CONGRESS AT RYSWICK.
The negotiations at Ryswick proceeded very slowly for some time. The Imperial minister demanded, that Franco should make restitution of all the places and dominions she had wrested from the empire since the peace of Munster, whether by force of arms or pretence of right. The Spaniards claimed all they could demand by virtue of the peace of Nimeguen and the treaty of the Pyrenees. The French affirmed, that if the preliminaries offered by Callieres were accepted, these propositions could not be taken into consideration. The Imperialists persisted in demanding a circumstantial answer, article by article. The Spaniards insisted upon the same manner of proceeding, and called upon the mediator and Dutch ministers to support their pretensions. The plenipotentiaries of France declared, they would not admit any demand or proposition contrary to the preliminary articles; but were willing to deliver in a project of peace in order to shorten the negotiations, and the Spanish ambassadors consented to this expedient. During these transactions the earl of Portland held a conference with mareschal Boufflers near Halle, in sight of the two opposite armies, which was continued in five successive meetings. On the second day of August they retired together to a house in the suburbs of Halle, and mutually signed a paper, in which the principal articles of the peace between France and England were adjusted. Next day king William quitted the camp, and retired to his house at Loo, confident of having taken such measures for a pacification as could not be disappointed. The subject of this field negotiation is said to have turned upon the interest of king James, which the French monarch promised to abandon; others however suppose that the first foundation of the partition treaty was laid in this conference. But in all probability, William’s sole aim was to put an end to an expensive and unsuccessful war, which had rendered him very unpopular in his own dominions, and to obtain from the court of France an acknowledgment of his title, which had since the queen’s death become the subject of dispute. He perceived the emperor’s backwardness towards a pacification, and foresaw numberless difficulties in discussing such a complication of interests by the common method of treating; he therefore chose such a step as he thought would alarm the jealousy of the allies, and quicken the negotiation at Ryswick. Before the congress was opened, king James had published two manifestoes, addressed to the catholic and protestant princes of the confederacy, representing his wrongs, and craving redress; but his remonstrances being altogether disregarded, he afterwards issued a third declaration, solemnly protesting against all that might or should be negotiated, regulated, or stipulated with the usurper of his realms, as being void of all rightful and lawful authority. On the twentieth day, of July the French ambassadors produced their project of a general peace, declaring at the same time that should it not be accepted before the last day of August, France would not hold herself bound for the conditions she now offered; but Caunitz, the emperor’s plenipotentiary, protested he would pay no regard to this limitation. On the thirtieth of August, however, he delivered to the mediators an ultimatum, importing that he adhered to the treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen, and accepted of Strasbourg with its appurtenances; that he insisted upon the restitution of Lorraine to the prince of that name; and demanded that the church and chapter of Liege should be re-established in the possession of their incontestable rights. Next day the French plenipotentiaries declared that the month of August being now expired, all their offers were vacated; that therefore the king of France would reserve Strasbourg, and unite it with its dependencies to his crown for ever; that in other respects he would adhere to the project, and restore Barcelona to the crown of Spain; but that these terms must be accepted in twenty days, otherwise he should think himself at liberty to recede. The ministers of the electors and princes of the empire joined in a written remonstrance to the Spanish plenipotentiaries, representing the inconveniencies and dangers that would accrue to the Germanic body from France being in possession of Luxembourg, and exhorting them in the strongest terms to reject all offers of an equivalent for that province. They likewise presented another to the states-general, requiring them to continue the war according to their engagements, until France should have complied with the preliminaries. No regard however was paid to either of these addresses. Then the Imperial ambassadors demanded the good offices of the mediator on certain articles; but all that he could obtain of France was, that the term for adjusting the peace between her and the emperor should be prolonged till the first day of November, and in the meantime an armistice be punctually observed. Yet even these concessions were made on condition that the treaty with England, Spain, and Holland, should be signed on that day, even though the emperor and empire should not concur.
THE AMBASSADORS SIGN THE TREATY.
Accordingly on the twentieth day of September, the articles were subscribed by the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French ambassadors, while the Imperial ministers protested against the transaction, observing this was the second time that a separate peace had been concluded with France; and that the states of the empire, who had been imposed upon through their own credulity, would not for the future be so easily persuaded to engage in confederacies. In certain preparatory articles settled between England and France, king William promised to pay a yearly pension to queen Mary D’Esté, of fifty thousand pounds, or such sum as should be established for that purpose by act of parliament. The treaty itself consisted of seventeen articles. The French king engaged, that he would not disturb or disquiet the king of Groat Britain in the possession of his realms or government; nor assist his enemies, nor favour conspiracies against his person. This obligation was reciprocal. A free commerce was restored. Commissaries were appointed to meet at London and settle the pretensions of each crown to Hudson’s bay, taken by the French during the late peace, and retaken by the English in the course of the war; and to regulate the limits of the places to be restored, as well as the exchanges to be made. It was likewise stipulated, that, in case of a rupture, six months should be allowed to the subjects of each power for removing their effects; that the separate articles of the treaty of Nimeguen, relating to the principality of Orange, should be entirely executed; and that the ratifications should be exchanged in three weeks from the day of signing. The treaty between France and Holland imported a general armistice, a perpetual amity, a mutual restitution, a reciprocal renunciation of all pretensions upon each other, a confirmation of the peace of Savoy, a re-establishment of the treaty concluded between France and Brandenburgh in the year I one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine, a comprehension of Sweden, and all those powers that should be named before the ratification, or in six months after the conclusion of the treaty. Besides, the Dutch ministers concluded a treaty of commerce with France, which was immediately put in execution. Spain had great reason to be satisfied with the pacification, by which the recovered Gironne, Eoses, Barcelona, Luxembourg, Charleroy, Mons, Courtray, and all the towns, fortresses, and territories taken by the French in the province of Luxembourg, Namur, Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, except eighty-two towns and villages claimed by the French; this dispute was left to the decision of commissaries; or in case they should not agree, to the determination of the states-general. A remonstrance in favour of the French protestant refugees in England, Holland, and Germany, was delivered by the earl of Pembroke to the mediators, in the name of the protestant allies, on the day that preceded the conclusion of the treaty; but the French plenipotentiaries declared in the name of their master, that as he did not pretend “to prescribe rules to king William about the English subjects, he expected the same liberty with respect to his own.” No other effort was made in behalf of those conscientious exiles; the treaties were ratified, and the peace proclaimed at Paris and London.
A GENERAL PACIFICATION.
The emperor still held out, and perhaps was encouraged to persevere in his obstinacy by the success of his arms in Hungary, where his general, prince Eugene of Savoy, obtained a complete victory at Zenta over the forces of the grand seignor, who commanded his army in person. In this battle, which was fought on the eleventh day of September, the grand vizier, the aga of the janissaries, seven-and-twenty pachas, and about thirty thousand men, were killed or drowned in the river Theysse six thousand were wounded or taken, together with all their artillery, tents, baggage, provisions, and ammunition, the grand seignor himself escaping with difficulty; a victory the more glorious and acceptable, as the Turks had a great superiority in point of number, and as the Imperialists did not lose a thousand men during the whole action. The emperor perceiving that the event of this battle had no effect in retarding the treaty, thought proper to make use of the armistice, and continue the negotiation after the forementioned treaties had been signed. This was likewise the case with the princes of the empire; though those of the protestant persuasion complained that their interest was neglected. In one of the articles of the treaty, it was stipulated that in the places to be restored by France, the Roman catholic religion should continue as it had been re-established. The ambassadors of the protestant princes joined in a remonstrance, demanding that the Lutheran religion should be restored in those places where it had formerly prevailed; but this demand was rejected, as being equally disagreeable to France and the emperor. Then they refused to sign the treaty, which was now concluded between France, the emperor, and the catholic princes of the empire. By this pacification, Triers, the Palatinate, and Lorraine, were restored to their respective owners. The countries of Spanheim and Valdentz, together with the duchy of Deux Ponts, were ceded to the king of Sweden. Francis Louis Palatine was confirmed in the electorate of Cologn; and cardinal Furstemberg restored to all his rights and benefices. The claims of the duchess of Orleans upon the Palatinate were referred to the arbitration of France and the emperor; and in the meantime the elector Palatine agreed to supply her highness with an annuity of one hundred thousand florins. The ministers of the protestant princes published a formal declaration against the clause relating to religion, and afterwards solemnly protested against the manner in which the negotiation had been conducted. Such was the issue of a long and bloody war, which had drained England of her wealth and people, almost entirely ruined her commerce, debauched her morals, by encouraging venality and corruption, and entailed upon her the curse of foreign connexions, as well as a national debt which was gradually increased to an intolerable burden. After all the blood and treasure which had been expended, William’s ambition and revenge remained unsatisfied. Nevertheless, he reaped the solid advantage of seeing himself firmly established on the English throne; and the confederacy, though not successful in every instance, accomplished their great aim of putting a stop to the encroachments of the French monarch. They mortified his vanity, they humbled his pride and arrogance, and compelled him to disgorge the acquisitions which, like a robber, he had made in violation of public faith, justice, and humanity. Had the allies been true to one another; had they acted from genuine zeal for the common interests of mankind; and prosecuted with vigour the plan which was originally concerted, Louis would in a few campaigns have been reduced to the most abject state of disgrace, despondence, and submission; for he was destitute of true courage and magnanimity. King William having finished this important transaction, returned to England about the middle of November, and was received in London amidst the acclamations of the people, who now again hailed him as their deliverer from a war, by the continuance of which they must have been infallibly beggared.