of Spain is again much spoken off here though not owned by the Spanish Ambassadors The Zealanders having sent the Ratification of the last Agreement with their Province the Prince expects very shortly to enter into the Council of State The Swedish Subsidies are every day expected and I believe will not fail in a very little time I shall fail at no time of being SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XLV Hague Iuly 30. S N. 69. SIR THis last Post brought me yours of the 13th with his Majesties pleasure concerning the Guaranty and Concert of Forces which you will find by my late Letters to have perfectly agreed with all I had before Transacted in those matters Spain has the good luck here at this time that though we see none of their Money yet we believe it sure and thereupon the Swedish Ministers seem better contented than we had reason to expect after so long delays For the concert I suppose it must sleep a while till some noise from France awake it for Spain seems not at all inclin'd to treat with the Dutch about the Engagement of the places in Geldre for securing the Money to be paid to the Swedes and the Dutch without such security will not engage in any kind to advance any part of the Swedish Subsidies unless it be joyntly with his Majesty I have spoken this very day with Monsieur de Witt about the business of Surinam who tells me the Kings last Letter was put into Commissioners hands who have not yet made their Report upon it by reason of the States of Holland sitting till within these two or three days In the mean time he desires much to see the Answer you promise to his last Paper which I find they think here grounded upon unanswerable Reasons and therefore finding this business drawn into slow Expostulations I have cast about for another way of ending it by entring into new Discourses about our buying that Colony of the Zealanders which I mentioned to my Lord Keeper several Months since and had then commands from his Lordship not to let the Overture fall But the hand it was then in gave me no encouragement to pursue it and I had some hopes the matter in dispute would come to some issue between us Since the heat and difficulty of our Debates I have put another upon the proposal who tells me this day he has had Letters from the principal Persons in that Province to make him confident of a good disposition towards it there in case his Majesty did think fit and will come to any reasonable Terms But before I proceeded any further in this matter I thought sit to acquaint you with it that I might know your thoughts upon it and direct my self by them In the mean time this private Overture shall not hinder my pursuit of the publick satisfaction we demand with all the earnestness I can though I see nothing yet to make me confident of Success in the manner and time we expect I attend your Proposals on the Marine Treaty and am still of Opinion that they will go very far here to satisfie us in an Article which will cut off Disputes by deciding things particularly described but will never be brought to conclude one which by general words may draw on new Disputes or Pretentions and break into their present Establishments and course of Trafick before we have made them understand by instances what the cases are we find our selves aggriev'd in I am always as becomes me SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XLVI Hague Aug. 7. S. N. 69. SIR I was extream glad to find by yours of the 20th past that you understood so perfectly what I had represented to you of their intentions here as to the Marine Article that is the General Article to secure us from all injuries by any new practises to disturb our Trade and for any present injuries we lie under they will relieve us upon our instances in particular as now in that of Macassar and so in any other wherein we shall have the Justice on our side which was so directly my meaning and theirs as I understood it that I have repeated it in your own words and am pretty confident if you keep close to that Method we shall yet see this business come to an issue Though Monsieur de Witt wishes often the words last sent from the Town of Amsterdam might be accepted because he says they are so jealous of our implicite meaning and reach at something that may make a general Breach upon their past Establishments that every new word gives them new and unnecessary Reflections at least in his Opinion for he often says that he is confident he should have ended this business with me in two hours I cannot yet make any further step in the business of Surinam the State reserving their Final considerations upon it in answer to his Majesties last Letter till the Deputies of Zealands Arrival which was expected ten days since but has been hindered by the Tumult happened in the Town of Terveer upon occasion of their protecting L'abadie a true Fanatick Preacher against the positive Orders of the States for his Banishment having gather'd a Congregation of 5 or 600 People in that Island who are it seems more at his Devotion then at the States But we look for the Deputies every day and then I shall press this matter to a sudden issue one way or other In the mean time Monsieur de Witt desires to see the Answers promised to his last Writing not he says that they shall make any difficulty to perform the Articles given to the Colony as they understand to be the Genuine sense of them but because he thinks the reasons in those Papers so clear that his Majesty will accept of what they do upon his instances in it as a Respect and Compliance to his Majesty and not as a thing of Right which they owe to any other but those which are now their own Subjects He was with me on Sunday upon a message of formal Thanks from the States to me for the good issue I had brought the Portugal Treaty to which is now Signed and he said would have hardly ever been brought to an end without the peremptory Sentence I gave in it I told him I was glad I could do my Friends business here but sorry I could not do my own and that ever since I came last over considering what had past between Spain and Sweden I was just like a man that could get Children abroad and none at home and took that occasion to fall into all the complaints that could be of my hard fortune That having finisht a Treaty of the greatest Importance with them in five days before I could not end any one business with them now in ten Months He comforted me all he could with the assurance of the States doing all that was possible for his Majesties satisfaction even beyond Reason
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
occasion to discourse with Monsieur de Witt concerning the Liberty of all English Transporting themselves and their Estates from that Colony which at last he seem'd to think reasonable notwithstanding any Oaths they may have taken The only Difficulty which I foresee in it will be about their Lands and Immoveable Goods for which I see not how they will get Satisfaction in case the Dutch that remain combine together either not to buy at all or to do it at the most Inconsiderable Prizes I am very glad to know of any Minister from His Majesty being on his Way to Brussels for all our great Business lies now at the Spaniards Door And they have here a Minister I doubt very unlikely to bring it to any Conclusion and yet Jealous of seeing it pass through any other's Hands and so unsatisfied with the Talk of the Baron d'Isola's going to Hamburgh or coming hither God send us a good Issue in this Negotiation which I confess I something apprehend and that the Spring should find our Triple Alliance as loose as the Summer left it which our Neighbours I doubt will not fail to make the best Advantage of I must acknowledge your Favour in the Offers of taking care of me upon the review of the Establishments for Ambassadors For if it were my Talent either to ask or complain I doubt I should have as much reason as another Man in a place where by all Mens consent the same Train of Living will cost a full third part more than either at Paris or London And for the necessity of appearing the late Ambassadors of France Spain Sweden and Portugal have brought it as high as in any other Court by the Number of Liveries and keeping Publick Tables Whereas Sir Dudley Carleton the last English Ambassador here keept no Page and but two Footmen and one Coach and four Horses And had his House allow'd him by the States which is to cost me 200 l. a Year And yet upon the Establishment of those Times and the Count d'Estrades here mine was fix'd whereas the Count tho he had but Ten Thousand Crowns a Year for his Ambassage yet had Sixty five Thousand Francs a Year of the King His Master's Money for his Governments and Ambassage together Besides a Regiment here in Holland which made him live at a Rate that will cost his Successors dear unless by common consent we can all agree to reduce it Which I am sure I should be as glad of for the Ease as the Parsimony of it Unless we can do this I resolve to live on as I thought it was necessary for the King's Honour I should begin for the rest of one Year and lie at the King's Mercy for it as well as I do for having had my whole Train of Ambassador to Aix upon my Hands two Months by his Majesty's Commands without one Penny 's Allowance for it And therefore I shall not trouble you with any Complaints concerning my Establishment having once said That since the King thought such Retrenchments necessary I was content to give the Example and would go through with it so long as my own Fortune would bear me out without Ruine But in case the Establishment be broken for other Persons I will not believe the King will break the Absolute Promise he made me as the Commissioners likewise did that I should share with them to the full in the Advantage of it which is all the Pretension I will recommend to my Friends Justice and Favour For in such a Distinction the Dishonour of it will be yet more sensible than the Disadvantage I know not how to excuse this Trouble but that the obliging Advances you were pleased to make me upon this Subject were the occasions of drawing it all upon you from SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER VIII Hague Novemb. 13. S. N. 68. SIR I Have since my last had the Honour of two from you of the 23d and 26th past And must refer you for Answer to all Points in the first to this Nights Dispatch to my Lord Arlington and likewise to the first part of your second having valued that strain of His Majesty's Confidence with the States as far as I could And I hope upon the whole to keep all in good Temper here whilst no change of Temper happens among their Neighbours I sent immediately your Letter to Monsieur Van Benninghen but doubt I shall not receive much Assistance from him in disposing the States to the sharing of the Swedish Subsidies Against which he seems as much bent as Monsieur de Witt And more upon promoting the other Expedient of Inviting Spain to the whole Payment by a General Guaranty I expect your Resolutions there upon the Marine Treaty For though I am not called upon for them here yet they would be glad to see an end of all upon which they foresee Disputes may arise For the second part of your last Letter I have particularly informed my self and find that the Military and Oeconomical parts have ever been perfectly distinct in the Administration of the Admiralty of these Countries And that no Prince of Orange ever had any thing to do in the Disposition of the last nor any of the Lieutenant-Admirals since as Tromp Opdam or Ruyter The course of that Administration being subordinately in the several Admiralties but supreamly in the States themselves as the Military part is now since the Death of the last Prince of Orange There are five several Admiralties under these States The first of Rotterdam the second of Amsterdam which bears a double Share with the rest the third of Zealand the fourth of North-Holland the fifth of Friezland In the Time of Peace the Ships maintained by the States are only for Convoys And towards their defraying the Customs upon all Merchant Ships are payed in to the respective Admiralties where they come in And all that Revenue is by these Admiralties imployed in the maintaining of Convoys for their Merchants In Time of War the States resolve what Number of Ships they will set out and send for Commissioners from each Admiralty to consult with concerning the Sizes of them to be furnished by the several Admiralties And likewise concerning the Charge of Equipping Victualling and Maintaining them When this is agreed by the States with the Commissioners of the several Admiralties the Moneys are assigned by them accordingly to the Admiralties by whom the whole Care is taken of applying it according to the Proportions agreed on The Benefit of the Admiral and Lieutenant Admirals consists chiefly in the Share they have of all Prizes taken The Prince of Orange having had no particular Pension as Admiral but One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Guilders a Year as Captain General and Admiral And de Ruyter at present not having above Five Thousand Guilders a Year as Lieutenant Admiral Upon setting out any Ships the several Admiralties named two Captains of which the Admiral chose one which the States do now
so reasonable that I must be furnisht with Arguments to maintain the Points against him if they must be insisted on For I confess I can find none of my own Upon the first He consents to the change of the Form of Certificates and will accept of such as we shall draw up so they mean equal on both sides mutatiâ— mutandiâ— But to that which the East-India Company say of their desire that Trade may rather be carried on without any Certificate at all he says He does not see how that can be or to what purpose in that case all the Articles are about Contraband Goods since it is by the Certificate whereby it is known what the Ship is and what the Goods are she carries and thereby all further trouble of search is avoided He says He should be content and the Advantage would be theirs to have all Trade free and none to ask at Sea what another Ship was Whether it went or what it carry'd But since that cannot be there is no way of avoiding Disputes besides that of Certificates And indeed I doubt the Merchants in that err or rather consider'd not the main end of the whole Regulation which was to avoid Quarrels between the Nations but only their own private Interest in saving the trouble and Charge of Certificates which made them likewise desire it might be from the Magistrates of the Ports from whence the Ships parted not from the Admiralty Upon the second He consents to the Proposal in the Margin with only the leaving out these two Words Of India so as the Rule may be generally to all places and not confin'd to the Indies which I had nothing to say against believing those Words fell in only by the Matter 's coming from the East-India Company without notice of any other Traders Upon these two Points I had given your Lordship the Account formerly of my having at several Discourses gain'd his Consent and I do not find that any thing he excepts as in them is different from what we mean our selves For the other Points which are wholly new and Additions to the Treaty they cost us a great deal more Debate which I shall not trouble your Lordships with but only the Result at least of the Opinion he gave me leave to write to your Lordships as his upon them tho' the first second and fourth were all of more difficult Digestion and such as I doubt would have given some Work to the Commissioners in pursuance of the Breda Treaty so much as to have toucht for the Truth is our Trade in the Indies being so little and theirs so much all Equalities of this kind are gains to us and loss to them For the first of the four Particulars not provided for in the Marine Treaty He consents to one half of the Period ending with the Word Government But for the other allowing liberty to pass any River or Pass leading to any place of Trade although the other Company have a Fort or Castle upon the said River or Pass he says it cannot possibly be nor would it ever be executed tho' the States should consent to it For in those Passes the very End of either Companies Building a Fort or Castle was to secure the Trade of such a Country to themselves so as they would by this Article loose all the benefit of the Expence they had been at That if to such Nations there were any other way found not under the reach of their Cannon that Passage should be free But under a Fort built to the aforesaid Ends he did not believe any Orders would compel those in it either of our Nation or theirs to see the Trade they had secured to themselves drawn away to the other Nation by a free Passage The second Particular I got wholly agreed to tho' with much Difficulty as importing I suppose more Advantage to us than any of the rest considering how many more Nations the Dutch trade with than we by virtue of such Agreements The third was without difficulty importing as we both conceived no more than was before provided by the Marine Treaty and more particularly For the fourth He could not consent it should extend further than to Ships belonging to either Company or to any Nations or People subject to either Company and consequently under Protection of the said Company For the making it now in the Words of our Article To any Nations with whom either Company shall Trade and not in Enmity with the other Company would occasion only either Companies selling their Passports to all the Nations that would buy them leaving it afterwards to dispute upon any Accident that should arrive whether such Nation were in Enmity with the other Company or no the Natives maintaining the Negative and perhaps the Company the Affirmative And it may be upon pretence of some new Injury which had lately given the occasion of the Enmity and where such Disputes should be determin'd was difficult to find Besides He argued from common use of Nations that Passports operated only towards those who were subject to such as granted the Passport or else by Alliance and Accord between Nations to such as were one anothers Subjects and under their Protection But how it should extend to other Nations because they were not in Enmity with our Ally he could not see any reason nor had heard any Example But on the other side it was ever to be supposed that there would be no need at all of Passports from the one to such as were not in Enmity with the other Nations being to be esteemed as Just in their Actions and not likely to disturb or seize another without at least pretence of Enmity which would be a sort of Piracy at Sea or Robbery at Land but in case such a thing should happen no other Nation concern'd themselves in it unless it was offer'd to their Subjects and consequently to Persons under their Protection I thought his reasoning seem'd good and besides I imagin'd the thing was not of weight for wherever one Company found a Nation not in actual Enmity with the other and had a mind to protect their Navigation they might do it by receiving that Nation into their Protection and their giving them Passports as Subjects to them But where Nations will not submit to such a Subjection they must protect themselves And this was the Result of our Conference which came to no sort of Agreement on either side since I neither had power to do it from His Majesty nor he from the States So that we can only represent on each side what past and attend our Orders upon them and he in the mean time dispose the States to his Opinion when we meet to treat and conclude formally upon them When I receive Instructions I suppose it will be necessary to know the Manner as well as the Matter we are to agree on that is whether a new Marine Treaty to be made with these Particulars to be digested into the
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
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
is the Necessity we found of engaging Sweden and the Uncertainty we were in of the Peace being effected after our Promise of the Guaranty was given which was some few Days before my going to Aix If we had any other Reflections in this Negotiation I should be glad to know them being like to have use of them in treating with the Spaniards at least if their Ambassador here be instructed in their Intentions For two Days since he was upon these Discourses declaiming hard against the Dutch for imposing first an Unjust Peace upon them and afterwards such a Sum granted to the Swedes for their good Pleasure Since if the Swedish Troops had been kept up it was at the Desire of the Dutch not of the Spaniards who made the Peace upon assurance in ours and Holland's Guaranty And whatsoever Sums were promised Sweden by the Triple Alliance were as he alledged after the Peace concluded Though he mention'd the Dutch only in his Complaints yet I knew he forgot not their Partners in the course of that Action But I thought it not necessary to enter into the Defence of it by the exact Computation oâ— the Dates of the Instruments or any thing besides the necessity of keeping Sweden from engaging with France and asked him Whether iâ— they could have a General Guaranty of their Dominions from the Triple-Alliance he thought it not cheap bought at Five hundred Thousand Crowns He said that was promised by us at the Signing of the Peace that if they had it from Sweden it was enough to pay what they expected upon the Execution of it for the time to come That if it were necessary to do it for the Time past they would come in for their share and with that fell into Passion against Monsieur de Witt Who hâ— said hindred them from being received into the Triple-Alliance Par un Politique qui le tromperoit à la â—in That for fear of offending France which they could not do more than they had done already they would force Spain to Counsels they had no mind to and much more to this purpose In the mean time the Swedish Ministers here are not impower'd to joyn with us in a General Guaranty and make many Difficulties in their Discourses upon it as to the extent of it beyond the Defence of Flanders and to the more open and direct shocking of France But all this from them seems to tend towards the obtaining further Annual Subsidies from Spain secured to them by us and Holland as well as ascertaining the sudden Satisfaction of what is already promised So that between the Weakness of the Spanish Treasures and Councils and the Swedes hardness in bargaining and selling the very found of his Name at so dear a rate I doubt much as I have done long to find this Matter of a difficult Issue but the first Pace that I see is to be made in it is since the Powers are in the Constables Hands to make a short Tryal of the utmost Spain will do And procure if we can at least the Promises of Satisfaction to Sweden and value them to Sweden as far as we can towards continuing them in the Alliance upon Hopes if not present Performances from Spain And this I shall endeavour if either the Baron d'Isola comes hither which they say has been delayed by his Illness Or if upon the Arrival of His Majesties Powers and Instructions a Person from hence be ready to accompany me in a Journey to Brussels For the States have not yet engaged any Person towards it and have this Quality of all other States to be very slow in their Resolutions unless when they are prest by some instant Necessity I cannot yet meet with my Commissioners upon the Marine Treaty The first of them Monsieur Huygens being but come Yesterday to Town since the Holydays And Monsieur Meerman who is the second being but this Day expected In the mean while I loose no time in advancing it by Conferences with the particular Persons among them Who assure me and Monsieur Van Benninghen expresly for his Town of Amsterdam that if it be as we represent it either the Redress of a late Innovation or the prevention of one we fear that those we have hitherto called their Forts prove but their Ware-Houses built in other Princes Territories We shall have all the Satisfaction we can wish in it and may assure our selves they intend not any juggling with us or disputing upon any thing that is fair and reasonable But declare it for his Opinion That in all these Matters of Commerce between us they should not only give us what is reasonable but something more if it be necessary to the fortifying of our Alliance He assures me that since my last Conference with Monsieur de Witt he has sent to Amsterdam for a more particular State of this Matter in order to our Satisfaction But they both desire we would be likewise more particular in naming the Places we are most concern'd in that thereby they may come to know exactly the nature of our Demand I know not any thing I can add to what I have said already concerning Instructions and Powers to be sent me for Brussels tho' your Lordship is pleased to desire it from me His Majesty knows how far he would have me go and by what steps and accordingly my Instructions must be drawn and the Powers upon them either general or referring particularly to the Guaranty intended But I suppose in both Instructions and Powers there will be a Clause obliging me to do all in conjunction with the Holland Minister And I should be glad to know likewise whether in case upon the arrival of my Instructions I am prest both by the Dutch and the Season to make this Journey before I shall have ended the main Negotiation I am to leave this last imperfect till my return For as this seems to be laid to Heart in England I should be loath without express Orders to leave it for any other Occasion The Portugal Ambassadour is every Day expected upon whose Arrival I shall not fail to pursue your Lordships Commands in valuing His Majesties Offices as far as I can towards that Conclusion as well as endeavour to continue the Baron de Bowstetten's good Offices in Switzerland I am ever as becomes me My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XVI Hague Ianuary 15. S. N. 69. SIR MY last Dispatches to my Lord Arlington will I hope excuse my not having then as I ought acknowledged yours of the 22th past and given you the best Account I could of what it chiefly concern'd which was the Progress upon the remaining Point of the Maâ—ine Treaty Wherein I have confidence of succeeding if upon your Specification of particular places they are found to be of the same Nature you have defined them in general That is Magazines fortified or small Forts built for security of their Merchandizes in the
Territories of other Princes Or else such Forts by which we have usually passed without interruption till of late Years My Lord Arlington was pleased in his last to promise me this Specification which is all that remains towards bringing the whole Matter to an Issue And till that arrives I think there is not much lost by the delay of our Conference though I have sent every Day to the first Commissioner according to the Form to know whether they are ready that I might appoint an Hour for it But he has been so regular a Man the remainder of these Holy-days that what with his being at Dinner sometimes at eight at Night and in Bed other times at eleven in the Morning he has not yet brought it to pass tho' made me now expect he will to Morrow Concerning the Business of the Merchants Company at Dort I have not received any new Complaints from them or Fears since His Majesty's Order to interpose in that Business Which to say truth I had stopt the last Assembly of the States of Holland wholly by Monsieur de Witt 's Address Who being of the Town of Dâ—rt I â—ind is no Enemy to the Company but for that very reason is tender of appearing in a thing upon which all the other Towns of Holland are bent I have endeavour'd against this next Session of the States of Holland to engage Monsieur Van Benninghen to temper his Town of Amsterdam in that Matter but find him difficult in it His chief Reasons are First It was a voluntary thing of the States at the time of their greatest dependance upon England while they had our Money and Men and we their Towns Secondly That they had then the same Priviledge granted to their Merchants at London Thirdly That it was granted with a Clause of the States revoking iâ— at any time at three Months warning given the Merchants And Lastly That the raising our Customs upon their Commodities since those Times has been so exorhitant that if the King expects the continuance of this Company here the States have reason to hope he will come to some Moderation towards their Trassick there Since if the Priviledges of this Company should be taken away our Merchants would be only brought to the same Payments that theirs are upon the Importation of our Cloaths and consequently would not â—ay a fourth part so much Custom for a whole Piece of our Cloath as we have laid upon every Yard of theirs After all these Reasons I believe the whole Matter was both rais'd and revived by the Town of Rotterdam upon the Removal of the Company some Years since from thence to Dort And now upon the Removal of the Scotch Staple to the samâ— place from Terveur and Sir William Davison's having sent Orders to all the Scotch Traders at Rotterdam to remove from thence to Dort So that there seems to be more of Envy in it from the other Towns of Holland and Zealand against Dort for having engrost the two Staples then of Peek against the English Company But since His Majesty has commanded me I shall watch the Motions of this Matter the best I can and thought it necessary for once to give you this General Account of the State of it You will have found that the Alarm you mention in your Letter given by the Report of the Commissioners at Lisâ—e being parted without any Agreement was rather a Presage than a Truth For I have not met any Person here that has had from the beginning any hopes of a Conclusion there The French are certainly resolved to keep that Door open and so have the Time when to fall in left at their own choice It will be our parts I suppose to delay it all we can as well as to hindâ—r it at last as far as we are able And if the Returns of their Complements to us of late will do any thing towards it I wish we had an Ambassadour already in France though I am apt to think it must be by bold and firm rather than civil Paces that they must be induced to give over this Design which we might make perhaps safely and quietly enough if we were fallen into a right concert upon our Triple-Alliance I mean such wherein both Spain and Sweden would find their Satisfaction And if we had once diverted France from the suddain Violence of their Proceedings we might imploy our Offices towards a Treaty of convenience by some Exchanges between the two Crowns For in the Posture those Countries now lie I do not think it possible they can be long preserved but that either the Nobility or the Cities would throw them into the French Hands or the difficulty of guarding them invite the Spaniards to do it themselves I hear nothing yet of the Baron d'Isola's arrival and doubt whether it may not be delayed by these Frosts which till they are old enough to bear make all impassable between this and Antwerp Monsieur Silvercrown the new Swedish Commissioner was with me lately and seems a more understanding Man and of more Credit with the chief Ministers at his Court than Monsieur Appleboom He gives me assurance of the Swedish Intentions to observe the Triple-Alliance and hopes that if Spain can be perswaded to pay their Subsidies though at some reasonable Terms Sweden will be contented He makes Difficulties upon the General Guaranty or at least makes it fit to be given with a Temper of all the Civility that can be to France and precedent Endeavours of making them satisfied with it I told him the last would certainly be a vain Endeavour but the first I thought the King and States both well enough inclined to and resolved to make the Offer equally to both Crowns He advises us first to bring Spain to what Issue we can upon the Point of the Subsidies and afterwards to Negotiate what we desire in Sweden by the Dutch Ambassador in that Court who he says is very Grateful there and joyntly by ours if he arrive in time which I suppose is to tell us that we are not to expect Powers to be sent from Sweden hither I know nothing more worth your Trouble at present and therefore shall end this with the Profession of my being always SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XVII Hague Ianuary 25. S. N. 6â— SIR I Hope my Letter last Post to my Lord Arlington will excuse my not having that Busie Day acknowledged the Honour of two I received from you since my last of the 1st and 5th The first of them will have received its Answer by my last Dispatch upon the Marine Affair with the Article as I have hopes to pass it here in case it be approved in England The last containing only the Promise of my Instructions and your Complements to Monsieur Van Benninghen will need no return For I shall acquit my self of them at his Return from Amsterdam where I hope he will do us Service in our Marine Business But
to a political Decision between the King's Ministers and the States was in short the Ground of the last War How truly he says this I know not but I believe he truly means to prevent all occasions of future Quarrels between us while we are of that mind And therefore I am still in hopes of his Endeavours to pass this Article if that Suspition may be taken away Which perhaps one or two Instances either of what we have suffer'd or what we apprehend would do In the mean time I cannot perswade him to what you seem to agree in declaring That without this Point they yield us nothing in all the rest For they think it is a very great Matter they yield in the Description of une ville bloquèe ou assiegè◠to be both by Land as well as Sea which cannot be done there so that he says we gain the Liberty of Trading with all Nations with whom they may be at War and lie before their Havens with their Fleets which was a Point could never be gain'd of them in Cromwell's Time They think likewise they yield a great deal in that of the case where one Company has contracted for the sole buying up any Commodity of any Nation But I have no reason to think you are very well pleased with my representing their Arguments or Discourses upon this Subject no more than they are with yours tho' both perhaps be necessary And therefore I shall not enlarge this Trouble beyond the Assurances of my being always SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XIX Hague February 5. S. N. 69. SIR â— Have since my last the Honour of yours of the 15th past Whereby I find â—ou expected my next would be from Brus 〈…〉 ls after the Receipt of my Powers and 〈…〉 structions some Days before arrived But 〈…〉 e great Business of our Adjustment with 〈…〉 pain upon the Swedish Subsidies being as 〈…〉 e hope come to an Issue here by full 〈…〉 owers to the Spanish Ambassador I know 〈…〉 ot whether that Journey will hold or 〈…〉 Monsieur de Witt thinks it may still be 〈…〉 cessary if it be but to give Heart to the 〈…〉 eople there who need it much and to 〈…〉 ake some Entrances with the Constable 〈…〉 on the best Ways and Methods of setling 〈…〉 at Countrey in a posture of not falling 〈…〉 der another Surprize from France But I 〈…〉 all have time to consider whether that be 〈…〉 rand enough for such a Journey when I 〈…〉 ar the States Resolutions about it For 〈…〉 therto it is only Monsieur de Witt 's pri 〈…〉 ate Opinion And they not having proceeded so far as to engage any Person in it when there was more occasion 't is possible they may now desist from the present Thoughts of it I can give no further Account of our Marine Treaty expecting your Answers to their Desires of some Instances when we either had felt or apprehended the Grievance in that only Article which remains I find Monsieur Van Benninghen has been very large upon that Subject in a Letter to you from Amsterdam which Monsieur dâ— Witt shew'd me a Copy of and would have had me transmitted for fear of the Originals miscarrying But I thought it not necessary both in regard of the Safety of all Letters in their usual course and to say truth because I found not the Arguments very weighty and a Byass in theâ— towards the leaving out that whole Article or at least confining it to particular places of which instance should be made Whereas Monsieur de Witt had always declar'd That the Instances were desir'd only for Information in the nature of our Demand and not to insert in the Article I am apt to believe that 't is only Jealousie on both sides which makes this point so much insisted on by us and so much apprehended by them at least if we can give no particular Instances of the Grievance For they are positive that with the knowledge of the Directors no such thing is practised However some Expedient must be found out to agree it If you â—urnish me with Instances that will be some Assistance to me If you cannot do that I was thinking whether it might not be an Expedient to add to the Article as I transmitted it some such Words that this should be done in the same manner as was â—sually practised between the two Companies before such a Year naming two or three Years before the War since you af 〈…〉 rm before that time no such thing was â—retended or exercised by them But I have mentioned nothing of any such Exâ—edient here nor shall till I have answer â—f my last and your result upon it after having communicated it to those who are â—ost concerned to understand it I know not whether I thought it worth â—aking notice of that the Admiral of Denâ—ark came hither some Days since about â—â—e long debated Difference between that King and these States upon certain Sums â—f Money and likewise about agreeing â—pon the Measures of Ships that pass the â—ound I am always SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XX. Hague February 12. S. N. 69. SIR I Am to acknowledge the Honour of o 〈…〉 from you of the 26th past approvinâ— the State of our Affair with Spain whiâ—â— you will since find is drawn to a Head And in case His Majesty approves of t 〈…〉 Form of the Guaranty we have nothiâ—â— left to transact in this Matter but witâ— Sweden Towards which my Lord Câ—lisle's Journey if so sudden as we here believe will much contribute I doubt Monsieur Boreel has but a colâ— Scent in his Pursuit of the Zealand Pretenâ—â—ons at Surinam But the truth is that iâ—â—ase the English Planters all remove together from that place the Plantation is as good as wholly lost to the Dutch their Numbers there being wholly inconsiderable and their Nation not at all fit for that Business of Planting which makes them never like to grow considerable in the West-Indies But otherwise for the Reason of the thing I never saw the least colour oâ— it on their side nor find that Monsieur de Witt offers at maintaining it when upon occasion I have fallen into the Discourse of it with him So that I should think my self happy if I had no greater Difficulties upon my Hands here than what are likely to arise in that Affair when it comes in play Tho' I think you judge very prudently that the Time for it will be rather after we shall have come to some Issue in our Marine Treaty than at present that so we may have but one Knot to untie at a time How I shall succeed in the last I am yet to learn from my farther Conferences here upon the Papers last sent me which I have newly received and are Translating that I may upon occasion use them here I mean the Arguments as well as the Articles That which troubles me is
to see I am of late gone back on both sides for what Monsieur de Witt and I had agreed on is strongly opposed by those of Amsterdam and being at first approved in England by the East-India Company themselves as my Lord Arlington wrote me word they have since as I now find alter'd their Minds and propose to have the Passage free under all Forts tho seated in Countreys that are absolutely under the Dutch Occupancy and Subjection which is a new Point and that which I am sure in several of your Letters you have said distinctly was never aimed at But since this is now in my Hands you may be assured that it shall go as far as it is possible to pursue it by any Cares and Endeavours of mine I am sorry I am not made acquainted with the Particulars of the Case at Iuccatra which it seems is alledged as the only occasion of this Apprehension and Proposal from our Merchants For as to that of the Fort upon the River of Iambre Monsieur de Witt I remember alleadg'd that as an unreasonable thing if they should pretend it where the River was so broad that the Ships were not under the certain unavoidable danger of their Canon which he would have had the measure of the free Passage But of these Proceedings you will be troubled hereafter with farther Accounts from SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXI Hague February 26. S. N. 69. SIR I Am to acknowledge two I have received from you since my last of the 5th and 9th current which came together to my Hands with one for Monsieur Van Benninghen which I this Day delivered and fell into the longest Debate that I have ever had with him upon the Subject of it but with so little success that I shall have no Pleasure in repeating it And yet I verily believe we do not disagree in our Meaning tho' we cannot come to agree in ways of expressing it They insist still upon some Instance of what we complain of and are the less satisfied at every new pursuit I make without producing what they have from the first demanded They protest their East-India Company knows not what ours means by saying they might Instance in Iacatra and think I do not deal sincerely with them in suppressing the Particulars of the Fact as it past there which is the only place we have mention'd as giving occasion for this Apprehension of ours and Demand upon it Mons. Van Benninghen swears to me in the solemnest manner that can be and which is not usual with him that his Heart is more bent upon finding out a way to satisfie us in this point than to satisfie either the Estates or East-India Company here and that upon any occasion we shall produce of Complaint both he and all the rest of the States know they ought to give us all Satisfaction that Reason shall require and even beyond reason in things that are not of the last importance to them As he says they have shewed in agreeing to that Article about defining a Town bloque ou investie which has raised such a Clamour among those of the East-India Company here against the Commissioners who treated it with me That they know no way of satisfying them but by the absolute Will of the States-General and representing to them how much they ought to give towards our Satisfaction in this Conjuncture He says that all Sir George Downing could find to complain of in the Indies was the stopping of our Ships by their Fleets that lay before Cochin and Cananor which is provided against in that aforesaid Article And if there had been any Innovation in Matter of Passage by one anothers Territories as we intimate there began to be on their side about two Year before the War 't is impossible but they must have heard of it at a time when all things were ript up That if we can mention any such Innovation differing from what has been the antient constant and general Practice in both India and Africa by our Nation as well as all other Europaean Nations that have had any thing to do there they will be the readiest in the World to redress it But at the same time he professes to think it absolutely impossible to make any Draught of an Article concerning passing of Forts which may not be made use of Pour bouleverser toutes les Affairs des Indes And that as much as he can see into it may not be of the same consequence as if we should demand of them absolutely to break their East-India Company The many large and various Instances he used to prove this you will better have from his Hand than mine and therefore I shall omit the rest of his Discourses which ended in bewailing our falling so earnestly upon such a Point as this in which it was so impossible for them to agree with us and not at the same time to lay the Foundation of a certain Breach hereafter by the Disputes which must arise upon it That the ill Effect upon which he made his chiefest Reflections was the Interpretation I told them was made of it in England to the Disadvantage of their Intentions and Dispositions of living well with us in point of Commerce That on the other side very many here interpreted this Demand as a Mark of our Resolutions not live well long with them in point of our Alliances and so made them think of ballancing still between us and France till they could find with whom they were like to meet with the most present Safety and leave future Times to future Councils That for his part and all the most foreseeing Heads among them they were of another mind and thought the only bottom they had left was upon our Friendship But on both sides the continuance of such Jealousies as were apt to arise from our Disputes upon this Point could not be without ill Effect And upon all this I concluded it would be necessary for him to make a step over into England and try whether the King's Ministers there and he could understand one another better than we had done here which he seemed to think not unnecessary And for my part I think it the only thing left to be done in this Matter Since my last some Commissioners have been with me from the States to acquaint me with the Letter which goes this Night to His Majesty from them upon the Business of Surinam wherein you will find they are come off from the Disputes they formerly engaged in of the English Planters there having forfeited the Right to the first Articles of Surrender by which they had liberty to remove and that the Matter lies now in this compass here that such of the English there as either have now or shall have hereafter a desire to leave that Plantation shall not only have Leave but Assistance from the Dutch Governour towards their Removal but that on the other side His Majesty shall not
towards prevailing with the Dutch for our Satisfaction in the Point so much contested between us And whenever I receive Commands to use them in the Conferences I have with the Commissioners to the end they may be reported to the States as grounded upon my Instructions I shall do it to the full Whereas I have hitherto contented my self upon all those Occasions to go no further than to tell them with much Constancy and Plainness That they cannot reckon upon the firmness and continuance of our Alliance but by doing us right in the point of Commerce and reducing it to equality and particularly in this Article without which our Merchants will not be perswaded they can be secure in their Indian Trade but shall in a little time be wholly beaten out of it which the Nation will never endure And that to make an Alliance perpetual it must be grounded in the Genius of the People as well as in the King 's Personal Dispositions who would always be so wise as to comply in a great measure with what the People thought their Interest Thus far I have gone with the Commissioners upon several Conferences and still left them with Protestations as being as sensible of all I said as I could wish them And that there is nothing we could demand without ruine to their Establishments or without giving greater occasions for future Disputes and Quarrels which they would not readily consent to discoursing upon their Interest to preserve our Alliance as far as I can do my self and the most serious among them ever put most weight upon the last Consideration of leaving a Door open for perpetual Disputes by a general Article which mentions all Forts that are or shall be erected and all Nations not in the Occupancy and Subjection of either Company Whereas the Nature of Forts and Subjections they say are so various in those parts that room will be left for our Merchants to quarrel every Day upon pretensions to be grounded on such an Article I have since your last in my private Visits to some of them hinted the ill Consequences you there mention and how France that grasps at all and has a mind to grow in the Indies as well as here will not fail in such a conjuncture of offering us all the Advantages we can ask upon a Conjunction with us for beating the Dutch out of the Indies as we and they together did formerly the Portuguese But this they will not believe we can hear of while they offer us to redress any Complaints we can make against their present Practises there But however all Considerations together have made them already fall upon the Proposition in the States of Holland of sending some able Minister over into England till an Ambassador in Ordinary be sent to reside there In the mean time I am to have a Conference with the Commissioners to Morrow upon your last Proposition which I tell them is the last they are like to receive By the next you will have the Issue of it Monsieur Groote that is now in Sweden is at length resolved upon to be sent Ambassador into France Though the States have been something perplext with the Relations of their Ambassador at Madrid concerning some Discourses made him by Count Pignoranda upon the Unreasonableness of their paying the Swedish Subsidies in the time of a full Peace instead of reserving them to engage that Crown when a War begins Yet the Spanish Ambassador will not own any Difficulty likely to be made on their part in that matter provided Sweden consent to what has been proposed of which we yet hear no further Account I am always with much Passion and Truth SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXIX Hague April 12. S. N. 69. SIR I gave you no trouble by last Post having nothing to bear me out besides a short account of my last Conference with the Commissioners which I sent in one to My Lord Arlington I have since seen Mounsieur de Witt and others of the chief Persons here and once more talked all the matter of that Article to the Grave I fear for though they will not come to any positive denial yet by several Circumstances and the Manner and Style of their Discourses I am of Opinion it will prove a desperate pursuit For they now say it is a matter that cannot be argued fairly with the Kings Ministers in England by my Representations from hence of what they say but must be opened and cleared viva voce by some Ministers of theirs in England but at the same time they say 't is a hard thing to press a State to any Contract which they think will be ruinous to them that the performance of all Contracts which are enter'd into may be prest reasonably whatever they import but in making new ones each party uses to find their Account That the danger of Interpretations to be rais'd upon any Articles how clearly soever penned they have sufficiently felt by Sir George Downing's sense given upon the words Litem inceptam prosequi which was the occasion of the War and now by our interpreting the Articles of Surrendring Surinam to import a liberty for the King to send and command all the English there to remove with threats of Loss and Ignominy in case of their remaining there which was as they say by the Articles left to their own choice And this Mounsieur Boreel tells them is maintained in England tho' it be not directly exprest in the Kings last Answer But this of passing Forts and Lands not in Occupation of either Company is they say a thing so little understood at these distances that they conclude it impossible to frame any Article upon it which will not in a Years time engage them in quarrels with us or in the ruine of their present Establishments in the Indies At the same time they press me very much to conclude the rest of the Articles while the States seem disposed to pass them though some of them as they pretend are of very hard Digestion and would leave this of the Forts to further light and satisfaction but with assurance of Redressing any Complaints we can exhibit of particular Grievances contrary to the ancient and constant practices and writing severe Letters to all the Officers of the East-India Company in those parts to be sure to give us no such occasion and to desist immediately if any such has happened By all these Discourses and the whole course of this matter from the first I cannot but judge it will prove a business out of my reach here and that we may take our Measures upon that conclusion how tender soever they are of letting it come to a direct Refusal And as I gave my Lord Keeper such a hint near two Months since so now seeing the several offers which have been since made at new Expedients takes no effect I cannot but again repeat it that we may not be deceived in what
Reckonings we make upon this matter And yet 't is possible than if Monsieur Van Beninghen goes over he and our Merchants may come to understand one another better then they have done at this distance The States have yet taken no Resolution in that point by reason of his being so deep ingaged in pursuing a proposition upon which the Town of Amsterdam is very warm which is for taking away a considerable part of the Customs upon the Entry of the Ships which they think of very great Importance to the conserving and encreasing the Trade of these Countries But the Admiralties maintain the necessity of keeping up the Tax to find Money for Convoy's and the safety of their Ships abroad I do not hear either this matter or those between Holland and Zealand are like to be decided this Session of the States of Holland which will end the beginning of next week Monsieur de Witt tells me that by their President 's Letters from Copenhagen they find my Lord Carlisle's passage that way and Complement has been so well taken that the King of Denmark will make no difficulty of sending an Ambassage into England and further that there is an entire disposition in that Court to grant us equal priviledges with any of his Nation in our Commerce there which Monsieur de Witt professes to be very glad of He tells me the French Ambassador is very earnest with him to make his Demands apart from us and Sweden of what they desire from his Master to quit their Jealousies and Apprehensions upon the business of Flanders and to restore the confidence betwixt them That his Master is resolved to satisfie them if they will make their Demands apart but that the manner of doing it by an Alliance of several States is too Choquant Et contre â— honneur de Son Maistre ce qu' un Roy jeune brave puissant ne peut pas trouver bonne He tells me that he answered him positively that this State would absolutely proceed in conjunction with us and Sweden in what ever should be transacted upon this Subject and no otherwise and that since the same thing would satisfie us all it would be much better for France at the same time to satisfie three then one Monsier Appleboom sent me word this day that Monsieur Mareshal is Arrived here being joyn'd in Commission with him for Transacting the matters of the Guarantee Subsidies and what else concerns the joynt Alliance and that they expect every day that Secretary which was with the Count Dhona in England to Arrive here with full Instructions upon the whole business I received a Letter from you lately by the Kings Command in favour of Captain Hooper His pretensions I find are of a different Nature one for Arms he bought and the other to be restor'd to the pension he enjoy'd before the Wars I have spoken again to Monsieur de Witt and Meerman about him which I had done several times at the Captains being here they say the first is reasonable and will be satisfied but that the other cannot be done because it draws in consequence the pretensions of all other English Officers who lost their Pensions upon the same occasion of which they name several that the States would be very willing to oblige out of particular Esteem were it not for the general consequence of it I kiss your Hands and am ever SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXX Hague April 16. S. N. 69. SIR I did not intend any thing I had written should give you the trouble of so much Reflexion as you are pleas'd to make in yours of the 30th past upon the passage of your former Letter which carryed so much Truth and so much Prudence in the Considerations you had furnished me that I had often made use of them in all private Discourses with the chief Persons here as those which were likely to have the greatest effect But as yet nothing has past farther in that matter the Commissioners having not renewed our Conference nor given me any account of the States Resolution upon our last in that endless Affair of the Marine Article Though they will by no means agree with me so much as in that Appellation but say they have consented to all his Majesties desires in what can be said to touch a Marine Treaty but in this make only a difficulty in what concerns the Trade with Nations at Land as well as the passage of Forts upon Rivers In short nothing hits in this matter though Monsieur Meerman assures me both he and Monsieur de Witt are of Opinion that it draws not to so great consequence as those of the East-India Company are possest who think their Company were absolutely broken if any such Article were framed or else that we should fall into a War upon it And he says Monsieur de Witt told him plainly he durst not proceed further in it for fear of drawing so great an envy and clamour upon him as that of a Company which is spread so far and so deep through the whole State And yet the Company themselves would fain perswade me as well as the States that for Redress of any particular injuries or hardships that we can complain to have suffered already or shall at any time hereafter contrary to the ancient and constant practice of all Nations in those parts they will be ready at all times to give the serverest Orders we can desire to those in the Indies and be as severe in seeing them executed And this is the Sum of the Discourses I have had upon this Subject since my last with Addition that they must commit it to a Minister of theirs in England pour tascher de venir aux plus grand Esclaircissement upon which I suppose some Resolution may possibly be taken in the States of Holland before they part which will be to morrow or next day For the business of Surinam in which I received your Commands I have thereupon Discoursed with Monsieur Boreel and the Pensionary of Zealand who assures me that the States there will be content Orders should be sent for intire Liberty to be given to all our English Planters who have a mind to remove from that Colony to do it with their Families and to sell their Estates according as he says is agreed by the Article to that purpose in which they comprehend their Slaves I suppose the words of the Original Articles must decide that point which they have promised to send me having never yet been Transmitted to me from England He says farther that if I will signifie the Names of any particular Families that have testified their desire to Remove the Orders shall go not only for Liberty but Assistance in the Transportation at the usual Rates according to the Article at least he declares this as his Opinion and what he shall endeavour to perswade the States to For I have sufficiently beat them
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
in all I now engage in I find by your last as well as by the former what I am to insist upon in the business of Surinam and did it to the utmost in those Conferences I gave you the account of and have since expected the States Resolutions thereupon which have been so often promised me and yet I am not possest of them though they tell me I shall before the closing of this Pacquet But I am not so impatient to see them since a Visit I received last night from the Pensionary of Zealand who begun with his having defer'd it some days because he would not come without giving me the certainty of those Resolutions having past the States and in such form as he doubted not I would be satisfied with For they had done all that could be in compliance to his Majesty though they knew very well he had no right to interpose in this matter any more then they did in the behalf of the Dutch in the new Neatherlands upon which point of all Right ceasing after a Cession made of the Soveraignty by the Peace he at large insisted He would not pretend to tell me the particulars of the Resolutions which he said should not fail to be in my hands to day but as far as I can gather they amount no more than to orders for their Governor that Proclamation shall be made to declare liberty given to all that desire to remove that they come and given in their Names within a certain time and shall have another convenient time allotted them to sell their Estates and if they cannot find a Ghapman in that time the States will buy them at the usual prices and the Slaves at the same prices they cost and after that they shall by the Governor be furnisht with convenient Shipping and at usual Rates to Transport them to such parts as they desire The debate I fell into with him upon the point of carrying off our Slaves admitted nothing new that I remember besides what I related to you from our former Conferences but upon the other point of their Orders or the Duplicates being carryed thither by one of the Kings Ships which Monsieur de Witt and the other Commissioners in our former Conference had not seemed at last very averse to I found this Gentleman in quite another language and nettled at the Advice it seems he had received that the King intended to send Major Bannister thither and imploy him and a Ship of our own in this Removal He fell into long Discourses of the mischiefs the Major had practised against them there and of the Reasons there had been for the States of Zealand's Sentence against him and particularly that part that he should never return thither which he was sure they would be resolute in and after that of the little appearance they should suffer any of our Ships to come thither when none of their were suffered to touch at any of our Colonies in those parts but so far from it that they had now a complaint to make about an English Ship from Guiney with Slaves that was by stress of Weather forced lately into Surinam and selling their Slaves there had freighted themselves with a sort of Wood that was necessary for those of the Barbadoes where as soon as this Ship arrived all the wood was immediately consiscated because it was upon the account of some of the Inhabitants of Surinam Upon these points we talkt our selves out of breath and into very ill humour which he would have ended by saying he did not doubt but when I saw the Resolutions of the States I would be satisfied with them though I have no belief of it at this time In all these Discourses I ever wave answering the long and bitter complaints they fall into against my Lord Willoughby and the demands of Reparation so that I doubt Monsieur Boreel will be very ill company upon that Subject when he goes over which is intended within a fortnight or three weeks I heard about ten days since that Mr. St. Iohns that was chief Justice in Cromwell's time was come to some place not far from Utrecht and a Son of his with him who was lately at Amsterdam I took no notice of it because I suppose he is free to go where he pleases and I know not whether I had reason to make any reflection upon a great many English landing at Rotterdam from several Vessels and passing by this place towards Amsterdam and I suppose with design of going to visit Mr. St. Iohns One of them was Mr. Walter St. Iohns with his Lady another was Sir Foulke Howe there was a Sir Iames too with them whose Name I could not be assured off though the Person I imploy'd told me he heard him once call'd by it and thought it was some such Name as Sir Iames Bagg and that there was another whom he had often seen go in and out of the Parliament House There are about 30 in all as I hear with Women and Servants But passing in several companies lodging in Dutch Houses and seeming to do it with a design of being private this made me curious to enquire more of them and send to Rotterdam to enquire how they came over With much adoe I found the House they lodged in there and that they came part in the Dutch Paquet-boat and part in a Vessel from a small Creek in Essex or Suffolk and two Gentlemen in a Ship from Weymouth in Dorsetshire that they were Visited at Rotterdam by Desborough Helsey one Major White and Bolsprit a Merchant all Men of the same Strain who were lock'd up in a room with them five or six hours and White and Helsey went away with them upon their Journey towards Amsterdam I have engaged one to follow them and give me a further account of them if he ran though I know not at all what such Persons their Journies or Meetings can signifie However I thought it fit to give you notice of it because you may by comparing Circumstances unknown to me make perhaps other Reflections Of the Medals you mention I can hear â—othing here further than what Mr. Perwick wrote me last Post from France that there were such Medals made there and disperst on purpose to peak us against the Dutch For Sir Samuel Morland's Cypher we have the Key of it here but my Secretary tells me there is something alter'd by you in the rule and use of it since last year so that he has been out in something Mr. Perwick wrote from France for a Tryal between us therefore I should be glad you would please to send your exact Rule as you now use it with a good quantity of the ruled papers by some safe hand Persons of all Nations here take part in the hopes given us by the Queen and especially the Dutch whose chief Ministers seem to me very much concern'd in it so that I can assure her Majesty it will be very ill taken abroad if
est accordè c. And if we can give Instances of any particular Fort by which we have been of late years aggriev'd contrary to the usual practise the Redress in that may at the same time be insisted on and to the words Sous aucun pretexte de traittez ny des Forts may be added And such a pursuit would I suppose walk upon a firmer foot then the other of a general Article which they say is in the Air while it is not grounded upon particular instances and therefore so apprehended among them that I very much doubt succeeding in it to any other effect then the pretences of quarrelling with them when we find occasion But these are sudden and undigested notions of mine which I leave to your riper Considerations and offer them only out of an impatient desire I have of finding some issue out of this Affair which has mortified me so long by not being able to effect his Majesties desire and is particularly unlucky to me in being forced to represent all the Reasons they can here raise against it by my Letters into England wherein I take no care of enlarging upon those Arguments I use here to maintain it since it would be a Repetition of what I have chiefly been furnisht with out of England and I know this makes it look as if in my Letters I pleaded their Cause and not our own But till they have a Minister in England I know not how to help it I doubt the Zealanders have a mind Monsieur Borâ—â—l should have the honour of Negotiating the Affair of Surinam rather than I However I desire to know whether his Majesty resolves I shall put in another Memorial to the States upon their last Answer and upon what particulars I shall Positively insist for that you mention at large in your last of Major Bannisters Person or of his Majesties sending a Ship purposely for the Transportation of the Inhabitants has been yet mention'd only in our private Discourses and not oâ—â— publick papers and you will I hope make that use of the failing laid to my charge in the Merchants paper of demands to judge it necessary that my Orders should be distinct I am ever SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XXXIX Hague Iune 21. S. N. 69. SIR I have this day received one from you of the 8th current and shall as you give me leave make the best use I can of it here and you need not fear that the Dutch Ministers want being Entertained by me in the same Style you have used in both your last Letters and in some others before I had yesterday a large Conference with Monsieur de Witt concerning the East-India Business wherein though he endeavour'd to maintain they had no obligation in Justice to restore our Trade at Macassar yet he said he was very glad that Monsieur Van Benninghen had made me such an overture and though he fear'd much he would find difficulty in making it good yet he assur'd me he should have all his help in it After all we could say of both sides I desired him to take these two Maxims with him as those that would never fail him in all his Negotiations with us First that the good or ill quarter we had with them in the East-Indies would ever have a great influence upon our Alliances and good or ill intelligence with them in Europe since we overmatch them here as much as they did us in the Indies and so must necessarily ballance one by the other And to make this good the second Maxim I gave him was that how luckily soever they had escaped the danger of our last War yet whenever a King of England should fall in frankly with the current humour of his People for the understanding and managing any War wherein both should take their Honour and Interest to be equally concerned there was nothing which our Crown was not capable of atchieving since the true strength of all Kingdoms and States consisted in the number of good and warlike Bodies of Men that are their Native Subjects in which I believed no King in Christendom could equal his Majesty considering the number and natural courage of the Subjects in his several Kingdoms hesides the general Riches of England whenever they meet an occasion that would make them willing to open their purses to any degree near what all their Neighbours were forced to do every day Monsieur de Witt acknowledged both these to be true and upon the last said he believed France had more Men than we but we had more good Men then they and upon that Subject he fell upon extolling the bravery of our Nation by many Examples and to a degree that no English Man could have said more And for the other point he said we might be sure by our being so much stronger here then they were that we should never want fair quarter with them in the Indies but he hoped we would not press them upon things that they could not grant without endangering the ruine of all their Establishments or their Alliance with us To say Truth upon all Discourses of this kind or the necessity of their preserving our Alliance in this conjuncture both Monsieur de Witt and the rest of their Ministers ever yielded all I can say But on the other side what they think is reason they hold they must perish with it and that when a Nation once yields that point in their Negotiations with any other they must ever after treat rather as a Province then as an equal State And therefore I doubt the fault is in me that have not yet been able to make them acknowledge that we have reason in what we demand though I am not yet out of hopes to bring our East-India business to something as far as I can ground by Monsieur de Witt and Van Benninghen's last Discourses And to that purpose I resolve next week to make one step more than I have yet done by a Journey to Amsterdam which they both advise me to and I hear those of that Town have a good while expected it as it seems other Ambassadors have used to make them a visit in less time and then I shall confer with the Directors all together and the chief of the Company besides and know what I am to trust to The day before yesterday I conferr'd with the Pensionary of Zealand who drew up the States last Answer about Surinam and read him that part of your former long Letter which concerned that matter He pretended to hope when his Majesty had seen their Answer he would be better satisfied but I soon beat him from that post and pursued it so far as to read him the last words of your Discourse upon both the Subjects of the Marine and Surinam concerning the ill consequences they were like to have and that such as were friends to our Alliance would not be long able to resist them He answer'd me very gravely
so have left the Definition of gentes liberae as strict as we our selves desired it I understood likewise by our Conference and their Proposition yesterday that the words before mentioned should run Illibata maneant quae usu commerciorum armorum c. and not in usu as they have put it in the enclosed which comes but just now to my hands and I think it would be stronger for us to have that preserv'd untoucht which we have acquired usu commerciorum as well as armorum jure or pactorum vi If you can content your Merchants with the Treaty as it runs here you may have it perfected and your Trade at Macassar and factories restored which I think I may say considently though Monsieur de Witt and Van Benninghen only promise their endeavours in it and would make us believe 't is something very extraordinary they do for his Majesties Satisfaction that those of the East-India Company would sooner part with a Million of Money then yield the 2d Article about defining a Besieged place which they say will end all further Conquests of theirs in the Indies since they cannot Besiege them by Land and they may be relieved by Sea They say besides that the Restitution of Macassar will be such a President for Redress of any Injuries that we can ever receive and justly complain of that it imports much more then any General Article could have done without it of all which I leave the Judgment before you Letters this day from the Baron de Bonstetten give great appearance of the Switzers Aversion to engage in the French Interest and assure the Spanish Ministers of their being provided with Money which together with their Inclinations he thinks may make some change in their Counsels to the advantage of those ends proposed by the Tripple Alliance We hear France is very ill satisfied with the late Revolution in Poland and with Don Iohn's growing so powerful in their Neighbourhood Having none of Mr. Secretary's now to answer with the Debt I was in to your Lordship has excused his trouble this Post and been the occasion of drawing it upon your Lordship from My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and most Humble Servant VV. Temple LETTER XLIII Hague Iuly 19. S. N. 69. SIR THE contrary Winds have kept yours of the 26th past some days longer upon the way then is usual in this Season but I shall not fail to Morrow to deliver his Majesties Letter to the States which is as you observe in a Style which shows that the King demands nothing but his Right and seeks no occasions of unkindness or weakning his Alliance with this State as some were apt to believe Monsieur de Witt seem'd satisfied in a great measure with the last paper you sent me over of Replies to their Arguments upon the business of Surinam and says the difficulty in Colonel Willoughby's case must be cleared by matter of Fact for if the Slaves he took away were only such as belonged to his own Person he allows he had right to do it but not if they belong'd to any of the Works upon the Colony of which in that case he says they were apart and so ought to be left in the State it was found at the notice of the Peace I am extream glad his Majesty has made so fair and distinct a Demand by way of Letter which takes it off from my hands though I shall not omit all my endeavours among the Ministers to procure a good Answer to it which the Satisfaction offer'd in case of any breach of Articles by Colonel Willoughby should methinks very much advance I am glad to find you are of the Opinion that their restoring us to Macassar will signifie something towards defending us from any future injuries by Treaties or Forts and this I can assure you that tho' Monsieur de Witt desends the Action upon its being done in time of War and thereby would make the Restitution pass rather for an Act of Friendship and Compliance then of Justice yet I have not heard him or any else among them offer to justifie any such Action that should be done in time of Peace and where we had a Trade establisht by preceding Contracts And by all I can observe here I do not believe we are likely to be much troubled about any Accidents likely to happen upon their future Conquests in those parts for all the prudent Men among them confess they have more already in their hands then they can manage with so small a Stock of Men as their Government consists of which will be ever a hinderance to any great Enlargements by Conquest or Colonies in any part of the World Besides the Trade of the East-India is now grown so large and so open that 't is almost impossible those Commodities should not grow to be arrant Drugs in five or six years time For the Riches of the Trade formerly grew by the dearness and that by the scarcity of the Commodities brought from thence Whereas now the Dutch Company as I am assured have left behind them in their Stores full as much as they have brought away this year and yet 't is a question among the Merchants whether they have not brought enough to glut the Market while besides us and Portugal now of late Sweden Denmark and Hamburgh as well as France are falling into the Trade At least I was assured at Amsterdam that the East-India Actions as the several Shares are call'd fell twenty in the hundred even after the News of their Fleets being safe and near their Arrival But these are only my Conjectures from the lights I can gather in various Conversation and ought not to hinder us in the pursuit of our Rights or prevention of any injuries we have reason to apprehend I sent my Lord Arlington last Post the Result of their late Conferences with me upon this matter in the Restitution of Macassar and the projects of a General Article upon which I can proceed no further till I receive new Directions from you I hope the matters of the Tripple Alliance will prove firm by the sudden payment of the Swedish Subsidies but by my last Conference with the Spanish Ambassador and Monsieur Mareschall I fear I shall be prest again upon the point of the concert For the Spanish Ambassador offers an Act for securing 30 M. of Crowns a Month to the Swedes during a War if it breaks out and the Swedish Ministers I find expect from us and Holland a promise of paying them the other 30 M. in that case whilst Spain engages as they are content to Reimburse us What Holland will resolve to do in this case without a Hypotheque as they have hitherto insisted I know not yet If they refuse I am not like to be prest upon any answer but if they should consent it will be necessary for me to know his Majesties pleasure So soon as this matter ends Monsieur Mareschall has orders to go to the
Prince of Lunenburgh to make them an Invitation from the Swedish Crown conformable to that which has already been made them by his Majesty and this State which shews the Disposition of that Crown to be both steddy and forward towards the ends of our Alliance and I think his Majesty may be confident in this present Conjuncture they will keep close to the measures that shall be taken by him in the Publick Concernments of Christendom I am always SIR Your most Faithful Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XLIV Hague Iuly 23. S. N. 69. SIR I am sorry to find by yours of Iuly 6th as well as by a latter from my Lord Arlington that all my endeavours towards an issue in the East-India business are like to be never the nearer it For I very much doubt if the words you mention which they put in for security against our grounding Innovations in the course of that Trasick upon this Article though we have not yet pretended it as I remember should be left out it would but encrease their Suspicions and leave the matter where it was But I think the best will be rather to make a new Project the fairest our Merchants can afford and such an one as can leave nothing that is past in dispute But if we find any Grievances already practised besides Macassar to Name them and demand Redress This I think will be better then to accept their Article and strike out those words for the reason aforementioned though they often argue that the desire coming wholly from us and no Nation pretending right to force another to a new Treaty the wording of the Article ought to be allowed them I wish some of our East-India Merchants had been at our Conferences for I will be bound to say this thing has been debated to the very Grave and nothing left that can be said in it though we pretend on either side not to be understood aright in it what we would have But that you may once for all know what they go upon here to the end of grounding your Proposition the better I will tell you First that they are firmly perswaded our Merchants chief aim in this Article is to give occasions of entring into new disputes with them when they shall see a good Conjuncture even upon things establisht by long use and mutual practise in the Indies and against which they will not now put in their Exceptions and Complaints And therefore I do not think they will ever admit an Article which shall be understood to alter the present state of things there since they offer if there be any occasion to do that upon our Complaints and Instances in the particulars but only to prevent Innovations for the future contrary to what has been or is now practised by mutual consent or allowance As for Example they will not admit of an Article which shall import freedom of Commerce with all free Nations unlimited by the use Establisht and the Treaties acquired unless first we tell them what those Nations are which we count free and where notwithstanding we are by the Dutch forbidden to Trade for they say the nature of Subjection is so various especially in those Countries that upon such an Article we may hereafter pretend to Trade in many places where we never thought or offer'd at it before And the same in point of Forts and Passes too That which Monsieur Van Benninghen went upon for a foundation in the offer of this Article was first that we desir'd no Innovation in the Ancient usual and mutual practice of Commerce in the Indies but rather the hindring any such Innovations that may be offer'd by them Secondly That we pretended not by it a Reddress of Injuries already offer'd against such practise but a prevention of them for the future and of the jealousies we had conceived of their intentions And this they reckon upon because they have from the beginning ever desir'd instances of our Grievances to the end they might redress the particulars and understand the general aim but we have not thought fit to give them any besides that of Macassar in which they are ready to do us reason They ground it besides upon the several Discourses I have held them upon those two points wherein I am sure I have never gone farther then what I received from my Lord Keeper my Lord Arlington or your self in your Letters that I have by me And upon this Subject I confess it is new to me what you say in your last that to put in that Clause Illibat â— maneant quae in usu commercii armorum vi aut pactorum jure acquisita sunt would confirm upon us not only all the injuries we have complain'd of by Forts and Passes but even of Treaties too and that of Macassar which they offer to Abrogate Now I must confess I remember not any of those particular injuries we have complained of or desir'd Redress in besides that of Macassar But very well that after my pressing several times for such instances the Merchants sent me a large paper with very many Recapitulations of what had been and of what might be to which the Dutch replyed that they only raked into former times and actions that had been debated and ended in former Treaties and desired to know of us which of those instances we thought appliable to the present question To which I received an Answer that what we desired was more for prevention than remedies And in short have not been furnisht with other particular Instances than of Cochin and Cananor which the Dutch say was wholly of a different nature and regulated by the Article that defines a besieged place And now you have all before you that I can think to put you in mind off I should be glad to receive as I said before the fairest Proposition our Merchants can afford of their own for I am sure it will never be ended by any from hence and if I fail of their consent here to it I think it will be time for me to despair of it and I am very glad that upon that Subject you talk of bringing it to a meeting of Commissioners which is all the way I know will be left besides breaking it off unkindly the effects of which I doubt not but both sides understand and will cast up before they come to it I must Rectifie one thing which I think you have not right understood me in which is that by such an Article as they propose we should buy the Abrogation of their Treaty at Macassar too dear establishing at the same time a right of doing the same against us for ever For the Article cannot be understood to establish future Treaties but only the Past. Nor do the Dutch impose the Article as a price of what we demand at Macassar but are willing to Re-establish us there without any such Article at all but finishing the Treaty upon those already agreed to The illness of the King