to the king of Spain and the duke of
Savoy. This intimation produced a debate in the house of lords on the
affairs of Spain. The services of the earl of Peterborough were extolled
by the earl of Rochester and lord Haver-sham, who levelled some oblique
reflections on the earl of Galway. Several lords enlarged upon the
necessity of carrying on the war until king Charles should be fully
established upon the throne of Spain. The earl of Peterborough said they
ought to contribute nine shillings in the pound rather than make peace
on any other terms: he declared himself ready to return to Spain, and
serve even under the earl of Galway. The earl of Rochester repeated
a maxim of the old duke of Schom-berg, that attacking France in the
Netherlands was like taking a bull by the horns. He therefore proposed
that the allies should stand on the defensive in Flanders, and detach
from thence fifteen or twenty thousand men into Catalonia. He was
seconded by the earl of Nottingham; but warmly opposed by the duke of
Marlborough, who urged that the great towns in Brabant which he had
conquered could not be preserved without a considerable number of men;
and that if the French should gain any advantage in Flanders from their
superiority in point of number, the discontented party in Holland, which
was very numerous, and bore with impatience the burden of the war, would
not fail crying aloud for peace. Being challenged by Rochester to show
how troops could be procured for the service of Italy and Spain, he
assured the house that measures had been already concerted with the
emperor for forming an army of forty thousand men under the duke of
Savoy, for sending powerful succours to king Charles. This declaration
finished the debate, which issued in an affectionate address to her
majesty. The lords resolved, that no peace could be safe and honourable
for her majesty and her allies, if Spain and the Spanish West Indies
were suffered to continue in the power of the house of Bourbon. They
presented an address, in which they desired she would press the emperor
to send powerful succours to Spain under the command of prince Eugene,
with all possible expedition, to make good his contract with the duke of
Savoy, and strengthen the army on the Rhine, which was now happily
put under the conduct of that wise and valiant prince, the elector of
Hanover. The commons concurred in this remonstrance, in consequence of
which the queen desired the emperor to bestow