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
very remote The Testament of the King is nothing else but a Confirmation of this same Deed which he supposed to be Legal being framed upon the platform of those things which were established by the Peace And if the Renunciation be just it must of necessity follow that the Testamentarie disposition which is but a consequence of it is so likewise All the vain Exclamations which the Authors of these Libells do make upon that Subject are but the extravagant digressions of an affected Eloquence to astonish the people 'T is the like too of all those majestical Consequences which they draw from thence to exaggerate the Injuries which have been done to his Successours If the thing be just in it self and received in the person of the Mother it cannot be unjust in her Successours who have no Right but what they derive from her And if it be permitted to private persons to make Entails to the exclusion of Daughters and their offspring in favour of collateral Lines if the Salique Law may perpetually deprive them and all their Descendants of an Hereditary Kingdome what Injustice can be found in this that Spain hath desired this Renunciation to the end they fall not into the Dependencie upon a stranger-Kingdome The Daulphin of France had never been in the world nor had any share in the Crown of France if the Queen had not renounced and if he cannot be at one time King both of France and Spain he must lay the fault on the Salique Law which devours all that it possesses and obliges all other Kingdomes to provide for their own safety by fitting Precautions and by the natural Law quod quisque Juris The source which they leave for the Queen to re-enter into her Rights in case that God should afflict her with a Widowhood without Children is an effect of the Fatherly Tenderness and Justice which would needs establish her Happiness in all cases by putting her in a condition either to reign gloriously in France by her Fruitfulness or to have wherewithall to comfort her in case of Barrenness by re-entring into her Rights to the Monarchy of Spain This doth clearly shew that in this Renunciation her Person was not regarded but onely the Obstacle inconsistent with the Reason of State which did suspend the effects of that Love which they had for her and that renders the Renunciation the more valid because it is not absolute and leaveth the Gate still open for her Re-entry as often as the essential Impediment shall not come in the way far from wishing her Barrenness or exclusion of her Offspring whenever they may be received without subjecting the Kingdome Instrument of Renunciation fol. 13. The way is opened to place her and her Successours upon the Throne of Spain If for publick Conveniencies and just Considerations she should marry with the consent of the Catholick King and the Prince of Spain her Brother Whereby it is manifest that the fundamental and sole cause of this Renunciation is to exclude France from the right of being able to annex the Monarchy of Spain to his Realm and Laws and not to deprive the Queen or her Issue of it when no other thing shall hinder them from being admitted Meanwhile upon this the French do make a great noise they convert the Honey of this Deed into Poison and make an Injury of a Benefit and testifie thereby that it is not the love of the Queen but their own Covetousness to devour all under colour of her Rights which doth throw them into this inordinate passion Upon these indubitable Principles it will not be difficult to establish and ground in Law the validity of the Queen's Renunciation upon the following Rules 1. It is lawfull for Princes to resign and renounce their Hereditary Kingdom in favour of the next Heir The example of Charles the Vth Philip the II d and the Queen Christina doth evidently prove it And even in Elective Kingdomes where it seems that the Obligation to reign is more indispensable and less capable of being retracted then in those which be Hereditary because it is established by a reciprocal Covenant and by an Obligation which such Kings have willingly imposed upon themselves we have seen Henry the III d renounce openly by his flight And if the French themselves could constrain Childeric the III d and some other of their Kings to throw themselves into Monasteries and make them renounce their hereditarie Crowns even in favour of Strangers why shall it not be permitted to Princes to devest themselves thereof willingly to obtain a greater benefit or for the simple desire of Quietness Gen. 3. John King of Armenia quitted the Kingdome to his Nephew Leon Clem. 5. Greg. 11. to enter into the Order of Saint Francis A great many Princes and Princesses lawful Heirs of Hereditary Kingdoms have validly renounced them either for the Publick good or their private Tranquillity to embrace Religious or retired life as Saint Bridget in Sweden and others in Hungarie Germanie and Spain France also furnishes us with examples of this kind Carloman the eldest Son of Charles Martel parted with his Kingdom to his Brother Pepin that he might wholly dedicate himself to the Service of God What those Princes have been able to doe either out of Devotion or the love of Liberty the Infanta might doe with a juster title for the good of the Peace of two Monarchies The Fundamental Law which called her to the Succession was in her favour and not for constraining her It is a Right that is given them but not a necessitie imposed upon them 't is not a forbidding Law which we cannot renounce The King her Father could not without the consent of the States exclude her against her will or make her uncapable of the Succession but she might voluntarily renounce for her greater good and for that of the State it self and that too with the general applause of the people over whom she might have been Queen 2. Though the ancient Laws were in some kind against the Renunciation of future Successions the practice of them is now abolished for this respect and the contrary so well established over all the World that the French Laws do unanimously agree unto it and even that He who hath renounced some future Succession cannot recall by the happening of Children what he hath quitted Epeisses Tom. 1. pag. 407. The Constitution of Pope Boniface Con. ad cap. Quamvis p. 3. Const Bon. which the Author of these Libells cites on this Subject determines it clearly the practice of it is commonly received in Spain In Brabant and in all the King's Dominions and since he himself doth nor disagree with it I think it would be superfluous to seek any greater proofs 3. That the Right of Devolution according to the Custome of Brabant being neither Succession nor Proprietie nor a real assured Estate but casual and in suspence it may be validly renounced and that the use of it is common
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
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
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
Marriage was not the square of the late King's Bountie and was thus expressed onely to satisfie the Forms used in the like Treaties according to the style of the Court but it hath extended it self far beyond that to considerable summs of money which he gave her in Jewels Plate and Silver and to what else could be found rarest in all his Kingdoms and that she her self doth avow in the Renunciation that in consideration of so many Bounties she did renounce with all her heart all her Maternal Goods not onely by way of Renunciation but also of Donation amongst the living regard being had to all those Benefits In the Act of the Renunciation pag. 14. and because he desires and procures her Satisfaction and Advantage with so much love having a joynt regard to the Publick c. This Renunciation was covenanted and agreed with the King of France preliminarilic and before any other Condition was treated of This is evident because the Marriage could not be treated of until the Obstacle was removed from whence this consequence is drawn That whatsoever the King endowed the Infanta with by way of Portion was purely out of his own Stock However if it behaved us to come to a Citizen-like Account one might deduct with Justice from the Maternal Goods all that was expended for her Maintenance ever since the death of her Mother being certain that whenever the Maternal Goods do exceed the value of the Portion the Father is really obliged to supply it out of his own but he may deduct the Aliments which he is not obliged to give when the Daughter is endowed with her own proper Goods Bart. ad L. libertis § 1. num 3. ff de Alim L. si quis § si vel parens ff de Lib. Agn. If we would draw this into an Account it would be found that what hath been already received doth far exceed the Debt The King did inherit from Prince Balthasar his Son all his Maternal Goods which according to the Law of Spain ought to return to the Father The Law which deprives the Fathers and Mothers of this Succession in case of Second Marriages is reproved by the Canons it never had other cause or reason then to put a bridle upon Marriages which are made out of Covetousness to the prejudice of the Children of the First Bed But the Second Marriage of the deceased King was an inevitable Necessitie of State the universal desire of the People and a precise Obligation which he owed unto his Subjects and his House Monarchs should act by Principles quite different from those of the vulgar and if one would tie them in publick Acts to the ordinary Laws all their Conduct would be disordered by rendring of them uncapable to provide freely for the publick Necessities Possibly the Jewels were not delivered in specie to the most Serene Infanta but threefold more at the least hath been given her It is not the custome of Kings to take Acquittances nor to keep Registers of all that they bestow upon their Daughters they pour out upon them with full hands without account and without measure they are not accustomed but to Treaties depending upon sincere faith justly scorning those little Formalities which are not established for them But though all this were not so is it a matter which merits all this stirre that all Europe should be troubled and a War raised again which hath cost so much bloud so many tears and Desolations to Christendome Though the most Serene Infanta could not have renounced her Maternal Rights all she could then pretend would be to be repaired upon this Head L. 1. ff sed mihi de verb. obl Vtile per inutile non debet vitiari We see it almost in all Contracts which have any defective part the Body doth not cease to subsist though some Member of it be cut off providing the substance of the Contract be not altered This is a general Rule which can suffer no exceptions but when the two Members whereof the one is defective and the other legitime L. 7. ff d Arb. are so inseparable that the one cannot subsist without the other or that the Parties have expressly and necessarily joyned them together in the Treatie by some particular Clause But in this present case these are two things of a different nature which have nothing of common to both the one is a Right acquired and present and the other an uncertain hope they are derived from two several fountains they concern different matters and of great inequality as to their importance the one doth not destroy the other the one is a principal and the other accessory the one a Domestick and the other a matter of State in a word they cannot be mixed without bringing all things into confusion He cites two Texts upon this Subject which do make absolutely for us Bened. in cap. Rayâ—ul in Ver. Duas habâ—ns uxores Non excluditur per Renunciationem nisi à successione dotantis unde si de propriis bonis Filia suerit dotata non est exclusa His meaning is that she is not excluded from her Maternal Goods although she have renounced them but that the Exclusion remains firm as to the Goods of him by whom the Portion is constituted against whom she hath an Action to make him pay it out of his own Estate The other passage which he alledgeth out of Covarr doth yet better explicate the former Erit intelligenda haec Conventio in hunc modum ut mille aurei sint dandi ex bonis Paternis non ex Maternis Whereby it is seen that the Renunciation is not annulled but that the Daughter hath onely recourse for the Portion promised her against the Father's Goods He limits farther even this Decretal when the Daughter hath confirmed the Renunciation by Oath unless there be Fraud on the part of the Father or some notorious Laesion on the part of the Daughter and we have made it clear that they cannot here oppose to us either the one or the other It would require great Volumes to make appear by parcells the Falsities it matter of Fact the Allegations out of season the captious Sophisms and the continual Cavills which are packed up into this Work It is a business of more time and leisure then the trouble in which they have put us doth allow I think I have said enough upon this Subject to convince all reasonable understandings and to make an end of confounding our Enemies I will content my self by concluding with this Argument That if they will reduce against all manner of Reason the publick Treaties made between Kings to the Forms and Subtilties of litigious Pleading they ought to follow the same Rules in their Proceeding if they do intend to make a Process of it they should not make it a War Never yet was it seen that Legal Portions or Reliefs were pretended to with a Dagger at the throat nor Contracts rescinded by stroke
force of a Custome among them and being onely a particular Right it can neither tie the Prince nor the Sovereignty because it comes but from a simple Custome and Consent of the Subjects who have no Jurisdiction over the Superiour Power So that to judge of the Right of Succession of the Lording Fief one must look into the first Original thereof and into its proper nature independently of all that is inferiour to it If we consider the principal End of this ordinary Custome which preferrs the Males before the Females even in the Succession of particular Fiefs we shall find that it is for the conservation of Noble Families for fear their Estates should pass to and be confounded in some other House to the prejudice of them who are able to uphold the Splendour maintain the Name and perpetuate the Line of them Though this benefit in some sort do redound to the good of the State it is but by an indirect reflexion and by the relation of the private to the publick and 't is for this that it may be derogated from in consideration of another private good if it be esteemed to be equal or of greater importance then the other But the conservation of Sovereignties is a good which directly concerns the State against which no private Reason can prevail otherwise what Disorder would it be in the World if we did see Sovereignties liable to the change of Masters every moment and pass under another Dominion How many causes of War and Revolutions would arise from such a strange Constitution which could not but offend all Laws and good Politie How unworthy a spectacle must this be and what an heart-breaking to faithfull Subjects to see their Princes and all their Line reduced to povertie whilst a Daughter should elevate to their Throne some Stranger-Prince If these inconveniences be compared with the particular good which arises from the Devolution it will be found that the one is but an Atome in comparison of the other and that there is no kind of appearance that the very People though it had been in their power would ever have been such enemies to themselves as to have exposed themselves to all these dangers by subjecting their Prince to their Custome and taken pleasure to live under a Dominion suspended in the Air and exposed to all Winds On the contrary Sovereigns in one thing seem to be in a worse condition then private persons because in the greatest part of States which are well governed they cannot alienate any parcell of their Dominions they are in some kind Slaves to the Publick good they cannot doe advantage to a younger Brother to the prejudice of the Elder and are ordinarily so tied to the regular order of Succession which preferrs the Males and the Eldest that they cannot follow the motions of their Affection to the prejudice of this Rule which the Safety of the State renders not to be dispensed with how then can it be overthrown and destroyed by a local Custome instituted to an End which cannot be put in the balance with the Utilitic which proceeds from this publick Law In effect If we look upon the order of the Successions of the Dukes of Brabant and of the Princes of the other Provinces in the Netherlands it will be found that they have alwaies descended from Father to Son as long as that could be had and that in no case they have been divided nor shared among many Children though there have been often sundry Males of the same Bed Butkens pag. 107 113 133 204 270 232 c. As is seen in Godfrey the First who left two Sons of his first Marriage Godfrey and Henry Godfrey his Son succeeded singlie to the Dutchie and of three Sons which he had Godfrey the Elder styled the Third succeeded alone he had two Sons by his first Wife Henry and Albert the Elder onely succeeded to the Dutchy as Henry the Third had done and the same throughout the whole Succession From whence I draw two Consequences One That the Sovereign Fief is by its nature indivisible which shews that the principal end is to conserve it entire in the Family which were unusefull if it must descend to the Daughters of the First Bed to the exclusion of the Males for in this case it would import very little that it were dismembred and it would be more just and more covenient to divide it at least among the Children of the same Bed The other is That by this Indivisibilitie it is different from particular Fiefs which according to the Feodal Customs are partable beyond the Forrest at the choice of the Eldest and on this side though there were but one Fief the Eldest hath but two Thirds and the rest belongs to the Brothers excepting to the Eldest the Castle and a Capon 's flight which being unpracticable in a Sovereign Fief Chap. 21. of the Feodal Customs of Brabant 't is evident that there is a manifest difference and that the one hath for its end onely the particular good of Families and the other the good of the State which chiefly consists in keeping the Sovereignty as long as is possible in the same Line that it may not be exposed to continual Changes So that being of a different nature we cannot draw any consequence from the Fief to the Crown nor subject the Lording Fief to the Local Customs which be of another nature and for other ends This difference is the more remarkable by reason that the subservient Fiefs which Princes do possess are of another nature and subject to other Laws then the Sovereigntie and do not depend of one and the same Jurisdiction as is to be seen in Butkens in the Charters of the year 1222. And it is out of doubt that these may be divided and the other not as is clear by the XXI Article it self which I cited before and even the Customs of Lovain were decreed with this Clause Without prejudice to the Rights and the Superiorities of the King Which clearly demonstrates that in the toleration or approbation of these particular Customs the Sovereigns never meant to subject their Sovereignties and that the Consequence which they draw from the one to the other cannot be of validitie betwixt two such disproportionate things In the Customs of Brabant and the other Provinces which the King hath approved this Reservation is ordinarily found Without prejudice to our Rights and Authorities A notable difference is yet to be observed here which is that private persons may derogate and do daily derogate from the Devolution by their Treaties of Marriage or by Testaments to preserve the free disposition of their Goods to themselves and to hinder the Daughters of the First Bed from coming to exclude the Sons of the Second which Princes have never practised though much more concerned in conserving their Successions in the Masculine Line and would not have failed to use those Precautions as well as private persons do against this
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
Children of the First Bed so much the more because that in the 94. the Eldest carries away all the Fiefs without distinction of the first or second Marriage and succeeds for his share with the Children both of the one and the other Bed The Texts which he alledges against this drawn from the 4th Article Chapter 105 and from the 3d Article Chapter 91 and others are applied by this Authour directly against the true sense and the ordinary practice of the Custome For if we consider Hainault as a Fief it is out of doubt that the Males of the Second Bed do exclude the Daughters of the First of which the practice is so regularly observed in all the Tribunals of that Province that it is to goe directly against a known Truth to bring this Question so much as in Controversie From whence it follows that the Customs which he cites cannot be understood in reference to Fiefs but where there is a concurrence of Male against Male or of Daughter against Daughter of two Beds in which case the Male of the first Marriage carries it before those of the Second Bed and the same doth the Daughter of the First Marriage before those of the Latter But when the Question is betwixt Male and Female the thing is out of all debate in favour of the Male. But if on the contrary they will make Hainault pass for a Freehold it is indubitable that the Father may dispose of it by Advice and by Testament and also by Substitution as is certain by the 6. Article of the same Chapter 105. The 9. Article of the 94. Chapter which he cites speaks onely of those Fiefs that come by Collateral Succession and cannot be made a Precedent in relation to Free-holds which the Parents may dispose of and that which he adds that according to the same Custome the direct Donations do pass for Purchaces is absolutely false when the Donation is made under the Title of a Portion and it is a monstrous thing that they should offer to make pass for a Purchace the Reversion of those Provinces in the person of Philip the IVth since it was expressly provided in the said Donation and that King Philip the Second and the Prince his Son had never consented to it but under this Clause of Reversion so that in the recovery of these Fiefs they are returned into their first nature of being the Legal Patrimonie of the Line of Philip the II d and they did alwaies remain such notwithstanding the Donation and chiefly in what relates to Hainault For if it be considered as a Free-hold having been given with a Clause of Reverting it staies alwaies in its qualitie of Patrimonie and if it be a Patrimonial Fief it is in the same qualitie likewise that it returns back again to the Giver We might also say that as being a Fief it could not be legally given away since it is certain that the Fathers in the County of Hainault may not dispose of them by Advice but by way of Disinheriting so that on which side soever it be taken it is impossible France should finde their advantage But 't is to dwell too long upon these Customary practices and to injure Princes to weigh their Rights in so weak and so unequal a Balance I cannot here omit in passing to desire the Reader to observe one notable Artifice by which France would give a false weight to her bad Cause by begg'd Authorities and subtilie stolen by a wittie Surprize The Authour of the Queen of France's Rights makes his great Batterie thereof and thinks to confound the Readers with these specious words of Universities which France hath consulted of Doctours from all parts who have subscribed to their Opinions and if we will believe him our Condemnation is decreed by the unanimous consent of all the most renowned Lawyers But because he is in possession of never reporting matters of fact in their true circumstances his bad memory ought to be a little helped and he made remember that they have indeed attempted some Universities and particular Doctours to maintain these Opinions of which some have fallen into the Trap and now detest their inconsiderate Lightness others have had a sharper sight and would give no Decision upon so indeterminate a fact and ill explicated The Question hath been proposed to them under borrowed names without reducing it to the terms of the true Fact whereof at present we are treating they never mentioned to them that Sovereignties were the thing in question whereof some are Fiefs of the Empire and others independent they concealed the Act and the Clauses of the Renunciation as well as its Causes and the End thereof they never knew that it was covenanted by a Treatie of Peace between two Kings agreed to by a Contract of Marriage inseparable from that of the Peace they were never told of the causes which France had given to the delay of the Payment of the Portion they took a great deal of care not to make it appear that the Goods which they pretended to were inseparably united among themselves by a Fundamental Law of the State and without furnishing them with any of those instructions which might have been usefull to them in the framing of a solid judgment they satisfie themselves with the meer questioning them upon the right of Devolution and with the inquiring of them whether a Father could alienate his Goods to the prejudice of a Right devolved to his Children If a Daughter might renounce a Succession which was fallen to her If a Minor might be relieved against an enormous Laesion If a Renunciation made purely in contemplation of the Portion ought to hold when the Portion hath not been assigned upon the Goods of the Father and that the very payment had not its effect and so of the rest They have answered to these Propositions according to the disposition of Common Law and the practice of the Local Customs But from whence comes it that the French Writers who have stuffed their works with so many unusefull Allegations durst never produce any of these Consultations which no doubt had they touched the Case would have been of more force then all that they have alledged in their works The cause of this silence is easily to be divined It is by reason that they could not spread them abroad without discovering at the same time the vain illusion of their captious proceeding and overturning all the strength of these same Authorities by detecting that they were all surreptitiously extorted But to put the business home to them we shall willingly consent that the fact be reduced to its true Species and that it be referred to the Judgment of the most famous Universities in Europe excepting onely those who by preoccupation of mind or by the common subjection of their Countrey are not in a condition to think that which they ought nor to utter ingenuously that which they think Let us conclude this Article then with a Dilemma
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
Vth and Philip the II d and the Maximes of these two Princes with the present state and manner of acting of France and then it will be clearly discerned by this parallel that all which was apprehended from us at that time by a Panick fear now is to be feared and prevented in regard of the French by the solid principles of a true Prudence To discourse well of this we must consider the Situation both of the one and the other Monarchie the Genius of the Princes which govern them and the Inclinations of their People the Maximes of their Government and the circumstances of their Conduct both passed and present This would require a large Discourse I shall content my self onely to touch in passing by the Essentials and leave the Consequences to the consideration of the Readers The Monarchie of Spain is a large Machine which cannot easily be shaken but which cannot likewise move with the Agilitie which is necessarie to forein Enterprises The Situation of this Monarchie is advantagious for its own Defence being compassed with the Sea and the Pyrenean Mountains but it is inconvenient for invading other States because of the defect of a nearer conjunction betwixt the Members thereof which cannot hold any Communication with one another but by the large Chanels of the Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea which do expose their Designs to all the injuries of Weather and to the inconstancie of an Element on which no just measures can ever be taken The Union of the Empire to the power of Spain in the person of Charles the Vth was rather a step to the design of becoming greater then any addition to his power he espoused with the Empire all the Quarrels of Religion and of State which the conjuncture of those times had stirred up in that great Body which did take up in favour of others the most part of his care and forces In a word this powerful Monarchie seems to have been raised by God to be the Bulwark of the rest against the Turk in Hungarie and in Italie against the Moors in Spain and against France both in the Low-Countreys and in Italie But the neighbourhood of these three Powers by which it is invironed is a strong barr to stop its Designs if it should endeavour to form too vast ones The Genius of its Princes is suitable to its Situation They are naturally Courteous and inclined to Vertue and if they have exceeded in any thing it never was but in Goodness Charles the Vth loved noble Glory but he had so little Ambition that he resigned the Empire to his Brother and all his Kingdoms to his Son and used his Victories with so great Moderation that he reaped no other benefit thereby then the Honour to have overcome and the satisfaction to have preserved his Realms Philip the Second according to the confession of the Duke of Rohan himself had no inclination at all to Arms nor ever took them up but for his Defence or out of necessitie to humble those who fomented Rebellions within his Kingdomes It is to joyn two inconsistent things to represent him in one and the same time as an enemie to War and yet ardent to obtain Conquests His Successours have been endowed with so rare Clemency that their activeness had never appeared to the eyes of the World if the necessity of their defence had not excited and in a manner constrained them to shew themselves The people of Spain and of the other Kingdoms which live under the same Dominion are naturally friends to Quietness enemies to Noveltie satisfied with their present Condition and have not the least propension or itching to trouble their Neighbours But if we consider the Maximes which these great Princes have followed we shall find that the principal to which they have most adhered are directly opposite to those of Conquerours The first is To keep inviolably the Faith of publick Treaties which are powerful bridles to the Ambition of a Prince who desires to extend his Limits and do put great obstacles to his Designs by making him a Slave to his Word It cannot be found in all the Lives of these Monarchs since the Emperour Charles the Vth till our time that ever they have broken or prevaricated in any Treatie nor began a War for the inlarging of their Limits The second To prefer Religion always before Reason of State which is directly contrary to the Rule of Conquerours who do dexterously make use of all sorts of Sects to compass their own Ends. The third Not to make use of their Victories and the Advantages of their Arms nor of those of their Allies for we find that in all the Actions of those * Charles the Vth Philip the IId. two great Monarchs they never applied any one of their Conquests to their own particular benefit except what did belong unto them by just Successions The fourth To rule according to the Laws and leave their People in the peaceable possession of their Privileges which amongst Conquerours would pass for an essential fault against the first Principles of their Politicks which require before all other things that they make themselves absolute and independent at home and that they break all the Chains of Domestick Laws which might hinder their actings abroad The fifth Never to admit neither League nor Alliance nor Commerce nor Peace with the common Enemie of Christendom This is a bad undertaking of the Design of rendring themselves Masters of Europe when they draw upon themselves the emulation and the hatred of the Tyrant of Asia Let us adde to all these things the mature Circumspection which they observe in their Counsels which renders their Resolutions more slow and less active then is requisite to a Conquerour who ought to give more to Fortune then to Prudence This made a famous French Authour say Malherbe in his Epistles If it were true that Spain aspired to the Vniversal Monarchie he would advise them to desire God to grant a respite of the end of the World France is a Kingdome that hath all its Parts united abounding with Men industrious in Commerce which gains with their Baubles and their Modes the money of all other Nations which hath considerable Harbours upon the Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and in their neighbourhood no considerable powers to fear but that of the House of Austria The Genius of the Nation is naturally inclined to Arms full of heat unquiet lovers of Novelty desirous of Conquests quick active and inclinable to all manner of Expedients which they conceive to be advantageous to their particular Ends. The Maximes of their Government according to what may be gathered from their Conduct both passed and present by their own Writers and by the same Treatise of the Duke of Rohan are the following First To entertain always War abroad and exercise their young Nobility at the expence of their Neighbours This is a most politick Maxime and most suiting with their own utilitie but most
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