of Nimeguen a thing never before heard of amongst Independant and Sovereign Princes Neither have they forgotten as yet what Statues were erected in the Place des Victoires and in the Court of the Townhouse at Paris what Representations and Inscriptions were made there what Panegyricks what Speeches and what Verses were composed the most outragious and most ignominious to the other Sovereigns that ever were heard of even without sparing the most Generous and Faithful Friend and Ally France had then I mean the Brave King of Sweden who after he had in those times hazarded his Kingdom together with his dearest Interest in favour of the French King had no other Reward but the Injurious Reproaches of his having reestablish'd him on his Throne These are the fine and immortal Monuments which as they strike a just Horror into the Confederates so they make them cautious not to be treated so a second time Secondly It may be alledged by the Allies That they find no Security for themselves in the Proposals made by France They know but too well and by sad Experience That France acknowledges no other Limits to her Treaties than what agree with her Designs 'T is this which the Pyrenean Treaty that of Aix la Chapelle of Nimeguen and the Truce of Twenty Years the most solemn and the most advantageous to France that ever were made lay continually before her eyes and of which they are yet more convinc'd by the Maxims of the French Writers who maintain That their King can alienate nothing of what once has been incorporated into that Crown nay That he cannot renounce upon Oath his Rights whether true or but pretended so as to bind his Successors by it Who will then assure us That the Treaty that is now to be made will last I will not say for ever but any longer than those that have been made already and which have been broken as soon as ever a fallacious Peace has first seperated and then disarm'd the Confederates VI. But says another at this rate we shall have here an everlasting War since this last reason will always hold and be ready to be made use of by the Confederates on all occasions To which I answer No this is not in the least their intention They desire a Peace as much as France but it must be a sure an honourable and a general one And to obtain such an one they believe there are no other means but to reduce her to such Terms as will make it her interest to live hereafter in Peace with her Neighbours notwithstanding her dangerous Maxims This is also without doubt the reason why the Confederates have not as yet returned any Answer to the Proposals of France since there is some time required to agree amongst themselves about an Answer proper to obtain these ends and which at the same time may be approved of by every one of them VII Monsieur d' Avaux maintains further That one cannot wish for more advantageous Terms than the King his Master has offered the Confederates This is a thing worth our enquiry VIII He begins with those offered to the States-General and that he may not leave undecided that question Who is the Author of this War and consequently the Aggressor Since 't is of great weight in this matter he charges the States General of having been the Cause of it by lending their Assistance to the Prince of Orange that he might make himself Master of England A mighty Point which it concerns us to enquire into All the World knows That in the year 1688 there was no War in Europe but that with the Turks which of all the Princes and States that are now in Confederacy against France the Emperor bore alone the weight of all the rest liv'd in a profound Peace when France on a sudden being puffed up with her Fortune and Grandeur and bent to improve the opportunity of securing to her self for ever what she did but enjoy for twenty years made that bloody Invasion into the Empire that did so little expect it as thinking it self secure under the shelter of a dear-bought Truce She attack'd and took Philippsburg and possess'd her self of all the Rhine save only Coblentz Rhinfelt and Cologne and 't is to be noted That this Invasion which was resolv'd upon in the Councel of France as soon as Belgrade was taken by the Emperor from the Turks was executed immediately after to wit at the beginning of September and consequently two Months before the then Prince of Orange came over into England What relation then has this War with the Assistance given by the States-General to that Prince Since notwithstanding there was then a defensive Treaty between the Emperor and the States-General still in being yet their Alliance was not renewed till May 1689. by a defensive and offensive Treaty being grounded on the rupture of France This was not done till a year after the taking of Philipsburg Heidelberg Manheim Frankendal and Mayence and in fine after a general devastation of the Palatinat and the Circles of the Upper Rhine of Suabia and Franconia France as all the world knows and as the nature of so vast and unbounded designs did require it had taken her measures to enslave the Rhine before the Prince of Orange's passing the Sea was ever thought of either in England or Holland 'T is true some time before its being put in execution they began to suspect a design of the Prince by the fitting out a Fleet in Holland and afterwards by an agreement made with some Princes of the Empire about some Troops of theirs but 't is no less true that in France this Design was look'd upon as Chimerical and those as Blockheads that gave a hint in their Letters that it was laid against England Howsoever they flattered themselves that they should have done soon enough with Germany to be able to bridle afterwards the Prince of Orange and the States-General and behold here one of the greatest effects of the Divine Providence that ever was For 't is certain that if the French King instead of invading the Empire had sent a good Army towards the Frontiers of the Netherlands though it had been only to threaten them with a War never could the Prince of Orange have been able to come over into England The Emperor the Empire the King of Spain had still been in Peace with France England had been Enslaved by King James and the rest of Europe by the French King Besides we have still place for another Reflection which is that at the bottom France has put the Late King James out of and set the Prince of Orange on the Thrones of Great Britain 'T is long since that France looks on the Power and Greatness of England with jealous eyes as the only Kingdom capable of prescribing Limits to her unbounded Designs For which reason she has held for a State-Maxime to destroy England by its own Forces by Domestick Troubles and Intestine Wars She
much more truth That it is the King of Sueden's Interest as well as for his Honour to press France to grant the Allies more just and reasonable Terms and that whosoever talks to him otherwise has no true Zeal for his Service nor a just unconcernedness towards the French King I say we might say all this but we have too much Respect for that King and too much Consideration for his Ministers to reproach them with what they do not deserve XXVIII Nevertheless let us examine the Considerations Monsieur d'Avaux alledges in order to support his Reasons and to make the King of Sueden relish them One regards his Interest and the other engages his Honour By the first he pretends That the House of Austria being the common Enemy of France and Sweden as the two only Kingdoms capable of opposing its Designs of an Vniversal Monarchy which if you 'll believe him sticks close to its heart and of protecting the Liberties of the Princes of the Empire that this House makes it its study to ravish from these Crowns the Territories they are in possession of in Germany for which reason says he 't is the Interest of both Kings to maintain their Ancient Union and that the King of Sueden is so much the more obliged thereunto because in case it should happen that France notwithstanding all her Victories by Sea and Land should lose a considerable Battel at last he would hardly be able to raise the dejected Party On the other hand he maintains That 't is no less the Interest of the King of Sueden to prevent the French King 's falling off at Sea and to oppose the Tyranny which the English and Dutch endeavour to establish there XXIX To hear Monsieur d'Avaux reason at this rate one would be apt to think he had quite forgot the Circumstance of Time If his late Vncle had made this Harangue at the Treaty of Munster it might have pass'd but what Alterations have we not seen since that time in the Affairs and Interests of State Has it been forgotten that since the Peace of Munster and especially during and after the Negotiation at Nimeguen France has endeavour'd to mortify the King of Sueden a hundred ways to create him Enemies and to entangle him into Wars That she has dispos'd of the Lands of that prince as if he had been under her Guardianship and of her Dependancy That she has abus'd his Ministers That she has made a League against him and come to that height as to send her Squadrons against him into the Sound That she has offered to hinder him from making Defensive and Harmless Alliances witness the noise she made at Ratisbonne and in other places against that was then made between the Emperor the King of Sueden some Electors and several Princes of the Empire in the very same year she made an end of her seizing the Dutchy of Deux-ponts where she had no more regard for the King of Sueden than she would have had for the least State of the Empire On the other hand Is it not visible that at the present Juncture of time the Emperor's and King of Sueden's Interests are absolutely the same And that 't is morally impossible to seperate them since one cannot be sav'd without the other And 't is for this reason that the Houses of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh are in a strict Alliance with that King and that far from thinking of getting ground upon him in the Territories he possesses in Germany they are as ready as they are oblig'd to defend them against any body whatsoever But how does this agree with the pretended Vnion of Interest which is imagin'd to subsist at present between France and Sueden Is it not ridiculous to endeavour to move the King of Sueden to authorise and to be the Guarantee if one may say so of the Superiority and the Conquests of the French King since the latter has declared and made War against the Empire and its Allies without acquainting him in the least with it nay rather against himself in his Dutchy of Deux-Ponts and by the Desolation of the Palatinate Besides France demands this Guarantee without being willing to let the King of Sueden share in the Conquests she has made and that are directly against his Interest For 't is evident that if the War with the Confederates and the need the French King stands in of Sueden had not brought him a little to reason never would he have thought of restoring the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts to its right Owner Nay he would have pretended also to retain the best part of the Palatinate to the prejudice of the Ancient and Natural Rights of Succession of that King Was there ever such a Confederacy unless that of the Lion in the Fable XXX But what did Monsieur d'Avaux dream of when he accus'd the House of Austria of aspiring to an Vniversal Monarchy Does he think that all the world is either blind or out of their wits For if a Philip II. in the last or a Ferdinand II. in the present Age have perhaps conceived such a Design being tempted to it by the Greatness of their Power and encouraged by their Victories it has been buried with them and none but France has inherited it she being in reality now what the House of Austria was formerly We have seen with our eyes that since the Pyrenean Treaty France has not only affected an Arbitrary and Absolute Government over all the Princes and States in Europe but that she has actually exercis'd it We appeal to 'em all whether one can say that he has been exempted from it Those whom Nature has made their Neighbours have been all either swallow'd up or put out of a condition to resist and those whom a kinder Heaven has remov'd from her have felt her Insults and Threatnings And without entring into Particulars which would perhaps be tedious 't is enough to make the King of Sueden remember as we have already said how he has been us'd by France especially when she sent a Squadron against him into the Sound which till then had never been heard of For 't is worth our while to know That France affects no less a Sovereignty over the Seas than she does over the Land and 't is for this Reason and not that Monsieur d' Avaux alledges That England and Holland have united themselves against Her And now 't is left to every one's judgment Whether it be for the King of Sueden's Advantage to assist the French King in the prosecuting of these wicked ends as he would do by procuring him such Advantageous Terms of Peace as he demands and by which he cannot but get more ground upon his Neighbours and augment considerably his Power Or rather Whether it be not his true Interest to oppose it with all his might together with all other Princes concerned therein and to hinder that France may not get the better by this War by obliging her to restore what she has
so unjustly taken from her Neighbours For in fine if she has committed so many Outrages before she was in Possession of Strasburgh Luxemburgh and so many other Places and Provinces what will it be for the future if she comes to keep 'em by a Peace Two years of a good Harvest and Trade will make up all her Losses and render her more powerful than ever and put her in a condition to make all other Princes sensible of the deplorable effects of her Turbulent Humour and Ambition Now is the time to throw off that Yoke we have felt so heavy If we let it slip never must we hope to see it again For what appearance is there to expect such another Juncture or to see again so many Means and Forces which a happy Destiny has now united on purpose to deliver us from Slavery and Bondage Or now or Never Neither is it to be fear'd the thing should be stretch'd too far and the Enemies of France grow too great by Her becoming less as yet Monsieur d' Avaux endeavours to insinuate by a Confessien that undoubtedly has cost him very dear Ah! how far are we yet from it and how many things are there still required to put the Scales into a Balance which now entirely incline towards the French side There are some Limits may be prescribed to make that Balance even which will be done if things be set in the same posture they were in immediately after the Westphaly and Pyrenean Treaties for 't is from that time onwards that France did extremely outweigh the Balance XXXI And now we are come to Monsieur d'Avaux's Second Consideration which he lays before the King of Sueden in order to engage him to his Master's Interest on account of his own Honour The King his Master he says has strait accepted of the King of Sueden ' s Mediation and on the contrary the Confederates if you 'll believe him have rejected it as being unwilling to hearken to any Peace for some particular Ends of the Emperor and the King of Great Britain and from thence he concludes that the King of Sueden is in Honour engag'd to make himself to be look'd upon as a Great Prince such as he ought to be that is to say according to Monsieur d' Avaux he should either procure Peace to Christendom or side with one of the two Parties it being the thing he advances at the beginning of his Paper Now tho we may very well admit of this Proposition That the King of Sueden ought either to procure Peace to Christendom or side with one of the two Parties yet the Question is To what Party his Honour Glory Reason Justice and own Interest ought to incline him and we need but open our eyes to see that he ought to join with the Confederates as we have already proved by all we have said in this Answer In the mean time 't is not true that the Confederates have rejected the King of Sueden ' s Mediation they are on the contrary ready to embrace it persuaded as they are of his Majesty's Justice Equity Candor and Generosity 'T is then the French King's fault alone that the Mediation of Sueden has not as yet taken any effect in a Treaty of Peace and this Obstacle will not be removed as long as the French King sticks to his Proposals which he calls his Vltimata and the Confederates can never accept of since instead of a sure and durable Peace they would only obtain by them a delay of their Ruin and Misery and that if they should take place France would soon be in a condition to begin a New War and fiercer than ever and that at the latest in case Europe should have the misfortune to see the King of Spain die without Issue in the mean time France under the shadow of Peace would be busie in endeavouring to embroil the Affairs every where especially in England and Holland which as they are the two great Obstacles to her vast Designs so are they also the Objects of her Hatred XXXII But let us make an end by remembring the King of Sweden once more That the work of an honourable sure lasting and general Peace seems to be reserv'd in a great measure to his Glory That he needs no more but desire it by obliging France to restore all things in regard to the Empire into the same condition they were in by the Treaties of Westphaly and in regard to Spain if not exactly according to the Pyrenean Treaty yet the nearest to it as Justice and the security and welfare of the Catholick Countries and Europe requires and finally to let the other Confederates have also a just and reasonable Satisfaction which being done there will be no more dispute about the Proposals of Peace that then will offer themselves FINIS Books Sold by Richard Baldwin BIbliotheca Politica Or an Enquiry into the Antient Constitution of the English Government Both in respect to the just extent of Regal Power and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject Wherein all the Chief Arguments as well against as for the Revolution are impartially Represented and considered in Thirteen Dialogues Collected out of the Best Authors as well Antient as Modern To which is added an Alphabetical Index to the whole Work The Works of F. Rabelais M D. In Five Books or the Lives Heroick Deeds and Sayings of the Good Gargantua and Pantagruel and his Voyage to the Oracle of the Bottle As also his Historical Letters To which is added the Author's Life and Explanatory Remarks By Mr. Motteux Never before Printed in English The Four Epistles of A. G. Busbequius concerning his Embassy into Turky Being Remarks upon the Religion Customs Riches Strength and Government of that People As also a Description of their Chief Cities and Places of Trade and Commerce To which is added His Advice how to Manage War against the Turks Done into English The Bounds set to France by the Pyrenean Treaty and the Interest of the Confederates not to accept of the Offers of Peace made at this time by the French King To which are added Some short Reflections showing how far England is concern'd in the Restitution of that Treaty Together with a List of the Towns and Countries that the French have taken since that time Letters of State Written by Mr. John Milton To most of the Sovereign Princes and Republicks of Europe From the Year 1649. Till the Year 1659. To which is added An Account of his Life Together with several of his Poems And a Catalogue of his Works never before Printed Mathematical Magick Or the Wonders that may be performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning Mechanical Powers Motions Being one of the most easie pleasant useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks not before treated of in this Language Mercury Or the Secret and Swift Messenger Shewing how a Man may with Privacy and Speed communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any distance A Compendious History of the Taxes of France and of the Opressive Methods of Rasing of them An Impartial Enquiry into the Advantages and Losses that England hath received since the beginning of this Present War with France The Gentleman's Journal Or the Monthy Miscellany In a Letter to a Gentleman in the Country Consisting of News History Phylosophy Poetry Musick Translations c June 1694. Sold by R. Baldwin Where are to be had compleat Sets for the two last years or single ones for every Month. A Collection of Speeches Of the Right Honourable Henry Late Earl of Warrington
began to put it in practice in the Reigns of the Two Charles's the First and the Second and thinking she was just upon the point of obtaining her Ends when James the Second with whom she had had a long and strict Alliance and whose Bigottry and Ambition she but too well knew mounted on the Throne she did not fail to improve that opportunity and the Passions of that Prince to push him on to a Despotick and Arbitrary Government and the bringing in of Popery against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm of which the English are more jealous than any Nation in the World besides is of theirs This is a Truth the Late King James could not be ignorant of and consequently he might easily judge that without a powerful Assistance from abroad it would be impossible for him to compass so vast and so monstrous a Design and who was likelier to lend it him but the French King puissant and dreadful to all the World In short the thing was as readily granted as desired but at the same time it was whispered in the Late King's ear that all would be in vain except the States General were overturn'd as being the only in the World that might oppose his Designs and that would infallibly do it by reason of the great Interest which together with the Prince of Orange their Stadtholder they had in this Affair Wherefore a Secret League was concluded between the two Kings in order to a total destruction of the Vnited Provinces which was to be put in execution on the first opportunity and France who had a mind to strike the Iron whilst it was hot was not willing to put it off till after she had finisht her Conquest of the Rhine and forc'd the Emperor and the Empire to confirm her in the possession of it by a shameful Peace whilst the Late King James by the means of his Army was to render himself Master of all at home to the Subversion of the Government and Religion establish'd by Law in the Three Kingdoms This is the true cause of all King James's Undertakings in England Scotland and Ireland against his true Interest which was to govern his People according to Law and to oppose the pernicious Designs of France But his having been drawn in by her has cost him very dear for the English being resolv'd not to outlive the loss of their Laws their Religion their Liberties and Properties call'd secretly to their assistance the then Prince of Orange who was oblig'd to it by a thousand Reasons But the Prince being wise and cautious and knowing perfectly the consequence of so great an Enterprize suffer'd himself long to be solicited and did not hearken at last but to the Threatnings that were made him from England to abandon entirely his and that Incomparable Princess his Wife's Interest and to give way to some desperate Action would have cost them Rivers of Blood Nevertheless it was not till August 1688. that the States-General were acquainted with this great Affair and they did not grant the Prince their Assistance till the very time the French King's Armies were on their march to invade the Empire and to attack Philipsbourg and then they were not like to refuse it since otherwise they would only have had the advantage of being swallowed up last Now this being well consider'd must not one have a strong Forehead to affirm that the States-General are the cause of this War But besides in granting the Prince of Orange ' s Request did they do the least thing against France or did they infringe the least Article of the Treaty that was then in being with her There is no man of sense can aver it and Monsieur d' Avaux himself in his thundring and threatning Speeches he made then at the Hague could alledge nothing but that his Master found himself oblig'd to assist his Allie Was it then requisite that the States-General should have tamely waited for the mortal Stroke that was prepared for them and being perfectly acquainted with the League of both Kings that had sworn their ruin should they have let slip the only means to save them and which indeed secured them effectually from the Attempts of France who was going to build on their Ruin her vast Designs of an Vniversal Soveraignty over all the States in Europe IX And now to come to the point 't is evident by what has been said that the great Interest the States-General have to observe by a re-establishment of Peace is the securing themselves effectually for the future by Sea and by Land without which all they have to expect will be a suspension only of their total Ruin so much the more inevitable the less hopes they can have ever to meet with so fair an opportunity as they have now at this present to secure their State their Commerce and their Tranquility for the future The fatal Consequences of the precipitated Peace of Nimmeguen are yet too fresh to be forgotten and the boasted of Barriere France offers to restore will no more establish their quiet for the future than it has done for the time past Besides France does not offer to restore the entire Barriere since she pretends to keep Luxenburgh of which more hereafter X. Monsieur d' Avaux passes but slightly over the Terms which the King of Great Britain is to have and it seems he fancies forsooth His Majesty wants nothing but to remain in possession of his Three Kingdoms and that on that score he 'll not scruple to restore what England has taken from France in the West-Indies But in this Monsieur d' Avaux is so much out of the road that we have reason to doubt whether Their Majesties will ever permit that it be inserted as a Condition into a Treaty of Peace that France is to acknowledge Their Dignity and Title which is sufficiently establish'd by the right of Blood and by the Offer the Representatives of both Nations have made Their Majesties of the Three Crowns after the Late King Jame's Abdication and his Retreat into France Besides all Potentates of Europe having acknowledged the Title of and congratulated Their Majesties there is no doubt but France will be forced to make use of the same Language in case she has a mind the King should ever enter with her on Articles of Peace But do they think us tame enough to rest satisfied with that or rather do they not imagine we shall ask for somewhat more some small Terms for our Safety being acquainted as we are with the dangerous Maxims and Designs of France that tend to our destruction Is it probable the King will abandon his Principality of Orange and his other Lands by Inheritance taken from him and confiscated against all manner of Justice a long time before the beginning of this War and in the midst of Peace XI And what are the Terms propos'd to Spain Monsieur d' Avaux talks very high and makes a mighty noise about them Five fine Places
prescribed the Renunciation made so solemnly to the Succession of Spain was to be null and void By which it appears That all the French King had to do was to oblige Spain to perform the Contract the Renunciation remaining howsoever entire as having a Motive and Object far greater more important and more glorious than the Five hundred thousand Crowns of the promis'd Portion can come to that is to say to give it in their own terms To secure for ever the Publick Peace of Christendom and to procure the Common Good of the Kingdoms and Subjects of both Crowns The King of Spain and the French King being at that very time willing to prevent the Conjunction of both Crowns as being too big to be united into one After which can it be said with the least colour of Reason or Justice That the French King has the least pretence to annul this Renunciation XIV As to what relates to the Terms offered to the House of Lorrain 't is a Jest to pretend that the Empire has no Right left to meddle with what regards that Dutchy since the late Duke did not accept of what was stipulated for him at the Treaty of Nimeguen The Empire says with far more justice That France having broke that Treaty can draw no advantage from it and consequently none neither in regard to Lorrain 'T is notorious moreover that the late Duke of Triumphant Memory did never accept of what Offers were made him at that Treaty for which reason the French King has no Right neither to the Four Highways in Lorrain of the breadth of half a mile that were granted him on that score But France according to her celebrated custom boasts of Treaties as far as they can be stretch'd to her Advantage whilst on the other hand that part which does not serve her purpose is most scornfully rejected Besides we ought to observe here That it is the French King's way to take away with one hand what he gives with another He 'll desist forsooth from his Pretensions to the Four Highways but he 'll retain in exchange Four of the most important Places of that Dutchy viz. Sarlewis Bintche Hombourgh and Longivy reserving over and above to himself a Passage for his Troops through Lorrain which alone would keep the Duke and his Country in a perpetual Slavery But according to all appearance the present Duke of Lorrain will find it as hard to persuade himself to the resigning of these Four Places as his Father did when he was to grant the four Highways at least he will not think himself to be very much beholden to the French King for it In short if the French King will make us believe that he has a real design to restore to the House of Lorrain what belongs to it by an undoubted Right why does he retrench from it so considerable a Branch Is it perhaps because he still grounds himself on some ridiculous Treaties made with the old Duke of Lorrain Charles the IIId possess'd in those times with an implacable hatred against his nearest Relations and blinded by a foolish Love And does he pretend that they are obligatory to the present Duke who having had no hand in them claims with a Just Right what belong'd to his Ancestors and what by the same Right is now his own XV. After this Monsieur d' Avaux examines the Proposals made by his Master to the Empire on which he dwells the rather because the King of Sweden is particularly concern'd therein Let us follow him step by step He supposes before all things That the Treaties of Westphaly and Nimeguen are to remain in their full force and vigour To which we may reply by the by That although the French King has rendred himself unworthy of what has been decided there in his favour yet there will hardly be any dispute about them on the Empire's side especially about the Treaties of Westphalia but the question is Whether the Proposals made by France are capable of restoring those Treaties to their full force and vigour To which every reasonable and unbiassed man will be obliged to answer in the Negative and that we are to prove hereafter Besides the old difficulty holds here still to wit How we shall be assured that the French King will better keep those Treaties for the future than he has done for the time past 'Ts notorious That that of Nimeguen was no sooner executed but he rais'd in the year 1680. a quarrel about his dependencies and his frivolous Reunions by the means of which though grounded only on some whimsical Titles and Pretences and pleaded before his own Courts where he was himself both Judge and Party several Princes and States of the Empire were dispossess'd of their Countries there being found out a way to father always on the nearest places a dependency from those had been last taken A goodly way indeed that would have Reunited at last the whole Empire to France In the year 1681 he Surpris'd and possess'd himself of Strasburg The violences and outrages that were committed there and since that time are of a fresh date and ought to be abhor'd by all true Germans as long as they have a drop of blood in their Veins Monsieur d' Avaux pretends also that the Truce of twenty years concluded at Ratisbonne should be converted into a definitive Treaty of Peace But why would not the Emperor and the Empire consent to it when that Treaty was made or since before the new Invasion by France They would have prevented by it what they have suffered from the barbarous Ravages and Desolations that have been carried during this War into the best part of Germany but they had but too much reason to refuse it Wherefore to soften that Proposition which was from that time rejected Monsieur d' Avaux thinks to have mended the matter by making some Alterations in it which he cries up for so many convincing proofs that the King his Master has no thoughts of making the least Conquests in the Empire These Alterations are as follow viz. Instead that heretofore and since the Truce France demanded that all should remain in Statu quo that is to say that she was to keep by a Peace all Places and Provinces she Usurped in the Empire the Possession of which was not secured to her but during the twenty years of the Truce She offers now to surrender some of those Places demolish'd viz. Mount-Royal Trarbach and the Works of Fort-Lewis and Hunninguen which Works being in regard to France on that side of the Rhine the meaning of it is in plain English That she 'll raze indeed the Forts built on the German side cover the Bridges of Fort-Lewis and Hunninguen but as to the body of those Places Situated in regard to her on this side the Rhine She 'll keep them She offers besides to surrender Philipsbourg and Frybourg fortified as they are now at present She offers moreover to restore the Palatinat
of the Lower and Vpper Alsace in the same manner the House of Austria did possess it the Suntgau and the Provinoial Mayery of the Ten Cities Nevertheless Count d' Avaux passes over this great and delicate morsel in silence and pretends to swallow it up without so much as speaking of it There are no instances at least for several Ages That the Empire has Invaded its Neighbours An Offensive War does not at all agree with its Constitution since to resolve upon it more than 200 Voices are requisite of Princes and States that are of a different not to say opposite Interests When on the contrary all Europe smarts by the frequent Invasions and Insults of France All Ages furnish us with Instances of that kind and the present more than all the rest And how can we expect better for the future from that unruly and turbulent Nation XXIII As to the Count 's maintaining That the King his Master offers the Empire a more than sufficient Equivalent for the City of Strasbourg we have already Answered that the Surrender of whatever the French King has Possess'd himself of during this unjust War is so far from being a Compensation for that Place that on the contrary he is holden to make the Empire Restitution of it with Cost and Damages XXIV And indeed 't is matter of wonder to see That Monsieur d' Avaux who is and Writ in Sweden dares not only advance that more than Two thirds of the Palatinat belong uncontrovertedly to the Dutchess of Orleans but that also he takes upon him to offer and to dispose as an equivalent of the Palatinat and the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts the latter of which belongs as undoubtedly to the King of Sweden as he has Right of Succession to the first This is a Point indeed of the highest consequence but 't is left to the decision of that Prince who as he is most concerned therein so he 'll know without doubt how to maintain his Interest We shall only alledge here the Memorial presented in the year 1685 to the Diet of Ratisbonne by the Minister of the Prince Palatine in which it has been made out that according to the Constitutions and Customs of the House Palatine which the Duke and Dutchess of Orleans have acknowledged by their Contract of Marriage and by a solemn Acquittance delivered on the Payment of her Portion the present Dutchess of Orleans has no manner of pretensions no more than the rest of the Princesses Palatin either to the Territories of that House or to what depends from them as long as there are Princes Palatine and Dukes of Bavaria alive who altogether descend in a direct Line from Stephen Count Palatine their Common Father and Author and Founder of this Constitution which since that time has been acknowledged by so many solemn Renunciations of all the Princesses Palatine and more particularly by that of the present Dutchess of Orleans We 'll content our selves also with admiring the boldness to say no more of Monsieur d' Avaux in offering to restore the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts in the Condition it was in when his Master seiz'd it For what will become of the use and revenues of that Dutchy he has enjoy'd during his Vsurpation According to all Laws they ought to be made good at least to the King of Sweden XXV As to what regards the Reunions made for the time past and the Proposals to submit the decision of them to some Commsssaries or to the Arbitration of the Republick of Venice 't is of the same nature with the Succession of the King of Spain which we have examined already The name alone of Reunions Barbarous and unknown to all other Languages will be for ever detested by the Germans so far are they from disputing about and agreeing to an Arbitration of that kind And would it not be a tacit acknowledgment that France had had some reason to make them For we ought never to enter upon the debate but of such Points that are not as this is obvious clear and evident on the Empires side What if the Arbiter should happen to decide in Favour of France Would not that goodly work of Reunions go bravely on anew And the French Writers would not they have a fair play to maintain that what had once been their King 's Right must be always so in spight of what all future Treaties might decide against it Far be it therefore from the Germans to submit a certain and undoubted Right to the chance of a doubtful decision Besides the French King pretends to remain in Possession of the Reunions till that decision be made Now suppose those Commissaries or the Republick of Venice just and bold enough to give these Re-unions to the Germans How shall they come at them but by the means of a New War XXVI And thus far have we followed Monsieur d' Avaux close in the Enquiry of the Proposals he has made and tho we have reason to believe that we have sufficiently demonstrated the Injustice and Unreasonableness of them yet this will be more conspicuous yet if we consider that there is not one of the Allies on whom the French King by these Proposals does not endeavour to get ground and that he treats every one of them as a Conqueror would do his vanquish'd and prostrate Enemies of which I am going to give an Account but in a few words France demands of England what has been taken from her in the West-Indies of the States-General that they are to acquiesce in the renewing of the Treaties of Peace and a Commerce with France on the same foot as they were before the beginning of this War Of Spain the Dutchy and Fortress of Luxemburgh with an Establishment of her Pretensions to the Succession of that Prince Of the Duke of Lorrain Four important Places with a Passage for his Troops that are to pay for what they have And of the Empire the City of Strasburgh will all its Forts as also That the Decision of the Reunions may be left to some Commissaries or an Arbiter XXVII The King of Sueden was so sensible of the Extravagancy of these Proposals that when his Ministers presented them to the Confederates they declared in the Name of the King their Master That it was by no means his Majesty's Intention to Persuade much less to Force the Parties concerned to acquiesce in them And yet Monsieur d' Avaux has the boldness to say no more to maintain to the King of Sueden's face That it is his Interest as well as for his Honour to press the Enemies of France to accept of the Proposals of Peace she has made them and that whosoever talks to him otherwise has no true Zeal for his Service nor a due unconcernedness towards all the other Princes of Europe Good God! who could have expected such a Declaration from the French Ambassador in Sueden who has so great a Reputation We need not again but turn the Tables and say with