was open to them He took advantageous Posts he made continual Courses on all sides to hinder them from receiving any Subsistance out of the Country and reduced them without fighting to such extremitys that they abandoned both Retrenchments and Forts and made no use of the Sea but for their retreat The Court which seldom applauds those who are not in favour was very glad of it however without seeming over much satisfied they could have wish'd the Spaniards had been cut to pieces their Camp forc'd and pillag'd their Forts taken by assault and in a word that no Bridge of Gold had been made to the Enemy It was on that occasion the Cardinal bethought himself to attack Spain by Fontarabie The Arch Bishop of Bourdeaux or some other had inspired him with that thought several years before But the Duke D' Espernon and La Valette his Son who were sent to View the Place at that time always found very great difficultys in it The Son was sent for and repaired to Court without knowing it was upon that Subject After a much better reception than he expected from the Minister he desired him to give him an account of what had past at Corbie about the proposition of the two Princes but he had either so much Credit or so much Address as to prevent his being pressed to the utmost and they were or seem'd to be satisfied with him without his ever saying any thing farther to the King or Cardinal but that a Man spoke to him near a Mile that he had broken all his Measures by a speedy refusal That he had not thought it necessary in an Affair in which he saw no appearence of any success to turn Informer without proofs against two Princes of the Blood whom he thought he had sufficiently persuaded to remain faithful by his Reasons and by his Example After this Eclaireissement the Siege of Frontarabiâ— was proposed to him Nevertheless I will never believe what others have written Bona fide that it was with a real design to engage him and the old Duke his Father in an Enterprise in which they must needs perish That is driving suspition too far and the Cardinal was not capable of such a false Policy against the Interest of France and his own but it is very probable that the said Minister who ever since the Siege of Rochel and the expedition of Italy thought every thing easy for him made use of that occasion to send a Prince of the Blood in Guienne with considerable Forces both by Sea and Land which he might Imploy after that Victory as he thought fit against the Duke D' Espernon himself and against all his Family it is most certain that the Command of the Army was only offer'd to the Duke de la Valette upon two Conditions the one that the Prince of Conde should be Generalissimo over him the other that the Naval Army should be Commanded by the Archbishop of Bourdeaux who was or seem'd to be reconcil'd to the old Duke for some years pass'd The old Duke had refused more than once to Command Royal Armys under a Prince of the Blood not said he but he had a very great and most profound respect for that Rank but he was too old added he to learn towards the end of his Days to receive orders from any but the King his Master It was easy for the Duke de la Valette to foresee the ill consequences of a subaltern and divided Command but the Cardinal his Brother and another Person less Faithful who ow'd his Elevation to their Familly but yet was secretly a Creature of the Minister persuaded him with great difficulty that it was not fit always to oppose the Inclinations of a Man who had an absolute power as if they had design'd to break with him at a time when he seem'd to have a mind to be reconcil'd to all the Family That what the Court had much ado to bear from the old Duke would neither be excused nor pardoned in his Son in the same manner Moreover that whereas he would Act more in the Army than any other the Presence of a Prince would nowise lessen his Glory if the Siege had a good success but would totally discharge him if the event should not prove favourable These reasons induced him to ingage himself to the Minister before he had time to cunsult the old Duke his Father who nowise approv'd them but thought he ought not to find fault with what he had agreed to If any body has written the Contrary either they were not acquainted with the whole secret or thought they might dissemble part of it The resolution the Duke took himself show'd sufficiently that he was not pleased It was to ask leave to go to his house of Plâ—ssae in Zaintonge to take Milk as he sometimes used to do but at that time it was with a resolution never to return to his Government untill the Siege of Fontarabie were ended However he â—aâ—ryed till the Prince was come to Bourdeaux to pay his Respects to him and taking his leave of him after having represented the difficultys of the Enterprise to him which ought only to have excited him the more by the glory of overcoming the same he offered if it were necessary to come back upon his first Orders at the head of a thousand Gentlemen to serve as a Volunteer under him The sequel has sufficiently testifyed the prudence of that Resolution for that has been known since which he was ignorant of at that time Which is that the Prince had brought secret Orders from the King to Command him to do that which he did of his own accord The Siege was begun with great hopes The Duke de la Vallette was praised for that he was the first who with Sword in hand at the head of his Forces cross'd the River of Bidassoa which divides the two Kingdoms through the Water up to the Waste he forced the Retrenchments the Enemy had made there to defend the Entrance into the Country It is also known that his attack was very much advanc'd and in a fair way to take the Place when an Order in writing from the Prince of Conde oblig'd him to yield that Post to the Arch-bishop of Bourdeaux which indeed he had much ado to digest and from that time forward finding an open and always ready contradiction to what ever was propos'd by him and being weary with giving good advices which were not follow'd he reduc'd himself only to command in his new Quarter which he thought himself oblig'd to answer for it is also most certainly true that even before that Incident there was no perfect intelligence between our Generals and that the strongest Armys commonly prove Ineffectual when discord reigns among them The Archbishop of Bourdeaux was far more mindful of the old differences he had had with the Duke and all his Family than of a forc'd reconciliation The Prince of Conde dreaded nothing more than that all the
of Goodness but to be no Flatterer I must also tell you that it is a sign of Weakness which though tolerable in a private Man cannot be so in a great King considering what Inconveniences it may be attended with I lay no stress upon that such a Proceeding would lay all the Odium and Hatred of Resolutions upon your Majesty's Council because that is inconsiderable if it could prove beneficial to the Affairs of the State but that which is worth considering is that there are often occasions in which whatsoever Authority a Minister can have it cannot be sufficient to produce certain Effects which require the Voice of a Soveraign and an absolute Power Moreover if the Grandees were once persuaded that an unseasonable Shame would hinder a King from performing the Office of a King in Commanding absolutely they would always pretend to obtain by Importunity the contrary of what has been order'd by Reason and finally their Audaciousness might proceed so far that finding their Prince apprehensive of acting like a Master they would grow weary of acting as Subjects Princes must have a Masculine Vertue and do every thing by Reason without being guided by Inclination which often leads them into dangerous Precipices if those which blind them and induce them to do whatever they please are capable to produce Mischief when they follow them with too much Inadvertency the natural Aversion they receive sometimes without a Cause may cause greater yet unless they are temper'd by Reason as they ought to be In some occasions your Majesty has stood in need of your Prudence to check the Tendency of those two Passions but more in the last than in the first since it is easier to do Mischief following the Dictates of Aversion which requires nothing but a Command in a King than to do good according to one's Inclination which cannot be done without depriving one's self of one's own which many Persons can hardly resolve to do Those two Motions are contrary to the Genius of Kings principally if reflecting little upon them they oftener follow their Instinct than their Reason They often induce them to engage in the Divisions which are frequent in Courts among private Persons which has occasion'd great Inconveniences in my time Their Dignity obliges them to reserve themselves for Reason which is the only Party they ought to espouse on all occasions they cannot do otherwise without divesting themselves of the Quality of Judges and of Soveraigns to take that of Parties and submitting in some measure to the Condition of private Men. They thereby expose their State to many Cabals and Factions which are form'd afterwards Those who are to defend themselves against the Power of a King are too sensible that they can never do it by Force to attempt it otherwise than by Intrigues Artifices and Cabals which often occasion great trouble in States The Sincerity which is necessary in a Man who makes a Testament does not permit my Pen to end this Section without making a Confession as true as it is advantagious for your Majesty's Glory since it will testifie to all the World That the Law of GOD has always been a Bound capable to stop the Violence of any Inclination or Aversion which could have surpris'd your Mind which being liable to the least Derect of Human Nature has always Thanks be to GOD been free of the most notable Imperfections of Princes CHAP. VII Which represents the present State of the King's Houshold and sets forth what seems to be necessary in order to put it into that in which it ought to be THe Order of Arts and of all good Discipline requires that a Man should begin his Work by that Part which is most easie Upon this Foundation the first thing an Architect does who undertakes a great Building is to make a Model of it in which the Proportions must be so well observ'd that it may serve him as a Measure and Foot for his great Design And when he cannot compass the said Project he lays aside his Enterprize common Sense making the dullest sensible that he who cannot perform the least is altogether incapable of the most In that Consideration as the meanest Capacities are sensible That as the Structure of Man is an Abstract of that of the Great Word so private Families are the true Models of States and of Republicks and every body being persuaded that he who either cannot or will not regulate his Family is not capable to Order a State Reason did require that in order to compass the Reformation of this Kingdom I should begin by that of your Majesty's Houshold Nevertheless I confess that I never durst under take it by reason that your Majesty having ever had an Aversion for the Orders you reckon'd to be of small consequence when any private Persons were concern'd in them no body could propose such a Design without openly shocking your Inclination and the Interest of many Men who being continually about you in great Familiarity might have prejudic'd you against those Orders which were most necessary for your State to put a stop to those of your Houshold the Irregularity of which were useful to them But as a Testament sets forth many Intentions which the Testator durst not divulge during his Life this will petition your Majesty towards the Reformation of your Houshold which has been omitted both by reason that though it did seem more easie than that of the State yet it was in effect much more difficult and also because Prudence obliges to suffer in some measure small Losses to gain considerably in others As it is obvious to all the World that no King ever carried the Dignity of his State to a higher degree than your Majesty so no body can deny that none ever suffer'd the Lustre of his Houshold to be more trampled upon The Strangers who have travell'd in France in my time have often wonder'd to see a State so exalted and a Houshold so debas'd And indeed it is insensibly decay'd to that degree that some are in possession of the first Places of it who under the Reigns of your Predecessors durst not have presum'd to aspire to the least All things have been in confusion there from the Kitchen to the Cabinet Whereas in the King your Father's time the Princes the Officers of the Crown and all the Grandees of the Kingdom did commonly eat at your Tables in your time they seem only establish'd for Servants common Chevaux Legers and Gens d'â—â—rms Moreover they have been so ill serv'd that some of them have been so nice as to despise them instead of being fond of them Strangers have often found fault even with your own being serv'd by common nasty Scullions whereas those of other Kings are only serv'd by Gentlemen I am sensible that this Custom has not been introduc'd in your time but it is never the more tolerable for being ancient since it is absolutely derogating from the Dignity and Grandeur of so great a
made upon the then State of France and that to which it is grown since Wherein the Councels and Maxims of that great Minister have been follow'd and in what they have deviated from them and several other Remarks not only curious but important If any body will be so kind as to impart all those things to Us We will willingly communicate them to the Public TO King LEWIS XIII SIR AS soon as Your Majesty was pleas'd to admit me into the Management of Your Affairs I resolv'd to use my utmost Endeavours to facilitate Your great Designs as useful to this State as glorious to your Person God having bless'd my Intentions insomuch that the Virtue and Happiness of Your Majesty have astonish'd the present and will be admir'd in future Ages I thought my self obliged to write the History of your glorious Successes both to hinder many Circumstances worthy to live for ever in the Memory of Man from being bury'd in Oblivion thro' the Ignorance of those who cannot know them like me and to the end that the time past might serve as a Rule for the future Therefore I forthwith apply'd my self to it being perswaded that I could never begin that too soon which was only to end with my Life I did not only carefully collect the matter of such a Work but moreover I reduc'd part of it into Order and put the Transactions of some Years in the Form I design'd to publish them I own that tho' there is more Pleasure in furnishing the Matter of History than in putting it into Form yet I found a great deal of Satisfaction in relating what had been perform'd with great Labour While I began to relish the Delights of that Performance the Illnesses and continual Inconveniences which attend the weakness of my Constitution join'd to the Weight of Affairs forc'd me to lay it aside because it requir'd too much time Yet tho' I cannot possibly perform upon this Subject what I so passionately desir'd for the Glory of your Person and for the Welfare of your State I think my self oblig'd in Conscience at least to leave your Majesty some Memoirs of those things I think most necessary for the Government of this Kingdom Two Reasons oblige me to undertake this Work The first is The Fear and Desire I have of ending my Days before the Expiration of yours The Second is The Faithful Passion I have for your Majesty's Interest which makes me not only desirous to see you attended with all sorts of Prosperities during my Life but also makes me earnestly wish to see a Prospect of the Continuation of the same when the Inevitable Tribute we are all oblig'd to pay Nature shall hinder me from being a Witness of them This Piece will appear under the Title of my Political Testament because it is made to serve after my Death for the Polity and Conduct of your Kingdom if your Majesty thinks it worthy of it Because it will contain my last Desires in relation thereunto and that in leaving it to you I bequeath to your Majesty the best Legacy I have to dispose of whenever God will be pleas'd to call me out of this Life It shall be conceiv'd in the most concise and clearest Method I am capable of as well to follow my own Genius and my usual way of writing as to comply with your Majesty's Humour who ever lov'd that Men should come to the Point in few Words being as much pleas'd to hear the Substance of things as apprehensive of the long Discourses most Men use to explain them If my Spirit which will appear in these Memoirs can after my Death contribute any thing towards the Regulation of this great State in the Management of which your Majesty has been pleas'd to give me a greater Share than I deserve I will think my self infinitely happy To that end judging with Reason that the Success God has hitherto been pleas'd to grant the Resolutions your Majesty has taken with your most Faithful Creatures is a powerful Motive to invite you to follow the Advices I will give you for the future I will begin this Work with an Abstract of the great Actions you have perform'd with so much Glory which may justly be stil'd The Solid Foundation of the future Felicity of your Kingdom This Relation will be made with so much Sincerity according to the Judgment of those who are faithful Witnesses of the History of your Time that it will induce every body to believe that the Counsels I give your Majesty have no other Motives but the Interest of your State and the Advantage of your Person I am and will remain Eternally SIR Your Majesty's most Humble most Faithful most Obedient most Passionate and most oblig'd Subject and Servant Armand Du Plessis THE Political Testament Of the Famous CARDINAL Duke de RICHELIEU PART I. CHAP. I. A Short Relation of the King 's great Actions until the Peace concluded in the Year WHEN Your Majesty was first pleas'd to admit me into your Councils and to repose a great Confidence in me for the Direction of your Affairs I may affirm with Truth that the Huguenots shar'd the State with you that the Grandees behav'd themselves as if they had not been your Subjects and the most powerful Governours of Provinces as if they had been Soveraigns in their Imployments I may say that the ill Example of both was so prejudicial to this Kingdom that the best regulated Communities were tainted with their Behaviour and in some cases lessen'd your Majesty's lawful Authority as much as in them lay in order to extend their own beyond reason I may say that every Man measur'd his Merit by his Presumption that instead of valuing the Favours they receiv'd from your Majesty by their Intrinsick Worth they only valued them according as they were suitable to the Unruliness of their Fancy and that the most daring were esteem'd the wisest and often prov'd the most happy I may also say that Foreign Alliances were despis'd Private Interest preferr'd to Publick Good in a word the Dignity of Royal Majesty was so much debas'd and so different from what it ought to be by the Defect of those who had then the principal Management of your Affairs that it was almost impossible to distinguish it The Proceeding of those to whom your Majesty had intrusted the Helm of your State could no longer be tolerated without ruining all and on the other hand it could not be alter'd all at once without violating the Laws of Prudence which do not allow the passing from one Extream to another without a Medium The ill Posture of your Affairs seem'd to constrain your Majesty to take precipitated Resolutions without Election of Time or of Means and â—â—t Choice was necessary in both to improve the Alteration which Necessity exacted from your Prudence The Wâ—… were of Opinion that it was impossible without â— Shipwrack to steer through the Rocks that appear'd on all sides in times of such Uncertainty
The Court was full of Men who accus'd those of Rashness who should dare to attempt it and all of them knowing that Princes are apt to impute the ill Success of things that have been well advis'd to those that are about them so few expected a good Event of the Alterations it was said I design'd that many concluded my Fall even before your Majesty had rais'd me Notwithstanding all these Difficulties which I represented to your Majesty knowing what Kings can do when they make a good use of their Power I presum'd to promise you without Temerity in my Opinion what is come to pass in your State and that in a short time your Prudence your Power and the Blessing of God would alter the Affairs of this Kingdom I promis'd your Majesty that I would use my utmost Endeavours and all the Authority you were pleas'd to give me to ruine the Huguenot Party to abate the Pride of the Grandees to reduce all your Subjects to their Duty and to raise your Name again in Foreign Nations to the Degree it ought to be Moreover I represented to your Majesty that in order to compass a happy end it was absolutely necessary you should confide in me and that notwithstanding for the time past all those who had serv'd you had thought no way so proper to obtain and to preserve your Confidence as to remove the Queen your Mother from it I would take the contrary way and that nothing should be wanting on my side to keep your Majesties in a strict Union so necessary for your Reputation and for the Welfare of the Kingdom As the Success which has attended the good Intentions which God has been pleas'd to inspire me with for the Settlement of this State will justifie to future Ages the steadiness wherewith I have constantly pursued that Design so your Majesty will be a faithful Witness that I have us'd my best Endeavours lest the Artifice of some Evil-minded Persons should be powerful enough to divide that which being united by Nature ought also to be united by Grace If after having for many years happily resisted their divers Efforts their Malice has finally prevail'd it is a very great Comfort to me that your Majesty has often been pleas'd to express That while I was most intent on the Grandeur of the Queen your Mother she labour'd for my Ruine But I refer this matter to another place to keep to my present Subject and not to break the Order I am to keep in this Work The Huguenots who have never slipt any occasion to increase their Party having in 1624. surpriz'd certain Ships which the Duke of Nevers was preparing against the Turk afterwards rais'd a potent Navy against your Majesty Notwithstanding the Care of the Sea had been so far neglected till then that you had not one Ship your Majesty behav'd your self with so much Address and Courage that with those you could get among your Subjects 20 from Holland and 7 from England you defeated the Army the Rochelois had put out to Sea Which prov'd the more wonderful and happy in that this advantageous Effect proceeded from a Succour which was only granted to serve you in appearance You took the Isle of Ré by the same means which the Rochelois had unjustly made themselves Masters of long before You routed 4 or 5000 Men they had put into it to defend it and forc'd Soubise who commanded them to fly to Oleron which your Friends not only drove him out of but also forc'd him to fly the Kingdom This happy Success reduc'd those Rebellious Souls to make a Peace so glorious for your Majesty that the most difficult were pleas'd with it and all agreed that it was the most advantagious that had been made till then The Kings your Predecessors having for the time past rather received from than given a Peace to their Subjects though they were diverted by no Foreign Wars they were Losers in all the Treaties they made with them and tho' your Majesty had many other Occupations at that time you then granted it to them reserving Fort St. Lewis as a Citadel at Rochel and the Isles of Re and of Oleron as two other Places which serv'd as a good Circumvallation about it At the same time your Majesty secur'd the Duke of Savoy from the Oppression of the Spaniards who had attack'd him openly and notwithstanding they had one of the greatest Armies that had been seen of a long while in Italy which was Commanded by the Duke of Feria a great Man you hinder'd them from taking Verua of which your Arms jointly with the Duke of Savoy's sustain'd the Siege with so much Glory that they were finally forc'd to raise the Siege shamefully The Spaniards soon afterwards making themselves Masters of all the Passes of the Grisons and having fortify'd the best Posts of all their Vallies your Majesty not being able by a bare Negotiation to free your ancient Allies from that Invasion in which those unjust Usurpers had the more success by reason that the Pope favour'd them upon the vain Hopes they gave him of procuring some Advantages for Religion did that by force of Arms which you had not been able to obtain by strength of Reason Your Majesty had by that means for ever freed that Nation from the Tyranny of the House of Austria had not Fargis your Ambassador in Spain at the Sollicitation of Cardinal de Berulle made as he has confess'd it since without your Knowledge and contrary to your Majesty's strict Orders a very disadvantagious Treaty to which you adher'd at last to oblige the Pope who pretended to be concern'd in that Affair The late King your Father of Immortal Memory designing to marry one of your Majesty's Sisters in England the Spaniards thought themselves oblig'd to break that Project by marrying one of their Infanta's there The Treaty thereof being concluded the Prince of Wales was so ill advisd as to expose himself to the Discretion of a Prince who being Master of his Person might impose whatever Law he thought fit upon him and pass'd through France incognito in order to go into Spain to marry her As soon as the thing was known here such Negotiations were set on foot that notwithstanding the great Honours he receiv'd in that Court where the King gave him the Right Hand all the while he tarry'd there altho' he was no Crown'd Head at that time the Marriage was broken off and soon after it that of France was treated of concluded and accomplish'd with Conditions three times more advantagious for Religion than those which were design'd to be propos'd in the late King's time Soon after that Powerful Cabals were form'd at Court into which the Duke of Orleans your Brother was engag'd by those who had the Care of his Conduct before his Age made him capable of it Being constrain'd to say with great Regret that a Person of the greatest Consideration was insensibly drawn into it with several others who formented
Your Majesty's Innocence is the more apparent in that your Ambassador never enter'd into any Treaty with that Conquerour until Six Months after his entring into Germany which evidently justifies that the Conditions that were made with the said Prince were the Remedy of the Evil of which they could not be esteem'd the Cause The Treaties that were made not only with that Great King but also with many other Princes of Germany are the more just in that they were absolutely necessary for the safety of the Duke of Mantua unjustly attack'd and for that of all Italy over which Spain had no less Right than over the Dominion of that poor Prince since they thought their Convenience a sufficient Right The Danger this Kingdom had been reduc'd to by the Division the Spaniards had openly fomented in your Royal House oblig'd your Majesty to seek out proper Expedients to resettle it Monsieur having left the Court of France for the third time by divers Artifices which the Spaniards certainly were the principal Authors of and the Cardinal Infant having receiv'd the Queen your Mother in Flanders as he did at that time it is natural to conclude that unless those good Neighbours had been employ'd at home they would have proceeded farther and would have employ'd themselves at your Majesty's Cost in this Kingdom It was absolutely necessary to remove the Storm and moreover to prepare to sustain the Effort of it in case it could not be avoided For that reason after your Majesty was assur'd of a potent Diversion you did like those who in order to prevent the Plague which the Corruption of the Air threatens them with carefully purge themselves being perswaded that the best and safest way to secure themselves from external Injuries is to cleanse the Inside God's Providence prov'd so favourable to you on that occasion that those who animating the Queen and Monsieur against France thought thereby to put them in a way to do it a great deal of Harm only rendred them incapable of doing any and your Conduct appear'd so much the more wonderful on that occasion that in recalling the one and desiring the return of the other your Goodness towards them was evident to all the World while the Effects of your Justice fell upon those who had advis'd them to take such ill Measures The Duke de Bellegarde was depriv'd of the Government of Burgundy and consequently of the Keyes of the Gates he had open'd to Monsieur to let him out of the Kingdom The Duke d' Elboeuf was likewise turn'd out of that of Picardy which your Majesty had lately given him The Duke of Guise being conscious of his Faults retiring into Italy when you call'd him to Court there to give an Account of his Actions that Criminal Retreat made him lose the Government the late King your Father had honour'd him with Thus your Majesty was deliver'd of ungrateful faithless Governours and Burgundy Picardy and Provence Provinces of great Consideration remain'd in your Hands free from those dangerous Spirits You gave the first to the first Prince of your Blood who was passionately desirous of it and thereby you prudently interess'd him in the Affairs of the Time and fill'd Monsieur with anxious Thoughts who with reason dreaded nothing so much in the World as the Establishment of a Person who came up so close to him You bestow'd the Second on the Duke of Chevreuse a Prince of Lorrain to shew that Faults are personal and that your Indignation extended only on those of that Family who had made themselves guilty by their ill Conduct You gratify'd the Marshal de Vitri with the Third as well upon the account of his Loyalty as because that being upheld by your Authority he was naturally capable to oppose him who had lost it In the mean time the Declarations you caus'd to be Register'd in the Parliament were highly approv'd of by every body seeing that in condemning the Authors and Adherents of the Queen and of Monsieur's Flight you excus'd those two Persons who are as dear as nearly related to your Majesty altho' the contrary had been done formerly on the same occasions Your Majesty eluded with a great deal of Vigilancy divers Designs and many Enterprizes meditated and attempted in the Queen and Monsieur's Names and you shew'd so much Patience on those unhappy Occurrences that I may almost affirm that you made nothing known of their Ill Conduct but what you could not dissemble Nevertheless in order to stop the Course and remove the License wherewith all things seem'd lawful to be undertaken under their Shadow you caus'd the Marshal de Marillac's Head to be cut off with so much the more reason that being condemned with Justice the present Constitution of the State requir'd a great Example Those great and vexatious Affairs did not hinder you from repressing with as much Authority as Reason certain Enterprizes of the Parliament of Paris which had been tolerated in many other occasions which is more remarkable in that it was done during the Heat of the Discontents of the Queen and of Monsieur and of all their Adherents than for the thing it self Afterwards Monsieur enter'd France with Sword in Hand at the Instigation of the Spaniards and of the Duke of Lorrain with Forces of which those good Neighbours had furnish'd the greatest part One should have thought that the News your Majesty receiv'd at that time of his being expected in Languedoc by the D. de Montmorency who had a great Authority in that Province which he was Governour of should have put a stop to the Design which had led you in Lorrain to disingage that Duke out of the ill Party he had espous'd but finishing what you had begun to so good an end you caus'd Monsieur your Brother to be pursu'd so close by the Marshal de Schomberg and you follow'd him so soon your self after having receiv'd three Places from the Duke of Lorrain as Pledges of his Faith that all the Efforts of those who were Leagu'd against you prov'd ineffectual The Victory which your Majesty's Forces commanded by that Marshal obtain'd at Castelnaudari was as certain an Argument of the Blessing of God on your Majesty as the Favours you afterwards granted to Monsieur and to his Followers when the ill state of his Affairs might have induc'd you to use them otherwise was an evident Testimony of your Goodness The Sincerity wherewith you observ'd all the Promises which were made to them in your Name at Beziers tho' you were sensible that Puy-Laurens's only Design was to avoid the Danger he was in under the pretence of Repentance which he could avoid no other way was also as Authentick a Proof of your Majesty's great Courage as of your inviolable Faith The Chastisement of the Duke de Montmorency who never could contain himself from making an Inlet to all manner of dangerous Rebellions at all times and particularly when an Heir apparent of the Crown made himself by ill Counsel Head
of those who swerv'd from their Duty shew'd all the World that your Steadiness equal'd your Prudence That Punishment also shew'd that your Servants preferr'd Publick Good before Private Interest since on that occasion they resisted the Sollicitations of several Persons whom it behov'd them to have a great deal of Consideration for as well as the Threatnings of Monsieur which Puy-Laurens carry'd to that degree as to declare That in case Montmorency were put to Death Monsieur would find a time to make them suffer the same Fate The Patience wherewith you have born the new Conspiracies which Puy-Laurens form'd in Flanders in Monsieur's Name who retir'd thither for the third time is altogether like that which induces a Father to excuse the Bahaviour which one of his Children is inspir'd with after having laid aside his Obedience That which has induc'd you to bear as long as the Good of the State and your own Conscience would permit you the Malice and Levity which have often induc'd the Duke of Lorrain to Arm against you is a Virtue which has but few Examples in History The Goodness which has prevail'd with you to be contented for the Reparation of his second Faults with the Deposition of some Places capable to keep him within the Bounds of his Duty had not his Folly equall'd his Breach of Faith will be found perhaps the more singular in that there are few Princes who lose the opportunity of making themselves Masters of a Neighbouring State when they have a lawful Subject and Power at once so to do After so many Relapses committed by the Duke your Vassal after he had snatch'd away from you contrary to his Faith against Divine and Humane Right a Pledge almost as precious as your State the Prudence wherewith you divested him when his Malice and Inconstancy could receive no other Remedies but the utmost Extremities is the more to be commended because that had you done it sooner your Justice might have been call'd in question Neither could you tarry longer without shewing your self insensible and without committing by Omission a Fault equal unto that which a Prince should commit in divesting another without a Cause What ought we not to say of the good Nature which has enclin'd you to procure Monsieur's Return into France for the third time when there seemed no longer to be any reason to trust his Faith after the divers Relapses and extraordinary Infidelities of his Followers Many thought with Reason that he could never come back again without exposing your most Faithful Servants and yet they were the only Persons who did sollicit your Majesty to draw him out of the Peril into which he had expos'd himself That Action will meet but few Examples in Antiquity if we consider the Circumstances of it and perhaps but little Imitation of it for the future As no body could without a great deal of Boldness advise your Majesty to grant Monsieur contrary to your own Sentiments a notable Augmentation of Power the Government of a Province and a strong Place in order to recall him out of Lorrain the first time he went out of the Kingdom so it requir'd a great deal of Firmness to resist the Instances he made for a whole Year together to have one given him upon the Frontier where he design'd to retire in quitting Flanders It was no small Happiness that those two Counsels succeeded so well that the Concession of the first place occasion'd his first Return and yet prov'd so innocent a Cause that being useful on that occasion they could not make an ill use of it since when his Adherents endeavour'd it And that the Refusal of the Second was so far from hindring him to return to his Duty and into his Native Country the only place of his Safety that on the contrary it induc'd him to return back again with as good an Intention as he and his have confess'd since it was bad when under Pretence of the Safety of his Person he desir'd a Retreat to disturb the growing Peace of France anew The extraordinary Favours your Majesty granted to Puy-Laurens to induce him to inspire a good Conduct to his Master are so worthy of remembrance that they must not be forgotten in this place The Punishment he receiv'd when you discover'd that he continu'd to abuse your Favours was too just and too necessary not to insert it afterwards I am persuaded that Posterity will observe three things which are very considerable on that Subject An entire Resignation of all Interests but such as related to the Publick Good in your Creatures who having receiv'd him by your express Command into their Alliance nevertheless advis'd you to secure him because the Good of the State requir'd it A great Prudence in performing that Action in the Presence of Monsieur who could not near hand disapprove a Council which he would have dreaded for himself at a distance had not Experience made him sensible that he was not aim'd at A great Boldness in allowing him as much Liberty as he enjoy'd before grounded barely upon this That as ill Counsels only had seduc'd him the Effect would cease with the Cause and that he would be no sooner destitute of them but he would follow by his own Sentiments a Method quite different from that he had been put upon This Action and many others transacted during your Majesty's Reign will I am sure make this pass for a certain Maxim That it is necessary on certain occasions in which the Welfare of the State is concern'd to assume a Male Virtue sometimes to exceed the Bounds of Common Prudence and that it is sometimes impossible to avoid certain Evils unless something be given to Fortune or rather to Divine Providence which seldom refuses its Assistance when our exhausted Wisdom can no longer furnish us with any Moreover your Conduct will be acknowledged the more just in that those who will read the History of your Life will find that your Majesty never punishes any body without having first endeavour'd by some extraordinary Favours to retain him within the Bounds of his Duty The Marshal d'Ornano was made Marshal to that end The Grand Prior was certain of the Command of the Sea when he perverted his Brother's Mind and both gave you Cause to deprive them of their Liberty The Marshal de Bassompierre only subsisted by your Favours when his way of speaking and of behaving himself at Court oblig'd you to confine him to the Bastille The Lord Keeper Marillac was the more oblig'd to perform his Duty because the height to which his good Fortune had elevated him left him no room to desire any thing tho' never so ambitious The Marshal his Brother settled in Verdun and elevated to an Office of the Crown had all the reason imaginable to avoid the Fate he deserved by his Ingratitude and by his evil Behaviour The several Commands the Duke de Montmorency had had in your Armies tho' he was as yet very young to
That it is a thing of no small Consequence in order to reform the Courts of Justice to put the Ordinances in execution in what relates to the Age of Officers In my Opinion it is impossible to be too exact in it nor consequently too severe towards the Attornies General who shall be wanting in their Duty in taking care that the Parties concern'd may not be able to surprise the Judges on that Subject nor to elude the good Intentions of the Prince by Suppositions or Concealments Thereby the Evil of Youth which is considerable will be avoided as well as that of Ignorance which is the Source of many others Officers not being able to precipitate themselves as they do at present in their Reception will study more since otherwise they would remain idle which seldom happens to those who have study'd until they have obtain'd the End they propose I must not omit saying on this Subject That it would be fit absolutely to retrench the Practice of certain Doctors who prompting the Young ones like Parrots often teach them to say things they do not understand and only make them Learned in cheating the Publick and themselves also Such Men may be compar'd to Fencing-Masters who are only good to instruct Men to their own ruin and to hinder them from Learning the true Exercises of Soldiers which are only learn'd in Armies with a great deal of time and fatigue The banishment of such would be of great use which in the Practice would be found as difficult as it is easie in the Proposition Therefore I rather chuse to condemn the Fathers in this place who suffer their Children to be instructed thus and to advise them no longer to commit any such Faults against their own Blood than to intreat your Majesty to prescribe new Laws upon that Subject which would be no sooner made but a thousand ways would be found out to elude the Effect of the same and to avoid the putting of them in practice The Experience which Twenty Years of continual Occupation I have had in the Administration of Publick Affairs has given me obliges me to observe That though it were to be wish'd that the Sedentary Courts which are absolutely establish'd to administer Justice to every one and to prevent and regulate all the Disorders of the Kingdom should acquit themselves so well of their Duty that there might be no necessity to have recourse to extraordinary Commissions to maintain them in the same It is nevertheless so difficult to hope for that which is to be wish'd on that Subject that I dare be bold to say That in order to maintain this great State in the Policy and Discipline without which it can never flourish nothing can be of greater use than to send from time to time in the Provinces Chambers of Justice compos'd of Counsellors of State and Masters of Requests well selected to avoid the Thorns of Parliaments which foment Difficulties upon every thing to the end that the said Court receiving the Complaints which may be made against all sorts of Persons without any exception of Quality may remedy the same immediately I am sensible that the Soveraign Courts will be loth to suffer any such Establishments to be made But as they must needs know that a Soveraign is not oblig'd to suffer their Negligence and that Reason obliges him to remedy those Defects I am not afraid of saying That it is safer on that occasion to acquire their Esteem in performing one's Duty than to preserve their Good-will in being wanting in what is due to Publick Good But whereas it is impossible to send such Commissions at one and the same time in all the Provinces and that it will suffice for one of that Nature compos'd of the same Officers or different to make the Circuit of France in six Years time I am of Opinion that it will be necessary to send often Counsellors of State into the Provinces or Masters of Requests well selected not only to perform the Function of Intendants of Justice in Capital Cities which may serve more toward their Vanity than be of any use to the Publick but to go into all the Parts of Provinces to enquire into the Behaviour of the Officers of Justice and of the Finances to see whether the Impositions are rais'd according to the Ordinances whether the Collectors commit no Injustices in vexing of the People to discover how they perform their Offices to know how the Nobility behaves it self and to put a stop to all Disorders especially to the Violences of those who being Powerful and Rich â—ppress the Weak and the King 's poor Subjects SECT III. Which represents the necessity of hindring the Officers of Justice from incroaching upon the King's Authority AFter having represented what ought to be practis'd and may be done with ease to render the Officers of Justice such as they ought to be in relation to private Persons I cannot without a Crime abstain from proposing what is necessary to hinder so Potent a Body as that which they compose from being prejudicial in the whole to the State One would think there were a great deal to be said upon that Subject and yet I will say as much as is necessary in three Words if I set forth that it only requires to restrain the Officers of Justice from medling with any thing but the administring of the same to the King's Subjects which is the only End of their Establishment The Wisest of your Predecessors have made it their Busmess and have found the Benefit of it your Majesty has follow'd their Example as long as I have had the Honour to serve you And indeed it is a thing of such moment that unless a strict hand be kept over those Powerful Societies it would be impossible afterwards to keep them within the Bounds of their Duty It would be impossible to hinder the ruin of Royal Authority in following the Sentiments of those who being as Ignorant in the Practice of the Government of States as they presume to be Learned in the Theory of their Administration are neither capable to Judge solidly of their Conduct nor proper to make Decrees upon the Course of Publick Affairs which exceed their Capacity As nothing must be suffer'd from those great Companies to wound Soveraign Authority it is Prudence to tolerate some of their Defects of another kind It is necessary to wink at the Imperfections of a Body which having several Heads cannot have the same Mind and which being influenc'd by as many different Motions as it is compos'd of different Subjects cannot sometimes be inclin'd to discover or to suffer its own Good Every body must needs blame their Proceeding when they act contrary to Justice and Equity but in condemning it with Reason it is difficult to find a Remedy for it by reason that in great Companies the number of the Wicked always exceeds the Good and that though they were all Wise yet it would not follow that the best
which cannot be secur'd unless they contribute towards the Maintenance of the State I know moreover that many Princes have ruin'd their States and their Subjects by not keeping sufficient Force on foot for their Preservation for fear of over-burthening them and that some Subjects have been expos'd to the Servitude of their Enemies by desiring too much Liberty under their Natural Soveraign But there is a certain Point which cannot be exceeded without Injustice common Sense teaching every Man that there must be a proportion between the Burthen and the Strength of those who beat it That Proportion must be so Religiously observ'd that as a Prince cannot be esteem'd Good if he exacts more from his Subjects than is necessary those are not always the best who never raise but what is absolutely necessary Moreover as when a Man is wounded the Heart which grows faint by the loss of the Blood which flows from it does not draw that of the lower Parts to its assistance until the greatest part of that which lies in the uppermost is exhausted so in the urgent Necessities of States Soveraigns must as much as in them lies make use of the abundance of the Rich before they bleed the Poor extraordinarily 'T is the best Counsel your Majesty can take which you may easily put into practice since for the future you may draw the principal Subsistence of your State out of your General Farms in which the Rich are more concern'd than the Poor by reason that as they spend less they do not contribute so much to the Product thereof CHAP. V. Which considers the State in it self SECT I. Which represents how necessary it is that the several Parts of the State should remain every one within the extent of their Bounds AFter having spoken separately of the divers Orders the State is compos'd of I have but little to say in the main but that as the Whole only subsists by the Union of its Parts in their Order and natural Situation so this great Kingdom can never flourish unless your Majesty takes care to keep the Bodies which compose it in their Order the Church having the First Rank the Nobility the Second and the Officers which are at the head of the People the Third I speak this boldly because it is as necessary as just to put a stop to the Incroachments of some Officers who being pufâ—'d up with Pride either upon the account of the great Estates they are possess'd of or by the Authority they derive from their Places are so presumptuous as to challenge the First Rank whereas they can only pretend to the Third Which is so contrary to Reason and to the Good of your Service that it is absolutely necessary to put a stop to the Progress of such Enterprises since otherwise France would no longer be what it has been and what it ought to be but a monstrous Body which as such could never subsist or be lasting As it is most certain that the Elements which are capable of weight have none when they are in their Place so it is certain that none of the Orders of your State will prove burthensome to the other while each do remain in the Place which their Birth has assign'd them And as neither Fire Air nor Water can sustain a Terrestrial Body because it is heavy out of its place so it is certain that neither the Church nor the Nobility can support the Burthen of the Officers when they endeavour to move out of their Sphere As I am very sensible that your Majesty knows how to keep all Orders within their Bounds without enlarging any farther upon this Subject I will proceed to two Questions which I incert in this Chapter because they have an equal Relation to the Threedifferent Orders of the State SECT II. Which examines Whether it is better to make the Governments Triennial in this Kingdom than to leave them Perpetual according to the Use which has been practis'd hitherto EVery body will fancy at first that it will be better to make them Triennial but after having compar'd the Advantages which may thereby accrue to the Inconveniences that are to be fear'd perhaps it will be thought as I have already observ'd it that though the Nomination to Benefices is not so Canonical as the Elections the Use of it is nevertheless more advantagious at this time for several Reasons as also that notwithstanding the suppression of the Sale of Offices is to be desired for several Reasons yet the not tolerating the Use of it would occasion many Inconveniences express'd in their proper places So it is impossible to render the Governments of Provinces and of Towns Triennial without being expos'd to far greater Inconveniences than those which may be fear'd by the perpetual Settlement of Governours I am sensible that some may urge That a Man having a Government only for Three Years will in all probability endeavour to quit it with Reputation and to behave himself with so much Prudence that his Administration may be preferr'd before his Predecessor's whereas having it for Life the certainty of it gives him more Licence But it is much more likely that he who knows he is not long to continue in his Office will endeavour to draw as much Profit out of it as he might expect during his Life if he were to enjoy it to his Death Moreover considering the Inconstancy of our Nation there might be some reason to fear the employing of some who foreseeing the End of an agreeable Administration might resolve to perpetuate it by receiving those as Masters whom they ought to look upon as Enemies If the Practice of Spain be urg'd which often changes Governours after having answer'd that Example shews us that nothing can be more dangerous than that Government I will add That as there are Fruits the Use of which is excellent in one Country and a Poison in another so there are Settlements the Practice whereof is good in one State but yet would prove pernicious in another Some may say to prevent the Objections which may be made against the Practice of the Order of Spain in this Kingdom That those who will lay down an Office after the expiration of the term of their Administration will have no reason to be dissatisfied since they will be employ'd in others which will prove better but such great difficulties will be met with in the Practice of such an Order that it will be impossible to overcome them A Man may be fit to Govern in Piccardy by reason of his being born there who will not be fit to be employ'd in Brittany where he has no Acquaintance and where the Place which will be given him will hardly be able to maintain him The Governments of France are for the most part of so little Profit that unless they are given to Persons who are more desirous of them upon the account of Honour and for the Convenience of their Neighbourhood than out of any other Consideration there
would be pleas'd often to call to mind what I have represented several times to you That no Prince can be in a worse Condition than he who not being always able to do those things himself which he is oblig'd to do is loth to permit others to do them for him and that to be capable to suffer himself to be serv'd is not one of the least Qualities a great King can have seeing that otherwise occasions are often sooner fled than Men can dispose themselves to take hold of them whereby favourable Conjunctures for the advancement of the State are lost for Subjects of no consideration The late King your Father being reduc'd to a great Necessity paid his Servants with good Words and made them do things by Caresses which his Necessity did not allow him to incline them to any other way Your Majesty not being of that Constitution has a natural driness which you take from the Queen your Mother as herself has often told you in my presence which hinders you from imitating the late King on this Subject I cannot forbear representing to you that it is your Interest to do good to those who serve you and that at least it is reasonable to take particular care not to say any thing to disoblige them As I shall have an occasion in the sequel to treat of the Liberality which is necessary in Princes I will say no more of it in this place but I will enlarge upon the Evils which attend those who speak too freely of their Subjects The Wounds which are receiv'd by Swords are easily cur'd but it is not so by those of the Tongue particularly by the Tongues of Kings the Authority of which makes them incurable unless the Cure comes from themselves The higher a Stone is thrown from the more impression it makes where it lights many would freely expose themselves to be run through by the Swords of their Master's Enemies who cannot bear a Scratch from his hand As a Fly is not Meat for an Eagle as the Lion despises those Animals which are not of his Force as a Man attacking a Child would be blam'd by all the World so I presume to say That great Kings ought never to wound private Persons with Words because they bear no proportion to their Grandeur History is full of the ill Events which have been occasion'd by the liberty great Men have formerly allow'd their Tongues to the prejudice of Persons they deem'd to be of no Consideration GOD has been pleas'd to favour your Majesty so much that you are not naturally inclin'd to do harm and therefore it is reasonable you should regulate your Words so much that they may not do the least prejudice I am certain that you will not willingly fall into that Inconvenience But as it is difficult for you to stop your first Motions and your sudden Agitations of Mind which do sometimes transport you I should not be your Servant unless I acquainted you that your Reputation and Interest requires your taking a particular care to suppress them seeing that though such liberty of Speech should not wound your Conscience yet it would very much prejudice your Affairs As to speak well of one's Enemies is an Heroick Vertue A Prince cannot speak licentiously of those who would venture a thousand Lives for his Service without committing a notable Fault against the Laws of Christians as well as against sound Policy A King whose Hands are undefiled whose Heart is pure and whose Tongue is innocent has not a common Vertue and those who possess those two first Qualities eminently as your Majesty does may easily acquire the third As it suits with the Grandeur of Kings to be reserv'd in their Words that nothing may come out of their Mouths capable to offend private Persons so in Prudence it behoves them not only to take care never to say any thing to the disadvantage of the Principal Communities of their State but moreover to speak in such a manner of them that they may have reason to believe they have an Affection for them The most important Affairs of the State oblige them so often to cross them for Publick Good that Prudence requires they should be satisfied in things which are not of that nature It is not sufficient for great Princes never to open their Mouths to speak ill of any body but Reason requires they should shut their Ears against Slanders and false Reports and that they should turn out and banish the Authors of them as dangerous Plagues which infect the Courts and Hearts of Princes and the Minds of all those who come near them If those who have a free access to the Ears of Kings without deserving it are dangerous those who possess their Hearts out of pure Favour are much more so seeing that in order to preserve such a Treasure they must needs make use of Art and Malice to supply the want of Vertue which is not in them I cannot forbear adding upon this Subject That I have always dreaded for your Majesty the Power of such Men more than the Power of the greatest Kings of the World and that it behoves you more to beware of the Artifice of a Menial Servant than of all the Factions the Grandees could form in your State though they should all tend to the same End When I was first introduc'd into the Management of Affairs those who had had the Honour to serve you before were prepossess'd that your Majesty believ'd whatever was reported to their prejudice and upon that Foundation their principal Care was ever to keep some of their Confidents about you to secure themselves against the Evil they were afraid of Though the Experience I have of your Majesty's steadiness in relation to me obliges me to acknowledge either that their Opinion was ill grounded or that the Reflections which Time has allow'd you to make upon me have remov'd that Easiness of Youth yet I must needs conjure you to settle your self so firmly in the Conduct you have been pleas'd to use towards me that no body may have reason to dread a contrary Fate In the next place I must also tell you That as Prince's Ears must be shut against Calumnies so they must be open to hearken to the Truths which are useful to the State and that as the Tongue must have no motion to say any thing to the prejudice of any body's Reputation so it must be free and bold to speak when Publick Interest is concern'd I mention these two Points because I have often observ'd that it was no small trouble to your Majesty to have the Patience to hearken even to that which was most important to you and that when the Welfare of your Affairs oblig'd you to express your Will not only to Persons of great Quality but also to those of mean Condition you had much ado to resolve to do it when you suspected that it would be disagreeable to them I confess that the said Dread is a sign
Among the good Councils which Anthony Perez gave the late King he advis'd him to make himself powerful in that Court and not without reason since the Ambassadors of all the Princes in Christendom who repair there judg that those who have most Credit and Authority in that Court are in reality those who have most Power in themselves and most Fortune and indeed their Judgment is not ill grounded since it is certain that tho Popes ought to respect Reason above all other Men yet there is no Place in the World in which Power is more consider'd than in their Court which is so evidently true that the Respect which is paid to Ambassadors there increases or diminishes daily according to the good or ill State of their Masters affairs from whence it often comes to pass that those Ministers receive two different Faces in one day if a Courier who comes at night brings different News from those that came in the Morning It is with States as it is with Human Bodies the fresh Colour which appears in our Faces makes the Physitian conclude that all is well within and as that good Complection proceeds from the good Disposition of the Noble and Internal Parts so it is certain that the best way a Prince can put in Practice to be in favour at Rome is to settle his Affairs well at home and that it is almost impossible to have a great reputation in that City which has been long the Head and is the Centre of the World without having the same throughout the Universe to the great advantage of publick Interest Natural Reason teaches us that we ought to have a great regard for our Neighbours by reason that as their Neighbourhood gives them an opportunity to annoy it also puts them in a condition to serve as the Out-works of a Place which hinder the Immediate Approach of the Walls Persons of mean capacity limit their thoughts within the extent of the States in which they are born but those to whom God has been pleas'd to give more knowledg learning from Physitians that in the greatest Distempers Revolutions are made with most Violence in the most distant Parts they use their best Endeavours to fortify themselves at a distance It is necessary to act in all Places which is to be observ'd according to the humour and by suitable means to the capacity of those with whom we negotiate Different Nations have different Wayes some speedily conclude what they design to do and others are very slow Republics are of the last kind they proceed slowly and commonly they do not at first grant what is desir'd of them but one must be satisfy'd with little in order to obtain more As great Bodies do not move so easily as small ones those kind of States being compos'd of several heads they are much slower in their Resolutions and in their Executions than others And for that reason Prudence obliges those who negotiate with them to give them time and to press them no more than their natural Constitution permits It is observable that as strong and solid Reasons are excellent for Men of vast Genius weak ones are better for Men of meaner Capacitys because they are more suitable to their reach Men conceive Affairs according to their capacity the greatest seem easie and small to Men of good Understanding and great Courage and those who want these qualifications commonly find every thing difficult Such Men are incapable of apprehending the Weight of what is propos'd to them and sometimes slight what is most considerable and also often set a great stress on things which deserve no consideration It is necessary to act with every Man according to his Capacity On some Occasions to Act and to speak couragiously when we have fight on our side is so far from making a Breach that on the contrary it is rather the way to prevent and to stifle it in it's Birth In others instead of resenting unseasonably certain imprudent Expressions spoken by those we treat with we must suffer them with Prudence and Address together and have only Ears for those things which may conduce to our Ends. There are Men who are so presumptuous as to think they ought to shew their Bravery on all occasions hoping thereby to obtain what they cannot get by reason and what they cannot constrain People to do by force They think they have done harm by threatning it but besides that this proceeding is contrary to reason it never succeeds with Persons of Honor. As Fools are not fit to negotiate there are Minds so very nice and refin'd that they are as unfit for it as they by reason that subtilizing upon every thing they are like those who break the Points of Needles in whetting them The most proper Men are those who keep a Medium between those two extreams and the most subtle making use of their Wit to avoid being deceiv'd must take care at the same time not to use it to deceive those they treat with Men are always diffident of those that act craftily and give an ill Impression of the frankness and fidelity they ought to behave themselves with That never advances their Affairs The same Words have often two Senses the one depends on the Sincerity and Ingenuity of Men the other on Art and Subtlety by which it is very easie to turn the true Signification of a Word to voluntary Explications Great Negotiations must not have one Moments Intermission it is necessary to pursue what we undertake with a perpetual chain of designs never ceasing to act unless with Reason and not by a Relaxation of Mind Indifference wavering thoughts and contrary resolution Neither must Men be disgusted by an ill Event since it often comes to pass that what is undertaken with most Reason succeeds with least happiness It is difficult to combat often and always to be Conqueror and it is a Sign of an extraordinary Blessing when Success is favourable in great Undertakings and only contrary in those that are of little Moment It is enough that Negotiations are so harmless that one may receive considerable advantage by them and never any harm If any body urges that some of them prove prejudicial sometimes I give him leave to reject my Judgment if he does not find in case he will open his Eyes that instead of having any reason to impute the ill success he has observ'd in the Remedy I propose they are only to be imputed to those who did not know how to make a good use of it Tho it should produce no other advantage than to gain Time on certain occasions which happens commonly the practice of it would be very commendable and useful in States since a moment often serves to avoid a Storm Notwithstanding the Alliances which are often contracted by Marriages between Crowns do not always produce the Effect that might be desir'd yet they must not be neglected and they often prove the most Important matters of Negotiations They always produce
commonly occasion in States and how necessary it is to remove them from Kings and to banish them from their Courts THere is no Plague so capable to ruine a State as Flatterers Detractors and certain Men who apply themselves wholly to form Cabals and Intrigues in their Courts They are so industrious to spread their Venom by divers imperceptible ways that it is difficult to scape it without abundance of care As they are neither of a Quality nor Merit to have a share in the Management of Affairs nor good enough to be concern'd for the Publick Good their only aim is to disturb both and expecting great advantages from Confusion they omit no means to overthrow by their Flatteries by their Crafts and by their Detractions the Order and Rule which deprives them absolutely of all hopes of Fortune since it is impossible to build any in a well disciplin'd State unless it be upon Merit which they are wholly destitute of Besides that as it is a common thing for those who have no share in Affairs to endeavour to ruine them those sort of Men are capable of doing all manner of Evils and therefore it behoves Princes to take all the precautions imaginable against the malice which disguises it self in so many different dresses that it is often difficult to ward it There are some who notwithstanding they have neither Courage nor Wit have nevertheless so much of both as to feign as much steadiness as a profound and severe Wisdom and to set off themselves in finding fault with every body's Actions even when they are most to be commended and that it is Impossible to do better in respect of the thing in question Nothing is so easy as to find apparent Reasons to Condemn what cannot be better done and what has been undertaken upon such Solid Foundations that one could not have done otherwise without committing a notable fault Others having neither Mouths nor Spurs dislike by their Gestures by shaking of their Heads and by aserious Grimace what they dare not Condemn with Words and cannot be blam'd with Reason Not to flatter in what Relates to such Men It is not enough for the Prince to refuse them his Ear he must also banish them from the Cabinet and Court together because that as their facility is sometimes so great that to speak to them and to persuade them is the same thing even when they cannot be persuaded there still remains some Impression which has its Effect another Time when the same Artifice is renew'd And indeed the Little Application they have to Affairs induces them often to Judge the Cause rather by the number of Witnesses than by the Weight of the accusations I could hardly relate all the Evils those Evil Councelors have been the Authors of during your Majestie 's Reign But I have so lively a Resentment of it for the Interest of the State that it forces me to say That there can be no room for mercy for such Men in order to prevent the mischiefs that have been done in my Time Tho a Prince be never so Firm and Constant he cannot without great Imprudence and without exposing himself to Ruin keep ill Men about him who may surprise him unexpectedly as during a Contagion a Malignant Vapor siezes in an Instant the Heart and Brains of the strongest Men when they think themselves soundest Those Public Plagues must be remov'd never to return unless they have cast all their Venom which happens so seldom that the care we ought to have of repose obliges more to the Continuation of their Removal than Charity can Invite to recall them I boldly advance this proposition because I have never seen any of those Lovers of Factions bred in the Intrigues of the Court lose their Ill habit and change their Nature unless for want of Power which properly speaking do's not Change them since the will of doing Ill remains in them when the Power has left them I am sensible that some of those Men may be sincerely converted but experience teaching me that for one who persists in his repentance twenty return to their old Vomit I decide boldly That it is better to use Rigor against one Person who deserves favour than to expose a State to some prejudice by being too Indulgent either towards those who keep their malice in their Heart only acknowledging their fault in Letters or towards those whose levity may give a reason to dread a relapse worse than their former Evil. 'T is no wonder that Angels should never do any Evil since they are confirm'd in Grace but that those who are obstinate in that kind of Malice should do any good when they may do harm is a kind of Miracle which must be wrought by the immediate Powerful hand of God and it is certain that a Man of great Probity will find much more difficulty to subsist in an Age corrupted by such Men than one whose Vertue they will not stand in dread of his Reputation not being so Intire Some are of Opinion that it suits with the goodness of Kings to Tolerate things which seem to be of small Consequence in the beginning but I say That they can never be too careful to discover and to extinguish the least Intrigues of their Cabinets and of their Courts in their Birth Great Conflagrations being occasion'd by small sparks who ever puts out one do's not know what mischief he has prevented but to discover it if he leaves any one unextinguish'd tho the same Causes do not always produce the same Effect he will perhaps find himself reduc'd to such an Extremity that it will no longer be in his Power to remedy the same Whether it be true or no that a little Poyson stops a great Vessel the Course of which it cannot advance of one Moment it is easy to conceive by what Naturalists relate to us of that Poyson that it is absolutely necessary to purge a State of that which may put a stop to the Course of Affairs tho it can never advance it On such occasions it is not sufficient to remove great Men upon the account of their Power the same must be done to the meanest upon the account of their Malice All are equally dangerous and if there is any difference mean Persons as those that are most conceal'd are more to be fear'd than the others As the bad Air I have already mention'd lock'd up into a Trunk often Infects a House with the Plague which afterwards spreads throughout the Town so the Intrigues of Cabinets often fill the Courts of Princes with partialities which finally disturb the body of the State As I may affirm with Truth that I have never seen any Troubles in this Kingdom but what did proceed form thence I answer once more that it is more Important than it seems to be to extinguish not only the first sparks of such Divisions when they appear but also to prevent them by the removal of those who make it their whole business
Kingdom in that that tho the Levity of our Nation should make it incapable of making great Conquests their Valour would render them Invincible in their defence having considerable Places so well fortify'd and so well provided with all things that they may be able to show their Courage without being exposed to suffer great hard-ships which are the only Enemies they have to overcome A Frontier well fortify'd is capable either to discourage Enemies from the designs they might have against a State or at least to stop the Course of the same and their Impetuosity if they dare venture to do it by open force The subtil motions of our Nation stand in need of being secured against the Terrour they might receive in an unexpected attack if they did not know that the entrance into the Kingdom has such strong Ramparts that no foreign Impetuosity can be capable to take them by Storm and that it is impossible to overcome them without a considerable Time The new method of some of the Enemies of this State being more to starve the Places they besiege than to take them by force of Arms and to ruin the Country they invade by a great number of horse than to advance by degrees into it with a considerable body of Foot as was done antiently it is clear that Frontier Places are not only useful to resist such Efforts but also to secure States in the Bowels of which it is impossible for Enemies to make any great Progress if they leave Places behind them to cut off the communication of their Countrys and their Convoys together These considerations oblige me to represent that it is not sufficient to fortify Places and to put such Provisions and Ammunitions into them as may serve to resist brisk attacks but also to furnish them with all things necessary for a year at least which is a sufficient time to relieve them conveniently I am sensible that it is almost impossible for great Kings to provide many Citadels thus but it is not so with great Towns in which the Society of Men produces a great store of many things which a particular Governor cannot make a sufficient provision of and it is easie to oblige the Inhabitants to provide Provisions for a Year which will always suffice for six Months and more if they turn out useless Mouths as reason requires I am so far from pretending that this Order should exempt Princes from having publick Magazins that on the contrary I am of opinion that they can never have too many and that after having provided them they must establish such good Orders to preserve them that the Governors to whom the disposition of the same belongs may not have the Liberty to dissipate them in vain either out of negligence or a desire to convert them to their own Uses I do not particularly specify the Number of Cannons* of Powder and of Bullets and of all other Warlike Ammunitions which are to be put in every place because it is to be different according to their different Largeness But I will say that Provisions for the Mouth are not more necessary than those of War and that it would be to no purpose for a Town to be well stor'd with Victuals if they wanted what is absolutely necessary both to defend themselves and to annoy their Enemies seeing particularly that Experience showeth us that those whoshoot most commonly kill most when a Place is besieg'd one might better spare Bread than Powder The Antients having observ'd very well that the real Strength of Towns consists in the number of Men I cannot forbear adding that all Fortifications are useless unless the Governor and the Officers who command in a place have a Courage equal to the Strength of the Walls and Ramparts and unless the Number of Men is proportion'd to the Largeness of the place and the quantity of the Posts that are to be defended Experience has show'd us in divers occasions that the least Holds are impregnable by the steadiness of the courage of those who defend them and that the best Citadels make no great resistance when those that are in them have not a Courage suitable to their Force Therefore Princes can never be too careful in choosing those to whom they intrust Frontiers since the Welfare and repose of the State depends chiefly on their Fedelity and Vigilancy their Courage and Experience and that often the lack of one of these Qualifications costs millions to States if it does not prove the absolute cause of their Ruin SECTION IV. Of the Power a State ought to have by its Land-Forces This Section has several Subdivisions upon the account of the abundance of matter it contains which will be specify'd in the Margin THE most potent State in the World cannot boast of injoying a certain Peace unless it be in a condition to secure it self at all times against an unexpected Invasion or Surprise In order thereunto it is necessary that so great a Kingdom as this is should always keep a sufficient Army on Foot to prevent the designs which hatred and envy might form against its Prosperity and Grandeur when 't is look'd upon to be in a secure Repose or at least to stifle them in their Birth Who has Force has commonly Reason on his side and he that is Weak is commonly thought in the wrong in the Judgment of most Men. As a Souldier who do's not always wear his Sword is lyable to many inconveniences that Kingdom which do's not always stand on its Guard and keep it self in a condtion to prevent a sudden surprise is in great danger Public Interest obliges those who have the management of States to Govern them so as not only to secure them against all the Evil which may be avoided but also from all apprehensions of it As Reason requires a Geometrical Proportion between that which sustains and that which is sustained it is certain that there must be considerable Forces to sustain so great a Body as this Kingdom Those that are necessary to so great an End may and ought to be of a different Nature that is that among the Men design'd for the preservation of this State some must be listed to be ready on all occasins and others actually in Arms in order always to be in readiness to make a good defence In order to provide for the Frontier Towns and to keep a Body on foot to oppose all unexpected Designs it is necessary to keep at least four thousand Horse and forty thousand Foot actually in Arms at all times and it is easie without burthening the State to keep ten thousand Gentlemen and fifty thousand Foot listed ready to be rais'd on all Emergencies It may perhaps be urg'd that the Defence of the State does not require such great Preparations but whereas the said Establishment is so far from being a Burthen to France that on the contrary the Nobility and the People will receive a Benefit by it I say that
Country inclines them some times to take Arms against their King the Inconstancy and sudden Motions to which they are subject not permitting any body to rely upon them they do themselves more harm than they are capable of doing to their Country 'T is most certain that the Spaniards surpass us in Constancy and Steadiness in Zeal and in Fidelity for their King and Country but in exchange that Kingdom is so barren and so desart in some Places and so little abounding in Men that were it not for their Constancy it would often be abandon'd by it self Moreover if among the French some particular Persons ingage against their Master the Spaniards some times mutiny and revolt in Bodys in their Armys If the Emperor has the advantage to govern a Nation which is the Nursery of Souldiers he has the disadvantage that they easily change their Party and Religion together besides that they are very much addicted to Drunkenness and far more unrulythan ours in the Field In a Word all Nations have there defects and the most prudent are those who endeavour to acquire by Art what Nature has deny'd them It is more easy to add Flegm Patience and Discipline to the Courage Valour and Courtesy of the French than to inspire that Fire in Flegmatic Nations which they have not naturaly The French are Capable of every thing provided their Commanders are Capable to teach them what they are to do Their Courage which inclines them to seek out War all the World over Justifys this Proposition Since they live like Spaniards in their Armys like Sweedes in their Country like Crawats when they are listed among them and like Hollanders in their States They observe their several Disciplines which shows that if they keep their Natural Imperfections in their Country it is because they are tolerated and that their Officers do not know how to Correct them If they live in this Kingdom without Discipline it is not so much their fault as the fault of their Leaders who commonly content themselves with making fine Ordinances and do not take so much care as they should do to cause them to be observ'd Nothing can be more easy than to prescribe Rules to live well and nothing more difficult then to put them in practice however it is not impossible Endeavours must be us'd to show the Justice of them by reason and then no mercy must be shown to those who Violate them If one two or three Examples of Punishment do not put a stop to Disobedience the continuance of it will do 't and I dare assure your Majesty that if you find Chiefs worthy to command you will never want Subjects fit to obey It is most certain that the general Opinion of the World That the French are incapable of Rule and Discipline has no other Foundation than the Incapacity of their Commanders who do not know how to chuse necessary means for the Ends they propose The Siege of Rochel in which during thirteen Months an Army of 25000 Men receiv'd Orders and obey'd like Monks bearing Arms and the Expedition of Pignerol where they did the same plainly demonstrate what I have said But the General must be a Man of Resolution and no respecter of Persons and known to be so for it is certain that unless he has so much steadiness as to remain inflexible in the Rigor of the Rule he has prescrib'd no Man will think himself oblig'd to observe it or at least many will venture to break it in hopes of a Pardon But when a General persists as much in punishing as the Delinquents in their Faults his steadiness will stop the course of our excessive Levity and without such a Remedy it is in vain to expect to keep so hot and so impetuous a Nation as ours is within the Bounds of Reason The Punishments of Marillac and of Montmorency have reduc'd all the Grandees of the Kingdom to their Duty in an instant of time and I dare affirm that the same being practis'd against Ten Officers and Fifty Souldiers will maintain the Armys in Discipline and in a condition to perform whatever will be desir'd of them Punishing those thus who shall be wanting in the Performance of their Duty few Men will be punish'd since few will venture to expose themselves to ruin finding it inevitable and by the Death of a small Number the Lives of many will be preserv'd and Order observ'd in all things The Defects of this Nation never appear'd more than under your Majesty's Reign which being signaliz'd by great Prosperity and Power by your Conduct will also be signaliz'd in the opinion of the most judicious for many Insidelities you have suffer'd and by a World of Attempts against your Service After having made divers Inquiries into the Reasons of both I am not afraid of saying That they proceed from the Weakness of your Majesty's Minority during which Men have so insensibly accustom'd themselves to all sorts of Licentiousness that they thought they might continue the same under your Reign with the same Impunity as heretofore The first is that as there are more Colleges of Religious Orders more Officers of Justice and of the Finances than for the time past there are not near so many Souldiers for which reason the desertion of those who retire from the Armies is more apparent because there are not so many found as formerly to supply the room of those who forsake their Duty The second that Souldiers advanc'd their Fortune more formerly than in these Times in which the Officers of the Finances and the Partisans reap all the Fat to the great disgust of those who are constrain'd to expose their Lives almost to no purpose The third that Generals are less careful in our days of military Discipline and less severe in chastising those who swerve from it than our Fore-fathers were The fourth that the long discontinuation the French have had of Foreign Wars in which they had powerful Enemies to encounter had almost made them forget the Trade and disus'd them from the Fatigues they are little capable of tho they must go through many when they have brisk and potent Enemies to deal with I add to these considerations that your Majesty's health has not always permitted you to be in the Army and that the Injustice of the French is so great that they are never satisfy'd in a Place where they venture their Life unless they see their King whose presence they fancy does in some measure secure it None but the Enemies of this State can make War successfully by their Lieutenants the Flegm of their Nation gives them that advantage but the French are the most unfit for it of any other Nation because the eagerness of their Courage and the desire of fighting gives them an Impatience which can never be vanquish'd but by the presence of their King If at any time any great Enterprise has met with Success under Lieutenants it will either be found that those who
have had that good Fortune were Men of very great Authority by the Trust repos'd in them by their Master and by their particular Merit or that those Wars were not so lasting as to oblige them in overcoming the Enemies also to vanquish the humour of the French It is no small Trouble to me to be oblig'd in this Place to discover the defects your Majesty has often observ'd in your Nobility yet they are so public that it is impossible to conceal them The Affection I have for that Order obliges me to examin them to find out Examples and to endeavour to remedy the same The esteem they were in heretofore will hardly permit one to believe that they have committed faults on some occasions in your Reign but I will discover the reason of them to those who have beheld their Effects All Men easily apprehend that there is a great deal of difference between the Spirits which naturally ascend on high and the grosser Parts of their Bodies which remain below The excellency of the Nobility which love War are those Spirits which ascend on high esteem'd by all the World and those who only follow it because the Laws of this Kingdom constrain them so to do are if not the Lees at least the Wine which drops out of the Cask which is hardly fit for Servants There are no Communities in which there are not more ill Subjects than good ones and whereas a little Tare is capable to spoil several heaps of Wheat it is no wonder if when the Nobility is assembled the greater number corrupts the less tho better and as the best Wine mix'd with the Lees is nought so the Service of the best Nobility is not only useless but prejudicial when joyn'd with the Lees which alters it This Discourse ingaging me to speak of the Ban and Arriere Ban I cannot forbear saying that it is an Assembly of Gentry which having no Head with any Authority governs it self without Rule and lives without Discipline An Assembly the subsistance of which has so little certainty that the sickleness cowardice malice or disgust of three or four Persons is capable to dissipate it in a moment An Assembly which ruins the Places through which it passes far more than the regular Forces which ruining your Majesty's Country pay part of what they spend whereas those pay nothing at all They never perform any Guard in an Army which produces a double Ill Laziness and the Disgust it creates in others Unless they fight at their first Arrival as they are quick in coming they are speedy in going back and threaten it every moment in retiring they do not only debauch many by their ill Example but the most ingenious among them invent whatever Craft can suggest to cover their Infamy and to persuade that they do not retire without reason so that they both weaken and astonish Armies at one and the same time Your Majesty being much better acquainted with these Truths of which you have seen the practice than I am without insisting on the defects of an Order the Perfections of which I have represented my Conscience obliges me to declare freely that Princes must never have any recourse to such a Succour which is much more prejudicial than useful to the State But that this Kingdom may not be depriv'd of the Service of the Nobility which has always been the Principal Sinew of it and is oblig'd to serve it in time of VVar upon the accounts of the Fiefs which have been granted them on that condition and of the advantages they injoy over the People in time of Peace It will be necessary to tax all the Fiefs in every Bailwick according to their Revenue to form regular Troops with the said Money into which such as had rather serve in Person than to pay the Contribution of the Fiefs shall be admitted provided they ingage to perform the Conditions of their Obligation Prudence requires that Men should be imploy'd according to their capacity and that the defects of Nature should be supply'd by Art and for that reason it is necessary to make this use of the Body of the Nobility in order to derive some advantage by them Next to this Observation proceeding on I am oblig'd to observe that it is almost impossible to undertake great Wars with Success with the French alone Foreigners are absolutely necessary to maintain the Body of Armies and if the French Horse are good to fight there is no being without Foreigners to perform the Guards and to support the Fatigues of an Army Our Nation tho hot and eager in Combats is neither vigilant to guard it self nor proper to form Designs or Enterprizes which require toyl and labour One half of the French Armys were formerly Compos'd of Foreigners and we have experienc'd how advantageous it is to use them to supply the defect of our Nation besides that the good qualifications of those by whom we may be assisted may in some measure correct our Imperfections But whereas if we want well disciplin'd Souldiers steady and constant in their Duty we are yet in greater want of Commanders qualifi'd as they ought to be it will be needless to remedy one of these Evils unless we also correct the other There are but few of them in the World and less in France than in any other part who do not suffer themselves to be blinded by Prosperity and do not lose their Courage and Judgment in Adversity Nevertheless it is necessary there should be Men imploy'd in the administration of the State and in the Command of Armys free from these defects otherwise we should be in danger of never improving the favourable occasions which God may offer us and of being considerable losers by the first frowns of Fortune Tho the Head guides the rest of the Body and Judgment is the most Essential Part of him who Commands Nevertheless I prefer a great deal of Courage and Indifferent Parts in a General before a great deal of Wit and an indifferent Heart Many perhaps will wonder at this proposition because it is contrary to the opinion of many but the reason of it is Evident Those who have a great deal of Courage are never astonish'd in danger and make use of all the Wit and Judgment God has indued them with on such occasions whereas those who have but little Courage being easily astonish'd are so much dismay'd in the least danger that let them have never so much Wit it is absolutely useless to them fear not allowing them to Use it I make but little difference between giving the management of the Finances to a Thief and the Command of an Army to a Man of mean Courage As Avarice and the desire the first has of getting an Estate hinders him from improving the occasions to increase his Master's Fund so the second having a desire to preserve his Life and to avoid many Perils which are only such in his Imagination commonly loses and avoids many
Impression of fear to him he attacks the Impatient and Inconstant Temper of the French is as unfit for the defensive part as their fire and first eagerness qualifys them to perform their duty in the first Experience makes me speak thus and I am persuaded that those who are perfect Commanders will say the same SECTION V Of Naval Power THE Power of Arms do's not only require that the King should be strong a shore but also potent at Sea When Anthony Perez was receiv'd in France by the late King your Father and that in order to soften his misery he had secured him a good Pension That stranger being desirous to express his Gratitude to that great King and to show him that tho he was unfortunate he was not ungrateful gave him three Councels in three Words which are of no small Consideration Roma Consejo Pielago The advice of this old Spaniard consummated in Affairs is not so much to be looked upon for the Authority of him that gave it as for its own weight We have already mention'd the Care Princes ought to take to have a good Council and to be authorised at Rome it now remains to show how it behoves the King to be Potent at Sea The Sea is of all Heritages that in which Soveraigns pretend to have the greatest share and yet it is that on which the Rights of every body are least agreed upon The Empire of that Element was never well secur'd to any It has been subject to divers Revolutions according to the inconstancy of its nature so subject to the Wind that it submits to him who Courts it most and whose Power is so unbounded that he is in a condition to possess it with violence against all those who might dispute it with him In a word the old Titles of that Dominion are Force and not Reason a Prince must be Powerful to pretend to that Heritage To proceed with Order and Method in this point we must consider the Ocean and the Mediterranian seperately and make a distinction between the Ships which are of use in both those Seas and of the Gallies the use of which is only good in that which Nature seems to have reserv'd expresly betwixt the Lands to expose it to less Storms and to give it more shelter A great State must never be in a condition to receive an injury without being able to revenge it And therefore England being situated as it is unless France is powerful in Ships the English may attempt whatever they please to our prejudice without the least fear of a return They might hinder our Fishing disturb our Trade and in blocking up the mouth of our great Rivers exact what Toll they please from our Merchants They might Land without danger in our Islands and even on our Coasts Finally The Situation of the Native Countrey of that haughty Nation not permitting them to fear the greatest Land-Forces the ancient Envy they have against this Kingdom would apparently encourage them to dare every thing should our weakness not allow us to attempt some thing to their prejudice Their Insolence in the late King your Father's time towards the Duke of Scily obliges us to put our selves in a posture never to suffer the like again That Duke being chosen by Henry the Great for an extraordinary Embassy into England Embarking at Callis in a French Ship with the French Flag on the Main Top Mast was no sooner in the Channel but meeting a Yacht which came to receive him the Commander of it Commanded the French Ship to strike The Duke thinking his Quality would secure him from such an affront refus'd it boldly but his refusal being answer'd with three Cannon shot with Bullets which piercing his Ship pierc'd the Heart of the French Force constrain'd him to do what Reason ought to have secur'd him from and whatever Complaints he could make he could get no other reason from the English Captain than that as his Duty oblig'd him to honour his Quality of Ambassador it oblig'd him also to compel others to pay that respect to his Master's Flag which was due to the Soveraign of the Sea If King James's words prov'd more civil yet they produc'd no other effect than to oblige the Duke to seek for satisfaction in his own Prudence feigning himself cur'd when his pain was most smarting and his wound incurable The King your Father was oblig'd to dissemble on that occasion but with this Resolution another time to maintain the Right of his Crown by the Force which time would give him means to acquire at Sea I represent this Great Prince to my mind projecting in that occurence what your Majesty must now put in Execution Reason obliges to take an Expedient which without ingaging any of the Crowns may contribute towards the preservation of the good understanding which is desirable among the Princes of Christendom Among many that might be propos'd the following are in my opinion the most practicable It might be agreed upon that French Ships meeting English Ships upon the Coast of England should Salute first and strike the Flag and that when English Ships should meet French Ships upon the French Coast they should pay them the same Honors on condition that when the English and French Fleets should meet beyond the Coasts of both Kingdoms they should both steer their Course without any Ceremony only sending out their respective Long-Boats to hail each other coming no neerer than within Cannon shot It might also be agreed upon that without having any respect to the Coasts of France or England the greater number of Men of War should be Saluted by the smaller either in striking the Flag or otherwise Whatever Expedient is found out on that subject provided it be equal on all parts it will be just if your Majesty is strong at Sea that which is reasonable will be thought so by the English who are so much blinded on that subject that they know no Equity but Force The advantages the Spaniards who are proud of being our Enemies at present derive from the Indies oblige them to be strong on the Ocean The reason of a sound Policy does not allow us to be weak there but it obliges us to be in a condition to oppose the designs they might have against us and to cross their enterprizes If your Majesty be potent at Sea the just apprehension Spain will lay under of your attacking their Forces the only Source of their Subsistance of your making a Descent on their Coasts which have upwards of six hundred Leagues Circumference your surprising some of their places which are all weak and in great number that just apprehension I say will oblige them to be so powerful at Sea and to keep such strong Garisons that the major part of the Revenue of the Indies will be consumed in Charges to preserve the whole and if the remainder suffices to preserve their States at last it will produce this advantage that they will no
will be very considerable in six years time by the number of their Ships and in a condition to assist the Kingdom in case of need as it is practis'd in England where the King makes use of his Subjects Ships in time of War without which he would not be so powerful at Sea as he is Moreover the number of Ships your Majesty designs to keep will not be lessen'd by it since the Publick Docks you have been pleas'd to re-establish will furnish you yearly as many as you please There is no State in Europe fitter to build Ships than this Kingdom abounding in Hemp Linen Cloth Iron Rigging and in Workmen whom our Neigbours commonly debauch from us because they are not imploy'd at home The Rivers Loire and Garrone have such convenient places for Docks that Nature seems to have design'd them for that use The cheapness of Victuals for the Workmen and the conveniencies of divers Rivers which disburthen themselves into them and bring all manner of necessaries justifie the said Proposition If next to this Expedient your Majesty will think fit to grant Merchandising some Prerogatives to give a Rank to Merchants whereas your Subjects are oblig'd to obtain it by divers Offices which are only good to maintain their idleness and to please their Wives you will restore Trade to that degree that every one and all in general will be advantag'd by it In fine if besides those two Favours you will be pleas'd to take a particular care to clear these two Seas from Pirates which may easily be done France will soon add to its Natural Plenty what Trade affords to the most barren Countries Six Guard Ships of two hundred Tuns and six Pinnaces well Arm'd will be sufficient to secure the Ocean provided the said Ships keep constantly at Sea And in order to secure the Sea of the Levant it will also be sufficient to put out to Sea yearly towards the month of April a Squadron of ten Gallies steering their Course towards the Isles of Corsica and Sardinia cruising all along the Coast of Barbary unto the Streights steering the same Course back again not to come home again until the Weather compels them to it at which time six Ships well Equip'd shall put out to Sea in their room to perform their Caravan in the Winter time SECTION VII Which shows that Gold and Silver are one of the principal and most necessary supporters of the State declares the means to make this Kingdom Powerful in that kind shows the revenue of the same at present and how it may be improv'd for the Future in discharging the People of three parts in four of the Burthen which overwhelms them at this Time IT is an old saying that the Finances are the sinews of a State and it certainly is the point of Archimedes which being firmly settled Inables to move all the World A necessitous Prince can never undertake a Glorious Action and necessity ingendring Contempt He can never be reduced to that condition without being exposed to the Efforts of his Enemys and of those who are Envious of his Grandeur Gold and Silver are the Tyrants of the World and tho' their Empire is unjust in it self it is sometimes so reasonable that we must suffer the Dominion of it and sometimes it is so extravagant that it is impossible not to detest the yoke of it as alltogether Insupportable There must be as I have already observ'd it a proportion between what the Prince draws from his Subjects and what they can give him not only without ruining themselves but without a notable Inconvenience As it is reasonable not to exceed the Power of those that give neither can less be exacted than what the necessity of the State Requires None but Pedants and the real enemys of the State can say that a Prince ought not to exact any thing from his Subjects and that his sole Treasure ought to lay in the Hearts of those who are submitted under his Dominion But at the same time none but Flatterers and the true Plagues of the State and of the Court can Insinuate to Princes that they may exact what they please and that in that Case their Will is the Rule of their Power Nothing can be more easy than to find plausible Reasons to raise Money even when there is no necessity for it neither is any thing less difficult than to produce apearent arguments to Condemn the same tho never so necessary Men must lay aside all Passions to be able to Judge and to decide what is reasonable on such occasions and there is no small difficulty to find the certain point of a just Proportion The Expences which are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the State being fix'd the less a Prince can raise among the People is the best In order not to be forc'd to raise great summs it is necessary to spend little and the best way to make moderate expences is to banish all Profusion and to Condemn whatever may tend to that end France would be too Rich and the People too abounding if it did not suffer the dissipation of the public Revenue which other States spend with rule They lose more in my opinion than some Kingdoms who pretend some Equality with us Commonly spend A Venetian Ambassador told me one day wittily upon this Subject speaking of the Wealth of France that in order to make us perfectly happy he only wish'd we knew as well how to spend that well which we dissipate without reason as the Republic knew how to lay out every Quatrain without waste and without overmuch husbandry If it were possible to regulate the appetite of the French I would think that the best way to manage the King's purse were to have recourse to that expedient but as it is impossible to prescribe bounds to the greediness of our Nation the only way to contain them is to use them as Physicians do famish'd Patients whom they constrain to use abstinence by keeping all manner of Victuals from them To that end it is necessary to reform the Finances by the suppression of the chief means by which Men get money unlawfully out of the King's Coffers Among them all none are so dangerous as that of the Comptans the abuse of which is grown to that heigth that not to remedy it and to ruin the State is one and the same thing Tho it is useful to use them on some occasions and that it seems necessary in others nevertheless the great inconveniences and the abuses which arrise by it do so far surpass their usefulness that it is absolutely necessary to abolish them Whole Millions will be sav'd by this means and a thousand conceal'd profusions will be redress'd which it is impossible to discover as long as the secret ways of spending the public Treasure will be in use I am sensible that some will urge that there are some foreign expences which by their Nature must be kept secret and which the
Officers of this kind to be turn'd out those who will find themselves deprived of their usual imployments will be constrain'd to follow the Wars to ingage into Trade or to turn Labourers If in the next place all Exemptions are reduc'd to the Nobility and to the Officers in ordinary of the King's Houshold it is most certain that the Cities and Communities which are exempted the Soveraign Courts the Offices of the Treasurers of France the Elections the Salt Magazines the Offices of Waters and of Forests of the Demain and of the Tithes the Intendants and Receivers of Parishes which compose a Body of upwards of 100000 exempted persons will discharge the People of more than one half of their Tailles it being also certain that the Richest which are liable to the greatest Taxes are those who get exemptions by dint of Money I am sensible that it will be urg'd that it is easie to make such Projects like unto those of Plato's Commonwealth which tho' fine in his Ideas is a real Chimera But I dare affirm that this design is not only so reasonable but so easie to execute that if God pleases to grant your Majesty a speedy Peace and to preserve you for this Kingdom with your Servants of which I esteem my self one of the meanest instead of leaving this Advice by Testament I hope to accomplish it my self SECTION VIII Which shews in few words that the utmost point of the Power of Princes must consist in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts THe Finances being manag'd as above written the People will be absolutely eas'd and the King will be Powerful by the Possession of his Subjects Hearts who considering his care of their Estates will be inclin'd to love him out of Interest Formerly the Kings thought themselves so happy in the Possession of their Subjects Hearts that some were of opinion that it was better by this means to be King of the French than of France And indeed this Nation had formerly such a Passion for their Princes that some Authors praise them for being always ready to spill their Blood and to spend their Estates for the Service and Glory of the State Under the Kings of the first second and third Race until Philip le Bell the Treasure of Hearts was the only publick Wealth that was preserv'd in this Kingdom I am sensible that former times have no relation nor proportion to the present that what was good in one Age is often not permitted in another But tho' it is certain that the Treasure of Hearts cannot suffice at present it is also very certain that the Treasure of Gold and Silver is almost useless without the first both are necessary and whoever shall want either of them will be necessitous in Wealth CHAP. X. Which concludes this Work in showing that whatever is contain'd in it will prove ineffectual unless the Princes and their Ministers are so mindful of the Government of the State as to omitt nothing which their Trust obliges them to and not to abuse their Power IN order to conclude this Work happily I am now to represent to your Majesty that Kings being oblig'd to do many things more as Soveraigns than as private Men they can never swerve so little from their Duty without committing more faults of omission than a private person can do of commission It is the same with those upon whom Soveraigns discharge themselves of part of the burthen of their Empire since that Honour makes them liable to the same obligations which lie on Soveraigns Both of them being consider'd as private persons are liable to the same faults as other Men but if we regard the Conduct of the publick which they are intrusted with they will be found liable to many more since in that sence they cannot omit without sin any thing they are oblig'd to their Ministry In that consideration a Man may be good and virtuous as a private person and yet an ill Magistrate anâ—ilh Soveraign by his want of care to discharge the obligation of his Trust In a word unless Princes use their utmost endeavours to regulate the divers orders of their State If they are negligent in their choice of a good Council if they despise their wholsom Advice Unless they take a particular care to become such that their Example may prove a speaking voice If they are negligent in establishing the reign of God that of Reason and that of Justice together If they fail to protect Innocence to recompence signal Services to the Publick and to punish disobedience and the Crimes which trouble the order of the Discipline and Safety of States Unless they apply themselves to foresee and to prevent the evils that may happen and to divert by careful Negotiations the Storms which Clouds easily drive before them from a greater distance than is thought If Favour hinders them from making a good choice of those they honour with great imployments and with the principal Offices of the Kingdom Unless they are very careful to settle the State in the Power it ought to have If on all occasions they do not preferr Publick Interest to Private Advantages tho' otherwise never so good livers they will be found more guilty than those who actually transgress the Commands and Laws of God it being certain that to omit what we are oblig'd to do and to commit what we ought not to do is the same thing I must moreover represent to your Majesty that if Princes and those who are imploy'd under them in the first Dignities of the Kingdom have great advantages over private Men they injoy that benefit upon hard conditions since they are not only liable by omission to the faults I have already observ'd but also that there are many others of commission which are peculiar to them If they make use of their Power to commit any injustice or violence which they cannot do as private persons they are guilty of a sin of Prince or Magistrate by commission which their sole Authority is the source of and for which the King of Kings will call them to a very strict account on the day of Judgment Those two different kind of faults peculiar to Princes and to Magistrates must needs make them sensible that they are of a far greater weight than those of private persons by reason that as universal Causes they influence their disorders to all those who being submitted to them receive the impression of their movements Many would be sav'd as private persons who damn themselves as publick persons One of the greatest of our Neigbouring Kings being sensible of this Truth at his Death cry'd out that he did not stand in so much dread of the sins of Philip as he was apprehensive of the King 's His thought was truly Pious but it would have been much better for himself and for his Subjects to have had it before his Eyes in the heighth of his Grandeur and of his Administration than when in discovering the
honour of the success should be imputed to La Vallette From the very beginning he had not answer'd either in relation to the Father or to the Son the Affection they both expected to find in him and which they had had proofs of on other occasions he perhaps being instructed in this by the Court and being desirous to oblige the Minister But after all as far as ever I could hear the true or principal Reason of the raising of that Siege with so little honour reflected upon the Cardinal himself more than upon any other in his Quality of Admiral without laying any stress upon his having joyn'd Commanders whom he knew could never agree The Naval Army which should have appeared at the same time with the Land Forces was not ready and whether the Prince had orders to begin the Siege before hand or that the said precipitation proceeded from his own impatience and the fear of losing the fair season for it was in the Month of July the Spaniards who were Masters of the Sea took their time to succour the Town twice within sight of him and to put a Governor into it who contributed considerably towards its Vigorous defence The Spanish Army appear'd to relieve it by Land The Duke de la Vallette's advice tho' often reiterated to march against and to Fight them was not hearken'd unto and the event justify'd on that occasion as in so many others that commonly to be attack'd is to be half Vanquishâ— All things pass'd among ours with great surprise Tumult and Disorder without any of the Quarters being inform'd what pass'd in the other The Prince of Conde's was forc'd and taken The French never made so little resistance which gave way to the Vain reports of the People which they are still possessed with in those parts to this very day as if the Prince had consented to it himself being bribed with Spanish Doubloons which were sent to him they say in great quantity in large Bottles in the guise of Wine for the Provision of his Table The Duke de la Vallette had only notice of the Rout and Combat by run-aways and soon after it by the Prince himself who retiring to Bayonne left him to perform what could be done in that misfortune The Duke approv'd what it would have been useless to Condemn and moreover he exhorted the Prince to secure his Person But as soon as his back was turn'd he could not forbear smiling and that prov'd since the main head of the accufation against him After which giving his Orders with great Tranquility and unconcernedness he not only put all his Men in Battalia but rallying the remainder of the others and opposing the pursuit of the Enemys he sav'd the Major part of the French Army and such Guns and Equipages as were not taken yet The Victorious Souldiers in Fontarabie boasted that they had plundered the Prince's Camp and that they had spar'd La Vallette who was their Friend Another great Crime which was to be plac'd with the Bottles of Doubloons and which nevertheless was afterwards laid to his Charge It is impossible to express the Minister's anger against the Duke de la Vallette whether it were that he only hearken'd to the interrested relations of the Prince of Conde and the Arch-bishop or that such an occasion kindled anew all his Resentment against the Duke d' Espernon's Family or that he dreaded lest the King and the Public should impute that misfortune to his Conduct in case the Prince or the Arch-bishop or the delay of our Naval Army should seem to be the chief cause of it He declar'd â—â— Altorney he would 〈…〉 General against his Kinsman than to leave his fault unpunish'd The Dutchess de la Vallette had the Generosity on ths occasion as in many others not to waver one moment between her Uncle Regnant and her Husband out of favour but the Cardinal when she spoke to him upon that account fell into such a passion that those who were not to be acquainted with the secret and who were order'd to withdraw on purpose overheard it The Dutchess d' Eguillon who was the Duke's faithful Friend after having used all her Credit Art and Addresse with her Uncle could obtain nothing but bitter Complaints and open menaces after which she xpress'd sufficiently that it would not be safe for the Duke to come tho' on the one side he was passionately desirous to justify himself in Person and on the other he had been sent for to give an account of his Conduct It is very probable that the Minister designed not to spare him At least what he said and declar'd publicly was not a great inducement to Invite him to Court A Little Council was held hercupon at Paris by the Duke's Order of Persons he thought wholly devoted to his Interest in which was called among a few others one of the most Zealous and most grateful Creatures of his Family It was Philip de Cospean then Bishop of Nantes formerly Bishop of Aire and since Bishop of Lisieux for whom the old Duke during his favour our of respect to his Merit being delighted with his Sermons had not only obtain'd the Bishoprick of Aire without his knowledge but â—caused the Bulls of the same to be expedited at his own Charge and so sent them to him This Gentlemen who was a Man of Sence and Wit after having heard many arguments upon the circumstances of the Affair of Fontarabie upon the facility the Duke would have to destroy such frivolous accusations and not only to justify his Innocence but also his Services All this said he is good and I believe it but who has told us that they will not speak of the Man and the Mill. This prov'd sufficient to persuade the little Assembly and that indeed was a thing to be dreaded in the hands of an incens'd Minister For tho the Duke had clear'd himself before him and before the King about it and that instead of being punish'd he was soon after honor'd with a considerable Command it was no abolition in forms and the Laws of the State oblige all Subjects and particularly all the Officers of the Crown to reveal what ever they know against the King's Service without examining whether they have opposed it in secret whether they could not prevent it whether they thought the advice would be useless finaly without distinguishing Prince Friend Master or Benefactor Wo to those whose Fate and that diversity of Dutys put to such a terrible Tryal However the Duke contrary to his own inclination follow'd the advice of his Friends and retir'd into England His process was made The Cardinal would needs have the information against him brought in before the King The President de Bellievre since first President and some others had the Courage to say they saw no proofs The greater Number follow'd the false and pernicious Maxim that one may always Condemn an absent Person because his Life is in no danger and that it
is the bare reward of his Contumacy As if it were ever allowable to betray Truth and justice because they make no defence The old Duke d'Espernon who till then had been an object of envy began to become an object of Pity 1639. In six months time of the year 1639 he lost the Duke de Candale his eldest Son he saw the second Condemn'd to Death on whom he had fix'd his heart and all his hopes besides the Death of the Cardinal de la Valette his third Son to whom it was thought Cardinal de Richelieu as a recompence for his Services had promis'd not to disturb the repose of his Father's old age Orders follow'd immediately to Confine him first to his House of Plassaâ— next to Loches where he ended his days some years after His constancy was such in that great Age that after having perform'd in his last sickness what ever could be desir'd of him for his Conscience without Pride or Weakness for he ever had Religion and Faith he let fall never a Word in relation to the Cardinal but what was at once Christian like and Noble He ordered the Duke de la Vallette's two Children to be recommended to the King they having the honor to be related to him they were the Children of his first Marriage for he had none by the second And some suggesting to him that he would do well to do them the same office with the Minister whose power was so well known he only answer'd mildly I am his Servant without being able to resolve to request any thing of him He dyed on the 13. of January 1642 being 88 years of Age repeating often even in the middle of his Prayers and in the very Arms of Death the Name of his Son de la Valette whom he look'd upon as his Martyr The Cardinal de Richelteu did not out-live him long He dyed on the 4th of December of the same Year being only 58 years of Age leaving to Courtiers one of those â—ine but too subtile Examples of what Fortune Grandeur and Favour is never certain never contented and which is worse little present and long pass'd The King who griev'd in secret for having allow'd him so much Power and who had reason to dread all things from him if he had liv'd much longer did not think himself so much depriv'd of a faithful Minister as deliver'd of a proud insupportable Master It then prov'd a kind of Merit at Court not to have been too much his Friend But all things were soon alter'd there a second time by the King 's own Death on the 14th of May 1643. The Duke de la Valette call'd Duke d'Espernon since his Father's Death came back from England and surrender'd himself in the Prison of the Palace of Paris and was absolv'd by the unanimous Voice of the Parliament with a general Applause of the Grandees and of the People No Man of any Note that I know of ever laid the ill Success at Fontarabie to his charge but the Cardinal and as to the pretended Intelligence or Conspiracy with the two Princes far from upbraiding himself with it he plac'd it among his best Actions since that tho ill us'd and oppress'd by the Cardinal to the highest degree he had been able to resist the Temptation to right himself and the Duke his Father by a Civil War the greatest and most dangerous of all those of that time if both had hearkn'd to it As the Cardinal de Berulle dyed with the repute of sanctity and that all those who have known him have testify'd the same except Cardinal Richelieu it is a very material point to inform the Public with the Motives that could induce the said Cardinal de Richelieu to insert these Words in the Tenth Page of his Political Testament Your Majesty would thereby have freed the Nation of the Grisons for ever from the Tyranny of the House of Austria had not Fargis your Ambassador in Spain at the Sollicitation of Cardinal de Berulle made as he has confess'd it since without the knowledge and contrary to your Majesty's express Orders a very disadvantageous Treaty to which you adher'd at last to please the Pope who pretended to be somewhat concern'd in that Affair and in the 14 Page the Cardinal de Berulle and the Lord Keeper Marrillac advised your Majesty to abandon that poor Prince he speaks of the Duke of Mantua to the injustice and Insatiable avidity of that Nation which is an Enemy to the Repose of Christendom he means the Spaniards to hinder them from disturbing it the rest of your Council proved of a different opinion both because Spain durst not have formed such a Resolution immediately after the making of a Treaty of Vnion among the English and because if they should have followed so ill an advcie they could not have been able to stop the progress of your Arms. A Little insight into the principal Affairs transacted in the reign of Lewis the XIII is sufficient to know that the Cardinals de Berulle and de Richelieu were both ingag'd in the Interest of the Queen Mother Mary de Medicis and that they liv'd in perfect Intelligence until the year 1622 when the War of the Pon de Cee broke out All the Queen Mother's Creatures did expect that Cardinal de Richelieu to whom that Princess had given Order Power to conclude an accommodation with the King her Son's Ministers would mind their advantages as much as his own and would not expose them to the Vengance of their Enemys whom they had only irritated to remain Faithful to the Queen Mother Nevertheless Cardinal de Richelieu only thought of obtaining a Place for himself in the Sacred College and neglected all the rest For which reason Cardinal de Berulle the Marshal and Lord Keeper Marillac Monsieur and Madam du Fargis and several others fell out with him In the Second Place the first considerable affair which occur'd in the Council of France in 1624 immediately after the Cardinal's being introduc'd there upon the Marriage of Madam Henrietta of France youngest Sister to the King with the Prince of Wales The Cardinal de Richelieu pretended to attribute all the honor of it to himself and negotiated with so much address that he obtained from the Earls of Holland and Carlile Ambassadors from England more advantageous Conditions for the Catholic Religion than those which the King of Great Britain had granted to the Spaniards when he desir'd their Infanta for the said Prince of Wales But the main difficulty was to prevail with the Court of Rome to approve the Conditions Cardinal de Richelieu had made with the English Ambassadors The Court pitched upon Cardinal de Berulle in order thereunto He went to Rome and there began continued and concluded the famous Negotiation which is found among the Manuscripts of Lomenie in the King's Library He obtain'd what ever he desir'd of the Pope and that was sufficient to excite Cardinal de Richelieu's jealousy As to