Affairs ought to have taken care the Vessel had been good but it having been visited by experienc'd Shipwrights before it was put to Sea your Majesty who doth Right to all the World was not at all displeas'd with me The Fault was that the Ship had not for a long time been in Service which doth Vessels more harm than if they were continually at Sea This ill News because it came after that which is better did not make that impression which otherwise it might have done upon your Majesty's Mind You were pleas'd with the good News you receiv'd out of Hungary where your Arms had acquir'd you no little Glory and where without them the Emperour who had already receiv'd a Check had been totally defeated For when the right Wing of his Army had been beaten by the Turks which gave them hopes of an entire Victory your Troops which were in the Left charg'd so bravely that they trod down all that oppos'd 'em and having by their making a Stand renew'd the Fight they beat the Turks shewing so much resolution and Courage that the Emperour instead of returning them Thanks grew Jealous of 'em and instead of resolving to improve the Victory which had caus'd a great Consternation among the Turks he made a precipitate Peace as if he had been afraid your Trops would have taken his Crown from him These two particular Events of good and bad Fortune hinder'd your Majesty from mounting to that high pitch of Glory where you now are The excellent Order which you setled ev'ry where throughout your Kingdom which was still sensible of the Abuses which in Cardinal Mazarin's Time had crept into it are an evident Proof that you were a great King You reform'd the Order of St. Michel which before that of the St. Esprit was the Reward wherewith Kings your Predecessors honour'd the greatest Men in their Kingdom but was so little estem'd after the Institution of the other that all Sorts of People were indifferently receiv'd into it and at last became like the Order of the Star which in time was so despis'd that one of your Predecessors to make it more Vile and Despicable bestow'd it upon the Archers of the City Watch. Your Majesty prudently resolv'd to reform this Abuse especially because the Order of St. Michel is joyn'd to that of the St. Esprit and that the Knights of this last Order could not be receiv'd into it unless they had been before of the first However I must say that your Majesty did not so throughly purge it of the mean Persons that were in it but that some still remain For it is the inevitable Misfortune of all Princes that when they rely wholly upon others it would be a wonder if Favour or Faction should not prevail against Justice Therefore if Princes would have things done according to their own directions they ought to overlook those they depute to see their Pleasure perform'd For if they trust wholly to their Fidelity 't is the way to have their work but half done Your Majesty for the good of your Kingdom Incorporated likewise a Company for the Trade of the Indies and indeed a Kingdom cannot flourish so long as that Trade is driven by Strangers It should be taken out of the hands of the English and Dutch who were suffer'd by your Predecessors to be the sole Masters of that Commerce This Establishment very much displeas'd those two Nations who were so jealous of one another that after some coldness they were ready to quarrel 'T is Interest that sets all People together by the Ears After some flashes of Lightning followed Thunder and after a Breach the English and Dutch came to an open War Your Majesty offer'd to both your Mediation that things might go no further but the English who pretend to the dominion of the Sea and to impose Conditions upon all others stood so stiff upon their Points that your Majesty thought your self oblig'd to take the part of your Ancient Friends against the Old Enemies of your Crown Your Majesty put out a Fleet at Sea in favour of the Hollanders and equipp'd another at the same time against the Algerines The Duke of Beaufort who commanded it having receiv'd your Orders fought the Algerines with such success that he beat them twice in three Months he took several of their Ships among which was the Admiral This Advantage wrought a good Effect among those Barbarous People who endeavour'd to lessen your Reputation by what had happen'd at Gigeri But that which increas'd their Terrour was your setting out new Ships on the Ocean and in the Mediterranean which made all Europe think that in a little time you would be in a Condition not only to dispute the Empire of the Sea with the English but with any other Nation whatever Beside these Ships which considerably increas'd your Fleet you had Magazines full of Stores Materials and Workmen you wanted no Seamen or Pilots so that it was thought you intended to dispute that Dominion which belongs only to him that is strongest I do not pretend to magnifie my self by what I have said tho' I have done the best I could in it To speak the truth I must confess this Design was not mine I did but finish what Cardinal Richelieu first began I know it was he that put the King your Father upon augmenting his Power at Sea or I should rather say to make himself known there For before him all his Predecessors even Henry the 4 th himself had not one single Ship But this Project was but lamely carried on under the ministry of that great Man so that it may be truly said the Glory of it was reserv'd for your Majesty About this time your Majesty did two things very much for the good of your self and People and which the deceased King your Father attempted in vain You reduc'd Persons of Quality and those of the Long Robe to perfect Obedience You did the one under the pretence of Justice the other by your absolute Power Many Gentlemen by the licentiousness of the times had usurp'd so much Authority that they were in their Provinces like so many petty Tyrants and made all tremble under ' em The Judges in those Provinces who were bound by the Duty of their Places to oppose such Innovations did not dare to do it in a time when they fear'd to be run down Beside they were unwilling to concern themselves for People commonly prefer their private Interest before the publick good They were afraid to contest with those petty Kings of the Country so that they stirr'd no more than as if all that past had been indifferent to ' em But your Majesty who thought your self oblig'd not to suffer such Abuses because none but you could pretend to Supremacy being bound to protect your Subjects and secure them from Violence your Majesty I say not being any longer able to suffer what was derogatory to your Authority and so contrary to the Peace of
Manufactures in your own Kingdom So that the French have now at home that which they were obliged with great Expence of their Money to seek for abroad and what is yet more this hath your Majesty done of your self without receiving the least light or advice from others You were Educated very tenderly amongst Women I cannot forbear saying so because it would rob your Majesty of that Glory which is your due when it is known that notwithstanding so ill an Education you are become that which we now see you are I have yet a great deal more to say of those many things your Majesty hath done which appear so great and surprising considering what I have just now said of your Education But I pass that by to keep my self to the Subject I have here proposed I must tell you with all the Respect I owe your Majesty that the only thing wherein you can be blamed is that you are too good to and put too much confidence in those on whom you rely in some of your Affairs It is not to shew my own Parts that I pretend to find fault with other Mens Actions Perhaps I am more subject to Faults than they but the Zeal I have for your Majesty's Service will not suffer me to be longer silent Be pleased therefore to let me give you the History in short of all that hath past in your Majesty's Reign and shew you wherein I think you have been ill serv'd Be also pleas'd to let me tell you by what means I Imagine you may yet make your Kingdom more Glorious I mâ—st humbly beseech your Majesty to pardon this Liberty and to believe I would never have presum'd to have said any thing on this Subject were it not that I cannot better testifie my Zeal to serve your Majesty That which more particularly obligeth me to tell you my Thoughts is That I find my self daily declining and that according to all appearance I have but a very little longer time to do you any Service Curts and Night-watchings shorten Men's Days and I have toil'd enough since your Majesty was pleas'd to trust me with the Management of your Revenue to think 't is now time to leave my Place to another How happy should I be if in dying I could persuade your Majesty to believe That I am what all Days of my Life I have been with most profound Respect SIR Your Majesty's most Humble Most Obedient Servant and Most Faithful Subject J. B. Colbert A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTAINED In this Volume CHAP. I. COntaining a brief Recital of what pass'd in the Reign of Lewis the Great from his first coming to the Crown 'till the Year 1649. in which the Paris War began CHAP. II. Containing that which pass'd after the War of Paris 'till the Peace of the Pyrenées CHAP. III. Containing that which pass'd after the Peace of the Pyrenées to the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle CHAP. IV. Containing that which pass'd after the Peace of the Pyrenées to the Holland War CHAP. V. Containing that which pass'd after the War of Holland till the Treaty of Nimeghen CHAP. VI. Containing that which pass'd after the Treaty at Nimeghen to the Year 1684. CHAP. VII Which endeavours to shew that all those very particular Favours which his Majesty receiv'd from GOD oblig'd his Majesty to render to GOD all that was due to him and that no Kingdom could prosper without the Fear of the LORD CHAP. VIII Of the Obedience which is due to the Pope CHAP. IX Of the Love which a Prince ought to have for his Subjects and where somewhat is also to be spoken of Taxes CHAP. X. Of all the Kingdom in general CHAP. XI Of the Clergy CHAP. XII Of the Nobility CHAP. XIII Of People belonging to the Courts of Justice CHAP. XIV Of Men of Business CHAP. XV. Of Merchants and of Trade CHAP. XVI Of Husbandmen and Tillage THE TESTAMENT OF M. John Baptist Colbert CONCERNING GOVERNMENT CHAP. I. Containing a brief Account of the Reign of Lewis the Great from his coming to the Crown 'till the Year 1649. in which the War of Paris began DID not your Majesty know so much better than I do that what is most necessary to make a Kingdom flourish is a perfect Harmony and Agreement between all its Members I would presume to shew here what Care a Prince ought to take that there be no Discord or Division among 'em But since this depends upon a right Establishment of Subordination your Majesty is better able than any Man to order that as it ought to be who so well understand to act the Part of a King that 't is enough to distinguish by your Air and Mien that you was born to Command We see then what it is that gives Beginning to a Kingdom 's Prosperity and what it is continues it For if he that is the Soveraign doth not know or is not able to do what he ought he must then have a Minister under him And because the same Respect which People have for his Master is not usually paid to him thence arise those Canvasings and Contests that frequently turn to Rebellions and sometimes cause the total Ruin of a Kingdom The Reign of the King your deceased Father was full of such Accidents The Royal Family was so divided that the Mother was against the Son and the Son against the Mother the Brother likewise sought to destroy his Brother and his King The other Princes of the Blood stood not much better affected All which proceeded from his Majesty's giving so much Power to his Prime Minister that the Princes thought it was he that did all as they had great reason to believe otherwise the Queen-Mother had not been so abandon'd as to die at Cologne in such distress that she had not the one half of what she wanted to relieve her Necessities Your Majesty's Minority was expos'd to the same Inconveniencies because you were not then able to direct your Affairs The Queen your Mother when the King died found them embroil'd and in so great confusion that it was not possible for a Woman to reduce 'em into order Your Father when he died left no Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu who with a great deal of Reputation discharg'd the Duties of that Place had left it vacant four or five Years A thousand People expected to succeed him in it and tho' all France did agree That among so many there was hardly one to be found worthy of the Ministry Yet so great a number of Competitors striving to obtain it occasion'd by your Father's limiting the Queen his Widow's Power who should have been Regent made the Spaniards think our Disorders might turn to their Advantage they then besieg'd Rocroy which they believ'd they should quickly carry and enter into the heart of the Kingdom But God confounded their Pride by the loss of a Battel given them by Louis de Bourbon Prince of Condé then call'd Duke of Anguien wherein they were so
imprint on Mens Minds a magnificent Idaea of your Power But ought your Majesty to be contented with it Would it not turn more to your Advantage that your Justice should be extoll'd rather than proclaim the Condition you are in at present to oppress your Neighbours That has never been the way to enlarge Empires The Romans who boasted themselves Masters of all the World had more regard for their Allies than your Minister hath for yours To subject them requires more address 'T is better Policy to weaken 'em by War of which let 'em suffer the Inconveniences but reap none of the Advantages Conquests are not ordinarily made for them tho' they are the Baits wherewith they are usually tempted and drawn in They may be wean'd from their part in them under specious Pretences As in the last War when your Majesty made the Neighbour-Princes restore the Places they had taken from the King of Sweden and which the Emperour did not oppose because it was his Interest that those Princes should not increase their Power and which was all the Reward he gave them for taking his part I know not whether that which I have now said be a Digression because it hath carried me from my Subject But I could not find a sitter place for it than here and the reflexions to be made upon it are of as great consequence as those I have yet to make on the choice the Queen your Mother made of Cardinal Mazarin To excuse her preferring him before others three Reasons were given The First was because he was acquainted with Foreign Affairs the Second was That not being a Native of France he had no kindred or Relations to enrich the Third was That more People would have been displeas'd and dissatisfy'd had he been a French Man But these Reasons are so weak that I believe they do not much sway your Majesty as for the First if Cardinal Mazarin knew Affairs abroad he was ignorant of those at home which were as necessary to be known as those that were Foreign and indeed the Inconvenience is visible seeing that which comes nearest the Heart is of much greater consequence than that which lyes remote from it Beside the knowledge of Foreign Affairs is not so very difficult to be acquired the Situation and the State of Countries is the greatest part of it and by that a Man ought to regulate himself The Second Reason is not better but the contrary for there are a hundred things to be objected against it A Stranger hath as great a desire as any other Person to enrich his Kindred in what place soever they be Beside he can send for them when he finds himself well setled Three of his Nephews and seven Neices who came quickly into France are an undeniable Testimony of this Truth and a Minister could hardly have been taken out of any other Family wherein there was to be found a greater number of Kindred and Relations But a greater Inconvenience in the Choice was that he being a Foreigner and not certain how long he should keep his Post would be every Day transmitting into his own Country that which might plentifully maintain him in case he fell into disgrace Beside it was not to be supposed that a Stranger could be so well affected to France as one that sucked in the Love of his Country with his Mothers Milk to which I will add that seeing he was not Married nor in a condition ever to be so he could not look upon France as a Country wherein he himself or his Posterity could ever hope to be setled The Third Reason is much weaker than the other Two which was that when in so great a Kingdom as your Majesty's People of very great Quality and Merit see the Ministry put into the Hands of a Stranger Who is he that hath so ill an Opinion of himself as to believe he doth not better deserve it than a Man to whom no body is related Whose Manners and good Qualities are not known and to whom were People never so much convinc'd of his Merit they would not be so just as to give him his due For my own part I believe the Queen your Mother had some other Reasons than those alledged for her Choice Perhaps it was because other Pretenders did not make use of her Interest to obtain the Place and consequently foreseeing they would not thank her she for that Reason made the Choice she did But whatever it was her Majesty quickly saw so many new Troubles break out that tho' she had been us'd to the like in the Reign of the deceased King yet she was very much surpris'd Their beginning seem'd not so much to be fear'd because among all the Malecontents that openly declared themselves there was neither a Duke of Orleans or a Prince of the Blood as there was in the time of Cardinal Richelieu's Ministry But it was in this Men were most deceived for Popular Commotions are more difficult to be appeas'd than those wherein some great Person is ingag'd for he by some particular Favour seasonably bestow'd on him is usually bought off from doing farther Mischief whereas many Arts are to be used to calm a mutinous Multitude and especially when they have taken a fancy to Command The Revolt of which I shall hereafter speak to your Majesty was of this kind for the Parliament of Paris was concern'd in it though they decreed the Queen your Mother should have the Tuition of your Majesty with a more ample Power than that which the deceased King by his Declaration left her yet this being done by the solicitation of her chief Almoner the Bishop of Beauvais who had a great many Friends and to whom she had given hopes to be first Minister as soon as he saw himself deceived and not able to undoe what he had done he did all he could to stir up Enemies against her Her Majesty who had a great Soul and worthy of her high Birth thought this was but a Wave which would break of it self and whereof she was not so much as to seem to take any notice nevertheless still aiming at your Majesty's Grandeur she gave Orders to the Duke d' Anguien who after the Battel of Rocroy had given the Garrison of Landrecis great Liberty by demolishing certain Castles that straighten'd it to lay Seige to Thyonville Mareschal de Guebriant who was on the other side of the Rhine endeavoured to amuse the Enemy that they might not relieve the Place nevertheless Mello who had gotten together the scattered Troops of the Spanish Army joyning with General Bek resolved the Place should not be taken without Blows But your Majesty's Fortune supported by the Duke d' Anguien's Valour frustrated all their Endeavours so that this Conquest which made such a Noise abroad began to make your Reign so Illustrious that your Allyes who fear'd the Death of the deceased King would make a change in your Affairs did now again begin to take Courage It was
to make the Prince of Condé's inlargment a piece of Merit to himself he went to Havre de Grace and deliver'd to him a Letter under the Privy Signet antidated before another which was sent to set him at Liberty The Prince who had been informed by Perraut Overseer of his Household who had leave to see him under pretence of his Mothers Will what endeavours had been us'd to get him out of Prison own'd the Cardinal's Civility which he shew'd in coming himself to bring him such good News yet it was impossible not to suspect all the Protestations he made him of his Friendship and those humble Submissions he used in desiring the Prince's The Prince of Condé did not break out into any Passion against him were it that he thought him not worth his Anger or that the Joy he had for being at Liberty calmed his Resentments Cardinal Mazarin retir'd to the Elector of Collen and the Prince came back to Paris where he was received in Triumph tho' they had made Bonfires throughout the whole Town when he was Arrested But such hath always been the Peoples Inconstancy that no body knows how so to fix 'em as to secure their esteem but as soon as a Man steps out of the way be it to the Right or Left they presently return to their old Inclination The Prince was ador'd by the People when he fought with so much Reputation against the Enemies of your Kingdom but lost their Favour when he took Arms against them tho' he only obey'd your Majesty's Orders in punishing their Treason which was so great that they deserved to be treated by him as the most cruel of your Enemies The Parliament past divers Sentences against your Minister without at all consulting your Majesty They caus'd his Library to be sold by Out-cry they set a Price upon his Head and did many other things of like Nature which your Majesty very prudently Dissembled because it had beeen a gross Fault to have oppos'd a Torrent which was become so violent Your Majesty forgave Viscount Turenne who having acknowledged his Fault came to ask Pardon for it In the mean time the Prince of Condé grew very Powerful but your Minister was Faulty in not performing his Promise to those who had taken part with him in Arresting the Prince Which was not warning sufficient to the Prince to keep him from doing the like For he began to despise and disoblige his Friends Viscount Turenne was one of the first of those who were so treated by him for having desir'd the Prince to give good Winter-Quarters to some Troops which he look'd upon as his own tho' your Majesty pay'd 'em the Prince took no notice of his Request The Viscovnt also knew the Prince us'd to rally him for his Love to his Sister and made it a common talk among those who were most in his Favour which touch'd the Viscount so much to the Quick that he came to the Queen your Mother and promis'd her that nothing in the World should make him fall into the same fault he had committed and that for the future he would do all he could to blot out the Memory of it assuring her Majesty she might rely upon his Fidelity He said as much to your Majesty and oblig'd his Brother the Duke of Bouillon to make you the same Protestations This Example teacheth us how dangerous Railery is and how much it provokes Men of great Courage But this is a needless Reflexion to be made to your Majesty who never speaks ill of any body and when you speak of your greatest Enemies 't is only of those Qualities you know commendable in them neither will your Majesty suffer any to speak evil of others in your presence wherein your Majesty is much in the Right seeing there is little difference between evil speaking and approving it The Prince did very ill in another thing He had assured the Duke of Beaufort the Dutchess of Cheveruse and the Coad jutor that for the future his Interest and theirs should be the same and that the Prince of Conti should Marry the Dutchess's Daughter This Promise being made when he was in Prison was not thought Valid by the Dutchess because it looked as if it had been forced she therefore came to the Prince and releas'd him of it But he told her tho' he was not oblig'd yet because she treated him in so civil a manner the thing should be done Tho' he was now doubly oblig'd yet such was his Humour that he would not be beholding to any body He quickly forgot his Obligation nor was he so Civil as to do any thing to discharge himself of it In the mean time your Majesty who did not like your Minister's being forc'd from you tryed all ways to have him return handsomly without causing any new Troubles in your Kingdom But the aversion which every one had against him and the Arrests that had past to exclude all Foreigners from the Ministry would have made it very difficult had it not been for the Prince's ill Conduct which daily increas'd being press'd by the Prince of Conti passionately in Love with Mademoiselle Chevereuse to consent to his Marriage he told him he would not and that he would not have him take the Coadjutor's the Marquess of Laicques and Caumartin's leavings These Three often visited her and there needed no more to make the Prince of Conti believe that what the Prince of Condé had said was true He presently quitted her in spite of his Love and seriously told all the World how much he was oblig'd to his Brother who had drawn him from a Precepice from whence he was falling headlong This Discourse was carried to Madam Chevereuse and to those who were concern'd in it and wrought more for the return of your Minister than all that your Majesty could have done So true is it that Chance produceth many unforeseen Accidents which prevail over all humane Reason and Prudence The Dutchess of Chevereuse whose Cabal was very strong offer'd your Majesty to employ her Friends to facilitate your Minister's return And now your Majesty being in your Fourteenth Year you were declared of full Age you went to the Parliament to have the Declaration register'd and at the same time carried thither two Edicts which serv'd for marks to Posterity of your Piety towards God and of your Love to your People The first was against those that blasphem'd God's holy Name The other was against Duels which you swore on the holy Bible to see exactly executed that you might never be importun'd concerning it and resolv'd never to retract what you had sworn In this you did not like many others who in a few days forget their Promises For ten or twelve Years after some considerable Persons of your Nobility having fought contrary to this Edict you had made them an Example had they not gone out of the Kingdom but that which is more remarkable is that the Pope interceded with you for them and
for his great Fidelity to your Majesty because he was almost the only Man among those who were Governours of Places who refus'd the Prince of Condé's Offers who did all he cou'd to debauch him out of your Service But he resolv'd not to follow the Example of others and kept Sedan which your Majesty put into his Hands The Prince to whom Stenay belong'd desir'd Forces from the Arch-Duke to relieve it The Arch-Duke promis'd him and indeed did all he cou'd to oblige Prince Francis to lend him his Troops But because this Place had been dismembred from Lorrain he would not but upon Condition it should be re-united to which the Prince would not yield and this Business having encreas'd the mis-understanding that was between 'em the Arch-Duke had much ado to keep 'em from coming to down right Blows Your Majesty came in Person to the Siege after you had been at Reins where the Ceremonies of your Consecration had been perform'd Your Majesty was very liberal to your Souldiers who all admir'd the Inclination they saw you had to War While your Forces were before Stenay the Prince of Condé prevail'd with the Spaniards to besiege Arras supposing that because this Place was of much greater consequence to you than the other you wou'd raise the Siege of Stenay to relieve it But they were deceiv'd in their expectation it only made your Majesty the more diligent to take it and you were no sooner possest of it but you made hast to relieve Arras The taking of Arras was of such importance to the Spaniards that they neglected nothing to make themselves sure of it Their Lines were the best that ever was seen and at equal distances they had rais'd Redoubts by which they were the more secur'd and not content with all this Precaution they had made Holes in the Ground within to stop the Cavalry But the Siege began with an ill Omen for the Chevalier Crequi who had not yet any great Reputation for a Souldier but hath since so well behav'd himself that your Majesty after making him a Mareschal of France hath given him the Command of your best Armies threw himself into the Place at the Head of Five Hundred Horse This Relief did Montjeu great Service who commanded within and who to spare his Purse had but an indifferent Garrison for in those Days your Majesty not being able your self to order your own Affairs the Governors of Places appropriated to themselves the Contributions without rendring any Accompt to your Majesty with which they undertook to defend the Place wherein they commanded which was very inconvenient for instead of maintaining a good Garrison they thought of nothing but heaping up Treasure this your Majesty cou'd not remedy but by changing this Custom and putting things into the State they are at present And indeed as now your Safety is greater than it was before so you have taken away a Company of petty Tyrants who as soon as they were put into the command of any place thought themselves as great as your Majesty Montjeu who was a brave Man held out near two Months without letting the Enemy get much Ground upon him in the mean time your Army under the Command of Vicount Turenne appear'd in view of their Lines and begun to intrench because he fear'd they would come out and fight him and that they being stronger than he he might receive some Affront It was the Prince of Condé's Advice that they should go out of their Lines and fight Turenne because said he they expect the coming of Mareschal Hoquincourt with the Troops he commands and then they will know how to talk with us But the Arch-Duke maintain'd that they cou'd not go out of their Lines without quitting some Out-works which they had taken and if they did not quit 'em the Garrison would again beat them out of 'em which was still the same thing and therefore they were better continue their Attaques and endeauour to take the Town before Hoquincourt should arrive The Arch-Duke's opinion was follow'd because amongst the Officers that were in a Council of War there was none but the Prince of Condé who durst contradict him This gave Vicount Turenne time to put his Army into a condition not to be insulted and to expect the coming of Mareschal Hoquincourt who as soon as he came attack'd the Abby of St. Eloi and carried it He lodged there with his Army round about him and acting in concert with Vicount Turenne who was on the other side of the Lines they cut off the Enemies Provisions and hinder'd all Convoys from coming into their Camp Montjeu seeing himself so near being reliev'd felt his courage encrease and having repuls'd the Besiegers in two Assaults they made upon one of his Outworks they were in such consternation that Viscount Turenne thought it a fit time to set upon them in that disorder The Prince of Condé who foresaw they could make no resistance said to the Archduke That since he would not believe him at first he hoped he would now and seeing there was no more time to be lost the only way they were to take in their present condition was to raise the Siege and fall upon Hoquincourt to whom Turenne could give no assistance The Archduke seem'd well enough inclin'd to it and fell into particular discourse of their Retreat but having consulted Count Fuensaldagne who past for a great Souldier among his Country-men was by him wholly disswaded from it St. Louis's day being come which Viscount Turenne had chosen to make his Attack he gave the Signal agreed on with Mareschal Hoquincourt so that both having marched Viscount Turenne forced the Lines in that part which was guarded by Fernando Solis But Mareschal Hoquincourt miss'd his way which gave the Archduke time to think of Retreating but Viscount Turenne following his blow beat the Lorrainers in their Quarter which was next to Solis The Prince of Condé seeing the disorder advanced to a little Rivulet which separated his Quarter from the rest and there making head against Vicount Turenne and Mareschal Hoquincourt who had now joyn'd him he gave the Archduke and the Troops he had brought out of France time to retreat in good order his infantry never the less suffer'd very much in their Retreat with the Prince who was the last man and which he managed with so much prudence that the Spaniards admired him among whom he got very great credit for so brave an action The Enemy's Cannon and Baggage fell into Your Majesties hands You went to the Cathedral Church of the City and there gave God thanks for the Victory he had given you for you still attributed all things to him like a good Christian believing that your good conduct or the force of your Arms could do nothing without his aid The taking of Quesnoi was the fruit of this Victory and therewith ended this prosperous Campagne Your Conquests were likewise increased in Catalonia by the taking of Villafranca and Puicerda from
of their Reputation than of their Fortune which is already great enough not to purchase new Establishments with the loss of their Honour In controversies of Things dubious let justice still carry the Cause and let no man think to maintain a Title by force which cannot support it self That of which I am now speaking was of this Nature and it were to be wish'd your Majesty had seriously consider'd it You would then have seen that this was only a Bait thrown out the better to deceive you and also that this Treaty contain'd some things in it which render'd the Execution of it impossible as I shall hereafter plainly shew your Majesty This Business of which I have spoken all in a Breath because I was ingag'd in it by mentioning your Majesty's Design to marry Mademoiselle Montpensier to Prince Charles ought not to do things in order have been plac'd here but the Excuse I made before must serve me again without making any other Your Majesty having declar'd in all the Conferences I had with you the great Desire you had to do something effectually toward the Reformation of your Kingdom call'd for those Memoirs that had been drawn up in Cardinal Richelieu's time concerning it The suddain Death of that Minister having prevented the doing of it himself You found in those Papers many things against which you had reason to object because the time which had past since that Cardinal's Death had chang'd the State of Affairs and that which was good under his Ministry was not so now But your Majesty made choice of the Good and left the Bad wherein you shew'd so much Judgment that I can never enough commend you You resolv'd to make the Partisans render again what they had swallow'd for abusing your Minority they had fill'd their own Coffers by emptying yours You intended to begin with their Master who was as you thought most faulty I mean the Superintendant of the Finances whose Abuses I had discover'd to your Majesty and who was himself so conscious that to avoid the Punishment he deserv'd he thought of saving himself by a greater Crime To that purpose he had bought Belle Isle of the Family of de Rets where he intended to stand upon his Guard against your Majesty having by Pensions made several Governours of Provinces and Frontier Places of his Party of which a Draught was found amongst his Papers when he was seiz'd so that if Justice had been done upon him he should have been brought to a Scaffold The Place which he had in Parliament made your Majesty think it dangerous to prosecute him till he had quitted it You perswaded him to part with it under pretence that all the Affairs of State being since the Death of the Cardinal in his Hands his Place in Parliament would be now of little worth to him Fouquet ran into the Trap and having sold his Place to one of his Friends you went into Britany and there had him arrested At the same time you seiz'd upon Belle Isle The thing was executed in the same manner your projected it and having appointed Commissioners to try him you caus'd him to be prosecuted Monsieur Tellier was his capital Enemy but his trimming Politicks would not let him act against him He begun to be jealous of your Majesty's shewing me so much Favour and as he would not have been displeas'd if you had not put so much confidence in my Services so he would if he could have made the Prosecution of Monsieur Fouquet pass for Injustice See how they who desire to pass for Wise Men in Publick yet cannot dissemble when they think their own Interest is at stake so that to judge of Things rightly a Man must not do it rashly by appearances A Prudent Man ought to stay till such Accidents happen as use to move Peoples Passions for 't is then we are to make a Judgment of Mens Wisdom and not where that which passeth doth not concern 'em for then 't is no wonder if they appear insensible Your Majesty erected a Court of Justice to enquire how the Farmers of your Revenue had behav'd themselves which drew upon me the publick hatred because the number of those who had robb'd your Majesty was so great that half Paris was concern'd in it either by themselves or by their Friends and Relations Indeed the prodigious Wealth of those Blood-suckers of your People was so great that they were ally'd to most of the Considerable Military or Gown-men They had also brought the Sale of all Places to so excessive a Price that no body but themselves were able to buy Fieubet offer'd for the Attorney-General's Place sixteen hundred thousand Francks That of a Chief Judge was not less worth That of a Master of Requests was valued at a Hundred and ten thousand Crowns A simple Councellor of Parliament's Place at two Hundred and I know not how many thousand Livers I very plainly foresaw what effect this would have against me and that it would be said also there was no Faith in your Majesty who after People had serv'd you with their Purses you paid your Debts with excessive Taxes and sent such People to Hospitals who before had liv'd as handsomly as any in Paris tho' the baseness of their Original was an infallible Proof that they had gotten their Wealth by Rapine and consequently there was no Injustice in obliging them to disgorge it But there was a great deal of difference between what was done during your Minority and what you did your self The one requires that a Prince should make good his Word otherwise he would find none to serve him in his necessity whence would happen greater Inconveniences than any humane Prudence would be able to remedy So that a Prince would be very ill advis'd who should by his ill Conduct deprive himself of that Assistance which sooner or later he shall be sure to want For tho' he may Reign but a little time yet those Things may fall out wich he could not foresee let his Management be never so frugal They may sometimes be of such consequence that the funds which he hath provided are not sufficient to help him There ought to be no greater a Provision of Ready Money than what is proportion'd to the running Cash of a Kingdom otherwise a Prince would bring his own Revenue to nothing by rendring his People unable to assist him with their Purses the Prince himself having all the ready Money in his own Hands A Consequence so dangerous obligeth a Prince to keep his Word but yet he ought not to let his Farmers get so excessively as to ruine his People and himself too for 't is manifest if he doth not manage his Affairs like a good Father of a Family he will be oblig'd to lay Tax upon Tax The Farmers on their side must not think to grow vastly Rich in a short time because then it will be no Injustice to Fleece 'em whereas when their Gain is moderate they
you to make a Peace into which the Duke resolv'd to enter to be in a Condition to make you fear him He demanded his Troops again to come and take Winter Quarters with him under pretence of defending his own Dominions that were environ'd on both sides by the Spaniards and that he might dispose of his Troops as he pleas'd but you were as cunning as he and would not let them go out of Flanders which made him try to debauch ' em Your Majesty seem'd to take no notice of it because you had Business of greater concern on your Hands therefore narrowly watching those Troops to hinder 'em from deserting you went in the sharpest Season of Winter into the County of Burgundy being well assur'd of conquering it because the Prince of Condé had before-hand treated with the Marquess of Hienne who was Governour there A thing not to be blam'd it being Wisdom and Prudence in a Soveraign to spare the Blood of his Subjects as much as 't is possible and therefore when it costs him nothing but Money to get the Keys of a Town he is much better advis'd than they who venture many a Thousand Mens Lives for it and yet often receive a Baffle and go without it For let a Prince's Forces be what they will Success doth not always answer his Expectation so that 't is a certain conclusion that when a Man hath found out a sure way to do his Business he must not scruple to put it in practice I except Poysoning and Assassination two things which are so base and ought to be so far from the Thoughts of a Prince that there can be nothing more shameful and dishonourable to him The War which you maintain'd did not hinder you from taking care to see Justice done to your Subjects You oblig'd your Parliaments to follow the Code Civil and Criminal you employ'd some about it before your departure for Flanders it being a Work that would very much shorten Proceedings in Law-Suits Some Judges who did not find their Account in it and who believ'd it would be in this as it us'd to be in other Cases where Penalties are threaten'd but seldom exacted they took their Liberty to do as their Fancy led 'em but your Majesty being inform'd of it suspended them from their Offices which Punishment so scared others that they learnt to be Honest and Wise at other Mens Cost CHAP. IV. Containing that which past after the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle till the Holland War YOur Majesty now thought it a fit time to make Peace that those Potentates who envy'd your Prosperity might not become your Enemies The Spaniards having consented by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle that you should keep your Conquests restoring to them the County of Burgundy you became more Powerful in Flanders than ever you had been You caus'd so many Places to be fortify'd that your Neighbours wonder'd how a Kingdom of no larger extent than yours could do so many things at once For tho' these Fortifications cost a prodigious Summ yet you went on with your Buildings both at the Louvre and Versailles Beside you bought so great a Quantity of Rich Furniture Antiquities Jewels and gerally all Things which express the Magnificence of a Prince that it may be said your Predecessors were but little men compared to you You caus'd a Coat to be made which you wore at the ception of Embassadors the Diamonds upon it and on your Hat were valued at more than Sixteen Millions and the Gallery before the ascent to your Throne through which People were to pass was so full of Rarities and Vassas of Massy Silver that it might well be thought you had made a Collection of all that was in the Indies to shew your Grandeur The Matter or Substance of which these Things were made was not so much to be consider'd as the Workmanship every thing was so curiously wrought and by such admirable Artificers that the Fashion cost more than the Matter whereof it was made People will wonder that your Majesty in this differ'd so much from your Father who car'd so little for Things of this kind that Strangers who went to see his Royal Houses wonder'd that such a Prince as he should have no better Furniture but you did not all this out of a vain Expensive Humour but that you knew what People would think of it For all that is Splendid and Great begets Admiration of which Princes have sometimes as much need as of Power For there is nothing makes 'em more respected which they seldom fail of who know how to set a Value on themselves Your Majesty likewise gave Order that your Tables should be furnish'd suitable to the State of so great a King You had choice and plenty of all Things and yet your Expences were less than they were before because you would not suffer your Servants to cheat you as they us'd to do You did not think it beneath you to see that your Liveries should be new and chang'd every Year to prevent their Abuses who made them serve beyond the limited time to put the Money into their own Pockets So that all your People begun to have so great a Respect for your Reign that it was now no more a Question whether your Majesty should go your self to the Palace to see Edicts register'd You thought it enough to send them by any body next at hand a Thing which will astonish Posterity considering what I have here before said But it was your Reputation that did all this and you made your self obey'd without using the least Rigour When Things are once setled upon a good Foot they will then go well of themselves without requiring much Pain about 'em Which ought to teach all People whoever they be to put their Affairs into good Order and Method without which they can never go well This likewise must be done at first and as soon as Men have any employment for if they stay till they find their Business goes ill then the case will be the same as it is with neglected Buildings that are falling into decay for by not putting in one single Stone in time they perhaps come to be so past all Repair that of necessity they must be pull'd down and new built to the great Charge and Prejudice of the Owner How much therefore is every Man concern'd to be a good Husband Your Majesty having concluded the Peace made Three Mareschals of France the Marquess Bellefonds de Crequi and Humieres The French Gentry who were always pleas'd with being in Arms having now nothing to do on the Frontiers asked your Majesty leave to go to the Relief of Candy which had a long time been besieg'd by the Turks Your Majesty gave them leave and appointed the Duke of Feuillade to be their Commander in chief But because the Venetians did not do their part in assisting the French to raise the Siege they were never the better for those Succours The Venetian General
guard that which is called French-Flanders upon which the Spaniards seemed to have a design While this past the King of Sweden's Mediation was accepted by all Parties to end this great difference There was a Congress at Collen where they met from all parts but the Preliminaries as is usual in such Cases being very long there was no appearance things would be soon Accommodated In the mean time your Fleet still joyn'd with the English beat the Dutch three several times this Campagn and was so far from losing the Reputation you had got the Year before that your Fleet very much increas'd it by the Courage and Resolution it shew'd in those three Naval Combats There was nothing decisive on either side and because your Conquests gave cause of jealousie to your Allies the English begun to think of leaving you But your Majesty did all that was Humanly possible to be done to preserve their Allyance You provided a Wife for the Duke of York presumptive Heir to the Crown of England This Prince had so many Mistresses in five or six Months time that one would have thought he would have Marry'd all the World The first he had was Mademoiselle d'Elboeuff upon which account he sent my Lord Peterborough to Paris who conferr'd with me about it According to the Orders I receiv'd from your Majesty I was very desirous that the business should take effect because I had a great value for that Princess But my Lord Sunderland the then English Embassador and my Lord Peterborough falling out the mis-understanding between them broke off the Match After Madam d'Elboeuf the Princess Mary Anne of Wirtemberg came upon the Stage and the Business was carry'd on so far that your Majesty Signed a Contract with Commissioners deputed by the Duke of York for that purpose I had Orders to write to Madam the Dutchess of Wirtemberg to come and be present at her Daughter's Marriage but when every body thought the business sure it quite broke off upon some Ill Things reported of the Lady her Enemies pretended she had certain defects which I never perceiv'd Whatever it were that was said of the Princess a mean Person whom she had disobliged was thought to be the Author of it So true is it that a very little Enemy may sometimes do a great deal of Mischief against which the best fence and remedy is never prepensly and with set purpose to do to any body the least harm A Rule seldom observed by Princes and Great Men who take such a liberty of saying what they please that many times they let fall words which they would give a great deal to recall But when an Injury is once done it can never be undone and wounds given by the Tongue are incurable 'T is an Offence which Brave Men will resent the longest day of their Life and will certainly be revenged unless God turn their Hearts But thanks be to God this is a Vice whereof your Majesty is not guilty for as you say little so you always speak to the purpose and without ever reflecting upon your Neighbour To your Honour be it spoken I can also say that you know not what 't is to be Angry I have lived at Court full Forty Years and Five and Twenty of them I have had the Honour to be near your Majesty in which time I can safely Swear I never saw you but once a little mov'd It was when Monsieur Werthamont who tho' a severe Sentence had past upon him for several Crimes was yet so bold as to come into your Presence I observed your Majesty grew Red with Anger and the Tone of your Voice when you told him he should come no more to Court was not like that wherewith you used to give your Commands at other times The Marriage of the Princess Mary Anne failing for the Reason I have hinted That of Mademoiselle Crequi who hath since married the Duke of Tremouille came next to be talk'd of It was said her Father was very Rich and had made his Fortune while he was Embassadour at Rome where others use to undo themselves But the Duke and Dutchess of Crequi being resolv'd not to give so much as a Match of such advantage for their Daughter requir'd they lost by their Covetousness that which others would have bought with their Blood The Duke of York at last pitch'd upon the Princess of Modena to whom Monsieur the Cardinal her Uncle had left a Hundred Thousand Franks which I had in my Hands This Marriage was without any difficulty concluded to the Satisfaction of both Parties From what I have said the Lesson which a Prince ought to learn is that he should still so well manage his Affairs as never through weakness to do any thing unworthy of his Birth For tho' Mademoiselle Crequi were a Woman of Quality yet she was not a Person suitable and considerable enough for a Prince who was so near stepping into the Throne of England But yet I know without looking very far back into the History of that Nation Henry the 8th Marry'd two Wives who were not of a better Family perhaps of not so good But there is a great deal of difference between what Love doth and that which is done with design and after mature deliberation The two Cases are quite different and tho' there may be faults in both yet whoever doth an imprudent thing deliberately and wilfully is more to be blam'd than he who in what he doth is not Master of himself Seeing I am now discoursing of Marriage I will not leave the Subject till I have given your Majesty an account of somewhat whereof I lately boasted I told your Majesty that I did refuse a considerable Match offer'd me for my Son It was Mademoiselle Bournonville now the Dutchess of Noailles The Proposition was made to me by her Father who sent me word it should be upon such advantageous Terms for my Son as should likewise satisfie me Civility oblig'd me not absolutely to refuse what he propos'd and therefore I thank'd him for the Honour he did me but when we came to treat further concerning it he requir'd that I should endeavour to prevail with your Majesty to restore him to the Government of Paris which your Majesty had taken from him because he was so great a Friend to Monsieur Fouquet and had also behav'd himself so ill that tho' he had for several Months liv'd in a House near the very Gates of Paris without ever coming to pay his Respects to your Majesty when he was in very good Health and daily made Merry with his Friends that came to visit him yet he made your Majesty believe he was troubled with Vapours which would not suffer him to go any where out of his House But the Feasts he made and the pleasant Life he led giving his pretence the Lye and your Majesty being inform'd of it thought fit to use him as you did I thank'd him for the Honour he intended my Son but I
Rain offer'd the Prince of Orange an advantage which he could not have met with in an open Plain He threw his Infantry into these Posts which hindred your Majesty from advancing But the Prince of Condé was so eager in pressing still forward that he did things which another would have thought impossible He had a great many Men kill'd and had himself Three Horses shot under him so much did he hazard his Person by his Example to give warmth to the Action But by the great resistance made by the Enemy he was still repuls'd till night came on and parted the Combatants both attributing to themselves the Victory But there was no colour for the Enemy to pretend to it because that which makes a Victory is to remain Master of the Field to have the pillaging of the Enemy taking Prisoners and several other things not necessary to be specified All this fell out on your Majesty's side but nothing of it on theirs unless perhaps the Enemy might boast that the Prince of Condé lost as many Men as they and it may be a greater number of Officers But it must be confest that the end of this Battel did not answer the beginning which could not be more to any General 's Glory But the desire he had to get all made him lose more than he imagin'd and till that very Day it could not be decided which of the Two the Prince of Condé or Viscount Turenne knew most in the Trade of War Many were prepossest in the Prince's Favour and thought the Prize due to him but others now began to be of another Mind and gave it to his Rival This Battel however spoiled the Prince of Orange's Design who now thought no more of entring into France Monsieur Louvoy who did not love the Prince of Condé was very much pleas'd with what had happen'd because it gave him an Opportunity of doing the Prince ill offices to your Majesty So that since this Campaign he hath not been any more imploy'd and I believe never would have been again at the Head of an Army if Viscount Turenne had not been kill'd the following Campaign there being then a kind of necessity that a General of Reputation should succeed in his Place As Monsieur Louvoy knew how to do a great deal of Mischief to his Enemies so he was able to deliver his Friends out of Danger and those that were so happy to have his Protection as appears by what he did for Monsieur Bret Lieunant General of your Army in Catalonia where his Vanity and Imprudence made him commit a Fault which deserv'd exemplary Punishment Your Majesty some time ago sent him into that Country and left him there some preceding Years with the chief command of your Army because then there appear'd no considerable Enemy But the Spaniards having sent thither the Duke of St. Germain a General of Reputation with a part of their old Troops your Majesty thought fit to send against him Count Schomberg not inferior to him and who had often engag'd him when they were both in Portugal This was some mortification to a Man so Vain as Monsieur Bret who was now but a Lieutenant General which not being able to bear he did so rash a thing of his own Head that none but Marquess Louvoy could have sav'd him The Enemy after having taken Bellegard which gave them entrance into Rousillon came and encamp'd within Canon shot of your Army which so displeas'd Monsieur Bret that he gave them Battel while his General was yet in Bed and without expecting any Orders from him But he was beaten to the purpose and if Count Schomberg who wonder'd at his Boldness had not by his good Conduct repair'd his Fault your Majesty's Army had been totally defeated Your Cavalry which without viewing the Ground he had engaged among Pits and Places broken with currents of Water were many of them cut off and Rabliere who commanded them was taken Prisoner with other Officers of note Those that came off were in no condition to have made any considerable resistance all that Campaign if that which happen'd elsewhere had not oblig'd the Enemy to return again into Catalonia Messina the Capital City of the Kingdom of Sicily having a long time complain'd of the Extortion and Tyranny of their Viceroys and having often inform'd the Council of Spain thereof without receiving any redress they resolv'd one day to try whether they could shake of their Yoke and after having made themselves Masters of the Haven and one of the principal Forts of the Town they all cryed Liberty That Word tickl'd the Ears of the Multitude who against reason often think they shall better their Condition by changing their Master and made above Sixty thousand Men take Arms. The better sort of Citizens considering it was impossible to resist their Soveraign any long time unless they were supported by a Power able to assist them consulted what was best for them to do whether to address themselves to your Majesty or to have recourse to the Turk They were not long deliberating on the choice they were to make those that had a little care of their Religion declar'd that in all respects their best and most justifiable way would be to implore your Majesty's help and send Deputies to request your Protection The Offers their Deputies made you were that they would deliver themselves up to your Majesty upon Condition you would treat them better than the Spaniards had done Whereupon you assembled your Council who finding it would be of great advantage to you to lay hold of this opportunity to cut out work for the Spaniards on that side the Deputies had assurance given them that your Majesty would assist them with all your Forces But it was not thought fit you should accept of the Soveraignty which they offer'd you but that it would be better to endeavour to turn their Government into a Common-Wealth You sent back the Deputies with fair promises which at the same time you effectually perform'd by giving order to the Marquess Valavoir to take some of your Men of War and Convoy to Messina some Vessels loaden with Provisions of which they had great need and which came very seasonably to them for they began to be in extream want The rebelling of Subjects against their Soveraign is a business which should be well considered before it be attempted 't is always attended with such ill consequences that were they not bound by their birth and allegiance to be faithful to him yet their own interest should oblige them to it But as Subjects owe their Soveraign perfect obedience so the Soveraign on his part ought not to use his Subjects like Slaves nor lay heavier burdens on them than necessity of State requires Otherwise they will quite sink under their load or else like a resty Horse will kick against the Spur as it happens when we endeavour to break and tame a young Horse all at once without using him by
justifie himself was again restor'd to the Emperour's Favour The Siege of Graves lasted till now and there was no likelyhood that it should end having still some Out-Works which were not taken Beside the ill Weather was now coming on so that there was little hope of reducing a Garrison which without receiving any Relief had been the Death of so many Men For Rabenhaut had the ill luck still to be beaten in all the Salleys made by Count Chamilli But for a greater Mortification to him one of your Majesty's Colonels of Seventy Years of Age came purposely from Maestricht and carry'd away the best part of the Fruit he hop'd to reap by taking the Town When your Majesty withdrew your Forces from Holland you demanded a great Summ of Money of them and the Towns which could pay down but part of what you requir'd gave you Hostages to be security for the rest These Hostages were in Graves as in a Place of Safety and Rabenhaut who had besieg'd it made account that by taking it he should save Holland a very considerable Summ for which they were still accountable He had good ground to believe he should not be deceiv'd in his Expectation because Ruremond and Venlo which belong'd to the Spaniards hinder'd your Majesty from relieving the Place But Melin Mestre de Camp of the Cavalry came as I have already said with a party from Maestricht past through Rabenhaut's Guards enter'd the Town took away the Hostages and went back to his own Garrison by the same way he came General Rabenhaut hereby lost so much of his Reputation that the Prince of Orange had not that esteem for him he had before and he concluded he must not rely upon him for the taking the Town The Prince therefore with some Troops he had drawn together out of Flanders went to Graves himself and became Master of the Place Graves being fallen into the Hands of the Prince of Orange the Campaign ended on that Side but continued still with a great deal of Heat in Germany The great Force which the Enemy power'd into Alsatia did a little astonish your Minister Monsieur Louvoy who being afraid the Province could not be sav'd advis'd your Majesty to give Viscount Turenne Order to leave it and go to some other Place where his Presence was more necessary This was a Pill which your Majesty could not well swallow and to lose a whole Country at once which had cost you so much Blood to conquer was very hard to be digested But Marquess Louvoy representing to you the necessity of it and that otherwise you would lose Lorrain whither the Duke of that Name was marching with great hopes to enter again into it you consented that General Turenne should be recall'd but he knowing things were not in so ill a Condition as they were thought to be sent Monsieur Louvoy word that some body must have given your Majesty ill Counsel in advising you to take such a Resolution That he being on the Place saw better than others how things were and therefore prayed him to deliver a Letter to you which he had done himself the Honour to write wherein he had given your Majesty such Reasons for changing your Resolution that he hop'd you would do it as soon as you had read his Letter Marquess Louvoy thought it great vanity in this General to believe he knew more than he and without shewing his Letter to your Majesty sent him new Orders expresly the same with the first This great Man suspecting that your Majesty was not privy to these repeated Orders and that if his Letter had been deliver'd you would have done him the Honour to have answer'd it he resolv'd before he would do what was commanded him by the second Orders to write again to your Majesty and sent the Letter to Cardinal Bouillon his Nephew to be by him safely deliver'd The Confidence which your Majesty had in the Wisdom and Prudence of this General as soon as you had cast your Eyes on his Letter made you conclude that Monsieur Louvoy had not given you good Counsel and that you were best to follow your General 's Advice and not your Minister's You therefore wrote a Letter with your own Hand to Viscount Turenne wherein you told him that you referr'd your self wholly to his Judgment and that he should use his own Discretion to do what he thought best This was Vexation enough to your Minister whose Custom it was to be Absolute but believing he knew more than any Man concluded if things fell out ill as he had predicted Viscount Turenne must then lose the good Opinion your Majesty had of him and consequently you would for the future confide wholy in the Marquess But he reckon'd without his Host and found that the General preserved both Savern and Hagenau which the Enemy besieged one after another He likewise broke the Design they had upon Brisac which they had begun to shut up so close that it being in great want they hoped they should quickly have it without blows Tho' these Actions were very considerable yet they were the least wherewith the General ended this prosperous Campaigne for feigning to go and take Winter Quarters in Lorrain he Marched through by-ways and fell unexpectedly upon the Enemy who had separated the better to subsist and went on beating them one after another till they made a stand at Turquem but he likewise drove them from thence and forced them to pass the Rhine He took from the Inhabitants of Strasbourg what Effects they had abroad because they let the Enemy pass over their Bridge contrary to the Promise they made him Your Majesty who doth not use to let any Service of this Nature remain unrewarded sent the General the very next day after he came to Paris a Hundred Thousand Crowns in Louysd'ors and gave him many other marks of your Favour You sent Marquess Louvoy to him to ask his Pardon for many things for which the General had just cause of Complaint against him Monsieur Turenne upon this occasion Treated him as we see a great Mastiff uses to do a little Cur he heard his Complement without shewing him any respect or sign of Anger and sent him away with an Answer which 't is supposed did not please him The Prince of Condé came to see Monsieur Turenne and to know of him what past at this Enterview Viscount Turenne having given an Account of it to the Prince of Condé who had no reason to love your Minister the Prince pray'd Monsieur Turenne that they might go both together to undeceive your Majesty in many things which possest you with so good an Opinion of him Viscount Turenne promis'd the Prince he would but Monsieur Tellier having notice of it came to the Prince of Condé and beseech'd him to pardon his Son who should for the future pay him all the Respect he could desire so that pacifying the Prince by fair Promises he prevented his Son's Ruine which
The poor Village of Courtisoux in Champaign whose Wealth consists only in Cheeses hath for several Years given Charpentier three thousand Livers per an to free them from Quartering Souldiers But when they could no longer pay him so great a Summ and desired an Abatement he forgot their Presents and order'd Souldiers in their passage to Quarter upon ' em I might fill this Paper with the like Abuses yet should never have done Your Majesty knows it was not long since I shew'd how you were cheated in what was appointed to defray the extraordinary Expence of the War Where you were made to pay one Regiment twice by a secret Compact between the Commissary and the Treasurer I know very well this cannot be directly charg'd upon Monsieur Louvoy but as he is bound to Answer for those that are employ'd by him so 't is he and not I that is to supervise them My place finds me work enough and I desire no new Imployment 'T is your Majesty is concern'd and your People upon whom the burden of all these disorders falls because 't is from them you expect Mony when your Exchequer is empty I do not pretend to give you a particular Account of these Frauds 't is impossible for me to do it without depriving my self every Night of four or five Hours sleep which are absolutely necessary for my Repose after I am quite wearied with more Business than I am able to bear Your Majesty I hope will reflect on what I have said when you think fit in the mean time I return again to the prosecution of your History The Spoil which the Garrison of Phillipsbourg made in the Elector Palatin's Country oblig'd the Emperour to be rid of his continual importunities to keep that place block'd up all the Winter and promis'd him to take the Thorn quite out of his Foot by besieging it in the Spring which no body durst undertake while Monsieur Turenne was alive The Count de Lorges importun'd your Majesty to bestow the same favour on him that you had upon his Brother and so many others whom you have Honoured as I have already said with a Mareschal's Staff of France He brought to your Account the Service he did your Majesty in conducting your Army over the Rhine after his Uncle's Death and the long time he had serv'd your Majesty You had no great mind to grant his Request not but that you thought him a Man Brave enough and that he very well understood his Trade But having a small Estate you thought he would be unable to support the Dignity of his Title Monsieur Louvoy who look'd upon him as the Nephew of a Man he never lov'd did him ill Offices believing he would never be his Friend When I perceiv'd it and that your unwillingness to grant Count de Lorge's Request was only for the Reason I have now mention'd I told your Majesty if the Count would make Love to Fremont's Daughter and had but her Father 's good Word I would undertake he should certainly get her Now to do him effectual Service I threatned Fremont under-hand to have him question'd concerning some Affairs and how he came to be counted the Richest Man in all Paris This frighted him and knowing he had need of Protection he hearken'd to the Proposition made by Count de Lorge upon condition he was first made a Mareschal of France I acquainted your Majesty with what was like to happen in Count Lorge's Favour so that you being perswaded this Marriage would much better his Condition you gave him the Staff he so earnestly desired He then Married Mademoiselle de Fremont who brought him so great a Portion that he bought with ready Mony the Captain 's Place of your Majesty's Guards He also Treated for the County of Quintin which is one of the most considerable Estates in all Brittany the Yearly Rent whereof amounts to Fifty Thousand Livers And as Fortune when Men begin to be Happy heaps upon 'em her Favours so it fell out in this case for he of whom this Land was bought who was to have his Debts discharg'd and a great Pension paid him during his Life died in a short time after so that Mareschal de Lorge had a very good bargain What I had contributed to his good Fortune made Monsieur Louvoy keep him out of Imployment this Campaign tho' he had behaved himself much better than Mareschal Rochefort who did not Execute his Orders to put Men and Provisions into Phillipsbourg Your Majesty knows what a Fault he committed in endeavouring it and that he dyed with grief for having fail'd in the attempt which was more for want of Courage than Conduct This should teach us never to be exalted too high lest our Heads turn and our Fall be the greater A Man may get that Reputation in an inferior Post which perhaps he would lose in a higher Prudence prompts us to measure our Ambition by the knowledge we have of our selves otherwise to our own ruin we may find there was Truth hid in the Fable of Phaeton Your Majesty open'd this Campaign with the taking of Condé which was follow'd by that of Bouchain The Prince of Orange drew near your Army in order to their relief but did not think it safe to attack you with an Army so much inferiour to yours After the taking these two Places you return'd to Versailles leaving the greatest part of your Army under the Command of Mareschal Schomberg The rest you sent to the Duke of Luxemburg who Commanded in Germany The Prince of Lorrain was there at the Head of the Emperour's Army and at last besieged Phillisbourg which made so good a defence that the Duke of Luxembourg had as much time as he could wish for the relieving it The Prince of Orange sat down before Maestricht where the Commander in chief as the Governour of Phillipsbourg had done so well perform'd his Duty that Mareschal Schomberg gave Mareschal Humieres time enough to form the Siege of Aires For which he lent him part of his Troops but recalling them again when the Siege was ended he Marched directly towards Maestricht so that there had been a bloody Battel if the Prince of Orange who had lost six weeks time and six or seven thousand Men at this Siege had not thought fit to quit it This prosperous Success of your Majesty's Arms made the Dutch sick of the War but that which troubled them more was the misfortune that befel them the beginning of this Year at Messina They had sent into those Seas the Famous de Ruyter who from being at first but a common Sailer was now preferr'd to the chief Command of their Fleet. Never was a Man more fam'd upon the two Seas he came off so bravely in all Engagements that his very Name was enough to make his Party Victorious but your Fleet got the better of him About three Months after not thinking himself sufficiently beaten he try'd a second Engagement and was worse handled
which would be suddenly because you had fix'd a Day to go and receive her in Champagne You and your Queen went near Fifty Leagues to meet her but I know not whether your Majesty thought your self paid for your Pains since it was impossible for you not to observe this Princess's Pride of which the Dutchess of Richelieu had given me Notice For my own Part I saw it but too well when I had the Honour to pay my Respects to her she scarce vouchsaf'd to hear what I said and I should certainly have been more troubled if I had known she had treated Monsieur Louvoy any better But I my self was a Witness with what coldness she receiv'd him and all other Persons of Quality Your Majesty whose Prudence is to be admir'd in all things some Days after begun to praise the Queen your Wife and said in her presence she had so gain'd the Love of all the French by her Courtesie and and sweet Disposition that they lov'd her better than they did you The Dauphiness who had Wit knew well enough that this discourse was intended for her But it being very difficult to reform those Faults which are natural to us she could never bring her self to that affable and gracious Air which gains the Hearts of the French Nation and which they value a thousand times more than they do any other thing This Marriage follow'd that of Mademoiselle de Blois a very beautiful Princess in whose Praise I should be large were it not that some would say I thereby design'd to recommend my own Wife who had the Care of her Education She marry'd the Prince of Conti the Son of him of whom I have already spoken who died about the Year 1666. and was Governour of Languedoc which Government your Majesty afterward bestow'd upon the Duke de Vernevil who was very old so that this young Prince hoping after the Duke's Death you would gratifie him with it behav'd himself very dutifully to your Majesty but did not treat the Princess his Wife so well I took the Liberty by your Majesty's Order to tell him of it You said he ought to set a greater Value upon so beautiful a Princess and whose Wit was equal to her Beauty But the ill Company he kept made him deaf to all I represented which so much displeas'd your Majesty that when the Duke of Vernevil died you gave his Government to the Duke of Main This shews us that in a Court virtuously govern'd men must be virtuous if they expect Rewards No Man should value himself upon the greatness of his Birth nor upon the Protection he naturally ought to have A Monarch regards neither who as your Majesty regulates all his Actions according to Merit and Justice In such a Court as yours a Person of great Birth who doth not do his Duty is less regarded than another because he hath been better taught Your Majesty will know all that he doth and of what he is capable which is the Reason why your Majesty makes so little Account of some Persons who by the Rank they hold in the Kingdom one would think should make a better Figure than at present they do But 't is a difficult thing to be both Young and Wise When the Prince I now speak of shall come to riper Years I will undertake that your Majesty will be better pleas'd with him No young Person is free from Faults and the deceas'd Prince of Conti who died like a Saint was guilty of more than his Son There is no remedy against the Follies of Youth I can give your Majesty a Proof of it in my own Family be pleas'd to cast your eyes upon my Son I have been many times forc'd to treat him very ill without being able to do any good upon him nothing but time wrought his change so that he would have put me out of all patience if I had not had enough to wait till his understanding grew riper It was in this year that Monsieur Fouquet died at Pignerol whom you condemn'd to perpetual imprisonment instead of the Banishment to which he was sentenced He bore his disgrace with a constancy which could never be expected from a man who in the midst of the troublesome affairs of his place mingled all the pleasures I should rather say all the Debaucheries of Youth but God gave him the Grace to recollect himself and die a good Christian Whence we ought to conclude that God knows better than we what is fit for us and that we are not sensible of our own wants when we murmur against Providence since we oftner lose our selves in prosperity than in adversity but nature is so corrupt that we would have the way to Heaven strew'd with flowers instead of the thorns we meet in it The Peace was already become a burden to Monsieur Louvoy tho' it were so lately made that people scarcely had had time to reap the fruits of it He advis'd Your Majesty to make your self Master of Strasbourg and Casal but seeing he knew that to attempt it would again Arm all Europe he sent persons he could trust to both those places with Bills of Exchange for very great Sums in hopes to succeed in their Negotiation While this was transacting Your Majesty resolv'd to send your Fleet against the Corsairs of Tripoli under the Command of du Quêne who was another de Ruiter Eight of their Ships not being able to recover the Port from whence they came retreated to Chio where they thought themselves safe because that Island was under the protection of the Grand Seignior with whom they believ'd Your Majesty would never willingly have any Quarrel But du Quêne knowing that by the Treaty of Commerce which you had made with the Turk he was not to give any Retreat to those Pyrates he fell upon 'em and beat 'em to pieces with his Cannon This boldness of du Quêne occasion'd great trouble to your Embassador at the Port where he was very ill treated and had been us'd much worse had he not pacified the Grand Seignior with very considerable Presents You had no mind to consent to it yet knew there was a necessity for it when you consider'd your Dominions were too far distant from his to make him sensible of your Power Besides if you had not prevented what he threatned you might have lost the advantage you made of the Levant Trade so that a Prince is as much obliged as a private man to have a regard to his interests which are often of such consideration that he is in prudence bound to dissemble many things The secret Negotiation concerning Strasbourg and Casal had all the success Monsieur Louvoy could wish These two considerable places deliver'd themselves into Your Majesties hands without striking a blow But though they made so great an addition to your Power that it seem'd you now made all Europe tremble yet I know not whether I may Congratulate Your Majesty upon it seeing it hath done that
demanded Contributions as if they had been in actual War After this Hostility his next way was to require the like Summs from those that were his Friends which if they did not pay he threatned to burn their Houses The poor Flemings to prevent this ill treatment pay'd the Summ your Minister demanded but when this was done he began to undermine their Houses on purpose to draw from them the last Penny they had being made to believe that otherwise their Houses should be pulled down When he saw they had nothing left their Houses were demolish'd and the combustible Materials burnt that they might be of no farther use to the poor miserable People I am perswaded your Majesty never knew this and all that have the Honour to be near you believe you so far from approving such cruelties that you would rather have had them exemplarily punish'd I will not say the same was done beyond the Meuse where your Army commanded by Mareschal Crequi seiz'd upon many Posts dependences on the Dutchy of Luxembourg and block'd up that strong place I do not think it was done without your Majesty's Order because Monsieur Louvoy made you believe the Spaniards still did you great Wrong Your Minister some Years since imploy'd one of Metz to spoyl a great deal of Paper and tho' at first he dislik'd him yet this Man at last became his great Favourite by telling him he knew a way how to put your Majesty in Possession of all on this side the Rhine without striking a Stroke His means were altogether imaginary for he maintain'd that whatever heretofore held of the Lands your Majesty now possess'd must still hold of the same So that Monsieur Louvoy approving his Reasons made use of them and sent one of the Serjeants of your Parliament of Metz to summon the King of Spain to come at a Day prefix'd to do Homage and Fealty to your Majesty for many things he held of you But his Catholick Majesty thought this new way of proceeding very unreasonable and indeed it was more against Your Majesty's Interest than for it because the Emperour might as well pretend that you ow'd him Homage and Fealty for your own Kingdom which was heretofore a Dependent on the Roman Empire The King of Spain laugh'd at this ridiculous Summons and protested against whatever should be done to his Prejudice Monsieur Louvoy who expected as much procur'd a Sentence to pass by which for not appearing and answering according to the Summons your Majesty was to take possession of what you demanded which was very easy your Majesty having the Power in your own Hands Monsieur Louvoy by eating got an Appetite and by this Sentence procur'd you more than you could have expected from a Ten Years War The Complaints the King of Spain made hereupon begot several Conferences at Courtray between your Majesty's and the King of Spain's Deputies but seeing your Majesty would abate nothing of your Pretensions they separated without doing any thing And the King of Spain resolving that what you took should be by force rather than by Treaty you became Master of all the Country from Sedan home to the Gates of Luxembourg which you block'd up so close that the Spaniards could put nothing into it Some time after your Majesty rais'd the Blockade as you sayd because the Turks were ready to enter into Austria and you would not favour their designs by giving the Emperour any diversion For my own part I believe what you said to be true and I know your Majesty hath too much Sincerity to say one thing and mean another The Spanish Embassador hath published to the contrary but what I have to say is that if you will preserve the Glory you have acquir'd by your Moderation you must do nothing to contradict what you have said Your Reputation is in your own Hands for as it will be your Glory to keep your Word so it will be your shame to give your self the Lye You ought therefore to reject the evil Consels that may be given you which are the bane of Princes tho' the Poyson that is in 'em be hid under fair and specious Pretences I fear all those Camps which Monsieur Louvoy hath marked out on the Frontiers of Germany tend to some new Design But your Majesty who is so great a Lover of Justice must consider that you can never gain Glory by Conquests that are unjust yet if you could be your Power never so great in this World there is another where Kings as well as private Men must give an Account of their Actions The Algerins whom you had chastiz'd the last Year were become never the wiser for it So that you were forc'd to send du Quêne a Second time who made them sensible that it was better to implore your Majesty's Pardon than to expose themselves to a new Punishment He threw in a great Number of Bombs which totally ruin'd the Town they had endeavour'd to repair But the Contests and Divisions which were among 'em some being for Mezzomorto and others for Balucbachi the one for Peace the other for War kept them from following the best Advice which was to give your Majesty Satisfaction I doubt their Constancy will not be Proof against your Thunder for I know your Majesty is not us'd to be baffled in what you undertake and I presume you will send your Fleet thither ten times rather than not bring those Pirates to reason I shall here conclude what I have seen done by your Majesty which would have been to your immortal Glory if the confidence you have repos'd in Monsieur Louvoy had not led you to undertake some things more out of Ambition than Justice your Majesty knows best whether I speak Truth or no and can't be deceiv'd after my relating so many Circumstances To make your Reign perfectly Glorious you have nothing more to do than to regulate your Future Actions by your own understanding which is so free from Falshood and Injustice and which will demonstrate to the World you have had no part in any of those things I have now told your Majesty I hope you will take in good part the Liberty wherewith I have address'd my self to you for the good of your Kingdom at least I think so But if I am mistaken I willingly submit my self to your Majesty's Judgement and to that of all Honest Men. CHAP. VII Which shews that those particular Favours which your Majesty hath receiv'd from God oblige you to render to him that which is his due and that no Kingdom can prosper without the fear of God IF I have been so unhappy to have displeas'd your Majesty by relating many things with more Freedom than I should have taken yet I cannot be guilty of the same Fault in what I am now about to say since I am certain that in matters of Piety and wherein the Service of God is concern'd your Majesty thinks no Man can speak too boldly nor can any thing
such an age as you shall prescribe that they may know what it is to enter into Religion If this were done their number would quickly be known and there would not be so many among 'em who bite their Nails for having done that which they did not well consider before hand 4ly If you reform the Ornaments of their Churches and reduce 'em to the Usage of Cathedrals and of St. Peter's at Rome it self which should serve for a Pattern to others where there stands upon the High Altar nothing but a Cross and a few Candlesticks instead of all the Trinkets we see in the Covents 5ly If Your Majesty forbid the shameful Traffick of Fraternities driven in Service-time which distracts People Devotion also that the Blind of Quinze Vingt may be kept out of the Church that those who are at their Prayers may not be interrupted These two last abuses reign as much in Parishes as in Covents which Your Majesty should reform 6thly If you forbid Monks and Friars talking with Women at Church-doors or in any other place within the limits of their Monasteries For what can they have to say to ' em doth any body think they entertain 'em with Devotion whether 't is that I am more corrupt or that I take more notice of things than others do but it hath been always my observation that Old Women are still excluded from their conversation they are never to be spoken with when young and pretty Women are by do they think to perswade us they have charms to keep themselves from burning when they approach so near to the fire Your Majesty ought to remove this scandal but if you cannot by the means I have proposed there are others which you may have recourse to in case of necessity Care must be taken that Parish-Churches in which there are many things that want Reformation should give so good example that people might of their own accord return again to 'em without any compulsion I have observ'd that Parish-Priests are very negligent in their duty 't is a shame to see how at Funerals they look to the right and the left and behave themselves so that no body can think 't was zeal for God's service engag'd them in their profession but that they enter'd into Orders only to get a livelihood they make Devotion a meer Trade A Shoomaker when he is making Shoos minds more what he is about than they do 'T is Your Majesty's concern to remedy so great an abuse but 't is not to be done unless you resolve to augment the number of Parishes in your City of Paris A Priest who hath no mind to give good example is hid in the multitude of his Parishioners of whom the hundredth part do not know him which would not happen in Parishes of moderate extent What necessity is there for their being so large Or that Priests should have five and twenty thousand Livres yearly Rent Divide one Parish into six that will not only make the Priests but the People more vertuous they may then have their eyes upon every particular person and hinder the scandal they now encourage for want of due care and reproof Beside this is the only way to abate the Pride of the Monks who think we cannot be without 'em for the administration of the Sacraments and really the extent of some Parishes is so great that the Church cannot contain the thirtieth part of the Inhabitants so that they who cannot get places go some where else or stay at home In the mean time the Covents are throng'd with Customers which is contrary to their first Institution When there are more Parishes in Paris and in other places where 't is necessary and when Archbishops and Bishops suffer none but Secular Priests to come into their Pulpits Your Majesty will quickly see People leave running after Monks and Friars and the Worship of God return to its first purity I say nothing of the Laws which Your Majesty should make against Monasteries growing so excessively rich you have done it already especially in relation to Nunneries which you have order'd for the future to take no Money of those who desire the Habit. 'T is much more necessary for the Support of Your Majesty's Government that Lay-families should be richer than Religious Houses This will produce another good effect that none will be received into them but good Subjects of which they take little care provided People bring Money with ' em But this Law is so ill executed that it signifies no more than if Your Majesty had never made it the only effect we see of it is that whereas there were Contracts for the receiving of a Nun there are none made now yet People pay never the less Money for it which is contrary to Your Majesty's intention and for which you ought to provide a remedy God requires it of you the Religious of both Sexes being become so covetous that they receive all who have Money to give 'em preferably to those who have none tho never so unfit the way to rectifie this abuse is to bring an Information against those who have transgress'd your Law and punish them so severely that they may serve as an example to others For to what purpose are Laws if they be not executed It were better as I have already said they had never been made 'T is exposing Your Majesty 's Authority to an affront which could never happen if things had remain'd as they were before the Law was made I do not mean that Your Majesty should punish this fault as if it were a crime of State 't is enough to make 'em restore the Money they have receiv'd with Interest it will not be difficult to prove the taking of Money tho' it were done in private 't will be divulg'd as soon as Your Majesty's intention is known Fathers and Mothers who have Daughters to provide for will be the first who will reveal the Secret seeing 't is Your Majesty's Pleasure they shall be reliev'd whether they will or no but they should have no part of what is restor'd the Givers being as faulty as the Receivers and equally transgressing the Law So that Your Majesty will grow rich at their cost and no body blame you since the World will see that Your Majesty designs nothing but the Service of God and the good of your Subjects CHAP. VIII Of Obedience to the Pope THIS Chapter cannot be better plac'd than here it having such a relation to that which precedes it That it may be truly said when People refuse Obedience to the Pope they are not far from forgetting that which they owe to God and when we are not sensible of that submission and respect we ought to have for those whom he hath as his Ministers set over us the fear which we have of God himself will quickly vanish The reason is plain because we forget that command he hath given us to honour those who are the living Images of his
gnaw and grate your Subjects and I will maintain they cost your People every Year above Two Hundred Millions I will think what course may be taken to remedy so great a Mischief but I cannot pass by other Leeches no less decryed than these I have mention'd tho' somewhat more serviceable and useful to the Publick I mean the Gens d'Affaires that is the Bankers whom the People think to be the Instruments of all their Misery And indeed in so thinking they are not altogether deceiv'd I confess this Abuse may be more easily reform'd than the other but cannot be totally supprest I will say more of it but must first speak of those things wich ought to precede it The Tradesmen as well as Husbandmen and Labourers are included in that which is call'd the Third Estate but indeed they should be separated and have a Place by themselves since 't is not just that they who take so much Pains to preserve the Kingdom should be mingled with a company of Pettifoggers whose business it is to destroy it I know your Majesty is too Prudent not to protect and in all things concur with them to make Trade and Tillage flourish Were I not oblig'd to observe order in my Discourse I would here more largely shew what Advantages your Majesty may procure them But seeing I must not go before those of whom I have first spoken I return again to the Clergy who take Place of all the other Orders of the Kingdom CHAP. XI Of the Clergy PIety is so absolutely necessary to an Ecclesiastick that your Majesty hath all the Reason in the World not to bestow Benefices but on such as appear to be good and virtuous Men. But seeing People know how to dissemble when 't is for their Interest and Advantage we should not always judge by Appearances but strictly examin and enquire into their Lives and Conversations The Universities and Seminaries establish'd for this purpose are of very great Use and Benefit for tho' many come to them with dissolute and worldly Minds yet they are in a fair way to be reform'd by good Example which they have daily before their Eyes But I think there should be a certain time limited for Peoples staying in those Seminaries to which all Persons of Quality as well as others should be subject and none by any Priviledge exempted For 't is not by long living in Universities but by coming abroad and conversing in the World that many things are learn'd necessary for a Clergy Man to know and which he can never so well learn any where else Pluralities are now grown common But still condemn'd by tender Consciences Those that are scrupulous question whether the going from one Church to another ought to be suffer'd Because as a Lay Man is forbidden to change his Wife or to have more than one at a time so a Clergy Man ought not to have two Livings or to commute that which hath been given to him The Covetousness of Church-men and of other Persons of Consideration join'd with that necessity which hath often oblig'd your Majesty and your Predecessors to reward their good Services first introduc'd this abuse of Pluralities But your Majesty will do well to consider what ill Consequences attend it against which a timely Remedy must be provided Ecclesiasticks well born and bred high are seldom sit Persons to edifie the People for having liv'd in very great abundance and kept the great Men company they must needs retain some of their Vices Their Tables and their Stables consume the Patrimony of the Poor and if in the midst of their Plenty they chance to cast their Eyes on a poor Wretch they command he should be taken out of their sight instead of taking pity on him Were Church-mens Possessions proportion'd to their Character they would live more frugally and give less Scandal Great Riches often ruin Men and if what the Gospel says be true that whatever a Clergy-man's Revenue be yet he ought to take no more of it to his own use than necessity requires how dangerous then must it be to have a Hundred or Fourscore Thousand Livers Yearly Rent which we see many Church men do enjoy Did they bear any part of the Burthen of the State your Majesty would be oblig'd God's Portion set apart to reward their good services but as they are in that respect unprofitable Members of the Kingdom so being priviledg'd by their Character they load others with paying Tythes and other Duties While with great care they free themselves from the Burthen which in justice they ought to bear Your Majesty in so large a Kingdom as yours hath need of a great number of good Servants and you would have wherewith all to reward 'em if you divided among many what you sometimes give but to one and yet not content him You should above all things consider that the Service of God and the Salvation of an infinite number of Souls are brought into danger Riches are a Rock upon which many a Man hath been wreck'd and rich Churchmen for the most part make an ill use of their wealth and become a Scandal to their Diocess whereas if a Bishop had but a competent Revenue he would employ it in things profitable and tending to Edification To put things into this State there is no necessity to take away the Revenue belonging to Bishopricks and Abbies but to oblige those that are worth more than Ten thousand Livers Rent to maintain a Vicar or School-master in Parishes which have none but where one is very necessary For when People are poor and not able to bear a new Charge without being over-burthen'd their Children will want instruction and Ten thousand Livres a year are more than a sufficient maintenance for a Bishop or an Abbot the Service of God doth not require their having such rich and sumptuous Equipages nor such Magnificent and Dainty Tables In the time of the Primitive Church Luxury did not raign so much among 'em and then there were more Saints than Bishops or Court-Abbots Another good effect that would be wrought by lessning the Revenue of the Clergy is that Persons of Quality who enter into Orders upon no other score but to have part of the Wealth that belongs to the Church would not take upon them the Priesthood unless they were truly call'd to it So that for the future there would be none in the Church but Men of great Zeal and Piety whose Example only would be sufficient to invite others to the same life for nothing more prevails on Men than to see what good Lives those lead who are their Superiours CHAP. XII Of the Nobility or Gentry THE Gentry were heretofore very considerable in France and Your Majesty's Enemies so dreaded their Valour that when they were known to be in your Armies the Enemy was still unwilling to come to a Battle but of late the Gentry have lost much of their Lustre and are fallen into so great Poverty that 't is
hard to know who are truly Noble There are some Politicians who pretend this to be for Your Majesty's advantage because if the Nobility were as flourishing as in times past Your Majesty's Power would not be so firm and stable as now it is But such Maxims look more like the Politicks of Machiavil than those of a great King A Kingdom built on the love of the People is of much longer duration than that which is founded on Tyranny The times are not always the same in a state and when they come to change 't is to be fear'd that they who have been ill u'd will shew their discontent by some signal disobedience I have observ'd divers Subjects of Complaints among the Gentry the first is That they are drain'd and consum'd by the War and their Services very ill rewarded The second is That the Intendants uphold their Vassals against them by protecting them often very unjustly The third is That under specious pretences they are made a prey to the Covetousness of the Partisans who design their ruin The fourth is That the rank which they have always held in the Monarchy is now very little regarded and that Your Majesty respects them no more than if they were born of the lees of the People As to their first complaint I think it not well-grounded for Your Majesty as powerful as you are is not able to reward all the World Gentlemen ought to consider the Creation you have made of the Companies of Cadets and the Establishment of the House of St. Cir which is in some sort a reward for their Services since it frees them from the Charge of their Children who are maintain'd at your Majesty's Expence and put into a condition to be several ways preferr'd by an Education suitable to their Birth If they pretend these Rewards are not distributed according to Merit and that Monsieur Louvoy disposes of them upon all occasions as he thinks fit this is what your Majesty cannot help because 't is impossible that you can take notice of all things or know the merit of every Officer in the several Armies you have so far distant from you Your Majesty must in this particular trust him who hath the Charge of the War and if he impose upon you 't is he only can be blam'd The second complaint indeed seems more just and reasonable for as a Gentleman is not suffer'd to oppress his Vassal so the Vassal ought not to fail of paying all due respect to his Lord. But because the one more rarely happens than the other the Lord is most commonly suspected to be the wrong doer and he who hath the power in his hands is more like to be guilty of vexation than he that hath none So that the Gentleman is generally the person condemn'd which cannot be always justified since there is nothing so insolent as a Peasant that knows he hath some body to back and protect him 'T is difficult in such Cases to determine on which side the right lyes for if a Gentleman should be believ'd on his word we should often run the hazard of being deceiv'd and if credit should be given to a Peasant we cannot be assur'd he speaks truth All that I know to be done in such a Case is that every Intendant should make it his endeavour to search out the truth if possible before he order any Information or Process for such an order gives great distaste to an innocent person especially when he is prosecuted by one that is his inferiour and owes him respect But that this expedient may not delay the speedy doing of Justice let the false accuser be exemplarily punish'd and on the other hand let not the person accused be so far indulg'd as to be permitted to oppress any body that hath just Cause of complaint For the third I confess there is very good Ground and against which nothing can be alledged I have heretofore told Your Majesty that the manner of inquiring who are noble and who not is very vexatious and chargeable to Gentlemen To prevent the like trouble for the future 't would be a better expedient how to know them to make one general exact search but not by the Partisans And when such a search is made let there be a Catalogue or List Registred of all that are Noble in every Province and let them and their Descendants be for ever after free from all other searches To hinder Plebeians from pretending to be of a good Family that may be extinct let every one be oblig'd to give in a Note of all that are Baptized or Buried in his Family If this course be taken no body will be able to make himself a Gentleman that is none and for those that shall for the future be made Noble let them be oblig'd to have their Patents Registred If Your Majesty think fit to make such an order and oblige every one to the strict observation of it you will not only get the love of your Nobility but do an act of Justice For to say truth a Gentleman who hath been at a great deal of trouble and charge to get out of the hands of the Partisans must think it very strange to see himself in a little time plagu'd again in the same manner and under the same pretence he was before Others likewise give Gentlemen a great deal of trouble concerning the Tenure of their Lands and tho' they know that upon former Inquisitions they have made out their Titles yet require them to do it again There ought to be some standing rule establish'd once for all to settle the repose of the most considerable Order of Men in your Kingdom Your Majesty is more concern'd to do it than you imagin they are the chief support of your Crown and did they not give good example to others by their zeal in your Service all would quickly be turn'd Topsie-turvy Though your Majesty hath done a great deal for the Gentry as I have already shew'd yet you are obliged to do more which might be easily done if you would oblige the Nunneries to receive young Women that desire to enter into Religion without a Portion It would ease their Parents of a burden and be an advantage to Your Majesty for that Money which is now given with Daughters might be bestow'd on the Sons and consequently enable them to serve in your Armies which would be a great help to the Gentry and silence many of their Complaints It must be confest they are not much the better for the Establishment of St. Cir. That is but as a drop of water to one that is thirsty and the House is not able to entertain the hundredth part of the Women that would seek a retreat there How many Maids for want of such a refuge lead sad languishing lives and yet are happier and wiser than others who are oblig'd by Poverty to marry very mean Men and work for their Living However such a retreat as this is much