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
disposition to promote the common cause In effect they sufficiently perceived that they were engaged farther than they would have desired which made the Spaniard fear that if they accepted a Truce they might in a short time be abandoned by the greatest part of their Confederates On the fifth of May the news came by Letters from England that the Session of Parliament was broken up the 26. of the foregoing Month and that the King was fully satisfied with them though no Act had passed contrary to the Interests of France but that his Majesty of Great Britain had adjourned them till the 27 of May to consider of such means as might give a new countenance to the present affairs There came news also which gave some content that the first Ambassadors of the Emperor and King of Spain were shortly to come with the Popes Nuncio to Nimueguen where all affairs were at a stâ—â—â— because the Count of Kinsks had no 〈◊〉 to agree but on preliminaries until thâ—â—â—â—ing of the Bishop of Gurck the châ—â—◠〈◊〉 the Imperial Embassy The President Canon Envoy and Plenipotentiary from the Duke of Lorrain being come to Nimueguen on the 25th of May payed a visit to the three French Ambassadors in one of the Coaches of Don Pedro de Ronquillo who remained still incognito Mr. Spanheim who was at Nimueguen about the affairs of the Elector Palatine visited also the same Ambassadors who returned the Visits without any ceremony seeing this last had had the quality of Envoy in other Negotiations it was not doubted but that he carried the same character in this but it appeared afterward that he had only Credential Letters from his Master and therefore the Confederates would not admit him into their Conferences About this time the Elector of Brandenbourg wrote to the King of England concerning the Injustice that he pretended was done to his Ambassadors by France and the matter said he touched him the more sensibly that the decision of that difficulty was left to his Enemies without doing the lustice which was due to him and that he expected it from his Majesty of 〈…〉 Britain without which he would be â—â—â—ged to recall his Ambassadors from Nimueguen But that Letter and all the instances that were made upon that subject had no effect as to France which had not the same reasons as England had to condescend to those new pretensions On the first day of June 1677. Seignior Beliagua who had been Nuncio extraordinary at the Emperor's Court to incline him to contribute to the peace of Christendom arrived at Nimueguen by water from Cologne and came to the house that was prepared for him near the French Ambassadors the scarcity of convenient Houses not permitting him who was sent before to follow the express Orders he had to chuse a house in some part of the Town which might be equally distant from the French and Spaniards that he might give no cause of jealousie to either of those two Nations The arrival of a Mediator so disinterested as the Uncle of his Holiness ought to be gave hopes that his Mediation would much contribute to the promoting of the Peace because of the confidence that the chief parties concerned reposed on him Seignior Beliagua is of a very noble Family in Ferrara and rich in estate he is Patriarch of Alexandria and was Governour of Rome in the reign of Clement IX nor was that charge taken from him under â—â—â—ment X. his Successor but in exchange of the extraordinary Nunciature of Vienna from whence he was sent Mediator to Nimueguen by Innocent XI who at present fills the Holy See Although the allowance of great Nuncio's exceed not 370. Roman Crowns a month and that he was not well paid his Train was nevertheless splendid and his House well ordered His civil and familiar carriage gained him the affection of all people and his good intentions towards the Peace made him to be equally respected by all the Ambassadors Next day after his arrival the French Ambassadors sent three Gentlemen together to testifie the joy they had for his happy arrival and to offer him all the civilities they were able to perform impatiently expecting a fit time to come and salute him in person The three Gentlemen were received by the Nuncio according to the custom of Italy in the Chamber of Audience upon three elbow-chairs They spoke covered and were conducted by the Nuncio as far as the dore of the outer anti-chamber that looked into the Court. The same honour was done to the Gentleman that render'd that compliment on his part and the day following after noon the three Ambassadors of France went severally to visit the Nuncio incognito and on foot his house being distant but a few steps from thence yet they were followed by all their servants The Emperors Ambassadors were there also in the morning incognito On the fifth of June the Nuncio gave notice of his arrival to the two Ambassadors of the Emperor who had their publick audience at five of the clock afternoon and to the French Ambassadors who visited him at seven of the clock with a train of seven Coaches and six horses a piece The Towns-people were very curious to see such ceremonies but much more for this being impatient to see how a Nuncio of the Pope looked The Burgomasters of the Town and a great number of other persons placed themselves in the Windows of the Neighbouring houses to see him at his gate whilst he received and re-conducted the Ambassadors to their Coaches He was in a plain long purple habit lined with scarlet and carried a Cross of Diamonds but he was cloathed commonly in a short habit No body wondered at the curiosity of that people seeing it was a very extraordinary thing to see a Pope's Nuniorâ—â— a Protestant Town The Countrey people both Protestant and Catholick came flocking to Nimueguen for that end these found their spiritual consolation and those satisfied the great curiosity they had to see an Ambassador sent from the Pope of whom their Ministers give them an hideous description The Burgomasters of Nimueguen in consideration of the neutrality of the Town and of the Negotiation of so great a work as that of a general Peace visited the Nuncio and offered him all they could do for the free exercise of the Catholick Religion but he was satisfied to have a large Chappel only in his house whither Catholicks might freely come as they did to the French Ambassadors Chappel where service was performed on Festival-days with all the solemnity that is usual in Parish-Churches having even placed a Bell in the top of a Tower which was heard over a great part of the Town Some days before the arrival of the Nuncio a Jesuit belonging to the Family of Don Pedro de Ronquillo went about the streets in the habit of his Order this seemed so strange a thing that it stirred up the curiosity of all the people and therefore the Magistrates fearing lest such Novelties might
them off from sending Deputies the disgrace which they said it was that their Peace was not treated by their Ambassadors in the general Assembly at Nimueguen made not the smallest impression on their minds In so much that by the answer which the Ambassadors and Envoy Extraordinary made on the 4th no hopes appeared of finding any expedient of removing the impediment that retarded the Peace They said that they were overjoyed to see that the King still testified a sincere inclination for the Peace but it extreamly troubled them that they found him so wedded to the satisfaction of Sueden of which neither Spain nor the States possessed any thing of that which was to be the greatest part of it that they would always profess the profound respect they had for his Majesty and that they would comply with him in any thing he could desire of them but that they perceived not to what purpose it could be to send Deputies either to St. Quentin or Ghent since they had no expedient to offer but the evacuation of the Places that if it pleased his Majesty to propose any one for facilitating the conclusion of the Peace they were ready to sign it that they had not made any contrary engagements but with this respect to his Majesty that they should take no effect unless that he refused to evacuate the places upon the exchange of the Ratifications The Confederates were not a little troubled to see that a word of the French King could conclude a Peace which overthrew all their projects and banished those hopes wherewith they still flattered themselves But that King had so openly declared that he made but one and the same affair of the interests of Sueden and his own that unless that Crown would desist he could not abandon the engagement he had taken to procure its satisfaction Seeing the Confederates were perswaded that an obstacle clogged with such conditions could not easily be removed and the rather that there remained but five days of the time that the States had prefixed for entering into a League with England from which they could not flinch back they despaired not of seeing the Dutch Peace evanish In the mean time the news that was brought to Nimueguen of the birth of the Archduke filled them all with joy but especially the Imperialists who expressed it by publick rejoicing and largesses The French Ambassadors in the mean while received a Courier from Court and according to the Instructions that he brought them they framed the Memoir of the 6th whereby they declared to the Ambassadors of the States-General that seeing the King had no design in the retention of the places but to comply with the Ambassadors of Sueden who judged it necessary for the re-establishment of their affairs his Majesty was willing to desist from that pretension now that the same Ambassadors consented to it but in that Memoir the French Ambassadors added that the States-General should send Deputies to their King as well for adjusting the means of warranting the obligation of Neutrality into which they promised that Spain should enter as to concert expedients for procuring the satisfaction of Sueden Distrust had so seized the minds of some and was so well fomented by those who had cause to be afraid of that Peace that it was not very strange that that Proposition how simple soever it was occasion'd new jealousies in the Dutch They were afraid to be drawn in farther than they desired said that since the King was pleased to remove the great impediment which hindered the Peace the French Ambassadors could no longer persist in demanding that they should send Deputies to his Majesty unless they had some reasons which concealed designs quite different from the pretext they took so that they seemed further off than they were before The same Courier brought back the Declaration which the Suedish Ambassadors had made to the French the 17. of July concerning their desisting from the pretension of retaining the places but they were unwilling to communicate the same until they knew whether the King approved of it in the form that it was drawn up in That Declaration bore That notwithstanding the just and general design of the French King to procure satisfaction to the King their Master yet they left it to his Majesties consideration whether after all the oppositions that he met with in it it was better to delay the restitution of the places in prospect of a general peace than to grant it for obtaining a separate peace with Spain and Holland That for their own parts who had no free correspondence with the King their Master and had instructions in general to conform to the pleasure of France they were assured that the King of Sueden would be satisfied with what his most Christian Majesty thought fit to resolve upon not doubting but that his Royal prudence could find out means enough as suitable to his Glory and the re-establishment of his Ally as the retention of places was To this the Ambassadors added 7. reasons to evince that it was the common Interest of both Crowns instantly to conclude a separate peace with Spain and Holland to take off those two Powers which supported their Enemies and by seven other reasons they made appear That his most Christian Majesty might have no less renown in accomplishing his designs by other means that might make evident to the world the sincerity of his intentions and which at the same time might give him opportunity to make the ill affected who endeavoured to render them suspected sensible of his resentment By this it seemed that the Suedish Ambassadors foresaw the future as well as they could at the present time however it be they clearly saw that the obstacles which hinder'd the peace were otherways insuperable and since they were obliged to consent to the evacuation of the places they might hope that the French King would not want other means of procuring full satisfaction to the King of Sueden Nevertheless that Prince found the retention of places of such importance to the re-establishment of his affairs that not being informed in time of the urgent reasons which obliged his Ambassadors to consent to the waving of that pretension he professed himself much offended at their conduct The Count of Provana Envoy from the Dutchess of Savoy arrived at Nimueguen on the eigth he came to demand of the Spaniards the portion of the Infanta Catharina Great Grandmother to the young Duke of Savoy or at least he came to have that debt owned by an Article of the Treaty which was to be made betwixt France and Spain as it was at the Treaty of Munster and the Pyrenean What repugnancy soever he met with on the Spanish part the French obtained him his demand Ambassador Temple finding the term which the States-General had taken before they would enter into the Engagements of the Treaty that he had signed with them now to draw near came on the eighth to Nimueguen All men
the late times had interrupted The Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg who could not but with great trouble see the great disposition that appeared for the Peace of Spain made the same day a vigorous Remonstrance to the Ambassadors of that Crown They doubted not but that the glory that was to be acquired in signifying the same constancy after the unexpected signing of the Dutch Peace would render them stedfast and unshaken in the observation of their Treaties of Alliance They said that their Masters desired nothing more than the repose of Christendom but that their Enemy proposed the Law to them instead of admitting a Treaty upon the conditions which might conduce to a General Peace These Ambassadors employed afterwards all their Eloquence to divert Spain from the course they saw it taking they represented to them That the constancy of that Crown was alone capable to reclaim those who had deviated from their duty through the influence of the Cabal and the levity of some who understood not how dear faith and sincerity ought to be to a Free State That what France left to Spain by that Peace in the Netherlands was rather to exhaust its Treasures than that they intended to leave that crown in the peaceable possession thereof That they hoped Spain would not yield to the common Enemy the glory of being more constant in favours of their Allies than themselves In fine that if their Masters found themselves forsaken and abused they would have care another time how they helped to quench the fire since they saw themselves so ill rewarded for their pains On the 24. the Articles that were made betwixt the two Armies were brought to Nimueguen They were both at the same time to draw off to an equal distance from before Mons but the Troops that blocked up the place were not to retire till two days after In the mean time there were various reports of the Ratification of the States-General All the Provinces at that time held their several Assemblies to give their resolutions as to that point to the States who seemed less inclined than the Provinces to keep their word and correspond with the exactitude with which France seemed to act in execution of the signed Treaty The Heer Beverning returned to Nimueguen on the 27. where having conferred with Ambassador Jenkins who had received new instructions from England he had audience of the French Ambassadors and would have them to understand that his Masters were so far engaged to procure the peace of Spain that they would be very glad to see the difficulties that hinder'd the conclusion of it removed before they ratified the Peace which they themselves had made and that his Majesty of Great Britain had by Mr. Hyde his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary whom he had sent purposely to the Hague made very pressing instances to them on that subject in favour of Spain The truth is the expressions of the Memoir which that Ambassador gave to the States-General on the 25th agreed not with the procedure that England had hitherto held for promoting of the peace That King made known to the States that he was surprised to understand that they had signed a separate peace without including Spain and without any Guarantee for the evacuation of the places within the time limited That since the new pretensions which France formed to the County of Beaumont and the Town of Bouvignes retarded the accomplishment of the peace his Majesty thought that the condition put into the last Treaty was fallen and that he and the States-General were equally obliged to enter into a joynt War against France That if the States would refuse to ratifie what they had signed at Nimueguen his Majesty of Great Britain offers to declare actual War against France The States-General having already made great instances to the King of England that he would use his power with the French King for obtaining for them the Neutrality of the Countrey of Cleves and Juliers the Ambassador of his Majesty of Great Britain by the same Memoir assured them That the King his Master knowing it to be no less necessary to the States that their Provinces should be covered on that side than on the side of Flanders he was ready upon that account to enter with them into what measures they should judg convenient and that the obtaining of that security depended only on themselves In the mean time the Forces that were newly raised in England for the assistance of the Low-countreys passed daily over into Flanders by Ostend Some of them at Bruges upon a mistake had suffered a Riot from the Rabble upon the account of Religion and the Flemings who are Catholicks were not well pleased with Heretical succors But the Spaniards who found in their Confederates and the King of Great Britain so great a disposition of maintaining their Interests rested satisfi'd and shewed no more desire for the conclusion of the peace They found some advantage by that delay for the French Forces being now by the Treaty of Mons retired out of the Spanish Territories attempted no enterprise and France being uncertain of the issue of the Spanish peace and of the ratification of the Dutch Treaties their Forces could not march into Germany where they had already ruined the affairs of the Emperor and Empire Besides the Spaniards by the debates which they started concerning the difficulties in which they were so well supported in some manner saved the honour of their Nation and they had at least the advantage of not receiving the Law without disputes and oppositions which was so far from rendering their conditions worse that it could not on the contrary but procure for them more advantageous terms On the first of September 1678. the French Ambassadors by an Express from Court received new instructions and in the conference which they had the same day with the Dutch Ambassadors they told them That for the good of the general peace they had power to remit in their pretensions So that next day the conferences were again renewed at the house of the Dutch Ambassadors who carried the propositions and answers back and for betwixt the French and Spaniards who were in several rooms The Articles in controversie were adjusted on the mornings and forenoons meetings Next day they continued but the difficulties that were raised concerning the condition of the places which the French King was to deliver up as well in respect of Ammunition and Artillery as of the Fortifications hindered the Treaty from any great progress Those whom it most concerned to prevent the peace with Spain omitted nothing that could put a stop to it and upon a pretext that France kept not to the sole Articles of the ninth of April they made great noise in England and engaged his Majesty of Great Britain so far by many proceedings conform to their intentions that in the sequel it would not be easie for him to abandon any of their concerns One of the chief