Conclave avoyded both the hornes of this dangerous Dilemma Either to own so high a conceived impiety as the rejecting the returne of one of the mightiest Kingdoms in Christendom for worldly respects thought by few of those who pay them his due or by leaving to this Sheep that was lost a full fruition of his fleeces to give the other Ninety and nine Catholike Potentates a just occasion to make the like demands A fatling of more value in that Luxurious Court then would be parted with for the conversion of all the world But to return I cannot in zeale to the conscience and duty I owe to the honour of this Nation but aske who made you so farr our Survayers as to limit out the extent of Their conveniences that are found to have laid out them selves to purchase Yours Was ever so high an Intrusion offered as for a Neighbour to prescribe how another should be regulated in matter of Trade And what Bottoms are fittest to be imployd would you not scorne the like Usurpation though made by your France or new sworne Allye Denmarke who for so many yeares hath ground your faces with a Tole never yet imposed upon you in our Seas For the proof of whose Propriety I leave you to learned Selden in his Mare Clausum a book entituled Dominium Maris c. lately translated out of Italian by an Honorable Person And if you were not unwilling to bribe Our Kings and their Minions so long for your Fishing why should you be so tetchy now with such as inquire whether it was worth your cost and though I was pleased to hear so rich a Towne as Amsterdam could be Founded on Herring-Bones the Lord of Hosts is my faithfull witnesse how afflicted I should be to see it hazard the reducing into its first principle by a Warre with England And thus much I understand of your Trade that the late Kings did not only give you the Fish but bayts to catch them loaden by Boats full out of the Thames which they would never have done had they been as full of Circumspection as that creature is reported to be of eyes Now this considered I pray why may not we assume to our selves the Rights of Disposure and Regulating that which undoubtedly is our owne and why may not we take the humble stile of a Parliament and Councell of State as well as you That strive with your Maker who shall be most High and Mighty If only the time of the Change of Government be made Umpier of Precedency Geneva must take the right hand of You And many poore small Townes in Germany That freely sent their demands to King Philip When your Messengers scaped hanging hardly if at all for only delivering your most humble Petitions There are three things principally insisted upon by which the Vnited Provinces pretend to have fixed an Obligation upon England expung'd their former score which neverthelesse upon an impartiall debate will rather prove wholy chargable upon their own accompt then Ours so farr are they from having given a full satisfaction for all the Love Cost blood expended by us in their Preservation The first is the assistance lent us in 88. which was no more then the profest Antagonists to the quiet of Italy did freely contribute against the common enemy in the battell at Lepanto who did there oppose the Grand Signior in relation to their respective safeties Besides it was a true received Maxim in the wise Counsell of Spaine and holds so still that he that desires to subdue the Vnited Provinces must first Conquer England or draw her from their succour And finding the latter unpossible they fell upon the other as more feacible The Second is your Entertainment given to the distressed King and Queen of Bohemia which according to the rest of your pretended curtesies unto England you have strain'd farre higher then the string is able to bear in its naturall extent Therefore I shall take leave to tune it right in the eares of all impartiall judgements and after setting open the Cabinet give men free leave to value the Jewell which in truth amounts to no more then giving house-roome to a Vertuous Princesse undone by your Counsells and the rest of the Vnion that had most unsuccessefully chosen Iames of England for their Head who proving totty They thought to ballast him by Imbarking his Son in Law in this desperate designe especially the Netherlands finding the twelve years Truce spent little to their advantage and knowing the whole weight of Spaine would fall upon them unlesse they could waken us whose King was clog'd with too much Fleagme to harken to the voyce of any thing but ease and pleasure And I cannot but take notice here of the Spaniards ingratitude that hath so long deferr'd erecting his Statue in Gold since upon a strict accompt it may appeare that the wise Councell of the Catholike King did not contribute so much to his greatnesse as the Folly and Corruption of Ours For the 3d which is a Navall Victory obtained in our Sleeve Ao 1639. the depth of which designe remaines yet in the pocket of the King of Spain and some few confidents in England I can say but this that if their errand was Hither Our King betray'd Vs if to Holland You for which you were tied in reason rather to have assisted the people that exclaimed against the partiality they observed then the King that owned it Therefore this cannot be put up on the Parliaments accompt For the businesse of Amboyna cast into the Ballance by such as bear you lesse respect against all things urged in your favour I am so charitable as to look upon it as the Cruell and inconsiderate act of a private person rather then a true Scheme of the States Motion Not doubting but upon a serious reflection of your Wisdoms on your own Interest you will easily returne to a more straight Alliance with this Nation unlesse God in his anger hath suffered you to mingle Lethe with the rest of your Liquor And since it may seem impossible for you to subsist without contracting a streight Alliance with England France or Spaine give me leave humbly to propose which in reason is likeliest to disturbe your Counsells with the least jealousy from whence may be the easier deduced the fittest choyce not only for conveniency but safety it being very hard to be securely protected by those you cannot cordially trust which cannot be Spaine or France one laying claime to what you possesse the other to what you are ambitious to obtaine whereas England stands free from all such pretences Queen Elizabeth refusing to hold you in grosse only accepting of Flushing and the Brill which King Iames was so weary of as he returned them for a farre lesse summe then they were pawn'd Neither as a free State are we likely to imbrace contrary Counsells because we have more Marish grounds already of our own then we well knew how to dispose
A Seasonable Expostulation WITH THE NETHERLANDS Declaring their Ingratitude To and the Necessity of their Agreement With the Common-wealth of ENGLAND OXFORD Printed for Thomas Robinson Anno Dom. 1652. To the Reader IF in this Conjuncture of Affairs you think I have said too little as things now stand between us and the Dutch I wish all my faults were as capable of amendment if too much 't is out of a partiality I was never found guilty of in relation unto them it being my project To vindicate my Countries Interest as modestly as such high provocations multiplied by the weight of so many Obligations may justly beare However I shall be more ready to aske pardon then offend by being too Censorious And if inclin'd to the same humor it is possible you may be pleased if otherwaies I am resolved not to be angry intending only to perswade Peace no way so advantagiously obtained from others as by keeping in Vnity amongst our selves under those God hath placed over us Nothing increasing forraign Enemies so much as Domestick feuds amongst such as ought to be servants to the State as I am though never in their Pay A Seasonable Expostulation with the NETHERLANDS CAESAR endured without exclamation the Senators Poniards as whetted by interest or revenge but when that of his own Imp Brutus was presented against him he cover'd his face leaving the World with no lesse shame then indignation against so much unnaturall ingratitude The like might we doe in relation to the Dutch whose part I have been hitherto so farre ready to take as to impute the assistance they contributed towards the losse of Rochell And the fomenting the Royall party against the Parliament of England only to the sordidnesse of their Merchants who have not only been known to sell amunition to the Mahumetans the blasphemers of their Religion if they own any by retaile but even to his Catholike Majesty bound in Honour no lesse then interest to be their enemy in grosse Neither had I ever wished the charming of those Froggs but that I see them so ready to become an Egyptian plague unto us by croaking against us in our own Waters Yet though most of their Gentry were buried in the Cruelty of such as formerly govern'd them And all markes of Honour almost blended amongst them in those of Profit they shall find so much civility in me as to endeavour rather to Bind up then Inlarge the rupture their indiscretion hath made with this State to whom I shall in modesty shew how farre they stand obliged And offer reasons to disswade them from these wild courses by which they doe no lesse tickle the hearts of their enemies with delight then wound those with shame and feare who doe affect them Here then let me crave leave to addresse my speech to this our Neighbour State and thus expostulate with them After that France tired with the labour the striving of her own Children had caused in the Bowells of her Estate And child by the cold distrust conceived of your successe had deserted you in Despayre you may remember how England opened her armes to receive your fugitives And her purse to pay your Souldiers so that a foot of ground cannot be called yours that owes not a third part to the expence Valour or Counsell of the English Of whom such spirits have expired in your defence as have been thought at a mean rate to double the value of what they fought for Brave Sidney falling upon such ground as his glorious Mistresse thought too base to bury him in Though you offered to purchase that honour at the price of the richest Monument you were then able to erect Did not the English dispute your title to Ostend till they had no earth left to plead on The Ground failing them before their valours Yet whilest fighting there not only against the flower of the Spanish Army But the Plague Hunger and cold Despaire Their fellowes put you in possession of Sluce beyond your hopes So as it may be said without Hyperbole the Nobility and Gentry Q. Elizabeth lost doubled the number the cruelty of Philip had left you Doe not the Maritim Townes of Kent Essex Suffolke Norfolke c. abound at this day with the issue of those Swarmes the sound of their fellowes misery had driven out of their Hives Have you not had liberty to trade And to become free Denizons with power to buy Land and inhabit upon the same termes with the Natives both in City and Country no marke of distinction being imposed in relation either to Honour Profit or Iustice The Parliament have been alwaies so tender of your preservation whilest you needed it and Friendship since God hath inabled you to subsist As their Speaker could scarce make an impression upon his Cushion before the sense of your safety no lesse then their own Nature and Religion Inspired them with an earnestnesse to renew or strengthen their Alliance with you not so observeable in respect of any Neighbour beside Doubling no lesse in their Retaliations then acceptance the few markes of gratitude have dropt from you Rather then expunging them with your more frequent injuries as being more willing to impute your failings to the lesse courtly nature of the soyle and people Then the want of gratitude and Civility in so prudent a State to a Potent Neighbour who next to God may justly be stiled her maker in dispensing with so many dangers and inconveniences for your sake Can you think so wise a Councell as this Nation was steer'd by did not apprehend That though the making you Free might fortify the Queenes out-workes it could not but as much dismantle the Royall fort of Monarchy By teaching Subjects they might depose their Prince and be no loosers by the bargaine Which by the way will render you unacceptable to all Neighbour Monarchs furnishing their Subjects with a pretence upon all occasions of advantage Therefore prudence might tempt you rather to advance then depresse the like endeavours in others observed by your elder I dare not say Wiser Sister Venice In whose proceedings partialities on this side are rarely found But to returne to what is in this place more materiall Was not the assisting you an occasion of our Invasion in Eighty eight by a Navy held Invincible in the Creed of Rome Till the more Canonicall Valour of the English assisted by the Iowder arguments of Heaven had cleerly confuted the Popes title The Reason that kept King Philip from heading an Army in his own person was a fear he did apprehend of being cast in his passage out of Spaine as his father Charles the 5th was upon the British shore knowing the English more cordiall to your preservation then to suffer him to come and goe on so bloudy an errand And though he did often desire his Sister of England to heare as he pretended his just defence for his so rigorous proceedings She refused to dispute the truth of your Complaints presuming it more
probable for a stranger to be a Tyrant then that the naturall Inhabitants should upon a slighter cause cast themselves into the no lesse bloody then scorching flames of a Civill and uncertaine Warre Seeming rather to forget the Obligations shee owed him as a private person when he was King of England then her Neighbours oppressions I shall not here draw blood in your faces by application Yet I doe not find any tumults raised before the gates of your Messengers who were then too modest to owne higher titles then of poore Petitioners casting themselves prostrate at the feet of a no lesse potent tribunall then you have been admitted to in the quality of Embassadors An honour you could never have attained but through the mediation of those who have been so farr from receiving a like Retaliation as to their griefe they perceived most of the stormes and Thunders fell upon this Nation were first formed in your Region by which houses and Churches were demolished wherein your Ancestors had receaved shelter and Contribution And instead of opposing our Enemies and screening us by the power you must owne under God from England You rendered your selves Arbitraters of our cause And to which side you did propend appeares by the titles of Honour your Messengers partiality was branded with by the other Party Besides what a lesse respective Relator might suppose they carryed home in their Portmantos Covering under the glorious habit of Embassadours An ingratitude so ugly as can not be represented to the world without shame Were not the promises of Neutralitie extorted from you by our Agents at the expence of so much trouble treasure and time drawn up so ambiguously as if they had come from jugling Delphos not the deeply engaged Hague whose repute in relation to a just repayment of former debts hath been next her alliance with England the greatest security for her future hopes Did not the disaffection of some transport them so far beyond all extent of prudence as to avoid the countenancing of so much Ingratitude in their owne persons by conniving at the liberty the Prince of Orange took The inestimable Banck at Amsterdam was almost surprised And Fetters ready to be formed for them out of the States Silver so as they were in a faire way of loosing their owne Liberty in seeking to impede ours For this branch of the House of Nassau was so deeply rooted in this fourth descent as he began to struggle for more roome and overshadow the power of the State And apprehending this Nation too full of Gallantry and Policy to let a Servant inslave a people they had redeemed from his Master by their blood he rendered himselfe First our late Kings Sonne in Law and so our enimy till Providence had bound him up with the rest of our Opposers By what mediation we are not inquisitive our businesse being only to participate of our Neighbours felicities without arraigning the cause by which they attained them And here I desire leave to mingle my thoughts with some reports made by no strangers in the affaires of those times to whom it appeared that Queen Mary did not at first Cordially intend the Match with Holland unlesse the Prince of Orange was able to attaine the Regality which the Catholike King was so farr from being likely to hinder That a small acknowledgment would have perswaded him out of his part long looked upon by that wise Nation as a trouble to keep And after she had by the contemplation of this Marriage assured her selfe not only to receive no opposition in her designe from that corner but all the assistance his mony and power could afford she had the young Ladies consent ready either to break or confirme it who was then under yeares And to shew they feared foule play in case K. Ch. had prospered the Princesse was bedded somthing sooner then stood with ordinary custome and the Lady Stanops protests who married a Dutchman and was assigned her Gardionesse And if any consider how unsuitable this was to the high minde and Religion of the Queene of England What plenty of freer and richer Princes resided in Germany And that she never had been put in to their hands but that those new breaches called for new Counsels He cannot blame the conjecture though as things fell out she could not have been sold to a greater advantage Neither can it be rejected out of any great difficulty resides in raising a considerable party in the Netherlands by one lesse powerfull then the Prince of Orange because every severall Province or chief Town hath free Liberty of conceding or rejecting what propositions they please that in a manner they are so many free States independent one of the other Therefore not likely to combine against England who yet is as well Able to spare their Alliance as willing to Imbrace it And that this Match sprung rather from the Sinister and clandestine ends then any palpable affection The Queene carried to the Dutch is more then probable by the faint reception she formerly gave them upon all occasions suffering the Buffoons at Court to gibe their Embassadors as if they were not able to afford themselves Cuffs out of the masse of Holland they sold to others And upon consideration of the severe justice they mett with in the Star-Chamber for transporting of Gold it might have obliged them rather to have assisted the Parliament whose indulgence inabled them to committ the fault then the Crowne that had so severely punished it Yet you were so farr from managing this Partiality within the ordinary Carere of prudent Princes who upon a lesse desertion of Fortune then you observed withdraw their assistance from all parties looked upon but with an unbiass'd aspect That you adhered to the King of Scots after providence had measured out the Land in quiet before us As if nothing were more indifferent to you then who were happy so England were miserable Nay after our good God had broke their Swords and knapt their Speares in sunder you let the ribald Penne vomit out floods of reproaches in hope to destroy this Nation who was then in strong labour with peace amongst a wildernesse of distractions Forgeting that nothing could be said to their disparagement that would not in an indifferent light delineate your owne No Indecency being observable during our proceedings that is not easily to be matcht with an Enormity in Yours So as the Pope proved by accident more our friend and made better use of reason of State For finding his faction here was able to return him no more then a bare compliance in Church Ceremonies withont the welcome addition of profit The English Miter no lesse then the Crowne resolving to retaine an absolute power to dispose of all dignities both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall wheel'd about and was never found by any I could be inform'd from to foment the adversary with considerable supplyes though earnestly sollicited both by Letters and Messengers In which the wise