Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/180

 142 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.ix. AUG. 20, new Envoy Extraordinary.* Here, besides the regular work of a secretary, he took charge of one special piece of business, the attempt to induce the Dutch to stop their postal service to Spain and Italy through France, and to use the new packet-boats which Major Wildman, the English Post- master-General, had set running between Falmouth and Corunna. The Dutch were not to be persuaded, in spite of the good reasons set out by Aglionby in an anonymous pamphlet : ' Quelques considerations sur la necessite d'interdire le commerce des lettres avec la France.' He stayed little more than a year in The Hague : in November, 1690, he returned to England and was succeeded by Matthew Prior, whose poem, ' The Secretary ,' describes so pleasantly the amenities of the position, f In January, 1691/2, Aglionby embarked for Spain with the special mission of per- suading the Spaniards to make the postal restrictions which the Dutch had refused. J The negotiations lasted from March to November, but the Spaniards refused to favour the sea route by closing any other. In the autumn of 1693 Aglionby left Barcelona on his way to Italy, having been appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Duke of Savoy .$ His ship was wrecked on the coast of Corsica and he was robbed of all his money, but he arrived at Turin early in 1694. The dignity of a Minister abroad was apt to be greater than his emoluments, and Prior wrote to Dorset, the Lord Chamberlain: "Some people flatter me that I may not be forgot in tnis great harvest with few labourers, since Aglionby, Cresset, and Stepney, who are already working, are journeymen as I am, have about the same estates at home, and are sent to preach politics as the Apostles were on a better errand, without purse or scrip. "|| Aglionby was miserably em barrassed for money and did little business. Holland, 221. At first they were addressed to Vernon, but, from June 20/30, 1690, by order of Lord Nottingham, Secretary of State, to Warre. t Prior's dispatch of November 14, 1690, in State Papers, For., Holland, 221. t Luttrell, ' Brief Historical Relation,' ii. 333. Aglionby' s Spanish dispatches are in State Papers, For., Spain, 75. His dispatches for this mission are in State Papers, For. , Savoy and Sardinia, 26. On Decem- ber 19, 1693, he appointed R. Powis, gentleman to act for him at the receipt of the Exchequer (Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1557-1696, p. 332). H Hist. MSS. Comm., Longleat Papers, iii. 15. The arrival of Ruvigny, Marquis of Galway, as General and Envoy Extraordinary made his presence in Turin superfluous and his mission ended in the summer of 1694.* After the Treaty of Ryswick it was necessary to make new postal arrangements with the French, and Aglionby took charge of the work at Calais, where he treated with Payot, the Farmer -General of the French posts. f In December, 1698, he was -back in London. J In February, 1700/1, he ar- rived again in Spain, with no diplomatic character, but carrying a letter of the King of Englan'd, and he continued there until the summer, his mission causing suspicion amongst the opponents of the new Bourbon King of Spain. On the appointment of Lord Nottingham as Secretary of State, Aglionby and Warre got employment in the Secretary's office. || In the autumn of the same year he went to Switzerland as Envoy Extraordinary.^ In 1704 Notting- ham resigned and the new Secretary, Sir Charles Hedges, sent Aglionby notice of his recall.** His successor, Abraham Stanyan, was not appointed until the next year, ff and Aglionby's career was not entirely ended by the change of Ministers at home. On his way back to England in May, 1705, he received orders to stop at Frankfort for further instructions. Jt These, however, if he got them, did not 1694. t Longleat Papers, iii. 200, 201, 203, 207. % Ibid., iii. 301. Luttrell, v. 21. His dispatches, in State Papers, For., Spain, 75, run from March 13/23 to July 14/24, 1701. See also Gaedeke, 'Die Politik Oesterreichs inder Span. Erbfolgefrage,' ii. 107-8; Archives de la Maison d' Orange-Nassau, 3rd Ser., iii. 336. Lord Cutts. (Hist. MSS. Comm., Chequers Court Papers, p. 107). Tf Luttrell, v. 213-4. His dispatches are in State Papers, For., Switzerland, 10, together with a report on his mission and on the condition of the Swiss cantons, written after his return, but without date and apparently incomplete. The date, July 6, 1705, on the title page of the volume is probably the date of this report. His cor- respondence with his " old friend " Hill during this mission is in ' The Diplomatic Correspondence of the Bight Hon. Richard Hill,' ed. Blackley, to which is prefixed a facsimile of Aglionby's signature. Hatton Collection, p. 15. ft Luttrell, v. 547. ii Ibid., 553.
 * His dispatches are in State Papers, For.,
 * Dispatches of March 24/April 3, July 14/24,
 * Warre's letter of May 24/June 3, 1702, to
 * Hist. MSS. Comm., First Report, Appendix,