Table of contents

1712.0912.Fa



Addressed:
E: Dartmouth


Fountain-bleau Sep: 12/1: 1712

My Lord.

yesterday morning the Messenger arrived here with
your Lordsp's letters of the 27:^th and the Passeports,
I find the Ministers here in the greatest concern
imaginable in relation to the figure w:^ch your Lordsp
proposes My Lord Lexington should make before
he takes the Character of Ambass:^dr to K: Philip;
the Sum of their reasonings vpon this point I
send to your Lordsp as I haue them most parti­
­cularly from mons:^r Torcy, ˂˄ &˃¹ as He had them fro^~
the council last Night w:^ch was called vpon this
occasion. He thinks the very reason of L^d Lex­
­ington's going to Spain is founded vpon the
certainty of Philip's renonciation, that We haue
this point not only stipulated but the very
form and words likewise adjusted, and the
Execution thereof guaranted by his most Chr:^~
Maj:^ty and the Kingdom of Spain. that
the Renonciation w:^ch Philip makes is to France,
and as K: of Spain, in w:^ch quality he must be
supposed invested or the renonciation it self is
not good: that it was with the greatest difficulty
that the Kingdom of Spain consented to the
Renonciation being made in this Manner, and
vpon assurances repeated from France, that
nothing should pass in this transaction deroga­
­tory to the Dignity of their Crown, w^ch
certainly must suffer in case this Scruple be
not removed: that it would be very strange that
Philip in his own Court having already con­
­sented to every thing that may oblige her
Maj^ty to make Peace w^th Him, at the
time when the Whole is to be confirmed, and the
subject of L:^d Lexington's being at Madrid is
to confirm it, should find a Man of Quality
in his own court, sent from a Princesse, qui
luy envoye la paix,² (I send your Lordsp ³ Mons:^r
Torcy's own expression) whilst neither He
nor his Queen could possibly speak w^th
Him, or my L:^d speak to any of the Court
without either affronting them or being him­
­self affronted in the different distinctions
they must vse of the D: of Anjou, and the
King. He left it to your Lordsp's own consi­
­deration if it were not for Her Maj:^ties
honour and the credit of our Nation that
Ld: Lexington should be well received in
Spain, (vpon w:^ch point I find orders haue
been given from hence) and how it was
possible He should be well received, except
this difficulty were removed: that He could
not sett his foot in the Kingdom without
receiving passeports from K: Philip, nor
be served in his way to Madrid ˂˄ but˃⁴ by his
Maj:^ties officers and Subjects, so that his
Ldsp will realy haue owned the King, whil[e]⁵
he seemingly demurs vpon his so doing
and on the whole matter He concludes that
this difficulty can only serue to create
many others, and can haue no other effect
than that of prolonging and clogging the
Negociation, which is now so far advanced
that He hopes no new Incident can retard
it:

He added, that the Court of France took it
for granted that L^d Lexington went into
Spain, as the D: D'Aumond into England;
and how, (said He,) would He be received in
England, without owning the Monarch to
whom He is to address? he repeated vpon
this head how France had behaved from the
beginning of the Negociation towards Her
Maj:^ty your Lordsp will see that the Argu­
­ment tended to our doing the like to the
Crown of Spain: He expressed it in very
respectfull and obliging terms— your Lordsp
will judge of my answers vpon this point
that they were Such as my Duty obliged Me
to, and Her Maj:^ties honour required:
He went on to say that there was less reason
for this Scruple, for that We had already
owned Philip K: of Spain, and that the
whole of the treaty being eventual, this
as the other points would fall, vnless the
conditions were made good, and the peace
agreed and ratified.

As to the other points, That of Spain's ack­
­nowledging the Protestant Succession in
the House of Hanover exclusively of the
Pretender, mons:^r de Torcy agrees, and repeats
that Spain is ready so to do in the same
terms and in the same Manner as France⁶
does, and that my L^d: Lexington will find
the Ministers at Madrid consenting to this
Article as fully and explicitely as he can
require: here he came again vpon the Old
Argument, how can He own your Succession
but in the quality of K: of Spain?
and you deny him the means of doing so.
I repeat as much as I can his words, w:^ch
were much the same w:^ch the D: de Beauvil­
­lier (whom I likewise saw last Night)
said to Me vpon the same subject.

I told your Lordsp in my last that this Court
has writ to Madrid that a general Amnesty
shall be granted not only to the Catalans
but to all others who haue adhered to or
taken part with the Emp:^r and this Amnesty
(mons:^r Torcy thinks) will be published and
received so soon that the D: of Argile
may find the good effects of it, at his
arrival into those parts.

Her Maj:^ties agreement to a general release
of all Prisoners (w:^ch I presume is meant
by the word Exchange) this Court very
willingly receives: that it shall be both by
Sea and Land: and that Spain and the
Dominions thereof shall be comprehended
in the Agreement, vpon w:^ch head mons^r
Torcy has writ to Madrid: the time he
has agreed on with Me for this release
(for previous Notice must be given thereof) is
Michael-mas day 29.^th Sep:^r N: S: for the
Dominions of France; and then, or as soon
after as Publication thereof can be given,
it shall obtain likewise in all the Domini­
­ons of Spain⁷

Hostages in the sence your Lordsp vnderstands
it as they remain pledges for the property
of private persons are excluded from this
[otherwise vniversal]⁸ Agreement.

This Court takes very kindly the Notification
which Her Maj^ty has been pleased to giue of
the Suspension of Arms to the Gouvernours
of her plantations in America, as they haue
in like manner given to the Gouvernours of
their Colonies, mons:^r Torcy has sent Me du­
­plicates of their Orders w:^ch he desires We
should likewise send, and that your Lordsp
would reciprocally send heither Duplicates
of our orders which this Court will trans­
­mit to those parts: this they think will
be a Mutual assurance that these orders
are received, and a Means of renewing a
good Correspondence between the officers
and others of the 2 Nations

Since it is expedient likewise that the same
Notification should be given to the Spanish
Colonies, Mons:^r Torcy has writ on this head
to Madrid, that they may write accordingly
to their Gouvernours in the Wes-Indies; and
that Duplicates of such their orders may be
sent heither, to be transmitted to you
in Eng:^~ that you may send them to their
Colonies, (to w^ch Voyage, I beleiue, no
Seaman of ours will be averse) and
that you may send Duplicates of our
Orders to be transmitted to Spain: so
that there must be sent heither Triplicates
ie. two Copies of our Duplicates, one to
be sent to the French Colonies and the
other to the Spanish.

As to the Passeports, my L^d Bolingbroke
had 50, and 50 were sent to his Lordsp to
Dunkirk, I send you 120: given therefore
on their side——220.
They haue received fro^~ Us—050.
Rests———170.⁹ w^ch Number I
will exchange w^th them, as I send to you.
And whereas m^~ Tilson writes Me word that
some few of theirs were so limited that
they haue proved of no Vse, for any such
Number I may receiue and return, I
will send the Number to you of Theirs.
your Lordsp will take Notice that the 120 I
now send are in the same form and tenour
w:^th those w:^ch France has always given
and w:^th those w^ch you already haue received
nevertheless those w^ch you shall hereafter
haue will answer in direct terms to Ours:
not that there is any thing Essential in the diffe­
rence now, but because it is good to let people
see that we can make this Court conform to
Us; I keep the residue of those passeports
w^ch You haue sent heither, and desire
an other Cargo; for before it can come
mons:^r Pontchartrain will be ready to
exchange more w^th Us they being now in the Preſs¹⁰

I add mons:^r Pontchartrain's letter of this
day to mons.^r Torcy w^th the Duplicates of
his letters to their Colonies, w^ch I receiue
as likewise their Passeports so late that
the Messeng:^~ can not part till to Morrow
Morning.

I will get the Ceremonial of L^d Portland's
Ambassy from m^~ S:^t Tot as I agreed it w^th
his Predecess:^r mons:^r de Breteüil, the
Copy w^ch I haue of it being locked vp,
and Drift to whom I can only trust my
Keys being, I hope, (before yo:^r Lordsp
receives this) parted from London, if
not, you shall haue it from Him

It is taken for granted here that by virtue
of the Cessation all french and Spanish
ships, Men of War and Marchands may enter
into, stay in, and return from any of our
ports as We may reciprocally into any of theirs ¹¹
your Lordsp will send Me word as to this and
any other point w^ch We think vnderstood
as granted by the Cessation that all mis­
­takes as far as possible may be prevented
French Gentlemen may they come into Eng^~
as We haue English already here from
Flanders who appear at Court and haue
hunted w:^th the King: need French or
any body else a Passeport of licence,
except such as our Law haue excluded?

I am with respect
My Lord
Your Lordsp's most ob^t
and moſt humble Ser^t

MPrior.

13/2 Sep:^r 8 Mor̃n

I presume the next Messenger will bring Me
the honour of Her Maj:^ties particular
Instructions/

This Court goes from hence to Morrow, the
K: lyes at Petitbourg a house of the D:
d'Antin, and will be [at] Versailles on Thurs­
­day/

2.

Endorsed:
M^r Prior. fontainbleau
Sep.^t 1.¹² 1712.
copy'd

Notes
1.
Prior indicates this interlinear insertion with a caret.
2.
All underscoring is Prior's.
3.
Prior originally wrote "Lordsps" but, as extra inking indicates, connected the final s to the M of "Mons:^r" to make it appear to be part of that word with the M given an extra flourish. The bowl of the p is also more heavily inked.
4.
Prior indicates this interlinear insertion with a caret.
5.
The e was covered over by mounting paper as part of the binding process.
6.
Conservation material was used to stabilize the corner of this page and was laid over the last two letters of "France". Nevertheless they are clearly visible beneath the paper.
7.
Prior extended the tail of the n of "Spain" three centimeters to mark the end of the paragraph.
8.
These square brackets are Prior's.
9.
Prior laid out these lines so that the numbers 120, 220, 050, and 170 lined up squarely under each other.
10.
The phrase "they being now in the Preſs" may have been an afterthought. The pen strokes are noticeably thinner than those of the rest of the document.
11.
A bit of the left margin of the last page was covered over with conservation material, but the individual pen strokes are nevertheless legible beneath that paper.
12.
The numeral 1 is written as a tailed i: j.

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