A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. — John Locke — John Shaqi
A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II.
John Locke · en
In discourse upon the way, Schuett informed Whitelocke of the matter of
the embassy from the Great Duke of Muscovia to the Queen of Sweden, which
was to acquaint her Majesty that the Great Duke had begun a war against
the King of Poland, because in a letter of his to the Great Duke he had
omitted one of his great titles,--a heinous offence, and held by the
Great Duke a sufficient ground of war, and of his resolution to
sacrifice the blood of his fellow-Christians to satisfy his wicked pride.
Another ground of the war was because a certain Governor of a province in
Poland, in a writing, had placed the name of the father of the Great Duke
before the name of the present Great Duke; which was so great an
indignity, that for the same the now Great Duke demanded of the King of
Poland to have the head of that Governor sent to him, and that not being
done, was another cause of the begun war. To this the Queen answered,
that it did not appertain to her to give her opinion in a matter of this
nature, whether she did approve or disapprove of what was done by the
Great Duke, but she did presume that the King of Poland would therein
give fitting satisfaction to the Great Duke; and that she did wish that
there might be peace between these two Princes and all the Princes of
Christendom. And with this answer the Envoys of the Great Duke returned
as wise as they came.
[SN: Denmark threatens Hamburg.]
Schuett also communicated unto Whitelocke an intelligence that the King of
Denmark had levied some forces which he designed against
Hamburg,--pretending injuries done to him by that city in relation to his
pretensions of dominion there, which probably might occasion a war
between Denmark and that free city, which had strength and riches and
people and wisdom to defend themselves; and Schuett advised Whitelocke
that if this should be so, that then he should take his voyage some other
way, and that it would be a great disturbance and danger to him to go by
Hamburg and those quarters, which would be infested with soldiers, and
that then it would be his best way to return by Gothenburg; but he did
persuade Whitelocke by all means to salute the Prince of Sweden by the
way of his return. Whitelocke said he thought it not probable that the
King of Denmark would at this time engage in a war against Hamburg, and
that his levying of soldiers might breed a jealousy in the Crown of
Sweden; that the certainty thereof could not be long undiscovered, and
accordingly he should govern his own resolutions; that it would be
difficult for him to stay in his journey to salute the Prince, but he
much desired and intended it before his departure.
_April 2, 1654._