Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A27121
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The means to free Europe from the French usurpation and the advantages which the union of the Christian princes has produced, to preserve it from the power of an anti-Christian prince.
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P. B.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing B152; ESTC R9628
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48,971
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168
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the danger he is in He has address'd himself to the Elector of Brandenburg the King of Spain and to the Pope but at this present knowing of no better shift and finding that all the Christian Princes do abandon him he has apply'd himself to the Turk And finding that no Christians will any longer confide in him he covers himself with a false Mask of Hypocrisie he Remonstrates to the House of Austria that the Roman Catholick Religion is in danger and that it perishes with him that it has been through his Care and Zeal so many Conversions have been made in his Kingdom and that he was ready to have done as much in England if there had not been a League made against him But with all these sugar'd words he at the same time Leagues himself with the Enemy of Christendom at that very time he enters the Palatinate and puts all to the Fire and Sword he offers to the Grand Seignior to joyn himself with him on the defensive part and not to lay down his Arms 'till the Sultan has recover'd Hungary At the same time he offers to the Pope that if the Emperor will agree with him he will lend him forty Gallies to aid him to Conquer Constantinople and offers to Re-establish King James in his Kingdoms provided that the Emperor and the Empire will Conclude a Peace with him All these are fair Flowers that conceal a Serpent under them who will certainly sting the hand of him that will but touch them These are the French King's Deceits which he has Inherited from Mazarine to trye whether by such fair Offers he might not break the Union of the Empire But Flanders the Palatinate the Countries of Juliers and of Ments Treves and Colen remain unreprochable Testimonies of his Breaches of Faith and of his Hypocrisie he having nothing less in his thoughts than the Christian Religion For those Offers which his Ambassador Guichardin has made to the Port ought once for all to undeceive all Christendom of that Catholick Faith of which he makes so great a shew But not to rest any longer on the Illusions and Deceitful Offers of France which ought to be suspicious to all the Princes of Europe I say that the Emperor and the Empire ought not to stop in the very beginning of so fair an Opportunity which England offers them nor lay down their Arms 'till they have recover'd Burgundy the French County Alsace but particulary Strasbourg Philipsburg Fribourg Brisack and all that France has Usurp'd on that side of Europe Moreover Reseated the Electors Palatine of Mentz Treves and Colen in their Territories and Rights with an entire reparation of all those Wrongs and Damages which he has done them by his Forces and Incendiaries Resign Cardinal Fustenberg into the hands of the Emperor or of the Pope to answer to those things that shall be alledg'd against him and that he is already accus'd of But that which is most just and necessary is to restore the Duke of Lorain to his Dukedom which ought to be restituted in the same Condition that it was in the time of his Predecessors Policy requires that this Dukedom should be separated from France because that would be a means to weaken France It would be to fix a Thorn in its foot thus to Re-establish the Successor of the Ancient Soveraigns to support and uphold it that it might no longer be liable to fall under the Forces of France nor to acquiesce to any Treaty prejudiciable to it nor so much as to have any great Communication with them because that the Duke of Lorain being once restor'd to his Estates neither he nor his Sucessors ought never more to trust to the French Kings but ought daily to set before their Eyes with what perfideousness his Predecessor has been Treated Those Great Victories which that Prince has gain'd with such great Success and Glory over the Turks the re-union of Hungary to the Empire which is due to his sole Valour does well deserve that all Christian Princes should Conserve themselves for this Great Heroe Joyn to that the Obligation which his Imperial Majesty has with that Duke by his Mariage with the Queen of Poland It is not to be doubted but that William the IIId King of Great Brittain will Contribute with all his Power to so Just and Laudable an Enterprise even necessary for the quiet of Europe and that his Britanick Majesty will impose it as a Law on Himself to bring it about if he once undertakes it But to Compass this with more ease The Duke of Lorain ought before all things else to propose a Liberty of Conscience in all his Dominion and free Exercise to all Protestants in all the Cities and Borroughs where there are any That will be a means to draw on his side the Assistance of all those of that Religion as well as that of the Allies and of their Subjects in laying aside the Counsels of a Company of Monks which continually beat over and over in divers Catholick Princes Ears to make them act the contrary and to push them forward to a Persecution which will ever prove hurtful to their Persons and Sates The Duke of Lorrain ought not to let slip so fair and so favourable an occasion which perhaps will never offer it self again in all his Life time nor that of his Successors his Interest and that of his Family obliges him to embrace it and to soliciate the King of England as well as the Emperor and those Princes who Compose the Diet of Ratisbone who are already inclin'd to it by the barbarous Proceedings of the French they doubtless will not fail to espouse the Interest of that Prince in consideration of those Services which he has render'd to Christendom and to labour in his Re-establishment as well as in that of others the rather because that Lorrain being in that Duke's Hands will serve as a Bar to the Empire but as I have already said that Prince ought to Labour particularly to bring the Emperor and his Council to grant a Truce to the Grand Seignior without which I cannot see his own Concerns can have any good Success This he ought to consider before sending back the Turks Envoy lest he should slip the Occasion for after that every one will take new Measures The Emperor never had nor never will have a fairer Occasion to entirely Master France than that which at this present he is furnished with by the coming of William the III. to the Crown of England which seems as if God had produc'd that Effect during the time of that great Union oâ— the Princes of the Empire to give an Opportunity to his Imperial Majesty to Subdue France being thereunto excited by the ill Usage they have all receiv'd from the French King and the barbarous Proceeding which he has us'd of late in Germany which has been but a continuation of those Cruelties which his Dragoons have exercis'd in his own Kingdom which has not
only alienated from him the Heartâ— of his Subjects but has struck an Horror in all Christendom he has depriv'd the Most Christiaâ— King of all his Alliances and haâ— reduc'd him to see himself oblig'd to have recourse to the Sworn Enemy of Christianity the Turk All these Advantages are founâ— in this present juncture more over Lewis the XIV the borâ— Enemy to the House of Austria is now at Wars with all Christendom If his Imperial Majesty takes not advantage of those Conveniences which the Heavens seem to present him with he ought not to expect any Acknowledgments from France for it nor that the King will think he hath done him a kindness in sparing him for as he has the gift of Usurpation by Inheritance if he can but raise himself up again from that Mortal Wound he has receiv'd he will come as did the Grand Visier after he has if he can disunited and ruin'd the Empire and Encamp his Army before Vienna That Itch has held him a long time and Lewis the XIV has Inherited it from his Predecessors for since the Death of Ferdinando the III. those Kings that have Reign'd in France have always endeavour'd to possess the place of Charlemain and in 1683 His Most Christian Majesty who was very well Instructed of Mahomet the IV's Designs and who had instigated Teckeley to Rebellion did think then that he had obtain'd his Hearts Desires and that he had got the Wind of the Emperor for he thought it impossible but that Vienna should fall under the Power of the Grand Visier's Forces The King had Forty Thousand Men ready on the Borders of Germany in the Design to put himself at the Head of them and to enter into the Empire to have himself Proclaim'd Emperor as the ancient Romans did at the Head of his Army His pretence had been That his Imperial Majesty not being in condition to preserve Christendom he was come to supply his Place and as the Deliverer of Europe free it from the Oppression of the Infidels though he himself had Invited them in and had design'd to put it in Irons To make good the Truth of what I alledge I must say that this Monarch who thought himself assur'd of the taking of the City Vienna by the Turks and himself consequently of the Imperial Crown had already caus'd the Imperial Eagle to be plac'd over his Effigy in his own Coin publickly declaring before his whole Court That the Empire had remain'd already long enough in the House of Austria and that it was high time it should return into his Family The French Mercenary Pens and the French Flatterers had already set forth divers Pieces in that Kingdom which tended to that purpose some were Intituled The just Pretensions of the King on the Empire others The Decay of the Empire These were the fore-runners of what the King design'd to do that when it should come to pass Europe should not be surpiz'd at it and the Blow not so much felt by the House of Austria It is a Maxim that has been practis'd in France during this Reign when the Council had a design of Oppressing the Subjects by any Imposition or to tread them down by any Declaration the noise of it was spread abroad Six Months before that when the Blow should fall the People might be prepar'd for it and so found not the Evil so great as it really was because it was expected All the French Kings Pretensions derive from Charlemain who though King of France was Elected Emperor but Charles being Dead the Electors were in right of Electing another capable to Govern the Empire and to Defend Christendom without being oblig'd or wedded to the Person of the French King. But I find without Dispute that the Emperors have much more Right to the Kingdom of France and that it is better grounded than that of the French Kings on the Empire of which the Three Bishopricks of Thoul Metz and Verdun are dependences which France has Usurp'd and to obtain peace and quiet the Emperor has been forc'd to bid them an eternal Farewel All Histories shew us that formerly the Gauls did depend of the Empire and was look'd upon by the Emperors of the West as an Imperial Dependency and feudatory to it in effect the Archbishops of Treves did take upon them the Quality of Imperial Chancellors in that part and Charles the VIII King of all France as he was was not asham'd to take upon him the Quality of Vicar General and Perpetual of the holy Empire Moreover Conrad being come to Paris caus'd himself to be receiv'd there as Superior by King Charles Sir-named the Simple and the Emperor Sigismond in the Reign of Lewis the XI made his Entry in that Capital City with all the Marks of Soveraignty preceded at Noon Day in imitation of the ancient Roman Emporors by a great number of Torches of White Wax Lighted took his Seat in the Presence of the King in the Parliament Created Knights and there it was that he Erected the County of Savoy into a Dutchy and acknowledg'd that Duke as Prince of the Empire The Emperors no more than the Crown of France ever lose their Right and I think they should have the same Prerogatives as such Kings who always own themselves Pupils and can never lose any thing alienate engage nor sell But we are not here to rake up the Ashes of the Empire 's ancient Rights but only to prevent the French King from making new ones and afterwards to possess them seeing that his Generals do publickly declare That they know no other Right but Power and the only pleasure and good-liking of their Monarch of whom they make a God on Earth Viro immortali At this present the French King beholds all Europe in Arms against him and he finds he cannot well parry that Blow that England's lifted up Arm threatens him with a total Ruine and because he cannot easily withstand all those Powers that are United against him he endeavours at least if he cannot win them to his Party to divide them from the other by that Neutrality which he proposes to them in design of accomplishing two things if he obtains it The First is to diminish the number of his Enemies and the second that by that means he may gain a free access near to those separated Powers flattering himself with the hopes to draw them afterwards to his Party through advantageous Offers but much sooner if he can but never so little rouse himself up again from that Apoplexy in which he is fallen But the Emperor and his Allies to break his Measures and destroy his Designs ought not to allow of any Neutrality to any Prince State nor City of the Empire but to hinder him if possible from soliciting the Switz-Cantons on the contrary to get them to join to the Empire and if they cannot be prevail'd with so to do oblige them to call home those Forces which they have in the French Service or