Folio 41. Copy of a letter from the Marquis of Gastanaga to the Prince of Waldeck,...

Folio 41. Copy of a letter from the Marquis of Gastanaga to the Prince of Waldeck, from Brussels. Sieur de Sancey, Secretary to the late Count Del Val returned to Brussels the previous day from Paris. He reported that on 17 April 1689 he was ordered to leave France due to war having been declared against Spain. The next day an envoy from Marshal d'Humieres arrived and reported that the Spanish Ministers had not wished to listen to any proposals of neutrality or otherwise made by the Count of Rebenac at Madrid, so that the French King had been forced to declare war against Spain with hostilities to begin at any moment. It was necessary now for common measures to be taken, and that all the troops of the States advance as soon as possible towards Liege where the Marshall d'Humieres is assembling an army corps at Philippeville. He expresses his displeasure that the Prince's troops have left Huy, which was the right place to face the enemy. He reports that the British King had informed him that some troops would be sent to Ghent and Bruges to protect those places and Dutch Flanders. The Prince of Waldeck will have had similar instruction and he trusts will carry them out speedily.