He was incapable of yielding to adversity, or bending under
misfortunes: but he began to foresee that, by the negligence and
errors of his allies, the war in Flanders must necessarily have a very
unfortunate issue.
On the Upper Rhine, Philipsbourg was taken by the imperialists. In
Pomerania, the Swedes were so unsuccessful against the Danes and
Brandenburghers, that they seemed to be losing apace all those
possessions which, with so much valor and good fortune, they had
acquired in Germany.
About the beginning of winter, the congress of Nimeguen was pretty full;
and the plenipotentiaries of the emperor and Spain, two powers strictly
conjoined by blood and alliance, at last appeared. The Dutch had
threatened, if they absented themselves any longer, to proceed to a
separate treaty with France. In the conferences and negotiations, the
dispositions of the parties became every day more apparent.
{1677.} The Hollanders, loaded with debts and harassed with taxes, were
desirous of putting an end to a war, in which, besides the disadvantages
attending all leagues, the weakness of the Spaniards, the divisions
and delays of the Germans, prognosticated nothing but disgrace and
misfortune. Their commerce languished; and, what gave them still
greater anxiety, the commerce of England, by reason of her neutrality,
flourished extremely; and they were apprehensive, lest advantages, once
lost, would never thoroughly be regained.
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