Selected quad for the lemma: war_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
war_n	england_n	king_n	philip_n	2,082	5	9.2712	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48266	Letters written by a French gentleman, giving a faithful and particular account of the transactions at the court of France, relating to the publick interest of Europe with historical and political reflexions on the ancient and present state of that kingdom / communicated by Monsieur Vassor.	Le Vassor, Michel, 1646-1718.	1695 (1695)	Wing L1795; ESTC R12280	36,438	62

necessary to resolve on the Conquest of Ireland Velut é conspectu libertas tolleretur Tacit. in Agric. least the Ancient Britons by seeing a free Nation so near them should be tempted to recover their own lost Liberty Is it not probable that our Court is acted by the same Principles Are not these the Maxims that oblige her to endeavour with so much obstinacy to make the English and Dutch our Companions in Slavery She cannot bear the Neighbourhood of a Nation that has always asserted its Priviledges with a great deal of Vigor nor is she less prejudic'd against another that had the Courage to shake of its Fetters Who knows whether the French may not at last fall in love with the Constitution of the English Government and settle one like to it at Home which after all will be only our own Ancient form of Government restor'd And * l. 5. c. 18. Philip de Cormines assures us with his usual sincerity that he knows not a Countrey in the World where the Common-wealth is better manag'd and the Subjects suffer less violence then in England I am of the same opinion with you that the King wishes with all his Heart he could continue the War without imposing a General Poll-Tax that Method is certainly too odious to be chosen without necessity and how hard and pitiless soever we have found our Masters to be I believe they would not willingly encrease the Murmurings and Dissatisfaction of the People But what can we expect from Men that know not what course to take We have seen enough more than once to perswade us that our Ministers of State do not now begin to be gravel'd The Intelligencers have no more Memoirs to present On what then would you have them lay a new Imposition Would you have them Tax the Air that we breath For that is the only Element now remains free to us Give me leave Sir to put you in mind of an Observation which you that have past so often through the Gates of Paris have doubtless made as well as I. You know that many of them bear this magnificent Inscription * The happiness of the City under Lewis the Great Sub Ludovico Magno Felicitas Urbis But if you cast your Eye on the adjacent buildings you shall find a vast number of Toll-gatherers Houses on which are written in no less conspicuous Characters the Names of Offices and Courts for such a prodigious variety of Imposts If you can advance further into the City you shall scarce find a Street without an Office or Court of Audit for some ridiculous and hitherto unheard of Taxaation Such is the happiness of the French Nation under the long Reign of the great Prince for whom they have erected so many Statues We have not seen a Week these Six Years that has not produc'd at least One or Two new Edicts or Declarations and at length the Invention of the subtlest Finances is drain'd as well as our Purses 'T is not so easy now as 't was formerly to find out Methods to furnish the King with Ten Twenty or Thirty Millions and a General Poll Tax is the last refuge I know not whether the very noise of so surprising a Project has not already alarm'd some of the Confederates 'T is but natural for those who are not well acquainted with the deplorable condition of a Countrey that was once so Rich and Flourishing to imagine that this new Imposition will make the King Master of a sufficient Fund to carry on the War for several Years And I do not at all doubt but that the Court flatters it self with the hopes of terrifying its Enemies by the intended Declaration Its Emissaries in Holland and England will not fail to give out that France is inexhaustible and that we are as able and willing to part with our Money as the English and Dutch are to part with theirs I am confirm'd in this Opinion by what I heard yesterday from one of my Friends who inform'd me that the subject of those Verses that are to be made in praise of the King to obtain the Prize that is propos'd to be given by the French Acad my on St. Lewis's Day is appointed to be this Proposition That the King is no less terrible to his Enemies by the love of his Subjects than by the force of his Arms. For I 'm satisfi'd that this cannot be done without a design But who will be impos'd upon by so obvious a trick or regard so base and ridiculous a piece of flattery Are the Confederates ignorant of the general Dissatisfaction of the Nobility Gentry and Third Estate which is so apparent in Paris and all the Towns in the Kingdom Have they not heard in England and Holland that the King's Revenues are considerably diminished And thô the Truth of this were not so publickly known it would not require a very great stock of Sagacity to Divine that they who have not Money to buy Bread cannot be supposed to consume much Wine either at Home or at the Tavern and that consequently the Entries at Paris and in the other Cities of France do not now amount to such great Sums as they did heretofore The Peasants are generally so miserable that they are not able to fetch Salt from the Garner from whence 't is likewise plain that the King's Coffers are not so well fill'd by the Gabels as formerly they were The Fields lie until'd and are almost turn'd to Desarts An infinite number of People are Dead of Hunger Misery and other Epidemical Distempers Those Towns which we have seen in a flourishing condition and well Peopled are ruin'd and abandon'd by their Inhabitants and most of the Labourers and Tradesmen are reduc'd to Beggery wonder not then that the King is forc'd to Tax the Princes Gentry Clergy and Inhabitants of free Cities since there are so few others left to be Tax'd Uut you will perhaps tell me that we do not now begin to be Tax'd for you 'll say we contributed to pay all those Taxations which were exacted from our Farmers and Labourers since we might have let out our Lands to better Advantage if our Tenants had not been Tax'd And consequently the Priviledges of the Nobility Clergy and Inhabitants of Paris and other Cities are no more than imaginary Titles What then Sir Did not the King become the most glorious and powerful Monarch in the World by imposing only the * That which was paid by the Farmers Real Taxation upon us And shall we grudge to Pay a Personal Tax for the Preservation of all that Glory and Power which he has so justly acquir'd at the Charge of his good Subjects Alas Sir shall we suffer all these fine Inscriptions to be defac'd with which the Place de Viatoire and the Gates of St. Denis and St. Martin are adorn'd But this is not a time for Mirth If our King 's assume a Power to impose a General Poll-Tax as often as the fancy