The first advances towards an accommodation were made by England. When
the king sent for the body of Sir William Berkeley, he insinuated to
the states his desire of peace on reasonable terms; and their answer
corresponded in the same amicable intentions. Charles, however, to
maintain the appearance of superiority, still insisted that the states
should treat at London; and they agreed to make him this compliment
so far as concerned themselves: but being engaged in alliance with two
crowned heads, they could not, they said, prevail with these to depart
in that respect from their dignity. On a sudden, the king went so far on
the other side as to offer the sending of ambassadors to the Hague; but
this proposal, which seemed honorable to the Dutch, was meant only to
divide and distract them, by affording the English an opportunity to
carry on cabals with the disaffected party. The offer was therefore
rejected; and conferences were secretly held in the queen mother's
apartments at Paris, where the pretensions of both parties were
discussed. The Dutch made equitable proposals; either that all things
should be restored to the same condition in which they stood before the
war, or that both parties should continue in possession of their present
acquisitions.
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