added to their declaration of the Instances which they said were made to them by the Bishop of Gurck in the name of the Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg so sensibly touched those two Ambassadors that thinking their Honour thereby much offended they took a great deal of pains to make the contrary appear by long answers which they made on that subject on the eighteenth affirming that they had never neither desired nor rejected the cessation of Arms but nevertheless that they might omit nothing that might in any probability tend to the promoting of the Peace they accepted the Truce upon such conditions as should on both sides be agreed upon Never were any Ambassadors more fond of Writing than those of Denmark and Brandenbourg their debates had already occasioned as many publick Writings during the Month of March alone as had been made during the negotiation of all the other Treaties put together In the mean time the French Ambassadors that they might give these Ambassadors all the satisfaction that they could desire upon so nice a point declared on the Nineteenth That since the Ambassadors of Denmark and Brandenbourg thought themselves wronged in that they could be suspected to have demanded or desired a cessation of Arms they consented that the Mediators might give them a publick Act thereupon to be joyned to the protestations which they had made against the peace of the Empire whilst that they on the contrary being perswaded that all the proceedings of the King their Master for the advancement of the general Peace in a time when he was in a condition to continue the War with advantage argued great glory to his Majesty They still offered the cessation on the same conditions which they proposed to the English Mediators without derogating in the mean time from their Declaration of the 24th of February in case that the Peace was not signed in the Month of March and that they accepted not the Truce But that if they consented to it for the whole Month of April it was his Majesties will that during all that Month the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenbourg might have liberty to conclude the Peace without requiring the new Conditions that had been demanded of them At length after so many debates and proceedings to no great purpose the Treaty of cessation was signed at Nimueguen the last of March to continue till the first of May and was exchanged both in name of his most Christian Majesty and King of Sweden betwixt the French Ambassadors on the one part and those of Denmark and Brandenbourg on the other But seeing that before the signing of that Treaty the French Intendant had caused Contributions to be demanded from the Country of Cleves on the other side of the Raine and that the French Ambassadors could not promise that they should not be pretended notwithstanding the conclusion of the cessation the same Ambassadors consented by a publick Act that the Dutch Ambassadors should pass their word for them that they should Write about it to the King that they might know his intentions and that in the mean time no hostile execution should be made during the space of Fifteen days after which if his Majesty thought good that these Contributions should be exacted they engaged to give the Inhabitants of the Countrey Three days more to take such measures in as they should think fit The Truce that was now signed instead of advancing the negotiation on the contrary stopped the course thereof during all the time that it lasted because the French Ambassadors sticking to their Declarations there was no more to be said So that the Two Princes that remained still in War Judged it more convenient to negotiate their Peace with the King himself than at Nimueguen not doubting but that they might promise themselves some advantage to their interests from Treating rather with a great Prince than being too headstrong in defending the same at Nimueguen by a long train of proceedings from which they had no great cause to expect a happy conclusion The Elector of Brandenbourg had for that effect already sent M. Meinders to the French Court and his Danish Majesty ordered M. de Mayerkron his Envoy to the States General to go immediately and wait upon the King In the mean time a great part of Europe was allarmed at the Fleet which the most Christian King was setting out to Sea Italy and particularly the Republick of Genoa were much startled thereat Denmark feared a descent in the Countrey of Holstein and the Parliament of England where there happened such commotions that the Duke of York was obliged to depart out of the Kingdom conceived some Jealousies at the French Naval preparations In the mean while the Ambassadors of Sweden having by two several Couriers and contrary ways sent to the King their Master the Treaty of Peace which they had signed with the Emperor that by that means notwithstanding the severity of the Danes concerning free passage they might receive the ratification in time these two Couriers arrived at Nimueguen from several places the 17th and 18th with the ratification in good form But his Swedish Majesty refused to confirm the Treaty which was concluded with the Princes of Brunswick because they thought in Sweden that they had yielded to them a great deal too much and the rather that the most Christian King indemnified all these Princes at his proper charges About the same time the President Canon Plenipotentiary from the Duke of Lorrain renewed his instances with the French Ambassadors that he might obtain some moderation of the conditions that had been stipulated for his Master The Imperial Ambassadors did also the like but without any success So that they thought it enough to declare that his Imperial Majesty pretended to be no longer obliged by the Articles that concerned that Prince by which his most Christian Majesty had declared himself obliged and they demanded that that Peace might be deferred until another time in so much that the Imperialists being unwilling that the time mentioned in the Treaty should expire without exchanging the ratifications because of the pretensions made by the French in their last declaration of the 26th past they resolved to make the exchange the 19th of April April 1679 There arose an unexpected difficulty concerning the exchange of the ratifications for the Mediators who had not signed the Peace would not take it upon them The Nuncio likewise excused himself from doing it because he had protested against the same Peace in respect it was concluded in conformity to the Treaties of Westphalia against which Rome had then protested because of the revenues of the Church which they were then obliged to secularise and yield up to Protestants without which it had been impossible to have procured Peace to Germany So that the expedient that was found out was to make the exchange of the ratifications by the hands of Secretaries who were reciprocally sent on both sides And seeing the
Confederates And by three different Articles Spain demanded the same thing of Sueden France said That the King being contrary to Justice and the obligation of the Treaty of Aix la Chapel attacqued by the Catholick King his Majesty had reason to pretend that in respect of that Crown all things should remain in the condition that the fortune of War had put them into without prejudice to his Majesties Rights which were to continue still in full force and power The Danes pretended that France should give them compleat satisfaction and reimburse all the charges of the War and by four Articles they demanded of the Suedes that betwixt the two Kingdoms and two Kings all things should be restored into the same condition as they were before the War that was ended by the Treaties of Westphalia and that the Treaties of Rochilde and Copenhagen should be abolished and that all the Provinces which had been dismembred from Denmark and Norway should be restored to the Danes that all that the Suedes possest in the Empire should be taken from them that Wismar and the Isle of Rugen should remain in possession of the Danes and that for the security of his Danish Majesty and Kingdoms they might put Garisons in all the strong places of Sueden that lye upon the frontiers of the two Kingdoms The propositions of France in reference to the Danes were That seeing the King had not declared War against the King of Denmark but he runs contrary to the Treaty of Copenhagen made in the year 1660. for performance whereof the King was Guarantee the King of Denmark had attacqued Sueden His most Christian Majesty was ready to desist from hostility on his part provided that the aforesaid Treaties and those of Westphalia were re-established In respect of France and Sueden the States General demanded That Maestricht Dalen Fangumont and all the dependencies of Maestricht should be restored to them That they were willing for the publick peace to sacrifice the inestimable losses whereof they might pretend reparation and that for avoiding all differences for the future the Treaty might contain a general and particular renuntiation of all sorts of pretensions There were afterward sixteen Articles concerning the full satisfaction to be made to the Prince of Orange in regard of what depended on the Crown of France and particularly the restauration of the fortifications of Orange that were ruined in the year 1660. and of the Castle demolished in the year 1663. the rights of Toll upon Salt and other Commodities as well upon the Rone as through the Principality of Orange the rights of Coyning of money of Laick Patronage for nomination to the Bishoprick the exemptions priviledges and other Immunities granted to the inhabitants of that Principality by the Kings his Majesties Predecessors and particularly by Lewis XIII The Estates General demanded nothing of Sueden but that the future Treaty might contain some regulations for obviating the frequent inconveniences that happened concerning Commerce France proposed to the States General That seeing the Union that hath always been betwixt the Crown of France and the States was only interrupted upon account of some causes of discontent which were easie at present to be removed and to be prevented for the future His Majesty was willing to restore the States General to his former amity and to hearken favourably to all propositions that might be made to him on their part even concerning a Treaty of Commerce And as to the propositions made for the re-establishment of the Prince of Orange the French Ambassadors made an answer to them but upon occasion opposed the pretensions of the Count D' Auvergne demanding that his Marquisate and Town of Bergen-op-zoom might be restored to all the rights of Soveraignty which the other Towns of Holland enjoyed conform to the Treaties of Pacification of Ghent The Elector of Brandenburgh demanded that France should make reparation for the damages that his Territories had sustained by the French Forces during the course of this War that all security should be given him for the future for the same Territories and that all his Allies should be comprehended in a general Treaty France made no propositions to the Elector of Brandenbourg besides those that were made to the Emperor and Empire which comprehended the full performance of the Treaties of Westphalia In all the propositions that the Suedes made to the Emperor the Kings of Spain and Denmark the States General and to the Elector of Brandenbourg they demanded of the one but the renovation of their former amity and good correspondence and of the others the execution of the Treaties of Westphalia and Copenhagen which contained the restitution of all that had been taken from that Crown Prince Charles of Lorrain to whom thâ— French King had granted the title of Duke with a general protestation made to the Mediators that the titles taken or given should be without prejudice caused his propositions to be made by which he said That as heir to his Predecessors he hoped from the Justice of the King that he would restore to him his Dutchies of Lorrain and Bar with their dependencies his titles records movables and effects taken from him and make reparation for the Towns Burroughs Castles and Villages that were ruined throughout all his Dominions But seeing the Ministers of the Confederates would not admit of the Sieur Duker the Envoy of the Bishop of Strasbourg whom the French King reckoned among the Confederate Princes the French Ambassadors made no propositions concerning Lorrain nor shewed any Plenary Commission for treating about the Interests of that Prince though much urged to it by the Confederates that by this means they might oblige the Imperialists to own the Minister of the Bishop of Strasbourg On the other side the propositions of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp which the Sieurs Vlkens and Wetterkop that Princes Envoys had put into the hands of the Mediators lay there without answer or being interchanged because the Danish Ambassador hindred the Minister of that Prince from being admitted as being an Ally of Sueden and protected by France and upon that account dispossessed of his Territories by the King of Denmark The Propositions of the Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenbourg were not made publick because the Ministers of those Princes kept incognito pretending to the character and rank of Ambassadors yea and these Princes wrote to the King of England for obtaining the effect of their Pretensions but what instance soever they made during the whole course of the Negotiation no Crowned head yielded to their demand I have here but inserted the substance of the first propositions of Peace yet thereby may be seen how unreasonable the demands of Spain and Denmark were seeing that not only the Mediators but even the Ambassadors of the States General thought them exorbitant The sixth of this Month Monsieur Stratman gave the French Ambassadors notice of his arrival who at the same time sent each of them a Secretary to make him
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
thing perhaps might have befallen that Town which happened to Valenciennes a considerable number of French Soldiers having entered into it pell-mell with those that run At that time the Duke of Trimouille sent the Sieur de Sanguiniere a Counseller of the Chastelet of Paris to Nimueguen with Letters of Procuration and the Titles that justified the pretensions he had to the Kingdom of Naples to the end that the same protestation might be made to the Mediators as was made to those of the Treaty of Munster for preservation of the rights that he has to that Kingdom by Anne de Laval of the House of Arragon from whom that Duke descended in right line The Mareshal d' Estrades his Lady arrived at Nimueguen the 12th and was met by the French Ambassadors at Moock on the Meuse two Leagues from thence where she disembarked As all the French were very curious to be present at that first Interview so the people of Nimueguen shewed no less desire of seeing that Lady Immediately after her arrival all the Ambassadors and their Ladies rendered her their publick visits The Nuncio about this time received a Courier from Rome but the cause of his coming was not fully known Nevertheless seeing the noise of the Peace was already spread all over Europe it was not doubted but that that Court desired to find some expedient that might remove the obstacles which hindered the Ambassadors of France from admitting the facultative Brief of the Nuncio because the Pope had named none but the Emperour in it The Nuncio offered then three overtures to satisfie the French Ambassadors the first was to present a Brief in which no Prince should be named The second to give as many Briefs as there were Christian Princes in War wherein every one might have the rank that he desired And the third to follow the stile of the plenary Commissions of the English Mediators by giving a Brief facultative to end the War which was betwixt the Emperour Spain Holland and their Confederates on the one side and the most Christian King the King of Sueden and their Allies on the other But the French Ambassadors continued firm in their Pretensions and would according to the ancient custom have the King their Master named immediately after the Emperour and that was the reason why in all the Treaties of Peace that have been since concluded there is no mention made of the Mediation of the Pope Notwithstanding of that conduct of the Nuncio the pains he took in promoting of the peace were as grateful to the French Ambassadors as they were conducive to the repose of Christendom That Mediator carried himself also in so different a manner from the former practice of Nuncio's in regard of Protestant Princes that it was not his fault if he did not visit all the Ambassadors that were at Nimueguen He render'd the visit to the Envoy of Osnabrug who had visited him and received the Protestants with as much civility as the Catholicks which produced so good effects for the Catholick Interest in all these Provinces and corresponded so well with the reputation of the Pope that on occasion of the Bull which was then believed the Pope would emit one of the most eminent subjects of the States-General said That their Ministers might well preach that the Pope was Antichrist but that for his own part he was persuaded that this man was not News came on the 13. That the Mareshal de Schomberg was advanced with Twenty thousand men towards Duren in the Countrey of Juliers and that he had sent to demand of the City of Cologn the forty thousand Crowns and twelve thousand of Interest which that Town ought to restore to the French King seeing that contrary to the Neutrality agreed upon at the first Assembly held there for the peace the Magistrates suffered that money to be taken by the Garison The Envoy of Cologn who was at Nimueguen demanded audience of the French Ambassadors but they refused it because he came to the Assembly without a Pasport from France The French Army which encamped at the gates of Brussels so netled the Spaniards and incommoded the whole Countrey that there happened some tumult in the Town where Don Pedro de Ronquillo was accused for being the author of those counsels that delayed the conclusion of the peace insomuch that it was affirmed for a certain that the Duke de Villa Hermosa wrote to the Marquess de los Balbases that he would make him accountable for the loss of the Low-countreys if with all diligence he did not conclude the peace The French Ambassadors still expected the last resolution of the States-General that they might send back the Courier which the Mareshal de Luxembourg had at Nimueguen with the news according to which he was to take his measures for putting into action or drawing of the Armies he was upon the point to have marched towards the frontiers of France upon the Letter of the States-General wherein they informed him that they had given orders to their Ambassadors to sign the Peace at Nimueguen but the advice that the French Ambassadors gave him of the new difficulty which hinder'd the signing of it made him to remain still in those parts My Lord Ambassador Temple parted for the Hague on the 14th where finding no final resolution for concluding the peace if the impediment which hinder'd the signing of it were not removed he bestirred himself with all industry to incline the States-General to enter into new engagements with the King his Master that might procure them and their Allies more advantageous conditions than those which France proposed to them The French Ambassadors thought fit in the mean time to make publick the reasons that his most Christian Majesty had to retain the places until Sueden had satisfaction and for that end they caused to be printed the Memoir which on the 17th they gave to the Dutch Ambassadors By this Paper it was given out That the French King having equally espoused the Interests of Sueden with his own and on that account only abandoned so many places which was no less advantageous to the Dutch than Spaniards his Majesty had grounds to hope that these Powers would contribute with him for the re-establishment of that Crown or at least that they would not oppose his design in making use of those places as of a very proper expedient to procure the performance of a condition to which they agreed by accepting the peace But since that the Kings Enemies endeavoured to render his Majesties word suspected he was willing to engage with the States General in all the measures they should judg most convenient for precuring satisfaction to Sueden This Memoir being enlarged and published in way of a Manifesto the States-General caused an Answer containing thirty pages to be made to it by their Ambassadors which was printed in French and Dutch and on the 25th given to the French Ambassadors It contained a long recital of all the
pleased the French King he had sufficient authority to conclude a League with his most Christian Majesty and to get it ratified by his Danish Majesty who would oblige himself to make war against the Emperor in what manner and for as long time as his most Christian Majesty should desire him Seeing the Emperors Ambassadors could not obtain of the French that an Article should be put into the Treaty whereby the French King should consent to refer to arbitration the difficulties which they raised concerning the Rights of the ten Towns of Alsatia of the Nobility of that Province and of the three Bishopricks of Lorrain before they signed the Peace they entred a protestation into the Records of the Mediation that it might appear that though they had right to pretend that these affairs ought to have been referred to arbitration yet they had rather consent that no mention should be made of them in the Treaty than longer to delay the conclusion of the Peace for matters of which the French Ambassadors absolutely refused to take cognizance contenting themselves to protest that that omission could no ways be prejudicial to the rights of the Empire The Ambassadors of Sueden refused also to insert into their Treaty with the Emperor the verbal declaration which they gave of the sense of the third Article acknowledging that they pretended not that that Article ought to oblige the Princes of the Empire that were still in war to the confirmation of the Treaties of Westphalia as to what concerned Sueden knowing that these were affairs that ought to be adjusted by particular Treaties Nevertheless upon the refusal that the Ambassadors of Sueden made of inserting that interpretation into the Treaty the Imperial Ambassadors prayed the Mediators that they would make mention of that explication in their Memoirs and to set down in them by way of protestation that if in the Treaty of the Emperor with Sueden there is no mention made of the customs that are raised at Termeude of the rights of the Dukes of Mecklenbourg nor of those of the Town of Bremen the reason was only because the Ambassadors of Sueden alledged that for want of a free correspondence with his Suedish Majesty they could not have instructions as to the points for which the Imperialists thought it not fit to delay the signing of the peace since that without such a clause these Rights were as well established under the authority and protection of the Empire Though the Treaty of the Peace made betwixt the Emperor and Sueden was not figned until the 7th yet it bore date the same day with that of the Emperor and France because it was mentioned therein to be of the same date And some time after the news was brought that the peace of France and Sueden with the Princes of the House of Brunswick-Lunenbourg was signed at Zell on the sixth by M. de Pabenack who after that the Suedes were wholly out of Pomerania stopping at Hambourg went by order from the King to the Court of those Princes who by this Treaty restore to the Crown of Sueden the Dutchy of Bremen and all that they had got of the Suedes except the Bailiage of Tedinghansen which hath always been controverted because it is inclosed within the Territories of the House of Brunswick and the Provosty of Dowen that lyes between the Weser and the Elbe The Suedes likewise yield to those Princes some Revenues of the Church consisting in tythes which belonged to them upon account of the Bishoprick of Bremen and some other Benefices But the French King being willing fully to indempnifie the House of Brunswick and to secure the peace of the Empire his Majesty by that Treaty engages to pay to these Princes three hundred thousand Crowns at the same time that the restitution is made to Sueden in the manner as was agreed upon M. de Meyerkron continued to make propositions at the Hague where he seemed willing to have managed a Negotiation with the Count d' Avaux but the offers he made were still so general that they gave no ground for a positive answer And therefore that Ambassador made him the same declaration that the other French Ambassadors made at Nimueguen telling him that in order to a more favourable hearing the King of Denmark must begin by releasing the Suedish Soldiers who since the time that they were shipwrackt upon the Isle of Barnholm were not only detained prisoners contrary to the priviledg of the Pasports which they had but likewise exposed to violence which they daily suffered on design either to make them engage in the Danish service or forsake that of Sueden That the King of Denmark would by so doing purge himself from the suspitions of that shipwrack which the King nevertheless was rather inclined to attribute to Chance and the mistake of Pilots than any premeditated design but that in the mean time the inhuman manner of using and detaining of those forces could not but be thought very strange Though from the beginning of the Assembly many instances had been made and several expedients proposed by the English and French for procuring to the Ambassadors of Sueden the liberty of Couriers or at least of bare Letters to and from his Suedish Majesty yet it could not be obtained from the King of Denmark This gave occasion of fear that the strictness which was observed in that Kingdom upon that subject might hinder the conveyance of the Treaty newly signed with the Emperor into Sueden and that the ratification thereof might not be brought within the limited time And therefore the Ambassadors of Sueden hired privately a Galliot at Amsterdam which â—arried the Messenger to Gottemberg from whence he might go by Land to any place where the Suedish Court was The Ambassadors of the Emperor having stipulated for the whole Empire in the Treaties of France and Sueden by virtue only of the conclusion of the Diet of Ratisbon of the 31. of May 1677. The Ambassador of Brandenbourg produced a copy of it at Nimueguen on the 18th of the Month with a new protestation alledging that that conclusion of the Empire was not conform to the sense that was put upon it in the 36 Article of the Emperor's Treaty with France and in the 12. of that of the Emperor with Sueden and that the Imperial Ambassadors were so far from having by that means sufficient authority to treat in name of the whole Empire that on the contrary the Emperor was thereby required to conclude nothing at Nimueguen without first submitting it to the deliberation of the Diet and that the Ambassadors of his Imperial Majesty by adding in these Articles That all protestations that might be made in the Empire against that Peace were to be of no effect had committed the greatest violation and manifestly contravened the Golden Bull the Imperial Capitulations the Constitutions of the Empire and the very Treaties of Westphalia on which they pretended to settle the peace of the Empire Although
General And the Nuncio intending to stay until the end that he might give proofs of the sincerity of the intentions which he brought to that Assembly was also one of the last that departed Since all the Princes who had still some concerns to be adjusted were comprehended in the Treaties which France had concluded with the principal parties and by consequent all hostilities amongst them ceased the greatest difficulties that remained to be determined were about the Commerce of Sueden and the States General The Peace betwixt Spain and Sueden was easie to be concluded seeing that in that Negotiation there was no new interest to be managed betwixt those Two Crowns Neither was there any need of a Treaty for that Peace only some Conditions were agreed upon under which it was to be published in the Countries of the Spanish Dominion and those that depend on Sueden The greatest perplexity that happened in that affair proceeded from this that Sir Lionel Jenkins the Mediator and the Ambassadors of Sueden had not no more than the French for the Reasons I mentioned before seen the Marquess de la Fuente the Spanish ambassador so that since the Mediator could not directly mediate betwixt that Ambassador of Spain and those of Sueden the Negotiation on the part of Spain behoved to be managed betwixt Sir Lionel Jenkins and the Marquess de la Fuente by the mediation of the Imperial Ambassadors by this means and by the great care that the Lord Ambassador Jenkins took in that Affair the parties agreed upon a form for the re-establishment and publication of the Peace betwixt the Two Crowns of Spain and Sueden and the mutual Acts of acceptation being reciprocally interchanged the form was sent to Spain and Sueden to be signed by the Two Kings and afterwards published at Madrid and Brussels and at Stockholme and Riga in Livonia The substance of that formulary was that the Declaration of War which had been made some years ago especially since the 17th of September of the foregoing year betwixt the Kings of Sueden and Spain should be reputed as never made that his Catholick Majesty consented that the King of Sueden should be comprehended in the Treaty of Peace which had been signed and since ratified betwixt France and Spain and then that his Suedish Majesty approved that the King of Spain should in like manner be comprehended in the Treaty of Peace that had been signed and ratified betwixt his Imperial Majesty and the most Christian King these Two Kings commanding and declaring that a true sincere and Christian Peace be renewed and setled betwixt them their Kingdoms and Subjects as fully as there had never been War nor any Hostility betwixt them The interest of Sueden and Holland were attended with so many difficulties that those Two Treaties of Peace and Commerce betwixt those Two Powers were the last that were concluded at Nimueguen So many obstacles and so hard to be surmounted were started concerning Navigation that it would be tedious and contrary to the design I proposed to my self in writing if I should enlarge upon the particulars I shall only hint at the principal points on which were founded the difficulties that lasted so long So soon as the Peace was signed betwixt France and the States-General the Negotiation of another betwixt Sueden and the same States was begun The most difficult point to be adjusted in the Negotiation of that peace was the renewing of the Treaties of Alliance and Commerce which have been betwixt the two Nations The Suedes insisted much upon the renewing of the Treaty of 1673 but it being made when the affairs of Holland were in a bad condition and in hopes that the Suedes having undertaken to be the Mediators of the peace would have no occasion to declare as they did for France in prospect of that the States-General scrupled not by that Treaty to grant great advantages to Sueden but they would not at all consent that it should be mentioned in the fourth Article of the Treaty of peace wherein they only renewed those of 1640. 1645. 1646. and 1667. Of seven and thirty Articles which compose the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation there was hardly one which did not produce some difficulty They had already for almost the space of a whole year laboured in vain to surmount those obstacles and therefore it was expected that at the Hague rather than Nimueguen the principal points in debate would be more easily adjusted With these hopes M. Oliverkrans went in the Month of May to the Hague and the States-General having named Commissioners to treat with that Ambassador they met at the House of the Count D' Avaux who in that juncture performed the Office of Mediator Besides the particular interest that the Town of Amsterdam and some other Towns of Holland have in the commerce with Sueden requiring more exact informations as to every particular difficulty it was reasonably hoped that that affair would be more easily determined at the Hague than at Nimueguen They had many conferences upon that subject The States demanded a diminution of the impositions that Sueden had laid upon bulky commodities especially since the Treaty that Sueden made with the States in 1640. These commodities are such as are of a great bulk and small price as Stone and Marble Hemp Wax Pitch Tar Pot-ashes Corn and Timber But the States waved the three first sort of bulky Commodities and the Ambassador of Sueden after much repugnancy in two conferences successively consented at length that the four other sorts of bulky commodities should be regulated according to the Rates of 1659. which neverthelss are but little lower than those whereof the States complained It was also agreed upon That all duties and customs unequally imposed which tended to the lessening of the mutual freedom of Trade and which have been introduced in Sueden since the year 1656. should be discharged for the future and that the subjects on both sides should pay no other duties but those that the native subjects do pay Nevertheless that equality was not to be observed in the Kingdom of Sueden and Finland that is to say that that clause of the Treaty should only reach Riga in Livonia Ingria Pomerania and the other Dominions of Sueden upon the Baltick-sea the Provinces of Ischonen Bleking and Holland being reckoned as parts of the ancient Kingdom of Sueden though they be not specified in the Treaty The free and half-free Ships of Sueden gave occasion to another difficulty The free Ships are vessels built for War carrying from 24. to 30. piece of Cannon and are obliged to serve in the Kings Fleet in time of War and therefore the King hath priviledged them in trading in respect of duties and customs that the benefit which they thereby enjoy may recompence their service and supply the charges of rigging and fitting of them out from which Merchants ships are exempted By means whereof the King of Sueden hath always men trained to the Sea and
a Squadron of about thirty Ships The half-free Ships are Vessels of about One hundred Tuns burden their priviledges and number are so small that they cannot be very prejudicial to the Dutch Trade Nevertheless the Dutch found that all these priviledged Vessels might carry away the greatest part of the Trade of the Baltick and therefore the States insisted vigorously upon the abrogation of all those priviledges as contrary to the equality of advantage which the subjects of both Nations were to enjoy But in that debate the same mean was taken which served to remove the former difficulty and it was agreed upon that these Vessels should only enjoy their exemptions in the Territories of the Kingdom of Sueden and Finland and that in the other Provinces on the Baltick-sea depending on the Crown of Sueden there should be no distinction between Suedish Ships and Dutch It could not be believed after this that any new difficulty could retard the conclusion of the Treaty of Commerce whereof the Negotiation had lasted above a year Nevertheless there happened one which put a full stop to the affair The Ambassadors of the States-General had put in the 7th Article of their project That the subjects on either side should be used as the Nation in greatest friendship ut quaeque gens amicissima The Suedes took occasion from this to demand a freedom from the duties which the Dutch had imposed upon the Suedish commodities that pass the Sound and the rather because that imposition was never laid on till the Suedes had obtained from the Danes by Treaties concluded to their advantage and exemption from part of the duties that are exacted in the Sound The truth is that the States to hinder that exemption from being prejudicial to the trade of their subjects who enjoy not the same priviledg setled then in their Countrey upon those that had the priviledg of the Sound and Imposition almost equivalent to that Exemption The Dutch said That the equality which ought to be observed in the Trade of the two Nations was not hurt by that kind of compensation and alledged that it was so little contrary to it that in all the Treaties which had been concluded in the long time since these duties were imposed the abrogation of them was never thought upon when other Treaties was made The Suedes however who would not lose to the profit of the Dutch what they obtained to the prejudice of Denmark stood firmly to that point so that the conferences at the Hague were broken up and the Count D' Avaux could not promise himself to renew them again on that subject with the same success that they had had in the other difficulties insomuch that M. Oliver Krants came back to Nimueguen Aug. 1679. where the Assembly being shortly after wholly dissolved the conclusion of these Treaties could no longer be prolonged which yet were not signed until the second of October the annulling of the Imposts laid on in Holland and the reduction of those of Sueden to the standard of the Treaty of 1640. remaining undecided and referred to other conferences which were to be held at the Hague for adjusting these affairs within eighteen Months after the signing of the Treaty In the mean time M. de Mayerkroon who had been for some time at the French Court perceiving that the conferences in Schonen did not advance the Negotiation of the peace betwixt Sueden and Denmark began to seem more inclined to conclude the Treaty of the King his Master tho' he had no cause to expect more advantageous conditions than those he had at first On the contrary experience and example made appear that it could not but be prejudicial to the King of Denmark to be the last in making his peace The French King on his part desiring nothing more than to correspond with that good disposition and to render the peace general by the conclusion of that of Denmark gave for that end on the 24th of August a full power to M. de Pompone and by that means within a few days the Treaty was concluded betwixt his Majesty and the Kings of Sueden and Denmark and was signed at St. Germans the second of September on the same conditions that the King had always proposed for the full satisfaction of his Ally It is known that his Majesty declared from the beginning That he could not make peace with the King of Denmark but upon condition of a full restitu ion to Sueden The delays and difficulties that were made thereupon moved not his Majesty to abate any thing of the Treaties of Roschild Copenhaghen and Westphalia and these Treaties were the ground-work of the peace of Denmark in the fourth Article whereof his Danish Majesty declared That in consideration of his most Christian Majesty he consented that the Crown of Sueden be restored to all that it possessed before the War and to all the Territories States Provinces Towns and places that have been yielded up and acquired by those three Treaties and by consequent to all that the Danish Arms had possessed during that War As to the differences that heretofore happened betwixt the subjects of the two Nations by reason of the priviledges and exemptions which the Suedes as I said enjoy from a part of the duties that the King of Denmark raises in the Sound and in the Belt the most Christian King being uncertain whether or not the intention of the King of Sueden was that his subjects should any ways make use of their priviledges to the prejudice of the revenue of the K. of Denmark thought fit so to order affairs by that Treaty that Commissioners named by each party should meet three months after the exchange of the Ratifications and by the mediation of a Minister appointed by his Majesty adjust all these differences in an amicable way The Restauration of the Duke of Sleswick Holstein-Gottorp having been one of the conditions on which the French King consented to this Peace it was likewise one of the greatest difficulties that happened in the carrying on of the Treaty That Prince was stript of all by the King of Denmark only for being an Ally to the King of Sueden and therefore ought to be restored to all again To which the King of Denmark as an evidence of the desire he had to put an end to the War with all expedition consented at the desire and requisition of the French King granting that the Duke of Sleswick Holstein-Gottorp should enjoy his Territories Provinces Towns and Places in the same state as they were in at the signing of the Treaty with all the Soveraignty that belonged to him by virtue of the Treaties of Roschild Copenhagen and Westphalia That Prince could hardly pretend to more unless it were the damage that his Territories had suffered during the War by the vast sums of Money that the King of Denmark had raised therein as being one of the best Countries of all the North. The Elector of Brandenbourg the Princes of the