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History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 07 by Thomas Carlyle
page 7 of 166 (04%)
Friedrich Wilhelm, the reader may take it with him:--

"The King said next, That though we made little noise, yet he knew
well our design--was to kindle a fire in other parts of Lower
Germany. To which I answered, That if his Majesty would give me
favorable hearing, I could easily persuade him of the peaceable
intentions of our Allies. 'Well,' says he, 'the Emperor will
abandon the Netherlands, and who will be master of them? I see the
day when you will make France so powerful, that it will be
difficult to bring them to reason again.'--DUBOURGAY: 'If the
Emperor abandoned the Netherlands, they would be governed by their
own Magistrate, and defended by their own Militia. As to the
French, we are too well persuaded of the benefit of our Allies,
to--' Upon which the King of Prussia said, 'It appeared plainly we
had a mind to dispose as we pleased of Kingdoms and provinces in
Italy, so that probably our next thought would be to do the same
in Germany.'--DUBOURGAY: 'The allotments made in favor of Don
Carlos have been made with the consent of the Emperor and the
whole Empire. We could not suffer a longer interruption of our
commerce with Spain, for the sake of the small difference between
the Treaty of Seville and the Quadruple Alliance, in regard to the
Garrison,'"--to the introducing of Spanish Garrisons, at once,
into Parma and Piacenza; which was the special thunder-bolt of the
late Soissons Catastrophe,or Treaty of Seville.--"'Well, then,'
says his Prussian Majesty, 'you must allow, then, there IS an
infraction of the Quadruple Alliance, and that the Emperor will
make war!' 'I hope not,' said I: (but if so, a Ten-Years War, in
conjunction with the Allies of Seville, never would be so bad as
the interruption of our Commerce with Old and New Spain for
one year.'
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