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
occasion some disorder published next day an Order under the pain of corporal punishment That no body should say or do any thing to any person whatsoever whatever Ecclesiastical habit they should see them wear But Don Pedro de Ronquillo thought it not fit that that Jesuit should appear any more abroad in that manner The Nuncio himself left two Capucins of his houshold at Cleves and suffered them not to come until he was assured that they should enjoy a full liberty Don Paolo Spinola Doria Marquess de los Balbases first Ambassador of Spain arrived at Nimueguen the 4th of June and seeing he came from Germany he took passage down the Rhine as the Nuncio had done That Ambassador is a Genoese a Grandee of Spain and Grandchild to the great Spinola he hath been General of the Cavalry of Milain and since Governour of that State for a time He came from the Extraordinary Embassy of Vienna where he had continued seven years He is a tall lean man most civil and well bred and married the Sister of the Constable of Colonna Their eldest daughter is married to one Spinola Duke of St. Peter one of the richest Gentlemen in Italy and who lived at Nimueguen until the conclusion of the Treaty This Ambassador had another Daughter with him married by Proxy to the Marquess Quintana Son to the President of Castile He had likewise an only Son ten years old who was called Duke of Sesto This great Family made a very numerous Train yet among so many servants there were not above five or six native Spaniards When the French Ambassadors came to Nimueguen finding that the Catholicks though under the Diocess of the Bishop of Ruremond followed the old stile according to the practice of Guelderland they resolved likewise to conform to it The Catholicks of the Countrey have a dispensation so to do to the end they may celebrate Easter and the chief Festivals of the year at the same time the Protestants do and not appear singular in a Countrey where they are with much pain and difficulty suffered The French Ambassadors followed the same stile that they might not seeem to make a kind of Schism betwixt themselves and the Catholicks of the Town and that their Chappel where five or six Masses were said a day might serve for the devotion of the Catholick people The Imperial and Spanish Ambassadors did not at first conform to that stile but the Nuncio resolved at Cologn to follow it and even kept the Rogations at Nimueguen according to that custom Nevertheless next day about ten of the clock at night he sent to acquaint the French Ambassadors That he was to observe the New Stile according to which the next day was the Vigil of Pentecost The Ambassadors sent the Nuncio back word That having taken the Old Stile upon very pressing considerations and particularly that they might conform themselves to the Orders of the Bishop to whom the Catholicks of the place were subject they could not leave it off The Nuncio made answer That it was not his intention to oblige any body and that what he did concerned only his own Family Nevertheless he altered his opinion eight days after The Imperial and Spanish Ambassadors and all the Ministers of the Catholick Princes followed the example of the French Ambassadors and all the Chappels observed only one stile At that time the Nuncio rendered his visits of ceremony to the Imperial and French Ambassadors on one and the same day The French met at the house of the Marshal D' Estrades to receive him resting satisfied with that single visit instead of having each of them one as the Nuncio offer'd though he afterward saw them severally His Train made a great show he had three Coaches with six horses and many servants in Livery cloathed after the Roman fashion with hanging sleeves some laced all over and others of Velvet with long cloaks But all the other Ambassadors had their Equipage after the French Mode My Lord Barclay having at that time obtained leave to return to England by reason of his age and indisposition parted from Nimueguen the fifth of June The truth is the Negotiation was at such a stand that there was no discourse of any affairs then and both Mediators and Ambassadors had time to play At the same time news came from England that the Parliament being assembled the fourth of June had made a pressing Address to his Majesty of Great Britain to incline him to make a League offensive and defensive with the States of the Vnited Provinces for opposing the progress of the French Conquests The King was displeased at this Address and made them answer That it did invade so essential a Prerogative of the Crown that the like had never been done but during the Civil Wars That it did not belong to the Parliament to prescribe to him what kind of Leagues and far less with whom he should make them That it seemed rather that he should engage in it by their permission than at their sollicitation That foreign Princes might have cause to doubt whether the Soveraignty was in his person and refuse to treat for the future with a King that had only the bare name In a word that he could not suffer that prerogative to be invaded which no consideration should ever make him to renounce seeing it was the foundation of the Crown and Government And hereupon he dismissed the Parliament without having obtained from them the Supplies he demanded for procuring the satisfaction and safety of his subjects June the 23. the Marquess de los Balbases who desired to begin to appear in publick sent on his own and Colleagues parts to compliment all the Ambassadors of the Princes but the French received and rendered them the first of all The substance of the compliment that was made to every Ambassador in particular by a Gentleman accompanied with two others was That the Ambassadors of Spain upon their arrival at Nimueguen sent to salute their Excellencies to testifie the joy they had to find themselves in so illustrious an Assembly and to have occasion of treating with persons of so known worth as their Excellencies were and that his Master impatiently expected that his Colleagues were in a condition to be treated according to their character that he might come in person to testifie his joy to their Excellencies The Marquess de los Balbases gave thereby to understand that Don Pedro de Ronquillo and Mr. Christin had not as yet the quality of Ambassadors but it was known that the Court of Spain had sent to the Duke de Villa Hermosa Plenary Commissions in divers forms and left to the Marquess his disposal the characters that he pleased to give them but he being no Native Spaniard and being to treat about an affair of so great importance for Spain which he well foresaw would not prove advantageous for that Crown it was his interest as well as the dignity of his Embassy that the
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
not incline them to embrace the conditions offered by the King it being unjust that his Majesty in the condition that his forces were in should lose the occasions of action and should engage himself of new as he had already done by the Letter of the 18th of the foregoing Month. But to evidence the sincerity of his intentions his Majesty at the same time gave orders to the Mareshal of Luxembourg General of his Army not to attack any place during all that time and to stay for the answer of the States in the Neighbourhood of Brussels The good disposition that the King of England seemed to be in at that time contributed much to the advancement of the Peace The Heer Beverning who came to the Camp from London brought word that the King of England approved all the proceedings that the Dutch had made towards the Peace And by the Harangue that his Majesty of Great Britain made to the Parliament the third of June he declared that none were to be blamed but the House of Commons if he could not engage in the War And the Chancellor told the whole Parliament that their manner of acting could not but provoke a powerful Prince who might resent it and for that reason that they ought to strengthen themselves at home and abroad for their own security against all kind of attempts In the mean time the Confederates set all Engines at work to incline the King of England to favour their interests The Marquess of Borgomanero Envoy Extraordinary from Spain at that Court on the fifth of June represented to his Majesty of Great Britain how necessary it was that he should send his Fleet and Army towards the Low-countries for a curb to the common enemy and a Guard to all Christendom against the oppression and ruin wherewith it was threatned by the most Christian King and how advantageous it would be for his Majesty to make a League offensive and defensive with the Catholick King his Master and the Emperour who would prove his constant Allies in all the concerns of the common cause The Ambassadors of the Confederates held long and frequent conferences at Nimueguen but they found it difficult to agree upon the answer that they were to give upon the communication which the Ambassadors of the States-General had made to them of the Memoir that the French King had given to the Heer Beverning and whereupon the Ambassadors urged their resolution that they might take their measures accordingly at length all of them gave their Answers in their Conference of the tenth The Imperial Ambassadors gave it in Latin and very long but the purport of all was that they expected from the candour and equity of the States-General that they would do nothing to the prejudice of the Emperour the Empire and all the Confederates who were only engaged in the present War for the preservation of the Vnited-Provinces which the States themselves knew sufficiently without being put in mind of it That they had to do with an enemy whose design was only to divide the Confederates that he might the more easily surprize them all That if there was an absolute necessity that they must make Peace the Emperour offered to concur with them in it upon fair and honest conditions but that they would not take such precipitate resolutions as were demanded by the enemy That they well perceived the design was only to throw them upon a precipice since they were not so much as allowed to treat of those matters without the decision of which no Peace could ever be had That they intreated them not to be over-hasty That the general Peace was ruined if France perceived that the States-General had a design to treat separately assuring them that when the Emperour should make Peace he would not be less careful of the needs of the Vnited Provinces and Low-countries than he had been zealous in undertaking and maintaining the War for their defence The Ambassador of Denmark made answer on the same subject That he believed that the States-General would never do any thing to the disadvantage of his Danish Majesty who had exposed his person and spent his revenues to comply with the engagements into which he had entered with them That if they were absolutely obliged to accept of Peace they expected that they would not do any thing that might force those whose affairs were in a better posture to accept of absolute conditions That it was not fit that the constancy which the French shewed to their Allies should triumph over the firmness of their Union that they ought to guard against the inconveniencies that the least precipitancy might plunge them into and that provided the King his Master found his security in a Treaty he would sacrifice all his interests to the publick weal. The Ambassador of Brandenbourg assured himself that the States-General would promise nothing to the French King that might be contrary to the League that the Elector his Master had with them since he had neither spared his Blood nor Countries to preserve their Republick from utter ruin and that far less they would conclude a Peace with France till they first procured his Master the satisfaction they had promised him by their Treaty of Alliance That as to the rest his Electoral Highness desired nothing more than a reasonable Peace for procuring whereof he should always make appear his moderation and the respect he had to the urgent reasons which the States-General pretended for concluding of Peace Whilst the Confederates made all these Remonstrances to the Ambassadors of the States-General at Nimueguen it was known that the Spaniards declared at the Hague that they accepted the conditions offered by France and as the Deputies of the States-General in their Memoirs presented to the Duke de Villa Hermosa alledged the weakness of Spain as one of the strongest reasons that disabled them longer to continue the War so upon this occasion the Spaniards failed not to do the like and to impute the necessity they were in of accepting the Peace on the inability of the States-General of supporting any longer the charge and burden of so great a War The Imperialists in the mean time and all the Ministers of the Northern Princes exclaimed against the inclination that the Spaniards and Dutch had to so disadvantageous a Peace they made their own interpretations of the French Kings condescensions saying that France laid snares for them which they could not discover until they were out of condition of avoiding them or that otherwise there must needs be some internal weakness in the forces of France how formidable soever they appeared that standing of it out would do the business and that it was too base to submit to an absolute Law whilst they were not yet out of hopes of gaining those advantages that would render their condition better The Dutch who saw evidently by the Declarations of the Ambassadors of their Confederates that their design was to give no positive answer
Colbert at that time had only the character of Envoy Extraordinary for mediating the differences that were at that time betwixt the States General and the Bishop of Munster and Monsieur Colbert being in the Electors Countrey it was not his part to raise any dispute upon that head The Ambassadors of the Emperor complained also of the publick refuse which the French made of the visit of Mr. Stratman The cause of those misunderstandings was imputed to the Spaniards who finding themselves always thwarted in the equality which they so strongly pretend to with France contend not for it with other Crowns to the end they may unite them all and so oppose themselves with greater force to the precedency which France claims or at least to disturb it as much as they can in the possession of an advantage which they cannot obtain for themselves There was an innovation made at Nimueguen of what was practised at Cologn in regard of the Mediators to whom in that quality all the Powers had granted the precedency in the affairs that concerned the Mediation And the Mediators on their parts being desirous to prevent all occasions of quarrels which frequently happen upon occasion of Livery-men especially when many of different Nations meet together in one place perswaded all the Ambassadors in the first place to command their Pages and Lacqueys to wear no swords which was punctually observed And seeing most of the streets of Nimueguen are so narrow that two Coaches can hardly pass a breast the Mediators drew up a writing to be signed by all the Ambassadors by means whereof they did sufficiently obviate all the inconveniences which were to be feared during the Treaty That writing bore That in consideration of the narrowness of the streets when two Coaches going contrary ways should meet that Coach which should be least advanced into the street should put back without any consequence to be drawn therefrom or prejudice to any ones pretensions that he that should most punctually obey that order should be held to be the most inclined towards the peace the matter being thus concerted for no other end but for avoiding all occasions of quarrelling and to keep those who laboured for the restauration of the publick repose in goodintelligence together The French Ambassadors were the first who signed that writing the Swedish did the like and the Danish Ambassadors followed their example but the matter went no farther so that it was to be feared that some unhappy accident might afterwards happen amongst so many Ambassadors but the order that was made for preventing any disorder amongst servants was punctually put in execution There happened at that time long debates concerning the manner of treating about the affairs of the peace and that matter was not easily adjusted all the Confederates were for having it managed only by writing The French Ambassadors maintained that having given in their first propositions in writing the way of treating by word of mouth with the Mediators was the shortest The Confederates would not condescend to this but made very long answers in writing to the French propositions which seemed rather invectives than answers to the proposals of peace But the French waving all these disputes which produce always strife gave their answers verbally by the Mediators the Dutch were the first that approved this method and all the Confederates at length yielded to this way of treating as the most expedient for diispatching in a short time Don Pedro de Ronquillo continued still incognito at Nimueguen whither Mr. Christu arrived on the 18th of March. This Third Ambassador of Spain is a Fleming Doctor in the Laws and Counceller in the Flemish Council in Spain who hoped to have the Office of Chancellour of Brabant in recompence of his services In the mean time the News of the siege of Valenciences before which the King came the first of this Month made all people very impatient to know the success of that enterprise it being known what care and circumspection had been taken for the preserving of that place but the news that came of the Trenches being opened the Ninth in the night time was quickly followed with the taking of the place on the 17th about Nine in the morning The manner of taking Valenciennes surprized all men and daunted the Spaniards The King commanded the Counter-scarp to be attacqued with two Half-moons that flanked a Crowned work and that they should lodg on the front of that work which covers another that is before the Gate of the Town But the Kings forces marching cross those Half-moons attacqued that great Crowned-work on the front and sides and entered it on all hands killed or made Prisoners all that opposed them and pursuing those that saved themselves in the Town gained the Bridg and second Work and by a Wicket where they could not pass but one after another they made themselves masters of the Town-gate so that in less than half an hour the King saw a place of that consequence taken by force April 1677 The Confederates hoped that the siege of Valenciennes begun in so bad a season would have ruined a great part of the Kings forces but that Conquest with others that were foreseen would follow much disheartened them Nevertheless the Treaty of Peace went on but very slowly for all that The Confederates grounded their hopes on the great Exploits that the German Forces were to perform in Alsatia and on the Declaration of England which they expected in their savours not doubting but that the Parliament would sollicite the King to join with them for opposing the progress of the French but the Confederates at that time found themselves much disappointed in their Expectations The two Houses of Parliament represented to the King of England the necessity of putting a stop to the progress that the French made in the Low-countries The King answered those that made him the Address from the Parliament That it was the thing he had in his thoughts and that he should take care that the French should not be in a condition of giving jealousie to his Subjects and that his Subjects should have no cause to have any His Majesty of Great Britain was afterwards informed that Don Bernardo de Salinas Envoy from Spain gave it out that his Majesty had called the Authors of that Address Rogues The procedure of that Minister so much the more offended the King of England as that in so nice a juncture it might have produced dangerous effects in his Kingdoms and therefore he sent order to Don Pedro de Salinas to keep within doors and to make ready to depart out of the Kingdom within twenty days The Ambassadors in the mean time remained at Nimueguen like Spectators and all that was done there was to consider and observe what passed in the Low countries where after the taking of Valenciennes the King made himself Master of Cambray on the third of April five days after the Trenches were opened the Governour with
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
was never any good understanding betwixt him and his Colleague the Count of Kinski nor the Marquess de los Balbases His allowance was 3400 German Florins a Month and he had always several persons of Quality in his Retinue Count Anthony of Oldembourg arrived at Nimueguen on the seventh of September but as he was preparing to give the Mediators and all the other Ambassadors notice of his arrival the Imperial Ministers acquainted him that they expected to be preferred before the English Mediators That Ambassador perceiving this to be contrary to the custom that was established at Cologn would not consent to the Imperial pretensions He well foresaw that not only the Mediators would not have admitted his Visit but likewise the French and all the other Ambassadors who maintained the honour of the Mediation and therefore he gave no notice of his arrival gave nor received no Visit and continued still incognito at Nimueguen but that hindered not but that he met at conferences and especially at all places where they played That Count is the Natural Son of the last Count of that name to whom the King of Denmark was heir as being of the same family but the present Count hath obtained a vast Estate from his Majesty with the Government of the County of Oldembourg he is of the Order of the Elephant and very handsome his presence courage rich equipage and vast expence shewed him to be a great person but his civility and free humour made him beloved of every body insomuch that the Assembly of Nimueguen lost much by his departure which was eight months after his arrival The end of the Campagn drawing now near the Confederates did not think that the French forces would effect any considerable Enterprize Nevertheless the Mareshal de Crequi assured the King that he would make him Master of Fribourg if his Majesty pleased The design appeared extreamly difficult But the Mareshal having obtained permission and all that was necessary for carrying on so great an Enterprize endeavoured to make the Duke of Lorrain believe that he intended some design upon Sarbruck and at the same time made a considerable body of men pass the Rhine at Brisac which on the ninth of October invested Fribourg and marching thither in great haste he forced the place to render before that the Duke of Lorrain could come in time to relieve it Octob. 1677 such was the consternation at Nimueguen among the Germans and all the Ministers of the Confederates that even after the taking of that place they could hardly believe that the Mareshal de Crequi durst have undertaken the siege Fribourg has a Cittadel strong by situation and fortifications the Town is great and well peopled because of the University that is there and the Emperour received a very considerable revenue from it but the consequence of that conquest was better known afterwards than at that time The Voyage that the Prince of Orange was preparing to make into England gave ground of various conjectures On the 17 of Octob. he Embarked at the Brill being accompanied with the chief of his Family and the Heer Odyke the Extraordinary Ambassador of the States-General who had not as it was given out given him a full power to conclude a Peace or make a new League On the 19th the Prince arrived in England where his Marriage with the Princess Mary Eldest Daughter to his Royal Highness the Duke of York was carried on so secretly that the first news that they had of it at Court was the conclusion thereof The news of this Marriage came to Nimueguen the 29th and seeing all the Confederates began to hope more than ever that England would not be long before it declared in their favours they made no more doubt of it after this Marriage And therefore all the Ministers of the Confederates complimented thereupon Ambassador Jenkins and my Lady Temple also who remained at Nimueguen after the departure of her Husband of which no man doubted but that the Marriage of the Prince of Orange was the cause whereof till then they were ignorant The affairs of the North went daily worse and worse for the Suedes especially in Pomerania Stetin was besieged from the beginning of Summer and was extreamly straitned The Danes had taken the Isle of Rugen And though Count Koningsmark routed them there and beat them wholly out of it yet the Town of Stetin deprived of all kind of relief and out of hopes of receiving any was at length forced to render to the Elector of Brandenbourg having given demonstrations of great Lovalty to Sueden and left to posterity an extraordinary instance of constancy and resolution Affairs were wholly at a stand at Nimueguen there was no meeting but for Play Dancing and Collations at the houses of the Ambassadors of France Spain Sueden and Denmark but the League which was signed at the Hague the tenth of Jan. 1677 8 betwixt England and the States-General to oblige the French King to make Peace on the terms they had agreed upon made all the Confederates hope that the countenance of affairs would quickly change to their advantage and that France would be at length forced to stoop or be overpowred by the multitude of enemies England in effect seemed inclined to an open declaration and the King thought it not sit any longer to reject the sollicitations of his Parliament wherefore he made a Speech to them in a quite different strain from that which was mentioned before he acquainted the two Houses with the League that he had made with the States-General for the preservation of Flanders and obliging those to a Peace who would not accept of the conditions that they had judged reasonable He laid before them the necessity of money for compassing those great designs He gave them some account of the moneys which he had received for the building and equipping of Ships and consented that the Supplies which the Parliament did give upon this occasion should be laid out by such persons as they should nominate But of all things his Majesty put them in mind of the advantages which England had reaped and still did reap from the peace it enjoyed whilst all Europe besides were in actual War For preserving so much happy success it was necessary that the French should be still prosperous and that by breaking the measures of the Confederates they might make their Ambassadors change their tone The taking of the Isle of Tobago of all the Vessels that were in that Port and the Ammunition which was in the fort the death of Binkes Admiral of Zealand and the utter ruin of that Colony were sensible blows to the States-General as the taking of St. Guillain during the rigor of Frost and Snow had terrified the Low-countries By these means the French King thought he might overthrow the projects of his Enemies Febr. 167 8 Monsieur de Somnitz Ambassador and Plenipotentiary from the Elector of Brandenbourg on February 25. died at Nimueguen in the sixty and
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