‘A Miserable Divided Nation’¹

Daniel Defoe seems to have set out at the beginning of 1712 by boldly, perhaps foolishly, trying to pursue an independent line. Jonathan Swift’s Conduct of the Allies had appeared at the end of November 1711 and was a tremendous success. Swift captured a xenophobic sense of indignation against Britain’s allies, particularly against the Dutch. Of the Barrier Treaty of 1709, created to discourage the Dutch from making a separate peace, little was said. Instead, Holland was portrayed as the nation that insisted on trading with France during the war and refused to provide an equal number of...

Daniel Defoe seems to have set out at the beginning of 1712 by boldly, perhaps foolishly, trying to pursue an independent line. Jonathan Swift’s Conduct of the Allies had appeared at the end of November 1711 and was a tremendous success. Swift captured a xenophobic sense of indignation against Britain’s allies, particularly against the Dutch. Of the Barrier Treaty of 1709, created to discourage the Dutch from making a separate peace, little was said. Instead, Holland was portrayed as the nation that insisted on trading with France during the war and refused to provide an equal number of troops. Similarly, Britain was seen as conquering various parts of Europe for Austria while the Emperor enriched himself. Swift even insinuated that the treaty with the Dutch had ‘put it out of the Power of our own Legislature to change our Succession’. He clarified this statement by adding some lines about the possibility of tyranny in the future, but for Defoe, the suggestion must have smelled of Jacobitism and duplicity.