THE STATES AGREE WITH FRANCE.

337

distribution of French gold, bore down all opposition; CHAP. V. and the prince himself, warned of the unpopularity A.D. 1678. of his resistance, and driven to despair by the recent conduct of the English parliament, gave a tardy and reluctant assent. Van Beverning proceeded to the May 13. French camp, and an armistice was concluded to allow May 22 time for the discussion of the articles of peace.1

That he might not be disappointed of his object by the interference of England, Louis commissioned Barillon to make a new offer to Charles. Danby no longer advised hostilities-he was deterred by the visible reluctance of the confederates and the violence of his political enemies-the duke of York sacrificed his ambition of military glory to his fear that a war would enable the popular party to make new inroads on what he deemed the legitimate authority of the

2

crown; and Charles readily subscribed a secret treaty, May 17. by which it was stipulated, that, unless the States signified their formal acceptance of the terms offered at Nimeguen within the space of two months, the English king should withdraw his forces from the continent with the exception of three thousand men, to form the garrison of Ostend, and should receive from Louis in return the sum of six million livres (four hundred and fifty thousand pounds) by four quarterly instalments. Barillon, however, was not forgetful of his engagement with the popular leaders, and therefore made the first payment depend on two important conditions, the prorogation of parliament for

66

1 Ibid. 165, 166. Temple, ii. 437. Clar. Corresp. i. 17. Danby's Letters, 254, 338, 341, 358. "The prince said to me alone, that finding the distractions and divisions increase every day in parlia"ment, was that which did most of all discourage him from strug"gling any longer against the inclinations of this whole country to "the peace."-Godolphin to Danby, May 14. Ibid. p. 361. See his letters to the prince, Dalrymple, ii. 172-175.

V.

CHAP. four months, preparatory to a dissolution, and the A.D. 1678. reduction of the English army to the small force of six thousand men.1

May 23.

June 4.

The moment the parliament met, the altercation May 27. between the king and the Commons was revived. The latter proposed in an address to the throne that war May 28. should be declared, or the army be disbanded, without delay. Charles replied that in one case he might be left to fight without allies, and in the other his allies May 30. might be compelled to fight without him. They resolved that all the forces levied during the last seven months "ought to be paid off and disbanded forth"with," and voted the sum of two hundred thousand pounds for that purpose, on the condition that the disbanding should be effected in the short space of three June 7. Weeks. He begged to learn whether it was their intention that the English garrisons in the towns of Flanders should be withdrawn before they could be relieved by Spanish troops; and his opponents, ashamed of their precipitancy, extended the three weeks to sixty days for the regiments serving beyond June 15. the sea, but passed a resolution that after three days no additional motion for a supply should be made June 18. during the session. The king then called them before

June 13.

him, reminded them of the public debt, which had been contracted some years before, and of the anticipations on the actual revenue, occasioned by his preparations for war, and condescended to request, that if they meant him to pursue hostilities with the petty state of Algiers, or to take that part in continental politics which became the dignity of the crown, or to lead the remaining portion of his life in ease and quiet, they would add to his annual income the sum of Dalrymple, ii. 159-168.

1

V.

three hundred thousand pounds. But this appeal to CHAP. their feelings was useless: the house passed contemp- A.D. 1678 tuously to the order of the day.1

In the meanwhile the negotiation between Louis

and the States was transferred from the French camp to the congress at Nimeguen. Every question respecting the personal interests of the two parties was speedily and amicably arranged; a day for the signature of the treaty was appointed; and an armistice for six weeks allowed time for the Spanish government to signify its acceptance of the terms previously offered by Louis. It chanced, however, that a question put by Doria, the Spanish ambassador, drew from the French June 19. commissioners an avowal that, though it was the intention of their master to restore the six towns to Spain, he would continue to hold them as securities for his ally, the king of Sweden, till the emperor should have restored the conquests which he had made from that prince. This declaration put an end to the treaty. The States forbade their commissioners to sign with out new instructions; Charles expressed his convic- June 21. tion that Louis sought only to divide, and by dividing to oppress, the confederates; and the council unanimously adopted the advice of the duke of York, to enter immediately into the war. The period for disbanding the army was in consequence prolonged;'

1 C. Journ. May 27, 28, June 4, 7, 13, 15, 18. Parl. Hist. iv. 977, 983, 986, 994. On the last day a test was proposed for the discovery of such members in that house as had received bribes or any other consideration for their votes, either from the English government, or foreign powers. The popular leaders spoke warmly in its favour, but before the last division took place, about one hundred members slipped out of the house, and the motion was lost by a majority of fourteen.-C. Journ. June 18. Parl. Hist. iv. 1000.

2 This prolongation revived a question of privilege between the houses. In the bill granting two hundred thousand pounds for the disbanding of the army, the Lords introduced an amendment pro

V.

June 27.

CHAP. four thousand men, led by the earl of Ossory, joined A.D. 1678. the English regiments in Flanders; another corps of equal force held itself in readiness to embark under July 16. the command of the duke; and Temple hastened to the Hague, where, in defiance of French influence, he concluded a treaty stipulating that, unless France should recede from its new pretensions in favour of Sweden within fourteen days, the two powers should unite their forces to compel the acceptance of the proposals formerly made by the king of England, or such other conditions as the success of the confederates might entitle them to demand.1

longing the time from three weeks to the end of July, even for the forces in England. The Commons acknowledged the propriety of the delay, but denied the right of the Lords to make any alterations in a money bill, and therefore, rejecting the amendment, substituted a proviso to the same purpose. The Lords rejected the proviso in return; and the Commons passed a resolution that "all aids in "parliament are the sole gift of the Commons; that all bills for that "purpose ought to begin with the Commons; and that it is the un"doubted and sole right of the Commons to direct, limit, and ap"point in such bills the ends, considerations, conditions, and quali"fications of such grants, which ought not to be altered by the "House of Lords."-C. Journ. July 3. This doctrine was, however, denied by the Lords. It was, they replied, founded solely on the act of Henry IV. entitled "Indemnity des Seigneurs et Com"munes," which took, indeed, from the Lords their former right of originating such bills, but left all other legislative rights as full and free to one house as to the other. The Commons might keep it a vexata quæstio as long as they pleased; but the Lords would never surrender the exercise of their hereditary privileges. Charles feared that he should lose the bill, and with it the sum of two hundred thousand pounds, no trifling consideration to the indigent monarch; but the Lords left the bill at the conference, and refused to take any further notice of it; and the Commons yielded so far as to introduce a new bill, of which the rejected amendment formed a part. In this state it passed both houses.

1

Temple, ii. 438-443. Jenkins, ii. 389. Dumont, vii. 348. Clarend. Corresp. 1-21. Dalrymple, ii. 181-188. Danby, 226, 228, 253, 291. It appears to me that the king was sincere in these proceedings, as he must have foreseen, what accordingly happened, that he would forfeit of course the six millions of livres which had been promised to him by Louis.

PEACE SIGNED AT NIMEGUEN.

341

Though Louis was disconcerted by this display of CHAP. ОНАР. spirit, so unexpected on the part of the English king, A.D. 1678. he did not despair of subduing the obstinacy of the States. With this view his commissioners at Nimeguen employed for thirteen days every art which diplomatic finesse could devise. They declared that the resolution of their master was irrevocably taken; they suggested forms of compromise, the substitution of an equivalent in favour of Sweden, the discussion of the subject at Ghent or St. Quintin in the presence of Louis: but on July 31. the fourteenth, when every man looked forward to the renewal of hostilities, they announced their willingness to yield, on condition that the peace were signed before midnight. Van Haren, one of the Dutch commissioners, hesitated, because he had understood that not only the peace with the States, but also that with Spain, was to be signed at the same time; his scruples, however, were removed by the authority of his colleague Van Beverning, and both in conjunction with Odyck, the third commissioner, subscribed the same evening two treaties, one of peace, and another of commerce, between France and the United Provinces, without any particular stipulation in favour of Spain. The intelligence excited surprise at the Hague; but it was believed that Beverning acted in pursuance of private instructions from the city of Amsterdam; and peace was so welcome to almost every class among his countrymen that he had little to fear from the resentment of those who sought a continuance of the war.1

1

Temple, ii. 444-455. Jenkins, ii. 418-420. Dumont, vii. 350. It was proposed that Charles should guarantee the places in question to Sweden. He was even induced to order Temple to go from the Hague to Nimeguen for that purpose. Thus the French party at the Hague was freed from the presence of a man whose