The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, October 10, 1760, Page 3

endeavour to employ, in the approaching Negociation, dnd fuch, | hope, ye will be ableto find 5 though, Town, I am puzzled to guefs on whom the*Choice will fall,- none being, as yet, pointed out by the public Voice, nor, perhaps, fixed upon by yourfelves. Times - have been, when we might have expected, to fce One named to fuch’ .was a Relation of that greac Man. ‘an important Office, meerly becaufe he was a Favourite, or iavou. : rite’s. Favourite 5 becaufe he was conneéted with this Minifter, or But if we have too frequentiy " trifled with our national Concerns, by truftins #hem in fuch Hands, ~ propet Way of doing itfelf Juftice. 1 need not fay that there are Circumftances at prefent which give us reafonable Ground for hopirg that the fame Sagacity, and D«fire to ferve the Public, which hath found out, and employed the propereft Perfons to condué the Operations of the War, will be exerted to find out the properelt Perfons (few as there to be found) to conduét the Deliberations of the Treaty. And very deplerable indeed muft be the Inabilities of the Perfons " we thall emyloy, if their Negociations for Peace be corduéted fo awkwardly as to rob us of the Advantages we have gained by the War, If we may judge from late Eveants, France {eems as little to abound with Wifdom in the Cabinet, as it doth with Courage and Concuétin the Field. And if the Negociations at Utecht, in which almoft all the Advantages of a War equally fuccefsful with the prefent, were given up, be urged asan Inftance of the fuperior Dex- terity of French Politics, it ought to be remembered that this was more owing to our own Divifions, than to their Sagacity, and to the Inabilities of our Plenipotentiaries at Utrech?, tho' we had no great Reafon, God knows, to brag of them. What, therefore, may we not expect from a Negociation to be begun in very different Cir- cumftances ; wihen there exifts no Faftion whofe Intereftit may be to perplex and defeat it'y and when that national Unanimity to which we, in a great Meafure, owe the Succefls of the War, will ftill continue to exert it’s bleffed Effeéts, till it make us happy with a fafe and honourable Peace ? However, favourable as thefe Circum- ftances are, the Choice of fuch Plenipotentiaries as may be lkely to conduct the Negociation, with Dignity, Dexterity and Integrity, becomes a Confideration which the Public will expeét fhould be weighed with the utmoft Attention. - And, if fuch Perfons canrot be found amongft us (which [ hope may not be the Cafe) there isa very defirable Alternative ftill in your Power. [Fix the Scene of Negociation, where, indeed, for the Honour of our Country, 1 could wifh to fee it fixed, name norother Plenipotentiaries to conduct the Peace but thofe Minilters who direéted the War: And a Treaty of Leondon, infuch Hands, will make ample Amends for our wretched Management at Utrecks. But let Peace be never fo well made ; let Minifters plan Treaties with the greateft Sagacity, and Plenipotentiaries negociate'the Ar- ticles with the utmoft Skill and Dexterity, yet we know from Hifto- ry and Oblervation, that they never can be perpetval, and moft com monly, are oot Jafting. Princes, two frequently, fem to own no other Rule of A&ion, than prefent Convenience ; and the Law of Natiom is feldom appealed to, but to fanétify Injuftice, and faves Ap Eéar‘anées. Nor are the pofitive Compaéts folemnly agreed upon etween Nation and Nation, better obferved. For how feldom do we fee a Treaty religioufly adhered to, by the Parties whole Intereft it is (0 break it, and who think they are in fuch Circumftances as to be ablé to break it with Impunity ?- If fuch Infidelity be too com- mon amongft Princesin general, Experience,long Experience teaches us, that the Nation with whom we are foon to treat, excel os, at leaft, - in this Part of Policy. For no Cords are ftrong enough to bind them. Gallic Faith is become proverbidl, 4nd the Neighbours of France can reproach her with innumerable Inftances of a moft profligate Difregard to the moft folemn Treaties. And the Reafon feems to be obvious,without fuppofing thatNation more perfidious than others. The Power, the populoufnefs, the Extent, the Strength of the French Monarchy, free them fiom thofe Apprehenfions which bind the weaker Side to be faitful to it’s Engagements ; and depending upon the Inability of their Neighbours, coafidered fingly, to procure to themfelves Juttice, this,too frequently,has tempted them to the molt thameful and barefaced Inftances of national Breach of Faith. It well becomes us, therefore, at this Junéture, when the Diftreffes of France will ablige them to confent to Terms of Peace, unfavour- able to the Vitereft, and difgraceful to the Glory of their Monarch, to take every Method in our Power to fecurc the Obfervance of thofe Conceflions they may make ; and to infift upon their giving s fuch Proofs of their Sincerity, before any Negociation be entered wpon, as may give us forne Afiurance that they mean to be moare faithful to their future Engagements. What Proof of their Sincerity, I would recommend it to you to demand, what Conceffions it will be neceffary to infit upon, 1 fhall beg Leave to mention ; after having fitft fatisfied you by a Detail of fome particulars, that fuch Demands as I would propofe cannot be looked upon as the Infolence of a Conqueror, but as the wife Fore- fizht of a People whom dear-bought Experience hath taught the i It may not, therefore, be unneceffary to place before your Eyes, " fome of the the mo®t remarkable Inftances of Fremch Perfidy, which have given rifc to all the-Troubles of Enrope for above thefe hund- red Years. The Peate of Weflphalia*, while it fecured the-Liberties and };‘.d'_,}‘_ ey kigion of Germany, alto laid the Foundation of that Power which hath made France, ever fince, the Terror ot Europe ~ By this Trea- tyt, the Upper and Lower Aiface, a Country of great Extent, ard- of infinite Confequence in Point of Situation, was ceeded to Framce, lq this Country theve were Ten Imperial Cities, whofe Privileges and Liberties were in the moft folemn Manner fecured by the fime Treaty, which exprefly fays, {.that they (hall preferve their Ireedom, ‘and that the King of France fball not afftme over them, any Thing more than the bare Right of Protellion. tHow was this Article obfeiv- ed ? The ten Impenal Ciries were foon humbled to receive the French Yoke, equally with the reft of 4/face, and remain, naw, laft- ing Manuments, what others may expett from Power unreftrained by Juftice. ; , _ . The Treaty [] of the Pyremees till enlarged the Boundaries of France, efpecialiy on the Side of Flanders ; and the Spamiards tho't themfelves fafe from farther Lofles, by the Marriage of their Infanta - to Lewis the X1V, who, upon that Occafion, jointly with her, made a formal Renunciation of all her Rights to fucceed to any Part of the Spanifb pofleflions. And yet, with unparallelled Infolence, feven Years had fcarcely elapfed before Flanders was again attacked, on pretence of thofe very Rights which had been fo lately renounced, and which, even tho’ they had not been renounced, muit have ap- peared chimerical, unlefs a Sifter can have a Right to futceed in Preference to her Brather. : The Peace of Nimeguen . reftored the Tranquility of Earope, which the Invafion of Holland by the French had difturbed. But ‘fcarcely was the Peace figned before it was fhamefully violated. The Decrees of the Chambers of Reunion, by which Lewis the X1V, frized fo many Territories, to which he has not the leaft Right; the Surprifal of Strafburgh, and the Blockade of Luxemburg, {hewed fuch a Wantonnefs of Perfidy, as no Hiftory of the moft barbarous and unpolithed Savages could well exceed ; and juftly drew upon the common Oppreflor, the joint Vengeance of offended Earope. Who is ignorant of the Story of the Partition Treaty ? Solemnly ratified and agreed to preferve that Tranquility which the Treary 8f Refwyck had juft reflored to Earope, it was no fooner made than it was fhamefully abandoned by the Court of France ; and for fuch Realons as will, upon every Occafion, juftify every Injuftice. The Letter of the Treaty, indeed, was violated, they muft own ;—but the Spirit of it was what ought to be attended to. And by fucha Com- ment, wotthier of a pitiful Sophifter, than of a moft Chriftian King, -his Grandfon was affifted in placing himfelf on the Throne of Spain. ~ The Politics of Lewis XV. have been faithfully copied from thofe of his Great- Grandfatber ; and the Behaviour of France, upon the Death of Charles the V1. is a freth proof, of how litlle Ufe are the moft folemn Treaties, with a power that knows no Ties but thofe of Intereft.—The Treaty of Vienna had but two or three Years be- fore **, annexed to the Crown of France, the Dutchy of Lorrain ; a. CefTion which was purchafed, and purchafed cheaply, by the Guaran- tee of the * Pragmatic Santlion. By this Stipulation, France was under the moft folemn Engagements to fupport the Queen of Hui- gary in the poffcfion of all her Father’s Dominions. But how wis the Engagement fulfilled ? Pofterity will fcarcely believe fuch bare- faced Perfidy was poflible, as our Times faw was attually avowed upon that Occafion. Germany was, inftantly, covered with the At- mies of France, to affiit the ©leCor of Bavaria, in an Attempt to overturn- the Pragmatic Saniiion fo lately guaranteed by them, and to dethrone that Princels whom they weie bound by a Treaty, fworn to in the Name of the /7:/y Trizity, to proteét and defend from all Ker Enemites. I have brought down the Skeich of Fremch Faith to the preleat Times 5 imperfe@ indeed 5 but, as far as it goes, ftrictly conforma- ble to- Hiftorical Truth.——What Confidence then, can France expe any of it’s Neighbours will putin her, after fo many and fuch fagrant Inftances of national Perjury, as fhe appears to be guilty of ? ——The Caralogue of her Infidelities will ftill be encredfed ; and the little Reafon that qur Ifland, in particular, has to truft Her, will ftill be more apparent, by reminding you of fome of the many proofs, which Great Britain itfelf can appeil to, of Fremck Ingenuity ia Treaty breaking.—I fhall go no higher than the Peace of Utrecht, becaufe the Inftances in which it hath been violated by France, have produced the prefent War ; and becaufe the Enumeration of them will lead me, naturally, to thofe Hints which I mean to throw out, a3 neceflury to be attended to in our future Negociatiuns ;and which, if neglected, will lofe to this Nation all the Fruits of thofe Succefies, to gain which, we have ftrained every Wetve, and loaded ourfelves with a Burthen under which itis a Miracle that we have notalready funk. ; * 1648. + Articke 78, &5 feg. || Article 88 Le Rio de France ne [ arrigera, Jur les vitles de la Prefeéiure, que le fimple Droit de Protelion, qui appartenvii & la Maifon d* Autricbe, (] 1659 4 1679. ** Iz 1738. * Yyeaty of Viewna, Article 10. [ To be continued. ] ¥ ROEERIEIES b 10 S TR AN P—aor