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A40459
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The French intrigues discovered with the methods and arts to retrench the potency of France by land and sea and to confine that monarch within his antient dominions and territories : humbly submitted to the consideration of the princes and states of Europe, especially of England / written in a letter from a person of quality abroad to his corrsepondent here.
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Person of quality abroad.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing F2185; ESTC R9404
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35,025
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34
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THE French Intrigues DISCOVERED With the Methods and Arts TO Retrench the Potency OF FRANCE BY LAND and SEA And to Confine that MONARCH Within his Antient DOMINIONS and TERRITORIES Humbly submitted to the Consideration of the PRINCES and STATES of EUROPE especially of ENGLAND Written in a LETTER From a Person of Quality abroad to his Correspondent here Nulla potentia scelere quaesita est diuturna LONDON Printed for R. Baldwin 1681. THE French Intrigues DISCOVERED c. SIR IN obedience to your Commands I have soberly considered your learned Discourse wherein are such excellent Prudentials of Government such grave Aphorisms of State and the whole composed with so great judgment that it makes me think the Opinion of the equality of Souls to be a Paradox Yet I must beg your pardon if I cannot obtain so much favour of my Reason as to agree with you that in this Juncture of Affairs in Europe it 's England's Interest to stand Neutral When Neighbour Princes are at difference and their Forces not greatly unequal and no fear of any Parties aggrandizing it self it may be prudence But when Kingdoms are tottering Nation reeling against Nation and France endeavouring to set up an Empire over the Emperour himself and by the power of Arms reducing Princes and States under an Vniversal Dominion as it 's evident to be the French Designe then I take it for England to be an idle Spectator and to sit still is the greatest Soloecism in point of State For that Prince which stands Neutral and suffers his weaker Neighbours to be subdued except his strength doth over-ballance the Victors doth but expose himself to danger and his own Dominions to the mercie of the Conqueror Theramenes thought it a great instance of prudence during the Peloponnesian War and the troubles of the Athenians to keep himself quiet without taking part with the one or with the other but in the end was deserted by all his Dominions made a Prey and his Life a Sacrifice to the prevailing Powers Certainly Sir nothing can be more becoming the wisdom of the greatest Prince than to be watchful that the States about him should not in-greaten themselves by access of Dominions by ruining of Confederates blocking up of Trade or by the like means Hence it was that Sextus Quintus being jealous of the Spanish Greatness and that his designe was of aggrandizing himself with great efficacy stirred up the Crown of France to assist and defend the States of Holland And for this reason of State Pope Julius the second Maximilian the Emperour Lewis the twelfth of France Ferdinand of Aragon and other Princes and States An. Dom. 1508. at Cambray entred into a League against the Venetians yet so as the Confederates had a perpetual Eye one upon the other that none of them should over top And the best Guard which the Italian Princes have is the reciprocal fear which the one of them hath of the other The wisest Princes have ever been in this point very jealous and the more jealous the less they have been deceived for then are Kingdoms and States most safe when their Neighbouring Forces are not greatly superiour to their own Strength And it 's prudence in a Prince as well to contain his best Friends within a moderate Greatness as to weaken and depress his most potent Enemies The safety of Princes consists in the equal counterpoise of Power for Power is never safe when it groweth bold and doth exceed And therefore it was great weakness and oversight in the Neighbouring Princes and States to the Commonwealth of Rome to suffer it to grow to that magnitude of Reputation and Power that when forty Princes and States being jealous of its Power with united Forces did endeavour to reduce it they were all subdued and their Conspiracies did much contribute to the enlarging ber Dominions for by seeking to suppress Rome they made them not onely provide for their own defence but also gave them the means how they might with more Force better advice and greater Power offend them It hath been looked upon as a great imprudence in Lewis the twelfth of France after he had gotten Millain to give Aid to Pope Alexander to seize upon Romagnia who thereby became so powerful that he would have made himself Lord of Tuscany if Lewis had not with his Army made a descent into Italy The Neighbouring Princes to the Signiory of Geneva would not suffer it though but a palm of ground to fall into the hands of the Duke of Savoy or of any other Potentate of more strength than himself insomuch that when he besieged it An. 1589. England the State of Venice and Florence aided them And at another time when the Pope the French King the Spaniard and Savoy had designes upon it the Emperour offered them assistance both of men and money and sometimes the Duke of Savoy hath assisted them against the others So watchful were Princes and States in those times that none of them could enlarge their Dominions thereby to become troublesom or formidable to their Neighbours France and Spain were the Scales of the great Ballance of Europe and England was then the Beam of that Ballance which kept it in an even Counterpoise And let me tell you Sir England by observing this fundamental Maxime of their State and by contributing Aid to one Party hath ever risen in Honour and Reputation and most commonly hath kept both Parties at their Devotion and in Dependancy the one in hopes of Succors from them the other for fear of their giving Assistance against them And in case England should not take any Party yet in prudence a Fleet must be equipped Souldiers raised an Army maintained and all this Expence and Charge without any Fruit or Glory otherwise the Scene of the War may be turned upon you and the Ambition of the Victor may erect his Trophies and extend his Triumphs into England Whereas by giving Aid unto one Party you will maintain a Spring and Seminary of brave men at the expence of others which will make you considerable to your Neighbours And in case of an Accommodation or Peace you shall be sure therein to be comprized which will be your Safety Otherwise you will remain friendless exposed to the charity of the Conqueror and to the scorn and contempt of the Conquered who upon all occasions will meditate revenge against you for not giving them your Aid and it may be that both Parties with united Forces may attempt against you However that Prince or State which will stand for a Cypher when in prudence he is obliged to arm shall with Servilius in Rome please neither side of whom the Historian observeth that P. Servilius medium se gerendo nec Plebis vitavit odium nec apud Patres gratiam inivit Henry the Eighth amongst several other Princes understood this Maxime of England so well that he assumed unto himself this Motto Cui adhaereo praeest Sometimes he would make Charles the Fisth weigh
be cantonized into several Principalities which was aimed at by the Grandees of France in the time of Henry the third and had been effected if the ambition of Philip the second would have given way to it 13. It 's the true interest of Europe to oppose the French designes and in case there be any occasion of making use of them against some others not to accept of their Assistance longer or further than publick Utility requires it nor to suffer them to proceed after the danger is over As it was practised in the Peace of Passaw in the time of Henry the second and that of Munster in both which the French were stopped in their full carreer by their own Allies 14. All Kings Princes and States of the Protestant Communion to enter into mutual Leagues and Alliances and to be incorporated into one Union that by their joynt strength they may put a stop to the progress of the French Arms. It will be prudence in them to rely upon their own strength and not to depend upon the Aids or Auxiliaries of others 1. Because all the Councils of Catholick Princes are governed by the Jesuits and French Pensioners 2. The designes of the Conclave of Rome and of the Jesuits are to extirpate out of Christendom the Protestant Religion which they have concluded to effect by the Arms of France that are solely influenced by the Jesuits and to re-establish the Papacy in its ancient Glory and Splendor for the fall of the one is the exaltation of the other 3. All Wars raised between Catholick Princes are contrived to be but as Decoys to draw Heretical Princes as they are pleased to call them into Ruine and Destruction and are used as delusary Mediums drawn before their eyes that they may more securely advance the interest of the Mitre and the designes of the Triple-Crown If his Majesty of Swedeland managed by France his Majesty of Denmark his Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh and his Highness of Zell managed by the Imperial Court will take the pains to search to the bottom by what Artifices they have all four been engaged in War which hath wasted their Subjects ruined their Countries and Estates they will find it was the designes of Rome managed in conjunction with the Cabal of France to bring Ruine and Confusion to them all During the late War the Protestant States of the Empire have been so miserably harrassed by Winter-quarters Exactions Burnings and Contributions that most of the Protestant Imperial Towns have been almost ruined while the hereditary Countries Bavaria and many other of the Roman Communion in the Empire have been so little oppressed that they scarce felt it It 's a concluded Maxime of the Rota That where there is an Enemy compounded of several and distinct interests the best Medium to effect their Ruine is to divide the Powers and to engage one against the other by that means you will bring a Consumption to their Forces and a Ruine to their Estates and you must fortifie your selves upon their Fronteers that when you please you may make sudden Inroads into their Countries With what dexterity this hath been practised during the late Wars in France all Europe is very sensible 15. To restore the Hugonots of France to the full exercise of their Religion according to the Edicts of Hen. 3. and Hen. 4. which were confirmed to them by Act of Parliament and for their security and the performance thereof that they have cautionary Towns put into their hands as they formerly had This would be not onely an Act of Piety to deliver those poor people from Tyranny and Slavery but an Act of Prudence that he could not safely issue out with his Armies to the disturbance and undoing of his Neighbours 16. The Kings of Great Britain Spain Denmark Sweden and the States of the Vnited Provinces ought to associate by Sea and every one to set forth such a number and Quota of their Ships as shall be agreed upon If the Naval Forces of France be at Sea they must be fought except the French King be Prince of the Air and can post his Ships at Sea as he doth his Forces at Land that they cannot be attacked as it 's said though that imagination was confuted at the Relief of Mons if they be in Harbour and will not take the Sea they must be fired which under the favour of a good Wind and Tyde may be effected notwithstanding their Castles and Forts 17. To maintain Fleets constantly upon the Coasts of France is necessary to keep in his Ships outward bound and to interrupt his Ships of the Indies to meet with the Fishers of New-found-Land and to sink and destroy them to forbid Strangers to bring him supplies of Pitch Tar Masts Munition c. to burn as many of his Maritine Towns and the Shipping in them as they can and also such as are not far within the Land as shall be within their power and to give leave by Letters of Reprizal to as many of the Subjects of the Confederates as will adventure to Sea These Fleets are to be furnished with such a number of men as may be able to make an Invasion into such a part of France as shall be thought most convenient to the purpose So the Heads of the Parties in France must be consulted and made to part with such places as shall be taken till the French King shall be constrained to submit to Reason and Justice 18. Notwithstanding the great noise the number of the French Ships make in the world yet they may be reduced by Sea 1. Because they have no Ports in the narrow Seas 2. None very good on this side the Mediterranean save Brest in Britany and the new-made Haven at Rochford upon the River of Clarent but that is so deep on the Bay of Biscay as it 's out of all Maratine course except to their own Country 3. The Ports and Harbours which they have are so far distant from each other that their Naval Forces may be destroyed by our Fleets before they can unite Therefore nothing ought to be more the care and endeavours of the King of Great Britain and of the Vnited Provinces than to keep the French King from any more Ports or Harbours than he now hath for that Prince which hath many Ships and few Harbours is of as little consideration as that Prince which hath many Ports and Harbours but few Ships Nothing multiplies Sea-men but Foreign Commerce and nothing so much that as plenty of good Ports Harbours and safe Coasts of which to the comfort of Europe I speak it France is wanting but if we delay to lower the Sails of their Ambition until they have furnished themselves further with Ports and Havens they will soon prove too great to be dealt withal Therefore I say it 's the true interest of the King of Great Britain and of the States of the Vnited Provinces and for them indispensably necessary to destroy the French in their Naval strength New-found-Land-Fishery and their West India Trades which are their Nursery for Sea-men By this means their Navigation being destroy'd their Trade will decay and their Power at Land soon disband No one Prince hath such advantages against the French as the King of Great Britain hath by reason of Tangier which is so advantageously scituated that it surveys the greatest Thoroughfare of Trade and Commerce in the world no Ship can pass in or out of the Mediterranean unobserved from thence The French have more business in and about the Streights and frequent the Streights-mouth with more Shipping of one sort or other than any two Nations in Christendom from whence your Ships riding at Anchor may weigh or slip and speak with all People that pass in or out and may sink or take all Ships which sail that way none can escape without a strong Convoy which will eat up all their gains and they will think it more prudence during a War with England to suspend their Trade than with so much charge and hazard to prosecute it 19. France being reduced in its Naval strength it will be the interest of the King of Great Britain and of the States of the Vnited Provinces to stint France for the future as to the number of Ships which he shall keep as the Pope the States of Italy Kingdom of Naples and Sicily Grand Duke State of Genoa and Grand Master of Malta keep by agreement such a limited number of Gallies and Men of War that one may not give occasion of trouble or jealousie to the other These Methods being observed France may be compared to a man which grasps a handful of fine Sand in hopes to keep it if he holds it loose all runs from him if hard but little remains which agreeth with the Italian Proverb Chi troppo abbraccio poco stringe He who graspeth too much retaineth but little Sir I must tell you again there is no trusting to the Charity of France Incredulity is the best sinew of Wisdom Nihil credendo omnia cavendo tuti crimus And the most Christian King will at last understand that it 's easier to make Subjects than to keep them for men may submit to the force of Arms but they will never obey but a just power Present Successes are no Hostages to secure those which receive them of a perpetual Felicity and the most uninterrupted Success cannot calcine an unjust action to the purity of Vertue Cruel Empires though they be absolute are not lasting Upon uncertain moments do the fortune of Battles and the fate of Kingdoms depend But you were pleased to say That I have no kindness for France I do assure you Sir I have that honour and regard for France that whereas now there is but one King of France I wish there were twenty Sir I am fearful I have stained too much Paper I must with Apelles Manum de Tabulâ I beg your pardon for this interruption and am Sir Your faithful Servant FINIS