began to put it in practice in the Reigns of the Two Charles's the First and the Second and thinking she was just upon the point of obtaining her Ends when James the Second with whom she had had a long and strict Alliance and whose Bigottry and Ambition she but too well knew mounted on the Throne she did not fail to improve that opportunity and the Passions of that Prince to push him on to a Despotick and Arbitrary Government and the bringing in of Popery against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm of which the English are more jealous than any Nation in the World besides is of theirs This is a Truth the Late King James could not be ignorant of and consequently he might easily judge that without a powerful Assistance from abroad it would be impossible for him to compass so vast and so monstrous a Design and who was likelier to lend it him but the French King puissant and dreadful to all the World In short the thing was as readily granted as desired but at the same time it was whispered in the Late King's ear that all would be in vain except the States General were overturn'd as being the only in the World that might oppose his Designs and that would infallibly do it by reason of the great Interest which together with the Prince of Orange their Stadtholder they had in this Affair Wherefore a Secret League was concluded between the two Kings in order to a total destruction of the Vnited Provinces which was to be put in execution on the first opportunity and France who had a mind to strike the Iron whilst it was hot was not willing to put it off till after she had finisht her Conquest of the Rhine and forc'd the Emperor and the Empire to confirm her in the possession of it by a shameful Peace whilst the Late King James by the means of his Army was to render himself Master of all at home to the Subversion of the Government and Religion establish'd by Law in the Three Kingdoms This is the true cause of all King James's Undertakings in England Scotland and Ireland against his true Interest which was to govern his People according to Law and to oppose the pernicious Designs of France But his having been drawn in by her has cost him very dear for the English being resolv'd not to outlive the loss of their Laws their Religion their Liberties and Properties call'd secretly to their assistance the then Prince of Orange who was oblig'd to it by a thousand Reasons But the Prince being wise and cautious and knowing perfectly the consequence of so great an Enterprize suffer'd himself long to be solicited and did not hearken at last but to the Threatnings that were made him from England to abandon entirely his and that Incomparable Princess his Wife's Interest and to give way to some desperate Action would have cost them Rivers of Blood Nevertheless it was not till August 1688. that the States-General were acquainted with this great Affair and they did not grant the Prince their Assistance till the very time the French King's Armies were on their march to invade the Empire and to attack Philipsbourg and then they were not like to refuse it since otherwise they would only have had the advantage of being swallowed up last Now this being well consider'd must not one have a strong Forehead to affirm that the States-General are the cause of this War But besides in granting the Prince of Orange ' s Request did they do the least thing against France or did they infringe the least Article of the Treaty that was then in being with her There is no man of sense can aver it and Monsieur d' Avaux himself in his thundring and threatning Speeches he made then at the Hague could alledge nothing but that his Master found himself oblig'd to assist his Allie Was it then requisite that the States-General should have tamely waited for the mortal Stroke that was prepared for them and being perfectly acquainted with the League of both Kings that had sworn their ruin should they have let slip the only means to save them and which indeed secured them effectually from the Attempts of France who was going to build on their Ruin her vast Designs of an Vniversal Soveraignty over all the States in Europe IX And now to come to the point 't is evident by what has been said that the great Interest the States-General have to observe by a re-establishment of Peace is the securing themselves effectually for the future by Sea and by Land without which all they have to expect will be a suspension only of their total Ruin so much the more inevitable the less hopes they can have ever to meet with so fair an opportunity as they have now at this present to secure their State their Commerce and their Tranquility for the future The fatal Consequences of the precipitated Peace of Nimmeguen are yet too fresh to be forgotten and the boasted of Barriere France offers to restore will no more establish their quiet for the future than it has done for the time past Besides France does not offer to restore the entire Barriere since she pretends to keep Luxenburgh of which more hereafter X. Monsieur d' Avaux passes but slightly over the Terms which the King of Great Britain is to have and it seems he fancies forsooth His Majesty wants nothing but to remain in possession of his Three Kingdoms and that on that score he 'll not scruple to restore what England has taken from France in the West-Indies But in this Monsieur d' Avaux is so much out of the road that we have reason to doubt whether Their Majesties will ever permit that it be inserted as a Condition into a Treaty of Peace that France is to acknowledge Their Dignity and Title which is sufficiently establish'd by the right of Blood and by the Offer the Representatives of both Nations have made Their Majesties of the Three Crowns after the Late King Jame's Abdication and his Retreat into France Besides all Potentates of Europe having acknowledged the Title of and congratulated Their Majesties there is no doubt but France will be forced to make use of the same Language in case she has a mind the King should ever enter with her on Articles of Peace But do they think us tame enough to rest satisfied with that or rather do they not imagine we shall ask for somewhat more some small Terms for our Safety being acquainted as we are with the dangerous Maxims and Designs of France that tend to our destruction Is it probable the King will abandon his Principality of Orange and his other Lands by Inheritance taken from him and confiscated against all manner of Justice a long time before the beginning of this War and in the midst of Peace XI And what are the Terms propos'd to Spain Monsieur d' Avaux talks very high and makes a mighty noise about them Five fine Places
much more truth That it is the King of Sueden's Interest as well as for his Honour to press France to grant the Allies more just and reasonable Terms and that whosoever talks to him otherwise has no true Zeal for his Service nor a just unconcernedness towards the French King I say we might say all this but we have too much Respect for that King and too much Consideration for his Ministers to reproach them with what they do not deserve XXVIII Nevertheless let us examine the Considerations Monsieur d'Avaux alledges in order to support his Reasons and to make the King of Sueden relish them One regards his Interest and the other engages his Honour By the first he pretends That the House of Austria being the common Enemy of France and Sweden as the two only Kingdoms capable of opposing its Designs of an Vniversal Monarchy which if you 'll believe him sticks close to its heart and of protecting the Liberties of the Princes of the Empire that this House makes it its study to ravish from these Crowns the Territories they are in possession of in Germany for which reason says he 't is the Interest of both Kings to maintain their Ancient Union and that the King of Sueden is so much the more obliged thereunto because in case it should happen that France notwithstanding all her Victories by Sea and Land should lose a considerable Battel at last he would hardly be able to raise the dejected Party On the other hand he maintains That 't is no less the Interest of the King of Sueden to prevent the French King 's falling off at Sea and to oppose the Tyranny which the English and Dutch endeavour to establish there XXIX To hear Monsieur d'Avaux reason at this rate one would be apt to think he had quite forgot the Circumstance of Time If his late Vncle had made this Harangue at the Treaty of Munster it might have pass'd but what Alterations have we not seen since that time in the Affairs and Interests of State Has it been forgotten that since the Peace of Munster and especially during and after the Negotiation at Nimeguen France has endeavour'd to mortify the King of Sueden a hundred ways to create him Enemies and to entangle him into Wars That she has dispos'd of the Lands of that prince as if he had been under her Guardianship and of her Dependancy That she has abus'd his Ministers That she has made a League against him and come to that height as to send her Squadrons against him into the Sound That she has offered to hinder him from making Defensive and Harmless Alliances witness the noise she made at Ratisbonne and in other places against that was then made between the Emperor the King of Sueden some Electors and several Princes of the Empire in the very same year she made an end of her seizing the Dutchy of Deux-ponts where she had no more regard for the King of Sueden than she would have had for the least State of the Empire On the other hand Is it not visible that at the present Juncture of time the Emperor's and King of Sueden's Interests are absolutely the same And that 't is morally impossible to seperate them since one cannot be sav'd without the other And 't is for this reason that the Houses of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh are in a strict Alliance with that King and that far from thinking of getting ground upon him in the Territories he possesses in Germany they are as ready as they are oblig'd to defend them against any body whatsoever But how does this agree with the pretended Vnion of Interest which is imagin'd to subsist at present between France and Sueden Is it not ridiculous to endeavour to move the King of Sueden to authorise and to be the Guarantee if one may say so of the Superiority and the Conquests of the French King since the latter has declared and made War against the Empire and its Allies without acquainting him in the least with it nay rather against himself in his Dutchy of Deux-Ponts and by the Desolation of the Palatinate Besides France demands this Guarantee without being willing to let the King of Sueden share in the Conquests she has made and that are directly against his Interest For 't is evident that if the War with the Confederates and the need the French King stands in of Sueden had not brought him a little to reason never would he have thought of restoring the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts to its right Owner Nay he would have pretended also to retain the best part of the Palatinate to the prejudice of the Ancient and Natural Rights of Succession of that King Was there ever such a Confederacy unless that of the Lion in the Fable XXX But what did Monsieur d'Avaux dream of when he accus'd the House of Austria of aspiring to an Vniversal Monarchy Does he think that all the world is either blind or out of their wits For if a Philip II. in the last or a Ferdinand II. in the present Age have perhaps conceived such a Design being tempted to it by the Greatness of their Power and encouraged by their Victories it has been buried with them and none but France has inherited it she being in reality now what the House of Austria was formerly We have seen with our eyes that since the Pyrenean Treaty France has not only affected an Arbitrary and Absolute Government over all the Princes and States in Europe but that she has actually exercis'd it We appeal to 'em all whether one can say that he has been exempted from it Those whom Nature has made their Neighbours have been all either swallow'd up or put out of a condition to resist and those whom a kinder Heaven has remov'd from her have felt her Insults and Threatnings And without entring into Particulars which would perhaps be tedious 't is enough to make the King of Sueden remember as we have already said how he has been us'd by France especially when she sent a Squadron against him into the Sound which till then had never been heard of For 't is worth our while to know That France affects no less a Sovereignty over the Seas than she does over the Land and 't is for this Reason and not that Monsieur d' Avaux alledges That England and Holland have united themselves against Her And now 't is left to every one's judgment Whether it be for the King of Sueden's Advantage to assist the French King in the prosecuting of these wicked ends as he would do by procuring him such Advantageous Terms of Peace as he demands and by which he cannot but get more ground upon his Neighbours and augment considerably his Power Or rather Whether it be not his true Interest to oppose it with all his might together with all other Princes concerned therein and to hinder that France may not get the better by this War by obliging her to restore what she has
of Nimeguen a thing never before heard of amongst Independant and Sovereign Princes Neither have they forgotten as yet what Statues were erected in the Place des Victoires and in the Court of the Townhouse at Paris what Representations and Inscriptions were made there what Panegyricks what Speeches and what Verses were composed the most outragious and most ignominious to the other Sovereigns that ever were heard of even without sparing the most Generous and Faithful Friend and Ally France had then I mean the Brave King of Sweden who after he had in those times hazarded his Kingdom together with his dearest Interest in favour of the French King had no other Reward but the Injurious Reproaches of his having reestablish'd him on his Throne These are the fine and immortal Monuments which as they strike a just Horror into the Confederates so they make them cautious not to be treated so a second time Secondly It may be alledged by the Allies That they find no Security for themselves in the Proposals made by France They know but too well and by sad Experience That France acknowledges no other Limits to her Treaties than what agree with her Designs 'T is this which the Pyrenean Treaty that of Aix la Chapelle of Nimeguen and the Truce of Twenty Years the most solemn and the most advantageous to France that ever were made lay continually before her eyes and of which they are yet more convinc'd by the Maxims of the French Writers who maintain That their King can alienate nothing of what once has been incorporated into that Crown nay That he cannot renounce upon Oath his Rights whether true or but pretended so as to bind his Successors by it Who will then assure us That the Treaty that is now to be made will last I will not say for ever but any longer than those that have been made already and which have been broken as soon as ever a fallacious Peace has first seperated and then disarm'd the Confederates VI. But says another at this rate we shall have here an everlasting War since this last reason will always hold and be ready to be made use of by the Confederates on all occasions To which I answer No this is not in the least their intention They desire a Peace as much as France but it must be a sure an honourable and a general one And to obtain such an one they believe there are no other means but to reduce her to such Terms as will make it her interest to live hereafter in Peace with her Neighbours notwithstanding her dangerous Maxims This is also without doubt the reason why the Confederates have not as yet returned any Answer to the Proposals of France since there is some time required to agree amongst themselves about an Answer proper to obtain these ends and which at the same time may be approved of by every one of them VII Monsieur d' Avaux maintains further That one cannot wish for more advantageous Terms than the King his Master has offered the Confederates This is a thing worth our enquiry VIII He begins with those offered to the States-General and that he may not leave undecided that question Who is the Author of this War and consequently the Aggressor Since 't is of great weight in this matter he charges the States General of having been the Cause of it by lending their Assistance to the Prince of Orange that he might make himself Master of England A mighty Point which it concerns us to enquire into All the World knows That in the year 1688 there was no War in Europe but that with the Turks which of all the Princes and States that are now in Confederacy against France the Emperor bore alone the weight of all the rest liv'd in a profound Peace when France on a sudden being puffed up with her Fortune and Grandeur and bent to improve the opportunity of securing to her self for ever what she did but enjoy for twenty years made that bloody Invasion into the Empire that did so little expect it as thinking it self secure under the shelter of a dear-bought Truce She attack'd and took Philippsburg and possess'd her self of all the Rhine save only Coblentz Rhinfelt and Cologne and 't is to be noted That this Invasion which was resolv'd upon in the Councel of France as soon as Belgrade was taken by the Emperor from the Turks was executed immediately after to wit at the beginning of September and consequently two Months before the then Prince of Orange came over into England What relation then has this War with the Assistance given by the States-General to that Prince Since notwithstanding there was then a defensive Treaty between the Emperor and the States-General still in being yet their Alliance was not renewed till May 1689. by a defensive and offensive Treaty being grounded on the rupture of France This was not done till a year after the taking of Philipsburg Heidelberg Manheim Frankendal and Mayence and in fine after a general devastation of the Palatinat and the Circles of the Upper Rhine of Suabia and Franconia France as all the world knows and as the nature of so vast and unbounded designs did require it had taken her measures to enslave the Rhine before the Prince of Orange's passing the Sea was ever thought of either in England or Holland 'T is true some time before its being put in execution they began to suspect a design of the Prince by the fitting out a Fleet in Holland and afterwards by an agreement made with some Princes of the Empire about some Troops of theirs but 't is no less true that in France this Design was look'd upon as Chimerical and those as Blockheads that gave a hint in their Letters that it was laid against England Howsoever they flattered themselves that they should have done soon enough with Germany to be able to bridle afterwards the Prince of Orange and the States-General and behold here one of the greatest effects of the Divine Providence that ever was For 't is certain that if the French King instead of invading the Empire had sent a good Army towards the Frontiers of the Netherlands though it had been only to threaten them with a War never could the Prince of Orange have been able to come over into England The Emperor the Empire the King of Spain had still been in Peace with France England had been Enslaved by King James and the rest of Europe by the French King Besides we have still place for another Reflection which is that at the bottom France has put the Late King James out of and set the Prince of Orange on the Thrones of Great Britain 'T is long since that France looks on the Power and Greatness of England with jealous eyes as the only Kingdom capable of prescribing Limits to her unbounded Designs For which reason she has held for a State-Maxime to destroy England by its own Forces by Domestick Troubles and Intestine Wars She
taken in Flanders and Catalonia which the King his Master offers to restore are no Sugar-Plumbs and his desisting from his pretensions to all the Spanish Netherlands in favour of the Elector of Bavaria carries so mighty a weight with it that Spain cannot but chuse to embrace these Proposals with both hands But has not the Catholick King already rejected them with scorn and declared rather to die and to carry on the War all alone then to accept them Which if it be done with reason we are now to consider The King of Spain knows well that the Places France offers to restore especially those in Flanders will be no longer his than during the French King's pleasure and that their distance from him and their Situation in regard to his Crown will make them fall again sooner or later with the remainder of the Spanish Low Countries into the French King's hands at least if it be not prevented by the King of England's Assistance and that of the States-General Neither will a Resignation in favour of the Elector contribute more to the fixing of that Turbulent Humour of the French than that which was formerly pass'd in favour of the Arch-Duke Albert and the Arch-Dutchess Isabella The King of Spain therefore will think perhaps fit to demand some greater and more real Pledges of his Safety by a Barriere that may effectually cover the rest of his Netherlands and 't is left to every ones judgment Whether he has not reason to demand them after the frequent Infractions of the Pyrenean Treaty that of Aix la Chapelle of Nimeguen and the last Truce on the French King's side In the second place France has a mind to keep for ever the Fortress and Dutchy of Luxemburgh and the rather because the States-General have consented to the leaving of them in her hands during the space of Twenty Years and that this Fortress is without the Barriere But is there no difference between a forc'd Resignation and that only for some years and a voluntary one and that for ever Besides we ought to consider that the City and Province of Luxemburg is of greater Importance to the King of Spain than one half of his Low-Countries not so much by reason of its Extent and Revenue as by its commodious Situation which opens and shuts the Gates to the Succors which he that is in Possession of the Netherlands may expect and receive from the Emperor and the Empire and that it is a Bulwark of those Provinces against France XII But there remains yet another Point to be cleared of a far greater nay of the highest nature which is That the French King in desisting in favour of the Elector of Bavaria from his Pretensions to the Low-Countries does still reserve to himself his Pretensions to the Succession of the King of Spain in case he should happen to dye without Issue Which is in plain English That in case a Peace should be concluded to day and the King of Spain happen to dye without Issue to morrow we should then have a new and as fierce a War as ever in the old world as well as in the new one Monsieur d' Avaux indeed calls this a very Malicious Interpretation and charges the Emperor with it as being the nearest concerned therein But he is not aware that he does himself establish and confirm it more than any body besides For to maintain as he does in his Paper That the Renunciation made not by the French Queen only as he does insinuate but also by the King her Husband for himself and for his Successors I say that this Renunciation made upon Oath and the most solemn one that ever was pass'd amongst Sovereigns is null and void of it self and to propose to the King of Sueden the Arbitration of that great Succession What does it mean else but that the French King pretends to it more than ever Otherwise he should have spoke out That the King his Master scorn'd to do it as being resolv'd religiously to observe the Laws he has dictated to himself by this Renunciation But by the way Monsieur d' Avaux flatters himself that by making these Proposals to the King of Sueden he has hit the Point in Politicks that will effectually engage that Prince into the French King's Interest and he boasts of it as an Honour that was never conferr'd on any Prince within the memory of men Indeed to see one self an establish'd Arbiter of a Difference that concerns no less than the greatest and richest part of the New World and so many Kingdoms and Provinces in the Old one is a thing capable of flattering a mind tho possest with the highest Ambition and yet the King of Sueden is too Generous to be drawn in by it If it was a difference of an intricate and dubious nature something might be said for it but since it is about the most frivolous and unjust Pretension that ever was I think the King of Sueden has not much Honour done him by being made an Arbiter of what undoubtedly belongs to another All Sovereigns are engag'd not to suffer an Example of such ill consequence otherwise farewell all Right and Possession since none would be the better for ' em Would not the King of Sueden think it a great Injury and a piece of the highest Injustice in case it should be propos'd to him to submit his Kingdom and Dominions that undoubtedly belong to him to the Decision of a Third Person tho his Brother or his dearest Friend And save this consideration the highest that ever was the Emperor and the King of Spain do confide so much in the King of Sueden's Justice Candour and Generosity that they would gladly receive him as an Arbiter in any other Difference but this In this they 'll undoubtedly stick to the French King 's sworn Renunciation which excludes him from all Pretensions to the Dominions of the King of Spain and the effect of which will never be removed for all either Monsieur d'Avaux can say or the mercenary Pens of France on which he grounds himself can write at least as long as any Contract and Obligation amongst Sovereigns does subsist and Laws Divine and Human are in force XIII Neither does Monsieur d'Avaux prove better the pretended Nullity of this Renunciation by reason that the Spaniards as he pretends have not discharged the Sums they were to pay in a limited time For in the first place it ought to be prov'd that it has been the fault of the Spaniards that the Portion of the late French Queen has not been paid and that they have had no reason to imagine that the Arrears of the Portion of Elizabeth of France Queen of Spain and Mother to the late French Queen might well account for it But in the second place suppose the Spaniards had been backward in this point the Contract of Marriage of the French Queen does not say That in case her Portion should not be paid within the time