Colbert at that time had only the character of Envoy Extraordinary for mediating the differences that were at that time betwixt the States General and the Bishop of Munster and Monsieur Colbert being in the Electors Countrey it was not his part to raise any dispute upon that head The Ambassadors of the Emperor complained also of the publick refuse which the French made of the visit of Mr. Stratman The cause of those misunderstandings was imputed to the Spaniards who finding themselves always thwarted in the equality which they so strongly pretend to with France contend not for it with other Crowns to the end they may unite them all and so oppose themselves with greater force to the precedency which France claims or at least to disturb it as much as they can in the possession of an advantage which they cannot obtain for themselves There was an innovation made at Nimueguen of what was practised at Cologn in regard of the Mediators to whom in that quality all the Powers had granted the precedency in the affairs that concerned the Mediation And the Mediators on their parts being desirous to prevent all occasions of quarrels which frequently happen upon occasion of Livery-men especially when many of different Nations meet together in one place perswaded all the Ambassadors in the first place to command their Pages and Lacqueys to wear no swords which was punctually observed And seeing most of the streets of Nimueguen are so narrow that two Coaches can hardly pass a breast the Mediators drew up a writing to be signed by all the Ambassadors by means whereof they did sufficiently obviate all the inconveniences which were to be feared during the Treaty That writing bore That in consideration of the narrowness of the streets when two Coaches going contrary ways should meet that Coach which should be least advanced into the street should put back without any consequence to be drawn therefrom or prejudice to any ones pretensions that he that should most punctually obey that order should be held to be the most inclined towards the peace the matter being thus concerted for no other end but for avoiding all occasions of quarrelling and to keep those who laboured for the restauration of the publick repose in goodintelligence together The French Ambassadors were the first who signed that writing the Swedish did the like and the Danish Ambassadors followed their example but the matter went no farther so that it was to be feared that some unhappy accident might afterwards happen amongst so many Ambassadors but the order that was made for preventing any disorder amongst servants was punctually put in execution There happened at that time long debates concerning the manner of treating about the affairs of the peace and that matter was not easily adjusted all the Confederates were for having it managed only by writing The French Ambassadors maintained that having given in their first propositions in writing the way of treating by word of mouth with the Mediators was the shortest The Confederates would not condescend to this but made very long answers in writing to the French propositions which seemed rather invectives than answers to the proposals of peace But the French waving all these disputes which produce always strife gave their answers verbally by the Mediators the Dutch were the first that approved this method and all the Confederates at length yielded to this way of treating as the most expedient for diispatching in a short time Don Pedro de Ronquillo continued still incognito at Nimueguen whither Mr. Christu arrived on the 18th of March. This Third Ambassador of Spain is a Fleming Doctor in the Laws and Counceller in the Flemish Council in Spain who hoped to have the Office of Chancellour of Brabant in recompence of his services In the mean time the News of the siege of Valenciences before which the King came the first of this Month made all people very impatient to know the success of that enterprise it being known what care and circumspection had been taken for the preserving of that place but the news that came of the Trenches being opened the Ninth in the night time was quickly followed with the taking of the place on the 17th about Nine in the morning The manner of taking Valenciennes surprized all men and daunted the Spaniards The King commanded the Counter-scarp to be attacqued with two Half-moons that flanked a Crowned work and that they should lodg on the front of that work which covers another that is before the Gate of the Town But the Kings forces marching cross those Half-moons attacqued that great Crowned-work on the front and sides and entered it on all hands killed or made Prisoners all that opposed them and pursuing those that saved themselves in the Town gained the Bridg and second Work and by a Wicket where they could not pass but one after another they made themselves masters of the Town-gate so that in less than half an hour the King saw a place of that consequence taken by force April 1677 The Confederates hoped that the siege of Valenciennes begun in so bad a season would have ruined a great part of the Kings forces but that Conquest with others that were foreseen would follow much disheartened them Nevertheless the Treaty of Peace went on but very slowly for all that The Confederates grounded their hopes on the great Exploits that the German Forces were to perform in Alsatia and on the Declaration of England which they expected in their savours not doubting but that the Parliament would sollicite the King to join with them for opposing the progress of the French but the Confederates at that time found themselves much disappointed in their Expectations The two Houses of Parliament represented to the King of England the necessity of putting a stop to the progress that the French made in the Low-countries The King answered those that made him the Address from the Parliament That it was the thing he had in his thoughts and that he should take care that the French should not be in a condition of giving jealousie to his Subjects and that his Subjects should have no cause to have any His Majesty of Great Britain was afterwards informed that Don Bernardo de Salinas Envoy from Spain gave it out that his Majesty had called the Authors of that Address Rogues The procedure of that Minister so much the more offended the King of England as that in so nice a juncture it might have produced dangerous effects in his Kingdoms and therefore he sent order to Don Pedro de Salinas to keep within doors and to make ready to depart out of the Kingdom within twenty days The Ambassadors in the mean time remained at Nimueguen like Spectators and all that was done there was to consider and observe what passed in the Low countries where after the taking of Valenciennes the King made himself Master of Cambray on the third of April five days after the Trenches were opened the Governour with
French Ambassadors would extend the limits a little further And as that concession of Neutrality carried with it also an exemption from contributions under which the Garrison of Maestricht put all the Count 〈◊〉 to the Gates of Nimueguen and that 〈◊〉 sieur Calvo some Months before in 〈◊〉 Contributions in the Maaswal had 〈◊〉 and puâ— the â—â—â—ple in fear even to 〈◊〉 heart 〈…〉 the Ambassado 〈◊〉 State◠〈…〉 desiâ—ed aâ—â—â—â—â—ment 〈…〉 lerâ—◠〈…〉 The French Court was very averse from granting such an extent of Neutrality which would have freed their enemies from keeping of strong Garrisons in the Neighbouring places to cover all that Country and therefore that affair lay long undecided The pleasantness of the season invited the Ambassadors in the mean time to take the air in their Coaches without the City but the Dutch Ministers gave notice to the French that seeing there was no security for the Country against the attempts of the Garrison of Maestricht they would not answer neither for what the Garrison of Grave might do being but two leagues distant from Nimueguen and on that side where the Country is only pleasant for 〈◊〉 and taking the air The French â—â—â—â—â—â—adors therefore prohibited their serâ—◠〈◊〉 stragâ—le out of the Town though 〈◊〉 â—emseâ—â—â— did not forbear to go 〈◊〉 â—â—ll together in company being atâ—â—◠〈◊〉 a great numbâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—vants 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ck 〈…〉 〈…〉 â—â—â—e it 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 Mediators to view those places that might serve for limits but finding that there belonged only three Villages to the Jurisdiction of Nimueguen of which the most remote was but a little league from the place they caused a draught to be made of all that was contained within the circuit of that extent which being sent to the King he consented to it as the Ambassadors had proposed A Counsellor of the Town and a French Gentleman named by the French Ambassadors were pitched upon to mark out the places on which were planted the limits of Neutrality the whole extent whereof made a kind of a demi-oval along the Waal comprehending nine Parishes with their dependencies Nevertheless there remained betwixt the Meuse and the Waal above a league of ground which afforded a free passage 〈◊〉 the parties that came from Maestricht 〈…〉 and raise â—â—eir contributions in the Câ—â—â—â—â—â—â—try of Maaswal which lyes betweenn 〈◊〉 Waal and thâ— Meuse The French Ambassador◠〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of September had 〈◊〉 to the Table of Sir Lionel Jenkins and had since that made use of the Table of Sir William Temple â—ut seeing about the end of October Sir William declared that he would go to no mans Table but his own whether that as Mediator he would thereby affect to appear impartial though that custom which was observed at the Treaty of Cologn had in it nothing that seemed contrary to the Mediation or rather that he would avoid the hurry and expence thereof that manner of living which was begun with much satisfaction was thereby interrupted and the Ambassadors met only afterward at the Lodgings of the Ambassadors Ladies where company usually came The Count of Oxenstierne and Monsieur Oliver Krantz the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors of Sweden arrived at that time at Nimueguen and gave the French Ambassadors notice of their arrival who went the same day to visit them separately at their House in a Coach with six Horses but those Ambassadors were not as yet in a condition to render their Visits with the same â—eremony The Count of Oxenstierne iâ— a person hoâ—â— aspect ansâ—vers his birth he is magâ—â—â—t 〈◊〉 the too great expence he put himself tâ—â—as the cause that his house was not always well regulated His indifferent way of carriage joined to a natural gravity made many to judg him vain-glorious His Colleague is a man of learning who writes well in Latin and French he hath the reputation to be a man fit for business he speaks neatly and loves a retired life His Train was very neat and he had fifty Crowns a day from the King his Master but the Count of Oxenstierne had a hundred The Imperialists and Spaniards were not observed as yet to make any hast in coming to Nimueguen notwithstanding the King of England urged them to it by his Ministers Philipsbourg which for want of Ammunition was surrendered in September after it had held out a siege from the beginning of June made them hope that the forces of Germany would gain considerable advantages upon the French but the Ambassadors of that Crown about the end of September received orders from the King to make known to the Mediators that his Majesty having by so many advances shewed his forwardness to procure a Peace he intended to recall them unless the Ambassadors of the chief Confederate Princes did within a month repair to Nimueguen the place of Treaty This declaration having been communicated to the Ambassadors of the States-General they gave notice of it to their Masters Their answer was That if at or before the first of November ensuing the Ministers of the Confederates did not repair to Nimueguen they would begin to treat separately for themselves But that time being elapsed they desired two days longer according to the old stile which is observed in Guelderland and several Provinces of Germany well knowing that the expiration of that term did not draw them into any engagement for if the Confederates made longer delay they could on all hazards in the reciprocal communication of their Commissions start difficulties and find out means to spin out the time as they did without falling upon business until the assembly was compleat Monsieur Hoegh the second Plenipotentiary from Denmark arrived at that time with his Lady at Nimueguen He is a handsome Gentleman of a good Family who rose to that dignity by his good discharge of the several employments he hath enjoyed He had his Lodgings in a house that was provided for him near the houses of the French Ambassadors because that being the highest place of the Town was the pleasantest also for the accommodation of strangers So soon as he had given notice of his arrival he was visited by the Mediators the Ambassadors of France and so by all the rest in Coaches of six Horses according to the Ceremony He had of his Master about five hundred pounds a month which he spent nobly like one that understood the world About the middle of November my Lord Barclay the chief of the Mediators who came from being Ambassador Extraordinary for England in France arrived with his Lady at Nimueguen and after some days being there incognito gave notice of his arrival he was visited by the other Mediators and immediately after by the three French Ambassadors successively with two Coaches of six Horses apiece The Count of Oxenstierne who with urgency demanded audience of my Lord Barclay that he might not as it was believed be prevented by the Ambassador of Denmark obtained it at three quarters after three this was to be just after
them off from sending Deputies the disgrace which they said it was that their Peace was not treated by their Ambassadors in the general Assembly at Nimueguen made not the smallest impression on their minds In so much that by the answer which the Ambassadors and Envoy Extraordinary made on the 4th no hopes appeared of finding any expedient of removing the impediment that retarded the Peace They said that they were overjoyed to see that the King still testified a sincere inclination for the Peace but it extreamly troubled them that they found him so wedded to the satisfaction of Sueden of which neither Spain nor the States possessed any thing of that which was to be the greatest part of it that they would always profess the profound respect they had for his Majesty and that they would comply with him in any thing he could desire of them but that they perceived not to what purpose it could be to send Deputies either to St. Quentin or Ghent since they had no expedient to offer but the evacuation of the Places that if it pleased his Majesty to propose any one for facilitating the conclusion of the Peace they were ready to sign it that they had not made any contrary engagements but with this respect to his Majesty that they should take no effect unless that he refused to evacuate the places upon the exchange of the Ratifications The Confederates were not a little troubled to see that a word of the French King could conclude a Peace which overthrew all their projects and banished those hopes wherewith they still flattered themselves But that King had so openly declared that he made but one and the same affair of the interests of Sueden and his own that unless that Crown would desist he could not abandon the engagement he had taken to procure its satisfaction Seeing the Confederates were perswaded that an obstacle clogged with such conditions could not easily be removed and the rather that there remained but five days of the time that the States had prefixed for entering into a League with England from which they could not flinch back they despaired not of seeing the Dutch Peace evanish In the mean time the news that was brought to Nimueguen of the birth of the Archduke filled them all with joy but especially the Imperialists who expressed it by publick rejoicing and largesses The French Ambassadors in the mean while received a Courier from Court and according to the Instructions that he brought them they framed the Memoir of the 6th whereby they declared to the Ambassadors of the States-General that seeing the King had no design in the retention of the places but to comply with the Ambassadors of Sueden who judged it necessary for the re-establishment of their affairs his Majesty was willing to desist from that pretension now that the same Ambassadors consented to it but in that Memoir the French Ambassadors added that the States-General should send Deputies to their King as well for adjusting the means of warranting the obligation of Neutrality into which they promised that Spain should enter as to concert expedients for procuring the satisfaction of Sueden Distrust had so seized the minds of some and was so well fomented by those who had cause to be afraid of that Peace that it was not very strange that that Proposition how simple soever it was occasion'd new jealousies in the Dutch They were afraid to be drawn in farther than they desired said that since the King was pleased to remove the great impediment which hindered the Peace the French Ambassadors could no longer persist in demanding that they should send Deputies to his Majesty unless they had some reasons which concealed designs quite different from the pretext they took so that they seemed further off than they were before The same Courier brought back the Declaration which the Suedish Ambassadors had made to the French the 17. of July concerning their desisting from the pretension of retaining the places but they were unwilling to communicate the same until they knew whether the King approved of it in the form that it was drawn up in That Declaration bore That notwithstanding the just and general design of the French King to procure satisfaction to the King their Master yet they left it to his Majesties consideration whether after all the oppositions that he met with in it it was better to delay the restitution of the places in prospect of a general peace than to grant it for obtaining a separate peace with Spain and Holland That for their own parts who had no free correspondence with the King their Master and had instructions in general to conform to the pleasure of France they were assured that the King of Sueden would be satisfied with what his most Christian Majesty thought fit to resolve upon not doubting but that his Royal prudence could find out means enough as suitable to his Glory and the re-establishment of his Ally as the retention of places was To this the Ambassadors added 7. reasons to evince that it was the common Interest of both Crowns instantly to conclude a separate peace with Spain and Holland to take off those two Powers which supported their Enemies and by seven other reasons they made appear That his most Christian Majesty might have no less renown in accomplishing his designs by other means that might make evident to the world the sincerity of his intentions and which at the same time might give him opportunity to make the ill affected who endeavoured to render them suspected sensible of his resentment By this it seemed that the Suedish Ambassadors foresaw the future as well as they could at the present time however it be they clearly saw that the obstacles which hinder'd the peace were otherways insuperable and since they were obliged to consent to the evacuation of the places they might hope that the French King would not want other means of procuring full satisfaction to the King of Sueden Nevertheless that Prince found the retention of places of such importance to the re-establishment of his affairs that not being informed in time of the urgent reasons which obliged his Ambassadors to consent to the waving of that pretension he professed himself much offended at their conduct The Count of Provana Envoy from the Dutchess of Savoy arrived at Nimueguen on the eigth he came to demand of the Spaniards the portion of the Infanta Catharina Great Grandmother to the young Duke of Savoy or at least he came to have that debt owned by an Article of the Treaty which was to be made betwixt France and Spain as it was at the Treaty of Munster and the Pyrenean What repugnancy soever he met with on the Spanish part the French obtained him his demand Ambassador Temple finding the term which the States-General had taken before they would enter into the Engagements of the Treaty that he had signed with them now to draw near came on the eighth to Nimueguen All men
added to their declaration of the Instances which they said were made to them by the Bishop of Gurck in the name of the Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg so sensibly touched those two Ambassadors that thinking their Honour thereby much offended they took a great deal of pains to make the contrary appear by long answers which they made on that subject on the eighteenth affirming that they had never neither desired nor rejected the cessation of Arms but nevertheless that they might omit nothing that might in any probability tend to the promoting of the Peace they accepted the Truce upon such conditions as should on both sides be agreed upon Never were any Ambassadors more fond of Writing than those of Denmark and Brandenbourg their debates had already occasioned as many publick Writings during the Month of March alone as had been made during the negotiation of all the other Treaties put together In the mean time the French Ambassadors that they might give these Ambassadors all the satisfaction that they could desire upon so nice a point declared on the Nineteenth That since the Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg thought themselves wronged in that they could be suspected to have demanded or desired a cessation of Arms they consented that the Mediators might give them a publick Act thereupon to be joyned to the protestations which they had made against the peace of the Empire whilst that they on the contrary being perswaded that all the proceedings of the King their Master for the advancement of the general Peace in a time when he was in a condition to continue the War with advantage argued great glory to his Majesty They still offered the cessation on the same conditions which they proposed to the English Mediators without derogating in the mean time from their Declaration of the 24th of February in case that the Peace was not signed in the Month of March and that they accepted not the Truce But that if they consented to it for the whole Month of April it was his Majesties will that during all that Month the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg might have liberty to conclude the Peace without requiring the new Conditions that had been demanded of them At length after so many debates and proceedings to no great purpose the Treaty of cessation was signed at Nimueguen the last of March to continue till the first of May and was exchanged both in name of his most Christian Majesty and King of Sweden betwixt the French Ambassadors on the one part and those of Denmark and Brandenbourg on the other But seeing that before the signing of that Treaty the French Intendant had caused Contributions to be demanded from the Country of Cleves on the other side of the Raine and that the French Ambassadors could not promise that they should not be pretended notwithstanding the conclusion of the cessation the same Ambassadors consented by a publick Act that the Dutch Ambassadors should pass their word for them that they should Write about it to the King that they might know his intentions and that in the mean time no hostile execution should be made during the space of Fifteen days after which if his Majesty thought good that these Contributions should be exacted they engaged to give the Inhabitants of the Countrey Three days more to take such measures in as they should think fit The Truce that was now signed instead of advancing the negotiation on the contrary stopped the course thereof during all the time that it lasted because the French Ambassadors sticking to their Declarations there was no more to be said So that the Two Princes that remained still in War Judged it more convenient to negotiate their Peace with the King himself than at Nimueguen not doubting but that they might promise themselves some advantage to their interests from Treating rather with a great Prince than being too headstrong in defending the same at Nimueguen by a long train of proceedings from which they had no great cause to expect a happy conclusion The Elector of Brandenbourg had for that effect already sent M. Meinders to the French Court and his Danish Majesty ordered M. de Mayerkron his Envoy to the States General to go immediately and wait upon the King In the mean time a great part of Europe was allarmed at the Fleet which the most Christian King was setting out to Sea Italy and particularly the Republick of Genoa were much startled thereat Denmark feared a descent in the Countrey of Holstein and the Parliament of England where there happened such commotions that the Duke of York was obliged to depart out of the Kingdom conceived some Jealousies at the French Naval preparations In the mean while the Ambassadors of Sweden having by two several Couriers and contrary ways sent to the King their Master the Treaty of Peace which they had signed with the Emperor that by that means notwithstanding the severity of the Danes concerning free passage they might receive the ratification in time these two Couriers arrived at Nimueguen from several places the 17th and 18th with the ratification in good form But his Swedish Majesty refused to confirm the Treaty which was concluded with the Princes of Brunswick because they thought in Sweden that they had yielded to them a great deal too much and the rather that the most Christian King indemnified all these Princes at his proper charges About the same time the President Canon Plenipotentiary from the Duke of Lorrain renewed his instances with the French Ambassadors that he might obtain some moderation of the conditions that had been stipulated for his Master The Imperial Ambassadors did also the like but without any success So that they thought it enough to declare that his Imperial Majesty pretended to be no longer obliged by the Articles that concerned that Prince by which his most Christian Majesty had declared himself obliged and they demanded that that Peace might be deferred until another time in so much that the Imperialists being unwilling that the time mentioned in the Treaty should expire without exchanging the ratifications because of the pretensions made by the French in their last declaration of the 26th past they resolved to make the exchange the 19th of April April 1679 There arose an unexpected difficulty concerning the exchange of the ratifications for the Mediators who had not signed the Peace would not take it upon them The Nuncio likewise excused himself from doing it because he had protested against the same Peace in respect it was concluded in conformity to the Treaties of Westphalia against which Rome had then protested because of the revenues of the Church which they were then obliged to secularise and yield up to Protestants without which it had been impossible to have procured Peace to Germany So that the expedient that was found out was to make the exchange of the ratifications by the hands of Secretaries who were reciprocally sent on both sides And seeing the
occasion some disorder published next day an Order under the pain of corporal punishment That no body should say or do any thing to any person whatsoever whatever Ecclesiastical habit they should see them wear But Don Pedro de Ronquillo thought it not fit that that Jesuit should appear any more abroad in that manner The Nuncio himself left two Capucins of his houshold at Cleves and suffered them not to come until he was assured that they should enjoy a full liberty Don Paolo Spinola Doria Marquess de los Balbases first Ambassador of Spain arrived at Nimueguen the 4th of June and seeing he came from Germany he took passage down the Rhine as the Nuncio had done That Ambassador is a Genoese a Grandee of Spain and Grandchild to the great Spinola he hath been General of the Cavalry of Milain and since Governour of that State for a time He came from the Extraordinary Embassy of Vienna where he had continued seven years He is a tall lean man most civil and well bred and married the Sister of the Constable of Colonna Their eldest daughter is married to one Spinola Duke of St. Peter one of the richest Gentlemen in Italy and who lived at Nimueguen until the conclusion of the Treaty This Ambassador had another Daughter with him married by Proxy to the Marquess Quintana Son to the President of Castile He had likewise an only Son ten years old who was called Duke of Sesto This great Family made a very numerous Train yet among so many servants there were not above five or six native Spaniards When the French Ambassadors came to Nimueguen finding that the Catholicks though under the Diocess of the Bishop of Ruremond followed the old stile according to the practice of Guelderland they resolved likewise to conform to it The Catholicks of the Countrey have a dispensation so to do to the end they may celebrate Easter and the chief Festivals of the year at the same time the Protestants do and not appear singular in a Countrey where they are with much pain and difficulty suffered The French Ambassadors followed the same stile that they might not seeem to make a kind of Schism betwixt themselves and the Catholicks of the Town and that their Chappel where five or six Masses were said a day might serve for the devotion of the Catholick people The Imperial and Spanish Ambassadors did not at first conform to that stile but the Nuncio resolved at Cologn to follow it and even kept the Rogations at Nimueguen according to that custom Nevertheless next day about ten of the clock at night he sent to acquaint the French Ambassadors That he was to observe the New Stile according to which the next day was the Vigil of Pentecost The Ambassadors sent the Nuncio back word That having taken the Old Stile upon very pressing considerations and particularly that they might conform themselves to the Orders of the Bishop to whom the Catholicks of the place were subject they could not leave it off The Nuncio made answer That it was not his intention to oblige any body and that what he did concerned only his own Family Nevertheless he altered his opinion eight days after The Imperial and Spanish Ambassadors and all the Ministers of the Catholick Princes followed the example of the French Ambassadors and all the Chappels observed only one stile At that time the Nuncio rendered his visits of ceremony to the Imperial and French Ambassadors on one and the same day The French met at the house of the Marshal D' Estrades to receive him resting satisfied with that single visit instead of having each of them one as the Nuncio offer'd though he afterward saw them severally His Train made a great show he had three Coaches with six horses and many servants in Livery cloathed after the Roman fashion with hanging sleeves some laced all over and others of Velvet with long cloaks But all the other Ambassadors had their Equipage after the French Mode My Lord Barclay having at that time obtained leave to return to England by reason of his age and indisposition parted from Nimueguen the fifth of June The truth is the Negotiation was at such a stand that there was no discourse of any affairs then and both Mediators and Ambassadors had time to play At the same time news came from England that the Parliament being assembled the fourth of June had made a pressing Address to his Majesty of Great Britain to incline him to make a League offensive and defensive with the States of the Vnited Provinces for opposing the progress of the French Conquests The King was displeased at this Address and made them answer That it did invade so essential a Prerogative of the Crown that the like had never been done but during the Civil Wars That it did not belong to the Parliament to prescribe to him what kind of Leagues and far less with whom he should make them That it seemed rather that he should engage in it by their permission than at their sollicitation That foreign Princes might have cause to doubt whether the Soveraignty was in his person and refuse to treat for the future with a King that had only the bare name In a word that he could not suffer that prerogative to be invaded which no consideration should ever make him to renounce seeing it was the foundation of the Crown and Government And hereupon he dismissed the Parliament without having obtained from them the Supplies he demanded for procuring the satisfaction and safety of his subjects June the 23. the Marquess de los Balbases who desired to begin to appear in publick sent on his own and Colleagues parts to compliment all the Ambassadors of the Princes but the French received and rendered them the first of all The substance of the compliment that was made to every Ambassador in particular by a Gentleman accompanied with two others was That the Ambassadors of Spain upon their arrival at Nimueguen sent to salute their Excellencies to testifie the joy they had to find themselves in so illustrious an Assembly and to have occasion of treating with persons of so known worth as their Excellencies were and that his Master impatiently expected that his Colleagues were in a condition to be treated according to their character that he might come in person to testifie his joy to their Excellencies The Marquess de los Balbases gave thereby to understand that Don Pedro de Ronquillo and Mr. Christin had not as yet the quality of Ambassadors but it was known that the Court of Spain had sent to the Duke de Villa Hermosa Plenary Commissions in divers forms and left to the Marquess his disposal the characters that he pleased to give them but he being no Native Spaniard and being to treat about an affair of so great importance for Spain which he well foresaw would not prove advantageous for that Crown it was his interest as well as the dignity of his Embassy that the
Court should authorise his Colleagues that the event might be the less laid at his dore The French Ambassadors sent three Gentlemen to return his compliment in the like terms of esteem and civility whom that Ambassador answered in French The same Gentlemen had Orders also to go wait upon the two other Spanish Ambassadors and to compliment them apart But it being just before insinuated that they had not as yet the character those Gentlemen were advertised not to give them the title of Excellence and for that reason Din Pedro de Ronquillo was not at home thô they went twice to his house and at dinner-time But Mr. Christin received the compliment without the least difficulty The Nuncio made no doubt but that if in the first steps that the French and Spaniards made there happened any thing that might give discontent to the French the Treaty might thereby receive great prejudice and therefore for preventing the same inconveniences to which the conduct of the Imperial Ambassadors towards the French had given occasion he so ordered mâ—â—tes that the carriage of the Spaniards should give the French no cause to complain So that that Mediator extremely zealous for the repose of Christendom hoped that by bringing the French and Spanish Ministers to a good and familiar correspondence together the affairs of the Peace would the more successfully be promoted Though the Marquess de los Balbases remained still incognito yet the French Ambassadors sent to compliment my Lady Marchioness and to desire audience of her They visited her separately and without much ceremony and so did all the other Ambassadors and their Ladies expecting till they could render her their publick Visits Of all the Ambassadors Ladies that were at Nimueguen the Marchioness de los Balbases was the only Lady that spoke not French but seeing she understood a little of it and that the other Ladies had no great difficulty to understand Italian from conversation and play they had no need of any Interpreter The progress that the French Tongue had made in foreign Countreys appeared at Nimueguen for there was no Ambassadors house where it was not almost as common as their Mother-tongue Besides it became so necessary that the Ambassadors of England Germany Denmark and other Nations held all their Conferences in French The two Danish Ambassadors agreed that even their common Dispatches should be made in that tongue because Count Anthony of Oldembourg spoke good High Dutch but not a word of Danes which his Collegue did Insomuch that during the whole course of the Treaty of Peace nothing hardly but French Writings appeared strangers chusing rather to express themselves in French in their publick ceremonies than to write in a language that was not so much in use as it July 1677. The Assembly now beginning to be formed and many strangers being with the Ambassadors at Nimueguen the Mediators on the second of July thought fit to renew the Writing that was spoken of before concerning the means of avoiding the inconveniencies which might happen upon the meeting of Coaches they likewise intreated the Ambassadors to command their Gentlemen upon severe penalties not to fight any Duels and all their servants not to make any disorder in the Town neither by day nor by night This was approved hy all the Ambassadors because of some Duels that had been already fought The Nuncio who was no less zealons for preservation of peace amongst the families which were to procure a general peace to all Europe made a like Writing in Italian which was signed by the Ambassadors in the same manner as that of the English Mediators was In thâ— mean time the Confederates raised all their Batteries in England and were not discouraged Their Ministers made new instances to the King of Great Britain That it would please him to recall the Forces that he had in the French Service representing to him that they were the cause of the loss of Mont-cassel His Majesty made them answer That in that Engagement there were none of his subjects in the French Army but the single troop of the English Gen d'arms wherein there were but seventeen English all the rest being French and that on the contrary the Dutch had two Regiments of Scots who had behaved themselves better in that action than any others of the whole Army That besides he could not recall his Forces from the French Service without declaring War against France seeing he had sent them thither before he was received to be Mediator and that desiring to retain that quality and only labour to procure peace he could not recall the one unless he likewise at the same time recall the others that he had in their service The Confederates had nothing to say to so just and reasonable an answer as that was and they found themselves disappointed of their hopes seeing that that powerful German Army that was to enter into France was put to a stand on the frontier by the Forces which the Marshal de Crequi commanded and so distressed for want of provisions and the parties of the neighbouring Garisons that it was obliged to retreat They conceived also so great jealousie of the King of England's equipping of a Fleet that they were in doubt whether on that side they had not as great cause to fear as to hope On the 13th of July there was an extraordinary Courier from England having Orders to Ambassador Temple to repair forthwith to London and accordingly on the fifteenth about five a clock in the morning he embarqued for that Voyage Every one had his several reasons concerning the hasty departure of that Mediator and could not agree whether it was a good or bad presage for the desired peace On the 16. the Marquess de los Balbases returned from Holland not well satisfied with the people of Amsterdam from whom he received not that favourable reception which he expected by reason of an opinion which that people had that the Spaniards for their own particular interests were the only cause of the continuance of the War Mr. Vlkens Envoy from the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp a Prince in League with the King of Sweden and who hath been dispossessed of his Territories by the King of Denmark rendered his first Visits to the French Ambassadors on the third of August and the same day the Count of Kinski and Mr. Stratman the Imperial Ambassadors visited publickly the Ambassadors of Spain who returned the Visit the same day The Nuncio ought to have been dissatisfied at those publick Visits made before the performance of that which was due to him as Mediator and Nuncio of the Pope Besides the French Ambassadors declared that at the very instant that the civility which was due to the English Ambassadors as Mediators was not rendered to them and that the Ambassadors of that Crown suffered those of the Emperour to have the precedency they would likewise re-assume the rank which they pretended to be their due without any respect to the Mediation
not incline them to embrace the conditions offered by the King it being unjust that his Majesty in the condition that his forces were in should lose the occasions of action and should engage himself of new as he had already done by the Letter of the 18th of the foregoing Month. But to evidence the sincerity of his intentions his Majesty at the same time gave orders to the Mareshal of Luxembourg General of his Army not to attack any place during all that time and to stay for the answer of the States in the Neighbourhood of Brussels The good disposition that the King of England seemed to be in at that time contributed much to the advancement of the Peace The Heer Beverning who came to the Camp from London brought word that the King of England approved all the proceedings that the Dutch had made towards the Peace And by the Harangue that his Majesty of Great Britain made to the Parliament the third of June he declared that none were to be blamed but the House of Commons if he could not engage in the War And the Chancellor told the whole Parliament that their manner of acting could not but provoke a powerful Prince who might resent it and for that reason that they ought to strengthen themselves at home and abroad for their own security against all kind of attempts In the mean time the Confederates set all Engines at work to incline the King of England to favour their interests The Marquess of Borgomanero Envoy Extraordinary from Spain at that Court on the fifth of June represented to his Majesty of Great Britain how necessary it was that he should send his Fleet and Army towards the Low-countries for a curb to the common enemy and a Guard to all Christendom against the oppression and ruin wherewith it was threatned by the most Christian King and how advantageous it would be for his Majesty to make a League offensive and defensive with the Catholick King his Master and the Emperour who would prove his constant Allies in all the concerns of the common cause The Ambassadors of the Confederates held long and frequent conferences at Nimueguen but they found it difficult to agree upon the answer that they were to give upon the communication which the Ambassadors of the States-General had made to them of the Memoir that the French King had given to the Heer Beverning and whereupon the Ambassadors urged their resolution that they might take their measures accordingly at length all of them gave their Answers in their Conference of the tenth The Imperial Ambassadors gave it in Latin and very long but the purport of all was that they expected from the candour and equity of the States-General that they would do nothing to the prejudice of the Emperour the Empire and all the Confederates who were only engaged in the present War for the preservation of the Vnited-Provinces which the States themselves knew sufficiently without being put in mind of it That they had to do with an enemy whose design was only to divide the Confederates that he might the more easily surprize them all That if there was an absolute necessity that they must make Peace the Emperour offered to concur with them in it upon fair and honest conditions but that they would not take such precipitate resolutions as were demanded by the enemy That they well perceived the design was only to throw them upon a precipice since they were not so much as allowed to treat of those matters without the decision of which no Peace could ever be had That they intreated them not to be over-hasty That the general Peace was ruined if France perceived that the States-General had a design to treat separately assuring them that when the Emperour should make Peace he would not be less careful of the needs of the Vnited Provinces and Low-countries than he had been zealous in undertaking and maintaining the War for their defence The Ambassador of Denmark made answer on the same subject That he believed that the States-General would never do any thing to the disadvantage of his Danish Majesty who had exposed his person and spent his revenues to comply with the engagements into which he had entered with them That if they were absolutely obliged to accept of Peace they expected that they would not do any thing that might force those whose affairs were in a better posture to accept of absolute conditions That it was not fit that the constancy which the French shewed to their Allies should triumph over the firmness of their Union that they ought to guard against the inconveniencies that the least precipitancy might plunge them into and that provided the King his Master found his security in a Treaty he would sacrifice all his interests to the publick weal. The Ambassador of Brandenbourg assured himself that the States-General would promise nothing to the French King that might be contrary to the League that the Elector his Master had with them since he had neither spared his Blood nor Countries to preserve their Republick from utter ruin and that far less they would conclude a Peace with France till they first procured his Master the satisfaction they had promised him by their Treaty of Alliance That as to the rest his Electoral Highness desired nothing more than a reasonable Peace for procuring whereof he should always make appear his moderation and the respect he had to the urgent reasons which the States-General pretended for concluding of Peace Whilst the Confederates made all these Remonstrances to the Ambassadors of the States-General at Nimueguen it was known that the Spaniards declared at the Hague that they accepted the conditions offered by France and as the Deputies of the States-General in their Memoirs presented to the Duke de Villa Hermosa alledged the weakness of Spain as one of the strongest reasons that disabled them longer to continue the War so upon this occasion the Spaniards failed not to do the like and to impute the necessity they were in of accepting the Peace on the inability of the States-General of supporting any longer the charge and burden of so great a War The Imperialists in the mean time and all the Ministers of the Northern Princes exclaimed against the inclination that the Spaniards and Dutch had to so disadvantageous a Peace they made their own interpretations of the French Kings condescensions saying that France laid snares for them which they could not discover until they were out of condition of avoiding them or that otherwise there must needs be some internal weakness in the forces of France how formidable soever they appeared that standing of it out would do the business and that it was too base to submit to an absolute Law whilst they were not yet out of hopes of gaining those advantages that would render their condition better The Dutch who saw evidently by the Declarations of the Ambassadors of their Confederates that their design was to give no positive answer
Negotiation whereby they alledged that after all the favourable expressions that the King was pleased to use towards them they could not believe that the sentiments of his Majesty agreed with the expressions of the Ambassadors Memoir That they could not impute that emergent to any thing but the artifice of those who for private interests were against the publick peace That in all the Negotiation no mention being made of Sueden to them it would be unjust to pretend that the King having demanded a neutrality from the States-General as an essential condition in their separate peace they ought to give their places to be made use of against their Allies That the States promised as they had already done to contribute what in them lay for the accommodation of the Northern powers by all the good offices they were capable to perform and they protested that it was not their fault if the peace were not presently brought to a happy conclusion That Answer made it evidently appear that the States-General had no design to condescend and indeed they began to think of other measures for their Deputies about Foreign affairs signed a second Treaty with Ambassador Temple grounded on this That the States-General having accepted the offers of his most Christian Majesty and engaged that his Catholick Majesty should do the same as to what concerned him they perceived to their grief that the Ministers of France opposed the peace by the refusal of delivering up the places That therefore they were obliged to have recourse to his Majesty of Great Britain to the end that if his Mediation with the most Christian King should prove ineffectual he would protect so just a cause and assist them with his forces This Treaty was still conditional as to the circumstance of time and was not to take effect but in case they could not obtain from the French King a Declaration favourable to their pretensions before the eleventh of August and that his Majesty absolutely refused to render up the places upon the exchange of the Ratifications In case of such a refusal they agreed with his Majesty of Great Britain to declare War against France that by united force they might oblige that King to embrace the conditions stipulated by that Treaty These conditions were far different from those which the French King proposed the 9th of April but they were only specified for the Empire Spain and Lorrain Whilst that Treaty was concluding at the Hague and that the Ministers at Nimueguen impatiently expected to know what resolution would at length be taken on either side concerning the restitution of places the Marquess de los Balbases made some instances to the French Ambassadors to incline them to admit of the Marquess de la Fuente that he might not have the displeasure of being come to that Assembly and not have the power to sign the Treaty of peace but they would not consent until that Ambassador produced a plenary Commission in the same form with the rest and they were satisfied with a collationed copy which the Nuncio's Auditor gave them without receiving the visit of that Ambassador for the reason that I mentioned before The Marquess de la Fuente that loves to be very gallant resolved to treat the Ambassadors Ladies after the Spanish fashion but seeing they visited no Ambassadors that wanted Ladies they were invited in the name of the Marchioness of Quintana who did the Honours of the Feast The two French Ambassadors Ladies went thither but the Ambassadors excused themselves because they visited not the Marquess de la Fuente Whether it was there or that there had been before some difference betwixt the Servants of Monsieur Colbert and the Marquess de la Fuente which might have occasioned some resentment it happened that this time a Lackey belonging to Monsieur Colbert was somewhat ill used at the Gate this Footman did the like to one of the Servants of the Marquess de la Fuente the first time that they came to the house of Monsieur Colbert in so much that the difference made such noise that the Nuncio thought fit to take cognizance of it and to make both sides promise that the matter should go no further The same day being the 29th the French Ambassadors by a Courier-Express received Orders from Court according to which they framed a Memoir which they gave to the Dutch Ambassadors whereby they signified to them that the satisfaction of a King in Alliance with the King their Master being the sole end that his Majesty proposed to himself in the present affair of the retention of Places he would willingly admit of all Propositions that might tend to that end and that for that effect he would come as far as St. Quentin to hear what the States had to propose to him by Deputies assuring them that they would find him so equitably inclined that they should have no more cause to doubt of the sincerity wherewith his Majesty had begun and continued to treat with them concerning Peace The Dutch Ambassadors had nothing to answer to these Propositions they said That they saw no expedient to remove that difficulty which was made about the restitution of the places that if the French Ambassadors had any they might propose them and that their Masters did not think that a deputation upon that subject would be to any purpose It seemed that the mistrust which the Ambassadors entertained mutually of one another upon occasion of the impediment that stopt the conclusion of the Peace and even infected their Servants for the accommodation that I just now spoke which was made two days before did not so appease either party but that on the last of July at night there happened amongst them a scuffle of far more dangerous consequence That evening there was a great Rendezvouz at the House of the Heer Odyke and as it was on a Saturday they intended to stay by it and drank to their wives The French Ambassadors had notice given them about ten of the Clock that the Servants of the Duke of St. Peter had been there with Arms. They immediately acquainted the Nuncio with it who had concerned himself in adjusting that Quarrel who was not indeed wanting in giving necessary Orders about it But about Eleven of the Clock at night the Marquess de la Fuente his Pages who had been the Authors of the first difference went and fired some Pistols about the House of Monsieur Colbert which made the Servants of the French Ambassadors to provide against what might happen The Company being set down to Table at the House of the Heer Odyke the French Ambassadors observed that all the Servants of the Spanish were about the Table and filled the Hall whilst they were without attendance according to their custom that they might not pester the house they went to This made them send to call all their Gentlemen to come and wait on them to stand behind them and to order their Pages to serve them These Orders
means they made use of at Nimueguen to break off the peace with Spain was to get the Mediators to propose a Truce for six months during which they hoped that the differences of all the Princes who were engaged in the War might be happily ended But hitherto their opinions as to that were quite different seeing they had refused all the Truces that had been proposed to them In the mean time the Northern Confederates made great preparatives for putting in execution a new enterprise which they designed upon the Isle of Rugen Matters were in such a state that the decision of one difficulty seemed to be the necessary cause of another and that so great an affair as Peace could not be brought forth without great stratagems The seventh and eighth were spent in the Heer Bevernings frequent coming and going to demand of the French Ambassadors the clearing of several doubts which the Spaniards raised to all the Articles of the Treaty saying that they had secret notices which being but confused rendered them scrupulous and distrustful upon the smallest appearances In fine they demanded an explication concerning the Chattelleny of Aith which was the ground of a difficulty of little less consequence than that of Bonvignes and Beaumont Since that Chattelleny was yeilded to the French King by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle his Majesty dismembred several Villages from it and adjected them to the government of Tournay and in that state the King pretended to deliver back this Chattelleny but whether the Spaniards thought fit of themselves to demand that explication or that they were put upon it by others they desired a particular clause concerning that to be put into the Treaty and upon the refusal of the French Ambabassadors they framed a Memoir which they gave to the States-General They said that the dismembring of the Chattelleny of Aith made by the French King absorped the chief part thereof that no less lay at stake than seventy Villages and the City of Leuze which is but a league and a half distant from Aith That since his most Christian Majesty had in the conditions made no reservation of the dependencies of that Chattelleny as he had of Verge and Memin depending on Courtray the French Ambassadors by refusing the clause demanded shewed but a captious fetch that they might restore to Spain but a part of so considerable a Chattelleny The French were in great pain to know what could have given the Spaniards ground at that time to make that reflection upon the dismembring of the Chattelleny of Aith and to think that the design of the French was to make their advantage of the omission that might have been made thereof in the Treaty The truth is the Spaniards would have had no ground of complaining if Aith and its Chattelleny should have been restored to them in the condition that it has been so long in They could not imagine what was the reason of this new emergent but it was obvious that the Prince de Lignes who has a great Estate in the dismembred part of that Chattelleny having sent a Secretary to Nimueguen upon the account that it concerned him to have his Lands return again to the Spanish Dominion had without doubt given the Spaniards information of that affair and of the necessity of inserting a clause concerning it in the Treaty The Heer Beverning acted not in that affair with the same zeal as he had formerly made appear The distasts he had received the last time that he had been at the Hague made him proceed much more slowly than his usual application did allow for after all the pains he had taken to end a War which the Vnited Provinces could no longer support he little expected to have his conduct blamed Nevertheless they endeavoured to let him see that there were several faults and considerable omissions in the Treaty which he had signed The five principal were these First that in the Preface the French King seemed to be the Protector of the States-General though it contain no term but what is conform to his Majesties Letters and the answers of the States Secondly That the Neutrality to which the States-General were engaged by that Treaty was indefinite and by consequent might be extended beyond the present War Thirdly That the Heer Beverning had exceeded his commission in having obliged the States to warrant the Neutrality of Spain Fourthly That he had omitted an Article of Amnistie and Oblivion which ought mutually to be stipulated in all treatties of Peace And Lastly That he had forgot to mention the Barriere which the French King granted to Spain in consideration and for the security of the States General Though most of those faults were more grounded on the discontent of those who regretted the conclusion of the Peace than on any important or dangerous consequence yet the French King was willing to satisfie the States General in any thing that might farther concern them And seeing the indefinite term of their Neutralitie and the warranting of that into which Spain was to enter were the points that appeared to be of greatest importance the explication thereof which the French Ambassadors gave to the Dutch according to the desire of the States was approved and ratified by his Majesty at Fontainblean the 5th of September in the same manner as if it had been inserted in the Treaty The French Ambassadors understood by the Letters which Courier brought them on the 9th that the Court was perswaded that there would be greater difficulty in concluding the Treaty with Spain than had been at first imagined and that was partly the cause why the French King gave Orders to the Count d' Avaux to go with all diligence to the Hague where his Majesty judged his presence necessary But seeing affairs appeared then to be in a better state at Nimueguen than was believed at Court that Ambassador departed not However another Courier having on the 10th brought a compromise from the King whereby his Majesty referred to the States-General the decision of all the differences that retarded the conclusion of the Peace with Spain The Count d' Avaux arrived on the 11th at the Hague where it was not difficult for him to observe that there were many there fully inclined to introduce if they could some change in the State whereinto the signing of the Peace had put the affairs of the Vnited Provinces Nevertheless it was already known that all the Provinces had consented to the ratification of the Peace some absolutely and others upon conditions which they submitted to the determination of the States insomuch that before the end of six weeks the Ratifications might be exchanged if no difficulties stopt the conclusion of the Peace with Spain In the mean time the English forces that in so great number came over into the Low-countreys bred great umbrages in Holland the people could not tell what need there was of an Assistance that came not till the peace was concluded And seeing
lye always upon the catch to regain them and be continually stirring upon that account to disturb the publick Peace and that therefore he would by consequent do well to think of making his accommodation with that Crown Though the Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg had no great ground to rely upon their Negotiations and that they plainly saw that the Conditions of Peace depended absolutely on the pleasure of the French King yet they left nothing undone at Nimueguen which they judged necessary to maintain their Pretensions The Ambassador of Brandenbourg perceiving that the Declaration made by the French the 24th threatned his Electoral Highness with the loss of Leipstadt and the reimbursement of the charges of the War if within the Month of March he concluded not the Peace made on the 26. a kind of citation to the Ambassadors of the Princes who had made their Peace with France that he might let them see the obligation they stood in of warranting the Leagues which his Electoral Highness had made with them upon occasion of the present War All these Declarations were conceived almost in the same terms but in that which that Ambassador gave to the Spaniards he said that the rigour which the French King shewed towards his Electoral Highness was an effect of the separate Treaties that some of the Confederates had made with France to the prejudice of his Master and he declared that before he could answer the French Ambassadors it was necessary he should know how his Catholick Majesty pretended to discharge himself of the engagement he had made with his Master by the 14 and 24 Articles of their League whereby the King of Spain was not only to procure Peace to his Electoral Highness but also to indemnifie him as to the losses that he might suffer in the Countrey of Cleves And seeing the term prescribed to his Master by France was very short he prayed the Spanish Ambassadors with all expedition to inform him of his Catholick Majesties intention as to the performance of those two Articles that he might accordingly make his answer to the Declaration of his most Christian Majesty These formalities were no real advances towards the Peace The Ambassadors of the North still flattered themselves with the hopes that the ratification of the Emperors Peace might meet with such obstacles in the Dyet at Ratisbonne as might change the face of affairs Nevertheless that Dyet was of a quite contrary disposition and nothing but the interests of the Duke of Lorrain retarded that ratification on the Emperors part I must here call to mind what I mentioned before that the French King having granted five different Plenary Commissions for treating with the five principal Confederates that were engaged in War against his Majesty he would give no particular one for treating with the Duke of Lorrain though all the Confederates had sollicited it by means of the Mediators and therefore that Prince having been obliged to list himself under some one or other of the Confederates committed his concerns to the care of the Ambassadors of the Emperor who in the Treaty that was concluded betwixt the Emperor and France having stipulated for his pretensions it was the Emperors part to procure the ratification of the Articles that concerned the Duke of Lorrain March 1679. Nevertheless the Imperial Ambassadors declared on the 12th of March That the Conditions which concerned that Prince were so hard that if France would not mitigate them and make them more acceptable they must be cancelled out of the Treaty or declared to be held as not comprehended therein seeing the Emperor could not procure them to be ratified nor by consequent promise to do it The French Ambassadors made answer That their Kings ratification which they had in custody being simple and unconditionated that of the Emperor behoved to be so too so that the Duke of Lorrain found by experience that into whose hands soever he committed his In-Interests he was not to hope for so advantageous Conditions as he might have obtained from the French King if he had wholly referred himself to his Majesty The Ambassador of Brandenbourg made the answer of the other Ambassadors a pretext for his delaying to give a return to the Declaration of the French until such time as he might have orders from the Elector his Master So that although he made answer on the 11 yet he declared that it was only in expectation of instructions that no advantage might be drawn from his silence But as he would not directly complain of France he imputed to Sueden all the cause of the severity which he found in the Declaration of the 24th of February This Ambassador said that such a kind of Declaration could not have been made but at the instance of Sueden that his Electoral Highness would be much surprized to find that that Crown charged him with unwillingness to accept of reasonable Propositions of Peace seeing the Suedish Ambassadors could not deny but that it was themselves who refused to answer to the Projects of Peace which he gave in to Sir Lionel Jenkins the English Mediator by express Orders from his Master that moreover he did not believe that it was the intention of the French Ambassadors to make it be thought that the satisfaction which his Electoral Highness pretended did offer violence to the Treaties of Westphalia nor that what Sueden possessed in the Empire was become unalienable as if the States and Territories of the Empire could not pass from one to another of its Members without violating of those Treaties that upon that ground only his most Christian Majesty had concluded Peace with the Princes of the house of Brunswick who retained some part of that which Sueden heretofore possessed in the Empire and that the Elector his Master might with much more justice pretend to a satisfaction of the same nature He furthermore added That his Electoral Highness would be amazed to understand that the French should pretend to make him pay the charges of the War and much more to dipossess him of Leipstadt without any formality contrary to the Constitutions of the Empire and the very Treaties of Westphalia and that with so much the less reason that the Count of Lippe to whom the half of Leipstadt belonged had not the least quarrel with Sueden All who were less concerned than France in the restauration of Sueden and the Mediators themselves said openly That the too great obstinacy with which that Crown pretended to the intire restitution of all that it had lost during this War would be an insuperable obstacle to the peace That it was not to be expected that Sueden would make too much haste to end the War since the Eight hundred thousand Crowns of Subsidy which that King had from France were better to him than the Revenues of Pomerania and all that he possessed in Germany That if the French King did not by his Power make the peace of Sueden that Crown would never make the
a Squadron of about thirty Ships The half-free Ships are Vessels of about One hundred Tuns burden their priviledges and number are so small that they cannot be very prejudicial to the Dutch Trade Nevertheless the Dutch found that all these priviledged Vessels might carry away the greatest part of the Trade of the Baltick and therefore the States insisted vigorously upon the abrogation of all those priviledges as contrary to the equality of advantage which the subjects of both Nations were to enjoy But in that debate the same mean was taken which served to remove the former difficulty and it was agreed upon that these Vessels should only enjoy their exemptions in the Territories of the Kingdom of Sueden and Finland and that in the other Provinces on the Baltick-sea depending on the Crown of Sueden there should be no distinction between Suedish Ships and Dutch It could not be believed after this that any new difficulty could retard the conclusion of the Treaty of Commerce whereof the Negotiation had lasted above a year Nevertheless there happened one which put a full stop to the affair The Ambassadors of the States-General had put in the 7th Article of their project That the subjects on either side should be used as the Nation in greatest friendship ut quaeque gens amicissima The Suedes took occasion from this to demand a freedom from the duties which the Dutch had imposed upon the Suedish commodities that pass the Sound and the rather because that imposition was never laid on till the Suedes had obtained from the Danes by Treaties concluded to their advantage and exemption from part of the duties that are exacted in the Sound The truth is that the States to hinder that exemption from being prejudicial to the trade of their subjects who enjoy not the same priviledg setled then in their Countrey upon those that had the priviledg of the Sound and Imposition almost equivalent to that Exemption The Dutch said That the equality which ought to be observed in the Trade of the two Nations was not hurt by that kind of compensation and alledged that it was so little contrary to it that in all the Treaties which had been concluded in the long time since these duties were imposed the abrogation of them was never thought upon when other Treaties was made The Suedes however who would not lose to the profit of the Dutch what they obtained to the prejudice of Denmark stood firmly to that point so that the conferences at the Hague were broken up and the Count D' Avaux could not promise himself to renew them again on that subject with the same success that they had had in the other difficulties insomuch that M. Oliver Krants came back to Nimueguen Aug. 1679. where the Assembly being shortly after wholly dissolved the conclusion of these Treaties could no longer be prolonged which yet were not signed until the second of October the annulling of the Imposts laid on in Holland and the reduction of those of Sueden to the standard of the Treaty of 1640. remaining undecided and referred to other conferences which were to be held at the Hague for adjusting these affairs within eighteen Months after the signing of the Treaty In the mean time M. de Mayerkroon who had been for some time at the French Court perceiving that the conferences in Schonen did not advance the Negotiation of the peace betwixt Sueden and Denmark began to seem more inclined to conclude the Treaty of the King his Master tho' he had no cause to expect more advantageous conditions than those he had at first On the contrary experience and example made appear that it could not but be prejudicial to the King of Denmark to be the last in making his peace The French King on his part desiring nothing more than to correspond with that good disposition and to render the peace general by the conclusion of that of Denmark gave for that end on the 24th of August a full power to M. de Pompone and by that means within a few days the Treaty was concluded betwixt his Majesty and the Kings of Sueden and Denmark and was signed at St. Germans the second of September on the same conditions that the King had always proposed for the full satisfaction of his Ally It is known that his Majesty declared from the beginning That he could not make peace with the King of Denmark but upon condition of a full restitu ion to Sueden The delays and difficulties that were made thereupon moved not his Majesty to abate any thing of the Treaties of Roschild Copenhaghen and Westphalia and these Treaties were the ground-work of the peace of Denmark in the fourth Article whereof his Danish Majesty declared That in consideration of his most Christian Majesty he consented that the Crown of Sueden be restored to all that it possessed before the War and to all the Territories States Provinces Towns and places that have been yielded up and acquired by those three Treaties and by consequent to all that the Danish Arms had possessed during that War As to the differences that heretofore happened betwixt the subjects of the two Nations by reason of the priviledges and exemptions which the Suedes as I said enjoy from a part of the duties that the King of Denmark raises in the Sound and in the Belt the most Christian King being uncertain whether or not the intention of the King of Sueden was that his subjects should any ways make use of their priviledges to the prejudice of the revenue of the K. of Denmark thought fit so to order affairs by that Treaty that Commissioners named by each party should meet three months after the exchange of the Ratifications and by the mediation of a Minister appointed by his Majesty adjust all these differences in an amicable way The Restauration of the Duke of Sleswick Holstein-Gottorp having been one of the conditions on which the French King consented to this Peace it was likewise one of the greatest difficulties that happened in the carrying on of the Treaty That Prince was stript of all by the King of Denmark only for being an Ally to the King of Sueden and therefore ought to be restored to all again To which the King of Denmark as an evidence of the desire he had to put an end to the War with all expedition consented at the desire and requisition of the French King granting that the Duke of Sleswick Holstein-Gottorp should enjoy his Territories Provinces Towns and Places in the same state as they were in at the signing of the Treaty with all the Soveraignty that belonged to him by virtue of the Treaties of Roschild Copenhagen and Westphalia That Prince could hardly pretend to more unless it were the damage that his Territories had suffered during the War by the vast sums of Money that the King of Denmark had raised therein as being one of the best Countries of all the North. The Elector of Brandenbourg the Princes of the