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A44711
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A discours of Dunkirk, with some reflexes upon the late surrender therof, &c. and other additions by a knowing and very worthy person.
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Howell, James, 1594?-1666.
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1664
(1664)
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Wing H3063; ESTC R14155
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9,944
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38
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Arms went still over to secure it William the Conqueror though her Native Duke did as an authentique Historian hath it Angliam deglubere He did shear England to keep it Rufus his son did Angliam Excoriare He did fley England to preserve it His Granchild did Angliam emulgere usque ad sanguinem He did milk England till the blood came forth to defend Normandy being forcd to raise 13 Castles to protect it against the Incursions of the confining French insomuch that when the Duke of York was Regent a computation being made of the charge in keeping Normandy t was found in the Chamber of Accounts that the Expences from the beginning in keeping that Province exceeded the Revenues thereof three hundred forty and eight thousand pounds which was a prodigious sum in those days The next Forren Country that came to truckle under England was Aquitane Guyen and Gascony the most exuberant and fertillst Provinces of all France yet they could never countervail the cost but they still draind moneys and multitudes of men out of England who at their returns in steed of spoils and wealth brought nothing but poverty and so increasd the number of Beggers and Thiefs The town of Bourdeaux her self though a rich Mercantile City did hardly defray the Salary of the English Praesidiary forces that were in it and Fronsack Castle alone did cost 1000 l. per ann as the Record hath it As also that it was deliverd in Parlement 7 Ric. 2. that Gascony with other places we held then in France stood England in above the Revenues therof 24000 l. a yeer The benefit we receavd by taking footing in Armorica or little Britaine may appeer by a few examples For t was declard in Parlement 3 Hen. 2. That ad defensionem Britanniae non sufficiebat the saurus totius Angliae The Town and Castle of Brest alone cost Ric. 2 12000 Marks a yeer and the 9 of his Raign it stood in 13118 l. 18 s. 6 d. as the Record hath it Touching Tournay and Terwya Hen. 8. spent most of that mighty tresure his parsimonious Father left him in getting and keeping it But finding the charge so excessive he sold it to the French for a far smaller sum then was had for Dunkirk For he had but 150000 l. for it and that to be paid in twelve yeers wherof some part is not paid to this day And touching the town of Bulloigne his son Edw. 6. sold it not many yeers after but for 100000 l. We are now come to Callis which notwithstanding the Contributory Territories about it be far more large then those adjoyning to Dunkirk and that the transfretation thence to England be shorter half in half yet it stands upon good Record That from Edw. 3. who first got it to the 2 of Queen Mary who lost it it cost England 337400 l. 9 s. 4 l. Concerning Ireland which comes in the rank of Forren Acquests though it be a fruitful felf-sufficient Country and as one said a good fat Goose to pluck yet the Revenues therof never counter-balancd the charge till the Earl of Staffords time who maybe said to be the first which made Ireland a Nown Substantif to stand by it self without any support of tresure from England Nor could Queen Eliz. though cryed up for a great Housewife bring it to subsist of it self no not in time of Peace but still Moneys were sent over from the Exchequer in Westminster which may be seen upon exact record But in time of War the example of Sir John Perrot may serve for all who in his two years Government there spent England 116368 l. The last Forren places which England had were the Cautionary Towns of Flushing Brill and the Ramakins But when the 80000 l. for which they were hypothequd or pawnd was paid King James t was found that almost the whole sum had bin drunk up in paying the English Garisons all the while From these Premises this Conclusion may be deducd That no Outlandish or Transmarin Possessions except those lately in the Indies pointed at before which are supported by the Merchant did ever make England thrive but they were a cause of perpetual issues of tresure which is the great Artery of any Country wherby England may be said to have spent her very blood and Vital Spirits upon them from time to time Now the Reason may well be that such Excentrique Possessions did not prosper with England in regard that by the Primitive institution of God and Nature the I le of Great Britain is a compleat distinct Mass of Earth and an Empire of it self She may be said to be as the Spaniard saith of Her Comola Tortuga en su concha like a Tortoise in her shell who is so prodigiously armd but for Defence only and the Divine Providence accordingly hath made Great Britain more apposit and proper to Defend then to Extend her self further And to that Defensive end she hath those two properties which the Philosopher requires in a strong self-preserving Country viz. An easie Egress for the Natives who know her shallows and shelfs of sands her Flats and Rocks c. and a hard Ingress for the Stranger who knows them not Moreover Great Britain hath the advantage of having the best shipping of any other for her own Defence For no Country hath such tough Oke as she hath for Kâ—ee-Timber and for other Naval uses Her Peeple also have a Natural Dexterity and Aptitude to Navigation with a courage extraordinary that way Adde herunto that the Position of her Seas with the straightness therof in point of distance from her Neighbours is such and her Ports upon those Seas are so advantagiously situated that none can pass or repass through her Sleeve or Channels but she may controul them without the help of Dunkirk or any other coadjuvant place on her opposit Coasts specially at such a monstrous rate For according to the cautious old saying A man may buy Gold too dear To conclude Wheras some do insist much on point of Honor by parting with Dunkirk in the judgment of the most serious and well-weighd men it had bin taken rather as a Dishonor for a King of Great Britain to distrust his strength so much as not to be able to gard his own Seas and Subjects as his Royal Progenitors did without the adventitious help of a Forren place got by so notorious a Regicide with an aim intent to enable him the more to have still kept him out And it may be well remembred that his present Majesty of England appeerd then against the taking of it to which purpose the Dukes of York and Glocester were actually in Arms in the field for opposing it and it was the Duke of York who gave the first charge and did notable execution Lastly It may well stand with the reach of tru Policy and the interest of England to leave the town of Dunkirk like a bone twixt France and Spain as very probably t is like
A DISCOURS OF DUNKIRK With some REFLEXES UPON The late Surrender therof c. And other Additions By a knowing and very worthy Person LONDON Printed by J. C. for Samuel Speed at the Rainbow in Fleetstreet 1664. A Discours of DUNKIRK IT can hardly be parallelld in Story That any place of such Defence as Dunkirk pretends to be had more various turns of Fortune and change of Masters in so short a revolution of time For this is the Fift New-Master that Dunkirk hath had in less then the compass of XX yeers wherof fower of them got Her by Force Which makes the World much question the strength and tenableness therof The late Surrender that England made of this Town to the French though it was a pure Act of State therfore not disputable by any yet being a business of that general concernment and so open to the Eye of the world it hath ministred matter of much Talk and banding of Opinions among the Critiques of the Times as well Forreners as Others The dessein of this small Tract is to set down the Arguments Pro and Contra relating to this great Action For according to the Rule of the Schools Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt Contraries put cross grow more cleer And as out of the Collision of Flint and Steel ther issues forth Fire so by confrontation and clash of Argument Truth comes to appear more perspicuous The Affirmatif Arguments for detaining of Dunkirk 1. IT stood convenient to invade Flanders France and some Territories of the Hollanders 2. It might have served for a Nursery of training up Soldiers 3. It had secured Navigation and the Traffic of his Majesties Subjects 4. It might have bin brought to have bin a Porto Franco a Free Port and so have advancd Trade 5. It had bin a Repute for England to have kept it And a Disparagement to part with it This I beleeve is all that can be said for the Affirmatif part BEfore Arguments be producd to the contrary t is expedient that this distinction should precede Viz. That there are Forren Possessions or Places of two sorts 1. Ther are some that are got by the discovery of the Marchant where finding the Clime temperat the Soyle healthful and proper by the help of Industry to produce some Staple Commodities that may feed Trade and be fit for Sale or Barter He takes firm footing puts in his Spade and Plants Such Transmarin Possessions carry many advantages with them They increase Shipping and Seamen They disburden the Kingdome of superfluous Peeple They nourish and improve Mutual Commerce and all this while consume nothing of the Publique Tresure but are able to subsist of themselfs The Souverain Prince giving only his Royal Protection encouragement and countenance with fit Governors therunto Virginia Maryland the Bermudas Barbados with others of the Caribbe Islands and divers more in the Indies are places of this nature as Jamayca c. And ther are great hopes that in Afric Tanger will prove so with other extraordinary advantages besides 2. But there are other Forren Possessions which cannot support themselfs either by benefit of Trade or Contributions of the adjacent Country but are meerly maintained by Praesidial Forces or Garison and by the exported tresure of the possessing Prince England in Ages passd hath had divers Forren places of this quality But t was dayly found That they still Exhausted her Tresure and Armories They encreasd her cares and trouble They begot Jelousies in her Neighbours They disturbd her repose and quietude at home England slept best when she was without any such And in the procedure of this Discourse I beleeve Dunkirk will appeer to be a place of that nature This Distinction going before we will now take the Affirmatif Arguments for keeping of Dunkirk in their order Touching the first three T is tru that Dunkirk by the site therof stands for a convenient Inlet into Flanders and the Territories annexd But for France and the United Provinces ther is another Prince's Country interposd before an Army can enter any of them but may be interrupted unless leave be granted And to force a passage would be an infringement of the peace by the one party And to permit a passage may be a breach of Article by the other part being in friendship with both But touching the foresaid Nations ther be choice of other places and bold coasts far cheaper for England and more accessible and easie to be made use of for an Invasion in case of a war without keeping such a costly Key as Dunkirk yet not knowing when we shold have occasion to make use of it In regard His Majesty is at present in good terms with the said Nations and like to continue so for the future His Inclinations propending naturally rather to Peace then War according to the Genius of his two blessed Immediat Predecessors Now the keeping still of Dunkirk wold have inevitably drawn a War upon us and perchance from all the three And let this surlice for an answer in part to the first three Arguments till we proceed further Touching the other Argument viz. that Dunkirk might have served for a Seminary of Soldiers which England might have made use of in time of need To this t is answerd That the hundred and thirty thousand Pounds Sterling that went yeerly to maintain those Soldiers in Dunkirk and towards the fortifying therof which exported mony may be said to be like the Soul of Judas which never came back again as the Italian hath it I say that huge sum wold be far better spent at home within the Land to maintain a Military actual strength for security of Prince and Peeple against any Civil Insurrection by constant Regiments of Horse and Foot ashore and a Squadron of Iusty men of War at Sea both which the Moneys that were transported weekly to Dunkirk will be able to keep in constant pay Touching the fift Argument viz. That the keeping of Dunkirk wold have securd Navigation and Traffic T is answered That the next yeer after that England had a Garison and Governour in Dunkirk the town of Ostend those of Biscay did us more mischief far then Dunkirk ever had done in so short a time for the Dunkirk-Men of War going to those places ther were ships of ours of greater bulks and richer burdens taken then before the strength and soule of Dunkirk passing as it were by a kind of transmigration into those places Moreover observable it is That when Queen Elizabeth was advisd by the Hollanders to take Dunkirk the matter being referrd to her Privy Council after much deliberation it was resolved That England was better without Dunkirk then with it and that for divers reasons of State One whereof was That it wold be a means that English Ships of a greater burden wold be built and cause her Marchant-men to go better armd abroad and with stouter Vessels which in case of necessity might serve the Public Touching