as it is not to be doubted extremly surpriz'd to see himself stopp'd on the sudden by that surprizing Change which has so lately happen'd in England and who can doubt but that this change of Soveraigns has been a Mortal Blow to him seeing that by that means he not only sees his Great and Ambitious Designs overturn'd and in lieu of a near Ally and intimate Friend he finds on the Throne none but an unreconcilable Enemy burning with Zeal for the Preservation of Europe and with a desire of Punishing the Usurper and that which is yet more sensible to France is that this New Monarch will not fail of being Seconded by all the Christian Princes We have seen England in changing of Master to make the face of the Affairs of Europe change also especially in the Low-Countries the decree of their Ruine having been determined between the Two Kings Lewis the XIV and James the II. after that France had long consider'd the United Provinces as the only Obstacle that could prevent it from Conquering the rest of Europe well knowing that those States would at all times Oppose themselves to the Ruine of their Neighbours push'd on by a Motive of Generosity of Equity and of Interest also Therefore the King of France could not perceive which way he should go about to overcome his Opponents but in mining and in destroying totally those Provinces thereby shutting them out of the power of hindring him or of opposing his Design and that he could not do without England's consent Wherefore after the death of Charles the Second he so dextrously did embark King James in his Design and set him at variance with his Parliament through Religious Motives by ridiculous demands of the abolishing of the Test and Penal Laws which had been established for the support of the Kingdom and the preservation of the Establish'd Religion France was assur'd that by that means it should set the King and Parliament out of power of reuniting again and that by those means Lewis the XIV should oblige that Prince whom he led by the Nose to apply himself to him for Mony which he certainly knew the Parliament would refuse him that in case they should grant it to him it should be on such conditions which the King would not accept And thus that ill advis'd Prince would not fail to turn himself towards France as he has done and to let himself be obseded and won by fair but false Promises to render him absolute Master over his People and his Parliament with which Lewis the XIV has so long fed and entertain'd with dexterity the weak Imagination of his Ally that he has lull'd him asleep into a Lethargy very opposite to his right Interest to that of his People and even to that of all Europe of which it may be said That England holds the Scales In the year 1672. France was already working on her project against the United States through the means of England if we consider with what weakness Charles the Second permitted himself to be ty'd up by those Treaties he made contrary to so many Obligations which he had to the said States and of his particular Interest feeding himself with hopes of a share in those said Provinces before they were taken With what weakness did the same Prince sell to France the Town of Dunkirk and behold with his Arms folded Lewis the XIV take the principal places of the Spanish Netherlands not only Cambray Valencienne S. Omers Erre but so many others al-also which were as so many bulwarks to stay the fury of Lewis the XIV And ever after the Peace of Nimeguen have not whole Provinces submitted to the French Yoke And while that under the shelter of that Peace other Soveraigns had disbanded their Forces France alone kept his Arms because it knew what it was hatching and what it design'd to do The Town of Luxembourg was a Thorn in its side and it would be Master of it and Charles the Second was as little mov'd at it as if he had been pay'd to let him do and say nothing and behold unconcern'd that place taken from the Spaniard Free Europe which little by little saw one Province after another and one Town after another submitted to France did frequently cast its Eye towards the Parliament of England in hopes to receive some relief from that part but France had so well taken its measures there that before that Illustrious Body was assembled divers Lords at the sound of Louis d'Ors were become deaf to the Complaints of the generality and some amongst them had even lost the use of Speech and were become motionless for the publick good and that of the Nation and so soon as the House of Commons began to harp on that string the King made use of his Authority to prorogue them to another time and so business run in the same course again and gave leave to France to continue its way to gain Conquest on Conquest In the mean time the true English-men who are the most jealous of their Liberties of any Nation were forc'd to be silent and quietly behold themselves hedg'd in on all sides without opposing it nor daring to complain Those that were lukewarm would frequently ask Why the Spaniards and the Imperialists who had most interest in it did not oppose themselves to that Torrent and to those French Conquests I confess that if they could have done it alone they ought to have gone about it and they can never be excus'd for having neglected it but those who know a little the Affairs of the World are not ignorant of the misery Spain is fallen into during the minority of a King and that the Netherlands are far remote from the Empire which has many Heads and which of truth cannot assist them without its Allyes that are nearest to those Provinces who are the King of England and the States of the United Provinces The Emperor has continually the Turks at his doors over which he is to keep a strict watch at all times Besides as I have already mentioned the Empire 's compos'd of divers Members who have each their Soveraign and their different Interests and therefore a long time is required and divers Springs must play to set so great a Machine going and frequently before the resolution of it be taken France has done its do and then it speaks of Peace and of Accommodation by which means Lewis XIV has for the most part kept his Conquests if they deserve that Name after which every one retires home disbands France makes shew to do the same and if it acquiesces so far to disband some Troops in one part of the Kingdom it raises others in another and thus remains still in the same posture to do mischief ready to attempt some new thing so soon as it finds any favourable opportunity In that interval France did not remain quiet it had its Emissaries in all the Courts of Germany who using the slight of
Treaties and in case of a refusal by an authentick and general Decree recall their Forces and with those very Troops that are so well Disciplin'd and those they have already go themselves and execute that which France refuses them and pull down those stone Tables which he has set up Besides let the Lords of that Republick consider that the more Souldiers they lend to France the more Men they lose whose hearts are insensibly alienated from their own Country by Death by Offices by Pensions by Mariages and some by the Change of Religion and these last are young Vipers which will one day gnaw their own Mothers bowels I know that the Switzers with divers others have some years since fear'd the Forces which France has to make it self dreaded allways kept in readiness after Peace and after the Truce also which Forces made it to speak with Confidence and required nothing but with threatnings being the only Prince in Europe that did see himself in a Condition to Undertake and to Act before others were in a Condition to Defend themselves which made him to be fear'd by his Neighbours and procur'd him Alliances but particularly that of King James with which he thought himself sufficiently strong to overcome all Europe beginning as I have already said by the United Provinces I doubt not but all these Considerations might have a great influence over the Cantons and oblige the Switzers to grant to France that which perhaps they had not done at any other time but now the storm is blown over the Cause of that Pride with which the King did threaten being vanish'd into smoak the fear ought to cease also and there ought not to remain any consideration capable to retain the Switzers under the Rod of Lewis the XIVth Let them return to their pristine Liberty and to their right Interest Let those Gentlemen know that Kings are Great no longer than they are happy and that they are fear'd no longer than their good fortune lasts I therefore maintain that that Imperiousness with which France was us'd to draw advantages from the Cantons is at an end now that it finds it self over-whelm'd from all sides that all its Alliances on which it founded all its new Usurpations are vanish'd and that at this present he has almost as many Enemies as there are Princes in Europe If they have not yet all declar'd they will not stay long they only wait to see the Dance begin to joyn themselves with the Allies as we have lately seen the Republick of Liege which has scorn'd its threatnings and embrac'd that Party which it apprehended to be the most advantageous and the most necessary for its State. Which sufficiently shews the small regard that it had at present for the French King who is no longer in a Condition of doing any great Damage in an open War since England has turn'd the Muzzle of her Cannons against him and that the Prince on whose Alliance he so strongly built his hopes is no longer in a Condition to do any good or hurt to Europe for in lieu of succouring his Allie he himself stands in need of him he drains France the Calf in time will kill the Cow with drawing her too hard it is a new Charge to Lewis the XIV and that Unfortunate Prince sees himself on the brink of a Precipice which by a special Grace from Heaven he may yet avoid by retiring into some Convent The Laudable Cantons ought to make other Reflections and have other Considerations at present than they formerly had they should too lift up their Eyes towards England and behold His Britanick Majesty William the IIId as their Friend and Allie professing the same Religion and who during His Reign will make it a point of Generosity and of Honour to Succour them against all the Assaults of the French King. If they declare themselves both through the Tye of Communion and that of Esteem which that Great Prince has for them even His great and generous Designs ought to serve to make them return to their ancient Rights and Liberties cause their aincent Limits to be made good again for greater security but then they ought not to remain quiet all the while with their arms folded but labour with all their power and assist to bring about so great a good and advantange which the Heavens offers them To that purpose they should Exemplarily punish all those Mercinary Persons whose hands and their Honours have been defiled with the French Money Incessantly cause their Forces to return which are in the French Service in case of disobedience declare them Rebels and Confiscate their Means oblige those Fathers who have Children there to call them home on great Mulcts never to admit to any Employ nor Dignity either in Church or State all such as shall contradict these Orders and never cease 'till the Fortresses are demolish'd and Burgundy the French County Alsace and Lorain restor'd to their ancient Masters and Soveraigns that they may be as so many Bulwarks to the Cantons all which they can easily do in this Conjuncture which at this present so favourably offers it self and which they ought not to let slip seeing there is at this present between the Protestant and the Catholick Cantons so good a Harmony and firm Union that the Pope is wholly inclin'd to cause those of his Party to keep it strictly as a neecessary good for the quiet of Christendom and the safety of Europe as well as to abate the Pride of France All this will happen in Declaring for the Emperor and Empire I come now to Spain formerly their Soveraigns Govern'd from within their Closets a good part of the World but since Philip the IId its great Power has began to decay and that of the Kings of France to increase at the same time that that of the Catholick Kings decreased I shall not seek after the Causes of it because that is beside my Subject I shall only say by the by that the Liberty of Conscience in France has much contributed to its Elevation and that contrary-wise the privation of it in Spain has caus'd there great Evils and the loss of Trade which is the Soul of States and Kingdoms The Marriages which the Kings of Spain have Contracted with France have been so many Levens of Discord and of War which have always prov'd very hurtful to Spain and not to go back any further than to the late Queen who was a French Woman as much by inclination as she was by Birth who by the subtle and dextrous Counsel of the King her Uncle's Ambassadors had always some new business to propose to the King her Husband who most tenderly lov'd her By those means that Princess had acquir'd a great ascendent over the King's mind sometimes prejudicial to the good of his Kingdom for whose prosperity she had not all the Consideration she ought to have had for having no Children to Succeed to it and still in fears that remaining
a sorry Priest the Cardinal of Furstemburg a Rebel to his Lawful Soveraign the Emperor and to his Superior the Pope who during his whole Life in lieu of adhering to the Service of the Church to which he had design'd himself has made it his business to disturb Christendom and to give occasion to spill blood in Europe and notwithstanding all that the French King has prefer'd the Interest and Friendship of that Man odious to God and Men to that of their high and mighty Powers and to their Alliances which he had sought after with so much earnestness and protestations by the Peace in 1678. Thus France having first broke the States ought to make use of the means which God puts in their hands by the assistance of the revolution of England which has not only produc'd them a strict Alliance and sincere Union but a considerable Assistance also that by that Union and that mutual Assistance they may oblige the French King to repent of his unjust Proceedings of all those barbarous Actions and Oppressions which he has committed in Europe to bring him back to Reason and Justice and to put him in a condition to make no Innovations for the future so long as that happy time shall last for those Two Nations they both ought therefore to make a last Effort to maintain themselves in that precious liberty which they at present enjoy by a special favour of Heaven that is that inestimable Gem which France has endeavour'd to Ravish from those happy Provinces but God having deliver'd them from all the Threatnings of Lewis the Great and from the design he had projected to entirely destroy them he must be frighted in his turn and his Court must be fill'd with such a terrour as he never has had since his coming to the Crown which may surpass that which he had at the Baricado of Paris since he has no longer in his Kingdom those that delivered him from it and who he has since so ill rewarded There needs but a descent on his Coasts to give it him in good earnest and that is therefore what he apprehends the most and that unhinges him before hand finding the heart of his Kingdom tainted and the Enemy at home who waits but for an opportunity to declare It is not a Sampson who is no longer tied with such new Cords as never were strong enough to retain him and to stop him but a Sampson whose Locks are cut and whose Eyes are put out who turns and winds on all sides to find out some body to lead him out of the Precipice wherein he finds himself he has given the hand of Association to the Grand Seignior he will soon find a pretence for it it is doubtless he 'll say in his Manifest to endeavour to Convert him to the Catholick Faith for that is the wet sheet with which he covers himself at present against the storm which is going to fall on his head which grows giddy so soon as he thinks on that descent five hundred leagues of Coast confound him not knowing where his Enemies will Land there needs but some false allarm and at the same time a real descent to set all those Troops he has along the Coasts in disorder Joyn to that the attack at the same time of his Enemies by Land he must undoubtedly bow under those pressures and much more yet if ever the Allies are so happy as to enter into the heart of his Kingdom then he may pack up his tools and go seek in Poland that which King James has found with him for to follow him to Rome he would not be better welcome there than the Marquess Lavardin 'T is his own Concern let him look to it betimes that King knows that it is impossible for him to prevent a descent let him keep never so good a Guard by Land and though he be never so strong at Sea he has too much of shore to keep wherefore he has order'd his Generals to burn his own Country ten Miles round when ever the English set footing on it and to his Fleet to retire into the Mediterranian where he pretends to be the Lord of the Sea. But 't is likely that his Reign will be but short there for the English and Dutch having sufficiency of Ships it will be easie for them to drive it into the Port of Tholon where yet it will not be absolutely secure thirty good Vessels will make them flye to it having no longer any place of retreat in Spain and the Italians not being able to endure them since the business of Genoua England and Holland need not to strain very hard to fit out together 120 Sail of Ships yet that number will be sufficient to overcome France by Sea and to set that Kingdom into the highest Consternation In the Year 1673. De Ruiter that great Sea Heroe whose Memory and Valour shall last as long as the World with a much less number of Forces did beat the French and English joyn'd together against that State but now that the English Fleet shall be joyn'd to that of the United Provinces France will be extreamly put to it and Monsieur of Segnelai will have as much need of good Counsel as of Money but say the French if we can do nothing in Europe we will preserve our selves for America where they think they will do much in ruining some Plantations of the English and Dutch that have settled themselves there during the time that the Cities and Provinces of France will be ruining mean time that fear that he shall cause to the Savages will not Cure him of his The good disposition in which all Europe is and the Revolution of England ought highly to encourage the States of the United Provinces now that they find themselves supported by all Christian Princes who have with their High and Mightinesses but one and the same Design which is to pull down the Pride of France and that in destroying their Common Enemies they may find themselves deliver'd from future danger by the sole motion of England It is another advantage to the said Provinces to find themselves in good Intelligence with their nearest Neighbours who are at their door and that the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of Colen Munster and Liege are all Unanimously bent to embrace their Interest and that France can no longer do in regard to those Prelates that which she did in the year 1672. But on the contrary they joyn now with the good party to oppose themselves as do their Allies to the French King's Insultations who endeavours to make us believe that he has still very great Ties with Denmark seeing that in his Declaration of the 12th of last March he grants to all those Refuged Persons that have left his Kingdom half of those Revenues they left there behind them yet with that Proviso that the Officers shall go and serve in the Troops of the King of Denmark But because that Kingdom cannot do well without a
few days and the better conceal his wicked Design and that then the pretence would not only be plausible but just also to all appearance because it had been to prevent the Turks from entring any further but at the same time to render himself Master of the rest of Germany and of all the Empire also which should have been his share towards the defraying of the Wars so he had divided with Mahomet the IVth all the Territories both Catholick and Protestant of Germany If after all these Contrivances one may stile ones self a Zealot to the Catholick Religion I referr it to the Judgment of the Pope let us then say rather that he is a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathings cover'd with a false Piety to devour the Christian Princes one after another That was Cardinal Richlieu's Maxime Not to value what he Promised nor his Faith in the observation of Treaties so he but serv'd the French Interest And doubtless it is from those rare Lessons that this Zealous French King has so well improv'd and which he endeavours to imitate so exactly before those of the Gospel which forbid us to do to others that which we would not have done to our selves But if we look on Businesses nearer at hand we shall not wonder at the King 's pressing for the Re-establishment of James the Second and that he leaves no stone unmov'd to reseat him on the Throne We shall find at last that it is not so much Religion as Interest that moves him to it and that the return of that Prince to his Kingdom is most necessary for him much more than the Establishment of the Cardinal of Fustemberg in the Arch-Bishoprick of Colen It cannot be believ'd that it is the natural affection which he has for those two Princes that make him act or the Zeal to Religion as he publishes but his Ambition and the Preservation of his Kingdom For if Prince Joseph Clement and the present King of England would but embrace the Party of France and Unite themselves with that Monarch he would send the Cardinal to Strasbourg and King James where he was in Cromwel's time or into some corner of the State of Modena and if the Town of Algier would now send Ships into the Channel he would not only harbour them with their Prizes in his Ports but would give them Liberty also to build a Mosque there if that Town should require it I see no greater difficulty nor Crime in that than in lending his Forces to Re-build some in Hungary and to pull down the Christian Churches These are then the fruits of this great Zeal of which the French boasted in Rome and at Madrid Now let us turn our faces towards Truth It is not Religion that pushes the French King but he has the Shepherd at his heels the Nets are spread on all parts for him and he has no prospect of escaping and in that dread he is he would embrace the Alcoran if he saw it would shelter him from the new King of England's Resentments whom he has reason to fear as the most dreadful and most powerful Enemy that he has at present or ever had with whom there is no Composition to be made though Lewis the XIVth should return four times as much as he has Usurped from him when he was yet but Prince of Orange Perceiving then that by the means of William the Third he has all Europe on his hands and that he must leave some Fleeces behind him no wonder he extends his hands though in vain towards the one and the other to find out a Mediator to draw him out of that Danger in which he finds himself But he having taken his Eternal farewel of all Faith and Honesty and it having abandon'd him every body does the same daring no longer to trust to him 'till first he has been depriv'd of his Savageness of his Ambition of his Pride and of his insatiable desire of Usurping the Goods of his Neighbours and that is what will not happen 'till he has first been humbled by Losses either in his Armies or of some of his Provinces and that he has been oblig'd to restore to every one that which he has stoln from them and that is what may be advantageous and necessary for his poor People and to all Europe In vain he Flatters himself with an accommodation with some of the Allies whom he pretends to divide from the Union in which we see them at present and by that means to draw himself out of the Briers This King has been inexorable to the Cries of the Poor whom he has Ruin'd and Tormented of the Widdows and Orphans whom he has stript Naked the Heavens will return it upon him as well as all his Enemies who will return him double the Evil which he has done and will force him to swallow down the bitter Fruits of his Ambition and breach of Faith and to Disgorge all his Usurpations which he has Baptis'd with the specious Title of Conquests and return to his Subjects that Liberty of Conscience and places of Hostages which he has forc'd from them against the Faith of Edicts under the pretence of Conversions restore to all his People in general the General States for the surety of their Persons and Means whereas they now groan under the heavy pressure of the Intendants these are Monsters which our new Hercules must vanquish which God has given to free Europe from that slavery in which part of it was already reduc'd and wherein the rest was going to fall the Irons being already set in the Fire for it by the means of James the II. who abandoning his own Interest and that of his Nation had given his Consent and Assistance to the ruine of Europe and had enter'd into a League with the Usurper to make it to fall under the slavery with more ease and greater expedition But the Heavens who have granted the Vows and Petions of all Europe has broken those Chains by the means of a Republick of which he had made his Prey for it may be said without exageration that the States of the United Provinces have given the first blow to break those Shackles through the Assistance they have given of Money of Forces and of Ships to the King of England when he was yet but Prince of Orange Wherefore Europe ought to consider them as the Cause of its Deliverance and the Restorer of its Liberty the Refuge of all the Afflicted the Retreat of those whom Lewis the XIVth had Persecuted and stripp'd and the Azilum of all good People who ought in gratitude to hazard their Lives for the Support of a State who has free'd them from the Lyon's jaws and has receiv'd them with so much Humanity and Charity which doubtless shall be the Cannons with which they shall destroy their Enemies and the Heavens will render them Victorious and their Names shall last to the last of Ages FINIS
THE MEANS To Free EUROPE From the French Usurpation AND The ADVANTAGES which the UNION of the CHRISTIAN PRINCES has produced to Preserve it from the Power of an Antichristian Prince LONDON Printed for R. Bently in Russel-street in Common-Garden 1689. THE MEANS To Free EUROPE From the French Usurpation THE Civil Wars in a State have always been considered as the greatest and most dangerous evils they are like those internal Diseases of Man which for the most part after a languishing Life are terminated by Death If we pass from Particulars to the generality of Europe is very likely that that part of the World had not found it self ready to perish under the cruel Power of the Capital Enemy of Christendom as it was very near during the last Siege of Vienna if all the Princes of Christendom had been in good Intelligence and in a sincere Vnion and had uananimously endeavour'd to Repulse their Common Enemy who then durst not to have advanc'd so far in Europe if he had been drawn in only through the misunderstanding of the Christian Princes and not Invited into it and push'd on by a most Christian Prince the Eldest Son of the Church who to facilitate hiâ— Passage has made him a way through Rebellion in Hungary which he has fomented to thaâ— very end and maintain'd by mony and Officers that he has sent thither in the Design after the takinâ— of that City the Imperial Seat to share for a Beginning with the Grand Seignior his Ally all Germany which the Sultan had agreed to as freely as Lewis the XIV did seek after it with a design however to deceive one another and in the end prevail over his Companion and the French King to do afterwards that which the Emperor does at this time to drive the Turks back to Adrianople But before we pass to the Deliverance of our Europe let us mention the Dangers it has been in these late years and let us lay down for a sure Foundation and an indisputable Truth that the Christians Disunion has given opportunity to the Infidels to render Tributary Valachia Transilvania Moldavia and divers other Territories and in the last place to Invade Hungaria which has oblig'd a great number of poor miserable Christians not only to fall into slavery but to make Shipwrack in the Christian Religion and I dare assert that had it not been for the pressing Offers of France by the means of Teckeley the Sultan had never broke the Truce nor durst to have come to set up the Standard of the Imposter Mahomet before the Capital City of Germany as he did in the Year 1683. while his Ally was in Alsatia with an Army of 40000 Men ready to Invade the Empire which the Grand Seignior for his part had favour'd either to make himself Master of the whole or to render Tributary that which he could not have kept and by that means mount step by step to the Monarchy of Europe little troubling himself about the Evils which Christendom had suffer'd neither by the barbarousness of his Army or of those of the Turks so that Lewis the Great had but gratified his Ambition and his Passion of Ruling solely Thus on all sides Europe did see it self on the Edge of the Precipices and in an Abiss of Evils whence it could not be got out of again but by a stroke from Heaven not knowing which Condition to chuse the Ambition of the one or the Interest of the other the French Tiranny or the Mahometan slavery finding them hoth equally Unjust Barbarous and Inhumane and very opposite to Christianity There are but few Persons in Europe never so little Rational but have been inform'd of all the Advances of France of Lewis the XIV's Proceeding of his Ambition and of his Passion to Rule over his Equals and to render the Kings and Princes of the Earth his Tributaries and to speak it in plainer Terms to become the sole Monarch of the World As there is but one Son boasting already of giving Peace to whom he pleas'd and to Exterminate or Bomb all that should oppose themselves to his good Will and Pleasure and like to another Jupiter cast his Thunder-Bolts on all that durst raise themselves against him designing like God to Rule over Consciences as well as over the Inheritances But the Ambitious Man who raises himself on high and dangerous places not considering much how to get down again never turns his Eyes on the side of the Precipice he runs to his desire as if he were in good Intelligence with Fortune and as if the World was conducted by Fate in lieu of Divine Providence Mean time we see that God confounds his Designs and stops him frequently in the midst of his Career forcing him with shame to quit a way in which he thought to have continu'd with Glory Lewis the XIV had resolv'd within himself to mount on the Imperial Throne in the strange imagination he had that having attain'd thither not only the Empire but all the rest of Europe would bow under his Orders and at the approach of his Armies in effect he spar'd nothing to compass it with a Resolution to Sacrifice all to his Passion and to destroy all that should oppose it self to his Grandeur To this purpose he began to oppress the one to deceive the other and to entertain a third by fair and deceitful Promises sparing neither specious Titles nor Pensions to those which he thought might be useful to him by those means giving to some an Apple to play with while he made himself Master over the others and in a manner separated Europe from it self and every Prince from his Ally as well as from his true and real Interests which has ever been by all means to maintain an Equality amongst the Princes of Europe that their Forces being equally distributed Christendom might be preserv'd in good Peace and every State in its own Rights and Liberties Seeing that from the abasing of the one follows the elevation of the other as we have seen since when Charles the First weaken'd his Power by the division of his Kingdoms and after that his Son Philip permitting part of those Provinces which had been left to his share to be taken from him so was his Fall the Rise of the French Kings who have insensibly got the start of their Equals and have got step by step up to the Supreme Degree which we have seen in this last Reign of Lewis the XIV who during a long time has not ceas'd from gaining Victory on Victory taking of Town upon Town and as a boundless Torrent carry all before him which oppos'd his Course his Violence not being to be stopp'd but by a Stroke from Heaven and by a Voice issuing from the Brittish Throne crying out Nec plus ultra Lewis the XIV who had already in his hopes devour'd a good part of Europe which lay groaning and as it were overcome by the evils of a continual War has been
hand acquir'd thereby many Creatures it is a Maxime which has long since succeeded well with them and particularly at the Court of England during the last Reigns those Emissaries have labour'd with so much zeal and heat and return'd so frequently to the charge doubling the Dose when there was occasion that they often succeeded and by those means have opposed themselves to the best Designs which the Emperor and the soundest part of the Empire could have had But suppose that the Empire had been in as good an harmony as it is at present through the good Union there is betwixt the Emperor and his Princes and that France had nothing to do but with the Empire alone I maintain that by only setting it self in a posture of Defence on the side of Germany it might make it self Master of a good part of the Spanish Netherlands if its Neighbours oppos'd not themselves to it before the Emperor could remedy it Besides that since the taking of Luxembourg the passage is partly block'd up to the Germans and all that they could do were to draw near to Burgundy and to Alsatia or form some considerable Siege to draw the Arms of France that way but as that would have hel'd the Germans long in hand the French King would notwithstanding do his business in Flanders But if England had had on its Throne as it has at present a King well intention'd for the welfare of Europe and the particular good of his own People he might alone stop the French King in the apprehension he has of landing Men on his Coasts in his own Kingdom and this truth is so certain that Lewis the XIV as powerful as he has been as high as he would seem to be has never undertaken any thing that way but after he had consulted the Kings of England then Reigning and even Cromwell himself while he usurped the Government of the three Kingdoms Thus we have seen that this Monarch before getting into Flanders had sweetned the Court of England by the means of his Honey he taught them to speak French and to like whatever he did undertake and quietly to let him so fast advance that at last it had no longer been in the power of the English to drive him back I know that France alone knows how much this has cost it but what matters at what rate so one obtains ones Desires Thus the most Christian King having dispos'd England on that side and having strength enough as doubtless he has to set a considerable Army on foot on the side of Germany besides that of Flanders that he is in a conditi-to hazard a Battle with the Imperialists and their Allies if these last had the ill fortune to be beaten as that may happen the Success being various it is certain That then the Germans would have much to do to rally again into any Body that were capable to do any advantageous Exploit that Campaign for the good of Flanders there being nothing that wastes more the Troops that are compos'd of divers Members and under divers Chiefs than the ill success of a first Campaign And there needs sometime but one Ally to decline the common Interest like the Pin of a Carriage to put all the rest out of power to do any thing and to break the best Designs which might have been form'd and it would be in such like occasion that the Pride of France would swell and that the usurping Torrent would over-run its bounds more than ever on the Netherlands which would be without hope of Remedies if they were to wait for succour from Germany as it may easily be judged by what I have said and which might easily have happen'd there being nothing impossible in it Moreover France which has most strong Reasons to be on its guard and to always fear has long since so well provided for its Frontier places on all sides that it will require of its Enemies almost a whole Campaign to carry one only of any importance Since France has left the way to Italy the King is so fully persuaded that the Conquest of the seventeen United Provinces of the Netherlands would facilitate him the ways to that of Europe but particularly of the Empire that he has apply'd himself wholly to it and has always endeavoured to amuse by illusive Promises part of those very Provinces while that he render'd himself Master of the other parts under the Dominion of Spain having first lull'd England asleep France requiring only the favour to decide alone that Dispute with Spain But that Lewis the XIV might accomplish that first Design on the Spanish Netherlands there was a necessity that the States of the United Provinces which had a notable interest in the preservation of the Neighbouring Provinces under their lawful Prince should give their helping hand to their ruine or at least should look on that Monarch without moving till he had come on their Frontiers But there was but little likelihood of that wherefore the French King foreseeing well that those States would never fall in that Lethargy nor would permit to have their hands ty'd up while a conceal'd Enemy approach'd them and penn'd them up close taking from them little by little all those Places which were to serve them as Bars It was for that very Reason that that Monarch did on the sudden alter his mind and beholding according to his Desires what he had long expected a Catholick Prince on the Throne of England who had for divers years been in his Pay allowing him considerable Pensions when yet he was but Duke of York and consequently did entirely possess and obsende him He made use of the ill Disposition of the new King in his Concerns with the States General so that it was no longer difficult for the French King who waited but for that moment to accomplish his Project thus those two Kings the one push'd on by his Ambition the other by his ill Inclination join'd together to Exterminate the Seven United Provinces under the fair and specious pretence of Religion and of Extirpating of Heresie that the other Catholick Princes who were concern'd in the Preservation of the United Provinces might not oppose themselves to such an holy Work and so lull them asleep If that business had succeeded to Lewis the XIV he had without striking one blow render'd himself Master all under one of the Spanish Netherlands and after that made use of all the Forces of his Kingdom together with those of his Conquests to enter into Germany and directly March to the Empire follow'd with an Army of more than an Hundred Thousand Men what Prince of the Empire or the Emperor himself could have disputed the Business with him or have put a stop to his March But for so great a Work it was necessary to fasten England firmly to his Interests and to pull down the States of the United Provinces which was the chiefest Business it not being likely that Soveraigns who so well know
their own Interest as do those States should permit Lewis the XIV to advance one Foot of Ground more than he is already being but too forwards all that Monarchs fair Promises and his kind assurances of Friendship remaining without effect not being able to win them to be deceiv'd And perceiving that his Credit was at an end â—n those Provinces that all the Propositions of the Count d'Avaux his Ambassador were suspected â—nd that he was still entertain'd with much Circumspection as Lions are fed still pulling the hand back finding himself discover'd â—nd cried down not to lose any more time to flatter and amuse â—he said States being not able to â—ccomplish his ends that way he â—esolv'd to ruine them at the same time that King James the II. got on the Throne he knowing well his Genius was satisfied that there wanted nothing but a Golden Apple to amuse him and to follow that itching desire which that Prince had to render himself Absolute Master over all his Kingdom to alter the Laws and the Religion of it and to feed him before hand with the hopes of the Spanish Indies that he might no longer find himself oblig'd to Assemble his Parliament who approv'd not of his Proceeding noâ— of that great Alliance he had with France which under what shape soever it was represented to them did always appear hiddeous During all that long Interval anâ— till there were a fair occasion tâ— perform that great Design thâ— French Emissaries did continually pour their cold Poison in the English Court which was quaff'd oâ— in large Draughts by some of thâ— Grandees which they endeavour'd to Digest without noise seeing that at the same time they thus under-hand set forward their Masters Interest others who were not at such a distance provided themselves with an Apple against draught as did many others in all the Courts of Christendom It was in this contagious time so infected with the French Lewis D'Ors that Europe was to tremble and that all honest people that concern'd themselves in the common Cause of the good of Christendom were to shake at the very sight of that weight which was going to crush Europe to pieces seeing that its general loss had immediately follow'd that of the Seventeen United Provinces the Emperor nor the King of Spain not being then able to prevent nor put a stop to that Torrent which had chang'd it self into a Deluge from which not England it self had been Exempted in its time if afterward it would not have danc'd to the French Flutes and obey'd the Orders of its Ambitious Monarch I am willing to make use of these Terms seeing that all those that are Pensioners of France are so but to Execute his Orders and to Work to increase the Grandeur of Lewis the XIV not to oppose his Interests but on the contrary Sacrifice their Honour and their Lives to them so oft as the Good and the Interest of France should require it If ever Lewis the XIV had obtain'd his end and had made himself Master of the Forces of the Seventeen Provinces as he plotted it in his greedy Imagination through the King of England's Means there had then been no ways left for this last to retire though he should perceive his Error as Charles the II. had done and he must either by fair or fouâ— means have gone on with that he had begun through a weak Complacency and then the Most Christian King had rais'd his Voice and Arm at the same time and had spoken in Magisterial Terms to all the Princes of Europe neither had that of England been left for the last but had been oblig'd to submit to the same Fate with all the others as a Reward for all the good Services that he should have render'd him I once again repeat that the Designs of France were not new that long since Lewis the XIV had had them before him even before that James the II. had got on the Throne and during his Brother's Reign he luckily made use of the Dutchess of Orlean's Management who was Sister to both the Kings Charles and James But the First of them who had continually before his Eyes the Tragical end of his Father and who was still very sensible of the sufferings and troubles of his Exile had much to do to resolve upon it and the Apprehensions which he had of his People did retain him and hindred him from Assisting France in all things as he was solicited to do and he at last did abandon it as we did see by the Peace which he had made with the States of the United Provinces and then he seemingly did relinquish the Interests of his Ally not to Prorogue his Parliament who very plainly did forsee the danger in which the Nation was going to fall had France continued its Progress as it had began in 1672. and the years following After the Peace of Nimeguen the Kings great Design against the United Provinces remain'd as buried during the remnant of King Charles his Reign but he soon rais'd it again for at King James's Ascending the Throne France gather'd new Vigour and beholding there so good a Friend with whom he was tied in Religion and Inclination Lewis the XIV fail'd not to strike the Iron while it was hot and during the Three or Four Years of his Reign the French Emissaries gave divers Assaults and set all Hands to work the French Ambassador Barillon made great Largesses to all those whom he thought propper to do his Master Service the Curtisans tasted of the Cake as well as divers Ministers at Court thus all unanimously did labour to perswade James the II. so soon as he was King to second Lewis the XIV in his Designs divers not knowing them there needed no great Perswasion to attain it because that Prince was already sufficiently inclin'd to it of himself and at that time of all Employs that of Messenger was the most necessary there was nothing seen but such kind of Persons on the Road from London to Paris and from Paris to London till the Treaty was finish'd of which the chief matter and knot of the Business was the ruine and destruction of the United Provinces All the Religious Orders and above all the Jesuits did take a great Interest in that Business and already cried out The Town was their own there was a perpetual motion among them the Ships that cross'd the Seas on both Parties were throng'd with those Zealots and Apostolick Postilions thus were all things in motion for the Good of France and for the Advancement of its Monarchs Designs some through Interest some through Zeal and others through meer Ignorance This Business thus built up with Lime and Stone concluded and resolv'd on betwixt the Two Kings Lewis the XIV the better to compass all things was desirous to strengthen himself towards the North but having lost the friendship of the Sweeds for having fail'd in keeping those Treaties which had formerly pass'd between the
are as honest as themselves so that it will not be difficult for the French to impose upon them but as to Europe we are now in a time that no Prince will have any Alliance with France much less with any of its Princesses as Wives seeing there is general complaint of them for having caus'd Disorders in all the States they came to The United Provinces are highly concern'd to keep low the French King to take from him all desires of molesting them nor to go so far towards them as the Conquest of the Netherlands of Spain It was always the aim of Lewis the Great according to the advice of Mounsieur de Sulli formerly Ambassador of France into England in the time of Henry the IV. who gave him to observe that the conjunction of the United Provinces with France was the only means to restore it to its ancient Grandeur and to render it Superior to all the rest of Christendom Formerly the French Kings had their folly fix'd on Italy believing in imitation of the ancient Romans that it was the Gate they were to pass through to attain to the Universal Monarchy but having found that way too Thorny and that Country having frequently been the Church-yard of the French they have grown weary of it and have turn'd themselves towards the Low-Countries where hitherto Lewis the XIV has succeeded better and he had found out a means to continue there his Progress if the Heavens had not prevented it by the change in England I know that the United Provinces had had nothing to fear if the Netherlands of Spain had been in a condition to maintain themselves with their own strength or if the late Kings of England had had the same Sentiments which Queen Elizabeth had and if Charles and James the Seconds had said to Monsieur Barillon that which that Queen said to Monsieur of Sulli That neither France nor England nor any other Prince had any thing to pretend to the Netherlands that she should not suffer that the King his Master should have any thoughts that way Perhaps the Lewis D'Ors were not currant in those Days in that Great Princesses Court as they have since been and that that Princess did better understand her own true Interest than divers Kings who have succeeded her have done But thanks to Heaven those Kings are pass'd and God has at this present seated on the Throne a King who understands very well his Interest and that of the Nation much better than did his Predecessor and who following the Traces of that Great Princess was no sooner got to the Government but he sent back Monsieur Barillon to tell his Master that he had nothing to do in the Netherlands and that he would prevent him from any further Usurpation in those parts The Elevation of that Great Prince on the Throne of England is a fatal Blow to the greatness of Lewis the XIV we must have so much Charity as to confess it but at the same time it produces the Quiet and Repose of all Europe it is a Bit clapp'd in the French Kings Mouth which retains him from a running so far as to the United Provinces and that shelters them from all his Insultations and from all his Threatnings and furnishes them at the same time with Means to resist him vigorously and to clip his Wings so short that he may not fly any more beyond his just bounds it is a bitter Pill which he is forc'd to swallow and which will make him to disgorge and to re-establish those bounds which he had remov'd during his Neighbours weaknesses in a profound and universal Peace The United Provinces as well as divers other States find themselves deliver'd now from that danger that threatned them and it is now their turn to speak aloud finding themselves assisted by so powerful an Allie as England they may demand the Restitution of all the Places of the Spanish Netherlands which have been taken from them since the Peace of the Pireneans because those places serve to preserve them and as bars that puts a large Territory betwixt them and so dangerous a Prince besides that the damage they have sustain'd in their Trade is very considerable and gives them cause of great pretensions France has supplanted and deceiv'd them in divers occasions and it has endeavour'd to lull them asleep especially in the last place by the Count d'Avaux its Ambassador through vain promises which Father Limojou the French King's Almoner call'd Illusory and in which there was no sincerity nor good Faith as we have seen in all his Proceedings after the Peace of Nimeguen and that it has been but a continual Usurpation That this King might the longer and with more safety enjoy those Places that he had Usurped a Truce was patch'd up for Twenty Years during a full Peace which he likewise broke in few Years after After he had Fortified those Conquer'd Places made his Alliance with James the II. and destroy'd by an unheard of Cruelty which is natural to him the Protestants in his own Kingdom as he assures by his Declaration of the revocation of the Edict of Nants that he had made that Truce but in order to destroy them notwithstanding all the Protestations to the contrary which the Count d'Avaux had made to obtain it and to deceive with more ease in the opinion that after he had made an end with those Protestants whom he accus'd of having Dutch Hearts and Intelligences with them 't was to that end that the seisure tended which was made of all the Books and Papers belonging to their Consistories throughout the whole Kingdom to know the Sums they had sent into Holland during the War and seconded by the King of England then Reigning he should over-run the United Provinces and leave for a time those of the Spaniards considering them always the only ones that could cross his Designs and hinder him from making his great Conquests over Europe But now Fortune has turn'd her back to him and by the event we find that he has not cast up right and that his Most Christian Majesty had not reckon'd on the Elevation of the Prince of Orange to the Crown of England by that fall of his Ally who has broken all his Measures and destroy'd his Alliances open'd a way to the States to attack him in his own Hold and to reduce him to Guard his own Kingdom no longer to think but to defend himself it is no longer now the time of the Peace of Nimeguen which was made upon its consideration but through the Treachery of France as the baseness with which it has observ'd it as well as the Treatises of Trade shew us sufficiently and that the King had quite another aim than the States-General had propos'd to themselves at the conclusion of that Peace and afterwards of the Truce Seeing that the King has violated all Trading and declar'd War to the United Provinces on the frivolous pretence and on the account of
that in conjunction with that of the States-General he may be Master of the Sea and not only give an Allarm on the Coasts of France but make a descent also in Two different places so soon as possible it can be done then will that Kingdom be in a Combustion and the King of it will lose the North not knowing what place first to Succour as a City that the Fire seizes in all Places and those that shall Land there may be assur'd to be Seconded by a great number of the Inhabitants all along that Coast and from the Neighbouring Provinces William the III. now Reigning ought to be certain that his Predecessors have not for nothing preserv'd that Title of King of France the Rights of Kings never grow out of Date they are always Pupils and at liberty to claim what has wrongfully been taken from them So long as England shall subsist the Kings will have a double Right to France which will never be lost so long as Henry the V. shall have any Successors to the Crown of England he was Son to Margarite of France and she Daughter to Philip le Bell whose Sons deceas'd without Successors to the Crown of France and that Henry as a further Right Married the Daughter of Charles the VI. Being come to France it was decreed by the States of the Kindom that he should be their King after the Death of Charles the VI. and in that Quality the Queen his Mother in Law made him Heir of all her Means and of the Crown of France I am perswaded that there would not need any thing near so much to Lewis the XIV to frame an irrevocable Pretension on England and that the Royal Chamber of Metz would very readily confirm it without the least trouble but there is no such thing on the contrary there has happen'd a time in which all the deceits and subtleties of France begin very much to unstitch and to be thread-bare William the III. has overturn'd the Bankers Tables which the French King's Emissaries had set up in all places their false Coin is no longer currant their Money is cry'd down their Lewis D'Ors which were Worshipped as the Heathen do their Puppets are grown odious to honest People at least the occasion of their Distribution and they are no more capable to corrupt at this time than is the Copper of Sweede Thus France beginning to be cried down by all Christendom and to be slighted in all the Courts of the Princes of Europe it has chang'd its Game and endeavours to imitate those ancient Curtisans who being grown old and wither'd are cast off and abandon'd by every body who alter the Passion once had for them which obliges them also to an alteration in turning Biggots and Superstitious endeavouring to counterfeit Mary-Magdalen thereby to regain that esteem of the People which they had lost by their debauched Lives Thus Lewis the XIV to draw on new Friends and Allies the better to oppose himself to the King of Great Britain and perceiving that all his Credit with the Catholick Princes is at an end that none will any longer confide in him and that his Maxims are cried down he has taken in hand other Means much more subtle than the precedent were he no longer speaks to them of his own Interests but he now Proclaims to them That they must come to the Assistance of the Catholick Religion That it was aimed at when King James his Ally was Attack'd and that he has no other design of making War but for the support of that dear Religion especially by the re-establishment of that Prince on his Throne that if all the Catholicks would but join with him or remain Neuter that he alone will undertake to Re-establish him and at the same time the Catholick Religion in England and Scotland and after that beat down Heresie in its very Center But all this while Lewis the XIV is far from telling what he conceals under those specious Pretences which would be that after he had pull'd down William the III. overcome the Protestant Princes he would do the like to all the Roman Catholicks one after another and thus become Master of Europe It is certain that the diversity of Religion has always been as a large and vast Abiss betwixt the Catholick and the Protestant Princes but the Cruelty and Perfidiousness of the French has fill'd up that Abiss and levell'd the way between them and all difficulties are at present laid aside Even the French King himself unknowingly has given a help in hand to the Business with all his Power for while he endeavours to perswade all the World that he has no other aim than to promote the Catholick Faith and that he Preaches in all places his Conversions that he importunes the Pope to join with him for the Defence of the Church and just in the height of such a fair Mission in all appearance he orders his Troops to enter into the Territories of the Catholick Princes to Attack those of the Prelates of the Church and even to insult the Pope though Head of that Religion which he protests he would defend burning and destroying all over Germany where his Troops but set their Foot without exception of Religion nor of Persons Sacrificing to their Rage the most Sacred Places their Insolence not sparing so much as the Monasteries of the Virgins devoted to the Service of God nor their impiety the Image of our Saviour and that of the holy Virgin his Mother which they have Treated with the greatest Indignation and irreverence that any Atheist could have been guilty of acting in all places like Men that had no Faith and that acknowledg'd no God and all this too as the whole World knows against the promis'd Faith of Treaties and Capitulations which they own they have agreed to but to enter the further and with more ease into Places and to put in Execution their Wicked and Pernicious Designs the King threatning to Cashier those Officers that should not execute with all barbarousness and exactly with the last extremity the Orders of the Court as if they had been sent to put an end to the World by Fire before the appointed time by Divine Providence After all this how can so cruel and so inhumane a Prince take upon him the Title of Most Christian and while that by an over-plus of Crimes he joyns with the Turks to exterminate and ruine Christendom assuring those Infidels that he has not taken up Arms but to come to their Assistance and to procure them the means to recover what they have lost in Hungary and to return before Vienna It is no small trouble to that Most Christian King to have mist his oportunity during the last Siege of Vienna not to have advanc'd with his Army which was ready at hand into Germany without expecting as he did the taking of Vienna but he then believing the loss of it inevitable he thought he should deferr his March but a