Let. 8.
291
a long nnsnccessful waf by two fuccessful cam-pa igns : her ambition, and her power, vvould hâvedeclined with her old king, and under the minoritythat followed: one of them at least might hâvebeen so reduced by the terms of peace, if thedefeat of the allies in one thouíand feven huno'redand tvvelve, and the lofs of fo many towns asthe French took in that and the following year,had been prevented, that the other would hâvebeen no longer formidable, even fupposing it tohâve continued; whereas 1 suppose that the tran-quillity of Europe is more due, at this time, towant of ambition, than to want of power ; ortthe part of France , But, to carry the comparisonof these two measures to the end, it may be fnp-pofed that the Dutch would hâve taken the famépart, on the Queen’s declaring a feparate peace,as they took on her declaring a cessation. Thepréparations for the campaign in the Low Coun-tries were rnade ; the Dutch , lìke the other con-fédérales, had a juif confidence in their own troops,and an unjust contempt for those of the enetny;they were transported from thtir usual sobriety andcaution by the ambitious prospect of large acqui-sitions, which had been openecl artfully to them ;the rtst of the confederate a/my was compofed ofImpérial and German iroops: fo that the Dutch ,the Imperialistg, and the other Germans , havingan interest to décidé whicii r vas no longer theïnterest of th$? whoîe confederacy, they rnighthâve United against the Qneeninone case, as theydid in the other : and the miíchief, that followed
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