge of Presumption with which Monsieur de Cros taxes the Author of the Memoirs, he cites a Passage, p. 6. which be found accidentally at the first opening of his Book; and assures his Noble Lord, that he doubts not but he shall be able in a short time to produce several others to the same Effect. The Negotiations which I had managed at the Hague, at Brussels, and at Aix la Chappelle, and saved Flanders out of the hands of France in 1668, made them believe that I had some Credit amongst the Spaniards, as well as in Holland. Indeed, as he has cited this Passage, any one would believe, that all the Glory and Merit of Preserving Flanders was intirely owing to Sir W. T's Conduct; and with this wrong Scent Monsieur de Cros runs along very furiously, talks of erecting Statues, of the Ingratitude of Spain and Holland, with abundance of other bitter things, with which his Indignation plentifully furnishes him at all times. But our Comfort is, that this Passage is nothing near so criminal and arrogant in the Original as our Letter-monger would have it; and therefore it may not be mal à propos to cite it fairly. [A]This I suppose gave some Occasion for my being again design'd for this Ambassy, who was thought to have some Credit with Spain as well as Holland, from the Negotiations I had formerly run through at the Hague, Brussels, and Aix la Chapelle, by which the remaining Parts of Flanders had been saved out of the Hands of France in the Year 1668. In the first Citation it looks as if Sir W. T's Management of the Treaty had wholly occasioned the Preservation of Flanders, whereas in the latter, if it meets with a true Construction, nothing more is meant, but that the Negotiations at the abovementioned Places, in which Sir W. T. had his share amongst the other Ministers that acted there, retrieved Flanders from ruin. If we may believe Monsieur de Cros, he will positively tell us p. 8. that all the Merit and Glory of the Peace as well as of the Triple League, ought in justice to be ascribed to the generous Resolution and Constancy of the States-General, who employ'd, upon this Occasion, a Minister who far surpassed Sir W. T. in Prudence, in Experience and all Abilities. Sir W. T. has nothing to quarrel with Monsieur de Cros for upon this last Article; (tho, as he is sure, no one is the worse for his Calumnies, so he thinks no one is the better for his Commendations,) nor is he insensible what a generous Part the States-General acted at this important Conjuncture, when the publick Repose of all Europe so much depended upon their Resolutions and Conduct: Only he thinks it hard that England should not be allowed the least Share in the Turn of these Affairs, and that the Ministers of so powerful a Crown should be passed over in Silence without any Mention or Acknowledgement, as if they had been reckoned abroad for so many Cyphers.
[A] Memoirs, p. 30.
After this Fit of Passion is over, the Weather begins to clear up with our Author, and, during this Interval, he makes bold to acquaint his Lordship, p. 8. that he does by no means design in this Place to examine Sir W. T's Memoirs to the Bottom; No, he will take some better Opportunity for that, and then, if God spares him with Life and Health, he fairly promises him a Volume of Remarks, at least as big as Sir W. T's Book. Those Persons that are never so little vers'd in the true Character of Monsieur de Cros, need not be informed that he promises mighty things, and performs just nothing at all. This unlucky shifting off his Resentments to a fitter Occasion, (tho 'tis certain he can never meet with a more proper one to unload himself of them) looks like making Exceptions to the Ground when a man is to meet his Adversary with his Sword in his Hand in the Field. In common Prudence he ought to have acquitted one part of the Debt now, and then the World would have been so civil as to have taken his Word for the Payment of the rest. However let this terrible Day come as soon as it will, Sir W. T. is under no Agonies at the thought of it: For let our Monsieur scribble a Cart-load of Books if he pleases, 'tis a sad but undeniable Truth, that 'tis in his Power to injure no man breathing by them but only his Bookseller.
Had I the Vanity like him, says the modest, self-denying Monsieur de Cros, p. 8. to print my Memoirs in my Life-time, I have now a very fair Pretence to do it. Well, certainly there never dropt in this World so unwary a Passage as this from the Pen of a Counsellor of State and all that! For who will now be ever brought to believe that Monsieur de Cros is acquainted with the Intrigues of other People, and consequently in a Capacity of writing Memoirs, who is a meer Stranger at Home, and so utterly unacquainted with himself. If I had the Vanity; No, never fear it, do but consult a certain thing called a Looking-Glass every Morning, and thou mayst with a safe Conscience say good morrow to one of the compleatest Pieces of Vanity in the Universe. But once more, If I had the Vanity like him, meaning Sir W. T. What Occasion Monsieur de Cros had to pubblish so unjust and invidious a Calumny, no body can tell but himself; for had he consulted either the Reverend Publisher's Epistle to the Reader, or Sir W. T.'s to his Son, or lastly maintained any manner of Correspondence with his old Acquaintance in England, it had been impossible for him to make so gross, so unpardonable a Mistake. All or any of these must certainly have convinced him that Sir W. T. knew no more of the publishing of the Memoirs than his ungenerous Adversary Monsieur de Cros.