Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A57251
|
Letters of the Cardinal Duke du Richelieu great minister of state to Lewis XIII of France / faithfully translated from the original by T.B.
|
Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de, 1585-1642.; T. B.
|
1698
(1698)
|
Wing R1421; ESTC R25818
|
385,036
|
604
|
much the more pleas'd with it because he promises himself from your Prudence Courage and good Conduct that a Success so propitious will produce something more advantageous for the common Good I can assure yee Sir that His Majesty will omit nothing that depends upon him to second your good Intentions and to put yee into a Condition not only to prosecute 'em but to preserve the Post which you are now Master of and which is of that Consequence that I doubt not but that you have taken all the Care of it that may be As to my particular I beseech Your Highness to believe that in my Station near His Majesty I shall contribute towards your Satisfaction as much as in me lies or that you can expect from me who no less wishing the Increase of your Glory and Reputation then your self shall always be glad of any Opportunity to let you see by Effects that I am c. LETTER CCIV. The the Count de Picolomini THE Events of War are usually so various that when any thing of Prosperity befalls us I always consider'd that we must expect to hear of bad fortune Your Excellency's good Conduct and the bad Conduct of many that were in the Army commanded by M. de Feuquieres has given yee an advantage which I had rather should have befallen you then any other that acts against the King by reason of your particular Merit and Civilty I would have willingly propos'd to his Majesty the sending back of the Baron of Equenfort according to your desire were it not already agreed that he should be exchang'd together with General Wertz for Monsieur the Marshal Horn Coll. Tubal and Chevalisquy As for M. de Feuquieres I assure my self you will not dislike the putting him to so easie a Ransom to the end he may have cause to speak well of your good usage and that you may be quit of a Person that for a long time has not been able to stir out of his Bed and his Chamber I promise my self that your Civility in this particular will crown your good Success at the Battel of Thlonville and I assure yee that upon any other opportunity that shall present it self the example which you set me upon this occasion shall be religiously observ'd and I shall take it for a favour that I may have the Liberty to manifest that I am c. LETTER CCV To the Chancellor Overstein M. d' Avaux having made known to us the Inclination of the Crown of Sweden to assist France with a certain number of men of War for which she has an Occasion I write these Lines most earnestly to intreat your Excellency to be instrumental by virtue of that Power which I know you have that the King may receive the Benefit of this Favour upon the Conditions that shall be propounded by the Sieur d' Avaux beseeching you to believe that besides the Thanks which His Majesty will return you for your Care in procuring this Satisfaction and the Obligation you will lay upon me in particular the common Cause will receive no small Benefit by the Service of these Vessels for the Advantage of which it is that the King more especially desires ' em And for my part Sir I shall always deem it one of my chiefest Happinesses to serve your Excellency as being c. LETTER CCVI. To the Grand Master of Malta THough I wrote to yee two Days ago by the Chevalier des Roches who is going to attend yee upon the Report which is spread abroad of the Seige of Malta nevertheless I cannot but write once more to give yee new Assurances that I shall contribute upon this Occasion as much as lies in my power towards the Good of your Order The King has written to Marseilles to the end you may be furnish'd with Powder there by the Merchants to serve you according as Monsicur the Commander of Villegagnon has already spoke to me in your behalf I am glad you have committed to his Care the Affairs of your Order in the Absence of Monsieur de la Porte my Uncle knowing that he will most honourably discharge his Trust I shall say nothing to yee at present touching the Commanders and Knights that are employ'd for the Service of the King in his Armies because that besides that His Majesty has written to yee at large upon this Subject I have already made it my Request to you in my former Letters to hold 'em excus'd And therefore I shall only now assure yee of the Continuance of my Affection and that I am c. LETTER CCVII. To the Lords of the Swiss-Cantons Messieurs YOU will understand as well by the King's Dispatches brought you by the Sieur Sonneberg as by M. Melland his Ambassador to whom he has written more at large the Good Will which His Majesty bears the Lords of the Cantons and the Desire he shall always have carefully to preserve the Union which France has maintain'd with 'em Time out of Mind However I must tell yee by the by that the King is highly pleas'd with your sending to him the said Sieur de Sonneberg upon his entring into Franche Comte with his Army wherein he had no other Aim but to inforce from those of the Country Reparation for their Breaches of the Neutrality which His Majesty will be always as careful to observe on his part as they shall shew themselves willing to do the same on theirs For my part my Lords I beseech yee to believe that when I shall have any Opportunity to serve yee you shall find both in general and particular that no Body is more sincerely then my self c. LETTER CCVIII To the Marquis of Mirabel when His Eminency was admitted Duke and Peer of France I Take it for no small Honour that an Ambassador of Spain and particularly the Marquis of Mirabel whom I highly esteem would be pleas'd to signifie by his Letters to me his sharing in my Satisfaction for the new Marks of Favour and Goodness bestow'd upon me by so great a King and so good a Master as I have the Honour to serve The best Acknowledgment I can return for this Civility is to acquaint His Majesty with it who will be highly pleas'd to find that you are pleas'd with what he has done If I meet with any Opportunity to manifest by any other Way my real Acknowledgment I shall not fail to do it In the mean time believe both what I say and that I am c. LETTER CCIX. To the Lord High Treasurer of England UNderstanding that Endeavours are us'd to create in your Lordship an ill Opinion of the Bishop of Calcelon who is fled for Sanctuary to my House and that he is accus'd to have been tampering and medling with Affairs of State and as 't is said to have been writing likewise something to your prejudice I cannot but I must let your Lordship know that I should by no means suffer him under my Roof if there were
any Condition inserted in those Articles 't is past all Doubt that if they have any Cause to except against it 't is by reason that the Alliance with Spain is of it self odious and prejudicial to Christendom In which Case England deserves more justly to be blam'd then we since she has so passionately sought the same Alliance that we have accepted This Match ought also to give as little Jealousie to the Foreign Protestants as to the French since the Interests of State that bind Princes are different from the Interests of the Salvation of Souls which obliging us to live and die in the Church wherein we were born bind us only in respect of others to desire 'em by fair Means not to hall 'em by Force and Constraint Several Christians have been so united with Mis-believers that their Arms have never been separated in Conquests of this World though in those which they pretend to Heaven they have been divided Since Errour insinuated it self into Europe into England and among our selves these Crowns have been united together by the same Bonds Philip King of Spain having married Elizabeth the Daughter of Henry II. these two Kings being greatly puissant Henry naturally Warlike and an Enemy to the Huguenots the Crown of England enjoy'd by a Woman the Catholicks potent in her Country Scotland was Leagu'd to France by the Marriage of Francis the Dauphin to Mary Steuart The Huguenots were every where weak they had not any Province in Flanders not one in France Liberty of Conscience was forbid nevertheless these two Crowns were so far from making any Advantage of their Union against the Queen of England and other neighbouring Countries that on the other side the Huguenots in France rebell'd against their King in Flanders against their Prince and in Scotland against their Queen All that we desire is to preserve our selves in such a manner that they may make no Attempts upon us In that Case we shall shew that no People surpass us in desiring to maintain our ancient Alliances for which we have a high Value Does not our desire to renew our Union with England appear by the Tye which binds us to Spain It appears by the Conditions which we have coveted to that end that we wholly desire that Alliance and by the proceeding of the English who have relax'd in their pursuit of it in prosecution of new Alliances with Spain that there is Cunning if not Malice in what they do to render us odious in order to make themselves acceptable Can it be call'd a Contempt of our ancient Alliances with Spain that we keep in Pay four thousand Foot for the preservation of the Protestants in that Kingdom whereas we were not bound by the Treaty to pay 'em above two years Is it not sufficient for us that we know it was one of the last marks of the deceased King's Good-will to bestow upon 'em Seventeen millions all at once Is it a Contempt of our ancient Alliances to take care of the continuance of the Treaties between them and the Arch-Duke of Austria To give the Republic of Genâ—a a Pension of 24000 Crowns which was paid in the midst of our Necessities and for the maintenance of the Garrison necessary for their defence Is it a Contempt of our ancient Alliances with Germany to set an Army on foot in order to compose the Differences that happened about the affair of Cleves and Juliers Does the Treaty of Kempen at the Instance and by the Authority of France does that I say testifie our Scorn of ' em If it be not perform'd where lies the fault but among those who possessing the thing in Contest as it were in deposito will not let go their hold for the turning of their Titular Possession into succession of Time Have they not themselves forg'd Difficulties to bring about their ends Has not France offer'd to become Guarantee of the Treaty with England Has she not often renew'd her importunity as now she does Is it a Contempt of our ancient Alliances in Italy to take Arms to hinder the Duke of Savoy from oppressing the Duke of Mantua and afterwards to interpose on purpose to prevent Spain who comes in for her Stakes from ruining the Duke of Savoy The Conclusion of the Treaty of Ast does it not shew our great Care of our Neighbors If the Treaty have not taken effect are the mediators the cause of it If the Parties are not so free to perform as to promise the Conditious shall they who have taken their Words be accountedâ— guilty If afterwards they slip in some obscure Article into their Treaties to the end that by putting their own Interpretation upon them they may take from thence a plausible Pretence to disclaim em when they please as it has fallen out in that particular where lies the Fault The Spaniard obliges himself to remove from the Duke of Savoy the Jealousie of his Arms the Duke interprets this Article to be an absolute laying down of Arms The Spaniard averrs That his meaning was never to oblige himself to stand to that Condition are we to be responsible for these Shifts and Artifices Is it not sufficient that His Majesty interposes afresh to reconcile this Dispute Does he not satisfie by so doing what he may be thought to owe the Duke of Savoy out of Civility by permitting his Subjects freely to assist him That his whole Army consists of Twenty thousand men Is this a feeble Succour to a Prince What have we done that it might not be thought we have broken the Laws of our alliance with that Prince We permitted a passage to the Duke of Nemours but how With such assurance that he should have no Benefit by the Permission when the Embassadors of Savoy agreed to it judging before us that in so doing we should oblige Spain without opening her Purse since his Master could receive no Prejudice People are too apt to observe what with most probability be said against us but not what really justifies us They raise Causes of Complaint but pass over in silence that for which they ought in Justice to thank us Then again where is there any Englishman German Hollander or Reiter to be found in the Duke of Savoy's Army Yet these are the Nations who tacitely find fault with us doing in this like him who standing upon the brink of a River assists in words his drowning Friend but blames another who to save him from the danger ventures the drowning himself Is it a Contempt of our ancient Alliances with Spain to grant the Venetians a passage through the Grisons which they cannot have without us and without which the Arch-Duke de Grets would have had great Advantages over ' em Is it a dealing unkindly with that Republic not only to grant 'em a free passage but also to permit 'em to allye themselves with the Grisons to the end that afterwards without our intermediating they might enjoy that passage which they could not have