it was found that the Current ran so violently and uncertainly and differently in every small space of distance and the breadth of the water was so little that if the Dutch Fleet had come and he been obliged to fight the place was such as no Pilot knew how to work a Ship in And the other Station a breast of the Koll was good Sea-room and a steady Current for in that place is discernable no tide at all but if the Wind blow from the Ocean the Current runs into the Sound and if it blow out of the Baltick then the Current runs out The English Fleet thus posted and having obtained the consent of the King of Sweden to the Rotschild Treaty the Admiral again enforces the English Mediation upon the King of Denmark who being bound up and over-ruled by his Allies refuses the Terms of the Mediation whereupon the English Admiral according to his Instructions offers a Treaty of Assistance from England to the Swede which I thought fit to insert here WHereas there is a new and unhappy War broken out betwixt his Majesty the King of Sweden and the King of Denmark and that since the said Rupture the King of Sweden hath by his Arms got possession of the Town of Elzineur and Castle of Cronenburg in the Isle of Zeland and obtained thereby the Command of the Sound and hath also beleaguered the City of Coppenhagen yet with this mind and desire to make and conclude with the King of Denmark a good and secure Peace And whereas upon pretence of giving assistance to his Majesty the King of Denmark there is a great and powerful Army consisting chiefly of the Forces of the King of Hungary now Emperour of Germany and of the King of Poland already marched into Holstein and Jutland whereof they have already possession designing also to possess themselves of Funen and Zeland and the strength therein which should they be able to effect it would in all humane probability prove the ruine and loss of the Protestant Interest in those parts and endanger the subversion thereof in all Europe and also be to the destruction of Navigation and Commerce in the Baltick Sea and the King of Denmark himself whose assistance they pretend captivated into the hands of those whose interest obliges them to make a prey of him and his said Majesty the King of Sweden having upon these grounds and to the ends before expressed and in this exigency of affairs in pursuance of a Treaty made at London betwixt the two States on the seventh of July Old stile in the year of our Lord 1656 whereby it is in the first Article thereof among other things agreed that it shall be lawful for either of the said Confederates within the Kingdoms and Countries of the other to hire Ships as well Men of War as Merchant men upon the Terms and Conditions therein expressed desired the Assistance and ayd of his Highness the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland and the dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and for the further setling the Trade and Commerce betwixt the two States 1 It is agreed on either part that for the affording of Ayd and Succour to His Majesty and Kingdom of Sweden His most Serene Highness the Lord Protector shall be obliged to send forthwith towards the Sound a Fleet of Ships of War 2 That the said Fleet or Navy shall at the Charge of his said Highness and Commonwealth of England c. be equipped and fitted forth sufficiently with all things necessary for such an expedition and shall be also from time to time supplied for the keeping and maintenance of them in those Seas until the twenty ninth of September next 3 The said Fleet being come into those Seas they shall ayd and assist His Majesty the King of Sweden in a Defensive way that is to say First they shall do their endeavours to hinder any Forraign Ships of War to joyn themselves with the Fleet of Denmark under what Plag soever it be attempted or on what pretence soever Secondly for the hindering the transportation of any Souldiers or Forces belonging to the Confederate Army under the Command of the Elector of Brandenburg into Coppenhagen or any Islands of Denmark Thirdly for preventing of the carrying any Relief or Succour of Money Victuals Souldiers or other provision of War into Coppenhagen Fourthly for the defence of the Swedish Fleet in case they shall be assaulted at Sea or blockt up in Harbour by the Dane or any other in Conjunction with him or separately from him 4 Forasmuch as His Highness and the Commonwealth of England will be at excessive charge in setting forth and managing the foresaid Navy for the attaining the ends aforesaid Therefore by way of Recompence and satisfaction of the charges expended and to be expended And in respect of the other hazards and dangers which may ensue to this Commonwealth by reason of this Assistance It is agreed that the People and Subjects of this Commonwealth from time to time Sailing and Trading coming and going through the Sound or Belt shall not at any time be obliged to pay any Tribute Tolle or Custom Duty or other Charge whatsoever for either Ships or Merchandizes to the King or Kingdom of Sweden or any of his Officers or Ministers whatsoever but shall in their said Passage and Navigation through the said places be treated in manner following 5 That upon the coming of any of the Ships of His Highness and this Commonwealth and the People and Subjects thereof into those parts and at their passage through the Sound or Belt producing their Legal and Authentick Certificates to the Officers of the King of Sweden and to such Officer or Officers as shall be appointed by His Highness to reside at Cronenburg or such other place thereabouts as His Highness shall desire the Commanders Masters and other Officers of such Ships of this Commonwealth as shall so pass shall on such Certificates pay to the Officer or Officers so to be appointed by His Highness such Tolle and Duty as His said Highness shall think fit to appoint which Tolle and Duty shall be for the sole benefit of His Highness and this Commonwealth in recompence of the said Charge and Hazards aforesaid And upon payment of such Tolle or Duty such English Ships shall be suffered to pass without any stop or molestation â— â—hat the People and Subjects of this Commonwealth shall in the â—â—â—ntreys and Dominions of the King of Sweden which either 〈◊〉 are in His possession or hereafter shall come into His possession pay no higher or greater Custom or Duty than the Subjects of Sweden at this time do and be used in all other things as the Subjects of Sweden at this time are â— That His Majesty of Sweden shall shut up the Sound as also the Great and Little Belt and all other Passages into the Baltick Sea and prohibit all Commerce and Navigation through the same to all such who
Sweden formerly to accept of Peace and that they would abstain from all manner of injurious actions and hostility against the Swedes now openly professing their desires for rest and quietness They added in case they would not that they should be obliged to declare in the Name of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England that the Dutch had violated the Covenants made betwixt the two Nations and that it should be lawful for the said Parliament to demand reparation for all such breaches and unsufferable provocations But the Fleet having quitted Lanskrown as is mentioned the Mediators laying aside these altercations for the present repair to the King again and joyntly entreat him that he also would at length as the Swedes had already done be pleased to give in his Declaration for Peace which he yet deferted in expectation of the return of an Express which he had sent into Holland hoping that the industry and endeavours of his Embassadour at the Hague would incline the States General to procure him better conditions In the mean time he demanded of the Dutch Ministers what return they did expect for their expences in the War for it concerned him to know it in time because those charges how vast soever were to be required from the Swedes as the Authors of it before the Peace should be concluded But these cross questions were but to gain time whilest the Danish Embassadours pressed the States with their sollicitations at the Hague Amongst other things they highly complained that their Plenipotentiaries in Denmark had upon the bare receipt of the Swedish Declaration rashly and inconsiderately recalled their Fleet from before Lanskrown and that without so much as consulting their King which was of so mischievous a consequence to him that the Swedes by this means let loose had already intercepted many Vessels belonging to his Subjects and did daily rove at the Gates of Coppenhagen and that in sight of the States Fleet without controul They further desired them to call to mind the Leagues betwixt both Nations and those engagements they had made to prosecute the War until Denmark were restored to its pristine tranquility and condition They therefore besought them that they would desist from that fatal Cessation which had lost them their Islands last year and now the occasion of ruining the Swedish Fleet in the Haven of Lanskrown with those fire-ships they had prepared for that design and command De Ruyter to act vigorously against their Enemies until they did declare that they would embrace an equitable peace wherein the Danes might find security for the future and compensation for their past and present sufferings Neither did these complaints of the Embassadours prove wholly fruitless being the Swedish Declaration which made no specifick mention of the Hagues Conventions was not judged ample enough but more especially because of the diffidence there was that the effects of it should not so suddenly follow as was desired The States therefore profess by their Letters to their Ministers in Denmark the dislike of the removal of their Fleet from Lanskrown and the licentious ravaging of the Swedes at Sea adding that if the Peace were not yet made and that it should appear that the Swedes were the cause of this delay that they should then not only hinder their Naval excursions but employ all their Sea and Land Forces to compel them to it with all imaginable speed and vigour And this indeed was the Embassadours design before they granted the Swedes the above mentioned Cessation to the which they were not only inclined by the Swedes aforesaid Declaration but chiefly because the King of Denmark did then against all expectation manifestly refuse Peace But to return to Coppenhagen Mar. 18. the above-mentioned Messenger being arrived the Mediators were sent for to Court where instead of the Declaration they did expect they were demanded by the Kings Order what change the Swedes desired in the Treaty of Rotschild To which the Dutch answered that the Mediators were not very sollicitous of that only desired to know whether his Majesty would be pleased also to give his Declaration for Peace Adding that otherwise they should be necessitated to observe and put in execution the Commands of their Superiours After many Contests to and fro the King lest he might seem altogether averse from Peace did at last promise that he would the following day deliver the so much desired Declaration and that in the same form that the Swedes had given theirs which he also did During these disputes the Swedish Commissioners had by the instigation of the French Embassadours pressed the Dutch to a conjunction of Arms with them by vertue of the Treaty of Elbing the which ought as they pretended to begin and be of force from that time they had exhibited their Declaration for Peace but they were answered that that could not be under that pretext but rather by vertue of the Treaty made betwixt the three States which also was now needless to urge being affairs were in so hopeful a way of being accommodated without coming to those extremities The Dutch Embassadours did moreover complain that Coyet the Swedish Legat at the Hague had endeavoured to bring the said Treaty of Elbing to the test again and subject its illustrations the product of so much sweat and time to new and impertinent disquisitions But the Kings Declaration silenced these unseasonable disputes and now both their Commissioners by the intervention of all the Mediators met in the Tents again and seemed to re-assume their Treaty with better hopes of success than before The Dutch Fleet being retired from Lanskrown they were followed by eight Swedish Men of War who having saluted the Admiral cast Anchor near him and began to shut up the Haven of Coppenhagen once more Hence many Merchants Ships of burthen being ignorant of what had happened were intercepted and that Naval Commerce which the besieged had hitherto freely enjoyed was interrupted But this mischief was timely remedied for the Dutch Embassadours upon notice hereof commanded De Ruyter not to suffer any hostility whatsoever within sight of his Fleet which he was so careful to perform that when the Swedes had sent three Men of War to lye at Draker he also did send as many to wait upon them there The Swedes seeing themselves thus observed pretending want of provision and indeed the Treaty advanced but untowardly hosed sail again and returning to Lanskrown came to Anchor at the entry of their Haven ready there upon all occasions The three Ships which were at Draker making towards the East Sea fell upon a Galliot coming from Holsteyn which they took and in it Field-Marshal Schack and John Alefeld Lieutenant General of the Horse both going to Coppenhagen being sent for by the Kings orders They were carried Prisoners to Malmuyen and being delivered to Marshal Steinbock Governour of Schonen were kept in safe custody by his command Sir Walter Vane came with them from Funen but was immediately
the Rotschild Treaty or forthwith dispatched some other person or persons to pursue the same it had certainly issued to a Peace For England France Sweden yea and Holland too being at accord concerning the Medium of the Peace it was not possible that the Dane should stand it out long But no persons appearing from England and I having no authorities from the Parliament the Dutch Deputies began to seek evasions When I urged upon them that they ought not to assist the refusing King their only Reply was this that by the first Article of the Treaty at the Hague the Ministers upon the place were to use their utmost diligence and endeavour with both the Kings which said they I had done with the King of Sweden but not with the King of Denmark which was a meer shift because they knew I could not at that time go to Coppenhagen being destitute of Creditives And now they held themselves no longer obliged by the Treaty at the Hague but de Ruyter with a new Fleet of forty men of War enters the Belt joyns with Admiral Opdam passes on to Coppenhagen all which was expresly against the letter of the said Treaty True it is that about the middle of June 1659 I received a Letter from the Councel of State directed to my self authorizing me to continue my Negotiation with the two Kings as formerly till further order from the Parliament or Councel of State but I neither had Creditives nor Commission nor any thing to exhibit to either of the Kings whereby to constitute and legitimate me as the publick Minister of this Commonwealth And now the Negotiation for the Peace was at a long pause and our Fleet in the mean time at an Anchor in the Sound Only because His Majesty of Denmark had always insisted upon an Universal Treaty in reference to a general Peace His Majesty of Sweden gave me a Declaration in writing which I sent to the Councel of State June the 28 in which he also declared himself willing to treat a general Peace This he did of his own accord not at my instance for all my Instructions directad me only to a particular Treaty betwixt the 2 Crowns His Majesty told me moreover that in case England and France would obtain for him a general Peace in which said Peace he propounded to himself no more than that things betwixt Him the Emperour and the Electour of Brandenburg should return to their former estate without any further demands on either side and for the Pole he should only give him some equitable recompence for the places he should surrender to him in Pruss He would not only admit the Dane to the Rotschild Treaty but release something considerable in the said Treaty in consideration of a general Peace But in case of a separate Treaty with Denmark he would remit nothing of the Rotschild Treaty The 20. of July 1659. The Commissioners Plenipotentiary arrived in the Sound which was three months after the Change of the Government here in England I was put out of the Commission for the Mediation and had Creditives sent me only as Resident A little before this viz. the fourth of the said Moneth a new Treaty was made at the Hague by which the King of Sweden was to restore not only what he had gaine upon the Dane by this last War but also the Island of Bruntholm with the Government of Drontheym in Norway with all its appurtenances a Country of near 200 English miles extent which was formerly granted him by the Rotschild Treaty and by authentick Acts of State incorporated in the Crown of Sweden Besides the remission of the 400000 Ryxdollers which the Dane had formerly promised to pay for satisfaction of damages done to the Swede in Guinea The King of Sweden was also to admit the States General to the Treaty made at Elbing and the Elucidations thereof made at Thoren and both States viz. England and Holland reciprocally oblige themselves not only not to assist the refuser but to compel by joynt force of Arms to an acceptance of the foresaid conditions And thus the State of Affairs was quite altered and new obstacles interposed in the way of the Peace For I. Both Kings were highly dis-satisfied with this manner of proceeding For whereas the first Treaty at the Hague of the eleventh of May was never propounded to either of the Kings as that which should bind or oblige them but only made use of by Me as a private Instruction this was not only publikely propounded but was to be obtruded by a compulsory force England and Holland making themselves not Mediators but Umpires and Arbitrators of the quarrel betwixt the two Kings which they interpreted to a diminution of their Soveraignty by erecting a superiority over them But the King of Sweden was most of all disgusted because England without any concert or communication had with him enters into a Treaty with his open Enemies for so at that time he reputed the States General to impose upon him by a conjoint force Laws and Conditions which he judges altogether unreasonable II. Whereas the King of Sweden had already accepted of the Rotschild Treaty conform to the Agreement made at the Hague of the eleventh of May though not under the notion and formality of the Treaty at the Hague as obligatory upon him but as the counsel and advice of England his faithful Allies and upon the King of Denmark's refusal had in prosecution of the War gained notable advantages upon him the King of Sweden expected both to have profited by his acceptance of the Peace at the instance of England and by the advantages of the War he having after the refusal of the King of Denmark reduced Moenen Falster and Laland Whereas a new Treaty is made at the Hague of the fourth of July in prejudice of the accepting King to clog the Peace on his part with new and burdensome conditions and these to be forcibly imposed upon him in favour of the Refuser Besides that England recoils from their own Agreement and sayes the King as they have made a second so they may still make a third and a fourth Treaty at the Hague III. The tedious and unnecessary delayes which have been used have been a great obstruction in the way of the Peace For if the Peace betwixt the two Crowns had been concluded in the Spring of the year the King of Sweden had had time enough to have transported his Army into Pomeren to have taken the Campagn there to have prevented the infal of the Imperial Army and to have provided Winter quarters for his Troops But the Summer being almost pass'd before the arrival of the Plenipotentiaries and the Peace to be begun anew upon another foot which would necessarily require some longer time The King of Sweden was to seek what to have done with his Army to disband them was not reasonable because though he had made Peace with Denmark yet he had still War with the Emperour Pole
maintain that Peace wherein they had been joint Mediators The issue of my Negotiations was this The K. of Denmark absolutely refused to treat sperately with Sweden the K. of Sweden declares himself willing to treat but not willing to accept of the Rotschild Treaty as the terms and conditions of the Peace Pretending that this would be tacitly to accuse His last enterprise upon Denmark of injustice for if the Dane gave the occasion of the War by entring into new practises and combinations with his Enemies after the former Peace made which he avers they did though both Kings as is usual in such cases highly protest the right of their Cause and the justice of their Armes then sayes he I ought to have better security for the future that the Dane by an innate animosity and desire of revenge fomented by other States start not out upon every occasion to traverse my designs and work me mischief when they shall find me intangled in a remote War as formerly in Poland especially being contiguous with Sweden and so most capable of doing me hurt Besides that He pretended satisfaction for the loss of Thoren and a considerable part of Prussia occasioned by this diversion of his Arms in Denmark As also for the loss of these opportunities in Germany during the vacancy of the Empire which He might have improved by the presence of His Army in those parts and the assistance of France and his other Allies either to have turned aside the Succession from the House of Austria his Hereditary Enemy or to have capitulated advantages for himself with the Emperour that was to be Elected or at least wise to have prevented the conjunction and confederacy betwixt the now Emperour and the Electour of Brandenburg Many other difficulties lay in the way of the Rotschild Treaty amongst which it was not the least that the King had already disposed of to the Officers of his Court and Army the Lands in Schonen and Bleking which by the Treaty of Rotschild are reserved to their respective Proprietors viz. the Danish Nobility However after many instances and solicitations together with the advantage of the Report which was about this time confirmed from all hands that the Peace betwixt France and Spain was intended in good earnest which might probably oblige England to retire home their forces for their own security and slacken any assistance from France and so Sweden left alone to contest with so many Enemies His Majesty began at last to hearken to the Proposition of the Rotschild Treaty and by a Paper in writing signed by His Commissioners bearing date the 21 of April in answer to a former Memorial of mine expresly accepted the said Treaty but then subjoyned to the words of acceptance a provisional clause of better security than what was formerly granted him by the bare disposition of the Rotschild Treaty Which clause I not being satisfied with as that which might be interpreted as elusory of the fore-going words His Majesty soon after declared to me that as to point of future security He would acquiess in the special Garranty of England and France which I had power also to offer Him on the part of England In pursuance of the Instructions sent upon the Fleet under General Mountague and the better to facilitate the work of the Peace by engaging the States General to act in Consort with England and France A Treaty was concluded at the Hague the 11 of May 1659. Betwixt the three States in order to re-establish a Peace betwixt the two Northern Kings upon the root and foundation of the Rotschild Treaty There Weeks time was limited to the Negotiation of the publick Ministers upon the place after the expiration of which Term neither England nor the States were to assist either of the Kings who should refuse the Peace during his refusal The King of Sweden though unbeknown to the States General had already assented to treat upon the foot and foundation of the Rotschild Treaty his safe Conducts prepared his Commissioners nominated I as Mediator propounded Fredericksburg for the place of the Treaty which the King also accepted The Dutch Deputies Extraordinary from the States General to the two Kings who arrived about this time made their instances and applications to his Majesty of Denmark as I had formerly also done to draw from him a suitable concurrence to the Rotschild Treaty But that King still persisted in the same resolution not to treat separately but propounded an Universal Treaty at which the Ministers of his respective Allies and Confederates might be present and to this end nominated Lubec for the place of a general Assembly I urged upon the Dutch Deputies the fourth Article of the Treaty of the Hague wherein 't is covenanted that no assistance was to be given to the Prince that should refuse a Peace upon just and reasonable conditions which reasonable conditions are by the first Article to be expounded the Treaty at Rotschild Now he who refuses to treat which in this case according to the sense of the three Estates was to treat separately refuses a Peace upon what conditions soever The Deputies were at accord with me that His Majesty of Denmark continuing in that resolution their Fleets could no longer assist him and wrote to General Opdam their Commander in chief to the same effect who at that time was with his Fleet in the Belt He notwithstanding continued still to favour under-hand the Dane but durst not so vigorously and openly assist him as otherwise he would partly by reason of the contrary Advise and Orders which he had received from the Deputies of the States but more especially because over-awed by the presence of the English Fleet. This suspension of Assistance on the part of the Hollander though the English Fleet remained Neutral and acted nothing onely obliged the other to the performance of Covenants gave the Swede some considerable advantages who upon this opportunity reduced the Isles of Moenen Falster and Laland together with the capital Town of Naskow under his obedience The truth is the Dutch Deputies found themselves engaged in some difficulties for whereas they supposed that the King of Sweden would have been the refuser of the Treaty and consequently the English Fleet bound up from giving him any Assistance which was the main thing they aimed at and the King of Denmark the accepter and consequently the Dutch Fleet at liberty to assist him they found the quite contrary and so had tied up their own hands by their Treaty made at the Hague This was the state of Affairs in the Northern parts at the time of the Change of the Government here in England and the Parliaments being restored to their former authority And this was the true season of ripening things to a conclusion and if the Negotiation had continued still in the same train and method that is if the Parliament had either immediately sent new powers to me to act according to my former Instructions viz.