Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	king_n	page_n	triple_a	16	3	16.4349	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48636	Observations on the letter written to Sir Thomas Osborn, upon the reading of a book called The present interest of England stated written in a letter to a friend.	Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697.; Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, 1631-1712.; Lisola, François Paul, baron de, 1613-1674.; Holles, Denzil Holles, Baron, 1599-1680.	1673 (1673)	Wing L2375; ESTC R20948	11,893	23

profit of England then to destroy in time the French in their Shipping and thereby in their Maritine Commerce before they are overgrown in strength and Trade in both which from young Interlopers they are in a short time too much increased especially in our Newfoundland Fishery where they have almost eaten us out to the unspeakable prejudice of the Western Parts though that Trade was once our greatest Nursery for Seamen and might have been much more improved and is of such a Nature as the Dutch were not capable of doing us much prejudice in or at least as they never attempted to do us any The Letter reproves the Pamphlets inviting all Princes into the triple League scoffing at it as absurd the League being now determined and to evince the error gives this account of the League That the French King being entered Flanders with a very powerful Army the Kings of England Sweden and the States of Holland entered into a confederacy with design to force the French to make peace upon such Tearms as should be proposed by them and therein wisely to prevent the growing greatness of France and at the same time the Confederates made Articles amongst themselves to help one another in Case any of them should be invaded for having made this League either by the French King the King of Spain or any of their Allies and upon the acceptance of the Articles proposed the Confederates became their Guarranty or Sureties for performance of them on both sides And now this being the state of the Case where the Absurdity or Bull lies in making no distinction between the Triple League and the Guarranty of the Peace is beyond my apprehension for the League as is confessed being made to induce that is to force the French King to a Peace the King of Spain who was Invaded standing in no need of Compulsion and the Confederacy continuing for wartanting of the said agreement which in effect is no less then an honest and prudent League for keeping the French within tollerable bounds and limits and for the assistance of each other against any that should endeavour to revenge this consederacy the Triple League seems to me as it is confessed by the Letter it self at the lower end of Page 15. to be still in being and the expression to be as properly used as that of Guarranty as being one and the same thing for the Guarranty aiming at the same end the League doth and being one Article of the confederacy the Triple League must be still in being as well as the Guarranty And surely it was the last Session of Parliament thought so to be when Money was desired for maintaining of it but this Sir is not worth contending about for the matter being clearly laid down by the Letter the judgment of it is left to your self As I am no Statist nor pretender to it so it concerns not me to inquire further into the Articles agreed on by his Majesty with the Swede and Dutch then is made publick nor in the least to attempt the Censuring any Action of State for that shall always be Forreign to me but yet I presume I may without offence say it doth not appear to me as it doth to the Author of the Letter that the Emperor and Princes of Germany could not have been taken into the Triple League by the Confederates without ingaging to assist them upon occasion against the Turk for as we find that it hath been ordinary for Princes to limit and proportion their Leagues according to their Interests so it is irrational to do otherwise And it doth not follow that because it is the Interest of the Emperour and Princes of Germany to enter into a League with other Princes for keeping the French King from unjustly incroaching upon his Neighbours that therefore those Princes contrary to their manifest should enter into a League with them against the Turk but I Honour the Author of the Letter for the care he expresseth to have for the prevention of War to this Nation and for the rest and quiet of the poor people of England Page 〈◊〉 The Pamphlet not being concerned in the complaint against those that blame the breach with Holland because of the Triple League I shall pass that over agreeing fully with the Author that self-preservation is chiefly to be preferred 〈◊〉 Populi suprema lex The Author of the Letter in his treating of the Interest of England hath several Observations and Notions deserving consideration which I shall reduce to these six heads following First That our increase in power since the time of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory is not proportionable to the increase of the Dutch Page 12. Secondly That the Dutch being so powerful at Sea as they now are may by ioyning with the French whenever they will agree upon it endanger the Conquest of England and keeping to themselves the most confiderable parts in it for Trade being Masters at Sea provide for their own security against the greatness of France Page 12. Thirdly That it is not wisdom for any Nation to have its safety depend upon the prudence of another as in relying upon its being against the Interest of Holland to Invade England because they may mistake their Interest Page 12. Fourthly That a Conquest of England being made the Dutch Government being more easie and indulging Trade then the Arbitrary and severe Regiment of France as also their Religion concurring more with ours then that of France the Trading Party of England would be likelier to close with the first then the latter and for the like Reason should Holland be ever in danger of a Conquest by the Conjunction of England with France they would rather choose to become part of the English Government then submit to the power of France For that their joyning with us and therein making it as much our Interest to promote their Trade as the Trade of any other Nation may answer that Obiection That their fear of our obstructing their Trade will make them averse to us Page 13. Fifthly That it is not probable that the Dutch will ever agree to put themselves under the Dominion of the French who will not trust them without such advantages as may compel them to observe their promises as the other will never give them such a power least they should make a corrupt use of it Page 14. Sixthly That considering the Situation and Constitutions of England a Coalition with us would prove more acceptable and advantagious to them then any tearms they can expect from the French and that should we get no more then the Maritine Towns and the French all the rest of the States Dominions we should have no cause to repent our Bargain Page 14. These Notions contain the substance of that part of the Letter which treats of the Interest of England the first of which I must not at present deny because the Auxiliary assistance which we have received from France seems to make it good

Traders to change bondage for liberty or at least in hopes of better entertainment one Countrey for another as did the subversion of the Florentine Government in that Countrey and as they were preparing to do the like in Holland when they feared the late Prince of Oreng's over-turning that State for the Antipathy betwixt Merchants and Souldiers is such that all Monarchs of Trading Countries have ever held it their Interest to keep their great Trading Towns free from a Mercinary Militia and it is exceeding difficult if not Morally impossible for a Prince to advance Trade to any great height where the people are under the awe of a standing Military power and the French King seems to own the truth of this in that finding the benefit of Commerce he is even in France content that his Trading Cities should be freed from Souldiers and more gently used then the rest of his Countrey for so far as the Nature of his arbitrary Government will permit he studieth all manner of wayes to advance Trade As first by totally prohibiting such Forrein Commodities and Manufactures as his people are capable of making sufficient to serve his Countrey as Train-Oyl c. Secondly By burthening others with high Customs and Impositions to the end to incourage his own Artisans and Seamen thereby making the Trade of England thither very prejudicial to us our Transportations hence being inconsiderable to our Importations thence and as they improve in any faculty so they either prohibit or increase their impositions upon the Importation of the Forrein-made Commodities of that faculty And Thirdly as an incouragement to Trade the French King hath lately declared the exercise of Commerce in a Gentleman to be no prejudice to his quality having also erected an Academy for breeding his Nobility to Sea Affairs and teaching them the Art of Navigation c. All which may well Alarm England to a jealousie of their designs as most dangerous to it and to look upon the French as those Rivals whom if hatred be lawful as the Letter in this Case seems to make it we ought most to hate for should they once come to Vie with us in Trade or Naval strength we should find them to exceed all that ever went before them in insolency injustice and selfishness And whether the second part of this Notion hath a good foundation which asserts That should England get but the Sea Towns alone leaving the rest of the States Dominions to the French we should have no cause to repent our Bargain I will not presume to judge yet this I think considerable in the Case that should the Inlands of the Vnited Provinces and with them all the Conquered places fall to the share of the French as by the late published Proposals in Dutch if true they seem to pretend unto the Latter then having thereby the command of the Rivers of Rhine and Mase c. together with Sluce and the other Garrisons which shuts up the Trade of Flanders and Brabant they will have it in their power to render all the parts of the Seventeen Provinces which will remain to the Kings of England and Spain of no more use to them then they please to allow of First Because the Sea Towns of the Vnited Netherlands cannot be divided from the Inlands from which they receive their nourishment nor deprived of the use of their Rivers by which they drive their Trades without utter ruine to them and making them thereby an intollerable burthen to their Masters Secondly Because the Spanish Netherlands will thereby be so invironed or rather be leagured by the French Garrisons and Forces on all sides as well towards Germany Holland and Zealand c. as towards France that having no means left them for forming or maintaining an Army as any that know those Countries must confess they will always be in the French Kings devotion and when assaulted by him without possibility of contributing any considerable assistance to their own deliverance or to make the Triple League of any use to them Thirdly Because such will be the enervated condition of the Spanish Netherlands that the King of Spain will be necessitated as not being able to maintain them longer then the French will permit him either to quit them voluntarily or if he can obtain so much favour to make an exchange or sale of them to the French King who then having Flanders and Brab●nt which he hath so long thirsted after and all the Rivers belonging to them in his own hands will assuredly for the advantage of himselfe and his own Countries even in times of peace so obstruct and hinder the Trade of the Maritine Towns of Holland Zealand and Friezland if in the possession of any but himself and in times of War totally shut them up by Land as will restore Flanders and Brabant to their ancient Trade and make a new Holland of them which being in the hands of the French will probably prove abundantly worse to England then the old if large experience of injuries and injustices committed in Trade by them against this Nation may warrant a Conclusion as by the Certificate under the Lord Ambassador Hollis his hand which I send you here inclosed given upon an order of his Majesties Privy Council Dated the 17. April 1667. in the Case of Sir Francis Toppe and Company doth for one instance sufficiently appear Nay such is the envious care of the French that no Nation should get or thrive by them that as Mr. Samuel Fortrey one of the Gentlemen of his Majesties Privy Chamber reporteth in his Book Printed 1663. and Dedicated to King Charles the second not many years ago they suspecting through mistakes that England had an advantage of them in their Trade for France they were upon Counsels for prohibiting all Trade with England until upon a strict examination they found that whereas England vented of their Commodities into France not to above the value of Ten hundred thousand Pounds per annum France vented of theirs to the English Six and twenty hundred thousand pounds and then finding that they had Sixteen hundred thousand Pounds advantage in the Ballance they soon let fall their design though yet not without burthening English Manufactures with New Impositions in such manner as might much hinder the vent of them in their Countrey And Mr. Fortrey in the aforementioned Book doth not only recite the very Ballance of Trade it self which he affirms was presented to the French King to shew the advantage they have in their Trade with England but also adds further that hereby it may appear how insensibly our Treasure will be exhausted and the Nation beggered whilst we carelesly neglect our own Interest and strangers abroad are diligent to make their advantage by us And it is of no little consideration that the French should so far overvalue themselves as to increase their Impositions upon Dutch Commodities to a degree of prohibiting them and deny to the Dutch the like power by theirs as

if they had a right to deal as they please towards other Nations and yet none to do towards them by way of Retalliation any more then they shall think fit to give them leave to do an over weening opinion of their own greatness which all Princes and States ought to be jealous of as not knowing where their ambition will end And besides these things thus instanced in we have great cause to take notice that as the effect of the implacable hatred of the French to our Nation they cannot forbear in their writings to express their inveterate malice against us as that Book called le Politique de France writ in the year 1669 and Dedicated to the French King is a pregnant Testimony where no better Epithetes are allowed us then being without friends without faith without Religion without honesty without any justice of defying or provoking Natures light or unconstant to the highest degree cruel impatient gluttons proud audatious and covetous proper for ready execution and assaults but uncapable of managing a War with judgment with other such like opprobrious and reproachful expressions besides a Method propounded to be observed in order to the Conquest of England Page 158 159 160 161. enough to raise a lawful indignation in all true Englishmen against such insolent slanderers who by their impudence endeavour to impose their own Characters upon in contrary to the known experience of the rest of the world And now Sir I have no more to add then all Circumstances considered my agreement with the Pamphlet in this Principle that while France is so great as at present it can in no kind be for the safety of England to subvert Holland and Zealand c. which are properly called their out-guards or works against all Invasions and cannot be demolished or in the hands of the French without laying England naked or at least the more open to that Nation and that nothing is more demonstrable then that since the United Provinces cannot signifie much without freedom they will under their own Government be of most use to all Christendome save France who only wants them as a qualification for threatning instead of courting their Neighbours in maintaining the general Ballance of Europe even as it was great wisdom in the long Parliament for the wickedest of men may have worldly prudence to joyn with Holland in the preserving of Denmark as necessary for the Ballancing of Sweden when Cromwel in his time in revenge of manifest affronts and hatred had designed the ruine of the Dane And thus Sir having in obedience to your Commands given you freely my sense of the Pamphlet and Letter without varying from the matter in either as it is in them respectively stated I hope you will pardon any thing wherein I may differ with you in judgment or opinion for I have this for my Buckler that what I have writ is Truth and that I aim at nothing in it but the true Interest of the King and Kingdom of England and Protestant Religion denying that any can have more Cordial affection for them then my self who am c. April 17 th anno 1669. According to the Printed Copy IN obedience to an Order of Council of the 16th present requiring my opinion what is fit to be done for relief of Sir Francis Toppe and Company I do humbly certifie that I have perused their Case and find that they complain of great losses and damages sustained in the year 1644. whilst they lived in St. Malo from the French by seizing their Goods in a time of Peace in the very Harbours of France whither they had brought those Goods in a way of Trading and where by several Treaties then in force and by the very Law of Nations which gives a security to the Persons and Estates of all who reside peaceably within the Dominions of any Prince or State they ought to have been safe and free from all Arrests the owners not having done any thing whereby to forfeit their Interest in them which course if suffered must needs be the destruction of all Trade and Commerce between the two Kingdoms as it is also very dishonourable and injurious to his Majesty that the publick faith should be broken to his Subjects who Trade under his protection by vertue of the Treaties made between the two Crowns and it is much to be feared that the proceedings in France may become very prejudicial in this kind to the whole trading of the English Nation in that Kingdom if nothing be done to stop this growing mischief In regard this is not the single Case where this course hath been put in practice the like having been done several times to English Merchants at Rouen who are not yet free of the trouble for a Capture at Sea whether real or pretended to have been made in 1616. by an English Privateer of a French Ship belonging to one Delaun●y valued but at six thousand Livers And whilst I had the Honour to serve his Majesty as his Ambassador in France two English Ships coming into Harbour at Marseille when they had Landed their Goods and paid all duties were seized upon Ships and Goods and notwithstanding all my solicitations would not be discharged But some Months after the War breaking out were given to the East India Company there they pretending some Ships of theirs to have been formerly taken by the English And now as I hear at St. John de Luz the same usage is threatned if not already begun to our Merchants there for the reparation of the Widow de Lazin for some goods of her late Husbands taken from her by the Parliament in 1643. So as all this makes me fearful it may come to be a constant Custom if not prevented I do therefore offer it as my humble opinion that all care should be taken for the prevention of it And for this particular Case of Sir Francis Topp's and Company that in the first place a fair application may be made to the French King as well by his Ambassador here as by his Majesties Ambassador at Paris for the just satisfaction of the Petitioners which may be hoped will prove effectual and should it not it will then be time for his Majesty to consider what is further to be done for the vindication of his own Honour and and the protection of his Subjects Hollis FINIS