Crown was made on the 16th of last Month That the King retires to Avignon and that the Regalities will continue in the Primate Archbishop of Gnesna till the Convention of the States which is appointed in Ianuary But being to be made in the open Field by the Customs of that Nation it is not thought likely to be till March The Competition seems to lie between the Duke of Neuburgh and Duke Charles of â—oâ—rain His Majesty knows whether it will be fit to make any Compliment to the Duke of Neuburgh or to interpose his Offices in this Election as well as other Kings LETTER III. Hague Octob. 12. S. N. 68. SIR HAving by this last Post received the knowledge from my Lord Arlington of His Majesty's having called you into a share of His nearest Trust and thereby done Justice both to His own Affairs and your Merits I could not omit rejoycing with you upon so Happy an Occasion and telling you the part I take in all encreases of your good Fortunes and Honours which I wish you may advance by the same Ways you have begun them which I reckon to have been your avowed Usefulness to His Majesties and the Kingdoms Service I hope you will esteem it a Duty of your Charge to receive poor Ministers Abroad into your Protection of which Number some of our Friends will take care that I shall be one and in it there is nothing so troublesome as that all should come from one Hand and not so much as allow some variety in a Man's Ill Fortunes However mine shall never trouble me so much as the Good Ones of my Friends shall please me and yet I will not allow yours to add any thing to the Professions I have already made of being SIR Your most Faithful and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER IV Hague Octob. 22. S. N. 68. SIR WHEN I have acknowledged the Favour of yours of the 8th I will make no other Return to the great Civilities of it since there is no sort of Equality in that Commerce between us All I can say upon that Subject being but what is due from me to your Office as well as to your Person Whereas the least Advances you please to make in that kind are more than I can pretend to and so carry the weight of Obligations with them and therefore if you please having acquitted my self of the Ceremonies due to the change of your Station in my last I shall in this pay what I owe to that charge of Affairs which my Lord Arlington told me was left upon your Hands in his Absence I know not whether the Business of the Marine Treaty be forgotten or no But I never heard one word of it since I transmitted Monsieur de Witt 's Reflections upon it to my Lord Arlington who sent me word it was left to your care I am of Opinion that since it is stirr'd and the Dutch see we are unsatisfied with the first the sooner this Matter is agreed the better that they may not continue long in doubt how far our Complaints are like to reach nor fear our improving them upon the Advances they make to our nearer Confidence and Friendship For the Business of the General Guaranty I am glad I consented not to have the Proposition of it given to the Swedish Envoy here since I hear my Lord Keeper and you are scrupulous in it That which is proposed were certainly better for each to pay a Third if we may do it in our manner and afterwards to comprehend Spain in our Alliance upon such Terms of advantage as we can gain from them And this was given me in my Instructions and I often advanc'd it here at my first coming as an Expedient in case Spain should refuse the Satisfaction But the Dutch would never hear of it and especially Monsieur de Witt believing the Sum accorded to Sweden to have been out of proportion And tho' he would be content Spain should pay whatever we can induce them to yet he will by no means consent to Holland's satisfying any part so that I never yet thought sit to mention to Monsieur Appleboom the way in which we pretended to pay our Share not foreseeing the Affair at all likely to take that Train On the other side since the Queen of Spain's Refusal the Swedes seem not concerned in what Spain does upon this Matter pretending we and Holland are to take care of their Satisfaction and that they are to look no further as you will see in this enclosed Paper and Monsieur Appleboom upon all occasions presses us to advance the whole Sum to Sweden and seek our Satisfaction of Spain afterterwards In the mean time our care was that neither Spain nor Sweden should fall into any Counsels disagreeing with the Ends of our Triple Alliance the one by disappointment of the Subsidies promised and the other upon being prest to Payments upon Treaties where they had no share and by which they were to receive no benefit since the Guaranty of the Peace of Aix was promised them upon their giving Orders to the Baron Bergeyck to Sign it Upon these Considerations Monsieur de Witt and I fell into those Thoughts which you will find exprest in his Paper sent by last Post and by which we hoped Spain might be induced to make good the whole Satisfaction since Holland would take no share in it unless for the future in case of Action upon the Guaranty That which leads me to those Conceptions besides the necessity since no other occurred was that by the very Articles of the Peace of Aix ratifying that of the Pireneaes if we give Guaranty for one we do it actually for t'other too And besides I could not think there were any hazard for the King in what posture of Affairs soever to enter into Action against France upon the pursuit of their Greatness when He did it jointly with Spain Sweden and Holland for with that Circumstance I imagin'd the occasion of doing it was ever rather to be sought than avoided However I shall go on to Sound and Press Monsieur de Witt yet farther whether taking upon them a part of the Swedish Satisfaction will go down here or no and if I find any hopes of it I shall then likewise Sound Monsieur Appleboom whether our way of paying one Share will be accepted in Sweden which perhaps may be as doubtful as t'other In the mean time I should be very loath we should give the Dutch any grounds to suspect that having brought them to make bolder Paces against France then they were inclin'd to only upon Confidence of our Company we should begin to make our Paces upon the same way with more Reserve and Caution which to say truth is a scruple has been in many of their Heads and very often consest to me by several here And if it should encrease far upon this occasion and at the same time a stop be given to some agreement upon the Marine Treaty whereby
as I could have done my self though without any conclusion to our purpose nor has he yet sent me a Copy of Monsieur Valkeneer's Letter or the Expedient proposed in it which I mention'd about a fortnight since So jealous are those of Amsterdam in this matter that they cannot fall upon any sort of Proposition but they presently imagine twenty Interpretations we may raise upon it beyond their meaning and I believe they fear it more now then if our Friendship were less necessary to them Monsieur Van Benninghen promises every day to send to Monsieur Valkeneer to propose his Expedient and Monsieur de Witt says if we cannot agree upon it here Monsieur Boreel shall be instructed upon his going into England either to give or receive Satisfaction in it and this is all I can yet get from them and know not how to help my self The Pensionary of Zealand was harder in his Arguments about Surinam maintaining first that after the conclusion of the Peace the King had no further right to interest himself in any thing that past in that Colony no more then they in the New Netherlands or Spain in the Burse or Breda or all their other Towns surrender'd upon Articles but whose Soveraignty by the Peace was given up to them That if Articles were not observ'd the Inhabitants might complain but to them only who were by the Peace become their Soveraign and not to any other Prince But though they wav'd that in complyance to his Majesty yet they had reason to wonder why we should press so far for satisfaction in this matter without giving it in the wrongs they had received from my Lord Willoughby after such peremptory commands from the King in their behalf and that if the Kings Oâ—ficers would not obey him we had reason to fear the same from theirs and here I was to hear a long deduction of my Lord Willoughby's Action with all the aggravation that could be but having weather'd these two points we fell upon the Articles themselves after his having profest that they should be observ'd and upon the fifth he argued that the words together with their Estates could mean only the product of their Estates sold because after mention of power to sell their Estate it is said immediately after And the Governor in that case shall promise that he be Transported 2dly That this appear'd to be the meaning and not that they should have liberty to carry away their Slaves because there was another express Article which was the 19th to give that liberty particularly to those who would go off with the Fleet that was there and which would have been needless if it had been comprehended by the former Article 3dly That if this were so meant they would have a priviledge more than either they had while they were his Majesties Subjects or than any of theirs for in none of our or their Plantations is it as he says permitted that any Inhabitant who removes shall carry away his Slaves but he is to sell them there because they are an essential part of the fruits of the Land and without which the Soil is nothing worth These were his main Arguments and I used the best I could to maintain my point and we parted with assurance of his utmost endeavours to give his Majesty satisfaction without the ruine of the Colony The other Deputies have promised me the same but I doubt it is only with intention to ascertain the satisfaction of those that remove for such of their Slaves as are necessary to the Lands there at the current price of Slaves in those parts for this I hear is whisper'd among them as an expedient in the business But I cannot yet get their Resolution which I doubt is something delay'd by the present Affairs between Holland and Zealand which are every day in agitation though a day passes not without calling upon them about it which is always answer'd with promise of dispatch Since the writing of this I have yours of the 11th which signiâ—ies his Majesties satisfaction in the Negotiations here about the Guaranty and Subsidies and intentions to dispatch suddenly the Ratification of the first I was surpriz'd this Morning when Monsieur Marcschal came to me and shew'd me the Swedish Ratification which was just then arrived and could wish the Spaniards had made as much hast with their Money of which I can yet hear no News from the Spanish Ambassadors and wish that after all these pains that have been taken to make this party it be not broken at last by the extream Negligence or Disorder of the Spanish Court and Counsels for their spoiling all their own Affairs and ruining themselves are things that I think God alone can help In the mean time I know not whether the Count de Molinas being made sensible of this particular Will contribute any thing towards it Sir Tho. Higgons parted from hence on Saturday for Anâ—werp and gave me the same assurance I see you have received of the German Princes disposition in the present Affairs of our Alliance which you would have reason to be firm in if the French Ambassador had any in the long Discourses and Applauses he has been making this Afternoon upon this point that never any King had in any Negotiation given such a Coup de Maistre and just after a War made Holland depend more upon him then he could have done by a Conquest Que 〈…〉 d' avoir trouâ—è le defâ—â—t de â—â—â—â—èes et poussè son coup aâ— corur and thâ—n Ne â—â—â—â—â— pas le modeste là dessiâ—â— car vous sâ—â—â—ez qu' ils sont a vous et le premier pas que nous serons jâ—â—â—is â—n Flandres vâ—us disposerez de la Hollande comm ' d'â—ne de vos provinces and twenty Strains of this kind in which I shewed him how much he mistook since in 8 Months time I could not make an end of one Marine Article nor compass the execution of those of Surinam which were Arguments enough of the little influence we had here or of my unsuccessful Negotiations For the rest he turns all the fears of the Spaniards en ridicule says the French King has not above 6000 Men in the Camp has sent 7000 effective to the Relief of Candia has no present Application but to finish the Fortifications of the Conquer'd places and without the death of the King of Spain has no thoughts but of Peace and Devertisement He laughs at the Counsels here about encreasing their Forces and at their Alarms of the Bishop of Munster's arming and providing Ammunition and if all be true his Master has the sport of of being quiet himself and yet troubling every body else I am always as becomes me SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple At this Instant Monsieur de Witt sent to excuse the delay of the business of Surinam upon the Affairs between the two Provinces which have wholly taken them up for some
Body of it Or else these to be perfected in an Instrument by themselves as additions to the Marine Treaty For the doing it with or without Commissioners I can say nothing since so great Authors are on both sides but if both seem necessary one to the Substance and the other to the Form I was thinking whether two or more might not be joyn'd in Commission with me to treat and conclude it with Commissioners of theirs and those to be acquainted beforehand with what was to be expected upon this Matter But I know not how our expectation of having the Commissioners meet at London would be satisfied by their meeting at the Hague nor how Forms go in joyning Commissioners to an Ambassador for a particular Business and so I leave it The Account your Lordship expects from me of the new Governour in Flanders will be very lame Men disagreeing much in his Character The common Voice making it very low in those Qualities themselves which are most essential to his doing well but the Baron d'Isola in his Letters hither running it very high as to his Abilities the Appearance of which must needs have great Disadvantages from his Arrival in a strange Country without one word of any Language besides Spanish without Cloaths or Retinue or hitherto the Show of a Governour the Marquess having not yet at least till within this Day or two given up the Charge He is a Person of about Forty Years old little and lean with long black Hair and a Face that the Dutch call Ill-favour'd of few words prerending to come in blind Obedience to the Queens Orders which found him a Hunting and sent him away in the same Cloaths and with the same Retinue which are about eight or nine Persons among whom a Natural Son for he never was Married and a Secretary said to be a very able Man How four Women came to be a Hunting with him I know not but it seems so many came with him too and went to Zealand upon his first Arrival He intends they say to stay at Mecklyn till the Plague ceases or at least abates at Brussels and perhaps Don Estevan intends to be Minister of State for he tells me the Constable has sent very earnestly for him and away he is gone this Day The Prince of Orange is expected to Day or to Morrow in Town Monsieur Odijck tells me His Highness is much concerned in the Attempts of removing the Scotch Staple from Teweet to Dort that it will be twelve Thousand Guilders a Year out of his way That those of Teweâ—t offer all that can be ask'd and more than those of Dort That His Highness has written to His Majesty about it and hopes He will not allow it being a thing as he says of Sir William Davison's only contrivance and in the desire whereof the Scotch Merchants are no way agreed I have sent this Post a Bottle of Juniper-Water for His Majesty which he pleased to tell my Wife he desired It goes by Mr. Bucke a Gentleman belonging to the Duke of Ormond If the King likes it I shall endeavour to get more and should have said this to my Wife rather than your Lordship but that I hear His Majesty will be out of Town I am ever My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER II. Hague Octob. 5. S. N. 68. My Lord I Have since my last received your Lordships of the 18th past and you will have already found that the King's Commands in it concerning my Procedure upon the East-India Propositions are obeyed Upon my next Conference with Monsieur de Witt I shall press the Reference of the Guinea Business to Commissioners and let the other rest where it is till I have an Answer upon my last I must likewise expect Instructions how to proceed upon the Concert desired between us Holland and Sweden for the Guaranty of the Peace both upon the present State of Affairs between the two Crowns and in case of the King of Spain's Death For I hardly know how to begin or what to propose till I know how far Spain will comply with the Swedish Payments or how Sweden will digest or resent the delay or want of Satisfaction besides neither French nor Spaniard make any mention of the Guaranty and these States have resolved not to give it Spain without the Satisfaction of the Swedish Subsidies I know not whether it will be seasonable to press it here without further Conjunctures or at least some Occasions given me from hence But of this my Lord Keeper in your Lordships Absence promised I should receive further Directions and I may have some light given me from the Marquess Castel Rodrigo if he passes this way as I hear he intends having commanded a Friend of mine at Brussels to tell me Ie l'embrasseray devray que partir on Espagne Don Estâ—van told me That in his last Letters from Spain they told him they were dispos'd to pay the Swedish Subsidies as much as we could wish them Pero que stavan impossibiliâ—ados The Prince of Orange is not return'd as was expected from Breda but is gone into Guelderlandt to Hunt as his Friends say but the common Talk will have it That 't is upon some such other Chase as his last in Zealand the Effects of which are now no more talk'd of nor will be unless renewed by some other such Adventure or by his coming back hither which they now talk of on Monday or Tuesday I need not write here what Particulars I know you hear by other Papers as of Monsieur d'Estrades leaving his Embassage here and Monsieur Pompone's coming in his room and all such Matters which come to your Lordship from another Hand which I would be glad to know how you are satisfied with When I hear the Perfection of Sir Iohn Trevor's good Fortunes I shall give him Joy of them In the mean time I give it your Lordship upon your having brought about what I saw you had long desir'd and upon your having a Friend of so great Merit and so generally avowed both by the King and I suppose by the Commissioners of the Treasury For they will have it here that the King lays down 8000l to bring this about which is a good Bargain for both him that comes in and him that goes of God send they may think I deserve my Bread while I am abroad and that I may be able to eat it when I come Home which will very much depend upon them I am sure Pero lo mucho se guasta y el poco basta at least it will to me whenever the King gives me no Necessity of Living as I am sure I do now to every Body rather than to my self I am ever as becomes me My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and most Humble Servant W. Temple I forgot to tell your Lordship last time and know not whether it be worth telling you now That the Resignation of the Polish
since the last Prince's Death And the Lieutenant Admiral has only Power to supply provisionally any void place when he is at Sea If you desire to be satisfied in any Particulars I have not touch'd you need but repeat them in any new Commands Which shall be Obeyed by SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER IX Hague Novemb. 30. S. N. 68. SIR I Have this Day received the Honour of one from you of the 13th Current and doubt not you will before this arrives have received the Account I gave in my last of the great Satisfaction Monsieur de Witt exprest upon the last Paper transmitted me in answer to his Memorial and upon the whole Business now in agitation which will now run on with joynt Motions as well as Intentions And the Issue of them must be expected from Spain which makes it very doubtful to me considering the posture of their Affairs and course of their Councils and the great Dissatisfaction they express with the delay of our Guaranty and the refusal of entring into a Defensive Alliance with them Our want of Ministers in Spain and their want of such here as are very proper for the present Conjuncture are very great Maims in this Business My Lord Arlington has all I can yet say upon the Marine Treaty And I am very much of your Opinion That since this is begun it will be better to end it before we pursue that of Guiny any further Tho I omitted not to pursue that as far as I could with the Informations and Instructions I had upon it And signified to my Lord Arlington in my last upon that Subject what further Pieces would be necessary for any further prosecution of that Matter I shall put in a Memorial to Morrow for the Liberty of Major Bannister Which I believe I had before obtain'd from the States of Zealand in particular without troubling His Majesty about it had one of my Friends been as diligent in that Matter as he promised me I send you enclosed the Charge upon which he was sent from Surinâ—m And for as much as I can hear of the Business I am of Opinion his Case is hard tho' Monsieur Meerman says It is in Dispute whether the inhabitants there not going away as was at first permitted but staying and taking the Oath of Fidelity to the Dutch became not their Subjects I enclose a Letter I lately received from Major Bannister and doubt not of Satisfaction to His Majesty in what concerns him I am ever with very much Passion and Truth tho' at this time with very much haste SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER X. Hague Decemb. 11. S. N. 68. SIR I Am to acknowledge one from you of the 24th past Whereby I find that the Agreement fallen into concerning the Guaranty was as wellcome in England as it was here And I doubt not but there will be the same Concurrence on both sides in the way of pursuing it tho' I can yet give no further Account of that Matter having been so Indisposed since my last with an extream Cold that I have been forced to keep my Chamber I cannot tell whether Monsieur Beverning or Van â—enninghen will be pitch'd upon to go to Brussels nor in what Quality they will go Whether as deputed from the States or without Character but it is certain what you observe That if I go it cannot be as an Ambassador but Incognito And for my Letters of Credence or Powers they must be according to what His Majesty shall think of to be Treated there I suppose the Point will be the Accomâ—liâ—hâ—â—â—t of our Guaranty upon their Satisfaâ—t 〈…〉 of the Swedish Subsidies and for the Offers which will be prest by the Spaniards of à Defensive League I suppose the Intention is to let them draw no further than into such Discourse as may sound the bottom of those Advantages they may carry with them But to the main End proposed next to that of the Subsidies by these States in this Negotiation is to possess Spain all that can be with the Assurance of the same Support to Flanders they will give to any of their own Provinces So to raise the Confidence both of Spain and the Government in Flanders and keep them from any thoughts of Treating with France or abandoning the utmost Defence of those Provinces I doubt there is another Point whereâ—n the States will prove something forwardeâ— than His Majesty as well as they seemed so in the Guaranty of the Pyrenoean Treaty which is in a concert of doing our joâ—â—t Offices to dispose France to some assurance of not breaking this Peace as far as it touches Flanders even upon the King of Spain's Death Which is a Point that tho' I had the first Orders to Sound them in yet I know not whether we are disposed to keep pace with them now in it but should be glad to know His Majesty's Thoughts for my own Government upon â—ccaâ—â—on There is another Point likewise wherein I should be glad to be instructed which is in case we succeed in inducing the Spaniards to reason upon our Guaranty Yet I am confident they will â—â—â—â—st as the Marquess ever did uâ—â—â— ouâ— entring into a particular concert with them upon the Specification of Means and Forces by which every one should â—â—â—â—â—iged to maintain the Peace in case of a Ruptâ—â—e from France In which concert 〈…〉 should be likewise comprehended â—s well aâ— we For the second particular of your Letter which concerns Major Bannister there need nothing more be said to prove the Reason his Majesty had to demand his Liberty which I will hope he has already having never heard from him since the last Assurance I had from the Lords of Zealand there should be no difficulty in it I cannot yet give any further Account concerning the Marine Treaty but shall press it on upon my very first stirring out of my Chamber This I cannot but remark upon it That notwithstanding those high and violent Exclamations that were made by some and as they said the City against the Marine Treaty as it was â— greed to by his Majesty last Winter upon so great Motives from the Conjuncture of other more publick Interests at that 〈…〉 Yet all that Noise produced only two Exceptions against any thing contained in that Treaty and already agreed by the Treaty of Breda with the Term of a Provisional that differ'd little or nothing from a Perpetual That having induced the Dutch to give His Majesty intire satisfaction upon those two Exceptions I do not find we think any thing considerable gained by it unless we gain likewise every one of five or six new Propositions made by the East-India Company upon that Subject and such as I doubt whether Sir George Downing would have given any hopes of before the War tho' the End of that cannot be supposed to have given us any great Advantage in our Negotiations here I said every one
current with the enclosed Pacquet for Sir Gabriel Sylvius which he is possest of And in order to his Journey towards Lunenburgh has begun to take his leave where it was due here I have put the Compliment of these Dispatches from His Majesty wholly upon Monsieur de Witt who seems to take it as he ought to do and to be satisfied with all he hears of the course of His Majesty's present Counsels both from Monsieur Boreel and all other Hands He tells me his Letters from their Ambassador in Sweden give him a very good Account of the Dispositions of that Court which agreeing with what I hear both from Monsieur Appleboom and Sylvercrown here makes me hope all we wish in their Resolution upon the Projects of the Guaranty and Subsidies lately sent them over The Duke of Lunemgburgh's Minister here is of Opinion Sir Gabriel Sylvius will find those Princes likewise in the same Dispositions and obliged by this Compliment from His Majesty I doubt of two Difficulties in the engaging them First that they will expect to be admitted as Principals in our Alliance And then that they will insist upon some Money by Sweden's Example The enclosed I have newly received from the Baron Bonstetten by which you will find the Negotiations in Switzerland towards the common Alliance proceed but slowly That which they would perswade this State is to allure them by setling constant Pension upon the small Catholick Cantons where they perswade him about fifty Thousand Franc's a Year would do the Buness And among the Protestant Cantons there is nothing of that kind admitted as they say and so nothing needed but Monsieur de Witt is averse from this Counsel arguing that where things are wholly Venial and at so small Rates there can be no certainty and that 50 from hence may serve turn only till 60 be offer'd from some other Hand He is in the mean time extreamly glad to hear we are like to fall into a good Correspondence with Denmark and hopes the Hold of France will wear off in that Court as ours grows on Considering how weary you must needs be of so much as has been written of late upon the Subject of passing those enchanted Forts I suppose you will be content I trouble you with nothing in that Matter by this Ordinary the States having not yet signified any thing to me of what has been or is ready to be represented to them by the Deputies of the East-India Company who have been three Days in Town and I hear were prepar'd to entertain them with long Reasonings upon it I am of Opinion that without producing Instances of what gave us the Apprehension at least if not the Danger of new Practises which we desire to prevent or without shewing that the mention of Porcat and Iacatra which is all has yet been spoken of is to the purpose of this Complaint It will be hopeless to do any thing in this Matter the Jealousies of our reach in it are grown so great and now they have started a new one which is That this Proposition nor any thing towards it was never made by us in any time of our hardest Demands even by Cromwell's but only in the last Paper of Sir George Downing so as they will have it that he has cast it in as une pieâ—â—e d'achopement entre les dâ—ux Nations knowing by his Transactions and the Constitutions here it was a thing could never be yielded But I must expect the next Conference to be able to give a further Judgment upon the whole success I cannot end this without acknowledging very sensibly the obliging Expressions at the end of your last concerning your favour to me in my Wife 's present Solicitations of the Performance in what His Majesty was pleased to promise me at my coming away as to equality with his other Ministers Monsieur de Witt had heard the King had granted it and came to make me a Complement Yesterday upon it assuring me he had several times spoken of it among his Friends here with Trouble That he knew in the Train I lived 't was impossible to hold out upon what I had before from the King which from so frugal a Man is perhaps as good a Testimony as what I hear some Persons who have no more to do in it than he take great pains in representing to the contrary I am ever with very much Reason and Truth SIR Your most Faithful humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXV Hague March 26. S. N. 69. SIR I Have received yours of the 9th with the enclosed Answer to the Dutch Ambassador's Memorial upon the Affair of Surinam upon which I cannot mark any seeming difference in the Pretensions of His Majesty and these States concerning the execution of those Articles of Surrender unless there should arise a Difficulty upon the ways of Transporting such of our Planters as have a desire to remove For the Dutch according to the Article pretend their Governour is alone to have that Charge and Care but they fear His Majesty will think of sending Ships of his own to that purpose which they think would have an Influence upon the Dispositions of the English Planters there and upon the Peace of the Colony When Monsieur Boreel arrives I may perhaps have occasion to enter farther into this Matter and am glad to be so well informed Sir Gabriel Sylvius began his Journey last Night towards Lunemburgh and I hear there are Letters this Morning arrived here from Lubec which left my Lord Carlisle upon the Point of Embarking there directly for Stockholm the same Day the Post parted so that I doubt neither of the Pacquets dispatch'd after His Lordship had reached him time enough to turn his Journey through Denmark but some other Hand will I hope be found in those parts to supply that turn before it cools I have heard nothing from the States upon our Marine Article since the Arrival of the Deputies from Amsterdam which made me resolve to put in this enclosed Memorial Yesterday to press them to a short Conclusion Wherein as in all our Conferences I endeavour'd to make the firmness of our Alliance depend much upon our Satisfaction in this Point being an Argument will always hold good how much soever the others may be disputed I cannot guess more by much Discourse I have lately had with Monsieur Van Benninghen than that if we are content with the Ancient Practice for the time preceding 62 or 63 in which Years we say our Complaints or Apprehensions began we may be assured of it but I shall never talk three Words upon this Matter with any of them without being prest upon giving Instances I hope you and Monsieur Van Benninghen will have the Honour of ending this Affair which I should have been very glad of but doubt it will be denied me However so it be done to our Satisfaction I shall not repine I am of Opinion at last the States will send him
for Support of the Peace the Swedish Ministers say they are not yet instructed in it and that their Master is of the mind I told them in private the King was off not to let it accompany the Guaranty but follow afterwards as an Act between those of the Tripple Alliance and not to be given Spain as the other was And joyning our Strengths in this matter we had the less Resistance from the Dutch Commissioners though they at first began to press us hard for the finishing that at the same time So as it was concluded I and two of the Commissioners should go to Morrow to the Spanish Ambassador and let him know that upon Agreement the three several parts of the Triple Alliance were now content to give the Guaranty which had been desired by Spain and in the Terms which had been communicated before to their Ministers provided they were ready to satisfie what had been so long desired upon the matters of the Swedish Subsidies And thereupon to press him to the whole payment or to the caution of particular Men in these Countries empowered to it by their Correspondents in the Spanish Dominions In the first point we shall have no Success and I know not whether the Dutch desire it in the second or have much reason to do so For they had rather I suppose have this Tie last still for 16 Months longer up on Sweden than cease by such caution as will immediately raise the Money which is that the Swedes would be at and stick not to argue from their Apprehension of Disorders in Spain which may hereafter disappoint them which cannot happen but at the same time they must render useless the further effects of the Triple Alliance I apprehend the Spanish Ambassador will stand upon the Conclusion and at least Communication of the third Instrument for concert of Forces and that he will be privately encouraged to it by the Dutch Ministers who are very earnest upon the finishing that Transaction and the Swedes seem not unwilling having upon the Dutch pressing it upon the Conference declared that though they were not yet impowr'd as to that particular yet their Master understood that should be likewise concluded before their Commissioners ended or Monsieur Marshall parted from thence In this point I desire further Instructions of his Majesties pleasure how I am to carry it if I think my self prest on all sides upon it for hitherto I have diverted it as dexterously as I could but doubt I may be brought to a direct point in it I have had since my last no further discourse about the Marine Article but only of the breaking up the last Conference Monsieur de Witt told me he must come next Week and talk with me about it I am ever as becomes me SIR Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXII Hague April 23. N. S. 69. SIR UPon Saturday last I and the Deputies of this State gave the Spanish Ambassador an account of our Conference with the Swedish Ministers and of our being all ready to give Spain the Guaranty desired upon their Satisfaction of the Subsidies to Sweden He would fain have perswaded us to the addition of some words as in one place that mentions the French's Contravention to the Peace he would have inserted Directement or Indirectement and upon the mention of warranting the Peace of Aix he would have added et celle des Pircâ—èés d'autants qu'ell ' est confirmâ—è par cette derniere The Dutch made not much difficulty upon either but I said absolutely I could not change a Sillable of the Act Transmitted into England without first communicating it to his Majesty and I believe the Swedish Ministers were under the same Restrictions which the Spanish Ambassador resolved to try and sound it so and that I suppose will put an end to his further Niceties Upon the whole his Answer was that when we Signed other Acts of Guaranty he would Sign that for payment of the Subsidies and when the Ratification arrived from Sweden the Money of the first payment should be ready at Amsterdam though he says it is yet at Sevill For the caution we demanded for the two latter Terms to be given of Burgers in Amsterdam He said he would write to the Constable and I find has a design of satisfying it by some Tolls upon the Meuse which lies in an open Country and will be first exposed to the War By further and freer Conference with Monsieur Marshal I find that the difficulty made by Sweden hitherto of entring into the particular concert at the same time with the Guaranty as both Spain and Holland desire proceeds from an imagination they have of inducing at least Holland and Spain if not us to contribute towards the maintaining constantly even in time of Peace a Swedish Army on foot in the Dutchy of Bremen which I doubt will not succeed on any side However knowing his Majesties unwillingness to enter at present into that Concert I make use of the Swedes to cover me when I am prest upon it either by Spain or Holland saying his Majesty is first resolv'd to know the Swedes mind and afterwards that his Majesties Answer is but a business of ten days The Spanish Ambassador has lately put in a Memorial here full of the Alarms in Flanders that the French would make an Attempt upon Conde or some other of the pretended places upon which the Constable had received orders from the Queen that in case of any such Action though pretended only upon those places he should look upon it as an opening the War in all parts and proceed accordingly being resolved rather to lose all they possess there in the Field than to suffer any new Indignity My Lord Carlisle assures me by one from aboard the Ship which was carrying him from Coppenhagen to Stockholme that the Orders were given to open the Trade for our English Merchants in those Dominions according to the Treaty of 60 in which that King desired only that the 3d Article might be alter'd And that the Viceroy of Norway was appointed for the Ambassy into England They tell me he 's that young Gabel who is now in France Son to the Stadtholder Gabel that shall be joyned with him The Devotion or Leasure of these Holy days has suffered no business here since my last and so given no occasion for tho encrease of this Trouble from SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXIII Hague April 26. S. N. 69. SIR THough I was sorry for the occasion given us of new Jealousies by the Arrival of our East-India Ships yet I was glad to receive by yours of the 9th current any new Arguments to pursue the difficult point I am here engaged in I could not but communicate to Monsieur de Witt such parts of the Letter as I thought to my purpose because I could add nothing to the strength of the Motives nor the Terms He said upon
I may expect next Week Monsieur de Witt is very desirous that Monsieur Van Benninghen would go over upon this occasion and has desired me to endeavour the disposing him to it which I doubt will be difficult He alledges many considerations of his Town and Charge and has others of his own I suppose among which one that he never mentions I doubt may have some weight which is that he is in the midst of a Building here that he began last Summer and intends to finish this and seems a little fond of the care of it I am ever as becomes me SIR Your most Faithful and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXV Hague May 10. S. N. 69. SIR I have received your last of the 23 〈…〉 past and was sorry you had occasion to put me again in mind of the Orde 〈…〉 about Surinam I gave in a Memori 〈…〉 concerning it again the beginning of th 〈…〉 Week but Monsieur de Witt has been o 〈…〉 of Town ever since Munday Night a 〈…〉 for that reason I have not yet prest to h 〈…〉 my Conference fearing in case it happe 〈…〉 in his absence either nothing would 〈…〉 done as it commonly happens or el 〈…〉 the Learned Deputies might give so 〈…〉 stop to the way of doing it which M 〈…〉 sieur de Witt has declared his Satisfacti 〈…〉 in But if he comes back to morrow 〈◊〉 hope to see the dispatch of it before th 〈…〉 next Post. Since my last the Act of Guaranty h 〈…〉 been Signed by all parties in the form whic 〈…〉 goes here enclosed and differs from wh 〈…〉 I sent before only in the omission of two words of no moment and which came I suppose rather by chance then on purpose They are only the words Respectivement and Voysias but the omission has happened to run through all three Instruments They are all in my possession and likewise the Spanish Ambassador's Act for payment of the Subsidies there by consent to remain till the Money on one side and the Ratification on the other side Arrive But yet he is so Punctillious that he will not be satisfied unless the word Ratifier be put in at the latter end in stead of Procurer which as I conceive cannot be as it now runs without Nonsense since it refers to the Trois Originaux before mentioned to be Signed by the two Kings and the States which are in effect the same with Ratifications and so we should oblige our selves to make a Ratification be Ratified But yet this old Ambassador will not understand it and I doubt will put us to the trouble of Signing new Instruments unless Monsieur de Witt at his return can satisfie him better than I. But I suppose this change of the last Lines if it should be made will signifie nothing to the Instrument which the King Signs and which if it be an Original and not a Ratification will end at those words De la cause qui en te cas deviendra commune I know not whe ther the Spanish Ambassador was more Ar tificial or no in another change he made in his Instrument of Subsidies where he has put in qu' ayant traittè et adjustè avec la triple allyance touchant la Guarentie et le payement de subsides he promised But I told him plainly the Swedes would never consent to any such Clause nor own that they had ever treated with any Minister of Spain touching either Guaranty or Money which they pretend to give and receive only in pursuit of their Alliance with us and Holland to that purpose And the Spanish Ambassador has promis'd me to send me another Instrument without that Clause though with much ado Between so much Delicacy on both sides I have had trouble enough to bring People together that have not yet seen one another and they make me much acknowledgment of it on both sides by which means I have the luck to be in both their confidence and to find that however they are come to agree at last yet they are but very little satisfied with one anothers manner of proceeding Monsieur Mareschal has once more promised me that they will excuse themselves from falling upon the particular concert till the first payment be made and that when they do they will go no further than Generals and against the Violator of the Peace without specifying one thing more than another so as it may be only a concert between our selves and not to be given to Spain as was design'd by that Grown and this State All which I suppose is exactly agreeable with the Kings intentions as I find them exprest in your last that is in case it cannot be defer'd without disagreeing from the two other principals but I shall be sure to bring nothing to an issue without first acquainting you with what passes in that particular and receiving his Majesties commands upon it I can say nothing more of the Marine Article since my last having not heard of Monsicur de Witt or Van Benninghen since They will not be so consident in Flanders as I see we are in England of this Summer's passing without Action but take great alarm at the noise of the French Kings coming to Marymonâ— the end of this Month with those Troops which they call â—a Mâ—iâ—â—n de Roy and they say consist of 12000 choice Men. The States have lately had some Letters which make several of them jealous of Mâ—â—strâ—â—â—â— likewise in case of the French Troops gathering in Flanders But I hope all their designs in France this Summer will lie towards Candia since you say those Succours proceed though I find by several Letters from Italy they much doubt in those parts whether the French Intentions that way are sincere or not and whether that King will not yet find some pretext to delay them till the Town be taken which is now said to be in much danger I am always SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXVI Hague May 16. S. N. 69. SIR I was taken up with such long Conferences upon the Marine and Surinam Affairs with the Deputies of Amsterdam and Zealand that I had not time to give you the trouble of them when the last post went away which I should have been sorry for if my Success had been likely to please you The Sum of all Monsieur Van Benninghen's Reasonings who was the mouth of the rest run'd upon those two points so often toucht that we demand new methods to prevent a Disease but will not say when or where we have felt it or any Symptoms of it whereas let them but know in particular what we ask and we may be sure of this States doing all that can be for the Kings Satisfaction The other was that we understand our selves too well and the present conjuncture to fear any injuries from them in the Indies who have no other support here besides our Alliance and upon that point said as much
days but promises me an end of it before this week passes LETTER XXXVI Hague Iune 4. S. N. 69 SIR I omitted to acknowledge by the last Post one I had then received from you of the 13th past because I could then add nothing to what I writ to my Lord Arlington having not communicated the papers you were pleas'd to send me upon the Subject of the Dutch Peace at Macassar I have since done it and discoursed with Monsieur de Witt upon them who has taken them into his hands to communicate with the East-India Company and receive their Answer which I thought best to attend before I put in any Memorial to the States and so made it publick because I find great use is made by the French of the matters depending between us and the Dutch to possess other Princes and especially those in Germany with an Opinion of the unsteddiness of our common Counsels in the pursuit of the Tripple Alliance which may be of ill consequence to the general Affairs of this conjuncture For unless we are forced to fall out it will more than any thing conduce to the present Peace of Christendom so much desired by us both that we be thought very good friends whether we are so or no. I am sure we should be so if it were not for the East-India Affairs but what they may produce in time God knows for I take it for an ill presage to find upon all those matters not only our Merchants but our Ministers on both sides have Opinions strangely different as to what is Reason and Equity between us For I have both my Lord Arlington's and your Opinion upon this Action at Macassar in terms which make me see it is ressented in England and in the Paper of the East-India Company which is sent me over as the ground of my demands one point absolutely insisted upon is Reparation of the Damages sustained there about four Months after the Treaty Signed at Breda When I read the whole thing to Monsieur de Witt he would very hardly believe those papers had been perused by our Ministers but that they came immediately from our Merchants and made it very strange we should complain of any Hostilities that had been done there when we were as much in War as we had been a year before unless we could prove the hard usage of Prisoners which he said was a thing not to be countenanced or suffer'd by them For the demand of Reparation he desired me only to read the 7th Article of the Treaty at Breda which gives 8 Months time on the other side the Equinoctial for notification of the Peace and says that all Merchandise or Moveables taken within that time shall remain to the possessors without any exception or any regard had to the making Restitution or Compensation I must confess I was at a stand in both these points but will believe it came from the inequality of the match between Monsieur de Witt and me in the point of Reasoning and therefore I must desire to be fortisied from better hands That which occurs to me upon this matter is that we cannot complain of them for what past in the War but that in pursuit of our pretence upon the Marine Article for passing Forts we may demand that no Progress of their Conquests in the Indies should be made use of to deprive us of a Trade we had before establisht in the Countries of any Indian Princes nor no Treaties be made with any of them to exclude us from such Trade And this I tell Monsieur de Witt and all of them upon all occasions will be absolutely necessary if they intend to live long in good intelligence with us and in good humour between the Nations And after all their Arguments from Justice or Practice I tell them that whether it be by means just or unjust usual or unusual we shall never endure to see our Trade in the East-Indies devolve every year by degrees into their hands so as to give us apprehensions of our total Loss and their absolute acquisition of it I will add nothing more upon this Argument for all that is said upon it would be endless but expect their Answers upon those Papers and what they promise of Proposals towards some expedient in the Marine Article from Amsterdam for from thence it must come Monsieur de Witt protesting it is a thing he dares not meddle in but by orders from thence which I have some reason to believe I have expected all this day the Resolutions about Surinam having been assured I should have them but it grows so late I begin to doubt it and the rather because these two days have been all in disorder with the Prince's Feasts to the Deputies of Zealand and the States to the French Ambassador The Affair between the two Provinces is like to come to an issue by an Expedient lately proposed of the Zealanders quitting their Session in the Courts of Justice but having the same share in the Supream Court of Appeals which they had before in the other and I do not find this is like to bring on any sudden mention of the Prince between them The Bishop of Munster makes a good deal of talk here as I am sure you know by the common News The truth of his business is that his Troops in Garrison are encreased to about five or six Thousand and that he has about ten Thousand of his Peasants listed in Companies who are paid at the rate of a Crown a Month but which seems to be done with intention of drawing them into Service though he professes no intentions of any designs but only to guard himself in case the Dutch now they are every where in Peace should think of revenging themselves for his last adventure It is not yet resolved whether these Alarms will produce the Augmentation of the Troops here which hath been so often spoken off The paper mention'd in yours of the 18th will be very welcome being much enquir'd after by the Swedes I mean his Majesties Answer upon their Propositions I advise them to go as far as they can with Holland with confidence his Majesties concurrence will not fail them but they would have our Assistance too I know nothing to encrease your trouble beyond the professions of my being always SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXVII Hague Iune 7. S. N. 69. SIR I have this day received yours of the 26th past and am like to make you a bad return by answering it both in ill health and ill humour For I shall soon grow weary of my imployment here when I find I cannot be useful in the degree which is desired by his Majesty as well as by my self and I doubt it will prove true what I often tell the Ministers here tho' they take it in jest that my Star is past and in stead of that lucky one which influenced my former Negotiations I have met another that crosses me
First for our warranting my Lord Willoughby's Actions by the 7th Article he would reason no more upon it if the 6th Article would not convince us by those words shall be restored bona fide in the same state and condition wherein they shall be found to be at the time when ever it shall be known in those places that the Peace is made He alledged likewise the words in the 7th Article taken or gotten in Places and Coasts far distant after the Peace is concluded and before it be notified unto those places and said my Lord Willoughby's Actions were not only after he knew of the Peace but after he had received orders from his Majesty for restoring that Colony according to the Articles of the Peace He ended that though in compliance to his Majesty they had given the last Answer yet they could never allow the English at Surinam to be his Majesties Subjects as I called them after that Colony was delivered to them according to the Articles of Breda with plenary right of Soveraignty and Propriety Et que si sa Majesté estoit resolve de prendre câ—lle petite affaire si â—aut Il â—alloit avoir patience I had several times resolv'd never any more to write you back any of the Reasons used here against the demands I propose and Arguments I use to make them good because I have long sound that it is taken by many in England to be a pleading of their Cause and therefore I thought never to send you any thing in this kind but what they gave you in writing Yet I have Transgress'd again for this time because in your last you seem to desire to know what reply they make against my Lord Willoughby's being justified by the Treaty of Breda which I had omitted hitherto to acquaint you with because it was not directly a thing under my hands though I have ever observed that the States General as well as those of Zealand were as unsatisfied as could be with all that part of the Kings last Answer to Monsieur Boreel which concern'd my Lord Willoughby Besides I consider that though it be the part of a good Courtier to offer nothing to his Prince but what is like to please him yet perhaps 't is the part of a good Minister upon all Disputes to be faithful in relating the Reasons that are given him and thereby to lay all fair for a judgment to be made that so his Majesty may be sure to ground his Resolutions upon clear and evident Reason which is of infinite advantage to any Cause If the King would have me do otherwise I can much easier obey him and perhaps much better for SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XL. Hague Iune 25. N. S. 69. SIR IT is sit to give you some respite this Post from the frequent troubles you have of late received upon the Subject of the Marine and Surinam I attend his Majesties Orders upon the last and shall perform them If we must fall out with the Dutch we can never do it in more nor in better company for I know not whether we are more dissatisfied with them at this time then France and Spain and Sweden and the Bishops of Collen and Munster the two last for particular Affairs wherein as far as I can see the Dutch use them something hardly and might have spar'd it in this conjuncture Sweden for refusing to secure any part of their Subsidies and Spain for pressing them to secure the whole by a Aypotheque of the upper quarter of Gelderland But these and several other Reâ—entments of the two last are supprest by their publick Interests and Engagements What those of the Bishop of Munster will be I know not nor what credit is to be given to the noise he makes I hear the States will this week fall into the consideration of giving him some satisfaction about the Tussle of the Countess of Benthem and the Duties levyed by them upon his Boats of Provisions passing through the Princess of Ostrizes Country which I am sure you have heard of some Months since in the common papers of Occuriences and which are the only pretences he can have for breaking a Peace made at our Coast and warranted by almost all the Princes of the Empire Yet it is agreed the Bishop has so far proceeded in his Levies of late that he is able to bring 13 or 14 thousand Men into the Field though the greatest part is of his own peasants However these Alarms have not yet prevail'd with the States to make the Recruits so long spoken of nor will I believe unless the danger grows nearer The Letters this Post from Madrid bring no very good account of the Disorders between the Queen and Don Iohn but say the last was resolv'd to come to Madrid in a few days if all was not accorded so as by next Post some issue is expected From Poland we are assured that Senate has been forced by the Equestrian Order to pass a Deeree for Exclusion of the Prince of Condè and with so much heat that one Person who had the confidence to speak for him escaped very hardly with his Life so as the Candidates are â—ow but two and the last Letters from Warsaw pretended not to judge which way the balance inclines but seem to apprehend least the Assembly may fall into some great Disorders and break up without any Election I received Letters this Morning from the Baron Bonstetten who assures me of the Cantons having been much satisfied with the Communication of my Letters to him Qu' a la diete de Seigniors a Baden Ils lâ—y donneront une responce â—t qu' ils sont tous a sâ—its incliner a tesmoigner leurs respects a sa Majestè en tout sort des rencontres which is all his Letter brings me referring me for other particulars to the correspondent given him here by Monsieur de Witt who tells me that he assures them very positively the Cantons of Baden Berne Lucerne Solerne and two more are disposed to enter into the Tripple Alliance and that a Spanish Envoy was arrived there with Money to invite the seven lesser Cantons So that upon the whole he gives great hopes of that strength being added to the Alliance which if it should happen would so surround France on all sides that I suppose they might thereby be induced to leave the World some time in quiet I hold my Resolutions of going to Amsterdam and making my attempt there towards the issue of our Marine Affairs but would be very glad first to see your thoughts upon the overture made by Monsieur Van Benninghen concerning Macassar I am always as becomes me SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XLI Hague Iuly 5. S. N. 69 SIR HAving not been able to return from Amsterdam so quietly nor so speedily as I went by reason of the undeniable invitations I received from the Towns of Harlem and Leyden I am