by your Flatteries and Cozenages When as Queen Elizabeth redemanded Calais for just Reasons she then alleaged the French resolved rather to endure a War wherewith she menac'd them than to surrender it Because saith the same Laboureur there was a double danger one to suffer our ancient Enemies to get footing in the Continent of France and then too because they are Hereticks who would always have a Faction in the State to revive their old Quarrels at pleasure and that it more concern'd us now than heretofore to shut them up with their new Religion on the other side the Sea This was done in the Sale of Dunkirk and if any other place offer it self to purchase France will be no Higler but purchase it at any rate supposing she be discharged of her Wars with Spain Again Queen Elizabeth insisting still upon the Restitution of Calais and speaking of it unto Sancy he after several shifts and excuses By God Madam quoth he can Your Majesty be so simple as to imagine the King my Master would give you Calais again Which Answer touching her to the quick she demands Bouloigne in lieu of it The King who foresaw the Consequence of the English setting footing once more on French Ground commanded her to be told That he had rather the King of Spain should give him a Box on the ear than the Queen of England should give him a Filip And in troth she had not Calais when the term of Eight Years was expired although according to Treaty it was then to have been surrendred or Hostages and sufficient Security for payment of Five hundred thousand Crowns promised her in case of Non-performance But as usual they fail of their Words and the good Queen onely recovered Six score thousand Crowns at the Treaty of Troys Thus Calais is once again become French France loves her own Repose and Glory too much ever to part with it and the Subjects as well as their Prince are too much in love with it to suffer it slip out of their hands I speak but the very words of the Cardinal of Lorrain There is no Frenchman saith he but would rather hazard his Life than advise the King to surrender Calais and would not more willingly sacrifice his whole Estate than once give his consent thereunto This was spoken like a true Frenchman and their Neigebours should resent such daring Expressions as renderly as they themselves do if there be any thing of eredit in what S'aavedre reports That the Prince's Acquists enhaunce his Dread and Reverence but what he forgoes redounds to his contempt and scorn Francis I. would never engage himself with Charles V. against England fearing lest in the Conquest of this Kingdom it should happen to him as it did in the Conquest of Naples between Ferdinand of Arragon and Lowis XII The Emperour being unable to brook an Equal and himself a Superiour Besides Prancis should have drawn upon himself a more potens Enemy than him of whom he was rid the Leopards of England being no less terrible than the Eagles of the Empire or the Lions of Castile Yea the Spaniards stifly seconded the English in their demands of Calais confessing That they ought not to abandon them and that if they were not protected they very well knew Spain would be next ruin'd so that their own Losses would be greatest This is written by the Cardinal of Lorrain Spain then reason'd solidly and judiciously In prospect of this Henry VIII coined Medals of Gold on whose Reverse a Hand appeared out of a Cloud holding a Pair of Balances in aequilibrio the two Sodles whereof signified France and Spain with this Motto He wins on whose side I turn Queen Elizabeth governed her self by the same Maxim and assisted Henry IV. so long as he was weakest but seasonably forbore when once she saw him start up beyond his just and proper bounds and at that time told Sully That neither France nor England nor any others had any thing to do with the Low Countries and that she would never endure the French King should gain so much as one inch of ground there And when as Pope Clement VIII told Cardinal Ossat that England hated France implacably he replied At this time England hates Spain more and that they ought now to regard the present state of Affairs which had united both French and English against a common Enemy by one common Interest which was evermore the strongest and securest band among all States and Princes This Reason which once serv'd the turn of France shall at another opportunity do Spain a kindness Because Kingdoms are not to be reputed strong or weak as they be in themselves but as they hold comparison with their Neighbours and from proportion wherewith they are adjusted one unto another Du Plessis sent this Message to Walsingham in England not to abandon Henry IV nor the German Protestants Let 's see whether we may not use those self same words to evince the true Interest of England Charles I. was convinc'd of it and Charles II. hath been also and will be possibly yet more when like a great and deep Statesman he shall be pleased to penetrate into the future And it is not to be doubted by the way he begins to take and by what he had done formerly in Person at the Head of his Army that he will not suffer himself to be over-reach'd by false Reasonings nor give his Slanderers occasion to say of him as of his Grandfather King James That he knew not how nor ever cared to manage businesses nor would once put his hands to dispatch them till such time as both means and opportunities had quite forsook him I don't doubt but that Charles our gracious King who now reigneth will recollect what happen'd how and by whom unto his Father and what manner of Treatment he met withall in France even with no less than Banishment And for all possible Allurements from the French he may be fully confident of receiving the same measure from them again if the same occasion were which God forbid or if he quit Spain with his own true Interest and that of his Kingdom which subsists by Commerce to imbrace the Humours and Private Interest of half-sighted and corrupt Ministers France debitting none other Commodities than her Brandies and Apish Gewgaws in lieu of those substantial Merchandizes England hath of her own and importeth for all Quarters of the habitable World And when Realities are forsaken and Deceits and Cheats taken immoderate and restless Spirits do ordinarily take hold of such sensible Arguments to alienate and imbitter the Hearts of the People which though frequently too too querimonious yet gracious Princes without humouring them in all their childish Cravings will nevertheless comply with all that shall be manifestly for their solid Good It were a pleasant story to relate the Civilities of France to Edward IV. who being at a pinch and driven out of his Kingdom by a Competitoy and applying himself to
got footing yet was it easie enough to disseise and unroost others either by Force or Treaty as they did justly enough by that of Vervins yet now the Tables are turn'd for they once understanding that Spain is brought upon her knees the Conquest of that and England will not cost much time nor pains The Balance being now removed their Forces augment daily and like a violent Inundation carry all before them It 's true this is yet impossible if England do not stand neuter while other Nations are entering into more than a Triple League which to effect the one and hinder the other they turn every stone they embarrass all Affairs they support the Intrigue with a thousand hopes and those hopes with a profuse expence of Treasure which forceth a passage through those sordid Souls whose sole Interest is their private Gain and Advantage And that which is most surprizing is this they engage the Favourites who are Lords of th' Ascendant at Court or elsewhere and at this rate believe themselves potent enough to give what Laws they please to all politick Transactions if so be the true Interest give ground unto the false which is cheating changeable and infallibly destructive to them that do embrace it And by these means they of late out the Gordian Knot of that Triple League as if they were cock-sure beforehand of their designs and their business were already done unto their hands Pomponne was dispatch'd into Swedeland to disengage that Crown from the League by the golden promises of Conquests Pensions and Presents which will go very far in a poor Countrey and remove whatever Obstacle stands in his way to the Empire of all Europe The worst is that in France at those times they did publish this Negotiation branding England with the goodly Names of Unconstant and Persidious Which brings to my mind a story of the Viscount of Narbonne who told an Englishman That six hundred Tun of Wine and a Pension had quickly sent them back again to England The other answering It was a Tribute and no Pension This was in the Reign of Lewis XI who disengaged England from succouring the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretaigne The Jest was biting but 't is the usual Coyn wherewith France pays such whom it openly flatters that so she may if possible ruin and strangle them the more cunningly A League with England blocks up the Spanish Havens so saith du Plessis and the French are hot and intent upon it Truth is the Daughter of Time and Time must discover the events of this Maxim Onely let me add by the way that if France cannot prevail with England to do this Jobb for her she will tack about and treat with Spain upon other terms that relinquishing the Spanish Netherlands she shall be recompenced more abundantly with the Spoils of some other parts of Europe which France will conquer for her We will unriddle this Mystery and let England seriously consider Castillon in his Embassie for Francis I. writing from London adviseth his Master to a League with Spain against England For saith he I would ever counsel Your Majesty to quit other designs and accord with Spain and to give this Kingdom in prey which may be with more facility and less expence effected than to take Calais for the expence cannot last above one moneth or six weeks at the most Divide England between you and let each take those parts of it which lie most commodious and convenient for him And in the close he subjoyns Your Majesty may keep Wales and Cornwall and Scotland for your self and leave the sorry remainders unto the Emperour There be three things worthy our observation from this Embassadors Advice The one is that France believed she might cheat Spain into this treacherous Conquest provided Spain would but sacrifice to her Covetousness and Ambition the Low Countries The second is that Spain keeps fast and faithful to the Publick and prefers it before her own private Interest And then lastly because of this Phantastick League England must immediately and infallibly be conquer'd as soon as invaded especially let her be once abandon'd of her Allies and that France have brought Spain and Holland upon their knees and hath united their scattered disjoynted Naval Forces with her own I trust my Sentiments are plain so plain that the meanest Capacity can comprehend me Alliances betwixt Crowns bring little profit to the People This is visible in the Matches between the two Royal Houses of France and England for no sooner was Henrietta Maria wedded unto King Charles but State-Interest and the Capricious Humours of the Favourites interrupted that Peace which a long time before had continued between both Kingdoms and by the Marriage was sworn to be perpetuated Experience also of what had past might have render'd Spain more advised and to have avoided that snare into which she ran through false Maxims with a great deal of Joy I 'le onely quote one passage out of the Memoirs of the Duke of Sully he then writing to Henry IV. about his Intrigues with Spain tells him That the growth of one Prince is the diminution of another that no Parentage Affinities Leagues Peace Treaties Agreements Oaths or reciprocal Promises could ever yield sufficient Precautions for time to come against Interest of State I could wish this Memoir affixed on the Cabinet of Madrid for their future Reformation and that in time to come they would take other Measures sith Lewis XIV adheres most pertinaciously to the Maxims of Sully and that after a Treaty sworn with the greatest seriousness and solemnity and a Cession of all Rights made and verified in due form of Law For instead of observing it they are now debating other Rights and demand an hundred things which being refused they take up Arms and proceed to the worst Acts of Hostility leaving us without hopes of any Calm to follow upon this Storm which menaceth with an universal Deluge all the Netherlands Give me leave to subjoyn one important Advice unto England The Right of Edward III. saith Laboureur is not worth the mentioning were it not to tell the world how unrighteous the English are in their pretentions to it and to manifest what necessity lieth on us to keep that Nation at a bay at a distance from us which is naturally quarrelsom born our Enemy and that will borrow Assistance whereever she can get it and take up any the least pretext in the world to subdue and ruine us Robert Abbot of La Celle reproach'd an English Prelate with this that his Countrymen in their Inclinations resembled that Element which did encompass them that is to say they were cruel proud unconstant and seditious These are noble Elogies indeed conserr'd upon your Friends Monsieur in a time of perfect peace nay upon your best and most potent Friends to whom you have in this present Juncture of Affairs your Recourse and who are guilty of this very great Oversight to suffer themselves to be charmed
Jesuit had blinded some Dissenting Zealots with specious Pretences of removing evil Councellors and of some Incroachments then things being ripe the greedy Lawless Souldier is brought on the Stage to make our King and People bleed together without seeing the Hook but too late when at first moderate and impartial Counsels might have healed things if they might be suffered to come to an understanding and to touch the Root of the Disease Sed quid haec ingrata revolvo But remember in a word That whether Times tend to a further Dis-union of Spirits or to a thorow Union yet in either Juncture the Judgment of God and Man will soon find out those base Sinons those Incendiaries those French Pensioners and Lawless Statesmen that seek to divide the good Father and his poor Children and to rent miserably their own Mothers Bowels for private ends by unworthy Policies And those Persons or Party whatever it be which recede most from French Devices and Popish Forms and shall in their plain meaning and counsels tend but to close to the honest Fundamental Laws of their Countrey and of the Gospel after a simple loyal and charitable Interpretation they and only they shall prevail and be in request with their King and Countrey at the long Run for that God will be above Man In fine I refer to the Reader to judge and to our Superiors to determine Whether the mean proposed in the following Discourse which lay by me be so seasonable or practicable which however I meant to be of this use to make a Diversion of all Englishmens inward bitterness and choller against a more fit Object and Enemy that they may cease to look upon one another with a sharp Eye but look off rather towards abroad whence the Spring of our Divisions come viz. from France and Rome THE French Politician FOUND OUT THat the greatest dangers of Spain were from England by reason of our power at Sea and that we could block up the Spanish Ports at pleasure this our Monsieur believed as firmly as if it had been an Article of his Creed and that the Plot as he had laid it in its success was Infallible 'T is a Truth But if it were some years ago the Interest of this Crown to accord to that Maxim Time and the present weaknesses of Spain sinking under its own burdens have turn'd the Ballance and made it impracticable The Face and State of Affairs are now very much changed Henry the Seventh was too nearly allied with the House of Burgundy and Ferdinand the Catholic not to have oppos'd the Cabals which were then formed against Mary to bereave her of the Low-Countries His Son Henry the Eighth followed the same Counsels and if at any times Charles the Fifth was travers'd by him it arose from that just Apprehension he had of his growing Grandeurs Fortune being more favourable to him than to Francis the First whose loss had been a fair Step unto his own Queen Elizabeth harboured the same Jealousies for Spain puffed up with a long continued course of prosperous successes was not arriv'd to that pitch of Declension we see it now adays And if Charles the First beheld with an Eye of Envy the progress of France Charles the Second might do it also his Fear being much more warrantable because that Kingdom is grown more powerful more formidable than when his Father reigned And there be Arguments of Glory Revenge and Interest for my Assertion all which according to the best of my judgment are strictly interwoven one within the other Glory demands the continuance of the triple League because this had twice bridled a Prince who had slip'd out of it and who without this Restraint would have over-run all bounds by reason of his unmeasurable Ambition the sole and unvariable Rule of all his Undertakings Besides it can be no dishonour unto England to be reproach'd of France as heretofore of slackness in assisting her and that we loved to prolong and foment her Civil Wars if not to make them perpetual Revenge is yet another and stronger Motive to invigorate us in our conduct whether you reflect upon what is past or on things present For the present 't is well known that the French promises are only tendred us for the better inabling them to play their own Game and the mischiefs they are now a brewing should now inspire us with a greater abhorrency of their greater masqued Villanies Moreover those brave Methods propounded by our French Politician for the subversion of this Kingdom whose Glory Eclipseth theirs are no longer with any patience to be endured Add farther that injurious manner wherewith they treat England because it carries the Ballance of Europe and supports the Oppressed against their Violence and Tyranny And could we not remember those Invectives wherewith they have wounded the whole Nation yet this should be considered that they never spared the Sacred persons of our Princes Ribier is pleas'd to strew these sweet Flowers upon Henry the Eighth viz. That he was the most Insidel and unconstant Prince of his Age full of Tentation and Double dealing whose Soul Symboliz'd with the Seas environing his Island And the fore-mentioned Author of the French Politicks adviseth that the King now reigning should be voic'd a Roman Catholic thereby to procure him his Subjects hatred and to Augment it be feigned Letters written to some of the leading Protestant Lords to render them suspected and procure their Ruin by a Maxim which with extream imprudence they themselves have divulged to the World These Counsels and Invectives were all forged by them because Henry would not turn the Scales wholly of their side to destroy Spain and England in consequence thereof which without this invincible Obstruction must have been together by the same Torrent overwhelmed And as to what concerns Charles the Second that general interest in which insensibly he is engaged affords Alliment to a damn'd Plot which is by them secretly carried on against him But I pass this by and come to the Question under debate And it is this That the Consideration of what is past should so far influence a potent Prince who hath his Sword in his hands as to carve out his own satisfactions from them whose insensibleness of doing wrongs raiseth them to such a degree of Insolence as to deride us Aquitain Normandy and their dependant Provinces together with Guysnes Ardres Bouloign and Calais ancient Demeans of the Crown of England are such important pieces and their Conquest so easie that they will surrender themselves as soon as England shall seriously invade them provided that the Obligation of the League and Powers composing it remain firm and inviolable and that from a meer defensive War we become Aggressors and despoil him of those Trophies who after the glorious Example of his Ancestors hath enlarg'd the bounds of his own Dominions on the wrack and losses of his Neighbours But and if this Design be delay'd and leasure given France to debase