ABSTRACT
Tallard came to Holland in the late spring of 1699, he found Dutch politicians as vacillating as the Austrians were recalcitrant. Bonrepaus, who had been largely excluded from the negotiations on the First Partition Treaty, returned to The Hague on Louis XIV's special request. In Portland's letter to William on 17 June, he revealed an ironic moment in his personal relations with the French monarch. The latter seemed satisfied with William's sincerity, and with his promises to hasten the ratification of the Second Partition Treaty. Tallard's first of several private audiences with the English king led Tallard to advise Louis XIV and Torcy that William strongly opposed the possible joining of the Crowns of France and Spain. The next few weeks were perhaps the busiest of Torcy's long ministry. Within days he had to compose and send letters by special courier, not only to French diplomats abroad, but to the principal rulers and principalities in Europe and Asia as well.
