ring on him
at once derision and ruin. He resented the friendly intervention which
might have saved him. Was ever King so used? Was he a child, or an
idiot, that others must think for him? Was he a petty prince, a Cardinal
Furstemburg, who must fall if not upheld by a powerful patron? Was he
to be degraded in the estimation of all Europe, by an ostentatious
patronage which he had never asked? Skelton was recalled to answer for
his conduct, and, as soon as he arrived, was committed prisoner to the
Tower. Citters was well received at Whitehall, and had a long audience.
He could, with more truth than diplomatists on such occasions think at
all necessary, disclaim, on the part of the States General, any hostile
project. For the States General had, as yet, no official knowledge of
the design of William; nor was it by any means impossible that they
might, even now, refuse to sanction that design. James declared that he
gave not the least credit to the rumours of a Dutch invasion, and that
the conduct of the French government had surprised and annoyed him.
Middleton was directed to assure all the foreign ministers that there
existed no such alliance between France and England as the Court of
Versailles had, for its own ends, pretended. To the Nuncio the King said
that the designs of Lewis were palpable and should be frustrated.
This officious protection was at once an insult and a snare. "My good
brother," said James, "has excellent qualities; but flattery and vanity
have turned his head." [471] Adda, who was much more anxious about Cologne
than about England, encouraged this strange delusion. Albeville, who had
now returned to his post, was commanded to give friendly assurances to
the States General, and to add some high language, which might have been
becoming in the mouth of Elizabeth or Oliver. "My master," he said, "is
raised, alike by his power and by his spirit, above the position which
France affects to assign to him. There is some difference between a King
of England and an Archbishop of Cologne." The reception of Bonrepaux
at Whitehall was cold. The naval succours which he offered were not
absolutely declined; but he was forced to return without having settled
anything; and the Envoys, both of the United Provinces and of the House
of Austria, were informed that his mission had been disagreeable to
the King and had produced no result. After the Revolution Sunderland
boasted, and probably with truth, that he had induced