the Lords the States General will always acknowledge to have received in the beginning of this War very important and useful Succours from his Catholick Majesty so they hope your Excellence will do them the justice to confess that they have not been wanting in the sequel of it to testifie their acknowledgment by using their endeavours and being at extraordinary charges to assist this Country and at least that it is not to be imputed to them that the King of France has made so great a progress and that he will not make Peace but upon such disadvantagious Conditions as whereby the Country will indeed be much weakned and hardly able to maintain necessary Troops for its defence but on the other hand the Places will not be so dis-joyn'd nor the Country so divided as it was before the War which will make it easier to be kept and preserved These Defects may likewise be supplyed by Alliances and a little time may do much toward a redress of Affairs and making the King's Subjects and particularly those of the United Provinces capable of assisting one another who at present are in so lamentable a condition and so utterly unable that they cannot be obliged to a continuance of the extraordinary charges without great hazard and without exposing them to the utmost extremity and finding our selves reduced to a necessity either of accommodating with the Enemy whether we will or no or of lying down under the burden To which they do not think your Excellence will be of opinion That they stand obliged by those Treaties that had no other end than the good of the Allies and the safety of their People The said Lords the States General have also thought fit to have it represented to your Excellence That being informed That the Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries of the King of France would be authorized to conclude upon a Truce to the very last Day of December next they have Ordered their Plenipotentiaries at Nimeguen to discourse it with them and see whether they would make one for six Weeks or three Months at most Hoping that if it can be obtain'd your Excellence will not be displeased with it but agree to it for such Reasons as have been alledged to your Excellence by word of mouth and as your Excellence may consider with your self Delivered this 14th of May 1678. Jacob Boreel De Weede The Answer of the Duke de Villa Hermosa of the 16th of May to the Memorial of the Deputies Extraordinary of the States General c. HIS Excellence having seen the Memorial of the Heeren Boreel and de Weede Deputies Extraordinary of the Lords the States General of the United Provinces of the 14th of this Month and desiring on his part to contribute to the greater satisfaction of their Hi. and Mi. will agree to a suspension of Arms for six Weeks upon Conditions that shall be judged such as whereby the suspension of Arms may not produce worse effects than a continuation of Hostility and of the War well understood that regard ought to be had to the King of Great Britain's Answer to the Representation made to his Majesty by their Hi. and Mi. according to that made to his Excellence by the said Deputies on the 8th of this Month and also that the Ministers of his Imperial Majesty and those of the High Allies be acquainted with it And to the end that this resolution may be the more easie his Excellence is of opinion that the matter may be adjusted at Nimeguen or the Hague whereupon the Lords the States General will have reason to acknowledge what consideration his Majesty and his Excellence make of Representations from their Hi. and Mi. and in the mean time it is not doubted but they will use their utmost endeavours to run to the defence of the Low-Countreys with all their Forces that in this interval of time they may not suffer greater shocks Given at Brussels the 16th of May 1678. A Declaration of the Emperour's Ambassadors at a Conference Extraordinary of the Allies at Nimeguen the 20th of June 1678. WE have heard the Proposition that your Excellencies made to us two days since containing in substance That the Lords the States General could not carry on the War any longer and found themselves obliged to make Peace for such Reasons as were then more particularly deduced Your Excellencies would then have known our Sentiments thereupon and you desire the same thing again at this present Not to fail therein we hope above all things that your Excellencies and all the World will do his Imperial Majesty the justice to believe that he has always behav'd himself like a good and faithful Ally towards all both in Peace and War We will not enlarge upon that His Army has always been seen in the Field in great numbers in good order it is evident that he has imploy'd it for the good of the common Cause and that he has made it act in such places as were thought most surable 't were needless to particularize the Campagnes where all was acted for the publick good Moreover his Imperial Majesty has assisted his Allies with all the Forces he could if not with all he would The Rebellion that has been raised against him in Hungary is also publickly known and how both his own Subjects and the Turk and the Tartar have been stirred up against him and yet so evident and so near a danger has not been able to divert or decrease his Forces for the common Interests Besides that it is known he hath sent his Army into the Low-Countries to support the acting there whereby the Enemy had an opportunity to take Friburg from him which makes so much difficulty now As his Majesty has been intent upon the Affairs of the War so he has been no less upon those of Peace And as your Excellencies can bear us witness we his Ambassadors have neglected nothing that might promote it and because we believed that the most effectual mean to obtain a reasonable Peace was to act vigorously we have done all we could as hath been already said For the present it cannot be doubted but the Emperour will understand with sorrow That your Excellencies think Affairs reduced to such extremities that there is a necessity of making a Peace to prevent greater Your Excellencies have told us your Sentiments thereupon and the Spaniards theirs As for our own we find in the first place That this manner of acting from France to prescribe Conditions of Peace and admit no Treaties upon them is against the style and the custom always practis'd among Soveraign Powers and we are far from being able to discover by that any such desire of Peace as the French make so great ostentation of For the Peace it self his Imperial Majesty desires it as much as any and desires it may be general that the publick repose may be obtain'd which is his only aim and the common safety also which is the chief thing that ought to
confiding in the King's Word did their duty for the inducing his Catholick Majesty to accept of those conditions and laboured on the otherside to the utmost of their power to perswade the rest of the Confederates also with which they acquainted his Majesty by Monsieur de Beverning their Ambassador declaring that for their own parts they accepted of his Majesties Terms and desiring his Majesty that he would be pleased to agree to a Truce for Six weeks that they might labour with their Allies and get them to consent to a general Peace and that his Majesty was pleased to agree to such a Truce for Six months to begin from the first of July and as himself wrote from his Camp at Wetter the first of June upon the same foot that the Truce in 1668 was agreed betwixt France and Spain upon condition that the States would engage themselves in case they should not be able in Six weeks time to perswade their Allies to admit of the conditions then not to assist their said Allies directly nor indirectly against his Majesty or his Allies during the War and that in requital thereof his Majesty would renew the engagements which he made in his Letter of the 18th of May both concerning the conditions to be granted to his Catholick Majesty and the securing of the places in the Low Countreys leaving the Duke of Luxemburg near Brussels to stay to the end of June for an answer with Order not to attack any Place during that time and without making any alteration in the said conditions or any mention either of the Allies of this State or of giving satisfaction to the King of Sweden that the States acting candidly and being ready on their part to perfect that Treaty and having induced his Catholick Majesty to accept it also as they advised his Most Christian Majesty by their Letter of the 22th of June assuring him that they had given Order to their Ambassador to conclude a Peace before the end of that month with such of the Confederates as would joyn with them in it without so much as staying for the Truee which was to begin on the first of July and that his Majesty by his Letter of the 30th of June declared himself to be extreamly well satisfied therewith and was so far from obliging the States or his Catholick Majesty to make any satisfaction to the King of Sweden that he expressed in the same Letter that he observ'd in the proceedings of the States a good inclination to the general Peace of Europe and he perswaded himself it would not be long delay'd by such of the Allies as hitherto had not been able to help forward so great a good that his Majesty doubted not but the Peace would be concluded by his Ambassadors and should take delight in making this State sensible of its effects and in forbearing all acts of hosility in the Low Countreys and obstructions to Commerce by Sea though it be customary to let things continue in the same condition till the Peace be Ratified by exchange of Ratifications and publishing of Treaties without suspending the effects of the Peace upon any Treaty with the Confederates or any satisfaction to be made to the King of Sweden That the States may say with good reason that his Most Christian Majesty is the cause why the Peace is not concluded and not they since his Majesty advances new Conditions which never were proposed to themselves nor to the King of Spain it never having been pretended that the Peace or its effects should depend upon the King of Sweden's receiving satisfaction but onely upon the States standing Neuter in relation to his Majesty and his Allies against those that should reject the Conditions of the Project So that it is evident that the most Christian King hath promised to restore those Places to the King of Spain and to this State and that himself hath directed to have the Treaty perfected by Exchanging the Ratifications and publishing it That the States pretend to no new matter concerning the said Evacuation That the things of no small concern to the Catholick King and to this State who cannot arrive at peace and quiet in getting rid of the War if at the same time they continue depriv'd of the effects of Peace much less if they must be sent back and made to depend upon the chances of War betwixt other Parties which who knows when it will end in a satisfaction that is not limited to any thing in particular Especially considering that the King of Sweden contimes an Enemy to this State without giving order to put an end to the differences that are and that daily grow betwixt him and it and doth perpetually molest the Inhabitants of this State contrary to the Treaty of Commerce made with him That order be given to the Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries of this State to enquire of the Ambassadors of the most Christian King in a friendly and loving manner without the least sharpness whether the King their Master be resolved to persist in his demand and to advise the Estates as soon as may be that they may take proper measures and conser with the Ministers of the Confederates to know whether they can either come to a resolution to accept the Peace upon the terms offered or find means if there shall be occasion to make a more vigorous opposition to their Enemies than heretofore A Memorial of the French Ambassadors delivered the 17. July 1678. to the Ambassadors of the States General of the United Provinces of the Low-Countreys THe Ambassadors of France being troubled to see that the difficulties arisen concerning the time for the Evacuation of the places which the King their Master is willing to restore give occasion to those that are averse to the Peace to render the sincerity of his Majesties intentions suspected have thought it their duty to manifest the same to the Ambassadors of the States General by this Memorial And to justifie the Reasons his Majesty hath not to quit those Places until Sweden is entirely satisfied it will be sufficient to go no higher than the beginning of the Negotiation by which the Peace is at present so far advanced And we may say that the same are grounded on the Conditions proposed in his Majesties name by the said Ambassadors of France since they have been all of them accepted first by Holland and not long after by Spain We may farther say that when the States General in consequence of the Letters his Majesty writ unto them the 18th of May last and of the Memorial delivered the first of June to Monsieur de Beverning as also of the message of the Sieur de Lanoy to his Majesty and the Letter he presented unto him on the part of the States declared they were ready to sign the Treaty on those Conditions they obliged themselves to the execution of that which relates to Sweden it being the first of all of them And as they were all joyned together so
observed by the Subjects of the United Provinces with relation to his Majesties Subjects and to this end whensoever and as often as it shall be required on either side there shall be published and renewed within such Lands as are under his said Majesties obdience and within the United Provinces most express and most precise Prohibitions to make use in any sort whatsoever of such Commissions or Letters of reprisal on the pain above mentioned which shall severely be put in execution against the offenders besides a full restitution which they shall be bound to make to such as they shall any wise have endammaged III. And the better to obviate all such inconveniencies as might happen by reason of prizes taken through inadvertence or otherwise and especially in places remote it has been agreed and accorded If any prizes shall be taken on either side in the Baltick Sea or the North Sea from Terneuse in Norway to the channels mouth within the space of four weeks or from the mouth of the said channel to the Cape of St. Vincent within the space of fix weeks or beyond that within the Mediterranian Sea and as far as the Equinoctial within the space of ten weeks or beyond the Line and in all other parts of the World within the space of eight months to be computed from the publication of this present Treaty such prizes as shall be taken and dammage done on either side after the times prefixed shall be brought to account and whatever shall have been taken shall be restored with recompence for all the dammage thereby sustain'd IV. All Letters of mark and reprisal that heretofore may have been granted for any cause whatsoever are declared void nor may any be granted hereafter by either of the said Allies in prejudice of the others Subjects but onely in case of manifest denial of Justice which shall not be supposed to be unless the request of the party that demands Letters of reprisal be communicated to the Minister of the State against whose Subjects such Letters ought to be granted that shall be upon the place to the end that in four months time or sooner if may be he may either inform himself to the contrary or procure a restitution of what shall be due by Law V. Neither shall the private Subjects of his Majesty be liable to actions or their Persons or Goods to arrests and seizures for any debt that may be owing by his Majesty nor the private Subjects of the said Lords the States General for the publick debts of the said States VI. The Subjects and Inhabitants of the Countreys under his Majesties obedience and of the States General shall live converse and frequent with one another in all good friendship and correspondence and shall enjoy freedom of Commerce and Navigation throughout one anothers Countreys in Europe for all sorts of Merchandises and Wares the Traffick and Transportation whereof is not generally prohibited to all as well Subjects as Forreiners by the several Laws and Ordinances of each State VII And to this end his Majesties Subjects and those of their said Lordships the States General may freely frequent with their Marchandifes and Ships the Countreys Lands Towns Ports Places and Rivers of each State may bring thither and sell there to all Persons indefinitely may buy traffick and transport all sorts of Merchandises the Importation and Exportation whereof shall not be Prohibited both to all his Majesties Subjects and those of the said Lords the States General neither may this mutual Liberty be prohibited limited or restrain'd by any priviledg grant or any particular concession neither shall either party be permitted to grant to their own Subjects any immunities benefits gratuitous concessions or any other advantages besides those granted to the Subjects of the other party or to their prejudice neither shall the Subjects on either side be bound to pay greater or other duties charges payments or impositions whatsoever upon their Persons Goods Wares Ships or Freights directly or indirectly by any name or under any title or pretence whatsoever other than such as shall be paid by the proper and natural Subjects of either party VIII Ships of War belonging to either party shall always find the Roads Rivers Ports and Havens free and open for them to Sail in and out and lay at anchor as long as they shall have occasion without being lyable to be searched but with charge nevertheless to use this freedom with discretion and not to give any subject of jealousie by a too long and affected stay nor otherwise to the Governours of the said Places and Ports to whom the Captains of the said Ships shall declare the cause of their arrival and of their stay there IX His Majesties Ships of War and those of the Lords the States General and of their Subjects that shall be fitted out for War may with all freedom conduct such prizes as they shall have taken from their Enemies where they think good without being tied to any duties either of the Lords Admirals or of the Admiralty or any other and so likewise that the said Ships or the said Prizes coming within his Majesties Havens or Ports or those of the said Lords the States General shall not be liable to be stop't or seized nor the Officers of the several Places have power to enquire into the validity of the said prizes but that they may go out and be freely conducted and with all freedom conveyed to the Places where the Captains of such Ships of War by vertue of their Commissions shall be obliged to have them forth-coming And on the other hand there shall be no refuge nor retreat allowed within their Ports and Havens to such as shall have taken any prizes from his Majesties Subjects or those of the said Lords the States General but if any such shall be driven in there by stress of weather or dangers of the Sea they shall be sent out again with all possible haste X. The Subjects of the said Lords the States General shall not be accounted Aubains in France and consequently shall be exempted from the Aubain Law and may dispose of their goods by will gift or otherwise and their Heirs Subjects of the said States as well living in France as elsewhere may possess themselves of their Estates even though they died intestate and that without purchasing Letters of naturalization and so as the effect of this grant shall not be liable to be drawn in question or impeded upon pretence of any right or prerogative of Provinces Cities or private Persons likewise the Subjects of the said Lords the States may without such Letters of naturalization settle themselves in the Towns of his Majesties Kingdom for Commerce and Traffick but so as not to be capable of acquiring the freedom of such Towns without having obtain'd his Majesties Letters of naturalization in due form and the inhabitants of the United Provinces shall be treated generally in all things and in all places as favourably as his
Prize but not contrariwise and what has been said in this and the foregoing Articles for the doing of right and speedy justice to the Subjects of the United Provinces concerning Prizes taken by his Majesties Subjects shall be understood that it is likewise to be perform'd by the Lords the States General with relation to Prizes taken by their Subjects from those of his Majesty XXX His Majesty and the Lords the States General may at any time cause to be built or freighted in one anothers Countrey such number of Ships either for War or Trade as they shall think good and may buy such quantities of Ammunition as they shall have use for and may use their authority for having such bargains for Ships and Ammunition driven honestly and at reasonable prices and yet neither may his Majesty nor the Lords the States General grant the like permission to one anothers enemies in case such enemies shall be the aggressours XXXI If it shall happen that Ships of War or of Trade be driven by storm or other accident on the coasts of either Ally the said Ships their furniture goods and Merchandize and whatever shall be saved or the proceed thereof if the goods being perishable shall have been sold the whole if reclaim'd by the proprietors or others having charge of the same within a year and a day shall be restor'd without any formal process paying onely reasonable freight and what shall be regulated betwixt the said Allies to be due for saving and in case any thing be done contrary to this present Article His Majesty and the said Lords the States General promise to use their authority effectually for the punishing such of their Subjects as shall be found guilty of those inhumanities that have sometimes to their great grief been committed upon such like occasions with all possible severity XXXII Neither his Majesty nor the said Lords the States General shall receive nor suffer their Subjects to receive in any Countrey of their obedience any Pirates or exiles whatsoever but shall cause them to be pursued and punished and driven out of their Ports and as well the Ships as goods taken by such Pirates or exiles which shall be found in being shall forthwith without forms of process be freely restored to the Proprietors reclaiming them XXXIII The Inhabitants and Subjects on both sides may throughout the Countreys under the obedience of his Majesty and of the said Lords the States General make use of such Advocates Proctours Notaries and Sollicitors as they shall think good who likewise shall be appointed to them by the ordinary Judges when there shall be occasion and such Judges be thereto requested And the said Subjects and Inhabitants shall be permitted on both sides to keep their Books of Trade and Correspondence in their several places of residence in what Language they please without being liable for that matter to be molested or searched XXXIV The said King as also the said Lords the States General for the convenience of their trading Subjects may settle Consuls of their said Subjects Nation in one anothers Kingdom and Estates which Consuls shall enjoy such Rights Liberties and Franchises as belong to them by reason of their function and imployment and they shall be settled in such places as by common consent shall be Judged necessary XXXV His Majesty and the said Lords the States General shall not suffer any Vessel of War or other set forth by Commission or for the service of any Prince Commonwealth or Town whatsoever to come and make prize within the Ports Havens or any Rivers belonging to them upon one anothers Subjects and in case any such thing shall happen his said Majesty and the said Lords the States General will use their authority and power to cause restitution or reasonable reparation to be made XXXVI If through inadvertence or otherwise there should be any want of due observance of this present Treaty or contraventions to the same on his Majesties part or of the said Lords the States General and their Successours it shall remain in force notwithstanding without coming for such cause to a breach of Confederation Friendship or good Correspondence but such contraventions shall be speedily repaired and if they shall be occasion'd through the fault of any private Subjects they only shall be punished and chastised XXXVII And for the better assurance for the time to come of Commerce and Friendship between the Subjects of the said King and those of the said Lords the States General of the United Provinces of the Low Countreys it is accorded and agreed That if hereafter any interruption of friendship or breach shall happen between the Crown of France and the said Lords the States General of the said United Provinces which God forbid nine months time shall always be allowed to the Subjects of both parties after such rupture to retire and withdraw their effects and transport them whither they please which likewise they shall be permitted to do as also to sell and transport their goods and movables with all freedom nor shall any hindrance be given them nor any proceedings be during such time of nine months to seize their effects much less to arrest their Persons XXXVIII The present Treaty of Commerce Navigation and Marine shall be in force Five and twenty years to begin from the day of Signing and the Ratifications shall be made in due form and be exchanged on both sides within the space of six weeks to be computed from the day of Signing A Formulary for Pass-Ports and Letters to be granted by the Admiralty of France to Ships outward bound in pursuance of an Article of this present Treaty LEWIS Comte de Vermandois Admiral of France To all that shall see these presents Greeting We do you to know that we have given leave and prmission to Master and Governour of the Ship called of the Town of of the burthen of Tuns or thereabout lying at present in the Port and Haven of to sail to laden with after his Ship shall have been search'd who before he depart shall make oath before such Officers as have the jurisdiction of Marine causes that the said Vessel belongeth to one or more of his Majesties Subjects the Certificate of which oath shall be annex'd to these presents as also to keep and cause to be kept by his Ships crew the ordinances and regulations for maritime affairs and shall enter in the office a Catalogue signed and certified of the names and surnames and the places of birth and abode of his Ships crew and of all such as he shall have on board whom he may not take in without the knowledge and leave of the Officers for Maritime affairs and in every Port or Haven where he shall enter with his Ship he shall shew to the Officers and Judges of Maritime causes this present Licence and shall give them a faithful account of what shall have happened in his Voyage and shall carry the Kings Flags Arms and Ensigns and ours during
when his Provinces were attack'd by the Arms of the King of France and they assure themselves that your Excellence is perswaded of it since your Excellence sees how much their Hi. and Mi. do to this day contribute to the preservation of his Majestie 's Country And notwithstanding this War has been continued many years and at an infinite expence yet the effects have been so unfortunate that the King of France being puff'd up with his Victories and Conquests will not come out of it but upon the Conditions that have been delivered at Nimeguen to the Mediators which your Excellence knows what they are Which Conditions considered in themselves are indeed too hard and of such a nature as they ought to be rejected which also their Hi. and Mi. would do in regard of their Allies and chiefly in regard of his Catholick Majesty as concerning the Low-Countries in the preservation whereof they find themselves so deeply interessed But when their Hi. and Mi. reflect upon the Power of the King of France which hitherto and during this War has been such that he has not only made Head against the Armies of his Catholick Majesty and those of the United Provinces and their Allies but has made great Conquests in divers Parts they conceive a just apprehension that these Conditions how hard soever ought yet to be prefer'd considering the present state of Affairs to a continuance of the War which in all probability would prove very fatal Which makes our Masters the States General of the Low-Countries incline to look upon these Conditions as receivable if they should have the happiness to find their Allies and especially his Catholick Majesty in the same Sentiments And should very much wish That your Excellence on the behalf of his Catholick Majesty would concur with them to make them as agreeable as may be to the other Allies And in the mean time give Order to labour for a prolongation of the Term which the King of France has given by his Proposition at Nimeguen We expect your Excellencie's Answer as soon as may be upon the premisses as being the only Subject of this Commission Brussels the 8th of May 1678 Jacob Boreel De Weede Answer of the Duke de Villa Hermosa of the 9th of May to the Memorial of the Deputies Extraordinary of the States General of the United Provinces of the 8th of May. HIS Excellence having considered this Memorial and that the loss of Flanders by the hardness of the Conditions of France will be greater and more dishonourable than by the ill success of Arms must hope that the States General will not further it since his Majesty wholly for its preservation has exposed himself to the manifest hazards of War which he has suffered so much by Also the punctual and religious observance of such strict Treaties with his said Majesty to which the publick Faith obligeth them will not permit him to make a doubt of it especially since his Majesty hath and always will havè a firm desire and intention to contribute as much as possibly he can to their preservation and that in regard of the Expedient propos'd of making new Alliances for the making sure the said impracticable Conditions of France it is to be considered that the time in which precisely they must be concluded can be no other than that of the Campagne from which by means of our so late Alliance with his Majesty of Great Britain we ought to expect by a more prosperous success some redress of Affairs and it would be a breach of Faith to abandon his Forces in this Conjuncture by admitting Conditions so forlorn and at the same time failing in our Fidelity to his Imperial Majesty and the other High Allies especially since the Emperour is resolv'd to run to the defence of Flanders rather than to the reparation of his own losses and the other High Allies are upon a Treaty of joyning and imploying all their Forces against France His Excellence being able likewise to assure them That the King his Master since the reduction of Sicily is resolv'd to imploy all his Power as his Excellence likewise all his Cares for the defence and re-establishing of this Country to which his Excellence hopes the States General will concur on their part in an Occurrence which as it is urgent so it concerns the greatest good of the common Cause as being the only mean to obtain a just and lasting Peace Given at Brussels the 9th of May 1678. A Memorial of the Deputies Extraordinary of the States General c. to the Duke de Villa Hermosa c. of the 14th of May. THE Lords the States General of the United Provinces having seen and perused your Excellencie's Answer to the Memorial that we their under-written Deputies Extraordinary presented the 8th of this Moneth could have wished That your Excellence had not only considered the Conditions offered by the King of France as they are in themselves but had also made reflexion upon the present state of Affairs and considered that the King of France being become Master of all the Frontier Towns of his Catholick Majestie 's Netherlands was entred into the heart of them and had made himself Master even of the Town of Gand being very strong in the Field and at the Head of a very formidable Army ready for any enterprize and in the greatest appearance in the world of succeeding and conquering where he will Whereas the Troops of the Allies not being yet come together much less in a condition to make Head against him and oppose his designs Hence it is that their Hi. and Mi. apprehend with great reason that what remains to the King of Spain in the Low-Countries will infallibly be lost if it be not saved by accepting the Conditions of Peace that are offered and it would be a thing very sensible to their Hi. and Mi. if what his Catholick Majesty has yet left in the Low-Countries should be so lost after such infinite expences and so much blood spilt for their preservation Your Excellence knows but too well by what has lately happened what Account one has to make of the Troops of the Confederates upon occasion The Assistance which is expected from his Majesty of Great Britain is very considerable and will be of great support to our Party but it deserves your Excellencie's consideration that those Troops are but newly raised and that it will require some time to enure them to the War that as yet there are but few of them in these Parts and we are uncertain when the rest will come whereas on the other side every moment is precious and great misfortunes may happen in a short space And moreover the States as they have made it to be declared to your Excellence are not in a condition to carry on the War in such manner and with so much vigor as they have done hitherto seeing their Treasures are exhausted and their People not able to contribute so much any longer As
to such prejudicial Councels and to further the suffering an Ally and Neighbour to be oppressed that has given such extraordinary proofs of his Friendship to their State and that in favour of a party with whom at present they are engaged in open War and that expresses by his excessive demands so little of an inclination to come to such a reconciliation as may be fair and at all proportionable to the mischiefs and inconveniences that this fatal War has brought and continues to bring upon Christendom I shall leave the rest to the wise discussion of their Hi. and Mi. by reason of whose fidelity affection and Justice his Electoral Serenity is well assured that they will testifie in this occurrence as great a passion for the security and defence of his Provinces of Cleve which have always serv'd for a Bar and whose preservation has always been so very dear to them as his Electoral Serenity has an affection to their Common-wealth upon so many occasions and of which he has given such remarkable instances especially since the publick Faith and the Welfare and security of their own Estate are equally concern'd in the Interest of it The Protestation of the Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries of the King of Denmark the Elector of Brandenburg c. against the separate Peace of the States General of the United Provinces Made the 10th of Aug. 1678. at Nimeguen THe Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries and Ministers underwritten understanding with the utmost astonishment that there was a likelihood of the Lords Ambassadors of the States General of the United Provinces resolving to Sign this day a separate Treaty of Peace betwixt the Most Christian King and their Hi. and Mi. which has been likewise confirm'd to them by some of the said Ambassadors themselves though hitherto they have not made any communication of the Contents of their Project nor held any particular Conference upon a matter of so great consequence in conformity to Treaties by which their Hi. and Mi. are obliged so to do The said Ambassadors and Plenipotentiary Ministers have thought it their duty to represent to the Lords Ambassadors of their Hi. and Mi. the disagreement of this proceeding with the Tenour of the Alliances so solemnly struck with their Lords and Masters wherein the Lords the States promise upon their Word and upon the credit of the publick Faith never to think of making separate Treaties with their common Enemy that was upon the point of overturning their Common-wealth and from whose oppression they were saved onely by such assistances and diversions as were given from time to time in divers parts of the Empire for their sakes Then they required with all the instances imaginable and conjur'd the said Lords Ambassadors by what ever is held most sacred and inviolable not to precipitate the Signing this separate Peace being directly opposite to the said Alliances and to allow them a little time to give their Lords and Masters necessary information since that delay could not be at all prejudicial to them and that request being but what every one might expect from the publick Faith and the sincerity of the Lords the States General They promise themselves the more assuredly that both will be granted without any difficulty especially because there seems not to be any apparent necessity why their Hi. and Mi. should take up a resolution so contrary to all that they have taken and concerted heretofore and even after they had exhorted their Allies afresh to stedfastness in the observance and performance of the Treaties and after the said Allies our Lords and Masters had taken vigorous resolutions thereupon and in compliance with their desires had sent such numerous Forces into the heart of the Spanish Low-Countreys to save Mons from the extremity to which the Arms of France had reduced it and to second and execute what other designs and exploits Spain and the State under the conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange should resolve upon for the good of the common cause and the safety of the Low-Countreys in particular They have ordered moreover some select Troops that are now under march to draw towards the Muse and to be employ'd for the same purpose so that with God's assistance we have yet reason to hope for good success in so just and good a Cause However if the Lords the States should find themselves obliged by some indispensable necessity the occasion and force whereof is for all that unknown to the Allies to proceed with so much precipitation to a separate Peace with France the said Ambassadors and Ministers declare by this Memorial that their Lords and Masters are disposed and ready to enter with them into this Treaty and to conclude a Peace with his Most Christian Majesty in conjunction with the Lords the States General upon such honourable and equitable Conditions as shall be agreed on in a short time towards the conclusion whereof they will bring all manner of facility and good offices on their parts We promise our selves that the said Lords Ambassadors will not refuse so just and generous an offer nor can we be perswaded that the intention of their Hi. and Mi. is not exactly conformable to this just desire or that they can so much as conceive a thought of abandoning their good and faithful Friends Neighbours and Allies that have employed what ever was most dear and precious to them in the world to save them from the ruine that threatned them and to re-establish them in their former Liberty and Splendour At least we promise our selves from their Justice and sincerity that they will not conclude upon any thing that shall not comprehend the Interests of their Allies which in effect are their own nor joyn in the oppression and ruine of those that have so faithfully assisted them against so powerful an Enemy who on the one hand makes so much show of the sincerity of his desire to restore Peace to Christendom and on the other refuses to admit of such means as are capable of procuring it besides that this abandoning their Allies and the Neutrality that they pretend to settle was not so much as required by the Most Christian King in the platform of Conditions of Peace which he Projected the States having always declared against accepting the Cessation for six weeks which the Most Christian-King afterwards offered because the Neutrality was made a Condition of it which would have put them out of a possibility of assisting their Allies But if the worst came to the worst and that notwithstanding all these just and equitable Remonstrances they will proceed to Sign a Treaty of this nature the said Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries and Ministers of the High-Allies can do no other then solemnly and most formally to protest against this separate Treaty as being directly contrary to the Alliances and the solemn assurances that have been given from time to time of the stedfastness and exactness of their Hi. and Mi. in observing and fulfilling their Treaties