so enrag'd at the Growth of my Lord Treasurer's Credit upon the Fall of His Own that he fell in with the common humour of the Parliament in fomenting those Jealousies and Practices in the House of Commons which center'd in a Measure agreed among the most considerable of them Not to consent to give the King any Money whil'st the present Lord Treasurer continued Upon these occasions or dispositions they grew very high in pursuing the Lord Lauderdale the only remainder of the Cabal that had now any credit left at Court and they pressed the King very earnestly to recal all the English Troops in the French Service tho there was a greater number in the Dutch But besides they fell into so great dissentions between the Two Houses rais'd upon punctilious disputes and deductions of their several Priviledges in opposition to one another that about the end of June the King Prorogued them Upon my arrival soon after His Majesty telling me the several reasons that had mov'd him to it said That he doubted much while the War lasted abroad it would give occasion or pretence for these heats that had of late appeared in the Parliament and make him very uneasie in his Revenue which so much needed their assistance That some of the warm Leaders in both Houses had a mind to engage him in a War with France which they should not do for many reasons and among the rest because he was sure if they did they would leave him in it and make use of it to ruin his Ministers and make him depend upon Them more than he intended or any King would desire But besides all this he doubted an impertinent quarrel between my Lord Treasurer and Lord Chamberlain did him more disservice in the Parliament than I could imagin for the last did not care what harm he did His business there so he could hope to ruin my Lord Treasurer and had perswaded a great many in the House of Commons that this would certainly be compass'd if they were stanch and declar'd in giving no Money during his Ministry That he knew they were both my Friends and therefore desir'd I would try to reconcile them while I stay'd in England I endeavour'd it but fail'd my Lord Danby was very inclinable being so posted as to desire only to continue where he was and that the King's business might go well in his hands but my Lord Arlington was so uneasie in the posture he stood which he attributed chiefly to my Lord Treasurer's present Greatness that he was untreatable upon this Subject So when I found the Wound was too much wrankled to be cur'd I gave it over telling each of them That since I could not make them Friends I would at least live with them both as if they were so and desir'd them not to expect I should sacrifice one Friend to another My Lord Treasurer was content with this frankness but Lord Arlington could not bear this neither grew dry from this time and stiff in all that pass'd between us still mingling little reproaches or touches of my greatness with the other and grew so weary of the Scene at Court where he found himself left out that he went into the Countrey for the rest of the Summer Thus the seeds of discontents that had been sown in the Parliament under the Councels of the Cabal began to spring fast and root deep after their Power and Influence was wholly at an end and those Heats were under other covers fomented by two of the chief that composs'd that Ministry and with help of time and accident grew to such flames as have since appear'd But whatever began or increas'd them 't is certain these agitations in England had great effect upon those of the War and Peace abroad For the Confederates were confident That the humour of the Parliament and People would at last engage the King in their quarrel which they knew would force France to such a Peace as they desir'd and Spain was so presuming That England would not suffer the loss of Flanders that they grew careless of its Defence or of those Orders and Supplies that were necessary to it trusting for the present to the Dutch to preserve it and to the King hereafter whenever he should find it more in danger And these Considerations made the Allies less inclinable to a Peace which they might have had cheaper the following Winter than ever it fell afterwards to their share by Revolutions that were not foreseen but yet such as were suspected at this time by those that knew the weakness of the Spaniards and divisions of the Imperial Court While I stay'd in England which was about six weeks the News came of a great Insurrection in Bretanny which with the Numbers and Rage it began might have prov'd of ill consequence to the French Affairs if it had met with a Head answerable to the Body but being compos'd of a scum of the mean People that hated and spoil'd the Nobles of the Province it was by fair means partly and by foul in a little time appeas'd The Blow which was much more considerable to France than the loss of Provinces would have been was the death of Monsieur Turenne the News whereof came to Court about the same time This great Captain had for three months together kept the Imperial Army at a bay on t'other side the Rhine resolv'd not to fight unless with the greatest advantage his Point being to hinder the German Forces from besieging Philipsburgh from posting themselves in the Towns of Alsace but chiefly from entring into Lorain or the County of Burgundy All these he perform'd but being press'd by the Imperialists and straitned in his Quarters he suffered much by want of Provisions and found his Army diminish'd by Sickness and Desertion which use to follow that condition At last being necessitated for want of Forage to force a Post of the Enemies that straitned him most a warm Skirmish began and with loss to the French that were gall'd with two Pieces of Cannon rais'd upon an Eminence and playing upon them with advantage Monsieur Turenne resolv'd to raise a Battery to dismount them and going with Saint Hilaire a Lieutenant General to chuse a place the most convenient for it the two small Pieces from the Imperial side fir'd at them almost together one of the Bullets wounded Saint Hilaire in the Shoulder and t'other after two or three bounds upon the ground struck Monsieur Turenne upon the Breast and without any apparent Wound more than the Contusion laid him Dead upon the place and by such a Death as Caesar us'd to wish for unexpected sudden and without pain The astonishment was unspeakable in the French Camp upon the loss of such a General the presumption as great in That of the Imperialists who reckon'd upon themselves as Masters of the whole French Army that was straitned between Them and the Rhine in want diseas'd and above all discourag'd by the loss of their Captain All
of the Ministers than the Peoples The Dutch believ'd it at first intended only against De Witt 's Faction in favour of the Prince of Orange and in England some laid it to the Corruption of Ministers by the Money of France and some that pretended to think deeper laid it to deeper Designs The Lord Clifford's violence in beginning it gave it an ill air in general and the disuse of Parliaments a cruel maim in the chief sinews of War The Subsidies from France bore no proportion to the charge of our Fleets and our Strength at Sea seem'd rather lessen'd than increas'd by the conjunction of theirs Our Seamen fought without heart and were0 more afraid of their Friends than their Enemies and our Discontents were so great at Land that the Assembling of our Militia to defend our Coasts was thought as dangerous as an Invasion But that which most press'd His Majesty to the thoughts of a Peace was the resolution of Spain to declare the War with England as they had done already with France in favour of Holland unless the Peace were suddenly made which would have been such a blow to our Trade as could not easily have been fenc'd and lost us that of the Mediterranean as the Dutch War had done that of the Northern Seas So as the necessity of this conjuncture was only kept off by the Honour of our Alliance with France However that Crown being not able to furnish Supplies enough to carry on the War without a Parliament could not oppose the calling one upon this occasion When the Parliament met tho' they seem'd willing to give the King Money yet it was to make the Peace with Holland and not to carry on the War And upon His Majesty's demanding their Advice they gave it unanimously That the Peace should be made There were too many Parties engag'd in this Quarrel to think of a General Peace tho' a Treaty to that purpose had been set on foot an Cologn under the Mediation of the Swedes between the Ministers of the Emperor Spain Holland and some Princes of the Empire on the one part and His Majesty and France on the other but without any the least appearance of success For tho' all the Confederates had a mind to the Peace between England and Holland yet none of them desir'd it with France This made both the Dutch and the Spaniards set on foot all the engins they could to engage His Majesty in some Treaty of a separate Peace to which the necessity of His Affairs the humour of his People and the instances of his Parliament at last determin'd him towards the end of the year 1673. Upon the first Meeting of the Parliament the Duke of Buckingham to ingratiate himself with the House of Commons whose ill humour began to appear against those they esteem'd the chief Authors of the War had desir'd leave of that House that he might be heard there in his own defence upon that subject In his Speech among many endeavours to throw the odium of the War from himself upon the Lord Arlington he desir'd that Lord might be ask'd who was the Author of the Triple-Alliance As if he understood himself to be so The Lord Arlington coming afterwards upon the like desire into the same House of Commons and answering some parts of the Duke's Speech when he came to that Particular He told them he could easily answer that Question of the Duke's by telling them That the Author of that Alliance was Sir William Temple This I suppose gave the occasion for Reflections upon what had pass'd in the course of my former Ambassies in Holland and at Aix and His Majesty and his Ministers the resolution to send for me out of my private retreat where I had passed two years as I intended to do the rest of my Life and to engage me in going over into Holland to make the separate Peace with that State Upon the 2d of February 1671 4. His Majesty receiv'd the certain Advice of the States having passed a resolution That the Charges and Dignities possessed by the Prince of Orange and his Ancestors should become Hereditary to his Children And at the same time he also receiv'd a Letter from the States with the desire of Pasports for the Ambassadors whom they were resolv'd to send to His Majesty with Instructions and Powers to treat and conclude a Peace and in the mean time they offer'd a suspension of Arms. This offer coming upon the neck of the Parliaments advice to His Majesty to enter into Treaty with the Spanish Ambassador upon the Propositions he had advanced and which the King had order'd to be sent to the Parliament It was not believ'd by the Ministers that a Treaty could be refus'd without drawing too much odium upon themselves and reflection upon the Government On th' other side it was suspected what Practices might be set on foot by Dutch Ambassadors upon the general discontent reigning against the present War Therefore that very afternoon a resolution was taken at the private Juncto to send rather than to receive an Ambassy upon this subject and that I should be the Person imploy'd Two Gentlemen were sent to my House within half an hour of one another from the Earl of Danby then Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Arlington first Secretary of State to order my attendance upon His Majesty My Lord Arlington told me he would not pretend the merit of having nam'd me upon this occasion nor could he well tell whether the King or Lord Treasurer did it first but that the whole Committee had joyn'd in it and concluded That since the Peace was to be made there was no other Person to be thought of for it And accordingly the King gave me his Commands with many expressions of kindness and confidence to prepare for my Journey and the Secretary to draw up my Instructions I told the King I would obey him and with a great deal of pleasure to see His Majesty returning to the Measures upon which I had formerly serv'd him but that I might do it the better I begg'd of him that I might go over without the Character of Ambassador which would delay or embarras me with preparations of Equipage and with Ceremonies there that were uncessary to so sudden a dispatch His Majesty thought what I said very pertinent and so order'd that I should go only as Plenipotentiary but that I should have in all kinds the appointment of Ambassador and that I should take upon me the Character too when the Peace was concluded Within three days I was ready and the morning my Dispatches were so too the Marquess of Frezno Spanish Ambassador sent my Lord Arlington word while I was with him that he had receiv'd full power from the States to Treat and Conclude a Peace and was ready to enter upon it whenever His Majesty pleased My Lord Arlington surpriz'd was at first of opinion the King should go on his own way and I my Journy and give
That if a King could engage them in his designs he had no more to do for the Peasants having no Land were as insignificant in the Government as the Women and Children are here That on the contrary the great bulk of Land in England lies in the hands of the Yeomanry or lower Gentry and their hearts are high by ease and plenty as those of the French Peasantry are wholly dispirited by labour and want That the Kings of France are very great in possessions of Lands and in dependances by such vast numbers of Offices both Military and Civil as well as Ecclesiastical whereas those of England having few Offices to bestow having parted with their Lands their Court of Wards and Knights Service have no means to raise or keep Armies on foot but by supplies from their Parliaments nor Revenues to maintain any foreign War by other ways That if they had an Army on Foot yet if compos'd of English they would never serve ends that the People hated and fear'd That the Roman Catholicks in England were not the hundredth part of the Nation and in Scotland not the two hundredth and it seem'd against all common sense to think by one part to govern Ninety nine that were of contrary minds and humours That for foreign Troops if they were few they would signifie nothing but to raise hatred and discontent and how to raise to bring over at once and to maintain many was very hard to imagin That the Force seeming necessary to subdue the Liberties and Spirits of this Nation could not be esteem'd less than an Army of Threescore thousand men since the Romans were forced to keep Twelve Legions to that purpose the Norman to institute Sixty two thousand Knights Fees and Cromwell left an Army of near Eighty thousand men That I never knew but one Foreigner that understood England well which was Gourville whom I knew the King esteem'd the soundest Head of any Frenchman he had ever seen That when I was at Brussels in the first Dutch War and he heard the Parliament grew weary of it he said The King had nothing to do but to make the Peace That he had been long enough in England seen enough of our Court and People Parliaments to conclude Qu'un Roy d' Angleterre qui veut estree l'homme de son peuple est le plus grand Roy du monde mais s'il veut estre quelque chose d'advantage par Dieu il n'est plus rien The King heard me all very attentively but seem'd a little impatient at first Yet at last he said I had reason in all and so had Gourville and laying his hand upon mine he added Et je veux estre l'homme de mon peuple My Ambassy extraordinary to Holland was declar'd in May and my Dispatches finish'd at the Treasury as well as the Secretary's Office so as I went away in July My instructions were in general To assure the States of His Majesty's Friendship and firm Resolution to observe his Treaties with them then to offer his Mediation in the present War which both They and almost all Christendom were engag'd in and after their acceptance of it to endeavour it likewise with all their Allies and to that end to engage the Offices and Intervention of the States But immediately after my arrival at the Hague to repair to the Prince of Orange give him part of His Majesties Intentions in all this Affair and assurance of his kindness and engage His Highness as far as could be to second His Majesty's desires in promoting a General Peace wherein the Vnited Provinces seem'd to have the greatest Interest After my arrival at the Hague in July 1674. and a deliveâ—y of my Credentials to the President of the Week and a Visit to the Pensioner wherein I discover'd a strong inclination in the States to a Peace as far as their Honour and Engagâ—ments to their Allies would allow them and was assur'd of the States accepting His Majesty's Mediation I went away to Antwerp in hopes to have found the Prince at his Camp there between Antwerp and Lovain where he had lain some time attending the Advance of the Confederate Troops with whom he had concerted to joyn his Army upon their arrival in Flanders But two days before I came to Antwerp the Army was march'd beyond Lovain so as I was forc'd to go to Brussels and there desire a Guard to convey me to the Camp The Punctilio's of my Character would not suffer me to see the Count Montery tho I had for some Years liv'd at Brussels in particular Friendship and Conversation with him Few Strangers had perhaps ever been better us'd than I during three years Residence at Brussels by all Persons of Quality and indeed of all Ranks there so that it was very surprizing to me to meet such a dry and cold Treatment from the Governor and such an Affectation of the Persons of Quality not so much as to visit me for I do not remember one that did it besides Count d' Egmont who was then not very well at Court either in Spain or Flanders Others true I met in the Streets or the Park though they came with open arms to embrace me yet never came at me but contented themselves with saying They intended it When I sent my Secretary to the Count Montery with my Compliments and Desires of a Guard to the Prince of Orange who was then not above six Leagues off he return'd the first very coldly and the other with Excuses that amounted to a Refusal he said The Way was so dangerous by stragling Parties of the Army that he could not advise me to venture with a small Guard and he had drawn out so many of the Spanish Troops into the Field that he could not give me a great one I sent again to desire what he could spare me let the number be what it would for though I would not expose the King's Character nor his Business by any Accident I might prevent yet when I had endeavour'd it by my Application to his Excellence I would take my fortune tho he sent me but six of his Guards He replied That he could not possibly spare any of them but that next morning he expected a Troop of Horse to come into Town and that as soon as it arriv'd the Captain should have order to attend me Next morning was put off till night and night to the morning following when the Count finding I was resolv'd to go though without Convoy rather than to expect longer sent me a Spanish Captain with about Forty Horse to convey me to Lovain The truth was that the Spaniards were grown so jealous of His Majesty's Mediation offer'd at the Hague of the States and Peoples violent humour to a Peace in Holland and of the Offices they thought I might use to slacken the Prince of Orange in the vigorous Prosecution of their present Hopes and Designs that I found it was resolv'd to
my own part I can say nothing of it with certainty having never seen the Prince while it was upon the Anvil no discours'd with him upon this Subject either before or after but if it were an ambition bent upon the Soveraignty of the rest of the Provinces as well as Gelderland it was a design very different from all his proceedings in the course of the War when France had propos'd it to him with all the advantages and support that could be and as different from what he had ever seem'd to understand and to be as much perswaded of as any Man That a Soveraign Prince in Holland would certainly and soon ruin the Trade and consequently the Riches and Greatness of that State and leave a Prince of it without power or consideration in the world whereas the Princes of Orange in the Post they have held for four Generations have enter'd into Wars and Treaties with a regard and weight equal to most of the Kings of Christendom For young Councellors that were thought to have engag'd the Prince in this adventure I cannot speak with more certainty than of the intention but I am sure if they were in it they were not alone for none doubts of Monsieur Fagel's having been for it and Monsieur Beverning who was ever thought as stanch a Patriot as any Man among them told me himself that he had advis'd the Prince to accept it which I believe he would not have done if he had foreseen any danger from it to his Countrey But whether the Prince or his Friends had the part that was commonly thought in the first overture 't is certain an Interest of the Deputies and Magistrates as well as Nobles of Gelderland had a share in it too For whereas this is the first Province in the Union and abounds with Nobles more than all the rest yet by reason of their Poverty from a barran Soil and want of Trade they are less consider'd than several other Provinces and their Voice has been in a manner swallow'd up by that of Holland who by their Trade and Riches have a great influence upon those of Gelderland The Deputies of this Province finding themselves yet less considerable in the Union than they were before the War which had extreamly impoverish'd their Countrey during the French Conquests thought there was no way of recovering such a consideration in the State as suited with the rank and dignity they held but devolving the Soveraignty of their Province upon the Prince of Orange Besides many of the Nobles there having pretences for themselves or their Friends in the Military imployments thought to make their Court to the Prince upon whom those Charges depended by advancing such a proposition and this was certainly a great ingredient into the first conception of it but whether conniv'd at or seconded by the Prince or his Friends or with what Aims or Instructions I cannot say and so leave it as a Mushroom that grew up suddenly and as suddenly wither'd and left no sign where it had grown At the Prince's return to the Hague in March 1675. I receiv'd a Letter from His Majesty's own hand telling me of some advices given him That the Prince intended to come over into England against the approaching Session of Parliament and Commanding me to hinder it as if His Majesty believ'd the thing I adventur'd to assure the King there could be nothing of it before I saw the Prince but when I did I pretended not to have had it from His Majesty but that I heard such a thing had been whisper'd to him He said yes and he believ'd by the Lord Arlington who had some times talk'd of that Journey after the Peace should be made However it came he was sorry the King should believe it That he was His Majesty's Servant and if he could do him no service he would at least do him no harm But if the King would be otherwise possest he could not help it yet desired me to assure him there had never been any ground for such a report In the Afternoon the Prince came to me and told me in great heat he had since he saw me receiv'd the most impertinent Letter from Lord Arlington that ever was upon that Subject treating it as a resolution certain and intended for raising heats in the Parliament and commotions in the Kingdom telling him 'T was like to prove but an ill friendship between the King and him if it was to be made A coup de bastons and putting him in mind Qu'il y a de ployes chez vous qui saigneront encore si l'on y met la main The Prince said he knew well enough what Lord Arlington meant by that expression for he had told Monsieur Read in England when he went over upon the first motions of the last Peace That the King could make the Prince be serv'd as De Witt was if he would set himself about it Upon this he fell into the greatest rage that ever I saw him against my Lord Arlington calling this proceeding malicious and insolent saying He would write to him what he deserv'd but never have any thing more to do with him beyond common forms That since he knew not how to trust the King's Ministers He would write to the King himself and desir'd me to convey his Letters so as they might come to no other hand Soon after Count Waldeek went to Vienna to concert the Actions of the next Campagnia where Count Montecuculi was appointed to command the Imperial Forces instead of Duke Bornonville and the Count Souches was sent away into a Government in Hungary In March the Elector of Brandenburgh came to Cleve upon the same concert where he was met by the Prince of Orange and the Marquess De Grana the Emperor's Minister but the main point debated here was thought to be the Defence necessary to be made in Pomerania against the Swede who began now to throw off the mask to Ravage the Countrey and to attack some places necessary for their Quarters The Moneys likewise paid that Court from France at Hamburgh had been so publick and so avow'd that none further doubted of a sudden and open Rupture from that Crown Whereupon the States sent to Monsieur Ehernstein then Swedish Ambassador at the Hague and who would have kept still the Figure of a Mediator to put in no more Memorials to the States upon that occasion since they could not receive them from a Minister of a Prince who had openly and without cause Attacqu'd one of their Allies At this time arriv'd an Ambassador from Denmark at the Hague to try what advantages his Master could make of this Present Conjuncture by Terms of entring into the Alliance with France and Sweden And all things being thus in the highest Fermentation a sudden damp fell upon the whole mass of these great affairs by the Sickness of the Prince of Orange which show'd him to be the Spring that gave motion to all
and considerable in England who would fain have engag'd them to Head the Discontents that were rais'd by the Conduct of the Court in that whole War which he knew was begun and carried on quite contrary to the humour of the Nation and might perhaps have prov'd very dangerous to the Crown if it had not ended as it did That all these persons who pretended to be much his Friends were extreamly against any thoughts of his marrying in England Their Reasons were That he would by it lose all the Esteem and Interest he had there and be believed to have run wholly into the dispositions and designs of the Court which were generally thought so different from those of the Nation especially upon the Point of Religion that his Friends there did not believe the Government could be long without some great Disturbance unless they chang'd their Measures which was not esteem'd very likely to be done and upon this he desir'd my thoughts as a Friend The next was upon the Person and Dispositions of the Young Lady for tho' it would not pass in the World for a Prince to seem concern'd in those particulars yet for himself he would tell me without any sort of affectation that he was so and in such a degree that no Circumstances of Fortune or Interest would engage him without those of the Person especially those of Humour and Dispositions That he might perhaps be not very easie for a Wife to live with he was sure he should not to such Wives as were generally in the Courts of this Age. That if he should meet with one to give him trouble at home 't was what he should not be able to bear who was like to have enough abroad in the course of his Life and that after the manner he was resolv'd to live with a Wife which should be the best he could He would have one that he thought likely to live well with him which he thought chiefly depended upon their Disposition and Education and if I knew any thing particular of the Lady Mary in these points he desir'd me to tell him freely I answer'd his Highness That I was very glad to find he was resolv'd to Marry being what he owed his Family and Friends That I was much more pleas'd that his inclination led him to endeavour it in England That I thought it as much for his interest as others of his English Friends thought it was against it That the King and his Highness would ever be able to do one another more good and more harm than any other Princes could do either of them by being Friends or Enemies That it was a great step to be one degree nearer the Crown and in all appearance the next That for his Friends as they pretended in England they must see much further than I did to believe the King in any such dangers or difficulties as they imagin'd That the Crown of England stood upon surer foundations than ever it had done in former times and the more for what had pass'd in the last Reign and that I believ'd the people would be found better Subjects than perhaps the King himself believ'd them That it was however in his power to be as well with them as he pleas'd and to make as short turns to such an end if not yet with the help of a little good husbandry he might pass his Reign in Peace tho' not perhaps with so much ease at home or glory abroad as if he fell into the vein of his pople That if the Court were of sentiments different from those of His Highness yet his Advâ—â—ers would make him a greater Compliment in believing him as likely to induce the Court to his as in concluding they would bring him to theirs and if that should happen the most seditious men in England would be hard put to it to find an ill side in such a Match That for the other point I could say nothing to it but that I had always heard my Wife and my Sister speak with all the advantage that could be of what they could discern in a Princess so young and more from what they had been told by the Governess with whom they had a particular friendship and who they were sure took all the care that could be in so much of Education as fell to her share After two hours discourse upon this subject the Prince concluded he would enter upon this pursuit and in order to it would write both to the King and the Duke to beg their favour to him in it and their leave that he might go over into England at the end of the Campania That my Wife who was then going over upon my private Affairs should carry and deliver both his Letters and during her stay there should endeavour to inform her self the most particularly she could of all that concern'd the Person Humour and Dispositions of the young Princess in which he seem'd so much concern'd Within two or three days after these Discourses the Prince brought his Letters to my Wife and went immediately to the Army and she went suddenly after into England with those Dispatches and left me preparing for my Journey to Nimeguen where the Dutch first and after them the French Ambassadors were arriv'd and consequently those of the two principal Parties in the War Before I went Du Moulin met my Chaplain in the Forhaut and told him He was so ill that he knew he had not long to live and that he could not die in quiet without asking my Pardon for so many false and injurious things as he confess'd to have said of me since my last Ambassy there tho' he had before had all the esteem that could be for me He desir'd my Chaplain since I had always refus'd to see him that he would do this Office for him and ask my Pardon as from a dying Man This Moulin after having been much imploy'd and favour'd by my Lord Arlington during the Councels and Vogue of of the Triple Alliance and disgrac'd by him after the change of those Measures in England went over into Holland was entertain'd by the Prince as one of his Secretaries grew into great favour and confidence during the War was made use of by the Discontents of England in their Applications at the Hague was thought worth all my Lord Arlington's instances and endeavours when he was at the Hague to remove him from the Prince's Service I receiv'd afterwards Commands to the same purpose and compass'd it not without time and difficulty he had not been long laid aside when this happen'd and whether that or the knowledge of the Prince's late resolution to pursue the Match in England help'd to break his heart or whether it were a Consumption as his Friends gave out I know not but he died soon after and with him the Intrigues of that Party in England that had for some time imployed him and busied his Friends in Holland After many delays in the Dispatch and exchange of
should fall into it with the greatest Regret that could be yet he did not see what else was to be done and did not know one Man in Holland that was not of the same Mind That he did not talk with me as an Ambassador but a Friend whose Opinion he esteem'd and desir'd That he told me freely Leur fort leur soible and would be glad to know what else I thought they could do upon all these Circumstances Et dans accablement de leur Estat par une si longue guerre I return'd his Compliment but excus'd my self from giving my Opinion to a Person so well able to take Measures that were the fittest for the States Conduct or his own but desir'd to know what He reckon'd would become of Flanders after the Dutch had made their Separate Peace because the Fate of that Countrey was that wherein the rest of their Neighbours were concern'd as well as they He answer'd It would be lost in one Summer or in two but more probably in one That he believ'd Cambray Valenciennes Namur and Mons might be lost in one Summer That after their Loss the great Towns within would not offer at defending themselves excepting Antwerp and Ostend for which they might perhaps take some Measures with France as I knew the French had offer'd Monsieur de Witt upon their first Invasion in 1667. I ask'd him how he reckon'd this State was to live with France after the Loss of Flanders And if he thought it could be otherwise than at Discretion He desir'd me to believe that if they would hope to save Flanders by the War they would not think of a Separate Peace but if it must be lost they had rather it should be by the last which would less exhaust their Country and dishonour the Prince That after Flanders was lost they must live so with France as would make them find it their Interest rather to preserve their State than to destroy it That it was not to be chosen but to be swallow'd like a desperate Remedy That he had hop'd for some Resource from better Conduct in the Spanish Affairs or that some great Impression of the German Armies upon that side of France might have brought the Peace to some reasonable Terms That for his own part he had ever believ'd that England it self would cry Halt at one step or other that France was making and that if we would be content to see half Flanders lost yet we would not all nor Sicily neither for the Interest of our Trade in the Mediterranean That the King had the Peace in his Hands for these two Years past might have made it when he pleas'd and upon such Conditions as he should think fit of Justice and Safety to the rest of his Neighbours as well as himself That all Men knew France was not in a condition to refuse whatever Terms His Majesty resolv'd on or to venture a War with England in Conjunction with the rest of the Allies That the least show of it if at all credited in France was enough to make the Peace That they had long represented all this in England by Monsieur Van Beuninghen and offer'd His Majesty to be the Arbiter of it and to fall into the Terms he should prescribe but not a Word in Answer and all received with such a Coldness as never was though other People thought we had reason to be a little more concern'd That this put him more upon thinking a separate Peace necessary than all the rest That he confes'd Cuncta prius tentanda till he found at last 't was immedicabile vulnus That for their living with France after Flanders was lost he knew well enough what I meant by asking but after that the Aims of France would be more upon Italy or Germany or perhaps upon us than them That it could not be the Interest of Franco to Destroy or Conquer this State but to preserve it in a Dependance upon that Crown That they could make better Use of the Dutch Fleets than of a few poor Fisher Towns that they should be reduc'd to if any Violation were made either upon their Liberties or Religion That the King of France had seen their Country and knew it and understood it so and said upon all Occasions That he had rather have them for his Friends than his Subjects But if after all I concluded their State must fall in four and twenty Hours yet it were better for them to defer it to the last Hour and that it should happen at Night rather than at Noon This was discours'd with such Vehemence and Warmth that he was not able to go on and having said It was not a Matter to be resolv'd between us Two I left him after wishing him Health enough to go through the Thoughts and Businesses of so great a Conjuncture Next Morning I went to the Prince and after some common Talk told him what had past in my Visit to the Pensioner and ask'd His Highness If he had seen him since or knew any thing of it He said No and so I told him the Detail of it and upon Conclusion That he said he saw nothing else to be done but to make a separate Peace and that he knew not a Man in Holland who was not of his Mind The Prince interrupted me saying Yes I am sure I know one and that is My Self and I will hinder it as long as I can but if any thing should happen to me I know it would be done in two days time I ask'd him Whether he was of the Pensioner's Mind as to what he thought likely to happen the next Campania He said The Appearance were ill but Campania's did not always end as they began That Accidents might happen which no Man could fore-see and that if they came to one fair Battel none could answer for the Event That the King might make the Peace if he pleas'd before it began but if we were so indifferent as to let this Season pass for his part he must go on and take his Fortune That he had seen that Morning a poor old Man tugging alone in a little Boat with his Oars against the Eddy of a Sluce upon a Canal that when with the last Endeavours he was just got up to the Place intended Force of the Eddy carried him quite back again but he turn'd his Boat as soon as he could and fell to his Oars again and thus three or four times while the Prince saw him and concluded this old Man's Business and His were too like one another and that he ought however to do just as the old Man did without knowing what would succeed any more than what did in the poor Man's Case All that pass'd upon these Discourses I represented very particularly to the Court the first Part immediately to the King the rest to the Secretaries of State and added my own Opinion That if His Majesty continued to interpose no further than by
the Treaty His Majesty propos'd upon this occasion he would move the Parliament to have my Statue set up the Success whereof may deserve a further Remark in its due place Monsieur Van Lewen and I went over in July 1678. in two several Yatchs but met soon at the Hague where upon my first Conference with the Commissioners of Secret Affairs one of them made me the handsomest Dutch Compliment I had met with That they esteemed my coming into Holland like that of the Swallow's which brought fair Weather always with it The Prince received me with the greatest joy in the World hoping by my Errand and the Success of it either to continue the War or recover such Conditions of the Peace for his Allies as had been wrested out of his hands by force of a Faction begun at Amsterdam and spread since into the rest of the Provinces To make way for this Negotiation I concerted with Monsieur Van Lewen to dine at his Country-house with Monsieur Hoeft of Amsterdam Van Tielt of Harlem Patz of Rotterdam and two or three more of the Chief Burgomasters who had promoted the Peace or rather precipitated it upon the French Conditions After Dinner we entred into long Conferences in which Monsieur Van Lewen assur'd them with great confidence of the King's sincereness in the resolutions he had taken and seconded very effectually all I had to say upon that Subject which had the more credit from one who had gone as far as any of them in pursuit and acceptance of the Peace The Prince was impatient to know what had passed in this Meeting which made me go to him that evening and I told him what I was very confident to have found That Monsieur Patz was incurable and not otherwise to be dealt with but that all the rest were good and well meaning persons to their Countrey abused first by Jealousies of His Highness's Match in England by apprehensions of Our Court being wholly in the Measures of France and by the plausible Offers of France towards such a Peace as they could desire for themselves That they were something enlightned by the late refusal of delivering up the Spanish Towns till the satisfaction of Sweden and would I doubted not awaken their several Towns so as to make them receive favourably His Majesty's Proposition upon this Conjuncture It happen'd accordingly for Monsieur Hoeft proposing at Amsterdam to make a tryal and judgment of the sincerity of France upon the whole proceeding of the Peace by their evacuating the Spanish Towns and without it to continue the War he carried his Point there in spight of Valkeneer and the same followed in all the rest of the Towns So that when I fell into this Negotiation I concluded the Treaty in six days by which France was obliged to declare within fourteen after the date thereof That they would evacuate the Spanish Towns or in case of their refusal Holland was engag'd to go on with the War and England immediately to declare it against France in conjunction with Holland and the rest of the Confederates It is hardly to be imagined what a new life this gave to the Authority and Fortunes of the Prince of Orange who was now owned by the States to have made a truer judgment than they had done of the measures they were to expect both from France and England the last having proceeded so resolutely to the offers of entring into the War which was never believed in Holland and France after raising so important a difficulty in the Peace having proceeded in the War so far as to Block up Mons one of the best Frontiers remaining to Flanders which was expected to fall into their hands before the Term fixed for the conclusion or rupture of the Peace should expire Preparations were made with the greatest vigour imaginable for his Highness's Expedition to relieve Mons and about Ten thousand English already arrived in Flanders were ordered to March that way and joyn the Prince He went into the Field with a firm belief that the War would certainly go on since France seemed too far engaged in Honour to yield the Evacuation of the Towns and tho' they should yet Spain could not be ready to Agree and Sign the Peace within the Term limited And he thought that he left the States resolved not to conclude otherwise than in conjunction with that Crown And besides he hoped to engage the French Army before the term for Signing the Peace should expire and resolved to relieve Mons or dye in the attempt whether the Peace succeeded or no so as the continuance of the War seemed inevitable But no man since Solomon ever enough considered how subject all things are to Time and Chance nor how poor Diviners the wisest men are of future Events how plainly soever all things may seem laid towards the producing them nor upon how small accidents the greatest Counsels and Revolutions turn which was never more proved than by the course and event of this Affair After the Treaty concluded and signified to France all the Arts that could be were on that side imployed to elude it by drawing this matter into Treaty or into greater length which had succeeded so well in England They offered to treat upon it at St. Quintin then at Gant where the King Himself would meet such Ambassadors as the Dutch should send to either of those Towns But the States were firm not to recede from their late Treaty concluded with His Majesty and so continued till about five days before the term was to expire Then arrived from England one De Cros formerly a French Monk who some time since had left his Frock for a Petticoat and insinuated himself so far in the Swedish Court as to procure a Commission or Credence at least for a certain petty Agency in England At London he had devoted himself wholly to Monsieur Barillon the French Ambassador tho' pretending to pursue the Interests of Sweden About a Week after I had sent a Secretary into England with the Treaty Signed This man brought me a Packet from Court Commanding me to go immediately away to Nimeguen and there to endeavour all I could and from His Majesty to perswade the Swedish Ambassadors to let the French there know That they would for the good of Christendom consent and even desire the King of France no longer to defer the Evacuation of the Towns and consequently the Peace upon the sole regard and interest of the Crown of Swden I was likewise Commanded to assure the said Ambassadors that after this Peace His Majesty would use all the most effectual Endeavours he could for restitution of the Towns and Countries the Swedes had lost in the War It was not easie for any man to be more surprized than I was by this Dispatch but the Pensioner Fagel was stunned who came and told me the whole Contents of it before I had mentioned it to any man and that De Cros had gone about most
People there with Jealousies of the Prince's Match in England and of Designs from both upon their Liberties by a long and unnecessary Continuance of the War They united the Factions in Amsterdam upon the sente of a Peace and upon their own Conditions to avoid those that had been Proposed by His Majesty When they had gained their Point with the several Deputies in Holland they acquainted the King with their being sure of the Peace on that side and by his Ambassador at Paris made Offers of mighty Sums both to himself and his chief Minister only for their Consent to such a Peace as Holland it self was content with When the States had absolutely resolved on the Peace by the particular Faction of Amsterdam and general Terror upon the French taking of Gant and threatning Antwerp they esteemed the humour in Holland so violent towards the Peace and so unsatisfied with the fluctuation of our Councils in England that they thought they might be bold with them upon the Interests of Spain and so raised the pretence of not evacuating the Towns before the satisfaction of Sweden and tho' I know this was by the Politicians esteemed a wrong pace of France yet I did not think it so but that all Appearances were for their succeeding in it Nor had they reason to believe either our Court or Holland would have resented it to that degree they did or that they could have fallen into such close and sudden measures and with such confidence as they happened to do upon this occasion by the Treaty of July at the Hague When this was concluded they made all the Offers that could be at breaking the force of it by drawing it into Negotiation and by condescentions to the States unusual with that Crown even to the greatest Kings They poysoned it by the Dispatch of de Cros and by his instructions as well as Artifices and Industry to make the Contents of it publick at the Hague which were pretended at Court to be sent over to me with the greatest secret that could be At the same time they made all the Declarations of not receding from the difficulties they had raised otherwise than by Treaty and thereby laid asleep all Jealousies of the Confederates as well as endeavours to prevent a blow they did not believe could arrive where the Honour of France seemed so far ingaged And thus they continued till the very day limitted for their final Declaration The secret was so well kept that none had the least umbrage of it that very morning When they declared it they left not the Dutch Ambassadors time enough to send to their Masters fearing if they had the States would have refused to sign without Spain which could not be ready before the time must have elapsed for incurring the effects of the late Treaty Thus the Peace was gained with Holland His Majesty was excluded from any fair pretence of entring into the War after the vast Expence of raising a great Army and transporting them into Flanders and after a great expectation of his People raised and as they thought deluded Spain was necessitated to accept the terms that the Dutch had negotiated for them and this left the Peace of the Empire wholly at the mercy and discretion of France and the restitution of Lorain which all had consented in wholly abandoned and unprovided So that I must again conclude the Conduct of France to have been admirable in the whole course of this Affair and the Italian Proverb to continue true Che gle Francesi pazzi sono morti On the contrary our Councils and Conduct were like those of a floating Island driven one way or t'other according to the Winds or Tides The Kings dispositions inclin'd him to preserve his measures with France and consequently to promote a Peace which might break the present Confederacy The humour of his People and Parliament was violent towards engaging him in a War the Ministers were wavering between the fears of making their Court ill or of drawing upon them the heats of a House of Commons whom the King's Expences made him always in need of From these humours arose those uncertainties in our Councils that no Man who was not behind the Curtain could tell what to make of and which appeared to others much more mysterious than indeed they were till a new and formidable Engin beginning to appear upon the Stage made the Court fall into an absolute resolution of entring into the War just when it was too late and to post away the Ratifications of the Treaty of July so as to arrive the day after the French and Dutch had sign'd the Peace and after the King had given the States occasion to believe he did not intend to ratifie it but that he had taken his Measures with France for so all Men in Holland concluded from De Cros's Journey and the Commands he brought me for mine to Nimeguen at a time when my presence at the Hague was thought the most necessary both to ratifie the Treaty if it had been intended and to keep the States firm to their resolutions upon it Thus ended in smoak this whole Negotiation which was near raising so great a fire France having made the Peace with Holland treated all the rest of it with ease and leasure as playing a sure Game England to avoid a cruel Convulsion that threatned them at home would fain have gone into the War if Holland would have been prevail'd with but they could not trust us enough to lose the present Interest of Trade for the uncertain Events of a War wherein they thought their Neighbours more concern'd than Themselves About two or three days after my return to the Hague and exchanging the Ratifications came the News of the Battel of Mons between the Prince of Orange and the French under the Command of the Duke of Lutzenburgh who had posted himself with the Strength and Flower of the French Forces so as to prevent the Prince's Design of Relieving Mons. And I remember the day the Dutch Peace was signed at Nimeguen I was saying to the Mareschal d' Estrades That for ought I knew we might have a Peace sign'd and a Battel fought both in one day He reply'd There was no fear of it for the Duke of Lutzenburgh had writ him word He was so posted that if he had but Ten Thousand Men and the Prince Forty ye he was sure he would not be forced whereas he took His Army to be stronger than That of the Prince I need not relate an Action so well known in the World and so shall only say That in spight of many Disadvantages from an Army drawn so suddenly together so hasty a March as that of the Dutch and Posts taken with so much skill and fortified with so much industry by the French as was believed the Prince upon the fourteenth of August attacqued them with a resolution and vigour that at first surprized them and after an obstinate and bloody Fight
I cannot pretend to know what the true ends or subject of it was The common belief in England and Holland made it to be our jealousie of the French Conquests going too fast whilst ours were so lame and great hopes were rais'd in Holland that it was to stop their Course or Extent but these were soon dash'd by the return of the Ambassadors after having renew'd and fasten'd the measures formerly taken between the two Crowns And the Ambassadors were indeed content as they past through Holland that the first should be thought which gave occasion for a very good Repartee of the Princess Dowager to the Duke of Buckingham who visited her as they pass'd through the Hague and talking much of their being good Hollanders she told him That was more than they ask'd which was only That they should be good English-men he assur'd her they were not only so but good Dutchmen too that indeed they dit not use Holland like a Mistresz but they lov'd her like a Wife to which she replied Vrayement je croy que vous nous ayméz comme vous ayméz la vôtre When France lost all hopes of shaking the Prince of Orange's Constancy they bent all their thoughts upon subduing and ruining the remainder of the Countrey They had avanc'd as far as Woorden and from thence they made their ravages within two or three Leagues of Leyden with more violences and cruelties than would have been prudent if they had hop'd to reclaim the Prince or States from the obstinacy of their defence The Prince encamp'd his Army near Bodegrave between Leyden and Woorden and there made such a stand with a handful of Men as the French could never force The Winter prov'd not favourable to their hopes and designs and some promises of Frosts inveigled them into marches that prov'd almost fatal to them by a sudden thaw This frighted them into Cautions perhaps more than were necessary and gave the Prince and States leasure to take their measures for a following Campagne with the Emperor Spain and the Duke of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh which prov'd a diversion to the Arms of France and turn'd part of them upon Germany and Flanders so as to give over the progress any further in Holland Upon the approach of the Winter the Prince after having taken Narden three leagues from Amsterdam in spight of all resistance and opposition from either the French or the Season resolv'd like another young Scipio to save his Countrey by abandoning it and to avoid so many Sieges as all the Towns they had lost would cost to recover He contented himself to leave the chief Post guarded with a part of the Army and with the rest marched into Germany joyn'd part of the Confederate Troops besig'd Bonne which had been put into the hands of France at the beginning of the War wherein the Elector of Cologn and the Bishop of Munster had enter'd jointly with France The boldness of this Action amaz'd all men but the success extoll'd the prudence as well as the bravery of it for the Prince took Bonne and by it open'd a passage for the German Forces over the Rhine and so into Flanders and gave such a damp to the Designs and Enterprizes of France that they immediately abandon'd all their Conquests upon Holland in less time than they made them retaining only Mastricht and the Grave of all they had possest belonging to this State In this posture stood affairs abroad when the Peace of England was made in February 1673 4 upon the strength and heart whereof the Prince of Orange concerted with the German and Spanish Troops to begin an offensive War and in the head of an Army of above Forty Thousand Men to march into France The French began now to wish the War well ended and were very glad to accept his Majesties Mediation The King was desirous to make France some amends for abandoning the Party and making a separate Peace Some of his Ministers foresaw he would be Arbiter of the Peace by being Mediator and that He might hinder any separate Treaties by mediating a general one and might restore Peace to Christendom whenever he thought fit and upon what Conditions he thought safe and just The only difficulties that appeared in this Affair were what the Confederates were like to make in accepting the King's Mediation whose late engagements with France had made him thought very partial on that side And the House of Austria finding that Crown now abandon'd by England had too greedily swallow'd the hopes of a revenge upon them to desire any sudden Treaty till the Successes they expected in the War might at least make way for reducing France to the Terms of that at the Pyrenees This I suppose gave some occasion for my being again design'd for this Ambassy who was thought to have some credit with Spain as well as Holland from the Negotiations I had formerly run through at the Hague Brussels and Aix la Chapelle by which the remaining parts of Flanders had been sav'd out of the hands of France in the Year 1668. But having often reflected upon the unhappy Issue of my last Publick Employments and the fatal turn of Councels in our Court that had occasion'd it against so many wiser mens Opinions as well as my own I resolv'd before I went this Journey to know the ground upon which I stood as well as I could and to found it by finding out what I was able of the King 's true Sentiments and Dispositions as to the measures he had now taken or rather renew'd and trust no more to those of his Ministers who had deceiv'd either Me or Themselves Therefore at a long Audience in his Closet I took occasion to reflect upon the late Councels and Ministry of the late Cabal how ill His Majesty had been advis'd to break Measures and Treaties so solemnly taken and agreed how ill he had been serv'd and how ill succeeded by the violent humour of the Nation 's breaking out against such Proceedings and by the Jealousies they had rais'd against the Crown The King said 'T was true he had succeeded ill but if he had been well serv'd he might have made a good business enough of it and so went on a good deal to justifie what was past I was sorry to find such a presage of what might again return from such a course of thought in the King and so went to the bottom of that matter I shew'd how difficult if not impossible it was to set up here the same Religion or Government that was in France That the universal bent of the Nation was against Both That many who were perhaps indifferent enough in the matter of Religion consider'd it could not be chang'd here but by force of an Army and that the same force which made the King Master of their Religion made him Master of their Liberties and Fortunes too That in France there was none to be consider'd but the Nobles and the Clergy
and desire to see a General Peace restor'd to Christendom in which He intended to Act wholly in concert with His Highness whose Opinion as to the thing and the conditions most necessary for His Highness to insist on He very much desir'd to understand as soon and as fully as He could The Prince answer'd me with expressions of Duty and kindness to His Majesty and desires of a near Conjunction between the Two Nations which he thought alone could make His Majesty safe at Home and Abroad For the Peace He said tho' He could make many complaints of both Spanjards and Imperialists Conduct since Their Treaties yet the States could not with any Faith or Honour make any Separate Peace upon any terms that France could offer them That a General Peace could not be made without leaving Flanders in a Posture of Defending it self upon any new or sudden Invasion against which no Guarantees could secure it That Spain could not upon any exchange quit the County of Burgundy or Cambray nor any thing in Flanders beyond the Treaty of the Pyrenees unless it were Aire and Saint Omer This He said was His Opinion but if He might know the King 's and find it at all consistent with the Safety of His Countrey and His own Honour towards His Allies He would do all he could to bring it about as He had already done the Point of His Majesty's Mediation which was accepted both at Madrid and Vienna I told him that the King having been the Author and Guarend of the Peace at Aix and not having yet seen the French beaten out of any Town that was given them by that Treaty could with ill Grace propose any thing to France beyond those Terms unless it were upon some equivalent He replied resolutely 'T were better going on with the War let it last as long and cost as much as it would That His Majesty might if he pleas'd induce France to whatever he thought just and could never show him so much Kindness as to bring him out of this War with Honour If he would not it must go on till some change happen'd in the condition of the Parties to make the Peace more necessary of one side or other How it would fall out he could not tell and must leave to God but he thought they had as fair a game as the French That he was sure they might have been absolutely beaten at Seneffe if the Count Souches had so pleas'd and have had a fair blow for it again at Oudenarde That he was sure Germany could furnish more and better men than France and they were now in a manner united in the common defence and he hoped the Emperor's Councils and Conduct would not be so betray'd as they had been That however he must perform what his own Honour as well as that of the States was engag'd in to their Allies let it cost what in would I imagin'd in what he said of the Emperor's Councels he reflected upon the business of Prince Lakevitz whose disgrace made so great noise about this time and with particulars so extraordinary of the French Practices in that Court that they were very hard to believe and very uncertain to know at that distance and even at Vienna it self and therefore I would not enter into them with the Prince nor shall I here as being foreign to this present Scene There was one Point more I entred into with the Prince which was upon occasion of the many discontented Persons in England at the course of the last Ministry and War who were suspected to have trinkled at least with Holland about the raising Seditions and perhaps Insurrections in England if the War continued and the Dutch Fleets should appear upon our Coasts that were like to be unguarded the next Summer by the streights His Majesty was in for Money to set out a Fleet. It was believ'd among many others my Lord Shaftsbury was one that had of late play'd this game who having been as deep as any man in the Councils of the Cabal and gone so far in the publick applause of them as in a Speech in Parliament to have applied the Delenda Carthago to our Interest in the destruction of Holland yet when he saw the Parliament and Nation sullen upon it and that the King could not pursue it with so much ill humour in both he turn'd short upon the Court and the rest of the Cabal fell in with the popular Humour in the City as well as Parliament decried the present Designs and Conduct tho with the loss of his Chancellor's Place and was believ'd to manage a Practice in Holland for some Insurrection here I told the Prince what the King suspected of some of His Subjects without naming any how much service it would be to His Majesty to know them more certainly and how kind it would be in his Highness to discover them The Prince was stanch and said He was sure the King would not press him upon a thing so much against all Honour as to betray men that profess'd to be his Friends I gave His Majesty an Account of all that pass'd between the Prince and me which was thought at Court both cold to His Majesty and stiff as to the Peace and I had no Returns or Orders upon it but within a week or ten days I had notice that my Lord Arlington and my Lord Ossory intended to make a turn into Holland with Monsieur Odyke and his two Sisters to make a visit to their Friends at the Hague and about the beginning of December they arriv'd in the King's Yatchts but without any sort of Character or show of Business My Lord Arlington brought me a Letter from the King written all with His own hand and telling me he had sent him to set some important Points right between His Majesty and the Prince which ought not to lie longer in doubt recommending to me all the Assistance I could give him there and assuring me of His Majesty's Confidence and Kindness His Lordship brought the most ample Credential likewise that could be from His Majesty to the Prince who still gave me part of all that pass'd between them with as much openness and freedom as t'other did with coldness and reserve and thereby lent me many lights that I could not otherwise have had to discover the Mystery of this Journey and Affair which was in great part a Secret to my Lord Treasurer himself whom yet His Majesty was thought to trust at that time as much as He had ever done any of His Ministers My Lord Arlington who had been at the head of those Measures that the King entred into during the Ministry of the Cabal and the War with Holland in conjunction with France found himself something discredited with his Master upon the ill issue of that Affair and the necessities which forc'd Him to a separate Peace both from the Wants of His Treasury and Discontents of His Parliament and People in general By the
serve him the best I could in so good an Endeavour and for the rest I should leave the Field free to my Lord Ossory and Him while they stay'd at the Hague as to all that was secret as to the rest I desir'd they would make what use they pleas'd of Me and my House My Lord Arlington took all I said very well and said 'T was not necessary I should leave them after I had introduc'd them to the Prince but in such a manner as I saw he would not dislike it nor have any body thought to have any part in the Successes he expected So next morning I brought them to the Prince and after a quarter of an hour's stay left them together The Prince would have had me stay'd but my Lord Arlington said not a word and I pretended some Letters press'd me and so went away and never saw them together any more while they stay'd at the Hague unless at Dinner or in mix'd and publick Company The truth is I was not the worse entertain'd during the course of this Adventure for my Lord Arlington told me every day what he thought fit of all that pass'd between them and the Prince told me not only the thing but the manner of it which was more important than the matter it self for This had no effect but the Other a great deal and that lasted long My Lord Arlington told me much of his Expostulations and with what good turns of Wit he had justified both the King's Part in the late War and His Own but that upon all he found the Prince dry and sullen or at the best uneasie and as if he wish'd it ended That upon Discourse of the State of Christendom and what related to the War he was engag'd in he made him no Overtures at all nor entred further than That the King might bring him out of it with Honour if he pleased and with Safety to Christendom if not it must go on till the Fortunes of the Parties changing made way for other thoughts than he believ'd either of them had at this time That this might happen after another Campania which none but His Majesty could prevent by inducing France to such terms as He thought just and safe for the rest of Christendom This was the Sum of what my Lord Arlington pretended to have pass'd in three long Conferences after which it grew so uneasy between them that he told me he had absolutely given it over and would not say a word more of business while he was there and attended His Majesty's Orders after the return of his Dispatches but would divert himself in the mean time as well as he could see the Prince as often as he pleased at Dinner or in Company but ask it no more in private unless the Prince of himself desir'd it and upon the whole gave all the signs of being equally disappointed and discontented with the Success of this Undertaking The Prince on the other side told me with what Arrogance and Insolence my Lord Arlington had entred upon all his Expostulations with him both upon the King's Chapter and His Own That it was not only in the Discourses of it as if he pretended to deal with a Child that he could by his Wit make believe what he pleased but in the manner he said all upon that Subject it was as if he had taken Himself for the Prince of Orange and him for my Lord Arlington That all he said was so artificial and giving such false Colours to things every body knew that he that was a plain Man could not bear it and was never so weary of any Conversation in his Life In short all the Prince told me upon it look'd spighted at my Lord Arlington and not very much satisfied with the King's Intentions upon this Errand tho he said he was sure His Majesty never intended he should treat it in the manner he had if he remembred that he was his Nephew tho nothing else After the first Conversations my Lord Arlington staid near six Weeks in Holland either upon contrary Winds to return his Dispatches or to carry him away often at Dinner with the Prince at Court or at Count Waldeck's or Monsieur Odyke's or with Me putting on the best Humour and Countenance affecting the Figure of one that had nothing of business in his Head or in the design of this Journey but at heart weary of his stay in Holland and unwilling to return with no better Account of his Errand and as it prov'd he had reason for both I found the Pensioner and Count Waldeck thought That the bent of my Lord Arlington was To draw the Prince into such Measures of a Peace as France then so much desired Into a discovery of those Persons who had made Advances to the Prince or the States of raising Commotions in England during the late War into secret Measures with the King of assisting him against any Rebels at home as well as Enemies abroad and into the Hopes or Designs of a Match with the Duke's Eldest Daughter Tho they said he found the Prince would not enter at all into the First was obstinate against the Second treated the Third as a disrespect to the King to think he could be so ill belov'd or so imprudent to need it and upon mention made of the last by my Lord Ossory he took no further hold of it then saying His Fortunes were not in a condition for him to think of a Wife Thus ended this Mystical Journey which I have the rather unveil'd because perhaps no other could do it nor I without so many several Lights from so many several Hands and because tho it brought forth no present Fruits yet Seeds were then scattered out of which sprung afterwards some very great Events My Lord Arlington return'd was receiv'd but coldly by the King and ill by the Duke who was angry that any mention had been made of the Lady Mary tho it was done only by my Lord Ossory and whether with Order from the King or no was not known So as never any strain of Court-skill and Contrivance succeeded so unfortunately as this had done and so contrary to all the Ends the Author of it proposed to himself Instead of advancing the Peace he left it desperate instead of establishing a Confidence between the King and the Prince he left all colder than he found it instead of entring into great personal Confidence and Friendship with the Prince he left an Unkindness that lasted ever after instead of retrieving his own Credit at Court which he found waining upon the increase of my Lord Danby's he made an end of all he had left with the King who never after us'd him with any Confidence further than the Forms of his Place and found my Lord Treasurer's Credit with the King more advanced in six weeks he had been away than it had done in many months before Whatever was the occasion France had this Winter an extreme desire of a
States or at least Private Measures and Correspondencies with several Towns and Persons of those Provinces so as to induce or force the States at last into a separaâ—e Treaty with France upon the difficulties or delays that might arise in a General one And upon this point the Allies were so jealous that the States Deputies of the Foreign Committee who manag'd all these Affairs in the first resort thought it necessary to seem as averse against Treating in any of their Dominions as any of the Allies Thus all places in Germany France and the Low-Countries seem'd absolutely excluded by one part or other and London was dislik'd by all as too remote and of difficult and uncertain Commerce for Letters by reason of the Sea After much perplexity upon this Subject in many Conferences I had with the Deputies and Discourses with the Pensioner I propos'd two places as the only I could think of left for any attempt upon all circumstances The first was Cleve which could not be said to belong to the Empire but to the Elector of Brandenburgh as Duke of Cleve and not as a Prince of the Empire The other was Nimeguen as being the last Town belonging to the States and upon the Borders of Germany Both Towns capable of such a reception as was necessary both in good Airs and easie of access from all parts center'd between Spain and Sweden between the Empire and France and near England where the Spiring of this Treaty was conceiv'd to be I thought France might not dislike Cleve even upon those regards the Allies suspected of the vicinity to the States and the Confederates could not except against it as belonging to one of them On t'other side if the Allies approv'd Cleve and France should refuse it yet they could not afterwards disapprove of Nimeguen which was but three Leagues nearer the Hague or Amsterdam where they suspected the French practices and disjoin'd from both by necessary passage of great Rivers which made the Commerce more difficult and slow than it would be from other Towns of the States Dominions Another Reason was That I knew no other to name that did not seem previously excluded and upon this the Deputies consented that I should propose both to the King that he might do the same to all the Parties but that I should begin with Cleve which I did This France refus'd upon pretence of some dependance upon the Empire but as was thought upon picque to the Duke of Brandenburgh with whom they were more offended at this time than with any of the Allies After this refusal and Nimeguen being advanc'd France first aâ—cepted it and afterwards the Allies who could not well refuse it after having express'd they would have been satisfied with Cleve and so this Place came to be fix'd for the Scene of this Negotiation But at the same time that France accepted the Place of Treaty they declar'd That they would not however send any Ambassâ—dors thither till the Emperor had given them satisfaction upon the two Points so long insisted of Prince William of Furstenburgh's Liberty and Restitution of the Money seized at Colen which were Points had been hitherto as obstinately refus'd at Vienna as demanded by France So as these paces towards a Peace gain'd at present very little ground but left way for the Actions and Successes of the ensuing Campania to determin the Times the Methods and Conditions of their pretended Treaty The French began their Action by the Siege of Limburgh with one part of their Army whilst the King with the rest lay encamp'd in a Post most convenient to oppose any attempt of relieving it to which purpose the Prince was upon his march but after a short and weak resistance it was taken before he could approach it For besides some delays forc'd by his sickness he began here to feel the weight that hung about him all the course of this War from the uncertain and slow marches of the German Horse and the weakness and disorders of the Spanish Troops which were necessary to make up his Army of strength to oppose that of France compos'd of such Numbers such brave and experienc'd Troops and under so great a Commander as the Prince of Conde and so gallant Officers After the taking of Limburgh the French and Confederate Armies in Flanders fell into no considerable Action or Attempt Neither daring to sit down before any Place of Strength while the other Army attended them and was ready to relieve it and neither seeming very earnest to come to a Battel unless with evident Advantages upon the loss of which so great Consequences seem'd to depend as the French entire Conquest of Flanders on the one side or the Confederates marching directly into France on the other after any great Victory Besides they seem'd to be amus'd by the expectation of what was likely to pass in Germany both upon the Rhine between the Imperialists and French and in Pomerania between the Swede and Brandenburgh which without new Successes in the Low-Countreys were like to decide in a great measure the Fate of this War whil'st the Confederates equally presum'd of their Successes in Alsatia and the French of those of the Swedes in the North. About the end of July the King of France weary of a dull Campania left the Army to the Prince of Conde and return'd with his Court to Versailles And the same month His Majesty seeing the Negotions of the Peace lay'd at present asleep sent for me to make a short turn into England and give an Account of all the Observations I had been able to make abroad upon the present Dispositions and Conjunctures as well as receive his Instructions for the future progress of his Mediation The Parliament in England tho much pleas'd with the last Peace in Holland yet were not so with His Majesty's desires of a General One They thought the Power of France too great since their last Conquest in Flanders and their Ambition too declar'd of atchieving it by one means and at one time or other They were suspicious of the Court 's favouring too much the French Designs by pursuing a Peace that would break so mighty a Confederacy as was now united against France They were jealous of the Councels which had made the late Alliance and Kindness between Us and France in the time of the late Cabal and besides these regards and the common Notions of balancing the Power of our Neighbours which were very popular the ambitious Designs of private but unquiet or aspring men fell in to augment and blow up the general ill humours upon the more Publick Accounts The Lord Shaftsbury impatient at his fall from so great a share of the Ministry and hoping to retrieve a Game he was forc'd to give over had run desperately into the popular humour both in Parliament and City of censuring the Court exclaiming against our partiality to France but most of all against the Conduct of the present Ministry And Lord Arlington was
State but he and Lord Arlington were soon satisfied to how good purpose he came over for the Prince who is the sincerest Man in the World hating all tricks and those that use them gave him no mark of the least confidence while he stayed and sent him away with a very plain one of the contrary by trusting another hand with all he writ of consequence into England before he went into the Field The truth is the Prince took this Journey of his to have been design'd by my Lord Arlington both out of spight to me and to give jealousies to the Confederates by the suspicion of something in agitation between the King and the Prince that I was not thought fit to be trusted with and indeed several of their Ministers at the Hague were apt to fall into such surmises But Monsieur de Lyra a Spanish Minister a person much credited in his own Court and much in the Prince's Confidence was ever firm in the belief of His Highnesses Honour and Constancy which he us'd to say his Master trusted to more than to any Treaties and so help'd to prevent all such impressions In the mean time all motions necessary towards forming the Congress at Nimeguen began to be made by the several Parties and gave appearances of the Ambassadors meeting suddenly there The great obstruction hitherto had been the point of Prince William of Furstenberg's Liberty which France had absolutely insisted on before they sent their Ambassadors and the Emperor had been induced to promise only upon conclusion of the Treaty But an Expedient was found out to salve the Honour of France upon this point rather than the Treaty should be hinder'd which was at that time thought necessary for their Affairs The Bishop of Strasburg made a formal request to the King of France That no Private Interests or Respects of his Brother might delay the Treaty of a Peace which was of so much consequence to all Christendom and this Request being at this time easily receiv'd and granted no further difficulty was made upon this point His Majesty thereupon invited all the Princes concern'd in the War to hasten away their Ministers to the place of Congress and acquainted them with his having order'd his own to repair immediately thither and having some Months before appointed the Lord Berkly then Ambassador at Paris Sir William Temple and Sir Lionel Jenkins His Ambassadors Mediators and Plenipotentiaries for the Treaty of Nimeguen Sir Lionel was accordingly dispatch'd away and arriv'd at the Hague towards the end of January 1676. and brought with him our instructions for that Ambassy and after some few days stay at the Hague went away for Nimeguen But the Expedition of the Pasports from and to all the Ministers of the several Parties having been for some time under my care and many of them come to my hands tho' others were entangled still in some difficulty or other we both concluded it necessary for me to continue at the Hague till this was dispatch'd whilst Sir Lionel should go upon the place of Congress and by the presence of a Mediator invite the rest to make more haste than many of them seem'd dispos'd to at this time The French Ambassadors were already come to Charleville where they stayed for their Pasports only to go on with their Journey and upon Sir Lionel's arrival at the Hague the Dutch Ambassadors came to us to acquaint us with the States Orders for their immediate repair to Nimeguen and for the Magistrates of that City which they now consider'd as a Neutral Town to receive all Orders from us the Mediators and particularly any we pleas'd to give about our reception upon our arrival there We told them His Majesty's thoughts were upon the successes of the Treaty and that nothing could more obstruct it than the Ceremonies which used to attend those Meetings and therefore he order'd us to introduce as much as we could the method of all the Ambassadors living there as much like private men as could consist with the Honour of their Characters and to this end that we should make no publick Entries and give thereby an example to those that came after us To avoid all punctilio's about the time of the several Parties dispatching the Passports it was agreed that all should be sent to the Hague from the several Courts and there should be put into my hands to the end that when I found my self possess'd I should make the distribution reciprocally to both Parties at the same time Those of France were early with me but short in some points of those from the Confederates the chief whereof was the omission of Liberty granted to the Ambassadors to dispatch Couriers to their Masters Courts upon Passports of the respective Ambassadors which was thought necessary for the progress of the Treaty Another was the omission of Passports for the Duke of Lorain's Ministers in the form usual and expected for whereas the Crown of France had always treated the former Dukes of Lorain with the Titles of Duke and Appellations of Brother their Passports now treated the new Duke only with Cousin and Prince Charles of Lorain the rest were minute differences or mistakes of words which are not worth the mention and were easily surmounted Of all these his Majesty had early notice and imploy'd his Offices towards France for some months without answer upon that of Lorain and with positive refusal of inserting the Clause for liberty of Pasports tho Monsieur Van Beuningham several times during this pause writ to the States That the King often assur'd him their Ambassador at London That there should be no difficulty in the business of Loroin About the beginning of February this year 1676. I receiv'd a Letter from Monsieur Pompone then Secretary for the Foreign Affairs in France to tell me That his Master having been acquainted from His Majesty with the difficulties occurr'd in forming the Congress had order'd him to let me know his Reasons upon them As to that of Couriers That he thought it not fit to have his Countries and Towns lie open to his Enemies Observations and Discoveries upon pretext of such Couriers frequent passage That the inconvenience would be the same to the Confederates and that he ask'd no more than he gave As to the Point of Lorain That his Master could not give Passports with the stile of Duke which carried that of Brother pretending that Dutchy belong'd to His Most Christian Majesty by the Treaty in 1662. between Him and the last Duke Not many days after I receiv'd notice from Secretary Williamson of the same Account having been given His Majesty by Monsieur Ruvigny with order to acquaint the States with it which I had not done upon Monsieur Pompone's Letter as not thinking fit to make any paces in these matters without Orders from His Majesty The States and all their Allies were very much surpris'd with this pretence of Lorain which France had never before advanc'd or so much as
for the Treaty in order to it They declar'd their disapproval of the French Pretension rais'd to Lorain which seem'd only to obstruct it and that they would send their Ministers to the Congress whether the French came or no and their Commissary at the Hague so well seconded these new dispositions of his Court that whil'st the Congress look'd desperate by the declar'd obstinacy of both sides upon the Point of Lorain Ships and Passports were dispatch'd by the States with consent of their Allies to fetch the Swedish Ambassador from Gottenburgh into Holland The Confederates were besides much animated in their hopes from the dispositions and humours express'd in a late Session of Parliament in England which grew so high against the French or at least upon that pretence against the present Conduct of his Majesty or his Ministers that the King Prorogu'd them about Christmas before any of the matters projected by the warm Men amongst the House of Commons were brought into form The French were upon their march into Flanders and that King at the Head of a great and brave Army threatning some great Enterprize The Prince was preparing to go away into the Field with resolution and hopes of having the honour of a Battel at the opening of the Campania all thoughts of the Congress meeting before the end of it were laid aside when about the middle of May I was extremely surpriz'd to receive a Packet from Secretary Williamson with the French Passports for the Duke of Lorain's Ministers in the Form and with the Stiles demanded by the Allies And hereupon all difficulties being remov'd the Passports were exchang'd by the end of May. Some days were lost by a new demand of the Allies for Passports likewise for the Duke of Nieuburgh's Ministers who was newly entered into the common Alliance and the same paces were expected likewise from the Duke of Bavaria at least so the Germans flatter'd themselves or their Friends Upon this some of the Ministers of the Allies at the Hague whose Masters were very unwilling the Congress should begin before the campania ended prevail'd with the States to send Deputies to me to demand Passports for the Duke of Nieuburgh and any other Princes that should enter into their Alliance and to declare That if these were refus'd by France they would look upon what had been already granted as void I was something surpris'd at so unexpected a Message from the States and told their Deputies That such a Resolution was unpracticable That His Majesty had undertaken to procure Passports for the Parties engag'd in the War and all the Allies they had nam'd on both sides which was done and thereupon the Congress ready to begin and such a delay as this would occasion was both a disrespect to His Majesty and that could not be consented by France nor the Reciprocal of it by any of the Allies that foresaw the Consequences which might happen upon it That some Allie of France might fall off to the Confederates or some of the Confederates to France and with such Circumstances as it could not be expected either of them should think fit to give Passports or treat with them at the Congress nor was it a thing in any form to demand Passports without naming for whom they should be After several other exceptions the Deputies desir'd me to let them represent my reasons against it to the States and to expect their Answer till the next afternoon and one of them told me as he went out That I had all the reason in the world and that they had been too easie in it upon the instances of some Allies Next day the Deputies came to let me know the States had alter'd their resolution and desir'd only That His Majesty would procure Passports for the Duke of Nieuburgh's Ministers which I easily undertook This Change had not pass'd without violent heats between the States Deputies and the Ministers of some Allies who press'd them so far as one of the Deputies answer'd him Que pretendez vous donc Messieurs de nous faire deschirer par la Canaille Which shows the disposition that run so generally at this time throughout the Trading Provinces towards a Peace There remain'd now but one Preliminary undetermin'd which was To fix some extent of Neutral Countrey about the Place of Congress France would have extended it two leagues round the Allies would have it bounded of one side by the River of the Waal upon which Nimeguen stood and was divided by it from the Betow a part of the Province of Holland and through which lay the strait Road into the rest of that Countrey Both these Proposals were grounded upon the same reason That of France to facilitate the Commerce of their Ambassadors with the Towns of Holland incite the desires and enter into Practices of Peace distinct from the motions of the Congress That of the Allies to prevent or encumber the too easie and undiscover'd passage of the French Emissaries upon this occasion However both were positive in their Opinions so as this matter came not to be determin'd till some time after the Congress began and but lamely then CHAP. II. THE Prince was now ready to go into the Field and told me That before he went he must have some talk with me in private and at leisure and to that purpose desir'd it might be in the Garden of Hounslerdyke We appointed the hour and met accordingly He told me I would easily believe that being the only Son that was left of his Family he was often press'd by his Friends to think of Marrying and had many persons propos'd to him as their several humours led them That for his own part he knew it was a thing to be done at one time or other but that he had hitherto excus'd the thoughts of it otherwise than in general till the War was ended That besides his own Friends the Deputies of the States begun to press him more earnestly every day and the more as they saw the War like to continue and perhaps they had more reason to do it than any others That he had at last promis'd them he would think of it more seriously and particularly and so he had and resolv'd he would marry but the choice of a person he thought more difficult That he found himself inclin'd to no Proposals had been made him out of France or Germany nor indeed to any that had been mention'd upon this occasion by any of his Friends but that of England That before he concluded to make any paces that way he was resolv'd to have my Opinion upon two Points but yet would not ask it unless I promis'd to answer him as a Friend or at least an indifferent Person and not as the King's Ambassador When I told him he should be obey'd he went on and said That he would confess to me during the late War neither the States nor He in particular were without applications made them from several Persons
marqueray au moins a fin de te faire pendre Voice nor Action Treats nor Example could give Courage to Men that had already lost it and so the Prince was forced to yield to the Stream that carri'd him back to the rest of his Troops which yet stood firm with whom and what he could gather of those that had been routed he made a Retreat that wanted little of the Honour of a Victory and will by the confession of his Enemies make a part of that great Character they so justly allow him The safety of the Dutch Army upon this Misfortune was by them wholly own'd to His Highness's Conduct as well as Bravery in the course of this Action after which both St. Omer and the Cittadel of Cambray were surrendred to the French about the 20 th of April by which the Spaniards lost the main Strength of their Frontier of Flanders on that side as they had done that on the other side by Aeth and Charleroy in the former War and all the Hopes of raising any Contributions in France which was a great part of the Subsistence of the Spanish Troops so as there now remain'd nothing of Frontier considerable besides Namur and Mons to the Land Ostend and Nieuport to the Sea and the rest of the Spanish Netherlands consisted only of great Towns by which no resistance could be hop'd for whenever the French should think fit to attacque them and could spare Men enough to garison them when they should be taken For the Greatness of those Towns and Multitude of Inhabitants and their inveterates Hatred to the French Government was such as without very great Garisons they could not be held unless upon one sudden Conquest and great Revolution the whole Spanish Netherlands should become French and thereby be made a new Frontier towards the Dutch and Germans and like a new Conquest the Seat of their Armies This the Spaniards thought would never be suffer'd neither by England nor Holland and so they seem'd to have abandon'd the Fate of Flanders to their Care with a Resignation that became good Christians rather than good Reasoners For I have long observ'd from all I have seen or heard or read in story that nothing is so fallacious as to reason upon the Counsels or Conduct of Princes or States from what one conceives to be the true Interest of their Countries for there is in all places an Interest of those that Govern and another of those that are Govern'd nay among these there is an Interest of quiet Men that desire only to keep what they have and another of unquiet Men who desire to acquire what they have not and by violent if they cannot by lawful means therefore I never could find a better way of judging the Resolutions of a State than by the personal Temper and Understanding or Passions and Humours of the Princes or Chief Ministers that were for the time at the Head of Affairs But the Spaniards reason'd only from what they thought the Interest of each Countrey They knew Holland would save Flanders if they could and England they were sure could if they would and believ'd would be brought to it at last by the Increase of the Danger and Force of their own Interest and the Humour of the People In this Hope or Presumption they were a great deal flatter'd by their Ministers then in England Don Bernard de Salinas Envoy from Spain and Fonseca Consul there who did indeed very industriously foment the Heats that began about this time to appear in the Parliament upon the Apprehensions of the French Conquests both in Flanders and Sicily which moved them about the End of March to make an Address to the King representing the Progresses of France and desiring His Majesty to put a stop to them before they grew dangerous to England as well as to their Neighbours Don Bernard de Salinas told some of the Commons That the King was very angry at this Address and had said upon it That the Authors of it were a Company of Rogues which made a great Noise in the House of Commons The King resented it as a piece of Malice in Salinas or at least as a Design to inflame the House and thereupon order'd him to depart the Kingdom within certain Days Yet about a Month after the Parliament made another Address upon the same Occasion desiring his Majesty to make a League Offensive and Defensive with the States General for opposing the Progress of the French Conquests This His Majesty received as an Invasion of his Prerogative made them an angry Answer and Prorogued the Parliament till the Winter following However France had so much Regard to the Jealousies raised both in England and Holland of their designing an intire Conquest of Flanders that after having gained those three important Frontier Towns so early in the Spring and dispers'd his Army after that Expedition that King return'd home writ to his Majesty That to shew he had no Intention to conquer Flanders but only to make a General Peace he was contented notwithstanding the great Advantages and Forces he had at present to make a General Truce in case his Allies the Swedes would agree to it which he desir'd His Majesty to inform himself of since he had not Convenience of doing it for want of Liberty of Couriers into Sweden The Contents of this Letter was proved by the French Ambassadors at Nimeguen among the several Ministers there till they found it had an effect contrary to what was intended and was taken by all for too gross an Artifice It passed very ill with Monsieur Beverning himself who of all others there was the most passionately bent upon the Peace But he said openly upon this That the French were to be commended who never neglected any thing of Importance nor so much as of amusement that France had given their Blow and would now hinder the Allies from giving Theirs That the reserve of Sweden's Consent was an easy way of avoiding the Truce if the Allies should accept it That this it self could not be done because Flanders would be left so open as to be easily swallowed up by the next Invasion having no Frontier on either side That the Towns now possessed by France would in the time of a Truce grow absolutely French and so the harder to be restored by a Peace or a War That for his part he desir'd the Peace contrary to the Politicks of Monsieur Van Beuninghen and the other Ministers of the Allies in England affirming always That notwithstanding all their Intrigues and Intelligences there He Monsieur Beverning was assured That his Majesty would not enter into the War to save the last Town in Flanders This Confidence made him pursue all the Ways towards a Peace and by Paces which some thought forwarder than his Commission and very ill concerted with those of his Allies About the middle of April he brought us the Project of a Treaty of Commerce both for France
saw what was like to become of the Treaty or the War and therefore I begged of him that he would not force a good Secretary out and perhaps an ill one in against both their Wills but let Mr. Coventry keep it at least till he seemed more willing to part with it The King said well then He would let it alone for the present but did not doubt in a little time one or other of us would change our mind In the mean time the Design of my Journey was known my Lord Arlington and others still asking me when they should give me joy of it and many making Applications to me for Places in the Office which made the Court uneasier to me and increased my known Humour of loving the Countrey and being as much in it as I could However when I came to Court the King fell often into Conversation with me and often in his Closet alone or with none other present besides the Duke or my Lord Treasurer and often both The Subject of these Conversations were usually the Peace and the Prince of Orange's Journey into England The King always expressed a great desire for the First but not at all for the other till that was concluded He said his Parliament would never be quiet nor easy to Him while the War lasted abroad They had got it into their Heads to draw Him into it whether He would or no. That they pretended Publick Ends and Dangers from France and there might be Both meant by a great many honest Men among them but the Heats and Distempers of late had been raised by some factious Leaders who thought more of themselves than of any thing else had a mind to engage Him in a War and then leave Him in it unless they might have their Terms in removing and filling of Places and he was very loth to be so much at their Mercy as he should be if he were once engag'd in the War That besides he saw the longer it continued the worse it would be for the Confederates more of Flanders would be lost every day the Conduct of Spain must certainly ruin all in time and therefore he would fain have the Prince make the Peace for them if they would not do it for themselves That if He and the Prince could fall into the Terms of it he was sure it might be done And after several Discourses upon this Subject for near a Month his Majesty at last told me He had a great mind I should make a short turn to the Prince and try if I could perswade him to it and assure him That after it was agreed he should be the gladdest in the World to see him in England The Duke and my Lord Treasurer both press'd me upon the same Point but I told them at a long Conference upon it how often I had been employ'd upon this Errand to the Prince how unmovable I had found him and how sure I was to find him so still unless the King would consider of another Scheme for the Peace than had been yet propos'd to him and wherein he might reckon upon more Safety to Flanders as well as to his own Honour That I had spent all my Shot and was capable of saying no more to him than I had done in obedience to all the Instructions I had receiv'd That his Answers had been positive so that some of my good Friends at Court pretended they had been my own Thoughts rather than the Prince's That His Majesty would do well to try another Hand and he would the better know the Prince's Mind if his Answers were the same to both if not he would at least know how ill I had serv'd him The King said It was a thing of Confidence between Him and the Prince and must be so treated and he knew no Body he had besides to send I told him if he pleased I would name one He bid me and I said Mr. Hyde was idle ever since his return from Nimeguen had been entred into the Commission of the Mediators there staid with us a Fortnight or three Weeks might pretend to return thither to exercise the same Function in my absence since the Commission run to any two of the Number and might take the Prince of Orange's Camp in his way to Nimeguen perform the King's Commands to His Highness inform himself of his last Resolution upon the Subject of the Peace go on to Nimeguen without giving any jealousy to the Allies or without the noise that my going would make since Sir Lionel had wrote to Court and to Me That Monsieur Beverning had desir'd all Paces should stop there till my return which he heard would be sudden and that the King would send by me his own Plan of the Peace The Duke fell in first to the Proposal of Mr. Hyde's going and after some debate the King and my Lord Treasurer and that it should be as soon as was possible He was sent for accordingly and dispatch'd away in all Points as I had proposed He found the Prince at the Camp but unmovable in the Business of the Peace upon the Terms His Majesty had Thoughts of proceeding gave Account of all that passed in that Conference to the King and went straight away to Nimeguen and writ me word of his Conversation with the Prince and that he never saw such a Firmness in any Man I knew Mr. Hyde's going to reside at Nimeguen would be of great comfort and support to Sir Lionel who was in perpetual Agonies as his word was after he was left alone in that station having ever so much distrust of his own Judgment that tho he had the most great desire that could be to do well yet he many times could not resolve how to go about it and was often as much perplexed about the little Punctilio's of Visit and Ceremony that were left to busy that Ambassy as if greater Affairs had still attended it Besides he lay under the lash of Secretary Williamson who upon old Grudges between them at Colen never fail'd to lay hold of any occasion he could to censure his Conduct and expose it at the Foreign Committee where his Letters were read to His Majesty It happen'd about this time that the Spanish Ambassadors first appearing in Publick upon a new Commission to all Three gave immediate notice of it to the Imperialists who made their Visit upon it and were within two hours revisited by the Spaniards After which they sent their formal Notifications to all the other Ambassadors and to the Mediators in the first place Sir Lionel was in pain having Orders to pretend the first Rank of Respect before the Imperialists as well as other Ambassadors there and not to yield it if it came in competition He had likewise another Order which was that upon Matters in Ceremony doubtful and not admitting the delay of new Orders he should consult with the other Ambassadors especially French and Swedish who used to carry those Points the highest
his Lordship brought from England was the occasion of it But I could never find there was any thing more in his Journey than the hopes of seeing a Battel which was ever a particular Inclination of my Lord Ossory and a cast of my Lord Arlington to preserve himself in the Prince's Favour and Confidence as much as he could by my Lord Ossory's keeping close to him at a time when he saw the Business of Christendom roll so much upon the Person of this Prince About this time the Assembly at Nimeguen seem'd in danger of being broken by a passionate Motion the Swedes made in it There had been a long Contest since it first began between the Swedes and Danes about Freedom of Passage for the Swedish Couriers through tbe Danish Territories for managing the Correspondences necessary with their Court The Danes pretended the example of France who refus'd the same Liberty to the Spaniards This Dispute had been managed by many Messages wherewith the Mediators had been charged between the Parties wherein the Allies of both sides took equal part Sometimes the matter had been Treated with very Pressing Instances and sometimes with Fainter sometimes almost let fall and then again resumed and thus for above a Year past but about this time the Swedes came to the Mediators desire their Offices once more to the Danes upon this Subject and declare That without this Liberty insisted upon so long for their Couriers they find themselves incapable of giving Advices necessary to their Court or receiving Orders necessary from it and that without it they must be forced to leave the Assembly This Resolution of the Swedes continued for some time so Peremptory that it was expected to come to that issue but after some Foogue spent for about a fortnight or three weeks upon this occasion and some Temperament found out by the Dutch for the secure and speedy passage of all the Swedish Dispatches from Amsterdam those Ambassadors began to grow soft and calm again and to go on their usual Pace Soon after the French Ambassadors who had Treated the Swedish Affairs and Ministers with great indifferency and neglect in this Treaty declaring to Monsieur Beverning their Master would not part with one Town in Flanders to Restore the Swedes to all they had lost began wholly to change their Language and say upon all occasions That France could not make Peace without the full Satisfaction and Restitution of the Swedes and it was discoursed that the French and Swedes had entered into a new Alliance at Paris to this purpose and some believed it was by concert between them that this Attenite was given by the Swedes to the Congress That the French had at that time a mind to break it and to enter into a Treaty with Spain under the Pope's direction and at Rome not knowing to what measures His Majesty might be induced upon the Progress of the French Conquests and the Distempers Raised in His Parliament upon that occasion But this Gust blown over all was becalmed at Nimeguen so that Monsieur Olivecrantz left that Place about the end of August upon a Journey to Sweden Till this time the Motions of Business had been Respited in the Assembly upon a general expectation that the King was sending me over suddenly with the Plan of Peace that he resolved should be made and to which it was not doubted but all Parties would yield whatever it was so great a Regard was held on all sides of His Majesty's Will and Power But a greater stop was yet given to all further Paces there by the Prince of Orange's Journey into England about the end of September 1677. which wholly changed the Scene of this Treaty and for the present carried it over to London and left all other places at a gaze only and in expectation of what should be there Agitated and Concluded CHAP. III. THE Prince like a hasty Lover came Post from Harwich to Newmarket where the Court then was as a Season and Place of County Sports My Lord Arlington attended his Highness at his alighting making his Pretence of the chief Confidence with him and the Court expected it upon his Alliance and Journeys into Holland My Lord Treasurer and I went together to wait on him but met him upon the middle of the Stairs in a great Crowd coming down to the King He whispered to us both together and said to me That he must desire me to answer for him and my Lord Treasurer one to another so as they might from that time enter both into Business and Conversation as if they had been of a longer Acquaintance which was a wise Strain considering his Lordship's Credit in Court at that time and was of great use to the Prince in the Course of his Affairs then in England and tho' it much shockt my Lord Arlington and his Friends yet it could not be wondred at by such as knew what had passed of late between the Prince and him with whom he only lived in common forms during his stay there He was very kindly received by the King and the Duke who both invited him often into Discourses of Business which they wondred to see him avoid or divert industriously so as the King bid me find out the reason of it The Prince told me he was resolved to see the Young Princess before he entred into that Affair and yet to proceed in that before the other of the Peace The King laughed at this piece of Nicety when I told it Him But however to humour him in it said he would go some days sooner than he had intended from Newmarket which was accordingly done The Prince upon his arrival in Town and sight of the Princess was so pleased with her Person and all those signs of such a humour as had been described to him upon former enquiries that he immediately made his Suit to the King and the Duke which was very well received and assented to but with this condition That the Terms of a Peace abroad might be first agreed on between them The Prince excused himself and said he must end his first business before he began the other The King and Duke were both positive in their opinion and the Prince resolute in his and said at last That his Allies who were like to have hard terms of the Peace as things then stood would be apt to believe that he had made this Match at their cost and for his part he would never sell his Honour for a Wife This prevailed not but the King continued so positive for three or four days that my Lord Treasurer and I began to doubt the whole business would break upon this punctilio About that time I chanced to go to the Prince after Supper and found him in the worst humour that I ever saw him he told me he repented he had ever come into England and resolved he would stay but two days longer and then be gone if the King continued in his mind of
have supported him in it or turned it only to ruin the Ministers by the King's Necessities 'T is certain no Vote could ever have passed more unhappily nor in such a Counter-Season nor more cross to the humour of the House which seem'd generally bent upon engaging His Majesty in the War and the Person that moved it was I believe himself as much of that mind as any of the rest but having since the loss of his Employment at Court ever acted a part of great animosity in opposition to the present Ministry in whose hands soever it was This private ill humour carried him contrary to his publick intentions as it did many more in the House who pretended to be very willing to supply the King upon occasion of the War or even of his Debts but that they would not do it during my Lord Treasures Ministry In short there was such fatal and mutual distrust both in the Court and Parliament as it was very hard to fall into any sound measures between them The King at least now saw he had lost his time of entring into the War if he had a mind to it and that he ought to have done it upon my Lord Duras's return and with the whole Confederacy And my Lord Essex told me I had been a Prophet in refusing to go into Holland to make that Alliance which had as I said pleased none at home or abroad and had now lost all our measures in Holland and turn'd theirs upon France But the turn that the King gave all this was That since the Dutch would have a Peace upon the French Terms and France offered money for his Consent to what he could not help he did not know why he should not get the money and thereupon ordered me to Treat upon it with the French Ambassador who had Orders to that purpose I would have excused my self but he said I could not help seeing him for he would be with me at my House by Seven next Morning He accordingly came and I told him very truly I had been ill in the night and could not enter into Business The Ambassador was much disappointed and pressed me all he could but I defended my self upon my illness till at length he left me without entring upon any thing When I got up I went immediately to Sheen writ to my Lord Treasurer by my Wife May the Tenth 1678. how much I was unsatisfied with being put upon such a Treaty with the French Ambassador that belonged not at all to my Post and which they knew I thought dishonorable to the King and thereupon I offered to resign to His Majesty both my Ambassy at Nimeguen and my Promise of Secretary of State 's Place to be disposed by his Majesty as he pleased My Lord Treasurer sent me word The King forced no man upon what he had no mind to but if I resolved this should be said to him I must do it my self or by some other for he would not make my Court so ill as to say it for me and so it rested and I continued at Sheen without stirring till the King sent for me In the mean time from the beginning of May the ill humor of the House of Commons began to break out by several Discourses and Votes against the Ministers and their Conduct which increased the ill opinion His Majesty had conceived of their intentions in pressing him to enter upon a War yet notwithstanding all this he had as I was told by a good hand conceived such an Indignation at one Article of the private Treaty proposed by Monsieur Barillon that he said he would never forget it while he lived and tho he said nothing to me of his Resentment yet he seemed at this time more resolved to enter into the War than I had ever before seen or thought him Monsieur Ruvigny the Son was dispatched into France to know the last intentions of that Court upon the terms of the Peace proposed by His Majesty but brought no Answer clear or positive so as His Majesty went on to compleat his Levies and to prepare for the War but May the eleventh the House of Commons passed another Negative upon the Debate of money which so offended the King that he Prorogued them for ten days believing in that time his Intentions to enter into the War would appear so clear as to satisfie the House and put them in better humour Monsieur Van Lewen distasted with these delays and the Counterpaces between King and Parliament begins to discourse boldly of the necessity his Masters found to make the Peace as they could since there was no relying upon any measures with England for carrying on the War and the Season was too far advanced to admit any longer delays Upon these Discourses from him His Majesty began to cool his Talk of a War and to say The Peace must be left to the Course which Holland had given it and tho' upon May the twenty third the Parliament met and seemed in much better temper than they parted yet news coming about the same time that Monsieur Beverning was sent by the States to the French Court at Gant to propose a Cessation of Arms for six Weeks in order to negotiate and agree the Terms of the Peace in that time the Affairs began now to be looked upon both in Court and Parliament as a thing concluded or at least as like to receive no other motion than what should be given it by Holland and France And indeed the dispositions were so inclined to it on both sides that the Terms were soon adjusted between them These Articles having been so publick I shall not trouble my self to insert them but only say they seemed so hard both to Spain and to the Northern Princes who had made great Conquests upon the Swedes that they all declared they would never accept them and when the French Ambassadors at Nimeguen desired Sir Lionel Jenkins to carry them to the Confederates he refused to do it or to have part in a Treaty or Conditions of Peace so different from what the King his Master had proposed and what both his Majesty and Holland had obliged themselves to pursue by their late Treaty at the Hague About this time France by a Conduct very surprizing having sent Monsieur la Feuillade to Messina with a common expectation of reinforcing the War in Sicily shewed the Intention was very different and of a sudden ordered all their Forces to abandon that Island with whom many Messineses returned fearing the Vengeance of the Spaniards to whom they were now exposed and this was the only important Service done that Crown by all his Majesty's Intentions or preparations to assist them for no man doubted that the abandoning of Sicily was wholly owing to the apprehensions in France of a War with England which they thought would give them but too much occasion for imploying of their Forces and indeed the eyes and hopes of all the Confederates were now turned so
industriously to the Deputies of the several Towns and acquainted them with it and that the Terms of the Peace were absolutely consented and agreed between the two Kings that he had brought me orders to go strait to Nimeguen and that I should at my arrival there meet with Letters from my Lord Sunderland the King's Ambassador at Paris with all the particulars concluded between them How this Dispatch by De Cros was gained or by whom I will not pretend to determin but upon my next return for England the Duke told me That He knew nothing of it till it was gone having been a hunting that morning my Lord Treasurer said all that could be to excuse himself of it and I never talked of it to Secretary Williamson but the King indeed told me pleasantly that the Rogue De Cros had out-witted them all The Account I met with at Court was That these Orders were agreed and dispatched one morning in an hours time and in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber by the intervention and pursuit of Monsieur Borillon However it was and what endeavours soever were made immediately after at our Court to retrieve this Game it never could be done and this one Incident changed the whole Fate of Christendom and with so little seeming ground for any such Council that before De Cros's arrival at the Hague the Swedish Ambassadors at Nimeguen had made the very same Declaration and Instances to the French Ambassadors there that I was posted away from the Hague upon the pretence of persuading them to resolve on When I arrived at Nimeguen there remained but three days of the term fixed by the late Treaty between His Majesty and the States at the Hague either for the French assent to the evacuation of the Towns or for the carrying on of the War in conjunction of England with Holland and consequently the rest of the Confederates I found all Men there perswaded that the Peace would not succeed and indeed all appearances were against it The French Ambassadors had given many Reasons in a formal sort of Manifesto to the Dutch why the King their Master could not consent to it without the previous satisfaction of Sweden whose Interests he esteemed the same with his own but yet declaring he was willing to receive any expedients the States should offer in this matter either by their Ambassadors at Nimeguen or such as they should send to His most Christian Majesty at Saint Quentin or Gant The Dutch gave them an Answer in Writing declaring It was a matter no longer entire since upon the difficulty raised about the Evacuation of the Towns the States their Masters had been induced to sign a Treaty with England from which they could not recede nor from the day therein fixed for determining the Fate of either Peace or War and as there was no time so there could be no use of any Deputation to St. Quentin or Gant nor any other Expedient besides the assent of France to evacuate the Towns After this the French Ambassador had declared to the Dutch That they had found the King their Master was resolved at the desire of the Swedes to retard the Peace no longer upon their consideration and would consent to evacuate the Towns upon condition the States would send their Deputies to treat upon the ways of securing the future satisfaction to Sweden which was by both intended But the Dutch Ambassadors continued peremptory that there could be no deputation made by their Masters and that if the term fixed by the late Treaty with England should elapse there was no remedy but the War must go on To this the French Ambassadors replying that their hands were bound up from proceeding further without such a Deputation the Peace was thereupon esteemed desperate and the more so because at the same time the Duke of Lutzenburg pressed Mons and the Mareschal Scomberg seemed to threaten Colen demanding of them immediate satisfaction of the Money that had been seized during the Assembly there and Brussels it self grew unquiet upon their finding themselves almost surrounded by French Troops so as the Confederate Ministers thought themselves secure of what they had so much and so long desired and aimed at which was a long War in conjunction with England for they neither believed France would yield a point they had so long and so publickly contested nor if they did that the Dutch would suffer their Ambassadors to sign the Peace without Spain and the time was now too near expiring for agreeing the Terms and Draught of a Treaty between the two Crowns which had not yet been in any kind digested In the midst of these Appearances and Dispositions at Nimeguen came the fatal Day agreed by the late Treaty at the Hague for determining whether a sudden Peace or a long War were to be reckoned upon in Christendom when in the morning early Monsieur Boreel who had been sent from Amsterdam to the Dutch Ambassadors at Nimeguen went to the French Ambassadors and after some Conference with them these three Ambassadors went immediately to those of Holland and declared to them they had received Orders to consent to the evacuation of the Towns and thereupon to sign the Peace but that it must be done that very morning Whether the Dutch were surprized or no they seemed to be so and entring into debate upon several of the Articles as well as upon the Interests of Spain this Conference lasted near five hours but ended in agreement upon all the Points both of Peace and Commerce between France and Holland and Orders for writing all fair with the greatest haste that was possible so as the Treaty might be signed that Night About Four in the Afternoon the French Ambassadors having demanded an hour of me and Sir Lionel came to us at my House gave us an account of their agreement with the Dutch Ambassadors upon all Points in difference between them and of the Treaty's being so ordered as that it should be signed that Evening and made us the offer that they would all come and sign it at my House that so we might have the part in it that was due to the Mediators We answered them That having been sent by His Majesty with Instructions only to Mediate a general Peace we could not by our Orders assist at the signing of a particular One and therefore desired them to excuse us from having any part in this Conclusion between them and the Dutch either by the Signing it at our Houses or by using our Names as Mediators in the Treaty The Dutch Ambassadors came to us likewise with the same Communication and Offer and received the same Answer and I observed their Conversation upon this mighty and sudden turn to be a good deal embarassed and something irresolute and not very well agreed between the two Ambassadors themselves Monsieur Beverning complained of the uncertainty of our Conduct in England and the incurable Jealousies that De Cros's Journey had raised in Holland That
since the King still desired the Peace his Masters had nothing to do but to conclude it and that They the Ambassadors took themselves to be so instructed as that they must Sign the Peace upon the offers made by the French to evacuate the Towns Monsieur Haâ—en did not seem to me so clear in point of their Orders and I never could learn whether upon de Cros's Arrival and Discourses at the Hague the States Deputies there had sent Orders to their Ambassadors at Nimeguen to Sign the Peace even without the Spaniards in case of the French assenting to the evacuation of the Towns before the day appointed for that purpose should expire or whether only the Town of Amsterdam had by Boreel sent that advice to Monsieur Beverning with assurances to bear him out in what he did where his Orders might receive a doubtful Sense or Interpretation However it were Monsieur Beverning was bent upon giving this sudden end to the War and such a quick dispatch to the draught of the Treaty that it was agreed in all Articles and written out fair so as to be signed between Eleven and Twelve at Night And thus were eluded all the effects of the late Treaty concluded at the Hague and the hopes conceived by the Confederates of the War 's going on which so provoked several of their Ministers as to engage them in sharp and violent Protestations against the Dutch Ambassadors by which they hoped to deter them from signing the Peace without new Orders from their Masters But all was to no purpose Beverning was unmoved and the thing was done The day after the Peace was signed came an Express to me from Court with the Ratifications of the late Treaty between His Majesty and the States and Orders to me immediately to proceed to the exchange of them which was such a counterpace to the Dispatch I had received by De Cros and to the consequences of it which had ended in the conclusion of the Peace and thereby rendred the late Treaty of no farther use that the ratification seemed now as unnecessary as it had been at first unresolved at our Court and unexpected from us by the Dutch However I went away immediately upon this Express and next day after my arrival at the Hague made an exchange of the Ratifications according to the Orders I had received I found the Pensioner and several other of the Deputies very much unsatisfied with the Peace and more with the Precipitation of Monsieur Beverning to sign it upon the sudden offer of the French Ambassadors to evacuate the Towns before he had acquainted the States with it and received new Orders upon it They said his Instructions could not warrant him they talked of calling him in question for it and of disavowing what he had done and thereupon of having recourse to the Treaty with His Majesty which they now saw ratified and of continuing the War in conjuction with England and the rather because they saw France had no mind to venture it but had chosen to stoop from those high flights they had so long made in all transactions with their Neighbours either of War or Peace But others of the Deputies especially those of Amsterdam declared their satisfaction in this conclusion at Nimeguen argued that the weakness of their Confederates especially Spain and the unsteaddiness or irresolution of England had made the Peace of absolute necessity to Holland and excused any precipitation of their Ambassadors in signing that day or without clear and positive Orders upon the emergency being so sudden and surprizing and the time so critical that the delay of sending to the Hague must of necessity have engaged the States in their obligations of the late Treaty with England and thereby in a necessity of continuing the War The truth is I never observed either in what I had seen or read any Negotiation managed with greater Address and Skill than this had been by the French in the whole course of this Affair especially since the Prince of Orange's Match which was thought to have given them so great a blow and by force of Conduct was turned so much to their advantage 'T is certain and plain they never intended to continue the War if England should fall with such weight into the scale of the Confederates as the force of that Kingdom and humour of the People would have given to such a Conjunction and consequently that His Majesty might have prescribed what Terms He pleased of the Peace during the whole course of His Mediation For besides the respect which the French have for our Troops both Horse and Foot more than any others especially since the Services and Advantages they received from them in all their Actions against the Germans besides the terrour of a Conjuction between our Naval Forces and the Dutch and of descents upon their Coasts with the dangerous influences that might make upon the Discontents of their People They wisely foresaw another Consequence of our falling into this Confederacy which must unavoidable have proved more mortal to them than all the rest in two years time for whereas the Wealth of France which makes their Greatness arises from the infinite Consumption made by so many neighbouring Countries of so many and rich Commodities as the Native Soil and Climate or ingenuity of the People produces in France In case this War had gone on with England engaged in it all these veins of such infinite Treasure had been seized at once or at least left open only to some parts of Italy which neither takes off their Wines their Salts nor their Modes in Habit or Equipage that draw so vast expences upon all the Provinces almost of Europe which lie Northward of France and drains such vast Sums of Money from all their Neighbours into that Fruitful and Noble Kingdom more favoured by Nature in my opinion than any other in the World But the loss of this Advantage upon the Necessity Folly or Luxury of others must in two or three years time reduce them to such weakness in those Sinews of War by so general a Poverty and Misery among their People that there would need no other effect of such a general Confederacy to consume the Strength and Force of that Nation This they very prudently foresaw and never intended to venture but having reason to apprehend it from the Prince of Orange's Match in England they took it without Resentment nay improved it rather into new Kindness than Quarrel making use of the King 's good Nature to engage him in a Prorogation of the Parliament immediately after which made it appear both at home and abroad that they had still the Ascendant upon our Court. They eluded the effect of the Message sent them by Lord Duras with His Majesty's Scheme of the Peace by drawing it out into Expostulations of Kindness and so into Treaty During this Amusement of our Court they plyed their business in Holland yet with greater Art and Industry poysoned the
then breaking out and that the Court to avoid the Consequences That might have upon the ill humour of the Parliament which seemed to rise chiefly from the Peace His Majesty resolved to give them the satisfaction they had so long desired of entring into the War which is all the account I can give of this Council or Resolution The Event proved answerable to the Judgment the Prince at first made of it for tho' the States Deputies drew the matter into several Debates and Conferences with us which filled all Parties concerned in the War with different apprehensions and served to facilitate the Treaty between France and Spain yet the Pensioner told me from the first this was all the use that could be made of it and that the States were so unsatisfied with our whole Conduct in the business of the Peace that tho' they would be glad to see us in the War yet they were resolved to have no further part in it unless France should refuse what they had already promised to Spain However while this Affair continued in agitation during Mr. Hyde's stay at the Hague all appearances looked very different from the opinion of the Prince and Pensioner who alone had so full a grasp of the business in Holland as to make a true judgment what the general sentiments there would determin in Many of the Deputies were so ill satisfied with their Ambassadors having signed the Peace that they inclined to his Majesty's Proposals and framed several Articles against Monsieur Beverning's Proceedings whereof some lay'd mistakes to his Charge others the commission of matters absolutely necessary in the Treaty and others more directly his having gone beyond his Orders and Instructions particularly in having stipulated that the States should give their Guaranty for the Neutrality of Spain And in this point I doubt he had nothing to show from his Masters to cover him The rest seemed rather to be raised invidiously at his Conduct in having suddenly concluded an Affair which they now say might have had another issue if he had given it more breath tho' at that time many of his Accusers expected as little from England as he did and with reason alike since none of them could imagin any thing of that new Spring there from which this violent motion had begun Whatever Monsieur Beverning's Orders or his Proceedings had been the heats were so high against him at the Hague that many talked not only of disavowing what he had done but of forming Process against him upon it And tho' in a short stay he made there upon this occasion he had the fortune or the justice to see his Enemies grow calm towards him yet he was not a little mortified with so ill payment of what he thought had been so good Service to his Country and after his return to Nimeguen was observed to proceed in the Negotiations there with more flegm and caution than was natural to his Temper and less show of partiality to the Peace than he had made in the whole course of the Treaty All the while these matters were in motion at the Hague the King's Forces were every day transporting into Flanders as if the War were to be carried on with the greatest certainty and vigour which gave opinion and heart to those in Holland that disliked the Peace it raised also so great confidence in the Spaniardt that they fell into all the measures they could with the Confederate Ministers at Nimeguen to form difficulties and delays in the Treaty there between that Crown and France upon the security that Holland would not ratify theirs till that of Spain were concluded and that in the mean time they might be drawn into the War by the violent dispositions which now appeared in England as well as in the Confederates to continue it The Spanish Ambassadors laid hold of all occasions to except against the matter or style of those Articles which Holland had mediated between them and France they found difficulties upon the condition wherein the several Towns to be evacuated should be restored to them as to the Fortifications that had been made in them by the French and as to the Artillery and Munitions that were in them at the time when the Dutch had agreed upon those Conditions They found matter of dispute upon the Territories that belonged to the several Towns and especially upon the Chattellenie of Aeth which France had dismembred since it was in their possession and had joined above Threescore Villages to the Chattellenie of Tournay which had belonged to Aeth and were with that Town transferred by the Spaniards to the French upon the Peace of Aix la Chapelle But the French pretending now to restore it only in the Condition they had left it and not what they had found it the Spaniards made a mighty clamour both at London and the Hague upon this Subject and complained of this among other smaller matters as Innovations endeavoured to be introduced by France even beyond what they had themselves proposed to the Dutch and agreed in April last which had been laid and pursued as the very foundation of the Peace In this uncertain State all matters continued at the Hague for about Three Weeks the opinions of most Men running generally against the Peace as well as the Wagers at Amsterdam by which People often imagin the Pulse of the State is to be felt and judged tho' it indeed be a sort of Trade driven by Men that have little dealing or success in any other and is managed with more tricks than the rest seems to be in that Scene not only coyning false News upon the place but practising Intelligence from remote parts to their purpose concerting the same Advices from different Countries and making great Secret and Mystery of Reports that are raised on purpose to be publick and yet by such devices as these not only the Wagers at Amsterdam are commonly turning but the rising and falling of the very Actions of the East-India Company are often and in a great measure influenced But France thought the Conjuncture too important to let it hover long in such uncertainties and therefore first dispatched a Courier to their Ambassadors at Nimeguen with leave to satisfie the States in those Clauses of their Treaty wherein they seemed to except justly against Monsieur Beverning's Conduct and thereby cover the credit of that Minister who had been so affectionate an Instrument in the progress of the Treaty Next they gave them liberty to soften a little of the rigour they had hitherto exercised in the smallest points contested with the Spaniards and last of all they dispatched an Express to their Ambassadors with power to remit all the differenees which obstructed or retarded the conclusion of the Treaty between that Crown and Spain to the Determination and Arbitrage of the States themselves This was a pace of so much confidence towards the States and appeared such a testimony of the most Christian King's sincerity in the late
Advances he had made towards a Peace that it had all the effect designed by it The several Towns and Provinces proceeded with a general Concurrence to the Ratifications of the Peace that they might lie ready in their Ambassadors hands to be exchanged when that of Spain should be signed Monsieur Beverning now favoured with a fair Gale from home the humour of his Countrey blowing the same way with his own dispositions and seconded with the great facilities that were given by France made such a quick dispatch of what remained in contest upon the Treaty between France and Spain that all was perfected and signed by the Twentieth of September and thereupon the Dutch Ratifications were exchanged with the usual forms In all this Sir Lionel Jenkins had no part as in an Affair disapproved by the King his Master The Dutch Ambassadors played the part of formal Mediators had the Treaty between the two Crowns signed at their House and took great care by the choice and disposition of the Room where it was performed to avoid all punctilio's about Place that might arise between the several Ambassadors Mr. Hyde had the mortification to return into England with the entire disappointment of the Design upon which he came and believed the Court so passionately bent I was left at the Hague without any thing more to do than to perform the part of a common Ambassador France was left in possession of the Peace with Holland and Spain and by consequence Master of that of the Empire and the North upon their own Terms and England was left to busie it self about a Fire that was breaking out at home with so much smoak and so much noise that as it was hard to discover the beginning so it was much harder to foresee the end of it After the Peace of Spain signed and of Holland ratified tho' the Ambassadors of the Emperour at Nimeguen were sullen and those of Denmark and Brandenburgh enraged yet by the application of the Dutch Ambassadors the Conferences were set on foot between them and the French and Sir Lionel received Orders from Court to return to his Function tho' the remaining part he had in the Affair was rather that of a Messenger than a Mediator The Northern Princes continued their Preparations and Marches as if they resolved to pursue the War but at the same time gave jealousies to the Emperour of some private Intelligences or Negotiations of separate Treaties set on foot between France and Denmark and others between that Crown and Brandenburgh by Monsieur Despense an old servant of the Elector but Subject of France On the other side France made great Preparations to attack the Empire upon the pretence of forcing them into the terms they had prescribed for the Peace and thereby gave so great terror to the Princes of the Rhine that lay first exposed to the fury of their Arms that the Electors of Ments and Triers and Duke of Nieuburgh sent away in great haste to the States demanding and desiring to be included by them in the Peace they had made by virtue of an Article therein which gave them liberty within six Weeks to declare and include such as they should name for their Allies But this was opposed by France and refused to any patticular Prince of the Empire and allowed only to the Emperor and Empire if they should jointly desire to be declared and included in the Peace as an Ally of Holland The Duke of Lorain about the same time seeing the whole Confederacy breaking into so many several Pieces and every one minding only how to shift the best they could for themselves accepted his part of the Peace as France had carved it out for him and chose the Alternative offered from that Crown by which Nancy was to remain to France But the Emperor tho' he professed all the inclination that could be to see the General Peace restored yet he pretended not to suffer the terms of it should like Laws be imposed upon him he consented to the re-establishment of the Treaties of Westphalia which seemed to be all that France insisted on but could not agree to the Passage demanded for their Troops whenever they found it necessary for the execution of the said Treaties and this was insisted on positively by the French Nor could the Imperialists yield to to the dependance pretended by France of the ten Towns of Alsatia upon that Crown which the French demanded as so left or at least intended by the Treaty of Munster while the Emperor's Ambassadors denied either the Fact or the Intention of that Treaty While these Dispositions and these Difficulties delayed the Treaty of the Emperor the Ratifications of Spain were likewise deferred by concert as was supposed between the two Houses of Austria so as the term agreed for exchange of them was quite elapsed and twice renewed or prolonged by France at the desire of the States But during this time the French Troops made incursions into the Richest Parts of Flanders and which had been best covered in the time of the War and there exacted so great Contributions â—nd made such Ravages where they were disputed that the Spanish Netherlands were more ruined between the signing of the Peace and the exchange of the Ratifications than they had been in so much time during the whole course of the War The out-cries and calamities of their Subjects in Flanders at length moved the Spaniards out of their slow pace but more the embroilments of England upon the Subject of the Plot which took up the Minds both of Court and Parliament and left them little or no regard for the course of Foreign Affairs This Prospect made Holland the more eager upon urging the Peace to a general Issue and France making a wise use of so favourable a Conjuncture pressed the Empire not only by the Threats and Preparations of a sudden Invasion but also by confining their Offers of the Peace to certain days and raising much higher Demands if those should expire before the Emperor's Acceptance All these Circumstances improved by the diligence and abilities of the Dutch Ambassadors at Nimeguen at length determined the House of Austria to run the Ship ashore whatever came on 't rather than keep out at Sea in so cruel a Storm as they saw falling upon them and for which they found themselves so unprovided The Spanish Ratifications at length arrived and after the Winter far spent in fruitless Contests by the Imperial Ambassadors and more fruitless hopes from England by the Spaniards and other Confederates Sir Lionel Jenkins gave notice both to the Court and to me that he looked upon the Treaty between the Emperor and France to be as good as concluded and soon after I received His Majesty's Commands to go immediately away from the Hague to Nimeguen and there assist as a Mediator at the signing of the Peace which then appeared to be General I never obeyed the King so unwillingly in my life both upon account