tiations, which he had a principal share in conducting. Of these the first, which was set on foot to induce the Bishop of Munster to enter into the Dutch war as an ally to the English Monarch, he concluded with more expedition than his Court had anticipated; though the preliminaries had been previously settled by a correspondence between that Prelate and the Earl of Arlington, Secretary of State. It was managed indeed with such address, that the Bishop was in the field at the head of his troops, before the other powers of Europe had any suspicion of the measure. Upon this occasion, Mr. Temple travelled in disguise, and suffered some hardships; and, on the conclusion of the treaty, a resident's commission was forwarded to him at Brussels with a patent of baronetcy.

The following year, he sent for his family from England: but, before their arrival, he found himself obliged to set out a second time for Munster, to prevent the Bishop (in resentment of the non-payment of his subsidy) from making peace with the Dutch. Having arranged this matter to the satisfaction of both Courts, he returned to Brussels, whence at the latter end of the year he accompanied his sister on a visit to Holland, incognito. While he was at the Hague, he made a private visit to the celebrated Pensionary De Witt,* which laid the foundation of his future

* "The catastrophe of De Witt (observes Mr. Fox) the wisest, best, and most truly patriotic minister that ever appeared upon the public stage, as it was an act of the most crying injustice and ingratitude, so likewise is it the most disencouraging example that history affords to the lovers of liberty. If Aristides was banished, he was also recalled: if Dion was repaid for his services to the Syracusans by ingratitude, that ingratitude was more than once repented of: if Sidney and Russell died upon the scaffold, they had not the cruel mortification of falling by the

intimacy with that truly illustrious patriot, and occasioned his being employed to sound him on the subject of the Triple Alliance meditated by England, Holland, and Sweden against the growing power of France. This, the only grand political manœuvre in the reign of Charles II., reflects the highest honour upon the abilities of Sir William Temple.

Five days after his recall from Brussels, he was sent to the Hague, with the character of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the States General. Upon his arrival, the conferences commenced; and, in five days more, the League was completed. As a distinguished tribute to his celerity, De Witt himself could not help complimenting him on having thus speedily influenced the States to a resolution upon a matter of the highest importance, and involving the greatest expense in which they had ever engaged; adding, That, now it was done, it looked like a miracle.'

On the conclusion of the treaty, a letter despatched by De Witt to the Earl of Arlington, and a second by the States General to the King of Great Britain, from the panegyrics which they contain are entitled to our notice. The former "As it was says, impossible to send a minister of greater capacity, or

hands of the people: ample justice was done to their memory, and the very sound of their names is still animating to every Englishman attached to their glorious cause. But with De Witt fell, also, his cause and his party; and although a name so respected by all who revere virtue and wisdom when employed in their noblest sphere, the political service of the public, must undoubtedly be doubly dear to his countrymen, yet I do not know that even to this day any public honours have been paid by them to his memory."

more proper for the temper or genius of this nation, than Sir William Temple; so, I believe, no other person either will or can more equitably judge of the disposition wherein he has found the States, to answer the good intentions of the King of Great Britain." In the other his Majesty is informed, "As it is a thing without example, that in so few days three such important treaties have been concluded, so we can say that the address, the vigilance, and the sincerity of Sir William Temple are also without example. If your Majesty continues to make use of such ministers, the knot will grow too fast ever to be untied." And yet Temple himself, with no less wit than modesty, gave a different turn to the circumstance, in a letter to M. Gourville; saying, “They will needs have me pass here for one of great abilities, for having finished and signed in five days a treaty of such importance to Christendom: but I will tell you the secret of it. To draw things out of their centre requires labour, and address to put them in motion; but to make them return thither, nature helps so far, that there needs no more than just to set them a-going.

Soon after the ratification of the treaty, he returned to Brussels; and a negotiation being speedily set on foot for a peace between France and Spain, he received orders from his Court to repair to the Congress appointed for that purpose at Aix la Cha

*The most ample account of the progress of this memorable negotiation is to be found in a letter from Sir William to the Earl of Arlington, dated from the Hague on the day it was concluded, Jan. 24, 1668; for which the reader is referred to his State Papers, in his Works?

pelle, in quality of his Majesty's Embassador Extraordinary and Mediator. To his address upon that occasion is, principally, to be ascribed the prompt compliance of the Spanish ministers with the conditions proposed; as Sir Leoline Jenkins, his predecessor, had met with nothing but evasions and delays before his arrival.

On his return to Brussels, he found letters from the Secretary of State informing him, that he was again appointed Embassador Extraordinary to the States General, in order to confirm the Triple Alliance, and to solicit the accession of the Emperor and the German princes.' Accordingly, he set out for the Hague in August, and was specially honoured during his stay with the confidence of the Prince of Orange, afterward William III. But the measures of the English court changing in September, 1669, in favour of France, he received orders to hasten to England. Here, he at first met with a cool reception; and was even pressed to return to the Hague, in order to sow the seeds of a quarrel with Holland, with which country he had, not two years before, so satisfactorily concluded a treaty of peace. excusing himself from having any share in this gross transaction, he retired to his house at Shene near Richmond.

6

But

In this interval of his recess from public employments, he drew up his Observations on the United Provinces,' and one part of his Miscellanies.'

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It redounds greatly to the honour of Sir William Temple, that so long as the Duchess of Orleans, by her fatal influence over her brother Charles II., kept him the dupe of France, he refused to accept of any

function at home or abroad; but on a subsequent change in the politics of the court in 1673, his Majesty, weary of the second Dutch war,* resolved

* "The first Dutch war," says Mr. Fox, "had been undertaken against all maxims of policy, as well as of justice; but the superior infamy of the second, aggravated by the disappointment of all the hopes entertained by good men from the Triple Alliance, and by the treacherous attempt at piracy with which it commenced, seems to have effaced the impression of it, not only from the minds of men living at the time, but from most of the writers who have treated of this reign. The principle, however, of both was the same, and arbitrary power at home was the object of both. The second Dutch war rendered the King's system and views so apparent to all, who were not determined to shut their eyes against conviction, that it is difficult to conceive how persons, who had any real care or regard either for the liberty or honour of the country, could trust him afterward. And yet even Sir William Temple (he adds) who appears to have been one of the most honest, as well as of the most enlightened, statesmen of his time, could not believe his treachery to be quite so deep as it was in fact; and seems occasionally to have hoped, that he was in earnest in his professed intentions of following the wise and just system that was recommended to him. Great instances of credulity and blindness in wise men are often liable to the suspicion of being pretended, for the purpose of justifying the continuing in situations of power and employment longer than strict honour would allow : but to Temple's sincerity his subsequent conduct gives abundant testimony. When he had reason to think that his services could no longer be useful to his country, he withdrew wholly from public business, and resolutely adhered to the preference of philosophical retirement (which, in his circumstances, was just) in spite of every temptation, which occurred to bring him back to the more active scene. The remainder of his life he seems to have employed in the most noble contemplations, and the most elegant amusements: every enjoyment heightened, no doubt, by reflecting on the honourable part he had acted in public affairs, and without any regret on his own account (whatever he might feel for his country) at having been driven from them.” Speaketh not the Historian this of himself?