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kingdom_n	king_n	law_n	succession_n	1,773	5	9.3305	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64119	Reflections upon the memorial from his Most Christian Majesty presented by the Count de Briord, his ambassador extraordinary to the States-general of the United Provinces at the Hague, December 4. 1700 : containing his reasons for accepting the late King of Spain's will, in favour of the Duke of Anjou : in a letter from a friend, to Mr. J.C. Merchant in London.	N. T.; Briord, Gabriel de, d. 1703.	1700 (1700)	Wing T38; ESTC R18218	8,474	18

being on the weaker side considering the Contingencies of his Title which must not Commence till after the extinction of the Heirs of the Princes of France and the Arch-Duke There are several things more might be consider'd as the grand Reflection upon the States General in the 15th page where he tells them That in truth he is persuaded that they never had any design to obtain the effect of their last Memorial and so goes on to banter 'em and makes them worse than Trifles Then again That they should in that their Memorial have nam'd the Princes that were ready to joyn in it the effecting the Partition The Troops for being the Guarrantees of the Articles of it They should have mention'd those the Republick of Holland was to furnish by Sea or Land Truly I can't see what occasion there was for the States-General just in that Memorial which was as I take it only to put him in mind of the Treaty when they found he was going to break it to Name the Princes ready to joyn which he knew as well as they since the 10th 11th and 13th Articles of the Treaty were so plain and that all engag'd in that Treaty to him not unknown were oblig'd to be ready so to do neither could he expect that they should by that Memorial mention the Number they were to furnish because by the 14th Article all the Guarrantees were to agree what proportion each should Contribute so that 't would have been very preposterous for them then to have ascertain'd their Number without any such agreement He has one very pretty Turn I cannot pass After he had suppos'd upon his rejecting the Will the Arch-Duke had enter'd upon the Regency he says in his 13th page He must have been oblig'd to attack a Living Prince Prosessor of the Crown of Spain and its certain that the Measures he had taken with the Allies related only to the Division of the Succession of a Prince whose Death appear'd to be very near Certainly the French King must think he writes to very weak Heads or he could never suppose thus to sham 'em Would not the Arch-Duke then have come in as Successor to that King whose Succession the Division related to and did not he stand oblig'd to the Division of that Succession according to the Treaty Ay but the Emperor was all alo●● endeavouring to promote the Arch-Duke and therefore re●●s●d or at least delay'd Signing the Treaty That the French King knew at the making of it and that can be no Plea for abandoning his Sacred Word as that of a King ought to be In the next Paragraph he does the Guarrantees the Justice to declare that their design was Peace That they stipulated no particular Advantage to themselves c. But acted the part of disinterested Mediators betwixt the King and the Emperor c. But this is brought as an Argument That they having receiv'd no prejudice should not intermeddle Surely there 's the most Honour in standing to a Treaty where there is the least Interest to Sway and in all likelihood will be the most Justice too but where does all this end Why in the Old Story with a a little addition The Emperor had not Sign'd the Treaty and therefore There was no Treaty except with the Mediators this needs no farther Answer than to referr you again to the 7th Article of the Treaty and what has been said before At length Sir we are got to consider of the Renunciation by reason of the following Expressions in the 12th page of the Memorial The Disputes raised as to the Validity of the Renunciation of the late Queen serv'd for a Motive to this Accommodation In effect it had been of no use if the Nullity of that Renunciation had been acknowledg'd as fully during the late Catholick King 's Life as it is declared in his Will. Before I say any thing of it I shall recite the Title of the French King as I found it in the Introduction of a Relation of the French King's Expedition into the Spanish Netherlands in the Years 1667 and 1668. page the 3d. of the Introduction In the Year 1659 a Treaty of Peace was concluded between the two Crowns of France and Spain and together with a Marriage between Lewis the XIV now King of France and the Lady Maria Theresa Eldest Daughter to Philip the IV. King of Spain and Elizabeth the Daughter to Henry the IV and Sister to Lewis the XIII King of France For whose Portion the King her Father obliged himself to pay 500000 Crowns of Gold and pretended Salick Law debars Females from Succession to the French Crown as also to the end that the two Crowns being too Great and Puissant to be United into one Kingdom all occasions of such a Conjunction might be avoided It was Covenanted among other things That neither the Infanta nor her Children and Descendents in what degree soever should ever succeed in the Kingdoms Seigniories or Dominions which do or shall belong to his Catholick Majesty as well within as without the Kingdom of Spain notwithstanding any Law or Custom which by this agreement which is to continue in the full Force and Vigour of a Law for ever Their Majesties did abolish This Renunciation the Infanta Confirm'd in these very Terms by an Oath in the presence of the Kings themselves the Princes of the Blood and the Chief Nobility of both Kingdoms So that you see both Kings were engag'd in it as well as the Infanta whose Oath I have not by me or else would insert it but I think it will not be amiss to Transcribe the very words of the Renunciation it self by which it will be more evinc'd Placuit utrique Regi pactione instar legis semper valiturâ sancire ne unquam serenissima Infans Teresa aut posteri ejus ulli ad feros usque Nepotes quocunque gradu sint admittantur ad successionem ullam sive Regnorum sive Principatuum Provinciarum Ditionum Dominiorum quorumcunque Regis Catholici non obstante lege ulla consuetudine aut alio Jure in contrarium cui utriusque Regis authoritate plenissimè derogatur contemplatione dictae aequalitatis publicae utilitatis quae inde emanatura speratur It was to Consented by both their Majesties and by them confirm'd that neither the most Serene Infanta Teresa nor any of her Issue or Posterity in what degree soever be admitted to succeed in any of the Kingdoms Dukedoms Provinces or Dominions of his Catholick Majesty any other Custom Constitution or Law to the contrary notwithstanding So that if any such Custom or Constitution were it was by authority of both Kings absolutely annull'd and destroyed And this only to adjust the Dominion of both Crowns so as each of them might receive an equal benefit by it By this Sir to me it plainly appears that the King of Spain's Will cannot make void a Renunciation so strongly confirm'd We find as the Heirs receive a Right from the Parent it is in the Power of the Parent to restrain it but I won't pretend to be so much a Civilian to argue much less to determine this Point I will only observe the French King but renounc'd the ever having a future Right not a Right that he ever had tho' I doubt not but his Civilians knowing his Mind have given him their Absolution which is not much to be wonder'd at since in a more curious Frame of Government than his Judges have been found that would make the Will of their Prince Law and should a Qualm happen to overshadow his Conscience the Sorbon too must direct their Decision by the Regal Nod and there I 'll leave him till the first have got more Courage than to submit the Law to his Will and the latter more The Fear of God than to substitute the Sacred Oracles which they pretend to unfold to his unbounded Ambition And I 'll only say he that won't be ty'd by an Oath will no more be secur'd by any other Bond than Leviathan when you bob for him with a single Hair To conclude Sir in the last Page his Majesty is mightily transported with the good Opinion he has of himself and with what he would presuade the World the States General have or ought to have of him When he had in the preceding Paragraph suggested that the delay of the two Months for the Emperor's consideration propos'd by their Memorial might settle the Arch-Duke in the Throne he tells them that He is willing to believe that this was not their Design they know too well that it 's their Interest to merit by their Good Conduct the Honour of his Affection and the Continuation of his Good Will And again he doubts not but they will change their Complaints into Thanks and Congratulate the King of Spain as soon as possible upon his Accession to the Crown and that they will endeavour to merit of the King the Good-Will and Protection that they and their Ancestors have receiv'd of his Majesty and his Predecessors This should have been his Language at the Treaty at Reswick and then he 'd soon have had an Answer and whoever considers how high he begun and how low he ended and the Haughty Spirit of that Prince can never suppose he 'd have parted with so many Important Places as he then did had he been in such a Protecting Capacity as he writes himself or the Merit of the Honour of his Affection and the continuation of his Good Will been so highly worth aspiring to Neither are the Dutch in so poor and forlorn a Condition now to want his Aid and Protection and were they otherwise willing to condescend to be of his Party this is enough to rouze their Indignation and incline them to shew him they stand not in need of his Favour Indeed when I think of the French King he brings Belshazzar to my mind He is Glorying in his Atchievements His Heart for ought I know is Merry He is prideing himself in the Sacrilegious spoils of the Protestants and TEKEL is his Charge He lives as if there was none above him The Spirit of Persecution is reigning in him and the Cryes of the Oppressed loud against him I have nothing more to do at present but to crave leave to Subscribe my Self Sir Your real Friend and humble Servant N. T. FINIS

REFLECTIONS UPON THE MEMORIAL FROM HIS Most Christian Majesty Presented by The Count de Briord His Ambassador Extraordinary to the States-General of the Vnited Provinces at the Hague December 4. 1700. Containing His Reasons for Accepting the late King of Spain's Will in Favour of the Duke of Anjou In a LETTER from a Friend to Mr. J. C. Merchant in LONDON LONDON Printed in the Year 1700. Price 4 d. REFLECTIONS UPON THE MEMORIAL Deliver'd to the States General By the Count de Briord the French King's Ambassador c. REFLECTIONS upon the Memorial deliver'd into the States General by the Count de Briord the French King 's Ambassador c. SIR I Have too often in my own mind censur'd others for Complementing themselves for as such I took it in Essay's of this kind when they pretended their unfitness for the undertakeing and that they purely did it at the Request of their Friends to be guilty of the same Preamble But if I mistook their designs and they only were that they might be able to Charge the Defects of their Performances somewhere beyond themselves if they shou'd see occasion when they had expos'd their Capacities at the request of their Friends I have the most reason of any to Preface so to you especially considering that I am about to Reflect upon the French King 's Memorial to the States General Containing his Reasons for accepting the Late King of Spain 's Will in Favour of the Duke d' Anjou It is not to be doubted but in a Case of this Importance he has taken care it should not be Jejunely done and therefore employ'd the best Heads he had in this Afffair and if I mistake not some who I think Judicious nor they fail in their Opinions it is shrewdly worded But Truth and Justice are Weapons not easily Parry'd yet easily us'd by the Hand of the Unskilful which is the only consideration that enboldens my attempt The design of this Memorial I take to be to sooth the Commonalty wherever it comes and is full of cunning Insinuations of the French King's Inclination● to the Peace of the Publick I doubt not but all the Princes and States of Europe will very Candidly thank him for it as well as the States General when they can be persuaded he is endeavouring it and really sollicitous about it tho' he should not go so far as to prefer it to the advantage of his own Crown But I think the only way to know whether that is to be believ'd or expected is to look back upon that Monarch's Practices in all preceeding junctures of Affairs of this or such like nature and then we shall see which he would sooner Sacrifice his Honour or his Interest and when they drew two ways which has always been the most prevalent and upon this consideration I cannot think the States General should so much as seem to be surpriz'd at the French King 's accepting the Will of the late King of Spain since he thinks it most for his Interest so to do It is something odd that His most Christian Majesty should in the First Page of his Memorial so Ironically Treat and Burlesque the States-General as he does He tells them If they take time to examine with their usual Prudence the infinite Troubles which the Treaty of Partition would produce That same Prudence will oblige them to desist from the Demand c. What is this but to accuse them of a Precipitancy in the Treaty of Partition and a want of Prudence in not well weighing before hand the Conveniences and Inconveniences of it and yet himself sheer clear enough of that Charge For by the Treaty of Partition he added another Method to his Choice of disposing of the Spanish Monarchy and he knew the King of England and the States-General both in Honour and Conscience thought themselves bound by and would not recede from the Obligations laid upon themselves by a Ratifyed Treaty tho' he kept himself above all bonds but those of his own advantage It is certainly a great Contradiction to abandon the design of a Treaty for the sake of adhering to the Terms of it and I would be very willing if I could at this conjuncture to distinguish betwixt them but I cannot see that the Design and the Terms were any more United when the King of Spain liv'd then they are now For the Design of that Treaty was not to take place in its effect till after the King of Spain's Death therefore that could make no difference betwixt them On the otherhand how far it is in the Power of a King of Spain by his Will to dispose of his Kingdom and the Succession of it and cut off the Right of the next Heir is not my Province to Determine but I think if we look into the 10th page of the French King 's Memorial we shall find he lays no stress upon it for the Duke d' Anjou's Right for when he is pretending There 's a necessity in order to preserve the Peace to make use of Methods different from those that were propos'd at Signing the Treaty of Partition He tells the States in the next Paragraph The most natural that which is most agreeable for maintaining the General Peace and the only just Method consists in the Resolution taken by the King to Accept the Will of the late Catholick King So that it plainly appears that the Force of the Will lyes only in his Resolution to Accept of it and therefore we have very good reason to suppose the Will of the King of Spain should have been with him no Will if it had cross'd his inclinations in settling the Crown upon the Arch-Duke and there is no doubt but then he would have deliver'd his Protest against it strenuously insisted upon the Treaty of Partition and Challeng'd upon their Guarranty the Assistance of the King of England and the States-General to have forc'd the performance of it Then on the other hand if the French King insists upon the Duke d' Anjou's Natural Right the King of Spain's Will cannot any more than his Death make any difference betwixt the Design and the Terms of the Treaty unless the French King means his own Private Design which now it plainly appears must be absolutely destroy'd if the Terms stand He goes on then and tells them The former that is the design of the Treaty maintains a General Peace the latter that is the Terms of it causes an Universal War and therefore the Decision what Measures to take should be made by the Explanation of the First Article of the Treaty viz. To maintain the General Peace of Europe I am very much afraid he 'l prove a false Prophet and if he does may the fate of a false Prophet pursue him I cannot think the Guarrantees of the Treaty of Partition will sit still and see the Treaty broke was it only upon Punctilio of Honour and I think 't will plainly appear to be too much their Interest

to assist the Emperor to expect they should be Neutral For should the French King which joyn'd with Spain c. I don't see is so difficult to be done to be too hard for the Emperor and so Command his Arms or indeed otherwise engage them they will make too Formidable an Enemy to be thought not worth minding and the ballance not so much kept in Aequilibrio as might be wish'd And therefore the French King must greatly reflect upon the Conduct and foresight of those concerned in the Treaty in endeavouring to impose that belief upon the publick That his accepting the King of Spain 's Will Maintains a General Peace Then on the other hand had the French King kept to the performance of the Treaty of Partition I can't for my part see who could or dar'd attempt the disturbance of the Peace of Europe upon that account and therefore I shall consider the difficulties he mentions as the Grounds of his specious pretences But first I think it may not be amiss to obviate the Objection made against the Validity of the Treaty and the French King's being any ways bound by it Because says he the Emperor had not Accepted of the Partition before the Death of the King of Spain 't is therefore void and ceases to be Obligatory the three Months being past which was allowed him for Acceptance This is the scope of the Objection which will be easily Answered if we consider that by the secret Article of the Treaty the Emperor was to have two Months more granted him to consider of it which were not determin'd but suppose they were the 7th Article of the Treaty has made Provision for the Emperor's refusal It runs thus Immediately after the Exchange of this present Treaty it shall be Communicated to the Emperor who shall be invited to enter thereinto but if after three Month's time from the Day of the said Communication and the said Invitation or the day that his Catholick Majesty shall dye if it happen before the Expiration of the said three Months his Imperial Majesty and the King of the Romans should refuse to enter thereinto and to agree to the Share assigned to the most Serene Arch-Duke Charles The two Kings of France and England or their Successors and the States General shall agree upon a Prince to whom that part shall be given And in case notwithstanding the present Convention the most Serene Arch-Duke shall take possession either of the part which might fall to him before he has Accepted the present Treaty or of that part which might be assign'd to Mons Dauphin or to him who shall have the Dutchy of Millan in Exchange as abovesaid the said two Kings and the States General by Virtue of this Convention shall hinder him with all their Forces Now I doubt not but the French King would take very haniously any Reflection upon his Care or Conduct in this Affair in having agreed to he knew not what which if he did was his own fault but then he ought to forbear that Plea for his Breach of the Treaty least it necessary sayes a severer Charge and proves that his Agreeing to the Treaty was purely a design to provoke the King of Spain or some of the Grandees for him to give the Kingdom by Will as far as that Gift will go to a Prince of France least it should be divided and so the Treaty was broken in his Intention before it was made How well this agrees with what he says in the 11th page of the Memorial The high Dignities of Kings does not excuse them frem considering whether the Wars they undertake be just Then what Reasons could his Majesty who is known to be a just Prince offer for resuming Arms to divide a Monarchy which is settled intirely upon the lawful Heir And just before in the 10th page If any Prince have a Right to oppose the Dispositions of that Will there needs no more but to read them to be convinc'd that this Right belongs only to the Dauphin By the way how the reading the Dispositions of the Will should convince of a Right to oppose them is at present to me a Paradox But put the Case the Right is in the Dauphin was it not so when the Treaty of Partition was ratified and was not the Dauphin a Party thereunto See the 4 th Article of the Treaty and could not the French King then as well as now have obtain'd more considerable Advantages by his Arms if he had design'd to make use of them as now he does than the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Province of Guipuscoa and the Dutchy of Lorrain c. which he says he had no design to acquire by a Treaty What then could he design by the Treaty but to give the World one Instance more of which we have had singular in the Breach of the Pyrenean and other Treaties of his Infidelity unless the Partition should prove for his Advantage and laugh in his sleeve at those that gave any Credit to his Promises and stumbled at his Painted Trap Door I come now to consider what he has Offer'd for the Certainty of an universal War if he had stood by the Treaty of Partition First the Milaneze the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Provinces the Places comprehended in the Partition all of them put themselves in a Condition he should have said Posture tho' that is not true to maintain their Union with the Body of the Spanish Monarchy and a little lower Thus the Arch-Duke becoming King of Spain c. There must be a necessity in order to execute the Treaty to Conquer the Kingdoms reserv'd for the share of the Dauphin c. These are very great Reasons should it prove true that the Places reserv'd for the share of the Dauphin were really in a Condition to maintain their Union with the Spanish Monarchy against the united Power of the Guarantees How comes the French King all of a suddain to be so modest tho' I believe we shall find him otherwise by and by or doubtful of his own strength that use to Hector all Europe to suppose that France England and Holland in Union should speak twice for the performance of the Treaty when there are none to withstand it but what might have been blown away by the Breath of their Guns and they would have had more Wit than to have flung against Six high when they might part Stakes and the King of Spain I mean supposing the Arch Duke to have been so would never have been reduc'd to those great Extremities the Memorial speaks of before he would part with the Share of the Dauphin since he must know 't was impossible for him to withstand the Arms of this Tripple League tho' back'd with the Emperor's Assistance and Savoy durst not tho' if he did to no great purpose turn his Arms against France c. on that Occasion neither would it be so much worth for him to hazard his own ruin by