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 king of Denmark. His goods were to pass free of customs and excise, and he was to have 400l. for preliminary expenses in addition to 1,000l. a year salary. A Mr. Sterry was appointed to act as secretary during his absence on two hundred marks a year, and Meadows sailed in the Assistance in August 1657. He arrived at Elsinore in September (, p. 509), and was received at Copenhagen about the 20th, his entry and reception being ‘more solemn than usual, to the regret of some other ministers residing in the court’ (ib.) In March 1657–8 he gave a full account to Thurloe of the treaty of Roskild (8 March) between Frederick III and Charles Gustavus of Sweden. Though Denmark lost considerably by the treaty, Cromwell was unwilling to see her absorbed by Sweden, and did what he could to protect her interests. Meadows had an interview with Charles X after the treaty, and described him as perfectly well disposed to the Protector. He presented him with a handsome sword, which Charles swore to use against the house of Austria. The envoy now asked permission to return to England, but was sent to take part as a mediator in negotiations pending between the kings of Sweden and Poland. The task was very delicate, especially as the Polish monarch's sentiments with regard to Cromwell were quite uncertain, and it was soon relinquished.

During the spring of 1658 Meadows was knighted, and was sent as ambassador to the court of Sweden, but he was unable to exert much influence. Cromwell was endeavouring to unite Sweden and Denmark with England, France, and if possible Brandenburg, against Austria and Spain. Charles Gustavus had other views. He recommenced war with Denmark, marched an army across the frozen waters of the Baltic, and before the end of 1658 was bombarding the Danish capital. A witness of these exploits, Meadows remained with Charles before Copenhagen, giving him vague promises of English support as his position grew more and more embarrassing. Brandenburg and the Dutch came to Denmark's aid, and Charles's situation became most precarious. The English fleet under Edward Montague, earl of Sandwich [q. v.], appeared in the Sound in April 1659, and Charles now confidently anticipated support; but Meadows was only empowered to insist upon the status quo as defined by the peace of Roskild, and this principle was soon adopted as the basis for an armistice. Meadows, however, returned to England on leave (July 1659) before the terms of the peace were finally enforced, or supplemented and confirmed by the treaty of Copenhagen in 1660. Meadows had been created a knight of the order of the Elephant of Denmark, and by Cromwell a knight-marshal of the palace (1658). At the Restoration his position was untenable, and in February 1660 he was turned out of his lodgings at Whitehall to make room for [Sir] William Temple. Little is heard of him in his retirement until 1677, when he published ‘A Narrative of the Principal Actions occurring in the Wars betwixt Sueden and Denmark before and after the Roschild Treaty, with the Counsels and Measures by which those actions were directed, together with a View of the Suedish and other Affairs as they stood in Germany in the year 1675, with relation to England,’ London, 12mo, dedicated to the Right Hon. Earl of Bristol. Four years later he published ‘A Brief Enquiry into Leagues and Confederacies made betwixt Princes and Nations, with the Nature of their Obligations,’ a not very lucid protest against the inconsistency of English foreign policy under Charles II (printed in Somers Tracts, 1812, viii. 22). In 1689 appeared his interesting ‘Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignty of the Seas, being an Abstract of the Marine Affairs of England,’ London, 4to. Here, while accepting the general conclusions of Selden's ‘Mare Clausum,’ the author deprecates a policy of encroachment. He inquires what is meant by ‘dominion of the sea,’ and what things are incident to such a dominion. He considers England's claim to salutation by the flag and topsail, a practice in which he discovers both inconsistencies and dangers, treats of the exclusion of foreign men-of-war from British waters, and finally of marine jurisdiction, fishing rights, and other subsidiary topics. In 1690 Meadows was exchanging verses and epigrams with John Cotton, and the latter writes: ‘In this traffic of poetry I am the great gainer, for Sir Ph. doth exchange (as Glaucus did with Diomedes) χρυσεα χαλκειων (, Bodleian Letters, 1813, i. 19).

Restored to favour at the revolution, Meadows was in January 1691–2 appointed commissioner for taking public accounts, and in May 1696 created a member of the original council of trade. He was reappointed commissioner for the promoting of trade in January 1707–8, with a salary of 1,000l. a year (Harl. MS. 2263, ff. 152, 333). He died, aged 93, on 16 Sept. 1718, and was buried at Hammersmith (Chron. Regist. 1718, p. 34).

Meadows married, in April 1661, Constance, second daughter and coheiress of Francis Lucy of Westminster, by whom he had a son and three daughters, of whom Elizabeth married Sir Thomas Powys [q. v.], while a second