Affairs is altered and nothing of moment is imparted to these They are too happy when His Majesty suffers them to pass some idle and tedious Hours at Versailles or to go to the Camp to be kill'd like private Soldiers Not only matters of State are not communicated to them but they are not suffer'd to be Masters even at home nor so much as consulted concerning the Marriage of their own Children 'T is well known after what manner the Duke of Chartres married Mademoiselle de Blois The Prince to preserve an Office and a Government in his Family and to secure the Fortunes of his Children was forc'd to marry them to Bastards whose Mother's Name would not be permitted to be mentioned in any publick Deed. The Prince of Conty is Master of all those excellent Endowments both natural and acquired with which a Person of his Quality ought to be adorn'd But what Treatment does so rare a Merit procure him at the Court He is left without Command Office or Government while the chief Employments are given to to those that are infinitely beneath him I know some Gentlemen who are oftentimes wont to complain that the Princes of the Blood are not more tenderly touch'd with a sence of their own Disgrace and our Miseries But neither is their Power considerable nor do we merit their Assistance The late Prince inspired with a just Indignation against the French Nobility used to say I put the Sword in their Hands I cry'd out against Tyranny and they answered me with Musquet-shot The Consideration of his Misfortunes has taught our Princes Caution And if any one among 'em should have the Generosity to declare himself the Protector of the Common Interest who could assure us that our Country-men would not still be Fools enough to fight against him The Dukes and Peers and Officers of the Crown are likewise by vertue of their Dignity chief Counsellors of State and have a Right to go to the Parliament when they please Ah! vain Shadow of the Glorious Priviledges of the ancient Peers of France No matter of Importance was transacted without their Consent They remain'd unconcern'd Spectators of the Wars that were begun without their Approbation leaving the King to pursue his own private Quarrels and serv'd him only in those Wars which they judg'd necessary for the common good of the Realm Such is the obedience which the present Princes of Germany pay to the Emperor and you know better than I that the Government of France did very much resemble that of Germany before our King 's had remitted to the Crown those great Fiefs that were dismembred from it during the Reign of Hugh Capet When the King acted contrary to the Priviledges of the Nobility or to the good of the People they did not fail to oppose him they appeal'd to the States-General and enter'd into Leagues among themselves and with the principal Cities to prevent the Execution of the unjust attempts of their Prince Philip Sirnam'd the Long had form'd a design to seize on the fifth part of the Estates of his Subjects under the pretext of reforming or New-coining the Money But the Princes and the Prelates says * Abridgement of Mezeray one of our Historians would not suffer the King's Commissaries to Execute his Orders they appeal'd to the States General and enter'd into Confederacies with the Cities which had so good an effect that the Imposition could not be Levied Do you think that these generous Patriots would have suffer'd a King to seize on the fifth part of all the Coin'd Money in the Kingdom twice in less than Four Years by commanding it Arbitrarily to be new Stamp'd And when did we renounce our Right of having recourse to those means which our Ancestors might lawfully make use of for the preservation of their Estates and Liberties No sooner had Lewis XI mounted the Throne but he began to * Abridgement of Mezeray Govern without a Council and for the most part also without Justice and Reason He fancyed himself an abler Politician than his Predecessors and left no means unessay'd to make himself terrible He chose rather to follow the Dictates of his own unruly Humour than to observe the Wise Laws of the Nation He thought he could not make a nobler use of his Authority than by oppressing his Subjects and that the best way to display his Grandeur was by ruining the greatest Families in the Kingdom and advancing the meanest of the People This is what some call says Mezeray to pass the Mon-age of Royalty and to rule without a Tutor but they ought rather to say without Sense or Reason Thus the King by endeavouring to assume an Arbitrary or Despotick Power irritated the Minds of the Princes of the Blood the Nobility and all true Lovers of their Country who resolv'd generously to shake off the Yoke that they were not accustom'd to bear Charles Duke of Orleans and first Prince of the Blood undertook to represent their grievances to His Majesty in the presence of a numerous Assembly of Persons of Quality who were met at the Court. Accordingly he spoke to the King with all the freedom that his Age Reputation and Quality Authorised him to use But these Remonstrances offended His Majesty and were received with Indignation and Scorn adds the same * Abridgement of Mezeray Historian The good Duke Died with Grief two Days after But not long after the King's Brother the Count of Charolois Son of the Duke of Burgundy the Dukes of Bretaign Calabria Bourbon and Alenzon with several other Princes of the Blood the Duke of Vemours the Counts of Armaguac Dunois S. Pol the Mareschal de Lohear the Lords of Albret Bueil and Chaumont-Amboise and almost all the Nobility and old Officers of the Army enter'd into an Association to oppose the pernicious Designs of the King And this Confederacy was call'd the League of the Publick-Good Lewis was then reduc'd to so great an extremity that if the City of Paris had joyn'd with the League they might have easily driven him out of the Kingdom Our flatterers are wont to call this Confederacy an unlawful Rebellion But Philip de Cominees did not think fit to give it so odious a name he was better acquainted with the Rights both of the Subjects and Sovereigns of Europe Far from that he only blames the United Princes for neglecting to secure the Interests of the People when they made their own Peace with the King * l. 1. c. 2 3. c. The Publick Good says he yielded to private Interest †Abridgement of Mezeray A modern Historian adds that it was agreed to nominate Thirty and Six Persons whom they called Notables consisting of an equal number of the Nobility Clergy and Lawyers who should be impowered to consult together and to fall upon proper Methods to ease the People of their Grievances and to redress the disorders of the State This instance gives us a clear view of the ancient
Sacris defensis exteris Regibus vindicatâ per orbem Christianum Marium libertate Egregiâ Pace virtute armorum partâ You know what a pother the Court made about this Inscription How insolent they are ory'd our flatterers Could the Romans have spoken otherwise after the Destruction of Numantium and Carthage But after all I profess I cannot see the least Reason that could provoke them to make such a hideous noise For there is nothing express'd by these words but what is undeniably true Had not the States General of the United Provinces oblig'd Spain to conclude a Peace with them Had they not asserted their Laws and Religion by force of Arms And had they not preserv'd Liberty of Trade and of Navigation The Inscription of this Medal is infinitely more modest and exactly true than any of those that are to be seen at Verseilles the Town-House the Place des Victoires the Gates of Paris and those Citadels that have been built in Flanders and elsewhere But suppose that there had been really some fault in the Inscription could that be a sufficient Reason for the King to set all Europe on Fire to destroy above Two hundred thousand Men to lay waste more than Fifty Leagues of Land and to ruin his own Subjects Confess with me Sir that the King had more Reason to complain of the indiscretion of his Secretaries for giving him ill satisfaction when they made him say That the glory of France has Excited the envy of the Allies since it may be very easily prov'd that the King himself was jealous of the true and solid glory of a Neighbouring Republick and that his Vexation and Spite excited him to kindle a bloody War which his brace of Historians by their own confession are not able to justifie Quis tuler it Gracchos de seditone querentes However in the opinion of our flatterers it cannot be deny'd that Heaven has blest the King's Reign with such an uninterrupted course of Prosperity that his Neighbours have been mov'd with Jealousy These words Prosperity and the blessings of Heaven are very equivocal and their true meaning is not unfrequently mistaken A happy crime usurps the name of Prosperity and the Fortunate unjustly fancy themselves to be the favourites of Heaven 'T is the Language of Constantinople that the Prosperity with which Heaven had blest the Ottoman Empire excited the Envy of the Christian Potentates that join'd together to carry on an unjust War against the Grand Signior What is the meaning of all this but that God in his just Anger against his People has suffered those Infidels to take advantage of our Divisions and of the weakness of Christian Princes and to lay waste the best Provinces in Europe Those who are call'd Conquerors are usually but the Rods of God whom he makes use of to scourge both their Subjects and their Neighbours He blesses their Reign as he blest of old the Reigns of Sennacherib Nebucbadnezzar Mahomet II and Solyman But the Day of the Lord will come when he shall visit the Pride of the stout Hearts of the Kings of Assur and Babylon He will also raise up a new Warriour and send forth his Anointed and his Shepherd who shall deliver and gather together his disperst People and break to pieces the Rod which God took up in the Day of his Indignation to punish our Sins and scourge us for our back-slidings Be not afraid Sir I beseech you that I intend to turn Prophet Only give me leave to say that we may then and not till then conclude that God has truly blest the King's Reign when we shall see that God has taken him by the Hand to destroy the Nations of the Infidels and to disarm the Enemies of the name of Christ when we shall perceive that the Almighty marches at the head of our Armies to make the King the restorer of Jerusalem and repairer of the Ruins of the Temple of God The Preachers of the Gospel to the shame of our Age be it spoken are the King 's greatest flatterers and but too often have the baseness to tell the King to his Face that he is what he ought and we wish him to be But we have the pleasure to see them publickly contradicted by the Popes themselves 'T is well known that at Rome they are so far from believing the King to be a Prince whom God has wonderfully rais'd up for the Honour and Deliverance of his Church that they speak there of the Wars which he has kindled as they do at Vienna and Madrid and Thank God for his Conquests and Victories no otherwise than they do at London and at the Hague Do the King's Ministers imagine that we are ignorant of the true sentiments of the Pope and Court of Rome and have they not made the King a publick Jest to all the World by making him say with so much confidence that God has blest his Reign and Crown'd him with his greatest favours But we ought to do Justice to all Mankind let us therefore acknowledge to the Honour of the Emperor that God does visibly protect that Prince and that he has lately wrought signal Miracles for him The Turks had besieged his Capital City and he saw himself within an ace of losing the greatest part of his Hereditary Provinces We all trembled for him but God struck the Visier with a Spirit of Infatuation The King of Poland and the Duke of Lorrain had time to come to the relief of Vienna with a Potent Army the Turk lost his best Troops and the Emperor in less than Five Years regain'd almost all that which had cost the Turks above an Age to Conquer in the Kingdom of Hungary What was the countenance of our Court during the siege of Vienna you were asham'd of it as well as I and you spoke of it with Indignation They appear'd very well pleas'd with the Emperors misfortunes they expected impatiently the return of the Courrier who they hop'd would bring the good News of the Surrender of that City and were even making Preparations for the Reception of the Deputies of the Germans who they concluded would come to implore the King's Assistance The King had an Army ready to march into Germany and thought to make himself Master of that Countrey under pretext of assisting it But the raising of the Siege of Vienna at once broke the measures of the Court and of the Divan and overthrew all their Projects And those well-appointed Troops that were design'd for Germany were imploy'd on the Projects of Maintenon where the greatest part of them lost their lives God continued still more and more to bless the Justice of the Emperor 's Arms. He made great Progresses in the Turkish part of Hungary He retook Belgrade and advanc'd even as far as Nicopoli Is it not clear beyond exception that this remarkable course of Prosperity excited the Envy of the King which engag'd him in an unjust War against a Prince that was busied in
LETTERS WRITTEN BY A French GENTLEMAN GIVING A Faithful and Particular Account of the Transactions at the Court of FRANCE RELATING To the Publick Interest of EUROPE WITH Historical and Political Reflexions on the Ancient and Present State of that KINGDOM Communicated by Monsieur VASSOR LONDON Printed And Sold by R. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane 1695 THE CONTENTS OF THE First Letter INtroduction Page 1 An Account of some Considerations that might have deter'd the French King from imposing Arbitralily a General Poll-Tax on his Subjects Page 2 The Injustice of such an Imposition further demonstrated Page 3 That notwithstanding all these Reasons the Edict for that Taxation will pass at all adventures ibid. That the French are tamer Slaves than either the Romans of Old or the Danes at present Page 4 The Motive that makes the French King endeavour to enslave England and Holland Page 5 That the Poll-Tax is the last Refuge of the French Court Page 6 A Remark upon the Inscriptions on the Gates of Paris ibid. That the Poll-Tax will not raise such vast Sums as the Emissaries of that Court give out Page 7 That the Countrey is extreamly impoverished and the King's Revenues very much diminished Page 7 8 That the present Misery of the French Nation is too great to admit of any Alleviation from the Prospect of better times to come Page 9 That none dare presume to Petition the King to Assemble the Estates of the Kingdom ibid. That according to the Primitive Constitution of the French Government the Soveraign Authority was lodg'd in the States General of the Nation Page 10 That the Power of the Prince was limited among the ancient Gauls and other Northern Nations Page 11 That the French have still a just Title to their ancient Priviledges ibid. A Comparison between the ancient and present condition of the Princes of the Blood illustrated by some particular instances Page 12 13 An Account of the ancient Priviledges of the Dukes and Peers of France Page 13 That they had a right to oppose the unjust Designs of the Prince by entering into Leagues against him Page 14 The History of the League of the Publick Good against Lewis the XI Philip de Cominees Opinion of that Confederacy Page 16 That the same Custom was and is observed by several other Nations Page 17 That the present Dukes and Peers of France do only enjoy a shadow of the Priviledges of their Ancestors Page 18 Of the ancient Authority of the Parliament of Paris and of the gradual encroachments of the Crown upon it Page 18 19 An Exhortation to that Body to imitate the illustrious Example of their Predecessors and the chief President la Vacquierie under Lewis the XI Page 20 That the Courage of the Nation may be easily reviv'd by their Example Page 21 A brief view of the State of France with relation to Impositions under the Reign of several Princes Page 23 24 An Account of the immense Sums that are exacted by the Ministers of the present King Page 24 Of the stupidity of the French who strive to encrease the Power of their Oppressor ibid. That the Forces which the King maintain'd in time of Peace made him more terrible at Home than Abroad Page 25 That his present numerous Armies are more fatal to his Subjects than to his Neighbours ibid. The Conclusion Page 26 THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Letter OF the blind Submission of the Parliament of Paris to the Orders of the Court. 27 The present Misery of the French Nation compar'd with that of the Romans under Domitian 28 An Account of some extravagant Rhodomontadoes in the Preface to the French King 's late Declaration 28 29 Of the ridiculous Vanity of that Expression in it that the Glorious State of France has excited the Envy of its Neighbours 29 Of the true meaning of that Phrase 30 That it was the Injustice of that Monarch's Attempts that excited the indignation not the Envy of his Neighbours 31 Of the Glorious and Happy Condition of the United Provinces when they were invaded by the French King 31 32 Reflections on the unjustice of that War and on a Solaecism in a Letter from the French King to the States General 32 A Justification of the Medal that was the pretended Cause of the War 33 That the Prosperity of Tyrants ought not to be call'd a Blessing from Heaven upon them 34 Of the shameful Flatteries of the French Clergy and the juster sentiments of the Court of Rome 35 Of the prosperous Success of the Emperor's Arms in Hungary and the impious Designs of the Court of France during the Siege of Vienna 35 36 That in all the Wars since the Pyrenaean Treaty the French King has been always the Agressor and is guilty of all the Desolations and Blood-shed that has been occasion'd by them 38 Of the Difference between a Conqueror and a Robber 39. Of the Queen 's pretended Right to Brabant and Hainault of the Validity of her Renunciation and of the Injustice of the King's Irruption into the Spanish Netherlands in pursuance of that Claim 39 40. That 't is lawful to oppose a Neighbouring Prince who strives to aggrandize himself by unjust Methods 41 That 't was barbarous in the King to kindle a bloody War against the Hollanders meerly upon the account of a Medal which they also had taken care to suppress 42 Of the Intolerable arrogancy of some Parisian Inscriptions 43 Of the Satyrs of the Dutch Gazettier that provok'd the Court of France 43 The French King's Expedition against Holland compar'd with that of Theodosius against Antioch 44 That it was not a Zeal for Religion that prompted the King to invade Holland 45 That Subjects are obliged not to assist their Soveraign in the prosecution of an unjust War prov'd out of Grotius 47 That they ought even to refuse their Assistance when the Case appears doubtful demonstrated out of the same Author 48 That the Justice of the French King's Attempts must not be measur'd by their Success 50 That after all he had no Reason to boast of the Success of that famous Campagne 51 That he ow'd his Victories to the Skill and Experience of his Generals and not to his own Valour 51 Of the difference between Summer-Heroes and the pretended Heroe of all Seasons 52 That the French King acquir'd not any real and solid Glory at the Sieges of Mons and Namur 53 What Opinion after Ages will have of all his Victories and Conquests 54 THE FIRST LETTER SIR YOU are pleased to desire an Account of my Thoughts concerning that General Poll-Tax with which we are threatned And to invite me to make you the Confident of my Sentiments on this occasion you have said enough to convince me that I was not mistaken in believing that you agree with me in esteeming it our Honour to be of the number of those True Frenchmen who continue still to be Lovers of their Country For so long as there shall be Men of Sense and