of Mahomet and t' abolish th' Alcoran that Arms were taken up or that it was to constrain the wicked persons to change their Religion or to force Christianity into their spirits by the sword That is much estranged from the condition of our Religon and very contrary to th' exercise of the Primitive Church which opposed patience onely to force and permitted no other blood but the blood of her Children to be spilt when it was oppressed as shall be declared in another place where the proofs of the second branch of the Proposition proposed shall be produced 'T is then to the Limits of the Temporal Interests that the War against the Turk is chiefly restrained 'T is directly against the Power of th' Ottomans and no against th' Errors of Mahomet that Christians draw their Swords and for their Commission they have Right Valuable Titles Th' Usurpations made of the fairest Members of their Empire and the spoiles of so many Estates wherewith the Tyrant adorns himself are subjects which put it out of question that they may Lawfully Arm to Recover their Losses and to Recollect the Pieces which are taken from their Interests And 't is his constant design and his Religion by a perpetual Vow binds him to labour the Destruction of Christianity and the spirit of that barbarous Religion adorned onely with Rapines and Murders with the Proscription and Confiscation of the Lives and Estates of all them who are not of their Judgment do give a just power to Christians not onely to defend themselves when they are assaulted and to resist the storm when it Beats on that side but also t' assault and to prevent if some other Consideration do not oppose it That if the Course of the War and the Lot of Arms make it sometimes necessary for a Christian Prince to conclude a Peace or Truce with the Turk He ought Legally t' observe Conditions so long as the Turk observes them on his part and to make no breach if th' other do not begin or prepare to break But if the Turk who keeps his Soldiers in Exercise and his Men of War in Action and coasts the Countries of his Neighbours to gain some prey doth rush upon the State of a Christian Prince in Confederacy with the Turk any Christian Prince may relieve him with a good Conscience and Act Lawfully against the Turk without being a Violator of his Faith or Desertor of his World For besides the Duty of Charity and that general Obligation which the Right of Nations Imposeth to protect the Weak against the Strong 'T is Matter then onely of Defence which is ever permitted though it be Indirect and ceaseth not to be Just though it be Anticipated And to speak the truth what else doth a Christian Prince in repelling the Violence made t' another Prince than prevent what is prepared against himself Than make haste to Quench the Fire which burns his Neighbours House before it lays hold on his and assists to make Rampars and Barricadoes against the Sea which might over-flow his after it had drowned the Country of his Allies But whilst the Design of Ruine reposeth in the Turks breast and that th' Execution of the Vow is suspended the Conditions of the Treaty made with him ought inviolably to b' observed without the least infringement of the Zeal of publick Commerce and of Faith the principal Bond of the Civil life 'T is easie t' infer from what hath been said That Christians in general have but too many formed Subjects and too many prepared ways t' Enter when they please upon a just War against the Turk and there 's great cause of Astonishment as I have observed in the first Discourse That instead of turning their Arms against an Enemy that is not less Powerful than Irreconcilable they convert them against themselves they thrust them into their own bowels and make themselves drunk if it may be permitted t' use that Poetique boldness in the blood of their Brothers Fifth Discourse That the Defence of Injured Reputation is the subject of a just War Wherein that Reputation consists That the King could not with honour avoid breaking with the Spaniards who had caused the Town and th' Elector of Treves to be surprised being under his Majestie 's Protection 'T Is not to the conceived that the defence of a Country whether Direct or Indirect in the Manner as it hath been circumscribed should be the sole Title of making just the Arms of a Prince There are also other Titles and other Considerations which put Arms Lawfully in t ' his hand There are other wounds t' heal and other breaches to make up than the Ruine of his Subjects th' outrages acted against his Honour are to be revenged and the spots wiped off which are imprinted upon the Reputation of his Crown as one of the Pillars which bear up his Greatness and therefore to be carefully preserved from Blows that it fall not in contempt But in regard some may equivocate upon this word Reputation and take upon that occasion a subject of dangerous consequence it may not b'unnecessary to clear and distinguish it which may be done by a very easie distinction and in a manner is already declared 'T is certain then that there are two sorts of Reputation peculiar to States and which may be ranked in the number of Goods that belong to them th' one consists in th' Esteem which the strength of a Country hath gained from abroad and in the glory of it this is formed of the Merit and good fortune of the Prince of the Number and Virtue of his Subjects of the Duties of Subjection and of the Rights of Soveraignty in th' Extent and Situation of the Country in the Fecundity of Mines in Fortresses and Arms and Ammunitions of War Th' opinion then which streams and flows from these things and other the like in the spirits of Men Is the Reputation I speak of and where of no question is to be made but that the Prince ought to be very Jealous of it as of a thing which sometimes is of great Consequence when his forces are weak and which some have compared very aptly to the credit of Merchants which maintains them in honour and lustre though they b' effectively poore and gives them often Means to fill up the Concealed emptiness of their affairs and to repair the weak Invisible condition of their fortune But when a Prince is wounded in this kind of Reputation and his Forces are cryed down when His prosperities are lessened and disgraces Encreased when Endeavours are used t' obscure this Lustre of greatness and force wherewith th' Eyes of Strangers ought to be dazled and to draw a Curtain before th' Exteriour face of his Affairs 'T is not the subject of a just war The reason of it is that Strong Remedies are never to be used but against Extreme Evils nor Violence acted against accidents that may be Over-come by Industry There ought to be some proportion betwixt
an Essay of what is prepared for him in abundance and bounty in the Sequel of this Work And that he may judge of th' Equity and Freedom of the King's proceedings towards his Allies whom He defends and protects I will here say a word of his Generosity in the behalf of one of his Neighbours whom h' had obliged t' his Power to be 's Friend wh ' hath not omitted any Acts of Hostility against the King and to render him all proofs of Hatred and though he was engaged in many formed Conspiracies against France and that it had no secret or publick Enemy with whom He 'd not declared or had Intelligence and though he was guilty as all the world knows of breaking many Treaties and of many Attempts made against France yet so soon as he made shew of Repentance and t' abjure the contrary Party the King opened his Arms unto him and re-established him in his Estates with exception onely t' a few Fortresses which the King would not commit to the Faith of so changeable a Prince and to the flux and reflux of th' humours that perpetually agitated his Soul That if this Prince was hardned in th' habitude of failing and if th' acknowledgment of good received nor hope of what was promised after the War could retain him in his Duty nor stop his moveable Spirit there 's great cause highly to praise the Kings Moderation and his magnanimous Spirit in rendring Voluntarily what he might Lawfully have kept And there 's no cause t' accuse him of Facility and Imprudence for being deceived for that he made judgment of the Duke's Conduct by the Law of his Interest as the most certain Rule to judge by that Prudence affords And there was no reason that a Person in good condition and in a way to be better should destroy himself in a capricious humour and chuse rather t' Erre once more at the pleasure of another and of Fortune and float in th' Incertitude of what He might become than to rest in a Commodious posture and enjoy a Safe condition Moreover 't is of no use to dissemble or to speak but half the truth Th' Event contrary the Presumptions raised though very reasonable have not deceived the Kings fore-sight and the Defection of Duke Charls did not surprize him but shut up bewixt two Extremes to run th' hazard of being deceived or the reproach of the rejection of him who did cast himself at his mercy and implored his clemency He judged it more honorable for him t' expose his Judgment to the first than second Hazard and to convince the world by such an infallible evidence That he could submit t' any thing in order to Peace and for remove of th' Impediments that did obstruct it Ninth Discourse Whether it b' Expedient t' hazard the Remains of the Forces of a State to Recover Reputation lost by some Notorious Disgrace That 't is not safe t' act alone or to permit all things to be done b' others in difficult Enterprises THings being thus established as they have been in the former Discourses a Scruple is to be taken away and a Difficulty cleared which enters into the Matter to be treated of Whether to repair the Reputation ruined by some infamous disgrace and th' Honour abused by some notorious loss The Prince ought t' oppose the fortune that oppresseth him and put all his strength to resist the Ruines of the Violence and t' hazard what remains of the Wrack rather than conserve it beaten with ill fortune and covered with shame That which most sharpens this Scruple and gives most colour to this Difficulty is That the Reputation of th' Affairs of State ought not to be less dear to the Prince than Honour is t' every Particular honest man And yet since all agree that the Wise as well as th' Ignorant conspire in this Judgment that Honour is a Good which must be conserved when 't is gained and recovered when 't is lost at the charges of Life and that 't is better to die Honourably than to live Infamously Why should not the same Judgment be made upon the Reputation of the State And will they not believe That a Prince is obliged to maintain it and to recover it without any exception of Means and without reservation of Lands or Lives And it may b' observed that the Reputation now to be spoken of is different from the two others already spoken of in the precedent Discourses and 't is of another value and of another importance than the first whereof mention hath been made which consists in the sinister Reports scattered b' Enemies and in th' ill savour they raise against the glory of a Prince and to the disadvantage of his Affairs which is not as hath been said the Subject of a Just War though the like offences done to Particular persons and the like stains imprinted upon their honour are but to ' often the foundation and original of their Resentments and Quarrels which makes it appear and I will say this by the way That this sense of Reputation and Honour wherewith the most Excellent Men of all Countries and of all Ages have been touched and which they 've not only Authorized by their Precepts but also Confirmed by their Examples Cannot proceed but from a Spiritual Nature And this Privilege which our Soul hath to raise it self above the Matter and to despise not only the sensible objects which flow from it but Life it self that Depends upon it to subsist by that which is not born but in the thoughts of others and Conserved only in their memory sufficiently shews That sh ' is of a more Exalted Spirit and hath a fairer Birth than the souls of Beasts To return to th' Objection made I say that there 's a great Disproportion and a Notable difference betwixt th' Honour of a Particular person and the Reputation of th' Affairs of State That in the State Reputation is a subaltern good to the real force and a Means which hath for its End the most Essentiall powers That this is th' Health of the body whereof th' other is but the Colour and that agreeable Light which appeares without from the good Constitution within darts into th' Eyes of the Beholders And 't is of the same Concernment to a Prince as I 've formerly said what Credit is to Merchants in order t' effective Riches And therefore as what is Superiour in any order is never abandoned for what is Subaltern nor th' End for the Means which are Constituted for its Accomplishment As to destroy health for beautifying of the face and t' hazard all our Lands to maintain our Credit would be Condemned so a Prince would offend most shamefully against the Laws of Civil Prudence and be not only a most unjust dispensator but a very ill Husband of the Powers of the State to deliver them up wholly to Fortune and t' expose them wholly to th' uncertain and unfaithful Lot of Arms To support the
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
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
Truth in the Foundation of such proceedings what appeared without seems to b' an Argument of Infidelity or Weakness and both of those Qualities are Precipices wherein a Prince will never fall if he be Virtuous and will seldom fall into th' other if he b' of good foresight and knows well how to take his Measures From whence I conclude That the last may not happen And that the Prince who protects be not compelled to give the World so shameful an Evidence of his Weakness That either h' ought at first Instance to Reject the proposals of the people who Implore his Protection and shut the Door t' all Importunities or if he receive them t' Act Vigorously with so Considerable Forces that apparently Nothing ought to deprive him of the Victory nor hinder by consequence the Peace to be made upon his own Tearms and Secure the People whose defence h 'had undertaken and with whose safety h 'had charged himself A worthier Example to follow cannot be presented nor a more excellent Model for Imitation in like Occurrences than the Conduct the King observed in the Business of Catalognia So soon as it appeared and that so great an Occasion t' advance our affairs shewed it self He wisely judged That there was no reason to permit it t' escape That there was no Cause for Resisting the good Fortune which came to seek us without a Call not to refuse a Favour which th' Heavens offered us so freely And as 't is seen sometimes in difficult Maladies that Nature makes some Demonstration which declares to the Physicians the way th' ought to take to cure the sick Persons and discovers to them the place by which the disease is to b'assaulted The King also very well understood That by this unlook'd for Accident and by this unhop'd for Chance of the rising of the Catelans God marked out unt'us one of the ways w'ought to take t' arrive at th'Haven we went to Sea for and t' attain that End for which w'undertook the War A sure and honest Peace a firm and lasting Rest to Christian Princes He understook That if h 'had reason t' undertake the War in that Country when all Spain opposed it and that all the People joyned with the Prince to ruine our Designs and to make our Arms fruitless The same Causes and Reasons being on foot The best Peopled and the most Warlick Province of that Nation being sever'd from th' other Provinces and Joyned with our Forces There was no probability but that we might promise to our selves a good success of that business H' ought indeed so to believe it and believe also That if that affair was happily Embarqu'd and that the favour of Heaven did not abandon the progress of it That the prosperity would not be confined to the Frontiers of Catalognia That its good Influence might extend its self further And as a Needle rubbed with the Loadstone hath the virtue to draw others That the subsistence of the Catalans might be th' Attractive to draw th' other discontented Provinces after it He knew that the Portuguese were full of good will to rise since the time of their submission to the Crown of Spain That they could not bear any Yoke with more Impatience That they always breathed after their antient form of Government and that th'hatred they had for the Castillians was so natural and strong that no length of Time nor moderation of Conduct could efface th' Impression and allay the Violence He judg'd that th' Arragons wh ' have not yet lost the Remembrance of Philip the Second's usage wh ' are outragious with spite for the breach of their Privileges and loss of their Liberty Who know that of Right it belongs t' Us would observe what the first Successes of their Neighbours Arms would be What form of their Establishment and what the signes and presages of their future duration to Joyn themselves it may be with us if they might do 't with safety and if they saw in that Union Resistance and Force enough against th' Enterprises of their common Enemy H' also judged That if that War could be drawn out into length and that the first Effort of the Troops the Spanish King should draw together to reduce or confound the Catalans before they were in a condition to Resist him failed of its effect It was of Necessity for him to recall from the Low-countries or from Italy some part of his Forces t' oppose them which were drawn out against him in the midst of his Country and as in the Centre of his Monarchy And by Consequent that his other States remaining naked and weak they would b'exposed to very dangerous strokes and to very great wounds And that many other good Effects and happy Encounters might derive themselves from that Cause and Spring And therefore the Kings proceeding upon th'Occurrence of Catalognia could not be more Judicious nor the motion of his Arms better adjusted to the Laws of Civil Prudence Seventh Discourse That 't is a great Secret in War to know how to make best Choice of the Place against which the strongest Assaults are to be made That the Spaniards are seldom deceived in that Choice With some other Observations upon their Conducts That the King's Conduct is Admirable in ordering the War he makes in so many places in Christendome WHat I have said of the King's Proceedings upon the Insurrections of Catalognia carries me t'another Consideration which is not of small weight for the managing of a War made in several places and divides it self into many Branches at distance with one another 'T is that in this Action the supreme degree of Military Wisdom and as it were the precious Elixar to render any War happy Is t' Endeavour industriously to know the place which ought to be the principal Siege and to turn on that side the chief of their Forces As to b' always ready to change Conduct as cause shall be given and the War to take another Conduct and another Form in order to that End Th' House of Austria hath always understood and practised this secret t'Admiration And if the late Emperor forsook it when he made War to the Duke of Mantoua and neglected that of Germany t' apply himfelf powerfully to the War of Italy 'T is that he was forced thereunto as hath been often observed by th' Ambition of the Spaniards who preferring their Interest t' his obliged him to draw his Forces where they might b' of most use for them and to labour their Greatness in Italy which then concerned them more than the Greatness of th' Emperor in Germany The cause why the Spaniards possess this secret in perfection and are seldom deceived in the Knowledge and Choice of what is most important in their Affairs Is th' order of their Government and that variety of particular Councels whereof it is composed as their various Countries or their Domination is distributed and where their Arms are exercised For Example as to what respects Italy There 's
Law from their Inferiours and follow their Motions when they have use of them And that a Disagreement would endanger th'Enterprize If any of the Wheels to which it ought to give Motion came to fail and to be loose from the others It may be that in the Subjects of great and profound Designs which the King had upon that Country â—e foresaw that if they were all as happy as they were wisely projected some Resolution might happen that would for ever deliver his Kingdom from Alarms and from Incursions which are made sometimes from that Neighbourhood And truly if th' Assault of Calo and the Siege of St. Omer had prospered as in apparance they ought t' have done or if an unexpected stroke which made a Noise upon the Frontiers of Campagnia had not diverted the favourable progress which promised the taking of Ayres Th' Effects of that Princes prevoyance it may be had been seen It may b'also That h' had a will to shut the Gates for a time by which the Forces of Germany entring into Flanders might over-run and make spoil in France But when things changed their Countenance and that the Risings of the Catalans formed another Conjuncture he changed also Conduct and judged as it hath been already observed That after th' Affairs of Germany there was none whereunto h' ought t' apply himself with more heat and to make a greater shew of his Forces than to them of that Country He foresaw that the fruits which might be gathered from that Expedition were not ordinary and that th' advantages which might arise to the common cause might prove strong Motives to the Peace for which the War was made For besides that the Spaniards could not long act powerfully in Spain in Flanders and in Italy and the nourishment they ought to give to their Original Country would consume the food of th' others Countrie If the King of Hungary was seen full of troubles in Germany and the King of Spain assaulted in th' Heart of his Estates and troubled to defend his Life It was not impossible but that two Benefits also might arise very considerable Th' one that the Princes of Germany separated from the good Party might take courage to rejoyn with it Th' other that the League wherein to that time they had laboured unprofitably t'introduce th' Italian Princes might be formed and that they would not lose so fair an occasion to drive them away who had stollen the Liberty of their Country and to take away the mixture and confusion of Nations and forein Manners which sully and disfigure it For t' imagine that for less than that the Republique of Venice the most considerable of all those Princes for what concerns Temporal things That can give a shaking t'other Princes and after that make no difficulty t' enter the Lifts it had opened would be perswaded to that League 'T is to b'ignorant of their spirit It were to b' a stranger to their Maxims And to believe what is desired upon the single Motions of passion This point shall b'examin'd in the following Discourse this having been but too long I add onely for advise of them who might find cause to desire something here on our part upon the subject of great Extremities wherein th' Affairs have sometimes fallen in Germany and Italy That the King could not do all things in all places and that it may be he had done too much as hath else-where been observed but for an absolute Necessity and Inevitable even for the good of his own Kingdom to do it That he could not alone divert all th'Evils that might happen in that Country by the failings and insensibility of them who were more interressed than himself and for whose Liberty he took so great pains and made so great an Expence That in the course and great variety of Affairs which exercised him he could not always ordain That they who received his Orders should b' as happy t' execute them and to compleat them as he was prudent in laying of the Design and preparing the Model But 't is a wonder which will appear almost incredible to future Ages and will be one of the fairest Beams of the glory of this Prince and one of the Noblest Monuments of his Incomparable Reign That by his Wisdom his Courage and his Power he raised at home and with his Allies what was ready to Fall That he did set straight there all that began to Lean and ever disappointed Fortune of her Malitious Progress and of the Consequences of her Surprizes Eighth Discourse In what Conjuncture it may be probably thought That the Venetians will enter in t ' a League against the Spaniards THough I do not think it necessary that this League whereof hath been spoken be made or that the time of a General Peace be so backward as t' attend the finishing of so difficult a Negotiation I have believed nevertheless that it would not b'impertinent for me to speak my thoughts to make the Genius of the Venetian Republique to be the better known and what may b' expected from it on like Occasions and at the same time to make it appear to th' Author of a small Pamphlet which appeared a little after the last Stege of Casal under the name of a Montferrat Soldier That the Season was not then come to form that League as he did pretend it and that the King was not ripe according to the Sense of that Republique and the Maxims of their Policy The foundation whereupon I do build my Opinion is this That it being th' ordinary Nature of Republiques to be very distrustful and to fear more than hope when th'Apparances of Evil and Good are equal It may be said That Venice of all other Republiques Labours most of that humour And that th'Inclination it hath in all it undertakes to give the least it can t'Hazard and the most to Prudence is the cause that 't is seldom enclined for the War which is an Element of Fortune unless an extreme Danger do force it or a visible Benefit invite it I could bring a number of antient Examples to confirm this Truth if I did not believe that Modern would be of most use and credit as most efficacious and of greater Instruction than th 'others In that high and wonderful Design which the late King had formed against th' House of Austria and to put the Quiet of Christendom so often troubled by that House in some state of consistency he caused the Republique to be solicited to be of the Party And notwithstanding the power h' had with them which could not be greater and th' Advantages h' had proposed unto them which were not small for the Price of their Arming and for th'â—nterest of th' Expence it should make Though it was onely intended for the breaking off th'â—rons of Italy and to force from the Spaniards what they held unjustly there Though all the fruâ—ts of the Conquest whereof the greatest part was to be at his Charges and
had lawfully gained to cause Mantoua to be rendred which was but a coloured Usurpation and the Country of the Grisons which was an Usurpation without colour That if it appears the King and some Garisons of th' Empire in his hands the number whereof is very small or some others of his Allies in Italy It must be considered that 't is onely to keep them for the Owners wh ' are not able to defend them which to the King is matter onely of great Expence or to free his Frontiers from the Jealousie they would receive from them if they fell into th' hands of his Enemies or to serve for a Retrait or safety t' his Armies when they 're obliged to march far for the good of the common Cause Or lastly to sacrifize them to the good of the same Cause and to the re-establishment of his stript Friends in the Treaty of a General Peace That if Pignerol remain in the King's power after the Wars of Italy which have preceded the Peace of Cairasque And if that place seems to be the recompense of so many thousands of the Kings dead Subjects and of so many millions of Money spent for the Liberty of that Country 'T is a thing in my opinion which cannot reasonably be reproached unto him nor envied since he doth not keep it as a Conquest but as an Acquisition and that he hath bought it with the good-will of him wh ' had power to sell it since it was not done so much of serve for Rampart t' his Kingdom and to secure the Frontiers as t' have a free Entry in t ' Italy and to make the more haste to its Relief when it should b'assaulted Let the Disinterest and Magnanimity be considered which have appeared in all the Treaties on the Kings part made in Germany since that which Sir of Charnasé made at Beerwalde And that which Sir of Avaux renewed the last year at Hambrough Let the sweetness and equity of the Conditions be considered wherewith he received into protection th'Elector of Ireves as may be seen in the Treaties made with him by the Sirs of St. Chaumont and of Saludie Let the cares had of the Swedish Interest be considered and th'effective and real Acknowledgments which the Swedish King always exhorted His Confederates to pay the King as may be justifi'd by the Orations which Sir of Feuquieres made to th' Assembly of Hailbrun and Franckford Let Consequences at last be drawn out of the like Actions from the Kings Promises to the Princes of Italy concerning the places h' holds in Piedmont and which he confirms in this manner in the third Article of the Treaty he made with Sirs the Princes of Savoy That the King newly ratifies the Declarations which have been made by his Ambassadors in divers Otcafions and by the Letters his Mejesty hath written to the Pope and to the Republique of Venice upon the restitution of the Places which his Majesty holds in Piedmont since the death of the late Sir Victor of Amedeé Provided that such Places as are held by the Spaniards his Enemies be reciprocally restored and that Sir the Duke of Savoy remain certainly the Master of them under the Tuition and Regency of Madame Let the consequence of this I say be taken into consideration and it will appear that our Confederates may take a full and entire confidence in this Conduct And that the Counsellour of th' Elector of Mayence above all question a very able Man in the Dyet held some months past at Mayence believing to decipher the Kings Designs t' establish himself in Germany deviated from the Truth though it was by way of probability and that he discovered effectively the Means wherewith he might do it if he had had the Will Before this Discourse b'ended the Reader is to b' advised That I had finished two Treaties which are of the Subject I handle in these two Books Th' one of the Nature of Equivocations Th' other of the force of Opinions which are of great importance for Ministers of State to know But insomuch that this Book is already too long and that these two Treaties may enter commodiously into the Third Part I have believed it was most convenient to place them there End of the Second Book OF The pretended Monarchy OF Th' House of AUSTRIA Third BOOK First Discourse That the true Exercise of the Magnanimity of a Prince Consists in Securing his Countrey from Civil Wars and in Diverting of Forein Wars That the King hath Admirably Prospered in these two Things ' T Is certain That the true exercise of the Magnanimity of a Prince and the Just handling of his Arms Consists onely in these two things Th' one in quieting of his Countrey when it is agitated and in Cutting up the Roots and stopping of the Springs of the Troubles which may there arise Th' other in defeating th' Enterprzes which strangers may set on foot against him or his Allies and in Confining Ambition within the Bounds of Justice When He hath gained these two Ends and that these great Conclusions have prospered with him He may say that nothing is wanting to his glory That his Life hath nothing more in desire to become th' Example of Princes and th'Admiration of the people And such a prosperity is th'ultimate proof of the Love of Heaven and the most wonderful effect that Virtue can produce 'T is not truly to be denied but that the Kings Reign is very observable by these two wonders That h' hath effaced the glory of the fairest precedent Reigns and hath not lest to subsequent Generations Matter for Equality nor any thing to Mow the whole Crop being carried away As to the first point which respects th' inside of the Countrey and th' obedience which Subjects owe their Pricne who knows not that is was so loose amongst us That very often it was entirely divolved into th' Hugonots and that it was not rendred so Pure or so Neat as it ought t' have been from the greatest part of Catholiques France was a horrid Spectacle and a Monstrous Confusion for in the midst of the State another State was to be seen where a confirmed Faction did Reign which was maintained at the Charges of the Prince and became Rich by his Wealth To whom leaving places of Security It was a Tacit Declaration to the world that their faith which ought to b' as firm and Immoveable as the Poles of Heaven and Foundations of th' Earth was doubted and fuspected Where there was n' other discourse than of Assemblies of Circles of Abreges of Circles of Chiefs of Parties and of the like Denominations of ill Augury which were th' Evidences of a present and future revolt How just a thing then and how necessary was it that such a Faction should be suppressed and that they wh ' had a common Birth and drew the same Air and rested under the cares of the same Prince and under the Protection of the same Laws should be reduced t'equal
at a great Expence and that it riseth with much pains and sweat to the Felicity it ought t' Enjoy and is not far from itâ— But as the last slâ—ps of a long Journey are the weariest and most painfull And as the last drops of Potions give the greavest distaste to the sick persons that take them so the Remainder of â—â—â—ill Time which France is to bear and the last breathings the War yields Lay the greatest Weight and Complâ—ats the Wearinâ—ss and Fainting where with she Labours but besides the Brevity of Time it hath to suffer and the fait hopes for the future she ought to Consider as hath been already observed in another place That the past Evill was necessary and that the War which hath â—asted so many years is not of the Cholâ—e of â—â—iclination of the Prince or of his Ministers of State but an they table effect of some Malignant Constellation which affects Christendome or to speak to the Height of our Reason and according t' Experience A fire which th' Enemies of this Staâ—e havâ— voluntarily kindsed and which the King and his Ministers of Staâ—â— what Caâ—â—â—nd Dexterity soover was used could not â—â—stinguish This I will now without any figure of 〈◊〉 bâ—â—orique and Elegant 〈◊〉 sâ—uation discover by a brief and faithfull Relation of what hath passed since the peace of Moâ—tpellion and the Return of the Queen Mother to th' Affalts even to this present Conjuncture In another place I speak of the true and affected Causes of the breach of the Bâ—ace which was attended by the War th' English made in cur Islands and with the third Time of taking up of Armes by th' Hugonots since the Kings Reign The Ministers of State who had neither made not broken that Peace as th' Hugonots pretended and it may be untruly which I will not here discover were obliged to prevent th' Affronts that might b' offered to the state and t' oppose th'Evill others had drawn upon it and whereof they had laid the foundations and sowed the seeds when they had overcome that great storm and that th' Island of Rhé became the Sepulchre of them who would have made it the Seat of their new Domination projected in France The King conceived that the fatal Instant was come wherein the Nest of the Rebellion was to be beaten down and Rochelle the Sanctuary of the discontented Persons What the greatness of that Siege was and what an Incredible Wonder the success will make appear to Posterity 'T is unnecessary to explain it here since no person is ignorant of the proceedings and may Judge of them Whilst that great Affair was in dispute and that all Europe was exercised in th' Expectation of th' Event of so high an Enterprize The Spaniards to make use of th' Occasion made another Attempt upon the States of the Duke of Mantoua and put themselves into a posture to strip him of his New Succession for no other Reason but that it was Convenient for them and that the Duke was not Acceptable to them because he was a French-man How much France was offended with this Assault and what a shamefull Reflection it made upon it in the Ruine of a Prince stript to the shirt for their sake 'T is easie to Comprehend Extreme Remedies nevertheless were not used to revenge the publique Injuries And as before â—ouquingans preparations for Sea and th' Expedition of th' English to th'Island of Rhé an Extraordinary Ambassadour was sent in t ' England to divert the breath was intended And before Engagement in the War of Italy and to pass the Mountains for the relief of Montferral The King had recourse to the Ways of Treaty and sent Sir of Boutru t'offer such Civil and reasonable Conditions of Accommodation that the Spaniards could pretend to Nothing but the Victory of more Advantage This way falling and the Reducement of Rochelle upon whose subsistence the principal Hopes of the good Success of their Armes had been raised having given Means to the King to pass th' Alpes and t 'had on to the Relief of Cazal upon its last breathly He made th' Enemies retire upon a Treaty that left Moitsertan for that time safe and hindred the State of Milan to change it the Master of it That so favourable and obiliging a Treaty should not give an End to that War And that the Spaniards would not observe it so long as they ought to have done to prepare for a new Assault and to return to the List from whence they were come with some loss even of their Reputation but with th' Entire Conservation of what they might have losâ— in Italy was Hard of Belief They behaved themselves nevertheless in that Manner and to pay the Câ—â—tesie done them or to speak according to their sense to revenge th' Affront they had received an fall They caused a part of th' Emperours best Troops to march from Germany into Italy and sent the Marquis of Spinola thither from Spain with much Money and great Forces to renew the Quarrel which we thought had been ended And to deprive us of any thoughts of th' Affairs of the Duke of Mantoua and to force our Armies the second time to pass th' Alpes They had prepared two powerfull Irruptions against France The one in Champaigna by Walsthein to whom the present Duke Charls of Lorrain gave passages through his Countrey and furnisht Victuals for his Army And th' other in Languedoc by the Duke of Feria who drew not thither either for want of Forces or by Reason that Walsthein changed his march towards Ratisbone t' allay the storm that broke upon his head in that Dyeâ— Such was the Spaniards proceedings and the Design they hatched against France whilst we thought only of Composing the differences they had with the Duke of Mantoua in a friendly Manner and caused Endeavours to 〈◊〉 used in Italy and in Germany to withdraw the Spaniards with sweetness from that prejudice whereinto they had Cast the Duke without offence given by him And that the Sir of Sabran was sent to Vienna to make Plausible and Just proffers That undoubtedly th' Emperour had Accepted them if he had been Master of his Desires And if thâ— Spaniards who are predominant in his Counsels had not had the spirit so full fraught with the Thoughts of War that there was no room left for a Thought of Peace nor a Motion which tasted not of Passion and Violence Th' Armes then of th' Empire of Spain and of Savoy Conjoyned against us and against our Allies had in the beginning and in the Sequel of that War Considerable successes Mantoua was lost by surprize and Caâ—ull th' onely Piece saved from the Ruine of the Dukes Fortune and the last Anchor of the safety of Italy was in danger to be lost by Siege But it was relieved by a Miracle and there was made a kind of Accommodation which skinned th' Evil rather than healed it And Fenâ—a who succeeded to Saint Croix in the Government of
Battels that brave Prince had shaken the foundations of that Republique They refused the Cathaginian Army sent to their Relief under the command of Mago and resolved in that great Extremity t' owe onely to Virtue and to their own Powers the Re-establishment of their Affairs and the Return of their Fortune After the Rout of Giragdade and the sad success of that Battel which at one Blow took from the Venetians all their Lands The Republique would not accept th' offer of Forces made them by Bajazet the Second nor use that Means to deliver themselves of th' ill fortune that pursued them which was violent and to get out of a Precipice which was dangerous 'T is certain that their ill fortune could not be greater nor the Precipice deeper All Christendome was combined against it and a powerful victorious Army And it had lost an Army when it was impossible for them to raise another Terror and Despair entred in t ' all their Towns upon the Noise of this Disgrace And by a strange Motion of Prudence and an Extraordinary Act of Policy it was constrained t' advise their Subjects t'open their Gates to the Victorious and to do that without breach of Duty or guilt of Treason which the Consternation they were fallen into and the Current of th' Enemies Victory would have forced upon them And yet chose rather to seek safery and resurrection in its Wisdom and in the sole Means left to restore it self by th'Imploying of all their strength for the Disunion of the Confederates and Breach of the League than to draw into their Country those barbarous Soldiers from whence they could not withdraw them when they would or t' expose Italy to the same conditon the Neighbour Provinces to Constantinople were in under the Turk as hath been formerly spoken In the growth of Heresie in this Kingdom and of the first fires which burnt it for the matter of Religion Francis the second refused Philip his Brother in Law who fearing that the Contagion of th'Errour and Treason which reigned amongst us should pass into Flanders and complete the Corruption of his Subjects that had then taken some taste of it sent to make offer of all his Forces to fight them The duke of Alva also after h' had obtained in the Low-Countries many happy Successes against the Rebels of his Master besought Charls the Ninth to give him leave to bring 15000 Foot and 5000 Horse all Men of War and accustomed to Victory to reduce his Subjects t'Obedience But the King by th' advice of his Council refused also that offer and would not in accepting of it either discover the Weakness of his Reign or give to the factious Religionaries more pretence to call Strangers to their Relief and to them the more colour of coming into his Country or t'introduce into th' Heart of his Kingdom an Army of valiant Persons whom He could not easily drive away who would have demanded places of security for their Entry and Immense Dammages for their Return and might in time be the cause of a more dificult and longer War than what troubled him That whereas a part onely of his Subjects were in question and that the Rebels to be reduc'd to reason made a profession of fidelity and by consequence might easily be disarmed by Indulgence when it should appear too dangerous to repress them by Force H' had been under the Necessity of a defence against his Subjects and Neighbours and to fight Enemies wh ' having some Title of Justice and making War without Remorse or Scruple of Conscience would have made it the more violent and the less susceptible of Accommodation From what hath been now said a fresh Rule to clear it may be raised That an Army of Forein Forces to be drawn in t ' a Princes Country and in so great a number as to give the Law or raise Jealousie in him that Imploys them is to b' avoided And that H' observe also if it be possible two things T' Endeavour that the stranger Forces depend more upon the Prince that calls them in and pays them than upon him who leads them in and commands them And that their Relation t' him be stronger and more absolute than their Dependency upon their Commander Th' other thing is t' hinder their Conjunction in a Body and to keep them always sever'd if there be not special cause to draw them together and to rejoyn them The Venetians not long since Endeavoured to divide the Troops which the Sir of Roquelaure brought them and to take the Command from him And the Hollanders laboured to do the like to the Count of Mansfield after he had Relieved Bergenopson But they met with bold spirits that resisted their Artifices and defeated the subtil Attempts of their Policy 'T is true That this Trial is not to be made upon any Persons but Casual Chiefs who depend onely upon their Sword and upon the Prince that Imploys them and having drawn together such Troops by their Industry and Credit maintain them also in Dependency by their Authority and Address As to th'Impeding the Conjunction of Forces that might make great and considerable Bodies 'T is an undubitable Means to divert the Disorder and to prevent the License which of custom grows in Mercenary souls from th'Hopes of Impunity As th'hopes of Impunity are usually ingendred from the multitude of Culpable persons From this Root Sedition and Mutinies have often budded in th' Antient and Modern Armies And the boldness of the Pretorian Troops did heretofore stream from this spring in killing and choosing their Emperours and abused too often the Royal Purple in taking it away and giving it to whom they pleased by that blind incitement which animates Courages and being not Regulated by Reason are not restrained by Respect or Fear Seianus the greatest Favorite of all Ages and the first Example the world hath seen of excessive Favour Having the Command of the Pretorian Troops resolved to draw them together To render himself the more formidable by the quick and present Relief had in hand of the best Soldiers of th' Empire The Soldiers provided their Quarters and drew them into the form of a Cittadel to Command Rome and t' hold in subjection the Capital City of the World The great number of Janissaries which the Gram Signiâ—r keeps at Constantinople is the cause of the Tumults which often arise there and of th'Insolencies they commit in that City which are extended sometimes to the violating of the Seraglio the Grand Signior's Palace To compel their Prince to deliver unto them his Favourites To do Justice as they say upon them and not to spare his Person but even to kill him That if the Prince ought t' avoid with great care and for the Consequences which have been represented the drawing together of a great Number of his subject Soldiers H' ought much more to be careful to keep them sover'd so long as it may conveniently be done who depend not upon Him
restored to their Honours and Goods by those Treaties But who knows not in what Constitution France was at that time Who knows not that th' Heavens had none but malignant Aspects and froward Influences for it And that Fortune pouring out her Favours upon Spain had forgot she was Changeable It hath been seen what a hard Labour it was some years past t' obtain Pardon for the Marquis of St. George and for some other Montferrans who served the Duke of Savoy in the VVars He had since the death of the late King with the Dukes of Mantoua The difficulty the Genouese Expressed and the Resistance they made against pardoning the Prisoners hath been seen whom th' Accused t' have Conspired against their Country with the Duke of Savoy to give him Entry into Genes And that at last in th' Accommodation the Republique made with the Duke a Means was Invented and a Temper found t'hinder these Criminals of the State to perish And that it might not appear that the Republique had given them grace And in the Treaty of Vervins the Deputies of the late King opposed vigorously the Comprehension of any French-man that had taken part with the Spaniard and to deny any favour to th' Intercession of Strangers of what belonged to the Clemency of a Prince Moreover it was not without a great grief of heart and a great Repugnancy that the Spaniards permitted th' Embassadors of France England and Venice not onely to sign as Moderators but also as Sureties on their Masters behalf the Treaty of Verceil which determined the War raised from the not Execution of that of Ast And nevertheless the Question was not herein of a difference betwixt Subject and Soveraign and of those Quarrels of State which are not Appeased but by the Submission or Punishment of th' One and by th' Indulgency or Justice of th' Other The Question was onely of a Punctilio of Honour and of a Preheminence of Authority which the Spaniards affected to Treat in all Italy as Masters T'â—mpose Laws on Princes To give Form as it shall seem good to them t'Affairs and to put out the Fires which they permitted to kindle by the sole signification of their pleasure and by the single demonstration of their Arms. It angred much those ambitious Persons That a Duke of Savoy had the boldness t' oppose that publick Necessity and to resist the common Destiny of the petty Princes of Italy They could not endure his Thoughts of a Free Pince nor that he should use the Privileges of Soveraignty and Act th' Independent near them It was the cause of the Troubles they raised upon him and renewed two or three Times This obliged France not permit him t' yield under so just a Cause This made France with England and the Republick of Venice t' undertake the Warrantry of what was Accorded to the Duke by the Spaniards and this was the cause of bitterness and grief to them to be constrained for th' Avoiding of worse and to draw upon them with the War Strangers in t ' Italy following the Maxim they then held and which they ought never t' abandon To be compelled I say after th' Offer of all imaginable Advantages to the Duke and search of all possible Expedients to divert the Mediation of the forementioned Ambassadors to consent That they should become Pledges of th' Observation of the Treaty That if we 've seen happen somewhat like it between the King and his Rebel-Subjects And if England mingled with their Affairs and Interposed in the Treaty which was given them before Montpellier 'T is to be considered that 't was permitted by that hard and Inexorable Law which makes the Lesser Evil to b' Accepted t' avoid the Greater and that in respect of the Weariness which oppressed France It was adjudged to be more Expedient to procure its Rest with a Little shame than to Leave it in the Trouble of War with an Extreme peril Or truly it must b' avowed That there was not Vigour and Courage enough in the Councel or Care enough of the King's Honor and of the Dignity of the Crown and that the veins of them who Governed in that Time were not filled with those Generous Spirits and that Magnanimous Blood whereof so great Effects are seen in the present Administration And to speak the Truth these forced Peaces and these violent Reconciliations are not of Long Duration They must quickly break from what side soever the fault comes And the Subjects proud and fierce upon this Forein Protection cannot contain themselves within their Bounds which are marked out unto them or the Prince cannot permit his Subjects t' have relation t' any other Soveraignty than his whereby shadow only of Authority remains t' him and from which he receives onely an Apparence of Affection whilst they give th' Heart and Reality t' another Prince What followed the Peace of Montpellier hath given us occasion to verifie this Truth and shew that it being made of necessity or for fear and Forced rather than freely Accorded That th'Intervention and Warrant of th' English was of use to give the greater Jealousie to the King against them wh'had made Addresses t' England to give him a greater curiosity in th' observance of their Deportments and a greater Inclination t' interpret them with a spirit of distrust That they served onely to make them the more Tender and Sensible of the least scratch they Imagin'd to be given to the Peace to make them the more bold in demanding of Reparation and to demand it with Threatnings T' Encourage them to proceed rather as Equals than Subjects in all these Troubles From what cause it proceeded this is not the time t' enquire after and that I 've design'd it for another place At last all things conspired t' an open breach as hath been observed and from all those Collective Causes was formed the most dangerous War that threatned the State since the birth of Heresie Nevertheless God Converted into Good those sad Apparences and hindred th' Evil t' Accomplish its period He stopt it in the strength of its Motion and in the midst of its Course And raised to the King Ministers of State who would not strip him of his Virtue by their Coldness but give him an Edge by their Courage not to go awry at the sight of the Disorders and to cut off some Branches but t' Assault it in a strait Line and to cut it up by the Roots Not t' Allay for some time the Rebellion with Promises which they knew would not be kept and may be believed ought not to be kept but to put it in a Condition to Capitulate no more with his Master and to take from it for the future the Will to rise in taking from it the Power of Rising And that fell out happily for th' English were beaten and th' Hugonots humbled in that War Rochel fell to the ground and Spain became Blind or Lazre in not furnishing the Relief it had promised to the
t' Hungary Bohemia and th' Hereditary States This Declaration was not barren and vain it was attended with its effect as the Lightning is sometimes with the Thunder Mathias caused Ferdinand to come to Prague by deceit and with Mony but more effectively by the power of th' Army h' had in Bohemia He compelled Ferdinand to Crown him King of Bohemia leaving out the word of Election and without any Apparence of th'Intervention of the States Authority which was the work the Spaniards aimed at and for which they had long given themselves much trouble The Complement of the business and the Conclusion of it was That they made a Transaction with Ferdinand by which it was resolved In the year 1617. That th' Election of the Kingdoms of Hungary and of Bohemia should b' abolished and that the King of Spain should succeed to those Kingdoms in case of default of the strait Masculine Line of Ferdinand Provided That the King of Spain should relinquish all the Rights h' had in that Country in title of Granchild of th' Eldest of that House Whereupon 't is to b' observed that all this was done and concluded betwixt the Spaniards and Ferdinand with full Power and pure Violence and without the knowledge or participation of the States of those Kingdoms which are Elective And it was th' occasion of a great displeasure conceived by the Bohemians when it was made known to them and the greatstone of scandal against which they struck and which carried them to the Resolution they afterward took to reject Ferdinand from being their King and to call in t ' his place Frederick Gount Palatine under whom was framed in Germany an Intricacy of Affairs which five and twenty years of War could not dissolve And that a thousand new Accidents which every day arise forbid the wisest Men to discover th' Events and the way to get out of that Labyrinth That the Transaction was the principal and most violent Motive of th' Insurrection of the Bohemians appears by the Declaration of the States of Bohemia upon the rejection of Ferdinand of the 23d of May 1618. by which they complained amongst other things That there was an endeavour to transport the Kingdom t' another House It appears by the Letter which th' Elector Palatine wrote to th' Emperor the 25th of June in the same year wherein he says expresly That th' Authors of those Troubles were Persons who sought th' Improvement of some Forein Greatness and represents the Troubles which the Provinces of th' Empire would feel if Strangers were Introduc'd as had been done in the Dutchy of Juliers It appears also by the Declaration made by the Bohemians in the year 1619. upon th' Election of Frederick the First wherein they clearly said That Ferdinand endevour'd to translate the Kingdom of Bohemia under a Forein Power But since there 's nothing so easie as t' Accuse and Disguise an Accusation That every Person flatters himself in his own Cause which h' adjusts and beautifies as he pleaseth And that the Paper receives what is imprinted upon it as a Glass doth represent all that is set before it Let 's produce the testimony of Ferdinand and the proofs h' hath furnished to the Bohemians Complaints 'T is certain that his Predecessors speaking of their States ever put this Expression of our Kingdomes and Hereditary Provinces The word Hereditary Accompanying onely the Provinces and not the Kingdomes He Transposed the word to the beginning of the Clause that he might Fixe and Incorporate himself upon the Kingdomes as Provinces and made it thus of our Hereditary Kingdomes and Provinces And in his Monitory Letters of the 30. April 1620. agaist th'Elector Palatin by which he summons him to Leave in a Month The Kingdome of Bohemia and pretends that that Crown was fallen to him by Natural and Successive Right There was another Cause which was doubtless known to the Bohemians and obliged them to change their Master and to seek another yoak than Ferdinands whose person otherwise was not unacceptable to them 'T is the strong and Implacable Aversion that Prince had against Heresies and th'hot and burning zeal t'Exterminate them out of his Dominions and in all places where his Authority was acknowledged At twenty years of Age He made a vow t' our Lady of Loretta He renewed it at th' Age of forty three to our Lady of Celles which is betwixt Austria and Styria and Confirmed it a little before his Death by the Report of Father Lamorman in that Book of the Virtues of that Emperour The Zeal truly of seeing the Ruine of Heresies and of placing living stones in the Temple of God t' use the words of th'Apostle is very Commendable in it self and t' have no sense thereof is to be wholly deprived of Charity towards ones Neighbour which is one of th' Ends of Christianity There must be a want of Piety to the Church to which Heretiques make Wat No Love for the Glory of God which is Prophaned by Fable Worship But though this Zeal may be as hot in th' Heart as it should be and burn within Though it may be much inflamed in it's Principle yet it ought not t' appear but Tempered with Discretion nor break out but by measure and Rule thought not to procure its End but by convenient means by the waies which God hath ordained or hath left to Prudence to make Choice of Above all he may b' assured that its Operations are ordinarily better effected by gentle and peaceable than by violent and bloody hands And suppose it to be an ill Invention to Kill instead of Healing and to pull down an Edifice t'hinder the burning of it That in Truth there are Constitutions and Encounters where strong Remedies are to be used to stop the Contagion of Diseases which gathet and where Houses are broke down to prevent the fire which they cannot put out from burning of others mens houses and consume that which might have been preserved In this I have given some Rules in the first part and in several places I say some what of it here and there as conceive it necessary and as th' Abuses which I see there Acted oblige me But t is Chiefly necessary in kindling that Zeal in the Spirit of Princes t' infuse also convenient Lights for their Conduct And what I have said in other places ought to b' observed and cannot too often be remembred That great Persons cannot commit small faults nor General Causes removed by small Ruines Sebastian the last King but one of Portugal before that Kingdome was subdued to the Power of Spain is a very Remarkable Example of what I have now said The Queen Catherine his Mother having trusted his Education with Religious persons honest Men indeed and of Eminent Learning according to their profession but unexperienced in th' Affairs of the World and in the Science of Princes Their greatest care was t' imprint deeply into the Soul of this Prince naturally valiant the desire of
making War to the Mahometans and to Convert that great Principle of valour wherewith he was born to the Destruction of th'Infidels This was truly very good but the precepts were given him and th' Impression made without Discretion and Choice without Moderation and Rule which spoyled the Goodness and corrupted the Virtue of that Education So the fruits which it produced were not beneficial to Religion though it was his Principal End but fatal t' his Countrey which changed its Government and fell under a yoak which it hath since born with much Impatience and at last shaken off after the losse of all patience As to Ferdinands vows which are much esteemed by them not to permit any Heretiques in the places of its Dominions and to suppress the least Impressions there of Heresie Not to speak of the Nature of those Actions which may b'Excellent in themselves I find great Imprudence in the Solemnity and in that Eminent condition of Acting them publiquely and to the knowledge of many persons There are Actings indeed which ought to b'Acted in the sight of the World and Exposed t'high Noon and put t' use our Saviours Comparison in High places as Cities built upon the Top of Mountains that they may be the better seen and that they who shall see them give God the Glory And a Doctor that shall make a vow t' Apply himself wholly to the Combat of Heresies and to purge the Spirits by his Doctrine of the venome which is the more dangerous and mortal to them wh ' are the least sensible of it at their Deaths might perform an Act of great value and a thing in some sort Heroique But for a Soveraign Prince that would Exercise Proscriptions and Punishments against that kind of Diseases not t' use greater Circumspection and Secresie than a particular person and to publish his Zeal and declare his Design by some publique formality what other things is it than t' advise his Enemies to b'upon their Guards Than t' awake them that sleep lest they should be surprized Than to give them the Will and the Leasure to put themselves into a posture of defence To seek Friends and Protectors to Fortifie themselves with Confaederations And to Cast them into Despair which is more to be feared than Courage This hapned to the Bohemians and 't is the second spring of the German Troubles which Ferdinand opened and one of the principal Causes of th'Emotions in Germany which continue to this day End of the third Book of the second Part. FINIS THE TABLE OF The SECOND PART OF The Minister of State First BOOK First Discourse WHence it proceeds That Beasts of the same Kind do not make War amongst themselves as Men do That Irregular Passions are the cause of that Disorder That Duels are against the Right of Men and particularly against th' Authority of the Prince Page 1. Second Discourse Why God hath left Princes the right of doing themselves Justice when they are offended by other Princes That Lawful War is in th' order of Virtues and a branch of Justice Why 't is called the Elayl of Gods Anger p. 6. Third Discourse That Princes ought t' imitate God in th' use of the Right h' hath given them to do justice themselves That 't is very difficult even for Princes who love understand their affairs t' effect it which is confirmed by two Examples th' one of Henry the Second th' other of Philip the Second p. 11. Fourth Discourse That Justice is to b' observed in the Form as Matter of the War That Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and Infidels That Christians have just cause of Warring with the Turk without making use of the pretext of Religion p. 18. Fifth Discourse That the defence of injur'd Reputation is the subject of a just War Wherein that Reputation consists That the King could not with honour avoid breaking with the Spaniards wh ' had caused the Town and th' Elector of Treves to be surprised being under his Majesties protection p. 24. Sixth Discourse That a War ought not onely to be a just but also profitable for him who undertakes it Some Rules which Princes should observe when they relieve their Allies p. 30. Seventh Discourse The second Rule which a Prince sought t' observe in relieving of his Friends p. 34. Eighth Discourse That the Conduct which the King hath observed in the relieving of his Allies is full of moderation and generosity That the Conduct of some other Princes of this Age is not the same p. 39. Ninth Discourse Whether it b' expedient t' hazard the Remains of the Forces of a State to recover Reputation lost by some Notorious Disgrace That 't is not safe t' act alone or to permit all things to be done by others in difficult Enterprises p. 44. Tenth Discourse Of the difference betwixt th' Honour of particular persons and the Reputation of States And whether the Prince be Master of th' Honour as of the Life and Lands of his Subjects when publick Necessity requires it p. 51. Eleventh Discourse When the War becomes too ruinous to the Subjects of a Prince h' ought t' endeavour if it be possible th' end of it That the King hath been forced to make and continue the War till now by an inevitable Necessity That his Enemies rather than himself have always estranged themselves from Peace p. 58. Twelfth Discourse Where 't is shewed by two manifest proofs that 't is th' House of Austria that hath always resisted the Design of Peace To which the King and his Confederates were disposed in Earnest p. 63. Second BOOK First Discourse THat it is a great misfortune to a Prince to want power to make defence against th' Assaults of a Forein Prince and thereby to depend upon the will of others Which is confirmed by two Examples The first of the League made betwixt the Pope the King of Spain and the Venetians for the relief of Cyprus p. 71. Second Discourse Of th' unhappy Condition of small Princes p. 77. Third Discourse Wherein the second Example is brought spoken of in the First Discourse to shew th' Artifice Princes use in assaulting of Forein Princes t' hinder their Friends to relieve them p. 82. 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 p. 90. Fifth Discourse What kind of Confederacy and Correspondency may be formed betwixt a Prince and the Subjects of another Prince in rebellion with their Prince That the King ought in Consequence t' aid the Catalans p. 99. Sixth Discourse Wherein the protection ought to terminate which Princes give to the Rebel-Subjects of another Prince That it b' effected faithfully by the Prince and securely by the Rebels This is confirmed by the proceeding the King hath observed in the business of Catalogniâ— p. 105. Seventh Discourse That 't is a great Secret in War to know how to make best choice of the Place against which the strongest Assaults are to be made That the Spaniards are seldom deceived in that Choice with some other Observations upon their Conduct That the Kings Conduct is admirable in ordering the War he makes in so many places in Christendom p. 112. Eighth Discourse In what conjuncture it may be probably thought that the Venetians will enterint ' a League against the Spaniards p. 121. Ninth Discourse What Conditions that Peace ought t' have which all honest persons desire that it may be just and sure That the particular Peaces which th' House of Austria endeavours to make would be the ruine of them who make it p. 125. Tenth Discourse That the Confederation between the King and his Associates hath all the necessary Conditions required in a durable Peace Some Considerations upon the Nature of Leagues that they may the better be maintained p. 134. Third BOOK First Discourse THat the true exercise of the Magnanimity of a Prince consists in securing his Country from Civil Wars and in diverting of Forein Wars That the King hath admirably prospered in these two things p. 144. Second Discourse Of the Spring of the Design of the pretended Monarchy of th' House of Austria Some Advantages which th' Imperial Dignity brings with it above th' other Secular Dignities of Christendom p. 150. Third Discourse Other Advantages that attend upon th' Imperial Dignity above the Secular Dignities of Christendom p. 155. Fourth Discourse Charls the Fifth was of opinion That t' attain the Monarchy H' ought to make himself Master of one of these three Countries France Italy or Germany That he failed of all of them and could not subdue but a part of Italy p. 164. Fifth Discourse Of the third Enterprise of Charls the Fifth to gain the Monarchy and how it fail'd him p. 171. Sixth Discourse That Philip the Second apply'd himself principally to the gaining of France t' open the way t' himself of the Monarchy That his Successors have endeavour'd t' establish themselves in the heart of Germany to make th' Empire return to their House and pass from thence to the Monarchy p. 180. Seventh Discourse In what manner the Successors of Philip endeavour'd t' establish themselves in Germany The Motives which obliged the Bohemians to withdraw themselves from the Government of th' Emperor Ferdinand and to call th' Elector Palatine to the Crown of Bohemia p. 185. FINIS
ought t' exercise against other Princes To that Tribunal I say where no person can advise a War without giving Sentence of Death against a great Number of Innocent persons who are obliged to perish in the Just or Unjust Quarrels of their Masters I pass from thence to the Third part and there continue my Method supposing that th' Armes of a Prince cannot have a juster Imployment than to purge the State of Civil Wars And to divert â—hem which forein Enemies Endeavour to bring into the Countrey And having declared that the King hath stopt the great spring of the Troubles of the Kingdome in suppressing th' Hugonot faction I shew That he hath disappointed the great design of Monarchy of th' House of Austria in which was subtilly and necessarily laid up the Ruine of France These wonderfull Events being considered I conceive that no man can say any thing of so great advantage of this Prince that is not beneath his Glory and that Rhetorique wants Figures or th' Art of Sophisters boldness t' equal the greatness of these two Successes but since the Design of this pretended Monarchy which many persons of old date have attributed to th' House of Austria passeth into the Spirits of some men for an Invention or Fable I am resolved to draw this Truth from the Darkness where it was hid and to cleer the belief of Princes and of Nations with the Lights that History hath furnisht and with the results from the Conclusions of the Designs and Enterprizes of the Princes of that House wherein I have endeavoured to give them as much honour as is possible for me in acting rationally and in order to the proportion and appropriation of the Means to th' Ends they had designed For the World well knows that I have not been of Ferdinands Council nor of Charls the fifth nor of the other Princes of that Line I have yet Reader two or three things to say before I finish and it concerns me that thou shouldst know them The first is that in speaking of the raising of the Catalans and particularly of th' Insurrections of the Portugeses which immediately followed It seems that I do presage and play the Prophet of things past To which I answer It was foreseen that it might be objected unto me and that I had not exposed my self to that Assault if many persons of great Quality and Merit had not seen the same things in a discourse which I made from the beginning and at th' Apparition of that Occurrence before the Portugeses had thrown off the Spanish Domination The second thing is That Foreiners may possibly take offence in that I do touch some Errors in the persons of their Nation and discover some staines But I assure my self that they will be easily satisfied when they Consider that 't is not by a spirit of Disdain or motion of Hatred and that the manner of my Entertainment is not different from that which I give my Countreymen whose defects and stains I do not hide or suppress when the Truth and Necessity of the discourse oblige me t' expose and produce them The third thing is that a false date is stollen into my Narratives which is that of the Treaty of Smalchalde and it may be of some other Anachronismes which are of no Importance to my design And that it satisfies me that the facts whereon my Reasonings are grounded and built are true without respect to the time wherein they were done These Advices Reader being received Thou maist give what Entertainment thou pleasest this Book Whatever it be it shall give me no Trouble being certain that no person can disappoint me of the first Recompense and Principal End that I proposed to my self in writing which is the satisfaction of Endeavouring the service of my Prince and Countrey SECOND PART OF The Minister of State Of the Counsel of War of a Prince First BOOK First Discourse Whence it proceeds That Beasts of the same Kind do not make War amongst themselves as Men do That Irregular Passions are the Cause of that Disorder That Duels are against the Right of Men and particularly against th' Authority of the Prince AT th' Entry of this Discourse there 's Matter of Astonishment That Wars are seen amongst Men Rules invented and an Art formed to direct them That among all th' Arts exercised in the Society of Men there 's none that casts so great a light or that gains so great a portion of glory And that in th' Old Law War is found to be so solemnly Authorised and in a manner Consecrated by the Command of God as that amongst his high and most glorious Titles He hath chosen That of the God of Armies Th' inclination which naturally the greatest part of Things hath not onely to Conserve It's Beeing but also to Multiply it is evidently contrary to this Visible folly which incites Men to the Destruction of one another And we do not see That other Creatures of the same kind make amongst themselves particular assigned Combats or that they assemble in Troops to decide any difference by Murder and by the slaughter of the greatest part of them That Dereliction and Prostitution men make of their Lives and the Subjects for which they so willingly Sacrifize them being many times but a little smoak and opinion Are they not th' effects of a secret Instinct That it is not their Chiefest good nor their Ultimate felicity which without doubt it should be if there were not a greater Good And the Wars which God permits or commands where Life is given up as a prey to so many Accidents that destroy it are they not Clear evidences and a Manifest conviction of the small Account God makes of it and that it is not the fairest present he makes to men nor the subject wherein accomplished th' End for which he gives them their Beeing But not to wander out of our way and to take off th' Amazement whereof we have proposed the Causes I say It must not be thought strange that men enter so often into Quarrels with their fellows since they are so seldome at Accord with themselves and are scarce free from Troubles and Disorders within and that their very Souls are the Fields of the Combats that are fought and th' Enemies that make the War quarter always within them This disorder which happens in the condition of Men and not of Beasts in whom no discords seem t' arise nor contrariety of parts to be formed hath many springs from whence it issues the first is as all the world knows the Constitution of their Nature and the divers orders of the parts that compose it th' Inclinations of th' one are ordinarily opposed to th' inclinations of th' other and their Appetites agitated with such Contrary motions that they which cause the Fire t' arise are not more opposed than they that make the Earth to descend So that there is neither peace nor quietness in th' Interior of Man longer than the
Superior part is obeyed by the Passions and that th' Appetite where they are formed permits the yoke and resists not th' orders that are imposed upon it If it happen and 't is the second Spring of disorders That in these Intestine Wars and Skirmishes which tear the Soul th' Interior part obtains the Victory yet Calm and Rest attends not upon that fatal Conquest but greater Emotions and more dangerous Tempests are raised And as there are People of so unquiet a Nature and of a humor so turbulent as that they can never remain in peace and that of necessity they must stir within when they have nothing to do without and kindle Civil when they have finished Forein Wars So when the Passions find no resistance from Reason and have neither Bridle to retain them nor Barrier to stay them they abate not of their Inquietude they turn their Forces against themselves they trouble and hinder one another in the pursute of their Objects Love flacks th' activity of Ambition Avarice stops the progress of Love and th' poor Soul the Subject which these Furies torment and the Sea these Winds agitate suffers more by their violence than can be expressed yet Reason is never so fully obscur'd nor so generally disarmed by the Passions but that some beam always remains which makes visible to the Soul at least at certain encounters the Deformity of her condition and points out her shame and remorse for base condescentions I could here produce if it were not a little from the purpose though not unprofitable another Cause of Man's misfortune who delivers himself up to the mercy of his Passions and permits them to take the place of his Reason which she ought to have over them Man being unable to put of the Desire of happiness which Nature hath planted in the Centre of his Soul nor to forbear acting to its Content though he intend it not and incapable to fill or calm it but in the possession of that End for which he received his Being as the cause it was given unto him or in the exercise of the Virtues the means of conducting him thither having obtain'd th' other good things pursu'd and enjoy'd th' other desired objects is to begin again and is as empty as He was before that instead of going streight on He turn'd the back to th' aspir'd felicity And nothing remains if more were not to be fear'd but a dull saciety that besots him a profound weariness of spirit that renders him insupportable to himself and such an inevitable melancholy as gnaws and frets men who fall from their hopes As then th' Irregular Passions are the cause of th' Intestine Troubles which men suffer and of th' ill intelligence they hold within themselves they are also the cause of the Quarrels raised amongst particular persons and of the Wars made amongst Princes Th' enterprises which Ambition Avarice and the like disordred motions forme in some to the dammage of others and th' oppositions made to their violence and rapidity put all Civil Societies into combustion and cut asunder all the Bonds of the Politique Body It were to the loss of my Expressions and to th' abuse of the Readers patience to labor the confirmation of a truth which Experience hath taught in all places Reason causeth to be touched with the finger and whereof History gives constant evidences As to Beasts 't is no wonder if they are not subject to so great stroaks and to those furious storms wherewith God hath permitted Man's conditition to be beaten Their Souls are not divided by its Powers into opposite Regions and make not in them the conjunction of two different worlds the Spiritual and Temporal as the Souls of Men do but all it's Inclinations and Faculties are drawn as the Philosophers say from the breast and power of the Matter it hath no Appetite but what is bounded and a small thing satisfies it and as Nature guides it by a true light to th' Objects most proper and prescribes the degree of Enjoyment that is most convenient and cannot exceed she provides also objects in such Abundance and of so Easie an acquisition that all th' Individuals of the same kind find what is necessary for them and without labour To divert these evils wherewith th' Humane condition 's afflicted or to correct the malignity and to dull th' edge of them Divine Providence hath not deprived the Soul of Means and convenient Remedies if that had been it had left too shameful and too visible a stain upon that fair Oeconomy wherewith it governs the World and that admirable congruity it hath observ'd in all th' other parts which compose it had been belied in the noblest part of them It had acted with th' imprudence of an Artificer who lays out all his force and th' excellency of his Art upon a base subject and takes pains to carve a piece of Glass curiously and to commit great faults in a matter of much price or to set a rich Diamond ill which must abate the lustre of his Art and honor due to Nature But that is prevented for as to the principal good of men as th' inward calm and traquillity of the Soul and victory of Reason over the Passions whence tranquillity and calm do issue the Means to obtain them is in their power and therein they depend not upon the fancies of Fortune nor upon the Passions of other Men Yet since th' Infidelity of Adam and th' unhappy destiny of corrupted Nature there are not onely great Combats to be fought and strange Difficulties to be overcome for that Victory but also great Reliefs to be expected and eminent supplies for Philosophy and greater from Religion and the Grace of God is never wanting to them who are not wanting to themselves and the good successes of this War attend always upon good Designs and lawful Resistances As for the spoils which Passions commit without and th' impetuous motions wherewith they disorder Society if they overflow against particular men and if they produce injuries and outrages and the Revenge and Reparations which offended persons take by their hands greater and more dangerous Excesses succeed the first The Preservatives and Remedies against these evils are found in the same Society wherein they are seen to bud and grow Wherefore there 's no Government in the world of what Spirit soever 't is animated and under what Form soever 't is establish'd which hath not restrained from th' hands of particular persons th' use of Vengeance to transmit it to their Magistrates as persons disinteressed and for fear also lest Corruption should penetrate even to the Functions of their Charges and that the Justice they ought to distribute should be changed by some tincture of Passion which might invisibly steal in it hath been ordain'd That the dispensation should be made by the ministration of the Laws that are incorruptible and being incapable of Affection and Knowledge are by consequent incapable of Passions and inaccessible by Love
and Hatred by Favour and Riches And that there may be no power in the State but what shall bend under that of the Laws nor so petty a person that shall not have Reason of the Greatest that may offend him The disposition of publick Forces is committed to the Soveraign wherewith he may reduce the most refractory and fierce Subject to th' obedience of common Right and confine him within the bounds of Equity and Justice From hence it may appear That th' use of Duels whereby particular persons endeavour to do themselves Justice and to draw Reason with their hands of th' injuries received from particular men is a manifest violation of the Right of the People and a particular Invasion upon the Princes Right And this Evil began by the pernicious example of Francis the First and Charls the Fifth and by the fatal accorded permission of Henry the Second encreased wonderfully in the time of our Civil Wars and in that general depravation of th' obedience and fidelity which Subjects owe to their Prince and hath since risen to its height and is multipli'd infinitely by th' indulgency of Henry the Fourth during the peace of his Reign And as fruitful and fat grounds if good Seeds are not cast into them to exercise their fruitfulness produce Thistles and Gorst and other hurtful Weeds it hath so happened to us that men of courage wanting matter t' ingender lawful acts of valour have given themselves up to unlawful productions and not being able to gain the Body have pursu'd the Shadow in these particular Combats wherein France hath lost more Noble Blood in a few years of Peace than it had done in many years of War But 't is to no purpose to preach to our Nobility upon this Text or to declaim against this Abuse or excess of Courage or to seek Remedies in Philosophy or Religion against so Brutal a disease or that the Blood which Henry the Second permitted to be poured out in the Combat of Jarnac and Chasteneraye cried for vengeance to Heaven and obtain'd it or that the Prince whose Quality exempted him from th' hazard of Duels lost his life in a Sport which was the Representation of it that the most warlike Nations except ours of the world have not admitted of that Bastard-Valour or at least Naturalized it That the Lacedemonians who made a more express profession of true Valour than th' other Grecians and whose Goverment seem'd t' have for Soul nothing but that Virtue had no knowledge of Duels That the Romans who were the Conquerors of so many Nations and People resign'd it to their Vilest kind of men and to whom they had assigned Criminal lives onely for their objects That the Spaniards who have conceiv'd that great design of th' Absolute Monarchy which hath agitated them above an Age and for that purpose have declared and made War to so many other Nations have by consequence more need of Valour than any other Virtue laugh at our modern folly and if a sleight imitation corrupt them or others of our Neighbours 't is but a spark that flies to them from the great fire which devours us That 't is an horrible injustice that a person that hath sweat in Arms and been victorious in many Combats Battels and Sieges should be obliged to put his Reputation and Glory to Question against a young Fool who hath not seen any other Field of Battel than the Hall of a Fencing-Master whose courage rests upon th' agility of his body and swiftness of his hands and upon a long exercise of Assault and Defence 'T is to no purpose I say to represent all this to our Nobility which can never be converted or healed but by their own cure of this Folly and by fixing their honour no longer in that false and furious Valour and by beating down with its own hands th' ldol it hath erected for Adoration Second Discourse Why God hath left Princes the Right of doing themselves Justice when they are offended by other Princes That Lawful War is in th' order of Virtues and a Branch of Justice Why 't is called the Flayl of God's Anger WHAT hath been said in the Precedent Discourse is one of the Motives which have obliged Particular persons to make choice of Superiors and t' impose on them the duty of distributing Justice The price in part of the Liberty quitted for the love of their Superiors But that would not serve for perfection of th' end proposed to themselves in th' establishing of them And'tis not enough for the safety and prosperity of a Country exposed to the spoils of the Seas and Rivers to raise Causeys against the overflowings of the Rivers if Banks and Sluces are not provided against the Seas Inundations The Invasions made by Soveraigns upon th' Estates of other Soveraigns and the Ruines they bring when they enter with Armies are evils of another weight and of another consequence than those evils particular men suffer from other particular persons and other labours and effects are required to stop the causes of these publick Springs of Desolation when they break out than to suppress the small disorders and appease the petty troubles which arise betwixt private persons 'T is visible from hence since Princes have no Superiors on Earth to repair the wrongs suffer'd by other Princes that they may do themselves Reason and that the Right of Nature which permits to every man th' exercise of Revenge when'tis just is not suspended as to Princes by the Right of the People which takes it from particular persons for the reasons above mention'd Whence it follows also That God having taken away that Right by reason of the Ignorance which doth usually accompany them or Passions that betray them and walking in darkness would grope to find the ways of Justice or in weighing the worngs received and satisfaction due the perpetual motions of their lives might shake their hands and hinder them to hold the Ballance streight This Right hath he given to Soveraigns with this precise Obligation That in their Understandings and Counsels Reason should preside in all the purity of its light that Passions should have no admittance to their Cabinet Counsel and that this holy place ought to be like th' highest Regions of th' Air without emotion or trouble That the mischief is that their Cabinet Counsel instead of resembling that high Region is but too often the representation of the Middle Region and instead of calm and serenity which ought to reign there nothing is heard but the noise of Passions and seen but the fruits of Ambition and Avarice and those other great wandrings of mens understandings Though this be so and that Evils are never small which grow from the disorders of publick causes 't is nevertheless the gentlest destiny and most favourable entertainment which the present condition of men can receive Providence after the loss of Primitive Innocency and Original Justice hath sufficiently provided against this Inconvenience and strengthned
Society against the designs of Injustice and spoiles of Violence by inspiring men with Policy and Judgment to make choice of Soveraigns that should be obliged to defend them against the force of strangers and against th' unjust enterprises of their fellow-Citizens and Countrymen and by imposing upon them a stricter Obligation and severer Laws to do their duty because the sole faculty of doing Justice and Inflicting of punishment is reserved to them against such as disobey To conclude God hath not onely filled up the measures of good which he did unto men but hath also given them over-measure in sending the Law of Charity and causing to descend from Heaven that holy fire which dries up the very spring and consumes the very root of all sharpness and violence that may arise against ones Neighbour in the Souls of men That if men fall so often sick and die in th' abundance of Good things notwithstanding the many Preservatives and Remedies and the large effusion of graces and Relief wherewith God hath supplyed them If they are mastered by Vices and led in triumph by their Passions if instead of Reason and Equity Injustice and Force Reign and condemn th' Innocent with the Nocent He hath permitted it not to deprive men of th' use of that Liberty which he had given in favour of them nor to take from them the matter of Merit by imposing the Necessity of doing good but that wicked persons might punish one another and honest men exercised by their contraries and that all may learn There 's nothing more vile and more despicable than life That there 's nothing but vanity and affliction of spirit in it and that no true love is to be had for a Country which for a few Flowers it bears produceth many Briars and Thorns and having but a narrow path that leads to life hath many ways and large roads that lead to death and end in precipices This is to th' honor of Divine Providence Let 's return to our Subject 'T is easie to conclude from what hath been now said That as God is th' Author of the Justice which Soveraigns distribute to their people He is also th' Author of that Justice which Soveraigns exercise against other Soveraigns that both of them have the Seal of his Approbation and that th' use of Lawful Arms is no less a Virtue than th' use of Laws when they are well dispensed And this first kind of Justice resting upon the Basis of its Nature and not exceeding the bounds of the Right of the People is more noble and glorious than th' other is a livelier Beam of the power which God confers upon Princes and a more illustrious evidence of th' honor they enjoy to represent him on earth as I have shewed in another place 'T is no wonder then if God in th' Antient Law commanded War to be made and if he be there styled The God of Armies 't is of that Justice whereof we have lately spoken and whereof we will draw the Platform and Habit the Figure in the subsequent Discourses It may be demanded whether the Doctrine which I have now delivered be true and that War is a Branch and a Stream of Justice and in th' Order and Classis of Virtues As whence it proceeds That in the Bible 'T is called one of the Flayls of th' Anger of God And wherefore in the New Law God takes not the Title of God of Armies wherewith he seems t' adorn himself and t' exalt his Majesty in th' Old Law As to the first Difficulty 't is not uneasie to resolve and many Reasons may be brought to prove it The First That the Justice Soveraigns execute upon other Soveraignâ— is called a Flayl in comparison of that justice they render to their Subjects so that th' administration of this Justice being forbidden to particular persons and committed to a third kind of persons and of a disinteressed condition is by consequence less subject to Corruption than th' other sort of Justice where parties are Judges in their own cause and where there 's danger lest self-love entring the Counsels of War with Passions wherewith it is usually accompanied occasion a mixture of Injustice The second is That although Right and Equity onely are proposed in the project and birth of War Accidents unseen do many times happen in the sequel and progress thereof which change its nature and degenerate it into a greediness of Vengeance or into a sole desire of Ambition and 't is certain that th' Appetite is provok'd by the facility of giving it content and th' abundance of Meats makes it exceed the bounds of Temperance The third Reason is That the Justice which Soveraigns distribute to their Subjects is rendred without Effusion of blood and without Violence at least in Civil affairs the Justice they exercise against other Soveraigns is never guided but by Force and Arms breathes nothing but death and murthers And were the Question onely for one inch of Earth or a spoonful of Water many Subjects must perish on both sides for the just or unjust Quarrels of their Masters which ought not to be found strange since Soveraigns being th' Heads of the Body whereof the Subjects are the Members and as such being not able t' Act but in communion and conjunction with them That they make an indivisible communication in all things amongst themselves and that th' Head being struck the Members must be offended nor can th' Head defend it self without exposing the Parts to blows which make one Body with it So that the manner of Exercising this Justice which is full of blood desolation and ruine may justly be called a Flayl as Fire and Poyson us'd in Medicines may be called by such names to distinguish them from th' other Ingredients made use of to heal ordinary Diseases And it must not be denyed but that the Justice rendred to particular persons is subject though not so often nor so dangerously to the same Inconveniencies and exposed to th' Assaults and Ambushes of Vices which are contrary to it It must be confessed That Reason and Equity do not always weigh down the Ballance That there are bad Judges as well as wicked Princes And that in both Capacities the Great oppress the Mean persons and the Poor are the Prey and the Sacrifices of the Rich And since it is the condition and common Portion of Moral Vertues to Lodge betwixt two Extremes and in the Confines of two opposed Vices 't is no wonder if Man be troubled to contain himself in the midst of these two Confines without Entry into the Country of Vices where he finds on all sides the passages Easie and where th' Errors and Inward Inclinations th' Objects and outward Examples press him frequently to pass The fourth reason it That God hath sometimes commanded a People to make War effectively upon another People t' Exterminate them from the face of th' Earth and to purge them with Sword and Fire of the Crimes wherewith
they had offended His Divinity dishonored Nature and defac'd the Politique Body Many Examples there are of this Truth in th' Old Testament and among the Jews that besides th' express Commands God hath given to make War He hath sometimes raised and caused Soveraigns and their People to take Arms by occult and unknown Means which are not here to be discussed to chastise other People and other Soveraigns that had offended Him And this is proved in the Choice given to David by God of the three Flayls of his Anger the Plague Famine or War t' expiate th' Excess of Pleasure and Pride conceiv'd at the sight of the Numberless Number of the People whereof he was the Master In the third place That he causeth Accidents and Conjunctures when he pleaseth which constrain Princes to make War that would continue in Peace and to break the Chains of Concord that bind them though they Act cordially to preserve it as I might prove by many Examples If I had not fear to be tedious and had not brought some Instances already in the First Part of my Discourse That the Fire being kindled betwixt two Princes tired with Labour in so painful rugged and dangerous a way breathe nothing but Peace and Rest yet God hinders them to attain it by unexpected Accidents which respectively beget one another and when th' Haven is in hope to be gain'd some contrary Wind is raised that forceth them to Sea again and exposeth them to new and more dangerous Storms These Considerations and many more whereof I am ignorant are the Cause That all War how just soever may be called a Flayl of God's Anger and an Effect of his offended Providence It may be demanded since War may enter into the Classis of Virtues and is of th' Apurtenances of Justice how comes it to pass that God takes not in the New Law the glorious and fearful Title of God of Armies as he hath done in th' Old Law To this truly th' Answer is very easie and who is it that knows not if he have received any Tincture of Religion and learned the first Elements of Christianity that the New Law is a Law of Peace and Love towards our Neighbour That the Disciples of Jesus Christ are known by that Mark and are distinguish'd from other Men by that Sacred Character That the Father could not give a greater Evidence of his Love to men than in giving his onely Son for their Redemption That the Son gave the highest Proof of Charity in offering Himself Willingly and Sacrifizing His Life Voluntarily for the Love of them That th' holy Spirit was not seen but in the Form of a Dove or in the Figure of fiery Tongues And that the Church his Spouse caused Oyl and Balsome to be put into th' use of the Sacraments and other Holy Things and no Violent Substances which denotes That the Spirit of the New Law is a Spirit of Sweetness of Indulgency and of Peace and commands or adviseth no other War than what ought to be made to Passions and Vices 't is so far from allowing any Usurpation or Retention of other mens Goods that it permits not men to Covet them and ordains not onely that Justice be done to our Neighbour but adviseth the support rather of Injustice and Injurie than the Pursute of Reparations by Lawful Powers nor to ravish from Religion th' Evidences of that fair Maxim which proceeds securely from it That Action is less Noble than Sufferance If Justice then which the New Law recommends so powerfully and is the Vital Spirit and Natural Heat of the Civil Body were impartially executed and Charity that covers faults which Justice would expose to light and makes up the Breaches that Justice would leave open were cherish'd by Christians such men least would have need onely of the Conditions of Peace and of the Counsels of Natural Equity amongst themselves and there would be no occasion for prescribing to particular persons the Forms of Pleadings or to Princes the Laws of making War there would be no occasions for Judges or Captains All that are enclosed in the Womb of the Church would breathe nothing but gentle and peaceable Air the Revenge of Outrages would be taken in the Retribution of good Deeds and there would be no cause t' implore th' Arm of the God of Armies of the Powerful and Terrible God but only t' invoke the Name of the God of Peace and Father of Mercies But the Mischief is say the Poets that Justice staid not long amongst men and having carried the Ballance into Heaven whither she is retired hath left onely the Sword on Earth which Injustice and Violence have laid hold on That Charity the Preserver of Union and the great Virtue of Christianity hath not reigned but amongst the Faithful of the first Generation That its Heat hath ever sinâ—â— diminished and 't is visible that the present Christians are more divided among themselves than the Mahometans and instead of acting against that Immortal and Implacable Enemy of their Religion and publick Detainer of their Estates have neither Understanding nor Courage nor Power but to hurt and destroy themselves Were Christians entire and their Forces united it might cost the Turk too dear to assault them but by their Discords and diminution of Forces they make the Victory easie for their Enemies the Blood which they pour out and the Moneys they consume are th' Evidences of their Design and a Proof That if they have not Resolution enough to fight the common Enemy they have at least Desire enough to be taken The Reader will excuse this small Digression and this Complaint on the By which the Zeal of Publick good hath forced from me Third Discourse That Princes ought to Imitate God in th' Use of the Right he hath given them to do Justice themselves That 't is very difficult even for Princes who Love and Understand their Affairs t' effect it which is confirmed by two Examples th' one of Henry the Second th' other of Philip the Second IN the precedent Discourse hath been shewed That the Right God hath given to Princes of doing Justice themselves is the richest Effusion he makes them of his Power and the fairest Beam he communicates to them of his Light whence we may conclude To make this Representation perfect and that the Copy differ not much from th' Original 't is necessary that they Imitate His Conduct and March upon th' Impressions of his Providence in th' use of that destroying Right and in the dispensation of that bloody Justice In the first place As God never descends to this mournful Exercise either prepossess'd with Error or troubled with Passion Princes if possible should do the same they ought to see clearly into th' Action before they do Embark and be well assured that they do nothing but what is lawful for them to do and to that end they ought to use the utmost of their Power that Reason onely have place in their
of the Flemings and that the Power of Rebelling was to be taken from the Rebels to secure from future Rebellions And cut down the Tree at the root to hinder the boughs from growing and putting forth Philip enclosed between these two Contrary Opinions and seeing clearly though th' Intentions of those two Counsellors loving Gomez with Passion and esteeming Alva to his Merit forgets his Maxims and departs from his own Inclination which was the Good of his Affairs to content the Passion of them by a Moderation that was fatal to him He resolved then for the satisfaction of Gomez to stay in Spain under pretence that his Presence was necessary to keep the Moors to their Duty and hinder his Son Charls to disturb in his Absence and to comply with th' Indocile and Imperious humour of the Duke of Alva He constitutes him Governour of the Low-Countries and gives him the Command of an Army capable to subdue them in case of a general Revolt and to force to submission all persons that opposed him Gomez found his Reckoning plentifully in being the chief of the two Patties and remaining the most powerful of the Kings Council was in some sort superior to the Duke of Alva who ought to receive Orders from the Council and as to the Duke's Actions could give what countenance he pleased to them being not cleared before the King's eyes The Duke of Alva also had cause to be ontent with the King's Design to send him Commander of so powerful an Army and t' exercise a great Charge in a Country where no person was above him and where he should be Arbiter of the destiny of a great number of people and of seventeen fair Provinces But th' Interest of Philip and the Laws of good Policy required that no Regard was to be had to th' Inclination of Gomez nor to that of the Duke of Alva and that he should have gone in Person and with a good Army into the Low-Countries to confirm the Tranquillity as yet unsetled and to dispense Rigour and Clemency according to the disposition of Spirits and exigency of Conjunctures Or if it was not expedient for the King for important considerations to go from the Escurial and to break the chains wich ty'd him to Spain He ought not to have recall'd the Governess from Flanders who might easily have finish'd what she had happily begun and had no need for that End but of a small encrease of Forces to render her Administration a little more fearful than it was to the Flemings who had in other Things Love and Reverence for her Person By these Example you may see how hard it is for the Counsellors of Princes t' enter their Counsels free from particular Passions since th' ablest Princes and most interessed are sometimes struck with contagion and spoil their Affairs by Compliance It follows not but that the persons whereof we have now spoken were Great persons though sometimes they committed faults and that their Lives were excellent Looking-glasses for them that Govern though the Glasses were not without spots There are Illustrious Reigns as Glorious Temples and Magnificent Palaces And though great effusion of Riches have been made and choice of the best Architects of the world to build them some errors have been found in them And the Things of Art have that in common with the Natural not to be in all parts perfect As in th' Oeconomy of the Manners of Men Reason doth not always hold th' Ascendent over the Passions but that Passions sometimes take it above Reason and what is of the Dominion of th' Understanding gives place to what is belonging to a Beast So though Princes oblige themselves as strongly as they can to represent the persons of Princes they cannot forbear many times to act the persons of particular Men and to cherish th' Inclinations of Nature above the Duties of their Charge Immutability from Good is not of the Lot and portion of this miserable Life And Constancy unshaken but by some great change is in my sense one of the greatest Wonders of the world There is no Soul so mean that is not capable of some fire and of some strein of Heroick Virtue but there 's none so Heroick that can maintain without slacking the strength of the flight which it hath taken and hold all things under it without ever coming under them such Souls as approach nearest to this state and rise and fall whatsoever happens less than other Souls are certainly the Noblest and Fairest of all Souls And that Equality of Conduct such as may be gained in this Life is more admirable and of greater price in it self thâ—â—â—h not of so great pomp nor of so great profit as the Science to maâ—â— War to conduct Negotiation and to govern Empires The second Rule which Princes ought t' observe in th' Use of this severe Justice whereof we draw the Picture is That as God doth not punish sinners at th' Instant they have offended nor permit his Thunder to break upon the first crimes of Men Soveraigns also ought not to hasten t' extreme Remedies and take Arms so soon as they have receiv'd an Injury They ought to consider that of all Imployments and humane Enterprises there 's none wherein Precipitation is so dangerous as in beginning a War nor wherein more passages are to be sounded or more ways know before the War be undertaken They ought to remember that besides the sad Necessity which is inseparable from the most Innocent War in the world to devour a great number of Goods and Livers There 's none wherein the Revolutions are so suddain and the Conclusions so uncertain A Wheel moved with violence turns not down with more swiftness what was above The Sea is not more unfaithful nor changeth her calm with more promptitude And th' hope of Labourers is not so often deceived by the sterility of Harvests That the prosperities of Arms are subject to change and th' Entries of War are belyed by th' Issues That after many Fires kindled and Tempests raised After a great quantity of spilt blood and wealth devoured After a long Circumvallation the High way to desolation and ruine 'T is of Necessity that the Lists are to be re-entred or a Retorn made to the firit posture of Peace Fourth Discourse That Justice is to be observed in the Form as Matter of the War That Faith is to be kept with Heretiques and Insidels That Christians hate just Cause of Warring with the Turk without making use of the pretext of Religion TO Avoid so dangerous a Precipitation and not t' Engage herein t' ill purpose and hoise sail to the Wind out of season 'T is not sufficient to know that the War is Just which is to b' undertaken but that 't is Necessary to b' undertaken And 't is the good of the State which a Prince undertakes is this occasion more than any other Interest 'T is of Importance that what is honest and profitable march together and
of Piety towards the Church in securing by our means th' Holy Places and Sacred Persons but hath not a little merited from th' House of Austria if it were capable of some sense of Acknowledgment and would be sensible of a good Turn by hindring his great and formidable Adversary by his fore-sight and address from growing greater by the Conquests of those Estates and to make a dangerous conjunction of the Rhyne with the Mosselle and at the same time t' extend his Arms into Flanders and Germany And therefore let the World judge upon these true and pertinent Facts if that Elector hath deserved th' usage he hath received for his love to us or whether the King could pass by such injuries without resentment and declaring a War to them who have so highly offended in the person of one of his Allies and in the sight and knowledge of all Europe This Example and many others which I shall speak of in their place will make it clearly appear that the King did not engage in all the Wars wherewith miserable Christendome hath been vexed for many years but for the protection of the weak against the stronger and that th' House of Austria by its untameable Ambition hath broken the Bands of publick Concord and kindled the fires whose destruction it may feel as well as any other House before its burning be quench'd God alone knows what Event shall be of so many Armies raised and where th' agitation of so many provoked Nations shall determine But the King ought to have this satisfaction and rest of conscience that he hath not been th' Author of these lamentable troubles but hath done his Endeavour to divert them spared nothing to stop them and having laboured much and taken much pains t' establish and settle the tranquillity of his Kingdom Had not a livelier and hotter passion than to procure th' entire felicity of his people and to see that peace flourish he vvould have given them by th' abundance vvherevvith he had crovvned it had he been Master of the Hearts of Strangers and Arbiter of the Destiny of Things Sixth Discourse That a War ought not onely to be a Just but also Profitable for him who undertakes it Some Rules which Princes should observe when they relieve their Allies AFter Discourse of the Causes that make a War Just and handling of that Thorny Matter that hath yet some need of culture which may be given it in its proper place The Profit of a War must be handled which is th' other Condition that ought t' accompany a War and without which a Prince ought not t' engage though it should be not onely full but filled up with Justice If follows not nevertheless that this Profit ought to be present and sensible nor is it in th' order of things to Reap in Sowing nor that the first Prescriptions heal a sick person or that a Picture be finish'd at the first Draught God alone in giving the first stroak can give the last hand to his Works and finish in beginning yet he hath not always done it and he made use of six days to create the World and to produce and publish the pieces of that Marvellous Frame As for the Works of Men Time and Patience are necessary before th' End can be obtain'd there are many degrees to clime before they can get to the Feast and ordinarily 't is with them as with those of Nature where the Generation of the most Excellent things is but the sequel of a precedent Corruption It sufficeth then that it be a future Utility to th' end it oblige t' act and that it be known for such not with Infallibility and Certitude which appertains onely to God But so far as one may judge of it by the disposition of Second causes and by the Rules of Civil prudence which is all that can be required from the conduct of Men and from the chance of this Life Th' Advantages which ought to return from the War made in favour of Friends and Allies and from the Relief is afforded them shall be here treated of as for others either there 's no difficulty in them or what shall be said of this may clear the Troubles that be in it I will give thee some Rules then which will discover to Princes the ways they ought to take and the Rocks they ought t' avoid when they engage in such Aids The first Rule is this That th' Utility they ought to pursue and propose to themselves before they take up Arms in favour of their friends ought not to be Mercenary not of the nature of what Merchants seek for their Traffick th' ultimate End of their Ambition and the principal Object that stirs up their Industry is the Encrease of their Riches they hazard Little to gain Much they do like the Husbandmen who sow not onely to recover their seed but to multiply it and 't is not to shut the door of their house upon Poverty that they labour but t' introduce Abundance The Reputation also of able and intelligent Persons in their profession concerns them not or very little they think onely of being Rich and Profit makes up all the Glory of their Exercise and all the Price of their Industry There have been Princes in all times who have acted in that Manner and have been possest with that base passion that the greatness of th' Object and Enormity of th' Evil have caused to be called Illustrious but they that are enflamed with the Love of true Wisdom and with the Desire of a fair Reputation ought to sail with another Wind and take a very different way Let this then be a constant and indubitable Principle That a Prince ought not to be perswaded to take Arms in favour of another Prince by the spirit of Avarice and by a greediness to grow Greater at his charges t' enrich himself by his Spoils and to keep the Securities which th' other Prince hath put into his hands for assurance of his faith or to serve him for retreat If that were modeable no person would be found that had not rather try th' Hazard of Arms and runne of the Fortune of Wars whose Events are doubtful and uncertain than expose himself to th' infallible Loss of all his Estates or of a great part of them That as there 's no question but the Wounds received in the heat of the War and from an Enemy to whom one doth the worst he can are less offensive and grievous than those that are received in Cold blood and from a Friend so the Losses received from them who ought to secure us are of worse taste and of harder disgestion than those occasioned by such persons as have declared the War against us and have undertaken to ruine us And the late King had reason after th' Arch-Duke had besieged Calais and the Queen of England had sent to offer him her Sea-Army upon exorbitant conditions to refuse that relief and to command it to be told
their general Rule which they seldom break as the proceeding of the Duke of Parma in his first Expedition into France For they have such an unsatiable Appetite after other mens Goods and Lands and are so violently transported with that Passion that they have not excepted th' Holy Chair even at such times as they made a shew to relieve it In th' Heat of th' Interdict at Venice and when the Marquis of Veillane Ambassador at Rome for the Catholick King had oblig'd the Pope to cast himself into th' Hands of his Master and t' accept of his Protection amongst the things he demanded of his Masters behalf for the Relief He promised him which was but in Paper and for that Evidence of Good which was but in Ostentation what He most insisted upon was that Ferrara should be delivered t' his Master for the Retreat of his Army by Land and Ancona for his Army by Sea and the Count of Fuentes who breathed nothing but Fire and Sword and was the principal Promoter of the Troubles had the boldness to demand Charbonnieres of the Duke of Savoy who was not interressed in the Quarrel as he said t' hold the Key of the Passage by which Esdiguiere might descend to the Relief of the Republique Eighth Discourse That the Conduct which the King hath observed in the Relieving of his Allies is full of Moderation and Generosity That the Conduct of some other Princes of this Age is not the same THis Subject may be wonderfully cleared and beautified by the Relation of the Conduct which hath been observed by four different Princes of this Age in the Relief of their Allies The Manner is very different though it hath been exercised upon the same Matter and in the course of the same business the troubles of Germany Though there was no Power in Christendom uninteressed in that affair and that did not represent some Person in that famous Tragedy 'T is certain that the King of France of Spain of Swede and the Duke of Bavaria have appeared in them with more glory than others and that their Policy was not less eminent than their Arms. But search being to be made in the third part into the most secret Motions wherewith these Princes have acted and what their Cabinet-Counsels have infused of the most particular and remarkable considerations in that long and sharp War I will beseech the Reader to suspend his curiosity to that Edition which shall follow this immediately And we shall see that Spain never moved but upon the same foot and never sailed but with the same Winds of Ambition and Particular Profit That the French motions have been sometimes Slow and Irresolute and sometimes Quicker and directed to the General good of the Christian Common-wealth But that the publick good was always its principal Mark and th' ultimate End proposed in its Interventions and Arms. As to the King of Swede He could not truly with better Judgment or Symetry adjust the design he had formed for the Relief of Germany and to take off the grievous Fetters th' House of Austria had imposed upon it Th' Innate spirit of a Conqueror considered or to make his spirit serve the Relief under a more specious and plausible conveniency Consider him then in this High and Difficult Exercise from his Landing in th' Haven in the Island of Usdome to the Plain of Sutzen where he lost his Life without leaving the Victory t' his Enemies who took his Life from him The boldness of his Treaty with the Duke of Pomerania t' establish himself in his Country shall be represented the valiant Artifice h' used to cause Spomdau to be put into his hands by the Marquis of Brandenburge And after that Tilly a famous Captain was entred with strong hand into the Countries of the Duke of Saxe and had promised to that Elector unless he would be of the Party t' expound unt ' him the mystical sense of that saying familiar with Charls the 5th Wh ' is not with m' is against me Consider the Prudence the King of Swede made use of in this occasion by raising advantage from th' inevitable Necessity th' Elector of Saxe had of his Virtue and Fortune against so fortunate and great a Captain as assaulted him At last after that by gain of the Battel at Lipsick and by the Defeat of th' old Troops of the League H' had forced all th' Obstacles and taken away all the Barriers which hindred to penetrate into Germany and th' Imperial Cities opened unt ' him their Gates at contest and the Princes of th' Empire crowded to b' on his side It shall be seen how he gave them the Law for whom he gained Liberty and imposed a kind of yoke which in time would have become heavy and began to be born with jealousie This kind of Policy truly is not the custom of all Princes and enters as seldom into the Train of th' affairs of the world as it ariseth rarely from Conquerors and from those extraordinary Persons who come as the King of Swede did to chnage the face of things As to the Duke of Baviere this praise is not to be denyed him That being skilful in th' Art of making War he gave not place t' any Prince of his Age in the Science of the Cabinet Councel and that Germany hath not born of a long time more dextrous and knowing Persons to give Motions to those secret Wheels and invisible Engines which stir and cause to turn what is most Heavy and most Immoveable in th' Affairs And since his Art and manner of Acting may be reduced more commodiously into Practice and drawn in t ' Imitation than that of the King of Swedes a longer and more particular stay shall be made upon his Conduct than upon that of the King of Swedes and all the Draughts and Proportions for th' Instruction of other Princes and their Ministers of State the divers Persons he personated and the different faces wherewith he disguised himself t' attain his Ends and to maintain the posture gained by his Industry shall be fully discovered how he raised himself to th' Electorat and maintained it notwithstanding the Spanish Jealousie th' Opposition of England the Contradiction of the Protestant Electors and the Resistance also of th' Imperial Constitutions In giving frequent Jealousies to th' House to Austria by th' Hold he seemed to take of France and then joyning more strictly with th' Empire and tying the knot of their Conjunction the stronger t' his advantage H' often prevailed over it H' holds the power of it to this day without being holden by it and hath so blended his Interests with theirs that he can sever them when he pleaseth and that he will do when 't is no longer good for him or that it will be better in another place for his affairs When he was delivered by the death of the King of Swede of the greatest danger h' had run and of the most furious Tempest that ever threatned him He
procure it pain or shame Wherefore since Virtue hath so much Dignity and Elevation and that in this life 't is th'Ultimate End of Man and Crown of the Faculties and Operations of the Soul 'T is no marvel if Men are not onely taken with her beauty and the form that constitutes her but are so sensible also of what toucheth th' outside and is called Honour that they prefer it t' all that is not of its Order and Classis and had rather suffer Natural Death than permit the Civil Life to be wounded The Reputation of States is not the same whereof so often hath been spoken and it proceeds not from so pure a Spring and hath not so noble a Birth as th' Honour of Particular persons Virtue is not the sole Cause as of th' other The greatness of Successes from whence it ariseth is no lesse the work of Fortune than an effect of the Merits of Men Princes are as formidable for being happy as for being Valiant And some Pagans have affected particular Commerces and secret Communications with some Divinity to make their Victories the more easie by that belief And 't is certain That th' Honour of Particular persons is preserved many times from the Wrack which falls upon the Reputation of Publick Affairs Hanibal lost nothing of the name of a Great Captain when he was overcome by Scipio though the Glory of Carthage was extinguished by that disgrace The Prince of Conde marched full of Honour out of the lost Battel of St. Quintins where so great a Breach was made upon the dignity of the French Crown And th'Admiral of Chastillon boasted a few days before th' Execution on St. Bartholomew's day That he had that Advantage of Alexander and of Julius Caesar That the loss of four Battels which had ruin'd or much weakn'd the Reputation of his Party had not diminish'd the least of His Reputation The proportion that may be found and th' Adjustment to be made betwixt the Reputation of States and th' Honour of Particular persons consists in this That as the first is but th' Opinion derived and the noise spread of their greatness and power in the spirits of Strangers The second also is but th' Impression received and the fair Representation made of the Virtue and Merits of others And again as the Reputation of States is less Considerable than the power from whence 't is derived That the honour of Particular persons is inferiour also in dignity to the Virtue that is its principle which carries me to a Consideration a little alienated from my Subject but no stranger to it That there 's not any corruption which hath so strongly ceized upon Mankind nor disorder which doth more universally disfigure than this That though there be but a Few persons in the world truly Virtuous and that acquit themselves faithfully of the duties of their condition yet there are none but would pass for men of Honour and are offended when they are accused for such as they know themselves to be and if False Evidences are not given in their favour Since we are thus far engaged in this matter and entred into so fair a Field as that of Honour it will not be amiss to make some progress and t'agitate a difficulty upon this subject eminent in the Politicks Whether Princes are as well Masters of th' Honour of their Subjects as of their Lands and Lives And whether they have a Right to make them appear Culpable of some crimes though Innocent and to charge infamous disgraces upon their Reputation though but a few persons are guilty of them to discharge from those crimes the Princes Reputation of so great importance to many persons In th' Affair of Antonio Perez which gave so great trouble to Philip the Second and made of great a noise over all Europe Diego Chavez Confessor to Philip judged it expedient to sacrifize th' Honour and the Person also of Perez to shame and torments to save the King's Honour and to divert the dangerous consequences which would have resulted against the State if they believed him th' Author of th'Assassinate executed by his order and by the direction of Perez on the person of Escovedo Secretary to Don John of Austria This opinion nevertheless seems not to me to be sufficiently grounded or coloured And there 's reason that although th' Authority of a Prince over his Subjects be very large and much dilated yet not infinite and receives exceptions which limit th'extent of it And as 't is certain that a Prince hath not a Right t' oblige his Subjects to violate the Laws of Probity and to become Perjur'd Sacrilegious or Adulterers so 't is probable that he hath not a right to require them to disgrace their Name and to defame their Memory with dishonour that ariseth from Crimes much lesse t' expose them for the salvo of his own Reputation to punishments and torments wherewith Criminals are punish'd As Perez was exposed by th' advice of Philip's Confessor I conceive also as 't is unlawful for a King to forbid his subjects for any cause the duties of Probity and th'exercise of necessary Virtues so 't is not permitted him to deprive those Virtues of their esteem being their first and natural Recompense or to take from them the Lights that guide them and the Beauty that adorns them and gives them new graces t' improve their value and to beget in others a greater Love and Industry The foundation of my opinion is this That Soveraigns have ordinarily no other power over their Subjects than what their Subjects have transferred unto them nor Right but such as Soveraigns have received from them 't is probable they did not intend to deliver up unto them the disposition of their Honour as they submitted unto them their Lands and Lives nor to disseise themselves for the Love of Princes of that fair Possession and rich Inheritance which they derive and gather from their Virtue 'T is confirmed by this Consideration which seems to me definitive That the Goods and Lives of the People being committed to the protection of Soveraigns and laid up in the benefits of the protection they owe unto their Subjects and obligations to watch for their safety and to preserve them from the Usurpations of covetous men and from the force of violent persons it was very just that to acquit themselves of that Duty and fill up that Obligation they should be armed with the strength of particular persons and aided with their riches that it might be in his power t' imploy a part of them to conserve the rest and t' expose a few lives for the security of a great number of persons But 't is not the same with the true Honour of Man and with that just Esteem which accompanies naturally th' exercise of Probity and th' other necessary duties of every condition as it hath no need of the Soveraigns Authority to conserve it but of the Cause that produce it and is no more subject
to poison men if not with the profession at least with the practice of dishonest Maxims which ruine Honour and Virtue to gain Goods and Power Few long-livers in Court secure themselves from the Temptations and Reason hath need of a particular Grace and of an extraordinary Relief to resist the force of Objects which continually besiege the Senses and the multitude of Examples which from all parts assault it The Lustre raised by Luxury makes Riches as th'Aliment to be beloved And the Reverence rendred to Power makes it to be sought for with so much heat and conserved with so much pain And as men fall not suddenly into the bottom of Evil but descend by degrees into it so they who pursue these things or enjoy them accustom themselves by little and little to make it their Soveraign Good and t' esteem all other things which serve not to this End for vain and ridiculous But this determines not â—hat all Courts are so corrupt or that all they who are obliged to live there are corrupted There are some whom God calls thither and maintains there to give good Examples and to make Riches and Power th'Instruments of Virtue and the Matter of good Works There are some that know and feel that without such Considerations these things being but vanity and affliction of spirit as well as all others of that kind have but this advantage That they are a Greater vanity and a Greater affliction of spirit However the Faith of Courtiers who are so violently taken and desperately possessed with the desire of making their Fortune That there 's no treachery they will not do nor baseness they will not act for the love of them from whom they expect it ought always to be much suspected And there 's great cause of distrust that such persons worshipping onely the Power men have of doing good will change their Affections with the change of Masters and fail of Acknowledgments when they fail of Hopes And 't is that distrust which in my opinion is th' original of a Maxim which is but too familiar with great Princes T' hold always the less considerable persons that are useful unto them by the bands of that passion And to cherish them who ought to be conserved by not doing for them all the good at once they do intend them But if Men of Honour they will always have a condign gratitude for their Benefactors and will raise no Hopes if able Men upon them that are in power but look upon the things of the Court as the things of the World the fullest of Incertitude and to resemble Lotteries where for one Prize there are fifty Blanks Eleventh Discourse When the War becomes too Ruinous to the Subjects of a Prince He ought t' endeavour if it be possible th' End of it That the King hath been forced to make and continue the War till now by an Inevitable Necessity That his Enemies rather than himself have always estranged themselves from Peace AFter the making of so great a Circuit and so long Journeys 't is time to return to the place from whence we parted and to finish the clearing of the point of Profit by a third Rule which shall b' added to the two precedent This ought as hath been said t' accompany or follow the War In the third place I say then When the War inflames with violence and fury and that there 's danger lest it consume inavoidably the good of the State and the substance of the People The Prince ought if it be possible for him to quench it and t' imitate those wise Pilots who use to strike sail and to gain some safe Harbour if the Tempest be too strong Lewis th' Eleventh oractised wisely this Rule as Philip of Comines hath observed it The Venetians also have done the like in all times as I could give you several Examples and even the Spaniards notwithstanding the fierceness of their humour and jealousie for their Reputation have not always declin'd it as they have done of late in their prosecutions of the Duke of Savoy since the death of the late King and when they believed themselves to be sole Arbiters of the Destiny of Italy As Inexplorable as they were when th' Heavens smiled upon them and that Fortune was propitious to them Nothing was seen more tractable or docile than they when Fortune changed her favour and expressed a greater desire for Peace than they had made our for War And the passage of Sura being forced for the Relief of Casall and the State of Milan in danger to be our Prey if our Thoughts for Conquest had been as aptly disposed as th' Advantage and Justice No persons ever were more submiss to the King's Will in all things or better disposed t' Accept of all the conditions his Majesty was pleased t' impose upon them The foundation of this Rule is That the Felicity of Subjects being the principal Law and th'ultimate Measure of th' Actions and Conduct of a Prince To decline it is never permitted him but to return with great advantage and t' imitate the Sun which draws not up the vapours and fatness of th' Earth but to make it the more fruitful and of a livelier spirit and of a more active virtue Wherefore they who by obstinacy or by some other particular passion nourish a War that is fatal to their Subjects wander very much from th' End of their Charges And the memory of Francis the First and Charls the Fifth is not recorded with Honour in History for that both of them and particularly Charles by a pure Animosity and by a pure mutual Violent Hatred laboured one another Ruine which could not be effected but by the Rume of their Countries And chose rather to see Christendome swim in bloud and t' Expose it to the common Enemy who made benefit of their Discords than to lay down Arms and t'hâ—aâ—ken to a reasonable Treaty of Peace Charles was so highly transported with this Passion and so strongly agitated with this Eury That He permitted Rhodes to perish t' Intend wholly the Desolation of France and abandoned Austria to Soliman to make War to the Duke of Oleves who being the King of Navarres Ally was Entred into our Conjoyned Interests This rule thus laid and this Maxim established as an Inviolable thing which receives no exception but what hath been expressed A little must be said of the Kings Conduct upon this subject and of the Condition of France by reason of the War since He hath been the Master of it Whereupon I say That though this Countrey never saw since Charlemains time so great a Collection of Forces or so high an Elevation of Glory as hath been manifested under the Reign of this Prince That though all the Course of his Reign be full of Splendour and every part of â—o remarkable by some Illustrious Accident Though this I say be very true It must also be Confessed That the War that doth now exercise in hath been made
Milan had a Design to convert it into smoak so soon as our Forces had repassed the Mountains and should be in Condition to break it with Advantage He had truly done it and had made it to be sufficiently understood as it shall be fully deduced in th' Apology of th'Acquisition of â—ignâ—roll if the Vigilancy of our Minister of State had not Countermined his Mine And if th' Arms of the King of Swede which began to flourish in Germany had not caused th' Imperial Forces to be re-called from Italy without which the Spanish Forces had not strongth enough t' Act powerfully nor Pretext to cover their Enterprizes that was the Cause the Spaniards were Constrained t'Acquiesce in the Peace Concluded at Quierasque because they were not the Principal parties in the War which they had not begun as they said not pursued but for th'Interests of th'Emperour and as Auxiliaries of th' Empire Before the Raising of the Siege of Cosall and during the sitting of the Dyet of Ratesbone The King treated with the King of Swede whom the Protestants of Germany had Invited to their Relief and upon whom they had Cast their Eyes as upon their last Refuge and the sole Haven which was left them against the storm that did threaten their Countrey Whilst this great Adversary was upon the Stage to try his strength with the formidable House of Austria And to speak the Truth the Victory was not much less to be feared on the Friends than on th' Enemies part in Parties so full of Ambition Reason of State advised That the King should be in Armes to Cause his Authority the more to be Respected and his Protection the more to be Valued which he so Generously and Christianly offered t' all the Catholiques of Germany as a Means to retain if there were Cause the Victorious in their proper Bounds and t' hinder th' abuse of the Victory and th'Enlargement of it further than it might be expedient for the Good of Religion or for the German Liberty That if the King had been as mortal an Enemy to th' House of Austria as th' House of Austria is to France and had sworn its Ruine as th' other had the Ruine of France It cannot be doubted but with the least Effort made when the King of Swede did so violently shake it He had laid it upon the ground And if after the Death of that Magnanimous Prince and whilst good Fortune could not then be separated from th' Armes He Commanded He had joyned his Forces with the Swedes for the Relief of Ratisbone where all the Forces of th'Emperour were Engaged It had probably fallen under that Weight The King truly Religious to a scruple in preserving the Peace that was betwixt us and them and in sparing it in a time when we might have lawfully disturbed it hath been ill requited for that grace and the same Men to whom we gave life at Heidelbourge were the Troops as hath already been observed which surprized Philisbourge from us and made that great Wound that will bleed it may be to th' End of the War But the Spaniards having Commanded Treves to be taken and Carried away th'Elector who took himself to be safe under the shadow of the Flowers of Lillies and Inviolable under our Protection as to them with whom we were not in War Having forced us by all sorts of Reasons to declare it to those Ravishers and to purge that Injury by Armes against them who would not repair it friendly Since Peace appears as a Monster t' affright them what shew soever they have made to desire it and what person soever they have put on to blind the World with that Apparancâ— 'T is certain that they were never in Earnest And being alwayes flattered with hopes that some Change would happen amongstâ—â— that might make the Way plain to Victory or that it might be made th'Easier with their Armes They raised so many Punctilioes and so many Disputes upon the form of Passports Necessaries to treat of Peace and then upon the Quality of the Persons who ought therein to be Comprised and upon other studied Incidents to delay that affair as shall be represented in the following discourse That the worst sighted Men have seen that the Spaniards thought of Nothing less than Peace and that all their Endeavours were but an Illusion to Cheaâ— simple Persons But th' Heavens a weary of their Hypocrisie and abhorting the loss of so much Christian Bloud which their Ambition had Caused to be spilt disappointed their hopes in th' highest Ascendant they were ever arrived into And they who had an Aversion for Peace by reason of th'Immense Advantages which they represented to themselves in the Continuation of the War were Constrained to make a good shew and to keep it at distance t' Endeavour the Recovery of what they had lost and to see whether the Wheel of Fortune that had brought them so low might not make one turn in their Favour and restore them to the place from whence she had Caused them to descend They must nevertheless after Contest upon that Attempt and after a Tryal of all Means to rise again bore under the Destiny that handled them so ill and resolve to quit something whereof they had no sure Hold and to save the rest they might have lost Either all the pressages the present State of things doth hold forth are false or this time as hath been said in another place is not far off And so soon as Germany is reduced to Reason which may be effected by some small Attempts made on that side The last Act of the Tragedy will be plaid and Peace shut up that bloudy Theater which hath been so long open to the War Twelfth Discourse Where 't is shewed by two manifest Proofes That 't is the House of Austria that hath alwayes resisted the Design of Peace To which the King and his Confederates were disposed in Earnest THe World is to be satisfied of a most Important Truth which is necessary to be known and the Matter more exactly handled which hath been but lightly touched in the precedent Discourse It must be made t' appear That 't is not the King that hath broken the Rule which hath been formerly established but his Enemies who have forced from him the Means of observing it They have alwaies oblig'd him t' have th' Armes in his hands though he had a Desire to quit them and having pitty for th'Evils of his Subjects and trouble for all the Wounds which Christendome received and for the great effusion of blood in the War made all the proffers he could make with Honour t' obtain an honest and sure Peace In effect He hath hearkned with the most favourable Eates and with a spirit the best prepared that could be desired t' all the good Offices which his Holiness laid out upon that Occasion He delivered Faithfully and in Warrantable form the necessary passeports for our Enemies Deputies He named his Agents to go
it vvas not without much Contest and Labour The violent and passionate Endeavours of Pius the fifth for that business vvere stronger than all the Difficulties the Spaniards framed and all th' Inconveniences vvhich they Caused t' Arise A little stay must be made here to relate the proceedings which the Spaniards and the Venetians had there and to represent the subtilties and stratagems which they practised mutually in the war of Wit It being the subject which engaged me to product this Example and what hath been said above was only to serve it for passage and Avenue They were then eight entire Months in Contesting upon the Conditions of the Treaty without finding an End of them Much was agitated and little resolved and the flow and Difficult humour of the Spaniards furnished alwaies Matter for the Lengthning of it and sometimes Pretexts for the Breaking of it In the mean Time Famagousto was lost Insolence Encreased in the Turk with the Victory And th'Irresolutions the Christians Laboured of were a necessary Argument to him of their Fear and Weaknesse And yet it was impossible to Joyn spirits which had such different Interests and such Contrary ends as the Venetians and the Spaniards They that were first Exposed to the Turks Armes and upon whom the greatest weight of the War was to fall prest the speedy Quenching of the Fire But the Spaniards more remote from the danger had not so great a desire t' expell it and being out of distance to be suddenly toucht with th'Evill that prest the Venetians Endeavoured only to be delivered of another Evill The Barbarian Piracies which constantly vexed them They would have had the War Carried into that Country for to represse them or at least be assured that it should be done hereafter And that the Venetians and they should Joyntly endeavour and with all their powers to force from the Pirates their strong holds and from the Turks their Harbours for their Fleets But for Accord in this proposall an expedient could not be found nor security offered that would be received The disposition of the Venetians was suspected by them and they were diffident of such an interessed Policy as theirs and believed it full of Artifices and Snares And as they who have Inclinations for deceit have alwayes fear of being deceived They feared that the Venetians being in th'Haven would forget who Aided them thither and being safe from the Tempest that threatned them from Constantinople They would no longer think of the Warr at Argieres and Thunis nor Continue for anothers Interest the same Expences they had laid out upon their own Interest Th' End then they pursued and the Mark they aimed at was this To form a League offensive and defensive the Pope and Venetians That this League should be perpetual That it should have Forces alwayes at Sea and that the Confederates should make use of them according to th' Exigency of th' Occasions and Necessity of their Affairs Thereupon they made proposalls as Ridiculous as Magnificent and formed upon that foundation Designs as much swollen as their Courage And as high as their Hopes They desired after the taking of Constantinople and Ruining of the Turk That they should be bound to make War to the King of Persia To destroy Byserte Thunis and Argieres T' Exterminate the Seriphes from Africa and to pursue in all places Mahomets Sect with Sword and Fire and to pay him with use what He had so largely borrowed of Christendome They did after these Proposalls made raise the powers of their Master above all that was great or formidable upon Earth and Amplifie his Zeal to Religion Exalt his prosperities and give Wings to his hopes It was easie to be seen That all their Proceedings were nothing but Illusion and Artifice And that they laboured only to preserve th'Apparances of good Christians and gain Reputation amongst Credulous Souls and Weak spirits who are ever in greater Number than the Wise But when it was necessary to Come to the Particular Affair and to the Subject for which they were met The Relief of Cyprus There was nothing so Cold as they nothing less Treatable and after a long Debate and much Circumlocution about th' Affair They returned alwaies to their diversion That they much desired a League and that all Christendome would Unite in a Common Quarrel That Forces should be Constantly on foot to Counterpoise and Check the Turkish Forces But after all this Discourse they desired that their first Proposalls might prevail and for the present nothing Undertaken or Assaulted but on the Coasts of Barbary This League as they had formed it secured all their Estates and no Design was ever better Contrived for them nor more to their advantage for without Hazard of any thing they put themselves into a Condition to gain much They reaped without sowing and contrary to th' ordinary disposition of the things of this World their advantages Came purely to them and without any Precedent or Subsequent Evill The Levies permitted them to be made upon the Lands of th'Ecclesiastiques and the Croysades the Pope granted them in th' Old and New world gave them means to prepare a Fleet and t' Entertain the Ships they were obliged to furnish by the Conventions of the League They made no new Enemy nor new War They Continued only what they ever had with the Turk And carrying it into his Countrey they held it by Consequence at distance with theirs as they had done their Coasts And without being Constrained to Fortifie with Garrisons and Ships They became free from th' Invasions of the Pyrates whose Aid the Turk made use of at Sea and of such petty Invasions as ruined particular persons and much Incommodated Trade and they gained a great Reputation by that means in all places And with the great Forces they had in Readiness to pass from Italy into the Low Countreys They kept all their Enemies in Check and rendred themselves formidable from Levant to the Ponant with the same Forces The Condition of the Venetians was very different from theirs and the present State of their Affairs had another Colour and Face They had an Enemy in hand whose Friendship they were careful to cherish and with whom they could not b' at difference without great losses and without running of great danger They were exposed as it hath been already said to the first Impressions of his Arms and to the first strokes of the Tempest some parts of their States by Sea were at distance with th 'others and they could not relieve them but at great charges and powerful Fleets Candy alone was not less worthy of th' Ambition and Fortune of Selim than the Kingdom of Cyprus and that Island which bridles the Archipelagus and is the Passage by which the Pirats of the Ponant ought of necessity t' enter gives him as great cause of Jealousie as th' other and no less desire of being their Master And the nearness of the Turk to Dalmatia Esclavonia and Frioul
And whom th'Enormity of Crimes and the Fear of Punishments or the Lusts of an Irregular Life Exempt from the Bridle of Laws and Magistrates have cast upon a violent Association and into a bloody Commerce They dwell in Esclavonia otherwise called Venade and anciently Liburnia under the Mountain Morlache which makes a part of that which is called the Chain of the World their principal Habitation and Den of Theeves are the Towns of Segna and the Fortress of Serisa which was taken from them by James Zane Governour of Dalmatia They 're Subjects to th' Emperour and to th' Archduke of Grets who may boast of Men at their Command born only to d' Evill and to be the Flayl of other Men As God hath under the Generality of his Creatures and in th'extent of his Empire Devils as good Angels Thundrings and Lightnings as well as delectable and wholesome Meteors These person then made Incursions upon th' Adriatique Sea and though the pretence of their Robberies was to make War to the Turk and as good Subjects they Armed themselves with that fair Colour which is so familiar with their Masters yet they did not forbear to Rob and put Christians to Ransome and above all Men the Venetians as the Turks And the Banner of St. Mark was not more Inviolable to them than th' half Moon of Constantinople Their Inroads and Invasions stopped not at Sea They Landed often and passing by the Lands of the Republique forced into the Grand Signiours Countries from whence they took all they could carry away and returned Loaden with spoyls whereof the Richest and most Precious were the Booty of the Officers of th' Empire and of th' Archdukes Besides the Duties belonging to th'Admiralty which they paid as 't is the Custome of Protected Pyrates better than any people of the World There was no need of this occasion to put the Turk into an ill humour against the Venetians and t' Heat the Blood of those Avaritious Souls who do not use to suffer Losses from their Christian Neighbours but are in perpetual Avarice to draw Tributes or to take somewhat from them Quick expression were made of it to the Republique and their Resentments were accompanied with sharp Complaints and Threatnings of Revenge if they did not speedily remedy the disorder and cause that evill to cease which increased dayly and strengthned by their Connivence This was the Read Design of the Princes of th' House of Austria and chiefly of the Spaniards who endeavoured to raise an ill understanding betwixt the Vanetian and the Grand Signior and to put them into disorder That the Necessity of their Relief if the Turk broke with the Republique might take away their desire of Crossing them in the Plot they had laid t' oppress the Duke of Savoy But the Republiques Dexterity which is as great as the World conceives it and the Credit they had at the Porte which was not small frustrated the Spaniards of their projected success The Knowledge the Turks had of this Artifice allayed th' Heat which began t' inflame them and retained Patience and Moderation in the Bounds which are not natural unto them The like Accident hapned during the disorder of th'Interdict and a design drawn from the same Idea and Cast in the same Mould and had an End very like it and fell away in the same Manner whilst th' ill Intelligence betwixt the Pope and the Venetians was much inflamed and that Matters of all sides enclined visibly to a breach The Spaniards sent the Marquis of St. Cross with forty Gallies into Albana who took and plundered Duras a Town belonging to the Turk and of some Reputation in that Province Their intention was not t' Incommodate the Grand Signior by the Taking of a Place where they had no Hold and could not take Root They prentended only t' awaken by that Enterprize the proud Enemy and t' oblige him to Revenge that affront which could not be executed but part of the Burthen of the War must fall upon the Venetians and that their Countries would make out the first Scean where th' Ensigns of the Turks Armes would be displayed or at least that they would pass by their Gulf t' assault the Coasts of Naples which would give a great Cause of Jealousie and of Expence to the Venetians but the Grand Signior having given vent to the Mine no prejudice fell upon them against whom it was prepared But instead of assaulting the States of the Republique He sent t'offer them his Forces against the Spaniards and the Pope and Commanded Glassar Bassa with five and fifty Gallies t' Advance towards Gomonicics near Corfu to Joyn with the General Paschaligo as often as it should please the Venetians who had not the Will or the Necessity to make use of a Remedy whose Operation was most Dangerous or t' enter into a Society wherein there was for them but a little Hope and much Fear Le ts return to our Subject The Republique seeing that th' Affairs of th' Uscoques required a prompt Remedy and that from that Root might bud if it were not timely Cut off some great Accident to their prejudice put themselves into a posture to Repress it for that purpose it tryed first as 't is their Custome the way of Negotiation and Endeavours before their Taking up of Armes but in all their Transactions they received Words only without Effect and perpetual Changes were given them studied Invasions and disguised Deceits and no Proceeding was ever more Oblique more Empty and more Irresolute than what was practised upon them When the Republique solicited th'Emperour to suppress th' Attempts of th' Uscoques and to divert their violences they were remitted to th' Archdukes as Governours of the Countrey where th' Uscoques dwelt when they repaired to th' Archdukes for the same effect They answered that it belonged to th' Emperour as Soveraign to provide against it and not to them who had but a subaltern power when they had brought their Answers together and put them in a condition to make no further use of Collusion and Deceipts They said that th' Affair would be best determined in a Dyet of Hungary which should be called because the place of th' Uscoques Dwellings were dependent and a Feife of that Kingdome Sometimes they protested that it dit not belong to them to receive Immediate Addresses but to the Count Sosimo and to Frangipani as to the particular Lords of those places That Order was to b' observed and the Degrees of inferiour Jurisdictions tryed before Address could be made to the Supreme Authority But after many Evasions and Windings wherewith the Republique was delayed It declared that their Patience was abused that it would assume the Right of a Soveraign and take Reason of them who 'd refused it Agents were sent unto them in the Name of th' Emperour and of the Catholique King who promised that satisfaction should be given them and that Complaints should be removed But all their proffers
proving to be Wind and Vain and hollow promises and the Republique having been long and too often Cheated by them and preparing in Earnest to Carry by Force what they could not Gaine by ' ntreaty Comissaries were sent upon the places who Banished or put to Death some of the Meanest and Least Culpable of th' Uscoques Touched not upon the Chiefs or upon th' other most Considerable Members But Cut off some Light and Unprofitable Branches of Evill and left entire the Body and th' other parts of the Tree And so the Disorder being rather Pruned than Rooted up by this Proceeding sprouted more freely than before And resembled to the waters of a stopped Torrent which over-flows with the greater Impetuosity and Ruine Th'obstacle which held them in being taken away that when the Waters run at Liberty and their force not provoked by the Restraint There 's cause of Astonishment in the Number of Treaties which were had upon that dispute as of the success and as it were of the destiny of those Treaties whereof not one was Executed and that all of them vanished into smoak There was a Treaty at Ratisbone at Lints at Pragne and principally at Vienna of the 12. of May 1612. By which it was Agreed that th' Archduke Ferdinand should Clear th' Adriatique Sea of Pyracies and t'hinder them of Segna to Rob on that Sea But th' hour of Execution on was deferred and the Spaniards had use of the Continuance of th' Evill and that the Republique should be diverted out of Italy That it might not be forward to look after the Spanish proceedings in Piedmont and give less Heat to th' Affairs of the Duke of Savoy All the Commissioners sent t' execute the Treaties fell sick on the way and were recalled by an affected pretext And some Accident ever Intervened which Disappointed the Republique of th' Hopes wherewith it was so long fed and made to know that Nothing but â—ron could cure th'Ulcer which had Eaten to the bone and festred by their Connivence This made the Republique to resolve upon a War against th' Archduke Ferdinand and t'hinder th'Evill from streaming any further to fight in the Spring for this purpose they commanded Gradisque to be besieged and spared neither Money nor Men to Recover that place which had been built against th' Invasion of the Barbarians in Istria and opened them the Way to the Conquest of Goritia The Republique with these two places as with a stretched Chain had shut up the passage to the German Troops which might have descended into the German Troops which might have descended into the Friol by the Mountains of Carso and by the River of Lizonso This conveniency was of great Importance to the Venetians and th' opportunity of putting a powerfull Bar betwixt the German Territories and theirs whereof they have alwaies Apprehended th'Inundation gave occasions to some to say vvho measure alwaies the Designs of another by their own Rule and know no other Law t' Act by but their Profit That the Proceedings of th' Uscoques were but the Pretext of that War and that the Conquest of these two places was the Cause But they who Consider the pressing Interest the Republique had to repress th' Attempts of th' Uscoques and the perillous Consequences which would arise to their prejudice by a longer Patience will easily judge that they could not do less And that in case their Conduct was to be blamed It was for too much flowness and flegm and by discovering too great an Insensibility which emboldned th' Insolence of their Enemies and encreased th'out-rages that were Acted against them This is not the proper place of reporting the progress of that War or the different faces that Fortune shewed sometimes in favour of th' Archdukes and sometimes in savour of the Venetians and of the Spaniards and to represent the various Means wherewith two powerfull Princes as hath been said in Artifices and politique Prudence made War and the Mines and Counter-mines wherewith they mutually assaulted and defended themselves The Breach made betwixt the Venetians and th' Archdukes and the War growing Hot on both sides The Duke of Ossona whose humour was naturally troublesome and who as the Natural Heat cleaves to the Radical Humidity when outward Aliment fails not finding abroad Matter enough for disturbâ—nce raised it in the Countries of his Master which was the cause of his Ruine The Duke of Ossona I say notwithstanding the Continuation of the Peace with Spain Armes at Sea to Trouble the Republique Scoures the Gulf under the conduct of Alonzo Rivera takes away Ships and to be in a posture in case of necessity to be disavowed and by an Artifice worthy of the Spanish spirit sets forth this Fleet under his own Ensigns But th' affairs growing by time more and more grievous and th' Animosity of the Parties becoming stronger by the various accidents which the War daily produced He displayed the Royal Ensigns and by a Novelty of latter Times and unknown to former Ages makes War without declaring of it or confessing it to be made That all this was done It was said by form of diversion and t' exchange it with the Venetians who fomented underhand as it hath been reported else-where the Duke of Savoy and paid him every Month a certain sum of Mony to maintain the War on Piedmont side And that the Spaniards being exercised by that Prince might not touch upon their Frontiers unfurnished of old Soldiers and provided onely of Men who served to make up the Number as the Militiaes of Italy The danger on the Land-side which vexed the Venetians more than the Spanish Enterprises at Sea And the Jealousie of conserving their Campagnia wherein they are more sollicitous than any Persons of the world occasioned that they resolved to cause some form of Accommodation to be proposed in Spain betwixt th'Arch-dukes and themselves And to comprehend also the Duke of Savoy with whom they were in society of Interests and in some sort in community of Fortune It was t' oblige the Catholique King upon the deference not t' undertake upon their Estates and not to treat them as Enemies who had chosen him Arbiter of their differences and committed their affairs so freely unto him This Proceeding might have sweetned the Courage of the Spaniards it they had been as Magnanimous as Proud and allai'd th' Indignation they had conceived against the Venetians by reason of the War they made to the Arch-dukes and the secret Aid they gave to the Duke of Savoy But in stead of softning the Spaniards by this great Respect which was offered them and abating of their Animosity by a Submission that did them so much honour They ' xpressed the greater difficulty and resisted the more t' hear of any Accord They were Exalted the more for th'Humility of the Venetians and taking them for Persons that wanted Courage or Power they handled them with Reproaches and Threatnings they seemed without doubt the more Froward
it did not begin to settle and draw a free Air but under the protection of Charls the Seventh and received not its entire Consistency and its perfect Establishment but from the Alliance it made with Lewis the Eleventh When the Flemings had resolved to shake off the yoke of Spain and t' adore no longer an ill manag'd Power though it was Lawful They had not held out long if Neighbour Powers had not interessed themselves in their Contests and if several Reliefs had not been drawn unto them from Germany France and England I add to what hath been above-said That when in the time of our Fathers Heresie and Ambition united against Soveraign Power and that from these Two Springs of Rebellion a Party did arise which left to our Kings but a part of their Authority and to this Kingdom but a part of their Forces Though this Party was animated by them of the Blood of our Kings and guided by one of th' ablest Commanders of his time Prince of Condé and Chastillon Admiral of France Though it had all th' Allurements that Novelty gives t'Error and all the Zeal which accompanies the Confederates of growing Sects Though th' Union amongst the Memberâ— could not be greater nor th' Accord of their Wills more Universal 'T is nevertheless certain That with such Advantages and such favourable Encounters they had not maintained themselves as they did nor had made so deep foundations in the State nor stretched so far its Branches â—f Forein Forces had not supported them and if it had not been often relieved by English Gold and German Forces For the Decay and Ruine of that Party was dated effectively from the driness of the Springs which had furnished it with powerful Contributions and that the Veins which had brought it Blood and Life were obstructed and no longer open When Germany fell into an Inability and England became Fearful or Weak and Spain Slow or Irresolute to relieve it Thence it ariseth That the People who study Changes and dispose themselves for bold and violent Resolutions never undertake them but upon some Forein Inspiration accompanied with promises of great Reliefs or in such a Conjuncture of Time and Affairs as makes out unto them some Haven which may put them in safety and secure them in time of Tempest But to speak of present things and of the Rising of the Catalans There 's no question but that th' had never undertaken it what pretence soever they had which is not here to be examined but by favour of their present Conjuncture And though it was contrived long before and the whole matter prepared whereof it was then formed yet it had not issued from the Womb of its Causes not taken Light if th' Arms of France had not been Triumphant in all places If those of Spain had not been unfortunate in Flanders and in Italy and if the Reputation of th' Imperialists had not been abated in Germany In the third place I say That in the Matter of the People's Emotions nothing of certainty can be promised nor of Knowledge of the Duration till they have treated with the Prince from whom they Implored Aid and have given him Pledges of their Faith to content And that there 's no greater or surer Pledge than in giving up themselves Till then he may have cause to doubt that the shew he shall make to protect them will serve onely to raise Jealousie in the Prince whose Subjects they are and provoke him the more to Turn all manner of Wheels and Employ all possible Inventions to reduce them to their Duty and to disolve th' Union that is not well assured Till then I say he will have just cause to distrust an Accommodation with their Prince And lest shaken betwixt th' Apprehensions of the Troubles and Miseries that attend the Victory if it should remain to their Prince and th'offers not onely of Impunity but also of Recompence wherewith h'endeavours to blind them They take th' occasion to return to his favour It being the nature of the People to change readily their passion As to return willingly to a more peaceable condition and to a gentler state than theirs may appear to them in their Revolt That being so there would not be less fear of Evil in their Accommodation than hopes of Good in their Disorder Their Repentance might prove as fatal to him as their Sin favourable and they would b' obliged to purge at his Charges the fault they had committed for the not finishing of it and to turn against him the Forces they had prepared against their Prince That if they resolve not t' undertake by Halfs what otherwise they ought not t' have Begun If they resist th'Offers and the Threatnings of their first Prince and take them as it may be they are for the Snares he lays and for th'Ambushes he sets for them If they perswade themselves That he will not believe himself bound to keep that to them which he had promised with all Ill-will and they had Forced from him nor t' observe the Faith h 'had given them since that he may say he would not break it but for their good and t'hinder them another time to become Rebells But if they pesevere in the desire of shaking off the Yoke wherewith they may believe themselves in time oppressed and t'implore th' Aid and Protection of another Prince There are some Considerations to be had before He consents to their Relief At first sight It seems to be a thing of an ill savour and of a dangerous Example amongst Princes That a Prince should oblige himself by Treaty to defend and protect another Princes Subjects in Rebellion That 't is to wound a Right wherein all Sovereigns are interessed in the Consequence and give Heart to Rebellion to b' in all places more busie and bold than it would be if it did believe it self destitute of Forein Aid and of Auxiliary Forces 'T is not truly to be denied but that generally taken 't is so And it happens not often that Princes declare themselves publickly in favour of the Subjects of other Princes nor that they relieve them openly and with flying Colours When they do it 't is ordinarily done without noise and as it were in private 'T is like hiding th' Arm after the Stone is thrown 'T is either in furnishing of Money secretly as Philip the Second did to the Chiefs of the League during the life of Henry the Third or in Licensing of Troops and permitting them to pass to the Rebel Party as the Venetians did in the War of the Barons of Naples against th' old Ferdinand and the Duke of Calabria his son as it hath been observed in another place In this a Distinction is to b' used which will clear this Doubt and reconcile what may seem to b'opposite and contrary 'T is that neither the Law of Conscience nor that of Civil Prudence doth permit That in time of Peace and Calmness and at least when there 's no
cause of Revenge or to divert a Storm that threatens that Troubles should be stirred up in the Neighbouring States nor that Subjects b' invited to take up Arms against their Prince But when War is kindled betwixt two Princes and that they burn with a Reciprocal heat to do their worst and to destroy one another The Difficulty is abated and there 's more reason to ask Whether one of the Princes may with a good Conscience cherish the Rebellion of another Princes Subjects Or to repeat the same things in various Forms or to rehabit the same Idaea and the same sense with different Expressions Whether a Prince with a good Conscience may Joyn his Forces with Rebel-Forces and Act joyntly and by way of Conservation with them against an Enemy whom he may with a good Conscience fight without their aid Or if it be permited him to diminish the number of his Enemies in giving Heat to persons who will be of Necessity Against him if they are not For him and will become His Enemies if He holds them not in good humour and Power to remain His Friends or else if that be less allowed him than to receive Officers and Soldiers from the contrary Party which come to Joyn with his Army Than to make use against his Enemies of Horses of Canon and of other Instruments of War He shall gain from them And in general Whether H' have the same right t' use th' Enemies Arms which Fortune presents unto him and causeth to fall in t ' his hands without Labour As those which he gains with his Arms which by force He makes His and are of Lawful Conquest and fruits of a Justs War But 't is certain That these things move upon the same foot and equal force And that if th' one are permitted whereof there 's no Question There 's no difficulty nor scruple for th 'others At the worst there 's no doubt but that his proceeding is gentler and less odious than to corrupt the fidelity of the Governour of a place which is every day practised by the most Religious Princes who make no conscience t' endeavour the taking of that by Good-will which they believe is permitted unto them to take by force And to buy with a little Mony that which would cost the Blood and Lives of a great Number of their Subjects In this a very notable difference may be seen for in the first Case whereof there hath been discourse Princes are sollicited Protection demanded their Aid implored against Violence and Tyranny They give onely Aliment to what hath already Life and make profit of th' Evil if there be any which others have committed and make use of the Benefit which Fortune offers them But in the second Case they seek they draw they debosh they do in some sort give birth t'Infidelity and Treason And nevertheless they believe that 't is permitted them in good Conscience and they practise it whithout scruple and with glory 'T is true that the Justice which Soveraigns exercise against Soveraigns hath a long extent and its bounds are enlarged beyond the distributions made to Particular Persons That the Right of War which is a Right of Force and Subtilty is maintained by strange Means and with Addresses forbidden to the Right of Private Persons and that the safety of the People is in the Souls of Princes a Law predominant t' all other Laws and th'obligation they have to procure it is superior to th' other Obligations of their Charge From hence it may appear That the King in receiving the Catalans who did cast themselves in t ' his Arms hath not committed so great a Crime as ignorant and Passionate persons for Spain have published it That therein he hath done nothing that was of ill Example but what he might Lawfully have done which the Law of Conscience hath appointed and that of Prudence advised And since that in the midst of Peace which the Spaniards had with us They made no difficulty openly to favour and in the sight of all the world the Rebels of France And that before any breach they treated with the Duke of Rohan whilst he was Head of a Party and made use of the discontentment of one of our Pritces and sent with him into this Kingdom some Troops of casual Polaques who live onely of Prey and whose Valour consists not in the Taking of Places that Resist but in Burning them which cannot Defend themselves nor in gaining of Battels but in Killing after the Victory Since that the Right of Revenge belongs to Princes and that 't is Lawful for them to render what hath been lent them I do not think that in the Terms we were with the Spaniards and in th' Heat of the War had with them the King ought to make difficulty of granting to the Catalans the Protection they desired of him or to receive them who gave themselves up voluntarily since it was lawful for him to take them by force and t' have made himself Master of them by His Armies Sixth Discourse Wherein the Protection ought to Terminate which Princes give to the Rebel-Subjects of another Prince That it b' effected faithfully by the Prince and securely by the Rebels This is Confirmed by the Proceeding the King hath observed in the business of Catalognia IN the precedent Discourse we have cleared the Doubt that concerns Conscience upon the matter of Relief which Princes give to the Rebel-Subjects of other Princes We must now treat of an Inevitable Inconveniency in this Matter and of a more difficult Resolution To wit wherein this Protection shall Terminate and what the Prince who gives it shall do'n their favour in case Peace be made How at last it must be made that Rest may succeed Trouble and a Calm t' a Tempest For Rebel-Subjects must return to their Natural Princes grace by means of a Treaty and be reconciled unt'him by the Mediation of th' other Prince their Protector or must be freed from his Domination and make a State apart and a separated Body As the Suisses have done and as th' Hollanders do or that they hold of him wh ' hath delivered them from servitude and as the second Master whom they make choice of to get out of th 'others Yoke or that they b'abandoned and left as a Prey to the Displeasure and Anger of their Prince As to the First Point the same Judgement may be made and in stronger Terms of the Second and Third It must be a very difficult thing for a Soverain to digest That another sould take that Advantage over him as to be the Mediator and Arbiter betwixt him and his Subjects and Fortune must put him int'a low Station and offer him a strange Violence to make him accept of such hard Conditions and such dishonorable Terms In the Treaty of Madrill and that of Cambray which was to speak properly but the Corrective and Moderation of th other some particular French Persons indeed who followed the Spanish Party were
against him that should first disturb it and break that sweet Harmony of the People which made Italy happy The League had aspect chiefly upon the Venetians who being then the most powerful of all the Princes of Italy were esteemed also the most ambitious and it may be for that reason onely that they were the strongest And that they did not believe That the Moderation of Desires accompani'd willingly with Great Forces nor that Sobriety could b'observed in the Temptation of Abundance But the Cement of that League being the wisdom of Laurence of Medicis and that it wanted somewhat of more strength and duration for its subsistence It hapned that it fell by the death of Laurence and that Lodowick Sforza was the first that broke off from it to gain the State of Milan from his Nephew and which opened the Gate by which the French entred Italy and after them the Spaniards and the Germans It hapned also as by a just Judgment from God That th'Usurpator of the State of his Nephew and the Perturbator of the Peace of his Country saw himself stripped of that State and banished his Country to pass the rest of his days and die a Prisoner in a Forein Country That which was to be desired to complete that League and which made it break was the want of a real and effective great Power to support the weak Pieces of it which should not have been subject to yielding by death nor of falling by disgrace and might serve t' all of them for a Haven in time of Tempest and for Resurrection in case of Misfortune But in th'Establishment of durable Leagues and in the collection of Pieces that compose it for duration 'T is not sufficient that a great Power be conjoyned unless the Motions of that Power be Moderate and have the General Good of the League for its End to which it serves for Chief and Centre Otherwise if that Superiour Power do determine the Ruine of others and aim at doing Its business and not theirs they will quickly sever and so soon as the great Evil they feared is over and that the Torrent which gave them trouble is stopped they will withdraw their Contributions and no longer furnish Materials nor lend their Arms to constitute a Society which might in time prove fatal unto them Let Examples explain our Meaning When th' Heresie of Luther had taken root in Germany and stretched its Branches almost over all the North a League was formed at Smalchalde against Charls the Fifth of the greatest part of the Princes and States that had embraced their new Sect Th'Emperour was constrained to form another League to this and t' implore th' aid of Catholique Princes in an occasion where th' Antient Religion had cause to fear all that could issue of sad and tragical from the fury and zeal of the new Sects Some Catholique Princes refused to Joyn as the Venetians Others did Engage whereof the most considerable and who sent the fairest and greatest Army was th' Holy Father Th' Emperour with this Supply which was useful and with his Virtue and ordinary Fortune got the better of th' Associated Protestants and had forced his Victory further into Germany if the Pope who knew that Charls aimed not at the Heretiques but at the Rebels of th' Empire had not staid his course and withdrawn his Forces whereby th'Emperour was disappointed and stood as Immoveable in the pursute of his designs as a Ship when the Wind suddenly abates and is surprized with a Calm Two things are here to b'observed which establish and confirm the Propositions proposed Th' one That the Protestant League fell by the first Blow it received without rising again and one lost Battel made it vanish into smoke for the first Reason given and because it wanted some great Power that might have rallied the scattered Forces That might have raised new Men and have drawn them together to fight their Enemies and for other Trials of Fortune And indeed to speak truly of the thing 'T is the same with petty Princes who make a League against a more powerful Prince as with a Society of Gamesters wh ' are not rich and having made a Stock to which every one contributed all the Mony h' had so soon as that Money is lost are out of countenance and are constrained to break up company and to retire with their loss In like manner th 'others setting a foot at first all their Forces and straining to their uttermost being defeated are without recovery and disband immediately if some great Power do not interpose to rally them W' have also seen the same thing happen to the Protestant League which took its beginning from th'incident Troubles between the Pretenders to the Succession of Cleves and which dissolved upon th' occasion of th' Election of the Count Palatine to the Kingdom of Bohemia The first great Blow that was given became mortal to 't And it was so astonished at the loss of the Battel of Prague that it could never recover its strength again And all that the King of Denmark Halberstat and Mansfielt have since done to re-inforce that Party have served onely to make it languish the longer and resembled the precious Waters are given to desperate sick persons which make th' Heart a little to recover and prolong the life some few howers but restore not health and prevent not death Th' other thing to be considered in the Catholique League which subdued the Protestants is That it held indeed of great Powers and that it had for Foundation and Ligament a great Emperour who made th' Eagles of th' Empire fly higher than they 'd done since Charlemain's time But being more Ambitious than Powerful He carried not falsly that Embleme which discovered th'Immensity of his Desires Never to stop but to pass always further For without respect to the good of his Confederates He studied onely his Particular profit That was the cause as hath been observed that they retired from the League The same Emperor endeavoured after the re-establishment of Sforces in the State of Milan to form in Italy another League of the first sort under pretence of employing it against the French irruptions that should undertake to trouble their Peace and to draw thither to raise Quarrels or to make use of them against the Turk if his Fleets assaulted the States of any of the Confederates and Infested their Shoars But th' Italians were as Cautious as he was subtil and discovering th' Hook he did cast into so specious a Bit They would not be taken with it For it was very visible to them That th' Emperor aimed from thence to confirm his Power in Italy which the French alone were able to shake And in holding the Turk at Bay to labour with more ease and less opposition the ruine of Christians The Germans were not so well advised and wise when they formed that League of Suaube which served so long to do th' Affairs of th' House of Austria and
Subjection and Pay a common Obedience to the Power that Protected them It Question be made of this Let the same Faction now Live and the same Insurrections and Violences Assault us But as this was very Just so it was very Difficult And if it were th' Effect of an ordinary Address and of a Mean force to destroy so bold and opinionate a Rebellion and to Remit to their Natural places the parts torn from their Head and from the rest of the Body as were some of this Nation Philip the second and his Successors have made Experiment of it in the Defection of the Low Countreys And truly a Party as that of th' Hugonots Rooted in so many places of this Kingdome Animated to its Defence by Religion the most Violent and undaunted Motive that can provoke the Spirit of Man Proud and fierce not only by the Consideration of Effective Advantages and present Forces but also by the Memory of the Losses from which it was relieved and of the Weaknesse from which it was Restored A Party I say such as that strengthned with three hundred places whereof some were strong Aided by many Chiefs of Repute and Merit and supported by a great Forein Power was visibly Invincible In effect It could not have been overcome but by such a Warlike Prince as ours wh'had the Courage t' undertake all that was not Impossible if it was necessary The Prudence to Conduct that great Design and to disunite them whom it head not been safe t' have Assaulted Joyned and united T' apply gentl Remedies where violent had been dangerous and to Move by perswasion and Addresse where it was difficult to prevail by force and Constraint wh ' had resolution to force the businesse to the Wall and not to stop on th' Half way as it had been often done nor to retire by reason of the length of Time or Difficulty of the Work nor for the secret Contradictions of his Counsellors nor for th' open Oppositions his Enemies would make him nor for the Resistance He might Encounter in th' Elements nor for the contrary Alterations the starrs might raise against Him Wh ' had a strong Piety t' attract the favour of Heaven upon his Enterprizes and t' Invite them to descend upon his Armies without which all the powers of Men are Impotent and all their Designs Barren To declare now what Fruits we 've gathered from the Ruine of this Party and what the benefit of them shall be which are yet unripe and cannot long be ripening No person can truly doubt but that the first fruits are very great unless it be thougt a small thing That the King hath recovered this Party to the Soveraignty which his Father could not leave him and his Predecessors had lost That He is become Master of all his Subjects and Possessor of all his Kingdome That his Countrey which division rendred weak and open to many Injuries hath reassumed its forces and repaired its breaches by th' Union and Concord of its Inhabitants That the most culpable have no places of Refuge for their faults nor the most discontented any Retrait where they may Meditate and form Rebellions in safety That by this the King in Imitation of God hath drawn Good from Evill and so strongly reunited them t' his service who had given him Troubles that they 've since laboured profitably in his Designs and Aided Joyntly with the rest of his Subjects to gain him Victories and to prepare Triumphs for him That by this General and profound peace which h' hath established in his Kingdome H' hath been more safe and free to march abroad to quenon the fire that burnt his Allies and to break th' Irons were forged for Italy and for Germany As to the good which the future Time doth provide for us as one of th' Happy Consequences of the suppression of th' Hugonot party We cannot indeed Rellish it sufficiently whilst the Miseries of the Want do afflict us and Peace onely can make us truly sensible of it 'T is then we shall know by Experience that the King hath no otherwise done in the Levy of Moneys and in the subventions which the necessity of his Affairs forced him to draw from his people but as a good Father of a Family who doth not demolish any part of his House but to make it better than it was and of a fairer Structure The bounties wherewith he desires though to this day he cannot perform it to gratifie his Subjects Resemble to certain Rivers which being hid for some time in th' Earth break not out but never to return and to Run alwaies upon its surface The time of this favourable Change and of this profitable Revolution is very near The Clemency of God is ready to disarm his Justice and to take out of her hands the Flayl wherewith h' hath beaten us for so many years All the causes of our Expence cease with the War Peace which never comes into the World but Crowned with Abundance and hands full of Riches will issue shortly from the midst of this Confusion and from the Chaos wherein Christendome is plunged It shall not be a Peace of Glass as many others which have been seen but a Peace of Diamond which shall have beauty and solidiy And the foundations which the King makes and layes in all places shall be so deep and large so entire and sound that of a long time a fault is not to be feared It hath not failed truly on this part but that It had been Accomplished And the Moneys He hath advanced and the things h' hath quitted upon that Accompt are a sufficient Evidence to Christendome that nothing is so dear to him as the Repose of it The passion h' hath for Peace will Triumph at last over th' Inclination of th' House of Austria for War Though it cannot be stronger or more obstinate than it hath of late appeared 'T is not nevertheless Invincible and the great Engine that susteined it whose wheel was even in Motion in this Countrey being stopped and th'Hopes which do yet Nourish and give it a little Life which is Germany being of short Continuance It must of Necessty shortly fall and be destroyed And though the King had Power and Means t' overcome and to make more Conquests than that House hath t' Engage and Lose He never had a greater desire to lay down Arms than at this time and th' Higher he is in Prosperity the Readier to descend for the General Good and the stronger and more Impetuous the Current is of his Victories the more he 's disposed to stop it for publique benefit By virtue of his Magnanimity he will do more than all the forces of his Enemies can constrain him to do all will render Generously what will b' Impossible to take from him Nevertheless t'induce the German Circles to furnish them with Money to Compel us t' hearken to Peace whereunto by their Report w' are adverse they fail not to publish in all places
said Nuntius had written of the 5th of October in the same year by which he represented unt ' him on the Kings behalf The consequence of th' Emperor's Refusal at the request of the Spaniards to give th' Investiture of such Estates to them who were the Lawful Heirs and comprehended in the first Investitures and to strip them to the said Estates by the means of Sequestration This concerned the last Duke of Mantoua They began to take this way and to put this Design in practice after the death of William Duke of Cleves The Spaniards that would upon any account invade his Succession which besides th'Extent and Goodness of the Country was of marvellous conveniency for them Obtained of th'Emperour That he would ceize upon Julliers by th' Arch-duke Leopald their King's Brother in Law and hold that place in Sequestration till h' had judged to whom of right the Succession did belong and had in Justice determined that famous difference wherein there were so many knots t' untie and so many Parties to content That the decision could not but be very long and very difficult This Invention of Sequestration if it had been in their power t' have setled it would have given them Means under the pretext of Justice t' have assured themselves in time of the possession of what did not belong unto them and whereof they were ceized by a meer congruity And there 's nothing truer but that of Pretenders whereof there 's ever some of them at their dispositions or the nature of the business which cannot be so neat and clear but that there will ever be some Shadow or Clowd that would be hard to disperse or the Forms also of Justice s ' often contrary to th' Expedition of Justice would make so many Difficulties t'arise and discover so many Incidents that the true Masters of a contentious Good tired with delays without an end and dispairing of ever drawing it from so powerful and covetous hands as theirs that retained it from them should be compelled t' hearken to Proposals made them to receive a Compensation and to take some real and effective thing for a few hopes ill grounded and for some vain and frivolous Titles Insomuch that they would become in Apparence Lawful Masters of that whereof they were before but unlawful Detainers And what in the beginning and in its original was nothing but force and violence would in its progress and sequel take the visage and the colours of Justice In that manner the Spaniards had resolved t'handle the Duke of Mantoua if he would have consented to the Sequestration of the Cittadel of Casal And they would it may be have done the like t' him if they had taken that place by force as they made great Assaults to take it Th' Offer which they caused to be made unt'him of Cremonis with reservation of the Cittadel of Cremona or of some other Country of like value in the French County instead of Montferrat is a tacit Approbation of the Violence they exercised because they did endeavour in some measure to repair it and a manifest Argument of the proceeding they would hold in th' use of Sequestrations and by th'Introduction of that new Expedient t' insinuate into the Countries which are commodious for them under some form of Equity and in preserving th'Apparences of Justice Charls the Fifth in truth in the difference which hath so long exercised the Dukes of Savoy of Mantoua and of other Princes upon the subject of Montferrat did not proceed by way of Sequestration before h' had given judgment upon that Affair Th' Enterprise seemed unt ' him too bold and jealous respect being had to the present Conjuncture And h'understood well that it cooled the good-will or them whom h 'had a desire to keep in Newtrality That fear stopped his desire t' usurp Montferrat under the pretext lately mentioned And he chose rather to draw that business into length and to make use of it as a Lure or a Bait to draw the Duke of Savoy t' his Party and to debosh from our Interests the Marquis of Salusse in hopes that the Montferrat on which h' had also pretensions should b' adjudged t' him As Antonio de Leve had given him t' understand At last having long plaid with the Duke's credulity and deceived the Marquis h' adjudged the possession of Montferrat to the Duke of Mantoua and left the claim to the Duke of Savoy to pursue it civilly and according to the forms of Justice in th' Imperial Chamber He did not intend to make him Greater on whose Countries h' had great designes and whom he would not permit to be Master of the Barriere which severs France from Italy and Keeper of the Gate by which the French might enter His Successors have been more hardy and inconsiderate than he was and have stirred an Engine which is never shaken but to their shame and ruine For that cause they raised a cruel and long War in Italy but what they gained thereby was to fall by the just judgment of God into the Precipice they would have avoided and to draw the French into that Country whom they would for ever have excluded Let 's return to the Matter of Sequestrators who 've plunged us so deep into this Subject and observe it as a strange thing that the Spaniards wh ' approved of them as plausible and just in other mens affairs will not hear talk of them in matters of Contest that concern them And all the world knows that in the Succession of Portugal Which five or six Pretenders rendred famous in the time of our Fathers Philip the Second would never consent that that Kingdom should be put in Deposite or permit as he said his Right to depend upon another mans Judgment which nevertheless was never so clear and indubitable as that of the Marquis of Brandeburg and of the Duke of Newberge for the Succession of the Countries of Cleves And that of the Duke of Nevers to the Succession of Mantoua A Fifth Expedient to grow Greater and a Right which th' Empire sometimes appropriates for its Advancement and Enlargement Is the Confiscation of the Feifes which do arise But in regard that we will treat of them in the Third Part of th' Affairs of th Palatinate and make a stay therein of purpose at least if some prudent consideration do not hinder us we will content our selves in sending the Reader thither and pass on having onely observed That th' Imperial Dignity brings with it these great Rights and fair Prerogatives and that it shines by these Illustrious Privileges above all the Secular Dignities of Christendom But insomuch that th' Abuses and Excesses of great Powers are not less dangerous than the overflowings of great Rivers And that they resemble to the Chariot of the Sun the Poets feign which cannot go out of its natural walk nor quit the Ecliptick Line without burning a part of the World The Powers of Emperors are limited as in other
or took so rapid or so impetuous a course So that whether th' Emperor had not then strength enough to justle it or that He would permit the Zeal to cool wherewith all young Sects do burn or that more pressing occasions did call him in t ' other places as the defence of the State of Milan in Italy He resolved for some time not to disturb the Religionaries of Germany but to make use of th' Advantages which the permission of that Novelty might prepare for him and to serve himself of the Demands of the Threatnings and of the Forces of th'Innovators for the Designs h' had in Italy and in France as it hath been represented But the Destiny of worldly things and the Concatenation of th' Affairs of Europe having ordained that th' Attempts of Chals in Italy and in France should prove abortive and vain in both Designs And having no hopes of acting any thing in those places where He was emptied of Invention and Forces and where H' had lost so much without the least gain as in France and gained so little by his Labours and Conquests as h' had done in Italy He resolved t' apply himself to the Conquest of Germany and to revive in good earnest the Design which till then h' had laid asleep for the reducing it t' his obedience For this purpose and it shall be the second Head whereof hath been spoken the Considerations shall be made out which probably prevailed with him and the Reasonings whereupon He grounded his Resolutions t' engage in that Enterprize and hoise Sail which was not at last propitious t' him Germany then torn in pieces by different Religions And the Powers of Evil having been so efficacious and its progress so active that the number of the sound were found much inferior to the sick parts and these more uncapable to return t' health by the proximity and influence of others than they to be spoiled by the Contagion and Malignity of the first And time having opened the Protestants Eyes and the various face of Affairs by which th' Emperor had managed them betwixt contrary Motions of Hope and Fear of Promises and Threats giving them cause t' understand that his Intention was never to make use of them but as th' Instruments of his Designs and Agents of his Passions to torment Italy and give trouble to France And wearied with so many Artifices and so many Changes and knowing Charls's humour impatient of rest and his Spirit transported with a perpetual Ambition and agitated with a continual Flux and Reflux of Turbuleht Projects and Warlike Thoughts Considering that having stirred so much and overthrown so much in other places sometimes with success and sometimes unprofitably And having cast his last hooks and employed his last strength without taking or carrying away what he desired Making no question but at last would assault them as a more probable and easie prize of prey And as Victims sacrifize them t' Ambition th' Idol he did inwardly serve under pretext of sacrifizing them to the Religion he outwardly professed They did resolve to think of their safety and not onely by attending th' Evil to repel it but t' advance for to fight him and to be the first in the field where they fore-saw th' Emperor would endeavour to be before them For that purpose they made a League at Smalchald which had for principal foundation the consideration of giving a Coadjutor to Charls in th' Administration of th' Empire and to revive one of the Constitutions of the Golden Charter which says That to divert the Succession of th' Empire there ought not to be three Emperors successively of one Family Th' Emperor who knew when there was occasion how to make use of force and subtilty seeing that he could not Master the Protestants by surprize as was his design made no scruple in taking off his vizard and in going boldly to them as 't is said with displayed Ensigns To compass it the more easily and to make the way to Victory the plainer He practised a double Artifice which at th' instant prospered and had a present effect as h' had projected it He made it to be reported at Rome that he marched t' oppose th' Heresie which excessively overflowed and which had the design to pass from Germany in t ' Italy by the destruction of the true Religion and upon the Catholiques heads Nothing could more provoke the spirit of the Pope and stir up his zeal to Religion which in his person was assaulted He knew well that Heresie knocks most particularly at his dore and that the first Groans and Attempts it had made upon its entry into the world had been imployed against his Power He considered that the number of enemies was great and apprehended the same fury He did when the Troops of Fustenberg marched to Rome in the Name and under th' Authority of Charls a Catholique Prince and was nevertheless but in his passage H' had cause also to fear from them the conjunction of the duration to the violence that came thither in their own name and under th' Auspitious Motives of Heresie Wherefore in th' Emperours favour h' opened the Treasures of the Vatican and them of the Castle of St. Ange Accorded unt ' him Croysades and Tenths in all his Countries in th' Antient and New World Commanded great and strong Levies of Men of War to be made which he sent him and procured him from all Quarters powerful Reliefs and considerable Subventions Th' other Artifice was Considering the great Collection of Men which the Protestant Party of Germany raised and other Northern Forces which were of Smalchald League That h' ought to labour the diminution of those Powers to deprive that League of the greatest number he could of the Princes which were not yet engaged and t' impede the greatning and swelling of that Torrent by the concourse and confluence of those Waters that might run into 't He knew the Nature of Leagues and their Weakness He knew that they were made onely for Conservation and Defence That in them the most Ambitious and most Powerful made haste t' Embark So that they were the Men wh ' ought to gather the principal fruits of the Victory and allowing others a share of the Conquest keep to themselves the most rich and fair things of the Body and Spoil That the most Moderate and Weakest would engage slowly These by reason of th' Accidents of War which are always full of obscurity and incertitude And th' others that if Fortune were contrary and the Vessel wherein they 'd put themselves should make wrack they should be the first to be carried away by th' ill success as having least Means of resistance as to be the first drowned as they wh ' had on the sudden neither Boat nor Plank to save themselves And upon this foundation and to give colour not t' enter into the League to them who were not very desirous of Emotion nor so transported with hatred against
they had another End than that of Religion or at least that they did but Obliquely look upon it I know not how their Proceedings can b' Excused or the Violence Sweeâ—ned that gave Trouble to the Peace of th' Emperour and Empire They were busie where they had no right of Intervention and entred by a Breach when they could not enter at the Gate I know not by what Law of Conscience they could raise a Subject against his Soveraign How they could make Mathias a Felon against his Brother Rodolphus and Compel him with a strong hand and with a raised Arm t' Act Mathias's Will though it were Just though it were Holy not by what Right of Nations they could deprive a Kingdome from all times Elective of the Liberties and Customs which were not unknown to them and Violate the Privileges which to that time had been Inviolable But if in this as in mamy other things they would Cover themselves with their old Cloak and say that it was still to pare the Wings of Heresie and to Cut off its way lest it should pass further into Germany To that Answer may be given That th' End was goods but the Means were not and that they took a way to gain it wherein were so many ill passages to get over and so many precipices t' avoid That there was as much cause of Fear as of Joy In behalf of Religion and th' hazard betwixt Gain and Loss was equally uncertain That in matters of Religion th' Heavens ought t' Act and Providence to Govern And an Entire submission ought to be given to that Power which Conducts things to their Ends according to the good pleasure of its Will and not according to mens Fancies That it did not belong to them to Command the Times which were not Ordained in the decrees of th' Eternal Councils nor t' hasten the Maturity of Accidents which appear only in their Season and discover themselves in th' Appointed hours of then Time That they were to be Confined to the Limits of the received Order of things and in Obedience not to Wander from the Common Right nor t' Honour God by Vice or to seek his Glory in the way of Injustice Violence and Breach of Faith Nevertheless by this proceeding of the Spaniards may be seen how Licentious their Appetite is of Governing and their Ambition boundless How Active and Destructive that fire is and Nourished with all sorts of Materials That it Consumes not only them that are not of Relation to them but Burns their own Parents and dissolves the Cement of Blood and of Alliances Le ts return to our Subject When the Plot spoken of was formed and the Conspiracy resolved upon against Rodolpe Th' Evidences thereof were suddenly Visible and Mathias made haste to give them credit by memorable Attempts And for that purpose he Commanded th' Army to march towards Prague where th' Emperour was which had been raised in Goritia And having as it were Enclosed him in that Capital City of Bohemia He sent him in that Posture and with that Equipage the Protestation which had been agreed with the Spaniards and the Pope What should a Disarmed poor-Spirited and Ignorant Man do as Rodolphus was in the streight wherein h' had shut himsels but receive the Law from him wh ' had Power to give it and to yield to th' yoak that was forced over his Head An Agreement then was made in the Moneth of June in the year 1608. by which it is ordained That he deliver up to his Brother Mathias the Crown of Hongary the Scepter the Royal Hat and th' other Ornaments which were carried unto him by the Cardinal Dietresthien That he reserved for himself the Title of that Kingdome to bear it Joyntly with Mathias As also he did relinquish unt ' him the Lower and Higher Austria whereof he retained only the Title discharging th' Inhabitants of the Country from their Oath of Fidelity which they had Sworn unto him and Consents that the said Archduke should be nominated Heir to the Crown of Bohemia in Case he Died without Heir Male and all this to be done without prejudice to the States of the Kingdome in their Right of Election and other Privileges The States of the said Kingdome consented to the said future Succession upon two Conditions which were That no prejudice should be done to their Privileges and that the said Archduke during the Life of his Imperial Majesty should not in any sort meddle with the Government of the said Kingdome nor with the Provinces Incorporated to it And in Case he did that he should be deprived and forfeit the Right of Nomination which was Accorded unto him and that he should Entitle himself only the designed King of Bohemia Rodolphus was not Entirely degraded by this Treaty nor the Liberty of the Bohemians wholly suppressed There 's alwaies a middle betwixt two Extremes and some kind of distance to pass from th' one to th' other All the Wounds which are received do not Kill a man suddenly and the Vigour which that people Expressed and the Resistance they made in th' Occasion secured to th' Emperour and them the Remainder of Liberty which appeared in that Treaty The boldness of Mathias and the practices of the Spaniards staid not there and stopped nor in so fair a way They had not begun so well without Resolution to pursue it nor so happily Entred upon their business without finishing of it The Dye was cast And it was an Inviolable destiny in their Judgment t' Abolish the Right of Election in the States of Bohemia and to make that Kingdome Successive and Hereditary For that purpose it was thought necessary to vex the Bohemians Their yoak was to be made heavier and their Servitude larger All obstacles were to be broken and all Gates opened that opposed that design The Cardinal Clessel Rodolphus's Confident and Governour of th' Affairs of Bohemia made a great Opposition against them in the Councels and feared not to resist them publiquely and break all their Stratagems It was the Cause that Mathias at the suggestion of the Count of Ognate the Catholique Kings Ambassadour caused him to b' Imprisoned unknown to th' Emperours and without any Consent of the Nonce resident in that Court And thus having disarmed Rodolphus of his faithfull and bold Minister of State and taking down that head which infused vigour and understanding into the Bohemians he thought to reduce them easily to what they desired After these Actions of Mathias above spoken of and th'Innovations h' Introduced in th' Emperours Court after h' had there done for a time all that he would do and Governed at his pleasure th' Empire under the Name and Authority of his brother He came at last to his desire but he was no sooner setled in his Throne whereunto the Spaniards had aided him t' ascend but they made him t' Adopt his Cozen Ferdinand to th' Exclusion of Maximilian and Albert his Brothers and declare him his Successor
believed that h' had no cause to fear any future ill times and to speak the truth so long as th' English were content to make Generous Deliberations and to send Magnificent Embassies in favour of the Palatine House it would not b' easie for that Duke to part willingly with what h' had received not to depart with but by th' highest violence of ill fortune and the Necessity must be strong if he could find no means of delivery from it and all the Gates strongly shut upon him if he did not escape at some Postern door As to France to speak again one word thereof and so permit some Draughts of her proceedings to pass by it shall be represented entire and wholly such as it stood in the divers occurrences of the Troubles She will appear in their Birth and Progress as Mediatrix of the Quarrel and Cause of the Conclusion of the Peace at Ulms which had re-established th' affairs of Germany and restored to th' Empire its first Countenance If they to whom it served for shelter and plank of safety had not broken it and oppressed by surprise them who believing themselves out of danger by the conclusion of the Treaty and under the shadow of publick Faith were unprepared for defence Since that time its action at Languy and its Cares have been faint in the behalf of Germany and the Cabinet Contests to which the frequent changes of the Ministers of State did ever contribute some obstructions to their resolutions and the fire which the factious Religionaries kindled easily in its bowels hindred the relief till the Mantouan War was ended then truly it began to return with warm thoughts and cares and th' Experience gain'd in Italy and the present constitution of things having given her t' understand that the Septentrion Wind was onely to b' apprehended in relation t' her self and Allies She resolved t' assault the Spring of th' Evil and to set as 't is said th' Ax to the root of the Disorder and t' act vigorously in that behalf and to make its first attempt eminent in the Dyet of Ratisbonne And that as France knew to make use of th' occasion of the King of Swedes entry into Germany whither the Princes of that Country suffering or fearing oppression had call'd him as since of the Treaties that Charnasse made at Berwalde with the King of Swede even to the Renewing of th' Alliance with the Swedes which Sir of Avaux made the year before at Hambourge so she hath t' admiration and with great dexterity managed two Interests The first that most possest her spirit was that of the Church and Holy things which it espoused with hot and constant zeal Whereupon I dare boldly say that I hope to make it appear there and in other places That the true Reasons of State do not justle the Maxims of Religion and that the same Authority which hath put a distinction betwixt the Secular and Ecclesiastick Powers would have them bound up together in Amity and their hands stretched out to th' aid of one another That a wise Prince ought never permit their Harmony to be broken nor the bounds which sever to be confounded In the troubles of Christendom and mixture of Parties of different Religions which tear it in pieces the King had not onely the care to put in safety the Catholique Interests and to secure th' Holy Places and Sacred Persons against th' Enterprises of such men as might have violated them but his Conduct may be found less prudent since for his Love to the Church he'th sometimes quitted th' advantages which he might have assumed with a good conscience and was firm for the good of Religion in all things where he might have safely taken his Liberty for the good of his Affairs had he not strongly believed that the small prejudice he did himself would be plentifully repaired by God who suffers not a glass of water given in his Name to pass unrewarded and would not onely accompany with his Blessings the justice of his Arms but also crown his Piety and the Passion had for the things which relate unt ' his Service And to consider the Greatness and Number of them which he had undertaken and the long course of Affairs which had entertained him It may be truly said That a Prosperity less interrupted hath been seldom seen nor a Reign that hath received from Heaven more propitious and favourable Aspects I dare al 's ' affirm a second Truth which adorns the Kings Reign with a particular Glory and promise to make it out clearly That w' have not onely made faithful Societies with our Neighbours but protected th' interests of them whom we were bound to protect and have exceeded our Limits and in some Cases the King may b' accused t' have been Indulgent to the Business of Strangers and too little sensible of the Necessities of his Subjects were it not that from the Good of his Allies Success he makes an inevitable reflection of Good upon his own Affairs and that in diverting the loss of his Neighbours he conserves the Borders of his Country and hinders th' Invasions of his Enemies And were there no other Reasons than that th' Evils and Sufferings of his Subjects might the sooner determine as the Seeds of a permanent Prosperity and to re-build the Temple of Peace which was shaken and trembled for fear of Ruine it was necessary that the War should precede that Holy and admirable Edifice That in the Tragique and Common Misery which makes Christendome to groan the King hath this Consolation That the Guilty are the sole Authors of unjust Wars and that the Firebrands are justly punish'd but such are not to be condemned who suffer losses in the flames But God and the World know the Defaulters in the Quarrel which at this day do exercise Christians that the King engaged in it as an Assistant and if his good Offices and Prayers had been able to resist the Violence which acted upon his Allies h' had never drawn his Sword to defend them And I will shew that although all Christendom may witness and his Allies taste the fruits of his Labours and Charges for their safety since He was compelled to procure it by his Arms He may be blamed with too great a Retention and with too slow a Resentment for th' Injuries received in their Person before he could resolve to repell them by force He may be blamed I say for it if the fear of avoiding and drawing upon his Subjects the Consequences of a War be blame-worthy or not willingly to descend in t ' an Abysse from whence there 's no ascent at pleasure or to take the Flayl of Gods Anger in hand whose stroaks fall without distinction upon all sorts of persons and strike down equally th' Innocent with the Nocent The Reader will excuse if he please this light Digression which may not be disagreeable to him and this little Interposition which may give him some taste and serve him for