by your Flatteries and Cozenages When as Queen Elizabeth redemanded Calais for just Reasons she then alleaged the French resolved rather to endure a War wherewith she menac'd them than to surrender it Because saith the same Laboureur there was a double danger one to suffer our ancient Enemies to get footing in the Continent of France and then too because they are Hereticks who would always have a Faction in the State to revive their old Quarrels at pleasure and that it more concern'd us now than heretofore to shut them up with their new Religion on the other side the Sea This was done in the Sale of Dunkirk and if any other place offer it self to purchase France will be no Higler but purchase it at any rate supposing she be discharged of her Wars with Spain Again Queen Elizabeth insisting still upon the Restitution of Calais and speaking of it unto Sancy he after several shifts and excuses By God Madam quoth he can Your Majesty be so simple as to imagine the King my Master would give you Calais again Which Answer touching her to the quick she demands Bouloigne in lieu of it The King who foresaw the Consequence of the English setting footing once more on French Ground commanded her to be told That he had rather the King of Spain should give him a Box on the ear than the Queen of England should give him a Filip And in troth she had not Calais when the term of Eight Years was expired although according to Treaty it was then to have been surrendred or Hostages and sufficient Security for payment of Five hundred thousand Crowns promised her in case of Non-performance But as usual they fail of their Words and the good Queen onely recovered Six score thousand Crowns at the Treaty of Troys Thus Calais is once again become French France loves her own Repose and Glory too much ever to part with it and the Subjects as well as their Prince are too much in love with it to suffer it slip out of their hands I speak but the very words of the Cardinal of Lorrain There is no Frenchman saith he but would rather hazard his Life than advise the King to surrender Calais and would not more willingly sacrifice his whole Estate than once give his consent thereunto This was spoken like a true Frenchman and their Neigebours should resent such daring Expressions as renderly as they themselves do if there be any thing of eredit in what S'aavedre reports That the Prince's Acquists enhaunce his Dread and Reverence but what he forgoes redounds to his contempt and scorn Francis I. would never engage himself with Charles V. against England fearing lest in the Conquest of this Kingdom it should happen to him as it did in the Conquest of Naples between Ferdinand of Arragon and Lowis XII The Emperour being unable to brook an Equal and himself a Superiour Besides Prancis should have drawn upon himself a more potens Enemy than him of whom he was rid the Leopards of England being no less terrible than the Eagles of the Empire or the Lions of Castile Yea the Spaniards stifly seconded the English in their demands of Calais confessing That they ought not to abandon them and that if they were not protected they very well knew Spain would be next ruin'd so that their own Losses would be greatest This is written by the Cardinal of Lorrain Spain then reason'd solidly and judiciously In prospect of this Henry VIII coined Medals of Gold on whose Reverse a Hand appeared out of a Cloud holding a Pair of Balances in aequilibrio the two Sodles whereof signified France and Spain with this Motto He wins on whose side I turn Queen Elizabeth governed her self by the same Maxim and assisted Henry IV. so long as he was weakest but seasonably forbore when once she saw him start up beyond his just and proper bounds and at that time told Sully That neither France nor England nor any others had any thing to do with the Low Countries and that she would never endure the French King should gain so much as one inch of ground there And when as Pope Clement VIII told Cardinal Ossat that England hated France implacably he replied At this time England hates Spain more and that they ought now to regard the present state of Affairs which had united both French and English against a common Enemy by one common Interest which was evermore the strongest and securest band among all States and Princes This Reason which once serv'd the turn of France shall at another opportunity do Spain a kindness Because Kingdoms are not to be reputed strong or weak as they be in themselves but as they hold comparison with their Neighbours and from proportion wherewith they are adjusted one unto another Du Plessis sent this Message to Walsingham in England not to abandon Henry IV nor the German Protestants Let 's see whether we may not use those self same words to evince the true Interest of England Charles I. was convinc'd of it and Charles II. hath been also and will be possibly yet more when like a great and deep Statesman he shall be pleased to penetrate into the future And it is not to be doubted by the way he begins to take and by what he had done formerly in Person at the Head of his Army that he will not suffer himself to be over-reach'd by false Reasonings nor give his Slanderers occasion to say of him as of his Grandfather King James That he knew not how nor ever cared to manage businesses nor would once put his hands to dispatch them till such time as both means and opportunities had quite forsook him I don't doubt but that Charles our gracious King who now reigneth will recollect what happen'd how and by whom unto his Father and what manner of Treatment he met withall in France even with no less than Banishment And for all possible Allurements from the French he may be fully confident of receiving the same measure from them again if the same occasion were which God forbid or if he quit Spain with his own true Interest and that of his Kingdom which subsists by Commerce to imbrace the Humours and Private Interest of half-sighted and corrupt Ministers France debitting none other Commodities than her Brandies and Apish Gewgaws in lieu of those substantial Merchandizes England hath of her own and importeth for all Quarters of the habitable World And when Realities are forsaken and Deceits and Cheats taken immoderate and restless Spirits do ordinarily take hold of such sensible Arguments to alienate and imbitter the Hearts of the People which though frequently too too querimonious yet gracious Princes without humouring them in all their childish Cravings will nevertheless comply with all that shall be manifestly for their solid Good It were a pleasant story to relate the Civilities of France to Edward IV. who being at a pinch and driven out of his Kingdom by a Competitoy and applying himself to
lookt upon one of the Colberts then here Ambassador angrily saying He well perceived that France did not coaks him but to destroy him But that they bragg'd that Colbert put it handsomely off by saying That this Book was composed by Lisola the German and to defame France which incited the Curious to Examine whether that were true or not but they found that the stile and manner was quite different and that these Maximes were but for the advantage of France alone This Manuscript of the French Politician had lain long in the French Kings Cabinet whence an Officer was found to have stollen a Copy of it then it was printed clandestinely and care was taken for the suppressing it But to evince it more closely and undeniably that that Book with the other which I quoted above came out of the French Mint that 's out of their Cabinets I 'll manifest it by their late Practice in every one of those Maximes that are set down in the French Politician It 's true that Mareschal Villeroy a great Statesman was wont to reduce the main Stratagems by which they wheadled their Neighbours to these two Par Finance Finesse that is by Money and Cunning and Conney too which is one of their chief Nets to catch their Neighbours in But to come to particulars Their chief Artifices for dividing and undermining their Friends may be reduced to these following 1. By Sinons or pretended Fugitives 2. By Pentioners in our Councils 3. By Alliances and French Ladies 4. By breaking open and diciphering our Secretess Letters 5. By sending Auxiliaries that favour our Enemies 6. By Ambiguous Treaties to gain time and advantage of breaking them 7. By spreading Slaunders and fomenting Jea lousies betwixt the Kings and their People 8. By entertaining a secret League with the Turk Now to begin with those more general and remote means which France takes to divide her Neighbours in their Leagues and Amity She usually calls in the Turk upon the back of 'em and this most Christian King will not stick to enter into secret Covenants with that Antichristian Tyrant against the rest of Christendom I need not mount up so high as Francis the I. Henry the II. and other their Successors who openly brought in the Turk against Charles the V. and other Emperors publick Histories can bear me Witness in it Rincon and Fregose were taken by the way seized with Instructions from Francis the I to Soliman to excite this Infidel to War against the Christian Princes and when any of Francis his Neighbours would upbraid him with such Antichristian Treacheries he could put it off but with a Drollery What says he May not I when beset with Wolves call in for Dogs to help me But to come to our times What made the French to be the occasion of the loss of Candia and to yield the advantage at Gigerys and Hongary but for to manage the Turkish Amity to oppose him to the Emperor if he proffers to stir or to enter into Tripple League They sent some Supplies 't is true to dazzle the World but when La Feuillade who knew not the Secret brought his Men to an Engagement he was opposed by Coligny who had Orders to do things but for a shew Besides the King sent Counter Orders with some of the major Officers which they were to read but when they came to Candia Monsieur De Louvas hindred many of the most valiant and considerable Officers Gentry and Soldiers to go thither even as Voluntiers In fine The Divisions Counter-seasons and wilful Misunderstandings of the French with their Allies in that occasion did more to the loss of the City than the Batteries of the Turks who had spent some score years in vain toward the Conquest of that place but could never get it out of the Venetians single hands till these double-dealing French Friends came into help more toward the losing of it than the maintaining it so that the Venetians might have had more reason to send back these French Supplies than they had in returning home Prince Almerick of Modena's Succours upon some such suspicion And the Turkish Embassador a thing very unusual to be sent from the Ottoman Grandeur who afterwards was dispatch'd to the French Court unriddles the Matter and though the King made the difficile and scornful with him yet he sent Orders to caress him and make much of him in secret as looking upon the Mahumetans to be one of the chief Supporters of his Crown and State And as the French will be Friends with the Turks to use 'em against their Enemies so with those they pretend openly to help as their Friends they deal as with Turks in effect by underhand Conspiracies I mean in their Auxiliary Supplies to their Allies Their Succours tend but to leave 'em in the lurch to be desroyed by their Concurrents that when he hath ingaged the Frog and silly Mouse to a Fight to weaken the one the other he the French Kite might the more easily snatch 'em both away in his greedy Talons Besides what we alledged above of his treacherous Auxiliaries to Hongary and Candia we may intimate those he sent some years ago to help Holland against the Bishop of Munster and a little afterwards on the same Claims sets Munster again Holland and when it came to the push leaves him to the mercy of the Hollander all he sought for being but to seek to destroy these two Supporters of Flanders the one by the Hands of the other His Design was the same touching England when of late he sent his Fleet to assist us against Holland with secret Orders to d'Estree to leave the English and Hollander to destroy each other While France both at the Treaty of the Pirenees and afterwards had sworn a firm Offensive and Dofensive League with Spain they underhand sought to weaken their Allies by sending men and money with Colbert Schomberg and under Turenne's Name as Voluntiers to the Portuguezes till a Ship that was taken by the Spaniards happily discovered that the Portuguezes were stirred up and incouraged by the French in their Attempts against the Catholick King France by reason of a French Princess seemed to be the greatest Friend in the World to Poland but to shew what Friendship that was they manage with Swedeland that Treaty of Stumdorff seemingly in favour to the Polanders but in effect very prejudicial to them and in the mean time Avagour Lombres and Bezieres are imployed to set these Crowns together by the Ears and to perswade King Cazimer of Poland to lay down his Crown to make way for Conde Newburg or for some other Votary of France Moreover while this coaksing Nation did hugg the Emperour he finds such Papers in the taking of Muran a Fortress in the Vpper Hungaria which manifestly shewed that the French had in the mean time incouraged the Hungarians in this Rebellion 3. Another Artifice of theirs is to send out Sinons or protended Eugitives which are
Spain then all must yield to the rapid course of that Nation who is now making Chains for us nay carrieth them with her to bind and enslave such who shall first make head against her and at long run of all those who either secretly or openly maintained or abetted this horrible Design against the common and public safety And let her Neighbours be once brought down England devested of her Friends will be little more than the work of one day and must fall in that very moment she is Assaulted The pretext is ready either England shall lose the Title of France or France will usurp that of England I 'le explain my self somewhat more largely France being now rid and standing in no longer fear of her Competitors will infallibly break with England imitating herein Queen Elizabeth who quarrell'd with Francis the Second for Entituling himself Heir of that Crown she possessed and whereof she was exceeding jealous Mary of Scotland having furnished her Husband with a Title But suppose this colourable pretence be neglected yet will he serve himself of one more remote for who so hath a mind to pick quarrels and wage War will never talk so big and loud as the whole World may hear him I 'le not lead you far to fetch an Instance Lewis Son of Philip Augustus King of France reigned in England maugre all the oppositions of King John who was deposed for his Tyrannies At length John having recollected his miscarriages reconciled himself with the Pope becomes his Tributary demulceth his Holiness with his golden Promises and profound Submissions and Lewis unfortunately loseth his newly acquir'd Crown 'T is true he bequeathed the Right thereof such an one as it is unto his Successors who preserve it carefully and assert it publicly in a formal Prayer sung in these express words at their Coronation viz. That he will never relinquish the Scepter of the ancient Saxons Mercians and other Princes who have reign'd in England And therefore the Kings of France since Lewis the Eighth may with more justice say they assume the Title of Kings of England than the Kings of England style themselves Kings of France It was Ribbir that set up this imaginary Title and suggested unto France a pretext and ground for falling out with England upon the first and next favourable opportunity I have given her the first Intelligence of the Thunderbolt England may yet in time avoid it Is it to be imagin'd that Lovois and many great ones whose Fortune and that of their Friends depends upon Warlike Employments will not now stir their King to those new attempts against England in case they want other Employment shewing unto him the easiness of it from the Divisions Jealousies and Unprovidedness that England is in and the many secret Friends they have here But in case they did alter these Measures or not now execute them yet seeing our forwardness and our Spirits Eyes and Arms to be up and ready for them that I say will make still our conditions better with them whether we stand their Enemies Friends or Neuters otherwise they will be more apt to slight both the one and the other But lastly let 's give Interest leave to follow Revenge and shew what Measures we ought to take from the Consideration of this cogent Topic. I confess the Motive is interwoven with that of Glory but yet more firmly because it runs on two Principles and both of vast weight and consequence the one is particular and private Interest the other is more general and public This last aims at the common Repose of Europe and its care and perpetual endeavour must be to restrain the Ambition of those two great Potentates who court the Empire which cannot be effected without conserving England's Peace at home and confining those two inraged Neighbours to their just and respective Bounds that if one of them should win any thing from his Rival he may not presently invade England who became an idle Spectator of their Actions without cherishing their mutual Enmities and giving a Curb to their several Enterprizes If Reason of State speaks loudly in deaf Ears Glory doth it in shriller and clearer Terms But over and above this general Peace of Europe wherein I could wish England were occupied there is somewhat in special that should rouse her up from her present Lethargic drowsiness viz. That France brags how facil it is to blind her Eyes and cause her to take what new Measures she pleaseth You will say these are points of grand Importance Convince England of them Well! I shall debate of both immediately Let 's first touch at this of the common Safety and we will in the next place consider of the proper means to bound France that she may not abuse their Credulity who can certainly and absolutely mortifie her Marillac Ambassadour for Francis the First thus writes to his Master from London that the English were displeased they had suffered the French to fortifie Ardres and that before it was too late they would hinder the finishing those Fortifications Adding That they were vext to the Heart that the King had fortified Ardres and that they repented very much to have permitted our men proceed so far that yet notwithstanding they had time enough to reduce matters to their former state because they had been informed that Ardres could not yet in one whole year be so repaired but that it might be as easily forc'd But if Ardres which is no more than a shadow of what France possesseth in the Low Countries did heretofore strike a Jealousie into England should not that gross multitude of important Towns and the Thirds of a large and vast Estate render her now by far much more jealous especially since it hath given such fearful and violent shocks unto the whole Land made another Neighbour Republick tremble yea and it trembles to this very day at their near Approaches the French Armies being led on by a mighty Captain trained up in the School of business enur'd to Hardships and fortunate Successes in all his Conduct and Administrations And Ardres to say nothing of Calais and Graveling is something less than Dunkirk if it be considered according to the present Estimate that France doth set upon it These two places are the two Ports from whence one day the Storm shall be wafted over into England if England suffer France to incorporate the Naval Forces of Holland with her own and to inoculate that fair Bud into her Imperial Crown Persons of the weakest Understanding may without difficulty penetrate into the Issues and Successes of such an Union And let it be remembred that France was formerly invenem'd against England for redemanding Calais and having once got it out of the Spaniards hands she wanted neither Armies nor any other considerable means to make a sure and speedy Conquest of other places If Fear then bounded their proceedings because it was not so easie a matter to dispossess the English where once they had
got footing yet was it easie enough to disseise and unroost others either by Force or Treaty as they did justly enough by that of Vervins yet now the Tables are turn'd for they once understanding that Spain is brought upon her knees the Conquest of that and England will not cost much time nor pains The Balance being now removed their Forces augment daily and like a violent Inundation carry all before them It 's true this is yet impossible if England do not stand neuter while other Nations are entering into more than a Triple League which to effect the one and hinder the other they turn every stone they embarrass all Affairs they support the Intrigue with a thousand hopes and those hopes with a profuse expence of Treasure which forceth a passage through those sordid Souls whose sole Interest is their private Gain and Advantage And that which is most surprizing is this they engage the Favourites who are Lords of th' Ascendant at Court or elsewhere and at this rate believe themselves potent enough to give what Laws they please to all politick Transactions if so be the true Interest give ground unto the false which is cheating changeable and infallibly destructive to them that do embrace it And by these means they of late out the Gordian Knot of that Triple League as if they were cock-sure beforehand of their designs and their business were already done unto their hands Pomponne was dispatch'd into Swedeland to disengage that Crown from the League by the golden promises of Conquests Pensions and Presents which will go very far in a poor Countrey and remove whatever Obstacle stands in his way to the Empire of all Europe The worst is that in France at those times they did publish this Negotiation branding England with the goodly Names of Unconstant and Persidious Which brings to my mind a story of the Viscount of Narbonne who told an Englishman That six hundred Tun of Wine and a Pension had quickly sent them back again to England The other answering It was a Tribute and no Pension This was in the Reign of Lewis XI who disengaged England from succouring the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretaigne The Jest was biting but 't is the usual Coyn wherewith France pays such whom it openly flatters that so she may if possible ruin and strangle them the more cunningly A League with England blocks up the Spanish Havens so saith du Plessis and the French are hot and intent upon it Truth is the Daughter of Time and Time must discover the events of this Maxim Onely let me add by the way that if France cannot prevail with England to do this Jobb for her she will tack about and treat with Spain upon other terms that relinquishing the Spanish Netherlands she shall be recompenced more abundantly with the Spoils of some other parts of Europe which France will conquer for her We will unriddle this Mystery and let England seriously consider Castillon in his Embassie for Francis I. writing from London adviseth his Master to a League with Spain against England For saith he I would ever counsel Your Majesty to quit other designs and accord with Spain and to give this Kingdom in prey which may be with more facility and less expence effected than to take Calais for the expence cannot last above one moneth or six weeks at the most Divide England between you and let each take those parts of it which lie most commodious and convenient for him And in the close he subjoyns Your Majesty may keep Wales and Cornwall and Scotland for your self and leave the sorry remainders unto the Emperour There be three things worthy our observation from this Embassadors Advice The one is that France believed she might cheat Spain into this treacherous Conquest provided Spain would but sacrifice to her Covetousness and Ambition the Low Countries The second is that Spain keeps fast and faithful to the Publick and prefers it before her own private Interest And then lastly because of this Phantastick League England must immediately and infallibly be conquer'd as soon as invaded especially let her be once abandon'd of her Allies and that France have brought Spain and Holland upon their knees and hath united their scattered disjoynted Naval Forces with her own I trust my Sentiments are plain so plain that the meanest Capacity can comprehend me Alliances betwixt Crowns bring little profit to the People This is visible in the Matches between the two Royal Houses of France and England for no sooner was Henrietta Maria wedded unto King Charles but State-Interest and the Capricious Humours of the Favourites interrupted that Peace which a long time before had continued between both Kingdoms and by the Marriage was sworn to be perpetuated Experience also of what had past might have render'd Spain more advised and to have avoided that snare into which she ran through false Maxims with a great deal of Joy I 'le onely quote one passage out of the Memoirs of the Duke of Sully he then writing to Henry IV. about his Intrigues with Spain tells him That the growth of one Prince is the diminution of another that no Parentage Affinities Leagues Peace Treaties Agreements Oaths or reciprocal Promises could ever yield sufficient Precautions for time to come against Interest of State I could wish this Memoir affixed on the Cabinet of Madrid for their future Reformation and that in time to come they would take other Measures sith Lewis XIV adheres most pertinaciously to the Maxims of Sully and that after a Treaty sworn with the greatest seriousness and solemnity and a Cession of all Rights made and verified in due form of Law For instead of observing it they are now debating other Rights and demand an hundred things which being refused they take up Arms and proceed to the worst Acts of Hostility leaving us without hopes of any Calm to follow upon this Storm which menaceth with an universal Deluge all the Netherlands Give me leave to subjoyn one important Advice unto England The Right of Edward III. saith Laboureur is not worth the mentioning were it not to tell the world how unrighteous the English are in their pretentions to it and to manifest what necessity lieth on us to keep that Nation at a bay at a distance from us which is naturally quarrelsom born our Enemy and that will borrow Assistance whereever she can get it and take up any the least pretext in the world to subdue and ruine us Robert Abbot of La Celle reproach'd an English Prelate with this that his Countrymen in their Inclinations resembled that Element which did encompass them that is to say they were cruel proud unconstant and seditious These are noble Elogies indeed conserr'd upon your Friends Monsieur in a time of perfect peace nay upon your best and most potent Friends to whom you have in this present Juncture of Affairs your Recourse and who are guilty of this very great Oversight to suffer themselves to be charmed
one of their Kings for Assistance could get none other Answer than this That the League was made with the King of England and his State but he being no longer King of England France could not without violating the Articles of that League imploy their Arms against him who was then actually possessed of the Crown They discharged themselves of him very handsomly and 't was a sine piece of Raillery God forbid we should be misinterpreted to give these as sawcy Omens that which we give as plain and sincere Items not to rely upon the French Amity which will prove a broken reed in case of need as former and later Examples convince us Yet this Fear is groundless in our days thanks be to God for Charles is a Prince so August of so much Justice and withall so well acquainted with the World as to that point that he will not neglect the Glory redounding to him from those Victories he may atchieve with a wet Finger by treading in the Footsteps of his renowned Ancestours Above all it 's then most needful to use such means when as a Sovereign Prince is grown so puissant by his Arms that the progress of his Victories do make him terrible to his Neighbours The Duke of Roan gives the same Advice in his Interest of Princes Thus I have endeavoured to lay open Monsieur and his Policies if our Eyes will be but open to see ' em And though we have proposed such ways and measures of attacquing the French in part of their own Dominions which may not be deemed to be at this Juncture so practicable as if we should rather go about to weaken 'em by helping their Enemies and our Allies yet that is an Exeoutive part and fitter for other persons to direct and prescribe Our Design here being onely to make such an Answer as we thought the fittest to brow-beat that domineering Nation we judged that the aptest and shortest way to refute their Contumelies and shallow Pretensions on England was plainly to raise a Counter-battery of other Pretensions on France which are more grounded to speak to them like Britains or old Englishmen to borrow some strong Arguments ad hominem from both the Edwards Quiver to manifest that we are not so weak as to stand a scanning it with 'em Scholar-like with a weak Pen but rather Man-like to shew that we are more ready to make an Answer with our Swords and with the point of it to prick this Bladder of Ambition which so vainly puffs 'em up in conceit above their Neighbours whom they so presumptuously despise slander and would trample under as if they forgot that the English are the same when e're put to it that they felt 'em to be at Poictiers at Guyenne and many other places in France in the days of old But if they or any of them in England will take offence at any thing that 's said here we say 't is but a Retaliation to their Writers If they say that their Writers spoke but their private sense then let this pass for such another piece For I protest no publick or private person ever moved me to it but the meer disinterested Affection I bear to my Countrey and I am so far from having any particular grudge against the French on any account such as the Common People usually have they know not why that I declare they have been far more just and grateful to me than England it self But let that pass and if the French will or must own that the French Politician and these other Defamatory Memoirs came from the Closet of publick persons and were spirited and are followed by such in their present courses we Englishmen do likewise for our parts whatever has been here said by way of Argument and to shew Frenchmen that we want neither Eyes Feeling nor Courage submissively and wholly leave it to our Sovereign and his Counsellors to return a more fit and publick Answer to France in this point in their own due time For we are not unsensible that those that sit in eminent places have a larger and clearer prospect of things than others so that the word of Command and Motion is to be always expected from them as from the head but sometimes persons that stand on a far lower ground may have a more particular knowledge of some Gaps and Precipices which are just within their own reach and precinet And even a Courrier or Scout may without reslexion to his Generals make a report touching the matters of fact he has observed in his course on the borders of the Enemy and also what he thinks of their next Motions by what he hath heard or seen among themselves FINIS ☞ The Jesuit 's Catchism according to St. Ignatius Loyola for the instructing and strengthening of all those which are weak in that Faith wherein the impiety of their Principles perniciousness of their Doctrines and iniquity of their Practices are declared Printed for Robert Harford at the Angel in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange in Quarto Price 1 s. ☞ Humane Prudence Or the Art by which a Man may raise Himself and Fortune to Grandeur By A. B. Sold by Robert Harford at the Angel in Cornhil price 1 s.