any pretended inconvenience of the delay of entrance But to proceed Moreover If notwithstanding these Reasons any one of those men of Intelligence should yet mischievously Object That last Summers delay hath been the ruine of Flanders and made the recovery of it in a manner impossible and should endeavour to perswade others 't is so because of the loss of some few Towns there since let such consider that the Spaniard by his not closing yet with us in our friendly Inclination seems not to be of their Opinion or that Flanders is yet so near ruine seeing that he himself hath made a further delay by not coming up to our reasonable Demands at this time whenas he hath of late so much pretended it and all men expected he would accordingly have done it out of hand Besides Let those News-and-Mischief-Mongers remember it is not long ago since they themselves in one of the Canary-Clubs were of a mind that the Confederates if we were joyned with them would be able to work Miracles in Flanders against the French but it now seems that the loss of St. Ghislain or of a Town or two more hath in a moment deprived us and the Flemmings of all Power to do what is fit to preserve the Country It hath been told me that very lately the like Discourse being boldly bandied at a certain Cable of Coffee-mongers one that sate smoking hard by in a Corner of the Room stept in and said honestly That he wonder'd there should happen among some men such a sudden Change of Opinion and that it must needs give a suspicion there is some invisible Spring that moves them some Secret Intrigue and Reserve in the Heart when the Tongues go at so rolling a rate and that they are a sort of people tutor'd to this Tune to argue Pro and Con by Turns as their own Occasions alter That they are resolved to dislike whatsoever the King may judge is reason for him next to do in his publick Affairs and that they put on the approbations and disapprovements of a War according as they are influenced and as the WORD is given out by their envious Mal-contented Leaders and as it may serve to please or irritats and to render themselves gracious in their eyes unto whom they are Retainers I do remember said he what Joy the People had and Bonfires as soon as the Marriage of the Prince of Orange was declared and not many days after this sort of frequent Changelings raised I know not how many Scandals about it How far the French have had an influence on such petulant Talkers I cannot say but other men more honest speak broad enough about it Which having been thus roundly utter'd the Gentleman laid down his Pipe paid for his Dish of Coffee and went his way leaving them all in an amaze to guess who this Man should be Now no sooner was this Gentleman gone but another who over-heard the Discourse drew near to them for all are free over a Coffee-dish and sitting down said Gentlemen pardon me if I tell you I was here t'other day and heard some others of you discoursing about Money to carry on the War and methought it was much any among you should think it reasonable and most necessary to have War and others yet be of opinion That the Point of Money should be cumber'd with Delays or Disputes about it What would the Event of this be Would it not render us ridiculous to the French and make them scorn us Would it not dishearten the Confederates and make them jealous that whatsoever Resolutions we take to give them hope of assistance yet as soon as they are taken they will by one Accident or other be made impracticable In time of Necessity and when Hannibal was at the Gates or any other Enemy nigh coming the Romans ever instituted a Temporary Officer whom they called Dictator and to him the Senate and People gave during the publick danger but not longer as full Power as the King of France now enjoys to do and take whatsoever he should judge necessary to secure the Publick State of the Nation by which Policy they avoided all Disputes and Debates about the Concerns of the War and so they generally came off with Success Be it far from me to urge at this time that we should in this occasion of ours imitate them but yet methinks we should so far learn of them as to do all we can to avoid and lay aside disputings especially about the very Life and Sinews of a War constant supply of Moneys and other Necessaries and to come as near the Roman Policy as the publick Constitution convenience and State of our Government can possibly permit if we mean to obtain the like happy Success A trust must be lodged some where therefore 't is best and safest to place it where and in what manner the Law hath placed it The Law obliges the People as well as the King It obliges the King to make War where and when he shall judge it needful And on the other hand it obliges the People readily and cheerfully to give him necessary supplies otherwise this absurdity would be implied in our Law that it should oblige the King and leave the People loose in this matter which can by no means be supposed because then it would oblige him to an Impossibility it being impossible for him to do his part unless they on their part shall sufficiently supply him Which 't is not to be imagined the People can be so mad as to decline because 't is for common Safety The Supreme Law which is a further Tie upon them and if they observe not that it is not only to be wanting to the ends of Gubernation but in effect a Frustrating both of Law and Government it self and at this time an unnatural abandoning of our selves and a giving up of that most noble cause wherein whole Europ is so deeply concerned I thought Gentlemen to have spoken no more at this time but craving your Pardon pray Sirs let me tell you I over-heard also here t'other day what some of your Company said reflecting upon some State-Particulars past the reviving whereof would better become the mouth of a Common Enemy than a true English-man being matters altogether Foreign to the Business of War which is now The Unum Necessarium The one Thing Necessary and till all fit Resolutions upon that be taken why should any matters inferiour that may cause discontent or division of minds be discoursed among you I will not so much as name them to give you cause to over-heat your selves to answer me I resolve to bury them and all that you then said about them For I am no Spy upon you I am a Gentleman and if any other person that is an Informer may have taken notice of what you said and should chance to call me to witness any thing against you know I have a Gentleman's Memory very apt to forget all upon such an occasion This Discourse as I have been told surprised them more than what was said by the other Gentleman insomuch that the Company stared on him with silence being most of them I suppose of Opinion that what he said was Reason but as there is are all Companies some whom no Reason can satisfie so there were it seems among them some few Emissaries Trotters and Mischief-mongers belonging to the Canary Cabals who began to grumble but presently broke up and went to the several places of Caballing and communicated the matter there to their Principals among whom there hapning to be a false Brother or two by that means I got the Story Now for a Conclusion Let me answer one Objection which I hear walks about like a Bugbear to affright us viz. That though our Chronicles tell us that Edw. the Third conquer'd France and his Son Edward called the Black Prince brought their King Prisoner into England and though Henry the 5th made a Second Conquest of them more compleatly being Crowned King at Paris and his Son Henry the 6th also Crowned there and Reigned over them many years yet the Case is alter'd now France is quite another thing it is now one compact Body it in those days was shared by diverse Sovereign Princes which made the French King but little in comparison of what he is in these days being become exceedingly more potent and more difficult to subdue by reason of his present Lordship over all those Sovereignties To balance these Advantages of his note that England also is through God's good Providence become much more powerful than it was in those days For though in those days we had Ireland yet it was but a miserable halfplanted Country alwaies rebellious against us so that it was an extraordinary charge and a clog rather than a help to us but now we have it improved to the height and the Irish in good order with our English also the Accession of the Kingdom of Scotland a numerous and warlike People which then also was another great Clog upon us now united with us To these Considerations add That by addition of the Confederates if they please to be plain with us we may I suppose be contrepoise enough to answer all the French Advantages and no Man that knows what England is at Sea and what an English-Seaman is will doubt especially Holland joyn with us that we may be a Match sufficient for that King and that we over-match him in this that we have a Better Cause and therefore God pardoning our Iniquities in other matters have a better hope of Divine Benediction Which being well weighd we may very aptly invert the old Saying of Cicero Justissimum Bellum iniquissimae Paci antefero That is being a little paraphrased in English I upon the whole matter conclude That a most just War is to be preferred before a most unjust Peace most dangerous to us and all the rest of the European Nations FINIS
the said advantages while every Man is invited by the Conjuncture to venture more and to inlarge his Trade while by a general trust in the Peace and Alliance your Majesty holds with all your Neighbours round about they are led to go abroad unarm'd and without defence we cannot but lament it as a great misfortune and disappointment to observe how these your Majesty's Subject are frequently made a Prey of and very evily treated both at Sea and Land Wherefore considering that the root of all these Disorders arises from the Violence and Rapine of the French-Capers who ought to be look't on as disturbers of the Publick quiet and Enemies of the good Friendship between the two Crowns we are humbly of opinion that your Majesty has just occasion from the injuries past and those which are now depending and which do every day increase to make a very serious Representation of all unto his most Christian Majesty and not only press for some better method of repairing the grievances mentioned but earnestly to insist on the calling in of all Privateers or else your Majesty must do right and give defence to your Subjects from all the Insolencies which they so frequently meet All which is most humbly submitted Council-Chamber 31. July 1676. Anglesey Bath Craven J. Ernle Finch C. Bridgewater H. Coventry G. Cartret Robert Southwell His Majesty taking into his serious Consideration the dayly Complaints of his Subjects and having a great sense and resentment of their ill usage hath thought fit to approve the said Report and is therefore graciously pleas'd to order as it 's hereby ordered accordingly That the Right Honourable Mr. Secretary Coventry do immediately transmit to his Majesties Embassador at Paris a Copy thereof that so the evil and the unhappy state of these things may be made known in that Court and the Remedies presst for in his Majesties Name which are proposed by the said Report and Mr. Secretary is also to attend the French Embassador here with the same Representation and to Expostulate upon all these Hardships and the little Remedy given to his Majesties Subjects either on the Merits of their Causes or the Recommendations of them by his Majesty That so his Excellency being made sensible of his Majesties Displeasure herein and the reasonable Discontent of his Subjects there may be by his Care such lively Impressions hereof fixed with the King his Master and the Ministers of France as may redress the Evils that are complained of and obtain the just Remedies which are proposed Phillip Lloyd To these Evidences I might add the List of several Ships belonging to our English Merchants taken by French Privateers since December 1673. which was also presented to the Right Honourable the Committee of his Majesties Privy-Council for Trade and by them to his Majesty together with the Names of their Owners and their other Circumstances but it would be too copious for this place Therefore 't is sufficient for me to shew you only an excellent Account of the Business it self and of the great Care and Pains of the Noble Lords of the Council's Committee for Trade and of his Majesties Royal resentment of the Sufferings of his Subjects and the Abuses put upon our Nation which may testifie that no Nation under Heaven can have better Reasons on their side to justifie a War than England hath against France for the many Dishonours Affronts and Injuries done us in recompence of his Majesties high Integrity and fair Carriage towards them But this Unfaithfulness of theirs towards us is ingrafted in their very Nature as may appear not only by what hath of late been observed but also by the Stories of old all the time that Scotland was under a Crown separate from England it having then been perpetually made use of by France when any Difficulties were upon us as a Back-door to enter disturb weaken and attempt us here in England Therefore having since the happy Union of the two Crowns under King James been at a loss all his Reign how to disturb us by their wonted way they at length got an Opportunity to plague us by bolstering up a boisterous Presbyterian Party in Scotland that might open the Back-door again to let into England not only Armies but the delicate Pandora with her Box of Beauty varnish'd over with the name of the Holy Discipline and fill'd with all the Plagues of Aegypt to make our Nation miserable I mean Presbytery the pious Mother Nurse and Seminary of Civil Wars and perpetual Factions among us and thus for the planting of War here we are beholden to France among the other good Deeds they have done to our Nation But that I may no longer talk in the Clouds the plain Story in brief is this The French having long had a Design of Conquering the Spanish Low Countrys and conceiving it was no time to discover or attempt it as long as England should be in a condition to hinder it therefore to remove this Impediment out of the way the best way for attaining their End was thought to be in the first place an Imbroilment of the King of England that instead of looking to Concerns abroad he might be held in Contest at home with a factious Party of his Scotish Subjects who before and in the year 1639. had shewn themselves very vexatious and troublesome to his Majesties Government about matter of Kirk Discipline and its Government by Bishops This was matter combustible enough for France to work upon and blow into a flame so that Cardinal Richlieu grand Minister of State to the French King by his Agents giving them large Promises and Encouragements got into a participation of Counsels with them whereby the Faction was agitated into a downright Rebellion there under the Name of seeking a Reformation and then followed Counsels also for an Invasion of England which was effected and they made their way with an Army to Newcastle possessing themselves of it But by the King's Prudence they were sent home again a Pacification being made and hoped it was that all would have remain'd quiet But this sudden matter not suiting with the mind of the French Ministry and Richlieu finding that there was a working up of the like Discontents and a likelihood of the same Designs in England for the cause or rather pretence of Religion the Bellows were blown here also by the same hand some of the heads of the Faction here were brought to a brotherly correspondence of Counsels and Resolutions with their Friends of Scotland a conjunct Design was laid for a Second Invasion upon England under the Name of Brotherly Assistance and the Platform of the great Covenant was then proposed approved by the Agents of their friend Richlieu to be set on foot first in Scotland and by Agreement it was afterward to be handed thence in due time back into England In the mean while the FORTY ONE Parliament being called matters then ripened apace for their purpose by means of a prevalent
connivance But at length they began to act openly and notwithstanding the Treaty they had made with Spain they entred into an Offensive League with Portugal against all its Enemies in which the French had so well provided for themselves that by Agreement they were to have all the Sea-Towns delivered to them which should be taken from the Spaniard The truth of these things was not only manifest in Fact but it was also testified by Letters which the Ministers of Spain had intercepted that after the Peace made betwixt the two Crowns the Court of France had fomented the War of the Portugais hindred them from accepting those advantageous Conditions which Spain had offered them animating them by a hope of mighty Succours not only for their defence but also for carrying an Offensive War into the very heart of Spain Among these were many of those that had been written by the French Minister Monsieur de Lyonne and the Archbishop of Ambrun to Monsieur de Schomberg which proved the continual correspondence that was betwixt them for the direction of that War And to promote it 't is known that in 1672. the Duke of Beaufort came with his whole Fleet upon the Coasts of Portugal where he spent a part of the Summer to secure a passage of Victuals and Ammunition whereof the Portugais were in extreme want and this at the same time when they were offering Spain their Mediation to make an Accommodation with Portugal Not to omit how one of the Prime French Ministers Monsieur Colbert privately made several Voyages thither to encourage them and contract a more strict Alliance with them and to open a way for the bringing about a League Offensive Which in some time after was concluded with the Portugais with these following Conditions That they shall be the Friends of their Friends and the Enemies of their Enemies excepting England That France shall furnish them with as many Men as they need to carry on an Offensive War in Spain both by Sea and Land Shall advance to them by way of Loan the half of their pay for the entertainment of Auxiliary Troops and that they shall furnish them every Year under the same title of Loan with the Sum of three hundred thousand Crowns That all the Ports which they shall take in Spain either upon the one or the other Sea shall be put into the power of France That they shall not treat either of Peace or Truce without common Consent And that this League shall last for the space of ten Years By these particulars it is apparent how little credit is to be given to France in the most solemn Engagements that She can make to any Prince about any Matter whatsoever For that a Treaty managed in order to a Marriage between Princes which is one of the most Solemn Subjects that can be handled among Men and confirmed by Oath with the most Sacred Mysteries of their Religion at the High Altar for a Punctual observation should be thus palpably broken is not to be parallel'd by any Instance or Example in all the World beside But 't is not in this Business of Portugal alone that a Breach was made that which is more considerable is That as soon as the French saw Opportunity after the Death of the late King of Spain they started up a Claim for their King in the Right and Behalf of his Wife the Infanta notwithstanding her Solemn Renunciation formerly mentioned which was entred into the Body of the Treaty and as sacredly sworn to pretending that a great part of the Spanish Low-Countreys was devolved to him in her Right by the Municipal Laws of those Countreys whereas 't is known that when Princes enter into a Treaty it is regulated and confirmed according to the Law of Nations common to all and being so to be understood it is ridiculous among Civilians to imagin that a Consideration of Laws Municipal or Customs belonging to any particular Country under the Dominion of either of the Treating Princes can intervene or be admitted afterwards to the over-throwing of the Treaty or the depriving either of the Parties of the Benefit and Security which he hath thereby It is a thing not to be named among States-men For without the Renunciation the Treaty had never been agreed on and it was so carefully penned as if a Grand Council of Civil Lawyers had been called to out-do all former Expressions used in such Contracts and to find out new binding Clauses to take off all possibility of Evasion And yet against the very Sence and End of that Renunciation the French as all Men know under that so slight pretence of a Claim fell foul on a sudden upon Flanders and other parts with their Army which was their First Invasion upon those Countries after that Treaty But 't is further observable That this Invasion so contrary to the French Engagements and so destructive of the very Essence of the afore-said Pyrenean Treaty was attended with some Circumstances no less surprising than the Breach it self The one was that which passed at Paris between the Marquis de la Fuente Ambassadour Extraordinary of Spain and the French King And the other was what the Archbishop of Ambrun Ambassadour of France in the Court of Spain declared there in his Master's Name As to the first Fuente having received a Call Home to Spain and being jealous that the great Preparations then made in France were intended against the Spanish Dominions he thought fit to press the French King to give his Mistress the Queen-Regent of Spain some new Assurances that might quiet and settle her Mind against the many strange Reports of his intended Preparations Thereupon that King did with all possible Asseveration engage His Royal Word and Faith that he would Religiously keep the Peace and continue an entire Amity to her and the Young King her Son As to the second note that whereas not long after the French Army took the Field and had possessed it self of Charleroy about four or five days before the News could arrive at Madrid yet the said Archibishop of Ambrun being expostulated with about it did in verbo Sacerdotis and upon all that is most sacred among Roman Catholicks protest and vow to the Queen-Regent that his Master intended nothing less than what was reported of him And that he knew he would never break with the King of Spain nor invade any of his Dominions as long as he was Vnder Age. Sic saevis inter se covenit Vrsis Oh how well do the French Ministers and their Ambassadours agree with one another to effect their Master's Business and their own For it was not many days after this that News was brought to the Spanish Court how fairly the French had kept their word having entred and practised all manner of Hostilities upon Flanders firing many considerable Towns and wasting the Countrey proceeding so outrageously and so far that England and the Neighbour Princes taking the Alarm and expostulating the
matter with France it brought on another Treaty which was held at Aken i. e. Aix la Chapelle to make a New Agreement betwixt France and Spain about the Observation whereof we have afforded us another Instance of the French Fidelity Unto this Treaty all the Princes of Christendom were invited to take care of the common Security and his Majesty of England among the rest who sent also a Minister to the Protestant Princes of Germany to invite them into the Guaranty of the said Treaty of Aix Proposals also were made to the Duke of Lorain and several other Princes to come into the League then to be made to which the Lorainer immediately accorded hoping that by this Treaty he might have better luck with the French than he formerly had with them by the Pyrenean Treaty But before we proceed it will not be amiss to remember you How the French kept Faith with this poor Prince whose Interests had been provided for by the said Treaty as well as those of Spain and his Dutchy to be restored to him with all the Places and Towns which he had been possessed of within the Bishopricks of Metz Toul and Verdun But see how France dealt with him They deferr'd as long as they could the performance of that part which related to the said Duke and refused still to return him his Country till they had brought him to make another Treaty with them in prejudice of the former whereby he was forced to part with several considerable Places over and above what had been granted to them by the General Peace And yet this would not serve their turn For after the oppressed Duke had enjoy'd a Year and a half but a very unsettled possession during which under several artificial unjust pretences new Quarrels were pick't every day they with a considerable Army constrained him to give them his Town of Marsal Moreover it was but a little time after this that they fell to teazing him again compelling him to sign a New Treaty more disadvantageous to him than the two former and yet so insatiable is their Appetite after Dominion the unhappy Duke could as little as before obtain a quiet enjoyment of that little they had left him They every day encroached upon his Jurisdiction the limits of his Territories and his Soveraignty it self They imposed grievous Taxes upon his Subjects They caused him to disband his Forces and to raise new Men again as they thought fit They kept him from revenging his own Quarrels to take part in others They let loose all his Enemies against him and stopped the progress of his Armies as soon as he had got the least Advantage And in few words he was at that time more a Vassal to France than a Soveraign in his own Country But yet all this would not satisfie the French Court they must have all again wherefore the Duke by many Circumstances shewing how ill he brook't this kind of unreasonable usage They ordered one of their Generals to surprise and seize his Person and to bring him either dead or alive Of which intended violence having had timely notice he escaped when it was very near being effected Which as one very well observed is a new way of dealing with a Soveraign Prince not known before in these parts of the World and it may teach all other Princes what to trust to in treating and what to expect from such monstrous Neighbours And it gives us some hope that we may e're long live to see the West govern'd by Bashaws as well as the East No other thing could give us a better In-sight into the Ambition and Pride nor more fully discover the Intent and Design of France None but an Universal Monarch can pretend to an Arbitrary displacing of Princes and a disposing of their Liberty Lives and Territories ........... Thus you see how persidiously they dealt with the Duke of Lorain But to return to the Treaty of Aix It proved to be of little avail to that Duke For they have since seiz'd his Country again and driven him out to seek his Fortune and this as Men say for no other Reason but because he hoped by this Treaty to have confirmed himself among his Allies in a better State of Security than he had hitherto been And as for the Court of Spain the French also resolved to defeat their Expectation of benefit by this Treaty for contrary to it they presently fell to work First they dismantled all the strong Places and Holds of the Country of Burgundie carried away all the Munitions out of it and would have spoiled the rich Salt-pits of that Province Had not the Powerful interposition both of England and Holland Prevented In despite also of that Treaty they exacted great Contributions from the Dutchies of Limbourg and Luxembourg They laid a new Claim to some Towns as important as any of those that were granted to them by the Peace They confiscated the Estates of the Subjects of the King of Spain that would not forswear their Allegiance and spared not the very Royal House of Mary Mont. Nay as if these Infractions were not enough and still to encroach as far as they were able they forced their way with great quantities of Merchandise through the Spanish Territories without paying the Customs and not long after endeavoured to surprise the Town of Hainault In a word They did whatever they pleas'd plunder'd even the most Sacred Places and acted whatever can be imagined to be done without remorse by insolent and unconscionable men But to proceed it must not be forgotten How under a pretence of advancing the Affairs of Poland and setling an Amity there they contrived a Marriage for that King with a Lady of France by which means they were enabled to send thither along with her in her Train so many expert Instruments of mischief that immediately they settled a Cabal with such Intrigues as in a short time inflamed the Nobility of that Kingdom into heats and Factions against one another which are never likely to be extinguish't and at that time they operated so far that that King soon became willing to quit the Kingdom and thereupon the Turk seeing the great Divisions that were wrought among them was easily invited in by the French Cabal meerly because they could not bring in a King that was of French Blood or of French Interest at the following Election And also to this That one of the greatest Motives of their fetching in the Turk was that their New King contracted Marriage with the Emperour's Sister which Princess being now a Widdow is shortly to be married to the Duke of Lorain It is worth the while also to remember how finely they used the Duke of Newbourg while they trained him on to engage the greatest part of his Estate almost beyond redemption in hopes of getting the Polish Crown which they had promised to procure for him by the help of a strong Party which they had made in that Kingdom Yet under-hand
and contrary to their Treaties as well with the Elector of Brandenburgh as with himself and to their iterated Promises and Vows both by word of Mouth and in Writing they did by their Creatures and Agents oppose the said Duke's pretensions and endeavoured with all Industry to have gotten the Prince of Condé preferred before all his Competitors a particular Account whereof would if published without any other Instance be a sufficient warning to all other Princes and afford them a perfect Character of the French Court. But 't is remarkable That it is not with Princes alone that they thus finely deal but they observe also just the same measure of Faith toward such Rebels and Traytors of their making as they have gained for Money to betray the Concerns of their own Country by serving the Intrigues and Interests of France For when after the beginning of this War they saw the Emperour setting himself in good earnest to assist the Dutch then to disswade and divert him from his purpose and to engage him if it had been possible not to concern himself or take part in the Quarrel they very fairly offer'd him to deliver into his hands all the Original Letters and Papers they had received from time to time from their bribed Friends and Creatures in Poland to the end that both his Imperial Majesty and his Brother-in-Law the King of Poland might take what course they thought sit with those Traitors Which handsom Story may serve as a fair Warning and Fright to all those that prefer French Money before their Loyalty and the true Interests of their Country And truly this piece of Insidelity in the French is the only Piece of Justice that I find them guilty of in the management of Affairs with their Friends and Correspondents But withal I find that this piece of their kindness to his Imperial Majesty was to make him amends for another prank of Treachery that had been plaid him a while before For the most Christian Ministers pretending a courtesie to assist him against the Turk and accordingly having sent Forces to joyn with the Imperial Army they at the very same time began to settle a Correspondence with Count Serini Frachipani Nadasti and Tottenbach as did afterwards appear upon the breaking out of the Conspiracy when the Depositions and Confessions of some of the Accomplices were produced who had been instrumental in carrying both Monies and Letters from the French Minister resident at Vienna to the said Conspirators Next let us have recourse to the Swedes and examin whether they having been many years their very good Friends and humble Servants have had better luck in treating with them than others in point of dealing But surely Siveden cannot forget that almost twenty Years ago they had occasion to make a Treaty with them whereby they were to receive by way of Gratuity or Pension Sixteen Hundred Thousand Crowns Nevertheless upon second thoughts the French finding their Treaty with Sweden to be but of little use to them at that time refused to ratifie it and sent Monsieur de Trelon his Ambassadour to them to tell them in short That the King his Master declared it to be void Which is a fine Court-stile for one Prince to use to another in Treating and a tart short Majestick way of rescinding Treaties It were both needless and tedious to tell how well they have observed their Treaties with Holland seeing they cannot so much as assign the least Cause of the War they now make against them forasmuch as in their Declaration they told us only of a Mauvaise satisfaction and that they were ill pleased and that it would tend to a diminution of the Glory of the most Christian King unless to please himself he put all Europ in a Flame and endeavour to bring all under his subjection It is pleasant likewise to observe how they practised their Art also upon that notable Fox the Bishop of Munster how they not only lurch't him during his Contest with the United Provinces but their French Troops fell also upon him and indangered the loss of his Country How they another time brought him about to lurch us in England by reducing him to a necessity of separating from our Interest after he had received assistance from us in a good Sum of Money How they hindred the Swedes from arming in our favour and sway'd Denmark from our Party during our War with the Dutch even at the same time when France seem'd to forward and favour us against Holland and it hath been often published that they then spurr'd on the Dutch and were in with them in the contrivance of that Affront which they did us in the River of Thames thereby reckoning that so severe an exasperation would necessarily follow in our Minds against Holland as might render us irreconcileable to them and engage us in War so long till we should waste and wear out one another's Men and Shipping that we might at last be the less able to oppose France who was at that time meditating and forming such a mighty Advance of her own Naval Power as might inable her to contend against us both when We should see it our Interest to unite against her hereafter And the truth is the French Ministers did herein act according to a right understanding of their own Business For they did and do very well know that in order to the main End of grasping All they ought to dread nothing more than a durable and firm Friendship between us and the United Provinces as that alone that can set bounds to their Ambition and redeem Europ from that Toke which they are framing and devising how to put about our Necks Therefore it was dextrously done of them to find out a fine Artifice of Treachery to delude us both and to spin out that War For in the very heat of the War they kept Negotiations still on foot both in England and at the Hague put on a disguise of Mediation pretending to make us Friends and to that purpose made Offertures and Proposals of Peace It might be told who were said to be the Instruments on both sides to push on this project of delusion upon us so far that we in England were assured by the French that the Dutch were so well inclin'd to Peace that for that time they meant to lay up their Men of War but then afterwards the French under hand pressed the said Dutch with all vigour and earnestness imaginable against us and to fit out their Men of War again promising that rather than fail they would joyn theirs to them against us It was upon a supposal the French were true to us at that time in carrying on their pretended Proposals of Peace that we were made secure slackned our Preparations that Year and so a surprise followed upon it for the Dutch having been Tarantulated with a French Brieze in their Tails danced after the Lesson they had set them and so entred our River as high
sufficiently manifest that their Squadron of Ships was sent only to be Spectators and to learn to Fight and for other ends rather than to act in it and truly his Highness that day gave them an Heroick Example of Skill and Courage when he was set upon by two of the Dutch Squadrons together one of which the Admiral of the French Squadron ought to have engag'd according to the Orders that his Highness had sent to him the day before but he not coming in though the wind all the day stood fair for him his Highness was left alone to bear the brunt of the Engagement with two of the Enemies Squadrons at once and though his own Ship was surrounded on all sides yet he so nobly acquitted himself that day that he not only made his own way out of that great distress but giving a Couragious Example to the rest of his Squadron went with them and assisted that other Squadron of ours which had been engaged against Vice-Admiral Tromp at a great distance in a separate Fight contrary to his Highnesses Orders Moreover it is to be remembred that as he made way to their Assistance his Squadron by the way still fought the Dutch Squadrons who made way also side by side with ours at some distance both sides shooting at each other the Dutch in hope to have hindred the Prince from giving the assistance intended which being nevertheless effected by his Highness and the Hollanders Admirals finding they could not prevent it and that they had enough of it made sail away for their own Coasts But had the French Squadron under the Command of the Count D'Estrees done his Duty and come in to second the Prince any hour of the day as he easily might have done the wind standing fair it was evident that day we might then have had one of the most glorious Victories that ever was obtain'd by Sea and but few of the Dutch Ships could have escaped home This was afterwards acknowledged and attested by Monsieur Martel the Count D'Estrees own Vice-Admiral who like an honest man attempted to have come in with a few of his Ships but could not and afterwards for his forwardness to have fought and because he blamed his Admiral when he returned to Paris he was call'd to an Account and Committed to Prison whereas the Count having followed the private Instructions of the French Ministers was still continued in Honour and Command And therefore it must needs be an undeniable Evidence that he had privy Orders and Instructions only to stand still and look on while we and the Dutch should be tearing and destroying one another because otherwise in order to a vindication of the Honour of France and its Ministers They would doubtless have made him answer that egregious Piece of Treachery with the price of his Head I intend as much brevity as may be therefore have forborn to touch upon all the Circumstances of that affair but thus much is absolutely necessary to give you proof of the French good will and faithfulness to England as well as to all other Nations that have had or shall have any Dealings with them Now let us next see how they dealt with us in order to the putting an end to this which having been by us entred into joyntly with the French doubtless nothing ought to have been attempted by any one in order to the ending of it but what should carry a fair Respect to the Interest of both Parties in conjunction But see how they play'd their parts with us in this also The StatesGeneral of the Vnited Provinces having nominated several Deputies to be sent some to his Majesty of England and some to the French King to know of them both upon what Terms they would be willing to agree and come to a Peace His Majesty as it is a Vertue innate in his own Royal Temper intended to deal most justly with the French King upon this occasion and therefore so carried the matter to avoid giving him any offence or jealousie and being loth to do any thing in the Affair without participation of Counsels immediately sent him word such Deputies were arrived at London and would not so much as hear what their Errand was without the privity of France supposing that he should have a suitable Return from thence But what happened in the mean time Even a quite contrary behaviour of the French For no sooner were the other Deputies arrived at the French Court but they were presently visited and caressed by two Secretaries of State and without further delay it was demanded of them first if they had full power from their Masters to treat and next what Proposals they would make in order to a speedy Peace The Deputies desired rather to know first what Proposals the French Ministers would make Whereupon to hasten them to a Conclusion of the Work the French shortly told them they were to understand That what their Master the King had Conquered by his Arms in Holland he would not part with unless they gave him an Equivalent as well for those Places as for the rest that he should conquer before the Treaty be concluded This Answer made the Deputies forthwith send back one of their number to the Hague by name Mr. De Groot who was speeded back again with Instructions to Amerongen authorizing him and his Fellow-Deputies to conclude a Peace with the French He was no sooner arrived but Monsieur de Louvoy one of the Prime Ministers of State made short Work delivered the Dutch Deputies a Project of Treaty or rather the Pretensions of the King his Master upon grant whereof as he said he would be both willing and ready to return to his former Amity with the States General and conclude a firm Peace with them Was not this a sweet Return of dealing towards his Majesty of England For you to are note That though the War was made joyntly and so no doubt it was not to be ended without respects to be had to the Interests of each Party concerned therein which you have seen was fairly meant and observed by his Majesty on our part towards the French yet they had so little regard of us that they not only put on and entred upon a Treaty without our Privity or Consent but would have concluded it upon that separate Treaty without us only to their own Advantage whereby their Master might as perfectly become sole Master of the Vnited Provinces as if he he had conquered all by the Sword You are to note also for a clearer understanding of their Intents That when the Heer De Groot being to go the second time from Amerongen to the Hague with the Articles of this Separate Treaty when he arrived there the States finding that there was nothing in them which concerned England he told them the French Ministers had told him The Sates his Masters might deal as they pleased with England and make an end as cheap as they would because as they pretended
Faction in Parliament which very much alarm'd the King and his Court insomuch that he conceived it was high time to rip open this Evil by discovering seizing and accusing some of the aforementioned Heads of the Faction viz. a Lord and Five Members of the House of Commons The Articles of the Charge against them were in number Seven One of which was That They had traiterously invited and encouraged a Foreign Power to Invade his Majesties Kingdom of England Which was so true that he desired a Tryal of them but their Party in the House not daring to permit it to be put to Proof they shock'd the King in the Business and so the Affair of the COVENANT and the other Effects of that Invitation ran the more roundly on to a ripeness and final Dispatch in Scotland by the time that the Sun in its course brought on the year 1643. And then came on a Second Invasion of England flourishing their Colours with this Rebellious Motto FOR THE CROWN AND COVENANT OF BOTH KINGDOMS And thus you see how far we were beholden to France for all the Miseries of the ensuing Wars and the numerous Brood of Factions which issued thence in England Scotland and Ireland Of the certain Truth whereof we might have had undeniable Evidence upon the Tryal of those whom the King had then charged with Treason if the Temper of that time would have permitted a fair prosecution however it was I remember sufficiently talk't of in those days and I have now by me a Book in the French Tongue which was printed 24 Years ago by Adrian Vlac at the Hague in Holland in the third part whereof are eight Chapters and over the second Chapter is this Title Le Cardinal de Richelieu la cause des Desordres arrivez en Angleterre That is to say Cardinal Richelieu the cause of the Disorders befallen England Which he brought in as I told you by the way of Scotland to the ruin of our Peace the Royal Family the Church and the whole State and Government of our Kingdom But this tampering with and corrupting other Prince's Subjects is an old Game that the French Ministers have ever been playing all over Europ Let it be remember'd how the same Richelieu wrought the Revolt of Portugal from the Spaniard and the Rebellion in Catalonia and carry'd on the Wars in both those Countries to bring down the Power of Spain how he tamper'd also with the Swede under Gustavus Adolphus to invade the Empire and then with the Emperour's General Wallestein to betray the Imperial Army by whose suddain death the French King lost the great opportunity to work himself into a possession of the Imperial Throne How Cardinal Mazarin after him carried on the Popular Commotions raised by Masaniello in the Kingdom of Naples by sending thither the Duke of Guise to be their Head to the almost wresting of that Kingdom out of the Hand of the Spaniard and then also how he lurch't that Duke and deserted him Moreover how the last Year the French Intrigues so far prevailed in Spain as to turn the Queen-Mother out of her Regency drive out her Favourites such as she thought most fit and firm for the young King's Safety to put him into other Hands and turn all things in that Court topsie-turvy that being agitated and held in play by their own divisions at Home they might be less able to have regard to the preservation of the Flemings or to the carrying on a Joynt-war with the Hollanders How they have been the common Enemies of every State destroying the Peace of Government every where sowing of Factions in all Princely Courts their Councils or among such of the Subjects as are factious or else they jumble one Prince against another by turns as they did the Prince Elector Palatine against the Elector of Mentz starting up an occasion of Quarrel betwixt them one while to take part with the Elector Palatine against Mentz another while with Mentz against the Prince whose Country they miserably harassed and wasted It cannot be forgotten what they lately did to corrupt the Emperor's Council by means of his own Favourite Prince Lobcowitz whom they bought for Mony to betray his Master's Counsels and Affairs besides their Intrigue in the same manner with the Prince of Furstenberg and his Brother Also what they did in the Vnited Provinces to incommode his Highness the Prince of Orange by bolstering up the De Wits and their Louvenstein Republican party against the Princely What they have done to clog the Emperor by fostering a Rebellion against him in Hungary and how great charge they are at to sever the power of the Duke of Bavaria and of the Duke of Hanover from the common Interest of the Empire in this War How they have diverse times indangered all Christendom by confederating with the Grand Seignior to disturb both Hungary and Poland for which cause as My Lord Herbert writes in his History the Pope had like to have given away the Title Most Christian from their French King Francis the First to bestow it upon our Henry the Eighth before he had been dubb'd by his Holiness with that of Defensor Fidei What Artifices have been used by them to settle and nourish perpetual Faction among the Polish Nobility whereby other great Opportunities have diverse times been given the Turk to fall upon them In a word their common practice hath been to give the World all manner of disturbance and so to render themselves in its Opinion the common Enemies of its Peace a publick Pest among States and Princes in every Country they either find combustible stuff or else make it and then set fire to it they are at a mighty charge to find Fodder for the various Animals of Faction in all Places By this means Divide Impera makes way for them and thus they conquer more than by their Arms they inflame Countries thus as well as burn them as they did Alsatia that having enough to do to quench fires at Home they may have neither leisure nor power to hinder French Projects abroad Questionless then since we in England have seen and do see our Neighbours Houses fired one after another 't is high time to look to our own and secure our selves and all Europ from such Boutefeus and the sad Effects of their Impious Courses SECTION IV. That as the French have dealt falsly with us and all other Princes in the point of Peace There is no Security to be had for any one Party but by a Joynt War HIs Majesty of England having hitherto on his part preserved a fair Respect and Amity towards France passing by the many Indignities and Injuries done to himself and his Nation in hope his Patience might by fair means have prevail'd with the French King at length to do reason to us and the rest of his Neighbours and that to that end his Majesty might have perswaded him to have forborn a further prosecution of the War in