I shall please to hinder my subjects from assisting the King of England, - as I engage to do, by promising not to assist, directly or indirectly, the enemies of the Prince of Orange without any exception, there is no reason to apprehend that he any assistance in my kingdom.

will find

After having shown the Sieur de Bentinck, as I point out to you, that it is impossible to obtain from me any change on this point, it is my intention that you shall declare that if the Prince of Orange does not desist from what he has demanded on this head, it is useless to enter on the discussion of the other articles.

Since, however, I desire to show my enemies that I am ready to give all the explanations which may be necessary to promote the peace, I order you to make this declaration:-that my principal view is, to render the peace firm and durable; that I have proposed the terms in such a manner, that it may suppress in future all the sources of a new war; that I have the same regard for what concerns the Prince of Orange, and that therefore it is by no means to lessen the rights of his sovereignty in the town of Orange that I demand that none of my subjects shall settle in it without my permission; that, on the contrary, it is to prevent the different incidents that might disturb the peace which I wish to maintain with him; that it is easy to see that that town would soon become the retreat of all the malecontents of my kingdom, if this liberty were granted by the treaty; that I am persuaded that the Prince of Orange sincerely desires to maintain a perfectly good understanding with me;

and, being thus minded, he would be continually in the embarrassing alternative, either of refusing to send away from that town those who should disturb the tranquillity of my kingdom, or hinder them from enjoying the asylum which he now wishes to secure to them; lastly, that to obtain this condition, so necessary to the repose of my kingdom, I am ready, if it cannot be otherwise, to consent, though with regret, no further to urge the demand for a general amnesty for the English who have followed the king, their master.

After this precise declaration of my intentions, which I would have you make to the Sieur de Bentinck, as I am very glad to remove from the Dutch every suspicion which might perhaps be suggested to them, that I think of making a separate treaty, without communicating with them; and as I am of opinion, for these reasons, that this affair, which has been begun at Ryswick, ought to continue to be treated there, you will tell the Sieur de Bentinck that the confusion of a camp, the various marches of an army, &c., are not calculated for conferences on peace; and that as they are opened in Holland, and the ministers of the Prince of Orange are on the spot, able, from what they know of his real sentiments, to acquaint my plenipotentiaries with them, it is my opinion that, after the conference which you will have with him, it would be better that my plenipotentiaries should be informed of my intentions, to answer to the proposals which will be made to them in future on the subjects of which I have just treated.

LORD VILLIERS* TO THE DUKE OF

SHREWSBURY. †

Hague, July 12. 1697.

We have not yet received any answer to our project. The French expected to have found in it

* Edward, first Earl of Jersey, was the eldest son and heir of Edward Villiers, who was, for his services in the cause of Charles I. and his son, honoured with knighthood, (April 7. 1680,) and appointed knight-marshal of the household. His lady was governess of the Princesses Mary and Anne, both afterwards Queens of Great Britain. His son attended the Princess Mary to Holland, after her marriage with the Prince of Orange, with whom he came into England in 1688, and, on their being proclaimed King and Queen of England, was, on the first settlement of their household, appointed master of the horse to the Queen; and the death of his father happening soon after, he succeeded him in his place of knight-marshal. Advancing farther in their Majesties' favour, he was, in the third year of their reign, created Viscount Villiers of Dartford and Baron Villiers of Hoo, In 1695, he was sent envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the congress at the Hague. In 1697, he was constituted one of the lord justices in Ireland, being also at the same time appointed one of the plenipotentiaries for the treaty of Ryswick. Soon after the peace, he received the character of ambassador extraordinary to the States General; and shortly after, having been created Earl of Jersey, (October 13.) he returned in England, where he was sworn of the privy council (November 25. 1697). The Earl of Jersey was the brother of Elizabeth, maid of honour to Mary, Princess of Orange, and married, in 1695, to the Lord George Hamilton, afterwards created Earl of Orkney. This lady was believed to be the mistress of William III.

† Charles Talbot, twelfth Earl and first Duke of Shrewsbury, of one of the most illustrious families of England, was born in 1660, and succeeded to the first title at a very early age, his

the article against King James, but his Majesty rather chose to have that matter treated by word

father having been killed by the Duke of Buckingham in a duel. The family was then, as at present, Roman Catholic; but the young Earl embraced the Protestant faith in 1679, after having been instructed by Dr. Tillotson. He gave soon a strong proof of the sincerity of his conversion in preferring, after the accession of James II., to incur his displeasure rather than to reconcile himself to the church of his fathers. The same conviction led him to oppose the measures of that monarch for the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic worship; and he was among the foremost of those who invited the Prince of Orange. As early as May, 1687, we find a letter of his, conveying professions of his zeal to that Prince, who was then endeavouring to gain partisans and ascertain the state of the public mind in England. He was likewise one of the illustrious seven who signed the celebrated association in June, 1688. Convinced of the necessity of an immediate revolution, he even mortgaged his estates, and, repairing to Holland, offered his purse and sword to the Prince of Orange. He accompanied the Prince to England; and, while William remained in suspense at Exeter, the Earl of Shrewsbury was one of the nobles in whom he chiefly trusted, by whose advice he drew up the famous declaration. In the progress of the Revolution he took an active part, and was one of the three Peers despatched by the Prince to treat with those sent by James. In the Convention-Parliament he opposed the measures of those who wished to establish a regency, or to place the crown on the head of Mary. On the settlement of the new government, he was nominated one of the privy council, appointed secretary of state, intrusted with the lord-lieutenancy of three counties, and raised soon after to a dukedom. The services of the Duke of Shrewsbury, his amiable character, his talents for business, endeared him to William III.; and so polished, engaging, and conciliatory were his manners as to make him loved and trusted by both parties. William III. used to call him " the king of hearts." "I never," says a most acute observer, though an enemy, Lord Bolingbroke, "I never knew a man so formed to please and to gain upon the affections."

of mouth, and there is nothing yet agreed on about it.

The Pensionary is returned from the army, and I find by him that his Majesty is of opinion that this negotiation must be quickly made an end of one way or other. The Imperialists seem to be of this opinion, but the great difficulty will be to bring them to like those terms, which we had rather accept than carry on the war. The French seem resolved to give nothing beyond the peace of Nimeguen, and I doubt if they would have given that in every point, if their designs this summer had succeeded.

Marshal Boufflers has lately had a meeting with my Lord Portland, near Halle. I am told it was about the peace, though I do not know the particulars.

Sire,

MARSHAL BOUFFLERS TO LOUIS XIV.

Camp of Sainte-Renelle, July 15. 1697.

I received the night before last the letter which your Majesty was pleased to do me the honour to write to me on the 12th of this month, in which your Majesty does me the honour to state your intentions, to which I shall not fail punctually to

conform.

* So in the original.