Confederates And by three different Articles Spain demanded the same thing of Sueden France said That the King being contrary to Justice and the obligation of the Treaty of Aix la Chapel attacqued by the Catholick King his Majesty had reason to pretend that in respect of that Crown all things should remain in the condition that the fortune of War had put them into without prejudice to his Majesties Rights which were to continue still in full force and power The Danes pretended that France should give them compleat satisfaction and reimburse all the charges of the War and by four Articles they demanded of the Suedes that betwixt the two Kingdoms and two Kings all things should be restored into the same condition as they were before the War that was ended by the Treaties of Westphalia and that the Treaties of Rochilde and Copenhagen should be abolished and that all the Provinces which had been dismembred from Denmark and Norway should be restored to the Danes that all that the Suedes possest in the Empire should be taken from them that Wismar and the Isle of Rugen should remain in possession of the Danes and that for the security of his Danish Majesty and Kingdoms they might put Garisons in all the strong places of Sueden that lye upon the frontiers of the two Kingdoms The propositions of France in reference to the Danes were That seeing the King had not declared War against the King of Denmark but he runs contrary to the Treaty of Copenhagen made in the year 1660. for performance whereof the King was Guarantee the King of Denmark had attacqued Sueden His most Christian Majesty was ready to desist from hostility on his part provided that the aforesaid Treaties and those of Westphalia were re-established In respect of France and Sueden the States General demanded That Maestricht Dalen Fangumont and all the dependencies of Maestricht should be restored to them That they were willing for the publick peace to sacrifice the inestimable losses whereof they might pretend reparation and that for avoiding all differences for the future the Treaty might contain a general and particular renuntiation of all sorts of pretensions There were afterward sixteen Articles concerning the full satisfaction to be made to the Prince of Orange in regard of what depended on the Crown of France and particularly the restauration of the fortifications of Orange that were ruined in the year 1660. and of the Castle demolished in the year 1663. the rights of Toll upon Salt and other Commodities as well upon the Rone as through the Principality of Orange the rights of Coyning of money of Laick Patronage for nomination to the Bishoprick the exemptions priviledges and other Immunities granted to the inhabitants of that Principality by the Kings his Majesties Predecessors and particularly by Lewis XIII The Estates General demanded nothing of Sueden but that the future Treaty might contain some regulations for obviating the frequent inconveniences that happened concerning Commerce France proposed to the States General That seeing the Union that hath always been betwixt the Crown of France and the States was only interrupted upon account of some causes of discontent which were easie at present to be removed and to be prevented for the future His Majesty was willing to restore the States General to his former amity and to hearken favourably to all propositions that might be made to him on their part even concerning a Treaty of Commerce And as to the propositions made for the re-establishment of the Prince of Orange the French Ambassadors made an answer to them but upon occasion opposed the pretensions of the Count D' Auvergne demanding that his Marquisate and Town of Bergen-op-zoom might be restored to all the rights of Soveraignty which the other Towns of Holland enjoyed conform to the Treaties of Pacification of Ghent The Elector of Brandenburgh demanded that France should make reparation for the damages that his Territories had sustained by the French Forces during the course of this War that all security should be given him for the future for the same Territories and that all his Allies should be comprehended in a general Treaty France made no propositions to the Elector of Brandenbourg besides those that were made to the Emperor and Empire which comprehended the full performance of the Treaties of Westphalia In all the propositions that the Suedes made to the Emperor the Kings of Spain and Denmark the States General and to the Elector of Brandenbourg they demanded of the one but the renovation of their former amity and good correspondence and of the others the execution of the Treaties of Westphalia and Copenhagen which contained the restitution of all that had been taken from that Crown Prince Charles of Lorrain to whom thâ— French King had granted the title of Duke with a general protestation made to the Mediators that the titles taken or given should be without prejudice caused his propositions to be made by which he said That as heir to his Predecessors he hoped from the Justice of the King that he would restore to him his Dutchies of Lorrain and Bar with their dependencies his titles records movables and effects taken from him and make reparation for the Towns Burroughs Castles and Villages that were ruined throughout all his Dominions But seeing the Ministers of the Confederates would not admit of the Sieur Duker the Envoy of the Bishop of Strasbourg whom the French King reckoned among the Confederate Princes the French Ambassadors made no propositions concerning Lorrain nor shewed any Plenary Commission for treating about the Interests of that Prince though much urged to it by the Confederates that by this means they might oblige the Imperialists to own the Minister of the Bishop of Strasbourg On the other side the propositions of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp which the Sieurs Vlkens and Wetterkop that Princes Envoys had put into the hands of the Mediators lay there without answer or being interchanged because the Danish Ambassador hindred the Minister of that Prince from being admitted as being an Ally of Sueden and protected by France and upon that account dispossessed of his Territories by the King of Denmark The Propositions of the Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenbourg were not made publick because the Ministers of those Princes kept incognito pretending to the character and rank of Ambassadors yea and these Princes wrote to the King of England for obtaining the effect of their Pretensions but what instance soever they made during the whole course of the Negotiation no Crowned head yielded to their demand I have here but inserted the substance of the first propositions of Peace yet thereby may be seen how unreasonable the demands of Spain and Denmark were seeing that not only the Mediators but even the Ambassadors of the States General thought them exorbitant The sixth of this Month Monsieur Stratman gave the French Ambassadors notice of his arrival who at the same time sent each of them a Secretary to make him
the whole Garrison having retreated into the Cittadel and the Duke of Orleans who till then had only held St. Omers blocked up caused at the same time the Trenches to be opened But upon notice that the Prince of Orange marched with a great Army to the relief of St. Omer the King detached from his Army the Mareshal of Luxembourg with Eight Battalions the two Troops of his Musquetiers and some Dragoons reserving only so many of his forces as were necessary for forcing the Cittadel of Cambray This Detachment came in the nick of time to strengthen the Duke of Orleans his Army for on the eleventh the two Armies engaged near to Mont-cassel and had a sharp dispute but after a vigorous resistance made by the Dutch-Infantry the French got the day and the Dutch in that defeat lost eight thousand men that wert killed or made Prisoners many Colours eight pieces of Cannon two mortar-pieces all their gross Baggage and many Waggons laden with Arms and Ammunition for the relief of St. Omers which was the chief fruit of the Battel The news of that victory the taking of Cambray on the eighteenth and of St. Omers on the twentieth stunned the Confederates and so many Conquests in six weeks time and before the usual time of the Compagn made the Spaniards despair of being able to preserve any thing in Flanders if peace did not put a stop to those progresses but that which troubled them most was that by these Conquests tâ—ey lost all the Contributions which they raised on the Frontiers of France and which was the surest way they had to pay the small Army that they entertained in the Low-countries In the mean time the Elector of Brandenbourg being come to Wesel there was a great Conference held there concerning the Enterprises which the German forces were to undertake in three several places The Ambassadour of Denmark went thither from Nimâ—eguen the Pensioner Fagel and Admiral Van Trump were there for the States-General the Envoys of the Electors of Cologn Treves Palatine of the Princes of Brunswick and Bishop of Munster were also at that Council of War and the Duke of Newbourg was there in person But the great advantages that the French King had just then obtained diverted the designs which the Confederates had again formed upon Maestricht and Lorrain Many were perswaded that the loss which the Dutch had then sustained would incline them to treat about a separate Peace if the States-General were as desirous of it as the people and all that wished well to the publick seemed impatient to see themselves delivered from so troublesome a War They could not have a better pretext for it than the loss of the battel of Mont-cassel and the sudden return of the Heer Beverning who upon that news came presently back to Nimueguen confirm'd the conjecture that some had of a particular accommodation betwixt Holland and France That Ambassador appeared always so zealous for the real interest of his Countrey that if there was any separate Treaty to be expected it could no ways be managed but by his means and if different interests had not always divided the States-General it would not have been long before they had broken off from the Confederates whose hopes daily vanished though they could not resolve to save themselves from the misfortunes of War by a good Peace which appeared to the Dutch to be the most speedy and safe way to remedy the present Evils and prevent those wherewith they were threatned After this short but no inglorious Campagn the French King dispersed his Forces into quarters of refreshment and being at Dunkirk sent the Duke of Crequi to compliment the King of England and to carry him a Letter whereby his Majesty declared That though his willingness to come to peace did not at all promote the conclusion thereof yet he was ready amidst the prosperities wherewith Heaven was pleased to favour him to consent to a general Truce for some years as the surest means of restoring tranquility to Europe provided that the King of Sueden was of the same mind And seeing his Majesty could have no free correspondence with that Prince he prayed the King of England to inform himself of his intentions not doubting but that he was sufficiently persuaded of the sincere desire he had to second the good offices of his Mediation yea and to contribute all that in him lay for the procuring of a General Peace though he might have ground to expect considerable advantages from his Armies In the mean time it was the common discourse that the French King did but make formal demonstrations of desiring a Peace whilst he found himself so successful and so powerful as to make himself Master of all the Low-Countreys that if he did really consent to a Truce he must either think himself too weak to bear up against the efforts that were preparing to be made against him in Germany and Catalonia or that he intended some enterprise into which they could not dive Some gave out that the French King's Letter was but a politick fetch whereby he gave occasion to the King of England to wave the Declaration which his Parliament so urgently solicited and that the condition of the King of Sueden's consent would be always a sure pretext to stave off the proposition of the Truce whenever France though it convenient The same day May 1677. that that Letter was brought to Nimueguen the Dutch Ambassadors having demanded audience of the French came all to the House of the Marshal D' Estrades whither they brought the project of a Treaty of Commerce the Articles of which were extracted out of the last Treaties which they made with France But the people said publickly That that was but to amuse them to no purpose that it was much better to conclude a Treaty of Peace than a Treaty of Commerce The States General in the mean time sent three hundred thousand Crowns to the Prince of Orange to raise recruits for their Forces publishing that the loss they had sustained at Mont Cassel should not hinder them from rigging out a Fleet which they designed for the assistance of Sicily and Denmark The Confederates nevertheless began to take umbrage at the Negotiation of the Dutch the disposition they found the Sieur Beverning in to treat separately gave them the greater cause of fear in that that Minister ceased not to press them and to complain of their slow proceedings And the Duke of Zell finding himself sollicited to send five thousand men to join the Confederate Army as he had done the year before he made some difficulty and demanded of the States-General an hundred thousand Crowns and as much from the Spaniards and insisted upon this That the Emperor would cause the title and rank of Ambassadors to be given to the Ministers which the House of Brunswick should send to Nimueguen These conditions gave ground to suspect that that Prince and some others of Germany had not the same
were not in such readiness as they were made believe so that one in Charleville foretold the Count D' Avaux That his stay in that Town should be as long as that of the late Count D' Avaux his Uncle who had waited there four months for his Passports when he went to Munster in the character of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the French King for the Treaty of the General Peace that was afterward concluded there The Ambassadors after two months stay perceiving that the difficulties which were started sometimes about the reciprocal liberty of sending messengers from Nimueguen upon their own single Passports and sometimes about the quality of Prince Charles who demanded of the French King the Titles of Brother and Duke of Lorrain might still detain them long at Charleville they resolved to cause their Goods which were already Embarqued to be brought ashore again and to wait for their Passports in that Town which came at length on the fourth of June bearing date the last of December in the foregoing year with an order of Court immediately to set forward accordingly they Embarked on the seventh of June The sickness of the Duke of Vitry still continued and was thought desperate which obliged the King to nominate in his place the Mareschal d' Estrade who was visited by his Colleagues in their passage at Maestricht and having staid there only a day on Sunday the 13 of June about one of the Clock aftâ—â—â—â—n they came to Moock two Leagues from Nimueguen where having instantly put ashore their Coaches and most part of their Equipage they set forward and came to Nimueguen about five of the Clock at night Though the French Ambassadors were incognito and without Train having left almost all their servants in the Boats with the rest of their Goods which did not arrive till next day yet it may be said that they made a publick entry by reason of the great concourse of people who out of curiosity and impatience to see the so much wisht-for Ambassadors flocked out of the Town upon the Ramparts into the streets and windows The vast number of Waggons laden with packs of Goods that came after and filled the whole street from the gate of the Town to the Ambassadors houses gave ground of admiration to that people who had never seen the like before The people seeing this and being perswaded of the grandeur of France believed that the Ambassadors had brought with them things of vast value and richness so that their houses were presently filled with those of the Town that crouded thither to see them and they were not only looked upon as sure pledges of Peace but also as a probable cause of the wealth of the Town All the people being falsly perswaded that the French were only to be blamed for the delay of the Treaty but now seeing they were come they concluded that in a short time Nimueguen was to be the Theater on which the greatness and magnificence of Europe was to appear Nevertheless matters advanced not so fast as people had imagined for as yet there were none at Nimueguen but Sir Lionel Jenkins one of the three Plenipotentiary Mediators from England and the Heer 's Beverning and Haren Ambassadors Plenipotentiary from the States General of the Vnited Provinces The French Ambassadors sent immedialy to acquaint my Lord Ambassador Jenkins with their arrival who rendered them the Complement and gave them next day a visit in a Coach with six Horses The Dutch Ambassadors did the like and the French rendered the Visits so soon as their Train and Equipage were in a condition to appear abroad The Mareshal d' Estrades had orders with all expedition to part from Maestricht and though his Train and Equipage were not as yet in readiness yet he arrived at Nimueguen the 28 of June whither Sir William Temple another of the Mediators from England came shortly after with my Lady Gifford his Sister my Lady Temple not coming till two months after My Lord Ambassador Temple is a person of much learning singular in his ways and opinions Some judged him partial in the Mediation and somewhat unequal in his humour he is nevertheless a person of great abilities and well acquainted with the Republican principles as appears by the remarks he hath written upon the State of the Vnited Provinces His Colleague Sir Lionel Jenkins is a civil well-bred Gentleman of great integrity and firm to his Religion a person endued with much knowledg who always shewed himself to be good Mediator These Ambassadors had aâ— 100 l. sterling a week besides an hundred and fifty pounds given them for providing their Equipage with Furniture for the Chamber of Audience and a service of the Royal Plate according to the custom of England The report that came abroad at that time that the Prince of Orange intended to besiege Maestricht seemed as unprobable as the enterprize was dangerous notwithstanding the Hollanders flattered themselves with the hopes of carrying that place in a fortnights time and it seemed they only waited for the departure of the Mareshal d' Estrades that they might accomplish their designs but the conclusion of that siege was much to the advantage of the French who that year succeeded in every thing almost that they undertook either by Sea or Land The King in four days took Condâ— and on the 25 of April obliged it to render on discretion After five days siege the Duke of Orleans carried Bouchain on the 12 of May in sight of the strongest Army that the Confederates ever had in the Low-Countries under the command of the Prince of Orange who thought it not fit to hazard a Battel with the Kings Army that lay within Canon-shot of him Aire on the last of July suffered the same fate The King laid the design and the Marquess of Louvois in the command of the Mareshal d' Humieres put it in execution The Fort of Linck was taken the 9th of August The Mareshal Duke of Vivonne was very successful in his Fights on the Sicilian Seas and in the Port of Palermo bâ—rnt part of the Spanish and Dutch Fleet. The death of de Ruyter that happened a little before by a great shot that he received on board his own Ship in an engagement against the French was an irreparable loss to the Dutch who never had an Admiral of so much merit and reputation In the mean while it was easie to be judged by what began to appear that if the Prince of Orange had taken Maestricht there was no hopes of finding the Dutch any ways inclinable to accommodation but an event so contrary to their expectation and the ruin of a great part of their Army of which most of the residue was seen to march by Nimueguen dejected them extreamly and made them think of other measures The first thing that began to be talked of was the Neutrality of the Country about Nimueguen The Mediators at the solicitation of the Dutch desired that the
was never any good understanding betwixt him and his Colleague the Count of Kinski nor the Marquess de los Balbases His allowance was 3400 German Florins a Month and he had always several persons of Quality in his Retinue Count Anthony of Oldembourg arrived at Nimueguen on the seventh of September but as he was preparing to give the Mediators and all the other Ambassadors notice of his arrival the Imperial Ministers acquainted him that they expected to be preferred before the English Mediators That Ambassador perceiving this to be contrary to the custom that was established at Cologn would not consent to the Imperial pretensions He well foresaw that not only the Mediators would not have admitted his Visit but likewise the French and all the other Ambassadors who maintained the honour of the Mediation and therefore he gave no notice of his arrival gave nor received no Visit and continued still incognito at Nimueguen but that hindered not but that he met at conferences and especially at all places where they played That Count is the Natural Son of the last Count of that name to whom the King of Denmark was heir as being of the same family but the present Count hath obtained a vast Estate from his Majesty with the Government of the County of Oldembourg he is of the Order of the Elephant and very handsome his presence courage rich equipage and vast expence shewed him to be a great person but his civility and free humour made him beloved of every body insomuch that the Assembly of Nimueguen lost much by his departure which was eight months after his arrival The end of the Campagn drawing now near the Confederates did not think that the French forces would effect any considerable Enterprize Nevertheless the Mareshal de Crequi assured the King that he would make him Master of Fribourg if his Majesty pleased The design appeared extreamly difficult But the Mareshal having obtained permission and all that was necessary for carrying on so great an Enterprize endeavoured to make the Duke of Lorrain believe that he intended some design upon Sarbruck and at the same time made a considerable body of men pass the Rhine at Brisac which on the ninth of October invested Fribourg and marching thither in great haste he forced the place to render before that the Duke of Lorrain could come in time to relieve it Octob. 1677 such was the consternation at Nimueguen among the Germans and all the Ministers of the Confederates that even after the taking of that place they could hardly believe that the Mareshal de Crequi durst have undertaken the siege Fribourg has a Cittadel strong by situation and fortifications the Town is great and well peopled because of the University that is there and the Emperour received a very considerable revenue from it but the consequence of that conquest was better known afterwards than at that time The Voyage that the Prince of Orange was preparing to make into England gave ground of various conjectures On the 17 of Octob. he Embarked at the Brill being accompanied with the chief of his Family and the Heer Odyke the Extraordinary Ambassador of the States-General who had not as it was given out given him a full power to conclude a Peace or make a new League On the 19th the Prince arrived in England where his Marriage with the Princess Mary Eldest Daughter to his Royal Highness the Duke of York was carried on so secretly that the first news that they had of it at Court was the conclusion thereof The news of this Marriage came to Nimueguen the 29th and seeing all the Confederates began to hope more than ever that England would not be long before it declared in their favours they made no more doubt of it after this Marriage And therefore all the Ministers of the Confederates complimented thereupon Ambassador Jenkins and my Lady Temple also who remained at Nimueguen after the departure of her Husband of which no man doubted but that the Marriage of the Prince of Orange was the cause whereof till then they were ignorant The affairs of the North went daily worse and worse for the Suedes especially in Pomerania Stetin was besieged from the beginning of Summer and was extreamly straitned The Danes had taken the Isle of Rugen And though Count Koningsmark routed them there and beat them wholly out of it yet the Town of Stetin deprived of all kind of relief and out of hopes of receiving any was at length forced to render to the Elector of Brandenbourg having given demonstrations of great Lovalty to Sueden and left to posterity an extraordinary instance of constancy and resolution Affairs were wholly at a stand at Nimueguen there was no meeting but for Play Dancing and Collations at the houses of the Ambassadors of France Spain Sueden and Denmark but the League which was signed at the Hague the tenth of Jan. 1677 8 betwixt England and the States-General to oblige the French King to make Peace on the terms they had agreed upon made all the Confederates hope that the countenance of affairs would quickly change to their advantage and that France would be at length forced to stoop or be overpowred by the multitude of enemies England in effect seemed inclined to an open declaration and the King thought it not sit any longer to reject the sollicitations of his Parliament wherefore he made a Speech to them in a quite different strain from that which was mentioned before he acquainted the two Houses with the League that he had made with the States-General for the preservation of Flanders and obliging those to a Peace who would not accept of the conditions that they had judged reasonable He laid before them the necessity of money for compassing those great designs He gave them some account of the moneys which he had received for the building and equipping of Ships and consented that the Supplies which the Parliament did give upon this occasion should be laid out by such persons as they should nominate But of all things his Majesty put them in mind of the advantages which England had reaped and still did reap from the peace it enjoyed whilst all Europe besides were in actual War For preserving so much happy success it was necessary that the French should be still prosperous and that by breaking the measures of the Confederates they might make their Ambassadors change their tone The taking of the Isle of Tobago of all the Vessels that were in that Port and the Ammunition which was in the fort the death of Binkes Admiral of Zealand and the utter ruin of that Colony were sensible blows to the States-General as the taking of St. Guillain during the rigor of Frost and Snow had terrified the Low-countries By these means the French King thought he might overthrow the projects of his Enemies Febr. 167 8 Monsieur de Somnitz Ambassador and Plenipotentiary from the Elector of Brandenbourg on February 25. died at Nimueguen in the sixty and