Note 203 — Chapter XV · ON THE REIGN OF WILLIAM III.

The peace of Ryswick was absolutely necessary, not only on account of the defection of the Duke of Savoy, and the manifest disadvantage with which the allies carried on the war, but because public credit in England was almost annihilated, and it was hardly possible to pay the army. The extreme distress for money is forcibly displayed in some of the king's letters to Lord Shrewsbury. P. 114, etc. These were in 1696, the very nadir of English prosperity; from which, by the favour of Providence and the buoyant energies of the nation, we have, though not quite with an uniform motion, culminated to our present height (1824).

If the treaty could have been concluded on the basis originally laid down, it would even have been honourable. But the French rose in their terms during the negotiation; and through the selfishness of Austria obtained Strasburgh, which they had at first offered to relinquish, and were very near getting Luxemburg. Shrewsbury Correspondence, 316, etc. Still the terms were better than those offered in 1693, which William has been censured for refusing.