withstanding all the Wisdom of their Legislators, became a Prey in a few Ages to Human Paflions, and thofe Viciffitudes, that they could not ftem as your Republick has done, which, far from being a Prey to the Ambition of its own Members, has often fupprefs'd, check'd and tamed that of its Enemies.

If I confider your Republick with refpect to her Forces and Extent, I am ftruck with a new Wonder. The vafteft Empires have Bounds; they have fertile Fields and numerous Subjects; but here I fee another Sort of Greatnefs, which nothing resembles, and which, in my Opinion, nothing equals. The Sea, the vaft Sea, notwithstanding its Agitation, Storms, and uncertain Motions, at once fupplics you with Towns, Fields, Cittadels, Treasure and Defence. That barren Tract is more fruitful for you than the moft plentiful Crops of Land. The troubled Waves, which in their Fury would fhake the ftrongest Edifices, ferve as folid Foundations for yours. They are a calm Harbour to you, while to other Dominions they rage in Storms, and while they serve as Boundaries to other Empires, they feem to extend yours to what Places foever they carry your Commerce and your Glory.

If I confider your Republick with refpect to the Great Men it has, and does fill produce, I fee not, as elfewhere, a great People governed by only one wife Man, but a wife People governed by a Number of Men fuperior in Wifdom.

'Tis the Glory, Strength and Happiness of fome Governments to form and poffefs one great Minitler in a fingle Man. Here we have not one Man alone, but a collective Affembly of Great Men, or, if we may fo call it, a Multitude of Minifters, whofe Wifdom, deeper than the Sea, which ferves as their Throne, would fuffice for the Government of many Dominions, and has often approved itself to be fuperior to the united Forces of Powers combin'd against you.

In short, without pretending to fettle the Preference, which any one State may deferve one above another, yours, most Serene Sir, will always be a Prodigy in the Eye of those who fhall contemplate the Grandeur of it, to find fo fmall a Number of Subjects, and so much Power, fo little Land and fo much Wealth, fo few Men and fo many great Politicians.

This is what Men of Penetration difcover in the Government of your Republick; but what adds a fresh

Luftre

Luftre to its Glory is, that the King my Mafter esteems its Friendship, and that his illuftrious Ancestors have fet him an Example by fo many Alliances betwixt his Crown and your Republick, and by the diftinguish'd Regard which they have paid to it on fo many impor tant Occafions.

The King my Mafter is not only fond of thefe Alliances, from that wife Inclination which induces him perfectly to copy the Conduct of that great Monarch whom he fucceeds, but alfo from the View he has by your Means to establifh that Peace and Tranquillity in Italy, which he hopes to preferve throughout all Exrope.

Princes often keep fecret the Defigns of their Embaffies; but the King my Master, guided by fuperior Politicks, which are at the fame Time more Sincere and more Noble, permits me, nay, charges me to fpeak in Publick, and to trust you with the Secret of his Councils without Fear. They only tend to the preferving of the Peace, to the rendering it durable, and to the procuring for all People the Advantages which they know how to reap from it.

That's what this young Monarch, already Great by his fine natural Qualities, and yet Greater by his ferious Application to the Government of his State, in an Age, when vulgar Souls do not relifh, or fo much as know any Thing but Pleafures; this, I fay, is what the King my Mafter prefers to the other Advantages which often excite the Ambition of Kings. His Aim is not at Conqueft, nor to aggrandize his Dominions at the Expence of the publick Tranquillity. He is very Great, very Potent, his noble Ambition inclines him only to maintain the Peace and Union of all the Powers in Europe, by fuch a happy Medium to fecure at once the Welfare of his own Subjects and thofe of his Neighbours, and by his Moderation to become not the Mafter, but the Father and Benefactor of all the Empires.

Your Councils, no doubt, are animated with the fame Defign. The Peace and Tranquillity of Italy was always the Object of your Wishes, and the Fruit of your Wifdom ; and it will be still more folidly established, when you fhall maintain it in Concert with a King already fo moderate, that in his Youth he deferves both your Admiration and your Confidence.

For my own Part, moft Serene Prince, I think my. felf happy to be at once the Minifter of fo noble a De

fign, and Spectator of the Wonders of your Government. May I long enjoy this double Advantage, and by my Refpect and profound Veneration for your Serenity, deferve the Efteem of so many Great Men, who have themselves acquir'd that of all Europe.

TH

SPAIN.

HE following Letters and Memorials, which will serve to tranfmit to Pofterity the true State of the prefent Mifunderstandings between the Courts of Great Britain and Spain, are so very material, that they need no Introduction; and therefore we shall only fay, that we chose to put them under this Head, because they were chiefly tranfacted at the Court of Madrid.

Letters and Memorials which have lately passed between the Minifters of the Courts of Great Britain, France, and Spain.

Extracts of Letters, written by the Marquefs de la Paz to the Marquefs de Pozobueno, and by him communicated to the Duke of Newcastle.

Extract of a Letter from the Marques de la Paz to the Marquefs de Pozobueno, May 25, 1726, N.S.

T is well known in the World how great Confidence

I the King has repofed in the

Ripperda, the Honours he has heaped upon him, and the Emplovments to which his Majefty has been pleased to raise him: None is ignorant how great his Benignity was, when having refolved to remove him from the Management of Affairs, he affigned him an annual Penfion of 3000 Piftoles, 'till fuch Time as he fhould be employed in a proper Manner in the King's Service. Every body here is informed, that after having accepted in Writing the Penfion his Majefty had granted him, he made the most humble and refpectful Acknowledgments to the King, for the Goodness, Pity and Honour which he had condefcended to fhew him, by treating

him with fo much Gentleness and Favour. Very far from behaving fuitably to thefe Expreflions, he most inconfiderately executed, what perhaps he had before conceived in his Mind, the taking Refuge, before twentyfour Hours from his Difmiflion from Affairs were expired, in the Houfe of the Embaffador of England, accompany'd by and in the Coach of the Embaffador of Holland, caufing the Furniture and Things of most VaJue belonging to him the Duke, to be carry'd that very Night, as it were Privily and by Stealth, on that Embaffador's Mules, to the Embaffador of England's House, where the Duke of Ripperda ftayed; and from thence he fent to acquaint his Majefty, by a Note which he wrote to me, that he had betaken himfelf to the, faid Houfe as to an Afylum against the Infults he dreaded from the People of Madrid: This has been fo publickly known, that to fet it forth more at large, and in all its Circumftances, would be tedious and tirefome: But it is alfo indifpenfibly requifite to give your Excellency a particular Account of every Thing that has happened In the inmoft Part of this Affair; to the End that at the fame Time it fhall be made publick, that the Duke of Ripperda was this Morning taken away by the King's Order, your Excellency may be informed, upon what weighty and mature Deliberation the King has proceeded on this Occafion; and of the juftifiable Motives which have obliged and even constrained him to take this last Refolution.

As foon as the Duke of Ripperda had given Notice that he had retired to the English Embaffador's, who himself gave an Account of it to the King in an Audience which he deflred, and which was granted him immediately, and engaged his Word to answer for the Duke's Perfon: His Majefty refolved provifionally and for the greater Precaution against the Duke's efcaping, if he fhould attempt it, that fome Soldiers of his Foot Guards fhould, in a quiet Manner, fecure the Avenues to the Houfe of the English Embaffador, and post thomfelves in the Neighbourhood of it; Care being taken at the fame Time to communicate to that Embaffador the faid Refolution, fignifying to him, that tho' his Majefty depended intirely on the Honour of his Word, yet, as the Precautions he might take, might not be fufficient to prevent fome Diforder which the Duke night ruife, his Majefty, for the greater Secu

rity, had taken that Refolution, upon which the Embaffador needed not to entertain the least Distrust.

After this, his Majefty had the Goodness to order that the faid Embaffador of England fhould, by the paffing of proper Offices, be informed, that the King having confider'd the Duke's fpecious Pretext of his Fear of the People, for juftifying his taking Refuge, and afferting the Immunity of the Houfe, his Majefty was pleafed to offer him, that due Precautions fhould be taken for his Safety, and for fecuring him from all Infult, Fear and Apprehenfion: Declaring to the faid Embaffador, how much it would be to his Royal Good-liking, that the faid Duke fhould leave his Houfe, and that he would make use of this Expedient, which would immediately difpel all the Motives he had had for feeking Refuge in his Houfe, and for remaining there.

The Embaffador anfwered, that upon this his Majefty's Offer, he had founded the Duke's Mind, who told him, that it was very certain he had affured the King by Writing, that he had no other Motives for taking Advantage of the Immunity of his Houfe, than the Apprehenfion he had conceived of the Hatred the People of Madrid bore him; but that now looking upon his Majefty as provoked by his Rafhnefs, and juftly dreading the Effects of his Royal Indignation, he found him. felf obliged not to accept the Expedient which had been propofed to him, but to keep within the Sanctuary of that Houfe for his Safety.

Notwithstanding the Obftinacy of fo great a Provocation offered to the Authority of a Sovereign in his own Court, who made ufe of fuch mild and gentle Means, when he might instantly have exerted his Power, his Majefty was willing ftill to proceed mildly, and caufed new Reprefentations to be made to the Embaffador, of the Prejudices and Confequences which might refult against his Sovereign Authority over his Minifters, if no Notice should be taken of the Duke's Temerity, and if Regard were had to the Propofitions he had taken upon him to make to his Majefty, because he fancy'd himself to be abfolutely out of all Danger by Means of the Immunity of the Embaffador's Houfe. At the fame Time was fet before him in ftrong Terms the Scandal of this Example, which would authorize the Ministers of his Majefty,and of any other Sovereign, to be wanting to their Duty with Impunity, in hopes of being able to take Refuge afterwards in the House of a Publick Mini,