hand acquir'd thereby many Creatures it is a Maxime which has long since succeeded well with them and particularly at the Court of England during the last Reigns those Emissaries have labour'd with so much zeal and heat and return'd so frequently to the charge doubling the Dose when there was occasion that they often succeeded and by those means have opposed themselves to the best Designs which the Emperor and the soundest part of the Empire could have had But suppose that the Empire had been in as good an harmony as it is at present through the good Union there is betwixt the Emperor and his Princes and that France had nothing to do but with the Empire alone I maintain that by only setting it self in a posture of Defence on the side of Germany it might make it self Master of a good part of the Spanish Netherlands if its Neighbours oppos'd not themselves to it before the Emperor could remedy it Besides that since the taking of Luxembourg the passage is partly block'd up to the Germans and all that they could do were to draw near to Burgundy and to Alsatia or form some considerable Siege to draw the Arms of France that way but as that would have hel'd the Germans long in hand the French King would notwithstanding do his business in Flanders But if England had had on its Throne as it has at present a King well intention'd for the welfare of Europe and the particular good of his own People he might alone stop the French King in the apprehension he has of landing Men on his Coasts in his own Kingdom and this truth is so certain that Lewis the XIV as powerful as he has been as high as he would seem to be has never undertaken any thing that way but after he had consulted the Kings of England then Reigning and even Cromwell himself while he usurped the Government of the three Kingdoms Thus we have seen that this Monarch before getting into Flanders had sweetned the Court of England by the means of his Honey he taught them to speak French and to like whatever he did undertake and quietly to let him so fast advance that at last it had no longer been in the power of the English to drive him back I know that France alone knows how much this has cost it but what matters at what rate so one obtains ones Desires Thus the most Christian King having dispos'd England on that side and having strength enough as doubtless he has to set a considerable Army on foot on the side of Germany besides that of Flanders that he is in a conditi-to hazard a Battle with the Imperialists and their Allies if these last had the ill fortune to be beaten as that may happen the Success being various it is certain That then the Germans would have much to do to rally again into any Body that were capable to do any advantageous Exploit that Campaign for the good of Flanders there being nothing that wastes more the Troops that are compos'd of divers Members and under divers Chiefs than the ill success of a first Campaign And there needs sometime but one Ally to decline the common Interest like the Pin of a Carriage to put all the rest out of power to do any thing and to break the best Designs which might have been form'd and it would be in such like occasion that the Pride of France would swell and that the usurping Torrent would over-run its bounds more than ever on the Netherlands which would be without hope of Remedies if they were to wait for succour from Germany as it may easily be judged by what I have said and which might easily have happen'd there being nothing impossible in it Moreover France which has most strong Reasons to be on its guard and to always fear has long since so well provided for its Frontier places on all sides that it will require of its Enemies almost a whole Campaign to carry one only of any importance Since France has left the way to Italy the King is so fully persuaded that the Conquest of the seventeen United Provinces of the Netherlands would facilitate him the ways to that of Europe but particularly of the Empire that he has apply'd himself wholly to it and has always endeavoured to amuse by illusive Promises part of those very Provinces while that he render'd himself Master of the other parts under the Dominion of Spain having first lull'd England asleep France requiring only the favour to decide alone that Dispute with Spain But that Lewis the XIV might accomplish that first Design on the Spanish Netherlands there was a necessity that the States of the United Provinces which had a notable interest in the preservation of the Neighbouring Provinces under their lawful Prince should give their helping hand to their ruine or at least should look on that Monarch without moving till he had come on their Frontiers But there was but little likelihood of that wherefore the French King foreseeing well that those States would never fall in that Lethargy nor would permit to have their hands ty'd up while a conceal'd Enemy approach'd them and penn'd them up close taking from them little by little all those Places which were to serve them as Bars It was for that very Reason that that Monarch did on the sudden alter his mind and beholding according to his Desires what he had long expected a Catholick Prince on the Throne of England who had for divers years been in his Pay allowing him considerable Pensions when yet he was but Duke of York and consequently did entirely possess and obsende him He made use of the ill Disposition of the new King in his Concerns with the States General so that it was no longer difficult for the French King who waited but for that moment to accomplish his Project thus those two Kings the one push'd on by his Ambition the other by his ill Inclination join'd together to Exterminate the Seven United Provinces under the fair and specious pretence of Religion and of Extirpating of Heresie that the other Catholick Princes who were concern'd in the Preservation of the United Provinces might not oppose themselves to such an holy Work and so lull them asleep If that business had succeeded to Lewis the XIV he had without striking one blow render'd himself Master all under one of the Spanish Netherlands and after that made use of all the Forces of his Kingdom together with those of his Conquests to enter into Germany and directly March to the Empire follow'd with an Army of more than an Hundred Thousand Men what Prince of the Empire or the Emperor himself could have disputed the Business with him or have put a stop to his March But for so great a Work it was necessary to fasten England firmly to his Interests and to pull down the States of the United Provinces which was the chiefest Business it not being likely that Soveraigns who so well know
Two Crowns France having no Prospect of patching them up again it took the Party of Denmark though it was nothing near so advantageous to it as was the other To render it capable of employing it on all occasions he sent thither the Count of Roy there to Command with many Officers and Men but after the Siege of Hambourg that General being retir'd the French Party did much diminish besides France could not Unite it self with that Crown in so streight an Alliance as it wish'd for and that it were necessary because of those Measures which Denmark was to keep with the United Provinces on the account of Trade without which it cannot do well neither can it turn it to so good an account with France it having at home all that it could draw from thence so that all that France can at present draw from that Alliance can but at the most come but to a Neutrality provided the Emperor and his Allies will give their consent Lewis the XIV was reckoning upon that when he assur'd James the Second that the King of Denmark would not disturb but on the contrary favour them in case that the Swede should join with their Enemies It was on that Pillow Lewis le Grand did gently lull asleep the King of England together with an imaginary shower of Gold which was to drop from the Spanish Indies But how great soever a Corruption is at Court there are still some good and the soundest part of the Kingdom of England could not relish that streight Union which was betwixt their Prince and France it clearly did see that on its side the design was to Change the Religion to Subvert the Laws Establish an Arbitrary Power and a Despotick Government which tended to the loss of their Liberties and Priviledges and to depend one Day on France which gave them suspicion of every step which the Ambassador Barillon and the Queen did make in that respect but their Zeal did so far transport them that at last the People the Lords the Protestant Clergy open'd their Eyes and thought of delivering themselves and with them all Europe from those shackles which were forging for them and the Heavens granting the Petition of all Christendom and in particular of the English Nation it sent them a Deliverer of whom Providence hath so miraculously seconded the Enterprise so as to prevent them from falling under an hard Bondage and under the Government of a suppos'd Prince a Foundling whose Father and Mother remain still unknown which was to be preferr'd to the Lawful Heirs of the Crown such a black and unheard of Supplanting did oblige the Princess of Orange as the next Heir to the Kingdom to intreat the Prince her Husband to second the just Request of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the most sound part of the Kingdom Thus the Prince by an Admirable Conduct and a Divine Dispensation did bring things about according to the Hearts desire of the Nation without effusion of Blood and set Succession in its due and right Channel which was to have been interrupted by the means of that suppos'd Child for the Princess having been Crown'd Queen by Succession and the Prince King by Acknowledgment after the Throne had been declar'd Vacant through King James the II's Desertion it happen'd very luckily for the Deliverance of Europe which I shall prove in what follows as being the Subject of this small Book In the first place I lay down for an indisputable Truth That if Lewis the XIV and James the II. had compass'd their Designs and Ends the United Provinces had been entirely lost through the breaking down of their Banks for that way did he design to begin to take away all means from the Inhabitants of ever recovering from that Dissolution in which he design'd to Reduce them after they had made themselves Masters of the Spanish Netherlands after which I cannot perceive how Europe could have prevented falling under the Yoak of the French Dominion having had the King of England for Second and Invading the 17 United Provinces and rendring Tributary in imitation of the Grand Seignior the most remote of those Provinces which he could not conveniently Govern. I have already given to observe that the Empire alone could not hinder him by reason of the great number of heads all of different and distinct Interests of those Princes that Compose it On the other hand Spain being not in a Condition to raise Forces sufficient to oppose it nor all of them together capable to resist the rapid motion with which France would invade them after its First Conquests For to represent to us what France can do and what it has been able to do in all times we need but to frame to our selves a right Idea of things from Francis the First to Charles the Fifth we shall easily judge that it has alwaies been dreaded this last was both Emperor and King of Spain together he was Master of the 17 United Provinces while they were entire he had Burgundy and the French County as well as Alsatia he had an absolute power over the Princes of Germany and of Italy This Monarch was without dispute one of the Greatest Princes not only of his Time but of his Age a Great Commander undaunted in all his Enterprises daring Perils and Dangers in which he had frequently been and add to all that his Personal Valour a good Head-Piece and fit for Counsel encouraging his Armies by his Presence having under him the most Experienc'd Captains and the best Generals of his Time and such Armies that had been tried in all parts of Germany Italy and in the Low-Countries besides Fleets on the Mediterranian and on the Ocean With all those Forces his Courage and his Treasures though he had to do but with Francis the First who alone was his Capital Enemy and who was nothing near so powerful as his Successors have been and as Lewis the XIVth is at this time or at least as he has been of late years having no other Revenue but about thirty or thirty five French Millions whereas this present has four times as much Mean time with all this disproportion of Forces and of Wealth this Emperor durst not attack him 'till first he had joyn'd himself with Henry the VIIIth of England and with the most considerable Princes of Italy By this we find that even from that time the Emperoor did highly consider the Kings of England and that if Francis the First King of France had first secur'd Henry the VIIIth's Alliance Charles the Fifth had not dar'd to attack him and with all the advantages that the Emperor had of his side Francis the first stood out against him and without the Misfortune that befell him at the Seige of Pavia where he was made Prisoner he had given work enough to his Enemy I pass from Francis the First to Lewis the XIVth much more powerful in Forces in Treasures and in Demains than his Predecessors seconded
Pontificate either in his own Person or in that of his Legates even upon the dead Corps of one of them The extinction of the Regalia in France is also a great grief to the Holy See as well as the violence us'd against divers Convents for having address'd themselves to the Pope and taking advice of his Holiness The change of divers Abbies into Commanderies by the King 's own and proper motion is also a Contempt which he has aggravated by the forbiddance he has made to the Bishops not to Consult the Holy See even in Cases of Conscience and in such businesses as wholy concern Religion but the most sensible of all was that blow given to the Pope's Authority in the Year 1682. by the Clergy Assembled at the King's Command that being with the Infallibility the finest Flowers of the Triple Crown The Insolent Discourses held in a Plea by Monsieur Talon by which he accus'd Pope Innocent the XIth the most worthy that has for divers years been seated in St. Peter's Chair of being a Schismatick and a Supporter of Hereticks And this for not having receiv'd Monsieur Lavardin as Ambassador at Rome who made his Entry into that City in such an offensive and proud manner that no Ambassadours of Obedience durst ever have done the like having caus'd himself to be accompany'd by a small Army rather than a Retinue as if he would have Besieg'd the Vatican And though this Marquess is at full Liberty at Rome the Nuncio Ranucci is detain'd in a place call'd St. Lazarus for fear he should retire from Paris incognito Finally the unjust seizure of the City and County of Avignon threatning besides all this to send some Troops into the Ecclesiastick State to oblige the Pope to revoke the Bull for the abolition of Quarters and that for his Confirmation of Prince Joseph Clement of Bavaria to the Archbishoprick of Cologne After so much insulting which the Pope had receiv'd of which one might make a whole Volum either in his own Person his Authority or in the Person of his Legates the Pope has judiciously done to shew his Resentment against Lewis the XIV not to relinquish any of his Rights but maintain the Rank which he has in the Church and in the World by that Spiritual and Temporal Power which God has put into his Hands and in having till now so generously and justly oppos'd himself to all the French Violences by which he has acquir'd a Glory which shall last as long as the World amongst all Parties and his Memory will be Rever'd even after his Death He ought to go on in those right Paths which he has begun and as Common Father Exhort all Catholick Princes to put themselves in a Condition to abate the Pride of the French King as a means to bring him into a way of Salvation To this purpose the Pope ought with all his Power to Assist the Catholick Princes that he may co-operate in so good a Work as his Holiness has done to the Empire against the Turks and to solicite the Switz-Cantons of the same Religion by his Legates to Join themselves to the Emperor and Empire to confirm that Deliverance which Europe begins to enjoy Thus the Pope being restor'd to his former Dignities Veneration and Authority let the King his most devout Son make him some Reparations and Attonements for those Faults he has committed and be so humbled that for the future he may be Wiser and out of Power of doing the like again nor of Insulting over the Popes and Soveraign Pontifs of the Catholick Church and in case the Pope found no amendment in that King nor no likelihood of bringing him back to his Duty he ought while he is busie in a War to lance forth his Excommunications against him and to give his Kingdoms over to the Spoil of his Enemies the male-contented Ecclesiasticks with which his Kingdom is fill'd will reduce him by Reason and will make him repent having ever meddled with the Rights of the Church The Emperor and the Princes of the Empire have more Reason than all the other Powers of Europe to keep the French King in such a condition that he may no more annoy them nor aspire to the Imperial Crown Lewis the XIV has a long time endeavour'd to turn the Empire into the French Family as in the time of Charlemain it being a great step for him to rise to that of all Europe that is the Reason why since Francis the First the French Kings have always cross'd the Emperors Elections But Lewis the Great could find no way to that Conquest but by the total Ruine of the United Provinces to which he could not attain but by the assistance of England thus his Imperial Majesty and all the Princes of the Empire being fully satisfied of this Truth and that nothing but that Revolution which has lately happen'd on the Brittish Throne could cause the rash Designs of the French King to Miscarry The Emperor ought no longer to remain in suspence nor put off to another time those Advantages which the Heavens present to him at this time to recover all that France has Usurp'd from him To this purpose his Imperial Majesty should begin by a Truce which he ought without delay to conclude with the Port seeing that they offer it on very honourable and advantageous Conditions and let the Emperor hold as suspicious Persons all such as shall Advise him to the contrary they are Persons that sin either through Ignorance or Malice who understand not the true Interests of the Empire or too much those of France he is not to doubt but that all the Princes of the Empire will concur to the same Design of abasing the Greatness of the French Monarch of which there are but very few Powers in the Empire that have not great cause of complaint and just pretensions to frame and perhaps more to pretend to than ever to recover again if France be not kept in a condition of never offending them more of domineering any longer nor of boasting any more that it can give Peace to Europe when ever it pleases This last War by the rupture of a Truce which the French King had sought after with so much earnestness because it confirm'd Luxemburg to him and a part of Flanders during Twenty Years and which he has infring'd without any Cause than his desire to come to the Assistance of the Grand Seignior who was going to ruine by the vast Conquests which the Emperor made on that Infidel His Most Christian Majesty was going hand over head to his Assistance finding himself supported with a close Alliance with James the II. formerly King of Great Britain this Rupture has given new pretensions of War to all the Princes of Germany by the most barbarous and inhumane proceedings which the French Troops have done there and I doubt much whether a just Parallel could be drawn from the Cruelties and Desolations that this King has caus'd to be committed
only alienated from him the Heartâ— of his Subjects but has struck an Horror in all Christendom he has depriv'd the Most Christiaâ— King of all his Alliances and haâ— reduc'd him to see himself oblig'd to have recourse to the Sworn Enemy of Christianity the Turk All these Advantages are founâ— in this present juncture more over Lewis the XIV the borâ— Enemy to the House of Austria is now at Wars with all Christendom If his Imperial Majesty takes not advantage of those Conveniences which the Heavens seem to present him with he ought not to expect any Acknowledgments from France for it nor that the King will think he hath done him a kindness in sparing him for as he has the gift of Usurpation by Inheritance if he can but raise himself up again from that Mortal Wound he has receiv'd he will come as did the Grand Visier after he has if he can disunited and ruin'd the Empire and Encamp his Army before Vienna That Itch has held him a long time and Lewis the XIV has Inherited it from his Predecessors for since the Death of Ferdinando the III. those Kings that have Reign'd in France have always endeavour'd to possess the place of Charlemain and in 1683 His Most Christian Majesty who was very well Instructed of Mahomet the IV's Designs and who had instigated Teckeley to Rebellion did think then that he had obtain'd his Hearts Desires and that he had got the Wind of the Emperor for he thought it impossible but that Vienna should fall under the Power of the Grand Visier's Forces The King had Forty Thousand Men ready on the Borders of Germany in the Design to put himself at the Head of them and to enter into the Empire to have himself Proclaim'd Emperor as the ancient Romans did at the Head of his Army His pretence had been That his Imperial Majesty not being in condition to preserve Christendom he was come to supply his Place and as the Deliverer of Europe free it from the Oppression of the Infidels though he himself had Invited them in and had design'd to put it in Irons To make good the Truth of what I alledge I must say that this Monarch who thought himself assur'd of the taking of the City Vienna by the Turks and himself consequently of the Imperial Crown had already caus'd the Imperial Eagle to be plac'd over his Effigy in his own Coin publickly declaring before his whole Court That the Empire had remain'd already long enough in the House of Austria and that it was high time it should return into his Family The French Mercenary Pens and the French Flatterers had already set forth divers Pieces in that Kingdom which tended to that purpose some were Intituled The just Pretensions of the King on the Empire others The Decay of the Empire These were the fore-runners of what the King design'd to do that when it should come to pass Europe should not be surpiz'd at it and the Blow not so much felt by the House of Austria It is a Maxim that has been practis'd in France during this Reign when the Council had a design of Oppressing the Subjects by any Imposition or to tread them down by any Declaration the noise of it was spread abroad Six Months before that when the Blow should fall the People might be prepar'd for it and so found not the Evil so great as it really was because it was expected All the French Kings Pretensions derive from Charlemain who though King of France was Elected Emperor but Charles being Dead the Electors were in right of Electing another capable to Govern the Empire and to Defend Christendom without being oblig'd or wedded to the Person of the French King. But I find without Dispute that the Emperors have much more Right to the Kingdom of France and that it is better grounded than that of the French Kings on the Empire of which the Three Bishopricks of Thoul Metz and Verdun are dependences which France has Usurp'd and to obtain peace and quiet the Emperor has been forc'd to bid them an eternal Farewel All Histories shew us that formerly the Gauls did depend of the Empire and was look'd upon by the Emperors of the West as an Imperial Dependency and feudatory to it in effect the Archbishops of Treves did take upon them the Quality of Imperial Chancellors in that part and Charles the VIII King of all France as he was was not asham'd to take upon him the Quality of Vicar General and Perpetual of the holy Empire Moreover Conrad being come to Paris caus'd himself to be receiv'd there as Superior by King Charles Sir-named the Simple and the Emperor Sigismond in the Reign of Lewis the XI made his Entry in that Capital City with all the Marks of Soveraignty preceded at Noon Day in imitation of the ancient Roman Emporors by a great number of Torches of White Wax Lighted took his Seat in the Presence of the King in the Parliament Created Knights and there it was that he Erected the County of Savoy into a Dutchy and acknowledg'd that Duke as Prince of the Empire The Emperors no more than the Crown of France ever lose their Right and I think they should have the same Prerogatives as such Kings who always own themselves Pupils and can never lose any thing alienate engage nor sell But we are not here to rake up the Ashes of the Empire 's ancient Rights but only to prevent the French King from making new ones and afterwards to possess them seeing that his Generals do publickly declare That they know no other Right but Power and the only pleasure and good-liking of their Monarch of whom they make a God on Earth Viro immortali At this present the French King beholds all Europe in Arms against him and he finds he cannot well parry that Blow that England's lifted up Arm threatens him with a total Ruine and because he cannot easily withstand all those Powers that are United against him he endeavours at least if he cannot win them to his Party to divide them from the other by that Neutrality which he proposes to them in design of accomplishing two things if he obtains it The First is to diminish the number of his Enemies and the second that by that means he may gain a free access near to those separated Powers flattering himself with the hopes to draw them afterwards to his Party through advantageous Offers but much sooner if he can but never so little rouse himself up again from that Apoplexy in which he is fallen But the Emperor and his Allies to break his Measures and destroy his Designs ought not to allow of any Neutrality to any Prince State nor City of the Empire but to hinder him if possible from soliciting the Switz-Cantons on the contrary to get them to join to the Empire and if they cannot be prevail'd with so to do oblige them to call home those Forces which they have in the French Service or
Treaties and in case of a refusal by an authentick and general Decree recall their Forces and with those very Troops that are so well Disciplin'd and those they have already go themselves and execute that which France refuses them and pull down those stone Tables which he has set up Besides let the Lords of that Republick consider that the more Souldiers they lend to France the more Men they lose whose hearts are insensibly alienated from their own Country by Death by Offices by Pensions by Mariages and some by the Change of Religion and these last are young Vipers which will one day gnaw their own Mothers bowels I know that the Switzers with divers others have some years since fear'd the Forces which France has to make it self dreaded allways kept in readiness after Peace and after the Truce also which Forces made it to speak with Confidence and required nothing but with threatnings being the only Prince in Europe that did see himself in a Condition to Undertake and to Act before others were in a Condition to Defend themselves which made him to be fear'd by his Neighbours and procur'd him Alliances but particularly that of King James with which he thought himself sufficiently strong to overcome all Europe beginning as I have already said by the United Provinces I doubt not but all these Considerations might have a great influence over the Cantons and oblige the Switzers to grant to France that which perhaps they had not done at any other time but now the storm is blown over the Cause of that Pride with which the King did threaten being vanish'd into smoak the fear ought to cease also and there ought not to remain any consideration capable to retain the Switzers under the Rod of Lewis the XIVth Let them return to their pristine Liberty and to their right Interest Let those Gentlemen know that Kings are Great no longer than they are happy and that they are fear'd no longer than their good fortune lasts I therefore maintain that that Imperiousness with which France was us'd to draw advantages from the Cantons is at an end now that it finds it self over-whelm'd from all sides that all its Alliances on which it founded all its new Usurpations are vanish'd and that at this present he has almost as many Enemies as there are Princes in Europe If they have not yet all declar'd they will not stay long they only wait to see the Dance begin to joyn themselves with the Allies as we have lately seen the Republick of Liege which has scorn'd its threatnings and embrac'd that Party which it apprehended to be the most advantageous and the most necessary for its State. Which sufficiently shews the small regard that it had at present for the French King who is no longer in a Condition of doing any great Damage in an open War since England has turn'd the Muzzle of her Cannons against him and that the Prince on whose Alliance he so strongly built his hopes is no longer in a Condition to do any good or hurt to Europe for in lieu of succouring his Allie he himself stands in need of him he drains France the Calf in time will kill the Cow with drawing her too hard it is a new Charge to Lewis the XIV and that Unfortunate Prince sees himself on the brink of a Precipice which by a special Grace from Heaven he may yet avoid by retiring into some Convent The Laudable Cantons ought to make other Reflections and have other Considerations at present than they formerly had they should too lift up their Eyes towards England and behold His Britanick Majesty William the IIId as their Friend and Allie professing the same Religion and who during His Reign will make it a point of Generosity and of Honour to Succour them against all the Assaults of the French King. If they declare themselves both through the Tye of Communion and that of Esteem which that Great Prince has for them even His great and generous Designs ought to serve to make them return to their ancient Rights and Liberties cause their aincent Limits to be made good again for greater security but then they ought not to remain quiet all the while with their arms folded but labour with all their power and assist to bring about so great a good and advantange which the Heavens offers them To that purpose they should Exemplarily punish all those Mercinary Persons whose hands and their Honours have been defiled with the French Money Incessantly cause their Forces to return which are in the French Service in case of disobedience declare them Rebels and Confiscate their Means oblige those Fathers who have Children there to call them home on great Mulcts never to admit to any Employ nor Dignity either in Church or State all such as shall contradict these Orders and never cease 'till the Fortresses are demolish'd and Burgundy the French County Alsace and Lorain restor'd to their ancient Masters and Soveraigns that they may be as so many Bulwarks to the Cantons all which they can easily do in this Conjuncture which at this present so favourably offers it self and which they ought not to let slip seeing there is at this present between the Protestant and the Catholick Cantons so good a Harmony and firm Union that the Pope is wholly inclin'd to cause those of his Party to keep it strictly as a neecessary good for the quiet of Christendom and the safety of Europe as well as to abate the Pride of France All this will happen in Declaring for the Emperor and Empire I come now to Spain formerly their Soveraigns Govern'd from within their Closets a good part of the World but since Philip the IId its great Power has began to decay and that of the Kings of France to increase at the same time that that of the Catholick Kings decreased I shall not seek after the Causes of it because that is beside my Subject I shall only say by the by that the Liberty of Conscience in France has much contributed to its Elevation and that contrary-wise the privation of it in Spain has caus'd there great Evils and the loss of Trade which is the Soul of States and Kingdoms The Marriages which the Kings of Spain have Contracted with France have been so many Levens of Discord and of War which have always prov'd very hurtful to Spain and not to go back any further than to the late Queen who was a French Woman as much by inclination as she was by Birth who by the subtle and dextrous Counsel of the King her Uncle's Ambassadors had always some new business to propose to the King her Husband who most tenderly lov'd her By those means that Princess had acquir'd a great ascendent over the King's mind sometimes prejudicial to the good of his Kingdom for whose prosperity she had not all the Consideration she ought to have had for having no Children to Succeed to it and still in fears that remaining
are as honest as themselves so that it will not be difficult for the French to impose upon them but as to Europe we are now in a time that no Prince will have any Alliance with France much less with any of its Princesses as Wives seeing there is general complaint of them for having caus'd Disorders in all the States they came to The United Provinces are highly concern'd to keep low the French King to take from him all desires of molesting them nor to go so far towards them as the Conquest of the Netherlands of Spain It was always the aim of Lewis the Great according to the advice of Mounsieur de Sulli formerly Ambassador of France into England in the time of Henry the IV. who gave him to observe that the conjunction of the United Provinces with France was the only means to restore it to its ancient Grandeur and to render it Superior to all the rest of Christendom Formerly the French Kings had their folly fix'd on Italy believing in imitation of the ancient Romans that it was the Gate they were to pass through to attain to the Universal Monarchy but having found that way too Thorny and that Country having frequently been the Church-yard of the French they have grown weary of it and have turn'd themselves towards the Low-Countries where hitherto Lewis the XIV has succeeded better and he had found out a means to continue there his Progress if the Heavens had not prevented it by the change in England I know that the United Provinces had had nothing to fear if the Netherlands of Spain had been in a condition to maintain themselves with their own strength or if the late Kings of England had had the same Sentiments which Queen Elizabeth had and if Charles and James the Seconds had said to Monsieur Barillon that which that Queen said to Monsieur of Sulli That neither France nor England nor any other Prince had any thing to pretend to the Netherlands that she should not suffer that the King his Master should have any thoughts that way Perhaps the Lewis D'Ors were not currant in those Days in that Great Princesses Court as they have since been and that that Princess did better understand her own true Interest than divers Kings who have succeeded her have done But thanks to Heaven those Kings are pass'd and God has at this present seated on the Throne a King who understands very well his Interest and that of the Nation much better than did his Predecessor and who following the Traces of that Great Princess was no sooner got to the Government but he sent back Monsieur Barillon to tell his Master that he had nothing to do in the Netherlands and that he would prevent him from any further Usurpation in those parts The Elevation of that Great Prince on the Throne of England is a fatal Blow to the greatness of Lewis the XIV we must have so much Charity as to confess it but at the same time it produces the Quiet and Repose of all Europe it is a Bit clapp'd in the French Kings Mouth which retains him from a running so far as to the United Provinces and that shelters them from all his Insultations and from all his Threatnings and furnishes them at the same time with Means to resist him vigorously and to clip his Wings so short that he may not fly any more beyond his just bounds it is a bitter Pill which he is forc'd to swallow and which will make him to disgorge and to re-establish those bounds which he had remov'd during his Neighbours weaknesses in a profound and universal Peace The United Provinces as well as divers other States find themselves deliver'd now from that danger that threatned them and it is now their turn to speak aloud finding themselves assisted by so powerful an Allie as England they may demand the Restitution of all the Places of the Spanish Netherlands which have been taken from them since the Peace of the Pireneans because those places serve to preserve them and as bars that puts a large Territory betwixt them and so dangerous a Prince besides that the damage they have sustain'd in their Trade is very considerable and gives them cause of great pretensions France has supplanted and deceiv'd them in divers occasions and it has endeavour'd to lull them asleep especially in the last place by the Count d'Avaux its Ambassador through vain promises which Father Limojou the French King's Almoner call'd Illusory and in which there was no sincerity nor good Faith as we have seen in all his Proceedings after the Peace of Nimeguen and that it has been but a continual Usurpation That this King might the longer and with more safety enjoy those Places that he had Usurped a Truce was patch'd up for Twenty Years during a full Peace which he likewise broke in few Years after After he had Fortified those Conquer'd Places made his Alliance with James the II. and destroy'd by an unheard of Cruelty which is natural to him the Protestants in his own Kingdom as he assures by his Declaration of the revocation of the Edict of Nants that he had made that Truce but in order to destroy them notwithstanding all the Protestations to the contrary which the Count d'Avaux had made to obtain it and to deceive with more ease in the opinion that after he had made an end with those Protestants whom he accus'd of having Dutch Hearts and Intelligences with them 't was to that end that the seisure tended which was made of all the Books and Papers belonging to their Consistories throughout the whole Kingdom to know the Sums they had sent into Holland during the War and seconded by the King of England then Reigning he should over-run the United Provinces and leave for a time those of the Spaniards considering them always the only ones that could cross his Designs and hinder him from making his great Conquests over Europe But now Fortune has turn'd her back to him and by the event we find that he has not cast up right and that his Most Christian Majesty had not reckon'd on the Elevation of the Prince of Orange to the Crown of England by that fall of his Ally who has broken all his Measures and destroy'd his Alliances open'd a way to the States to attack him in his own Hold and to reduce him to Guard his own Kingdom no longer to think but to defend himself it is no longer now the time of the Peace of Nimeguen which was made upon its consideration but through the Treachery of France as the baseness with which it has observ'd it as well as the Treatises of Trade shew us sufficiently and that the King had quite another aim than the States-General had propos'd to themselves at the conclusion of that Peace and afterwards of the Truce Seeing that the King has violated all Trading and declar'd War to the United Provinces on the frivolous pretence and on the account of
a sorry Priest the Cardinal of Furstemburg a Rebel to his Lawful Soveraign the Emperor and to his Superior the Pope who during his whole Life in lieu of adhering to the Service of the Church to which he had design'd himself has made it his business to disturb Christendom and to give occasion to spill blood in Europe and notwithstanding all that the French King has prefer'd the Interest and Friendship of that Man odious to God and Men to that of their high and mighty Powers and to their Alliances which he had sought after with so much earnestness and protestations by the Peace in 1678. Thus France having first broke the States ought to make use of the means which God puts in their hands by the assistance of the revolution of England which has not only produc'd them a strict Alliance and sincere Union but a considerable Assistance also that by that Union and that mutual Assistance they may oblige the French King to repent of his unjust Proceedings of all those barbarous Actions and Oppressions which he has committed in Europe to bring him back to Reason and Justice and to put him in a condition to make no Innovations for the future so long as that happy time shall last for those Two Nations they both ought therefore to make a last Effort to maintain themselves in that precious liberty which they at present enjoy by a special favour of Heaven that is that inestimable Gem which France has endeavour'd to Ravish from those happy Provinces but God having deliver'd them from all the Threatnings of Lewis the Great and from the design he had projected to entirely destroy them he must be frighted in his turn and his Court must be fill'd with such a terrour as he never has had since his coming to the Crown which may surpass that which he had at the Baricado of Paris since he has no longer in his Kingdom those that delivered him from it and who he has since so ill rewarded There needs but a descent on his Coasts to give it him in good earnest and that is therefore what he apprehends the most and that unhinges him before hand finding the heart of his Kingdom tainted and the Enemy at home who waits but for an opportunity to declare It is not a Sampson who is no longer tied with such new Cords as never were strong enough to retain him and to stop him but a Sampson whose Locks are cut and whose Eyes are put out who turns and winds on all sides to find out some body to lead him out of the Precipice wherein he finds himself he has given the hand of Association to the Grand Seignior he will soon find a pretence for it it is doubtless he 'll say in his Manifest to endeavour to Convert him to the Catholick Faith for that is the wet sheet with which he covers himself at present against the storm which is going to fall on his head which grows giddy so soon as he thinks on that descent five hundred leagues of Coast confound him not knowing where his Enemies will Land there needs but some false allarm and at the same time a real descent to set all those Troops he has along the Coasts in disorder Joyn to that the attack at the same time of his Enemies by Land he must undoubtedly bow under those pressures and much more yet if ever the Allies are so happy as to enter into the heart of his Kingdom then he may pack up his tools and go seek in Poland that which King James has found with him for to follow him to Rome he would not be better welcome there than the Marquess Lavardin 'T is his own Concern let him look to it betimes that King knows that it is impossible for him to prevent a descent let him keep never so good a Guard by Land and though he be never so strong at Sea he has too much of shore to keep wherefore he has order'd his Generals to burn his own Country ten Miles round when ever the English set footing on it and to his Fleet to retire into the Mediterranian where he pretends to be the Lord of the Sea. But 't is likely that his Reign will be but short there for the English and Dutch having sufficiency of Ships it will be easie for them to drive it into the Port of Tholon where yet it will not be absolutely secure thirty good Vessels will make them flye to it having no longer any place of retreat in Spain and the Italians not being able to endure them since the business of Genoua England and Holland need not to strain very hard to fit out together 120 Sail of Ships yet that number will be sufficient to overcome France by Sea and to set that Kingdom into the highest Consternation In the Year 1673. De Ruiter that great Sea Heroe whose Memory and Valour shall last as long as the World with a much less number of Forces did beat the French and English joyn'd together against that State but now that the English Fleet shall be joyn'd to that of the United Provinces France will be extreamly put to it and Monsieur of Segnelai will have as much need of good Counsel as of Money but say the French if we can do nothing in Europe we will preserve our selves for America where they think they will do much in ruining some Plantations of the English and Dutch that have settled themselves there during the time that the Cities and Provinces of France will be ruining mean time that fear that he shall cause to the Savages will not Cure him of his The good disposition in which all Europe is and the Revolution of England ought highly to encourage the States of the United Provinces now that they find themselves supported by all Christian Princes who have with their High and Mightinesses but one and the same Design which is to pull down the Pride of France and that in destroying their Common Enemies they may find themselves deliver'd from future danger by the sole motion of England It is another advantage to the said Provinces to find themselves in good Intelligence with their nearest Neighbours who are at their door and that the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of Colen Munster and Liege are all Unanimously bent to embrace their Interest and that France can no longer do in regard to those Prelates that which she did in the year 1672. But on the contrary they joyn now with the good party to oppose themselves as do their Allies to the French King's Insultations who endeavours to make us believe that he has still very great Ties with Denmark seeing that in his Declaration of the 12th of last March he grants to all those Refuged Persons that have left his Kingdom half of those Revenues they left there behind them yet with that Proviso that the Officers shall go and serve in the Troops of the King of Denmark But because that Kingdom cannot do well without a
and France to the two boles of a pair of Scales that that side weigh'd it down on which he lean'd He spoke justly for the Monarchs of that Kingdom being well united with their Parliaments may stile themselves the Arbitrators of Christendom It is not without reason then that France has flatter'd them during the two Reigns that have preceded this and Lewis the XIVth thought himself at the top of all his Designs when he did see James the IId on the Throne making open profession of the Roman-Catholick Religion perhaps with a little more passion than became a King but that was the weak side by which the French King would catch him and detain him in his Bonds for that Prince ever subtle and crafty did hit him on that side on which he was most sensible to the prejudice of his Honour and against the inclination of the Nation and the Parliaments expectations Mean time Lewis the XIVth had so well manag'd his Allie that it may be said he already Triumph'd over him and that through all his Managements Intreagues and Lewis D'Ors he was become Master of King James his Fortune by the subtlety of his Ministers who lull'd him asleep on specious Offers of Sixty Millions and of 60000 Men to support him against his Enemies and even against his own People if they would have resisted and set themselves free France little caring for the evil consequences that this Commerce could not but produce so it did its own Business and render'd that Prince odious to his Allies and to his Neighbours as well as to his own Subjects who began to feel the smart of a pernicious Council either in their Liberties Laws or Religion and seeing themselves press'd down by a Tirannical Authority and Despotick Power of an obseded and gained King by France and wholly devoted to its Interests the English have found themselves constrain'd to prevent their falling into the same Predicament their Neighbours were in to have recourse to their Liberator that in being themselves deliver'd they might deliver all Europe also from that slavery in which it was going to fall and to that purpose offer the Throne to the Prince of Orange and to the Princess his Spouse as the lawful Heirs to the Three Kingdoms and God having granted the Nations Vows and Petition he has so well conducted that Great Prince's Enterprise that it may be said he has led him by the Hand and seated him on that Throne that was designed for him without any effusion of Blood. This Miracle we have seen but our Off-springs will scarce believe it it is an happy and more than happy change seeing that it will render a calm and quiet to all Christendom and that he restores to Europe its Liberty It was William the III. that Providence had design'd through the Assistance of the States of the United Provinces to be the glorious Instrument of so great a Work capable to cause once more the dumb Son of Cressus to speak if he were yet living But in the place of that Prince Europe that was become in a manner Dumb through those great Evils that it suffer'd before-hand has set up the Standard of Liberty and of Deliverance Since that Prince and Princess of Orange have been Seated on the Throne all Christendom begins as it were to revive again Catholicks and Protestants all raise up their Heads against their Oppressor as when a Tree is fallen every body runs to take their share of the Bows But to accomplish the Work Two Things are requir'd First a good and firm League amongst the Christian Princes who have under-gone and who still fear to fall under the French Kings Usurpation should he get off of this present danger so that nothing may be able to dissolve that Union and that no private Interest nor Eldership should prevail over the general Good and that he who shall separate from that Union so necessary to Christendom should be look'd upon as a Perturbator and a common Enemy and set in the number of the Turks and the French to be set upon as a Deserter and Traitor to the general Good of Europe That Neutrality have no Place in Christendom that he who is not for us is against us Assuredly that League being so well Cemented all the offers of France nor the satisfaction that it might give to some of the Pretenders not being able to break the Union it is most certain that all will bow to the Allies that they shall enter Drums beating and Colours flying into their Enemies Country where they ought by all means to take up their Winter Quarters the next Season to prevent Lewis the XIV's Forces from entring into the Country of the Allies as he designs and to give him at Home so much Business that he may not go seek for some elsewhere For if they enter not into France but that the Allies content themselves with taking some Places which he has formerly seiz'd on with a design to amuse them to get time as Mentz Bonn Keiserwaert and others that are about his Kingdom that would be doing nothing at all seeing the King has still his end and that he holds those Places but to busie the Allies during this first Campaign either to tire them or to drain them through length of time or to Alienate some That is Lewis the XIV's chief end and the best Advice that he could take in such a pressing juncture in which he finds himself at present But if that for his good and for the ill of Europe he can break down the Dike though the Breach be never so small he will drown all Christendom and the last evil would be worse than the first To avoid this mischief no Prince of the League ought to suffer any French Emissary in his Territories they ought to be Banish'd as Infected Persons and not Pardon the very first that shall be found not sparing even the Church Men those are flying Plagues who like stinking flesh Flies infect all places they light on it is a dangerous Seed which is to be rooted quite up The Allies ought not to be concern'd at the great number of Men there is in France they are young Vipers that will eat a Passage through their Mothers Belly to get at Liberty Nor the Tenth Part of that great People have cause to be contented and the most sound part waits but for its Deliverance on what Side soever and it may be said that Lewis the XIV is not better belov'd in his Kingdom than James the II. was in his It is certain that when the Prince of Lorrain shall appear before his own Subjects they will receive him with the same Joy that the English have receiv'd the Prince of Orange I say the same of Burgundy and of the French County and of divers other People who wait but for the happy Moment of their Liberty The Second thing to be done is a powerful Fleet which the King of England is to keep continually at Sea
few days and the better conceal his wicked Design and that then the pretence would not only be plausible but just also to all appearance because it had been to prevent the Turks from entring any further but at the same time to render himself Master of the rest of Germany and of all the Empire also which should have been his share towards the defraying of the Wars so he had divided with Mahomet the IVth all the Territories both Catholick and Protestant of Germany If after all these Contrivances one may stile ones self a Zealot to the Catholick Religion I referr it to the Judgment of the Pope let us then say rather that he is a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathings cover'd with a false Piety to devour the Christian Princes one after another That was Cardinal Richlieu's Maxime Not to value what he Promised nor his Faith in the observation of Treaties so he but serv'd the French Interest And doubtless it is from those rare Lessons that this Zealous French King has so well improv'd and which he endeavours to imitate so exactly before those of the Gospel which forbid us to do to others that which we would not have done to our selves But if we look on Businesses nearer at hand we shall not wonder at the King 's pressing for the Re-establishment of James the Second and that he leaves no stone unmov'd to reseat him on the Throne We shall find at last that it is not so much Religion as Interest that moves him to it and that the return of that Prince to his Kingdom is most necessary for him much more than the Establishment of the Cardinal of Fustemberg in the Arch-Bishoprick of Colen It cannot be believ'd that it is the natural affection which he has for those two Princes that make him act or the Zeal to Religion as he publishes but his Ambition and the Preservation of his Kingdom For if Prince Joseph Clement and the present King of England would but embrace the Party of France and Unite themselves with that Monarch he would send the Cardinal to Strasbourg and King James where he was in Cromwel's time or into some corner of the State of Modena and if the Town of Algier would now send Ships into the Channel he would not only harbour them with their Prizes in his Ports but would give them Liberty also to build a Mosque there if that Town should require it I see no greater difficulty nor Crime in that than in lending his Forces to Re-build some in Hungary and to pull down the Christian Churches These are then the fruits of this great Zeal of which the French boasted in Rome and at Madrid Now let us turn our faces towards Truth It is not Religion that pushes the French King but he has the Shepherd at his heels the Nets are spread on all parts for him and he has no prospect of escaping and in that dread he is he would embrace the Alcoran if he saw it would shelter him from the new King of England's Resentments whom he has reason to fear as the most dreadful and most powerful Enemy that he has at present or ever had with whom there is no Composition to be made though Lewis the XIVth should return four times as much as he has Usurped from him when he was yet but Prince of Orange Perceiving then that by the means of William the Third he has all Europe on his hands and that he must leave some Fleeces behind him no wonder he extends his hands though in vain towards the one and the other to find out a Mediator to draw him out of that Danger in which he finds himself But he having taken his Eternal farewel of all Faith and Honesty and it having abandon'd him every body does the same daring no longer to trust to him 'till first he has been depriv'd of his Savageness of his Ambition of his Pride and of his insatiable desire of Usurping the Goods of his Neighbours and that is what will not happen 'till he has first been humbled by Losses either in his Armies or of some of his Provinces and that he has been oblig'd to restore to every one that which he has stoln from them and that is what may be advantageous and necessary for his poor People and to all Europe In vain he Flatters himself with an accommodation with some of the Allies whom he pretends to divide from the Union in which we see them at present and by that means to draw himself out of the Briers This King has been inexorable to the Cries of the Poor whom he has Ruin'd and Tormented of the Widdows and Orphans whom he has stript Naked the Heavens will return it upon him as well as all his Enemies who will return him double the Evil which he has done and will force him to swallow down the bitter Fruits of his Ambition and breach of Faith and to Disgorge all his Usurpations which he has Baptis'd with the specious Title of Conquests and return to his Subjects that Liberty of Conscience and places of Hostages which he has forc'd from them against the Faith of Edicts under the pretence of Conversions restore to all his People in general the General States for the surety of their Persons and Means whereas they now groan under the heavy pressure of the Intendants these are Monsters which our new Hercules must vanquish which God has given to free Europe from that slavery in which part of it was already reduc'd and wherein the rest was going to fall the Irons being already set in the Fire for it by the means of James the II. who abandoning his own Interest and that of his Nation had given his Consent and Assistance to the ruine of Europe and had enter'd into a League with the Usurper to make it to fall under the slavery with more ease and greater expedition But the Heavens who have granted the Vows and Petions of all Europe has broken those Chains by the means of a Republick of which he had made his Prey for it may be said without exageration that the States of the United Provinces have given the first blow to break those Shackles through the Assistance they have given of Money of Forces and of Ships to the King of England when he was yet but Prince of Orange Wherefore Europe ought to consider them as the Cause of its Deliverance and the Restorer of its Liberty the Refuge of all the Afflicted the Retreat of those whom Lewis the XIVth had Persecuted and stripp'd and the Azilum of all good People who ought in gratitude to hazard their Lives for the Support of a State who has free'd them from the Lyon's jaws and has receiv'd them with so much Humanity and Charity which doubtless shall be the Cannons with which they shall destroy their Enemies and the Heavens will render them Victorious and their Names shall last to the last of Ages FINIS
as it is not to be doubted extremly surpriz'd to see himself stopp'd on the sudden by that surprizing Change which has so lately happen'd in England and who can doubt but that this change of Soveraigns has been a Mortal Blow to him seeing that by that means he not only sees his Great and Ambitious Designs overturn'd and in lieu of a near Ally and intimate Friend he finds on the Throne none but an unreconcilable Enemy burning with Zeal for the Preservation of Europe and with a desire of Punishing the Usurper and that which is yet more sensible to France is that this New Monarch will not fail of being Seconded by all the Christian Princes We have seen England in changing of Master to make the face of the Affairs of Europe change also especially in the Low-Countries the decree of their Ruine having been determined between the Two Kings Lewis the XIV and James the II. after that France had long consider'd the United Provinces as the only Obstacle that could prevent it from Conquering the rest of Europe well knowing that those States would at all times Oppose themselves to the Ruine of their Neighbours push'd on by a Motive of Generosity of Equity and of Interest also Therefore the King of France could not perceive which way he should go about to overcome his Opponents but in mining and in destroying totally those Provinces thereby shutting them out of the power of hindring him or of opposing his Design and that he could not do without England's consent Wherefore after the death of Charles the Second he so dextrously did embark King James in his Design and set him at variance with his Parliament through Religious Motives by ridiculous demands of the abolishing of the Test and Penal Laws which had been established for the support of the Kingdom and the preservation of the Establish'd Religion France was assur'd that by that means it should set the King and Parliament out of power of reuniting again and that by those means Lewis the XIV should oblige that Prince whom he led by the Nose to apply himself to him for Mony which he certainly knew the Parliament would refuse him that in case they should grant it to him it should be on such conditions which the King would not accept And thus that ill advis'd Prince would not fail to turn himself towards France as he has done and to let himself be obseded and won by fair but false Promises to render him absolute Master over his People and his Parliament with which Lewis the XIV has so long fed and entertain'd with dexterity the weak Imagination of his Ally that he has lull'd him asleep into a Lethargy very opposite to his right Interest to that of his People and even to that of all Europe of which it may be said That England holds the Scales In the year 1672. France was already working on her project against the United States through the means of England if we consider with what weakness Charles the Second permitted himself to be ty'd up by those Treaties he made contrary to so many Obligations which he had to the said States and of his particular Interest feeding himself with hopes of a share in those said Provinces before they were taken With what weakness did the same Prince sell to France the Town of Dunkirk and behold with his Arms folded Lewis the XIV take the principal places of the Spanish Netherlands not only Cambray Valencienne S. Omers Erre but so many others al-also which were as so many bulwarks to stay the fury of Lewis the XIV And ever after the Peace of Nimeguen have not whole Provinces submitted to the French Yoke And while that under the shelter of that Peace other Soveraigns had disbanded their Forces France alone kept his Arms because it knew what it was hatching and what it design'd to do The Town of Luxembourg was a Thorn in its side and it would be Master of it and Charles the Second was as little mov'd at it as if he had been pay'd to let him do and say nothing and behold unconcern'd that place taken from the Spaniard Free Europe which little by little saw one Province after another and one Town after another submitted to France did frequently cast its Eye towards the Parliament of England in hopes to receive some relief from that part but France had so well taken its measures there that before that Illustrious Body was assembled divers Lords at the sound of Louis d'Ors were become deaf to the Complaints of the generality and some amongst them had even lost the use of Speech and were become motionless for the publick good and that of the Nation and so soon as the House of Commons began to harp on that string the King made use of his Authority to prorogue them to another time and so business run in the same course again and gave leave to France to continue its way to gain Conquest on Conquest In the mean time the true English-men who are the most jealous of their Liberties of any Nation were forc'd to be silent and quietly behold themselves hedg'd in on all sides without opposing it nor daring to complain Those that were lukewarm would frequently ask Why the Spaniards and the Imperialists who had most interest in it did not oppose themselves to that Torrent and to those French Conquests I confess that if they could have done it alone they ought to have gone about it and they can never be excus'd for having neglected it but those who know a little the Affairs of the World are not ignorant of the misery Spain is fallen into during the minority of a King and that the Netherlands are far remote from the Empire which has many Heads and which of truth cannot assist them without its Allyes that are nearest to those Provinces who are the King of England and the States of the United Provinces The Emperor has continually the Turks at his doors over which he is to keep a strict watch at all times Besides as I have already mentioned the Empire 's compos'd of divers Members who have each their Soveraign and their different Interests and therefore a long time is required and divers Springs must play to set so great a Machine going and frequently before the resolution of it be taken France has done its do and then it speaks of Peace and of Accommodation by which means Lewis XIV has for the most part kept his Conquests if they deserve that Name after which every one retires home disbands France makes shew to do the same and if it acquiesces so far to disband some Troops in one part of the Kingdom it raises others in another and thus remains still in the same posture to do mischief ready to attempt some new thing so soon as it finds any favourable opportunity In that interval France did not remain quiet it had its Emissaries in all the Courts of Germany who using the slight of
in the Palatinate with those that the Grand Seignior has made in Hungary and though this last place has been for a long time the Seat of War yet at the Retreat of the Infidels they have not committed any thing near the like Extortions nor us'd the same violence that the French have done in those places that they have abandon'd in the Palatinate and in the Country of Juliers and of Cologne and if there were no other cause but this though there are but too many more there would need in my Opinion nothing but the sad spectacle of the French barbarousness to animate all the Princes and Members of Europe to a good and firm Union with the Emperor which will be the only means to preserve themselves and to prevent France from doing the like hereafter Though France is brought low through the opposition of England in all its Designs yet has it not forgot its ancient Maxims which have formerly succeeded so well it will not fail to put into practice all the ways imaginable to corrupt some Member of the Empire and to break that Chain of Unity there is amongst them to endeavour thereby to put a stop to the Success of their Arms as it frequently happens that a broken or rotten Pin disorders a whole Carriage and hinders its March. France's Crafts and Deceits being already so well fore-known it is requisite that the Princes of Europe should provide against that plague of Corruption which has so freequently infected divers Courts of Christendom divers are to expect that not only Presents will be offer'd to them as well as Pensions but equivalents also to their Pretensions only to remain Neuter But the Example of the Archbishop of Mentz is yet so fresh before our Eyes that it ought to be a fair Mirror for the Princes of the Empire to Represent to them to the Life the Character of France and of its Soveraign which all that proceeding represents in Lively Colours with the breaches of Faith of that Prince even to those that Side with him If ever any Soveraign did Act against his true Interest and that of the whole Empire it was that Prelate but then again never was Prince worse rewarded nor had greater cause to repent of his Fault by the ill usage he has had in his Estate which had reach'd to his Person also if he had not shelter'd himself from the Threats of the French Envoy But he is not the only Living and Speaking Example the whole Series of time that has pass'd since the Peace of the Pireneans is but a continued Thread of the falsehood of France So that whoever shall catch at the Golden Bait which the King lays for them will have time to Repent themselves as the Elector of Mentz has done and divers others who have fair'd no better But if by a Fatal Chance it should so happen that some Member of the Empire were so unadvis'd as to be Corrupted by France and separated from that Union which is its true Interest though it is not to be expected now that those Princes are so well enlightned that Person ought to be consider'd as a rotten Member Discarded and Treated as an Enemy though he would remain Neuter on this ground drawn from the Holy Gospel Qui non est pro nobis est contra nos Of Truth the Union of the Empire is of great Importance and I must confess that all its United Forces may be very powerful but they would be much more if the Emperor could resolve to grant a Peace to the Grand Seignior that so having no longer any thing to fear from that Part his Imperial Majesty may have his Hands at liberty against the Second which has been much more formidable and more dangerous than the First and consequently cause all his Forces to Advance towards the Rhine which would produce Two Effects the one that such considerable Armies would increase that Terror in which France is already Secondly it would by that means much better maintain that Union which is already in Europe with their Allies Besides it is a general Rule which the Emperor ought always to observe never to have Two Wars to maintain at the same time especially when he can avoid one of them as it is in his power to do at this present with great Advantage and Glory It is not to be doubted but that the French King does highly dread such a Truce that he will openly and most powerfully Act with the Turk and the King of Poland and that he will have his Emissaries conceal'd at the Court of Vienna that will labour under-hand and on deceitful Pretences to prevent the Imperial Council from concluding any thing with the Turks Envoy at this present at Vienna To be sure he will neither spare Money nor Religion to attain his end therein To the Grand Seignior he Promises to enter into Germany with a Powerful Army to Ransack there as he has done already thereby to draw the Emperors Forces on that side and give the Great Turk the means and leasure to breathe again and to Assemble new Forces to endeavour to regain what he has lost To Teckeley and the Princes of Transilvania Walachia and Moldavia without enquiring of what Religion they are he assures considerable Sums to continue the War begun he has frequenly sent some to the First and if the others would break off with the Emperor and join with the Grand Seignior he would furnish them wherewith to Pay their Forces As for Poland that will perform enough for France if its King will but remain quiet and not attempt any thing as he has done since the two last Campaigns and prevent by great pretensions the Conclusion of a Truce with the Port. Lewis the XIVth has Springs that are sufficiently strong to detain him and to obtain what he pleases of that Crown perswading it that it is not suitable to her Interest to have the Emperor prosper so much c. At the Court of Vienna the French Emissaries Labour through indirect means to perswade the Emperor's Councellors that his Imperial Majesty may with ease maintain the War against the Turk and France and that it concerns his Glory not to slacken in so fair a Course that he ought to go and plant the Cross of Christ on the very Battlements of the Seraglio at Constantinople but such pretences are at great distance from their Masters thoughts for it is very certain that the French King had rather see once more the Crescent on St. Stephen's Church at Vienna than the Cross on St. Sophia at Constantinople Lewis the XIVth at this time is like to a Man in great extremity of danger that is ready to sink he makes Vows and promises all things to get out again and takes hold of all that comes in his way to keep himself some moments longer above water Thus this Monarch has turn'd himself all manner of ways to find out a Mediator that would assist him to get out of
at least permit the raising in their Territories a like number of Men by the Emperor and his Allies it being pre-suppos'd that a State can never be counted Neuter so long as it furnishes Forces to one of the Parties that are in Wars together besides such a Neutrality is of evil consequence to the others that pretend to the same There are but very few States that are not glad to see their Neighbours weaken'd that they may draw advantage from their Disorders and get to themselves the Trade and to see them from a secure place ruine one another while their Neuter Subjects enrich themselves and improve by the spoil as the Archbishop of Mentz did think to do if he had not been cheated by France to his great sorrow he has made tryal of Lewis the XIVth's Maxims who has no sooner laid his finger on a place but that he endeavours to thrust in his whole body and to drive from thenee the Lawful Lord. Though all has known this yet divers hitherto have been surpris'd with it they call out for help when they thiink themselves lost as we have seen in divers little States which he has appropriated to himself and he had done the like to Geneva had not the Laudable Cantons oppos'd themselves to it The Switz perceiving that his most Christian Majesty did by that design to smooth a Path for himself into their Country and into the States of the Duke of Savoy if they durst but have stirr'd never so little after that Conquest I now pass to the Cantons of the Switzers by reason of their Proximity to the Empire and Alliance with the Emperor they have no cause of being better satisfied than many others are of Lewis the Great if they would but return from that blindness wherein they are and make some Reflections on what has pass'd only since his Reign how that he amuses them on the one side while he is undermining of their Union on the other together with their Liberty and their Power incompassing them so close on all sides as if he would so girt them in that they should not be able to stir themselves His Design is to make them Tributary not of Money but of divers thousands of Men when he has occasion for them and when they should be of most use to him to that particularly tends the Usurpation of the French County which was formerly their Barr the Fortresses of Hunning and of Crensack and so many other Forts and Bridges which the King has caus'd of late to be built round their Countrey It is that way do the Lewis d'Ors tend which the French Ambassador does so freely scatter about in the Cantons and so many fair promises and French Compliments with which the Lords are fed to rock them asleep but in the mean time I humbly desire that those Gentlemen would make a serious Reflection on the ill Treatment and Contempt lately put on their Ambassadors and by that they shall judge whether they have any great cause to reckon on and to trust to the Friendship and Promises of that King and let them not flatter themselves if the King could have made them submit to the French Yoak long since had he done that business because he well knows the need he has of them that the Cantons can supply him with a great number of good Souldiers and that he can build and reckon on their Alliance I know that in Switzerland as well as elsewhere there are Mercenary Spirits that would willingly Sacrifice their Country to their proper Interests who promise much to France without considering well what they do and if the King had enter'd into Germany as he had purpos'd to do as I have before mention'd the Cantons had had great cause to fear that divers Towns whose Magistrates had been brib'd had follow'd the fatal Example of Strasbourg To this purpose the King has always endeavour'd to divide them in their hearts as well as in their Religion But some will say that Things have not happen'd so and that they are still in a good Condition I grant that and I answer that the pass'd danger ought to render us wise for the future the Swallows know their times why should Men neglect theirs Wherefore above all the Switzers ought not to let slip so fair an Occasion by which they may set themselves at rest for ever I Conjure them to it by that which they hold most dear in the World their Liberty Religion their Children and their own Preservation let them remember they are born free that they depend but on God alone and on their Valour and that they ought to maintain themselves in those fair Priviledges which their Ancestors have acquir'd to them by their Swords and their blood being arriv'd at the moment in which they may preserve them they ought not to fall asleep at the sound of the French Gold it is not with this as with the Tide which returns every day and it may be that England shall never again be Govern'd by a King replenish'd with such good Sentiments and that shall be so well fix'd to the General Interests of all Christendom as is that Prince who Reigns there at this present It is a good fortune which must be taken hold of by the foretop for fear she flyes away It is not to be doubted but that at this very present the French Ambassador does indefatigably Labour with the Cantons and that he offers much more than his Master designs to perform and he fails not to tender also the Arrears due to them provided the Cantons will permit the raising of new Forces or only accept of a Neutrality As if the King did offer them any thing more than their own which he ought to have pay'd them long since I very well know that divers Persons whose eyes this Reimbursement causes to be open would willingly grant what the King requires of them in the belief that they might observe a Neutrality with that just as if the Emperor had granted it and at the same time permit Forces should be given to his Enemy which would be two things very incompatible and which no Monarch would ever endure if he were in any Condition to prevent it Wherefore I once more repeat that the Cantons ought to make serious Reflections on the present State of France in particular and on that of Europe in general and rouse up from that dullness and Mercenary humour in which they are kept in the fear the French King has that the Switzers should awaken on the sudden and open their eyes to their true Interest It lyes at present but on a strong and generous Resolution to get out of all dangers prevent ever relapsing into them again and set themselves in a Condition to depend on none but themselves To this purpose they ought to joyn themselves to the Empire and then require from the King that he should demolish those Fortresses which he has caus'd to be built contrary to former
that in conjunction with that of the States-General he may be Master of the Sea and not only give an Allarm on the Coasts of France but make a descent also in Two different places so soon as possible it can be done then will that Kingdom be in a Combustion and the King of it will lose the North not knowing what place first to Succour as a City that the Fire seizes in all Places and those that shall Land there may be assur'd to be Seconded by a great number of the Inhabitants all along that Coast and from the Neighbouring Provinces William the III. now Reigning ought to be certain that his Predecessors have not for nothing preserv'd that Title of King of France the Rights of Kings never grow out of Date they are always Pupils and at liberty to claim what has wrongfully been taken from them So long as England shall subsist the Kings will have a double Right to France which will never be lost so long as Henry the V. shall have any Successors to the Crown of England he was Son to Margarite of France and she Daughter to Philip le Bell whose Sons deceas'd without Successors to the Crown of France and that Henry as a further Right Married the Daughter of Charles the VI. Being come to France it was decreed by the States of the Kindom that he should be their King after the Death of Charles the VI. and in that Quality the Queen his Mother in Law made him Heir of all her Means and of the Crown of France I am perswaded that there would not need any thing near so much to Lewis the XIV to frame an irrevocable Pretension on England and that the Royal Chamber of Metz would very readily confirm it without the least trouble but there is no such thing on the contrary there has happen'd a time in which all the deceits and subtleties of France begin very much to unstitch and to be thread-bare William the III. has overturn'd the Bankers Tables which the French King's Emissaries had set up in all places their false Coin is no longer currant their Money is cry'd down their Lewis D'Ors which were Worshipped as the Heathen do their Puppets are grown odious to honest People at least the occasion of their Distribution and they are no more capable to corrupt at this time than is the Copper of Sweede Thus France beginning to be cried down by all Christendom and to be slighted in all the Courts of the Princes of Europe it has chang'd its Game and endeavours to imitate those ancient Curtisans who being grown old and wither'd are cast off and abandon'd by every body who alter the Passion once had for them which obliges them also to an alteration in turning Biggots and Superstitious endeavouring to counterfeit Mary-Magdalen thereby to regain that esteem of the People which they had lost by their debauched Lives Thus Lewis the XIV to draw on new Friends and Allies the better to oppose himself to the King of Great Britain and perceiving that all his Credit with the Catholick Princes is at an end that none will any longer confide in him and that his Maxims are cried down he has taken in hand other Means much more subtle than the precedent were he no longer speaks to them of his own Interests but he now Proclaims to them That they must come to the Assistance of the Catholick Religion That it was aimed at when King James his Ally was Attack'd and that he has no other design of making War but for the support of that dear Religion especially by the re-establishment of that Prince on his Throne that if all the Catholicks would but join with him or remain Neuter that he alone will undertake to Re-establish him and at the same time the Catholick Religion in England and Scotland and after that beat down Heresie in its very Center But all this while Lewis the XIV is far from telling what he conceals under those specious Pretences which would be that after he had pull'd down William the III. overcome the Protestant Princes he would do the like to all the Roman Catholicks one after another and thus become Master of Europe It is certain that the diversity of Religion has always been as a large and vast Abiss betwixt the Catholick and the Protestant Princes but the Cruelty and Perfidiousness of the French has fill'd up that Abiss and levell'd the way between them and all difficulties are at present laid aside Even the French King himself unknowingly has given a help in hand to the Business with all his Power for while he endeavours to perswade all the World that he has no other aim than to promote the Catholick Faith and that he Preaches in all places his Conversions that he importunes the Pope to join with him for the Defence of the Church and just in the height of such a fair Mission in all appearance he orders his Troops to enter into the Territories of the Catholick Princes to Attack those of the Prelates of the Church and even to insult the Pope though Head of that Religion which he protests he would defend burning and destroying all over Germany where his Troops but set their Foot without exception of Religion nor of Persons Sacrificing to their Rage the most Sacred Places their Insolence not sparing so much as the Monasteries of the Virgins devoted to the Service of God nor their impiety the Image of our Saviour and that of the holy Virgin his Mother which they have Treated with the greatest Indignation and irreverence that any Atheist could have been guilty of acting in all places like Men that had no Faith and that acknowledg'd no God and all this too as the whole World knows against the promis'd Faith of Treaties and Capitulations which they own they have agreed to but to enter the further and with more ease into Places and to put in Execution their Wicked and Pernicious Designs the King threatning to Cashier those Officers that should not execute with all barbarousness and exactly with the last extremity the Orders of the Court as if they had been sent to put an end to the World by Fire before the appointed time by Divine Providence After all this how can so cruel and so inhumane a Prince take upon him the Title of Most Christian and while that by an over-plus of Crimes he joyns with the Turks to exterminate and ruine Christendom assuring those Infidels that he has not taken up Arms but to come to their Assistance and to procure them the means to recover what they have lost in Hungary and to return before Vienna It is no small trouble to that Most Christian King to have mist his oportunity during the last Siege of Vienna not to have advanc'd with his Army which was ready at hand into Germany without expecting as he did the taking of Vienna but he then believing the loss of it inevitable he thought he should deferr his March but a