and well Disciplined and Commanded and this unpreparedness of ours was a great Incitement to most of the French Council to put their King upon the Immediate Invasion of England with his whole Force having already fore-felt the Hollanders and found them if not Inclinable to join with them in such a War yet content to sit still and be quiet they moved it so hotly that they had like to have carried it which had they England had run a very great risque at that time of being Ruined for said they If we make sure of England first we shut a Back door fast against all Danger and may then securely Attack the Austrian Potentates having first Trampled down the Hollanders in our way of whom having made sure of the De Wits their then Chief Ministers we shall find an easie prey But just as the Ambition of that Monarch was ready to take Fire at those so specious Motives Monsieur Le Tellier since Chancellor and Father to Monsieur Louvois the Eldest and Ablest Statesman and Minister of France interposed the substance of whose Speech I shall take Care to transmit to your Lordship in my next who am My Lord Your very Humble Servant Paris August 23. 1676. N. St. LETTER XIV Containing an Account of Mons. Le Tellier's Arguments to disswade the French King from the Invasion of England My Lord ACcording to my Engagement in my last I shall now entertain your Lordship with Mons. Le Tellier's Remonstrance upon the Advice given the French King to Invade England He did acknowledge that the Counsel proposed was in it self very good supposing there were a certainty of effecting it but it was to be considered that it would prove of most pernicious Consequence in case the same were Attempted without Success That England was the Rock against which the late formidable Power of Spain had dasht in pieces its Aspiring Fortunes and that the like Expedition now by the House of Bourbon would prove alike Fatal to its Rising Power unless they were Infallibly sure of their Blow For to meddle with England at all unless they could absolutely Conquer it would be but to rouze a sleepy Lion slur the Reputation of their Arms and singe the Wings of their growing Greatness before they were fully fledg'd That it was impossible to make such a Conquest but by Intestine Divisions or Surprize unless they were first Masters of its Outworks the Low Countries That for a Surprize he thought it almost impracticable and that tho' it was possible they might â—ure the Hollanders to join with them and England was then indeed unprovided of Forces both by Sea and Land yet there was no trusting to that because there were no Factions then whose Designs were ripe enough to Favour such an Enterprize And that tho' they should prove so Successful in that Advantagious Juncture as to enter England they could expect no greater Advantage by it than just to frighten the King and the Nation and plunder them of a little Wealth and so be gone making but a Tartarian Expedition of it Because the universal and strong Antipathy of the English People both High and Low against the French Name and Domination would be an Invincible Obstacle to their setling there and would quickly make that Island too hot for them That therefore meerly to Attack and Pillage them without being able to reduce them totally would but whet the Animosity of those Warlike Nations whose Courage had always been wont to be heightned by Disgraces and was always Victorious when once fired with Indignation That such an Enterprize would for ever alienate the Heart of the then King and the whole Royal Family from the French Interest and make them by Inclination as well as Interest not only give way to but passionately to abet and make most Advantagious use of the Natural Animosity of their most Warlike Subjects against France That it would Unite the Peoples Hearts so firmly to their King and create so much mutual Confidence between them that it would be impossible afterward to divide them and so raise the Power of that Monarchy to a pitch from which it could not chuse but prove both formidable and fatal to them That it would rouze up the King then almost Drowned in Voluptuousness and Sensual Delights and make him a Man both of War and Business against his Will and cause him to enter into such Alliances with the House of Austria and other Powers as must needs be of Pernicious Consequences to the Designs of their great Bourbonian Hero That therefore it was better not to think of any such Attempt England being like a Flint sooner broken by soft than hard Methods That the King himself and also his Brother were much French by Inclination at present that the former was very Indulgent to his Pleasure that he was that way so Profuse and Prodigal that he would always be Necessitous of Money which his Parliament beginning to grow weary of giving him it would e'er long cause such strugglings between the Courtiers and Patriots of the Country as would give them ample Scope to compass their Ends in England by a more sure and less dangerous way than by a War which in all appearance would defeat all the Advantages they might otherwise reap there by other Methods That therefore the best way was to endeavour to take Advantage of the King's Infirmities to try whether there were a Witty French Beauty that could be Fortunate enough to gain on his Affections for that such an one would be a most Admirable Instrument for them That they should offer him Money and feed his Extravagance that way send dexterous Persons well furnished with Golden Charms to work on all the Leading Men among all their Factions and secretly to keep some Pensioners both among their Courtiers Patriots and Church-men and blow up and foment new Divisions That they should send thither some very able Embassador and keep him there a long time That they should incite the Hollanders to a new War with the English and the English with them and treat with and Promise Assistance to the former to the last Moment but in Conclusion join with the latter if it were possible to perswade the English King to a War And that on that pretence they might procure such numbers of English Forces especially Foot as might not only amend the Defects of their own Soldiery which still came very short in good Infantry but bring their own Native People by degrees inferring daily Examples of Strangers Bravery to imitate their Courage and Firmness in Set-Battels and to get a Stock of good Infantry by Land by drawing the English to them against the Dutch as they had already done of good Ships by Sea and Warlike Munitions by joining before with the Dutch against the English in the former Wars Yet that they might so order things that whatever Stipulations were made with the King of England to his Advantage to allure him to such a War should
that on the other side he foresaw such unsurmountable Difficulties in attempting such a Re-establishment that he did not think any Policy no nor the whole Power of France could he Command it all entire without any divertion from other Interested Neighbours too extraordinary a Juncture to be probably expected could be able to carry him through them To which the Princess who saw well enough as well by his Looks and Actions as by his Expressions that she had made more sensible Impressions upon his Spirits than he was willing to acknowledge thinking she had done enough for her part and sufficiently broke the Ice for those that should be designed to push the Point further at more leisure modestly replied That since that was his Majesty's Sence in which he was fixed she would wave all farther Importunities on that Subject and leave it wholly depending between himself and God whom she would continually pray to Inspire his Majesty with Light enough to know and Courage enough to embrace the Truth in his appointed time But however she should be glad to know his Majesty's Sentiments as to the Design against Holland adding that she was confident he could not but think it was at least for his Interest and seasible too Yes Madam answered the King I am Convinced that if crowned with Success it would be enough for the Interest of this Monarchy and of my People too but yet as practicable as it seems to be to you it is likewise not without its Difficulties and those very great ones too for the ill Success of my last War with that Nation the Dissatisfaction of my People thereupon the Tripple League in which I am lately engaged with Holland the Inclination my Subjects have for the Dutch as being a Protestant Nation and the Implacable Avertion they have to the French and their Jealousies of their Power and of their Religion are mighty Obstacles in the way However if my Brother of France can propose me any practicable Expedients to remove them which I much doubt I will as I have said do what I can to comply with him in that Enterprize And so the Princess declaring her self well satisfied with what had been said upon the Subject of her Errand they passed from the Businesses of State to the Divertisements of the Court from which being obliged much sooner to break off than they were willing by the more swift than welcome approach of the time Limitted for her departure with unconceivable Regret and ill-presaging Tears she took her leave of her Royal Brothers tho' little did she or they imagine it to be her last Farewel for soon after her return to France she died not without vehement Suspicion of being Poisoned But that her Husband the Duke of Orleance had any just Cause given him further to foment his Jealousie of her upon this Visit for he certainly was suspitious of her Conduct before any mention of that Journey and so pushed him on to the practice of undue means to accelerate her Fate has been a Matter of much Discourse both in England and France and continues to this Day a Mystery which I will not nor cannot pretend to determine and so begging your Lordship's Pardon for this tedious Epistle I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servant Paris Feb. 3. 1677. N. St. LETTER XVIII Of Mrs. Carewell's coming into England in 1670. and introduced to be the King's Miss My Lord IN one of my Letters to your Lordship concerning Monsieur Le Tellier's Sentiments in regard to the Management of the Affairs of England to the Advantage of the French among other Expedients he proposed the sending over some Choice Female as might be capable to Charm a Prince whose Heart was so susceptible of an Amorous Flame as that of the King of England In Conformity to which Project they made Choice of the Opportunity of the Princess's going over to effect it and therefore she upon her Arrival presented our King her Brother with her Woman known then by the Name of Madam Carewell but much better since by the Title of Dutchess of Portsm to serve the French King as a Heifer afterwards to Plow withal as being such as was not carelesly or fortuitously picked out from among the French Herd but expresly singled out for that purpose And how well she acted her part in time coming will appear in its proper place so that if they failed in their Ends of furnishing the King with a French Wife they were resolved to make it up by supplying of him with a French Whore and this being an Omission in my last and having nothing of greater Moment to write at present to keep my Correspondence with your Lordship I have taken the Opportunity to testifie unto you how ready I am My Lord To Serve You. Paris Feb. 13. 1677. N. St. LETTER XIX The paces made by the Duke of Buckingham and afterward by the Princess Henrietta Maria Dutchess of Orleans towards bringing the King over to joyn with the French against the Dutch not fully succeeding according to expectation they resolve upon other methods First by making sure of the Duke of York and then by inciting the Dutch to provoke the King to a War with them My Lord I have given your Lordship an account of the Princess Henrietta's Negotiation in England and of the Kings dilatory Answer in regard to his Conjunction with the French to make War upon the United Provinces which put the French Polititians somewhat to a Nonplus but considering how well inclined the Duke was to the Popish Religion and how he had exprest his thoughts to the Princess the King being present of the advantage and reasonableness of the French Proposals they made an Essay to see what they could do that way and whether the great confidence he had with and Influence over his Brother might not induce him to accept of the offer They found him plyable enough but upon Application he did not find the King so but much more disposed to live at Rest and Pleasure than to engage himself in so much Sollicitude as a War would inevitably bring him to And besides he was much afraid to discontent his People further who were already so ill satisfied with the ill Conduct and Disasters that befel them in the last War and whom he knew so wholly averse to a new one unless the Fresh Water-Gandy-Caps and Feathers especially were dismissed and the Conduct of it wholly left to the Old Tarpolians who so successfully asserted their Cause with those People in the Republican and Oliverian times the happiness of which the late ill Success had much enhaunsed in their Eyes Yet the French Agents continued pressing of him and tampering with his Ministers to compass their ends urging all the specious Motives in the World and sparing neither present Advances of Money nor the most Magnificent Promises of future Acknowledgment but finding still a great Resistance to any such Overtures they at length resolved to play their
Charles IId's Restoration with their Answers to the Queen-Mother's Resentments thereupon My Lord ACcording to the Expectation I may have raised in your Lordship by my last of some Notable Intelligence from me I am to acquaint you with what perhaps you will hardly believe that this Court considering the near Alliance between the Burbonian and English Royal Family should as much as once think to obstruct the King's Restauration to the Throne of his Ancestors but for my part I clearly find there is neither Father Brother nor Cousin between Kings and Kingdoms and that France used the utmost of her Policy at that time to keep us Embroiled at Home while she might have her Hands loose to play her Game Abroad but because I conceive it may not be ungrateful to your Lordship to understand what those Stratagems were which they own themselves to have practised upon that Occasion I shall briefly hint them unto you as I find them entred here in their Cabinet-Minutes Monsieur Bourdeaâ—x was then their Ordinary Embassador at London whose Instructions were both by himself and several other Emissaries which they had there to raise all the Jealousies imaginable in the several Factions of Monk and his Adherents and at the same time to make Overtures to Monk to assume Oliver's Post and Power urging with great vehemency that he might with much more Justice and Security do it as having what the other had not a President before him but tho' that General refused the Proposal and was proof against all their Attacks of that kind saying he would not split his Family upon that Rock against which the Cromwell's had dasht but would wave all Ambitious Projects of his own Grandure that were indirect and pursue only those that consisted with his Countreys good and that they saw at last it was in vain to attempt the Union of the stronger Factions at Home either against Monk or the King's Restoration they resolved to try what might be done Abroad to work them into a Temper and therefore to raise Jealousies in them from their Neighbours they did in March 1660. Defile several Battalions of Foot towards Calais giving out at the same time that their Design was to Besiege Dunkirk in Conjunction with the Spanish Forces and that after the Place was taken by them it was to be delivered up to the Spaniards pursuant to an Agreement made between them that the latter had consented to give up Cambray and some other Places to the French in lieu of it at which proceedings of theirs the Queen-Mother then in France taking the Alarm she briskly remonstrated unto them the unnatural part they acted considering the near Ties of Blood in her Person between the Royal Families of France and England and how dishonourable it was to oppose the Restitution of a Prince which they were bound to promote even by Arms tho' he had been no ways Allied to them but she was answered that there were many Reasons of state which superceded all those Scruples that for her part she might be assured she should be as well provided for as otherwise that it was not safe for her Son to be brought in purely by his own Subjects but that if they both would have a little patience they did not question but they had taken such Methods so to embroil and weaken England that there would be quickly room enough for the French King to bring him in in a much more Glorious manner so as that he might be Absolute Master of his Subjects and have his Royal Authority no more to depend upon the fickle and changeable Temper of a Perfidious Nation nor be in danger to receive any check from Parliaments that would sooner or latter prove Factious and Dangerous to his State that it was visible the Spaniards had a great hand in promoting such a Revolution in England and therefore they desired her to consider how dishonourable it would be to the House of Bourbon to suffer it and how dangerous such a Conjunction of England and Spain which would naturally follow against them would be she her self might judge and that therefore since a little patience would Infallibly retrieve the whole Game to their Interest and much more to her Satisfaction they could do no less than pursue the Methods they had taken and make both her and her Son happy tho' it were against their Wills that she was much in the wrong to judge of Things by present Appearances that they were assured however Matters might be concealed from her the Conditions proposed to the King her Son by his Subjects were little to her Satisfaction when they imported no less than that her two younger Sons of the Elder of whom she had conceived greatest Hopes and her self must never set footing on English Ground and that the King himself must Marry a Protestant Heretick and suffer no Roman Catholick to live in his Dominions But when they found all their Politicks had failed them and that the King was restored in spight of them according to his Hearts Content they afterwards fell upon other Stratagems put in due time in Execution to work upon his Easie Nature and to render his Power more serviceable than hurtful to their Designs tho' the King who was yet sensible of the Injuries done him upon his Arrival in England ordered Bourdeux to withdraw out of his Dominions this is the substance of what I find entred here in reference to this particular and all I have now to Communicate which if I find it relish with your Lordship I shall not fail to lay hold of all Occasions to demonstrate how much I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble c. Paris Feb. 19. 1676. N. St. LETTER III. Of several Matches proposed to King Charles the Second by the French Court with his Answers and Rejection of the same My Lord IT 's not unknown to your Lordship that one Topick in the French Politicks has been now for many Years to bring their Neighbour Princes into their Interests by procuring them Wives and the French Women have had an Excellent Faculty to bring over their Husbands into the Gallican Noose tho' apparently to the hazard of themselves and their own State so that quite failing in their end to obstruct the King's Restoration they now attempted to Entrap him with a Wife I understand there were several French Matches proposed to him during his Exile and among others a great Lady whose Name I cannot now remember who had like to have been afterward Married to the Prince of Conde and whom the King hotly Courted when in France but because he was refused by her then he in his turn refused her when Restored tho' in reality such a proffer on their part was no more than to sound his Disposition towards Marrying a French Woman in general for if he had consented to have taken this Lady to Wife the French Court would not have suffered it because she was a Martial Lady and of the contrary
at that time as well as his own and that if he would effectually espouse that Affai◠he might reckon upon what he pleas'd himself from the Generosity of the King their Master whose constant Character it was never to let the least Merit go unrewarded But if it should so fall out that Sir William proved stiff in the matter as it seems he did by the sequel they were to turh the same Batteries upon Pensioner Fagel with a variation of Phrase and Complement agreeable to the Person and Circumstances and more especially to try what the force of the French Pistols might effect that way And if so be matters were carried so far as that the Prince was found to give any ear to it then he was to be rounded briskly what mighty things the French King would do for him in relation to his future Greatness both in England and Holland That for his Principality of Orange he should have it restored to him again or such a compensation nigher Home as he would reckon on himself as also for his Lands in Burgundy and any other Losses Damages c. Nay they were ordered to offer him a very large annual Pension if he would have complied But half these things were never actually Proposed because the said two Ministers and the Prince himself more than any were as so many 〈…〉 for they would not so much 〈◊〉 hearken to the Voice of those dangerous Charmers A rare Instance My Lord to withstand such great Temptations and not to be parallell'd perhaps in any other young Prince of our Age as it was indeed also in the two Ministers many of which England at this time is not over-fruitful of I wish it were our Affairs would have been in a better posture than I hear they are and I dread much worse to come I pray God avert it and preserve your Lordship from all Dangers which shall ever be upon the Heart of My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Most Obedient Servant Paris Octob. 19. 1678. LETTER XXXVIII A Summary of the French Methods to get the Dauphin made King of the Romans My Lord PErhaps since all the noise of the Western World at this time is the Affairs of Hungary between the Turks and Imperialists the particulars whereof I need not trouble your Lordship with it will not be amiss to look a little back and remark what influence this Court has had upon this War and what Designs they have long since hatched under the Covert not only of this but all the other Broils they have engaged Germany in I find by Patin's Letters so far back as 1671. that it was a matter then not questioned but that there had been Designs concerted to have the Dauphin created King of the Romans which made me endeavour after a more particular information in that Intriegue which at last I have found to be inserted in this manner according to the distinct Heads that follow I. All the Designs which they had concerted in the Wars between England and Holland for the weakning and destroying them if possible as I have already given your Lordship a particular Account of first terminated in that ultimate end Of advancing the Dauphin as before-mentioned II. The former Wars against the Confederates was attempted for the same Ends in a great measure all their Designs against the Spanish Monarchy having a tendency that way III. Their unspeakable Pretensions in the Palatinate on the behalf of Madam the present Dutchess of Orleans IV. All their open and secret Practices in Hungary from Arch-Duke Joseph's being made King there and by making Overtures to another King underhand John Sobieski by name to oppose the Emperor therein promising their utmost Interest to get that Crown and Country conferred on him and his Posterity rightly judging that if the Arch-Duke were balked in Hungary it was not likely he should prevail in Germany 5. They have now for the same end their Emissaries in Turkey being partly Jews and partly Jesuits who incited the Turks to begin the War and to push it on even to the Capital of the Empire and did at the same time by other Agents both in Poland and at Venice all they could that they might hinder those Countries to come into the Confederacy against them as thinking themselves Cock-sure that if Vienna had once been taken the German Princes would have been in such a Consternation that as the only remedy they would have called in the French Power to oppose against such a dreadful inundation of Infidels as would thence have followed and for which they could have done no less than to have declared the Dauphin King of the Romans and have made the French King Guardian and Protector in the interim of the Emperor and Empire especially having the Electors of Cologne Mentz and Triers either inclined for or over-awed by them and it being easy in that juncture to have forced the rest This my Lord is the substance of what I have found they have projected upon this Subject from time to time as the circumstances of Affairs gave way and occasion and nothing more certain than that they have had it all along in their view to advance the Dauphin to that Dignity which they have hitherto failed in and I hope ever shall I did not think to have entred upon this subject which is also somewhat remote from the Affairs of our own Country but that the sight of the forementioned Author excited my curiosity and the fondness of the discovery made me also fond to communicate the same to your Lordship tho' perhaps no very grateful part which yet I trust your goodness will pardon in him who is My Lord Your very humble and obedient Servant Paris Jan. 14. 1684. N. S. LETTER XXXIX Of Don John of Austria's being hindred to take upon him the Administration of the Spanish Affairs in the year 1676. My Lord IT 's not long since I have given your Lordship an account of the advances made by this Court towards a Peace but you know since that the War went on with various successes and perhaps your Lordship has heard of the Business of Don John in Spain How he was prevented from having the Administration of the Affairs of that Country by a Letter under the King of Spain's Hand when he was just going to embark for the relief of Messina there was at that time an expectation in the Confederates of mighty things to be perform'd by him to their advantage and the preventing him from a share in the Government was esteemed generally to be a French Trick and so it was but I believe the Confederates were guilty of a grand mistake in their expectation of him for the French Memoirs say Don John was perfectly their Creature and that it was the violent hatred of the Queen Mother of Spain as well as a jealousie to have her own Power invaded that put him beside the Administration That it was through his means the Matching of the King
of Spain with the Emperor's Daughter was put by and that with the Duke of Orleans's Daughter effected and that he was going to act mighty things for the French Interest for which he had large Promises made him of their powerful and effectual Assistance to obtain the Crown of Spain for himself after the Decease of the present King upon condition he should quit the Spanish Dominions in the Indies Low-Countries and Italy to the Crown of France for the performance of which they had sufficient Assurances from him I am further to observe to your Lordship from the said Minutes That they have attributed his Death to a Dose of Poison administred by the order and particular prescription of the Queen-Mother and that out of a fear she had he would one day Poison the King her Son and because he had against her Will been the instrument to make the French Match They further add how true the one or the other I will not take upon me to determine That the Queen Mother's hatred to Don John was inveterate that she had attempted once before to have Stab'd him and at another time to Pistol him As for the fore-mentioned Letter from the King of Spain to stop the Don's passage for Messina they say it was sent by the Instigation of the Duke de Medina Celi then in the French Faction with an intent to make him miss that stroke and secure him in their Interests by letting him know that it was by their Intreague he was admitted to Court I could further enlarge upon this subject did I judge it pertinent or agreeable to your Lordship's humour as I am affraid it is not and therefore I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris July 2 1679. N. S. LETTER XL. Of General Instructions given to the French Agents in England to carry on the French Designs upon the Duke of York's Second Marriage My Lord THo' the French Agents in England have had address enough to get the Match with the Duke effected according to their Desires yet foreseeing that even this point could not elude the Peace between England and Holland they endeavoured to make the best advantage they could by making a Counterpoise of it to the said Peace and to a War we might afterward intend against them as having thereby linked the Duke faster to them than ever and laid a sure foundation for such Distractions both in Church and State as would give them large opportunity if not to compass all the Designs they had upon us yet at least to secure themselves from any great inconveniency from us They were not ignorant what good effects several previous Intreagues of theirs had to our disadvantage they saw plainly the second Dutch War had much more impoverished us than the First and the ill conduct of it much more sunk the King's Reputation besides the Divisions in the Fleet and the Jealousies and Factions in the Parliament and among the People about the Duke's Religion produced him great disgusts every day That the shutting up of the Exchequer had ruined his Credit and his Majesty in proclaiming Liberty of Conscience by Virtue of his own Prerogative and his levity afterward in flinching from it so unexpectedly had so disobliged and wounded with Jealousie the Church of England and all Patriots in Parliament tender of their Priviledges who held the Peoples Purse-strings on the one side and so incensed with a fresh Animosity the baffled Dissenters on the other that being over-whelmed with Debts opposed by dangerous and powerful Factions and yet Bankrupt both of Money and Credit too they fairly concluded he could have no other recourse but to them which odious remedy they supposed would but more and more heighten the mutual Jealousies and widen the Breaches till they grew large enough for them to enter by at long-run upon some part of the English Monarchy so famous hitherto for checking theirs above any other in Europe since the Decadency of the Western Empire from rising to the like exorbitant greatness And now this more than Magical Dose these Quacks in Policy had given us began to work every day more and more violently and with Symptoms more visible till almost mortal Convulsions followed The ablest Statesman we had at the Helm the Earl of Shaftsbury was discarded for his vehemency in opposing the said so pernicious Match of which I may give your Lordship an account another time and others of the same Sentiments discountenanced which by the French Agency begat the Prorogation of the Parliament dangerous Factions and pernicious Fractions even among the most zealous Assertors of Monarchy and best affected Friends to the Royal Family so that now imagining this Master-experiment of theirs had made way for them to execute what Projects they pleased on our Court and People for the future to lose no advantage for want of Managers they began to put their Designs in form which before lay somewhat perplext and out of order to which end they sent over their Instructions to some Domestick Agents whom they had chosen and placed on purpose about the New Dutchess and to their other assisting Ministers and Emissaries as they thought in that disposition of both Head 〈◊〉 Body of both Princes and People 〈…〉 could not but succeed and produce in due time the full effects by their Mischief-Brooding and Ambitious Consultations And their Instructions in substance were as follows They were now to make actual use of the several Parties they had as I have hinted already but as yet prepared to make Tools of and to this purpose they were to influence them partly by French Jesuited Instruments partly by French Hugonot Agents and of our own Nation their Instruments were to be I. Atheists and loose principled Men who yet could act rarely well the Zealots for that Religion or Cause which they were to Espouse II. Such Persons as they found to be conceited of their Parts and of Mercenary Spirits III. Hotspurs for Prerogative and the Church of England IV. The fiercest Spirits of the other Factions V. Some Bigots of the Roman Communion that were English and particularly those that had been bred up or had travelled in their Dominions and were well Jesuited VI. The leading Irish Papists in particular VII Men Ambitious of Greatness or Idolizers of Money and that chiefly in Scotland VIII Men disgustful or disabliged IX Men of desperate Fortunes and lost Reputations Of all these they were with great confidence to imploy and highly to oblige and flatter some while they were for their turn and disoblige others and then when they had done with them vice versa to disoblige and cast off those whom they had obliged and seemed to have trusted and court oblige and receive others who were before disoblig'd knowing how to work their Ends by those they disobliged as well as by those obliged But yet none of these except some of the first sort were to know the whole of their Designs nor be informed
reconciled to those ends which he proposed to himself thereby and especially about Replanting both the Popish Religion and Absolute Power in the three Kingdoms and incline rather to the Match suggested with the Dauphine with an intent the more friendly to oblige his Most Christian Majesty to assist him through all the difficulties he fore-saw he had to pass yet he was not a little affraid of the great Resistance he knew would necessarily be made against such an Alliance which many in England looked upon as the most pernicious that ever could befall their Nation being also of himself not a little jealous that if once such a Match between his Eldest Daughter and the Dauphine were concluded some sly practises might be carried on by the French Court against the Issue he should have by his now Dutchess in favour of that his Daughter might probably have by the Dauphine and therefore that he was much more willing and desirous if it might be compassed that a Match might in time convenient be concluded between his said Daughter rather and his Dutchesses Brother the Duke of Modena or some Italian Prince of no power enough to be apprehended to entertain any such Designs and that as much French as she was before his Dutchess was now of the same Sentiments too being married and in hopes of a numerous Issue by the Duke These are all the Particulars I have hitherto met with in relation to the Duke and his Dutchess's Sentiments and with which I conclude who am My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Feb. 14. 1680. N. S. LETTER LI. Of Coleman's Intelligence and private Correspondence with France to the King and Duke's Disadvantage and his Motions and Pretences for Money My LORD WHen I acquainted your Lordship with the Censure past by this Court upon the King and Duke's Sentiments in reference to their League and Correspondencies with them and especially the business of the Match I could neither determine whether it were purely their own Suggestions collected from the Circumstances and natural Positions of things as they then stood which I was inclined to or to some secret Information from another hand but now I find the latter to be true for whatever the King Duke and Dutchesse's true Sentiments were so they were represented under-hand by Coleman to the Juncto here and by some other self-ended Confidents of theirs of whom but more particularly of Mr. Coleman I find it thus inserted in our Minutes That being entered into a close and separate Correspondence of his own with this Court besides that known to their Highnesses whose Agent he was he was therein to give them intelligence of all that was transacted at White-hall and St. James's that possibly he could but more especially of the Comportment of the King and the Duke as to the Points agreed on between France and them as also of the Disposition of all the Factions in England and of the foreign Ministers c. to obliege himself to make Parties to cross his Master the Duke or the King or both in case either or both of them should go about to deviate from the Measures prescribed them by the French Court. I find my Lord he was besides this a great Undertaker for Conversions and Proselyting Men to Rome or rather France and his Agreement with them was to have allowed him as an Annuity the Summe of Twenty Thousand Crowns punctually to be paid and for Extraordinaries as should be calculated according to the emergency of the Occasions His Pretenses for Conversions were manifold and extravagant enough in the relation of them and did slily at first insinuate and when he had once broken the Ice warmly urged that whereas the Duke had very large Remittances made him upon the account of Conversions wherein he was an Undertaker that it were more advisable for the future to entrust him with a moderate Summe for that purpose and thereby save themselves that deal which they must have sent to the Duke upon that Account if they should send any and so moved them entirely to wave that point with him for that he could do much more in that nature than the Duke could ever pretend to because more imperceptibly He promised them likewise for the gaining of Members of Parliament over to their Interest great and mighty things and then discreetly insinuated those things already spoken of about the Designs of the King and Duke towards them and thereupon advised them to transmit unto them both only but moderate Summes and let him have but moderate ones according to a private Man's fortune and he would take effectual care both to manage them and do their business in England more to purpose than they would do without him He also added That to give the King and Duke great Summes would be no other than to enable them to buy the Parliament's Votes for themselves and not for the Interest of France and to get such store of Money of them that they would afterward take such measures as they themselves pleased without any regard to France being sure to please the People at any time whenever they were minded to go contrary to them and much matter to the same purpose with which I shall no farther trouble your Lordship but subscribe my self as I unfeignedly am and ever shall be My LORD Your most Obedient and Most Humble Servant Paris Feb. 28. 1680. N. S. LETTER LII The Duke of York moves the French Court for Money according to the private Agreement My LORD YOu have heard what a Spoke Mr. Coleman was pleased to put in the King and even the Duke his dear Master's wheel which they poor Princes knowing nothing of moved hard for the Summes promised by France the Duke as supposing his Credit the better being the forwarder of the Two and whose Pretences were that he had been forced to lay out by advance the greatest part of the Money already pay'd to make Creatures for their mutual Interest and future advantage all such Enterprizes being much more chargable to begin then to carry on and perfect that when Correspondencies were begun they must be carried on and that still by advance if any thing of service were expected or hoped for That he had a most difficult and uneasy Task to deal with the King his Brother 's timerous and changeable Disposition and was and had been at a very great Expence to greaze Favourites of more Kinds then one that might influence and perswade him to and hinder others that might disswade him from what they in France did expect from him or urged him to as also to appease and quell Enemies on all sides which his late Match with their adopted Daughter and change in Religion had stirred up violently against him and that to keep the King his Brother steddy in a favourable Neutrality in regard to France and yet at the same time either break off the Match quite with the Prince of Orange defer it so long as
the Kingdom particularly those of Predestination and Free-Will nor yet to mixt Invective Reproaches Railleries and scandalous Expressions with their Controversies should be republished under a very strict Injunction of all Parties concerned to the observance of them and the least Transgression in that kind to be punish'd with the utmost Severity they did not question in the mean while but that in so ticklish a time there might be some one or other especially in the Diocess of London whom this Bird-lime might catch your Lordship knows how it fell out accordingly in the Case of Doctor Sharp Tho' they were mighty jealous of the old Gentleman of Canterbury that if he were nominated in the Commission and should chance to act which was the least of their Thoughts he should he might rather thwart than promote their Designs yet being pretty confident he would not concern himself with it they adventured to put him in not for his Authority but his Name-sake only for considered they should we get the Bishop of London once into the Toyl he will have no room to plead to the Jurisdiction of the Court seeing the same was founded upon the concurrent tho' in truth but nominal Authority of his Metropolitan to whom he owed Canonical Obedience these things your Lordship may know much better than I but I cannot forbear giving you any Hints of the Court-Designs which whether projected here or on your side we have constant Intelligence of in our I am My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris Aug. â—0 1687. N. S. LETTER XXX Of the Liberty of Conscience first granted in Scotland and then in England by King James II. My Lord YOur Lordship may call to mind what I have before written to you concerning Tolleration in Religion as necessary to facilitate the King's Designs and now you see it hath sprouted up in Scotland and the Buddings of it are visible enough in England that the Parliament of the former as well as the latter opposed the Dispensing Power is notoriously known so that there was much less Hopes they would have concurred to the Indulgence a Point as necessary to be gained every whit as the other that the Scotch Nation were more modelled to the King's Hand than the English the King himself well knew as having a personal Share in it when high Commissioner in that Kingdom in his Brother's Reign and the French and English Jesuitical Faction knew this as well as he and therefore I am assured both of them concurred to have the Indulgence given there first and that also in so partial a manner in favour of those of the King's Religion that the rest have hardly any Share therein which manifests plainly the Design of the English Catholicks whatever specious Pretence they may otherwise use is to bring the People of England also under the same nay a worse Yoke of Servitude and to have their own Religion predominant quickly and in Time the only one in both Nations And as for the third they are cock sure of that already but that of the French Emissaries is not so visible and above Board for they hope such partial Proceedings must at last incense the People of both Kingdoms and that to so violent a degree that the King must of necessity have recourse to call in French Force to quell them and then my Lord when they have once got sure Footing who can guess at their farther Aim however they have not with all their Intrigues been able to prevail with the King to use the same Partiality in England who according to the Transmission of their Intelligence hither seemed very much inclined to it upon their urging the Tractableness of the Scotch Council in the Matter and what a great Pattern they had set to them of England whom they did not doubt but would abrogate the Laws made against Roman Catholicks c. in imitation of them but a Roman Catholick Lord whom I have formerly named to your Lordship to have interposed upon the like Occasion thwarted them therein he deserves well of his Country in some respects and I do not question but your Honour is of that mind and so shall I be till I see more than I do now to incline me to the contrary who am My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and obedient Servant Paris Sept. 5. 168â— N. S. LETTER XXXI Of the French Projects to put King James upon desperate Measures in Ireland and their Ends therein My Lord YOur Lordship may remember how I have formerly given you the state of the Irâ—sh Soldiers in the Service of France during the late King's Reign and what Encouragement they have had here from time to time above any of the rest of the Brittish Nations and the large Promises that were now and then made That they should be reinstated in their ancient Possessions in their native Country But this King hath no sooner ascended the English Throne but that they have as readily return'd into England and Ireland as they were willing before even contrary to their Allegiance to remain in the French Service the Reason whereof your Lordship must needs know they having already devoured with their Eyes the most valuable Preferments in England and Ireland in the later whereof they have got a Lieutenant of their own stamp and more than all the Lands which they have been debarr'd from by the Act of Settlement having as I can assure your Lordship a previous Promise from this Court That the King will use all imaginable endeavours to get his Brother of England to consent to abolish it and which has put the Irish so hotly upon renewing their Importunities to the King against the said Act that he hath in a manner agreed to those measures that are pursuant thereunto in which motions the Irish were order'd to be effectually seconded by the Emissaries of this Court who at the same time have encourag'd the Irish privately with a Promise That if after all the King would not give his full Consent or durst not do them Right their Master was resolv'd to do it provided they would chuse him for their Protector which they might lawfully do being at best but a conquer'd Nation against their Conquerors for the recovery not only of their Native Rights in that Land but likewise of those afresh confirm'd to them by the Treaty whether pretended or real I will not determine upon that Head with the late K. Charles II of which the French King was Guarrantee and therefore justly might and ought to be call'd in as a Vindicator And this my Lord is confess'd here That they had form'd so strong a Party among the Irish that if the King had not in some measure comply'd or does not for the future but fail'd their Hopes by keeping it as the Interest of his Kingdom one should think naturally leads him to that side of the Ballance against France and maintaining the Act of Settlement they had bid fair as I have
it has had your Lordship may know much better than I but it is now talked here that it has met with so little success that most of those persons whom the King had convened as aforesaid have formed a close Conspiracy against him and to cut their way short resolved to seize his Person and that my Lord C being pitched upon to execute the Design he dexterously engaged the King to go to view the Vanguard of his Army which was that part of it which was posted nearest the Enemy That the King was ready to take Coach and ride thither when his Nose falling to bleed on a sudden obliged him to stay for that time and put off the review till another opportunity But before that day was over he had good Information given him that there was a Design formed to seize him and that measures were concerted to have him carried away to Exeter and that my Lord C upon that with some others withdrew to the Prince of Orange as did the King to London I would not have troubled your Lordship at this time but that I know you expect I should give you the Sentiments of this side upon our affairs and what part they take therein Which with my humblest Duty to your Honour is all I have at present to impart to you who am My Lord Yours to serve and obey Paris Dec. 4. 1688. N. S. LETTER LI. Of the Queen and Prince of Wales's going over into France My Lord THE King's Affairs are looked upon here to be lost beyond all human relief and the Prince of Orange is now as much dreaded as they heretofore made a semblance of despising and neglecting of him tho in reality there were ever since I have known this place secret Fears of his great Constancy Policy and Courage hanging upon this Court and all the Hopes they have now left and the only Twig to hang by is his Petite Highness who after great difficulties is with his Mother arrived here and of which some of their Attendance give a lamentable relation That upon my Lord Dartmouth's refusal to let the young Gentleman cross the Seas he was carried back to London whither the King was also come from Salisbury who with the Count de Lâ—uzune who presented himself at Court the â—â—st of the last Month concerted measures for the escape of the Queen and her Son Signior Riva an Italian and one of the Queens Servants and Monsieur de Labadie another of the King 's Persons of approved Fidelity were intrusted to provide all things necessary for their embarking and for their Journey from White-Hall to the place where the Ship lay They say it was not without very great danger of being stopped and discovered that the Queen and the Child got out of the Court at a time when every thing was suspected and when the Infants crying might have been a means to have broken all the best measures in the World They were put into a strange Disguise and so made their escape by the way of unfrequented Stairs and Places crost the River of Thames and took the Road which leads from London to Gravesend where Monsieur de Labadie had stopped a Vessel for to transport them into France and all the while the Child did not as much as once cry They were in danger several times of being seized by Sentinels and a concourse of People who suspected all whom they did not know to be fugitive Papists and looked upon their escape as a Prey that ran away from them While they were on the Thames they were encounter'd with Wind Rain the fluctuating of the Waves in the horror of a Night so dark that they could not see one another The Queen on the other side of the River waited for a Coach near the Walls of a Church which was harnessed in a neighbouring Inn being all the while exposed to the Rain which continued with great violence But the Curiosity of a man who came out of the Inn with a Candle in his hand put her into a great fear lest she should be known for the person advanced directly towards the place where she stood when Seignior Riva who perceived him immediately followed and encountered him briskly so as that both of them fell into the Dirt by which Diâ—â—â—sion the Queen escaped undiscovered and the man thinking that what befel him was the effect of Chance they both began to excuse the matter which proceeded no further When the Coach was got ready they rid away with all speed and came to the Ship where Labady's Wife who had some Acquaintance with the Captain appearing first did so amuse him with a Story That the Queen was an Italian Lady returning with her Family into her own Country till the Queen was got safe on Board and lodged in the Cabin appointed for her together with the Nurse that carried the Infant The Marquess and Marchioness of Powis the Counts of Dalmon and Montecuculli with other Persons of her Retinue did imbark at the same time with the Irish Captains sent on purpose by the King to have an Eye over the Commander of the Vessel in case they found him any way refractory and deficient in his Duty But of this they say there happened to be no occasion for the Ship being under sail they had an easie Passage and landed at Calais on the 11th of this instant She designed to have staid there for the King her Husband who according as they had concerted Matters between them before their parting was to follow her the next Day but not finding the King come she went for Bologn where two Friers and an an Officer that have made their Escape out of England informed her of the Misfortune which befel her Husband at Feversham and which your Lordship can tell much better than I. From Bologn she journey'd to Montrevil and from thence to S. Germains where she and her Son have had honourable Reception of the King and where King James is hourly expected This my Lord is the Relation they give here of their Flight and dangerous Escape which they count little less than a Miracle and a preserving both of the Queen and her Son to a much better Fortune But tho' this Court put a very good Meen upon the Matter and talk high yet it is at the same time very discernable that they are not a little mortified at the strangeness of the Prince of Orange's Success and the suddenness of the Revolution Which with my humble Respects is all I have to communicate at this Time who am My Lord Your Lordships most devoted Servant Paris Jan. 2. 1689. N. S. POST-SCRIPT My Lord just as I am a closing of this Letter I am informed the King is also arrived at S. Germains and has met with no less Honours from King Lewis than if he were possessed of his Dominions and subjects Affections in as ample a degree as ever he has or could be My Lord I am c. LETTER LII Of the