Folio 164, contd on f 167. To [Nicholas Bartholomew] Danckelmann. [Brandenburg envoy...

Folio 164, contd on f 167. To [Nicholas Bartholomew] Danckelmann. [Brandenburg envoy to Vienna]. Concerning the insinuations which [Johann Christopher] Urbich [Danish resident at Vienna] has made about him, Stepney, at Vienna, he avers that he ridiculed the Danish mediation proposals, and together with Ilten and Ham, persuaded the elector of Saxony to declare that the time is not yet ripe for peace. In a conversation with [Bartholomew] Meuschen [Danish chargé d'affaires at Dresden], he [had] said that the allies would be wise, in view of France's exhausted condition, to allow the conflict to continue. Thinks that neither Denmark nor Sweden would be prepared to intervene militarily against a party which flouted a peace treaty, and since French ambitions are limitless, he thinks that the frontier states would place no confidence in any guarantee made by the Northern crowns and that they would fear being overwhelmed before allied assistance arrived. Believes a secure guarantee is needed such as England would have had by the treaty of Nijmegen, had her ministers not been subverted by French bribes. The only guarantee worth having would be a joint guarantee. Ehrenschildt also knows his views. Danish envoys make it seem that England wishes to conclude a separate peace. Provision of English subsidies to the allies is proof of England's intention to continue the war.

Date and Place: 1694 Jan 5/15 Dresden