William having made some promotions * and appointed a regency, embarked on the twenty-sixth day of April for Holland, that he might be at hand to manage the negotiation for a general peace.

By this time the preliminaries were settled between Callieres the French minister, and Mr. Dykvelt in behalf of the states-general, who resolved, in consequence of the concessions made by France, that, in concert with their allies, the mediation of Sweden might be accepted. The emperor and the court of Spain, however, were not satisfied with those concessions; yet his imperial majesty declared he would embrace the proffered mediation, provided the treaty of Westphalia should be re-established; and provided the king of Sweden would engage to join his troops with those of the allies, in case France should break through the stipulation. This proposal being delivered, the ministers of England and Holland at Vienna presented a joint memorial, pressing his imperial majesty to accept the mediation without reserve, and name a place at which the congress might bo opened. The emperor complied with reluctance. On the fourteenth day of February all the ministers of the allies, except the ambassador of Spain, agreed to the proposal; and next day signified their assent in form to M. Lillienroot, the Swedish plenipotentiary. Spain demanded, as a preliminary, that France should agree to restore all the places mentioned in a long list which the minister of that crown presented to the assembly. The emperor proposed that the congress should be held at Aix-la-Chapelle, or Franckfort, or some other town in Germany. The other allies were more disposed to negotiate in Holland. At length the French king suggested, that no place would be more proper than a palace belonging to king William called Newbourg-house, situated between the Hague and Delft, close by the village of Ryswick; and to this proposition the ministers agreed. Those of England were the earl of Pembroke, a virtuous, learned, and popular nobleman, the lord Villiers, and sir Joseph Williamson: France sent Harlay and Crecy to the assistance of Callieres. Louis was not only tired of the war, on account of the misery in which it had involved his kingdom; but in desiring a peace he was actuated by another motive. The king of Spain had been for some time in a very ill state of health, and the French monarch had an eye to the succession: this aim could not bo accomplished while the confederacy subsisted; therefore he eagerly sought a peace, that he might at once turn his whole power against Spain as soon as Charles should expire. The emperor harboured the same design upon the Spanish crown, and for that reason interested himself in the continuance of the grand alliance. Besides, he foresaw he should in a little time be able to act against France with an augmented force. The czar of Muscovy had engaged to find employment for the Turks and Tartars. He intended to raise the elector of Saxony to the throne of Poland; and he had made some progress in a negotiation with the circles of the Rhine for a considerable body of auxiliary troops. The Dutch had no other view but that of securing a barrier in the Netherlands. King William insisted upon the French king’s acknowledging his title; and the English nation wished for nothing so much as the end of a ruinous war. On the tenth day of February, Callieres, in the name of his master, agreed to the following preliminaries: That the treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen should be the basis of this negotiation; that Strasbourg should be restored to the empire, and Luxembourg to the Spaniards, together with Mons, Charleroy, and all places taken by the French in Catalonia since the treaty of Nimeguen; that Dinant should be ceded to the bishop of Liege, and all reunion since the treaty of Nimeguen be made void; that the French king should make restitution of Lorraine, and, upon conclusion of the peace, acknowledge the prince of Orange as king of Great Britain, without condition or reserve. The conferences were interrupted by the death of Charles XI. king of Sweden, who was succeeded by his son Charles, then a minor: but the queen and five senators, whom the late king had by will appointed administrators of the government, resolved to pursue the mediation, and sent a new commission to Lillienroot for that purpose. The ceremonials being regulated with the consent of all parties, the plenipotentiaries of the emperor delivered their master’s demands to the mediator on the twenty-second day of May, and several German ministers gave in the pretensions the respective princes whom they represented.

WILLIAM, 1688—1701.