Head of those Councils For my part I resent it not only as a Thing I have not deserved upon an Employment cast wholly upon me by the King's Choice and as he seems to think by the Necessity of his Affairs but as that which I find plainly by the short Experience of my last Ambassy will not defray the Expence of another with any Honour to the King or my Self abroad And though I do not pretend to make my Fortune by these Employments yet I confess I do not pretend to ruin it neither I have therefore been resolved several times absolutely to refuse this Ambassy unless it be upon the Terms all others have had But my Lord Arlington puts so much weight upon my going that he will not hear of it He says 't is That our good Friends would have and intend by this Usage and that I can no way disappoint them so much as by going and that this Rule will be broken in three Months time That I should not consider small matters of Money in the course of my Fortune and that the King cannot fail of making mine at a Lump one time or other That there is nothing I may not expect from him upon my return from this Ambassy And that if His Majesty had not thought me of absolute Necessity to him in Holland upon this Conjuncture he had brought me now into Secretary Moris's Place which upon my going abroad is designed for Sir John Trevor My Lord Keeper is of the same mind to have me by no means refuse it as he says neither for the King's sake nor my own And your old Friend Sir Robert Long agrees with them both and says after a Year or two of this Ambassy I cannot fail of being either Secretary of State or sent Ambassador into Spain which are both certain ways of making any Man's Fortune With all this I confess I find it not very easie to resolve and very much desire yours and my Brother's Opinion upon it And that you may the better give it me I shall tell you one Circumstance which weighs a little with me though not at all with my Friends here They are all of Opinion the Measures the King has lately taken cannot be broken nor altered however they may be snarled at by some Persons upon particular Envy or Interest But I see plainly there are others of another Mind Six Thomas Clifford said to a Friend of mine in Confidence upon all the Joy that was here at the Conclusion of the Tripple Alliance Well for all this Noise we must yet have another War with the Dutch before it be long And I see plainly already that He and Sir George Downing are endeavouring with all the Industry that can be to engage the East-India Company here in such Demands and Pretensions upon the Dutch as will never be yielded to on that Side and will encrease a Jealousie they will ever have of our unsteddy Councils and of our leaving still a Door open for some new Offences when we shall have a mind to take them On t'other side the French will leave no Stone unturned to break this Confidence between Us and Holland which spoils all their Measures and without which they had the World before them If they can they will undermine it in Holland by Jealousies of the Prince of Orange or any other Artifice and will spare neither Promises nor Threats If I should be able to keep that Side stanch they will spare none of the same Endeavours here and will have some good Helps that I see already and may have others that do not yet appear If by any of these Ways or other Accidents our present Measures come to change I am left in Holland to a certain Loss upon the Terms they would send me though I should be paid but to a certain Ruin if I should not which I may well expect from the good Quarter I may reckon upon from some in the Treasury And when my Ambassy ends I may find a new World here and all the fine Things I am told of may prove Castles in the Air There is I know a great deal to be said for my going but on t'other Side I am well as I am and cannot be ruined but by such an Adventure as this I beg of you to let me know your Opinion upon the whole And if I could have the Confidence I should beg a great deal more earnestly that I might see you here since I cannot get loose to wait on you there Till I hear from you I shall let the Talk and the Forms of my Embassy go on and am confident however they presume yet I can spin out the Time of my going till about the End of August in hopes of seeing you here which will be I am sure the greatest Satisfaction that can befal SIR Yours c. The End of the First Volume of Sir William Temple 's Letters LETTERS TO Sir William Temple From Sir Thomas Clifford Copenhagen Octob. 7. 1665. SIR I Have received your obliging Letter of the 20 30th past And the News of this Country is like the Commodities not of equal Value with the more Southern and so you are like to be a Loser by the Barter But your Kindness is the greater I hope the King of Spain's Death will no way alter the State of our Affairs with that Crown I cannot yet tell you the Effect of my Negotiation here but shall in my next give you some Hints The Direction of your Letter brings it safe to me I shall advise you before I remove Here came a Report last Night that a Squadron of the English Fleet had taken out of Fleckery nine of the Dutch Merchant-men and ran another on Shoar But I have examin'd it and find there was no Ground for the Report Two of their East-India Men are still at Tunsburg near Christiana in Norway and two more are returned to Bergen But the six Men of War and East-India-Man that came here into the Sound after the Storm are put to Sea and gone toward the Texel The East-India Ship that got into the River of Elve is there unlading and they are sendihg the Goods home in little small Vessels under the Convoy only of a little Toy of eight or ten Guns They go home over the Watts a Privateer lying there would probably make his Market Last Night some Dutch Ships going for Dantzick arrived here and boasted that their Fleet of ninety Sail under De Ruyter sailed upon Sunday last the first Instant towards England and to the Chanel as they thought to join with the French but no body gives credit to the Relation You see what a shift I make to compleat my Bill of Store but pray let it not dishearten you from corresponding For if I have nothing else to say I shall be glad of Opportunities to express my self SIR Your most affectionate humble Servant Thomas Clifford From the Earl of Clarendon Lord High Chancellor Oxford December 28 1665. SIR
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
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
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
you some Passages of Fact upon which I ground the Judgment I make of Affairs wherein I have no Part and which I am not so sollicitous to draw into the Light as I doubt others are to keep them in the Dark And when I have told you these I shall leave you to judge whether I take my Measures right as to my own private Conduct You know first the Part I had in all our Alliances with Holland how far my own personal Credit was engaged upon them to Monsieur de Witt and the Resolutions I not only acquainted Him and You with but his Majesty too that I would never have any Part in breaking them whatever should happen Tho' that I confess could hardly enter into any Bodies Head that understood the Interests of Christendom as well as our own I have given you some Intimations how cold I have observed our Temper at Court in those Matters for this last Year and how different it was thought abroad from that Warmth with which we engaged in them So as it was a common Saying at the Hague Qu'il faut avouer qu'il y a eu neuf mois du plus grand Ministere du monde en Angleterre For they would hardly allow a longer Term to the Vigour of that Council which made the Triple Alliance and the Peace of Aix and sent me over into Holland this last Ambassy to pursue the great Ends of them and draw the Emperor and Princes of the Empire into the common Guaranty of the Peace Instead of this our Pretensions upon the Business of Surinam and the East-India Companies have grown high and been managed with Sharpness between Us and the States and grounded as Monsieur de Witt conceives more upon a Design of shewing them our ill Humour than our Reason I was sensible that my Conduct in all these Matters had fallen short for many Months past of the Approbation at Court it used to receive and that Mr. Worden was sent over to me only to disparage it or espy the Faults of it tho' I think he returned with the Opinion that the Business would not bear it 'T is true both my Lord Arlington and Sir John Trevor continued to the last of my stay in Holland to assure me that the King still remained firm in his Measures with the States But yet I found the Business of admitting the Emperor into the Guaranty went downright lame And that my Lord Keeper was in a manner out of the Foreign Councils for so he writ to me himself and gave me notice at the same time that my Lord Arlington was not at all the same to me that he had been Which I took for an ill Sign in our publick Business and an ill Circumstance in my own and the more because I was sure not to have deserved it and found nothing of it in his own Letters but only that they came seldom and run more upon indifferent Things than they used to do Ever since Madame's Journy into England the Dutch had grown jealous of something between Us and France and were not like to be cured by these Particulars I have mentioned But upon the Invasion and Seizure of Lorrain by France and my being sent for over so suddenly after it Monsieur de Witt himself could keep his Countenance no longer though he be neither suspicious in his Nature nor thought it the best Course to discover any such Disposition upon this Occasion how much soever he had of it But yet he told me at my coming away that he should make a Judgment of us by the suddenness of my return which the King had ordered me to assure him of When I came to Town I went immediately to my Lord Arlington according to my Custom And whereas upon my several Journies over in the late Conjunctures he had ever quitted all Company to receive me and did it always with open Arms and in the kindest manner that could be he made me this last time stay an hour and half in an outward Room before he came to me while he was in private with my Lord Ashly He received me with a Coldness that I confess surprized me and after a quarter of an hours Talk of my Journy and his Friends at the Hague instead of telling me the Occasion of my being sent for over or any thing else material he called in Tatá that was in the next Room and after that my Lord Croâ—ts who came upon a common Visit and in that Company the rest of mine pass'd till I found he had nothing more to say to me and so went away The next Morning I went however to him again desiring to be brought by him to kiss the King's Hand as I had used upon my former Journies He thought fit to bring me to his Majesty as he was walking in the Mall who stopt to give me his Hand and ask me half a dozen Questions about my Journy and about the Prince of Orange and so walk'd on Since which Time neither the King nor my Lord Arlington have ever said three Words to me about any thing of Business though I have been as often in their way as agreed with such an ill Courtier as I am or a Man without Business as I found my self to be I have seen my Lord Keeper and Mr. Secretary Trevor And find the first uneasy and apprehensive of our present Councils the last sufficient and confident that no Endeavors can break the Measures between Us and Holland because they are esteemed so necessary abroad and so rational at home But I find them both but barely in the Skirts of Business and only in Right of their Posts And that in the Secret of it the Duke of Buckingham my Lord Arlington my Lord Ashly and Sir Thomas Clifford at present compose the Ministry This I tell you in short as the Constitution of our Affairs here at this Time and which I believe you may reckon upon You know how different Sir Thomas Clifford and I have always been since our first Acquaintance in our Scheams of Government and many other Matters especially concerning our Alliance with Holland And that has been the Reason I suppose of very little Commerce between us further than common Civility in our frequent Encounters at my Lord Arlington's for several Years past This made me a little surprized at his receiving me upon my first coming over and treating me since with a most wonderful Graciousness till t'other day which I suppose has ended that Style Upon the first Visit he made me after many Civilities he told me he must needs have two hours Talk with me at some Time of Leisure and in private upon our Affairs in Holland And still repeated this almost every time he saw me Till one Day last Week when we appointed the Hour and met in his Closet He began with great Compliments to me about my Services to the King in my Employments abroad went on with the Necessity of preserving our Measures with
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
for the Defence of this Place in Case of the Enemy's marching this Way The general Belief here of the most Intelligent is that France has had the Skill or good Luck de nous endormir both us and Holland in this great Conjuncture and by assuring us of Peace upon good Terms with the Dutch and at the same Time the Dutch of never According with us nor breaking with Spain to their the Hollanders Prejudice will amuse us both in a slow Treaty till they have made so great an Impression in these Countreys as will give neither of us the Liberty to take those Measures upon this Affair to which either of our Interests might lead us And perhaps find Means to divert the Treaty at last for coming to any Issue They say that delaying our Treaty for the Point of Poleroon is losing a Dinner for Mustard and that every Day it is deferred endangers an irrecoverable Conjuncture that Heaven hath given us of making our Selves Considerable to whom which way and to what Degree we please God send these Reasoners to be deceived and that we may not be so at least no more by the same Hands I am My Lord Your c. To Sir Philip Warwick Brussels June 21. S. N. 1667. SIR I Am very sorry that I must rejoice with You and condole with all your Friends at the same Time and upon the same Occasion for tho' the Retreat I hear you have made from Business must needs be a Trouble and a Loss to us all yet I know it is an Ease and a Happiness to your self or else a wise Man as you are ought not to have chosen it I will not tell you how great a Contentment I had in knowing my Business lay so much in your Way because I never intend to pursue more than what His Majesty pleases to make my Due and I have ever reckoned both upon your Justice and your Kindness But I must bear this Disappointment since you are the Author of it which is the best Consolation I can think of In the mean Time I hope you do not intend to retire from the Commerce of your Friends as well as that of Business for tho' you should lock your Self up within your Walls of Frog-Pool I shall ever pretend to have a share in you there it self and never omit any Occasions of assuring you that no Change you can make in your Course of Life can ever make any in the Resolutions I have taken of being always SIR Your c. To my Lord Arlington Brussels July 19. 1667. My Lord THE Diligence of the Posts or Favour of the Weather have given me two of Your Lordship's to acknowledge since my last of the 1st and 5th current with the good News of the Dutch being beaten off at Harwich for since we are in a Disease every Fit we pass well over is so much of Good and gives hopes of Recovery I doubt this is not the last for I hear De Witt is resolved that their Fleet shall not give over Action till the very Ratifications of the Treaty are exchanged In which he certainly pursues his Interest that the War may end with so much the more Honour abroad and Heart at home for commonly the same Dispositions between the Parties with which one War ends another begins And tho' this may end in Peace yet I doubt it will be with so much Unkindness between the Nations that it will be Wisdom on both Sides to think of another as well as to avoid it All Discourse here is of the Peace as a Thing undoubted and every Pacquet I receive from England confirms me in the Belief that a War abroad is not our present Business till all at home be in better Order no more than hard Exercise which strengthens healthy Bodies can be proper for those that have a Feaver lurking in the Veins or a Consumption in the Flesh for which Rest and Order and Diet are necessary and perhaps some Medicine too provided it come from a careful and a skilful Hand This is all that I shall say upon that Subject which I presume has before this received some Resolution by my Lord Ambassadour Coventry's Arrival for I confess my Stomach is come down and I should be glad to hear the Peace ended and our Coasts clear since it will not be better but all this while Multa gemens Ignominiam Plagasque superbi Hostis and I am sure would not desire to live unless with hopes of seeing our Selves one Day in another Posture which God Almighty has made us capable of whenever we please our selves I am sorry to find the Commerce between England and Spain so far cut off as it should seem by Your Lordship's Complaints of having received none of a Date later than May the 1st for mine holds yet pretty constant tho' I suppose visited by the French in their Passage On Sunday last I received one from Mr. Godolphin of the First currant where he told me the Treaties were sent Signed by several Ways into England and therefore concluded some of them arrived He seems to doubt still the Portuguees accepting their Share in it which is the likelier because the Marquess tells me he hears by this Ordinary that better Terms may be offered them tho' 't is pleasant the Spaniard should not have yet resolved to give them the Title when for ought I know without it all their own may be in Danger His Excellency assures me they are resolved in Spain upon declating a general War both by Sea and Land and that Way make the French unmask their Designs that they have sent Order already to sieze upon all that belongs to the French in their Indies who have a great Share in the Spanish Fleet that is daily expected home that they have remitted by this Ordinary to his Excellency a Hundred and Thirty Thousand Crowns which is the third Remise of about that Sum arrived since the War began and that they have negotiated with the Fregoni or some such Name being the ablest Merchants at Amsterdam for Nine Hundred Thousand more so that the Process seems well entered and I wish them a good Issue We have here no Certainty of the Progress of the French Arms nor can we say that Courtray is taken tho' the Report has continued more or less these four Days but the Marquess would not own any Advice of it on Saturday Night tho' he spoke very despairingly of the Town but confidently of the Cittadel's holding out at least fifteen Days if those within it did their Duty His Excellency makes a very different Story of the Baron of Limbeck's Defeat which was reported here and assures me that having carried some Relief into Courtray He retreated with only Two Hundred Horse and meeting a Party of Six Hundred of the French charged through them killed the Captain of their Vantguard with several others and came off with the Loss only of Fifteen Men. Yesterday Morning the Marquess went to Gant with
Intentions of Returning in three or four Days and hath left the Town so emptied by his Journey as well as the Camp that besides the Governour I know not of a Gentleman of my Acquaintance in it The Baron de l'Isola went this Morning towards Antwerp and from thence passes towards Ostend to go over with the Convoy which I could not persuade him to lose tho' I endeavoured it upon a Hint in Your Lordship's Letter and more upon his telling me that you had dissuaded him from coming till the Ratifications of the Treaty were passed but he says he is confident that will be before he can arrive that he hath sent over all his Papers and Bills of Exchange before Hand and if he loses this Convoy knows not when to hope for a secure Passage And if His Majesty thinks fit will rather make a stay at Gravesend or any other Place near the Water side till all Jealousie of his Coming be blown over I give Your Lordship humble Thanks for the Letter I received to make use of Part of the Money in Mr. Shaw's Hands for Supply of what was grown due to me and am I am sure at all Times more troubled to ask it than pleased to receive it I was much more sensibly obliged by the Part you was pleased to give me of the good Fortune arrived to your Family by it's Increase and my Lady's Safety and will assure Your Lordship you do me but Justice to believe I am concerned in all that happens to you and more particularly upon this Occasion of which I have made very constant Inquiries tho' without Your Lordship's Trouble I give you El para bien with all the Joy that can be and the Presages of many more such Adventures and know my Lady began with her own Sex for no other Reason but because the War was ended My own particular Satisfaction in it is that my Family may continue their Services to Your Lordship's and that way make up what I shall fall short in the Expressions of that Passion and Truth wherewith I am My Lord. Your c. To my Lord Lisâ—e Brussels Aug. 1667. My Lord I Received lately the Honour of one from Your Lordship which after all Complaints of Slowness and Dulness had enough to bear it out tho' it had been much better address'd but needed nothing where it was besides being yours In my present Station I want no Letters of Business or News which makes those that bring me Marks of my Friends Remembrance or Touches at their present Thoughts and Entertainments taste much better than any thing can do that is common Fare I agree very much with Your Lordship in being little satisfied by the Witts Excuse of Employing none upon Relations as they do in France and doubt much it is the same Temper and course of Thoughts among us that makes us neither act Things worth Relating nor relate Things worth the Reading Whilst making some of the Company laugh and others ridiculous is the Game in Vogue I fear we shall hardly succeed at any other and am sorry our Courtiers should content themselves with such Victories as those I would have been glad to have seen Mr. Cowley before he died celebrate Captain Douglas his Death who stood and burnt in one of our Ships at Chatham when his Soldiers left him because it should never be said a Douglas quitted his Post without Order whether it be wise in Men to do such Actions or no I am sure it is so in States to honour them and if they can to turn the Vein of Wits to raise up the Esteem of some Qualities above their real Value rather than bring every Thing to Burlesque which if it be allowed at all should be so only to wise Men in their Closets and not to Witts in their common Mirth and Company But I leave them to be reformed by great Men's Examples and Humours and know very well 't is Folly for a private Man to touch them which does but bring them like Wasps about ones Ears However I cannot but bewail the Transitoriness of their Fame as well as other Mens when I hear Mr. Waller is turned to Burlesque among them while he is alive which never hapned to old Poets till many Ages after their Death and tho' I never knew him enough to Adore him as many have done and easily believe he may be as Your Lordship says enough out of Fashion yet I am apt to think some of the old cut-work Bands were of as fine Thread and as well wrought as any of our new Points and at least that all the Wit he and his Company spent in heightning Love and Friendship was better employ'd than what is laid out so prodigally by the modern Wits in the Mockery of all sorts of Religion and Government I know not how Your Lordship's Letter has engaged me in this kind of Discourses but I know very well you will advise me after it to keep my Residency here as long as I can foretelling me what Success I am like to have among our Courtiers if I come over The best on 't is my Heart is set so much upon my little Corner at Sheen that while I keep that no other Disappointments will be very sensible to me and because my Wife tells me She is so bold as to enter into Talk of enlarging our Dominions there I am contriving here this Summer how a Succession of Cherries may be compass'd from May till Michaelmas and how the Riches of Sheen Vines may be improved by half a dozen Sorts which are not yet known there and which I think much beyond any that are I should be very glad to come and plant them my Self this next Season but know not yet how those Thoughts will hit Tho' I design to stay but a Month in England yet they are here very unwilling I should stir as all People in Adversity are jealous of being forsaken and His Majesty is not willing to give them any Discouragement whether he gives them any Assistance or no. But if they end the Campagne with any good Fortune they will be better humoured in that as well as all other Points and it seems not a very unlikely thing the French having done nothing in six Months past but harass their Army and being before Lille engaged in a Siege which may very well break the Course of their Success They have not yet made the least Advance upon any of their Out-works but been beaten off with much Loss in all their Assaults and if that King's Design be to bring his Nobility as low as he has done his People he is in a good way and may very well leave most of the brave among them in their Trenches there I had not need write often at this Length nor make Your Lordship any new Professions of my being My Lord Your c. To my Brother Sir John Temple Brussels Octob. 10. S. N. 1667. Dear Brother HAving written so many and long
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
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
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
that Court His Excellency's said Acceptation and thereupon to negotiate and conclude the same on that Side And to the End that no Objection may be made by France against the present Expedition of this Truce in order to an ensuing Treaty and Peace We send You likewise by this Express the Marquis's last Answer to our Instances Yesterday made for the Acceptation also of the Alternative which is so full and so direct to the Ends of our late Treaty that we have now nothing left to do on this Side the Remainder of the whole Negotiation lying on your Parts at Paris which we are here very much pleased with seeing it is devolved to so much abler Hands I hope You will place the whole Strength of His Majesty's and the States General 's Credit in that Court upon an immediate Consent to the Suspension of Arms knowing how dangerous all new Accidents may prove to the fair Hopes and Prospect in which we are at present of a Peace and withal how far His Majesty and the States are engaged to take Part in any Action that shall begin after the Marquis's accepting the Alternative as well as all other Points of their late Project for bringing about so happy an End For a good Presage of this greater Peace we received here the News of That of Portugal the very Evening which brought us so happily the Marquis's Answer upon the Alternative which has so much raised the Hearts of the Spaniards here that we are likely to have less Thanks for pressing them so far to a prejudicial Peace as they esteem it on this side But since they are already obliged it will depend wholly upon France to hinder the Conclusion of this in the same Season with the other which I will believe them too wise to do as well as too constant to the Assurances they have already given His Majesty the States and several other Princes in this Point of which the immediate consenting a Suspension of Arms will shew the Meaning and Effect I shall no further increase your present Trouble than by the Professions of my being Sir Your most humble Servant TO THE Count de Molina Spanish Ambassador at London March 7. 1668. My Lord YOUR Excellence cannot doubt of my Satisfaction in arriving at Brussels to find my self there immediately possessed of your Letter with the inclosed Paper tho' the News of your Health was more necessary to me than that of the Unreasonableness of one of your Neighbours and true Interests of the others which I find so well described there But the best Ink in the World is not a Balsom that can cure such Wounds they must find their Remedy from more powerful Medicines which the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo has given us reason to hope if France will still chuse rather to fall out with all the World than to make a Peace so much to their own advantage as that we offer them At least it is certain that your Excellency with a stroak of your Pen has brought to light the most covered Designs of your Enemies undeceived with the greatest Clearness your Friends and put Flanders under the securest Protection of which I cannot help rejoycing with You as the Author For what relates to Father Patrick how much soever I concern my self in his Fortunes I do not yet see any way that it can be in my power to serve him on this Occasion the last French Conquests having determined the Dispute between the Abbot Arnolphino and the Marquis of Baden about the Abbey de la Charité But the Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo has assured me he will find some other way of shewing the Esteem He has both for the Merits and Person of Father Patrick to whom I hope Your Excellency will do me Justice having endeavoured though without Success by this unhappy Conjuncture all that lay in my Power to serve Him I Kiss Your Excellency's Hands and am Yours c. Al Conde de Molina 7 Marco 1668. Sennor Mio NO puede V. E. dudar del gusto que he tenido enllegar a Brusselleus aviendome yo allado a qui con su carta en las manos con el quaderno adjunto aunque a mi era mucho mas necessaria la noticia de su salud de V. E. que no de la sinrazon de uno suyo vezino ny del interez verdadero de los otros que van muy bien traçados en el dicho quaderno Pero la mejor tinta del mondo no es balsamo bostante para curar tales heridas y es menester remedios mas fuertes a los quales la prudencia del Sennor Marques de Castel Rodrigo a dado lugar si la Francia par sus peccados mas quisiere la guerra con todo el mondo que no la poz avantajada que la hemos offrecido a lo menos se puede dezir que S. E. con un rasyo de pluma a sacado en luz los desinios mas encubiertos de sus enimigos a dado a los interessados el mas claro dessenganno y puesto las cosas de Flandes debaxodel amparo mas fuerte que se podia buscar de que no me puedo impedir de dar a V. E. la enorabuena Por interessado que soy en los aumentos del Padre Patricio no veo come sara possible servirle mas en esta occasion aviendo la Francia con su postrera conquista determinada el pleyto entre el Abad Arnolfin y el Marques de Baden en la de la Abadia de la caridad Pero el Sennor Marques me ha prometido con muchos veras de hallar otra manera di manifestar en quanto stima la personna y los meritos del dicho padre a quien V. E. me ha de justifiar por averme empennado quanto era possible en suo negotio aunque faltado en alcancarle por la desdicha de las coyunturas B. L. M. D. V. E. Su Mayor Servidor To my Lord Arlington Brussels March 13. S. N. 1668. My Lord THE last Post brought me none from England nor has this Week as yet brought me any from Spain so that 't is France only at this Time that entertains Us. The Dispatch return'd Us late last Night from Sir John Trevor upon the point of the Alternative has given the Town here occasion to talk of the Peace as a Thing done though I know not yet what the Marquis says to it having not seen Him since but think it possible He may be as much surprised with their Acceptation as Sir John Trevor says They were with His. It seems plain to Me that France desires to pursue the War but fears our engaging in it and to hinder That will use all the Address that can be to lay the Obstruction of Peace upon the Spaniards They on the other Side desire to continue the War provided they may be sure of our and Holland's Assistance and to that End if they play
for their own And therefore rejoyce in all your good Fortunes in Spain and wish you an Encrease of them in your next Designs I am c. To my Lord Keeper Brussels April 3. 1668. My Lord I Received some Days since the Honour of one from your Lordship of the 9th past and though I owe all the Acknowledgements that can be upon it yet I will not so much wrong your Lordship's Time or my own Sincereness as to enlarge them with much Ceremony It will be enough to say that nothing can be more obliging than your Favour to me both in the Degree and Manner of it arising so freely from your Lordship's Bounty and Generousness as well as express'd in a way so franck and so hearty as that of your last Letter and on the other side that no Man can resent it more though they may much better deserve it And that your Lordship can never reckon more truely nor more justly upon any Person 's Esteem and Services than upon mine which I humbly beg your Lordship to believe I doubt you will be troubled with my Wife's Attendances having told Her your Lordship had given Her that Liberty If she ever pretends your Favour and Countenance further than in receiving what the King has made my due upon this Employment while I have it or what His Majesty shall from his own Motion assign me upon any new Commission I disclaim Her before-hand and declare she goes not upon my Errand For I shall never think that too little which His Majesty thinks enough For the rest I will be confident neither your Lordship nor my Lord Arlington intend I should ruin my self by my Employments or that I should at my own Charge bear out a Character which of it self is enough to turn round a Head that has all its Life till these last three Years been used to Shade and Silence In case the Occasion should break and my Journey to Aix should yet fail I ask nothing of His Majesty though putting my self in a Posture to comply with any sudden Necessity of it has already forced me to enter into very considerable Expences But in case I must go I beg your Lordship that has Children to consider how hard it would be for Me to perform such a Journey upon my own Credit Whatever it be His Majesty thinks fit to assign Me upon such an Occasion if He pleases to order Alderman Backwell to furnish Me with a Letter of Credit for so much let it be what it will I will live according to what that and my own little Revenue will reach and not spare any little Presents I have received in His Majesty's Service where His Honour requires it All I desire is only not to be forced into Debts which to say the truth I have ever abhorred and would by my good Will eat dry Crusts and lie upon the Floor rather than do it upon any other Consideration than of His Majesty's immediate Commands and I hope those His Justice and my Friends Favour will prevent I beg your Lordship's Pardon for troubling you with this strange Freedom about my own Concernments which you have pleased to encourage Me to and may at any time check Me in it with the least Discountenance which I doubt I have already deserved But I will not encrease or lengthen my Faults by Excuses nor trouble your Lordship by repeating any thing of what my Lord Arlington receives from Me at large upon the Course of Publick Affairs here which though seeming to change often in others Eyes appears to Me constant in the French Design of a War which I believe nothing can alter but the visible Marks of Force and Steddiness in their Neighbours to oppose them I beg your Lordship's Belief that as I am with very great Reason so I am with very great Passion too My Lord Your c. To Monsieur de Witt. Brussels April 17. S. N. 1668. SIR I Doubt not but you are pleased as much as I at the Contents of the last Dispatches from Paris which make us believe that in two or three Days we shall have the Suspension of Arms to the end of May and then I do not see the least Difficulty that can happen which we shall not easily avoid in the Negotiation of the Peace For I see not how France can draw back after the Satisfaction we are going to give them at Paris And for Spain I never had the least scruple upon their Conduct And I still believe as I ever did that unless we drive them to Despair by ill Usage neither the Spanish Nation in general nor the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo in particular will have recourse to any base Evasions And to speak to you in Confidence as it is necessary between Physicians since the Resolution you have talkt of about driving the Spaniards wholly out of this Country and Cantoning your selves in it And since so many violent Instances made by your Deputies for signing Monsieur de Lyonne's Project without altering a Word or so much as giving the Marquis any Assurance of assisting him in case France should draw back according to the Orders of the Queen I have often heard His Excellency say that if he were now in the Council of Spain he would give his Advice without further Difficulty for making Peace with France by delivering this Country up to them rather than suffer such a Treatment from all their Neighbours who are more interessed in the Loss of it than themselves For it cannot enter into the Marquis's Head why we should give France more Assurances than they desire in case of Spain's refusing the Alternative and even contrary to our Treaty at the Hague and yet refuse to give Spain the bare Assurances of the words of our Treaty in case of France's Refusal after having driven Spain to all we can ask Neither can the Marquis imagine why we press him so much to sign a Project word for word from Mons de Lyonne without first using our Endeavours at Paris to reduce the Affair of Cities in the Heart of the Country to some reasonable Exchange as we have always promised him and as I let him see in one of your Letters Nay without once endeavouring to hinder the Devastations in the Franche Compté So that by this Project he sees clearly he must be confined within Brussels as in a Prison shut up by French Garrisons within seven Leagues of him on one side and eight on the other And that Burgundy may be invaded as an open Country without the possibility of defending it a Day And if the Peace be made upon these Terms every one may see that France will only wait till we are engaged in a Quarrel with our Neighbours or till some Misunderstanding happen between our two Nations to finish the Conquest of this Country which they may do in fifteen days However the Marquis says that in case we will give him Assurances to follow the third of our Separate Articles he is
I Do confess I have since we parted receiv'd three Letters from you which I should be asham'd to acknowledge now if I had been faulty in not doing it sooner as I promise my self you have been informed from my Lord Arlington's Justice and Friendship It is now near three Months that the Pain of the Gout hath restrained me from the Exercise of Writing and I am hardly yet returned to it because not able to put my Head out of Doors or more than to stand rather than walk in my Chamber So that I would not have ventur'd to have given you this Trouble but upon the Absence of my Lord Arlington who hath transmitted to you constantly what we thought jointly But upon the Sight of your last Letter which came since his Departure I think it necessary to say a little to you upon a Particular or two I do in the first place think and believe the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo to be a very generous Person and a very useful Friend to the King our Master and one who will be the best Instrument to contribute to that firm Friendship between the two Crowns that is necessary for the joint Interest of both And therefore we must be careful to remove the least Umbrage which may dispose him to suspect our Prudence with Reference to our own Affairs or our Affection with Reference to Spain With Reference to our selves it is not possible we can be without a Sense of the almost insupportable Weight that lies upon us in the carrying on the War against the Dutch and preparing for a War against France And therefore we cannot but heartily wish to be fairly quit of one of them and would be very glad that any Advance were made to it by Holland I thought always that the Overture made by the Spanish Ambassador had come from Don Stephano and never heard the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo's Name But it being the very same in Terms that the French Ambassadors had made there could then be no Proceedings upon it But we have done all we can to invite the Dutch to an Address how privately soever Nor shall we make any Demands concerning the Prince of Orange lest it should do him hurt If we can bring them off from a Conjunction with France in which Spain is more concerned than England I confident we shall insist upon very reasonable Conditions We have great Reason to commend the Proceedings of the Bishop of Munster Nor are we jealous in the least Degree of him or his treating And as our Failing towards him has not proceeded from any Faults of ours but even from the Hand of God So we shall out of hand repair those Omissions And it is but reasonably expected that the Princes of the Empire should how secretly soever support him from a Dissolution lest before many Months past and the French Designs are a little more evident they would be glad to re-purchase the Advantage of the Bishop's being in such a Post as he now is at any Price There is nothing now ought to be laboured with so much Industry and Dexterity as the uniting Enland Spain and Flanders which would give and which only can give Peace to Christendom I am sure our Master is passionately inclined to it and truly I think Spain is well disposed to the main yet I know not how by the fatal Delay in Dispatch there and it may be their Expectation that in the Straits we are we shall buy their Friendship at a Rate we shall never pay for it there is not Haste made that the Affair required My Lord Sandwich who will be gone in twenty Days I hope will give Life to it You see how ill my Hand is though never legible by shaking and weakness somewhat worse than usual God keep you and I pray let me know that this is come to your Hands from SIR Your Affectionate Servant Clarendon From Late M. of Hallifax Sir George Savil. Febr. 5. S. N. 1666. SIR IT is a Sin against the Publick and a Trespass upon you at this time to clog you with such an idle Correspondence as mine But I find I consider my own Interest before yours beeing not able to make you an Expression of my Kindness at so dear a rate as the denying my self the Satisfaction of hearing from you And therefore I take hold of your Offer and beg you would sometimes bestow a Letter upon me which shall be as welcome for telling me you are well as it can be for the best News it bringeth in relation to the Publick For which if I can be concerned next to what I am for my best Friends it is the utmost I will pretend to in that Matter I find his Majesty of France will be an angry Enemy He doth not declare War like an honnête homme and therefore I hope he will not pursue it like a wise one I do not despair but that the English who use to go into France for their Breeding may have the Honor once to teach Them better Manners The League with Spain is a good Circumstance to make us able to do it It is so seasonably and so well done that I will suppose you had a Hand in it In the mean time we have great Alarms the Monsieur will invade us which makes every body prepare for their Entertainment And I hope they will neither find us so little ready or so divided as perhaps they expect I will not make this longer when I have assured you I am SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant George Savill From the Bishop of Munster Munster Feb. 12 1666. SIR THE Favours you have expressed to me are such that nothing can add to my Esteem of you However it was very acceptable to find from yours of the 25th past that your Affection to me still continues In the mean time I am busie in preparing an Army against Spring Nor do I doubt but such Care is taken of the third Payment that I may have it all together at least that you have prepared 30000 Dollars ready at Brussels and that 25000 more may be returned with all speed by Exchange to Cologn For it is certain that by small Sums and paid by Parcels nothing can be perform'd worthy of such an Undertaking and that my Expedition will be as much obstructed by these as if the Subsidies were wholly delayed Besides I shall this Year meet with more Resistance by Enemies unexpected to whom the Elector of Brandenburg will join himself But that I hope will be recompensed by the Friendship of Sueden and his Majesty's Declaratory Letters communicated to me and to be kept secret Nor shall any thing be more unviolably observ'd by me than the League I have made with his Majesty from which nothing shall be able to force me Nor is there any Reason why the Offer of a Mediation from the Emperor and Princes should raise any Suspicions of the contrary since the present Conjunctures would not permit me abruptly to refuse
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
other do wish they had When you are at leisure I wish to know what kind of Fort is raised at Charle-roy and what Number of Men Horse and Foot it will contain I am with all reality SIR Your most affectionate humble Servant Ormonde From the Duke of Ormonde Dublin Jan. 29. 1667. SIR THE Success of your Negotiation gives no Man greater Satisfaction for the Part you had in it than to me The happy Consequences which may reasonably be expected from the Conclusion of that Treaty may extend further and last longer than I have had time since I received yours of the 24th Instant to consider I confess my first Reflections were upon the good Effect it will have at home and the good Humour it is likely to put the Parliament in at their first Meeting which I look upon as the Foundation of all other Advantages to be derived from it by Reputation and all the good Effects of that amongst our Neighbours I shall be glad to hear where or when you are like to fix that my Letters may be conveyed to you when I think they may be worth your receiving from SIR Your most affectionate humble Servant Ormonde From my Lord Ambassador Coventry Breda July 4. S. N. 1667. SIR YOurs of the 29th July I have received and thank you for it I doubt not but by this time you have heard of the several Treaties of Peace signed here the 21 31st of July We were so very busie in dispatching away Sir John Coventry for England with the Treaties that I had not leisure till now to give you an Account of it That betwixt the States and us consisteth in an absolute Abolition of all Pretences on either Side each to remain Masters of what they were in possession of the 10 20th of May 1667 what since taken to be restor'd as to Lands and Fortresses Ships are yet liable till after Publication when all Hostilities are to cease within twelve Days in the Channel and so proportionably in other Seas then the whole Treaty of 1662 renew'd and we both to make use of the Articles betwixt France and this State for contraban Goods till such time as we can agree of one betwixt our selves The rest is a restoring of the Treaty in 1662 as to all its Articles except the eleventh wherein our Pretensions are contained As to the Act of Navigation you will hear much Noise that That is repealed There is no such thing neither doth the Article about that Matter give the States any more Advantage than as I conceive the Act gave them before As to the French we restore all to each other that each hath taken and all things done put in Oblivion As to Denmar .... the Debt he owed the Hamburgh Company France standing very firm to him upon the Point and their greatest Argument was That it was not a Debt contracted by him or his Father but on the contrary imposed on his Father for having assisted the late King And besides they gave us our Choice either to agree thus or to account for what had been taken on each side and render The latter was thought the more prejudicial to the King our Master and so this hath pass'd And there is I think the Substance of the three Treaties How or where this Letter will find you we know not For we here believe Brussels besieged and that according to the Fashion of this Year 's Campagne is little less than taken All publick Ministers have or will have left this Town within a Day or two except our selves To morrow Fortnight they all meet here again expecting the Ratification I am Sir with very great Sincerity Your most faithful humble Servant Henry Coventry From my Lord Hollis Breda July 4. S. N. 1667. SIR I Have received yours by my Lord Sfafford's Servant and see you have put off your Journey hither in Expectation we might be removing hence and for which it seems the Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo is pleased to express himself with so much of Civility and Kindness towards us for which both my Lord Ambassador Coventry and my self do return our most humble Thanks But it will not be possible that we can remove so soon so as assuredly you will have time enough to do us that Favour and very gladly we shall shall receive it from you when we may at leisure discourse of the present Posture of our Affairs and make those sad Reflections which they deserve and which will be much fitter for a Conference than to be set down in Paper I shall reserve them till then and in the mean time and ever remain SIR Your very affectionate and most humble Servant HOLLIS From my Lord Ambassador Coventry Breda Aug. 12 27 1667. SIR I Am very thankful to you for the Buck you sent us and it came very well and so seasonably that I made use of some of it the very Morning it came We have no News to send you from hence but that we are now altogether imployed in Jollity and expect our Ships to give us some Sea-Physick to purge the Excesses we make Your Health is not only what we drink but what â—e pray for The first part hath already been useful to help us to digest our Venison and the other we reserve for more important Considerations In Conclusion we hear more of Drums and Trumpets since the Peace than we did in the War though I hope this will not be so fatal a Noise as they make at Lisle I am sorry both for the want of your Company and the Reason of it Now our own Peace is done I could wish with all my Heart Christendom's were so to Sir I pray believe me to be what I very sincerely am Your most faithful humble Servant Henry Coventry From * Late E. of Leicester my Lord Lisle Septemb. 26. 1667. SIR SInce I had your last Letter I have made you no Acknowledgement of it A Retirement is in several Respects like the Night of one's Life in the Obscurity and Darkness and in the Sleepiness and Dosedness Which I mention to put you in mind that I am only by my Posture of Life apt to be failing towards you What is of Court or Assembles near us is at my Lord Crofts's Sir Thomas Ingram this Summer hath made no Noise at all Old Lady Devonshire keeps up her Feasts still and that hath been of late Mr. Waller's chief Theatre The Assembly of Wits at Mr. Comptroller's will scarce let him in And poor Sir John Denham is fallen to the Ladies also He is at many of the Meetings at Dinners talks more than ever he did and is extreamly pleased with those that seem willing to hear him and from that Obligation exceedingly praises the Dutchess of Monmouth and my Lady Cavendish If he had not the Name of being mad I believe in most Companies he would be thought wittier than ever he was He seems to have few Extravagancies besides that of telling Stories of himself which he is
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
affectionné tres humble Serviteur Johan de Witt. From the Lord Keeper Bridgeman July 26th 1668. SIR I Received yours yesterday morning after you were gone hence and am afraid the Letter which I sent you from Mr. Williamson might come unseasonably to discompose you It not being so intended by me nor I believe the Message from the King to be otherwise intended than out of Kindness and Respect to you to hasten you away that you might know how important he held your Negotiations might be for his Service at this critical Time And therefore I should be glad that you would take this by the right Handle I had a Letter this Night from Sir Thomas Clifford who writes that they in the Treasury have a great Desire to accommodate you And though it be not in the Privy Seal that you shall have three Months Advance besides the 1000 l. yet they will be careful that you receive the Mony as it is due The Draught of the Instructions are sent away to my Lord Arlington and expected back on Tuesday-night and the Foreign Committee appointed to sit on Wednesday to dispatch them Really Sir I do not think that there is any Intention in pressing your Departure for Holland but just and honourable towards you and with respect to the Greatness of the Employment and the Urgency of the King's Affairs at this time to have you at the Hague And if you will take my Opinion I would not have you take other Measures of it even for your own sake In the mean time while you do stay you may press on the Business of your Account tho' I should not advise you to retard your Journy upon that score It may be as well pressed on by your Lady if she do not not accompany you or else by your Sollicitors among whom I will be one who if any Obstructions be may write to you to remove them But you will find the Vice-chamberlain dilatory and then your stay at last upon this new Business for so I may call it may beget a Misconstruction You will pardom the Freedom I take in imparting my own Thoughts to you in this Case I wish You and my Lady to whom I recommend my humble Service a happy Journy and all other Felicities as I wish to my self who am ever Your faithful and very affectionate Servant Orl. Bridgeman C.S. The End of the First Volume LETTERS Written by Sir W. Temple Bar t AND OTHER Ministers of State Both at Home and Abroad CONTAINING An ACCOUNT of the most Important Transactions that pass'd in Christendom from 1665 to 1672. In Two Volumes VOL. II. Review'd by Sir W. Temple sometime before his Death And Published by Jonathan Swift Domestick Chaplain to his Excellency the Earl of Berkeley one of the Lords Justices of Ireland LONDON Printed for J. Tonson at Gray's Inn Gate in Gray's Inn Lane A. and J. Churchil at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row and R. Simpson at the Harp in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCC Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE's First Embassy AT THE HAGUE Begun August 1668. VOL. II. To the Elector of Mentz Hague Aug. 31. S. N. 1668. SIR I Did not receive the Honour of your Highness's Letter till some time after my Arrival in England with the inclosed for the King my Master which he received with that Esteem his Majesty always bears to what comes from your Highness and having promised me an Answer upon my Return for Holland which has been put off from day to day I have deferred my particular Acknowledgments to your Highness till I could value them by the Honour of accompanying a Letter from his Majesty I send it now inclosed and desire your Highness to believe that I resent as I ought the Honour you have done me and that I will preserve your Highness's Letter among the greatest Marks of Honour to my Family and shall not fail upon all Occasions to shew how much I shall cherish the Title I pretend to with so much Justice of being SIR Your Highness's c. A l'Electeur de Mayence De la Haye le 31 Aout S. N. 1668. Monsieur LA Lettre dont V. A. m'a honoré qui est datée du 14 de May ne m'a eté rendue que quelques jours aprés mon à rrivée en Angleterre avec elle j'ay recû l'envelopé pour le Roy mon Maitre que je luy ay porté qu'il a reçû avec les memes marques d'estime que sa Majesté a toujours fait paroitre pour tout ce qui vient de la part de V. A. le Roy m'ayant promis la reponse pour le tems de mon retour en Hollande qui a toujours trainé de jour en jour J'ay differer de marquer a V. A. ma reconnoissance en particulier jusqu ' á ce que j'eusse l'honneur d'etre porteur d'un Lettre de sa Majeste Je l'envoye á cette heur je supplie V. A. de croire que je ressens comme je le dois l'honneur qu'elle m'a fait que je conservera sa Lettre la conteray parmi les titres les honneurs qui elevent la glorie de ma famille Je ne laisseray echaper aucune occasion de temoigner combien je cheris cheriray toujours la qualité que prens avec tant de justice de Mr. De V. A. c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Sept. 7. S. N. 1668. My LORD SINCE my last I have not stirred out but had the Favour of several Visits in my Chamber among the rest one from Monsieur Meerman on Wednesday and one of three Hours from Monsieur de Witt yesterday I fell into Talk with the first upon the Matter of the Guinea Company who said my Lord Holles and as I remember Mr. Secretary Morris had spoken of it to him before but only given him a general Relation upon which he could not sufficiently inform the States That they had likewise mentioned some other Parts of the Marine Treaty by which the East-India Company thought themselves aggrieved but remembred nothing particular besides the Form of Passports in which we might receive what Satisfaction we pleased and the better Definition of what was meant by a Town invested I told him the Business of Guinea was distinct from any Thing of the Marine Treaty though he was unwilling to understand it so that I was very little instructed in the first because his Majesty's Commands in that Point were only to procure the Reference of it to Commissioners for the proposing Rules by which both Companies should proceed and thereby preventing the said Company 's acting wholly by Rules and Officers of their own which had been the first Occasions of the unhappy Disputes between us and might possibly prove so again For the Marine Treaty I told him I had yet no Instructions upon that Subject but might have in a little Time and thereupon took occasion of discoursing to
Lordship all that can be said to your Advantage upon this Occasion is the common Discourse here and not disputed by the French themselves who say you have been as generous in excusing your Enemies as brave in defending your self The Dutch will have it that you have been the first in Excess and say that such a Thing as Seven or Eight falling upon One would never have been done in any other Place but France nor suffered neither by the rest of the Company However I am of Opinion if Excess may be allowed in any part it is in that and therefore rejoyce with you in the Honour of both and with my self in that of my being My LORD Your Lordship 's most obedient humble Servant To my Lord Arlington Hague July .... 1669. My LORD I Am to acknowledge your Lordship 's of July the Ninth and have but too much Reason to agree with you in despairing to see this Matter of the Marine Article brought to any fair Conclusion about which I writ at large by last Post to Sir John Trevor and will tell your Lordship more in private That I very much fear our East-India Merchants have some further meaning in it than we yet understand and than they desire we should For having had this whole Business run through my Head with more Thought and Application than ever any other did before I could not but observe many several Inequalities in their Proceedings and make some Reflections upon them As First That it began immediately upon the finishing our Alliances with the Dutch in which none could detract in the least from the Glory abroad and popular Applause at home of the King's Councils but by declaiming against this Marine Treaty though at first it was only upon the Inequality of the Passports When that Point was easily accorded by Monsieur de Witt our Merchants added another about the Definition of a besieged Place which was all their Exceptions against the Treaty it self could amount to But when there were some Hope 's given by Monsieur de Witt in his Letters to me that this likewise might be surmounted they added several other Articles untoucht in the Marine Treaty And when they saw all were like to be gained here but that one of a Free Trade with People not in Subjection and of passing Forts which Sir George Downing had found here was an invincible Point they then declared That without This all the rest were worth nothing And upon this said they have left our Treaty a ground now for about Eight Months past When we begun first to struggle out of it they said They only aimed at preventing some Innovations which had been of late Years practised by the Dutch against the ancient Usages in those Parts and many others of the same kind which they had Reason to fear Whereupon the Dutch desired the particular Instances of what they either had felt or thought they had occasion to fear that so they might redress Us in particular and understand Us in general Our Merchants instanced in Cochin and Cananor and I think one other Place which Monsieur de Witt said was not at all to the Case but to another provided for by the defining of a besieged Place So that I was forced by them here to press still for Instances by several Letters till the Merchants at last sent a long angry Paper with very many Recapitulations of Things past and which the Dutch said had been debated and agreed in former Treaties and therefore still desired to know which of the Particulars named we thought applicable to the present Question Upon which I received Answer That the Practice of the Dutch against which they desired to provide was but beginning That they could not or that it was to no purpose to give particular Instances their Apprehensions being general of what the Dutch intended to impose upon us And that in short what we desired was for Prevention rather than Remedy which they said made it much harder in the Dutch to deny us After this Monsieur de Witt and I concerted an Article between us to propose to our Principals on either Side and which I confess I thought comprehended our meaning as I understood it by the Letters I received from your Lordship and the King 's other Ministers which though it was immediately refused at Amsterdam as liable to the Interpretations they so much feared yet was likewise rejected by our Merchants too and another sent over yet stronger than the first in those Parts wherein the Dutch were most sensible though your Lordship seemed to think the Article I had transmitted would reach our Aim till you proposed it to them Upon the new Debates we engaged in arrives the News of what we had suffered at Macassar which our Merchants made to be a formidable Instance in the Business depending and of far more Consequence than all they apprehended by Dutch Forts and Passes and therefore immediately presented the King with their Demand of Restitution together with some other Particulars which we were fain to disown immediately as against an express Article of the Treaty at Breda And I had the Blame of proposing all their Demands to the Dutch though the Paper of them was sent to me without any Distinction So soon as the Point of Macassar was yielded us which I thought would prove the most difficult of any as of most Importance and was I am sure for a great while the most contested and after the Project of a general Article was gained from the Dutch against all their former Resolutions which was grounded upon these two Points That we desire no Innovations and will make no particular Instances or Complaints in which they have ever offered us Redress Our Merchants seeing the Matter draw near a fair Issue now seem resolved to end all with these two Answers That their Restitution to Macassar as Sir John Trevor writes will be too dear bought by such an Article as shall confirm upon us all the Injuries we have complained of by Forts and Passes and Treaties too Whereas the Article as 't is proposed by the Dutch however defective does not extend to any Treaties to come but only to the past nor do the Dutch desire to sell us Macassar at the Price of any such Article but had much rather restore it to us upon concluding the Treaty without any such Article at all Nor do I know yet of the Injuries in particular we have already complained of either by Forts Passes or Treaties beside this of Macassar but contrary have always been told what we desired was rather for Prevention than Remedy But next they say as your Lordship tells me They had rather be left as they are with their Pretensions fair and entire than have them blasted for ever with a bad Conclusion Whereas no Conclusion they now make upon what we have gained and the Redress of what they complained of in the Marine Treaty though without this contested Article but will leave them
my Lord Hollis changed it upon the French Ambassador doing so in England I know not what my Father said to your Lordship concerning the Trifle you mention in the End of your Letter And am sure you might very well have spared your self the Trouble of taking Notice of it as I may do of giving your Lordship any further Assurances of what will never fail you which is the hearty Passion and Truth wherewith I am and ever shall be My Lord Your Lordship's c. To Sir Charles Wolsely Hague Aug. 10. S. N. 1669. SIR I Received some Time since the Favour of a Letter from you of May 9th but hearing by your Son that you had soon after left the Town and finding how ill Fortune one of mine had met with in lying five or six Months before it came to your Hands I omitted the acknowledging yours till I might presume on finding you sooner by my Father's Conveyance to whose Care I have committed this upon Information of his Journy by your House into Ireland Were it not for acquitting my Debt and assuring you of your Son's Health and Welcom here while it may be any Ease to you or Improvement to him I should have little to bear me out in giving you this Trouble For the Return of your Compliments would but multiply them between us And that is a sort of Exercise in which I am soon out of Breath as having but a small Stock of those more refined Imaginations which are required to make up any great Abilities in that kind Therefore I shall end an empty ill Letter as soon as I can but not without the Professions of my being SIR Your most humble Servant To the Spanish Ambassador Hague Aug. 13. S. N. 1669. My Lord I Was in hopes the Affair now under Debate could have met with no Reply to what I writ yesterday to your Excellency But having observed the contrary by yours of this Evening I am obliged to say that I thought upon our last Conference I had left your Excellency entirely persuaded that the Constable was in the wrong to raise a Difficulty about the first Payment upon the Concert proposed because there was no mention of it in the Act signed by your Excellency I shall say further that you have reason at present if in that Act you shall find either expressed or implied these Words of the Guaranty Y los Instrumentos necessarios dependientes de ella If these Words are not there the Party contracting cannot bring them in by any Interpretation of his own without Consent of t'other Party or Sentence of some Arbitrator Besides that this of the Concert does not absolutely or of necessity import any thing to the Security of the Guaranty For provided we execute it as the Wants of Spain require it is of no Importance whether it be done with such or such a number of Troops either of one or t'other Nation since that iâ— to be concerted according to the different Interests or Conveniences of each Party And it may happen that the Attack from France may be so powerful that it will be necessary for each of us to assist you with all the Forces we can raise or equip according to the general Guaranty and not according to any Concert of Forces specified in the Treaty I do not accuse Spain of any want of Sincerity in all this Affair but only of Readiness and Freeness to consent to and accomplish what was absolutely necessary for engaging Sueden in the preservation of the Peace And on t'other side your Excellency cannot accuse the Sincerity of the King my Master who at the lowest of your Affairs and when Flanders was desperate gave the first helping Hand when the Princes nearest allied to the Crown of Spain would have nothing to do in it contracted his Alliances last Winter set a Fleet to Sea the Summer following sent Ambassadors to Aix la Chapelle founded the Triple Alliance and sollicited other Princes to join in it And all this only to begin and procure a Peace where neither his Dominions nor People were concerned nor with permission of great Reasoners had any Prospect of fuâ—â—re Dangers but what would concern the Empire and all the rest of Christendom before his Majesty or his Kingdoms could be exposed to it For what your Excellency desires to know why Monsieur Marechal having said there would be no Difficulty in concluding and ratifying the Concert there should notwithstanding prove to be any in doing it at present I will tell you That the two Ministers of Sueden in all that has passed between us have not only said but still persist that they were ready to enter into the said Concert and intended to do so before Monsieur Marechal goes from hence upon which however he is extreamly pressed but that they never intended to enter into it before the Payment of the first Subsidies which ought to have been made upon the mutual Delivery of the Ratification saying withal that they would never allow that this Mony ought to pass for Payment of the particular Aids they were to give Spain by virtue of the Triple Alliance I have always found them so stiff upon that Point that I have been a long time in despair of overcoming their Nicety It remains therefore to Spain to consider whether the Guaranty of three such Powers be worth giving this little Satisfaction to Sueden and whether it would not be more to the purpose when the second Term expires to press us then upon the Concert if you shall not see it finished But by all means to procure as soon as possible that the general Guaranty be put into your Hands And I do not doubt but according to the Dispositions I see on all sides that the Concert will quickly follow though your Excellency should no more concern your self with urging us to what we are drawn by the Interest of every particular Party as well as the Publick I wish your Excellency Health and Happiness and am c. A l'Ambassadeur d'Espagne De la Haye le 13 Aout S. N. 1669. Monsieur J'Avois esperé que l'affaire dont il s'agit á present ne trouveroit plus d'obstacles qu'il n'y auroit point dâ—â—â—peique á ce que â—â—câ—rivis hier á V. E. Mais comme j ay vû le contraire par avotre Lettre ecrite le Sâ—ir même je me crois obligé de dire qu'il m'avoit paru que le fruit de notre derniere conference avoit eté de laisser V. E. pleinement persuadée que le Connetable de Castille avoit tort de susciter une difficulté touchaâ—â— le premier payement suâ— le Concert proposé puisqu'il n'en est point fait mention dans l'acte signé par V. E. J'ajouteray á cela que vous auriez aujourdâ—â—y raison si dans cet Acte vous trouviez on exprimé ou sousentendu les mots de Guarentie Y los instrumentos necessarios dependientes de
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
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
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