the most Illustrious Emperors as a Basilisk under his feet to transfer it to his Son or if indeed the Emperor's Children were more careful to observe the Law of God in this point than that of this man of sin and would not recede from the respect and obedience due unto their Father then to transfer it to the first ambitious person who could be found of a seditious humour his presumption being risen to that Insolency that he made not more difficulty in the quality of a Supreme Dispenser both of the Imperial and all other Crowns of Christendom than to dispose of them of an inferiour order albeit they were Hereditary for the most part in favour of whom he pleased of this Navarre affords us a living example which abides entire unto this day Passing by to avoid prolixity the Subsidies and burdensome Homages which have been established on the Kingdoms of England Poland Hungary Naples and Arragon as well as what they have endeavoured to execute on all the other States of Christendom this may suffice as seems to me to make all these States to see the Interest they have unanimously to oppose the progress of the Papacy so as to prove what I have above propounded what these proud Bishops have attempted upon the Temporal Dominion of all Christendom until the time aforesaid To prove what progress the same Bishops have made in their Usurpations upon the Spiritual Power it is sufficient to read their own Decretals and what they have been able to cause to be decreed in the greater part of the last Councils and to know the Doctrine which all the Sophisters of the Vatican do openly teach and Preach more or less according to the Places where they reside and which is universally received save in the Estates of the Republick of Venice in all the extent of Italy and in the Monarchy of Spain and hath taken but too pernicious roots in all other States where the Magistrate is of the Roman Communion And the Protestant States flatter themselves extreamly if they be perswaded That by the Progress which the work of Reformation hath made in Europe and the infeebling which in its process it hath caused in the Papal Power this Enemy is so far weakned that he is not to be feared any more for it is so far from being so that it is the more dangerous as well for its formidable Power wherein it still appears having in some degree abated its Politick Severity as not judging it necessary any longer since the checks that have befallen it by the advancement of the Reformation or Imprudence of some of its Bishops so also for that the Court of Rome is now more than ever rectified in its refined Policy to be able by imperceptible and secret ways to recover its self to its first glorious Lustre And being Rome cannot attain thereto but by the total ruine of its natural Enemies which consist as I have shewed above according to my supposition in the Protestant Party it is not to be admired if after this shock they have stirred every Stone to bring about the destruction of that party and that so long as there are any Roman Bishops Rome still labours it with all its forces and all its diligence For this reason when the Imperial House of Austria was in condition by its great Inheritances which successively fell to it in the two last Ages by its immense Indian Treasures by its greatness and dignity of the first and most considerable Monarchy of Christendom and by its numerous and formidable Armies to push on the Progress of its great and vast Designs of an Universal Monarchy The Court of Rome was subtle and happy enough to perswade it that it could not attain thereto but by taking on it the quality of its principal Protector and in being the cruel Executioner of the establishment of its Authority and all its freques France Germany Hungary Bohemia and the Princes of the Low-Countries know what Rivers of blood have flowed from this pretence and all Europe knows the enfeeblement which this Illustrious House hath brought on it self by being surprised by Maxims so little enlivened by the spirit of true Christianity and of so little Discretion and Judgment For this same Reason also Rome after it had served it self of the Puissance and Forces of this Imperial House so far as to have reduced it to an extenuation and feebleness capable to draw on its total destruction if the providence of God by the generous Succours of its Allies had not prevented knowing otherwise that this House was not any longer in condition to serve and advance its Projects but in the quality of a suffering Party and that its diminution seemed to give place to his most Christian Majesty by the formidable power of his Forces and his numerous Treasures to pursue with success the career of the Universal Monarchy Rome I say which hold for a Maxim from the time of its first progress to spend the Forces of the most puissant for its own Elevation hath been also crafty and fortunate enough to perswade this Monarch against all the Rules of a Judicious Policy that he could not attain his great and vast Designs but by attempting at the same time as the House of Austria had before done the ruine of the States and Protestant Religion in Holland and by taking contrived measures without the privity of His Majesty of Great Britain with many of his Subjects to re-establish the Romish Religion in England and also to ruine the Protestant Religion in Germany and all his own Dominions And to speak the truth this last enterprize which by this principle hath been in a great part managed by the Emissaries of the Court of Rome hath been so subtly conducted that it may be said nothing hindred his Majesty the most Christian King for many days but that by the surprise of Amsterdam after that of Utrich and Naerden he might have made himself in less than four Months absolute Prince of the principal part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Low-Countries and thereby to have become in one Campania the absolute Arbiter of all Christendom both at Sea and Land And those who more specially understand the errour of Estate which this Monarch hath made on this occasion may know somewhat of the true Reason of that great Traverse of State in particular which for my part I attribute to a formal Protection of the King of Kings who in his Supreme Councils had doubtless ordained otherwise of that affair and understand that if his Majesty after he had surprised Utrich and Naerden had sent only 500 Horse to Amsterdam it was probable that the Magistrate and Burgesses of that Town in the Consternation into which the Rapidity of his Conquests had put them would have delivered up the Keys and Gates thereof purely and simply into the hands of the Conquerour Yea I am assured from good hands the major part had concluded to send him them without staying
with great inconvenience to walk to the exercises of their Devotion without the Wall of the City who agree with Lutherans in all the principal Doctrines of the Christian Faith and are together with them the common Butt of all the Impressions of the Papal malice which neglects nothing which might foment their division and thereby to walk on to solid means of their destruction Wherefore I conceive that the States of the Protestant Communion though of different belief in certain points ought unanimously to endeavour to cause an Article to be inserted in the said instrument of Peace which might for the future redress such Incongruities which whilst they continue can be only seeds of Divisions which both their proper Interest and their Charity oblige them to suppress continually in the Protestant Body But as all that appears in Christian Faith is commonly animated with the Spirit of Charity which engages us not only to adhere to what is our peculiar but to what respects our Brethrens interest especially theirs whom we cannot be ignorant to be actually in tribulation I think the aforesaid Protestant States should do a very heroick Act if by their mediation the interests of their poor Brethren might be regulated in such manner that at least the Emissaries of Rome might not have so ample matter whereupon to raise persecution against them For Example now for a whole Age Europe hath heard no discourse but of the disorders which from Time to Time have risen in high Hungary Silesia and other the Hereditary Countries of the House of Austria I commend not those of the Protestant Body of that Kingdom who for their private Interests or Ambition may be the cause of these revolts and seditions in those Countries but if a great part of those disorders arise from the discontents which the want of means to attend their spiritual Exercises do cause which without doubt is almost the only cause I conceive it were a work very pleasing to be able by humble Representations to his Imperial Majesty to cause him to establish an Order which might for the future banish from that Country all matter of discontent which I judge to be very feasible For if his Imperial Majesty shall consider the merits of all the Successors whom all the said Protestant State should leave behind them so that for Politick Reasons which engage him to prevent such disorders he would make an establishment for the future that so oft as in any Country or in any particular place Protestants should be found to a certain number and should desire to have a free exercise of their Religion they should be qualified to procure it without other Obligation then that of signifying by a simple act their number and desire to the Magistrate of the place I conceive that by such an expedient his Imperial Majesty might cut up the root of all those unhappy Revolts which engage him to extraordinary Expences and of the perpetual cares and alarms and other practices which the Court of Rom's Emissaries furnish and trouble him with to redress these mischiefs which are more proper to cast those Countries into flames then to establish their Repose as fatal experience of a whole Age cannot but have too well taught him And as the Peace which shall intervene will infallibly be an Universal Peace to all Christendom and so different Interests which concern its Tranquility may therein be regarded following still my intent which is to respect the extent and advantage of the Protestant Faith I must say that it will be of great Importance for the said Protestant States to obtain of his Catholick Majesty a Modification of the Instrument of the last Peace which France made with the Republick of the Grisons as touching the matter of the Reformed Religion in Chaveine and the Valtoline for the Inhabitants of both parts of that Religion who are in the said places though their Magistrates are for the greatest part reformed are obliged by a corruption inserted in the Treaty of Peace to walk at least three or four Leagues on the Lord's days to attend their Exercises of Devotion It is most certain that it is a considerable interest of his Majesty to consent to the Modification of this Article if he would preserve the Amity of this Republick and of this I have very precise knowledge for if the Abbot of St. Roman Embassadour for his most Christian Majesty in Switzerland in the Propositions he made to some of the Republick had been advised to let fall a word that the King his Master would consent to a free Exercise of the Reformed Religion in those places I know that the League of that Republick with the House of Austria had been in danger to be dissolved for thus I judge that this represented and maintained in such manner as it may by the Plenipotentiaries of the Protestant States it will not be absolutely impossible to annul this Article which will be of extraordinary consideration for the good of the Protestant Faith in that Quarter many good Souls which profess that Religion though they reside in Italy ardently desire this Consolation and this I can say of my certain knowledge But we have insisted long enough upon some Accessaries let us go to the Principal it is so common with very many Protestants of all Orders who enjoy peaceably according to their wish all conveniences temporal and spiritual not to be able to dispose themselves by the Principles of Charity to compassionate the miseries and afflictions of their oppressed Brethren that it is for this Reason that I have applied my self to make them know whereunto they are engaged in this particular for their temporal Interest But if in the first Point I have prospered somewhat to make known the connexion and indissoluble bond of Interests which the Providence of God hath established betwixt the subsistence of the Politick Interests of all the Potentates of Christendom and of the Protestants more especially with the re-establishment of the Protestant Party in France by the sincere Rehearsal which I am about succinctly to make of the miseries wherein that Body of our Brethren in that Kingdom are plunged I would shew the Protestant States for my second Head whereto their Pity their Charity and their Glory ought to engage them To make known sincerely the Estate of the Protestant Body in France I will not amuse my self in expounding what is publickly known to the greatest part of understanding persons who have travelled through that Realm or who have taken the pains to get some Information thereof I will content my self only to observe that the Emissaries of the Court of Rome having successively insinuated into the spirits of the Monarchs of this Nation that they could not think of advancing their Progress abroad till after they were solidly assured of all at home and that therefore it was necessary for them wholly to exterminate the Protestant Party out of their Kingdom this Counsel hath so strongly prevailed in the Councils
in the Business of the Reduction of Rochelle the Consequences whereof have been the cause of most considerable Conversions of Estate Wars and Disorders of Europe which we have seen since that time CArdinal of Richelieu who without doubt was the greatest Person and Minister of State that France hath of many years produced or which it may be it shall have hereafter for a long time was he who first laid the Axe to the foot and roots of the Imperial Family of Austria and having in an admirable manner pierced into the knowledge of that wherein the true Interest of France might consist to raise the glory of its Kings to the highest degree of all greatness he knew also to adhere only to essential Maxims whence so glorious a Work ought to be commenced And this is so true that we may positively conclude as a most certain thing that whatever Mazarin hath executed since and whatever Messieurs Le Tellier Colbert Louvois and de Pompone have since performed in our days for the Grandeur and exaltation of their Monarch are no other than the fruits of the Heroick Labours of that great Minister and the Execution of the Memoires and secret Instructions of his Ministery it being certain that so far as they have not departed therefrom their Glory and Success have been inseperably united to the greater part of their Expeditions and so far as they have departed from them their Enterprises have many times been attended with loss of Glory to their Master these are things which we observe sometimes by the way whilst we confine our selves to the pursuit of our Observations and Remarks upon some Errors of Estate in the Ministry of France but our design at present is to begin to observe for our private satisfaction that Point alone for the Reduction of Rochelle a Capital quid pro quo of Estate of the most part of the Potentates of Europe who might have hindered it if they on that occasion had known their true Interest and the excellent Conduct of that great Minister at the same time And first of all we will apply our selves only to observe what is but too well known I mean the misadventures which have successively fallen out in Europe to the prejudice of the most powerful Estates therein by this Reduction only and those greater which are ready to befall them if some part of them redress it not The Siege of Rochelle being settled about it the Town was but weakly relieved by the English so that we may affirm that their last expedition which seemed to be set out for that purpose after the death of Buckingham was rather a succour of show and appearance than reality if it might not be said rather that the good King then could not do all he would for their Relief Holland blind to their enemies own true Interest upon this occasion lent their Maritime Forces to advance this Reduction Spain who ought more than any other Potentate to have known and apprehended the consequences thereof thought it better to give credence to its pretended Council of Conscience then to great Spinola who having personally visited Rochelle in the conjunctures of the Siege and perceived the Infallibility of its Reduction unless speedily relieved for it was he that gave that advice to the Cardinal to shut it out from the Sea the Infallible means of its Reduction and repented thereof too late he prophesied punctually at the Council at Madrid all the misadventures which befel them and followed upon this Reduction to the prejudice of the greatness of the Austrian Family All the Roman Catholick Party of France made it so strong a Point of Religion to contribute what lay in them to this Reduction that we may say of them as sometimes the deceased and very wise Marshal of Bassompiere They were great fools who gave themselves no repose until by the sacrifice of their goods blood and lives they had effected it Let us now examine apart in a few words that which consequently did happen upon this Error of Estate to the Imperial House of Austria to Holland and France it self I speak of State Affairs and also by the consequences thereof to the greater part of the rest of Europe For England we need only take a small tast of the Travels and Addresses of the late Monsieur President de Thou Embassadour of France in England to understand that upon the King of England's failing to succour Rochelle was the foundation whereon that insinuation was advanced into the spirits of the People of that Kingdom that his late Majesty of Great Britain had in secret by the perswasion of Henrietta de Bourbon his Wife embraced the Roman Religion and that his designs tended to nothing more then to procure the destruction of the Protestant Religion in England as well as in France if it could possibly be done which supposition though doubtlesly false against that pious and learned Prince yet it was ocasioned by that unhappy slackness of supplies for the relief of Rochelle we may say that it was upon this foundation that France by the means of the said Lord Thou gave life to the universal revolt of all England and to that unfortunate Catastrophe which all Europe have beheld with horrour and astonishment and this is the very truth that the departed Monsieur de Thou who was not a Person that would speak untruth did affirm before his death to several of his Confidents of which some are yet alive that he protested that he died with sore regret that he had intermedled with that unfortunate Affair As for the most Illustrious Family of Austria in examining what hath befallen it on these two Heads since that fatal Reddition First with respect to the Imperialists the King of Denmark the Elector of Saxony the Elector Palatine of the Rhine the Princes of Transylvania and all their Confederates being humbled or destroyed we may truly say it was in a condition to do what it could reasonably desire in Germany but by the Consequence of that Reduction France was in condition to send its Aids abroad and to make Alliances and having in consequence thereof subscribed to the Swedish League it is easie to see what after the Great Gustavus did set foot in the Empire did happen through the whole extent thereof to the prejudice of this Illustrious House till the Peace of Munster and Osnaburg The eight Electorate Brisac and Philipsburg with all the Conquests of the Swede in the Empire and the enfeebling the Body of the German Church for the Recompences made to the Elector of Brandenburg and Prince of Meckleburg are the living Monuments of the failures on that side For Spain we may say that till the Reduction of Rochelle it was not always triumphant but it had thitherto supported the weight of its greatness with glory and was in an Estate to make all them to fear it who did not love it till then Flanders Italy and Germany beheld a numerous Armies on their side the