If renunciations were of any value, the Dauphin and his posterity
were excluded from the Spanish succession; and, if renunciations
were of no value, it was idle to offer England and Holland a
renunciation as a guarantee against a great danger.

The French Ministers withdrew to make their report to their
master, and soon returned to say that their proposals had been
merely first thoughts, that it was now the turn of King William
to suggest something, and that whatever he might suggest should
receive the fullest and fairest consideration.

And now the scene of the negotiation was shifted from Versailles
to Kensington. The Count of Tallard had just set out for England
as Ambassador. He was a fine gentleman; he was a brave soldier;
and he was as yet reputed a skilful general. In all the arts and
graces which were priced as qualifications for diplomatic
missions of the highest class, he had, among the brilliant
aristocracy to which he belonged, no superior and only one equal,
the Marquess of Harcourt, who was entrusted with the care of the
interests of the House of Bourbon at Madrid.

Tallard carried with him instructions carefully framed in the
French Foreign Office. He was reminded that his situation would
be widely different from that of his predecessors who had resided
in England before the Revolution. Even his predecessors, however,
had considered it as their duty to study the temper, not only of
the Court, but of the nation. It would now be more than ever
necessary to watch the movements of the public mind. A man of
note was not to be slighted merely because he was out of place.