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
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
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
the Marquess of Bethune's Sister was married to the King of Poland jealousies between the King her Husband and the Emperor were fomented and Factions set up in that Country by the means of those Golden Rays which the Sun of France displays in that Court by the Hands of the Bankers of Hamburgh and Dantzick And the more to encourage her to play her Gaime according to the French Instructions his Most Christian Majesty made her Father a Duke and Peer of France and promis'd to receive her as a Queen and not as a Subject if she return'd a Widow in her own Country Thus he thought to have caught the Young Duke of Bavaria with one of his natural Daughters but that Heroick Prince despis'd the Motion And if the French King were assur'd that the Young Prince of Poland should succeed his Father there is another natural Daughter of France ready prepar'd for him for otherwise it would be a Daughter merely thrown away if she could not be in a Station to serve her own Country For that the main end of the French King in giving French Wives to the King of Poland and the several Princes of Germany is to divide the strength of the Empire and lessen the Authority of the Emperor by separating from his interest the particular Princes of the Empire by private Intrigues and distinct Treaties which though it be contrary to the Treaty of Munster yet that signifies nothing to a Prince who has no such Veneration for Leagues as to think them worth observing As for the French King 's dealing with the Duke of Nieuburgh it was somewhat Barbarous for that after the French King had caus'd him to Mortgage the greatest part of his Estate almost beyond the hopes of Redemption in expectation of the Polish Crown to which France had promis'd to advance him by the assistence of a strong Party which she had in that Kingdom contrary to the Treaties as well with the Duke as with the Elector of Brandenburgh and to his reiterated Promises and Vows both by word of Mouth and in Writing he underhand by his Creatures and Agents oppos'd the Duke's pretensions and endeavoured with all the industry and importunity imaginable to have the Prince of Conde preferr'd before him and all the rest of his Competitors a sufficient warning to all Princes how they relie upon the broken Reed of French Integrity The Elector of Brandenburgh was environed with French Emissaries and Spies and some of his Principal Ministers so intoxicated with the Elixirs of France that nothing was said or done in his Palace of which the French Envoy had not swift Intelligence And the World was well inform'd of all the Intrigues and large Presents which Monsieur De Rebenack scatter'd about in that Court of which the Agent himself was so unwary or so foolish as to make his boasts The Elector of Saxony better understood his own Interest and therefore would not bite at the Golden Hook as one that disdain'd the treacherous Offers of France but the French King endeavour'd by other ways to raise him disturbances in his own Family and to set him at Variance with his Neighbours which would have strangely imbroild him had not the Emperor in time provided against those Mischiefs However lest it should be said there was any Court in Christendom wherein the French King had not some Plough or other going he forbears not to send into Saxony such as know how to accommodate themselves to the Humour of the Country more especially the stoutest Drinkers he can find out who by that means making themselves familiar at the Tables of the Great Persons watch their opportunities in the highth of Jollity and Compotation to draw the Worms out of their Noses and dive into the bottoms of their open'd hearts The Palatine Electors neither Father nor Son would close with the Interest of the French and therefore his most Christian Majesty sacrificed the depopulated Cities of that Country to his Fury even to the compassion of some that were the Executioners of his Rage a Depopulation which none but such Monsters of Men as the Most Christian King employs would have undertaken Men so impious and fearless of God that one of them being mildly reprehended for the burning of a fair Town reply'd That he would burn God in Heaven if his Master the King of France commanded him to doe it But perhaps the Most Christian King is of the Opinion of the Antient Galls believing there is no way to give peace to a Country but by rooting out the Inhabitants according to that of Tacitus Galli ubi solitudinem fecerunt pacem appellant Nor could the Bishop of Munster as cunning as he was preserve himself from being out-witted by the French infidelity For that being comprehended in the League of the Rhine when he found himself attack'd by the States of Holland within the Empire he implored the Aid of France according to the Guarranty but in vain for which when he was about to make his complaint he was of a sudden overwhelm'd with the Forces of France and had not his Enemies us'd Moderation toward him more than his own Allie his Territories though the Patrimony of the Church had been laid in Ashes before now When the French King broke Faith with Holland to the surprize of a great part of their Country he was so far from assigning any Cause true or false for his Actions that he only publish'd a Declaration of War without any other Reasons than only the Ill satisfaction which His Majesty had of the behaviour of the States General toward him being risen to that Degree that he can no longer without Diminution of his Glory dissemble his Indignation against them c. Therefore he had resolv'd to make War against them by Sea and Land c. And commands all his Subjects courir sus upon the Hollanders for such is Our Pleasure Certainly it was never known that in any Age or Nation in the World the Sword was drawn upon no better Allegations a style so far from being Most Christian that nothing but some French Romance could parallel the Expression All that can be said 't was A-la-mode de France But Holland had no reason to wonder at these proceedings considering what a Prank the French King had plaid them before when he pretended to joyn with them in the War against England At what time France by virtue of a Treaty of Guarranty with the States of the United Provinces after several requests ineffectally made by the States found her self oblig'd to make a shew of undertaking to defend them against England among the rest of the Articles there was one by which it was concluded and agreed in express terms that the Allies should not Negotiate much less conclude any Peace or Truce with the common Enemy without the consent of the other and without procuring the same satisfaction for his Allie as he would for himself The States tied themselves with that Integrity to this Obligation
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
the litigious Pettifogging their Cheating and Extortion That the King has dissipated above two Thirds of the Coined Money of the Kingdom as well by exhausting the Price as by transporting it out of the Kingdom and besides that has devour'd two Thirds of the Plate within these 40 Years That he has devour'd the Estates and Lands of Cities Corporations and particular Persons by re-uniting them to the Crown Demeasnes That he has devour'd several Hundreds of Millions which he extorted from those that were call'd Partisans who were Farmers of his Imposts whom he despoil'd and robb'd after they had robb'd others That the Kingdom of France is dispeopl'd within these Forty years above half in half but chiefly within these ten Years That there are in the Armies of the King of France between six and seven Hundred Thousand Men including in the Number a hundred or a hundred and twenty Toll-gatherers and Subsidy Collectors and are thus numbred 50000 Horse 18 Dragoons 33â—000 Foot 30000 belonging to his Artillery and Provision and Ammunition Waggons and 50000 in his Fleets and Gallies and above 100 or 120 Camp-Varlets which make up the number of 700000 Men the greatest part of which are Un-marri'd That there are destroy'd and die every Year few less than a Third part of these Men according to the Lists of Recruits which are so many Females excluded from Marriage And that at the end of 10 Years Marriage being so much hinderd above the half of any numerous Nation will come to be destroy'd That the Lives of all the People lost within 10 Years according to the Estimate which is made of Men and Women Slaves in Algier amounts to several thousand Millions That from the Example of Paris where this Depopulation is least discern'd the rest of the Kingdom must be extreamly dispeopl'd That he is very well inform'd that there are fewer People in Paris by a Third part than there were about Twenty years agoe and that they live in extream Misery there notwithstanding the multitude of Coaches and the great Court That the Houses for the generality still retain above half the value of their ancient Hire but that the Rent is ill Paid and several of the Houses stand empty that the Tradesmen die there for hunger That there are hardly any Lacquies Clerks Proctors or young Barbers to be seen as being all consum'd by the War and that all the rest of the Cities and Towns of the Kingdom are in a worse Condition That there may be still near Ten Millions of Souls in the Kingdom and that within the last ten Years the number has lessen'd between 4 or 5 Millions That by the number of Parishes which are Twenty Seven Thousand compar'd with the number of Men not Marry'd which are in the War or in the number of Collectors that there ought to be 22 Men and one fourth in each Parish one with another That France can never recover it self though the Government should be chang'd without a long Peace and unless she abandon her Conquests and Usurpations by reason the Manufactures are carry'd into Foreign Countries the half of the People destroy'd the Money wasted the Funds charg'd with more Debts than they are worth because the vast Army of Toll-gatherers and Collectors is not dismiss'd the Sale of Offices and Employments is not suppress'd and because all those Officers drain'd exhausted and samish'd will lie sucking the People to the very Marrow as well as the Court otherwise who can believe though Trade were once again restor'd that France can always raise the same Summs which she has done for a long time unless these Maxims of Injustice and Violence be restor'd with which she is over-whelm'd That the Money is extreamly diminish'd in France For that for a long time the King purchas'd the Alliances and Amities of all Princes corrupted their Ministers and other Counsellors paid large Pensions to make them declare for France or only remain Neuters expended upon Spies both great Ones and those of lesser Note considerable Summs sent Armies out of the Kingdom into the Service of other Princes purchased Cities and strong Holds as Dunkirk and Casal the Garrison of which Place stands him in a great deal of Money every Year as also Pigneroll The Huguenots have carry'd out Thirty Millions The Horses sent for every Year out of Germany Switzerland and other Places since the War cost at least Six Millions every Year each Horse brought from thence being Valued at 20 Pistols a piece for that there are no Breeds of Horses in the Kingdom by reason of the incredible Poverty of the People that cannot compass it to have Stocks before hand That in Gold-lace Embroidery Cloth of Gold Fringes and Gilding there are wasted in France above Ten Millions of Livers in that Metall and in England more adding withall this Sentence Ambitiosa Paupertate perit Gallia Through ambitious Poverty France is ruin'd And in this is shewn the Blindness of the English Nation who complain of the Transportation of their Money and that it is scarce while they themselves in ten Years destroy as much Silver by this means as there is Money in the Kingdom That all the Money which France raises by Contribution does not exceed for or five Millions of France which is not above the Fortieth or Fiftieth part of her Expence That the Trade which remains behind is very little That the Profit by Privateers is not considerable Lastly That the War beyond Comparison does less mischief to the Confederates than to France That the Confederates for the most part gain by this War That Germany in general draws great Advantages from it though several Princes and States suffer by it and that those Advantages advance to a considerable Value That the Advantages will far surmount the Disadvantages which Holland receives thereby and that at length she will gain much more than she does at present and will get a large Interest by the principal Summs she now disburses That Spain will also be a gainer though she loses at present That the D. of Savoy will find his Satisfaction for that he loses and will lose much less being United with the Confederates than if he had clos'd with Lewis XIV upon the Conditions which he propos'd for that then he had been despoi'ld past recovery in regard that France never keeps her Word But that England gains more than any of the Confederates though many People will not believe it That in time of Peace ten Thousand English as well Masters as Servants travel into France who spend three times as much as the Revenues of Scotland and Ireland their Expence reckoned at a 100 Livers Sterling a piece one with another They get for the most part above a Million Sterling by the Baubles of Paris and that now they get but little by the Manufactures of Goldlace Silk large Hats French Glass Woodden-Combs Paper Linen which are settl'd here by the favour of the War by the Salt Brandy Sider and Bere
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
that it constrains a Man to be perfidious as it was said of Cneus Domitius Nimiae Gloriae Cupiditas perfidum existere coegit And this was a Maxim among the Ancients that Fidelity like the Soul when it has once left a Man never returns again And therefore with such a one Bellum suspecta Pace tutius est Now let us look Abroad where we shall find the Most Christian of Princes stradling over Violations of Oaths by another Name call'd Perjuries and all the Laws and Bounds of Justice which God and Man have provided against the Inundations of Violence to grasp the Universal Monarchy of Europe There you shall find him Invading Burning Spoiling Plundring Sacking and Depopulating the Territories and Dominions of his Peaceable Christian Neighbours hewing out his way through the Bowels of Christendom to the Imperial Throne and all this under Claims and Pretensions abjur'd by all the most Solemn Renunciations that Religion could invent Yet in Re-vindication of those Claims and reassumed Rights so religiously renounc'd like another Parentibus abominatus Hannibal filling all with Bloud Massacre and Devastation to Tyrannize over wasted Ruines Cities laid Desolate and desart Mountains rather than not to Tyrannize at all Where he could not enter with his Sword he open'd a Passage with his Gold for subservient Treachery and the Foundations of future Mischief into the Courts of most of the Princes of Europe deflouring the Fidelity of their Counsellers and ravishing the Allegiance of their most Bosome Intimates as if there had been a kind of Omnipotency in the Power of France to make Treachery and Falshood Ubiquitary Perhaps this may be thought a little too severe but this is not a time to Complement the Publick Enemy of Christendom This is a Season to speak out since the wellfare of England is involv'd in the Common Fate of Europe It is the Business of England to evidence how the French have violated the Law of Nations which is common to all and how they have labour'd to introduce such Maxims into the World as would destroy even the whole commerce of Mankind and render Humane Societies no less Dangerous than a company of Tygers Bears and Lyons Nor is England less concern'd to defend the Publick Faith of Treaties against the crafty Elusions and Quaint Evasions of the French and to remove out of the sight of Christendom such Scandalous Examples which by consequences no less fatal than unavoidable would expose the Weakest to the Predominant Will and Pleasure of the strongest and estabish Force the Grand Arbitrator of all the Proceedings and Affairs of the World It is the Business of England in confederacy with Foreign Princes for the General Wellfare of Christendom to betake Her self to such means and courses as may put a stop to a rapid Torrent against the Impetuosity of which no Ties of Treaty Marriage Oaths Bloud Kindred Friendship or Condescension can be Mounds and Bulwarks strong enough to keep it within its Chanel It is the Business of England as far as in Her lies to defend the common Interest of all Princes and States against a Prodigious Design which for its Foundation has nothing but an Exorbitant desire of Conquest no other End than only Dominion no other Means but force of Arms and Treacherous Policy nor any other Bounds but what Chance and Fortune will be pleasd to prescribe Lastly It is not only the Business but also for the Glory of England at this time to recover Her former Grandeur and as She was wont to doe so at this time to decide the Fortune of Europe and pronounce the Sentence either of Her Freedom or Slavery For between these two there is no Medium to be expected nor Peace to be secur'd England for a long time has lain in a profound Lethargy and therefore it is high time for Her now to awake and put Her helping hand to prevent the Misfortunes and Calamities to which all Europe is expos'd by the prevailing Tyrannies and Oppression of France We are then in the next place to consider how like a Christian the Most Christian King has dealt with the King of Spain his Brother His Friend and Allie after a Peace the most Solemnly concluded and ratified after the most Sacred manner that could be imagin'd Certainly the Calamities the Miseries the Murthers Rapines and Devastations and Innumerable Impieties that attend on War are so disagreeable from the Principles of Christian Religion that nothing ought to be more Seriously more Moderately and more Warily consider'd than the Justice of undertaking it And therefore said Herennius Captain of the Samnites having enter'd into a War against the Romans after all that could be done to procure Peace Rerum humanarum maximum Momentum est quam propitiis quam adversis agant diis Nor did he justifie the War upon any other grounds than that his Country-men were constrain'd to it and had no other hope but in their Arms. Justum est Bellum Samnites quibus necessarium pia Arma quibus nulla nisi in Armis relinquitur spes The Romans though too blame perhaps in the Samnite War for which they dearly paid and well it might be wish'd the French might pay as dearly for what they have done generally never enter'd into a War but they set forth the Justice of their Resentment which for the most part was in revenge of their Allies or to succour their Friends and Confederates Thus the first Punick War was to succour Messana in Sicily besieg'd by the Carthaginians The second in revenge of Saguntum sack'd by Hannibal contrary to the League between the two Common-wealths And the third also for Reasons of the same Nature And so cautious they were to avoid the Scandal of being thought to make War merely out of an Ambitious desire to extend their Dominions that after they had vanquish'd and reduc'd the Rhodians who had taken part with Perseus in the Macedonian War they let them go unpunish'd Ne quis divitiarum magis quam injuriae Bellum incoeptum diceret And the same Author says that in all the Punick Wars after the Carthaginians had committed many nefarious Acts and Breaches of Faith to their Detriment they never took any occasion to doe the like Magis quod se dignum foret quam quod in illos jure fieri posset quaerebant So that occasions of enlarging their Dominions were rather offer'd than sought for by that Victorious Common-wealth And it is observable that the Ceremonies of denouncing War that were first instituted by Ancus Martius the Heathen King of the Romans were perform'd as Religiously and with equal Soleminty to the Ceremonies of their Divine Worship For when the Fecial came to the confines of the Country against which the War was intended Audi Jupiter he cry'd Audite Fines Audiat Fas Hear O Jupiter Hear O ye Confines hear Right and Justice I am the Publick Messenger of the People of Rome and come a Fecial justly and piously sent and let Faith be
doe it was by the same Article concluded and promised as follows His Majesty will no farther meddle with that Affair and obliges and engages Himself and promises upon his Honour and upon the Word of a King for Himself and his Successors not to give unto the said Kingdom of Portugal either in General or to any Persons in particular of what Dignity State Condition or Quality soever they be now or hereafter any Help or Assistence Publick or Secret Directly or Indirectly of Men Arms Ammunition Victuals Ships or Money upon any pretence or any other thing whatever either by Land or Sea or in any other manner As also not to suffer that any Levies of Men be made in any parts of his Kingdom or Dominions nor to grant Passage to any that may come from other States to the Assistence of the said Kingdom of Portugal One would think that nothing could have been more authentickly expressed or in terms more clear or more particular beyond the power of Nicety to find a flaw or to make any other interpretation of the words contrary to the sense and meaning of the Parties at that time And yet the Most Christian King found out a way to fail in all the Points and all the circumstances of his Promise For notwithstanding his Honour and the Word of a King before the Treaty was sign'd Cardinal Mazarine sent privately the Marquess of Cheases into Portugal to assure them that tho' in order to the conclusion of the Treaty then on foot with Spain the French were forc'd to leave them out and to engage not to assist them yet whatever they promis'd they would never forsake them but would still protect them against Spain as they had done before And they kept their word with Portugal because it was to the prejudice of Spain To which purpose the Peace was no sooner concluded but they suffer'd several Bands of Soldiers secretly to convey themselves into Portugal which being complain'd of by the Marquess De la Fuente such was the Punic Faith of France that openly they sent Publick Orders to the Governours of their Ports not to suffer any Soldiers to embark for Portugal but underhand gave them other Orders to let them pass by way of connivance Soon after M. Turenne made publick levies of Men for the relief of Portugal which the Spanish Ambassador representing to the Council of France receiv'd a cold and scornfull answer that it was a particular Act of Marshall Turenne wherein the Court was no way concern'd Nor did the French cease to furnish the Portuguieses with Corn and all sorts of War-like Ammunition and Provision Moreover Letters were intercepted by the Spaniard by which they were ascertain'd that all along after the Peace was concluded the French fomented and encourag'd the obstinacy of the Portuguieses and diverted them from accepting the advantageous conditions that were offer'd them by animating them with the hopes of potent Succours not only for their own defence but also to carry an offensive War into the heart of Spain Other Letters were likewise intercepted Written from the Arch Bishop of Ambrun and Monsieur Lienne confirming the continual correspondence which was between them in favour of the Portugals Nor was this all for the D. of B. was presently after the Treaty sent to lie with the French Fleet upon the Coast of Portugal and stay'd there a whole Summer to secure the coming and landing of Provisions and Ammunition of which the Portuguieses were then in extream want and this at the same time that the French offer'd to mediate an Accommodation between Spain and Portugal Nor was it long after the conclusion of the Pyrenaean Treaty that Monsieur Colbert made several Voyages into Portugal to encourage them against the Spaniards and to enter into secret Alliance with them And sometime after the Spaniards took a French Vessel wherein was found an account of the succours which France had sent from time to time into that Kingdom by which it appear'd that France had paid at her own expence a standing Army in Portugal to support a War against Spain And to compleat her Perfidy at length she concluded a League offensive with that Kingdom of which these were the principal Conditions That they would be the Friends of each others Friends and Enemies of each others Enemies England only excepted That France should furnish them with as many Men as should be necessary to carry an offensive War into Spain both by Sea and Land and should advance by way of Loan the one half of the Pay for the maintenance of the Auxiliary Troops That France moreover should pay them every Year by way of Loan the summ of 300000 Crowns and that all the Ports which should be taken from the Spaniards upon either Sea should be put into the hands of the French and that they should not treat either of Truce or League without joynt consent This League to continue Ten Years By so many several Instances let all the World be judges how little credit there is to be given to the Punic Faith of France or what any other Prince can expect from his Honour or his Promises in any matter whatsoever who thus foully forfeited such a most Solemn Engagement to the Crown of Spain For that a Treaty carry'd on between two Princes in order to a Marriage which is one of the most Solemn Negotiations that can be handled among Men and confirm'd by an Oath sanctifi'd with all the most sacred Mysteries of Christian Religion for a punctual obligation of performance should be thus inhumanly violated is not to be parallell'd by any Example or Instance in History That noble example of the Roman Consuls who bid Hanno not to fear the Publick Faith secur'd him is a thing of late unknown in France where there is no security or trust in the Honour or Royal Promise of the Prince For his truth to Portugal was only self-interest to support the Portuguieses against Spain as formerly the French were wont to league with Scotland against England so that whether the Character of Amurath the first Emperor of the Turks who is said to have been Homo fallax qui datam fidem ex opportunitate proferendi imprimis metiebatur bella pace simulato Egregius may not fitly be apply'd to the Most Christian King is left for them to determine who have felt the smart of his broken Leagues which brings us to the second Breach of the Pyrenaean Treaty It is said and acknowledg'd by the Plenipotentiaries in 33d Article of that Treaty that the particular Capitulation of Marriage between the French King and the Eldest Daughter of Spain bearing date with the General Treaty was of the same force and vigor with the Treaty of Peace as being the chiefest part thereof and the most worthy as well as the greatest and most precious Earnest of the security of its Duration The Queen Mother of France and Aunt to the Infanta desiring nothing more than the happy and
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 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
did not like this small beginning of ill Humours wisely considering it as a natural Introduction first to make the World his Apes and then his Slaves and therefore he set his Instruments at work to Laugh us out of our Vests which she performed so effectually that in a Moment like so many Footmen who had quitted their Masters Livery we all took it up again and return'd to serve the French And happy would it be for England if she would cast off her French Modes her French Fashions and French Humours which only serve to corrupt and soften the minds of those for whom it would be much more glorious to remember the Fields of Poictiers and Agencourt and rather to study the generous Examples of their victorious Ancestors than be the Slaves of French Imitation The conquering Romans retir'd indeed to Athens to improve their Learning but it betrays a poorness of Spirit inexcusable in the English who have two such Magnificent Vniversities of their own to gallop to Paris for Breeding as if Coupees Complements Grimaces and Shrugs of the Shoulder were the only Accomplishments of a Gentleman Surely it was much better both for England and the General Peace of Europe when the English taught them their running Sarrabands and the good Breeding of Obedience nor will it e'er be well till the English become their Tutors again For certainly there is no Government in Europe under which the People live so Miserably as under that of France the Grand Signior or the Ksar of Moscâ—vy are not more absolute of the People than the Tyranny of France The French King may well be call'd Tyrannus for he makes and abrogates the Laws at his Pleasure he cannot be said to Rule but Tyrannize over Cities depriv'd of all the Franchizes and Privileges that render Societies happy and to dominier over a poor naked People stript of all things that make life comfortable So that the People may be said to Toil and Moil but the Prince to wipe off the Sweat of their Brows into his own Coffers You would swear that the whole Country were the habitation of Poverty where Penury walks about in wooden Sandals single Pettiâ—oates and wrinckl'd Faces as if the Products of that fertile Soil were forbid to be touch'd by the Innocent Manurers of that Terrestrial Paradise where the Corn and Wine and Fat of the Land is carry'd off to fit the Royal Magazines or sold abroad to cram the King's Exchequer And after all this when the sholes of Locust Publicans have devour'd all even almost to the very Stalk for the small remainder to bear the Burthen of insolent free Quarter is not only Tyranny but licentiated Inhumanity All these Calamities and Miseries has England yet escap'd though fairly threaten'd with them had not Providence been very mercifull to Her The Husbandman plump and jolly enjoying his Liberty and a fair proportion of his Labours does not fear what the Confusion of Babel never knew the horrid Jargonry of Ayde Octroy Preciput Equivalent Crue Taille Estate Subsistence de quartier d'hyvere Garinzons Mort payes Appointments de Governours Debtes Affaires du Roy Gratifications Extraordinaries Deu Gratuit Frais The necessary supports of Life Wine Beer Sider are not enhanc'd by Aydes sur le Vin Bierres Cidres plus le Huictieme Denier le Souquest le Batire Imposts Billets The Markets are not pester'd with Gabelles upon Corn and Meal nor the Mills with Measure Coupee No Tolls of pied Fourchue nor Duties taken by weight upon every pound of Flesh sold in the Shambles nor Gabelles upon Salt but what are laid on by consent of the People themselves The Shop Keepers are not molested with the Gibbrish of the mark upon Paper the mark of Silver the mark of Tinn the mark of Hats the mark of all Stockins Silk and Woollen the mark of Shoes the mark upon all Stuffs Woollen and Silk the mark upon Linen the Gabelle upon Jie the controle of of Exploites The Gentry are not vex'd with the Tax of free Gifts Fifts and Resists and Amortisements The prâ—ce of Valuation the mark of Gold the two Soulx in the Pound the seal'd Duty the duty of Controll the registers Duty the Priest for being admitted to the Annual and the Annual or Paulette A sort of Language of the Gallies not understood by English Liberty yet all these and many other abominable Taxes Tolls and Impositions are punctually leavy'd one way or other at the King 's sole Will and Pleasure with many more too prolix to be number'd and what ever else his Absolute Power shall think fit to impose anew where ever any subjects of the French Monarchy have their habitations when his emergent occasions intimate a pretence and must be paid without any remorce or compassion to the half Famish'd Children and Families of the poor People crying out for Bread Certainly to conclude therefore as I begun the Lician Chimaera and Lernaean Hydra that wasted all the Country round about them and ruined the Inhabitants with the scalding Flames and Pestilential Breath that issued from their Pestiferous Jaws were Types of Tyranny in General so more particularly of the present French Monarchy but on the other side we find that both Bellerophon and Hercules continue to this day eterniz'd for subduing those Monsters Such Fables as these being the Off-spring of great Reason and wise Head peices were not invented merely to please their Readers but to instruct the World that Wars which unavoidably must be attended with great Mischiefs and Calamities are not to be unjustly undertaken to doe wrong for wrong's sake under pretence of Illegal Claims and Pretensions but may be legally enterpriz'd to repell injustice and violence and to curb the lawless Invasions of Right and Property which are the original Blessings and Benefits of God and Nature the unjust Assailour of which becomes an Enemy to both and a Monster no less pernicious than either of those two For those Monsters no question were no other than two aspiring Potentates that made unjust and cruel Wars upon their Neighbours without provocation given and therefore were most justly subdued by Bellerophon and Hercules and they no less justly rewarded for the benefit received by their glorious Actions which even exceed all Fame Vertue is Vertue still unalterable from whence we may conclude that the same Glory still attends and that the same success will prove the subduing these Chimaera's and Hydra's of Men that for so long time have harras'd Europe with wicked Wars and impious Depopulations merely to gain the Honour of being like those Monsters Terrors and Destroyers of Mankind A Catalogue of French Commodities Yearly transsported into England by which it appears that our Trade with France has been at least Sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year clear loss to this Kingdom 1. THere is transported out of France into England great quantities of Velvets plain and wrought Sattins plain and wrought Cloth of Gold and Silver Armoysins and other Merchandises of Silk which are made at Lions and are valued to be Yearly worth one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds 2. In Silk Stuffs Taffeties Poudesoys Armoysins Cloths of Gold and Silver Tabbies plain and wrought Silk-ribbands and other such like Silk stuffs as are made at Tours valued to be worth above Three Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 3. In Silk-ribbands Gallowns Laces and Buttons of Silk which are made at Paris Roan Chimont St. Estienes in Forrests for about one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 4. A great quantity of Serges which are made at Chalons Chartres Estamines and Rhemes and great quantities of Serges made at Amiens Crevecoeur Blicourt and other Towns in Picardy for above one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 5. In Bever Demicastor and Felt Hats made in the City and Suburbs of Paris besides many others made at Roan Lions and other places for about One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds a Year 6. In Feathers Belts Girdles Hatbands Fans Hoods Masks gilt and wrought Looking-glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Tablets Bracelets and other such like Mercery ware for above One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 7. Iâ— Pins Needles Box-combs Tortoise-shell Combs and such like for about Twenty Thousand Pound a Year 8. In perfumed and trimmed Gloves that are made at Paris Roan Vendosme Clermont and other places for about Ten Thousand Pounds a Year 9. In Papers of all sorts which are made at Auvergne Poictou Limosin Champaigne and Normandy for above One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 10. In all sorts of Iron-mongers wares that are made in Forrests Auvergne and other places for about Fourty Thousand Pounds a Year 11. In Linen Cloth that is made in Bretaigne and Normandy as well course as fine there is transported into England for above Four Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 12. In Houshold-stuff consisting of Beds Matresses Coverlids Hangings Fringes of Silk and other furniture for above One Hundred thousand Pounds a Year 13. In Wines from Gascoigne Nantois and other places on the River of Loyerc and also from Bourdeaux Rochel Nante Roan and other places are transported into England for above Six Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 14. In Aqua Vitae Sider Vineger Verjuice and such like for about One Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year 15. In Saffron Castle-sope Honey Almonds Olives Capers Prunes and such like for about One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year 16. Besides five or six hundred Vessels of Salt laden at Ma ron Rochel Rouage the Isle of Oleron and Isle of Rhee transported into England and Holland of a very great value So as by this calculation it doth appear that the yearly value of such commodities as are transported from France to England amount to above Six and Twenty Hundred Thousand Pounds And the commodities exported out of England into France consisting chiefly of Woollen Cloths Serges Knit Stockings Lead Pewter Alume Coals and all else do not amount to above Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year By which it appears that our Trade with France is at least sixteen Hundred Thousand Pounds a Year clear lost to this Kingdom FINIS