Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/Mr. Sidney to the Earl of Sunderland, with his Diary from September 27 to October 20

by Henry Sidney

MR. SIDNEY TO THE EARL OF SUNDERLAND.

⁠My Lord,

I would not write to you this morning, because I was in hopes I might before this time have known some resolution of the States—but they separated to-day about twelve o'clock, without doing any business (some of their members being absent), and are to meet again to-morrow. The Prince will press all he can to have powers sent to Monsieur Van Lewen, but he is yet very uncertain whether he shall obtain it. They are every day more and more afraid of France, and have perpetual intelligence out of England that makes them believe we are in a ten times worse condition than I hope we ever shall be.

In mine of the 16th, I sent you word that the Prince was of opinion that the negociation might as well be in England, and being that he finds the King is inclined to have it so, he will endeavour it all he can. In the same letter I sent you word that Monsieur Van Beuninghen was gone to Amsterdam to see in what humour that town was in towards us; he is now come back, and thinks he has done wonders. He saith he never took so much pains in his life; and when I go into England, I am to say a great deal to the King to let him know how well he is affected to his service. He thinks he hath prevailed with some of the chief of the town to be for our project of guarantee; but till they are in Assembly, one cannot be sure of any of them. He told me that the French Ambassador and the other Ministers of France do threaten them extremely, telling them they had best have a care what measures they take with England, and then they would have a hundred thousand men quickly upon their backs.

On Saturday I was with the Pensioner. He told me he was hard at work to prepare every thing for the Assembly a Tuesday; that the Prince and he had kept the States from breaking up the last week a purpose to bring on our business, if it were possible; but he desired me by all means to keep it secret; for if the French Ambassador should have any light of it, he would do all he could to obstruct it. I find he hath a good opinion of it, though he can know nothing certainly. In yours of the 19th, you desire to know whether the States will conclude with his Majesty upon the foot of the guarantee I brought over. I am of opinion they will, and with very small amendments, and that they will be willing to have it transacted where the King pleaseth. To-morrow, about this time, I shall know positively, and will give you an account by the first opportunity. I will not pretend to have taken as much pains as Monsieur Van Beuninghen, but I have done what I could, and have great hopes of good success. Just now I am told that the French Ambassador hath some notice of what is designed for to-morrow, and hath been running about to all the houses of the towns, to endeavour to prevent it.

27th.⁠The Duke dined here, and went to the Italian [sic]; he met the Princess there. At night he went to the Prince, and was mighty well received: he offered him his house in town, invited him to come a-hunting, and dissuaded him from going to Hamburg. In the morning, Monsieur Van Beuninghen was with me: he told me that he had been with the French Ambassador, how he told them that he could not imagine the King his Master would take it ill the making the Guarantee. Mr. Meredith told me that the French Ambassador began to think he had done too much, and now saith that he had no order for what he said, but that he did it of his own accord out of kindness to them. Every body saith that he repents what he has done. He asked me if there was no trick in the Guarantee, in which I satisfied him. He then said it was lucky for me, and that the King ought to be well pleased.

28th.⁠I went to Schevelin with the Duke of Monmouth. He told me how angry the people were with the Duke and the Ministers, and the trouble they express at his going away; he spoke a good deal of his own melancholy prospects; that all depended upon the life of the King. He showed me his letter, which was very kind: he would fain have had the Duke stayed, so he might have stayed. The King said he could not, because he would be impeached.

We dined with the Prince, and after dinner we went to Hounslerdyke. The Duke writ to the King to let him know how kind the Prince had been to him; he said it would so vex the Duke. I doubt he hath said so much that it will make the Prince cool in the alliance.

29th.⁠I saw the review. The Duke of Monmouth went to Utrecht. I heard of the Duke's coming to the Hague. Mr. Meredith told me that the town of Amsterdam was in balance what to do, and that Friesland was resolved to be against the alliance, in opposition to the Prince of Orange. Monsieur Asperen dined with me: he is President of the Comittee de Rat'd, which is composed of the Nobles, one of each town. I am advised to demand satifaction for the affront D'Avaux hath done us, in saying that he might have us for a little money whenever his Master pleased. At night I spoke with the Prince. He told me of the Duke's coming; he does not know very well the reason. He told me a good deal of his conversation; and one particular, that if he thought of the Crown, he could not be his friend in that, but in every thing else he would.

30th.⁠Mr. Bracey dined here. He told me the Provinces could not but consent if Holland did, for if she refused, and any ill came of it, all the fault and expense would fall upon that Province, the others having professed against it; and if any town was obstinate, then the States would send Deputies to know the reason, and sometimes they sent ten, and sometimes twenty, all upon the town's charge. Monsieur Huniken was with me to desire me to write into England in the behalf of Hambourg.

October 1st.⁠Monsieur Siegle, in the name of his Master, desired the King's interposition. Monsieur Campricht brought a copy of a letter he writt to Monsieur D'Avaux, and wondered he had no answer from him; he would have had me move in it. I told him I never saw him; then he told me the Elector of Saxe was a poor Prince, for the Dukedom was now divided into many branches, none considerable in Low Germany, but the Princes of Brunswick and Brandenburg, and they were now going to weaken one another. The King of France takes Bitch and Homberg, that he hath no right to, and makes several towns of Alsatia do him homage. Mr. Ancell, an English Colonel, was to see me, and Monsieur Monpolian, and Count Noaille. Mr. Bracey came, and told me that the States were up without doing any thing, for Leyden was not there. Delf would enter into a league with France as well as with us. Dort and Brill for us. Pats, and the rest of the Arminian faction at Rotterdam against us, but they were overruled. In the evening I went to the Prince; he told me I was better informed than he, for the town of Amsterdam was changed; that now they would not admit of a guarantee with us, without entering into a league defensive with France, which the Prince hath no mind to consent to, for these reasons: because it would make a perpetual division in the Commonwealth; and if there should be any difference between England and them, it would be a disputable case of whose side it should be. On the other side, if they should refuse it, it may be they, with their industry, might get the Dutch of their side, and leave us out. He seemed to be mightily out of humour. I told him all I knew of the Duke of Monmouth, and what I fancied was to be the cause of the Duke's coming. I gave him my opinion upon it, which he thanked me for; afterwards I supped with him and the Princess at Monsieur Bentem's.

2nd.⁠Mr. Carr was with me; he told me he was not yet out of hopes; that he thought the States would he adjourned for a fortnight; that in that time the Prince might perhaps bring them to it. Monsieur D'Avaux sent to the Prince to desire him not to hasten this alliance, because he believed there might be some expedient found that might be pleasing to his Master. He sent him word he would not hasten it, because he knew he could not if he would. He lays much of the fault upon the English Fanatics, who say we are not to be relied upon, and that the King hath prorogued his Parliament: that it was a question whether they should ever meet; and if they did, they were sure they would do no business, there being so many factions on foot.

I hear that Monsieur Ameringen is to go to Brandenburg; that the States are adjourned till the afternoon; then they met and adjourned themselves to the 4th of November.

3rd.⁠Monsieur Sas with me; he proposed to send some auxiliaries. I dined with the Prince: after dinner, he took me in, and I showed him Sir William Temple's letter. He told me he was much in the right; he is vexed at the Duke's coming, because he shall plainly tell him his mind, which he is sure the Duke will not like; he would have me tell the Parliament his mind, as to the King's agreeing with them. He cannot possibly go over, for the business that is here, besides that which is in England. I heard to-day that the Duke of Monmouth had an ague, but he desired it might not be spoke of. I writ to my Lord Sunderland to give him an account of our ill success,^[1] and to the Duke of Monmouth.

4th.⁠I made visits all the morning; was with Monsieur Van Beuninghen. He told me they were all undone if the King did not agree with his Parliament. He told me of a letter that was directed to the Greffier Fagell, bidding the States have a care how they displeased the King of France, offered them great matters if they would be his friends, as helping them to men and ships, promising them all means of assistance in their commerce. He said the Prince had a copy of the letter. I stood by him all supper, and thought him out of humour. In the afternoon Monsieur Sas was with me, and told me of a project to get the King a great many millions; Sir Gabriel Sylvius to be joined in it.

5th.⁠Monsieur Sas told me of his project, which I did not approve of, because it is raising money without a Parliament. Mr. Rockwood dined here; he told me several things of the Prince, as his not minding the public business. At night I was in the drawing-room.

6th.⁠About three in the afternoon, the Duke and Duchess came to town. He immediately took the Prince aside, and kept him in conversation about an hour, and, by what I perceived, the Prince was not much satisfied. After that I had a good deal of discourse with him. I told him what had passed here. He said he could not blame them for it, it showed they were wise people. He then told me how mightily he was satisfied with my Lord Sunderland, and said he would answer for me, upon which I made him some compliments. He hath no opinion that this Parliament will do any good, and is very glad to find the King can live without them. I said, "Very scurvily, and that he must not think of any alliance;" but he thinks they will be willing when they see he can live without them. I find plainly by him that the Parliament will not sit, and I believe the Ministers expect to be fallen upon as soon as the Duke, which makes me think matters will go ill. The Duke said he did not apprehend the French, and yet a little before he said they would have 100,000 foot quartered in the towns of Flanders.

7th.⁠I was at the Duke's levee; the Prince was there. He told me he did not like our business in England, by his discourse yesterday with the Duke. He hopes Lord Sunderland does but make the Duchess believe great matters; he is sorry to find the ministers are afraid of the Parliament, for by that he thinks they will not agree to what they desire, and then we are all undone. At night there came an express from the King to the Duke, which brought him leave to go into Scotland, which he is mightily delighted with; the same brought me a letter from my Lord Sunderland, which told me the same thing, and gave me order to send on an inclosed letter from the King to the Duke of Monmouth. I told the Duke of it, and he desired me to send it away as soon as I could, which I did in half an hour; the Prince is not at all pleased with it. When the company was gone, he took me into his bed-chamber, and told me the contents of the King's letter to the Duke, which were that he should come to the Downs, and there stay till further orders. The Prince thinks it well for him, but not for the King; he bids adieu to all Parliaments; he finds these Lords are quite changed; he would not let me stay long for fear of the Duke's servants. He saith he never saw such people—I writ to my Lord Sunderland and Sir William Temple.

8th.⁠I was with the Duke, and found them preparing for their journey; he told me if his journey into Scotland had as good success as his journey into England, he should be quite content. At night the Duchess of Modena came to Court with a melancholy face. The Duke's servants say all the Papists are troubled at his going into Scotland.

9th.⁠About eight the Duke began his journey. I went with him as far as Mayslandsluys, so did the Prince and Princess, and when we came home I dined with them at Monsieur Bentem's. At night I took leave of him, he being to go the next day to Soesdyke; he invited me twice to come thither; he told me that the Duke suspected I was too much the Duke of Monmouth's friend. At night I writ to the Duke to give him an account of what the Duke of Monmouth said; the letter was brought back again, he having set sail two hours before.

10th.⁠Mr. Meredith was with me, to acquaint me of Mr. Serjeant's desire to go into England with me; and told me withal that he knew nothing of the Plot, but that he was an enemy to the Jesuits, and would write against them. Mr. Carr was with me, and told me how the Prince neglected his business; that the French had ten Commissaries that were perpetually going between this place and Amsterdam, and some of the States, that gave him information. He told me what an ill reputation Fitzpatrick had amongst them, that he counterfeited Bills of Exchange, and was fain to fly upon it. In the afternoon Mr. Sergeant was with me; he resolved to go over the next packet, and to dine here on Tuesday; he intended to stay at Amsterdam to learn Hebrew; he is a man of sense.

11th.⁠I went to Rotterdam; in my way I saw Delf, and the place there where Prince William was killed and his tomb. Mr. Bracey told me how Monsieur Odyke had ruined Zealand; that their bank was quite broke; that he was selling places to make up his losses and expenses at Paris. At night I was with Fitzpatrick; we talked freely of everything, and concluded we were in ill condition; he was very sensible that others were not sensible of it, and to find people don't mind business more; the Pensioner scarce to be spoken to, and now gone out of town.

12th.⁠In the morning I was with Monsieur Campricht; he told me, unless these people take courage, which would be done only by our union at home, all was lost; that the French had got the ascendant there very much by this last business, and now they are down they will keep them so. He hath writ to his master to let him know that it is necessary for him to send a minister into England to assist in making a good correspondence between the King and his people.

13th.⁠Monsieur Campricht, dining here, told me of a Doctor who undertakes to get gold out of the sand of the sea. He is of Spire; his name is Doctor Becker. The first experiment was made before the Pensioner at Haarlem, and some other of the States; then they made the report of it, and they think it feasible, and have agreed to give him 50,000 crowns and two in the hundred of all he makes; he undertakes that the profit shall be a hundred in a hundred; next week the experiment is to be made at the house for casting of cannon. The States that saw the experiment are sworn to secrecy. In April he proposed this. Mr. Rockwood thinks he is a cheat: he hath had thoughts of going into England; he is as poor as other chymists use to be. Mr. Rockwood tells me that Mr. Sergeant knows a great deal; that he was ghostly father to Coleman's wife. The Duke hates him; he was first a Protestant, and studied at Cambridge, then a Roman Catholic but no Papist, and will take the oath of Supremacy; he will prove that a Jesuit said that the Queen might lawfully poison the King for violating her bed. He hath writ against Stillingfleet and Dr. Hammond.^[2] In the morning I was with Monsiear Rounswinckle; he tells me that the only thing that can save these Low Countries is to have an Alliance between England, the States, and the Elector of Brandenburgh, which will depend upon our agreement at home. In the evening, I gave my letter to the Prince and to Monsieur Zulestein.

14th.⁠Mr. Carr told me how the Duke of Monmouth was twice at church, that he was feasted by the fanatics at dinner. Mr. Serjeant came to me with a resolution of going into England; but, having

called God to witness he could tell nothing of the plan, but only put the King in a way of driving the Jesuits out of England, I thought it was better for him not to go for the present, but to promise to be ready whenever I should send to him. I gave him six ducatoons for his journey. He hates the Jesuits, and he is unwilling to come at this time, because he thinks it will be an advantage to them, he being able to tell nothing. I writ to my Lord Sunderland, Sir William Temple, and G. Spencer; I believe it is likely I may be blamed for not letting him come over; all I can say is, when I thought he could tell anything, I pressed him extremely to make haste to come over; when I found he could tell nothing, I did not press him.

18th.⁠I went to Amsterdam. I had with me at supper Monsieur de Ruiter, Vice-Admiral, and Mr. Krick. They told me how the Duke of Monmouth was at church in the afternoon; that he courted them mightily, told them how glad he would be to see them because they were good Protestants, upon which they invited him to dinner and afterwards to supper; he lay at one May's, a barber, a great enemy of the King's. The chief man that invited him was one Hays, a phanatic; Stiles and Prince, great merchants, would not be there. Krick is a man that sends over much shipping. The Duke of Monmouth had eighteen with him, and all came into the church. I bought six pounds of tea, which cost thirteen guilders a pound.^[3]

19th.⁠I came from Amsterdam, and came by Hortwich and Catwick, and stuck in a quicksand an hour by the sea-side.

20th.⁠Mr. Plot brought me some gilliflower seed, which cost five ducatoons. Monsieur Campricht was with me; he told me how Bitch and Homberg belong to the empire; that he should be sorry Monsieur Van Beuninghen should be sent into Spain; they think of one Stangerland; he and some others tell me that the King of France will not evacuate Wesel, to keep them in awe; that he hears they are making great preparations for the war, that he is fortifying those places where the Duke of Lorraine was coming in. He told me that the French Ambassador was with the Pensioner, that he did jeer him a good while because he would not give him the hand; afterwards Mr. Plot told me he had been with Mr. Rockwood, that he had been telling me how Monsieur D'Avaux had said he expected I should make him a visit before I went into England. He takes it ill that I have not been there all this while; he speaks of a health that was drunk at my table, to the confusion of France.

Monsieur Hoste was with me, and told me, as all the other ministers do, "que tout depend d'Angleterre." He saith they would speak much higher if there was any power that would back them. In the morning, I was with Monsieur Van Beuninghen. He saith all is lost unless the King does agree with his Parliament, for the States and all the Princes of Germany will make their Alliance with France before the next spring, unless they have hopes of some help from us, and then it will be too late. Monsieur Van Beuninghen will sell all he hath, and go and live at Constantinople. He saith we must make a League with Spain, for we have no power at hand able to resist France a month, and therefore, to balance her greatness on shore, we ought to make ours at sea, in which Spain may assist a good deal. As I was with Mr. Rockwood, he told me stories of the French Ambassador; he asked me if I would see him; I told him I would ask the Prince.

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1. The following is an extract from Algernon Sidney's works, quoted by Ralph, arguing upon what the result would have been, had this plan of the Guarantee been accepted by the States.
   "It is said in religion, that nothing is more terrible than the return of ill-conceived prayers: so nothing is more to be feared in politics, than the success of unreasonable and ill-grounded Councils. And though the proposition that was made, being rejected, will certainly raise the party in Holland that is least for the Prince of Orange, and cast it into a dependance upon France; that is less mortal than a League that certainly would have produced a rupture of the Peace, renewed the war all over Europe, and exposed Flanders to be lost the first year, which this must have done; it being as certain that the assistances from hence would have failed, as that it hath not in itself that which is necessary for its defence,"—Ralph, i. 488.
2. Some months after this, one Sergeant, a secular priest, who had been always on ill terms with the Jesuits, and who was a zealous Papist in his own way, appeared before the Council upon security given him, and he averred that Cowan, the Jesuit, who died protesting that he had never thought it lawful to murder Kings, but had always detested it, had, at his last being in Flanders, said to a very devout person, from whom Leylant had it, that he thought the Queen might lawfully take away the King's life, for the injuries he had done her, but much more because he was a heretic. Upon that, Sergeant ran out into many particulars, to shew how little credit was due to the protestations of the Jesuits, made even at their death. This gave some credit to the tenderest part of Oates's evidence with relation to the Queen. It shewed that the trying to do it by her means had been thought of by them. All this was only evidence from second hand, so it signified little. Sergeant was much blamed for it by all his own side. He had the reputation of a sincere and good but of an indiscreet man."—Burnet's Hist. ii. 219. He was an eminent controversial writer amongst the Romanists, an opponent of Hammond, Bramhall,^{[I 1]} and Tillotson.
3. It was in this year, 1678, that the East India Company began the importation of tea as a branch of trade: the quantity received at that time amounted to four thousand seven hundred and thirteen pounds. It had been introduced into England in Cromwell's time, as is proved by an advertisement preserved in the British Museum, from which the following is an extract. "And to the end that all persons of eminency and quality, gentlemen and others, who have occasion for tea in leaf, may be supplied, these are to give notice that the said Thomas Garraway (in Exchange Alley, near the Royal Exchange, Tobacconist, and Seller and Retailer of Tea and Coffee), hath tea to sell from sixteen to fifty shillings the pound."
   ⁠To follow a little further the history of tea, it appears that in 1726 it maintained nearly the same prices as those above mentioned. Dr. Sherard, writing to Dr. Richardson, says, that 12s. per lb. was paid for 3lbs. of Bohea Tea in London, which is cheaper by 3s. than it can be bought in the shops. Nicholls's Lit. Illust., i. 400.
   ⁠Those who feel any interest in tracing the growth of one of the most common of our customs may refer to Dr. Johnson's Review of Jonas Hanway's "Journal of eight days' Journey," and D'Israeli's Paper on the introduction of tea, coffee, and chocolate.—Cur. Lit., v. 204.
   ⁠"Coffee Drink" was made and sold in London in 1652, but we find in Anthony Wood's Diary that a coffee-house was opened in Oxford two years before, in 1650, by Jacob, a Jew. Though Lord Bacon considered that coffee "comforted the brain and heart, and helped digestion," yet, in 1657, one Farr, a barber, who kept the Rainbow, was prosecuted by the Inquest of his Ward as the cause "of a great nuisance and prejudice to the neighbourhood." Who would have thought (says Hatton, in his London, 1708) that London would have had near 300 such nuisances, and that coffee would have been so much drank as now by the best of quality and physicians?
   ⁠Mr. Henry Savile, Ambassador at Paris, writing to his uncle. Secretary Coventry, about this time speaks of the good reception he had always found at his house, and adds, "These, I hope, are the charms that have prevailed with me to remember (that is, to trouble you) oftener than I am apt to do other of my friends, whose buttery-hatch is not so open, and who call for tea, instead of pipes and bottles after dinner ; a base, unworthy Indian practice, and which I must ever admire your most Christian family for not admitting."—Sir Henry Ellis's Collection of Letters, 2 Series, iv. 58. Garraway's Coffee-House still retains its name.

1. Amongst Archbishop Bramhall's works will be found two which were answers to Sergeant, who appears to have written under the signature S. W.—Note to Burnet's Hist.}}