#House Bavaria | resident evil

[deathdanse]

House Bavaria || Resident Evil Verse

TL;DR: Literally just replace the concept of PMMM’s Magical Girls and Tart Magica with infection from the Megamycete but Isabeau and the sisters survive. That’s it that’s the verse.

During medieval times, and long before Miranda had ever stumbled across the Megamycete underneath the small village.. it was discovered by someone else.

Isabeau of Bavaria, the queen of France had stumbled upon the Megamycete as a young woman during business talks with nobles in Romania. She was searching for power that would help her rule over France as her husband, Charles VI, was slowly succumbing to his own madness and delusions to the point that he could be declared unfit to rule and be ousted.

Like Miranda, upon touching the black substance secreted by the Megamycete, Isabeau was also overcome with knowledge and incredible power. Though unlike Miranda, she sought to use this power to destroy France as opposed to servitude to the Megamycete and to revive a single person. 

Once she distanced herself from her husband and began living in another residence Isabeau got to work testing the limits of her newfound abilities and how those abilities could affect others. She first started with her own servants and eventually branched out to the public, enticing them with promises to fufill any wish that they wanted granted in exchange for their bodies. 

She would conclude the following from her experiments:

Her infection was much more effective in young women and girls, while men and boys would simply perish from the stress that her infection would put their bodies through.

The women and girls infected would be granted enhanced strength and speed, with the ability to manifest a unique weapon practically out of thin air along with different abilities unique to them-- strangely, related to the deals that they made with Isabeau before being infected.

The infection in the women and girls would appear on their bodies as a large gem affixed to the body that could be removed, however the girls would also go into a dormant state if separated too far from the gem-- like they were dead. There was no commonality in it’s placement, color, or shape and no two gems were the exact same. Destroying the gem however, killed them instantly.

After infection, the women and girls would lose any sense of sentience and become mindless puppets that Isabeau could command to do as she pleased. 

If the infected women and girls are put through intense stress (eg. in battle) there is a chance that their bodies will mutate and become ghastly massive creatures capable of infecting both men, women, and children. Ableit with infection only going so far as mind control and forcing them into attacking others or killing themselves.

Eventually during her research she would come across Corbeau and her two younger siblings and sensed that the girls had magical potential, and approached Corbeau after she was jailed for being caught cross-dressing during a melee tournament that Isbeau was in attendance for. She offered to pardon Corbeau, house her sisters, and give Corbeau incredible power in exchange for working for her and Corbeau agreed. 

Once they were moved into Isabeau’s residence. Isabeau would then infect Corbeau and discover that Corbeau was able to retain her brain functions and act independently of Isabeau. 

Isabeau would also come across another discovery that she didn’t anticipate: For every person she infects successfully, a sliver of her sanity would be lost until there would be nothing left.

She would mutate into a large monster and attempt to attack the sisters. Though upon making contact with Lapin, she shifted back into a normal woman as she infected Lapin. However, she was a shell of her former self, her only desires to be destroying France and infecting as many people as possible. 

Though she was ultimately defeated by Joan of Arc. Isabeau and her three daughters retreated went into hiding for several years-- discovering that they were, to some extent-- immortal. 

The four would only come out of hiding as Isabeau was able to sense activity coming from that same village in Romania where this all started, and sent Corbeau to investigate.

[jessalynlearns]

Meanings Behind the Names - The Incredibles (2004), Incredibles 2 (2018) THE (LITERAL) GOLDEN TRIO - Bob / Robert: [Germanic] “Bright fame” (BehindTheName); “famed, bright, shining” (SheKnows); derived from the Germanic elements hrod “fame” and beraht “bright” - Helen: [Greek] “Bright, shining light” (Nameberry); cognate of the Greek Helenē, which is derived from the root ēlē, “light, torch, bright” (BabyNameWizard) - Lucius: [Roman] “Light,” derived from Latin lux “light” (BehindTheName) THE OXYMORON - Robert Parr: Robert means “bright fame,” but Parr is a play on the phrase “on par” meaning “average.”

THE CHILDREN - Violet: [English] “of the purple flower” (BehindTheName); in addition to her purple-hued hair and eyes, the name can either be thought of as descriptive of Violet’s shy nature (i.e.: a “shrinking violet”) or of her forcefield powers which seem to manifest themselves from the ultraviolet side of the light spectrum. - Dashiell: [English] Anglicization of French surname de Chiel, meaning unknown. There is no hidden meaning to Dashiell beyond justifying the name “Dash” - John Jackson “Jack-Jack”: [English] John means “God is gracious,” and Jack is a diminutive of John. Many people have speculated that Jack-Jack is either a reference to JFK’s son, John F. Kennedy, Jr. (born 1960, one year before Jack-Jack) who was known as “John-John.  Others have said that his name is a reference of his being a ”Jack of all trades“ with his many powers, but Brad Bird has maintained that "Jack-Jack” was simply the nickname of his own son, Jack.

THE ALLIES - Edna Mode: [Irish], Anglicized form of Eithne, meaning “kernel, grain,” or [Hebrew], meaning “pleasure.”  Her name was likely chosen based on its similarity to Edith, as costume designer Edith Head served as Edna’s inspiration. (BehindTheName, Wikipedia); Mode is a German word for “fashion”

- Richard “Rick” Dicker: [German, English] “Strong ruler” from ric“ruler, leader” and hard“strong, brave” (Wikipedia); Dicker is an English occupational name for a digger of ditches or a builder of dikes (Ancestry.com)

- Kari McKeen: [Norwegian] Norwegian short form of Katarina, cognate of Katherine, related to the Greek name Aikaterine, whose meaning is unknown, but who in the early Christian era became associated with the Greek work katharos, meaning “pure.” (BehindTheName); McKeen and its related forms are anglicized forms of the Gaelic Mac Iain “Son of Ian.”

- Tony Rydinger: [English] “Highly praiseworthy” (SheKnows, OhBabyNames), “priceless” (Baby Center), “of inestimable worth” (BabyNameWizard); a form of the Roman name Antonius (Behind the Name); Rydinger/Ridinger is a habitational name for someone from any of several places in Bavaria named Riding or Rieding (Ancestry.com)

- Honey Best: [English] from the Old English hunig; original a nickname for a sweet person. Best is an English surname meaning “the beast,” and may refer to one employed as a herdsman (Wikipedia) THE VILLAINS - Buddy Pine: [English] clearly a nod to the character’s desire to attach himself to Mr. Incredible as a buddy or sidekick; Pine is of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning a resident near or in a pine forest (Surnamedb.com), but it’s also a play on the verb “to pine” (to yearn intensely and persistently especially for something unattainable they still pined for their lost wealth), referring to Buddy’s relationship to Mr. Incredible. - Syndrome: likely a play on “Hero Syndrome”, a mental disorder in which a person seeks recognition by secretly creating dangerous situations and then publicly resolving them, thereby setting him/herself up as a hero (i.e. starting a fire, then coming back to “heroically” put it out). Syndrome’s plan is to establish himself as a superhero by creating a destructive robot that he alone has the means to defeat, unleashing the robot on the city, and then flying in to “save the day”. (found on IMDB Trivia) - Mirage: an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions; something that appears real or possible but is not in fact so. - Operation Kronos: Syndrome’s master plan is based on the ancient Greek myth of Kronos, king of the Titans and father of many Greek gods and goddesses. After hearing a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, Kronos eats all of his children so that he can remain the only king. This is similar to Syndrome’s plan to murder all the superheroes in the world so that he can become the ultimate superhero. - The Underminer: an (ingenious!) pun encompassing the two meanings of the verb “to undermine,” 1) to erode the base or foundation of, 2) to damage or weaken (someone or something), especially gradually or insidiously.

THE SETTINGS - Nomanisan Island: a play on the phrase “No man is an island”, which means that a person cannot work alone, they need help. (IMDB Trivia) - Municiberg: another play on Metropolis, both roughly meaning “hometown” (IMDB Trivia). This is where Bob, Helen, and Lucius spend their glory days before the Superhero Relocation initiative. This is the city saved at the end of the movie, and the location of Lucius and Honey Best’s apartment.  - Metroville: a combination of Metropolis and Smallville, which are, respectively, the cities where Superman lives and where he was raised (IMDB Trivia). This is where Bob and Helen move to after the Superhero Relocation. Since Lucius’ apartment is in the city of Municiberg, it can be inferred that Metroville is a nearby suburb of the larger Municiberg.

THE SEQUEL - Winston: [Old English] “joyful stone” from wynn “joy” + stan“stone” (Ancestry.com, Think Baby Names). - Evelyn: Of course, the primary meaning behind this character’s name is the pun on the phrase “Evil Endeavor.” For the name in general, there are several alternate and uncertain origins:  1) A combination of Eve [Hebrew] “life” and Lynn (Baby Center) 2) [English] “wished for child” (Nameberry) 3) [Old French] from aveline meaning “hazelnut” (SheKnows) 4) [Old Irish] “beauty” or “radiance” (Wikipedia) 5) [German] “little bird”

- Deavor: Members of the Deavor family originally reached English shores as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Deavor family lived in Essex, but the family can trace their roots much farther back. They were originally from Ver, near Bayeux, Normandy where it was from the local form of this place-name, de Ver. Their surname literally translates as from Ver (House of Names)

- Karen: [Danish] Danish form of Katherine, a cognate of the Greek Aikaterinē, the root of which is katharos“pure, unsullied” (BabyNameWizard)

[ali-stegert]

My grandfather called me Snoopy. It was my fondness for rummaging through cobwebby corners of his house that earned me the moniker. No closet went unexplored, no drawer unrifled, no crawlspace unprobed.

The attic at Poppy’s house beckoned, otherworldly—icebox cold in winter and oven hot in summer. Dust rimed surfaces like post-apocalyptic frost. One day, nosing into an ivory garment bag, I came face to face with my mother’s wedding gown, understated and pristine. Below it, a compact green train case conferred a pair of viciously pointy stilettos in pink silk—both excellent finds that kept me amused (and well dressed) for days. Another exploration unearthed the mother lode, a box labelled, ‘For Alison’ in my late grandmother’s scrawl. Nestled in layers of crumpled newspaper were an old-fangled sugar bowl, creamer, and trifle bowl. Snooping, I learned, paid off.

In search of more treasures, labelled or otherwise, I ventured due south. Poppy’s basement brimmed with mysteries and monsters, such as the deadly Electric Wringer. “Stand back Snoopy, or she’ll squish you flat as a pancake,” Poppy warned, prodding the mangle with a pole, as if daring it to strike. I stood clear, watching the slurping, sloshing violence of washing day from a safe distance.

It was from that secure vantage point that I discovered the basement’s cave of wonders. Poppy had converted the dark space under the stairs into a display case to hold souvenirs and curios from his globetrotting adventures. Tucked in its shadowy nooks and crannies were decades worth of accumulated stuff, dense with memories and oozing my grandfather’s legendary sense of humour. In my seven-year-old mind, I’d hit pay dirt. My mother, ever the modern minimalist,` muttered about dust-collecting junk.

Naturally, I wanted to keep everything in Poppy’s fusty cabinet, especially the kitschy ceramic Three Wise Monkeys (macaques) from Japan. To this day, when I come across, ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ my mind beelines to Poppy’s dank basement. There were ashtrays from cruise ships, steins from Bavaria, and Venetian glass beads. Multi-limbed Buddhas from the Orient subleased space to a shocking array of pissing boy figurines and other toilet-themed curios. From Istanbul or Cairo or Timbuktu, a brass oil lamp, dull with tarnish, hinted at a resident genie. But the best curio by far was a tiny corked bottle that held a wisp of yellowed cotton and a tiny nugget, a flake really, of Klondike gold. I begged Poppy shamelessly for that little bottle (no fool was I, even at age seven), but alas, no. It was special—a souvenir from his father-son Alaskan escapade with my Uncle Connie.

Cabinets of Curiosity

Looking back with adult eyes, I recognise the display shelf for what it really was: my Poppy’s wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities, a rather antiquated hobby. These visual encyclopaedias started as cabinets, but over the centuries they grew into immense collections that stuffed entire chambers full of oddities–dinosaur bones, rare butterflies, saints’ fingers, alchemists’ tools, stuffed animals, mummies and more.

Wunderkammern (chambers of wonder in German) are first cousins to both the modern museum and the modern sideshow. In the 17th, 18th and early 19th century, European nobles vied to outdo one another with impressive, comprehensive wunderkammern. The collections intermingled science with superstition, as the world grappled with emergent empiricism.

Image Via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Part one-upmanship for the über-rich, part scholarly enquiry, the collecting and displaying hobby led to important scientific and cultural advancements. Ole Worm, the Danish scholar and collector who created the Wormianum Museum (1655, shown above), debunked the unicorn tusk trade, showing the tusks (worth a king’s ransom) belonged to male narwhals not mythical creatures. He also disproved the weird but widely-held notion that lemmings spontaneously generated and fell from the sky in stormy weather.

Peter the Great’s Kunstkamera, which was heavy on anatomical specimens and pickled foetuses, was intended to shift common people’s superstitions about genetic abnormalities, from devil-spawned monsters or punishment from God to mere accidents of nature.

The Outworking of Imprinted Memories

With the wunderkammer of my childhood imprinted on my psyche, it’s little wonder these eclectic collections continue to fascinate me and make regular appearances in my writing. For unknown reasons, my villains tend to be rapacious collectors—greedy, predatory amassers of curios, artefacts, and specimens for their wunderkammern. Here are two examples.

In my MG | Gaslamp | Fantasy |Adventure The Temple of Lost Time, Lord Godfrey serves as both Royal Antiquary and Head Henchman. As the king’s advisor on Olden Magic, he leads the quest to find the legendary Temple of Lost Time. Godfrey believes the temple’s magical elixirs will reverse the dying king’s illness. Following fragments of ancient maps, Godfrey sets sail armed with his fully portable Cabinet of Magical Curios. Little does he know, stowed away in the ship’s hold is his nemesis, eleven-year-old Toby, who running for his life in search of his missing father…

In my WIP middle grade | gaslamp |spy school |adventure, The Rarest of Them All, the villain is Baroness Agatha Throttlebairn, a natural scientist, ethnographer and adventuress. Barred by gender from serious academic pursuits, she is relegated to study the fluffier outposts of science that fringe myth and magic. For decades, she scours the globe, mercilessly hunting, and meticulously categorising, preserving and displaying fey creatures from around the world in her massive, macabre collection, but still none of her male would-be colleagues at the Royal Academy takes her work seriously. Unfortunately for them, a horrific accident on a wildfey safari in Africa has rendered her bewitched … and vindictive. Who can stop this magic-addled menace from unleashing her vast collection of undead fey on the world? This is a job for the Remarkable Girls! Her Majesty’s Secret Society of Remarkable Girls is a clandestine academy for the training of gifted girls from around the Empire in the fine arts of espionage, hand-to-hand combat, and general bad-assery.

It seems I can’t get away from wunderkammern in my writing and in real life:

Curiosity Cabinets for the 21st Century

One of my favourite forms of procrastination is snooping through Pinterest, which is basically a limitless, digital wunderkammer. Pinterest lets me have All The Curios without the dust and storage issues! Yay! I don’t use Pinterest as much as I used to because it’s full of annoying ads nowadays, but the promise of personalised curation remains: Create classifications (boards), hunt for ‘specimens’ (images and content), arrange, display and share. Collecting and categorising seems almost instinctual. I wonder if curating is an extension of our hunter/gatherer past…

The Real McCoy – Melbourne’s Wunderkammer

  So, back in May 2018, I was in Melbourne for KidLitVic, a conference for writers and illustrators of children’s literature. As my writing buddy Kellie Byrnes and I were walking down Lonsdale Street one night, we passed a street level window that made me stop and back up. The window revealed a human skeleton reclining, feet casually crossed, in an antique dentist’s chair. I’d stumbled upon a real cabinet of curiosity! Wunderkammer is delightful and quirky—and it’s situated in a basement, just like my Poppy’s!

Of course I had to go in for a serious bit of snooping through its fabulous displays. (The cabinetry alone is beautiful.) Wunderkammer showcases a variety of curios and natural wonders, including medical & surgical tools, minerals & fossils, insects & butterflies, taxidermy, globes & maps, and ephemera. Items are for sale, and business is brisk, which made me very happy. Many thanks to the fine folks at Wunderkammer, who kindly allowed me to snoop to my heart’s content and take photos. I highly recommend a visit next time you’re in Melbourne: 439 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

  Image Credits:

Attic photo by Kevin Noble on Unsplash

Basement photo by Timothy Rhyne on Unsplash

3 Wise Monkeys photo by Joao Tzanno on Unsplash

Wunderkammer photos by Ali

Interesting Links:

Artist Rosamund Purcell’s recreation of Museum Wormianium is a permanent installation at the Natural History Museum in Denmark. The display includes 40 of the original artefacts from Worm’s original Wunderkammer.

Cabinets of Curiosity became quite trendy about five years ago.

Cabinets of Curiosity often feature in my novels, and my #villains are rapacious collectors. What does that say about my psyche?? #middlegrade #fantasy #amwriting #kidlit #Wunderkammer = old fashioned #ContentCuration My grandfather called me Snoopy. It was my fondness for rummaging through cobwebby corners of his house that earned me the moniker.

[electorquotes]

Cobbett’s Parliamentary History of England, 1811

Page 1: Accession of George the First. August 1, 1714. Pursuant to the act of succession, George Lewis, son of Ernest Augustus, first elector of Brunswick Lunenburgh, by the princess Sophia, granddaughter of king James 1, ascended the throne on the death of queen Anne. ……. The great services he had done for the emperor Leopold, determined the emperor Joseph, his successor, to use all his power to procure him admittance into the electoral college: and the emperor Charles, successor of Joseph, caused him to be acknowledged elector by Lewis 14, and by the electors of Cologne and Bavaria, who, till the treaty of Restart, had refused him that title. …… As soon as queen Anne had resigned her last breath, the privy council met, and the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord chancellor, and resident Kreyenberg (in whose hands they were lodged) procured the elector of Brunswick’s three instruments, nominating the persons to be added, as lords justices, to the seven great officers of the realm. After the opining of the instruments, a proclamation was issued, declaring that the high and mighty prince George elector of Brunswick Lunenberg, was, by the death of queen Anne, become our lawful and rightful liege lord, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. ……. The great officers were: Dr. Tennison, archbishop of Canterbury; lord chancellor Harcourt: John Sheffield, duke of Buckinghamshire, lord president; Charles Talbot, cute of Shrewsbury, lord treasurer; William Legg, earl of Dartmouth, lord privy seal; Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, first commissioner of the admirably; sir Thomas Parker, lord chief justice of the King’s bench. To these were added, by the elector of Brunswick, in the instrument under his own hand, the following persons: The dukes of Shrewsbury; Somerset; Bolton; Devonshire; Kent; Argyle; Montrose; Roxburgh; the earls of Pomfret; Anglesey; Carlisle; Nottingham; Abingdon; Scarborough; Orford; lord viscount Townshend; lord Halifax; and lord Cowper.

Page 17: To the Whigs the court of Hanover was indebted, for obliging the French king and the duke of Lorrain not to suffer the Pretender in their dominions, and for the advices of what was contriving against the interests of the Protestant successor. This being the case, there was no room to deliberate which party to choose. King William, accustomed from his youth to dissimulation, might have deliberated, or seemed to have done so; but the elector of Hanover, absolute master in his German dominions, and consequently unused to faction and party, was hardly capable of that dissimulation, so requisite in a government like that of England.

Page 25: The elections for the new parliament were now carrying on with great warmth by both parties, but with most success on the side of the Whigs. The electors in some counties and cities drew up instructions for their representatives, the most remarkable of which were those of the city of London, wherein was this passage: “We desire and expect, that you will inquire by whose counsel it was, that, after God had blessed the arms of her late majesty, and her allies, with a train of unparalleled successes, she was prevailed upon, contrary to the grand alliance, and her repeated promises from the throne to both houses, to send to, or receive managers from France, to treat separately of a peace, without the knowledge and consent of our allies.”

Page 77: And his imperial majesty and their high mightinesses, pursuant to the treaties aforementioned, respectively, in or about the said month of May 1702, did likewise declare war against France and Spain: And whereas the kings of Portugal and Prussia, the electors of Hanover, Saxony, Treves, Mentz, Palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Savoy, the prince of Hesse, the dukes of Wolfenbuttle, Mecklenburg, and Wirtemburg, the circles of Swabia and Franconia, and of the Upper Rhine, the bishops of Munster and Constance, and other princes and powers, being invited by the said grand alliance, and relying on the faith thereof, did afterwards become parties to the said confederate war against France and Spain; and, in the treaty entered into in or about the month of May 1703, between his imperial majesty, the queen of Great Britain, the States General, and the king of Portugal, it is, amongst other things, expressly stipulated ….

Page 149: Article II. Whereas the maintaining a perfect union and good correspondence between her late majesty and the illustrious house of Hanover was of the utmost importance, for preserving to these kingdoms the invaluable blessings of their religion and civil liberties by securing the succession to the crown, by a race of protestant princes, ever renowned for their great justice and clemency, and thereby defeating the traitorous designs of the Pretender; and, for that purpose, the great wisdom of divers parliaments, had fixed and confirmed the said succession, had also laid the obligation of an oath upon the subjects of these realms, to support and maintain the same to the utmost of their power; he the said Thomas earl of Strafford, not regarding the many ill consequences to her majesty and these kingdoms, which would naturally ensue from a disunion or coolness of affection between princes so nearly allied in blood and interest, instead of doing what in him lay to prevent the same, did, on the contrary, in his letters from Holland to her majesty’s ministers of state in Great Britain, by divers false representatives and scurrilous reflections upon his present most gracious majesty, then elector of Hanover, endeavor to alienate her majesty’s affections from his said electoral highness, and to create or widen fatal differences or misunderstandings between them: and when, by the wicked and pernicious advice of him the said Thomas earl of Stafford and divers other evil counselors, her late majesty was at lsat prevailed upon to make a fatal cessation of arms with the then common enemy, without any concert with his said electoral highness, and against the consent, and contrary to the most earnest representations, of all the allies; for the execution of which he the said earl was sent over to the army in the Netherlands, where the generals of the auxiliaries paid by her majesty, whose honor and consciences would not permit them to abandon the confederates, and leave them as a sacrifice to France, refused to withdraw tin the duke of Ormond, without particular orders form their respective masters; which proceedings of the confederate general being widely represented by the said evil counselors, in conjunction with the ministers and emissaries of France, as an indignity offered to her scared majesty; …..

Page 161: The said earl doth acknowledge, that he thought a peace was very much for the interest and advantage of Great Britain; and, in his humble opinion, the most favorable juncture for obtaining advantageous terms of peace was immediately after the signal victories gain by her majesty’s arms in the year 1706; for, after the reduction of the dominions of the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, with other important conquests in Germany; after the entire destruction of three great armies of France, in Flanders, Spain, and Piedmont; after the allies had recovered the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, and other territories in Italy: it might have been hoped, from the great distress in which the enemy then was, a just and reasonable peace could have been obtained, since so much was at that time gained from the enemy, and so much more in all probability, would have been yielded by them, as would have fully answered the ends of the grand alliance.

Page 253: The said earl denies that he, by false representations, or by any reflections upon his majesty, when elector of Hanover, in any letter to the late queen’s ministers or otherwise, did endeavor to alienate her majesty’s affections from his electoral highness; and saith, that to such a general charge it is impossible to make any particular answer or defense; but the said earl is firmly persuaded, there is not any expression, in any letter by him wrote, that carries the appearance of any such false representation or reflection; such expressions being as remote from his heart and intentions, as they are inconsistent with that respect to the illustrious house of Hanover, which, by the whole tenor of his actions, he hath endeavored to demonstrate.

Page 257: And the said earl is well assured, he was not wanting in his zeal and regard for the security of the Protestant succession; on which head the British plenipotentiaries, at the very first general conference with the French ministers at Utrecht, pressed their explanation; and they agreed thereunto; and, when the allies delivered their respective demands, the queen’s ministers, on their part, insisted in such manner on what related to the security of that succession, that the princess Sophia was pleased to honor them with a letter of thanks, and to acknowledge their care of the interest of her family; nor were they less careful, at the conclusion of the treaty, to settle that important point with the utmost exactness, to the satisfaction of the queen, the court of Hanover, and both houses of parliament; and the articles for that purpose were not only conceived in stronger terms than and been made use of at Ryswick, for acknowledging the then settlement of the crown; but, before they were inserted in the treaty, were communicated to the minister of the elector, and had his approbation; and the manner of that transaction seems sufficiently justified, from the happy effects.

Page 301: After this he made some remarks on our ancient constitution, in relation to parliaments; and, in particular, took notice of the great change which, in process of time, has happened in the qualifications of the electors, by the increase and plenty of silver and gold species in Europe; for forty shillings a year in freehold, which qualifies a man to vote in elections, was formerly as good as forty pounds is at present: so that formerly the electors were either gentlemen or men of substance, whereas the majority of them are of the dregs of the people, and therefore more subject to corruption. From all which he inferred, that frequent elections render our government dependent on the caprice of the multitude, and very precarious. He also took notice, that if the heats were increased since the king’s accession to the crown, it was chiefly because some persons, who had a great opinion of their own merit were not in office; which gave him an opportunity to vindicate his majesty as to the distribution of his favors, and the rewarding those who, in the worst of times, had shown their zeal for his succession, and, during the late rebellion, ventured their lives for his majesty’s service.

Page 311: Since the king and his parliament exert their united power for the good of the public, and to retrieve the honor of the nation, why should they not continue longer together, that they may finish what they have so unanimously and so happily begun? Upon the whole, Sir, the electors and people of all the boroughs in England having been, for several years past, both bribed and preached into the Pretender’s interest, and a dislike of the Protestant succession, it becomes rather necessity than choice to apply an extraordinary remedy to an extraordinary disease; therefore I shall give you no farther trouble, but make you a very short motion, which is, That this bill be committed.

Page 317: But it is self-evident, that this power with relation to the part we bear in the legislature, is absolutely, is solely in the electors. You have no legislative capacity, but what you derive from them. You were chosen under the Triennial Act, and could only be chosen for three years, unless they could convey more to others, than they had in themselves; unless they could give us a long term to represent them, than they could claim at the time of their choice to be represented. Our trust therefore is a Triennial trust; and if we endeavor to continue it beyond its legal duration, from that instant we cease to be the trustees of the people, and are our own electors; from that instant we act by an assumed power, and erect a new constitution.

Page 329: The right of electing representatives in parliament, is inseparably inherent in the people of Great Britain, and can never be thought to be delegated to the representatives, unless you will make the elected to be the elector; and, at the same time, suppose it the will or the people, that their representatives should have it in their power to destroy those that made them, whenever a ministry shall think it necessary to screen themselves from their just resentments: this would be to destroy the fence to all their freedom; for if we have a right to continue ourselves one year, one month or day, beyond our Triennial term, it will unavoidably follow, we have it in our power to make ourselves perpetual; and whatever necessity we may be reduced to hereafter, matters are not yet in that apparent bad condition, to voice the people that there is a present occasion for this dangerous innovation in their constitution.

Page 331: Many subsequent laws were made for preserving to the people this privilege, on which all other depend, of being faithfully represented in parliament. No less than seven acts were made in king William’s time for that purpose: so greatly did the endeavors of officers to influence elections at that time abound. The statute of 3 Will. and Mar. c. 1, takes notice, ‘That the officers of the excise, by reason of the greatness of the duty, and the extraordinary powers given to them, had frequently, by threats or promises, so far prevailed on electors, that they had been absolutely debarred of the freedom of giving their votes; which, according to the known constitution of this kingdom, every person ought to have and enjoy.’ It then enacts, ‘that any such officer who persuades or dissuades any elector from giving his vote, shall forfeit 100l. and be incapable of executing any office relating to the excise.’ Another law of the like nature was lately made in relation to the officers concerned in collecting the post office duty. These laws are now all to be laid asleep. Provisions made for protecting the people’s right of election must become insignificant, if elections themselves are no loner to be allowed.

Page 341: I believe it will not be denied, That it is very possible for a ministry, by pensions and employments to some, and by the expectations raised in others, and by the corruption of electors, and returning officers, to obtain a very great majority, entirely and blindly at their devotion, even at the very first meeting of a parliament, and that by a committee of elections and other proper helps, their party may daily increase; and that such a parliament may be so far from protecting the liberties of their country, or from being a terror to evil ministers, as to become themselves the tools or oppression in the hand of such a ministry, and by their authority, to consecrate the worst of actions, to declare every honest patriot, who has the courage to attempt to stem the tide of wickedness, and to stand up for the liberties of his country, to be its greatest enemy; and those who are ready to give it up, to be the only true friends of our constitution; and if this should ever happen to be our case, I beg gentlemen to consider, Whether a greater curse could fall on any people than to have such a parliament as this entailed upon them.

Page 347: If this bill were to enlarge only the continuance of future parliaments, I should give my negative to it for the reasons I have already mentioned, and yet in that case the electors would have a fair warning for what time they were to choose, and those elected, would be truly and properly the representatives of the people; which I conceive cannot be said with truth of the present Parliament, if they should be continued beyond the three years: this, to me, is an insuperable objection against this part of the bill; for if we may add four years to our present term, may we not add forty, may we not make ourselves perpetual: or even extinguish parliaments themselves? Nay, what is it which we may not do, or, after this set, what is it which the people of Great Britain may not apprehend that we will do? Can we do anything much worse, than to subvert one of the three estates of the realm, and to substitute a new one in the place thereof, and instead of a House of Commons by the choice of the people, as it always has been, and ever ought to be, to establish a new kind of House of Commons, and till now unheard of, by act of Parliament?

Page 353: It has been said, ‘That three years is too short a time to effect anything of great moment for the service and benefit of the nation: That the first sessions is generally spent and wasted away in the determination of elections; in the second something is done; but that the last sessions is usually as much lost as the first, gentlemen’s minds running so much on the ensuing election, as to think of nothing else; and the fear also of disobliging their electors, on so near a view of a new choice, become a very great bias to their conduct in parliament, to the prejudice of the public service; so that in this short term of three years, there is little more than the work of one year done.’

Page 355: As to the increase of bribery and corruption in elections, since the Triennial Act, it is impossible it can be owing to that law, or that it would be any wise diminished by a real thereof; and in fact, the increase of bribery and corruption in elections may have happened since that law, and yet be no wise a consequence thereof; it is contrary to common sense to imagine, that those who would purchase their seats in parliament, would give more for a triennial than for a septennial one, or for a continuance during life? or that such electors, who will sell their voices, have not arithmetic enough to proportion their prices, to the times they choose their representatives for; therefore this objection against the Triennial Act is certainly very frivolous, unless something much farther he intended, than I believe any Briton has yet the courage to speak out, I mean, unless it be in tended, before the expiration of the seven years, to add a farther term by another act, and so on: then ended there is an effectual sop put to all future bribery and corruption in elections, and the last election which the people had, was to be the last they ever were to have.

Page 357: The short of the case seems to me to be, That some ministers have by their conduct gone a great way to beggar the nation; and others have corrupted those who have been so undone, and in this happy situation of men and things, the public money has been employed to corrupt electors, and returning officers, and thereby have filled some parliaments with the creatures of a ministry, and many have likewise expended vast sums of their own, when they saw it necessary, to get or secure a place; and by this means these parliaments have been filled with great numbers of mercenary troops, whose names were scarce known in the counties where they were shown, and without any family interests of their own, or the assistance of those who had; and if there has been any bribery on the parts of those who have opposed such men, as perhaps there may, it has been occasioned by the vile arts which have been put in practice against them: So I think I may truly affirm, That bribery and corruption, in elections, have not followed as any consequence of the Triennial act, but from cases widely different; and that the foundation thereof was at first laid, and has bene since improved and carried on by wicked and designing ministers.

Page 359: The argument which I shall next take notice of, is that which seems to me to be mentioned as the chief inducement in the preamble of the bill, and which has been chiefly insisted upon by the gentlemen who have spoken for it: “Because of the danger from the general discontents, which some gentlemen are apprehensive, were a parliament now to be called, would produce a majority of very different sentiments from those who now compose it: others, who think better of the inclinations of the people, believe that this wicked work could not be accomplished without the help of foreign money, to bribe and corrupt the electors of Great Britain; but upon the whole, are of opinion, that the thing would be effected, and that instead of the present excellent House of Commons, so devoted to the true interest of their country, and to the support of his majesty and the protestant succession, we should greatly risk the having such a parliament as would be ready to call in the Pretender, and to deliver up their country to Popery and arbitrary power; and therefore those who are against the bill, are charged with contributing to this design, although they are charitably believed no wise to intend the thing.” And this I think is the full import of what has been said by gentlemen on this head of argument.

Page 363: Certainly no gentleman can be afraid of what every gentleman must wish, that before the end of another year, our ferment will subside, and the nation be restored to a perfect calm, which would entirely take away all pretenses of doing what is now endeavored: Or, that the unanimous voice of the electors of Great Britain against such a law, would, before another session, be found too strong to be resisted by their representatives, and that gentlemen, upon a more mature consideration, might come to think very differently of this matter from what they at present may; and that therefore this great masterpiece must be struck off at one heat, and that now or never must be the word: Or may not others without doors be apt to suspect, that this law is really intended to encourage the Pretender to invade, and his secret friends to show themselves in public, by soothing them up in the hopes and belief of the greatness of their numbers; and by leading them into that snare, have an opportunity of discovering and crushing them as thoroughly in England, as we have lately done in Scotland: and thereby secure forever the peace and tranquility of the whole kingdom?

Page 367: But it is said, that the main reason against beginning it here, was to take off that bias, which was apprehended might be upon the minds of gentlemen, from the doubtfulness of its fate in another place; for though the Lords have, we have not an inheritance in our seats, but depend for a continuance of them in future parliaments, on the good opinion of the elector of Great Britain; and to deprive them of the right of frequent elections, which they are entitled to by law, cannot be supposed a proper recommendation to their favor; and it was therefore convenient to remove this stumbling block out of the way, that the advocates for the bill might argue and vote with greater assurance.

Page 377: ….It is said, our electors choose us their representatives but for three years, and that we cannot prolong the term without betraying that trust which they have reposed in us. In answer to which must desire gentlemen to consider the nature of the writs of summons, and the returns to them: Is it not to consult ‘de rebus arduis regni?’ and….

Page 409: As to the rest, however, just and solid I allow your friend’s reasoning in other matters, yet I cannot reconcile the opinion, which your friend seems to have of the good faith of the king, and his interest, with the fear, which is nevertheless shown, that we have no other end than to procure for ourselves the restitution of the duchy of Bremen. — Pray, Sir, which way can the king of Sweden better secure himself the recovery and possession of his said duchy, than by reducing king George to be nothing more than an elector of the empire? By which means the king of Sweden will make himself be courted by the house of Lunenburg, as in former times.

Page 415: For my part, I take this reason to be a very weak one; for as this treaty, and the departure of the Pretender out of this country, must make the court of England think themselves in perfect safety, and deprive them of the pretext of keeping up their troops, our enterprise is become more easy, and more sure. And to imagine, that this court, at the bottom of their heart, would not be better pleased to have the Pretender on the throne of England, than the elector of Hanover; especially if the first continued to carry himself well towards this court, is to have a wrong notion of its interest, and of the private sentiments of the duke regent.

Page 443: Upon this Mr. Secretary Stanhope spoke in vindication of the king and his ministers, in relation both to the Czar and the king of Sweden. With respect to the first, he said, That he had hitherto been obliged to be silent; but that he was now at liberty to set this matter in a clear light, and to acquaint the House, that the coldness which appeared of late between the king and the czar, proceeded from his majesty's refusing to become guarantee of his czarish majesty's conquests; and from his majesty's soliciting the czar to withdraw his troops from the duchy of Mecklenburg: that as to the first of those matters, his majesty's conduct deserved the applause and the thanks of a British parliament, since it appeared thereby, that his majesty was tender not to engage the nation in foreign quarrels; that this, indeed, had been his majesty's principal care, since his happy accession to the throne; and he might assure them, that Great Britain was entirely free from any engagements, and at liberty to follow such measures as best suit with her interest: that as for the instances which his majesty has caused to be made with the czar, and the measures he may have concerted, to get the Russian troops out of the duchy of Mecklenburg, his majesty has acted in all this as elector and prince of the empire: that he was persuaded, all the gentlemen there would agree with him, that the king's dignity, as king of Great Britain, was never understood to tie up his hands with respect to his interests in Germany, and a prince of the empire: but besides, he must desire gentlemen to consider, that long before his majesty's accession to the crown, Great Britain was in strict union with the emperor and empire; so that if, by virtue of ancient alliances, the emperor should require Great Britain to use those instances with the czar, which the king has made only as elector of Hanover, Great Britain could not avoid complying with his request: that in relation to Sweden, the king's conduct was not only blameless and unspotted, but worthy of the highest commendations: that in the late queen's time, Great Britain interposed to procure a neutrality in the North, whereby the king of Sweden might have preserved his possessions in the empire: That the regency at Stockholm agreed to this overture; but that the king of Sweden rejected it with haughtiness and the utmost scorn, declaring, he would use those as his enemies, who should pretend to impose such a neutrality upon him: That during the whole course of that negotiation, the king, then elector of Hanover, used all friendly offices in favor of Sweden: That all this having proved ineffectual, through the king of Sweden's obstinacy, and the king of Denmark having, by the fortune of war, reconquered the duchies of Bremen and Verden, his majesty, as elector of Hanover, has purchased the same with his own money, for a valuable consideration: That although it never was in his majesty's thoughts to engage Great Britain in a war to support that acquisition, yet, if gentlemen would give themselves the trouble to cast their eyes upon the map, to see where Bremen and Verden lie, he hoped they would not be indifferent as to the possessor of these two duchies, but would agree with him, that their being in the king's hands suits far better with the interest of Great Britain, than if they were in the hands either of the czar, who gives already but too much jealousy to the empire; or of the king of Sweden, who endeavored to raise a new rebellion in Great Britain, and harbors our fugitive rebels.

Page 612: “I will not pretend to doubt but those noble personages have, under the hands and seals of all and every of their electors, the peers of Scotland, full power and authority for this alteration, without which their proceeding could not be reconciled to common honor: and if the thirty odd, who are to be ennobled by this Bill, are to be made up by present members of the House of Commons, such members are to climb to honor through infamy.

Page 846: That, after all, it seemed unreasonable to expect that the czar should restore his conquests, whilst other princes kept the spoils of Sweden; and therefore in order to engage the czar to yield what he had gained, it were but just that the king of Prussia should give up Stetin, and the elector of Hanover, Bremen, and Warden. His lordship owned, that the distressed condition to which the Swedes had been reduced, was really worthy of compassion: but that, on the other hand, it must be considered, that they had been, in great measures, the authors of their own misfortunes, by their tame submission to a despotic, tyrannical prince, and by sacrificing their whole substance to enable him to carry on his unjust, rash, and ambitious designs; and that any nation who followed their example deserved the same fate.

Page 967: 7. Because several oaths are, by laws now in being, required to qualify electors, and the oaths enjoined by this bill are intended only to strengthen the obligations under which such electors do, by the known rules of our constitution, already lie; nor are these oaths attended with any new hardship or difficulty, since they relate only to plain matters of fact, which are certainly known to the electors themselves, and which they will be ready to attest will all solemnity, if they are conscious of their own innocence; and if they are not, the legal punishment of perjury to which they are subjected is light, in comparison of the heinous nature of their offenses, and the mischievous consequences of it.

Page xl, Appendix: There are two or there faces very sour; they sigh and wish the Hanoverians had not separated from us, but I shall tell them, perhaps, it may be better.

He may see by this time the wrong advice he has followed, since all must lay the blame of the separation upon him. But this is not the only instance of the scorn and contempt which his lordship was ready to express upon the like occasions; for July the 16th, 1712, giving an account of a conversation with M. Bealau, the elector of Hanover’s general, wherein his lordship declared, that the queen had yet neither made peace nor truce, which declaration was made near a month after the articles for a suspension of arms were signed; and his lordship representing the great danger the queen’s troops were exposed to, by being left alone in their camp, when prince Eugene marched; and M. Bealau replying, in case of any attack they had been sure of their assistance and protection, his lordship says, “My answer was in a disdainful way, It would be a very odd thing, when an elector of the empire should be sufficient protection to Great Britain: and December the 14th, 1712, lord Strafford in his letter to Mr. St. John, says, count Zinzendorf owned, it was impossible to carry on the war alone, especially since the elector of Hanover, who was the greatest hero for the war, has threatened the States to recall his troops, if they did not pay him the queen’s share of the subsidies; — In short, count Zinzendorf himself could not but laugh at the ridiculous way of proceeding of that court.

Page xlvii, Appendix: He desires that the troops in Flanders under the command of the duke of Ormond, may be left there to make a good use of the towns which he was in possession of; but as the king of France could not consent to the duke of Savoy’s having Sicily, except the elector of Bavaria has also the Netherlands besides his electorate, he thinks the queen’s having a good army in Flanders under the command of the duke of Ormond, may render this very practicable; and as the queen has done a great deal for her own ungrateful allies, it will be for her glory now to contribute to the good of a prince of so much merit as the elector of Bavaria, whose acknowledgments will be equal to the benefits he shall receive.

But this would not pass even upon the ministry of Great Britain: the giving Flanders to the elector of Bavaria, was not only contrary to all the propositions of peace that had been made and passed between England and France, but was what would absolutely engage us in a new war to oblige the Imperialists and Dutch to agree to it; and they could not think it for the honor or interest of the queen to make war upon her allies, as ungrateful as they had ben, in favor of the elector of Bavaria; and especially considering, that although we could secure Ghent and Bruges for him, the allies had yet an army in Flanders so considerable both for the number and goodness of their troops, that they were able to defend the conquest they had made. ……. But although this negotiation was carried on upon a supposition, that the queen was to depart from several things, which in justice ought to have been procured for her allies, the king of France thought himself under no such obligation; his honor to an ally, whose fidelity was without reproach, was not to be dispensed with; and therefore to satisfy his engagements to so good an ally, was a point from which the king of France would never depart. But to show the king’s good dispositions to the peace, he at last consents to the duke of Savoy’s having Sicily upon certain conditions; wherein very ample provision is made for satisfaction to the elector of Bavaria; and one express condition is, that a peace be concluded between England, France, Spain, and Savoy.

Page xlix, Appendix: But the French plenipotentiaries were so far from agreeing to this, that they demanded of our ministers to know the queen’s mind upon the several parts of the last general plan brought over by M. Gaultier, and which are not explain in her majesty’s speech; saying their king expected it: and they do not know how to proceed till those points be stated: and the utmost they were to be brought to, was, that it was not to be understood to exclude their master from making some demands for the elector of Bavaria, and that Lisle was to be restored over and above the two or three places excepted in the queen’s speech. These passages are here mentioned as falling in, in point of time, but will be more properly considered afterwards.

Page li, Appendix: The substance of his instructions was in short to remove all difficulties and differences that might obstruct the general suspension of arms between England and France from taking place, or settling the treaty of peace in such a course, as may bring it to a happy and speedy conclusion. But to declare, that he does not imagine there will be any possibility to prevail with the queen to sign the peace with France and Spain, unless full satisfaction be given to his royal highness the duke of Savoy, and unless they can take him along with them in the doing thereof. He is therefore to take particular care to settle his barrier, and to procure Sicily for him; to settle the renunciation in such a manner, that there may be as little room left as possible for dispute or delay; that the elector of Bavaria may have Sardinia, and be restored to his dominions in the empire, except the Upper Palatinate and the first electorate; and when he has had satisfaction in these points, he is to proceed to speak to such articles as relate particularly to the interest of Great Britain, and endeavor to have such of them, as there may appear to be any doubt concerning, explained in the most advantageous manner. And then he is to do his best to discover upon the several parts of the general plan of peace, what the real ultimatum of France may be; and when the pace between England and France shall be signed, that it may be expedient to fix the allies a time to come in, wherein the queen will use over good offices, but will not be under any obligation to impose upon the allies the scheme offered by France, or to debar them from obtaining better terms for themselves.

Page lviii, Appendix: What happened afterwards in relation to Tourney, upon what great concessions made to France, together with the advantageous terms procured for the elector of Bavaria, the measures and councils relating to this affair were afterwards altered, is not material enough to require a long detail; but nothing less than an absolute concurrence, without any new objections or further demands, was to satisfy for the cession of Tournay; and that it was at last obtained is owing solely to the firmness and resolution of the States.

Page lx, Appendix: At the latter end of October Mr. Prior was sent into England, and, by what appears, left his residence in France, without the leave or any orders from the queen his mistress; but was sent over by the king of France as a proper person whom he thought fit to intrust with the great secret of prevailing with the queen by her credit to obtain what the king demanded for the elector of Bavaria. He brings a credential letter from the king of France to the queen, which, seeming something new of the kind, is here annexed.

Page lxviii, Appendix: On the 7th, and 20th, of March, O.S. lord Bolingbroke repeats these positive orders, and insists, that the peace should be concluded with that precipitation which her majesty would have used. And it is observable, that among all the demands that were made, upon account of any prince or potentate, none at this time met with the least regard; when, at the same time, the interest of the princes Ursini is espoused in the strongest terms. And in the same letter, March the 3rd, O.S. where his lordship, speaking of the consequence of the restoration of the elector of Bavaria to his electorate, says, “Her majesty does not much enter into the notion of the degradation of Hanover as a matter of any importance.” His lordship declares, “That the principality in some part of the Spanish Netherlands, with a revenue of 30,000 crowns demanded for the princess Ursini, must be made to the emperor, and all parties concerned, a condition, ‘sine qua non,’ of the general peace.”

Page cxxi: Appendix: As to the barrier, it would be necessary, before it be settled, to agree upon the destination of the Low Countries, as the king of Spain has yielded them to the elector of Bavaria, and that the king has signed the treaty thereof; if it should not be fulfilled, the elector would have his recourse to his majesty to be indemnified. He will therefore desire, that the Dutch should put into the hands of the elector of Bavaria, the towns and provinces possessed by them, or their allies, in the Spanish Netherlands, so as that price may possess the same in sovereignty after the peace, in like manner as he now possesses the towns and provinces of Luxembourg and Namur, and the places of Charleroy and Nieuport: the king will promise, that, on condition of this cession, the Dutch shall put garrisons into the strong places of the Low Countries, which shall be paid and maintained at the expense of the country; so that those provinces, being possessed by an independent prince, and garrisoned by Dutch troops, will form a barrier, which alone would be sufficient to secure the republic of Holland against any reasonable apprehension of the designs of France. …….. The cession of the Catholic Low Countries was made by the king of Spain to the elector of Bavaria, only with a design to indemnify him for the losses he suffered during the course of this present war; but his majesty, and the king his grandson, are further engaged by treaties with that elector, to restore him, by the peace, to the possession of his dominions, of his rank, and of his dignities, whereof he was deprived by the war; so his majesty will demand, that this prince resume in the electoral college the first ran, which was transferred to the elector Palatine; that the upper Palatinate, give to the said elector Palatine, be restored to the elector of Bavaria; and in short that the dismemberments made from the chief parts of the same electorate, be annulled, and things restored to their former order.

Even these demands are not repugnant to the interest of the Dutch, supposing that they will consent to leave the low countries to the elector of Bavaria; for it is consistent with their maxims, that these provinces should be possessed by a prince, whose power secures their barrier.

However, if they have different thoughts with respect to the elector of Bavaria, and that, forgetting the first engagements of that prince with the House of Austria, they are persuaded that his ties with France will never be weakened; if upon this foundation, they think that his power might at any time be dangerous to their state, and that therefore it is necessary to diminish the same; regard may be had to this fear, although ill grounded, by proposing for the good of the peace, to engage the elector of Bavaria to yield Bavaria, and the electoral dignity, to the prince his eldest son; whereof it would be necessary to conclude at the same time the marriage with the arch duties, eldest daughter of the late emperor Joseph.

Page cxxiii: Appendix: In this case it should be stipulated, that the elector would be satisfied to possess the Low Countries instead of Bavaria, with the condition that has been mentioned, of putting Dutch garrisons into the places to be paid and maintained at the charge of the country.

If these proposals should be rejected, the king, being engaged by his treaties to take care of the interests of a prince’s ally, demands that at least the elector of Bavaria may keep the provinces of Luxembourg and Namur, and that his electorate, his dignity, and his rank, may be restored to him; but it would not be just, that being reduced to two strong places in the Low Countries, he should be obliged to receive a Dutch garrison therein, which the revenue of those two provinces would not be able to maintain. This condition must be struck out; which the king only proposes in case all the Low Countries be entirely given to the elector of Bavaria.

As the king doubts not, but the queen of Great Britain thinks it just, that the elector Palatine should restore the upper Palatinate, his majesty thinks, that the duchy of Lunbourg might b separated from the Low Countries, and give to the elector Palatine, to indemnify him for the upper Palatinate, which he should restore; this his majesty leaves to the prudence and justice of the queen of Great Britain. However it be, it might be agreed, that the elector Palatine should enjoy, during his life, the upper Palatinate, and the first rank in the electoral college, and that after his death, both should return to the elector of Bavaria, and his successor.

This second proposal, with respect to the elector of Bavaria, would bring no alteration to the offer already made, of yielding to the Dutch for a barrier, Menen, Ipres, Furn and Furn Ambach, on the conditions before mentioned. ……… If it happens on the contrary, that the proposals made in favor of the elector of Bavaria be rejected, that he be obliged to content himself with the single restitution of Bavaria perhaps dismembered from he upper Palatinate, and the elector be deprived of the first rank in the electoral college; in this case, his majesty will only grant to the Dutch the tariff sign in May 1699.

There would still be another indemnization more honorable, but far less useful, and which his majesty would nevertheless pay, at the same rate of the reestablishment of the tariff of 1664, with the exceptions mentioned.

The Dutch, and their allies, by refusing the Low Countries to the elector of Bavaria, would probably have the same yielded to the archduke; The king will consent thereto, and moreover, his majesty will dispose that elector to yield the whole electorate of Bavaria to the house of Austria, provided the kingdom of Naples be given to that prince.

The proportion is not equal between that kingdom of the one, and the Spanish Netherlands on the other part, with a country like that of Bavaria, and so convenient to the house of Austria; but the king undertakes to supply the loss of the elector of Bavaria, and to make by the indemnization, England a considerable gainer.

The means his majesty proposes to succeed therein, is, by engaging the king of Spain to yield Sicily to that elector, so by possessing both kingdoms, he would be indemnified for what he should forsake otherwise, and the english would find their particular advantage in the conventions England might make with him for the commerce in the Mediterranean. It is not indifferent to the nation to be secure of the prince who shall be master of Messina, and the Dutch would easily prevent England, if every Sicily should fall into the hands of the archduke. This reflection will not have escaped the wisdom of the queen of Great Britain, who shows likewise her regard to the affairs of Italy, by the article which concerns the duke of Savoy.

Page cxxv, Appendix: Besides these explanations, the king will give, with an entire confidence, to the queen of Great Britain, all the explanations she will be pleased to ask him, for the good of the peace; and since she desires to know, what are the king’s dispositions with respect to the elector of Brandenburgh, and the duke of Hanover; his majesty assures her, that he will make no difficulty to acknowledge the first, as king of Prussia, and the second, as elector, when the peace is signed. The queen of Great Britain may even make use of this confidence, as she shall think most fitting for advancing the peace, and be sure that the king will not disown her. …… Upon these conditions, which sufficiently show the king’s desire of leaving the empire in peace; his majesty desires only for himself the restitution of the town of Landau; and for the allies the reestablishment of the elector of Cologne, in his dominions, benefices, and dignities; referring himself, as to what relates to the elector of Bavaria, to what has already been mentioned, with respect to that prince.

Page cxxxviii: Appendix: You are also to demand the acknowledging of the electorate, which has been erected in favor of the duke of Hanover, now elector of Brunswick and Lunenburg.

And if any difficulty shall arise, concerning the time of acknowledging his Prussian majesty, and the elector of Hanover, the ministers of France insisting not to do it until the peace be signed; and the ministers of these princes, insisting to be received as the ministers of a crowned head, and of an elector, at the first opening of the congress, you are in such case, to endeavor by some expedient to reconcile the dispute.

Page cxxxiv: Appendix: The king will consent, at the signing the peace, that the Spanish Low Countries yielded to the elector of Bavaria by the king of Spain, shall serve as a barrier to the United Provinces; and to enlarge it, he will add thereto Furnes and its district, Knock, Ipres and its district, Menin and its district. In exchange his majesty demands for forming the barrier of France, Aire, St. Vennant, Douay, Bouchain, and their dependencies.

Page 13: Appendix: 2. The king shall acknowledge the elector of Hanover.

3. The elector of Treves shall be reinstated in the possession of his town of Treves, and generally in all what belongs to him. — Dem. for Aus. He demands his reestablishment as grand prior of Castile, and the restitution of the fruits, which he pretends have only been sequestered. — K’s Ans. The king promises to obtain from the king of Spain, that the grand priorship of Castile shall be returned to the elector of Treves. As to the restitution of the fruits, his majesty promises his offices to procure it, not knowing the custom of Spain in such cases; and this is another point to be discussed with the plenipotentiaries of that crown.

Page 15: Appendix: Dem. for Aus. — K.’s Ans. The king and the king of Spain not only engaged to the elector of Bavaria to reestablish him in his dominions, but also to make him an amends for the losses he has sustained during the course of this present war. It is on this account that the catholic king has yielded to him the Spanish Netherlands if it must be that the elector must desist from them for the good of the peace, the king and the king of Spain are obliged to make him some other amends; the kingdom of Sicily is the only state which Spain can give to this prince, and to satisfy the engagements entered into with him. It is the more necessary to stipulate this condition, being it appears that the Empire oppose his being reestablished in his rank, of first elector; and that it is demanded that the Upper Palatinate should be kept by the elector Palatine, and after him by prince Charles of Neubourg, his brother; not to return to the elector of Bavaria or his children, but after the death of these princes.

6. The whole on condition that the electors of Cologne and Bavaria be reestablished in their dominions, dignities, goods, and moveables, etc. — Dem. for Aus. They will not be against the duchy of Bavaria’s being returned to the elector of that name, and that he shall be the ninth and last elector, on condition that he shall give up his pretensions to the Upper Palatinate, and the dignity of first elector, without hopes of enjoying it, but after the death of the elector Palatine, and of prince Charles of Neubourg, his brother. And as to the elector of Cologne, when he shall be reinstated in his dominions, it shall be in the choice of the allies whether they will garrison the town of Bonn, or not. — K’s. Ans. Though this condition be prejudicial to the elector of Bavaria, the king is willing to consent to it, allowing the amends of the kingdom of Sicily, because the title of king will wipe off what is shocking, in being the last elector, which they will give him instead of the first place he had in the elector college. His majesty proposes, that the fortifications of Bonn should be demolished; and this expedient seems more suitable to him, than to put a garrison in that place, which does not depend on the elector of Congress. …….. 2. The barrier shall be formed out of the Spanish Netherlands, as they are now possessed by the allies, to which Luxembourg shall be added, reserving the principality of 30,000 crowns per ann. given by the king of Spain to madam the princess des Ursini, Namur, Charleroy, Newport, Ypres, and its chatelaine, Furnes, and Furnambac, Knneque, Menin, and its district; on condition that Lille, in the state it now is in, with its dependencies, shall be returned to France as an equivalent for the demolition of Dunkirk and Tourney, with the district of Tournay, Douay, Bethune, Aire, St. Vennant, and Bouchain, in the condition they are in, with what belongs to them, as likewise all the guns and stores of war, which shall be found in them, in exchange for the places which France adds to fortify the barrier, and those which will be yielded by the elector of Bavaria, who is actually in possession of them.

Page 19: Appendix: The most christian king being very earnest to obtain some advantageous conditions for the late elector of Bavaria; you are to inform the French ministers, that we shall readily agree to have this prince restored to all which he enjoyed in the empire, except his rank of first elector, and except the Upper Palatinate, both which are to remain and belong to the elector Palatine. We think this a sufficient concession on our part in favor of the prince above mentioned, who being in possession of Namur, Luxembourg, Charleroy, and Newport, use may be made thereof in the general treaty of peace; and he may have an opportunity there, in exchange for these places and countries, to obtain something farther for himself.

Page 29: Appendix: The last point, that on which we had the warmest debates, was concerning the elector of Bavaria. As soon as I arrived at Paris, I heard that he was come to Chaillot, in the neighborhood, and M. de Torcy either was, or affected to be, under some uneasiness at the reproaches which this prince would, he said, with reason give them, unless they provided better for him than the queen had hitherto seemed inclined to allow.

……. At last he rested on this, That the queen should engage to procure for the elector the duchy and electorate of Bavaria, exclusive of the upper palatinate, and the rank in the electoral college, which I had from the first peremptorily rejected; and that she should further promise to maintain him in the possession of the duchies and towns of Luxembourg and Namur, and in the possession of Charleroy and Nieuport, until such an equivalent for these countries and places was given him, as he should be satisfied with. This proposition I positively refused to assent to, and told M. de Torcy very plainly, that leaving these towns and places in the elector’s possession till he had such an equivalent as he should be satisfied with, was really given them absolutely to him; which I knew her majesty neither could or would admit. Further, that her majesty would enter into no engagements to procure anything for the elector, or even to use her offices in his behalf; that the towns and places which this prince is in possession of would very probably be an inducement to the allies to give him something in lieu of them: that her majesty would not oppose his having Sardinia; which equivalent had bene proposed first from hence. This I let him know was the same of all he was to expect from the queen; and your lordship will find the minutes drawn accordingly.

Page 33: Appendix: I would have you therefore regard what I do in this decisive conjuncture, as new and certain marks of my friendship for you; and do me that pleasure to acknowledge hem, by interesting yourself with me in favor of the elector of Bavaria. I do not remind you of the ties of blood which united him as well to you as to me, nor of many other reasons which out to render you sensible of his condition: It is sufficient for me that you are sensible of the concern that I have in what regards him; and I am persuaded that this will be the principal motive that will press you to act in his favor.

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