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 IV: Hague, Octob. 22. S. N. 68.

SIR,

WHEN I have acknowledged the Fa∣vour of yours of the 8th, I will make no other Return to the great Civili∣ties of it, since there is no sort of Equality in that Commerce between us; All I can say upon that Subject being but what is due from me to your Office as well as to your Person; Whereas the least Advances you please to make in that kind, are more than I can pretend to, and so carry the weight of Obligations with them; and therefore if you please, having acquitted my self of the Ceremonies due to the change of your Station in my last, I shall in this pay what I owe to that charge of Affairs, which my Lord Arlington told me, was left upon your Hands in his Absence.

I know not whether the Business of the Marine Treaty be forgotten, or no; But I never heard one word of it since I trans∣mitted Monsieur de Witt's Reflections up∣on it to my Lord Arlington, who sent me word it was left to your care. I am of

Opinion that since it is stirr'd, and the Dutch see we are unsatisfied with the first, the sooner this Matter is agreed, the bet∣ter, that they may not continue long in doubt how far our Complaints are like to reach, nor fear our improving them upon the Advances they make to our nearer Confidence and Friendship.

For the Business of the General Guaran∣ty, I am glad I consented not to have the Proposition of it given to the Swedish En∣voy here, since I hear my Lord Keeper and you are scrupulous in it. That which is proposed were certainly better, for each to pay a Third, if we may do it in our manner, and afterwards to compre∣hend Spain in our Alliance upon such Terms of advantage as we can gain from them. And this was given me in my Instructions, and I often advanc'd it here at my first coming as an Expedient, in case Spain should refuse the Satisfaction; But the Dutch would never hear of it, and especially Monsieur de Witt believing the Sum accorded to Sweden, to have been out of proportion: And tho' he would be content Spain should pay whatever we can induce them to; yet he will by no means consent to Holland's satisfying any part; so that I never yet thought sit to mention to Monsieur Appleboom, the way in which we pretended to pay our Share, not foreseeing the Affair at all likely to take that Train. On the other side, since

the Queen of Spain's Refusal, the Swedes seem not concerned in what Spain does upon this Matter, pretending we and Hol∣land are to take care of their Satisfacti∣on, and that they are to look no further, as you will see in this enclosed Paper; and Monsieur Appleboom upon all occasions pres∣ses us to advance the whole Sum to Sweden, and seek our Satisfaction of Spain after∣terwards. In the mean time, our care was, that neither Spain nor Sweden should fall into any Counsels disagreeing with the Ends of our Triple Alliance, the one by disappointment of the Subsidies promised, and the other upon being prest to Pay∣ments upon Treaties where they had no share, and by which they were to re∣ceive no benefit, since the Guaranty of the Peace of Aix, was promised them, upon their giving Orders to the Baron Bergeyck to Sign it.

Upon these Considerations Monsieur de Witt and I fell into those Thoughts which you will find exprest in his Paper sent by last Post, and by which we hoped Spain might be induced to make good the whole Satisfaction since Holland would take no share in it, unless for the future in case of Action upon the Guaranty. That which leads me to those Conceptions (besides the necessity, since no other occurred) was that by the very Articles of the Peace of Aix, ratifying that of the Pireneaes, if we give Guaranty for one, we do it actually for t'o∣ther

too; And besides, I could not think there were any hazard for the King in what posture of Affairs soever to enter into Action against France upon the pur∣suit of their Greatness, when He did it jointly with Spain, Sweden, and Holland; for with that Circumstance I imagin'd the occasion of doing it, was ever rather to be sought than avoided.

However I shall go on to Sound and Press Monsieur de Witt yet farther, whe∣ther taking upon them a part of the Swe∣dish Satisfaction▪ will go down here, or no; and if I find any hopes of it, I shall then likewise Sound Monsieur Appleboom, whether our way of paying one Share will be accepted in Sweden, which perhaps may be as doubtful as t'other. In the mean time I should be very loath we should give the Dutch any grounds to suspect, that ha∣ving brought them to make bolder Paces against France, then they were inclin'd to (only upon Confidence of our Company) we should begin to make our Paces upon the same way with more Reserve, and Caution; which to say truth, is a scru∣ple has been in many of their Heads, and very often consest to me by seve∣ral here: And if it should encrease far upon this occasion, and at the same time a stop be given to some agreement upon the Marine Treaty, whereby we should own our Satisfaction in that Matter, I doubt it might be of ill consequence, since any

change of Dispositions would be, I think, for the worse; their present ones running the High Road to loose all sort of Consi∣dence, or Dependance upon France; and consequently having it upon us, in which I presume, it is our Interest not to fail them.

However, I suppose, all are of Opini∣on, that the gaining full Powers this way, both from Spain and Sweden, towards a general Concert in this Affair, is to be de∣sired, and that is my chief care to bring a∣bout; and I hope it will be so too in Eng∣land.

My Lord Keeper's Illness, and my Lord Arlington's Absence, make me save their trouble this Post; and therefore I desire you will please to communicate to them what falls to your share, with the enclosed from Sweden, tho' I cannot hear that Ne∣gotiation is yet advanced any farther than Letters. I am ever with very much Rea∣son, and very much Truth,

SIR,

Your most Faithful humble Servant, W. Temple.