Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A57045
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A representation of the present affairs and interests of the most considerable parts of Europe, more especially of those of the Netherlands as they now stand, in the beginning of the year 1677. Laid open in a letter from Holland. By a lover of truth and peace.
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Lover of truth and peace.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing R1106; ESTC R206033
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22,257
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32
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8. chap. of l. 3. of his memorialls in case so many Soveraignties were joyned with that Crown This matter should be wonderfully taken to heart Witness Philip de Comines And there is no doubt but the English people would liberally contribute to that undertaking after their old custom yea were it to carry an Army into France as King Edward did requiring King Louis XI to render him the Kingdom of France that was his own that he might redress the State of the Religion and the Nobles and restore to the people their old Liberties and take off the great charge and vexation under which they groaned Comines chap. 5. of lib. 4. I wonder very much that the like design was not formed two years ago when the Inhabitants of Ghienne and Bretagne stretched out their arms to England for to tast under the conduct of the Duke of York or Monmouth the sweetness of an English Government which they wish for unto this day Do the English want Motives to excite them hereunto I beseech you what shall after such French Conquests become of the English Commerce is not that sufficiently ruined or lamentably decayed already The Hamburgh-trade is upon the matter quite lost as to the English manufactures which in times of peace were sold into Germany Pomerania and other adjacent Countreys and so also is the Dort-trade lost by which the Spanish Netherlands and the parts of Germany which ly that way were wont to be supplyed with English Cloath by reason whereof those English Manufactures as Cloath Serges Bayes c. which formerly gave 50. per piece are now sold for 35. or 37. at the highest which proves so great an evil to England that those Cloathiers which formerly employed 400 persons at work have not now work for 20 persons which hath caused the price of Wool to fall 40. per Cent cheaper than heretofore and the people are forced to steal it out of England and sell it to the French who with the same make Serges and other Stuffs to the dammage and utter loss of the English trade The complaints of this kind are every where heard as also of that palpable cause of this decay in Commerce from the taking roving plundering confiscating of so many English ships by the French within a short time the Value whereof with their Loadings is inaestimable and thereupon the provocations and grievances unsufferable But above all the English ought to cast their eyes upon and provide a remedy for the great strength and encrease of the French Ships which trouble all Navigation at present and what shall they do when they shall come to dispose Deus avertat omen God forbid it of the Navall Forces of Holland and of their riches in the Indies And more particularly is to be considered what shall become of the English Traffick in the Mediterranean Sea There is no Merchant that know's not how absolutely necessary the English Trade is with Spain as also with Smyrna and all those parts to which we must pass through those Mid-land Seas but how can that be maintaind if the French should make a Conquest of Cicilia Naples and Sardinia Let but in spection be made into their proceedings at Messina where besides what they have gained at Land they have now at Sea 25. Galleys and 50. great vessels menof war and a great number of others less but very commodious for transport of Soldiers and provisions they being absolute Masters and Dominators in those Seas whereto gives no small advantage the Commodity of their Ports of Marseilles and Toulon which are not far distant from whence succours and provisions may be sent to refresh them in Messina in less than eight days time and by consequence they may soon be Masters of those Islands and afterwards of the Kingdom of Napels for the Faction of Anjou that is of France is not all extinguished there and then can the French when they will ruin the navigation of the Northern Inhabitants who have there neither Ports nor Galleys which are two things very necessary in those Seas because of the great Calms which in Summer time are often met with there These Considerations with many more call aloud to the English Nation to awaken and help themselvs and us For a Conclusion I propose two particular ways for the further engaging of England to come into our help First that a true and firm Union may be cemented between England and Holland the Expedient of the so much discoursed of Marriage between Our Prince of Orange and Madam Maria daughter of the Duke of York ought to be endeavoured that it may speedily be effected His Highness ought to sollicite it with ardour and passion after the Example of Charles the Stout Duke of Bourgondy and Lord of the Netherlands who married the Sister of King Edward of the House of York for to fortifie himself against King Louis XI who had got advantage against him so much by surprizes and deceits in time of peace Phil. de Comines Chap. XI lib. 3. of his Memor like as our Frenchmen did in the year 1667. for otherwise he would never have don it for the great love he bore to the House of Lancaster whereof he was a near Relation by his Mothers side If therefore so great a Prince that followed rather the incitements of his anger than of reason sacrificed the interest of his House to the publick welfare what shall not Our Illustrious Prince who is so wise and Politique do to attain that design or end so necessarie for the saving of the Netherlands unto the preservation whereof that of England is in separably annexed For in case the French should now become Masters of the Spanish Netherlands will it not follow then that Holland and the other United Provinces shall be constrained at last to take upon them the same yoke and suppose the Hollanders could maintain themselvs with some assistance from England and Germany yet would they not be always the continual Theater and seat of war but rather at last submit themselvs to the great and mighty King of France in hopes to enjoy without fear of any Enemy a perfect tranquility and long continuing Rest A present hearty Conjunction between England and Us therefore is the present needfull to which the foresaid Marriage seems to be a proper medium for the accomplishing whereof the blessing of the Almighty is earnestly implored that he who straitneth and enlargeth Kings Kingsdoms and Common-wealths that limits the Grandees of the Earth putting a hook in their nostrils that maketh warrs to cease on the earth and setteth up the oppressed and the lowly will if it may stand with his good pleasure make this marriage of our great Prince with that Illustrious Princess Mary to become successfull for those righteous and happy ends that not onely by this great knot the hearts of those two Grand personages may be more united but also that the Two Nations may concur and conspire with more harmonie courage and activitie to procure a good peace for the rest and tranquilitie of Christendom and particularly of England and the Netherlands a peace I mean not coloured over nor plaistered and such as the French when the Allies shall be disarmed and separated shall presently break and so again surprize the Netherlands who indeed ought to be always in posture of defence and who when the ballance shall be kept equall in Europe ought to serve for a bank and barr against the inundations and attempts of this unquiet and imperious Nation Secondly As to a sure Asylum under our Almighty Protector We would address to the Renowned Parliament of England now beginning their Session Upon them are at present the eyes of all the Considerable and Considering Parties of Europe Ill men are jealous and conceive fears concerning them Good men hope for great advantages from their grave and wise Councels The loud clamours of the innumerable injuries don by the French to the honest Subjects of England in their Commerce more ways than one to their inestimable dammage we know have reached their ears and the sad state of these Lands with all the present evils and future dangers I have mention'd in this Letter cannot be unknown to them the Sympathy of their affections with our miseries and the identity of their Cause with Ours will we hope effect so much that Their Wisdoms will propose vote direct order and conclude of such ways and means whereby the sober Inhabitants and particularly the Trading Party of England may with Us be extricated out of this Labyrinth in which we are bewilder'd that at last we may arrive at such a state of just freedom and safety as may excite us with them to render to the God of wonders hearty praise and thanksgiving for his wonderfull deliverances and preservations for which you have the concurrent Vote of Sr Yours c.
oalamità delle quali si può dire che per diversi accidenti habbia dipoi participato una gran parte del mondo par les prodiges qui presageoient cette guerre d'incredibile timore si riempivano i popoli spaventati gia per la Fama della potentia de Francesi c. And indeed King Charles the VIII made himself Master of the Kingdom of Naples in few days by the terrour of his Arms doing it by assault burning the Mount Sr. Iohn passing with his sword through all that was to be found an unheard of Case in those times and he soon lost it again afterwards by his negligence and too little care he had to preserve it But We must not now so flatter ourselvs Their present Monarch know's no less how to conserve than to conquer Provinces If we do but observe the marches of this Imperious Nation on the borders of Germany there we shall see Alsatia turned out of the hands of the Almains and joyned to their Crown a Duke of Lorrain driven out of his own Land 3. Bishops viz. Thoul Metz and Verdun dismember'd from the Empire which He Keeps in continuall divisions and agitations by his Emissaries by his intrigues and by his corruptions Lastly Descending to the Netherlands the Principall Subject of our Discourse It is to be considered in what manner the French have en deavoured to bring them into that miserable Condition wherein we see them at this day and to discover the true cause of their maladies to this end We must have recourse to the reign of Louis the XI King of France who by his subtilty and deceits ruined Charles the Stout Duke of Burgondy and Lord of all the Netherlands stirring him up new Enemies from time to time who at last gathered together before Nancy where he lost his life and his people all their welfare which since that time they never could recover Some years before this Prince who possed Bourgondy all the Netherlands and the Citie Paris being then a Frontier of the Kingdom of France almost whole Picardy did bridle by his intelligence and courage the ambition of this King so full of artifices but because for easing of his people he was not provided with a good and well ordered Militia he came to be surprized by the Other who by his horrible exactions of taxes and laying impositions upon his people was always accompanied and encompassed with a great quantity of armed men the which gave him means and therewith desire to extend his limits in despite of his Neighbours but the matter was well enough ballanced untill the death of Charles the Stout whose death caused to his people an abyss of calamities and miseries seeing Louis the XI at that time kept to himself Bourgondia whole Piccardy Arras and many other considerable places He likewise always amused the English after the death of the said Duke to the end they should not hinder him in the conquests of those Lands Yet by the marriage of Mary of Bourgondy Heyress of the Netherlands with Maximilian of Austria Philip. de Comines Chapit second du 6. Livre as also by the loss of the battel of Guinegate the French could not execute their design to bring under their power the Seventeen Provinces which yet they might very easily have joyned to their Crown The same Author 12. Chap. of the 5. Book by a marriage of their Dauphine with the said Damsel Mary of Bourgondy if the good God had not blinded Louis de XI and taken away his senses and hereby was the way to the Universal Monarchy wonderfully made plain clear for Philip the Fair Son of Maximilian and for Charles the Fifth Then again the Netherlanders took a little breath howbeit They were often incommodated by the invasions of the French who nevertheless found themselvs not in posture to undertake any thing against their Neighbours because of the Parties and leagues which soon after were formed in the bosom of that Kingdom And yet however hindred by so many cruel civil warrs the French quickly recovered again and retook very much vigour by the courage and wise conduct of Henry the Great The Netherlands having been in that intervall always rent by a perpetuall warr in the bowells of their Provinces but all that was not capable of ruining them there was need of the engins of a Cardinal de Richelieu for an absolute abasing of them and reestablishing the French in their ancient splendour and making them after the reduction of Rochel and suppressing those of the Refored Religion to follow on in the footsteps of their glorious Ancestours taking the way of Charlemagne unto the Monarchy to which end they must throw down or debase the greatness of the House of Austria now prodigiously encreased more by Marriages than by Arms which fell out exceeding well He leaving behind him a worthy Successour the Cardinal Mazarin for to atchieve the prosecution of his Designs who would not have missed to emport the Netherlands in case it had not then been prevented by the Queen of France Anna d' Austria who did oblige him to make a marriage between the King Louis XIV and the Infanta of Spain and at the same time to conclude the peace of the Pirenées by which means the rest of the then staggering Netherlands was preserved then were affairs in a tolerable state whereof the good Subjects wished a long continuance and confirmation having begun to tast the sweetness of the Peace When yet in the year 1667 without any denunciation or reasonable cause of war upon a weak cause and pretext of a Custom of Devolution of Fief upon the Children of the First Marriage practised in Brabant and other places in particular houses which had never been confirmed by the Soveraign nor used in Families of Princes the French as an effect of their enterprizing humour invested the best Cities of those Lands the rest whereof cannot maintain themselvs otherwise than by miracles But this deservs a more particular Examination The King Louis XIV having conceived an unchangeable design of reaching hard for the Monarchy of the greatest part of Europe or at lest to limit his Kingdom by the Alpes the Pirenées the Mediterranean Sea the Ocean and the Rhine judging that the Netherlands now in a state of welfare and comliness might serve for a wall of planks for the further propagating of his Conquests Did in the Moneth of May in the year 1667. in time of a full peace without any subject of rupture with Spain and notwithstanding good and positive assuranees of good correspondence and friendship given by his Ambassadour at Madrid march with an Army of 50000 men for to take possession so as they could and not make war of the Netherlands devolved by the death of Philip the IV. King of Spain upon the Queen his Wife and therewith He approached Charleroy which the Spanjards had abandoned because it was not in a State of defence But the