Letters written by Sir William Temple during his being ambassador at The Hague, to the Earl of Arlington and Sir John Trevor, Secretaries of State to K. Charles II wherein are discovered many secrets hitherto concealed / published from the originals, under Sir William Temple's own hand ; and dedicated to the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Littleton, Speaker of the House of Commons, by D. Jones, Gent.

LETTER XVI. Hague, Ianuary 15. S. N. 69.

SIR,

MY last Dispatches to my Lord Arling∣ton, 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 con∣cern'd, which was the Progress upon the remaining Point of the Ma••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 Merchan∣dizes, in the Territories of other Princes; Or else such Forts by which we have usu∣ally 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 Commissi∣oner according to the Form, to know whether they are ready, that I might ap∣point an Hour for it: But he has been so re∣gular a Man the remainder of these Holy∣days, that what with his being at Dinner sometimes at eight at Night, and in Bed o∣ther 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 Mer∣chants Company at Dort, I have not recei∣ved any new Complaints from them, or Fears, since His▪ Majesty's Order to inter∣pose 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 D••rt, I ••ind is no Enemy to the Com∣pany, 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 Ses∣sion 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 de∣pendance 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 i•• at any time at three Months warning given the Mer∣chants.

And Lastly, That the raising our Cu∣stoms upon their Commodities, since those Times, has been so exorhitant, that if the King expects the continuance of this Com∣pany 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 con∣sequently would not ••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 Re∣moval of the Company some Years since, from thence to Dort; And now upon the Removal of the Scotch Staple to the sam•• 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 Sta∣ples, 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 Ge∣neral 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 Lis••e being parted without any Agreement, was ra∣ther a Presage than a Truth: For I have not met any Person here, that has had from the beginning, any hopes of a Con∣clusion 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 sup∣pose, to delay it all we can, as well as to hind••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 Pa∣ces, that they must be induced to give over this Design, which we might make per∣haps safely and quietly enough, if we were fallen into a right concert upon our Tri∣ple-Alliance; I mean such, wherein both Spain and Sweden would find their Satisfa∣ction: And if we had once diverted France from the suddain Violence of their Pro∣ceedings, we might imploy our Offices to∣wards

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 them∣selves.

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 Sub∣sidies, 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 En∣deavours 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 in∣clined 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 Am∣bassador 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 no∣thing more worth your Trouble at pre∣sent, and therefore shall end this with the Profession of my being always,

SIR,

Your most Faithful Humble Servant, W. Temple.