, who conducted
the Dutch Ambassador, came to make up the quarrel. The Swedes maintained
that they ought to have the precedency of the English, because the
kingdom of Sweden was more ancient than that of England. The Marshal de
la Force pretended that this question had been decided in the reign of
Henry III. in favour of the English. The Swedes being unequally matched,
agreed to the Marshal's proposal, that the coach of the English
Ambassador in ordinary and that of Grotius should withdraw, without
prejudice to the rights of Sweden.

On the nineteenth of February the two Ambassadors from England sent to
Grotius, to know if it was by his order that his attendants had acted
and spoke in the dispute they had with the English. Grotius answered,
that he had ordered them to support the dignity of the kingdom of Sweden
the most ancient and extensive in Christendom; but that he had no
intention to offend the English; that in the treaties which Sweden made
with France there was always one copy in which Sweden was named first;
that if his people had transgressed in point of form, it was not by his
order; that the small number he sent to the entry, was a demonstration
he did not think the quarrel ought to be determined by strength; that as
to the accommodation, he had no power to make it, nor consequently given
any order on the subject: that he was desirous of maintaining the good
understanding between the two kingdoms, and to live well with the two
English Ambassadors. The Deputies, without making any reply to this
answer, civilly withdrew.

The quarrel was mentioned in the Gazette of France[317]; and Renaudot,
in the account he gave, named the English before the Swedes, and spoke
of the affair as accommodated. Grotius was very angry at this: he sent
to tell him, to name the Swedes first in another Gazette, and to retract
what he had said of the accommodation: Renaudot was even threatened,
that if he did not give this satisfaction to the Swedes, he would be
made to feel to his cost that Sweden was powerful enough to do herself
justice. The Gazetteer replied, that he was obliged to obey only the
King and the Cardinal.

This grand dispute did not hinder[318] the English Ambassador from
visiting Grotius on public business. The Earl of Leicester[319],
Ambassador extraordinary from England, had a long conference with him
concerning their quarrel: he pretended that what Grotius advanced in
favour of the precedency of the Swedes, was