the King of France his Manifesto published newly at Ratisbone and other States of the Empire to maintain the Usurping Fortification of Tarbrack deserves to be inserted in this Book to let these who have not yet seen it understand the slender Reasons he alledges to palliate his infraction of the last Truce Behold here what his Minister hath-published to all the World. The King having been informed of the complaints which the Ministers of the House of Austria make upon the account of some outrages committed at Tarbrack by his Majesties Order who throughout the Empire they charge with acting contrary and call him an infringer of the Treaty concluded in the Year of our Lord 1684. The which hath obliged his said Majesty to issue out Orders to the Count de Crecy his Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Imperial Diet at Ratisbone to represent to the Ministers of the Electors Princes and States of the Empire assembled in the said place the small ground there is for such a complaint in it self and the just occasions they administer to all those who have a desire to preserve the publick peace to believe that this is a pretence that they are willing to make use of to disturb the same peace and quiet First of all If it may be said upon good grounds that that Treaty ratified at _____ may not properly be called a Truce its true definition being only a forbearance or sufferance by vertue of which although the War be still in being we are to forbear all Acts of Hostility there being at that time no rupture between France and the Empire this tolleration may be lookt upon as a mutual promise of a good understanding and Union for the space of Twenty years in consideration whereof the Emperour and Empire on the one part are to lay aside during the said term their Soveraignty Rights Superiority and Protection or all other pretences whatsoever they may have upon Lands Places or Towns fallen to France before the first of August 1681. His Majesty in like manner binds himself not to make any farther suit or prosecution in the Empire during the said time These are the most material Covenants by which they interchangeably assure each other of a long continuation of Friendship and good Intelligence which afforded means to the Emperours Arme is to conquer all Hungary and to put themselves and Empire in a posture and in a condition to undertake a War which otherwise would not have waged but at great cost and charges and peradventure at the hazard and ruine of the Electors Princes and States of the Empire But further to demonstrate this weak pretext altogether not to be tenible nor can hold Water of it self we need not run over the Articles of this Treaty and though we might even look upon it as a Treaty barely concluded only for the security of the tranquillity of the Empire and to procure for it the means whereby to imploy its Armies against the common Enemy yet one cannot for all that prove that it may deprive the King of his Power to fortifie those places where his Majesty hath right so to do as well by the possession he hath already had as by the common consent of the Empire granted by vertue of the same Treaty nor that he cannot act in those places as he pleaseth you need only peruse all the Treaties of Truce which have been made hitherto to see whether a prohibition of fortifying is not expresly included therein at such time as both Parties cannot agree By this toleration of the Truce of Bonvise in the year of our Lord 1537 't is said that whilst the Cessation of Arms lasts in the Netherlands King Francis I. could not send any Forces into the County of St. Paul nor there raise any Fortification This Exception gives us sufficiently to understand that the King was impowered to fortifie his places thereabouts and elsewhere during the said Truce so that they were bound to insert a clause into this Treaty to deprive France of this Liberty in the County of St. Paul only The General Truce that was agreed upon at Nice in the Year 1538 ratifies and confirms this same Article concerning St. Paul but it doth no way hinder the two Princes to cause Fortifications to be raised any where else The Cessation made in 1555 makes no mention of this point but the Crown of Spain and States General of the Vnited Netherlands upon their concluding a Truce in 1609 having a mind indeed to deprive each other of having the liberty of raising any new Fortress in the Low Countreys inserted this Clause There shall be on neither side any Fortress in the Low Countreys during the Cessation When the Peace was in agitation at Munster between France and Spain that they demurr'd longest upon and proved the greatest obstacle to the conclusion was that the Catholick King could not find in his heart to quit his claim to Catalonia which caused them to agree upon a Truce for Thirty years for that Province alone during which term both Kings should keep what he possest at that time but another difficulty emerg'd that the Spaniards could not endure that they should fortifie during the Truce those places in Catalonia to which the French would not agree alledging it unjust upon this account that thereby this would put them in a posture of being Defendants only and not Aggressors which was permitted in all Ages they would not so much as admit of the Expedient offered by the Embassador of the States General The same case stands good now as to the present Treaty Every one knows that the prohibitions to raise Fortifications propounded by the Ministers of the Empire in the Ninth and Tenth Articles of the same project of the Empire and what was then and there interchangeably delivered by publick Writing was interjected by France Besides the Imperial Ministers would by no means give their consent that the Emperour should yield up to the King such places whereof he was in present possession which his Majesty would not have medled with nor limited nor encroached upon The Emperours Ministers not able to make good this demand gave it over 'T is hard to believe that the Imperial Ministers will draw any Arguments to be a sufficient ground of complaint from the Eighth and Ninth Article of the Truce forasmuch as the former contains only the settling the Lands upon the Proprietors again who would take the Oath of Allegiance for them The Soveraignty whereof was delivered to his Majesty The other is that his said Majesty shall permit the Inhabitants to have the free Exercise of their Religion Moreover the re-union of Tarbrack having been irrecoverably adjudged by a decree of the Royal Chamber of Metz in the Month of April 1681. It is hard to conceive what Title the Imperial Ministers can pretend to in accusing France of acting contrary to the Cessation of Arms especially the King giving visible and dayly demonstrations of the inviolable
favourable opportunity shall require it Can a Man forbear laughing when he hears the praises which these flatterers bestow on Lewis XIV perswading him he hath procured peace both to his Enemies and to all Europe These Tales are very fit to be told to the Kingdom of Siam as Mounsieur de Chaumont the French Embassador was not backward to do in his Speech to that King which is to be found at large in a Book Entituled A Voyage into Siam and they have not been wanting in like manner to put off such sort of Trifles to the King of China such like stories are good for nothing else but to be obtruded on those Countreys though not here in Europe where our Eyes have seen and Ears heard the contrary Is it not strange to meet with such Writers who commit such impertinent Trifles as these to paper Don't we know what the proceedings of the King of France have been to procure a Peace with the States of the Vnited Provinces For seeing Fortune began to change he Agreed as touching the City of Nemeghen which belonged to the Hollanders so that no body went to Versailles to demand it of him He offers them Mastricht which was still in his hands Yea If the States had not been so very hasty to grant him what he demanded with so much importunity and for which he made so many fair promises he would have been glad to have defrayed all the Expence of the War Pray who can tell what it hath cost him under hand to obtain this Peace which he sued for with so much instant Intreaties sparing nothing that he might endeavour to get the States to slip their Necks out of the Collar and forsake their Allies he went so far as to surrender divers places to Spain to serve for boundaries between his Kingdom and the Vnited Provinces In saying that if the States had not been too forward to hasten on the signing the Peace France would have paid the Expences of the War. I hope I do not speak without good grounds for what I say several Reasons obliged them to clap up this peace in all haste separately because they saw their strength decreased dayly It is certain that after the Battle at St. Dennis which was not fought out by reason of a Peace the Prince of Orange would have marcht on into France with his Troops Moreover the King knew full well that being forced to agitate a General Peace it would never be effected till he should surrender to the Duke of Lorrain all his Lands and that he could not possibly induce the Elector of Brandenburg to restore to the Sweed what he had taken from him according to his obligation thereto when the Peace in particular with him was in agitation France had a great mind to make him restore to the King of Sweden his Allie what he had lost in taking up Arms for the service of France so that here are your sufficient reasons for demanding particular Peace with the States and that it was not he that procured it for Europe as he boasts and publisheth up and down If any one was the cause of Peace to the Empire 't was the States of the Vnited Provinces for when they had made peace at the instant supplication of the King the General Peace followed immediately usher'd in by the mediation of the States General 'T is most certain the King made this Peace by compulsion he began to do things but by halves the States and his Allies reinforced themselves dayly The Hollanders were recovered out of their Lethargie the Prince of Orange day by day became more experienced the Duke of Luxemburg's familiar Spirit grew feeble and began to forsake him part of the French Troops perished the remainder were much harassed and worn out Swedeland had done her worst and was at her last shifts so that it was absolutely necessary to afford some respite and relief to the French Troops by a Peace being that this Peace was partly but a forc't one the King was obliged to give up whatsoever he had taken so also it continued but a short while and just then when the Emperour had his hands full of the Turk and when the Spaniard and his Allies had laid down their Arms and did acquiesce upon the strict performance of the Treaty of Nemeghen the most Christian King like a Lyon falls foul upon the Low Countreys Now it was convenient to stop this Torrent to deliver up a good many places and to give ground and to patch up a Truce in the midst of Peace which will continue no longer than his Interest will permit a body may say and that truly that France makes but small difference between her Subjects and her Neighbours Genoua may bear me witness of the truth of this he treads them under foot and fleeces them all alike when occasion serves and when his Will and Pleasure is who is he that dares assure us that the Truce will be a stronger Bank to put a stop to his Ambition and his own private Ends than the two Treaties of Peace of the Pyrenneans and Nemegen That Numerous Army that amounts to near One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men which he maintains as well in Peace and in time of Cessation of Arms as in time of War sufficiently declares the French Policy that hath always one foot up ready a going to march and sits on thorns having ever more Armies in a readiness to execute her designs They make them Camp and de-Camp continually to be in motion that they may use and accustom their Neighbours to it for fear they should give them occasion of suspition when they march in good earnest to fall upon any place or surprize it One of the King of France his Maxims is to hinder these Neighbours lest they should augment their Forces but remain alwayes in a condition not to be able to do them harm on the sudden except they have a mind to have them about their Ears as we have observed at such time as the Vnited Provinces were partly resolved to levy Sixteen Thousand Men what Solicitations what delusory Promises nay how many Journeys did the Comte D' Avaux take to hinder it He did nothing but talk up and down of the sincerity and reality of the Covenants on his part just as if no body beside his Master had any Honesty and as if he were the only Man for keeping his word in Treaties All that was because he saw plainly that this new Commission given out would obstruct the taking the City of Luxemburg promising that there his Master would stop and put an end to all his Claims and Demands But he is still as ready to take another as he was before the taking of this City as we saw lately at Mons it would be all one whether the States should oppose this proceeding or no it would be so long as the Princes of Europe should suffer themselves to be hood-winkt by base fear or complaisance wonderful
advantagious indeed to promote the designs of France in Europe no body taking notice that France is as sordid as her Master and that both of them are afraid of cold Iron All these new Conversions of some and Persecutions of others which we see in France is nothing but to blind the Catholick Princes and to amuse them so long till he fall upon some City or State professing the Protestant Religion The House of Austria knows too well this Stratagem she practised it her self heretofore when she had higher designs on foot than now she hath when she attacked a Protestant Prince her pretence then was that she would Extirpate Heresie This is the French King's trade at this day it was expedient for him out of meer necessity to begin at home with his own Subjects and as that could not choose but have weaken'd him he solicites others to do as much as he What pains hath he taken to set the Swisse at variance and induce the Catholick Cantons to fall out with the Protestants and then afterwards when they are at odds to fall upon them But the Pope hath redressed that and accommodated the matter betwixt them France hath brought it so to pass that she hath forced the Duke of Savoy to rid himself of his best Subjects the Inhabitants of the Vallies being under a premunier as he is he could not go back with his word nay I am fully perswaded France would be extreamly glad that England would do the like by that means to weaken her to such a degree that she shall not be able to do any thing when Lewis XIV has a mind to fall upon the Low Countreys and remove from the States of the Vnited Provinces all possible means to prevent it and so by little and little make himself Master of Europe as we shall see by the following story of the French Policy and its Maxims in respect of Soveraigns in particular The Policy of France in respect of Rome and His Holiness ALL the World knows the Veneration and Respect all Catholick People have for the Holy See and the Holy Father that they look upon him as Christ's Vicar upon Earth St. Peter's Successor Universal Bishop and as we are taught by the Council of Trent the most Holy Lord to whom all Kings Princes and People owe an intire Obedience fail but in this Duty and you smell rank of Heresie according to the Council of Constance it deserves Fire and Faggot Would you not swear to see Lewis XIV persecute the Protestants at that rate he doth that he is the most Devout Son his Holiness hath whereas others do but kiss his Toe he would out of Devotion kiss something else But it is quite contrary He is a very Rebellious Son who cares not a fig for all the Holy Father's Remonstrances and Declarations who dispoyles him of his Goods ravishes from him his State and makes an entry into Rome by his Embassador as loftily and haughtily as Artaban And here is the French Spirit to invade the Holy Father in his Patrimony Authority and Conduct First In his Patrimony of the Church by depriving him of his Regalities in France which is a Right the Popes have enjoyed this many Ages which the Kings Lewis the XIV his Predecessors have granted to St. Peters Successors What Submission what Remonstrance hath not the present Pope made to oblige the King not to incroach and seize upon the Rights of the Church withal telling him that such like Usurpations as these have proved alwayes satal to Kings and Princes Families Yet all this hath had none effect upon him only the King said sometimes the Pope is a mighty good man I would not vex him But in the mean time never restores what he had deprived him of Just such another trick as he played with Spain when in time of Peace he took from it part of the Low Countreys he protested every where that he had no Intent to break the Peace but only took his Dependances and what of Right was his own You may turn the French Policy loose which way you will it presently finds out a way to oblige his Holiness to permit an Assembly of the Clergy of his Kingdom in the year 1682 wherein it was declared as we all know that he was not Infallible that he had no Power over the Temporalities of Kings that he was subject to Counsels and by himself he had not any power to make any one Article of Faith. Could he have thwarted the Pope more sensibly in his Authority than he did at that time besides he obliged all the Preachers Monks and Jesuits themselves to teach the same in the Pulpit and in their Colledges to their Auditors The Arch-bishop of Paris who was President of this Assembly who as you may well think was not too well beloved at Rome thought at least it was fit to make himself fear'd that they might come and offer him a Cardinals Cap. To this effect he writ into England to be informed what course Henry VIII took when he altered the Religion in that Kingdom yet all this had not the least effect upon the Popes mind who knows his own Tribe better than so and Mounsieur Arch-bishop was in great danger to stand bare a long time without a Cardinals Cap although he might catch cold When this Prelate perceived that by this means his Affairs went rather backbard than forward he bethought himself of another course prefers himself and takes upon him not like a Converter but Persecutor in causing the Hugonots of his Diocess to be tormented and those of all France by his wicked Counsel hoping thereby to curry favour with the Pope and regain his credit by his zeal and forwardness for the propagation of Religion But his Holiness who hath abundance of reason and whose disposition is not violent whose intent and meaning is that Conversions should be effected by Reason by good Examples not by Dragoons and Rackings and by an Holy Life which is not consistant with the Archbishop of Paris who is taken with the Female Sex and love their Company This change of shapes procured him but ill will and disdain he had no share in the last promotion nor never will so long as Innocent XI lives nor perhaps after him when of necessity there will happen great changes at Rome In the mean time Mounsieur Camus Bishop of Grenoble whose unblameable Life and Conversation might serve for a Mirrour to a many of your Court Bishops hath been honoured with the Purple without ever seeking for it without persecuting any body nor so much as suffering it within his Diocess this Prelate being not a-la-mode de la Court this new Dignity he so lately received cannot choose but be a great heart-burning to the King and greater to the Arch-bishop to see himself shut out of doors Last of all Can a Man more visibly cross the Popes behaviour than the King doth at present in respect of the Franchises of his
Observation of the least punctillio of them helping and furthering what in him lies the progress of the Imperial Forces against those Barbarians the Turks through his moderation and complyance and what administers ground of suspition concerning the designs of the Court at Vienna which his Ministers do but too much lay open upon all occasions is their not being desirous of keeping the Truce any longer than they may be strong enough to break it Notwithstanding all this considering that this Truce hath offered to Christendom that happy Peace and Tranquillity it enjoys at this day and hath supplyed means to the States and Circles of the Empire by their assistance to bring upon the Ottoman Empire all those mischiefs wherewith they threatned the Hereditary Countreys We dare boldly and truly say that the Emperour is beholding to him for the preservation of his Country and for all those advantages he hath had over the Turks His Ministers are as much to blame to complain that the King making use of his full power hath caused his frontier places to be fortified as standing in most need Just as a Soveraign for the security repose and prosperity of his Subjects causeth the boundaries of his Territories to be fortified would not by so doing make us believe that he had the least thought of siezing upon his Neighbours Countrey or any mind to Commence a War no more than any private Person busying himself in repairing the utmost Fences of his Lands to make them good would thereby give but small proof of his desire to entrench upon his Neighbours But yet his Majesty is not without hope but that the Wisdom and Prudence of the States of the Empire assembled at Ratisbone will seriously reflect upon the just suspitions which the ill-grounded complaints of the Imperial Ministers have occasioned to him and that they will bethink themselves of one way or other that the good Intelligence which his Majesty purposeth to maintain with the Empire may not be interrupted nor impeded Given at Fountainbleau Octob. 22th 1687. To hear this Manifesto would not a Man judge that the Emperour is obliged to the King for all his Victories over the Turk and without him the Empire had been quite lost when all the World sees evidently by what we have said that it was none but he that induced the Grand Seigniour to break the Truce and to send relief to Tekely but the Spirit of France is always deceitful The Policy of France and the Maxims in relation to Spain FRom the Empire I pass to Spain which Kingdom and France have divided Europe between them some years last past all other Princes have listed themselves under their Banner thereafter as their Interest required but the most part agreed in that point to support the weaker and endeavour a just ballance between them The late Mounsieur Sully in a Letter to Henry IV. concerning the Quarrel with Spain says that the least growth of Power in the one is lookt upon to be a weakning and lessening of the other Until Philip IV. time Spain ever kept up its head though it began to decline in Philip the Seconds by reason of the War in the Low Countreys but ever since that and particularly after the last King Philip IV. Death France got the upper hand and Spain humbly submitted Upon the Festival of one of the Kings of Spain who was Sainted the Preacher St. Ferdinand extolling the grandeur of his Mighty King in his Sermon told 'em that if his God was not God the King Don Philip should be God but I suppose something less than so would satisfie his Successor the case being altered since that And yet Charles II. is King of Spain still has the same Indies and his Ships go thither and come home laden with Gold and Silver as they us 't to do heretofore but still this Spain is not like that which was once the Terrour of all Princes in Europe who were but justly jealous of her aspiring Greatness and had reason to be Confederates against it for their common defence Now 't is in the same condition that a Thief is when he 's brought to his last shifts and just ready to be taken If Spain were not supported by its Allies Lewis XIV King of France would quickly be at Madrid The Low Countries would bend under the French yoak in less than one Campaign though 't would be effected more easily because their own Prince has no Children and is very sickly and though they see utter ruine coming upon them yet they dare make no opposition for they could only make sport for the insolent French Troops if they should having no prospect of succours from any body that 's able to rescue them France knows all this well enough and 't is very true that France waits only for a fit opportunity to take possession of the Queens Right in the Dauphin's Name for the Crown of Spain falls to the Female Sex and it came to the House of Austria by a Woman that is to say by Jane Ferdinand King of Spains Daughter who married a Prince of that Family To let you see how much Spain suffers it self to be baffled by France I need only shew you two Examples which will convince you that I have said nothing but what is true The King of France sent a Memorial to the King of Spain and to the States of the United Provinces to this effect That if the King of Spain should grant the Low Countreys to the Duke of Bavaria or but make him Governour as the report was when he married the Arch-dutchess that she would then without more ado break off the peace since neither of those things could be done without manifest injury to the Dauphin's Right Mr. Feuquier was the Man who gave the Memorial to the King of Spain and Count D'avaux to the Vnited Provinces but were Paris over this perhaps you 'l say that Spain did not consider it well and they are so justly afraid of France that it is no wonder if that puts 'em a little out of their Wits But I am going to tell you a thing which you 'l own does sufficiently discover the weakness and poor Spirit of Spain it hapned at the Ceremony of making an Entry into London that the Spanish and French Embassadors met The Baron Watville went before Mounsieur d' Estrade France presently complains of this indignity and Spain was so pitifully mean as to disown that brave Action of their Ambassador Thus by that scandalous procedure Spain suffered in its Honour and gave place to France though there was nothing like necessity for their doing it I can see no other reason for 't but fear of Canon Law and dread of the Troops which France keeps up to inforce its Commands which are just ready too in case the King of Spain should dye suddenly Let Charles II. take what care he can in settling the Succession if he has respect for his own Family and the last Will and intent
Daughter of Philip the Fair from this Match came Henry V. of England who had as much Right to France as the Dauphin has to Spain For the three Sons of Philip the Fair Lovis Hutin Philip the Long and Charles the Fair dyed all without Issue-male and it was after this when the King of England sued for his Right to the Kingdom of France that the Salique Law was first introduc't usher'd in by a Sermon which the Bishop of Beauvais preacht before the Convention of the States proving by the Gospel which sayes The Lillies spin not that by consequence the Flower de lis which represents France ought never to fall to the Distaff But that Law could only affect what was to come and not what was past Afterward Henry V. King of England came over into France with a Potent Army won several Victories and at last Married Catherine Daughter of Charles VI. and in the year 1421 it was sinally decreed and concluded that Henry should be King of France Now Isabel Queen of France Mother to Catherine Queen of England made her last Will in favour of her Son in Law and declared him Heir to all her Estate and to the Crown which in my judgment is a great addition to the Right which the Kings of England have to the Realm of France If the King of France had but had that Right to England which the King of England has to France what a Company of Manifestoes and Writings should we have flie about to demonstrate his just pretentions as he calls every thing he is pleased to lay a claim to So that let the King of England take a view of France which way soever he will he ought alway to suspect her and stand upon his guard as against one whom he certainly knows to be his Enemy He may justly be assured that he does not coaks him so without a design to get something out of him and because he knows him the only one who is able to counterpoize his Affairs Therefore 't is no wonder that Lewis XIV took so much pains to supply the late King Charles II. Necessities and satisfie his Pleasure Mounsieur Barillen and Madam Portsmouth can justifie what I say but I can assure you that the King of France regards neither Princes nor private Persons one jot farther than as they are for his turn Nay farther Even Vertue it self is only esteem'd by him so long as she squares with his Interest What value pray did he put upon either Princes or Princesses during Cromwel's Government Were they not obliged to retire not to say driven out of France What subsistnance or help had their Princes in their Exile from France No 't is to the Family of Orange that they are obliged which furnisht them with considerable Sums of Money but on the contrary France was the promoter of the late Troubles of England she gave the Princes no protection and never contributed the least toward the re-establishing of the late King in his Throne All this considered neither just resentment from the Royal Family nor the English Interest can decently allow of such close Alliances with France as shall be able to make England shut her Eyes or be a by-stander whilst Lewis XIV takes the Low Countries But on the other side she ought to be continually in a posture to hinder her in every the least attempt she makes towards it and to make use of the Six Regiments in Holland which the States won't refuse upon such an occasion to prevent the King of France his bringing more Men down upon Flanders I am perswaded that those Six Regiments would be able to cope with double the number of the French and thus by Englands only showing of her Teeth Europe will be safe Resist the Devil and he will flie from you But if you are afraid of him he 'l soon master you France has cut out work for King James now Reigning The Enterprize which he has taken in hand is so great that many Men fear and others hope that he will never get quit of it with his Life 'T is no time to change Laws when the Enemy is at the Gate 'T is not convenient at all times to think of working great Conversions some Battles must be fought to let the World see a Character both of a Soldier and a Polititian All the World expected this and more from the King. His Mighty Courage put all Europe in hopes that he would be an Universal Comforter to them and would afford some respite to Spain But alas What can his Allies and Spain hope for whilst his sole business is to please the Jesuits kindles a fire in his own Kingdom which it may be he won't be able to quench when he pleases and so long as he does so he dares not call a Legal Free Parliament Spain lost her self by banishing the Moors out of the Kingdom France is weakned by the Conversions she has wrought and by driving out the Hugonots and she has a great mind that the King of England would follow her Example We must not rob God of his Right Conversions only belong to him and he is able to convert the whole World with one Word Therefore leaving the care of this to God the King of England ought to mind the safety of his States avoid being made the King of France his Cully and make him keep at home and not fall upon his Neighbours Lands which ought to be the Barrier between them Thus the King will do his Honour and Conduct but Justice and satisfie the expectation of all Europe The Politick Spirit of France and its Maxims in reference to the United Provinces THE States of the Vnited Provinces after they had constrained Spain by force of Arms to acknowledge them for Free High and Mighty States depending on none but God alone were for some time the admiration of their Neighbours and every one laboured to procure their Friendship and Alliance and it may be said that they were looked upon as the Umpires of Europe but since the War in 1672 this High Reputation hath been lessened and France hath been so cunning to play her Cards so well that she had well nigh reduc't them to nothing if by an unlookt for change the People had not put the whole management and command into the Prince of Orange's hands and if some persons of ill designs had not been brought to condign punishment But God whom it pleased by his Providence to protect and preserve this little Country did after the siege of Norden send such a panick fear amongst its Enemies that they broke up their Camp with more speed than they came yet the thing which did most contribute to these misfortunes besides the Treachery of France was their being unprovided of good Forces and a good Head for the Army These Provinces relyed wholly upon the Peace and treacherous deceitful promises of France which all a long in time of Peace carryed on a design against the said
Provinces We see that amidst Peace the Militia Forces grew slothful Ease smiles for a little while Men quite forsake the care of Arms and give themselves only to something profitable and gainful When the Enemy approacheth Men flie oftentimes to their shame far from that Glory which was heretofore the prevailing Passion as we might have observed in the late Wars France was sure so long as the Vnited Provinces had no Captain-General the Militia would be but ill provided and no ways upon their Guard and this is the reason why she was so very careful to hinder the Prince of Orange from being advanced to those Dignities and Commands which he at present enjoys by strengthning and poysoning the contrary Party By this means the States grew weaker and weaker every day Their Forces were disperst their Fortifications neglected and their strongest places fell to decay their Magazines but ill provided with Ammunition whilst France levyed Men unawares entered into secret Alliances with England Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Munster Du Plessis saith very well that every State is not thought strong or weak but in comparison to the strength and weakness of their Neighbours that 't is for that end that wise Princes alwayes keep a counterpoize as much as possible that they may remain in peace and amity together and so soon as ever that fails peace and amity is dissolved not being grounded upon any thing but mutual fear or respect for one another Now this is so true that every Prince is jealous of the least Levy or Motion of his Neighbour even amidst Peace or Cessation of Arms and do perpetually observe it and labour to get a true Information of the designs of his Enemy or Neighbour even before they be hatched for thereby his resolutions are spoiled now this is the thing wherein abundance of Princes and States who stand upon cost and charges are to seek This is a piece of Covetousness that sometimes costs its Master and his People dear and at last occasioneth a War which perhaps might have been prevented with a small matter France is so well assured of the Truth of it that she lets nothing slip upon such occasions Her Embassadors in all the Courts of Europe have Money for that purpose and they can do their Master no better service nor sooner win his favour than by corrupting one or more of that Princes Council at whose Court they reside It is their chief study Night and Day and spare nothing to accomplish it When they come short of the good Man they are sure to win the Wife that she may now and then ask her Husband nay rather than fail one of the Children may serve the turn whether or no he was successful in such and such a business They apply themselves in like manner to the Servants whom they reward according to their services These Maxims prove very lucky to them in States where there are many Heads as in the Vnited Provinces who are a great rub in the King of France his way in his Conquest of the Spanish Netherlands for he knows that having some of them he may make sure of the rest so that his main business is to lull the Vnited Provinces asleep by a Truce which he breakes at pleasure supposing at that time they may neglect their Militia as heretofore they did and busie themselves only with Trading for the King knows that the States having their Wits about them and upon their Guard they will never consent to the taking of the Spanish Netherlands at least that they ought not to do it since that there lyes the bounds between France and them which they ought to have a care of as of their Neighbours House least it be set on Fire So that to bring about his Design what hath not the Count d'Avaux done to divide one Province against another nay even the Cities of Holland and especially Amsterdam What did he not promise what did he not engage to accomplish his Designs However they were not managed with such secrecy but that the very Boys in the streets smoak't them out through the frequent Journeys this Ambassador so often made to this great City neither is Mombas to be thought the only Actor in this Affair for when he retired to France he left many Agents behind him to further the design in the Night not daring to appear in the Day but the best was Count d'Avaux became at length to be better understood the People began to suspect his Doctrine for his abusing the easiness and good nature of many of them made them sensible of his practice and illude his Designs but the Policies of France are more perspicuous in fomenting the differences between England and the Vnited Provinces well knowing the uniting of both their Forces together might give France it 's Mortal Wound How sweet therefore must their Divisions be to France and especially when they spring from among themselves The last War between these two arose from some differences in point of Traffick and whilst the King of England was preparing for the War the King of France offered his Assistance towards an accommodation with the States on purpose onely to delude them as they well perceived afterwards being amazed that when they drew near to a Conclusion France on the sudden sided with England and at the same time the one gave the Assault by Sea the other by Land and so assuring to themselves an intire Conquest of the Vnited Provinces they divided their Spoils the one taking the Maritime places and France the other but they mis-understood one another about Amsterdam each imagining to possess that himself but there was no occasion for their casting Lots for it for God suffer'd it not to fall into their hands afterwards each drew home their Forces according to the Peace which the English were the first movers of Then did France labour what it could to strip the States of their Allies it 's King foreseeing the Dice would turn and that the Dutch might rally their Soldiers being in great Discipline under an experienced General then did the King give up Mastricht and did whatever else lay in his power to promote the peace at Nimeghen Since which time he has alwayes bark'd at a distance and did so much dread the States levying the last 16000 men that Count d'Avaux used all Stratagems to prevent it as he will do at all times whenever the States discover an inclination to arm because that would prove some hinderance to his encroaching designs and here I must repeat again how much it is the Interest of the States to prevent their Frontiers from being swallowed up which certainly in a short time will become a prey to the Usurper upon a more specious pretence then that King has usually made use of He may publickly declare upon what right his pretensions are grounded how that without the least dispute these Provinces did formerly belong to Mary of Burgundy to Philip the First to
Charles the Fifth and after that to Philip the Second and that these were in rightful possession of them till they afterwards Rebelled and by force extorted their Liberty He will offer them in case they will freely submit themselves to his Dominion to maintain their Ancient Priviledges and reserve to them the free Exercise of their Religion and also exempt them from all impositions as he does his French Subjects which if they shall refuse to do then will he attack them with his Army as he did in the year 1672. fearing no opposition from any of the Catholick Princes before whose eyes he hath all along cast a mist with the specious pretences of Religion but if the House of Austria continue still to be lull'd asleep she with all her Catholicism will be irrecoverably undone But I perceive the Estates of the Vnited Provinces next to God must depend wholly upon their own strength and need onely be afraid of France and to level their whole Forces against her whose design for these many years has been to suppress them and if not wholly to destroy them yet at least to reduce them so low as they should wholly depend upon her The King would willingly agree with them after the same manner as we read in the Fable the Wolf would have done with the Sheep dismiss your Shepherd and your Dog cries the Wolf to these poor simple Creatures and then will we enter into a strict Friendship and Alliance together and live peaceably one with another thus says Mr. King Cashier your General disband your Veterane Soldiers 't will be good Husbandry now in this time of peace and you may assure your selves of my Friendship and take your ease during this Cessation and so we will live Friendly and quietly together but the Italian tells us Trust not and you will never be deceived Thus as I laid down before 't is best for them to rely wholly upon their own proper strength and be ever provided with a substantial Navy both for Cruising up and down and for Convoy's and also to have another ready to put to Sea their strength at Sea is the right-hand of the States and which will easily disperse the storms which France do often threaten her neighbours with and if the States would ever be perswaded to train up a sufficient number of Seamen to be in constant readiness to Man their Frigats whenever necessity required it would produce this double advantage 1. The State would be ever furnished with men ready for her Defence without the Trouble of seeking where to levy them and these will be skilful enough by the continual service 2. She would draw from neighbouring Havens many Mariners that would proffer their services but especially such of the States subjects as were in Foreign service would choose rather to return home when they should be sure to be in service upon the Land or the Water the whole year round those who are abroad need not be frighted to return home by sharp Proclamations 'T is certain France can't brag much upon this account for I am sure most of the ships she sends out but especially the Pilots are all Dutch she confiding more in the skil and experience of them than of her own men who never dare venture upon long Voyages and if ever the States should resolve upon so beneficial a method the Policies of France would immediately be perceived to rouse and Count d'Avaux hound-like would hunt from Town to Town to oppose it but he begins now to grow very angry because of the small effect which his large promises have hitherto produced and meerly for want of their being duly tempered with Truth and Honesty the main supporters of the Credit and Reputation of a Minister of State in a Foreign Country but the King is obliged to this great Man for putting several stories of their High and Mightinesses into his Head that they have no cause to thank him for France notwithstanding is mightily assisted in the Vnited Provinces by the Jesuits and other Foreign Priests who are hired to sift out and divert the good intentions of the People they are crept into the Prince of Orange's Court where they find private Friends to serve them on all occasions they have the impudence to brag of their Intelligence of things done in his private Chamber and they omit nothing that tends to the well acting of their parts they swarm in his Troops and Garrisons whence they transmit their intelligence to the Hague the common Office of adress and as it were the Receptacle of the other Cities and Provinces the greater caution therefore ought to be used for all these Vermine are warmed by France who is ever in action and will deny nothing to any one whom she thinks can be serviceable to her I my self remember that not long ago a Foot-man of one of the States Deputies was offered Four Ducatoons a week to betray whatever his Master should speak of either at his own Table or in Discourse with the other Deputies but the Valet with reason and height of indignation refused the baseness Thus we may observe the French Policy make use of all wayes how much therefore ought they to be upon their Guard to keep off her blows I my self observe the chief Cities about the Hague infested with Spies who hunt every Table and dayly change their Dining-places except they find some good bit or other to divert them how cautious then ought they to be who are obliged to frequent Ordinaries Others of these little Fellows screw themselves into all Companies others of them into the Court at such times when the Prince and Princess Dine and Sup publickly and all this only to observe what is said and to make report of every small accident even of the very Fire and Fewel Whenever these little News-Carriers happen upon any thing of moment away they scoure like the Basques to the French Embassadors where they are sure of a Dinner his Table being generally filled up with these kind of Cattle I could name a dozen of these Animals who to my knowledge are thus maintained besides others who manage these concerns with more privacy acting only in the dark The Count de Caravas was one of the chief of them a Man very much esteemed of though in my mind only like a chip in pottage not being so cautious as he should have been for he went about at Noon-day and through the great Gates to carry his news Two others whom I know to be Jesuits are dayly disguised in Officers Habits at the Princes Levie his times of Dining and Supping haunting the Court all the day long where they are ingaged in so many Intrigues and have such numbers of Acquaintance that they well understand what advice to give to their Friends the Catholicks for after all they are French Emissaries and wholly devoted to that Service others of this sort get to be employed in the Kitchin where these Cattle are too too
dangerous The conclusion therefore is Natural to keep a watch on all sides in all times in Peace in War upon the Motions of France whose Maxims are destructive and Antichristian whose King is both perjured and a Lyar who under the colour of establishing universally the Catholick Religion which he himself in his Life and Faith renounces has no other end than the Extent of his own Dominion over all Europe first over the Protestant Princes if he can and then over the Catholick and thus not only to be declared Roman Emperour but also Universal Emperour of Europe and 't is lamentable to behold with what a Covetous Eye from Versailes he looks upon the Vnited Provinces 'T is therefore advisable for the States and People of these Provinces to put in practice what our Saviour once advised the Jews Watch for ye know not the hour in which the Thief will come So say I be ever in a readiness to oppose him whenever he shall endeavour to possess himself of their Houses and usurp upon the Territories of his Neighbours and by degrees upon that which God Almighty has disposed of to the wise Government of the States for France must be look't upon in these dayes as the common Enemy to all Republicks as the Scourge of all that deny his Power True it is that his fear of the Vnited Provinces by much exceeds his love for them 't is very convenient to keep him in this fear by repelling him whenever he advances beyond his own Territories and not so much to trust to Count D' Avaux's deceitful Remonstrances and his being against their putting themselves into a posture of defence ought assuredly to perswade them that it is also contrary to his Masters desire otherwise why should he trouble himself to oppose it The States are more particularly engaged to be upon their Guard and to neglect nothing which may tend to their defence because of their too near Neighbour the Cardinal of Furstemburg who is lately Elected Co-adjutor of Cologne a dangerous and active Man and already possessed with the Demon of France whom the King can raise with his Money when he pleases to the more easie reducing the Frontiers of the Provinces and upon all occasions will buoy up France in quarrelling with Holland upon the first notice given The Spirit of France appears in all his Actions so that he is equally as dangerous a Neighbour as the King himself for his high Obligations to his Master will oblige him also to concur in his designs of becoming the Universal Monarch by swallowing up his Neighbours round about him as will be seen in time if some Course be'nt taken The Policies and Maxims of France in respect of the Northern Princes I Place the Kings of Swedeland and Denmark among the chief of the Northern Princes These are two Powerful Kingdoms and although they are Neighbours and nearly allyed by Marriages yet notwithstanding are so far from loving that like France and Spain they mortally hate one another and although their Interest Trade and narrowness of Revenue ought to perswade them to live amicably together yet notwithstanding all their antipathy will prevail 't is of high importance to France to have ever one of these Kings at his beck that so she may give a diversion to the other whenever the one should have a mind to assist the Low Countries or the Vnited Provinces against her Encroachments The Swede being the stronger suits best with this design of France between whom therefore there hath been a strict Alliance but the Swede being disappointed of his Pension and treacherously dealt with in respect of the Dutchy of Deux-Ponts which descended to him after the Death of that Duke but was miserably impoverisht by France in the Life of the Duke These things the Swede cannot put up but for the present 't is not so convenient to discover his resentments but reserve them for a fairer opportunity neither will France do any good now if she should present her Louis ' d'or's put up like a barrel of Olives as she did formerly to his Ambassador to soften him at the Treaty of Nimeghen which she her self hath since bragged of All this will be to small purpose for the Swede has already tasted sufficiently of the bitter Spirit of France and has resolved to have nothing more to do with her Therefore France goes now to the K. of Denmark who had a mind next to see what kind of things these Louis ' d'or's be and therefore never stuck to side with her when immediately Count de Roy was dispatch't in quality of Generalissimo with several other French Officers at whose arrival the French Tricks forthwith discover'd themselves for Count de Roy immediately demanded on behalf of the King his Master part of the supplies sent from France pretending that they were squander'd away to no purpose The like Complement was formerly done to the Elector of Brandenburgh but Kings and Princes must consult the Honour of their Posterity and the Ages to come as well as the present What a Cypher in History will a Mercenary Prince and an Hireling of France appear in future Ages who is led like a Bear by the Nose and thus gives a Tarnish to all his other Actions which otherwise might be worthy commemoration he must not imagine such baseness will dye with his Person there are ever found some that will be Friends to truth all Pens are not so Mercenary as Varilla's and Pellisson's As soon as France has made as much use of the Dane as she can and finds any other to be of more advantage to her she will forsake him as one too much for his own ends pretending some sham-quarrel or other as the Turks do to fall out with him about his Pension as she formerly served the Swede and if the House of Lunenburgh would have swallowed the Bait the Dane should not have warmed himself by France so long as he has already done But besides the Ignominy which will follow a Sovereign who instead of depending solely upon the King of Kings Blushes not in becoming a Vassal to his Equal and giving occasion to France to boast like the Centurion in the Gospel I bid my servant do this and he doth it and to another go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh I say besides this Baseness its most pernicious Policy though I doubt the Dane's too heavy to discern it for a small dirty sum of Money and which serves onely to maintain his extraordinary Troops to render himself an Enemy to all Europe and in particular to his potent Neighbours without the assistance of whom both Denmark and Norway must fall to the ground For I do maintain that it lyes in the power of the Vnited Provinces by a Remonstrance to do more Mischief to those two Kingdoms in one year than they can ever recover in ten by all their Subsidies and Pensions from France I confess by the shelter from France he
the Swedes the Elector of Brandenburg and the States of the Vnited Provinces whose pecial Interest it is to hold fast and be firmly united as well by reason of the nearness of their States as upon the account of Trading and that fair correspondence which hath alwayes reigned amongst them So that a Man may safely avouch they serve to maintain and mutually preserve one another Now France hath a design in it in meaning to oblige the Princes of Lunenbourg to come over to her Interest for should the King of England or Spain chance to dye suddenly she would have occasion for those three forementioned Powers to be able to oppose them with the French Troops joyned to theirs in case any one of them should be in action 'T is most evident that Lewis XIV ought to labour as he doth to procure himself Allies to second his Designs upon the same score as he doth for Denmark whether it be to hinder the Prince of Oranges passage into England or when he means to fall upon Holland in good earnest these two concerns go to his heart and is his sole grief considering the Grand Conquest of the Emperour who will be like to grieve him to the heart with his Victorious Army after peace made nay and perhaps make him lose his longing to put some of his great designs in Execution for which he labours tooth and nail and now begins to cool upon it to the end he may so well order his business that he may neither meet with any impediment or at least that he may divert and busie those who mean to withstand it I dare safely affirm that the Prince of Orange is the only Man the French King dreads and that the very thoughts of the Succession of a Royal Princess to the English Crown puts him in a deadly fright which gives him a Stool without a Pill knowing withal that this as great a Politician as Captain not knowing what Corruption means perfectly verst in the true interest of Europe will say as Q. Elizabeth did that none had any thing to do to pretend to the Low Countreys and will not endure that either the King of France nor any other should make himself Master of it which will be very feasable when he shall be advanced to this Dignity and this is the reason why the Spirit of Lewis the Great encompasseth the Earth and would fain associate himself with as many Princes as possibly he can to shelter himself from the impending Storm and Tempest and secure him from that Thunder that is ready to break out against him Poland is at a great distance from France can neither hurt it by Sea or Land but can do him great service indirectly as crossing the Designs of the Emperour or by falling upon Swedeland especially Swedeland when France thinks good for there wants not a plausible excuse when a Prince means to make an attempt Casimir Son of Sigismond had a lawful one indeed for this Sigismond being as yet King of Sweeden was elected King of Poland He kept nevertheless his first Kingdom until Prince Charles his Uncle was proclaimed King in the absence of his Nephew King Sigismund who sent a Senate consisting of Forty Jesuits to have full power of deciding all State-Matters and were to reside at Stockholm being dispatched with full instructions by Patent impowering them with Royal Authority But when the Senate was arrived in Stockholm Road Prince Charles with all the Nobility went out to meet them with Twenty or Thirty Ships to do the more Honour to these new Senate This Squadron coming round about the Vessel of their Reverend Senators gave them a broad-side seeming to welcom them Their Ships immediately sprung divers leaks and the Jesuits went down to hold their first Session in Quality of Senators at the bottom of the Salt Sea none using any means to save one of them In the upshot Prince Charles was Elected King the Arch-bishop dispensed with the Subjects Oath of Allegiance which they took to Sigismond and his Uncle was proclaimed King. The French King thinks himself concern'd in the Election of a King of Poland thither he usually sends an Embassador with some Lewisses to carry on the Election in favour of some Prince of his Faction but especially that he may not be true and stedfast to the Faction of the House of Austria King John now Reigning his Queen being a French Lady hath contributed very much to the Bishop of Beauvais the French Embassador to solicite in her behalf because the Most Christian King always thought that by the Queens Intercession he should prevail with the King to come over to his Interests and he was not altogether mistaken True indeed the repulse she suffered from the King of bestowing the Titles of Duke and Peer upon the Marquiss D' Arquier her Father and acknowledging her to be his Daughter and of giving her the honour of Queen in case she should come into France had a little cooled her but when it will cost the King but a little sheet of Parchment to please a Prince the King is extraordinary liberal of it at Court especially if he have need of him So likewise out of acknowledgment of these favours you see the King of Poland doth whatsoever his Benefactour will have him and St. Lewis is in great power in that Realm Yet I don't look upon it as the true interest of Poland to make such a stop the wayes being so good since the deliverance and relief of Vienna the issue and result of his great exploits would have Eternized his memory by giving a peace to the Grand Seignior upon advantageous terms for Poland but the best of all was he might have secured the Crown upon his Sons head for questionless they could not in Justice have denyed it him as an acknowledgment of all his Victories We are not ignorant that the Spirit of France very prodigal of promises and fertile in cunningness do ascertain the King and Queen that Prince Alexander their Son shall not fail of a Crown and your Golden Lewisses work wonders But who pray will give Lewis a lease of his Life till then I must needs say he caused to be put under his Statue Viro immortali but I have found also in the same place Cum fistula in ano So that he may dye before the King of Poland and if he do dye it may so come to pass that his Successour may have so many Irons in the fire at home that he will never think of seeking any more abroad But now France offers the young Prince Royal of Poland for pledge of their Truth and Friendship the Princess de Conti la Valliere whom they also offered to the Prince of Bavaria as if there were no more Legitimate Princesses in Europe I am perswaded the King of France thinks he doth the Polonians a great deal of Honour by offering them one of his Natural Daughters for to be their Queen This would be fine to employ