been done, and to assure his grace, that those commandants, who had
refused passage to his officers, had acted wholly without orders. Count
Hompesch, one of the Dutch generals, came likewise to the Duke with the
same story; but all this made little impression on the general, who held
on his march, and on the twenty-third of July, N.S., entered Ghent,
where he was received with great submission by the inhabitants, and took
possession of the town, as he likewise did of Bruges, a few days after.

The Duke of Ormonde thought, that considering the present disposition of
the States towards Britain, it might be necessary for the Queen to have
some pledge from that republic in her hands, as well as from France, by
which means Her Majesty would be empowered to act the part that best
became her, of being mediator at least; and that while Ghent was in the
Queen's hands, no provisions could pass the Scheldt or the Lys without
her permission, by which he had it in his power to starve their army.
The possession of these towns might likewise teach the Dutch and
Imperialists, to preserve a degree of decency and civility to Her
Majesty, which both of them were upon some occasions too apt to forget:
and besides, there was already in the town of Ghent, a battalion of
British troops and a detachment of five hundred men in the citadel,
together with a great quantity of ammunition stores for the service of
the war, which would certainly have been seized or embezzled; so that no
service could be more seasonable or useful in the present juncture than
this, which the Queen highly approved, and left the Duke a discretionary
power to act as he thought fit on any future emergency.

I have a little interrupted the order of time, in relating the Duke of
Ormonde's proceedings, who, after having placed a garrison at Bruges,
and sent a supply of men and ammunition to Dunkirk, retired to Ghent,
where he continued some months, till he had leave to return to England.

Upon the arrival of Colonel Disney[14] at court, with an account that
Mr. Hill had taken possession of Dunkirk, an universal joy spread over
the kingdom, this event being looked on as the certain forerunner of a
peace: besides, the French faith was in so ill a reputation among us,
that many persons, otherwise sanguine enough, could never bring
themselves to believe, that the town would be delivered, till certain
intelligence came that it was actually in our hands. Neither were the
minister