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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48636	Observations on the letter written to Sir Thomas Osborn, upon the reading of a book called The present interest of England stated written in a letter to a friend.	Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697.; Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, 1631-1712.; Lisola, François Paul, baron de, 1613-1674.; Holles, Denzil Holles, Baron, 1599-1680.	1673 (1673)	Wing L2375; ESTC R20948	11,893	23

if they had a right to deal as they please towards other Nations and yet none to do towards them by way of Retalliation any more then they shall think fit to give them leave to do an over weening opinion of their own greatness which all Princes and States ought to be jealous of as not knowing where their ambition will end And besides these things thus instanced in we have great cause to take notice that as the effect of the implacable hatred of the French to our Nation they cannot forbear in their writings to express their inveterate malice against us as that Book called le Politique de France writ in the year 1669 and Dedicated to the French King is a pregnant Testimony where no better Epithetes are allowed us then being without friends without faith without Religion without honesty without any justice of defying or provoking Natures light or unconstant to the highest degree cruel impatient gluttons proud audatious and covetous proper for ready execution and assaults but uncapable of managing a War with judgment with other such like opprobrious and reproachful expressions besides a Method propounded to be observed in order to the Conquest of England Page 158 159 160 161. enough to raise a lawful indignation in all true Englishmen against such insolent slanderers who by their impudence endeavour to impose their own Characters upon in contrary to the known experience of the rest of the world And now Sir I have no more to add then all Circumstances considered my agreement with the Pamphlet in this Principle that while France is so great as at present it can in no kind be for the safety of England to subvert Holland and Zealand c. which are properly called their out-guards or works against all Invasions and cannot be demolished or in the hands of the French without laying England naked or at least the more open to that Nation and that nothing is more demonstrable then that since the United Provinces cannot signifie much without freedom they will under their own Government be of most use to all Christendome save France who only wants them as a qualification for threatning instead of courting their Neighbours in maintaining the general Ballance of Europe even as it was great wisdom in the long Parliament for the wickedest of men may have worldly prudence to joyn with Holland in the preserving of Denmark as necessary for the Ballancing of Sweden when Cromwel in his time in revenge of manifest affronts and hatred had designed the ruine of the Dane And thus Sir having in obedience to your Commands given you freely my sense of the Pamphlet and Letter without varying from the matter in either as it is in them respectively stated I hope you will pardon any thing wherein I may differ with you in judgment or opinion for I have this for my Buckler that what I have writ is Truth and that I aim at nothing in it but the true Interest of the King and Kingdom of England and Protestant Religion denying that any can have more Cordial affection for them then my self who am c. April 17 th anno 1669. According to the Printed Copy IN obedience to an Order of Council of the 16th present requiring my opinion what is fit to be done for relief of Sir Francis Toppe and Company I do humbly certifie that I have perused their Case and find that they complain of great losses and damages sustained in the year 1644. whilst they lived in St. Malo from the French by seizing their Goods in a time of Peace in the very Harbours of France whither they had brought those Goods in a way of Trading and where by several Treaties then in force and by the very Law of Nations which gives a security to the Persons and Estates of all who reside peaceably within the Dominions of any Prince or State they ought to have been safe and free from all Arrests the owners not having done any thing whereby to forfeit their Interest in them which course if suffered must needs be the destruction of all Trade and Commerce between the two Kingdoms as it is also very dishonourable and injurious to his Majesty that the publick faith should be broken to his Subjects who Trade under his protection by vertue of the Treaties made between the two Crowns and it is much to be feared that the proceedings in France may become very prejudicial in this kind to the whole trading of the English Nation in that Kingdom if nothing be done to stop this growing mischief In regard this is not the single Case where this course hath been put in practice the like having been done several times to English Merchants at Rouen who are not yet free of the trouble for a Capture at Sea whether real or pretended to have been made in 1616. by an English Privateer of a French Ship belonging to one Delaun●y valued but at six thousand Livers And whilst I had the Honour to serve his Majesty as his Ambassador in France two English Ships coming into Harbour at Marseille when they had Landed their Goods and paid all duties were seized upon Ships and Goods and notwithstanding all my solicitations would not be discharged But some Months after the War breaking out were given to the East India Company there they pretending some Ships of theirs to have been formerly taken by the English And now as I hear at St. John de Luz the same usage is threatned if not already begun to our Merchants there for the reparation of the Widow de Lazin for some goods of her late Husbands taken from her by the Parliament in 1643. So as all this makes me fearful it may come to be a constant Custom if not prevented I do therefore offer it as my humble opinion that all care should be taken for the prevention of it And for this particular Case of Sir Francis Topp's and Company that in the first place a fair application may be made to the French King as well by his Ambassador here as by his Majesties Ambassador at Paris for the just satisfaction of the Petitioners which may be hoped will prove effectual and should it not it will then be time for his Majesty to consider what is further to be done for the vindication of his own Honour and and the protection of his Subjects Hollis FINIS

yet the Story of 88. acquaints us that the States in thosetimes with 35. Men of War Blocked up Dunkirk and the Duke of Parma's Navy in it to the great service of England but it is certain that all Nations will increase or decline more or less according as their Interest is pursued and their Government suted to it which happily is the Cause why none can be said to have out-done the States of Holland their low beginnings considered in increase in Trade and Riches but if augmentation in Territories and power be a Crime it is one that France is more guilty of then the United Netherlands and ought therefore to be looked upon with a more jealous Eye for the natural advantages that we have of the Dutch in the Situation of our Countrey and the greatness of it in the goodness and number of our Havens and Ports to breed Seamen and Harbour Ships are such as appears to me to render it impossible for them ever to become our superiours at Sea as is suggested by the Letter Page 11. As to the second assertion or head I must in that crave leave to dissent without granting the question which is begged that Holland whilst in liberty might be under a likelyhood of agreeing with France for the Conquest of England the thing seeming to me to be morally impossible First From their want of people especially fit for War their Dominions being small and furnished much with strangers and altogether with Traders Circumstances which no Countrey must be under that designs Forrein Conquests or Invasions Secondly From the Nature of their Government in its being no more then an Vnion of several absolute Sovereignties for common defence and preservation which is a quality not fit for acquisitions in that the difficulty in satisfying every concern upon the good success of their Arms and the many occasions that would arise from thence of differences amongst them renders it impracticable Thirdly From the impossibility of the French and their agreement upon the Division of England for that it is not to be imagined but each of them would be jealous of the others increase in Territories and Power and that the States would have no more cause to presume upon their over-witting the French in getting to themselves the most considerable places in it for Trade as is supposed by the Letter Page 12. then the French in over-reaching them who have always been wise enough in Treaties For that an increase in the French Monarchy would be more dangerous to the States then the like in the States would be to them who are already the others overmatch and it cannot with reason but be supposed that in the Division of England the French would on the one hand have an Eye at supplying themselves with that they only want for making them uncontrollable in the world good Havens and Ports and also on the other hand that the Dutch would never yield unto that that would destroy them But if England had reason to be jealous of France and Hollands Conjunction in order to the Conquest of it as the Letter suggests I fear with the same reason France will be jealous of Englands impatronizing Holland as being as well unwilling to have the Dominion of the Seae so much undivided in the hands of any one Lord as all the rest of Europe cannot check it as we are to have the Dominion of the Land in the like kind under any other Lord or Prince To the Third ascertion I have not any thing to object in opposition nothing being more ordinary in the world then gross mistakes in the Interest of Countries proceeding often from passion revenge and disordered affections yet this may be said in the Case that the States were such great Masters in the knowledge of their civil Interests that none might have been safelier trusted upon that account then they To the Fourth head or assertion I have only this to answer that as it is natural for all Rational Creatures of two evils to choose the least so supposing that the States being reduced to a necessity of parting with their own Government will have the Election of their new Lords in their own power and taking it for granted that they are men of some Conscience and Religion though some deny them to be so I do fully agree with the Author of the Letter in his opinion that they will in such Case choose rather the English then the severe Government of the French unless the consideration in their partial opinion of who is best able to protect their Country do not prevail with them to trust the French King in point of Religion but I very much question whether it is not groundless to suppose that any Nation being attacked by two great Monarchs will have the choice of their own Masters left to themselves by a mutual agreement betwixt those Monarchs without which it cannot be but I highly esteem the Author of the Letter for the true sense he expresseth to have of the French Government from which the Lord in Mercy deliver all other Countries The Fifth assertion is a supposition that the Dutch will have it in their choice to trust the French or not and in such Case I am of opinion with the Letter that they will never do it Spain Lorrain and the Protestants of France being a sufficient warning to them but as Affairs now stand I very much fear they will not have the Election of it in their own hands The Sixth assertion though as most Weighty deserveth most Consideration yet for the first part of it whether England admitting the Dutch to a Coalition would be of more advantage to them then any tearms they can expect from the French I will not dispute but am much of belief that the French Councils considering that they want nothing to facilitate their universal design more then an Interest in the Northern Seas where they might Harbour and form an Navy nourish and breed Seamen and likewise considering that the Maritine Towns of Holland Zealand and Friezland would signifie nothing without Trade but in danger of being swallowed up by the Sea for want of ability to maintain the Banks against it nor Trade signifie any thing without liberty they would soon find it necessary as to their Interest to wave the French Principles for arbitrary Government and to leave the Dutch in a great measure of freedom relying only upon Cittadels for keeping them dependant upon them and forcing them upon occasion to be useful to them as judging that the best way to serve themselves of them least otherwise by severity they should provoke the dispersing the Inhabitants to Emden Bremen Hambourg Lubeck and Dantzic c. the four first being Imperial Free Cities and the latter the same under Poland for arbitrary Government that must be maintained by the Sword and the idle Callings and rude manners of Souldiers which are altogether inconsistant with and Enemies to Trade and Commerce will always cause

Traders to change bondage for liberty or at least in hopes of better entertainment one Countrey for another as did the subversion of the Florentine Government in that Countrey and as they were preparing to do the like in Holland when they feared the late Prince of Oreng's over-turning that State for the Antipathy betwixt Merchants and Souldiers is such that all Monarchs of Trading Countries have ever held it their Interest to keep their great Trading Towns free from a Mercinary Militia and it is exceeding difficult if not Morally impossible for a Prince to advance Trade to any great height where the people are under the awe of a standing Military power and the French King seems to own the truth of this in that finding the benefit of Commerce he is even in France content that his Trading Cities should be freed from Souldiers and more gently used then the rest of his Countrey for so far as the Nature of his arbitrary Government will permit he studieth all manner of wayes to advance Trade As first by totally prohibiting such Forrein Commodities and Manufactures as his people are capable of making sufficient to serve his Countrey as Train-Oyl c. Secondly By burthening others with high Customs and Impositions to the end to incourage his own Artisans and Seamen thereby making the Trade of England thither very prejudicial to us our Transportations hence being inconsiderable to our Importations thence and as they improve in any faculty so they either prohibit or increase their impositions upon the Importation of the Forrein-made Commodities of that faculty And Thirdly as an incouragement to Trade the French King hath lately declared the exercise of Commerce in a Gentleman to be no prejudice to his quality having also erected an Academy for breeding his Nobility to Sea Affairs and teaching them the Art of Navigation c. All which may well Alarm England to a jealousie of their designs as most dangerous to it and to look upon the French as those Rivals whom if hatred be lawful as the Letter in this Case seems to make it we ought most to hate for should they once come to Vie with us in Trade or Naval strength we should find them to exceed all that ever went before them in insolency injustice and selfishness And whether the second part of this Notion hath a good foundation which asserts That should England get but the Sea Towns alone leaving the rest of the States Dominions to the French we should have no cause to repent our Bargain I will not presume to judge yet this I think considerable in the Case that should the Inlands of the Vnited Provinces and with them all the Conquered places fall to the share of the French as by the late published Proposals in Dutch if true they seem to pretend unto the Latter then having thereby the command of the Rivers of Rhine and Mase c. together with Sluce and the other Garrisons which shuts up the Trade of Flanders and Brabant they will have it in their power to render all the parts of the Seventeen Provinces which will remain to the Kings of England and Spain of no more use to them then they please to allow of First Because the Sea Towns of the Vnited Netherlands cannot be divided from the Inlands from which they receive their nourishment nor deprived of the use of their Rivers by which they drive their Trades without utter ruine to them and making them thereby an intollerable burthen to their Masters Secondly Because the Spanish Netherlands will thereby be so invironed or rather be leagured by the French Garrisons and Forces on all sides as well towards Germany Holland and Zealand c. as towards France that having no means left them for forming or maintaining an Army as any that know those Countries must confess they will always be in the French Kings devotion and when assaulted by him without possibility of contributing any considerable assistance to their own deliverance or to make the Triple League of any use to them Thirdly Because such will be the enervated condition of the Spanish Netherlands that the King of Spain will be necessitated as not being able to maintain them longer then the French will permit him either to quit them voluntarily or if he can obtain so much favour to make an exchange or sale of them to the French King who then having Flanders and Brab●nt which he hath so long thirsted after and all the Rivers belonging to them in his own hands will assuredly for the advantage of himselfe and his own Countries even in times of peace so obstruct and hinder the Trade of the Maritine Towns of Holland Zealand and Friezland if in the possession of any but himself and in times of War totally shut them up by Land as will restore Flanders and Brabant to their ancient Trade and make a new Holland of them which being in the hands of the French will probably prove abundantly worse to England then the old if large experience of injuries and injustices committed in Trade by them against this Nation may warrant a Conclusion as by the Certificate under the Lord Ambassador Hollis his hand which I send you here inclosed given upon an order of his Majesties Privy Council Dated the 17. April 1667. in the Case of Sir Francis Toppe and Company doth for one instance sufficiently appear Nay such is the envious care of the French that no Nation should get or thrive by them that as Mr. Samuel Fortrey one of the Gentlemen of his Majesties Privy Chamber reporteth in his Book Printed 1663. and Dedicated to King Charles the second not many years ago they suspecting through mistakes that England had an advantage of them in their Trade for France they were upon Counsels for prohibiting all Trade with England until upon a strict examination they found that whereas England vented of their Commodities into France not to above the value of Ten hundred thousand Pounds per annum France vented of theirs to the English Six and twenty hundred thousand pounds and then finding that they had Sixteen hundred thousand Pounds advantage in the Ballance they soon let fall their design though yet not without burthening English Manufactures with New Impositions in such manner as might much hinder the vent of them in their Countrey And Mr. Fortrey in the aforementioned Book doth not only recite the very Ballance of Trade it self which he affirms was presented to the French King to shew the advantage they have in their Trade with England but also adds further that hereby it may appear how insensibly our Treasure will be exhausted and the Nation beggered whilst we carelesly neglect our own Interest and strangers abroad are diligent to make their advantage by us And it is of no little consideration that the French should so far overvalue themselves as to increase their Impositions upon Dutch Commodities to a degree of prohibiting them and deny to the Dutch the like power by theirs as