upon them Awake awake ye sluggish People and behold me as the Emblem of the Usurper as a Monument rear'd in remembrance of your Liberty lost Now if this be not sufficient to make the Cantons seriously reflect upon Lewis XIV his proceedings in respect of them at least that Cannon which the Fort of Huningen discharged upon the City of Basil might open their Eyes for the Usurper gets ground every day and I 'le warrant you no sooner shall he find a favourable opportunity but he will improve his quarrel with Germany against them Princes never want pretences He will begin in good earnest to Will and Command that the Bishop and others of Basil be restored and that their Arrears be payd them from the time that they have been forced to forsake the Town and if he be to enter by Force of Arms and if he have obtained the least Advantage as the Cantons are tame enough to obtain Peace he would demand every year a Medal as a mark of Homage for Tribute as he did of the Hollanders together with a great many Forces which the Swisse would be glad to supply him with upon his first Demand and would place Bishops as so many Emissaries in every City I told you the French King takes advantage by the difference of Religion in the Cantons to foment discord amongst them as we have lately observed in the business of Glaris which setting aside the Popes Nuncio's stirring in it would have proved the first spark of Fire and Dissention amongst them then which he desires nothing more the better to further his Affairs and his pretended Reign over Europe The Roman Catholicks in those parts are commonly ignorant in their Religion and being very stupid at the bark and with the outside without ever searching into Fundamentals the only name of Catholick actuates moves and incites them without inquiring any farther but I would have them once for all be undeceived not suffer themselves to be imposed upon under the false Notion of Catholick 'T is a false mask under which he lurks the better to deceive them and bring them to his Leure thereby to set them at odds amongst themselves and having once done that he will come pouring down upon Basil or Geneva yea perhaps upon both together These are bars and boundaries which ought to be in a manner Sacred the Cantons should take care that they be never suffered to be medled with nor touched they are to defend them with their Sword in their Hand to the last drop of Blood for this passage being cleared and the discord breaking out amongst them farewel they they are undone to all intents and purposes of free Swisse they 'l become French Slaves But now if the generality of the Swisse be but true to one another and united and but shew the Usurper their Teeth intimating their resolution of defending what 's their own they may be sure the French King will only bark at a distance on the other hand if they shew no more eagerness for these two Cities than they did for Franche Compte If they make no stouter a resistance than they did there they will unavoidably post on to their total ruine and destruction I know France will not bring them under their yoak but make them tributary They are now free and absolute but let them take heed they suffer not their Necks to be brought under their yoak let them call to mind their Ancient Valour that their Countrey has proved a Sepulchre to the French and that they have forced them to a dishonourable retreat Geneva is a delicate bit the French have a Moneths mind to since she hath appropriated to her self the County of Gex methinks that Republick too lyes very commodiously for her purpose They have a long time muttered at the French Court that they meant to resettle the Bishop a Savoyard who is nominated by the Duke of Savoy whom he makes to reside at his Court to make his Right appear If it were as easie for the French King to settle a Bishop there as it has been for him to settle a Resident he would have accomplisht it long ago Now since this Resident comes in our way let us speak a word or two by the by concerning his Residence You must know he is as necessary a Man there as the Fifth wheel in a Chariot for he is good for nothing but to receive the Swisse Packet of Letters for the Court which a Merchant formerly received so that the Sallary and the Abode of such a Minister would be useless if there were not something else in it I dare say he would have but a poor pittance had he no other comings in but what France allows him and if he had not the best part of it from the Clergy I do remember that the first Man that filled this worthy place was one Charigni a poor pittiful Fellow whom Mounsieur De Pompone had often released out of Fort L'evesque whither he was committed for Debt and sent him thither to get him disintangled There he made a Trade of the Catholick Religion for every Sunday and Holy-day was his days of Receipts every Savoyard that came to Mass giving to the Offering Five or Six Souse under pretence of maintaining the Church and Priest but rather Mounsieur the Resident who besides kept a kind of an Ordinary where they might dine the poor Wretch was fain to catch at any thing for he was no better than a Beads-man living upon Alms at Paris being forced to quit Province upon the account of some false pieces of Five sous he would have put off where he was reduc't to Extremity and all the stir he kept at Geneva was only to make the Magistrate to greese his fist and present him with something by the by as no body knew But since the time his Secretary has changed his Religion and since he gave his Almoner a box on the Ear because he spoke in behalf of the Protestants upon a Sermon that he and the Resident came from hearing I say from that time he hath laid open his folly he is countermanded and another of better sense and more discretion supplies his place Considering the design the King has in hand of dividing this City it seems to be in a manner necessary at present to have a Resident to acquaint him with all concerns to find out wherein their strength and weakness consists yea to corrupt some Magistrate or other as at Strasbourg the enterprize of the Duke of Savoy in the year _____ ought continually to be before their Eyes as a warning for it is certain that the French King with what amusement soever he may seem to divert them doth but wait a fair opportunity to spring his Mine give fire to his Train and play his old game as he did at Strasbourg so that it mightily behoves the Citizens of Geneva to stand upon their guard and endeavour to dispose their Allies to afford them succour so soon as
to an Universal Monarchy he would advise his King to beg of God to prolong the World as much as he can This Malady ceasing in Spain hath passed into France but France being wiser doth not grasp so much and her King's Ambition is only confined to Europe a wish worthy of such a great Prince and who if we consider him aright could scarce demand less his Neighbours ought narrowly to watch his water for certain it is France cannot aggrandize her self without encroaching upon her nearest Neighbours as she doth really every day already When the House of Austria made broad signs of her design upon the Universe all the Princes of Christendom rose up against her and entered into an Association to prevent her Charles V. after the Battel of Pavia where Francis was taken Prisoner thought himself above all but he found business enough The Pope King of England the Venetians the Grand Duke of Tuscany the Swisse made a League against him to hinder this Emperour from bringing France and consequently the rest of Italy under his subjection It was not for any kindness the Pope and King of England bore King Francis that they combin'd together to relieve him but because Charles V. became so great that he would by his good Will have made himself Master of the World. Now at present forasmuch as this Itch is past into France All Princes of Europe for some time have run counter to whatsoever their Ancestors did in the Reign of Charles V and Philip II. and instead of opposing they have abetted and concurr'd with the designs of France some out of base compliance others out of fear There are none but the Princes of Nassau alone who have alwayes been fatal to whosoever had a mind to aspire to this sublime Monarchy of the Universe Do not Men admire with me the wretched Policy of several Princes and States in the World who look on with their Armes a cross and behold the French King to advance so fast and take Luxemburg a City of such grand Importance to Europe only the Prince of Orange presented himself upon the breach with the Low Countreys but who not being in a capacity to do any thing by himself was forced to retreat The French King would never have taken it had England and the States withstood it he hath no cause to brag of it it is a truth all the World knows but too well he was so cunning to get the King of Great Britain on his side that he consented to take what was not his own and to baffle the rest by illusory promises of an Universal Peace after the taking in of Luxemburg which they suffered him to do and this gross valiant Captain of a Trencher-man the Marquess of Grana Governour of the Low Countreys who was not promoted to this place but upon his demonstrating the means of being able to preserve this most Important place to the Court of Spain a place I say so necessary to Spain for the preservation of the Low Countreys by the assistance of Germany and albeit he should have minded nothing else but the preservation of that same City his own Honour as well as Duty to and interest of his King his Master being all engaged therein Instead of doing which this Fat-gut put into it only a pitiful Garrison of Twelve or Fifteen Hundred Men instead of Four Thousand and was wholly taken up in fortifying the City of Namur with his Regiments and some other places which were Cities on the boundaries which France would not have dared so much as to touch Would you not swear such a Fellow conspir'd to aggrandize France and concurr'd with the Designs of Lewis XIV When the King in 1667 would have undertaken the Conquest of the Spanish Netherlands England Swedeland and the Vnited Provinces associated together by the Triple League forced him soon to quit his hold they obliged him to re-procure and make a Peace with Spain and to restore to it some part of what he had usurped and taken away It would have been just so if the Neighbouring Princes had done the same at such time as he attacked Luxemburg Resist the Devil and he will fly from you But France cunning and subtle had sufficiently tryed how prejudicial this League was to her she could never be at rest till she had pluckt this Thorn out of her Foot and so soon as ever the term was expired she could not be satisfied till she had found out a way to hoodwink England and so got her disingaged from the Tripple-knot The Dutchess of Portsmouth like another Dalilah came over out of France into England to lull asleep the Sampson of this Kingdom France found out the way to act and speak so fair that she hook't in Dunkirk by Promises and Money at the beginning of the Reign of Charles II King of Great Britain A Town of so great Consequence to England in as much as it affords a good entrance into Picardy and Flanders 'T is no new thing for France to be troubled with this itching mind to sieze on the places of her Neighbours and to enlarge her Dominion from one end of Europe to the other The Duke of Rohan told us heretofore that Princes commanded People but that Self-Interest commanded Princes Without question he would have added something else had he lived in this Age and especially Lewis the XIV We may see Examples of it day by day and to secure his Ambition all times and seasons are good for him in Peace in War in Cessation of Arms. Interest is the evil Angel hath so long reigned through France we are taught out of History how Godfrey of Bulloign having a mind to take a Journey for the Conquest of the Holy Land and coming short of Money to put himself in a capacity to do it sold many of his Cities and Lands amongst others the City of Metz with the Country adjoyning which its own Citizens and Inhabitants purchased of him for the Sum of an Hundred Thousand Crowns They enjoyed this their purchase till the Year of our Lord 1551 in which Charles V. did so evilly intreat the Protestants of Germany Henry II. King of France under a pretence seemed forward to send Relief to the said Protestants of Germany In effect he dispatched the Constable of Monmorency with Four Thousand Men in all probability for this Expedition but it was quite and clean for another design as the sequel will make appear He demanded passage of the City of Metz who were for the most part of the same Religion with those who were molested in Germany between whom and the Emperour there was no good understanding They granted to the King with abundance of joy whatsoever he required of them in reference to his Troops passage and in testimony of their good will they caused Tables to be set up in the Streets to make the Soldiers eat and drink on their passage with huge demonstration of Friendship and Rejoycing But alas Their Laughter was
soon changed into Weeping so soon as ever the Constable who was received by the Magistrates with all Tokens of Honour and Benevolence had entered the City he feigned himself to have a fit of the Gout and to feel intolerable pains he declared his great desire to have his Will made not knowing what might befal him in the War he was about to commence and intreated the Magistrates of the City and all the Nobility that they would assist as Witnesses of it In the mean time he had given order to two Colonels to sieze one of them upon the Gate by which the Troops entered and the other on that by which they went out To the first He gave order to cause part of the Army which was still without to advance and to the other to bid those who were already gone out to enter in again Now the Constable seeing the Magistrates and chief Nobility round his Bed expecting his Orders up starts he like a Lyon enraged and sheathed his Ponyard in the Mayors Breast and at the Signal given his Guards rusht in and Assassinated all the Nobility they met with in his Chamber whereupon the Army that had entered the City at the same time cryed up and down the City The Town is won It was plundred and subdued to the Bloody Dominion of the King and of an Allie as it was soon became a Subject This was the Bloody Conquest of Henry II. And there is your French Policy Lewis XIII not knowing how to get possession of Lorain by the Advice and Counsel of that most Subtle and Crafty Polititian Cardinal Richlieu comes to Lions with an Army under pretence of some design against Savoy The Cardinal gave notice beforehand to Duke Charles of Lorrain that he should make his personal appearance before the King to pay him his respects and assure him by word of mouth of his good intentions towards his Person This Duke thinking no harm suffered himself to be perswaded to it in earnest departs from Nancy to salute the King at the head of his Troops After he had complemented him thinking he might return home again he found it to be a Lions Den arrested he was upon pretence of some old claims His Eminence at that time performing the Office of Mediator propounded that to make his peace with the King and that he might enjoy his Liberty to put into the Kings hands Nancy his chief City and the Key of his Dutchy Thus far he must go to be freed from his Arrest Well Nancy was delivered up the King entered into it like a Conquerour with his Army at his heels Observe the Policy of France in this particular The demolishing of the Castle at Orange is just such another trick shews their temper for upon some little difference that arose between the two Princesses Royal and Dowager Lewis XIV King of France as usually he doth would intermeddle with it and that he might make them agree and that the young Prince then under Age avoid the Expences of maintaining a Garrison there he caused the Bastions of the Castle to be pull'd down and left nothing but the Dungeon which together with the Town he could take at pleasure as since he hath done What the same King did at Strasburg is much the same This City look't upon its self secure after the Treaty at Nemegen confirmed by the powerful Letters the King writ to them time after time after the assurances his Resident then in the City gave them that his Master desired nothing more than to live in a fair correspondence with the Emperour and with the Cities of the Empire last of all by the suits and importunities of the same Resident a Traitor was Elected Burgomaster who did nothing but by the Council of France The Magistracy and Citizens thus lull'd asleep by all these fair promises and protestations dismist the Swisses their Guards but they were no sooner without doors but Mr. Louvois with a puissant Army began to invest their City obliges them to surrender on what conditions soever he thought fit to prescribe them even at this present they make no Conscience to violate those sorry Articles which were granted to them and to misuse them like Slaves as he does all the rest of his Subjects Take notice of your Humour of France which is always restless After the peace at Nemeghen how many Cities and Towns hath he taken in Flanders How many of them hath he burnt and pull'd down to the Ground to occasion the peoples revolt to cause them to rely wholly upon him to defend them from utter ruine and to get free from all those great Contributions wherewith he loads and oppresses them Take notice of the French Policy After the Pyrennean Treaty which was but just signed whereof this present King's Marriage was as it were the Seal and Condition notwithstanding all those Oaths and Promises this King took and made to his Father in Law Philip IV. not to assist Portugal no sooner did he return to Paris but he sent Mounsieur Schomberg with some Regiments and Money and all this to weaken Spain which made a ballance with him of the Empire of Europe so that neither Peace Truce nor Promise nor Protestation are able to sway him when his Interest is at stake no nor Religion it self How zealous a Catholick soever he would fain seem to be is not a Fence strong enough to restrain him as we shall make appear in the following Discourse When Lewis XIV sent an Embassadour to the King of Siam under the pretence of converting him do you really believe this King endeavoured to extend his Mission so far No no he works no Conversion but where he may send his Dragoons who are his booted Apostles It is to spie the Country by his Jesuits to endeavour by means of the Sieur Constance a Venetian by Nation and Chief Manager of that King's Affairs to drive out other Nations to settle some sort of Commerce in that same Countrey that he may there have certain Emissaries who may ever and anon put Jealousies into the King of Siam's Head by reason of the Hollanders growing Greatness in the Indies to make the business of Bantam serve as a pretence making another construction of it Observe the Policy of France She hath her politick tricks which succeed wondrous well This is the reason why she sends none but notable Men into all the Courts of Europe and such who are wonderful quick sighted and versed in Affairs whom it's all one to her whether she fetch from the Camp the Bar or from the Church it self as occasion serves according to the places wherein she would have them imployed But more especially it is requisite they should be dextrous and cunning brazen-faced that they have the knack of promising fair that they don't insist too much upon certain petty scruples which honest men ought to have In a word to express it more intelligibly they must be Cheats and Knaves as for Spain they
ever they find that grand Usurper to advance for he is now taking his aim and so well play'd his Cards that he hath made the Duke of Savoy to sneak and truckle not daring so much as to put his Nose towards France In times past the Dukes Ancestors did defend the City of Geneva as well as the Inhabitants they had a great deal more reason for it then France now a days upon the account of the pretensions to it and the rights the Counts of Geneva have yielded up to the Duke of Savoy Charles IV. Proclaimed that Duke Prince of Geneva and of all the Territories thereunto belonging and they have inherited it till the Year 1532. But the present Duke is so far from making any opposition against France that he would rather deliver up all his Rights and Claims to it and let himself be cullyed out of it under pretence of reinvesting the Bishop now although that Prelate should be setled and France master of it what course would the Duke of Savoy take if the King would not remit to him Would he have recourse to Menaces or Reprisals If he should do so the King of France would jerk him soundly like a Boy and would make him kiss the Rod to boot So that I would not have Geneva to flatter her self with the treacherous promises of the French King nor yet with the Assistance which Policy and Reason might oblige the Duke of Savoy to send them Let her e'ne rely on her Allies the Swisse Cantons upon her own though slender Forces and upon so many French Officers who have fled for refuge thither who will be sure upon the first news of it to run to her assistance or otherwise they must have lost common Sense and all sentiments of Honour and Thankfulness Again if so be the Emperour make his Peace with the Turk he must send for the Duke of Lorain to help him who is a great Captain and even laden with Victorious Lawrels whose very name will make France quake I and he may serve him for a inlet whereat to enter into his Dutchy of Lorrain where his Subjects quite spent with the Tyrannical Dominion of France expect him as their Moses and deliverer The King is a Lyon in a Foxes Skin he is not so formidable as men believe him his only end is to make himself be feared and he obtains his desire by threatnings but shake off this panick fear look upon France nearer mind her soberly and seriously consider the continual running away of her Inhabitants the punishment and imprisonment of another part of them is as so much Bloud flowing from her Veins which by little and little weaken her Add hereto the just complaints of the Catholicks the decrease of her Revenues and what is worst of all for her the death and the going away of so many Generals within these few years and so suddenly one after another doth she not seem to behold that Scene Heaven hath contrived on purpose to humble her for indeed she is at a lower ebb then one would imagine I 'll engage she is as sick as her King and that they be both smitten to the heart The first Enemy that sets upon her will not be long alone he will be soon seconded but it will be just as in the Fable of the Counsel of Rats who consulted together to go hang a Bell at the Cats neck their sworn Enemy but not one of them durst venture to do it first Who would ever have said the Pope would have contributed his assistance to the Union of the Switzers Yet 't is true he did so as we may have observed in the business of Glaris which I have above recited Nay his Nuncio is very intent at his leisure hours to open the eyes of the Catholick Cantons for those silly people provided the King tell them of intending to re-establish a Bishop 't is enough for them that 's all they care for but they are not sensible of what is behind the Hill that the grand Usurper lyes hid under the Bishops Mitre I have but one Admonition more to give the Right Honourable Cantons of Switzerland that is to say the King hath no respect nor good will towards them He takes them for Scaffolds to be made use of when need requires and when that is over he looks upon them as no body I desire no other proof of what I say then what of a fresh date happened to the Ambassador which the Cantons not long since sent to the French King After he had wrangled with them about their Commission not being in general Terms on purpose to refuse them Audience well this difficulty once removed by a second Commission dispatched to them they were e'ne fain to go away as they came without so much as seeing the King or obtaining one only Audience This is the greatest undervaluing and most sensible affront that ever Free-born men had given and if the Cantons pass by this and don 't shew their just Resentments of it they 'l be despised by all the Princes of Europe and it will not be the last ill turn of this nature that will befall But that I may fully certifie you of the truth of what I here deliver see here word for word the Harangue or rather Complement these Gentlemen past upon Mounsieur Colbert Croissi Minister of the Foreign Affairs at their departure Sir Our Lords and Superiours sending us hither to do what in us lyes and make use of all importunities to endeavour to win the Kings affection to the end he might be inclined to uphold the City of Geneva their Allie in the possession of what they have hitherto been above One Hundred and Eighty Years grounded upon Authentick Treaties But his Majesty being resolved to commit to his Parliament of Dijon a business which is plainly acknowledged for an affair of State which depends upon Treaties of Peace Covenants and Alliances the which said Parliament our Superiours will never acknowledge as just no nor give their Allies the Citts of Geneva counsel to yield to their Treaty which is theirs also Moreover his Majesty giving us to understand by your Excellency that he would no more then you confer with us touching this matter and because we are afraid that a longer stay here might be as unwelcome as our coming we could not do better then withdraw home again to make a faithful report of what hath past to our Lords and Superiours We are come to take our leaves of your Excellency and to give you many thanks for the patience you have had in several Conferences beseeching you that in pursuance of the reiterated Orders we have had given us in behalf of our Lords and Superiours who notwithstanding they be much troubled at the bad success of this Embassy seeing they take more into consideration the prosecution of 25 Canons then the fidelity of many thousands of the best and most stedfast Allies of that Crown who have shed their Blood and
favourable opportunity shall require it Can a Man forbear laughing when he hears the praises which these flatterers bestow on Lewis XIV perswading him he hath procured peace both to his Enemies and to all Europe These Tales are very fit to be told to the Kingdom of Siam as Mounsieur de Chaumont the French Embassador was not backward to do in his Speech to that King which is to be found at large in a Book Entituled A Voyage into Siam and they have not been wanting in like manner to put off such sort of Trifles to the King of China such like stories are good for nothing else but to be obtruded on those Countreys though not here in Europe where our Eyes have seen and Ears heard the contrary Is it not strange to meet with such Writers who commit such impertinent Trifles as these to paper Don't we know what the proceedings of the King of France have been to procure a Peace with the States of the Vnited Provinces For seeing Fortune began to change he Agreed as touching the City of Nemeghen which belonged to the Hollanders so that no body went to Versailles to demand it of him He offers them Mastricht which was still in his hands Yea If the States had not been so very hasty to grant him what he demanded with so much importunity and for which he made so many fair promises he would have been glad to have defrayed all the Expence of the War Pray who can tell what it hath cost him under hand to obtain this Peace which he sued for with so much instant Intreaties sparing nothing that he might endeavour to get the States to slip their Necks out of the Collar and forsake their Allies he went so far as to surrender divers places to Spain to serve for boundaries between his Kingdom and the Vnited Provinces In saying that if the States had not been too forward to hasten on the signing the Peace France would have paid the Expences of the War. I hope I do not speak without good grounds for what I say several Reasons obliged them to clap up this peace in all haste separately because they saw their strength decreased dayly It is certain that after the Battle at St. Dennis which was not fought out by reason of a Peace the Prince of Orange would have marcht on into France with his Troops Moreover the King knew full well that being forced to agitate a General Peace it would never be effected till he should surrender to the Duke of Lorrain all his Lands and that he could not possibly induce the Elector of Brandenburg to restore to the Sweed what he had taken from him according to his obligation thereto when the Peace in particular with him was in agitation France had a great mind to make him restore to the King of Sweden his Allie what he had lost in taking up Arms for the service of France so that here are your sufficient reasons for demanding particular Peace with the States and that it was not he that procured it for Europe as he boasts and publisheth up and down If any one was the cause of Peace to the Empire 't was the States of the Vnited Provinces for when they had made peace at the instant supplication of the King the General Peace followed immediately usher'd in by the mediation of the States General 'T is most certain the King made this Peace by compulsion he began to do things but by halves the States and his Allies reinforced themselves dayly The Hollanders were recovered out of their Lethargie the Prince of Orange day by day became more experienced the Duke of Luxemburg's familiar Spirit grew feeble and began to forsake him part of the French Troops perished the remainder were much harassed and worn out Swedeland had done her worst and was at her last shifts so that it was absolutely necessary to afford some respite and relief to the French Troops by a Peace being that this Peace was partly but a forc't one the King was obliged to give up whatsoever he had taken so also it continued but a short while and just then when the Emperour had his hands full of the Turk and when the Spaniard and his Allies had laid down their Arms and did acquiesce upon the strict performance of the Treaty of Nemeghen the most Christian King like a Lyon falls foul upon the Low Countreys Now it was convenient to stop this Torrent to deliver up a good many places and to give ground and to patch up a Truce in the midst of Peace which will continue no longer than his Interest will permit a body may say and that truly that France makes but small difference between her Subjects and her Neighbours Genoua may bear me witness of the truth of this he treads them under foot and fleeces them all alike when occasion serves and when his Will and Pleasure is who is he that dares assure us that the Truce will be a stronger Bank to put a stop to his Ambition and his own private Ends than the two Treaties of Peace of the Pyrenneans and Nemegen That Numerous Army that amounts to near One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men which he maintains as well in Peace and in time of Cessation of Arms as in time of War sufficiently declares the French Policy that hath always one foot up ready a going to march and sits on thorns having ever more Armies in a readiness to execute her designs They make them Camp and de-Camp continually to be in motion that they may use and accustom their Neighbours to it for fear they should give them occasion of suspition when they march in good earnest to fall upon any place or surprize it One of the King of France his Maxims is to hinder these Neighbours lest they should augment their Forces but remain alwayes in a condition not to be able to do them harm on the sudden except they have a mind to have them about their Ears as we have observed at such time as the Vnited Provinces were partly resolved to levy Sixteen Thousand Men what Solicitations what delusory Promises nay how many Journeys did the Comte D' Avaux take to hinder it He did nothing but talk up and down of the sincerity and reality of the Covenants on his part just as if no body beside his Master had any Honesty and as if he were the only Man for keeping his word in Treaties All that was because he saw plainly that this new Commission given out would obstruct the taking the City of Luxemburg promising that there his Master would stop and put an end to all his Claims and Demands But he is still as ready to take another as he was before the taking of this City as we saw lately at Mons it would be all one whether the States should oppose this proceeding or no it would be so long as the Princes of Europe should suffer themselves to be hood-winkt by base fear or complaisance wonderful
Embassador's Quarters which served only for a Sanctuary for Robbers Bankrupts and several Assassinates nay more to fill the Embassador's or his menial Servants Purses Although the Pope be Master in his own House yet he hath had the prudence to expect the death of the Count Destrees Embassadour and the departure of the Embassador of Spain yet what a clutter make they at the French Court about the regulation the Pope makes for security of his Subjects and the quiet of his Capital City I would fain know if the Pope intermeddles with what the King doth at Paris or whether he did think it convenient to speak against the Effigies of the King which they have placed now in his Life-time in the middle of Four Lanterns in the place de Victor with leud Inscriptions to which the Magistracy and Regiments of Guards did Obeysance and Honoured as the King himself even so far as to make Speeches to it I would have any body satisfie me how the King would have taken their bare remonstrances of the Pope without doubt he would have answered him that he might meddle with his own business and that every one is Master of his own When his Holiness not approving the King 's too familiar acquaintance with Madam de Montespan and correspondence with Madam de Maintenon when he signified to the General of the Jesuits that he was much surprized that Father La Chaize made no more of giving him absolution the King appeared to be very much dissatisfied therewith and said he was bound to give an account to no body of his Actions Why did he cause his Embassador to make his Entrance as it were with Sword in hand All this doth make the temper of France to appear which would domineer every where over all even over the Altar it self But let the King make what noise he will as these Franchises bring him no profit so there would be some way found out to pacifie all things if his Holiness would grant a Dispensation for a Marriage of the Eldest Son of the Church to a Daughter of Rome I mean the City of Liege I would say by means of a Bull for the Cardinal of Furstenburg in case he could get himself elected Coadjutor to the Arch-bishop of Cologne not being in a capacity to be Arch-bishop of Cologne himself to avoid falling under the same Circumstances that the aforesaid Arch-bishop did upon the account of the Bishoprick of Munster for which he never could obtain a Bull how instant soever the solicitations have been by the late Embassador of France for obtaining the same but it is enough for the French King since no body at present can be admitted to it who is averse to his Interests Now if Fustenburg that Mercury of France should chance to be so dignified it is odds but that the zeal for his Master and Benefactor would be augmented and that nothing but this Temper and Policy of France would Reign by reason of him throughout the Electoral Dominions nay an hundred to one but the King who would have a Garrison in the Fortress would become Absolute Master But 't is to be hoped that for the benefit of Europe and the Church that his Holiness will never make such a false step so contrary to his own Interests and to all Christian People as to grant these Bulls to Cardinal Furstenburg We all know very well if once the King could be without the Pope he could save himself the trouble of going to Rome and could constitute and establish a Patriarch in France after the manner of the Greeks no question he would do it considering what was resolved on these few years last past by the French Clergy There would be a two-fold advantage by it the Mony that is carried to Rome would not go out of France the Patriarch would grant him whatsoever he should require as Parliaments do at present were it even a Dispensation to marry the Princess of Conty But he cannot shake off the Court of Rome besides the Jesuits would be upon his back if he should not appoint Father La Chaize or some one of their Society Patriarch On the other hand those Bishops that aspire to be Cardinals would not be well pleased with this new invention except the Arch-bishop of Paris who could have some pretence to this Dignity who in plain terms doth already say That the Kings of England since Henry VIII till Charles II. have done well enough without Rome besides what the Northern Kings do at this time That which makes the French King temporize so much is by reason he knows Popes are not as the King is said to be in the Inscription viro immortali that next after this Pope there may come another who perhaps may not prove so honest a Man yet may comply more with the Eldest Son of the Church but new Lords new Laws Death may as well crush and bring down diseased Kings as crazy Popes Be sure you may expect to see this politick Humour of France within a little while cock up in Avignon and the Country of Venessin as much as we see it at this day in Metz Sedam Franch Conte Burgundy Dombes and last of all in the Principality of Orange The King hath the same right of re-Union convenience of Scituation over Avignon and the County Venessin as he hath over all the other Territories I have but just named for Q. Jane could not alienate the Crown-Lands to Pope Clement V. so that the Popes to disburse Thirty Thousand Florens to keep it signifies nothing The Country of Venessin was taken from the Count de St. Gille so that albeit the Holy Sea had had the possession of these two places for some years yet be sure the King will one of these days find an opportunity whether by breeding a Quarrel or otherwise to get it into his Clutches That once done the Pope may cry out long enough he will be in a fair way if he hold not his Tongue to make his Son send some Troops against St. Peter as hath been done not long ago and if ever the French King make himself Master of Spain as he pretends by right so to be after the decease of Charles now Reigning the Pope must not think that his Rights will be better preserved at that time in Spain than they be now in France and the Dignity of Exarchat of Ravenna which Pepin granted to the Holy See would soon change its Master and who can tell whether Rome it self would be exempted so soon as ever the Pope should begin to speak of Excommunication the King would speak of a Patriarch insomuch that the Pope ought not to flatter himself that the politick disposition of France will truckle to the Holy See nor to make an estimate of the King how much a Catholick he is by the Persecution he raises against the Hugonots within his own Realms and Dominions and elsewhere he knows well enough what he doth If he persecutes them with one
upon their heads We see after what fashion the Men who are there now are paid and the inconsiderable number of them and to say the truth there ought to be Twenty Thousand effective Men beside what is there already in Garrison to secure the Countrey and Ten Thousand more in case of a Rupture and since Spain can't furnish them with so many Men You must let the Towns there levy Men and pay them who will be willing to do it to secure themselves and avoi'd falling under the barbarous Dominion of the French or be quite ruin'd perhaps before it comes to that as many Towns and Cities have been before them and that flat Country now of late in which the most Religious places were not spared I know very well that that proposal has been debated in Council long since and that the Council of Spain has ever rejected it for slight reasons A good careful Governour especially the Duke of Lorrain who is so brave a Commander and adorn'd with Conquests at the head of Forty Thousand Men supported by the Prince of Orange would make France shake France has its Emissaries in the Council at Madrid as well as at other places to oppose every thing which may possibly thwart her designs and I am of opinion that it will turn to better account for the King of Spain to secure his Low Countries with the help of a Militi a payd by the Cities who wont abuse him than to lose that Countrey for want of Men to defend it The latter of these is almost irretrievable but that former would be effectual were it not for an ill-grounded Jealousie which possibly heretofore might have deserved consideration but is now quite out of doors for in my judgment we ought ever to take in hand the thing which is most urgent when the one is inevitable and the other may probably never come to pass I say once more that France can never compass her great design but by being first of all Master of the Low Countreys 'T was for this reason that Du Plessis advised his Master to set upon it that way and 't is that pass alone which Spain and its Allies ought necessarily to stop with the same care and diligence as they would the breach in a Bank through which the raging Sea is ready to come in upon them and this we shall see hereafter The French Kings Ambition and Interest is a Torrent whose Impetuosity neither Affinity of Blood nor Alliance Peace Treaties Truce Swearing nor even Mutual Oaths are able to withstand I 'le go farther no not the very bounds which God by his wise Providence has set to the limits of every Monarchy which seems to speak to each Monarch Hither shalt thou go and no farther But Lewis XIV has sworn not to rest satisfied with the Lot which the Supreme Monarch of the Universe has given him Who can tell had he once Conquered the World but he would begin again another Tower of Babel to scale the very Heavens Ambition knows no bounds but Pride goes before a fall Oh that Spain would not suffer her self to be lull'd asleep by this deceitful Truce 'T is a Dalilah which all on a sudden cry out to the Spaniards the Philistians are upon thee But I am afraid it will be so as 't was with Sampson who when he awoke finding himself fast bound could no longer avoid becoming a Prey and Conquest to his Enemy The Grandees of Spain are a great help to France and contribute without dreaming on 't very much to the advancing of her Interest and support of her Ambition whil'st they inrich themselves at their Masters Expence and in the mean time disable him to keep up Men for their common defence but if they were well advised they should reflect seriously upon the Condition they are in at present and upon that they are like to be in when they fall under the Tyranny of France How happily would such a comparison obviate the misery which is coming upon them For they must think when a French Man comes to the Crown that the Spaniards will be but little considered and at best be only pittied or despised The natural antipathy between those two Nations wont suffer the new King to trust himself with them and all their stateliness will serve only for the French Court to laugh and jeer at The Spaniards must not flatter themselves if that comes to pass that the Dauphin after his Fathers Death will leave France to go and live in Spain The King 's of France will alway value Versailles beyond the finest City in Spain They will send Vice-Roys thither who shall be Frenchmen both by nature and disposition Mortal Enemies to the Spaniards that thus they may be secure that they wont join in any thing with the Spaniards against the French Interest These Governours and Vice-Roys will bring along with them for their necessary use their French Tax the Mal tote which will in a little time bring forth a whole swarm of Impositions as the Taille Taillon Aide Grant or Octroit Preciput Equivalent Free Gift Gratification Aid upon Wines Gabels upon Salt Corn and Flower Tobacco and Perriwigs on all sorts of Stuffs Linnen-cloth Le pied fourchu Impost upon Flesh the Mark of Paper upon Silver and Tin upon Milled and Silk Stockings Impost upon Ice Controlle des Exploits Tax upon Fee-Farms Tax upon the New Conquests Quint and Requint Mortmains the price of Valuations the Mark of Gold the two Sols a pound the right of Sealage right of Controlle of Register and Oath La Paulette abatement of Wages Custom appointment of a Governour the Eighth Peny Impost and the re-union to the Crown of whatsoever hath been given or sold with some others not worth naming Again after that the Spaniards would have for their hosts some of those Devilish Farmers of the Kings Revenue who would fasten upon them as if they were a Conquered Countrey and at first dash would lay a Tax upon the Sun knowing they make use of that instead of a Fagot Therefore I maintain that Spain should endeavour above all things to dispose the Emperor to accept of a Peace or at least a Truce with the Grand Seignior To look out while this present King is living for a Prince to succeed him and that this Prince may betake himself in time to Madrid to be well known to the people and be in the Heart of the Kingdom To Defend it and get Crown'd immediately upon the Kings Death To possess himself of the great Seal and all Instruments relating to the Crown And to make the Grandees of Spain side with him as their Lord and Master Moreover by this means Spain may make an early provision for the security of the Low-Countries and be justly undeceived in that pernicious Opinion which the Council of Spain has that England and the Vnited Provinces must necessarily defend them for their own Interest I own 't is true they ought to do it
years longer he would scarce see a Conclusion but must be fain to leave that business for his Successour So that the King had need stand upon his Guard while the people are thus dis-affected He not being in a Condition to send his Army abroad nor having Money to maintain them France in the mean time may do what she pleases may take the Low-Countries and all Spain too if the King of Spain happens to dye which is the thing France waits for so impatiently For the Second thing which is an Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and a perfect Harmony and Agreement between those two Potentates to oppose all Kings or Princes whatever who shall offer to violate the peace of Christendom 'T is an undoubted Truth that the States desire it of all things provided it be done so securely as they may venture to rely upon it and be back't upon occasion Of which there is small likelihood so long as things are as they are in England This is what France would not willingly see since the joyning of these two powers would probably divert her from many Enterprizes and make her lose her longing to undertake any thing contrary to the late Treaties of peace at Nimeghen and the Truce But France takes Care to hinder this and the mistrust and jealousie which she keeps afoot in England like magnifying Glasses makes the triviallest Objects look greater than they are both in publick and private Affairs We need go no farther than the business of Bantam which might long ago have been accommodated but France thinks it more useful to her that things be let alone as they are and neither go forward nor backward for fear of a happy Result An Union of England with the Vnited Provinces would give no great encouragement to the French designs upon the Spanish Netherlands for if England were so minded the King of France could never do any good if the late King would but have seemed to have stir'd the French had never taken Luxemburg but they knew his weakness and were so cunning to blind him that he good Prince never saw the mischief on 't till after the City was taken England acted very much against her own Interest when she parted with Dunkirk that City opened the Gate to go into France and the Low Countries But now 't will be otherwise if those Countreys fall under the yoak of Lewis le Grand and if he by his Conquests joins Neuport and Ostend to Dunkirk Flussing in a little time will be thought convenient for him and then he may very well begin to dispute the Dominion of the Seas with England and obstruct her Commerce and if at last the King of France Masters Holland which misfortune may happen the Low Countries being lost England may very well think 't is her turn next As 't was for this Reason that Queen Elizabeth told heretofore Mounsieur Sully the Most Christian Kings Embassador that neither France nor England nor any other Prince had any right to pretend to the Low-Countreys and further that she would never suffer that his King should so much as think on 't This very Sully in a Letter to Henry IV. sent him word That with a great Army for all what the Queen had said he might take a course to keep them in order and take possession of such Lands and Cities in the Low Countries as he should think fit for his turn and join France intirely with the United Provinces which is the only means says he to restore France to its Antient splendour and make her Superiour to all the rest of Christendom For if once by hook or by crook the Provinces of Luxemburg Juliers la Marck Mons Limburg Aix and Cleves were united to France without doubt all the rest of the Country would be forc't to follow their example being separated from any communication with the rest of the World. France has been fixt that way ever since she saw there was no good to be done towards Italy but all the Princes of Europe are highly concerned to put a stop to that Conquest And there are only those two Neighbouring Powers which are able and whose Interest it is most to hinder the progress that France makes in the Low Countries which will draw after it as I have said before dire effects As for Spain of it self 't is only a Body standing aloof off from its Members which has nothing left but her Tongue She is reduc't so low as even to say her Prayers to Notre Dame Charite and to beg her good Masters and Friends to take care of her and not forsake her England can do much toward the preserving the Low Countries and if her King had not promis't to sit still Luxemburg would have been at this time as 't was before a bone for France to pick. His Most Christian Majesty knows this very well and 't is for this reason that he takes so much pains to keep his Britanique Majesty firm to his Interests and if he wont declare for him at least that he will look on and accept a neutrality To bring this about he spares nothing neither Presents nor Pension nor Tricks and I may safely say that the Money which France gives is a venomous Serpent lurking under the Rose-leaves it smiles for the present but will frown severely afterward 't is an Iron Chain plaited over with Gold beautiful in appearance to attract and deceive the English but they will one day feel its weight and hardness if they don't make an early discovery of the base ends he has who offers it who will be their ruine at last since they can't subsist but by a due ballance between France and Spain I conclude then that 't is the King of Englands apparent Interest for self-preservation and advancing of Trade to oppose the King of France his Conquests in the Law Countries for if he does not and supposing that after the loss of that Countrey Fortune favours him and lets him be Master of all the Seventeen Provinces which may very well come to pass if the States are not seconded and stand only upon their own Leggs in what a condition will England be France will be stronger at Sea and more Potent in the Indies than she France will interfere with her in Traffique every day she will constantly have a brave Navy at Sea and especially in the Spring which will not let a mouse stir out of the English Ports without leave and upon the least resentment farewel England to all intents and purposes since there 's no body left who will or dare lift up a finger in her defence Moreover Englands best Policy is to keep France under not only to maintain her Dominion of the Seas but also to find a convenient opportunity for the recovery of her Antient Demesnes which France keeps from her for Example Britain Normandy Poitou Languedock and all France too which belongs to it by the Marriage of the King of England with Margaret
sacrificed so many brave men for the service grandeur and maintaining of that State yet that nevertheless they will stand to their Treaty of Peace and Allyance in the hopes they have always entertained and do still entertain that his Majesty to whom with the Royal Family they wish all happiness will on his part be responsable As for our part in particular though we have not had the happiness to see his Majesty yet we cannot chose but wish him all Personal Health and do assure your Excellency of the esteem and high value we put and all ways shall upon your deserts and incomparable vertue protesting to you that we are more particularly your most humble Servant After such a base affront who would not undervallue such Embassadours the Representatives and their Superiours also who durst present them with a Golden Chain of 500 Crowns value One would think they had an hand in it and that they were covetous of Money and Presents If an Embassadour after taking such an affront should have accepted it he would have deserved to be hanged with that Golden Coller By the refusal of Audience you may well understand what France is made of and its designs Whoever heard or saw a free and absolute Republique referr'd to a Parliament under his Authority as the King refers Geneva to the Parliament at Dijon it would have been more legal and just to have refer'd them to the Parliament at Turin Now behold the equity of this great King who would always be both Judge and Party in his own Cause who would make all Europe depend on his Judges some upon those of Metz others on those of Dijon and Aix in Provence as he forces the people of Orange to do but we hope those of Geneva will not submit to those unjust Judges and supposing they do they will not miss losing their Cause and after that they will make a new pretension upon them till they have fettered them and losing their City and Liberty they become the slaves of France a Victim offered up to the Jesuit and the Conquest of Lewis the great and it is odds but that will be so indeed if they don't look about them betime and prepare themselves for its coming upon them for he 'l come and give them a visit as he did the Genoueses Let them not flatter themselves with the contrary when he shall make them resolve to sacrifice themselves for their Liberty rather then to a Prince who would be their Antiochus their bloody Master and would snatch the Children from their Mothers embraces to deliver them into the hands of the Jesuits make them forsake Relations Religion and all duty of Christians and refusing to obey this ambition would hale them to the Scaffold and throw their Carcasses to dogs nay if so be they should deal more gently with them it would be only to make them bear company with his own Subjects in Dungeons in the Gallies and in the West-Indies Now take notice of this Spirit of France and beware of it That Lewis XIV is no good Christian I Shall finish this Treatise in demonstrating that this King is no good Christian that it is but a cloak for his Knavery the better to play fast and loose the better to bring about his ambitious designs that albeit he makes a great clutter with the title of most Christian King at Rome yet we find him to be nothing less All who are baptized are not Christians for then we might reckon Julian the Apostate and Arrius to be such whom men look upon as Apostates and Antichrists I am perswaded the Marquiss de Montespan will justifie what I say I cannot think that Prince worthy the name of a Christian who covets his Neighbours Wife nay before all the World takes her from her Husband makes use of her and begets Children of her whom he would fain get declared natural never before Lewis his time practiced in France He cannot assume the name of Christian who makes little Conscience to break the most solemn Oaths and Engagements made at the Communion as he did at the Peace concluded at the Perinees upon his Marriage with the Infanta of Spain And then the Oath taken at his Coronation to observe the Edicts of pacification are they not dayly violated and retracted upon every frivolous pretence Good Christians are such who live up to those Vows they have made even to very Infidels The Marquiss de Laverdin making his publick entrance into Rome did choose rather to do it like a Fox than a Lyon as since it appears without ever determining any thing positively concerning it when they demanded him to explain himself before he made his entrance so that engaging himself neither pro nor con it will always be time enough and seasonable to make his Masters will to stand him in stead as we shall see hereafter when the Provencal Fleet shall be before Civita Vechia and other Ports of the Popes Dominion besides that it was convenient to carry it fair to obtain the Bull for the Cardinal of Furstenburg whom France was assured would be nominated to the Coadjutorship of Cologn the Dean and Chapter as 't is credibly given out fingered the Kings Money to that in effect it was registred and their Votes sold so that it was not possible to go back with their word When the Marquiss de Lavardin entred Rome the business was as good as done and the King made sure of it but he found himself mistaken as to the Bull for he believed the Pope who is wise and good natured enough of himself not loving noise would yield at the Embassadors arrival that the Spiritual would give place to the Temporal but he was deceived in his account meeting with such stiffness and vigour in an old man which it may be one durst not have hoped for in a young man. In the mean time behold the Marquiss de Lavardin keeping watch and ward night and day and that round about the Palace of Fernese just as if it were a Fort surrounded with enemies before the Pope and the Conclave of Cardinals Noses By all these riots and indignities done to the most eminent person of the Church Vicar of Christ and St. Peters Successor is nothing in comparison to that which Talon the Kings Advocate hath belched forth against his Holiness and the Cardinals his Counsellors accusing the former to be a favourer of Heresie Jansenisme and of Quietists and a thousand other impertinences which is to be seen more at large in the demand of the abovesaid Talon to the Parliament of Paris and by the Embassadors protestation publickly affixed at Rome the expressions therein are scandalous that they might deservedly procure the fire for a private person but when one hath the power in his own hand he thinks he may Lawfully say and do whatsoever likes him But the Pope who is grave and wise will let him go on yea peradventure his great modesty and prudent behaviour may make the King come to himself again and acknowledge the wrong and that the Pope is Master at home in his own House and may be able to disannul and take away the Franchises of the Embassadors quarters when he shall see it convenient for the repose of his People and his own Conscience It is not his frequenting Mass which is a Characteristical mark of being a Christian or for being kind to the Jesuits for fear awes Princes sometimes to make much of Jesuits and shew much respect to them Hen. IV. was not free from this fear when he would have restored them in France for when the Duke of Sully advised him to the contrary he started up and replyed secure me my Life then for 't was more then probable that those who sued for their return had assured the King that if he did not do it he would be in imminent danger of being Murthered When Life is at stake what will not a man do to save it Who can tell but these good Fathers have told the King now Reigning if in case he did not root out all the Huguenots out of his Dominions this must come in alwayes ad majorem Dei Gloriam that he would endanger his Life What sign of a Christian was there in the King when he made a League with Cromwel to fall upon the Low Countries and to banish Charles II. from his Kingdom who was rightful Successor to the Crown of England and a good Catholick in his heart although afterwards out of Policy he was fain to appear otherwise Again what sign of Christianity doth there appear in a Prince who assists Count Tekely in league with the Turks against the Emperour A King who forbids all Bishops and Curats throughout his Dominion to cause Te Deum to be sung for the Victories of the Christians obtained over the Turks who impedes by force of Lewisses the progress of the King of Polands Forces against the same Turks that they may have the opportunity to employ all the Ottoman Forces against the Emperour thereby to make him abandon what he hath got at the dear rate of so much Christian blood What Christianity do you observe in the Kings proceeding at the Cities of Genoua and Orange where he hath no right at all So that by all that I have alledged all these Titles of most Christian and Catholick Zeal the King is so much taken with and affects is only a deceitful mask of hypocrisie to lull the Catholick Princes asleep the better to play his game and make himself Master of them one after another Although the King of England would hinder him as being the only man that could best do it he would endeavour to cause an insurrection of the Church of England men against him he would send them Money and Officers as he did to Cromwel so that one may say of the French King that he becomes all things to all men when his interest is at stake He enters into Covenant with Turk or Huguenot Pagans or Infidels against Catholicks themselves if it be necessary for promoting his greatness and to attain to the Monarchy of all Europe And for a conclusion this is the Kings Religion and your Wit and Policy of France FINIS