Eighth to divert Henry the Seventh the King of England from relieving the Duke of Britany to whom h' had a purpose to make War T' allay then the storm that might arise from that side and stop the Relief which Henry might bring or send in favour of his Neighbour Charls made a shew of desiring the Peace and offered to submit t' Henry the differences h' had with the Duke and t' acknowledge him Arbiter and Mediator of the Quarrel Charls with this delicate Bait and subtil Charm of Honour disarm'd Henry's warlick spirit who was fully engaged with affections and inclinations t' Aid the Duke of Britany But Charls made so powerful and quick a Levy and raised such great Forces that the Duke was over-run before notice was taken of it in England That Charls was entred into his Country with an Army and the Tragedy ended before it was known that the first Act was plaid Fourth Discourse Some Rules that Princes and especially they that are Weak ought t' observe when they have need to make use of the Relief of their Friends IN the precedent Discourse hath been seen th' unhappy Destiny of Weak Princes when they are assaulted by Powerful Princes and the various Artifices exercised t'hinder or slacken the Reliefs which might come to them from their Friends But since 't is necessary that there be such Princes in the world and that in the distribution of the parts of that little Engine for which men give themselves so much Labour and make so great a noise Equality hath not been observed 'T is of necessity that the Weaker follow the General Law and remain the Prey of the Stronger wh ' assault them or that they seek protection from them wh ' are able to give it and secure themselves under the shadow of their Authority or by the force of their Arms some Rules are to b'observed as of Importance to be known The first is That they make the strongest preparation in their power t' oppose th' Enemy that comes t' assault them and to resist his first Impetuosity which ordinarily is the most violent and put by their first strokes which are ever the most Dangerous For this purpose and in this publick Necessity theyâ—re to sell or engage their best and most precious things To sink deep into the purses of their Friends and upon their Subjects to make great Levies And 't is better for their Subjects t' endure a little blood-letting and for a short time by their Prince than totally and for ever ruin'd by strangers And a wasted Country as 't is said is better for him than a lost Country and Subjects a little plundred than Subjects constrained to change Master And though they cannot long bear that extraordinary Levy nor resist that excessive Charge It may fall out that th' Heat of th'Assailant may grow cold by a greater Resistance made on the sudden than was expected And may not b' offended at Proposals of Accommodation and that a door b' opened unto them to get our with Honour from an Enterprize whose Beginnings being unhappy the Progress might b' abated without doing more than making of a Noise and may return to th'Haven without other danger than the fear of a Tempest Or if th' Enemy do not withdraw upon th' ill usage Fortune affords them at the first Attempt and refuse to quit the place or to retire In gaining of time they 've done much which is the great Remedy of Unfortunate and Weak persons and gives Means to their Friends to come to their Relief and to bring them fresh Troops wherewith they may not onely maintain themselves but cause the face of War to change and turn the Defence in t ' an Assault and become th' Assailants of their Enemies The Duke of Savoy Grand-father of the present Duke did the like since the death of the late King in the Wars the Spaniards made him or H' had been suddenly over-run at the first sight and swallowed by the Spanish powerful Armies wherewith the Governour of Milan entred Piedmont and gave fear t' all Italy but to that Prince And yet with that wise and bold proceeding he not onely received and resisted their first assaults but gave them affronts And precedent it hath been observed that after the loss of Verceil which had it been well defended might have been kept strengthned by that fair and flourishing Relief Sir of Esdiguieres brought unto it who put the Spaniards upon the Defensive and compelled them to desire Peace which was concluded at Paris to their Advantage The second Rule is That as great sums of Money are to be expended and a great Army to be raised 't is of great importance to make them timely and not t' expose them to th'hazard of surprises which being dangerous in all sorts of affairs are much more in the business of War and d'ordinarily make breaches by which ill fortune enters so far into the Country That it proves a difficult matter to drive it out And it often falls out that they die of those strokes or are long sick of them And 't is what sometimes hath been to be desired by way of Addition to the Wisdom of the Venetians and to their excellent Conduct Their Historians also confess That one of the causes of the loss of the Kingdom of Cyprus was the delays they used in preparing against the Storm which they saw coming And in the Motions which troubled Italy about the Succession of the last Duke of Mantoua we 've seen them Arm slowlier than was necessary for their very design and have suspended many times th' Orders and Commissions they ' d given for the War upon uncertain and wild reports of a Treaty of Peace and were onely a studied Deceit and an affected Artifice of the Spaniards for to possess them with a coldness and relaxation of spirit 'T is certain at least That if after the King had forced his passage at Suza and taken away the Barrier that shut up their Entry into Italy They had not recalled th'Orders given to their General t' enter into Cremona They had taken of the Spaniards some eminent Advantage whilst they wanted Forces failed of Courage and th'Inclinations of the people were adverse unto them Who can I say doubt but if they had taken possession of Cremona which opened her Arms unto them and breathed after so easie a Yoke as theirs but that they had greatly fortifi'd the Party which they favoured and had obliged it may be by that Declaration the Spaniards t' have observed the Peace of Sutza and t' have caused to be sent to the Duke of Mantoua th'Investiures Accorded by that Treaty rather than t' have shut themselves up betwixt two so considerable Powers as France and Venice and some other Forces which Venice might have drawn t' its assistance or if the War had re-kindled as it did the following year and the Spaniards touched with th'Affronts they received from all parts have been forward at any price to take
places hath been said and Boundaries are raised that they may not go out of their Places nor pass their Limits The Pathes H' ought to walk in are set out unt ' him and the Course h' ought to take by the pragmatique Sanctions and by the Resolutions of the Dyets of the Princes and States of th' Empire Those Laws and Resolutions Moderate that Power and make that Symetrie of Temper and Harmony of Humours of all the Body whereof th' Emperors are but th' Head 'T is what th'Elector Maurice of Saxe intended when he said That Germany advanced so many paces to its ruine as th' Emperor added new Degrees t' his Power and that it might b' ever free and flourishing it was necessary always to conserve the Princes Authority and their Power in the Constitution of th' Empire which were the Counterpoise that ballanc'd it But since it was very hard to maintain the Evenness of the Counterpoise and that Ambition like the Fire says 'T is never enough And that to rule it breaks all the Chains that Justice thinks to with-hold it by and respects neither Laws nor Customs to satisfie its Ends Support for th' Empire hath been sought out of th' Empire and the Subsistence of the Body and Liberty of the Members have in a special manner been under the Protection of France In what way this Protection is formed whether by Reciprocal Treaties or by Custom changed into the Force of a Law What this Crown hath ever practised t' hasten the Relief of th' Empire and hinder the Dissolution of the Body and th' Annihilation of its Natural Form 'T is not any business here t' enquire after 'T is sufficient that the Germans are agreed and have always declared it in their Treaties which they 've made with our Kings when they were to be redeemed from vexation and came t'implore their Endeavours or Arms. This Formal Acknowledgment and Express Declaration is seen in the League of th'Elector Maurice and th' other Princes his Associates made with Henry the Second to secure Germany from th'Irons which Charls the Fifth would have imposed on it That there 's no question to be made of it Insomuch that France cannot b'accused of Temerity or of Undertaking when it appears in th' Affairs of Germany and that it interposeth its Cares and Arms That the Ballance spoken of stand streight and Lean not on th' Emperor's nor on the Princes side and Free Towns of th' Empire I speak not here because I 've else-where done it of that General and Indefinite Obligation which Great Persons have to relieve Inferiour persons when they 're oppressed The common Law of Humanity whereof they 're not exempt and the particular Law of Charity which sometimes enters into their Conduct exact this Duty of all that can render it And the Law of their Interest which is the supreme and powerful Law of Princes doth sufficiently press them t' hinder the Great from devouring the Lesser persons lest they should grow too Great and lest Power enflaming their Ambition thrust them on and extend it to the Dominions of other Princes I speak not also of another Obligation more Bounded and Circumscribed which France hath to protect some Princes and particular States of th' Empire and to b' a Shelter and Haven unto them in time of Persecution and Tempest Such as the protection and safeguard it owes particularly to th'Elector of Treves which was respected by the King of Swede and Sacred with victorious Heretiques with whom neither he nor we had any War 'T is true That th' aid which France owes to th' Empire when 't is threatned with Ruine hath not much appeared since it entred into th' house of Austria but in favour of the Members against th' Enterprizes of the Chief As also th' oppression and violence which hath been opposed proceeded from that side and had their Beginning in th'Invasions the Princes of that House would have made upon the Liberty of others Yet France failed not the last Emperor when there was need of it And if in the Troubles of Bohemia and after those happy beginnings and the visible Evidences of a more happy Sequel of the Palatine's Arms the King had not permitted the French to go out of France to fortifie th' Emperor's Troops and sent the most Solemn and Illustrious Ambassy which of a long time hath gone out of this Kingdom t' untie the Protestant League and break the Course of their Prosperity Th' Emperor had run th' hazard of being stript of his Countries and t' have tried the same fortune he hath made the Palatine to suffer and to become Pensioner to the Spaniards as th' other hath been to th' Hollanders 'T is easie to conclude from what hath been above-said That 't is not without Reason that th' House of Austria makes th' Empire the Basis and Centre of their pretended Monarchy That 't is not without Reason that the late Emperor writing to the King of Spain t' incline him t' approve of the translation of th' Electorat of the Count Palatine to the Person of the Duke of Bavaria represented unt ' him the consideration That it had ever been the Judgment of their Predecessors that the Seat whereupon the Greatness of their House ought to rest was Germany and that th' Empire was th' highest and the most eminent piece of all Germany That that Dignity was to be conserved in their House above all other things And that the promotion of Baviere and of his Successors to th' Electorate rendring the Suffrages of the Catholick Electors superior in number which should ever descend to the Princes of that Race the possession of th' Empire would be the better established and what in Form and Apparences might appear Elective would in Effect and Substance become Hereditary And the late King wh ' had so many Natural and Acquired Lights of the things of this world and in whom the good sense wherewith he was born was so much improv'd by th' Experience h' had gain'd said in a contrary sense to that of the Duke of Anhalt when he was sent unt ' him from the Princes of Germany wh ' had made a League with him to be delivered in good earnest from th' Attempts and Allarms which they s ' often received from th' House of Austria That it was necessary to force th' Empire from that House where it seem'd t' have taken root and to pass it in t ' another Catholique House but less Ambitious And having shorter and weaker Wings might not extend them so far nor flie so high But Death caused that magnificent Project to miscarry when it was but in the Flower and th' Execution it may b' is reserved for some of his Heirs who may inherit such magnanimous Thoughts and march upon such generous Impressions as the King doth at this time Wh ' is as worthy an Imitator of the Virtues of his Father as Lawful Successor of his Kingdom He 's inflamed with the same zeal for th' establishment of
revenge of the shame by Arms The War without all doubt had taken another form If the Venetians had been Engaged in it Mantoua in Apparance had not been lost All the designes of th' Enemies had been Abortive And insted of th' unhappy success of th'Expedition of Valese for being undertaken too late and with precipitaion The Republique had seen the fruits ripen at leasure if it had been timely acted of so generous a Design and without much hazard Nor had it been for that Action the more Hated of th' House of Austria It had been the more respected And all Italy had taken the greater courage for defence of the common Liberty if it had had before their Eyes so great an Example of Courage from them who give every day so great Examples of their Wisdom But however 't is the Lot of Human Wisdom to be sometimes defective or rather 't is the property of Evil Events to b'always attributed t'Unreasonable Causes or else 't is the Nature of all th' affairs that are put in Deliberation t' have many faces and reasons of all sides which encline t' Act or not t' Act one manner or other Right of Providence which governs the World to frustrate or cause to b'observed as it shall seem good the reasons of th' effects intended and of the promised success The third Rule shall be That if the Prince who is assaulted endeavours t' execute what hath been advised him to do and yet shall have need of Relief from his Allies to make th' Evil to cease or to stop th' Enemies further progress He must make use of their Forces for Diversion and cause them to march into th' Enemies Country if he be not over-pressed in his own Country and if th' Evil he feels or fears may attend that Remedy By that means he may ease his Country of them who would have laid it waste and had sworn the ruine of it and will secure it also from the spoil of Auxiliaries which cannot b' avoided And which may properly be compared to Physicians who cannot cure the body without th' use of it nor drive away th' ill humours which cause Alteration without the disordering of it and without leaving also sometimes some Ill Impression As to the success of this Diversion 't is Impossible but it must prosper and have th' effect it Aims at because it hath the character and mark of efficacious diversions and to b'executed upon a Country which is ordinarily of greater Importance and of stronger Concernment being his own to th' Enemy than that from which they would force him And there 's no apparance That a wise Physician will neglect th' Heart or some other Noble part t' intend the cure of a light Contusion or of some smal Scratch Let 's also say before return be made t' our principal Subject and for the better clearing the Matter of Diversion which will not much divert us and is a Neighbour to 't That one of the most memorable and the most judicious Diversions which the past Age hath seen was that which Francis the First made upon the Spaniards when the Constable of Bourbon the Marquis of Pescary and th' other Chiefs of th' Imperial Army came t' assault Provance Instead of marching streight t' oppose them and to fight them in his Kingdom He marched quickly with his Army in t ' Italy and fell upon the State of Milan and upon the Country in most favour with th' Emperor and upon the parts of all the rest of his Estates which were dearest t' him next to Spain nor was he disappointed of his Thoughts for th' Imperial Army failed not at the first Noise of that Expedition to quit Provance and to march towards Italy with so strange a Nimbleness and such an Incredible Diligence That it prevented our Arrival in the State of Milan and gave means to recruit and fortifie some places which were the security of the rest That if the Subsequent Success was as fatal to us as the first favourable And if the Cause of that War was Ended in th' Imprisonment of King Francis and by the Ruine of his Army This Disgrace ought not to b' Attributed to the Nature of the Diversion which was very pertinent nor a Prudential Cause charged with the production of a Malignant Effect which proceeded from another Cause This Disgrace I say is to b'attributed to the design of Fortune which undertook to mortifie French-men by th' ill Conduct of their Prince and by the faults of His Ministers of State and by that unhappy and undiscreet Diversion which he made upon the Kingdom of Naples whither he sent the Duke of Albany with a part of his Army For besides the great Weakness it brought to the Remainder of his Forces and the fair Game it made for his Enemies t' advance for th' Assault as they failed not to do in that Weakness He considered not that the Kingdom of Naples being less Important to th'Emperour and of less Esteem with him than the State of Milan His Army could not abandon the Milanois to Relieve Naples The Fourth Rule That if an inevitable Necessity b' upon a Prince to procure Forein Forces to march in t ' His Country and strengthen his Army It may b' of great advantage t' him t' have need onely of moderate Forces and such as b' inferior t' his That he may always give the Law and receive no Jealousie from them lest they should put him in t ' a kind of Subjection in the sight of his Subjects and abate the glory of Authority which governs his People and th' opinion of his Greatness by that mark of Dependency wherein he must inavoidably fall upon the Reception of strâ—nge Armies I speak not of other Inconveniencies which may arise upon th'introduction of Strangers into a Country and particularly if Ambition enters with the Power or if the Beauty of the Country or Riches of th' Inhabitants may serve them for Temptation to desire it who being born under a Rigorous Climate and in Salvage Countries are but too much tempted to change Dwellings and to gain Richer Habitations Philip father of Alexander by such an Invitation attempted the Liberty of Grece whereof the Romans as hath been observed made a Conquest That the Goths the Vandals and other Septentrionals have possessed themselves of their Countries who called them to their Relief And that six thousand Turks marching from Asia into Europe to serve th' Emperours of Constantinople charmed with the sweetness and felicity of that pleasant Country invited their Country-men t' establish themselves in Europe And it was the first cause of the Revolution of that Empire Wherefore wise Princes and Republiques well instructed in th' Art of Governing have at all times avoided th' Use of so dangerous a Remedy and th'Exercise of a Means so full of Jealousie as th'Introduction of a great Forein Army into their Country In the War which th' antient Romans made against Pyrrhus and when by the gain of some
Letters in the year 1623. which the Duke of Baviere also Confirmed by his Letters and signified the King He understood that it was only for his Life that his House should Enjoy th' Electoral Dignity and that h' had Accepted it upon Condition of Return to th' House from whence it was taken and should be the Privilege of his Person and not th' Inheritance of his Heirs It was th' Allay that was alwaies Presented to the King of England and wherewith he Suffered himself alwaies to be Surprized And his Inclination naturally disposed to the Sweetness of Rest and to the Delicacies of Peace was Easily diverted by that shew which was made of giving him Content from the Thoughts of Warr which were not Natural to him In th' Expectation of th' Effects of those hopes he finished his Life which from time to time were renewed unto him And th' Earl of Gondemar who had seized upon the Kings Understanding and taken Soveraign Possession of it to Govern him absolutely knew how to represent th' Execution of that Affair so infallible as not only t' Hinder the King from Arming against the Usurpators of his Son-in-Laws Lands but Enclined him also to Lend Ships to his Master to secure against th' Hollanders the Spanish Fleets which Sailed from th' Indies That business hath ever since been in the same Condition on th' Emperours part and stood alwaies floting in Irresolution and Incertitude till the Accident of Northlinghen which was fatal to the Swedes The grearest part of the Princes and free Towns of th' Empire fell from their Confederation and Conspired at Prague with th' House of Austria against the German Liberty Th' Emperour High and Proud with his prodigious Success and believing himself Master of Affairs and Fortune forgetting the Promises he had so Solemnly made to the Late King of England and the Faith h' had so often given him in Favour of his son-in-Son-in-Law though nothing had passed against him on that Princes occasion nor by the Means of his Children but a Sad and Lamentable Progress of Calamity and of Disgraces declared by his own Authority though he could not Lawfully do it but by th' Authority of a Lawfull Dyet and all Parties heard declared I say Th' Electorate duely Translated to the Duke of Bavaria and to his Heirs and that it could not Devolve t' any other Family till his was Extinguished Moreover He declared th' Opposition made by the Duke of Newbourge as Prince of the Palatine Family to be Void and that he was not to b' admitted upon his Claim And that this was done upon great and important Considerations known t' his Imperial Majesty That he Maintained and Confirmed in the Partition and Possession of the Palatinate them Wh ' had taken it in his Name and by his Authority with Respect to b' had to the Count Palatines and to the Requests of Princes who should Intercede for them and under such base and shamefull Conditions That he knew well they would never b' Accepted But remembring the Bloody affront done to the present King of England and the Counterpoise that he might bring to the Ballance where the Victory hung betwixt two Parties if he should declare for his Enemy Remembring also the Damages the Low-Country-men would receive in the Cessation of the Recruits th' English might bring them And other Consequences that might arise from th' Hatred of a Prince provoked to Revenge by frequent disdains offered unto him and by th' Extreme injuries done t' his Nephews He re-assumed the Foxes skinn which h' had put off at the Treaty of Prague and Exercised the first Art wherewith h' had so often play'd his Game with the Father t' abuse the Son and to suspend the Resolution he might take to seek by Force what had been denied t' his Intercession and Endeavours He made shew then of Entertaining the profers of Accommodation which were made to Him He received the King of Englands Message for that purpose and seemed to desire a Solemn Embassage t' yield with the greater Honour and to give the more Glory to the Treaty he would Conclude But th' Journey of th' Earl of Arundel The several Distastâ—rs which he there received and the Dissatisfaction which at last he brought back made Clearly manifest to the World the Truth of th' Emperours Intentions and that it was a studied Artifice to gain Time and to try the Fortune of Warr with the more Advantage having to do with the fewer Enemies I speak not of what hapned to the last Ambassadour that was sent from England nor of the success of his Embassy which hath not given the Lye to the former 'T is a matter too new and present to b' unknown by any Person And this may be said in favour of th' House of Austria That it being necessary the Treaty to be Concluded should be debated by the King and Parliament of the Kingdome The time was not proper for it whilst the King and his Parliament were divided That truly is not without Reason and plausible Pretence but the secret of th' Affairs is That so long as the Schism shall last and the Fire which th' English have kindled in the midst of their Country be maintained in Heat and Force The King of Hungary and they of his Party have no Cause to fear their Arms nor t' hasten a Treaty And if it b' Expedient that they treat in Earnest it may be time enough when th' English have reassumed their former Union and the design of restoring the Palatines House and re-establishing of the Princes th' Emperour and his Adherents had stripped to their Shirts That whilst they run th' Hazard of the Warr either they may gain so Considerable Successes and their Power may Encrease so Plentifully That when England shall enter into the League which all sorts of Reasons d'invite it to do and to Joyn his Forces with the Forces of the Confederates They would have nevertheless Cause t' hope for Victory and should not b' obliged to part with that Willingly which they could not take from them by Force These Prejudications which are Offered accompanied with many others shall be set down in the Third Part may suffice to make it appear to our Confederates what Foundation they can raise upon the Duration of particular Treaties to which th' House of Austria doth press and sollicit them And the Swedes above all Persons whom they would debosh from the Confederation of France and against whose Faith they raise their strongest Batteries and Arm their subtilest Artifices are too Dextrous to b' ignorant of the constant Resolution and immoveable Will of those Princes of that House not to Suffer them having advanced their Power so far into Germany to take deep Root there or that so Powerfull a Member and of so Warlike a Nation should b' adjoyned to th' Empire I believe also that they doubt not as to what respects the Duration and Subsistence of the particular Treaty they should have made with