are suffer'd to enjoy the Fruit of their Labour After these Remarks I return to what I just touch'd upon before when I said there was great difference between what a Prince doth himself and that which during his Minority is done by his Minister for if his Minister hath mismanag'd and not taken care of his Affairs he is not bound to approve of those Faults he committed for a Prince ought not to be in a worse Condition than a Private Man who can help himself against that which his Guardian hath done prejudicial to his Interest Beside the People having usually an irreconcilable Hatred against those that Farm the publick Revenue 't is a Pleasure to them to see 'em lose some of their Grease To this I add that the time of a Prince's Minority being commonly troublesom and his Coffers charged with a great many Debts he cannot take an easier course to pay them or that which will make less noise because it toucheth none but some particular Persons and the generality is so far from being discontended that they rejoice at it because they had rather the Prince should have their Substance than those wretches who in Fattening themselves with it often do the People a thousand Injuries By this way of prosecuting the Partisans your Majesty paid a vast number of Debts and in the mean time God blessed your Marriage with a Son who inherits his Father's Vertues your Majesty hath taken such care of his Education that joyn'd with his natural disposition it must be a wonder if he prove a Prince less perfect than your self About this time you marry'd Monsieur your Brother to a Princess of England he took the Title of Duke of Orleans after the Death of Monsieur your Uncle who left no Male Issue This Allyance maintain'd a good Correspondence between your Majesty and the English who after the Death of Cromwell in the Year 1658. found his Son Richard so unfit to succeed him that they set their Lawful King again upon the Throne About that time fell out an Accident in that Country which had like to have ingag'd your Majesty in a new War Your Ambassador having sent his Coaches to meet the Sweedish Embassador who was to make his Publick Entry the Spanish Embassador that his Coach might go before yours hir'd Men to cut the Traces of your Embassador's Coach so that the Spaniard had what he desir'd But his Triumph lasted not long for your Majesty being justly incens'd against what he had done demanded Satisfaction of the King of Spain who seem'd a while Deaf before he would yield to what you requir'd But your Majesty having commanded your Embassador at Madrid to tell the King of Spain unless he gave you the Satisfaction you expected there must be a Rupture between the two Crowns The fear the King of Spain had of your Majesty's Arms made him not only disclaim what his Embassador had done but also declare it was not his Intention to dispute precedency with your Majesty This Declaration was made by the Marquess de la Fuentes his Catholick Majesty's Minister residing in your Court in Presence of other Embassadors and Ministers who were also there and their Masters were by them certify'd this Difference was ended to your Majesty's Satisfaction After this you supprest the Place of Collonel-General of the French Infantry vacant by the Death of the Duke d' Epernon who had carry'd the Authority of this Place so high that he seem'd to have almost a mind to contest it with your Majesty pretending to dispose of all Commands in the Infantry without excepting so much as the Companies of your Guards which was of such Consequence that it might have been the Cause of many Inconveniences You made many excellent Regulations among the Souldiery so that they became subject to Discipline which before they were not for such Disorder reign'd among 'em that there was as many Masters as Captains especially in the old Corps where they were so far from acknowledging the Authority of Collonels that they would hardly submit to that of a General You likewise positively Commanded that all the Souldiers should have what they wanted and whereas before they went almost naked and in the same Company one was Cloath'd in Grey another in Blue Red or any other Colour you Order'd they should have Shoes and Stockings and that every Companies Cloaths should be all of one Colour This other Princes lik'd so well and thought so necessary that they have all since follow'd your Example and your Majesty may boast that all the Souldiers in Europe owe to you the Conveniences they now enjoy But you have not done any thing so much to their Advantage as the taking away from their Captains the Power of trying them for their Crimes because the impunity which they hop'd for encourag'd them to commit many Disorders Certainly there is nothing more unjust than to leave the Punishment of an Offence to them whose Interest it is to save the Offender and 't is well known that a Captain who must give money for a Souldier in the room of one that is Cashier'd or Hang'd is seldom so great a Lover of Justice as to buy it at his own Cost This Reformation among your Partisans and Souldiers preceded all others because you look'd upon it to be the Foundation of all sure and solid Government rationally concluding that when you were Powerful in both all the rest without meeting with any difficuly would do well of it self For certainly a Prince that hath Money and a good Army is not only sure of his own Peoples Respect but of his Neighbours also 'T is that which gives him Reputation and without which a Kingdom cannot Flourish So likewise a Prince who takes care of his Affairs will make it his chief Business to gain Reputation wherein he will find more Advantage than in making himself fear'd by unjust Enterprizes tho' they should meet with Success For the one draws upon him the Enmity of all other Princes when the other procures him their Respect and Esteem When a Kingdom hath many Enemies it sooner or later receives some deadly Blow all striving against it Whereas when its Power is founded upon Right and Reason it hath always faithful Allyes who will never fail to assist it in time of need A Prince therefore who is well advis'd ought not to undertake any War that is unjust for if nothing but Ambition puts Arms into his Hands his old Friends presently become his Enemies for which they are not to be blam'd since their safety is no greater than others Yet this Truth as Evident as it is and from which Princes should never depart is not always the rule of their Actions A corrupt Minister often endeavours to insinuate other Maxims and instead of taking good Heed they mistake the Shadow for the Substance I am troubled that this may be said of your Majesty but because you are to fear Flatterers more than declared Enemies I am resolv'd
totally defeated that they have never since been able to recover their loss But without robbing that Prince of any part of his Glory we may say That this success was owing to none but God for had he not taken your Majesty into his Protection the Enemy might have advanced to the head of a narrow Way through which the General must have past in their presence They might also have fallen upon him when by the inconvenience of the Ways he was oblig'd to divide his Army But beside all these Difficulties there was an apparent danger in giving Battel for had it been lost the Enemy might have march'd to the very Gates of Paris But 't is sometimes God's Will that neither Party shall think of doing that which they should do and then he leads those step by step whom he hath resolv'd to protect The happy success of this Battel of Rocroy was follow'd with a Joy that was the more sincere because your Subjects had a tender Love for your Majesty and the Queen your Mother The Persecution she had suffer'd as well as Mary de Medicis during Cardinal Richelieu's Ministry procur'd your Mother a great deal of pity and as Pity is usually accompany'd with Esteem the more unhappy she had been the more People resolv'd to follow her Fortune However it ought to be observ'd it was otherwise with Mary de Medicis for all People saw her departure out of the Kingdom with dry eyes no body was concern'd but her own particular Servants and Domesticks Upon which may be made this very good Reflection That Princes soon lose the Love of their best Subjects by their ill Government She had shewn too much Favour to Mareschal d'Ancre and his Wife both of her own Country to be pity'd by the People And as in France as well as in other Places they do not love to obey Strangers the Grandees murmur'd at it and left the Court because the Queen little regarged their Complaints The King your Father also grew jealous of their Power which caus'd the Assassination of the Mareschal and the tragical end of his Wife However it was very ill digested and God be thanked we have not seen your Majesty's Reign stain'd with any thing like it A King never doth well to dip his Hands in the Blood of his Subjects When they deserve Punishment they ought to be legally prosecuted in a Court of Justice which perhaps sometimes cannot be safely done when a Subject becomes so great that his Master hath just cause to be afraid of him Wallestein was such a one and therefore the Emperour Ferdinand III. was excusable for commanding he should be kill'd Henry III. had the same reason to rid himself of the Duke of Guise when he was upon the point of usurping his Kingdom and shutting him up in a Monastery But except in such cases a Criminal is to be put into the hands of Justice not only for the Prince's own sake but because it is necessary the People should know that the Person is guilty Henry IV. took this course with Mareschal Biron for tho' he fear'd that if Biron perceiv'd his Designs were discover'd he might raise Troubles in the Kingdom yet that did not hinder the King from having a greater regard to what he ought to do for his own sake than for what might thappen The Queen your Mother SIR had done well had she taken example by that which befel Mary de Medicis she had not then brought the State as she did within so near being lost by the choice she made of Cardinal Mazarin to succeed Cardinal Richelieu His being a Stranger made all your Subjects forget the Obedience that was due to their Soveraign It was to no purpose to tell them He had already done great Services to the Crown and was still able to do greater because he understood foreign Affairs better than any other Person which indeed is absolutely necessary for a Publick Minister But they fancy'd these Reasons not so good as their own nor could they be beaten out of their Opinion That he being born a Subject of the King of Spain was never to be trusted And accusing the Queen-Mother of being more a Spaniard than a French-Woman they seem'd to repent the Pity they had had for her which appear'd in their confessing Cardinal Richelieu had reason to persecute her tho' all the Sufferings she had endur'd had no other foundation than a pretended private Intelligence she kept with the King of Spain her Brother But so People might satisfie their Passion they car'd not at what Price they did it I have reason to call all that Passion which was done a little after the Death of the King your Father since it is certain that your Subjects do not alway call Reason to their Aid If they had they would have seen that the Queen your Mother was not so much to be blam'd as they thought seeing she had preferr'd before others a Man that was able to keep up the Reputation the Crown had gotten in foreign Countries and knew what course was to be taken to meet there with success 'T is that which all the World doth not know tho' it be a thing of very great Consequence My Brother whom your Majesty Honour'd with making him Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs took the liberty many times to represent it to your Majesty but the Marquess Louvoy who hath Maxims very contrary to those Great Men's who have preceeded him in the Administration of the Kingdom destroy'd in a moment all that he strove to do But I know not whether the Marquess will always have Reason on his side because he makes use of the Strength only of your own Subjects which Cardinal Richelieu who knows as much as he did not do when he carried the War into Germany made Catalonia and Portugal revolt and led the way to the low'ring of the House of Austria Indeed tho' your Kingdom be very powerful and your Majesty hath a third part at least increas'd its Strength by your Conquests yet 't is contrary to good Sense to exhaust all its Forces Your Majesty will be better able to maintain the War by arming other Princes in your Favour But to do that you must treat them like Soveraigns as they are and not pretend as Monsieur Louvoy doth because they are your Majesty's Inferiours they ought to look upon themselves as Slaves Your Majesty perhaps knows not what Answer he made to the Elector Palatine's Envoy who complaining at the beginning of the Holland War That his Master was no better treated than those who were actually in Arms against you the Marquess told him That it did not become such a petty Prince as his Master to make so great a Noise about so small a Matter That your Majesty was not bound to give an account to any Man of your Actions And That the Elector's standing so much on his Points was the way to lose the Honour of your Friendship Such great Words SIR may
The poor Village of Courtisoux in Champaign whose Wealth consists only in Cheeses hath for several Years given Charpentier three thousand Livers per an to free them from Quartering Souldiers But when they could no longer pay him so great a Summ and desired an Abatement he forgot their Presents and order'd Souldiers in their passage to Quarter upon ' em I might fill this Paper with the like Abuses yet should never have done Your Majesty knows it was not long since I shew'd how you were cheated in what was appointed to defray the extraordinary Expence of the War Where you were made to pay one Regiment twice by a secret Compact between the Commissary and the Treasurer I know very well this cannot be directly charg'd upon Monsieur Louvoy but as he is bound to Answer for those that are employ'd by him so 't is he and not I that is to supervise them My place finds me work enough and I desire no new Imployment 'T is your Majesty is concern'd and your People upon whom the burden of all these disorders falls because 't is from them you expect Mony when your Exchequer is empty I do not pretend to give you a particular Account of these Frauds 't is impossible for me to do it without depriving my self every Night of four or five Hours sleep which are absolutely necessary for my Repose after I am quite wearied with more Business than I am able to bear Your Majesty I hope will reflect on what I have said when you think fit in the mean time I return again to the prosecution of your History The Spoil which the Garrison of Phillipsbourg made in the Elector Palatin's Country oblig'd the Emperour to be rid of his continual importunities to keep that place block'd up all the Winter and promis'd him to take the Thorn quite out of his Foot by besieging it in the Spring which no body durst undertake while Monsieur Turenne was alive The Count de Lorges importun'd your Majesty to bestow the same favour on him that you had upon his Brother and so many others whom you have Honoured as I have already said with a Mareschal's Staff of France He brought to your Account the Service he did your Majesty in conducting your Army over the Rhine after his Uncle's Death and the long time he had serv'd your Majesty You had no great mind to grant his Request not but that you thought him a Man Brave enough and that he very well understood his Trade But having a small Estate you thought he would be unable to support the Dignity of his Title Monsieur Louvoy who look'd upon him as the Nephew of a Man he never lov'd did him ill Offices believing he would never be his Friend When I perceiv'd it and that your unwillingness to grant Count de Lorge's Request was only for the Reason I have now mention'd I told your Majesty if the Count would make Love to Fremont's Daughter and had but her Father 's good Word I would undertake he should certainly get her Now to do him effectual Service I threatned Fremont under-hand to have him question'd concerning some Affairs and how he came to be counted the Richest Man in all Paris This frighted him and knowing he had need of Protection he hearken'd to the Proposition made by Count de Lorge upon condition he was first made a Mareschal of France I acquainted your Majesty with what was like to happen in Count Lorge's Favour so that you being perswaded this Marriage would much better his Condition you gave him the Staff he so earnestly desired He then Married Mademoiselle de Fremont who brought him so great a Portion that he bought with ready Mony the Captain 's Place of your Majesty's Guards He also Treated for the County of Quintin which is one of the most considerable Estates in all Brittany the Yearly Rent whereof amounts to Fifty Thousand Livers And as Fortune when Men begin to be Happy heaps upon 'em her Favours so it fell out in this case for he of whom this Land was bought who was to have his Debts discharg'd and a great Pension paid him during his Life died in a short time after so that Mareschal de Lorge had a very good bargain What I had contributed to his good Fortune made Monsieur Louvoy keep him out of Imployment this Campaign tho' he had behaved himself much better than Mareschal Rochefort who did not Execute his Orders to put Men and Provisions into Phillipsbourg Your Majesty knows what a Fault he committed in endeavouring it and that he dyed with grief for having fail'd in the attempt which was more for want of Courage than Conduct This should teach us never to be exalted too high lest our Heads turn and our Fall be the greater A Man may get that Reputation in an inferior Post which perhaps he would lose in a higher Prudence prompts us to measure our Ambition by the knowledge we have of our selves otherwise to our own ruin we may find there was Truth hid in the Fable of Phaeton Your Majesty open'd this Campaign with the taking of Condé which was follow'd by that of Bouchain The Prince of Orange drew near your Army in order to their relief but did not think it safe to attack you with an Army so much inferiour to yours After the taking these two Places you return'd to Versailles leaving the greatest part of your Army under the Command of Mareschal Schomberg The rest you sent to the Duke of Luxemburg who Commanded in Germany The Prince of Lorrain was there at the Head of the Emperour's Army and at last besieged Phillisbourg which made so good a defence that the Duke of Luxembourg had as much time as he could wish for the relieving it The Prince of Orange sat down before Maestricht where the Commander in chief as the Governour of Phillipsbourg had done so well perform'd his Duty that Mareschal Schomberg gave Mareschal Humieres time enough to form the Siege of Aires For which he lent him part of his Troops but recalling them again when the Siege was ended he Marched directly towards Maestricht so that there had been a bloody Battel if the Prince of Orange who had lost six weeks time and six or seven thousand Men at this Siege had not thought fit to quit it This prosperous Success of your Majesty's Arms made the Dutch sick of the War but that which troubled them more was the misfortune that befel them the beginning of this Year at Messina They had sent into those Seas the Famous de Ruyter who from being at first but a common Sailer was now preferr'd to the chief Command of their Fleet. Never was a Man more fam'd upon the two Seas he came off so bravely in all Engagements that his very Name was enough to make his Party Victorious but your Fleet got the better of him About three Months after not thinking himself sufficiently beaten he try'd a second Engagement and was worse handled
to them he chose to retire to his Imperial Majesty whose Sister he had married the beginning of that Winter CHAP. VI. Containing that which past after the Treaty of Nimeghen till the Year 1684. YOVR Majesty having now nothing more on your Hands than the War of the North for which the Emperour was to give you passage You order'd your Army to march on that side Mareschal Crequi who commanded knowing the Truce which your Majesty had made with your Enemies was expir'd drew near to the Weser where Spaen General of the Marquess of Brandenbourg's Troops resolv'd to oppose his Passage But your Army which had pass'd the Rhine in the Face of your Enemies pass'd this River also in spite of Spaen The Elector and his Allies then saw they were not able to deal with your Forces and it being in your Power to make what Treaty you pleas'd you restor'd those Places to the King of Sweden he had lost among which were some of greater consequence than those I have mention'd Your Majesty having in this manner given Peace to Europe the King of Spain sent the Marquess de les Balbaces to your Majesty to demand Mademoiselle your Brother's Daughter in marriage This Princess who would have been much better pleas'd to marry Monseigneur the Dauphin wept bitterly when she heard the News But your Majesty without any delay nam'd the Chancellor the Duke de Villeroy Monsieur Pompone and my self to treat this Affair with the Embassador but no body could pacifie the Princess Your Majesty thinking there could no where be found so good a match for her without consulting whether she lik'd it or not sign'd the Treaty of Marriage She was now to leave France and your Majesty which she did with such a torrent of Tears that made all the Court pity her She never ceas'd weeping all the way tho' Prince Harcourt and his Lady who had the care of conducting her told her what prejudice it might be to her in the Court of Spain where were those who without any occasion would be ready enough to do her ill Offices But her Affliction was so great that she was incapable of Counsel and she seem'd to have a secret Sence and Forefight of that which afterward happen'd to her I had pray'd your Majesty to give this Employment to the Prince and Princess Harcourt who stood in need of your Majesty's Favour for his Father was very unkind to him and led so strange a Life that I thought sit to speak of it to your Majesty he kept a Woman and as some say caus'd her Uncle to be drown'd because he was against their living so scandalously together Your Majesty who will suffer no such Disorders commanded me to send and Exempt of your Guards to Harcourt to bring away the Woman to Prison who was supected to be accessary to the drowning of her Uncle but he had sent her into England so that the Exempt came back without her This was a Lesson one would have thought might have made the Son wiser But Examples are sometimes to very little purpose unless we have dispositions in our selves to make good use of them This Prince tho' he Married a very handsome discreet vertuous Woman yet car'd very little for her and manag'd all his other affairs so imprudently that by his own fault he lost a very great fortune The Family of Guise was extinct by the death of the last Duke of that name who was the Son of a daughter of Monsieur the Duke of Orleans your Majesty's Uncle Madam Guise Heiress to the deceased Duke was an old Princess never marry'd and being a very good Woman had a mind to revive her Family She cast her Eyes upon Prince Harcourt a Friend of hers but who was more a Friend to the Prince having given her a very good Character of him So that she sold him the Dutchy of Guise whereof the yearly Rent amounted to Forty Thousand Crowns beside other Lands He not being Master of Money enough to pay for it she acquitted him of a Million But instead of giving his Friend Thanks who had done him so great a Kindness he began to speak ill of him to the Princess who judging by his horrible Ingratitude what an unworthy Man he was undid all all she had done having by contract reserv'd to her self a Power of Revocation Thus we see what great Fortune Men sometimes lose by their own Folly But to your Majesty's Praise be it spoken you gave the Duke of Main better Counsel when you preach'd Gratitude to him on the like Occasion when Madam Montpensier gave him the Principality of Dombes and the County of Deu Two as considerabe Estates as any in France whereof one alone cost Seven Hundred Thousand Crowns Certainly there can be no Fault in Man greater than Ingratitude and if it be so great in a Private Man 't is much more in a Prince who ought to have a generous Soul and a Disposition always to do Good Your Majesty whose Power was become considerably greater by the advantageous Peace you had made began a war in your own Dominions which necessity had for a while kept back the Circumstances of your Affairs requiring you not to disturb the Hugonots of whom you long ago resolv'd to purge your Kingdom but you went on with this Work first by taking away the Chambers of the Edict establish'd in the Parliaments of Tholouse Bourdeaux and Grenoble Your Reputation was great enough now to venture upon many things which you durst not attempt before You caus'd Mass to be said in Geneva which had never been done since the Year 1535 when the Priests were driven out of that Town There are certain times more proper than others to give success to what one undertakes and it is in chusing such times that a Prince shews his admirable Prudence A Prince cannot expect absolute Submission to his Will and Pleasure till he hath magnified his Name by some great Actions and he ought to know that sometimes his Reputation will do him more Service than his Power The Neutrality which the Duke of Bavaria observ'd during the War cost your Majesty a great deal of ready Money Beside you promis'd the Dutchess his Wife that Monseigneur the Dauphin should marry their Daughter But seeing a Prince should always take care before-hand what he promiseth because he must never break his word you sent to enquire whether this were like to be a sit Match and whether this Princess's Person and good Qualities did deserve so good a Husband But finding nothing to discourage you from desiring this Allyance a good Education a great deal of Wit and in appearance great respect for your Majesty and the Dauphin who tho' he were not above Nineteen Years of Age yet you resolv'd no longer to defer marrying him you sent my Brother who had been one of your Plenipotentiaries at Nimeguen to the Court of Bavaria to conclude this Match and you were so impatient to hear whether some