He tampered with the allies apart, in hopes of dividing and detaching them from the grand confederacy; he solicited the northern crowns to engage as mediators for a general peace.

A memorial was actually presented by the Danish minister to king William, by which it appears that the French king would have been contented to purchase a peace with some considerable concessions; but the terms were rejected by the king of England, whose ambition and revenge were not yet gratified, and whose subjects, though heavily laden, could still bear additional burdens.
The Jacobites had been very attentive to the progress of dissatisfaction in England, which they fomented with their usual assiduity.

The late declaration of king James had been couched in such imperious terms as gave offence even to some of those who favoured his interest.

The earl of Middleton therefore, in the beginning of the year, repaired to St.
Germain's and obtained another, which contained the promise of a general pardon without exception, and every other concession that a British subject could demand of his sovereign.

About the latter end of May, two men named Canning and Dormer were apprehended for dispersing copies of this paper, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty of not only dispersing but also of composing a false and seditious libel, sentenced to pay five hundred marks a-piece, to stand three times in the pillory, and find sureties for their good behaviour.