Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	agree_v	french_a	king_n	2,498	5	4.4302	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57249	The compleat statesman, or, The political will and testament of that great minister of state, Cardinal Duke de Richilieu from whence Lewis the XIV ... has taken his measures and maxims of government : in two parts / done out of French.	Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de, 1585-1642.; Du Chastelet, Paul Hay, marquis, b. ca. 1630.	1695 (1695)	Wing R1418; ESTC R35327	209,076	398

Impression of fear to him he attacks the Impatient and Inconstant Temper of the French is as unfit for the defensive part as their fire and first eagerness qualifys them to perform their duty in the first Experience makes me speak thus and I am persuaded that those who are perfect Commanders will say the same SECTION V Of Naval Power THE Power of Arms do's not only require that the King should be strong a shore but also potent at Sea When Anthony Perez was receiv'd in France by the late King your Father and that in order to soften his misery he had secured him a good Pension That stranger being desirous to express his Gratitude to that great King and to show him that tho he was unfortunate he was not ungrateful gave him three Councels in three Words which are of no small Consideration Roma Consejo Pielago The advice of this old Spaniard consummated in Affairs is not so much to be looked upon for the Authority of him that gave it as for its own weight We have already mention'd the Care Princes ought to take to have a good Council and to be authorised at Rome it now remains to show how it behoves the King to be Potent at Sea The Sea is of all Heritages that in which Soveraigns pretend to have the greatest share and yet it is that on which the Rights of every body are least agreed upon The Empire of that Element was never well secur'd to any It has been subject to divers Revolutions according to the inconstancy of its nature so subject to the Wind that it submits to him who Courts it most and whose Power is so unbounded that he is in a condition to possess it with violence against all those who might dispute it with him In a word the old Titles of that Dominion are Force and not Reason a Prince must be Powerful to pretend to that Heritage To proceed with Order and Method in this point we must consider the Ocean and the Mediterranian seperately and make a distinction between the Ships which are of use in both those Seas and of the Gallies the use of which is only good in that which Nature seems to have reserv'd expresly betwixt the Lands to expose it to less Storms and to give it more shelter A great State must never be in a condition to receive an injury without being able to revenge it And therefore England being situated as it is unless France is powerful in Ships the English may attempt whatever they please to our prejudice without the least fear of a return They might hinder our Fishing disturb our Trade and in blocking up the mouth of our great Rivers exact what Toll they please from our Merchants They might Land without danger in our Islands and even on our Coasts Finally The Situation of the Native Countrey of that haughty Nation not permitting them to fear the greatest Land-Forces the ancient Envy they have against this Kingdom would apparently encourage them to dare every thing should our weakness not allow us to attempt some thing to their prejudice Their Insolence in the late King your Father's time towards the Duke of Scily obliges us to put our selves in a posture never to suffer the like again That Duke being chosen by Henry the Great for an extraordinary Embassy into England Embarking at Callis in a French Ship with the French Flag on the Main Top Mast was no sooner in the Channel but meeting a Yacht which came to receive him the Commander of it Commanded the French Ship to strike The Duke thinking his Quality would secure him from such an affront refus'd it boldly but his refusal being answer'd with three Cannon shot with Bullets which piercing his Ship pierc'd the Heart of the French Force constrain'd him to do what Reason ought to have secur'd him from and whatever Complaints he could make he could get no other reason from the English Captain than that as his Duty oblig'd him to honour his Quality of Ambassador it oblig'd him also to compel others to pay that respect to his Master's Flag which was due to the Soveraign of the Sea If King James's words prov'd more civil yet they produc'd no other effect than to oblige the Duke to seek for satisfaction in his own Prudence feigning himself cur'd when his pain was most smarting and his wound incurable The King your Father was oblig'd to dissemble on that occasion but with this Resolution another time to maintain the Right of his Crown by the Force which time would give him means to acquire at Sea I represent this Great Prince to my mind projecting in that occurence what your Majesty must now put in Execution Reason obliges to take an Expedient which without ingaging any of the Crowns may contribute towards the preservation of the good understanding which is desirable among the Princes of Christendom Among many that might be propos'd the following are in my opinion the most practicable It might be agreed upon that French Ships meeting English Ships upon the Coast of England should Salute first and strike the Flag and that when English Ships should meet French Ships upon the French Coast they should pay them the same Honors on condition that when the English and French Fleets should meet beyond the Coasts of both Kingdoms they should both steer their Course without any Ceremony only sending out their respective Long-Boats to hail each other coming no neerer than within Cannon shot It might also be agreed upon that without having any respect to the Coasts of France or England the greater number of Men of War should be Saluted by the smaller either in striking the Flag or otherwise Whatever Expedient is found out on that subject provided it be equal on all parts it will be just if your Majesty is strong at Sea that which is reasonable will be thought so by the English who are so much blinded on that subject that they know no Equity but Force The advantages the Spaniards who are proud of being our Enemies at present derive from the Indies oblige them to be strong on the Ocean The reason of a sound Policy does not allow us to be weak there but it obliges us to be in a condition to oppose the designs they might have against us and to cross their enterprizes If your Majesty be potent at Sea the just apprehension Spain will lay under of your attacking their Forces the only Source of their Subsistance of your making a Descent on their Coasts which have upwards of six hundred Leagues Circumference your surprising some of their places which are all weak and in great number that just apprehension I say will oblige them to be so powerful at Sea and to keep such strong Garisons that the major part of the Revenue of the Indies will be consumed in Charges to preserve the whole and if the remainder suffices to preserve their States at last it will produce this advantage that they will no

will be very considerable in six years time by the number of their Ships and in a condition to assist the Kingdom in case of need as it is practis'd in England where the King makes use of his Subjects Ships in time of War without which he would not be so powerful at Sea as he is Moreover the number of Ships your Majesty designs to keep will not be lessen'd by it since the Publick Docks you have been pleas'd to re-establish will furnish you yearly as many as you please There is no State in Europe fitter to build Ships than this Kingdom abounding in Hemp Linen Cloth Iron Rigging and in Workmen whom our Neigbours commonly debauch from us because they are not imploy'd at home The Rivers Loire and Garrone have such convenient places for Docks that Nature seems to have design'd them for that use The cheapness of Victuals for the Workmen and the conveniencies of divers Rivers which disburthen themselves into them and bring all manner of necessaries justifie the said Proposition If next to this Expedient your Majesty will think fit to grant Merchandising some Prerogatives to give a Rank to Merchants whereas your Subjects are oblig'd to obtain it by divers Offices which are only good to maintain their idleness and to please their Wives you will restore Trade to that degree that every one and all in general will be advantag'd by it In fine if besides those two Favours you will be pleas'd to take a particular care to clear these two Seas from Pirates which may easily be done France will soon add to its Natural Plenty what Trade affords to the most barren Countries Six Guard Ships of two hundred Tuns and six Pinnaces well Arm'd will be sufficient to secure the Ocean provided the said Ships keep constantly at Sea And in order to secure the Sea of the Levant it will also be sufficient to put out to Sea yearly towards the month of April a Squadron of ten Gallies steering their Course towards the Isles of Corsica and Sardinia cruising all along the Coast of Barbary unto the Streights steering the same Course back again not to come home again until the Weather compels them to it at which time six Ships well Equip'd shall put out to Sea in their room to perform their Caravan in the Winter time SECTION VII Which shows that Gold and Silver are one of the principal and most necessary supporters of the State declares the means to make this Kingdom Powerful in that kind shows the revenue of the same at present and how it may be improv'd for the Future in discharging the People of three parts in four of the Burthen which overwhelms them at this Time IT is an old saying that the Finances are the sinews of a State and it certainly is the point of Archimedes which being firmly settled Inables to move all the World A necessitous Prince can never undertake a Glorious Action and necessity ingendring Contempt He can never be reduced to that condition without being exposed to the Efforts of his Enemys and of those who are Envious of his Grandeur Gold and Silver are the Tyrants of the World and tho' their Empire is unjust in it self it is sometimes so reasonable that we must suffer the Dominion of it and sometimes it is so extravagant that it is impossible not to detest the yoke of it as alltogether Insupportable There must be as I have already observ'd it a proportion between what the Prince draws from his Subjects and what they can give him not only without ruining themselves but without a notable Inconvenience As it is reasonable not to exceed the Power of those that give neither can less be exacted than what the necessity of the State Requires None but Pedants and the real enemys of the State can say that a Prince ought not to exact any thing from his Subjects and that his sole Treasure ought to lay in the Hearts of those who are submitted under his Dominion But at the same time none but Flatterers and the true Plagues of the State and of the Court can Insinuate to Princes that they may exact what they please and that in that Case their Will is the Rule of their Power Nothing can be more easy than to find plausible Reasons to raise Money even when there is no necessity for it neither is any thing less difficult than to produce apearent arguments to Condemn the same tho never so necessary Men must lay aside all Passions to be able to Judge and to decide what is reasonable on such occasions and there is no small difficulty to find the certain point of a just Proportion The Expences which are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the State being fix'd the less a Prince can raise among the People is the best In order not to be forc'd to raise great summs it is necessary to spend little and the best way to make moderate expences is to banish all Profusion and to Condemn whatever may tend to that end France would be too Rich and the People too abounding if it did not suffer the dissipation of the public Revenue which other States spend with rule They lose more in my opinion than some Kingdoms who pretend some Equality with us Commonly spend A Venetian Ambassador told me one day wittily upon this Subject speaking of the Wealth of France that in order to make us perfectly happy he only wish'd we knew as well how to spend that well which we dissipate without reason as the Republic knew how to lay out every Quatrain without waste and without overmuch husbandry If it were possible to regulate the appetite of the French I would think that the best way to manage the King's purse were to have recourse to that expedient but as it is impossible to prescribe bounds to the greediness of our Nation the only way to contain them is to use them as Physicians do famish'd Patients whom they constrain to use abstinence by keeping all manner of Victuals from them To that end it is necessary to reform the Finances by the suppression of the chief means by which Men get money unlawfully out of the King's Coffers Among them all none are so dangerous as that of the Comptans the abuse of which is grown to that heigth that not to remedy it and to ruin the State is one and the same thing Tho it is useful to use them on some occasions and that it seems necessary in others nevertheless the great inconveniences and the abuses which arrise by it do so far surpass their usefulness that it is absolutely necessary to abolish them Whole Millions will be sav'd by this means and a thousand conceal'd profusions will be redress'd which it is impossible to discover as long as the secret ways of spending the public Treasure will be in use I am sensible that some will urge that there are some foreign expences which by their Nature must be kept secret and which the

honour of the success should be imputed to La Vallette From the very beginning he had not answer'd either in relation to the Father or to the Son the Affection they both expected to find in him and which they had had proofs of on other occasions he perhaps being instructed in this by the Court and being desirous to oblige the Minister But after all as far as ever I could hear the true or principal Reason of the raising of that Siege with so little honour reflected upon the Cardinal himself more than upon any other in his Quality of Admiral without laying any stress upon his having joyn'd Commanders whom he knew could never agree The Naval Army which should have appeared at the same time with the Land Forces was not ready and whether the Prince had orders to begin the Siege before hand or that the said precipitation proceeded from his own impatience and the fear of losing the fair season for it was in the Month of July the Spaniards who were Masters of the Sea took their time to succour the Town twice within sight of him and to put a Governor into it who contributed considerably towards its Vigorous defence The Spanish Army appear'd to relieve it by Land The Duke de la Vallette's advice tho' often reiterated to march against and to Fight them was not hearken'd unto and the event justify'd on that occasion as in so many others that commonly to be attack'd is to be half Vanquish● All things pass'd among ours with great surprise Tumult and Disorder without any of the Quarters being inform'd what pass'd in the other The Prince of Conde's was forc'd and taken The French never made so little resistance which gave way to the Vain reports of the People which they are still possessed with in those parts to this very day as if the Prince had consented to it himself being bribed with Spanish Doubloons which were sent to him they say in great quantity in large Bottles in the guise of Wine for the Provision of his Table The Duke de la Vallette had only notice of the Rout and Combat by run-aways and soon after it by the Prince himself who retiring to Bayonne left him to perform what could be done in that misfortune The Duke approv'd what it would have been useless to Condemn and moreover he exhorted the Prince to secure his Person But as soon as his back was turn'd he could not forbear smiling and that prov'd since the main head of the accufation against him After which giving his Orders with great Tranquility and unconcernedness he not only put all his Men in Battalia but rallying the remainder of the others and opposing the pursuit of the Enemys he sav'd the Major part of the French Army and such Guns and Equipages as were not taken yet The Victorious Souldiers in Fontarabie boasted that they had plundered the Prince's Camp and that they had spar'd La Vallette who was their Friend Another great Crime which was to be plac'd with the Bottles of Doubloons and which nevertheless was afterwards laid to his Charge It is impossible to express the Minister's anger against the Duke de la Vallette whether it were that he only hearken'd to the interrested relations of the Prince of Conde and the Arch-bishop or that such an occasion kindled anew all his Resentment against the Duke d' Espernon's Family or that he dreaded lest the King and the Public should impute that misfortune to his Conduct in case the Prince or the Arch-bishop or the delay of our Naval Army should seem to be the chief cause of it He declar'd ●● Altorney he would 〈…〉 General against his Kinsman than to leave his fault unpunish'd The Dutchess de la Vallette had the Generosity on ths occasion as in many others not to waver one moment between her Uncle Regnant and her Husband out of favour but the Cardinal when she spoke to him upon that account fell into such a passion that those who were not to be acquainted with the secret and who were order'd to withdraw on purpose overheard it The Dutchess d' Eguillon who was the Duke's faithful Friend after having used all her Credit Art and Addresse with her Uncle could obtain nothing but bitter Complaints and open menaces after which she xpress'd sufficiently that it would not be safe for the Duke to come tho' on the one side he was passionately desirous to justify himself in Person and on the other he had been sent for to give an account of his Conduct It is very probable that the Minister designed not to spare him At least what he said and declar'd publicly was not a great inducement to Invite him to Court A Little Council was held hercupon at Paris by the Duke's Order of Persons he thought wholly devoted to his Interest in which was called among a few others one of the most Zealous and most grateful Creatures of his Family It was Philip de Cospean then Bishop of Nantes formerly Bishop of Aire and since Bishop of Lisieux for whom the old Duke during his favour our of respect to his Merit being delighted with his Sermons had not only obtain'd the Bishoprick of Aire without his knowledge but ●caused the Bulls of the same to be expedited at his own Charge and so sent them to him This Gentlemen who was a Man of Sence and Wit after having heard many arguments upon the circumstances of the Affair of Fontarabie upon the facility the Duke would have to destroy such frivolous accusations and not only to justify his Innocence but also his Services All this said he is good and I believe it but who has told us that they will not speak of the Man and the Mill. This prov'd sufficient to persuade the little Assembly and that indeed was a thing to be dreaded in the hands of an incens'd Minister For tho the Duke had clear'd himself before him and before the King about it and that instead of being punish'd he was soon after honor'd with a considerable Command it was no abolition in forms and the Laws of the State oblige all Subjects and particularly all the Officers of the Crown to reveal what ever they know against the King's Service without examining whether they have opposed it in secret whether they could not prevent it whether they thought the advice would be useless finaly without distinguishing Prince Friend Master or Benefactor Wo to those whose Fate and that diversity of Dutys put to such a terrible Tryal However the Duke contrary to his own inclination follow'd the advice of his Friends and retir'd into England His process was made The Cardinal would needs have the information against him brought in before the King The President de Bellievre since first President and some others had the Courage to say they saw no proofs The greater Number follow'd the false and pernicious Maxim that one may always Condemn an absent Person because his Life is in no danger and that it

is the bare reward of his Contumacy As if it were ever allowable to betray Truth and justice because they make no defence The old Duke d'Espernon who till then had been an object of envy began to become an object of Pity 1639. In six months time of the year 1639 he lost the Duke de Candale his eldest Son he saw the second Condemn'd to Death on whom he had fix'd his heart and all his hopes besides the Death of the Cardinal de la Valette his third Son to whom it was thought Cardinal de Richelieu as a recompence for his Services had promis'd not to disturb the repose of his Father's old age Orders follow'd immediately to Confine him first to his House of Plassa● next to Loches where he ended his days some years after His constancy was such in that great Age that after having perform'd in his last sickness what ever could be desir'd of him for his Conscience without Pride or Weakness for he ever had Religion and Faith he let fall never a Word in relation to the Cardinal but what was at once Christian like and Noble He ordered the Duke de la Vallette's two Children to be recommended to the King they having the honor to be related to him they were the Children of his first Marriage for he had none by the second And some suggesting to him that he would do well to do them the same office with the Minister whose power was so well known he only answer'd mildly I am his Servant without being able to resolve to request any thing of him He dyed on the 13. of January 1642 being 88 years of Age repeating often even in the middle of his Prayers and in the very Arms of Death the Name of his Son de la Valette whom he look'd upon as his Martyr The Cardinal de Richelteu did not out-live him long He dyed on the 4th of December of the same Year being only 58 years of Age leaving to Courtiers one of those ●ine but too subtile Examples of what Fortune Grandeur and Favour is never certain never contented and which is worse little present and long pass'd The King who griev'd in secret for having allow'd him so much Power and who had reason to dread all things from him if he had liv'd much longer did not think himself so much depriv'd of a faithful Minister as deliver'd of a proud insupportable Master It then prov'd a kind of Merit at Court not to have been too much his Friend But all things were soon alter'd there a second time by the King 's own Death on the 14th of May 1643. The Duke de la Valette call'd Duke d'Espernon since his Father's Death came back from England and surrender'd himself in the Prison of the Palace of Paris and was absolv'd by the unanimous Voice of the Parliament with a general Applause of the Grandees and of the People No Man of any Note that I know of ever laid the ill Success at Fontarabie to his charge but the Cardinal and as to the pretended Intelligence or Conspiracy with the two Princes far from upbraiding himself with it he plac'd it among his best Actions since that tho ill us'd and oppress'd by the Cardinal to the highest degree he had been able to resist the Temptation to right himself and the Duke his Father by a Civil War the greatest and most dangerous of all those of that time if both had hearkn'd to it As the Cardinal de Berulle dyed with the repute of sanctity and that all those who have known him have testify'd the same except Cardinal Richelieu it is a very material point to inform the Public with the Motives that could induce the said Cardinal de Richelieu to insert these Words in the Tenth Page of his Political Testament Your Majesty would thereby have freed the Nation of the Grisons for ever from the Tyranny of the House of Austria had not Fargis your Ambassador in Spain at the Sollicitation of Cardinal de Berulle made as he has confess'd it since without the knowledge and contrary to your Majesty's express Orders a very disadvantageous Treaty to which you adher'd at last to please the Pope who pretended to be somewhat concern'd in that Affair and in the 14 Page the Cardinal de Berulle and the Lord Keeper Marrillac advised your Majesty to abandon that poor Prince he speaks of the Duke of Mantua to the injustice and Insatiable avidity of that Nation which is an Enemy to the Repose of Christendom he means the Spaniards to hinder them from disturbing it the rest of your Council proved of a different opinion both because Spain durst not have formed such a Resolution immediately after the making of a Treaty of Vnion among the English and because if they should have followed so ill an advcie they could not have been able to stop the progress of your Arms. A Little insight into the principal Affairs transacted in the reign of Lewis the XIII is sufficient to know that the Cardinals de Berulle and de Richelieu were both ingag'd in the Interest of the Queen Mother Mary de Medicis and that they liv'd in perfect Intelligence until the year 1622 when the War of the Pon de Cee broke out All the Queen Mother's Creatures did expect that Cardinal de Richelieu to whom that Princess had given Order Power to conclude an accommodation with the King her Son's Ministers would mind their advantages as much as his own and would not expose them to the Vengance of their Enemys whom they had only irritated to remain Faithful to the Queen Mother Nevertheless Cardinal de Richelieu only thought of obtaining a Place for himself in the Sacred College and neglected all the rest For which reason Cardinal de Berulle the Marshal and Lord Keeper Marillac Monsieur and Madam du Fargis and several others fell out with him In the Second Place the first considerable affair which occur'd in the Council of France in 1624 immediately after the Cardinal's being introduc'd there upon the Marriage of Madam Henrietta of France youngest Sister to the King with the Prince of Wales The Cardinal de Richelieu pretended to attribute all the honor of it to himself and negotiated with so much address that he obtained from the Earls of Holland and Carlile Ambassadors from England more advantageous Conditions for the Catholic Religion than those which the King of Great Britain had granted to the Spaniards when he desir'd their Infanta for the said Prince of Wales But the main difficulty was to prevail with the Court of Rome to approve the Conditions Cardinal de Richelieu had made with the English Ambassadors The Court pitched upon Cardinal de Berulle in order thereunto He went to Rome and there began continued and concluded the famous Negotiation which is found among the Manuscripts of Lomenie in the King's Library He obtain'd what ever he desir'd of the Pope and that was sufficient to excite Cardinal de Richelieu's jealousy As to