A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654 Part 33

But this relation was not so pleasing to Whitelocke as the thoughts of his departure from this place, and his longing to proceed in his voyage homewards.

_May 31, 1654._

[SN: Whitelocke takes boat and leaves the sh.o.r.e;]

The 'Swart Hundt' set sail this morning with Whitelocke's goods and copper, Taylor commanding her, and Swedes mariners in her; the wind was come about indifferent good, for his and for his master's voyage. Wrangel and Clerke affording Whitelocke their company at dinner, he advised with them what time of the day would be best for him to go from hence. Clerke said that the boats would be ready after dinner to transport him from hence to the Dollars, whither he hoped that by this time the 'Amarantha'

might be come. He and Wrangel advised Whitelocke not to go on board the boats till six or seven o'clock in the evening, to avoid the heat of the day, and to enjoy the benefit of the cool of the night, which was better to be endured than the extremity of the heat of the day, especially upon the water; and the heat some affirmed to be at this time as violent in this country as it is in Spain or Italy. Whitelocke found it now as much hotter than England as it is colder in the winter.

About seven o'clock in the evening Whitelocke left his lodging, where they made him pay as an Amba.s.sador Extraordinary. For the use of the house, only for eleven days, they made him pay a hundred and sixty rix-dollars; for his victuals, but one meal a day, without any dainties, they exacted above a thousand rix-dollars. Such is their unconscionable exaction upon strangers. It was time to leave them, and Whitelocke being called by Wrangel and Clerke, he went to prayers with his company, recommending themselves to the protection and blessing of G.o.d; and presently after prayers he and all his people went to the water-side, mult.i.tudes by the way saluting him with respect as he pa.s.sed by, and crowding to see him take boat.

He went into a galley of the Queen's attending for him. Most of his gentlemen and Clerke were with him in the galley; the rest of his company went in a great boat provided for them. This galley had two masts bearing the Queen's colours in silk. In the hinder part of it was a room with a table and benches round about it, the table covered with crimson velvet, the benches with red cloth, and tapestry upon the floor. The room held about ten persons; the outward room about twelve men, besides the watermen for sixteen oars. At her head she carried two small pieces of ordnance, which they fired at loosing from the harbour, and the s.h.i.+ps of war fired as they pa.s.sed by. They went on in a great deep water, sometimes very broad, sometimes more narrow, on the sides whereof were huge rocks, and here and there little trees growing out of the clefts of them, with small heaps of earth lying on them, but they increase not much in that soil.

Many rocks all along on the sh.o.r.es, and islands of rocks, with the smell of the fir-trees on them, was a variety for strangers; and the water being calm, they made use only of their oars. The trumpets sounding where the rocks were most uneven and made concavities, gave much delight by the resounding of seven or eight echoes to one sound. Yet the mult.i.tudes of craggy rocks of vast greatness and huge tallness, with their uneven heads and ragged sides, filling all the sh.o.r.es and making many islands, and those causing no small danger in the pa.s.sage, appeared, especially at first and to the younger seamen, very dreadful and amazing; but after a little acquaintance with them, and constant being in their company, and the seamen knowing the pa.s.sage, caused the less fear, and the sevenfold answering echoes, as if they had been so many trumpets, gave delight to the hearers, with some admiration of that multiplying sound. But their cheerfulness was increased by meeting with a boat about two Swedish miles from Stockholm, whose men informed Whitelocke that the 'Amarantha' was that day come into the Dollars, which good news added hopes and spirit to the company of advancing in their voyage towards their longed-for country; and the night seemed the less tedious by discoursing of this providence, that, the same day that Whitelocke came away, his s.h.i.+p should fall down to be ready to meet him, and not sooner, and whereof he knew nothing beforehand.

Clerke informed Whitelocke of the places by which they pa.s.sed, and the condition of the country. They came into a very narrow way and straits, about a bow-shot in length, where a great vessel could not pa.s.s, both for want of breadth and depth of water, the greater boat with Whitelocke striking the sands as she pa.s.sed over. This way was to get into the road and channel for the s.h.i.+ps from Stockholm to the Dollars, which is near twenty Swedish miles for the s.h.i.+ps to go about. From this strait they came again into deep water, environed as before with rocks, and full of islands.

[SN: and reaches his s.h.i.+p at the Dollars.]

When they were within a mile of the Dollars, the wind came about to east and north-east, very fair and good to carry them out to sea, whereas before it was flat against them. Hereupon Whitelocke took occasion, the wind being now good, to order his galley to make way forthright to the 'Amarantha' without going on sh.o.r.e at all, which was done, although it seemed long at the latter end of the way, the company weary, and the watermen tired with rowing, though they did not at all row with that nimbleness and mettle as the English use to do.

When Whitelocke departed from Stockholm the wind was contrary to him; after he was certified by the boat which he met that the 'Amarantha' was in the Dollars, the wind suddenly changed and was fair for him, and after this providence they came in good time to the s.h.i.+p, the tedious pa.s.sage of the night being over, wherein Whitelocke slept upon the boards and in the open air,--hards.h.i.+p enough for one of his age and condition, but G.o.d was his protection.

FOOTNOTES:

[184] [This entry is evidently a repet.i.tion of the conversation reported at length on the 5th of April. The story here related by M. Woolfeldt is his own.]

[188] "We Christina, by the grace of G.o.d Queen of Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, etc., do make known and testify, that, whereas it is the common and mutual interest of us and our kingdom, as also of Oliver, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions thereof, our good friend, and of the said Commonwealth, that the ancient friends.h.i.+p and alliance which hath always been between this kingdom and those nations be conserved and increased; and especially that the freedom of commerce and navigation do continue straitly conformed and uninterrupted; and for that cause the foresaid Lord Protector and Commonwealth have been pleased to send their Extraordinary Amba.s.sador unto us: therefore we have commanded, and do by these presents, in the best form, command and commit unto the most ill.u.s.trious our sincerely faithful and beloved the Lord Axel Oxenstiern, Chancellor and Senator of us and the kingdom of Sweden, etc., and also to Lord Eric Oxenstiern of Axel, likewise a Senator of us and of the Kingdom of Sweden, etc., that they do treat, agree, and conclude with the before-named Amba.s.sador and Plenipotentiary about the making of a league concerning the foresaid matters and other things thereunto pertaining. Whatsoever therefore our said Plenipotentiary Commissioners shall act, conclude, and appoint with the before-named Amba.s.sador, we shall hold the same ratified and confirmed by force of these presents; in witness and strengthening whereof, we have commanded these presents, subscribed with our hand, to be corroborated with our great seal of the kingdom. Given in our castle of Upsal, the fourteenth day of March, in the year one thousand six hundred fifty and four. CHRISTINA."

[193] [No sooner had Cromwell a.s.sumed the Protectorate than his foreign policy took a more definite shape, and was steadily directed to two great objects--peace with Holland, and the union of the Protestant States. The conclusion of the Dutch peace was however not an easy matter. Cromwell himself had declared in favour of the daring project of a union of the two Republics, and the Dutch alliance was hated by many of his stoutest military supporters. Moreover he required of the Dutch, as a condition _sine qua non_, that they should engage never to make the young Prince of Orange or his descendants their Stadtholder, or to give him the command of their forces. This was the secret article against which the States General most vehemently protested, and Cromwell was at length obliged to content himself with an engagement of the province of Holland to exclude the House of Orange. Even this pretension was strongly opposed by De Witt, but Cromwell insisted. The public treaty of peace was signed on the 5th of April, 1654; but it was not until the 5th of June following that the secret article was ratified. The King of Denmark, the Swiss Protestant cantons, the Hanseatic towns, and some of the Protestant Princes of North Germany were included in the treaty, which formed the complement of the negotiation on which Whitelocke was engaged in Sweden.--M. GUIZOT, _Histoire de la Republique d'Angleterre_, vol. ii. p.

67.]

[200] "We, Christina, by the grace of G.o.d Queen of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, etc., do make known and testify that whereas the endeavours of the ill.u.s.trious and generous, of us sincerely beloved, the Lord Bulstrode Whitelocke, Extraordinary Amba.s.sador, are most grateful to us, which he hath negotiated for the common good of our Kingdom and his Commonwealth, for the making of a league of stricter friends.h.i.+p between both parties: therefore, and to the end it may appear as a testimony of our goodwill and grateful memory on this behalf, we have thereupon granted and a.s.signed, and by these our letters do grant and a.s.sign to the said Lord Amba.s.sador two hundred pound of copper, commonly called s.h.i.+p-pounds; the which two hundred pounds of copper our treasurers and officers of our Chamber of Accounts are obliged, without delay, to deliver into the hands of the before-mentioned Amba.s.sador. In greater testimony whereof we have commanded these presents, subscribed with our hand, to be confirmed by our seal. Given in our castle of Upsal, the 3rd day of May, in the year 1654. CHRISTINA."

[240] "I, the subscribed Bulstrode Whitelocke, Constable of the Castle of Windsor, and one of the Keepers of the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of England, Commissioner, Procurator, Deputy, and Extraordinary Amba.s.sador of the Most Serene and Most High Lord Oliver, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions thereof and the said Commonwealth, do make known and testify, that whereas by the treaty of alliance between the said Most Serene and my Most High Lord Oliver, Lord Protector, and the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince and Lady the Lady Christina, by the grace of G.o.d Queen of the Swedes, Goths, and Vandals, etc., a firm peace and friends.h.i.+p is established: and I have judged it chiefly consonant thereunto to find out means to remove certain grievances of the people and citizens of either State, and to take away all grounds and occasions thereof which may arise in time to come.

Therefore, upon some differences moved, I have agreed with the most ill.u.s.trious and most excellent Lords, Plenipotentiary Commissioners and Senators of her said Royal Majesty and of Sweden, the Lord Axel Oxenstiern, Chancellor of the kingdom, etc., and the Lord Eric Oxenstiern, son of Axel, President of the General College of Trade, etc., in manner as by the following articles is expressed and explained.

"First, whereas a certain company of English exercising merchandise in Guinea have complained of one Henry Carelove, who, being Governor of the Swedish Company in that country, did take away from the English certain places inhabited by them, and did other injuries to them; but the said Swedish Company not only took upon them to prove that the before-named Governor did commit no fault, but likewise made complaint of grievances against the officers of the said English Company; but these particular differences of merchants at this time could not for certain reasons be wholly determined, and therefore it seemed most counselable to both parties that in a friendly way, without any indirect courses, they may be composed by certain Commissioners on both sides. In the meantime it is agreed that the differing hereof shall be to the prejudice of none of either part, so that neither the fellows or officers of the said companies nor any subjects or citizens of either State shall offer any injury or molestation to one another in Guinea, or in the free commerce or travelling there; but, as before is expressed, the determination of the differences being referred by both sides to the superiors, they may live friendly among themselves, and treat one another with that goodwill which is consonant to the league concluded between them. The same also shall be observed in America between the colonies of New Sweden and of the English, that they do embrace a sincere friends.h.i.+p, and that either party do abstain from all troubles and injuries to the other, but chiefly that they do endeavour their mutual preservation until there be a clear agreement before the deputed Commissioners on both sides about the limits of the colonies, and other rules of friends.h.i.+p that shall be requisite, together with other affairs of particular persons. Which matters, that they may be enjoined to all and singular the subjects and citizens of either State, and may be observed by them, I have fully taken upon me by these presents, by virtue of my commission, and do confirm by subscription of my hand, and by my seal."

[268] [Whitelocke, in his zeal to exhort the Heir-apparent to the service of G.o.d and the observance of the Lord's Day, appears to have appreciated very imperfectly the extraordinary character and the political capacity of the Prince who paid him so signal a mark of deference. Yet in the romantic and chivalrous annals of the House of Vasa, scarcely any reign is more remarkable than that of the sovereign to whom Christina ceded the throne. In the course of the ensuing five years Charles Gustavus, at the head of a chosen band of Swedish veterans, conquered Prussia, and compelled the Great Elector to acknowledge himself to be a Swedish va.s.sal; invaded Poland, and commenced the part.i.tion of that republic; allied himself to Rakoczy, to the terror of the House of Austria, and attacked Denmark with such success that he crossed the Little Belt on the ice and laid siege to Copenhagen, which was only saved by the mediation of the Maritime Powers. Such was the splendid career of Charles Gustavus between the period of his accession to the throne and the year 1660, when he died, not having completed his thirty-eighth year. More than any of his predecessors or of his successors on the Swedish throne, he may be said to have held the Empire of the North; and the favour here shown to Whitelocke indicates the importance attached by the Swedish Prince to secure at least the goodwill of Cromwell during the prosecution of these Extraordinary enterprises.]

[283] [Oxenstiern died about three months afterwards.]

[314] [It would be idle to speculate on the political motives which may have combined with other reasons to induce Christina of Sweden to conceive and execute this extraordinary design. Other sovereigns have abdicated from the la.s.situde of age or the burden of unpopularity, or the desire of ensuring the succession to their offspring; but the resignation of a Queen in her twenty-ninth year, surrounded by able ministers and a loyal people, and who had reigned with splendour and success, is an event without a parallel in history. The explanation of it is to be found in the eccentricity, the levity, the feverish curiosity, and the indomitable love of independence and singularity which are to be traced in every part of the Queen's character. She was a woman of powerful but ill-regulated mind, capable at one time of sharing in the speculations of Descartes or of applauding the exhortations of Whitelocke,--at another, of bowing to the spiritual bondage of Rome, and even of committing the brutal murder of Monaldeschi. The character of Cromwell pleased her by its adventurous exploits and its arbitrary tendency, and her reception of the English Emba.s.sy was as much the result of personal predilection as of policy.

Whitelocke amused her by his somewhat pedantic erudition, and flattered her vanity, but he seems scarcely to have divined the extraordinary variations of her character.]

JUNE.

_June 1, 1654._

[SN: Whitelocke embarks in the Amarantha, and sails.]

Having been part of yesterday and all the last night upon the water, this morning, about seven o'clock, Whitelocke and all his company came to the Dollars, and, without setting foot on sh.o.r.e, they went on board the s.h.i.+p 'Amarantha,' lying there to expect them. And although this was not usual, but pa.s.sengers generally stay some time at this place till their s.h.i.+ps be ready, and to make provisions for their voyage, and spend some money at the cabaret here; yet Whitelocke seeing the wind fair, and having all his company together in the boats, was unwilling to let them be scattered by going on sh.o.r.e, which might be troublesome and r.e.t.a.r.d his voyage by getting them all together again. For these reasons he commanded all his people to go forthwith aboard the s.h.i.+p, as he himself did, at which Vice-Admiral Clerke wondered, and said he had not seen the same done before.

This s.h.i.+p, the 'Amarantha,' had never yet been at sea, and therefore the more dangerous to adventure in her first voyage; but she was well built, a fair s.h.i.+p, of a good burden, and had mounted in her forty pieces of bra.s.s cannon, two of them demy cannon, and she was well manned and of good force and strength for war; she was a good sailer, and would turn and tack about well; she held a hundred persons of Whitelocke's followers and most of his baggage, besides her own mariners, about two hundred. The cabins wherein Whitelocke was were of a handsome make; the breadth of the s.h.i.+p was the length of his bed-cabin, and it was six or seven paces broad, and high enough for the tallest man; it was hung with red cloth, the furniture of the bed was rich cloth of gold and silver; on the table was a rich carpet, and all over it a canopy with broad fringes of silk and gold and silver. Within the bed-cabin was another room for him to retire into, with a table and benches covered with red cloth. All the gentlemen had accommodations as the s.h.i.+p could afford.

Being all settled in the s.h.i.+p, they were fain to stay for the s.h.i.+p-boat which the captain had sent for water; and as soon as it was returned, about ten o'clock in the morning, they weighed anchor and put the s.h.i.+p under sail, recommending themselves to the mercy and protection of Him who rules upon the waters as well as on dry land, and of whose goodness they had so great experience. They sailed by the place called the Scares, that is, the isles of rocks, which are there in the water and on both sides of the sh.o.r.e, of a strange cragginess, largeness, and number; those in the sea are full of danger, and often afford but a very strait pa.s.sage for the s.h.i.+ps to go between them, and no other course is to avoid them.

From hence the sea begins to widen herself towards the furthest point of land, which they call the Lands-Ort, answerable to our English point of land called the Land's End in Cornwall. The Lands-Ort is eight Swedish leagues from the Dollars, and hither they reached by the evening, the wind being east and south-east all this day.

_June 2, 1654._

[SN: The voyage.]

About eleven o'clock the last night the wind came about more to the south, yet Whitelocke advanced in his course and gained some way, but not much, the wind being almost against him; and so it continued in this morning, when there appeared a chain of rocks advancing themselves more than a Swedish mile into the sea, and not far from the isle of Oeland, to which rocks it is not good to approach too near. They could not maintain their course but to very small advantage, and by veering up and down to gain a little of the wind, and in this manner they spent this whole day: the wind continuing at south-south-east, they did not advance much all this day, only kept what they had gained before, and held plying up and down in that dangerous sea; their support was that this was the good pleasure of their G.o.d, whose will the wind and waters do obey.

Though the weather was not foul, yet it was thick with fog which arose at the foot of the horizon, and the mariners said this weather was ordinary in these seas, but very dangerous. In the evening some of the company made them pastime to divert the tediousness of the way and weather.

_June 3, 1654._

[SN: The island of Gothland.]

About midnight the wind came about somewhat fairer than before, and Whitelocke gained a little in his course. At sunrising he discovered the isle of Gothland, eight leagues distant to the east from the isle of Oeland; afterwards the wind returned to the same quarter wherein it was yesterday.

The isle of Oeland is near the continent, extending itself in length by the sh.o.r.e eighteen Swedish miles, but hath not in breadth in any place above two Swedish miles. This is the place where the Prince of Sweden, now King, used to make his residence, in a fair castle built of stone of this island, not inferior to marble,--these stones are in great request for pavements, pillars, and other uses and ornaments in building. The pillars of the King's Chapel at Stockholm, great and high, well polished and of divers colours, were brought from this island, and they have many of these stones in the buildings of the great lords. This island is a place of the most field-pleasure of any in this country, being open and stored with red and fallow deer, with hares and conies, and with partridges, which are scarce in other parts; but here the game is preserved for the Prince's pleasure.

The isle of Gothland is about fourteen Swedish miles in length, and five in breadth. It anciently belonged to the Swedes till the Danes took it from them, and kept the possession of it till the late wars between those two crowns, when the Swedes recovered it from the Dane; and by the peace after that war the treaty left it to the Swede, and allowed for it the isle of Bornholm to the Dane, being nearer his dominions. They report that heretofore Gothland (belonging to the Goths, from whom it hath the name) was famous for the traffic of all these quarters, and had in it a large town called Wisby, where formerly certain laws were inst.i.tuted touching the sea, which are observed to this day. But Lubeck, and other towns on that side, having got the trade from hence, and the sea by inundations having much diminished this isle, both it and the town are become but of small consideration.

The wind was little and very variable, and this day was a calm, so that they could advance very little in their voyage. In the evening the wind grew fresh, and increased till three o'clock the next morning, so that they made good way in their course; but these deep seas began to rise, and the s.h.i.+p to roll and toss so much, that some of Whitelocke's people, sensible of it and of the increasing of the wind and waves, and of the mariners' labour and disorder, began to be afraid and sick. But Whitelocke cherished and comforted them the best he could, and gave order for attendance upon them, and that they should want nothing which the s.h.i.+p could afford; the which was the more in his power, the command of it being wholly left to him by the Queen; and by his kindness, and ceasing of the storm, they began to recover their courage, the wind changed, and it grew more calm after the ruffling.

_June 4, 1654._

[SN: The voyage.--Bornholm.]

_The Lord's Day._--Still Whitelocke was toiling on the Baltic Sea. After three o'clock in the morning he advanced a good way in his course; but about ten o'clock they discovered land, which was the isle of Bornholm, distant from the point of south of Oeland eighteen German leagues. It seemeth a plain and flat ground, about eight Swedish miles in length, and about five in breadth; this isle is fruitful and well peopled, abounding in pastures, so that it yields a good revenue in b.u.t.ter. Many witches are affirmed to be in this isle, and no place in this sea hath more s.h.i.+pwrecks than upon Bornholm. Some give the reason thereof from the strait pa.s.s between this isle and the continent; yet is the coast clean and without rocks, and hath good roads; others attribute the cause of these s.h.i.+pwrecks to the great and dangerous sands about this and the other isles of this sea, which (especially about this isle of Bornholm) do lie out far and shallow in the sea, on which many s.h.i.+ps have been struck and lost; and here Whitelocke's s.h.i.+p was in some peril, but it pleased G.o.d still to preserve him. He floated in sight of this island almost all this day, the wind veering into most points of the compa.s.s, and he was turned back from his course and lost more than he gained of his way.

About nine o'clock in the morning the s.h.i.+p's company, having a minister on board with them, were at their exercises of devotion, which they have every morning, beginning with singing a psalm, as we do; then the minister prays, but not long, and the conclusion is to sing about two verses of another psalm, and so they part; except on the Lord's Day, as this was, their chaplain preached a short sermon in the morning in Swedish, but none in the afternoon. Whitelocke for his own company had the usual exercises of praying and preaching by his chaplain Mr. De la Marche, Mr. Ingelo being sick.

Towards the evening the wind began to be fresh again; they kept their course near Bornholm, and might discern the castle. After Whitelocke was gone to rest, Vice-Admiral Clerke, who was on board with him, followed a s.h.i.+p to inquire if she heard any news of a Swedish s.h.i.+p laden with salt from Portugal; at which some of Whitelocke's company taking offence, the Vice-Admiral desisted; but by this deviation, the 'Amarantha' (which is not fleet of sail) lost three leagues, which she was cast back in her course, and was brought in great danger by sailing too near the sh.o.r.e; but the Lord guided them.