the posts which they possessed provided that the Emperor would evacuate the places which his Army held in the Empire according to the intent of the 27. Article of the Treaty of Peace At that time the Princes of Brunswick sollicited the Mediators the Ambassadors of the Empire and of France that the Treaty which they had made with France and Sueden might be declared to make a part of the Treaty concluded at Nimueguen betwixt the Emperor and those two Crowns The Imperial Ambassadors were for committing the affair to Vienna but M. Colbert gave those Princes on the Kings part an Act of inclusion into the Treaty of the Empire The Elector of Brandenbourg found now that he gained nothing by delaying to accept the Conditions which the French had long ago proposed to him for the Forces that fell into his Countrey of the Marck put him to a stand and those whom he had led into Prussia against the Suedes suffered much and were ruined by the long Marches which he caused them to make that they might come and defend Minden And therefore his Electoral Highness that he might omit nothing that would tend to his advantage resolved to Write to the French King and to try if he could obtain from his Majesties generosity what he could not hope for by any other means I thought fit here to insert that Letter at length because I found it would be difficult to express the force of so fine a Letter by way of abstract besides unless I gave the exact Copy of it it might probably be hard to be believed that agreat Prince such as the Elector of Brandenbourg would write with so much respect and submission to his Majesty The Letter from the Elector of Brandenbourg to the French King Postdam the 16. May 1679. My Lord IT is impossible but that your Majesty according to the great wisdom wherewith with God has endowed you does easily perceive the moderation and justice of my pretensions and it being so that you must offer violence to that Generosity and Greatness of Soul which is natural to your Majesty in forcing me to conditions of peace that are not only injurious to me but ignominious also God who is just seeing the righteousness of my Cause hath prospered my Arms with the conquest of all Pomerania and your Majesty makes me give back the greatest part of it which I put into your hands that I may preserve the rest which is but a small matter in respect of what I have gained with the loss of my blood and the ruine of my subjects Is it not then just my Lord that since your Majesty obliges me to part from so great and fair Cities and so much of my Enemies Countrey you should likewise oblige the Suedes to leave me the rest and that your Majesty having so far concerned your self for the party that had no right to demand any thing should concern your self also for him who had right to keep all but yet yields the greatest part meerly in condsieration of your Majesty I am informed that your Ministers object to me the Interest of your Glory and Honour and know that that is a powerful motive to animate a great soul to undertakings But suffer me to put you in mind That Justice is the source and rule of Glory and that I having that on my side it is far greater and more solid glory to support a just and moderate pretension than to favour one that is nothing less And certainly could your Majesty but hear the discourse of all Europe and weigh it with the reasons that Interest suggests to you from my Enemies I am confident you would instantly decide in my favours and so prevent the judgment of disinterested posterity Withall my Lord I am very sensible that the Match is too unequal betwixt your Majesties Forces and mine and that I am unable to resist a King who alone hath carried the burden of a War against the greatest Powers of Europe and hath with so much glory and success gone through with it But can your Majesty find any advantage in the ruine of a Prince who is so desirous to serve you and who being preserved may contribute more to your service than a bare willingness Your Majesty will certainly be the first that will regret my ruine since you cannot easily find in all the world besides one who is more really and with greater respect and zeal than my self Your Majesties c. The Duke of Lorrain also who was not willing to neglect any thing that might give the French King fresh evidences of his desire to merit the favour of his Majesty was not satisfied with the assurances which he had already caused to be given to him but likewise got the Mediators to declare to M. Colbert That the Emperor had taken into his service all the Lorrain forces and in the publick Declaration which he made at Nimueguen he said that he had delivered his Forces to a Prince at peace with France that he might make appear to the King that though he was expelled his own Dominions yet he would do nothing that might give his Majesty ground to deprive him of the honour of his favour There was no appearance in the mean time that Germany would so soon taste of the fruit of the Peace because there was no forwardness shew'd for the fulfilling of the Treaty for though the accomplishment of it was very necessary for the ease of a great many Provinces of the Empire yet the Imperial Ambassadors testified no great sollicitude for attaining to so desired an end But M. Colbert having by the Mediators acquainted them with the commission that he had received from the King his Master to act alone as to the executing of the Treaties they agreed to meet on the 22. at the Town-Hall of Nimueguen in presence of Sir Lionel Jenkins Mediator That Conference lasted four hours but without any agreement As to the explication of the 27. Article of the Treaty of Peace the Imperialists said that they were ready to remove their Forces from the places they possessed so soon as they were required to do it by the States of the Empire But the French Ambassador maintained that the Emperor ought to remove them without any requisition seeing that Article was absolute and without condition equally obliging both parties fairly to evacuate all the places which they possessed within a Month after the exchange of the Ratifications without further delay The King of Denmark's Resolution of treating his Peace with the King himself put an end to the Negotiation of the Ambassador of that Court at Nimueguen Nevertheless Monsieur de Meyerkron was not at first favourably accepted of his Majesty who refused to receive the King of Denmark's Letter because in that Letter he gave him not the title of Majesty though that retarded not long the Negotiation The King approved of the measures that were taken of treating the Peace of the North in Schonen And M. Heugh Ambassador
Confederates And by three different Articles Spain demanded the same thing of Sueden France said That the King being contrary to Justice and the obligation of the Treaty of Aix la Chapel attacqued by the Catholick King his Majesty had reason to pretend that in respect of that Crown all things should remain in the condition that the fortune of War had put them into without prejudice to his Majesties Rights which were to continue still in full force and power The Danes pretended that France should give them compleat satisfaction and reimburse all the charges of the War and by four Articles they demanded of the Suedes that betwixt the two Kingdoms and two Kings all things should be restored into the same condition as they were before the War that was ended by the Treaties of Westphalia and that the Treaties of Rochilde and Copenhagen should be abolished and that all the Provinces which had been dismembred from Denmark and Norway should be restored to the Danes that all that the Suedes possest in the Empire should be taken from them that Wismar and the Isle of Rugen should remain in possession of the Danes and that for the security of his Danish Majesty and Kingdoms they might put Garisons in all the strong places of Sueden that lye upon the frontiers of the two Kingdoms The propositions of France in reference to the Danes were That seeing the King had not declared War against the King of Denmark but he runs contrary to the Treaty of Copenhagen made in the year 1660. for performance whereof the King was Guarantee the King of Denmark had attacqued Sueden His most Christian Majesty was ready to desist from hostility on his part provided that the aforesaid Treaties and those of Westphalia were re-established In respect of France and Sueden the States General demanded That Maestricht Dalen Fangumont and all the dependencies of Maestricht should be restored to them That they were willing for the publick peace to sacrifice the inestimable losses whereof they might pretend reparation and that for avoiding all differences for the future the Treaty might contain a general and particular renuntiation of all sorts of pretensions There were afterward sixteen Articles concerning the full satisfaction to be made to the Prince of Orange in regard of what depended on the Crown of France and particularly the restauration of the fortifications of Orange that were ruined in the year 1660. and of the Castle demolished in the year 1663. the rights of Toll upon Salt and other Commodities as well upon the Rone as through the Principality of Orange the rights of Coyning of money of Laick Patronage for nomination to the Bishoprick the exemptions priviledges and other Immunities granted to the inhabitants of that Principality by the Kings his Majesties Predecessors and particularly by Lewis XIII The Estates General demanded nothing of Sueden but that the future Treaty might contain some regulations for obviating the frequent inconveniences that happened concerning Commerce France proposed to the States General That seeing the Union that hath always been betwixt the Crown of France and the States was only interrupted upon account of some causes of discontent which were easie at present to be removed and to be prevented for the future His Majesty was willing to restore the States General to his former amity and to hearken favourably to all propositions that might be made to him on their part even concerning a Treaty of Commerce And as to the propositions made for the re-establishment of the Prince of Orange the French Ambassadors made an answer to them but upon occasion opposed the pretensions of the Count D' Auvergne demanding that his Marquisate and Town of Bergen-op-zoom might be restored to all the rights of Soveraignty which the other Towns of Holland enjoyed conform to the Treaties of Pacification of Ghent The Elector of Brandenburgh demanded that France should make reparation for the damages that his Territories had sustained by the French Forces during the course of this War that all security should be given him for the future for the same Territories and that all his Allies should be comprehended in a general Treaty France made no propositions to the Elector of Brandenbourg besides those that were made to the Emperor and Empire which comprehended the full performance of the Treaties of Westphalia In all the propositions that the Suedes made to the Emperor the Kings of Spain and Denmark the States General and to the Elector of Brandenbourg they demanded of the one but the renovation of their former amity and good correspondence and of the others the execution of the Treaties of Westphalia and Copenhagen which contained the restitution of all that had been taken from that Crown Prince Charles of Lorrain to whom thâ— French King had granted the title of Duke with a general protestation made to the Mediators that the titles taken or given should be without prejudice caused his propositions to be made by which he said That as heir to his Predecessors he hoped from the Justice of the King that he would restore to him his Dutchies of Lorrain and Bar with their dependencies his titles records movables and effects taken from him and make reparation for the Towns Burroughs Castles and Villages that were ruined throughout all his Dominions But seeing the Ministers of the Confederates would not admit of the Sieur Duker the Envoy of the Bishop of Strasbourg whom the French King reckoned among the Confederate Princes the French Ambassadors made no propositions concerning Lorrain nor shewed any Plenary Commission for treating about the Interests of that Prince though much urged to it by the Confederates that by this means they might oblige the Imperialists to own the Minister of the Bishop of Strasbourg On the other side the propositions of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp which the Sieurs Vlkens and Wetterkop that Princes Envoys had put into the hands of the Mediators lay there without answer or being interchanged because the Danish Ambassador hindred the Minister of that Prince from being admitted as being an Ally of Sueden and protected by France and upon that account dispossessed of his Territories by the King of Denmark The Propositions of the Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenbourg were not made publick because the Ministers of those Princes kept incognito pretending to the character and rank of Ambassadors yea and these Princes wrote to the King of England for obtaining the effect of their Pretensions but what instance soever they made during the whole course of the Negotiation no Crowned head yielded to their demand I have here but inserted the substance of the first propositions of Peace yet thereby may be seen how unreasonable the demands of Spain and Denmark were seeing that not only the Mediators but even the Ambassadors of the States General thought them exorbitant The sixth of this Month Monsieur Stratman gave the French Ambassadors notice of his arrival who at the same time sent each of them a Secretary to make him
disposition to promote the common cause In effect they sufficiently perceived that they were engaged farther than they would have desired which made the Spaniard fear that if they accepted a Truce they might in a short time be abandoned by the greatest part of their Confederates On the fifth of May the news came by Letters from England that the Session of Parliament was broken up the 26. of the foregoing Month and that the King was fully satisfied with them though no Act had passed contrary to the Interests of France but that his Majesty of Great Britain had adjourned them till the 27 of May to consider of such means as might give a new countenance to the present affairs There came news also which gave some content that the first Ambassadors of the Emperor and King of Spain were shortly to come with the Popes Nuncio to Nimueguen where all affairs were at a stâ—â—â— because the Count of Kinsks had no 〈◊〉 to agree but on preliminaries until thâ—â—â—â—ing of the Bishop of Gurck the châ—â—◠〈◊〉 the Imperial Embassy The President Canon Envoy and Plenipotentiary from the Duke of Lorrain being come to Nimueguen on the 25th of May payed a visit to the three French Ambassadors in one of the Coaches of Don Pedro de Ronquillo who remained still incognito Mr. Spanheim who was at Nimueguen about the affairs of the Elector Palatine visited also the same Ambassadors who returned the Visits without any ceremony seeing this last had had the quality of Envoy in other Negotiations it was not doubted but that he carried the same character in this but it appeared afterward that he had only Credential Letters from his Master and therefore the Confederates would not admit him into their Conferences About this time the Elector of Brandenbourg wrote to the King of England concerning the Injustice that he pretended was done to his Ambassadors by France and the matter said he touched him the more sensibly that the decision of that difficulty was left to his Enemies without doing the lustice which was due to him and that he expected it from his Majesty of 〈…〉 Britain without which he would be â—â—â—ged to recall his Ambassadors from Nimueguen But that Letter and all the instances that were made upon that subject had no effect as to France which had not the same reasons as England had to condescend to those new pretensions On the first day of June 1677. Seignior Beliagua who had been Nuncio extraordinary at the Emperor's Court to incline him to contribute to the peace of Christendom arrived at Nimueguen by water from Cologne and came to the house that was prepared for him near the French Ambassadors the scarcity of convenient Houses not permitting him who was sent before to follow the express Orders he had to chuse a house in some part of the Town which might be equally distant from the French and Spaniards that he might give no cause of jealousie to either of those two Nations The arrival of a Mediator so disinterested as the Uncle of his Holiness ought to be gave hopes that his Mediation would much contribute to the promoting of the Peace because of the confidence that the chief parties concerned reposed on him Seignior Beliagua is of a very noble Family in Ferrara and rich in estate he is Patriarch of Alexandria and was Governour of Rome in the reign of Clement IX nor was that charge taken from him under â—â—â—ment X. his Successor but in exchange of the extraordinary Nunciature of Vienna from whence he was sent Mediator to Nimueguen by Innocent XI who at present fills the Holy See Although the allowance of great Nuncio's exceed not 370. Roman Crowns a month and that he was not well paid his Train was nevertheless splendid and his House well ordered His civil and familiar carriage gained him the affection of all people and his good intentions towards the Peace made him to be equally respected by all the Ambassadors Next day after his arrival the French Ambassadors sent three Gentlemen together to testifie the joy they had for his happy arrival and to offer him all the civilities they were able to perform impatiently expecting a fit time to come and salute him in person The three Gentlemen were received by the Nuncio according to the custom of Italy in the Chamber of Audience upon three elbow-chairs They spoke covered and were conducted by the Nuncio as far as the dore of the outer anti-chamber that looked into the Court. The same honour was done to the Gentleman that render'd that compliment on his part and the day following after noon the three Ambassadors of France went severally to visit the Nuncio incognito and on foot his house being distant but a few steps from thence yet they were followed by all their servants The Emperors Ambassadors were there also in the morning incognito On the fifth of June the Nuncio gave notice of his arrival to the two Ambassadors of the Emperor who had their publick audience at five of the clock afternoon and to the French Ambassadors who visited him at seven of the clock with a train of seven Coaches and six horses a piece The Towns-people were very curious to see such ceremonies but much more for this being impatient to see how a Nuncio of the Pope looked The Burgomasters of the Town and a great number of other persons placed themselves in the Windows of the Neighbouring houses to see him at his gate whilst he received and re-conducted the Ambassadors to their Coaches He was in a plain long purple habit lined with scarlet and carried a Cross of Diamonds but he was cloathed commonly in a short habit No body wondered at the curiosity of that people seeing it was a very extraordinary thing to see a Pope's Nuniorâ—â— a Protestant Town The Countrey people both Protestant and Catholick came flocking to Nimueguen for that end these found their spiritual consolation and those satisfied the great curiosity they had to see an Ambassador sent from the Pope of whom their Ministers give them an hideous description The Burgomasters of Nimueguen in consideration of the neutrality of the Town and of the Negotiation of so great a work as that of a general Peace visited the Nuncio and offered him all they could do for the free exercise of the Catholick Religion but he was satisfied to have a large Chappel only in his house whither Catholicks might freely come as they did to the French Ambassadors Chappel where service was performed on Festival-days with all the solemnity that is usual in Parish-Churches having even placed a Bell in the top of a Tower which was heard over a great part of the Town Some days before the arrival of the Nuncio a Jesuit belonging to the Family of Don Pedro de Ronquillo went about the streets in the habit of his Order this seemed so strange a thing that it stirred up the curiosity of all the people and therefore the Magistrates fearing lest such Novelties might
the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg saw themselves abandoned by all their Allies and left alone in the War exposed to all that France could undertake against them both by sea and land yet they could not be brought to a resolution of restoring what they had conquered from Sueden they dealt with the French King and with his Ambassadors but his Majesty gave them answer and caused his Ambassadors to do the like That he could not listen to the propositions that they made to him that he had no quarrel with the King of Denmark nor the Elector of Brandenbourg that they should give satisfaction to Sueden and when that Crown was contented his Majesty would be so likewise But the French King stopt not there for after that the Peace was signed his Majesty desiring that the rest of Germany might likewise be at quiet as soon as possibly could be on the 24th of February did by his Ambassadors declare to Sir Lionel Jenkins the English Mediator That if within the Month of March the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg did not give full satisfaction to Sueden his Majesty should then be at freedom to demand new conditions which would be that Lipstadt should be restored to the Elector of Cologn and that the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg should pay to his Majesty all the Charges of the War That Declaration of the French King and the answers which his Majesty gave to all the propositions which came short of a full satisfaction to Sueden were the more uneasie to the Elector of Brandenbourg that he had just then forced the Suedish Army to leave Prussia and to return with much haste into Livonia but more harassed with sickness and long marches than the losses they sustained in several skirmishes which happened in their tetreat betwixt the areerguard of the Suedes and some parties of the Electors Forces The Ambassadors of Sueden finding their affairs in a better condition since the peace thought themselves obliged to remit nothing of their pretensions and therefore they patiently expected the effect of the French King's Declaration and of what his Majesty was preparing to do for them They made no doubt but that all would terminate in the satisfaction of Sueden without any great effects on their part They found that the Forces of Denmark were weakned in Schonen because the Bishop of Munster began already to recall the Forces which his Predecessor had sent to his Danish Majesty who without that assistance could hardly make head against the Suedes in Schonen The Suedes reckoned the Treaty of that Bishop as good as already concluded He is indeed of a peaceful disposition but nevertheless vigorous and firm as a great Prince ought to be in maintaining his lawful pretensions by the Sword The conclusion of his Treaty stood in effect upon an hundred thousand Crowns and that Prelate was satisfied that Sueden should leave no more in his possession but only the Bailliage of Wilshonsen as a Mortgage for the payment of that sum The Elector of Bavaria on his part represented to the Diet at Ratisbon the necessity of setling the Empire by procuring the Peace of the North and that that could not be done but by re-establishing the Treaties of Westphalia and the satisfaction of Sueden for which the whole Empire ought to be concerned The Emperors Ministers who were at that Diet found that the Protestation which the Elector of Brandenbourg caused to be made there wounded the Authority of his Imperial Majesty most of the Princes of Germany saw evidently that none had advantage by the War but those that desired not Peace so that it was to be hoped thâ—â— private Interests would at length give place to the publick concern of the whole Empire and that the passion which those Princes had to spoil Sueden could not long stave off a Peace which was so earnestly desired by so many people The Emperor had already testified how much he concerned himself in the satisfaction of Sueden by his desire to procure the repose of the Empire The Letter which the Elector of Brandenbourg wrote to his Imperial Majesty the 24th of November gave occasion to an Answer which made him fully understand That he had no cause to hope that the Empire would support his Interests He complained that the Emperor seemed disposed to peace separately from the other Princes who continued in War and that the project of the peace of the Empire which his Majesties Ambassadors had made at Nimueguen offered and contained such conditions as neither France nor Sueden would have demanded especially in a time when having driven the Suedes wholly out of the Empire he had for ever setled and secured the peace and tranquillity thereof But all the reasons that his Electoral Highness alledged to incline the Emperor to continue the War and to procure better conditions for him were overthrown by that Answer which bore That the Elector of Brandenbourg would have done better not to believe that the Emperor had ever any design to act against equity or to engage in any proceeding contrary to the conclusions of the Diet of the Empire That his Imperial Majesty saw plainly that all his Confederates had made War only for their particular Interests since they abandoned him by making separately their peace But that his actings were of another nature seeing he would not divide his Interests from those of the whole Empire upon which he would have certainly drawn the utmost calamities if he had followed those examples Moreover that in the league made betwixt his Imperial Majesty and his Electoral Highness there was nothing to be found that obliged the Emperor to procure to his Highness the possession of the Conquests that he had obtained from Sueden That on the contrary the Constitutions of the Empire required that that Crown should always be one of the chief members thereof In fine that the Emperor himself was so far from listening to the reasons that were alledged for continuing the War that he had willingly yielded part of his own Revenue for the securing of a firm Peace In the same answer the Emperor put the Elector of Brandenbourg in mind That having engaged with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces in the beginning of this War with consent of the Emperor and Empire he had afterward against all reason changed his Conduct and without acquainting them joined with France that his Imperial Majesty had much ado to take him off from that engagement drawing upon himself great enemies thereby and giving him considerable advantages That by threatning as he did to conclude a separate Peace as often as his Imperial Majesty had by his Ministers made propositions of peace to him he himself had given him cause to mind his own and to leave him on his part to do as he should think good In a word that it was not for the interest of the Empire that Sueden losing the Territories that it had therein should
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
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