Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A29595
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The interest of England in the present war with Holland by the author of The Dutch usurpation.
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De Britaine, William.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing B4808; ESTC R6810
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10,083
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31
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them plume themselves in their Successes and triumph in their Grandeur if it be once admitted that Grandeur and Successes be true signatures of Heavens favour I shall forbear as an ingenious Gentleman said any longer to think Mahomet an Impostor and must receive the Alcoran for Gospel They are the greatest Patrons of Schism in the world For my part I 've ever had a serious abhorrency of that sin being against a main Article of my Faith the Communion of Saints which makes the Church Militant and Triumphant one Parish Here they give the people Liberty of Conscience as they call it But as to their Estates they make them the greatest slaves in the world witness the Fetters they lay upon them by their Taxes Their Government is ill in its Original but worse in its Progress if God and the Wisdom of Princes do not prevent And therefore I 'm confident nothing can so much establish peace in Christendom and make the Belgick people happy as to reduce them under the obedience of a good Prince But many of those men think that a Prince is as unfit a person to govern them as Caligula's Horse was to be a Consul and you may as soon Convert a Jew to be a Christian as perswade some of them to be Loyal And therefore it was Oracularly said by a Wit of theirs That a Prince will bring an eternal ruin upon them and their Posterity and they are to be accounted Inter homines damnatae memoriae for the scum of the earth and to be remembred with curses and abominations who shall but once entertain a thought of setting up a Prince over them I know says one this will displease the King of Great Britain yet his displeasure is no more to be valued by us then his Alliance for all Alliance with England is unserviceable to Holland and even those Alliances which we shall be press'd into for fear of a War with England Bravely said These people are like unto the middle Region of the Air which maketh her Thunderbolts against the Earth out of the Exhalations she draws from the Earth it self England may complain as the Eagle in the Emblem Heu patior telis vulnera facta meis But the wrongs and insolencies of our Enemies more then our own discretions may sometimes make us both wise and fortunate Is his Majesties Alliance unserviceable unto them well we may from these men observe That the more a Prince weakneth himself by giving the poorer he is of Friends Their Fishing upon the British Ocean which is by his Majesties Favour is the only basis of their Greatness If his Majesty would be pleased to assume that to himself as he hath Right and Power and suffer none to Fish there but such as should come with their Wives and Families and live in our Sea-Towns here in England that great Colossus of their Hogan-Mogan-ship must suddenly decline for 10000 Vessels at least by them imployed in the Fishery would presently decay their Mariners want imployment and not fewer then 300000 people thereby imployed by Land would want support And for default of the Fish they take upon the British Seas to fraught their Ships they would not be able to maintain the tenth part of the Ships and men they now set forth to Sea thereby their Revenues and Customs would become small their Intrado would never support their ordinary charges their Excise must fail their Trade to the East-Indies and elsewhere must faint the people who now subsist by their Manufactures and contribute to the charges must be supported by them which they are never able to do or else they must quit their Country for want of maintenance and come into England where they will be sure to be kindly receiv'd and grow rich Its an humble Address to his Sacred Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to set up the imployment of the Fishery for then we should establish our Security and Trade upon our own foundation the art and power of our greatest Enemies cannot take it from us It s a Treasure equal to that of both Indies in the Riches Consequence and Circumstances of it Insomuch as if we do but improve that all other Trades will follow For our Fish will not only furnish us with such Foreign Commodities as we our selves want but besides large returns in mony may store us with quantities of all sorts to supply other Nations It would exceedingly increase his Majesties Revenues and be of more advantage to his people then all other Commodities or Manufactures which they export and vend It would be an excellent School and Nursery of Mariners and Navigators not only for Sea-service but for discovery of Foreign parts to vend our Native Commodities And thereby the Nation would be much strengthned by Sea and enriched by Land both for our own safety and terror of our Enemies And indeed wisdom of State obliges us not to let a Neighbour grow too powerful at Sea for when his Majesty ceases to be absolute Master of the British Seas and with his Trident Scepter to give Laws we must receive them from others And how great a diminution this will be to the grandeur and prosperity of this Nation let wise men gravely consider When England hath been the Counter-balance which time out of mind hath held the Scales between the great Monarchies of Europe for the safety of the rest And I doubt not yet to behold his Majesty culminant in the highest Orb of Glory and his Dominions fix'd upon the Center of a flourishing Happiness His Majesty hath an Imperial Name it was Charles that brought the Empire first into France a Charles that brought it first into Spain Why should not Great Britain have his turn It is a great advantage which England hath by reason of her many safe and secure Harbours and Narrowness of the Seas for all Ships which go from East to West or from West to East are compelled because of the dangerousness of the French Coasts except it be exceeding fair weather to make use of the English Harbours His Majesty being Sovereign of these Seas can at pleasure command and seize all Ships passing there especially the Westerly Winds of those Seas lying on this side the Tropick and blowing almost continually do give his Majesty a great deal of conveniency to go to Sea when he pleaseth So that all the Voyages of the Hollanders to the East and West-Indies Spain the Streights and other places upon his Majesties Seas his Majesty being in hostility with them may be interrupted their Ships taken and their Voyages obstructed And by consequence the ruine of that Trade of the Hollanders between the East and West must necessarily follow And in case of a War England may get more Booty from the Hollanders then they from England His Majesty making War against them by Sea and Land ruine and confusion must speedily attend them in respect of the vast