18 James Muilenburg 



Attempts of Count Avaux to Prevent the Embassy 



Jean Antoine des Mesnes, Count d' Avaux, was the crafty and 

 far-seeing minister of Louis XIV in Holland. 63 He carried on his 

 negotiations with the party opposed to the Prince of Orange. He 

 saw that the star of the House of Orange was in its ascendancy, 

 and he saw that the prestige and influence of the members of the 

 Estates General had long since passed away. Ever since those 

 eventful and momentous days in the summer of 1672, when the 

 Netherlands stood at the parting of the ways, and then suddenly 

 in a flush of fervor turned towards the Prince, the followers of 

 De Witt had lost power. They had always been the great hope 

 of French diplomacy. Louis XIV looked to the opposition for 

 diplomatic victory, and Avaux was a good pupil of his master 

 when he allied himself closely with the Deputies and sought their 

 favor by flaunting before them the prospects of commercial 

 benefits. 64 The fact that William was practically dictator of the 

 country had not escaped his observation, but he still sought to do 

 all he could to hamper the activities of the house of Orange. 



When Dykvelt received his commission for the embassy to 

 England, Avaux was aroused. He dispatched this letter to his 

 master, the King of France: 



As for the secret instructions which Dykvelt has, they come solely from the 

 Prince of Orange. No one else knows anything about them. 65 



A few days later, he wrote to the King 66 that he was quite 

 confirmed in his suspicion that Dykvelt was sent to England with 

 the Prince's commands to strengthen the Protestant party there. 

 To that end Dykvelt was to concert measures with Rochester and 

 the Bishop of London. In case he was unable to succeed in that 

 direction, 67 he should make every effort to reconcile the Prince 



63 For an estimate of Avaux's character, see Critical Bibliography under Negotia- 

 tions de Cotnte Avaux en Hollande. 



M Mazure, Histoire de la Revolution de 1688 en Angleterre, vol. ii, p. 182 f. 

 45 Avaux, January 21, 1687, vol. vi, p. 29. 



86 Ibid, January 30, 1687, p. 36. 



87 Avaux is at variance here not only with Burnet, who wrote out the instruc- 

 tions, but with the actual negotiations which followed shortly after his letter. 



102 



