so unjustly taken from her Neighbours For in fine if she has committed so many Outrages before she was in Possession of Strasburgh Luxemburgh and so many other Places and Provinces what will it be for the future if she comes to keep 'em by a Peace Two years of a good Harvest and Trade will make up all her Losses and render her more powerful than ever and put her in a condition to make all other Princes sensible of the deplorable effects of her Turbulent Humour and Ambition Now is the time to throw off that Yoke we have felt so heavy If we let it slip never must we hope to see it again For what appearance is there to expect such another Juncture or to see again so many Means and Forces which a happy Destiny has now united on purpose to deliver us from Slavery and Bondage Or now or Never Neither is it to be fear'd the thing should be stretch'd too far and the Enemies of France grow too great by Her becoming less as yet Monsieur d' Avaux endeavours to insinuate by a Confessien that undoubtedly has cost him very dear Ah! how far are we yet from it and how many things are there still required to put the Scales into a Balance which now entirely incline towards the French side There are some Limits may be prescribed to make that Balance even which will be done if things be set in the same posture they were in immediately after the Westphaly and Pyrenean Treaties for 't is from that time onwards that France did extremely outweigh the Balance XXXI And now we are come to Monsieur d'Avaux's Second Consideration which he lays before the King of Sueden in order to engage him to his Master's Interest on account of his own Honour The King his Master he says has strait accepted of the King of Sueden ' s Mediation and on the contrary the Confederates if you 'll believe him have rejected it as being unwilling to hearken to any Peace for some particular Ends of the Emperor and the King of Great Britain and from thence he concludes that the King of Sueden is in Honour engag'd to make himself to be look'd upon as a Great Prince such as he ought to be that is to say according to Monsieur d' Avaux he should either procure Peace to Christendom or side with one of the two Parties it being the thing he advances at the beginning of his Paper Now tho we may very well admit of this Proposition That the King of Sueden ought either to procure Peace to Christendom or side with one of the two Parties yet the Question is To what Party his Honour Glory Reason Justice and own Interest ought to incline him and we need but open our eyes to see that he ought to join with the Confederates as we have already proved by all we have said in this Answer In the mean time 't is not true that the Confederates have rejected the King of Sueden ' s Mediation they are on the contrary ready to embrace it persuaded as they are of his Majesty's Justice Equity Candor and Generosity 'T is then the French King's fault alone that the Mediation of Sueden has not as yet taken any effect in a Treaty of Peace and this Obstacle will not be removed as long as the French King sticks to his Proposals which he calls his Vltimata and the Confederates can never accept of since instead of a sure and durable Peace they would only obtain by them a delay of their Ruin and Misery and that if they should take place France would soon be in a condition to begin a New War and fiercer than ever and that at the latest in case Europe should have the misfortune to see the King of Spain die without Issue in the mean time France under the shadow of Peace would be busie in endeavouring to embroil the Affairs every where especially in England and Holland which as they are the two great Obstacles to her vast Designs so are they also the Objects of her Hatred XXXII But let us make an end by remembring the King of Sweden once more That the work of an honourable sure lasting and general Peace seems to be reserv'd in a great measure to his Glory That he needs no more but desire it by obliging France to restore all things in regard to the Empire into the same condition they were in by the Treaties of Westphaly and in regard to Spain if not exactly according to the Pyrenean Treaty yet the nearest to it as Justice and the security and welfare of the Catholick Countries and Europe requires and finally to let the other Confederates have also a just and reasonable Satisfaction which being done there will be no more dispute about the Proposals of Peace that then will offer themselves FINIS Books Sold by Richard Baldwin BIbliotheca Politica Or an Enquiry into the Antient Constitution of the English Government Both in respect to the just extent of Regal Power and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject Wherein all the Chief Arguments as well against as for the Revolution are impartially Represented and considered in Thirteen Dialogues Collected out of the Best Authors as well Antient as Modern To which is added an Alphabetical Index to the whole Work The Works of F. Rabelais M D. In Five Books or the Lives Heroick Deeds and Sayings of the Good Gargantua and Pantagruel and his Voyage to the Oracle of the Bottle As also his Historical Letters To which is added the Author's Life and Explanatory Remarks By Mr. Motteux Never before Printed in English The Four Epistles of A. G. Busbequius concerning his Embassy into Turky Being Remarks upon the Religion Customs Riches Strength and Government of that People As also a Description of their Chief Cities and Places of Trade and Commerce To which is added His Advice how to Manage War against the Turks Done into English The Bounds set to France by the Pyrenean Treaty and the Interest of the Confederates not to accept of the Offers of Peace made at this time by the French King To which are added Some short Reflections showing how far England is concern'd in the Restitution of that Treaty Together with a List of the Towns and Countries that the French have taken since that time Letters of State Written by Mr. John Milton To most of the Sovereign Princes and Republicks of Europe From the Year 1649. Till the Year 1659. To which is added An Account of his Life Together with several of his Poems And a Catalogue of his Works never before Printed Mathematical Magick Or the Wonders that may be performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning Mechanical Powers Motions Being one of the most easie pleasant useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks not before treated of in this Language Mercury Or the Secret and Swift Messenger Shewing how a Man may with Privacy and Speed communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any distance A Compendious History of the Taxes of France and of the Opressive Methods of Rasing of them An Impartial Enquiry into the Advantages and Losses that England hath received since the beginning of this Present War with France The Gentleman's Journal Or the Monthy Miscellany In a Letter to a Gentleman in the Country Consisting of News History Phylosophy Poetry Musick Translations c June 1694. Sold by R. Baldwin Where are to be had compleat Sets for the two last years or single ones for every Month. A Collection of Speeches Of the Right Honourable Henry Late Earl of Warrington
began to put it in practice in the Reigns of the Two Charles's the First and the Second and thinking she was just upon the point of obtaining her Ends when James the Second with whom she had had a long and strict Alliance and whose Bigottry and Ambition she but too well knew mounted on the Throne she did not fail to improve that opportunity and the Passions of that Prince to push him on to a Despotick and Arbitrary Government and the bringing in of Popery against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm of which the English are more jealous than any Nation in the World besides is of theirs This is a Truth the Late King James could not be ignorant of and consequently he might easily judge that without a powerful Assistance from abroad it would be impossible for him to compass so vast and so monstrous a Design and who was likelier to lend it him but the French King puissant and dreadful to all the World In short the thing was as readily granted as desired but at the same time it was whispered in the Late King's ear that all would be in vain except the States General were overturn'd as being the only in the World that might oppose his Designs and that would infallibly do it by reason of the great Interest which together with the Prince of Orange their Stadtholder they had in this Affair Wherefore a Secret League was concluded between the two Kings in order to a total destruction of the Vnited Provinces which was to be put in execution on the first opportunity and France who had a mind to strike the Iron whilst it was hot was not willing to put it off till after she had finisht her Conquest of the Rhine and forc'd the Emperor and the Empire to confirm her in the possession of it by a shameful Peace whilst the Late King James by the means of his Army was to render himself Master of all at home to the Subversion of the Government and Religion establish'd by Law in the Three Kingdoms This is the true cause of all King James's Undertakings in England Scotland and Ireland against his true Interest which was to govern his People according to Law and to oppose the pernicious Designs of France But his having been drawn in by her has cost him very dear for the English being resolv'd not to outlive the loss of their Laws their Religion their Liberties and Properties call'd secretly to their assistance the then Prince of Orange who was oblig'd to it by a thousand Reasons But the Prince being wise and cautious and knowing perfectly the consequence of so great an Enterprize suffer'd himself long to be solicited and did not hearken at last but to the Threatnings that were made him from England to abandon entirely his and that Incomparable Princess his Wife's Interest and to give way to some desperate Action would have cost them Rivers of Blood Nevertheless it was not till August 1688. that the States-General were acquainted with this great Affair and they did not grant the Prince their Assistance till the very time the French King's Armies were on their march to invade the Empire and to attack Philipsbourg and then they were not like to refuse it since otherwise they would only have had the advantage of being swallowed up last Now this being well consider'd must not one have a strong Forehead to affirm that the States-General are the cause of this War But besides in granting the Prince of Orange ' s Request did they do the least thing against France or did they infringe the least Article of the Treaty that was then in being with her There is no man of sense can aver it and Monsieur d' Avaux himself in his thundring and threatning Speeches he made then at the Hague could alledge nothing but that his Master found himself oblig'd to assist his Allie Was it then requisite that the States-General should have tamely waited for the mortal Stroke that was prepared for them and being perfectly acquainted with the League of both Kings that had sworn their ruin should they have let slip the only means to save them and which indeed secured them effectually from the Attempts of France who was going to build on their Ruin her vast Designs of an Vniversal Soveraignty over all the States in Europe IX And now to come to the point 't is evident by what has been said that the great Interest the States-General have to observe by a re-establishment of Peace is the securing themselves effectually for the future by Sea and by Land without which all they have to expect will be a suspension only of their total Ruin so much the more inevitable the less hopes they can have ever to meet with so fair an opportunity as they have now at this present to secure their State their Commerce and their Tranquility for the future The fatal Consequences of the precipitated Peace of Nimmeguen are yet too fresh to be forgotten and the boasted of Barriere France offers to restore will no more establish their quiet for the future than it has done for the time past Besides France does not offer to restore the entire Barriere since she pretends to keep Luxenburgh of which more hereafter X. Monsieur d' Avaux passes but slightly over the Terms which the King of Great Britain is to have and it seems he fancies forsooth His Majesty wants nothing but to remain in possession of his Three Kingdoms and that on that score he 'll not scruple to restore what England has taken from France in the West-Indies But in this Monsieur d' Avaux is so much out of the road that we have reason to doubt whether Their Majesties will ever permit that it be inserted as a Condition into a Treaty of Peace that France is to acknowledge Their Dignity and Title which is sufficiently establish'd by the right of Blood and by the Offer the Representatives of both Nations have made Their Majesties of the Three Crowns after the Late King Jame's Abdication and his Retreat into France Besides all Potentates of Europe having acknowledged the Title of and congratulated Their Majesties there is no doubt but France will be forced to make use of the same Language in case she has a mind the King should ever enter with her on Articles of Peace But do they think us tame enough to rest satisfied with that or rather do they not imagine we shall ask for somewhat more some small Terms for our Safety being acquainted as we are with the dangerous Maxims and Designs of France that tend to our destruction Is it probable the King will abandon his Principality of Orange and his other Lands by Inheritance taken from him and confiscated against all manner of Justice a long time before the beginning of this War and in the midst of Peace XI And what are the Terms propos'd to Spain Monsieur d' Avaux talks very high and makes a mighty noise about them Five fine Places
much more truth That it is the King of Sueden's Interest as well as for his Honour to press France to grant the Allies more just and reasonable Terms and that whosoever talks to him otherwise has no true Zeal for his Service nor a just unconcernedness towards the French King I say we might say all this but we have too much Respect for that King and too much Consideration for his Ministers to reproach them with what they do not deserve XXVIII Nevertheless let us examine the Considerations Monsieur d'Avaux alledges in order to support his Reasons and to make the King of Sueden relish them One regards his Interest and the other engages his Honour By the first he pretends That the House of Austria being the common Enemy of France and Sweden as the two only Kingdoms capable of opposing its Designs of an Vniversal Monarchy which if you 'll believe him sticks close to its heart and of protecting the Liberties of the Princes of the Empire that this House makes it its study to ravish from these Crowns the Territories they are in possession of in Germany for which reason says he 't is the Interest of both Kings to maintain their Ancient Union and that the King of Sueden is so much the more obliged thereunto because in case it should happen that France notwithstanding all her Victories by Sea and Land should lose a considerable Battel at last he would hardly be able to raise the dejected Party On the other hand he maintains That 't is no less the Interest of the King of Sueden to prevent the French King 's falling off at Sea and to oppose the Tyranny which the English and Dutch endeavour to establish there XXIX To hear Monsieur d'Avaux reason at this rate one would be apt to think he had quite forgot the Circumstance of Time If his late Vncle had made this Harangue at the Treaty of Munster it might have pass'd but what Alterations have we not seen since that time in the Affairs and Interests of State Has it been forgotten that since the Peace of Munster and especially during and after the Negotiation at Nimeguen France has endeavour'd to mortify the King of Sueden a hundred ways to create him Enemies and to entangle him into Wars That she has dispos'd of the Lands of that prince as if he had been under her Guardianship and of her Dependancy That she has abus'd his Ministers That she has made a League against him and come to that height as to send her Squadrons against him into the Sound That she has offered to hinder him from making Defensive and Harmless Alliances witness the noise she made at Ratisbonne and in other places against that was then made between the Emperor the King of Sueden some Electors and several Princes of the Empire in the very same year she made an end of her seizing the Dutchy of Deux-ponts where she had no more regard for the King of Sueden than she would have had for the least State of the Empire On the other hand Is it not visible that at the present Juncture of time the Emperor's and King of Sueden's Interests are absolutely the same And that 't is morally impossible to seperate them since one cannot be sav'd without the other And 't is for this reason that the Houses of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh are in a strict Alliance with that King and that far from thinking of getting ground upon him in the Territories he possesses in Germany they are as ready as they are oblig'd to defend them against any body whatsoever But how does this agree with the pretended Vnion of Interest which is imagin'd to subsist at present between France and Sueden Is it not ridiculous to endeavour to move the King of Sueden to authorise and to be the Guarantee if one may say so of the Superiority and the Conquests of the French King since the latter has declared and made War against the Empire and its Allies without acquainting him in the least with it nay rather against himself in his Dutchy of Deux-Ponts and by the Desolation of the Palatinate Besides France demands this Guarantee without being willing to let the King of Sueden share in the Conquests she has made and that are directly against his Interest For 't is evident that if the War with the Confederates and the need the French King stands in of Sueden had not brought him a little to reason never would he have thought of restoring the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts to its right Owner Nay he would have pretended also to retain the best part of the Palatinate to the prejudice of the Ancient and Natural Rights of Succession of that King Was there ever such a Confederacy unless that of the Lion in the Fable XXX But what did Monsieur d'Avaux dream of when he accus'd the House of Austria of aspiring to an Vniversal Monarchy Does he think that all the world is either blind or out of their wits For if a Philip II. in the last or a Ferdinand II. in the present Age have perhaps conceived such a Design being tempted to it by the Greatness of their Power and encouraged by their Victories it has been buried with them and none but France has inherited it she being in reality now what the House of Austria was formerly We have seen with our eyes that since the Pyrenean Treaty France has not only affected an Arbitrary and Absolute Government over all the Princes and States in Europe but that she has actually exercis'd it We appeal to 'em all whether one can say that he has been exempted from it Those whom Nature has made their Neighbours have been all either swallow'd up or put out of a condition to resist and those whom a kinder Heaven has remov'd from her have felt her Insults and Threatnings And without entring into Particulars which would perhaps be tedious 't is enough to make the King of Sueden remember as we have already said how he has been us'd by France especially when she sent a Squadron against him into the Sound which till then had never been heard of For 't is worth our while to know That France affects no less a Sovereignty over the Seas than she does over the Land and 't is for this Reason and not that Monsieur d' Avaux alledges That England and Holland have united themselves against Her And now 't is left to every one's judgment Whether it be for the King of Sueden's Advantage to assist the French King in the prosecuting of these wicked ends as he would do by procuring him such Advantageous Terms of Peace as he demands and by which he cannot but get more ground upon his Neighbours and augment considerably his Power Or rather Whether it be not his true Interest to oppose it with all his might together with all other Princes concerned therein and to hinder that France may not get the better by this War by obliging her to restore what she has