they are not Roman Catholics nor of the King's Religion If these Reasons could take Place or that a Prince could break his Promises made to his Subjects and persecute them with Fire and Sword meerly because they are not Christians after his manner what shall hinder him from breaking the Contracts made with his Allies that are of another belief which is different from his 2. If the public Faith engages the Protestants States to restore the Reformed of France it also excites the Catholic Potentates to require Satisfaction for the Injuries done them by that Crown which has omitted no sort of Usurpations increase to it's Grandeur either by unjust Wars or in full Peace Therefore it is but requisite that now for the obtaining of Peace Lewis the XIV should make reparation for all his Neighbours losses of which himself has been the occasion in the last War since the Treaty of Nimeghen and the Breach of the Truce that he restore what he unjustly detains from the Empire from Spain from the King of England from the Vnited Provinces from the Electors the D. of Lorrain the Pope and the Princes of Italy 3. The King of France never failing of Pretences to break the most Sacred Leagues no body that I know would be willing to trust him nor to be Guarantees for the performance of the offers he should make unless it were the Grand Signior with whom he has renew'd and confirm'd his Ancient Alliances And therefore it will be requisite that he surrender up several strong Towns and Garrisons as Pledges for his performance upon condition that they shall remain confiâ—scated to the Parties into whose hands they are surrender'd in case he break the Peace to be concluded Now in regard it is most certain that France will find such Articles very burthensome at least that she will never subscribe or put them in Execution there is no Foundation to be laid upon her promises whence it is clear that to procure the Peace of Europe there is a necessity that she must be constrain'd to it by Attacquing her on several sides This will be no difficult thing to bring to pass if the Empire Spain England Swedeland and the Vnited Provinces confirm their Alliance and if the Confederates create a particular General to the end that their Forces United under one Generalissimo may act by consent and unanimouslyagainst the common Enemy In all times misunderstanding has ruin'd the strongest Leagues of which we have seen frequent and fatal Examples in the last War If France therefore can yet find any means to disunite the Confederates they may assure themselves that the opportunity for pulling down the Power of France will not be long in their hands France will make use of her usual methods by bribing the Governors of Garrisons corrupting the Treasurer's that the Army may stil want either Money or Provision by gaining the cheif Ministers of the several Courts on purpose to make false reports to their Masters or impertinent and unseasonable Orders to the Generals and sowing jealosies between them to make them draw off one from another in the greatest urgency of Affairs And it is very probable that the greatest part of these misfortunes will not fail to happen if the Confederates do not agree to confer the supream command of General upon one Person in whose power it shall be to make the whole Body Act Unanimously and who shall have Reputation and Authority sufficient to restrain the inferior Generals within the bounds of their duty We are verily perswaded that neither Flatteries Promises Pension no Lewis's of Gold will be able to disarm the Protestant Princes Therefore France begins to despair of seducing them that way but gives it out that this is a War for the sake of Religion consequently that the Catholic Potentates ought to unite with her to prevent the Establishing the Reformation all over Europe But it is the ruin of his Matchiavillian Politics which he dreads more then the Establishment of the Reformation In the mean while the pretence is specious because he judges of others by himself and for that the Zeal of the Roman Clergy pushing him on to destroy the pretended Heretics he imagins the Resolutions of the reformed to be the same This is an Error of which it is of great Importance to convince these Gentlemen though it be no difficult thing to undeceive them if they will but take the pains to mind the following Reflections 1. That it is a Fundamental maxim of the Reformation that every Man has a right to examin the Religion he intends to profess to judge of it by his own understanding and to believe nothing but what he is perswaded of the Truth in his Conscience Whence the Protestants infer that no human Authority ought to force Men to exercise a Worship which they believe unlawful or to profess an Opinion which they concieve to be false Clear it is that this Doctrin is directly opposite to the Spirit of Persecution for if it be not lawful for the Pastors to constrain Christians to believe or practise what they hold to be false and forbidden of God much less is it lawful to employ the Power of the secular Arm to the same effect It signifies nothing to say that among us we Excommunicate Heretics or that we have frequently Persecuted Ministers and Private Persons for the same reason For as for Excommunication in respect of Speculative Opinions it is no more of it's self then a bare Declaration that such or such a one has not those Qualities which are requir'd to fit him to be a Member of such or such a Society In which case it is not accompany'd with any mark of Infamy or civil Punishment Suppose for Example that any Minister of the Church of England is perswaded that Episcopacy is no lawful Government that he cannot in conscience preach upon Holy-days or perform other Functions to which the Ministry obliges him and that thereupon he goes to his Diocesan and lays down his Function promising all the rest of his life to live quietly at home or in Communion with the Faithful Sure I am that if they could not undeceive him they would bewayl his Ignorance but yet they would be so far from using him as a Criminal that they would admire his Probity But if the same Divine should make use of the Liberty of his Function to excite the People to contemn the Bishops and to trample their constitutions under foot by shewing them himself an ill example then it would be but just to punish him not as a Person that holds erroneous opinions but as a disturber of the Public Peace This Maxim takes no farther place then to preserve the order and unity of Ecclesiastical Discipline for Politic Toleration is so much in practise among the Protestants that as well the particular Members of their Body as those that are not of the Communion of their Churches have all the liberty to believe and say what they think
that themselves and their Brethren have suffer'd for this last near half an Age together has been only the Effect of the Intreagues of the Court of France of the two Cardinals and the Jesuits Nor have the Vnited Provinces less Cause to complain Not to mention the unjust Invasion in 1672. for which all the Subtlety of Lewis the Fourteenth's Counsel could never alledge any other well grounded Reason then the favourable Opportunity to Conquer those Rich Provinces through the Cowardise sloath and want of Intelligence in those that manag'd Affairs at that time were there nothing else but the Violences and Cruelties which the French King and his Ministers have Committed within these Nine or Ten Years upon the Subjects of the States General their Ships Embargo'd their Goods Confiscated their Seamen Imprison'd constrain'd to change their Religion to serve against their own Country or to undergo the Punishment of the Gallies the prodigious Number of Merchants Ships which their Privateers have taken their Villages and Towns laid in Ashes and all this in time of Peace and without the least appearance of Justice I dare be bold to say that their High and Mightinesses must have Hearts of Steel to be insensible of these Recent Outrages and that all the Offers and Reparations that France can make are not sufficient to equal them But some will say it is the Interest of the Vnited Provinces to continue in Peace and the States never had a fairer opportunity to obtain from France whatever they shall judge requisite for the security of their Subjects and their Trade I acknowledge it But who shall be Guarantee for the Observation of the Treaty which is to be made with France Certainly neither England nor the Empire Is it prudence to confide in those Persons who have a thousand times deceiv'd us who never keep their word any longer then sincerity agrees with their Ambitious Desires and their Interests who make a sport of their Promises Oaths Contracts and most solemn Edicts who are equally Treacherous to Friends and Enemies Subjects and Allies True it is that Peace is very desireable but not a Peace of six Months or a Year but a firm stable and perpetual Peace or at least such a Peace as shall last as long as we live 'T is also as true that it is the Interest of Common-wealths rather to preserve themselves in the Condition they are in then to make new Conquests But when we have Neighbours Potent Ambitious and such as seek to aggrandize themselves by all manner of means right or wrong they have no other way to secure themselves from their unlookt for Invasions then to take advantage of the first opportunity that presents it self to pull down their Power and to reduce them to such a Condition that they be no longer able to do any more Mischief This Happy Opportunity is now come England and Holland have now William the III. for their Sovereign and Governour The whole Body of Germany moves toward Revenge The French themselves pant after their deliverance the Persecuted Protestants and Jansenists are not the only Male Contents of that Kingdom The Clergy the Nobility and People all Orders of the Kingdom groan under the Tyranny of the Jesuits and only wait for a Chieftain to deliver them from Slavery This is a truth not to be question'd and to convince the Public there needs no more for any Man to do then to cast his Eyes upon the general Causes of the Discontents of the French No Country is more Fruitful no Climate more temperate and serene then theirs no Inhabitants more Civil or more Humane then those of this Kingdom You would say it was a Country made on purpose to be the Habitation of Good and Vertuous People and a Paradise upon Earth But as it is a Country Rich and Fertile and as the People are extreamly humble and submissive they are overwhelm'd with all sorts of exactions insomuch that their Plenty becomes their Misery and their Obedience makes their Oppressions more grievous To reduce a free and Warlike People into so rigorous a Servitude requir'd a long time and a world of Contrivances It was requisite to ravish from the Clergy their Rights to deprive the Nobility of their Priviledges and to invade the Liberties of the People 'T is well known that the Gallicane Church has bred up and foster'd in her Bosom the greatest Luminaries in Europe that she has had in all Ages Holy Bishops who have oppos'd the Usurpations of the Popes who have publicly rebuk'd the Vices of the Grandees and have openly withstood the Tyranny of Princes The Inferior Clergy were solely under the Jurisdiction of their Prelates their provincial and national Synods At this day they are expos'd to the Mercy of the Court and the Fury of the Jesuits not only in civil Causes but also in what concerns their Ecclesiastical Discipline and Religion A world of Formalities a world of Assemblies but no appeal against a Letter under the Privy Signet We also know what has formerly been the Power of the Nobility without their Consent neither Peace could be concluded nor War undertaken nor any Leagues offensive or defensive could be made Offices of public Trust which are now put to Sale the Prey of Usurpers in Confederacy or Hunger-starv'd Commissaries Military Imployments which are bestowed for the most part upon Souldiers of Fortune or the Lacqueys of Favourites Benefices which are now at the absolute disposal of the Kings Confessor the Councel of Conscience or the Jesuits All Pensions all Civil or Ecclesiastical Dignities all considerable Employments were as it were Portions for the Younger Sons of Noble Families and afforded them Means to support the lustre of their House Whereas now we see the Nobility without Estates and ill Educated through Poverty or want of Education stooping to the meanest of Drudgeries Formerly when a Lord was disgusted with the Court he retir'd to his Castle where he liv'd like a petty Soveraign no Man daring to come to trouble his Repose But those happy days are past Now they must eat their Bread in the train of the Favourites make their applications to such as have only their Vices or their Intreagues to favour them and instead of that noble Fireceness so well becoming those whom Birth Knowledge and Vertue have rais'd above the Common Sort they must now put on the Countenances of Slaves and Suppliants upon the approach of a Beggar in Rich Apparel a Commissary of the Treasury or a Jesuit of the Court. As for the People their misery is so great as would require a showr of Bloody Tears to deplore it and a Graving Tool of Iron to describe it so that I have often question'd whether Posterity would give credit to what a thousand Testimonies have both seen and try'd themselves and which they can never express but in a Language far short of the Truth Who would believe that a People Laborious Active Sober Industrious that inhabits a Country Fertil
their Offers They vainly flatter themselves to seduce the Hollanders during the Kings abode in England or to raise Disturbances in England while he remains in Holland 'T is true that feeble Affection which is supported only by Fancy or only grounded upon some Conformity of Temper and Humour is as frail as the Foundation is slight But when Religion Vertue and the public Interest are the Bonds of Union between the Prince and Subjects it is a Link inseparable which the absence of some few Months renders much the stronger Now the Affection which the two Nations bear to his most Serene Majesty William the III. is of the latter sort The English are a Warlike Nation that passionately Loves their Kings especially when their Inclinations are Martial Their Princes have for a long time enjoy'd both Normandy and Guyenne which oblig'd them frequently to cross the Sea but we never read in any History that their Subjects took any Advantage of their absence to rise up in Rebellion The Vnited Provinces ever since their first Confederacy having been almost continually engag'd in Wars are more accustom'd to see their Prince at the Head of their Armies then at leisure at the Hague So that both the one and the other will easily be contented that his Majesty should visit them by turns Besides that the English will have Queen Mary always present in their Capital City whose Piety and Vertue whose great Understanding and Mildness renders her equal to Elizabeth a Person to whom the Hollanders were so devoted that at her departure the chiefest of their wishes were that she might be but as well belov'd at London as she had been at the Hague to which her Royal Highness answer'd that she desir'd no more These are the greatest Difficulties that are propounded and buzz'd abroad by our Male Contents or which I have been able to think of Their weakness appears to me a certain presage of the felicity of the People under the Reign of William the III. and Mary the II. and of that Peace which the Union between England and Holland will restore to Europe The SECOND PART The Happy Consequences of the Union between FRANCE and HOLLAND The Means to preserve it entire AMong the happy Consequences of the Union between the Subjects of their Majesties of Great Britain and of their High and Mightinesses there are some which are particular to each of the two Nations and relate to the form of Government their Laws and Priviledges But it belongs not to a private Person to meddle with those sorts of Matters as being the business of Parliaments and Assemblies of Estates Other Consequences there are more general wherein divers Confederate Princes several Countries all the Protestants and all Europe find themselves interested and upon which we shall make some Reflections I place in the first ranck the bringing down the Power of France not believing that I could begin with a more pleasing Subject Since the Pyrenean Peace that Kingdom has mounted to a Degree of Grandeur and Pride which have render'd France insupportable to all her Neighbours so that it is neither the Wealth nor the Welfare of the French People that are envy'd for Men have more reason to be mov'd with Compassion at the sight of their Miseries 'T is against their blindness that Men exclaim and that indispensable fury that hurries them on to make others as miserable as themselves instead of complying with their good Intentions and permitting the release of those miserable People from the sad Condition wherein they are If France were enrich'd by Trade by Manufacture by a long Peace if it were aggrandiz'd by Marriages and Alliances by the free Concessions of Princes or by the vast Concurrences and Conflux of People to her Territories we should be so far from troubling her repose that we should do our utmost to imitate her Example But it is well known that her Conquests and her Riches are the Effects of Breach of Faith and her unjust Wars of her Vexations and Oppressions and the vast Contributions which she exacts from the People so that the generality of the Subjects are reduc'd by the Court to that Condition as not to be able to subsist but in the midst of the Rage of War by Pillage Robbery and Ransack The bare Duties of Humanity would oblige their Neighbours to redeem them from a Condition so opposite to the public good and the Salvation of their Souls nor is the particular Interest of other People an Obligation less engaging to the same Effect Since that under the pretence of Religion the Dragoons have ruin'd the best Families in the Kingdom wasted their Estates and disabl'd the Proprietors to make the best of their demeans and to continue their Trades since as an Accumulation of their Misfortune the Privateers being become Masters of the Seas Trade has undergon so sensible a decay that ten Years more like the three last will produce a far greater mischief then a general Pestilence for ten Months in regard they would be the ruin of an infinite Number of Families which by means of their Wealth and Industry are at present the support and glory of Europe Considering the present Constitution of our Western Parts the Wines the Strong-waters the Oyl and Salt of France are Merchandizes which Foreigners can hardly live without But the Inhabitants being impoverish'd and not able to burthen themselves with those things which would be given them in exchange they that want their Wares must be oblig'd to carry ready Money and to afford new Matter to feed the Extortions of the Collectors and the Insatiable Avarice of the Chief Ministers Add to this that if the War happen to spin out in length the great Number of Souldiers that must be rais'd throughout the Kingdom will be the cause that the greatest part of the Lands must lye untill'd and that the infinite Wealth accrewing by the profits of the Land would be all lost If it be so then some will say that it is so much the Interest of Foreigners to Labour the preservation of France it behoves them speedily to make a Peace with her 'T is very true that there could be nothing more advantageous then a general Peace but the mischief is that considering the present Condition of Affairs it is neither safe nor possible to conclude a Peace besides that it is also more uncertain and more difficult to be assur'd that it shall be of any long continuance Therefore before we talk of Peace it will be requisite 1. That Lemis the XIV Re-establish the Edict of Nantes and restore the Reformed to the same Condition wherein they were before the Death of Hen. IV. and make restitution of all the Damages which they have sustain'd since the Pyrenaean Peace but more especially since the Truce in the Year 84. It would be an eternal Ignominy to the Protestants to suffer the public Violation of the Treaties concluded with their Brethren without alledging any other reason but only that
decided the Destiny of Empires that according to the manner of spinning out a War now a days the lives of five or six Kings equally Prosperous would not suffice to Conquer all Europe To which I have another answer to make that the same methods are not taken nor the same ways us'd as formerly to gain the Vniversal Monarchy The People of Europe are so accustom'd to be rul'd by different Princes that there would be little reason to fear a King who should conceive a design to subdue them all and afterwards to govern them by his Lieutenants in regard his design would be no less fantastic then impossible A Vniversal Monarch then at present is quite another thing then an Absolute Prince at home and who has reduc'd his Neighbours so low that they are not able to enterprize any thing against him that they are constrain'd to brook his outrages and injuries and to suffer him to do what he pleases Now is there any Person of good credit that can deny but that France was almost arriv'd at this high Pitch of Grandeur and that in all outward Appearance he had attain'd to what he desir'd had James 11. his faithful Ally kept firm upon his Throne Now let the Confederates consider whether it be not their interest to humble the Pride of France and whether they will ever meet with an opportunity more Favourable Not that I would advise them to the Tryal of an Absolute conquest of France but if they can but regain what she has wrested from them restore the Duke of Lorain to his own and as occasion offers sever the Dukedoms of Normandy Britain and Guyen as formerly they were divided and which is no more then what is long'd for by the inhabitants at this day take advantage of the discontents of the People to re-establish the custom of calling free Assemblies of Estates and in a Word divide that vast Kingdom into several Principalities and reduce it to the same condition wherein it was toward the end of the Second Race and at the beginning of the Third before Philip the August at what time the Kings of France had something else to do then trouble their Brains about disturbing their Neighbours quiet Perhaps some French man will tell me I am a Traytor to my Nation and give that Advice which is enough to embroyl the Kingdom in Civil War But there is nothing of that in my design for I dare protest with a safe conscience that my Principal aim is only to asust my fellow Country-men in the recovery of their liberty Though if they cannot recover it but by a Civil War that may last for some Years is it not infinitely to be prefer'd before an eternal slavery But say my opposers these Petty Princes will be always quarrelling one with another And do not the great ones do the same Let the Counts of Foix and Armagnac fight it out as long as they please the rest of France takes no notice of their brawls But when Lewis the XIV Rendevouzes three hundred thousand Men he drains and depopulates a great Kingdom and strikes such a terror into all his Neighbours that they are compell'd to oppress their People to withstand his Invasions besides a War between two petty Princes can never last long for that in a short time they find themselves both so enfeebl'd that they are constrain'd to agree This is the only means to procure a general Peace and to prevent France from breaking the Treaties that shall be concluded with her THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRINCES DISPOSSESS'D AND OF THE PROTESTANTS EXIL'D is another of the most happy and important consequences of the Union of the Confederates Wars are the Law-suits of Princes Battels and Conquests are their Judges and the mischeif is that these Judges are both blind and inconstant and there is always Appeal from their decrees so soon as the vanquish'd finds himself in a condition to come to a new Tryal And therefore that Christendom may be restor'd to a general and lasting Peace there is a necessity of fixing as far as lies in mortal Power the Fate and destiny of Armed Decisions by bringing the Protestants of Europe to such an equal Ballance that no one may be easily able to oppress the Rest We have sought in vain for this Medium ever since the Pyrenean Treaty for that the strength of Spain decay'd of a suddain and England which was only able to oppose the Progress of the French intended nothing less Now the medal begins to turn Great Britain is at liberty Germany is United the Empire grows powerful and it may be said without any injury to the valour of the rest of the Generals neither to his Highness the Elector of Bavaria that the Emperour is cheifly beholding for the Victories which he has gain'd over the Grand Enemy of the Christian Name since the Seige of Vienna to Duke Charles of Lorain It would be therefore a great peice of injustice if that Noble Prince should not Reap as well the Fruit of his Labours as the Honour of having so many times triumph'd over the Infidels Hangary being reduc'd and the Hereditary Countries of the House of Austria being secured for a long time from the terrour of the Ottoman Arms deserve without doubt that the Empire should do it's utmost to restore it's Preserver to the Inheritance of his Ancestors I dare affirm also that his Atcheivments are of that importance to the Glory and Repose of the Imperial Family that they ought to preserve the memory of this Victorious Champion and testify their acknowledgement to his Posterity if Fate prevent them from returning their Gratitude to himself Interest and Vertue are not always Enemies to one another they agree perfectly well upon this occasion The Conquests of France in the Low-Countries the Invasion of Lorain of Franche Conte and Alsatia have render'd her so potent and so near a Neighbour to the Empire that at length in the last Campaign she took Philipsbourgh and has almost made her self Mistriss of the four Electorats of the Rhine So that if the revolution in England had not hasten'd her to the defence of her own Country 't is very probable that she would have carry'd on her Victories with little or no Obstruction Crown'd the Dauphin King of the Romans and reduc'd in time the Electors of Saxony Brandenburgh and Bavaria the Landgraves of Hess and the rest of the Princes of Germany to the same condition as the Ancient Dukes of Normandy Guyen and Burgundy that is to say to nothing The Roman Catholics may imagin that the Re-establishment of the Exil'd Protestants does not concern them But it more nearly concerns them then they are aware of It is said that one of the Causes which hasten'd the ruin of the Reformed in France was this because the Court was sensible of their discontents and murmurings during the War with the Vnited Provinces They were accus'd of holding Intelligence which the Hollanders and of discovering to
has the least Tincture of that Sect. So that it is both Prudence and Charity not to Scandalize other People through an Affectation to imitate our Enemies in certain Words and Practices which tho indifferent in their Nature become baneful and mischievous because offensive to others 4. That the Genius of our Age which is very much improv'd in understanding and the Genius of the Christian Religion which relates all to the Soul and Conscience require few Ceremonies 5. However that some are necessary to prevent the Contempt of Divine Worship and its Ministers These are the propositions that seem to me very profitable for the Peace of the Church and which I judge to be so very clear that I need not go about to prove them The Reader also I hope will pardon my not drawing any Consequences from them in regard I write for a Re-union and for that I do not desire to give any Party an occasion to Quarrel with me Besides there is no Person of a clear judgment but can apply them himself and for others they would be wrangling with me at every Turn As to the manner how Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist there is no Controversie perhaps so vain nor more easie to be determin'd tho the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion imagin it to be the Foundation of our separation All the Protestants agree that this Sacrament is a Symbol of the Death of Jesus Christ a Commemoration of his Sacrifice and a Pledge of the remission of our Sins that the Body and Blood of our Crucify'd Saviour which are given us therein are the Nourishment of our Souls that we do not participate thereof but by Faith and that the wicked do not receive Jesus Christ but only the Consecrated Signs to their Condemnation That Jesus Christ is not present but during the use of the Sacrament that he is not to be there ador'd that the Bread and Wine continue to be Bread and Wine after the Sacrament and that we are not to pay any Religious Homage to those Material Elements So that all the difficulty is to know how Jesus Christ who as Man is in Heaven can be at the the same time upon the Earth and present with the Faithful every time that they Communicate worthily Upon which particular since the Scripture has not told us any thing we should do well to be silent When I consider and contemplate the unsearchable ways of God I cannot conceive how two understanding Persons and endu'd with true Piety can raise disputes about Predestination and Grace The same Person who knows not either how Speech is Form'd or by what Springs we our selves move will undertake to teach others now God govern's the World and what he has determin'd in reference to their equals But to confound the Pride of Human Wit it so falls out that the more we reason upon these things the more we find that our understanding fails when we strive to search beyond the bounds of Divine Revelation If they uphold Predestination to be absolute they make God the Author of sin destroy Liberty and all Religion If it be suppos'd conditionally we cannot unfold the fore-knowledge of God nor give any good reasons for the varieties of his favours Therefore let Men keep close to that which is plain and to what the Scripture informs us in express Terms That God knows all things and disposes of all things as he pleases himself That being the Master of Events he is also of the heart of Man Nevertheless that Man is free that is to say that he has Power to restrain his judgment in respect of True or False of Good or Evil. That the habit of Ignorance and sin decreases this Liberty and that it increases by the good use which a Man makes of this understanding and divine Assistance That God grants his Favour to all those that desire it and so it is our duty to pray to him to obey him and to exhort others so to do to impute all that is Evil to our selves and all that is good to the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit This is that wherein all Christians agree and the whole being duly consider'd the dispute is reduc'd to one Impenetrable question It is a greed that God shares out his benefits very variously and that he distributes to some more to some less The difficulty is to know whether God affords Grace sufficient to save all and every Particular Man in case they make a good use of it And who can affirm it Precisely at least who can pretend to know the bottom of every Mans heart and the degree of the Efficacy of that Assistance which he has receiv'd I will not undertake to describe the Qualities to be requir'd in those that shall be employ'd to accomplish this Union I make no question but a fit choice will be made of Persons of a Genius and Integrity more then ordinary I shall only say 't will be more difficult to take care of making a good choice They who have render'd themselves odious to one of the Parties by their Writings embitter'd with Gall are incapable to discharge this trust how learned soever they may be There are some soaring Wits who sway'd by I know not what Fantastical conceits many times neglect things of great Importance and apply their Studies wholly to Trifles There are some so in love with Novelty that they would overturn all things else to introduce a supposition of their own Invention Others under the Specious pretence of a Universal Union would reduce Christianity to Ideas so confus'd and general that natural Morality and Religion would with great difficulty be preserv'd entire Happy is he that can observe a just Medium If France were humbl'd Peace once settl'd England and Holland strictly United and the Protestants at rest we should soon see the DOWNFAL of POPERY But least the Roman Catholics should be offended they are to know that this is no desir'd in reference to what they look upon as the Fundamental part of their Religion Let them pray to the Saints let them adore the Sacrament Images and Relics if they think fitting let them observe all their Ceremonies let them acknowledge the Pope for Head of the Church this is nothing at all to us We will be content so that they will but solemnly renounce in express Terms and in a General Council certain Opinions which the moderate among them openly deny but yet are generally put in Practice 1. That it is in their power to Excommunicate and depose Heretic Kings stir up their Subjects to rebel against them dispose of their Kingdoms to others and rid their hands of Princes suspected by Assassination or otherwise 2. That Promises and Oaths made to Heretics are of no value that they are not oblig'd to keep faith with them and that they may be Persecuted and exterminated at all times as occasion shall offer At least that the Church of Rome in a Body shall Anathematize all those
that are of these Opinions or put them in Practice since otherwise there is no Assurance for Princes or Private Persons to conside in any Treatys or Contracts which they shall make with those of the Romish Communion Or if they refuse to Condemn this Heresie under the Name of Popery let them do it under the Name of Jesuitism which will very well agree with it To the People there could be no Tydings more grateful then that of the ABATEMENT OF THEIR IMPOSITIONS they are mounted to such a Prodigious excess over all Europe unless it be in England that there is hardly any other Country where a Man may live with convenience The very Sciences are contemn'd because they are become mercenary Arts perish by reason that the Indigency which oppresses the Artificers hinders them from bringing any thing to perfection and though they feel the Goads of Poverty they are near a whit the more spurr'd on with the thoughts of Honour The better sort of Families are ruin'd because of the great expences of House-keeping The Country is dispeopl'd of honest People and fill'd with Vagabonds and Debaushees while the fear of Poverty deters an infinit Number of People from Marrying and plunges others into wickedness and disorder There is nothing but cheating in Trade and Men begin to be a weary of it by degrees because it becomes every day more dangerous more difficult and less gainful The Subjects cheat their Soveraign and to retaliate his Extortions as they believe them to be so generally accustom themselves to deprive him of his rights that they make no Conscience of it All places all Courts are full of Complaints murmurings confiscations broken Merchants and Law-suits For the greatest part of which Europe is beholding to the Court of France To this Court are we beholding to those tholes of Projectors and Inventers of Prodigious Numbers of new Imposts But the worst is her continuance and dreadful raising of Armies her Threats and unexpected Breaches of Leagues and Truces oblige the Neighbouring Princes to keep on foot considerable Forces and constrain them at the same time to drain the Purses of the Subjects Hâ—idelburgh Manheim all the Palatinate so many Countries so many Cities which the French have laid wast sackt burnt or destroy'd against all the Assurances of pleighted Faith so many poor Creatures as the French Court has reduc'd to misery by her Dragoons Contributions or rather justify'd Robberies are as so many Voices that cry for vengeance to Heaven and which threaten all the Christian Protentates in the same manner if they do not closely Unite to stop the Course of her fury THE INCREASE OF TRADE is one of the usual Fruits of Peace and of the Abatement of Imposts But in regard the late Treaties of Peace were neither durable nor sincere but that both sides continu'd still in Arms there has been no sensible Abatement of the Taxes nor increase of Trade Since the Peace of Nimeghen France has laid a thousand cruel Imposts upon the Hollanders to destroy their Trade which their High and Mightinesses made out in their Declaration of War against that Crown But their Union with England presents with an assured means and opportunity to regain double to what they have lost Thirty English Vessels are sufficient to cruise upon the Coasts of Britain and Guyen and to shut the French quite out of the entrance into Spain by Sea and stop up their Passage into the Streights of Gibraltar Thirty Holland Men of War will wrest the Trade of the Baltic Sea and the Northern Ocean out of their hands and keep the Coasts of Picardy and Normandy in a perpetual Alarum And then nothing will remain to the French but the Commerce of the Levant through the Mediterranean which will be more prejudicial then profitable because it will drain the Coyn of the Kingdom and overstock it with wares which they will not be able to vend The reason of it is because the Cities of Italy all Trade the same way and with more conveniences Add to this that the English and Hollanders bring the same Merchandizes in great abundance out of the Levant and the Indies which only consist in Drugs Silks Cotons Wax Hides Spanish Leather and Pot-ashes So that the French being debarr'd the Trade of Germany the North of Spain and England they will be stor'd with Goods but distitute of Money Besides the Trade of the Levant cannot extend but from Marseilles to Lion and be beneficial to some Cities only upon the Rhine So that all the rest of France and all the Coasts of the Ocean will nevertheless be depriv'd of their Trade there being no vent for the Goods and Manufactures of the Country We are assur'd that about a Month since the stuff weavers were ready to have made an Insurrection in Roven upon Information that a Merchant of that City was about to set up a Royal Manufacture They flew to his House to the Number of four hundred and constrain'd him to make a Declaration before the Intendant wherein he protested that he never had any such design and solemnly promised never to enterprize the like again If Poverty makes them so bold what will they not dare when thev come to feel the Nips of Pinching Hunger 'T is a great Enterprize to bring down the Power of those that make use of it meerly to do us mischeif but it is of far greater Consequence to provide for our own security England and Holland joyn'd together will be Masters of the Ocean and consequently cannot stand in want of any thing But though these two Nations may be strongly Interested to preserve their Union the Hollanders are still more oblig'd to it then the English Great Britain is an Inaccessible Island that stands in little fear of a Foreign Enemy Whereas the Vnited Provinces may be attacqu'd by Land from the North South and East They are environ'd with Potent Neighbours the Empire France Spain and England And I dare be bold to say that how powerful soever they may be in Wealth and Forces in Proportion to their Territories they are of too small an Extent to make head for a long time against any one of these their Neighbours without the Assistance of the other This the States General rightly apprehended from the beginning of their Confederacy while they had recourse sometimes to England sometimes to France to support themselves against the House of Austria France at this present time is advanc'd to the same degree of Power in Europe which render'd Spain so formidable when first the Seven Provinces Vnited together And they have had experience in the last War that France was no less eager after the Conquest of their Country then Philip the Second was to subdue them under his own and the Tyranny of the Inquisition Of all their Neighbours there are not any with whom they have greater tyes of Friendship then with Great Britain in regard that at this time the Interest of Trade is United to that