¹ Letters and Correspondence of Bolingbroke, ed. Parke, Gilbert (London, 1798), i, pp. 26–7Google Scholar. To Drummond, 17 Nov. 1710.

² The Wentworth Papers, 1705–1739, ed. Cartwright, J. J. (London, 1883), pp. 266–7Google Scholar and B.M. Add. MS. 22227, f. 12. Peter Wentworth to Lord Strafford, 15 February 1712.

³ Letters and Correspondence of Bolingbroke, ed. Parke, i, p. 154.Google Scholar

⁴ Ibid., i, pp. 44–5. 20 December 1710.

⁵ Fieldhouse, H. N., ‘St. John and Savoy in the War of the Spanish Succession’, Eng. Hist. Rev., 1 (1935), pp. 278–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶ For Britain's reaction to the commercial advantages of the Dutch in the Low Countries see Geikie, Roderick and Montgomery, Isobel A., The Dutch Barrier 1705–1719 (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 187–214.Google Scholar

⁷ Orrery's letters, chiefly between April and June 1711, are in the Public Record Office, State Papers Foreign, Flanders, vol. 60.

⁸ See the letter of complaint sent by the citizens of Gand (Ghent) to St. John, 19 March 1711, in the Appendix to this correspondence.

⁹ Letters and Correspondence of Bolingbroke, ed. Parke, i, pp. 168–9.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Coombs, Duncan, The Conduct of the Dutch (The Hague, 1958), p. 245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹¹ MS. Eng. misc. e. 180 was bought for two guineas from the bookseller, P. Dobell, on 17 October 1927. MS. Eng. lett. e. 4 was bought for £1 2s. 6d. from the bookseller, C. Radford, on 15 April 1933. These booksellers are no longer in business.

¹ St. John's country house in Berkshire.

² Sir William Temple (1629–99), statesman, diplomat and author.

³ Archduke Charles of Austria (1685–1740), the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne as ‘Charles III’. He had little support in Spain beyond Barcelona. In 1711 he succeeded his brother to the Habsburg territories as the Emperor Charles VI.

⁴ John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1680–1743).

⁵ John Middleton of Aberdeenshire, a captain in the Duke of Argyll's regiment of foot. He later reached the rank of Brigadier General and was elected M.P. for the Aberdeen burghs.

⁶ Robert Harley (1661–1724) had been largely responsible for engineering the recent downfall of the Godolphin administration.

⁷ Richard Savage, 3rd Earl Rivers (1654–1712), had just been sent as envoy to Hanover in an effort to convince the Electoral family that it had nothing to fear from the recent change of ministry.

⁸ Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, had been prepared to accept the recent changes in the administration, but he was bitterly opposed to the proposal to dissolve Parliament a year early and to call a general election which might result in a Tory landslide.

⁹ Archibald Campbell, Earl of Islay (1682–1761). The younger brother and eventual successor to the Duke of Argyll.

¹⁰ Colonel ‘Duke’ Desney or Disney was a great friend of St. John, Orrery, Swift and other Tories. He served under Colonel Hill on the expedition against Quebec in 1711.

¹¹ John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was Captain-General and very jealous of his influence over army promotions.

¹² Anthonie Heinsius (1641–1720) was Grand Pensionary of the province of Holland and Keeper of the Seals (first minister) of the States General.

¹³ William Cadogan (1675–1726) was Quarter-Master General and Adjutant to Marlborough. He had just been replaced by Orrery as envoy to Brussels and The Hague.

¹⁴ The proposed expedition against Quebec.

¹⁵ Hartrop was colonel of a Walloon regiment of infantry. He had served for 30 years with considerable distinction and Marlborough pressed to have him promoted by ‘Charles III’, the Austrian claimant to the Netherlands.

¹⁶ Recently promoted brevet Lieutenant Colonel by Marlborough for his services in Flanders.

¹⁷ Antoine de Guiscard, abbé de la Bourlie (1658–1711), a French adventurer in the British service, who, when discovered in traitorous correspondence with France, stabbed Robert Harley. He died shortly afterwards of the wounds which he received in the ensuing struggle. Harley was ill for some weeks, but made a good recovery. See Dickinson, H. T., ‘The Attempt to Assassinate Robert Harley, 1711’, History Today, xv (1965), pp. 788–95.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Frederick I of Prussia (1659–1719) threatened to withdraw his troops from the allied army, if the British and Dutch did not support his claims to inherit the Orange-Nassau territories of the late William III. The issue was resolved when the young Prince of Orange, the other claimant, was accidentally drowned.

¹⁹ Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674–1738), was ambassador and plenipotentiary at The Hague from 1709 to 1711.

²⁰ Several Scottish families with the surname Seaton or Seton supported the Jacobite cause.

²¹ Marlborough's letter to the King of Prussia, dated 27 March 1711 N.S., can be seen in The Letters and Dispatches of Marlborough, ed. Sir George Murray (London, 1845), v, pp. 284–5.Google Scholar

²² André Louis Frédéric Bonet de Saint Germain, a Frenchman who acted as the Prussian resident in London from 1697 to 1720.

²³ Hildesheim, Loos, Dieren and Quedlinburg were small towns in Germany Holland and Flanders, where the King of Prussia had pretensions.

²⁴ Marinus Dibbout van Vryberge or Vrijbergen (1657–1711), the Dutch envoy in London.

²⁵ Ivax Eriksen Rosenkrantz, the Danish envoy to London, 1702–3 and 1709–14.

²⁶ James, Lord Drummond (1673–1720), was heir to the Earl of Perth. He was imprisoned for his Jacobite sympathies in 1696 and 1708. In 1715 he fought at Sheriffmuir, but was forced to follow the Pretender into permanent exile.

²⁷ Robert Walpole, Secretary at War 1708–10.

²⁸ Henry Boyle, Secretary of State for the Northern Department 1708–10.

²⁹ Du Guay was believed to be planning a Jacobite expedition. In fact he attacked the Portuguese settlement of St. Sebastian in Brazil.

³⁰ James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth (1648–1716), was Governor to the Pretender.

³¹ Blaise-Henri de Corte, Baron de Walef (1661–1734), commanded the dragoons of Liége which were in the Queen's pay. He was the only mercenary commander to follow the Duke of Ormonde on the separation of the army in 1712. The Queen had been anxious for some time to promote his career and she awarded him a pension on the Irish establishment.

³² John Hill, the brother of the Queen's favourite, Abigail Masham, was promoted Brigadier General in 1711 against the wishes of Marlborough. St. John promoted his claims to command the expedition against Quebec.

³³ Ferdinando, Marquis de Paleotti, was t h e brother-in-law of the Duke of Shrewsbury. He had been ordered to leave Italy because he had fought a duel with his superior officer. Shrewsbury and others now pressed Charles III to give him a commission as a Colonel of Horse in the Netherlands.

³⁴ Thomas Wentworth, Lord Raby and, from 1711, 3rd Earl of Strafford. A former envoy-extraordinary to Berlin, he was appointed ambassador to The Hague in 1711 to succeed Townshend.

³⁵ Leopold Joseph Charles, Duke of Lorraine (1679–1729), had lost his territories to France in the course of the war. He hoped to act as mediator between the principal combatants.

³⁸ Joseph, Baron de Begue, was the Duke of Lorraine's envoy at The Hague from 1707 to 1714.

³⁷ Alexander van der Capellan, Duke of Arenberg or Arendsbergen in Guelderland. He was a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands, governor of Mons, and claimed to be grand bailiff of the county of Hainault.

³⁸ Lord Drummond.

³⁹ Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713), the author of the Characteristicks, was in ill health. He planned to go to Naples, passing through France. He died in Naples.

⁴⁰ Joseph I (1678–1711) had just died on 6/17 April 1711. He was succeeded by his brother Charles, the Austrian claimant to the Spanish Empire.

⁴¹ Robert Harley, still recovering from his wound.

⁴² Conrad Albert Charles, 1st due d'Ursel (1665–1738), was a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands. Formerly a supporter of Philip V, he had changed sides and had been rewarded with the governorship of Namur. He was reputed to be the most influential man in Brussels and on good terms with Orrery.

⁴³ The Count van Milaenen or de Milan Visconti, who had also changed allegiance from Philip V to Charles III.

⁴⁴ George Tilson was formerly secretary to Lord Raby when the latter was in Berlin and was now one of the under-secretaries of state in St. John's office.

⁴⁵ The two Dutch Deputies to the Netherlands since 1706 were Johan van den Bergh (1664–1755) and Frederick Adriaen van Reede, Baron of Renswoude (1659–1738).

⁴⁶ Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, the Lord Chamberlain, was married to Adelaide Paleotti.

⁴⁷ Prince Eugene marched to the Rhine with all the Imperial troops to guard against a threatened French incursion into the Empire.

⁴⁸ Humbert Guillaume de Précipiano, Archbishop of Mechlen or Malines from 1690 to 1711. The vacancy created by his death was not filled until December 1715.

⁴⁹ Probably minor Neapolitan nobility. Bisaccia is a small town c. 70 miles east of Naples. The Duke of Bisaccia was serving in the French army in the Low Countries at the beginning of the war.

⁵⁰ William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth (1672–1750), was the Secretary of State for the Southern Department.

⁵¹ Sir Edward Northey (1652–1723) was Attorney General 1701–07 and again from 1710 to 1718.

⁵² Hans Heinrich Ahlefeldt, Danish envoy to The Hague 1710–14.

⁵³ Frederick IV of Denmark (1671–1730).

⁵⁴ Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorf (1673–1763) was an experienced officer who had fought in Flanders under William III and Marlborough. He joined the forces of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in 1709, but continued to serve with the Saxon troops in Flanders.

⁵⁵ Daniel Steingens.

⁵⁶ Johann Wilhelm of Bavaria-Neuberg, Elector of the Palatinate (1658–1716).

⁵⁷ Vryberge had recently died in London. Simon van Slingelandt (1664–1736) was Secretary to the Council of State in The Hague and later Pensionary of Holland.

⁵⁸ Georg, Count Werthern (1663–1721), was minister, later Chancellor, for Augustus of Saxony-Poland and commander of the Corps of Neutrality.

⁵⁹ Wolf Abraham, Baron Gersdorff, was Saxon envoy at The Hague from 1698 to 1719.

⁶⁰ Charles Whitworth (1675–1725) was sent by the British government to Vienna, Berlin and Dresden, before returning to his position as envoy-extraordinary to the court of Peter the Great of Russia.

⁶¹ Jacob Jan Hamel-Bruynincx (1662–1738) was the Dutch envoy to Vienna.

⁶² Victor Amadeus II (1666–1732).

⁶³ Ignace Francois Solaro, Marquis del Bourg or Delborgo, envoy of the Duke of Savoy at The Hague and, for a time, to London.

⁶⁴ This proposed marriage did not take place.

⁶⁵ Annibale, Count de Maffei (1667–1735) served the Duke of Savoy as envoy to The Hague and to London between 1699 and 1713.

⁶⁶ Charles Pierre D'Elorme, Saxon resident in London from 1710 to 1714.

⁶⁷ Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670–1733).

⁶⁸ Ernst Detlof von Krassow (1660–1714) was in command of the Swedish troops after the defeat of Charles XII at Pultova in 1709. His forces in Swedish Pomerania continued to threaten both Saxony and Poland.

⁶⁹ Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718) had abandoned his forces after the battle of Pultova and sought refuge in Turkey. He did not rejoin his Swedish troops until 1714.

⁷⁰ Captain James Jefferyes had served as a volunteer in the Swedish army from 1707 to 1709. Between 1711 and 1715 he was the British resident in Sweden.

⁷¹ Philipp Ludwig, Count Sinzendorff (1671–1742), was the Imperial ambassador to The Hague.

⁷² William Harrison (1685–1713) was recommended by St. John for the post of secretary to Lord Raby (Strafford), the British ambassador at The Hague.

⁷³ Camille d'Hostun, Comte de Tallard, Marshal of France (1652–1728), had been taken prisoner at the battle of Blenheim in 1704. In October 1711 he was allowed to go home on parole.

⁷⁴ Michael de Ligondez, a French Colonel of Horse, had also been captured at Blenheim. In 1706 he married Frances Hastings, the widow of Theophilus Hastings, 24th Earl of Huntingdon.

⁷⁵ Richard Sutton was an experienced soldier who had served under William III and Marlborough. He came to London with Marlborough's plans for breaching the defensive fortifications of the French, the ne plus ultra lines, and capturing Bouchain. Sutton was later commander of the garrison at Bruges.

⁷⁶ Johann Palmquist was Swedish envoy to The Hague between 1703 and 1715.

⁷⁷ Peter Joseph von Franken-Siersdorf, Bishop of Antwerp from 1710 to 1727.

⁷⁸ Daniel Steingesn.

⁷⁹ John Laws acted as secretary to Cadogan and then to Orrery in Brussels, and took control of British diplomacy during their absence.

⁸⁰ Adam Cardonnel was secretary to the Duke of Marlborough. He was dismissed from his offices and expelled from the House of Commons in 1712 after being charged with the misappropriation of government funds.

⁸¹ Ernest de Pesters (1665–1728) was Pensioner of Maestricht and Dutch receiver of war contributions in the Netherlands.

⁸² Thomas Hare was one of the two under-secretaries of state in St. John's office.