A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. — Themes and Context

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In Category - Modern Nations

Authors: Whitelocke, Bulstrode, 1605-1675, Morton, Charles, 1716-1799 [Editor], Reeve, Henry, 1813-1895 [Editor] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2005 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Sweden -- History -- Christina, 1632-1654; Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Sweden; Sweden -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 143,036

Reading time 622 min

Text sections 15

Before opening A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. — Themes and Context, the edition data offers a quick orientation: 143,036 words, 10 hr 22 min estimated reading time, and 15 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 35.6 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Sweden -- History -- Christina, 1632-1654,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #17407

Whitelocke's journal records the final months of his embassy to Queen Christina's court, detailing negotiations, leave-taking rituals, and the queen's own speech praising his conduct. The volume captures the tension between diplomatic protocol and personal strain, as seen in Whitelocke's careful catalog of visits and his wife's distress at his delayed return.

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Now was the heat of Whitelocke's business, and many cross endeavours used to render all his labours fruitless, and to bring his treaty to no effect. But it pleased God, in whom his confidence was placed, to carry him through all his difficulties, and to give his blessing and success to this negotiation.

Whitelocke gave a visit to the Count de Montecuculi, to give him the welcome home from his journey with the Queen; who said he had commands to kiss the hand of the Prince of Sweden, and took the opportunity of accompanying her Majesty when she went to meet the Prince. He communicated nothing of the business to Whitelocke, nor did he think to inquire it of him.

After Whitelocke returned home, the Resident of France and Woolfeldt met at his house to visit him, and staid with him three hours. They had much discourse of France, and of the Duke of Lorraine, and of the policy of the Spaniard in entertaining that Duke in his service; by means whereof the country where the Duke's soldiers were quartered was better satisfied than with the Spanish forces, so that there was no tax levied for them, only they took free quarter, and sometimes a contribution upon the receiving of a new officer. And Woolfeldt said, that whereas all other Princes give wages to their officers and soldiers, the Duke gives no pay; but when he makes an officer, the officer pays money to the Duke for his commission; and that he knew a captain of horse who gave a thousand crowns for his commission, which the captain afterwards raised upon the country, and the Duke connived at it. He told how he was employed to treat with the Duke for the transportation of five thousand foot and three thousand horse into Ireland, to assist our King; which the Duke undertook on condition to have a hundred thousand crowns in ready money, and ships to transport his men from some haven in France, none of which could be effected.

[SN: Advances from France.]

After Woolfeldt went away, the French Resident asked Whitelocke whether France were comprised in the treaty with Holland. Whitelocke said he had no information thereof. The Resident replied, that his master would willingly entertain a good friendship and correspondence with England; and Whitelocke said, he believed England would be ready to do the like with France. The Resident said, he observed by their discourse that Whitelocke had been in France, and that the late King would have given him the command of a troop of horse in France; and he hoped that Whitelocke would retain a good opinion of that country, and be their friend. Whitelocke replied, that he was very civilly treated in France, and believed that he should have served the late King there, if, by a sudden accident or misfortune, he had not been prevented, and obliged to return for England sooner than he intended; and that he should be always ready (as he held himself engaged) to pay all respects and service to that Crown, as far as might consist with the interest of the Commonwealth whom he served.

[SN: Senator Schütt explains the delay in the negotiation.]

Notwithstanding his great words against the Commonwealth and present treaty, yet Monsieur Schütt was pleased to afford a visit to Whitelocke, and they fell (amongst many other things) upon the following discourse:--

_Schütt._ My father was formerly ambassador from this Crown in England, where I was with him, which occasioned my desire to be known to you.

_Whitelocke._ Your father did honour to this country and to ours in that employment, and your Excellence honours me in this visit.

_Sch._ England is the noblest country and people that ever I saw: a more pleasant, fruitful, and healthful country, and a more gallant, stout, and rich people, are not in the world.

_Wh._ I perceive you have taken a true measure, both of the country and her inhabitants.

_Sch._ This is my judgement of it, as well as my affection to it.

_Wh._ Your country here is indeed more northerly, but your people, especially the nobility, of a much-like honourable condition to ours; which may cause the more wonder at her Majesty's intention of leaving them, who are so affectionate to her.

_Sch._ Truly her Majesty's purpose of resignation is strange to foreigners, and much more to us, who are her subjects, most affectionate to her.

_Wh._ It is reported that she hath consulted in this business with the Senators, whereof you are one.

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Whitelocke's journal entry for March 1, 1653, opens with a striking contrast: 'Now was the heat of Whitelocke’s business, and many cross endeavours used to render all his labours fruitless.' The phrasing frames the negotiation as a trial of perseverance, with divine intervention credited for success. Yet the text that follows is less about high policy than about the social mechanics of diplomacy—visits, compliments, and the careful management of relationships.

The volume's second half shifts to the leave-taking process, where Whitelocke 'set down in writing the names of those whom he was to visit, which made a long catalogue.' This bureaucratic detail reveals the labor behind courtly courtesy. Queen Christina's own speech, included verbatim, praises Whitelocke's 'prudent management' while deflecting credit onto the Protector and the Protestant cause—a subtle reassertion of royal authority.

The Weight of Protocol

Whitelocke's journal repeatedly emphasizes the physical and administrative burden of court ceremony. After his final audience with Queen Christina, he is 'conducted back to his coach with the same ceremony as he was brought to his audience'—a symmetrical ritual that underscores the embassy's formal closure. Yet the real work begins afterward: 'The trouble of the day was not yet ended.' He must write despatches, answer letters from 'every one of his friends, which were very many,' and manage his wife's expectations. The letter to his wife 'caused much trouble and passion' because its date revealed he had not yet left Upsal.

This tension between public performance and private obligation runs through the volume. Whitelocke's methodical approach—listing names, signing copies of speeches in English and Latin—suggests a man who treats diplomacy as a craft of meticulous record-keeping. The journal itself is part of that craft, a document meant to 'impartially' record his embassy for posterity.

Queen Christina's Voice

The queen's speech to Whitelocke occupies a central place in the excerpts, offering a rare direct statement from a monarch often depicted as enigmatic. She praises his 'prudent management' and 'great abilities,' but frames the treaty's success as a result of 'the good inclinations of the people of this country towards you, and the general interests of the Protestant party.' This phrasing subtly subordinates Whitelocke's agency to broader forces.

Her closing remark—'I know no errors committed by you here, but desire your excuse of the want of those expressions of our respect which this place would not afford'—is a diplomatic masterstroke: it compliments while hinting at the court's limitations. The speech is delivered in English, but Whitelocke also provides a Latin copy, a bilingual gesture that mirrors the embassy's straddling of languages and cultures.

Cross Purposes and Anecdotal Digressions

Whitelocke's journal intersperses negotiation updates with curious anecdotes that reveal the texture of diplomatic life. During a three-hour visit from the French Resident and Woolfeldt, the conversation turns to the Duke of Lorraine's unconventional military financing: 'the Duke gives no pay; but when he makes an officer, the officer pays money to the Duke for his commission.' Woolfeldt recounts a captain who paid a thousand crowns for his commission, which he 'afterwards raised upon the country.'

Such digressions serve multiple purposes. They demonstrate Whitelocke's access to insider knowledge, relieve the monotony of treaty proceedings, and hint at the moral ambiguities of seventeenth-century statecraft. The journal's structure—alternating between formal audiences and informal conversations—mirrors the dual nature of diplomacy itself, where public negotiations are shaped by private exchanges.

Readers should approach this volume as a diplomat's working document rather than a finished memoir. Whitelocke's attention to procedural detail—the catalog of visits, the signed copies of speeches, the careful dating of letters—invites scrutiny of what is included and what is omitted. The journal's gaps are as telling as its entries: the 'cross endeavours' that nearly ruined the treaty are never specified, and the queen's inner motives remain opaque. This is a record of surfaces, but surfaces that reward close reading.

There’s something touching in how Whitelocke’s wife grieves his long stay in Sweden, even as protocol demands he linger—duty pulling against the heart. It makes me think of The Englishman in China During the Victorian Era, Vol. 2 (of 2) As Illustrated in the Career of Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., D.C.L., Many Years Consul and Minister in — Themes and Context, another man far from home, writing letters that try to hold two worlds together. That ache never really changes.