* Welwood, Burnet, Coke.
{1676.} The successes of the allies had been considerable the last
campaign; but the Spaniards and imperialists well knew that France was
not yet sufficiently broken, nor willing to submit to the terms which
they resolved to impose upon her. Though they could not refuse the
king's mediation, and Nimeguen, after many difficulties, was at last
fixed on as the place of congress, yet, under one pretence or other,
they still delayed sending their ambassadors, and no progress was made
in the negotiation. Lord Berkeley, Sir William Temple, and Sir Lionel
Jenkins were the English ministers at Nimeguen. The Dutch, who were
impatient for peace, soon appeared: Lewis, who hoped to divide the
allies, and who knew that he himself could neither be seduced nor forced
into a disadvantageous peace, sent ambassadors: the Swedes, who hoped
to recover by treaty what they had lost by arms, were also forward to
negotiate. But as these powers could not proceed of themselves to settle
terms, the congress, hitherto, served merely as an amusement to the
public.
It was by the events of the campaign, not the conferences among the
negotiators, that the articles of peace were to be determined.
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