saw what was like to become of the Treaty or the War and therefore I begged of him that he would not force a good Secretary out and perhaps an ill one in against both their Wills but let Mr. Coventry keep it at least till he seemed more willing to part with it The King said well then He would let it alone for the present but did not doubt in a little time one or other of us would change our mind In the mean time the Design of my Journey was known my Lord Arlington and others still asking me when they should give me joy of it and many making Applications to me for Places in the Office which made the Court uneasier to me and increased my known Humour of loving the Countrey and being as much in it as I could However when I came to Court the King fell often into Conversation with me and often in his Closet alone or with none other present besides the Duke or my Lord Treasurer and often both The Subject of these Conversations were usually the Peace and the Prince of Orange's Journey into England The King always expressed a great desire for the First but not at all for the other till that was concluded He said his Parliament would never be quiet nor easy to Him while the War lasted abroad They had got it into their Heads to draw Him into it whether He would or no. That they pretended Publick Ends and Dangers from France and there might be Both meant by a great many honest Men among them but the Heats and Distempers of late had been raised by some factious Leaders who thought more of themselves than of any thing else had a mind to engage Him in a War and then leave Him in it unless they might have their Terms in removing and filling of Places and he was very loth to be so much at their Mercy as he should be if he were once engag'd in the War That besides he saw the longer it continued the worse it would be for the Confederates more of Flanders would be lost every day the Conduct of Spain must certainly ruin all in time and therefore he would fain have the Prince make the Peace for them if they would not do it for themselves That if He and the Prince could fall into the Terms of it he was sure it might be done And after several Discourses upon this Subject for near a Month his Majesty at last told me He had a great mind I should make a short turn to the Prince and try if I could perswade him to it and assure him That after it was agreed he should be the gladdest in the World to see him in England The Duke and my Lord Treasurer both press'd me upon the same Point but I told them at a long Conference upon it how often I had been employ'd upon this Errand to the Prince how unmovable I had found him and how sure I was to find him so still unless the King would consider of another Scheme for the Peace than had been yet propos'd to him and wherein he might reckon upon more Safety to Flanders as well as to his own Honour That I had spent all my Shot and was capable of saying no more to him than I had done in obedience to all the Instructions I had receiv'd That his Answers had been positive so that some of my good Friends at Court pretended they had been my own Thoughts rather than the Prince's That His Majesty would do well to try another Hand and he would the better know the Prince's Mind if his Answers were the same to both if not he would at least know how ill I had serv'd him The King said It was a thing of Confidence between Him and the Prince and must be so treated and he knew no Body he had besides to send I told him if he pleased I would name one He bid me and I said Mr. Hyde was idle ever since his return from Nimeguen had been entred into the Commission of the Mediators there staid with us a Fortnight or three Weeks might pretend to return thither to exercise the same Function in my absence since the Commission run to any two of the Number and might take the Prince of Orange's Camp in his way to Nimeguen perform the King's Commands to His Highness inform himself of his last Resolution upon the Subject of the Peace go on to Nimeguen without giving any jealousy to the Allies or without the noise that my going would make since Sir Lionel had wrote to Court and to Me That Monsieur Beverning had desir'd all Paces should stop there till my return which he heard would be sudden and that the King would send by me his own Plan of the Peace The Duke fell in first to the Proposal of Mr. Hyde's going and after some debate the King and my Lord Treasurer and that it should be as soon as was possible He was sent for accordingly and dispatch'd away in all Points as I had proposed He found the Prince at the Camp but unmovable in the Business of the Peace upon the Terms His Majesty had Thoughts of proceeding gave Account of all that passed in that Conference to the King and went straight away to Nimeguen and writ me word of his Conversation with the Prince and that he never saw such a Firmness in any Man I knew Mr. Hyde's going to reside at Nimeguen would be of great comfort and support to Sir Lionel who was in perpetual Agonies as his word was after he was left alone in that station having ever so much distrust of his own Judgment that tho he had the most great desire that could be to do well yet he many times could not resolve how to go about it and was often as much perplexed about the little Punctilio's of Visit and Ceremony that were left to busy that Ambassy as if greater Affairs had still attended it Besides he lay under the lash of Secretary Williamson who upon old Grudges between them at Colen never fail'd to lay hold of any occasion he could to censure his Conduct and expose it at the Foreign Committee where his Letters were read to His Majesty It happen'd about this time that the Spanish Ambassadors first appearing in Publick upon a new Commission to all Three gave immediate notice of it to the Imperialists who made their Visit upon it and were within two hours revisited by the Spaniards After which they sent their formal Notifications to all the other Ambassadors and to the Mediators in the first place Sir Lionel was in pain having Orders to pretend the first Rank of Respect before the Imperialists as well as other Ambassadors there and not to yield it if it came in competition He had likewise another Order which was that upon Matters in Ceremony doubtful and not admitting the delay of new Orders he should consult with the other Ambassadors especially French and Swedish who used to carry those Points the highest
industriously to the Deputies of the several Towns and acquainted them with it and that the Terms of the Peace were absolutely consented and agreed between the two Kings that he had brought me orders to go strait to Nimeguen and that I should at my arrival there meet with Letters from my Lord Sunderland the King's Ambassador at Paris with all the particulars concluded between them How this Dispatch by De Cros was gained or by whom I will not pretend to determin but upon my next return for England the Duke told me That He knew nothing of it till it was gone having been a hunting that morning my Lord Treasurer said all that could be to excuse himself of it and I never talked of it to Secretary Williamson but the King indeed told me pleasantly that the Rogue De Cros had out-witted them all The Account I met with at Court was That these Orders were agreed and dispatched one morning in an hours time and in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber by the intervention and pursuit of Monsieur Borillon However it was and what endeavours soever were made immediately after at our Court to retrieve this Game it never could be done and this one Incident changed the whole Fate of Christendom and with so little seeming ground for any such Council that before De Cros's arrival at the Hague the Swedish Ambassadors at Nimeguen had made the very same Declaration and Instances to the French Ambassadors there that I was posted away from the Hague upon the pretence of persuading them to resolve on When I arrived at Nimeguen there remained but three days of the term fixed by the late Treaty between His Majesty and the States at the Hague either for the French assent to the evacuation of the Towns or for the carrying on of the War in conjunction of England with Holland and consequently the rest of the Confederates I found all Men there perswaded that the Peace would not succeed and indeed all appearances were against it The French Ambassadors had given many Reasons in a formal sort of Manifesto to the Dutch why the King their Master could not consent to it without the previous satisfaction of Sweden whose Interests he esteemed the same with his own but yet declaring he was willing to receive any expedients the States should offer in this matter either by their Ambassadors at Nimeguen or such as they should send to His most Christian Majesty at Saint Quentin or Gant The Dutch gave them an Answer in Writing declaring It was a matter no longer entire since upon the difficulty raised about the Evacuation of the Towns the States their Masters had been induced to sign a Treaty with England from which they could not recede nor from the day therein fixed for determining the Fate of either Peace or War and as there was no time so there could be no use of any Deputation to St. Quentin or Gant nor any other Expedient besides the assent of France to evacuate the Towns After this the French Ambassador had declared to the Dutch That they had found the King their Master was resolved at the desire of the Swedes to retard the Peace no longer upon their consideration and would consent to evacuate the Towns upon condition the States would send their Deputies to treat upon the ways of securing the future satisfaction to Sweden which was by both intended But the Dutch Ambassadors continued peremptory that there could be no deputation made by their Masters and that if the term fixed by the late Treaty with England should elapse there was no remedy but the War must go on To this the French Ambassadors replying that their hands were bound up from proceeding further without such a Deputation the Peace was thereupon esteemed desperate and the more so because at the same time the Duke of Lutzenburg pressed Mons and the Mareschal Scomberg seemed to threaten Colen demanding of them immediate satisfaction of the Money that had been seized during the Assembly there and Brussels it self grew unquiet upon their finding themselves almost surrounded by French Troops so as the Confederate Ministers thought themselves secure of what they had so much and so long desired and aimed at which was a long War in conjunction with England for they neither believed France would yield a point they had so long and so publickly contested nor if they did that the Dutch would suffer their Ambassadors to sign the Peace without Spain and the time was now too near expiring for agreeing the Terms and Draught of a Treaty between the two Crowns which had not yet been in any kind digested In the midst of these Appearances and Dispositions at Nimeguen came the fatal Day agreed by the late Treaty at the Hague for determining whether a sudden Peace or a long War were to be reckoned upon in Christendom when in the morning early Monsieur Boreel who had been sent from Amsterdam to the Dutch Ambassadors at Nimeguen went to the French Ambassadors and after some Conference with them these three Ambassadors went immediately to those of Holland and declared to them they had received Orders to consent to the evacuation of the Towns and thereupon to sign the Peace but that it must be done that very morning Whether the Dutch were surprized or no they seemed to be so and entring into debate upon several of the Articles as well as upon the Interests of Spain this Conference lasted near five hours but ended in agreement upon all the Points both of Peace and Commerce between France and Holland and Orders for writing all fair with the greatest haste that was possible so as the Treaty might be signed that Night About Four in the Afternoon the French Ambassadors having demanded an hour of me and Sir Lionel came to us at my House gave us an account of their agreement with the Dutch Ambassadors upon all Points in difference between them and of the Treaty's being so ordered as that it should be signed that Evening and made us the offer that they would all come and sign it at my House that so we might have the part in it that was due to the Mediators We answered them That having been sent by His Majesty with Instructions only to Mediate a general Peace we could not by our Orders assist at the signing of a particular One and therefore desired them to excuse us from having any part in this Conclusion between them and the Dutch either by the Signing it at our Houses or by using our Names as Mediators in the Treaty The Dutch Ambassadors came to us likewise with the same Communication and Offer and received the same Answer and I observed their Conversation upon this mighty and sudden turn to be a good deal embarassed and something irresolute and not very well agreed between the two Ambassadors themselves Monsieur Beverning complained of the uncertainty of our Conduct in England and the incurable Jealousies that De Cros's Journey had raised in Holland That
and considerable in England who would fain have engag'd them to Head the Discontents that were rais'd by the Conduct of the Court in that whole War which he knew was begun and carried on quite contrary to the humour of the Nation and might perhaps have prov'd very dangerous to the Crown if it had not ended as it did That all these persons who pretended to be much his Friends were extreamly against any thoughts of his marrying in England Their Reasons were That he would by it lose all the Esteem and Interest he had there and be believed to have run wholly into the dispositions and designs of the Court which were generally thought so different from those of the Nation especially upon the Point of Religion that his Friends there did not believe the Government could be long without some great Disturbance unless they chang'd their Measures which was not esteem'd very likely to be done and upon this he desir'd my thoughts as a Friend The next was upon the Person and Dispositions of the Young Lady for tho' it would not pass in the World for a Prince to seem concern'd in those particulars yet for himself he would tell me without any sort of affectation that he was so and in such a degree that no Circumstances of Fortune or Interest would engage him without those of the Person especially those of Humour and Dispositions That he might perhaps be not very easie for a Wife to live with he was sure he should not to such Wives as were generally in the Courts of this Age. That if he should meet with one to give him trouble at home 't was what he should not be able to bear who was like to have enough abroad in the course of his Life and that after the manner he was resolv'd to live with a Wife which should be the best he could He would have one that he thought likely to live well with him which he thought chiefly depended upon their Disposition and Education and if I knew any thing particular of the Lady Mary in these points he desir'd me to tell him freely I answer'd his Highness That I was very glad to find he was resolv'd to Marry being what he owed his Family and Friends That I was much more pleas'd that his inclination led him to endeavour it in England That I thought it as much for his interest as others of his English Friends thought it was against it That the King and his Highness would ever be able to do one another more good and more harm than any other Princes could do either of them by being Friends or Enemies That it was a great step to be one degree nearer the Crown and in all appearance the next That for his Friends as they pretended in England they must see much further than I did to believe the King in any such dangers or difficulties as they imagin'd That the Crown of England stood upon surer foundations than ever it had done in former times and the more for what had pass'd in the last Reign and that I believ'd the people would be found better Subjects than perhaps the King himself believ'd them That it was however in his power to be as well with them as he pleas'd and to make as short turns to such an end if not yet with the help of a little good husbandry he might pass his Reign in Peace tho' not perhaps with so much ease at home or glory abroad as if he fell into the vein of his pople That if the Court were of sentiments different from those of His Highness yet his Advâ—â—ers would make him a greater Compliment in believing him as likely to induce the Court to his as in concluding they would bring him to theirs and if that should happen the most seditious men in England would be hard put to it to find an ill side in such a Match That for the other point I could say nothing to it but that I had always heard my Wife and my Sister speak with all the advantage that could be of what they could discern in a Princess so young and more from what they had been told by the Governess with whom they had a particular friendship and who they were sure took all the care that could be in so much of Education as fell to her share After two hours discourse upon this subject the Prince concluded he would enter upon this pursuit and in order to it would write both to the King and the Duke to beg their favour to him in it and their leave that he might go over into England at the end of the Campania That my Wife who was then going over upon my private Affairs should carry and deliver both his Letters and during her stay there should endeavour to inform her self the most particularly she could of all that concern'd the Person Humour and Dispositions of the young Princess in which he seem'd so much concern'd Within two or three days after these Discourses the Prince brought his Letters to my Wife and went immediately to the Army and she went suddenly after into England with those Dispatches and left me preparing for my Journey to Nimeguen where the Dutch first and after them the French Ambassadors were arriv'd and consequently those of the two principal Parties in the War Before I went Du Moulin met my Chaplain in the Forhaut and told him He was so ill that he knew he had not long to live and that he could not die in quiet without asking my Pardon for so many false and injurious things as he confess'd to have said of me since my last Ambassy there tho' he had before had all the esteem that could be for me He desir'd my Chaplain since I had always refus'd to see him that he would do this Office for him and ask my Pardon as from a dying Man This Moulin after having been much imploy'd and favour'd by my Lord Arlington during the Councels and Vogue of of the Triple Alliance and disgrac'd by him after the change of those Measures in England went over into Holland was entertain'd by the Prince as one of his Secretaries grew into great favour and confidence during the War was made use of by the Discontents of England in their Applications at the Hague was thought worth all my Lord Arlington's instances and endeavours when he was at the Hague to remove him from the Prince's Service I receiv'd afterwards Commands to the same purpose and compass'd it not without time and difficulty he had not been long laid aside when this happen'd and whether that or the knowledge of the Prince's late resolution to pursue the Match in England help'd to break his heart or whether it were a Consumption as his Friends gave out I know not but he died soon after and with him the Intrigues of that Party in England that had for some time imployed him and busied his Friends in Holland After many delays in the Dispatch and exchange of