the King of France his Manifesto published newly at Ratisbone and other States of the Empire to maintain the Usurping Fortification of Tarbrack deserves to be inserted in this Book to let these who have not yet seen it understand the slender Reasons he alledges to palliate his infraction of the last Truce Behold here what his Minister hath-published to all the World. The King having been informed of the complaints which the Ministers of the House of Austria make upon the account of some outrages committed at Tarbrack by his Majesties Order who throughout the Empire they charge with acting contrary and call him an infringer of the Treaty concluded in the Year of our Lord 1684. The which hath obliged his said Majesty to issue out Orders to the Count de Crecy his Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Imperial Diet at Ratisbone to represent to the Ministers of the Electors Princes and States of the Empire assembled in the said place the small ground there is for such a complaint in it self and the just occasions they administer to all those who have a desire to preserve the publick peace to believe that this is a pretence that they are willing to make use of to disturb the same peace and quiet First of all If it may be said upon good grounds that that Treaty ratified at _____ may not properly be called a Truce its true definition being only a forbearance or sufferance by vertue of which although the War be still in being we are to forbear all Acts of Hostility there being at that time no rupture between France and the Empire this tolleration may be lookt upon as a mutual promise of a good understanding and Union for the space of Twenty years in consideration whereof the Emperour and Empire on the one part are to lay aside during the said term their Soveraignty Rights Superiority and Protection or all other pretences whatsoever they may have upon Lands Places or Towns fallen to France before the first of August 1681. His Majesty in like manner binds himself not to make any farther suit or prosecution in the Empire during the said time These are the most material Covenants by which they interchangeably assure each other of a long continuation of Friendship and good Intelligence which afforded means to the Emperours Arme is to conquer all Hungary and to put themselves and Empire in a posture and in a condition to undertake a War which otherwise would not have waged but at great cost and charges and peradventure at the hazard and ruine of the Electors Princes and States of the Empire But further to demonstrate this weak pretext altogether not to be tenible nor can hold Water of it self we need not run over the Articles of this Treaty and though we might even look upon it as a Treaty barely concluded only for the security of the tranquillity of the Empire and to procure for it the means whereby to imploy its Armies against the common Enemy yet one cannot for all that prove that it may deprive the King of his Power to fortifie those places where his Majesty hath right so to do as well by the possession he hath already had as by the common consent of the Empire granted by vertue of the same Treaty nor that he cannot act in those places as he pleaseth you need only peruse all the Treaties of Truce which have been made hitherto to see whether a prohibition of fortifying is not expresly included therein at such time as both Parties cannot agree By this toleration of the Truce of Bonvise in the year of our Lord 1537 't is said that whilst the Cessation of Arms lasts in the Netherlands King Francis I. could not send any Forces into the County of St. Paul nor there raise any Fortification This Exception gives us sufficiently to understand that the King was impowered to fortifie his places thereabouts and elsewhere during the said Truce so that they were bound to insert a clause into this Treaty to deprive France of this Liberty in the County of St. Paul only The General Truce that was agreed upon at Nice in the Year 1538 ratifies and confirms this same Article concerning St. Paul but it doth no way hinder the two Princes to cause Fortifications to be raised any where else The Cessation made in 1555 makes no mention of this point but the Crown of Spain and States General of the Vnited Netherlands upon their concluding a Truce in 1609 having a mind indeed to deprive each other of having the liberty of raising any new Fortress in the Low Countreys inserted this Clause There shall be on neither side any Fortress in the Low Countreys during the Cessation When the Peace was in agitation at Munster between France and Spain that they demurr'd longest upon and proved the greatest obstacle to the conclusion was that the Catholick King could not find in his heart to quit his claim to Catalonia which caused them to agree upon a Truce for Thirty years for that Province alone during which term both Kings should keep what he possest at that time but another difficulty emerg'd that the Spaniards could not endure that they should fortifie during the Truce those places in Catalonia to which the French would not agree alledging it unjust upon this account that thereby this would put them in a posture of being Defendants only and not Aggressors which was permitted in all Ages they would not so much as admit of the Expedient offered by the Embassador of the States General The same case stands good now as to the present Treaty Every one knows that the prohibitions to raise Fortifications propounded by the Ministers of the Empire in the Ninth and Tenth Articles of the same project of the Empire and what was then and there interchangeably delivered by publick Writing was interjected by France Besides the Imperial Ministers would by no means give their consent that the Emperour should yield up to the King such places whereof he was in present possession which his Majesty would not have medled with nor limited nor encroached upon The Emperours Ministers not able to make good this demand gave it over 'T is hard to believe that the Imperial Ministers will draw any Arguments to be a sufficient ground of complaint from the Eighth and Ninth Article of the Truce forasmuch as the former contains only the settling the Lands upon the Proprietors again who would take the Oath of Allegiance for them The Soveraignty whereof was delivered to his Majesty The other is that his said Majesty shall permit the Inhabitants to have the free Exercise of their Religion Moreover the re-union of Tarbrack having been irrecoverably adjudged by a decree of the Royal Chamber of Metz in the Month of April 1681. It is hard to conceive what Title the Imperial Ministers can pretend to in accusing France of acting contrary to the Cessation of Arms especially the King giving visible and dayly demonstrations of the inviolable
years longer he would scarce see a Conclusion but must be fain to leave that business for his Successour So that the King had need stand upon his Guard while the people are thus dis-affected He not being in a Condition to send his Army abroad nor having Money to maintain them France in the mean time may do what she pleases may take the Low-Countries and all Spain too if the King of Spain happens to dye which is the thing France waits for so impatiently For the Second thing which is an Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and a perfect Harmony and Agreement between those two Potentates to oppose all Kings or Princes whatever who shall offer to violate the peace of Christendom 'T is an undoubted Truth that the States desire it of all things provided it be done so securely as they may venture to rely upon it and be back't upon occasion Of which there is small likelihood so long as things are as they are in England This is what France would not willingly see since the joyning of these two powers would probably divert her from many Enterprizes and make her lose her longing to undertake any thing contrary to the late Treaties of peace at Nimeghen and the Truce But France takes Care to hinder this and the mistrust and jealousie which she keeps afoot in England like magnifying Glasses makes the triviallest Objects look greater than they are both in publick and private Affairs We need go no farther than the business of Bantam which might long ago have been accommodated but France thinks it more useful to her that things be let alone as they are and neither go forward nor backward for fear of a happy Result An Union of England with the Vnited Provinces would give no great encouragement to the French designs upon the Spanish Netherlands for if England were so minded the King of France could never do any good if the late King would but have seemed to have stir'd the French had never taken Luxemburg but they knew his weakness and were so cunning to blind him that he good Prince never saw the mischief on 't till after the City was taken England acted very much against her own Interest when she parted with Dunkirk that City opened the Gate to go into France and the Low Countries But now 't will be otherwise if those Countreys fall under the yoak of Lewis le Grand and if he by his Conquests joins Neuport and Ostend to Dunkirk Flussing in a little time will be thought convenient for him and then he may very well begin to dispute the Dominion of the Seas with England and obstruct her Commerce and if at last the King of France Masters Holland which misfortune may happen the Low Countries being lost England may very well think 't is her turn next As 't was for this Reason that Queen Elizabeth told heretofore Mounsieur Sully the Most Christian Kings Embassador that neither France nor England nor any other Prince had any right to pretend to the Low-Countreys and further that she would never suffer that his King should so much as think on 't This very Sully in a Letter to Henry IV. sent him word That with a great Army for all what the Queen had said he might take a course to keep them in order and take possession of such Lands and Cities in the Low Countries as he should think fit for his turn and join France intirely with the United Provinces which is the only means says he to restore France to its Antient splendour and make her Superiour to all the rest of Christendom For if once by hook or by crook the Provinces of Luxemburg Juliers la Marck Mons Limburg Aix and Cleves were united to France without doubt all the rest of the Country would be forc't to follow their example being separated from any communication with the rest of the World. France has been fixt that way ever since she saw there was no good to be done towards Italy but all the Princes of Europe are highly concerned to put a stop to that Conquest And there are only those two Neighbouring Powers which are able and whose Interest it is most to hinder the progress that France makes in the Low Countries which will draw after it as I have said before dire effects As for Spain of it self 't is only a Body standing aloof off from its Members which has nothing left but her Tongue She is reduc't so low as even to say her Prayers to Notre Dame Charite and to beg her good Masters and Friends to take care of her and not forsake her England can do much toward the preserving the Low Countries and if her King had not promis't to sit still Luxemburg would have been at this time as 't was before a bone for France to pick. His Most Christian Majesty knows this very well and 't is for this reason that he takes so much pains to keep his Britanique Majesty firm to his Interests and if he wont declare for him at least that he will look on and accept a neutrality To bring this about he spares nothing neither Presents nor Pension nor Tricks and I may safely say that the Money which France gives is a venomous Serpent lurking under the Rose-leaves it smiles for the present but will frown severely afterward 't is an Iron Chain plaited over with Gold beautiful in appearance to attract and deceive the English but they will one day feel its weight and hardness if they don't make an early discovery of the base ends he has who offers it who will be their ruine at last since they can't subsist but by a due ballance between France and Spain I conclude then that 't is the King of Englands apparent Interest for self-preservation and advancing of Trade to oppose the King of France his Conquests in the Law Countries for if he does not and supposing that after the loss of that Countrey Fortune favours him and lets him be Master of all the Seventeen Provinces which may very well come to pass if the States are not seconded and stand only upon their own Leggs in what a condition will England be France will be stronger at Sea and more Potent in the Indies than she France will interfere with her in Traffique every day she will constantly have a brave Navy at Sea and especially in the Spring which will not let a mouse stir out of the English Ports without leave and upon the least resentment farewel England to all intents and purposes since there 's no body left who will or dare lift up a finger in her defence Moreover Englands best Policy is to keep France under not only to maintain her Dominion of the Seas but also to find a convenient opportunity for the recovery of her Antient Demesnes which France keeps from her for Example Britain Normandy Poitou Languedock and all France too which belongs to it by the Marriage of the King of England with Margaret
to an Universal Monarchy he would advise his King to beg of God to prolong the World as much as he can This Malady ceasing in Spain hath passed into France but France being wiser doth not grasp so much and her King's Ambition is only confined to Europe a wish worthy of such a great Prince and who if we consider him aright could scarce demand less his Neighbours ought narrowly to watch his water for certain it is France cannot aggrandize her self without encroaching upon her nearest Neighbours as she doth really every day already When the House of Austria made broad signs of her design upon the Universe all the Princes of Christendom rose up against her and entered into an Association to prevent her Charles V. after the Battel of Pavia where Francis was taken Prisoner thought himself above all but he found business enough The Pope King of England the Venetians the Grand Duke of Tuscany the Swisse made a League against him to hinder this Emperour from bringing France and consequently the rest of Italy under his subjection It was not for any kindness the Pope and King of England bore King Francis that they combin'd together to relieve him but because Charles V. became so great that he would by his good Will have made himself Master of the World. Now at present forasmuch as this Itch is past into France All Princes of Europe for some time have run counter to whatsoever their Ancestors did in the Reign of Charles V and Philip II. and instead of opposing they have abetted and concurr'd with the designs of France some out of base compliance others out of fear There are none but the Princes of Nassau alone who have alwayes been fatal to whosoever had a mind to aspire to this sublime Monarchy of the Universe Do not Men admire with me the wretched Policy of several Princes and States in the World who look on with their Armes a cross and behold the French King to advance so fast and take Luxemburg a City of such grand Importance to Europe only the Prince of Orange presented himself upon the breach with the Low Countreys but who not being in a capacity to do any thing by himself was forced to retreat The French King would never have taken it had England and the States withstood it he hath no cause to brag of it it is a truth all the World knows but too well he was so cunning to get the King of Great Britain on his side that he consented to take what was not his own and to baffle the rest by illusory promises of an Universal Peace after the taking in of Luxemburg which they suffered him to do and this gross valiant Captain of a Trencher-man the Marquess of Grana Governour of the Low Countreys who was not promoted to this place but upon his demonstrating the means of being able to preserve this most Important place to the Court of Spain a place I say so necessary to Spain for the preservation of the Low Countreys by the assistance of Germany and albeit he should have minded nothing else but the preservation of that same City his own Honour as well as Duty to and interest of his King his Master being all engaged therein Instead of doing which this Fat-gut put into it only a pitiful Garrison of Twelve or Fifteen Hundred Men instead of Four Thousand and was wholly taken up in fortifying the City of Namur with his Regiments and some other places which were Cities on the boundaries which France would not have dared so much as to touch Would you not swear such a Fellow conspir'd to aggrandize France and concurr'd with the Designs of Lewis XIV When the King in 1667 would have undertaken the Conquest of the Spanish Netherlands England Swedeland and the Vnited Provinces associated together by the Triple League forced him soon to quit his hold they obliged him to re-procure and make a Peace with Spain and to restore to it some part of what he had usurped and taken away It would have been just so if the Neighbouring Princes had done the same at such time as he attacked Luxemburg Resist the Devil and he will fly from you But France cunning and subtle had sufficiently tryed how prejudicial this League was to her she could never be at rest till she had pluckt this Thorn out of her Foot and so soon as ever the term was expired she could not be satisfied till she had found out a way to hoodwink England and so got her disingaged from the Tripple-knot The Dutchess of Portsmouth like another Dalilah came over out of France into England to lull asleep the Sampson of this Kingdom France found out the way to act and speak so fair that she hook't in Dunkirk by Promises and Money at the beginning of the Reign of Charles II King of Great Britain A Town of so great Consequence to England in as much as it affords a good entrance into Picardy and Flanders 'T is no new thing for France to be troubled with this itching mind to sieze on the places of her Neighbours and to enlarge her Dominion from one end of Europe to the other The Duke of Rohan told us heretofore that Princes commanded People but that Self-Interest commanded Princes Without question he would have added something else had he lived in this Age and especially Lewis the XIV We may see Examples of it day by day and to secure his Ambition all times and seasons are good for him in Peace in War in Cessation of Arms. Interest is the evil Angel hath so long reigned through France we are taught out of History how Godfrey of Bulloign having a mind to take a Journey for the Conquest of the Holy Land and coming short of Money to put himself in a capacity to do it sold many of his Cities and Lands amongst others the City of Metz with the Country adjoyning which its own Citizens and Inhabitants purchased of him for the Sum of an Hundred Thousand Crowns They enjoyed this their purchase till the Year of our Lord 1551 in which Charles V. did so evilly intreat the Protestants of Germany Henry II. King of France under a pretence seemed forward to send Relief to the said Protestants of Germany In effect he dispatched the Constable of Monmorency with Four Thousand Men in all probability for this Expedition but it was quite and clean for another design as the sequel will make appear He demanded passage of the City of Metz who were for the most part of the same Religion with those who were molested in Germany between whom and the Emperour there was no good understanding They granted to the King with abundance of joy whatsoever he required of them in reference to his Troops passage and in testimony of their good will they caused Tables to be set up in the Streets to make the Soldiers eat and drink on their passage with huge demonstration of Friendship and Rejoycing But alas Their Laughter was
soon changed into Weeping so soon as ever the Constable who was received by the Magistrates with all Tokens of Honour and Benevolence had entered the City he feigned himself to have a fit of the Gout and to feel intolerable pains he declared his great desire to have his Will made not knowing what might befal him in the War he was about to commence and intreated the Magistrates of the City and all the Nobility that they would assist as Witnesses of it In the mean time he had given order to two Colonels to sieze one of them upon the Gate by which the Troops entered and the other on that by which they went out To the first He gave order to cause part of the Army which was still without to advance and to the other to bid those who were already gone out to enter in again Now the Constable seeing the Magistrates and chief Nobility round his Bed expecting his Orders up starts he like a Lyon enraged and sheathed his Ponyard in the Mayors Breast and at the Signal given his Guards rusht in and Assassinated all the Nobility they met with in his Chamber whereupon the Army that had entered the City at the same time cryed up and down the City The Town is won It was plundred and subdued to the Bloody Dominion of the King and of an Allie as it was soon became a Subject This was the Bloody Conquest of Henry II. And there is your French Policy Lewis XIII not knowing how to get possession of Lorain by the Advice and Counsel of that most Subtle and Crafty Polititian Cardinal Richlieu comes to Lions with an Army under pretence of some design against Savoy The Cardinal gave notice beforehand to Duke Charles of Lorrain that he should make his personal appearance before the King to pay him his respects and assure him by word of mouth of his good intentions towards his Person This Duke thinking no harm suffered himself to be perswaded to it in earnest departs from Nancy to salute the King at the head of his Troops After he had complemented him thinking he might return home again he found it to be a Lions Den arrested he was upon pretence of some old claims His Eminence at that time performing the Office of Mediator propounded that to make his peace with the King and that he might enjoy his Liberty to put into the Kings hands Nancy his chief City and the Key of his Dutchy Thus far he must go to be freed from his Arrest Well Nancy was delivered up the King entered into it like a Conquerour with his Army at his heels Observe the Policy of France in this particular The demolishing of the Castle at Orange is just such another trick shews their temper for upon some little difference that arose between the two Princesses Royal and Dowager Lewis XIV King of France as usually he doth would intermeddle with it and that he might make them agree and that the young Prince then under Age avoid the Expences of maintaining a Garrison there he caused the Bastions of the Castle to be pull'd down and left nothing but the Dungeon which together with the Town he could take at pleasure as since he hath done What the same King did at Strasburg is much the same This City look't upon its self secure after the Treaty at Nemegen confirmed by the powerful Letters the King writ to them time after time after the assurances his Resident then in the City gave them that his Master desired nothing more than to live in a fair correspondence with the Emperour and with the Cities of the Empire last of all by the suits and importunities of the same Resident a Traitor was Elected Burgomaster who did nothing but by the Council of France The Magistracy and Citizens thus lull'd asleep by all these fair promises and protestations dismist the Swisses their Guards but they were no sooner without doors but Mr. Louvois with a puissant Army began to invest their City obliges them to surrender on what conditions soever he thought fit to prescribe them even at this present they make no Conscience to violate those sorry Articles which were granted to them and to misuse them like Slaves as he does all the rest of his Subjects Take notice of your Humour of France which is always restless After the peace at Nemeghen how many Cities and Towns hath he taken in Flanders How many of them hath he burnt and pull'd down to the Ground to occasion the peoples revolt to cause them to rely wholly upon him to defend them from utter ruine and to get free from all those great Contributions wherewith he loads and oppresses them Take notice of the French Policy After the Pyrennean Treaty which was but just signed whereof this present King's Marriage was as it were the Seal and Condition notwithstanding all those Oaths and Promises this King took and made to his Father in Law Philip IV. not to assist Portugal no sooner did he return to Paris but he sent Mounsieur Schomberg with some Regiments and Money and all this to weaken Spain which made a ballance with him of the Empire of Europe so that neither Peace Truce nor Promise nor Protestation are able to sway him when his Interest is at stake no nor Religion it self How zealous a Catholick soever he would fain seem to be is not a Fence strong enough to restrain him as we shall make appear in the following Discourse When Lewis XIV sent an Embassadour to the King of Siam under the pretence of converting him do you really believe this King endeavoured to extend his Mission so far No no he works no Conversion but where he may send his Dragoons who are his booted Apostles It is to spie the Country by his Jesuits to endeavour by means of the Sieur Constance a Venetian by Nation and Chief Manager of that King's Affairs to drive out other Nations to settle some sort of Commerce in that same Countrey that he may there have certain Emissaries who may ever and anon put Jealousies into the King of Siam's Head by reason of the Hollanders growing Greatness in the Indies to make the business of Bantam serve as a pretence making another construction of it Observe the Policy of France She hath her politick tricks which succeed wondrous well This is the reason why she sends none but notable Men into all the Courts of Europe and such who are wonderful quick sighted and versed in Affairs whom it's all one to her whether she fetch from the Camp the Bar or from the Church it self as occasion serves according to the places wherein she would have them imployed But more especially it is requisite they should be dextrous and cunning brazen-faced that they have the knack of promising fair that they don't insist too much upon certain petty scruples which honest men ought to have In a word to express it more intelligibly they must be Cheats and Knaves as for Spain they
favourable opportunity shall require it Can a Man forbear laughing when he hears the praises which these flatterers bestow on Lewis XIV perswading him he hath procured peace both to his Enemies and to all Europe These Tales are very fit to be told to the Kingdom of Siam as Mounsieur de Chaumont the French Embassador was not backward to do in his Speech to that King which is to be found at large in a Book Entituled A Voyage into Siam and they have not been wanting in like manner to put off such sort of Trifles to the King of China such like stories are good for nothing else but to be obtruded on those Countreys though not here in Europe where our Eyes have seen and Ears heard the contrary Is it not strange to meet with such Writers who commit such impertinent Trifles as these to paper Don't we know what the proceedings of the King of France have been to procure a Peace with the States of the Vnited Provinces For seeing Fortune began to change he Agreed as touching the City of Nemeghen which belonged to the Hollanders so that no body went to Versailles to demand it of him He offers them Mastricht which was still in his hands Yea If the States had not been so very hasty to grant him what he demanded with so much importunity and for which he made so many fair promises he would have been glad to have defrayed all the Expence of the War Pray who can tell what it hath cost him under hand to obtain this Peace which he sued for with so much instant Intreaties sparing nothing that he might endeavour to get the States to slip their Necks out of the Collar and forsake their Allies he went so far as to surrender divers places to Spain to serve for boundaries between his Kingdom and the Vnited Provinces In saying that if the States had not been too forward to hasten on the signing the Peace France would have paid the Expences of the War. I hope I do not speak without good grounds for what I say several Reasons obliged them to clap up this peace in all haste separately because they saw their strength decreased dayly It is certain that after the Battle at St. Dennis which was not fought out by reason of a Peace the Prince of Orange would have marcht on into France with his Troops Moreover the King knew full well that being forced to agitate a General Peace it would never be effected till he should surrender to the Duke of Lorrain all his Lands and that he could not possibly induce the Elector of Brandenburg to restore to the Sweed what he had taken from him according to his obligation thereto when the Peace in particular with him was in agitation France had a great mind to make him restore to the King of Sweden his Allie what he had lost in taking up Arms for the service of France so that here are your sufficient reasons for demanding particular Peace with the States and that it was not he that procured it for Europe as he boasts and publisheth up and down If any one was the cause of Peace to the Empire 't was the States of the Vnited Provinces for when they had made peace at the instant supplication of the King the General Peace followed immediately usher'd in by the mediation of the States General 'T is most certain the King made this Peace by compulsion he began to do things but by halves the States and his Allies reinforced themselves dayly The Hollanders were recovered out of their Lethargie the Prince of Orange day by day became more experienced the Duke of Luxemburg's familiar Spirit grew feeble and began to forsake him part of the French Troops perished the remainder were much harassed and worn out Swedeland had done her worst and was at her last shifts so that it was absolutely necessary to afford some respite and relief to the French Troops by a Peace being that this Peace was partly but a forc't one the King was obliged to give up whatsoever he had taken so also it continued but a short while and just then when the Emperour had his hands full of the Turk and when the Spaniard and his Allies had laid down their Arms and did acquiesce upon the strict performance of the Treaty of Nemeghen the most Christian King like a Lyon falls foul upon the Low Countreys Now it was convenient to stop this Torrent to deliver up a good many places and to give ground and to patch up a Truce in the midst of Peace which will continue no longer than his Interest will permit a body may say and that truly that France makes but small difference between her Subjects and her Neighbours Genoua may bear me witness of the truth of this he treads them under foot and fleeces them all alike when occasion serves and when his Will and Pleasure is who is he that dares assure us that the Truce will be a stronger Bank to put a stop to his Ambition and his own private Ends than the two Treaties of Peace of the Pyrenneans and Nemegen That Numerous Army that amounts to near One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men which he maintains as well in Peace and in time of Cessation of Arms as in time of War sufficiently declares the French Policy that hath always one foot up ready a going to march and sits on thorns having ever more Armies in a readiness to execute her designs They make them Camp and de-Camp continually to be in motion that they may use and accustom their Neighbours to it for fear they should give them occasion of suspition when they march in good earnest to fall upon any place or surprize it One of the King of France his Maxims is to hinder these Neighbours lest they should augment their Forces but remain alwayes in a condition not to be able to do them harm on the sudden except they have a mind to have them about their Ears as we have observed at such time as the Vnited Provinces were partly resolved to levy Sixteen Thousand Men what Solicitations what delusory Promises nay how many Journeys did the Comte D' Avaux take to hinder it He did nothing but talk up and down of the sincerity and reality of the Covenants on his part just as if no body beside his Master had any Honesty and as if he were the only Man for keeping his word in Treaties All that was because he saw plainly that this new Commission given out would obstruct the taking the City of Luxemburg promising that there his Master would stop and put an end to all his Claims and Demands But he is still as ready to take another as he was before the taking of this City as we saw lately at Mons it would be all one whether the States should oppose this proceeding or no it would be so long as the Princes of Europe should suffer themselves to be hood-winkt by base fear or complaisance wonderful
Observation of the least punctillio of them helping and furthering what in him lies the progress of the Imperial Forces against those Barbarians the Turks through his moderation and complyance and what administers ground of suspition concerning the designs of the Court at Vienna which his Ministers do but too much lay open upon all occasions is their not being desirous of keeping the Truce any longer than they may be strong enough to break it Notwithstanding all this considering that this Truce hath offered to Christendom that happy Peace and Tranquillity it enjoys at this day and hath supplyed means to the States and Circles of the Empire by their assistance to bring upon the Ottoman Empire all those mischiefs wherewith they threatned the Hereditary Countreys We dare boldly and truly say that the Emperour is beholding to him for the preservation of his Country and for all those advantages he hath had over the Turks His Ministers are as much to blame to complain that the King making use of his full power hath caused his frontier places to be fortified as standing in most need Just as a Soveraign for the security repose and prosperity of his Subjects causeth the boundaries of his Territories to be fortified would not by so doing make us believe that he had the least thought of siezing upon his Neighbours Countrey or any mind to Commence a War no more than any private Person busying himself in repairing the utmost Fences of his Lands to make them good would thereby give but small proof of his desire to entrench upon his Neighbours But yet his Majesty is not without hope but that the Wisdom and Prudence of the States of the Empire assembled at Ratisbone will seriously reflect upon the just suspitions which the ill-grounded complaints of the Imperial Ministers have occasioned to him and that they will bethink themselves of one way or other that the good Intelligence which his Majesty purposeth to maintain with the Empire may not be interrupted nor impeded Given at Fountainbleau Octob. 22th 1687. To hear this Manifesto would not a Man judge that the Emperour is obliged to the King for all his Victories over the Turk and without him the Empire had been quite lost when all the World sees evidently by what we have said that it was none but he that induced the Grand Seigniour to break the Truce and to send relief to Tekely but the Spirit of France is always deceitful The Policy of France and the Maxims in relation to Spain FRom the Empire I pass to Spain which Kingdom and France have divided Europe between them some years last past all other Princes have listed themselves under their Banner thereafter as their Interest required but the most part agreed in that point to support the weaker and endeavour a just ballance between them The late Mounsieur Sully in a Letter to Henry IV. concerning the Quarrel with Spain says that the least growth of Power in the one is lookt upon to be a weakning and lessening of the other Until Philip IV. time Spain ever kept up its head though it began to decline in Philip the Seconds by reason of the War in the Low Countreys but ever since that and particularly after the last King Philip IV. Death France got the upper hand and Spain humbly submitted Upon the Festival of one of the Kings of Spain who was Sainted the Preacher St. Ferdinand extolling the grandeur of his Mighty King in his Sermon told 'em that if his God was not God the King Don Philip should be God but I suppose something less than so would satisfie his Successor the case being altered since that And yet Charles II. is King of Spain still has the same Indies and his Ships go thither and come home laden with Gold and Silver as they us 't to do heretofore but still this Spain is not like that which was once the Terrour of all Princes in Europe who were but justly jealous of her aspiring Greatness and had reason to be Confederates against it for their common defence Now 't is in the same condition that a Thief is when he 's brought to his last shifts and just ready to be taken If Spain were not supported by its Allies Lewis XIV King of France would quickly be at Madrid The Low Countries would bend under the French yoak in less than one Campaign though 't would be effected more easily because their own Prince has no Children and is very sickly and though they see utter ruine coming upon them yet they dare make no opposition for they could only make sport for the insolent French Troops if they should having no prospect of succours from any body that 's able to rescue them France knows all this well enough and 't is very true that France waits only for a fit opportunity to take possession of the Queens Right in the Dauphin's Name for the Crown of Spain falls to the Female Sex and it came to the House of Austria by a Woman that is to say by Jane Ferdinand King of Spains Daughter who married a Prince of that Family To let you see how much Spain suffers it self to be baffled by France I need only shew you two Examples which will convince you that I have said nothing but what is true The King of France sent a Memorial to the King of Spain and to the States of the United Provinces to this effect That if the King of Spain should grant the Low Countreys to the Duke of Bavaria or but make him Governour as the report was when he married the Arch-dutchess that she would then without more ado break off the peace since neither of those things could be done without manifest injury to the Dauphin's Right Mr. Feuquier was the Man who gave the Memorial to the King of Spain and Count D'avaux to the Vnited Provinces but were Paris over this perhaps you 'l say that Spain did not consider it well and they are so justly afraid of France that it is no wonder if that puts 'em a little out of their Wits But I am going to tell you a thing which you 'l own does sufficiently discover the weakness and poor Spirit of Spain it hapned at the Ceremony of making an Entry into London that the Spanish and French Embassadors met The Baron Watville went before Mounsieur d' Estrade France presently complains of this indignity and Spain was so pitifully mean as to disown that brave Action of their Ambassador Thus by that scandalous procedure Spain suffered in its Honour and gave place to France though there was nothing like necessity for their doing it I can see no other reason for 't but fear of Canon Law and dread of the Troops which France keeps up to inforce its Commands which are just ready too in case the King of Spain should dye suddenly Let Charles II. take what care he can in settling the Succession if he has respect for his own Family and the last Will and intent
upon their heads We see after what fashion the Men who are there now are paid and the inconsiderable number of them and to say the truth there ought to be Twenty Thousand effective Men beside what is there already in Garrison to secure the Countrey and Ten Thousand more in case of a Rupture and since Spain can't furnish them with so many Men You must let the Towns there levy Men and pay them who will be willing to do it to secure themselves and avoi'd falling under the barbarous Dominion of the French or be quite ruin'd perhaps before it comes to that as many Towns and Cities have been before them and that flat Country now of late in which the most Religious places were not spared I know very well that that proposal has been debated in Council long since and that the Council of Spain has ever rejected it for slight reasons A good careful Governour especially the Duke of Lorrain who is so brave a Commander and adorn'd with Conquests at the head of Forty Thousand Men supported by the Prince of Orange would make France shake France has its Emissaries in the Council at Madrid as well as at other places to oppose every thing which may possibly thwart her designs and I am of opinion that it will turn to better account for the King of Spain to secure his Low Countries with the help of a Militi a payd by the Cities who wont abuse him than to lose that Countrey for want of Men to defend it The latter of these is almost irretrievable but that former would be effectual were it not for an ill-grounded Jealousie which possibly heretofore might have deserved consideration but is now quite out of doors for in my judgment we ought ever to take in hand the thing which is most urgent when the one is inevitable and the other may probably never come to pass I say once more that France can never compass her great design but by being first of all Master of the Low Countreys 'T was for this reason that Du Plessis advised his Master to set upon it that way and 't is that pass alone which Spain and its Allies ought necessarily to stop with the same care and diligence as they would the breach in a Bank through which the raging Sea is ready to come in upon them and this we shall see hereafter The French Kings Ambition and Interest is a Torrent whose Impetuosity neither Affinity of Blood nor Alliance Peace Treaties Truce Swearing nor even Mutual Oaths are able to withstand I 'le go farther no not the very bounds which God by his wise Providence has set to the limits of every Monarchy which seems to speak to each Monarch Hither shalt thou go and no farther But Lewis XIV has sworn not to rest satisfied with the Lot which the Supreme Monarch of the Universe has given him Who can tell had he once Conquered the World but he would begin again another Tower of Babel to scale the very Heavens Ambition knows no bounds but Pride goes before a fall Oh that Spain would not suffer her self to be lull'd asleep by this deceitful Truce 'T is a Dalilah which all on a sudden cry out to the Spaniards the Philistians are upon thee But I am afraid it will be so as 't was with Sampson who when he awoke finding himself fast bound could no longer avoid becoming a Prey and Conquest to his Enemy The Grandees of Spain are a great help to France and contribute without dreaming on 't very much to the advancing of her Interest and support of her Ambition whil'st they inrich themselves at their Masters Expence and in the mean time disable him to keep up Men for their common defence but if they were well advised they should reflect seriously upon the Condition they are in at present and upon that they are like to be in when they fall under the Tyranny of France How happily would such a comparison obviate the misery which is coming upon them For they must think when a French Man comes to the Crown that the Spaniards will be but little considered and at best be only pittied or despised The natural antipathy between those two Nations wont suffer the new King to trust himself with them and all their stateliness will serve only for the French Court to laugh and jeer at The Spaniards must not flatter themselves if that comes to pass that the Dauphin after his Fathers Death will leave France to go and live in Spain The King 's of France will alway value Versailles beyond the finest City in Spain They will send Vice-Roys thither who shall be Frenchmen both by nature and disposition Mortal Enemies to the Spaniards that thus they may be secure that they wont join in any thing with the Spaniards against the French Interest These Governours and Vice-Roys will bring along with them for their necessary use their French Tax the Mal tote which will in a little time bring forth a whole swarm of Impositions as the Taille Taillon Aide Grant or Octroit Preciput Equivalent Free Gift Gratification Aid upon Wines Gabels upon Salt Corn and Flower Tobacco and Perriwigs on all sorts of Stuffs Linnen-cloth Le pied fourchu Impost upon Flesh the Mark of Paper upon Silver and Tin upon Milled and Silk Stockings Impost upon Ice Controlle des Exploits Tax upon Fee-Farms Tax upon the New Conquests Quint and Requint Mortmains the price of Valuations the Mark of Gold the two Sols a pound the right of Sealage right of Controlle of Register and Oath La Paulette abatement of Wages Custom appointment of a Governour the Eighth Peny Impost and the re-union to the Crown of whatsoever hath been given or sold with some others not worth naming Again after that the Spaniards would have for their hosts some of those Devilish Farmers of the Kings Revenue who would fasten upon them as if they were a Conquered Countrey and at first dash would lay a Tax upon the Sun knowing they make use of that instead of a Fagot Therefore I maintain that Spain should endeavour above all things to dispose the Emperor to accept of a Peace or at least a Truce with the Grand Seignior To look out while this present King is living for a Prince to succeed him and that this Prince may betake himself in time to Madrid to be well known to the people and be in the Heart of the Kingdom To Defend it and get Crown'd immediately upon the Kings Death To possess himself of the great Seal and all Instruments relating to the Crown And to make the Grandees of Spain side with him as their Lord and Master Moreover by this means Spain may make an early provision for the security of the Low-Countries and be justly undeceived in that pernicious Opinion which the Council of Spain has that England and the Vnited Provinces must necessarily defend them for their own Interest I own 't is true they ought to do it
but if France looses England from her true Interest and diverts her from thinking so as without doubt we shall find if this comes to pass in any reasonable time the Vnited Provinces whatever good intentions and whatever interest they may have in the preservations of the Low-Countries 'twont be in their power to stop the fury of the French which like an impetuous Torrent will in a moment sweep away the best part of Flanders So that Spain ought to think of this in good earnest and not lye asleep whilst the French policy is so active and is preparing long before-hand for so important an Affair which will never be offered them again if they let slip the opportunity of being Masters of it France takes all ways imaginable to get one and makes it her whole business it behooves Spain to do so too if she would avoid Ruine and not fall under the Yoke of France which is the greatest plague that can be sent upon her no less than the Destruction and Desolation of her people the exposing and humbling all the Grandees of Spain who will be forced to give place to the meanest French Gentleman Therefore if the Spaniards are well advis'd after the Death of their King they ought not to suffer the Monarchy to go to Lewis XIV but with the last drop of their Blood and Banish for ever this Violent Insolent Spirit of France The Policy of France and her Maximes in Reference to England HEnry VIII King of England in his time made a Golden Medal on which was Engraven a Hand coming out of the Clouds holding a pair of Scales equally poised the one Scale denoting Spain and the other France with a motto in Latin to this purpose in English I throw the Scales on that side I give my Friendship Without doubt that Prince knew his power but now I can compare England to nothing but an Ox which knows not his own strength and suffers himself tamely to be yok'd That Kingdom has this great advantage that it Guards it self and an Enemy can't invade it but with vast difficulty 'T is not to be invaded without going often to and fro upon the Sea they 'l have Wind and Water to fight against and a powerful Fleet to engage with before they set foot ashore Insomuch that if the King of England be at peace with Holland 't is undeniable in his power to make the Victory lean to that side he is of France has found this so true although there is a perfect Hatred and Antipathy between those two Nations that she has spared no Cost and compasses Sea and Land to withdraw England from its true lasting interest and bring her over to their side or at least make her stand Neuter and look on with arms-across while the King of France Acts his Tragedy upon the Theatre of Europe In the mean time t is most certain that England can rescue this same Europe from being enslaved to France better than any other Nation if she pleases If the King of Great Brittain did but know his own Strength and Real Interest he might be not only the Mediator and Umpire of the World But might make Peace when he pleases between all the Christian Princes There are but two things requisite to effect this both which are very easie nay are in the Kings power whenever he has a mind to 't The First is That the King of Great Britain take Care to be alwayes beloved by his People and that there be a good understanding between him and his Parliament The Second is To have a strict Alliance with the Vnited-Provinces and live in perfect Amity with them and maintain inviolably this Union and Correspondence in all that Concerns each other The former of these is mighty easily done and the King will obtain it effectually when he once resolves to Require nothing of his Parliament but what is agreeable to the Laws of the Realm as he already promis'd in his Coronation Oath The latter will be done so soon as His Majesty of Great Britain leaves listening to the French Emissaries and puts out of his head all Jealousies and Surmises which those Creatures continually try to possess him with having nothing that he need be afraid of from the States who don't wish to Aggrandize themselves and Usurp their Neighbours Territories as France do's but only keep what God has given them and be able to protect their Countrey in the enjoyment of that Liberty they have at present France who is satisfied of the Truth of what I have said takes all occasions to obstruct it She is never without some of those Hellish Restless Spirits in the Kingdom to sow the Tares of mis-understandings between the King and his Parliament Ever since the Kings of England have appeared to be Protestants this Catholicon has wrought well and the Spirit of France has been at work to set the Episcopal Party against the Presbyterian and to insinuate into the Minds of the latter that the Bishops were inclined to Popery and that most of them were Jesuites in Bishops Cloaths Who would certainly seduce the people little by little and be Turn Coates so soon as they have a good Opportunity and dare discover their Opinion That the King himself was Popishly-affected and a thousand things of this nature which exasperated the people and made his Parliament jealous of him for which reason they Granted nothing at all or but very little of what the King ask't and by this means his own private Occasions grew so very urgent that he neglected the Publick In the Reign of Charles the First t was France which kindled the first Sparks of the Civil War which caused so much Bloodshed both to King and People insomuch that when the French Ambassador return'd home from England he boasted how he had kindled a fire which would not be put out a good while and that for one twenty years England should not be in a Condition to do France any harm One Father Joseph a Capuchin was instrumental in fomenting the Division among the Catholicks under-hand and I can assure you there were some of those Catholicks in the Parliament Army King Charles himself affirms it and tells you that the Rebellion among them proceeded from his having denied them places and as soon as War was declared between the King and Parliament the King of France sent Cromwel Six Hundred Thousand Livres to pay his Army at the beginning This is publickly known and all who liv'd in that Age know it to be true But at present the King of Great Brittain having chang'd his Religion France has chang'd her Battery too and the Church of England is now her main Piece of Ordinance The people are so exasperated against each other that his Majesty of Great Brittain must think of little else this good while and will find work enough in his Kingdom to compass his Ends even though he had got a Parliament at his Devotion and if he should live Twenty
the Pens of those Droll-Wits Pasquin and Murforio 'T is certain if the King of Poland should give way to this aukward Contract of Alliance it would be as much as to declare plainly that he no longer pretended to have the Crown of Poland for his Son and that this Marriage was an act wholly disclaiming it I would have him rather follow the King of Portugals example he was cunning enough to get himself disentangled from the importunities of France to strengthen himself by his alliance with the House of Austria and the Emperour by his Marriage with the Princess Palatine of Newbourgh he knew too well that if ever Lewis XIV got footing in Spain that his Kingdom would depend on his disposal One of the two Teeth this same Lewis was born with is called Usurping the other Cruel from the one proceeds dependance decorum or convenience of Scituation from the other Treachery and Persecution you need not question if the King of France should become King of Spain but Portugal would be first of all invested because the Spaniard possest that Kingdom from Philip II. until Philip IV. time which was about the year 1640 when the Portugueze shook off the Spanish yoak Threescore years of possession may plead prescription whereon to ground his right of dependance there needs only thirty for a private man besides the right of decorum or commodious Scituation for Portugal joyns upon the Kingdom of Castile Aragon and Granada he had not so good a Title to the Kingdom of Austrasie nay he hath quite turned out the Princes who possessed one part of the Lands of that Kingdom for near 600 years Fear keeps the Vineyard as the French say and distrust is the mother of safety If I had to do with Salvages or with the King of Bantam or China not knowing occurrences in our parts it would be requisite to enter upon an Historical Relation of all the slippery tricks France hath played this last Age of all the Deceits Cheats Usurpations Injustices and Cruelties this present King hath put in practice to be Master of the Estates and the Possessions of his Neighbours But I speak to Europeans and they Christians too who have seen with their Eyes heard with their Ears and have dayly before them Princes dispoyled and stript of their Possessions so many People ruined so many Cities taken so many Houses now nothing but ruins and rubbish Thousands of Christians reduced to Beggery nay and the Blood of his own Subjects still a gushing out in mighty streams all over the Country These I say are speaking Books where all up and down you may find in huge Characters Lewis the Great Sacrifices all to his Ambition and Interest Now although all the World knows it and though scarce a Prince but hath been couzen'd by him yet he is so skilful to hush them asleep by the mild gentle raine of Lewisses that some part of them cry Lord what wouldst thou have us do and run headlong insensibly and with a kind of delight to the ruin and destruction of their Issue O how much need hath Europe of a good Oculist to remove the Scales from the Eyes of a great many Princes and once in their lives to open them for them to the end that every one knowing what 's good for himself may lay aside and forsake the interest of France they ought all unanimously to endeavour with might and main to procure him a Competitour to balance him and retain and bind him up within his just bounds and so disable him that he may no more trouble the earth by his ambition One blow is sufficient to do it what need I tell you all Europe sees it This will come to pass when it shall please the Divine Wisdom of the true Universal Monarch King of Kings to make it evident We cannot but wish Lewis XIV long life that he may be witness of all these things and may have another Joshua to stop the course of his Sun for which the people of the earth so much long and put up their continual Prayers for The Spirit or Policy of France and its Maximes in regard of the Suisse Cantons his Allies and of Savoy THE Cantons of Switzerland being free and absolute are governed by themselves hold of none but of God and their own valour they are partly reformed and partly Roman Catholick 't is by reason of this difference of Religion that they have often variance amongst themselves and give the King of France occasion to lay hold on the opportunity who makes good use of the easiness of the latter to sow the seed of dissention among them In time past they did no way border upon France which was a great happyness for the Cantons but since the peace Hen. IV. made with the Duke of Savoy the Country of Gex belonged to that Prince then after that France which alwayes gets ground did make encroachments in Alsatia Franche Conte and towards Burgundy is at this time Neighbour to the Swisse on three several sides But Lewis XIV not content with that had a mind to be a nearer Neighbour to his fellows by the Fort of Huninghen within Canon shot as we all know from Basil the Governour hath lately attempted it the Suisse were too much overseen in being a little to well acquainted witsi the King of France who thereby hath found out where their strength and weakness lyes and which way soever their affairs turn whensoever they are forced to quarrel with these Princes it will alwayes fare with them as the Fable tells us it did with the Earthen pot and Iron pot Secondly To lend so many Regiments to France are as so many men lost out of the Cantons who it may be one day may like young Vipers destroy their common Mother their Countrey there are few Swisse Officers in the French Kings Service but let themselves be corrupted by Marriages then suffer their Eyes to be dazled by good places and your Louis do'r and so at once renounce both their Religion and Party sacrifice as Stoupa the Lieutenant General would have done twice sixteen Cantons to the Interest of France He is not alone in his own gang he hath God knows too many Disciples you 'l find but very few who imitate the Sieur Dasselouer of Berne heretofore Captain in the King's Service who chosed rather to give over his employ and break his Pike then do any thing contrary to the Treaty which his Superiours had entered to about the passage of the Rhine against the Hollanders they have also committed a notable fault in tying up their own hands that they cannot send to Spain the like number of Soldiers as they do to France This restriction hath more of the Frenchman in it than the Cantons are aware of They cannot but grant that they have suffered themselves to be curb'd by the Fort at Huninghen which but too much discovers the Kings design every chink in it are like so many open Mouths crying out
THE POLITICKS OF THE French KING LEWIS the XIV DISCOVERED With Respect to Rome Emperour and Princes of the Empire Spain England United Provinces Northern Princes Suisse Cantons And of Savoy With a short Account of His RELIGION Translated from the French. Licensed according to Order THE Policy of France And the MAXIMS of LEWIS the XIV Discovered to all EUROPE IT is not Birth which chiefly distinguishes Princes from other Men but their Parts and Abilities How many of them find we in History who having but an indifferent share of them make no other figure but to fill up Genealogy and whose Birth-days and the days of their Death are the only two which make any noise in the World. 'T is according as this Spirit or Genius is disposed in a Soveraign that he acts for the good and welfare or for the misfortune and undoing of his People Wo to thee O Land saith the Wise Man when thy King is a Child and thy Princes eat in the Morning Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for Strength and not for Drunkenness The Jewish Nation were happy under David and Solomon but Rehoboam spoke to them in this manner My little Finger shall be thicker than my Fathers Loyns for whereas my Father put an heavy Yoak upon you I will put more to your Yoak My Father chastised you with Whips but I will chastise you with Scorpions Augustus Caesar was called Pater Patriae Father of the People of Rome but Nero their Hangman Philip II. was born of a wise Father who Reigned with general applause but yet he was a Blood-thirsty Man who spared not his own Blood and squandred away what Charles V. had preserved with so much Glory and Prudence Francis the First was the Idol of the French and Darling of the Nobility he acquired the Title of a mild gentle Prince in peace Victorious in War the Father and Restorer of Learning and liberal Arts but Charles IX that of Murtherer Henry IV. was surnamed the Great by reason of his great Actions he was the Darling and Father of his People and his beneficent sweet disposition seem'd to promise a happy Reign if a cursed Hand had not put a stop to the course of his Life Lewis XIII was surnamed the Just grounded without doubt upon the Gospel which assures us That blessed are the poor in Spirit and that theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven It was rather Richlieu's Spirit that reigned than his Lewis XIV did not discover his Inclinations whilst he was under the Tuition of his Mother and Mazarines lash but so soon as ever this latter was dead he shewed what he was His Flatterers in imitation of his Grand father gave him the Name of Great although he had not as yet deserved it 'T is true indeed He is Great as to his Ambition a great Usurper of the Territories of his Neighbour a great Enemy to the Holy See to the Pope and a great Persecutor of the Hugonots His Reign is full of nothing but great Monopolyes and his Louis d'ors are the only passe par touts or Keys that open the Gates to his Conquests He was born Armed and his first nourishment was the Blood of his Nurses which he drew himself that ambitious Spirit he is possest withall would willingly sacrifice a good part of his Subjects to his Passion and Greatness Wo be to thee O Land that groans under the burthen of such a Prince Wo to that People enslaved under his Dominion Under the Reign of Antiochus the Illustrious the Jews often cryed to God that he would deliver them out of the hand of their Oppressor Why may not the French put up the like Petition nay and all Europe besides to be delivered out of the hands of that Usurper Lewis the Great thought he already held in his hand the Scepter of the Monarchy of all Europe when Vienna was besieged yea he thought it within two hairs breadth of its destruction which he supposed inevitable grounded upon the Prophesies of Drabitius but perceiving this way stopt up he betakes himself to his first Errors and former Road he waits with great impatience to see what the Snares which he lay'd at the time of the Queen of Spains Marriage will produce Man purposes but God disposeth Time impairs the Mind as well as the Body and Princes are oftentimes fain to let their Successors do what they were not able to do themselves and so much the more because that same Divine Providence on which Princes depend as well as the rest of Mankind doth not mete here below by the measure of their Ambition Ambitious Men build Castles in the Air and by their good will would possess the whole Earth beside This itch reigns at this day in France and this is it which quite takes up the mind of Lewis XIV as we shall see by the sequel and the course he takes to accomplish his Designs The Policy of France and its Maxims in respect of all Europe in general HEretofore Men accused Spain for aspiring to an Universal Monarchy If it was so I suppose Philip II. begun to lose this hope when he perceiv'd the Sea and Winds oppose his designs and that the Armada which he called Invincible on Board of which he thought to have brought into Spain the British Isles c. came to nothing and that his choicest Troops who were embarqued therein served only to fight against the Waves and feed the Fishes of the Sea moreover when he saw that during the whole War of the Netherlands a small handful of People whom he called Gueux or Beggers in derision were alwayes able to hold up their Head against him nay and to beat him in several Encounters until such time as in the Year 1609 he was fain to cry Quarter make a Truce with the Vnited Provinces and acknowledge them for Free States This was a very bitter Pill and would scarce go down with a Prince who was so highly ambitious But it behoved him to swallow it and it wrought so strongly upon him that he lost Seven Provinces at a clap by it and part of the Indies Insomuch That this longing desire after the Universe began to abate by reason of his Age which had already lost the first heat of Youth and by reason of the bad success of all his Enterprizes Philip III. was as little fortunate as he and Philip IV. had great disappointments towards France and the Low Countreyes and was very glad by clapping up a Peace to acknowledge those who had been his Subjects for a Free and Soveraign Commonwealth holding of none but God Almighty Charles XI Reigning at present is a good Prince who loves his ease and would willingly quit all the Claims and Titles of his Ancestors to an Universal Monarchy for a Son and Heir to the Crown of Spain to succeed him Malherbe told us long since that if it were true that Spain aspir'd
hand he helps them with the other he knows how to bring the Turk into Hungary when he supposeth them fit for his Designs and Interests against the Empire when he thinks they may be serviceable to him as assistants in advancing him to the Throne of Europe to which our Great King hath confined his Ambition But it often happens that Man purposes but God disposes France would have you believe her true-hearted and real that the Holy See and every body besides should of her Ambition make an Article of their Creed Let her do and say what she pleases I do not for all that believe that if so be Faith and Truth were lost that any one would go look to find it in France All her by-past Actions do but too much bespeak her not to be any longer honest and that Faith cannot agree with the King's Humour so that a Prince failing in that the Holy Father ought to beware of him he is a close Enemy counterfeiting the Devoto a whited Sepulchre that dazles the Eyes of those who approach him He is an Orpheus who charms Christendom by his kind promises and noise of his Louises dor but within he is a very sink of Falshood insatiable Ambition of unparallel'd Covetousness and of barbarous Cruelty from whose Cruelty and out of whose Hands the Church should put it into their Litany Good Lord deliver us for fear they Christians fall into the same miseries that the Jews did in the time of Antiochus the Illustrious The Policy of France in relation to the Emperour and Princes Electors of the Empire CHarles V. did manifestly weaken the House of Austria by dividing it into two branches bestowing the Empire on Ferdinand his Brother and Spain to Philip his Son I must needs confess that these are two Twins so nearly related to each other by Blood by Alliances and common Interests that one will have much ado to touch the one without offending the other or destroy the one without debilitating and reducing the other to the utmost extremity This House hath evermore held up her Head against France she alwayes counterpoized with France the Empire of the World Spain took from Antony of Bourbon King of Navar the Kingdom he had acquired by his Marriage with Jane De Albret Heiress of Navar so that 't is easie to suppose that at present the House of Bourbon being exalted to the Throne of France since Henry IV. time may be from its Cradle Enemy to the House of Austria and if she could de-Throne both of them no question she would with all her heart get into their place if she could and thereby joyn the Empire to France France to Spain and the Low Countreys and then by and by very easily ascend to the Universal Monarchy of all Europe If this project don't succeed 't is at leastwise the intent and purpose of the French Politick Spirit and what Lewis XIV drives at who was not far from effecting it when Vienna look't upon her self near destruction and an hundred to one but had fallen into the Ottoman Chains Scarce any one is ignorant of the Correspondence the King of France holds with the Ottoman Port that it was upon his intreaty that the Grand Seigniour first violated the Truce concluded with the Emperour that he might second and abet Count Tekely's Designs whom France assisted with Money and Counsel The Emperour and his Council knows better than any body the occasion that moved the Port to send back Count Caprara together with the Propositions of Peace he brought along with him The Marquiss D'Seppeville Embassador of France failed not with all expedition to send one Courier after another to his Master to give him notice thereof who failed not forthwith to dispatch a Person to the Grand Visier to oblige him to persist in his Siege of Vienna he laying before him that his Honour was ingaged that the City was at the last gasp that it stood him upon to take it at what rate soever for his own Reputations sake and good of the Port that this Siege having made such a noise in the World he could not quit it but with Eternal Infamy to the Ottaman Empire and Grand Visier and for the better facilitating the taking of it and to divide the Armies of the Empire he was about to enter into Flanders with a powerful Army which would undoubtedly force the Empire to recal his Forces to defend themselves and the King did effectually make good his promise for he entered of late years as we see into Flanders burning pillaging and taking all before him after the Turkish manner imitating therein his Allie whom he was so forward to serve and second and the King divesting himself of the Title of Most Christian took upon him that of his Friend and Allie the Grand Sultan for places that ought to be most sacred to Christians and the retirements of the Nuns fared no better Several Virgins suffered Martyrdom by a Violation never before heard of in Christendom But all this did much contribute to the King's Design and the French Policy obtained its wish there was Forty Thousand Men just ready in Alsatia to pour into Germany to make himself be declared Emperour at the Head of this Army His Manifestoes were already in print ready to be spread abroad that to prevent Christianity from falling into Slavery he was forced to withstand it by a powerful Army and by declaring himself Emperour to hold the Reins of the Empire to defend it as serving as a boundary to France and to Europe it self considering the incapacity of the Emperour c. for the King knew what he said when he tells us the Emperour was not fit to Reign Without all question had Vienna been taken the Princes and Electors would have had recourse to him and been of his side for their own preservation being the only Prince who had Forces ready and who at that juncture was capable to retard the progress of the Infidels But Vienna being relieved we saw then the truth of what I have alledged that their Spirit came down and they became crest-fallen they cared not to joyn in the common joy of all the Universe which could not sufficiently praise God for this Signal Victory by their Bone-fires and Te Deums wherewith the Air echoed again None but France stood mute and who forbid divers Church-men to give thanks for the same upon pain of incurring the high displeasure of the most Christian King. Here you may perceive what Spirit France is of in relation to the Emperour who that it might have an opportunity to keep him under and throw him down from his Throne and so take his place The King of France heartily wishes that Vienna might sall into the hands of the Mahometans But as our Thoughts are not as Gods Thoughts so this King of Kings has disposed of things otherwise who by vouchsafing such grand Victories to the Christian Forces France must be fain to change their Batteries and
Assaults We hope also that the Emperours Council will stand better upon their Guard and appear more vigilant than they have been hitherto and that they will remove from France all means to pry into their undertakings yea even into their Closet-secrets For 't is well known what courses they have taken to make the Resolutions be changed and falsified when they were not relished by the King nor for his Interest and that the Emperour could neither speak consult write nor so much as make least proceeding but it was presently penetrated diverted another way incumbred watched and observed and by the Jesuits good leave they are accused of having had a great stroak in all these Affairs they always take the stronger side expecting a change No body can be ignorant but that the mis-understanding that arose between the Elector of Brandenburg and Monticuculi General of the Imperial Forces during the Holland War was occasion'd by the cunning contrivance of the Jesuite changing the Emperours Order to ingage Turrene with Brandenburg in the counterfeit Order not to engage which gave opportunity to the French Army to retreat which was in very great danger to have made their Graves there if it had been attacked by two so good Parties being reduced to its last legs through sicknesses running away from their Colours and a Mortality amongst them Then again At the Battel at Sennif Souches excuseth himself that he could not make the on-set for want of Orders this was hammered upon the same Anvil Yet we hope that Affairs changing their Face the Reverend Fathers the Jesuits will have better thoughts of the Empire I have much ado to omit two Affairs which happened during the Emperors last Rupture with the King one is the business of General Capelliers Steward of his Houshold who carryed on a correspondence with the French Embassadors and gave them a full account of whatsoever past at home in his Masters House that came to his hearing or knowledge the Letters of all the Matter were intercepted at the Post-house in Frankfort this Traytor indeed was clapt up but the Jesuits who at that bout had taken too large a Dose of Spirit Gall knew well enongh how to make him come of lest he should make a Discovery of some others During the Siege of Philipsburg by the Imperial Forces did not these good Men prevail with two Merchants to send in a supply of Powder but that Mine was sprung and vanisht in smoak the business was found out and the Jesuits brought it so about that the undertakers were not punished for fear lest they should make farther Discoveries I tell you this for truth for one of these Persons was one of my Acquaintance who told it me with his own mouth that they came to fetch him as far as from Paris where he was settled to get him to do this business You may see by this that the Spirit of France animates a great many Bodies actuates them strangely and that those in whom his Imperial Majesty puts most confidence are not always faithful to him When France carried on a design under-hand to induce the Emperour to bestow his two Sisters upon two Princes dispossest of their Inheritance it was not with an intent that businesses should succeed in this manner as we see they do at this day for we cannot deny but that Lorrain is the Restorer of the Empire an Hero of so many Great and Glorious Victories the Subduer of so many Provinces who will make the Grand Seigniour not only sue to him for Peace as he doth already but to grant whatsoever one demands of him to save his Head from the riot and fury of the Rabble who will be sure to do it if he conclude not a Peace or a Cessation of Arms and that speedily But this Spirit of France had its aims that is to say by getting some body to counsel the Emperour to bestow his two Sisters on two Princes in the forementioned Circumstances who despaired of recovering their Estates but by a Peace they would alwayes incline the Emperour to listen thereto notwithstanding his Imperial Majesty might not have that advantage by it that might be expected in hopes there might be some Article in it favourable to them restoring them to their Estates by this Peace The truth is that hath been very successful to the one as for the other it is to be hoped that he will open himself a passage to his Fortune by his Victorious Sword 'T is most certain that the misunderstanding which hath reigned between Prince Harman of Baden President of the Imperial Council and the Duke of Lorrain between the King of Poland and the Emperour are nothing but Eggs which France sits and hatches The Marquiss De Bethune is too well verst in the way to Poland and his Sister hath still a French Soul though Queen of that Kingdom The kindnesses the King of France has done her Children are faithful and living Witnesses and the transmitments that have past through the hands of the Bankers of Hamburg and Dantzik are like so many rayes of that great Sun of France which disperseth his Light into a great many Courts The Emperour cannot ignore that Itch of theirs is an old Distemper the Kings of France have so long been troubled with they long to be mounting the Imperial Throne because it is one step to the Universal or at least to the Monarchy of Europe Henry II. made them draw him out the Model after what manner the Romans cut out their way through Italy but those Countreys have ever been Caemiterium Gallorum and fatal to their Enterprises In like manner Duplessis gave advice to Charles IX never to venture upon Italy but upon the Netherlands Lewis XIV is much of his mind as shall appear by the sequel of the Story After the Death of Ferdinand III. did not the French King use his utmost endeavours to re-ascend the Throne of Charlemain he spared not to send into all the Courts of the Electors to procure their Votes and such who were great with these Princes did their business for them for France is free-natur'd enough when any one is to be brought over to their Party One of the visible demonstrations of the Kings designs is that he caused an Eagle to be put upon his Money just above the Head of his Effigies and that he speaks his mind freely but much more haughtily that the Empire hath been long enough in the House of Austria and that it is high time it should return to his again and that was just upon the Turks coming into Germany in the year 1683. But Man purposeth God disposeth All the wise projects and contrivances of Men are but folly before God who doth not guide the Oeconomy of the Universe according to the ambition of Lewis the Great Now because this King knows very well that the Electors may prove a great obstacle to his design upon the Empire if they have a mind to be cross therefore he
makes much of some threatens others The Dolphin of Frances Marriage concluded with the Princess of Bavaria was a bait to draw in the Prince of that Family to the King's Interest and so inspire his Body with a French Spirit That Pension the King allowed him for some time made him much in the Kings Books and devoted to his Interest nay over and above the Marriage every one was in the mind that this Prince would be perpetually devoted to his Benefactor but the unbecoming unworthy Matches that France offered this Prince made his Ministers look about them who knew so well how to disabuse him that he alter'd his mind and tack't about to the better and more glorious side whether we consider it in respect of the Marriage he contracted with the Emperours Daughter or by the Lawrels he won in Hungary This is a thing he durst not so much as have dreamt of if he had remained in the French Interest because the Conquests of the Imperial Army did not at all correspond with the Kings designs as we told you before No sooner had Mounsieur Baviere forsaken the French Party but the King to comfort himself up for that loss entering Madam la Dauphines Chamber told her that he just came from winning Eight Hundred Thousand Crowns of her Brother We all know how the Elector of Brandenburg is beset on all sides with the Emissaries of France and how the chief persons of his Court which discretion makes me forbear mentioning have taken but too large a Dose of that same Spirit Gall so that there is nothing transacted in the Electors Court but the French Envoy hath presently notice of it and by Mounsieur de Rebenack's good leave Men are sufficiently informed of all his Intrigues of all the Presents he bestows if it were less secret one might not perchance know it but he wanting the retentive faculty to keep his own Counsel he must give others leave to disclose it who are not so much concern'd to keep a secret If the late Prince Lewis had been surer to the French Interest than he was perhaps he might have been alive to this day Well I know the French Envoy had not an hand in the fact but did suggest and promote it I know that the Prince Elector is not ignorant neither whence the Distemper proceeds he hath reason to countermine them and stand upon his Guard but I could wish he may not be too slow and that he shut not the Stable door when the Horse is stoln If so be the Elector of Brandenburg had an insight into his real true Interest and Forces could but get rid once of these French Spirits that encompass her he might safely say he was one of the most puissant Princes of the North make others dread and stand in awe of him Be sure which way soever he takes he casts the scales France knows it very well too and that 's the reason why they court him so much Let him but stand Neuter and espouse no Cause she is satisfied The Persecution of the Protestants of France had in a manner opened the eyes of the Elector yet Mounsieur de Rebenack backt by Mounsieur D'espense managed things so finely that people gave more credit to what they said than to so many thousand Witnesses that arrived dayly at Berlin This I 'le say that the Elector hath this benefit that all those that flie to him for refuge people his Country But France out of spite to thwart his designs to make the Electorship fall after the Decease of Frederick William to some Prince or other who will be more favourable to him than those who were born by the Princess Lewis of Nassau and Orange and there is all the probability imaginable she will accomplish her designs in this matter at leastwise they are in a fair way towards it if God Almighty do not prevent it by preserving the Prince Elector alive to whom he may give Issue As for the Elector Palatine of the Rhine when France mediated a match between the Princess and the Duke of Orleans she had two things in her eye the first was thereby together with a Pension to allure the late Prince Elector into her Interests not being able to do that he might evermore devise pretensions for the Right of Madam of Orleans After that we know but too well how the Electors Palatines Father and Son were treated by Lewis XIV how the Palatinate hath been trodden under foot by his Troops and the people of that Country ruin'd and laid waste But last of all Death having deprived the World of these two Princes in a short time without Male Issue and seeing that at present the Palatinate is fallen to the House of Newburg pursuant to a Treaty with the Emperour to that purpose the King of France is perswaded there is no other resolution to take with the Elector now Reigning that he is too near an Allie to the Emperour to whom he is beholden for what he hath ever to abandon his Interests or quit his Party so that it is not thereabouts neither that France attacks it the pretenses of Madams Rights are now in debate The Popes medling in the matter signifies nothing the business is not ripe it is a Gate France keeps open for to enter into Germany by and all the delayes the Pope obtains do but keep off the Distemper a little longer and do not cure it and you shall see the next Spring if any change happen in Europe France will enter thereinto with Fire and Sword as she uses to do All the Elector must wish for is that Peace may be concluded between the two Emperours this Winter that the Death of a Prince hapning his success may afford work enough to Lewis the Great somewhere else Now these seem to be the only means how this Elector may avoid falling into the clutches of France and this reason ought much to sway with the Emperour and be a principal motive to him to make a Peace with the Turk as he may now do very advantagiously For he must know that if ever the French King break the Ice and gets footing in Germany he will never return back The French are very insolent and domineering especially at the first heat and in prosperity and provided Fortune smiles upon them at the beginning and in their first furie wherewith they undertake all Exploits that is a great incitement to them to drive on farther and farther and then peace with the Turk not being made I cannot tell whether the Emperour will be ever able to make it if he would never so fain at lest upon the same Terms and Conditions they offer him at this time The Elector of Saxony never made much account of all the proposals of France He is a Prince that doth not study all those cunning niceties and tricks that a great many other Courts are full of but one who being well verst in what is good for himself pursues it without disputing
Daughter of Philip the Fair from this Match came Henry V. of England who had as much Right to France as the Dauphin has to Spain For the three Sons of Philip the Fair Lovis Hutin Philip the Long and Charles the Fair dyed all without Issue-male and it was after this when the King of England sued for his Right to the Kingdom of France that the Salique Law was first introduc't usher'd in by a Sermon which the Bishop of Beauvais preacht before the Convention of the States proving by the Gospel which sayes The Lillies spin not that by consequence the Flower de lis which represents France ought never to fall to the Distaff But that Law could only affect what was to come and not what was past Afterward Henry V. King of England came over into France with a Potent Army won several Victories and at last Married Catherine Daughter of Charles VI. and in the year 1421 it was sinally decreed and concluded that Henry should be King of France Now Isabel Queen of France Mother to Catherine Queen of England made her last Will in favour of her Son in Law and declared him Heir to all her Estate and to the Crown which in my judgment is a great addition to the Right which the Kings of England have to the Realm of France If the King of France had but had that Right to England which the King of England has to France what a Company of Manifestoes and Writings should we have flie about to demonstrate his just pretentions as he calls every thing he is pleased to lay a claim to So that let the King of England take a view of France which way soever he will he ought alway to suspect her and stand upon his guard as against one whom he certainly knows to be his Enemy He may justly be assured that he does not coaks him so without a design to get something out of him and because he knows him the only one who is able to counterpoize his Affairs Therefore 't is no wonder that Lewis XIV took so much pains to supply the late King Charles II. Necessities and satisfie his Pleasure Mounsieur Barillen and Madam Portsmouth can justifie what I say but I can assure you that the King of France regards neither Princes nor private Persons one jot farther than as they are for his turn Nay farther Even Vertue it self is only esteem'd by him so long as she squares with his Interest What value pray did he put upon either Princes or Princesses during Cromwel's Government Were they not obliged to retire not to say driven out of France What subsistnance or help had their Princes in their Exile from France No 't is to the Family of Orange that they are obliged which furnisht them with considerable Sums of Money but on the contrary France was the promoter of the late Troubles of England she gave the Princes no protection and never contributed the least toward the re-establishing of the late King in his Throne All this considered neither just resentment from the Royal Family nor the English Interest can decently allow of such close Alliances with France as shall be able to make England shut her Eyes or be a by-stander whilst Lewis XIV takes the Low Countries But on the other side she ought to be continually in a posture to hinder her in every the least attempt she makes towards it and to make use of the Six Regiments in Holland which the States won't refuse upon such an occasion to prevent the King of France his bringing more Men down upon Flanders I am perswaded that those Six Regiments would be able to cope with double the number of the French and thus by Englands only showing of her Teeth Europe will be safe Resist the Devil and he will flie from you But if you are afraid of him he 'l soon master you France has cut out work for King James now Reigning The Enterprize which he has taken in hand is so great that many Men fear and others hope that he will never get quit of it with his Life 'T is no time to change Laws when the Enemy is at the Gate 'T is not convenient at all times to think of working great Conversions some Battles must be fought to let the World see a Character both of a Soldier and a Polititian All the World expected this and more from the King. His Mighty Courage put all Europe in hopes that he would be an Universal Comforter to them and would afford some respite to Spain But alas What can his Allies and Spain hope for whilst his sole business is to please the Jesuits kindles a fire in his own Kingdom which it may be he won't be able to quench when he pleases and so long as he does so he dares not call a Legal Free Parliament Spain lost her self by banishing the Moors out of the Kingdom France is weakned by the Conversions she has wrought and by driving out the Hugonots and she has a great mind that the King of England would follow her Example We must not rob God of his Right Conversions only belong to him and he is able to convert the whole World with one Word Therefore leaving the care of this to God the King of England ought to mind the safety of his States avoid being made the King of France his Cully and make him keep at home and not fall upon his Neighbours Lands which ought to be the Barrier between them Thus the King will do his Honour and Conduct but Justice and satisfie the expectation of all Europe The Politick Spirit of France and its Maxims in reference to the United Provinces THE States of the Vnited Provinces after they had constrained Spain by force of Arms to acknowledge them for Free High and Mighty States depending on none but God alone were for some time the admiration of their Neighbours and every one laboured to procure their Friendship and Alliance and it may be said that they were looked upon as the Umpires of Europe but since the War in 1672 this High Reputation hath been lessened and France hath been so cunning to play her Cards so well that she had well nigh reduc't them to nothing if by an unlookt for change the People had not put the whole management and command into the Prince of Orange's hands and if some persons of ill designs had not been brought to condign punishment But God whom it pleased by his Providence to protect and preserve this little Country did after the siege of Norden send such a panick fear amongst its Enemies that they broke up their Camp with more speed than they came yet the thing which did most contribute to these misfortunes besides the Treachery of France was their being unprovided of good Forces and a good Head for the Army These Provinces relyed wholly upon the Peace and treacherous deceitful promises of France which all a long in time of Peace carryed on a design against the said
Provinces We see that amidst Peace the Militia Forces grew slothful Ease smiles for a little while Men quite forsake the care of Arms and give themselves only to something profitable and gainful When the Enemy approacheth Men flie oftentimes to their shame far from that Glory which was heretofore the prevailing Passion as we might have observed in the late Wars France was sure so long as the Vnited Provinces had no Captain-General the Militia would be but ill provided and no ways upon their Guard and this is the reason why she was so very careful to hinder the Prince of Orange from being advanced to those Dignities and Commands which he at present enjoys by strengthning and poysoning the contrary Party By this means the States grew weaker and weaker every day Their Forces were disperst their Fortifications neglected and their strongest places fell to decay their Magazines but ill provided with Ammunition whilst France levyed Men unawares entered into secret Alliances with England Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Munster Du Plessis saith very well that every State is not thought strong or weak but in comparison to the strength and weakness of their Neighbours that 't is for that end that wise Princes alwayes keep a counterpoize as much as possible that they may remain in peace and amity together and so soon as ever that fails peace and amity is dissolved not being grounded upon any thing but mutual fear or respect for one another Now this is so true that every Prince is jealous of the least Levy or Motion of his Neighbour even amidst Peace or Cessation of Arms and do perpetually observe it and labour to get a true Information of the designs of his Enemy or Neighbour even before they be hatched for thereby his resolutions are spoiled now this is the thing wherein abundance of Princes and States who stand upon cost and charges are to seek This is a piece of Covetousness that sometimes costs its Master and his People dear and at last occasioneth a War which perhaps might have been prevented with a small matter France is so well assured of the Truth of it that she lets nothing slip upon such occasions Her Embassadors in all the Courts of Europe have Money for that purpose and they can do their Master no better service nor sooner win his favour than by corrupting one or more of that Princes Council at whose Court they reside It is their chief study Night and Day and spare nothing to accomplish it When they come short of the good Man they are sure to win the Wife that she may now and then ask her Husband nay rather than fail one of the Children may serve the turn whether or no he was successful in such and such a business They apply themselves in like manner to the Servants whom they reward according to their services These Maxims prove very lucky to them in States where there are many Heads as in the Vnited Provinces who are a great rub in the King of France his way in his Conquest of the Spanish Netherlands for he knows that having some of them he may make sure of the rest so that his main business is to lull the Vnited Provinces asleep by a Truce which he breakes at pleasure supposing at that time they may neglect their Militia as heretofore they did and busie themselves only with Trading for the King knows that the States having their Wits about them and upon their Guard they will never consent to the taking of the Spanish Netherlands at least that they ought not to do it since that there lyes the bounds between France and them which they ought to have a care of as of their Neighbours House least it be set on Fire So that to bring about his Design what hath not the Count d'Avaux done to divide one Province against another nay even the Cities of Holland and especially Amsterdam What did he not promise what did he not engage to accomplish his Designs However they were not managed with such secrecy but that the very Boys in the streets smoak't them out through the frequent Journeys this Ambassador so often made to this great City neither is Mombas to be thought the only Actor in this Affair for when he retired to France he left many Agents behind him to further the design in the Night not daring to appear in the Day but the best was Count d'Avaux became at length to be better understood the People began to suspect his Doctrine for his abusing the easiness and good nature of many of them made them sensible of his practice and illude his Designs but the Policies of France are more perspicuous in fomenting the differences between England and the Vnited Provinces well knowing the uniting of both their Forces together might give France it 's Mortal Wound How sweet therefore must their Divisions be to France and especially when they spring from among themselves The last War between these two arose from some differences in point of Traffick and whilst the King of England was preparing for the War the King of France offered his Assistance towards an accommodation with the States on purpose onely to delude them as they well perceived afterwards being amazed that when they drew near to a Conclusion France on the sudden sided with England and at the same time the one gave the Assault by Sea the other by Land and so assuring to themselves an intire Conquest of the Vnited Provinces they divided their Spoils the one taking the Maritime places and France the other but they mis-understood one another about Amsterdam each imagining to possess that himself but there was no occasion for their casting Lots for it for God suffer'd it not to fall into their hands afterwards each drew home their Forces according to the Peace which the English were the first movers of Then did France labour what it could to strip the States of their Allies it 's King foreseeing the Dice would turn and that the Dutch might rally their Soldiers being in great Discipline under an experienced General then did the King give up Mastricht and did whatever else lay in his power to promote the peace at Nimeghen Since which time he has alwayes bark'd at a distance and did so much dread the States levying the last 16000 men that Count d'Avaux used all Stratagems to prevent it as he will do at all times whenever the States discover an inclination to arm because that would prove some hinderance to his encroaching designs and here I must repeat again how much it is the Interest of the States to prevent their Frontiers from being swallowed up which certainly in a short time will become a prey to the Usurper upon a more specious pretence then that King has usually made use of He may publickly declare upon what right his pretensions are grounded how that without the least dispute these Provinces did formerly belong to Mary of Burgundy to Philip the First to
easily became Master of Holstein but alas good man can he imagine to keep it for surely that Country will take caâ—e to oblige him to quit it as soon as ever his Master the K. of France shall be routed out of the Vnited Provinces Were there but once a Peace concluded between the two Emperors the victorious Christian Army would certainly make the Usurper disgorge and reduce his Stomach to temper Soft and fair goes far Had it not been for the Alliance with France the Dane had never made that Assault upon Hamburgh which became the Grave to so many brave Danes and French that served in that Attempt the unlucky Fort of the Starr stopt them in their Career from whence with the loss of Two Thousand men they were obliged to retreat with shame and confusion thereby becoming the laughing-stock to all Europe besides The King of Denmark as well as many others is not really sensible of his own Interest but suffers himself to be dazl'd by this Golden Sun which France immediately displayes to such as she has a mind to corrupt she ever has in reserve her Nimigen Olives to gratifie such whose assistance she shall stand in need of But 't is a thing much to be hoped for that his Majestie of Denmarks Eyes may be opened as well as the Swedes and that he would retrieve himself from these Shackles and have recourse to his other Allies in whose power it is to make the Trade of his Kingdoms to flourish and his Revenues to increase without being obliged to keep up such a number of useless Troops as he does at present But France well knows the necessity of having at her beck one of those Northern Princes for fear they should unite in a strict Alliance and so league with her Enemies This Policy of France is the Apple of discord and she not being able to be without a Northern Allie if Denmark had stood off a while France must have purchased her Friendship at a double rate The Marriage which France proposed for P G with the P s A was only to strengthen her Party and to make her Alliance the surer this made her willing to defray the Charges thereof P G himself nor the King his Brother having not much Money to spare for that purpose this cost France a Hundred Thousand Crowns to secure to her side as she thought a Creature in England who should on all occasions further her designs and to knit this the stronger he would have had him believe he should succeed to the Crown after the Death of King James II. to the apparent prejudice of the next undoubted Heiress To make which the more feasible he would have fomented Jealousies between the two Sisters and their Husbands well foreseeing a terrible blow if Affairs should change and the Succession be kept in the right Line 'T is true the King of France might think to engage P G into a Scurvy business by contriving a Civil War in England after the Decease of the King now Reigning but I cannot devise after he should have involved him in this Labyrinth how he will extricate him The Duke of Monmouth for all he was the Son of a King is a caution to every Subject 'T is well known the French King is very earnest with the King of England by his Jesuites to demand of the First Parliament he can get at his beck and Devotion the Power to chose a Successor after the Example of Henry VIII and once gaining that to advance the P s A to the Crown before any other but many weary step and a far Compass must be taken before he get so far First of all The King of England must have a Parliament at his Devotion Secondly This Parliament must grant his Request Thirdly The King must choose nay who can tell but Death may prevent all these In the Fourth place 'T is meet the People consent to this Choice Nay last of all 'T is absolutely convenient that the P s of O as Lawful Heiress acquiesce in such determinations The French King who is no admirer of Vertue but as it keeps pace with his Interests understanding those Noble Qualities and Great Vertues the Princess of Orange is indued withal that she will no sooner shine upon the Throne of her Ancestors but she will attract and win the Hearts of all her Subjects both by her Wisdom and also strict Alliance with her Neighbours He sees that these Ties and Bonds may in time make him disgorge what he hath swallowed and repent of all the sorrows he hath caused and still doth cause Christendom to suffer Who knows but God may have marked out this Great and Vertuous Princess as a second Judith to put this Blasphemous Holofernes to Death Yea this is what this Usurper and Disturber of Christendom is so sensibly apprehensive of and endeavours to hinder by feeing and corrupting the Great Men of England by making sure of all the Catholicks and of Ireland it self thereby to give them relief in case of necessity But P G and his Consort P s A will look better about them and will not suffer themselves to be deluded by this deceitful Spirit of France They see all its pernicious and deceitful Maxims and will wait for the time Providence hath determined for their Succession to the Crown they have already gained the Peoples Hearts the Esteem and Reputation of Europe and of their Allies and by this means may be assured to back and justifie their rightful Titles at that time in case any one should dare to oppose it As for the Princes of the House of Lunenburg they are taken notice of and watched they are encompast with French Emissaries on all sides who do nothing but continually set before them the Advantages that may accrew to them by accepting of the French Kings Pensions or to speak the truth make themselves Slaves to Lewis le Grand just following the King of Denmarks Example to dance after his pipe The French pence often stick too close to the fingers of the Ministers of those Courts Bois-David and his Kinsman St. Pouage could tell us fine stories of their tricks and certain too they could deliver brave Memorials concerning that Court had not Bois-David been for the Kings turn he durst never have had the face to have come home into France as he did being found guilty upon the score of a Duel with Aubjou for there is no fault how hainous soever but the King pardons if the Malefactor be judged needful for his Interest and Ambition We are confident the King proffers vast Sums to withdraw the Princes of the House of Lunenburg from their true Interest and so bring them under the French Yoak but I would have them disabus'd 'T is no wayes Honourable nor creditable for Free and Soveraign Princes to stoop so low as to be Mercenary to France and 't is certain all these offers are for nothing else but to loosen themselves from their honest true Allies viz.
sacrificed so many brave men for the service grandeur and maintaining of that State yet that nevertheless they will stand to their Treaty of Peace and Allyance in the hopes they have always entertained and do still entertain that his Majesty to whom with the Royal Family they wish all happiness will on his part be responsable As for our part in particular though we have not had the happiness to see his Majesty yet we cannot chose but wish him all Personal Health and do assure your Excellency of the esteem and high value we put and all ways shall upon your deserts and incomparable vertue protesting to you that we are more particularly your most humble Servant After such a base affront who would not undervallue such Embassadours the Representatives and their Superiours also who durst present them with a Golden Chain of 500 Crowns value One would think they had an hand in it and that they were covetous of Money and Presents If an Embassadour after taking such an affront should have accepted it he would have deserved to be hanged with that Golden Coller By the refusal of Audience you may well understand what France is made of and its designs Whoever heard or saw a free and absolute Republique referr'd to a Parliament under his Authority as the King refers Geneva to the Parliament at Dijon it would have been more legal and just to have refer'd them to the Parliament at Turin Now behold the equity of this great King who would always be both Judge and Party in his own Cause who would make all Europe depend on his Judges some upon those of Metz others on those of Dijon and Aix in Provence as he forces the people of Orange to do but we hope those of Geneva will not submit to those unjust Judges and supposing they do they will not miss losing their Cause and after that they will make a new pretension upon them till they have fettered them and losing their City and Liberty they become the slaves of France a Victim offered up to the Jesuit and the Conquest of Lewis the great and it is odds but that will be so indeed if they don't look about them betime and prepare themselves for its coming upon them for he 'l come and give them a visit as he did the Genoueses Let them not flatter themselves with the contrary when he shall make them resolve to sacrifice themselves for their Liberty rather then to a Prince who would be their Antiochus their bloody Master and would snatch the Children from their Mothers embraces to deliver them into the hands of the Jesuits make them forsake Relations Religion and all duty of Christians and refusing to obey this ambition would hale them to the Scaffold and throw their Carcasses to dogs nay if so be they should deal more gently with them it would be only to make them bear company with his own Subjects in Dungeons in the Gallies and in the West-Indies Now take notice of this Spirit of France and beware of it That Lewis XIV is no good Christian I Shall finish this Treatise in demonstrating that this King is no good Christian that it is but a cloak for his Knavery the better to play fast and loose the better to bring about his ambitious designs that albeit he makes a great clutter with the title of most Christian King at Rome yet we find him to be nothing less All who are baptized are not Christians for then we might reckon Julian the Apostate and Arrius to be such whom men look upon as Apostates and Antichrists I am perswaded the Marquiss de Montespan will justifie what I say I cannot think that Prince worthy the name of a Christian who covets his Neighbours Wife nay before all the World takes her from her Husband makes use of her and begets Children of her whom he would fain get declared natural never before Lewis his time practiced in France He cannot assume the name of Christian who makes little Conscience to break the most solemn Oaths and Engagements made at the Communion as he did at the Peace concluded at the Perinees upon his Marriage with the Infanta of Spain And then the Oath taken at his Coronation to observe the Edicts of pacification are they not dayly violated and retracted upon every frivolous pretence Good Christians are such who live up to those Vows they have made even to very Infidels The Marquiss de Laverdin making his publick entrance into Rome did choose rather to do it like a Fox than a Lyon as since it appears without ever determining any thing positively concerning it when they demanded him to explain himself before he made his entrance so that engaging himself neither pro nor con it will always be time enough and seasonable to make his Masters will to stand him in stead as we shall see hereafter when the Provencal Fleet shall be before Civita Vechia and other Ports of the Popes Dominion besides that it was convenient to carry it fair to obtain the Bull for the Cardinal of Furstenburg whom France was assured would be nominated to the Coadjutorship of Cologn the Dean and Chapter as 't is credibly given out fingered the Kings Money to that in effect it was registred and their Votes sold so that it was not possible to go back with their word When the Marquiss de Lavardin entred Rome the business was as good as done and the King made sure of it but he found himself mistaken as to the Bull for he believed the Pope who is wise and good natured enough of himself not loving noise would yield at the Embassadors arrival that the Spiritual would give place to the Temporal but he was deceived in his account meeting with such stiffness and vigour in an old man which it may be one durst not have hoped for in a young man. In the mean time behold the Marquiss de Lavardin keeping watch and ward night and day and that round about the Palace of Fernese just as if it were a Fort surrounded with enemies before the Pope and the Conclave of Cardinals Noses By all these riots and indignities done to the most eminent person of the Church Vicar of Christ and St. Peters Successor is nothing in comparison to that which Talon the Kings Advocate hath belched forth against his Holiness and the Cardinals his Counsellors accusing the former to be a favourer of Heresie Jansenisme and of Quietists and a thousand other impertinences which is to be seen more at large in the demand of the abovesaid Talon to the Parliament of Paris and by the Embassadors protestation publickly affixed at Rome the expressions therein are scandalous that they might deservedly procure the fire for a private person but when one hath the power in his own hand he thinks he may Lawfully say and do whatsoever likes him But the Pope who is grave and wise will let him go on yea peradventure his great modesty and prudent behaviour may make the King come to himself again and acknowledge the wrong and that the Pope is Master at home in his own House and may be able to disannul and take away the Franchises of the Embassadors quarters when he shall see it convenient for the repose of his People and his own Conscience It is not his frequenting Mass which is a Characteristical mark of being a Christian or for being kind to the Jesuits for fear awes Princes sometimes to make much of Jesuits and shew much respect to them Hen. IV. was not free from this fear when he would have restored them in France for when the Duke of Sully advised him to the contrary he started up and replyed secure me my Life then for 't was more then probable that those who sued for their return had assured the King that if he did not do it he would be in imminent danger of being Murthered When Life is at stake what will not a man do to save it Who can tell but these good Fathers have told the King now Reigning if in case he did not root out all the Huguenots out of his Dominions this must come in alwayes ad majorem Dei Gloriam that he would endanger his Life What sign of a Christian was there in the King when he made a League with Cromwel to fall upon the Low Countries and to banish Charles II. from his Kingdom who was rightful Successor to the Crown of England and a good Catholick in his heart although afterwards out of Policy he was fain to appear otherwise Again what sign of Christianity doth there appear in a Prince who assists Count Tekely in league with the Turks against the Emperour A King who forbids all Bishops and Curats throughout his Dominion to cause Te Deum to be sung for the Victories of the Christians obtained over the Turks who impedes by force of Lewisses the progress of the King of Polands Forces against the same Turks that they may have the opportunity to employ all the Ottoman Forces against the Emperour thereby to make him abandon what he hath got at the dear rate of so much Christian blood What Christianity do you observe in the Kings proceeding at the Cities of Genoua and Orange where he hath no right at all So that by all that I have alledged all these Titles of most Christian and Catholick Zeal the King is so much taken with and affects is only a deceitful mask of hypocrisie to lull the Catholick Princes asleep the better to play his game and make himself Master of them one after another Although the King of England would hinder him as being the only man that could best do it he would endeavour to cause an insurrection of the Church of England men against him he would send them Money and Officers as he did to Cromwel so that one may say of the French King that he becomes all things to all men when his interest is at stake He enters into Covenant with Turk or Huguenot Pagans or Infidels against Catholicks themselves if it be necessary for promoting his greatness and to attain to the Monarchy of all Europe And for a conclusion this is the Kings Religion and your Wit and Policy of France FINIS