had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such
a liquidation.

It was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little,
but if England desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands,
it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that France had
ever pursued.

The English counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on
the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded
of them, England would entirely abandon the United Provinces. "Cecil
made himself known to me in this conference," said De Rosny, "for
exactly what he was. He made use only of double meanings and vague
propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. He was forced to
blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, I made
him feel the absurdity of his language. Now, endeavouring to intimidate
me, he exaggerated the strength of England, and again he enlarged upon
the pretended offers made by Spain to that nation."

The secretary, desirous to sow discord between the Dutch deputies and the
ambassador, then observed that France ought to pay to England L50,000
upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities
of the States. "But what most enraged me," said De Rosny, "was to see
these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their
king, thus impudently substitute their own; for I knew that he had
commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did."

The conference ended with a suggestion by Cecil, that as France would
only undertake a war in conjunction with England, and as England would
only consent to this if paid by France and the States, the best thing for