that the fear which the Dutch would conceive, of our obtaining advantageous terms for Britain, might put them upon trying underhand for themselves, and endeavouring to overreach us in the management of the peace, as they had hitherto done in that of the war: the ambassador was therefore cautioned to be very watchful, in discovering any workings, which might tend that way.
When the lord Raby was first sent to the Hague, the duke of Marlborough and lord Townshend had, for very obvious reasons, used their utmost endeavours, to involve him in as many difficulties as they could; upon which, and other accounts needless to mention, it was thought proper that his grace, then in Flanders, should not be let into the secret of this affair.
The proposal of Aix or Liege, for a place of treaty, was only a farther mark of their old discontent against Holland, to show they would not name any town which belonged to the States.
The pensionary, having consulted those who had been formerly employed in the negotiations of peace, and enjoined them the utmost secrecy, to avoid the jealousy of the foreign ministers there, desired the ambassador to return her majesty thanks, for the obliging manner of communicating the French overtures, for the confidence she placed in the States, and for her promise of making no step towards a peace, but in concert with them; assuring her of the like on their part: "That although the States endeavoured to hide it from the enemy, they were as weary of the war as we: and very heartily desirous of a good and lasting peace, as well as ready to join in any method, which her majesty should
