Victories as if by Conquering the Land the French did not at the same time become Masters of the Havens Rivers and Fleets of the Dutch And yet such was the vast Predominancy which French Treason and the hidden Conspiracies of French Counsels had over these great Politicians and the Asscendent which they had over the King of England that he was so kind to the French King for setting him together by the ears with the Dutch that he sent him his Vice Admirals and other Sea Officers to encourage and promote the setting out of his Fleets and in pity of their want of experience in Sea Affairs took his raw Seamen by the hand train'd them up in his own Fleets among the best of his Seamen and taught them that skill which the English had been many Ages a learning and all this in hopes to enable the French King to assist him in beating his best and most secure friends wherein the French according to their wonted Treachery fail'd him too when they were put to the Tryall All the World would have thought the King should not have so soon forgot the Punic Faith of France in their kindness to his Person while he was abroad in Exile among them or if then they might pretend the Interest of their Kingdom and palliate their faithless and inhumane Dealing with him by necessity of Self preservation yet no such necessity constrain'd him to forget the French King 's opposing his Restauration with so much violence as he did and his Caballing with his greatest enemies to keep him out of his Kingdom more especially since he was then so sensible of it when it was recent in his Memory that upon his coming into England he commanded away Monsieur Bourdeaux the French Ambassadour and would not suffer him to come into his presence But the Most Christian King knew full well how to work himself again into the King of England's favour and at length by throwing a French Dalilah into his embraces quite cut off the Locks of the British Sampson All on a sudden France seem'd to be remov'd into England nothing but French Baubles and Gugaws pleased our English Gentry A French Faction prevailing at Court French Mountebanks for Physicians French Fashions French Hats French Lackeys French Fidlers French Dancing-Masters French Tooth-Drawers French Barbers French Air in our very looks French Legs French Compliments French Grimaces and French Debauchery to fit us for French Slavery And had the French Disease been then unknown in England 't is to be questioned whither it would not have been entertained with as general a Consent as the Sichemites submitted to the Pain of Circumcision though to the hazard of being all destroy'd by the French Simeon and Levi while sore and driveling under the Distemper Nor is it to be doubted but the French Christianity would have as easily made tryall of such a Design as they did of the rest of their Tricks had they thought it would have taken effect It is well known that before the first Dutch War was entred into the King of England sought to make Alliances with France and Spain but the Spaniards were so Cock-sure of the French Promises that they would not make any Approaches to Friendship with England without the giving up of Dunkirk Tangier and Jamaica As for the French a Project of a Treaty was offer'd them and promoted with all earnestness by the Lord H s at Paris but it was plainly discern'd that the principal designs of the Most Christian King was only to draw the King of England into such an Alliance as might advance his design upon Spain and therefore so soon as he had set the Dutch and us together by the Ears and saw that thereby the Balance of Europe was broken he no longer minded Alliance with England But after many Proposals of Leagues and many Arts used to highten the jealousies between Us and the Hollanders he at last sided with the Dutch though to so little purpose that his Intentions plainly appeared to be no other than to see the two most Potent Obstacles of his Ambition destroy one another to the end he might with less Opposition invade his Nighbours and increase his own Naval Strength Nay the Juggle went much farther for that in the heat of all the War he still kept Negotiations on Foot and made overtures and proposals of Peace by means of the Queen-Mother whom in the end he so far and so treacherously deluded as to ascertain her and by her means to assure the King of England her Son that the Dutch would not set out any Fleet the ensuing Summer and yet underhand press'd the Dutch with all the Vigor and Importunity imaginable to fit out their Men of War again with a promise rather than fail that he would joyn his Fleet with theirs against the English Now it was upon a Supposal that the Most Christian King was at that time a good Christian and true to his Word in pursuing his pretended Proposals of Peace and upon that faithless French Paroll it was that the King of England put forth no Fleet to Sea that Year upon which followed that Fatal surprize of our Ships at Chatham then which a greater Dis-honour never happened to the Nation since the memory of History But at last as we had been oblig'd to the Craft and Treachery for the War and the Shame we received by it so we were glad to receive the Peace that ensued from his favour which was concluded at Breda between England France and Holland By this Treaty of Breda the French were oblig'd to restore St. Christophers to the English in the same manner and form as is exprest in the Articles but instead of performing their Engagement according to the true intent and literal meaning of the Articles they from time to time upon several unjust and frivolous Pretences deluded and delay'd the English Commissioners that were sent to take Possession of it till finding there was a necessity to comply with us in so small a matter while we were preparing to venture a second quarrel in their behalf it was at last surrendred after four year's baffling to Sir Charles Wheeler However to shew the perfidiousness of French dealing before they deliver'd it they destroyed all the Plantations laid the whole Island waste and left it in a much worse condition than if it had never been planted And as if the seizure and detaining of the King of England's Territories had not been sufficient they interrupted also the Trade of his Subjects in those Parts and assuming to themselves the Sovereignty of those Seas would not suffer any Ships but their own to sail either by or about those Islands but as if it had been Criminal so to doe took and confiscated several Vessels upon that account From all which a Question will arise easie to be resolv'd whither any thing be recorded of the old Carthaginians more perfidious than this and whether the King of England might not have expected more
Honest and Christian dealing from the unbelieving Turk than from the Most Christian King 'T is true that after the Peace of Breda the King of England was at liesure to consider how the French King had abus'd him by engaging him in a War with his Protestant Nighbours and how he had seemingly taken their parts to prolong the War that while they were battering and bruising and weakning one another he might have the fairer Opportunity in violation of all the most solemn and sacred Oaths and Treaties to invade the Spanish Netherlands and observing with what a rapid Torrent of Victory he bore down all before him thought fit to interpose before the flame that consumed his next Nighbour should throw it's sparks over the Water and therefore sent into Holland to invite them to a nearer Alliance and to enter into such farther Counsels as were most proper to stop the Fury of the French King which offer being by the Dutch embraced with open Arms a defensive League was concluded in five days time between Holland and England together with another for the repressing the farther Progress of the French Armes in the Spanish Netherlands In which the Sweeds afterwards making a third Party concern'd gave it the name of the Triple League This was no way pleasing to the French King however for a while he dissembled his resentment of the Affront though from the first moment he resolved to make use of all his Charms and Golden Magick to dissolve this Triple Knot whatever it cost him To this purpose the Duchess of Orleance is said by the French to be sent over hither believing no Instrument so proper as the King of England's own Sister to prevail with her Brother King Charles met her at Dover where their endearments one to another were so much the more reciprocally prevailing by how much it happens that Princes more rarely than private Persons enjoy their Relations And when they doe yet their kind Interviews are many times attended with some fatal disaster of which though there was no appearance here in England yet the first News we heard of her upon her Return to France was that she was dead However the Affair was so dextrously managed that a French Ambassadour was forthwith dispatch'd out of France and an English Ambassadour sent to Paris and as the French gave out a private League was clapt up to the ruine of the Triple Alliance to all the highth of Intimacy and Dearness as if upon dissecting the Princess there had some State Philter been found in her Bowels or that a Reconciliation with France could not have been celebrated with a less Sacrifice than that of the Bloud-Royal of England This supposed Treaty was a work of Darkness not to be div'd into in a great while but afterwards the French King caus'd it to be made publick as we shall see by and by 'T is true the Knowledg of this was of great Importance to England but the discovery was the most apparent Demonstration in the World of French Perfidiousness so enormous as it could not be imagined to have entred into the Breast of a Most Christian King so treacherously to expose the Secrets of his dearest Confederate after he had drawn him in by all the Assurances of his assistance imaginable And the reasons that induc'd him to make the detection were no less Impious though agreeable to the Practice of the French King who after he has made it his business to decoy in Princes that lend an easie ear to his Enchantments or with too much facility suffer themselves to be overcome by his Alluring Engagements into any unseemly and dishonourable undertaking believes he has them then safely tack'd to his Interests and that they will not dare to flinch from his Desings for fear of being exposed to their People which he takes care in due time to have artificially instill'd into their Ears a Maxim of Christianity which lies conceal'd from all other Men but the most Christian of Princes And thus it was that the French King having amus'd the Emperor with the Noise of a Treaty and at the same time brought the Turk into Hungary to joyn the Malecontents to excite his Private Confederate the King of England to follow his steps in Government Bare-faced causes a little Book to be Printed and Published with the Privilege Du Roy Entitl'd The History of the Transactions of this Age and therein ordered the Dover Treaty as they call'd it to be inserted and to that purpose furnish'd his Historiographer with Notes and Directions by the Hands of his Secretary Colbert to the end that the King of England being truly as he design'd set out in his Colours and despairing of being ever after trusted by his People might be enforced to take such Resolutions as Despair and Fury should inspire him withall to the Destruction of those he had so highly disoblig'd there being nothing more than the Subversion of England which the French King aim'd at 'T is true he was so kind as to recall the Book upon the loud complaint of the King of England's Ambassador however it was an apparent Demonstration to all the World how little trust or reliance there was in French Amity and plainly shews that there is no way to bind this mighty Sampson by Oath Promises Treaties or by any other the most Religious Ties and Considerations which are no more to him than Spiders Webs but by an absolute clipping off the Locks of his Power and disabling him so as never to rise more But to return to the Triple League In the end the French King by his wicked Policy so contrived the matter as to cause a new Rupture twixt the Dutch and the English and as if he had intended to be the Master of Iniquity and to make the King of England as bad as himself nothing would suffice till he had prevail'd with the King to attack the Dutch Smyrna Fleet returning home and dreaming of no such matter which as it was contrary to the Genius of the English Nation and to the Nature and Gentle Disposition of the King of England himself is wholly to be attributed to the Wiles and wicked Temptations of the Most Christian Prince who never ceas'd pealing it into the King of England's Ears that if he could but master the Wealth of the Smyrna Fleet he should never want Mony again And being thus betrayed by wheedling French Hallucination what can the French expect but the Severity of England's just Revenge wherein we may venture with the greater hopes of Success as being engaged with all in the common Cause of Christendoms Tranquillity Add to this that when the French King thought the King of England was engaged so far by the Smyrna Attack as that he must needs go forward the Most Christian King then openly declared 't was none of his Quarrel and that he only engaged in it to assist the King of England merely in respect to His Person By which means the King of
other Town of Ireland that the whole Ships Company deposes they were sent to Holland that we have found on Board three or four Vessels Bills of Accompt by which it is seen that the English took two three and four per Cent for owning Ships and though it is impossible to avoid confiscating them yet these are the Ships which make such a noise in England To which the Lords of the Committee upon serious Examination by way of Answer represented to the King That their Sentiments of the matter were quite different from what was pretended by the French for that they understood that when the English Ships were carried into the Ports of France many of the Mariners complain'd of ill Usage and some of Torment their Papers being seiz'd and their Persons under restraint till all the Examinations were ready prepar'd and that then all their Writings were sent up to the Privy Council at St. Germaines where judgment was definitively given and seldom any reasons for the Condemnation mention'd in the decree and never any Appeal or Revision admitted and whether that were the Tenderness or the Justice pretended by the French they could not tell But they appeal'd to the Ambassadour Monsieur Courtin himself whether the Method of proceeding in England had not been quite otherwise and therefore that the different Methods of Justice and Clemency in England might have entitled His Majesty to a different acknowledgment and more advantageous effects from the French That as to the latter part of the Paper it seem'd to contain very harsh Imputations upon the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects and that only from some ill practices perhaps found out general Rules were made which having enter'd the Thoughts of some Eminent Ministers that wonder'd that notwithstanding the frequent and multiply'd Recommendations of his Majesty for Justice the event of the French Tryals should prove so unfortunate that if his Majesty would but cast his Eye upon the Causes annex'd he would soon see Whether as it was imputed all the Ships taken were Dutch Built Whether they were all such as never were in England Whether all the Masters and Mariners were Dutch Whether the Cockets were for Persons unknown and oftentimes not nam'd Whether in the whole List there was any more then one Ship from Waterford any more than six from the rest of all Ireland or so much as one from Scotland Whether it were credible that all the Ships Company should swear they were bound for Holland when so many were taken coming from Holland On the other side His Majesty would find in the List how many were English Built taken with English Colours English Mariners English Owners some of them known to His Majesty and to whom the best Papers His Majesty could sign or the Treaties requir'd were given all in vain So that if the Case were in the General quite different from what in the General is represented they hop'd it was no crime for His Majesty's Subjects to make some noise in England when they are Damnified and see their Goods taken from them by Violence and that Violence rather justifi'd than redress'd by Law Wherefore considering that the Root of all these Disorders arose from the Violence and Rapine of the French Capers who were to be lookt upon as Disturbers of the Publick Quiet and Enemies of the Good Friendship between the two Crowns they were humbly of Opinion that His Majesty had just Occasion from the injuries past and those which were then depending and which every day increas'd to make a serious Representation of all to the Most Christian King and not only to press for some better Method of repairing the Greivances mentioned but to insist upon the calling in of all the French Privateers or else that His Majesty ought to doe right and give defence to his Subjects from all the insolencies which they so frequently met with This was sign'd Anglisey Bath Craven J. Ernle Finch C. Bridgewater H. Coventry G. Carteret I might here add the List it self by which it plainly appears that contrary to Monsieur Colbert's Allegations the Ships so taken were all either English Built or Foreigners made Free fraighted by English Merchants own'd by English Men and mann'd with English with Cockets and Bills of Lading to English But 't is sufficient for me to shew that the Ministers and the Masters are Christians alike Plunderers and Robbers not only of Imperial Territories and Royal Dominions but Beasts of Prey that turn the Seas into a Desart to gorge their voracious Appetites upon the Estates of private Persons and that upon the Account their Injustice and Rapines so wickedly and unjustly practised upon the People of England no Nation under Heaven can have reasons more allowable on their side to justifie a War with France than England has for the many Dishonours Injuries and Affronts so ungratefully done us in recompence of all the Kindness and great Services done them from time to time For what greater kindness could there be than to furnish the Aspiring Monarch with a continually recruited body of Ten Thousand of our English Youth whose daring Bravery and Courage made oftentimes a Rape upon Victory it self to force her on his side and rescu'd once his whole Army from destruction when in consternation and pursu'd by the Imperalists upon the fall of Turenne Yet when by the importunity of the Parliament they were recall'd out of his service instead of fairly dismissing them well pay'd for Dunkirk or Calais from thence to cross over for Dover which was their direct Way they were sent through Burgundy through Liomois and so through the Provinces that lead to the Ports of Guyenne that so the French might have time to debauch the Officers and Soldiers In short the Soldiers who since their being in France had been accustom'd to drink Wine finding themselves in a Country where it was almost as plentifull as Water would not cross the Sea to go home and drink Beer but took pay under the Captains of the French Army in Catalonia who were for that purpose posted in their way As for such of the Officers as had nothing to lose in their own Country they were likewise debauch'd after the same manner and dispers'd at the same time in the Regiment of Fustenburgh which was in the Garrison of Perpignan So that when the English arriv'd at the Place where they were to Embark they were not the Tenth of what they should have been had France dealt faithfully in the Business Thus we have run through the Treacheries and Infidelities of the French in reference to England There is no Question but much more might have been said however here is enough to shew that there can be no safety in the friendship of a Prince who makes it his study to be injurious in all his Actions and faithless in all his Promises Mendaciis fallaciis tanquam praeclaris Artibus gaudens But such is the mischief of that pernicious Vice desire of too much Glory
he did the King of England By which it was plain that all the Kindnesses and Remuneration which the Most Christian Lewis intended the King of England for all his Services was only that he should have been the last that for all his Services and Assistences given to the French Crown to the over-sight of his own Interest and his True it is that notwithstanding the Convulsions that threatned his Kingdom during his Minority yet Mazarine having by a Conjunction with Cromwell surmounted all those difficulties much increased his Power and inlarged his Conquests by new Acquisitions For Cromwell whom for his pains Mazarine was wont to call a Fortunate Fool gaping after the Golden Mines of Peru to supply his empty Coffers contrary to all the Rules of English Policy was altogether for pulling down the distant Monarchy of Spain and advancing the neighbouring power of France Mazarine had the length of his Foot and therefore resolv'd to make the best of him by pampering up his Gold craving humour and fostering his Animosities against the Spaniard And so cunning was Mazarine that he granted the heedless Usurper whatever he demanded considering that when Cromwell had assisted him to doe his work in bringing under the House of Austria and by that means casting the Balance of Europe on the French side he should afterwards have leisure enough to recover what he had seem'd to part with which was afterwards too unhappily verified by the easie regaining of Dunkirk Thus Cromwell being the first that rais'd the Grandeur of the French to which he contributed not a little by the War which he made at the time with Spain the two Princes that succeeded him were so wheedled and bewitched by the French Kings specious pretencees and fair Promises that they did tho undesignedly too much assist him to get up to the Pinicle of Universal Dominion as if this Most Christian King had made use of Charms and Philters to fascinate their Eyes and Ears neither to see themselves so often abus'd nor to hear the advices of their most faithfull Counsellours How happy was the King of England at his first Restauration belov'd by his People ador'd by his Parliament and in perfect Union with his Nighbours the Dutch What might not those two Potentates in close Confederacy have done France trembled at the thoughts of it and despair'd of grasping Universal Empire unless she could divide this solid opposition so pernicious to her soaring Projects The French King well understood that the King of England would he but put himself to the trouble of knowing his own strength and making a true use of it was in a condition not only to mediate but to force a Peace among all the Potentates of Europe For by a strict Union with the Hollanders he was absolute Master of the whole Ocean and consequently of the Riches of the World insomuch that the Mines of America were not safe to the King of Spain but by his Permission and by sending to the weaker side the assistance of his Land Forces formidable as well for their Courage as their Discipline he was able to have turn'd the scales of Victory which way soe'er he pleas'd Now then in regard that by the common Rules of Policy and Fore-sight the French King could not but be well assur'd that whatsoever Princes he assail'd the other would be as certain in the weakness of his Condition to have recourse to the two Grand Fortresses of Europe Potent at Sea and no less powerfull by Land to prevent the Ravage of his Territories whether the Dictates of Achitophelism and Matchavillinism might not in some measure justifie the most Christian King in pursuing the best Methods he could to separate such a Conjunction so prejudicial to his aspiring Ambition and Self-interest may not be so much perhaps the Question but whether he is not to be look'd upon as the worst of the whole Race of Cain and as a Mischief and Pest which all Mankind ought to eschew who besides the most unchristianlike ways by which he sought to subdue his Enemies treated his most faithfull Friends and Allies with that Infidelity that Treachery that base and scornfull Ingratitude as he did the King of England By which it was plain that all the Kindnesses and Remuneration which the Most Christian Lewis intended the King of England for all his Services was only that he should have been the last that for all his Services and Assistences given to the French Crown to the over-sight of his own Interest and his Peoples welfare should have been rewarded with Invasion and Conquest To make this Separation therefore between England and Holland the most subtile Mercuries of France were sent abroad with their Silver Wands to lull the British Argos asleep and prevent his watching over the Hesperian Garden of European Liberty or rather with a deeper Intoxication of Aurum Potabile Draughts to allure his Ministers into a downright Falsification of their Trusts Nor was it possible for all of them to escape being befascinated or to resist those Golden Temptations but like People that must go through with what they have taken money to perform presently several artificial insinuations of Injuries receiv'd from the Dutch as to Amboyna and the Fishery were whisper'd about in England while at the same time the freedom of the Sea and the preservation of Trade were with the same subtilty to be disputed in Holland on purpose to exasperate the jealousie of those People Things that might so easily have been adjusted where there had been the least Condescentions to Reason that it was undoubtedly above the reach of most Mens understanding that the Policy of Great Britain should prefer a trivial Quarrel about Sprats and Herrings for the business of Amboyna had been compounded long before above the common safety of three Nations and that a Protestant Kingdom without being constrained thereto by some unavoidable necessity should ever fight with so much Rage and Fierceness for the Destruction of the Protestant Interest Or that English Counsellors should advise their Prince to run the Fortune of a French King without any rational Prospect of Advantage to himself But it was plain that the Most Christian King was then laying his most Vnchristian Trains for the Destruction of England and as palpable it was that the Dutch War was design'd by the French to ruine the naval strength of both Nations and thereby to break the Balance of Europe It was a Mystery beyond unfolding that the Chief Ministers of England should take such strange Measures so to mislead their Sovereign that in order to the making good his Title to the Kingdom of France he should enable the French King to invade all Christendom and to extend his Empire beyond all bounds or that to secure to himself and his People the Sovereignty of the Seas he should with so much industry endeavour to force all the Dutch Ships with all their Naval Power into the Arms of the French and rejoyce at their
England was again betrayed and necessitated to declare War first and to expect the Assistance of his Confederate afterwards Nor is it less observable that the French King in conjunction with a Protestant Prince to render him odious among all the States and Princes of Europe whether Protestant or Roman Catholick gave it out that the War against the United Provinces was a War of Religion undertaken merely for the Propagation of the Roman Catholick Faith and as the French Minister expressed it in a Solemn Speech to the Emperor's Council that the Hollanders being Hereticks who had forsaken God all good Christians were bound to Unite to their Extirpation To confirm which the more the French Ministers no doubt not contrary to their Instructions declar'd and assur'd many Princes that to let all the World see how far their Master was from any such Ambitious designs as were laid to his charge and to satisfie the World that he entred into the War merely out of a Religious Zeal and for the Glory of God he was ready to part with all his Conquests and to restore to the Hollanders all the Towns he had won from them if they would but re-establish the True Worship they had banish'd out of their Dominions Such is the Most Christian King who scruples not to falsifie with Heaven so it may but support and colour his falshood upon Earth Well the Most Christian King having by his Ungodly Policy thus engaged us in a Bloudy War with Holland pursues his own design by Land with all the Vigour Imaginable in so much that the swiftness and force of his Motion seem'd to be somewhat Supernatural but all this while he leaves us to doe our own work by Sea 'T is true his Fleet appeared among us and made up a third Squadron under white Colours but under that Colour of Innocence they thought it such a crime to shed Bloud that they always kept out of harms way Rather they did us more mischief than good in regard that when our Admirals encountr'd the Enemy in hopes of their Assistance they always left the English in the Lurch to bear the Brunt of the Engagement against the superiour Numbers which it was their Duty to have attack'd A peice of Treachery so insupportable that only they who suffer'd it would have endur'd it by which the whole English Navy was absolutely betrayed by a faithless Allie and by which the Lives of great numbers of the English were lost which by their Conjunction might have been sav'd So that it was apparent that those sacred Ships of the French were a sort of Noli me Tangere's not sent to assist their Confederares but only to sound the English Seas to spy our Ports to learn our Building to contemplate our way of Fighting to consume ours and preserve their own Navy to encrease their Commerce and to order all so that the two great Naval Powers of Europe having crush'd one another he might remain sole Lord of the Ocean and by consequence Master of all the Trade of the World Thus it happen'd that after three Engagements of Ours against the Dutch Fleet in one Summer while nothing was tenable at Land against the French it seem'd that as to us every thing at Sea was Impregnable which was not to be attributed either to want of Courage or Conduct but was only to be imputed to our unfortunate Conjunction with the perfidious French like the misfortunes that happen to Men by being in ill Company This Misbehaviour of the French rais'd the Indignation of the English to such a Pitch that the Parliament resolving to give no more Mony for the continuance of the War the King was persuaded to make a Peace with Holland which was concluded accordingly towards the latter end of the Year 1673. And to shew that the King of England had all the reason in the World so to doe we are to take a little farther prospect of the uprightness of the Most Christian King to his Friend and Allie who had at such a â—â—aâ—t expence of Treasure espous'd his Quarrel For the French Army having passed the Wale caus'd such a General Consternation all over Holland and the Confusion they were in was such they could hardly resolve whether to yield or continue to defend themselves The States therefore sent away several of their Deputies some to the King of England others to the Most Christian of Princes to know of both upon what conditions they would be willing to make Peace and Agreement Those that were sent to the King of England to shew how justly he intended to have dealt with the French or whether it were out of Fear of giving him any Jealousie or Offence were met as far as Gravesend and being forbid their approach to White-Hall were conveigh'd to Hampton-Court and there as it were honourably confin'd till his Majesty of England could hear from the Most Christian King whether those Deputies might be admitted But the other Deputies no sooner arriv'd at the French Court but two Secretaries of State were sent to them who without farther delay demanded in the first place what Power they had to Treat and next what Proposals they had to make in order to a speedy Peace The Deputies answered they came not to make Proposals but to receive Conditions from his Most Christian Majesty as it better became them Upon which to hasten them to a Conclusion the French Ministers told them in short That whatever his Most Christian Majesty had conquer'd in their Dominions he lookt upon as his own already and therefore would not part with it without an Equivalent as well for what he might farther subdue before the conclusion of the Treaty as for what he had already in Possession With this Answer Monsieur De Groet one of the Holland Deputies posted back to the Hague and with no less speed was sent back again with full Instructions and Authority jointly with the rest of his Colleagues to treat and conclude a Peace with them No sooner was he return'd but Monsieur Louvoy one of the French King's Secretaries gave the Deputies a Draught of a Treaty or rather the Pretensions of the King his Master upon the granting of which he was both willing and ready to return to his former Amity with the States and to conclude a firm Peace with them Upon which two things are Observable First that the Conditions themselves were such which if granted would have made the French King as perfectly Master of the Country as if he had Conquer'd it by the Sword And in the Second place That in all the Articles there was not the least word relating to England nor any more notice taken of the King of Great Britain than if he had not been at all concern'd in the War And farther to demonstrate that it was never the design of the Most Christian Prince that the King of England should be a gainer by the War Monsieur De Groet declared at his second return to the
Hague when he carryed the King's Project along with him that when the French Ministers were ask'd what was to be done with England they made Answer that the States might doe as they pleas'd with England and come off as cheap as they could for that the French were not bound by their Treaty to procure them any Advantages A great Happiness in the mean time for the King of England to be engaged in such a War with such a False and Treacherous Allie for it is plain that the Dutch had no sooner signifi'd their desires but the Most Christian Prince had it presently in his Head to have cheated the King of England For could the Most Christian King in that same dreadful Consternation of the Dutch have got the Possession of the United Provinces by the more concise and less expensive way of Treaty he would soon have found an expedient to have defrauded his dear Confederate of any share in them Which was the reason the Most Christian Sophister spurr'd on the consternated Dutch with so much haste and with such a clandestine speed pursu'd his Advantage that the King of England might not have a Moment's time to provide for himself But the King of England having serv'd the Most Christian Prince more justly in his kind by a separate Peace with Holland and the sudden Advancement of His Highness the Prince of Orange attended by the Fall of the De-witts quash'd all the lofty Frenchman's hopes of gaining either by Treaty or by Conquests what his thoughts aspir'd to So that now as if he had been arriv'd at the Tropick of his Fortune he was forc'd to roll back again with the same swiftness as he ascended to the highth of his success However that he might not lose his old wont as a mark of his displeasure and as it were to punish the English Nation for his disappointments notwithstanding the Peace that was still firm between the two Crowns he let loose his Privateers among the English Merchants to that degree of Treaty-Violation that from that time for near two years together Peace all the while if French Peace may be call'd Peace there was no security of Commerce or Navigation but at Sea they Murther'd Plunder'd made Prize and Confiscated all they met with The French Pickaroons lay before the Mouths of our Harbors hover'd all along our Coasts took our Ships in the very Ports so that we were in a manner Blockt up by Water And if any made Application at the Sovereign-Port of the Most Christian Solyman for Justice they were most insolently baffled except some few who by Sir E. L's interest were redeem'd upon somewhat easier Composition For evidence of which the following Papers return'd by certain Members of the Privy Council in Pursuance of the King's Order as also the Register which was annex'd to it of the several Vessels that were then complain'd of to be taken are a Memorial not easie to be cancell'd So loud and so thick were the daily complaints of the English Merchants of their losses sustain'd by the French Privateers in the Year 1674. and 1676. notwithstanding the Publick Amity between the two Nations that the King referr'd the Examination thereof to several Lords of the Committee of Trade who upon due Examination of the Affair observ'd that the Petition of the Merchants presented to the King the 31st of May 1676. was grounded upon these Heads First That their Ships and Goods though mann'd according to the Act of Navigation and furnish'd with all necessary Passes were daily seiz'd carry'd into Dunkirk Calais Sherbrook and other Ports the Masters and Owners kept close Prisoners to force them by hardship to abuse their Owners or else for the relief of their own private Necessities being commonly Stripp'd and Plunder'd to enter into the Privateers Service which great numbers had done with very pernicious Effects Secondly That the delay and charge of prosecuting the Law in France did commonly make the Owners become losers of half the Value when ever they were successfull Thirdly That there was no reparation ever gotten from Privateers for what they Plunder'd and Imbezl'd which made them freely seize upon all they met and perpetually molest the Navigation of the King's Subjects for which Reasons they humbly implor'd His Majesty's Relief and Protection Thereupon the King was pleas'd to command that some of his Frigats should sail forth to clear the Coast of those Privateers seize them and bring such as had offended to make Restitution Moreover the King order'd that the Lords of the Committee of Trade should take good notice of the particular Cases and Complaints depending that such as were of weight and merit might be fitted for his Gracious Recommendation for Relief As also to survey the whole number of Seizures which had been made upon his Subjects in order to lay before his Majesty what hardships had been sustain'd at Sea and what sort of Justice had been administer'd in France In Obedience to which command they brought in a List of such Ships as had been seiz'd to the number of fifty three and the Cases wherein the Owners had repair'd to the King for relief Which as in the General it suppos'd a Justice in such complaints so it left a suspition of great hardships in the Methods of Redress besides that the number of Captives was no small proof of the facility of Condemnation While the Lords were in the midst of this Examination there was presented to the Committee as it was receiv'd from Monsieur Courtin the French Ambassador an Extract of a Letter from Monsieur Colbert to Monsieur Pompone one of the French King's Secretaries dated June 28th 1676. in these Words FOr what concerns the Prizes it would be a difficult matter to answer all the Cases contain'd in Monsieur Courtin's Letter What I can say to it is That the Council for Marine Affairs sits every day at St. Germaines That all Privateers and Reclaimers know it That Sir Ellis Leighton nominated by the English Ambassador hath always notice of it and is always present at it That not a week passes but I give him two or three Audiences and oftentimes I send for him on purpose That his Reasons are all read reported and committed as likewise are all Petitions of Reclaimers and I shall tell you more I acquaint him with the Reasons upon which Judgment is given In giving Judgment all Vessels which have any Appearance of being English are releas'd and very often and almost always though we are satisfied that the Ships are Dutch yet they are releas'd because there is some appearance of their being English and every thing is judg'd favourable for that Nation And it is no less true that all Ships that are taken are Dutch Built that they never were in England that the Masters and all the Equipage are Dutch that the Cockets are for Persons unknown and which are not oft-times so much as nam'd that they carry with them only some Sea Breifs from Waterford or some
Doway the Fort of Scarp Turnay Oudenard Lille Armentiers Courtray Bergues and Turnes and all their Bayliwicks c. and restore to the King of Spain the County of Burgundy together with Alost And to this Treaty all the Princes of Christendom were invited to give the two Kings their Promises and Engagements of Warranty as to all the Contents of the Treaty And by another Article of the Treaty it was accorded that whatever should on the day of the Ratification of the Peace be found upon the Lands of France should appertain to Her and that whatever in like manner should be found upon the Lands of Spain should appertain to the Crown of Spain but as if it were an impossibility for France to keep her word the Most Christian Prince designing to make his Advantage of this Article before the Ratification came caus'd the Ax to be set to a Wood of Overgrown Trees which was upon the Lands of Spain and having fell'd the Timber transported it into his own Dominions that when the Ratification should come he might have an excuse for what he had done In like manner though he were to restore all Burgundy by the Articles of this Treaty without reservation and though he were Sworn upon the Cross the Holy Evangelists the Canons of the Mass and upon his Honour fully really and bona fide to observe and accomplish all the contents of the Articles yet he both dismantl'd the strong Holds and Places of the County carryed away all the Ammunitions and Warlike Provisions and would have destroyed the Rich Salt Pits of that Province but for the powerfull Interposition of England and Hâ—lland Nor could this Treaty of Aix so religiously sworn to tie up the French King from exacting heavy Contributions from the Duchess of Lymburgh and Luxenburgh from laying new claims to some Towns as important as any of those that had been granted him by the Peace nor from confiscating the Estates of the Subjects of the King of Spain that refus'd to forswear their Allegiance not sparing the Royal House of Mary Mont. And as if these Infractions and Incroachments had not been sufficient they forc'd their way with great Quantities of Merchandize through the Spanish Territories without paying Customs and not long after enveavour'd to surprize the Town of Hainault And in short they did whatever they pleas'd plunder'd even the most sacred Places and acted without remorce or pitty whatever can be imagined by insolent and unconscionable Men. This perfidious dealing of France with England and Spain spreading over Europe like a Gangrene as it prov'd extreamly prejudicial to some so it became no less pernicious to others of the Europaean Princes Among the rest the Duke of Lorrain by the Pyrenaean Treaty was to be restor'd to his Dukedom of Lorrain with all the Places and Towns which he had possessed in the Bishopricks of Mets Toul and Verdun But France after the Exeeution of the other Articles of that Peace delay'd as long as she could the performance of that part which related to the Duke and still refus'd to restore him to his Country till she had made him condeseend to another Treaty with her whereby he was constrain'd to part with several other considerable Places besides what had been granted to him by the General Peace Nor would that Usurpation satisfie her voracious Appetite for that after a Year and an half of an unsettl'd Possession during which time under several unjust pretences new quarrells were every day pick'd with him till she forc'd him with a considerable Army to surrender into her hands his Town of Marsul Nor was it long after before the French again compell'd him to sign a new Treaty still more disadvantageous than the two former nor could he then as little as before have any quiet Enjoyment of that little they had left him till they had worm'd him out of all For every day the French encroached upon his Jurisdiction the Liberties of his Territories and his Sovereignty it self He laid most Enormous Taxes upon the Duke's Subjects he constrain'd him to disband his Forces and then to raise new Men again as the Most Christian Usurper thought fit He was kept from revenging his own Quarrels to take part in that of others all his Enemies were let loose against him to stop the progress of his Armies as soon as he had gain'd the least Advantage And in few Words the Noble Duke who deserv'd a much better Treatment was all that while rather a Vassal to France than a Sovereign Prince Neither would this satisfie the Ambition of the French King who finding by many circumstances how highly the Duke resented such Despotick Vsage he sent one of his Generals to surprize and seize his Person and to bring him either dead or alive A new French Mode of dealing with Sovereign Princes not known in the more generous Climates of Europe and which may give us some Hopes of seeing the Northern part of the World govern'd by Basha's as well as the Eastern But 't is an infallible Maxim that every Prince dispossess'd of his Estate may hold for certain there will be nothing omitted on the Usurper's part or Conquerer in Possession to ruin him if possible and all his Generation Therefore 't is not strange that the French King should leave no Stone unturn'd for the Destruction of His Highness of Lorrain From hence it was that the Imperial Governour of Philipsburgh the same who afterwards basely and cowardly surrender'd up that Garrison to Crequi so notoriously and openly as he did attempted the Destruction of that Prince by a Trap-door which he cunningly caus'd to be contriv'd for that purpose in the Bridge of that Place through which the Duke not dreaming of any such French Treachery so near him fell head long to the Bottom of the Ditch For may it not be justly inferr'd that this Governour had capitulated and agreed with some Christian Minister of France to execute so greatfull a peice of Treason more especially since it was by the Power of the Favourers of France at Vienna that the Traitors escap'd altogether unpunish'd And now we are come to Vienna it will not be amiss to take a short view of the Most Christian King's behaviour towards the Emperor where he will be found nothing chang'd either in his Morals or his Politicks As for the occasion that ever his Imperial Majesty gave the French King to make such Bloudy Wars upon Him there is no body that can tell of any Nor is it probable that a Prince so good Natur'd so Piously inclin'd so much given to Repose and Peace and so averse from contending with his Neighbours or making War upon his Inferiours as he is said to be should be an Aggressor But all the World knows that it has been long the Ambition of France to grasp in his hands the Universal Monarchy of the fourth part of the Habitable Earth and this is that which makes the French King seek Occasions of Publick Universal
that notwithstanding the considerable Advantages offer'd them to treat separately they would not so much as lend an Ear to any Proposition of that Nature France on the other side had always kept on Foot a private Negotiation which nevertheless the Dutch had all the Reason in the World to suspect because of the continual Posting of Curriers between Paris and London However France confirm'd them so authentickly in a contrary belief and gave them such positive Promises that she would never hearken to any Proposition unless in a joint Assembly for a General Peace that she order'd the Count D' Estrades that in Case the States would not give Credit to what he assured them as an Ambassadour he should quit that Character for so long time and pawn his Faith to them as a Private Person A great honour indeed to the Count d' Estrade to have the Reputation of a Person that would not tell an untruth but under the Character of a Publick Minister of France and that the Probity of his Person was above the Dignity of his Employment Though had he been so improvident to have been bound for his Master he must certainly have answered both the Principal and Interest for certain it is that England and France concluded the Peace without the consent or so much as the knowledge of the States neither did France make any mention of them or their Interests or of any reserve or relation to the General Peace But that which was more surprizing was this that after the French King had thus concluded a private Peace with England notwithstanding he had promis'd the King not to exercise any Act of Hostility against him he us'd all his endeavours to oblige the Dutch to put forth their Fleet to Sea engaging to join with them and agreeing upon all the Conditions necessary for that purpose A double headed piece of Treachery fit to be recorded to the Eternal Infamy of the Faith Breaker If we look into Sweden we shall find that she was consider'd as more potent than Denmark and therefore a League was clapt up with them to prevent the Danes assisting Holland and by that League the King of Sweden was to receive by way of Pension or Gratuity Sixteen Hundred Thousand Crowns But the French upon second Thoughts finding the Treaty with the Sweeds to be of little use to them refus'd to ratifie it and sent away Monsieur Trelon to tell the King of Sweden in short that his Master declard it void a quick and Majestick way to rescind a Treaty at any time If we remove into Poland there you shall find no body more busie than the French King's Ambassadors at the Elections of the King to procure the choice of such a one as may be tack'd to his Interest or at least such a one as may have no kindness to the House of Austria and all this to enable him the more to disturb the Peace of the Empire In pursuance of which ungodly designs under a pretence of Advancing the Affairs of Poland and settling a perfect Amity with that Kingdom the French King contriv'd a Marriage for the Polish Prince with a Lady of France By which means he had a fair opportunity to send thither as her Attendents and for the more Splendor of her Fame so many expert Instruments of Mischief that immediately they form'd and settl'd a Cabal with such Intrigues as in a short time enflam'd the Nobility of that Kingdom into Animosities and Factions not likely to be so soon again extinguish'd And at that time they wrought so far that the King soon after became willing to resign the Kingdom upon which the Turk seeing the great Divisions that were rais'd among them was the more easily allur'd in by the French Cabal who procur'd by Versallian's directions that Mischief partly out of revenge because they could not compass another King either of French Bloud or French Interest at the next Election and partly because the New King had contracted a Marriage with the Emperour's Sister And now Poland by reason of its Situation being sheltered under the Wings of the French Ambassador is fix'd upon by the French to convey themselves from thence into Hungary and the Ottoman Port for the better and more easie carrying on their Intrigues between France the Male Contents and the Turk And first it appear'd by several Letters dispersed both in Constantinople Transilvania and Hungary that upon the 30th of December 1681. the War was resolv'd upon and Sworn to against the Emperor in the Serraglio of Constantinople in the Holy Council call'd the Divan where the Mufti High Priest of the Mahomitan Religion sits President Which sufficiently laid open the Authors and Procurers of that War and clearly shew'd that the French were not asham'd as if it had been a famous Action in them to take advice of the Divan and applaud the success of the Negotiation as they did in their Letters written backwards and forwards to the Rebels in which they congratulated with the Rebels for having drawn the Rebels to their Succour they promis'd each other in their Letters all the Advantages they could expect which aim'd at no less than to have driven the Emperor out of the best of his Dominions It was known that such of the Hungarians as were forc'd to run their Country for conspiring against the Emperor liv'd only upon such supplies of Money as they receiv'd from the French to the end they should not be constrain'd to make their Peace with the Emperour whose Clemency they were made believe extended no farther than to offer it so that they resolv'd to prosecute their Enterprize upon the Promises that were made them from France Which was the reason that Akakia renewed and confirm'd more powerfully than ever the League and Alliance with the Male-Contents in Hungary The French Emissaries also without any shame of violating the Law of Nations and in Countries where the Solemn Treaty of Peace was in full force though they had been manifestly discovered in a secret Conspiracy run on afterwards more than ever with an unparallell'd Impudence as if all things had been lawfull for them to act without controul An Hunderd Thousand Florins were ordered at Paris to foment the Discontents of the Hungarian Rebels and quicken the Motion of the Turks which summ was deliver'd at Dantzick and paid into the Hands of a Banker who afterwards deliver'd it into the Hands of the French Emissaries at several Payments the better to hide the Business And the Sieur du Vernay Boucauldi Count Teckely's real Spie caus'd to be deliver'd to the Sieur Valentine Nemessan 11300 Duckats to oblige the Male-Contents to take Arms again and attack the Cittadel of Zatmar after the French Mode that is to endeavour to gain the Garrison or Citizens with Money These Tricks of the French Emissaries were so well known that the Princess Radzivilliana forbad the suffering any French to pass through her Countrey of Saculia fearing lest they should as in other
that Nation cannot long endure the Calms of a Lazy Peace so that if you cannot find employment for them abroad they will be framing Commotions and Disturbances at home The Eldest Sons of all their Noble Families carry away the Estates without leaving any thing to the Younger but an empty Title and their Swords so that being little addicted to Learning and disdaining the life of Mechanicks nothing remains but War or Thievery to rescue them from Misery which is the reason that the Politicks of France oblige her to be continually picking Quarrels with her Nighbours to evaporate those Flames which otherwise would prey upon her own Bowels Their second Maxim is to insinuate themselves into all sorts of Affairs on which hand soever it be and to make themselves Vmpires in all business either by Force or Subtilty by Threatnings or under pretence of Friendship to wriggle themselves into Treaties of Peace where they are Parties interested as they did in that of the Bishop of Munster and afterwards in the Assembly at Breda There never was any Quarrel wherein they had not the cunning to pretend some Interest or Right and never any People shew'd the least inclination to rebell but they always made them their Allies But experience tells us that they never took part in any War but to enflame it the more nor ever interpos'd in any Peace to Sow the Seeds of new Differences Their third Maxim is to make Interest of State the only rule of all their Actions without having any regard to the Faith of Treaties or the Sanctity of Religion or any other Ties of Parentage or Friendship according to the Fundamental Principle of the D. of Rohan That Princes commanded the People and Interest commanded Princes So that all that the Turks have gain'd upon Europe from the time of Francis the First till this time they owe to their Alliances with France and the Diversions she had made in their favour by giving disturbance to those that enterpriz'd any thing against the common Enemy Their fourth Maxim is to keep as much as in them lies all Foreign States employ'd and divided at home or else engaged in Foreign War of which England in particular has found the sad Effects and under pretence of assisting sometimes one sometimes another to seek their own Advantages in the Troubles of others These are the Maxims of Men that make haste to be Rich in Ignoble Conquests and the infallible marks of a profound and vast design that must be stopp'd in time to stop the spreading of the Ambitious Grangrene for from a Royal and powerfull Professor of such Maxims as these there is no Prince that can be safe in his Dominions Among private Persons it is the most difficult thing to deal with a Man of a large Conscience how much more a most Herculean task it is to cope with a mighty Potentate whose Conscience is no less wide than his Ambition is Vast who having eleven Millions of Sterling Pounds torn from the Bowels and Mouths of his poor and wanting Subjects at command to maintain his Wars and bribe his way to Conquest through all the Fences of Religion Morality and Common Justice values not the tremendous Anger of Heaven nor the Violation of all the Laws of God and Nature nor the preservative Constitutions of Men to attain his ends It is said of Tamerlane though a Scythian and Barbarian that to one who earnestly importun'd him in behalf of Bajazet he made this answer that he did not punish a King but an impions and nefarious Man The same justification have the Princes of Europe that they fight not against the Most Christian King but an Anti-Christian Vsurper who conquers to oppress and oppresses merely to support his Oppression and shew the Grandeur of his Power England has more just pretences to his Dominions than perhaps he has himself at least far more just than what he has to the conquests which he has wrested out of the hands of the Spaniard and the Emperor England has the greatest Reason in the World to recover her Antient and till lately uncontested Glory and assert her long continued Dominions of the Seas usurp'd by the Assistence of a purchas'd Navy which if once destroy'd nothing but the same opportunities could again recover It is said that the Portcullis was added to the Royal Badges of the Crown of England to signifie that the Kings of England had a just Right and Title at pleasure to shut up and open the Sea when they thought fit and it may still be prov'd by several substantial Evidences that the King of England's Title to the Propriety of the Sea is as good and perhaps better than any Title the French King has to any part of his Dominions by Land And the Letters are still to be seen in the Paper-Office at White-Hall if not remov'd Written by this King's Grandfather with his own hand to King James to ask leave for some few Vessels to Fish for Sowles as he should have occasion for his own Table and it ought to be so agen for it is only fit that England should guard the Seas that so well defend and guard Her Justice it self now loudly calls to England to demand satisfaction for the illegal and vexatious Depredations and Practices committed upon her Merchants even at the time when she was in strictest League and Combination with her to the ruine of her Trade which is the Apple of her Eye and the main support of her Wooden Walls her chiefest Glory and next under Heaven her chiefest Safeguard and Protection She ought in Justice and Honour to resent the Indignities and Affronts so lately put upon her in making her that ought to be the Balance of Europe the Derision of her Enemies and only the Pity of her Friends such a generous Animosity and Resentment as this would wean the English Nation from that fond Dotage upon French Baubles French Fashions and French Vermin to the loss of above Sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds Yearly to this Kingdom there having been Yearly so much more imported of French Commodities than exported of ours which only serves to enrich the Capital Foe to our own Ruine and to fit us for the Yoke of French Slavery For this is a certain Rule that the first step to the subducing of a Nation is to insinuate into them a good liking or rather a dotage of those that are to be their subduers and therefore it was that the French King observing that while the English were under the Conjunction of the Triple League there was a general humour in the Nation in opposition to Frence insomuch that they had thrown off the French Mode and put on Vests to the end we might look the more like a distinct People and not be under the servility of Imitation which alwaies pays a greater reverence to the Original than is consistent with that Equality which all independent Nations should pretend to I say the the French King observing this
which is made here by the small Quantity of French Wine which is consum'd at present by the several Fruits Dry and Green and French Sweat-Meats which are little esteem'd That England is at this day much more Wealthy than France and that if God had afflicted England with such a Government and a King of Lewis the Fourteenth's Humor she might doe much more than France does now That therefore all Princes that are tempted to imitate that King in his Humors to be a Conqueror and an Absolute Prince ought rather to swallow Poison and quit the World than to suffer themselves to be over-rul'd by such Barbarous and Cursed Passions That indeed in some measure Lewis XIV is to be excused for his Attacking Mons and Nyssa as supposing him to have a good Correspondence both in the one and the other and that his Design was thereby to re-establish or maintain the Reputation of his Great Power of which he began to be somewhat doubtfull and to prevent his Credit from falling as well among the Rebels in Ireland as among his own Subjects and at Rome where there is such Disputing about the Election of a New Pope and that he thought this would strike a Terror into the Confederates especially the Duke of Savoy who he troubles the most and therefore would oblige him to make his Peace apart and others after or together with him He was also willing to make the World believe that the Congress at the Hague of which he had Intilligence 8 Months before did nothing astonish him And therefore beleiving it was high time for him to Attempt something he pickt out Mons before any other in the Low-Countries and took all his Measures to Crown the Enterprize with Success And the Reasons why he pitch'd upon Mons were these Because it was a Place the most advanc'd toward France and for that the Confederates would sooner make an Invasion of his Country on that side than any other way because it was a Place which fetch'd great Contributions out of France and the Conquer'd Provinces and for that being large and wealthy it might serve to make a Magazine for K. William's Army and because that if the Confederates were so far weakn'd as to make a Peace to his Advantage the next Winter he would rather keep it than Aeth Oudenard or Charleroy which he had been once already oblig'd to quit to serve as a Bar to the Spanish Low-Countries besides that it is the Capital City of a large Province which the Conquest of that Town would reduce wholly under his Subjection As for Nyssa assuredly it was Bought and Sold for that otherwise it would have been a foolish attempt to have Attacqu'd it in the Heart of Winter being a Place Impregnable and that the Traitors were agreed to cover their foul Play to fire the Powder under the Favour of the first Bombs that Catinat should throw into the Town by which means they should take the French Money yet appear honest Men. That as for the Circumstances and the Soldiers kill'd by the Accident it might all be so manag'd as if the whole had happen'd fortuitously the better to cover their Intrigues Therefore 't is presumed that France went the best way to try whether she could by these means separate the Allies one from the other and farther that there is no question to be made but that France by other Intrigues supported with Money will do her utmost to make a Peace the next Winter for that otheâ—wise she is ruin'd for ever notwithstanding all the outward haughtiness she carries in her looks and that it is the Interest of the Allies not to be too hasty but to stand resolutely upon their Terms That whatever outward shew Lewis XIV makes it will be impossible for him to support another Campaign after this but that he must be oblig'd to constrain his Subjects to sell the last remainder of their Plate and to raise the Price of his Money at least half in half And that all this will hardly suffice for another Campaign for that the farther he goes forward in these Excesses and the more his usual Imposts decay the less Money he will have and the more the People will be ruin'd Having now given you a short but faithful Account of the Miseries and Calamities that the French King's Subjects groan under at home as also the sinking Condition of the State which we may modestly affirm to be the Effects of his Tyrannical Government on the one hand and of his Infidelity and Injustice towards his Neighbours and Allies on the other let us now examine the Particulars of his Transactions with each Neighbouring Potentate for some time past and then let the Impartial judge whether any thing but Oppression to his People and Ruin to his Kingdom are likely to be the Events of such perfidious Practices We will begin with England How happy was the King of England at his first Restauration belov'd by his People ador'd by his Parliament and in perfect Union with his Neighbours the Dutch What might not those two Potentates in close Confederacy have done France trembled at the thoughts of it and despair'd of grasping Universal Empire unless she could divide this solid opposition so pernicious to her soaring Projects The French King well understood that the King of England would he but put himself to the trouble of knowing his own strength and making a true use of it was in a condition not only to mediate but to force a Peace among all the Potentates of Europe For by a strict Union with the Hollanders he was absolute Master of the whole Ocean and consequently of the Riches of the World insomuch that the Mines of America were not safe to the King of Spain but by his Permission and by sending to the weaker side the assistance of his Land Forces formidable as well for their Courage as their Discipline he was able to have turn'd the scales of Victory which way soe'er he pleas'd Now then in regard that by the common Rules of Policy and Fore-sight the French King could not but be well assur'd that whatsoever Princes he assail'd the other would be as certain in the weakness of his Condition to have recourse to the two Grand Fortresses of Europe Potent at Sea and no less powerful by Land to prevent the Râ—vage of his Territories whether the Dictates of Achitophelism and Machiavilism might not in some measure justifie the most Christian King in pursuing the best Methods he could to separate such a Conjunction so prejudicial to his aspiring Ambition and Self-interest may not be so much perhaps the Question but whether he is not to be look'd upon as the worst of the whole Race of Cain and as a Mischief and Pest which all Mankind ought to eschew who besides the most unchristian like ways by which he sought to subdue his Enemies treated his most faithfull Friends and Allies with that infidelity that Treachery that base and scornfull Ingratitude as
his retiring was this notwithstanding his specious pretences at the instance of the Confederates all good Offices were done by the King of England and Memorials given but all to no effect till the word Parliament was put into them That powerfull word had such a charm in it that even at a distance it raised the Siege which may convince us of what Efficacy a King of England's words are when he will give them their full weight and threaten with his Parliament Then it is that he appears that greater Figure which we ought to represent him in our Minds the Nation his Body he the Head and join'd with that Harmony that every word he pronounces is the Word of a Kingdom Such Words are as effectual as Fleets and Armies because they can create them and without this his Word sounds abroad like a Faint Whisper that is either not heard or which is worse not minded But to return to the French King and bring him home to his own Dominions where you shall find his extraordinary Kindness to his then Highness the Prince of Orange in demolishing the Castle and pulling down the Walls of the chief City of his Principality of Orange to save him the expence of a Garrison and Plundering and Exacting vast Summs of Money from the Subjects of another Prince living in Peace and giving him no Disturbance merely under pretence of entertaining the Children of Hugonots Nay you shall find him persecuting his own Subjects under the Name of Hereticks and sending his Missionary Dragoons to converâ— them by ransacking their Houses robbing them of their Goods defiling their Wives deflowring their Daughters and inflicting upon the Men torments more cruel and inhumane than those of the Ten Persecutions and all this while they were under the Protection of several Edicts solemnly granted and ratified to them for the Exercise of their Religion without disturbance These are the Renowned Acts of Lewis XIV displaying the lovely prospect of his Falshood to England his breach of Faith with Spain his Infidelity to Holland his Juggling with the Northern Princes his Treacherous Aspiring to the Imperial Throne his vast Expences to divide the Princes of Germany from the Empire his endangering the subversion of all Christendom by confederating with the Turk and his Violations of the Peace of his own Subjects In a word it has been his common Practice to give the World all manner of Disturbance and to render France the common Enemy of the Peace of Manking and a publick Pest among all States and Princes in every Countrey and Kingdom he either finds Combustible Stuff or else makes it and then sets Fire to it being at an excessive charge to find Fodder for the various Animals of Faction in all Places Which sort of Politicks appear to be so much the more Criminal because there is no just revenging them but that which obliges all generous Nations to fight their Enemies with their Arms in their hands and openly There being nothing so base as that which makes Men make use of wicked devices and execrable Treasons as the instruments to ruine others nor does he that thinks to assume the Name of Great by unworthy Artifices render himself a whit the more truly Glorious Souls truly Royal and Magnanimous have always despis'd the Conquests they could more easily obtain by Cunning and Trapan than by Force and Arms And it was out of their Opinion worthy a Noble Spirit that Alexander the great sharply rebuk'd his Favourite Parmenio who would have put him upon a crafty contrivance telling him it was only fit for Robbers to have recourse to Treachery as their only meanes to compass their Theiveries But the French King is of another Temper and thinks it more safe to conquer by Divide Impera than by dint of Sword He knows himself good at Burning witness Alsatia and the Palatinate laid in Ashes and therefore thinks it better to set other Countries which he cannot otherwise come at in a Flame by Treachery and Faction that having enough to doe to quench their own Fires at home they may have neither Leisure nor Power to hinder his Projects abroad Doubtless then since England has so lately seen her Nighbours Houses in so sad a conflagration it is a sufficient Justification for her to look to her own and to secure her self and all Europe from such Boutefeus and the said effects of their impious designs Seeing then there is so little â—redit to be given to the Carthaginian Faith of France and that all the Motions of that aspiring Monarch tend directly to the subversion of the whole frame of the Government of Europe and to erect a French Tyranny over all the enthrall'd Princes of this same fourth and best inhabited part of the World there are two Motives which ought to excite the Princes of Christendom to take the common cause in hand the one is interest of State the other the strickt obligation of Justice The first is the general concern of all the Potentates of Europe the second the particular interest of the Princes of the Empire We shall only take notice of the former as being the most Vniversal and most considerable in the World and which will lead us insensibly into the second The grand concern is now to support the Right of Nations which is common to all and to prevent the introducing of Maxims into the World which destroy all commerce among Men and will certainly render humane Society no less dangerous and insupportable than that of Lions and Tygers to defend the publick Faith of Treaties and remove from the sight of Christendom a scandalous example which by the fatal consequences of it will surrender the most feeble to the Will and Pleasure of the strongest and most Potent to stop the Inundation of a Rapid Torrent against the impetuosity of which neither Leagues nor Marriages neither Oaths nor Ties of Bloud and Parentage neither Amity nor Condescentions are Mounds or Damms sufficient to defend the common Bulwark of Christendom against a vast design which has no other ground than the Insatiable thirst of Conquest no other end than despotick Domination by dint of Arms and slight of Intrigue nor any Limits but such as Fortune shall prescribe In short England is now to decide the Fate of Europe and to pronounce the Sentence of her Liberty or Bondage Nor does there want justification sufficient to pursue so great and glorious an Undertaking to the utmost when we consider the Maxims of France which are easie to be gather'd from the past and present conduct her insulting Monarch whose design was to have thrown his Wash-pot over the Empire and his Shoe over all the rest of Europe The first Mixim of France is to make War alwaies abroad and to exercise her Young Nobility at the expence of her Nighbours A Maxim very Politick and well adjusted for her own Advantage but very incommodious for all the rest of the World For it is certain the Genius of