James Edwin Thorold Rogers

“ If the King of France, who is never disinterested in his objects, but always selfish and grasping, seeks to enlarge his dominions at the expense of Spain, the more he does for his grandson the more will he and his grandson be hated. The poor creature who just lately died was to his people the impersonation of the Spanish Empire, and a Spanish policy, and though he was son-in-law and nephew to Louis, made war on him for these ends. The Spaniards will never consent to be the tools of France, or allow their king to be a viceroy for his grandfather. ”

“ What interest have we in the question as to whether Philip of Bourbon or Charles of Austria is to reign in Spain? The Spanish Empire is ready to fall to pieces, but we want no part of it. It is very likely that the Emperor of Germany wants to recover those Italian provinces, which his predecessors claimed, sometimes ruled and finally ruined. Very likely the French king cherishes the dreams of his predecessors, Charles the Eighth and Francis the First, or fancies that he has succeeded to the rights and the designs of his Austrian kinsfolk Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second. ”

“ By the neutrality of Holland he would have deprived the Alliance of one among the Powers who could find money for the war, the other being Great Britain, and the people of Great Britain could hardly have been counted on for all the expense which the Spanish war of succession would be sure to entail. Besides, if Holland were neutral, it would soon be possible to cripple the English trade in the East, and finally to come to close quarters with the Dutch. For nearly a century, the French strove to acquire the British factories in India, and the British plantations in America. ”

“ But he will be less able to turn these dreams into realities, if he hampers himself with the defence of his grandson's inheritance. He will be certainly baffled if he tries to despoil him of any part of it. Nothing is more costly, nothing more disappointing, than the attempt to establish a protectorate over a country which is intensely jealous of its independence, even though it takes the money and accepts the military assistance which it cannot provide out of its own resources. It is difficult enough to assist Spain with entirely disinterested motives. ”

“ Up to this time Louis and his grandson had experienced nothing but reverses, the allies and their protégé Charles, had experienced constant Success. But in Spain the tide began to turn. Spaniards have not infrequently been defeated in pitched battles, but it has always been hard to permanently occupy the country, for it and its inhabitants were singularly suitable for guerilla warfare. It took the Romans a longer time to conquer Spain than it did any other country outside Italy, and tasked the abilities of their most competent generals. ”

“ It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to discover any public man who lived through the vile age of the English Restoration, and under the influences of the Court, who was not thoroughly tainted by the atmosphere which he breathed. ”

“ The Popes used to absolve kings from their oaths for a consideration, the French Parliament, high-minded and resolute only in this, affirmed that his oath was no oath, and Louis expected the European Powers to be satisfied with an interpretation of public duty and good faith with which the servile lawyers, who formed what was called the French Parliament, supplied him. Now a sovereign of great power, of solid purpose, of tenacious will, who has large armies and large means for keeping them afoot, is a very dangerous person at all times. ”

“ What were once luxuries are now, thanks to our energy and perseverance, common comforts, and we have a monopoly of this trade. The English people would gladly deprive us of it, under the hypocritical pretence of high policy and military necessity. ”

“ There were persons, indeed, both in England and Holland, who saw that the ambition of Louis was overreaching itself. In a past age the matrimonial alliances of European sovereigns were supposed to confer rights over subjects which it was impious to dispute and treasonable to resist. No Sovereigns had appealed at a more early date to the principle of nationality than the French sovereigns had, and with greater success. The kingdom of France had been consolidated by the policy of seeking to make every inhabitant glory in the name of Frenchman. ”

“ But if to these resources he adds habitual perfidy, and an utter disregard for the most solemn pledges; the distrust which he naturally excites is pretty certain to develop a very energetic and persistent hatred. Nor do I doubt that, had it not been for the English Tories, when they finally acquired an ascendency in Parliament, and over the councils of Anne, Marlborough would have dictated the terms of peace to Louis in his own capital, and have rent from him all his acquisitions. ”

“ It frequently happens after very destructive and protracted wars, that the world, even that part of it which has taken no part in the struggle, is afflicted with new and fatal pestilences. In 1711 death was busy. Louis of France lost from his own family the Dauphin, the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy, his great grandson and his brother, all from the same disease. In the same year it was fatal to the Emperor Joseph, and the titular King of Spain became Emperor of Germany. ”

“ Our course should be to stand aloof. The English are covetous and enterprising, the Germans are covetous and beggarly, and we should not present our trade to to the one and our florins to the other. We can easily get ample guarantees from France, and a substantial barrier on the Flemish frontier. There is no price which Louis will not pay for our neutrality.” So I find that the Dutch party which was unfriendly to the war argued during the interval between the succession of Philip and the outbreak of war. ”

“ If Spanish and French interests are at variance, no ties of blood or alliance will prevent a collision between the two kingdoms, and Philip will be either obliged to follow the policy of the country which has accepted him, or be soon driven from the throne. ”

“ Churchill was avaricious beyond experience, and was seconded in his passion for money-getting by his wife. But in military skill he was far in advance of his age, some say of all men. He never lost his head, his temper, or his judgment. ”

“ Soon afterwards a story was afloat that Queen Anne had recommended her husband, George of Denmark. It was probably an idle guess. Silly as Anne was, she must have known that her husband was the most incompetent fool in Christendom. ”