same cause of the Incompatibilitie of these two Successions This Marriage and consequently this Renunciation which was the ground-stone of it hath been so much celebrated by the French Authors that in the Book of James de Bie of France Metallick is seen ingraven on the backside of a Medall of Gold Lewis the XIIIth holding Elizabeth of Austria by the hand with this Inscription AETERNAE FOEDERA PACIS But the rapid motion of France is inconsistent with the fixed point of Eternity Spain which presupposed the same Sinceritie to be in others which she found in her self gave ear to this Offer believing that by this Precaution the Laws of Spain might be reconciled with the Salique Law and the Liberty of their People and the Authority of their ancient Government be fully secured France It is certain by the Act of Renunciation and by the Contract of Marriage that in Agreement beâ—â—â—â—t the two Kings did precede the said Renunciation which acknowledged that the thing was just and had been formerly in use put her hands fully to it because of the great good which would redound unto her by a Peace which did establish her in so many Conquests The Instrument of it was drawn by common Consent and the most Christian King obliged himself to Ratifie it and cause it to be Enrolled in the Parliament of Paris presently after the Marriage And this Agreement was all the Foundation of the Peace which was immediately thereafter concluded Things being thus concerted between the Parties the King who had a Passion for this Princesse which surpassed all the Reasons of State would conclude nothing without her Approbation and therefore did put into her hands the decision of her Fortune On the one side he represented to her the Crown of France and the Person of the most Christian King with all the Advantages which do render him so worthy of esteem and on the other side a doubtful Succession which indirectly looked towards her to one of the greatest and most powerful Monarchies of the World Made known to her those irrevocable Laws which could not suffer that these two Kingdoms should be united into one and did not permit that she should retain her hopes and her Rights in the one if she preferred to it the possession of the other That he left it to her entire disposition to chuse of these two incompatible things that which she should find most agreeable to her Genius and most suitable to her Fortune This Generous Princess who had been educated in an Inclination for France and had a sufficient esteem for the Person of the most Christian King to prefer it before all the Kingdoms of the World and who stung with a very noble Ambition not to despise so beautiful a Throne as that of France did not stick to embrace the better and the more advantageous Bargain She freely renounced what could never be hers but by the death of those whom she loved as much as her self to accept of a Good much more precious in her esteem then that which she abandoned she quitted the doubtful and the future for what was certain and present hopes for realities and renounced most generously those Pretensions which she abhorred since they were but impediments to the accomplishment of her desires and to her good fortune Nor can it be doubted of without doing her injury but that if it were yet at her election to re-enter again into her Rights by quitting the Good she doth possess she would as willingly ratifie this Act to keep and enjoy it as she did freely sign to obtain it Upon this true Narration and upon the Act of Renunciation as also upon the XXXIII Article of the Treatie of Peace divers Reflexions may be made and Principles established which will overthrow from the foundations all those of the contrary partie The first is That this Treatie of Marriage and this Renunciation is an essential member of the Peace and though they be digested into different Instruments they do all notwithstanding make up but one Treatie as it is expresly declared in the said XXXIII Article wherein speaking of the Contract of Marriage to which they refer themselves these words following are added Which though it be separated hath the same force and vigour that the present Treatie of Peace hath as being the principal part thereof and the most precious Pawn of its greater security and lasting Secondly That as well the said Treatie of Peace as that of the Marriage are Contracts of sincere Faith and not of strict Law and that for the rule and ground of their subsistence and Interpretation we must referre our selves to the Causes and Ends which both sides did propose to themselves in Treating and the Utilitie which arises from thence to the publick good Thirdly That these are Treaties betwixt two Great Monarchs who are not subject to any particular Laws It is clearly explained in the Act of Renunciation nor dependent on the Customs of Places That they are fundamental Laws of the one and the other State which are not to be measured but by the Laws of Nations 't is a natural Obligation which they contract which cannot be broken by any Civil Law I. Jura naturae de Reg. Jur. it is properly the indispensable Law of Sovereigns which they can never violate nor alter without Injustice nor correct but by common Consent They are above particular Laws they can change and augment them at their pleasure as the Codes Henry and Lewis But these which tie them to an Equal with a reciprocal knot and which are the foundation of the publick Tranquillity can never receive any other form then that which the publick Seal hath imprinted upon them The Princes who are absolute Sovereigns when they do act as such have but two ways to terminate their Quarrels Arms and Treaties The first is but a means to attain to the other but if the latter have not a solid and immovable foundation and if it be permitted to break it upon the least Subtilities of private Right there is no more Securitie in the World and it is to reduce it to its first Confusion which gave occasion to the bringing in of Kings and Magistrates to hinder that force might not be the sole Arbiter of Differences Now as Princes are established to remedy this disorder among their Subjects so are Treaties likewise introduced to work the same effect among Princes so they are their Judges and their Magistrates to which they ought entirely and absolutely to submit themselves as they pretend that their proper Subjects are submitted to them France admits of no Prescription to the prejudice of the Royal Domaine she receives no Judges nor Processes there is nothing then but publick Treaties which can bound her Pretensions which do extend themselves almost over all Europe If she be suffered to exclude even this there will be no other means remaining but that of Force which silences all Laws and Kings shall put themselves
absolutely out of all Commerce Fourthly That this Renunciation is the Soul and the inseparable Condition of this Treatie of Marriage without which it had never been either designed or concluded nor consequently the Treatie of Peace as is expressed in the Article before cited Fifthly That it proceeds not from the bare motion of the deceased King or a particular inclination of his towards the Children of the Second Bed but out of an inevitable Necessity flowing from the Salique Law and the unjust Extention which France doth make of it to all the States which Fortune hath put into her power this Necessitie and the other of the Publick good with the conservation of this August Familie reduced the Infanta to the condition of never being able to be Queen of France but by this Renunciation Sixthly This is evident by the Act of Renunciation fol. 17. That there 's no constraint nor violence on her Father's part whose Sweetness and natural Moderation have so eminently shined throughout the whole course of his life not onely towards his faithful Subjects but likewise towards his Enemies and Rebells that many conceived it did reach unto excess It is not to be presumed that the same heart which had in it an inexhaustible treasure of Bountie toward all the rest of the World should have nothing but Rigour and Hardness for a Daughter who was the Centre of his choicest delights If there had been any Constraint the effects would have been seen by some Complaint or Action of the Infanta's and if her respect to her Father did hold them up her Discontent would have appeared in her eyes and in her face the troubles of the Soul what care soever is taken to hide them do imprint a character outwardly which betrays the secret of the Heart Never was any seen to go to a Wedding with more visible signs of satisfaction She signed this Act with so pleasant a Resolution that it was easie to observe she much more esteemed what she was to acquire then what she lost thereby and the Tears which she shed at this day for this War of which against her mind they do make her the innocent Pretext witness sufficiently that she disapproves of the Cause of it as much as she detests the Effects and are authentick ratifications of the free Consent which she gave to this Renunciation If she had done it unwillingly she would not have failed to have made Protestations against it as soon as ever she found her self in a condition to declare without fear and with the applause of all France the true thoughts of her minde She her self will confess without doubt that it was neither Respect nor Obedience no nor Complacencie but the free choice of her own Inclination and Prudence That the King her Father neither employed his Paternal power nor Royal Authority nor Command nor Threats nay not so much as Persuasions to induce her thereunto but that he satisfied himself by proposing nakedly the state of Business to her that he might leave to her self the entire decision That of the two parts she made choice of the most advantagious and the most fitting That she never repented of this Choice and would to day doe the same thing again without any kind of hesitation if she were in the same condition in which she was then From whence it may be concluded that this Act having been made without any kind of Fear or Violence it cannot be called in question by reason of any exception of the Civil Laws Qui metum non intendit Promissio validè fiet nec scrutabimur quid aut quatenus ejus intersit quae Juris Romani sunt subtilitates Grot. lib. 3. cap. 19. de Jure Belli Seventhly That there is no Laesion seeing that she acquires a greater Benefit then that which she hath renounced not being able to possess them both together by an irremediable repugnancie It was then a kind of Permutation rather then a Cession because she gave to obtain and quitted to get The Laws give no rise to an entire Restitution where the condition of the Minor is rendred more advantagious by the Contract and do permit in this case Alienations even of the Goods of Pupills It is almost impracticable in the Contracts of Kings to prove the Laesion and determine the legal Portion with its just weight which cannot be verified but by the valuation of the Goods the inevitable Expences must be deducted and the necessary Charges their affairs are involved into so many Intrigues charged with so many Obligations and Costs that to consider it in its rigour there remains very little unto them whereof they can freely dispose and by the ordinary Rules it is impossible to set a price upon their Estates It is for this reason that they are accustomed by a practice received among Monarchs to give unto the Daughters a certain summe of Money which serves instead of a legal Portion without ever coming to any other rating of Goods which cannot be justly valued The most Christian Kings do practice this towards the Daughters of France He of England used the same way towards the Dutchess of Orleans our King towards his The Princes of Italie and Germanie have the same Custome without ever speaking of Supplements legal Portions or Laesions which are properly the Actions of private persons unworthy the Greatness of Monarchs who never act for Profit but for Reason of State Moreover we must consider as I have said this Marriage not as a private Contract but as a Member of the Treatie of Peace which necessarily relates to all the other Conditions By the said Treatie and consequently in consideration of the said Marriage are granted unto the most Christian King a great quantity of Provinces and States which do so notably increase his Dominions much exceeding the value of whatever the Queen of France can pretend for her legal Portion and this Concession doth redound to the advantage and to the Greatness of the Queen of France by that inseparable conjunction which unites all her Husband's Interests with hers Whence it follows that this Cession ought to suffice her in the place of her legal Portion since the Marriage was made in favour of the Peace and the Peace in consideration of the Marriage and that they are two indivisible things which could not have being the one without the other and so strongly chained together that the Conditions of the Marriage are included in the essence of the thing if the Cause the End the Effects and the whole Context of the Negotiation be considered 'T is in vain that they alledge that they have acquired them by the right of Arms and that they were in a condition to drive us to Extremities and would have us esteem it a grace to have spoiled us but of a half 't is too much to presume on their good fortune and to dispose too absolutely of the success of Arms of which God alone hath reserved the events to his Providence
of Portugal was carefully to be nourished to consume by a slow fire this Monarchie and keep at the same time Portugal in their Dependencie by the necessity of their Assistance A War must be raised between England and Holland and prolonged by a thousand Artifices to get themselves elbow-room to Invade the Low-Countries whilst these two great Powers should be drowned in Bloud to their reciprocal Ruine It was held requisite to sow the Seeds of Division in the Empire by the means of particular Leagues which under colour of the Good of the Peace of Germany have no other End then to facilitate the Invasion of it and hinder Assistance to be given to one of its most precious Members A powerfull Faction likewise was to be raised in Poland to keep all the Princes of the North under check and a part of the Emperour's Forces unusefully imployed in the Gard of his Frontiers To seem indifferent to both Religions it was necessary one while to assist the Elector of Mentz against those of Erfort and then the Elector Palatine against Mentz and to seek everywhere their Advantages in the Troubles of others I cannot here omit one fresh Example which makes much to my purpose though I foresee that it will occasion as much horrour in the Reader as it hath done to my own Pen. France by virtue of a Treatie of Warrantie with the States of the United Provinces after divers unusefull Requisitions made by the said States found her self at last obliged by her Interest to make some shew of an inclination to imbrace their Defence against England This Treatie of reciprocal Warrantie expresly contains that the Allies should not so much as treat and much less conclude any Peace with the Common Enemie or Truce without the consent of the other and without procuring the same Satisfaction for their Allie which he should obtain for himself The States of the United Provinces did so scrupulously adhere to this Obligation that notwithstanding the little Reality of the French Succours against England and the considerable Advantages which they could have found by Treating apart they would never lend an ear unto any Proposition of this nature France on the contrary alwaies held a Negotiation open by the means of the Earl of S. Albans and upon the just Suspicions which they gave unto the said States by the frequent goings and comings and the flux and reflux of Courriers continually passing betwixt Paris and London the Court of France did so authentickly confirm to them their Faith and gave them so positive words that they would never hearken to any Proposition but in the common Assembly for the General Peace between all the Allies that even they ordained the Count de l'Estrade that in case credit were not given to what he assured in the quality of Embassadour so good an opinion have they of the honesty of their Ministerie he might devest himself of his Character to assure them of it in his own name A great honour indeed for Monsieur de l'Estrade which shews that he is not capable of deceiving but in the quality of a Minister of France and that the Probity of his Person exalts the Dignity of his Charge Notwithstanding if he had been so unadvised as to have engaged himself in this Surety he would at this day have found himself liable both to the Principal and the Interest it being out of doubt that England hath had the dexterity to engage France in this Quagmire to conclude a secret Treatie of Peace with them without the Consent nay without the Knowledge of their Allies without making any mention of them or of their Interests and without any reservation of or relation to the General Peace But that which is yet more astonishing is that after this Peace was concluded notwithstanding the Promise made to the English not to use any Hostility against them France used all its endeavours with the States of the United Provinces to put out their Fleet speedily to Sea binding themselves to joyn their own Fleet with it and agreeing with them upon all the Conditions necessary for this effect If this proceeding doth not open the eyes or all Europe they 'l have no cause to complain of the Calamities which they are to suffer by France which takes so much pains to undeceive them All the Maximes which I have above related are those of Conquerours but their manner of executing them is so much the more to be feared as it consists altogether in Quickness and Activity and that no Reason of Justice nor any Condescension to the Interposition of Neighbours and of their own Allies is able to stop the current of it It is no more now the fear nor the jealousie of the Power of the House of Austria which served them for a Pretext in their former Wars that makes them act at this day they dare no longer make use of that ridiculous Scarecrow of the Universal Monarchie aimed at by the Spaniards they have no occasion from the Discontents of the Protestants of Germanie and their Alliances with the United Provinces they can no longer cloak with the Interest of others the Itch which they have to conquer there remained nothing else for them to doe but to goe seek the occasions of War in the very Sanctuary of Peace and to form the project of it upon a Marriage which they themselves do avow was made for no other End but to render the Union eternal and inseparable It may be judged by all this discourse that these great Designs must needs have a vaster Idea then the Conquest of the Low-Countries that they are the first attaqued as the Out-works to the end they may lodge themselves without impediment in the Body of the place they have Pretensions to the greatest part of Gemanie as an ancient Domain of France which could not be alienated They are going to form to themselves a Precedent against the States of Holland by the Annulling of all the Royal Surrenders and the Establishment of the Devolution They covet Harbours in Spain Leagues in the Empire Factions in Poland Wars in England and Holland Passes into Italie and the Sovereign Arbitrage every-where Their Quiet consists in the Trouble of all others their Glory in Conquests and their Advantage in the publick Calamities In this they follow their sole and supreme Rule of Interest It is the part of all others to take their measures from this and to think seriously of prosecuting their own There remains something to be said of the particular Obligation of the Empire for the Defence of the Circle of Burgundie I shall pass but lightly over this matter because it is already decided by a solemn Act of the Chancerie of the Empire and that he who hath written on this Point at Ratisbon hath penetrated in few words so throughly into the Bottom of this Affair and so drained it that he hath left nothing to be added no more then to be replied thereto In effect I never
prescribe unto it self by the will or permission either express or tacite of their Sovereigns I have besides observed so many evident Falshoods in the matter of Fact so many insupportable Invectives against the Person of the * PHILIP the Fourth late King of most Glorious Memory so great a number of malicious Artifices to pervert the people so many hyperbolical Exaggerations to cast dust in the eyes of the neighbouring Princes and so many pernicious Maxims which draw along after them a train of Consequences most dangerous for all Christendome that I had a great deal of difficultie to conceive how people who make profession of Learning and Knowledge of the Affairs of the World durst expose to publick censure things so ill digested which hath the more encouraged me to undertake this Work by reason that I foresee how much it imports not to suffer a boldness which so freely abuses the patience of the Readers to pass unchastised and the Interest which all States have in this Affair makes me assuredly believe that I do plead in this the Cause of the whole World It is I confess a matter of trouble to see my self obliged to reduce to the terms of litigious pleading a Difference between Sovereign Princes so solemnly decided by a publick Treatie upon the Faith whereof all Christendome did solely found their Quiet But as a good Cause fears no Judge nor a good Conscience any kind of Censure I will freely enter the Lists and shall be overjoyed to have as many Witnesses of the Justice of our Cause as there be reasonable and disinteressed persons in the World Though we cannot doubt of the Approbation which the most Christian King hath given to those injurious Writings I cannot yet be persuaded that he ever took the pains to reade them over and will rather believe to his honour that his weighty Affairs and his great application to this loftie Arming have so taken up all his time that he had none to spare to cast his eyes upon works which have so little sympathy with his Genius and Qualitie It is much easier to believe that trusting in this to the faith of others he hath abandoned himself to his natural propension to immortalize his name by Arms and Conquests and to the Suggestions of those who desire nothing more then to see him incumbred abroad for their self-ends In effect he hath too much Generosity and Love for the Queen his Consort to suffer that any should so unworthily defame the Reputation of his Father-in-Law he is too much concerned in the common Cause of Kings to endure that his Scribblers should attempt upon Royal persons he hath too much Justice to permit that they should make the most tender Father and best of Kings pass for a Tyrant constraining his Daughter by a barbarous Disinheriting her or a Cheater who assigned her onely an Imaginary Portion he hath too great a minde to approve of trifling upon Jewels or to desire that an accompt by way of Inventory should be given him of all the Knacks which belonged to the Queen his Mother-in-Law and that all the Earth should be alarmed about a Domestick concernment which the relations of the parties would decide without noise amongst mean Citizens he knows that the Bounty of the King his Father-in-Law towards a Princess whom he loved more then himself did not restrain it self to Notaries Clausules that both before and after the Marriage he ceased not to load her with his Benefits and that he hath freely bestowed his Provinces and Dominions to set upon her Head one of the fairest Crowns in the World In fine he hath too much Prudence and love for Truth ever to consent to the publication of so many false Allegations so inconsiderately packed together one upon the back of another not questioning at all but if that he had attentively considered them they would have touched him with just indignation against those who have so impudently abused his Name as to ingage maliciously his Reputation and his Arms in an Enterprise so ill grounded Which makes me hope that having established his Majestie 's Rights upon unquestionable Foundations the soliditie of our Reasons will not onely conduce to fortifie the People and perswade the neighbour-Princes but even pierce the heart of the most Christian King and that yielding to the strength of their Evidence he will resolve henceforwards to propose juster and more plausible matters to hiâ—self whereby to make his Name famous when in the unworthy Oppression of a Pupill King or at least that he will contrive sweeter and more honest ways in order to his full information But if by secret Judgments of God we cannot obtain by this means that which we ought to promise to our selves from the Prudence and the Equitie of so Great a King I shall yet have this satisfaction to have omitted nothing on my part that might contribute towards the dissipation of this Tempest which threatens all Christendome and having overcome by Reasons we hope that the Arbiter of Sovereigns and supreme Protector of Justice will not let us sink under the weight of his Arms. To make fully known in the eye of the Sun the Deformitie and bad Connexion of those seditious Writings it would be necessary to anatomize them and examine every piece apart But as that design would engage me to a large Volume and that time for the present is too precious I have thought that it should now suffice to collect onely the principal Points to destroy their Grounds and establish contrary Foundations and to goe without stopping at a thousand Superfluities which they have alledged out of all season onely to make the bulk of their Books bigger and to embroil the minde of the Reader directly to the substance and the heart of the Difficulty in question This shall be my endeavour and in this I require in the Readers an attention void of interest if yet they can be without interest in a Cause which so nearly toucheth them by an inevitable reflexion Though I have proposed to my self in this Writing all the Moderation and Sweetnesse which decency and inclination towards Peace doth require yet the matter is of it self so very sharp that it is almost impossible to give it a form that shall not participate of its roughneâ—se It 's here intended to make the whole World see That a War is unjust the Ground of it ruinous the Reasons for it vain Pretexts That the Apparences cover vast Designs That the Allegations are false the Proceedings violent the Ends naught and the Consequences dangerous The necessitie of a just Defence doth oblige us to bring to light all these Truths and I defie the most dexterous Pens to be able to express them in terms void of some Bitterness or to apply the Razor to the bottome of the Wound without Pain to the Patient I wish I were able to make things understood without naming them and to colour them with obliging terms but this cannot be done
assisted in this occasion by the most expert and the ablest Ministers of his Kingdom who could not be ignorant whether the Infanta had power to renounce lawfully or not This Work was premeditated debated and concerted amongst the Parties by a long Negotiation which gave occasion to all the reflexions upon Law and Policie which the clearest Wits could frame in so important a matter If then they discovered that Truth which since they would make pass for so clear and palpable That this Act of Renunciation could not be valid either they must confess that they have been the authors of a signal Cheat by Treating upon this Foundation approving it accepting it and inserting it into the Treatie of Peace by an express Article promising to cause it to be Registred amongst the Acts of the Parliament of Paris and authorizing it by their Oath or else they must accuse themselves of Ignorance in not having understood before they concluded the business those Nullities which at present do appear so evident unto them To what condition go they to reduce the Affairs of the World if the solemn Treaties made betwixt such Great Monarchs for the universal Benefit of Christendom the Repose of the People and the Securitie of the neighbouring States are found exposed to mental Reservations and all the Subtilties of the Barr And if ordinary Merchants onely for the good of their Commerce have the liberty to form to themselves a Right and particular style which shelters them from the Intrigues of the Palace would it be convenient that Sovereign Princes in publick Treaties which do concern the publick good should not be exempt from that subjection If this pernicious Maxime be once established of reducing the publick Right to the condition of private Right we shall quickly see as many Wars arise amongst Princes as there be Suits of Law amongst Citizens To discourse to the bottom upon this matter we must deduce some circumstances of Fact which are most necessary to give it a full clearing When France rather wearied then satiated with War did resolve to listen to the Propositions of the Peace and that their domestick Disorders did oblige them to clear themselves from foreign business that they might reform those Abuses which undermined them at home the wisest Statesmen both of the one and the other side did conceive by a prudent foresight that nothing could be solidly and durably treated of This is proved by the Instrument of Peace and the Article of Renunciation if the Root of the Mischief were not pulled up and if some effectual means were not found out not onely to stifle all the Differences past and prevent those to come but also to extinguish by a real and undissolvible Union the ancient Emulation of the two Crowns and the natural Antipathy of the two Nations that all other Dressings could never reach the bottom of the Wound and would prove but Lenitives to mitigate the pain for a time without taking away the Cause of the Evil. Having long searched for Expedients answerable to the importance of the Design none was thought proper but that of a Marriage between the most Christian King and the most Serene Infanta Mary Teresa to joyn the Seal of the Sacrament to that of the Treaties Love to Concord and Alliance to Reconciliation Spain which desired the Peace but yet withall wished to have it firm and inviolable judged with reason that this was the onely mean to remedy all those Mischiefs which the continual Opposition of those two great Poles of Christendom had occasioned for the space of so many years but in this she found an essential Difficultie proceeding from the Contrarietie of the Fundamental Laws of the one and the other Realm in two principal Points Though those of Spain do always prefer Males in the Succession they do notwithstanding leave the Gate open for Daughters failing the Heirs Male in the same Line Those of France quite contrary do perpetually exclude the Females and to their prejudice make the Right of Succession pass even to Strangers The second is That one of the most ancient Constitutions of the Monarchie of Spain on which they lay all the foundation of their Government is that their Kingdom is not Alienable that they live always under their own peculiar Kings and that their Crown can neither be annexed nor incorporated with any other That of France on the contrary doth arrogate unto it self this Right as it appears by their Writers and Lawyers That whatsoever is possessed or acquired by the Kings of France by any kind of Title doth fall to the Crown is the proper Dominion of it and can never more be dismembred from it and ought to be subject to the same Laws and form of Government as their own Kingdom as well in relation to the sovereign Succession as to what concerns the publick State So that in case the Monarchie of Spain should fall by Marriage or otherwise under the power of a King of France she would become a member and an inseparable Accessorie of France she would be reduced to the same condition with Bretannie and other Provinces and failing of lawful Successors in her Line it would pass to the Collaterals and to all those who should attain to the Throne of the Flower-de-luces All French-men are so unanimous in this Pretension that it would be superfluous to prove it to them though it would not be hard to impugn it But 't is a Maxime received amongst them of which they have put themselves in possession by a long abuse and which they are resolved stubbornly to maintain in all manner of Rencounters This Incompatibility held for a while the Council of Spain in suspence they wished Peace yet would not buy it at the price of so hard a Servitude and the Directours of so many Kingdoms could never have perswaded themselves to become Subjects of another Realm nor to see their Ruling Crown reduced to a Province The Queen-Mother of France who with the tender feelings both of a Mother and an Aunt passionately and with ardour wished so fair and so fitting an union of two Persons which were so dear unto her applied all her cares to remove those Hinderances and this temperating mean was found out to secure the reasonable Doubts of the Council of Spain That by the Contract of Marriage the Infanta should absolutely renounce all kind of Rights which she might ever pretend either upon the whole or the parts of this great Succession under any Title or Pretext whatsoever which at any time she might have thereunto to the end that in no case the Spanish Monarchy might either be subject or dismembred And both sides the willinglier consented to this Expedient in regard that the way had already been beaten by the example of the Queen-Mother of France and that in effect the Renunciation which she made was of the same nature with this present one both in the form and in the substance as being founded on the very
Discontents and Afflictions which may be considered and subsequently makes report of divers publick utilities which arise from this Agreement and places it as the essential Foundation of the Peace and of its continuance And to facilitate for the future the Alliances betwixt the two Crowns which otherwise the pretended Salique Law would render alwaies dangerous and not to be practised unless they had agreed amongst themselves upon this Remedie whereupon there are many things to be considered 1. That it is an Agreement made betwixt the two Kings for the good of their Estates that this Renunciation is relative to the V. and VI. Articles of the Treatie of Marriage which was concluded with the most Christian King wherein he intervened as the principal partie as is certain by the Narrative at the beginning of the said Deed. It appears also by the Obligation which he imposes upon himself to ratifie it because if he had not acted in this Renunciation but in the quality of a Husband and not of a partie promising and accepting in his own name he could not nor ought not to have ratified it but onely to have authorized it though he hath ratified it as the Authour himself doth acknowledge and that the Ratification of the Treatie of Peace did necessarily include all that to which it was relative Now it is uncontroverted that the two Kings by common consent at the desire of their People had power to derogate from Laws of private concernment in regard they made them and have the right of repealing them that the Kings of Spain and France for causes of less importance do not onely derogate but change every day their Constitutions and Laws and therefore that which they doe for the private respects of civil Justice they have much more power to doe for the common good of the State otherwise if they should not have the power to derogate from Laws to extinguish Actions and stop the Proceedings of civil Justice by publick Treaties they could grant no Amnesties nor hinder the Right of the Fiscall in the punishment of Crimes nor of private persons for the Restitution of what they have taken the one partie from the other nor impose silence to parties contending nor restore the Goods given upon just Confiscations nor other things of the like nature which fall out in all Pacifications and which make it appear that the necessity and the utility of the Publick good may derogate from Laws when it pleaseth the Sovereign As it is certain that they have had the power it is also clear by the same Instrument that it was their will and that such hath been their intention Without having regard to the said Laws Customs Ordinances and Dispositions by virtue whereof they have succeeded and do succeed to all the aforementioned Kingdomes c. And thereafter To which and every one of them their said Majesties ought to derogate in so farr as they shall be contrary c. And more below And that it is understood by the Approbation of this Treatie they do derogate and hold them to be derogated And in the V. Article it is said With Derogations and Abrogations of all and whatsoever Laws Vsages and Customs c. from which their Catholick and most Christian Majesties ought to derogate and shall be understood from this present to remain derogated from c. But that which is yet of more efficacie and more considerable is that in the Ratification of the Treatie of Peace on the part of the most Christian King this very Derogation is expressly contained Derogating to this end as we do derogate from all Laws Customs and Dispositions to the contrary 2. It is certain by the Authour of the Dialogues own confession that the most Christian King hath ratified this Agreement 't is in page 30. As to the Ratification of the most Christian King it might be of some consequence if there were not other Nullities in the Queen's Renunciation then the defect of the Authorization of the King her Husband Here he doth avow the Ratification though in the same passage he will needs make it pass for a simple Authorization but it is perspicuously seen by all the Clauses of this Instrument that it is an Agreement in which the most Christian King enters as the principal partie that the Renunciation of the Infanta hath its beginning and source from this Agreement to which she did willingly consent so that he must of necessity acknowledge either that the Kings of France have not the power to exempt themselves and free themselves from the Civil Laws in publick Treaties nor to hinder the effects of them in what concerns themselves which is directly against the uniform opinion of their Doctors and offends even common sense or that he grant that the most Christian King nor the Queen his Consort cannot make use to their own advantage of those Actions which Law might give them after they have derogated from them by a solemn Treatie Otherwise men must renounce the faith of Treaties and no Peace shall ever be secure if in it the Actions competent to Parties can by no means be extinguished and if still a gate be left open to the Exceptions in Law 3. That these Writers do suppose a false Principle that the Renunciation was made onely in contemplation of the Portion the Clauses above cited do evidently shew that they are mistaken Things must be looked upon in another light to judge soundly of them The Right of Succession was an essential Obstacle to the Marriage which is certain throughout the Text of the Renunciation The Marriage was a necessary means to the Peace I have already proved it by the same Instrument of Peace The onely remedy against all Pretensions was the Renunciation to conclude the Marriage the Obstacle was to be removed Let us acknowledge then that the Renunciation ought to hold the first place as the Dispositions ought to precede the Form that it is independent of the Portion as having different Causes and Ends that it ought to have been stipulated before the Marriage was ever spoken of or the Portion The whole Text of this Instrument shews that the Portion is in favour of the Marriage and the Renunciation doth regard the good of the two Monarchies the one being founded upon the love and natural obligation of Fathers and the other upon publick benefit The one is a pragmatick Sanction and the other not It is agreed that the King my Lord because and in respect of this Marriage and to the end that I might carrie to it my Portion and proper Goods hath promised that be will give me five hundred thousand Crowns It saith not that because and by virtue of the Renunciation five hundred thousand Crowns shall be given but in regard of the Marriage which supposes that the Impediment of State should be removed by the Renunciation and thus the Cause of the assignation of the Portion is the Marriage the End that she may carry her Portion
hinder that all these Estates which the want of Representation exposed to too frequent Changes should not be so easily separated by the diversitie of Customs We have now no more need of witnesses habemus fatentem reum and we ought also to inferr thereupon that the Right of Devolution being much more subject to produce these over frequent Changes then the want of Representation since that the Sanction would introduce the latter for this cause onely it is not credible that its intention was that the Prince should be subject to the other Pâ—g 163. being the same Reason doth more powerfully serve to destroy the Devolution in the Sovereign Succession then it doth to establish the Representation in it In fine they stumble at every step and it would require an Herculean pains to help them up again every time that they fall It seems that they have had no other care but to make up a heap of Arguments without discretion and without choice to dazle rather then to persuade and to obtain by their number that which they can never hope for from the strength of their Reasons The Authour of the Rights of the Queen follows the same track and loses himself in his own Labyrinth who is not ashamed to utter this Proposition That if the Prince be ancienter then the Custome Fol. 168. nothing can be more glorious for him then to submit himself unto it c. since it is certain that in this case the Custome is but an Emanation of the particular practice of the Sovereign Familie Here are as many Errours as words It is certain that most of the Customs take their beginning from the desire of the People and from their private advantage they do frame to themselves their own Custome of which afterwards they desire the Prince's Approbation who grants or refuses it as he thinks good but by approving it he doth not subject himself to it Nor is it less evident that divers Customs are convenient for the People which would be most prejudicial to Sovereign Families as in effect that of the Devolution would be It is certain likewise that if the Prince be ancienter then the Custome he hath already the Right and the Form of his Succession regulated before the Custome and this Regulation being a Sovereign Law can never be altered by a particular and inferiour Constitution He doth profess in another place Pag. 166. that the Sovereignties have particular attributes which do distinguish them from other Goods And in what ought they to be more distinguished then in that which regards the Succession which imports more to the subsistence of Sovereignties then any other thing He himself doth acknowledge it in the same page as their being Independents and yet notwithstanding he will make them to depend upon the Custome Vnalienables yet he will subject them to a Right which at every moment would be the occasion of their Alienation and Indivisibles yet he denies that the Emperour Charles the Vth had any power to unite them together He adds that notwithstanding this difference they have many things common I do agree with him but that which they may have of common doth not proceed from the particular Custome The Comparison of which he makes use to prove it is ravishing and marvellously well applied 't is of a Man who participates together both of the Animal and Reasonable nature See then according to my apprehension how he pretends thereupon to form his Argument As Man though superiour to Animals doth participate of their Nature and hath something in him which is common to them so the Prince notwithstanding he is elevated above the People yet doth not cease to be subject to their Local Customs Risum teneatis Amici But to demonstrate by this Principle that the Prince is subject to Local Customs we must by a Moral which is altogether new establish this foundation That the Senses ought to give law to Reason and that the Sensual appetite must govern the Will otherwise all this discourse would prove nothing this strange Doctrine would make all the Schools rage and would not take but among the false Sectators and the bad Interpreters of Epicure Let us say then the better to conform our selves to a more regular prudence that if Man in some occasions ought to raise himself above the Senses and free himself from the subjection of the inferiour part it is principally in those Actions wherein the eternal Succession is concerned which is his principal and last End and that to descend by this Rule from the moral to the politick part it must be concluded that there is no case wherein the Sovereign ought to be more independent of popular Customs then in those of the Sovereign Successions which ought to constitute the Felicitie of the State and to establish a little kind of Eternity in his Familie But I perceive that I my self do goe astray by playing the Philosopher with these Sophisters and that I depart insensibly from my first design of destroying their Maximes in one bulk without tying my self to every parcel of their works Let us pass then to the second Rule by which those Sovereign Successions are to be measured which do hold of the Empire to wit by the usual Custome in the Imperial Fiefs It was never heard of in the Empire that any Sovereign Fief should be regulated by the Local Customs that it should be subject to the Right of Devolution and even the greatest part do totally exclude Daughters and pass to the Collateral Lines in defect of Heirs-male I have already shewn that the Cause and the principal End of such Successions is an essential Reason of State which absolutely requires for the good of the People and the conservation of great Families that the Sovereignties should be maintained as long as possibly may be in the same Line and that the practice of the contrary would expose the States to continual Revolutions that this End is incomparably more noble more elevated and more necessary then that which doth preferr in some places among private persons the Daughters of the First Bed before the Males of the Second that the Reasons which in some sort may make this Custome tolerable among the Subjects doth no ways concern the Prince nor the Sovereignty that Second Marriages which be oftentimes the cause of the ruine of private Families are ordinarily the prop and sustentation of Princes Houses that that which others doe voluntarily with an intemperate Incontinencie these are obliged to doe it by an absolute necessity for the good of the State and their Family that the Reasons which have given occasion to this Custome have no manner of relation to the Sovereigntie from whence it must be concluded that the Custome can take no place in the case where all the causes for which it was introduced cannot concurr and where all the advantages which arise from it are counterbalanced by greater Inconveniences It remains to see what was the ancient
her and what his own proper reputation requires of him As to the other Lands if it be true as they affirm it to be that Sovereignties are unalienable that Princes cannot renounce their Rights in prejudice of their Successours even by publick Treaties that those are Rights of Bloud inseparably tied to all the posteritie that they may pretend Relief even against Treaties of Peace upon the score of Laesion in fine if no consideration neither of Advantage nor of publick Faith can prevail against the rules of litigious wrangling behold the Treatie of Munster concluded with the States of the United Provinces reduced to the same inconveniences with the Pyrenean Some Objections remain to be satisfied in particular which I have not yet touched but very superficially though they be sufficiently repelled by the Principles which I have established They oppose to us in the first place the Sentence of the Emperour Henry in the year 1230. The same Counsellour Stockmans hath very pertinently answered it in the 21. Article of his Treatise to which I will onely adde that this Sentence can have no relation to the Right of Devolution for these following Reasons 1. The first is That the whole Narrative on which he founds the Decision of the Emperour is meerly the Invention of this Scribbler in regard that neither the Sentence nor the History do mention any such thing and that it is repugnant to the Text even of the Sentence which speaks not of the Propriety but onely interdicts the Alienation which in it self was not permitted to him without the Consent of the States and what he adds in the Sentence Matrem habuerit illa fit mortua shews that it ought not to be understood of the Sovereigntie but of some patrimonial Goods belonging to the Prince which might have been affected with the Portion of the deceased Mother For if this Sentence were founded upon the Right of Devolution he would have made of it some express mention as well as have alledged another cause for it besides that as I have already made appear the Devolution doth not absolutely hinder and does not annull the Alienation but renders it onely subject to be rescinded after the death of the Father remaining notwithstanding valid in case the Son comes to die before him 2. This Sentence would be unjust and contrary to the same Custome if it were founded upon the Devolution because this Right doth not give the Children that horrible power presently to seise upon the Goods of the Father in his life-time because of a simple Alienation but gives them onely a hope to enjoy them after his death and the right to pretend Relief and to re-demand what hath been alienated during his life Otherwise it were to authorize an unjust Violence which would stifle the Law of Nature it were to make Children Curatours to their Fathers and to give them an opportunity to drive them from their Throne From whence it is necessarily to be concluded that the Sentence of the Emperour ought to have some other motive which can be no other then that which I have related In effect seeing that it is not founded but upon the Death of the Dutchess it must needs have had some other cause then that of Devolution in regard the Emperour's Argument would not be concluding The Dutchess is dead then her Husband cannot Alienate it being certain that he may not onely in some cases but that the Dutchess also her self might have renounced this Right by a Disposition amongst the living or by one relating to her death 3. If this Sentence did concern the Goods of the Sovereigntie it would determine nothing at all by reason that by their own nature they cannot be Alienated without the Consent of the States who themselves would have been the first to have opposed this Alienation unless their Assent had been required and that they had judged it to be founded on the benefit of the State in which case the Emperour with Justice could not have hindered the effect thereof 4. This Sentence was given in favour of an Heir-male and does not inferr that the Daughters of the First Bed ought to exclude the Sons of the Second Indeed it is horrible and repugnant to Reason onely to imagine that such a case should ever happen whereby we might see a Daughter upon the Throne to the exclusion of her Brother and the Son of a Sovereign become Subject to his Sister this shocks Nature which hath given the preeminence to Men and the rights to command by reason of the excellency of their Sex The Authour of the Dialogue strives to get out of this difficulty by restricting this general inconvenience to the particular fact which is actually in question Fol. 52. but he runs from the Lists and eludes the point in controversie He speaks thus The Catholick King shall command in his Estates and the most Christian Queen in hers without either of them having any Jurisdiction over the other This Subterfuge is very pleasant and most handsomlie fansied at present he changes the person of an Advocate into that of a Polititian and makes use of the Expedient when he finds not his advantage in litigious wrangling It is happy that Philip the IVth left unto his Son other Estates But if he had been onely Duke of Brabant or Prince onely of any one of the other Provinces to which France doth pretend and that the Devolution had place as to Sovereignties the case had happened wherein the Prince his Son had become a Subject to his Sister And when we speak of the Monstrousness which this Custome would produce in it self and the Inconveniences which may generally arise from thence we do look upon the thing purely in it self and not in the present circumstance which is out of the case of the Question â—nd holds no manner of similitudâ—â—â—th it because if the Duke of â—â—abant do possess other Kingdoms it is a thing meerly accidental in respect of the Dutchy and of its Customs In fine all that is to be gathered from this Sentence is that the Emperour would not permit the Duke to alienate his Goods to the prejudice of his Son We cannot inferr from thence any thing in favour of the Devolution since there be a thousand Imperial Sentences of the same nature for Fiefs in which the right of Devolution never reigned The second Objection is drawn out of the alledged and ill-applied Opinion of some Doctors who do maintain that when any difference about Feodal Customs is in agitation it is not to be regulated by those of the Lording but by those of the Serving Fief It is certain that all of them do speak in this place of those Differences which arise upon the Serving Fiefs which being neither so absolute nor so privileged as the Lording ought not to be measured by the same Rule and this makes altogether in our favour to shew the advantagious difference which there is of the greater in regard of the lesser
which proves demonstratively that the Queen of France hath no manner of Right which way soever this business be looked upon For either the Devolution hath place as to the Sovereignties or not If it be received in them then the * The House of Savoy Successours of Catharine are the lawfull Lords of all the Lands which are subject to this Custom this is unquestionable But if the Devolution be of no force in relation to Lording Fiefs all the Pretensions which France doth build on this Title are annihilated So that all this great heap of Titles and inventions which he hath with so much solicitude gathered together to uphold the Right of the Queen of France cannot operate though it were approved of but in favour of a third partie and thus thinking to plead the Cause of the Queen he hath acted onely for the Duke of Savoy ARTICLE VI. A Discourse touching the Interest of Christian Princes in this War and the precife Obligation of the Estates of the Empire for the Warrantie of the Circle of Burgundy c. THere are two Motives of different nature which ought to incite the Princes of Christendom to undertake the defence of our Cause the one is the Interest of State the other is a strict Obligation of Justice The first regards generally all the Potentates of Europe the second is particular onely to the Princes and States of the Empire the one depends upon their foresight and their wise Conduct the other is joyned to the duty of the last to the Fundamental Laws of their State to the Treaties of Peace and Warrantie and to the reciprocal bond which unites all the Members of this vast Body which makes all its Greatness and Glory and which is the onely foundation of its Quiet and Safety We will begin with the first as being more universall and more considered at this day in the World and that will guide us insensibly to the second to let both the one and the other see that our Business is theirs that our Commotion is their Trouble and our Fall their own Ruine It is our business here to uphold the Law of Nations which is common to all and to hinder that Maximes may not be introduced into the World which would destroy the whole Commerce of mankind and render humane Societies as dangerous as the company of Lions and Tigers Here it is our design to defend the publick Faith of Treaties against the Subtilties of litigious Pleading to preserve the Law of Arms within the Rules and Formalities which the universal Consent of all Nations hath established and to remove out of the sight of Christendom a scandalous Example which by its lamentable consequences would expose the weakest to the discretion of the more powerfull and would make Force the sole Arbiter of all Processes We treat of the way to stop the course of a rapid Torrent against the Impetuosity whereof Peace Marriage Oaths Bloud Kindred Friendship and Condescensions are not Banks strong enough to keep it within its Chanel It is our purpose to defend the common Bulwark against a vast Design which hath for its cause nothing but the predominant desire of Conquests for its end Dominion for its means Arms and Intricacies nor for its limits any thing but what Chance will prescribe In fine we are here to decide the fortune of Europe and to pronounce the Sentence either of its Freedom or Slaverie Here I resolve to shake off all manner of interessed thoughts which I may have for my party I will consider my self in this Article no more then as a simple Citizen of the World and to shelter my self the better from all suspicions of Partialitie I will found my Discourse on no other Principles but those which I shall draw out of French Authours Since the Providence of God was pleased to raise the most August House of Austria to this high pitch of Greatness which hath dazled the eyes of Envy we have seen growing in the heart of France the lamentable seeds of this unjust Emulation which for so many years together hath produced all the Misfortunes Troubles of Christendom The principal Game of the French hath been to diffuse this Jealousie everywhere and to render its Jaundice contagious representing unto all the other Princes the Power of this August House as a fearfull Phantasm which would swallow them up and giving themselves out for the onely Perseus's able to deliver fettered Europe from the fury of this Chimerical Monster whereof they had made to them a vain Bugbear But experience hath made it known that they onely did render our Power suspected to raise their own that they did fright others with us onely to make themselves necessary and did not offer them their protection but to become their Masters and make them the Instruments of their Ends. Many have blindly fallen into this snare and to avoid an imaginary Danger have thrown themselves into a real Precipice This Artifice was so successfull that a part of Europe put it self in Arms against the Valour and Good fortune of Charles the Vth and the profound Wisedom of his Successour and all this Commotion was founded upon one onely Principle of State which the French Writers have established with an extraordinary diligence and upon which the Duke of Rohan had made roul all his Treatise of the Interest of Princes That there are two Powers in Christendom which be like the two Poles from whence all the Influences of Peace and War do descend upon the other States From whence he draws this Maxime to regulate the Conduct of all other Princes That their principal Interest is to hold the Balance so equally betwixt these two Great Monarchies that neither of them either by the way of Arms or Negotiation may ever come to prevail notablie and that in this Equality doth solely consist the Repose and Safety of all the rest Though he doth applie this Maxime very ill to the particular use of France and artificially serves his turn with it as of a false Lure insensibly to draw all the other Potentates into the French nets it is notwithstanding very wholsome in it self and if it had been managed with all the vigour and prudence which was necessary to render it usefull Europe at this day should enjoy a perfect Tranquillitie But many have been mistaken by a false supposition that the Power and the Designs of Spain were more to be apprehended then those of France and that by this very Reason of State they were obliged to put the Counterpoise into the French Scale of the Balance 'T is easie to believe that at present none will be found not fully undeceived of this errour in matter of Fact which hitherto made them abandon their true Reason of State But to examine this Question in its fountain and in every circumstance belonging thereunto it will be to the purpose to compare the most flourishing State of the House of Austria under the glorious Reigns of Charles the
troublesom to all the rest of the World In effect it is certain that the Genius of the Nation is such that it cannot endure to subsist long in the Idleness of Peace there must be Aliment for this Fire and if some were not given it from abroad it would form to it self matter at home To this natural Propension must yet be added the Custome of most part of their Provinces and the particular Dispositions of Noble Families which give so great advantages to the Elder Brothers that they leave almost nothing to the younger but their Industry and Sword and as they do not cultivate Letters and their Quality suffers them not to apply themselves to Mechanick Trades there is nothing left to them but the Warrs or Robberies to preserve themselves from Miserie Whence it comes that this Kingdom always finds it self filled with an idle and boyling Youth ready to undertake all and which seeks employment for their valour at whose cost soever it be The libertie which they had heretofore of voiding this Bilious humour and of running to supposititious glory by single Combats is at present taken from them by just Decrees the little shifts of Industry by which formerly they sheltred themselves from want are now severely prohibited But at the same time that all ways are shut unto them whereby to open their spleen in their own Countrey the Polititians of France held it necessary to furnish them with another gate by which they might evaporate this Flame which would gnaw their own Bowels if it did not find another vent Moreover as the greatest Revenues of the Crown of France consist in the Purse of the People and that the excessive Contributions cannot be exacted in times of Peace without making a great many Malecontents it is necessary to feed them with the smoke of some Conquests and always to have pretexts to remain in Arms and maintain by force the Royal Authority which hath so strangely overflowed the limits of their Fundamental Laws As it is impossible for them to satisfie all the Princes and great men of their Realm and that ever since the Reign of Henry the III d they have taken it for a Rule of their Conduct to bring them low so far as they can it is extremely convenient to hold them imployed in forrein Wars and to incite them to glory that they may be consumed in ruinous undertakings Their second Maxime is To enter into all sorts of Affairs either by right or wrong and everywhere to make themselves the Arbiters either by violence or by cunning by Authoritie or by surprize by threatnings or by friendship and to get in as Mediators even into those Treaties of Peace wherein they are interessed as Parties as they pretended to doe in that of the Bishop of Munster and do actually practise in the Assembly at Breda In all the Differences either past or present they have never doubted to take Partie there never yet was Quarrell in which they had not dexteritie enough to form unto themselves some kind of Interest and some Rights nor did ever any People shew the least inclination towards Rebellion but instantly they made them their Allies But experience hath made it visible that they never entred into any War but to exasperate it nor into any Peace but to sow the seeds of new Disputes It would be superfluous to number them since there is no body so little versed in the ancient Story who does not confess this truth and that the modern Examples have made us know it sufficiently In the last Troubles of Germanie into which they thrust themselves at first under the colour of Protection with a thousand specious protestations that they would never pretend any thing for themselves but barely the satisfaction of their Allies when the business came to its full Crisis they dismembred Alsatia from the Body of the Empire by the same Artifice with which they had dissolved from it * Metz Toul and Verdun three Bishopricks under the Reign of Henry the Third The third Maxime is To have for their onely Rule the Interest of State so that the Faith of Treaties the good of Religion or the ties of Bloud and Amitie cannot hold them 'T is this that the Duke of Rohan puts for the fundamental Principle of all his Work The Princes command over the People Interest commands over Princes All that the Turks have done in Christendom since Francis the First to our time they owe it to the Alliances of the Crown of France with the Ottoman Port and to the Diversions which they have made in their favour against all those who have desired to undertake something against this Common Enemy And though that the Protestant Religion is beholding to it for a part of its progress yet France doth not therefore desist from giving secret intelligences to the Catholicks to make them consider its power as the onely which being tied by no Capitulation is therefore in a condition to reduce all Sects under the Obedience of the Church In a word for the erection of their Monarchie they do imitate and apply to ill uses the Maxime which St. Paul practised for the enlarging of the Kingdom of Christ Factus sum omnibus omnia and as this Apostle complied with all sorts of spirits to gain them to the Church weeping with the afflicted and taking part in the consolation of those which he found to be satisfied these by a wrong Imitation of this holy Conduct conform themselves to the Interests of all the World to make them serve theirs and sacrifice Religion as often as it comes in competition with the Interest of State The examples are so fresh that we need not make any enumeration of them and many things might be said on this subject in reference to the last War against the Turks if Modesty did not oblige us to suppress them Their fourth Maxime is To keep as much as they can forrein States occupied and divided at home or else engaged in some external War England the Empire Italie Denmark and Spain have had a sad Experience of this and now both Poland and the States of the United Provinces do resent the deplorable effects thereof All these Maximes are proper to Conquerours and as many infallible marks of a vast and profound Design long ago contrived The Predecessors of the most Christian King could not bring it to perfection because the Civil Wars the power of Spain and the just Limits which the Royal Authoritie then acknowledged were powerful Barrs to stop them but at present having imposed at home an absolute Law over all their Subjects and having put Dissention amongst all Strangers there remains nothing but that they overcome the third Impediment by compleating the overthrow of the Monarchie of Spain that they may pass upon our Ruines to the Conquest of all the other States To attain this it was necessary they should full us asleep with the Assurances of Peace and Propositions of Leagues and Union The War