acquainted his Brethern with the King's Menaces and these good Magistrates having put on their Habits of Ceremony went all in a body to the Louvre The King surpris'd to see his Parliament come to pay him a visit with so much solemnity ask'd suddenly what brought them thither I know all the story said my Friend interrupting me hastily and can tell you the chief President 's Answer we come Sir said he to the King to offer our Heads to Your Majesty since our Conscience will not permit us to Register the Edict which you sent to us Very well reply'd I but how did that cruel and haughty Prince receive so unexpected a Compliment He dissembled his Anger and endeavoured to pacify their Minds by assuring them that he would never desire them to enroll any Edict contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom or the Interest of his Subjects Why then will not you adventure to make a like Attempt I 'm perswaded that the King would be strangely daunted if the chief President at the Head of the Parliament should entertain him with a lively and passionate Representation of the deplorable condition of the Kingdom But I had forgotten that you have long ago exhausted all your eloquence in writing Panegyricks on our invincible Monarch 'T is pity that you have not reserv'd some part of it for Discourses of another nature which would certainly be more seasonable at this time of the Day Be not cruel to your Friends answer'd the President We do all that we are able to do but we are not under the Reign of a Lewis XI In those Days the Nobility and People of France had not lost all their Courage and the Court dreaded the effects of it I acknowledge that replyed I but are you sure that the King would not treat you with as much complaisance if you spoke to him with the same vigour and show'd your selves capable of enlivening the benumm'd Spirits of our Countreymen Believe me Mr. President the King despises you for your Cowardise and you might make the Court tremble in its turn if you had the Courage to imitate your Predecessors After these words we laid aside Politicks and began to talk of other Matters Yes Sir I am still of the same opinion I know that the Inhabitants of Paris and our other Cities are extreamly dispirited but I dare be bold to answer for them that they would quickly resume their former Vigour if the Princes of the Blood the Nobility or Parliament of Paris would give them the least encouragement They begin to murmur strangely and I know not whether all their Patience be not already exhausted 'T is true the flatterers of the Court have bellow'd in their Ears so long that The King is Master of all the Estates of his Subjects that the poor People seem in good earnest to give credit to the most detestable Lie that ever was invented But how easily will they be undeceiv'd when it shall be made appear to them what our subtle Ministers have so industriously hid from them that Taxes and Subsidies were formerly Levied in France as they are in England and that we never resign'd our ancient Priviledges You remember Sir when I had the pleasure to enjoy your Conversation in that solitary but delightful place whither you have chosen to retire that we spent part of our time in reading the History of France and that we could not find that any Impositions were laid upon the People before the Reign of Philip the Fair. Our King 's in those Days had no standing Forces but the Nobility serv'd them at their own charge in those Wars that were made with the consent of the States-General If ever any of our Princes rais'd a Subsidy by way of Taxation it was only when the pressing necessity of his Affairs constrain'd him to take that Method and the Tax was Levied but once And even on such urgent occasions those Monarchs that had any sense of Humanity or Religion were very loath to proceed to so rough an expedient The good St. Lewis by his Testament enjoin'd his Children not to Tax their Subjects but Alas they who boast of their descent from so Just so Chaste and so Religious a Prince have no more regard to the good Advice that he left them than they have to the Virtuous example of his Life His Nephew attempted to raise the Hundred and fiftieth Denier of the Revenues of his Subjects But what was the event Paris Rouen and Orleans revolted the Commissioners appointed to gather the Taxation were kill'd and the King was forc'd to dissemble his Indignation Nor was Philip the Fair more successful in his second attempt to lay an Imposition of Six Deniers in the Livre on the sale of Commodities his Orders were universally contemn'd and he was forc'd to call a Meeting of the States General at Paris to harangue them himself and represent to them the necessity of his Affairs after which he obtain'd his desire The succeeding Princes observ'd the same Method Sometimes on urgent occasions Aids and extraordinary Subsidies were Granted but were never made perpetual but by the Authority of the States The King could not augment those perpetual Subsidies that were granted to him and far less could he impose new ones The Court Parasites made it their business to perswade Lewis XI that it was a branch of his Prerogative to lay what Impositions he pleas'd on his Subjects I have already told you what Philip de Comines thinks of this Maxim We have at least as much Reason to complain of Tyranny and Violence now as the Subjects of that Prince had in those Days but our Tongues are ty'd Charles VII was engag'd in a long and chargeable War against England yet he never Levied above Eighteen hundred thousand Livres per Annum 'T is true Lewis XI augmented the Impositions to Three Millions and Seven hundred thousand Livres Tearly but he had the Character of a very bad Prince and to say all in one word a Tyrant His Son Charles VIII fearing to meet with the same Fate and desirous to live according to the Commandments of God says Philip de Comines resolv'd to content himself with the Crown-lands together with the Sum of Twelve hundred thousand Livres which the Estates assembled at Tours had granted him France was happy under the Reign of Lewis XII who was call'd the Father of the People whence we may reasonably infer that the Face of Affairs is wonderfully chang'd since that time Under the late King Lewis XIII the Impositions amounted to near Fourscore Millions of which not above Five and Thirty were brought into the Treasury the rest being exhausted by the great charges of the Scate M. Colbert has found means to raise the King's Revenues to One hundred and Twenty Millions and upwards This could not be done without ruining an infinite number of Families by imposing a prodigious number of new Taxations besides the enormous augmentation of those that were already established Now if One
the Arrier-ban is summon'd are more excuseable Let us hear what the same Author adds * Si edicitur ipsis ut militent quod fieri solet siquidem constet ipsis injustam esse belli causam abstinere omnino debent Deo potius obediendum quam hominibus c. Idem If the Prince says he by a positive command ordain his Subjects to follow him to the War they are oblig'd to disobey his Orders when they are convinc'd that the War is unjust For 't is an uncontroverted Maxim among Jews and Heathens as well as among Christians that it is better to obey God than Men. This determination of Grotius furnish'd me with this reflection that the ancient Custom of France and other European Nations of which I took Notice in the Letter that I had the Honour to write to you about the beginning of this Month was grounded upon very good Reasons The Lords and Gentlemen were not obliged to serve the King till after the War was decreed in the meeting of the States General of the Kingdom The Reason is plain it was fit that an Affair of such vast importance on which the Lives of so many Men did depend and which might ruin whole Nations should be gravely debated and diligently examin'd both by the Prince himself who was to undertake it and those who were to serve him But what shall the Subjects do when the Justice of the War in which they are like to be engag'd appears only doubtful to them It may seem perhaps a needless piece of curiosity to start Cases that we never had occasion to experience 't is certain that Lewis the Great never undertook a War that was not manifestly unjust Yet there may have been some Persons who imagin'd that the late Queen's claim was at least disputable France publish'd whole Volumes to demonstrate the Justice of her Pretensions and Spain answer'd them This might probably disquiet the minds of some French men that were not able to decide the Controversie Now the Question is whether such Persons were oblig'd in Conscience to Fight under the King's Standards Grotius acknowledges that there are some Lawyers that hold the Affirmative but positively declares himself for the Negative which he confirms with a Reason that to me seems to be convincing * Qui dubitat contemplativè debet judicio activo eligere partem tutiorem est autem pars tutior abstinere bello Laudantur Esseni quod inter alia jurarent non necituros se cuiquam ne si juberentur quidem Imitatores eorum Pythagorei qui Jamblico teste bello abstinebant causa additâ quia bellum caedes imperat In all dubious Cases says he A Wise Man always chuses the safest side Now 't is certainly the safest way to abstain from an Action that may engage us to injure our Neighbour and shed Human Blood This Book has been done into French and the Translation dedicated to the King and would to God that not only His Majesty but his Ministers of State the Nobility and Clergy would bestow some few Hours on Reading that piece with Attention There would not be so much Blood shed so many Nations laid Waste and such a vast number of Persons reduc'd to Beggery The Preachers of the Gospel would cease to extol those Generals whose Virtue for the most part consists in nothing else but in stifling the gnawing Remonstrances of an awak'd Conscience to serve the abominable Ambition of their Master But how shall private Persons be inform'd whether the King had lawful Reasons to undertake the War unless by his Manifestos and Declarations Thus my Friend perceiving that the King had taken up Arms against the Dutch meerly to be reveng'd upon them for the ill satisfaction that they had given him he chose rather to quit an advantagious Post than to expose himself to the reproaches of his Conscience by continuing to serve in a War which he believed to be unjust If they who serve in our Armies had imitated the Example of my generous Friend if they had examin'd the King's Manifestoes they would not have been so acquainted with their own and their Countries Interest Good God! Will the French Nation never learn Wisdom Will they never be weary of being led to the Army like a pack of Hounds to a Hunting-match Will they always continue to sacrifice their Fortunes their Liberty and their Life meerly to give their King the pleasure of assuming the Title of Lewis the Great But 't is time to proceed to the consequences of the Dutch War and to take a view of the glaring part of the King's Life The taking of above Forty Towns in the compass of one Campaign the Surrender of Maestricht after a Siege of Thirteen Days the Conquest of Cambray S. Omer Ypres and Valenciennes the Battels of Cassel and Senef and the disadvantageous Peace which the Allies were forc'd to make may serve indeed for materials to stuff a flattering Panegyrick or Inscription but all together will not amount to one single Argument to prove that God has blest the Reign of the King and the Justice of his Arms. To measure the Justice of an Attempt by the Happiness of its Success is the way to be eternally deceiv'd and to justifie the blackest Crimes Temporal Prosperity is not usually a mark of the particular favour of Heaven The God whom we adore is infinitely Wise He suffers the Righteous to be afflicted and the Wicked to prosper in their Day Let us adore then the unsearchable Mysteries of his Providence and let us judge of True Merit by the Light of Reason and by the Rules of the Gospel It must be acknowledg'd that the King was very well serv'd by his Ministers and by the Generals of his Forces during that War But it was not a very surprising Accident that a Republick that was at once assaulted by Land and by Sea could not resist a King that came Thundering against her with an Army of a Hundred thousand Men commanded by the two greatest Captains that Europe had seen in many Yeats before He took Forty Towns in one Campaign it cannot be deny'd but was he not forced to abandon them with shame as soon as the Imperial Army had seiz'd on some places of the Rhine Maestricht was Surrendred after a Siege of Thirteen Days a great Miracle indeed For how could the States relieve it The Inscriptions on the Gates of St. Denis and St. Martin do more Honour to the States than to the King He broke in upon them 't is true like a furious and overbearing Deluge and they were not able to put a stop to his Progress yet I do not believe that all this Action gain'd him one Admirer But that Holland should force the most Potent Monarch in Europe to abandon his unjust Conquests and to sue for a Peace by offering to restore to them the only place that he still retain'd of all that he had taken from them is an event so little
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 LONDON Printed And Sold by R. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane 1695 THE CONTENTS OF THE First Letter INtroduction Page 1 An Account of some Considerations that might have deter'd the French King from imposing Arbitralily a General Poll-Tax on his Subjects Page 2 The Injustice of such an Imposition further demonstrated Page 3 That notwithstanding all these Reasons the Edict for that Taxation will pass at all adventures ibid. That the French are tamer Slaves than either the Romans of Old or the Danes at present Page 4 The Motive that makes the French King endeavour to enslave England and Holland Page 5 That the Poll-Tax is the last Refuge of the French Court Page 6 A Remark upon the Inscriptions on the Gates of Paris ibid. That the Poll-Tax will not raise such vast Sums as the Emissaries of that Court give out Page 7 That the Countrey is extreamly impoverished and the King's Revenues very much diminished Page 7 8 That the present Misery of the French Nation is too great to admit of any Alleviation from the Prospect of better times to come Page 9 That none dare presume to Petition the King to Assemble the Estates of the Kingdom ibid. That according to the Primitive Constitution of the French Government the Soveraign Authority was lodg'd in the States General of the Nation Page 10 That the Power of the Prince was limited among the ancient Gauls and other Northern Nations Page 11 That the French have still a just Title to their ancient Priviledges ibid. A Comparison between the ancient and present condition of the Princes of the Blood illustrated by some particular instances Page 12 13 An Account of the ancient Priviledges of the Dukes and Peers of France Page 13 That they had a right to oppose the unjust Designs of the Prince by entering into Leagues against him Page 14 The History of the League of the Publick Good against Lewis the XI Philip de Cominees Opinion of that Confederacy Page 16 That the same Custom was and is observed by several other Nations Page 17 That the present Dukes and Peers of France do only enjoy a shadow of the Priviledges of their Ancestors Page 18 Of the ancient Authority of the Parliament of Paris and of the gradual encroachments of the Crown upon it Page 18 19 An Exhortation to that Body to imitate the illustrious Example of their Predecessors and the chief President la Vacquierie under Lewis the XI Page 20 That the Courage of the Nation may be easily reviv'd by their Example Page 21 A brief view of the State of France with relation to Impositions under the Reign of several Princes Page 23 24 An Account of the immense Sums that are exacted by the Ministers of the present King Page 24 Of the stupidity of the French who strive to encrease the Power of their Oppressor ibid. That the Forces which the King maintain'd in time of Peace made him more terrible at Home than Abroad Page 25 That his present numerous Armies are more fatal to his Subjects than to his Neighbours ibid. The Conclusion Page 26 THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Letter OF the blind Submission of the Parliament of Paris to the Orders of the Court. 27 The present Misery of the French Nation compar'd with that of the Romans under Domitian 28 An Account of some extravagant Rhodomontadoes in the Preface to the French King 's late Declaration 28 29 Of the ridiculous Vanity of that Expression in it that the Glorious State of France has excited the Envy of its Neighbours 29 Of the true meaning of that Phrase 30 That it was the Injustice of that Monarch's Attempts that excited the indignation not the Envy of his Neighbours 31 Of the Glorious and Happy Condition of the United Provinces when they were invaded by the French King 31 32 Reflections on the unjustice of that War and on a Solaecism in a Letter from the French King to the States General 32 A Justification of the Medal that was the pretended Cause of the War 33 That the Prosperity of Tyrants ought not to be call'd a Blessing from Heaven upon them 34 Of the shameful Flatteries of the French Clergy and the juster sentiments of the Court of Rome 35 Of the prosperous Success of the Emperor's Arms in Hungary and the impious Designs of the Court of France during the Siege of Vienna 35 36 That in all the Wars since the Pyrenaean Treaty the French King has been always the Agressor and is guilty of all the Desolations and Blood-shed that has been occasion'd by them 38 Of the Difference between a Conqueror and a Robber 39. Of the Queen 's pretended Right to Brabant and Hainault of the Validity of her Renunciation and of the Injustice of the King's Irruption into the Spanish Netherlands in pursuance of that Claim 39 40. That 't is lawful to oppose a Neighbouring Prince who strives to aggrandize himself by unjust Methods 41 That 't was barbarous in the King to kindle a bloody War against the Hollanders meerly upon the account of a Medal which they also had taken care to suppress 42 Of the Intolerable arrogancy of some Parisian Inscriptions 43 Of the Satyrs of the Dutch Gazettier that provok'd the Court of France 43 The French King's Expedition against Holland compar'd with that of Theodosius against Antioch 44 That it was not a Zeal for Religion that prompted the King to invade Holland 45 That Subjects are obliged not to assist their Soveraign in the prosecution of an unjust War prov'd out of Grotius 47 That they ought even to refuse their Assistance when the Case appears doubtful demonstrated out of the same Author 48 That the Justice of the French King's Attempts must not be measur'd by their Success 50 That after all he had no Reason to boast of the Success of that famous Campagne 51 That he ow'd his Victories to the Skill and Experience of his Generals and not to his own Valour 51 Of the difference between Summer-Heroes and the pretended Heroe of all Seasons 52 That the French King acquir'd not any real and solid Glory at the Sieges of Mons and Namur 53 What Opinion after Ages will have of all his Victories and Conquests 54 THE FIRST LETTER SIR YOU are pleased to desire an Account of my Thoughts concerning that General Poll-Tax with which we are threatned And to invite me to make you the Confident of my Sentiments on this occasion you have said enough to convince me that I was not mistaken in believing that you agree with me in esteeming it our Honour to be of the number of those True Frenchmen who continue still to be Lovers of their Country For so long as there shall be Men of Sense and
Courage in France she will still retain some Foot-steps of her Dying liberty and we shall still preserve the Memory of our former Priviledges But you must give me leave to ask whether you have seriously consider'd how dangerously you expose both me and your self by engaging in a Correspondence concerning so nice a Subject as that of the Government We are scarce allow'd the liberty to think And what Persecutions may we not fear if it should be discover'd that we have taken the freedom to speak our thoughts nevertheless if you have the Courage to neglect this Consideration I am resolv'd not to give you occasion to accuse me of Cowardice only let us endeavour to manage our Correspondence with so much caution as to hinder our Letters from being intercepted You cannot be perswaded to believe that the King's Ministers will ever advise him to impose that General Poll Tax which is so much talk'd of For this you say would be no less than to deprive us of the only shadow of Liberty that we are suffer'd still to enjoy What Shall the Princes of the Blood the Nobility the Officers of the Crown and all the Gentry be Tax'd like Peasants Shall the Clergy be Rob'd of its noblest Priviledge Shall the Inhabitants of Paris and of all the chief Cities in the Kingdom lose that alone of all their Rights which they have been able to preserve hitherto No the Consequences of such an Attempt are too visible and would be too fatal in the present posture of our Affairs At least you add it is not credible that the King will adventure to Publish a Declaration that may open the dullest Eyes and even cause a general Insurrection without calling an extraordinary meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and the Officers of the Crown and without going himself to the Parliament to acquaint them with the Reasons that oblige him to impose a Tax upon his Subjects that will compleat the subversion of this State and to hear the Remonstrances which that Wise and Illustrious Assembly would not fail to offer to him on such an important occasion This is a step you conclude so contrary to the Maxims that the King has always follow'd since he began to Govern by himself that they would rather endeavour to find out a Thousand other ways to defray the Charge of the War than reduce him to an extremity that would vex him more than all the disappointments that he has met with from the obstinacy of the Confederates to refuse the Dayly Proposals of Peace both in General and Particular which he causes to be offer'd to them I acknowledge Sir that your Reflexions are just and reasonable and you might have added that the Estates of the Kingdom ought to have been assembled and their consent obtain'd For if it be true what * l. 5. c. 18. Philip de Cominees asserts that no King or Potentate in the World has a right to exact a Penny from his Subjects without the Advice and Consent of those that are to be Taxed unless in his own Demeasns and that all Impositions that are levied without these Conditions are the effects of Tyrannical Violence If it be true that M. Colbert and the rest of that Tribe who to testify their Zeal and Affection to their Master have perswaded him that he has a right to all our Estates have made him odious and terrible to his Neighbours who would chuse any Misery rather than that of being his Subjects If it be true that there was a time when the King 's of France dar'd not to say I take what I will and am Master of all If all this I say be true may we not hope that the King who would appear to have so great a Sense of Religion will assemble the Estates of the Kingdom to consult with them whether it be necessary to continue the War and whether it be more conducive to the publick Good to harass all his own Subjects than to do Justice to the Confederates In the mean time Sir I can assure you that neither your Reflexions nor mine will hinder the King's Council from imposing the Poll-Tax and I 'm even perswaded that there will not be the least motion made to call a Meeting of the Princes of the Blood the Peers of France and Officers of the Crown much less will they desire the King to give himself the trouble to go in Person to the Parliament and least of all will they have the Confidence to lay before him the necessity of summoning a Convention of the Estates Not long ago a certain Lady who shews a wonderful concern for the Preservation of the King's Health grumbled at all those who represented to the King the miserable effects of the Famine in Paris and other Places She ask'd them whether they came with a design against the King's Life And who then could be so hardhearted as to desire the King to expose himself to the danger of hearing the Remonstrances of his Subjects concerning the deplorable condition to which the Kingdom is reduc'd This would certainly afflict the good Prince more sensibly and sooner break his tender Heart than all those stories of his Poor languishing People that wander about the Streets of Paris and are forc'd to rake the Dung-hills for Dead-Horses wherewith to fill their raging Stomachs We study to imitate the Example of those Romans mentioned by * Annal. 1. 3. Tacitus Princes Dukes and Peers Officers of the Crown Bishops Gentlemen Magistrates of the Sovereign Courts and all of us together are posting to Slavery and that with so much eagerness and haste as if we strove to out-run one another We think to please the King but I durst swear that he and his Minister do in their Hearts hate and despise us and that they insult over us as Tiberius over his base and flattering Senate O homines ad servitutem paratos There is not one amongst us that ever saw the Days of Liberty The form and mildness of our Ancient Government is lost yet all our Care is to flatter our Prince and to obey him blindly We laugh at the folly of the Danes who have divested themselves of all their Liberties and lodg'd an Arbitrary Power in their King 's We I say who are more ridiculously mad than they who tho' we have not given the King any one Authentick Title to our Priviledges do yet tamely stretch forth our Necks to receive a heavier Yoke than that of the Danes or rather a Yoke that is more cruel and insupportable than that which the Grand Signior and Great Mogul impose upon their Slaves At last the fatal time is come in vain we expect to see better Days We have put on a Chain that will grow Dayly more insupportable We are not so much as suffer'd to speak of Liberty and they would hinder us too from seeing it enjoy'd by others A great Man who Commanded the Roman Armies in Britain thought it
Affairs is altered and nothing of moment is imparted to these They are too happy when His Majesty suffers them to pass some idle and tedious Hours at Versailles or to go to the Camp to be kill'd like private Soldiers Not only matters of State are not communicated to them but they are not suffer'd to be Masters even at home nor so much as consulted concerning the Marriage of their own Children 'T is well known after what manner the Duke of Chartres married Mademoiselle de Blois The Prince to preserve an Office and a Government in his Family and to secure the Fortunes of his Children was forc'd to marry them to Bastards whose Mother's Name would not be permitted to be mentioned in any publick Deed. The Prince of Conty is Master of all those excellent Endowments both natural and acquired with which a Person of his Quality ought to be adorn'd But what Treatment does so rare a Merit procure him at the Court He is left without Command Office or Government while the chief Employments are given to to those that are infinitely beneath him I know some Gentlemen who are oftentimes wont to complain that the Princes of the Blood are not more tenderly touch'd with a sence of their own Disgrace and our Miseries But neither is their Power considerable nor do we merit their Assistance The late Prince inspired with a just Indignation against the French Nobility used to say I put the Sword in their Hands I cry'd out against Tyranny and they answered me with Musquet-shot The Consideration of his Misfortunes has taught our Princes Caution And if any one among 'em should have the Generosity to declare himself the Protector of the Common Interest who could assure us that our Country-men would not still be Fools enough to fight against him The Dukes and Peers and Officers of the Crown are likewise by vertue of their Dignity chief Counsellors of State and have a Right to go to the Parliament when they please Ah! vain Shadow of the Glorious Priviledges of the ancient Peers of France No matter of Importance was transacted without their Consent They remain'd unconcern'd Spectators of the Wars that were begun without their Approbation leaving the King to pursue his own private Quarrels and serv'd him only in those Wars which they judg'd necessary for the common good of the Realm Such is the obedience which the present Princes of Germany pay to the Emperor and you know better than I that the Government of France did very much resemble that of Germany before our King 's had remitted to the Crown those great Fiefs that were dismembred from it during the Reign of Hugh Capet When the King acted contrary to the Priviledges of the Nobility or to the good of the People they did not fail to oppose him they appeal'd to the States-General and enter'd into Leagues among themselves and with the principal Cities to prevent the Execution of the unjust attempts of their Prince Philip Sirnam'd the Long had form'd a design to seize on the fifth part of the Estates of his Subjects under the pretext of reforming or New-coining the Money But the Princes and the Prelates says * Abridgement of Mezeray one of our Historians would not suffer the King's Commissaries to Execute his Orders they appeal'd to the States General and enter'd into Confederacies with the Cities which had so good an effect that the Imposition could not be Levied Do you think that these generous Patriots would have suffer'd a King to seize on the fifth part of all the Coin'd Money in the Kingdom twice in less than Four Years by commanding it Arbitrarily to be new Stamp'd And when did we renounce our Right of having recourse to those means which our Ancestors might lawfully make use of for the preservation of their Estates and Liberties No sooner had Lewis XI mounted the Throne but he began to * Abridgement of Mezeray Govern without a Council and for the most part also without Justice and Reason He fancyed himself an abler Politician than his Predecessors and left no means unessay'd to make himself terrible He chose rather to follow the Dictates of his own unruly Humour than to observe the Wise Laws of the Nation He thought he could not make a nobler use of his Authority than by oppressing his Subjects and that the best way to display his Grandeur was by ruining the greatest Families in the Kingdom and advancing the meanest of the People This is what some call says Mezeray to pass the Mon-age of Royalty and to rule without a Tutor but they ought rather to say without Sense or Reason Thus the King by endeavouring to assume an Arbitrary or Despotick Power irritated the Minds of the Princes of the Blood the Nobility and all true Lovers of their Country who resolv'd generously to shake off the Yoke that they were not accustom'd to bear Charles Duke of Orleans and first Prince of the Blood undertook to represent their grievances to His Majesty in the presence of a numerous Assembly of Persons of Quality who were met at the Court. Accordingly he spoke to the King with all the freedom that his Age Reputation and Quality Authorised him to use But these Remonstrances offended His Majesty and were received with Indignation and Scorn adds the same * Abridgement of Mezeray Historian The good Duke Died with Grief two Days after But not long after the King's Brother the Count of Charolois Son of the Duke of Burgundy the Dukes of Bretaign Calabria Bourbon and Alenzon with several other Princes of the Blood the Duke of Vemours the Counts of Armaguac Dunois S. Pol the Mareschal de Lohear the Lords of Albret Bueil and Chaumont-Amboise and almost all the Nobility and old Officers of the Army enter'd into an Association to oppose the pernicious Designs of the King And this Confederacy was call'd the League of the Publick-Good Lewis was then reduc'd to so great an extremity that if the City of Paris had joyn'd with the League they might have easily driven him out of the Kingdom Our flatterers are wont to call this Confederacy an unlawful Rebellion But Philip de Cominees did not think fit to give it so odious a name he was better acquainted with the Rights both of the Subjects and Sovereigns of Europe Far from that he only blames the United Princes for neglecting to secure the Interests of the People when they made their own Peace with the King * l. 1. c. 2 3. c. The Publick Good says he yielded to private Interest †Abridgement of Mezeray A modern Historian adds that it was agreed to nominate Thirty and Six Persons whom they called Notables consisting of an equal number of the Nobility Clergy and Lawyers who should be impowered to consult together and to fall upon proper Methods to ease the People of their Grievances and to redress the disorders of the State This instance gives us a clear view of the ancient
their Subjects the unexhaustible Power of France when manag'd by a skilful Hand the sure Funds that we possess in the Hearts of our Subjects and in their Zeal for the Service of their Sovereign and for the glory of the French Nation These seemingly Fine and studied expressions are very unsutable to the present posture of the King's Affairs They are meer huffing Rhodomontadoes which may cast a Mist before the Eyes of the dull and unthinking croud but they will appear ridiculous to the judicious and considering part of Mankind You will be of the same opinion if you will give your self the trouble to examine with me what all these magnificent expressions can be reasonably suppos'd to signifie What is that Glory of the State which has excited the envy of the Potentates of Europe Might it not be inferr'd from hence that we have enjoy'd so much happiness since the King began to Reign and have liv'd in so great an abundance of all things and in so ptofound a Peace that our Neighbours jealous of the happiness and riches of France had united themselves together against her and were come with a design to lay wast our Provinces set Fire to our Houses and Castles and raise our Cities meerly because they could not endure the vexations and mortifying sight of a People that enjoy'd more freedom and Plenty and liv'd more contentedly than all the other Nations of Europe If this was the case the King might indeed complain and justly too that the glory of his State that is the happiness of all his Subjects had rais'd the envy of the Potentates of Europe and that they had united themselves together to carry on an unjust War against him But besides that our Neighbours are not capable of such base and inhuman designs the King has been very careful not to give them the least occasion to envy the happinsss of those who live under his Dominion England Germany and Holland have seen the Trade of France ruin'd the People over-loaded with Impositions the Provinces drain'd of Men and Money and the King's Subjects force'd to leave their Native Country to seek their Bread in the remotest corners of the Universe But far from envying the happiness and glory of the French Nation our generous Neighbours have damented our misfortunes and to the utmost of their Power assisted those that came to implore their Help and Protection 'T is a great while since we forgot the proper signification of certain words the glory of the State that is according to our modern Phraseology the Pride and Haughtiness of the King to love the Publick good that is to furnish His Majesty with means to satisfie his Luxury and Ambition But can you imagine that the English Germans and Dutch would take such a terrible Alarm at these improvements and alterations of our Language They might indeed laugh at the folly of the French who fancy that the Power of a King that oppresses them is the glory of their State and Nation But I durst swear that they were never jealous of our pretended happiness so long as the King continued to place all his Glory and that of the Nation in making Versailles the most magnificent Palace in the World in burying several Millions in that proud Structure in squandering away his Treasures on Cascades and Water-works in throwing away the lives of a prodigious number of his best Soldiers to alter the course of the River Eure and in reducing the Noblemen that were in his Service to Beggery by a forc'd extravagancy in Cloths Horses and Equipage So long I say as the King's Ambition aspir'd not to higher objects than these 't is very probable that his Neighboring Potentates might condemn his Pride bewail the blindness of the Lords and Gentlemen of France who consum'd their Fortunes to so little purpose and pity those Wretches that were starv'd to maintain so extravagant a Luxury but I am confident that they had not the least intentions to combine together against France Thus far I dare undertake for those Princes but no farther For without doubt they were otherwise affected than I have represented them hitherto when they beheld the taking of Strasburg with several other Places of importance and the pretended Acquisition of Casal to the prejudice of the lawful Heirs of the House of Muntua when they saw Fort Lewis and the Citadel of Hunningen built to curb the Swiss Cantons and several Princes of Germany a project laid to enslave England and render it dependant on the Court of France Sovereigns treated with the utmost contempt the Empire Spain and the United Provinces chain'd at the feet of a Statue which was erected at Paris by an extravagant flatterer and above a Hundred and fifty thousand Men ready upon the first occasion either to attack Germany or seize on the rest of the Netherlands This Sir is that pretended glory of the State that has excited not the Envy but the indignation and just Revenge of the Potentates of Europe The States General of the United Provinces had for several Years been justly esteem'd the most Potent Republick in Europe They enjoy'd all the blessings of a profound Peace Arts flourish'd among them their Trade furnish'd them with great abundance of Money and of all the conveniencies of Life and the People were so highly satisfied with the easiness of the Government that the saying of * Rem difficillimam assecuti sunt ut illis ne voto quidem opâ—s sit Tacit. de moribus Germanorum Tacitus concerning the ancient Germans might have been apply'd to them Even their best Friends could not have made a wish to their advantage and they had nothing to desire of God but that he would suffer them long to enjoy so blest and peaceful a Life The glory of their State was Real and Solid glory Denmark ow'd its Liberty to them and they had stopt the Kings Progress in the Spanish Netherlands by Negotiating that Triple-League which mortified France so effectually All Europe own'd that they had Reason to secure their own Liberty by keeping so troublesom and Ambitious a Neighbour at a distance from their Frontiers and praised their generousity for protecting a Minor Prince against the unjust Attacks of so Potent an Enemy There needed no more to incense the King against them nor could his Wrath be appeas'd without declaring a War under pretext of the ill satisfaction which the States had given to the Court of France These are the very words which the King makes use of in a Letter which he wrote to them a little before All the World was surpriz'd at the strangeness of a Phrase which they had never heard before These two Words were perfect strangers to one another and People could not forbear laughing at the odd figure which they made at their first meeting But whence proceeded this ill satisfaction We are told that it was caus'd by I know not what Medal which bore the following Inscription Assertis Legibus
Sacris defensis exteris Regibus vindicatâ per orbem Christianum Marium libertate Egregiâ Pace virtute armorum partâ You know what a pother the Court made about this Inscription How insolent they are ory'd our flatterers Could the Romans have spoken otherwise after the Destruction of Numantium and Carthage But after all I profess I cannot see the least Reason that could provoke them to make such a hideous noise For there is nothing express'd by these words but what is undeniably true Had not the States General of the United Provinces oblig'd Spain to conclude a Peace with them Had they not asserted their Laws and Religion by force of Arms And had they not preserv'd Liberty of Trade and of Navigation The Inscription of this Medal is infinitely more modest and exactly true than any of those that are to be seen at Verseilles the Town-House the Place des Victoires the Gates of Paris and those Citadels that have been built in Flanders and elsewhere But suppose that there had been really some fault in the Inscription could that be a sufficient Reason for the King to set all Europe on Fire to destroy above Two hundred thousand Men to lay waste more than Fifty Leagues of Land and to ruin his own Subjects Confess with me Sir that the King had more Reason to complain of the indiscretion of his Secretaries for giving him ill satisfaction when they made him say That the glory of France has Excited the envy of the Allies since it may be very easily prov'd that the King himself was jealous of the true and solid glory of a Neighbouring Republick and that his Vexation and Spite excited him to kindle a bloody War which his brace of Historians by their own confession are not able to justifie Quis tuler it Gracchos de seditone querentes However in the opinion of our flatterers it cannot be deny'd that Heaven has blest the King's Reign with such an uninterrupted course of Prosperity that his Neighbours have been mov'd with Jealousy These words Prosperity and the blessings of Heaven are very equivocal and their true meaning is not unfrequently mistaken A happy crime usurps the name of Prosperity and the Fortunate unjustly fancy themselves to be the favourites of Heaven 'T is the Language of Constantinople that the Prosperity with which Heaven had blest the Ottoman Empire excited the Envy of the Christian Potentates that join'd together to carry on an unjust War against the Grand Signior What is the meaning of all this but that God in his just Anger against his People has suffered those Infidels to take advantage of our Divisions and of the weakness of Christian Princes and to lay waste the best Provinces in Europe Those who are call'd Conquerors are usually but the Rods of God whom he makes use of to scourge both their Subjects and their Neighbours He blesses their Reign as he blest of old the Reigns of Sennacherib Nebucbadnezzar Mahomet II and Solyman But the Day of the Lord will come when he shall visit the Pride of the stout Hearts of the Kings of Assur and Babylon He will also raise up a new Warriour and send forth his Anointed and his Shepherd who shall deliver and gather together his disperst People and break to pieces the Rod which God took up in the Day of his Indignation to punish our Sins and scourge us for our back-slidings Be not afraid Sir I beseech you that I intend to turn Prophet Only give me leave to say that we may then and not till then conclude that God has truly blest the King's Reign when we shall see that God has taken him by the Hand to destroy the Nations of the Infidels and to disarm the Enemies of the name of Christ when we shall perceive that the Almighty marches at the head of our Armies to make the King the restorer of Jerusalem and repairer of the Ruins of the Temple of God The Preachers of the Gospel to the shame of our Age be it spoken are the King 's greatest flatterers and but too often have the baseness to tell the King to his Face that he is what he ought and we wish him to be But we have the pleasure to see them publickly contradicted by the Popes themselves 'T is well known that at Rome they are so far from believing the King to be a Prince whom God has wonderfully rais'd up for the Honour and Deliverance of his Church that they speak there of the Wars which he has kindled as they do at Vienna and Madrid and Thank God for his Conquests and Victories no otherwise than they do at London and at the Hague Do the King's Ministers imagine that we are ignorant of the true sentiments of the Pope and Court of Rome and have they not made the King a publick Jest to all the World by making him say with so much confidence that God has blest his Reign and Crown'd him with his greatest favours But we ought to do Justice to all Mankind let us therefore acknowledge to the Honour of the Emperor that God does visibly protect that Prince and that he has lately wrought signal Miracles for him The Turks had besieged his Capital City and he saw himself within an ace of losing the greatest part of his Hereditary Provinces We all trembled for him but God struck the Visier with a Spirit of Infatuation The King of Poland and the Duke of Lorrain had time to come to the relief of Vienna with a Potent Army the Turk lost his best Troops and the Emperor in less than Five Years regain'd almost all that which had cost the Turks above an Age to Conquer in the Kingdom of Hungary What was the countenance of our Court during the siege of Vienna you were asham'd of it as well as I and you spoke of it with Indignation They appear'd very well pleas'd with the Emperors misfortunes they expected impatiently the return of the Courrier who they hop'd would bring the good News of the Surrender of that City and were even making Preparations for the Reception of the Deputies of the Germans who they concluded would come to implore the King's Assistance The King had an Army ready to march into Germany and thought to make himself Master of that Countrey under pretext of assisting it But the raising of the Siege of Vienna at once broke the measures of the Court and of the Divan and overthrew all their Projects And those well-appointed Troops that were design'd for Germany were imploy'd on the Projects of Maintenon where the greatest part of them lost their lives God continued still more and more to bless the Justice of the Emperor 's Arms. He made great Progresses in the Turkish part of Hungary He retook Belgrade and advanc'd even as far as Nicopoli Is it not clear beyond exception that this remarkable course of Prosperity excited the Envy of the King which engag'd him in an unjust War against a Prince that was busied in