Daughter of Philip the Fair from this Match came Henry V. of England who had as much Right to France as the Dauphin has to Spain For the three Sons of Philip the Fair Lovis Hutin Philip the Long and Charles the Fair dyed all without Issue-male and it was after this when the King of England sued for his Right to the Kingdom of France that the Salique Law was first introduc't usher'd in by a Sermon which the Bishop of Beauvais preacht before the Convention of the States proving by the Gospel which sayes The Lillies spin not that by consequence the Flower de lis which represents France ought never to fall to the Distaff But that Law could only affect what was to come and not what was past Afterward Henry V. King of England came over into France with a Potent Army won several Victories and at last Married Catherine Daughter of Charles VI. and in the year 1421 it was sinally decreed and concluded that Henry should be King of France Now Isabel Queen of France Mother to Catherine Queen of England made her last Will in favour of her Son in Law and declared him Heir to all her Estate and to the Crown which in my judgment is a great addition to the Right which the Kings of England have to the Realm of France If the King of France had but had that Right to England which the King of England has to France what a Company of Manifestoes and Writings should we have flie about to demonstrate his just pretentions as he calls every thing he is pleased to lay a claim to So that let the King of England take a view of France which way soever he will he ought alway to suspect her and stand upon his guard as against one whom he certainly knows to be his Enemy He may justly be assured that he does not coaks him so without a design to get something out of him and because he knows him the only one who is able to counterpoize his Affairs Therefore 't is no wonder that Lewis XIV took so much pains to supply the late King Charles II. Necessities and satisfie his Pleasure Mounsieur Barillen and Madam Portsmouth can justifie what I say but I can assure you that the King of France regards neither Princes nor private Persons one jot farther than as they are for his turn Nay farther Even Vertue it self is only esteem'd by him so long as she squares with his Interest What value pray did he put upon either Princes or Princesses during Cromwel's Government Were they not obliged to retire not to say driven out of France What subsistnance or help had their Princes in their Exile from France No 't is to the Family of Orange that they are obliged which furnisht them with considerable Sums of Money but on the contrary France was the promoter of the late Troubles of England she gave the Princes no protection and never contributed the least toward the re-establishing of the late King in his Throne All this considered neither just resentment from the Royal Family nor the English Interest can decently allow of such close Alliances with France as shall be able to make England shut her Eyes or be a by-stander whilst Lewis XIV takes the Low Countries But on the other side she ought to be continually in a posture to hinder her in every the least attempt she makes towards it and to make use of the Six Regiments in Holland which the States won't refuse upon such an occasion to prevent the King of France his bringing more Men down upon Flanders I am perswaded that those Six Regiments would be able to cope with double the number of the French and thus by Englands only showing of her Teeth Europe will be safe Resist the Devil and he will flie from you But if you are afraid of him he 'l soon master you France has cut out work for King James now Reigning The Enterprize which he has taken in hand is so great that many Men fear and others hope that he will never get quit of it with his Life 'T is no time to change Laws when the Enemy is at the Gate 'T is not convenient at all times to think of working great Conversions some Battles must be fought to let the World see a Character both of a Soldier and a Polititian All the World expected this and more from the King. His Mighty Courage put all Europe in hopes that he would be an Universal Comforter to them and would afford some respite to Spain But alas What can his Allies and Spain hope for whilst his sole business is to please the Jesuits kindles a fire in his own Kingdom which it may be he won't be able to quench when he pleases and so long as he does so he dares not call a Legal Free Parliament Spain lost her self by banishing the Moors out of the Kingdom France is weakned by the Conversions she has wrought and by driving out the Hugonots and she has a great mind that the King of England would follow her Example We must not rob God of his Right Conversions only belong to him and he is able to convert the whole World with one Word Therefore leaving the care of this to God the King of England ought to mind the safety of his States avoid being made the King of France his Cully and make him keep at home and not fall upon his Neighbours Lands which ought to be the Barrier between them Thus the King will do his Honour and Conduct but Justice and satisfie the expectation of all Europe The Politick Spirit of France and its Maxims in reference to the United Provinces THE States of the Vnited Provinces after they had constrained Spain by force of Arms to acknowledge them for Free High and Mighty States depending on none but God alone were for some time the admiration of their Neighbours and every one laboured to procure their Friendship and Alliance and it may be said that they were looked upon as the Umpires of Europe but since the War in 1672 this High Reputation hath been lessened and France hath been so cunning to play her Cards so well that she had well nigh reduc't them to nothing if by an unlookt for change the People had not put the whole management and command into the Prince of Orange's hands and if some persons of ill designs had not been brought to condign punishment But God whom it pleased by his Providence to protect and preserve this little Country did after the siege of Norden send such a panick fear amongst its Enemies that they broke up their Camp with more speed than they came yet the thing which did most contribute to these misfortunes besides the Treachery of France was their being unprovided of good Forces and a good Head for the Army These Provinces relyed wholly upon the Peace and treacherous deceitful promises of France which all a long in time of Peace carryed on a design against the said
the Pens of those Droll-Wits Pasquin and Murforio 'T is certain if the King of Poland should give way to this aukward Contract of Alliance it would be as much as to declare plainly that he no longer pretended to have the Crown of Poland for his Son and that this Marriage was an act wholly disclaiming it I would have him rather follow the King of Portugals example he was cunning enough to get himself disentangled from the importunities of France to strengthen himself by his alliance with the House of Austria and the Emperour by his Marriage with the Princess Palatine of Newbourgh he knew too well that if ever Lewis XIV got footing in Spain that his Kingdom would depend on his disposal One of the two Teeth this same Lewis was born with is called Usurping the other Cruel from the one proceeds dependance decorum or convenience of Scituation from the other Treachery and Persecution you need not question if the King of France should become King of Spain but Portugal would be first of all invested because the Spaniard possest that Kingdom from Philip II. until Philip IV. time which was about the year 1640 when the Portugueze shook off the Spanish yoak Threescore years of possession may plead prescription whereon to ground his right of dependance there needs only thirty for a private man besides the right of decorum or commodious Scituation for Portugal joyns upon the Kingdom of Castile Aragon and Granada he had not so good a Title to the Kingdom of Austrasie nay he hath quite turned out the Princes who possessed one part of the Lands of that Kingdom for near 600 years Fear keeps the Vineyard as the French say and distrust is the mother of safety If I had to do with Salvages or with the King of Bantam or China not knowing occurrences in our parts it would be requisite to enter upon an Historical Relation of all the slippery tricks France hath played this last Age of all the Deceits Cheats Usurpations Injustices and Cruelties this present King hath put in practice to be Master of the Estates and the Possessions of his Neighbours But I speak to Europeans and they Christians too who have seen with their Eyes heard with their Ears and have dayly before them Princes dispoyled and stript of their Possessions so many People ruined so many Cities taken so many Houses now nothing but ruins and rubbish Thousands of Christians reduced to Beggery nay and the Blood of his own Subjects still a gushing out in mighty streams all over the Country These I say are speaking Books where all up and down you may find in huge Characters Lewis the Great Sacrifices all to his Ambition and Interest Now although all the World knows it and though scarce a Prince but hath been couzen'd by him yet he is so skilful to hush them asleep by the mild gentle raine of Lewisses that some part of them cry Lord what wouldst thou have us do and run headlong insensibly and with a kind of delight to the ruin and destruction of their Issue O how much need hath Europe of a good Oculist to remove the Scales from the Eyes of a great many Princes and once in their lives to open them for them to the end that every one knowing what 's good for himself may lay aside and forsake the interest of France they ought all unanimously to endeavour with might and main to procure him a Competitour to balance him and retain and bind him up within his just bounds and so disable him that he may no more trouble the earth by his ambition One blow is sufficient to do it what need I tell you all Europe sees it This will come to pass when it shall please the Divine Wisdom of the true Universal Monarch King of Kings to make it evident We cannot but wish Lewis XIV long life that he may be witness of all these things and may have another Joshua to stop the course of his Sun for which the people of the earth so much long and put up their continual Prayers for The Spirit or Policy of France and its Maximes in regard of the Suisse Cantons his Allies and of Savoy THE Cantons of Switzerland being free and absolute are governed by themselves hold of none but of God and their own valour they are partly reformed and partly Roman Catholick 't is by reason of this difference of Religion that they have often variance amongst themselves and give the King of France occasion to lay hold on the opportunity who makes good use of the easiness of the latter to sow the seed of dissention among them In time past they did no way border upon France which was a great happyness for the Cantons but since the peace Hen. IV. made with the Duke of Savoy the Country of Gex belonged to that Prince then after that France which alwayes gets ground did make encroachments in Alsatia Franche Conte and towards Burgundy is at this time Neighbour to the Swisse on three several sides But Lewis XIV not content with that had a mind to be a nearer Neighbour to his fellows by the Fort of Huninghen within Canon shot as we all know from Basil the Governour hath lately attempted it the Suisse were too much overseen in being a little to well acquainted witsi the King of France who thereby hath found out where their strength and weakness lyes and which way soever their affairs turn whensoever they are forced to quarrel with these Princes it will alwayes fare with them as the Fable tells us it did with the Earthen pot and Iron pot Secondly To lend so many Regiments to France are as so many men lost out of the Cantons who it may be one day may like young Vipers destroy their common Mother their Countrey there are few Swisse Officers in the French Kings Service but let themselves be corrupted by Marriages then suffer their Eyes to be dazled by good places and your Louis do'r and so at once renounce both their Religion and Party sacrifice as Stoupa the Lieutenant General would have done twice sixteen Cantons to the Interest of France He is not alone in his own gang he hath God knows too many Disciples you 'l find but very few who imitate the Sieur Dasselouer of Berne heretofore Captain in the King's Service who chosed rather to give over his employ and break his Pike then do any thing contrary to the Treaty which his Superiours had entered to about the passage of the Rhine against the Hollanders they have also committed a notable fault in tying up their own hands that they cannot send to Spain the like number of Soldiers as they do to France This restriction hath more of the Frenchman in it than the Cantons are aware of They cannot but grant that they have suffered themselves to be curb'd by the Fort at Huninghen which but too much discovers the Kings design every chink in it are like so many open Mouths crying out
sacrificed so many brave men for the service grandeur and maintaining of that State yet that nevertheless they will stand to their Treaty of Peace and Allyance in the hopes they have always entertained and do still entertain that his Majesty to whom with the Royal Family they wish all happiness will on his part be responsable As for our part in particular though we have not had the happiness to see his Majesty yet we cannot chose but wish him all Personal Health and do assure your Excellency of the esteem and high value we put and all ways shall upon your deserts and incomparable vertue protesting to you that we are more particularly your most humble Servant After such a base affront who would not undervallue such Embassadours the Representatives and their Superiours also who durst present them with a Golden Chain of 500 Crowns value One would think they had an hand in it and that they were covetous of Money and Presents If an Embassadour after taking such an affront should have accepted it he would have deserved to be hanged with that Golden Coller By the refusal of Audience you may well understand what France is made of and its designs Whoever heard or saw a free and absolute Republique referr'd to a Parliament under his Authority as the King refers Geneva to the Parliament at Dijon it would have been more legal and just to have refer'd them to the Parliament at Turin Now behold the equity of this great King who would always be both Judge and Party in his own Cause who would make all Europe depend on his Judges some upon those of Metz others on those of Dijon and Aix in Provence as he forces the people of Orange to do but we hope those of Geneva will not submit to those unjust Judges and supposing they do they will not miss losing their Cause and after that they will make a new pretension upon them till they have fettered them and losing their City and Liberty they become the slaves of France a Victim offered up to the Jesuit and the Conquest of Lewis the great and it is odds but that will be so indeed if they don't look about them betime and prepare themselves for its coming upon them for he 'l come and give them a visit as he did the Genoueses Let them not flatter themselves with the contrary when he shall make them resolve to sacrifice themselves for their Liberty rather then to a Prince who would be their Antiochus their bloody Master and would snatch the Children from their Mothers embraces to deliver them into the hands of the Jesuits make them forsake Relations Religion and all duty of Christians and refusing to obey this ambition would hale them to the Scaffold and throw their Carcasses to dogs nay if so be they should deal more gently with them it would be only to make them bear company with his own Subjects in Dungeons in the Gallies and in the West-Indies Now take notice of this Spirit of France and beware of it That Lewis XIV is no good Christian I Shall finish this Treatise in demonstrating that this King is no good Christian that it is but a cloak for his Knavery the better to play fast and loose the better to bring about his ambitious designs that albeit he makes a great clutter with the title of most Christian King at Rome yet we find him to be nothing less All who are baptized are not Christians for then we might reckon Julian the Apostate and Arrius to be such whom men look upon as Apostates and Antichrists I am perswaded the Marquiss de Montespan will justifie what I say I cannot think that Prince worthy the name of a Christian who covets his Neighbours Wife nay before all the World takes her from her Husband makes use of her and begets Children of her whom he would fain get declared natural never before Lewis his time practiced in France He cannot assume the name of Christian who makes little Conscience to break the most solemn Oaths and Engagements made at the Communion as he did at the Peace concluded at the Perinees upon his Marriage with the Infanta of Spain And then the Oath taken at his Coronation to observe the Edicts of pacification are they not dayly violated and retracted upon every frivolous pretence Good Christians are such who live up to those Vows they have made even to very Infidels The Marquiss de Laverdin making his publick entrance into Rome did choose rather to do it like a Fox than a Lyon as since it appears without ever determining any thing positively concerning it when they demanded him to explain himself before he made his entrance so that engaging himself neither pro nor con it will always be time enough and seasonable to make his Masters will to stand him in stead as we shall see hereafter when the Provencal Fleet shall be before Civita Vechia and other Ports of the Popes Dominion besides that it was convenient to carry it fair to obtain the Bull for the Cardinal of Furstenburg whom France was assured would be nominated to the Coadjutorship of Cologn the Dean and Chapter as 't is credibly given out fingered the Kings Money to that in effect it was registred and their Votes sold so that it was not possible to go back with their word When the Marquiss de Lavardin entred Rome the business was as good as done and the King made sure of it but he found himself mistaken as to the Bull for he believed the Pope who is wise and good natured enough of himself not loving noise would yield at the Embassadors arrival that the Spiritual would give place to the Temporal but he was deceived in his account meeting with such stiffness and vigour in an old man which it may be one durst not have hoped for in a young man. In the mean time behold the Marquiss de Lavardin keeping watch and ward night and day and that round about the Palace of Fernese just as if it were a Fort surrounded with enemies before the Pope and the Conclave of Cardinals Noses By all these riots and indignities done to the most eminent person of the Church Vicar of Christ and St. Peters Successor is nothing in comparison to that which Talon the Kings Advocate hath belched forth against his Holiness and the Cardinals his Counsellors accusing the former to be a favourer of Heresie Jansenisme and of Quietists and a thousand other impertinences which is to be seen more at large in the demand of the abovesaid Talon to the Parliament of Paris and by the Embassadors protestation publickly affixed at Rome the expressions therein are scandalous that they might deservedly procure the fire for a private person but when one hath the power in his own hand he thinks he may Lawfully say and do whatsoever likes him But the Pope who is grave and wise will let him go on yea peradventure his great modesty and prudent behaviour may make the King come to himself again and acknowledge the wrong and that the Pope is Master at home in his own House and may be able to disannul and take away the Franchises of the Embassadors quarters when he shall see it convenient for the repose of his People and his own Conscience It is not his frequenting Mass which is a Characteristical mark of being a Christian or for being kind to the Jesuits for fear awes Princes sometimes to make much of Jesuits and shew much respect to them Hen. IV. was not free from this fear when he would have restored them in France for when the Duke of Sully advised him to the contrary he started up and replyed secure me my Life then for 't was more then probable that those who sued for their return had assured the King that if he did not do it he would be in imminent danger of being Murthered When Life is at stake what will not a man do to save it Who can tell but these good Fathers have told the King now Reigning if in case he did not root out all the Huguenots out of his Dominions this must come in alwayes ad majorem Dei Gloriam that he would endanger his Life What sign of a Christian was there in the King when he made a League with Cromwel to fall upon the Low Countries and to banish Charles II. from his Kingdom who was rightful Successor to the Crown of England and a good Catholick in his heart although afterwards out of Policy he was fain to appear otherwise Again what sign of Christianity doth there appear in a Prince who assists Count Tekely in league with the Turks against the Emperour A King who forbids all Bishops and Curats throughout his Dominion to cause Te Deum to be sung for the Victories of the Christians obtained over the Turks who impedes by force of Lewisses the progress of the King of Polands Forces against the same Turks that they may have the opportunity to employ all the Ottoman Forces against the Emperour thereby to make him abandon what he hath got at the dear rate of so much Christian blood What Christianity do you observe in the Kings proceeding at the Cities of Genoua and Orange where he hath no right at all So that by all that I have alledged all these Titles of most Christian and Catholick Zeal the King is so much taken with and affects is only a deceitful mask of hypocrisie to lull the Catholick Princes asleep the better to play his game and make himself Master of them one after another Although the King of England would hinder him as being the only man that could best do it he would endeavour to cause an insurrection of the Church of England men against him he would send them Money and Officers as he did to Cromwel so that one may say of the French King that he becomes all things to all men when his interest is at stake He enters into Covenant with Turk or Huguenot Pagans or Infidels against Catholicks themselves if it be necessary for promoting his greatness and to attain to the Monarchy of all Europe And for a conclusion this is the Kings Religion and your Wit and Policy of France FINIS
THE POLITICKS OF THE French KING LEWIS the XIV DISCOVERED With Respect to Rome Emperour and Princes of the Empire Spain England United Provinces Northern Princes Suisse Cantons And of Savoy With a short Account of His RELIGION Translated from the French. Licensed according to Order THE Policy of France And the MAXIMS of LEWIS the XIV Discovered to all EUROPE IT is not Birth which chiefly distinguishes Princes from other Men but their Parts and Abilities How many of them find we in History who having but an indifferent share of them make no other figure but to fill up Genealogy and whose Birth-days and the days of their Death are the only two which make any noise in the World. 'T is according as this Spirit or Genius is disposed in a Soveraign that he acts for the good and welfare or for the misfortune and undoing of his People Wo to thee O Land saith the Wise Man when thy King is a Child and thy Princes eat in the Morning Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness The Jewish Nation were happy under David and Solomon but Rehoboam spoke to them in this manner My little Finger shall be thicker than my Fathers Loyns for whereas my Father put an heavy Yoak upon you I will put more to your Yoak My Father chastised you with Whips but I will chastise you with Scorpions Augustus Caesar was called Pater Patriae Father of the People of Rome but Nero their Hangman Philip II. was born of a wise Father who Reigned with general applause but yet he was a Blood-thirsty Man who spared not his own Blood and squandred away what Charles V. had preserved with so much Glory and Prudence Francis the First was the Idol of the French and Darling of the Nobility he acquired the Title of a mild gentle Prince in peace Victorious in War the Father and Restorer of Learning and liberal Arts but Charles IX that of Murtherer Henry IV. was surnamed the Great by reason of his great Actions he was the Darling and Father of his People and his beneficent sweet disposition seem'd to promise a happy Reign if a cursed Hand had not put a stop to the course of his Life Lewis XIII was surnamed the Just grounded without doubt upon the Gospel which assures us That blessed are the poor in Spirit and that theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven It was rather Richlieu's Spirit that reigned than his Lewis XIV did not discover his Inclinations whilst he was under the Tuition of his Mother and Mazarines lash but so soon as ever this latter was dead he shewed what he was His Flatterers in imitation of his Grand father gave him the Name of Great although he had not as yet deserved it 'T is true indeed He is Great as to his Ambition a great Usurper of the Territories of his Neighbour a great Enemy to the Holy See to the Pope and a great Persecutor of the Hugonots His Reign is full of nothing but great Monopolyes and his Louis d'ors are the only passe par touts or Keys that open the Gates to his Conquests He was born Armed and his first nourishment was the Blood of his Nurses which he drew himself that ambitious Spirit he is possest withall would willingly sacrifice a good part of his Subjects to his Passion and Greatness Wo be to thee O Land that groans under the burthen of such a Prince Wo to that People enslaved under his Dominion Under the Reign of Antiochus the Illustrious the Jews often cryed to God that he would deliver them out of the hand of their Oppressor Why may not the French put up the like Petition nay and all Europe besides to be delivered out of the hands of that Usurper Lewis the Great thought he already held in his hand the Scepter of the Monarchy of all Europe when Vienna was besieged yea he thought it within two hairs breadth of its destruction which he supposed inevitable grounded upon the Prophesies of Drabitius but perceiving this way stopt up he betakes himself to his first Errors and former Road he waits with great impatience to see what the Snares which he lay'd at the time of the Queen of Spains Marriage will produce Man purposes but God disposeth Time impairs the Mind as well as the Body and Princes are oftentimes fain to let their Successors do what they were not able to do themselves and so much the more because that same Divine Providence on which Princes depend as well as the rest of Mankind doth not mete here below by the measure of their Ambition Ambitious Men build Castles in the Air and by their good will would possess the whole Earth beside This itch reigns at this day in France and this is it which quite takes up the mind of Lewis XIV as we shall see by the sequel and the course he takes to accomplish his Designs The Policy of France and its Maxims in respect of all Europe in general HEretofore Men accused Spain for aspiring to an Universal Monarchy If it was so I suppose Philip II. begun to lose this hope when he perceiv'd the Sea and Winds oppose his designs and that the Armada which he called Invincible on Board of which he thought to have brought into Spain the British Isles c. came to nothing and that his choicest Troops who were embarqued therein served only to fight against the Waves and feed the Fishes of the Sea moreover when he saw that during the whole War of the Netherlands a small handful of People whom he called Gueux or Beggers in derision were alwayes able to hold up their Head against him nay and to beat him in several Encounters until such time as in the Year 1609 he was fain to cry Quarter make a Truce with the Vnited Provinces and acknowledge them for Free States This was a very bitter Pill and would scarce go down with a Prince who was so highly ambitious But it behoved him to swallow it and it wrought so strongly upon him that he lost Seven Provinces at a clap by it and part of the Indies Insomuch That this longing desire after the Universe began to abate by reason of his Age which had already lost the first heat of Youth and by reason of the bad success of all his Enterprizes Philip III. was as little fortunate as he and Philip IV. had great disappointments towards France and the Low Countreyes and was very glad by clapping up a Peace to acknowledge those who had been his Subjects for a Free and Soveraign Commonwealth holding of none but God Almighty Charles XI Reigning at present is a good Prince who loves his ease and would willingly quit all the Claims and Titles of his Ancestors to an Universal Monarchy for a Son and Heir to the Crown of Spain to succeed him Malherbe told us long since that if it were true that Spain aspir'd