greatest perfection in respect of Domestic Empire it is capable of For 1. whereas heretofore the body of that Kingdom was not intire but subject to several great Barons who were able not only to expostulate but to contend with the King the are all brought now to a dependence on the Crown and becom most obsequious to it And besides many of the richest and most potent of them are of the blood Royal so that upon the failer of those who are before them they or their posteritie may succed to the Crown which keeps them firm to it 2. All those mighty members into which that Kingdom was formerly divided are now annexed to the Crown So that for largeness of Territory and compacted and united strength it is becom the most formidable Kingdom in all Europe And as by the former of these they have secured themselves against all intestine Wars which many times through the interests and feuds of those Barons shook the whole Frame of that Kingdom So by the latter they have fenced themselves against all Forreign invasion For heretofore all the neighbouring Princes were ready upon every occasion to invade the Kingdom of France The Dukes of Burgundy Britannie Guienne or Flanders being alwayes tempting them thereunto and giving them accesse passage and reception By this means England made two Conquests of France and at other times forced them to buy Peace of them and pay them tribute But now whosoever would invade that Kingdom shall not only want these for their confederates to invite and assist them but shall have them for their enemies Thus far Machiavel has observed for substance 3. By abrogating the Convention of Estates that King has spoyled the people of that power and share in Government which they have originally had in all the mixt Monarchies of Europe and made himself absolute even in the point of raising money which is the blood that fils the veins of that mighty Body By this meanes he has changed the constitution of that Kingdom from mixed to absolute Monarchy for the kind of it which is the Form that inables a Prince to do most mischief bot at home and abroad 4. Buth that which is the Crown of this perfection and may be the strongest stay of it is the Naval force now added to the other strengths of that powerful Monarchy wherein it now equals if it be not an overballance to either England or Holland For this is a maxim That the power of a Prince whose Dominions border on the Sea cannot be perfect without a force in Shipping able to command the Sea Wherefore in my opinion which nevertheless is exceeding weak one of the greatest mischiefs this War has produced is That it has given occasion to France to becom mighty in Naval power And that mischief can never better be demonstrated then by this consideration That there was never before any example upon Earth of a Triumvirate of mighty Nations in a vicinity of neighbourhood one to another and bordering upon the same Seas equally powerful in Naval strength The consequence of which must of necessity in time to com be a perpetual emulation and jealousy greater by how much either an Union or division of three is more perfect then of any other number Whereby it must necessarily com to pass either that som two of the three shall alternatly or by turns fight against the third Or that two of the three shall agree to extinguish the power of the third that themselves may remain in indifferent terms without jealousy one of another It is now long since France wanted but one of three things to help them to drive on that huge designe of ambition for the universal Monarchy which has so long swelled their hearts To bring Holland under a kind of feudal protection of that Crown by which means they might serve themselves of their Ships and Seamen Or to make themselves masters of the Spanish Netherlands Or lastly to grow great in Naval strength at home For France has been dangerous enough to the rest of Europe whilst they were in a manner without shipping Insomuch that those two things were observed of them in the time of Queen Elizabeth That France could never abstain from War for above two or three years together And that they could never be poor 5. and lastly To all these may be added the new Conquests and acquisitions of the French But nevertheles it may be doubted whether that Monarchy has received any real accession of strength by those Conquests in case it should com to feel the shock of a powerful and vigorous Enemy It is true indeed what Machiavel has said That the Conquests of Common wealths that are ill Governed and contrary to the Model of the Romans do conduce more to the ruin then advancement of their affairs But when we shall a little penetrate what he elswhere sayes That when we have observed the Histories of former times we shall find that Common-wealths had generally but three wayes of enlarging their Empire One is that which was observed by the Tuscans of old who entered into a League of Confederacy with several other Common-wealths with condition of equality that no particular should have any degree or authority above the rest and that comprehension should be lest for all their new Conquests to com in not much unlike the practice of the Switzers and the Hollanders of late and the Achaians and Aetolians of old Another way of extending your Empire is by associating with several Cities but so as that the dignitie of the Command the seat of the Empire and the honour of the enterprise may remain with you which was the way observed by the Romans and it was peculiar to them no other people has observed it and certainly no better is to be found The third is the way of the Spartans and Athenians who entertained no Confederates but whatever Territories they conquered they annexed them to their own Which way is undoubtedly the worst of the three as appeared by the two said Republicks who were ruined upon no other accompt but because they had grasped more Dominion then they were able to hold I say these things distinctly considered and the last way being that which the French practice in their Conquests it makes the doubt yet greater From that of the State if we descend to the consideration of the person of the King it gives us these two momentuous Observations 1. It shewes us how necessary a thing it is for a Prince that would either defend or enlarge his State to excel in practical Wisdom which consists in application conduct and pursuit For by that meanes he shall alwayes be served of wise and excellent men For it ever was and ever will be true as the Prince himself is so are his Counsel and those that are about him A weak Prince will never endure wise men nor can wise men ever be safe under an inadvertent Prince And it gives him mighty advantages over the Princes
constrained shamefully to prevaricate to make strained constructions of their Leagues to violate their Faith and to pass over all whatsoever respects of honour to travel to the ends of their ambition Whereas the English never can have any interest to propogate their Empire upon the body of Europe beyond those bounds which God by nature his instrument prescribed to them The most they pretend to is to be Arbiters between the Princes and States of Europe as we may see in the example of Henry 8. who living in an active time when three such great spirited Princes met as himself Charles V. and Frances I. of France might have made his own markets yet sought no more than to keep the Ballance equal between those two England then in Peace has been famous for the excellent vertue of loyalty and faithfulness and in all times for keeping close to that righteous Maxim of holding the Ballance of Europe steady a Maxim they took up above six hundred years ago In War they have been renowned for their courage redoubted strength and great atchievements In a word in War they have been just as well as valiant in Peace kind and in both sincere And for the profession of the true Religion without which all other things are either nothing or as good as nothing they have been celebrated above all the Nations of Europe It began there early and continued in the worst of times and since the Reformation her Divines has been the most learned and pious of the Christian world as all Forreign Divines will be ready to testifie These methinks should be powerful encouragements to this State to joyn with England England in whom the publick vertue of true meaning is inherent from whom both in Peace and War we may expect not only Justice but even generous goodness to allude to the most ancient distinction of the Jews and who against all other Nations are zealous against Popery But that it may appear we do not lay our stress upon general and rhetorical discourses there are other considerations of a more particular nature which must not be passed over England has been the principal instrument of saving this State twice from destruction once in the Infancy of their Common-wealth in the time of Queen Elizabeth against the Spaniard and now again in the late War from the French Again nothing can secure this State for the future against the mischiefs impending from France but the friendship of England And that England in conjunction with this State is able to ballance the French Monarchy I shall thus demonstrate France is larger than England but England will always afford more Souldiers than France I mean Foot and the strength of all Armies consists in the Infantry The reasons of this are these two 1. The division of the people In France and generally in all other Countreys there are but two divisions of the people the Nobless and the Peasants but in England we have three 1. The Nobless that is the Nobility and Gentry competent to furnish a sufficient Cavalry 2. The Yeomanry or middle sort of people which make up the great Body of the Kingdom and who are sufficient to furnish the greatest and strongest Infantry of any Kingdom or State in the Christian world And 3. the inferior sort or Servants I mean such as work for day-wages which are very inconsiderable in number to the Yeomanry The division of the people is one of the principal foundations of Empire and the division of the people in England being the best and most perfect of any other in all Europe it must necessarily follow that England is capable to endure stronger shocks than any other Kingdom or State founded upon the same ballance of Government and is the most perfect Government of its kind in Europe 2. In England the People that is the inferior Gentry and Yeomanry are an over-ballance both to the King Nobility and Church which is a defect in Monarchy and tends to the generation of a Commonwealth In France and Spain the King and the Nobility have destroyed the People but in England the King and the People have destroyed the Nobility I say then the strength of the Kingdom of England is in the inferior Gentry and Yeomanry and these exceeding all other Kingdoms in number strength and courage it must needs follow if the business should come to be tried where blows must decide that England would be found an over-match even to France it self if Demonstration be Demonstration But the cause and occasion how these two things come to be so that is why the Nobility of England are so depressed and the people become so formidable as you may see they are if you look but upon the House of Lords and the House of Commons in our present Parliaments I say the cause is those popular Statutes of Population against retainers of the Nobility and for Alienations of their Lands made by Henry 7. the Romulus of the English Kings which shews the unwariness of that politick King who in seeking to cure that dangerous flaw in the Government of the Nobilities being an over-match to the Prince made a far greater of making the Commons formidable for the one strikes only at a King they dislike the other at the Throne it self although it be true those effects came not to manifest themselves till above one hundred years after his death Therefore a wise Prince indeed he was but not long-sighted To the second The French have beaten and baffled the greatest part of the Christian world without fighting and have oppressed them at their own charge But if ever they should come to deal with an Enemy that would force them to fight they would shew themselves to be Frenchmen that is would suffer themselves to be perswaded to submit to more reasonable terms If you look upon the carriage of this whole War you may presently see that the wisest thing which the French thought they could do was ever to avoid fighting supposing surely that therein they imitated the wisdom of Fabius Maximus But this is most certain as the discourses upon Livy proves That a General who desires to keep the Field cannot avoid fighting when the Enemy presses and makes it his business to engage him For in such case there are but one of three ways The first is the way of Fabius of standing upon your guard and keeping your Army in places of Advantage and this is laudable and good when your Army is so strong that the Enemy dares not attaque you as it was in the case of Fabius and Hannibal for if Hannibal had advanced Fabius would have kept his ground and engaged him The second way to avoid fighting if your Enemy will needs attaque you is flying and fight or fly you must Philip of Macedon being invaded by the Romans resolved not to come to a Battel and to avoid it he took the way of Fabius encamped his Army upon the top of a Mountain and intrenched himself so
and States that are about him especially if their administrations be slow weak and remiss And it is commonly seen when a great man rises in the World either that he is alone or that the magnificence of his actions swallow up the weaker efforts of others as the Sea does the Rivers And secondly That when a wise and Martial Prince rises and is succeeded by one or two Princes of equal condition to himself without a pusillanimous interposed they may do very great things in the world since the succession of two such Princes alone Philip and Alexander in the Kingdom of Macedon was sufficient to Conquer the World I conclude therefore That if the present King of France should be succeeded by a Prince of equal Vertue to himself they would swallow up the greatest part of Europe But because the great things of a Monarchy begin and end with one or a few Princes and it is rarely seen that three sufficient Princes immediately succeed one another without some effeminate or ill-consulted Prince between I am of opinion that Monarchy will sink with its own weight Now having taken a view of the force and strength of this Monarchy and the sufficiency of her present King let us next consider what their next attempts are like to be In general they will do these two things What they begun by War they will pursue in Peace for they had no other design in making Peace than to disarm their Enemies break their Confederation and hinder England from coming into it that they might insult over the world by a Peace more tyrannical than the War of a Gallant Enemy And then when the injur'd World can bear their insolencies no longer out of the elements of this Peace they will raise up a new War For that Prince that would make great Conquests must make short Wars and renew them often Holland they will not attaqne at least not this year for two important reasons Because Flanders lies between that and France And besides they will go as softly as they can till towards the latter end of the Summer for fear of awaking them out of that sleep their wasted Spirits and trading Humour have cast them into And England their stomacks do not serve them to meddle with For though it be true that whosoever he be that shall attempt to set up an Universal Monarchy in Europe will first or last find England the strongest bar in the way I say England which is not only the strongest but now the only strong Kingdom that is in Europe next to France And therefore Philip II. of Spain after al his vain attempts and pursuit turned himself upon England in which though he miscarried yet he maintained a long War in Ireland Yet the French will think to serve themselves of the supine negligence of England and still hope that they may have Prorogations therefor their mony till they have â—ateâ— up the rest of Europe as they eat bread And besides they wiâ—◠〈◊〉 a better way to distress England and more effectual than by any point blanck attaque which they can make upon it as we shall see anon Lastly there is yet one very important reason and that is they are afraid of England and truly if God had not placed in man the irascible affection of fear he would be much a wilder creature than he is But lest the truth of this should be doubted it will not be amiss to call a Foreign Witness and that is Machiavel whose own words are The French are in great fear of the English for the great inroads and devastations which they have made anciently in that Kingdom insomuch that among the common people the name of English is terrible to this day But he adds There was not then the same reason for it it is true there are not so strong reasons why they should fear us so much now as they did formerly our advantages which we had over that Kingdom being most of them soft and that Monarchy come to its full strength and the greatest perfection it is ever like to see And yet there be very strong reasons why they should yet fear us and if they do not apprehend them it is no bodies fault but our own And I say that both the Spanish and French Monarchies inherit such a remembrance of the English as the Romans did of Hannibal Nay I think it may be truly affirmed That France is more afraid of the Parliament of England that is the King and the Estates of Parliament for they are all comprehended under the word Parliament than of any one if not of all the Princes and States of Europe But if France will do neither of these what is it then that they will do I answer We must not take our measures by those reports they cause to be given out up and down the world to cast a mist before the eyes of their Neighbour-Princes and States as Jugglers do nor when they seem to look far abroad must we regard it but consider by the exact Rules of Prudence what is sit for them to do and what we our selves would do were we in their case I say then that the greatest and wisest thing which France can do next is to make himself master of the residue of the Spanish Netherlands and particularly to seize upon Ostend and Newport And when he has don that to turn his whole force upon the Empire not omitting in the meane time to attempt all that he can do there as well to amuze and divert them as to open his way to the compleat Conquest of that branch of the miserable house of Austria To demonstrate this I know no better way then a little to consider and discourse upon the consequences of this with respect unto England and Holland For England If the French be permitted to become masters of the Spanish Netherlands and to possess Ostend and Niewport then England will not only not have a footing on the Main but all the Sea-coast opposite to the whole body of it will be in the hands of the French always Enemies to England in Interest and Humour And if he pleases to look over the Sea he may seize upon Ireland when he pleases which will always lie open to him and where he will find Papists enough to entertain and joyn with him And let it be remembred that Ireland is in a manner already cut off from England by the Irish Act. And what would England then be but an Island hemm'd in by the Sea and their Enemy its master and shut out of the world By this means they will be precluded from sending any succours to the rescue or relief of those Provinces And by this means also it must necessarily come to pass which is worst of all that England must lose both the Dominion of the Sea and their Trade and in time will not be able either to build or sail Ships out of their own Ports without the License of France And so will be
DISCOURSES UPON THE Modern Affairs OF EUROPE Tending to prove that the Illustrious FRENCH MONARCHY may be reduced to terms of greater moderation Dì Dendri dì sénno e dì Féde C'n'è mánco ché non Créde There is commonly less Money less Wisdom and less good Faith than men do account upon Verulam Et digiti pedum partim sunt eâ— ferro partim ex â—atoâ— quia exparte regnum futurum est â—urum ex â—arte foturum est fragile Dan. 2.42 Printed in the Year 1680. The PUBLISHER to the READER THE Author of these Discourses I know not But the same coming to my hands beyond any expectation of mine I thought I was bound to give the Publick whose mark is upon them credi◠〈◊〉 the same And because it is one essential property of a good Merchant to pay well I also thought my self obliged to render the effects of so good a hit into the common Bank where they are due It is true there are some things in them which seem not so fit for publick view but those things concerning the Author and not me who have a stock only going in the publick Company and am no private Trader I pass those considerations over seeing good things as the Philosopher long since observed the more common the better they are And he that cannot speak within doors may sometimes take liberty to speak without doors especially when those within doors seem to forget the most material points Something I would also say of the Discourse it self but because it is a Proverb as old as Apelles himself its Author That the Shoemaker must not go above his Last I will pray in aid of my Lord Bacon and desire him to be of Counsel for me And first for the method and manner of handling thus he speaks Advan of Lâ—â—â—â—ing The form of writing which best agrees with so variable and universal an argument as is the handling of Negotiations and scatter'd Occasions that would be of all other the fittest which Machiavil made choice of for the handling of mâ—â—iâ—rs of Policy and Government namely by Observations and Discourses as they â—erm them upon History and Examples For knowledge drawn freshly and as it were in our view out of Particulars knows the way best to Particulars again and it hath much the greater life for Practâ—se when the Discourse or Disceptation attends upon the Example than when the Example attends upon the Disceptation for here not only order but substance is respected And as to the matter who would not but be in a passion to see the world undone by insufficient Counsellors or to speak in our own Dialect so many good Ships lost as it were in the very mouth of the Haven through unskilful Pilots And to see fighting Armies neglected and impertinent things relied on Let him therefore speak to these two things To the first The speech of Themistoâ—les taken to himself was indeed somewhat uncivil and haughty but if it had been applied to others and at large certainly it may seem to comprehend in it a wise Observation and a grave Censure Desired at a Feast to touch a Lute he said he could not Fiddle but yet he could make a small Town a great City These words drawn to a politick sense do excellently express and distinguish two differing abilities in those that deal in business of Estate For if a true Survey be taken of all Counsellors and States-men that ever were and others promoted to publick charge there will be found though very rarely those which can make a small State great and yet cannot Fiddle as on the other side there will be found a great many that are very cunning upon the Cittern or Lute that is in Court-Trifles but yet are so far from being able to make a small State Great as their gift lies another way to bring a 〈◊〉 and Flourishing Estate to Ruine and Decay To the seâ—â—nd thus Walled Towns stored Arcenals and Armories goodly races of Horse Chariots of War Elephants Ordinance Artillery and the like all this is but a Sheep in a Lions skin except the breed and disposition of the People be stout and Warlike Nay number it self in Armies imports not much where the people is of a faint and weak courage For as Virgil saith It never troubles a Wolf how many the Sheep are And a little after A man may rightly make a judgment and set it down for a sure and certain truth that the principal point of all other which respects the Greatness of any Kingdom or State is to have a RACE of Military men Farewel DISCOVRSES c. Chap. I. THe great thing which has disturbed the Peace of Europe filled it with blood and slaughters and shaken the dismembred Kingdoms and States thereof has been the huge designe of the Universal Monarchy a designe which by a kind of Fascination has possessed the Genius of the Spanish and French Monarchies which therefore in their turns have been dangerous to all Europe But the French have made nearer approaches to the Throne of such extended Empire then the Spaniards Let us then look upon the means and advantages the most Christian King has to pursue so vast a designe as if he would plow up the Air To the end our minds may be stirred up if any thing will stir them to raise up those Banks which under that Providence to which nothing is so high to be above it nothing so low to be beneath it nothing so large but is bounded nor nothing so confused but is ordered by it will circumscribe such wild and boundless ambition within its own limits And for our incouragment let us by the way hear the judgment of that excellent Man Sr. Walter Raliegh in the case of the Spanish Monarchy which then was what France now is to the rest of Europe His words are these Since the fall of the Roman Empire omitting that of the Germains which had neither greatness nor continuance there hath been no State fearful in the East but that of the Turk nor in the West any Prince that hath spred his Wings far over his nest but the Spaniard who since the time that Ferdinand expelled the Moores out of Granada have made many attempts to make themselves Masters of all Europe And it is true that by the treasures of both Indies and by the many Kingdoms which they possesse in Europe they are at this day the most powerful But as the Turk is now counterpoised by the Persian so instead of so many millions as have been spent by the English French and Neatherlands in a defensive War and in diversions against them it is easie to demonstrate that with the charge of two hundred thowsand pound continued but for two yeares or three at the most they may not only be perswaded to live in peace but all their swelling and overflowing streams may be brought back into their natural Channels and old Banks But to go on France then is come to the
in a fair way to become a Feudal Province of France And thus we see England may be distressed without warring directly upon it It is the greatest blemish in the Reign of Henry the Seventh celebrated in our Histories for one of the wisest of all our Princes that he suffered Britany to be lost and annexed to the Crown of France a soul spot in so beautiful a Picture as he is taken by the Pencil of my Lord Bacon And the more I think of these things the more I am confirmed that we shall stir up the just indignation of those that are to come after us against our memories and it will be the wonder of succeeding Generations that so great a King as the King of England in a War that had for its ends an Universal Monarchy for the most Christian King and the subversion of the Protestant Religion and Interest The one as foolish and impossible to be effected as the other is full of monstrous and detestable impiety towards God And to which ends our Enemies have been travelling through a Sea of Blood and all those crooked ways the first attempter against God beat out to those that travel with Pride Ambition and Impiety I say that such a King in such a War and such a Peace as followed it should sit still and suffer himself to be as it were besieged in his own Kingdom whilst he suffered France not only to grow to an over-ballance to England in Naval force but to plant himself all along on the opposite shore of the main Continent and in the mean time to suffer the greatest part of Europe to be consumed with the flames of an unjust War and be sacrificed to the ambition of France An aggravation greater by how much England has been famous for holding and casting the Ballance of Europe and protection of the Protestant Religion Since therefore it is a royal vertue in Kings not only to avoid Flatterrers as a Pest but to encourage some body to tell them the truth roundly still preserving the dignity of their persons and the majesty of their state I think a man cannot do better than to bring things home to them for if Princes would but a little reflect and look back upon the times past where they might see the beauty that is upon the memory of good Princes and the deformity of that of the bad they would see the excellency of plain dealing and the odiousness of pernicious flattery For Holland It will be enough to say That if they suffer the Spanish Netherlands to be lost France will not only claim by a Title prior to theirs all the Conquests and Dominions of this State in Flanders and Brabant but may set up the Title of the House of Burgundy to the whole Seventeen Provinces and finally that they will have a very bad Neighbour I conclude therefore That it is the interest of England and Holland by all means not only to preserve the rest of the Spanish Netherlands from falling into the hands of France but to make him vomit up what he has already swallowed of them For besides what I have already said If France once becomes master of those Provinces Holland and the rest of the Provinces of the League will become an easie and cheap prey to him which concerns England not a little in point of Interest And to keep those Netherlands in the hands of Spain is I think more the advantage of England and Holland than it is of Spain it self For of Spain we are secure because he is weak at that distance and neither will nor can incroach upon his Neighbours and so we preserve the greatest Bank of security to both against the Inundations of France To conclude this part For the most Christian King we are no doubt to look upon him as the minister of Gods indignation howbeit he meaneth not so but has done all these things in pride and cruelty and attributed their success to his strength and wisdom For the power both of Satan and wicked Kings is from God but the will and malice is their own Therefore the French King has made use of all these powers and advantages to do evil evil I say than which the most merciless Tyrants and destroyers of the earth whom God has said he will destroy have not in any the most barbarous age of the world committed greater or more crying to the righteous God for vengeance And a Prince affected with so vast and wild ambition is to be looked on as an enemy to mankind as a proud attempter to destroy the bounds which God has set And therefore if so excellent hope that God will stop the way against our enemies if we return to him if the preservation of the true Religion the liberties of our Countreys the great interests of mankind or whatsoever other excellent consideration we can propose to our minds will move us let us behave our selves like men and do some great thing worthy our remembrance And this brings me to the second part of my discourse In the first we have seen the mischiefs let us now consider of the remedies Now because there is no separate Kingdom or State in Europe sufficicient to ballance the weighty Body of the French Monarchy nor any of their strengths in disjunction competent to be opposed against so formidable force therefore there must be a new fond of Power and Interest raised up sufficient to keep the ballance of Europe from being called back into a Chaos out of which the French may form an Universal Monarchy according to the Idea they have conceived thereof And this can by no means better be done than by England and the United Provinces entring into a new League for the mutual and reciprocal defence of themselves and their Confederates that shall be admitted into such League and for preservation and defence of the Spanish Netherlands and for restraining the further growth and increase of the French Monarchy and hindering their incroachments upon the rest of Europe The excellency of which League will appear by this That the ends of it are in a manner common to all Europe For though the preservation of the Protestant Religion be most the concernment of England and Holland yet the special and immediate end of the preservation of Flanders and the general end of holding the Ballance of Europe is Universal Upon occasion of the beginning of the War between the Latins and the Romans Machiavil has delivered this Rule That in all Consultations it is best to come immediately to the point in question and bring things to a result without too tedious a hesitation and suspence And the reason of this is founded upon divers observations which he gathers out of several parts of the Roman Story as That weak Commonwealths are generally irresolute and ill-advised as taking their measures more from necessity than election That 't is the property of weak States to do every thing amiss rnd never to do well but in spight