the suspension. But this was absolutely rejected by France; which that court never would have ventured to do, if those allies could have been prevailed on to have acted with sincerity and openness, in concert with her majesty, as her plenipotentiaries had always desired. However, the queen promised, "That if the States would yield to a suspension of arms, they should have some valuable pledge put into their possession."
But now fresh intelligence daily arrived, both from Utrecht and the army, of attempts to make the troops in her majesty's pay desert her service; and a design even of seizing the British forces was whispered about, and with reason suspected.
When the queen's speech was published in Holland, the lord privy seal told the Dutch ministers at Utrecht, "That what her majesty had laid before her parliament could not, according to the rules of treaty, be looked on as the utmost of what France would yield in the course of a negotiation; but only the utmost of what that crown would propose, in order to form the plan of a peace: That these conditions would certainly have been better, if the States had thought fit to have gone hand in hand with her majesty, as she had so frequently exhorted them to do: That nothing but the want of harmony among the allies, had spirited the French to stand out so long: That the queen would do them all the good offices in her power, if they thought fit to comply; and did not doubt of getting them reasonable satisfaction, both in relation to their barrier and their trade." But this reasoning made no impression. The Dutch ministers said, "The queen's speech had deprived them
