The Virginia Gazette

Letter from the Hague, dated Sept. 3.

We are fully convinced by the Intelligence which we have lately received here, that the Notion of a French Expedition against Great Britain, in Favour of the Pretender, is far from being chimerical, there being actually a Commotion in the North West Parts of Scotland amongst the Highlanders, in order to pave the Way for it, and the utmost Pains is taken there to obtain Arms and Horses: That if a speedy Stop be not put to this Insurrection, no Body can tell where it may end. It has likewise been intimated to us, that the Imprisonment of Marshal Belleisle and his Brother, would not so soon and so easily have ended, but for the repeated Representations which were made to his Britannick Majesty upon that Subject, setting forth, that besides the Umbrage which the Stay those Prisoners made in England gave the Allies of the King, it was exceeding dangerous for two Persons of such artful and intriguing Genius as the Belleisles were, to continue in his British Dominions, especially at a Time when the Enemies of the Crown were endeavouring to raise Disturbances in the Kingdom; that therefore it grew extremely necessary to send them away, and that with the utmost Expedition. To these Representations the King readily yielded, and in Consequence thereof, gave Orders, that the Marshal and his Brother should be released with all convenient Speed; and that in the mean Time they should be treated with the utmost Civility and Politeness, to the End that they might entertain an advantageous Idea of the Behaviour of the English; which Orders of the King were exactly obeyed, and they were even complimented so far before their Departure, as to be told, that they had discovered such good Dispositions during their Abode in England, that if it were possible to bring about a happy and speedy Peace, it would be chose, that they should be the Instruments of effecting it, preferable to any others. Tho' this Letter is dated in Holland, it favours much of the French Taste.