David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Lord Sunderland does earnestly request Lord Galway, Lord Somers, and all his friends not to think of him, but to act as if he was not in the world. If he were worth having, I would say that there is no way but to forget him, which was desired so often, as you know, at the beginning. But after all the clutter has been made, if he should just now engage in business, it would be pretending to miracles which he is very unfit for. Lord Godolphin has convinced Lord Sunderland that what was thought of being done by the House of Lords, cannot; so that it must fall as being vain. ”

“ The Earl of Rochester was supreme in England as well as in Ireland. This circumstance, coupled with the unfinished state of the last Partition Treaty, made William acknowledge King Philip’s letter in a congratulatory reply.
The deaths of the Duke of Gloucester and of the King of Spain were the prominent topics of the king’s speech to the new parliament on the 2ist of February 1701. During this session, the acquittal of Lord Somers and the other “partition” councillors by the House of Lords, was gratifying to the Williamite statesmen, notwithstanding the rage and invectives of the Commons. ”

“ Every letter that Lord Sunderland receives, to persuade him that he is necessary, contributes to the fixing him here; for he is in no way capable of answering those expectations of furthering what is fit, and hindering what is not. ”