Selected quad for the lemma: state_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A35780
|
The Designs of France against England and Holland discovered, or, The intrigues of that crown for the utter ruine of both those nations, laid open.
|
|
1686
(1686)
|
Wing D1177; ESTC R197
|
13,358
|
14
|
when joyned with Profit and Pleasure than to strive for Glory surrounded with difficulties and dangers France knew very well that so long as the Vnited Provinces had no General that Soldiery could not be but in a very bad Condition and incapable of defending them from the Attempts of a powerful Enemy wherefore he took special Care by cunning Practices and false Suggestions exasperating the Minds of the opposite Party to prevent the Prince of Orange's being advanced to those places of Trust and Dignity His Royal Highness is now so deservedly possessed of By this means the States grew daily weaker and weaker their Troops were dissipated their Fortifications neglected their Strongest Holds went to decay their Magazins were unfurnish'd whilst France was raising Troops under-hand and making Secret Alliances with England the Elector of Cologne and Bâ—shop of Munster in order to their final Ruin Du Plessis is much in the right when he saith That a State is not to be judged strong or weak but with relation to the strength or weakness of its Neighbours and that it is upon that score that Wise Princes endeavour to keep themselves as much as they can in equal potse with their Neighbours to the end they continue in Peace and Amity together for as soon as this fails all Peace and Good Correspondence are dissolved as being only grounded upon a mutual fear or esteem for one another Which is so true that a Prudent Prince is always jealous of the least advance or motion of his Neighbour tho in a time of Truce or Peace and is continually upon his Watch endeavouring to be informed of his Designs before they be brought forth for by this means he puts him by his Measures and frustrates his Purposes In which point many Princes and States who are too saving fail very oft and this Covetousness of theirs costs them and their People very dear by occasioning a most Expensive War vvhich at the first by Precaution might have been prevented with a small Matter France is so well Informed of this Truth that they neglect nothing in such Cases and their Ambassadors in all the Courts of Europe are supplied with Moneys for that very purpose who knowing they cannot please their Master better than by Corrupting one or more of the Ministers of the Prince or State at whose Court they reside are Day and Night contriving for it and spare nothing to bring it about Yea when it happens that they cannot prevail with the Man himself they aim at they endeavour to gain his Wife or in case they chance to be so unhappy as to fail there also they condescend to make their Application to some of their Children nay so humble are they and such Slaves to their Master's Ambition that they will not stick to bribe their Servants and furnish them with Moneys proportionable to the Service they are able and willing to do them These are the Maxims that speed their Designs wonderful well in such States as are governed by many Heads as the Vnited Provinces which are a great Bar to the French King in his aim of Conquering the Spanish Netherlands who very well knows that being Master of the one he cannot miss of the other His great business therefore is to lull the States of the Vnited Provinces asleep with a Truce which he will break when he pleases being in hopes that their Forces will in the mean time be neglected in laying out themselves wholly to propagate and encourage Trade and Navigation For that King is well aware that the States being awake and standing on their Guard will never consent to his possessing himself of the Spanish Netherlands at least they ought not to do it since that it is the only Bar and Rampart which hinders France from overwhelming them which they ought therefore by all means to endeavour to preserve whole and entire as one would his Neighbours House from being set on Fire What pains did not Count d' Avaux take to set one Province against the other and to sow Divisions among the Cities of Holland how busie was he at Amsterdam What Proffers or Promises did he spare to bring it about Which is a thing so publickly known from that Ambassador's frequent Journeys to that great City that the very Children were not ignorant of it We must not imagine that Mombas was alone engag'd in his Treason against that State but rather that he escaping into France has left several behind him that walk in the dark and are not yet discovered The best on 't is that Count d' Avaux begins now to be known and his Insinuations not believed he having but too long imposed upon the Credulity and good Nature of many who now perceiving the Cheat will scarcely suffer themselves to be decoy'd a second time And as France was diligent to sow these Divisions and Jealousies amongst them at home so was he no less Industrious in fomenting Differences between England and them as knowing very well that these Neighbouring Powers when joyn'd together are able to give check to his Pride and set bounds to his Ambition How pleasing a sight is it to the French King to see them engag'd against each other and pursuing his Interests at so vast an Expence of their own Blood and Treasure The last War betweeen those two States was some difference about Matters of Commerce and whilst the King of England was Arming the French King offer'd to engage in a Treaty with Holland on purpose to amuse and divert them from putting themselves in a posture of Defence as they soon after perceived when France instead of concluding the Treaty begun with them declared himself for England and whilst the latter Attacked them by Sea he Invaded their Country with a Puissant Army and supposing the Conquest of those Provinces indubitable they had afore-hand divided them amongst themselves England being to have for his share the Maritime Places and France all the rest Amsterdam only proved a Bone of Contention and occasion'd some Difference between them both the one and the other desiring it for his share tho indeed they had no reason to be in a heat about it seeing all this was but reckoning without their Host God preserving it from falling into either of their Hands Thus a Peace being at last concluded with England the Spirit of France was at work again to with draw the States from their Allies and finding that things were about to change face and that the Outch being row sed by a Discovery of the Artifices and Treachery of France began to look about them and their Troops having a good General at the Head of them became considerable and formidable he thought fit for a while to dismiss the Lion and act the Fox restoring Maestricht unto them in order to obtain the Peace of Nimeguen Since which time that King has contented himself to bark afar off and was so apprehensive of the States raising the last 6000 Men that Count d' Avaux spar'd
nothing to prevent it and will do so still as often as the States shall go about to Arm themselves because that would stop the Great Lewis in the full Career of his Conquests and make his Designs to prove abortive I say again that it is the great Concern of Holland not to suffer the Spanish Netherlands to be lost except they desire at the same time to become a prey to the Usurper For how easily will he find an occasion of quarrel with them and if all else fail he will make out his Pretensions and Right to those Provinces for that they formerly belonged to Mary of Burgundy Philip the First Charles the Fift and afterwards to Philip the Second who were without Contest the lawful Possessors thereof and that afterwards rebelling they obtained by force an acknowledgment of their being a free State He will proffer to maintain them in all their Liberties and Priviledges and the free Exercise of their Religion in case they willingly submit to him which if they should hearken to he will by little and little clip their Franchises and remove all Protestants from places of Trust as he has done at home and if they yield not willingly he will attack them with an armed hand as he did in 1672 being sure the Roman Catholick Princes will not oppose him because he has blinded their Eyes with the false pretence of Religion But if the House of Austria be not aware betimes of the Snares he lays for them under these specious Pretexts they will find themselves deceiv'd when it is too late to recall their Inadvertency To return to the Vnited Provinces I say they ought next to God not to rely upon any thing so much as their own Forces and having nothing so much to fear as France they ought to provide and strengthen themselves against his Power chiefly who has for this great while been plotting and contriving their final Overthrow or at least the bringing of them so low as to be forced to depend solely upon and truckle under him It has some time since been observ'd that France has had a strong desire to make Holland listen to the Proposal and Treaty which the Wolf in the Fable made with the Sheep Put away from you said the Wolf to those harmless Creatures your Shepherd and Dog and we will make an Alliance and live in Love and Amity together In like manner says Lewis the Great Dismiss your General and Disband your Old Troops for to what purpose these unnecessary Charges in a time of Peace especially being so well assur'd of our Friendship by the Truce I am engaged in and the word of a King which you may safely rely on that we will live in all Amity and good Correspondence with you But what says the Italian Trust not if thou wouldst not be cheated So that it is still safest for Holland to rely wholly on its own strength and to have always a good Fleet at Sea to serve for Convoy and Cruising besides a Reserve in readiness to join with them in case of need A good Navy may well be call'd the Right hand of that Government being of great use in dispelling many Clouds and ill Designs which France hatcheth against his Neighbours And if ever the States should come to a Resolution continually to keep in Pay a certain Number of Seamen to be ready to be put aboard their Men of War at any time this would produce a double good Effect The first is that the States would always have Men ready at hand upon occasion without the Expence of Trouble and Time in raising them who by their continual Employment would be trained up and well used to the Sea and Naval Conflicts The second is that by this means they would not fail to draw a great number of Seamen from the Neighbouring Coasts continual Pay being no small Encouragement to Mariners to betake themselves to the Service of those that offer it but more especially the States Subjects in Foreign Service would not fail to return to their own Country to enjoy the benefit of being maintain'd all the year round To effect which the States need only to publish a Placaet strictly enjoining all Seamen their Subjects in Foreign Service to return home True indeed it is that the Navy of France will but be little the better for it for I dare affirm they can fit out very few Men of War without putting some Dutch Mariners especially Pilots aboard them as trusting more to their Knowledge and Experience than their own who are oft at a loss in a long Voyage Which good and wholsom Resolution when ever the States shall be please to take you 'l presently see the Spirit of France strangely exasperated and disturb'd and his Ambassador running from one City to another to represent his Master's just Reasons against it But 't is hoped that as the Count d' Avaux has much laid open himself to an obvious discovery by the small Effects his Promises have had hitherto as not being scason'd with the Salt of Truth and Honesty the main thing that keeps up the Credit and Reputation of a Minister in Foreign Countries so he 'l do nothing but catch cold However I cannot deny but the French King is beholden to that Creat Minister for his having inspired a Fondness for France into the minds of several of the States Subjects which their Lordships have no reason to thank him for Besides this France receives no small service from the Jesuits and other Foreign Priests residing in the Vnited Provinces who have Pensions allow'd them to pry into and engage the Inclinations of many there These Spies are in the Prince's Court where they have Friends that serve them on occasion and have the Impudence to boast That they are informed of the very Secrets of the Cabinet How many of this sort of Cattle are there in the States Troops and Garisons who have their Correspondents at the Hague where the General Office of Intelligence is kept as being the Centre of that Government This is a thing that ought to be more narrowly lookt to these Spies being no other but the Emissaries of France who is always restless and spares nothing that may further his Designs I remember that not long since 4 Ducatoons a week were proffer'd a Servant of a Deputy of the State only to report what he heard from his Master at Table or in Conversation with others but the Servant with sharp words rejected the Proffer as became an honest Man This Instance shews that France sets upon People every way and that therefore one had need always to stand upon his Guard to avoid the Blow I have also observ'd that there are another sort of petty Spies that run up and down the chief Towns especially the Hague daily shifting their Ordinaries except they find occasion to stay longer and are in prospect of some advantage to be reap'd there of whom those who are oblig'd to frequent such Houses ought to beware Others intrude themselves into Companies or resort to the Court and go to see the Prince and Princess at Dinner and Supper to hear and see what is said or done there and as soon as they have heard or seen any thing of concern you see them run like Foot boys to the French Ambassador's who for a Reward invites them to stay and eat with him he now entertaining scarce any but such at his Table I could name a dozen of them who to my knowledge are employ'd in this way besides those that do it more secretly and go to the Offering only at Night and through the Stable door Count de Caravas one of these Spies of great Note though in my judgment of as little use was not so cautious who coming from Court would go into the Ambassador's at the Fore-door in the middle of the day to communicate to him his Collections Two persons whom I know to be Jesuits thô in the Garb of Officers resort every day to the Princes Rising Dinner and Supper and continually attend the Court where they have so many Friends or at least so much cunning as to be able to procure their Catholick Friends some Employment who are all Emissaries of France and wholly devoted to the service of that King Others have put themselves to serve even in the Kitchin where such sort of Cattle are very dangerous Therefore I conclude that both the States and Prince of Orange ought in all Respects and at all Times to be very cautious of the wicked and unchristian Maxims and Designs of France the King himself being a false and perjur'd person who under pretence of establishing the Roman Catholick Religion everywhere thô by his wicked Life and breach of Faith he denies all Religion has no other aim but to extend his Dominion to the uttermost Bounds of Europe and to that end destroy first all the Protestant Princes and then the Roman Catholick too that so he may cause himself to be proclaimed not the Emperor of the Romans only but of all Europe and certain it is that nothing can serve him as a Bridge to the Vniversal Monarchy but Holland which from his Versailles he looks upon with a most envious Eye So that the States and People of those Provinces have great reason to mind the advice of our Saviour to the Jews Watch for you know not what hour the Thief will come To which I add Be ready therefore to oppose him when he shall come to break into the House and usurp his Neighbours Territories and be sure to look upon France as a sworn Enemy to Republicks and the Plague and Scourge of all that will not yield their Liberties up to him True it is he sears the States more than he loves them care therefore must be taken to be always in such a condition as may still keep him so and to make him know himself when ever he shall so far forget himself as to meddle with what he has nothing to do All the Remonstrances made by Count d' Avaux as soon as he sees the States putting themselves into a posture of Defence must not be minded as being meerly upon design for we may be sure that Minister would not make them were it not for the promoting of his Masters Interests FINIS