All those who are not altogether Strangers to the World will easily grant that of all the Kingdoms of Europe there are none but may be said inferiour to France in some respect or other and to want some advantages which France enjoyeth in a very eminent degree The greatness of its Territories the Populousness of it the number of their Gentry and Nobility Their natural courage together with the advantage of being trained up either to Military Actions or to Warlike Exercises ever since the Foundation of their Monarchy the situation of their Country and the opportunities they have by it to annoy their Neighbours upon all occasions The fruitfulness and riches of the Soyle together with the prodigious quantity of all sorts of Commodities manufactured unmanifactured with which they supply their neighbours And lastly the great Revenues of their Kings who governing of late without controul or check are so much the more able to oppress their Neighbours All these Advantages meeting together they have in all Ages had aspiring thoughts and under Charlemain had erected a new Western Empire which in all likelyhood would have proved of longer continuation had not those great Dominions been shared and divided between the said Charlemains Children which in the succeeding Ages proved an occasion of many great and bloody Wars 2. A Second and memorable stop to the increase of the French war when by the ambition of Hugh Capett who aymed at the Crown to usurpe it with less opposition and to draw the Grandees into his party he made all their governments hereditary erected them into a kind of Principalitys held in Capite from thence sprang so many great Famylies able afterwards to wage War against the French King And whilst they were thus in a kind of Minority the House of Burgandy having joyned with England brought that Kingdome to the Low condition every one knows Lewis the 11th was the first who after the English had lost not only their new Conquest but also what they had possessed of old in France raised the French Crown to a greater height and his Son Charles the 8th besides the acquisition of Brittany frighted all Europe by his surprising conquest of the Kingdom of Naples This occasioned a general confederacy of all neighbouring Princes against him whereby he soon lost what he had gotten But still the ambitious thoughts of his Successors would have much endangred the liberty of Europe if the Austrian family raised on a sudden to a vast Grandeur by the occasion of an innumerable number of Provinces united in Charles the 5th had not carried the Imperial Crown from Francis the 1st who stood with much Eagerness for it and had already engaged several of the Electors This haveing over ballanced the French power the said Francis the 1. though helped several times by the great Solyman Emperor of the Turke was at last forced to yeild to the victorious Armes of Charles the 5th who took him prisoner and forced him to buy his liberty with a very disadvantageous peace But his Son Henry the second had better success and amongst other advantages he added to his Dominions three very fair Imperial and Episcopal Towns and was likely to have gon further had he not been prevented by a sudden death England all this while true at that time to their own interest with a skilful hand holding the ballance and keeping the contesting parties in as great an equality as their owne occasions would permit Under the minority of his Children the bloody Massacres and civil Wars begin which lasted forty years and would have put an end to that Monarchy if the Ambition of Philip the second would have given way to the dividing of it into the several Principalities which the respective Grandees aymed at But Henry the 4th strengthned by the divisions which grew between the Spaniards ond the holy League having won many Battels made his Title to the Crown good by the success of his Arms and not long after concluded peace with Spain to gain time to breath and to recover new strength No sooner was he at rest but he bent all his thoughts upon a project as vast in the design of it as Extraordinary in its nature intending no less then to cast Europe into a new Mould to reduce all the Kingdoms and Common Wealths that were in his time to a certain number and to bring them within such bounds as he should prescribe to them being sure however in this Marshalling to take such shute to himself as would have enabled him or or least his Successors to grow into an universal Monarch To effect this he had already made choice of his Generals and other great Officers and was preparing both Arms and money when a sudden and unexpected death puts an end as well to his undertaking as to his life The beginning and in truth the greatest part of the Reign of Lewis the 13th his Son was much disquieted by intestine broils and Civil Wars during which the house of Austria was very near bringing all Germany under their subjection and after the Battel of Prague stood very fair for the universal Empire But France having at last quieted all at home did under pretence of opposing the Austrian Family and whilst they were courted by several Princes to assist and protect them against the Emperour vastly increased their own power and conquered new Provinces and considerable Towns in Spain Italy Germany and the Low Countries which raising new jealousie in their own Allies occasioned the peace of Munster to frevent their further progress About the same time the new Civil wars which broke out in France under the minority of the present King gave opportunity to Spain to recover part of their Losses till the sate Protector of England joyning with the French for the advancement of some private ends of his own and by a policy from which the destruction of Europe may chance to take its date before we are much older brought them into a decaying condition and made the Pyrenean Peace after the death of Cromwel most welcome to them Before we go further and come to give a more particular account of the present French Court I will beg leave to stop here a while and desire the Reader to take along the following inferences from what hath already been hinted a more full knowledge thereof being left to the perusal of their Histories 1. That no greater proofs can be given of the internal strength of the French Nation then their overcoming the many dangerous convulsions of state they have from time to time strugled with which in all appearance would have destroyed any other Nation 2. That in all Ages assoon as their intestine troubles have been over they have still out of a restlesh Warlike humour endeavoured to encroach upon their neighbours and to encrease their own Dominions laying hold of all opportunities to disturb mankind and having never able as yet to set bounds to their Ambition 3. That this
the French Upon the return of the said De Groot with the Powers after some conferences part of them with De Groot alone Monsieur de Louvoy one of the Secretaries of State gave the Dutch Deputies a project of a Treaty or rather the pretentions of the King his Master Upon the granting of which he was both willing and ready to return to his former Amity with the States and conclude a firm Peace with them Whereupon two things are to be observed The one that the Conditions were such that if granted would have made the French King as perfectly Master of the Country as if he had conquered all by the Sword and the other that in all the Articles which are still in being and may be produced if need be there was not the least word relating to England and no more notice taken of his Majesty or greater care of his interest then if he had not been concerned in the War or in no League with the French So that if by a wonderful providence of God the said Treaty had not been unexpectedly broken off Europe had in one day lost it's Liberty And all we could have expected afterwards had been the favour Polyphemus shewed to his Guests And to demonstrate further that the intention of the French Court was not his Majesty should be a gainer by the War Monsieur de Groot whose word if he be not very much wronged ought to go a great way when he speaks of the French declared at his second coming to the Hague with the before mentioned Articles that the French Ministers had answered him the States his Masters might deal as they pleased with England and come off as cheap as they would because as they pretended they were not bound or engaged by their Treaty to procure them any advantages A happy thing in the mean while to be engaged in such a War with so Generous an Allie While this negotiation was on foot and before the Treaty could be Concluded the Prince of Orange was miraculously restored to the dignity and Authority of his Ancestors which having altogether Eclipsed the party that was inclined to treat with France upon almost any Terms and the rest of the Country being all under Water the French lost at once both their hopes of carrying the whole matter by a Treaty and the opportunity of making a further Progress by their Armes At the same time My Lord Duke of Buckingham and my Lord Arlington went into Holland And the French who knew already they could neither bring the Dutch to a compliance nor Swim over to the remaining Townes And with all being full of Apprehensions and fear that by the Authority of the Prince of Orange and through the interest he was like to have in his Majesty chiefly if their practices and honest dealings came to be discovered a Seperate peace might be made between England and the Vnited Provinces they Acted their part so succesfully with our Plenipotentiaries that they perswaded them to enter in his Majesties name into a new engagement not to treat or conclude with the Dutch any Peace or Truce without them For as to their promising the like it was a perfect mockery on their part since they had already done their utmost to Treat without England and that after they had miscarried in the attempt nothing could secure them but his Majesties refusing to accept of what conditions the Dutch would be willing to grant Him After this new Contract made our Plenipotentiaries together with the French Ministers sent their joynt demands and proposalls to the Dutch to be granted in Ten days or else no Peace to be made which was the next Master-peece of the French for it is to be observed first that the French Demands were in substance the same as they had made at first in their negotiation with Monsieur de Groot And since they were so unjust and so Enormious that the best friends they had then amongst the States could hardly swallow them themselves much less to bring the generality to give their censent without some Modification It was not to be expected that the Government being since the late Change much more avers to the French then before the same proposalls again should be better entertained which was rendred the more improbable by the addition of the English demands Secondly The French by the excessive height of their demands seemed to have encouraged if not perswaded by some more effectual means the said Plenepotentiaries not to come much short of them which was attended with Two Fatal consequences the one that the War was certainly by it entayled upon his Majesty And the other that it was a means to alienate the minds and affections of the Dutch who were then inclined to give those advantages to England which cannot rationally be expected hereafter Thirdly Though the respective claimes of the Two Kings had been singly tolerable yet the joyning of them together made it impossible for the Dutch to grant either From whence the French and very rationally conceived hopes that the Dutch finding themselves over ballanced by the joynt power of their Enemies and seeing no way to come out of so destructive a War and to have peace and not a firm nor a durable one neither without dividing their Country into a hundred pieces and cutting of all their Sinews had rather cast themselves into the Arms of their Conqueror and laying aside all thoughts of Soveraignty live in an entire Body under the French Domination At least it were some comfort if the French Court had but kept to this last agreement which in so many respects was advantageous to them But that they have not done neither And as soon as they saw most Princes in Europe begin to be in Earnest and that great succours were preparing for the Assistance of the Dutch besides what forces were already in the Field They underhand made new overtures of Peace and have still to this day been sending private Messages to the Dutch wherein they take no greater care of England than they had done at Vtrecht And if the Dutch had not persisted in their refusal to Treat without their Allies the French had long since concluded without theirs and that upon very moderate Terms as to the Dutch I suppose this will seem very strange and will hardly be credited but since as long as I am under this disguise I cannot justifie it as fully as otherwise I might do it All I can say at present is there are those in the Kingdom that know the truth of it as well as my self and I hope the world will not be long without a full discovery of it And thus I end the first part of this discourse which hath swelled unawares into a greater bulk then I intended at first though the matter would bear a great deal more without being exhausted II. Let us now come to the Second Head and examine what the issue of this War may prove and what may
likewise that in case we do persist in our Alliance with the French they must break with us as well as with them And since they are so far concerned in the preservation of the Dutch they cannot think themselves safe if the others are destroyed It is their Interest by making this War as destructive to us as they can to perswade us more effectually than they could do hitherto into a friendship with their Allies for to say they dare not proceed to a breach they are afraid of us and we know how to Order them in the West Indies This were good if their All did not ly at stake and if by their breach with us they could endanger more then the same All Whereas to the Contrary by venturing all they may and will in all likelyhood save both themselves and all Europe This being Granted as it must needs be if truth do in the least prevail with us I need not use many words to make all England sensible of the sad consequences of a Spanish War I 'le hint only those that are undeniable As first the seizure of all our Merchants Estates amounting in the whole to a vast Sum. 2. The loss of our Trade with them which of all other is the most beneficial to the Kingdom And without which our Wollen goods must lie upon our hands and half of our Weavers Spinners c. go a begging 3. The Interruption of our Levant and Plantations Trade which cannot in case of Breach be secured by ordinary Convoys And not to mention the Spanish Men of War which both as to number and strength are sufficient to cruise in the Streights With what either encouragement or safety can our Traders venture abroad if besides the Dutch Capers the Seas come to be infested with Ostenders Biscaines Majorcans and Minorcans Who are none of them inferiors to the Flushingers and are as well Skilled as they are in the Art of Piracy Nay did not these very men without any help take above fifteen hundred Ships from us in the late Spanish War when Spain was at the lowest and sought alone against us and France 4. By the loss or at least the interruption of our Trade his Majesties Customes which is the considerablest Branch of his Revenue will come to little or nothing so that to support the War new Taxes must be raised in lieu of it And proportionably so much greater Subsidies granted to his Majesty If from Spain we come to the Empire we find the Emperor himself and the Elector of Brandenburg already engaged in the quarrel and many other Princes upon declaring so that it is now high time both for the Parliament and all true Englishmen to look farther then we have done yet and to examine with more care the consequence of this War For the Fire which both we and France have kindled is like to consume all Europe if we do not make hast to quench it and by a timely Retreat give way to safe Counsels And for a close to this second Part of our Discourse I desire the following Considerations may be seriously Debated and weighed First What horrid spilling of Christian Bloud we 'l be the occasion of if by our wilful promoting of the Ambitious designs of the French even so palpable against our Interest we force all the rest of Europe to take up Arms in their own defence and to unite all for their Common safety and for the preservation of that Liberty which as though we were led by Witchcraft we merrily go about to destroy 2. How prejudicial this War will be to us in case the confederate Princes do over-ballance the Power of France And by raising the Reputation and the Credit of the Dutch which last is the only thing they want enable them not only to pay their Land Armies but likewise to set out as great and considerable Fleets as ever And I do not see that either of them ought to be looked upon as very improbable since first it is very certain and all those that knew the Country will grant That if the Hollanders had but some prosperous success either by their own Armies Or by the help of their Allies they 'l be able to take up without trouble and in a very short time as much Money as they may have occasion for And in the second place it seemeth pretty rational to judg that the house of Austria with the conjunction of many Potent Princes will struggle a while for their lives and may be hard enough for the French 3. But how much greater will the danger be if neither Germany nor Spain are able to stop the Progress of the French And in case they must all yield and submit themselves to the Victorious Arms of the most Christian King what will become of Poor England must his Majesty I speak it with due respect to his Royal and sacred person be Tenant at will or else Do we presume so far on our own strength as to imagin we may do what the rest of Europe cannot And that though the French had conquered all we should not fear them the more and could still defend our selves against them Let those that have Advised his Majesty to this War speak they must now pull their Vizard off they must appear in their true shape tell us plainly whether they are paid for making the French King the Universal Monarchy And whether to bring down new Golden showers into their Laps England must at Least be made Tributary to the French some few Hackney writers will not serve the Turn now And twenty silly stories against Holland cannot make it advisable for us to joyn with the French King against the Greatest part of Europe When this War was entred upon no Enemies were thought on at least spoken of besides the Dutch This was the only game we followed at first And we expected no other prey to divide between us and the French But now supposing that we had taken never so much care for an equal sharing of the Vnited Provinces concerning which we refer our selves to what hath been said before will our great men assure us further That the Lines are also fallen to us in the pleasant places of Europe And that his Majesty is to share the Vniversal Empire with the most Christian King I grant the Dutch have offended us And that our War against them is not unjust But is it Just therefore to destroy so many Princes who cannot Subsist without them who for their own preservation are forced to Venture all to preserve the Vnited Provinces In few words the Scene is altered And though our infinite charity leads us not to suspect the sincerity of the French or fear the encrease of their power most Princes of Europe are of another mind And whatever comes of it they are resolved to stand by and protect the Dutch as long as they are able to protect themselves so that to conquer Holland All their Allies must be destroyed first
Caballe have been in their endeavours to make this War just or to be thought so at least after they had once resolved to make War Thus they first made a great noise of infamous Libells horrid Pictures Pillars set up and Medalls coyned to the infinite dishonour of his Majesties Person and of his Royal Dignity whereas to this day none of those Libells or Pictures could be produced And the Pillars had never any being but in the imagination of those who made it their work to raise a Jealousie between the Two Nations and set Europe in a Flame It is true there was a Medal Coyned which might have been spared but as soon as it was known in Holland some exceptions were taken at it the Stamp was broken in pieces and withal all impartial men that have seen it could not discern any thing in it which could give so much offence or that looked like an affront intended to his Majesty Besides this thinking it very material to have in this as well as an the late War if not the clamour at least the concurrence of the Traders they sent for several of them and endeavoured to draw from them some complaints against the Dutch for the strengthening of the Good Cause Wherein it is very observable that the Committee of the East India Company being amongst others desired to bring in their Grievances they answered and gave it under their hands they knew of no wrong done to them by the Dutch since the Traty at Breda or words to that effect But it seemeth the Compiler of his Majesties Declaration was better informed and knew more of the Companies concerns than their Committee But all this not serving the turn the difficulties which did arise in the performance of the Conditions of the Surrender of Suranam must be improved to the height And even after Secretary Trevor had adjusted the matter with the States and had received from them the Orders which were agreed upon Banisters going was retarded and Sir John Trevors agreement as if he had not faithfully discharged his trust in it submitted to the censure of the Counsel of Plantations where at last the said Banister pleaded so well his own and Secretary Trevor's cause that with much a do the one was cleared and the other dispatched away though with many devices and tricks too tedious to be inserted here which if not prevented might have made his Voyage altogether unsuccessful But we must not forget that the very men who found so much fault with what Mr. Secretary Trevor had done were themselves satisfied with much less before they had harkned to new Counsels And were not a little Angry with Collonel Banister for desiring more than the States were willing to grant What was it said at that time do you think we must make War for you Or that We are bound to procure you whatsoever may be advantagious to your self and to your fellow Planters Quantum mutatus ab illo Their next work and in truth Great Master Piece was the sending the Yacht with Orders to Sayl through the Dutch Fleet and require striking to his Majesties Flag And I am so far from justifying or excusing in the least the refusal which the Dutch Admiral made to pay what respect was due to the English Colours that the States themselves do not own it and are ready to enter into any new Engagement for preventing the like for the future But there are several circumstances in it which are worthy of Observation as That the Dutch Fleet was then at Anchor not far from their own Coast and in a Station which by many Geographers is accounted no part of the British Seas 2. That the Dutch were out at that time in pursuance of the Tripple League and to be ready upon occasion to relieve the Spanish Nether Lands which were threatned by the French who were then in March with a considerable Army and came as far as Dunkerk which one would think was a very unfit time to send out on purpose to pick a Quarrel with them And the rather because we had promised the Dutch to set out a Fleet as well as they to joyn with theirs for the common safety 3. That the Pensionaire De Witt who Governed Holland at that time with a more than Ministerial Authority took a pride in standing in punctillioes in all things relating to England which maketh the Common Wealth it self to be less guilty of any disrespect shewed either to his Majesty or to the Nation through the haughtiness and private animosity of their Minister And truly I must needs say that of all the things that are laid to the said De Witts charge there is hardly any which would make me apt to believe there was a Private understanding between the French and Him than his carriage in this business and his demurring so long upon the satisfaction which the greatest part of the States were willing to give to England whilst he knew full well that it was a Quarrel sought by our Ministers who wanted some popular pretence to make War and keep their word to the French King 4. That we stayed several months before we demanded satisfaction least if we had demanded it too early it had been granted us too soon 5. That when Sir George Downing was sent over he was bound by his Instructions not to accept of any satisfaction from the Dutch after a certain number of days which were prescribed to him which is a very irregular and unusual of proceeding in Embassyes and much less practicable in Holland than any where else It being impossible to have the resolutions of their Towns and afterwards of their Provinces without a considerable time 6. That this was made so much the more difficult by our demanding not only the usual striking which though ever practiced and due to England was first Nationally agreed upon in 1654. and confirmed by the two Treaties with his Majesty in 1662. and 1667. But also a new kind of acknowledgment of the Soveraignty of the Seas which is not mentioned in the said Treaties So that by joyning them both in A memorial if the Dutch did demur upon the second and so delayed the Granting of the first it was a ready way for us to clamour and possess the whole Nation the Dutch had broken their Treaty and refused to Strike to the English Flagg 7. That after the Dutch had given their answer to the said Sir George Downings Memorials he refused to receive it and came away without it against a second Order he had received under his Majesties own hand for which also he was Committed to the Tower But not to wrong the Gentleman we must also own that though he had a positive and latter Command from his Master which did so far rescind his Instructions yet his friends have whispered in his behalf for his Justification that he had received at the same time Letters from some of our Great Ministers who conjured him as he tendred his own
the greatest care of those that have advised the King to this League have been to keep from the view and from the knowledge of the World what Articles are agreed upon it is not to be expected we should instance in the particular Breaches of what we are all Strangers to For Example we cannot tell whether it was agreed the French Squadron should fight and so dare not assure they have broken their Treaty by not fighting But I suppose there are very few but have heard of the Wager laid by the Spanish Embassador in the beginning of the War and how far the French Conduct agreed with his Predictions I would not neither impeach any man upon general Reports and Rumors but however it is observable that the greatest number of the Dutch Commanders are of Opinion and have often publickly declared that the French Ships were thus kind-used by theirs out of particular respect De Witts Brother had to them If from the Sea we come ashore we 'l find as far at least as they came to our knowledge most of their promises deceitful all the Art imaginable used to ensnare his Majesty And lastly a perfect and reiterated Breach of tho essence of their Treaty whatever the words may be all those that have been never so little conversant at Court may remembred that one of the great Arguments used and suggested by the French to make the conquest of Holland appear both safe and easie was that his most Christian Majesty had assurances from all the great Princes in Europe they would no ways concern themselves in the Quarrel Spain would be glad to see their old Rebels Chastised The Emperour had his hands full and durst not stir if he would for fear of the Turks Brandenburg should demand his Towns and the Northern Crowns would either sit still or endeavour to have a share in the spoyl And then this was so readily embraced that even after the Exchange of the Ratifications of the Treaty betwixt Spain and the Vnited Provinces they would not own there was so much as any agreement And for a good while we flattered our selves that the Leagues with the Catholick King and other Princes were surmises of the Dutch to raise their Reputation and quiet the minds of their People But when this was past denying they came off with slighting Discourses of the Forces of the Dutch Allies and Monsieur de Turenne would cut them all to pieces if ever their Temerity did brings within his reach At the Rate the Alliance with France was discoursed of before the War broke out-standers by could not but think and I believe if Truth were enquired into it will be found his Majesty intended no more at first and was engaged no farther the French should be the Principal in this War and England joyn their Forces with them as Auxiliaries to have in case of need a safe and honourable Retreat in their Power But as soon as the French thought his Majestie could not well go back nor take new Counsels they openly declared it was none of their Quarrel and that they onely engaged in it to assist his Majesty out of respect to his person By which means his Majesty was perswaded and induced to declare War first and to expect afterwards the assistance of the French I suppose his Majesty will not thank them neither forgiving out in all Roman Catholick Princes Courts That this is a War of Religion undertaken meerly for the propegation of the Catholick Faith and as the French Minister at Vienna expressed it in a solemn Speech to the Emperors Counsel which hath been since Printed in French that the Hollanders being Heriticks who had forsaken their God all good Christians are bound to joyn and unite to extirpate them and to implore Gods blessing upon so good a work Nay to confirm this the more they have lately declared and assured many Princes that to let Europe see how far they are from any such design as have been laid to their Charge and to satisfie all the World they entred into this War out of a Religious Zeal and for the Glory of God they are ready to part with all their Conquests and return to the Hollanders all the Towns they have taken from them if they will but re-establish the true Worship they have banished from their Territories How far now this may be agreeable to his Majesties Interest or to the XXXIX Articles let any unprejudiced man judge But an undeniable proof of the uprightness of the French Court is their carriage in the Negotiations of Peace with the States In short the matter of Fact is thus The passage of the Erench Army over that Branch of the Rhyne called the Waal having caused a general consternation all over the Country and the confusion they were in being such that they could hardly resolve whether to yield or defend themselves The States on the 11th of June named several Deputies to be sent some to his Majesty and the rest to the French King to know of them both upon what terms they would be willing to agree and come to a Peace Those that came to his Majesty were met upon the way as far as Graves End to forbid them the Court and were conveyed to Hampton Court there to continue in an honourable confinement till we could hear from the most Christian King and know of him whether the said Deputies might be admitted his Majesty being unwilling to give the lest offence to the French And not thinking it either lawful or convenient without their participation so much as to hear what the Dutch Deputies Errand was But the other Deputies came no sooner to the French Court but two Secretaries of State were sent to them and without further delay desired to know first if they had full Power to Treat and in the next place what the States could propose in order to a speedy Peace The Deputies answered they were only sent to know his most Christian Majesties Pleasure and that their Masters had thought it a greater respect to him to receive his Proposals then to offer any Conditions themselves with this answer the French Ministers went to their Masters and came back immediately to the Deputies to let them know it was expected the States should make the Proposals and that the most Christian King could not enter upon any Treaty unless they had full Power Telling them withal to quicken them and to hasten the conclusion of the work that they were to consider That whatever his most Christian Majesty had Conquered was already his own and therefore he could no ways part with it unless they gave him an Equivalent as well for what he might Conquer farther before the Conclusion of the Treaty as for what he possessed at that time Wherupon Monsieur de Groot one of the Deputies being gone to the Hague he was sent back with all speed and Authorised in a very ample manner together with his Collegues to treat and conclude a Peace with
rationally be expected it will come to Were it either possible in nature or so much as to be imagined that Holland might be turned into a new Lake their Towns burnt and depopulated and their Inhabitants either destroyed or Transported into remote Colonies or part of them brought into this Kingdom to encrease the Number of our People I fear no Arguments drawn from either natural Justice or Christian Charity could be forceable enough to put a stop to such a design And in the case it would be hard for the ingenious and worthy Author of the Interest of England stated as unanswerable as his Arguments are to perswade men either Biassed or not very well acquainted with the state of Forreign Affairs That it must be the chief Interest of England to support the present Government of Holland But such a destruction being not to be thought on or expected by any man that is in his Wits and since the Scituation of the Country and its Commodiousness for trading in many respects together with the Natural and Laborious Industry of the Inhabitants will still continue under any change To satisfy our selves how far we may be gainers by this War we must consider in order to the general events that may be looked upon as in any degree of possibility In order to that I conceive all men will grant one of these four things must be supposed First The absolute conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French Or Secondly Our Conquering of them Thirdly A Division and Sharing of the Country between us and the French Fourthly and Lastly The Dutch recovering their losses and with the help of their Allies their withstanding both England and France Of each of them in Order The absolute Conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French and their being brought under their subjection is a thing of that dreadful consequence that the very thoughts of it must needs raise the blood of al true English men And there is hardly any remedy too violent for so desperate a cure or means that could be called unjust if necessary to prevent so great an evil And therefore instead of losing time to prove what is so manifest and so obvious to the meanest capacities I only beg of all my dear Countrymen to lay the present state of things to heart and humbly move both Houses to consider whether we be not already too near that evil day and how far it is consistant with that Interest with which they are intrusted to hasten it by unseasonable and pernicious compliance Secondly As to our Mastering the Low Countries it can be but one of these two ways First Our subduing of them by a Landing and withal beating the French out of what they possess already Or Secondly Their voluntary yielding to us and submiting themselves to his Majesty The first can hardly be so much as supposed or imagined by any Rational Man For 1. If in the middest of their late distractions and the unspeakable confusion which was in every part of the Country no opportunity of Landing could be found though often attempted How can it be expected it should be practicable by the next Summer now they are all United and strengthned by the assistance of their Allies 2. How can it be thought possible to Land an Army considerable enough to take all their Towns and Conquer the whole Country Nay to Conquer the Conquerers themselves and beat the French out 3. Granting that the approach of our Fleet would occasion a great disorder and consternatian in the Countrey and that the Dutch should not prove able to oppose our Landing and at the same time to keep the French out and defend themselves to the Landwards what would the consequence of this be but only to enable the French to Master the whole Country whilst the Dutch should divide and draw off their Forces to oppose us It being much easier for the French who are already in the Country to Ma ch with all their Forces to Amster am and to the rest of their Towns before we can Land then for us to prevent them by our Landing 4. Lastly if the French Ships are to have a share in the Expedition what Security have we their men will promote our own ends and not their Masters and that they shall not rather turn tayl against us if occasion be And as to the voluntary yeilding of the Dutch and their giving themselves up to us I may say it is as irrational and as fond a conceit as the other And which therefore doth hardly need being confuted But because some of our great men have even in Print made use of this as of an Argument both to justifie the War in point of prudence and to perswade the Nation to joyn and concur with the Cabal in their dark Counsels It will be necessary and we owe that respect to their quality as to lay the matter open and unfold it with a little more care Were the Vnited Provinces still entire and untouched and they in an election to joyn with and submit themselves upon terms either to France or England it would be no hard matter to demonstrate and make it to appear that the ballance of true policy and reason should weigh down by much on the French side And that the best part of their Trade would soon if incorporated with us run out of their Chanels into ours which all understanding men amongst them are so sensible of that in Case this were in agitation the interest of Religion which besides they could secure some other way should hardly carry it against profit and self preservation But not to multiply debates and granting now that in such a Case the Ducth would prefer our Domination before that of the French Let us not examine what might have been if our suppositions were true But what is like to be De facto may rationally be expected as the Cause stands .. First it must be observed that though their Maratime Provinces be far the most considerable and those which have made that Common-wealth so powerful and so famous all over the World yet their In-Land Provinces are of no less importance to the preservation of the whole and are the Bull-works and Out-works of the other without which the main Body would be soon streigtned and brought in a little time to the greatest extremities For this Reason the Spaniards never offered Peace to the Dutch nor could they have accepted of it if offered till being Masters of Seven Provinces and having withall conquered several Towns in Brabant and Flanders to be a fence to their out Provinces their Territories proved of a Competent extent to Lodge and Maintain upon their Frontiers the greatest Armies And by removing the Seat of the War from their Trading Provinces be so much the more able to continue it rather with advantage to them then with the least inconvenience or trouble 2. The Second thing we must take notice of is that the greatest advantage of the
Situation of the Vnited Provinces lyeth in that several of the greatest Rivers in Europe not onely run through their Country but disimbogue into the Ocean within their Precincts This openeth them an easie and an advantagious Trade into most parts of Germany the Spanish Low Countries and some Provinces of France and makes a Reciprocation of commerce and as it were an Ebb and Flow between their Rivers and the Ocean being enabled by the first to carry at a cheap rate to the furthest parts of the world what goods commodities the above mentioned Countries afford and to return them by means of the same the Richest spoyles of the East and West These natural Advantages accrewing to the Inhabitants of these respective Provinces by their being all Vnited under the same Government do link and tie them so fast together that nothing but an external and irresistable force can divide them and who ever comes to be Master of the Rivers must needs in a short time either be beaten out of his Conquests or else bring all the Havens and all the Inhabitants Bordering upon the Sea under the same subjection The Sea Ports without the Rivers and the Rivers without the Ports being altogether useless and a Foundation for an Endless and Destructive War This being premised the Conclusion will easily be drawn and since the French do already possess half of their Country and are Masters of their cheif Rivers if the Dutch come either to lose the Ambition of Ruling and being a Soveraign State or else are brought to the necessity of choosing a Master It is plain they 'l rather submit themseves to the French King who hath half conquered them already and hath in his own hands that part of the Country without which they cannot subsist than by giving up the remaining part to England to entail a War upen them which besides their subjection to a Foreiner as well as if they were under the French will exhaust what Treasury they may have lest and from a Flourishing Estate bring them to perfect Beggery To summe up all It cannot be supposed the Dutch will ever chuse a Master and submit themselves to the Government of a Forein Prince unless they are driven to it by an unavoidable necessity This necessity cannot proceed but from the sense they may have of their own weakness and of a desire to live in peace and free themselves of a War which is so destructive to them Now if they do submit themselves to England in opposition to the French the Peace they seek will be further off them then ever their remaining Country will be the seat of an endless War whereas if they give themselves up to the French they will be United again in an entire body enjoy rest and peace and live under the Protection of a Prince who of all Princes in Europe is best able to defend them against all their Enemies and whose interest will be to give all possible encouragement to their Trade and to make their Country the Nursery of his Seamen and in all other respects the support of his Naval Strength Not to mention that if they must be slaves first they might rationally hope to have the satisfaction afterwards of lending a helping hand to bring their Neighbours and in truth all Europe into the same condition with them Thirdly We come now to the dividing and sharing of the Country with the French which by what hath already been said will appear either impracticable or rathor hurtful than advantageous for this sharing must be either by a Conquest on both sides as the Duchies of Cleve and Juliers were formerly when Prince Maurice and the Marquess of Spinola entred at the same time into those Countries with two great Armies and took each what they could the one on the behalf of the Elector of Brandenburg and the other of the Duke of Newburg or else that the French having Conquered and possessed all should give us part of their acquisition The first cannot be supposed as long as we have no Army in tho Country And in truth can bring none able to match that of the French and to Conquer as fast as they though they had not a foot of Ground in the Vnited Provinces But as the case doth now stand it is plain they would be Masters of all before our long Boats could come on Shore And as to their giving us a share after an absolute Conquest there are three things to be considered 1. It is worth the inquiry how far they are engaged by their Treaty and what share we are to have for all appearances are very deceitful if the French have promised to give any thing more then a fair leave to take what we can 2. It is apparent by what hath been said before at what rate their promises and other such engagements are to be valued 3. The nature and constitution of the Country being such that it cannot stand divided without not only very great inconvenience to both parties but the destruction of one of them The French King what ever he had promised cannot be willing to give us such a share as would bring his own under the Enulish subjection And if his Majesty should have but an inconsiderable part of the Conquest he could neither reap any benefit by it nor protect it against the French power without exhausting both his Treasure and his Men. Nay it may be said further and all that know the Country will grant that unless Amsterdam with the Zuyder Sea were split and all the shipping divided to have each one half of the whole no true division can be made And whoever is Master of that Town will soon or late subdue all the rest It is true if we had some Sea Towns and the French had nothing to do with the rest it might be for a while a Curb to Holland and procure us some advantages in Trade But if the French possess all the Country what proportion can there be between the acquisition and ours And after the accession of so great a power to their Empire can any rational man imagin some few places they should give us would be a balance to their Forces or a secure Fence against their Ambitious and aspiring thoughts To clear this further and to demonstrate how dangerous it is for England to destroy the balance of Europe in hopes of having a share in the spoil and of encreasing our Dominions It is to be considered that in the perusal of our English Histories we find all our Forein Conquests either unfortunate in the end or an unprofitable charge to the Kingdom whilst to maintain them the Seas must be perpetually crossed for supplying them with Men Money and Necessaries Nay after the Conquest of the best part of the Kingdom of France we could not defend it long against the remaining part and even lost what belonged to his Majesties Royal Ancestors by right of Inheritance after a quiet and uninterrupted possession for some
Majesty would be engaged in all his Quarrels and bound to make his Forces March as the before mentioned Author of the Letter to Sir Thomas Osborne expresses himself into the farthest part of Germany as often as it should happen to be Invaded by the Great Turk The late Secretary Trevor opposed this as much as he was able and endeavoured to satisfie his Majesty that the Garanty of the Tripple League as well as of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle related only to the Agression and other Hostilities from either France or Spain Propteria saith the Treaty by reason of the said Allyance But the wary cautious men as well as of the greater number carried it And the Emperors proffer was rejected Nay as soon as some of our Semi Gods had cut the fatal Tripple Knot with the Diamond Sword of their Alexander the poor now but formerly vaunted Tripple League was trampled under foot turned into Ridicule and less vallued than a Ballade His Majesty and they themselves since the Treaty of Aix had thought it very rational and very necessary withal to invite other Princes into the said League or in other words into the Garanty of the Treaty of Aix pursuant to the VII Article of the said Treaty whereby all Kings States and Princes are invited into it But as if they remembred neither his Majesties sending of Envoyes to the Princes of Germany nor the words of the Treaty it self They tell us now in the same Printed Letter That the necessity of inviting all Princes into the Tripple League is a Maxime much in vogue with some who looking very grave do therefore take it very ill if for that reason you will not allow them to be infallible And afterwards because the Tripple League is often mentioned without mentioning the Garanty of Aix which is in truth the thing meant by it to say saith the Author we should invite them into the Tripple League That if you mark is such a kind of Figure in discourse as commonly is called a Bull. Fidem vestram Dij imortales 4. We have gone yet farther than all this And the civil applications of the French and their kind entreaties did so prevail with us that loathing the very thoughts of the Tripple League and hating almost any thing that related unto it we sufferd an Agent of ours one Marsilly whom we had sent to the Switzers to invite them into the Garanty of Aix and who was intercepted and taken Prisoner by the French whilst he was very busie in the execution of what commands he had received not many Months before from our Great-men to be broken upon the Wheel at Paris although one single word from us would have saved his life Neither did we take it ill such is our good nature that upon the very Scaffold twenty Questions were put to him relating to his Majesties Person And in that publick and infamous Place a strict enquiry made into the particulars of what had passed between him and the King of England for thus was his Majesty often mentioned and named 5. But to take off somewhat of the wonder and strangness of our neglecting and forsaking our Leagued Friends for the most Christian Kings sake we soon shewed as much self-denyal in our own concerns and grew civilised to admiration by our inward converse with the Monsieurs whereof we 'll give only three Instances The first is that whilst we stormed against the Dutch for not promoting as for as they were bound the coming away of some Families that would leave Suranam we found no fault with the French their keeping us above four years out of St. Christophers No more than with their destroying in the mean while that part of the Island which belonged to his Majesties Subjects And we would have thought it a rudeness in us to have pressed too hard on his most Christian Majesty for a speedy or punctual performance of his Articles Nay if the French Commanders in those parts are to be believed there was very good understanding in relation to the said Island between some of our Grandees and the Erench Court as doth appear by the Narrative my Lord Willoughby delivered to the Council of Plantations and which is Entered in their Books The next is That by any Ordinance of the French Privy Council which is now the Statute Law of that Kingdom all their Sea and Land Officers and Commanders in the Islands of America being strictly enjoyned and required to secure their Master the Soveraignty of those Seas the said Ordinances having been brought in by a Person of Quality to the Cabinet Council it was at first to be declaimed against but soon buried in oblivion and put up amongst the useless Papers though the French Pursuant to it hath since much interrupted our Trade and have proved infinitely vexatious in so much as I am credibly informed that the present Governour of Jamaica hath sent word since his being there that notwithstanding their old Quarrel with the Spaniards it would be much easier to keep a good Correspondence with them than with the French our dear Allies And for a last Instance of our more than ordinary civility to the French several Traders in London have prepared a Petition to his Majesty in Council to complain of the oppression their Factors and Agents lay under in France with a true state of their Case and a short account of their grievances this came to the knowledge of some of our Great Ministers and they having had the perusal of them before the delivery of it stopt by their Authority all further prosecution of the matter and put off the said Merchants with a promise they would acquaint the French Embassador with their Complaints and see it should be redressed through his means How far they have been incouraged in their Trade since that promise they are best able to judge but however it was not fit the Nakedness of our dear Friends should be thus exposed to the whole view of the whole Council-Board And the foregoing particulars are more than sufficient to satisfie any impartial and understanding Reader how far the French have influenced our Counsels and withal they give us a great light and help us much to discern whether in truth we have broken the Tripple League or at least let it fall and dissolve of it self for no other reason but because we are constrained to fall out with the Dutch and to defend our selves against their oppression as the so often cited noble Author would perswade us or else if it may not be said rather and upon much better grounds that because it was not the French Kings Interest the Tripple League should subsist we have therefore resolved to break with the Dutch Thus to be subservient to the ends of his most Christian Majesty But by reason this might seem somwhat harsh at first and be looked upon as too severe a construction of our Great mens intentions it is necessary to evidence further how industrious the
this Discourse of the new Agreement entred into with the French King by our Plenipotentiaries and demonstrated the fatal consequences of the same what followeth will clear it farther The wonderful Progress of the French having surprized and frighted all Europe Our Court who knew what slender provision was made for England in that Conquest was little less Alarm'd than the rest And our Grand Ministers were dispatched in Post haste both to the Dutch and to the French their greatest fear when they went being left they should come too late and find the whole Country under the French Subjection After their Arrival in the Hague they begun their first Complements to the States Commissioners that were sent to wait upon them with all the Expressions imaginable both of kindness to Holland and of concernmant and trouble to see the French so far advanced There they received an account of Monsieur de Groots Negociation and of the great care the French took of his Majesty which raised such an Indignation in them that nothing would serve their turn but destroying out of hand or at least Mastering the French Fleet. And from thence removing to the Prince of Orange his Camp they renewed their kind Protestations Assured his Highness That his Majesties intention had never been to give way to the Conquest of the Vnited Provinces The most Christian King himself having often times declared he onely intended to humble their Commonwealth neither was it fit to suffer the French should go on at that rate In the end they took upon them and engaged to do their utmost to bring the French Court to be Satisfied with Maestricht and the right of keeping Garrisons in the Towns upon the Rhyne that belong to the Electors of Brandenburg and Collen And that in Case the French refused to accept of those terms they would then take new measures with the States and consider joyntly of the best ways to prevent the destruction of their Common wealth as well as the dangerous encrease of the French With these fair promises and friendly assurances they proceeded on their Journey to his most Christian Majesty who was some few hours riding from thence having behind them an infinite satisfaction in the minds of all Persons with great expectation of a happy Change through their zealous interposition But what may not the Royal Eloquence of a most Christian King do What will not his Golden Word perswade after our Grand Ministers had been some few dayes in the French Army they found they were not mistaken before and began to have a clearer apprehension of things The Negotiation of De Groote with the particulars imparted to them at the Hague was a meer slander for so the French Court told them The encrease of the French Power was not to be suspected or feared they were too generous to abuse it And therefore after they had left the Prince of Orange three or four days without News from them they at last sent him word The States were to give satisfaction to both Kings joyntly And that neither Crown could or would treat seperately This unexpected Message did infinitely surprise as well the Prince of Orange as the States And his Highness who had full power given him by the States to Treat and conclude with England not to be held longer in suspence answered the Pl nipotentiaries he desired to know what would satisfie both Crowns and what their respective demands were Whereupon they sent him the joynt Proposals before mentioned together with a Copy of the new agreement they were entred into concerning which we 'l add onely to what hath already been said these following Queries 1. Whether they were sent onely to promote the French Conquest and if not how they could think it advisable by making the Peace impossible to force the Dutch as far as in them lay to cast themselves into the Armes of the French King and submit themselves to his Domination 2. Whether they can deny they knew the joynt Proposalls tendred to the Dutch should not be granted since the French demands alone had been unanimously rejected and in that case how agreeable it was to the Interest of England to make it impossible for the Dutch to give his Majesty any satisfaction 3. Whether they had not received as well from the Prince of Orange as from the States Commissi ners all possible Assurances of the infinite desire they had to see his Majesty return to his former Amity with them and of their readiness to purchase it at any rate that the Condition they were in would bear If so how faithfully the Plenipotentiaries discharged their trust in neglecting those proffers and entring into a New Engagement which was so Prejudicial to England as we have made it appear 4. How far those that were joyned in Commission with them did concur with them in their Judgment and whether all those considerations with man other were not represented to them And urged by some who had no other end but to serve their Master faithfully 5. Whether or no it was for that Reason they opposed so fiercely My Lord Vicount Hallifax who came a day or two after them his appearing and acting joyntly with them though Commissionated in as full and as ample manner as themselves 6. Who were those after my Lord Hallifax could be kept out no longer who went privately to the French Camp under several pretences and had still Negotiations of their own on foot 7. Whether they had Order to call the French King the King of France and to name him still before his Master as well as to set in the first place the French demands before those of their Majesty As all this was done in the Copies of the Agreement they had made and of both Kings pretensions which they sent together to the Prince of Orange by Sir Gabriel Sylvius And to which we may appeal if the truth of this be doubted 8. And Lastly how far their Instructions will justifie their standing in the behalf of the French upon a Publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Vnited Provinces the Churches to be divided and the Romish Priests maintained out of the Publick Revenue As is set down more at large in the second Head of the French Demands Having thus in all uprightness of heart stated as clearly as I am able the present Grand case of the Nation wherein I may truly say before God and his Angells I have Averred no one thing without Good Vouchers and such respectively as the nature of the thing doth bear I 'le end with a few Summary Hints of what we have discoursed at Large and laying in all Humility both my self and these reflections as well at his Majesties as at his Great Councills Feet I beg of them to take into their Serious considerations 1. The Natural solid Greatness of the French Monarchy 2. Their Ambitious and aspiring thoughts in all ages with the consequences of the same 3. The great Encrease of their power under their Present King both by Sea and Land 4. How far it was not long since thought fit to stop their Progress And what steps were made in Order to it as well as the zeal with which it was carried on 5. The carriage of the present French Court and how they have dealt with most Princes of Europe 6. How kindly they have used both his Majesty in particular and the whole Nation 7. How true they have been to their word and to their reiterated promises and other Engagements 8. How faithfully they have performed Articles hitherto And what security we have they shall be still ready to do worse 9. The necessity of keeping a true Ballance between the European Princes 10. How dangerous it is to alter that Ballance when once settled on a solid Basis 11. The dreadful consequences of the Conquest of the Vnited Provinces by the French 12. The unpossiblity of our Conquering them 13. The Impracticableness or Disproportion of the supposed sharing and Division of their Country with the little advantage and benefit which at the best would accrew to us 14. How prejudicial and hurtful would to the contrary any possibility and practicable sharing prove the same being in truth no other than an absolute French Conquest in a disguise 15. How destructive the present War must needs be in the end in Case the Dutch shall be enabled by the assistance of their Allies to recover what they have lost and to come out with as considerable a Fleet as ours 16. How considerable these Allies are and how much Christian Blood will be shed by our wilful adhering to the French 17. How unavoydable a breach with Spain will be in case we persist in our Alliance with France 18. And how fatal the consequence of a Spanish War 19. How much greater the danger will prove if the French be able to conquâ—r as well Germany and Spain as the United Provinces and that no Confederacy of Princes how great and how powerful soever be a sufficient Balance to their Forces 20. And lastly How faithful our Ministers have dischrged their Trust in these great Emergences How free they have been from dependences upon Forein Courts How far they have been Jealous of their reputation in that particular What great care they have had of keeping up the Credit and the Reputation of the Triple League and of their own Masters with it Their Backwardness not to say worse in redressing or at lest declaring against all the wrongs done by the French as well to his Majesty himself as to his Subjects Their industrious indeavours and various Stratagems to engage his Majesty and the Nation in this War their Engrossing all business of concernment and concealing the most Important debates and resolutions from his Majesties Privy Council Nay their keeping it unseasonably from his great Council and putting off their Sessions lest they might cross their designs Lastly the carriage of some of them in Holland and of the care they took of the Interest both of England and of the Protestant Religion Now I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Curssing Therefore choose Life that both you and your Seed may Live FINIS