Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A37443
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The two great questions consider'd I. What the French king will do, with respect to the Spanish monarchy, II. What measures the English ought to take.
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Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing D850; ESTC R20141
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13,382
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33
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The Two Great QUESTIONS CONSIDER'D I. What the French King will Do with Respect to the Spanish Monarchy II. What Measures the English ought to Take LONDON Printed by R. T. for A. Baldwin at the Oxford-Armes in Warwick-lane 1700. THE PREFACE SInce the Following Sheets were in the Press some Letters from France advise that the King of France has saluted his Grandson the Duke D'Anjou as King of Spain Some People who are of the most Intelligent Part of Mankind think He has done so by way of Politicks to see how the rest of Europe will resent it as He once did in a like Case to the Prince of Conti as King of Poland whose Pretensions He did not think fit to pursue The Author therefore thinks the following Sheets are as much to the purpose as they were before and without any farther recommendation refers the Reader to the perusal THE Two Great Questions CONSIDER'D WE are told That the Deceased King of Spain has by his last Will bestow'd his Kingdoms on the Duke D'Anjou Grandson to the Present King of France Amongst the many weak Actions of that Effeminate Prince who hardly ever did a Wise One This is the most Ridiculous if it be proper to give such an Epithet to the Actions of Sovereign Princes 1. To imagine the Most Christian King wou'd give any Regard to or put any Value upon such a Bequest any farther than consisted with his other Measures or at least with his Interest must be a Folly none could be guilty of but such as know very little of the King of France or of the Affairs of Europe 2. To think that the Rest of the Princes of Christendom wou'd suffer the Spanish Monarchy to be bequeath'd by Will to a French Man without any Title or other Right than the Deed of Gift of the late King and without any Regard to the Right of the Lawful Pretenders is also most Egregious Nonsence To make way therefore to the Case in hand and come at the Questions before us with more Clearness 't is necessary to Examine the Nature and probable Consequences of this Last Will and Testament of the King of Spain 1. As to the Nature of the Thing it seems to be a Tacit Invitation to all the Competitors to a Dangerous and a Bloody War as if the King of Spain shou'd have said to his Privy Council I 'll be revenged on them all for attempting to divide our Dominions for I 'll give it to One that has no Title let the Rest fight for it and the longest Sword take all As to the Duke D'Anjou he has no Manner of Title but what is presumptive on the Death of his Father and Elder Brother without Issue if they should have Children the Emperor of Morocco has as good and perhaps a better Title to the Crown of Spain than He. The Dauphin of France has an Unquestion'd Title to the Crown of Spain if it be True that the Renunciation made by his Father and Mother at the Pyrenaean Treaty cannot bind the Children so as to deprive them of their Right which is the great Argument now us'd to defend their Title Now if their Right be good the Crown is the Dauphin's and after him the Duke of Burgundy's and his Heirs and Dr. Davenant may spare himself the Labour of Writing a long Discourse to defend the Dauphin's Title for we will grant he has an Undoubted Right of Succession But I shou'd be glad to have it answer'd how the Duke D'Anjou can have a Title while the other are alive It cannot be in the Power of the Dauphin to say I will give my Right to my Second Son for I do not think it worth my while to accept of it for my self or my Eldest Because 2. The Consequence of that will in all Probability be this that the Duke of Burgundy's Son when he has One will say again My Grandfather had no Power to give away my Right I am the Undoubted Heir to the Spanish Monarchy and so no Question he will be if the present Dauphin has a Right and if Power be in his Hands to subdue it he will have it tho' the Possession be his Uncle's for Crowns know no Uncles Brothers or any Relations when Power of Possession joyn'd with Right is before them So that the King of France cannot but see that to take the Crown of Spain from the Will and Testament of the late King is Disclaiming the Right of his own Son and Involving his Grandsons in Bloody Wars the Issue of which a Wiser Head than His cannot foresee This leads me to Consider The First Question What Measures the King of France will take with respect to the Succession of the Spanish Monarchy By saying what Measures he will take I mean what He will in all Probability take or what his Interest will lead him to take for I suppose no Man will imagine I am of his Privy Council To debate this Matter 't is necessary to consider the King of France with respect to the Terms He stands in with the rest of Europe If the King of France were Absolute Master of his own Measures and had no Leagues or Neighbours to regard there is no Question to be made but that rejecting all Conditions he would immediately enter upon the Dominions of Spain as his own undoubted Inheritance or at least his Sons annex the same to the Crown of France and make it one Entire Empire and any Man else wou'd do the like But as He has Measures to take with Powerful Neighbours who as Potent as He is are able to give him Diversion enough and if He shou'd embroil himself with them may make it a Hazard whether he should obtain it or no He is too Wise a Prince not to see that his Interest will Oblige him to act in Concert with his Neighbours as far as conveniently He can The Truth of this Argument is abundantly confirm'd in the Measures He took and the Alliances He made before the Death of the King of Spain They who think the King of France so Magnipotent that He values none of his Neighbours and talk so big of him that like His Medal-makers they place him among the Invincibles must have forgot the Siege of Namure and the Vain Effort of the Power of France to relieve it they must pass over his Deserting the Late and Acknowledging the Present King of England at the Peace of Reswick they must overlook the low Steps he was oblig'd to make to draw the Duke of Savoy from the Confederacy how he was unable to save Casall which cost him so much Money how he delivered the Impregnable Town of Pigneroll which his Father call'd the Right Hand of France and which cost him 100 Millions to fortifie how he married the Fortune of France to a Daughter of Savoy without a Portion and bought the Duke of Savoy at the Price of his Grandson's Dishonour how he surrendred the large Dominions of Lorrain and Luxemburgh and
above 100 Fortified Towns to the Confederates which though he were always Master of the Field wou'd cost him Seven Years to recover by the Ordinary Course of Sieges and Attacks These are plain Demonstrations that he found himself over-match'd by the Confederacy and he is not a Man of so little Sence as not to know it Why else in the League now made for the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy shou'd he content himself with the Dominion the Spaniards had in Italy and quit the Delicious Morsel of America to the House of Austria What Reason can any one assign for it but that finding the English and Dutch never to be brought to consent to his being so very powerful at Sea as that Addition wou'd make him he was willing to accept so large a Portion as the Italian Part assign d to him upon Easie Terms rather than venture like the Dog in the Fable to loose all by coveting too much Upon these Terms therefore in Consent with the English and Dutch his Most Christian Majesty has agreed that on the Decease of the King of Spain the Spainsh Monarchy should be thus divided All the Dominions which the Spaniards possess in Italy to be given to the French Millan excepted which is to be given to the Duke of Lorrain in Consideration of the Dutchies of Lorrain and Barr which are to be yielded to the French and all the rest some few Towns on the Frontiers of Navarr excepted to be given to the Arch-Duke of Austria with other Particulars needless to repeat This League being Concluded the King of Spain as if he had linger'd out his Days only 'till it was thus fix'd dyes according to our Account on the 22. October last The Spaniard on pretence that they wou'd not have their Monarchy divided and taking no Notice at all of the Right of any Prince to succeed has made a Legacy of his Kingdoms and given them all away to the Duke D'Anjou a Prince who has no more Right to it or Pretence of Right except as before than the Prince of Wales or the Czar of Muscovy Now 't is a Mighty Disputed Point among our Politicians what the King of France will do in this New Juncture of Affairs whether He will stand by the Partition agreed on or accept of the late King of Spain's Bounty and take the Kingdom as a Gift to his Grandson What He will do as is before noted cannot positively be asserted but what Reason the State and Nature of the Thing and his own Undoubted Interest will dictate to be done by any Prince in his Circumstances any one may judge If He be the same King of France that He has always been who has very rarely took false Measures or baulkt his own Interest if He be guided by the same well-mannag'd Council as he us'd to be He will certainly adhere to the Posculata of his Alliance and quietly accept the Partition of the Spanish Monarchy as it is agreed in the before-mention'd League For By this Acquisition of Italy He secures to Himself the whole Absolute Dominion of the Mediterranean Sea He entirely excludes the House of Austria from any farther Concern in Italy He has the Church so absolutely in his Clutches that He may make himself Pope if He thinks fit and whenever He is pleas'd to be displeas'd with the Petty Princes of Tuscany Parma Modena Mantua c. He can blow them away with the Breath of his Mouth they shall lay down their Principallities at his Invincible Feet and count it more an Honour to be call'd Princes of the Blood or Peers of France than to be Absolute Lords of their own Dominions So He shall whenever He thinks fit re-establish the Old Kingdom of the Lombards and annex it to the Title of France and Navarr And all this without the Expence of Treasure or Hazard of his Armies without fitting out a Fleet or fighting at Sea or on Shore the English and Dutch being assistant to put him into the Possession of it If the Emperor shou'd be so weak to oppose Him He must stand upon his own Leggs and in the present Circumstance his Power does not seem formidable enough to make the Matter doubtful And now we are come to mention the Emperor let us say a Word or Two to those Gentlemen who in his behalf speak big and say he is able to baffle all these Measures First They tell you how powerful the Empire now is by the Acquisition of the Kingdom of Hungary and the most advantagious Peace with the Turk They tell you his Imperial Majesty has an Army of 120 Thousand Men besides the Troops of the Circles which are 80 Thousand more that of these 50 Thousand lye ready on the Confines of Italy and all the rest of his Forces are drawing down to the Rhine that the Duke of Brandenburgh on Condition of being made King of Prussia will joyn him with all his Forces that the Duke of Lunenburgh on account of the Ninth Electorate will maintain 30 Thousand Men at his own Charge and thus all the Princes of Italy are on his side By these they tell you the Emperor will immediately on the one side secure Italy and on the other side make such a Vigorous Diversion on the Rhine that the King of France shall have Work enough to secure his own Dominions while in the mean time the Arch-Duke Charles shall be sent into Spain where the Spaniards who naturally hate the French will immediately proclaim him King Those are great Things indeed and if the Emperor be so strong he may cut out a great deal of Work for the Confederates and I 'll suppose the Emperor should be so blind to his own Interest as to attempt it yet it seems not at all probable that his Imperial Majesty who has hardly been able to support himself this War in Conjunction with the whole Confederacy of Europe should imagine himself capable of putting a Check to the Power of France in Conjunction with England and Holland for whatever he might do in Italy and on the Rhine he would never be able to defend Spain and Flanders if he really had them in Possession First Flanders which has always been maintain'd by the Conjunction of the Dutch would immediately be entred by the Dutch on one side and the French on the other and must fall into their hands with little difficulty Secondly Spain cou'd never hold out against the French by Land assisted with the Naval Forces of the English and Dutch by Sea the Islands of the Mediterranean must submit to the Masters of the Sea and America would lye like the Golden Garland to the Wrestlers to be given to the Conquerors No Man can imagine but the Emperor to whose Son so Considerable a Dominion is allotted will accept of the Partition for his Part especially when he sees how impossible it will be to make better Conditions by force What the English and Dutch are to do if he should remains