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.