at least permit the raising in their Territories a like number of Men by the Emperor and his Allies it being pre-suppos'd that a State can never be counted Neuter so long as it furnishes Forces to one of the Parties that are in Wars together besides such a Neutrality is of evil consequence to the others that pretend to the same There are but very few States that are not glad to see their Neighbours weaken'd that they may draw advantage from their Disorders and get to themselves the Trade and to see them from a secure place ruine one another while their Neuter Subjects enrich themselves and improve by the spoil as the Archbishop of Mentz did think to do if he had not been cheated by France to his great sorrow he has made tryal of Lewis the XIVth's Maxims who has no sooner laid his finger on a place but that he endeavours to thrust in his whole body and to drive from thenee the Lawful Lord. Though all has known this yet divers hitherto have been surpris'd with it they call out for help when they thiink themselves lost as we have seen in divers little States which he has appropriated to himself and he had done the like to Geneva had not the Laudable Cantons oppos'd themselves to it The Switz perceiving that his most Christian Majesty did by that design to smooth a Path for himself into their Country and into the States of the Duke of Savoy if they durst but have stirr'd never so little after that Conquest I now pass to the Cantons of the Switzers by reason of their Proximity to the Empire and Alliance with the Emperor they have no cause of being better satisfied than many others are of Lewis the Great if they would but return from that blindness wherein they are and make some Reflections on what has pass'd only since his Reign how that he amuses them on the one side while he is undermining of their Union on the other together with their Liberty and their Power incompassing them so close on all sides as if he would so girt them in that they should not be able to stir themselves His Design is to make them Tributary not of Money but of divers thousands of Men when he has occasion for them and when they should be of most use to him to that particularly tends the Usurpation of the French County which was formerly their Barr the Fortresses of Hunning and of Crensack and so many other Forts and Bridges which the King has caus'd of late to be built round their Countrey It is that way do the Lewis d'Ors tend which the French Ambassador does so freely scatter about in the Cantons and so many fair promises and French Compliments with which the Lords are fed to rock them asleep but in the mean time I humbly desire that those Gentlemen would make a serious Reflection on the ill Treatment and Contempt lately put on their Ambassadors and by that they shall judge whether they have any great cause to reckon on and to trust to the Friendship and Promises of that King and let them not flatter themselves if the King could have made them submit to the French Yoak long since had he done that business because he well knows the need he has of them that the Cantons can supply him with a great number of good Souldiers and that he can build and reckon on their Alliance I know that in Switzerland as well as elsewhere there are Mercenary Spirits that would willingly Sacrifice their Country to their proper Interests who promise much to France without considering well what they do and if the King had enter'd into Germany as he had purpos'd to do as I have before mention'd the Cantons had had great cause to fear that divers Towns whose Magistrates had been brib'd had follow'd the fatal Example of Strasbourg To this purpose the King has always endeavour'd to divide them in their hearts as well as in their Religion But some will say that Things have not happen'd so and that they are still in a good Condition I grant that and I answer that the pass'd danger ought to render us wise for the future the Swallows know their times why should Men neglect theirs Wherefore above all the Switzers ought not to let slip so fair an Occasion by which they may set themselves at rest for ever I Conjure them to it by that which they hold most dear in the World their Liberty Religion their Children and their own Preservation let them remember they are born free that they depend but on God alone and on their Valour and that they ought to maintain themselves in those fair Priviledges which their Ancestors have acquir'd to them by their Swords and their blood being arriv'd at the moment in which they may preserve them they ought not to fall asleep at the sound of the French Gold it is not with this as with the Tide which returns every day and it may be that England shall never again be Govern'd by a King replenish'd with such good Sentiments and that shall be so well fix'd to the General Interests of all Christendom as is that Prince who Reigns there at this present It is a good fortune which must be taken hold of by the foretop for fear she flyes away It is not to be doubted but that at this very present the French Ambassador does indefatigably Labour with the Cantons and that he offers much more than his Master designs to perform and he fails not to tender also the Arrears due to them provided the Cantons will permit the raising of new Forces or only accept of a Neutrality As if the King did offer them any thing more than their own which he ought to have pay'd them long since I very well know that divers Persons whose eyes this Reimbursement causes to be open would willingly grant what the King requires of them in the belief that they might observe a Neutrality with that just as if the Emperor had granted it and at the same time permit Forces should be given to his Enemy which would be two things very incompatible and which no Monarch would ever endure if he were in any Condition to prevent it Wherefore I once more repeat that the Cantons ought to make serious Reflections on the present State of France in particular and on that of Europe in general and rouse up from that dullness and Mercenary humour in which they are kept in the fear the French King has that the Switzers should awaken on the sudden and open their eyes to their true Interest It lyes at present but on a strong and generous Resolution to get out of all dangers prevent ever relapsing into them again and set themselves in a Condition to depend on none but themselves To this purpose they ought to joyn themselves to the Empire and then require from the King that he should demolish those Fortresses which he has caus'd to be built contrary to former
Treaties and in case of a refusal by an authentick and general Decree recall their Forces and with those very Troops that are so well Disciplin'd and those they have already go themselves and execute that which France refuses them and pull down those stone Tables which he has set up Besides let the Lords of that Republick consider that the more Souldiers they lend to France the more Men they lose whose hearts are insensibly alienated from their own Country by Death by Offices by Pensions by Mariages and some by the Change of Religion and these last are young Vipers which will one day gnaw their own Mothers bowels I know that the Switzers with divers others have some years since fear'd the Forces which France has to make it self dreaded allways kept in readiness after Peace and after the Truce also which Forces made it to speak with Confidence and required nothing but with threatnings being the only Prince in Europe that did see himself in a Condition to Undertake and to Act before others were in a Condition to Defend themselves which made him to be fear'd by his Neighbours and procur'd him Alliances but particularly that of King James with which he thought himself sufficiently strong to overcome all Europe beginning as I have already said by the United Provinces I doubt not but all these Considerations might have a great influence over the Cantons and oblige the Switzers to grant to France that which perhaps they had not done at any other time but now the storm is blown over the Cause of that Pride with which the King did threaten being vanish'd into smoak the fear ought to cease also and there ought not to remain any consideration capable to retain the Switzers under the Rod of Lewis the XIVth Let them return to their pristine Liberty and to their right Interest Let those Gentlemen know that Kings are Great no longer than they are happy and that they are fear'd no longer than their good fortune lasts I therefore maintain that that Imperiousness with which France was us'd to draw advantages from the Cantons is at an end now that it finds it self over-whelm'd from all sides that all its Alliances on which it founded all its new Usurpations are vanish'd and that at this present he has almost as many Enemies as there are Princes in Europe If they have not yet all declar'd they will not stay long they only wait to see the Dance begin to joyn themselves with the Allies as we have lately seen the Republick of Liege which has scorn'd its threatnings and embrac'd that Party which it apprehended to be the most advantageous and the most necessary for its State. Which sufficiently shews the small regard that it had at present for the French King who is no longer in a Condition of doing any great Damage in an open War since England has turn'd the Muzzle of her Cannons against him and that the Prince on whose Alliance he so strongly built his hopes is no longer in a Condition to do any good or hurt to Europe for in lieu of succouring his Allie he himself stands in need of him he drains France the Calf in time will kill the Cow with drawing her too hard it is a new Charge to Lewis the XIV and that Unfortunate Prince sees himself on the brink of a Precipice which by a special Grace from Heaven he may yet avoid by retiring into some Convent The Laudable Cantons ought to make other Reflections and have other Considerations at present than they formerly had they should too lift up their Eyes towards England and behold His Britanick Majesty William the IIId as their Friend and Allie professing the same Religion and who during His Reign will make it a point of Generosity and of Honour to Succour them against all the Assaults of the French King. If they declare themselves both through the Tye of Communion and that of Esteem which that Great Prince has for them even His great and generous Designs ought to serve to make them return to their ancient Rights and Liberties cause their aincent Limits to be made good again for greater security but then they ought not to remain quiet all the while with their arms folded but labour with all their power and assist to bring about so great a good and advantange which the Heavens offers them To that purpose they should Exemplarily punish all those Mercinary Persons whose hands and their Honours have been defiled with the French Money Incessantly cause their Forces to return which are in the French Service in case of disobedience declare them Rebels and Confiscate their Means oblige those Fathers who have Children there to call them home on great Mulcts never to admit to any Employ nor Dignity either in Church or State all such as shall contradict these Orders and never cease 'till the Fortresses are demolish'd and Burgundy the French County Alsace and Lorain restor'd to their ancient Masters and Soveraigns that they may be as so many Bulwarks to the Cantons all which they can easily do in this Conjuncture which at this present so favourably offers it self and which they ought not to let slip seeing there is at this present between the Protestant and the Catholick Cantons so good a Harmony and firm Union that the Pope is wholly inclin'd to cause those of his Party to keep it strictly as a neecessary good for the quiet of Christendom and the safety of Europe as well as to abate the Pride of France All this will happen in Declaring for the Emperor and Empire I come now to Spain formerly their Soveraigns Govern'd from within their Closets a good part of the World but since Philip the IId its great Power has began to decay and that of the Kings of France to increase at the same time that that of the Catholick Kings decreased I shall not seek after the Causes of it because that is beside my Subject I shall only say by the by that the Liberty of Conscience in France has much contributed to its Elevation and that contrary-wise the privation of it in Spain has caus'd there great Evils and the loss of Trade which is the Soul of States and Kingdoms The Marriages which the Kings of Spain have Contracted with France have been so many Levens of Discord and of War which have always prov'd very hurtful to Spain and not to go back any further than to the late Queen who was a French Woman as much by inclination as she was by Birth who by the subtle and dextrous Counsel of the King her Uncle's Ambassadors had always some new business to propose to the King her Husband who most tenderly lov'd her By those means that Princess had acquir'd a great ascendent over the King's mind sometimes prejudicial to the good of his Kingdom for whose prosperity she had not all the Consideration she ought to have had for having no Children to Succeed to it and still in fears that remaining
Pontificate either in his own Person or in that of his Legates even upon the dead Corps of one of them The extinction of the Regalia in France is also a great grief to the Holy See as well as the violence us'd against divers Convents for having address'd themselves to the Pope and taking advice of his Holiness The change of divers Abbies into Commanderies by the King 's own and proper motion is also a Contempt which he has aggravated by the forbiddance he has made to the Bishops not to Consult the Holy See even in Cases of Conscience and in such businesses as wholy concern Religion but the most sensible of all was that blow given to the Pope's Authority in the Year 1682. by the Clergy Assembled at the King's Command that being with the Infallibility the finest Flowers of the Triple Crown The Insolent Discourses held in a Plea by Monsieur Talon by which he accus'd Pope Innocent the XIth the most worthy that has for divers years been seated in St. Peter's Chair of being a Schismatick and a Supporter of Hereticks And this for not having receiv'd Monsieur Lavardin as Ambassador at Rome who made his Entry into that City in such an offensive and proud manner that no Ambassadours of Obedience durst ever have done the like having caus'd himself to be accompany'd by a small Army rather than a Retinue as if he would have Besieg'd the Vatican And though this Marquess is at full Liberty at Rome the Nuncio Ranucci is detain'd in a place call'd St. Lazarus for fear he should retire from Paris incognito Finally the unjust seizure of the City and County of Avignon threatning besides all this to send some Troops into the Ecclesiastick State to oblige the Pope to revoke the Bull for the abolition of Quarters and that for his Confirmation of Prince Joseph Clement of Bavaria to the Archbishoprick of Cologne After so much insulting which the Pope had receiv'd of which one might make a whole Volum either in his own Person his Authority or in the Person of his Legates the Pope has judiciously done to shew his Resentment against Lewis the XIV not to relinquish any of his Rights but maintain the Rank which he has in the Church and in the World by that Spiritual and Temporal Power which God has put into his Hands and in having till now so generously and justly oppos'd himself to all the French Violences by which he has acquir'd a Glory which shall last as long as the World amongst all Parties and his Memory will be Rever'd even after his Death He ought to go on in those right Paths which he has begun and as Common Father Exhort all Catholick Princes to put themselves in a Condition to abate the Pride of the French King as a means to bring him into a way of Salvation To this purpose the Pope ought with all his Power to Assist the Catholick Princes that he may co-operate in so good a Work as his Holiness has done to the Empire against the Turks and to solicite the Switz-Cantons of the same Religion by his Legates to Join themselves to the Emperor and Empire to confirm that Deliverance which Europe begins to enjoy Thus the Pope being restor'd to his former Dignities Veneration and Authority let the King his most devout Son make him some Reparations and Attonements for those Faults he has committed and be so humbled that for the future he may be Wiser and out of Power of doing the like again nor of Insulting over the Popes and Soveraign Pontifs of the Catholick Church and in case the Pope found no amendment in that King nor no likelihood of bringing him back to his Duty he ought while he is busie in a War to lance forth his Excommunications against him and to give his Kingdoms over to the Spoil of his Enemies the male-contented Ecclesiasticks with which his Kingdom is fill'd will reduce him by Reason and will make him repent having ever meddled with the Rights of the Church The Emperor and the Princes of the Empire have more Reason than all the other Powers of Europe to keep the French King in such a condition that he may no more annoy them nor aspire to the Imperial Crown Lewis the XIV has a long time endeavour'd to turn the Empire into the French Family as in the time of Charlemain it being a great step for him to rise to that of all Europe that is the Reason why since Francis the First the French Kings have always cross'd the Emperors Elections But Lewis the Great could find no way to that Conquest but by the total Ruine of the United Provinces to which he could not attain but by the assistance of England thus his Imperial Majesty and all the Princes of the Empire being fully satisfied of this Truth and that nothing but that Revolution which has lately happen'd on the Brittish Throne could cause the rash Designs of the French King to Miscarry The Emperor ought no longer to remain in suspence nor put off to another time those Advantages which the Heavens present to him at this time to recover all that France has Usurp'd from him To this purpose his Imperial Majesty should begin by a Truce which he ought without delay to conclude with the Port seeing that they offer it on very honourable and advantageous Conditions and let the Emperor hold as suspicious Persons all such as shall Advise him to the contrary they are Persons that sin either through Ignorance or Malice who understand not the true Interests of the Empire or too much those of France he is not to doubt but that all the Princes of the Empire will concur to the same Design of abasing the Greatness of the French Monarch of which there are but very few Powers in the Empire that have not great cause of complaint and just pretensions to frame and perhaps more to pretend to than ever to recover again if France be not kept in a condition of never offending them more of domineering any longer nor of boasting any more that it can give Peace to Europe when ever it pleases This last War by the rupture of a Truce which the French King had sought after with so much earnestness because it confirm'd Luxemburg to him and a part of Flanders during Twenty Years and which he has infring'd without any Cause than his desire to come to the Assistance of the Grand Seignior who was going to ruine by the vast Conquests which the Emperor made on that Infidel His Most Christian Majesty was going hand over head to his Assistance finding himself supported with a close Alliance with James the II. formerly King of Great Britain this Rupture has given new pretensions of War to all the Princes of Germany by the most barbarous and inhumane proceedings which the French Troops have done there and I doubt much whether a just Parallel could be drawn from the Cruelties and Desolations that this King has caus'd to be committed
in the Palatinate with those that the Grand Seignior has made in Hungary and though this last place has been for a long time the Seat of War yet at the Retreat of the Infidels they have not committed any thing near the like Extortions nor us'd the same violence that the French have done in those places that they have abandon'd in the Palatinate and in the Country of Juliers and of Cologne and if there were no other cause but this though there are but too many more there would need in my Opinion nothing but the sad spectacle of the French barbarousness to animate all the Princes and Members of Europe to a good and firm Union with the Emperor which will be the only means to preserve themselves and to prevent France from doing the like hereafter Though France is brought low through the opposition of England in all its Designs yet has it not forgot its ancient Maxims which have formerly succeeded so well it will not fail to put into practice all the ways imaginable to corrupt some Member of the Empire and to break that Chain of Unity there is amongst them to endeavour thereby to put a stop to the Success of their Arms as it frequently happens that a broken or rotten Pin disorders a whole Carriage and hinders its March. France's Crafts and Deceits being already so well fore-known it is requisite that the Princes of Europe should provide against that plague of Corruption which has so freequently infected divers Courts of Christendom divers are to expect that not only Presents will be offer'd to them as well as Pensions but equivalents also to their Pretensions only to remain Neuter But the Example of the Archbishop of Mentz is yet so fresh before our Eyes that it ought to be a fair Mirror for the Princes of the Empire to Represent to them to the Life the Character of France and of its Soveraign which all that proceeding represents in Lively Colours with the breaches of Faith of that Prince even to those that Side with him If ever any Soveraign did Act against his true Interest and that of the whole Empire it was that Prelate but then again never was Prince worse rewarded nor had greater cause to repent of his Fault by the ill usage he has had in his Estate which had reach'd to his Person also if he had not shelter'd himself from the Threats of the French Envoy But he is not the only Living and Speaking Example the whole Series of time that has pass'd since the Peace of the Pireneans is but a continued Thread of the falsehood of France So that whoever shall catch at the Golden Bait which the King lays for them will have time to Repent themselves as the Elector of Mentz has done and divers others who have fair'd no better But if by a Fatal Chance it should so happen that some Member of the Empire were so unadvis'd as to be Corrupted by France and separated from that Union which is its true Interest though it is not to be expected now that those Princes are so well enlightned that Person ought to be consider'd as a rotten Member Discarded and Treated as an Enemy though he would remain Neuter on this ground drawn from the Holy Gospel Qui non est pro nobis est contra nos Of Truth the Union of the Empire is of great Importance and I must confess that all its United Forces may be very powerful but they would be much more if the Emperor could resolve to grant a Peace to the Grand Seignior that so having no longer any thing to fear from that Part his Imperial Majesty may have his Hands at liberty against the Second which has been much more formidable and more dangerous than the First and consequently cause all his Forces to Advance towards the Rhine which would produce Two Effects the one that such considerable Armies would increase that Terror in which France is already Secondly it would by that means much better maintain that Union which is already in Europe with their Allies Besides it is a general Rule which the Emperor ought always to observe never to have Two Wars to maintain at the same time especially when he can avoid one of them as it is in his power to do at this present with great Advantage and Glory It is not to be doubted but that the French King does highly dread such a Truce that he will openly and most powerfully Act with the Turk and the King of Poland and that he will have his Emissaries conceal'd at the Court of Vienna that will labour under-hand and on deceitful Pretences to prevent the Imperial Council from concluding any thing with the Turks Envoy at this present at Vienna To be sure he will neither spare Money nor Religion to attain his end therein To the Grand Seignior he Promises to enter into Germany with a Powerful Army to Ransack there as he has done already thereby to draw the Emperors Forces on that side and give the Great Turk the means and leasure to breathe again and to Assemble new Forces to endeavour to regain what he has lost To Teckeley and the Princes of Transilvania Walachia and Moldavia without enquiring of what Religion they are he assures considerable Sums to continue the War begun he has frequenly sent some to the First and if the others would break off with the Emperor and join with the Grand Seignior he would furnish them wherewith to Pay their Forces As for Poland that will perform enough for France if its King will but remain quiet and not attempt any thing as he has done since the two last Campaigns and prevent by great pretensions the Conclusion of a Truce with the Port. Lewis the XIVth has Springs that are sufficiently strong to detain him and to obtain what he pleases of that Crown perswading it that it is not suitable to her Interest to have the Emperor prosper so much c. At the Court of Vienna the French Emissaries Labour through indirect means to perswade the Emperor's Councellors that his Imperial Majesty may with ease maintain the War against the Turk and France and that it concerns his Glory not to slacken in so fair a Course that he ought to go and plant the Cross of Christ on the very Battlements of the Seraglio at Constantinople but such pretences are at great distance from their Masters thoughts for it is very certain that the French King had rather see once more the Crescent on St. Stephen's Church at Vienna than the Cross on St. Sophia at Constantinople Lewis the XIVth at this time is like to a Man in great extremity of danger that is ready to sink he makes Vows and promises all things to get out again and takes hold of all that comes in his way to keep himself some moments longer above water Thus this Monarch has turn'd himself all manner of ways to find out a Mediator that would assist him to get out of
and France to the two boles of a pair of Scales that that side weigh'd it down on which he lean'd He spoke justly for the Monarchs of that Kingdom being well united with their Parliaments may stile themselves the Arbitrators of Christendom It is not without reason then that France has flatter'd them during the two Reigns that have preceded this and Lewis the XIVth thought himself at the top of all his Designs when he did see James the IId on the Throne making open profession of the Roman-Catholick Religion perhaps with a little more passion than became a King but that was the weak side by which the French King would catch him and detain him in his Bonds for that Prince ever subtle and crafty did hit him on that side on which he was most sensible to the prejudice of his Honour and against the inclination of the Nation and the Parliaments expectations Mean time Lewis the XIVth had so well manag'd his Allie that it may be said he already Triumph'd over him and that through all his Managements Intreagues and Lewis D'Ors he was become Master of King James his Fortune by the subtlety of his Ministers who lull'd him asleep on specious Offers of Sixty Millions and of 60000 Men to support him against his Enemies and even against his own People if they would have resisted and set themselves free France little caring for the evil consequences that this Commerce could not but produce so it did its own Business and render'd that Prince odious to his Allies and to his Neighbours as well as to his own Subjects who began to feel the smart of a pernicious Council either in their Liberties Laws or Religion and seeing themselves press'd down by a Tirannical Authority and Despotick Power of an obseded and gained King by France and wholly devoted to its Interests the English have found themselves constrain'd to prevent their falling into the same Predicament their Neighbours were in to have recourse to their Liberator that in being themselves deliver'd they might deliver all Europe also from that slavery in which it was going to fall and to that purpose offer the Throne to the Prince of Orange and to the Princess his Spouse as the lawful Heirs to the Three Kingdoms and God having granted the Nations Vows and Petition he has so well conducted that Great Prince's Enterprise that it may be said he has led him by the Hand and seated him on that Throne that was designed for him without any effusion of Blood. This Miracle we have seen but our Off-springs will scarce believe it it is an happy and more than happy change seeing that it will render a calm and quiet to all Christendom and that he restores to Europe its Liberty It was William the III. that Providence had design'd through the Assistance of the States of the United Provinces to be the glorious Instrument of so great a Work capable to cause once more the dumb Son of Cressus to speak if he were yet living But in the place of that Prince Europe that was become in a manner Dumb through those great Evils that it suffer'd before-hand has set up the Standard of Liberty and of Deliverance Since that Prince and Princess of Orange have been Seated on the Throne all Christendom begins as it were to revive again Catholicks and Protestants all raise up their Heads against their Oppressor as when a Tree is fallen every body runs to take their share of the Bows But to accomplish the Work Two Things are requir'd First a good and firm League amongst the Christian Princes who have under-gone and who still fear to fall under the French Kings Usurpation should he get off of this present danger so that nothing may be able to dissolve that Union and that no private Interest nor Eldership should prevail over the general Good and that he who shall separate from that Union so necessary to Christendom should be look'd upon as a Perturbator and a common Enemy and set in the number of the Turks and the French to be set upon as a Deserter and Traitor to the general Good of Europe That Neutrality have no Place in Christendom that he who is not for us is against us Assuredly that League being so well Cemented all the offers of France nor the satisfaction that it might give to some of the Pretenders not being able to break the Union it is most certain that all will bow to the Allies that they shall enter Drums beating and Colours flying into their Enemies Country where they ought by all means to take up their Winter Quarters the next Season to prevent Lewis the XIV's Forces from entring into the Country of the Allies as he designs and to give him at Home so much Business that he may not go seek for some elsewhere For if they enter not into France but that the Allies content themselves with taking some Places which he has formerly seiz'd on with a design to amuse them to get time as Mentz Bonn Keiserwaert and others that are about his Kingdom that would be doing nothing at all seeing the King has still his end and that he holds those Places but to busie the Allies during this first Campaign either to tire them or to drain them through length of time or to Alienate some That is Lewis the XIV's chief end and the best Advice that he could take in such a pressing juncture in which he finds himself at present But if that for his good and for the ill of Europe he can break down the Dike though the Breach be never so small he will drown all Christendom and the last evil would be worse than the first To avoid this mischief no Prince of the League ought to suffer any French Emissary in his Territories they ought to be Banish'd as Infected Persons and not Pardon the very first that shall be found not sparing even the Church Men those are flying Plagues who like stinking flesh Flies infect all places they light on it is a dangerous Seed which is to be rooted quite up The Allies ought not to be concern'd at the great number of Men there is in France they are young Vipers that will eat a Passage through their Mothers Belly to get at Liberty Nor the Tenth Part of that great People have cause to be contented and the most sound part waits but for its Deliverance on what Side soever and it may be said that Lewis the XIV is not better belov'd in his Kingdom than James the II. was in his It is certain that when the Prince of Lorrain shall appear before his own Subjects they will receive him with the same Joy that the English have receiv'd the Prince of Orange I say the same of Burgundy and of the French County and of divers other People who wait but for the happy Moment of their Liberty The Second thing to be done is a powerful Fleet which the King of England is to keep continually at Sea
few days and the better conceal his wicked Design and that then the pretence would not only be plausible but just also to all appearance because it had been to prevent the Turks from entring any further but at the same time to render himself Master of the rest of Germany and of all the Empire also which should have been his share towards the defraying of the Wars so he had divided with Mahomet the IVth all the Territories both Catholick and Protestant of Germany If after all these Contrivances one may stile ones self a Zealot to the Catholick Religion I referr it to the Judgment of the Pope let us then say rather that he is a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathings cover'd with a false Piety to devour the Christian Princes one after another That was Cardinal Richlieu's Maxime Not to value what he Promised nor his Faith in the observation of Treaties so he but serv'd the French Interest And doubtless it is from those rare Lessons that this Zealous French King has so well improv'd and which he endeavours to imitate so exactly before those of the Gospel which forbid us to do to others that which we would not have done to our selves But if we look on Businesses nearer at hand we shall not wonder at the King 's pressing for the Re-establishment of James the Second and that he leaves no stone unmov'd to reseat him on the Throne We shall find at last that it is not so much Religion as Interest that moves him to it and that the return of that Prince to his Kingdom is most necessary for him much more than the Establishment of the Cardinal of Fustemberg in the Arch-Bishoprick of Colen It cannot be believ'd that it is the natural affection which he has for those two Princes that make him act or the Zeal to Religion as he publishes but his Ambition and the Preservation of his Kingdom For if Prince Joseph Clement and the present King of England would but embrace the Party of France and Unite themselves with that Monarch he would send the Cardinal to Strasbourg and King James where he was in Cromwel's time or into some corner of the State of Modena and if the Town of Algier would now send Ships into the Channel he would not only harbour them with their Prizes in his Ports but would give them Liberty also to build a Mosque there if that Town should require it I see no greater difficulty nor Crime in that than in lending his Forces to Re-build some in Hungary and to pull down the Christian Churches These are then the fruits of this great Zeal of which the French boasted in Rome and at Madrid Now let us turn our faces towards Truth It is not Religion that pushes the French King but he has the Shepherd at his heels the Nets are spread on all parts for him and he has no prospect of escaping and in that dread he is he would embrace the Alcoran if he saw it would shelter him from the new King of England's Resentments whom he has reason to fear as the most dreadful and most powerful Enemy that he has at present or ever had with whom there is no Composition to be made though Lewis the XIVth should return four times as much as he has Usurped from him when he was yet but Prince of Orange Perceiving then that by the means of William the Third he has all Europe on his hands and that he must leave some Fleeces behind him no wonder he extends his hands though in vain towards the one and the other to find out a Mediator to draw him out of that Danger in which he finds himself But he having taken his Eternal farewel of all Faith and Honesty and it having abandon'd him every body does the same daring no longer to trust to him 'till first he has been depriv'd of his Savageness of his Ambition of his Pride and of his insatiable desire of Usurping the Goods of his Neighbours and that is what will not happen 'till he has first been humbled by Losses either in his Armies or of some of his Provinces and that he has been oblig'd to restore to every one that which he has stoln from them and that is what may be advantageous and necessary for his poor People and to all Europe In vain he Flatters himself with an accommodation with some of the Allies whom he pretends to divide from the Union in which we see them at present and by that means to draw himself out of the Briers This King has been inexorable to the Cries of the Poor whom he has Ruin'd and Tormented of the Widdows and Orphans whom he has stript Naked the Heavens will return it upon him as well as all his Enemies who will return him double the Evil which he has done and will force him to swallow down the bitter Fruits of his Ambition and breach of Faith and to Disgorge all his Usurpations which he has Baptis'd with the specious Title of Conquests and return to his Subjects that Liberty of Conscience and places of Hostages which he has forc'd from them against the Faith of Edicts under the pretence of Conversions restore to all his People in general the General States for the surety of their Persons and Means whereas they now groan under the heavy pressure of the Intendants these are Monsters which our new Hercules must vanquish which God has given to free Europe from that slavery in which part of it was already reduc'd and wherein the rest was going to fall the Irons being already set in the Fire for it by the means of James the II. who abandoning his own Interest and that of his Nation had given his Consent and Assistance to the ruine of Europe and had enter'd into a League with the Usurper to make it to fall under the slavery with more ease and greater expedition But the Heavens who have granted the Vows and Petions of all Europe has broken those Chains by the means of a Republick of which he had made his Prey for it may be said without exageration that the States of the United Provinces have given the first blow to break those Shackles through the Assistance they have given of Money of Forces and of Ships to the King of England when he was yet but Prince of Orange Wherefore Europe ought to consider them as the Cause of its Deliverance and the Restorer of its Liberty the Refuge of all the Afflicted the Retreat of those whom Lewis the XIVth had Persecuted and stripp'd and the Azilum of all good People who ought in gratitude to hazard their Lives for the Support of a State who has free'd them from the Lyon's jaws and has receiv'd them with so much Humanity and Charity which doubtless shall be the Cannons with which they shall destroy their Enemies and the Heavens will render them Victorious and their Names shall last to the last of Ages FINIS