Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	france_n	king_n	treaty_n	4,777	5	9.4202	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37443	The two great questions consider'd I. What the French king will do, with respect to the Spanish monarchy, II. What measures the English ought to take.	Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing D850; ESTC R20141	13,382	33

maintaining the Ballance of Power in Europe This has been the Foundation of all the Wars in our Age against the French and in the last Ages against the Spaniard and the Emperor A just Ballance of Power is the Life of Peace I question whether it be in the Humane Nature to set Bounds to its own Ambition and whether the best Man on Earth wou'd not be King over all the rest if he could Every King in the World would be the Universal Monarch if he might and nothing restrains but the Power of Neighbours and if one Neighbour is not strong enough for another he gets another Neighbour to join with him and all the little ones will join to keep the great one from suppressing them Hence comes Leagues and Confederacies thus the German Protestants call'd in the Assistance of Gustavus Adolphus to match the Power of the Emperor Ferdinand the 2. and founded the famous League call'd the Conclusions of Leipsick which brought the Imperial Power to the due Ballance which it now stands at on the Foot of the Treaty of Westphalia so the French and the English assisted the Dutch to bring the Spanish Power to a Ballance in the time of Philip the II. when the Spanish Greatness began to be terrible to Europe which Ballance was established in the Peace of Aix la Chappel So the Power of France was brought to a Ballance but not so equal as it might have been had King Charles II. stood to his own Proposals at the Treaty of Nimeguen the Defects of which Peace were in a great Measure the Occasion of this late War which has been the longest most chargeable and most bloody that ever the French Nation has been engaged in since the Days of Francis the I. their own civil Wars excepted This War has brought the power of France to a Ballance she had fortified her Frontiers with a continued Rampart a Line of strong Cities from Hunninghen on the Confines of the Swiss down the Rhine the Mosell and the Maes to the very Sea-side the greatest whereof she has been oblig'd to part with to enable her Enemies to be their own Guarantees by which in some places she is left so naked that she is fain to build new Cities or fortifie old ones to supply the Vacancy as at Brisack and in other she lyes wholly open as at Pigneroll she has stoop'd to such a peace as has made her far less formidable than before Now the precarious Life of the King of Spain gave the King of England just Umbrage that this Ballance in which our Safety so much consists should receive a Shock to the prejudice of the Protestant Interest by the Addition of the Spanish Dominion to that of France And here I place the Original of the Project as a probable Conjecture at least drawn from the Nature of things according to rational Conclusions from probable premises when better Grounds are made publick I shall own my self mistaken When the pretenders to the Spanish Succession are considered they are found to be the Emperor and the King of France the Prince of Bavaria being dead before To let the Emperor possess the Spanish Dominions would be the overthrowing the Ballance made at the Westphalia Treaty by which the House of Austria already strengthened by the Conquest of Hungaria and the peace with the Turks would be too potent for the princes of Germany nor wou'd the French like well that the Emperor the Eternal Competitor of France upon the Rhine shou'd be strengthen'd with such an addition by which he wou'd ha' been Lord of almost half the World To let the French possess the Spanish Dominions would overthrow the Ballance Purchas'd in this War with so much Blood and Treasure and render fruitless the Treaty of Reswick Twou'd especially ha' been Fatal to the English and Dutch by the encrease of Wealth from the Mass of Money returning Yearly from the Empires of Mexico and Peru which the French wou'd be better Husbands of than the Spaniards by their encrease of Shipping which wou'd make them too strong for all the World at Sea and by their ruining the Spanish Trade which is the greatest and most profitable in Europe 't would immediately unhinge all the Settlement of our Merchants and Factories and turn the whole Channel of Trade for the ports of Spain being free to the French as Subjects all our Negoce that way wou'd be destroy'd then their Neighbourhood in Flanders and in the West-Indies would be intollerable and insupportable O 't would fill a Volume to set down the Inconveniencies which England and Holland must expect to feel in Case the French were Masters of the Spanish Monarchy the Streights-Mouth would be like the Sound and all our Ships should pay Toll at Gibralter as they do at Elseneur your Fishing Trade from New-England and Newfoundland wou'd perish for the French from the Banks of Newfoundland should go free and you Pay 23 per Cent. c. We must erect an Admiralty in the West-Indies or mantain a Fleet there or our Plantations wou'd be always at his Mercy our Collonies of Virginia and New-England would easily be destroy'd while the French would lye on their backs quite thro' their Country from Canada to the City of Mexico These are some of the lesser Inconveniencies which as I presume were the first Motives to the Treaty The Confederats therefore not being willing the French shou'd have Spain and the French being resolv'd the Emperor should not have it a Medium is proposed that since it was not convenient for Europe that either of them should have it all and both of them had a Title to it it should therefore be divided between them in Manner and Form as aforesaid This is the short History of this League which really has more of Pollicy than Right in it for strictly Considered the Right of Succession can devolve but upon one Person let that one be who it will is not the present Business But publick good the Peace of Kingdoms the General quiet of Europe prevails to set aside the Point of nice Justice and determine in favour of the Publick Tranquility And I crave leave to make Two Observations here First Our Iacobites-Protestant-Brethren whose Understandings are so blind that they cannot see the Interest of their Native Country have here fairly represented to them the Condition England had now been in and Europe in General if a Papist and Confederate with France had been on the English Throne if England had not had a King who cou'd so far Influence the Ambition of the powerful Prince as to prevent his seizing that Monarchy of Spain which none but England cou'd hinder him from Secondly Our Non-jurants who hold the right Lines of Princes such Sacred things may also see that even among Hereditary Princes themselves the Rights of Succession are oftentimes infringed and the private Interest of Princes and Families set aside when the publick Interest of Nations the Preservation of Peace and the

The Two Great QUESTIONS CONSIDER'D I. What the French King will Do with Respect to the Spanish Monarchy II. What Measures the English ought to Take LONDON Printed by R. T. for A. Baldwin at the Oxford-Armes in Warwick-lane 1700. THE PREFACE SInce the Following Sheets were in the Press some Letters from France advise that the King of France has saluted his Grandson the Duke D'Anjou as King of Spain Some People who are of the most Intelligent Part of Mankind think He has done so by way of Politicks to see how the rest of Europe will resent it as He once did in a like Case to the Prince of Conti as King of Poland whose Pretensions He did not think fit to pursue The Author therefore thinks the following Sheets are as much to the purpose as they were before and without any farther recommendation refers the Reader to the perusal THE Two Great Questions CONSIDER'D WE are told That the Deceased King of Spain has by his last Will bestow'd his Kingdoms on the Duke D'Anjou Grandson to the Present King of France Amongst the many weak Actions of that Effeminate Prince who hardly ever did a Wise One This is the most Ridiculous if it be proper to give such an Epithet to the Actions of Sovereign Princes 1. To imagine the Most Christian King wou'd give any Regard to or put any Value upon such a Bequest any farther than consisted with his other Measures or at least with his Interest must be a Folly none could be guilty of but such as know very little of the King of France or of the Affairs of Europe 2. To think that the Rest of the Princes of Christendom wou'd suffer the Spanish Monarchy to be bequeath'd by Will to a French Man without any Title or other Right than the Deed of Gift of the late King and without any Regard to the Right of the Lawful Pretenders is also most Egregious Nonsence To make way therefore to the Case in hand and come at the Questions before us with more Clearness 't is necessary to Examine the Nature and probable Consequences of this Last Will and Testament of the King of Spain 1. As to the Nature of the Thing it seems to be a Tacit Invitation to all the Competitors to a Dangerous and a Bloody War as if the King of Spain shou'd have said to his Privy Council I 'll be revenged on them all for attempting to divide our Dominions for I 'll give it to One that has no Title let the Rest fight for it and the longest Sword take all As to the Duke D'Anjou he has no Manner of Title but what is presumptive on the Death of his Father and Elder Brother without Issue if they should have Children the Emperor of Morocco has as good and perhaps a better Title to the Crown of Spain than He. The Dauphin of France has an Unquestion'd Title to the Crown of Spain if it be True that the Renunciation made by his Father and Mother at the Pyrenaean Treaty cannot bind the Children so as to deprive them of their Right which is the great Argument now us'd to defend their Title Now if their Right be good the Crown is the Dauphin's and after him the Duke of Burgundy's and his Heirs and Dr. Davenant may spare himself the Labour of Writing a long Discourse to defend the Dauphin's Title for we will grant he has an Undoubted Right of Succession But I shou'd be glad to have it answer'd how the Duke D'Anjou can have a Title while the other are alive It cannot be in the Power of the Dauphin to say I will give my Right to my Second Son for I do not think it worth my while to accept of it for my self or my Eldest Because 2. The Consequence of that will in all Probability be this that the Duke of Burgundy's Son when he has One will say again My Grandfather had no Power to give away my Right I am the Undoubted Heir to the Spanish Monarchy and so no Question he will be if the present Dauphin has a Right and if Power be in his Hands to subdue it he will have it tho' the Possession be his Uncle's for Crowns know no Uncles Brothers or any Relations when Power of Possession joyn'd with Right is before them So that the King of France cannot but see that to take the Crown of Spain from the Will and Testament of the late King is Disclaiming the Right of his own Son and Involving his Grandsons in Bloody Wars the Issue of which a Wiser Head than His cannot foresee This leads me to Consider The First Question What Measures the King of France will take with respect to the Succession of the Spanish Monarchy By saying what Measures he will take I mean what He will in all Probability take or what his Interest will lead him to take for I suppose no Man will imagine I am of his Privy Council To debate this Matter 't is necessary to consider the King of France with respect to the Terms He stands in with the rest of Europe If the King of France were Absolute Master of his own Measures and had no Leagues or Neighbours to regard there is no Question to be made but that rejecting all Conditions he would immediately enter upon the Dominions of Spain as his own undoubted Inheritance or at least his Sons annex the same to the Crown of France and make it one Entire Empire and any Man else wou'd do the like But as He has Measures to take with Powerful Neighbours who as Potent as He is are able to give him Diversion enough and if He shou'd embroil himself with them may make it a Hazard whether he should obtain it or no He is too Wise a Prince not to see that his Interest will Oblige him to act in Concert with his Neighbours as far as conveniently He can The Truth of this Argument is abundantly confirm'd in the Measures He took and the Alliances He made before the Death of the King of Spain They who think the King of France so Magnipotent that He values none of his Neighbours and talk so big of him that like His Medal-makers they place him among the Invincibles must have forgot the Siege of Namure and the Vain Effort of the Power of France to relieve it they must pass over his Deserting the Late and Acknowledging the Present King of England at the Peace of Reswick they must overlook the low Steps he was oblig'd to make to draw the Duke of Savoy from the Confederacy how he was unable to save Casall which cost him so much Money how he delivered the Impregnable Town of Pigneroll which his Father call'd the Right Hand of France and which cost him 100 Millions to fortifie how he married the Fortune of France to a Daughter of Savoy without a Portion and bought the Duke of Savoy at the Price of his Grandson's Dishonour how he surrendred the large Dominions of Lorrain and Luxemburgh and