THE Detestable Designs of FRANCE EXPOS'D Or the True SENTIMENTS OF THE Spanish Netherlanders The Injustice of the King of FRANCE BY HIS DECLARATION Of War against His Catholick MAJESTY And the Justice of the COUNTER-DECLARATION of the Marquess of Gastannaga his Governour General of the Low-Countries London Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock at the West end of St. Pauls Church-yard 1689. THE TRUE SENTIMENTS OF THE SPANISH NETHERLANDERS c. FRANCE sets her self against all the World and therefore it is but just that all the World should declare against Her. She it is that makes the first Onset and we can do no less than defend our selves Since the Germans in a little Treatise entitled the French Herald have so successfully refell'd the Declarations of War made by he most Christian King against the Emperour and the Pope the Flemings are no less oblig'd to their Sovereign and the Marquess of Gastannaga their Governour Nor are they in a worse condition powerfully to refute all the weak and pitiful Arguments with which the most Christian King endeavour'd to support his Pretensions After he had declar'd War against the Emperour and at the same time against the Empire for he seeks the utter extirpation of the House of Austria he has also declar'd War against the Catholick King by an Act of the fifteenth of this present year 1689. and at the same instant has exercis'd all manner of Hostility upon his Dominions as well in Flanders and the Low-Countreys as in Catalonia 'T is very true that before he fell to work there was no Stone which the Court of France left unturn'd to corrupt the Spanish Council on purpose to draw them from their own Interests and divide them from the Emperour For She well knows that while the House of Austria continues firmly united in the two Branches of Spain and Germany she need not be afraid of any other Power and therefore it is that she has attempted to divide them So that after she had declar'd War against Spain by the Exercise of most dismal Hostilities she has labour'd to the utmost of her Power to prevent the King of Spain from sending succour to his own Bloud and his own Family This is absolutely to tie one Arm to hinder the relief of the other which they are maiming at the same time But be sure that after Spain has sat quietly to see the Empire devour'd France them will turn her Arms upon him and perfect his destruction 'T is true that Lewis XIV finding himself burthen'd with King James of England who has thrown himself into his Arms and drawn upon him a terrible War through the Union of the Forces of England and Holland would fain lull Spain asleep and cajole the Emperor with vain hopes of peace and by motives of Religion His Ministers have spared no Flatteries at the Court of Spain He has offer'd the King of Spain to make him Arbitrator and Mediator of the Peace between him and the Empire He has caus'd his Ministers to lay before the King of Spain that it is the Interest of the Catholick Religion before all things to see the King of England re-establish'd in his Dominions besides that it would be a work of infinite Charity That the differences between the Emperour and him might be easily determin'd by way of Negotiation upon which Heaven would never fail to shed down a Blessing so soon as their Interests were link'd together by so pious a work as would be that of restoring a Catholick King dispossess'd for the sake of his Religion The Ministers of France at the cost of Spain made use of all their Engins which were employ'd in Germany to disunite the Princes of the Empire They laid before them That it was a real War for the sake of Religion That there was a League between the Lutheran Princes of Germany the Hollanders and the English revolted from their lawful Sovereign and that they menac'd no less the ruin of all the Catholick States than of the Catholick Religion it self And besides all this they made use of all those persons who had the nearest Access to his Catholick Majesty to insinuate into him the great Advantages that would accrew to Both if he and the Emperour should join their Forces to those of France against the Common Enemy They farther whisper'd him in the Ear That the Hollanders were not alter'd in their Inclinations by the Treaties of the Truce and Peace that had been brought to pass since their Rebellion That after all they were but Rebellious Subjects and that it always became him to make it his business to reduce them under their former Yoke that their Master offer'd his Majesty the Assistance of his Forces to tame and bring them under subjection and their old Obedience That England and Holland made a Union formidable to all such Princes who had any Territories bordering upon the Sea That the King of Spain had great reason to fear the loss of the Netherlands That the English who had been in possession of Dunkirk not long since would not be wanting to make themselves Masters of Newport and Ostend which when it should come to pass they should soon be Lords of Brussels and Antwerp that there would be no security for Spain it self That her Coasts lay naked and open as well upon the Ocean as the Mediterranean Sea and that she would be always expos'd to the Invasions of the fierce and haughty English and the Attempts of Holland always covetous and seeking after nothing but Gain That the two faithless Nations being Mistresses of the Sea would make an Eternal separation between the Dominions of the King of Spain in the new discover'd VVorld and those which he has in Europe That his Gallions would import no more Bullion into his Territories but be snap'd by the way to gratifie the Luxury of the English who never think they have enough to supply their Debaucheries and Effeminacy or else to asswage the Avarice of the Hollanders who never believe they have Gold and Silver sufficient in their Coffers That they would never content themselves with putting a stop to the flowing Rivolets but would suddenly go to the Fountain it self and that the two Insatiable and faithless Nations would wrest even Peru it self from the King of Spain But luckily for us all these great Engins were broken to pieces by the constancy of the Spanish Council Thereupon the Court of France being incensed by the ill success of their Intrigues has declar'd War against the King of Spain and grounded their Declaration upon ridiculous Reasons not much more solid than those contain'd in their Manifesto against the Emperour to justifie their taking Arms a second time Let us a little examin this Declaration and the better to discover the vanity of it let us compare it with the Counter-Declaration of Monsieur the Marquess of Gastannaga our Governour The sincere desire says the Declaration which the King has had to observe the Truce concluded
during a War of fifty Years from the unfortunate Overthrow of Frederick Elector Palatine who aspir'd to the Crown of Bohemia to the Peace of Munster There is not a City in Germany that was not subjected several times to the change of various Masters If a War were made upon their foundation that nothing is to be left for the Enemy to make a benefit of all the Cities in the World would be reduced to Ashes The Hollanders are happy in this that that same Devil which now possesses France did not enter her sooner For then the great City of Vtrecht the Cities of Arnheim Nimeghen Campen Zwoll Deventer Doesburgh Bommel Thiel and in a word all the Towns of Guelders Overyssel and the Province of Vtrecht which France abandon'd had been utterly destroyed the famous City of Messina had been like the top of Mount Gibello not far distant from it Has not our Governour reason enough to say That the French have no regard to the Laws of Religion or War We know that the Laws of War do authorize many Acts which in Peace are look'd upon to be wicked and villainous when we quit a City that we cannot keep we carry away whatever may render it formidable to those that are forc'd to leave it We demand Ransom and take the chief Inhabitants for Hostages Nor were the French ignorant how to make the best Advantage of these Priviledges during the Dutch War. Thus also when we abandon any strong Garrisons we take care to ruin the principal Fortifications Lastly when we are sorely prest upon by the Enemy Necessity constrains us to destroy whatever may be serviceable in the Country to the Enemies Army VVe burn up the Hay carry away the Corn set on fire what we cannot carry away and destroy all the Mills But to fall without mercy upon Cities and Houses and to burn them and lay them in Ashes is a monstruous and unparallel'd Extravagance contrary to all the Laws of VVar And then consider the time at the beginning of a VVar before any Brush or Defeat received So that it could be no fear of urging Mischief that occasion'd these Madnesses And now to what purposs is all this Would the Germans and their Horses have eaten the Walls of the magnificent Castle of Heydelbergh or the Houses of so many Cities had they been left standing Are these the Provision and Amunition that maintain Armies What tho the French had left the Cities of Heydelbergh Manheim Frankendale Spire Worms and Oppenheim with their Houses entire but empty however without Corn Wine or Cattle would the Enemy have been a whit the better or at least would not they themselves have been though to have some moderation in their Anger But these Stones and these Houses will remain eternal Witnesses that the Spirit of the French Cabal is a thousand times worse than that of the Turks since the Infidels were never guilty of the like 'T is such a reproach to the Christian Name that when the News of it shall reach the Ottaman Port there is no doubt but all the Divan will lift up their hands to Heaven and give God thanks for revenging them upon the Christians by the Christians themselves who commit those heinous Impieties which their Janisaries and Spahi's would be afraid to do And therefore I wish that all Europe would make the following Reflections upon these enormous Irregularities of France The first is That France neither desires nor hopes for Peace as Affairs stand For she leaves no room either to hope for or to ask Can we make a Peace with France without reparation of our Damages What satisfaction can she give us for so many Wrongs The Revenue of France for ten Years together will never come near what we have reason to demand for above forty or fifty Cities burnt and thirty Leagues of a fruitful and populous Country laid waste and desolate Therefore France never desires any Peace 'T is true she complains as if we intended to perpetuate the War by Alliances wherein we engage our selves not to lay down Arms till France be reduced to that condition wherein she was after the Peace of Munster But indeed it is she that would perpetuate the War and render Peace impossible by such dismal Desolations And then since Peace is not the desire of France it behoves us never to give over till we have subdu'd her by War. The second Reflection is That since France is thus dispos'd all the Allies must resolve upon this either to dye or vanquish for there is no Medium Therefore Generous Germans be assured that whatever Cities you suffer her no take will be only a Prey to her devouring Flames and for that reason defend them to the last extremity If you are besieg'd bury your selves under your own Ruins and perish nobly As for you Hollanders whose Cities are the VVonders of the VVorld Consider likewise that if you are too sparing of your selves you will become a Prey to an Enemy that will not be sparing of You but lay your goodly Palaces all in Ashes And thou the conquer'd Part of Flanders and you Cambray Valenciennes S. Omer Lisle Tournay and Douay and the rest that groan under the Bondage of France behold in the Mirror of others Sufferings your own approaching Fate For if the French are constrained to draw out their Garrisons to reinforce their Armies be assured they will set ye all on Fire to the end you may be useless to their Enemies Therefore take your opportunity betimes to shake off so terrible a Yoke and prevent so dreadful a Misfortune And you the Cities of Brabant and Flanders still remaining under the Dominion of your Lawful Sovereign and make up one of the most lovely Ornaments of the Christian VVorld be afraid of the same Fate and be ascertain'd that you will not escape it if you fall into the hands of the French and therefore be not Niggards either of your Money or Lives to answer the Expectations of that illustrious Governour who is your Tutelar Angel. But as for you French. Men accustom'd to Servitude for so many Years in whose Breasts there is nothing remaining of the old Generosity of the Ancient Franks do you believe your selves secure from these Outrages Assure your selves you live under a Monarch who looks upon himself to be All in All and all the VVorld to be nothing At this time he burns and ransacks Germany He tells you 'T is to save the State. But know that he looks upon himself alone to be the State And therefore for his own preservation he will burn you as he now burns his Neighbors When the Germans shall be entered into Lorrain be assur'd he will reduce Champaigne to the same condition with the Countries upon the Rhine if they enter through Picardy he will burn that also to secure himself if we land an Army he will burn Normandy to secure Versailles Neither are these Conjectures for we have good Intelligence and are well assur'd of it Consider therefore how to prevent the Crew of Firebrands set your selves at Liberty and lend your hands to those that are ready to set you free My last Reflection is that as he makes War without giving any Quarter so we ought to use as little Mercy in making War upon him Not that we would counsel the Allies to deal by France as the French have dealt by Germany God forbid We ought not to punish the Innocent for the Crimes of the guilty We ought to spare the People to deliver them from the Thraldom under which they groan and to gain them by all manner of gentle Usage But as for those that shall be found in Arms those Firebrands in pay under the most destructive Burner in the World by no means have any pity upon them but burn all those Incendiaries without compassion Let us not forbear chasing them till we come to the very Gates of that bloody cruel and fiery Cabal that so those detestable Counsellors may be forced to pay the full Penalty for all those Calamities which their accursed Counsels have brought upon all Europe By this means we may be serviceable to the most Christian King himself by delivering him out of the infamous Clutches of those that tarnish his Glory and render him the common Enemy of all the Earth The END Books Printed for ROBERT CLAVEL AN Account of the present State of Ireland giving a full Relation of the new Establishment made by the late K. James as it was presented to the Right Honorable the Earl of Shrewsbury His Majesties principal Secretary of State and others of His Majesties most Honorable Privy-Council With an Account of what Sums of Mony Arms and number of Officers arrived there from France together with the State of Derry and Eniskilling and several other Affairs relating to that Kingdom particularly of the Proceedings of the Parliament there The Journal of the Proceedings of the Parliament in Ireland with the Establishment of their Forces there The Charge of subduing the Irish Rebellion in 1641.
in the year 1684. has inclin'd his Majesty to take no notice of the behaviour of the Spanish Ministers in all the Courts of the Princes of Europe It is apparent that when a Man renounces all other Vertues he abjures also all Shame and Modesty Of which if France had preserv'd but the least part in the World she would never have had the Confidence to say That the King had a sincere desire to observe the Truce concluded in the Year 1684. Who is it then that has broken this Truce for which France had such a profound Regard VVas it the Emperour who had nothing else in his thoughts but onely vigorously to carry on his Affairs and Advantages against the common Enemy of Christendom VVas it the King of Spain who never stirred since nor committed the least Act of Hostility against France And now at this present Juncture who is it that declares the War is it France or Spain Is it not she that declares the War who also brake the Truce There needs no more but to call to mind what was said in the Fecialis Gallus and we shall easily find with what sincerity the Court of France could affirm That the King had a sincere desire to preserve the Truce of 1684. There we shall observe after the Conclusion of the Truce a continued train of offer'd Violences which were all of them so many Breaches There are no manner of wranglings Menaces or Intrigues which the Court of France has not made use of to force the States of the Empire to consent to this Truce that is to say to oblige them to renounce the Provinces of the Empire which the Violences and Invasions of France had ravish'd from them on purpose to annex them to that Crown It is the Marquess of Gastannaga who has most right to boast of the Fidelity of his King and to say as he does That all the Treaties of Peace and Truce have been religiously observ'd on the King our Master's part and broken upon slight occasions and rashly violated by France If it were lawful at any time to violate Treaties of Peace it would be when the Peace was unjust when they were made by the constraint of Force and Violence or that they had been obtain'd by fraud and circumvention Private Persons have a right to seek redress of the bad Contracts they have made when they have been losers very never the full moiety In truth if Spain had not been sincere if she had not had more respect to the Faith of Treaties than France she would have had just reason to seek her own relief considering the enormous losses which she had sustain'd Being abandon'd by her Allies she was constrain'd to lose and let go three large Provinces Franche Conte Luxemburg and almost all Flanders What Claim could France lay to those spacious Countreys She had won them by Conquest But can right of Conquest take place in an unjust VVar He has then no more to do but to quarrel with his Neighbours and to seize upon all their Estates for his own use by right of Conquest and after all to restore them a small portion and detain the greatest part to himself and then to say That he has a just Title to what he possesses because he has won it by the Sword and that he was very kind in restoring a part of what he had Conquer'd Between private Persons such sort of dealings would be look'd upon as perfect Robbery and indeed between Kingdom and Kingdom it is no less than absolute Highway-Felony and meer Usurpation and Spain being constrain'd by force to submit to Treaties so unjust might have had grounds sufficient to look upon them as null and void The most Christian King says That the Ministers of Spain in the Courts of Europe made it their sole business to excite them to take up Arms against France and that his Majesty was not ignorant of the part which they had in the Negotiation of the League of Auspur4gh Once more supposing this to be true it was impossible to attribute this to Spain for a Crime She did not concede that large and considerable Part of her Territories to France till constrain'd by Force Now Force has nothing to do with Right She had not parted with those spacious Provinces but onely because the Princes of Europe being swayed by various Motives and carried away by other Interests and Affairs abandon'd her Party Was it a Crime in Spain to labour the reknitting of an Association together which ought never to have been broken till they had reduc'd France to Reason and brought down her Pride But besides this all that France speaks to this purpose is meer supposition Monsieur our Governour has much more reason to understand the conduct of Spain in forein Courts than the Ministers of France He averrs and is ready to prove that the Catholick King has religiously observ'd the Treaties The Ministers of Spain have maintain'd in the Courts of Europe that it behoves them to be jealous of the Grandeur of France This they could not do without having a design to break the Truce but 't was onely upon the consideration of preserving the Peace This was that which was aim'd at by the League of Auspurgh By this League they intended to bridle France oblige her to live in peace and to preserve a Right in the Empire of re-demanding what had been dismember'd from it when the Truce for twenty years should come to be expir'd Now in the language of the Court of France this is said to be a Violation of the Peace and Truce for whatever sets bounds and limits to her unruly Ambition violates all Divine and humane Laws Lastly in a word that we may understand who speaks most Truth whether the most Christian King in saying That he had a sincere Intention to preserve the Truce or the Marquess of Gastannaga who asterts hove us to consider who it was that after the Peace of Nimeghen first began to wrangle with his Neighbours who issu'd forth his Processes concerning the Limits who demanded Compensations for the Territories included with in the Spanish Flanders who set up his Gallowses at the Gates of Namur who asserted his Right by the burning and sacking of all the Country who threw in his Bombs into Oudenard in a time of setled Peace who it was that caus'd the Chamber of Metz to adjudg him the two Thirds or three Fourths of the Dependences of Luxenburgh If the King of Spain had acted any such thing they had done him wrong who said That he had religiously observ'd the Treaties But if it were the King of France who was the Author of all those Violences it is a most unjust thing in him to Assert in the face of the World That he has always had a sincere desire to observe the Treaties But it is not enough for the Court of France to have accus'd in general all the Ministers and Governours of the Catholick King of having violated
homeward consult his own Actions and that then he will suddenly make satisfaction to the Princes his Neighbours for so many Provinces of theirs which he himself has usurp'd He will restore Franche Conté the Dutchy of Luxenburgh and all Flanders to the Catholick King. He will surrender Strasburgh Friburgh the Palatinate and all the Rhine to the Empire and Lorain to it's own natural and lawful Prince and Duke For how is it possible that the declared Enemy of Usurpers and Usurpations should himself continue to be the greatest Usurper of all King James he says was lawful King of England it may be so Neither do we concern our selves whether he were or no. But was not the Catholick King as much the Lawful Sovereign of both the Burgundies Is it because that Flanders which was wrested from him during the Campaignes of 1667. and the rest that follow'd was not his by all manner of Right and Title Is it because he was not the true and lawful Duke of Luxenburgh which was came the Duke of Lorain to forfeit his Dutchy What right had the French to ravish Strasburgh for the Empire Who shall endure the Gracchi complaining of Sedition In good truth it is a thing altogether insupportable that a prince usurping with so much Violence and Injustice the Estates of all the World should complain so loudly of Usurpers and of our being so strictly united with them Nevertheless the Prince of Orange is a Prince of the Bloud of England he marry'd the next Heiress and he was called in by the Nation in General He was declared King by the Three Estates of the Kingdom Now had the French King any Veil like this to cover his Usurpation of several Provinces which being join'd together are as good as a Kingdom Our Eyes are not yet sufficiently open to see the difference between the King of France and a Usurper He wrested those Countries from Spain from the Empire from the Duke of Lorrain in open War and by the dint of Sword VVhat other way did Crowwel the most Infamous of all Usurpers ascend the Throne of England Was it not by the force of open VVar and with his Arms in his hand By what means did the Turks usurp the Estates of the Christian Princes Was it not by main force Therefore they are no Usupers And Excellent Definition of an Usurper If fraud be requir'd to make a Usurper was there ever known a more wicked piece of Treachery than that by which he got Strasburgh and all the re-united Countries But some will say the King of France is too Conscientious he would not have despoil'd a King he would not have dethron'd the King of England A most apparent piece of Truth It was the niceness of his Conscience I warrant ye that hinder'd hi from taking Brussels and Antwerp as he did Gaunt or as if he would not have taken Madrid if it had been in his power as well as Messina While we see him devour we see that he is Insatiable let him but alone till his hunger is asswaged and you shall see how far he will eat on If Castile had call'd him and made him King he would have gone thither f possible he could and would have conquer'd it was he conquer'd Sicily After all this you may if you please give ear to the most Christian King when he talks so like a Christian against Usurpers Nevertheless we ought not to refuse him the Honour of being an Enemy to Protestant Usurpers For that is a double Crime in a Catholick King to favour a Usurper and a Protestant Usurper that 's very bad indeed Yet we see that the most Christian King has chang'd his Principles and that we need not to be afraid for the future of his doing what he has done formerly We might very well set before his Eyes tekely the Usurper of Hungary who obtain'd that Title to be given him by the Ottoman Port and who has done his utmost endeavour to get possession of it That Usurper is a Protestant for he is a Lutheran Nevertheless the most Christian King must not disown but that he has acknowledg'd him for one of his best Friends Had France no other Veil to hide her Miscarriages than a Cobweb yet she is so brazen-fat'd that she would deny what she did behind that Curtain with the same confidence as if she had had a wall of a hundred foot thick to conceal her And therefore it is that you will find her perhaps denying all her strict ties of Friendship and Treaty with Tekely and the Turk But what will she say to her Union with Cromwel Here is an Example that nearly concerns England where now the Dispute lies Henry William of Nassau Prince of Orange Prince of the Bloud of England marry'd to Mary of England Eldest Daughter of James call'd in by the English Crown'd King by the three Estates is a Usurper He is a Protestant Let every Catholick be anathematiz'd that adheres to him But Cromwel a Person of mean Extraction yet a Protestant but the Abomination of all of his own Religion the Murtherer of his King whose Head he had cut off upon a publick Scaffold The Tyrant of England and sworn Enemy of all Catholicks is no Usurper It is lawful for a most Christian King to make a League Offensive and Defensive with him to give him Entrance into Flanders to invite him to invade the Countries of a Catholick Prince to deliver Dunkirk into his Hands and give it to that same English Usurper At that time the Motives and Inducements of Religion Bloud and safety of all Sovereign Princes were but Chimera's never any such tings really known in the World till the most Christian King begins to be afraid of England under the Government of the Prince of Orange 'T is a Crime for a Catholick King to have any Alliance with such a Person In good truth it is apparent that the most Christian King derides Religion and Christianity and laughs at all Europe beside Let us suppose the Catholick King to be at a loss behold him between two Usurpers between the King of France a Usurper without the least shadow of Pretence of two Dutchies two great Provinces and several Cities and Territories and between Henry William of Nassau Usurper of England as France pretends The most Christian King invites him by all the Motives of Religion Bloud and safety of Kings to unite with him in a War against the Vsurper of England at least if the Condition of his Affairs will not permit him to engage in such a Vnion to observe and exact Neutrality On the other side King William of England promises him great Advantages if he will join with Him. What shall the Catholick King do In my Opinion between one Usurper and t' other his Interest requires him to declare for the Vsurper that never took any thing from him against the Vsurper that has wrested from him by force so considerable a part of his Dominions VVhat