Series 1 > Diplomatic correspondence of Jean de Montereul and the brothers de Bellièvre, French ambassadors in England and Scotland, 1645-48 > Volume 1

238
MONTEREUL TO MAZARIN
[AUG.
to remain here for ten days after their first reception by the king ; but
two different considerations have prevented his Majesty from being able
to delay this reception—one the fear he had that it might be though the
has no^reat inclination for peace, and the other, fear that the Inde¬
pendents, who have no such inclination, and who have sent the proposals
in the hope that they would not be accepted, would take the delay as a
pretext for withdrawing their commission without anything being done.
On explaining, however, to the Scots the confidence that the king shows
me he places in M. de Bellievre, on the one hand, together with the
intentions this latter has in coming here, to induce their king to satisfy
them—he having collected in London the opinions of their friends—I led
them to wish to see him here before the English Commissioners could be
able to leave, so that they have promised to do, on their own account, all
they could to delay the day of audience.
M. de Bellievre will be very handsomely received here. The general
officers will go to meet him when he approaches the army, and will escort
him as far as Durham, where he will be met by the Earl of Callander,
whom the King of Great Britain will send with a carriage ; all the Com¬
mittee of the army will await his arrival, six miles from Newcastle ; the
governor of the town, with all the officers, will receive him at the town-
gate, and the Duke of Hamilton, being the most important personage
here, will, I believe, accompany him on his audience. The English
Commissioners have just arrived, and as they have declared their entire
stay to be limited to ten days, from the day of their arrival, all our
assiduity becomes useless.
The king has written to Montrose in the terms I have already stated,
with this reservation, that he only wished him to do what he was able to
accomplish, and that he did not wish him to continue the war if he saw
he was unable to resist his enemies.]
XLIX
BELLIEVRE a BRIENNE
A Calais, le 9 Juillet 1646.
Monsieur,—Les temps rudes a la mer ont arreste aux dunes
le vaisseau d’Angleterre destine pour mon passage, et en cette
ville le Sr de Montereul, qui depuis trois jours a tente de sortir
de cette rade; le calme de cette matinee luy a donne lieu de
partir, sur les cinq heures, et me faict esperer a dix ce vaisseau
qui me pourroit rendre a Douures auant la nuit.
Sur ce que j’apprens que les propositions de la paix de la
G. B. que Mrs du Parlement d’Angleterre veulent enuoyer a
leur Roy sont arrestees entre eux, et mises ez mains des
Commissres d’Escosse qui sont a Londres. Je prens la liberte
de vous faire s^auoir que j’estime qu’ilz feront toute diligence