Assaults We hope also that the Emperours Council will stand better upon their Guard and appear more vigilant than they have been hitherto and that they will remove from France all means to pry into their undertakings yea even into their Closet-secrets For 't is well known what courses they have taken to make the Resolutions be changed and falsified when they were not relished by the King nor for his Interest and that the Emperour could neither speak consult write nor so much as make least proceeding but it was presently penetrated diverted another way incumbred watched and observed and by the Jesuits good leave they are accused of having had a great stroak in all these Affairs they always take the stronger side expecting a change No body can be ignorant but that the mis-understanding that arose between the Elector of Brandenburg and Monticuculi General of the Imperial Forces during the Holland War was occasion'd by the cunning contrivance of the Jesuite changing the Emperours Order to ingage Turrene with Brandenburg in the counterfeit Order not to engage which gave opportunity to the French Army to retreat which was in very great danger to have made their Graves there if it had been attacked by two so good Parties being reduced to its last legs through sicknesses running away from their Colours and a Mortality amongst them Then again At the Battel at Sennif Souches excuseth himself that he could not make the on-set for want of Orders this was hammered upon the same Anvil Yet we hope that Affairs changing their Face the Reverend Fathers the Jesuits will have better thoughts of the Empire I have much ado to omit two Affairs which happened during the Emperors last Rupture with the King one is the business of General Capelliers Steward of his Houshold who carryed on a correspondence with the French Embassadors and gave them a full account of whatsoever past at home in his Masters House that came to his hearing or knowledge the Letters of all the Matter were intercepted at the Post-house in Frankfort this Traytor indeed was clapt up but the Jesuits who at that bout had taken too large a Dose of Spirit Gall knew well enongh how to make him come of lest he should make a Discovery of some others During the Siege of Philipsburg by the Imperial Forces did not these good Men prevail with two Merchants to send in a supply of Powder but that Mine was sprung and vanisht in smoak the business was found out and the Jesuits brought it so about that the undertakers were not punished for fear lest they should make farther Discoveries I tell you this for truth for one of these Persons was one of my Acquaintance who told it me with his own mouth that they came to fetch him as far as from Paris where he was settled to get him to do this business You may see by this that the Spirit of France animates a great many Bodies actuates them strangely and that those in whom his Imperial Majesty puts most confidence are not always faithful to him When France carried on a design under-hand to induce the Emperour to bestow his two Sisters upon two Princes dispossest of their Inheritance it was not with an intent that businesses should succeed in this manner as we see they do at this day for we cannot deny but that Lorrain is the Restorer of the Empire an Hero of so many Great and Glorious Victories the Subduer of so many Provinces who will make the Grand Seigniour not only sue to him for Peace as he doth already but to grant whatsoever one demands of him to save his Head from the riot and fury of the Rabble who will be sure to do it if he conclude not a Peace or a Cessation of Arms and that speedily But this Spirit of France had its aims that is to say by getting some body to counsel the Emperour to bestow his two Sisters on two Princes in the forementioned Circumstances who despaired of recovering their Estates but by a Peace they would alwayes incline the Emperour to listen thereto notwithstanding his Imperial Majesty might not have that advantage by it that might be expected in hopes there might be some Article in it favourable to them restoring them to their Estates by this Peace The truth is that hath been very successful to the one as for the other it is to be hoped that he will open himself a passage to his Fortune by his Victorious Sword 'T is most certain that the misunderstanding which hath reigned between Prince Harman of Baden President of the Imperial Council and the Duke of Lorrain between the King of Poland and the Emperour are nothing but Eggs which France sits and hatches The Marquiss De Bethune is too well verst in the way to Poland and his Sister hath still a French Soul though Queen of that Kingdom The kindnesses the King of France has done her Children are faithful and living Witnesses and the transmitments that have past through the hands of the Bankers of Hamburg and Dantzik are like so many rayes of that great Sun of France which disperseth his Light into a great many Courts The Emperour cannot ignore that Itch of theirs is an old Distemper the Kings of France have so long been troubled with they long to be mounting the Imperial Throne because it is one step to the Universal or at least to the Monarchy of Europe Henry II. made them draw him out the Model after what manner the Romans cut out their way through Italy but those Countreys have ever been Caemiterium Gallorum and fatal to their Enterprises In like manner Duplessis gave advice to Charles IX never to venture upon Italy but upon the Netherlands Lewis XIV is much of his mind as shall appear by the sequel of the Story After the Death of Ferdinand III. did not the French King use his utmost endeavours to re-ascend the Throne of Charlemain he spared not to send into all the Courts of the Electors to procure their Votes and such who were great with these Princes did their business for them for France is free-natur'd enough when any one is to be brought over to their Party One of the visible demonstrations of the Kings designs is that he caused an Eagle to be put upon his Money just above the Head of his Effigies and that he speaks his mind freely but much more haughtily that the Empire hath been long enough in the House of Austria and that it is high time it should return to his again and that was just upon the Turks coming into Germany in the year 1683. But Man purposeth God disposeth All the wise projects and contrivances of Men are but folly before God who doth not guide the Oeconomy of the Universe according to the ambition of Lewis the Great Now because this King knows very well that the Electors may prove a great obstacle to his design upon the Empire if they have a mind to be cross therefore he
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
makes much of some threatens others The Dolphin of Frances Marriage concluded with the Princess of Bavaria was a bait to draw in the Prince of that Family to the King's Interest and so inspire his Body with a French Spirit That Pension the King allowed him for some time made him much in the Kings Books and devoted to his Interest nay over and above the Marriage every one was in the mind that this Prince would be perpetually devoted to his Benefactor but the unbecoming unworthy Matches that France offered this Prince made his Ministers look about them who knew so well how to disabuse him that he alter'd his mind and tack't about to the better and more glorious side whether we consider it in respect of the Marriage he contracted with the Emperours Daughter or by the Lawrels he won in Hungary This is a thing he durst not so much as have dreamt of if he had remained in the French Interest because the Conquests of the Imperial Army did not at all correspond with the Kings designs as we told you before No sooner had Mounsieur Baviere forsaken the French Party but the King to comfort himself up for that loss entering Madam la Dauphines Chamber told her that he just came from winning Eight Hundred Thousand Crowns of her Brother We all know how the Elector of Brandenburg is beset on all sides with the Emissaries of France and how the chief persons of his Court which discretion makes me forbear mentioning have taken but too large a Dose of that same Spirit Gall so that there is nothing transacted in the Electors Court but the French Envoy hath presently notice of it and by Mounsieur de Rebenack's good leave Men are sufficiently informed of all his Intrigues of all the Presents he bestows if it were less secret one might not perchance know it but he wanting the retentive faculty to keep his own Counsel he must give others leave to disclose it who are not so much concern'd to keep a secret If the late Prince Lewis had been surer to the French Interest than he was perhaps he might have been alive to this day Well I know the French Envoy had not an hand in the fact but did suggest and promote it I know that the Prince Elector is not ignorant neither whence the Distemper proceeds he hath reason to countermine them and stand upon his Guard but I could wish he may not be too slow and that he shut not the Stable door when the Horse is stoln If so be the Elector of Brandenburg had an insight into his real true Interest and Forces could but get rid once of these French Spirits that encompass her he might safely say he was one of the most puissant Princes of the North make others dread and stand in awe of him Be sure which way soever he takes he casts the scales France knows it very well too and that 's the reason why they court him so much Let him but stand Neuter and espouse no Cause she is satisfied The Persecution of the Protestants of France had in a manner opened the eyes of the Elector yet Mounsieur de Rebenack backt by Mounsieur D'espense managed things so finely that people gave more credit to what they said than to so many thousand Witnesses that arrived dayly at Berlin This I 'le say that the Elector hath this benefit that all those that flie to him for refuge people his Country But France out of spite to thwart his designs to make the Electorship fall after the Decease of Frederick William to some Prince or other who will be more favourable to him than those who were born by the Princess Lewis of Nassau and Orange and there is all the probability imaginable she will accomplish her designs in this matter at leastwise they are in a fair way towards it if God Almighty do not prevent it by preserving the Prince Elector alive to whom he may give Issue As for the Elector Palatine of the Rhine when France mediated a match between the Princess and the Duke of Orleans she had two things in her eye the first was thereby together with a Pension to allure the late Prince Elector into her Interests not being able to do that he might evermore devise pretensions for the Right of Madam of Orleans After that we know but too well how the Electors Palatines Father and Son were treated by Lewis XIV how the Palatinate hath been trodden under foot by his Troops and the people of that Country ruin'd and laid waste But last of all Death having deprived the World of these two Princes in a short time without Male Issue and seeing that at present the Palatinate is fallen to the House of Newburg pursuant to a Treaty with the Emperour to that purpose the King of France is perswaded there is no other resolution to take with the Elector now Reigning that he is too near an Allie to the Emperour to whom he is beholden for what he hath ever to abandon his Interests or quit his Party so that it is not thereabouts neither that France attacks it the pretenses of Madams Rights are now in debate The Popes medling in the matter signifies nothing the business is not ripe it is a Gate France keeps open for to enter into Germany by and all the delayes the Pope obtains do but keep off the Distemper a little longer and do not cure it and you shall see the next Spring if any change happen in Europe France will enter thereinto with Fire and Sword as she uses to do All the Elector must wish for is that Peace may be concluded between the two Emperours this Winter that the Death of a Prince hapning his success may afford work enough to Lewis the Great somewhere else Now these seem to be the only means how this Elector may avoid falling into the clutches of France and this reason ought much to sway with the Emperour and be a principal motive to him to make a Peace with the Turk as he may now do very advantagiously For he must know that if ever the French King break the Ice and gets footing in Germany he will never return back The French are very insolent and domineering especially at the first heat and in prosperity and provided Fortune smiles upon them at the beginning and in their first furie wherewith they undertake all Exploits that is a great incitement to them to drive on farther and farther and then peace with the Turk not being made I cannot tell whether the Emperour will be ever able to make it if he would never so fain at lest upon the same Terms and Conditions they offer him at this time The Elector of Saxony never made much account of all the proposals of France He is a Prince that doth not study all those cunning niceties and tricks that a great many other Courts are full of but one who being well verst in what is good for himself pursues it without disputing
Observation of the least punctillio of them helping and furthering what in him lies the progress of the Imperial Forces against those Barbarians the Turks through his moderation and complyance and what administers ground of suspition concerning the designs of the Court at Vienna which his Ministers do but too much lay open upon all occasions is their not being desirous of keeping the Truce any longer than they may be strong enough to break it Notwithstanding all this considering that this Truce hath offered to Christendom that happy Peace and Tranquillity it enjoys at this day and hath supplyed means to the States and Circles of the Empire by their assistance to bring upon the Ottoman Empire all those mischiefs wherewith they threatned the Hereditary Countreys We dare boldly and truly say that the Emperour is beholding to him for the preservation of his Country and for all those advantages he hath had over the Turks His Ministers are as much to blame to complain that the King making use of his full power hath caused his frontier places to be fortified as standing in most need Just as a Soveraign for the security repose and prosperity of his Subjects causeth the boundaries of his Territories to be fortified would not by so doing make us believe that he had the least thought of siezing upon his Neighbours Countrey or any mind to Commence a War no more than any private Person busying himself in repairing the utmost Fences of his Lands to make them good would thereby give but small proof of his desire to entrench upon his Neighbours But yet his Majesty is not without hope but that the Wisdom and Prudence of the States of the Empire assembled at Ratisbone will seriously reflect upon the just suspitions which the ill-grounded complaints of the Imperial Ministers have occasioned to him and that they will bethink themselves of one way or other that the good Intelligence which his Majesty purposeth to maintain with the Empire may not be interrupted nor impeded Given at Fountainbleau Octob. 22th 1687. To hear this Manifesto would not a Man judge that the Emperour is obliged to the King for all his Victories over the Turk and without him the Empire had been quite lost when all the World sees evidently by what we have said that it was none but he that induced the Grand Seigniour to break the Truce and to send relief to Tekely but the Spirit of France is always deceitful The Policy of France and the Maxims in relation to Spain FRom the Empire I pass to Spain which Kingdom and France have divided Europe between them some years last past all other Princes have listed themselves under their Banner thereafter as their Interest required but the most part agreed in that point to support the weaker and endeavour a just ballance between them The late Mounsieur Sully in a Letter to Henry IV. concerning the Quarrel with Spain says that the least growth of Power in the one is lookt upon to be a weakning and lessening of the other Until Philip IV. time Spain ever kept up its head though it began to decline in Philip the Seconds by reason of the War in the Low Countreys but ever since that and particularly after the last King Philip IV. Death France got the upper hand and Spain humbly submitted Upon the Festival of one of the Kings of Spain who was Sainted the Preacher St. Ferdinand extolling the grandeur of his Mighty King in his Sermon told 'em that if his God was not God the King Don Philip should be God but I suppose something less than so would satisfie his Successor the case being altered since that And yet Charles II. is King of Spain still has the same Indies and his Ships go thither and come home laden with Gold and Silver as they us 't to do heretofore but still this Spain is not like that which was once the Terrour of all Princes in Europe who were but justly jealous of her aspiring Greatness and had reason to be Confederates against it for their common defence Now 't is in the same condition that a Thief is when he 's brought to his last shifts and just ready to be taken If Spain were not supported by its Allies Lewis XIV King of France would quickly be at Madrid The Low Countries would bend under the French yoak in less than one Campaign though 't would be effected more easily because their own Prince has no Children and is very sickly and though they see utter ruine coming upon them yet they dare make no opposition for they could only make sport for the insolent French Troops if they should having no prospect of succours from any body that 's able to rescue them France knows all this well enough and 't is very true that France waits only for a fit opportunity to take possession of the Queens Right in the Dauphin's Name for the Crown of Spain falls to the Female Sex and it came to the House of Austria by a Woman that is to say by Jane Ferdinand King of Spains Daughter who married a Prince of that Family To let you see how much Spain suffers it self to be baffled by France I need only shew you two Examples which will convince you that I have said nothing but what is true The King of France sent a Memorial to the King of Spain and to the States of the United Provinces to this effect That if the King of Spain should grant the Low Countreys to the Duke of Bavaria or but make him Governour as the report was when he married the Arch-dutchess that she would then without more ado break off the peace since neither of those things could be done without manifest injury to the Dauphin's Right Mr. Feuquier was the Man who gave the Memorial to the King of Spain and Count D'avaux to the Vnited Provinces but were Paris over this perhaps you 'l say that Spain did not consider it well and they are so justly afraid of France that it is no wonder if that puts 'em a little out of their Wits But I am going to tell you a thing which you 'l own does sufficiently discover the weakness and poor Spirit of Spain it hapned at the Ceremony of making an Entry into London that the Spanish and French Embassadors met The Baron Watville went before Mounsieur d' Estrade France presently complains of this indignity and Spain was so pitifully mean as to disown that brave Action of their Ambassador Thus by that scandalous procedure Spain suffered in its Honour and gave place to France though there was nothing like necessity for their doing it I can see no other reason for 't but fear of Canon Law and dread of the Troops which France keeps up to inforce its Commands which are just ready too in case the King of Spain should dye suddenly Let Charles II. take what care he can in settling the Succession if he has respect for his own Family and the last Will and intent
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
but if France looses England from her true Interest and diverts her from thinking so as without doubt we shall find if this comes to pass in any reasonable time the Vnited Provinces whatever good intentions and whatever interest they may have in the preservations of the Low-Countries 'twont be in their power to stop the fury of the French which like an impetuous Torrent will in a moment sweep away the best part of Flanders So that Spain ought to think of this in good earnest and not lye asleep whilst the French policy is so active and is preparing long before-hand for so important an Affair which will never be offered them again if they let slip the opportunity of being Masters of it France takes all ways imaginable to get one and makes it her whole business it behooves Spain to do so too if she would avoid Ruine and not fall under the Yoke of France which is the greatest plague that can be sent upon her no less than the Destruction and Desolation of her people the exposing and humbling all the Grandees of Spain who will be forced to give place to the meanest French Gentleman Therefore if the Spaniards are well advis'd after the Death of their King they ought not to suffer the Monarchy to go to Lewis XIV but with the last drop of their Blood and Banish for ever this Violent Insolent Spirit of France The Policy of France and her Maximes in Reference to England HEnry VIII King of England in his time made a Golden Medal on which was Engraven a Hand coming out of the Clouds holding a pair of Scales equally poised the one Scale denoting Spain and the other France with a motto in Latin to this purpose in English I throw the Scales on that side I give my Friendship Without doubt that Prince knew his power but now I can compare England to nothing but an Ox which knows not his own strength and suffers himself tamely to be yok'd That Kingdom has this great advantage that it Guards it self and an Enemy can't invade it but with vast difficulty 'T is not to be invaded without going often to and fro upon the Sea they 'l have Wind and Water to fight against and a powerful Fleet to engage with before they set foot ashore Insomuch that if the King of England be at peace with Holland 't is undeniable in his power to make the Victory lean to that side he is of France has found this so true although there is a perfect Hatred and Antipathy between those two Nations that she has spared no Cost and compasses Sea and Land to withdraw England from its true lasting interest and bring her over to their side or at least make her stand Neuter and look on with arms-across while the King of France Acts his Tragedy upon the Theatre of Europe In the mean time t is most certain that England can rescue this same Europe from being enslaved to France better than any other Nation if she pleases If the King of Great Brittain did but know his own Strength and Real Interest he might be not only the Mediator and Umpire of the World But might make Peace when he pleases between all the Christian Princes There are but two things requisite to effect this both which are very easie nay are in the Kings power whenever he has a mind to 't The First is That the King of Great Britain take Care to be alwayes beloved by his People and that there be a good understanding between him and his Parliament The Second is To have a strict Alliance with the Vnited-Provinces and live in perfect Amity with them and maintain inviolably this Union and Correspondence in all that Concerns each other The former of these is mighty easily done and the King will obtain it effectually when he once resolves to Require nothing of his Parliament but what is agreeable to the Laws of the Realm as he already promis'd in his Coronation Oath The latter will be done so soon as His Majesty of Great Britain leaves listening to the French Emissaries and puts out of his head all Jealousies and Surmises which those Creatures continually try to possess him with having nothing that he need be afraid of from the States who don't wish to Aggrandize themselves and Usurp their Neighbours Territories as France do's but only keep what God has given them and be able to protect their Countrey in the enjoyment of that Liberty they have at present France who is satisfied of the Truth of what I have said takes all occasions to obstruct it She is never without some of those Hellish Restless Spirits in the Kingdom to sow the Tares of mis-understandings between the King and his Parliament Ever since the Kings of England have appeared to be Protestants this Catholicon has wrought well and the Spirit of France has been at work to set the Episcopal Party against the Presbyterian and to insinuate into the Minds of the latter that the Bishops were inclined to Popery and that most of them were Jesuites in Bishops Cloaths Who would certainly seduce the people little by little and be Turn Coates so soon as they have a good Opportunity and dare discover their Opinion That the King himself was Popishly-affected and a thousand things of this nature which exasperated the people and made his Parliament jealous of him for which reason they Granted nothing at all or but very little of what the King ask't and by this means his own private Occasions grew so very urgent that he neglected the Publick In the Reign of Charles the First t was France which kindled the first Sparks of the Civil War which caused so much Bloodshed both to King and People insomuch that when the French Ambassador return'd home from England he boasted how he had kindled a fire which would not be put out a good while and that for one twenty years England should not be in a Condition to do France any harm One Father Joseph a Capuchin was instrumental in fomenting the Division among the Catholicks under-hand and I can assure you there were some of those Catholicks in the Parliament Army King Charles himself affirms it and tells you that the Rebellion among them proceeded from his having denied them places and as soon as War was declared between the King and Parliament the King of France sent Cromwel Six Hundred Thousand Livres to pay his Army at the beginning This is publickly known and all who liv'd in that Age know it to be true But at present the King of Great Brittain having chang'd his Religion France has chang'd her Battery too and the Church of England is now her main Piece of Ordinance The people are so exasperated against each other that his Majesty of Great Brittain must think of little else this good while and will find work enough in his Kingdom to compass his Ends even though he had got a Parliament at his Devotion and if he should live Twenty
easily became Master of Holstein but alas good man can he imagine to keep it for surely that Country will take caâ—e to oblige him to quit it as soon as ever his Master the K. of France shall be routed out of the Vnited Provinces Were there but once a Peace concluded between the two Emperors the victorious Christian Army would certainly make the Usurper disgorge and reduce his Stomach to temper Soft and fair goes far Had it not been for the Alliance with France the Dane had never made that Assault upon Hamburgh which became the Grave to so many brave Danes and French that served in that Attempt the unlucky Fort of the Starr stopt them in their Career from whence with the loss of Two Thousand men they were obliged to retreat with shame and confusion thereby becoming the laughing-stock to all Europe besides The King of Denmark as well as many others is not really sensible of his own Interest but suffers himself to be dazl'd by this Golden Sun which France immediately displayes to such as she has a mind to corrupt she ever has in reserve her Nimigen Olives to gratifie such whose assistance she shall stand in need of But 't is a thing much to be hoped for that his Majestie of Denmarks Eyes may be opened as well as the Swedes and that he would retrieve himself from these Shackles and have recourse to his other Allies in whose power it is to make the Trade of his Kingdoms to flourish and his Revenues to increase without being obliged to keep up such a number of useless Troops as he does at present But France well knows the necessity of having at her beck one of those Northern Princes for fear they should unite in a strict Alliance and so league with her Enemies This Policy of France is the Apple of discord and she not being able to be without a Northern Allie if Denmark had stood off a while France must have purchased her Friendship at a double rate The Marriage which France proposed for P G with the P s A was only to strengthen her Party and to make her Alliance the surer this made her willing to defray the Charges thereof P G himself nor the King his Brother having not much Money to spare for that purpose this cost France a Hundred Thousand Crowns to secure to her side as she thought a Creature in England who should on all occasions further her designs and to knit this the stronger he would have had him believe he should succeed to the Crown after the Death of King James II. to the apparent prejudice of the next undoubted Heiress To make which the more feasible he would have fomented Jealousies between the two Sisters and their Husbands well foreseeing a terrible blow if Affairs should change and the Succession be kept in the right Line 'T is true the King of France might think to engage P G into a Scurvy business by contriving a Civil War in England after the Decease of the King now Reigning but I cannot devise after he should have involved him in this Labyrinth how he will extricate him The Duke of Monmouth for all he was the Son of a King is a caution to every Subject 'T is well known the French King is very earnest with the King of England by his Jesuites to demand of the First Parliament he can get at his beck and Devotion the Power to chose a Successor after the Example of Henry VIII and once gaining that to advance the P s A to the Crown before any other but many weary step and a far Compass must be taken before he get so far First of all The King of England must have a Parliament at his Devotion Secondly This Parliament must grant his Request Thirdly The King must choose nay who can tell but Death may prevent all these In the Fourth place 'T is meet the People consent to this Choice Nay last of all 'T is absolutely convenient that the P s of O as Lawful Heiress acquiesce in such determinations The French King who is no admirer of Vertue but as it keeps pace with his Interests understanding those Noble Qualities and Great Vertues the Princess of Orange is indued withal that she will no sooner shine upon the Throne of her Ancestors but she will attract and win the Hearts of all her Subjects both by her Wisdom and also strict Alliance with her Neighbours He sees that these Ties and Bonds may in time make him disgorge what he hath swallowed and repent of all the sorrows he hath caused and still doth cause Christendom to suffer Who knows but God may have marked out this Great and Vertuous Princess as a second Judith to put this Blasphemous Holofernes to Death Yea this is what this Usurper and Disturber of Christendom is so sensibly apprehensive of and endeavours to hinder by feeing and corrupting the Great Men of England by making sure of all the Catholicks and of Ireland it self thereby to give them relief in case of necessity But P G and his Consort P s A will look better about them and will not suffer themselves to be deluded by this deceitful Spirit of France They see all its pernicious and deceitful Maxims and will wait for the time Providence hath determined for their Succession to the Crown they have already gained the Peoples Hearts the Esteem and Reputation of Europe and of their Allies and by this means may be assured to back and justifie their rightful Titles at that time in case any one should dare to oppose it As for the Princes of the House of Lunenburg they are taken notice of and watched they are encompast with French Emissaries on all sides who do nothing but continually set before them the Advantages that may accrew to them by accepting of the French Kings Pensions or to speak the truth make themselves Slaves to Lewis le Grand just following the King of Denmarks Example to dance after his pipe The French pence often stick too close to the fingers of the Ministers of those Courts Bois-David and his Kinsman St. Pouage could tell us fine stories of their tricks and certain too they could deliver brave Memorials concerning that Court had not Bois-David been for the Kings turn he durst never have had the face to have come home into France as he did being found guilty upon the score of a Duel with Aubjou for there is no fault how hainous soever but the King pardons if the Malefactor be judged needful for his Interest and Ambition We are confident the King proffers vast Sums to withdraw the Princes of the House of Lunenburg from their true Interest and so bring them under the French Yoak but I would have them disabus'd 'T is no wayes Honourable nor creditable for Free and Soveraign Princes to stoop so low as to be Mercenary to France and 't is certain all these offers are for nothing else but to loosen themselves from their honest true Allies viz.