Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century

“In short, things seem now come to that crisis that peace should as soon as possible, be procured to the Swede, with such advantageous articles as are consistent with the nicety of his honour to accept, and with the safety of the Protestant interest, that he should have offered to him, which can he scarce less than all the possessions which he formerly had in the Empire. As in all other things, so in politics, a long-tried certainty must he preferred before an uncertainty, tho’ grounded upon ever so probable suppositions. Now can there he anything more certain, than that the provinces Sweden has had in the Empire, were given to it to make it the nearer at band and the better able to secure the Protestant interest, which, together with the liberties of the-Empire it just then had saved? Can there be anything more certain than that that kingdom has, by those means, upon all occasions, secured that said interest now near four-score years? Can there be anything more certain than, as to his present Swedish Majesty, that I may use the words of a letter her late Majesty, Queen Anne, wrote to him (Charles XII.), and in the time of a Whig Ministry too, viz.: ‘That, as a true Prince, hero and Christian, the chief end of his endeavours has been the promotion of the fear of God among men; and that without insisting on his own particular interest.’