These undoubtedly were Louis's notions, and it was plausibly urged by Spain and Austria that it was better now to press him as he was sinking till be was perfectly prostrate, and then bind him effectually. But, on the other hand, William felt that England and Holland had to bear the brunt of the war: that it was all very well for Spain and Germany to cry Keep on, but the fact was, they did little or nothing towards keeping on. The Germans had no union, and, therefore, no strength. They sent excuses instead of their contingents, and instead of money to pay their share of the cost of the war. When they did rouse, they were nearly always behind their time and divided in their counsels. As for Spain, it literally did nothing to defend its own territories. The whole of Flanders would have been lost but for William and his Dutch and English troops. Catalonia would have been lost but for Russell and his fleet, and it had, without consulting the allies, joined in a treaty with Savoy and France to save its Milanese territory, and to their extreme prejudice, by releasing the French armies from Italy to increase the force in Flanders. William was greatly incensed by the endeavours of these powers to continue the war and Louis, as the best spur to their backwardness, determined to seize Brussels, and show a mien as if bent on active aggression.
Catinat, relieved from his command in Savoy, had now joined Villeroi and Boufflers in Flanders, and these generals determined to surprise Brussels. They first advanced on the little town of Aeth, and Wllliam, who was but just recovering from an attack of illness, uniting his forces with those of the elector of Bavaria, endeavoured to prevent them. He was, however, too late; but he marched hastily towards Brussels to defend it against the attack of Villeroi and Boufflers. He passed over the very ground since the site of the battle of Waterloo, and posted himself on the height whence Villeroi had bombarded the city two years before. Neither side, however, were anxious to engage and incur all the losses and miseries of a great battle, with the prospect of a near peace. They therefore entrenched themselves and continued to lie there for the rest of the summer, awaiting the course of events. Louis, however, attacked the king of Spain in another quarter—Catalonia. There Vendôme attacked the viceroy and defeated him, and invested Barcelona, which, though bravely defended by the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, was obliged to capitulate. At the same time came the news of another blow. Louis had sent out a squadron under admiral Pointes to attack the Spanish settlements in the West Indies, and he had sacked and plundered the town of Carthagena, and carried home an immense treasure. These disasters made Spain as eager for peace as she had before been averse, and the emperor of Germany was obliged to cease talking of returning to the position of the peace of Westphalia—a state of things totally out of the power of the allies to restore.
The plenipotentiaries of the different powers now at last were ordered to meet; the only question was. Where? The emperor proposed Aix-la-Chapelle or Frankfort, but Louis objected to any German town, but was willing that the place should be the Hague. It was at length settled to be the Hague. The ambassadors of the allies were to occupy the Hague itself; and the French, Delft, about five miles distant. Midway betwixt these towns lies the village of Ryswick, and close to it a palace belonging then to William, called Neubourg House. There it was determined that the plenipotentiaries should meet for business. The palace was admirably adapted, by its different entrances and alleys, for the approach of the different bodies of diplomatists without any confusion, and there was a fine, large, central hall for their deliberations. There appeared for England the earl of Pembroke, the viscount Villiers, Sir Joseph Williamson, and Matthew Prior, the poet, as their secretary. For the emperor, the gruff Kauuitz, the celebrated imperial minister, was at the head of the German referees. For France came Harlay, Crecy, and Caillières. Don Quiros was the minister of Spain, and there were whole throngs of the representatives of the lesser powers. The minister of Sweden, count Lilienroth, was appointed mediator, and after various arrangements regarding precedence, on the 9th of May the plenipotentiaries met; but it seemed only to entangle themselves in a multitude of absurd difficulties regarding their respective ranks and titles. The ambassadors of Spain and of the emperor were the most ridiculous in their assumptions and their punctilios. Then came the news of the death of the king of Sweden, and the waiting of the mediator for a renewal of his powers, and for putting himself into mourning, and it was the middle of June before any real business had been transacted. William grew out of patience, and determined to take a shorter cut to the object in view. He empowered Portland to arrange with Boufflers, with whom he had become acquainted at the time of Boufflers' arrest at Namur, the preliminaries of a peace betwixt France, England, and Holland. Portland and Boufflers met at a country house near Hal, about ten miles from Brussels on the road to Mons, and within sight of the hostile armies. The questions to be settled betwixt these two plain and straightforward negotiators were these: — William demanded that Louis should bind himself not to assist James, directly or indirectly, in any attempt on the throne of England, and that James should no longer be permitted to reside in France. These demands being sent by express to Paris, Louis at once agreed to the first requisition, that he should engage never to assist James in any attempt on England; but, as to the second, he replied that he could not, from honour and hospitality, banish James from France, but he would undertake to induce him to remove to Avignon, if he did not voluntarily prefer going to Italy. William accepted this modified acquiescence. On the other hand Louis demanded from William that he should give an amnesty to all the Jacobites, and should allow Mary of Modena her jointure of fifty thousand pounds a year.
William peremptorily refused to grant the amnesty—that was an interference with the prerogative of his crown which he could permit to no foreign power. The jointure he was willing to pay, on condition that the money should not be employed in designs against his crown or life, and that James, his queen, and court, should remove to Avignon and continue to reside there. Neither the residence of the exiled family nor the matter of the jointure were to be mentioned in the treaty, but William authorised his plenipotentiaries at the congress to say that Mary of Modena should have everything which on examination should be found to be lawfully her due. This, indeed, may be considered an
