Letter from Monsieur de Cros

A LETTER from Mons. de Cros, &c

My Lord,

I have been informed of the Calumnies that Sir W. T. hath caused to be Printed against me. I know very well that Sir W. is of great Worth, and deserves well; and that he hath been a long time employed, and that too upon important occasions; but I am as certain, that he had but a small share in the Secrecy of the late King Charles's Designs in the greatest part of the Affairs, for which he was employed, from 72, till 79, which is the main Subject of his Work.

This Consideration alone might not perhaps have given me the curiosity, or at least, any great earnestness to read his Memoirs; and I might have very well judged that I could draw from them no sufficient light and insight for the discovery of so many Intrigues.

Nay besides, I might have doubted whether or no these Memoirs might not have been his own Panegyrick upon himself, and the diminution and undervaluing of the real Worth and Glory of several Persons of Quality, and distinguished by their Merit; whose Fortune and Reputation Sir W. T. hath so much envied: for I am particularly acquainted with Sir W's Pride. He looks upon himself to have the greatest Reach, to be the wisest and ablest Politician of his Time; and a man may perceive abundance of Satyrical Reflexions scattered here and there in his Work against most illustrious Persons, and that he hath stuffed his Memoirs with his own Praise, and the fond over-weening Opinion he hath of himself.

Without doubt this is quite different from that Sincerity and Modesty which reigns throughout the Memoirs of Villeroy, in the Negotiations and Transactions of Jeanin, in the Letters of Card. Dossat, those mighty and truly eminent Persons, esteemed as such by the greatest Princes of their Age; and even still are to this day, by the ablest Politicians, with much more Justice and Glory than Sir W's Book-Seller stiles him, One of the Greatest Men of this Age. It had been Sir W's duty to have regulated himself according to their most excellent Pattern.

I shall at present only quote one Passage, which I accidentally light on at the first opening his Book, whereby one may easily guess at the greatness of his presumption; in a short time, My Lord, I shall give you occasion to observe many others. The Negotiations, saith he, that I managed and transacted at the Hague, at Brussels, at Aix la Chapelle, which saved Flanders from the French Churches, in 68. made People believe I had some Credit and Reputation amongst the Spaniards, as well as in Holland.

'Twas a Piece of strange Ingratitude of the Hollanders and Spaniards, as well as of his own dear Country-men, so much concern'd for the preservation of Flanders, not to rear him a Statue, which, he saith, some-where else, Mr. Godolphin had promised him. Could Sir. W. T. have done any thing to deserve it more; or was there any thing more worthy of Triumph than to have preserved Flanders, a Country so important to the Spaniard, and the only Bulwark of Holland and England? But Sir W. was apt to believe he could not find any one who was better able to hammer out his own Glory than himself; and he flattered himself with the Opinion that he should erect himself as many Statues, as there are places in his Memoirs, crouded with intolerable and ridiculous Vain-glory.

It was not the Negotiations, my Lord, that Sir W. tells us he managed at the Hague, Brussels, and at Aix la Chappelle, which saved Flanders from the hands of the French, in 1668. The French published that they were beholding to the most Christian Kings Moderation for that Peace; who was willing to put a stop to the progress and course of his victorious Arms. But the truth of it is, they most justly ascribed all the Merit, and all the Glory of the Peace, and of the Triple League, to the generous resolution and stedfastness of the States-General. They made use, upon this occasion, of a Minister of State far beyond Sir W. in Prudence, Experience, and Capacity, one, who was in the Opinion even of his Enemies, the most able Manager of Affairs of his Age.

I shall not undertake, my Lord, in this place, strictly to examine Sir W. Temple's Memoirs: I will do it shortly if God spare me with Life; nay, and I promise you a Volume of Remarks, at least, as large as his Book.

If, like him, I had the Vanity to procure the printing of Memoirs, during my life-time, I could now have a fair pretence so to do, and without all question I should publish more just and solid ones than his are. Not, that I have the presumption to judge my self more capable to do it; but, in several places he relates some things falsly, whereof I am much better informed. The only Hero of my piece shall be Truth, without Complaisance or Flattery; without Passion, no not so much as against him: So that I shall do him the satisfaction and kindness to instruct him better, even touching divers Matters, which he performed and executed, without knowing so much as the reason why he was made to act so.

It is not likewise, because I have been one of the Council of the King his Master; yet I have had the Happiness, during some Years, to partake in the Confidence of a Minister of State, who was in several important, weighty Occasions, as it were the Primum Mobile of that Conduct and Management that surprized all the World. You know, my Lord, what Credit he had, and of what nature his Intelligences were. Sir W. may well imagine that I did not ill improve this able Ministers Confidence, when Sir W. tells us, That I had wholly devoted my self to him.

Men are not ignorant likewise, that oftentimes I have had some access to the King's Ministers of State, and even near to the King himself,; it did more especially appear, in the business for which I took my Journey to Nimeguen; and it would be a great shame that a Man more cunning and subtil than them all, according to the King's own testimony, as Sir W. relates it, should not have had (considering so much freedom of access and easiness) the address and cunning to dive into the most hidden Springs of Deliberations and Resolutions, wherein the Swede and my Master had so great an Interest.

Be therefore assured, my Lord, that after my Death, nay perhaps, whilst I am alive, if need require, and if I be obliged thereto, there will appear some Memoirs, which will divulge some Matters the truth whereof is still so carefully concealed, Sir W. doth ingeniously confess that hitherto he was ignorant of them; He, who hath so much quickness of Penetration, and seems to make us believe that he was the King his Master's Confident.

You your self, my Lord, have often urged me to acquaint you with such important Secrets, and of such great Consequence; and altho' I could not possibly refuse, upon the account of that honour you do me to afford me any share in your Favours, to let you have a glympse of one part of what pass'd in one of the most important Negotiations of that time; yet you had so much Generosity as not to take the advantage of it you might have done, to the infallible ruine, as was believed, of a Minister whom you take for one of your greatest Enemies; yet on this occasion one could not well lay any thing to his charge, besides his blind obedience to the Will of his Master.

The Truth of it is, I am not obliged to have the same Considerations that with held me at that time, but yet I preserve a profound respect for the Memory of the late King, and also a great respect for some Persons, who are even at this time of the day so much concerned, that I should hold my tongue, if it were not for that reason, it would be a very easie matter for me, to make appear without any more adoe, how basely Sir W. is mistaken in what he delivers concerning divers Negotiations of England; and especially concerning my Journey to Nimeguen.

My Design is not at all, my Lord, to write you a Letter full of Invectives against Sir W. I shall not descend to the Particulars of his Behaviour, and shall tell you no more of them at present, than what is needful to let your self and every body else judge that I have means in my hand to be revenged for the Injury he hath done me.

They will be without doubt more just Invectives, than those that he fills his Book withal. He set upon me first. He writes out of a Spirit of Revenge, with a great deal of Heat and Passion, and like a Man that believ'd himself touch'd and wrong'd to the purpose. As for my part, my Lord, I protest I write to you in cold Blood, I do so much scorn the Injury that Sir W. affects to do me, that I should but laugh at it, if my silence was not able to persuade you, and those persons whose esteem of me doth do me so much honour, that I have but small care of my reputation.

Sir W. hath shined a long time, 'tis true; but yet he hath borrowed all his Splendour first of all from the protection of a Lord, whom he betray'd at last, of whom he speaks too insolently in his Memoirs and with abundance of Ingratitude; and then again he advanced himself by the protection of certain other persons to whom he was devoted, to the prejudice of his bounden Duty: He did so well insinuate himself (that I may make use of the Terms he makes use of in speaking of me) into the Favours and into the Confidence of those, near to whom it was necessary for him to have access, that he might have been in a capacity to render considerable Services to the King his Master, and to his Country, if so be he had made better use of this advantage; but he kept it just after the same manner as he had got it; that is to say, that he often came short of exact Faithfulness and Loyalty, which a Minister of State is obliged to maintain inviolably even in the least Matters, that doth plainly appear in his Memoirs.

The late King of England perceived it, and was so far convinced of it, that he never made use of him in the last Commissions he committed to his charge, to the States-General; but only out of Consideration of the Acquaintance he had there, who made people conjecture that Sir W. might have some Credit amongst the Spaniards, as well as in Holland, as he himself assures us he had.

Neither was he employed, but only upon some Occasions, wherein one would not employ a Man who was a Favourite of the Prince, or for whom he had any value, or in whom he might confide; 'tis a Truth owned and confess'd by Sir W. himself in his Memoirs; and a Man may judge of it by the so opposite false steps, that he complains, they caused him to make, and by all the things that were done contrary to the Measures that he had taken, just as if the Court had had a mind to expose him.

Besides, the King slighted him after the Peace at Nimeguen, and laid him aside, making very little use of him; it was not, what he would make us believe, his love for his own ease, and his Indispositions of body, that made him decline his Employments. Never did Man desire more to have an hand in Affairs; he was removed by reason of the King's secret dissatisfaction at his Services, by that Conduct and Management, which in executing the King's Orders, when they were contrary to his Opinion, and disliking to his Friends, smelt very much like perfidiousness and Treachery, as may principally appear in whatsoever he did for to evade and frustrate the King's Orders, contained in the dispatch I left with him at the Hague, to Nimeguen, for the conclusion of the Peace, by Order of his Majesty.

It is concerning this business that has made so great a noise for which Sir W. takes occasion to reproach me, that I am going to relate you some Particulars in the Reflections, that I am obliged to make upon what he says concerning my self. Do not expect, my Lord, that I should teach you here the true Cause of so extraordinary a Resolution which so much surprized Sir W. with which Pensioner Fagel was so much astonished, and which in Sirs W's opinion did entirely change the Fate of Christendom.

I should please him very much, if I should discover so important a Secret, in which many persons in the late and present Reigns have been concerned. I do not doubt but Sir W. extremely desires it; he knows very well the greater knowledge of these Practices would perhaps raise a great deal of trouble in the Parliament to some people, whose Ruine he desires at the bottom of his Heart, being little concerned for the reputation of the late King, and envious of the esteem of those that protected him, and who have bestowed so many favours upon him.

As for my self at this Conjuncture, in which K. William endeavours the repose of Christendom, and the Happiness of England with so much Zeal and Glory, I will not stir up the envy and hatred which has too much appeared in England; and, which may perhaps be a great Obstacle to that Union which is so necessary to the happy Execution of the Undertakings of this great Monarch.

There arrived, said Sir W. at that time from England, one whose name was de Cros. I shall not stop, my Lord, upon this Term of Contempt, One called; it is a very malicious Expression, in respect of my self; the late King of England himself did me the Honour to treat me in Passports, in his Letters, in his Commissions which he charged me with: It is very impudent and rude to speak so of a Man, who is of a good Family, who has had the honour of being employed for almost twenty years, and whom a great Prince and a King have not disdain'd to use as Councellor of State.

He was (continues Sir W.) a French Monk who had lately quitted his Frock for a Petticoat. Here is a reproach which ill becomes an Ambassador of a Monarch, who is Defender of the Faith, and of the Protestant Religion; of one who declared so openly at Nimeguen, that he would have nothing to do with the Pope's Nuncio. I do not know, my Lord, that it is a disgrace to be a Monk; and much less, to have been one formerly: There are indeed amongst them, as well as amongst the rest of Mankind, some miserable Wretches, of a mean Birth, and of a disorderly and infamous Life; People of no use, without Honour, and without Reputation: Sir W.T. thought, without doubt, that I was of that Number; but there are likewise several very famous for the Sanctity of their Lives, of an extraordinary Merit, and of the greatest Quality, Sons of Princes and Kings, and Kings themselves, and Popes: But if this sort of Life is not now, as formerly it was, so certain a Character of a good and honest Man, do's Sir W. think he can dishonour me, in reproaching me for leaving a Profession which himself thinks so contemptible, for a Petticoat?

It will not be material in this place to say how I was engaged therein in my tender years. There is nothing more usual in France, Spain and Italy, where ancient Houses do sacrifice a good part of their Families in Monasteries; 'tis a Maxim, to say the truth, most cruel and horrid.

Neither will I relate how, and after what manner I came out of it; however, it was not for a Petticoat. I have remained several years without so much as having any inclination to it; and it hath been apparent that I have had much a-do, and was very much unresolved as to this Choice.

There was too great advantage to throw off my Frock for the Petticoat that I have taken, not to do it. It is a Petticoat of a Scotch Stuff, and which hath been a greater Ornament, and done the Crown of England more good than Sir W. himself; if he do not know it, the History of England and Scotland in these late Times may inform him. I shall enlarge no further, that I may not engage my self to publish the Misfortunes and Disorders of Sir W's Family; which, I suppose would not be like a Gentleman. I have no reason that I know of, to complain, neither of his Lady, nor his Son, nor of his Daughters.

Besides, had I even cast off the Monk's Habit for a Petticoat, I should have done no more than a great many worthy deserving Persons have done; yea, some of the Pope's Nuncio's, Cardinals, Bishops, Kings and Princesses too, who have quitted the Veil for the Breeches, whose Posterity, I make no question is highly esteemed and reverenced by Sir W.

I did so well insinuate my self, saith Sir W. into the Court of Sweden, that I obtained from thence a Commission to be a kind of an Agent in England. That is very dirty. I have had the management of Affairs and the Quality of Envoy, when Sir W. had no more than that of an Agent or Resident at Brussels. I was Envoy at the Court of England before ever I was in Sweden, or before ever I had any acquaintance there.

I went the first time to Sweden just at that time the late King of England sent me into Sweden and Denmark, about the beginning of the Year 1676. The Pretence was for to demand the free passage of Letters; which the King of Denmark refused, for hastening the Congress of Nimeguen, in procuring the expedition of Passports, requisite to the Ministers of State who were to compose the Assembly; and also to urge the Departure of the Embassadors belonging to those two Northern Crowns. But now the true Cause was quite another Matter, and of greater consequence; not for the King of England, but indeed for another Potentate. – That shall be made appear some time or other in my Memoirs.

Had I been a kind of a Swedish Agent, I should not have defended myself in that Point; I should have held it as a great piece of Honour, since it could not chuse but be very glorious and splendid, to have the Affairs of so great a King, in such important Conjunctures as those were, committed to ones charge and care; but at the very time Sir W. speaks of, I was dignified with the Quality of Envoy Extraordinary from the Duke of Holstein Gottorp, acknowledged and received at the Court of England for such.

Sir W. knows that very well, there was sent him divers Memoirs to Nimeguen whilst the Mediation lasted, which I had delivered in at London, concerning the re-setling my Master; but the Interest and Concerns of this Prince were so indifferent to him, that I was fain to beg of my Lord Treasurer to recommend them more particularly to Sir Leoline Jenkyns.

Moreover, you may see Sir W.T. mentions in his Memoirs all the Potentates that had any interest in the Peace of Nimeguen, except the Duke of Holstein Gottorp, notwithstanding he had two Ministers at the Congress, and although France had stipulated for his re-establishment in the second Article or Condition of the Peace, such who shall peruse the Memoirs of Sir W might be apt to think that the Duke of Holstein was reckoned as no body in the World, and that he had no part at all in what pass'd in Christendoom, from the commencing of the War in 1672, until the conclusion of the Peace 1679. But Thanks be to God Sir W. is not the Steward of Glory and Immortality.

Sir W. therefore must have often read my Name and Character in the Letters, and Orders of the Court, and cannot have forgot that he came to render me a Visit at my Lodgings, at such time as he, by the King's Order, was to confer with me upon what account Monsieur Olivencrantz might be obliged to pass from Nimeguen into England. That Swedish Embassador lodg'd at that time in my house.

'Tis true indeed, as the Interests of my Master were inseparable from those of Sweden, I found my self engaged to be very much concerned in the Interests of that Crown in whatsoever might depend on my care: There was an Envoy extraordinary from Sweden at London; and yet for all that, the Swedish Ambassadors did me the Honour to maintain a very regular Correspondence by Letters with me: The King of England was also graciously pleased to hear me in what concerned the Affairs of the Swede, although I was no otherwise authorized for it. Monsieur Olivencrantz, his Voyage to London was contrived first of all by the King and my self, without the least medling or intervention of any one of his Ministers; and then again in the Negotiation, whereof my Voyage to Nimeguen was a Consequence, the Restitution of Sweden was especially insisted upon.

All this made many Men believe, that I was intrusted with the Management of the Affairs of this Crown; and Monsieur Van Beuninguen believed it so to be, in the Letter he writ to the Lords States-General, which hath since been printed; where he speaks with so much uncertainty concerning the Voyage I was about to make to Nimeguen, and about this Negotiation, that it was evident it was a very great Secret.

Since his being at London, saith Sir W. speaking of me, he hath wholly devoted himself to Monsieur Barillon, the French Ambassador, under pretence to act for the Interests of Sweden. Monsieur Barillon was not at that time in London, when I was sent thither, he came not thither till a long time after; I found Monsieur le Marquis de Ruvigni there, whom Monsieur Courtin succeeded; and after that Monsieur Barillon came to take the place of Monsieur Courtin.

I never devoted my self to this Ambassador, and I never had any Correspondence or was in League with him prejudicial to my Duty. Nay, it happened the King of England one day, having a design more especially to take into Consideration the Swedish Interests, Monsieur de Barillon diverted him from it; whether for fear lest a particular Peace should be clapp'd up between the Northern Crowns, or else out of Jealousie, that he might leave the Glory of the Restitution of this Crown to the King his Master; and depriving it of all other relief, might keep it in the mean time in a greater dependance.

I was so much put to it, and fell out with Mr. Barillon so much thereupon, that I did not so much as speak to him in 3 or 4 months; nay, one day as the King was at Dinner I cast in his teeth what had past in the presence of Monsieur Wachmeister, Envoy-Extraordinary from the King of Sweden. I do not question but Monsieur Wachmeister remembers it well enough; he is no less worthy to be believed, than he is brave and undaunted.

And now after this manner I became all one with the Ambassador of France. But yet I must confess that at such time as he stickled for my Master's Interest and that of the Swede, I was intirely devoted to him, thinking my self most happy that I was enabled to pay my most humble Services to such a great Monarch, whose Subject I have the honour to be, without failing in my Loyalty and Allegiance, which I ought to pay him before all others whatsoever.

Whereupon, my Lord, I shall tell you one thing, in which Monsieur de Ruvigni, at present Lord Galloway, cannot but agree with me, no, nor Monsieur Olivencrantz neither. The departure of this Ambassador for England, occasioned shrewd suspicions both at Nimeguen and London to the French Ambassadors. Monsieur Barillon was much alarm'd at it, especially when he saw that Monsieur Olivencrantz lodged at my House, and when he knew that I had offered a Project, upon which I had the Honour sometimes to be in debate with my Lord Treasurer, Monsieur Barillon put all in practice to sift him to the bottom; nevertheless all the offers of this French Embassador proved ineffectual, and wrought thing upon this Man; who, if a man would give credit to Sir W.T. was intirely devoted to Mons. Barillon, and yet Mons. Barillon found him not to be corrupted or bribed.