<230> must follow, if they would not, he was still able to give a good account of them, though the multiplicity of his foes and the various attacks they were threatening in the different parts of his extended and scattered dominions, did at present greatly embarrass him. The King of Prussia concluded with saying that he desired the King might be acquainted with his way of thinking, and he expected that the greatest secrecy would be observed, which he assures shall be on his part of whatever His Majesty pleases to communicate to him of his future intentions.
In a conversation I have had since with the King of Prussia, after going over most of the points I have mentioned, he added that he could not help thinking that the French intended to manage matters so, as to preserve to themselves the arbitrage of the affairs of Europe; that, to secure this, they would make a war of shew and parade without acting vigorously anywhere, but, when other powers were exhausted, they would then take upon them and give the law to the whole, that if this could be prevented by timely negociations, it was certainly our interest, and for the good of the common cause to hinder the French from becoming the arbiters of Europe.
In the last conversation I had with the King of Prussia, he said he could not help nattering himself that England would, in this dangerous and critical conjuncture, exert her whole force to save herself and the liberties of Europe, that they would indeed be the last undone, but her ruin was no less certain than that of the powers upon the continent, that, after the great and noble efforts made in the days of the Duke of Marlborough to preserve the balance of power and to curb the ambition of France, he could not persuade himself that England would sit tamely still and abandon what she had so long and so gloriously struggled for, that he thought that, if three thousand horse and dragoons and six thousand foot could be sent from England to reinforce the army of His Royal Highness the Duke, it would be one of the most effectual means to support the common cause and to restore everything; for if the French could but receive a check in Westphalia, there was still room to do much elsewhere, and matters might certainly be retrieved. He added that he had written to His Royal Highness upon this point,1 believing that the English nation were too generous to leave His Royal Highness in the difficult and dangerous situation in which he now was. The King of Prussia repeated that it hurt him extremely not to be able to send the succour he had promised,2 but the great loss of men and officers in the two last battles made it impossible at present.
His Prussian Majesty asked me, if I had not heard that a neutrality was again negociating for Hanover,3 but, says he, I am persuaded
1 Nr. 9175.
2 Vergl. S. 193.
3 Vergl. S. 35. 83; Bd. XIV, 550.