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
return'd only in time to acknowledge a Letter I met of yours here the 18th past with an enclosed paper of Arguments in both the points of the East-Indies and Surinam which I shall not fail to make the best use of I can I have had reason to believe from my Reception in the several Towns and Conversation with their chief Magistrates that they all understand their interest in our Alliances as they ought and value it as it deserves having had it upon all occasions exprest to me by them all equally in their Discourses But in other Demonstrations more by the Town of Harlem who are the most averse to the Princes interest then the rest and whose meeting me with all the Militia of their Town in great Gallantry and with great expense of powder as I hear was taken ill by the other Towns as an excess they ought not to have made upon any Princes Arrival without having it first concerted by the States of Holland I thank God the trouble of this Journey is is well over by which the chief thing I have learnt is that when they are Drunk and when they are Sober they seem still of a mind in what concerns us and our Alliance I left them at Amsterdam in the same mind you are in your Letter that 't is time to make an end of this Marine business and Monsieur Van Benniaghen assur'd me that upon his coming to Town here next week he would to his utmost endeavour it and that in the business of Macassar we should have Satisfaction For the General Article I can yet Discover no disposition to it unless it should be with such Restrictions as I doubt will not answer our Merchants ends as for Example in that of Trading with Nations not in Subjection they say 't is a thing of so common Right that we have no reason to demand any particular Article but if such a thing be adjusted it must be with a Clause that it shall not be adjudged to prejudice any Rights that one or other may have acquired by their Arms or by Treaties with any Princes or People in those parts You can best judge whether this be what our Merchants mean For my part I am very confident that these here mean no such thing as to endeavour our exclusion from the Trade of the Indies nor to deny us the Redress of any particular injuries we can complain of and that if we desired Orders to their Officers in the Indies to make no Innovations which may be to our prejudice but to carry all matters there that concerns us in the most friendly manner that has been used between the Nations we should not be denyed them though they are so stanch upon this General Article believing it will be made the ground of future demands which we will not now specifie And all this Opinion of mine is not raised by the professions they make nor by Monsieur Van Benninghen's protesting they are so far from doing us injuries that they tremble at the very thoughts of it and a great deal more of that kind but it comes from my belief that they are a State which very well understands their own Interests and knows they can never take any good measures but with us and that if necessity drives them to any other they are such as must fail and ruine them at last I am always SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XLII Hague Iuly 9. S. N. 69. My Lord I ask your Lordships pardon for not acknowledging by the last Post one of Iune 18 which was then newly come to my hands with an enclosed for the Prince of Tuscany which I find was very welcome to him by one I received yesterday from Monsieur Castilioni We have now some reason to believe the 200 Dollars from Spain will at length appear for besides the assurance given me of it by the Spanish Agent at Amsterdam and since by the Ambassador here I have had one Coymans a Merchant with me who is the chief of the Partners that have contracted in Spain for remitting that Money and who assures me that he had News by the last Spanish Post of the Contracts being perfected by his Correspondent there with the Spanish Ministers and that they were Negotiating likewise with them for remitting the two following Terms as they should grow due and he says we are not like to attend the Arrival of the Plate which is to be Imbarkt at Cadiz for all that is to run upon the Merchants hazard who by the Contract are upon Receipt of the value there to draw Bills upon these of Amsterdam payable at Sight So as I hope there will soon be an end of this long business As for the Concert subsequent to the Guaranty I hope it is in such a posture as his Majesty will be pleased with for upon my last Conference with the Swedish Minister since my last return from Amsterdam we agreed that we would neither of us begin the motion of it any further that if I were prest to it either by Spain or Sweden I should say his Majesty was content to enter into it when ever the Crown of Sweden were so too that if by either of the said parties the Swedish Ministers shall be Sollicited they shall Answer that they are ready to enter into it when ever either Spain or Holland shall propose the ways of assuring the Monthly Subsidies designed them in case of a War breaking out for as for those spoken of in time of Peace I think the pretence will cease I send your Lordship enclosed all the fruits of my troublesom Journey to Amsterdam and of my Conferences since with Monsieur de Witt and Van Benninghen For having absolutely declared that the Restitution of our Trade at Macassar would not serve turn without a General Article they at length consented there should be one which they pretend is pursuant to the meaning exprest by our Ministers though not by our Merchants which is that nothing desired should tend to the breaking the former Usages and Establishments but only to prevent new injuries especially since we have given them no other particular Instances as they say of our Complaints besides this of Macassar The enclosed form of all the additional Articles is what they will consent to The last about Trade with free Nations goes in Latin to avoid the Translation which the other must undergo upon perfecting the Treaty They pretend the latter part of the Article which says Illibata maneant quae in usu commerciorum armorum jure aut pactorum vi acquisita sunt secures us in any place where our Trade is already Establisht from Injuries either by Treaties or Forts With all this I have not exprest any Satisfaction further then my promises of Transmitting all for his Majesties Judgment and Resolution I only struck out the word they much insisted upon after Gentibus liberis which were Non dependentibus as capable of any Interpretation and
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
I can assure by Advance that he is much your Servant and upon all occasions does you Justice which is as much as you need desire and more then falls to every Man's Share from his Friends I mention'd in my last to my Lord Arlington a Writing sent hither from Sweden to prove us and the Dutch obliged to pay their Subsidies which is long and digested by Civil Lawyers rather than Statesmen or Merchants And therefore I trouble you not with sending a Transcript of it but have copied out in the enclosed Paper the Parts that I most reflected upon not so much for their Strength of Argument but for an Indication of the Temper with which it was written For as to the first I think all may be answer'd in two Words First that we never promised it and then That we never intended it Nor is it very fair to say The King has so interpreted it because he was once content to pay his Share in case of dividing the Sum nor in the course of the Writing to make themselves pass for the only Principal that was of weight to make the Peace for which they draw into Argument Expressions we have used to that purpose with intention only to oblige Spain to do them the Reason we desire I have since discoursed this to Monsieur Silvercrown and told him I thought it better this Paper might not be avowed by any Authority in Sweden while we were in hopes of obtaining their Satisfaction from Spain and upon the pursuit of it as we are at present And upon his pressing the necessity of finding some speedy way to satisfie them for fear they should be induced to take their Measures with France I told him I would not suspect that knowing they were engaged in this Alliance by other Considerations than that of such Sums of Money That however such Arguments might be used to Holland but not to us For if by Sweden's or Holland's fault the Business of our Triple-Alliance should break and each Party be left to take their own Measures with France we could very well give both of them the start of us in that Pursuit and yet come sooner and best to the End For we understood our selves so well as to know we were more considerable to France either for or against them then not only they or Holland but then all the Nations of Christendom besides And if we were at any time to be bought there would be more given for us than for them all He confest it and assur'd me of all his Endeavours to temper and represent Matters so in Sweden as to bring all to a good Issue if Spain proves any thing reasonable And in pursuit of that I assur'd him of His Majesty's utmost Endeavours and of my having received the most pressing Commands Well I hope our turn will yet one Day come of speaking as boldly in our Negotiations as any of our Neighbour Kings For what has been may be again The French give us a good Example and will in time I suppose come with the Roman Ambassador to draw a Circle about the Prince they Treat with and command an Ay or No before they stir out they are great Designs to be driven on all at a time to have a Fleet of a Hundred Men of War with all Brass Guns to Establish a Trade in the Indies to value their own Manufactures by Exclusion of all others to resume all the Domain of the Crown to suppress utterly all those of the Religion in France to conquer Flanders and to be the sole and positive Arbiter of all Differences among his Neighbours Unto the Issue of all these must go a great deal of Time and good Fortune and Negligence or Ill Counsels of other Princes and States In Spain I doubt not they will find enough of both but if what the Baron d'Isola promises be true I hope not enough to hinder the Effect of our Triple-Alliance Though I am I confess better satisfied of the Parts than the Plainness and Sincerity of that Minister Otherwise he makes us believe there will be Two hundred Thousand Dollars ready to advance upon the Swedish Subsidies and gives hope of the rest at easie Terms in case they like the Project of our Guaranty I have nothing to encrease this Trouble beyond the Assurances of my being always SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple LETTER XVIII Hague Ianuary 29. S. N. 69. SIR I Have since my last received both yours of the 8th and 12th The first accompanied by my Powers and Instructions which are full and clear to those Ends we have lately had in our Eye I shall use them to my best Endeavours according to His Majesty's Intentions particularly the last Article and see not any thing at present to make me despair of Success in case the natural quickness of Counsels in France and slowness in Holland suffer what we are about to be effected in time The State of this Matter according to the present Dispositions I meet with here I have entertain'd my Lord Arlington with more at large this Post and so shall forbear your trouble in the Repetition I am glad in the mean time to find you so positive That if Spain perform on their part you shall prevail with Sweden to go as far with us as the Guaranty of the Peace at Aix in its extent For of that I can yet draw no confident Hopes from the Swedish Ministers here though they are both inclin'd to it I was very sorry to give my Lord Arlington an Account in my last of a new unlook'd for Stop given my former hopes of concluding suddenly the only Article which remains disputed in our Marine Propositions Monsieur de Witt has since entertain'd me with a larger Account of the Jealousies raised upon that Matter among the Indian Directors at Amsterdam coming likewise from Monsieur Van Benningher But I find nothing new in it beyond the Suspicions they have conceived of our intending something they think not of by desiring a General Article for prevention only of an Inconvenience which we have not yet suffer'd or at least before we think fit to give any one Instance of it to instruct them only in the Nature of the Grievance we apprehend But I shall enlarge no further upon it since Monsieur de Witt tells me That Monsieur Van Benninghen resolves to give you a large Account from Amsterdam of all that is suggested there upon this Subject For the Pensioner he seems to have no other Reflections yet upon it then that such a Clause if we that is our Merchants have any reserved Meaning in it should upon change of Ministers or Conjunctures be made the occasion of new Disputes between us as he says Sir George Downing's Interpretation of those Words in the Treaty of 62 Litem inceptam prosequi or de poursuivre leur procez entamè Drawing that which was intended for a legal Decision before the Judges where it was begun
as I could have done my self though without any conclusion to our purpose nor has he yet sent me a Copy of Monsieur Valkeneer's Letter or the Expedient proposed in it which I mention'd about a fortnight since So jealous are those of Amsterdam in this matter that they cannot fall upon any sort of Proposition but they presently imagine twenty Interpretations we may raise upon it beyond their meaning and I believe they fear it more now then if our Friendship were less necessary to them Monsieur Van Benninghen promises every day to send to Monsieur Valkeneer to propose his Expedient and Monsieur de Witt says if we cannot agree upon it here Monsieur Boreel shall be instructed upon his going into England either to give or receive Satisfaction in it and this is all I can yet get from them and know not how to help my self The Pensionary of Zealand was harder in his Arguments about Surinam maintaining first that after the conclusion of the Peace the King had no further right to interest himself in any thing that past in that Colony no more then they in the New Netherlands or Spain in the Burse or Breda or all their other Towns surrender'd upon Articles but whose Soveraignty by the Peace was given up to them That if Articles were not observ'd the Inhabitants might complain but to them only who were by the Peace become their Soveraign and not to any other Prince But though they wav'd that in complyance to his Majesty yet they had reason to wonder why we should press so far for satisfaction in this matter without giving it in the wrongs they had received from my Lord Willoughby after such peremptory commands from the King in their behalf and that if the Kings Oâ—ficers would not obey him we had reason to fear the same from theirs and here I was to hear a long deduction of my Lord Willoughby's Action with all the aggravation that could be but having weather'd these two points we fell upon the Articles themselves after his having profest that they should be observ'd and upon the fifth he argued that the words together with their Estates could mean only the product of their Estates sold because after mention of power to sell their Estate it is said immediately after And the Governor in that case shall promise that he be Transported 2dly That this appear'd to be the meaning and not that they should have liberty to carry away their Slaves because there was another express Article which was the 19th to give that liberty particularly to those who would go off with the Fleet that was there and which would have been needless if it had been comprehended by the former Article 3dly That if this were so meant they would have a priviledge more than either they had while they were his Majesties Subjects or than any of theirs for in none of our or their Plantations is it as he says permitted that any Inhabitant who removes shall carry away his Slaves but he is to sell them there because they are an essential part of the fruits of the Land and without which the Soil is nothing worth These were his main Arguments and I used the best I could to maintain my point and we parted with assurance of his utmost endeavours to give his Majesty satisfaction without the ruine of the Colony The other Deputies have promised me the same but I doubt it is only with intention to ascertain the satisfaction of those that remove for such of their Slaves as are necessary to the Lands there at the current price of Slaves in those parts for this I hear is whisper'd among them as an expedient in the business But I cannot yet get their Resolution which I doubt is something delay'd by the present Affairs between Holland and Zealand which are every day in agitation though a day passes not without calling upon them about it which is always answer'd with promise of dispatch Since the writing of this I have yours of the 11th which signiâ—ies his Majesties satisfaction in the Negotiations here about the Guaranty and Subsidies and intentions to dispatch suddenly the Ratification of the first I was surpriz'd this Morning when Monsieur Marcschal came to me and shew'd me the Swedish Ratification which was just then arrived and could wish the Spaniards had made as much hast with their Money of which I can yet hear no News from the Spanish Ambassadors and wish that after all these pains that have been taken to make this party it be not broken at last by the extream Negligence or Disorder of the Spanish Court and Counsels for their spoiling all their own Affairs and ruining themselves are things that I think God alone can help In the mean time I know not whether the Count de Molinas being made sensible of this particular Will contribute any thing towards it Sir Tho. Higgons parted from hence on Saturday for Anâ—werp and gave me the same assurance I see you have received of the German Princes disposition in the present Affairs of our Alliance which you would have reason to be firm in if the French Ambassador had any in the long Discourses and Applauses he has been making this Afternoon upon this point that never any King had in any Negotiation given such a Coup de Maistre and just after a War made Holland depend more upon him then he could have done by a Conquest Que 〈…〉 d' avoir trouâ—è le defâ—â—t de â—â—â—â—èes et poussè son coup aâ— corur and thâ—n Ne â—â—â—â—â— pas le modeste là dessiâ—â— car vous sâ—â—â—ez qu' ils sont a vous et le premier pas que nous serons jâ—â—â—is â—n Flandres vâ—us disposerez de la Hollande comm ' d'â—ne de vos provinces and twenty Strains of this kind in which I shewed him how much he mistook since in 8 Months time I could not make an end of one Marine Article nor compass the execution of those of Surinam which were Arguments enough of the little influence we had here or of my unsuccessful Negotiations For the rest he turns all the fears of the Spaniards en ridicule says the French King has not above 6000 Men in the Camp has sent 7000 effective to the Relief of Candia has no present Application but to finish the Fortifications of the Conquer'd places and without the death of the King of Spain has no thoughts but of Peace and Devertisement He laughs at the Counsels here about encreasing their Forces and at their Alarms of the Bishop of Munster's arming and providing Ammunition and if all be true his Master has the sport of of being quiet himself and yet troubling every body else I am always as becomes me SIR Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant W. Temple At this Instant Monsieur de Witt sent to excuse the delay of the business of Surinam upon the Affairs between the two Provinces which have wholly taken them up for some
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
where the prejudices and consequences were not too great I wish I see the proofs of it I have at present the consolation to see the other Ambassadors more unsatisfied than I am for the Spanish is in a Rage and I doubt with some reason at their having seized in Zealand 8 or 900 pounds which the Constable sent thither t'other day to be laid out in the Equipage of three Spanish Men of War which had been brought in thither by way of Reprizal for some Merchant Ships pretended to have been seized in Spain And besides he is very angry that they will not yet here understand the French Consiscation of the Spanish Subjects Estates within their quarters to be a contravention of the Peace The French Ambassador is unsatisfied in the difficulties made here upon the French Settlement of the Post through Flanders which are come to that pass that for a fortnight past no Letters come or go between this and France but by Express The truth is what has past in this matter makes a very pleasant Story Monsieur Lovois makes a late agreement with Count Taxis for carrying all French Letters by Lisle in stead of Brussels and those in this Country by French Posts and twice a week without taking any notice of these People in the matter till all was done and then sends a Monsieur hither who told the Ministers that Monseigneur de Louvois l'avoit envoyè pour voir Messieurs les Estates et leur dire l'accord qu' il avoit fait avec le Comte Taxis and how they should receive no manner of prejudice by it c. The States refer'd it to Monsieur Van Benninghen with some other Commissioners who were pursued every day for three or four days together by this Envoy with the necessity of dispatching him immediately Car Monseigneur de Louvois l'avoit ordonâ—è de faire tout l' expedition possible while Monsieur Van Benninghen told him they had sent to inform themselves in this business of the Merchants and such other things But at last being at no rest when he prest for an Answer he askt him Monsieur Est ti la premiere fois que vous avez estè en Hollande the Frenchman said yes Et bien dit Mr. V. Benninghen C'est un fort beau pais et les estrangers viennent touts les jours le voir par curiositè Nos villes sont belles et assez près lâ—une de l'autre Vous ferez bien de vous promener huit ou dix jours â—car en ce temps vous les verrez toutes et nous se rons peut estre informèz en vostre affaire The Frenchman made a short Leg and went out and told all his Friends Que Monsieur V. Benninghen l'avoit envoyè promener and so he would be gone and if they would have their Letters they should send for them and so went his way Monsieur de Witt finding the Amsterdam Merchants much unsatisfied with this new Order of Monsieur Lovois in the Packets and resolv'd among other things against having their Letters twice a week sent to know of them who would be most prejudiced by the interruption of the Posts the Merchants of these Countries or those of Paris they answer'd those of Paris Upon which he advis'd them de tenir firme and so the matter lies without any correspondence going I tell you this Story for want of something better and likewise because it gives you quelques traits of the Negotiations with these People and of the way of their two chief Ministers I kiss your hands and am SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant VV. Temple LETTER XLVII Hague April 14th N. S. 1679. I understand that Mr. d'Avaux hath again by a late Memorial press'd the Bishop of Liege's concern in the Magistracy of Mastreicht but I do not hear that the States have yet given him any Answer I find that the Imperial and Danish Ministers here are inclin'd to believe that the French Equipage is design'd against England and that from information which they both have but particularly the latter that the Fleet is Victuall'd but for six Weeks which is too little for an Expedition into the Baltick and that the Ships are of the greater Rates and such as cannot enter into Kattegat They make an Argument besides of the Garrisons which came out of the evacuated Spanish Towns being all disposed about Dunkirk and Graveline and suppose the French King's Journey that way finding no preparations made for it in Alsatia or the Neighbouring parts The Elector of Brandenburgh having sent some Privateers into the Elbe to satisfie himself for quarters assigned him upon Hamburg of which the D. of Zell having had the benefit hath undertaken to discharge them That D. hath written to the States to complain that whereas he hath by their Example and Desire of the publick quiet made his Peace and included the Town of Hamburg in it their Subjects notwithstanding taking Forreign Commissions disturb the Commerce of that Town which he desires they will give effectual orders to prevent I hear that the Bishop of Munster by his Treaty with Sweden is to retain Wildshausen till the Swedes have paid him 100000 Rixdollars in the Hamburg Bank and the possession besides of all other places to be restored till the Swedes are able to put sufficient Garrisons into them The Princess of Orange having had a sit of her Ague on Wednesday but much gentler then the former ones was well and chearful all yesterday and this morning but towards one this Afternoon the cold fit came upon her again But having not lasted above a quarter of an hour and with little shaking she was fallen a sleep with the beginning of the hot fit Their R. Highnesses are expected here this night or too morrow upon a visit to the Princess The Prince is also expected to morrow Monsieur Odijke arriv'd last night at this place The Mareschal d'Estrades returned on Wednesday from Amsterdam towards Nimmegen Some give out here that the design of his Journey was to make a Match for his Grandson with a very rich Fortune Daughter to a Merchant there LETTER XLVIII Hague April 11th N. S. 1679. SIR I am here to acknowledge several successive favours from you the last being of the 28th past but I must withal let you know that the Superscription both of that and another before of the 14th was misplaced to me the Letters being designed to Monsieur Chaumont who I suppose hath those you intended for me which I shall claim of him and send him his for them I cannot but luy to heart the unhappy constitution of Affairs in England and should be extreamly glad if you could think fit to give me your Opinion whether the matter of my Lord Treasurers ' to Mr. Mountague be the chief ground of the offence taken by the Commons against him Here are Reports I know not what to make of that his Royal Highness is designing to remove from Brassels to Breda I have nothing of it from Sir R. Bulstrode or other hands from which I have Letters about his Highness Whatever his usage be or is like to prove We believe the D. of Villa Hermosa's stay at Ghent is for the return of an Express he hath sent to Madrid for instructions which will determine it I am with Truth and Respect SIR Your most Humble and Faithful Servant R. Meredith LETTER XLIX Nimeguen Feb. 1st S. N. 1677. MY last Letters from England tell me that it hath been confidently reported at my Lord Treasurer's Table that I am dead which Report I observe unluckily to happen about the end of a quarter and it is much that it should be so long before they are in the right when I consider my great Age my little Health my being put unnecessarily upon a long Winter's Journey into a very cold Country where I have been separated from my Baggage during the greatest part of a very hard Winter by the Ice and at last cannot cover my Head under a 1000 l. by the year To all which I may truly add that I have spent 7000 l. in this Imployment of my own Money 's or rather my Wives and Childrens And to compleat all when Sir Ellis Leighton was convicted of Misdemeanors and would have cast some of his faults upon me The Malice of some Men to me have been so deep or their Capacities so shallow as to believe or pretend to believe a Criminal in his own Case to the prejudice of an innocent Man I hear likewise that his Majesty is inform'd that he Sir Ellis Leighton hath made bargains in France in my Name and with my Knowledge then which nothing is more false and doth touch me in a very tender part And now I leave it to your consideration whether there be much need of poyson or poignards to dispatch a poor old Man thus handled I had almost forgot to tell you that I have been forced to pawn my Plate for 500 l. and do owe little less in this Town so that if my Lord Treasurer would dispatch my extraordinaries and my 5 th quarter he would do nothing contrary to his Majesties Honour and Service in my poor Opinion I humbly beseech you to do me the favour to mind his Lordship of it and to pardon this Trouble from him that is with much deference and respect Honour'd Sir Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant J. Berkley FINIS