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
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
whilst no difficulty appeared on either side of a sudden there was one started at Nimueguen which not only put a stop to the signing of the Treaty but had almost quite broke it off In the project of the Treaty there was no mention made of the time wherein the French King was to deliver up the places to the Crown of Spain and States-General being a thing not at all mentioned in the Conditions The King pretended that it was not to be done till after the General Peace and the full satisfaction of Sueden in prospect whereof his Majesty condescended so much on his part Spain and the States-General understood that the restitution of places ought to be immediately after the ratification of the Treaties Nevertheless the Negotiation was managed in that manner until the very day before the Treaty was to be signed without any thoughts of a clear explanation of that point The Marquess de los Balbases was the first that demanded an Explication as to the time of the restitution of the places The French Ambassadors suspected several persons for having given occasion to that Ambassador to start the question However it were the Marquess de los Balbases had no sooner received that Umbrage but that he went to the Dutch Ambassadors to inquire their opinions on that subject These answered that if the French pretended to delay the restitution beyond the exchange of the ratifications it was a thing not meant by them and immediately they went to desire the French Ambassadors to give them their Explication which they would send to the States-General by an Express The Ambassadors of France told them that the satisfaction of Sueden being the first of the Conditions proposed by the King their Master without which his Majesty would have declared that he could not condescend to peace it behoved that the Powers which accepted these conditions should contribute what in them lay to procure satisfaction to Sueden and that the retention of Places was the easiest means which the King had in his hands for obtaining it without demanding that the same Powers who only accepted the conditions of peace that they might so soon as they could free themselves from the misfortunes of War should engage any other ways for procuring that satisfaction Notwithstanding all the Reasons that were alledged to justifie the conduct of the French King the Heer Beverning having received an answer from the States-General declared to the French Ambassadors on the 25th that he could not sign the Peace if the King did not remit his pretensions But the French Ambassadors having no power to desist it behoved them to stay for new Orders from the Court. The Ministers of the Confederates and all the ill affected who with extream trouble saw that the Peace with the Dutch which was to be followed with that with Spain was upon the point of being signed failed not to make their best of that conjuncture which favoured their designs and to do all they could to make the Dutch suspect the sincerity of France It was the easier for them to succeed in this that those very men who in the States had been the chief promoters of the Peace exclaimed most against that new pretention For seeing they were not willing to be suspected to have yielded to snares wherewith they might have been surprized they thought themselves obliged to appear the most stedfast and most resolute wholly to break off the Treaty rather than to condescend to that point It is certain that as the generosity of the French King towards the States-General the amity which his Majesty expressed for them in his Letters and his condescensions to a Peace with them when they had greatest cause of fear had on the one hand intirely gained the hearts of the Vnited Provinces so on the other hand the enemies of France and those that envied its growth and greatness made so good use of that juncture to fill the peoples minds with distrust that they began in good earnest to believe that the French acted not sincerely with them and that every Article of the Treaty contained some meaning disadvantageous to their Country The Ambassadors of France in the mean time declared to those of the States-General on the 30th that they were ready to sign the Peace upon the Conditions that were stipulated betwixt them and that seeing they had not mentioned to them the time of the restitution of Maestricht until the 25th neither could they any sooner give their Master advice of the new clause that they would have added to the article which themselves had framed concerning that restitution but that in the mean time they offered to sign the Treaties of Peace and Commerce in the manner as was agreed upon that they might make it appear to the world that they desired not to delay for one day the signing of a Peace which all the people so impatiently longed for As to Spain the same Ambassadors said That if that Crown which had not as yet openly accepted neither the Peace nor Truce did formally declare that without delay they embraced Peace upon the Conditions proposed and did chuse one of the Alternatives touching Dinant and Charlemont it should appear that the King their Master desired nothing more than that Christendom should enjoy the repose which it might expect from his promises During these Debates the Heer Odyke second Ambassador from the States-General who had not hitherto stayed above two or three days at a time in Nimueguen came thither with his whole family He is of the House of Nassau by Prince Maurice Brother of Prince Henry Grandfather to the Prince of Orange to whose Interests he is wholly devoted and not without reason for he receives many favours from him and has a considerable Revenue by reason that being the chief of the Nobles of Zealand in place of the Prince of Orange he represents the Nobility in the States and Council of that Province He is well bred and magnificent loving company and pleasures and has a particular dexterity in inventing of them There were still some hopes that the difficulties which put a stop to the signing of the Peace would be taken away but by a Courier from the French Court who arrived July 10.1678 the French Ambas having received Order to signifie to the Dutch that the King would not remit any as thing to the detention of the places that he might obtain satisfaction to Sueden one could not tell what to think of the Peace Whilst affairs were in this doubtful condition news was brought to Nimueguen that on the sixth of July there had happened at the Bridge of Reinfield a sharp conflict betwixt a great Detachment of the French Army and a like number of their enemies who were so smartly attacked in their Trenches and so briskly drove upon the Bridg that many of them were killed and drowned with some of their Generals in so much that if the Bridg had not been quickly set on fire the same
were persuaded that his errand was not to facilitate the signing of the Peace nor to bring the distant parties to a nearer accommodation as to the conclusion of it His proceedings appeared all along too contrary to the character of a Mediator to make that to be believed In the mean time on the 9th in the evening the Ambassadors of the States-General had a long conference with the French they represented to them the short time that remained for ending that great work the accomplishment whereof was only retarded by a difficulty which ought not to seem of great importance to them in comparison of the great advantages which the peace would produce and seeing they had not time to translate into French the Memoir which they had to give in concerning that they contented themselves to tell them the substance of it The French Ambassadors made no answer to the instances of the Dutch but that their hands were tied and that without new Orders they could proceed no further At length the tenth came which was the great day that was to give a happy beginning to the repose of Europe or quite quash all hopes of it for a long time Nevertheless there appeared no hopes that the peace could be signed that day and it could not be conceived why the refusal of a deputation which was not absolutely necessary should put a stop to the accomplishment of so great a good The Hier Odyke returned to the Hague the 7th because he had lost all hopes of peace but both by reason that he believed that the tenth day might produce some change in affairs and that he had Orders from the Prince of Orange to make on the eleventh a protestation in name of the States against all that could be concluded if that day past without signing the peace he came back the same day in haste to Nimueguen The Hier Boreel Envoy Extraordinary from the States-General went at nine in the morning to wait on the Marshal D' Estrades and gave him the Memoir made the day before wherein the States-General thanked his Majesty for the care which he still took to remove all obstacles that occurred in the conclusion of the peace not only with them but Spain also and prayed his Majesty to consider that the enemies of their State having represented to them the evacuation of the places and the peace at the same time as desperate they had been obliged to enter into engagements with the King of Great Britain not to stave off the peace but to take from them the pretext they made use of and to clear his Majesty from being the cause of the same That for that end they had reserved to themselves a certain time which being ready to expire suffered them not to make the deputation that his Majesty desired but not doubting but that since all the conditions were at present agreed upon the peace would be signed before the eleventh they would not fail to make a deputation not to St. Quentin but to Paris to give his Majesty the testimonies of their respect and of the satisfaction they had from the conclusion of the peace M. Colbert and the Count D' Avaux went at the same time to the Marshal D' Estrades house but being unwilling to meet the Heer Boreel there because they designed all three to go that morning to the House of the Dutch Ambassadors and to tell them their last resolution they let the Heer Boreel come out without seeing him and immediately after they all three took coach and went to the Dutch Ambassadors It was believed so certainly that the French Ambassadors had no power to sign the peace that Ambassador Temple himself advised those of Holland to press them to it because he really believed they could not do it Nevertheless the French Ambassadors declared to them in that conference that they had power to sign their Treaties of Peace and Commerce and that it must be done the same morning if it were possible The Dutch being no less persuaded than the rest of the Confederates that without new Orders the French could conclude nothing were no less surprized than overjoyed at that proposition All the Articles about which there had been any debate were read over and they agreed to sign the Peace that day But seeing that conference had lasted from ten of the clock in the morning until half an hour after two in the afternoon and that some time was still required to write over the Treaties fair the signing was delayed until the evening The French Ambassadors had found by experience the importance of secresie for carrying on such a Negotiation to a happy end in so great an Assembly where there were almost as many persons to be feared as there were Ambassadors and where there was no less disposition to conceive jealousies of the conduct of France than it was easie for the Confederates to create new grounds of distrust and that was the cause why the French Ambassadors pretended to the last that they could not sign the peace upon pretext of a very slight obstacle to the end that the conclusion having almost nothing to hinder it they might in an instant surprise those who expected nothing less than such a change The length of the French and Dutch conference had already so alarm'd the Confederates that they were all in commotion before it was ended but they were very sensibly touched when they came to know that the peace was concluded and that it was to be signed that day without any possibility of hindering it It troubled them the more that they found England acting in their favours in the same manner as they had long desired Ambassador Temple could not forbear to evidence his discontent to the French Ambassadors who went all three together to visit him in the afternoon and to acquaint him that if he thought fit they would sign the Treaty at his house for upon pretext of some indisposition he received them in his night-cap and gown and absolutely refused their offers whether it was that he had instructions so to do or that he despaired not for all the matter was gone so far but that before night some impediment might arise that might break off the conclusion thereof That Mediator so little expected that the peace should be concluded that day that he had a Messenger ready in his house to part at midnight and to carry news to the States-General of the expiration of the term which engaged them to the execution of the Treaty that they had signed and that he might let the French Ambassadors see more clearly that the Mediation approved not that Treaty he prayed them to put his own and Colleagues names out of the Preface saying that the King their Master had not sent them as Mediators to a General Treaty there to sign a Separate Peace The Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg with the Bishop of Munster did all they could to hinder the signing of the peace They framed a
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
House of Brunswick and the Bishop of Munster who made their separate Treaties after that the Peace was concluded betwixt France and Holland received profitable testimonies of the desire that the French King had of giving repose to Europe for his Majesty was willing to ease them of part of the charges of the War by giving them large sums of Money in consideration of their good inclinations towards the Peace and particularly in favour to the King of Sueden who has not been wanting on his part to give considerable advantages to all these Princes But the King of Denmark is the only Prince who has not only reserved none of his Conquests but likewise the sole enemy of Sueden to whom France hath allowed no consideration for his charges Seeing the King of Denmark was at that time in a condition to demand Reason of the State of Hambourg in relation to several pretensions that he has upon that City and particularly concerning the Homage that he claims from it he drew all his Forces about that Town immediately after the conclusion of the Peace with Sueden The truth is his Danish Majesty had not not an Army strong enough to force such a City as Hambourg and the more because the Neighbouring Princes concerned themselves in its preservation But the King of Denmark coming at first as near to it as he pleased by reason of the neighborhood of Altena raised Batteries for his Artillery and Bombes with which he might easily have incommoded the Town October 1679 In this Instant the most Christian King wrote to the King of Denmark intreating him not to disturb the repose that the general Peace had given to all Europe almost and the Princes of the House of Brunswick who had already sent Forces into Hambourg to provide for its defence interposed vigorously for that accommodation which was provisionally concluded the first of November the Rights of the King of Denmark and of the City of Hambourg remaining as they were until that the point of Homage and the other differences which depended betwixt his Danish Majesty and that Town should in an amicable way be decided by course of Law November 1679 The chief condition of that agreement was an obligation by the Town of Hambourg to pay at Five Terms to his Danish Majesty the sum of Two hundred and twenty thousand Crowns in consideration whereof that King remitted the indignation he had conceived against that Town renounc'd the pretensions that he had to the Lands jointly possessed by Hambourg and Lubeck and promised to restore the Ships Goods Commodities and Inhabitants of Hambourg which had been seised by reason of these pretensions Thus ended that great War wherein almost all the Princes of Europe were engaged from the year 1672. But it was not enough for the good and repose of Europe that the general peace put an end to all the calamities of the War these mournful Scenes of so bloody a Tragedy required at length some pleasing Catastrophy which might sweeten the memory of past miseries and fill the people with more agreeable hopes Nothing was more proper to produce such an effect than the Marriage of the chief Princes who had had a share in the War seeing these new Alliances were sacred ties to render the Peace indissolvable No sooner had the King of Spain ratified the Peace with France but that he thought upon confirming it by a new Alliance with the French King so that though the Court of Spain were far engaged with the Emperor for the Marriage of the Imperial Princess with his Catholick Majesty yet it hindered not that Prince from converting all his thoughts towards France The Picture of Madamoiselle de Valois and the Royal qualities of that Princess made him resolve the last Spring to cause the Marquess de los Balbases to go from Nimueguen to the French Court in quallity of Ambassador extraordinary to demand her in Marriage That Minister went suddenly into France and in a private Audience which he had of the King about the beginning of May he demanded of his Majesty Madamoiselle in Marriage for the King his Master but his Majesty gave no answer to the Ambassador concerning an affair of that importance until the beginning of July at which time he declared that he granted Madamoiselle to the King of Spain That Kingdom being mindful that France had always given them good Queens the people were extreamly overjoyed at the news but the young Monarch especially who was deeply smitten with the merit of that Princess The Ceremony of the Marriage was performed at Fontain-bleau the last day of August with all the magnificence that could be expected from the French Court The Procuration which the King of Spain sent blank to be filled up with the name of him whom the King should think fit to nominate for espousing the Queen was given to the Prince of Conty who gave his Hand to that Princess in the name of his Catholick Majesty and the Queen sometime after took her Journey for Spain not without shedding of Tears which testified that the regret of leaving France was more sensible to her than the joy of possessing a Crown The Heroick qualities both of body and mind which met in the person of the Prince of Conty gained so much of the esteem and affection of his Majesty that he thought it not enough to give him a very special mark of it by making choice of him to espouse the Queen of Spain but shortly after gave him more sensible testimonies of the same by bestowing upon him in Marriage Madamoiselle de Blois whom his Majesty tenderly loves That Marriage was celebrated with so much splendour and with so universal approbation that the Court never appeared more magnificent nor better satisfied than upon that occasion The Marriage of the King of Sueden with the Princess Vlrica of Denmark was agreed upon before the rupture betwixt Sueden and Denmark by this last War yea even from that time stately Coaches and some things that were necessary for the Pomp of that Marriage were providing in France so that after the Peace was concluded betwixt those Two Kings it was not hard to make up that new Marriage But seeing those Princes had still a great deal to do to regulate affairs within and without their Kingdoms and especially the King of Sueden who was to retake possession of several Provinces and to give orders for setling them again in the condition that they were in before the War the consummation of that Marriage was delayed until the Spring In the mean time part of the Equipage for that Ceremony was preparing at Hambourg and Clothes and other things which were ordered to be made in France were expected from thence December 1679 The French Court also laid aside all thoughts of War Feasting and Divertisements were the dayly employment there and the Marriage of the Queen of Spain was hardly over when the King thought on that of the Dauphin Men cast their eyes on all the Princesses of Europe being curious to know for whom that great fortune was destin'd by Heaven but his Majesty pitched upon the Princess Anne Marie Christian of Bavaria for whom also the Dauphin seemed to have greatest inclination M. Colbert who was just returned from Nimueguen was sent into Bavaria to treat about the Marriage where he concluded all the Articles and signed the contract thereof the 30th of December Afterward the King sent the Duke of Crequi into Bavaria with presents for the Princess who being accompanied by Forty Gentlemen performed the journey by Post The Court at that time prepared for the Journey which the King designed in February to go meet the Dauphiness as far as Tholous where the ceremonies and confirmation of the Marriage were to be performed the Duke of Bavaria having espoused the Dauphiness in name of the Dauphin at Munichen The King in the mean time acquainted all neighbouring Princes with that Marriage by Letters which he wrote to them wherein it appears that the piety and great vertues wherewith that Princess is endowed have given his Majesty just cause to hope that that alliance will produce to France Princes that shall worthily answer the greatness of so August a Birth FINIS
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
the whole Garrison having retreated into the Cittadel and the Duke of Orleans who till then had only held St. Omers blocked up caused at the same time the Trenches to be opened But upon notice that the Prince of Orange marched with a great Army to the relief of St. Omer the King detached from his Army the Mareshal of Luxembourg with Eight Battalions the two Troops of his Musquetiers and some Dragoons reserving only so many of his forces as were necessary for forcing the Cittadel of Cambray This Detachment came in the nick of time to strengthen the Duke of Orleans his Army for on the eleventh the two Armies engaged near to Mont-cassel and had a sharp dispute but after a vigorous resistance made by the Dutch-Infantry the French got the day and the Dutch in that defeat lost eight thousand men that wert killed or made Prisoners many Colours eight pieces of Cannon two mortar-pieces all their gross Baggage and many Waggons laden with Arms and Ammunition for the relief of St. Omers which was the chief fruit of the Battel The news of that victory the taking of Cambray on the eighteenth and of St. Omers on the twentieth stunned the Confederates and so many Conquests in six weeks time and before the usual time of the Compagn made the Spaniards despair of being able to preserve any thing in Flanders if peace did not put a stop to those progresses but that which troubled them most was that by these Conquests tâ—ey lost all the Contributions which they raised on the Frontiers of France and which was the surest way they had to pay the small Army that they entertained in the Low-countries In the mean time the Elector of Brandenbourg being come to Wesel there was a great Conference held there concerning the Enterprises which the German forces were to undertake in three several places The Ambassadour of Denmark went thither from Nimâ—eguen the Pensioner Fagel and Admiral Van Trump were there for the States-General the Envoys of the Electors of Cologn Treves Palatine of the Princes of Brunswick and Bishop of Munster were also at that Council of War and the Duke of Newbourg was there in person But the great advantages that the French King had just then obtained diverted the designs which the Confederates had again formed upon Maestricht and Lorrain Many were perswaded that the loss which the Dutch had then sustained would incline them to treat about a separate Peace if the States-General were as desirous of it as the people and all that wished well to the publick seemed impatient to see themselves delivered from so troublesome a War They could not have a better pretext for it than the loss of the battel of Mont-cassel and the sudden return of the Heer Beverning who upon that news came presently back to Nimueguen confirm'd the conjecture that some had of a particular accommodation betwixt Holland and France That Ambassador appeared always so zealous for the real interest of his Countrey that if there was any separate Treaty to be expected it could no ways be managed but by his means and if different interests had not always divided the States-General it would not have been long before they had broken off from the Confederates whose hopes daily vanished though they could not resolve to save themselves from the misfortunes of War by a good Peace which appeared to the Dutch to be the most speedy and safe way to remedy the present Evils and prevent those wherewith they were threatned After this short but no inglorious Campagn the French King dispersed his Forces into quarters of refreshment and being at Dunkirk sent the Duke of Crequi to compliment the King of England and to carry him a Letter whereby his Majesty declared That though his willingness to come to peace did not at all promote the conclusion thereof yet he was ready amidst the prosperities wherewith Heaven was pleased to favour him to consent to a general Truce for some years as the surest means of restoring tranquility to Europe provided that the King of Sueden was of the same mind And seeing his Majesty could have no free correspondence with that Prince he prayed the King of England to inform himself of his intentions not doubting but that he was sufficiently persuaded of the sincere desire he had to second the good offices of his Mediation yea and to contribute all that in him lay for the procuring of a General Peace though he might have ground to expect considerable advantages from his Armies In the mean time it was the common discourse that the French King did but make formal demonstrations of desiring a Peace whilst he found himself so successful and so powerful as to make himself Master of all the Low-Countreys that if he did really consent to a Truce he must either think himself too weak to bear up against the efforts that were preparing to be made against him in Germany and Catalonia or that he intended some enterprise into which they could not dive Some gave out that the French King's Letter was but a politick fetch whereby he gave occasion to the King of England to wave the Declaration which his Parliament so urgently solicited and that the condition of the King of Sueden's consent would be always a sure pretext to stave off the proposition of the Truce whenever France though it convenient The same day May 1677. that that Letter was brought to Nimueguen the Dutch Ambassadors having demanded audience of the French came all to the House of the Marshal D' Estrades whither they brought the project of a Treaty of Commerce the Articles of which were extracted out of the last Treaties which they made with France But the people said publickly That that was but to amuse them to no purpose that it was much better to conclude a Treaty of Peace than a Treaty of Commerce The States General in the mean time sent three hundred thousand Crowns to the Prince of Orange to raise recruits for their Forces publishing that the loss they had sustained at Mont Cassel should not hinder them from rigging out a Fleet which they designed for the assistance of Sicily and Denmark The Confederates nevertheless began to take umbrage at the Negotiation of the Dutch the disposition they found the Sieur Beverning in to treat separately gave them the greater cause of fear in that that Minister ceased not to press them and to complain of their slow proceedings And the Duke of Zell finding himself sollicited to send five thousand men to join the Confederate Army as he had done the year before he made some difficulty and demanded of the States-General an hundred thousand Crowns and as much from the Spaniards and insisted upon this That the Emperor would cause the title and rank of Ambassadors to be given to the Ministers which the House of Brunswick should send to Nimueguen These conditions gave ground to suspect that that Prince and some others of Germany had not the same
sixth year of his age He was a fat man of great judgment and had done his Master very good service in several imployments Mr. de Blaspiel his Colleague remained sole Ambassador at Nimueguen he is as honest and civil a man as lives and loves company and good cheer but his best quality is that he perfectly understands the interests of the Elector his Master and is wholly devoted thereunto The Elector of Brandenbourg having defrayed the charges of his Ambassadors by a Steward of the Embassie which for the first year amounted to forty thousand Crowns their allowances were regulated for the future In the mean time the French King began the Campagn with his whole Houshold which never appeared in better order nor richer Equipage but the better to cover the design which he intended he carried with him the Queen and all the Ladies of Court as far as Metz whilst several bodies of his Armies kept at the same time Luxembourg Namur Charlemont Mâ—ns and Ypres the best provided places of the Low-countries as it were blocked up in so much that the Confederate-forces being divided for the preservation of these Towns were in no condition to bring relief to any of them March 1677 8 the French themselves were no less surprized than all the Confederates were when the King leaving the Queen crossed so many Countrys in so great haste that on the fourth of March he came before Ghent which by orders from him was invested the first of that month The besieged to no purpose cut their Dikes and drowned part of the Country for the King lodged his forces and pressed so vigorously the siege that in a few days the Town and Cittadel were both carried It is hard to be expressed what trouble the taking of Ghent put all Holland into They saw to their astonishment that the French who were remote on the one side approached on the other At London all the Confederates exaggerated the importance of that loss that they might excite England to a speedy and open declaration whilst the French King pursuing his conquests caused Ypres to be besieged on the 15 of March and in a few days took it though the Garison made a brave resistance The Treaty was now more than ever damped at Nimueguen so great prosperities stopt the mouths of all the Confederates Ambassadors though the French seemed nothing elevated thereby The same prosperities had great impressions on Holland the people tired out with the War and alarmed by the conquests that were made on their frontiers minded nothing but peace They reflected on the flourishing condition that the United Provinces were in before the War they saw their Treasure exhausted and the inhabitants unable any longer to support the great Impositions and Taxes of the Two hundred peny which had been raised seven times in one year And therefore the Heer Beverning pressingly urged the Ambassadors of the Confederates being vexed to see them still flatter themselves with vain hopes when the only refuge they now had was the declaration of England and indeed that was the thing they wholly applied themselves to without advancing one step towards the peace Mr. Oliver Krantz who the year before went into Suedeland to receive new Instructions from the King his Master with whom the Danes hindered the commerce of Letters was come back to Nimueguen where he found affairs as backward as when he parted from thence and besides a great driness betwixt his Colleague and the French Ambassadors by reason of a difference that had happened between the Countess of Oxenstierne and Madam Colbert the Countess after her Lving-in having been pleased to render her first visit to the Ambassador of Spain's Lady That procedure offended Madam Colbert who twice afterward refused the visit of my Lady Oxenstierne upon pretext of feigned indispositions which hinder'd her not at the same time to receive the visits of several other Ladies This published the ground of the difference which might easily have been adjusted had it happened between persons of other humours of whom the gravity of the one and the frank humour of the other would hardly agree together And that was the reason that the difference of those two Ladies and the driness betwixt the French Ambassadors and the first Ambassador of Sueden lasted even till the end of the Treaty The Tragical death of the Ambassador of Denmark's Ladies brother was also the cause that that Lady visited my Lady Oxenstierne no more Her brother had a Settlement in Schoâ—en where he was accused of keeping inteâ—â—igence with the Danes against the service oâ— Sueden he was brought before a Council of War and there sentenced to be shot to death by four Ensigns The King of Sueden offered him a pardon if he would have acknowledged himself guilty of Treason but the poor Gentleman chose rather to dye and with extraordinary generosity caused fifty Ducats a piece to be given to the four Ensigns that shot him to death The news of that did so afflict the Ambassadors Lady that afterwards she could not so much as endure the sight of a Suede The Baron of Platen Envoy from the Duke of Osnabrug arrived on the 30th at Nimueguen but seeing the House of Lunenbourg had not obtained the title and rank of Ambassador for their Ministers Baron Platen thought that taking the title of Plenipotentiary Minister he might obtain an equality with the Ambassadors of the Powers that came after Crowned heads But he succeeded not in his pretensions though by a liberal expence he did his Master credit April 1678. At the time when there was no tâ—lk at Nimueguen but of the disposition that was in England of openly favouring the Confederates and reducing France to receive the Law it may be said that the French King at the same time gave it to all Europe by the Propositions that he made the 9th of April wherein he declared the conditions on which he was willing to make peace with all those with whom he was engaged in War and whereupon his Majesty fixed as the last point he would condescend to and upon which his Enemies might chuse Peace or War provided they did it before the tenth of May beyond which time he would not be engaged to stand to those conditions I will not here insert a particular relation of these conditions neither of the Memoirs of the Treaty nor of the Treaties that were concluded because they have been already published I shall only say that the Propositions of the 9th of April were the beginning of the Negotiation of peace and the scantling according to which all the Treaties have been concluded and signed though at first nothing appeared more remote from it nor yet afterward until the day that the conditions were in general accepted The Imperialists of all others seemed the least inclined to yeild to those conditions The first which required full satisfaction to be made to Sueden was insupportable to the Northern Princes The Spaniards and other Confederates found
them so hard that as they said they would hazard all rather than accept of them And when the French Ambassadors carried these conditions to my Lord Ambassador Jenkins to be by him communicated to the Confederates he made answer That he could not do it as Mediator but that he would acquaint them with them in discourse as a matter to which he promised no answer That Mediator refused to treat on these Conditions because in the League that on the 10th of January was concluded betwixt England and Holland the King his Master had made other conditions with the States-General to which they resolved to force France But he did not foresee that by refusing to present the French Kings Conditions to the Confederates which would prove the cause of as many treaties as there were Princes and States engaged in the War he excluded himself in effect from the Mediation The news came about that time that the French had abandoned Messina and all their Conquests in Sicily People were strangely â—â—rprised to see that the Mareshal de la Faâ—â—â—â—ade who was thought to have been sent into that Kingdom with fresh Forces upon design of some new enterprise was only gone thither to fetch off the Forces that the King had there The abandoning of Sicily was imputed to the suspition that the French had of England's declaring where considerable Levies were already making Some wondered that the French King should so easily abandon a Countrey the yeilding up of which might have stood him in stead in the Treaty of Peace with Spain Others on the contrary thought it more glorious for him so to recall the succour which he was pleased to give the Messineses without having had any hand in their revolt than to forsake by a Treaty people that had implored his protection It was not to be doubted but that the present juncture of affairs would oblige the King to provide against all accidents and therefore the Marshal de la Favillade having declared to the Senate his Majesties Orders grounded on the need that he stood in of all his Forces caused his Troops to embark But many of the Messineses dreading the certain revenge of the Spaniards came in so great number on board of the French Fleet that if there had been more ships there Messina had been wholly disserted The Confederates had their eyes fixed solely upon England as the only place from whence they might expect any considerable relief Hence it was that many Ambassadors left Nimueguen Don Pedro de Ronquillo went to Brussels to return no more but it was thought the reason was because he would not be inferior to the Marquess de la Fuentes who came as it were only accidentally to Nimueguen Don Pedro de Ronquillo who passed for one of the sharpest sighted men that was in all that famous Assembly could not forbear to tell a French Gentleman upon occasion of the conditions of Peace which the French King had proposed That he admired the prudence of that great Prince and that the success of his conduct would well appear by the necessity they were like to be brought to either of making peace or of maintaining the War alone The Baron of Platen Envoy of the Prince of Osnabrug went likewise to Brussels Mr. Spanheim on the 27th of April set out for England with the quality of Envoy Extraordinary from the Elector Palatine The Count of Oxenstiern a few days after embarked on the same design Mr. Oliver Krantz soon after did the same Which made some think that the Suedes intended to take other measures fearing lest France in the sequel might not be powerful enough to buoy up Sueden from the low condition into which it was sunk Thus from all parts came bellows to blow the fire that was kindling in England and which already threatned France In the mean time the Parliament that was then sitting was prorogued until the 9th of May and in the Assembly of the States of Holland which were at that time met the Towns were divided as to the continuation of the War The propositions which the French King made to the States-General seemed so reasonable that notwithstanding the powerful faction of the ill affected Amsterdam Leyden Harlem and all North-Holland were absolutely for peace May 1678. The Province of Holland being the most considerable of all the rest always turns the balance of deliberations so that Deputies were sent to London and Brussels to represent the impossibility that the States-General were in of continuing the War And it appears by the three printed Memoirs of the Heer 's Boreel and Weede the Extraordinary Deputies of the States to the Duke of Villa Hermosa Governour of the Spanish Netherlands of the 8.14 and 27. of May that the reasons of that impossibility were no less founded on the power and strength of France than on the weakness of the Dutch and Spaniards and the unprofitableness of all their efforts At that time there began to be some hopes of Peace what aversion soever all the Ambassadors of the Confederates seemed to have to it The time prefixed by the King was near at hand and on the fifth of May the French Ambassadors received orders to declare that his Majesty required that the Messineses who were come for refuge into France should by the Treaty of Peace with Spain be restored to and maintained in the possession of their Estates and that they might dispose of them at their pleasure The Ambassadors were enjoined to insist upon that point as a matter that his Majesty concerned himself much in but that demand being made after that the conditions were proposed it could not create an obstacle sufficient to hinder the conclusion of the Peace Nevertheless it afterward produced a very considerable difficulty seeing it lasted long after the signing of the Treaty and was one of the causes that were alledged of the long delay that Spain made in exchanging the ratifications Though it was no new thing to hear of the success of the French forces nevertheless men were strangely surprized at the news which a Courier brought from Maestricht that on the sixth of May a Detachment of that Garison commanded by the Sieur de la Breteche had surprized the fort of Leew situated in a Marsh with a double Ditch well pallisado'd The barrels of Wax-cloth which were prepared at Maestricht for the Execution of that Enterprize had not the success that was expected but forty swimmers joining valour to stratagem had the greatest share in that fortunate exploit in so much that in an hours time the French were masters of a very strong place and very easie to be maintained The States-General in the mean time began seriously to reflect on the advantage of making Peace upon the conditions which the French King had offered them The Town of Amsterdam which has the same esteem amongst the Towns of Holland that Province has among the other six was of that opinion and backt it vigorously that Town hath always
particularly informed of his Majesties intentions That Ambassador would willingly have excused himself but the States Order being renewed on the 29th he set out from Nimueguen in Laid-coaches The reluctancy of the Heer Beverning was attributed to the fear he had of disobliging the Prince of Orange whose Interests did not admit of the Peace till that time this Ambassador was reputed a very good Republican but afterward he was thought wedded to the concerns of the Prince of Orange though it could not be affirmed whether fear or inclination were the cause of that engagement He is a man of a penetrating wit who knows what is good and always pursues it by just means He is assiduous and painful and hath been employed by the States in many Embassies and in all the Treaties that have been made since the year 1650 but he loves retirement and it was not without trouble that he left his Country-house near Leyden to come to Nimueguen The Heer Haren his Colleague is a Gentleman of Friesland of much credit in that Province and addicted to the interests of the Prince of Nassan Governour and Hereditary State-holder of the Provinces of Friesland and Groninguen The Heer Beverning arrived on the 30th at Antwerp and there found a Trumpeter who stayed for him to conduct him to the French Camp where having seen Monsieur de Pompone he had Audience of his Most Christian Majesty He found him so sincere in his intentions towards the Peace and so favourably inclined towards the States-General that on the first of June he left the Camp but in the account that he gave his Superiors of his Negotiation he told them that he found the French King as well informed of the condition of his enemies and of the places that he might attack as he was of his own affairs About the same time the Marquess de la Fuente gave notice of his arrival to the French Ambassadors but seeing he had already visited those of the Emperour in publick without giving the same declaration that his Colleagues had given to the Mediators to whom all the Ambassadors gave the precedency the French Ambassadors ordered a Gentleman to tell the person that came from him that they could not see him unless he first performed what was due to the English as Mediators By that the French Ambassadors obliged Ambassador Jenkins to whom they had given their promise constantly to maintain the honour of the Mediation It was alledged that it was to no purpose for the Marquess de la Fuente to give that particular declaration since that instead of one which might suffice for the three Ambassadors of Spain they had already given two But the French Ambassadors maintained that for the same reason they ought to have a third and that no consideration should hinder the Marquess de la Fuente from following the example of his Colleagues in that matter that on the contrary they had great cause to wonder that by such a refusal he would in some measure seem to condemn their conduct so that for want of that declaration the French Ambassadors saw not the Marquess de la Fuente during the whole course of the Treaty unless at the meetings of the Ladies where he used to come as the other Ambassadors did The news from England were at that time very tumultuary they advised that the King of Great Britain had Prorogued the Parliament to the third of June promising at that time to give them good news of the Peace Seeing a Prorogation of it self cuts off all that hath been proposed and treated in preceding Sessions without being concluded and confirmed this Prorogation put a stop to some pert Addresses which the House of Commons had made to his Majesty of Great Britain such as that whereby they desired the King would declare who they were that had counselled his Majesty to give the answers which he made in the mouth of May the year before and in the Month of January of the present June 1678 The Marquess de la Fuente who had not as yet communicated his plenary Commission caused on the first of June a copy thereof to be given which was collationed by the Nuncio's Auditor The French Ambassadors found it not to be in the form that it ought to be because all the four Ambassadors of Spain being named therein and being Posteriour in date to that of the three Ambassadors who were approved it seemed that by that means the Spaniards might disown when they should please all that they had done till then since that that new plenary commission might annul the former And therefore the French Ambassadors refused to accept of it and pretended that the Marquess de la Fuente should have one apart or that this last should be of the same date with the former without which they declared that they would not acknowledg him for an Ambassador In the mean time they were in great impatience at Nimueguen to know what had been the success of the deputation of the Heer Beverning who to the trouble of the Confederates went from thence to the French Camp not doubting but that all these proceedings would at length terminate in a Peace with the Dutch They thought it a matter of so much importance to divert that blow that for that end they set all engines at work but on the fourth of June a Courier from the Camp brought the French Ambassadors a copy of the answer which that King had made to the Letter of the States-General and another of the Memoir that his Majesty had caused to be given to the Heer Beverning The King by that Letter testified the pleasure which he had to see the States-General in a disposition towards Peace that his Majesty was willing to condescend to several things in favour of their Allies and how joyful he would be by restoring to them his ancient amity to enter with them into such engagements as might for ever secure their repose and liberty It can hardly be believed what good effect the word Liberty produced in the minds of the Dutch that word was so agreeable to them and so sensibly affected them that in all the impressions that have been made of that Letter in Holland the word Repose is left out to make that of Liberty sound the louder They talked publickly that whatever secret or publick enemy they might have for the future they would not fear the loss of their Liberty in which the present War had made so great a breach By the Memoir given to the Heer Beverning the French King at the desire of the States-General granted a Truce for six weeks to begin the first of the ensuing Month which extended that Truce until the fifteenth of August to the end that the States might have all the time they wished for to perswade their Allies to consent to the Peace in consideration whereof the States should promise not to assist them in any manner during the whole course of that War if they would
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
they were not as yet totally cured of the doubts they had conceived of the sincerity of France no more than of the jealousie that some entertained of the too great authority of the Prince of Orange most part knew not but the peace which was made might be an occasion to make them fall the more easily under a dominion the encrease of which was possibly one of the reasons that made them embrace the peace In fine a Courier on the 13th having brought Letters from the French King whereby his Majesty removed all obstacles that hindered the conclusion of the peace with Spain the Count d' Avaux returned on the 17th to Nimueguen and in the Conference which he had that day at the Dutch Ambassador's house that lasted till two of the clock afternoon all the Articles were agreed upon and that the peace should be signed that evening The Spanish Ambassadors caused the Treaty to be translated into Spanish and the Translation was examined by Mr. Colbert who found two or three words to be amended which did not exactly quadrate with the sense of the French Seeing the Dutch Ambassadors had been the Mediators of the Peace betwixt France and Spain their house was thought the most convenient place to sign the Peace at They caused their Hall of Audience to be prepared for that Ceremony They entered it by a great door about the middle the Chair of State stood at one end on the left hand of the door and the Chimney just opposite on the right The French Ambassadors room had an Entry into the Hall on the side of the Chimney and that which was appointed for the Ambassadors of Spain had its Entry on that of the Chair of State There was a long Table set cross the Hall one end of it towards the door and the other towards the windows but seeing the French would not have the Chair of State to be on the Spanish side it behoved to be removed and the Chimney which was on the right hand as one entred making too great a distinction on that side the Dutch Ambassadors caused it to be covered with a piece of Tapistry that none in their house might have any cause of discontent The French Ambassadors came to the Dutch Ambassadors House about nine of the clock at night with several Coaches filled with Gentlemen They were no sooner in their Chamber but the Heer Beverning gave them notice that all things were ready and having the Treaties in his hand he went and sate down at the upper end of the Table and the Heer Haaren his Colleague at the other end At the same time were opened the doors of the two Chambers and the Ambassadors advanced in equal pace from their several Apartments walking all three a breast As matters were disposed the Ambassadors of Spain had two disadvantages first that they were on the left hand as they entred the Hall and next that advancing to the Table in the rank which they were to keep the Marquess de los Balbases was forced to give his Colleagues the right hand because otherways he could not sit opposite to the Marshal d' Estrades nor at the upper end of the Table All the Ambassadors sate down at the same time the Gentlemen on either side standing at the backs of their Chairs The Marshal d' Estrades and the Marquess de los Balbases took each of them a Pen and at the same time signed the Treaty which the Heer Beverning presented to them Then the other Ambassadors took the Treaty and the Pen and signed it in the same colume every one on the right hand of his Treaty and exchanged them after the first signing The French signed that of Spain and the Spaniards that of France in one colume to the left of the former leaving room for the seals which the Secretaries took care to place at the end of every subscription This being done all the Ambassadors arose and complimented one another standing during the space of half a quarter of an hour after which they returned to their Chambers as before from whence they severally retired to their Lodgings Next day after the signing of the Treaty of Peace the Count d' Avaux with his whole Train parted for Nimueguen by water in quality of Ambassador Extraordinary to the States-General who told him upon his arrival that the Ratification of the Treaty was sent to Nimueguen where they were exchanged on the 20th with all the testimonies of mutual satisfaction among the Ambassadors who gave marks of their good intelligence by feasting and mutual rejoycings The Northern Confederates were at that time more than ever inclined to consent to a truce but the Suedes would not absolutely agree to it they would have willingly accepted of it in Pomerania because they had ground to fear that the great losses they had there sustained might be followed by others more considerable but they were not for it in Schonen where their affairs were in a better condition by the taking of Christianstadt which they had at length made themselves Masters of However the losses they felt in Pomerania were of greater importance to them than all they could gain elsewhere The Confederates at Nimueguen were at that time much surprised at the news of the death of the Bishop of Munster they had reason to fear that it might bring some alteration to the projects that they were forming However the great preparations that the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg were making against the Isle of Rugen were not at all retarded The Elector embarked his forces in several ships and was himself present at their landing which was so happily conducted that in less than a day he render'd himself Master of the whole Isle and without losing of time he went and besieged Stralsond which he took two days after he had begun to batter it Octob. 1678. The peace with the United Provinces was proclaimed at the Hague on the 28th of September and on the fifth of October publick rejoycings were solemnized throughout all the Towns of the United Provinces except Nimueguen because that Town being Neutral and appointed for the Treaty of the General Peace it did not seem expedient that they who by a separate Treaty were freed from the calamities of War should therefore rejoyce in presence of those who still lay under the burden thereof And it was upon that account that the Ambassadors of the Emperor and of the other Confederates desired the Ambassadors of the States-General that they would not suffer any publick rejoycing to be made in that place before the conclusion of the General Peace The French King who seemed to be no less desirous of the peace of the Empire than of that of Spain put himself in a posture of making the Princes who were engaged in that War to consent to it and for that end he caused a considerable body of his forces to march into the Countrey of Juliers under the command of Monsieur Calvo who possessed
the States of the Empire The French Army was in the neighborhood of Minden and began to straiten that place where General Spaen pretended to make a vigorous resistance But the Mareshal de Crequi made Monsieur Calvo pass the Weser on the 30th with a party of Horse and Foot on a Bridge of Boats which he had caused to be made whil'st he himself with a Body of Horse went to cross it at a Ford which he passed partly swimming under the Guns of a Castle and in sight of the Enemies Trenches The Castle was afterward taken by the Foot commanded by the Marquess of Vxelles At the same time the Mareshal de Crequi who passed the River only with an intent to oblige the Countrey to pay the Contributions which he had demanded perceiving that General Spaen was come out of the Town with above Three thousand men and some Field-pieces to dispute the passage of the River briskly attacqued and defeated that Party General Spaen was beat back to Minden with considerable loss of men killed and above four hundred taken prisoners so that the Elector of Brandenbourg had cause to be fully convinced that nothing but a Peace could secure him from the miseries which the continuation of the War threatned This was the last action that put an end to so great a War and if the Elector of Brandenbourg had hastened but a few days the Negotiation of the Peace which was signed at St. Germans the day before the news had come in time to have saved a great many brave men by preventing that Engagement The re-establishment of the Treaties of Westphalia was the ground-work and chief Article of the peace of Brandenbourg without any derogation from them except that for avoiding the differences that arise commonly amongst Princes about the confusion of limits Sueden yielded to the Elector of Brandenbourg the Territories which that King possessed beyond the Oder before the War excepting the Towns of Dam and Golnau with their dependencies his Electoral Highness being in the mean time to retain possession of Golnau until the Crown of Sueden should pay him the sum of fifty thousand Crowns The King of Sueden likewise gave up the half of the Tole and Customs which are raised at the Port of the Town of Colberg and the other Ports of the Electoral Pomerania and which were granted by the Treaty of Stettin in the year 1653. But Sueden had still the Soveraignty of the River of Oder the Elector of Brandenbourg having no power to settle any Tole there That Prince was not exempted from the clause which was common to all the other Princes who had made their peace with France to wit that he could not directly nor indirectly assist the King of Denmark his Ally if he continued to make war against Sueden But the French King as an effect of his good will and for the good of the peace promised by a separate Article to pay or cause to be paid to the Elector the sum of Three hundred thousand crowns in some manner to reimburse the charges he had been at during the course of the War There remained now no Negotiation of importance to be managed at Nimueguen but that of the Treaty for fulfilling of the peace concluded betwixt the Emperor and France for the Conferences that were on foot at Louden in Schonen or rather the Negotiation that M. de Meyerkron had begun at the French Court gave hopes that ere long the peace would be concluded betwixt Sueden and Denmark Upon design of hastning the conclusion of that peace a considerable detachment of Cavalry commanded by the Marquess of Joyense marched through the Territories of the Elector of Brandenbourg into the Counties of Oldenbourg and Delmenhurst and put all that Countrey under contribution The Count D' Espense passed at that time through Nimueguen going with the Treaty to the Elector of Brandenbourg and though that peace was signed at St. Germans yet the Ratifications of it were exchanged at Nimueguen the 22. of July 1679. so that nothing now detained M. Colbert at Nimueguen but the concluding with the Imperialists the Treaty for fulfilling the peace Yet he found them not as yet disposed to end that business quickly though the conclusion of it was so necessary for the welfare and repose of the Empire that without the same the peace was of no use at all to it Matters standing thus M. Colbert thought that it behoved him to put a little more heat into the Imperialists than he perceived there was and to bring them to his hand by all ways imaginable He found none more proper nor more natural than to feign a sudden departure for which he said he had received Orders and in that design he sent away a good part of his Equipage and Servants The Imperial Ambassadors made no doubt but that he had such Orders as he said and the Nuncio bestirred himself with the zeal of a true Mediator in solliciting the Imperialists to the end that so many people ruined by the miseries of War might not be longer without tasting the fruit of peace These considerations at length prevailed with the Emperor's Ambassadors for tho' they had been as stiff as to the conclusion of the Treaty of performance as they had been in respect of that of the peace it self yet they well perceived that the endeavours which they had heretofore used for explaining in their favour in the Treaty of Nimueguen what they found advantageous for France in the Treaty of Munster having only tended to confirm the French pretensions as to the Soveraignty of the ten Towns of Alsatia they might likewise be assured that they lost time in pretending to gain by the Treaty of Performance more than they could by the Treaty of Peace so that seeing M. Colbert had prefixed a day for his departure they consented to sign the Treaty rather than to leave so great a work imperfect By that Treaty which was signed the 17. the evacuation was on both sides to be made the 20th of August from all places in general which by the Treaties of Westphalia and Nimueguen belonged neither to his Imperial Majesty nor to the French King excepting eight places mentioned in the 8th Article of the Treaty of Peace signed at Nimueguen the 5th of February which the King was to possess in the Empire until the conclusion of the peace of the North. Seeing this Treaty was to take effect without any need of giving or exchanging of Ratifications it was no sooner signed but that M. Colbert left Nimueguen that he might return to France by the way of Holland So that now it may be said that the Assembly at Nimueguen ended since the chief party left it and that there was no more to be treated there Nevertheless the Mediators part of the Imperialists and Spaniards the Ambassadors of Sueden and of the States General made a little longer stay at Nimueguen there to sign the Treaties betwixt Spain and Sueden Sueden and the States