Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/544

 636 DUTCH MISSIONS TO ENGLAND IN 1689 October from the prospect of English co-operation : it would obviously made a great difference to the disposition of Dutch ships that English ships were likely to combine with them in the battle fleet and in the protection or destruction of commerce. As it turned out, the deputies in conferring with William on naval questions did a good deal of work that was really diplomatic before they were given a formal diplomatic character : William had no reason for wishing to be too careful in separating his work as stadtholder from his work as administrator of England. But the deputies were not allowed to carry on the naval negotiations by their own lights. William asked for another mission, an expert body, so far as the Dutch constitution could provide one, of deputies from the five admiralty colleges.^ Here, again, he named some of those he wanted : Torek, de Wildt, Grodijn, and the deputy of the town of Hoorn to the college of Friesland and the Noorderquartier ; these with others came over and conferred with the first mission, which had been at work since the middle of January, for about a month, from the middle of March till the middle of April. After that they went home and did not stay to sign the convention for the junction of the fleets which they had arranged : the signature was left to the original three deputies, who had now become ambassadors extraordinary. The mission of the ambassadors extraordinary, third of the four in order of time, is the main mission of the year, and it is interesting, quite apart from its* work, for the amusing human details that have been recorded, especially by one of its members. The representative of Amsterdam chosen for the first mission, in accordance with William's request, was Nicolaas Witsen, a vigorous, distinguished, and obstinate man, with a habit of writing his experiences down.^ We shall see that in the negotia- tions he stood for the old-fashioned Amsterdam tradition, as he had stood for the energy and enlightenment of Amsterdam in his writings on Russia and on the history of the art of building ships and in his political career, especially in the dark days of 1672. Besides taking his share in the ordinary correspondence of the missions and besides writing, privately and also in his capacity of representative of Holland, to the pensionary Heinsius, he reported to the other burgomasters of Amsterdam and wrote two accounts of the mission which he kept himself. Of these the first, which was written at the time, has disappeared and is known only from extracts and summaries; the second, ' Postscript of dispatch of 24 January. These deputies seem to have reported individually to the admiralty colleges which sent them, but not collectively. 2 vols. (Utrecht, 1881).
 * Life in Nieuw Ned. Biogr. Woordenb. iv and J F- Gebhard, Nicolaas WUaen,