confident five and twenty or thirty Thousand Pounds in a Lump and sudden would bring him strong and vigorous into the Field this Spring which would prove a cheap Advantage to His Majesty's Arms and perhaps the greatest in Sight next to your Grace's commanding this Summer's Fleet from which we all here certainly reckon upon a Success suitable to the rest of your Fortunes and Glories which I hope to see compleated upon the French Fleets Mine will be great if your Grace pleases to esteem me as you will ever have Reason to do My Lord Your Graces most faithful humble Servant To my Lord Carlingford Brussels Mar. 6. N. S. 1666. My Lord I Have this Exception to your Service that my Faults are taken notice of and not my Diligence for in your Lordship 's of the 21st past I find not the least Mention of any Letters received from me tho' I am confident by other Circumstances some of them must have been come to your Hands I fear your News at Vienna is not so good nor true as your Wine and by the Abundance of Reports with shallow Grounds I doubt your Court is rather inclined to hear News than to make it That Brandenburg is our Enemy at least for four Months is too certain that Sueden is a Friend to Munster we may guess rather from Causes than any Effects that I know of and since neither the Emperor nor Spain will contribute any Thing towards the Bishop's Assistance nor so much as the staving off Enemies that by Dutch and French are raising up against him in the Empire it self I know no Remedy But yet in spight of all Force and Artifice to disarm him I expect for my Part to see him rather besieged in Cosvelt or Munster than make a Peace without our Master's Consent as is hoped by our Enemies and perhaps wished by some of our Friends for fear the Continuance of his Musick should make them dance before they have a Mind to it But I believe all their Coldness and Shrinking will hardly defend them and may help them rather to lose their Friends than gain their Enemies For we have certain News that the French have made a Place d'Armes between la Fere and Peronne where that King is coming down to the Rendevouses of Fifteen Thousand Men and the Hollanders on the other side are so incurably possest with an Opinion of some wonderful deep important League between us and Spain that they are upon the very Brink of resolving a War too and concluding a League Offensive as well as Defensive with France at least if the Ascendant of this Year be favourable to De Witt 's Party as that of the last was which begins to be a little doubted of late I will not send your Lordship any English Letters nor our Declaration of War against the French in Confidence it goes along with your Pacquet by which you will see His Majesty hath been as generous and civil as the French King was rough in his to call it no worse but he hath begun the War with so much Heat that I am apt to believe he will come to be cool before it ends I shall ill deserve your Lordship's Leave of writing often if I do it so long and so little to the Purpose together After I have â—â—ld you my Lord Ossory is come 〈◊〉 into England and that my Lord Arlington is for certain as they say both in England and here to marry the Lady Emilia my Lady of Ossory's Sister I will give your Lordship the good Night almost as late as I imagine you use to go to Bed and only tell you that I am at all Hours My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant To Sir Philip Warwick Brussels Mar. 12. N. S. 1666. SIR THough it be more easie and more usual to beg Favours than to acknowledge them yet I find you are resolved to force me upon the last without ever giving me Time of Occasion for the other How much I am obliged to you in my last Dispatch I am told enough by Mr. Godolphin but more by my own Heart which will never suffer me to believe that a Person to whom I have been so long and am so much a Servant should be any other than kind to me for that is my way of judging my absent Friends and serves like a Watch in my Pocket to measure the Time tho' I see no Sun The very Name of Time puts me in mind that yours is not to be spent idly and that you are more pleased to oblige your Friends than to receive their Thanks and therefore I will only say that mine are very sensible and very hearty and that no Man is with more Reason and with more Sincereness than I am SIR Your Affectionate humble Servant To the Bishop of Munster Brussels Mar. 19. S. N. 1666. SIR YOUR Highnesse's Letter of the o th instant came in due time to my hands by which I plainly find with how much Faith and Conâ—â—â—â—y as well as Wisdom and Courage your Highness intends to order your Affairs My utmost Endeavours shall not be wanting for the advancing of them as well as for encreasing and cultivating the Confidence His Majesty hath in your Highness on which the common League chiefly relies especially at this time when so many ill designing Men use all Endeavours to shake or destroy it wherein it is hard to tell whether their Folly or Malice be greater I hear every day in this City that you Highness has made Peace with thâ— Hollanders without any Regard to us or our League or so much as consulting His Majesty upon it And I pretend to believe what I 〈◊〉 toâ—â— tho' I am inwardly assured to the contrary As for Whispers and Rumours it is not my Custom either to amuse others with them or perplex my self I confess I was somewhat moved with a Letter from the Duke of Brunswick to a Man of Understanding in this City which I lately saw and read wherein he seems to feed himself and his Friend with hopes of a speedy Peace in all those Parts of Germany and assures him from his certain knowledge that the Prince of Munster will accept it in case it be offered to him without the greatest Ignominy and Loss wherein he says the neighbour Princes use all means to engage him I am sorry to find the Marques Castel Rodrigo of the same Opinion because I know the Event must be dishonourable to your Highness and will be imputed to the King my Master perhaps as Imprudence at least as ill Fortune Nor do I think the Spaniards at this time of day so generous as to promote the League which we hope to see confirmed by my Lord Sandwich's Embassy into Spain if they once imagine tho' but falsly that His Majesty among such potent Enemies is forsaken by his nearest Confederates On the contrary I am entirely persuaded as well from your Highness's last Letter as from your Virtue and good Sense that
with our Conclusion For upon our first Conference with the Commissioners he had said Tout cela s'en ira en Fumèe que le Roy son Maitre s'eu mocqueroit The Day before our Signing being told we advanced very fast he replied Et bien d'icy á six semaines nous en parlerons relying upon the Forms of the State to run the Circle of their Towns Upon our giving him Part of the whole Business he replied coldly that he doubted we had not taken a right Way to our End that the Fourth Article of the Second Instrument was not in Terms very proper to be digested by a King of twenty nine Years old and at the Head of eighty Thousand Men That if we had joined both to desire his Master to prolong the Offer he had made of a Cessation of Arms till the Time we propose and withal not to move his Arms further in Flanders tho' Spain should refuse we might hope to succeed But if we thought to prescribe him Laws and force him to Compliance by Leagues between our Selves or with Spain tho' Sueden and the German Princes should join with us he knew his Master ne flecheroit pas and that it would come to a War of forty Years From this he fell a little warmly upon the proceeding of the States saying they knew his Master's Resolutions upon those two Points neither to prolong the Cessation proposed beyond the End of March nor to desist the Pursuit of his Conquests with his own Arms in Case Spain consented not to his Demands within that Term. He said His Majesty not being their Ally might treat and conclude what he pleased without their Offence but for the States who were their nearest Ally to conclude so much to his Master's Disrespect at least and without communicating with him the Ambassadour at all during the whole Treaty he must leave it to his Master to interpret as he thought fit Monsieur de Witt defended their Cause and our common Intentions with great Phlegm but great Steddiness and told me after he was gone that this was the least we could expect at first from a Frenchman and that I should do well however to give His Majesty an Account of it by the first that we put our Selves early in Posture to make good what we have said and that as to the Time and Degree of our Arming he would consult with the States and let me know their Thoughts to be communicated to His Majesty upon this Occasion I was in hopes to dispatch this away to morrow Morning but I shall be hindred till Night by the Delay of Signing of a separate Article with the Count de Dona whereby Place is reserved for Sueden to enter as Principal into this Treaty For I have gone along in the whole Business since my coming over with perfect Confidence and Concert with the Count de Dona upon his assuring me his Orders were to conform himself to His Majesty's Resolution in what concerns the two Crowns tho' before he absolutely engages he expects from the Spaniards by our Intercession some Supplies for Payment of his Troops and some other Adjustments with the Emperour which will be treated between the several Ministers at London under His Majesty's Influence In what I shall sign upon this Occasion together with the States I confess to Your Lordship to go beyond my Instructions but apprehending it to be wholly agreeable to His Majesty's Intentions and extremely advantageous to the common Ends and Affairs I venture upon this Excess and humbly beg His Majesty's Pardon if I fail Your Lordship will be troubled with some Postscript to Morrow before I dispatch an Express with the Copies to be ratified by His Majesty within a Month tho' I hope a less Time will be taken those of Holland having undertaken theirs on fifteen Days I am c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Jan. 26. S. N. 1668. My Lord SInce the Close of my long Dispatch I have every Hour expected the Copies to be transmitted for His Majesty's Ratification without being able to procure them I cannot but imagine some Occasion of the Delay may have been a Desire in them here to interpose some Time between the Receipt of my last Friday's Letter and of this Pacquet to the End His Majesty may in the mean Time have dispatch'd his Orders to me about the Provisional Articles tho' I cannot think they should be of such Moment inserted or omitted to either Side I now dispatch the inclosed Copies of the Treaty in Order to His Majesty's Ratification which is generally desired may be returned as sudden as possibly the States having undertaken to have theirs ready in fifteen Days after the Signing and believing it necessary to proceed jointly and early to the mutual Councils of Arming in Case France continues the Dispositions they seem to be in at present of pursuing the War My Brother who will deliver this Dispatch to Your Lordship is able to add what particular Circumstances I may have omitted or Your Lordship shall think fit to enquire from this Place and what he fails Count Dona will supply who is a Person very well worth Your Lordship's particular Acquaintance and Assistance in his Negotiations or at least the Forms and Entrances of them being in all Points our Friend Yesterday the Spanish Ambassadour received the Communication of our Treaties from Monsieur de Witt and me with some Descants upon the hardship of it but I believe Satisfaction at Heart I have this Day written at large and with all the Instance imaginable to the Marquess de Castel-Rodrigo to induce his Consent and immediately upon the Ratifications shall away and pursue that Point at Brussels I cannot but rejoice in particular with Your Lordship upon the Success of this Affair having observed in Your Lordship as well as my Lord Keeper a constant steddy Bent in supporting His Majesty's Resolution which is here so generally applauded as the happiest and wisest that any Prince ever took for Himself or his Neighbours What in earnest I hear every Hour and from all Hands of that Kind is endless and even extravagant God of Heaven send His Majesty's Councils to run on the same Course and I have nothing left to wish since I know Your Lordship will continue to esteem me what I am with so great Passion and Truth My Lord Your c. To Sir Orlando Bridgman Lord Keeper Hague Jan. 27. S. N. 1668. My Lord THo' I know my long Dispatch by this Express to my Lord Arlington will give Your Lordship your Share of Trouble yet I could not omit the encharging my Brother with a particular Attendance upon Your Lordship from me nor accompanying him with these Acknowledgments of Your Lordship's great Favour and good Opinion even before I had the Honour of being known to you I will presume I have done nothing since to forfeit them as I had nothing before to deserve them and that my late good Fortunes at the Hague will help to
would answer if ever it did it should never be by my Hand and was as confident I might answer the same for Your Lordship and My Lord Arlington and that you would fall or stand upon this Bottom Monsieur de Witt seemed much satisfied with what I had said assured me for his Part he would give his Hands towards a good Conclusion of this Affair That he would trust His Majesty's Honour and Interest upon so great a Conjuncture as well as the Sincereness and Constancy of His Ministers whom he could judge of by no other Lights but what I gave him made me Compliments upon the great Confidence he had taken in me and my manner of dealing by what he had heard and seen of me since the first Visit I made him in my Passage here after the End of the War and concluded that I should see the Count Dona and try how far Sueden was to be engaged in this Affair I tell Your Lordship all these Circumstances that knowing where the Difficulties have been how they have been overcome and upon what Advances on my side this Knot has been tied Your Lordship and My Lord Arlington may the better know how to support this Affair and make any others easie by recovering the Credit of our Conduct in England so far lost by the Unsteddiness too truly laid to our Charge and at least by your own Constancy in what you have begun make good the Characters you have already in the World and the Assurances I have given Monsieur de Witt upon your Occasion That Evening I went to the Count Dona and run over all Ceremonies of our Characters by going straight into his Chamber taking a Chair and sitting down by him before he could rise out of his I told him I hoped he would excuse this Liberty upon an Errand wherein I thought both our Masters were concerned that Ceremonies were intended to facilitate Business and not to hinder it that I knew nothing to make my seeing the other Ambassadours at the Hague necessary and so was content with the Difficulties had been introduced between our Characters but thinking it absolutely for my Master's Service to enter into Confidence with His Excellency upon my Errand here I had resolved to do it in this Manner and if he gave me Leave would pursue it as if our Acquaintance and Commerce had been of never so long a Date The Count embraced me gave me great Thanks for the Honour I did him made me Compliments upon so frank and confident a Manner as I used with him and said he was ready to return it upon any Thing that I should think fit to communicate to him After this I entred into the Detail of my whole Progress to that Time both in England and here of His Majesty's Reasons of the common Interests of Christendom of the Reception my Errand found from Monsieur de Witt and the Hopes I had of succeeding Of our Discourses about engaging Sueden in the same Measures and a Desire of extending our League into a Triple Alliance among us for our own mutual Defence the Safety of Flanders and thereby of Christendom That I knew how the Crown of Sueden had been treated of late Years by France how close they had kept to the Friendship with His Majesty and how beneficial as well as honourable such a Part as this might prove to them by the particular Use they might be of to the Crown of Spain and that upon any good Occasion they might be sure of His Majesty's Offices and the States who resolved to enter into this Affair without any other Interest than that of the Preservation of Flanders and thereby of their own Safety and the common Good The Count Dona professed to applaud His Majesty's Council to be confident that Sueden would be content to go his Pace in all the common Affairs of Christendom which he was assured of by his own Instructions in general but that such an Affair as this not being foreseen he could have none upon it That if it succeeded he would make all the Paces he could to engage his Master in it as what he thought of Honour and Advantage to the common Safety But that he would return my Frankness to him with the same to me in telling me that he doubted my bringing it to an Issue That he first doubted Monsieur de Witt 's Resolution to break upon any Terms with France and close with England not only considering what had lately passed between us but the Interests of the House of Orange which he must ever believe would at one Time or other be advanced by us whereas he was sure to be supported against them by France Therefore he believed tho' he would not oppose it because the States and People might run into it yet he would find some Means to elude the Conclusion or Effect of it without appearing himself in any such Design That in the next Place since such a Treaty could not be made by the States general without first being sent to all the Provinces and Towns for their Approbation and Orders upon it to their Deputies he did not see how it was possible for the French Ambassadour to fail of engaging some Towns or Provinces against it and the Opposition of any one of them would lose the Effect since no new Treaty could be made by the Constitutions here without an universal Consent That however he would not discourage me but wish'd me Success with all his Heart upon many Reasons and among others as being so much a Servant to the House of Orange which could not but profit by a Conjunction between England and Holland And again promised whenever I brought it to a Period to use all his Endeavours and stretch his Powers as far as he could towards engaging his Master in the same Measures with us In the second Conference I had with Monsieur de Witt I acquainted him with what had passed with Count Dona which he seemed much pleased with and said tho' we could not expect he should have Powers so general as to conclude such an Affair yet an Instrument might be drawn up between us whereby Room may be left for Sueden to enter as a Principal into our Alliance and the Count de Dona had so much Credit at his Court to recommend it there so as to succeed especially upon the hopes we must give him of obtaining Subsidies from Spain which might countervail what they might lose from France upon this Occasion I then fell upon the Form of concluding this Treaty saying I could easily foretell the Fate of it if it must pass the common Forms of being sent by the several Deputies to all their Principals for their Result upon it That I knew this would take up a Month or six Weeks Time and that nothing would be so easie as for the French Ambassadour to meet with it in running that Circle and by engaging some one Member perhaps by Money thrown among the chief Persons in
to as even than to have had it all omitted I desire Your Lordship to communicate all this to My Lord Arlington and to excuse this Trouble by Reason of His Lordship's Pacquet being already sealed up I am ever c. Proemium Tractatus inter Anglos Hollandos Febr. 13. 1668. QUandoquidem annuente Divinâ Gratiâ conspirante mutuarum rerum salute aequé ac Christiani Orbis jam temporis necessitate Vigesimo tertio Die Januarii proximè elapsi inter Serenissimum conclusum signatum sit Foedus perpetuum defensivum fortissimis utrinque tam mari quam terrâ proestandis auxiliis communitum Eodemque die alioque Instrumento de rerum vicinarum tranquilitate paceque Orbi Christiano restitundâ inter Praedictum pronis animis consultum conventum fuerit adeoque nihil aliud protenus superesse videatur quod tam mutuâ voluntate conflatam amicitiam necessitudinem ullo demùm tempore interpellare poterit praeter controversias de mercimoniorum speciebus hic inde redigendis forsitan orituras ex incertâ vel ambiguâ ejusmodi rerum utrinque adjudicatione forsitan etiam promovendis Quo autem omnibus innotescat quà m sincerâ sanctâque fide Praedictus nuper conflatae amicitiae non modo in praesens sed ad posteros colendae cavere voluerint jamdemum ad divellenda quaecunque non modo dissentionum sed vel altercationum semina praecidendamque penitus eorum Spem aut expectationem quorumcunque demùm praedictam amicitiam novis litibus concussam aut labefactatam iri interesse poterit In subsequentes Articulos utrinque conventum est qui pro normâ Regulâ ejusmodi rerum maritimarum mercaturae hic inde redigendae mutuò perpetuò observabuntur aut quousque saltèm ex utriusque partis Arbitrio Consensu Commissarii indicentur conveniant ad uberiorem iis de rebus omnibus Navigationisque Legibus tractatum communi utrinque commodo ulteriore experientiâ dirigendum Sequuntur Articuli Conclusio CUm autem rerum omnium Conventionum commoda aut Incommoda non nisi tractu temporis mutuaeque experientiae documentis penitùs indagari poterunt Conventum itaque est ut quocunque demùm Tempore utrique Parti id visum fuerit ex communi Confensu indici convenire poterunt utrinque delegati Commissarii quorum curae erit operis quodcunque in supra memoratis Articulis defecisse reperietur supplere quodcunque autem incongruum utrinque incommodum mutare aut circumscribere uberiorem demùm hisce de rebus omnibus Tractatum absolvere prorsus perlimare To the States at first Audience High and Mighty LORDS WHereas His Majesty of Great Britain the King my Master hath already found the good Effects of the late Peace concluded at Breda with Your High and Mighty Lordships by the general Satisfaction of His Majesty's Subjects as well as his own and doubts not but Your Lordships have likewise found the same Effects among your People in general as well as among your selves His Majesty esteems nothing more likely to encrease the mutual Satisfaction nor to assure the Safety of both Nations than an Increase of the Confidence and Friendship already contracted between His Majesty and Your Lordships by a stricter and firmer Alliance at this Time And whereas His Majesty contented with those great and powerful Kingdoms and Dominions which Almighty God has given him by an undisputed Succession covers nothing from his Neighbours nor has other Thoughts or Wishes besides those of the common Peace and Repose of Christendom His Majesty finds himself in this Conjuncture sensibly touched by the Calamities so many others are like to feel from the Continuance of the War lately broken out between the Neighbour Crowns and which in Course of Time cannot but involve most of the Princes and States of Christendom unless the Flame be quenched before it rise too high And His Majesty believes that nothing can so much contribute towards a safe and sudden Composure of that Quarrel nor consequently restore the Peace of Christendom as a joint Mediation of His Majesty with Your H. and M. Lordship's together with each others Allies between the two Crowns now in War Upon these two Considerations His Majesty hath thought fit to send me to Your Lordships with full Powers to treat and conclude upon what shall be found necessary between His Majesty and Your Lordships in the Adjustment of all Matters tending to these great Ends. And since nothing can bring these Negotiations to be of Effect so much as the suddenness of their Conclusion I desire Your Lordship 's to appoint such Commissioners as you shall think fit with whom I may fall upon the Treaty of these Matters and to whom I am ready to expose the full Powers which His Majesty the King my Master has given me upon this Occasion At my Audience of Leave to the States General High and mighty Lords HIs Majesty of Great Britain the King my Master having seen so happily finished and in so few Days three several Treaties with Your High and Mighty Lordships By which the common Security of both Nations is established the Seeds of all new Differences entirely rooted out and the Way laid open to the Peace of Christendome in Case our Neighbours proceed with the same good Faith wherewith we have begun His Majesty thinks he has no further Occasion for my Services here because Ministers are only proper for fastening and cementing a Confidence and Friendship whereas ours is so firmly established as not to require any even the most ordinary Supports For this Reason His Majesty has order'd my Return to Brussels there to pursue in concert with Your Lordships in favour of our Neighbours what we have here concluded for our selves But His Majesty has commanded me upon my Departure to assure Your Lordships from Him that as all things are best preserved by the same Means they are begun so His Majesty will not fail for ever to observe what he has now concluded with the same Faith the same Sincerity and the same open Heart wherewith he gave Command they should be negotiated and His Majesty doubts not at all that Your Lordships are entirely resolved to proceed after the same manner which is the highest Mark of a perfect Confidence to be given at present For my own particular I cannot part from hence without expressing my Satisfaction at the sincere and judicious Proceeding of Your High and Mighty Lordships in the whole course of these Negotiations and particularly at the great Prudence you have shewn in the Choice of those Commissioners you gave me their Candor and Sincerity their great Capacity and Application did contribute very much to the quick and happy Conclusion of our Treaties For my own particular as I shall ever bear in mind with Joy and Pleasure this short space of Time I have pass'd with Your Lordships in whatever Part of the World I may be so
I shall always contribute by my good Wishes and whatever Services I may be capable of to the Support of this good Intelligence so happily restored between both Nations In the mean time God Almighty take Your High and Mighty Lordships inot his Holy Protection A mon Audience de congé aux Estats Generaux Hauts Puissants Seigneurs SA Majesté le Roy de la Grande Bretagne mon Maitre ayant vn conclurre si heureusement en si peu de jours trois divers traitez avec V. H. P. S. par lesquels la seureté commune des deux Nations vient d'etre retablie les semences de toutes les nouvelles discordes entierement deracinées le chemin á la paix au repos ouvert pour la Chretienté en cas que nos voifins s'y portent avec la meme foy la meme franchise qui nous la deja fait acheminer sa Majesté croit n'avoir plus besoin de moy en ce lieu puisque les Ministres ne servent ne sont propres qu'a cimenter entretenir la confiance mais la notré se voit etablie sur de si solides fondemens qu'elle n'aura plus besoin des appuis ni des aides ordinaires C'est pourquoy sa Majesté ordonne mon retour a Brusselles pour y poursuivre de concert avec V. S. en faveur de nos voisins ce que nous venons de conclure icy pour nous memes Máis elle m'a commandé sur mon depart d'assurer V. S. de sa part que comme une chose n'est jamais mieux conservée que par les principes qui l'ont fait naitre aussi sa Majesté ne manquera pas d'observer constamment tout ce qui vient d'etre conclu cela avec autant de bonne foy avec la même sincerité la meme droiture de coeur qu'on luy a vû temoigner lors qu'elle l'a fait negotier Et sa Majesté ne doute point que V. S. ne soient entierement resolus á tenir la même conduite á son egard c'est lá le dernier sceau qui doit etre apposé de part d'autre á nos traitez pour preuve d'une parfaite confiance Pour ce qui me regarde en particulier je ne saurois sortir d'icy sans me louer hautement de la judicieuse sincere conduite de Vos H. P. S. dans tout le cours de cette Negotiation particulierement de l'extreme prudence que vous avez fait paroitre dans le choix de Messieurs les Commissaires que vous m'avez donné Leur candeur leur capacité consommée leur ardeur leur application pour l'affaire proposée n'ont pas peu contribué au bonbeur á la rapidité de la conclusion de nos Traitez Pour moy comme je me souviendray toute ma vie avec joye meme avec tendresse du court espace de tems que j'ay passé prés de V. S. aussi dans quelque lieu du monde que je sois appellé á passer ma vie je ne negligeray jamais de contribuer par mes voeux par toutes sortes de soins de services dont je me croiray capable au maintien de cette mutuelle intelligence que je vois si heureusement retablie entre les deux Nations Cependant je prieray Dieu ardamment de prendre vos H. P. S. sous sa sainte protection A Letter from the States to the King of Great Britain Feb. 18. S. N. 1668. SIR IT is merely in Compliance to Custom that we do our Selves the Honour to write to Your Majesty in Answer to the Letter you were pleased to send us relating to Sir William Temple For We can add nothing to what your Majesty has seen your self of his Conduct by the Success of the Negotiation committed to his Charge As it is a Thing without Example that in so few Days three such important Treaties have been concluded so we can say that the Address the Vigilance and the Sincerity of this Minister are also without Example We are extremely obliged to Your Majesty that you are pleased to make use of an Instrument so proper for confirming that strict Amity and good Intelligence which the Treaty at Breda had so happily begun And we are bold to say that if Your Majesty continues to make use of such Ministers the Knot will grow too fast ever to be untyed and Your Majesty will ever find a most particular Satisfaction by it as well as We who after our most hearty Thanks to Your Majesty for this Favour shall pray God c. and remain SIR c. Lettre de Recreance de la part des Etats Au Roy de la Grande Bretagne Le 18. de Feur S. N. 1668. SIRE CE n'est que pour satisfaire á la coutume que nous nous donnons l'honneur d'ecrire á Votre Majesté en response de la lettre qu'il luy a plû nous ecrire au sujet de Monsieur le Chevalier Temple car nous ne pouvons rien ajouter a ce que Votre Majesté meme a vû de sa conduite par le succez de la Negotiation qui luy avoit eté confié Comme c'est une chose sans example que dans si peu de jours trois si importans Traitez ont êté ajustéz aussi pouvons nous dire que l'addresse la vigilance la sincerité de ce Ministre sont aussi sans example Nous sommes bien fort obligés a V. M. de ce qu'il luy a plû se servir vir d'un instrument si propre á achever d'etreindre le noeud d'amitié de bonne intelligence que le traité de Breda avoit commencé á serrer Et nous osons dire qui si elle continue d'employer des semblables Ministres le lien deviendra indissoluble Elle en tirera toujours une satisfaction toute particuliere aussi bien que nous qui aprés l'avoir remercié de tout notre coeur de cette faveur prierons Dieu SIRE c. A Letter from Monsieur de Witt to my Lord Arlington Febr. 14. S. N. 1668. My Lord AS it was impossible to send a Minister of greater Capacity or more proper for the Temper and Genius of this Nation than Sir William Temple so I believe no other Person either will or can more equitably judge of the Disposition wherein he has found the States to answer the good Intentions of the King of Great Britain Sir William Temple ought not to be less satisfied with the Readiness wherewith the States have pass'd over to the concluding and signing of those Treaties for which he came hither than they the States are with his Conduct and agreable manner of Dealing in the whole Course of his Negotiation It appears My Lord that you throughly understand Men
matin Quant a moy le soir le matin vous me trouverez toujours Monsieur Votre tres Affectionné Serviteur To the Marques of Castel Rodrigo Brussels Dec 12. S.N. 1665 My Lord THE News of your Excellency's Indisposition has very sensibly afflicted me but God Almighty will I doubt not quickly restore your Health which is of too great Importance to Christendom to sink under common Accidents I desire your Pardon for the Liberty I take to let you know how Monsieur Rhintorf complains exceedingly that he finds yet no Advance in the Affair you were pleased to undertake for his Master's sake and indeed for that of the King my Master too I desire your Excellency once more to give your Hand to it and that if those Merchants will not buy the Tin you will give Order at least to have it engaged for three parts of it's value so as some present Remedy may be found to the Bishop's Necessities wherewith by means of this delay he is now press'd to the last Extremities I take more part in this Affair having already writ to the King my Master that you had wholly finished it in affection to his Service for which I do not doubt but you will receive His Majesty's Thanks by the first Courier so that I shall be in the greatest Confusion imaginable if the Business fails and His Majesty cannot chuse but think me very impertinent By my last Dispatch from Court of the 18th instant I am informed that the Spanish Ambassadour did that Evening privately deliver his new Credentials to the King to whom and his Ministers he still continued to be very acceptable and that upon arrival of these Credentials they began to enter in good earnest upon adjusting our common Interests By a Letter of the 15th instant from the Prince of Munster I am informed of the great and happy Progress of his Arms but on t'other side that the Hollanders used their last Endeavours to raise against him all the Protestant Princes of the Empire under pretext that Religion has part in the Quarrel as well as the Interest of the House of Austria And on both these Accounts as well as from your own Generosity your Excellency is engaged not to disappoint him in this little occasion not to alledge the Moral which tells us That whatever good we can do without damage to our selves we are obliged to do even to a Stranger Upon an Answer from your Excellency I am ready to dispatch an Express to Antwerp and shall remain My Lord Your Excellencies most humble and obedient Servant Au Marquis de Castel Rodrigo Brussels Dec. 12. S. N. 1665. Monsieur LA Nouvelle de l'indisposition que votre Excellence a ressentie depuis quelques jours m'a sensiblement touché mais je ne doute point que Dieu ne retablisse bien-tôt une santé qui est trop necessaire à la Chretienté pour succomber sous des accidens vulgaires Je vous demande pardon de la liberté que je prens de vous avertir que Monsieur Rhintorf se plaint extrement de ce qu'il ne trouve encore rien de fait dans l'affaire qu'il vous a plu de prendre á coeur en faveur de son Maitre ainsi que sur la recommendatidu Roy mon Maitre Je supplie V. E. d'y mettre encore une fois la main de donner ordre que si on a resolu de ne point accepter cette Marchandise du moins on la prenne en gage pour les trois quarts de sa valeur á fin de remedier sur le champ aux necessicez dont Monsieur l'Eveque se trouve pressé qui peut etrê sont rendues extremes par ce retardement Je me trouve d'autant plus interressé dans cette affaire qu'ayant deja mandé au Roy mon Maitre que vous l'aviez touta fait finie dans la veue de rendre service á sa Majesté ce qui vous sera sans doute marqué avec remerciment de sa part par le premier Courier je sero is l'homme du monde le plus confus le plus impertinent aux yeux du Roy mon Maitre si citte affaire venoit a manquer Par la derniere lettre que j'ay receue de la Cour dattée du 18. du courant j'ay étê averti que Monsieur l'Ambassadeur d'Espagne avoit le soir de ce jour lá presenté au Roy ce◠novelles lettres de creance que sa personne etoit toujours fort agreable á ses Ministres qu'au reste sur l'arrivée de ces nouvelles lettres de creance on alloit commencer de fort bon coeur á ajuster nos interets communs Par une lettre du Prince de Munster du 15. du courant j'ay eté averti de ses grands heureux progrez mais que d'un autre coté les Hollandois faisoient tous leurs efforts pour soulever contre luy tous les Princes Protestans de l'Empire sous le pretexte que la Religion la Maison d'Autriche y etoient interessés C'est par lá aussi bien que par vôtre generosité que vous êtes engagé à ne luy pas manquer en cette petite occasion pour n'alleguer pas la Morale qui nous dit Quicquid sine detrimento facere potes vel ignoto faciendum Sur la Response de V. E. je suis tout prêt á depecher un exprez á Anvers bien resolu d'etre toujours de V. E. le tres humble tres obeisant Serviteur To Sir William Coventry Brussels Dec. 15. S. N. 1665. SIR I Am to acknowledge both the Honour and Obligation I received by yours of November the 9th the last of which seems so great in that Light you give it and by those Circumstances I now see attend it that had it come from any other hands I should have wished a thousand Times never to have received it For there are very few I desire much to be obliged to having always thought that a sort of Debt which ought as duly to be paid as that of Money with more Interest and much greater Difficulty of casting up But knowing that all generous Persons are apt to favour and esteem their own rather such whom they oblige than such as serve them I am extreamly glad to have my Name enter into the knowledge of his Royal Highness by his Bounty and Favour in the Grant of those Passports rather than any other way I could have taken and beg of you that with my humble Thanks His Royal Highness may know I enter into his Service with this Advance of Wages which it shall be always my Endeavour as it is my Duty to deserve I owe and should say a great deal to your self upon this Occasion but that with my Thanks for the Thing it self I am to join my Complaints for the manner
might help to make my Journey less suspected I fee'd the Officer that opened the Gates for me to keep them shut two Hours longer than usual that Morning which I hear was performed and so committed my self to the Conduct of the Duke of Nieuburg's Guide to lead me the shortest Way he could into some place belonging to his Master I rode hard and without any stop to a Village eight Leagues from Munster and just upon the Borders of the Brandenburg Countrey There I baited and pretended to go to Bed and stay all Night but in an hour's time having got fresh Horses ready for four Men that I pretended to send before me I put on a Cassaque of one of the Marquess's Guards and with my Page the Duke of Nieuburg's Guard and Collonel Masjette a Flemish Officer in the Munster Service I took Horse at the back Door of my Inn while the rest of my Company thought me a-Bed and resolved to ride as far as I could the rest of that Day leaving my Steward to follow me the next with the rest of my Train and Guards I rode till eight at Night through the wildest Countrey and most unfrequented Ways that ever I saw but being then quite spent and ready to fall from my Horse I was forced to stop and lay me down upon the Ground till my Guard went to a Peasant's House in Sight to find if there were any Lodging for me he brought me word there was none nor any Provisions in the House nor could find any thing but a little Bottle of Juniper Water which is the common Cordial in that Countrey I drunk a good deal and with it found my Spirits so revived that I resolved to venture upon the three Leagues that remained of my Journey so as to get into the Territories of Nieuburg having passed all the Way since I left my Train through those of Brandenburg whose Engagements with the Dutch left me no Safety while I was there About Midnight I came to my Lodging which was so miserable that I lay upon Straw got on Horseback by break of Day and to Duseldorp by Noon where being able to ride no further I went to Bed for an Hour sent to make my Excuses to the Duke of Nieuburg upon my Haste and Weariness and to borrow his Coach to carry me to Ruremonde which was a long Days Journey This Prince sent me his Coach and his Compliments with all the Civility in the World I went away that Afternoon got to Ruremonde the next and from thence hither not without great Danger of the Dutch Parties even in the Spanish Countrey And so have ended the hardest Journey that ever I made in my Life or ever shall for such another I do not think I could ever bear with a Body no stronger than mine At my Return I have had the Fortune to stop several Bills of Exchange that would otherwise have fallen into the Hands of the Bishop's Agent here and to forbid the Payment of the rest he received in my Absence which tho' accepted by the Merchants at Antwerp yet were not satisfied the Time having not expired at which they were payable And this Service to the King is all the Satisfaction I have by this Adventure which has ended the whole Affair of Munster that has of late made so much Noise and raised so much Expectation in the World I am SIR Your c. To the Duke of Ormond Brussels May 14. S. N. 1666. My Lord. THO' my late Munster Journey has given Your Grace some Ease by my Intermissions and me many Troubles yet I met none of which I was more sensible than what I received at my Return by the News of Your Grace's Indisposition But I comforted my Self first that your Health is too considerable to fall tho'it may suffer under common Accidents and since with the certainty given me of its Recovery in which I give Your Grace what I receive by it my Self as much Joy I am sure as if I felt never so great an Addition to my own since Mankind is esteemed so great a Self-Lover that these are the highest Expressions will be allowed us I have desired my Lord Arlington to give Your Grace in my own Letters to his Lordship the Account of my whole Transaction which I take no great Pleasure in repeating and should very difficultly at once give Relations so particular as what I made whilst the Objects their Dispositions and Motions were in my Eye The Length of them may make them too much Trouble to Your Grace of which my Father or Brother I know would be glad to ease you and give the Minute of a Draught at large I so concerted with the Bishop whilst I was there and with the Marquess here at my Return that we expect here between five or six Thousand of his best Troops upon His Excellency's paying Fifty Thousand Pattacons and obliging himself to restore them upon Repayment of the like Sum whenever the Bishop shall have need of them which is a better Disposal of Forces raised by His Majesty's Money than if they had been drawn over into the French Service according to their Prospect and Monsieur Colbert's Endeavour who was sent to Munster on Purpose to marchand them Whether the Duke of Nieuburg who seems wholly French will make any Difficulty in giving them Passage through his Countrey I know not nor whether the Light be true which was lately given me of a War like to suceed in those Parts between that Duke and the Marquess of Brandenburg which would in this Conjuncture mingle the Cards after the strangest manner imaginable Tho' we hear much of our Fleets being at Sea yet we talk more here of the Dutch slowness who have not yet Men for above fifty Ships and those so disheartned and cold in the Service that I fear nothing but their eluding our great Preparations by keeping close in their Harbours till for want of Victuals we may be forced to return to ours My Lord Carlingford is now at Prague uncertain upon his late Letters from Court whether he advances this Way or returns to the Emperour whither he hath dispatcht his Son and where we have some Ground of Complaint seeing the Emperour's Name among all the other Princes in the Guarranty of the Munster Peace The Endeavour of that Court had been much better employ'd in compassing the Peace with Portugal which hangs yet in great Uncertainties not to say Difficulties Neither of which there is the least of in my being with most hearty and unfeigned Passion My Lord Your c. To my Lord Lisle Brussels Aug. S. N. 1666. My Lord. I Received lately the Honour of one from Your Lordship and by it the Satisfaction of finding your Health and good Humour continue as well as my share in your Favour and Memory which I am much concerned in I assure Your Lordship in the midst of a Town and Employment entertaining enough and a Life not uneasie my Imaginations run very
Letters to my Father I resolved this should be to you tho' upon a Subject wherein he has been very desirous to be informed which was more than I could pretend to from any Notices of my own having been Young and very New in Business when I was first employ'd upon the Munster Treaty All I knew of the Grounds or Occasions of our late War with Holland was that in all common Conversation I found both the Court and the Parliament in general very sharp upon it complaining of the Dutch Insolencies of the great Disadvantages they had brought upon our Trade in general and the particular Injuries of their East-India Company towards Ours And it was not easie to think any should better understand the Honour of the Crown than our Court or the Interests of the Nation than the House of Commons One Thing I confess gave me some Reflections which was to observe that three of my Father's greatest Friends and Persons that I most esteemed upon many Accounts were violently against the Councils of this War which were my Lords of Northumberland of Leicester and Sir Robert Long tho' two of them were of the Privy Council and the third in a great Office and ever bred up in Court. For my own Part when I entred into that Affair all I knew was that we were actually in a War and that the best we could do was to get out of it either by Success and Victories or by a fair and reasonable Peace which I believed our Treaty with Munster would make Way for and I found some of our Ministers had no other End by it having given over the Thoughts of any great Advantages we would find by pursuing the War how that succeeded and how it ended You all know there as well as I do here Upon Conclusion of the Peace at Breda my Sister took a very strong Fancy to a Journey into Holland to see a Countrey She had heard so much of and I was willing to give her that Satisfaction after the melancholy Sence we have had here ever since the French Invasion of this Countrey We went Incognito with only her Woman a Valet de Chambre and a Page out of Livery who all spoke Dutch I leave it to her to give you an Account of what Entertainments she met with there which she was much pleased with especially those of the Indian Houses For me who had seen enough of it in my younger Travels I found nothing new but the Stadt-House at Amsterdam which tho' a great Fabrick yet answered not the Expectation I had from so much Time and so vast Expence as had been employed to raise it Which put me in mind of what the Cavaliero Bernini said of the Louvre when he was sent for to take a View of it that it was Una granpiccola Cosa The chief Pleasure I had in my Journey was to observe the strange Freedom that all Men took in Boats and Inns and all other common Places of talking openly whatever they thought upon all the publick Affairs both of their own State and their Neighbours And this I had the Advantage of finding more by being Incognito and think it the greatest Piece of the Liberty that Countrey so much values the Government being otherwise as severe and the Taxes as hard as among any of their Neighbours At our Return from Amsterdam we lay two Nights at the Hague where I made a Visit to Monsieur de Witt I told him who I was but that having pass'd unknown through the Countrey to all but himself a I desired I might do so still I told him mâ— only Business was to see the Things most considerable in the Countrey and thought I should lose my Credit if I left it without seeing him He took my Complement very well and returned it by saying he had received a Character of me to my Advantage both from Munster and Brussels and was very glad to be acquainted with me at a Time when both our Nations were grown Friends and had equal Reason to look about us upon what had lately happened in Flanders he seemed much to regret the late unhappy Quarrel between us which had made Way for this new War among our Neighbours He laid the Fault of ours wholly upon Sir George Downing who having been Envoy from Cromwel at a Time when the States were forced to observe good Measures with him Sir George had made use of that Disposition to get a great deal of Money from the East-India Company who were willing to bribe his good Offices in some Disputes that remained between the two Companies That having been continued in the same Employment by the King he thought to drive the same Trade but finding the Company more stanch he had taken upon him to pursue a Dispute about the old Pretensions upon the Loss of the Bonadventure as an Affair of State between the Nations whereas it was left by our Treaties to be pursued only as a Process between the Parties That in their Treaty with Cromwel all Pretensions on both Sides were cut off but with this Clause Liceat autem to such as were concerned in that Affair of the Bonadventvre Litem inceptam prosequi That this Treaty having been made the Model of that concluded with His Majesty soon after His Restoration that Clause continued still in the New Treaty and the Process which had been begun long before Cromwel's Treaty before the Magistrates of Amsterdam had still gone on after their Treaty with the King according to the true Intention of that Clause That Mr. Cary. who was employd to pursue it in the Name of Courtin's Executors had brought it very near a Composition demanding Forty Thousand Pounds for all Pretensions and the Dutch offering Thirty That he Monsieur de Witt to end this Affair had appointed a Meeting with Mr. Cary who had since confess'd to his Friends that he was resolved to end it at that Meeting and rather to take the Dutch Offer than let the Suit run on but that very Morning Sir George Downing sent for him told him it was a Matter of State between the two Nations and not only a Concern of private Men and therefore absolutely forbid him to go on with any Treaty about it otherwise than by his Communication and Consent That he would put in a Memorial to the States upon it and instead of Forty Thousand Pounds which he demanded would undertake to get him Fourscore and that he was sure the Dutch would give a great deal more rather than venture a Quarrel with His Majesty This Course he pursued made extravagant Demands and with great Insolence made the same Representations to our Court and possess'd some of the Ministers that he would get great Sums of Money both for His Majesty and them if they would suffer him to Treat this Affair after his own Manner for he was sure the Dutch would go very far in that Kind if they saw there was no other Way to avoid a War with England
Region has no Share in the Storms of that below And besides as Men have more Curiosity to enquire how a great Man sleeps than what a mean Man does all day long so the very Rest and Idleness of that Roman Court seems among the Discoursers more worth knowing than the busie Motions of many small ones in this Northern Continent who yet at this Time pretend to be considered and to make a Noise This is all I can say to excuse my Inclosure of such Papers unless it be that to tell a plain Truth I was very glad of the Occasion to assure you that I am ever with very much Passion as well as with much Reason SIR Your most Faithful humble Servant The Triple Alliance was made in January 1668. To Sir John Temple London Jan. 2d S. N. 1668. SIR YOu will wonder to see a Letter from this Place my last having been from Brussels without any thoughts of such a Journey And because my Stay here is like to be very short and my Time extremely filled I take the first Hour I can find to give you some Account of this Adventure Soon after my last an Express came to me from His Majesty commanding me to come immediately into England with all the Speed I could possibly make but to take the Hague in my Way and there upon the Credit of a Visit I made Monsieur de Witt last September and which passed very well between us to make him another and let him know His Majesty had commanded me to do so on Purpose to inform my self of the Opinions he had concerning the French late Invasion in Flanders their great Success there and the Appearances of so much greater this ensuing Spring the Thoughts he had of what was the true Interest of His Majesty the States and the rest of Christendome upon this Occasion That His Majesty by knowing his Mind should believe he knew a great deal of that of the States and thought He might thereby be enabled to take such Measures as might be necessary for him in this Conjuncture I obey'd this Summons spoke with Monsieur de Witt entred into great Confidences with him made Report of all to His Majesty at my Arrival here gave Monsieur de Witt the Character I think he deserves of a very able and faithful Minister to his State and I thought a sincere Dealer very different from what Sir George Downing had given of him at Court who would have him pass for such another as himself but only a Craftier Man in the Trade than he Upon all this His Majesty came last Night to a Resolution of the greatest Importance which has yet passed I think here in any foreign Affair and begun the New Year I hope with a good Presage and in which the new Ministry particularly My Lord Keeper and My Lord Arlington have had a very great Part Mine will be to return immediately upon it into Holland where if it please God I arrive and succeed I expectâ—â— great deal of Satisfaction by my Errand and much the greater by knowing that you will have a great deal in it too as in an Affair I remember to be so agreeable with what have been always your Opinions The Season of the Year is bad and the Weather ill and yet my Sister has been so kind as to come with me hither from Brussels and to resolve to return with me at this short Warning to the Hague which will be a great Ease to me as well as Satisfaction and by freeing me from all domestick Cares leave me the more Liberty for those of my Business which I foresee will be enough to take up a better Head than mine My Wife and Children continue here till I see where my wandring Planet is like to fix but my Brother Harry resolves to be of the Party and take this Occasion of seeing Holland and what is like to pass in the World upon this great Conjuncture I am called away and left Time only to add the constant Professions of that Duty wherewith I am and shall be ever SIR Your c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Jan. 24. S. N 1668. My Lord UPon last Friday at Night I gave Your Lordship the Account of what Advance I had then made in my Negotiation and of the Point where it was then arrested with Desires of His Majesty's Pleasure whereupon having spent that whole Day in Debates I had little Time left for that Letter but intended to make some Amends for the Haste of it within two Days by a Dispatch with the Yatcht and tho' delayed a little longer will not I hope be more unwelcome by bringing Your Lordship a fuller and final Account which may be allowed to surprize you a little there since it is look'd upon as a Miracle here not only by those that hear it but even by the Commissioners themselves who have had the whole Transaction of it which I shall now acquaint Your Lordship with Upon my two first Conferences with Monsieur de Witt which were the Tuesday and Wednesday I found him much satisfied with His Majesty's Resolution concerning our Neighbours but of the Opinion that the Condition of forcing Spain was necessary to our common End and to clear the Means towards it from all Accidents that might arise For the Defensive League he was of his former Opinion that it should be negotiated between us but upon the Project offered His Majesty at Schevelin by which all Matter of Commerce might be so adjusted as to leave no Seeds of any new Quarrels between the Nations After two very long Conferences upon these Points we ended with some Difference upon the Necessity of concluding both Parts of my Projects at the same Time but for the rest with great Confidence and Satisfaction in one anothers sincere and frank Way of Treating since the first Overtures between us The first Time I saw him he told me I came upon a Day he should always esteem very happy both in respect of His Majesty's Resolutions which I brought and of those the States had taken about the Disposal of the chief Commands in their Army by making Prince Maurice and Monsieur Wurtz Camp-Masters-General and the Prince of Tarante and Rhingrave Generals of the Horse each to command in Absence of the other He told me all the Detail of that Disposition but the rest I remember not well I laid hold on this Occasion as indeed I thought was necessary to say what His Majesty gave me Order concerning the Prince of Orange which he took very well and said was very obliging to the States that for his own Part he never failed to see the Prince once or twice a Week and grew to have a particular Affection for him and would tell me plainly that the States designed the Captain-generalship of all the Forces for him so soon as by his Age he grew capable of it The next Day was my Audience which passed with all the Respect that could be given His
between him and the States for their own mutual Defence and to this Purpose had sent me over as his Envoy to the States with full Powers and the Draught of a Defensive League between us but refers the rest for what touched Flanders to what the States and I should agree Monsieur de Witt received this Discourse with a Countenance pleased but yet as I mark'd something surprized and as if he expected not a Return from His Majesty so sudden and so resolute He said that the States would be much pleased with the Honour His Majesty did them and the Overture he made them that I should chuse my Time whenever I desired it for my Audience and would pass the Forms of demanding it from the President of the Week That he was still confident the States would enter with His Majesty into the Mediation tho' France gave them Hopes of succeeding by their own That the Provinces differed in Opinion upon what Terms the Peace should be made That Utrecht was so bold as to think nothing but Justice ought to be considered in the Case that all that France had conquered should be restored to Spain and their Pretensions be referred to Judgment or Arbitrage But Holland with most of the other Provinces were of another Mind and considering their own present Condition as well as that of France thought it best to keep the French to their own Offer but he believed would come to Means of more Force if France should recede from what they themselves had advanced to the States That for the Defensive League between us he did not know whether the late Sore were yet fit for such an Application but would try the Mind of the States That he doubted they would think it like to prove too sudden a Change of all their Interests and that which would absolutely break them off from so old and constant a Friend as France to relie wholly upon so new and so uncertain a Friend as England had pâ—â—â—ved I told him that the doing what he said would be the Effect of any Treaties of this Nature between us let them be as tenderly handled and composed as we could That France would take it as ill of us of them to be stopp'd in the remaining Conquest of Flanders as to the forced out of all they had already gained That he knew very well it had been long their Design at any Price to possess themselves of the Spanish Netherlands and he knew as well that it was their Interest to do so considering the Advantages it would give them over all the rest of Christendom that it was as much our Interest to hinder it and that nothing could do it but a firm Conjunction between us That the States Part would be next after Flanders was gone and therefore they had now as much need of being protected by England against France as they thought they had three or four Years ago of being protected by France against England and that they had no other Choice but either continuing their Friendship with France till they should see both Flanders and themselves swallowed up by such a Neighbour or else change their whole Measures and enter into the strictest Alliance with His Majesty for the Preservation of both and let France take it as they pleased Monsieur de Witt confessed the Design of France for the Conquest of Flanders spoke of the Treaties they had made with the States in Cardinal Richlieu's Time and lately offered again for partaging it between them and said he understood very well the Danger of such a Council and Neighbourhood or else he should have fallen into them but the Ventures were great on the other side too that the States were much more exposed than the King that the Spaniards were weak and ill to be trusted by the States between whom there had never yet been any better Measures than barely those of the Munster Peace after so great Rancors and long Hostilities That tho' he believed the German Princes would be glad of what His Majesty proposed yet he knew not how far Sueden might be engaged in the Measures with France who lay here at their Backs in the Dutchy of Bremen And last of all tho' this Resolution seemed now to be taken by His Majesty and his Ministers upon the surest and wisest Foundations which were those of true Interest and Safety yet no Man knew how long they might last That if they should break all their Measures with France and throw themselves wholly upon His Majesty by such a Conjunction any Change of Councils in England would be their certain Ruine That he knew not this present Ministry and could say nothing to them but that he knew the last too well Upon which he said a good deal of our uncertain Conduct since His Majesty's Return and concluded that the Unsteddiness of Councils in England seemed a fatal Thing to our Constitution he would not judge from what Grounds Mais que depuis le temps de la Reyne Elisabet il n'y avoit eu qu'une fluctuation perpetuelle en la Conduite de l'Angleterre avec laquelle on ne pouvoit jamais prendre des Mesures pour deux Annèes de Temps After this ended with some Melancholy that looked a little irresolute I told him that as to their own Interests he knew them and could weigh them better than I that after my Audience and first Conference with Commissioners I should quickly see how the States would understand them in which I knew very well how great a Part he would have That for our Danger I confest they would be first exposed to France and we the last which made it reasonable they should make the first Pace to their Safety That for Sueden I had no Orders to negotiate with them but being fully instructed in His Majesty's general Intentions I should be glad to see them strengthened all I could and to that Purpose if he thought fit I would talk with the Count de Dona the Suedish Ambassadour here and see whether he had any Powers to engage their Crown in any common Measures for the Safety of Christendom that if by such a Conjunction we could extend it to a Triple Alliance among us upon the same Foundation I believed he would think it too strong a Bar for France to venture on That for the Unsteddiness of our Councils I would rather bewail than defend it but that I should not have made this Journey if I had not been confident that had been ended and we now bottommed past any Change or Remove That I could not pretend to know any Body's Mind certainly but my own but that upon this Matter I was as confident of His Majesty's of Your Lordship's and My Lord Arlington's as I was of my own Upon this Occasion I said a great deal not only of the Interests but Resentments that had engaged His Majesty and His Ministers in this Council and concluded that I was confident it could never break but
some of the small Towns to prevent and ruine a Council of the greatest Importance to Christendom as well as to our two Nations that had been on Foot in many Ages That unless the States General would conclude and sign the Treaty immediately and trust to the Approbation of their several Provinces and Towns after it was done I should give it for gone and think no more of it Monsieur de Witt seemed to think this impossible said no such Thing had ever been done since the first Institution of their Commonwealth that tho' it was true the States General might sign a Treaty yet they could not Ratifie it without Recourse to their Principals and that they should venture their Heads in Signing it if their Principals not approving it should question them for doing it without Orders that he hoped the Forms might be expedited in three Weeks Time and that all Care that could be should be taken to prevent the Addresses of the French Ambassadour among the Provinces I cut the Matter short and told him I continued of my first Opinion to see it immediately agreed between Me and the Commissioners and then Signed by the States which might be done in four or five Days and that the Deputies might safely trust to the Approbation of their Principals in a Point of so great and evident publick Interest That for my Part I know not how this Delay and thereby Hazard of the Affair might be interpreted in England nor what Change in my Orders it might produce That I had now Powers to conclude an Alliance of the last Consequence to the Safety of Flanders and this State that if it should miscarry by the too great Caution of the Deputies in Point of Form for ought I knew they might venture their Heads that Way and more deservedly than by signing at present what all of them believed would not only be ratified but applauded by their Principals With this I left him and the rest that passed in the Progress of this Affair as well as in my Audience or with the Commissioners Your Lordship has it in my Dispatch to My Lord Arlington to whom you will please to communicate these more secret Springs that by knowing the Conception the Forming the Throws and Birth of this Child you may the better consult how it is to be nourished till it grow to Strength and thereby fit to atchieve those great Adventures for which it seems designed I am ever with equal Passion and Truth My Lord Your Lordship 's most faithful and most humble Servant To Mr. Godolphin Hague Jan. 28. S. N. 1668. SIR THO' the Interruption of our Commerce hath been long yet I thought it necessary to renew it at this Time and thereby let you know what has lately broken it on my Side that you may not believe any Interruption of yours has had a worse Effect upon me of late than it ever had before being an Accident I have often been subject to About the end of last Month N. S. I passed through this Place with private Commission from His Majesty to sound the Mind of the States in what concerns the present Quarrel between the two Crowns and how they were disposed to join with him in the Share of a War or Project of a Peace to be endeavoured by our joint Offices between them From hence I went to London with the private Account of what I had in Charge After five Days Stay there I was dispatch'd back as His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary to the States with full Power to treat and conclude upon those Points which His Majesty esteemed necessary for our common Safety and the Repose of Christendom in this Conjuncture Upon the 6th I arrived here had my first Audience on the 18th and on the 23d were signed by me and the Commissioners given me by the States with full Powers three several Instruments of our present Treaty The first containing a League defensive and perpetual between His Majesty and the States against all Persons without exception that shall invade either of them with Agreement to furnish each other upon Occasion with forty Ships of War of which fourteen betwixt sixty and eighty Guns and four hundred Men a piece one with another Fourteen between forty and sixty Guns and three hundred Men a piece and of the other Twelve none under thirty six Guns and a hundred and fifty Men Besides this with six Thousand Foot and four hundred Horse or Money in stead of them at the Choice of the Invaded and to be repaid within three Years after the End of the War the Proportions of Money to the several Parts of the said Aid being ascertained in the Treaty The second Instrument contains our joint Obligations to dispose France to make Peace in Flanders upon one of the Alternatives already proposed and likewise to dispose Spain to accept it before the End of May but in Case of Difficulty made by them to dispose France however to stop all further Progress of its own Arms there and leave it wholly to the Allies to procure the Ends proposed in this League The third Instrument contains certain separate Articles between His Majesty and the States Signed at the same Time and of the same Force with the Treaty but not to be committed to Letters 'T is hardly imaginable the Joy and Wonder conceived here upon the Conclusion of this Treaty brought to an Issue in five Days nor the Applause given to His Majesty's Resolution as the wisest and happiest that could in this Conjuncture be taken by any Prince both for his own and his Neighbours Affairs nor are the Reflections upon the Conduct of it less to the Advantage of the present Ministry in England the Thing being almost done here assoon as my Journey was known in London and before my Errand was suspected by any publick Minister there Three Days after our signing the Suedish Ambassadour signed another Instrument jointly with me and the States Commissioners obliging his Master to enter as a Principal into the same Alliance so soon as some Pretensions he has from the Emperour and Spain are satisfied by our good Offices between them After which Count Dona parted as Ambassadour likewise from that Crown for England where the rest of that Affair will be negotiated and in his Company my Brother Henry Temple with the Whole Account of my Business and the Treaties signed in Order to their Ratification for which a Month is allowed tho' the States promise theirs within fifteen Days after the Date When those arrive and are exchanged I return to my Residence at Brussels to see the Issue of this Business which now takes up the Thoughts and Discourse of all Christendom and from which most Princes will resolve to take their Measures I suppose My Lord Sandwich upon his Way and therefore content my self only with giving you this Trouble and the Professions of my being SIR Your c. To the KING Hague Jan. 29th S.N. 1668. May it please Your Majesty
they would give all to the King's Ships at Sea which theirs or any other Ambassadours gave to his own Person in his Kingdom where his Dominion was as absolute as he could pretend it to be in the narrow Seas which is to uncover first and cover last so that all their Ships should vail to ours when they met in Case ours would in Return take down the Pavilion as a Civility to theirs afterwards and theirs should remain vailed till we had set up our Pavilion again I told him I could say nothing to that Matter which I knew was very delicate but that if ever we agreed in that Point I thought it must not be by Articles or Treaties but by Concert between the Ministers of each Side as for the States first to give absolute Orders to all their Captains to vail to the King's Ships whenever they met them in the narrow Seas and at the same Time to signifie so much to His Majesty in a Letter of Compliment and as a Resolution taken upon Consideration of so near and happy Alliance as was now entred into between the Nations Upon which His Majesty might consider what Returns of Civility he would be content his Captains should make to an Allie so near as this State was now likely ever to be to the Crown of England Monsieur de Witt was willing to fall into any Expedient and said that whenever I came into England he would hope I might bring this last Matter to pass as happily as I had done all the rest That His Majesty should find he would be wanting in nothing that the Point of Civility or Deference might require in this Matter provided it were without acknowledging our Pretensions to the Dominion of the Sea which they must die rather than do but in what should pass they would leave us to our Interpretations and keep themselves to theirs For the provisional Articles according to my Word which made Way for the Treaty's Conclusion I told Monsieur de Witt His Majesty had in his Answer given me Leave to do it with an Article for the Meeting of Commissioners at both Parties Desire to compleat what should be defective and change what should be found inconvenient and cut off any Thing that should be superfluous so as it might appear to be an Original Treaty between us which would be more for our Honour than to copy after the French That tho' His Majesty had given me this Leave in Compliance to the States yet he had rather the Thing should now be left to Commissioners for these Ends than concluded with Reference to them hereafter I made His Majesty's Concession in this Point easie for these two Ends that either they finding His Majesty indifferent in it might grow so too Men being commonly apt to pull the harder the faster another holds or else if they resolved to insist upon it since I was already engaged to value a Thing which costs His Majesty nothing for as much Obligation as I could to the States which might make Way for some material Return upon another Occasion Monsieur de Witt seemed very much pleased at His Majesty's Compliance with them in this Point and said if I knew His Majesty's Pleasure in any Particulars which he desired should be added or any others changed for common Convenience he desired me to tell him and doubted not but we should end it in twenty four Hours but he was unwilling it should fall into other Hands or remain undone for the Reasons I mentioned in one of my last After much Discourse and no Way left to avoid the Thing we agreed it should be done but with an ample Article for the Meeting of Commissioners for those foresaid Ends and after the Perpetuity I will endeavour to get in these Words Aut quousque saltem ex utriusque partis Consensu indicentur Commissarii or some Words to that Purpose And likewise in the Preamble of this separate Instrument some Expressions of this Kind ut omnibus innotescat quam sincerâ sanctaque Fide nuper contractae Amicitiae non modo in praesens sed in posteros colendae cavere voluerunt And Ad divellenda penitus quaecunque non modo dissentionum sed Litium Altercationum Semina And Ad praecidendam spem omnem Expectationem quorumcunque praedictam Amicitiam novis Altercationibus labefactatam iri interesse possit Which are Things that come now only into my Head but shall be digested against we meet to morrow upon this Occasion And this is all that is possible for me to do in this Matter and which at least is likely to hasten the Exchange of the Ratifications and to leave our Alliance the clearest firmest and most confident that can be I confess I am troubled that it cannot be otherwise because Your Lordship says His Majesty would rather have had it so and if you had not sent me after the Treaty's Arrival an Explanation of what was written to me in an unintelligible Cipher it had been so and my Words had been safe but I think it had been worse in leaving a Dissatisfaction between us which is now avoided and I find My Lord Keeper in a Letter to me seems to put no Weight upon it if done in the Manner mentioned and I know you both put a great deal upon any Person 's employ'd by His Majesty being and passing for an honest Man No Post going from hence till the End of the Week I have resolved to dispatch this by the Yatcht that brought over my Brother whose Orders it seems are to return immediately But I know not how to find the safe Conveyance for the Dutch Ratifications unless another Yacht be sent for them about a Week or ten Days hence and to that End I shall leave them with Mr. Carter at my Lord Cravenss House here and who does all His Lordship's Business who shall deliver them to any Person that brings a Letter from Your Lordship to that Purpose This I think will be much better than to venture them with me in my Journey to Brussels or upon a Passage from thence I am ever with My Lord Your c. P. S. I had forgot the mention of this inclosed Memorial given in Yesterday to the States and by their Order sent me with a Compliment They would receive nothing without communicating it to me They resolve upon the Marquess's Answer for the Treating at Aix to send likewise thither but refer the Quality or Number of Persons to the Marquess's Intentions of going himself or sending some Delegate and that I suppose will depend upon Don Juan's coming over In the mean Time the States are absolutely of Opinion with me that no Treaty can begin with good Intentions on the French Side unless they consent to a Suspension of Arms while it lasts and therefore that the Force of our joint Instances at Paris is to be put upon that Point To Sir Orlando Bridgeman Lord Keeper Hague Febr. 12. S. N. 1668. My Lord
a leur merite a leurs qualitez personnelles M'accorderez vous la liberte de vous prier d'envoyer une copie de cette Lettre aux Ambassadeurs d'Hollande a Londres avec ordre de la faire voir a Milord Arlington car je me defie extremement du courier de Nieuport trop expose a la rencontre des François je ne suis pas encore assez grand Maître dans mon chiffre pour m'en servir dans les affaires d'un aussi long detail Je vous prie de m'aider a me conserver dans le souvenir de mes amis de la Haye de me croire toujours autant que personne du monde Monsieur Vôtre tres humble tres affectionne Serviteur The Memorial given to the Marquess of Castel-Rodrigo Febr. 1668. My Lord THE under-signed Resident of the King of Great Britain and the Deputies Extraordinary of the States General of the Vnited Neitherlands find themselves obliged to represent to your Excellency That his Majesty and their High and Mightinesses having lately concluded a Treaty by which they have not only provided for their proper Security but also for the Peace and Quiet of Christendom in case their Neighbours proceed in it with the same good Intentions wherewith the said Allies have begun this Affair His said Majesty and Their High and Mightinesses for the better perfecting so Christian a Work having given Orders to their Ministers residing at the Courts of both Kings at present in War to endeavour by all means and by a common Concert to dispose both the said Kings to accept the means proposed by the said Allies as the readiest and most necessary for arriving at so happy an End that is to say to accept the Peace upon the Alternative already proposed And to prevent the Accidents that may intervene to hinder the Progress of the Treaty to consent also immediately to a Truce 'till the end of March and in the mean while to send their Plenipotentiaries to Aix la Chapelle furnish'd with Instructions and Powers necessary to treat and conclude a Peace upon the said Alternative that the Fire at present kindled and whereof in all appearance the Sparks are ready to fly through the greatest Part of Christendom may be soon extinguished and give place to a general and lasting Peace to the safety of all those who find themselves engaged in the sad Effects or Consequences of the present War The said Resident and Deputies extraordinary are more particularly obliged by the Orders of their Masters to represent to your Excellency how glorious it will be to you how advantageous to the common Ends of the Peace and how necessary for preserving to Spain the remainder of Flanders that your Excellency by virtue of your Powers would make the first Step in this great Affair by consenting readily to the said Alternative and to the said Truce and to the dispatching of the said Plenipotentiaries to Aix la Chapelle and for the better entring into this Negotiation and the said Truce That your Excellency will declare immediately your Acceptation of the Truce which the most Christian King has proposed from the 18th of November to the last of March 1668. And upon all these Points the said Resident and Deputies extraordinary do pray your Excellency with all possible Instances to give them a speedy and plain Answer agreeable to the good and holy Dispositions wherewith his Majesty and Their High and Mightinesses have begun and pursued this glorious and Christian Design of a general Peace Memoire au Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo Anvers Fevr. 1668. Monsieur LES sous-signez Resident de la Grande Bretagne les Deputez extraordinaires des Etats Generaux de Provinces Vnies de Pâ—ï bas se trouvent obligez de representer à V. E que sa Majesté leurs Hautes Puissances ayans depuis peu conclus un traité par lequel ils n'ont pas â—eulement pourvû a leur propre seureté mais aussi á la paix repos de la Chretiente en cas que leurs voisins y procedent avec les memes bonnes intentions dont les dits Alliez on t entame cette affaire sa dite Majeste leurs Hautes Puissances pour mieux acheminer un ouvrage si Chretien ont donné ordres à leurs Ministres auprés de deux Couronnes à present en guerre de tacher par tous moyens par un Concert commun de disposer les dites deux Couronnes à accepter les moyens proposez par les dits Alliez comme les plus prompts les plus necessaires pour arriver à une fin si heureuse c'est à dire de consentir à la paix sur l'Alternative deja proposée pour prevenir les accidens qui pourront survenir pour empecher le progrez d'un traité de consentir aussi promptement à une treve jusqu'é la fin du mois de Mars en attendant d'envoyer leurs Plenipotentiaires à la Ville d'Aix la Chapelle munis des Instructions de pouvoirs requis pour y traiter conclurre la Paix sur la dite Alternative afin que le feu qui se voit à present allumé duquel les estincelles se vont en apparence jetter dans la plus grande part de la Chretiente se puisse bientôt etouffer faire place a une paix generale durable salutaire a tous ceux qui se trouvent enveloppes ou dans les effets ou dans les consequences funestes de la guerre presente Les dits Resident les Deputez Extraordinaires se trouvent plus particulierement obliges par les ordres de leurs Maitres de representer a V. E. combien il luy sera glorieux avantaguex a la fin commune de la paix necessaire a la conservation de ce qui reste a l' Espagne dans les Pais bas que V. E. en vertu de ses pouvoirs fasse le premier pas dans cette grande affaire en consentant promptement a la dite l'Alternative a la dite Treve a la depeche des dits Plenipotentiaires a la Ville d'Aix la Chapelle Et aussi pour mieux acheminer cette Negotiatiation la dite Treve que V.E. se declare promptement d'accepter la treve que sa Majeste Tres Chretienne a proposee le 18 de Novembre 1667 jusqu'au dernier jour de Mars 1668. Et sur tous ces points les dits Resident les Deputez Extraordinaires se trouvent obliges de prier V. E. avec toutes les instances possibles de leur donner une reponse prompte nette agreable aux bonnes saintes dispositions avec lesquelles sa Majeste leurs Hautes Puissances on t entame poursuivi ce dessein glorieux Chretien de la Paix commune To my Lord Hallifax Brussels March 2. S. N. 1668. My Lord IT would
la veue de me cosoler avec vous je ne veux point la finir en y mêlant quelque chose qui soit etranger á votre douleur Je ne vous parleray donc point d'affaires et je vous diray seulement que le Roy mon Maitre me presse tous les jours sur les preparatifs de mon depart je n'y apporteray d'autres retardements que ceux que mes affaires domestiques rendent indispensables aprés une si longue absence En attendant je puis vous assûrer que je n'ay rien apperçû icy qui puisse tant soit peu alterer ou rallentir les soins de nos veritables et communs interests que je fay consister dans la fermeté et la durée de notre derniere Alliance vous verrez cela plus au long á mon arrivée Je Suis c. To Sir John Temple Sheen July 22. 1668 SIR THough I doubt our late Motions may have lost or delay'd some of your Letters which we have now been some time in want of yet I presume ours have had their constant Course to you though from several Parts And though mine have not been frequent upon the Permission you give me to spare my own Eyes and Time when they are otherwise taken up and trust to my Sister 's entertaining you Yet upon my return home after three Years absence I could not but give you some Account of my coming and stay here and of what I can foresee is like to follow it both as to my own Particular and to the publique Affairs in which That seems at present to be so much involved After the Conclusion of the Tripple Alliance and the Peace of Aix I was at an end of my Ambition having seen Flanders saved as if it had been by one of the Miracles the House of Austria has they say been used to and the general Interests of Christendom secured against the Power and Attempts of France and at the same time the Consideration and Honour of His Majesty and his Crown abroad raised to a Degree it has not been in for some Ages past and we had no reason to expect it should be in some Ages to come upon the Decline it felt after the Business of Chattam and the Peace of Breda that succeeded it I returned from Aix to Brussels without other Thoughts than of continuing in that Station till I grew wearier of it than I was like to do very suddenly of a Place I confess I love But immediately upon my Arrival there I met with Letters from my Lord Arlington which brought me the King's Orders to continue the Equipage of an Ambassador that I was in upon my Aix Journey in order to my serving His Majesty in the same Character at the Hague whether he was resolved to send me and to renew upon occasion of our late Alliances a Character which the Crown of England had discontinued in that Country since King James's Time In order hereunto I was left at liberty to take my Leave of the Marquis and to return into England as soon as I pleased which I did by the Way of Holland and left most of my Servants and Horses at Utrecht Upon my Arrival here I was received both by the King and Court a great deal better than I could deserve or pretend But People seem generally pleased with the Councils and Negotiations in which I have had so much Part since Christmas last and I understand not Courts so ill how little soever I have been used to them as not to know that one ought not to lose the Advantage of coming home with the common Opinion of some Merits or good Hitts at one's Back if one's Business be de pousser sa Fortune And I am put enough in mind of it upon this Occasion by several of those many new Friends one would think I had at this time of Day as well as by some of my old ones But I cannot imagine why I should pretend to have deserved more than my Pay of the King for which I served Him in my late Employments and if I got Honour by them 't was so much more than I had to reckon upon Besides I should be sorry to ask Money of him at a time when for ought I can judge by the Cry of the Court He wants it more than I do The Spanish Ambassador and Baron d' Isola as well as others of my Friends would needs be asking a Title for Me and 't is with difficulty enough that I have prevented it But 't is That I am sure I never can have a mind to and if it should ever be offered me I resolve it shall either begin with you if you desire it or if not with my Son which I had much rather But I suppose nothing of this can happen in our Court without Pursuit and so I reckon my self in all these Points just where I was about six Months ago but only designed for another Ambassy and no Man knows how That will end I am very much press'd to dispatch my Preparations for it by my Lord Keeper and Lord Arlington who are extream kind to Me as well as to the Measures lately taken by their Ministry and seem to value themselves a great deal upon them They say all the Business the King now has both at home and abroad will turn upon my Hand in Holland by keeping the French from breaking in upon our late Alliances and the Confidence between Us and by drawing the Emperor and Princes of the Empire into a common Guaranty of the Peace and thereupon they are mighty earnest with me to hasten away On t'other side the Commissioners of the Treasury seem to have more mind to my Company here than I could expect For after some of them had tryed to hinder the King's Resolution of sending either an Ambassador at all into Holland upon Pretence of so long Disuse of that Character or Me in particular when That could not be carried they prepared my Way by entring upon new Regulations in the Exchequer among which those concerning foreign Employments brought down the Equipage Money of Ambassadors from three thousand Pounds as it has been since the King came in to fifteen hundred Pounds in France and Spain and to one thousand Pounds in all other Courts And their Allowance from one hundred Pounds a Week to ten Pounds a Day in France and Spain and to seven in other Places Though this be pretended by the Commissioners as only a Piece of a general Scheme of Parsimony they find necessary in the present Condition of the Revenue Yet I understand it as calculated just at this Time particularly for Me and my Lord Arlington confesses he thinks it so too and takes part in it as a piece of Envy or Malice to Himself as well as to Me from some who are spighted at all that has lately passed between Us and Holland and at the Persons who have been at the
believe you know already from the said Marquis Now since it concerns me very much that his Majesty should know these Soldiers are kept in his Service I should be extremely satisfied if you would inform the King of it at the same time that the said Baron de Rosenback will be arrived at London And that it be represented as Mark of my eternal Devotion to his Majesty In which you will highly oblige me And in Confidence thereof I remain SIR Your most Obliged Servant Chr. Bernardus Ab Episcopo Monasterii Lugderio Maii 21. 1666. Generose Domine NON dubito officiis Dis Vrae additum in Aulâ Regis ablegato meo Baroni de Rosenback ita praeparatum ut S. Regiae Majestati ratio consilii me praebetur quod Dom. Vram ita continuaturam spero ut Rex persuasum omnino habeat istam necessitatem quae mihi pacis lages imposuit nihil prorsus detraxisse de animo quo S. Majestatis observantiae gloriae utilitati aeternùm devotus sum Eumque in finem mandavi Agenti meo Rintorf intimam meo nomine cum Dne Vrâ. Communicationem mearum rerum amicitiam colere intentus semper in occasiones omness futurus pro servitio S. Majestatis quem in finem copias Brabanticas in circulo Burgundico conscriptas Domino Marchioni de Castel Rodrigo integras remisi jam itineri in Belgium Hispanicum accinguntur legiones aliquot Germanorum fortis sanè exercitatus miles de quorum virtute ipsi foederati Belgae testari poterunt uti Dom. Vram jam ex praedicto domino gubernatore latiùs cognovisse arbitror Cum autem meâ plurimum intersit ut Regiae Majestati suae constet militem hunc in suo servitio conservari pergratum mihi foret si Di◠Vra. de eo facillitandae intentioni meae quamprimum fine morâ hoc ipso tempore quo dictus Baro de Rosenback Londinum appulerit S. Majestatem certiorem faciat tanquam indicium ratum aeternae meae in Regem fide contestetur Quo me Dio. Vra. sibi summopere obligabit Et hà c fiduciâ manes Dominationi vestrae addictissimus Chr. Bernardus From my Lord Arlington Whitehall July 30. 1666. SIR WHAT I received in yours of the 2d was written to me at large from him whom I suppose to be the Author of it but not exactly with the same Circumstances whether his Meaning or his Imagination fail him is a great Question here His Name to speak freely with you is able to discredit any Truth And against the Grain I employ'd him in Holland not to make him the Instrument of Peace but to send us News However I do not yet discourage him from writing though I wish what he saith came from any Hand rather than his Accordingly you shall do well to handle him And this is enough upon this Subject when I have so much a better to entertain you upon Here enclos'd you have the effective Truth of what I sent you the Symptoms in my last I durst not hazard any of my Acquaintance with the putting it into French because of the Sea-Terms wherewith it abounds But if you can get it well done and quickly published you will do his Majesty a good Service and may fairly put the Cost of it into your Accompts Moreover I have promis'd his Majesty to charge you with the writing of some small Paper and publishing it in French that may pleasantly and pertinently awaken the good Patriots in Holland not only to Thoughts and Wishes of Peace but to a reasonable Application for it assuring them his Majesty continues still to wish it and would gladly receive any Overtures for it from the States here in his own Kingdom not expecting less from them in this kind than they did to the Usurper Cromwell This done in any Form you like best wou'd certainly operate well in Holland and be a Work worthy of your Pen which I know has Sufficiency very much greater One thing especially it will good to mind them of the considerable Succors and Advantages they have had by the Conjunction with France which hath not been remakarbly visible in any thing more than in getting their Narratives to be believed in all the Courts of Christendom and helping them to make their Bonfires for their Successes His Majesty is going this Night to visit the Queen at Tunbridge for which he had not Leisure till now I am SIR Your most affectionate humble Servant Arlington POSTSCRIPT LET your Emissaries give you a particular Account of the Condition of the Dutch Fleet gotten into Zealand and of the Readiness they are in to come out again with an exact Account of their Strength if it be possible Monsieur Nypho will help to convey it speedily to us From the Earl of Clarendon Worcester-House Aug. 2d 1666. SIR I Have many Excuses to make you for not acknowledging all your Letters punctually when I received them which I suppose would give you some Trouble And I am sure all I can say to you by way of Information or Advice is constantly and abundantly supplied by the Diligence of my good Friend my Lord Arlington The last Favour I receiv'd from you was of the 23d of this Month since which time it hath pleased God to give a wonderful Improvement to our Affairs And yet I am perswaded that you there know more of the full Extent of the late great Victory than we do In all Mens View it is very great and noble and in one Respect very wonderful that almost the whole Fleet that went from hence rides now before the Enemies Harbours without being compelled to send any considerable Number of their Ships to be repaired And I believe this Success will change the Measures of most of the Councils in Christendom I wish with all my Heart it may work upon them from whom your Court must receive its Orders to move with a little more Vigor in their Resolutions the want of which will at some time or other prove fatal to that Monarchy They have it yet in their Power to secure themselves from ever receiving Prejudice from the French which I take to be the only Blessing they are to pray for in this World But it will not be always in their Power to do so I presume my good Friend Ogniate is before this time arrived there with good Satisfaction And I will not deny to you I always wished well to those Transactions the Concessions being in truth no other than what in Justice ought to be granted except we would declare to the World that whilst we have a War with Holland we will have no Peace with Flanders I wish with all my Heart that it may be punctually and religiously observed on our Part by the exemplary Punishment of those Persons who in the least Degree violate the Protection agreed upon And though there will be as you say a great Latitude for them to cover the Dutch Trade yet that cannot be long done without
de la France vous seriez plus liberal ou complaisant que moy car au lieu que vous vous contenteriez du terme de 15me de May cy devant proposé par Monsieur de Ruvigny il me semble que la raison et la hiensance nous obligeroient bien de prendre jusques au dernier jour de May Et si le Roy de France vient á refuser ou la signature de son côté ou le terme avec la cessation d'armes je ne hesiterois point á nous declarer d'abord sans marchander pour l'Espagne et agir par mer et par terre en conformite du 3me de nos articles separez Et comme il ne peut tomber dans l'esprit d'un homme raisonable que la Reyne d'Espagne pourroit estre si aveugle que de ne ratifier point le dit traitté qui luy fait rendre une * La Conté de Bourgogne Province entiere et qui delivre un Roy mineur d'un second accablement de l'Angleterre et de cet Etat jé ne serois nullement chiche á accorder au Roy de France tout ce qu'il pourroit demander avec quelque apparanâ—e de raison dans un cas qui n'echerra pas Principalement parceque plusieurs Princes d'Allemagne alors se declareront de nostre parti qui sans cela aveugles par les apparances du raisonnement compris dans la lettre de Monsieur de Lionne du 19me du mois passé nous abandonneroient entierement Le Roy de Suede ouson Ministre á Londres me semble trop tendre la corde et il la rompra s'il ne se met un peu á la raison Neantmoins nous avons encore Vendredy passé envoye tels ordres á nos Ambassadeurs que je ne doute d'un bon succés de cette negotiation Quant aux autres points de votre lettre je suis obligé de me remettre á ce que vous pourrez entendre de nos Deputez et de son Excellence par les âvis de l'Ambassadeur Don Estevan de Gamarra C'est pourquoy en finissant je demeureray comme je suis veritablement Monsieur Votre c. Johan de Wit From the Elector of Mentz Mentz April 12. 1668. My Lord HAving heard of Your Excellency's Arrival to Aix la Chapelle to assist in his Majesty of Great Britain's Name at a Negotiation of Peace between the two Crowns I could not forbear expressing my Joy and the Confidence I have that the Intervention and Authority of so great a King will give much Weight to the Affair and very much facilitate the Peace which employing all my Thoughts at present I have dispatch'd to the said Town of Aix the Baron of Schonborn my Nephew with Orders to render all Offices from me to Your Excellency and to contribute all he can towards a Peace so necessary to the Repose of all Christendom In the mean time I desire Your Excellency to be assured that as I shall always reckon it an Honour to serve the King your Master so I shall never let pass any Occasion of shewing in particular that I am My Lord Your Excellency's most humble and affectionate Servant J. Ph. El. de Mayence De Electeur de Mayence A Mayence 12me Avril 1668. Monsieur AYant sceu l'arrivée de votre Excellence á Aix la Chapelle pour y assister au nom de sa Majesté de la Grande Bretagne á la negotiation de la paix entre les deux Couronnes Je n'ay pû m'empecher de luy temoigner ma joye et la confiance que j'ay que l'intervention et l'autorité d'un Roy si puissant donnera un poids tres grand á l'affaire et facilitera de beaucoup la conciliation et le retablissement de cette paix Laquelle faisant aujourdhuy tous mes soins j'ay depêché á ladite ville d'Aix le Baron de Schonborn mon neveu avec ordre d'offrir et de rendre á Votre Excellence de ma part tous les offices et de contribuer de son possible pour parvenir á la fin que l'on s'est proposée pour obtenir une paix si necessaire au repos de toute la Chrêtienté Cependant je prie Votre Excellence d'estre asseurée que comme je feray toujours gloire de servir le Roy son maitre de même je ne perdray jamais l'occasion où je peurray temoigner en mon particulier que je suis Monsieur De Votre Excellence tres humble et tres affectionné Serviteur J. Ph. E. de Mayence From Monsieur de Wit Hague April 16. 1668. SIR AFter having writ to you on the 4th I find my self honoured by two of yours of the 9th and 14th Instant The Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo's manner of transacting does infinitely displease us and we believe we have entred enough into his Designs to conclude that his aim is to delay the signing of the Project and the sending of the Powers till the French begin to be in motion and in the mean while to sign or send the Power desired and summon us by virtue of a former Promise to oppose our Arms against those of France which will then begin to enter into Action and by that means set us into an open War by Advance However to give the said Marquis the amplest Assurance and to convince him he is in the wrong we were willing entirely to agree to your Advice and to authorize our Deputies to pass a promise with you in due Form by Writing inserting in it the same Words of our third separate Article And I think you have very judiciously considered that the Condition of the Promise ought to be not only the signing of the Project and Powers but if after the Signing c. France refuses either to consent to it or to continue the Suspension of Arms we believe we have great cause to complain of the Marquis that notwithstanding the solemn Promise made by the States General and delivered to Don Estevan de Gamarra in their Resolution of the 5th of this Month he has delay'd to sign and dispatch the Power so that if this had been done at first we had been already out of all Doubt for either the Conclusion of it would have been pursued at Paris with the Suspension of Arms or in case of Refusal England and this State would already act in earnest and with a good Conscience for Spain And I desire you to let his Excellency see as plainly as possible that if now after the signing and sending the Power to Paris and before the K. of France can be inform'd of it he shall receive any Disgrace it is himself he ought to impute it to for England and this State will not put into his Hands the Power of involving them in an open War with France unseasonably and against
ne voy rien qui nous en puisse frustrer y ayant de l'apparance que dés á present le Baron de Bergeyck aura executé le pouvoir que nous luy avous porte que la Cour de Madrid pour delivrer les Paiis bas de l'importunité de ses hôtes ne voudra pas differer de ratifier le traité 〈◊〉 Au reste je donne fort dans vos sentimens suis d'avis que l'on fasse negotier quelque exchange de places incontinent aprés la signature du traité J'en ay ecrit cy devant á Monsieur Beverning de sorte que je ne doute point que vous ne vous en soyez deja entretenu J'avoise aussi avec vous que cette negotiation se faira plus commodement dans la suite á Paris qu'ailleurs au moins si Monsieur le Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo peut resoudre á prendre assez de confiance aux Ministres du Roy de la Grande Bretagne de cet Etat pour s'en rapporter á eux de la negotiation d'une áffaire de cette nature quoyque s'il le considere bien il trouvera que nous y avons les uns les autres presque le même interêt Vous n'avez que continuer vôtre route sur le fondement de la convention du 23 Janvier pour soutenir la paix faite par une guarantie de tous les interessés en general en particulier ne point craindre que ceux qui travailleront au nom de cet Etat avec vous deconcertent cette belle harmonie que l'on a veu en toute la suite de cette negotiation Ils le feront non seulement en execution des ordres qu'ils en ont mais aussi par inclination Pour moy ce sera toujours avec joye que je seconderay vôtre zele que je rencontreray les occasions ou je vous puisse donner des preuves de la passion sincerité avec laquelle je suis Monsieur Votre tres humble Serviteur Johan de Witt. From my Lord Arlington Whitehall May 8 1668. SIR IF I had written to you last Post as I should have done if there had been time for it you would have heard me complain much of the Pain I was in not to hear from you in fifteen Days in so delicate a Conjuncture of Affairs which was occasioned by contrary Winds In the mean time we were a little eased by Sir John Trevor's Assurance to us of the Peace having been signed on the 2d S. N. which hath since been amply confirmed by two of yours brought together of the 2d and 8th S. N. So that now I can with Foundation give you the Parabien of this great Work which you may without Vanity call your own whatever Padrinoes you have had to assist you in it And with more Satisfaction considering what Escapes you made betwixt the Marquis's Irresolutions the Baron de Bergeyck's Puntillioes and Monsieur Colbert's Emportement God be thanked the great Business and You are so well delivered from these Accidents after which I hope this will find you safely arrived at Brussels and keeping your self still in the same Figure of Equipage to wear the better the Character of his Majesty's Ambassador at the Hague towards which I shall send you with all speed his final Resolution and Instructions In the mean time you will receive by the Inclosed his Mind to the Marquis recommending to his Excellence the making good with all speed to the Crown of Suede what we and the Dutch Ambassadors have promised to the Count de Dona as you will see by this inclosed Act which we gave him at the Exchange of our Treaty ingaging him in the Triple Alliance the performance of which the Dutch Ambassadors and I have already bespoken of the Count de Molina within six Weeks time when we hope the Ratification will be come from Stockholm and the said Ambassador observing already that the Count de Molina calls to the Dutch Ambassadors and Us for a Ratification he admonishes us to delay it till the Conditions be performed with him This I say is offered but not concluded by Us to be so observed His Majesty had resolved the Parliament should adjourn on Monday last but an unhappy Difference falling out betwixt the Lords and Commons upon a great Point of their Priviledges their sitting hath been spun on to this Day though not without hopes of our finally rising to Morrow Our long talked of Miscarriages have this Week been finished with a very unhappy one in the Queen after twenty Days going and raising the dejected Hopes of the whole Nation which even this Misfortune hath somewhat revived I leave it to Ambassador Patrick to entertain you upon this Subject who cannot fail of long Letters by this Post I am with all Truth and Affection SIR Your very humble Servant Arlington POSTSCRIPT YOU never sent us any Copy of the Promise of Guaranty you signed to the Marquiss though you did the Original of That he gave you in exchange of it with relation to the King our Master When the Count de Molina hath pressed me apart from the Dutch Ambassadors for his Majesty's Ratification I have told him he ought to have ready his Ratification from Madrid to exchange with ours which it will not be amiss for you to take notice of likewise to the Marquis when he shall give you occasion for it From the Elector of Mentz Mentz May 14 1668. My Lord THE Honour of a general Joy upon the Peace concluded and signed between the Crowns being equally due to the vigorous Interposition of his Majesty of Great Britain and to the wise Conduct of your Excellency in an Affair of such Importance to Christendom I desire to rejoyce with you upon the happy Success of it I hope the Ratification of this Treaty will be exchang'd in due time on both sides and shall not fail on my part of contributing all I can to the Preservation of the publick Peace and to second his Majesty's Intentions assuring your Excellency in the mean time that the Obligations will never be forgot which an infinite number of good Christians ow you for your Diligences in accomplishing the Peace And that for my particular I shall cherish all Occasions of shewing your Excellency the Sincerity of my Affection and how much I desire to let you know that I am Your Excellency's most humble and most affectionate Servant Jean Philippe De Mayence 14 May 1668. Monsieur L' Honneur d'une joye generale sur la paix conclue signée entre les Couronnes se devant êgalement á la vigoureuse interposition de sa Majesté de la Grande Bretagne á la sage maniere dont Vôtre Excellence a sceu conduire une affaire de telle importance á toute la Chrêtientié J'ay bien voulu me conjuir avec Elle de l'heureux succés
this as that about Envoys and about the Benefits of a Quadruple League concerning which I writ my Opinion freely in one to my Lord Arlington by the last Post being the only Thing which can crown the great Work his Majesty has undertaken of settling the Peace of Christendom and giving a stop to the French Career which about ten Months since was in a fair way to over-run us all one after another and hangs still like a Cloud over all their Neighbour's Heads leaving every one in doubt when and where it will fall And till That be compass'd I shall hardly be secure of Spain's not trinkling at one time or other with France for the Remainder of Flanders at least upon such a Revolution as would arrive at that King's Death if not before Nor of the French Parties getting Ground enough again in Sueden at one Time or other to turn the Bias of that Crown towards the French Interests by the Offers of Mony which can best be made them on that Side Whereas by such a League Spain would find their Account in keeping Flanders and not fear any War which the French Pretensions there might engage them in Sueden would find theirs by some certain Subsidies from Spain even in Times of Peace and by Assurance from Them and Us of greater in case of a War Holland would be broken off from all Return into any new Measures with France and be forced to follow the common Interests and Councils of the Alliance Spain and Sueden would be both hindred from entring into any separate Concert or Treaty without Us and Holland The Emperor and Princes of the Empire and Duke of Lorrain would be glad to be admitted into such an Alliance And his Majesty would remain Head and Director of a League which would have the Glory of preserving the Peace of Christendom and checking and bounding the French Greatness at a time when no other Prince durst look it in the Face And in Case of a War breaking out from France in spight of all these Defences I suppose considering the Strength of the Alliance and the Temper of our People at home bent wholly upon these Councils his Majesty would have rather Reason to desire than to apprehend it I conceive the way of effecting such a League must be to make a Draught of it with Monsieur de Witt here if he can be finally disposed to it and that with all the Secrecy in the World and to proceed in it as near as is possible with all the Fairness and Equality in the Consideration and Comprehension of each Party's Interests which is the only way to facilitate such Negotiations and whenever we and Monsieur de Witt are agreed in it then for his Majesty to take upon him the proposing it to Spain and trying what private Advantages may be gained from that Crown in Consideration of his both proposing and effecting a Matter so much to their Advantage All that seems to be against such a Council is his Majesty's present want of Treasure which renders him in a Condition very unfit to enter into any Action abroad by provoking France As to that First the end of this Counsel is Peace and not War and seems indeed the only way to secure it by letting France see they cannot find their Account in a War for till they do that they will never leave the Designs of it Then instead of provoking France I should think this would make them much warmer in their Offers and Applications towards us when they see that without gaining us they are absolutely bound to the Peace For to say the Truth our falling at any time into the French Interests is the ready way to a War abroad wherein it may be we shall not have any present Share but shall pay for our present Quiet with dear Interest of the utmost Danger after two or three Years time Besides though our Condition is ill towards the Support of a War 't is the most imprudent Thing we can do perhaps to own it if we intend to continue any Commerce abroad whereas looking our just Debts both to our Neighbours and our Selves boldly in the Face will as it does sometimes with a Merchant hold up our Credit so high that with good future Management and the Strength of that we may help to re-establish our Estate but if not nothing can keep us up so much as being closely link'd with several other Traders of better Stock who will by that Means become engaged not to let us sink And in case of Action to succeed such a Quadruple Alliance and his Majesty's Necessities keeping him from furnishing his Part towards the Support of it 'T is not to be imagined that Spain and Holland would not do their utmost towards his Supply rather than lose his Assistance and leave him under the Temptation of falling into any new Measures with France After all this I think let his Majesty make what Paces he please either bold or tender in the way he is for I cannot think of a Change in that with the present Conjunctures I know nothing will be so necessary with the Foresight either of Peace or War as for his Majesty not to be found the next Spring without any Mony in his Treasury or Credit to raise it speedily and easily without relying wholly upon his Parliament's Supplies by any new Burthens upon the Body of the People for that can hardly be done without long and perhaps cross Debates in the House which lessen his Majesty's Credit with his Neighbours whenever they happen more than the Supplies granted can raise it And besides after so great Payments as the Kingdom has continued ever since his Majesty's Restoration especially during the last three Years though joined with the great Diminution of Mony and Trade during the War I question whether any Thing considerable can be raised in general upon the People without some reasonable Occasions of Aversion and Complaints But nothing they say is more the part of a weak Understanding and unfit for Business than to propose and enlarge upon Inconveniences without so much as offering Remedies And therefore I shall say That First methinks two Proposals which have been already a-foot are very considerable towards this End as the selling of small inconsiderable Quit-Rents where the Sum is hardly worth the Charge of raising and yet by the reason of the Trouble to the Tenant by them they will yield five or six if not ten Years Purchase more than greater Rents If this Council be tied up to these Circumstances I think it very advantageous and as prejudicial if it be suffered to go beyond them Secondly The selling of the Chimney-Mony would I suppose be easily granted by the Parliament would take off the Tax of all others most distastful to the Subjects and if sold at pretty easy and moderate Rates would be taken kindly of the People purchased readily and yield a very great Sum and the most equally raised that any could be
the Dependances I told the Baron I feared such an Answer might ruin the Business since it could not come till the beginning of the Spring and might then give the French a Pretext of recalling his Word after the passing of it had laid asleep all Thoughts or Preparations for War both in Flanders and Holland from whence the first Assistance is to be expected And that I thought the Answer of Spain ought to be full and absolute as to the Acceptance of what is offered by France And if they would make room for the Contraventions he mentions that they should do it rather by enlarging the Acceptance than restraining it to any Condition and say they accepted the Arbitrage upon those Dependances and all other Differences arising upon the Peace in the Discussion whereof the Spanish Pretensions might likewise be brought before the Arbitrators but at a more seasonable Time than this next Spring will prove The Baron profess'd to be convinced by these Reasons But because there is not much Trust to a Person who is so far in Love with his own Sufficiency and seems to mind the valuing of himself at least equally with the doing of his Business I thought it not impertinent to give your Lordship my Reflection upon this Matter That if you approve it you may by some safe Way or Cypher transmit it to Sir William Godolphin For otherwise I am confident the Spanish Answer will be perplexed with those Contraventions which have held the Commissioners all this while at a Bay at Lisle and will not be admitted by France in the Decision of the Dependances I sent your Lordship inclosed Baron d'Isola's rough Propositions concerning his Master's joining with the Triple Alliance which the Ministers of the Confederates think fit to discourse first among themselves and afterwards enter into Conference with him as the Ministers of one united Power All we can do at first will be to communicate what passes to our Masters And therefore I send your Lordship the first Proposals by Advance that I may the sooner know your Reflections upon them After what will pass here in the Conclusion of our Guaranty and Suedish Payments I think if Monsieur Ognati can propose any good way of securing his Majesty or rather furnishing him before-hand with what one quarter of the Suedish future Subsidies will amount to for the 3 Months which are to be advanced it would add to the Strength and Credit of our Alliance in giving so great a Satisfaction to the Suede as they would receive by his Majesty's undertaking for the fifteen thousand Crowns a Month which they have so much insisted on and seem so much unsatisfied with failing in it I had Notice from my Lord Falconbridge of his intended Journy and have already begun our Correspondence by a Letter which will meet him at Paris And shall not fail in that nor I hope in any other Duties of my Employment I wish my Lord Berkly all Success in his new and great Charge not knowing any other wherein a diligent honest and able Person may be of greater Service to his Majesty than in That I am ever My LORD Your Lordship 's most faithful and most humble Servant To Sir William Godolphin Hague Apr. 3. S. N. 1670. SIR THIS Bearer Monsieur Chiese is dispatched by his Highness the Prince of Orange to Madrid for the Prosecution and Recovery of a great Debt owing now some time from that Crown to his Highness and I think not disputed by them And though this Gentleman goes armed with much better Weapons than any I can furnish him towards the Pursuit of his Enterprize yet the Prince having commanded me to give him my Recommendations to You among many other he carries I could not fail of it nor will I doubt its being of some Force with you since it comes in the Service of a Prince whose Birth gives him so much Interest in all English Men and whose Personal Qualities and Virtues give him a great deal more in all those that have the Honour to know him I must therefore beg all the good Offices and Assistances you can shew this Gentleman in Pursuit of his Highness's Concernments as well as your Advice to him if he desires it how to address himself by such Persons and in such Ways as will give him most appearance of Success Your Favour herein I shall take Care to value as I ought towards his Highness as I shall always my self acknowledge it and remain SIR Your obedient humble Servant To the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo Hague Apr. 3. S. N. 1670. My Lord THO' the Bearer hereof Monsieur Chiese will have no need of other Support beside the Name of the Prince his Master and the Justice of the Affair he has in charge I would not fail however of giving him besides this Recommendation to your Excellence as well to pay my Duty to his Highness the Prince of Orange as to shew my Confidence that I have yet some Share in the Memory and Friendship of your Excellency I can assure you that the Court of Spain in doing Justice to his Highness will oblige a Prince who equals his great Birth by his great Qualities and who will be one day capable of recompensing the Kindness that shall be shewed him at present His Highness already takes great part in the good Turn of the Spanish Affairs by such Sentiments as deserve to be cherished and not discouraged by any Treatment either unjust or disobliging I could not recommend his Pretensions to a Person more generous than your Excellency nor to one who has been always pleased to interess him so much in what regards the King my Master And your Excellency's Favour in this Affair cannot be desired with greater Instance nor by one who is more than I am My Lord Your Excellency's c. Au Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo La Haye 3 Avril S. N. 1670. Monsieur QVoy que le porteur de cette Lettre Monsieur Chiese n'ait pas besoin d'autre appuy que du nom du Prince son Maitre de l'equité de la cause dont il est chargé je n'ay pourtant pas volu manquer á luy donner comme par surabondance de droit cette recommendation auprés de V. E. autant pour satisfaire á mon devoir envers son Altesse le Prince d'Orange que pour me faire honneur de la confiance avec laquelle je croy avoir encore quelque part dans le Souvenir l'amitié de V. E. Je pourrois bien l'assurer qu'en faisant justice á son Altesse la Cour d'Espagne obligera un Prince dont les grandes qualites egalent la grandeur de la naissance qui sera un jour en etat de reconnoitre les bontez qu'on aura á present pour luy Ajouteray-je que ce Prince prend deja beaucoup de part au bon train que prennent les affaires d'Espagne de tels sentimens quand ils seroient seuls
our Point upon the Business of Surinam which was yesterday resolved on by the States General though the Province of Zealand protested against it And besides nothing has given us so hopeful a Prospect of the Prince's good Fortunes here as the Support of the Town of Amsterdam so declared and so warm in his present Concernment towards which I am confident Monsieur Van Beuninghen has very much contributed as being a Person of very great Influence in that City The State of that whole Business is so well and so fully set down in the Paper of Intelligence that I am sure I cannot amend it and therefore will not repeat it Your Lordship will know by the inclosed that Monsieur de St. Evremont set out this Morning towards England with the Portugal Ambassador likewise who both accompany Monsieur d'Opdam as far as Nieuport and there embark for Dover whilst he goes on to meet the French King at Dunkirk with the States Complements I am ever my Lord your c. POSTSCRIPT I Had forgot to tell your Lordship That another part of Monsieur Van Beuninghen's Instructions will be to endeavour all that can be that this State may be admitted into a Conjunction with his Majesty for the Pursuit of the Algerins till they are reduced to the Necessity of a Peace with both To Sir John Trevor Hague May 27. S. N. 1670. SIR I HAVE this Day received yours of the 13th current with the Account of my Lord of Essex's Treatment in passing the Sound which if wholly new was what we had very little Reason to expect from that Crown since the Change of their Ministry Though there are some Reports here that they intend to keep up a close Intelligence with France for fear of the Suede whose Forces give them at this time it seems some Jealousy I will hope my Lord of Essex may receive the Satisfaction he demands however he will have that of having discharged his part upon this Occasion with the Constancy that became him I do not question but you will receive a wiser Answer as you say from Spain and wish they could find wiser Men to encharge with their great Affairs and Governments than you will see they do by the Accounts I know you receive from Brussels of the Constable's late Caprices in order to his return for Spain It is here variously discoursed who shall succeed him The old Empress and Prince Charles of Lorrain being still in Name among some others either of which or both together as it is talk'd of seeming the best Choice that can now be made by the Crown of Spain It is wish'd here that his Majesty would further it all he can by the Offices of his Minister in that Court Yesterday the Spanish Ambassador's Secretary came to communicate to me a Letter he had received from the Ambassador at Brussels taking notice that upon a more particular Observation of our late Ratification of the Concert the Date of it was preceding to that of the Concert it self signed by me here at the Hague which was the last of January N. S. whereas the Ratification at Westminster bears Date the 7th of January O. S And this Remark of the Ambassadors I find to be true by comparing it with the Copy of the Ratification that lies by me And doubt not but the Mistake only was of the Month of January for February in the Ratification you sent me over Whereupon I assured the Secretary there could be no Difficulty in the Redress of it and he desired me to endeavour it as soon as I could and I hope the Notice of it may come time enough to prevent the same Mistake in the Instruments intended for Sueden and Holland as well as to procure a new one for Spain I could not by the last Post give you the Certainty of the Issue in the Prince of Orange's Affair the States of Holland not rising till one a Clock that Night after the warmest Debates which have been known among them for many Years However the Towns which favour the Prince having the Plurality of Voices and Amsterdam in the Head of them at length carried their Point and brought it to a Resolution That the Prince should have Session in the Council of State with a decisive Voice and should have the same Place his Ancestors were used to After this was resolved on that Party which the most opposed the Prince's Interest started two new Points The First That no Captain-General should be chosen otherwise than from Year to Year but by Unanimity of Voices And Secondly That in case the Prince should be chosen Captain-General for Life then it should be again debated and resolved by Plurality of Voices whether he should continue his Session in the Council of State And these two Points were agreed to by all the Towns excepting four or five in which number were Amsterdam and Haerlem who maintain That they were not now to be resolved but then only when those Matters came in Question The States of Holland being separated after these Resolutions the Execution of that concerning the Prince's entrance into the Council of State will remain in the States General and consequently receive no Opposition that I can foresee And though it bears no great Name yet I take it to be of that Importance as to leave his Highness's future Fortunes in a manner wholly dependant upon his own Carriage and Personal Qualities which give hitherto all the Signs that can be of advancing and not impairing them In the Course of this Business Monsieur Van Beuninghen has so much provoked the ill Will and Opinion of these Towns which were contrary to the Prince that they had almost resolved to make a Stop of his Journy but that is now over and he prepares to be gone the end of this Week And will not deserve to be less welcom in England for what has lately passed here though perhaps it may not be to his Advantage nor to the Prince's neither to give him any too publick Testimonies of it He gave me Hopes on Sunday-night that to Morrow the Business of Surinam would be ended according to the Form I drew up in Pursuit of our last Conference which I here send you enclosed Though he told me there would be Difficulty in the Point of Major Bannister's landing with so much Liberty as is insisted on And therefore he pressed me hard to be content with either remaining aboard his Ships or else lodging in the Fort till his Affairs were dispatched where all Convenience should be provided him But I refused both and so left the Thing with him in the Form it now runs I am Sir your c. To my Lord Berkeley Hague May 30. S. N. 1670. My LORD THo' I know your Excellency would easily forgive me a Commission which might save you a Trouble in the midst of many others that are a great deal more necessary Yet I could not forgive my self if I should any longer delay giving your
Lordship the Assurances how great a part I take in all your Fortunes and consequently how much I have shared in the general Satisfaction which I hear you have both left in England and found in Ireland upon your late entring upon the Government of that Kingdom I am not only much pleased with it upon a private Score as one of your Lordship's Servants but as having always had the best Wishes for the publick Good of that Country and his Majesty's Service in the Establishment of it Both which will I am confident thrive very much in your Lordship's Hands not only in regard of the great Experience and Abilities which are so generally allowed you but because you are too Rich as well as too Generous to lose the Merit and Glory of great and honest Actions in the Cares of your own private Fortunes For this has too often given an Alloy both to the Worth and Success of several of your Lordship's Predecessors and contributed chiefly to the Unhappiness of the Governors as well as of the Country both which I hope you will have the Honour to restore I cannot but observe to your Lordship That I find by a general Consent of the Merchants here that Ireland runs every Year an eighth part in Debt by Importing so much beyond its Exportation which being to be drawn out in Coin will be a certain though slow Consumption of the Treasure of that Kingdom unless remedied by Sumptuary Laws or Examples for lessening the Importation of Foreign Commodities or else Industry for increasing the Native which are either consumed at home or carried abroad The first is like Diet but the other like Exercise to an indisposed Body which is the way of acquiring Strength and Vigor whereas the former gives but barely Health I believe the two great Improvements to be made in Ireland are of the Fishing and the Linnen Trade This to keep our Mony at home and That to fetch more in from abroad If your Lordship thinks these Particulars worth your Care and that I can contribute toward them by any Lights and Assistances from hence I shall be glad upon that or any other Occasion to receive your Commands I have given my Secretary Order to make an Extract of the News which either arises here or comes to me by Letters from Foreign Parts which shall go Weekly to you if you think it worth the Trouble and will please in return to do me the Justice of esteeming me what I am with much Truth and Passion My LORD Your Excellency's most obedient humble Servant To my Lord Arlington Hague Jun. 3. S. N. 1670. My LORD I WAS extream glad to find by your Lordship 's of the 16th past some Assurance of your Recovery And whatever the Name of your Illness was will believe the Nature of it could not be very bad since it left you so soon After which I will trouble you no more with my Remedies nor shall I need any my self after so great a one as your Lordship has given me by the Knowledge of your own and my Lady's Health For which I make you my particular Acknowledgments By observing the Winds I guess Monsieur Van Beuninghen will before this arrives have given your Lordship the Account himself of his leaving the Hague on Sunday-night and setting Sail I suppose on Monday-evening unless Madam Honywood made him stay some Hours longer who had appointed to be with him by that time from Amsterdam I will say nothing in Favour of her Pretension but that she is Daughter to the ancientest Burgomaster of Amsterdam who has expressed the greatest Passion of any other of the States in Favour of the Prince of Orange's late Concernment and may perhaps thereby deserve some Mark of his Majesty's Favour which I assure you I say wholly of my self For my good Offices in her Business were not at all thought worth engaging since Monsieur Van Beuninghen undertook it as I suppose he has done by their joining Company Your Lordship will find nothing to lessen your Esteem of his Person unless it be that he is not always so willing to Hear as to be Heard and out of the abundance of his Imagination is apt sometimes to Reason a Man to Death Which I tell your Lordship before-hand that you may not fall into any Prejudice before you know him well And on the other Side I have taken some Care to prevent his employing that Talent too much in your Conversations For the rest you will find him Fort honnête homme one that puts all the Good of his Country upon maintaining and cultivating his Majesty's Alliance and who upon the Prince's Occasion will deserve the good Will of our Court. For his manner of Negotiating I am confident you will find him not ill-bred nor offering to impose his Measures as you call them upon us But after any Propositions and Reasons he shall lay before you will rather tell you that you are Masters of all and that the States will in all Things that concern our Neighbours perfectly follow those his Majesty shall take Whatever Reception the State 's Proposal about the Algerins meets with in England I wish to God some better Order were taken for preserving our Honour in the Mediterranean For what with the ill Conduct of our Captains that they say will turn Merchants leaving our Merchants to play the Men of War and with the late shameless Loss of the Saphire I assure your Lordship the Reputation of our Sea-Affairs and Men decays abroad to a Degree that is very sensible I am sure to me and I doubt will hardly recover without some new and severe Discipline or Examples The Prince of Orange was introduced into the Council of State on Saturday last and with the Circumstances which he is very well pleased with He resolves upon his Journy into England about the latter End of this Month or beginning of next But will not fix the Time till the Pensioner's Return from Groningue about ten Days hence I am my Lord your c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Jun. 17. S. N. 1670. My LORD I WAS very glad to hear this Morning of your Lordship's being well arrived in Town where I hope the Diversions of your late Journy have returned you with such an Encrease of Health as is necessary for the Support of your great Affairs Y para mi consuelo Many French have lately pass'd this Way since the Return of that Court some who attended Madame into England and extreamly applauded her Reception there and his Majesty's great Graciousness to those of her Train The Count d'Estrades came likewise three Days since but I think barely on a Visit to his old Home or if he has any Business it is particular and at Amsterdam I find they all agree in assuring Us of the Peace as long as we can assure Them of the King of Spain's Life But in giving us fair Warning that whenever that fails their Master will march into the rest
of Flanders without any Circumstance and possess himself of it if he can This Knowledge and that of the King of Spain's late Sickness have given Them some Perplexity here which is much relieved by this Days News of his Recovery But we find nothing yet towards the Redress of the late untoward Answer upon the Arâ—â—â—age The Prince of Orange continues still the Talk as well as the Desires of his Journy into England But has of late been very earnest to know my Opinion whether he be like to procure any Satisfaction in his Pretensions there saying as I guess Industriously that all his best Friends here are of Opinion that in Case that should wholly fail him his Journy into England would prove of great Prejudice to his Affairs here by letting his Friends see how little he is considered by his Majesty whose Countenance will be a great Support to him in the Course of his Fortunes I durst not offer his Highness the least Judgment of my own upon this Matter assuring him I was wholly ignorant of all his Majesty's Affairs besides what related to this Country and particularly of the present State of his Revenue or how much the late Supplies have contributed towards the Ease of it Upon which the Prince seemed very desirous that I would touch this Point to your Lordship so as to have your Thoughts upon it before he goes This I suppose proceeds chiefly from the Princess Dowager who declared her Opinion positively to me some Weeks ago upon this Matter to the same purpose and I hear persists in it which yet she does not in all Things For I can assure your Lordship she now professes to be the most satisfied that can be with my Conduct in relation to the Prince and makes me more Acknowledgments than are fit for me to receive since I pretend only not to have spoiled his Business which it had been the easiest Thing in the World for an English Minister here to have done I wish to God he do nothing towards the Prejudice of it himself by Advice of younger or warmer Heads For this is a Country where Fruit ripens slowly and cannot be preserved if it be gathered green I am very confident from his last as well as the present Dispositions I here discern that his Fortunes are in his own Hands and I hope he will make great Advantages in the Conduct of them by your Lordship's Advices when he sees you in England of whose Prudence and Virtues he will go over with a very full Persuasion Monsieur de Witt returned yesterday to Town after fifteen Days Absence at Groningue about the composing some Differences in that Province * This was a Year or two before he was massacred There is a violent Humour runs against him of late in the Town of Amsterdam upon Pretext of his growing too far into the Sway of all Affairs in this State by so long a Ministry and of advancing his own Friends into Offices and Places of Trust with too much Industry But I suppose the Bottom of this is the same with that of all Popular Humours That is a design in the Leaders to change the Scene that so those who have been long employ'd may make Room for those who have been long out I am not of Opinion they will succeed to prejudice him suddenly both because his chief Enemies acknowledge his great Abilities and Vsefulness to the State and because he will always have it in his Power to fall in very considerably with the Prince's Interest which the other Party pretends to promote Though in such a Case his Highness would have a hard Choice with which Wind to sail As indeed he is likely to fall into Conjunctures here that will require all his Prudence I thought fit to say thus much at once to your Lordship that so you may the better know what to make of twenty Reports that may arise upon these Occasions Tho' it will I think after all be our Parts both in England and here to seem the least we can concerned in them further than our Wishes to the perfect Union of a State we are so near allied to which we may I suppose own our Opinion of that it will never be compassed but by taking in the Prince's Interests as far as can consist with the Liberty of the State And making such a Person of him as may in Title Expence and other Circumstances represent the Dignity of their Commonwealth I am ever My Lord your c. To the Earl of Northumberland Hague Jun. 17. S. N. 1670. My LORD BY the same Post which brought me the Honour of a late Letter from your Lordship I received from other Hands the News of my Lord of Northumberland's having left you to the Succession of all his Honours and Fortunes Which gives me the Occasion of acknowledging your Lordship's Favour and Memory and at the same time of condoling with you upon the Loss of a Father whose great Virtues and Qualities must needs have made so many Sharers with you in this Affliction I hope the Help which is given your Lordship by so many of your Servants and Friends upon this Occasion will serve to ease your own Part in it And that after all that can be offered up to Decency and to the Memory of so great and excellent a Person this will find your Lordship rather taken up with the Imitation of his Virtues than the bewailing of his Loss Since this is but what he owed to Nature and to Age and to the Course of long Infirmities and the other is what will be due from your Lordship all your Life to your Birth your Family and your Self Nor indeed can ever so much depend upon so few Paces as will now upon those your Lordship shall make at your first setting out Since all Men will be presaging by Them the Course of your Journy as they will have indeed Influence upon the Ease as well as the Direction of it For my own Part I expect a great Increase of your Lordship's Personal Honour upon this Occasion And that having been so excellent a Son of a Family you will shew your self the same in being now a Father of it since nothing makes Men fit to Command like having learnt to Obey and the same good Sense and good Dispositions make Men succeed well in all the several Offices of Life Those I know will be your Lordship's Safety in entring upon a Scene where you will find many Examples to avoid and few to imitate For I have yet seen none so generally corrupted as Ours at this Time by a common Pride and Affectation of despising and laughing at all Face of Order and Virtue and Conformity to Laws which after all are Qualities that most conduce both to the Happiness of a Publick State and the Ease of a Private Life But your Lordship will I hope make a great Example instead of needing other than those of your own Family to which so much Honour
Order and Dignity have been very peculiar as well as the Consequences of them in the general Applause and the particular Esteem of all those who have had the Honour to know and observe it Among whom there is none more desirous to express that Inclination by his Services nor that has more of it at Heart than My Lord Your Lordship 's most faithful and most humble Servant To the Great Duke of Tuscany Hague Jun. 27. S. N. 1670. SIR HAving so long taken part in whatever concerns the Person or Interests of your most Serene Highness I could not fail to condole with you for your great Loss whereof all Christendom would have been sensible to the last Degree if the Grief for such an Accident were not lessened by the Succession of a Prince who has left such Impressions of his Person and Merits where-ever he has appeared as will never be worn out 'T is true such is the Composition of Human Things that nothing is pure or without mixture so that even upon this Occasion I see some Ground to mix my Congratulation with my Condolence when I consider that your Highness has finished your Travels before the Accession of this glorious Charge Your Highness has added to your Birth and Wit all the Advantages that the Commerce of Strangers is accustomed to give and you now find occasion for the exercise of all towards the Government of your Subjects My Wishes and Applauses shall not be wanting to your Highness tho' I know your Conduct and good Fortune will give me little Occasion but for the latter as your Highness's great Qualities have already given me a great deal to be SIR Your Highness's most humble and most faithful Servant Au Grand Duc de Toscane De la Haye 27 Juin S. N. 1670. Monsieur AYant pris depuis long tems une aussi grande part dans tout ce qui touche la personne ou les interêts de V. A. Sme je ne pouvois manquer á m'affliger avec elle á l'occasion de la perte qu'elle vient de faire qui est telle que la Chretienté en seroit inconsolable si la douleur d'un evenement si triste n'etoit soulagée par l'idée du Prince qui vient remplir la succession on sçait que c'est un Prince qui a laissé de sa personne de son merite par tout ou il a paru des impressions qui ne s'effaceront jamais Il est vray que telle est la composition des choses humaines que rien n'y est pur sans melange le bien le mal ne se laissent guere gouter separement En cette rencontre donc je vois dequoy meler mes congratulations á mes condoleances je fonde les premieres sur ce que V. E. Sme avoit achevé tous ses voyages lors qu'un si glorieux fardeau luy est tombé en partage Elle a ajouté au bonheur de sa naissance á la penetration de son esprit tout ce que le commerce la comparaison de divers etrangers chez qui elle avoit sejourné a accoutumé de donner Cette riche moisson etant á peine faite tant de talens sont mis en ouvrage V. A. se voit á present obligée de les consacrer au soin du gouvernement de ses Sujets Mes voeux mes applaudissements ne manqueront jamais á V. A. quoy que sa conduite sa prosperité me repondent que je ne feray usage que de ces derniers Ses grandes qualitez avoient deja fourni beaucoup de motifs d'etre Monsieur De V. A. Sme le tres-humble tres-fidelle Serviteur To Sir William Godolphin Hague July 3. S. N. 1670. SIR I HAVE not had any Thing of late worth your Trouble nor any of yours by me to acknowledge though I should have been glad to have received from your Hand the Assurance of what comes to me more uncertainly from others of the Catholick King 's perfect Recovery and the Junto's Disposition to admit simply of his Majesty's and the King of Sueden's Arbitrage as was proposed The great Deadness of the Season in point of News would have excused you this Trouble but that the Sueaish Minister here begins to pursue me hard for my Offices towards the Spanish Court for the second Payment which he reckons to be already due by the Expiration of eight Months since the delivery of the Guaranty But Monsieur de Witt and I are both of Opinion the Spanish Ambassador's Act may very well be construed to signify eight Months from the signing of the Concert which Spain always insisted upon as an essential Part of the Guaranty And to begin the Payments only upon the signing of it which was the last of January past by which Calculation the second Payment will grow due at the End of next September But this is fitter to be argued by Spain than by us And that which is more necessary is for Them to provide so as the Mony may be ready here by that Term to recover by the Fairness and Ease of this Payment the Credit they lost in Sueden by the Difficulties of the last In the mean time if you can persuade the Spanish Court to signify to the Suedish Minister either there or here that they have been put in Mind of it by you and have it so much in their Care as to provide that it shall not fail at the end of September which They take to be the Term it grows due you will I suppose perform an Office both necessary and grateful to all the Parâ—ies interessed in that Affair The Dutch would have enjoyned it to their Minister if they had any present at Madrid â—he Want of which gives you more thaâ— your Share in these Transactions They would fain engage Monsieur Beverning to accept of that Employment whâ—ch I wish for your sake but I doubt its succeeding The Prince of Orange intends to go for England about the end of this Month and my Lord Ossory is shortly expected here to attend him in his Journy I am always SIR Your most obedient humble Servant To the Earl of Essex Hague July 7. S. N. 1670. My LORD I HAVE received by this last Post the Favour of one from your Excellency of the 18th past which gives me the Hopes of a sudden Dispatch in your present Negotiations and the very welcom News of your Intention to pass this way in your Return where I shall be very glad to find the Occasions I desire of serving your Lordship in a Place that indeed better deserves a passing Visit than any long Abode Your Excellency will have received by a former Letter my Condolements upon my Lord Northumberland's Death which indeed was very untimely for Himself his Family and his Friends But if we needed greater Examples how little Defence is to be found against that Enemy either from
qu' á mourir that I think it will not pass for a very just Exception and our Friend Count Marsyn who is hot at Hand will I hope come to himself and help to keep all Things quiet in Flanders till Don John's Arrival which is now talk'd of but I am not the easiest to believe it I beg your Lordship's Favour or rather Justice both to esteem and use me as My Lord your c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Jul. 15. S. N. 1670. My LORD I WAS very glad to find that the great Measure of his Majesty's Grief upon Madame's Death was a little lessened by the Satisfaction he had received that it had passed without that odious Circumstance which was at first so generally thought to have attended it and of which I endeavour in my Discourse here to allay the Suspicions since I see his Majesty is convinced though it is a very difficult Matter to succeed in after so general a Possession which has been much encreased by the Princess Dowager's Curiosity to ask her Phisician 's Opinions upon the Relation transmitted hither to one of them from his â—rother who is the Dutch Secretary at Paris and pretends it came from Dr. Chamberlain tho' something different from what he transmitted into England However it happened it had certainly all the Circumstances to aggravate the Affliction to his Majesty which I am infinitely touch'd with as well as with the Sense of an Accident in it self so deplorable But it is a necessary Tribute we pay for the Continuance of our own Lifes to bewail the frequent and sometimes untimely Deaths of our Friends Et levius fit Patientiâ quicquid corrigere est nefas The Baron d'Isola parted this Day for Brussels from whence he told me he would answer your Lordship's last Letter by which he pretends to have drawn Confidence of his Proposals succeeding in England with the Temper the Dutch had given it here But he does not press the Matter much at present because he does not pretend that the Emperor's Resolutions are fully taken upon it nor will be till after the Enterview which is as he says about this time contrived between the Electors of Mentz and Triers where an Envoy from the Emperor another from the Duke of Lorrain and as the Baron pretends from some other German Princes are to intervene where the Measures will be fully taken among them In case his Majesty should fall into the Thoughts of admitting that Conjunction as Monsieur de Witt tells me he has likewise some Hopes given him from Monsieur Van Beuninghen I think it were best however reserving the Declaration of any such Consent until he were very well assured of the Emperor's and the other German Princes final and firm Resolutions which I know not whether we may be confident of learning from the Baron d'Isola whose Business seems to be rather first to draw out our Points and make them his Ground for persuading his Court to agree with them and thereby value himself both to his Master the German Princes and others upon his own being the Author of so great a Negotiation And perhaps if his Majesty have a mind to see the bottom of it and wishes it effected for common Interest sake he could not do better than to acquaint the Elector of Mentz privately with his Thoughts upon it and leave him to make use of that Knowledge towards the preparing all Pieces for the Work For I find That Prince must be the Spring of all the Motions that are made in it on the German Side So that all will depend upon his Dispositions and Conduct which for my part I pretend not to understand yet in this Affair For though his late Envoy here visited me with great Professions from his Master to his Majesty and much Civility to me yet I fell into no sort of plain or confident Discourse with him upon this Matter but finding him rather shy in it I resolved not to be behind-hand with him in that Point And so we parted as wise as we met By this Days Post I hear the Count de Monterey is declared Governor of Flanders by way of Interim which yet may last longer than is thought of according to the slowness or uncertainty of the Spanish Councils especially Don John having now finally refused to accept that Charge The Count Marsyn I hear says he will not obey a Man Qui ne fait que naître because the Count Monterey is but twenty eight Years old and therefore sets on foot already many Brigues against him both in Spain and Flanders which we here fear may produce very ill Effects by encreasing the Disorders of Flanders and thereby the Temptations of France though I hope our Friend who you know is something hot at Hand may yet come to himself For methinks his Exception against the new Governor is not very just after having so long obey'd a Man that thought of nothing but dying and for ought I hear was by that Apprehension rendred unfitter for his Post than any he could have met with to leave in it without very great Luck They much persuade me here to make a Journy to Brussels in this Conjuncture having heard me speak of it this Summer and of having his Majesty's leave because they know I am acquainted with those at present upon the Scene I find their Deputies have no Credit there and come back only with Dissatisfaction and Complaints I see nothing like to take me up here when I have observed this Assembly of the States of Holland and what they will do and promise further in the Prince's Business which a Fortnight will determine and therefore am well enough inclined to it But should be much the more if his Majesty should think fit to Complement the Count Monterey upon this Occasion and save the Expence of an express Person by sending him a Letter with me to be delivered as one that goes wholly Incognito and without any Character as was last Year intended I should have done to the Constable Of which your Lordship can easily satisfy me I find the Prince has put off the Thoughts of his Journy till towards the sitting of the Parliament upon what your Lordship last writ By whose Advice his Highness resolves to steer in the Course of his Affairs and Motions relating to England I am ever My Lord your c. To Sir John Trevor Hague July 22. S. N. 1670. SIR I AM at once to acknowledge both yours of the 1st and 5th current with the inclosed Names of the Scotch Ministers in the first and in the other the last Paper concerted with Monsieur Van Beuninghen concerning the Affair of Surinam Upon what concerns the Scotch Ministers I gave in yesterday a Memorial to the States upon which I received this Day a Message from Them expressing their Readiness to perform all Parts of their Treaties with his Majesty and desiring to know from me the several present Abodes of the said Persons to
the End they might direct their Orders to them accordingly But in this Point I was not able to answer Them at so short Warning having not yet upon Enquiry heard of any of the three Persons excepting Mackard who it seems lived some Months since privately at Vtrecht but whether he continues still there or no I am yet ignorant And therefore I told the States Agent That I would endeavour to inform my self of their Abodes if I could but would not take upon me to find them out in any certain Place since it was the Custom and Interest of such kind of Men to be as private as they could and to shift often And therefore I did not see any Thing likely to reach them but a Publication of their Names with the States Orders for their avoiding these Dominions which at some Time and Place or other could not fail of coming to them and have the same Effect that could be expected from a more particular Direction I spoke with Monsieur de Witt this Morning concerning your last Paper of Surinam which he perused having not seen it before nor heard any thing of it from Monsieur Van Beuninghen And therefore he said the States could not fall upon the Debate of it without knowing upon what Grounds or Considerations Monsieur Van Beuninghen might have made these Changes since his last Paper upon this Subject which they expected would have been final in this Matter Besides some Point wherein he thought the Style not so clear he observed two main Alterations in the Substance The first is that our Ships should not carry * Cannons mounted in the River Des Canons montés dans la Riviere Which he said imports that they might carry what Cannon they please so they were not mounted which is not the Business of an hours time and is contrary as he said to your first Agreement with Monsieur Van Beuninghen The second was concerning Major Bannister whose Landing is here positively allowed with the Liberty of going to his own Colony Both which were as he says referred in Monsieur Van Beuninghen's last Paper to the Governor's Discretion and Judgment whether it might be done without Danger of the Colony Upon both these Points we had large Discourses which ended with his assuring me that he should be the last to raise any Scruples upon either of them but doubted that the Zealanders might thereupon especially the last concerning Major Bannister change their late Protestations to Clamors which might occasion the States General to make more Difficulty in these Changes unless they were satisfied in the Reasons of them by Monsieur Van Beuninghen's Dispatches to which all was of necessity to be referred I hear Monsieur Lionne entertained the Dutch Secretary at Paris with the News he had received from Madrid of that Crown 's joining this State with his Majesty and Sueden in the Arbitrage and at the same time with many Reasons why his Master could not admit of it though he said he had not yet communicated it to him However the declared Opinion of such a Minister seems to raise a strong Prejudice in the Case I am sorry the Business of Conventicles gives you so much Trouble and could wish we were at a good End of all such Controversies which make his Majesty appear abroad to have so great and considerable a number of Subjects that have not learnt to obey him and consequently make up no part of his Strength but seem rather to lessen it and amuse People both at home and abroad with Imaginations of Changes Yet Monsieur Van Beuninghen hath represented it hither as a Business which his Majesty will easier master than you seem to be confident of But their Interest here may help them to believe as well as to desire it upon the Expectation of so many Persons and Stocks as will be brought over to them upon this Occasion and makes as they suppose a considerable Increase of their Trade and Diminution of ours I am always Sir your c. To the Count de Monterey Hague Jul. 22. S. N. 1670. My Lord HAving long taken part in what regards the Person and Interests of your Excellency and having heard of your Advancement to so great a Charge as that of Governor of the Netherlands I would not fail of giving you Joy and letting you know the Satisfaction I receive by it upon many Accounts For since by the force of the present Conjunctures it will be often necessary for me in the Post I am in to have something or other to negotiate with the Governor of Flanders about the common Interests I shall be very glad to enter into Business where I have already entred into Friendship and to have to deal with a Person who has already given me so many Testimonies of his fair and prudent manner of transacting as well as of his particular Inclination for confirming the Allyance between the Crowns of both our Masters and for the Advancement of their Interests wherein the Welfare and Repose of Christendom are concerned And whereas the good Order of Affairs in Flanders is very important to his Majesty and the other Parties of the Triple Alliance as well as to the Crown of Spain I will hope that by your Excellency's Conduct some good Order may be taken for setling the Affairs of the Militia of this Country and in the mean time an end be put to the Complaints and Miseries of the Inhabitants since a Government is never well established but in the Hearts of the Subjects nor so hard to be shaken as when the Generality of the People as well as the Nobility finds no Interest in the Change I doubt not but your Excellency proposes these Ends and will succeed in them because you are too generous to mix with them your own Passions or particular Interests which will not be less glorious to You than profitable and happy to Christendom And besides the Advantage Spain will make by your Excellency's good Conduct they will save themselves the Trouble to think of a new Governor or to end an Interim so advantageous to them My best Wishes shall not be wanting to your Excellency nor my Services upon all Occasions where they shall be necessary for no Man is with more Esteem and Truth than I am My Lord Your Excellency's most humble and most affectionate Servant Au Comte de Monterey De la Haye 22 Juill S. N. 1670. Monsieur AYant pris depuis long tems beaucoup de part dans tout ce qui touche la personne les interêts de V. E. venant d'apprendre qu'elle a eté pourvû d'une charge aussi importante que l'est celle de Gouverneur de Pais-bas je n'ay pas voulu manquer á luy donner el para bien temoigner la joye que j'en ay ressentie pour plusieurs raisons Car puisque par l'enchainement de conjonctures presentes dans le poste ou je suis il me sera
their Officers But if I could send somebody that did to the Town-house they would send their Skout with him to execute what I desired This I presently did but the Person I sent found the Magistrates still unresolved and in very ill Humour about it and saying besides a great deal of what the two Commissioners had before told me That in case Joyce had said he would kill the Burgomasters or burn their Town yet they should never have thought of imprisoning him for it And that it was hard to be put upon Things so contrary to their Privileges and their Customs as well as their Interests My Agent finding these Difficulties desired Leave for me to seize him with such Persons as I could find my self But this they said could by no means be done and if it should be attempted without the Officers of the Town the Burghers would certainly rise and rescue him With these kind of Debates they put him off about an hour longer making him twice withdraw and come in again to them But at last when it was grown a very dark Night they gave Order to their Skout to go with him and apprehend the Fellow Hereupon they went and searched his House but without finding him and two other of his usual Haunts with the same Success but they found evident Marks of his having had Notice given him of his Danger For one at his House said He wondred I would search for a mad Man and that if he were assured I desired only to examin him perhaps it might be done but that for the present he knew not where he was having taken the Key of his back Door where he seemed to believe he was gone out By all that had hapned I found plainly the Magistrates of the Town had no Intention the Thing should be done and began to be assured of what I had always doubted that such a Pack of Rascals of so many Sorts as had been long nested in that Town more indeed than in all the rest of Holland had not made this Choice without some good Assurances from the Magistrates of being protected there I found as plainly that without their resolute and fair dealing in it 't was to no purpose for me to endeavour it and that my being there was already known and had given such an Alarm that some of Joyce's Crew were walking continually up and down the Streets thereabouts ever since it grew dark and others of them standing at his Door and his Windows And therefore seeing that till this Allarm was over there was no hopes of finding my Game I resolved to speak with the presiding Burgomaster and engage him as far as I could for the effectual Pursuit of the Business and make him see I understood well enough how it failed and where it depended and so leave the Town before Morning to give the Fellow the more Security I sent to the Burgomaster about Ten a Clock at Night desiring not to have it taken notice of when I spoke with him But he sent me his Excuse by saying he was in Bed After which I sent for the Skout and when he had confess'd he had Orders to take the Fellow and that he knew him very well contrary to what the Magistrates had pretended I said all that I could possibly to engage him in the Pursuit of it and told him as the best Argument that I would give him my self a hundred Duccatoons as soon as ever it was done besides representing his Diligence so to his Majesty as that he might expect a greater Gratuity And for the better effecting of it I desired him to get me the Keys of the Town-gate that was near me resolving then to go out of Town and to pass with Torches before Joyce's Door that so he might see I was gone and with me the Persons I had employ'd in this Business and thereby grow secure of any further Danger for that Night And I desired him that about an hour or two after he would once more search for him at his House and other Places where he used All this he promised very fairly and all other Diligences in it for the future but to say the Truth in such a manner that I perceived plainly the Fellow had his Instructions given him after another Fashion from those that had more to do with him than I. And though I have expected some News from him all this Day I yet hear nothing Since my coming home I have spoken again with Monsieur de Witt who professes to be very sorry for my ill Success says I did prudently in coming away after my first Attempt failed That he knows not what to judge of the Magistrates proceeding till the return of the Commissioners and hopes something may yet be done by them because they were not come back this Afternoon He says he writ two Letters himself to the Magistrates besides that of the Committee to dispose them more because he knew all would depend upon their hearty or faint Proceeding in it and assures me of all his further Endeavours For the Business of Surinam they will not believe their last Letter should not satisfy since Monsieur Van Beuninghen had represented that of Bannister's absolute Permission as a Thing desired by you but not insisted upon So that if it be further press'd it must be by your Orders after you received the last Papers I ask your Pardon for any ill Digestion of this Letter as well as for writing it in another Hand which my Eyes force me to and may all be attributed to the Want of Sleep these two Nights last past I am however Sir your c. To my Lord Keeper Hague Aug. 19. S. N. 1670. My LORD I HAVE lately received the Honour of one from your Lordship of the 26th past by which I was very sorry to find that any Occasions had at all withdrawn your Lordship's usual Concurrence in all great Affairs wherein his Majesty uses the Advice as well as Labours of his Ministers For the Steadyness of your Lordship's Judgment and Directness of your Application to his Majesty's and the Kingdom 's Honour and Advantage in all your Counsels gave me at my last coming over hither much Confidence in the successful Course of our Affairs both at Home and Abroad And the more your Lordship estranges your self from them the more my Confidence in that kind is like to abate because I am apt to think it not only an ill Thing but an ill Sign too I am glad to receive your Lordship's Opinion concerning the Continuance of our Measures abroad because I see not at present where we can take better And I the more need some such Encouragements as your Opinion gives me because to say the Truth I should not be very apt to concur with you in it from the Observation I can make from hence of several other Circumstances However nothing ought to discourage such publick Hearts as your Lordship from contributing all they can to the Firmness
of such Counsels as they esteem most Just and Safe at least if we are not in Condition to think so far as Glorious Multa dies variusque Labor mutabilis Aevi Detulit in melius We have nothing new nor material in present Agitation upon this Scene The last little Commission I had was as troublesome as unsuccessful and proceeded certainly in the Manner of it from want of knowing or considering the Constitutions of this Government which makes me confident your Lordship had no Part in directing it no more than my Lord Arlington who was out of Town I wish your Lordship perfect Health and Satisfaction and that when neither of these make it necessary you may not be too much at your Country-House Tho' in all Places I shall be ever with equal Constancy and Truth My LORD Your Lordship's c. To the Duke of Buckingham Hague Aug. 21. S. N. 1670. My LORD AS your Grace will I hope meet with many new Entertainments on this Side the Water so you must I fear be content with some new Troubles For both usually happen upon all Changes I wish your Grace all that can be of the first and should not have given you any of the other but to rejoice with you upon your happy Arrival at Paris From so little and so barren a Scene as this is at present I cannot offer at informing your Grace of any Thing especially since Men expect here to receive all their material Informations from your Motions where you now are and from what shall succeed them at your Return But to leave these People in their doubtful and mystical Reflections I shall not interrupt either your Grace's Business or Leisure with any Thing but what is plain and certain for nothing is more so than that I am with equal Passion and Truth My LORD Your Grace's most obedient and most humble Servant To my Lord Falconbridge Hague Aug. 22. S. N. 1670. My LORD I WAS very glad to find by your Lordship 's of the first current that the Suddenness of your Return therein mentioned was owing to the Dispatch of your Business in Italy and to the Care of your Health and consequently that you receive from it both Honour and Satisfaction I shall esteem it a great deal of both to me if you continue so favourable Intentions as you express of taking this Place in your way where your Lordship may promise your self whatever my Services can be worth to you I expect my Lord of Essex with my Lady here every Day unless they have changed their Design since their Arrival at Hamburgh where they came about ten Days since after my Lord's having dispatch'd all his Affairs in the Danish Court Our Treaty with Spain for regulating the Affairs of the Indies came signed to London last Week from whence I doubt not it will be suddenly remitted with its Ratification All here is in great Quiet and Silence and like to continue so unless France furnish us with some new Discourse I have hitherto writ by Mr. Perwich's Conveyance but chuse to send this by Sir John Finch's who is like to be a nearer Observer of your Motions But I will not give your Lordship a long and an empty Interruption which has little else to bear it out besides the Profession of my being My LORD Your Lordship 's most faithful humble Servant To the Great Duke of Tuscany Hague Aug. 25. S. N. 1670. SIR I Received almost at the same time the Honour of two Letters from your most Serene Highness one of March the 31st with an entire Vintage of the finest Wines of Italy and the other of the 5th Instant with your Highness's Condolences upon the Death of Madame The great Delay of the Ship that brought the Wine and your Highness's great Dispatch to make a Compliment so sad and so obliging were the cause that two Letters of so different date arrived almost together For I have very much reason to commend the Diligence of Monsieur Ferroni in conveying me all your Highness's Favours I find the Wines admirable and seeming to resemble their Prince in having lost nothing of their natural Tast or Goodness by the length of their Voyage or the Extreams of Heats or of Colds And herein I am more obliged to your Highness than you imagine not only for having made me tast the Delights of so fine a Climate in so miserable a one as this but also for having by the same Means given me the Talent of a Drinker a Quality I wanted very much to acquit my self of an Ambassy in Holland I cannot tell whether your Highness by your moving Expressions upon the Deplorable Death of Madame has more discovered the Beauty of your Wit or the Greatness of your Affection to the King my Master Therefore I hope your Highness will not take it ill that I have sent his Majesty a Copy of your last Letter by which you have given such sensible Proofs of the Part you take in whatever happens to the Royal Family The States General are very much surprized at the News brought them this Day from France in an Express sent them from their Minister at Paris which assures them of the march of the French Troops towards the Frontier to the number of 30000 where they are to rendezvous at Peronne But it is not yet known whether their Design be upon Flanders or this Country or whether they project any other Measures However the Alarm is here so great that they have immediately resolved to continue six thousand Men which they were just going to disband They have also ordered the Council of State to compute what Forces and Provisions they shall judge necessary in case of a Rupture with France and have dispatched a Boat from Scheveling to England with Orders to Monsieur Van Beuninghen who is upon the Point of departing to stay till further Orders from the States For my self I know not what to judge of these Appearances I shall ever complain of any Events that are like to endanger the Quiet of Christendom to which I have for some time under the Orders of his Majesty dedicated all my Cares And without doubt if the War opens at present great Conjunctures will arise whereof perhaps there will be Reason to give your Highness Joy not for being out of the Noise of them but because great Princes only wait for great Occasions I am Sir Your Highness's c. Au Grand Duc de Toscane De la Haye le 25 Aout S. N. 1670. Monsieur J'Ay quasi reçû en meme tems les deux Lettres que V. A. Sme m'a fait l'honneur de m'ecrire l'une datée du 31 de Mars accompagnée des plus riches vendanges d'Italie je veux dire de ses vins les plus exquis l'autre du 5 du courant avec les complimens de condoleance de V. A. sur la mort de Madame Le long retardement de navire qui a apporté les vins
tell him what I could make of all this laid together For on the one side there were Circumstances enough to awake a suspicious Man and on the other side he could never think it possible for any Nation or Court it self to quit so certain a Point of Interest and great a Point of Honour as must be forfeited by our breaking our Alliances with this State or entring into any with France whose Greatness had occasioned our Measures for our own as well as our Neighbour's Defence He said I knew the best of any how all these Matters had pass'd How his Majesty had engaged these States in those common Measures and even prevailed with them to make a Sacrifice of the ancient Kindness and Alliance this State had always before with France to the Considerations of the present Danger from the Greatness of that Crown to the rest of Christendom though they might have had what Terms they pleased from them for the dividing of Flanders That I knew with how inviolate Faith and Firmness the States had constantly observed for these two Years past their Friendship and Alliances with his Majesty and how great a Part I had in contracting and pursuing them by the particular Confidence the States and He especially had in my Person as one that was persuaded of our common Interests that knew my Master's Mind and would not be an Instrument to deceive those that trusted me For these Reasons he said he desired to know my Opinion upon this whole Matter especially that of my Journy into England which he said would be very surprizing to every Body here and therefore he would be glad to give the News of it to the States in the best manner he could I protested to him that I had hitherto received constant Assurances from both the Secretaries of State of his Majesty's Resolutions to observe constantly the Measures in which he was engaged to this State And that I knew not a Word more of the Reasons of my sudden Journy into England than what I had told him That I had Orders to leave my Family behind me And that his Majesty might possibly think it necessary for his Information to speak with me upon the present Conjunctures and to return me immediately according to my Lord Arlington's Letter That I confessed I was apt to make many of those Reflections that he had done but could not believe it possible for any Crown ever to enter into Councils so destructive to their Honour and Safety as those he suspected That if such a Thing should ever happen I desired him to remember what I told him upon the Scruples he had made in trusting our Court upon the Negotiations of the Triple Alliance Which was that I told him then what I thought of his Majesty's Dispositions and Resolutions as well as those of his Ministers That I could not believe it possible for them to change in a Point of so evident Interest and which would be so understood by the whole Nation That however I could answer for nobody besides my self but this I would and that if ever such a Thing should happen I would never have any Part in it That I had told the King so as well as him and would make it good That for the present there was nothing more to be said but that I must go away for England That if I returned he would know more and I doubted by what he said that he would guess more if I returned not Monsieur de Witt smiled and said I was in the right That in the mean time he would try to cure himself and Others of all Suspicions upon my Journy And would hope on t'other side it might be of use to the common Interests by possessing his Majesty of the great Importance of the late Seisure of Lorrain and of the States Resolutions to stick close to him in all Measures he should take upon it And so we parted I would have gone away immediately upon this Summons but that it found me very ill and uncertain whether it would end in a Fever as it seemed to begin but since a great Swelling fallen upon my Face I hope it may pass However being forced to delay my Journy some few Days I could not but give your Lordship this Account before-hand and leave it to you to make what use of it you think fit without expecting any Answer since I hope so soon to follow it But I know your Lordship fully persuaded of our Interest to preserve our Alliances here and the present Measures of Christendom which depend upon them And tho' you have said nothing yet to make me distrust our Counsels in that Matter yet I confess I have not the better Opinion of it from what I find of your Lordship's estranging your self of late or being estranged from the Consultations of them I have likewise reflected upon the kind Hint your Lordship gave me some time since of my Lord Arlington's not being the same to me which he had formerly been and constantly since our first Acquaintance Which made me I confess then doubt rather some Mistake in your Lordship's Observation than any Change in his Friendship or Dispositions From himself I must needs say I yet find nothing of it and tho' his Style seems a little changed in what concerns our Publick Affairs yet not at all in what is particular to me When I come into England I shall soon know the Truth of your Conjecture and tell it you because by that I shall judge the Truth of mine For having never said or done any Thing to deserve the least Change in his Lordship's Friendship to me since it first began I am sure if it happens it can be derived from nothing else but a Change he foresees in those Measures at Court which he has been with your Lordship so deeply engaged in and which he knows as well as your Lordship that I will never have any Part in the Councils of altering till I can be convinced that any others will be more for his Majesty's Honour and Safety All this I say in Confidence to your Lordship without touching any Word of it to my Lord Arlington or any other Person And shall increase this Trouble no further because I hope to have so soon the Honour of seeing you and assuring you a nearer way with how much Passion as well as Truth I am and shall be ever My Lord your Lordship 's c. To the Great Duke of Tuscany London Nov. 4. 1670. SIR I Should not have satisfied my self barely to resent all the Favours of your most Serene Highness and particularly the Honour of your last of September the 30th if I were any way capable of acknowledging them as I ought either by my Expressions or my Services But your Highness being pleased to oblige so many ways so unprofitable a Person can hope for no other Returns than the Pleasure of your own Generosity and the Devotion of a Heart so grateful as mine I
should have extreamly regretted the length of time your Letter was in passing before it found me at London after having missed me at the Hague were it not that your Highness is to consider me here as one of the commonest among the King's Subjects and not as a Minister who has any Part in Publick Affairs And therefore you can expect nothing in my Letters but the tedious Complemenâ— of an idle Man instead of such Informations or Services as your Highness might expect to receive from those who are devoted like me to your Service But the Marq. of Puzzi is too well received at the K. my Master's Court and too well informed not to have given your Highness all Intelligence necessary as well of his Majesty's Friendship and Esteem as of the general Devotion his Subjects bear for the Person of your Highness He must also have informed your Highness of the happy Disposition his Majesty has found in his Parliament for the Encrease of his Revenues and by that means for the Establishment of his Interests both within and without his Kingdoms I am sorry the said Marquis has found nothing here to please or keep him longer among us But I hope your Highness will not think that during my stay here there can want a Person as ready to receive and obey all your Commands as any of your own Subjects Since I am so much SIR Your Highness's c. Au Grand Duc de Toscane De Lond. le 4 Nov. S. N. 1670. Monsieur JE ne me contenterois pas de ressentir comme je le fais comme je le dois toutes les bontez de V. A. Sme particulierement l'honneur qu'elle m'a fait par sa derniere lettre du 30 de Septembre si je me trouvois le moins du monde capable de les reconnoitre comme elles le meritent ou par mes expressions ou par mes services Mais V. A. ayant voulu par tant de manieres differentes obliger un Sujet aussi inutile que je le suis n'a pas dû en esperer d'autres fruits que la plaisir de jouir de sa propre generosité de s'attacher un coeur aussi reconnoissant que le mien Je me serois fort plaint des longueurs á travers lesquelles la lettre de V.A. est enfin venue me trouver á Londres aprés m'avoir manqué á la Haye si desormais je devois etre regardé de V.A. autrement que comme un homme privé un des Sujets les plus ordinaires de sa Majesté qui n'est plus ni Ministre public ni admis dans les affaires Par consequent mes lettres ne peuvent contenir que les complimens d'un homme oisif au lieu des relations des instructions que V. A. attend de ceux qui sont aussi attachez á elle qu'elle sait que je le suis Mais Monsieur le Marq. de Puzzi est trop bien a la Cour du Roy mon Maitre d'ailleurs trop eclairé trop exact pour n'avoir pû informer V. A. de tout ce qu'elle doit savoir par rapport á notre Cour sur tout il n'aura pas negligé je m'assure de luy parler de l'amitié de l'estime de sa Majesté pour la personne de V. A. en cela secondée par l'affection generale de tous ses Sujets Il vous aura aussi entretenu des heureuses disposiâ—ions que sa Majesté vient de trouver dans l'assemblée de son Parlement pour l'augmentation de ses Finances pour la seureté de ses interêts tant au dedans qu'aux dehors de ses Etats Je suis bien marris que Monsieur le Marquis n'ait pas trouvé icy assés de charmes pour s'y plaire s'y sejourner un peu plus long tems Mais j'ose esperer que V. A. ne croira pas manquer dans Londres d'une personne entierement devouée á son service aussi empressée á recevoir ses ordres qu'aucun de ses propres Sujets tandis que j'y feray mon sejeur puisque je suis Monsieur De V. A. Sme c. To Sir John Temple London November 22. 1670. SIR I MUST make you my humble Acknowledgments for so great a Present as you have been pleased to send me towards that Expence I have resolved to make at Sheen And assure you no part of it shall either go any other way or lessen what I had intended of my own I doubt not to compass what I told you of my Lord Lisle for enlarging my small Territories there when that is done I propose to bestow a thousand Pounds upon the Conveniences of the House and Garden and hope that will reach all I care for So that your five hundred Pounds may be laid out rather for Ornament than Use as you seem to desire by ordering me to make the Front perfectly uniform Your Care of that and me in this Matter is the more obliging the less I find you concur with me in my Thoughts of retiring wholly from publick Affairs and to that Purpose of making my Nest at this time as Pleasant and Commodious as I can afford it Nor shall I easily resolve to offer at any of those Advantages you think I might make upon such a Retreat of the King's Favour or good Opinion by pretending either to Pension or any other Employment The Honour and Pay of such Posts as I have been in ought to be esteemed sufficient for the best Services of them And if I have Credit left with the present Ministers to get what is owing me upon my Ambassy I shall think my self enough rewarded considering how different a Value is now like to be put upon my Services in Holland from what there was when they were performed 'T is very likely at that Time as you believe there were few reasonable Things the King would have denied me while the Triple Alliance and our League with Holland had so great a Vogue and my Friends were not wanting in their Advices to me to make use of it But I have resolved never to ask him any Thing otherwise than by serving him well And you will have the less Reason perhaps to reproach me this Method if you will please to remember how the two Ambassasies of Aix la Chappelle and Holland were not only thrown upon me without my seeking but also what my Lord Arlington told me was designed for me upon Secretary Morris's Removal in case the King had not thought my Ambassy into Holland of the greatest Necessity in pursuance of those Measures we had taken with that State For what you think of the Interest we have still to pursue them and consequently of the Use the King will still have of me upon that Occasion I will not enter into any Reasonings with you upon that Matter at this Distance but will only tell
you have too great a Regard for your Faith and Honour to darken the Lustre of so fair a Life by so foul a Stain This I do not fail continually to inform both His Majesty and his Ministers nor do I doubt but if Fortune shall be wanting to the Justice of your Arms so far as that your Highness shall be in Danger of being brought to the last Extremities you will at least have that Regard to so sacred a League and to the Honour of so great a King as to give His Majesty timely Notice declare the invincible Necessities you lay under and desire permission to enter upon new Councils As for us I am sure your Highness is sufficiently convinced of His Majesty's Care in performing his Part and how happily he has overcome the greatest Difficulties and Straits wherein by occasion of the late Pestilence his Revenues have been involved About ten days ago I gave Monsieur Rhintorf Letters of Exchange for 77000 Dollars He is a diligent Person a Friend to the common League and of equal Probity and Industry I have given him also other Letters wherein a very Rich Merchant of Amsterdam has undertaken to transmit 30000 Dollars more to me with all convenient speed I have also Orders from His Majesty to advance Mony for your Highness upon a great quantity of Tin lately recovered from Shipwreck at Ostend And His Majesty has further given me in Charge to let your Highness know that whatever remains shall be paid without fail All this matter was finish'd before Mr. Sherwood's departure for England whom I have however instructed with the best Council I could as well as with Letters of Recommendation to the chief Ministers tho' I 〈◊〉 certain His Majesty's Justice and Truth will be more prevalent in this Matter than the most importunate Sollicitations or Complaints In the mean while I shall use my utmost Care and Diligence for the Service of your Highness and it will be your part not to be wanting either to His Majesty or your own Honour and Safety which are all concerned in this Conjuncture I also beg your Highness not to be discouraged by your Enemies not to distrust your old Friends not despaire of raising new ones Time for the better changes many things In the mean time I wish your Highness Health and Victory and desire you will ever esteem me SIR Your Highness's most obedient humble Servant Episcopo Monasterii Brusselles Mar. 19. N. S. 1666. Celsissime Domine REcté tempestivè admodum mihi redditae sâ—â—â— literae Celsitudinis vestrae 9º Martii dataecâ—â— quibus plané perspexi quaâ— incoâ—cussâ fide quam decorâ constantiâ C. V. ressuâ—s semper â—rnatâ—ur a sit dum casdeâ—â— eximiâ prudentiâ animo molitur inteâ—ea gubernat Mihi certe nihil erit unquam antiquius isto officio quod semper praestiti praestitâ—â—us sum tam in illis omni medo prâ—movendis quam in formandâ si opus fuerit erigendâ sacrae suae Regiae Majestatis fiduciâ quâ praecipuè niti videtur communis fâ—ederis vinculum robur hoc praesertim tempore cum multi vafri vertosi homines illam pedibus eant labefactatum majore levitate nescio an malitiâ In hac urbe pacem jam ratant â—â—inter C. Vm. Hollandos post habitis omnino rationibus foederis nostris nedùm consultâ voluntate ego utrisque auribus quotidiè accipio credulitatem simulo toto autem pectore inficias oâ—â— Rumoribas certè susuâ—ris nec mihi alioâ— pasâ—ere assuetum nec meipsum excruciare coâ—â—â—oâ—um nic paule fateâ— literis Ducis Brâ—siâ— censis viro sagaâ—â— in hac 〈◊〉 transmissâ—â— quâ—â— ipse naperrime 〈…〉 diligentinâ— inquiâ—â—â— sâ—se amicum multâ— spelactare videtâ—r pacis in universis istis Geâ—â—â—â—â—â— partibus breviter â—â—st iâ—â—endae sibique pro compertâ— const are asserit Principem Monasterii eam libentissimè accepturum modò fine summa ignominiá damno eam oblatam iri contingat in quo vicinos ait Principes oleam operaâ— summo jam studio impendere Marchionem de Castel Rodrigo eandem imbibisse plané opinionem sentio doleo quippe ejusmodi eventum C. V. vitio verti necesse est Regi Domino meo imprudentiae forsan aut saltem infaelicitati Nec Hispanos usque adeo jam temporiâ— generosos aestimo ut provibendo foedoxi quod jam arctiâ— astrictum iri speramus nuperrimâ Comuâ—â— de Sandwich in Hispaniam Legatione fortius impellant remos si Regem Dominâ—â— meum inter tantos hostes ab intimo foederate desertum iri sibi ve falso persuaserint Ego interea tam ex postremus literis quam ex ingenti C. V. indole genio moribus etiam studiis mihi è contra procul omni aleá persuasum habeo eam virtuti fidei gloriae nimis foeliciter litassé quam ut tot decora tam insignis vitae tantâ ' labe infuscari ullo modo patiatur Hoc sacrae suae Regiae Majestati hoc Ministris regiis inculcare non desino nec ullus dubito si tam justis armis Fortuna in tantum defuerit ut inter tot hostes C. V. in extremis se laboraturam praesentiat quin hoc saltem tanto foederi hoc tanti Regis nomini auspiciis tribuendum judicet ut sacram suam Majestatem non inconsultam velit necessitates insuperabiles exponat veniamque demum impetret novis alienis consiliis incundis Quod ad partes nostras at tinet satis confido C. V. abunde exploratum habeâ—e quanto studio opere sacra sua Regia Majestas explendis ad amussim singuâ—â—s invigilaverit quantaque demum faelicitate angustias difficultates summas eluctata sit quibus per nuperam contagionem res suas praecipue pecuniarias involutas sensit Ego jam infra decem elapsos dies literas Cambli usque adseptaaginta septem Thalerorum millia valitutas Domino de Rhintorfe 〈◊〉 tradidi viro certo impigro animique erga res communis foederis propensissimi nec minoris ut mihi videtur probitatis quam industriae Eidem alias impertii literas per quas mercator admodum opulâ—ntas Amstelodami in se provinciam recepit triginta adhuc Thalerorum millia mihi quamprimum transmittendi Eodem tempore magnam stanni molem Ostendaeâ—â—per ex naufragio revulfaâ— augendis C. V. â—ationibus impendere inter regia jussahabeo praecipuumque a sacrâ suâ Regiâ Majestate mandâ—â—tum ut C. V. persuasuâ—â— penitus securam vetim quod reliqui est sine ullâ ambagie sâ—â—ctum iri Haec omnia excussa absoluta fuisse advertendum est acte appulsum Domini Sherwood quem tamen in transitu saluberrimis quibus fas erat consiliis commendatoriis apud summos Regios Ministros literis munitum volui etiamsi pro comperio habeam Regis Domini mei justitiam insignem fidem in violatam plus quaeremoniis
often over the Pleasures of the Air and the Earth and the Water but much more of the Conversation at Sheen and make me believe that if my Life wears not out too soon I may end it in a Corner there tho' Your Lordship will leave it I know in Time for some of those greater and nobler Houses that attend you I am obliged by the very pleasing Relations you give from those softer Scenes in Return of which such as I can make you from those of Business or War or Tumult must I know yield rougher Entertainment and therefore I have sent them in a Paper which shall pass rather for a Gazette than a Letter and shall content my self only to tell Your Lordship that 't is hardly to be imagined the Change which about three Weeks past have made in the Face of Holland's Affairs which are now esteemed here to be upon the Point of breaking into much such a Confusion as we saw in England about 1659 Nor can any Thing almost be added in these Parts to the Reputation of his Majesty's Arms and Affairs so far that it grows a Credit to be an English Man and not only here but in Amsterdam it self I am told my Lord Stafford who went lately thither about a Process has more Hats and Legs than the Burgomaster of the Town I will not increase Your Lordship's Trouble by any enlarging upon this Subject having offered you a much longer in the inclosed I wish I could give you some of another Kind by sending you a little Spanish Mistress from hence whose Eyes might spoyl your Walks and burn up all the green Meadows at Sheen and find other Ways of destroying that Repose Your Lordship pretends alone to enjoy in spight of the common Fate of Mankind But however your Friends suffer by it I wish it may last as long as it pleases you I am sure the Professions will do so of my being My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful humble Servant To my Lord Arlington Brussels Aug. S. N. 1666. My Lord I Am not to be forgiven that endeavour by one Trouble to make Room for another and solicite Your Lordship this Way that my Wife may have Leave to solicite you in a Matter wherein I can never resolve to do it my Self Your Lordship's Friendship has left me little to desire or complain of unless it be when I find my own Fortune so disproportioned to my Mind in the Resolutions I have of doing His Majesty all the Honour as well as all the Service I can But how ill they agree in this Point tho' I was ever Rich while I was private even beyond my Desires is a Story I would rather any Body should tell you than I However I should not bring my Wife into this Scene but that I know she will ask nothing but my own is a Person not apt to be troublesome or importunate and in all kinds the best Part of My Lord Your c. Patri Gottenburg Brussels Dec. 16th S.N. 1666. Domine REctè per manus dulcissimae tuae sororis accepi Chirothecas elegantissimè consutas non minus politè contextas Literas per quas nec me elapsum memoriâ vestrâ nec planè exutum Benevolentiâ sentio gaudeo Utroque nomine me pulcherrimae istae Indoli per totam vestram Familiam diffusae potius quam ulli meo merito obligatum aestimo Habeo itaque ago gratias quamplurimas ut vero acceptiori quodam modo eas referre studeam sororem optimam exoravi quae me ut spero Officio Debito perfunctum brevi redditura est Valeat interim Reverentia vestra studiis propositis auspicatissimè incumbat ex Votis procedat meque semper teneat Amicissimum c. To Mr. Thynn Brussels Feb. 19. S. N. 1667. SIR ABout two Days since I received the Favour of Yours of the 16th past and am sorry to be put upon the Defence in an Encounter so much to my Advantage This had not arrived if I could as easily have found the Way of conveying my Letters as the Dispositions of Writing For those I have always had about me since I knew your Station and Character which I thought would help to bear me out in that Attempt The little Acquaintance you are contented to own I durst not reckon upon because it was so much more than I deserved and so much less than I desired but am very glad that may be allowed of among the Obligations we have to enter upon this Commerce tho' we need no other than our Master's Service which may on both sides be improved by the Communication of what passes in our different Scenes I shall not engage in answering the Complements of your Letter tho' I should have much more Justice on my Side but I am very ill furnished with that sort of Ware and the Truth is there is required so much Skill in the right tempering as well as the Distribution of them that I have always thought a Man runs much hazard of losing more than he gains by them which has made me ever averse as well as incapable of the Trade It will be to more Purpose to let you know the Confidence we have here of our Treaty with Spain being Signed in all Points to our satisfaction but whether Portugal has or will accept their Part in it which is a Truce of forty five Years I cannot yet resolve you only this I am assured that it is feared in the French Court as well as hoped in ours The current News at Antwerp as well as here is of the Dutch Merchant Fleet from Nantes and Rochel consisting of above a hundred Sail under the Convoy of six Men of War being fallen into a Squadron of about twenty of our Frigats and few are said to have escaped tho' this be doubted of none here and the current Letters from Zealand as well as Ostend make it probable yet I suspend my Confidence till the Arrival of my English Letters which are my Gospel in these Cases This Coldness I know makes me lose many Pleasures but on the other side helps me to escape many Disappointments which light Belief in the midst of so many light Reports is subject to The Councils or Dispositions of a subordinate Government as this is are not worth troubling you with but those in the Court here are in short what we wish them Those of the Scene you are in deserve much more the Enquiry and I should be very glad to know them from so good a Hand My Desires of serving you can I am sure never be known from a better than my own which can value it self to you by nothing else but by telling I am SIR Your most obedient humble Servant To the Earl of Clarendon Lord High Chancellor Brussels Mar. 4. S. N. 1697. My Lord UPon the Arrival of the last Post from Spain which brought us the unwelcome News of our Treaty meeting an unhappy Obstruction when it was at the very
Point of being perfected Count Marsyn came to me and after a Preface of the great Obligations he had to His Majesty and the Part he took in all our Interests as well as those of Spain he fell into large Discourses of the unhappy Influences any Interruption in the present Treaty would have upon the Affairs of both Crowns He insisted much upon the Hardship we put upon the Spaniards in not consenting to leave the Assistance of their Enemies which was all the Advantage they expected from this Treaty in stead of many they gave that the great Effect of it on both sides would thereby be lost which was a Return into mutual Confidence and at least the Beginnings of a sincere Friendship That Spain having consented to what Terms His Majesty thought reasonable and Portugal not only refusing them but entring at the same into new Dependancies upon France he could not see what could oblige His Majesty to more than offering Portugal an equal Peace and becoming the Warrant of it That at His Majesty's Mediation Spain had given them a Style as usual and as honourable as what they desired and if they could resolve to give them that of King in stead of Crown they had then no need or use of His Majesty's Mediation That whether we thought it our Interest to have a Peace or War in Christendome we must begin by adjusting the Business of Portugal for if we desired the first nothing could so much awe the French into quiet Dispositions as that Peace and ours with Holland to which that would likewise be an Ingredient If the latter and we had a mind rather to be Seconds in a War of Spain with France than Principals in any which he thought was our true Interest nothing could make Way for it or enable Spain either to begin or sustain a War with France but a Peace with Portugal That he was confident His Majesty's consenting to abandon them in Case they refused to be included in our Treaty would force them immediately to accept it that if not and His Majesty should hereafter find it his Interest to support them upon any great Successes of Spain on that side it would be easie to do it by Connivance by voluntary Troops of his own Subjects or by a third Hand provided it went no further than to keep Spain in the Temper of yielding to the Peace upon the Terms His Majesty shall have judged reasonable But for the present without His Majesty's Condescension to Spain in this Point he did not see how we could hope to effect our Treaty or to receive any Fruits of it where new Occasions of Diffidence and Distaste would every Day arise These were the chief of Count Marsyn's Discourses which he ended in desiring me that I would represent them to His Majesty's chief Ministers and particularly to Your Lordship from him as the best present Testimony he could give of his Zeal to His â—ajesty's Service and Affairs and which he would have done himself but for fear it might look like intruding into Matters and Councils he was not called to Besides this single Point upon which this Stop of our Treaty is wholly grounded I could not but represent to Your Lordship some other Circumstances which I imagine may have fallen in and helpt to occasion it I hear France has declared positively to the Spaniard that they will immediately begin the War upon the Spaniards Signing the Treaty with us and concluding the Truce or Peace with Portugal upon our Mediation To this End and to shew the Spaniards they are in earnest they busie themselves in making new Levies and drawing down many Troops upon these Frontiers as well as all sort of Provisions either for Sieges or a Camp Upon this I know not whether the Spanish Councils may be so faint as not to dare give the French any pretence of a Quarrel but preserve their Quiet rather by shrinking than making a bold Peace Or whether being composed of Men that hardly ever lookt out of Spain or consider any thing but that Continent they may not upon Foresight of War either continuing with Portugal or beginning in Flanders rather chuse the first where being Invaders they may give themselves what Breath they please imploy their own Natives in the Charges of Honour and Gain and keep all the Money spent in the War still within their Countrey whereas whatever comes into Flanders never returns and is swallowed up by so many foreign Troops as the Levies for that Service must needs draw together There may yet another and more prudent Consideration arise with these which may for the present delay the Conclusion of our Treaty and that is a Desire to sign it rather before the Winter than in the Spring and by that Means both gain this Summer to finish the Fortification of their Frontiers here and the next Winter to put their Army in a better Posture than they now are or I doubt will suddenly be for the beginning of a Campagne and if this Council should be taken by Concert with us that no Breach of Confidence may grow between us by these Delays but the French only flattered by vain Hopes of breaking our Treaty and thereby induced to let the Spaniard grow a Year older in their Peace with them and slacken the War of Portugal into as low Expence and as little Action or Hazard as they can I know nothing can be said against it and should be apt to believe it were the Councils there in the Breast of any one Person by last Ressort whereas the divided Interests and Passions of the Councellours cannot well suffer them to fall into such a Resolution with hope of Consent and Secret among them all This Reflection puts me upon another I hear from private Hands which may possibly have made some Change in the Course of our Treaty which is that the whole Management of Affairs in the Council of Spain seems at present to be devolved into the Hands of Count Castriglio the Confessor leaving it to him and reserving to himself those Things only which depend immediately upon the Will of the Queen and proposing to himself during his Ministry which cannot be long in regard of Castriglio's great Age to make Way for his own by growing older and practised in Affairs as well as the Knowledge Obligations and Dependances of Persons Now our Treaty having never passed through Castriglio's Hands but conducted by Sir Richard Fanshaw wholly through the Duke of Medina's his declared Enemy and since by my Lord Sandwich chiefly through Pignoranda's who is a third Party 't is not improbable that a new Hand may give it new Form either to add something of his own or to shew his Authority or perhaps to pursue his former usual Dispositions which have been bent upon the War with Portugal considering no Part of the Monarchy but Spain and the Indies and I doubt in particular not very partial to our Alliance or Affairs Upon these Intimations Your Lordship