of ruffians, who every day committed acts of violence and outrage but this law was so vigorously put in exécution, that they were obliged to abandon the district, which was soon filled with more creditable inhabitants. On the sixteenth day of April, the king closed the session with a short speech, thanking the parliament for the great supplies they had so cheerfully granted, and expressing his satisfaction at the measures they had taken for retrieving the public credit. Before he quitted the kingdom, he ventured to pro-duce upon the scene the earl of Sunderland, who had hitherto prompted his counsels behind the curtain. That politician was now sworn of the privy council, and gratified with the office of lord chamberlain, which had been resign by the earl of Dorset, a nobleman of elegant talents and invincible indolence; severe and poignant in his writings and remarks upon mankind in general, but humane, good natured, and generous to excess, in his commerce with individuals.

§ XLVIII. 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. Dykveldt, 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 reestablished; and provided the king of Sweden would engage to join his troops with those of the allies, in case France should break through this 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 be opened.

i Somers was created a baron, and appointed lord chancellor of England: admiral Russel was dignified with the title of earl of Oxford. In February the earl of Aylesbury, who had been committed on account of the conspiracy, was released upon bail; but this privilege was denied to lord Montgomery, who had been imprisoned in Newgate on the same account.

On the fourteenth

The emperor complied with reluctance. 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 Harley and Crecy to the assistance of Callieres. Lewis 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 be 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 Feb

ruary, 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 of the respective princes whom they represented.

§ XLIX. Meanwhile, the French king, in the hope of procuring more favourable terms, resolved to make his last effort against the Spaniards in Catalonia and in the Netherlands, and to elevate the prince of Conti to the throne of Poland; an event which would have greatly improved the interest of France in Europe. Lewis had got the start of the confederates in Flanders, and sent thither a very numerous army, commanded by Catinat, Villeroy, and Boufflers. The campaign was opened with the siege of Aeth, which was no sooner invested, than king William, having recovered of an indisposition, took the field, and had an interview with the duke of Bavaria, who commanded a separate body. He did not think proper to interrupt the enemy in their operations before Aeth, which surrendered in a few days after the trenches were opened; but contented himself with taking possession of an advantageous camp, where he covered Brussels, which Villeroy and Boufflers had determined to besiege. In Catalonia, the duke of Vendome invested Barce

lona, in which there was a garrison of ten thousand regular soldiers, besides five thousand burghers, who had voluntarily, taken arms on this occasion. The governor of the place was the prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, who had served in Ireland, and been vested with the command of the Imperial troops which were sent into Spain. The French general being reinforced from Provence and Languedoc, carried on his approaches with surprising impetuosity; and was repulsed in several attacks by the valour of the defendents. At length the enemy surprised and routed the viceroy of Catalonia; and, flushed with this victory, stormed the outworks, which had been long battered with their cannon. The dispute was very bloody and obstinate; but the French, by dint of numbers, made themselves masters of the covered way and two bastions. There they erected batteries of cannon and mortars, and fired furiously on the town, which, however, the prince of Hesse resolved to defend to the last extremity. The court of Madrid, however, unwilling to see the place entirely ruined, as in all probability it would be restored at the peace, despatched an order to the prince to capitulate; and he obtained very honourable terms, after having made a glorious defence for nine weeks; in consideration of which he was appointed viceroy of the province. France was no sooner in possession of this important place, than the Spaniards became as eager for peace as they had been before averse to a negotiation.

§ L. Their impatience was not a little inflamed by the success of Pointis in America, where he took Carthagena, in which he found a booty amounting to eight millions of crowns. Having ruined the fortifications of the place, and received advice that an English squadron under admiral Nevil had arrived in the West Indies, with a design to attack him in his return, he bore away for the Straits of Bahama. On the twenty-second day of May he fell in with the English fleet, and one of his flyboats was taken: but such was his dexterity or good fortune, that he escaped, after having been pursued five days, during which the English and Dutch rear-admirals sprang their foretopmasts, and received other damage, so that they could not proceed. Then Nevil steered to Carthagena, which he found quite abandoned by the inhabitants, who, after the departure of Pointis, had

been rifled a second time by the buccaneers, on pretence that they had been defrauded of their share of the plunder. This was really the case; they had in a great measure contributed to the success of Pointis, and were very ill rewarded. In a few days the English admiral discovered eight sail of their ships, two of which were forced on shore and destroyed, two taken, and the rest escaped. Then he directed his course to Jamaica, and, by the advice of the governor, sir William Beeston detached rear-admiral Meeze with some ships and forces to attack Petit Guavas, which he accordingly surprised, burned, and reduced to ashes. After this small expedition, Nevil proceeded to the Havanna on purpose to take the galleons under his convoy for Europe, according to the instructions he had received. from the king: but the governor of the place, and the general of the Plate fleet, suspecting such an offer, would neither suffer him to enter the harbour, nor put the galleons under his protection. He now sailed through the gulf of Florida to Virginia, where he died of chagrin, and the command of the fleet devolved on captain Dilkes, who arrived in England on the twenty-fourth day of October, with a shattered squadron, half manned, to the unspeakable mortification of the people, who flattered themselves with the hopes of wealth and glory from this expedition. Pointis, steering to the banks of Newfoundland, entered the bay of Conception, at a time when a stout English squadron, commanded by commodore Norris, lay at anchor in the bay of St. John. This officer being informed of the arrival of a French fleet, at first concluded, that it was the squadron of M. Nesmond come to attack him, and exerted his utmost endeavours to put the place in a posture of defence but, afterwards, understanding that it was Pointis returning with the spoil of Carthagena, he called a council of war, and proposed to go immediately in quest of the enemy. He was, however, overruled by a majority, who gave it as their opinion that they should remain where they were, without running unnecessary hazard. By virtue of this scandalous determination, Pointis was permitted to proceed on his voyage to Europe; but he had not yet escaped every danger. On the fourteenth day of August he fell in with a squadron under the command of captain