592

OVERTURE

OF

FRANCE FOR PEACE.

A. D. 1693.

THE war in which France had been engaged for several years past, in consequence of the league formed against her at Augsburg, though carried on with a flow of success not great or rapid indeed, but almost uninterrupted on her part, was by no means consonant either to the interest or inclinations of her sovereign. The dreams of conquest once indulged by Louis XIV. had now passed away, the illusions of glory by which he had been so long deceived were in a great measure dissolved, and he began at length to know the value of peace. Though France still retained her ascendant in the field, under the auspices of Luxemburg and Catinat, the efforts she made were much more than proportionate to the advantages gained. The contest was in fact unequal, and the superiority she affected was attended with hatred and envy, and preserved with pain and difficulty. Impressed with these considerations, the French monarch had already made various secret, but ineffectual advances towards obtaining a peace. So early as in the year 1691, overtures had been made to the court of Vienna, without success. At the commencement of the present year (1693), was discovered an artful and insidious intrigue of the court of Versailles in Holland, for the same purpose. M. Hal

lewyn, senior burgo-master of Dordt, was accused of going into Switzerland, and there entering into a concert with M. Amelot, the French minister to the cantons, for setting on foot an unauthorized and clandestine negotiation for peace, in contempt of the several edicts prohibiting all correspondence with France. On the examination of this magistrate, king William himself attending in person, it appeared that he had received at his house an emissary from France, named M. Roberti du Plesis, who was empowered to promise him the payment of 20,000 crowns, in case he could prevail upon the city of Dordt to declare for peace, and that the example of Dordt should be followed by other cities, so as to come under the cognizance of the states general. The whole intrigue being clearly proved, the burgo-master was sentenced to imprisonment for life, and the confiscation of property. The French monarch perceiving the necessity of a more public disclosure of his sentiments, commissioned the Dauphin, who accompanied M. de L'Orges, in the summer of 1693, into Germany, to publish a manifesto, containing proposals of accommodation, on the basis of the treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen, offering Montroyal and Traerbach as an equivalent for Strasburg, an annual revenue to the duke of Lorraine in lieu of his dutchy, and expressing his willingness to submit the questions arising from the reunions to the arbitration of the republic of Venice.

Memorials having been presented from the court of Versailles to the kings of Sweden and Denmark, conformable to this manifesto, and requesting their good offices, the ministers of those powers communicated the contents of them in form to the imperial diet assembled

at Ratisbon, by whom the conditions proposed were treated with much contempt, and it was declared that no satisfaction would be accepted short of a restitution of all that France had usurped or acquired since the treaty of the Pyrences. Not discouraged by these dis. appointments, the king of France, at the end of the year, made new overtures of peace to the court of Copenhagen, in which were included various new concessions. And the Danish minister resident in London, presented, in consequence, to the king of England, by orders of his sovereign, the following memorial, dated December 11th (O.S.) 1693:

SIR,

THE desolation this present war carries into most parts of Europe, together with the duty incumbent on a christian king to apply all the remedies that lie in his power to so general a calamity, oblige the king of Denmark, my master, to impart to your majesty those proposals of peace which the most christian king has communicated to him. My master might have reason to decline his offices towards the peace of Europe, and taking upon him so important a negotiation, since the advances he has already made, as well as the king of Sweden, have not only proved ineffectual, but likewise have been so misconstrued as to render them suspected. Nevertheless it is most evident that, without any prospect of private interest (the union of the northern crowns, for the security of the trade of their respective subjects, being so well established, and enjoying the privileges of neutrality, that the continuation of the war might very much encrease the riches of their majesties' dominions)

the public welfare of Europe, and the desire to see a just and lasting peace restored, have prevailed above all other considerations. Wherefore the king, my master, has represented to the most christian king, that the proposals which he has made hitherto towards a general peace have been looked upon by the confederates rather as a means to disunite them, and to crush and subdue them one after another, than as a mark of his sincere intentions of settling the public repose. But his most christian majesty, to remove all manner of distrust, has not only by repeated protestations assured the king, my master, of the sincerity of his sentiments in this affair, but has likewise delivered a project of general peace, and added to the conditions that concern the empire, and which are already known to your majesty, some others relating to the rest of the allies, which are comprehended in the following heads :

I. That, notwithstanding the advantages his arms have gained this campaign, no alterations shall be made in the conditions his most christian majesty has already offered to the emperor, the princes and states of the empire, and the dukes of Lorraine and Savoy.

II. His majesty shall restore to the catholic king the important place of Roses, that of Belvers, and whatever has been conquered in Catalonia during the present war.

III. Towards the forming a barrier in the Low-countries, which may remove all manner of jealousy and uneasiness from the states of Holland, his most, christian majesty shall, upon that consideration, restore the places of Mons and Namur to the king of Spain, and cause Charleroy to be razed.

"IV. His said majesty shall restore to the bishop of Liege the town and castle of Huy, and recompense him for Dinant and Bouillon, by annexing, upon that account, to his bishopric such a portion of the country of Luxemburg as shall be most convenient to that bishop, and judged equivalent by arbitrators.

"V. His majesty consents that the treaty of commerce made at Nimeguen, with the states, be renewed without any alteration.

"VI. His majesty thinks the states of Holland will be glad to obtain such important restitutions, and to put an end to the war by a peace so advantageous both to Spain and all the allies; especially after the prosperous campaigns of France, which may still be attended with others no less successful. But that neither Holland nor any other state of Europe may have any ground of apprehension that, upon pretence of new rights, his majesty will extend the boundaries of his dominions in the Low-countries beyond what shall be regulated by the treaty, his majesty declares, that in case the king of Spain dies without issue, he consents that the Low-countries fall to the share of the duke of Bavaria, upon condition that the emperor makes the same declaration. And his majesty shall as well for himself, as for the Dauphin, his son, confirm the said renunciation by all the formalities necessary for that purpose in behalf of his electoral highness.

"His most christian majesty hopes that this last engagement will more than any thing besides secure to the confederates the firmness of the peace he shall make with him. And he thinks that after such advantageous proposals the world will soon know whether Europe