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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A48302 Lex talionis, or, An enquiry into the most proper ways to prevent the persecution of the Protestants in France Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 (1698) Wing L1863; ESTC R33482 14,039 32

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Lex Talionis LEX TALIONIS OR AN ENQUIRY INTO The most Proper Ways to Prevent THE PERSECUTION OF THE Protestants in France Matth. vii 2. With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again LONDON Printed in the Year M DC XCVIII Lex Talionis EVROPE has now for Nine Years past been afflicted with a Bloody a cruel and a Destructive War carried on with a vast Effusion of Blood and Treasure and in all Parts of it manag'd with more Eagerness and Fury than any War among the Europoean Princes ever was in the Memory of Man The French who are Masters of Address used all the Skill and Cunning with the Roman Catholick Princes especially those of Italy to have made it pass for a War of Religion thinking by that fineness to have drawn them off from the Confederacy But Innocent XI who 't was likely knew as much of Religion and the Interest of the Church as the Statesmen of France saw through that Artifice and readily agreed with the Emperor and the King of Spain That the Growing Greatness of France and the Measures laid for the Subjecting Europe to her Government were really more dangerous Things and of more immediate Consequence to the Publick Liberty than the Matter of Religion could be And therefore though the Court of Rome made some seeming Difficulties at first yet the French having thrown off the Mask and fallen upon his Catholick Confederate the Duke of Savoy the most Bigotted Romanist made no scruple to entertain Heretick Soldiers to recall the banish'd Vaudois to fight under the Command of Protestant Generals to accept of the Subsidial Supplies of Protestant Money and the Protection of Protestant Armies thereby evidently declaring to all the World that this was a War of State not of Religion and that the real Interest of Princes is to preserve themselves and their Subjects against a too Powerful Invader by Leagues and Assistances let their Religious Interests be what they will Nor have the Protestant Princes though their Forces in this Confederacy have been much superiour been backward to push on the Common Interest with their utmost Vigour but have with extraordinary chearfulness assisted the Roman Catholick Confederates with their Armies Fleets and Moneys witness the Subsidies paid to the Duke of Savoy by the English and Dutch the Army maintain'd under the Command of Duke Schombergh in English Pay in Piedmont the Forces Ship'd from England to Catalonia to aid the Spaniard which sav'd the City of Barcelona a whole Year witness also the English Fleet Wintering at Cadiz under Admiral Russel the Squadron sent to the West-Indies to Relieve Cartagena And indeed the whole Series of the War has been one continual Instance of the Safety and Protection the Roman Catholick Countries have enjoy'd by the Sword and Power of the Protestant Interest So that it has been apparent beyond the power of Contradiction that this has been a War of State not a War of Religion Nor can I imagine generally speaking that it can ever be the Interest of the Powers of Europe take them together to Commence a War of Religion For though 't is true That the Pope always Exalted both his Power and Credit in the blind Ages of bigotted Devotion by his Crusadoes and Holy Expeditions yet since the World has more Years over its Head and the Cheat has been discovered Int'rest has prevail'd too much upon Devotion to be Deceiv'd any more at that rate And the Reformed Kingdoms of Europe are too Potent to be us'd so any more 'T is true the Protestant Religion has lost Ground in France and that Kingdom where once the Protestants were Strong enough to Contend with their Governours for their Liberty is now wholly Roman at least seems to be so But notwithstanding that I believe the Protestant Interest in Europe very well able to stand a shock with the Popish when ever the Pope thinks fit to Publish another Bloody Jubilee and display the Standard of St. Peter against St. Paul And not to descend to Particulars I shall only Draw up the several Kingdoms on each Side who would form this Great Division in Case of such a War On the Roman Catholick Side There would be the Emperor the Pope the King of France the King of Spain the King of Portugal the King of Poland the Princes of Italy Five Electoral Princes of Germany and the Catholick Cantons of Swisserland On the Protestant Side The King of England King of Denmark King of Sweden the Czar of Moscovy States of Holland Three Electoral Princes of Germany but those by far the Strongest the Protestant Cantons of Swisserland the Grisons Hungarians Transilvanians and Moldavians In the first place I think it wou'd easily be granted That the English Dutch Dane and Swede United wou'd be able to Maintain so absolute a Dominion of the Seas as would entirely Ruine the Negotia-tion of the Catholick Party Beggar their Merchants Starve their Islands and Destroy all their Trade They should never be able to Build a Ship without Leave Their Ports should be Bombarded and Destroy'd their Open Country be Ruin'd by Descents and all their Coasts continually Harrass'd and Alarm'd by Fleets and Volant Parties What the Armies at Land could do I referr to the History of the Present War and of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden who barely on a War of Religion and with only his Own single Force and the Protestant Princes of Germany who were then much Weaker than they are now in Two Years and a half pass'd the Rhine and the Danube and shook the Imperial Crown on the Head of Ferdinand the Second It would take up too much room in this short Treatise to Consider the Proportion of the Force of these Nations in general 't is true that the weight of the Force of the Catholick Party lies in the Power of the French who must in such a Case be the Bulwark and Support of their Cause As to the Spaniard he wou'd as he has in all Cases have Work enough to Secure his Own the Empire separated from the Protestant Party with the Swede Dane Brandenburghers Saxons and all the Princes of the Augustane Confession on its Front with the Protestants of Upper Hungary and Transylvania in the Rear with the Switz and Grisons in Flank wou'd be very hard bestead having no Power but the Bavarian and the small Electorates of Ments Triers and Cologne which are of no Consideration to uphold it Some Support might be drawn from Italy indeed but the French must give a powerful Assistance or the Emperor would be Devoured in two Campagns the English Dutch and Eastern Germans as the Lunenburghers of Hanouer and Brunswick would be the Opposites to the French on this side and there the Contention would be strongest I believe no Wise Man wishes for so Universal a Distraction as such a War would make in Europe but 't is needful to suppose such a
Dixmuide This is a Practice too well known in the War to need any Contention where the putting a Prisoner of War to Death or any other Breach of Articles has been requited by putting some other Prisoner of War to Death on the contrary Side and though the latter be an innocent Person Lex Talionis is the Word the Justice of it is not disputed 2. It wou'd put these Kingdoms in a Condition to Entertain and Relieve that great Multitude of Distressed Christians with the very Substance of their Adversaries and the King of France might if he pleas'd make the Roman Catholicks Amends by giving them the Estates of the Hugonots or what other Way he thought fit This is most certain that the Roman Catholicks of England wou'd not have half the Reason to Complain of hard Usage that the Protestants of France have they have no Leagues or Capitulations to show for their Permission the Laws of the Kingdom are expresly against them and they have in all the Reigns for 150 Years past been the Disturbers of the Peace of it they resuse now to Swear Allegiance to the Government and if they do not Disturb it it is Owing to their want of Power not their want of Will But if they had all those Defences to make which have been hinted on behalf of the Protestants of France they wou'd have no body to thank for such Usage but their own Friends And the Pope if he ow'd them so much Care might use his Interest with the King of France to let the Protestants enjoy their Liberty in order to save them from the same Fate Some indeed object against the receiving such vast Numbers of Foreigners among us as Prejudicial to the Interest of Trade and to our own Manufacturers and Inhabitants by Eating the Bread out of our Mouths and Starving our own Poor This is an Argument would require a little Volume to Answer but in General I presume to Affirm That no Number of Foreigners can be Prejudicial to England let it be never so great Number of Inhabitants is the Wealth and Strength of a Kingdom and if we had a Million of People in England more than we have let them be of what Nation they would it would be far from being a Damage to us 'T is true if these Million of People were all Artisans Manufacturers it would be some detriment to our Poor who are employ'd in those particular Manufactures but allow one third to be Artisans one third Labourers Husbandmen or Sailors and one third Merchants Shop-keepers or Gentlemen and if the greatest Number that can be supposed came to settle in England it could be no Injury but a vast Advantage to the Kingdom in general And it will appear by this One particular well examin'd An Addition of a Million of People suppose that were the Number would devour a proportion'd quantity of Corn and Flesh for Food and Drink and a proportioned quantity of Manufactures for Cloth and Housholdstuff the one employs more Land and the other more People Now 't is apparent we have in England more Land lies unimprov'd common and waste than would feed a vast many People more than we have and we have a Staple of Wooll never to be exhausted In Manufactures the more Lands we improve the greater the Rents will be and the greater the general Stock of the Nation will be and the more Manufactures are made the better the Poor are employ'd and the richer the Manufacturer is made Many other Arguments might be used to prove That the Coming Over of Foreigners can be no general Prejudice to the Nation as to Trade But that is not the main thing here If the Roman-Catholick Princes pursue their Protestant Subjects with such Cruelty and drive them into Banishment and Exile to seek Relief in Foreign Countries the Case seems to speak for it self the Protestants can have no readier way either to prevent the Miseries of those poor persecuted People or to relieve them in their Exile than by dealing with the Papists in their Dominions in the same manner and Inviting the said persecuted French to come and live in the Estates and in the Places of their Adversaries This is Lex Talionis And this is a way that would soon tire the Papists out For I think I may be allowed to suppose there are much the greater number of Papists among the Protestants than there are of Protestants among the Papists and the Exile of the Parties would also differ as to Places For generally speaking the Protestant Countries are the best for Strangers to live in the Protestant People are the Trading People of the World therefore the Exile of the Protestants of France and Hungary would be less to their disadvantage than the Papists of England Ireland and Holland who must apply themselves to Countries where there are few Manufactures small Trade and but very indifferent Means for a Stranger to live So that the Popish Exiles would be in much the worse Circumstances And there is no question but whenever the Protestant Princes of Europe shall find it needful to use this Remedy the Roman-Catholick Powers will find it for their Interest to make some Cartel or Condition upon which all their Subjects though they are Protestants may enjoy some sort of Liberty in their own Native Countries and so Persecution as well as War might end in an Universal Happy Peace to Europe both in Matters of Religion as well as Civil Affairs which has so often been attempted by other Methods to so little purpose FINIS Judg. i. 7.