greatest perfection in respect of Domestic Empire it is capable of For 1. whereas heretofore the body of that Kingdom was not intire but subject to several great Barons who were able not only to expostulate but to contend with the King the are all brought now to a dependence on the Crown and becom most obsequious to it And besides many of the richest and most potent of them are of the blood Royal so that upon the failer of those who are before them they or their posteritie may succed to the Crown which keeps them firm to it 2. All those mighty members into which that Kingdom was formerly divided are now annexed to the Crown So that for largeness of Territory and compacted and united strength it is becom the most formidable Kingdom in all Europe And as by the former of these they have secured themselves against all intestine Wars which many times through the interests and feuds of those Barons shook the whole Frame of that Kingdom So by the latter they have fenced themselves against all Forreign invasion For heretofore all the neighbouring Princes were ready upon every occasion to invade the Kingdom of France The Dukes of Burgundy Britannie Guienne or Flanders being alwayes tempting them thereunto and giving them accesse passage and reception By this means England made two Conquests of France and at other times forced them to buy Peace of them and pay them tribute But now whosoever would invade that Kingdom shall not only want these for their confederates to invite and assist them but shall have them for their enemies Thus far Machiavel has observed for substance 3. By abrogating the Convention of Estates that King has spoyled the people of that power and share in Government which they have originally had in all the mixt Monarchies of Europe and made himself absolute even in the point of raising money which is the blood that fils the veins of that mighty Body By this meanes he has changed the constitution of that Kingdom from mixed to absolute Monarchy for the kind of it which is the Form that inables a Prince to do most mischief bot at home and abroad 4. Buth that which is the Crown of this perfection and may be the strongest stay of it is the Naval force now added to the other strengths of that powerful Monarchy wherein it now equals if it be not an overballance to either England or Holland For this is a maxim That the power of a Prince whose Dominions border on the Sea cannot be perfect without a force in Shipping able to command the Sea Wherefore in my opinion which nevertheless is exceeding weak one of the greatest mischiefs this War has produced is That it has given occasion to France to becom mighty in Naval power And that mischief can never better be demonstrated then by this consideration That there was never before any example upon Earth of a Triumvirate of mighty Nations in a vicinity of neighbourhood one to another and bordering upon the same Seas equally powerful in Naval strength The consequence of which must of necessity in time to com be a perpetual emulation and jealousy greater by how much either an Union or division of three is more perfect then of any other number Whereby it must necessarily com to pass either that som two of the three shall alternatly or by turns fight against the third Or that two of the three shall agree to extinguish the power of the third that themselves may remain in indifferent terms without jealousy one of another It is now long since France wanted but one of three things to help them to drive on that huge designe of ambition for the universal Monarchy which has so long swelled their hearts To bring Holland under a kind of feudal protection of that Crown by which means they might serve themselves of their Ships and Seamen Or to make themselves masters of the Spanish Netherlands Or lastly to grow great in Naval strength at home For France has been dangerous enough to the rest of Europe whilst they were in a manner without shipping Insomuch that those two things were observed of them in the time of Queen Elizabeth That France could never abstain from War for above two or three years together And that they could never be poor 5. and lastly To all these may be added the new Conquests and acquisitions of the French But nevertheles it may be doubted whether that Monarchy has received any real accession of strength by those Conquests in case it should com to feel the shock of a powerful and vigorous Enemy It is true indeed what Machiavel has said That the Conquests of Common wealths that are ill Governed and contrary to the Model of the Romans do conduce more to the ruin then advancement of their affairs But when we shall a little penetrate what he elswhere sayes That when we have observed the Histories of former times we shall find that Common-wealths had generally but three wayes of enlarging their Empire One is that which was observed by the Tuscans of old who entered into a League of Confederacy with several other Common-wealths with condition of equality that no particular should have any degree or authority above the rest and that comprehension should be lest for all their new Conquests to com in not much unlike the practice of the Switzers and the Hollanders of late and the Achaians and Aetolians of old Another way of extending your Empire is by associating with several Cities but so as that the dignitie of the Command the seat of the Empire and the honour of the enterprise may remain with you which was the way observed by the Romans and it was peculiar to them no other people has observed it and certainly no better is to be found The third is the way of the Spartans and Athenians who entertained no Confederates but whatever Territories they conquered they annexed them to their own Which way is undoubtedly the worst of the three as appeared by the two said Republicks who were ruined upon no other accompt but because they had grasped more Dominion then they were able to hold I say these things distinctly considered and the last way being that which the French practice in their Conquests it makes the doubt yet greater From that of the State if we descend to the consideration of the person of the King it gives us these two momentuous Observations 1. It shewes us how necessary a thing it is for a Prince that would either defend or enlarge his State to excel in practical Wisdom which consists in application conduct and pursuit For by that meanes he shall alwayes be served of wise and excellent men For it ever was and ever will be true as the Prince himself is so are his Counsel and those that are about him A weak Prince will never endure wise men nor can wise men ever be safe under an inadvertent Prince And it gives him mighty advantages over the Princes
in a fair way to become a Feudal Province of France And thus we see England may be distressed without warring directly upon it It is the greatest blemish in the Reign of Henry the Seventh celebrated in our Histories for one of the wisest of all our Princes that he suffered Britany to be lost and annexed to the Crown of France a soul spot in so beautiful a Picture as he is taken by the Pencil of my Lord Bacon And the more I think of these things the more I am confirmed that we shall stir up the just indignation of those that are to come after us against our memories and it will be the wonder of succeeding Generations that so great a King as the King of England in a War that had for its ends an Universal Monarchy for the most Christian King and the subversion of the Protestant Religion and Interest The one as foolish and impossible to be effected as the other is full of monstrous and detestable impiety towards God And to which ends our Enemies have been travelling through a Sea of Blood and all those crooked ways the first attempter against God beat out to those that travel with Pride Ambition and Impiety I say that such a King in such a War and such a Peace as followed it should sit still and suffer himself to be as it were besieged in his own Kingdom whilst he suffered France not only to grow to an over-ballance to England in Naval force but to plant himself all along on the opposite shore of the main Continent and in the mean time to suffer the greatest part of Europe to be consumed with the flames of an unjust War and be sacrificed to the ambition of France An aggravation greater by how much England has been famous for holding and casting the Ballance of Europe and protection of the Protestant Religion Since therefore it is a royal vertue in Kings not only to avoid Flatterrers as a Pest but to encourage some body to tell them the truth roundly still preserving the dignity of their persons and the majesty of their state I think a man cannot do better than to bring things home to them for if Princes would but a little reflect and look back upon the times past where they might see the beauty that is upon the memory of good Princes and the deformity of that of the bad they would see the excellency of plain dealing and the odiousness of pernicious flattery For Holland It will be enough to say That if they suffer the Spanish Netherlands to be lost France will not only claim by a Title prior to theirs all the Conquests and Dominions of this State in Flanders and Brabant but may set up the Title of the House of Burgundy to the whole Seventeen Provinces and finally that they will have a very bad Neighbour I conclude therefore That it is the interest of England and Holland by all means not only to preserve the rest of the Spanish Netherlands from falling into the hands of France but to make him vomit up what he has already swallowed of them For besides what I have already said If France once becomes master of those Provinces Holland and the rest of the Provinces of the League will become an easie and cheap prey to him which concerns England not a little in point of Interest And to keep those Netherlands in the hands of Spain is I think more the advantage of England and Holland than it is of Spain it self For of Spain we are secure because he is weak at that distance and neither will nor can incroach upon his Neighbours and so we preserve the greatest Bank of security to both against the Inundations of France To conclude this part For the most Christian King we are no doubt to look upon him as the minister of Gods indignation howbeit he meaneth not so but has done all these things in pride and cruelty and attributed their success to his strength and wisdom For the power both of Satan and wicked Kings is from God but the will and malice is their own Therefore the French King has made use of all these powers and advantages to do evil evil I say than which the most merciless Tyrants and destroyers of the earth whom God has said he will destroy have not in any the most barbarous age of the world committed greater or more crying to the righteous God for vengeance And a Prince affected with so vast and wild ambition is to be looked on as an enemy to mankind as a proud attempter to destroy the bounds which God has set And therefore if so excellent hope that God will stop the way against our enemies if we return to him if the preservation of the true Religion the liberties of our Countreys the great interests of mankind or whatsoever other excellent consideration we can propose to our minds will move us let us behave our selves like men and do some great thing worthy our remembrance And this brings me to the second part of my discourse In the first we have seen the mischiefs let us now consider of the remedies Now because there is no separate Kingdom or State in Europe sufficicient to ballance the weighty Body of the French Monarchy nor any of their strengths in disjunction competent to be opposed against so formidable force therefore there must be a new fond of Power and Interest raised up sufficient to keep the ballance of Europe from being called back into a Chaos out of which the French may form an Universal Monarchy according to the Idea they have conceived thereof And this can by no means better be done than by England and the United Provinces entring into a new League for the mutual and reciprocal defence of themselves and their Confederates that shall be admitted into such League and for preservation and defence of the Spanish Netherlands and for restraining the further growth and increase of the French Monarchy and hindering their incroachments upon the rest of Europe The excellency of which League will appear by this That the ends of it are in a manner common to all Europe For though the preservation of the Protestant Religion be most the concernment of England and Holland yet the special and immediate end of the preservation of Flanders and the general end of holding the Ballance of Europe is Universal Upon occasion of the beginning of the War between the Latins and the Romans Machiavil has delivered this Rule That in all Consultations it is best to come immediately to the point in question and bring things to a result without too tedious a hesitation and suspence And the reason of this is founded upon divers observations which he gathers out of several parts of the Roman Story as That weak Commonwealths are generally irresolute and ill-advised as taking their measures more from necessity than election That 't is the property of weak States to do every thing amiss rnd never to do well but in spight
strongly that he believed the Romans durst not have ventured to come at him But alas the Romans were another kind of Enemy they not only adventured but removed him from his Mountain and forced him to fly with the greatest part of his Army and had it not been for the unpassableness of the Country which hindred the pursuit the Macedonians had all been cut off The French were strongly encamped at St. Dennis and did not at all believe that the Prince of Orange would attaque them and yet for all their confidence they could find no other remedy than to betake themselves to their heels And this was the greatest and most famous action of the whole War The third way to avoid fighting is to shut your self up in some strong Town which is the most pernicious way of all as making your ruine inevitable Therefore as Machiavel says to keep the Field and avoid fighting is to be done no way so securely as by keeping fifty miles off and sending out store of Spies and Scouts that may give you notice of the Enemies approach and opportunity to retreat Nor is it necessary to do all this that your Army should be very numerous The Romans and the Greeks always carried on their Wars with a few men depending more upon their great order and the excellence of their Discipline than great numbers but the Eastern and Western Nations did all by their multitudes Alexander conquered the world with 30000. men Pyrrhus was wont to say that with 15000. men he would go through the world And yet Pyrrhus fought against the Romans and beat them in two Battels and was in the judgment of Hannibal himself one of the greatest Captains of the world The ordinary Roman Army consisted of about 24000. men and if they were at any time overpressed with numbers they exceeded not 50000. with which number at one time they opposed 200000. Gauls or if you will call them Frenchmen There are two Nations whose genius resembles that of the ancient Romans the Germans and the English who are descended from them But there are these two differences between them The Germans you shall never bring up to make a point blank attaque in the mouth of Cannons in such fashion as the English nor again after a rout shall you hardly make them rally as you may the English From all these things I make this conclusion That if the French renew the War again the best way will be to oppose them with an Army of English and by all means to force them to fight continually till the Field be too hot for them and when they can keep that no longer their Towns will be of little service to them The English have fought many Battels with the French and always beaten them and yet the French have exceeded them much in numbers as in the memorable Battel of Poictiers where the English were but about 8000. and the French were 60000. And thus I come to the third and last part of my Discourse the office whereof is to dispose into method such arguments as will be necessary to be used to the several parties that is to say the King Parliament and this State to draw them on to such a League and they are as followeth To the King 1. It will serve to conciliate and beget a better understanding between him and the Parliament and to remove some part of that jealousie which the people travail with of the Kings administration and which will never leave burning till it burn to the Foundations of the Throne if not preuented And if it attains not the end of introducing other cooperative acts of concord it will at least avert the hastening on of greater evils There be some of those things which the Parliament would have which the King would consent to upon condition he might not be pressed in the rest as the case of the Duke of York c. Therefore let them begin with some popular great thing that may involve the interests and affections of all 2. As to that point of the confirmation by the Parliament I have shewed the presidents of former times 3. The Ratifiâ—ation here by the General Estates will be equipolent to the Ratification in England by the Parliament which saves the Kings honour For thus the parties rather conspire in one how to render this League illustrious and great than on their respective parts to be forced to any thing To the Parliament 1. Let it move from themselves that is let some of those in the House of Commons who are of unquestionable reputation for Wisdom Honesty and Integrity be engaged let them engage others and let them communicate their Counsels with my Lord Shaftsbury and that Party in the House of Lords Then let the Scheme and Project be proposed in the House of Commons then the Commons seek the Lords concurrence and then let it be offered to the King as the advice of the whole Kingdom for every man is there in person or by representation 2. This will shut up those avenues those back doors by which the French have had accesses to our Councils and have influenced them And consequently will render the sitting of Parliaments more calm and secure when that mighty trade of theirs of buying Prorogations shall be spoil'd and their Factors rendred less malignant 3. This is an infallible argument As the end of a thing is so is the thing The two general ends of this League are To preserve the Protestant Religion and to preserve and restore the Ballance of Europe by lessening the power of France And those are the two greatest ends in Christendom therefore that thing that has those for its ends is the greatest thing and the minds of gallant men are exceedingly moved with great things and strongly carried to the pursuit of them To this State 1. The first argument is prudential Prudence is that vertue by which when several things are offered we are directed which to chuse and which to refuse what to do and what not to do Holland then must eiaher make a League with France or with England or remain Neuter To make a League with France is utterly imprudent for these two reasons 1. Because France aiming at and designing an Universal Monarchy would only secure himself of them till their own turn come that is till he hath swallowed up the Spanish Netherlands and Germany when he would turn his Force upon them 2. By such means they would lose the best and surest friend they have had from their Foundation of their State and that is England And where a State is not sufficient by its own proper force in respect of the weakness of the same or the mightiness of its Neighbours to defend it self it must of necessity rely some where els for protection To remain in a neutral condition cannot be For so instead of making one friend they would make three enemies And in case France should renew the war upon them England would be won upon such terms as France would offer either to join with them or to stand still and see Holland ruined Besides how impolitic a thing neutrality is any man may see that will consider the observations made there on Mach. Prince cap. 21. It remains then and I know nothing els that remains To make a League with England For that will have one of two effects Either France will be wholly deterred from attempting upon their State or if he does they will be able with the assistance of England to defend themselves This is the first Argument 2. The authority and reputation of the Proposers It is a League proposed by the Parliament of England to be entred into with the King and Kingdom of England The Parliament represents the whole people of England and commands both the parts and persons of a great rich and valiant nation from whom neither money nor souldiers will be wanting to beat down the power of that proud insulting nation of France But these people here are afraid of France why then let them make a league with those of whom France it self is afraid And withal let them remember this League is to be made with a People from whom they have received the greatest benefits as I have shewed before And this argument alone will beat down the most if not all the objections that would arise against such a League proposed in any other manner 3. The great reputation and security such a League will give to this State which will cover them as with wings of Protection against France and whosoever else would prey upon them If I have not expressed these things so as I would I have done it so well as I can in a short time And so submitting it with all decent humility to the grave Considerations of those excellent personages whom it may most concern I leave it to its Fate Hague May 24. 80. FINIS